Choose One: Housing Is Shelter, Or Housing Is Just Another Asset In A Bubble Economy

Seven four-letter words: one clear roadmap for staying productive, solvent, and sane in chaotic times.

It Wasn't Fireworks... Social Isolation, Escalating Anger Drove Palisades Arsonist's Desire For Revenge, Jury Told Explosives and arson experts from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms this week told a jury in the federal arson case against Jonathan Rinderknecht that fireworks could not have been the culprit. The 29-year-old Rinderknecht is accused of starting a blaze in the Santa Monica Mountains, which investigators say led to the deadly Palisades Fire of 2025. “Anyone who was in this area—if there was a firework launched, burning, or landing here—would have seen it....

Taiwan Tech Insiders Warn Beijing's Germanium Squeeze Is Hitting Production Nikkei Asia reports that China is restricting or delaying exports of germanium- and quartz-based materials to Taiwan, creating "painful supply-chain bottlenecks" across the island's key aerospace, semiconductor, and optical companies. The supply disruptions reinforce the urgent need for the US and its allies to accelerate supply-chain decoupling and secure alternative sources of critical materials. Beijing's ability to weaponize shipments could prove devastating during a military conflict or allow China to slow Western semiconductor and AI infrastructure buildouts while its domestic AI...