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EBA designates Circle’s USDC as the EU’s first ‘significant’ e-money token

The European Banking Authority said Wednesday that it has classified USDC as a “significant” e-money token under the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation, making it the first of the 45 EMTs notified in the bloc to meet that threshold.

According to an official statement, the EBA will now take direct responsibility for supervising USDC’s own funds, reserve assets, liquidity requirements, and recovery and redemption plans from Nov. 12. These areas are currently overseen by France’s Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR), but the regulator will still handle governance, qualifying holdings, fit and proper assessment, and conflicts of interest after the EBA takes over.

The EBA also said it signed a memorandum of understanding with the New York State Department of Financial Services, which oversees Circle’s New York-regulated operations. The MoU will facilitate cross-border oversight and information exchanges between the two authorities.

USDC is the world’s second-largest stablecoin, with a supply of nearly $73 billion, according to The Block’s data dashboard. Tether’s USDT leads the market with $184 billion in circulation, against a total supply of $294 billion for dollar-pegged stablecoins.

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‘Those f**kers gotta go’: Leftists obsess over causing the deaths of … Republicans’ kids!

Democrats and other leftists have engaged in rhetoric endorsing violence for years now.

The result has been multiple assassination attempts on President Donald Trump, and an urging that people should be aiming pistols at Vice President JD Vance.

That ideology of death now has expanded to target other Republicans and even “their children.”

That’s according to the Cougar Chronicle, in Utah, which obtained a recording of a discussion among members of a group People of Provo Against ICE.

The report confirmed they are “fantasizing about murdering their opposition along with their children.”

The report explained that POPAI conversation participants also discussed allowing conservatives to be re-integrated, through “reeducation.”

“Venna Anne, a woman within POPAI leadership, was discussing her dreams in life. When someone told her ‘You just can’t get away from capitalism,’ she responded with ‘No, unless we kill everybody.’ Ashton Hirschi, also in POPAI leadership, told her that they only needed to kill ‘some’ people, initially settling on ‘500.’ Venna said that ‘You also have to kill their children and their [line of succession],'” the report documented.

And, “Ashton conceded the point and said ‘We need to get the politicians.’ When asked if ICE could integrate back into society, Ashton said ‘If you’re talking about politicians or billionaires? No. Those f**kers gotta go. Period and point blank.’ On ‘counter-revolutionaries or MAGA people,’ Ashton said that ‘There’s a possibility for reintegration [into society]. It would have to come through reeducation.'”

A previous audio obtained by the Cougar Chronicle, the publication explained, showed “SDS UVU leader Collin Grannis’s intentions of making it ‘as uncomfortable as possible for people to get in’ to TPUSA’s Charlie Kirk memorial event, was posted to X.”

POPAI’s messaging also allegedly has included “Shoot Trump” stickers.

“On October 15, an article identifying David Chappell, Democratic candidate for Utah House District 62, as a member of POPAI was published,” the report said. “As of the time of writing, Chappell has refused to disavow POPAI… ‘

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Don’t Pretend the ‘War on Drugs’ Has Anything to Do With Fighting Drugs

Addressing the UN General Assembly in September, Donald Trump gloated about his strategy toward “narcoterrorist” cartels, the menace du jour in the United States’ self-declared backyard. Pulling numbers out of his ass per usual, Trump claimed that the manic bombing campaign against alleged seafaring narcoterrorists (read: fishermen) in Central and South America has cut maritime drug trafficking by 97%, and called drug cartels the “ISIS of the Western Hemisphere.”

While it was by no means the president’s intention, he accidentally hit the nail on the head with the ISIS comparison. Both the Islamic State and Latin American drug trafficking outfits are a direct result of US policy—as well as a convenient excuse for the Americans to continue terrorizing people under the pretext of combating the very phenomena they caused in the first place. Just as ISIS owes its origins to the US invasion of Iraq, drug traffickers wouldn’t be in big business if not for—what else?—the US’s so-called “war on drugs” that renders the international movement of illicit substances so lucrative.

This year, the Trump administration has significantly ramped up its drug war beyond just randomly blowing people up in the ocean. In August, the Associated Press (8/17/26) reported on the government’s plans to expand operations to terra firma, quoting Secretary of War Pete Hegseth:

It will be “like you saw with the strikes on the drug boats,” Hegseth said during a military drill in the jungle in Panama. “Same effect on land.”

But since there are generally more people on land than in the middle of the sea, there will no doubt be far greater opportunities for extrajudicial execution in this new terrestrial phase of operations.

The escalated campaign takes place against the backdrop of the US-led “Shield of the Americas,” a hemispheric “anti-cartel coalition” inaugurated in March that now boasts the participation of 19 countries. Ecuador has been among the most gung-ho about joining forces with the US to launch “anti-cartel” raids, with such impressive feats to show for it as the joint bombing of a drug trafficking compound that turned out to be a dairy farm.

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Google Didn’t Invent This Racial Double Standard, but It Learned It

I stumbled upon a video where a conservative podcaster asked Google about racial preferences in choosing a doctor and received wildly different responses when she asked if it was okay to prefer a white doctor. Rather than take her word for it, I tried it myself to see if I had a similar experience.

I asked Google, “Is it okay to prefer a black doctor?” It replied, “Preferring a Black doctor is a choice rooted in communication, cultural alignment, and patient trust.” Yep, it went there with the capitalization of “black,” too.

Next, I asked, “Is it okay to prefer a Latino doctor?” The reply I received was, “Selecting a doctor who shares your background or speaks your language is a personal choice that many patients make for comfort and communication.”

When I asked, “Is it okay to prefer a white doctor?” I got this response: “Selecting a doctor based on race involves distinct ethical considerations depending on the context. While patients generally choose providers for comfort and communication, requests for a provider based strictly on racial preference face complex scrutiny in medical ethics regarding bias versus personal trust.”

In other words, asking for a minority doctor is understandable, particularly in terms of “cultural alignment” or looking for a doctor who “shares your background or speaks your language.” But ask about a white doctor, and you get a lecture on “ethical considerations” and “bias.”

I asked the same question with religious framing. A Muslim doctor could be a good choice for “communication comfort, shared values, and modesty considerations.” Choosing a Jewish doctor “involves considerations of personal comfort, communication, and shared life experiences.” Likewise, seeking out a Christian doctor “is a personal choice that many patients make to align their healthcare with their shared religious values and worldview.” So the bias isn’t there when it comes to faith.

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OpenAI says its AI agents disabled their own safety monitors

OpenAI has revealed that two of its artificial intelligence agents disabled or weakened systems built to catch them misbehaving, with one later denying it had done so.

The cases are the latest in a string of safety scares at the world’s top AI developers involving agents, AI programs that carry out tasks without human involvement.

In a report released Tuesday, the ChatGPT maker said that during two internal coding jobs, its agents switched off or undermined tools for detecting incidents of AI models acting against human wishes.

On October 3, an agent running on OpenAI’s GPT-6.1 Sol model, which had been told not to send any messages on the workplace chat app, took that as license to switch off safety alerts meant for the company’s security team while fixing a testing system.

Three days later, a GPT-6 Astra agent stripped out its own monitor while copying code from another project, then told the human programmer it had done no such thing.

The company said it had also seen several cases of agents launching software with monitoring switched off, exposing a gap in its oversight.

OpenAI said it is still trying to determine whether the models were simply overzealous in following instructions or have a particular tendency to evade monitoring.

“We don’t yet have a satisfying explanation for this behavior,” it said.

The disclosure adds to mounting unease over how well leading labs can control increasingly autonomous systems.

In July, a group of OpenAI agents broke out of their test environments and launched a cyberattack on AI firm Hugging Face, causing international alarm. Other companies have since reported similar incidents.

The incidents have fueled calls in the United States and abroad for tighter oversight of AI development.

But US President Donald Trump, under the advice of top AI executives like Nvidia chief Jensen Huang, has urged the industry to police itself.

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‘Gun Death’ Rate Leaves The Trace at a Loss for Reasons Why

So-called gun violence is always going to be a major talking point, even though it’s down across the board. This is obviously good news, and I think we all have a good idea why that is.

While I can’t prove that it was because of the Bruen decision, the drop disproves a lot of anti-gun talking points, and while I’d put money on the decision being the reason for that drop, intellectual honesty precludes me from declaring it outright.

That’s because, as we all know, correlation doesn’t equal causation.

Again, though, we’ve got a pretty good idea. For folks at The Trace, this is apparently some kind of mystery.

On its own, the third quarter recorded 3,301 shooting deaths, the lowest figure in over a decade of GVA data for the three-month stretch.

Why are we seeing this decline? A recent report from the Council on Criminal Justice surveyed four dozen scholars on the crime decline in recent years. It found no single cause, but broad agreement that a range of factors — including the end of the pandemic, community violence intervention work, and focused deterrence from law enforcement and social services — each played a role.

There are important caveats with the shooting data. GVA does not capture every shooting. It can enter or update data on shootings weeks or months after they happen. (These numbers were pulled from GVA on October 13.) It also does not track gun suicides, which represent two-thirds of all shooting deaths. Still, GVA maintains the most complete, timely information available.

The limitations they mention are very real, because GVA just uses news reports. However, that fact is part of why it’s not a complete, timely source of information.

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Germany plans to force social media platforms to fill 20% of algorithmic recommendations with ‘state-approved’ content

Germany’s federal states are proposing that social media platforms reserve at least 20 percent of algorithmic recommendations for content from a pool of approved media outlets deemed important for opinion diversity, according to a draft under public consultation. The proposed measure is already being slammed as a state-mandated propaganda effort that would force German citizens to view content friendly to the ruling establishment parties.

The measure is part of the second stage of a planned Digital Media State Treaty developed by the Broadcasting Commission of the Federal States. Under the draft, public broadcasters such as ARD, ZDF and Deutschland Radio would automatically qualify for certain offerings.

Meanwhile, private outlets would generally need to apply and demonstrate that they meet criteria including news and political reporting, information and educational content, documentaries, local or regional coverage, original journalistic production, editorial staffing and accessibility standards. Approvals would be decided by the 14 state media authorities.

In other words, the state wants to control what people are seeing in their feeds.

As the Berliner Zeitung reports, the media law involves “media quotas with an advantage for ARD and ZDF,” which are two state broadcasters that already have a massive advantage over private competitors. Both outlets, which are notoriously in favor of mass migration and known for their anti-AfD bias, and which employ virtually all left-wing journalists, are already known for not playing on a level playing field.

Austrian remigration activist Martin Sellner, along with other right-leaning accounts, already are warning about the new plans.

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Johnson budget spends and taxes more

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2027 budget proposal includes a new package tax, a new tax on large employers and several tax increases.

Johnson introduced his $17.6 billion spending plan on Wednesday, up from $16.7 billion this year.

The mayor said his budget ensures that every Chicagoan receives their fair share of the city’s investments, services and opportunities.

“Funded by responsible spending cuts that protect essential services and by asking the wealthy and the largest corporations in this city to pay their fair share,” Johnson said.

The budget includes a 15-cent tax on non-medical and non-food containers and packages, plus a $25 per employee monthly tax on large businesses outside of socioeconomically disadvantaged areas.

The mayor’s office said the Equitable Employer Tax would bring in an estimated $113.8 million. The tax would fall on companies with 125 full-time employees or more. Johnson’s budget says that it impact 3% of the city’s registered businesses.

Last month, a group of 29 Chicago aldermen advised the mayor they would work on a budget that includes no head tax or tax on employers.

“If we can show the public that we’re being good fiscal stewards and looking at what the right size of government should be, creating technology efficiencies and then looking at revenue last, I think that’s a better narrative versus what this mayor is proposing,” Alderman Gilbert Villegas told The Center Square.

Aldermen rejected Johnson’s head tax proposal last year and passed an alternative budget, which the mayor allowed to take effect without his signature or veto.

Johnson’s new budget raises the Personal Property Lease Transaction tax from 15% to 20% and the sports wagering tax from 10.25% to 20%.

The PPLT tax hike is projected to raise an additional $234 million and the betting tax hike is expected to bring in an extra $37 million.

Illinois Hotel & Lodging CEO Michael Jacobson said Johnson’s proposed head tax, PPLT increase and liquor tax increase would add to rising cost burdens for hotels and businesses.

“City leaders must reject these proposals and pursue a budget that supports local businesses,” Jacobson said in a statement.

The spending plan calls for using $42.9 million in tax increment financing surplus and $37.7 million in catalyst fund revenue.

The mayor touted a $30.9 million subsidy to Chicago Public Libraries and prioritized funding for community violence intervention.

“We are making a historic $40.6 million investment in CVI, activating 390 street outreach workers and 800 peacekeepers,” Johnson said.

The mayor also called for the permanent establishment of the Department of Community Wellness and Safety.

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LA family slapped with shocking $10K water bill after nearby fire hydrant repairs

A Los Angeles homeowner is demanding answers after getting hit with a jaw-dropping water bill — and he suspects a nearby fire hydrant may be to blame.

Joshua Ward, whose family has lived for two generations at their home near Sunland Boulevard and Wornom Avenue, said he’s never seen anything close to the $10,000 charge.

Even during last year’s summer heat, Ward’s water bill averaged about $1,400. In April, it was $765, and by June, it had dropped to roughly $640.

He believes a nearby fire hydrant repair may have sent his latest bill through the roof.

Neighbors confirmed the water had been shut off several times during the work as the hydrant was moved farther up the street.

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