Dimon's Dollar Warning, Kamala's Voter ID Confession & Lakers Sold Again

Why does this never happen to us? Construction workers in Belgium ripped into a cellar wall this week expecting pipes and found a chest stuffed with gold worth roughly $9.7 million. An 18-year-old found it on his first week of the job. Meanwhile we're hoping our 401k survives the quarter. Cops have the gold now, nobody knows who it belongs to, and the whole town showed up to dig around the site anyway.

Speaking of things you shouldn't miss: this is the last week of 50% off Full Citizen. Sunday at midnight it's gone. We just wanted to reward the people who showed up early. Lock in the founding rate now and that price is frozen forever. Upgrade here.

Inflation cooled slightly in July, up 3.4% year-over-year, the government's way of saying "still expensive, just less aggressively so." The Fed doesn't meet until September, so they get another month of data before deciding whether to hike. Gas dropped, groceries didn't, and your paycheck still isn't winning this fight.

Fauci's "I never deleted any records" defense is getting harder to sell now that Senators Rand Paul and Ron Johnson say they've got the deleted records. Evidence points to emails and server data wiped at HHS and the CDC during the pandemic response. A contempt referral is already headed to the Justice Department. Convenient memory, inconvenient paper trail.

Wisconsin Democrats just gave their socialist wing a reality check. DSA-backed Francesca Hong lost the governor's primary despite a comfortable polling lead, and her loudest cheerleader, streamer Hasan Piker, responded by warning the party establishment that "the knives will be out." Nothing says unified party like threatening your own leadership on a livestream.

Karoline Leavitt is stepping down as White House Press Secretary at the end of August to spend more time with her kids. CNN's Scott Jennings is reportedly the frontrunner to replace her, dodging the question twice while showering her with praise. When you won't say no, you've basically said yes.

The federal government blew through $432.3 billion in July alone, the biggest monthly deficit since March 2021. Medicare led the spending spree at $174 billion, with Social Security and debt interest close behind. Ten months into the fiscal year, we're already north of $1.79 trillion in red ink, more than all of last year's deficit, with two months still left on the clock.

Consumer prices rose 0.1% in July, right in line with expectations, keeping annual inflation at 3.4%. Strip out food and energy and it's up 2.5% for the year. Nothing shocking, which on Wall Street counts as a win.

Meanwhile, the people betting against SpaceX are getting wiped out. Short interest collapsed to 11% this week from a peak of 34% just seven days ago, as the stock ripped more than 40% off its early-August low. Bears are closing positions and running out of ammo, while a fresh wave of shares hitting the market didn't slow the rally one bit. Turns out betting against Elon is still a coin flip nobody wants to call.

Mark Walter's run as Lakers owner lasted less than a year. He bought majority control last October at a $10 billion valuation, and this week sold to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner for $12.5 billion, a record for any sports franchise. A $2.5 billion profit in ten months, better than anything else in your portfolio.

Tesla is dropping $10.1 billion on a new solar cell factory outside Houston, dubbed Project Crystal Sun, because apparently even factories need a brand now.

Novo Nordisk's CEO says the weight-loss drug boom is just getting started, with tens of millions of Americans still eligible for treatment. Buckle up.

Bank of America is putting $250 billion behind American infrastructure over the next 18 months, targeting data centers, power grids, chips, and transportation. Someone's finally betting real money on keeping the lights on.

And Kroger has quietly closed at least three dozen stores this year as part of a plan to shutter 60 underperforming locations by year's end. No fanfare, just fewer grocery aisles in towns that already don't have many left.

Last Week:

Last week, 64% of you said America is sliding toward dangerous ground with socialist politicians gaining real power. That debate hasn't stopped in our office all week, which brings us to this one.

This Week:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just became the frontrunner to be the next Democratic presidential nominee, leading early polling and prediction markets. Yes, the bartender-turned-Congresswoman from the Bronx is currently ahead of Buttigieg, Newsom, and Kamala Harris.

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Winners:

A Powerball Player in Illinois — Turned a $2 ticket into a $1.04 billion jackpot, the eighth-largest in Powerball history. Gas station coffee just got a lot more interesting.

Anti-Woke Banking — JPMorgan, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo have all ditched the Net Zero Banking Alliance. The climate pledge era on Wall Street is over.

Losers:

A Family of Four in Wyoming — Allegedly ate $130 worth of food at Sweet Zoey Mediterranean in Casper, then bolted out the door together. The owner skipped the cops and posted their photo on Facebook instead.

Anyone Swimming in a Florida River Right Now — A woman lost her right arm after a nearly 10-foot alligator dragged her underwater on the Silver River near Ocala. A boater raced in and scared it off, saving her life. Florida's freshwater is not a pool.

Steven Crowder lays out what's on the table if people vote Democrat in 2026. Watch below and tell us: does he nail it, or is he missing something?

Kevin Rideout, a missionary pilot with 19 years flying humanitarian missions across West Africa, was kidnapped outside his home in Niger's capital last October by armed men who fled toward ISIS and al-Qaeda territory. Nine months of near silence followed, broken only by proof-of-life photos. This week he was released into US custody, in good health, and headed home. How he got out remains unclear.

Translation: Sometimes the good news is just good news.

The Justice Department charged 11 people this week for running a decade-long scheme that arranged more than 1,000 sham marriages, pairing mostly Chinese nationals with US citizens for cash. Foreign nationals paid up to $100,000 a pop, US citizens got up to $30,000 to play along, and staged wedding ceremonies came complete with photographers, traditional attire, and rented family members. Prosecutors say the network stretched from New York to Vanuatu and pulled in tens of millions of dollars before anyone noticed the "marriages" all had a prenup that said the couple would never actually live together.

Translation: Nothing says "till death do us part" like a $100,000 invoice and a mutual agreement to never speak again.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says the dollar's reign as reserve currency isn't guaranteed, and it hinges on America staying the strongest military and economic power on earth. He called relying on China for critical materials a mistake and said the Iran war exposed how unprepared the US is to sustain a long fight. The dollar still makes up 57% of global reserves, down from 70% at the turn of the century.

Translation: No army, no economy, no dollar. Pick your priorities accordingly.

Kamala Harris posted a video warning the SAVE Act would force voters to "prove who you are," meant as a warning about voter suppression. Conservatives heard something else: a straightforward case for why the bill makes sense. Trump reposted the clip himself, and one commentator dubbed her an "incredible SAVE America Act saleswoman."

Translation: When your attack ad doubles as their commercial, it's time for new writers.

Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed insisted for weeks he wasn't a socialist, then undercut himself on Meet the Press. Asked if his healthcare plan would raise taxes, he pivoted to billionaires, but when pushed on people earning under a million, he didn't say no. Instead he called it "a trade worth making." That's not a denial. That's a confession with better branding.

Translation: "A little bit more in taxes" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, Doctor.

Starting August 25, elite flyers booked in economy on select transcontinental and Hawaii routes will only clear into premium economy instead of business class, ending the direct jump they've relied on for years. American's calling it a new perk. Loyal flyers are calling it what it is: a downgrade with better marketing.

Translation: Nothing says "loyalty reward" like paying more to get less than you used to.

Kansas just became the 33rd state to ban cellphones in K-12 schools all day, first bell to last. Governor Laura Kelly signed the bipartisan bill back in March, and this fall schools actually have to enforce it. Phones, smartwatches, tablets, and headphones get locked away at the door and handed back at dismissal.

Translation: An entire generation is about to remember what boredom feels like.

A new study from Just Facts tested ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, and Claude on 100 questions built to trigger falsehoods from both sides. Three of the four bots caught right-leaning falsehoods at a noticeably higher rate than left-leaning ones, ChatGPT hit 94% on the right but just 75% on the left. Grok skewed the opposite way. Researchers also found the bots frequently cited sources that didn't say what they claimed, or didn't exist.

Translation: Ask a robot who's lying, and it turns out the robot has a side too.

For the third time in US history, women now outnumber men in the American workforce, and economists say this time it's not bouncing back. The last two times were temporary blips during the Great Recession and pre-COVID. This time it's structural: healthcare and caregiving jobs are booming while manufacturing keeps shedding workers, and men aren't following. Women picked up two-thirds of all new jobs added over the past two years. Meanwhile, researchers found young men who aren't working are spending most of that time gaming.

Translation: Somewhere out there, a woman is paying rent for a guy who just hit level 80.

A $9.1 million superyacht sank off Sardinia just four days after being handed over to its new owner. An engine fire damaged the hull seals, letting seawater flood in until the 98-foot vessel rolled over and went under. All 14 aboard got out safely, with the owner reportedly last off the boat. A 200-ton pontoon is now being brought in just to fish it back out.

Translation: That's a hell of an expensive way to test the warranty.

Love him or hate him, Musk moves markets. His next launch hits July 22, and the smart money is already positioning. Our analyst found 3 stocks set to ride it — with entry points and a buy/sell playbook.

Show Me the 3 Stocks

FOMC Minutes Released
August 19
The Federal Reserve releases minutes from its July meeting, offering a closer look at how divided officials are on the next rate move.
Why You Should Care: This is the clearest signal yet on whether your mortgage and credit card rates are heading up, down, or nowhere at all.

Walmart Q2 Earnings
August 20
Walmart reports second-quarter results before the opening bell, with analysts expecting a solid beat.
Why You Should Care: Walmart's the biggest retailer in the country. If shoppers are pulling back, this is where it shows up first.

Florida & Alaska Primaries
August 18
Both states hold primary elections, including Florida's closed statewide primary and Alaska's Senate race between incumbent Dan Sullivan and Mary Peltola.
Why You Should Care: A preview of midterm energy in two very different political landscapes, three months before the general election decides who controls Congress.

Here's the question nobody in the WNBA seems willing to answer: how would they even know? The league insists no transgender woman has ever played, but that claim rests on nothing. There's no testing, no verification, no documentation requirement of any kind. "It's never happened" isn't a fact the WNBA has checked. It's an assumption nobody's ever been forced to test, because until now, nobody tried.

That changed fast. It started when Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham said publicly that men shouldn't be playing in women's sports, and instead of a shrug, she got treated like she'd said something dangerous. Days later, former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White formally declared for the WNBA draft, citing the league's own rulebook right back at it. Their argument: the collective bargaining agreement says "only women" are eligible but never defines what that means, so if self-identification is really the standard, they qualify. Royce even debuted a wig and called it his "feminine era." What started as a stunt turned into a national spectacle within days, protests outside arenas, a suspended team owner, players publicly splitting on the issue.

Now the league has a decision it can't keep punting on. Either it writes down an actual, enforceable definition of who's eligible to play, biology, documentation, something concrete, or it leaves the current language vague and hands every future challenger the exact same opening Kanter and White just used.

The stakes here go well past two guys in a wig making a point. Define eligibility by biology and the WNBA opens itself to accusations of caving to political pressure. Leave the door open to self-identification and it's handed a blueprint for anyone who wants to challenge the integrity of women's sports going forward, something two men just proved takes little more than a formal letter and a good lawyer. Either path invites a lawsuit. The only thing that doesn't survive is more silence, because a league that can't say who's allowed to compete in it isn't just avoiding a hard question. It's admitting it never had an answer in the first place.

We want to hear it.

Agree, disagree, think we're dead wrong, think we didn't go far enough, doesn't matter. Drop it in the comments, hit reply, tell us straight. This isn't a safe space and it was never meant to be one. Common sense gets sharper when it gets pushed back on, so push back. Debate is the whole point. Bring it.