Friday, July 3, 2026
Largest US power grid PJM escalates emergency actions to avoid blackouts
Largest U.S. power grid operator PJM said on Friday it was under a federal alert to cut electricity consumption across its territory as it battled generator outages, massive overloading on its transmission lines and a surge in air conditioning use from prolonged sweltering heat.
PJM said it told utilities to reduce electricity to customers who are under contract to reduce consumption during emergencies. PJM serves 67 million people in the Mid-Atlantic, South and Washington, D.C., area.
Spot wholesale electricity prices in northern Virginia, home to the largest collection of data centers in the world, have surged beyond $2,000 per megawatt hour this week. That compares to about $40 per MWh when PJM is not in distress.
The surge in prices is mostly because it has become expensive to provide power across congested high-voltage power lines, according to industry analysts and PJM's operations data.
https://www.aol.com/articles/largest-us-power-grid-pjm-184550000.html
U.S. stocks have delivered 8.7% a year since independence was declared in 1776
What 250 years of independence have meant for investors in the U.S.
With the U.S. celebrating a quarter of a millennium as an independent republic, Bank of America has looked at its record of economic growth and its returns for investors. The results are impressive.
Michael Hartnett devoted most of his weekly "Flow Show" strategy note to assessing America's track record and calculated that over this expansive time frame U.S. stocks have delivered an annualized return of 8.7% while GDP has averaged 6%, inflation 2.5% and 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds BX:TMUBMUSD10Y have offered investors 5.1% annually.
U.S. stock prices since independence.
In comparing those statistics with those of its former colonial overlord, Hartnett, Bank of America's chief equity strategist, found an emphatic stateside outperformance on almost all fronts. Population growth of 2% per annum in the U.S. far outstrips the 0.8% of the United Kingdom, while the U.S.'s real GDP is substantially higher at 3.6% versus 2.1%.
U.S. vs. U.K. nominal GDP since American independence.
The superior returns of what Hartnett calls the "red, white and boom," compared with Britain, is all the more startling considering that nearly all of that came in the past century and a half. Until the railroad boom of the 18th century's second half, the U.S. was actually lagging the U.K., owing to major panics in 1819 and 1837.
OPEC Oil Production Jumps, But Gulf Supply Is Still Far From Normal
OPEC's oil production rebounded sharply in June as Gulf producers finally began bringing shut-in barrels back online after months of war-induced disruptions. But despite the impressive headline number, the cartel is still pumping nowhere near where it was before the Strait of Hormuz crisis turned Middle East oil flows upside down.
According to Reuters' monthly survey, the 11 OPEC members produced 19.43 million barrels per day in June, up 3.3 million bpd from May, when output plunged to the lowest level recorded by the survey since at least 2000.
The biggest gains came from Kuwait and Iran. Tehran was able to restore production after the United States lifted its naval blockade of Iranian ports under last month's 60-day agreement, while Gulf producers gradually restarted wells that had been shut as storage filled and tanker traffic through Hormuz ground to a halt.
Saudi Arabia and Iraq also boosted output, while Nigeria and Libya posted smaller increases despite avoiding the worst of the Gulf disruptions.
The rebound, however, shouldn't be mistaken for a return to normal.
Production remains well below OPEC's collective quotas, and much of the recent recovery reflects producers simply restarting volumes they were forced to shut in rather than adding new supply. Tanker traffic through Hormuz remains well below pre-war levels, and insurers and shipowners are still approaching the waterway with caution after repeated attacks on commercial vessels.
That reality helps explain why OPEC+'s repeated production quota increases have had little immediate impact on actual supply. The group has announced several quota hikes since the Iran war began, but until recently, there simply wasn't enough export capacity to move the extra barrels.
Meanwhile, another challenge is emerging.
The United States has just posted record crude production of nearly 14 million barrels per day, while the UAE—now outside OPEC—is exporting record volumes of its own as it empties storage built up during the conflict. Together, those developments are fueling renewed talk of oversupply and keeping pressure on crude prices.
"You Cannot Kill The Beast Until You Name It": Dem Pol Denounces Declaration Of Independence
Pennsylvania state and socialist Chris Rabb, the Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District, has joined the growing chorus of Democrats denouncing the founding documents and core institutions in the country on our 250th anniversary.
The Democratic socialist is running unopposed for Congress and will almost certainly be a member of Congress after November.
Rabb spoke at an event billed as “America at 250 — Trump Fascism, Historical Erasure, and the Battle Over Truth” at People’s Plaza on Independence Mall in Philadelphia.
He denounced the country as based on “stolen land and stolen labor.”
He lashed out at the Declaration of Independence:
“Those screeds that were very lofty but were notoriously catering to a performative aspect of collective genius that purposely erased indigenous and black peoples…It created distance from an empire to help very privileged people continue that privilege and ultimately institutionalize that through the U.S. Constitution many years later. But it certainly did not provide independence to indigenous and black peoples. And we cannot talk about anything today without acknowledging that this is a nation born on stolen land & stolen labor.”
It is entirely appropriate to raise the inherent conflict in the words of the Declaration and the continuation of slavery. In Rage and the Republic, I discuss the inherent hypocrisy of our Declaration in declaring natural rights without denouncing the enslaving of so many in the country:
“The Founders understood that inescapable truth of natural law when they signed a Declaration that ‘all men are created equal.’ Despite this defining line, even some who opposed slavery saw little hope for a revolution that would seek to overthrow both the monarchy and slavery. Jefferson would have to make the concession in striking critical language from his draft. While Jefferson’s legacy would be forever stained by his own maintenance of slaves, he did attempt to condemn the institution of slavery. He was rebuffed by his fellow delegates who were willing to acknowledge the existence of a natural law while ignoring its implications for the enslaved people in the new nation.”
Rabb goes further than raising the inherent conflict with slavery and suggests that our system is inherently fascistic and not worthy of celebration for the ideals that it articulated for a new nation.
He ignores how the Declaration laid the foundation for a more perfect union. Ours was the first major Enlightenment Revolution based on the belief that our rights came not from the government but from God. It embraced the principles that would ultimately prevail in ending this shameful stain on our nation.
“Fascism is not new. These systems of harm are built into the very fabric of this nation,..You cannot kill the beast until you name it. And that is difficult for many people who want to embrace certain tropes, certain narratives, whether it’s the American dream or American exceptionalism or the Protestant work ethic or so many other myths that do us no — they are a disservice.”
Rabb is not the first figure on the far left to denounce the “American dream” and “the Protestant work ethic” as harmful “myths.”
He pledged that he would be “one of the few unapologetic reparationists going to Congress,” joining a growing number of Democrats demanding billions in reparations for black Americans.
Many on the left are using the anniversary to condemn our founding principles or to decline to celebrate our Independence Day. This includes such demonstrations in states such as Massachusetts, which declined to join the celebration on the Mall for the 250th anniversary.
Recently, we discussed how a Massachusetts church ended the long-standing celebration of the Fourth of July to focus on the “on-going process within the congregation to better understand our own whiteness.”
John Adams once wrote his wife Abigail to predict that Independence Day would be:
“celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.”
Adams was virulently opposed to slavery as were many of the Founders. Many openly discussed their hope that the new nation would address slavery after it succeeded in establishing its independence. Those lofty values were ultimately realized at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives in the Civil War.
The claim that fascism is a system “built into the very fabric of this nation” is absurd and demagogic. This nation defeated fascism and remains the oldest and most successful republic in history. Indeed, the left is claiming to be fighting fascism while seeking to take over the Supreme Court in a court-packing scheme while limiting such core human rights as free speech.
In “killing the beast,” the far left is threatening to unleash the very forces that destroyed the contemporary revolution in France at the time of our founding.
These voices are not new.
They have been part of this republic — and other republics — throughout history. They are the voices of mobocracy that we rejected 250 years ago. That is precisely why Benjamin Franklin was right that this is, and will remain, our Republic to keep.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the New York Times best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
Israel's envoy slams Guterres for mourning Khamenei
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon criticized UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres after the Iranian Foreign Ministry revealed that he expressed condolences over the death of Iran's slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a call with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
"Mr. Secretary-General @antonioguterres, do you truly believe it is appropriate to mourn Ali Khamenei, a brutal dictator who ordered the murder, torture, and persecution of tens of thousands of innocent Iranians?" Danon said in a post on X.
Earlier today, Khamenei's coffin was placed on public display at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla in Tehran ahead of several days of farewell service. The late supreme leader will be buried on Thursday, July 9, in his hometown of Mashhad.
https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Israel's-envoy-slams-Guterres-for-mourning-Khamenei/66631079
Pulte said to fire dozens of US intelligence officials
United States Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte has started firing intelligence officials whom the administration of President Donald Trump believes are "deep state," MS NOW reported on Friday, citing an intelligence official.
According to the source, dozens of officials have received their termination letters since Thursday.
Pulte, who also serves as Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director, took over the DNI role following the resignation of Tulsi Gabbard in May and was instructed by Trump to begin mass firings. The US president has since nominated former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Jay Clayton to take on the role on a permanent basis.
https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Pulte-said-to-fire-dozens-of-US-intelligence-officials/66631197
Pezeshkian, Medvedev discuss expanding cooperation
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev had a meeting, talking about expanding cooperation, Iran's ISNA reported on Friday.
"We appreciate the supportive positions and sympathy of the Russian government and people. The capacities of Shanghai, BRICS, and Eurasia must be utilized to develop cooperation," Pezeshkian said.
On his part, Medvedev stated that Moscow is "determined to implement the strategic partnership agreement with Iran."
https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Pezeshkian-Medvedev-discuss-expanding-cooperation/66631321
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