California’s average gas price reached $6.165 per gallon this morning, the highest in the country.

The spike is driven by refinery maintenance and lower supply from the Gulf.

Some stations in the Bay Area and Los Angeles are charging over $6.50.

Drivers are reporting longer lines at cheaper stations.

This is adding pressure on households already dealing with high housing costs.

The gap with the national average continues to widen.

 https://citizenwatchreport.com/california-gas-hits-6-165-a-gallon-and-some-stations-are-already-above-6-50-widening-the-gap-with-the-national-average-again/

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California Rep Kevin Kiley says they have learned the $100 million dollar pacific palisades Fire Aid concert money was laundered to nonprofits

 “What we have learned is absolutely beyond belief — Tens of thousands of people donated raising a hundred million dollars for what they was were told was direct relief for the victims. But now we've learned that this money didn't go to the victims at all. Instead, it went to nonprofits”

 Here are some examples

 - CA Native Vote Project: $100,000 for voter participation for Native Americans

- Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE): $250,000 for programs prioritizing undocumented immigrants

- Altadena Talks Foundation: $100,000 went to supported podcasts, including Toni Raines podcast

- NAACP Pasadena: $100,000 political advocacy

- Los Angeles Black Worker Center $550,000 to political advocacy organizations

- Center for Applied Ecological Remediation: $500,000 for fungus/microbe/plant soil remediation projects

 Over $500,000 went to bonuses for nonprofit leaders and consultants

https://citizenwatchreport.com/california-fire-relief-concert-raises-100-million-then-gets-laundered-straight-to-nonprofits/

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1.3 million non-citizens rake in SNAP benefits while Americans foot the bil

  Taxpayers are literally buying groceries for people who aren’t even supposed to be here while their own kids wait in line at food banks.

 https://citizenwatchreport.com/1-3-million-non-citizens-rake-in-snap-benefits-while-americans-foot-the-bill/

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Saudi Arabia and Kuwait lift restrictions on US military use of their bases & airspace. US now considers restarting ‘Project Freedom’ effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz this week, WSJ reports.

 https://citizenwatchreport.com/just-in-saudi-arabia-and-kuwait-lift-restrictions-on-us-military-use-of-their-bases-airspace-us-now-considers-restarting-project-freedom-effort-to-reopen-the-strait-of-hormuz-this-week-wsj-re/

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Milken elite bask in “blissful ignorance” as markets ignore the war

Financial titans at the Milken Institute conference describe a “weird” schism between records and reality…

While the Middle East burns, the global elite at the Peninsula and Maybourne focus on AI and IPO exits…

Goldman Sachs partners report “a lot of chatter” regarding private equity firms restarting the dealmaking engine…

European fund managers express “healthy skepticism,” noting the U.S. is shielded from the conflict’s energy shock…

 The stock market “doesn’t care about the war” as long as the AI semiconductor trade continues to print 

Analysts warn that “narrow breadth” is signaling a major drawdown risk for the S&P 500 in the near term…

Enthusiasm is high, but the “blissful ignorance” is getting expensive.

 https://citizenwatchreport.com/milken-elite-bask-in-blissful-ignorance-as-markets-ignore-the-war/

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UK Nurseries Urged To Report 'Racist' Toddlers To Police In £1.3M Scheme

Utter stupidity

 https://www.zerohedge.com/political/uk-nurseries-urged-report-racist-toddlers-police-ps13m-scheme

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Baltic States Warn Of Unfunded Debt Surge For Europe's Defense Splurge

The math simply does not add up...

 https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/baltic-states-warn-unfunded-debt-surge-europes-defense-splurge

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Political Warfare? Advocacy Group With Ties To Lefty Unions Targets SpaceX IPO

The SOC Investment Group is a union-aligned shareholder advocacy organization formerly known as CtW Investment Group. It works with union-sponsored pension funds to mount pressure campaigns against public companies.

SOC's latest pressure campaign appears to target Elon Musk's SpaceX in an attempt to delay or derail the upcoming IPO.

The union-affiliated pension fund adviser, linked to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) - a labor union that has supported the left-wing, billionaire-funded "No Kings" protest against President Trump...

 ... has asked regulators to review the accuracy and reliability of SpaceX's financials, ensure auditor independence, and examine accounting around transactions with other Elon Musk-linked companies, including xAI and Tesla.

 https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/political-warfare-advocacy-group-ties-lefty-unions-flags-spacex

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Farage's Reform UK Storms To Historic Gains In Local Elections As Labour Collapses

Reform UK is on track for historic gains in the 2026 UK local elections - seizing hundreds of seats in the early counts while Labour and the Conservatives suffer heavy defeats across England.

Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, celebrated huge gains in England’s local elections on May 1 (Press Association via AP Images)With results from 39 of 136 councils declared overnight (roughly 28% of the vote counted), Reform UK has already gained over 300 seats - a remarkable surge for a party that had almost no local presence just a few years ago.

  The scale of Labour’s collapse is stark. In areas where the party was defending seats, it has retained only 23% so far. One senior Conservative commentator noted on X that Labour is “currently losing 84% of the seats they are defending.”

Labour has already lost control of at least five councils, including long-held northern strongholds. Tameside fell after 47 years of Labour rule. Heavy losses were also recorded in Halton, Hartlepool, Redditch and Tamworth, with Reform UK making major inroads in former Labour heartlands across the North and Midlands.

Birmingham on the Brink of a Reform Takeover?Nowhere is the drama more intense than in Birmingham, where all 101 council seats are up for election. Pre-poll surveys had Reform UK as the largest party or very close to it, with some projections putting them on 47 seats - just short of an outright majority.

A widely shared post on X claimed Reform UK is “tipped to take control of Birmingham City Council in what could become one of the biggest political upsets in modern British politics.” Local issues including a prolonged bin strike and council finances have dominated the campaign. Results from Britain’s second city are expected later today.

RFM: 1,580 (+1,580)

LDM: 950 (+286)

LAB: 941 (-1,597)

CON: 572 (-631)

GRN: 503 (+344)

INDP: 213 (-102)

MUSLIM INDP: 208 (+177)  (NOTE THE MOST EXPLOSIVE GROWTH WAS FOR A MUSLIM PARTY.)

 https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/farages-reform-uk-storms-historic-gains-2026-local-elections-labour-suffers

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BlackRock Private Credit Fund Cuts Asset Values By 5%, As Golub Gates After 8.5% Redemptions

Just another day in private credit paradise... er, hell. (LOTS OF UNREALIZED LOSSES ON THE BOOKS EVERYWHERE, NOT JUST IN BANKS.

DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE BANKERS LOSING MONEY. YOU WILL PAY FOR IT THROUGH INFLATION)

 https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/blackrock-private-credit-fund-cuts-asset-values-5-golub-gates-after-85-redemptions

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Pastor: U.S. Intel Warned Christian Leaders That Trump's "Alien Files" Release Could Shatter Beliefs

Zero-Point energy? Hologram theory? Consciousness is actually remote controlling our bodies via quantum microtubules in our squishy brains? How about all those dead scientists? Whatever reality is, the steady drumbeat of UFO 'disclosures' now apparently includes religious leaders, who are being 'read in' on some plan for a 2027 disclosure. Maybe project Blue Beam is ready for prime time...

 Perry Stone, an influential pastor and author based in Tennessee, claimed that U.S. intelligence officials told Christian leaders to brace their congregations for the federal government’s imminent disclosures regarding extraterrestrial beings, warning that the shocking findings could shake the foundation of their faith.

In a recent video, Stone alleged that the pastors were briefed on unidentified flying objects and so-called “reptilians” in the possession of the government. The claim follows President Trump’s order directing the Pentagon and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to release all information the government possesses on aliens.

"You're going to have people who are going to say if there are galaxies and there are allegedly other creations in the galaxies, then the whole creation story is a myth, and you're going to have people that's going to apostatize and turn from the Christian faith because they have no answer for what they're about to hear,’ Stone said.

 https://www.zerohedge.com/political/pastor-us-intel-warned-christian-leaders-trumps-alien-files-release-could-shatter-beliefs

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 Saudi Arabia's $1Tn Wealth Fund Opens Shanghai Office As China Ties Deepen

"The economic gravity pointed toward yuan while the currency arrangement pointed toward dollars."

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/saudi-arabias-1tn-wealth-fund-opens-shanghai-office-china-ties-deepen

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