economics

Trade Thaw: US Lifts Curbs On Ethane & Chip Design Software Exports To China

With just six days until President Trump’s ‘reciprocal’ tariff pause ends worldwide, the Trump administration is accelerating efforts to secure trade deals with key countries. On Wednesday, Trump signed a new trade agreement with Vietnam, and emerging headlines in financial corporate media only suggest negotiations with China may also be gaining traction. 

The first encouraging sign comes from a Bloomberg report stating that the Trump administration rescinded license requirements for ethane exports to China, allowing companies like Enterprise Products Partners and Energy Transfer LP to resume direct shipments without seeking additional approval.

The restrictions, introduced a few months ago, had disrupted US-China petrochemical trade, forcing tankers to reroute or idle. With the rollback, exports are expected to rebound to seasonal levels of 240,000 barrels per day in July. 

In a series of notes, we’ve outlined how American petrochemicals—particularly ethane—are critical to Chinese plastics manufacturers, and how the Trump administration’s export restrictions, used as leverage in the trade war, risked triggering supply shocks (read here) and mass factory shutdowns across China’s industrial base.

With ethane flows set to rebound, another encouraging sign materialized overnight, as reported by Bloomberg in a separate article, the Trump administration lifted export license requirements for U.S. chip design software sales to China. 

The Commerce Department notified top electronic design automation (EDA) software companies — Synopsys, Cadence, and Siemens — that licenses are no longer needed to sell to Chinese clients. Siemens has resumed full service, while Synopsys and Cadence are restarting operations.

The rollback reverses May’s crackdown, which came in response to China’s curbs on rare earth exports. Under the new trade agreement, finalized in London, the U.S. agreed to ease restrictions on EDA software, ethane, and jet engines, contingent on China accelerating export approvals for critical rare earth minerals. 

All of this suggests that the U.S. and China are making progress in trade talks ahead of the July 9 deadline, when Trump’s suspended “reciprocal” tariffs are set to take effect. Hopefully, the Chinese export channel of rare earths can finally reopen for U.S. companies plagued with shortages. 

Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/03/2025 – 07:20…

“Buckle The F**k Up”: Trumpworld Rages At GOP Holdouts After Tax Bill Stalls In House

Update (0018ET): Wednesday night came and went without the House GOP advancing the ‘Big Beautiful Bill Act’ to the floor for debate, after roughly a dozen Republicans stood their ground.  

As such, things have officially gotten ugly – with longtime Trump aides Jason Miller and Chris LaCivita telling the holdouts that they can either vote with Trump, “or you can vote with the Democrats.”

“Buckle the fuck up,” said Miller, adding It’s a binary choice” 

Buckle the fuck up. It’s a binary choice 👇👇👇👇👇 https://t.co/eM7JdBfLb9
— Chris LaCivita (@ChrisLaCivita) July 3, 2025
Top White House aide Stephen Miller, meanwhile, demanded that Republicans “stand with Trump” to show loyalty to the man who had peen persecuted by “the communist left.”

Earlier in the evening, a procedural vote on adopting the rule for floor consideration of the Big Beautiful Bill was open for more than 2.5 hours, as Speaker Mike Johnson scrambled convince the holdouts to vote yes.

Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert indicated she’s sticking with her fellow Freedom Caucus members on any rule vote.

“Not tonight,” she said, before several of the hard-liners huddled again, this time in Johnson’s office. -Politico

Rep. Thomas Massie told the NY Times that he switched his vote to ‘no’ on the rule because if it ends up being the only vote on the BBB, he doesn’t want to be on record as having voted for it.

“If it goes down, I can’t be a yes,” said Massie, who’s been a hard ‘no’ on the bill for weeks. That said, his comments seem to indicate that if his party is able to advance the procedural measure, he’d switch back and support bringing up the bill. 

Needless to say, July 4th looks like a pipe dream from here – then again, we’ve seen these grifting gasbags shake a tail like nobody’s business when vacation is on the line. 

*  *  *

Stay tuned… and maybe buy a hat or our personal favorite Anza knife?

Update (2300ET): A dramatic scene is unfolding on the House floor, as four Republicans have voted ‘nay’ on the Senate-revised version of the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ – when House Speaker Mike Johnson could only afford three.

According to Fox News’ Chad Pergram; ‘A 216-216 tie loses by rule. Dems got all of their members there and stuck together GOP needs to flip 1 mbr so long as other Republicans don’t vote no.’

So now the question is; will someone flip?

FOUR Republicans are voting against the rule vote: Reps. Andrew Clyde, Victoria Spartz, Keith Self, and Brian Fitzpatrick.
The first three often vote against rules, that block moving the bill forward. But Fitzpatrick, a moderate in a district Harris won, is a surprise.
— Marianna Sotomayor (@MariannaReports) July 3, 2025

*  *  *

Update (1450ET): Are we having fun yet? Major divisions within the House threaten to derail the Big Beautiful Bill, with Speaker Mike Johnson struggling to overcome resistance by fiscal conservatives. 

Earlier in the day the House appeared ready to hold a test vote, however several conservative Republicans raised objections – suggesting that Johnson might not have the votes to move forward, given that he can only…

Public Companies Are Buying More Bitcoin Than ETFs For Third Quarter In A Row

Authored by Jenna Montgomery via BitcoinMagazine.com,

Corporate treasuries have surpassed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in Bitcoin accumulation for the third consecutive quarter, according to new data from Bitcoin Treasuries.

Public companies acquired approximately 131,000 BTC in Q2 2025—an 18% increase from the previous quarter—compared to an 8% uptick, or 111,000 BTC, among ETFs. 

“The institutional buyer who is getting exposure to Bitcoin through the ETFs are not buying for the same reason as those public companies who are basically trying to accumulate Bitcoin to increase shareholder value at the end of the day,” said Nick Marie, head of research at Ecoinometrics. 

In April alone, public company holdings rose 4% while ETFs increased just 2%.

“They don’t really care if the price is high or low, they care about growing their Bitcoin treasury so they look more attractive to the proxy buyers,” Marie said.

“It’s not so much driven by the macro trend or the sentiment, it’s for different reasons. So it becomes a different kind of mechanism that can push Bitcoin forward.”  

Despite the surge in corporate adoption, ETFs remain the largest entity holders of Bitcoin, controlling more than 1.4 million BTC—about 6.8% of the fixed supply cap. Public companies now hold around 855,000 BTC, or 4%.  

Some analysts have linked the surge in corporate participation to the favorable policy shift under the Trump administration. In March, Trump signed an executive order for a U.S. Bitcoin reserve, signaling strong federal support for Bitcoin. The last quarter where ETFs led in BTC accumulation was Q3 2024, prior to Trump’s reelection. 

BREAKING: 🇺🇸 President Trump signs executive order officially creating a #Bitcoin Strategic Reserve.pic.twitter.com/MiyTAbRkE2
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) March 7, 2025
Recent moves include GameStop’s entry into Bitcoin holdings, KindlyMD’s merger with David Bailey’s Bitcoin treasury company, Nakamoto, and ProCap’s launch of a Bitcoin treasury strategy ahead of its public debut via SPAC. 

Still leading the pack is Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), which holds 597,000 BTC.

“It’s going to be very hard to catch Strategy’s scale,” said Ben Werkman, CIO at Swan Bitcoin. “They’re going to be the preferred landing spot for institutional capital.” 

Looking ahead, Marie believes the current pace of corporate Bitcoin adoption may not last forever, suggesting this could be a temporary opportunity. “You can think about this wave as a bunch of companies that are trying to benefit from this arbitrage,” he said. 

Still, Werkman sees long-term value in the model. “What people really like about these companies is that they can do something spot Bitcoin holders can’t: go out and accumulate more Bitcoin on your behalf,” he explained. 

Tyler Durden
Wed, 07/02/2025 – 17:40…

California Moves Forward With Higher Marijuana Excise Tax

Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,

Buying legal weed and marijuana products in California will get slightly more expensive starting July 1 after state legislators failed to stop a state excise tax increase on the industry this month.

Effective Tuesday, marijuana retailers will pay 19 percent of gross receipts from cannabis and cannabis product sales—a jump of 4 percentage points.

The excise tax is paid in addition to state sales tax and any city or county taxes applicable to the business’s location.

California Cannabis Industry Attorney Jared Schwass said the decision to move ahead with the tax was “disappointing.”

“California legislators fail to act,” Schwass posted on X last week. “Due to that failure, the California cannabis tax is still on schedule to increase from 15 percent to 19 percent on July 1st. It is disappointing to read that [Sen.] Mike McGuire was against freezing the automatic increase because his constituents, who are already struggling to stay in the regulated market, will feel the pain of this increased tax.”

McGuire, a Democrat from Ukiah in Northern California, is leader of the California State Senate.

The state Assembly unanimously approved Assembly Bill 564 by Assemblyman Matt Haney of San Francisco on June 2. The legislation, as introduced, would have repealed the proposed tax hike. It was amended by lawmakers, however, to delay the implementation until the 2030–2031 fiscal year.

The bill then stalled in a Senate committee this month, and the delay allows the tax hike to kick in.

The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Western States Council applauded the bill’s passage in June.

“California’s plans to raise the cannabis excise tax rate to 19 percent will only increase the number of failed legal cannabis businesses,” UFCW Local 1167 President Joe Duffle said in a statement. “As the leading cannabis union, UFCW sees how difficult it is for businesses that play by the rules.”

Duffle said freezing the cannabis excise tax would give legal cannabis businesses a “fighting chance” to stay afloat in the struggling industry.

“Without this bill, the illicit cannabis industry will only flourish more and keep putting untested, untaxed and unregulated cannabis products into the hands of consumers,” he added.

A baker sells marijuana cookies at the medical marijuana farmers market at the California Heritage Market in Los Angeles on July 11, 2014.  David McNew/Reuters

The California Cannabis Operators Association, the largest industry association in the state, started a petition to urge legislators to pass the bill.

“Sacramento politicians decided that you should now pay 25 percent more in excise taxes on safe and regulated cannabis products at your local dispensary,” the association wrote in the petition. “This short-sighted policy decision will only drive more consumers to the illicit market, accelerate the ongoing market collapse, and (ironically) reduce overall tax revenue, hurting the community programs that rely on these funds.”

The organization said the tax increase falls on consumers and patients at a time when many are struggling with inflation and cost-of-living challenges. The group also said it puts public health and safety at…

Control, Crisis, & Compliance: Endgame Logic Of Late Capitalism

Authored by Colin Todhunter via Off-Guardiam.org,

It must be made clear from the start that, drawing on the work of sociologist Max Weber, capitalism is an ‘ideal type’ concept. An ideal type is a conceptual tool that highlights certain key characteristics of a phenomenon by accentuating some elements while omitting others. It is not meant to perfectly correspond to any specific real-world instance but serves as a construct to analyse and compare social or economic phenomena.

This framing is critical: while capitalism is often described as a system of free markets and voluntary exchange, in reality, it frequently relies on collusion, corruption and state-corporate coercion and violence. Having stated this, as an economic system, capitalism inherently requires constant growth, expanding markets and sufficient demand to sustain profitability.

However, as markets saturate and demand falls, overproduction and overaccumulation of capital become systemic problems, leading to economic crises. When capital cannot be reinvested profitably due to declining demand or lack of new markets, wealth accumulates excessively, devalues and triggers crises. This tendency is linked to a long-term decline in the capitalist rate of profit, which has fallen significantly since the 19th century.

Neoliberalism’s playbook

Capitalism in the form of neoliberal globalisation since the 1980s has responded to these crises by expanding credit markets and increasing personal debt to maintain consumer demand as workers’ wages are squeezed or they are made unemployed.

Other strategies have also been deployed. These include financial and real estate speculation, stock buybacks, massive bailouts, public asset selloffs, regulatory ‘reform’ and subsidies using public money to sustain private capital and boosting militarism, which drives demand in many sectors of the economy (one reason why Germany and other European countries are following in the footsteps of the US by boosting their spending on militarism and creating bogeymen as a justification).

These financial manoeuvres are not isolated tactics but part of a broader neoliberal agenda that also involves deregulating international capital flows and exposure to global capital markets, resulting in the obsession of maintaining ‘market confidence’ to hedge against capital flight and surrendering economic sovereignty to finance capital. We also see the displacement of production in other countries in order to capture foreign markets.

This global expansion of neoliberal capitalism is a form of imperialism, where powerful corporations and financial interests impose structural adjustments and policies that undermine local economies, especially in the Global South. The capture of new markets abroad is essential for capital accumulation and offsetting potential declining profitability at home.

This imperial dynamic is particularly visible in the agricultural sector. For instance, the process involves the destruction of indigenous rural economies, the imposition of chemical-dependent industrial agriculture and transformation of food systems to benefit global agribusiness oligopolies. Think too of the profit-driven technofixes being rolled out by Big Tech and Big Ag: the ultimate commodification and corporate capture of knowledge, seeds, data and so on under the crisis narrative of impending Malthusian catastrophe.

And this alludes to the fact that capital seeks ideological cover for its financial ambitions. The climate…

Productivity Gains From Using AI

As AI tools become increasingly integrated—and in some cases, even mandated—into professional workflows, their real-world impact on productivity is becoming more evident.

This chart, via Visual Capitalist’s Niccolo Conte, compares the average time it takes U.S. adults to complete 18 common work tasks with and without the use of generative AI, based on a December 2024 survey of 4,278 respondents conducted by Stanford University and the World Bank.

Generative AI Improves Productivity by Over 60%

Across all tasks, using generative AI reduced the average time taken to complete them by more than 60%.

Here’s how much time using generative AI saved across 18 common work tasks, in average number of minutes:

Task
Time With GenAI (avg. minutes)
Time Without GenAI (avg. minutes)
Time Reduction
Writing
25
80
-69%
Active Learning
26
76
-66%
Critical Thinking
27
102
-74%
Troubleshooting
28
115
-76%
Judgement and Decision Making
28
79
-65%
Management of Material Resources
28
92
-70%
Mathematics
29
108
-73%
Time Management
29
77
-62%
Complex Problem Solving
30
122
-75%
Instructing
31
93
-67%
Operations Analysis
31
98
-68%
Systems Analysis
31
87
-64%
Managament of Personnel
32
103
-69%
Programming
33
129
-74%
Equipment Maintenance
34
124
-73%
Quality Control Analysis
36
103
-65%
Management of Finances
38
106
-64%
Technology Design
39
142
-73%
Some of the largest gains came from highly technical or analytical tasks. For example, troubleshooting saw a 76% reduction in time, while critical thinking, programming, and technology design all showed over 70% time savings with generative AI.

Interestingly, even human-centric tasks—such as instructing, judgment and decision-making, and management of personnel—benefited from AI tools, with time reductions ranging from 60–70%.

Accelerating Work With AI

While AI is often framed as a replacement for human labor, this data shows that human workers empowered by AI can do the same tasks far more efficiently.

Writing, for example, dropped from an average of 80 minutes to just 25 minutes with generative AI. For complex cognitive functions like mathematics, systems analysis, and operations, AI reduced the time taken to complete tasks by over an hour.

Furthermore, AI adoption is increasing rapidly. According to the survey, LLM adoption at work for respondents aged 18 or older increased from 30% in December 2024 to over 43% as of March/April 2025.

If this trajectory continues, AI-driven productivity gains could scale from individual tasks to entire organizations, and potentially reshaping broader economic outcomes.

AI is transforming how we work and live online, but which companies are leading this new era of technology? Find out in this infographic on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Tyler Durden
Tue, 07/01/2025 – 18:00…

Too Late To Buy Gold? Not Even Close…

Authored by Matthew Piepenburg via VonGreyerz.gold,

Many are wondering if it’s too late to buy gold, that gold has peaked and they have missed their opportunity.

We hope the below series of facts, figures and common-sense reality-checks will put such fears squarely to rest, as gold’s role, price direction and days are only just beginning.

A Light House in the Fog

In a world of geopolitical tensions, can-kicking monetary fantasies, falling bombs, rising debt, discredited leadership, impotent summits, weaponized trade and a comically discredited media narrative, it’s hard to find a lighthouse in such fog.

Even with the world closest to the brink of nuclear war since the Cuban missile crisis, the markets, forever certain that a life-boat of mega liquidity is just one crisis away, churned Titanically forward with no ice berg fears.

VON GREYERZ advisor, Ronnie Stoeferle, sarcastically described the recent S&P, NASDAQ and NIVIDIA behavior as being almost like that of a Zen monk.

But there’s nothing “Zen” about these markets, times, currencies or financial systems. And there’s certainly nothing “Zen” about the once-sacred 10Y UST…

How do we know this? How have we always known this?

In short, what has been our lighthouse?

The answer is as simple as it timeless, indestructible, and honest: Gold.

The Quiet Accumulation Phase

Unlike politicians scrambling for power like donkeys fighting for hay (Chamfort) and squawking threats, promises and miracle solutions for one more X follower, vote or concession, sophisticated gold investors—from generational family offices, portfolio managers and sovereign wealth funds to eastern central banks and even the IMF and BIS—have been quietly accumulating gold at unprecedented levels.

For the last 3 years (since the US foolishly weaponized the world reserve currency), central banks have been annually accumulating over 1000 tons of gold.

Average central bank gold stacking has skyrocketed from 118 tons (pre-2022), to over 290 tons per/bank/year post weaponization.

In short, despite all the fog, squawking, speculating and debating, precious metal investors have been watching what gold does rather than listening to what failed policy makers and systems are saying.

The Unofficial Reserve Currency

Nassim Taleb bluntly said the quiet part out loud in a recent Bloomberg interview, namely that gold is effectively becoming the unofficial global reserve currency.

We have been saying the same for years, not because we fawn on every empty phrase of every empty politico or market pundit, but because we have been watching what gold does.

And let’s look at what gold has been quietly, calmly and historically doing—and SIGNALING—for years.

Signals Rather than Words

In 1971, when the USD lost its golden chaperone, money supply expansion, inflation and hence a gold price explosion followed, held in check only by Volcker’s aggressive, post-1980 rate hikes.

Even the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, in which gold ultimately out-hedged a perfect market storm, the only thing to “save” that not-so-Zen equity market was Bernanke’s money printing to the moon.

But as US public debt levels crawl toward $37T, we objectively know (and knew from day-one) that raising rates wouldn’t work for Powell as they did for Volcker, and hence Powell’s “higher-for-longer” policies were doomed from the onset by…

The Future Of Strategic Arms Control Is Dim Due To The Ukrainian Conflict & The Golden Dome

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

There’ll likely be a much greater potential for future conflict, including between Great Powers by proxy…

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov shared some insight into his country’s thinking the future of strategic arms control in an interview with TASS in early June. He began by clarifying that Ukraine’s strategic drone strikes in early June didn’t destroy any planes, it only damaged them, and they’ll all be restored. He then revealed that the Americans were asked “why do you allow yourself to provide the criminals with the relevant data, without which nothing like this could have happened”?

Rybakov didn’t share the answer that they gave his side, but he soon thereafter claimed that “Brussels ‘strategists’ are not giving up their attempts to convince US President Donald Trump to return to the policy pursued by his predecessor. And that policy implied unconditional support for Ukraine and further escalation.” This suggests Russian suspicion that the Trump Administration might be partially influenced by their pressure campaign, and that could account for why it gave Ukraine the data for those attacks.

He was very careful not to accuse Trump himself of any foul play, instead reaffirming that his position towards the Ukrainian Conflict “has become a reason for cautious optimism”, so Russia might have concluded or been convinced by the US that Biden-era officials are to blame for that provocation. In any case, without a normalization of their relations, which requires ending NATO expansion and resolving the aforesaid conflict in a way that resolves its root issues, strategic arms control talks can’t be resumed.

Additionally, Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense initiative (previously known as the Iron Dome just like Israel’s) greatly complicates any such talks even in the unlikely event that they’re resumed, which is due to it militarizing space and turning it into an arena of armed confrontation in Ryabkov’s words. The joint Sino-Russo “Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space” (PAROS) draft treaty could help manage these risks, but the US isn’t interested in discussing it, which could make a new space race inevitable.

Ryabkov elaborated that the Trump Administration denies the interrelationship between strategic offensive and strategic defense weapons while also refusing to return to the New START’s fundamental concept of equal and indivisible security. Accordingly, “There are no grounds for a full-scale resumption of the New START Treaty in the current circumstances. And given that the treaty ends its life cycle in about 8 months, talking about the feasibility of such a scenario is increasingly losing its meaning.”

He declined to speculate on what might replace it or what the world would look like without strategic arms control between its top two nuclear powers, but the overall mood of his interview is morose, with him lamenting the future that might soon unfold upon the New START’s expiry next February. As an old-school diplomat who’s invested considerable time in strategic arms negotiations with the US since entering into his position almost 17 years ago, it clearly…

Disney Hit With More Layoffs As Latest Woke Projects Bomb Hard

It would seem that Disney still hasn’t learned its lesson when it comes to DEI in entertainment.  The company which just initiated a series of layoffs of hundreds of employees at the beginning in June is now getting rid of at least 2% of staffers in its product and technology division.

The staff cuts are only part of an ongoing trend over the past few years as Disney’s profits at the box office tumble into the abyss.  Only ten years ago the company dominated theaters and television, but it is now reeling from and endless string of embarrassing failures.

The company’s latest entertainment bungles include the Pixar film Elio, about a Mexican-Domincan boy obsessed with space travel who is accidentally taken by aliens to the “Communiverse”, a intergalactic socialist Utopia where all the species of the universe get together and work out their problems. 

Continuing with their messaging that minority characters are infallible no matter what they do, Pixar writes Elio as a spoiled thief who seems to get whatever he wants.  His background as an orphan living with his aunt is meant to invoke sympathy from the audience, but the effort falls flat.

“It was important for our art team to kind of design the world of space, to design the ‘communiverse’ to be this colorful, welcoming, diverse place, this aspirational place where aliens of all shapes and sizes and colors can come and live together,” said director Domee Shi. “And when Elio first lands, he just feels like this is home and he wants to stay.” 

The creators and voice actors on the movie hyped up the minority representation of Elio as if they are still living in 2018. 

Zoe Saldaña, the voice of Aunt Olga, shared a personal message at the premiere of Elio in reference to the Mexican representation in the film as well as the ongoing immigration raids in Los Angeles: 

“I do believe that the future of America are Latinos, and people of color…I just think that as long as we keep being who we are and coming from a place of love and dignity and hard work we will win.”

Critics also mention the movie’s noticeable lack of animation quality, further cementing allegations that Disney has fired most of its seasoned animators and replaced them with cheaper and less knowledgeable artists.  Elio imploded at theaters.  With a budget of over $300 million the animated flick is expected to lose around $150 million and is the worst performing film ever released by Pixar. 

On the streaming front, Disney+ has released their long delayed Marvel series Ironheart, a superhero story featuring woke representation including multiple insufferable trans actors and a black, female ghetto version of Iron Man who is somehow smarter than Tony Stark.  She gets a free ride through college but complains constantly about her circumstances, helps fellow university students cheat on their exams in exchange for cash and steals regularly in order to get what she thinks she’s entitled to. 

A…

Zohran Mamdani Admits He Hates Capitalism… Allied With Socialist Operative Linked To Marxist Terror Group

Americans were stunned last week when foreign-born, self-proclaimed socialist Zohran Mamdani used CNN as a platform to denounce capitalism—the very system that transformed this country from frontier towns into a global superpower. Capitalism has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, built a middle class, and fueled rapid technological innovation—outcomes impossible under socialist regimes, as evidenced by an imploding Europe adopting welfare-state models or failed communist states like Cuba. Yet Mamdani chose to vilify it on national television. His profoundly anti-American rhetoric didn’t emerge out of nowhere—one has to wonder whether it’s rooted in foreign influence or ideology imported from an adversary.

CNN: “Do you like capitalism?”
Zohran Mamdani: “No. I have many critiques of capitalism. There must be a better distribution of wealth in this country…” pic.twitter.com/PtvEu5mOuJ
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) June 27, 2025
And this. 

🇺🇸 ZOHRAN MAMDANI: “I DON’T THINK THAT WE SHOULD HAVE BILLIONAIRES.”
New York Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani takes aim at extreme wealth.
“I don’t think that we should have billionaires,”, echoing growing calls on the left to tax the ultra-rich.
On top he also proposes shifting… https://t.co/p7ZqiFAMkG pic.twitter.com/2DTsSA7qtv
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) June 29, 2025
AND THIS! 

“The end goal is seizing the means of production”
Best of luck, NYCpic.twitter.com/3IvNHG8n8j
— AG (@AGHamilton29) June 30, 2025
A recent New York Post opinion piece penned by One City Rising co-founder and strategist Jason Curtis Anderson exposed a troubling connection behind Mamdani’s rise: one of his key backers worked for the NYC Campaign Finance Board and is a longtime socialist operative with alleged ties to extremist and terror-linked groups. 

David Duhalde’s position at the New York City Campaign Finance Board gave him unfettered access to confidential information about political candidates and the ability to influence campaign compliance. He openly backed Democratic Socialist (DSA) Assemblyman Mamdani, whose rise ultimately helped secure victory in last week’s Democratic mayoral primary against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Duhalde lists himself as a NYC Campaign Finance Board employee on LinkedIn.

Within that timeframe…

Note: Duhalde, who identified himself in a 2020 article as the deputy director of the DSA…

… tweeted his support for Zohran’s mayoral run on October 23, 2024, but previous tweets show that their work relationship dates back to at least 2022. After the NYPost article went live, Duhalde deleted his Facebook and Instagram.

Duhalde also sits on DSA’s International Committee, which has ties to socialist regimes in Venezuela and Cuba and has partnered with Friends of Socialist China and The People’s Forum.

In 2024, Duhalde wrote, “A history of the late 2000s youth section of the Democratic Socialists of America and how they used lessons from Mao and contemporary labor to reevaluate their conditions and build a winning strategy.” 

Further raising concerns, Duhalde’s last-known romantic partner, Michelle Munjanattu, is a member of Samidoun, a front group for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)—a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, according to Anderson.
Duhalde (right) posed next to Michelle Munjanattu at the University of Maryland’s Socialist Night Club in 2019. (NYPost) Love is in the air (NYPost) 

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, or “Samidoun,” was recently labeled a terrorist entity…