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Articles by Nat Turner
Coffee Break: Trump Regime Wilding Amid Scandals and Backstabbing
As disaster looms in the November mid-term elections, the Trump regime is riven with internal dissent and ugly scandal. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller are taking leading roles.
West Asia War: Egyptian Parliament Delays Vote on Joining Yemen War, Saudi Admits Chopper Went Down
I’m going to do another quick and dirty run through the West Asian war developments I could confirm, plus some tabloid coverage of the Saudi Crown Prince (never a good sign) and some YouTube videos. Help for the Saudis? Egypt’s parliament met in an emergency closed session Sunday on President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s request for authorisation to help defend Saudi Arabia, then put off the vote.
West Asia Wars: Egyptian Parliament Weighs Defense of Saudi Arabia, Why Ansar Allah’s Missile Accuracy Has Improved
I’m going to do a quick and dirty update on the latest news, most of which comes from the Yemen-Saudi front, and then will follow with quotes from some longer analysis pieces. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi calls an emergency session of the Egyptian parliament to consider defending Muhammad bin Salman’s Saudi regime while the UAE agrees to resume funding its mercenaries in Yemen. Ansar Allah claims to have downed a Saudi Apache helicopter off Najran and a reconnaissance drone over Hajjah.
West Asian War: Ansar Allah Hits Enemy HQ in Aden
Ansar Allah hit the Aden HQ of Saudi-aligned forces in Yemen while denying they’d fired on Medina. The siege of Taiz continues. CENTCOM continued to claim control of Hormuz as ship attacks hit new highs. Saudi HQ in Yemen Takes a Hit Ansar Allah Telegram claimed credit for hitting a war operations headquarters run by Saudi officers in al-Maashiq Palace, Aden, and its weapons depots and killing and wounding numerous Saudi officers.
Saudi National Arrested for Spying at OpenAI
Abdulrahman Alfozan, an OpenAI employee and a citizen of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has been “arrested for and charged with using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications,” according to the Department of Justice.
West Asia War: Riyadh Ravaged, Battles in Yemen, Iranian Mines Sink Ship
Saudi Arabia and Ansar Allah continued to trade bombs and ballistic missiles. Saudis continue to downplay damage and claim interceptions. Aramco offices damaged more than Saudis initially admitted. Riyadh Airport hit again. Battles continue in Yemen. More ships hit in the Strait of Hormuz, and the IRGC Navy Chief is “impatient” to sink US warships.
Coffee Break: CoreWeave the Canary in the AI Credit Coal Mine?
CoreWeave, a cloud computing company operating 51 data centers, had a brutal day on the stock and credit markets yesterday, and may indicate troubles coming for the broader AI industry. The trouble started when yields on their corporate debt spiked dramatically.
Aramco Burns, Oil Execs Avoid Saudi Confab, MbS in the Bunker
Ansar Allah continues to score as they trade tit-for-tat strikes with the Saudis. Several top American and European executives attended Riyadh’s WPC Energy Congress remotely. Reports say Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman is shuttling “between heavily guarded palaces equipped with bunkers and is guarded by a handpicked security team.” Ground combat continues in Yemen. Aramco Burns in a ‘Limited’ Fire The Saudis bombed an oil depot in Sanaa, per Al Jazeera.
Banks Struggle to Digest the Mounting Debt Driving the AI Boom
Silicon Valley is down with POTUS Trump’s rebranding of “artificial intelligence” as “super intelligence” but that hasn’t freed the “super intelligence” companies of their need for massive capital infusions. SI, Yes AI, No First the rebranding via The Verge: When President Donald Trump announced his plans to rebrand artificial intelligence as “super intelligence,” you’d be forgiven for being skeptical that it would catch on.
Iran War: Saudi Airports and Oil Facilities Blasted Again and Again
Yemen’s Ansar Allah pounded Saudi Arabia Saturday, injuring hundreds at the Riyadh airport but also halting flights at King Fahd airport in Dammam while rumors of hits on Saudi oil facilities ran rampant. The attacks drew American condemnation and inspired POTUS Trump to muse that the US “may” join ongoing Saudi strikes on Yemen.
Iran War: IRGC and Ansar Allah Fire Away At Tankers, Oil Facilities, Airports
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) hit at least one more tanker in the Strait on Friday, making last week’s narrative wars a distant memory. Ansar Allah, for their part, hit more Saudi oil facilities, but Thursday’s airport attacks resulted in many airlines cancelling all flights to Saudi Arabia. In Yemen, Saudi-backed forces claim to have taken Bab al-Mandeb and even Mocha, and Ansar Allah has issued denials of those claims, some quite convincing.
Iran War: Trump TACOS Again Or Does He? Saudi Airports Blasted Again
POTUS Trump seems to have TACO’d again, delaying any renewed attacks on Iran until after the US midterm elections while Ansar Allah hit Saudi airports and closed in on the key Yemeni highland city of Taiz as Islah forces pulled out, and explosions rang loudly in the Strait of Hormuz.
Another Epically Bad News Cycle for OpenAI, The Amoral Money Abyss
OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman have put together a string of incredibly no good, terrible, horrible news cycles in recent weeks, and yet investors are pouring tens of billions more into the money pit even as safety researchers exit the company, the US Senate holds hearings, and proposes legislation, the company’s president scales back his investment into a Super PAC and Sam Altman gives a really bad interview. Let’s start with OpenAI as the money abyss.
Iran War: Iran Ups the Ante in the Gulf, Ansar Allah Blasts Saudi Airports, Trump Threats
Iran escalated dramatically in the Persian Gulf, Ansar Allah blasted Saudi airports and continued to advance on the ground in Yemen, and Trump threatened a major escalation before the midterms in partnership with Israel. But before we get to any of that, the American MSM is continuing to slowly repent for repeating Trump and Hegseth’s claims early in the war.
Coffee Break: Meta Makes Its Agentic AI Move With Muse
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, owners of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, have made an aggressive push into the AI market with Muse, an “agentic AI” product that is rapidly racking up downloads, claiming big user numbers and pushing past ChatGPT while it has safety experts warning of serious dangers to users. Note: I’m running slightly behind on this post so if you’re an early reader hit refresh when you get to the end and there will be more. What Is Muse?
Iran War: The Real and Narrative Battle for Mocha, Saudi Airports Hit
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Coffee Break: Ellison Empire Settles on Skydance, Takes Big Bond Hit, Names Team
Having cleared the biggest legal hurdle, the Ellison media empire has assumed control of WBD, dumped all over the bond markets, and named its leadership team for the new organization which will be called Skydance after David Ellison’s studio. Let’s start with legal case closing.
Iran War: Team Trump at Camp David, Iran Flexes, Riyadh Burns
POTUS Trump’s war council met at Camp David on Friday as Iran flexed new missile capabilities, the Saudis bombed Sanaa and Ansar Allah claimed a strike on Riyadh. Team Trump’s ‘Highly Unusual’ Meeting at Camp David Team Trump met at Camp David in an unannounced meeting Axios called “highly unusual,” adding, “the last time a similar meeting took place was in June 2025, just days before Israel went to war against Iran.” The meeting was chaired by Vice President Vance and included Sec.
Naked Capitalism: A Haven of Sanity Worth Investing In
Last year, for the fundraiser, I wrote about the importance of Naked Capitalism in my own personal journey and warned that it was even more critical since we seem to be heading into the teeth of a generational crisis. Let’s review reasons Naked Capitalism has been invaluable to me over the past two decades of crazy and stupid: Because I was a Naked Capitalism reader, the crisis that led to the Great Recession came as no surprise.
Iran War: Narratives Continue to Diverge Under ‘President of Peace’ Trump
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Democratic Establishment Stuck in Groundhog Day of Neoliberal Economics and Neocon Foreign Policy
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Iran War: The Narrative War Continues to Confuse and Confuddle
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Iran War: The Narrative War Continues to Confuse and Confuddle
This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 1042 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, PayPal, Clover, or Wise. Read about why we’re doing this fundraiser, what we’ve accomplished in the last year, and our current goal: funding bonuses for our terrific writers.
Coffee Break: Anthropic OpenAI, Meta, SpaceX Sign Trump ‘Self-Policing’ AI Accords Amidst Financial Follies While Oracle Is Left Out
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Iran War: The Narrative War Over Hormuz, Meetings in NY, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, London
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Coffee Break: AI Credit and Credibility Collapsing or Will the AI Booster/Doomers Power Through?
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Iran War: Iran Opens Fire in the Strait, World Braces for US Response or Another TACO
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Iran War: Trump Rejects Iranian Offer, Saudi-Yemeni War On the Boil
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Iran War: Netanyahu Brags About His Crimes at the UN, Iran Threatens Regional Airports, Yemen Hits Saudis Hard
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Rancid Texas Republicans Reign in Ruins?
If the polling data is to be believed, Texas Republicans, who haven’t lost a statewide election since 1994, might be coming to the end of their reign, led by a roster of corrupt loons whose arrogance and support for unpopular policies have set the table for a turnover. Trump hasn’t helped one bit. His disastrous Iran War has raised gas prices and only made inflation worse.
Iran War: Pezeshkian Says His Piece at the UN, China Won’t Sanction Iranian Airlines
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Coffee Break: Effective Altruism Is a Misnomer Just Ask Ezra Klein
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Iran War: WaPo Notices Casualty Count a Bit Off, GOP Senators Run for the Exits, Trump Freestyles at the UN
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Coffee Break: Western Ruling Elites & Their Vassals Re-Confirm Fealty to Unreality
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Coffee Break: Pardon Me, Trump, No Pardon Me, and Me, and Me and Me, Too!
POTUS Trump has turned his 2.0 regime into a pay-to-play pardon machine and seems willing to pardon virtually anyone, no matter how heinous the crime, how notorious the reputation. Like everything else related to Trump 2.0, the torrent of shocking, awful news on this topic is overwhelming and numbing. That’s Steve Bannon’s “Flood the Zone” strategy in action. I covered a little of this in December, but the flood hasn’t crested so we’re back to it.
Coffee Break: AI Doomer Hypeloop Serves to Support OpenAI & Anthropic’s Suspicious Agenda
A fortnight of manic MSM coverage of the dangers of AI has crescendoed with OpenAI and Anthropic calling on the Trump 2.0 regime to impose an AI freeze. When Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon are both backing the same legislation it’s either time to hit the streets in support or run for cover. In this case, I fear it’s the latter.
Iran War: Ansar Allah Takes Mocha and the Bab el-Mandeb Islands, Putting Both Chokepoints in Play; Trump Says the War Ends After the Midterms While Vance and Rubio Tell Him January 2029
Today’s Iran War update starts with a thousand words worth of NY Times front page from Thursday evening. Not a good day for the Empire and its fortunes. pic.twitter.com/bmcQnBDkTZ — Nat Wilson Turner (@natwilsonturner) September 11, 2026 Ansar Allah On a Roll Yesterday, Yves left us with Ansar Allah “on the front foot” at Camp Khalid and the Taizz–Mokha road, and flagged the Bab el-Mandeb advance as reported-but-unconfirmed.
Coffee Break: Hegseth, Altman and Zuckerberg, Elite Impunity Run Amock
Secretary of Defense War Pete Hegseth might not seem to have much in common with techbro oligarchs META CEO Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, but all three are examples of the kind of elite impunity that marks late state American empire as we slide headlong into the polycrisis. They’re also deeply connected on multiple levels, but more about that later. Let’s start with Greasy Pete, Hegseth that is.
Coffee Break: Labor Day Songs & Stories From the Let It Roll Podcast
For Labor Day I thought I’d do a celebration of working class songs and stories from the music history podcast Let It Roll, which I created under my given name.
Coffee Break: OpenAI Is Sinking Fast, Who Will It Pull Down With It?
Sam Altman’s OpenAI empire is imploding fast. Ed Zitron’s reports on the financial blackhole at its heart have been confirmed by the FT and key execs are exodusing faster than even Sam can say, “IPO at a trillion dollar valuation or nothing.” Note:: I’m making last minute tweaks so hit refresh if you’re reading before 2:30 pm ET. Tons of news, let’s move fast.
Coffee Break: A Trump Scampire Bank With No Capital and A Dem Party With No Values Beyond Crushing the Left
Trump has somehow managed to make his stablecoin scampire even worse by bringing in the UAE, the Dem zio-centrist establishment is going all-in on war with Hasan Piker, and Texas Democrats are not even going for lay-ups in winnable races. Three awful topics jammed into one great post. My August vacation has left me behind and I need to catch up on my various beats: Trump 2.0 regime corruptions, the US 2028 Elections, and the ongoing Large Language Model AI bubble.
Coffee Break: Someone Stupid Heads From South Carolina to DC
The South Carolina special election to replace the late, great, peace-loving US Senator Lindsey Graham was held last night — this was a runoff after the initial multi-candidate initial round — and I can confidently say that the stupid won in a big way. Let’s get the basics out of the way and then we’ll spend a little time in the cesspool that is South Carolina politics, including a look at the meltdown of cable TV star congressional Rep. Nancy Mace and the deep corruption of Dem. Rep.
Coffee Break: Trump’s Policies Hurt GOP Senate Candidates in Maine and Texas
The crude venality of the Trump administration blew up trade talks with Canada and are triggering a backlash with rural Texans that could cost the GOP control of the US Senate. Note: I finished this post 15 minutes late so hit refresh if you started promptly. Trump’s team blew it bad with Canada last week.
Coffee Break: Stressed Oligarchs at Meta, OpenAI, and the Ellison Empire
Four particularly stressed oligarchs are getting a lot of negative attention this week as Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta faces a $1.4 trillion lawsuit, Sam Altman’s OpenAI is bleeding talent and their IPO seems an ever more remote possibility, and Larry and David Ellison are in a full-on media war with 12 attorneys general over their attempted merger of Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery. Let’s start with the least likable of the bunch…just kidding, who could dislike any of these charmers?
Coffee Break: LA Lakers Owner Bought Out by Kushner & Iger After Maybe Crossing Mubadala
Today I must tell the tale of a high-flying financier who became the king of Los Angeles sports only for his empire to suddenly begin to crumble: insurance billionaire Mark Walter who briefly owned both baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers and basketball’s Los Angeles Lakers.
Coffee Break: Ellison Empire Beseiged On All Fronts
Things have only gotten worse for the Ellison family tech and media empire in the last week as they face mounting legal and financial pressure on all fronts. Note I’m running late again as I prepare to travel for the next few weeks so please hit refresh frequently as I’ll be updating frequently until about 2:45 EDT. Apologies.
Coffee Break: Dem Establishment Resorts to Racial Divide & Conquer in Michigan
Having destroyed Graham Platner’s candidacy in Maine, the AIPAC-funded Democratic establishment has turned its full attentions to Michigan where it hopes to use Black voters to stop anti-war candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed in favor of U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens. Put on your waders because family blogging is gonna be ugly today, y’all.
Coffee Break: Oracle’s Exploding Debt and Plumeting Stock Price Threaten Paramount Media Empire?
The foundations of the hastily assembled Ellison family hasbara media empire — Paramount, WBD, American TikTok — are cracking as Oracle stock has lost $600 billion in market cap since its September 2025 peak and its nearly $200 billion in corporate debt is close to junk bond status. Oracle Stock Ain’t What It Used to Be And neither is the Ellison family fortune that’s built on it.
Coffee Break: The Worst People on Earth Have Big Plans for Us All
There are a lot of very, very bad, no-good-at-all things happening in the world right now, and a vanishingly small number of really, really awful people behind an astonishing amount of the worst of it. And there seems to be an endgame: global Gaza-fication.
Coffee Break: Texas Gets Trampled by Trump’s DHS
Texas is getting what it voted for with Trump good and hard with ICE murdering a Houston man in cold blood and bazillion dollar border walls threatening to mar the Big Bend. Let’s start with the big picture view of the DHS — the villain of the first half of today’s post.
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