Restoring Meaning To American Citizenship Authored by John Velleco via Gun Owners of America, This week, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case that could redefine one of the most fundamental questions in American law: Who is a citizen of the United States? Does birth on U.S. soil automatically confer citizenship, even when the parents owe allegiance to a foreign nation? Gun Owners o...
Restoring Meaning To American Citizenship Authored by John Velleco via Gun Owners of America, This week, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case that could redefine one of the most fundamental questions in American law: Who is a citizen of the United States? Does birth on U.S. soil automatically confer citizenship, even when the parents owe allegiance to a foreign nation? Gun Owners of America and Gun Owners Foundation, along with several others, have filed a Friend of the Court brief urging the Court to take a fresh look at that question. At issue are two cases , State of Washington v. Trump and Barbara v. Trump, challenging President Trump’s 2025 Executive Order, “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.” What interest do Second Amendment rights organizations have in asking the Court to review a case that on its face deals with immigration and the practice of so-called birthright citizenship? The answer is simple and goes to the heart of who, precisely, constitutes a nation. A nation is defined by those who pledge loyalty to it, not by those who briefly cross its borders for the sole purpose of obtaining citizenship by birth. Citizenship must reflect genuine allegiance and lasting connection, or it becomes little more than an administrative label, stripped of substance. And the rights uniquely reserved for citizens, especially the right to keep and bear arms, gradually lose the constitutional footing needed to sustain and protect them. The Trump executive order simply reaffirms a principle that was once widely understood but has been steadily obscured: citizenship is not an accident of geography, but a solemn bond of allegiance . It directs federal agencies not to treat as U.S. citizens those born here to parents who are neither American citizens nor lawful permanent residents. This policy aligns precisely with the text and original understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment states: “All persons born or natura...
Douglas Rissing/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. For Dine Brands ( DIN ), it might actually apply. Today I woke up and saw the headline that an Applebee's franchisee in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama filed for bankruptcy. Well, actually, that had already been reported on Friday, if I'm not mistaken. Seeking Alpha It ended up flying under my radar, I admit....
Douglas Rissing/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. For Dine Brands ( DIN ), it might actually apply. Today I woke up and saw the headline that an Applebee's franchisee in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama filed for bankruptcy. Well, actually, that had already been reported on Friday, if I'm not mistaken. Seeking Alpha It ended up flying under my radar, I admit. And it also makes sense if you consider that the stock isn't sitting above my price target of ~$30. The 'Hold' has aged well, don't you think? I know it hasn't been a quarter or anything since my last article, but I think you (like me) are curious about two specific things: What will the bankruptcy of Neighborhood Restaurant Partners change in Dine Brands' thesis? You've probably already read that they plan to scoop up some of it for their own portfolio, but what opportunity (and especially its size) is on the table now? At $26 per share, the upside is approximately 20%, not including dividends and share buybacks. Is it time to upgrade to 'Buy' again? Short Pain, Big Gain Currently, Dine has a portfolio of ~50 company-owned restaurants. The largest chunk of these is coming from the bankruptcy of Louisiana Apple at the end of 2024. And looking at the situation at Neighborhood Restaurant Partners, I think the approach here will be similar. First, they buy some strategic restaurants. Some are truly 'bad apples' and need to be closed. The ones they buy end up being sold at a bargain price (~3 to 5x EBITDA). Many of these restaurants have some kind of execution problem along the way. I think Dine will step in there, focusing on operations first. If you ask me, most of the lift they need is in AUVs. Most (if not all) of the restaurants are on leased land, and to dilute these fixed costs, they would need a boost in sales. The franchisee peaked a little over ten years ago (~$20 million in 2015); I think the AUV peaked there and has been declining ever since. Since the average chec...
Australia’s parliament passed legislation empowering the country’s export credit agency to physically buy, stockpile and sell fuels alongside critical minerals including rare earths, as the country suffers energy shortages triggered by the Middle East conflict. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ’s administration had announced its intention to establish the critical minerals reserve in January . Howe...
Australia’s parliament passed legislation empowering the country’s export credit agency to physically buy, stockpile and sell fuels alongside critical minerals including rare earths, as the country suffers energy shortages triggered by the Middle East conflict. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ’s administration had announced its intention to establish the critical minerals reserve in January . However, as global energy markets were upended due the US-Israel war against Iran, the Labor government added into the draft legislation capabilities to acquire and store fuel. Parliament passed the law on Tuesday. The move comes as gasoline and diesel prices at the pump have surged to records across Australia. Panic buying has boosted demand — especially in rural areas — and led to some service stations running out of fuel, prompting the government to roll out measures such as halving the fuel excise and reducing charges on heavy vehicles. The new laws allow Export Finance Australia to add to the country’s existing fuel reserves. The agency is primarily focused on providing loans, bonds, and equity to support Australian businesses overseas, but its transformation into the government’s trading arm will now see its remit expand to buying diesel and gasoline as well as rare-earth elements to strengthen supply chains. “The Reserve would ensure Australia’s preparedness to address supply chain disruption of materials, goods or things, including fuel and other commodities, as a result of market volatility and geopolitical events,” a memorandum of the laws showed. “The critical minerals strategic Reserve is intended to position Australia as a trusted and stable partner in high value, vulnerable critical minerals supply chains.” The government has allocated A$1.2 billion ($831 million) to fund the stockpile. Critical minerals have been at the center of geopolitical and trade tensions in recent years as governments recognize vulnerabilities in supply chains. China, which dominates the m...
Woodside Energy Group Ltd. said liquefied natural gas and domestic gas production has restarted at its North West Shelf facility in Australia after a disruption by Severe Cyclone Narelle late last week. A “controlled return to normal operations” is being conducted and safety remains the priority, Woodside said in a statement on Wednesday. The Macedon and Pluto facilities continue to supply gas to ...
Woodside Energy Group Ltd. said liquefied natural gas and domestic gas production has restarted at its North West Shelf facility in Australia after a disruption by Severe Cyclone Narelle late last week. A “controlled return to normal operations” is being conducted and safety remains the priority, Woodside said in a statement on Wednesday. The Macedon and Pluto facilities continue to supply gas to Western Australia, it added. Karratha, the onshore processing facility that feeds the North West Shelf export plant in Western Australia, had a production interruption due to Narelle, a Woodside spokesperson said on Friday. North West Shelf’s offshore workforce was also temporarily evacuated in line with the company’s cyclone preparation arrangements, the spokesperson added. The cyclone also affected Chevron Corp.’s LNG facilities in the region. The outages came as global LNG supplies tightened after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz and damaged the world’s largest export plant in Qatar in retaliation to US and Israeli bombing campaigns.
Shares of technology giant Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) jumped 3% in the afternoon session after the company announced it planned to invest more than $1 billion in Thailand for cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure, while broader markets rallied on positive geopolitical news.
Shares of technology giant Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) jumped 3% in the afternoon session after the company announced it planned to invest more than $1 billion in Thailand for cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure, while broader markets rallied on positive geopolitical news.
Richard Drury/DigitalVision via Getty Images Market overview Elevated political uncertainty was front and center during the quarter, with the end of the longest-ever federal government shutdown. The shutdown disrupted economic data flow and added uncertainty to interest-rate expectations and risk markets. In addition, concerns about U.S. Federal Reserve independence escalated, due to political cri...
Richard Drury/DigitalVision via Getty Images Market overview Elevated political uncertainty was front and center during the quarter, with the end of the longest-ever federal government shutdown. The shutdown disrupted economic data flow and added uncertainty to interest-rate expectations and risk markets. In addition, concerns about U.S. Federal Reserve independence escalated, due to political criticism of Chair Powell and speculation about his successor, and contributed to long-end interest-rate instability. Elevated tariffs and a weakening employment picture continued to pressure inflation and complicate the Fed's policy path. The Fed continued its rate-cutting cycle with two reductions of 25 basis points (bps) in the federal funds rate during the quarter. (A basis point is 1/100 of one percent.) The 175 bps in cuts since September 2024 left the rate in the 3.50%–3.75% range at year-end. Returns were meaningfully positive across all asset classes during the quarter, with the S&P 500 Index returning 2.66%, the Russell 2000 Index rising 2.19%, the MSCI ACWI (ex US) Index up 5.05%, the Bloomberg US Treasury Index returning 0.90% and the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index up 1.56%. Treasury yields were mixed during the quarter: lower by 14 bps in the 2-year space, flat in 5- and 10-year bonds and higher by 11 bps in 30-year issues, with the 10-year yield ending the quarter at 4.18%. The municipal yield curve flattened during the quarter, as yields increased on the short end, declined in the intermediate space and were relatively flat beyond 20 years. However, municipals ended the year with a meaningfully steeper curve. With mostly lower yields during the quarter, municipals outperformed Treasuries. The Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index returned 1.56%, while the Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Index was higher by 0.90%. Credit Quality (%) as of December 31, 2025 - Columbia Total Return Municipal Income Fund AAA 9.4 AA 30.5 A 29.4 BBB 15.1 BB 1.9 B 0.2 Non Rated 10.7 Not Rated 2.8 Cli...
Singapore’s Grab Holdings Ltd. became Southeast Asia’s first ride provider to start a driverless service, betting the technology can help cut costs and prove out robotaxis in dense urban traffic. The company and its partner, Chinese robotaxi operator WeRide Inc. , are starting a very limited autonomous-car service along two approved routes with multiple possible stops in the city-state’s Punggol n...
Singapore’s Grab Holdings Ltd. became Southeast Asia’s first ride provider to start a driverless service, betting the technology can help cut costs and prove out robotaxis in dense urban traffic. The company and its partner, Chinese robotaxi operator WeRide Inc. , are starting a very limited autonomous-car service along two approved routes with multiple possible stops in the city-state’s Punggol neighborhood on Wednesday. An 11-vehicle fleet is designed to ferry residents to nearby amenities and transport links. The public launch follows months of testing and data collection. The fleet has carried more than 1,000 riders and logged more than 30,000 kilometers (18,600 miles) of autonomous mileage since the effort began in September. Read More: China’s Pony AI, WeRide Take Robotaxi Rivalry to Singapore The robotaxi rollout is part of Grab’s effort to prove to investors it can be sustainably profitable in the long term. The regional ride-hailing and delivery market leader, backed by Uber Technologies Inc. , is facing intense competition from rivals such as Indonesia’s GoTo Group that’s kept profit margins thin. While peers in the US and China have already offered driverless rides for a few years, Grab has only recently stepped up its investment in the technology in a bet it’ll yield cost savings in the long run. The company invested in US-based May Mobility Inc. in October and in remote-driving firm Vay in November , and took a stake in China’s Momenta in December. Grab and Uber both are backers of WeRide. Read More: WeRide Shares Gain as Uber Discloses 5.8% Stake in Company US counterparts Uber and Lyft Inc. have similarly partnered with technology providers and fleet operators for global deployments, while positioning themselves as platforms that can efficiently inform where robotaxis should be placed to keep them busy. Grab’s nascent venture into autonomous vehicles is unlikely to contribute materially to its top and bottom lines in the foreseeable future, but it is ...