US Seizes $1 Billion in Iran Crypto, 99% of Execs Expect AI Layoffs in 2 Years, Arsenic Found in Toothpaste

[system]

Originally published at: https://peakprosperity.com/us-seizes-1-billion-in-iran-crypto-99-of-execs-expect-ai-layoffs-in-2-years-arsenic-found-in-toothpaste/

Artificial Intelligence

A Mercer 2026 Global Talent Trends survey of 825 C-suite and 1,650 HR leaders found that 99% of executives expect AI to reduce headcount within two years and 98% anticipate organizational changes. An Oliver Wyman study reported that the share of CEOs planning to cut junior roles rose from 17% to 43% year over year. Meta, Pinterest, Dow, and Amazon have attributed recent layoffs to technology. A JPMorgan report found that 12.6% of respondents use AI daily. Uber reportedly exhausted its AI budget in four months. Some commentary questions whether reported AI-related layoffs primarily reflect post-pandemic adjustments rather than direct replacement.

Relatedly, Palantir is expanding into supply chain software. Deployment Strategist Daniel Lutkus told Forbes that “SaaS is dead,” arguing that existing tools require manual workarounds. The company is promoting its Ontology platform for use with SAP and Oracle systems. Commercial clients accounted for 46% of Palantir’s revenue last year.

Geopolitics

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that the United States has seized roughly $1 billion in Iranian cryptocurrency under Operation Epic Fury, following an earlier freeze of $344 million in USDT. IRGC-linked addresses received over $3 billion in 2025.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated he has directed the IDF to occupy 70% of Gaza. This move comes despite the 2025 Trump-backed ceasefire having capped occupation to no more than 53%. As such, Hamas described the move as illegitimate. Additionally, the UK and Germany have opposed further territorial expansion. However, Israeli statements have cited the need for buffer zones to address security threats as justification for the expansion.

Speaking of Israel, section 224 of the House 2027 NDAA proposes expanded U.S.-Israel cooperation in AI, quantum computing, autonomous systems, directed energy, cyber, and biotech, including network integration and data fusion. Supporters describe the provision as focused on technology and industrial cooperation without merging military commands.

In other news, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said U.S. plans to move 5,000 troops from Germany to Poland would prompt “retaliatory measures.” Polish Foreign Minister Maciej Wewiór described the deployments as reinforcement of NATO’s eastern flank.

Energy

Exxon Mobil Senior Vice President Neil Chapman stated at a Bernstein conference that global oil inventories are approaching low levels and that physical Brent cargo prices could reach $150–$160 per barrel within two to four weeks. Brent futures for July closed under $94. The IEA reported that Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has removed more than a billion barrels from the market and that members agreed in March to release 400 million barrels. Chapman said existing stockpile releases cannot continue indefinitely. Despite this, market optimism has emerged amid hopes for potential U.S.-Iran negotiations that could ease supply concerns.

Health

Independent testing of 51 toothpaste brands by Lead Safe Mama found lead in 90%, arsenic in 65%, mercury in 47%, and cadmium in 35%, with six samples free of all four. Founder Tamara Rubin attributed contamination to ingredients including hydroxyapatite, calcium carbonate, and bentonite clay. A systematic review in Frontiers in Dental Medicine reported similar findings across studies from Asia, Europe, and Africa, with lead levels reaching 6,313 parts per billion in some products. Several manufacturers issued cease-and-desist letters to Rubin. Separate studies have linked PTFE-based flosses, including Oral-B Glide, to elevated PFAS exposure. Some manufacturers have defended trace levels as environmentally unavoidable and within federal limits.

Meanwhile, a Commonwealth Fund analysis of 20 healthcare systems reported that the United States had the highest costs and worst outcomes among those studied. In 2024, U.S. healthcare spending reached 18% of GDP, compared with a 9.3% average and 12.3% in Germany. The U.S. ranked third-lowest in life expectancy at 79 years and second-highest in avoidable mortality and years of potential life lost. However, some observers note that the U.S. system delivers advanced care without government rationing or extended wait times common elsewhere.

US Politics

Section 12006 of the 2026 Farm Bill, the “Save Our Bacon Act,” passed the House on April 30 and would preempt state agricultural standards for meat sold across state lines. Dr. Meryl Nass has stated that the provision could nullify more than 1,000 state laws, including California’s Proposition 12.

Privacy & Surveillance

Hacker group ShinyHunters published records from Charter Communications after ransom negotiations reportedly failed. Researchers estimate that the data of more than 13 million individuals was exposed, primarily Spectrum Enterprise customers, including names, addresses, emails, phone numbers, and nearly 10 million support tickets. Records of about 27,000 employees were also released. ShinyHunters claimed 42 million records. Charter acknowledged the incident but stated that sensitive personal information and customer proprietary network information were not exfiltrated.

Canadian Politics

Nicholas Wagter, a published biophysicist, was reportedly detained under Canada’s provincial mental health acts after criticizing financial systems and filing a USPTO declaration challenging a financial patent on leverage structures, derivatives, automated sequencing, and volatility calculations. Video of his arrest by Vancouver police circulated online. Canadian law permits detention for psychiatric evaluation for up to 72 hours, extendable by medical authorization if a person is deemed a danger to themselves or incapable of self-care. Some commentators have linked the incident to account freezes during the trucker protests, expanded speech laws, online monitoring, and the expansion of MAID. Some online discussions have questioned unverified claims regarding Wagter’s prior mental health history.

Sources

Canada’s Mental Health Laws: Silencing Patent Dissent?

Medical kidnapping is now legal in Canada.

Source | Submitted by Acorn Endeavors

Exxon Warns Oil Inventories Near Record Lows, Prices to Spike

“We’re approaching unheard of inventory levels,” said Exxon Senior Vice President Neil Chapman at a conference hosted by Bernstein in New York.

Source

Heavy Metals Found in 90% of Popular Toothpaste Brands

Independent testing of 51 popular toothpaste brands revealed 90% contained lead, 65% arsenic, 47% mercury and 35% cadmium. Only six toothpastes tested clean.

Source | Submitted by pinecarr

Charter Breach: ShinyHunters Leaks 13M+ Records as Company Denies Sensitive Data Theft

Meanwhile, Charter says the company is aware of hacker claims and denies any sensitive data was stolen.

Source | Submitted by dennisc

Palantir Declares SaaS Dead in Supply Chain Software Push

SaaS is dead

Source | Submitted by 0007

US Healthcare: Highest Costs, Worst Outcomes in 20-Country Study

Americans pay more for health care, get less in return, and remain far more exposed to illness, debt, and insecurity than their peers.

Source | Submitted by Shplad

Bessent Boasts: US ‘Outright Grabbed’ $1B in Iranian Crypto Wallets

We have seized about $1 billion of Iran’s crypto — just outright grabbed the wallets.

Source

Russia Warns US Troop Surge in Poland Risks ‘Suicidal Conflict’

NATO is pushing the continent toward a “suicidal” conflict.

Source

99% of CEOs Plan AI Layoffs, Entry-Level Roles Hit Hardest

99% of CEOs are planning AI layoffs in the next 2 years — and entry-level workers are facing the biggest hit

Source

Netanyahu Expands Gaza Occupation Beyond Trump Ceasefire Limits

The current expansion is at odds with the agreement President Donald Trump had helped to achieve in order to stop Israel’s war in Gaza.

Source

Farm Bill’s ‘Save Our Bacon’ Rider: Nullifying 1,000+ State Laws?

It attempts to remove the right of Americans to maintain local control over our food and farms.

Source

Congress Quietly Advances Sweeping US-Israel Military Integration in NDAA

Buried in the House’s version of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) released on Tuesday, is section 224, entitled “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative.”

Source

[westcoastjan]

https://x.com/P_McCulloughMD/status/2060673416210825543?s=20

[westcoastjan]

https://x.com/BenjaminNorton/status/2060676940655440020?s=20

[rodster]

Things will continue until they can’t or how do you go bankrupt? A little at first and then all of a sudden. The system has eaten its own tail.

Excerpt: "The French Revolution was not caused because people suddenly hated the aristocracy overnight. It was bread prices, hunger. It was watching elites continue living comfortably while ordinary families could no longer survive rising costs. History always repeats because human nature never changes.

The frightening part is that this is happening before the real sovereign debt crisis even begins. Governments worldwide are drowning in debt and they cannot raise rates forever without detonating the system. So they are trapped. Either they continue inflating the currency slowly to manage the debt, or they trigger a deflationary collapse. Politicians will always choose inflation because it delays the pain politically.

That means the middle class continues getting squeezed while the divide between financial wealth and real economic survival grows wider. People do not eat stock portfolios. They eat food. They pay rent. They pay utilities. They buy gasoline. That is where the real economy is collapsing.

NY Fed: 14% Of US Households Experience Food Insecurity | Armstrong Economics

[larrythelogger]

@system

Heavy Metals Found in 90% of Popular Toothpaste Brands

Thank you. This is yet another reason PP is necessary and ought to be joined:

We just discovered Mrs L has crappy kidney numbers so we’re getting aggressive with her food and everything else. So:

Thanks to this article we tightened the belt on other stuff and got some Miessence toothpaste because nothing in it hurts her kidneys. Ouch to Mr Checkbook but cheaper than possible bad alternatives lead filled US toothpastes “provide.” Props to Australia.

[larrythelogger]

@system

Congress Quietly Advances Sweeping US-Israel Military Integration in NDAA

What could possibly go wrong? At least the IDF is REALLY good at blowing up neighborhoods, schools, and hospitals that might have suspected intentions of making nuke missiles or could have children that might grow up to be terrorists. Even if the sites are ancient historic buildings. Another bennie is the IDF knows how to guide foot traffic with automatic weapons. No other army can fire at feet or over heads better. Big beautiful, fantastic 556 rounds to help guide crowds running to get food. So incredible and shiny.

[spiritualwarrior]

I don’t really know whether some of her claims are correct or not. I remember reading her claims years ago and decided to do a little more digging. FWIW, here’s some more info…

Exposing the Tactics of "Lead Safe Mama": How Tamara Rubin Profits from Fear

Tamara Rubin

https://www.reddit.com/r/moderatelygranolamoms/comments/1096mrb/lead_safe_mama_is_it_legit/

[larrythelogger]

Assuming the data in the study is legit, that’s my main concern. I just want lead free toothpaste for Mrs L. The Mercy docs have seen low kidney numbers for years but prescribing BP and other meds that harm liver and kidneys is perfectly fine. So tired of US sick care.

But thanks for the heads up on the possible fake lead person. I’m so stupidly susceptible to crap like that.

[ontheprairie]

Were you able to buy the toothpaste locally, or ordered from the company website? My favorite natural toothpaste was discontinued also. I had bought a stash before hand, but am on the last tube. I have made my own toothpaste and deo before and might just go back to doing that with my EOs. It is hard to find toothpaste with stevia, rather than xylitol, also.

Concerning kidney function there is interesting info out there on sodium bicarbonate by itself or a little flush niacin added being effective in maintaining function. My numbers had been slowly going down, and I think it is unfortunately related to cpap use. But I have maintained kidney numbers around 60 now for a few years with taking an alkline product, plus added BS and 50-100 mg niacin in the evening. Hope this info helps.

[etox]

@system

Independent testing of 51 toothpaste brands by Lead Safe Mama found lead in 90%, arsenic in 65%, mercury in 47%, and cadmium in 35%, with six samples free of all four.

I didn’t take the time to read the stuff that @spiritualwarrior took the time to find and post… thanks for that! Seems from the blurbs that these are reasonably valid accusations.

(I came to contribute my irritation with the abuse of units of measure as a way to stoke fear… But it seems it was just a typo on her part, switching between parts per billion and parts per million.)

I dug through the linked website, here’s the chart:

Chart Comparing the Toxicant Profiles of Popular Toothpaste and Tooth Powder...

In the chart, lead’s lower detection limit is 5ppb. For reference, FDA sets a limit for lead in the food of babies and young children at 10-20 ppb. This is the limit on foods for ingesting, which kids are supposed to learn not to do with toothpaste. It’s also a pea-sized amount, not a serving of peas.

Like with many “natural” things, the form of these heavy metals has an influence on the hazard. Lead oxide in paint chips is bad for kids’ nervous system development. Metallic lead in a split shot sinker weight, well, i bit a few of those shut on my fishing line.
Methyl mercury will poison you pretty quickly, in a few weeks or months of working with it with the wrong gloves. Many of us played with the shiny contents of a broken thermometer with bare skin and no noticeable impacts.

Reminder to not panic about learning new info. Spit n swish to reduce the amount you ingest.

[plyalex (Alex Muir)]

@davefairtex

The Oral Microbiome: What Your Mouth Reveals About Your Health [May 5, 1h]

(source – IMA)

I am interested to know the reason you avoid xylitol? I had listened to the IMA webinar that @davefairtex posted the other week and had sought out xylitol based gum specifically based on the suggested positive impact on the oral microbiome.

[spiritualwarrior]

@etox

I didn’t take the time to read the stuff that @spiritualwarrior took the time to find and post… thanks for that! Seems from the blurbs that these are reasonably valid accusations.

And these were just what I had come across a few years ago and filed away. I remember freaking out at some of her findings and so decided to look into her work a little more - not with the mindset that she was necessarily wrong, but just to see what other info was out there. As we all know, it’s sometimes hard to know what’s really true, as there is conflicting info and some of what is often found on her and others who do some of the same kind of research can also be biased and fear-based. In the end, I guess I do have some questions about her methods and how scientific her research was.

[larrythelogger]

Thanks fir the reality check.

Several years ago Mrs L had a breast biopsy. She didn’t tell me until a week before the appointment to inform her of the results. It was the darkest time in my life. Couldn’t bear it. Still can’t if it happened again. Turned out it was benign. I hugged the oncologist for about 30 seconds weeping with joy after she told us. Probably weirded her the hell out.

I admit I’m an excitable boy but if anything hints back to that dark week, I fire then aim.

[etox]

Guh, I feel for ya, LL! Nothing like that gnawing dread, or the conflict it brings between “shouldn’t be driving in this condition” and “I need to go for a drive so my brain will think about something else”.

Go give her a just-because hug!

[randommike]

Two words on avoiding Xylitol:

Anal leakage… (ellipsis also pictortial)

[larrythelogger]

I got it from the maker’s website. They’re in Australia. Amazon has low lead toothpaste but it was more expensive than the Aussie stuff. Being that it’s me over reacting wrt Mrs L’s low numbers, I wanted zero lead and got six tubes to come close to Amazon’s low lead paste (but it is ridiculously expensive):

MINT TOOTHPASTE (IN SUGARCANE TUBE)

[ontheprairie]

Hi Alex. Yes, xylitol is supposed to be good for your gums, but I must be allergic to it (am allergic to many things), because it makes my gums actually hurt and loosens my teeth - which was scary, but when I stopped using it, the gums heal and tightened back up. Whew!
Another weird one is tapioca starch. I am GF and it is in almost all GF store bought baked products, but it tears my stomach up. So I eat hardly any processed food, which is best in the long run. Lol!

[ontheprairie]

Thanks for the link Larry!