This week, I speak with Bob Moser, Owner, Principal and CEO at Prime Group. We discuss his early career in real estate,  and his current holdings. Our focus is on his investments in self-storage assets and why this non-traditional real estate was so essential to his investment strategy. We also discuss how interest rates and the change in homeowner age impact commercial real estate.

Moser’s initial commercial real estate investment experiences began in mobile and RV parks. During the Great Financial Crisis, he noticed that self-storage did not suffer the same declines the rest of the commercial real estate space went through. Soon after, he liquidated his non storage investments, and went all in on self-storage.

His favorite book is here; A transcript of our conversation is available here Tuesday.

You can stream and download our full conversation, including any podcast extras, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Bloomberg. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here.

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business next week with Heather & Doug Bonaparthe, a married couple who work together and wrote a book on the financial challenges couples face: “Money Together: How to find fairness in your relationship and become an unstoppable financial team.” Our discussion sits somewhere in between financial planning and couples therapy, built around real stories that try to help couples find a healthier approach to money.

 

 

 

Favorite Books

 

The post MiB: Bob Moser, Prime Group Founder and CEO  appeared first on The Big Picture.

The post Oren Cass Uses Good Economics in Attacking Finance in NYT appeared first on CEPR.

The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of Danish Blend coffee, grab a seat outside, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads:

• What happens when we admit we don’t know? Kelly Corrigan on why humility fuels curiosity — and how to cultivate these qualities in an age of certainty. Champion curiosity, and you risk sounding like a kindergarten teacher or a journalism professor. We treat it as a trait for the young and unformed — something adults either already mastered or no longer require. After all, if experience is supposed to deliver answers, what’s left to be curious about? (Big Think)

• Bubbles as a Feature Not a Bug: Drawing parallels to electrification and the internet, Jason Thomas considers how AI is reshaping corporate priorities around data, infrastructure, and productivity, and why early investment enthusiasm often centers on perceived bottlenecks, while much of the economic value ultimately accrues downstream. (Carlyle) see also The Startup Graveyard: 1100+ Failed Startup Case Studies: Where 1,402 startups and $202.6B+ in venture capital was burned to ashes. Loot the wreckage. (Loot Drop)

• Interstellar Space Travel Will Never, Ever Happen — It’s Basically Impossible: It turns out that the ships in Star Trek, Star Wars, Dune etc. are not based on some kind of hypothetical technology that could maybe exist someday with better energy sources and materials. In every case, their tech is the equivalent of just having Dumbledore in the engine room cast a teleportation spell. Their ships skip the vast distances of space entirely, arriving at their destinations many times faster than light itself could have made the trip. (Jason Pargin)

• Federal Reserve 101: What America’s central bank does and why it matters. (Paul Krugman)

• Computers can’t surprise: As AI’s endless clichés continue to encroach on human art, the true uniqueness of our creativity is becoming ever clearer. (Aeon)

• How To Become a Mathematical Genius: What many people experience as a “cognitive limit” or the edges of their own intelligence is actually just a representational limit: it’s when we use a specific way of thinking, but apply it to the wrong types of problems. This makes us think we’re stupid, when actually we’re not! And what that process tells us about how to solve the world’s biggest problems. (But This Time It’s Different) but see The Fall of the Nerds: The age of humans who could think like computers is drawing to a close. (Noahpinion)

• Daydreamers and Sleepwalkers: Crossing the Borderlands of the Unconscious: Scientists, novelists, and philosophers have spent centuries studying the boundaries between sleep and wakefulness. Each descent only deepens the mystery. (MIT Press Reader)

• How to build a girl in modern America: What can sororities, #RushTok and influencer-student megastars like the Darnell sisters tell us about US girlhood? We visit the University of Alabama to find out. (The Face)

• Is Particle Physics Dead, Dying, or Just Hard? Columnist Natalie Wolchover checks in with particle physicists more than a decade after the field entered a profound crisis. (Quanta Magazine)

• NFL & Fox: The $1.6B Deal That Changed Everything: In 1993, Rupert Murdoch vastly overpaid for NFC media rights. But the deal turned Fox into a major American TV network and completely changed the economics of the NFL. (SatPost by Trung Phan)

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview  this weekend with Bob Moser, CEO and founder of Prime Group Holdings, a private investor in unique real estate holdings. They created Prime Storage, one of the largest, privately-held self-storage brands in the world, with over 19 million rentable square feet of space and 255 locations across 28 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The firm has acquired over $10 billion in real estate assets.

 

The $117 Trillion World Economy

Source: Visual Capitalist

 

Sign up for our reads-only mailing list here.

 

The post 10 Weekend Reads appeared first on The Big Picture.

Las Vegas Neighborhood Rocked By Suspected Illegal Biolab

Authored by Allan Stein via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

LAS VEGAS—Every morning, Raul Contreras rides his mountain bike along the quiet streets of northeast Las Vegas, passing tidy stucco homes and lawns that reflect a good quality of life.

Illustration by The Epoch Times, Allan Stein/The Epoch Times, FBI, LVMPD via AP, Screenshots via The Epoch Times, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police

To him, the area is a hidden gem, far from urban crime and congestion. Families thrive, kids play and go to school safely, and neighbors look out for each other.

He had no idea that one of these homes was hiding a secret that could threaten public health.

On Jan. 31, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and SWAT teams raided the house at 979 Sugar Springs Drive, a place Contreras passes every day.

Inside the garage, they discovered a suspected biological laboratory containing a freezer, several refrigerators, a centrifuge and other specialized equipment, and over 1,000 vials and gallon-sized containers of unknown red and brown liquids.

“That’s kind of scary,” Contreras, who lives about two blocks away, told The Epoch Times. “You don’t know what the hell is in that stuff.”

“Now, you know it can happen in any neighborhood—even the quietest,” he said.

The discovery has left residents feeling unsettled and unsure. Some are asking how this suspected biolab went unnoticed, possibly as long as three years, in an active crime watch community.

A crime watch community is one in which residents partner with local law enforcement to reduce crime through increased surveillance, reporting, and, in some cases, technology.

“I feel they shouldn’t have let it go on,” said Kathy, who gave only her first name, as she walked her dog near the now-empty home.

“It’s scary. It’s really easy to operate under the radar here.”

Cody Human, who owns a tree trimming service in Las Vegas, said he and his crew had planned to work at the house next door on the day of the raid.

However, when they arrived, they saw police officers and hazmat-suited personnel throughout the property.

“If I lived in this neighborhood, I would definitely be scared,” Human told The Epoch Times as he resumed work on Feb. 3.

Authorities discovered a freezer, several refrigerators, specialized lab equipment, and more than 1,000 vials and gallon-size containers of unknown red and brown liquids in the garage while searching a house on Sugar Springs Drive in Las Vegas on Jan. 31, 2026. FBI

“Anything like that is scary, especially for neighborhoods like this that have kids and families,” he said.

“I mean, this neighborhood is known as a family-oriented neighborhood. You’ve got churches. This is one of the better neighborhoods. It’s very clean, very quiet.”

Meanwhile, a team of local, state, and federal investigators is working to identify the materials seized from the suspected biolab and their purpose.

“We recognize that the public is seeking clarity,” Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill told reporters on Feb. 2. “What were they testing for? What possibilities are being considered?”

FBI scientists and specialized evidence teams entered the garage, where they opened the refrigerators and a freezer to inspect their contents.

Some items appeared to have been used to store biological and chemical materials, McMahill said.

The joint investigation involved multiple agencies and a “layered use of technology,” including Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department drones and a robotic dog, to assess environmental conditions at the residence to limit risk of exposure to potential pathogens.

Authorities search a house on Sugar Springs Drive in Las Vegas on Jan. 31, 2026. The discovery of the suspected illegal biolab left residents uneasy, with some asking how it went unnoticed in an active crime-watch community. FBI

McMahill said investigators collected more than 1,000 pieces of evidence and stored them temporarily at the Southern Nevada Health District building.

On Feb. 2, FBI agents transported the materials by aircraft to the National Bioforensic Analysis Center in Maryland, according to Christopher Delzotto, special agent in charge of the investigation at the FBI’s Las Vegas office.

McMahill said the Sugar Springs Drive home is owned by David Destiny Discovery LLC, whose principal is David He, the same person connected to an illegal biolab shut down in Reedley, California, in 2023.

The Epoch Times previously reported that David He is the pseudonym used by Jia Bei Zhu, a Chinese national.

The Justice Department releases a photo of Jia Bei Zhu, arrested in connection with an illegal Chinese biolab in Reedley, Calif., on Oct. 19, 2023. Department of Justice

The Justice Department releases a photo of Jia Bei Zhu, arrested in connection with an illegal Chinese biolab in Reedley, Calif., on Oct. 19, 2023. Department of Justice

Investigators at the Reedley biolab found materials possibly linked to infectious diseases, including hepatitis, COVID-19, HIV, malaria, and other dangerous pathogens, McMahill said.

Police have named He as a suspect in the Las Vegas case, and said federal authorities were already holding him because of charges related to the 2023 investigation.

A second suspect, Ori Salomon, 55, a nonimmigrant foreign national, was also arrested in the Las Vegas investigation. Salomon, who also spells his surname as Solomon, manages the home on Sugar Springs Drive and a nearby house on Temple View Drive.

Police booked Salomon at the Clark County Detention Center for disposing of and releasing dangerous waste, and he was released on $3,000 bail. Salomon is also facing a federal felony charge of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

His next court appearance is scheduled for March 4.

The sheriff said the Reedley investigation raised significant concerns about what local authorities might encounter at the Sugar Springs Drive property.

“While it is unknown whether similar materials were present here at the Las Vegas residence, the possibility required us to proceed with extreme caution,” McMahill said.

On Jan. 31, the FBI also executed a search warrant at the property on Temple View Drive, where several people resided, but found no illegal biological materials inside.

When police went into the property on Sugar Springs Drive, they found three people living in different rooms they were renting. These people are not involved in the current investigation, McMahill said.

According to county documents obtained by The Epoch Times, David Destiny Discovery purchased the Sugar Springs Drive property in October 2022 from Wang Zhaoyan, who was connected to companies involved in the Reedley case.

Read the rest here...

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/06/2026 - 17:40

Cuba Ready To Negotiate With Trump, But Urges Dialing Down Of Pressure

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has offered to enter negotiations with Washington, but has made clear that this must happen "without pressure" - at a moment the Trump administration is seeking to economically strangle Cuba - even going so far as to openly tout the desire to see regime change.

"Cuba is willing to engage in dialogue with the United States," the Cuban leader announced Thursday. He made clear this can be a "dialogue on any topic... but without pressure or precondition."

via Associated Press

But his key caveat is that for dialogue to take place, it must happen "from a position of equals, with respect for our sovereignty, our independence and our self-determination" and without "interference in our internal affairs."

Díaz-Canel added that Cuba has long been subjected to "intense media campaigns of slander, hatred, and psychological warfare."

President Trump has been seeking to end oil imports to Cuba, and after the Maduro overthrow, this has become a real possibility, given that the United States can now demand that the interim government in Caracas end its oil exports to Havana. Venezuela has always been Cuba's number one supplier. 

Mexico too has recently halted oil sales to Cuba so that it can avoid coming under a White House pressure campaign.

But there's still a lifeline: "Russian oil has been supplied to Cuba on numerous occasions in recent years. We expect this practice to continue," Moscow's ambassador to Cuba, Viktor Koronelli, has explained. 

In the background, Cuban immigrants in the US dread the possibility of being sent back to Cuba, especially with its economy in a sanctions-induced tailspin:

“It’s been brutal,” said Estévez. “Imagine Dylan hugging his phone every night when he sees his dad. I wouldn’t wish this on any mother.”

As the US government heaps pressure on Cuba, cutting off access to its oil shipments, Donald Trump has framed the campaign as an effort to make the island safe for Cuban Americans.

“A lot of people that live in our country are treated very badly by Cuba,” Trump said recently. “They all voted for me, and we want them to be treated well. We’d like to be able to have them go back to a home in their country, where they haven’t seen their family, their country for many, many decades.”

Last weekend, Trump said "We’re starting to talk to Cuba" and explained his view that "It doesn’t have to be a humanitarian crisis. I think they probably would come to us and want to make a deal. So Cuba would be free again."

But there's some clear regime change activity happening behind the scenes, with The Wall Street Journal reporting last week that the White House is "searching for Cuban government insiders who can help cut a deal to push out the Communist regime by the end of the year."

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/06/2026 - 17:20

If You're Free To Complain about Fascism, You Don't Live In A Fascist Country

Authored by Jenna McCarthy via Jenna's Side,

Many, many years ago—we’re talking decades—I got into a fight with a boy I’d been dating for (thankfully) not very long. I can’t even recall what the argument was about, but I’ll never forget his very last words to me:

“God, you’re so stupid.”

“There are plenty of insults you could fling at me that would be accurate,” I informed him by way of a breakup. “Hot-headed, demanding, defensive, defiant, opinionated, unfiltered, gets hangry if not fed every four hours—let me help you out—but make no mistake, stupid isn’t one of them.”

I think of that moment every once in a while, for instance when I hear celebrities, Facebook “friends,” or the coven of professional scolds over at The View whining about the “fascist dictator” in the White House. And not because my reaction is “God, you’re so stupid”—although it one hundred percent is—but because they’re obviously just reaching for the nastiest insult in the bag and hoping it sticks. It’s basically the “your mom is so ugly, she made an onion cry” of political attacks.

Trump is arguably bombastic. He is egomaniacal. He can be rude and misogynistic and childish. He fires off 3 A.M. Twitter tantrums like a drunk raccoon, insults world leaders to their faces, and was busted bragging about grabbing women by the… lady parts. If he were your uncle, no one would blame you for not inviting him to your wedding.

But a dictator he is not.

Let me prove it: In America, the worst thing that happens when you stream a boy band is that Spotify recommends more boy bands. Do you know what happens in North Korea? If you’re lucky, you’re sent to a labor camp. If you’re not so lucky, you could face the death penalty. That is not hyperbole.

According to a new Amnesty International report, North Koreans—including children—are being publicly executed for watching South Korean dramas or listening to music by groups like BTS. (Rich families can sometimes bribe officials to escape elimination, so apparently corruption is universal—although the price tag is often too high for many.) Thanks to Kim Jong Un’s 2020 Law on Rejecting Reactionary Thought and Culture, consequences for consuming or distributing unapproved entertainment range from five to fifteen years of forced labor and a public shaming to being brutally unalived in front of an audience as a gruesome cautionary tale.

But please, Joy Behar, tell me again how you’re living under a fascist regime.

North Korean escapees describe being lined up and marched to public executions as part of their “ideological education,” designed expressly to terrorize citizens into compliance. Tens of thousands of people dragged to a field to watch someone die for enjoying an unapproved TV show. Meanwhile, over here, “ideological education” means attending a corporate DEI seminar with lukewarm coffee, sitting through a required HR video about tone in the workplace, or getting lectured by a celebrity who listened to one podcast and now identifies as a constitutional scholar.

You poor, tortured souls. Please reward yourselves with a matcha latte; your activism must be exhausting.

Here’s a little reality check: if your fascist dictator allows you to tweet “FASCIST DICTATOR!!!” in all caps directly from your couch while wearing pajama pants you bought from the TikTok shop, you are not, in fact, living under a fascist dictator. If your most humiliating public moment is the time you accidentally replied-all to an office-wide email and called your boss an insufferable twatwaffle, you are not a victim of political oppression. And if the most hazardous consequence of your entertainment consumption is Hulu finding out you’re logged into your ex’s account and booting you off the platform, you do not live in an authoritarian state. You live in America, where the biggest threats to your freedoms are TSA confiscating your tweezers or Trader Joe’s discontinuing your favorite spicy peanut salad dressing.

“This country is an authoritarian hellscape,” the liberal left loves to lament. I know, it feels cool to say. It’s dramatic. It gets likes and comments and retweets. But if your alleged authoritarian hellscape permits you to organize protests against it, pen songs decrying it, record podcasts objecting to it, and sell merch mocking it, then maybe “authoritarian hellscape” isn’t the right term. Maybe it’s more like “stable, open society with Wi-Fi and too many microphones.” (Also, if it’s so dystopian, feel free to expatriate yourself. No, really. Flights leave hourly.)

These are the same Defenders of Democracy™, I’ll remind the class, who cheered when the unvaccinated were barred from restaurants, fired from their jobs, and banished from polite society altogether. The same hall-monitor brigade that applauded mask mandates, school closures, travel bans, curfews, capacity limits, and the glorious era of “Show Me Your Papers” vaccine passports. And now they want to style themselves as freedom fighters living under an iron-fisted despot? Please. These people didn’t just tolerate tyranny—they demanded it. They celebrated it. They literally couldn’t get enough of it.

When Barack Obama was droning American citizens overseas without trial, the left went mute. When Bill Clinton endorsed the assault on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, no celebrity declared we were living under a dictatorship. When Joe Biden tried to impose sweeping vaccine mandates through OSHA and attempted a massive student-loan bribery “forgiveness” plan via emergency powers—both slapped down as unconstitutional—the same people now screaming “authoritarian takeover!” were too busy knitting vagina beanies to notice. Funny how the outrage only kicks in when authoritarianism strolls in wearing a red hat.

So when the likes of Cher and Jim Carrey and John Legend and Bette Midler and George Clooney and Kathy Griffin and Bruce Springsteen use their public platforms to call out Trump’s fascist takeover of America, their claims collapse under their own weight. Because real authoritarianism doesn’t let you complain about authoritarianism. That’s sort of the whole point.

It would almost be funny if it weren’t so… stupid.

A dictatorship, for the record, is somewhere people cannot complain. Where they cannot consume outside media. Where the government can kill you for pressing play on the wrong USB drive. Where state power and fear control every aspect of life—not where a disliked political figure exercises lawful constitutional authority and triggers a tantrum.

And it’s not just North Korea. Zooming out even slightly reveals an entire planet of governments behaving in ways that make America’s “fascism” discourse look like a middle-school slam contest. (“Your mom’s so dumb, she studied for her Covid test!”). In China, people are disappeared for practicing the wrong religion, posting the wrong sentence, or attending the wrong protest; an entire ethnic minority has been shoved into “re-education” camps large enough to be visible from space. In Iran, teenagers are executed for chanting slogans, women are beaten for a strand of visible hair, and the government turns off the internet whenever it gets even a faint whiff of protest. In Russia, critics are jailed, poisoned, or randomly “fall out of windows.” In Afghanistan, girls are banned from school and public executions are a weekly event. These are governments that don’t merely dislike dissent—they annihilate it.

We, on the other hand, live in a country where we can march in the streets chanting “No Kings!” and not a single king will try to stop us.

Seeing the internet teeming with rants about America being one executive order away from total collapse feels like watching a Babylon Bee meme come to life. Because when people are free to say what they think, vocally dislike who they please, and watch anything they want without fear of a firing squad and somehow label that fascism, they’re not oppressed—they’re just spelling freedom wrong.

The next time a celebrity relaunches their “We are literally living under Mussolini” monologue while sipping an $8 iced coffee and documenting themselves flipping off their president, feel free to drop a reminder in the comments that there are places where people are dying because they downloaded the TV show those same celebrities binge-watched on their way to the Save Democracy Brunch.

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/06/2026 - 17:00

"Are We A Nation... Or A Market?" Heritage And Cato Square-Off In Right-Wing Think-Tank Infighting

In last night’s ZeroHedge immigration debate, Simon Hankinson of the Heritage Foundation and David Bier of the Cato Institute offered sharply different policy prescriptions on the border, ICE, and H1B visas.

A proponent of net subzero immigration, Hankinson emphasized national cohesion and first-world culture while warning against treating people as interchangeable labor inputs. Bier, by contrast, defended the increasingly unpopular position of loosening immigration restrictions to allow a freer flow of individuals across the border. 

To Bier, who penned the above NYT op-ed late in Biden’s term, immigration is a question of individual liberty and voluntary association. Taking the pure libertarian perspective, he believes the government ought not have a role in job protectionism nor prohibiting an individual's movement.

Below were the key exchanges for those short on time and listen to the full think tank v. think tank debate here:

“Humans are not just labor units”

Hankinson rejected the idea that immigration can be evaluated purely through economic efficiency or aggregate fiscal outcomes, arguing that such an approach strips the concept of nationhood of any substantive meaning. 

As he put it, “humans are not just work units…. If we don't care if it's, you know, Gustav or Jerry or Carlos or Charlie or Mohammed or Melvin, it's just how many widgets can you make in a day? How many cars can you make in a week?” and instead emphasized that immigrants ought to “know the language, the culture, the history, if you love the country, if you fight for it, if you'd send your kids to fight for it, or if you'd volunteer for the fire department.”

“If none of that matters, if we're just labor units, then we should have unlimited immigration and there should be a free market.”

pic.twitter.com/Yg0FwAsQAP

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) February 6, 2026

Immigrants are not assaulting the Constitution; government is

Bier pointed the finger inwards, at the U.S. government, as the greatest threat to the liberties of Americans.

Referencing the high-profile visa revocations for anti-Israel opinions, Bier said, “It’s not immigrants who are arresting people for writing op-eds in student newspapers.” Bier went on to say immigrants are not behind the assault on the Bill of Rights:

“The repudiation of the First Amendment, with the Second Amendment’s under assault by this administration, the Fourth Amendment, the Fifth Amendment—you go down the list,” Bier said. In his view, “this administration is the most hostile to constitutional democracy in my lifetime,” and “it has nothing to do with immigrants.”

pic.twitter.com/eitydfdgWA

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) February 6, 2026

Watch the full debate below (or on YouTube) or listen on Spotify.

https://t.co/nQbAlgfyqj

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) February 5, 2026

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/06/2026 - 16:40

"This Bread & Circuses Routine Is Looking Pretty Played Out..."

Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

Blood In The Water

“Subversion works by importing an inverted moral frame and getting the target population to install it as its own conscience.”

- Yuri Bezmenov’s Ghost on X

Even in the deep-frozen fastness of midwinter, events and tensions surge, and America awaits . . . Bad Bunny!

You perceive that there is some message in the genderfluid Puerto Rican songster’s upcoming Superbowl halftime gig, but what is the message?

A 180-degree counterpoint to the earnest bashing and mashing of giants on the field?

The official annunciation of Reconquesta?

A thumb in the eye of President Donald Trump and the white supremacist horse he rode in on?

This bread and circuses routine is looking pretty played out.

The bread, of course, is pizza, the Soylent Green of these seeming end-times, underwriting the nation’s romance with morbid obesity (and perhaps with degenerate sex).

The circuses - last week’s Grammy Awards, the Winter Olympics tonight, Sunday’s looming Superbowl — give off an odor of utter cultural exhaustion.

What will it finally take for Western Civ, and its avatar, the USA, to stop embarrassing itself before God and history, and find better things to do?

Big Bad Bunnies Toy with Baby Bunny

You have been following the Epstein papers, no doubt.

The sordidness grows like a yeast infection in the body politic, and yet to date hardly one prosecutable crime? What gives with that? Last week’s release of the final super-batch of Epstein papers brought on a harvest of reputations, at least.

The docs revealed Microsoft zillionaire Bill Gates conniving with the late (possibly) Jeffrey Epstein to turn pandemics and vaccines into a profitable enterprise, with a spate of email discussions years before Covid got sprung on the world.

Then, it just happened that Mr. Gates sponsored the Event 201 pandemic exercise in October 2019 (with Johns Hopkins and the World Economic Forum), around the same time that the first outbreaks of Covid-19 occurred in Wuhan China with the World Military Games, a sort of Olympics for soldiers. Many athletes from various countries (including the U.S., France, Germany, and others) fell ill with a respiratory infection.

Naturally, you wonder how long, exactly, was the Covid prank in the works and among whom? If Mr. Gates was involved with Johns Hopkins planning Event 201, wouldn’t you suppose he was also in contact with US NIAID, Dr. Anthony Fauci’s agency, and with Dr. Fauci himself? Dr. Fauci had a special talent for augmenting taxpayer funding of his activities with money from outside government, and Bill Gates certainly had a lot of it, plus an obsessive drive equal to Dr. Fauci’s for messing around with viruses. And 2019 was exactly the time that scientists at the Wuhan Virology Institute happened to be experimenting with corona viruses associated with bats. Whoops.

It happens that Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chair of the House Oversight Committee now looking into the Epstein matter, indicated this week that he was interested in calling Bill Gates to testify about his activities with Jeffrey Epstein. Wouldn’t it be nice to hear from Bill about his adventures in virology? Bill Gates is not a doctor or an accredited medical researcher, by the way. Virology is his hobby.

As a sort of tail on the donkey, an email written by Jeffrey Epstein in 2013 surfaced this week stating that Bill Gates said he caught a sexually transmitted disease from Russian girls and sought help from Epstein getting antibiotics to secretly dose his then-wife Melinda with. It blew up the Internet, but do you detect a whiff of a cockamamie story (no pun intended)? Bill Gates surely had the resources to virtually buy a doctor and have him prescribe whatever Mr. Gates wanted. In any case, Bill Gates’s long-running consort with Jeffrey Epstein has apparently sunk his reputation as a medical philanthropist, so expect him to look for another hobby as he skulks off into the gloaming of ignominy.

Then, there is the case over in the UK of Lord Peter Mandelson (Baron Mandelson of Foy), erstwhile UK ambassador to the USA, lately cashiered out of the job for his relations with Jeffrey Epstein.

Photos emerged of Lord M less than fully clothed with others in Jeffrey Epstein’s troupe, also less than fully clothed. In the notorious 2003 birthday book, he wrote that Epstein was “my best pal.” He received payments from JE over the years and, in return, it appears, Mandelson, then working as a senior minister after the 2008 financial crisis, allegedly forwarded to JE confidential UK government emails, market-sensitive details (e.g., on EU bailouts for Greece, banker bonus taxes, and notes from meetings with US officials in Britain for JE’s investment purposes. Bottom line: Mandelson ruined. Ambassadorship terminated. . .resigned from the House of Lords. . .King Charles III reportedly looking to revoke his title (Baron of Foy), leaving him a mere commoner in ruin.

Lord Peter Mandelson, Baron of Foy, in Briefs, with Epstein Girl

Next up (looks like): Bill and Hillary Clinton are called by subpoena to testify before Mr. Comer’s House Oversight Committee on Feb 26 and 27. They’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do about how Jeffrey Epstein helped them construct the fabulous engine of wealth known as the Clinton Foundation and its various spinoffs such as the Clinton Global Initiative, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, the Clinton Family Foundation, and the Clinton Presidential Library.

This followed a months-long tussle to get the Clinton’s to submit to in-person interviews under oath in closed session. The Clintons wanted to just hand in some written bullshit of their own and leave it at that. They were on the verge of being voted in contempt of Congress — like other political luminaries, Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon recently were, with months of jail time — when they gave in. Hillary got all snippy about it yesterday, demanding the hearing go pubic on TV so she could grandstand. Denied. Curiously, no one is rushing to the Clintons’ defense. You might suspect their many friends and associates smell blood in the water and nobody wants to get wet.

Speaking of things wet and bloody, the final super-batch of Epstein papers has revived rumors of a dastardly Satanic child abuse cult among the anointed... all kinds of horrifying activities, such as those represented in Tony Podesta’s art collection.

Even the cuckoo story of PizzaGate is back up for review. I can’t state that I actually believe any of it, but the chatter is deafening so you are advised to stand by and see what turns up.

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/06/2026 - 16:20

Consumer Credit Smashes All Estimates As Monthly Credit Card Debt Unexpectedly Surges By Most In 2 Years

2025 closed with a surprising surge in consumer spending and retail sales, one which was unexpected since personal savings at the end of the year had just ground to a 3 year low...

... which when coupled with stagnant earnings prompted the question just where did consumers get the money for December's spending spree. 

We now have the answer: at 3pm today, the Fed published the latest consumer credit data, and boy was it a doozy. After November's tepid $4.2 billion increase in total consumer credit (which came in below estimates even after today's revision to $4.7 billion), consensus was looking for a modest bounce to $8 billion, or well below the post-covid average. Instead, what the Fed reported was a stunner: consumer credit soared by a whopping $24.045 billion, the biggest monthly increase of 2025 by a wide margin (only Dec. 2024 was bigger going back all the way to 2023),..

... and not only was the number 3x higher than the median forecast, it came in above the highest economist forecast, in this case from RBC's Michael Reid at $22.7 billion.

The breakdown shows that while the increase in non-revolving credit, or auto and student loans, was a bit more than recent monthly prints at $10.2 or the highest since May '25...

... it was the surge in credit card debt (i.e. revolving credit) that was the big delta in the December numbers: at $13.8 billion, a huge jump from the $1.7 billion drop in November, this was the biggest monthly increase since 2023!

In other words, the unexpectedly strong close to the end of the year was funded by the same old source: credit cards, and as in all previous credit card fueled surges, this one too will have to be repaid, pulling from future spending at some point, although it very well may not if credit card companies just tacitly approve some more dry powder and instead just bury the average American under even more debt. 

As for student and auto loans, it was a surprisingly tame quarter because even though nonrevolving credit closed 2026 at a new record high of $3.780 trillion (with the two largest components student and car loans at $1.856 trillion and $1.562 trillion, respectively), the increase in the quarter was modest at best, up just $2.6 billion for student loans, and $0.8 billion for auto loans. What is remarkable is that auto loans actually declined in 2025 which may explain why the car industry has been so bad in 2025.

Finally, and this will come as a surprise to nobody, despite 1.75% in rate cuts by the Fed since last September, we can now confirm that rates on credit cards have gone... nowhere as banks continue to bleed US consumers dry: at the middle of 2023 the average rate on credit card accounts was 22.16%... and on Dec 31, 2025 - and a half years years later, the number was higher at 22.30%, just barely below the all time high of 23.37% set one year ago. And all thise despite 6 rate cuts by the Fed. 

One almost wonders: if it's not the Fed setting rates on consumer credit, what's the point of having a central banks?

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/06/2026 - 15:58

Trump Says He's Still Looking 'Seriously' At Sending $2,000 Tariff Rebate Payments

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

President Donald Trump has said in a recent interview that his administration is still considering sending out $2,000 payments to Americans derived from his tariffs.

During an interview with Trump on NBC News published on Feb. 4, host Tom Llamas noted that the president “floated the idea of $2,000 rebate checks for Americans from tariff revenue” and asked him, “Who’s going to get that and—when is that going to happen?”

Trump responded by saying that he is “looking at it very seriously” and that he is “the only one” who can issue such payments because his administration is “taking in hundreds of billions of dollars of money from tariffs.”

When pressed by Llamas on whether he would “promise some Americans” could get the payments, Trump said, “I can do that. I haven’t made the commitment yet, but I may make the commitment,” without elaborating.

The president then pivoted to saying that his administration provided a $1,776 dividend payment to members of the military in a move that was detailed by the IRS and the Pentagon last month.

Dividend payments derived from the administration’s sweeping tariff regime were floated by Trump in November 2025.

While some White House officials have said the $2,000 payments would need an act of Congress, Trump signaled last month he can unilaterally issue them.

He and others in the administration have indicated there would be limits on income and said that the payments would be sent to non-wealthy Americans.

“I don’t think we would have to go to the Congress, but we’ll find out,” Trump told reporters on Jan. 20, adding that “the reason we’re even talking about it is that we have so much money coming in from tariffs.”

But he added that with the tariffs, the administration “will be able to make a very substantial dividend to the people of our country.”

Last year, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” that Congress would need to pass legislation before the payments could be sent, while National Economic Council head Kevin Hassett made a similar comment in November that legislation would be needed first.

Some Republican lawmakers have said they would be willing to support legislation to send tariff rebate checks to people. Among them is Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who introduced a measure in 2025 that would send rebates to workers, although the payment appears to be lower—$600 per adult and $600 per dependent child, totaling $2,400 for a family of four—than the checks proposed by Trump.

Trump’s tariffs are still being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court, which has yet to issue a ruling on a lawsuit challenging the legality of the import taxes under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. It’s not clear when the high court is slated to rule on the tariffs.

Tariffs could still be imposed by the administration, said Trump and Bessent, under different authorities. However, Trump has warned that imposing them would be more cumbersome and a slower process without using the 1977 law.

Last April, Trump imposed tariffs on nearly every country in the world and has argued that the United States has been victimized by other nations for decades on trade. In other instances, he’s said the tariffs can be used to end wars and to put pressure on countries that aren’t aligned with U.S. national security interests.

Democratic lawmakers have been critical of the tariff policies. During a contentious House hearing this week, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) told Bessent that she believes the tariffs have increased “prices across the board,” including for housing and lumber, and claimed the administration has been “waging a war” against U.S. consumers.

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/06/2026 - 15:00

Pam Bondi's DOJ Is Sabotaging The Trump Coalition

Authored by John Velleco, Executive Vice President Gun Owners of America,

In November 2024, the American people decisively elected President Trump to a second term in office. After four intolerable years of controlled national demolition under the Biden autopen, the newly elected 47th President was poised to keep his promises and fulfill his mandate.

President Trump had the opportunity to stop the federal government’s leftward push, steer the government back in the right direction, and make significant and lasting progress in that new direction. That third point is the most critical. Indeed, without permanent change, President Trump’s historic election – and this nation’s generational opportunity to course-correct – will turn out to have been nothing more than a momentary pause in America’s long-term decline.

Yet inexplicably, the Trump Administration has failed to take even basic steps to effect permanent change. For example, the Administration often has taken the easy path of using temporary Executive Orders rather than insisting on permanent legislation. Of course, Executive Orders are temporary, and can be undone by any future President with the stroke of a pen.

The same dynamic exists in the world of litigation, where Pam Bondi’s DOJ has chosen the temporary fix over the permanent solution. In addition to having repeatedly bungled implementation of President Trump’s agenda, Bondi’s DOJ has deliberately avoided letting cases reach final judgment.

For example, DOJ has repeatedly attempted to moot litigation involving Biden-era policies, even after a judge seems on the verge of striking down those bad policies through a precedent-setting decision. Yet all this tactic does is ensure that a future Democrat administration will be able to put these Biden policies right back into effect.

But why would the Bondi DOJ work so hard to prevent lasting victories in court for Trump Coalition interests? Indeed, with DOJ friends like that, who needs enemies? If the Bondi DOJ’s hostility to the groups that made up the Trump Coalition in 2024 continues, it will seriously damage any chance of success in the 2026 midterms. This article will examine the Bondi DOJ’s infuriating pattern of obstruction, sabotage, and outright friendly fire against the Trump Coalition and ask one simple question: Why?

DOJ’s Failure to Implement the President’s Mandate

But first, let’s examine what DOJ could have done in service of the American people during this past year. As it turns out, DOJ has a number of legal tools available that it inexplicably has declined to use.

Consider the role litigation plays in shaping domestic policy. A court order can bind the government to a certain legal interpretation or specific course of conduct, and generally will survive a change in administrations. Thus, if the federal government is a party to a lawsuit, a court order against it can codify policy – good or bad.

So what happens when a new administration inherits an ongoing lawsuit that was originally brought by its political allies against the prior administration? Well, in the past, DOJ often has simply settled cases, either privately or via court-enforceable consent judgment. Perhaps to no one’s surprise, this tactic has been a favorite of Democrat administrations.   The Biden DOJ’s handling of a prior Trump-era lawsuit illustrates the point.

When Biden took office in 2021, his DOJ inherited a pending ACLU-led lawsuit against the first Trump Administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration enforcement policy. Rather than litigate the case any further, the Biden DOJ settled with its friends at the ACLU, barring the federal government “from reenacting the zero-tolerance policy” until 2031, and agreeing to pay the ACLU some $6 million in attorneys’ fees to boot.

In addition to settling cases, DOJ also can (and has) let its friends’ lawsuits play out. For example, if a judge appears poised to rule in favor of an outcome the administration wants, DOJ can simply wait for that ruling. Then, not only will the federal government be bound by that ruling, but also it will generate favorable legal precedent for use in future cases.

The same options would be available if new lawsuits were to be filed during the administration – settle with allies when they are right, or let the courts issue decisions on the merits. But we are not talking about using the Democrat tactic often dubbed “sue and settle.” Democrat administrations have abused this tactic to “compel government action that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to achieve.”

In fact, During the Obama years, many of the administration’s environmental regulations came about from these sorts of “sue and settle” pre-arranged consent decrees. Although we are not urging the use of such sham lawsuits, it’s worth noting that this is the tactic the Democrats use to get what they want.

In stark contrast to the Democrats’ underhanded “sue and settle” tactics, Pam Bondi’s DOJ has refused to allow Trump Coalition victories even in legitimate litigation that has been ongoing for years. Instead, Pam Bondi’s DOJ has fought tooth and nail to make suits filed by Trump Coalition groups simply go away.

Gun Rights

We at Gun Owners of America (GOA) have experienced DOJ’s inexplicable resistance firsthand. Although our Second Amendment lawsuits are by no means the only Trump Coalition causes torpedoed by Pam Bondi’s Justice Department, they are quintessential examples of this worrying trend.

During both his 2024 election campaign and when taking office in January of 2025, President Trump made a number of promises to gun owners, a massive contingent of his voters. First, President Trump promised that Biden-era ATF regulations – what he called “disasters” for gun owners – would be “ripped up and torn out” his “first week … in office.”

GOA applauded this news, since we were the only Second Amendment advocacy group to have challenged every one of Biden’s anti-gun rules in court. But we knew that merely rolling back existing infringements would do little to regain the miles of ground lost during the left’s decades-long war of attrition against the Second Amendment.

And so, much to his credit, President Trump went on offense, announcing a comprehensive Department of Justice-wide initiative to review all federal actions for consistency with the Second Amendment. Once again, GOA applauded this historic undertaking, and looked forward to working with DOJ to end unconstitutional gun restrictions for good. Key words – for good.

But sadly, DOJ has taken precisely the opposite approach. At almost at every turn, elements within the Bondi DOJ have resisted permanent victories in GOA’s cases. And without something permanent like a settlement, consent judgment, or a court order on the merits, any future leftist administration can simply reimplement Biden’s infringements at will.

Take GOA’s challenge to the Biden ATF’s “Engaged in the Business” rule. After Democrats promulgated this rule to criminalize all private gun sales, GOA secured a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the rule. But after taking power, rather than allow the district court to finalize its preliminary pro-gun ruling into a permanent one, the Bondi DOJ worked to undermine our pro-gun victory. For more than a year, DOJ stalled progress in our litigation, both in the district court and on appeal. Thankfully, the Fifth Circuit recently denied DOJ’s most recent request to stall the case even further.

DOJ also aggressively sought to moot GOA’s challenge to ATF’s 2020 refusal to allow Michigan Concealed Pistol Licensees to avoid redundant federal background checks. DOJ could have allowed GOA to obtain a binding ruling in court.   Instead, DOJ had ATF simply rescind its policy, and then immediately sought dismissal of GOA’s case as moot. By taking this “nothing to see here” approach, and avoiding a permanent judicial ruling or settlement, DOJ’s actions have ensured that a future Democrat administration is free to simply reimplement ATF’s old policy.

The same is true for GOA’s challenges to ATF’s Biden-era “zero tolerance” license revocation policy for gun dealers. As the Trump White House acknowledged, this policy “undermine[d] the Second Amendment” by “shut[ting] down small businesses across the Nation” over inadvertent and inconsequential paperwork errors. But rather than recognizing the need to permanently block “zero tolerance” now and in the future, DOJ just rescinded the policy and moved to dismiss. Again, this leaves a future Democrat administration free to reimplement this Biden policy at will.

But what about GOA’s challenge to the federal ban on mailing pistols using the U.S. Postal Service?   After GOA moved for summary judgment in December 2025, DOJ actually agreed in an Office of Legal Counsel memorandum that the statute violates the Second Amendment.

So, DOJ settled with GOA, right?

Wrong.

Instead, DOJ once again moved to dismiss, on the curious theory that its brand-new OLC memo meant that GOA lacked standing to challenge the statute’s constitutionality in the first place. Of course, all this tactic does is reserve the right of a future Democrat DOJ to reverse course. OLC memos are not set in stone, and many have been reversed by subsequent administrations. And left without any permanent victory, when (not if) a future Democrat administration simply rescinds OLC’s memo, GOA will have to challenge the statute all over again.

DOJ’s pattern is clear:

• First – avoid siding with gun owners even when they are clearly right.
• Second – delay, deny, and avoid pro-gun rulings.
• Third – don’t settle meritorious cases – in fact, work to prevent pro-gun decisions by mooting challenges so that gun owners can’t get permanent relief, thus preventing lasting victory for gun owners.

This begs the question: Who is the Bondi DOJ working for? It’s doesn’t appear to be the current President, and it certainly isn’t the tens of millions of gun owners who elected him. Rather, it must be the “swamp,” the “deep state,” or Permanent D.C. – whatever you want to call it.

Under Pam Bondi’s DOJ, it is the interests of the federal government – not the people – that are being protected at all costs.

That would explain why DOJ even sought to moot GOA’s First Amendment appeal of an unprecedented Biden-era gag order blocking GOA’s First Amendment right to print the news – with DOJ “intentionally” breaking the law in the process.   And it may also explain why GOA can’t even get a fraction of the attorney’s fees that Biden’s DOJ was thrilled to award its friends at the ACLU – in a case we won fair and square.

Speaking privately with GOA in recent months, the Attorneys General of two deep red states – as pro-Trump as they come – have told us that they have observed a similar pattern of Bondi DOJ resistance to litigation brought by their states and other Republican Attorneys General.

So it is not just pro-gun cases that this Bondi DOJ has resisted tooth and nail. Rather, her DOJ is actively opposing many of the groups that formed the Trump Coalition that elected her boss.   The following examples are only illustrative of the broader problems that have been shared with us, in matters where GOA does not lobby.

Undermining Trump Coalition Causes

Just last month, DOJ sought to pause the State of Louisiana’s challenge to Biden-era regulatory rollbacks on mifepristone, an abortion drug. Rather than agree with Louisiana that this abortion drug should not be accessible via mail order, DOJ sought to wait for the FDA to reverse itself, which DOJ claims will make Louisiana’s requested relief “unnecessary” and moot the case. Once again, DOJ is hoping to undermine a challenge by the President’s political allies, reserving the right of future Democrats to reverse and reimplement.

The same is true for another lawsuit led by Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri against the telehealth prescription of this same drug. In May 2025, DOJ sought to deprive plaintiffs of access to a judge who previously had ruled against the pro-choice cause. In that case, DOJ attorneys “stayed the legal course charted by [the] Biden administration,” arguing that the deep red states should sue in other, less favorable jurisdictions.

DOJ also has undermined the President’s energy agenda, defending a pretextual Biden-era national-monument designation that blocked uranium mining in Arizona. Rather than come to the aid of Republican plaintiffs challenging Biden’s designation, DOJ has argued they lack standing to sue.

Making matters worse, DOJ allowed Democrats to take a victory lap against President Trump’s order to freeze approvals of costly and unreliable wind energy projects.   When a district court ruled the President’s wind order “unlawful,” vacating it nationwide, left-wing Attorneys General from states like Connecticut and Washington celebrated.   DOJ never appealed this final ruling, allowing the Democrats to continue implementing their anti-energy agenda.

Conclusion

The pattern is clear. And it appears that gun owners are not the only group from the 2024 Trump Presidential Coalition that Pam Bondi’s DOJ has been working to undermine in court. In fact, the Bondi DOJ is resisting litigation by Trump Coalition groups almost as much as the Biden DOJ did.

This is no way for Pam Bondi’s DOJ to treat the voters who elected the same President who appointed her to office. And something needs to change.   Like a ratchet gear and pawl, this country for decades has moved to the left. By preventing rightward movement, this DOJ appears to be the pawl.

The hour grows late for President Trump to deliver on the promises he made to voters. So long as Pam Bondi’s DOJ continues to actively undermine litigation by Trump Coalition groups nationwide, there will be no permanent victories to cement the President’s agenda.  And all the next Democrat administration will have to do is reimplement old policies.  On many fronts, Bondi’s DOJ is fighting hard to empower the next Democrat to do just that.

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/06/2026 - 14:55

HGP Partners With Shaw To Deploy Navy's Nuclear Reactors On Land

HGP Intelligent Energy is partnering with the Shaw Group to deploy U.S. Navy submarine and aircraft carrier nuclear reactors at the DOE's Paducah, Kentucky facility.

Back in December, we covered their initial proposal to the U.S. government to utilize reactors from the Navy in an effort to find the quickest means of deploying new nuclear energy to support AI demand for government efforts like Project Genesis.

The U.S. Navy has operated the most successful nuclear program in history with over 7,500 reactor years of safe operation. It is abundantly clear that if there is a way to bring their technology and operational success to other efforts and venues, these possibilities should be pursued.

Shaw will be utilizing its previous experience with nuclear projects, including their involvement at Vogtle Units 3 and 4, to advance HGP’s CoreHeld Project through engineering, procurement, and fabrication services. Shaw's potential scope of work includes “balance-of-plant module fabrication, piping systems, structural components, pressure vessels, and related nuclear-grade equipment.”

The Paducah, Kentucky, site has been a hotspot of nuclear fuel chain activity over the past couple years. Formerly the site of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, the last commercial-scale, American uranium enrichment facility that closed in 2013, is being utilized by multiple companies. 

General Matter, led by Founders Fund's Scott Nolan, is developing one of the newest uranium enrichment facilities in Paducah after being awarded $900 million from the DOE in an effort to increase domestic production capacity. Global Laser Enrichment (GLE) is also working on uranium enrichment, but with a next-generation laser technology that hopes to provide lower-cost enrichment and a smaller footprint. GLE additionally looks to re-enrich some of the byproduct of previous enrichment processes with enough material stored on-site in Kentucky for GLE to become one of the largest uranium producers in the world. 

With naval nuclear reactors now potentially being deployed at Paducah, it creates the perfect recipe for Kentucky to participate in the recently announced Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses program. This program aims to create mega-campuses and partnerships between state and federal governments to house the entire nuclear lifecycle within a single fence line. Considering the only uranium conversion facility in the United States is located just across the river from Paducah and owned by Solstice Materials, Kentucky appears to be taking shape as one of the leading candidates for the first campus. 

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/06/2026 - 14:20

White House Says Trump Has No Plans To Deploy ICE At Polls, Won't Rule Out Federal Presence

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,

The White House said on Feb. 5 that President Donald Trump has not discussed any “formal plans” to deploy U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at polling locations during November’s midterm elections, while declining to guarantee that federal agents would not be present near voting sites.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made the remarks during a press briefing in response to a question referencing a comment from former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.

A reporter asked Leavitt for comment on Bannon’s recent remark that ICE agents would “surround the polls come November,” and whether the president was considering such action. Bannon made the remarks during an episode of his “War Room” podcast released Feb. 3.

“That’s not something I’ve ever heard the president consider. No,” Leavitt replied.

Pressed on whether she can “guarantee to the American public” that ICE will not have any presence near polling locations in the November mid-term election, the press secretary declined to offer such blanket assurances.

“I can’t guarantee that an ICE agent won’t be around a polling location in November. I mean, that’s frankly a very silly hypothetical question,” Leavitt said. “But what I can tell you is I haven’t heard the president discuss any formal plans to put ICE outside of polling locations. It’s a disingenuous question.”

Earlier this week, Trump suggested that Republicans should assert greater control over elections in areas the president has claimed are affected by fraud.

Speaking on Feb. 2, Trump said Republicans should “nationalize” and “take over” voting in at least 15 unspecified locations, repeating claims that U.S. elections suffer from widespread illegal voting.

Trump has long argued that noncitizens vote illegally in U.S. elections.

A 2014 academic study found evidence of noncitizen participation—“less than fifteen percent, but significantly greater than zero” in the 2008 presidential election and “more than three percent” in 2010. By contrast, a research review by the Brennan Center for Justice found that verified cases are “vanishingly rare.”

Voting booths are set up at a polling place in Newtown, Pa., on April 23, 2024. Matt Rourke/AP Photo

Federal law prohibits the president from deploying military troops at locations holding general or special elections “unless such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States,” according to 18 U.S. Code § 592, and bars any sort of interference in elections by armed forces. ICE agents are civilian law-enforcement officers and are not covered by the same prohibitions that apply to the armed forces, although other laws still limit intimidation or interference at polling places.

Lawmakers from the Democratic Party and some voting-rights groups have said that any visible presence of federal immigration enforcement near polling locations—especially in communities of color—could intimidate lawful voters and deter turnout.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), for instance, said in November 2025 that any deployment of federal immigration agents in or around polling places on Election Day would amount to “illegal voter intimidation” and an attempt to “suppress voting.”

Trump administration officials have rejected such characterizations, saying federal involvement is aimed at protecting election integrity rather than suppressing turnout.

“Interference in U.S. elections is a threat to our republic and a national security threat,” National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard said in a recent letter to Congress.

She said the administration is committed to ensuring that “neither foreign nor domestic powers undermine the American people’s right to determine who our elected leaders are.”

Democrats in Virginia have advanced legislation that would bar federal immigration enforcement activity near polling places.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said he is not in favor of federalizing elections and that he believes Trump’s remarks were limited to expressing support for the SAVE Act.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) noted that administering elections has historically been the responsibility of the states.

The SAVE Act, which Trump and congressional Republicans have cited as a priority, would impose nationwide requirements for voter identification and proof of citizenship, steps supporters describe as critical election-integrity safeguards.

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/06/2026 - 13:40

Homebuilders Tumble On Report White House May Launch Antitrust Probe Into House Affordability

Homebuilder stocks are tumbling after Bloomberg reported that Trump administration officials are exploring opening an antitrust investigation into US homebuilders as the White House focuses on tackling the country’s housing affordability crisis.

The Department of Justice could open the probe in the coming weeks Bloomberg reported, quoting people familiar with the discussions. It adds that so far no decision has been made and the administration may abandon the effort without launching an investigation.

One potential focus is on how information is shared through an industry trade group called Leading Builders of America, according to the people. Officials have grown concerned that the trade group - whose members include Lennar and DR Horton - could be used to restrict housing supply or coordinate pricing.

The administration’s interest in homebuilders comes during a period where the cost of buying a home is at its most expensive in decades, with the Covid-era housing boom and subsequent interest rate hikes weighing heavily on buyers. It’s also a precarious time for the builders themselves, with the inventory of unsold homes hovering at high levels.

President Donald Trump put the industry on alert in October, when he used a social media post to compare big homebuilders to OPEC, a cartel which control the oil market.

“It wasn’t right for them to do that but, in a different form, is being done again — This time by the Big Homebuilders of our Nation,” Trump wrote. “They’re my friends, and they’re very important to the SUCCESS of our Country, but now, they can get Financing, and they have to start building Homes.”

Builders have been seeking ways to work with the White House to improve housing affordability. One option being discussed is a massive program — dubbed “Trump Homes” — that would seek to add as many as 1 million units of new supply, Bloomberg previously reported.

Ironically, just a few days ago, we reported that the White House is working with some of the the same homebuilders (Lennar and Taylor Morrison) which Trump is now supposedly going after criminally, as the president is working on a massive rent-to-own program to build up to 1 million "Trump Homes" in a boost to affordability. As part of the program, and which would sell entry-level homes to Americans as part of a pathway-to-ownership program funded by private investors. The drawback of this program, we said, is that such a program would be complicated to implement, and may not gain enough support to move forward as it would require substantial capital commitment from the homebuilders. 

Well, what better way to convince homebuilders it's in their best interest to participate in the program than to threaten them with criminal charges on something totally separate...

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/06/2026 - 12:43

Ukraine Says Russian Military Pace Already Slowing After Starlink Cutoff

Ukraine's military is claiming it can already see the impact of Elon Musk and SpaceX's decision to thwart Starlink access to Russian troops.

Russian military bloggers began confirming the Starlink cutoff earlier this week. For example the NY Times notes, "A Russian blogger writing anonymously under the name Military Informant in the Telegram messaging app said that both the Starlink connections on Russian drones and Starlink satellite internet communications for troops at the front had been disrupted."

Source: Ukraine Military Center

This may force the Russian side to more broadly rely on older technologies, and could greatly reduce reliance on small drone warfare - which has been a staple in this war.

On Friday, Politico has cited Ukrainian officials who say they notice a difference in Russia's operations along the front lines, however, such assertions are very far from being verified:

Two days after Elon Musk's SpaceX launched Starlink verification and blocked unverified terminals in Ukraine, the pace of Russia's offensive appears to be slowing, a Ukrainian military official told POLITICO.

“Currently, such a trend is indeed observed. But it will be necessary to monitor further whether it will continue, whether there will be other factors,” said the official, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

“However, at some places, Ukrainian military Starlinks which have not been registered yet have also been disconnected. But the registration process is ongoing,” the official added.

Starlink took action at Ukraine's request, after for many months Russian units were observed ferrying Starlink terminals to the battlefield, which in addition to providing basic reliable comms reportedly made drones less prone to jamming and more accurate.

Some reports are prematurely going so far as to call this a "catastrophe" for Russian forces. While SpaceX has not sold Starlink terminals in Russia due to long-running US sanctions, they are easily available on the black market and via neighboring regional countries.

But blocking access for the Russian side has not been so simple. Any largescale geofencing could cut off much of Ukraine itself, and so currently inside Ukraine only formally registered terminals are working. Ukraine's defense ministry has been calling on troops to immediately register their terminals under the country's DELTA battlespace management system, while all non-registered terminals will not function.

Musk has had a mixed track record and nuanced position on Ukraine. While early on he rushed Starlink assistance to the war-battered country, he has also at times directly clashed with President Zelensky, warning about uncontrollable escalation and NATO turning it into a proxy war aimed at destabilizing Moscow.

Looks like the steps we took to stop the unauthorized use of Starlink by Russia have worked. Let us know if more needs to be done.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 1, 2026

But he's increasingly weighed deep into geopolitical flashpoints where Washington has a role or interest, also for example recently proclaiming free Starlink access for anti-government protesters in Iran.

If Starlink is used by Ukraine to target Russian territory and its population, will Musk take action to limit Kiev's use of the technology as well?

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/06/2026 - 12:20

FBI, CIA Apprehend Key Suspect In 2012 Benghazi Attack, Bondi Vows To Hunt Down Others

Many mysteries still surround the 2012 attack on the American consulate and nearby CIA outpost in Benghazi, Libya which led to the deaths of four Americans, including US Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens.

On Friday, the Trump administration heralded a major break in one of the worst terror attacks on a US diplomatic compound in history.  Attorney General Pam Bondi announced in a press conference the arrest of a culprit allegedly behind the attack. Zubayar al-Bakoush has already been extradited to the United States, landing at Andrews Air Forces base, and is facing murder, arson and terrorism related charges.

via Associated Press

"The FBI has arrested one of the key participants behind the Benghazi attack. Zubayar al-Bakoush landed at Andrews Air Force Base at 3 a.m. this morning. He is in our custody," Bondi said at a news conference.

She disclosed that the CIA and FBI coordinated to apprehend the suspected terrorist. No details of how he was nabbed have been offered, other than he was apprehended "overseas."

"Zubayr Al-Bakoush will now face American justice on American soil. We will prosecute this alleged terrorist to the fullest extent of the law," Bondi said

The US says it is committed to hunting down others behind the large-scale attack, known as America's other 9/11, given it occurred September 11, 2012. Three others - Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty - were killed trying to defend against the assault. 

"Let me be very clear — there are more of them out there," US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said alongside Pondi and the FBI's Patel. "Time will not stop us from going after these predators, no matter how long it takes, in order to fulfill our obligation to those families who suffered horrific pain at the hands of these violent terrorists." 

The truth about Libya is that some of the Islamist 'rebels' the US funded to overthrow Gaddafi later bit the hand that fed them. These for a time were "America's jihadists"...

Seems Dbaiba did what he do best (Again),Unlike almarimi ,it’s worth considering how the war‑hardened groups that left Benghazi will view Dbaiba going forward.
Image for Zubayr Al-Bakoush in US custody post his "disappearance" in Tripoli late Nov 2025.#Libya https://t.co/W9r7y1UIy0 pic.twitter.com/7vI12FJytK

— Mohamed Tailamun|محمد طيلمون (@MTailamun) February 6, 2026

This is actually the second arrest connected o the Benghazi attack, after back in 2020 Libyan national Mustafa al-Imam was sentenced to more than 19 years in prison for his crimes.

National security officials have long identified that Al-Qaeda-aligned Salafi Jihadist militia group Ansar al-Sharia was behind it.

In the wake of the disaster, several Congressional investigations and hearings saw Republicans clash with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ahead of her 2016 presidential run as a Democrat.

However, the bipartisan political outrage was always somewhat of a limited hangout, concealing some of the deeper disturbing aspects to the Benghazi attack. For example, the US government and CIA at the time of the attack were engaged in a covert gun-running operation out of Libya, to support anti-Assad jihadists in Syria, declassified intelligence records show.

* * *

Friday's full announcement...

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/06/2026 - 11:40

Europe In Decline

By Teeuwe Mevissen of Rabobank

Not even a month ago, today’s author of the Global Daily walked through the main hall of the Musée d’Orsay, admiring its remarkable collection. Among the many sculptures, one large painting by Thomas Couture inevitably draws the eye: Romans in Their Decadence.

At first glance, it appears to depict Roman citizens engaged in an orgy, but a closer look reveals far more. Beyond the opulence on display, one sees a figure desecrating a statue resembling a former emperor or deity. Only three figures – the contemplative man on the far left and two men observing with evident disdain on the right – seem detached from the excess around them.

When the painting debuted at the Paris Salon, the exhibition catalogue included a quote from Juvenal:“Nunc patimur longae pacis mala; savior armis luxuria incubuit, victumque ulciscitur orbem.” – “Now do we suffer the evils of prolonged peace; luxury, more ruthless than the sword, broods over us and avenges a conquered world.”

A portrait of Rome in decline. And today, some argue, a portrait of Europe.

Political and economic commentators increasingly draw parallels between today’s Europe and the late Roman Empire. Those who subscribe to the decline narrative point to data showing that Europe’s share of global GDP has fallen from 25% in 1990 to roughly 14% today. Others highlight the innovation gap, demographic headwinds, and the erosion of industrial competitiveness. While these trends worry many, a Wall Street Journal report yesterday added a more urgent dimension: a recent wargame underscored Europe’s vulnerability to a potential Russian attack.

The Dutch Defence Minister noted that “Russia will be able to move large amounts of troops within one year” and that Moscow is already expanding its assets along NATO borders. This alone underscores the perceived urgency amongst European leaders to accelerate efforts to rebuild and modernize its military capabilities – and suggests that Europe’s geopolitical weight has indeed diminished.

Whether Europe is truly in decline remains subject to debate, but equity markets certainly are. And, in fact, particularly US markets this time – with the S&P500 now down 0.7% year-to-date but the European Stoxx 600 index still up 2.8%. Investor sentiment has deteriorated sharply. While the selloff had moderated at the time of writing, US tech stocks experienced steep declines, with Amazon losing 11% in extended trading. Bitcoin also continued its slide, touching lows not seen since October 2024 and barely holding above $60,000. Oil prices remain somewhat elevated, with traders watching closely to see whether the US will take action against Iran in the coming days.

In another Wall Street Journal article, China’s leadership appears to have concluded that the deterioration in U- China trade relations is irreversible and likely to lead to a messy decoupling. This raises important questions about how such a shift might affect China’s broader trade surplus. Here, we argue that China is likely to maintain significant trade surpluses for the foreseeable future. One important reason is that 2025 has demonstrated that it is not so easy to decouple from China; another is that countries like Canada and the UK reconsider their trade relationship with China because of ongoing trade tension with the US.

Turning to central banks: the ECB left rates unchanged yesterday, keeping the deposit rate at 2% for the fifth consecutive meeting. No forward guidance was provided, and the Governing Council judged that risks remain broadly balanced. The ECB struck a generally constructive tone, citing low unemployment, strong private sector balance sheets, and ongoing investment in defence and infrastructure.
However, it also warned of persistent geopolitical risks and uncertainties around global trade policy. Until the data clearly point in a particular direction, the ECB is likely to remain on hold. As expected, questions arose about the recent EUR/USD rally, which briefly pushed the pair to 1.2044 eight days ago , yet President Lagarde remained calm despite acknowledging that a stronger euro could contribute to lower inflation. A full summary of the meeting can be found here.

At the Bank of England, the meeting was more eventful. Rates were held at 3.75%, but the split vote – 5 in favour of holding, 4 pushing for a cut – was unexpectedly narrow, with Governor Bailey casting the deciding vote. This increases the likelihood of a March cut, a view we have held for some time. New guidance that “judgements around further policy easing will become a closer call” triggered a repricing in markets, with the probability of a March cut rising from 20% before the announcement to around 60% at the time of writing. Full coverage of the meeting is available here.

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/06/2026 - 11:20

Top Russian Military Intelligence Official Shot & Wounded In Moscow Apartment

A top Russian military intelligence general has been shot in a Moscow apartment building on Friday, but has reportedly survived the attack and was transported to a local hospital. But his wounds are reportedly severe.

The attack by an unknown gunman has all the hallmarks of an assassination attempt in connection to the Ukraine war, especially given the victim is a high level Russian intelligence official. Vladimir Alekseyev is the deputy head of Moscow's GRU military intelligence, and has long been sanctioned in the West for his alleged role in cyberattacks and allegations that he was behind the alleged 2018 Novichok nerve agent attack in Britain.

via Associated Press

Lt. Gen. Alekseyev was shot several times by an "unidentified individual" before that person fled the scene. The highly decorated general, who has also heavily involved in Russia's Syria campaign of the last decade, has been first deputy head of Russia’s military intelligence since 2011.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov soon after accused Ukraine of being behind the "terrorist act" and alleged it is trying "disrupt the negotiation process" toward forging peace. According to further details:

According to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, the attack took place on the 24th floor of a building on Volokolamskoye Highway.

Petrenko said that the unknown assailant shot the general several times and then fled the scene. As a result of the shooting, Alekseyev was wounded and hospitalized.

Based on the scant information presented by Russia's Investigative Committee, it seems the assassin was easily able to gain access to the building, and that the top general's apartment was broken into.

Ukraine has remained silent on the shooting of Gen. Alekseyev - despite Kiev having in the past claimed responsibility for some other attacks. For example, to review another couple of recent assassinations of top generals:

• In December, Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff, was killed when a car bomb detonated.
• In April, another senior officer, Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik—deputy head of the General Staff’s main operational department—was assassinated by an explosive device planted in his vehicle outside his apartment building just beyond Moscow.

Meanwhile an Azov commander is vowing that "retribution will find everyone"...

Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev, First Deputy Chief of the GRU of the Russian General Staff, who was shot in Moscow this morning, was the senior Russian representative at the negotiations in Mariupol in May 2022, during the withdrawal of the Mariupol garrison from Azovstal.… pic.twitter.com/WjgcG73INh

— Denys Prokopenko (@D_Redis) February 6, 2026

These covert hits has unnerved Russia's command ranks, given they take place deep inside Russia, and even in high-secured neighborhoods which residents might otherwise think are same or immune from the events of the Ukraine war.

As for Alekseyev, it's possible he could succumb to the gunshot wounds, as Russian media has indicated he remains in critical condition in an intensive care wing.

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/06/2026 - 11:00

Why Is The Deep State Targeting DNI Tulsi Gabbard With Such Ferocity?

Authored by Sundance via The Conservative Treehouse,

Each day more and more people are starting to realize/notice there are elements of the United States intelligence apparatus that are targeting Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.  The need for control is a reaction to fear, and Tulsi Gabbard has the DC Intelligence Community very worried.

What you will read below is something that was written back in 2024 about the potential for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), if President Trump were to win the election. Subsequently, he did win; and while we are not saying this is the exact ODNI script that is being followed, we are certainly not disputing that either.

Read the roadmap below –Written in 2024– compare it to current events and decide for yourself if this is something that rings a bell and may explain the IC apoplexy.

The ODNI was created as an outcome of the 9-11 Commission recommendations.  In the era shortly after 9/11, the DC national security apparatus was constructed to preserve continuity of government and simultaneously view all Americans as potential threats.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) were created specifically for this purpose.

Washington DC created the modern national security apparatus immediately and hurriedly after 9/11/01.  DHS came along in 2002, and within the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 the ODNI was formed. 

When Barack Obama and Eric Holder arrived a few years later, those newly formed institutions were viewed as opportunities to create a very specific national security apparatus that would focus almost exclusively against their political opposition.

Here is the weird part.  The ODNI was formed in 2004, with the intent for the office to be the pivot point of a national security radar. The DNI was intended to provide information to domestic agencies about foreign terror networks that would prevent something like 9-11 from happening again.  However, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has never, not for one day, operated on this intent. This is why they are such a critical position from my perspective.

The office was new, not established yet as a functioning silo, when Barack Obama and Eric Holder arrived in 2009. They quickly dispatched an idiot, James Clapper, into the operation so they could weaponize around the offices’ fulcrum point.

Prior to the DNI office existing, the CIA radar would sweep externally and then report to the Office of the President. The DNI was intended to take external radar sweep (CIA) and make it a full 360° circle, adding a sweep inside the USA that would be handled by the Dept of Homeland Security.

The DHS sweep and the CIA sweep would then be combined into a central collection hub called the ODNI. Everyone with responsibility for “national security” could access the ODNI material. Essentially and presumably, post 9-11 nothing like jihadists practicing to fly airplanes would be missed again; at least that was the intent.

The weird part is that because the DNI was immediately weaponized, the office has never functioned to the purpose of its intent.

No one truly knows what the office possibilities consist of because no one has ever seen anyone try to functionally control the hub. If you think I’m joking about the intent of Obama and John Brennan using the DNI watch this video. This is before Brennan became CIA Director, this is when Brennan was helping Barack Obama put the pillars into place.

For the intents of this outline the takeaway is how the DNI office has never been used for good.  In a strategic way, that can be used to our advantage if you are talking about leveraging silos against each other.

Example:  The DNI can assemble material from any silo. Meaning the DNI can reach into any IC silo and extract anything they want. Under the original authorities given to the DNI, this authority exists. So, let’s spread the wings on this office and do exactly what it is permitted to do, only this time extract for the purpose of showing the President what is happening in every silo.

In essence, the DNI *CAN BE* deployed like a super strong cross-silo inspector general’s office. Force the other IC silos to comply with the demands of the DNI. This has never been done. But the DNI has this unique power.

The DNI can make the FBI, DOJ, DOJ-NSD, DoD, DoS and CIA provide anything and everything they demand.  Instead of the other silos using blocks and threats against the office of the President, use the authority of the DNI to get them without confrontation.   Then use the DNI to declassify the documents (if requested by potus), instead of the originating silo.

Can you see how the DNI office can be repurposed to be a seriously strong weapon in the toolbox of the President, against the schemes of those inside the various IC silos.

The DNI becomes much more important than the CIA Director, NSA Director, FBI Director, Attorney General, etc, because the DNI can just show up and say, “give me this.”  That’s the functional purpose of the DNI office that has never been exerted; let’s flippin’ use it.

Let’s use the office of the DNI as the central information hub that takes information from inside the corrupt silos, then provides that information to the President who puts sunlight upon it.  Each corrupt silo penetrated with disinfectant.  This could begin a process to pull down the shadow operations and let the American public see what has been happening inside our IC apparatus.

To accomplish this approach the National Security Advisor to the President (NSA) [currently Marco Rubio], would be the person who tells the DNI what they are looking for. How does the NSA know what to look for?  Because the National Security Advisor is the head of the National Security Council (NSC).

Let the NSC monitor the silos with specific intent, perhaps with assistance from open-source research, then provide Trump’s NatSec Advisor with details on what appears to be happening and where.   With the approval of the President, the NSA [Rubio], then turns to the DNI [Gabbard] and says, “POTUS wants this, go get this.”

Raw, unfiltered, unredacted information.   The silo administrators end up in a fight with the ODNI, not the office of President Trump.  President Trump then uses the power of his office to support the demands of the DNI.

Under this approach the DNI has a lot more power; yet funnily, it’s power they already have – yet have never utilized.

[END of Prior Outline]

Does any of that track with what we are currently experiencing?

With DNI Tulsi Gabbard putting strategic pressure from the inside, and We The People putting accountability pressure from the outside, this Deep State intelligence nut just might begin to crack.

In fact, I might even argue that cracking is exactly what we are starting to see.

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/06/2026 - 10:40

Democrats Abandon Tariff-Flation Narrative Sending UMich Sentiment To 6-Month Highs

After January's big bounce from record lows (as Democrats began to see that the world is not the worst its ever been... and inflation is not going to explode), UMich sentiment was expected to re-dip again in February led by a drop in Current Conditions.

But February's preliminary data showed a continued rebound in sentiment (which is quite shocking given that it comes after the Davos/Greenland debacle) with a surge in Current Conditions dominating a small dip in Expectations to bring the headline sentiment to its highest since August 2025...

Source: Bloomberg

"Sentiment surged for consumers with the largest stock portfolios," said Director of Surveys, Joanne Hsu's, "while it stagnated and remained at dismal levels for consumers without stock holdings."

On net, modest increases in current personal finances and buying conditions for durables were offset by a small decline in long-run business conditions.

Inflation expectations for the next 12 months plummeted to 13-month lows (while medium term expectations rose modestly)...

Source: Bloomberg

...as Democrats and Independents come to their senses...

Source: Bloomberg

It appears mainstream media propaganda about Trump's tariffs worked on some... (is this where the term 'useful idiots' comes from?)

But, according to Democrats' prior panic, inflation is about to go vertical right about now...

...we wait with bated breadth.

Of course, UMich's reliability has been in question for a while now...

Finally, if you had any doubt that this survey was utterly biased, here is Hsu's concluding comment:

"While sentiment is currently the highest since August 2025, recent monthly increases have been small - well under the margin of error - and the overall level of sentiment remains very low from a historical perspective."

Translated: don't believe this drop in inflation fears (to 13 month lows) and rise in sentiment (to 6 month highs)... Trump's still OrangeManBad, remember!!

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/06/2026 - 10:10