Why This Crash Is Bitcoin’s Biggest Test Yet Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance Bitcoin has a way of faking its own death, and this past week delivered another such instance with theatrical flair. After flirting with the once-unthinkable level of $120,000, the world’s most famous digital asset promptly face-planted to around $62,000 at its recent lows on Thursday. Even for crypto, a 50% drawdown in months isn’t just a bad […]

Young America’s Affordability Crisis Has Political Consequences Authored by Micky Horstman via RealClearPolitics, One and a half million more young adults live with their parents today than a decade ago. They’re losers … economically.  Since the pandemic, fair market rents have increased as much as 40% in Chicago, the cost of owning a car is up more than 40%, and car insurance and health care prices have spiked. Student […]

Uber Ordered To Pay $8.5 Million In Trial Over Driver Sex Assault Claims A U.S. jury ordered Uber on Thursday to pay $8.5 million to a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by a driver, a verdict that could shape the course of thousands of similar lawsuits pending against the ride-hailing company. The Uber logo is shown on the building in Los Angeles, Calif., on Feb. 14, 2024. Mike Blake/Reuters The case, brought by Jaylynn […]

Newsom’s ‘Train To Nowhere’: Californians Burn Billions For Political Boondoggle Authored by Jonathan Turley, In the dystopian novel 1984,  George Orwell wrote, “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” The true meaning of that line was never more clear than watching the truly bizarre photo op of California governor Gavin Newsom heralding the success of the […]

All Is Well… Or Is It? Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog, “If you depreciate the money, it makes everything look like it’s going up.” – Ray Dalio “People don’t realize how hard it is to speak the truth to a world full of people who don’t realize they’re living a lie” – Edward Snowden My government overlords and their legacy media propaganda outlets tell me the economy is booming […]

Cuba Shutters Beach Resorts As Fuel Crisis Spreads Economy-Wide President Trump’s pressure campaign on Cuba is gaining serious momentum as the Caribbean island’s energy crisis deepens, unleashing rampant fuel shortages and prolonged power blackouts. The government rolled out new conservation measures late Friday to preserve energy, but large parts of the economy are already imploding. Bloomberg reports that Trump’s move to curb […]

HIMS Halts Copycat GLP-1 Pill After FDA Warns Of “Swift Action” Update (Saturday): The official Hims & Hers Health X account, “Hims & Hers Comms,” revealed in the early afternoon (a very convenient time to drop news) that its newly launched $49 a month copycat GLP-1 pill, positioned against Novo Nordisk’s $149 a month Wegovy pill, will no longer be offered. *HIMS & HERS TO STOP OFFERING WEIGHT LOSS PILL […]

Zelenskyy Says US Gave Ukraine And Russia A June Deadline To End War Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Feb. 6 that the United States has given both Ukraine and Russia a June deadline to reach an agreement to end the nearly four-year war, adding that Washington is likely to increase pressure on both sides if fighting continues beyond that point. Speaking to reporters in […]

SpaceX’s New Order Of Operations: Moon Mission First, Mars On Hold Elon Musk’s SpaceX is apparently reorienting its near-term space roadmap, pushing back a planned 2026 uncrewed Mars mission and focusing efforts on NASA’s Artemis program, with Starship’s uncrewed moon mission targeted for early next year. According to Wall Street Journal sources, the rocket company told investors this week that Musk will prioritize a moon mission, […]

Rickards: A Geopolitical Earthquake Authored by James Rickards via the Daily Reckoning, Our specialty is forecasting. We use multiple branches of science in our predictive analytic models including complexity theory, behavioral psychology, Bayes Theorem, neural networks (a form of artificial intelligence or AI), inference, subject matter expertise and good old-fashioned intuition to arrive at the market and geopolitical predictions […]

Kiev Left With Few Hours Of Power Per Day In Subzero Temps Ukraine and Russia have just wrapped up a second round of US-mediated negotiations in Abu Dhabi, but overnight Ukrainian cities were hit with another massive aerial attack on the national power grid. “Russia is carrying out another massive attack on the Ukrainian power grid facilities,” grid operator Ukrenergo said on Saturday. “Due to the damage caused by the enemy, […]

The Reflation Narrative Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmnentAdvice.com, The market got off to a strong start in 2026, with investors chasing industrials, materials, and commodity-related stocks as the reflation narrative gained traction. The “reflation narrative” is the belief that a range of policies will boost the rate of economic growth in the U.S. without triggering inflation. As I discussed at our recent 2026 […]

Goldman Finds Consumer Trends Remain Solid Amid K-Shaped Economy Fears Goldman analysts Scott Feiler and Eric Mihelc updated clients this week with the latest read on consumer health. The key takeaway: spending trends remain resilient heading into spring, even as the K-shaped economy narrative dominates the news cycle and the Trump administration continues to push affordability measures. “It seems like consumer trends are still […]

US Retains Right To ‘Militarily Secure’ Chagos Air Base, Trump Says Authored by Evgenia Filimianova via The Epoch Times, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Feb. 5  he retained the right to “militarily secure” the U.S.–UK Diego Garcia air base in the Chagos Islands, if future arrangements threatened American access. Trump has criticized the UK’s decision to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, calling it […]

Guac Relief: Avocado Prices Tumble Ahead Of Super Bowl Guacamole, wings, pizza, chips, and beer dominate the typical Super Bowl menu, as the weekend becomes one of the world’s highest food-consumption sporting events. We have good news for consumers. First, as we reported earlier, PepsiCo announced it will slash prices by 15% on snack brands such as Lay’s and Doritos. The second piece of good news is on the avocado front. Prices […]

Soros Praises Spain’s Sánchez For Mass Amnesty Of 500,000 Illegals Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, Alex Soros, son of billionaire George Soros, has lavished praise on Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez for granting legal status to up to 500,000 illegal migrants, stating that Sánchez shows “what real leadership looks like” by confronting issues with policies that are “both principled and pragmatic.” […]

HSBC Encouraging Departures By Offering “Little To Zero” Bonuses For Underperformers HSBC is preparing to award little or no bonuses to some bankers as it adopts a tougher, performance-driven pay model similar to its US rivals, according to Bloomberg. Underperforming staff in investment banking and wealth management — including some managing directors — may be encouraged to leave after bonuses are paid in the coming weeks, […]

Trump Endorses Orbán As Budapest Warns Brussels “Keep Your Hands Off Our Elections” Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News, U.S President Donald Trump has endorsed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for re-election ahead of Hungary’s April 12 parliamentary election, praising him as “a truly strong and powerful leader” and saying he has his “complete and total” backing. In the message posted Thursday on Trump’s […]

Year Two Of The Largest Ever Global LNG Supply Wave Is Hitting Markets Roughly two and a half months after Goldman’s head of Global Commodities Research, Samantha Dart, laid out a timeline for what she called the “largest ever” LNG supply wave to hit global markets, she published a new client note late this week reiterating that the “supply wave is still on track.” “2025 was year one of what we see as the largest ever global LNG […]

Watch: Comedy Writer Testifies Before US Congress On UK’s Chilling Free Speech Crackdown Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, Graham Linehan, the Irish comedy writer, testified before the US House Judiciary Committee, detailing how Britain’s authorities hounded him over online posts challenging trans ideology—exposing the chilling grip of censorship under Keir Starmer’s government. His appearance underscores […]

Is Narrative Warfare Driving Washington’s UN Pullback? Authored by Charles Davis via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Commentary On a gray morning in Geneva, a human-rights advocate walks into the Palais des Nations and scans the room the way you’d scan a street corner for gang members in a hard neighborhood. Not for gangbangers, though; for “civil society.” For the suited delegates with NGO badges who film speakers a little […]

These Are The World’s 12 Largest Impact Craters A single asteroid strike can reshape a planet, and Earth’s history is marked by several cataclysmic impacts. This map by Julie Peasley for Visual Capitalist uses data from the Earth Impact Database to showcase the 12 largest confirmed impact craters on Earth, ranging from massive basin-forming events to relatively recent collisions. The World’s Largest Craters by Diameter […]

How A Bad Night’s Sleep Affects The Brain’s Cleaning System Authored by George Citroner via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Most of us have experienced this: You stayed up a bit too late the night before, and although your body turned up to work, your mind was elsewhere. CLIPAREA l Custom media/Shutterstock Blanking out during the day is common for the sleep-deprived, and now researchers have found out why it happens. When […]

This Is Where Birth Rates Are Highest In The US Birth rates in the U.S. have been declining for decades, but that decline has hit some states faster than others. The projections in this visualization, via Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti, are from SmartAsset, who analyzed results from U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 1-Year American Community Survey. The number shown for each state represents births per 1,000 people, and is based […]

Florida To Make Gold & Silver Official Means Of Payment Authored by Paul Craig Roberts, The Florida legislature has begun to move legislation (HB 999) to enact their prior approval for gold and silver coins to be legal tender in Florida. This legislation will exempt gold and silver coins from sales tax in Florida. It also means that within Florida, there will be a means of payment independent of digital money created by […]