The Quiet Spread Of AI-Generated ‘Brainrot’ Across Social Media Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times, Elephants drop-kicking crocodiles while breaking the laws of physics, bewildering deepfakes of politicians and deceased public figures, and seemingly animated children’s videos of Jesus fighting the Grinch: generative artificial intelligence (AI) is sweeping across online video platforms and may now account for a sizable […]

Pope Leo Evaluating US Invitation To Join Trump’s Gaza Board Of Peace Pope Leo XIV has been invited to join President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace,” according to a fresh Wednesday statement from the Vatican’s secretary of state. “We’ve also received this invitation and the pope received it and we are looking at what to do. We are researching and I believe it’s a question that demands a little time to be considered in order […]

Watch Live: President Trump’s (Delayed) Interview With CNBC’s Joe Kernen President Trump will sit down for an interview with CNBC’s Joe Kernen in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday. Earlier, Trump gave a speech at the World Economic Forum where he touted the strength of the U.S. economy and criticized Europe, saying it “is not heading in the right direction.” Trump also doubled down on his desire to take control […]

US Slaps Down French Calls For NATO Drills In Greenland, Mocks Macron Among the big and more notable quotes to come out of President Trump’s Davos address is his statement that he “won’t use force” to take over Greenland while calling for “immediate negotiations” to discuss the “acquisition” of the Arctic territory by the United States from Denmark. “This enormous unsecured island is actually part of North America,” Trump said […]

Von Der Leyen Hand-Wrings About “Raw Power” Under Trump After Venezuela Silence EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned Wednesday before the European Parliament that the 27-member EU must accelerate efforts to strengthen both its economy and its defenses, as it confronts a shifting global order shaped by what she called “raw power.” She took the opportunity to caution Washington and President Trump over his Greenland […]

Did Greenland Expose The Greenback? Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance Empires rarely fall in a single dramatic moment. They unravel when the stories they tell about themselves stop convincing the rest of the world and eventually stop convincing themselves. In this vein, a forced takeover of Greenland would not project strength. It would broadcast weakness. Empire building follows a predictable pattern. Confidence gives way to […]

Bessent Says Deutsche Bank CEO Called To Dismiss Research Note On US Assets US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking at the World Economic Forum earlier today, said Deutsche Bank AG CEO Christian Sewing called him to disavow an analyst report from the bank that warned European investors could sell US assets amid the latest President Donald Trump-EU dispute over Greenland. “We saw a six standard deviation move in Japanese […]

Appalachian NatGas Output Faces “Intense Losses” As Arctic Blast Drives Power Grid Risk Higher The Lower 48 has entered the depths of Northern Hemisphere winter. A series of Arctic cold blasts, combined with fears of a 1996-style blizzard stretching from Texas through the Mid-Atlantic and into the Northeast, has sent U.S. natural gas futures quite literally vertical, marking the largest weekly spike on record (that’s if gains hold […]

Stellar 20Y Auction Stops Through With Near Record Bid To Cover, Record Directs In a week when global yields have exploded higher following the historic rout in Japan’s bond market, many were nervous about the outcome of today’s 20Y Treasury auction. In retrospect, they had no reason to be worried: the auction closed with flying colors amid solid demand.  The high yield of today’s sale of $13BN in 20Y paper was 4.846%, up from […]

The Stock Market Isn’t A Market Anymore – It’s A Political Control Mechanism Authored by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com, It has become increasingly clear to me that the stock market is no longer a stock market in the traditional sense. Its primary purpose was once straightforward: a venue where companies could raise capital by selling shares to the public, and where investors could freely buy and sell those shares among […]

Europe Prepares To Unleash Anti-Coercion “Trade Bazooka” Against Trump: Here’s What’s In It While president Trump took military force over Greenland off the table (for now at least) during his Davos speech, this makes a bruising  diplomatic showdown virtually assured. And ahead of whatever trade escalation the Trump admin may announce next, EU leaders toughened their position and want the European Commission to ready its most […]

Supreme Court Seems Skeptical Over Lisa Cook Firing Update (1238ET): The Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared ready to reject President Trump’s request to fire Fed member Lisa Cook as litigation over the issue proceeds in lower courts. Lisa Cook, member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, attends a Federal Reserve Board open meeting discussing proposed revisions to the board’s supplementary leverage ratio standards at […]

“It’s Going To Get Really Serious”: Liberal Influencers Discuss Public Trials, Court Expansion After Democratic Takeover Authored by Jonathan Turley, Former CNN correspondent Jim Acosta spoke with popular podcaster Jennifer Welch, discussing the plans for radical changes after a Democratic takeover this year. Like many Democratic figures, they said that the expansion of the Supreme Court is obvious. The expansion is essential to […]

Blackrock’s Fink Issues Stark Warning Over AI In Davos Opening Remarks BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink – the new “mayor of Davos” after founder Klaus Schwab resigned last April – used the opening of the World Economic Forum this week to deliver an unusually stark warning to the global elite: Artificial intelligence, if left on its current trajectory, risks deepening inequality, hollowing out the professional class and becoming […]

Walz, Ellison, Frey’s Offices Served Grand Jury Subpoenas Authored by Debra Heine via American Greatness, The Department of Justice on Tuesday served grand jury subpoenas to five Democrat-controlled government offices in Minnesota, including Gov. Tim Walz’s office, Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s office, according to Fox News.  The subpoenas are part of a federal investigation […]

Trump Postpones Tariff Threat, Has “Framework” For “Forever” Greenland Deal Update (1430ET): Global markets are roiling once again following a post from President Trump on his social media feed that “based upon a very productive meeting” with the NATO SecGen Mark Rutte: “we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region. This solution, if consummated, will be a great […]

Pilot Attitudes By Molly Schwartz, Cross Asset Macro Strategist at Rabobank Macron spoke at the Davos Summit yesterday decked out in 2009 Louis Vuitton “Pilot Attitude” aviators with blue lenses. While c’est chic, it could also serve as a subtle nod to the five hazardous attitudes of pilots, which can lead to their ultimate demise: anti-authority, impulsivity, invulnerability, macho, and resignation. If there is a single […]

Markets Shrug After EU Freezes US Trade Deal Approval (Over Greenland Threat) US equity markets are testing the highs of the day, completely ignoring the headlines coming from Europe that the European Parliament decided to freeze a ratification vote in response to President Donald Trump’s escalating threats to seize Greenland. Despite President Trump walking back his most vociferous rhetoric during his lengthy speech at Davos… […]

Kraft Heinz’s Top Shareholder Berkshire Plots Exit Kraft Heinz shares are down about 7.5% in New York premarket trading, the biggest drop in just under four years, after the company filed an 8K allowing Berkshire Hathaway to sell up to 325.4 million shares of stock if it chooses to do so. Kraft Heinz’s permission to sell is not an actual sale. No shares have been sold as a result of this filing, and Berkshire is not obligated to […]

President Trump Exposes The Real Reason Why Minnesota Politicians Are Hostile Toward ICE Via VigilantFox.com, Trump shared how ICE has brought Minnesota’s illegal alien population “way down” despite heavy opposition from Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. He explained to reporters, “They [politicians] want to keep those people who are lying on the floor. They want to keep those people in Minnesota […]

US Pending Home Sales Crash Most Since COVID, Back Near Record Lows After four straight months of increases, US pending home sales crashed in December (-9.3% MoM vs -0.3% MoM exp), dragging sales down 1.27% YoY in 2025… Source: Bloomberg This is the biggest monthly decline since COVID. “The housing sector is not out of the woods yet,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. “After several months of […]

Nuclear Stocks Surge After Trump Tells Davos “US Going Heavy Into Nuclear” President Trump opened his speech at Davos with a major plug for the US nuclear industry. Trump: “The US is going heavy into nuclear. I wasn’t a fan of nuclear, but the safety progress they’ve made with nuclear is unbelievable. We are very much into the world of nuclear energy” — zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 21, 2026 Nuclear fuel chain and reactor […]

Bessent Warns Taiwan Chip Reliance Risks “Economic Apocalypse” Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned on Jan. 20 that the world economy faces a single, outsized systemic vulnerability because advanced semiconductor production remains overwhelmingly concentrated in Taiwan, saying a blockade or destruction of the island’s manufacturing capacity could trigger an “economic […]

Police Use Tear Gas, Stun Grenades Against Farmers Protesting Mercosur Trade Agreement At EU Parliament In Strasbourg Via Remix News, During the farmers’ protest in Strasbourg, ahead of the European Parliament’s vote on the Mercosur trade deal, police used tear gas against demonstrators seeking an appeal to block the agreement. Officers reportedly were forced to throw stun grenades at the protesters as they tried to enter […]

US NatGas Poised For Biggest Weekly Spike On Record As “Blizzard Of ’96” Fears Resurface U.S. natural gas futures are on pace for the largest weekly increase on record, according to Bloomberg data spanning more than 35 years. An Arctic air invasion of the eastern half of the US, combined with the increasing risk of a major winter storm stretching from Texas through the Mid-Atlantic and into the Northeast by this weekend, has […]