DNC Signals Possible Legal Action Against 10 States Over Proposed DOJ Voter-List Agreement

Authored by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times,

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) sent warning letters to election officials in 10 states on Friday, saying proposed agreements with the Justice Department to share unredacted voter registration files and act on list maintenance concerns could violate federal election law.

The letters went to election offices in Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah. In each, the DNC said the Justice Department indicated the state had entered or could soon enter a memorandum of understanding that “appears to require violations” of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).

A Justice Department spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email, “The Department of Justice has statutory authority to enforce our nation’s election laws and protect the integrity of our electoral system. Organizations should think twice before interfering in a federal investigation and encouraging the obstruction of justice, unless they’d like to join the dozens of states that are learning their lesson in federal court.”

Earlier this week, the Justice Department said it had sued Arizona and Connecticut, alleging the states failed to turn over their full voter registration rolls for federal inspection. DOJ said the filings brought its nationwide total to 23 states plus the District of Columbia in lawsuits tied to access to statewide voter registration lists.

In Arizona, the lawsuit says U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi requested the voter registration list from Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes in July 2025 and later extended the deadline to September 2025. The suit says Fontes refused, citing state and federal privacy laws, and asks a court to compel production under the Civil Rights Act’s information-production provisions.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes told The Epoch Times that “Arizonans’ private voter registration information is not up for grabs,” and Fontes said he declined due to privacy concerns.

In Connecticut, the lawsuit says Bondi requested the list in August 2025 and then demanded it in December 2025, but Connecticut Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas said state law bars release of the information sought. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said the state tried to work with DOJ but “rather than communicating productively with us, they rushed to sue.”

The DNC’s letters to the 10 states pointed to a proposed agreement that would require a state to agree that “within forty-five (45) days of receiving notice from the Justice Department of any issues, insufficiencies, inadequacies, deficiencies, anomalies, or concerns,” the state would “clean” its voter registration list or data “by removing ineligible voters” and resubmit updated data to DOJ for verification.

The party argued that a “45-Day Removal Demand” could conflict with NVRA provisions that govern how states remove voters based on suspected changes in residence and that restrict certain systematic list-maintenance activity close to federal elections. In a longer legal argument, the DNC said the NVRA’s affirmative list-maintenance mandate requires a “reasonable effort” to remove certain categories of ineligible registrants and argued the proposed demand goes beyond what federal law requires.

The letters also sought records from the states, including documents related to any DOJ agreement and information about any voters removed, inactivated, or contacted based on the 45-day demand or other DOJ-provided information, including the voter’s party affiliation and the purported basis of ineligibility. The letters asked for responsive records dating from Jan. 1, 2025, to the present.

The DNC signaled it could escalate the matter but said the current letters were not the formal notice that can precede litigation under the NVRA. In the Alabama letter, the DNC wrote that the state may not yet have violated the NVRA and said the letter “does not constitute written notice of violations of the NVRA,” adding that the party “stands ready to issue a formal notice” if evidence of ongoing violations emerges.

The DNC said its concerns were triggered, in part, by statements made in a Dec. 4, 2025, federal court hearing. In the Mississippi letter, the DNC cited a transcript and wrote that the acting chief of the DOJ Voting Section told a judge the state had “expressed ... a willingness” to enter a proposed memorandum concerning voter registration list maintenance.

The White House defended the Justice Department’s authority to press states on voter roll maintenance.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told The Epoch Times in an email, “The Civil Rights Act, National Voting Rights Act, and Help America Vote Act all give the Department of Justice full authority to ensure states comply with federal election laws, which mandate accurate state voter rolls. President Trump is committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of elections, and that includes totally accurate and up-to-date voter rolls free of errors and unlawfully registered non-citizen voters.”

The Epoch Times reached out to the 10 state officials addressed in the letters but did not hear back prior to publication.

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/10/2026 - 19:50

Wall Street's Crypto Debate Is Over As Banks Go All-In On BTC, Stablecoins, Tokenized Cash

Authored by Sam Bourgi via CoinTelegraph.com,

Big banks aren’t debating crypto anymore — they’re building it. From tokenized cash to ETFs, Wall Street is quietly going onchain.

For years, major banks treated cryptocurrency primarily as a risk to be contained. That posture is now giving way to a more deliberate form of engagement. Rather than debating crypto’s legitimacy, banks are increasingly deciding how and where to integrate it, from regulated investment products to blockchain-based payment rails.

This shift is on full display in this week’s Crypto Biz. JPMorgan is extending its US dollar deposit token onto new blockchain infrastructure, signaling that tokenized cash is moving closer to production use within global banking. 

Morgan Stanley, meanwhile, is positioning itself to offer exposure to Bitcoin and Solana through exchange-traded funds (ETFs), potentially bringing crypto investments to millions of wealth management clients. 

Barclays has made its first bet on stablecoin infrastructure, backing settlement rails designed to connect regulated issuers with financial institutions. 

And Bank of America has taken another step toward normalization by allowing advisers to recommend spot Bitcoin ETFs to clients.

Together, these moves suggest the banking sector is no longer content to watch from the sidelines.

JPM Coin heads to the Canton Network

JPMorgan announced plans to issue its US dollar-denominated deposit token, JPM Coin (JPMD), natively on the Canton Network, marking another step by Wall Street toward production-ready blockchain infrastructure.

Digital Asset, the developer of the Canton Network, and Kinexys by JPMorgan will extend JPM Coin from its existing rails onto Canton’s privacy-focused layer-1 blockchain, enabling regulated digital cash to move across interoperable networks.

According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph, JPM Coin, described as the first bank-issued, US dollar-denominated deposit token for institutional clients, represents a digital claim on JPMorgan’s dollar deposits and is designed to facilitate faster, more secure movement of regulated money on public blockchains.

“This collaboration brings to life the vision of regulated digital cash that can move at the speed of markets,” said Yuval Rooz, co-founder and CEO of Digital Asset.

Morgan Stanley enters crypto ETF race

US investment bank Morgan Stanley is entering the cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund market, with proposed products offering exposure to Bitcoin and Solana, following the strong debut of spot crypto ETFs in the United States.

The bank has filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to launch two investment vehicles, the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust and the Morgan Stanley Solana Trust, designed to provide passive investment exposure to the performance of their underlying digital assets.

If approved, the funds could be made available to more than 19 million clients within Morgan Stanley’s wealth management division, significantly expanding access to crypto-linked investment products.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs have ranked among the most successful ETF launches on record, attracting substantial inflows during their first two years of trading. Momentum has continued into the new year, with renewed investor demand driving fresh inflows during the first trading sessions.

The 12 spot US Bitcoin ETFs have amassed more than 1.3 million BTC, valued at nearly $120 billion. Source: Bitbo

Barclays invests in stablecoin infrastructure

London-based banking giant Barclays has made its first investment in a stablecoin-focused company, signaling traditional finance’s growing interest in digital dollar infrastructure.

The bank announced an undisclosed investment in Ubyx, a US-based stablecoin clearing platform that connects regulated issuers with financial institutions to facilitate settlement and interoperability. The move also marks a notable shift for Barclays, which in recent years has publicly emphasized the risks associated with digital assets.

“This investment aligns with Barclays’ approach to explore opportunities based on new forms of digital money, such as stablecoins,” the bank said in a statement.

Ubyx has previously raised $10 million in seed funding, backed by Galaxy and Coinbase. The company was founded by Tony McLaughlin, a former Citibank executive.

Bank of America wealth advisers cleared to recommend Bitcoin ETFs

US investors may soon receive recommendations to buy Bitcoin ETFs from Bank of America’s private bank and Merrill Edge platforms, adding to evidence of Bitcoin’s growing integration into traditional finance.

The bank’s chief investment office has approved coverage of four U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, including products offered by Bitwise, Fidelity, BlackRock and Grayscale. Collectively, the funds manage more than $100 billion in Bitcoin assets.

The move comes roughly a month after Bank of America reportedly advised wealth management clients to allocate 1% to 4% of their portfolios to digital assets.

“For investors with a strong interest in thematic innovation and comfort with elevated volatility, a modest allocation of 1% to 4% in digital assets could be appropriate,” Chris Hyzy, chief investment officer at Bank of America Private Bank, told Yahoo. 

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/10/2026 - 18:40

"Uninvestable": Trump's $100 Billion Venezuela Gamble Meets Oil Industry Reality

President Donald Trump’s push for U.S. oil companies to commit at least $100 billion toward rebuilding Venezuela’s energy industry is meeting significant resistance from the very executives he is courting, according to Bloomberg.

Although the White House projects confidence, industry leaders are warning that Venezuela remains too unstable for major investment, with Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods describing the country bluntly as “uninvestable.”

At a closed-door meeting Friday with roughly 20 energy executives, Trump said he expected an agreement “today or very shortly thereafter” to restart large-scale drilling in Venezuela following the removal of Nicolás Maduro. He applied direct pressure, telling the group, “If you don’t want to go in, just let me know, because I’ve got 25 people that aren’t here today that are willing to take your place.”

Publicly, many executives praised the opportunity. Privately and in their remarks, they expressed deep concern about risk, governance, and long-term returns. Woods delivered the strongest warning, pointing to Venezuela’s unstable business environment and past expropriations. “If we look at the legal and commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela today, it’s uninvestable,” he said, noting Exxon’s assets there had already been seized twice. He questioned whether any future protections would hold: “How durable are the protections from a financial standpoint? What will the returns look like? What are the commercial arrangements, the legal frameworks?” Even so, he added that Exxon would be willing “to put a team on the ground” if invited and given proper security guarantees.

Other executives struck a cautious tone. Continental Resources founder Harold Hamm said the prospect “excites me as an explorationist,” but emphasized the scale of the task ahead: “There’s a huge investment that needs to be done — we’ve all agreed on that, and certainly we need time to see that through.”

Bloomberg writes that Trump, however, left the meeting projecting momentum. “We sort of formed a deal,” he told reporters, predicting companies would soon be investing “hundreds of billions of dollars in drilling oil.” Yet when pressed for specifics, Energy Secretary Chris Wright acknowledged that Chevron — the only U.S. major still operating in Venezuela — was the only firm to make a concrete pledge. Chevron Vice Chairman Mark Nelson said production, now about 240,000 barrels per day, could rise by roughly 50% within 18 to 24 months.

Trump sought to ease investor fears by promising sweeping protections: “You have total safety, total security,” he said. “You’re dealing with us directly — you’re not dealing with Venezuela or we don’t want you to deal with Venezuela.” Wright later said the administration’s priority is to “change the behavior of the government in Venezuela” and “drive better business conditions.”

The meeting included moments of levity over massive past losses. When ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance said his company had absorbed a $12 billion hit in Venezuela, Trump replied, “Good write-off,” prompting Lance to respond, “It’s already been written off.”

Some executives were openly eager. Repsol’s CEO told Trump his company was “ready to invest more in Venezuela today,” and Armstrong Oil & Gas CEO Bill Armstrong said, “We are ready to go to Venezuela… it is prime real estate… kind of like West Palm about 50 years ago: very ripe.”

Still, many industry figures are uneasy about the optics and risks of the administration’s strategy, which critics argue amounts to an aggressive grab for Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. Trump defended the move bluntly: “If we didn’t do this, China or Russia would have done it.”

Despite the uncertainty, Wright predicted Venezuela’s output would “hopefully” begin rising by summer and said, “They are going to ramp up investment immediately in the next few weeks… Can we achieve $100 billion investment over next 10 years? I think absolutely.”

Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, but decades of neglect, sanctions, and infrastructure collapse have pushed production below one million barrels per day. Rebuilding even a fraction of its former output will require years of work and tens of billions of dollars to repair abandoned rigs, corroded pipelines, and heavily damaged facilities.

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/10/2026 - 18:05

Not Worth A Continental

Authored by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com,

In late-18th-century America, something of minimal value was often described as being “not worth a continental,” which referred to the continental dollar, the American currency at the time of the revolution.

The continental was paper money. It had occurred to the colonists that, as their revolution was costing quite a bit to maintain, they could go into “temporary” debt to finance the war. Soon it became clear that the debt could not be repaid. Also, the printing of paper banknotes resulted in inflation. The solution? Print more of them. Further devaluation of the continental motivated the colonists to print more… then more… then still more. The continental became worthless, either for local trade or for repayment of debt.

The new country, the United States, then did something quite unusual. In its new Constitution, it created a clause to assure that this would never happen again. Under Article I, Section 10, the states were not permitted to “coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; [or] make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.”

The founding fathers of the US had figured out that the issuance of paper currency was a disaster in the making, and in 1792, passed the Coinage Act, denominating coins to be minted. The act authorized three gold coins: $10.00 eagles, $5.00 half eagles, and $2.50 quarter eagles, in addition to silver coins.

Of course, later US political leaders have largely committed the Constitution to the dustbin. Since that time, dozens of countries have followed a similar pattern of war/debt/hyperinflation. Let’s look at a few:

German 100 “billionen” mark banknote, ca. 1923

Reparations for WWI were required in hard currency. The papiermark was printed in mass quantity to buy foreign currency in order to pay reparations. The proliferation of bank notes caused the cost of goods to rise dramatically.

This rise was so dramatic that it led to a flight by Germans into hard assets, to avoid holding paper bank notes. (This is the classic tipping point at which inflation morphs into hyperinflation.) Predictably, governmental operation costs also rose. An increase in taxation was of no value, as it would be paid in the devaluating currency.

If the government stopped the inflation, this would cause immediate bankruptcies, unemployment, strikes, etc. But if they continued, they would default on the foreign debt through hyperinflation. They chose the latter, which, although ultimately more destructive, would buy the politicians a bit more time. (Hyperinflation is seen today as having paved the way for Adolf Hitler and the Nazi takeover of Germany.)

Hungarian 100 million billion pengő, ca. 1946

In 1945, Hungary was severely strapped for money, as a result of WWII. The Hungarian National Bank was instructed to issue currency proportional to whatever the budget required. Silver coinage disappeared. Banknotes were issued with no cover of any kind, and hyperinflation took hold.

As always, the government was confident that it could control inflation, but once hyperinflation took over, it was entirely beyond control. It is important to note that hyperinflation, once it begins, spreads like wildfire. The Hungarian hyperinflation began at the end of 1945 and peaked the following July.

Yugoslav 500 billion dinar banknote, ca. 1993

More recently, Yugoslavia, economically weakened by regional war, had used up all its hard currency reserves and decided to loot the savings of its citizens. This it did through the printing of money and increasing restrictions on citizens’ savings in government banks.

Not surprisingly, inflation rose dramatically. The government reacted by imposing price controls, which eliminated profits, so manufacturers ceased to produce essential goods. By 1993, when prices were doubling every fifteen hours, the country had reached the point that bakers stopped making bread.

Zimbabwe 100 trillion dollar banknote, ca. 2008

Zimbabwe’s civil war emptied the country’s treasury. Beginning in1998, President Robert Mugabe took land and other assets from white farmers and redistributed them to less-experienced black farmers. Food exports plummeted, prompting Mugabe to print more currency. Revenues to government suffered as a result, with wages failing to keep up. Hospitals and schools developed chronic staffing problems, because nurses and teachers could not afford bus fare to get to work. The capital of Harare was without water, because the authorities had stopped paying the bills to buy and transport the treatment chemicals. By 2008, prices were doubling every 24 hours.

There are many other examples, but the ones listed above provide a fairly good thumbnail sketch. There are many paths by which political leaders may destroy a country’s economy through hyperinflation. But those leaders who follow the standard checklist of the most common components to collapse can generally be assured that the economy will be destroyed. Let’s have a look at that checklist:

• War (Can be one major war, or, as in today’s world, perpetual small wars)

• Depletion of gold reserves

• Excessive Debt (Create a debt level that is beyond the ability to repay)

• Devaluation of currency (Print massive amounts of currency to diminish debt)

• Loss of control of inflation (Inflation morphs into hyperinflation—a state in which citizens actively try to rid themselves of the currency, as it is devaluating so quickly.)

We are living in a period in which much of the world has committed the first three to four of the above grave errors and is reaching the tipping point at which the fifth kicks in. It’s important to emphasise that hyperinflation is never actually anticipated by governments; it always occurs suddenly, and it happens very fast. In addition, once begun, it never reverses direction. It always plays out until a complete monetary collapse occurs.

Back in the beginning paragraphs of this article, we mentioned that, in 1787, America’s founding fathers took the highly unusual step of enshrining in the Constitution a control to assure that private banks would never again create fiat currencies. The 1792 Coinage Act provided for a coin of the land—the “eagle,” which was to be made of gold.

The paper continental, along with the silver certificate and the gold certificate, has long since disappeared, but the US gold eagle is still being minted today.

And here’s the interesting aspect of gold coinage: The eagle has the same purchasing power as it did back in 1787. Whilst its nominal value may rise and fall, one ounce of gold purchases the same amount of goods as it has throughout history.

The significance of this is that gold, in essence, does not go up and down in value. Rather, gold is the standard by which currencies go up and down. Over the course of history, there have occasionally been anomalies in which gold is down for a brief time, or it is overbought and a bubble briefly occurs. But gold is like the seas: it has its tides, but like water, it seeks its own level and invariably continues as the standard of value.

In times like the present one, when we may anticipate the hyperinflation of numerous currencies, those seeking to preserve what they have, might wish to turn to gold as a relative safe haven, as mankind has done for 5000 years.

*  *  *

History is remarkably consistent. From the worthless continental to Weimar Germany, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Zimbabwe, the pattern is always the same—governments print their way out of trouble, currencies collapse, and those holding paper wealth pay the price. The constant thread running through every one of these episodes is that gold did not fail; the currencies around it did. If you’d like a deeper, unfiltered look at why gold has survived every monetary breakdown for thousands of years—and why it matters now—we’ve arranged a free video featuring legendary investor Doug Casey. In it, he explains what most commentators still refuse to acknowledge about today’s monetary system and what history suggests comes next. Click here to watch the free video now. 

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/10/2026 - 17:30

Minneapolis City Officials Dismantle 'No-Go Zone' Set Up By Anti-ICE Agitators

Authored by Debra Heine via American Greatness,

Leftwing agitators in Minneapolis on Thursday set up a short-lived  “autonomous zone” that spanned several blocks in the southeastern part of the city, and reportedly declared it a “no-go zone” for law enforcement.

The city however removed the barricades surrounding it overnight to allow residents and first responders access to the area.

On Wednesday, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Macklin Good, was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, after she had accelerated her Honda Pilot toward the officer, hitting and injuring him.

Leftwing operatives immediately seized on the incident to incite disorder and riots in the Twin Cities and elsewhere.

Thursday night, activists were seen setting up barricades in the street with stolen trash bins, Christmas trees and other materials, blocking residents and police from driving in the neighborhood.

According to independent journalist Nick Sortor, the makeshift barricades were set up at all intersections, with “guards” posted at each one.

The anti-ICE agitators brought in food, drinks and medical supplies, placing the items on tables under pop-up canopies in the street. At least one of the canopies contained a portable fire pit. Activists also set fires in the street to stay warm.

“This looks almost IDENTICAL to CHAZ, or the ‘Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone’ in Seattle in 2020, where the city SURRENDERED a neighborhood to anarchists who made their own ‘laws.’

It didn’t take long for that cop-free social experiment to devolve into chaos, with shootings, drug and alcohol abuse, theft, vandalism, and street brawls a regular occurrence. Seattle Police easily cleared out the Seattle autonomous zone on July 1, 2020, after several weeks of violent anarchy.

City officials cleared the blockade in Minneapolis early Friday to ensure fire and medical access, leaving a memorial of candles and flowers intact.

Authorities noted that residents who live in the area had also raised concerns about neighborhood access.

“Safety has to come first—every second matters when lives are on the line,” said Interim Chief Melanie Rucker, Minneapolis Fire Department. “Just up the street from this location, our crews were actively fighting a three-alarm fire on Monday night. When streets are blocked, it slows our response, limits access to critical resources and puts both residents and emergency responders at risk.”

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/10/2026 - 15:10

Watch: New Footage Shows Three Minutes Before Minneapolis ICE-Involved Shooting

Update (1410ET):

Additional footage has surfaced, apparently from a nearby resident, showing at least three minutes leading up to the ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis of a left-wing activist who was blocking traffic in an attempt to impede federal agents during a deportation operation.

The internet has been a battleground of competing narratives, fighting over which will be the consensus, in which left-leaning corporate media outlets and Democrats say the woman shot and killed did nothing wrong, while the White House and right-leaning outlets have said she was part of "ICE Watch" and part a pressure campaign against ICE.

The Trump administration has sprung into action over the last few days in an attempt to control the narrative and ensure Democrats don't win this narrative fight. Maybe that's because if Democrats succeed, it is clear the party wants a repeat of 'George Floyd 2.0' riots.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X,

Remember when the media called Abrego Garcia an innocent "Maryland Man," when he was actually an illegal alien, human trafficker, wife beater, and gang member? Minnesota is a different case, but the legacy media is running the same playbook. This woman was not "an innocent mother dropping off her child at school." She was a leftist insurrectionist who was purposefully and illegally obstructing law enforcement operations. More evidence here:

Remember when the media called Abrego Garcia an innocent “Maryland Man,” when he was actually an illegal alien, human trafficker, wife beater, and gang member?

Minnesota is a different case, but the legacy media is running the same playbook.

This woman was not “an innocent… https://t.co/ov2Jj4oyka

— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) January 10, 2026

"The media suppresses this footage because the truth destroys their narrative. They require your ignorance to maintain control. This is psychological warfare disguised as journalism," one X user stated. 

*   *   * 

There are competing narratives about Wednesday’s ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis. Some left-leaning corporate outlets focused on the fact that a woman was shot and killed by an ICE agent during a federal enforcement deportation operation, while other media, like the New York Post, highlighted that the woman, identified as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, was part of a left-wing group "Ice Watch" that mounted pressure campaigns on ICE agents on the ground.

Put aside all those viral videos on X; now Alpha News has obtained cellphone footage from what appears to be one of the ICE agents, and it provides a completely new perspective on what happened and why the ICE agent felt threatened enough to fire several shots at Good, killing the activist.

BREAKING: Alpha News has obtained cellphone footage showing perspective of federal agent at center of ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis pic.twitter.com/p2wks0zew0

— Alpha News (@AlphaNews) January 9, 2026

The NYPost reported late Thursday night that Good was an anti-ICE "warrior" and part of a network of left-wing activists who worked to "document and resist" ICE operations in Minnesota.

The video from an ICE agent appears to confirm that Good and another individual were obstructing federal agents in the middle of the street.

Vice President JD Vance commented on Alpha News' report, saying, "What the press has done in lying about this innocent law enforcement officer is disgusting. You should all be ashamed of yourselves." 

*This is a developing story.... Check back for more updates.

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/10/2026 - 14:10

USDA Suspends All Payments To Minnesota's Food Programs Over Suspected Fraud

Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) suspended payments for all federal food programs in Minnesota and Minneapolis Friday over alleged fraud and abuse of federal funds statewide.

“Enough is enough!” USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins posted on X, announcing the suspension. “The Trump administration has uncovered massive fraud in Minnesota and Minneapolis—billions siphoned off by fraudsters. And those in charge have zero plan to fix it.”

The agency plans to suspend all payments of federal financial awards to the state and city—totalling about $130 million—until state and local officials provide documentation detailing expenditures and transactions for the past year, Rollins said.

More than 440,000 people—about one in 13 residents—receive monthly assistance from the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), according to the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families.

SNAP uses around three-fourths of the federal funding for food-related programs and about 7 percent of all federal funding for the state, the agency reported.

In all, Minnesota received an estimated $2.05 billion in federal funds for 52 food-related programs in 2025, according to the state. The top five programs were SNAP; Women, Infants, and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program (WIC); school lunches; school breakfasts; and the child and adult care food program.

According to Rollins, Gov. Tim Walz’s administration did not provide the USDA information about SNAP participants that would prevent continuing fraud. The state also sued the USDA in December 2025 to block the agency’s directive to recertify the state’s SNAP recipients.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued the Trump administration after the USDA demanded it recertify 100,000 households that receive SNAP benefits with in-person interviews by Jan. 15 to verify if they were eligible for the program.

Ellison argued in the lawsuit that the USDA’s demand violated several aspects of federal law.

As part of Friday’s notice, Rollins notified state and city officials they would have to provide the USDA with payment justifications for all federal dollar expenditures from Jan. 20, 2025, to the present.

All transactions on funding awards to the state and city would require the same payment justifications, according to Rollins.

Federal investigators from multiple branches of the Trump administration have focused on Minnesota amid allegations of fraud in the state’s federal child care, day care, Small Business Administration, housing, food, and other social services programs.

The USDA’s funding pause is the latest measure taken by the administration in the past two weeks as officials widen the scope of investigations.

“While the full extent of fraud in Minnesota is not yet known, it is clear that, under your leadership—or lack thereof—fraudsters can take advantage of federal funds and the American taxpayer with impunity,” Rollins said in her notice. “This necessitates federal action to protect taxpayer dollars until adequate safeguards can be established.”

Walz’s office, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s office, and the Minneapolis Department of Children, Youth, and Families did not immediately return requests for comment about the announcement.

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/10/2026 - 14:00

US And Venezuela Explore Restoring Diplomatic Ties After Maduro's Capture

Authored by Kimberley Hayek via The Epoch Times,

The United States and Venezuela announced Friday they are pursuing the possibility of reestablishing diplomatic relations, coming a week after a U.S. military operation that captured former leader Nicolás Maduro in Caracas and extradited him to face drug-trafficking charges in New York.

A U.S. delegation, including diplomats and security personnel, visited Venezuela to evaluate the potential reopening of the American Embassy in Caracas, the State Department said in a statement sent to media outlets. The department did not immediately return a request for comment.

The embassy has been shuttered since 2019, when ties were severed during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term after the United States, along with multiple other countries, recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate president amid allegations of election fraud. U.S. officials have also been accusing Maduro and his regime of backing cartels trafficking illicit drugs into the United States.

Venezuela’s interim government, led by acting President Delcy Rodríguez, responded by stating it intends to send a delegation to the United States. No timeline was provided yet.

“The government of Venezuela has decided to initiate an exploratory diplomatic process with the U.S. government, with a view to reestablishing the diplomatic missions in both countries,” the Venezuelan government said in a statement.

Such a visit would likely necessitate waivers from U.S. Treasury sanctions imposed on Venezuelan officials.

The move comes amid Rodríguez’s efforts to manage domestic pressures, including demands from Venezuela’s military hard-liners furious over Maduro’s capture. In phone discussions with the presidents of Brazil, Colombia, and Spain, she described the U.S. operation as “grave, criminal, illegal, and illegitimate aggression” against Venezuela.

Later, during a televised event at the opening of a women’s health clinic in Caracas, Rodríguez highlighted diplomacy as key to safeguarding the nation and facilitating “the return of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.”

“We will meet face-to-face in diplomacy ... to defend the peace of Venezuela, the stability of Venezuela, the future, to defend our independence and to defend our sacred and inalienable sovereignty,” Rodríguez said, without directly addressing the embassy’s potential reactivation.

Rodríguez on Jan. 5 extended an invitation for U.S. collaboration, writing on social media: “We invite the U.S. government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence.”

She further emphasized moving toward “balanced and respectful international relations.”

Maduro appeared in federal court in New York on Jan. 5 and pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges, according to U.S. officials.

Following Maduro’s removal, Rodriguez, who served as Maduro’s deputy, assumed interim leadership. U.S. authorities said Washington would exercise oversight of the transitional government.

The U.S. president has urged Rodríguez and remaining Maduro allies to align with U.S. interests, particularly enforcement against drug trafficking and control over Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

Venezuela’s oil sector holds the world’s largest proven reserves but has been mismanaged and financially neglected for years. Oil output has fallen from more than 3 million barrels per day in the early 2000s to less than 1 million barrels per day in recent years, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

On Jan. 10, Trump invited executives of large oil companies to the White House on Friday to discuss investment opportunities that will restore Venezuela’s oil infrastructure following the ousting of Maduro. Trump said that American oil companies will invest at least $100 billion in Venezuela to boost its oil production.

“We’re going to discuss how these great American companies can help rapidly rebuild Venezuela’s dilapidated oil industry and bring millions of barrels of oil production to benefit the United States, the people of Venezuela, and the entire world,” Trump said as he welcomed the executives.

The president also announced on Jan. 6 that Venezuela will send 30 million barrels of oil, valued at approximately $4 billion, to the United States.

U.S. visits to Caracas have been infrequent since the embassy closure, with the most recent in February 2025 involving special envoy Richard Grenell, who secured the release of six detained Americans after meeting Maduro.

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/10/2026 - 12:50

UK Government Threatens Total Ban On X Over Grok Bikini Flap

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

The UK’s Labour government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer has escalated its war on online expression, now openly threatening to ban Elon Musk’s X platform entirely. Using the pretext of Grok AI’s image generation capabilities, Starmer’s regime is pushing for total control over what Brits can see and say online, exposing the thin veil over their authoritarian impulses.

This move comes amid a surge in Grok-generated sexualized images, but the crackdown reeks of selective outrage aimed at silencing dissent rather than protecting anyone.

Starmer issued the threat, declaring “This is disgraceful. It’s disgusting, and it’s not to be tolerated,” adding that “all options are on the table” to address what he called unlawful content on X. He emphasized, “X has got to get a grip of this, and Ofcom (The UK’s regulatory authority for the internet) has our full support to take action in relation to this. This is wrong. It’s unlawful. We’re not going to tolerate it.”

?BREAKING: KEIR STARMER THREATENS X ON CAMERA

"IT'S DISGRACEFUL. IT'S DISGUSTING"

"It's wrong, it's unlawful, I've asked for all options to be on the table"

Note Keir Starmer doesn't care about Chat GPT or any other AI where you can do exactly the same things

He's a tyrant https://t.co/GWTdMefktX pic.twitter.com/ymI2fDecKm

— Basil the Great (@BasilTheGreat) January 9, 2026

Labour MP Lola McEvoy doubled down, stating platforms like X “have no right to be accessed in this country” if they fail to comply with the UK’s draconian Online Safety Act.

?LABOUR MINISTER LOLA MCEVOY SAYS BANNING X IS REAL POSSIBILITY

"It's about saying if these big platforms that have huge users don't comply with the online safety act then they have NO RIGHT to be accessed in this country"

Wow.

Labour are dictators. https://t.co/GWTdMeeMEp pic.twitter.com/voHDWTHblY

— Basil the Great (@BasilTheGreat) January 9, 2026

Multiple sources confirm insiders are advancing plans to block the site, with the AI excuse front and centre.

?MULTIPLE NEWS SOURCES REPORT LABOUR INSIDERS ARE MOVING AHEAD WITH PLAN TO BAN X IN THE UK

The excuse given is over Grok AI but we all know what the truth is

Keir Starmer is sick of the British public seeing the truth of what is happening to our country

He's a fascist https://t.co/GWTdMefktX pic.twitter.com/PpcsvMM8nZ

— Basil the Great (@BasilTheGreat) January 9, 2026

Leaked WhatsApp messages have also revealed Labour MPs urging the government to abandon X altogether, labeling Elon Musk a “fascist” and arguing it should “show direction to others in the UK.”

Leaked WhatsApp messages show Labour MPs urging the government to leave X, arguing that it should "show direction to others in the UK"

In messages seen by @zoenora6, Labour MPs were asked by government to post on X about the two-child cap being abolished, but some replied asking…

— PoliticsHome (@politicshome) January 9, 2026

One MP questioned why they couldn’t follow Trump’s lead with Truth Social, while others claimed their constituents are on Facebook instead.

They've been waiting and planning for a way to do this for months.

— Scott Lewis (@WarriorSpeech28) January 9, 2026

Journalist Alison Pearson nailed the double standard: Starmer rants about “safety” on X while flooding the country with undocumented fighting-age males daily. What about the real threats to British women and girls from unchecked migration? He doesn’t give a damn about anyone’s safety.

WELL SAID ALISON PEARSON ?

Keir Starmer wants to ban X for 'safety reasons'

What about the COUNTLESS UNDOCUMENTED FIGHTING AGE MALES he lets into the country every single day

He doesn't give a DAMN about the safety of ANYONE but his own ego. pic.twitter.com/GNB0yIYXHp

— Basil the Great (@BasilTheGreat) January 9, 2026

Starmer, now the most unpopular UK Prime Minister in history with just a 15% approval rating, is also the most community-noted public figure on X, constantly called out for lies. He’s the fifth most ratio’d person on the platform—everyone exposes his deceptions. He can’t control X, and there’s no doubt that this is playing into the move.

Broadcaster Alex Phillips tore into him: “You don’t like X because you don’t like free speech. That’s why you want to close it down. You’re a thin-skinned megalomaniacal monster. We see you, Keir Starmer!”

?ALEX PHILLIPS ERUPTS AT KEIR STARMER ?

"YOU DON'T LIKE X BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE FREE SPEECH"

"THAT'S WHY YOU WANT TO CLOSE IT DOWN"

"YOU'RE A THIN-SKINNED MEGLOMENIACHAL MONSTER"

"WE SEE YOU KEIR STARMER!" pic.twitter.com/lZdEJ2jSuo

— Basil the Great (@BasilTheGreat) January 9, 2026

Starmer’s threats have drawn international backlash. US Republicans, including Trump ally Anna Paulina Luna, warn of sanctions against the UK if the ban proceeds, labeling it a direct assault on free speech.

If Starmer is successful in banning @X in Britain, I will move forward with legislation that is currently being drafted to sanction not only Starmer, but Britain as a whole. This would mirror actions previously taken by the United States in response to foreign governments… https://t.co/yUQp8sQGy5

— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) January 9, 2026

The post continues,

“…restricting the platform, including the dispute with Brazil in 2024–2025, which resulted in tariffs, visa revocations, and sanctions and consequences tied to free speech concerns against Brazilian officials over concerns related to censorship and free-speech violations.

Starmer should reconsider this course of action, or there will be consequences.

There are always technical bugs during the early phases of new technology, especially AI, and those issues are typically addressed quickly. X treats these matters seriously and acts promptly. Let’s be clear: this is not about technical compliance. This is a political war against @elonmusk and free speech—nothing more.”

?? Britain has been threatened with sanctions if Sir Keir Starmer attempts to block Elon Musk’s X over its AI tool undressing women and children.

Read the full story here ??https://t.co/fvSqIk4C1n pic.twitter.com/3ciFefj3A1

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) January 9, 2026

Trump himself has signaled readiness to hit back, tying into his administration’s visa bans on Europeans pushing tech censorship.

Trump also recently suspended a $40 billion tech deal with the UK over its free speech crackdown, a move that underscores America’s commitment to First Amendment principles, and a clear sign that the President will not stay silent on Britain’s freedom crushing policies.

Trump has long been attuned to Britain’s erosion of rights, dispatching a “free speech squad” from the State Department in May to investigate cases of activists arrested for silent protests and online dissent. 

He’s even offered political asylum to UK “thought criminals,” including those prosecuted for gender-critical views or immigration criticism, positioning America as a haven for those fleeing authoritarian overreach.

The UK’s erosion of free speech has been accelerating, from jailing citizens over tweets, to branding criticising illegal immigration as hate speech, to criminalising ‘wrong’ opinions on sports commentators.

Even the likes of Google, which has previously demonetized, shadow-banned, and outright censored content that doesn’t align with leftist narratives, has expressed concern over the tyrannical potential of the Online Safety act.

Starmer’s focus on Grok also completely ignores that other AIs, like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, enable the exact same image manipulations—putting people in bikinis or worse. All AI can do this, it’s clearly selective outrage.

The government has also not expressed any concern about the fact that Google’s AI gets basic historical facts wrong and skews everything toward woke/DEI, as well as giving bad health tips, encouraging suicide, and falsely accusing people of being rapists and racists.

Why single out X? Because it’s the one platform where truth slips through the cracks of mainstream control and free speech is fully embraced.

Starmer’s regime can’t hide behind “safety” forever. Banning X won’t erase the truth— it’ll only fuel the resistance. Brits deserve platforms where facts flow freely, not dictated by thin-skinned tyrants.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/10/2026 - 09:20

Economic Satisfaction Declines With Age

More than four in ten adults in the United States view their personal financial situation positively.

This is according to a new survey by Statista Consumer Insights, conducted between October 2024 and September 2025.

You will find more infographics at Statista

At 43 percent, this marks an increase of four percentage points from one year before.

A perception gap persists between age groups, with younger generations (18 to 29 year olds and 30 to 49 year olds) more likely to be content with their financial situation than those aged 50-64 years old.

Just 33 percent of the older age group said they felt positively, compared to 47 percent of the two younger age brackets.

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/10/2026 - 08:45

Germany's Conversion To Planned Economy, War With Russia As Driver

Submitted by Thomas Kolbe

The president of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Moritz Schularick, makes no secret in an interview with the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung that the signs are pointing toward a war economy. It is bizarre to witness how economists succumb to the intellectual mediocrity of central planning.

Professor Moritz Schularick, president of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), seems to have found the ultimate solution to Germany’s economic problems. In conversation with the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung (NOZ), the economist complained about a leadership vacuum in German arms policy. He sees it as central to an active industrial policy that could lead Germany out of its economic woes. Schularick expects that arms production will act as a, in his own words, “job booster.”

He said literally: “If we want Europe to truly stand on its own in defense soon and not remain dependent on the MAGA-USA, then Defense Minister Boris Pistorius must be given the order to work with European partners to eventually replace the USA and its capabilities.”

Fatal War Rhetoric 

“Order to march,” military self-sufficiency — the vocabulary is both revealing and dangerous. It seems politics and state-adjacent economic research are converging on a common path regarding military policy and increasingly centrally planned industrial management. A return to market principles seems like a fairy tale in circles of German economists—no one believes anymore in the curative power of freedom from climate diktats, overregulation, and fiscal burdens.

According to Schularick, politics should implement a top-level arms coordinator to manage investment funds in response to the Russian threat. Perhaps he envisions himself in this role? After all, over €500 billion in defense investments are planned by the end of the decade to reduce security dependence on the U.S.

Production Capacity Shortfalls 

Schularick criticized the extremely slow pace of ramping up arms production. Since the war began four years ago, nothing has been done to significantly increase production capacity.

“How many Taurus missiles are finished per month? Not even a handful,” he laments. A clear industrial policy deficit, he concludes.

Here, the new spirit of German economic “academia” emerges: everything revolves around the much-praised global steering, an active industrial policy now pursued by Brussels and Berlin, dangerously fed by state-aligned research.

What was long predicted with three-quarter conviction now seems to be happening. Central planners, including Schularick, apparently assume they can repurpose idle German industrial capacity for the defense sector. Civil car production, in their view, can easily be converted into tank production. Besides producing goods private households do not demand, this creates yet another subsidy-dependent industry, consuming resources from civilian production and artificially raising civilian costs.

Germany’s “Rediscovered” Work Ethic in War Mode 

Schularick grows euphoric about the promising future of the war economy, astonishingly rediscovering a work ethic long absent in Germany. He notes production is still mostly single-shift, five days a week. Implicitly, we learn, these are the jobs of Germany’s economic future.

No one seems to think about what should be produced in the coming years to avoid empty shelves after just three weeks in a potential conflict. It’s not just about armored vehicles but also future technologies like autonomous systems, satellites, AI, or robotics, Schularick adds. Everywhere, German industry has fallen behind.

Where does this competitive disadvantage come from, the central planner wonders? Perhaps from German policy and the Brussels bureaucratic apparatus acting as internal antagonists?

The interview highlights the widening gap between economic reality and the hermetically sealed ivory tower of politics, state-backed research, and sympathetic media, which promote this massive economic mismanagement while failing to critically assess Russia’s actual military strength, which is not capable of a continental invasion.

We’ve seen this playbook during the COVID era: once set in motion, the state-affiliated media machine drives narratives across newspapers, radio, and social media bot armies, suppressing open discourse. Stories of Russian occupation are defended in apocalyptic tones, wearing the public down.

The Central Planners’ Dreamworld 

How do technocrats like Schularick, Merz, or von der Leyen envision converting production lines to military goods in practice? Beyond financing, there’s the question of knowledge transfer. Do blueprints come from the Internet or Boris Pistorius’ ministry?

The knowledge transfer required to build a centrally planned war economy from civilian industry is immense and time-consuming. Even after decades of bitter experience with green transformation—which only drove capital out of Germany—political learning curves remain negative.

Was this the goal? Ironically: to push industry into a corner with climate policies until it falters, then fill freed capacities with arms production?

Beyond the failed climate subsidy business emerges a new extraction pillar: the European defense sector. Whether this experiment can withstand real-world economic conditions—falling productivity, rising debt—is doubtful. Central planners like Schularick will surely have an explanation: they were blocked by forces opposed to European integration, joint war economy, and Brussels debt accumulation.

The Illusion of Central Planning 

No deep economic expertise is needed to see that militarization is doomed to fail. A brief glance at 20th-century history is enough. Beyond massive resource mismanagement, there are issues of national sovereignty, divergent EU geopolitical interests, and a divided Union—especially an Eastern bloc wary of conflict with Russia.

That even economists like Schularick succumb to the lure of powerful central planning shows they are not immune to personal vanity. Surely, they hope their institutes benefit—perhaps with a ministerial-level position as arms coordinator. Who knows which job descriptions are already circulating in Berlin and Brussels.

It is tragic, yet the motto everywhere seems to be: “After us, the flood.”

* * * 

About the author: Thomas Kolbe is a Germany graduate economist. For over 25 years, he has worked as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination.

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/10/2026 - 08:10

Alaskans Spend The Most (Per Capita) On Alcohol, Utah (Surprise) The Least

Alcohol consumption patterns in the U.S. vary sharply depending on where people live.

Cultural norms, climate, income levels, and access to services all shape how much residents spend on alcoholic beverages. This visualization, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, maps alcohol spending per adult across all 50 states.

The data comes from SmartAsset.

Alaska Leads by a Wide Margin

Alaska ranks first, with adults spending nearly $1,250 on alcohol in 2024.

The state’s top position is often linked to isolation, harsh weather conditions, and limited access to healthcare and addiction services. Higher prices due to transportation costs also push up total spending.

Rank State Alcohol spending (2024) 1 Alaska $1,249.76 2 Wyoming $1,237.84 3 Colorado $1,202.45 4 Massachusetts $1,185.54 5 Rhode Island $1,155.82 6 New Hampshire $1,119.73 7 Oregon $1,104.87 8 Hawaii $1,095.34 9 Washington $1,070.99 10 Montana $1,051.01 11 Vermont $1,039.04 12 New Jersey $1,037.31 13 Virginia $1,019.08 14 California $1,001.37 15 New Mexico $994.06 16 Maine $985.08 17 Texas $972.04 18 Florida $959.37 19 Minnesota $954.14 20 Nevada $949.91 21 North Carolina $943.46 22 Georgia $943.08 23 Arizona $881.96 24 Connecticut $875.41 25 South Carolina $838.57 26 Missouri $835.55 27 Arkansas $834.54 28 Maryland $825.88 29 North Dakota $822.97 30 Louisiana $805.73 31 Michigan $805.06 32 South Dakota $804.83 33 New York $804.53 34 Iowa $801.79 35 Delaware $800.65 36 Kansas $800.42 37 Nebraska $795.17 38 Wisconsin $793.37 39 Pennsylvania $780.53 40 Illinois $774.28 41 Alabama $754.48 42 Indiana $750.66 43 Kentucky $736.76 44 Idaho $731.29 45 Ohio $704.12 46 Tennessee $693.70 47 Oklahoma $690.82 48 Mississippi $641.12 49 West Virginia $616.81 50 Utah $606.42 -- State Average $897.57

Wyoming and Colorado follow Alaska closely, both exceeding $1,200 per adult.

Regional Alcohol Spending Trends

Many of the highest-spending states cluster in the West and Northeast. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire rank in the top 10, alongside Oregon and Washington.

At the other end of the spectrum, Utah reports the lowest alcohol spending per adult at just over $600. A large religious population and stricter alcohol regulations help keep consumption and spending well below the national average.

Several Southern and Midwestern states, including West Virginia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Oklahoma, also fall near the bottom of the rankings. Cultural attitudes, stricter alcohol regulations, and lower average incomes all help explain these patterns.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Mapping Incarceration Rates Across the U.S. on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/10/2026 - 07:35

Peter Schiff: Printing Money Is Not the Cure for Cononavirus



In his most recent podcast, Peter Schiff talked about coronavirus and the impact that it is having on the markets. Earlier this month, Peter said he thought the virus was just an excuse for stock market woes. At the time he believed the market was poised to fall anyway. But as it turns out, coronavirus has actually helped the US stock market because it has led central banks to pump even more liquidity into the world financial system. All this means more liquidity — central banks easing. In fact, that is exactly what has already happened, except the new easing is taking place, for now, outside the United States, particularly in China.” Although the new money is primarily being created in China, it is flowing into dollars — the dollar index is up — and into US stocks. Last week, US stock markets once again made all-time record highs. In fact, I think but for the coronavirus, the US stock market would still be selling off. But because of the central bank stimulus that has been the result of fears over the coronavirus, that actually benefitted not only the US dollar, but the US stock market.” In the midst of all this, Peter raises a really good question. The primary economic concern is that coronavirus will slow down output and ultimately stunt economic growth. Practically speaking, the world would produce less stuff. If the virus continues to spread, there would be fewer goods and services produced in a market that is hunkered down. Why would the Federal Reserve respond, or why would any central bank respond to that by printing money? How does printing more money solve that problem? It doesn’t. In fact, it actually exacerbates it. But you know, everybody looks at central bankers as if they’ve got the solution to every problem. They don’t. They don’t have the magic wand. They just have a printing press. And all that creates is inflation.” Sometimes the illusion inflation creates can look like a magic wand. Printing money can paper over problems. But none of this is going to fundamentally fix the economy. In fact, if central bankers were really going to do the right thing, the appropriate response would be to drain liquidity from the markets, not supply even more.” Peter explained how the Fed was originally intended to create an “elastic” money supply that would expand or contract along with economic output. Today, the money supply only goes in one direction — that’s up. The economy is strong, print money. The economy is weak, print even more money.” Of course, the asset that’s doing the best right now is gold. The yellow metal pushed above $1,600 yesterday. Gold is up 5.5% on the year in dollar terms and has set record highs in other currencies. Because gold is rising even in an environment where the dollar is strengthening against other fiat currencies, that shows you that there is an underlying weakness in the dollar that is right now not being reflected in the Forex markets, but is being reflected in the gold markets. Because after all, why are people buying gold more aggressively than they’re buying dollars or more aggressively than they’re buying US Treasuries? Because they know that things are not as good for the dollar or the US economy as everybody likes to believe. So, more people are seeking out refuge in a better safe-haven and that is gold.” Peter also talked about the debate between Trump and Obama over who gets credit for the booming economy – which of course, is not booming.

We are living in crazy times. I have a hard time believing that most of the general public is not awake, but in reality, they are. We've never seen anything like this; I mean not even under Obama during the worst part of the Great Recession." Now the Fed is desperately trying to keep interest rates from rising. The problem is that it's a much bigger debt bubble this time around , and the Fed is going to have to blow a lot more air into it to keep it inflated. The difference is this time it's not going to work." It looks like the Fed did another $104.15 billion of Not Q.E. in a single day. The Fed claims it's only temporary. But that is precisely what Bernanke claimed when the Fed started QE1. Milton Freedman once said, "Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program." The same applies to Q.E., or whatever the Fed wants to pretend it's doing. Except this is not QE4, according to Powell. Right. Pumping so much money out, and they are accusing China of currency manipulation ? Wow! Seriously! Amazing! Dump the U.S. dollar while you still have a chance. Welcome to The Atlantis Report. And it is even worse than that, In addition to the $104.15 billion of "Not Q.E." this past Thursday; the FED added another $56.65 billion in liquidity to financial markets the next day on Friday. That's $160.8 billion in two days!!!! in just 48 hours. That is more than 2 TIMES the highest amount the FED has ever injected on a monthly basis under a Q.E. program (which was $80 billion per month) Since this isn't QE....it will be really scary on what they are going to call Q.E. Will it twice, three times, four times, five times what this injection per month ! It is going to be explosive since it takes about 60 to 90 days for prices to react to this, January should see significant inflation as prices soak up the excess liquidity. The question is, where will the inflation occur first . The spike in the repo rate might have a technical explanation: a misjudgment was made in the Fed's money market operations. Even so, two conclusions can be drawn: managing the money markets is becoming harder, and from now on, banks will be studying each other's creditworthiness to a greater degree than before. Those people, who struggle with the minutiae of money markets, and that includes most professionals, should focus on the causes and not the symptoms. Financial markets have recovered from each downturn since 1980 because interest rates have been cut to new lows. Post-2008, they were cut to near zero or below zero in all major economies. In response to a new financial crisis, they cannot go any lower. Central banks will look for new ways to replicate or broaden Q.E. (At some point, governments will simply see repression as an easier option). Then there is the problem of 'risk-free' assets becoming risky assets. Financial markets assume that the probability of major governments such as the U.S. or U.K. defaulting is zero. These governments are entering the next downturn with debt roughly twice the levels proportionate to GDP that was seen in 2008. The belief that the policy worked was completely predicated on the fact that it was temporary and that it was reversible, that the Fed was going to be able to normalize interest rates and shrink its balance sheet back down to pre-crisis levels. Well, when the balance sheet is five-trillion, six-trillion, seven-trillion when we're back at zero, when we're back in a recession, nobody is going to believe it is temporary. Nobody is going to believe that the Fed has this under control, that they can reverse this policy. And the dollar is going to crash. And when the dollar crashes, it's going to take the bond market with it, and we're going to have stagflation. We're going to have a deep recession with rising interest rates, and this whole thing is going to come imploding down. everything is temporary with the fed including remaining off the gold standard temporary in the Fed's eyes could mean at least 50 years This liquidity problem is a signal that trading desks are loaded up on inventory and can't get rid of it. Repo is done out of a need for cash. If you own all of your securities (i.e., a long-only, no leverage mutual fund) you have no need to "repo" your securities - you're earning interest every night so why would you want to 'repo' your securities where you are paying interest for that overnight loan (securities lending is another animal). So, it is those that 'lever-up' and need the cash for settlement purposes on securities they've bought with borrowed money that needs to utilize the repo desk. With this in mind, as we continue to see this need to obtain cash (again, needed to settle other securities purchases), it shows these firms don't have the capital to add more inventory to, what appears to be, a bloated inventory. Now comes the fun part: the Treasury is about to auction 3's, 10's, and 30-year bonds. If I am correct (again, I could be wrong), the Fed realizes securities firms don't have the shelf space to take down a good portion of these auctions. If there isn't enough retail/institutional demand, it will lead to not only a crappy sale but major concerns to the street that there is now no backstop, at all, to any sell-off. At which point, everyone will want to be the first one through the door and sell immediately, but to whom? If there isn't enough liquidity in the repo market to finance their positions, the firms would be unable to increase their inventory. We all saw repo shut down on the 2008 crisis. Wall St runs on money. . OVERNIGHT money. They lever up to inventory securities for trading. If they can't get overnight money, they can't purchase securities. And if they can't unload what they have, it means the buy-side isn't taking on more either. Accounts settle overnight. This includes things like payrolls and bill pay settlements. If a bank doesn't have enough cash to payout what its customers need to pay out, it borrows. At least one and probably more than one banks are insolvent. That's what's going on. First, it can't be one or two banks that are short. They'd simply call around until they found someone to lend. But they did that, and even at markedly elevated rates, still, NO ONE would lend them the money. That tells me that it's not a problem of a couple of borrowers, it's a problem of no lenders. And that means that there's no bank in the world left with any real liquidity. They are ALL maxed out. But as bad as that is, and that alone could be catastrophic, what it really signals is even worse. The lending rates are just the flip side of the coin of the value of the assets lent against. If the rates go up, the value goes down. And with rates spiking to 10%, how far does the value fall? Enormously! And if banks had to actually mark down the value of the assets to reflect 10% interest rates, then my god, every bank in the world is insolvent overnight. Everyone's capital ratios are in the toilet, and they'd have to liquidate. We're talking about the simultaneous insolvency of every bank on the planet. Bank runs. No money in ATMs, Branches closed. Safe deposit boxes confiscated. The whole nine yards, It's actually here. The scenario has tended to guide toward for years and years is actually happening RIGHT NOW! And people are still trying to say it's under control. Every bank in the world is currently insolvent. The only thing keeping it going is printing billions of dollars every day. Financial Armageddon isn't some far off future risk. It's here. Prepare accordingly. This fiat system has reached the end of the line, and it's not correct that fiat currencies fail by design. The problem is corruption and manipulation. It is corruption and cheating that erodes trust and faith until the entire system becomes a gigantic fraud. Banks and governments everywhere ARE the problem and simply have to be removed. They have lost all trust and respect, and all they have left is war and mayhem. As long as we continue to have a majority of braindead asleep imbeciles following orders from these psychopaths, nothing will change. Fiat currency is not just thievery. Fiat currency is SLAVERY. Ultimately the most harmful effect of using debt of undefined value as money (i.e., fiat currencies) is the de facto legalization of a caste system based on voluntary slavery. The bankers have a charter, or the legal *right*, to create money out of nothing. You, you don't. Therefore you and the bankers do not have the same standing before the law. The law of the land says that you will go to jail if you do the same thing (creating money out of thin air) that the banker does in full legality. You and the banker are not equal before the law. ALL the countries of the world; Islamic or secular, Jewish or Arab, democracy or dictatorship; all of them place the bankers ABOVE you. And all of you accept that only whining about fiat money going down in exchange value over time (price inflation which is not the same as monetary inflation). Actually, price inflation itself is mainly due to the greed and stupidity of the bankers who could keep fiat money's exchange value reasonably stable, only if they wanted to. Witness the crash of silver and gold prices which the bankers of the world; Russian, American, Chinese, Jewish, Indian, Arab, all of them collaborated to engineer through the suppression and stagnation of precious metals' prices to levels around the metals' production costs, or what it costs to dig gold and silver out of the ground. The bankers of the world could also collaborate to keep nominal prices steady (as they do in the case of the suppression of precious metals prices). After all, the ability to create fiat money and force its usage is a far more excellent source of power and wealth than that which is afforded simply by stealing it through inflation. The bankers' greed and stupidity blind them to this fact. They want it all, and they want it now. In conclusion, The bankers can create money out of nothing and buy your goods and services with this worthless fiat money, effectively for free. You, you can't. You, you have to lead miserable existences for the most of you and WORK in order to obtain that effectively nonexistent, worthless credit money (whose purchasing/exchange value is not even DEFINED thus rendering all contracts based on the null and void!) that the banker effortlessly creates out of thin air with a few strokes of the computer keyboard, and which he doesn't even bother to print on paper anymore, electing to keep it in its pure quantum uncertain form instead, as electrons whizzing about inside computer chips which will become mute and turn silent refusing to tell you how many fiat dollars or euros there are in which account, in the absence of electricity. No electricity, no fiat, nor crypto money. It would appear that trust is deteriorating as it did when Lehman blew up . Something really big happened that set off this chain reaction in the repo markets. Whatever that something is, we aren't be informed. They're trying to cover it up, paper it over with conjured cash injections, play it cool in front of the cameras while sweating profusely under the 5 thousands dollar suits. I'm guessing that the final high-speed plunge into global economic collapse has begun. All we see here is the ripples and whitewater churning the surface, but beneath the surface, there is an enormous beast thrashing desperately in its death throws. Now is probably the time to start tying up loose ends with the long-running prep projects, just saying. In other words, prepare accordingly, and Get your money out of the banks. I don't care if you don't believe me about Bitcoin. Get your money out of the banks. Don't keep any more money in a bank than you need to pay your bills and can afford to lose.











The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists , visionaries , free investigative journalists , researchers , Whistelblowers , truthers and many more













The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists , visionaries , free investigative journalists , researchers , Whistelblowers , truthers and many more

The FBI released a summary of its file from the Hillary Clinton email investigation on Friday, showing details of Clinton's explanation of her use of a private email server to handle classified communications. The release comes nearly two months after FBI Director James Comey announced that although Clinton's handling of classified information was "extremely careless," it did not rise to the level of a prosecutable offense. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the next day that she would not pursue charges in the matter. "We are making these materials available to the public in the interest of transparency and in response to numerous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests," the FBI noted in a statement sent to reporters with links to the documents. The documents include notes from Clinton's July 2 interview with agents, as well as a "factual summary of the FBI's investigation into this matter," according to the FBI release. Throughout her interview with agents, Clinton repeatedly said she relied on the career professionals she worked with to handle classified information correctly. The agents asked about a series of specific emails, and in each case Clinton said she wasn't worried about the particular material being discussed on a nonclassified channel.