DEAL OF THE DAY: MOSISO Sling Backpack. #CommissionEarned

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Showtime’s ‘Waco: The Aftermath’ Boosts Media’s Jan. 6 Narrative.

I PREDICT LESS ENTHUSIASM TO TAKE THIS THAN WE WOULD HAVE HAD A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO: Vaccine Makers Are Preparing for Bird Flu.

AN EDIBLE MEDICAL SENSOR.

BIDEN IS PIVOTING FOR REELECTION, NOW THAT THE DAMAGE IS DONE: Quietly, a Huge Potential Victory for Border Security.

A GREAT SUMMARY FOR LAYMEN OF THE SCOTUS ARGUMENTS OVER STUDENT LOANS. At this point, these interminable standing arguments are just enablers of government corruption.

How about this student loan plan: 1. Capitalize the schools to loan enough money for 4 years of student loans. 2. No selling the loan notes – let them loan the money and collect it. The end. What do you wanna bet that college suddenly gets rigorous and cheap?

MATT TAIBBI: The Original Sin of the Anti-Disinformation Movement.

THEY’RE ALWAYS IN THE LAST PLACE YOU LOOK: Japan just found 7,000 islands it didn’t know it had.

THAT’S WHAT FILM STUDIOS DO: Reddit tells court: Film studios spewed “nonsense” in demand for users’ names.

BRAVE NEW WORLD: This AI Knows Who You Are and Who All Your Friends Are (And Is Telling the IRS).

IT’S DELICIOUS: Mediterranean diet may help prevent memory loss in people with MS.

ANDREI, YOU’VE LOST CONTROL OF ANOTHER BORDER? ‘It Hasn’t Stopped’: The Northern Border Is Wide Open And People Are Funneling Across. “The Swanton sector of Border Patrol’s area of operation in New York and Vermont saw a nearly 900% increase in migrant encounters in January, according to agency statistics.”

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Two Russian billionaires who did business with Biden Inc mysteriously dodged sanctions.

GLEICHSCHALTUNG: PNC Bank Abruptly Ends Business Relationship with Don Trump Jr.’s News App.

THIS ERA WILL BE LOOKED BACK ON AS ONE OF MASS HYSTERIA AND OFFICIAL INCOMPETENCE: The U.K. Briefly Considered Killing All Pet Cats Early in the Pandemic.

To be fair, that’s only because it was an era of mass hysteria and official incompetence.

Plus: “The revelations have sparked astonishment from some on social media, with users sharing images of their own cats and vowing they would have put up a fight.” Meh. Most of them would have gone along. Many would have bragged about their compliance and shamed those who resisted.

“EDUCATORS” ARE STUPID: “A head teacher has apologised after replacing all the mirrors in a girls’ lavatory with motivational posters urging them to stop wearing make-up….”

QUELLE SURPRISE:  “LGBTQ Slurs Found at MIT Done by Students Protesting School’s New Pro-Free Speech Efforts.”

DECOUPLING: Foxconn Plans $700 Million iPhone Factory In India As China Exodus Accelerates. “The Taiwanese manufacturing giant’s new plant will be situated on a 300-acre site near Bengaluru, the capital of the southern Indian state of Karnataka. Sources said Foxconn would assemble iPhones and might even produce parts for its electric vehicle business, entirely separate from Apple.”

VICTORIA TAFT: An Unexpected Lesson From the Alex Murdaugh Trial. “I briefly thought about giving Faraday bags to my family last Christmas after hearing spooks and special operators talking about them. Then the Murdaugh trial prompted me to revisit the idea.”

IT’S GOOD TO BE THE NOMENKLATURA: Disgraced RINO Liz Cheney to teach at UVA after losing congressional seat. “Last year, it was revealed that during her time in Congress, Cheney’s net worth ballooned by 600 percent, jumping from $7 million to $44 million.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: MIT disputes claim it canceled Pompeo speech to avoid offending Chinese students.

RIP: Wayne Shorter Is Dead, and So Is a Great Era of American Culture.

THE THIRD GREAT AWAKENING: ‘Emory just feels so dark’: Students discuss faith at their Methodist university in wake of Asbury revival.

WELL, JENNIFER GRANHOLM: Nuclear oversight board reported concerns months before Y-12 uranium fire. “The Feb. 22 fire at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge wasn’t the first time in recent years the plant has experienced events that could have led to sparks, smoldering or fire involving uranium. A report by a nuclear defense oversight board submitted to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Nov. 18, 2022, identified 15 such instances at Y-12 between 2016 and 2021.”

INFLATION: What Now for a Fed That Has Fallen Behind the Curve Again?

With several hotter-than-expected inflation numbers coming after two successive downshifts in interest-rate increases, an interesting debate is raging as to what the Federal Reserve should do next: Go back to a larger rate increase (50 basis points) or maintain a slower pace (25 basis points) but keep higher rates for longer.

Already an analytically tricky issue, this has become even more complicated by the Fed now falling behind on its inflation fight for the third time in just two years and what that implies for its already damaged credibility.

The argument for the Fed to return to a 50-basis-point increase later this month is based on the recent slew of macroeconomic numbers that suggest inflation is becoming stickier, and not just in the service sector.

The Fed was slow to react, failed to react forcefully enough when it finally did act, and then slacked off too soon.

But you don’t need me to tell you that, assuming you’ve actually bought stuff the last couple of years.