MY LATEST SUBSTACK ESSAY: Is the Singularity Here?

INSTITUTIONAL CORRUPTION: How the Fed Politicized Itself—and What a New Chair Can Do to Fix It. How did the Fed politicize itself? Gradually, then all at once.

In September 2022, about a year after Joseph Wang left his job at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, he came across an odd new research paper from his former employer. Wang had been a senior trader on the Open Market Trading Desk, carrying out the Fed’s monetary policy. In his five years there, the usual Fed research covered
topics like inflation, labor markets, and bank capital. This paper, though, was titled “800,000 Years of Climate Risk.”

“I thought that was very strange,” Wang recalled. “The Fed writing about CO2 concentrations.”

Wang wasn’t the only one to notice what looked like mission creep at the Fed. Just before Thanksgiving in 2021, a tweet from the St. Louis Fed suggested replacing Thanksgiving turkey with “a soybean-based dinner.” The post drew thousands of replies, many of them demanding that the Fed get back in its lane.

Getting the Fed back in its lane is likely one of the toughest tasks ahead for Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Fed. If confirmed, Warsh will command an institution that made itself a political
and ideological player during the tenure of outgoing chair Jerome Powell.

That shift matters because economists’ frequent defenses of the principle of Fed autonomy rely on the idea that its leaders are essentially technocrats. In practice, though, the Fed has moved well beyond that model, inserting itself into politically laden policy issues only tenuously connected, if at all, to its mandates of stable prices and low unemployment.

Indeed.

OPEN THREAD: Hump Day.

PROF. CARRINGTON, CALL YOUR OFFICE: Sun unleashes extraordinary solar flare barrage as new volatile sunspot turns toward Earth.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Navy vet living at brothel finds real life ‘Pretty Woman’ moment after meeting wealthy widower. “During their first in-person visit, the 77-year-old Missouri church-goer said he was head over heels — even before he had her heels behind her head.”

MICROBIOME NEWS: Scientists Discover Gut Bacteria Can Inject Proteins Into Human Cells.

DATA INTEGRITY: Duplicate medical records linked to 5-fold heightened risk of inpatient death.

FROM THE DON’T-GET-COCKY DEPARTMENT: BREAKING: Democrat Molder Outraises Republicans Ogles and Hatcher Almost Two to One in 5th District Race.

I KNEW ABOUT PRETTY MUCH ALL OF THESE EXCEPT THE RIVIAN FEATURE: 2 Hidden Car Features Most Drivers Don’t Know About.

DEATH WOULD BE BETTER, BUT GOOD: Man Who Attempted To Assassinate Trump At Golf Course Sentenced To Life In Prison.

VISIT MY FORMER STUDENTS’ LUCKYGUNNER.COM AMMO SITE WHILE YOU STILL CAN: House Dems Want to Ban Online Ammunition Sales…Because of Course They Do.

IT BECOMES A TAYLOR SWIFT SONG? When continents try, and fail, to break apart.

JOSH BLACKMAN: “I look forward to reading the reporters from the Times, and other outlets. I just want them to know I’m watching them.”

SCIENCE: Sleep medication linked to safer outcomes than antipsychotics for older adults with delirium.

BECAUSE THEY WORK? Why China is building so many coal plants despite its solar and wind boom.

HEALTH: A cop thought he had a muscle cramp. He ended up fighting for his life.

“PALESTINIANS” AREN’T A RACE. Scholars question University of California ‘anti-Palestinian racism’ study.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Professors say Gen Z students can’t read, forcing colleges to lower academic standards.

DON SURBER: Antifa, a wholly owned subsidiary of a billionaire: Bernie Sanders in 2019: “Billionaires should not exist.” “I am not surprised to learn the CCP—Red China—is behind this effort to stop the U.S. government from kicking illegal aliens out. After all, Tim Walz was its Manchurian vice presidential candidate, chosen by the Democrat Party because of his ability to milk social justice programs to fund Democrats. Come on. Do you really believe the DNC (Obama) would let a goofball like Kamala pick her running mate? They wouldn’t trust her to pick her nose. So just who is this Singham dude?”

WE CAN HOPE: A Month After Maduro’s Capture, Is Cuba Close to Collapsing?

LEFTISTS LIE BECAUSE THE TRUTH DOESN’T SUPPORT THEIR PROGRAM: Jonathan Turley: The Remaking of Alex Pretti. “MS NOW has admitted that it used an AI-enhanced photo of Pretti that made him look more handsome. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) was criticized for bringing to the Senate floor an altered image, featuring a headless immigration agent, that made it look like officers executed a kneeling Pretti with a shot to the head. Pretti needs to be be inviolate to make the government seem vile in the eyes of the public. He is being described as the combination of Florence Nightingale and Crispus Attucks.”

He is being described falsely. He was a nasty, dangerous kook.

REPORT FROM THE BLUE ZONES:

This opening graf. https://t.co/5ZXBXUav4I pic.twitter.com/i6dbzcdPKt

— David Reaboi, Late Republic Nonsense (@davereaboi) February 3, 2026

POOR NASA:

Because Jared Isaacman has to be diplomatic, here’s what he’s really saying: the Artemis program keeps getting delayed because it relies on technology that’s over 50 years old. NASA’s hands were tied from the start because Congress mandated that Artemis use legacy space shuttle… https://t.co/CvU59jy0kk

— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) February 3, 2026

JOEL KOTKIN: Downtowns are dying, but we know how to save them.

ROBERT GRABOYES: Electile Dysfunction: Three reasons why Bastiat’s Window doesn’t endorse candidates.