Week in Review

---

Week in Review

03/01/2025

For the week 2/24-2/28

[Posted 4:30 PM ET, Friday]

Note: StocksandNews has significant ongoing costs and your support is greatly appreciated.  Please click on the GoFundMe link or send a check to PO Box 990, New Providence, NJ 07974.

Edition 1,349

It’s appropriate to start this column with a reminder of what happened ten years ago this week (Feb. 27, 2015) on a bridge outside the Kremlin, one that I’ve walked on many times to go to the great Tretyakov Gallery.

Prominent Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was assassinated.

Nemtsov was shot and killed by hired guns while walking with his girlfriend.  The murder marked a turning point in Russia’s crackdown on Kremlin critics.

Nemtsov had been a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin’s regime and the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

As war then broke out in eastern Ukraine between Russia-backed separatists and Ukraine’s forces, Nemtsov said: “I consider Putin’s war against Ukraine to be the most serious of crimes.  I want to say right away: this isn’t a war between Russia and Ukraine.  I don’t believe in that definition.  The war belongs to Putin.  It’s an absolutely cynical, deceitful, bloody, and fratricidal war against our brothers in Ukraine.” [Moscow Times]

So that’s part of the history...now we pick things up this week...as it went down....

Thursday, sitting next to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the Oval Office, President Trump said he believed that Vladimir Putin would not violate the terms of whatever peace deal might be reached to end the war in Ukraine.

“I think he’ll keep his word,” Trump said.  “I’ve known him for a long time now.”

Trump was asked if the U.S. would aid Britain should they send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, only for Russia to renege on a peace deal.  The president waffled.  One moment he seemed to say no, then yes, before landing back on no.

“They don’t need help,” he said.

As of January, Washington had sent $66 billion in military aid since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to the State Department, and an additional $54 billion in nonmilitary aid, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, totaling about $120 billion. Europe has sent about $139 billion in that period, according to Kiel.

I was watching Michael Smerconish’s excellent Saturday morning program (CNN), and he started out with James Fishback, the CEO of Azoria, and the originator of the DOGE dividend (the potential $5,000 checks), and this incredibly obnoxious guy kept hammering away on the “$350 billion” being sent to Ukraine.  It was infuriating watching it...and Smerconish was infuriated, but didn’t call out the actual lie.

Smerconish had taken my view from last week’s WIR where I said the DOGE dividend was absurd.

SMERCONISH: This is where the rubber meets the road. We are $36 trillion in debt... So if Elon Musk is successful in saving us money from waste, fraud, and abuse, and by the way, James, I hope that he is....

There is no money in the till.  We owe 36 trillion.  We owe $106,000 each.  So whatever the savings ought to be, it’s not like President Trump’s doing us a favor by giving us 20%.

Everything ought to go to the debt because the Peterson [Foundation] people say by 2050, 50% of all revenue is going to go to satisfying interest on the debt.  We should be paying the debt.  Your response?

FISHBACK: My response is this. We should be paying the debt. Which is why the DOGE dividend incentivizes every American to call out waste, fraud, and abuse to lower the budget, to narrow the deficit, and to bring down the debt.  Where was this emergency over the debt when we sent $350 billion to Ukraine to be wasted?  Where was this emergency, Michael, on CNN when you guys were advocating $7,000 to migrants in Chicago? ...Hardworking Americans deserve a $5,000 check with President Trump’s name on it. So enough with the double standard.  Ukraine did not deserve $350 billion....

SMERCONISH: [After a further extended argument] We don’t have the money is what I’m trying to tell you. It’s a Ponzi Madoff-like (scheme).

FISHBACK: So we didn’t have the money for Ukraine, right?  We didn’t have the money for Ukraine.  $350 billion.

Geezuz, cut the crap! Stop freakin’ lying!

Editorial / Wall Street Journal...on the reported mineral deal with Ukraine....

“The mineral deal includes no U.S. security guarantees but says the U.S. ‘supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace.’ It’s hard to know what that unspecific promise means, but in Mr. Trump’s mind it probably means Europeans help first.

“Mr. Trump continues to peddle falsehoods about how much aid the U.S. and Europe have provided Ukraine.  He claims the U.S. is ‘in for $350 billion’ in Ukraine.  But through December the real U.S. total was nearly $120 billion in military, financial and humanitarian support.

“He says Europe has given much less than the U.S., but it has spent or promised $137 [$139] billion, according to Europe’s authoritative Kiel Institute.  The U.S. has provided more arms because it has more, but Europe has provided more aid.

“By the way, Mr. Trump on Thursday walked back his claim last week that Mr. Zelensky is a ‘’dictator.’  Press question: ‘Do you still think Zelensky is a dictator?’

“Mr. Trump: ‘Did I say that?  I can’t believe I said that.  Next question.’

“That welcome, if head-spinning, reversal is more proof that what matters isn’t what Mr. Trump says but what he does.  That is especially true as the war negotiations begin in earnest between the U.S. and Russia. French and British leaders traveled to Washington this week to lobby Mr. Trump to provide a U.S. backstop for any European troops that deploy to Ukraine after a deal is struck.

“If the mineral deal makes Mr. Trump more inclined to provide that guarantee, so much the better for Ukraine, Europe and the U.S.”

And then President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to Washington to meet with President Trump today, and in an absolutely extraordinary moment, the relationship between the United States and Ukraine blew up right there in the Oval Office.  A historic moment, a disaster, a true catastrophe for Ukraine...and a massive win for the Kremlin.

President Trump and Vice President JD Vance loudly berated Zelensky in an explosive televised shouting match that no one can remember ever occurring in the Oval between an American president and a foreign leader (at least in the television age).

Trump and Vance castigated Zelensky for not being appreciative enough for U.S. support in the war and sought to strong-arm him into making a peace deal on whatever terms the White House was dictating.

Vance told Zelensky that it was “disrespectful” for him to come to the Oval Office and make his case in front of the American news media and demanded that he thank Trump for his leadership.  Trump jumped in and told the Ukrainian leader, “You’re not really in a good position right now” and that “you’re gambling with World War III.”

“You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out,” Trump added.  “And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”

Shortly thereafter, Trump took to Truth Social:

“We had a very meaningful meeting in the White House today.  Much was learned that could never be understood without conversation under such fire and pressure.  It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office.  He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”

The press conference was canceled, and President Zelensky departed the White House, to head home.

Trump is siding with Vladimir Putin while falsely blaming Ukraine for starting the war and calling Zelensky a “dictator.”

This is beyond a disgrace. I’m biting my tongue...I won’t next week.

---

Trump, Elon, continued....

--President Trump said 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico are on track to go into place on March 4, and said he would impose an additional 10% tax on Chinese imports.

The president had paused the sweeping duties on the U.S.’s largest trading partners on Feb. 3 for one month after Canadian and Mexican leaders agreed to new border security measures.  But there had been confusion as to whether the tariffs would take effect once the grace period ended.

Trump then said Thursday morning in a Truth Social post that drugs from both are still entering “at very and unacceptable levels.”

“We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will indeed, go into effect, as scheduled,” the president wrote.  “China will likewise be charged an additional 10% Tariff on that date.”

The new tariffs on China come on top of a previous 10% duty he allowed to take effect last month, when he delayed the tariffs on Canada and Mexico.  The 25% tariffs apply to all Canadian and Mexican imports, except for energy products from Canada, which will be taxed at 10%.

Mexico, Canada and China are America’s top three trading partners.  Simultaneous tariffs on all three could lead to rising prices for American consumers.  And/or lost jobs.  I have a good example of that potentiality below in Street Bytes.

China then threatened to hit back.

“If the U.S. insists on having its own way, China will counter with all necessary measures to defend its legitimate rights and interests,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said Friday.  In response to the last round of tariffs, the department previously vowed to take “corresponding” steps.

Trump is still talking of announcing a slew of what he deems “reciprocal tariffs” across the globe on April 2, the day after the conclusion of an investigation the president ordered.  That could lead to even higher rates on Mexican, Canadian and Chinese imports.

But it could be costly for Europe.  During his cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Trump said he had decided to hit the European Union with 25% tariffs, saying the EU “was formed to screw the United States.”

“We have made a decision and we’ll be announcing it very soon,” Trump said.

Trump said the tariffs would apply to all things but mentioned car imports, specifically.

--Federal workers began receiving emails Saturday asking them to explain what work they did last week, as Elon Musk announced that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”

“Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager.  Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments,” reads the email, which has no signature.

“Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk posted Saturday on X, hours after President Trump suggested he be more “aggressive.”  “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”

However, the email itself does not state that failure to answer will be taken as resignation.  It says the deadline for submission is Monday at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Shortly after Musk’s post, Trump called him a “patriot” and said he was “doing a great job” during remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

Saturday morning, Trump posted on Truth Social:

“ELON IS DOING A GREAT JOB, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM GET MORE AGGRESSIVE.  REMEMBER, WE HAVE A COUNTRY TO SAVE, BUT ULTIMATELY, TO MAKE GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE. MAGA!”  Musk replied, “Will do, Mr. President!” in his own post.

Trump added: “HIGHEST POLL NUMBERS EVER.  I GUESS WE ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK!!! THANK YOU.”

Whether Musk’s plan was legal is unclear.

Musk’s email prompted confusion and resistance on Sunday, as several government agency leaders told their staff not to reply to a mass email requesting bullet-point summations of their accomplishments.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard instructed personnel in U.S. spy agencies not to respond, according to the text of an email she sent to the workforce on Sunday, citing the agencies’ sensitive and classified work. Defense Department employees were given similar instructions to not respond, as were FBI personnel and Department of Homeland Security employees.

“The Department of Defense is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and it will conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures,” Darin Selnick, acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in a statement to department staff Sunday.

“It is cruel and disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service to be forced to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life,” said Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees.

Kelly said his union plans to take legal action.

Some departments such as Transportation, Treasury and independent agencies like the Federal Trade Commission told employees to answer Musk’s message.

Monday, officials at the Office of Personnel management (OPM) notified human resource bosses across multiple agencies that responses to the emails were “voluntary,” according to reports.

President Trump continued to defend Musk, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office Monday.

“I thought it was great because we have people that don’t show up to work and nobody even knows if they work for the government.”

Elon Musk then teased late Monday that federal workers may receive a second email asking them to list their weekly accomplishment and that failure to respond to it will result in “termination.”

“The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send!” Musk wrote on X. “Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers.”

“Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance,” he wrote in a separate post. “Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.”

A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Office of Personnel Management broke the law when it ordered other federal agencies to terminate thousands of “probationary” employees.

The ruling is a setback for the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to dramatically shrink the federal workforce, but it does not appear to immediately help any of the federal workers who have already lost their jobs.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup stopped short of ordering the agencies to reinstate the fired workers or to halt looming firings.  Alsup said he doesn’t currently have the authority to do that.

But the San Francisco-based judge did order OPM to rescind any directives it has issued requiring the mass terminations.

“OPM does not have any authority whatsoever under any statute in the history of the universe to hire and fire employees within another agency,” the judge said.

--Regarding Trump at CPAC, he said in his speech to his adoring supporters, that “nobody’s ever seen anything” like his administration’s sweeping effort to fire thousands of federal employees and shrink the size of government, congratulating himself for “dominating” Washington and sending bureaucrats “packing.”

“We’re going to forge a new and lasting political majority that will drive American politics for generations to come.”

--The Trump administration is giving federal agencies until mid-April to suggest relocations of bureaus and offices out of the D.C. region, a move that would have widespread impacts on the local economy.

In a guidance issued Wednesday to the heads of all executive departments and agencies, the directors of the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management laid out steps for compliance with President Trump’s order to eliminate “waste, bloat and insularity” in the government.  Part of that is a directive to submit “any proposed relocations of agency bureaus and offices from Washington, D.C. and the National Capital Region to less-costly parts of the country” by April 14.

About four-fifths of the federal workforce lives outside the D.C. area, but government workers are disproportionately critical to the capital region’s economy.  About 373,000 federal employees live in the District, Maryland and Virginia, making up roughly 15 percent of the region’s workforce.

--In an unprecedented purge of top officers, President Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth last Friday announced the dismissal of Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs; and their intent to replace Adm. Lisa Franchetti, chief of naval operations; and the judge advocates general – essentially the top lawyers – of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.  Hegseth was also reported to have fired his senior military assistant, Lt. Gen. Jennifer Short.

Hegseth had targeted Brown in November, saying on a podcast, “First of all, you gotta fire the chairman of the Joint chiefs” for carrying out Biden administration DEI policies, he said.  “That’s the only litmus test we care about.” But when the Fox host-turned-defense secretary arrived at the Pentagon last month, he professed satisfaction with Brown and indicated he was looking forward to working with him.

The JAGS will be replaced by people who won’t “attempt to be roadblocks...to anything that happens,” Hegseth said on a Sunday morning Fox show.

Experts reacted: “The JAG firings are actually more worrisome than the senior officer reliefs, because everyone two-star and above serves at the pleasure of the President, but reaching down into the organization to remove the legal constraints is far more insidious,” said Kori Schake, a civilian-military relations expert at the American Enterprise Institute.

“It’s what you do when you’re planning to break the law: you get rid of any lawyers who might try to slow you down,” said Rosa Brooks, a Georgetown Law professor and scholar at West Point’s Modern War Institute.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board, however, notes “The JAG corps has had embarrassing prosecutorial mistakes in recent years,” adding, “in rules of engagement, they now can lean too far toward risk elimination over mission success.”

Meanwhile, replacing CQ Brown is John Daniel Caine, a retired Air Force three-star with deep special-operations experience.  But Caine lacks experience for the job that is required by law: service as a vice chairman, a combatant commander, or a service chief.  The president, however, can grant a waiver if “such action is necessary in the national interest.”

Some see in Caine’s nomination – along with the ousters of the JAGs and the SecDef’s military advisor and Trump’s own record – a bid to evade legal strictures on the president’s use of military force.

One former defense official told Defense One’s Patrick Tucker that Trump appears to want to rely far less on traditional large-force deployments, in part because such deployments require congressional oversight and approval. 

Separately, at least 5,400 Defense Department employees will lose their jobs next week, the first cuts in what will ultimately be a five-to-eight percent reduction of the civilian workforce, a Pentagon official said over the weekend.  The department employed 764,000 civilians as of June 2024, according to Office of Personnel Management data, which means more than 61,000 people could lose their jobs.

A statement said the first 5,400 to get the axe will be “probationary employees” – generally speaking.

--The Trump administration said Sunday that it is eliminating 2,000 posts at the U.S. Agency for International Development and placing all but a fraction of others worldwide on leave.

It comes after a federal judge allowed the administration to move forward with pulling thousands of USAID staffers off the job in the United States and around the world.  U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols rejected pleas to keep his temporary stay on the government’s plan in a lawsuit from employees.

The notices of firings and leaves come on top of hundreds of USAID contractors receiving no-name form letters of termination over the weekend.

The blanket nature of the notification letters to USAID contractors, excluding the names or positions of those receiving it, could make it difficult for the dismissed workers to get unemployment benefits, workers noted.

A different judge in a second lawsuit tied to the dismantling of USAID has temporarily blocked the freeze on foreign assistance and said this past week that the administration had kept withholding the aid and must at least temporarily restore the funding to programs worldwide.

But by Thursday, the administration said it is eliminating more than 90% of the USAID’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall U.S. assistance around the world, putting numbers on its plans to eliminate the majority of U.S. development and humanitarian help abroad.

--The Social Security Administration is preparing to lay off at least 7,000 people from its workforce of 60,000, according to the Associated Press.  The workforce reductions, per the AP’s sources, could be as high as 50%.

Of course service would be impacted.

--The Trump administration has begun firing employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, one of the world’s premier centers for climate science.

The firings are expected to cost more than 800 people their jobs, out of a total of about 13,000 staff members, with notifications going out Thursday.

Supervisors were “frantically’ trying to help probationary employees download relevant documents like pay slips and performance reviews before they lost access to computers.

“This loss of talent at NOAA is going to set the agency back years and compromise the integrity of missions that directly support human health and safety, economic prosperity and national security,” one analyst told the New York Times, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.  “This is not a move toward efficiency; it’s a move toward putting Americans in danger every day.”

--Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team is eliminating jobs at the vehicle safety agency that oversees Tesla and has launched investigations into deadly crashes involving his company’s cars.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has cut a “modest” amount of positions, according to a statement from the agency.  Musk has accused NHTSA of holding back progress on self-driving technology with its investigations and recalls.

Asked about whether the cuts would impact any probes into Tesla, the agency referred to its statement that says it will “enforce the law on all manufacturers of motor vehicles and equipment.”

--We learned that Ann Gleason, 53, is the acting leader of DOGE, the White House finally identifying an individual Tuesday afternoon.

Gleason worked from 2018 through 2021 in the United States Digital Service, an agency that has been renamed the US Doge Service, according to her LinkedIn profile.  In that role, she worked with the White House on the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic.

She returned to the agency in January after Trump took office.

In the interim, she had been working as “chief product officer” at two small Nashville-based health-care startups.

--President Trump on Tuesday previewed his plans for a new visa program he was calling the gold card, describing it as “somewhat like a green card, but at a higher level of sophistication.”

The blingy new program would allow “very high-level people” a new “route to citizenship,” Mr. Trump said.  The price tag, he said, would be about $5 million.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explained that “the Trump gold card,” as he called it, would replace the EB-5 visa program, which similarly provides a pathway to citizenship for wealthy foreign investor types but has been an avenue for fraud.  Lutnick implied that the administration would be more discerning as to who might qualify for a gold card, though details were scant at this early stage.

--Brian Barrett / WIRED

“Within just the last week or so, Elon Musk’s DOGE hit team of mostly young, almost exclusively male engineers and executives have done the following:

“Pushed a website live to track ‘savings’ that showed no savings for several days and made it trivially easy for random people on the internet to make changes to it.

“Published classified information on that same website.

“Got called out for accidentally inflating that savings amount by $7.992 billion and doubled down on their inaccuracy before they fixed it.

“Fired hundreds of people who work on nuclear security, then scrambled to rehire them, except they had nuked all the work email addresses and personnel files, so they didn’t know how to get in touch.

“Basically, the same deal, except with the US Department of Agriculture employees working to protect the country from a looming bird flu crisis.

“Rehired a 25-year-old engineer with a stack of racist tweets to his name.

“Spouted a bunch of nonsense conspiracy theories about who’s getting Social Security benefits.  (OK, that was all Musk.)

“That’s just a sampling.  It doesn’t include the damage born of purging thousands of workers across multiple government agencies, the consequences of which will reverberate in both obvious and unexpected ways for a generation – not to mention the near-term impact that spiking the unemployment rate will have on the US economy....

“This is just the truly dumb stuff, the peek behind the veil of DOGE, the confirmation that all of this destruction is, in fact, as specious and arbitrary as it seems.  When in doubt, tear it all down, see what breaks, assume you can repair it – maybe with AI?  It’s the federal government; how hard can it be?

“This is incompetence born of self-confidence.  It’s a familiar Silicon Valley mindset, the reason startups are forever reinventing a bus, or a bodega, or mail.  It’s the implacable certainty that if you’re smart at one thing you must be smart at all of the things.”

--Peter Baker / New York Times

“The United States sent $50 million in condoms to Hamas. Diversity programs caused a plane crash. China controls the Panama Canal.  Ukraine started the war with Russia.

“Except, no. None of that is true.  Not that it stops President Trump.  In the first month since he returned to power, he has demonstrated once again a brazen willingness to advance distortions, conspiracy theories and outright lies to justify major policy decisions.

“Mr. Trump has long been unfettered by truth when it comes to boasting about his record and tearing down his enemies. But what were dubbed ‘alternative facts’ in his first term have quickly become a whole alternative reality in his second to lay the groundwork for radical change as he moves to aggressively reshape America and the world....

“(Trump) claimed to have built the greatest economy in history during his first term so many times that even some of his critics came to accept that it was better than it really was.  He dismissed intelligence reports that Russia intervened in the 2016 elections on his behalf so often that many supporters accepted his denial.

“Most significantly, Mr. Trump has waged a four-year campaign to persuade Americans that he did not lose the 2020 election when in fact he did, making one false assertion of widespread fraud after another that would all be debunked yet still leave most Republicans convinced it was stolen, according to polls.

“At the same time, he has recast the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by supporters trying to stop the transfer of power from a ‘heinous attack,’ as he originally termed it, to a ‘day of love,’ as he now calls it.  This revised interpretation helped him rationalize pardoning nearly 1,600 people who were charged, including many who had beaten police officers....

“Anthony Scaramucci, a former Trump ally who served briefly as his White House communications director, said on Friday that Mr. Trump believes dishonesty works.  Mr. Trump, he said, is at ‘50 years of distorting things and telling lies and he is at 50 years of getting away with it, so why wouldn’t he make the lies bigger and more impactful in his last stretch?’....

“Mr. Trump’s blame-the-victim revisionism over Ukraine in recent days has been among the most striking efforts to translate his alternative reality into policy.  Over the course of several recent days, he said that Ukraine ‘started’ the war with Russia in 2022 and called the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a ‘dictator without elections,’ while absolving President Vladimir Putin, an actual dictator who had invaded his neighbor. He went even further on Friday, saying, ‘It’s not Russia’s fault.’

“By undercutting public sympathy for Ukraine, Mr. Trump may make it easier for him to strike a peace agreement with Mr. Putin giving Russia much of what it wants even over any objections by Mr. Zelensky or European leaders.  Since Mr. Zelensky is a dictator responsible for the war, this reasoning goes, he deserves less consideration.

“One of Mr. Trump’s claims about Ukraine offers a case study in his mythmaking.  He said that the United States has provided $350 billion in aid to Ukraine, three times as much as Europe, but that much of the money is ‘missing’ and that Mr. Zelensky ‘admits that half of the money we sent him is missing.’

“In fact, the United States has allocated about a third of what Mr. Trump claimed, even less than Europe, and none of it is known to be missing.”

David French / New York Times

“(I) cannot recall a moment in which a president broke free of the bounds of law and morality so quickly and comprehensively. In one month, Trump has endorsed Russian propaganda, switched sides in the Ukraine war, threatened our closest allies, attacked the constitutional order and begun imposing a two-tiered system of justice.

“This state of affairs is unrecognizable to most Americans.  But Putin recognizes it.  So does Xi Jinping.  In Trump, they can plainly see a version of themselves.  He is doing their work for them.  He is damaging American democracy, diminishing American power, and destroying American alliances with an energy and an efficiency that must exceed their wildest dreams.”

---

Wall Street and the Economy

Consumer sentiment figures have been weighing on stocks more than usual these days.  Last week’s Michigan consumer confidence number was awful, and this week’s data from the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence index for February saw the biggest monthly drop in years, and far worse than expected.

Within the indices, inflation expectations have been rising amid greater concerns around tariff uncertainty and the impact those policies could have on prices.

So today we had data on the Federal Reserve’s key inflation barometer, the personal consumption expenditures index (PCE) for January and the numbers were in line, up 0.3% and 2.5% year-over-year on headline, and ex-food and energy, 0.3% and 2.6% Y/Y....this last figure the money ball...the key for the Fed.  The 2.6% is down from a revised higher 2.9% for December.  But, again, in line with expectations and no one expects the figure to move the Fed to cut interest rates anytime soon.

Separately, personal income for January soared to 0.9%, well above expectations, while consumption fell 0.2%, far less than consensus.

In other economic news for the week, we had our second look at fourth-quarter GDP, unchanged from the first look, 2.3%, which is down from the Q2 and Q3 2024 figures of 3.0% and 3.1%.

January new home sales came in at 657,000 annualized, well below forecasts, and the December Case-Shiller home price index showed the 20-city index rose 0.5% on the month, 4.5% year-over-year.

Lastly, the first look at February manufacturing, the Chicago PMI, rose to 45.5 from a putrid 39.5 prior, 50 the dividing line between growth and contraction.

The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow barometer for first-quarter growth is, get this, -1.5%.  Yup, a minus sign.  It’s still early in the data collection phase for the quarter, but this is rather interesting.

Freddie Mac’s 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is down to 6.76%.

On the budget front, House Republicans on Tuesday advanced a framework for President Trump’s “big, beautiful” agenda package on taxes, border security, energy supply and more, but it wasn’t easy for GOP leadership...217-215, after an all-day effort to convince four Republican holdouts, needing three to come aboard (Reps. Victoria Spartz, Tim Burchett and Warren Davidson...Rep. Thomas Masse the lone GOP no vote).

Trump had endorsed the House’s plan to roll all of his campaign promises into one bill, but it was up to Speaker Mike Johnson to deliver.

The proposal would set out the total amount of money Congress could spend to implement Trump’s priorities and the total amount they must cut, kicking off the process for a party-line bill that could clear the Senate without reaching the 60-vote threshold typically needed to clear the filibuster (i.e., reconciliation).

The House’s plan would extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and implement new ones at a cost of $4.5 trillion.  It would also allocate $300 billion for spending on defense and border security, would raise the debt ceiling by $4 trillion over two years, and add almost $3 trillion to the federal deficit over 10 years.

In order to bring members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus on board, Republican leadership agreed to require lawmakers to find $2 trillion in federal cost savings over 10 years.

If they fail to reach that goal, Republicans will have to pare back their planned $4.5 trillion in tax cuts by an equal amount, reducing the overall cost of the package.

Rep. Massie wasn’t convinced: “We have no plan whatsoever to balance the budget other than growth. But what they’re proposing is to make the deficit worse.”

The Senate, however, favors larger tax cuts and plans to alter the House budget rather than accept it.  And even after the House and Senate agree on a package, lawmakers will have to negotiate hundreds of details on taxes, health care, energy and food stamps before they can get a bill to Trump’s desk.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) vowed there “would be a major overhaul.”

Senators might want larger tax cuts and smaller spending cuts, but that might not appease the most conservative House members.

This is not going to be easy at all, and you still have the March 14 deadline for funding the government’s current operations.

Europe and Asia

Just one economic release, an important one.  January inflation in the eurozone rose to 2.5% from 2.4% in December.   A year earlier it was 2.8%.  Ex-food and energy the annualized rate was 2.7%, unchanged from the month prior.  Actually, it’s been 2.7% since September...which I’d say is the definition of ‘sticky.’ [Eurostat]

Headline inflation:

Germany 2.8%, France 1.8%, Italy 1.7%, Spain 2.9%, Netherlands 3.0%, Ireland 1.7%.

Germany: The center-right, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its CSU sister party in Bavaria captured 28.5% of the vote in Sunday’s critical national elections, Friedrich Merz slated to become chancellor.  He will now likely form a coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the party of current Chancellor Olaf Scholz, which slumped to third place, with just 16.4% of the vote – its worst showing in decades.

The headlines, however, were shared by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which surged into second place at 20.8%, almost doubling its vote share.  But it is likely to be frozen out of power as the CDU/CSU and SPD and other parties refuse to work with it.

Scholz took responsibility for his party’s poor election showing, admitting the result was “a defeat.”

“This is a bitter election result for the SPD, this is a defeat. It’s a result that we will have to put behind us,” he told the gathering at the party’s headquarters.

The outgoing chancellor congratulated his rival, Merz, and said he believed it was unacceptable for a far-right party to get the kind of result AfD saw on Sunday. “I’ll never come to terms with this,” Scholz said.

The Greens finished fourth with 11.6%, while the far-left Die Linke (Left Party...the successor to East Germany’s Communist Party) performed better than expected at 8.8%.

Merz and his CDU/CSU bloc will need at least one, and possibly two, partners to secure a parliamentary majority.  A coalition with the SPD and Greens is the likely outcome.  [And then it’s all about dividing up the cabinet positions amongst the three blocs.]

AfD chancellor candidate, Alice Weidel, vowed to “hunt” the future governing parties and called policies that keep it out of power “undemocratic,” echoing comments made recently by Vice President JD Vance.

In the former East Germany, the AfD finished first, which is troubling to some.

Merz’s conservatives won 208 seats in the 630-seat Bundestag, while AfD won 152.  The three parties in the former governing coalition lost seats, with SDP falling to 120 seats and the Greens to 85.  The pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), which triggered early elections by pulling out of the coalition, failed to reach the 5% of the vote required to win seats.

The Left party got 64 seats.

The efforts of JD Vance and Elon Musk, in support of AfD, had zero impact on the electorate as AfD was already polling at their final figure before the two got involved.  If anything, their support probably squelched any momentum AfD had as they faced a backlash among many in the German electorate.

But there is no escaping the fact the fringe parties are gaining in Germany.  In total, the CDU/CSU and SPD achieved just 44.9% of the vote on Sunday compared to 49.8% in the last election and 81.3% in 1987.  Including the Greens and FDP, the share of the four mainstream parties has dropped to 60.8% from 98.7% in 1987.

The Left Party, which promised rent caps, tax-free food, and more support for low-income households funded by the wealthy, was the most popular among Germans under 30, particularly women, scoring 24% of the votes, with the AfD closely behind at 21%.

Austria: Three mainstream political parties said on Thursday that they had reached an agreement to form a new government that excludes the far right, ending five months of rollercoaster negotiations after an election last fall.

The likely new chancellor, Christian Stocker, will come from the center-right party that has led the nation for most of the last seven years, the People’s Party, which finished second in September’s elections, as voters punished it for a string of corruption scandals, albeit from years ago.

Stocker is set to lead the first three-party coalition in an Austrian government, alongside the Austrian Social Democrats and the centrist NEOS party.

This was a bitter setback for the Freedom Party, which finished first in the elections on the strength of an anti-establishment, anti-immigrant campaign and seemed to be on the brink of giving Austria its first far-right chancellor in the postwar era.

Turning to Asia...China...nothing, though official PMI figures for February will be released Friday night.

Japan reported on January retail sales, 0.5% compared with December, up 3.9% year-on-year.

Street Bytes

--Thanks to a totally absurd rally late today, stocks finished mixed, with the Dow Jones gaining 1.0% to 43840, while the S&P 500 fell 1.0% and Nasdaq 3.5%.  Understand, today’s rally, that helped save an otherwise awful week, came after the fireworks in the Oval Office.

Earlier in the week, the threat of tariffs helped lead the market lower.

--U.S. Treasury Yields [3:30 p.m. ET close]

6-mo. 4.27%  2-yr. 4.00%  10-yr. 4.23%  30-yr. 4.51%

Bond yields have been falling amidst the uncertainty created by the weight of Donald Trump’s multi-pronged policy agenda, and his declaration he is going ahead with tariffs on Canada and Mexico as well as ordering curbs on Chinese investment. Also not helping the mood is the deepening split with the U.S. and its allies over Ukraine.  And then you have DOGE.

The 2- and 10-year yields fell a whopping 19 basis points each on the week.

--Crude oil finished around $70 again this week.

--BP announced it will cut its renewable energy investments and instead focus on increasing oil and gas production.

The energy giant revealed the shift in strategy on Wednesday following pressure from some investors who are unhappy the profits and share price have been lower than its rivals.

BP said it would increase its investments in oil and gas by about 20% to $10 billion a year, while decreasing previously planned funding for renewables by more than $5 billion.

The move comes as rivals Shell and Norwegian company Equinor have also scaled back plans to invest in green energy and President Trump’s “drill baby drill” comments have encouraged investments in fossil fuels.

Murray Auchincloss, BP’s chief executive, said the company had gone “too far, too fast” in the transition away from fossil fuels, and that its faith in green energy was “misplaced.”

He said BP would be “very selective” in investing in businesses working on the energy transition to renewables going forward, with funding reduced to between $1.5 billion and $2bn per year.

He said this was part of a strategy “reset” by the company to focus on boosting returns for shareholders.

--Hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen (Point72 Asset Management) addressed an investment conference in Miami last Friday and he struck a bearish tone when asked about his outlook.  He pointed to sticky inflation, slowing growth and the possibility of tit-for-tat tariffs as drags on the U.S. economy.

“I’m actually pretty negative for the first time in a while,” Cohen said.  “It may only last a year or so, but it’s definitely a period where I think the best gains have been had and it wouldn’t surprise me to see a significant correction.” 

Cohen was also downbeat on the Musk-led DOGE, calling it an austerity initiative, and said tariffs will hold the economy back.

“Tariffs cannot be a positive.  It’s a tax,” Cohen (aka ‘Uncle Stevie’ to us New York Mets fans) said.  “And you can imagine tit-for-tat if the U.S. implements a tax on somebody, they’re going to perhaps raise the stakes and raise their tax back.”

--Wall Street was eagerly awaiting Nvidia Corp.’s earnings after the close on Wednesday, and the chipmaker at the center of an AI spending boom, delivered good-but-not-great quarterly numbers, with the shares hardly moving after.

Sales will be about $43 billion in the fiscal first quarter, which runs through April, Nvidia said in a statement.  Analysts had estimated $42.3 billion on average, but with some projections as high as $48 billion.

The company also warned that gross profit margins would be tighter than anticipated as it rushes to roll out a new chip design called Blackwell.  And there’s the risk of U.S. tariffs weighing on results. 

The mixed outlook comes at a shaky time for the AI industry.  Nvidia shares have dipped this year on concerns that data center operators will slow spending. Chinese startup DeepSeek also has sparked fears that chatbots can be developed on the cheap, potentially reducing the need for Nvidia’s powerful chips for AI.

Though Nvidia executives addressed most of those issues, it’s become harder for the company to produce blockbuster earnings reports.

Many analysts found the guidance underwhelming.

The company got $11 billion of revenue from Blackwell in the fourth quarter, with CEO Jensen Huang saying in a statement, “Demand for Blackwell is amazing.”

Huang noted a shift in AI toward reasoning models that need more computing power as they come up with answers, inspired somewhat by DeepSeek, which he said “ignited global enthusiasm.”  Reasoning models need one hundred times more computing resources, he said.

Sales in the fourth quarter, ending Jan. 26, rose to $39.3 billion, matching estimates.  But as a sign of how quickly the company has grown, the $39bn figure is bigger than Nvidia’s annual revenue two years ago, when it totaled $27 billion.

Net income rose 80% to $22 billion.  Profit was 89 cents a share, with the Street at 84 cents.

“We will grow strongly in 2025,” Huang said during a call with analysts.

Wall Street was looking at the data center unit, by far Nvidia’s biggest source of revenue, which generated sales of $35.6 billion, beating estimates of $34.1 billion.

The data center division alone now has more revenue than rivals Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices generate in total, combined.

But one big uncertainty facing Nvidia is whether the Trump administration follows through on policies from the Biden administration limiting exports of sensitive AI technology to China and others.

--Home Depot shares rose 3% even after the company forecast annual same-store sales growth below analysts’ estimates on Tuesday, as the top U.S. home improvement chain contends with a slowdown in spending on big-ticket projects amid a weak housing market and higher borrowing costs.

Customers have stalled spending on expensive home improvement projects such as flooring and kitchen renovations, which are often financed as borrowing costs remain high while the Federal Reserve has paused its interest-rate cuts.

Many have instead prioritized repair and maintenance activities around their existing homes.

The downbeat annual forecast overshadowed a surprise in fourth-quarter same-store sales, as discounts encouraged discretionary purchases.

The company posted a 0.8% rise in comparable sales, after eight straight quarters of declines, beating the Street’s forecast of a 1.9% drop.

HD expects comp sales to grow 1% in 2025, below estimates.

Revenue in Q4 climbed to $39.7 billion from $34.79 billion, beating the Street, though the company said that the extra week in the quarter added approximately 2.5bn in sales for the period.  The company earned $3 billion, or adjusted earnings of $3.13 per share for the three months ending Feb. 2, beating the Street’s $3.04.

For now, investors focused on the solid quarter.

--Home Depot rival Lowe’s Cos. on Wednesday reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $1.13 billion, adjusted earnings of $1.93 per share, exceeding expectations.  Revenue of $18.55 billion in the period also beat the Street.

Lowe’s expects full-year earnings in the range of $12.15 to $12.40 per share, with revenue in the range of $83.5 billion to $84.5 billion.

The earnings beat could make investors more hopeful about a rebound for the home-improvement business, which has struggled in recent years due to high mortgage rates putting off would-be buyers.

--Apple announced plans Monday to spend more than $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, following a meeting in the Oval Office between CEO Tim Cook and President Trump.

The outlay will include money spent with domestic suppliers and on the opening of a manufacturing facility to produce the servers needed to support the company’s artificial-intelligence service, called Apple Intelligence.  The company also said it plans to open a facility in Detroit to train “the next generation of U.S. manufacturers.”

But aside from wanting to kiss Trump’s ass, it’s unclear how much of the planned spending is really new.  Apple has spent about $1.1 trillion over the past four years on operating expenses and capital expenditures – and Wall Street expects nearly $1.3 trillion in total spending over the next four years, as noted by the Wall Street Journal’s Dan Gallagher.  As he observes, “In short, Apple’s announced figure is in line with what one might expect the company to be spending anyway, given its financials.”

That said, Trump was very happy, posting on Truth Social Monday morning: “Thank you Tim Cook and Apple!!!”

Reminder, Apple is also seeking relief from President Trump’s tariffs on goods imported from China, and the company said its AI server initiative in the U.S. would result in 20,000 new workers.

--Tesla’s sales plunged 45% in January across Europe, where rival carmakers saw a surge in electric-vehicle demand.

Tesla registered only 9,945 cars in January, down from 18,161 a year ago, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.  EV sales soared 37% for the overall industry, with carmakers posting big gains in Germany and the UK.

Tesla registered only 1,277 new cars last month in Germany, its lowest monthly total since July 2021. Sales in France plummeted 63% in its worst showing there since August 2022.

YouGov conducted polls in Germany and the UK in mid-January that found Elon Musk was viewed unfavorably and that his meddling in the countries’ politics was unwelcome.

Tesla shares fell 8% on the sales news to $302, Tuesday, down from its Dec. 18 high of $488.

--TSA checkpoint numbers vs. 2024

2/27...133 percent of 2024 levels
2/26...88
2/25...75
2/24...114
2/23...101
2/22...86
2/21...118
2/20...112

--Salesforce shares fell after the company’s revenue outlook fell short of Wall Street’s expectations.

For the current year, Salesforce said it expects revenue of $40.5 billion to $40.9 billion, compared with analysts’ estimates of $41.37 billion.  Its revenue range for the first quarter of $9.71 billion to $9.76 billion was also below the Street’s $9.91bn.

The outlook came as the customer-relationship management company posted a higher profit and revenue for the fourth quarter.

The company posted a profit of $1.71 billion, with adjusted earnings of $2.78 per share, ahead of the $2.61 analysts’ forecast.

Revenue rose 7.6% to $9.99 billion, slightly below the Street’s estimate.

This is a company, however, that grew annually by more than 20% for 20 straight years through 2022, but high single digits has been the norm recently and analysts are projecting the same through fiscal 2027.

--Dell Technologies shares fell hard after the company gave a mixed revenue outlook for the current quarter.

“Our prospects for AI are strong, as we extend AI from the largest cloud service providers, into the enterprise at-scale, and out to the edge with the PC,” said Dell COO Jeff Clarke.

For its fiscal fourth quarter ended in January, the company reported revenue of $23.9 billion, up 7% versus the prior year, but below the Street’s consensus of $24.6 billion. Adjusted earnings of $2.68 per share was above analysts’ estimate of $2.52.

Guidance was mixed.  For the current quarter, Dell forecast a revenue range of $22.5 billion to $23.5 billion, below consensus of $23.6 billion.

--Rival HP saw its stock fall as well after reporting Thursday evening.  Adjusted earnings for the fiscal first quarter ended Jan. 31 came in at 74 cents on sales of $13.5 billion, with analysts at 75 cents on revenue of $13.39 billion.

“We are pleased with our Q1 performance, achieving revenue growth for the third straight quarter and advancing our strategy to lead the future of work,” HP CEO Enrique Lores said in a statement.  “Our progress was fueled by a strong commercial business in Personal Systems and momentum in our key growth areas, including AI PCs.”

For the current quarter, HP guided to adjusted earnings of 80 cents a share, below consensus of 86 cents.  For the full year, however, it is looking to earn an adjusted $3.60 vs. the consensus view of $3.57.

HP also announced it would lay off up to 2,000 more employees, bringing the total number of job cuts under its long-term restructuring plan to as many as 9,000.

Both Dell and HP reported slight increases in their PC business.

A recovery in the long-ailing personal computer market has started to materialize in recent quarters.  PC shipments ticked up 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to IDC, an industry research firm.

--Warren Buffett says Berkshire Hathaway still prefers owning businesses, and in his annual letter to shareholders Saturday said that while the company’s ownership of stocks declined last year, the value of the operating businesses it owns increased.  Berkshire runs a range of subsidiaries in industries such as rail, utilities and insurance.

The issue came up because Berkshire ended 2024 with $321.4 billion in cash and Treasury bills, a record.

“Despite what some commentators currently view as an extraordinary cash position at Berkshire, the great majority of your money remains in equities,” Buffett wrote.  “That preference won’t change.”

An exception to Berkshire’s focus on U.S. investments, Buffett wrote, is its growing investment in Japan.  It has roughly 9% investments in each of five Japanese trading companies: Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Sumitomo.  Berkshire told each company it wouldn’t increase its stake beyond 9.9%.

But Buffett wrote that the companies have said Berkshire can buy more.

--Nippon Steel Corp. reiterated its objective for the $14.1 billion takeover of U.S. Steel Corp. after President Trump said the Japanese company was considering an investment instead.

The comments from Nippon Steel President Tadashi Imai on Tuesday are the first from an executive of the company since Trump said the steelmaker was considering an investment rather than an outright purchase.

“The starting point for our discussions with the U.S. government will be this merger agreement,” Imai said in Tokyo.  “From there, we will discuss with the U.S. administration on how we can get President Trump to approve of the deal.”

Japanese Trade Minister Yoji Muto is expected to visit the U.S. in March and will probably discuss the U.S. Steel deal with American officials, according to a report from local newspaper Asahi.

--An old friend from high school owns a steel pool manufacturing company here in New Jersey.  I’ve been to his plant and picture tons of rolled steel and steel used for pool panels in the warehouse, both of which he was just quoted on, up 18.5% to 20%.  “All indicators show mills will drive up pricing, likely above the 25% tariffs (same as they did after the last tariff).  Aluminum I suspect will become a problem,” Brad K. said.

He sent this to me on Monday.  Tuesday, aluminum producer Alcoa said Trump’s plan to impose a tariff on aluminum imports could cost about 100,000 U.S. jobs and would itself not be enough to entice it to boost production in the country.

Trump earlier this month said he would impose a flat 25% tariff on aluminum imports “without exceptions or exemptions” in a bid to lift U.S. production of the metal used to make automobiles, cans and other products.

The tariff takes effect on March 4.

Pittsburgh-based Alcoa, which produces aluminum in Canada, Iceland, Australia and elsewhere, had trimmed its output in the United States in recent years partly due to electricity costs.

Bill Oplinger, Alcoa’s CEO, told the BMO Global Metals and Mining Conference in Florida that the tariffs could cost about 20,000 U.S. aluminum industry jobs and further 80,000 jobs in sectors that support it.

“This is bad for the aluminum industry in the U.S.  It’s bad for American workers,” said Oplinger.

U.S. data showed aluminum smelters produced just 670,000 metric tons of the metal last year, compared with 3.7 million in 2000.  Plant closures in recent years, including in Kentucky and Missouri, have left the country largely reliant on imports.

The tariffs alone would not be enough to entice Alcoa to restart some of its shuttered U.S. facilities, the CEO said, adding that Trump officials have asked the company to do just that.

“It’s very hard to make an investment decision, even on something like a restart, without knowing how long the tariffs will last,” Oplinger said.

Alcoa would consider boosting U.S. output if it had cheap supply of power, which its Icelandic operations enjoyed, Oplinger said. Aluminum smelting consumes large amounts of electricity.

The European Union estimates that the first wave of Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs will hit as much as 28 billion euro ($29.3bn) of the bloc’s exports.

--Drugmaker Eli Lilly plans to build four new manufacturing plants in the U.S., a $27 billion investment that the company expects will create 3,000 high-skilled jobs and employ 10,000 construction workers.

Three of the new sites would produce active pharmaceutical ingredients for its drugs, and the fourth would produce sterile injectable medicines such as diabetes drug Mounjaro, Lilly said Wednesday.  No locations have been picked as yet

“We hadn’t built a new site in the U.S. in more than 40 years until the first set of Trump tax cuts, so we need to see those either extended or improved to support this,” Lilly CEO David Ricks said in an interview.

--Starbucks said it would lay off 1,100 corporate employees while not filling several hundred open positions, part of new CEO Brian Niccol’s effort to streamline operations.

Niccol said in a message Monday that the cuts would remove corporate layers and duplications and would help the coffee company become more focused.

Starbucks has been struggling with a string of quarterly sales declines as customers have sought out cheaper coffee or balked at long lines.  Niccol has pledged to bring back the company’s old café vibe in stores, speed up service and improve the mobile ordering experience.

As of September, Starbucks had 16,000 corporate employees, who work in corporate support, store development, roasting, manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, and other functions.  The company said the layoffs wouldn’t affect roasting, manufacturing, warehousing and distribution workers.

Café workers also wouldn’t be affected by the cuts, the company said.

And Starbucks announced it was getting rid of more than a dozen drinks.  “We’re simplifying our menu to focus on fewer, more popular items, executed with excellence,” the company wrote in a message posted on its website.  The move will reduce wait times, for starters.

--Domino’s shares fell Monday after the pizza chain posted fourth quarter results that mostly missed Wall Street’s expectations, but then the stock recovered Tuesday.

Domino’s reported that revenue increased 2.9% year-over-year to $1.44 billion in the fourth quarter, driven higher by a 4.4% increase in revenue from higher order volumes and food prices.  Same-store sales increased 0.4% compared to the 1.7% jump the Street expected.  Adjusted earnings came in lower too, at $4.89 per share compared to an estimate of $4.93.

Domino’s also missed expectations on full-year revenue and earnings but beat on international same-store sales growth, which increased 2.7% in the quarter. 

In the release, Domino’s CEO Russell Weiner said its value strategy, called “Hungry for MORE,” drove “strong order count growth, even in the face of a challenging global macroeconomic environment.”

For the year, revenue came in at $4.71 billion, with adjusted earnings per share of $16.69, both slightly below forecasts.

U.S. same-store sales for the year rose 3.2%, internationally 1.6%. 2024 marked the 31st consecutive year of same-store sales growth.

DPZ opened 775 stores for fiscal 2024.

--Artificial intelligence startup Anthropic is nearing a deal to raise $3.5 billion at a valuation of $61.5 billion, according to reports – a larger funding round than the company initially planned to raise.

Anthropic, which develops large language models, is one of the leading AI companies in an era where investors are eager to write big checks for the sector.  Since January, Elon Musk’s xAI has discussed raising $10 billion from investors, and OpenAI has held talks to bring in as much as $40 billion.

--New Jersey shore operators are very concerned over the tensions between the United States and Canada.  A lot of Canadians come down to enjoy the Jersey beaches every summer, most staying for two weeks or more.  But the hotels, motels and campgrounds are getting cancelations, some Canadians telling proprietors that they are worried they couldn’t get into the U.S. this summer, while the students who normally take a lot of the summer jobs are being scared away.

Plus, the attitude of many Canadians is the hell with America.  Can you blame them?

The U.S. Travel Association said Canada is the top source of international visitors to the U.S.

In 2024, there were 20.4 million visits from Canada generating $20.5 billion in spending and supporting 140,000 American jobs.

The association said a 10% reduction in Canadian travel could mean 2 million fewer visits, $2.1 billion in lost spending and 14,000 job losses.

Meanwhile, Florida, particularly the Fort Lauderdale area, is going to feel the pain. This year the area had been expecting between 1.3 and 1.5 million Canadian visitors, spending $950-$975 million dollars.

Stacy Ritter, CEO of Visit Lauderdale, told the New York Post she’s already been fielding emails from regulars who explained why they’re not coming back.

It felt like a “gut punch” lamented Ritter.  “It makes me want to cry.”

--Bitcoin fell below $80,000 this week, $78,300 early Friday a.m., before rallying some to $83,000, which was down from $109,000 on Inauguration Day.

“Buy the dips!!!” Eric Trump wrote on X.

Last week the Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange Bybit announced it was a victim of a sophisticated hack that stole about $1.5 billion worth of digital currency.  A number of security researchers believe North Korea, which authorities have blamed for several other major crypto hacks, was behind the theft.

Argentine President Javier Milei is facing a corruption probe into his promotion of a meme coin, called LIBRA, whose price soared then quickly crashed after Milei posted about it on X. Milei has distanced himself from the meme coin and denied any wrongdoing.

$Trump coin is at $12 today as I post, down from $75 on Jan. 19.  $Melania coin is $0.85, down from $13 Jan. 20.

--Anheuser-Busch InBev stock was up sharply on Wednesday after higher sales of premium beers helped the Budweiser brewer to beat estimates, even though global sales volumes were down.

Adjusted earnings for the fourth quarter of 88 cents, on revenue of $14.84 billion, up 3.4% from a year ago, beat analysts’ estimates of 69 cents a share on revenue of $14.13 billion.

Premium beers helped drive the earnings beat. AB InBev said that over the second half of last year its Michelob Ultra brand had gained more market share than any other beer in the U.S., and flagged surging sales of Corona outside Mexico and of Budweiser in Brazil.

Higher sales of those products helped offset a 1.9% drop in overall volumes, which the brewer blamed on consumers buying less beer in China and Argentina.

--Denny’s Corp. said some locations will temporarily add a surcharge to meals with eggs due to the supply crunch that has led to a surge in prices, thus joining Waffle House and others in doing so.  Denny’s said the extra fee will vary by region and location.

McDonald’s, however, said it was not going to levy egg surcharges.

--As avian flu continues to impact millions of laying hens, the Department of Agriculture announced a $1 billion plan to try to curb the spread of the virus and bring consumer prices back down to earth.  Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the department has developed a five-pronged strategy to eradicate avian flu, including financial relief to farmers whose flocks have been decimated.  The bulk of the money goes to upgrade biosecurity at poultry farms

--Lester Holt is stepping down from his job anchoring “NBC Nightly News” after ten years.  He announced on Monday he will remain at the network, expanding his duties at “Dateline,” where he serves as the show’s anchor.  Holt will remain on “Nightly News” until “the start of the summer.”  The network did not immediately name a successor.

Foreign Affairs, cont’d....

Russia-Ukraine: The U.S. twice sided with Russia in votes at the United Nations to mark the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, highlighting the Trump administration’s change of stance on the war.

First the U.S. opposed a European-drafted resolution condemning Moscow’s actions and supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity – voting the same way as Russia and countries including North Korea and Belarus at the UN General Assembly in New York.

Then the U.S. drafted and voted for a resolution at the UN Security Council which called for an end to the conflict but contained no criticism of Russia.

The Security Council passed the resolution but two key U.S. allies, the UK and France, abstained after their attempts to amend the wording were vetoed.

This came as French President Macron was visiting the White House in an attempt to address their sharp differences over the war.

Thursday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with Donald Trump.

The rift was laid bare on the flood of the 193-member UNGA on Monday as U.S. diplomats pushed their limited resolution mourning the loss of life during the “Russia-Ukraine conflict” and calling for a swift end to it.

European diplomats tabled a more detailed text, blaming Russia for its full-scale invasion, and supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

UNGA members backed the European resolution by 93 votes but, extraordinarily, the U.S. did not abstain but actually voted against it, along with Russia, North Korea, Sudan, Belarus, Hungary and 11 other states, with 65 abstentions, including China.

The UNGA also passed the U.S. resolution but only after it was amended to include language supporting Ukraine, which led to the U.S. abstaining.

General Assembly resolutions are nonbinding but reflect world opinion.  Security Council votes, however, which require nine members in favor and no vetoes by the permanent members – the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France – have the force of international law.

Editorial / Wall Street Journal

“The United Nations is not a great moral arbiter of anything, but at least the United States has tried over the years to have that group of nations recognize the truth about bad actors.  That wasn’t the case Monday, as the U.S. voted with Russia against a General Assembly resolution calling out Russia for its invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

“What a regrettable moment.  The resolution, sponsored by Ukraine and European nations, wasn’t even all that strong.  It merely noted ‘with concern that the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation’ has had ‘devastating and long-lasting consequences’ and called for ‘an early cessation of hostilities.’

“Apparently even this was too much of a rebuke to Vladimir Putin for President Trump to tolerate as he seeks to negotiate an end to the Ukraine war.  The U.S. had supported these resolutions since the war began but is now voting with the world’s rogues rather than with its allies.  The U.S. tried to pressure Ukraine to withdraw its resolution in favor of an American draft that didn’t cite Russia as the aggressor in the war. Kyiv understandably refused.

“The resolution has no practical importance, though it does underscore Mr. Trump’s turn toward Russia in the conflict.  Perhaps he thinks that telling the truth about Russia will cause Mr. Putin to walk away from the Ukraine negotiations.  Ronald Reagan, who also sought peace and achieved it, never shrank from telling the truth about the Soviet Union. The truth was an essential weapon in defeating what Reagan called an ‘evil empire.’

“Meanwhile, at the White House on Monday, Mr. Trump and Emmanuel Macron discussed the Ukraine talks.  The French President went out of his way to praise Mr. Trump’s peace effort and said Europe will be willing to deploy peace-keeping troops to Ukraine after a deal is struck.  Mr. Macron also made clear such a deal would have to be backed by U.S. guarantees to be credible.  He’s certainly right given that a cease-fire would give Russia a chance to rearm for another invasion if the U.S. abandons Europe.

“Mr. Trump didn’t say if the U.S. would provide such guarantees.  It’s hard to be optimistic if he won’t tell the truth about which country started the war.”

--Continuing with the meeting at the White House, President Trump refused to call Vladimir Putin a dictator, as he has described Ukraine’s President Zelensky, and falsely claimed that the U.S. had spent three times as much as Europe on the war.  He demanded that Ukraine sign over hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue from natural resources to the U.S., without mentioning Russian concessions.

President Macron corrected Trump’s assertions about European aid, made clear that Russia – not Ukraine – was to blame for the war, and insisted that any truce “must not mean a surrender of Ukraine.”

The meeting came on the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, with several European leaders acknowledging the day by visiting Kyiv and pledging their support.  For his part, Trump suggested that his negotiations with Putin could end the fighting “within weeks,” and said that he might visit Moscow if a peace deal were reached.

--On Monday, Trump indicated Kyiv and Washington were closing in on an agreement that would grant the U.S. a share of the country’s rare minerals supply – in exchange for an undefined, implicit security guarantee.  Trump said Zelensky was coming to the White House on Friday.

A White House official said Monday that the agreement Trump is seeking won’t include guarantees to Ukraine for future aid or a commitment to send U.S. personnel.

Ukraine said it had agreed to a framework, the broad outlines of which would grant Washington partial access to Ukraine’s minerals, oil and gas, while offering a form of security to Ukraine by deepening U.S. investments there.

Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Moscow would be open to allowing U.S. access to Russia’s rare minerals, in an apparent counteroffer and pressure tactic.

Putin, in an interview with a state media personality, Pavel Zarubin, stressed Russia possesses significantly more natural resources than Ukraine.

Vlad the Impaler also highlighted the country’s vast reserves of aluminum, suggesting that Moscow could resume supplying the material to the United States and collaborate with American businesses to further develop Russia’s supplies.

As I’ve noted before, much of Ukraine’s rare-earth deposits are in Russian-occupied territory in the east.

--President Trump on Truth Social Monday:

“Today, President Emmanuel Macron of France joined me in the Oval Office to speak to the G7 Summit.  The meeting was convened by Governor Justin Trudeau of Canada, the current chair of G7, to acknowledge the Third Anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine War – Which would have never started if I was President....”

--Ukraine’s parliament passed a resolution on Tuesday saying President Zelensky should remain in power as long as Russia’s war continues and new elections may only be held once peace has been achieved, prompting a reaction from Elon Musk.

Lawmakers in Kyiv approved the resolution with 268 of 280 votes.

“Hold an election,” wrote Musk on X.

Moscow has long demanded the vote and called Zelensky illegitimate, pointing to the fact that his term in office formally ended last May.  However, an opinion poll cited in Ukrainska Pravda, showed a majority of Ukrainians oppose holding a vote while Russia’s full-scale invasion continues.

The parliament in Kyiv reiterated that Ukraine’s constitution does not allow elections while martial law stays in effect.  Presidential elections will be held once a “comprehensive, just and stable peace” is ensured, read the resolution.

Zelensky must exercise his powers until the new president assumes office, the resolution said, referring to a constitutional need to ensure the continuity of power.

--Russia launched a drone assault like no other Sunday night, officials saying a record 267 drones, with Ukraine’s Air Force reporting 138 were shot down and 119, which were decoy drones, lost without negative consequences, likely due to jamming.

President Zelensky claims 1,150 drones, 1,400 bombs and 35 missiles were launched by Russia in the past week.

“Every day, our people stand against aerial terror,” he wrote on X.  “On the eve of the third anniversary of the full-scale war, Russia launched 267 attack drones against Ukraine – the largest attack since Iranian drones began striking Ukrainian cities and villages.”

Kyiv was under six hours of air alerts.  Debris fell in various districts, but no casualties were reported.

But elsewhere, two people died in a strike on a residential building in Kherson, in southern Ukraine, while another died in the central city of Kryvyi Rih.

Tuesday night into Wednesday, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed to have shot down 130 Ukrainian drones in what appears to be among Kyiv’s largest ever long-range strikes into Russian territory.

But also Tuesday night, Ukraine’s Air Force reported another night of Russian terror, 177 more drones, 110 of which were shot down and 66 lost in flight.

A Ukrainian media outlet said that one of its correspondents was killed in Kyiv.

Thursday night, Russia launched another huge barrage.  CNN reported that over the past week, 47 civilians have been killed in the attacks, with over 200 injured.

Tonight, Moscow is attacking again.

--Anne Applebaum / The Atlantic

“Out of all the ugly and dishonest things that Donald Trump said about Volodymyr Zelensky last week, the ugliest was not dishonest at all.  ‘I’ve been watching for years, and I’ve been watching him negotiate with no cards,’ Trump said of Zelensky.  ‘He has no cards. And you get sick of it.’

“Sick of it. Stop and think about that phrase. Trump inserted it into a stream of falsehoods, produced over several days, many of which he must have known to be untrue. He has been lying about the origins of the war, about Zelensky’s popular support, about the levels of U.S. funding for Ukraine, and about the extent of European funding, about the status of previous negotiations.  But sick of it – that, at least, has the ring of truth. Trump is genuinely bored of the war.  He doesn’t understand it. He doesn’t know why it started. He doesn’t know how to stop it.  He wants to change the channel and watch something else.

“Also, he has no cards:  That probably reflects Trump’s true belief as well.  For Donald Trump, the only real cards are big money and hard power.  Players, in his world, are people whom no court can block, no journalist can question, no legislator can oppose. People whose money can buy anything, whose power cannot be checked or balanced.

“But Trump is wrong.  Zelensky might not have money, and he might not be a brutal dictator like Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping.  Yet he does have other kinds of power.  He leads a society that organizes itself, with local leaders who have legitimacy and a tech sector dedicated to victory – a society that has come, around the world, to symbolize bravery.  He has a message that moves people to act instead of just scaring them into silence....

“Three years into this war, the stakes are the same as they were on the night it began.  Putin, who yesterday launched one of the largest attacks of the entire war, still seeks to destroy Ukraine’s sovereignty, civil society, democracy, and freedom. He still wants to show the world that the era of American power is over, that America will not defend allies in Europe, Asia, or anywhere else. He still wants to nullify the rules and laws that kept Europe peaceful for eight decades, to create instability and fear, not only in the countries that border Russia but across the continent and even around the world.

“The war will only end, truly end, when Putin gives up these goals.  Don’t accept any peace deal that allows him to keep them.”

Rahm Emanuel / Washington Post

“There’s nothing to gain with Trump’s approach – but a lot to lose.  Denmark is not going to sell us Greenland, Panama will not return the canal to the United States.  Canada will not become our 51st state.  And yet we’re eliminating the credibility and durability of our alliances to achieve goals that aren’t even worth pursuing.

“Putin and Xi must be delighted.  As Washington alienates its allies and squanders 80 years of international credibility, Trump is helping Russia and China achieve their explicit mission of replacing the United States as the world’s preeminent superpower.  Moscow’s goal has long been to break up the North Atlantic alliance.  Who would have thought that an American president would do its dirty work?

“More than a century ago, Theodore Roosevelt articulated what proved to be a remarkably successful foreign policy axiom: ‘Speak softly, and carry a big stick.’  Ronald Reagan understood that the strength we used to deter aggression came from a mix of military, economic and soft power.  His ‘shining city on a hill’ embodied values that Trump is degrading. Russia today is a global pariah; China has no codified alliances except with North Korea.  America needs to lean into our strengths and force our adversaries to fight on our terms.  If we are conned into becoming some cheap version of Russia and China, nations will choose the real thing over a knockoff.”

---

Israel-Gaza: Last weekend, Israel said it was indefinitely delaying the release of more than 600 Palestinian prisoners, in another potentially major setback in the ceasefire process.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the release was now going to be delayed until the next handover of hostages by Hamas was guaranteed – and without what the Israeli leader called the degrading ceremonies Hamas has put on each week.

Hamas released six hostages on Saturday, handing over the final living captives whom the warring sides agreed would be freed when a ceasefire began last month.  Five of the six were handed over in two highly orchestrated public ceremonies.  But the transfer of the sixth was not publicized. [Two of the six had been held in Gaza since 2014 and 2015.]

Their release came just hours after Hamas returned the remains of Shiri Bibas – the Israeli mother whose young family became a symbol for the plight of hostages being held in Gaza.  Hamas had initially delivered a body it said at first was Bibas but it was not, sparking a wave of outrage across Israel.

Only one more handover – of the bodies of four hostages who died in captivity – was due to take place in the first phase of the ceasefire deal, which expires March 1st, Saturday.

Hamas then complied with the mediators’ proposal regarding the hostage release ceremonies to ensure that Palestinian prisoners are released, and the bodies of the hostages were returned Wednesday night.

Back to Monday, a Hamas spokesperson said that it was illogical to continue to the next phase of the deal without the further release of the security prisoners.  “Hamas is in continuous contact with mediators in Qatar and Egypt to inform them of every violation by Israel,” as reported by Israeli media.

“Before we talk, the seventh batch of our prisoners must be released.  It is not logical to extend the first stage of the deal or start negotiations on the second stage while matters remain stuck.”

No arrangements for the release of other living hostages, due to take place in the second phase, have yet been made.

Delegations from Israel and Hamas were due to negotiate the exact terms of the second phase while the first was ongoing – but have yet to meet.

--Thursday, Israel said it will not withdraw from a strategic corridor in the Gaza Strip as called for by the ceasefire, an official said.  The refusal could spark a crisis with Hamas and key mediator Egypt at a sensitive moment for the fragile truce.

Israel was supposed to begin withdrawing from the Philadelphi corridor on Saturday, the last day of the first phase, and complete it within eight days.

The Netanyahu government, through the official, said Israeli forces needed to remain in the so-called corridor, on the Gaza side of the border with Egypt, to prevent weapons smuggling. 

--Meanwhile, Israel expelled the residents of three refugee camps in the occupied West Bank as it steps up a major month-long operation in the Palestinian territory.

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said the camps in Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams were now “empty” and would be occupied by the Israeli military for the coming year.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has deployed a tank division around the city of Jenin – the first time it has done so since 2002. The Palestinian Authority condemned the move.

The UN said earlier this month that Israel’s operation, which began on January 21 and has intensified in recent days, had led to the “forced displacement” of 40,000 people.

The IDF said in a statement that its forces are “continuing the operation to thwart terrorism” and are expanding their “offensive activity” – which so far has involved drones, tanks, special forces, border police, and operatives from the intelligence agency Shin Bet.

Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Six Day War and has since built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews.  The settlements are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

--An investigation by the Israeli military has determined that Hamas was able to carry out the deadliest attack in Israeli history on Oct. 7, 2023, because the much more powerful Israeli army misjudged the militant group’s intentions and underestimated its capabilities.

The findings, released Thursday, could pressure Prime Minister Netanyahu to launch a widely demanded broader inquiry to examine the political decision-making that preceded the attack, which triggered the war in Gaza.

Signs of an impending assault were everywhere. But even preparations by Hamas as blatant as militants activating Israeli sim cards and moving its forces to designated gathering points on the evening of Oct. 6, 2023, weren’t treated with urgency by Israeli officials, the report concluded.

Many Israelis believe the mistakes of Oct. 7 extend beyond the military, and they blame Netanyahu for what they view as a failed strategy of deterrence and containment in the years leading up to the attack.  That strategy included allowing Qatar to send suitcases of cash into Gaza and sidelining Hamas’ rival, the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority.

Netanyahu has not taken responsibility and has said he will answer tough questions only after the war.

Syria: Prime Minister Netanyahu has demanded the complete demilitarization of much of southern Syria. This certainly could lead to conflict between Israel and the new leadership in Syria, after the toppling of Bashar Assad.

In a speech to Israeli military cadets on Sunday, Netanyahu said that Israel would not allow the forces of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – the Islamist group that led the overthrow of Assad – nor the new Syrian army that is being formed to “enter the area south of Damascus.”

The prime minister said that Israeli forces would remain indefinitely inside the Syrian territory that they have seized since Assad’s fall last December – which would be a shift in Israeli strategy.

Until now, Israel had described its move into a UN-monitored demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights as a temporary measure to ensure the security of Israelis on the other side.

But now Netanyahu is making it clear that he believes HTS – with their background – in jihadism – could represent a similar danger.

Separately, Ahmad al-Shara, Syria’s interim president, part of HTS, promised to hold a national dialogue to discuss the formation of a representative government and after it concluded Tuesday night, it was viewed as a disappointment among many participants.

As Christina Goldbaum wrote in the New York Times: “Instead, the two-day conference only added to concerns about the openness of the country’s new Islamist rulers to setting up a genuinely inclusive political process.”

While some Kurds, who make up 10 percent of the population, were invited to the dialogue, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed militia that controls much of Syria’s northeast, was not.

As I wrote the other week, the HTS is demanding the SDF disarm and join a unified national military force, as a condition of the dialogue.

Iran: Tehran has sharply increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium in recent weeks, according to a confidential UN report, as Iran amasses a critical raw material for atomic weapons.

The increase in Iran’s holdings of uranium enriched to 60%, or nearly weapons grade, gives it enough to produce six nuclear weapons.

Iran is now producing enough fissile material in a month for one nuclear weapon, according to the report, which was viewed by the Wall Street Journal.

In an interview Wednesday, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, warned that as Iran’s nuclear activities advance, “the problem becomes bigger, not smaller,” and urged Tehran and Washington to engage.  “It is problematic that we are not moving” on talks, he said.  “We believe it is necessary to move to action.”

The fuel enriched to 60% can be converted to 90% weapons-grade material in days.

China: Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping held a phone call Monday affirming their countries’ “comprehensive partnership” as “true friends,” according to official statements.

The two confirmed plans to meet when Xi visits Moscow in May for Russia’s 80th Victory Day, commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War – World War II.

Xi said Beijing was happy “to see Russia and relevant parties make positive efforts to defuse Ukraine crisis,” according to a Chinese readout of the call.  The Kremlin called the Russia-China relationship “a stabilizing factor in world affairs.”

Separately, next week is the beginning of Beijing’s annual political and legislative sessions (known as the “two sessions”), when thousands of lawmakers, officials, generals and businesspeople gather to discuss China’s policy agenda.

Mexico: The government on Thursday began sending nearly 30 top cartel operatives wanted by American authorities to the U.S., including one notorious drug lord that U.S. officials had been seeking to bring to justice for 40 years, according to a statement by the Mexican government.

A high-level Mexican delegation has been meeting with officials in Washington to hammer out a security agreement at a moment of tension between the two.

Among those being flown to the United States was Rafael Caro Quintero, a founding member of the Sinaloa drug cartel who was convicted in Mexico of having masterminded the 1985 murder of the D.E.A. agent Enrique Camarena, per reporting from the New York Times.

The Trump administration has been putting enormous economic and diplomatic pressure on President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, threatening to impose tariffs and suggesting the U.S. might take military action against drug lords and cartel infrastructure within her nation’s borders.

Mexico’s decision to send the wanted cartel operatives to the U.S. was hailed in American lawn enforcement circles as a major victory.

“This is an unbelievably important moment and marks a true turning point,” said Ray Donovan, the former chief of operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration.  “This shows President Sheinbaum’s willingness to work with us to target and dismantle the criminal organizations that have impacted the United States and Mexico for generations.”

Random Musings

--Presidential approval ratings....

Gallup: 45% approve of President Trump’s job performance, while 51% disapprove.  37% of independents approve (Feb. 3-16).

Rasmussen: 50% approve, 48% disapprove (Feb. 28).

Unlike all the presidential polls released last week, this week a Harvard CAPS/Harris survey gave President Trump a 52% approval rating, with 43% disapproving, much better than last week’s surveys that were in the 44% to 47% approval range.

About 9 in 10 Republicans approved of Trump’s handling of the job, and nearly 8 in 10 Democrats disapprove.  Independents were almost exactly split.

--A majority of Americans worry that Elon Musk’s drive to slash the federal government could hurt services their communities depend on and believe that billionaires have too much influence on President Trump’s administration, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

Some 58% of respondents to the six-day survey completed on Tuesday said they were concerned that federal programs such as Social Security retirement payments and student aid could be delayed by Musk’s campaign, double the 29% of respondents who said they did not worry about it.

--President Trump said in a post on social media Sunday that Dan Bongino, a conservative talk show host, will be deputy director of the FBI.

Bongino will join Kash Patel, who was recently confirmed by the Senate as director of the FBI.  Trump said Bongino was named to the role by Patel.  [There are reports Patel had promised to name an experienced FBI employee as deputy.]  The position does not require Senate confirmation.

“Great news for Law Enforcement and American Justice!” Trump posted on Truth Social, calling Bongino “a man of incredible love and passion for our Country.”

Bongino was previously a New York City police officer, and a member of the U.S. Secret Service.  He most recently had been known as a conservative radio host and podcaster.

--White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said on Tuesday that the administration would start handpicking which media outlets were allowed to participate in the presidential pool, the small, rotating group of journalists who relay the president’s day-to-day activities to the public.

The change breaks decades of precedent.  The White House Correspondents’ Association, a group representing journalists who cover the administration, has long determined on its own which reporters would participate in the daily pool.

Because presidents often hold events in smaller settings like the Oval Office, where not every reporter who covers the president can fit, the pool format has long been used to ensure that journalists accurately record a president’s comments.

The pool is most often made up of journalists from organizations like CNN, Reuters, The AP, ABC News, Fox News and the New York Times.

Leavitt said that the new policy was intended to allow “new media” outlets – such as digital sites, streaming services and podcasts – “to share in this awesome responsibility.”

“This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States,” Eugene Daniels, the president of the association, wrote. “It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president.  In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.”

--President Trump blasted MSNBC, saying the leftist network should pay “vast sums of money” for the “unpardonable sin” it has done to the country – while celebrating the axing of its star host Joy Reid, who he called a “mentally obnoxious racist.”

Why the president would take the time to write stuff like this has always been beyond me.  Personally, I’ve told you, I haven’t watched MSNBC in decades.

--We note the passing of an American hero, Clint Hill, 93.

Hill was the Secret Service agent who leaped onto President John F. Kennedy’s limousine as it came under fire in Dallas and prevented a scrambling Jacqueline Kenndy from falling to the ground.  He died last weekend at his home in California.

As the New York Times’ Richard Goldstein wrote:

“It is a signature image of the Kennedy assassination, reproduced in an Associated Press photograph and the amateur motion picture footage known as the Zapruder film: A figure in a business suit grasps the trunk of the presidential limousine as Mrs. Kennedy, in her pink outfit and matching pillbox hat, climbs onto the rear of the auto.

“Mr. Hill, the man in the suit, who was assigned to protect Mrs. Kennedy, pushed her back into her seat, alongside her mortally wounded husband.

“ ‘I think Special Agent Clinton Hill saved her life,’ David F. Powers, an aide to Mr. Kennedy who was riding in the backup Secret Service car, later told the Warren Commission investigating the president’s assassination.

“Mr. Powers said that Mrs. Kennedy ‘probably would have fallen off the rear end of the car and would have been right in the path of the other cars proceeding in the motorcade.’”

But Hill lived with guilt the rest of his life, believing he could have saved the president.

--At least 146 cases of measles have been reported in Texas since late January – marking the largest outbreak in the state in close to 30 years.

The dozens of reported cases have mostly affected children, the Texas Department of State Health Services said Tuesday, with 20 of the patients being hospitalized.  Kids aged 5 to 17 are the most affected, with 62 cases.

We then learned Wednesday that one person died.  The patient was said to be ‘school age.’

Neighboring New Mexico also reported nine cases as of Tuesday, according to the state’s health department.

--Bird flu was confirmed in rats for the first time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confirmed last week.

Four black rats were confirmed to have H5N1 avian flu in late January in Riverside County, California, where two recent poultry outbreaks were reported, the agency said.

Officials have previously confirmed the virus in mice found on affected farms.

Other infected mammals in locations around the country include a harbor seal in Massachusetts, a fox in North Dakota, a bobcat in Washington state and a domestic cat in Oregon.

The latest bird flu discoveries have come as the USDA is trying to rehire bird flu experts that the agency recently fired as part of cost-cutting based on recommendations from DOGE.

--An unknown illness has killed over 50 people in northwestern Congo, according to doctors on the ground and the World Health Organization on Monday.  The interval between the onset of symptoms and death has been 48 hours in the majority of the cases.

The latest disease outbreak in Congo began on Jan. 21, and 419 cases have been recorded, including 53 deaths.  The first outbreak in the town of Boloko began after three children ate a bat and died within 48 hours, following hemorrhagic fever symptoms.

There have long been concerns about diseases jumping from animals to humans in places where wild animals are popularly eaten.

Sorry I didn’t warn you this is rather gross.  I think I’ll stick with Cheerios.

--In California, as of Feb. 25, state data shows the Sierra Nevada snowpack is at 87% of normal for the date and about 73% of the average measured on April 1.  This percentage has been coming down rapidly, as the state has seen a heatwave.

Rainfall, statewide, is at 105% of its average, but Central and Southern California have received considerably below-average precipitation so far this water year (which ends in September).

Most of Southern California remains in “severe” or “extreme” drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, though conditions have improved from earlier this month (thanks to some atmospheric rivers).

--Pope Francis, you are in my thoughts and prayers.

---

Pray for the men and women of our armed forces...and all the fallen.

Pray for Ukraine.

God bless America.

---

Gold $2861
Oil $69.92

Bitcoin: $84,200 [4:00 PM ET, Friday]

Regular Gas: $3.11; Diesel: $3.67 [$3.29 - $4.07 yr. ago]

Returns for the week 2/24-2/28

Dow Jones  +1.0%  [43840]
S&P 500  -1.0%  [5954]
S&P MidCap  -0.2%
Russell 2000  -1.5%
Nasdaq  -3.5%  [18847]

Returns for the period 1/1/25-2/28/25

Dow Jones  +3.1%
S&P 500  +1.2%
S&P MidCap  -0.8%
Russell 2000  -3.0%
Nasdaq  -2.4%

Bulls  44.3
Bears 24.6...prior split 49.2 / 25.4*

*I am jumping through hoops to get this information to you.  All monetary contributions are appreciated.  That’s your hint as to what I had to do.

Hang in there.  This too shall pass...alas, like a kidney stone....

Brian Trumbore

 

---