THE SHOW NOTES: Ignoring Iran, UN Workers Helped Hamas, & On This Day in 2019...
Welcome! The Chiefs take on the 49ers in Taylor’s Version of Super Bowl 58 on February 11th.
🚨 MUST READ: Terrorist Caught Illegally Crossing The Border Was Allowed To Roam Free For Nearly A Year - Daily Caller
NEW: Amazon primed to shake up advertising. - Morning Brew
DUMBEST HEADLINE OF THE DAY: Why are so many robots white? - The Conversation
SWIFTIES: Is Joe Biden eyeing Taylor Swift as a campaign surrogate? - Washington Examiner
NEW YORK: Donald Trump must pay an additional $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll in defamation case - AP
The Show Notes is my blueprint for radio but is only for subscribers. You can subscribe and listen here.
Iran
Iranian proxy militias launched a drone strike against a remote logistics outpost in Jordan that resulted in the deaths of three US Army soldiers and significantly injured at least 34 more. These are the first US military deaths since Hamas invaded Israel on October 7th.
Context: While public information is limited, the 350 soldiers at Tower 22 outpost in Jordan serve in an advisory role to the Jordanian government and provide supplies and logistics to larger US outposts in the region. The outpost sits next to the Syrian border where the attack is presumed to have originated.
🚨 Breaking update 1: US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told NBC that despite the attacks, the Biden administration is “not looking for a war with Iran.” Yikes.
🚨 Breaking update 2: We now know the Iranian-backed drone bypassed US defenses because it was mistaken for a US drone returning to base.
Biden: While Biden claimed the US “shall respond” at an event in South Carolina, The Editorial Board at The Wall Street Journal put it best:
The sorry truth is that these casualties are the result of the President’s policy choices. Mr. Biden has tolerated more than 150 Iranian proxy attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East since October. Only occasionally has he or the Administration registered more than rhetorical displeasure by retaliating militarily, and only then with limited airstrikes.
Meanwhile, White House Spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre flubbed her MSNBC interview expressing the administration’s condolences to the families of the fallen soldiers.
Go deeper: Axios, Al Jazeera, CNN, AP
UN Workers Helped Hamas?
The Israeli government has produced independently verified evidence that proves at least 12 United Nations workers directly helped Hamas invade Israel on October 7th.
Details: Six workers in the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza participated in the invasion of southern Israel on October 7th. Two workers physically kidnapped Israelis while the cellphone data of two additional UN workers tracked them to the location of dozens of dead Israelis.
Related: Out of the 12,000 UN employees in Gaza, around 1,200 of them have direct ties to Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or one of the other Islamic militant groups operating in the area. Nearly 6,000 UN workers in Gaza have close family members with direct ties to a terrorist organization.
🚨 My take: Progressives like AOC and the Squad are outraged that the US and other countries have defunded the United Nations Relief and Works Agency because it employs 1,200 terrorists but demanded police departments across the country be defunded over a few bad apples.
MUST READ: The Most Important Man in Finance You’ve Never Heard Of
Josh Frost’s low-profile job is suddenly a Wall Street obsession.
As the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for financial markets, he sets the mix of U.S. government bonds sold to investors, a process guided by the department’s mantra to be “regular and predictable.”
So he found it odd last year when his phone started lighting up with texts from friends and former colleagues telling him that CNBC’s Jim Cramer had crowned him “the most important man in finance.”
It had been a tough couple of years in the world’s most important bond market. Unprecedented losses sparked a wave of bank failures last year, and investors were skittish about buying debt. Frost, 47 years old, had offered them some relief—and is now at pains to go back to being a humdrum player in the unpredictable, occasionally raucous market.
The latest test of his approach will come next week, when the Treasury announces its quarterly refunding plans, now a key factor not only for the cost of paying for the national debt, but also for Americans looking to borrow to buy cars or homes.
Full story at The Wall Street Journal (paywall).
Remote Workers Bear the Brunt When Layoffs Hit
Laying off employees is complicated. New data suggests that managers tend to have an easier time showing remote workers the door.
Workers logging on from home five days a week were 35% more likely to be laid off in 2023 than their peers who put in office time, according to an analysis of two million white-collar workers conducted by employment data provider Live Data Technologies. The analysis showed 10% of fully remote workers were laid off last year, compared with 7% of those working in an office full time or on a hybrid basis.
Full story at The Wall Street Journal (paywall).
On This Day in 2019
Trending news:
Pro-Trump network OAN execs may have ‘engaged in criminal activities’ while promoting 2020 election lies - CNN
Trump, House Republicans plot to kill border deal - Axios
George Soros pours millions into Texas in hopes of shifting power to Dems - Fox News
Navy again lowers requirements as it struggles to meet recruitment goals - NY Post
X blocks searches for Taylor Swift - Axios
Falling inflation, rising growth give U.S. the world’s best recovery - MSN
Inside the White House, confidence grows that a strong economy will sell itself to Americans - NBC
Democrats’ next crime fight: retail theft - Politico
Georgia GOP House candidate targeted by Kemp allies - AJC
Top Agriculture Officials from 12 states have sent a letter to 6 of America's largest banks, accusing them of colluding to force the ESG agenda onto American famers and ranchers - Twitter
Royal Caribbean's 'Icon,' world's largest cruise ship, sets sail - Yahoo
Birth rates are falling in the Nordics. Are family-friendly policies no longer enough? - Financial Times (paywall)
Market snapshot:
Re: More hate crime hoaxes..
Remember Bubba Wallace, the black NASCAR driver who discovered that someone put up a hangman's noose in his garage bay? OH, the outrage! OH the horror! It swirled in the news for days. All the other drivers stepped up to show support. No less than seventeen FBI agents descended on the place to investigate. Just more proof of how America is such a racist country, right? Now, security is very tight around there, and no one gets in unless they have the proper credentials. There are security cameras all over that place. SURELY, whoever hung that noose would have been caught on film..... right? Let's see the tapes! The guilty MUST be punished!! ...... But then, all of a sudden, the whole story died with barely a whimper. It just vanished. So what happened? As it turned out, the "hangman's noose" was a simple handle-loop in the rope which opens and closes the garage door. It had been the same loop for years...
The Military finds it “increasingly difficult to attract the dwindling number of young people who can meet the military’s physical, mental and moral standards” according to the NY Post. I supposed it is only fitting given the lack of physical, mental, and moral standards coming from the White House or for all of government for that matter. I am sure this won’t come back to bite us when war breaks out