THE SHOW NOTES: The Border Civil War, Warning Iran, & Major Layoffs Hit Corporate America

Welcome! Taylor Swift’s stalker has been arrested for the third time in five days near her apartment.

HEADLINE: TED Fellows Resign after Bill Ackman, Bari Weiss Invited to Speak at Conference - National Review

OUTRAGE: Maine Bill Would Protect Kidnappers Who Take ‘Transgender Kids’ From ‘Non-Affirming’ Parents for ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ - Daily Signal

RUSSIA: Did Ukraine accidentally shoot down a Russian plane carrying Ukrainian POWs?

NEW: New York City mayor declares social media an 'environmental toxin' - ABC

GODLESS: A record 28% of Americans describe themselves as not religious.

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SCOTUS, Texas, and Biden

Following the Supreme Court ruling that allowed US Border Patrol agents to remove barricades placed by Texas law enforcement along the southern border, Governor Greg Abbott issued this letter stating that Texas has the right to defend itself in the face of a migrant invasion.

“The failure of the Biden Administration to fulfill the duties imposed by Article IV, § 4 has triggered Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which reserves to this State the right of self-defense. For these reasons, I have already declared an invasion under Article I, § 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and protect itself. That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary. The Texas National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and other Texas personnel are acting on that authority, as well as state law, to secure the Texas border.”

Explained: While the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government has the right to remove the border barriers put in place by Texas, the ruling had nothing to do with Abbott’s ability to replace the removed barriers. While Abbott has not yet made these arguments in court, the letter has prompted some incensed Democrats to demand that Biden “establish sole federal control of the Texas National Guard.”

Politics: While Greg Abbott has little to lose politically from this, Biden does not. As illegal immigration looms large in the minds of swing state voters, Biden risks alienating them in a protracted border fight with Texas ahead of November.

Bonus: Here’s Biden in 2007 claiming he would never let sanctuary cities exist.

Related: Republican lawmakers push to ban feds from removing border barriers after Supreme Court defeat - Fox News

U.S. Secretly Alerted Iran Ahead of Islamic State Terrorist Attack

The U.S. secretly warned Iran that Islamic State was preparing to carry out the terrorist attack early this month that killed more than 80 Iranians in a pair of coordinated suicide bombings, U.S. officials said. 

The confidential alert came after the U.S. acquired intelligence that Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan, ISIS-Khorasan, known as ISIS-K, was plotting to attack Iran, they said. 

American officials said the information passed to Iran was specific enough about the location and sufficiently timely that it might have proved useful to Tehran in thwarting the attack on Jan. 3 or at least mitigating the casualty toll. 

Iran, however, failed to prevent the suicide bombings in the southeastern town of Kerman, which targeted a crowd that was commemorating the anniversary of the death of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds force. Soleimani was killed in a January 2020 drone attack near the Baghdad airport ordered by then-President Donald Trump. 

Full story at WSJ (paywall).

Economic Boom?

The US economy defied recession odds and grew at a rate of 3.1% last year and 3.3% in Q4 of 2023. The quarterly growth was a slip from the summer’s eye-popping 4.9% growth rate but remained well ahead of Wall Street projections.

Why this matters: Consumer sentiment increased by 29% from November to January setting a turnaround not seen since 1991. While milder growth is projected for this year, the Fed’s elusive “soft landing” may be taking place.

The bad news: The average personal saving rate fell from 5% to 4% while the four largest U.S. banks cited higher credit-card spending in 2023 compared to the previous year.

Layoff Watch

Major companies have announced significant layoffs in the past few days. Here’s the list and the percentage of staff impacted:

• LA Times - 20% of staff. - WSJ

• Business Insider - 8% of staff. - Variety

• eBay - 9% of staff - NPR

• Microsoft - 9% of gaming division staff - CNBC

Bonus: "AI made us do it" is Big Tech's new layoff rationale - Axios

Trending news:

• Nearly 30% of Gen Z adults identify as LGBTQ, national survey finds - CNBC

• America's richest 1% and Ivy Leaguers say the rest of the country has TOO much personal freedom and want to ration food and electricity, shocking poll finds - Dailymail

• Alabama prepares to carry out first execution by nitrogen asphyxiation - Reuters

• Arizona GOP head Jeff DeWit stepping down after leaked audio tapes - ABC 15

• Professional dancer, 25, dead after eating mislabeled cookies from Stew Leonard’s grocery store - NY Post

• NYU professor tells students Hamas baby killings ‘not true,’ labels New York a ‘Zionist’ city in shocking clip - NY Post

• Young Congress Aides Publicly Defy Bosses, Upending Tradition - BG

• Atlanta’s Squatter Problem Is Vexing Wall Street Landlords - Bloomberg (paywall)

Market snapshot: