- Friday January 30th, 2026
- "It Is Not A Question of Who Is Right Or Wrong But What Is Right Or Wrong That Counts."
- --Geoff Metcalf
- Providing an on line Triage of the news since 1998
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World & Nation
Trump Nominates Kevin Warsh as Fed Chair
President
Donald Trump said Friday he is nominating Kevin Warsh to serve as
chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,
ending weeks of speculation over who would lead the central bank when
Chair Jerome Powell's term expires in May.
"I am pleased
to announce that I am nominating Kevin Warsh to be the CHAIRMAN OF THE
BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM," Trump wrote on Truth
Social, calling Warsh "one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best."
Warsh, a former
Fed governor who has become a prominent critic of the central bank,
would take over at a moment when Trump has repeatedly pressed the Fed
to cut interest rates faster. The Fed held its benchmark short-term
rate steady this week after three consecutive cuts last year, drawing a
fresh rebuke from Trump.
Former CNN journalist arrested in connection with Minnesota protest
Former CNN
journalist Don Lemon was arrested early Friday morning in connection
with an incident in which anti-ICE protesters disrupted a service at a
Minnesota church, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The incident
unfolded on Jan. 18, when protesters entered Cities Church in St. Paul.
The protesters said one of the pastors is the acting field director of
the St. Paul ICE field office.
Bondi said on
social media that Lemon and three others were arrested early Friday "at
my direction" "in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities
Church."
Lowell said on Friday that Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents while he was covering the Grammy Awards.
Deal Reached Advancing Spending Bills to Avert New Govt. Shutdown
A deal was
reached Thursday to advance a major package of federal spending bills
that would avert a government shutdown for most agencies beginning
Saturday, according to a Senate Democrat leadership aide cited by
Reuters.
The agreement
would split the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill from
the broader package and fund DHS at current levels for roughly two
weeks while negotiations continue.
President
Donald Trump said Thursday afternoon that he was working hard with
Democrats to reach a deal and warned that a shutdown could slow the
U.S. economy.
Graham blocks Trump-backed spending plan, calls it a 'bad deal' as shutdown nears
South Carolina senator's hold slows Senate's march to advance Trump-backed funding package
The Senate has
a deal to fund the government, but Republican anger over the nature of
the deal, earmarks and what changes could come to the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) derailed its progress Thursday night.
Senate Minority
Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and President Donald Trump agreed to
strip out the much-maligned DHS funding bill from a broader, six-bill
funding package, and instead fund the agency with a two-week continuing
resolution (CR), while lawmakers haggled over tweaks to the bill.
Even though
there is a deal backed by the White House that has key Democratic
buy-in, there will still be a partial government shutdown this weekend,
given that the House must weigh in on the package.
This state isn’t just growing — its economy is getting richer per resident
The Lone Star State posted a sharp jump in economic output per resident, a key measure of rising prosperity
Everything’s bigger in Texas — including its economy. And it’s not just because more people are moving there.
Strip out population growth and Texas is generating thousands of dollars more per resident than it did just three years ago.
That kind of
growth matters politically. It signals rising living standards, a
stronger tax base and greater leverage to fund infrastructure,
education and other priorities without raising taxes. Texas’ success
story gives Republicans a clear example to argue that low taxes, light
regulation and strong energy production deliver real economic
advantages, not just population churn.
CCP-connected millionaire allegedly bankrolls Minneapolis agitator groups through dark money network
Who is Neville Roy Singham? Meet the China-based millionaire allegedly bankrolling Minnesota agitators
As agitators
and federal law enforcement continue to clash in Minneapolis, the
funding behind the groups fueling the anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) unrest is beginning to come to light.
One of the
alleged financial backers of these agitators is a Chinese Communist
Party advocate traced to a multitude of dark money organizations known
to fuel far-left, CCP-influenced extremism in the U.S. and across the
globe.
Earlier this
week, a Fox News Digital investigation found several organizations are
acting as lead voices in physically mobilizing agitators in
Minneapolis, as well as communicating through multiple channels to
encourage agitators to take to the streets in Minnesota and other
cities. The Party for Socialism and Liberation and The People’s Forum
are two of the core groups who allegedly have been behind facilitating
and pushing agitators to organize on multiple occasions.
Gaza's Rafah Crossing With Egypt to Reopen on Sunday
Israel will
reopen the Rafah border crossing on Sunday for people to travel between
Gaza and Egypt, the Israeli government agency that coordinates civilian
policy in Gaza, COGAT, said on Friday.
"The return of
residents from Egypt to the Gaza Strip will be permitted, in
coordination with Egypt, for residents who left Gaza during the course
of the war only, and only after prior security clearance by Israel,"
COGAT said.
The Rafah
crossing is effectively the sole route in or out of Gaza for nearly all
of the more than 2 million people who live there.
Russia Halts Strikes on Kyiv Until Sunday at Trump's Request, Zelenskyy to Reciprocate
Russia has
agreed to a request from President Donald Trump to halt airstrikes on
Kyiv until Feb. 1 amid harsh winter temperatures, and Ukraine said it
was ready to reciprocate as Washington pushes for a diplomatic solution
to end the war.
But as the
Ukrainian capital braces for another bitterly cold spell from Sunday,
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday there was no formal truce
between the two countries. He added that Russia had shifted to hitting
Ukrainian logistics. Russia has bombed Ukraine's roads and railways in
recent days.
The Kremlin
said President Vladimir Putin had accepted Trump's request to stop
bombarding Kyiv to create "favorable conditions" for peace talks. In
recent weeks, Russian strikes on energy infrastructure in Kyiv have
left hundreds of thousands of people without heating in their homes for
days on end at times as temperatures have dipped below minus 15 degrees
Celsius.
Trump Weighs Iran Strikes to Inspire Renewed Protests
President
Donald Trump is weighing options against Iran that include targeted
strikes on security forces and leaders to inspire protesters, multiple
sources said, even as Israeli and Arab officials said air power alone
would not topple the clerical rulers.
Two U.S.
sources familiar with the discussions said Trump wanted to create
conditions for "regime change" after a crackdown crushed a nationwide
protest movement earlier this month, killing thousands of people.
To do so, he
was looking at options to hit commanders and institutions Washington
holds responsible for the violence, to give protesters the confidence
that they could overrun government and security buildings, they said.
Trump has not yet made a final decision on a course of action including
whether to take the military path, one of the sources and a U.S.
official said.
Alex Pretti was no protester — here’s who bears blame for his death
By Rich Lowry
Alex Pretti wasn’t killed while “protesting.”
This is a
common description of what he was doing on a Minneapolis street
Saturday, when a confrontation with federal immigration agents ended in
his tragic shooting.
If Pretti had been a mere protester, he’d very likely be alive today.
Now that we’ve
seen videos of an earlier struggle with federal agents and learned more
about the organized nature of the anti-ICE resistance, it’s become
clear that the better word for Pretti was agitator, or perhaps even
operative.
A protester, as
typically understood, is someone who is making a point, often as part
of a gathering of other like-minded people and, usually but not always,
in opposition to something.
Stop thinking like it’s 2003 — toppling Iran’s mullahs does not risk mistakes of Iraq War
Almost 20 years
ago, in 2007, the Iranian Revolutionary Government kidnapped 15 members
of the British Royal Navy and other British Marine personnel. The
Iranians claimed that the British vessel had strayed from Iraqi waters
into Iranian territorial waters.
And so for
almost two weeks the Iranians used the captured Brits as pawns, paraded
them on their nightly TV shows, and forced the captives as well as the
British government into a grovelling, humiliating apology. Eventually
the captured Brits were returned home with some humiliating goody-bags.
I suspect that
the story will be different today if the Iranian navy attempts to
capture any American vessels. If they try that in the days to come they
should expect a very different sort of outcome.
