While Trump FBI Director nominee Kash Patel patiently waits for his turn to kick down the doors at the FBI, the ‘old guard’ has suddenly uncovered around 2,400 ‘secret JFK assassination records,’ and then promptly leaked that ‘fact’ to spooky Axios without shedding any light on the contents of said records.

The move comes after President Trump’s Jan. 23 executive order demanding the release of all records pertaining to the JFK assassination, where ‘a deluded gunman’ killed the 35th President of the United States in Dallas, Texas 61 years ago.

The allegedly newfound records – which the FBI told the White House about on Friday, when the Office of the Director of National Intelligence submitted its plan to disclose the assassination records – were never provided to a board tasked with reviewing and disclosing the documents, according to the report.

Axios, citing three sources (who said they hadn’t actually seen the documents), said that the newly found records are ‘closely held secrets,’ and are ‘likely to raise questions about the procedures for vetting and releasing information across the entire government.’

“This is huge. It shows the FBI is taking this seriously,” said Jefferson Morley, an expert on the assassination and vice president of the nonpartisan Mary Ferrell Foundation, the nation’s largest source of online records of Kennedy’s killing, Axios continues. “The FBI is finally saying, ‘Let’s respond to the president’s order,’ instead of keeping the secrecy going,” Morley continued, without a so much as a hint of scrutiny over whether this could be complete bullshit from the very government that has kept the JFK assassination a closely guarded secret.

Axios then hedges, suggesting that the new records are “unlikely” to definitively prove the official story – that Lee Harvey Oswald, was a lone-wolf assassin, or was part of a broader conspiracy.

And as far as “unlikely” goes, we’d venture to guess there’s virtually no chance they’ll validate various theories that our own government killed Kennedy for various reasons (please discuss in the comments).

In 2017, President Trump delayed the release of the JFK files on the advice of the CIA, while President Biden ordered a limited release of records related to the assassination. Deep state defenders have said that full disclosure could compromise ‘sources and methods,’ the same thing they hid behind during the Russiagate hoax hearings.

According to the report, Trump has regretted not releasing all of the JFK records during his first term – however his January executive order calls for the release of all JFK, RFK, and Martin Luther King Jr. assassination records by March 9.

More via Axios:

What’s next: Despite Trump’s order, sources say, the various intelligence agencies with records of the assassination are still recommending redactions.

• “When POTUS hears about this stonewalling, he’s gonna hit the roof,” a White House official told Axios.
• “This is total Deep State bulls**t,” said another.
• “Don’t be surprised if all these records just suddenly wind up online,” a Trump adviser said. “He wants to move on and call this a promise kept.”

The intrigue: The newly discovered FBI files could have relevance in the ongoing federal lawsuit filed by the Mary Ferrell Foundation against the Biden administration in 2022. It alleges federal agencies had more documents related to the assassination that they weren’t turning over to the National Archives. They include:

• Jailhouse recordings of mobster Carlos Marcello, who claimed he was involved in the assassination.
• CIA files of George Joannides. He was the chief of covert action at the CIA station in Miami and was a case officer for a New Orleans-based CIA-funded exile group that had a series of encounters with Oswald before the shooting. Joannides also was accused of misleading a House committee investigating the assassination by failing to disclose his ties to Oswald. “The Joannides file sounds exactly like the newly discovered FBI files,” Morley said. “It’s something assassination-related that was never turned over to the Archives.”

Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

The more dependent you are, the less free you are.  A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article about how our system is designed to beat us down and make us weak and dependent, because when we are weak and dependent we are easier to control.  Most of us don’t even realize why the majority of the population is so sick, exhausted, depressed and confused much of the time.  Our bodies, our minds and our spirits are constantly being poisoned by the system, and those that are in control of the system know exactly what they are doing.  If you do not choose to break free, you could end up under the oppression of their system for your entire life.

Of course for many people inertia seems like the easiest option.  It is just so easy to keep doing what you have always done, and that is especially true once you get older.

But what are you going to do once the system that you have become so dependent upon starts to crumble all around you?

Over the past several years, our world has been getting increasingly unstable.  Major wars have erupted, the cost of living has become very painful, pestilences have been raging all over the globe, and historic natural disasters have been hitting us one after another.

The chaos that we are experiencing now is just going to intensify in the months ahead.

So what will most people do when the system that they depend on for their survival is shaken to the core?

The following are 12 simple things that you can start doing right now to become more independent of the system…

#1 Become Less Dependent On Your Job

For most people, having a job essentially means living in a state of “just over broke”.  The truth is that it is incredibly difficult to become financially independent working for someone else.  Of course most Americans would not be able to survive without a job, but you don’t want to settle for just surviving.  I know that it can be exceedingly difficult to find the energy for a “side hustle” while you are working a full-time job, but a “side hustle” can eventually evolve into a full-time income.  If you want to live free, it is so important to explore alternate sources of income and different ways to build wealth.  And the truth is that any jobs we have now could easily disappear when economic conditions take a turn for the worse.  But if you have put in the effort to build up a “side hustle”, at least you will still have that.

#2 Get Out Of Debt

The borrower is the servant of the lender.  If you want to live free, get out of debt.  No matter how far you try to run, your debts are going to continue to hang over you wherever you go.  Getting out of debt can be completely and totally liberating.  It will give you much more freedom and will make you far less dependent on your job.  In fact, many Americans are already moving in this direction.  Why not join them?  When things start really falling apart and it is difficult for anyone to find a good job, the last thing you will want is a huge amount of debt hanging over your head.

#3 Reduce Expenses

For decades, most Americans have been living far beyond their means.  In the future, times are going to be really tough and we are all going to have to learn to tighten our belts.  Do you and your family waste money right now?  If you can eliminate that, you can live on a smaller income and you will have more money to invest in the things that are really going to matter.

#4 Purchase Land

Real estate is a lot more expensive than it once was, but the truth is that you don’t want to wait forever to get your hands on a piece of land.  When the system completely crumbles, you don’t want to be stuck in a heavily populated area with no place to go.  You always want to have somewhere that you can “bug out” to if things hit the fan.  In addition, owning real estate is a great way to build wealth.  In some of the most desirable areas of the country that are not heavily populated, real estate prices have doubled or even tripled in recent years.

#5 Learn To Grow Your Own Food

Another reason why you want to purchase some land is so that you will have somewhere to grow your own food if that becomes necessary.  100 years ago, almost everyone knew how to grow their own food, and most people also knew how to raise farm animals.  Today, relatively few Americans have those skills.  A great way to begin is by starting your own “survival garden”.  If you are not already doing this, why not start this upcoming spring?

#6 Find A Reliable Source Of Clean Water

Do you know what they are putting into your water?  In many parts of the country, tap water is absolutely teeming with all sorts of nasty stuff.  Drinking pure water is an easy change that anyone can make, and it can have a dramatic impact on your health.  In addition, water is going to become a very, very valuable resource in the years to come.  It will be absolutely key for you and your family to have a dependable source of clean drinking water.  If you do not have water, you will not be able to survive for long.

#7 Explore Alternative Energy Sources

Have you noticed that your power bill just keeps going up?  In some states, people are being hit with power bills that exceed $1,000 a month.  Of course you may not be able to depend upon the power company at all once things get bad enough.  The truth is that there are very good reasons why so many Americans have been trying to go “off the grid”.  Without power, life gets really difficult very quickly.  But if you are generating your own power then you won’t have to worry about that.

#8 Store Supplies

Every time there is a major disaster or emergency, store shelves get empty really fast.  If an extended national emergency results in supply chains being disrupted on a long-term basis, you may have to get by on what you already have in your home.  So do you and your family have enough food and supplies to survive for an extended period of time?  If you don’t know where to start, there are guides that can help get you started.  In America today, there are millions of “preppers”, and the “prepping” industry has been thriving.  But of course most of the population just assumes that they will always be able to depend upon the system for what they need, and someday those people will be in for a very rude awakening.

#9 Protect Your Assets With Gold And Silver

Our leaders have been flooding the system with money for many years, and so it was only a matter of time before we experienced rampant inflation.  The cost of living has been absolutely soaring, and that isn’t going to change any time soon.  One way to protect yourself is by getting some gold and silver.  In the future, your paper money may not buy much for you at all, but if you have some gold and silver coins you can always exchange them for the things that you are going to need.

#10 Learn Self-Defense

Do you remember the riots that happened all over the country just a few years ago?  Well, the truth is that what we will see in the future will be far worse than that.  When people get desperate enough, they will literally do just about anything to survive.  Just think about it.  What do you think is going to happen once people living in densely-populated areas have been without food for two or three days?  Now is the time to think about how you will defend your home and your property from crazed looters.  It is not a fun thing to think about, but unfortunately we are heading into times that will not always be pretty.

#11 Keep Yourself In Good Physical Condition

As Americans, we live such “cushy” lives.  But when times get hard, things will not be so cushy.  In fact, the years ahead are likely to demand quite a bit of physical activity.  So keep yourself in good physical condition now.  In the future, you will be quite glad that you did.

#12 Make Deep Connections

It is really, really hard to “survive” all by yourself.  Those that will thrive the most in the future will be those that have a community that they can depend upon.  The truth is that we are always at our best when we work together.  It is time to build deep connections with family and friends, it is time to make new connections, and it is time to focus on what is truly important.  In the times ahead the world will be a very cold place, and a little love and teamwork will go a long way.

*  *  *

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

Over the weekend President Trump said he has spoken directly to Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine, something the Kremlin neither confirmed nor denied, only saying that communications with the US administration are currently being conducted through various channels.

“I do believe we’re making progress,” Trump had told reporters, adding that he expects there to be more communications to come. “We want to stop the Ukraine-Russia war.”

But as of Monday the Kremlin still says it has yet to be presented with any concrete offer that it would be enticed by. Moscow has received nothing to get it to the negotiating table with Ukraine, at a moment it has the clear battlefield momentum.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin expressed this to RIA state news agency

“It is important that words be backed up by practical steps that take into account Russia’s legitimate interests, demonstrating a readiness to eradicate the root causes of the crisis and recognize the new realities.”

“Concrete proposals of this nature have not yet been received,” he emphasized.

As for the alleged Putin-Trump phone call, Kremlin spokesman Peskov said exactly the following: “in this case, I can neither confirm nor deny it” – in response to an inquiry by TASS:

But even as the White House signals progress and positive contacts with Moscow, a very different message is coming out of Russian state media on Monday. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov at a news conference has said Moscow-Washington relations are on the brink of complete rupture. Here’s a summary of the remarks in TASS:

Relations between Moscow and Washington are balancing on the verge of rupture.

The administration of former US President Joe Biden “focused on hybrid warfare, introduced into its documents and imposed on allies in various alliances and configurations the idea of the possibility of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia.” As a result, the “antagonistic content” of Russian-US relations intensified and has become “very critical” today.

Washington’s attempts to give Moscow demands or to demonstrate the alleged doing “a great favor” in exchange for unacceptable US demands are bound to failure in the dialogue with Russia.

Specifically Russia sees an unwillingness to deal seriously and fairly on the nuclear front, after in the last half-decade several post-Cold War era treaties have collapsed:

The policy pursued by Washington “poses a significant challenge to global nuclear non-proliferation” and control over nuclear weapons is deteriorating.

Russia has not yet seen any manifestations of common sense or political will on the part of the West to overcome the crisis in the arms control system.

The situation around Russia-US dialogue on strategic stability, including the post-New START Treaty period, does not look optimistic.

Such dramatic statements suggesting a total break in formal relations from the Russian side could just be more diplomatic maneuvering and posturing to maintain leverage at the future negotiating table.

Still, it’s obvious to all that the Ukraine situation remains extremely dangerous, as arms from Washington have continued to flow, after what was perhaps a very brief halt last week. Trump himself has long acknowledged this, warning that if peace is not achieved, the situation could spiral toward WW3.

Authored by Mark Glennon via Wirepoints.org,

A sea change is at hand. 

Little noticed in the blizzard of executive orders issued by President Trump is this provision in Executive Order No. 14173 for getting federal money:

(iv)  The head of each agency shall include in every contract or grant award:

(A)  A term requiring the contractual counterparty or grant recipient to agree that its compliance in all respects with all applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws is material to the government’s payment decisions for purposes of section 3729(b)(4) of title 31, United States Code; and

(B)  A term requiring such counterparty or recipient to certify that it does not operate any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws.

In other words, if you want federal money, you will have to “certify” that you do not “operate any programs promoting” DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) “that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws.” And the order eases the way for enforcement through whistleblower claims.

Major universities may be the most impacted because they rely heavily on tens of billions of dollars in contracts and grants paid out nationally every year by the federal government. Many of those schools also continue to maintain aggressive DEI programs that are highly suspect under Federal anti-discrimination laws.

That spells big trouble unless they end or curtail DEI programs, and fast. They will either be disqualified from new federal grants or face severe consequences for signing a false certification.

Among the schools that should be paying attention is Northwestern University. Its total federal revenue from contracts and grants is unclear but undoubtedly very large, with grants from the Department of Defense, NASA, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and other agencies.

But Northwestern is already being sued for its agreement, following pro-Palestinian protests, to provide special scholarships and other accommodations to Palestinian students. Another lawsuit against the law school alleges discrimination against whites in faculty hiring.

Such conduct by a university, if proved, likely would be regarded by the Trump Administration as prohibited DEI policy, making it hard for Northwestern to sign the new certification requirement needed for federal grants.

What about state universities? The order isn’t clear on that. It’s mostly about private sector entities, but the language quoted above is not limited to them. An association of public universities includes the new order among its warnings of changes being implemented under Trump. If Trump’s new order isn’t intended to cover public universities, there’s no reason to doubt that another one will.

If Trump’s new order does cover public universities, a prime target would be the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It maintains one of the most egregious DEI loyalty oath programs in the nation, requiring woke speech and conduct to be among the evaluation factors for faculty hiring and tenure. We’ve long said it was a First Amendment lawsuit waiting to happen, even during the Biden Administration. We’ve written about that here, here and here.

Trump’s new order is vague. There’s no definition, for example, of “programs promoting DEI” that are prohibited.

The order is definitely limited to DEI programs “that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws.” What that means, however, is hardly clear. The illegality of some DEI programs is now controlled by the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. Legal scholars and administrators of all types are still struggling to decide what DEI programs are permissible under that ruling.

But the order and the Harvard decision probably will be interpreted strictly by the Trump Administration, for reasons nicely explained in a recent piece here from the Manhattan Contrarian.

It gets worse for the woke.

Trump’s new order includes this:

A term requiring the contractual counterparty or grant recipient to agree that its compliance in all respects with all applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws is material to the government’s payment decisions for purposes of section 3729(b)(4) of title 31, United States Code.

Want to guess what that referenced Code section is?

It’s the False Claims Act – the whistleblower law that allows private citizens to file what are called qui tam actions. That provision in Trump’s new order is specifically intended to make it easier to win whistleblower actions under the False Claims Act. In other words, if a university or other party falsely signs the certification that they have no DEI policies, private parties like their employees can blow the whistle, perhaps getting a cash award. Treble damages are among the possible consequences for False Claims Act violations.

Many major law firms have posted warnings for their clients about the new Trump order and the potential for whistleblower complaints, such as here. 

However, the regular press and general public have yet to catch up on how drastically the law has turned against DEI.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in 2007 that “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” Like it or not, that’s how the new crowd in Washington sees things. They mean business. Buckle up.

Tesla chief designer Franz von Holzhausen appeared in a video with Jay Leno on the latest episode of “Jay Leno’s Garage” to announce that Cybercab offerings will begin in Austin, Texas, this summer. 

In the video, Leno asked Holzhausen: “Well, Tesla’s Robo taxi is supposed to start pretty soon?” 

Holzhausen responded: “Yeah, Cybercabs is like Lars [Tesla VP for Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy] was saying… We’re testing in Texas and rolling it out in June.” 

“I think that’s going to be what we’re talking about. That’ll be the technology that feels like the future, but it’s happening today,” Holzhausen said. 

Moravy chimed in: “Every Tesla comes fully capable with that…” 

NEWS: Franz says Tesla will start offering Cybercab rides in Austin, Texas this June.

“Starting in June we’ll be having Cybercabs rolling around; That’ll be the technology that feels like the future but is happening today.”

via Jay Leno’s Garage pic.twitter.com/jWagsRN4mn

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) February 10, 2025

There was no further explanation from the Tesla executives in their conversation with Leno regarding the scale of the Cybercab offerings in Austin or whether additional cities are expected to come online in the coming months. 

Cybercab is absolutely insane. A two seater without a wheel or pedals.

The future of transportation is here. pic.twitter.com/aMljI8U2VK

— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) January 17, 2025

Meanwhile, the electric vehicle market has lost momentum (read: here & here), with Tesla reporting the first-ever drop in annual deliveries. In its latest earnings call, Tesla reported that fourth-quarter results missed Wall Street’s expectations, and its 2025 outlook was revised downward.

Tesla may be eager to get that AI multiple to sustain the one trillion dollar valuation club.

Waymo robotaxis will soon have a new competitor. 

Update(19:39ET): Amid reports that Hamas has paused the next round of Israeli hostage releases, while accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire, President Trump in his latest words has warned “all hell is going to break out” if the Islamist group doesn’t release all the remaining hostages:

President Donald Trump said Monday that a precarious ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas should be canceled if Hamas doesn’t release all the remaining hostages it is holding in Gaza by midday on Saturday — though he also acknowledged that such a decision would be up to Israel.

In comments to reporters after signing a series of executive orders, Trump said, “If they’re not here, all hell is going to break out” and said he feared many scheduled for release are actually already dead

He did add the caveat that “I’m speaking for myself. Israel can override it.”

The timeline and deadline is interesting, given Hamas is unlikely to obey dictates coming from Washington. To a large degree there has already been “hell to pay” in the course of the war in the Gaza Strip. Hamas at this point has less to lose than before, as much of the Strip is already obliterated and in ruins.

* * *

Hamas has announced Monday it is suspending the release of hostages planned for Saturday until further notice due to “Israeli violations” and amid international backlash at Trump’s proposed plan to “take over” Gaza which would block a Palestinian ‘right of return’.

The last three emaciated-looking Israeli hostages were freed on Saturday in exchange for over 180 Palestinians released from Israeli jails. The Israeli captives have been held for over 490 days. Since the ceasefire took effect last month 21 people have freed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad – 16 of them Israelis and five Thai citizens. Victims’ families in Israel are desperately hoping more will be freed according to plan.

Until now the truce was looking promising, and is on the brink of entering a second phase of the deal, given the Israeli military this weekend withdrew from from the Netzarim Corridor, which cuts Gaza in half, allowing tens of thousands of Gazans to return to the north and move more freely.

Hamas has announced the next round of release of captives is postponed “until further notice” while accusing Israel of  violating the terms of the ceasefire deal. Israel has put its military on ‘high alert’.

Several Palestinians have been shot by IDF forces in Gaza City, but Israel in turn has blamed Hamas for violating agreements, including parading hostages in front of propaganda posters before they are handed over to the Red Cross.

Hamas has also been fiercely condemning Trump’s plan which would see Gazan’s leave the strip en masse. He’s been pressuring Egypt and Jordan to take in over one million Palestinians. His latest statements have inflamed tensions further. According to Fox, CNN and other outlets on Monday, Trump has expressly said his plan would not support a right of return:

President Donald Trump said explicitly in an interview this weekend that Palestinians would not have a right to return to Gaza under his plan to take US ownership of the strip and rebuild it.

“No, they wouldn’t,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News when asked whether the Palestinians would have a right to return. “Because they will have much better housing. Much better – in other words, I’m talking about building a permanent place for them.”

Hamas has responded by saying the US President tackling the “Palestinian issue with the mentality of a real estate dealer” and this is “a recipe for failure.”

Many analysts have warned that this White House rhetoric could collapse an already fragile ceasefire deal, and this is precisely what appears to be happening now, also given PM Netanyahu has hailed Trump’s words as “creative” and “revolutionary”. 

Trump and his top foreign policy officials haven’t been fully on the same page, it appears:

Afterward, some Trump aides sought to soften or clarify aspects of the plan. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Trump was proposing only a temporary relocation of Palestinians while Gaza was being rebuilt.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was traveling in Latin America when Trump revealed his idea, suggested the resettlements from Gaza would be only on an interim basis.

“What he very generously has offered is the ability of the United States to go in and help with debris removal, help with munitions removal, help with reconstruction — the rebuilding of homes and businesses and things of this nature, so that then people can move back in,” Rubio said last week.

Donald Trump, on Gaza: “…I would own this. Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It will be a beautiful piece of land.”

Q: Will Palestinians have the right to return?

Trump: No, they wouldn’t. If they have to return now, it’d be years…it’s not habitable pic.twitter.com/qhu9E2aFNp

— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) February 10, 2025

But a stance of ‘no right of return’ means that Palestinians would not be allowed back to their homes or communities. Already tens of thousands are returning, and it remains unlikely that Trump’s plan could be practically achievable. 

The reality is that hardliners within Netanyahu’s government don’t want to see a truce deal stick, as they prefer a military solution. Trump’s words give them an incentive to ‘cleanse’ Gaza of Palestinians, continuing the IDF air and ground operation.

President Trump has reiterated his proposal to take control of Gaza, saying he is committed to “buying and owning” the war-ravaged enclave in comments given to reporters Sunday aboard Air Force One. Trump described that Gaza should be thought of as a “big real estate site” and that neighboring and regional Arab states could be tasked with handling its redevelopment. 

“I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza. As far as us rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it,” Trump told the press pool while flying to the Super Bowl in New Orleans.

“But we’re committed to owning it, taking it, and making sure that Hamas doesn’t move back. There’s nothing to move back into. The place is a demolition site.”

Addressing the question of the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced, he said of Gazans, “If we could give them a home in a safer area – the only reason they’re talking about returning to Gaza is they don’t have an alternative. When they have an alternative, they don’t want to return to Gaza.” However, videos over the past days and week have shown families pouring back into the north, most often by food and carrying possessions on their backs.

He didn’t put a timeline on this ultra-controversial plan which has sparked international backlash, but the president again called Gaza a “demolition site” and said the “remainder will be demolished. You can’t live in those buildings right now. We’ll make into a good site for future development by … somebody.”

But Trump is perhaps not taking into full account that Hamas to some extent already has “moved back” in, and is especially showing its continued strength and presence in the south of the enclave, parading well-armed battalion sized units in places like Khan Yunis during the recent hostage handover ceremonies.

A Sunday Hamas statement responded, “Our Palestinian people will thwart all displacement and deportation plans. Gaza belongs to its people.”

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Trump’s proposal as “revolutionary” and “creative” – however he’s yet to address whether the plan could actually be accomplished without years of further fighting in Gaza. Hamas has not in fact been fully dislodged, and could probably wage a guerrilla campaign from the tunnels for years yet to come.

Meanwhile, among the American public, there’s clearly little enthusiasm for Trump’s plan…

…with a new CBS News/YouGov poll showing only 13% of those surveyed believing it’s a “good idea” – and with 47% responding it is a “bad idea”. Another 40% expressed that they are “unsure” or that it “depends”.

The White House has sought to downplay the possibility of sending American troops, though it’s unclear how Trump’s Gaza plan would play out on any practical ground level.

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

Soaring home prices keep many on the sidelines. Renters in need of more space and privacy are making house rentals their long-term homes.

The Houses That Renters Never Want to Leave

Point2Homes discusses The Houses That Renters Never Want to Leave

• Moving after less than 1 year is becoming less appealing: Compared to 2017, the number of house renters who spend less than 12 months in a home before moving fell 4.5% and decreased in 70 of the 75 metros we reviewed.

• The shares of renters who move after less than 12 months dropped the most in Bakersfield, CA (-12.4%); followed by Tucson, AZ (-10%); and Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA (-10%).

• Long-term renting is gaining ground: More and more house renters are slowly but surely making the single-family home rental they currently occupy into what may be their forever home.

• Long-term and very long-term renters in California’s Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario and Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura are leading the trend as their shares increased by more than 7% in the last 5 years.

• Space is no longer a preference, but a necessity: Nearly half of single-family renters (47%) gravitate toward spacious three-bedroom homes, making them the top pick for those seeking extra room to rent, according to the latest Census data on house renter tenure.

House Renters Spend More Time Before Moving

Of the 45,646,491 renter households in the country, 14,227,371 are single-family renter households. And they’re increasingly going the distance: According to Point2Homes‘ most recent analysis of Census data, renters who spend five to nine and 10+ years in their rental before moving increased by 2 and 2.7 percentage points, respectively. On the other hand, the number of renters who move after just 12 months fell -4.5 percentage points compared to five years ago.

High cost of living, supply scarcity, growing home prices and high mortgage rates make it impossible — or at the very least extremely difficult — for renters to start saving for a down payment, thereby keeping them renting for longer.

But it’s not just increasing home prices that are keeping renters put. Rental prices have also shot up in recent years, discouraging renters from moving, as that would require taking on a likely higher lease.

That’s obvious in the nation’s 75 largest metros: Throughout the last five years, the share of renters who move after less than 12 months decreased in all but four metros. What’s more, three metros are posting double-digit drops in the shares of short-tenure renters: In Bakersfield, CA (-12.4%); Tucson, AZ (-10%); and Omaha, NE (-10%), renters really seem to be rethinking their strategy and are staying put.

Census data is woefully lagging so we need to be a bit careful on such stale data.

But who really likes to move?

Based on falling prices of new leases, many claim “rent is falling”. But most people don’t move.

And the fewer people who do move, the more sticky existing rent prices are.

The Point of Renting a House

If Gen Z renters, young, single Millennials and downsizing Baby Boomers can make do with smaller homes, they’re not the majority. Most renters of single-family homes prefer the larger, three-bedroom houses for rent: Nearly half (47%) of all house renters opted for a roomy three-bedroom, whereas less than 10% went for a one-bedroom house for rent.

Net numbers are equally telling: Nearly 7 million renters live in three-bedroom houses, followed at a distance by the 4 million who choose a two-bedroom rental.

That’s because single-family homes for rent cater to a very specific demographic — renters who are kept on the sidelines, unable to buy a home big enough for their changing needs.

Where Do Renters Live?

• In 2023, 38% of renters in the US lived in apartment buildings with five or more units.

• Another 17% of renters lived in buildings with two to four units.

• The remaining 41% of renters lived in single-family homes.

• 5% of renters lived in mobile homes.

The above is an AI response to my question. Those who live in a big city apartment may be surprised that only 38 percent live in big apartment buildings.

People under the age of 30 comprised the largest share of renters in the U.S. in 2022. Almost half of the population that lives in a rental apartment fell in this age group.

According to research published earlier this year by John Burns Research and Consulting, remote work lives on: “Despite return-to-office policies, remote work remains about four times more prevalent than pre-COVID. […] the resulting outflow to more outlying areas is akin to the massive shifts caused by the car revolution of the 1950s and 1960s that opened up the first ring of suburbia.”

There’s much more in the article for those interested in renting and rental trends.

The CPI is Wednesday. The Bloomberg consensus is another 0.3 percent. The Fed would not consider that progress.

I will closely be watching shelter.

Starting late last year as the Biden administration was still setting the tone of the West’s Ukraine policy, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot issued statements suggesting that a plan to send NATO troops to Ukraine was being mulled by Western allies as a legitimate ‘option’.

For example, the top French diplomat said in November, “We will support Ukraine as intensely and as long as necessary. Why? Because it is our security that is at stake. Each time the Russian army progresses by one square kilometer, the threat gets one square kilometer closer to Europe.”

BBC interviewer Laura Kuenssberg had questioned Barrot on whether that could mean sending French troops into the war. He responded: “We do not discard any option.”

Without doubt, French Foreign Legion troops and Western mercenaries are already there, and the Kremlin has over the last year said that French forces were killed and wounded in various attacks. This has long been an ‘open secret’ of the proxy conflict.

Kremlin officials have in the last days complained about ongoing rumors speculating that Russia is ready to allow Western peacekeeping troops into Ukraine. This is happening as the White House has newly confirmed that it is in communication with Putin’s officials about setting up peace or ceasefire negotiations, which could materialize soon.

On Monday Moscow’s ambassador to the UN rejected that this is a serious option. Amb. Vassily Nebenzia said in an interview with RIA Novosti that such a plan would have to have approval of the United Nations Security council, of which Russia is a permanent member.

“’Peacekeepers’ cannot operate without a mandate from the UN Security Council. Otherwise, any foreign military contingents sent into the combat zone will be regarded as ordinary combatants under international law and a legitimate military target for our armed forces,” the envoy said.

Of course, Russia can provide a lone veto halting any proposal to send foreign troops to Ukraine, which it would most certainly do. Peace plans recently floated by the West have included a delay on future admission of Ukraine into NATO and the deployment of a peacekeeping force.

However, President Putin has consistently said that Russia will stay firm in rejecting any ‘timeline’ of NATO membership, whether 20 years or more. He’s described that this would only push off an inevitable war. This issue has remained a non-starter and Moscow is unlikely to enter negotiations until NATO membership is completely off the table.

It’s as yet unclear on where Trump stands on the issue – though he’s recently expressed that he understands Moscow’s anger over this. This suggests Trump is indeed open to taking NATO membership for Ukraine off the table. As for future peacekeeping troops, this has also been reported to be part of Trump’s plan for ending the war.

Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

“It is axiomatic that those who are beneficiaries of waste, fraud and unnecessary government spending will be the most threatened by the cuts that DOGE is making in these programs. These beneficiaries of waste and fraud are also extremely worried about the reputational, legal and potential criminal risk they will suffer by being exposed by DOGE” 

– Bill Ackman

I’m so glad that The New York Times explained what Kendrick Lamar was up to in his Super Bowl half-time act because all I could make out was a grown man dressed-up like an eight-year-old hollering nursery rhymes in front of a flash-mob. Apparently, KL is engaged in a feud with another rapper named Drake, whom KL styles as a child molester. So, you see, the whole thing was just a bit of wholesome family entertainment. Thank The NY Times, for putting a grad-school spin on it:

Speaking of metanarratives — and apart from the private vendettas on Planet Rap — a nice one is developing at center-stage of US political life: the Party of Chaos using federal judges to oppose the dismantling of their gigantic grift scaffold.

In other words, more lawfare to obstruct any earnest effort to effectively reform the management of our country. 

So, last week, you get Judge Carl J. Nichols in the DC District arguing that the DOGE shutdown of USAID was unauthorized and potentially illegal, lacking congressional approval.

Then, late Friday (when most citizens are checking out of the week’s struggles) Judge Paul Engelmayer out of the Southern District of New York blocked DOGE and other executive branch officials from accessing US Treasury records of expenditures. The injunction, comically, prevents Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent from seeing what his agency doles out money for — that is, from managing anything his department does. 

The suit that prompted the ruling was brought by nineteen states’ Attorneys General led by NY AG Letitia James. So, you see how this works.

You must also imagine that the White House was prepared for these lawfare shenanigans, though they haven’t shown their hand in response so far. 

This is a constitutional quarrel, of course, since it concerns who has authority between the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary over agency spending and, in particular, who gets to audit it. The actual objective by the plaintiff in these cases (the Party of Chaos) is simply to delay any corrective action.

The DOJ under Pam Bondi can designate the US Solicitor General to petition the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) for certiorari — to expedite the resolution of this constitutional issue as to whether Mr. Trump, as chief executive, and his bona fide appointees, can carry out executive functions. 

The arguments against that appear to be weak.

It is the President’s duty to see that the laws are faithfully executed, meaning that the departments under him do their jobs correctly, which would give him inherent authority to audit and restructure agencies like USAID. 

Both judges Nichols and Engelmayer are arrogating executive and legislative functions on policy-making to themselves, triggering a separation-of-powers dispute that the SCOTUS must adjudicate promptly.

What matters most in these cases is that SCOTUS has an opportunity to put up new guardrails against the hijacking of the federal courts for the purpose of lawfare — that is, for political dirty-fighting under color-of-law. 

The law is slow-moving, arcane, and incomprehensible to most non-lawyer citizens and that is why the Party of Chaos has misused it so liberally.

In any event, DOGE is moving ahead on many other fronts and the next battleground looks like the US Department of Education, an agency which, since its creation in 1979, has only presided over an epic degeneration in the academic performance of young people. The agency has grown since 1979 to 4,400 employees overseeing a $238-billion budget. Otherwise, what it’s mainly accomplished is to enrich the various teachers’ unions and to raise the cost of college tuitions astronomically while degenerating the purpose and value of higher ed. The fifty states were arguably doing a better job on their own without any DOE on the scene.

“This feels like a national exorcism.” 

– Charlie Kirk

Meanwhile, it’s satisfying to see the security clearances revoked from Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, Lisa Monaco, Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, Andrew Weissmann, Mark Zaid, and Norm Eisen. The reason: among other crimes, they all dabbled in election interference. And “Joe Biden” lost his, too, on account of being too feeble-minded to be trusted with classified information. Who knows what other legal complications lie in waiting up ahead for that whole gang? Lawfare giveth and lawfare taketh away. Or FAFO.