The beef between Anduril founder Palmer Luckey and Silicon Valley angel investor Jason Calacanis goes back nearly a decade – when Calacanis joined a media circus slamming Luckey for a $10,000 donation to a pro-Trump group in 2016. The donation sparked widespread backlash among Silicon Valley’s liberal elite, and resulted in calls to boycott Luckey’s Oculus VR (which he founded and sold to Facebook in 2014 for $2 billion), along with his eventual ouster from Facebook.

In 2022, Luckey confronted Calacanis – co-host of the ‘All-In’ podcast, at the VC’s own event over what he characterized as “NPC thinking” (non-playable characters, aka idiots who follow their party’s ‘current thing’).

Last year, Luckey said, “Jason just lies to his followers whenever he feels embarrassed, always blocking replies from anyone who doesn’t give him money. For example, accusing my cofounder of photoshopping his fat mug – in reality, it is a screenshot from his CNBC interview!”

This is an un-edited screenshot from your CNBC interview, Jason.

Is this another example of your famous lying sprees, or are are you seriously this out of touch with the reality of your body? pic.twitter.com/acCGOEViv9

— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) February 28, 2025

In August, 2022, two months after Luckey smoked him at the All-In event, Jason attempted to mend fences after Anduril started landing government contracts, writing “I’m grateful we have Palmer making our weapons now – we need hard-core dudes like him to keep the CCP in check” followed by flexing arm + in love emojis.

Luckey told him to “Go fuck yourself and all the other clout-chasing leeches and liars who pretend sucking my dick post-Ukraine absolves treating me like shit for years.”

Indeud… 

Epstein and Calacanis

While Calacanis was busy taking potshots at Luckey for supporting Trump, it turns out he had a longstanding relationship with Jeffrey Epstein – having first met in the 1990s while trying to fundraise for a dot-com magazine, Silicon Alley Reporter. The two met at Epstein’s New York townhouse for a discussion allegedly lasting around 30 minutes according to Calacanis. 

Epstein offered some advice; ‘think bigger.’ 

“He gave me some advice at his townhouse once when I was raising money for the magazine,” Calacanis told fa-mag. “He thought I should think bigger.” 

Following Epstein’s July 2019 arrest on sex-trafficking charges, Calacanis reiterated that his contact was confined to the 1990s fundraising meeting, and denied ever flying on Epstein’s plane, visiting pedo island (Little St. James), or attending parties. 

Calacanis notably appears in Epstein’s ‘black book’ – despite insisting the two had limited contact.

Hey Pal…

Turns out, not quite… A Friday release of 3 million Epstein files reveals that Calacanis introduced Epstein to early Bitcoin developers Gavin Andresen (a key contributor to Bitcoin’s core software) and Amir Taaki (an open-source advocate involved in Bitcoin and related projects) in 2011.

In his initial email to Epstein, Calacanis addresses Epstein casually, writing “hey pal,” and mentions he’s “running out to a kids birthday party,” but will “dig up their info” on Andresen and Taaki, who he describes as “crazy open source folks” who are “motivated by the same things as wikileaks.”

Calacanis offers to facilitate connections, noting he had recently featured them on his podcast or show.

The exchange continues, with Epstein eventually emailing Andresen directly.

“Calacanis offers to facilitate connections, noting he had recently featured them on his podcast or show.”

Luckey Lays it Out

Palmer took to X following the email release to call out Calacanis over the revelations. 

Man starts VR company, donates to Trump: “Total moron, no moral compass!”

Man rapes children: “hey pal!”

See below;

One example where Jason simultaneously denies involvement with Epstein since the 90s and accuses my cofounder @mttgrmm of photoshopping him to look “twice as fat as I ever was”.

(It was an unaltered CNBC screenshot, he refuses to recant or acknowledge) https://t.co/YGTMEZ2ge0

— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) January 31, 2026

Yeah, you know GMAX? pic.twitter.com/nM5i4osFFB

— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) January 31, 2026

And of course…

Jason has disabled comments on his account.

— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) January 31, 2026

And that….’s the rest of the story. 

Via Middle East Eye

As night fell on Friday, a tense sense of dread settled over Iranians at home and abroad, with rumors of an imminent US military strike took hold across Iran.

“I kept waiting for it to hit. I couldn’t sleep until morning. I was waking up and straining to hear any sound of explosions. Let’s see what happens tonight,” Milad*, a 43-year-old engineer living in the capital Tehran, said about that night. Shohreh, a 68-year-old woman, goes to a park near her home in east Tehran every morning for group exercise. When she returned home on the morning of 31 January, she said, “Today, all my friends were saying that it would hit tonight.“

Shohreh, who opposes a foreign attack on Iran, said people seemed to be losing their minds. “They think that if the US strikes, everything will be fine,” she said. “Because of the killings committed by the Islamic Republic, people are becoming desperate. They no longer know what is in their interest and what is against them.”

For the past week, as Washington has once again beaten the drum of war against Iran, the prospect of conflict has become a real and present fear for Iranians. The movement of a large US military fleet to the Middle East has not only triggered a new multibillion-dollar arms deal with Saudi Arabia and Israel; for Iranians, it has brought confusion, psychological pressure, and fear of a disastrous future.

Iranians are still in shock following the establishment’s bloody crackdown on protests that erupted on December 28 in Tehran’s bazaar over the economic crisis and quickly spread to cities across the country.

According to government sources, 3,117 people, mostly security forces, were killed in the crackdown. However, human rights groups outside Iran believe the number is much higher, with some putting it at more than 6,500 people, the majority of them civilians. No international fact-finding mission has yet been established to verify the figures.

‘Seal the windows’

Arzoo, a 32-year-old government employee opposed to the establishment, described a quiet anxiety among people. Many avoid talking about the deadliest aspects of war, which are all too familiar after last summer’s brutal war with Israel, and try to stay calm. But everyone is waiting for the first explosion.

“My neighbour across the street, in the building where I live, has sealed his windows,” Arzoo told Middle East Eye. “He said, ‘Seal the windows. When they bomb, there will be no difference between the regime and the opposition.’“

Beneath the fragile calm that Iranian society clings to, perhaps as a way to manage its own mental strain, lurks a persistent question: what to do when war begins? Social media, which became accessible again after a three-week internet blackout during the crackdown on protests, is now filled with advice on how to survive missile attacks and bombs.

The list of precautions is long: stock enough food and water for 10 days; keep a first-aid kit within reach; place identification and essential documents in a bag for quick evacuation; keep emergency exits clear; move to open spaces at the sound of an explosion; lie on the ground next to a wall. Dozens of similar tips circulate on Persian-language platforms.

The sources of much of this advice are unclear. It is also unknown whether the same bots active during the June Israeli-US strikes – promoting Reza Pahlavi, the son of the deposed Shah – are behind it. Whoever is behind these posts has an evident impact.

Arzoo said she has seen the messages and has stored “10 bottles of drinking water and a few cans of food at home, just in case”.

Amin, a 75-year-old retiree with kidney disease, said he bought a three-month supply of medication last week and is keeping it at home. “Some of this advice may be media manipulation,” he said, “but I bought my essentials anyway, out of caution. No one knows what will happen tomorrow.“

Amin, who lived through the eight-year Iran-Iraq war and last year’s 12-day war, said he is deeply saddened to see his country on the brink of another war.

A leftist activist who has opposed the theocratic rulers since the 1979 revolution, he said: “This regime executed my closest comrades after the revolution and is now killing our children. I have no sympathy for it. But I also hate war. War will destroy everything left for us.”

These fears and preparations are not limited to those inside Iran. They are shared by the Iranian diaspora, estimated at around four million people. Many fear another nationwide internet blackout, like those during the 12-day war and last month’s crackdown, that would disconnect them from their loved ones. They also fear for the lives of their families.

At least one person was killed and over a dozen injured as a result of a “gas explosion” this morning in the Southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, with the apartment building from which the blast originated from suffering significant damage. Claims have circulated that the… pic.twitter.com/ZLZtyF858J

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) January 31, 2026

Fatemeh, who lives in Finland with her husband and son, worries about her elderly parents in Tehran. During the war with Israel, her parents could not leave the city because they had no access to transportation. 

“I asked my parents to leave Tehran before a new war started,” Fatemeh said. “They answered they wouldn’t go anywhere. They said they had nowhere to go, which is true. That’s why I asked a close friend to visit them and buy basic supplies and medicines during these days.”

‘A fool like Donald Trump’

Across Iran, cities remain calm, at least for now. There are no long lines at gas stations. Shops are open. People are going to work as usual. Early in the morning, schoolchildren wait outside their homes for the school bus.

Still, the sense of alarm is widespread. Soroush, a 27-year-old student, moved with his family to a city in northern Iran during the war to escape Israeli missiles. He said while the panic of that period is no longer visible, the fear of another war runs through everyday conversations.

“The vibe is not like the collective panic of the 12-day war,” he said. “It feels like people are mentally prepared. Before the Israeli attack, we had no idea what war would look like. Now we have an image in front of us. We know what we will face.”

Soroush feels that the lives of Iranians have turned into a game for the country’s leaders and for Western powers. He points to the betting website Polymarket, where many have bet thousands of dollars on a US strike on the night of 31 January. 

“Our lives and our deaths have become entertainment,” he said. “A game for others.“

Saba, 41, spoke of her fear for the future of her eight-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son. She also described her frustration with the government’s repression, the self-interest of opposition figures abroad, and the US warmongering.

“What a miserable people we are,” she said. “Our rulers massacre people in the streets. Reza Pahlavi has become the face of our opposition abroad. And our enemy is a fool like Donald Trump.”

*Names have been changed for security reasons.

Earlier this month the Wall Street Journal reported that there was an internal debate at Goldman Sachs over whether to get rid of General Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler over her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. 

Ruemmler, a former White House attorney for Obama, told Goldman execs when they hired her in April 2020 that the relationship was purely professional – yet it would later become public that she not only met with Epstein dozens of times and exchanged friendly emails for years, she was listed as an executor of Epstein’s will as recently as Jan. 18, 2019 – which had been removed before he died in prison on Aug. 10 of that year.

She also denied having ever helped Epstein with PR, telling the outlet “I did not advocate on his behalf to any third party—not to a court, not to the press, not to the government.”

Turns out that was a total lie. 

On Friday, the DOJ released over 3 million pages of Epstein documents, including one in which Ruemmler was helping draft statements to help Epstein counter claims that he got a “sweetheart deal” when he was allowed to plead guilty to minor charges in a 2007-2008 sex trafficking case involving dozens of underage girls. 

Epstein email confirms what we wrote in December, Kathy Ruemmler was helping draft potential Epstein statements dismissing claims he got a “sweetheart deal” to outlets like Washington Post. pic.twitter.com/rmfk1IG8Z1

— Andrew Kaczynski (@KFILE) January 30, 2026

We also found out that their relationship was far from ‘purely professional’ – as the Washington Free Beacon reported Friday that Epstein showered her with luxury gifts – including a $9,400 Hermes handbag, a Hermes-branded Apple watch, and a spa treatment package at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington DC. 

The documents released Friday show otherwise. In emails ranging from 2014 to 2019, Ruemmler routinely corresponded with Epstein’s associates to accept gifts or express her gratitude to Epstein. In some cases, she asked for specific items.

The priciest gift likely came in August 2016, when Epstein purchased Ruemmler a $9,400 handbag from the French luxury brand Hermes. Epstein took a particular interest in ensuring Ruemmler received the bag, directing one of his associates, Lesley Groff, to “confirm receipt with Kathy” and “follow up to make sure it happens.” When Ruemmler received the bag, she wrote to Groff, “OH MY GOD!!!!! He is in so much trouble!!!! I am dying. It is so beautiful,” as Groff relayed to Epstein. Used versions of the same bag—a Jypsiere 31—now sell for around $5,000.

The bag:

The emails:

Two years later, Epstein styled Ruemmler with the Hermes edition of the Apple Watch – which retails for $1,300. In response, she said the gift was “so sweet of Jeffrey!” 

“If truly okay with him to do the Hermes, I would love the 40 mm, stainless Hermes with bleu indigo swift leather double tour,” she wrote at the time. “I’ll wear that one every day, whereas the sportier ones I would likely only wear on weekends or when exercising, etc.”

As for the spa treatment, Epstein booked a “full half day” at the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown in August 2016 – writing to an associate “she won her case and needs some pampering,” to which an associate replied “Kathy will go either today or tomorrow she says…”

The Free Beacon reports further:

Epstein appeared to provide other gifts of unknown value to Ruemmler. In December 2014, an Epstein associate emailed Ruemmler to inform her that Epstein planned to send his housekeeper to “deliver your ring to you!!” In February 2019, an Epstein associate sent a reminder email to an unidentified individual reading, “Reminder: Bottle of wine and note card to be delivered to Ruemmler today. Let me know once it has been delivered so I can tell Jeffrey.”

Months after that email, Epstein was arrested in July 2019 and charged with sex trafficking minors. 

After graduaating from Georgetown University Law Center, Ruemmler served in the Obama White House from 2011-2014, after which she returned to law firm Latham and Watkins. She joined Goldman in 2020 as a partner, and became chief legal officer and general counsel in 2021 – where she also advises CEO David Solomon. 

After an April 2023 report in the Journal detailing the more extensive connections between Ruemmler and Epstein – including how the two had “met dozens of times, that Epstein had visited apartments she was considering buying and that he offered assistance with her travel planning,” including a 2017 plan to take her to ‘pedo island,’ bankers complained to senior management – pointing out that she had a role on the firm’s reputational risk committee. The bankers were essentially told to stand down. 

Will Goldman continue to stand behind their Epstein gal-pal top lawyer?

Authored by Kimberley Hayek via The Epoch Times,

Seattle Mayor Katie B. Wilson announced a series of steps on Jan. 30 in response to a potential surge in federal immigration enforcement, directing local police to track and document activities by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and barring agents from city property to conduct operations.

The moves made by Wilson, a democratic socialist, comes amid heightened Democratic pushback against federal immigration enforcement actions after the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Wilson’s measures include an executive order banning ICE from using city-owned properties for civil immigration actions, mandatory training for city employees on how to report and respond to enforcement activity, and quickly investing $4 million in funding for legal defense and community support for illegal immigrants.

The mayor noted that the city does not have information indicating a surge in federal immigration enforcement activity.

Wilson also encouraged the Seattle School District and the Seattle Municipal Court to prohibit ICE agents from conducting operations on their property.

The directive requires the Seattle Police Department to investigate reports of immigration enforcement, verify agents’ identities, and record activities using body cameras and in-car video. Officers must secure scenes of potential unlawful acts for evidence collection, though the city emphasized police will not participate in deportations.

The Seattle Police Officers Guild pushed back on the mayor’s measures, saying, “The concept of pitting two armed law enforcement agencies against each other is ludicrous, and will not happen.”

“I will not let [Seattle Police Officers Guild] members be used as political pawns,” Mike Solan, president of the guild, said in a statement.

The mayor’s directive also establishes the Stand Together Seattle Initiative, which encourages private property owners to post signs on their property stating ICE agents may not enter without a warrant.

Seattle is a self-proclaimed sanctuary city, meaning it limits cooperation with federal immigration authorities. A federal judge last year blocked President Donald Trump’s efforts to withhold funds from such cities, including Seattle, after the administration threatened funding cuts over non-compliance.

Similar rulings have curbed attempts to end humanitarian parole for thousands of illegal immigrants. A federal judge in Boston in January blocked the Trump administration from terminating the legal status of more than 8,400 family members of U.S. citizens and green card holders.

The Trump administration has ramped up deportations, budgeting $170 billion for immigration agencies through 2029 and authorizing arrests at courthouses in cities like Seattle.

After the shooting of Pretti in Minneapolis, President Donald Trump deployed border czar Tom Homan to oversee immigration operations in the city. Homan said on Jan. 29 that the adminstration will draw down agents in the area when local authorites fulfill committments to cooperate with federal authorities.

Federal authorities, Homan, said, will focus on targeted immigration operations in the city, prioritizing criminal illegal immigrants.

The Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not return a request for comment by publication time.

Authored by Nathan Worcester via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Amit recounted a familiar story for Christians in his region of India: pastors jailed; parishioners afraid to worship in public.

The situation, Amit said, is getting worse “day by day.”

Almost two millennia after St. Thomas the Apostle brought Christianity to the subcontinent, believers in northern India bear witness to a rise in persecution. Laws on religious conversion and physical attacks, including during the 2025 Christmas season, have driven fear into sanctuaries of love and faith.

Deepak, another Christian in northern India, said “there’s a lot of intimidation and harassment going on.”

He said Hindu radicals regularly “attack or disrupt [Christian] gatherings or go to mob violence.”

As a condition of speaking with The Epoch Times, both Amit, who has worked in Uttarakhand, and Deepak, who is based in Delhi, requested that their names and the details of their activities be anonymized out of fear of reprisal.

Statistics from the United Christian Forum, published on local website, The Wire, reflect an increase in violence against Christians in India in recent years. They documented 734 attacks targeting Christians in 2023. In 2024, that figure climbed to 834.

Genocide Watch, the Voice of the Martyrs, and other organizations have also chronicled anti-Christian trends in the country, in line with a similar pattern of growing violence against Muslims and other non-Hindu Indians.

Amit, Deepak, and others who spoke to The Epoch Times linked what is happening to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a political party that has ruled India since 2014 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They decried the influence of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a street-level Hindu nationalist group associated with the BJP.

Much of the organized, sometimes violent opposition to Christianity is concentrated in northern India, a BJP stronghold.

Nigel Barrett of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, the episcopal conference for India’s Latin Catholic bishops, told The Epoch Times in an email that “the persecution is not confined to northern India,” citing attacks in the western state of Rajasthan after it passed a conversion law, in the southern state of Karnataka, and elsewhere across the country.

Henry Hiinii, another Indian Christian in Delhi, told The Epoch Times that “the governments are not doing much to help the Christian community” as it comes under attack.

The BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh did not respond to requests for comment from The Epoch Times.

Some Indian Christians and close observers hope President Donald Trump—the man who has pledged to save Christians worldwide—will respond.

Commissioner Stephen Schneck of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom told The Epoch Times that the U.S. government should “issue targeted sanctions against Indian government officials and entities who participate in or tolerate egregious religious persecution of Christians, Muslims, and others.”

Escalating Hostility

Scott Bledsoe, who served as a pastor for 28 years, has visited India twice, cultivating relationships with Christians there. He said his latest visa to visit this past summer was denied.

Bledsoe told The Epoch Times he started to hear about anti-Christian persecution “in the last 10 years,” describing local mob violence against groups attempting to build churches.

Over the same period, major Christian nonprofits operating in the country faced setbacks and scrutiny, often tied to their receipt of money from abroad, including from the United States.

In 2017, Compassion International, a humanitarian organization headquartered in Colorado Springs, said it left India under pressure from the government.

The Missionaries of Charity, the group founded by Mother Teresa, sustained a serious blow in 2021, when it was barred from receiving foreign funding.

Deepak said these incidents are a bad sign for the homegrown Christian missionaries planting and nurturing small churches, including in unfriendly parts of the country.

“If you can go after them, then smaller organizations don’t have any chance,” he said.

In recent years, states across India have passed laws against forced conversion and numerous Christians, accused of coercing people into accepting their faith, have been jailed under the statutes.

Some Christians believe the opposition even extends to a kind of low-level surveillance enforced by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and similar groups. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh alone is estimated to have 4 million members nationwide.

“There are spies and people that are always watching what you’re doing,” Deepak said.

He said some believers worry that singing a religious song in their own home could draw scrutiny from neighbors, leading to arrests and prosecution under forced conversion laws.

Deepak recounted a visit to a church where that fear meant services were kept very quiet.

“I did a small devotion with them from the Bible and how the church was persecuted,” he said.

A wave of attacks on Christmas celebrations in late 2025, linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and similar groups, renewed concerns about the safety and freedom of Christians in India.

“Christians are actually afraid to celebrate Christmas openly now,” Deepak said.

Amit said Christmas services were restricted in many parts of northern India.

Schneck described “a sharp increase in targeted attacks against religious minorities” over Christmas 2025.

“Similar attacks have continued into the new year,” he said.

Amid rising tensions late last year, Modi attended a Christmas service at New Delhi’s Cathedral Church of the Redemption.

The Indian Christians who spoke with The Epoch Times, however, were skeptical of the sincerity of that gesture, attributing it to concerns over votes.

“It is disturbing to see limited official condemnation from the political authorities,” Barrett said.

However, a recent judicial decision on a conversion law drew praise from them.

In December 2025, judges on the Allahabad High Court ruled that merely preaching Christianity and distributing Bibles does not run afoul of a forced conversion statute in Uttar Pradesh, a heavily Hindu state in northern India.

Hiinii described the ruling as “good news” but said many people do not yet know about it.

American Response

The plight of Indian Christians has started to attract the attention of American political leaders.

In a Dec. 19, 2025, op-ed in The Hill, Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) and U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom leaders asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to designate India as a Country of Particular Concern, a designation outlined in the International Religious Freedom Act. They cited its controversial conversion laws and the resultant mob violence.

A 2023 State Department report on religious freedom in India noted Christians’ concerns about those laws and their reports of harassment.

That same year, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom held a forum on religious freedom in India.

Read the rest here…

Authorities in Thailand have located three children, ages nine to 15, who are suspected of setting a homeless man on fire under a bridge in Bangkok and recording the attack.

The victim, a 51-year-old man known as Karn, lives beneath the Ban Ma Bridge in the Prawet district, where he earns money by collecting recyclable materials. He said the incident happened while he was asleep, according to SCMP.

“I was sleeping under the bridge when I felt cold liquid being poured on me before flames erupted on my body,” Karn told reporters.

Witnesses in the area said the attack appeared unprovoked, supporting Karn’s claim that he had no connection to the suspects.

SCMP writes that police confirmed Thursday that the three minors have been identified, but their identities are being kept confidential under child protection laws. Investigators said the children could face charges including attempted murder and destruction of public property, after nearby infrastructure was damaged during the fire.

Video footage of the incident quickly spread online, drawing intense backlash. Many users demanded tougher punishment, with some calling for the suspects to be tried as adults or for their parents to be held legally responsible.

The case has renewed attention on violent incidents involving young people in Thailand. In August last year, three teenagers in Lampang were arrested for killing a disabled dog by setting it on fire in an abandoned building, though authorities never revealed the outcome.

That same month, a separate attack in Bangkok made international headlines when a Malaysian tourist couple was set ablaze by an unemployed man near a major shopping center.

The government later pledged to cover their medical expenses and provide compensation.

As investigators continue their work, the latest incident has sparked wider debate about youth behavior, accountability, and public safety in Thailand.

Authored by Josiah Lippincott via American Greatness,

By the time this piece publishes, the United States military might already have launched air strikes on Iran. Indeed, planes could be launching while I write this. Nevertheless, here is a list of seven reasons why our government should not intervene in the Middle East.

1) It has never gone well. That is unlikely to change now. In 1953, the CIA overthrew the elected government of Iran to help the British more easily extract oil. We then installed the Shah, whom lots of Persians didn’t like. That problem came to a head in 1979 with the Shah being deposed and the religious fundamentalists, led by the Ayatollah, coming to power. That was not a success story for the United States.

Then there are the horrific boondoggles in Iraq and Afghanistan, the lies that drew us into the First Gulf War (babies stabbed in incubators!), the Syrian civil war, the disastrous collapse of Libya after Obama’s airstrikes, the Arab Spring nonsense, and the intervention in Lebanon that led to 200 Marines getting killed. I could go on.

The American government has a long pattern of failure in the Middle East.

2) Iran is not a military threat to America. This will cause the DC establishment types to be upset, but it is true. Iran’s anger with America stems from the coup we staged there and the meddling in Iran’s near abroad. This relationship can be easily fixed by simply stopping our current policy of hostility to the regime in Iran and adopting a policy of simply ignoring the region.

This is the right policy towards Iran because the country is not a threat to us. Iran cannot militarily attack America. The Revolutionary Guard is not going to stage an amphibious landing on the Potomac. Iranian agents of subterfuge on American soil have been hapless fools, easily foiled.

Even if Iran develops nuclear weapons, nothing changes. Iran cannot nuke America without getting obliterated in return. Therefore, there is no incentive to use those nuclear weapons in an offensive fashion.

Pakistan, North Korea, Russia, and China are all “bad” powers that have nuclear weapons. They’ve never used these weapons for a reason—the price isn’t worth the gain. Nukes are an ace in the hole for national defense, but they don’t have offensive utility in a world of atomic parity.

3) Iran’s relationship to Israel is not our problem. Iran and Israel despise each other for reasons that are complex and not worth getting into here. Needless to say, this is not a problem for Americans. Lots of people on earth don’t like each other. This isn’t new. The best thing to do in these cases is to simply stay out. We ought not borrow trouble that has no bearing on our national interests.

Israel is a big boy country. The Israelis can solve their own problems. There is no need for the American taxpayer to be involved.

Much is made of the anti-Semitism of the Iranian regime, with the implication being that the Ayatollah will use nuclear weapons against Israel if he gets the bomb. This is fearmongering with no basis in reality. Israel, like America, has nuclear weapons. If Tel Aviv gets annihilated, then so will Tehran. There is simply no gain for the Iranians in that case. Moreover, there is absolutely zero reason for the United States to get mixed up in a potential nuclear standoff between any countries anywhere on earth.

To be frank, the leadership of Iran is no more insane, moralistic, or fanatical than the Israeli or American ruling classes. In fact, they seem to be less expansionist than our own DC meddlers, mostly due to the aged character of the Iranian ruling element. The American military-industrial complex is more ferocious about spreading gay sex, feminism, and “democracy” abroad than Iran is in spreading Shia Islam.

4) The Iranian struggle for freedom is not a concern of the American government. The Declaration of Independence says that the purpose of government is to secure the rights “to life, liberty, and happiness” of the American people.

The Iranian people, however we may feel at a personal level about their cause, are not Americans. They don’t pay taxes, don’t owe us loyalty, haven’t consented to being ruled by us, and we have not agreed to rule over them in turn.

Their problems are their problems. The American government serves the American people. The Iranians are not Americans. They don’t get to ask American taxpayers to give them money, weapons, and support.

If Americans privately want to support women’s liberation or whatever in Iran, they are welcome to do so, but that isn’t what tax money is for.

5) Tax money spent on bombing Iran would be more useful here at home. Let’s take a hard-headed view of the costs at stake here: every dollar we spend monkeying with the desert drama queens is a dollar we didn’t spend on something else here at home.

War does not “boost the economy” because all of the weapons used and all of the soldiers’ paychecks have to come from taxing the economy. Everything in life comes with tradeoffs. War is no different.

Americans shouldn’t pay for weapons to be used on causes that don’t serve their interests, and our primary interest is protection. Our government is supposed to protect our bodies and our property. We have real problems with this right now here at home. Much more needs to be done to make American communities safe and peaceful.

I care far more about violence and criminal mischief in Hillsdale, Michigan, than in Tehran. Lots of bad things happen every day all over the world. Our tax dollars should be used to solve problems here.

6) Intervention backfires. Wars for human rights and far-flung geostrategic “interests” are always boondoggles. The long-term effects are bad: we stoke resentment among the natives, offend local power players, get sucked into unintelligible complex regional problems, and bear the long-term costs of dealing with the fallout.

There is, thankfully, an easy way to avoid all these issues: just stay away. If individual Americans care about the Middle East, then they can choose to spend their own money and time messing around in the region.

Surely, if Americans really thought bombing Iran was a good idea, then they would be eagerly offering up money to mercenaries and resistance fighters to go in there and spread freedom. Since most Americans are not doing this willingly, why should they be forced to support these measures unwillingly with tax dollars? It doesn’t make sense.

7) The American government should adopt the golden rule out of self-interest. Americans would not like it if a foreign government decided to meddle in our internal affairs. If China or Russia announced that they were going to launch military operations against the American homeland because of police “brutality” waged by ICE against illegal migrants, there would be an enormous backlash. Even leftists might view this as going too far.

We expect other countries to mind their own business and to stay out of ours. We should do the same abroad. Our real interests are right here on our own soil.

Instead of going abroad in search of monsters to destroy, the American government should worry about problems here. The easiest way is to simply stay out of unnecessary conflicts. The opportunities for problems abroad are simply too great. The Middle East is a mess and one the American government has done more, over its history, to create than to solve.

Time to take a step back.

Lululemon Athletica has drifted from its core strength in premium, high-quality yoga pants, chasing trends and fast product cycles. Competitors such as Alo Yoga and Vuori are quickly taking market share, while Lululemon has seen quality lapses, culminating in the botched launch of its “Get Low” tights earlier this month.

Bloomberg reports that Chief Brand and Product Activation Officer Nikki Neuburger told hundreds of employees at a meeting last week and in a video shared with staff worldwide that customers were not wearing the new $108 Get Low tights correctly.

Neuburger said that customers who bought the new controversial leggings, which some customers claim were see-through and “not squat proof,” must size up and wear skin-toned underwear before putting on Get Low tights.

Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that Neuburger’s memo to staff blaming customers for the see-through tights fiasco must “honestly be a joke.”

“You are selling a premium product, you shouldn’t have to issue instructions to women on how to wear leggings because your product is defective,” Saunders said.

Earlier this month, Lululemon pulled its new tights from its North America e-commerce website just days after launch, following an uproar on social media over claims that the leggings were see-through. But it re-introduced the tights to the online store about a week ago.

In response to the epic failure, founder Chip Wilson felt compelled enough to blast the Board in a social media post:

This is a new low for lululemon. Pulling back the “Get Low” product line after three days is clearly a total operational failure. This comes just 17 months after the failed launch of the “Breezethrough” leggings, a product line also discontinued for similar product flaws. I’ve believed that lululemon has lost its cool for some time, but it is now evident to me that the Company has completely lost its way as a leader in technical apparel. For years, lululemon’s results (particularly in North America) have shown how the Company has struggled to deliver products that are compelling and beloved; now it is unable to simply deliver products that work.

Despite any finger pointing internally following this mishap, this is not the fault of any hard-working employees. This is the fault of the Board. It is clear that persistent failures like this are born out of this Board’s lack of experience in creative businesses, disinterest in product development and quality, and focus on short-term, self-interested priorities. How could anyone reach a conclusion other than the Board continues to make decisions that are destroying the brand and the stock price?

What product quality testing did the Board review? How often does the Board review the product pipeline? Are leaders empowered to make the best product decision or simply pushed to the lowest cost decision?

I believe a leading Board would have a Brand Product Committee and have asked these questions.

For memory’s sake, let’s take another look at the Get Low line.

And one last time.

Meanwhile, Alo Yoga and Vuori are winning influencers and younger customers; Lululemon’s attempts to follow that playbook have epically backfired. Year-to-date, shares are down 17%, below Covid lows.

Saunders said, “They’ve gone from being the leader in the category to, honestly, a bit of a follower.”

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday said he imposed a statewide disaster declaration to prevent the spread of a type of parasitic fly in his state.

The New World screwworm isn’t yet present in the United States or Texas, although officials say it has been spreading toward the U.S.–Mexico border. Abbot said it can cause potential problems for the U.S. livestock industry if it spreads northward across the border.

“State law authorizes me to act to prevent a threat of infestation that could cause severe damage to Texas property, and I will not wait for such harm to reach our livestock and wildlife,” he said in a statement.

The disaster declaration allows him to mobilize the Texas New World Screwworm Response Team to “fully utilize all state government prevention and response resources to prevent the re-emergence of this destructive parasite” and that “Texas is prepared to fully eradicate this pest if need be,” he said.

The governor added that the order directs the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Animal Health Commission to create the response team and partner with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to respond to the parasite.

Screwworms can infect livestock, wildlife, and people, health and agriculture authorities have said. The insect’s maggots can burrow into the skin, inflicting serious and, in some cases, fatal damage to an organism.

In a notice on its website, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it is usually found in Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and South America. People are at a higher risk of contracting the infection if they travel to such areas or are around livestock in rural places where the screwworm flies are located and if they also have an open wound, according to the agency.

“NWS infestations are very painful,” the CDC says on its website, using an acronym for the New World screwworm. “If you have an NWS infestation, you may see maggots (larvae) around or in an open wound. They could also be in your nose, eyes, or mouth.”

The declaration from Abbott comes as the USDA said that, as of Jan. 22, the screwworm has not yet been detected in the United States.

Screwworms were previously found in the United States but were eradicated in 1966, the USDA said. Officials also eliminated a small outbreak reported in the Florida Keys in 2017, it said.

In August, officials said the first human case of a New World screwworm was detected in a person in Maryland who had at the time recently traveled to El Salvador. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told The Epoch Times at the time that the risk to the public posed by the infection was “very low.”

That same month, the USDA said it would launch an initiative to combat the spread of the parasite in the United States, describing it as a national security threat. The plan includes bolstering funding to technologies that will bolster U.S. sterile fly production that it said would prevent its spread as well as the construction of a “domestic sterile screwworm production facility” in Texas, it added.

A federal district judge in New York has ruled that Luigi Mangione, 27, will not face the death penalty for allegedly killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024. 

The ruling by Judge Margaret Garnett (Biden) is a loss for federal prosecutors, who were pursuing the death penalty in the case. 

Garnett also ruled that evidence recovered from Mangione’s backpack is admissible as evidence. Law enforcement seized various items from the backpack – including a handgun, a loaded magazine, and a red notebook, which authorities say tie him to the killing.

Mangione’s attorneys had asked that the evidence be barred from trial, arguing that the search of his backpack was illegal because they had not obtained a warrant, and there was no immediate threat that justified a warrantless search. 

Surveillance cameras recorded the slaying, as video shows Thompson walking down the sidewalk outside a hotel when a man approaches from behind and opens fire. Thompson suffered multiple gunshot wounds and collapsed to the ground, after which the gunman fled and was later spotted on a bike making his way uptown. There was at least one eyewitness.

Mangione was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Atloona, Pennsylvania, after customers and staff recognized him from a wanted poster. 

The defense has aggressively argued that prosecutors have failed to allege an underlying “crime of violence” necessary for the top charge of murder with a firearm. Prosecutors countered, arguing in an opposition filing that the defense is relying on an irrelevant precedent.

“Here, by contrast, no court has interpreted the ‘conduct that places [the victim] in reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury’ element,” federal prosecutors wrote. 

To charge Mangione with murder through the use of a firearm, prosecutors need to prove an underlying crime of violence. They have alleged this to be stalking, however legal analysts have suggested that stalking can be done without violence. 

“It’s like a series of dominos — the only way that the federal government can get to a death penalty charge in their case is if the murder was committed during the course of a violent felony,” LA criminal defense attorney Joshua Ritter previously told Fox News. “And the reason that they need that is because they need what’s called a federal hook to get them federal jurisdiction.”

Jury selection in the case is scheduled for Sept. 8, and a trial will follow in either October or January. Prosecutors have requested a July 1 start date.