Authored by Kevin M. Spivak via RealClearPolitics,

Most of the recent vitriolic opposition to ICE is a feint by unrepentant open-borders progressives. They won the first round when Joe Biden was elected president, lost the second when Donald Trump returned to office, and are back for a rematch.

Democratic leaders portray ICE agents as violent Gestapo thugs and murderers. They claim ICE kidnaps good people off the street, rips apart their families and communities, and deprives them of due process. They give lip service to deporting the “worst of the worst,” but they lead sanctuary cities that release hardened criminal illegal aliens and incite protesters to harass and prevent ICE from arresting rapists, child predators, and killers.

For most, the venom has little to do with how ICE performs its mission and everything to do with preventing the Trump administration from undoing Biden’s brazen deluge of illegal migrants. But for the protests, ICE would be nearly invisible to most Americans, who abhor these violent confrontations. Instead, two Americans have tragically died in Minneapolis.

Democratic leaders deflect when challenged with the fact that disruption and mistakes would be greatly reduced if sanctuary cities turned over criminals already confined. Minnesota alone refuses to comply with 1,360 detainers for illegal aliens in its jails, including 500 previously ordered to be deported by federal judges.

The Democratic establishment sees mass immigration as the path to secure permanent rule, with much of the radical left expecting immigrants to force America to abandon its traditional values.

A refresher on how the Biden administration unlawfully admitted at least 12 million unvetted migrants underscores the radical left’s deep commitment to open borders. It also explains why Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Alan Frey flirt with insurrection by inflaming rage-filled protesters who accost ICE agents, invade churches, and protect criminals.

On his first day in office, Biden stopped construction of Trump’s border wall and ended the “Remain in Mexico” policy. He dismantled virtually all Trump immigration policies, exempted most illegal immigrants from deportation, granted protected status to about 1 million illegals, boosted refugee admissions, issued green cards to immigrants who required public benefits, allowed Title 42 authority to lapse – increasing illegal immigration by nearly one million migrants each year, distributed free cell phones and housing subsidies to entice even more illegal immigration, and, in the dead of night, flew hundreds of thousands of migrants from the southern border into American cities and towns.

In 2024, just five of 203 Democrats in the U.S. House supported legislation requiring proof of citizenship to vote, and the Biden Justice Department sued Virginia to prevent it from removing noncitizens from its voter rolls.

Trump won his second term on a platform of closing the borders and deporting illegal aliens, particularly those admitted by Biden or who had committed other crimes. Polls show majority support for deporting all illegal immigrants, and 78% support (including 69% of Democrats) for deporting criminal illegal aliens.

Despite Minnesota’s refusal to cooperate, ICE has already arrested 3,000 illegal aliens in Operation Metro, including migrants convicted of murder, aggravated assault, domestic abuse, drug trafficking, and other serious crimes. Claims that ICE’s mandate is unlawful or unconstitutional, or that it requires permission from sanctuary cities, is nonsense, repudiated by the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, 250 years of jurisprudence, and well-settled federal law.

So far, Biden-appointed U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez has refused to grant the temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop ICE sought by Minnesota, Minneapolis, and St. Paul in a frivolous lawsuit that inverts the 10th Amendment into a right for states or even cities to veto federal laws they dislike. Though, in a separate lawsuit, she ordered ICE not to arrest or tear-gas peaceful demonstrators who are not obstructing ICE or who are “safely” following from an “appropriate” distance. That virtue-signaling order, now stayed by the Eighth Circuit pending an appeal, largely summarizes existing law. It likely would not have applied to Renee Good or Alex Pretti.

Contrary to Democratic spin, Good was part of a group that sought to derail ICE operations. She had been stalking ICE, and obstructed its vehicles with her SUV. Instead of complying with instructions to step out of her SUV, she abruptly accelerated, hitting an ICE agent hard enough to cause internal bleeding. As her SUV leapt forward, the agent fired, killing her.

Good either intended to strike the agent, or she acted recklessly by hitting the accelerator on a snowy, icy road in an SUV surrounded by agents. The legally relevant question for the agent is whether he reasonably believed that he or others were in “imminent danger” of death or serious injury.

It is unclear why a Border Patrol agent fatally shot Pretti on Saturday, during yet another protest. Video shows that he intervened between an agent and a woman. To the administration, he was an “armed domestic terrorist.” To Democrats, he was a “murdered nurse.” Both include some truth and premature conclusions. What is known is that he was doing something he should not have been doing because Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. shamelessly ignored America’s sovereignty to admit tens of millions of illegals, and now Democratic leaders and the progressive media are willing to sacrifice people like Good and Pretti on the corrupt altar of open borders.

Polls show that the all-out Democratic campaign to vilify ICE; disturbing video of militarized law enforcement officers in gas masks and fatigues; a growing toll of injuries and fatalities, regardless of fault; adverse court decisions, though many are reversed on appeal; and the administration’s caustic rhetoric are eroding support for ICE and Trump’s deportation program, and may imperil Republican control of the House.

The administration requires support from the public to keep ICE and the public safe, and for ICE to be effective. Democrats sense weakness, and will do everything they can to prevent that. The administration must be the adult in this situation. It must soften its language. ICE should avoid militarized operations and more clearly focus on deporting criminal aliens, and unvetted illegal aliens admitted during the Biden administration. Although it’s time for a reset, backing down is not an option.

Syria’s self-declared President Ahmad al-Sharaa is in Moscow on Wednesday, where he has met with President Vladimir Putin, at a moment Russia’s long-running presence in Syria is in question. Sharaa, formerly Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, who founded Syrian al-Qaeda and began fighting the ousted President Assad under the flag of ISIS, is trying to shore up international recognition for his rule.

“Russia has supported Syria’s territorial integrity and unity, and has also played a historic role in the stability of the region,” President Putin stated during the meeting. “I would like to emphasise the need to preserve Syria’s unity and territorial integrity.”

He hinted that ending the American occupation of the oil and gas rich northeast is paramount. “The return of eastern Syria to Damascus’s control is an important step,” Putin said.

But while Russian forces are still present at historic bases on the coast, there are signs of a final Russian withdrawal from the country underway, also as US troops appear to be making a slow exit:

Days before the scheduled meeting, Russian forces began a phased withdrawal from Qamishli Airport in northeast Syria, relocating personnel and equipment to the Hmeimim Air Base in Latakia, according to a security source cited by Shafaq News last week.

…The final stage involved the relocation of what the source described as an “elite team,” marking the departure of the last Russian contingent stationed at the airport. The redeployment was carried out in coordination with both Syrian and US sides, according to the same account.

AP journalists who visited the base next to Qamishli airport reported it was guarded by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters, who said Russian troops had been “evacuating bit by bit” over several days.

Conflict has been engulfing the same region, as Syrian forces loyal to Sharaa attack Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces. While the US trained and weaponized the SDF for years, Washington appears to be throwing its Kurdish allies under the bus once again.

ISIS/Daesh hits the Kremlin.

After being normalized in Washington and Brussels.

Realpolitik may take precedence, but the optics are dreadful. pic.twitter.com/LGODGRvxqw

— Pepe Escobar (@RealPepeEscobar) January 28, 2026

Kremlin spokesman Peskov had previously said ahead of Sharaa being hosted in Moscow that “the presence of our soldiers in Syria” would be discussed.

According to Al Jazeera:

Moscow had been worried about the possibility of a “populist anti-Russia” government emerging in Damascus when Bashar al-Assad was overthrown, Samuel Ramani, an associate fellow at the London-based RUSI think tank, told Al Jazeera.

“They feared he [al-Sharaa] would squeeze them out, but the Russians have been pleasantly surprised, even if they’ve had to downgrade their ties from before,” Ramani added.

Indeed Moscow has sought to keep its lone deep water port and Mediterranean base at Tartus, and this appears to be happening. But there has been a military and equipment draw-down, and now the Russian operations are said to be ‘humanitarian-focused’.

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa:

“Russia has supported Syria’s territorial integrity and unity, and has also played a historic role in the stability of the region.”

Russian President Putin:

“I would like to emphasise the need to preserve Syria’s unity and territorial… pic.twitter.com/96lFJuMNPN

— Levent Kemal (@leventkemaI) January 28, 2026

Russia seems to be hinting that it is OK with a draw down so long as the Americans exit the region too. One irony in all this is that Assad and his family are currently living in exile from their homeland at a posh Moscow apartment, keeping a very low profile.

Authored by Kristan Hawkins via RealClearPolitics,

The First Amendment protections for free speech have inspired people worldwide and laid the foundation not just for American society but also for entire industries – from social media to this very publication. But as someone who travels the country both speaking and setting up events on college and university campuses, I can tell you that “free speech” isn’t free. 

Nobody knows that better than those of us mourning Charlie Kirk’s passing. At this time last year, Students for Life of America honored Charlie as our  “Defender of Life” at our sold-out National Pro-life Summit, and this year at the National Pro-Life March, our signs and messaging will create a sea of thousands of young people celebrating his legacy. But in the wake of his murder, I continue to reflect on the high cost of free speech for those of us who refuse to abandon college and university campuses. 

Manipulative schools have worked hard to develop financial and logistical obstacles to student speech – from special, additional, and often last-minute insurance to requirements for bomb-sniffing dogs. And everything comes with a price tag. 

To practice “free” speech, we start with time-consuming permits with the endless, additional, and sometimes arbitrary requirements that come with a cost. 

Special event insurance can run from $800 to $5,000, though in Washington, D.C., it can easily run close to $15,000 or higher. We were actually quoted a $20,000 fee in required event insurance to chalk pro-life messages in Miami. 

And if you need to rent a bomb-sniffing dog – because why not – it usually runs $650. My Kevlar vest set me back $1,000. And police, on campus or off, with or without weapons, county, city, or state (which has a range), commonly add $1,200 per event. Private security, if needed, has a price of about $600 per professional. Equipment rental for security wands or metal detectors may be needed. And we can’t forget that a commitment to free speech is a decision to keep lawyers on retainer, especially for the last-minute “requirements” from school administrators.

Even before the tragedy that ended my dear friend’s life, security costs for our Students for Life events had risen about 25%, putting the average cost of a campus event at $4,000. That’s a lot of money for a passionate student to raise, and we work with them to make it happen. 

But not everyone can afford free speech. 

Students for Life’s Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement just released our 2026 Survey USA poll, looking at the abortion views of registered youth voters. 

They understand that free speech comes at a high cost. Asked about whether colleges and universities should prioritize and financially support free speech, more than nine in 10 (93%) said yes, with 33% saying it’s extremely important. 

But they are worried about those engaging on campus. Almost half (49%) of registered youth voters think violence on college campuses and in public spaces has increased, and more than nine in 10 (92%) are concerned about violence directed at those using their free speech rights, with one in four extremely concerned.

Their fears are probably heightened by the 2025 Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) annual College Free Speech Rankings survey, which reported that one in three students thought it was acceptable to use violence to stop speech. 

Previously, the most common attacks on free speech have been: 

A Vandals Veto seen in destroyed messaging and outright theft of displays and signs, and lately in a trend of protestors eating rubber fetal models brought to illustrate the size of babies in the womb. 

A Heckler’s Veto, in which schools cancel or move events when extremist groups or a disgruntled student oppose a speaker. 

A Slow-Walk-to-Nowhere when a pattern of delays for approval of events or clubs creates a virtual veto of student speech.  

A Not-Even-Separate-but-Equal Accommodation as schools refuse similar support for pro-life students as given to others. 

A Religious Gag Rule in which schools may allow students to speak as long as they stay silent about faith. 

A Required “Trigger Warning” in which the school signals through signs posted in the areas where pro-life speech is taking place that such speech is controversial and offensive, to be possibly avoided or protested.  

A Power-of-the-Purse Veto involving biased use of student fees. 

A Threat-of-Violence Veto, making school administrators unwilling to allow any speech that might be confrontational. 

And a Big Brother’s Threat of Doxxing move.  

But now we deal with a supersized Virtual Poll Tax on some students’ speech. 

Our team has endured bomb threats, vandalizations, stolen and damaged property, physical attacks, urine throwing, stalking, student doxxing, and general cruelty, all of which can raise the emotional cost of public speech. Threats of rape and murder are common, and we keep a file, just in case. 

Such opposition is surely designed to discourage those who wish to participate in the free marketplace of ideas. Silence Dogood, believed to be a pseudonym of Benjamin Franklin, wrote, “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.”

But it’s not free. And without better support, many will be priced out of the public arena. 

Kristan Hawkins is president of Students for Life of America and Students for Life Action, with more than 1,600 groups on middle and high school, college and university, medical and law school campuses in all 50 states. Follow her @KristanHawkins or subscribe to her podcast, The Kristan Hawkins Show.

Reminder to Californians; you do not live in a free state, and they don’t play around. 

Last week the California Highway Patrol (CHP) announced that they arrested Michael Jay Kamfolt, a 40-year-old conservative activist who has an underground bunker containing a cache of ‘illegal weapons,’ ammo, and body armor. 

After receiving tip about an illegal marijuana grow operation, CHP Air Operations conducted a flyover of the property located in the city of Anderson, located around 150 miles north of Sacramento in Shasta County. 

Authorities conducted a month-long investigation of the property owned by Kamfolt, after which CHP executed a search warrant at the location on Jan. 20. 

And while they didn’t find any weed being grown, officers recovered 13 firearms – including three AR-style assault rifles, one of which was a “ghost gun” without a serial number, along with a sawed-off shotgun and two firearms that had been reported stolen, one in 2016 and the other in 1978. 

A ‘ghost gun’ can be assembled at home, which is usually milled out of a hunk of aluminum or 3D printed. 

The bunker, equipped with power, ventilation, a concrete floor with built-in drainage, and the necessary supplies to grow weed, also contains a home gym, armchair, television, and workbench with a Bennington flag.

Investigators also found roughly 10,000 rounds of ammunition – an amount not uncommon among enthusiasts and preppers, including armor piercing rounds, 30 high-capacity magazines, and four soft-body armor vests. 

“During the search, officers discovered an underground bunker accessible through a 100-foot-long culvert,” reads a press release. ‘The bunker was equipped with power, ventilation, a concrete floor with built-in drainage and the necessary supplies to cultivate marijuana.” 

Kamfolt was arrested and booked for the following: 

• 30605(a) PC – Possession of an Assault Rifle
• 30600(a) PC – Manufacturing of an Assault Rifle
• 33215 PC – Manufacturing of a Short Barreled Rifle
• 32625(a) PC – Possession of a Machine Gun
• 32625(b) PC – Converting a firearm into a Machine Gun
• 23920 PC – Possession of an Altered Firearm Serial Number
• 24610 PC – Manufacturing and Possession of an Undetectable Firearm
• 496(a) – Possession of a Stolen Firearm
• 29180(b) PC – Manufacturing of a “Ghost Gun”
• 30315 PC – Possession of Armor Penetrating Ammunition
• 32310(C) PC – Possession of High Capacity magazine

He was held in the Shasta County Jail overnight. Bail was set at $50,000 and he is no longer in custody according to county jail records.

According to county records available so far, Kamfolt is not facing federal charges. Some of his alleged offenses — such as owning a machine gun — are only illegal in certain states such as California, while other allegations, like obliterating an identifying marker on a firearm, also violate federal gun laws. 

Kamfolt was also active in local politics:

In November of 2024, the day before the presidential election, Kamfolt visited the county election office with Supervisor Crye who said he’d just met Kamfolt that day. Speaking to a reporter, Kamfolt expressed his support for Crye’s work in the community and his interest in the importance of this particular election. He said he wanted to observe for himself that it was being facilitated correctly. At the time, former Registrar of Voters Tom Toller was running the election office. 

A few days later, Kamfolt made an appearance at a county board meeting alongside members of the local Cottonwood Militia. The group showed up after community member Jenny O’Connell-Nowain was arrested for allegedly disrupting the meeting. She was protesting statements by Supervisor Patrick Jones about another election official, former Assistant Registrar of Voters Joanna Francescut. Earlier this month, O’Connell-Nowain was found guilty of disrupting that meeting by a Shasta County jury. –Shasta Scout

“This operation went far beyond an illegal grow,” said CHP Northern Division Chief John Pinoli. “The combination of a hidden bunker and an alarming cache of illegal firearms and ammunition highlights the threat posed to public safety.”

Again, Californians – your state doesn’t play around.  

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Illinois-based Century Aluminum Co. has entered into a joint development agreement with Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) to construct the “first new primary aluminum production plant in the United States since 1980,” Century said in a statement on Jan. 26.

Primary aluminum production involves smelting alumina to produce new aluminum metal. This differs from secondary production, in which existing aluminum is recycled.

“The new plant, to be built in Inola, Oklahoma, as previously announced by EGA, is expected to produce 750,000 tonnes of aluminum per year, larger than previously envisioned and more than doubling current U.S. production. The Inola plant will create 1,000 permanent direct jobs at the facility and 4,000 jobs during construction,” Century stated.

“About 85 percent of the aluminum needs of American industries are currently met by imports. The new smelter will expand the domestic supply of this critical mineral and grow the American aluminum workforce, revitalizing U.S. aluminum expertise and know-how.”

According to data from the International Aluminum Institute, China was the largest producer of primary aluminum in 2025, accounting for an estimated 44.2 million metric tons out of the 73.78 million metric tons of global output.

Commenting on Century’s plan to build a U.S. aluminum smelter, White House deputy press secretary Kush Desai said in a Jan. 26 post on X, “President Trump’s tariffs are working.”

Trump’s Tariffs

In March 2025, the Trump administration’s 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports came into effect. In June, the tariff rate doubled to 50 percent.

At the time, the Aluminum Association, a group representing the U.S. aluminum industry, had struck a cautious tone on the tariffs, saying they would neither increase domestic aluminum output nor support mid- and downstream industries.

In a post on June 5, 2025, the Council on Foreign Relations warned that if aluminum and steel prices were to rise, it could negatively affect industries such as automotive, appliances, electrical, oil and gas, and machinery.

President Donald Trump justified the tariffs in February 2025, a month before the 25 percent tariff took effect, saying they were essential to bolster domestic production, bring jobs back to the United States, and stop other nations from taking advantage of the United States.

“Our nation requires steel and aluminum to be made in America, not in foreign lands,” he said at the time. “This is a big deal, the beginning of making America rich again.”

In August 2025, the federal government announced tariff hikes on more than 400 products, subjecting them to the 50 percent steel and aluminum import tariffs.

The move affected 407 product categories, including furniture, railcars, and compressors.

Jeffrey Kessler, undersecretary of commerce for industry and security, said at the time that the action “expands the reach of the steel and aluminum tariffs and shuts down avenues for circumvention—supporting the continued revitalization of the American steel and aluminum industries.”

Aluminum Plant

Construction of the Inola plant is set to begin by the end of the year, and production is scheduled to kick off by the end of the decade, Century stated.

The plant will be constructed at the industrial park at Tulsa Port of Inola, located on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, which connects to the Mississippi River system, providing efficient bulk freight movement.

Once construction is completed, the Inola plant will be the largest ever primary aluminum production plant in the United States.

The plant is expected to drive forward the development of an aluminum-focused industrial hub in the state, which would result in thousands of additional jobs, Century stated.

Under the deal, EGA, the world’s largest “premium aluminum” producer, will own 60 percent of the joint venture, and Century will hold the remaining 40 percent. The plant will use EGA’s “state-of-the-art” EX technology, its next-generation aluminum smelting technology.

Jesse Gary, CEO of Century Aluminum, said that key industries such as aerospace, automotive, construction, and national defense stand to benefit “greatly” from the venture.

“Our partner EGA brings world-class smelting technology and construction expertise that are fast-tracking our collective efforts to realize President Trump’s vision of rapidly increasing domestic primary aluminum production,” he said.

“We are once again proving that President Trump’s leadership is working to spur investment and innovation to revitalize the U.S. aluminum industry, which is essential to our nation’s defense and the economic vitality of working-class communities across the country.”

Shortly before Davos, Canada and China announced a 5-point ‘strategic partnership’ which includes slashing tariffs on Chinese EVs from 100% to 6.1% for the first 49,000 units, in exchange for China cutting tariffs on Canadian canola from 85% to 15% until at least the end of the year. 

After Donald Trump stomped his feet and threatened to slap a 100% tariff on Canadian exports, PM Mark Carney assured the US that the deal with China was simply ‘rectifying’ some ‘issues’ that developed over the last several years. 

Yet, the reduced EV tariffs remain…

In response, General Motors CEO Mary Barra told employees at an all-hands meeting that the EV deal is a risk to North American auto manufacturing, WSJ reports. 

“I can’t explain why the decision was made in Canada,” Barra told employees, warning “It becomes a very slippery slope,” and noting that Chinese automakers benefit in China from high tariffs imposed on importers, plus technology restrictions that prevent other companies from entering their market. 

Under the agreement between China and Canada, at least half of the EVs imported would be required to have a price of $35,000 Canadian dollars (US$26,000), according to Carney’s office. Canada will also work with Chinese automakers to ensure timely vehicle certifications, and that they meet the country’s motor-vehicle safety standards.

Canada, meanwhile, is a major market for Detroit automakers. In 2025, Ford, GM and Jeep owner Stellantis sold over 700,000 vehicles combined in Canada. One factor which makes this easy is that Canada’s emissions standards closely mirror those of the US. 

That said, Canada’s auto industry has been burnt, badly by Trump’s tariffs on vehicles and parts made there, causing US automakers to scale back manufacturing as a result. Last year GM made the decision to stop making slow-selling electric vans at an Ingersoll, Ontario factory, while Stellantis has canceled plans to build the electric Jeep Compass in Ontario – and will instead make them in Illinois. 

Chinese automakers, meanwhile, have been rapidly gaining global market share in recent years, but continue to be effectively barred from entering the massive US car market due to triple-digit tariffs on Chinese vehicle imports. Meanwhile, they’re making roughly 25% of new Chinese cars in Mexico. 

We hear they’re pretty cool too. 

h/t Capital.news

Authored by T.J. Muscaro via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

For the first time in more than 50 years, NASA has mounted a rocket on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in preparation for a manned flight around the moon.

The super heavy lift rocket is called the Space Launch System. Fueled by more than 700,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen and two solid rocket boosters reminiscent of the space shuttle era, the orange and white behemoth could, as soon as Feb. 6, carry the Artemis II crew—NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen—on their 10-day voyage around the moon and farther from Earth than any astronauts have gone before.

Hundreds of men and women who had a hand in assembling the rocket braved the winter cold on Jan. 17 to watch the ship roll out of the vehicle assembly building and move to the launch complex. The Artemis II crew, mission leaders, and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman were also on hand to commemorate the milestone.

But there is still a lot to be done before liftoff, and the exact launch date is still to be determined.

Here is what to know about the Artemis II mission, as well as what preparations and parameters still stand in the way of launch.

What Is Artemis II?

Artemis II is the second mission of NASA’s Artemis campaign. Named after the ancient Greek goddess of the moon and Apollo’s twin sister, the program’s purpose is not only to return manned missions to the moon, but also to establish a sustainable, permanent human presence on the lunar surface and in lunar orbit before 2030.

Lead flight director Jeff Radigan emphasized that the mission is first and foremost a test flight. Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen will be the first to fly aboard the Space Launch System and NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which includes the crew capsule and a service module provided by the European Space Agency.

NASA’s priorities for the test flight include successfully demonstrating that the spacecraft and ground teams can sustain the crew members for the entirety of the mission and return them safely to Earth, successfully demonstrating the operations and procedures that are essential for future crewed moon missions, and demonstrating emergency systems and operations.

These demonstrations will include proving the readiness of critical functions, including life support systems, radiation shielding, and maneuverability for docking on future missions, as well as solidifying everyday procedures onboard. That includes how to optimally stow flight suits and fulfill physical exercise requirements in the cramped quarters of the crew capsule.

The crew will also test a new laser communication array, participate in ship-to-ship communication with the International Space Station, and conduct human science experiments.  Those experiments will not only broaden understanding of how deep space affects the body, but also improve NASA’s ability to customize treatments for each astronaut.

“This is a test flight, and there’s things that are going to be unexpected,” Radigan stressed at a news conference on Jan. 16. ”You know, I think we’ve prepared for those as much as we can, and we’re very much looking forward to flying this mission successfully with the crew and learning what we need to on Artemis II moving forward and paving the road for future Artemis missions.”

Artemis II Launch

Artemis II could launch as early as Feb. 6 or as late as April 6. That is, if the space agency wants to keep its long-held promise that the mission will launch before the end of April.

Because of parameters set by mission objectives and vehicle limitations, NASA has isolated six-day launch windows at the start of each month.

The first group of launch opportunities will be Feb. 6, Feb. 7, Feb. 8, Feb. 10, and Feb. 11. After that, NASA will have launch opportunities on March 6, March 7, March 8, March 9, and March 11, and then, if necessary, launch opportunities on April 1, April 3, April 4, April 5, and April 6.

Limiting factors include the need for the position and rotation of the Earth and the moon to be aligned properly on launch day so the Space Launch System can lift the spacecraft into the correct high-Earth orbit. The spacecraft can then set off on its “free-return trajectory” around the moon, ending with a shortened re-entry path toward a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

All the while, because of the service module’s solar panel wings that provide power, the spacecraft and its service module cannot be in darkness for more than 90 minutes.

On top of these conditions, the moon rocket still needs to undergo some testing and systems integration before it is cleared for launch, including a “wet dress rehearsal.” That is a practice in which ground operations will put the rocket through launch day conditions such as fully loading and unloading the rocket with fuel, powering up and powering down critical systems, and practicing closeout procedures that would secure the crew in the capsule.

If the wet dress rehearsal exposes a problem such as a fuel leak, as was the case during Artemis I, that must be addressed before proceeding further.

The weather could also cause delays. For example, if the temperature at the launch pad falls below a defined temperature constraint—from 38 degrees Fahrenheit to 49 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on wind and relative humidity—for 30 minutes, the moon mission will not be able to get off the ground. And if lightning or thunderstorms are detected within 10 nautical miles of the launch pad, the launch could be delayed or scrubbed.

Although NASA only published its launch windows for the next three months, Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said a suitable launch window exists for every month this year, and the rocket can remain on the pad exposed to the elements for two launch windows before it would need to be rolled back into the Vehicle Assembly Building.

Artemis II Flight Plan

Whenever it does launch, NASA leadership expects Artemis II’s 10-day flight to begin with a night launch and end with a nighttime splashdown.

The first two days of the mission have been described by the crew and flight directors as grueling in terms of workload.

Day one will kick off with a more-than-three-hour journey from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center to a high-Earth orbit, flying as high as 46,000 miles. By comparison, the International Space Station generally flies at an altitude of 250 miles beyond Earth.

Once in high-Earth orbit, Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen will conduct a roughly 23-hour checkout of the spacecraft while still relatively close to the Earth. That checkout includes what NASA calls a “proximity operations demonstration.” Glover will take manual control of the spacecraft to test the maneuverability of the Orion spacecraft as it relates to docking. Using the detached upper stage of the Space Launch System as a point of reference, he will fly as close as 30 feet to the stage. After all, the Orion spacecraft will have to be able to dock with a lunar lander built by either SpaceX or Blue Origin in order for its future crews to land on the moon.

This demonstration will make Glover the first astronaut to manually fly NASA’s new moon-bound spacecraft, putting him in league with the Apollo astronauts who came before him.

Mission leaders said the astronauts will get a rest period of approximately four hours during the first day before waking up to conduct one more orbital adjustment ahead of their trans-lunar injection.

If all checkouts and tests reveal a healthy spacecraft, Artemis II will perform its “translunar injection burn” just 25 hours and 37 minutes into the mission, when its crew fires the spacecraft’s main engine to set it off on a course from the Earth to the moon on a free return trajectory.

It will take the spacecraft and her crew three days to reach the moon. During those proverbial days at sea, the crew members will perform three trajectory correction burns, test communications on the deep space network, and demonstrate operations inside the brand-new spacecraft, including rapidly putting on their spacesuits. They will also review imaging plans for the lunar flyby in anticipation of the geological observations that await them.

The spacecraft will enter the moon’s gravity four days and seven hours after launch, and roughly 15 hours later, Artemis II is expected to pass the farthest point from Earth reached by any manned Apollo mission.

It is in this newly-reached frontier of deep space that the crew members will make their closest approach to the moon and perform their flyby, roughly five days after liftoff. They will have three hours to observe the far side of the moon.

Mission leaders said the moon will appear to the crew members to be the size of a basketball held at arm’s length as they pass at a distance of 4,000 to 6,000 miles above the lunar surface. The crew will be tasked with performing geological observations by a lunar science ground team, which will be following along and passing requests to the astronauts from Houston in real time, save for a brief loss of signal when the moon is directly between the crew and the Earth.

Erroneously called “the dark side of the moon” because it is in darkness while the side seen from Earth is lit, the moon’s far side is expected to be lit by sunlight, possibly to a greater extent than on any Apollo mission. If so, Artemis II’s flyby could reveal parts of the moon never seen by human eyes.

However, NASA will not know for sure how much of the far side will be in sunlight until the crew is on its way, and mission science leaders have confirmed that far-side visibility has no effect on the launch date.

It will take another three days to get back home. The crew will make more trajectory corrections, participate in a lunar science debrief, and conduct a demonstration of radiation shielding, as well as another manual flight demonstration.

Read the rest here…

A network of far-left nonprofits linked to Marxist financier Neville Roy Singham is leveraging Minnesota-based Black and Somali student organizations to mobilize child protesters in a planned “ICE Out of Everywhere” action on Friday, assessed as a coordinated general strike intended to inflict economic disruption amid widespread protests following multiple fatal shootings of protesters by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis.

“We support the call from Minnesota-based Black and Somali student organizations — on Friday, January 30, join the national day of action to say ICE OUT OF EVERYWHERE!” Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) wrote on X.

PSL continued:

Last Friday, people from all walks of life came together in the Twin Cities and all across Minnesota had a day of “no work, no school, no shopping” and shut it down. It captured the imagination of the whole country. They’ve shown the way for all of us — to stop ICE’s reign of terror, we need to SHUT IT DOWN. What happened in Minnesota can happen across the entire country.

Now is the decisive moment. The Minnesota General Strike has given us a historic opening. If we all take a stand now, we can stop the killings and the kidnappings, and end Trump’s war on our most basic rights!

Make a plan. Organize your people. Stay tuned for actions this January 30 around the country.

We support the call from Minnesota-based Black and Somali student organizations — on Friday, January 30, join the national day of action to say ICE OUT OF EVERYWHERE!

Last Friday, people from all walks of life came together in the Twin Cities and all across Minnesota had a day… pic.twitter.com/ZOUvWRtaey

— Party for Socialism and Liberation (@pslnational) January 27, 2026

Just the News reports that anti-ICE protests involving children and business shutdowns – one that can only be viewed as a general strike – are being planned nationwide.

Key organizers and promoters include the People’s Forum, Party for Socialism and Liberation, BreakThrough News, Code Pink, and the ANSWER Coalition, with heavy coordination via social media and a central “National Shutdown” website.

Left-wing activist Linda Sarsour declared that “we will bring this country to a halt.”

As assessed last week, Minneapolis protests have moved beyond normal demonstrations toward deliberate targeting of critical economic chokepoints, with left-wing activists exploiting public outrage over federal agent shootings as a catalyst to sow chaos from within the nation. 

Meanwhile…

• “Yes, Yes, And Yes”: Bessent Signals Crackdown On Dark-Money NGO Protests ‘Just Like We Did With The Mafia’

Just wait until warmer weather arrives; the Trump administration will face a protest-industrial complex that will likely deploy assets across major sanctuary cities.

• ‘Comrade’ Singham Faces House Subpoena Over Alleged CCP-Linked NGO Network Fueling Anti-ICE Protests

Get ready for spring. 

Going into Tesla earnings, we wrote in our preview that Morgan Stanley saw a “particularly wide dispersion in financial KPIs into the 4Q print and for 2026.” The bank said that the stock reaction will depend on the incrementality of updates around scaling robotaxi/Cybercab, launching Unsupervised FSD, Optimus Gen 3, and AI5 on the earnings call.

It is no secret, that the automotive business remains Tesla’s biggest challenge: vehicle deliveries have fallen sharply in the fourth quarter, and the loss of key tax credits, rising competition, and heavier use of discounts have all weighed on demand and margins. Analysts are closely watching automotive gross margin, excluding regulatory credits, as a measure of Tesla’s true pricing power. Many expect it to come in near 14% to 15%, down from recent quarters. This reflects a reality that Tesla is no longer operating in a wide-open EV market and must now fight harder for every sale.

In contrast, Tesla’s energy division is widely expected to be a bright spot. While auto sales have faced headwinds, energy storage deployments hit a record high last quarter at 14.2 gigawatt hours. Energy storage is still a relatively small part of the business, but it continues to be the sleeper hit for a company not known primarily for its batteries. The company continues to see strong demand for its Megapack battery systems, especially from data centers and AI companies building out massive computing infrastructure. Tesla deployed a record amount of energy storage during the quarter, and analysts expect revenue from the segment to approach $4 billion, up more than 20% from a year ago. Some analysts believe this business could become a steady, high-margin growth engine over time, helping offset weakness in car sales.

Robotics and artificial intelligence remain more speculative but are central to Tesla’s long-term story. Optimus, the company’s humanoid robot, is still largely in the prototype stage, but investors are eager to hear whether it is getting closer to real production.

Analysts also want updates on manufacturing readiness, cost, and practical use cases inside Tesla’s factories. Elon Musk has said he expects robot sales to begin next year, but his history of aggressive timelines makes many on Wall Street cautious.

The biggest wild card, however, is robotaxis and full self-driving technology. Tesla has begun limited unsupervised rides in Austin, removing safety drivers in some vehicles, which Musk has called a major milestone. Analysts are watching closely to see how quickly Tesla can expand this service to other cities and whether regulators will allow broader use. 

It’s no surprise, then, why Tesla wants this quarterly report to be a story about robotaxis and robots.  And lot of investors have already bought in to that framing, assigning a good chunk of the company’s present and future valuation to its AI-driven products. But selling electric vehicles to consumers and regulatory credits to automakers pays the bills today. 

It’s worth noting therefore, with a potential $1 trillion pay package approved by Tesla shareholders in the quarter the company is about to report, the board needs Musk to sell cars. One of the targets set for Musk over the term of the package is to sell 20 million EVs. In the time he has left, that requires him to average 500,000 a quarter. Last quarter, Tesla delivered about 418,000.

With all that in mind, here is what Tesla reported for Q4 2025:

• Adjusted EPS 50c vs. 73c y/y, beating estimates 45c 
• Revenue $24.90 billion, -3.1% y/y, missing estimate $25.11 billion
• Gross margin 20.1% vs. 16.3% y/y, beating estimate 17.1%
• Operating income $1.41 billion, -11% y/y, beating estimate $1.32 billion
• Free cash flow $1.42 billion, -30% y/y, missing estimate $1.59 billion
• Capital expenditure $2.39 billion vs. $2.78 billion y/y, below estimates of $2.83 billion

While TSLA sales have gone nowhere for years now, and 2025 even saw the first drop in full-year revenues (down 3%)…

… and automotive sales declined sequentially as global vehicle inventory (days of supply) grew to 15 days, up from 10 days at the end of 3Q (as consumers raced to take advantage of expiring federal tax credits at the end of 3Q)…

… agross margin (when excluding the impact of regulatory credits) improved as TSLA continued the rollout of Model Y variants across markets in Q4, including the standard and performance versions.

The better-than-expected profit is a positive sign as Tesla navigates lower EV demand and pivots to robotics and autonomy products. Musk has previously warned the company faces a rough patch while it works on these new priority areas. Rising profits are especially important since regulatory credit revenues will continue to decline, even if Q4 enjoyed a transitory jump.

As Ivan Feinseth, CIO at Tigress Financial Partners writes, Tesla “delivered a narrow beat on lowered expectations” noting that “EV deliveries declined and margins stayed compressed, keeping the legacy auto outlook challenging. At the same time, the quarter sharply advanced the ‘physical AI’ narrative.”

He added that the update is “positioning robotaxis, FSD, and Optimus as the key long‑term value drivers beyond cars.” The jury is still out on how valuable/profitable all those long shots will end up being. 

Some of the more notable comments from the investor letter:

• To Invest Further in Clean Transport Infrastructure
• To Invest Further in Autonomous Robots Infrastructure
• To Ramp Six New Production Lines Across Products
• Cybercab, Tesla Semi and Megapack 3 are on schedule for volume production starting in 2026. First generation production lines for Optimus are being installed in anticipation of volume production.

Tesla also said that preparations continue in North America for the production ramps of Tesla Semi and Cybercab, both commencing 1H26, and production of the next-generation Roadster. 

The company also “made further progress on the Optimus program in 2025. In Q1 of this year” and plans to unveil the Gen 3 version of Optimus, which will include major upgrades from version 2.5, including our latest hand design. The Gen 3 is our first design meant for mass production. Preparations are underway for the first production line, including supply chain readiness, with start of production planned before the end of 2026 and eventual planned capacity of 1 million robots per year.

Turning to energy, Tsla achieved its highest quarterly energy storage deployments, driven by record Megapack deployments. Total gross profit rose, both sequentially and year-over-year, to a record $1.1 billion, marking the fifth consecutive record quarter. Tesla plans to begin Megapack 3 and Megablock production at Megafactory Houston in 2026.

In 2025, the company’s global Powerwall network supported more than 89,000 Virtual Power Plant events across over 1 million installed units, allowing homeowners to save over $1 billion in electricity bills as Virtual Power Plant participation continues to scale rapidly.

While earnings were mediocre at best, and relied entirely on narrative and Musk’s vision, perhaps the biggest news was that Tesla made an investment in xAI, Musk’s AI company. In the deck, Tesla says:

On January 16, 2026, Tesla entered into an agreement to invest approximately $2 billion to acquire shares of Series E Preferred Stock of xAI as part of their recent publicly-disclosed financing round. Tesla’s investment was made on market terms consistent with those previously agreed to by other investors in the financing round…. Together, the investment and the related framework agreement are intended to enhance Tesla’s ability to develop and deploy AI products and services into the physical world at scale. 

The investment underscores the deepening ties between Musk’s business interests and highlights Tesla’s growing focus on AI. The EV maker has been increasingly emphasizing AI, driverless technology and humanoid robots as its traditional business of selling automobiles has struggled.

In November, Tesla’s board said it would look further into the investment after investors didn’t formally approve it in a vote at the annual shareholders meeting. The two companies already work together. Tesla sells megapacks to xAI and xAI’s Grok chatbot is integrated into some Tesla vehicles. Bloomberg also reported that xAI told told investors that its aims to build AI that will eventually power humanoid robots such as Optimus.

This little factoid buried at the end of the investor letter is what sent the stock sharply higher after hours (after it dumped in kneejerk response at first). An investment in xAI, and leverage of its work in AI, is what a lot of Tesla shareholders have been calling for. Those that advocated for the idea saw it as a way for Tesla to accelerate progress in humanoid robotics and autonomous driving. But there’s plenty of bullish Tesla followers concerned over that.  AI development is capital intensive — in xAI’s case many billions of dollars — and some wonder for how long Tesla might be holding the bag on those losses.

While we wait for the mamangement call, the sell-side analyst notes are rolling in. This is what Ben Kallo of R.W. Baird wants to know on the call:

Key points we are monitoring include:

1. Timing of product ramps for production of Cybercab/Semi/Megapack 3
2. Updates on early driver-out robotaxi runs
3. Cadence of potential Europe and China robotaxi approvals
4. Margin impacts to Automotive & Energy from rise in lithium prices
5. Demand signals for the post consumer credit environment in the US

Meanwhile, Matt Maley, chief market strategist for Miller Tabak + Co., said that though Tesla beat consensus estimates, it was the $2 billion xAI investment is what’s pushing the stock higher. “If Tesla is going to do as well as the bulls are thinking, it’s going to be with the Robotaxi and robotics. So, this investment is exactly what the bulls wanted to hear.”

And indeed, after initially dumping after hours, TSLA stock has since managed to rebound and is now trading near session highs…

… up about 3% in postmarket trading, which is a significantly muted move compared with the 5% in either direction that options traders were pricing in.  Still, if that move holds through the end of regular trading tomorrow, it will be larger than the stock reaction seen after the third-quarter results came out in October. 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has lots of ideas – virtually all of which require extracting more money from taxpayers, as socialists tend to do. 

To accomplish this, he’s gonna need some help – and has been leaning on Gov. Kathy Hochul to hike taxes on the state’s richest residents and corporations in the hopes of raising billions more to send to the Big Apple to plug mounting budget holes, Bloomberg reports.

Mamdani, the newly-sworn in democratic socialist, is arguing additional money from the state is necessary because the city faces a fiscal “crisis” created by his predecessor Eric Adams and by a push from former Governor Andrew Cuomo to shift costs from the state onto the city. Both Cuomo and Adams ran against Mamdani in last year’s mayoral election. 

At present, NYC is looking at a $12.6 billion budget gap, in what Mamdani recognized as the largest deficit since the 2008 recession. On Wednesday, he launched a new campaign to lobby Albany for more annual aid – stressing that the Big Apple generates $21 billion more in revenue for the state than it receives. 

🚨 BREAKING: Mayor Zohran Mamdani Says New York City is Facing a “Fiscal Crisis at the Scale of the Great Recession”

“That means looking inward into savings and efficiencies. That also means raising taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and the most profitable corporations.” pic.twitter.com/ck89QhFFwL

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) January 28, 2026

“These budget gaps did not arrive by accident — they are the direct consequence of Eric Adams staggering fiscal mismanagement,” Mamdani told the outlet in an interview, adding that social safety nets for the city’s poor and homeless have been underbudgeted. 

Cuomo, who Mamdani also blames, said through spokesman Rich Azzopardi that the state increased aid to NYC’s schools and absorbed medicaid expenses under the former governor’s tenure, adding “If Mamdani thought the system is unfair, he’s had five years as a state legislator to do something about it.”

Hochul’s Tight Spot

Hochul, meanwhile, has her own election to worry about in November – and notably didn’t include any new taxes on companies or high-income residents in her own budget proposal. 

Not only has she insisted for months that she won’t raise levies, she faces pressure from the business community as well as her likely gubernatorial opponent, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman (R). 

“I don’t believe in raising taxes for the sake of raising taxes,” Hochul told Bloomberg, adding “We have enough revenues to do what we want to do and what we need to do to support our state. So beyond that, I don’t see a justification.”

In short, Mamdani – who campaigned on raising income tax rates by 2% on people earning over $1 million per year, and lifting corporate tax rates by 5% – can pound sand, for now. 

NYC businesses are already saddled with a top tax rate of 17.44%, according to new data set for release this week by acvocacy group Citizens Budget Commission, who also found that the state has the highest per capita tax rate in the United States.

“We must raise taxes on the wealthiest few in New York City so that we can invest in the many,” said Mamdani. “No longer can this city, the economic engine of our state, sustain this kind of an imbalance.”

Mamdani has also floated a one-time wealth tax similar to one proposed in California, which would hit billionaires with a 5% tax on their assets. 

Hochul has already hooked Mamdani up with state funds for two years of childcare for NYC’s two-year-olds, fulfilling at least part of his campaign promises to enact universal childcare for all of the city’s children aged six weeks to 5 years.