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Musk’s Boring Company To Build Free 1-Mile Tunnel In “Tunnel Vision Challenge!”

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Musk’s Boring Company To Build Free 1-Mile Tunnel In “Tunnel Vision Challenge!”

In a new contest, Elon Musk’s tunneling firm, The Boring Company, will build a 1-mile tunnel for free to the best idea submitted to the company. 

The Boring Company’s Prufrock 5 tunneler (via X)

“Announcing the Tunnel Vision Challenge!” the company wrote on X. “Pitch us your best 1-mile tunnel idea (Loop, freight, pedestrian, utility, etc.), we’ll pick a winner, and build it…for free!”

In an announcement on their website, the company said (emphasis ours): 

Do you have Tunnel Vision? 

You might if you often look around and wonder, wouldn’t it be a lot easier if I could get from Point A to Point B without the hassle of crossing busy roads, intersections, or other obstacles. Tunnels may be your answer!

The Boring Company (TBC) invites you to submit your proposal for a tunnel project up to 1 mile in length with a 12-foot inner diameter. TBC will select a winner from the proposals submitted and construct the tunnel free of charge. The tunnel can be a Loop tunnel, a freight tunnel, a pedestrian tunnel, a utility tunnel, a water tunnel, or any other use case where a tunnel would be useful. Prufrock is designed to construct mega-infrastructure projects in a matter of weeks instead of years – so let’s build!

The deadline for submissions will be February 23, 2026, and a winner will be picked on March 23, 2026. 

As Tesla Oracle notes further; 

Musk founded The Boring Company in an effort to reduce tunneling costs. To achieve this, the diameter of the tunnel boring machines (TBMs) was reduced to 12 feet.

Following the same principle of constant improvement, The Boring Company continually upgrades its TBMs. The latest TBM is named Prufrock 5 (pictured above).

With the previous version (Prufrock 4), The Boring Company achieved a phenomenal tunneling cost efficiency of $27 million per mile. Musk’s company is aiming to achieve a cost of $10 million per mile of tunneling with Prufrock 5 and its future TBMs.

Compared to the US standard, boring a 1-mile tunnel costs a staggering $2.5 billion on average (see graph below). So, the Tunnel Vision Challenge is offering at least a $27 million value for free.

*  *  *

The outlet also notes that the Boring Company’s Las Vegas Convention Center Loop (LVCC) is the best example of a finished tunnel, which carries Tesla vehicles around the strip as long as you have a Model S, 3, X, Y, or Cybertruck (so basically all of ’em). The company collaborated with the Las Vegas Airport and city officials to set up a service called Vegas Loop that helps visitors with airport dropoffs. 

Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/19/2026 – 21:00

Why California Is Bleeding Tech Jobs: Decline Is A Policy Choice

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Why California Is Bleeding Tech Jobs: Decline Is A Policy Choice

Authored by Vance Ginn via the American Institute for Economic Research,

For much of the past half-century, California benefited from a powerful first-mover advantage.

Dense networks of talent, capital, and research institutions allowed the state to absorb policy mistakes that would have crippled competitors. High spending and taxes, restrictive housing rules, and regulatory complexity were treated as nuisances rather than binding constraints, because growth could outstrip their costs.

That margin of error has narrowed dramatically.

What California is now experiencing is not a cyclical tech downturn or a post-COVID-19 pandemic anomaly. It is a measurable, policy-driven decline in relative competitiveness.

The most important evidence is not that tech employment has fallen in absolute terms, but that California’s share of national tech employment has been shrinking, while other states gain ground.

Markets are responding to incentives exactly as economic theory predicts.

Employment Share, Not Headlines, Tells the Story

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Employment Statistics data, California’s technology employment growth has underperformed national trends for several years, including during periods when tech hiring stabilized or rebounded elsewhere, and recently has been declining. California’s share of U.S. tech jobs is falling from roughly 19 percent pre-2020 to closer to 16 percent in recent years, a nontrivial shift for an industry this large.

This is a classic example of relative decline. California still employs more tech workers than any other state, but it is no longer where the marginal job is being created.

Commercial real estate data corroborate the employment figures. Office vacancy rates across Silicon Valley remain elevated well beyond what remote work alone would explain. Bay Area office markets have not recovered in the way peer regions have. Persistent vacancies signal not just a shift to hybrid work, but also geographic reallocation of firms and labor.

Migration as a Labor Market Signal

Labor mobility reinforces the same conclusion. U.S. Census state-to-state migration data show continued net domestic outmigration from California, particularly among working-age adults. While international immigration partially offsets population losses, domestic migration is more relevant for employer location decisions, especially in high-skill sectors.

Economic theory predicts that firms follow labor when relocation costs are low and regulatory frictions are high.

California now faces both: high regulatory frictions at home and increasingly credible substitutes elsewhere.

Founding Versus Scaling: A Crucial Distinction

California still dominates early-stage venture capital totals, as shown in venture investment data. This is often cited as evidence that concerns about the state’s competitiveness are overstated. That interpretation conflates firm formation with firm expansion.

Founding activity reflects legacy advantages such as universities, networks, and capital concentration. Scaling decisions reflect marginal costs. Increasingly, firms are choosing to incorporate or raise seed funding in California while expanding headcount in lower-cost, lower-regulation states.

From an economic standpoint, this is predictable. Scaling in California exposes firms to the nation’s highest marginal income tax rates, comparatively punitive capital gains taxation, rigid labor mandates, slow permitting processes, and volatile regulatory expectations. These costs rise nonlinearly as firms grow.

AI Regulation as a Binding Constraint

Artificial intelligence (AI) policy may become the clearest illustration of California’s regulatory overreach.

A recent CalMatters analysis documents how California lawmakers have pursued some of the most expansive state-level AI regulations in the country. These proposals extend liability, mandate preemptive risk assessments, and impose compliance obligations before alleged harms are empirically demonstrated or even defined.

From an economic perspective, this approach treats innovation as a presumptive externality rather than a productivity-enhancing input.

AI is widely understood as a general-purpose technology. Research shows that such technologies generate broad, economy-wide productivity gains, not sector-specific benefits. Overregulating AI therefore depresses expected returns not only in software, but also across health care, logistics, manufacturing, finance, and education.

California’s AI regulatory framework has drawn federal scrutiny, which is instructive. As noted in CalMatters, state-level AI mandates were referenced in President Donald Trump’s recent presidential executive order, citing concerns over fragmented and inconsistent state regulation. Regardless of political framing, the economic concern is straightforward: regulatory fragmentation raises fixed costs and discourages upscaling.

Regulation, Market Structure, and Incumbency

California’s regulatory posture also has implications for market structure. Extensive empirical literature shows that high fixed compliance costs reduce entry and increase concentration. The OECD’s work on regulation and competition consistently finds that heavier regulatory burdens favor large incumbents at the expense of startups and challengers.

This dynamic undermines the very competition that drives innovation. Europe’s experience with digital (over)regulation offers a cautionary parallel, acknowledged even in European Commission competitiveness reports. California risks reproducing that outcome domestically, exporting innovation to other states rather than other continents.

Costs Complete the Incentive Structure

AI regulation is best understood as the marginal constraint layered atop an already expensive environment. California has the highest top marginal income tax rate in the United States, and it taxes capital gains as income. Housing scarcity, documented extensively by the University of California–Berkeley’s Terner Center, raises labor costs without increasing real purchasing power. Energy prices remain among the nation’s highest, as shown by EIA electricity price data.

In combination, these policies alter the expected return on investment at the margin. States such as Texas and Florida offer credible alternatives: no personal income tax, faster permitting, lower housing costs, and a lighter regulatory touch.

Firms do not need ideological motivation to relocate. The incentive structure does the work.

Opportunity Costs and Distributional Effects

The economic cost of tech job relocation extends beyond headline employment figures. When tech employment relocates, these spillovers disappear as well.

The distributional consequences are regressive.

High-skill workers are mobile.

Lower-income workers tied to local economies are much less so.

Policies that suppress growth (even under the banner of equity) often hurt the poor most.

A Predictable Outcome

Unless California changes course, the trajectory is clear. AI firms will incorporate elsewhere. Venture capital will follow labor. Scaling will increasingly occur in states that treat innovation as an asset rather than a liability.

California will remain an important source of ideas. It will be a diminishing source of jobs. Markets are not ideological. They respond to incentives. On that front, the verdict is already in.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/19/2026 – 20:30

Canada Weighs Token Troop Deployment To Greenland, But Fears Trump Wrath

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Canada Weighs Token Troop Deployment To Greenland, But Fears Trump Wrath

The Canadian government is weighing whether to deploy a small contingent of troops to take part in training exercises in Greenland after several European and NATO member countries already sent in dozens of soldiers.

The discussions come as President Trump argues that the United States “needs” the Danish autonomous territory for national security reasons and has intensified his calls for Washington to take control of the island. The Europeans have clearly sent troops there for more than just “exercises” – but as a show of unity and “strength” in support of Denmark.

While no final decision has been made on a Canadian deployment, such an act would remain largely symbolic in nature – but Canadian leadership under the Carney government is likely very worried about needlessly provoking Trump’s wrath.

Canada’s armed forces file image

Trump is already preparing an additional 10% tariff for Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland (starting Feb.1st) as a consequence of their defiance.

He specifically referenced their sending troops to Greenland in a weekend Truth Social post:

“Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Finland have journeyed to Greenland, for purposes unknown,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday.

“This is a very dangerous situation for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Planet. These Countries, who are playing this very dangerous game, have put a level of risk in play that is not tenable or sustainable.”

Given the large leading EU nation of Germany has only deployed roughly a dozen troops to the island, it’s likely that any Canadian presence would be even smaller.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has said that Canada is “concerned” about what he has called US “escalation” – but again this is a bad moment for Canada to get ‘noticed’ by Trump for joining European ‘defiance’ of this future plans for Greenland.

Last Thursday in the early morning nighttime hours, a Danish military transport aircraft was the first to land in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, carrying Danish soldiers alongside members of the French armed forces.

Soon on the first plane’s heels, another Danish Hercules aircraft touched down at Kangerlussuaq in western Greenland. Both planes reportedly flew with their transponders switched off.

If Canada too sends a contingent of troops, Carney would probably waiting on edge until the inevitable Truth Social post is issued by Trump slamming the Canadians and threatening new repercussion on America’s northern neighbor.

The other reason NATO countries have sent their small deployments is to convince Trump to join the cooperative mission. The EU argues that this already satisfies the Washington desire to see a beefed up Western security presence in the region, with an eye on Russia and China.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/19/2026 – 20:05

‘We Must Pass The SAVE Act’: Republicans Engage In Serious Push For Voter ID

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‘We Must Pass The SAVE Act’: Republicans Engage In Serious Push For Voter ID

House Republicans are going “full steam ahead” on a supercharged version of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a GOP-sponsored bill to prevent non-citizen voting in federal elections. It would amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require documentary proof of US citizenship (passport, birth certificate, or REAL ID=compliant driver’s license) when registering to vote. 

The bill (H.R. 8281) was originally introduced in 2024 and was passed by the House in a 220-198 vote, however it stalled in the Senate under Democratic control. 

In early 2025, it was revived in the House as H.R. 22, and S. 128 in the Senate. In April, the House passed H.R. 22 in a 220-208 vote, where it was sent to the Senate and has once again stalled due to threat of filibuster or lack of bipartisan support. 

Now, Republican leadership is pushing a “turbocharged” version called SAVE Act Plus, which would enhance the original bill by adding photo ID requirements for registration and voting, which both House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise have begun aggressively pushing. 

“What we’re looking at doing is passing an even better bill over to the Senate to give them even more incentive to go protect the sanctity of every American’s vote, and that is the Save Act plus a picture ID requirement,” Scalise told Fox News on Sunday. “Look, you can’t even get on an airplane. You can’t go to a bar tonight without showing a picture ID. Yet, there are people in many states where the states actually have laws saying you can’t show ID, which is a recipe for fraud, for stealing your vote if you’re voting legally so that somebody can come behind you illegally in another country and actually vote and steal your vote…”

On Friday, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) amplified a post on X showing that 84% of Americans want voter ID – with Lee posting “We must pass the SAVE Act,” adding “There are no good arguments against it.” 

In early December, Johnson said that the SAVE Act would be a “really important measure to eliminate fraud in elections.” 

Elon Musk has been extremely vocal about this as well:

In January, the House Freedom Caucus wrote to Johnson urging him to push the SAVE Act as the top item on his agenda. 

Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/19/2026 – 19:15

Why People Feel The Economy Is Bad, When Data Show Improvement

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Why People Feel The Economy Is Bad, When Data Show Improvement

Authored by Petr Svab via The Epoch Times,

The U.S. economy is either chugging along nicely or seriously struggling, depending on who is asked. The mismatch stems from perception and perspective.

While many of the macroeconomic data look benign, they don’t capture the pain experienced by a large segment of society, several experts told The Epoch Times.

At 4.4 percent, unemployment has been only slightly elevated and the median wage growth of 4 percent has more than kept up with 2.7 percent inflation, all according to December data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Yet a solid majority of Americans feel gloomy about the economy, polls indicate.

“I think there’s some element of a vibecession, where the vibes are worse than reality,” said Ben Zweig, labor economist and CEO of Revelio Labs.

It’s understandable that people would be upset about living expenses, even if the inflation rate has subsided, because the previous price increases remain baked-in, according to Zweig.

“People have a very unrealistic expectation that prices should fall to their pre-inflation spike levels, and that’s totally off the cards,” Zweig told The Epoch Times.

“I think people have this cumulative disgruntlement about the economy years ago, and that is very hard to overcome.”

At the same time, “there are some really troubling signs out there,” he said.

Tough Job Market

Excluding the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, hiring hit a decade low in November 2025, when businesses hired less than 5.1 million people. It has struggled to take off since.

“People are not moving and there’s just historically low mobility,” Zweig said.

That hits young people, who are just entering the labor market, especially hard.

“Job posting volume is way down, and that is concentrated in younger workers, more entry level positions. So that is a real problem,” he said.

It was also around mid-2024 when wage growth for the lowest-paid workers started to lag, reversing a previous trend. The lowest paid 25 percent of workers enjoyed faster wage growth than the rest of the workforce consistently since mid-2015. But recently, that advantage has disappeared. For the past year and a half, these workers have seen their wages grow substantially slower than the rest, at a 3.5 percent rate in 2025, compared to the 4 percent overall average.

Even the slower wage growth exceeded inflation, but it’s important to understand the reality behind the data.

“Wage growth is not the same [as] individuals getting a raise,” said Ernan Haruvy, professor at McGill University and expert on economic and consumer behavior.

“To get a real pay raise, I have to change jobs. That’s how it works,” he told The Epoch Times.

Technological efficiencies, not exclusively related to artificial intelligence, have likely played a role, according to Zweig, again hitting the lowest-paid and entry-level jobs.

Technology “doesn’t automate jobs wholesale,” he noted.

“It automates little bits of tasks. And you can think of the tasks that people do as being in some hierarchy, from very small, granular micro tasks to very broad, abstract workflows. And it’s a lot easier to automate small and micro tasks, and it’s a lot harder to automate big, chunky workflows. So it happens to be that the highly skilled people are the ones that have the broadest responsibilities, and the lower tier workers are the ones that are doing the simplest work. So I think we do see more labor displacement of the most simple jobs.”

This dynamic is likely to create more income inequality, he estimated.

The economy has also been harsh to older people who find themselves with only a fraction of what they need to save in order to retire, especially with the looming Social Security insolvency, Scott Siff, founder and CEO of Pivoter, a job matching platform for people 55 and over, said.

“Those folks are feeling things like above-average inflation and higher prices for staples like groceries much more acutely,” he told The Epoch Times in a text message.

“That is only compounded by the fact that those same people face huge barriers finding jobs. With the average age of job-seekers on the online job boards only about 28–30 years old, employers have trouble hiring those folks even if they’re willing to.”

Haruvy doesn’t see the tough labor market going away.

“We’ll just have to get used to the new reality, which is more competition, more skill updating, less certainty,” he said.

Financial Squeeze

Regardless of income growth, Americans are far from achieving financial health.

The savings rate dropped to 4 percent in September, the lowest since 2008, excluding 2022, which was distorted by pandemic stimulus payments.

Credit card debt exceeded $1.2 trillion in the third quarter of 2025, with more than $150 billion of that amount over 90 days delinquent.

“Right now, people are dipping into their savings,” Haruvy said.

Nearly half of Americans used savings to cover expenses last year, according to Resume Now’s 2026 Cost-of-Living Crunch report.

The same survey, however, also indicated some improvement.

While at the end of 2024, 36 percent of those surveyed said they couldn’t afford or struggled to cover basic expenses, at the end of 2025, only 24 percent said the same.

The debt data, too, show a positive trend, with the overall debt balance growth slowing down and even dropping a bit in November data, while delinquency rates have followed the same trajectory.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/19/2026 – 18:50

“Decades Of Underinvestment”: LA Firefighters Turn To Voters Amid Budget Crisis

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“Decades Of Underinvestment”: LA Firefighters Turn To Voters Amid Budget Crisis

Los Angeles firefighters say years of underfunding have pushed their department into crisis, forcing them to appeal directly to voters for money to cover what they describe as basic public safety needs—even as the city spends about $1 billion a year on homelessness programs, according to the NY Post.

This week, firefighters launched petition drives to place a half-cent sales tax increase on the November 2026 ballot. The measure would fund additional firefighters, new engines, and repairs to aging fire stations, which supporters describe as a last resort after repeated warnings to City Hall went unanswered.

“Due to decades of underinvestment, our fire department currently operates with the same number of firefighters as in the 1960s, six fewer stations, and five times the call load,” said Rich Ramirez, an LAFD paramedic. “The LAFD is half the size needed to keep LA safe, so your LAFD firefighters and paramedics are appealing directly to voters to provide funding for more personnel, equipment, and stations so that we can arrive on time to save lives and property when seconds can make the difference between life and death.”

The NY Post writes that call volume has soared. In 1960, LAFD responded to about 101,000 calls a year. Today, firefighters handle more than 514,000 calls annually, with staffing levels largely unchanged. Average response times now near eight minutes, almost double national standards, and the city has fewer than one firefighter per 1,000 residents.

City Councilmember Traci Park said the department’s condition reflects years of neglect. “We have million-dollar fire engines out of service with weeds growing around their tires,” she said. “I’ve been blowing the whistle on the lack of staffing, funding and resources at the fire department since I took office.”

Firefighters say homelessness has driven a significant share of the surge. Between 2018 and 2024, incidents tied to people experiencing homelessness made up roughly one-third of all LAFD fire calls, while trash fires jumped nearly 475% over the past decade.

Despite the increased demand, LAFD operates on about $923 million to protect nearly 3.9 million residents—about $238 per person—compared with more than $22,000 spent annually per unhoused individual.

If approved, the half-cent sales tax would raise an estimated $324 million in its first year. The funds would be restricted to core fire services, overseen by audits and a civilian commission, and supporters must gather 154,000 signatures within 180 days to qualify the measure for the ballot.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/19/2026 – 18:25

This Could Be The Big One

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This Could Be The Big One

Authored by weather observer Ryan Hall, 

There are winter storms, and then there are storms that come from a real pattern shift. The kind that don’t just brush one region, but impact a big chunk of the country.

This upcoming setup is starting to look like the second type.

Over the last day or so, confidence has increased that we’re heading into a legitimate winter storm window late this week into the weekend. The signal is becoming clearer across guidance, and the ingredients are lining up in a way that usually gets my attention.

The Big Picture

A strong Arctic high is pushing into the central and eastern United States. This isn’t a quick shot of cold air. It’s a deep, dense cold dome that sets up first and stays in place.

At the same time, a southern stream trough is expected to eject out of the Southwest. That system will pull moisture northward over the top of the cold air already in place at the surface.

That overrunning setup is one of the more efficient ways to produce widespread snow, sleet, and freezing rain across the South and East.

About the Analogs

You may see comparisons to past storms like January 1988 or February 2010 being mentioned. It’s important to be careful with that.

No two storms are exactly alike, and analogs aren’t about matching totals or impacts. Where they can be useful is in highlighting similar large-scale processes. In this case, things like a strong southwestern trough, deep cold air already in place, and a steady moisture feed overrunning the cold dome.

In some respects, this setup has more cold air to work with and a broader moisture source than those events did at similar lead times. That’s why it stands out.

Days 4-5: Friday Focus

By Friday, attention shifts to the Southern Plains and the Lower Mississippi Valley.

Snow and mixed precipitation look increasingly likely from the Texas Panhandle through Oklahoma, Arkansas, and into parts of the Tennessee Valley. This part of the storm will likely feature a sharp gradient between snow, sleet, and freezing rain, especially near the southern edge of the cold air.

Small shifts in track or temperature profiles could have large impacts in this region.

Days 6-7: Weekend Evolution

As we head into Saturday and Sunday, the system is expected to move east across the Southeast, with the potential to turn northeast near the coast.

Cold air is already established well north of the system, which raises confidence that much of the precipitation will fall as wintry weather. The biggest question now is how far north the heavier precipitation shield extends and how much phasing occurs between northern and southern stream energy.

That will determine whether the highest impacts remain focused on the Mid-Atlantic or expand farther north.

What I’m Watching

  • Strength and placement of the Arctic high

  • Timing and amplitude of the southern stream trough

  • How quickly the streams interact

  • Placement of the rain-snow line

  • Icing potential along the southern edge

These details should come into better focus over the next few days.

Bottom Line

This is shaping up to be a potentially high-impact winter storm affecting a large portion of the Southern and Eastern U.S.

It’s still too early to lock in exact totals or specific cities. But it’s early enough to say this is a system worth taking seriously.

If you live from the Southern Plains through the Tennessee Valley and into the Mid-Atlantic, this is one you should be planning around, not ignoring.

We’ll keep refining the details as the data comes in. If the signal weakens, we’ll say that. But right now, this setup has the look of a storm that could end up being memorable.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/19/2026 – 18:00

Newsom Strains To Flip Script On California’s Failures

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Newsom Strains To Flip Script On California’s Failures

Authored by Susan Crabtree via American Greatness,

It’s an odd predicament for a leading Democratic presidential contender.

Gavin Newsom’s biggest strength—political spin and performance come almost second nature to him—could also be his biggest liability as he strains to remake the tarnished image of the state he has governed for the last seven years.

Newsom, with his smooth-talking, rapid-fire responses and his attempt to out-Trump Trump on social media aggression, is everything Kamala Harris wasn’t in 2024. But neither Californian can easily shake the biggest millstone dragging down their White House ambitions. Their failed progressive policies have sullied the Golden State’s image, driving up prices, homelessness, and mismanagement. The failures have not only driven citizens away but are also likely to turn off voters in swing battleground districts as well.

California’s failures weren’t Harris’ biggest weakness in 2024—her word salads were. But the Golden State’s downward spiral was a close second.

As wildfire victims held vigils and prayer circles on the anniversary of the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires, Newsom on Thursday attempted to flip the script on California’s role as a GOP punchline.

In his final State of the State address after years of releasing videotaped remarks, Newsom cast Trump’s control of Washington as a “carnival of chaos” amid the Democratic furor over an ICE agent shooting and killing a woman in Minnesota. He then positioned California as a “beacon” of fairness and resistance to Trump’s heavy-handed rule.

Addressing the California legislature, which had just observed a moment of silence for the slain Minnesota woman, Renee Nicole Good, Newsom repeatedly pointed to Trump as a power-hungry threat to democracy who abused his power to call in the National Guard to quell unrest over ICE arrests and raids.

“The president believes that might makes right, that the courts are simply speed bumps, not stops. That democracy is a nuisance to be circumvented. Secret police, businesses being raided, windows smashed, citizens detained, citizens shot, masked men snatching people in broad daylight, people disappearing,” Newsom charged.

“None of this is normal,” he added.

After throwing out the red meat for the Democratic base, Newsom then set out to normalize California’s dizzying array of failures under his watch.

“The state is providing a different narrative—an operational model, a policy blueprint for others to follow,” he told state lawmakers.

Newsom’s defiant defense of his state as a shining example for others to emulate may come as a shock for those who haven’t been watching his reinvention as a social media agitator and leader of the national redistricting battle.

But Newsom’s attempt to go on offense on his biggest weakness—his policy failures—was his most audacious and sweeping thus far.

After mimicking Trump’s belligerent social media style, Newsom stole another Trump play, labeling the state’s critics as suffering from “California Derangement Syndrome,” a revision of the “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” which MAGA deploys to brush off condemnation.

“The declinists,” the pundits and conservative critics, simply don’t know the updated facts, Newsom asserted, arguing that they are working to “tear down, to try to attack all of our progress.”

Early data for 2025, he said, indicate a 9% decline in homelessness, the first drop after an explosion of unsheltered people in California. He failed to mention that from 2019 to 2024, under his watch, homelessness rose to 188,000, a net increase of 37,000, or 24%, even though the state spent roughly $24 billion trying to curb it.

“So, our investments paid off,” he claimed without an explanation.

Newsom acknowledged that the decline was “not good enough,” and more work needs to be done as long as big homeless encampments still exist in major cities around the state. He failed to mention the high number of homelessness deaths across the state that could be contributing to the 9% decline, as well as the danger of allowing any encampments to remain.

Just hours after the speech, a fire at a homeless camp in a Los Angeles suburb broke out, the second in the last two weeks.

Newsom also claimed credit for “double-digit decreases in crime” across California, without acknowledging that those figures are still higher than pre-pandemic levels in some areas and that property crime continues to plague major cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles.

While touting minor California successes, he often followed up by acknowledging that there is still “work to do” when it comes to bringing down housing costs, overall “affordability,” lowering crime rates, and improving fire insurance coverage.

Though he noted that he had debated whether or not to mention high-speed rail, another frequent target for fiscal conservative attacks, he hailed the $13.8 billion spent so far and progress on projects in the state’s agricultural Central Valley as one of the “great economic investments” in the region. Those lines, he said, “will make commute times shorter and make life more affordable.” He failed to mention that the project was launched in 2008, and more than 17 years later, no trains are running.

Newsom even touted California’s status as having the highest taxes of any state in the country, stressing that Democrats in the state had designed the most “progressive” system in the country, which he argued is far fairer for middle-class and low-wage earners.

“So, the question to all of you—who are the high-tax states? Just consider Texas. Just consider Florida, the two most regressive tax states in America,” Newsom said. “They’re hammering their low-income earners. They’re hammering them more than their wealthiest. Who are the high-tax states? California stands for fairness.”

California Republican Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin, responding to the address, cast Newsom as not only out of touch but also deranged.

“Governor Newsom told Californians that homelessness is down, crime is at record lows, schools are improving, and Los Angeles is recovering after the Palisades fires,” she said.

“Governor Newsom painted a picture of a California that exists in his imagination.”

Rep. Kevin Kiley, a Republican representing parts of Sacramento in Congress, assailed the address as pure gaslighting.

“For once, Newsom is right,” he said.

“California has led the nation during his tenure in homelessness, unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, gas prices, electricity costs, debt, and outmigration. That is the true state of our state.”

Kiley also provided a preview of the conservative line of attack that could haunt the governor leading into the 2028 presidential race.

“California, also, of course, leads the nation in fraud … Minnesota’s fraud scandals have just ended Tim Walz’s political career,” Kiley said.

“California’s should likewise end Gavin Newsom’s.”

Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/19/2026 – 17:10

Kansas School Bans Students From Naming Kirk, Trump Or Jesus As Role Models

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Kansas School Bans Students From Naming Kirk, Trump Or Jesus As Role Models

Yet another example of why American parents are increasingly pulling their kids out of public institutions and turning to home schooling.  Parents at an elementary school in Kansas are upset after students were reportedly told that they were not allowed to list President Donald Trump, late conservative activist Charlie Kirk and even Jesus Christ as their role models for an assignment. 

The incident at Marshall Elementary School in Eureka, Kansas occurred in October and only recently came to light because students were originally instructed not to tell their parents about what happened.  The American Center for Law & Justice, described as “a politically conservative, Christian-based legal organization,” has filed a formal civil rights complaint with the school.

The complaint accuses the district and Marshall Elementary School of religious discrimination, political or viewpoint discrimination, violation of free speech rights and retaliation.  Students say a school guidance counselor, Kacey Countryman, gave sixth-graders an assignment called “Find Your Voice” as part of their “Leader In Me” program.  They were asked to identify their role models, but conservative role models were apparently not allowed.  

“When a student identified Charlie Kirk as a role model, the guidance counselor got very uncomfortable and refused to allow this name to be written on the board, yelling that he was ‘not a hero,’ and that he was not a role model,” the complaint says.  When a student chose Trump as their role model, the guidance counselor reportedly had the same response.

Another parent says their child picked Jesus and was also denied.

The complaint notes that “When a student selected President Donald J. Trump as a role model, the guidance counselor reiterated her prohibition even more angrily, stating that students could not write political or religious figures on the board, and in fact excluded political and religious topics altogether.”

Reports note that children picking secular and potentially controversial figures did not receive the same backlash from the counselor.

The ACLJ has investigated a number of similar incidents in the past involving public school officials, including a recent controversy involving a Hawaiian school teacher who was punished by the district for allowing her students to talk about the assassination of Charlie Kirk during a Constitution Day discussion on free speech. 

Adminstrators placed a disciplinary memo in her file threatening future sanctions and told her she must immediately “shut down” any spontaneous student discussions on undefined “controversial issues.”

These kinds of censorious policies run completely contrary to the spirit of the First Amendment and basic civics once taught in US schools in previous generations.  The common conservative accusation that public schools have become poisonous indoctrination centers for the political left is proved correct weekly by similar stories of students being silenced for normal speech.  

The crackdown accelerated during the Biden Administration, along with the invasion of woke political propaganda into many taxpayer funded schools.  The agenda is clear:  Children are being bullied and extorted into abandoning conservative ideals.  They are forced to embrace progressive talking points as a way to keep peace in their academic lives.

There is no doubt that the rise of woke insanity in American society directly coincides with the decline of parental rights and participation in educational institutions.  School officials believe their job is not to simply teach basic academic mastery; they think their job is to program the next generation with far-left software.  Activist teachers and administrators believe their mission is to “correct” the principles instilled in children by their parents, and condition students to join the liberal hive mind.   

Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/19/2026 – 16:45

US Lender Newrez To Accept Crypto Holdings In Mortgage Approval

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US Lender Newrez To Accept Crypto Holdings In Mortgage Approval

Authored by Nate Kostar via CoinTelegraph.com,

Newrez plans to treat eligible cryptocurrency holdings as qualifying assets in its mortgage underwriting process, a move that could broaden access to home loans for crypto holders.

The change is expected to take effect in February across the lender’s non-agency products, covering home purchases, refinancings and investment properties.

While borrowers can already use assets such as stocks and bonds in underwriting, crypto holders have typically been required to sell their positions.

At launch, Newrez said it will recognize Bitcoin, Ether, spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) backed by those assets, and US dollar-backed stablecoins.

The crypto assets must be held with US-regulated crypto exchanges or fintech platforms, brokerages or nationally chartered banks, the company said.

Under the policy, cryptocurrency holdings considered in underwriting may have valuations adjusted to reflect market volatility, while borrowers would still be required to cover closing costs and make mortgage payments in US dollars.

Newrez chief commercial officer Leslie Gillin said about 45% of Gen Z and Millennial investors own cryptocurrency, adding that the policy is aimed at broadening access to homeownership among younger buyers.

US regulators weigh crypto’s role in mortgage underwriting

The move by Newrez follows policy discussions in the US over whether digital assets should be considered in mortgage risk assessments.

In June 2025, the US Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) instructed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to develop proposals examining how to consider cryptocurrencies as assets in single-family mortgage risk assessments without conversion to US dollars. 

Less than two months later, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced the 21st Century Mortgage Act, which would codify the FHFA directive.

Lummis said the bill addresses housing affordability challenges for younger Americans, adding that “the American dream of homeownership is not a reality for many young people” and that the legislation reflects the growing number who hold digital assets.

The bill was read twice in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, where it has not advanced further.

Although limited in scope, a market already exists for crypto-backed home financing, allowing borrowers to use BTC or ETH as collateral. 

Mauricio Di Bartolomeo, co-founder of Ledn, told Cointelegraph in June that some Bitcoin holders have used their assets to finance real estate purchases without liquidating them.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/19/2026 – 16:20

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