“Republican Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.), a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, is questioning the ‘credibility’ of the Department of Justice’s investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and threatening to oppose President Trump’s nominees to the central bank until the matter is resolved. ‘If there were any remaining doubt whether advisers within the Trump Administration are actively pushing to end the independence of the Federal Reserve, there should now be none. It is now the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice that are in question,’ Tillis said in a statement. He also vowed to keep Trump’s nominees to the Fed bottled up in the Banking Committee over the matter.” (01/12/26)
“Total bankruptcy filings in Calendar Year (CY) 2025 were 565,759, an eleven percent increase from the 508,953 registered during CY 2024, according to data provided by Epiq AACER, the leading provider of US bankruptcy filing data. While representing a substantial year-over-year increase, total bankruptcy filings remain lower than the pre-pandemic total of 757,816 recorded in CY 2019.” (01/26/26)
“A man accused of driving a U-Haul truck into a crowd in Los Angeles over the weekend as they demonstrated in support of the protests sweeping Iran was in police custody Monday and authorities said they are considering an assault charge. One man was hit by the truck but was not seriously injured, according to police. Two people declined treatment after being evaluated by paramedics, the fire department said.” (01/12/26)
“President Trump declared Monday that the US would be ‘screwed’ if the Supreme Court rules against his reciprocal [sic] tariff policies — arguing the feds would have to ‘pay back’ billions in revenue collected over the past year. ‘[I]f the Supreme Court rules against the United States of America on this National Security bonanza, WE’RE SCREWED!’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. … The Supreme Court is poised to rule as early as Wednesday on whether Trump could use emergency powers to impose sweeping tariffs announced last April, including a 10% baseline for [American buyers of goods from] most countries and higher rates that took effect in August for [American buyers of goods from] nations with which the US has a trade deficit.” [editor’s note: Don’t steal money in ways that even government rules don’t allow; then you don’t have to pay it back. “Problem” solved – TLK] (01/12/26)
“Former British finance minister Nadhim Zahawi defected to Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK party from the Conservative Party on Monday, saying the country was broken and needed Farage as prime minister to fix it. Zahawi, who had a short spell in charge of the nation’s finances under former prime minister Boris Johnson in 2022, becomes the latest in a long line of former Conservatives to switch to Farage’s populist Reform UK. Reform is currently leading the polls in Britain, far ahead of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, which has struggled to translate its landslide 2024 election win into popular change, against a backdrop of constrained finances and global instability. … Farage’s party has five of 650 seats in parliament, but Reform’s surging popularity has come from tapping into public frustration over issues like immigration, crime and a perceived fall in the standard of public services.” (01/12/26)
“Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked access to Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Grok over its ability to produce sexually explicit deepfakes. Grok, a tool on Musk’s X platform, allows users to generate images but has recently been used to edit images of real people to show them in revealing outfits. The South East Asian countries said Grok could be used to produce pornographic and non-consensual images involving women and children. They are the first in the world to ban the AI tool. There is also growing pressure to block Grok in the UK, with its technology secretary saying she would back the move, leading Musk to accuse the government of wanting to suppress free speech.” (01/12/26)
“Don’t be surprised if you see even more drones delivering groceries across the US since the Alphabet-owned Wing announced another service expansion with Walmart over the next year. The partnership said that drone delivery services will be available at 150 more Walmart locations in Los Angeles, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Miami and more metros that have yet to be announced. According to Wing, its top 25 percent of customers have ordered its delivery drones up to three times a week. To meet growing demand, Wing and Walmart said it will serve up to 40 million US customers and build up a network of 270 delivery locations by 2027.” (01/11/26)
“Budget-friendly grocery chain Aldi is expanding its footprint in the U.S. The company announced on Monday that it plans to open more than 180 stores by the end of 2026, pushing its total footprint to nearly 2,800 this year. Its goal is to operate about 3,200 stores by the end of 2028. As part of the company’s growth plans over the next five years, it will enter the Colorado market for the first time while opening additional stores in the Southeast and West markets. It also has plans to open three new distribution centers in Florida, Colorado and Arizona. … Demand for the low-cost grocer has risen as consumers grapple with higher everyday expenses.” (01/12/26)
“The top court of the United Nations has opened a landmark case accusing Myanmar of committing genocide against its mostly Muslim Rohingya minority. Myanmar’s military deliberately targeted the Rohingya minority in a bid to destroy the community, The Gambia’s Justice Minister Dawda Jallow told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Monday. … The trial is the first genocide case the ICJ has taken up in full in more than a decade, and its outcome will have repercussions beyond Myanmar, likely affecting South Africa’s petition against Israel over its genocidal war on Gaza. The hearings will span three weeks.” (01/12/26)
“Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly sued the Pentagon on Monday over attempts to punish him for his warnings about illegal orders, claiming the Trump administration trampled on his constitutional rights to free speech. Kelly, a former U.S. Navy pilot who represents Arizona, is seeking to block his censure from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week. Hegseth announced on Jan. 5 that he censured Kelly over his participation in a video that called on troops to resist unlawful orders. Hegseth said the censure — by itself simply a formal letter with little practical consequence — was ‘a necessary process step’ to proceedings that could result in a demotion from Kelly’s retired rank of captain and subsequent reduction in retirement pay. Kelly asked the federal court in Washington, D.C., to rule that the censure letter, the proceedings about his rank and any other punishments against him are “unlawful and unconstitutional.” (01/12/26)
