Donald Trump’s weaponized Justice Department has its latest target, as the administration attempts to feed the Fed to the wolves. It’s a particularly dangerous gambit that hinges on some particularly ridiculous, trumped-up charges. Jonathan Chait in The Atlantic (Gift Article): “The Trump administration has opened a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on grounds so flimsy and transparently hypocritical that it is difficult to know whether anybody is supposed to take the charges at face value. When a respected public servant is being accused of wasting taxpayer dollars and lying to Congress by a president whose extravagant White House renovation has already doubled in cost in just three months, and whose inexhaustible capacity for lies has essentially broken every fact-checking medium, one almost wonders if the criminal allegation was chosen for its absurdity, to demonstrate that Donald Trump can make the law mean whatever he wants it to.” A criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will test whether Republican loyalty to the president has any limits. In this rare case, there may actually be a limit. As Chait explains, “Every affluent Republican, from the tech right to fossil-fuel owners to heirs managing their inherited portfolios, has a direct and visible interest in stable and competent monetary policy.” And we’re already seeing a backlash from a handful of Republicans, and members of the administration are pointing fingers, many suggesting they knew nothing about the impending charges against Powell. Of course, there’s a broader economic story here. Healthy capitalism requires a sane adherence to the rule of law. That’s a reality that corporate leaders have been conveniently ignoring for a year, betting that they could weather (and even thrive during) the Trump storm through placation and sycophancy, taking what they see as the good parts of Trumponomics while avoiding the bad. For the sake of our portfolios and the future of the American economy, many of us have been hoping that this strategy would work out. But with Trump, the lawless envelope never just gets pushed, it gets obliterated, and sooner or later, kissing ass turns into the kiss of death. Maybe with Trump weakened and something as sacred as the Fed’s independence at stake, corporate America will finally get fed up. As Powell himself stated in response to the phony charges: “Public service sometimes requires standing firm in the face of threats. I will continue to do the job the Senate confirmed me to do, with integrity and a commitment to serving the American people.” There was a time, not that long ago, when that statement would not have seemed at all radical. 2Regime Changing“A fiscal crisis, divided elites, a diverse oppositional coalition, a convincing narrative of resistance, and a favorable international environment. This winter, for the first time since 1979, Iran checks nearly all five boxes.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): Is the Iranian Regime About to Collapse? “Still, one group of elites remains united: the country’s security forces.” 3Tunnel of Gov“The one-lane tunnel, which carves 2.5 dark, musty, bumpy miles through a glacial mountain, opens for two 15-minute periods every hour, once for each direction; the troopers caught the 10 a.m. window heading east. On the other side, Whittier’s punishing microclimate—more snow than Aspen, Amazon-level rainfall, and almost nonstop wind—greeted them with cold, wet bluster. This small port town was built by the military during World War II, as the U.S. warred with Japan. In the 1950s during the Cold War, the military constructed two gigantic housing structures, one of which is still in use: The 14-story complex, set back a few blocks from the waterfront, houses nearly all of Whittier’s roughly 300 residents. Inside this tower, people shop for groceries, get mail, attend church, exercise, and gather in community.” How did some of America’s more obscure voting rights laws (that people in Whittier, including law enforcement officials, were ignorant of) lead to arrests in this tiny corner of the country? And how did the American Samoans at the center of the dispute end up there in the first place? Bolt Magazine with an interesting story, and one that shows how deeply our political dysfunction has seeped into every corner of society. Americans by Name, Punished for Believing It. 4A Job Not For the Faint Hearted“On the day she transplanted the heart of a 6-month-old infant, Dr. Maureen McKiernan awoke, as always, to a 4:30 alarm. In the dim light of her apartment, she moved through her morning routine: a spin on her rowing machine, some mat Pilates, a hot shower, the usual breakfast of yogurt and granola. It was a practical meal — one she could eat half standing, spoon in one hand, phone in the other, scrolling through her upcoming cases. After breakfast, she took the A train to New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in northern Manhattan. There, in a thicket of acronyms and surgical jargon, Dr. McKiernan typed up the 16-point procedure she would use to save Baby Luna, whose new heart would be flown in that night. Step 9: Plane lands —> cross-clamp, cardiectomy.” NYT (Gift Article): 90 Minutes to Give Baby Luna a New Heart. “After eight years of training, Dr. Maureen McKiernan made her debut as the lead surgeon on an infant heart transplant — an operation on the edge of what’s possible.” 5Extra, ExtraThis is Not a Drill: Trump says he might keep Exxon out of Venezuela after its CEO called it ‘uninvestable.’ But does Exxon (or any other oil company) really want to be in Venezuela right now? “Executives need to feel confident that a country won’t suddenly descend into civil unrest, military conflict, or armed revolution. But at the moment, nobody knows what the political situation will be in Venezuela a week from today, let alone in a year or a decade.” And there are more challenges, including the oil itself. “Current oil prices—about $60 a barrel—are historically low. And they are well below the roughly $80-a-barrel cost of extracting and refining Venezuelan oil—much of which is the kind of thick, low-quality petroleum (known within the industry as ‘heavy sour crude’) that requires extensive processing.” Big Oil Knows That Trump’s Venezuela Plans Are Delusional. 6Bottom of the News“Their popularity isn’t from winning expensive prizes, or because competitions pay big. Claw machines are still difficult to win and many believe they’re rigged by operators. It’s because claw machines — in their own way, nostalgia personified — have become an unlikely and effective modern vehicle for monetizable content.” The competitive claw machine boom.
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Monday, January 12, 2026
Monetary Damages
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