Important Takeaways:
- A series of earthquakes near the Greek island of Santorini have led authorities to shut down schools, dispatch rescue teams with sniffer dogs and send instructions to residents including a request to drain their swimming pools.
- Even though earthquake experts say the more than 200 tremors that have hit the area since early Friday are not related to the volcano in Santorini, which once produced one of the biggest eruptions in human history, locals are on edge
- The strongest earthquake recorded was magnitude 4.6 at 3:55 p.m. Sunday, at a depth of 14 kilometers (9 miles), the Athens Geodynamic institute said. A few tremors of over magnitude 4 and dozens of magnitudes 3 have followed. There were no reports of damage or casualties.
- Earthquake experts and officials from the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection and the fire service have been meeting daily and decided to close schools Monday on the island of Santorini as well as nearby Amorgos, Anafi and Ios.
- After Sunday’s meeting, they also advised residents and hotel owners in Santorini to drain their swimming pools over concerns that large volumes of water could destabilize buildings in case of a strong quake.
- Experts said it was impossible to predict whether the seismic activity could lead to a stronger tremor, but added that the area could potentially produce a 6-magnitude quake.
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Important Takeaways:
- Russia’s development of 50-qubit ion-based and rubidium neutral atom quantum computers in 2024 marks a key step in its quantum project roadmap.
- The next phase is going to be unveiled in Moscow on February 8.
- By 2030, Rosatom intends to build a viable quantum industry in Russia, which entails industrial-scale manufacturing of quantum computers.
- Quantum computing is expected to benefit Russia in the following areas:
- Healthcare and pharmaceuticals: development of new medicines thanks to the ability to model complex molecules, and prediction of future epidemics.
- Transportation and logistics: charting optimal transport routes and prevention of traffic congestion.
- Financial sector: minimization of risks and more accurate evaluation of credit ratings of various entities.
- Artificial intelligence: boosting machine learning, image recognition and data processing capabilities of AIs.
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Important Takeaways:
- When I decided to write this article, I was feeling quite overwhelmed, because there is just so much going on right now. This is going to be a very long article, and I will take it one step at a time. With all that being said, let’s take a look at some of the highlights…
- [And I, not the author of this article highlighted the highlights so you have to go to the website for more information]
- The U.S. Treasury
- If you want to understand what is really going on in any organization, you need to follow the flow of money.
- So Elon Musk has been wanting access to the U.S. Treasury’s payment system, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent granted him that access on Friday…
- After getting in, Musk discovered that payment approval officers at the U.S. Treasury were simply rubber-stamping all payment requests that were submitted to them…
- Every single year, more than 6 trillion dollars is disbursed through the U.S. Treasury’s payment system…
- In a typical year, over one billion payments are made by the U.S. Treasury, and not a single one was ever being denied.
- OPM
- The Office of Personnel Management is the largest HR department on the entire globe.
- “A team including current and former employees of Musk assumed command of OPM on Jan. 20, the day Trump took office. They have moved sofa beds onto the fifth floor of the agency’s headquarters, which contains the director’s office and can only be accessed with a security badge or a security escort, one of the OPM employees said…. The sofa beds have been installed so the team can work around the clock, the employee said.”
- Aides to Elon Musk charged with running the U.S. government human resources agency have locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees, according to two agency officials.
- … During an internal meeting Friday morning, Trump administration officials directed OPM senior career staff to begin making plans to cut the agency’s workforce and programs by 70%. Multiple sources with direct knowledge of the meeting confirmed the details of the meeting to Federal News Network…
- USAID
- When officials from Musk’s team went over to USAID headquarters, they were physically prevented from entering.
- In response, the representatives from Musk’s team “threatened to call US Marshals to be allowed access”…
- Two top security officials at the US Agency for International Development were put on administrative leave Saturday night after attempting to refuse officials from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency access systems at the agency, even after DOGE personnel threatened to call law enforcement, multiple sources familiar told CNN.
- According to sources, personnel from the Musk-created office physically tried to access the USAID headquarters in Washington, DC, and were stopped. The DOGE personnel demanded to be let in and threatened to call US Marshals to be allowed access, two of the sources said.
- The DOGE personnel wanted to gain access to USAID security systems and personnel files, three sources said. Two of those sources also said the DOGE personnel wanted access to classified information, which only those with security clearances and a specific need to know are able to access.
- If you go to USAID’s website now, you will find that it has been shut down…
- On his Twitter account, Robby Starbuck detailed how this works…
- USAID essentially functions as one of many money laundering machines for Democrats in DC. Here’s how it works:
- Activists create obscure NGO
- Dems fund it lavishly
- NGO does bare minimum (or actively hurts the United States)
- Activists get paid and donate to Dems
- Not only that but USAID helped spread their gender ideology nonsense and brought millions of illegals into our country.
- That’s why Democrats are freaking out about the possibility that USAID’s being shut down by President Trump. It needs to be done.
- The EPA
- It appears that the EPA could soon be getting a lot smaller.
- Last week, over 1,000 EPA employees were notified that “they were deemed to be on probationary status” and could soon be fired…
- …The same message will be sent to other agency workforces, a White House official said. Across the US government, the latest data shows there are more than 220,000 employees on probation.
- The FBI
- Last week, the Washington Post reported that “at least eight senior FBI executives” were being terminated…
- A top Justice Department official on Friday ordered the firing of at least eight senior FBI executives and a sweeping examination of the work of thousands of other bureau employees, including all those who worked on investigations tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post.
- The directive from Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said those field agents and FBI support staff could face “additional personnel action,” suggesting that the number of firings could swell in the coming weeks.
- Ken Dilanian with NBC News reported that a number of the FBI’s “top executives” were told they would be out of a job by Monday. Friday, Dilanian reported a “purge” was underway that could see the heads of up to 20 of the FBI’s 55 field offices relieved.
- Dilanian reported, “The purge is bigger than first understood, we are told, and includes more than 20 heads of FBI field offices, including the ones in Miami and Washington, DC.”
- Vast numbers of federal workers that have been working at home since the pandemic began are going to have to start showing up at the office each day.
- If they choose not to report, they will gladly be given their walking papers…
- President Trump on Wednesday warned that federal workers will have to show up to the office “or be terminated,” framing his administration’s so-called buyout offers to 2 million employees as an effort to shrink the government.
- “We’re requiring them to show up to work or be terminated,” Trump said in remarks from the East Room before signing an immigration bill into law.
- “We think a very substantial number of people will not show up to work, and therefore our government will get smaller and more efficient,” Trump added. “And that’s what we’ve been looking to do for many, many decades, frankly.”
- In the entire history of the United States, we have never seen anything quite like this, and there is widespread panic among federal employees right now…
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Important Takeaways:
- Panama’s president vowed Sunday to end a key development deal with China after meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and after complaints from President Donald Trump that the Latin American country had ceded control over its critical shipping canal to Beijing.
- “I think this visit opens the door to build new relations … and try to increase as much as possible U.S. investments in Panama,” Mulino told reporters after meeting with Rubio on his first international trip since being confirmed.
- Trump has complained that China exerts control over the canal and charges U.S. ships six-figure premiums to cross Panama’s isthmus. The canal was built over several decades by the U.S. and completed in 1914 but handed over to Panama during the Carter administration.
- The bill, named the Panama Canal Repurchase Act, was introduced by Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., a member of the Select Committee on China and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
- If it becomes law, the bill would give the president authority to act in coordination with the secretary of state to “initiate and conduct negotiations with appropriate counterparts of the Government of the Republic of Panama to reacquire the Panama Canal.”
- The U.S. Department of State estimates around 72% of all vessels that travel through the Panama Canal are coming from or going to a U.S. port.
- Noting the canal’s strategic importance to the United States, Johnson’s office also noted how the waterway is a key transit point for U.S. Coast Guard and Department of Defense vessels.
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Important Takeaways:
- Dozens of newly confirmed cases of avian influenza in wild birds and the first verified U.S. case of a new strain of the virus are raising concern the bird flu crisis may be entering a troubling new phase.
- Why it matters: While the developments don’t necessarily raise the risk of a pandemic, they could create more havoc for farmers, exacerbate egg shortages and expose more gaps in government disease surveillance.
- Driving the news: The Department of Agriculture last week confirmed 81 detections of highly pathogenic avian flu in wild birds collected across 24 states between Dec. 29 and Jan. 17.
- Wild birds can be infected and show no signs of illness, allowing them to spread the virus to new areas and potentially expose domestic poultry.
- Officials in Pennsylvania and New York have culled thousands of wild geese, as well as commercial poultry flocks, after detecting cases of flu.
- What they’re saying: “If you look at what’s happened the last eight weeks, the number of poultry operations that have gone down — and more recently, the duck operations — is absolutely stunning,” Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota told Axios.
- Catch up quick: The bird flu crisis has struck 113 flocks in the past 30 days, affecting more than 19 million birds, per USDA. It’s also been confirmed in 943 dairy herds, the vast majority in California.
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Important Takeaways:
- Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has unveiled a new underground base, reportedly located somewhere on the country’s southern shores. Dubbed ‘missile city’, the facility houses dozens of missile launchers mounted on trucks, according to a video published by the Iranian military on Saturday.
- A two-minute video shows IRGC Chief Commander Major General Hossein Salami and Naval Force Chief Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri inspecting the underground network of tunnels where the mobile missile launchers are stationed.
- According to Tangsiri, the base is home to Iran’s Qadr 380 cruise missiles, which can be deployed and launched in under five minutes. These missiles have a range of over 1,000 kilometers and are equipped with anti-jamming systems to counter electronic warfare, IRNA news agency reported.
- The facility showcased on Saturday is the third such base in Iran, according to IRNA. In mid-January, the IRGC Navy unveiled another underground anti-ship missile base along the Persian Gulf’s coastline. A similar facility was previously revealed by the IRGC Air Force on January 10, though its exact location was not disclosed.
- Iran has said that its missile program is a deterrent against adversaries such as the US and Israel. During the inspection on Saturday, Salami stated that the unveiling was intended to prevent Tehran’s enemies from making “miscalculations” that could lead to serious consequences.
- Earlier in January, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi praised the country’s missile program as a crucial factor in deterring foreign threats. “I have said many times and firmly believe that if it weren’t for our missile capabilities, no one would be negotiating with us,” Araghchi said at the time.
- Araghchi argued that the US and its allies only respond to strength, and Iran’s missile power compels them to engage diplomatically rather than resorting to force. His remarks followed heightened tensions between Israel and Iran, which involved a series of long-range strikes between the two nations last year.
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Important Takeaways:
- According to the FOX Forecast Center, the first round of significant precipitation will begin on Friday, with additional waves of moisture through the weekend and into the upcoming workweek.
- Forecast models show more than 6 inches of rainfall could occur in the highest rainfall accumulation zones, while feet of snow look likely from the extreme northern Sierra Nevada into the Cascades.
- Forecasters say because the air mass originates near Hawaii, which is commonly referred to as a “Pineapple Express,” the overall event will be warmer, causing snowfall levels to rise to several thousand feet.
- Some river levels across the region are already elevated, leading to a greater risk that waterways could overrun their banks.
- Every year, dozens of atmospheric rivers impact America’s West Coast, unleashing heavy rain, rough surf, mudslides and heavy snowfall.
- Since the storm track is not expected to be directly over Southern California, more modest chances of precipitation are expected over cities and communities such as Los Angeles and San Diego, with as much as three-quarters of an inch of rainfall over the next week.
- Potentially equally beneficial will be the higher humidity values, which are sure to help tamp down any major flare-ups along wildfires.
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Important Takeaways:
- A magnitude 4.5 earthquake rocked southern Texas Wednesday night, striking nearly 45 miles southwest of the city of San Antonio.
- The US Geological Survey (USGS) detected the seismic event at 9:26pm CT near Falls City, measuring it at a depth of about 2.3 miles.
- The quake ranks as the third-strongest earthquake ever to hit South Texas, following a magnitude 4.8 quake in 2011 and a 4.7 quake in February 2024 that also hit near Falls City.
- Wednesday’s earthquake was followed by a magnitude 2.6 aftershock that struck 10.5 miles south-southeast of Stockdale, Texas around 1:17am Thursday.
- No damages or injuries have been reported from either of the quakes.
- But could be more tremors to come. The USGS predicted a 36 percent chance of magnitude 3 aftershocks following the main quake.
- The vast majority of earthquakes result from the constant movement of tectonic plates, which are massive, solid slabs of rock that make up the planetary surface and shift around on top of Earth’s mantle — the inner layer between the crust and core.
- When that stress overcomes the friction, the plates slip, causing a release of energy that ravels in waves through the Earth’s crust and generates the shaking we feel at the surface.
- But quakes of this size are quite unusual for the Lone Star State.
- Experts have not confirmed whether the magnitude 4.5 Falls City earthquake was linked to fracking, but this city is located in the Eagle Ford Shale area which is known for oil and gas production.
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Important Takeaways:
- The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported a magnitude 3.7 earthquake near Mammoth, Wyoming, at about 6 p.m. MST, close to the Norris Geyser Basin. Seismologists said a few people in the Yellowstone region reported the shaking.
- “The earthquake is typical of the Yellowstone region and not a sign of any significant unrest,” the agency said following the quake.
- The National Park Service (NPS) said Norris Geyser Basin is home to some truly extreme geothermal features.
- The highest temperature ever recorded in Yellowstone (459 degrees) was measured in a drill hole at Norris, just 1,087 feet below the surface, underscoring the intense heat and activity in the area, the NPS added. There are very few thermal features at Norris under the boiling point at 199 degrees at this elevation.
- Norris shows evidence of having had thermal features for at least 115,000 years, according to the NPS. The features in the basin change daily, with frequent disturbances from seismic activity and water fluctuations.
- While Yellowstone is frequently rattled by small earthquakes — averaging 1,500 to 2,500 per year — the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory notes that larger, damaging earthquakes have also struck the area.
- The park’s largest recorded earthquake, a magnitude 6, occurred on June 30, 1975, along the north-central boundary of Yellowstone Caldera, a few miles southeast of Norris Geyser Basin. No injuries were reported, and all park campgrounds and facilities remained open.
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Important Takeaways:
- Trust in the intelligence community is at an “all-time low,” Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence (DNI), said during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.
- “I’m honored and grateful to President Trump for his trust and confidence in nominating me to serve our country as the Director of National Intelligence at a time when trust in the intelligence community, unfortunately, is at an all-time low,” Gabbard said during her opening statement, citing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who “admitted a few years ago, quote, ‘You take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.’”
- “For too long, faulty, inadequate or weaponized intelligence have led to costly failures and the undermining of our national security and God-given freedoms enshrined in the Constitution,” she said before laying out several of these failures by name, beginning with the invasion of Iraq.
- She said:
- The most obvious example of one of these failures is our invasion of Iraq based upon a total fabrication or complete failure of intelligence. This disastrous decision led to the deaths of tens of thousands of American soldiers, millions of people in the Middle East, mass migration, destabilization and undermining of the security and stability of our European allies, the rise of ISIS, strengthening of al Qaeda and other Islamist jihadist groups, and strengthening Iran.
- Gabbard listed a host of other examples, many of which occurred under President Joe Biden’s watch.
- “The American people elected Donald Trump as their president, not once, but twice, and yet, the FBI and intelligence agencies were politicized by his opponents to undermine his presidency and falsely portray him as a puppet of Putin,” she said. “Title I of FISA was used illegally to obtain a warrant to spy on Trump campaign advisor Carter Page, using a Clinton campaign-funded false dossier as their so-called evidence.”
- “Biden campaign adviser Tony Blinken was the impetus for the 51 former senior intelligence officials’ letter dismissing Hunter Biden’s laptop as disinformation, specifically to help Biden win the election,” she continued.
- “Former DNI James Clapper lied to this committee in 2013, denying the existence of programs that facilitated the mass collection of millions of Americans’ phone and internet records, yet was never held accountable,” she said. “Under John Brennan’s leadership, the CIA abused its power to spy on Congress to dodge oversight, lied about doing it until he was caught and yet has never been held responsible.”
- Further, Gabbard continued, the FBI “abused its power for political reasons to try to surveil Catholics who attend traditional Latin Mass, labeling them as quote, unquote, radical traditionalist Catholics” — all of which happened under Biden’s watch.
- “Personally, just 24 hours after I criticized Kamala Harris and her nomination, I was placed on a secret domestic terror watch list called Quiet Skies,” Gabbard revealed. “Sadly, there are more examples.”
- Gabbard said such weaponization must end, contending that this is something that comes with the mandate the American people issued to President Trump.
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