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FBI arrests 55 in massive drug ring with alleged China supplier flooding US streets with fentanyl
Today's Headlines
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Human Trafficking Crackdown Nets More than 600 [LA] Suspects in Sex Trade
[Breitbart] Authorities in Los Angeles announced Tuesday the results of a statewide crackdown on human trafficking that resulted in the arrests of more than 600 suspects and the rescue of 170 victims, predominantly in the sex trade.

The weeklong “Operation Reclaim and Rebuild” campaign was part of a yearly effort by the Los Angeles Regional Human Trafficking Task Force and 80 local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna laid out the exact numbers at a news conference, later posted on X.

A total of 611 criminal arrests were made and 156 adults rescued as part of the operations, Luna told reporters. In addition, 14 children were rescued from sex trafficking. Officials said 71 suspected traffickers were arrested, and an additional 328 sex buyers were arrested.

“This is a multibillion-dollar industry,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said. “It is nothing less than modern slavery.”

According to the Los Angeles Times’ reporting of the announcement:

Operations focused on corridors known for prostitution, and also involved parole and probation checks on individuals previously arrested for similar crimes, authorities said. In one case, Sheriff Robert Luna said, a citizen complaint about a possible residential brothel led to the discovery of multiple residential brothels in Walnut and the arrest of six suspected traffickers. “California will not be a refuge to predators,” Luna said.

The arrests and the annual enforcement campaign, Luna said, are meant to send a message to traffickers in the area: “We’re coming after you. Don’t do this. You’re going to be arrested, and you’re going to be held accountable.”

This year’s operation was conducted the last week of January, but law enforcement officials stressed enforcement was ongoing.

“This is 365,” Hochman said. “It did not end in January. We’re going to continue to prosecute these cases the entire year.”

The latest numbers were higher than in previous operations. A similar campaign last year yielded 547 arrests and the year before that 539 were arrested.

According to Luna, the increase in arrests over last year is due to the fact that the task force gets “better” and “more knowledgeable” in mining accumulated arrest materials every year.

In Los Angeles County, the operation resulted in 192 arrests, including multiple arrests along Figueroa Street, a known corridor for prostitution and trafficking, LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton said.

“We have traffickers that are putting barely teenage girls out there on the streets of Los Angeles to be victimized,” he said, adding those rescued will be connected to social services to get help.

Hamilton said that several of the suspected traffickers traveled to L.A. from Washington, Virginia, Idaho, and Mississippi to bring men, women, and children “for a quick, dirty buck on the streets of Los Angeles.”

A brothel located in a house in Walnut, California — a suburb of 30,000 some 25 miles east of downtown L.A. — netted hundreds of arrests alone, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

Law enforcement officials said pimps and predators look for young, vulnerable people in order to exploit them.

“They’re looking for runaways,” Hochman said. “They are looking for people who are just out of the foster system, they’re luring people using the tools of the internet and social media.”

Hochman also called the arrest of 328 customers a “stunning” number.

“If there wasn’t a demand of people willing to pay good, cold, hard cash to have sex with these young girls and boys, the supply would run out,” Hochman said.

The DA said he was interested in creating a registry website, similar to the sex-offender program in the state, that would publish details of customers paying for sex — employing “embarrassment” to “stop them and others from engaging” in the conduct.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/05/2026 00:47 || Comments || Link || [1775 views] Top|| File under: Human Trafficking

#1  There are 635 Congresscritters. Just saying.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/05/2026 10:20 Comments || Top||

#2  oops that should be 535 [still within the ballpark]
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/05/2026 10:21 Comments || Top||

#3  There are 635 Congresscritters.

635 is a not unreasonable estimate since some are twice as dumb as the others.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/05/2026 10:47 Comments || Top||

#4  and multiple personality disorders abound
Posted by: Frank G || 02/05/2026 11:17 Comments || Top||

#5  LA is the place to trade sexes.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/05/2026 11:32 Comments || Top||


'Attempted Trump assassin Ryan Routh is sentenced to life in prison, plus 7 years
[FoxNews] Ryan Routh was convicted last September on five federal criminal counts

Ryan Routh was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison plus seven years following his 2024 assassination attempt against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club in Florida.

The sentencing comes after Routh was convicted last September on five federal criminal counts, including attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and multiple firearms offenses.

Routh spoke in court for about 15 minutes on Wednesday, repeating topics that he mentioned during his trial, such as talking about himself as a good person and his alleged work in Ukraine trying to recruit for their army.

However, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon eventually stopped Routh and made her sentencing, saying he is an evil person who intended to kill Trump and would have done so if it hadn't been for a Secret Service agent who disrupted the plot.

Prosecutors pushed for the 59-year-old to get a life sentence, while Routh’s attorney, Martin Roth, asked the judge for 20 years in prison on top of a seven-year, mandatory sentence for one of the gun convictions.

Roth said Wednesday that Routh "stands by his plea of not guilty" and that Routh has "objected to any claim that he attempted to murder" anyone.

"This would have been an easy kill. And the kill would have happened without [Secret Service] Agent Fercano," Assistant U.S. Attorney John Shipley later said. "This was intended to be a cold-blooded concealed kill… to make sure the American people didn’t even have the chance to vote for him [Trump]."

Roth argued that, "It would have taken less than an instant [for Routh] to pull the trigger but the defendant did not," and, "At the moment of truth he did not fire."

The judge pushed back, noting Routh’s history of arrests, to which Roth said, "He’s a complex person, I’ll give the court that, but he has a very good core."

Routh then read from a statement, during which he said all he ever tried to do was be a good American and asked to be exchanged for a long list of political prisoners around the world.

About seven to eight minutes into his statement, Judge Cannon stopped him and asked him in an exasperated tone how much longer he had. Routh said he had about 20 pages, timed out to be about 30 minutes.

"I never drank, never smoked, never did drugs," Routh said at one point. "I gave every ounce of myself to make America a better place."

Cannon eventually cut him off.

"It’s clear to me that the guideline of life imprisonment and the minimal mandatory sentencing is in order," she said.

"Your plot to kill was deliberate and evil," she added. "You are not a peaceful man. And your criminal history shows it."

She then issued his sentence: Life without parole, plus 7 years on a gun charge. His sentences for his other three crimes will run concurrently.

Routh was clean shaven on Wednesday, wore a tan prison jumpsuit, and had longer hair than he did during his trial in September. Routh at times fidgeted with the shackles he had on his wrists.

At the end of the hearing, Routh whispered, "good job" to Roth. As he was escorted out, Routh turned toward the gallery and winked and blew a kiss.

Routh's sentencing in Fort Pierce, Fla., had initially been scheduled for December, but Cannon agreed to move the date back after Routh decided to use an attorney during the sentencing phase instead of representing himself as he did for most of the trial.

Prosecutors said Routh spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle through shrubbery as the then-Republican presidential candidate played golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach, Fla., country club.

At Routh’s trial, a Secret Service agent helping protect Trump on the golf course testified that he spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and run away without firing a shot.

Posted by: Skidmark || 02/05/2026 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1821 views] Top|| File under: Nut Jobs

#1  Life plus 7.

That last 7 is going to stink like hell, unless they put him on ice.😎
Posted by: NN2N1 || 02/05/2026 2:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Always, always the Ukraine connection. It is a nexus of deep state activity.
Posted by: Jairong+Scourge+of+the+Gepids2435 || 02/05/2026 7:33 Comments || Top||

#3  ^ Not to mention Russian activity. But we repeat ourselves.
Posted by: Andy Omusosh8333 || 02/05/2026 14:00 Comments || Top||

#4  That last 7 is going to stink like hell, unless they put him on ice.

This is why when I become King of the Forest, all criminals will be freeze-dried and stored in a vacuum to serve out their sentence, to be reconstituted when they served their time. For life plus, at the end we can just launch them off randomly into space. Better luck in the next star system!
Posted by: SteveS || 02/05/2026 15:55 Comments || Top||

#5  That 7 years may be so that the case docket can't be opened until the statute of limitations has concluded. Wouldn't want anybody finding out who put him up to it, just because he dies.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/05/2026 18:22 Comments || Top||

#6  He was the guy on the grassy knoll.
Posted by: chris || 02/05/2026 18:25 Comments || Top||

#7  He couldn't shoot himself fapping alone
Posted by: Frank G || 02/05/2026 19:53 Comments || Top||


-Great Cultural Revolution
'When men stop doing the dangerous jobs, when men stop getting married, when men stop having kids, what's your plan?'
[X]
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/05/2026 10:48 || Comments || Link || [1813 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So this middle age white woman, in defense of feminism while absolutely spackled in makeup and dipped in hair dye like one of those litl' trolls, basically answers, hope.

Jeezuz, even Star Trek: Learing Academy has a better plot plan.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/05/2026 11:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Hire a Mexican?
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/05/2026 11:28 Comments || Top||

#3  And men are getting more foreign brides when they are getting married. NYC clubs are going out of business like crazy as there are no men buying drinks, dating events have no men show up, men don't help women anymore.

Sorry libtardfembots. You are living in the world you asked for. You hate it. Now live with it and die alone with your cats.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/05/2026 12:07 Comments || Top||

#4  She's a base realist.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/05/2026 12:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Parthenogenesis trends. A new burg topical category ?

Breitbart - Man Gives Woman a Ride on Cold Night and She Shoots Him Dead
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/05/2026 12:32 Comments || Top||

#6  I really feel for young men. THIS is what they have to choose from. The young women are even more politically radical. Used to be a man could get a job, buy a house, find a wife, have kids on one salary, and have a life worth living.
Posted by: Jairong+Scourge+of+the+Gepids2435 || 02/05/2026 13:14 Comments || Top||

#7  The silver lining is it more prevalent in the blue states.
Posted by: Chantry || 02/05/2026 13:56 Comments || Top||

#8  /\ Used to be a man could get a job, buy a house, find a wife, have kids on one salary, and have a life worth living.

....visit Yellowstone.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/05/2026 14:23 Comments || Top||

#9  Hire a Mexican?
Doing the jobs Americans won't.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/05/2026 14:35 Comments || Top||

#10  While there is a lot of this kind of talk, young conservative men are still working, and young conservative women still appreciate them and marry them — and have more than two kids because they like them, whether or not they also have a job or career.

And to be honest, there are plenty of traditional marriages where the husband and wife talk liberal but live like conservatives. I used to be one of them.

Jairong dear, young men can still have all that. They just need to meet one of those nice, old-fashioned girls at church or a Turning Point USA rally, marry her, and live a happily frugal life instead of looking for a goodtime girl in a bar who’ll help him spend every penny he makes. But the thing is, the old fashioned girls marry young, and then they’re off the market. So your young men can’t hang out for years playing video games with their bros, because then all there will be left is the radical, man-hating shrews.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/05/2026 15:10 Comments || Top||

#11  THIS is what they have to choose from.

Cause your Granddaddy told you?
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/05/2026 15:52 Comments || Top||

#12  Excellent analysis TW!
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 02/05/2026 15:58 Comments || Top||

#13  Let her explain it.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/05/2026 16:16 Comments || Top||

#14  Let her explain it.

That also rings true, Procopius2k. Certainly it comports with what some of our unmarried male Rantburgers have reported in their own lives.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/05/2026 21:01 Comments || Top||

#15  Instapundit’s wife, a clinical psychologist who specializes in this issue, just came out with a book on the subject: His Side: Men Speak Out on Dating, Marriage, and Life in America
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/05/2026 21:38 Comments || Top||

#16  Spot on TW.
Posted by: Woodrow || 02/05/2026 21:57 Comments || Top||


'Nike faces federal probe over allegations of ‘DEI-related' discrimination against white workers
NEW YORK (AP) — The federal agency for protecting workers’ civil rights revealed Wednesday that it is investigating sportswear giant Nike for allegedly discriminating against white employees through its diversity policies.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission disclosed the investigation in a motion filed in Missouri federal court demanding that Nike fully comply with a subpoena for information.

The EEOC sought the company’s criteria for selecting employees for layoffs, how it tracks and uses worker race and ethnicity data, and information about programs which allegedly provided race-restricted mentoring, leadership, or career development opportunities, according to court documents.

In a statement, Nike said the company has worked to cooperate with the EEOC and the subpoena "feels like a surprising and unusual escalation."

"We have shared thousands of pages of information and detailed written responses to the EEOC’s inquiry and are in the process of providing additional information," Nike said in a statement sent to The Associated Press."
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/05/2026 06:00 || Comments || Link || [1804 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why buy Nike anyway?

It's shoes for people of color only.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 02/05/2026 8:39 Comments || Top||

#2  ^Aren't they made in China?
Posted by: Grom the Affective || 02/05/2026 9:57 Comments || Top||

#3  (LeBron Checks Notes)
Nike is good luck and made from socially sustainable and responsible working conditions. The wage of the worker is good fortune and a shining path until beyond tomorrow.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/05/2026 11:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Aren't they made in China?

Colored people? So that's where they come from. I thought they were a natural phenomena.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/05/2026 11:34 Comments || Top||

#5  A federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that actually seeks equal employment opportunity? What a novel concept!
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/05/2026 12:39 Comments || Top||

#6  What are the odds Nike keeps Bud Lite in the vending machines and the executives drive Jags?
Posted by: Woodrow || 02/05/2026 21:59 Comments || Top||


Texas Dad Sues California Abortion Pill Supplier For Death Of His Unborn Babies
[Federalist] A Texas father is suing a California doctor for alleging aiding and abetting the murder of two of his unborn babies by illegally mailing mifepristone to the estranged husband of the man’s girlfriend.

Jerry Rodriguez is the first Texan to take advantage of the Lone Star State’s new law, which permits residents to sue out-of-state mifepristone prescribers, manufacturers, and distributors, such as pharmacies, for "an amount of not less than $100,000" for each violation of the Texas’ ban on abortion drugs.

The Texas legislature designed the law, which passed in September and went into effect in December, to combat the influx of Democrat states shielding abortion drug traffickers who use radically expanded mail-order mifepristone allowances to illegally ship abortion pills to people in pro-life states. Enforcement of the statute is modeled after Texas’ successful 2021 heartbeat bill, which virtually eliminated abortion in the state by allowing anyone outside of the government to bring a civil action against anyone who performs or aids and abets ending a life in the womb.

In his suit, Rodriguez alleged California Dr. Remy Coeytaux illicitly mailed the mifepristone that ended his unborn babies’ lives on two separate occasions.

"Coeytaux directly committed murder under section 19.02(b)(1) because he ’intentionally and knowingly caused the death’ of Mr. Rodriguez’s unborn child by delivering abortion pills that he knew would be used in an illegal self-managed abortion," the complaint states.

The lawsuit also suggested the abortion drug manufacturers and distributors will also be named as defendants because they are "jointly and severally liable for the wrongful death of Mr. Rodriguez’s unborn child."
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/05/2026 00:11 || Comments || Link || [1777 views] Top|| File under:


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Oh no! CIA ends publication of popular World Factbook reference tool
Now where will I find out all that stuff?
[IsraelTimes] The CIA announces that after more than 60 years, it is shuttering the popular World Factbook reference manual.

The announcement posted to the CIA’s website offers no reason for the decision to end the Factbook, but it follows a vow from Director John Ratcliffe to end programs that don’t advance the agency’s core missions.

First launched in 1962 as a printed, classified reference manual for intelligence officers, the Factbook offers a detailed, by-the-numbers picture of foreign nations, their economies, militaries, resources and societies. The Factbook proved so useful that other federal agencies began using it, and within a decade, an unclassified version was released to the public.

After going online in 1997, the Factbook quickly became a popular reference site for journalists, trivia aficionados and the writers of college essays, racking up millions of visits per year.

The White House has moved to cut staffing at the CIA and the National Security Agency early in US President Donald Trump’s second term, forcing the agency to do more with less.

The CIA did not return a message seeking comment about the decision to cease publication of the Factbook.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/05/2026 2026-02-05 04:10 || Comments || Link || [1803 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Standard spiteful government tactics: when cuts come, cut the useful parts instead of the fat and say, 'this is your fault!'
Posted by: Jairong+Scourge+of+the+Gepids2435 || 02/05/2026 5:32 Comments || Top||

#2  ^ Is it part of the CIAs' core mission to provide your bots with unclassified info that could be found elsewhere with a little effort and digging? No.
Posted by: Frank G || 02/05/2026 5:35 Comments || Top||

#3  ^The most useful thing they did.
Posted by: Grom the Affective || 02/05/2026 6:08 Comments || Top||

#4  Early AI took some adjustment. I've lived without my Encyclopedia Britannica annual update volume for 55 years now and am doing fine, or so I think.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/05/2026 6:26 Comments || Top||

#5  Besoeker, I'm sorry what I said about the baby butchers. You were right and I was wrong. They chopped up babies and ate them. Ref: Epstein file EFTA00147661
Posted by: Jairong+Scourge+of+the+Gepids2435 || 02/05/2026 6:35 Comments || Top||

#6  No apologies necessary. I salute your contributions and participation.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/05/2026 6:50 Comments || Top||

#7  Actually this is truly stupid. The costs can't have been high, but the PR value was stellar.
Posted by: European Conservative || 02/05/2026 7:12 Comments || Top||

#8  It was very useful early on, but now with the internet and especially data mining tools that are free, it is kind of redundant. Yeah it is a nice PR thing, but not really worth the cost anymore IMHO.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/05/2026 8:32 Comments || Top||

#9  Kind of like those jacket protectors for phone books. Had a number for each of the pizza delivery places, time and temp, movie theater showing times, and the roller rink number and hours. Probably a couple of bondsmen for those who were aware of such things.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/05/2026 10:03 Comments || Top||

#10  Cost savings?
Or they no longer know the state of the world.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/05/2026 11:30 Comments || Top||

#11  I thought the core mission of the CIA was to provide useful intelligence. If the Factbook is not useful intelligence, what is it? I'd rather have them busy with that than plotting coups.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/05/2026 12:58 Comments || Top||

#12  I always assumed it was a filtered version of what they produced for internal consumption. If you are a capable intelligence agency, you need a vast, self-generated, baseline document with an encyclopedic range of information about everywhere that you can trust as accurate and comprehensive. Once you have that, filtering out the Factbook seems just a way to generate public interest worldwide, and garner the occasional correction/contact from someone who might be worth further contact!.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 02/05/2026 16:05 Comments || Top||

#13  ^ Exactly
Posted by: Frank G || 02/05/2026 19:59 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
'Unexpectedly-US plastic surgeons organization recommends delaying gender-affirming surgery until patient is 19-timing unrelated to recent multi-million award!
[JustTheNews] The ASPS, which represents more than 11,000 physicians globally, found that there is low certainty in the risk-benefit ratio for gender-related surgical interventions for minors.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons published a position statement Tuesday recommending surgeons delay gender reassignment surgeries until a patient is 19-years-old, which earned praise from the Trump administration.

The release cites a Department of Health and Human Services article last year that highlights a “rapid expansion and implementation of a clinical protocol that lacked sufficient scientific and ethical justification," when it comes to pediatric gender-affirming care.

The ASPS, which represents more than 11,000 physicians globally, agreed with HHS that there is low certainty in the risk-benefit ratio for gender-related surgical interventions for minors.

“Available evidence suggests that a substantial proportion of children with prepubertal onset gender dysphoria experience resolution or significant reduction of distress by the time they reach adulthood, absent medical or surgical intervention,” the ASPS’s statement reads. “Evidence regarding adolescent onset presentation, which has become increasingly common since the mid-2010s, is more limited but similarly does not allow for confident prediction of long-term trajectories.”

Although the statement recommends postponing gender reassignment surgeries until the patient is no longer a minor, it does not give specific guidance when it comes to the use of hormonal gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers, even as it cites “substantial uncertainty” about the long-term benefits and harms of puberty blockers.

The nine-page report received praise from the Trump administration, including HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for taking a stand that helped "protect future generations of American children from irreversible harm."

“When the medical ethics textbooks of the future are written, they’ll look back on sex-rejecting procedures for minors the way we look back on lobotomies," Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Administrator Mehmet Oz added. "I applaud the American Society of Plastic Surgeons for placing itself on the right side of history by opposing these dangerous, unscientific experiments.”

The announcement by the ASPS comes just days after a New York jury awarded $2 million in damages to 22-year-old Fox Varian in the first malpractice suit from a detransitioner to go before a jury. She underwent gender-transition surgery at age 16, according to The Free Press.


Posted by: NoMoreBS || 02/05/2026 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1825 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Sooner or later.
One of those pre-teens, of a Social Media influencer parent, that FORCED a sex change on them, is going to sue their parents along with the doctors.

I wonder where they will get the replacement parts for the corrective surgery?
Posted by: NN2N1 || 02/05/2026 7:16 Comments || Top||

#2  ^ From the parents or doctors.
Posted by: Chantry || 02/05/2026 9:30 Comments || Top||

#3  #1 Snark of the day?
Posted by: Grom the Affective || 02/05/2026 10:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Too late -- the plaintiffs' bar smells blood in the water.
Posted by: Matt || 02/05/2026 10:33 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Clashes are ongoing in the western parts of Baidoa, the regional capital of Somalia’s Bay region

Text:

#UPDATE: Fighting Intensifies in Western Baidoa

Clashes are ongoing in the western parts of Baidoa, the regional capital of Somalia’s Bay region, between South West State Dervish forces
…a Jubaland paramilitary security force focussed primarily on counterterrorism, so this is an odd fight between Somali government forces and those of one of Somalia’s autonomous federated states…
and troops loyal to a Somali National Army (SNA) officer, local sources say.

The fighting involves forces aligned with an officer identified as Abdirahman Nishow, who is reported to be a member of the 60th Division, 8th Brigade of the Somali National Army. Sporadic clashes had been reported since the morning, before intensifying later in the afternoon after reinforcements reportedly arrived in support of the officer’s forces.

More at the link
Posted by: badanov || 02/05/2026 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1776 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Russia, China squeeze US Arctic defense zone as Trump eyes Greenland
[FoxNews] Sen. Dan Sullivan highlighted funding and plans to reboot WWII-era base on far-flung Adak

After U.S. officials detected a sharp rise in Russian and Chinese military incursions near Alaska — including a growing number of joint operations — Sen. Dan Sullivan is warning that the Arctic has become an active security front. And he's pushing Congress to accelerate icebreaker construction, reopen Cold War–era bases and bolster U.S. defenses in the region.

Sullivan’s warning comes as new data show foreign military traffic near Alaska climbing sharply, a trend he says has gone largely unnoticed outside the region even as Moscow and Beijing coordinate more closely. He argues the activity has exposed how thin U.S. Arctic capabilities have become and why Washington is now scrambling to catch up.

"Let’s just say the world's largest fleet of oceanographic survey ships wasn't off the coast of Alaska to ‘save the whales,’" Sullivan told Fox News Digital in an interview.

President Donald Trump's ongoing friction with Denmark over Greenland reflects the growing importance of the Arctic for the administration, Sullivan said. As melting ice opens new shipping lanes, energy access and military routes, Alaska is becoming a front line in the contest for economic and strategic dominance.

Plans to reboot far-flung military operations off Russia's back door — recently revisited in Tom Cruise's latest "Mission: Impossible" installment — along with crucial new port infrastructure and a major cash infusion to the U.S. Coast Guard are all efforts to demonstrate the only thing America's adversaries respect, Sullivan said: "Power."

Sullivan, R-Alaska, recently chaired a Senate Commerce Subcommittee hearing examining the U.S. Coast Guard’s Arctic presence and discussed a new U.S.-Finnish deal to secure crucial new icebreaker craft and funding from the recent tax-cut law funding for at least three USCG Arctic security cutters amid a record $25 billion total investment in Coast Guard prowess.

The U.S. currently has two, one of which is out of service, while the Russians have 54 icebreaker craft, "nuclear-powered and weaponized," he said.
Why use icebreakers?
BUFF can carry 50 Mk82s.
That should open a channel.

Sullivan shared data with Fox News Digital showing a sharp rise in Russian, Chinese and joint Sino-Russian military aircraft and maritime incursions into the U.S. Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ, a security buffer stretching beyond 12-nautical-mile sovereign U.S. airspace where foreign craft are required to identify themselves.

Since 2019, there have been more than 100 Russian aircraft, four Chinese vessels and, most alarmingly, more than a dozen joint operations that have entered the ADIZ, Sullivan said.

Trump’s recent focus on Greenland underscored the urgency of Arctic national security, Sullivan said, echoing warnings from NATO commander USAF Gen. Alexus Grynkewich that China’s expanding "research" presence in the region is becoming increasingly aggressive.

While the Russians identify with the Arctic, China’s self-moniker of a "near-Arctic power" is confounding and concerning, he added, pointing to its actual location on the globe.

Sullivan said the situation is reminiscent of Vladimir Lenin’s mantra that when you probe an enemy with a bayonet, "if you find mush, you push. If you find steel, you withdraw."

The U.S., he said, must steel itself against these threats, and Congress must be on the front lines, ensuring the resources and defenses are ready and in service.

"The only thing authoritarian regimes that are our adversaries understand is power. That’s U.S. energy security, Coast Guard, military assets and infrastructure."

As the chairman of the Senate Commerce Coast Guard subcommittee, Sullivan said he is working hard to ensure that is what Moscow and Beijing will see, noting the new Storis icebreaker vessel received funding to home port in Juneau, along with 16 more icebreakers and $4.5 billion in shorefront infrastructure.

In addition, a World War II-era base on far-flung Adak in the Aleutian Chain is on track to be reopened, Sullivan revealed.

The base, somewhat dramatized in "Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning," which featured a counter-Soviet listening post on nearby St. Matthew Island, was key to Allied defenses as Japan bombed present-day crabbing port Dutch Harbor and invaded Attu and Kiska islands, events less remembered than the Axis’ other Pacific attack at Pearl Harbor.

Adak's Base largely closed down in 1994 after the end of the Cold War.

Sullivan revealed he secured $115 million to begin rebuilding Adak, paired with $500 million to establish a deepwater port in Nome, one of the closest cities to both Russia and the Arctic Ocean.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/05/2026 00:22 || Comments || Link || [1771 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Trump administration axes $1.5B in blue-state grants over reported waste and mismanagement concerns
[FoxBusinessNews] Office of Management and Budget targets California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota projects at DOT and CDC

The Trump administration’s budget office told FOX Business Wednesday that it is canceling $1.5 billion in blue-state grants, citing concerns about how funds are being managed in California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said it will target projects at the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cutting $943 million and $602 million, respectively.

An OMB spokesperson told the New York Post that the states were being targeted due to "waste and mismanagement" of taxpayer funds.

The announcement follows OMB launching a sweeping review of federal funding for several Democratic-led states in January, which required states to submit detailed receipts proving no funds were being mishandled, CBS News reported.

The initiative reflects a shift in fiscal policy toward "America First" priorities by withholding funds from states that maintain sanctuary policies or projects the administration deems wasteful.

Concerns cited include tax support for illegal immigrants, green initiatives and alleged fraud in certain states, such as the $250 million COVID-era scam in Minnesota uncovered in the "Feeding Our Future" case.

Several DOT and CDC programs in blue states could be affected by the funding cuts, including equity-focused infrastructure projects and public health initiatives the OMB previously criticized as "social engineering" rather than legitimate public health efforts.

"The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and Green New Deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve," the OMB previously said in 2025.

In January, Trump halted more than $10 billion in federal childcare and social services funding to four states, as well as New York, over concerns that some benefits had been fraudulently funneled to noncitizens, the Post reported.

In California, San Francisco was slated to receive $15 million to expand its electric vehicle charging network, with a focus on "disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution," city officials said in 2025.

Similarly, the California Reducing Disparities Project, an equity-focused public health program serving marginalized communities, including racial minorities and LGBTQ+ populations, was awarded $60 million over six years.

Chicago has drawn scrutiny for its initiatives focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.

The Biden-era Red Line Extension and the Red and Purple Modernization Programs, which together total approximately $2.1 billion, were paused in 2025 pending a review of "race-based contracting" practices.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/05/2026 00:32 || Comments || Link || [1771 views] Top|| File under:


Trump Administration halts small business loans to foreign nationals, requiring full American ownership
.[Breitbart] President Donald Trump’s Small Business Administration (SBA) is stopping the issuance of small business loans to foreign nationals, requiring that a business be 100 percent owned by a U.S. citizen or U.S. national to receive such a loan.

This week, the SBA published a memo requiring that, beginning next month, applicants for the agency’s primary small business loan be American citizens or American nationals.

“… effective March 1, 2026, SBA hereby revises Standard Operating Procedure 50 10 8 Lender and Development Company Loan Programs guidance related to businesses owned by non-U.S. citizens,” the memo states:

Consistent with 13 C.F.R. 120.100 and Executive Order 14159 “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” SBA is requiring that 100% of all direct and/or indirect owners of a small business applicant be U.S. Citizens or U.S. Nationals who have their Principal Residence in the United States, its territories, or possessions.
[Emphasis added]

Effective March 1, 2026, this Notice rescinds SBA Procedural Notice 5000-872050, removing the narrow exception that allowed a Borrower to have up to 5% ownership held by foreign nationals, or U.S. Citizens, U.S. Nationals, or Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) whose Principal Residents [sic] was outside of the United States, its territories, or possessions. Further, and beginning with the Effective Date of this Notice, Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) will not be eligible to own any percentage interest in an Applicant/Borrower, OC, or EPC. [Emphasis added]

Closing the small business loan loophole comes after the SBA suspended almost 7,000 pandemic-era loans for borrowers in Minnesota due to “suspected fraud activity,” according to Administrator Kelly Loeffler.

“In total, these borrowers were approved for 7,900 PPP and EIDL loans worth approximately $400M,” Loeffler announced last month. “These individuals will be banned from all SBA loan programs, including disaster loans, going forward. We will also refer every case, where appropriate, to federal law enforcement for prosecution and repayment. After years, the American people will finally begin to see the criminals who stole from law-abiding taxpayers held accountable — and this is just the first state.”

Likewise, last week, the SBA suspended more than 1,000 businesses from the agency’s 8(a) Business Development Program after business owners failed to submit required financial documents.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 02/05/2026 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1771 views] Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats

#1 

Set up a Foreign SBA and let the Somalians Daycare operators fund them. ;-) They have the $$$$$...

BTW: what is being done to recover the $$$$ of that $10B that ended up in the various L.S.D./NGO hands to buy blinders with?
Posted by: NN2N1 || 02/05/2026 7:11 Comments || Top||

#2  /\ President Donald Trump’s Small Business Administration (SBA) is stopping the issuance of small business loans to foreign nationals

Hopefully Director Radcliffe was provided a suitable funding bridge.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/05/2026 7:22 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2026-02-05
  FBI arrests 55 in massive drug ring with alleged China supplier flooding US streets with fentanyl
Wed 2026-02-04
  Military airstrike neutralizes 27 Bad Guys in Katsina dawn operation
Tue 2026-02-03
  Over 100 mortar shells found in UNRWA bags in Gaza
Mon 2026-02-02
  In Minneapolis Antifa set up checkpoints to check IDs against their data base for ICE agents
Sun 2026-02-01
  LA descends into a war zone as furious protesters brandishing Mexican and American flags while wearing gas masks ATTACK police
Sat 2026-01-31
  Iran targets injured at hospitals in crackdown on protesters
Fri 2026-01-30
  Don Lemon was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles, attorney says
Thu 2026-01-29
  Battlefield 'voice of God' sonic weapon used in warzones unleashed on Minneapolis protesters
Wed 2026-01-28
  IDF says 3 Hezbollah operatives killed in separate strikes in south Lebanon
Tue 2026-01-27
  Last Oct 7th Hostage recovered.
Mon 2026-01-26
  'Barely made it out alive': James O'Keefe attacked in Minneapolis and gets threatened, 'You have 1 hour to leave or you're dead'
Sun 2026-01-25
   Khamenei has gone into hiding ahead of possible US attack, opposition-affiliated news site reports
Sat 2026-01-24
  JNIM claims to have taken control of an IS-Sahel headquarters in Tin-Akoff, northeast Burkina Faso
Fri 2026-01-23
  Belgian police say 6 injured, 2 critical, in knife attack at Kurdish rally in Antwerp
Thu 2026-01-22
  Over 150 Nigerian Christians Kidnapped by Islamic Militants During Sunday Services


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