Authored by Frank Shostak via The Mises Institute,

In the late 1960’s Edmund Phelps and Milton Friedman challenged the popular view that there can be a sustainable trade-off between inflation and unemployment. In fact, over time, according to Friedman, expansionary central bank policies set the platform for lower economic growth and a higher rate of inflation (i.e., stagflation). A famous case of stagflation occurred during the 1974-75 period. In March 1975, industrial production fell by nearly 13 percent year-on-year while the yearly growth rate of the consumer price index (CPI) jumped to around 12 percent.

As US carriers deploy in the Mideast region and with tense nuclear talks inching forward in Geneva, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is reportedly taking Washington threats of assassination very seriously.

According to a Sunday report by The New York Times, Khamenei has quietly established detailed succession plans and emergency chains of command in the event he - or other top regime figures - are killed in potential US or Israeli strikes.

Authored by Stephen Soukup via American Greatness,

Over the past week or so, many on the political Right have understandably enjoyed a laugh or two at the expense of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D, N.Y.). AOC went to the Munich Security Conference to provide “balance” to the Trump administration’s presence and to burnish her own credentials on the global stage. Instead, she mostly just made a fool of herself. Not only did she stutter, stammer, and offer a Kamala Harris-esque non-answer when asked about American interests in and obligations to Taiwan, but she also demonstrated a comically poor grasp of geography and a righteously ignorant understanding of history. In an effort to rebut and embarrass U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, AOC embarrassed only herself, showing that historical facts mean far less to her than identity-inspired fiction.

After disrupting countless Software/SaaS/finance/real estate/broker sectors, Anthropic's Claude is now going after targeted companies. 

A little before 2pm ET, Bloomberg sent out a headline that Anthropic's Claude has found yet another skillset:

Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,

The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to hear two cases on Feb. 23 about U.S. business assets that Cuba’s communist government seized decades ago.

Both cases focus on the 1996 Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act that was created to pressure Cuba by penalizing foreign companies “trafficking” in property that the Cuban regime seized from U.S. interests.

By Benjamin Picton, senior market strategist at Rabobank

US stocks closed higher on Friday following news that the Supreme Court had ruled 6-3 to uphold a lower court decision that found Trump’s signature tariff policy to be illegal. The court found that Trump acted beyond his authority by imposing tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act with the majority holding that tariffs are a branch of taxation and that the Constitution grants powers over taxation to Congress, not to the President. Critically, the Court found that IEEPA makes no specific mention of delegating tariff powers to the Executive and that there exists no precedent of IEEPA being used to levy tariffs.

It was a historic moment for Team USA Hockey as Jack Hughes scored the game-winning goal in a dramatic overtime finish, defeating Canada for the gold medal in Milan. The last time USA won Olympic gold in hockey was during the "Miracle on Ice" at the 1980 Winter Olympics. Now, the celebration heads to Washington, with President Trump inviting Hughes and his teammates to the White House.

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge on Feb. 23 said that the final report on President Donald Trump compiled by a former special counsel shall not be released.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who is based in Florida (and was appointed by President Trump), said in a 15-page decision that she was granting requests from Trump and his co-defendants to keep part two of the report from former special counsel Jack Smith shielded from the public.

Hungary strikes again... As the European Union confirms no agreement Monday on a proposed 20th package of sanctions against Russia, EU leaders are furious at Budapest.

The majority of EU states were hoping to unveil their next round of punitive sanctions in time for the four year anniversary of the grinding war, on Tuesday. But instead Hungary came in with a resounding veto, and not just one - but two.

Former UK cabinet minister and Ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, has been arrested just weeks after resigning over revelations that he gave Jeffrey Epstein advance notice of a €500bn bailout to save the Euro. 

Mandelson was arrested at an address in Camden on Monday and taken to a London police station for an interview in connection with 'misconduct in public office.'

Submitted by QTR's Fringe Finance

When Zohran Mamdani ran for mayor, he sold New Yorkers a vision of relief. Free childcare. Free buses. A rent freeze. A city that would finally tilt toward the struggling rather than the secure. What he did not campaign on was a nearly 10% property tax hike affecting more than three million residences and over 100,000 commercial properties. Yet, days after his election, here we are.

PayPal shares were briefly halted due to volatility and are now up 9% after a Bloomberg report said the digital payments firm is attracting takeover interest from potential buyers, as the stock slid to a decade low. The report, based on unnamed sources, has not been confirmed by PayPal.