US Forces Pull Out Of Syria's Tanf Base, Hand Over To Jolani Regime

After many years of being there, American forces have withdrawn from the Al-Tanf Garrison, a base in southern Syria near the borders of Iraq and Jordan, according to fresh reporting in AFP.

US troops had long operated out of Tanf to pressure the Assad government as part of the long-running US-backed regime change project. The US primarily trained the Syrian Free Army (FSA) in that remote desert area - which was an umbrella group of various factions, likely among them jihadists, armed and funded by Washington.

Wiki Commons

A Syrian military source told AFP and other international outlets Wednesday that the "American forces withdrew entirely from Al-Tanf base today" and relocated to a Jordan base.

The report said that Syrian military personnel replaced the US forces - but that the Pentagon will "continue to coordinate with the base in Al-Tanf from Jordan."

So after over a decade-long proxy war, the bearded 'ISIS-lite' jihadists of Jolani/Sharaa's army were just handed an American base overnight. Perhaps that was the plan all along. Al Jazeera provides further confirmation:

Syrian ⁠forces ⁠have taken control of the strategic al-Tanf military base near the border with Iraq and Jordan, the Syrian defense ministry has said, amid the withdrawal of a longstanding United States troop presence at the base.

The ministry said in a statement on Thursday that Syrian Arab Army units had taken control of al-Tanf, securing the base and its surroundings, "through coordination between the Syrian and American sides".

Army units had "begun deploying along the Syrian-Iraqi-Jordanian" border nearby, the ministry said, while border guards would be deployed in the coming days.

It was only in December that an insider attack took place in the central town of Palmyra, resulting two US soldiers and a civilian killed. Washington tried to pass it off as a "lone ISIS gunman" but the Syrian government itself admitted the attacker belonged to their security forces.

US officials have admitted to The Wall Street Journal that post-Assad Syrian Army is "riddled with jihadist sympathizers, including soldiers with ties to al-Qaeda and ISIS and others who have been involved in alleged war crimes against the Kurds and Druze."

In northeastern Syria, a place where most US troops are based, there have been signs of large-scale withdrawal into Iraq over the last several weeks.

This has been extremely controversial as the US-backed Kurds and SDF forces have been attacked as Damascus forces move in. The Kurds are once again being thrown under the bus, with no support, after having been armed and trained by Washington for much of the last decade. Abandonment of the stateless Kurds has been a clear pattern over time.

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/12/2026 - 17:20

Victor Hanson On Our Super Bowl Satyricon

Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,

In recent years, Americans have known what to expect from our Neronian Super Bowl halftime shows: mediocre music veneered over with gaudy, flashily lit, but ultimately empty and meaningless sets.

As seen again this year, the usual array of supporting dancers twerk and simulate intercourse, in sync with the main singer, mindlessly grabbing his/her genitals—apparently to highlight the explicit sexual allusions of mostly nonsensical lyrics.

For some strange reason, this Roman orgiastic ritual is supposedly designed by the NFL each year to appeal to American families of all ages as they gather together around the living room TV on their festive cultural holiday.

But the script has now grown predictable and trite. This year’s mess jumped the shark and had a force-multiplying boring effect on one of the most tedious Super Bowl games in history.

The decision to have Bad Bunny as the main attraction to sing solely in Spanish—only 14 percent of the U.S. population is fluent in Spanish, while 90 percent is proficient in English—was apparently designed to grow the NFL’s global audience, particularly in the Western Hemisphere, or perhaps to shock America to get accustomed to its new official multilingual identity.

Yet of the anticipated 60 million Americans who likely watched this flat show, more than 50 million of them could neither read nor comprehend Spanish.

And they had previously been insulted by Bunny to hurry up and learn Spanish before the game—or else?

How odd that America provides translations of every conceivable language in its courts, hospitals, and schools for minorities of non-English-speaking residents. And yet at its annual signature sporting event, the marquee and main-event non-English speaker would not even provide translations for the vast majority of the viewing population.

Part of the hype of Bunny’s appearance was his supposedly edgy decision to perform entirely in Spanish. But was that really so avant-garde?

What would have been far more against-the-grain and bold for Bad Bunny would have been to find some way to reconnect with the millions of disenchanted families who simply wish a hiatus from the monotonously gross and politicized Super Bowl bacchanalias.

Most in the stadium had no idea what Bad Bunny was singing about, if we can call his nonstop talking and mumbling true music.

Fortunately for Bunny, that language barrier turned out to be about the only good thing about the entire Sunday disaster.

Most of Bunny’s lyrics were raunchy and demented, and likely out-Epsteined the imagination of the late Jeffrey Epstein.

In his vile, obscene “Safaera,” to avoid being censored, Bunny omitted a few of the song’s lyrics about his celebration of exploitative sodomy, fellatio, and anilingus—with misogynistic trashing of his compliant female sexual partners as “hoes.”

(Do woke intersectional feminists weigh in on the side of Bunny’s DEI credentials and sexual fluidity, or do they bristle at Bunny’s “objectification” of women, as he reduces them to mere mindless receptacles of violent and toxic masculinity?).

If Bunny’s purpose was to shock America, then he should have sung his full lyrics of “Safaera” in English, ensuring that his first-time listeners were forced to hear and react to his sick adolescent riffs on breasts, bottoms, phalluses, and vaginas.

Bunny had been previously instructed not to repeat his prior performance-art trashing of ICE and to keep his politicking subtle and coded.

Translated, that meant the NFL had greenlighted some of his obscene references as long as they were relegated to a Spanish-speaking audience only and toned down a bit. But he was not overtly to alienate over half of the NFL’s viewership, who not long ago had voted to stop illegal immigration and millions crashing the border.

Bunny mostly complied, albeit with empty platitudes about hate and love, and reducing the American flag to a status similar to that of the other South and Central American states.

Ricky Martin chimed in with his own incoherent Spanish-language harangue about the American rape of paradise in Hawaii (“They want to take my river and my beach too/They want my neighborhood and grandma to leave”).

If Martin’s point was the arrival of too many newcomers, then he might have first reflected on the 10-million uninvited illegal aliens who, during the Biden tenure, stormed America’s southern border.

A writer for the now-defunct sports section of the Washington Post had earlier and ludicrously boasted that the mostly forgotten Colin Kaepernick—the Dylan Mulvaney of the NFL—would be the most relevant figure at the 2026 Super Bowl.

Perhaps he was—if the writer meant by “relevant” the narcissistic Kaepernick’s past popularizing of taking-the-knee during the National Anthem.

That antic likely reduced NFL viewership by 25 percent in 2016-2017, and turned Sunday afternoons into racial psychodramas with two race-coded National Anthems.

In sum, last Sunday was the same old, same old Super Bowl Satyricon.

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/12/2026 - 17:00

Dollar Detente? Kremlin Memo Explores Rejoining US-Led Financial System

The Kremlin apparently has a highly ambitious proposal for finally mending relations with the United States and wooing the Trump administration to its side regarding resolution to the Ukraine war.

It centers on Russia weighing a return to the dollar-based settlement system as part of a broader economic reset with the White House, according to an internal Kremlin memo reviewed by Bloomberg.

via Shutterstock 

The high-level document drafted this year lays out seven sectors where Russian and US economic interests could converge in the aftermath of a Ukraine war settlement.

One central item is the call for pivoting back to fossil fuels over green energy, expanding joint ventures in natural gas and offshore oil, while partnering on critical minerals - with significant upside for American firms.

The partnership would include, per the Bloomberg report:

1. US and Russia working together on fossil fuels

2. Joint investments in natural gas

3. Offshore oil and critical raw material partnerships

4. Windfalls for US companies

5. Russia's return to the USD settlement system

The memo was reportedly circulated among senior Russian officials and would mark a dramatic and sharp reversal from the Kremlin's de-dollarization push, with obvious major implications for global financial flows.

It's as yet unclear if the proposals have been formally presented to the US side - it seems unlikely at this stage - given Ukraine-focused talks have really gone nowhere of late.

All of the above seems a pipe dream if the basic issues at play stoking the Ukraine conflict can't be resolved. Chief among them remains territorial concessions, Ukraine's NATO and EU ambitions, and the fate of Russia's frozen sovereign assets in Europe.

President Putin has repeatedly slammed the US for weaponizing the dollar as a tool to pressure other countries, through sanctions and other methods of economic isolation. But he also point out this 'strategic mistake' is backfiring while in reality slowly weakening the dollar and eroding global confidence.

Kremlin spokesman Peskov has yet to comment. In Moscow, is the discussion that BRICS de-dollarization us now a dead game?

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/12/2026 - 16:40

Senate Blocks DHS Bill As Shutdown Looming Intensifies

Update (1555ET): The Senate has failed to pass legislation that would pass the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) just one day before it's set to run out of money.

52 senators voted for a procedural step to advance a full-year spending bill, falling 8 votes short of the 60-vote filibuster threshold. 47 senators opposed it. 

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) notably sided with Republicans in support of the measure, while Thune (R-SD) switched his vote to a 'no' as a procedural move to allow him to bring it up again. 

As the Epoch Times notes further, the appropriations bill passed the House in January before it returned to the Senate ahead of a funding deadline at the end of that month.

A standoff over immigration law enforcement funding there, touched off in the aftermath of the shooting of two protesters in Minneapolis, triggered a partial government shutdown involving five other spending bills. That lapse continued until Feb. 3.

While the five other spending bills ultimately passed both chambers, DHS was funded through a short-term continuing resolution that is set to end on Feb. 13, giving lawmakers a small window to reach a deal.

That deadline comes just ahead of Presidents Day and scheduled breaks in the House and Senate next week.

Soon after that deal was announced, some lawmakers were already forecasting another lapse in funding.

“I think DHS is going to stay shut down for a while,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) predicted to reporters on Feb. 4.

The Senate has taken the lead in negotiations that have involved the White House.

Ahead of the vote on Feb. 12, Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said on the Senate floor that the White House had sent Democrats “an extremely serious offer” on Feb. 11.

Democrats have generally been resistant to overtures from Republicans, hewing to a list of demands that include stepped-up warrant requirements for immigration law enforcement and a virtual end to the masking of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and other federal agents.

After border czar Tom Homan announced on Feb. 12 that the administration’s immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota was ending, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) suggested that was not enough.

“Regardless of what Tom Homan says, ICE’s abuses cannot be solved merely through executive fiat alone,” Schumer said on the floor of the Senate.

With the fast deadline approaching, Thune said that “the onus is on Democrats” to agree to an additional funding patch.

In a press conference that same day, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said that “funding for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security should not move forward in the absence of dramatic changes that are bold, meaningful, and transformational,” adding that the House and Senate Democrats are aligned on the issue.

Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) voiced frustration about the state of DHS negotiations.

“There are a lot of agencies in DHS that Americans depend on,” Obernolte told reporters after a Feb. 12 vote in the House.

He cited the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Transportation Security Administration, as well as the Secret Service.

Obernolte noted that ICE has ample funding for years thanks to last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

*  *  *

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed the SAVE America Act by a margin of 218-213. The bill would require proof of citizenship to register to vote as well as photo ID to vote in federal elections. One Democrat, Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, joined Republicans in voting for it, while one R and one D did not vote. 

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is leading the push in the Senate to pass voter ID legislation and is pitching multiple paths that Republicans could take to do it.  (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Sadly for anyone who values election integrity, Senate Republicans need 60 votes to pass it, and there "aren't anywhere close to the votes" according to Majority Leader John Thune (SD). Thune says he supports the SAVE Act, but he's not about to change the Senate rules to create a pathway to passing it - and that his position is widely supported among the Senate Republican Conference. 

"It’s not just me not being willing to do it. There aren’t anywhere close to the votes, not even close, to nuking the filibuster," he said of a proposal to lower the threshold for advancing legislation to a simple majority by voting along partisan lines to establish new precedent - effectively changing the Senate's rules with what is known as "the nuclear option," The Hill reports.

"We’re having a very robust conversation among our Senate Republican colleagues about the path forward. I think most are supporters … I certainly am — of the SAVE Act and what it attempts to accomplish," Thune told reporters following the meeting. "You ought to be able to prove that you’re a citizen of this country in order to be able to vote. How we get to that vote remains to be seen," he said. 

According to Thune, however, the nuclear option "doesn’t have a future. Is there another way of getting there? We’ll see."

Meanwhile, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) is pushing for a 'standing filibuster' to try and pass it, and implored the Senate GOP conference on Tuesday to interpret the current Senate rules to require Democrats to continuously hold the floor with active debate to block the SAVE Act.

"Nothing in the Senate's an easy move," Lee said after the meeting. "This one's certainly not. But if we want to do this, this is how we have to go about it."

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) told Fox News that Republicans would continue to press the issue.

"To get on an airplane you need a photo ID. You want to buy a beer at a football game? You need a photo ID. Go to the library, you need a photo ID for just about everything," he said. "And now you see Democrats are demanding photo IDs to go to any meetings that they have, and we just saw that in Georgia."

DHS Shutdown On Deck...

Meanwhile, the vast majority of the Department of Homeland Security are set to shut down Saturday unless lawmakers can strike a last-minute deal to fund the agency. Democrats have vowed to oppose any legislation that doesn't include restrictions on immigration enforcement - and have provided a laundry list of demands after federal immigration agents killed two protesters last month in Minneapolis. The White House is reportedly open to some of the ideas, however, no agreement has been reached by lawmakers. 

On Wednesday night, the White House sent a detailed proposal to Democrats, WaPo reports, however it's unclear what their response was. 

"If they don’t add things that will rein in ICE, they are not getting our votes," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told reporters Wednesday prior to receiving the White House proposal. 

Any last-minute deal would also require the House to pass it, which might be difficult in itself after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said that Democrats won't support any DHS funding bill that doesn't include "dramatic changes" to the agency. 

That said, a shutdown won't disrupt ICE or US Customs and Border Protection operations because Republicans allocated tens of billions of dollars in additional funding last year for padding. Instead, the Transportation Security Administration, FEMA, Coast Guard and other agencies within DHS will be directly affected, equating to roughly 13% of the federal civilian workforce, according to DHS / OPM data. 

"The pain will be felt by the men and women of TSA, who will once again work to keep our airways safe without a paycheck," Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) told WaPo on Wednesday. "There will be uncertainty for our Coast Guard men and women — who have no choice but to show up for work. … It will reduce the amount of funding in the Disaster Relief Fund — just weeks after massive winter storms affected wide swaths of the country."

The Senate is expected to vote today to take up legislation to fund DHS through Sept. 30. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/12/2026 - 15:53

Federal Judge Blocks Hegseth's Censure Of Sen. Mark Kelly

Authored by Stacy Robinson via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge has blocked Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s censure of Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), halting a process that could lower the senator’s military rank and benefits.

“This Court has all it needs to conclude that Defendants have trampled on Senator Kelly’s First Amendment freedoms and threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees,” U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled on Feb. 12.

“To say the least, our retired veterans deserve more respect from their Government, and our Constitution demands they receive it!”

Kelly, a retired Navy Captain, came under fire when he and four other lawmakers recorded a video last November telling members of the military that they should disobey any “unlawful” orders they received.

On Jan. 5, Hegseth issued a letter censuring Kelly, saying his actions “undermined the chain of command,” “counseled disobedience,” and constituted “conduct unbecoming an officer.” He also posted on X that he initiated proceedings to reduce Kelly’s military rank and retirement pay because of “seditious” conduct.

That letter said Kelly—as a retired officer still receiving pay—was in violation of Articles 133 and 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which deal with punishing an officer for unbecoming conduct.

Kelly sued Hegseth and the Department of War, alleging that the censure sought to “chill” his free speech rights by threatening punishment. He also alleged that Hegseth was violating the separation of powers by interfering with the speech of a sitting Congressman.

Justice Department attorney John Bailey argued that the case was not ready for the district court yet because Kelly had not exhausted all the administrative appeals available to him.

Before issuing his ruling, Leon had pointed out that while the Uniform Code of Military Justice does impose certain limits on the free speech of active military, it has never been applied to retired service members.

He challenged the government’s attorney to produce a single case where that had occurred.

“You’re asking me to do something the Supreme Court has never done, or the DC Circuit,” Leon said during a hearing on Feb. 3. “That’s a bit of a stretch, isn’t it?”

Kelly’s attorney, Ben Mizer, said the senator didn’t need to wait for the censure before seeking relief. Even an appeal before a military board would be useless, he said, since Hegseth would have the final say, and had “abundantly demonstrated bias” through his X posts.

Bailey countered that, despite Hegseth’s public statements, the outcome of such a hearing was uncertain, and any violation of Kelly’s First Amendment rights was still “abstract and unmaterialized.”

Leon soundly rejected that last argument, writing that Kelly was already suffering “immediate irreparable harm” because of the infringement of his First Amendment rights.

The ruling comes shortly after Kelly and Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) denounced the Justice Department after a grand jury purportedly rejected criminal charges against lawmakers who appeared in the video.

“We have not been formally told what they were trying to charge us with and what law they were using. It’s just what we’re hearing through the media,” Slotkin said.

Building on today's legal win for Kelly, the six Democrats who urged military servicemembers in a video not to comply with illegal orders are now looking to gain political momentum and build their campaign war chests.

“We are not done,” said Pennsylvania Rep. Chrissy Houlahan at a press conference alongside fellow House members.

“We will continue to push back. The tide is turning and accountability is coming,” Colorado Rep. Jason Crow said in a video posted to social media.

Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin said in a fundraising email: “They tried to indict me.”

In addition to a flurry of social media posts and two afternoon press conferences, Politico reports that several have been making the cable news rounds and scheduled appearances on high-profile late night TV shows — signs that they see political opportunity in Trump’s attacks and are hoping to bottle that clout.

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/12/2026 - 15:45

The post More Thoughts on the Jobs Report appeared first on CEPR.

Zelensky Demands 'Specific Date' For EU Accession, Spooking Brussels

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday issued a statement demanding that the European Union lock in a "specific date" for Ukraine’s formal entry into the bloc.

But this is a tall order given Ukraine remains among the world's most corrupt countries, study after study has shown. "Ukraine will do everything to be technically ready for accession by 2027," Zelensky said. "We will at least accomplish the main steps. Second, I want a specific date. I am absolutely confident that if in the agreement... there is no date, then Russia will do everything to block the process."

The current draft US-led 20-point peace plan makes mention of Ukraine's accession in 2027, even while most EU officials warn privately that it will in reality take at least a decade of reforms and monitoring.

via EUNews/file

As for EU fears of rushing in a country which isn't ready, which could open the flood gates for other bad and hasty admission decisions, the following headline says it all: EU 'membership-lite' plan for Ukraine spooks European capitals.

The report describes:

Brussels is drafting proposals to tear up the EU accession system used since the cold war, replacing it with a contentious two-tier model that could fast-track Ukraine's entry in any peace deal to end Russia's invasion.

The overhaul plan under discussion at the European Commission, while preliminary, is already unsettling EU capitals alarmed at an "enlargement-lite" approach with sweeping implications for the union, according to seven senior officials involved in the talks.

Zelensky in his Wednesday remarks further spelled out that he'll reject any peace deal involving the US, Russia, and Europe if it fails to set a date for accession. 

"This ... is about security guarantees, security guarantees for Ukraine," he said. "These are specific details, with a specific date. And my signature today, on the 20-point plan, the plan to end the war, guarantees Ukrainians that there will be a specific date for our accession."

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has repeatedly warned against fast-tracking Ukraine, recently saying that admitting Ukraine by 2027 would be "an open declaration of war against Hungary."

Orban has actually insisted that Ukraine never join the EU, after the country formally applied for EU membership in February 2022, days after the Russian army crossed the border to initiate Putin's 'special military operation'.

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/12/2026 - 15:25

As passed by the House of Representatives on December 1, 2025

As ordered reported by the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on January 21, 2026

As ordered reported by the House Committee on the Judiciary on January 8, 2026

The Numbers Don't Lie... Yet Again

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

Once again, the hard data exposes the success of President Trump’s relentless crackdown on crime, with violent offenses plunging to historic lows across major U.S. cities—proving that backing the blue and securing borders delivers real results where Democrat failures once bred anarchy.

This latest triumph builds on momentum where border enforcement and federal interventions are dismantling the criminal networks that thrived under open-border insanity.

New figures from Major Cities Chiefs Association, reported by Axios highlight a staggering turnaround: murders dropped 19% in 2025 compared to the previous year, robberies fell 20%, and aggravated assaults declined nearly 10%.

AXIOS: Violent crime plummets across major U.S. citieshttps://t.co/316mo1WYaa pic.twitter.com/73A1yxb0fn

— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) February 11, 2026

Stand out cities include Orlando and Tampa, with more than a 50% decline in homicides. Denver, Seattle, Honolulu, and Albuquerque, N.M., also posted impressive homicide drops.

These reductions mark the largest single-year drop in homicides on record, pushing the murder rate in the nation’s biggest cities to its lowest level in at least 125 years.

President Trump didn’t hesitate to credit his administration’s aggressive strategy. “We surged federal resources into Democrat-run cities, removed criminal illegals from our streets, backed our police and prosecutors, and rejected the Radical Left’s policies that coddled criminals and invited chaos,” he wrote in a statement.

Trump added that his approach has reversed the “years of skyrocketing crime and carnage” inherited from the Biden era, restoring safety to levels unseen in over a century.

The declines extend beyond murders. Rapes, shooting deaths—now at their fewest since 2015—and even on-duty deaths of law enforcement officers have hit an 80-year low. Traffic fatalities and overdose deaths are also down, underscoring how Trump’s whole-of-government offensive against drug cartels and reckless policies is saving American lives.

Nevertheless, Axios concludes that “Experts aren’t sure why violent crime continues to fall,” while STILL suggesting it’s to do with recovery the COVID pandemic

This ridiculous framing is why Americans don’t trust the media.

President Trump securing the border, mobilizing federal law enforcement to arrest violent criminals, and deporting the worst of the worst illegal aliens is EXACTLY what’s driving the massive drop in crime. pic.twitter.com/yfiC4BUHbt

— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) February 11, 2026

This is the third wave in a series of victories on crime. Last month data from the Council on Criminal Justice’s report revealed a 21% homicide drop in 2025, with carjackings slashed 43% and overdoses reduced 20%.

Cities like Baltimore saw homicides plummet 60%, while Chicago’s shootings fell 35% and carjackings 48%. This came after Trump deployed federal agents to high-crime zones and cracked down on illegal alien gangs that leftist sanctuary policies had shielded.

Just weeks later, further data captured early 2026 from Washington, D.C., highlighted homicides down 80%, robberies 58%, and motor vehicle thefts 57% year-to-date.

Operations like “Make D.C. Safe & Beautiful” exemplified the federal surge, with U.S. Marshals arresting over 8,400 violent fugitives and seizing 856 guns by year’s end. These updates reinforced how empowering prosecutors and rejecting defund-the-police nonsense turns the tide against soft-on-crime experiments.

Contrast this with the Biden-Harris disaster, where crime spiked amid defunded police and unchecked immigration.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/12/2026 - 15:05

X Money 'External Beta' Will Go Live In 1-2 Months, Musk Says

Authored by Martin Young via CoinTelegraph.com,

X Money, an upcoming payments system that forms part of Elon Musk’s “everything app” plans, is scheduled to come out as a “limited beta” in the next two months before launching to X users worldwide. 

Musk gave the new timeline at his AI company’s “All Hands” presentation on Wednesday, during which he said that X Money was already live “in closed beta within the company.” 

“This is intended to be the place where all money is. The central source of all monetary transactions,” he said, calling it a “game changer.”

Elon Musk says X Money is coming soon. Source: xAI

Payments part of X’s “everything app”

The move is framed as a key upcoming feature to make X more essential, tied with its “everything app” vision, with payments a core driver of daily engagement. 

Musk noted that the platform has 1 billion installed users but said its average monthly users were around 600 million.

X Money, rumored to be launched last year, is expected to integrate directly into the X platform, which aims to become a single place for social networking, messaging, content, and financial services, similar to WeChat in China.

“As we give people more reasons to use the X app, whether it’s for communications, or for Grok, or for X Money [...] we want it to be such that if you wanted to, you could live your life on the X app,” said Musk.

Elon Musk has been pushing for payments on X since shortly after acquiring Twitter in 2022. The idea ties back to his early career in 1999, when he co-founded X.com, an online bank that merged with Confinity to become PayPal, which was later acquired by eBay.

Crypto integration remains a mystery. Musk has previously shared enthusiasm for Dogecoin, but the initial focus is likely to be fiat since the company has partnered with Visa. According to the Blockchain Council, it will support crypto in the future. 

xAI expands Macrohard data center

Musk also highlighted the company’s AI growth, stating that xAI can “deploy more AI compute faster than anyone else.”

The tech billionaire showcased the firm’s “Macroharder” AI data center in Memphis, Tennessee — an expansion of the existing plant that adds 220,000 more graphics processing units.

“All this will be training the [AI] models that you experience. It's absolutely fundamental to have large-scale training compute in order to get the best models,” he said. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/12/2026 - 14:40

Russia To Send Oil To Cuba Amid US-Imposed Blockade

Russia is preparing to rush urgently needed oil to Cuba under what officials describe as a "humanitarian" arrangement, according to a report Thursday by the pro-government newspaper Izvestia.

The Russian Embassy in Havana told Izvestia that "as far as we know, Russia is expected to supply oil and petroleum products to Cuba as humanitarian aid in the near future" - amid the island's worst energy crunch in years.

Adobe stock

After decades of already crippling sanctions, President Trump's latest Executive Order "imposes a new tariff system that allows the United States to impose additional tariffs on imports from any country that directly or indirectly provides oil to Cuba."

The most devastating move has been to block the ability of the post-Maduro Venezuelan government to send supplies to Cuba. Caracas was Cuba's chief oil supplier.

Key airlines have stopped flights into Havana's main international airport for lack of jet fuel. As we reported earlier, Russia is allowing its airlines to temporarily operate outbound flights only.

5,000 Russian tourists remain stranded in Cuba, amid an evacuation overseen by Moscow, according to AFP citing Russia's Association of Tour Operators.

Earlier this month international reports said Cuba was merely days from running out of fuel, and widescale power outages across various districts of the country have only worsened. 

"The last known delivery came via a tanker from Mexico in early January, but Mexico halted exports amid US pressure," The Guardian notes. "At the same time, crude flows from Venezuela have dried up after a US operation in January that resulted in the capture of Nicolás Maduro, cutting off support from Cuba’s most trusted energy supplier."

Havana's lone primary international airport has seen drastic developments such as the following:

In recent hours, a video has gone viral on social media showing dozens of tourists disembarking from a plane on the tarmac in Moscow after their flight to Cuba was aborted just before takeoff.

The testimonies collected by the Russian outlet Mash on Telegram indicate that passengers on flight SU6849 had almost taken off when, "at the last moment, when the engines were already running, the pilot announced that there was no fuel in Havana," forcing the flight to be canceled at the last minute.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that "the stranglehold imposed by the United States is already causing a lot of difficulties for Cuba" and this has resulted in the two allies discussing "possible ways to resolve these problems or at least provide all possible assistance."

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/12/2026 - 14:20

Microsoft AI CEO Warns Most White Collar Jobs Fully Automated "Within Next 12-18 Months"; Anthropic Fears Potential For 'Heinous Crimes'

The man leading Microsoft’s AI sprawling efforts is sounding the alarm over imminent mass labor disruptions, warning that the overwhelming majority of white-collar professional work could vanish to automation far sooner than most business and policy leaders are willing to admit - something we've been concerned about since early 2023.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman forecasted that within the next two years a vast swath of desk-bound tasks will be swallowed by AI.

“I think we’re going to have a human-level performance on most, if not all, professional tasks - so white collar where you’re sitting down at a computer, either being a lawyer, accountant, or project manager, or marketing person - most of the tasks will be fully automated by an AI within the next 12 to 18 months,” Suleyman said when asked about the time table for Artificial general intelligence, commonly known as AGI.

The specter of mass job displacement now haunts governments around the world, even as the true body count remains murky amid broader economic headwinds.

A recent Challenger report showed that AI was blamed for 7,624 job cuts in January, 7% of the month’s total, and linked to 54,836 announced layoffs across 2025. Since tracking started in 2023, AI has been cited in 79,449 planned cuts, roughly 3% of the overall tally.

"It’s difficult to say how big an impact AI is having on layoffs specifically. We know leaders are talking about AI, many companies want to implement it in operations, and the market appears to be rewarding companies that mention it," said Challenger.

A stark illustration is unfolding at Bay Area startup Mercor, which has quietly hired tens of thousands of white-collar contractors, often highly credentialed specialists in medicine, law, finance, engineering, writing, and the arts, to train the very AI systems destined to replace them. Paid $45 to $250 per hour for weeks or months of reviewing and refining model outputs for giants like OpenAI and Anthropic, these workers are, in effect, being paid to hand over the keys to their own obsolescence, the Wall Street Journal reports.

However, some jobs still remain immune from AI - for now. High on the list are occupations that hinge on physical presence and skills such as healthcare professionals and tradesmen such as plumbers and welders. Those are just a sample of jobs that are safe until AI-powered Optimus robots are on the move. Want to know if your job is safe? Click here to see the list.

On the other side of the argument - Morgan Stanley analysts recently warned clients that "AI impacts may take longer to appear in economic data," with the first undeniable waves likely hitting "later this decade and into the next."

"While AI adoption may be faster than past technologies, we think it is still too early to see it in economic data, outside of business investment," Stephen Byrd, the bank's Global Head of Thematic Research and Sustainability Research, told clients.

Anthropic Warns Over 'Heinous Crimes'

Meanwhile, Anthropic is warning that their latest Claude models could be used for "heinous crimes" such as developing chemical weapons. 

"In newly-developed evaluations, both Claude Opus 4.5 and 4.6 showed elevated susceptibility to harmful misuse," in certain computer use cases, the company said in a new sabotage report released late Tuesday. 

Dario Amodei in Davos, Switzerland, last month. Photo: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images

"This included instances of knowingly supporting — in small ways — efforts toward chemical weapon development and other heinous crimes."

Anthropic also noted that in some test environments, when prompted to "single-mindedly optimize a narrow objective," Claude Opus 4.6 appears "more willing to manipulate or deceive other participants, compared to prior models from both Anthropic and other developers."

The company says that the risk is still low but not negligible, however the sudden departure of an Antrhropic AI safety researcher suggests otherwise.

"I continuously find myself reckoning with our situation. The world is in peril. And not just from AI, or bioweapons, but from a whole series of interconnected crises unfolding in this very moment. We appear to be approaching a threshold where our wisdom must grow in equal measure to our capacity to affect the world, lest we face the consequences," said Mrinank Sharma, who led the company's safeguards research team.

Today is my last day at Anthropic. I resigned.

Here is the letter I shared with my colleagues, explaining my decision. pic.twitter.com/Qe4QyAFmxL

— mrinank (@MrinankSharma) February 9, 2026

Last month Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei sounded the alarm on AI - warning of the following (via Axios):

1. Massive job loss: "I ... simultaneously think that AI will disrupt 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs over 1–5 years, while also thinking we may have AI that is more capable than everyone in only 1–2 years."
2. AI with nation-state power: "I think the best way to get a handle on the risks of AI is to ask the following question: suppose a literal 'country of geniuses' were to materialize somewhere in the world in ~2027. Imagine, say, 50 million people, all of whom are much more capable than any Nobel Prize winner, statesman, or technologist. ... I think it should be clear that this is a dangerous situation — a report from a competent national security official to a head of state would probably contain words like 'single most serious national security threat we've faced in a century, possibly ever.' It seems like something the best minds of civilization should be focused on."
3. Rising terror threat: "There is evidence that many terrorists are at least relatively well-educated ... Biology is by far the area I'm most worried about, because of its very large potential for destruction and the difficulty of defending against ... Most individual bad actors are disturbed individuals and so almost by definition their behavior is unpredictable and irrational — and it's these bad actors, the unskilled ones, who might have stood to benefit the most from AI making it much easier to kill many people. ... [A]s biology advances (increasingly driven by AI itself), it may ... become possible to carry out more selective attacks (for example, targeted against people with specific ancestries), which adds yet another, very chilling, possible motive. I do not think biological attacks will necessarily be carried out the instant it becomes widely possible to do so — in fact, I would bet against that. But added up across millions of people and a few years of time, I think there is a serious risk of a major attack ... with casualties potentially in the millions or more."
4. Empowering authoritarians: Governments of all orders will possess this technology, including China, "second only to the United States in AI capabilities, and ... the country with the greatest likelihood of surpassing the United States in those capabilities. Their government is currently autocratic and operates a high-tech surveillance state." Amodei writes bluntly: "AI-enabled authoritarianism terrifies me."
5. AI companies: "It is somewhat awkward to say this as the CEO of an AI company, but I think the next tier of risk is actually AI companies themselves," Amodei warns after the passage about authoritarian governments. "AI companies control large datacenters, train frontier models, have the greatest expertise on how to use those models, and in some cases have daily contact with and the possibility of influence over tens or hundreds of millions of users. ... [T]hey could, for example, use their AI products to brainwash their massive consumer user base, and the public should be alert to the risk this represents. I think the governance of AI companies deserves a lot of scrutiny."
6. Seduce the powerful to silence: AI giants have so much power and money that leaders will be tempted to downplay risk, and hide red flags like the weird stuff Claude did in testing (blackmailing an executive about a supposed extramarital affair to avoid being shut down, which Anthropic disclosed). "There is so much money to be made with AI — literally trillions of dollars per year," Amodei writes in his bleakest passage. "This is the trap: AI is so powerful, such a glittering prize, that it is very difficult for human civilization to impose any restraints on it at all."

Call to action: "[W]ealthy individuals have an obligation to help solve this problem," Amodei says. "It is sad to me that many wealthy individuals (especially in the tech industry) have recently adopted a cynical and nihilistic attitude that philanthropy is inevitably fraudulent or useless."

Looks like all roads lead to...

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/12/2026 - 14:00

Stellar 30Y Auction Stops Through As Bid To Cover Soars, Dealers Plunge To Record Low

It was the polar opposite to yesterday's slop. 

After a mediocre 3Y, and a dismal 10Y auction yesterday, moments ago the Treasury concluded the sale of the week's final refunding auction, when it unloaded $25BN in 30Y paper to seemingly endless demand. 

The auction stopped at a high yield of 4.750%, down from 4.825% in January, and the lowest since November. It also stopped through the 4.771% When Issued by 2.1bps, the biggest stop since LIberation Day in April 2025.

The bid to cover was 2.662, up sharply from 2.418 and the highest since January 2018! An oddity today is that the Fed's SOMA tendered for, and accepted, a whopping $7.1 billion, a continuation of yesterday's massive retention when the SOMA ended up with over $11BN of the 10Y.

The internals were also stellar, with Indirects taking down 69.94%, up from 66.77% and the highest since November. And with Directs rising to 24.18% (if not a record high, unlike this week's 3Y auction), Dealers were left with just 5.88%, down from 11.95% last month, and the lowest on record.

Overall, this was a stellar 30Y auction, one of the strongest on record, and clearly an indication that nobody is afraid that tomorrow's delayed CPI may come in overly hot. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/12/2026 - 13:42

Supreme Court To Hear Roundup Maker's Bid To Block Thousands Of Lawsuits In April

Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,

The U.S. Supreme Court scheduled oral argument in Monsanto’s appeal seeking to block thousands of lawsuits alleging the company failed to warn consumers that Roundup, its popular weedkiller, could cause cancer.

The court announced on Feb. 11 that it will hear Monsanto Co. v. Durnell on April 27.

The justices also scheduled arguments in two other high-profile cases.

Chatrie v. United States, which is about the constitutionality of search warrants that collect the location history of cellphone users near crime scenes, will also be heard on April 27.

The court will hear the consolidated cases of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) v. AT&T and Verizon Communications v. FCC together on April 21. The cases are about whether provisions in the federal Communications Act of 1934 allowing the FCC to use in-house adjudications to levy penalties are constitutional.

In the Monsanto case, a jury ruled for John Durnell, a Missouri man who allegedly developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma after exposure to Roundup. The jury found Monsanto liable for failing to warn Durnell of the danger posed by the ingredient glyphosate and awarded him $1.25 million in damages. Glyphosate is an herbicide that kills weeds and grasses.

A state appeals court upheld the jury’s finding of liability, and the Missouri Supreme Court declined to take up the matter. Many other lawsuits have been filed across the United States alleging that Roundup caused medical problems.

Missouri has not issued an official health warning about Roundup, and Monsanto has been unsuccessful in lobbying the Missouri Legislature to shield it from state-level failure-to-warn lawsuits. In 2015, an agency within the World Health Organization (WHO) classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans.” The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rejected that conclusion, but in 2017, California accepted the WHO agency’s finding and categorized glyphosate as a chemical that causes cancer.

Monsanto, which was purchased in 2018 by biotechnology and pharmaceutical giant Bayer, argues that a federal law governing the labeling of pesticides preempts—or overrides—any state lawsuits.

U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer sided with Monsanto in a brief, writing that leaving the Missouri court’s ruling in place means “a jury may second-guess the [EPA’s] science-based judgments.”

In a brief, Durnell’s attorneys alleged that Monsanto “has known for decades” that Roundup can cause cancer, but has neither made its product safer, nor told consumers they should be cautious when using it.

“Instead, Monsanto has marketed Roundup as safe to spray in a t-shirt and shorts,” they said.

Geofencing Challenge

In the Chatrie case, the Supreme Court will consider whether the Fourth Amendment bars the collection of cellphone users’ location history around crime scenes.

If cellphone users want to access certain services, their phones must be set to continuously transmit their exact locations to wireless service providers. A so-called geofence warrant, which is growing in popularity with law enforcement agencies, allows police to seek location data on every person who was present at a specific location over a certain period of time.

Geofence warrants were used to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, security breach at the U.S. Capitol. The location data led to charges against some of those involved. Some judges allowed the warrants, while others ruled that they violated the Fourth Amendment’s guarantee against unreasonable search and seizure.

Petitioner Okello Chatrie was convicted of armed robbery based on data obtained under a geofence warrant, and sentenced to nearly 12 years of incarceration.

Law enforcement had obtained a geofence warrant from a state court for anonymized location data for every device that was within 150 meters (about 500 feet) of a 2019 bank robbery within one hour of the robbery, and served it on Google. Anonymized data do not contain information that could be used to identify specific cellphone users.

Google complied with the warrant and provided a list, and then, without seeking a fresh warrant, law enforcement expanded its data search, and Google handed over the additional information sought.

Chatrie’s attorneys had argued the warrant violated his privacy because it allowed investigators to gather the location history of people who were near the financial institution that was robbed, even though there was no evidence of any connection to the robbery. Prosecutors countered that Chatrie had no expectation of privacy because he voluntarily opted into Google’s location history services.

A divided federal appeals panel found that because the petitioner allowed location tracking on his cellphone, the Fourth Amendment did not apply.

Sauer said in a brief that because Chatrie voluntarily provided Google with his location history, he relinquished any privacy right he might have had in that information.

SEC Cases

In the SEC cases, the Supreme Court will consider whether the FCC’s power to levy large fines violated Verizon and AT&T’s constitutional right to a jury trial.

The FCC fined the two telecommunications companies for sharing customer location data with third parties without consent. The fines were issued before the companies had their day in court.

The dispute is the latest legal case to test whether the in-house enforcement system used by a federal agency violates the Seventh Amendment.

The case arose after the FCC levied almost $200 million in fines against wireless carriers. T-Mobile was ordered to pay $80 million, while Sprint, which T-Mobile purchased in 2020, had to pay $12 million. AT&T was required to pay $57 million, while Verizon was ordered to pay almost $47 million.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed Verizon’s penalty, finding the Constitution allows the FCC to carry out an initial penalty assessment, provided that an accused party is permitted to dispute the government’s collection efforts in court.

The Fifth Circuit, on the other hand, found that the initial assessment and fine the FCC imposed on AT&T violated the company’s right to have a jury trial.

The cases come after the Supreme Court limited the Securities and Exchange Commission’s use of in-house administrative tribunals, finding that defendants facing civil penalties are entitled under the Seventh Amendment to a jury trial.

“A defendant facing a fraud suit has the right to be tried by a jury of his peers before a neutral adjudicator,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in SEC v. Jarkesy.

Verizon said in its Supreme Court petition that “the FCC scheme at issue here mirrors the SEC scheme rejected in Jarkesy in every material respect.”

The FCC said in a brief that the Second Circuit was correct to rule that the fine complies with the Seventh Amendment.

However, the commission said it agreed with Verizon that the issues raised by the company deserved to be reviewed by the Supreme Court.

Decisions in the three cases are expected to be issued by the end of June.

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/12/2026 - 13:40

After 88 Years, Gallup Discontinues Historic Presidential Approval Polling

The Gallup public opinion polling agency has announced that, beginning this year, it will stop publishing approval and favorability ratings for individual political figures in public office.

American Greatness reports that agency announced that it will no longer chart presidential approval ratings, saying in a statement that the move “reflects an evolution in how Gallup focuses its public research and thought leadership.”

The statement from Gallup explains that “Our commitment is to long-term, methodologically sound research on issues and conditions that shape people’s lives.”

“That work will continue through the Gallup Poll Social Series, the Gallup Quarterly Business Review, the World Poll, and our portfolio of U.S. and global research,” the statement continued.

According to Axios, for the better part of the past 8 decades, Gallup’s approval ratings have served as a kind of barometer of American public sentiment toward the White House.

A Gallup spokesperson told The Epoch Times on Feb. 11 that the change took effect at the beginning of this year, saying that tracking approval and favorability for specific politicians “no longer represents an area in which Gallup can contribute in the most unique way.”

“This is a strategic shift solely based on Gallup’s research goals and priorities, and is part of a broader, ongoing effort to align all of Gallup’s public work with its mission,” the spokesperson said.

“We look forward to continuing to offer independent research that adheres to the highest standards of social science.”

President Trump’s current 36% approval rating is not the lowest among U.S. presidents despite an 11% drop in approval since February 2025.

Sheer historical vandalism. WHY would Gallup voluntarily damage its reputation as the pollster of record by abandoning its 80-year series monitoring presidential approval? (At 36% approval, Trump isn't even that low compared with GWBush, Carter, Nixon, Truman etc) pic.twitter.com/82LnKTIdp4

— Pippa Norris (@PippaN15) February 11, 2026

President Harry Truman went from an approval rating of 87% in June 1945 to a mere 22% rating in February of 1952.

George W. Bush scored the highest presidential job approval rating at 90% following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, but dropped to 25% by October 2008.

Axios reports that President John F. Kennedy had the highest average approval rating among U.S. presidents at 70%.

Gallup has expanded its polling business to surveys outside of politics to cover the public’s trust and happiness on issues like employee workplace engagement and the spread of AI.

While Gallup has stressed that discontinuing approval and favorability surveys is a strategic decision made independently, Bill Pan reports for The Epoch Times that the move comes as Trump threatened legal action over unfavorable polling that he denounced as fake.

In January, Trump said he would expand his existing defamation lawsuit against The New York Times after the newspaper, in partnership with Siena College, published a poll finding that just 34 percent of independent voters approved of his job performance about one year into his second term—a result he said did not reflect reality and was fabricated to damage him.

“The Times Siena Poll, which is always tremendously negative to me, especially just before the Election of 2024, where I won in a Landslide, will be added to my lawsuit against The Failing New York Times,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Our lawyers have demanded that they keep all Records, and how they ‘computed’ these fake results—Not just the fact that it was heavily skewed toward Democrats. They will be held fully responsible for all of their Radical Left lies and wrongdoing!”

The New York Times dismissed the president’s criticism, saying in a statement that the paper’s polls “have been widely cited for their rigor.”

In response to a question from The Hill as to whether Gallup had received any feedback from the current administration before deciding to make the change, the polling agency responded, “this is a strategic shift solely based on Gallup’s research goals and priorities.”

 

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/12/2026 - 13:20

Trump Warns Republicans Will 'Suffer The Consequences' If They Vote Against Tariffs

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

President Donald Trump on Feb. 12 warned Republican lawmakers they will face consequences if they vote against his tariff agenda, after a handful of GOP lawmakers sided with Democrats to pass a measure this week.

“Any Republican, in the House or the Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

The president said that the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 markets have reached new highs in the midst of the tariff policies that he imposed last year under an emergency 1977 provision.

“The mere mention of the word has Countries agreeing to our strongest wishes. TARIFFS have given us Economic and National Security, and no Republican should be responsible for destroying this privilege,” he added.

Trump wrote in a separate post on Truth Social that Canada has taken advantage of the United States on trade and border security. With the tariffs, Trump said that the United States can have an advantage over its northern neighbor.

Several House Republicans on Feb. 11 voted to overturn an executive order that imposed tariffs on Canada, siding with nearly every Democratic lawmaker in the lower congressional chamber to pass the measure. The resolution, introduced by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), is now being considered by the Senate.

Last year, the Trump administration imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China in a bid to curb the flow of illegal drugs, including fentanyl, into the United States. The vote in the House on Feb. 11 was the first time the congressional chamber has formally offered a vote on the policy.

Despite the House’s vote to pass the rebuke of the Canadian tariffs, it is unlikely to become law. It would take two-thirds majorities in both chambers to overcome an expected Trump veto, and most Republicans have been unwilling to oppose the Trump administration’s policies.

“Canada isn’t a threat, it’s our ally,” Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a House speech before the vote.

Trump warned last month on social media that he could impose more significant tariffs on Canada if the country makes a trade deal with China.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited Beijing last month to bolster trade ties with the Chinese communist regime.

Carney has said Canada has “no intention of doing that with China or any other nonmarket economy” and added that “what we have done with China is to rectify some issues that developed in the last couple of years.”

After his second term started in January 2025, Trump ordered 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada. In August 2025, he signed an executive order increasing tariffs on Canadian goods to 35 percent for all products not covered by the U.S.–Mexico–Canada trade agreement.

The administration’s tariffs are also being considered by the Supreme Court, which is set to issue a ruling on the policy this year.

One of the House Republicans who voted against the measure, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), told The Epoch Times after the vote that the high court will ultimately assess whether the tariffs are lawful or not.

“I think that we have a say in some of these issues, like tariffs on imports. That’s Congress’s realm,” he said, adding that his Washington state district has many Canadian-owned businesses.

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/12/2026 - 13:05

Another Pair Of Lululemon Leggings Fails The Squat Test

KeyBanc Capital Markets analysts, led by Ashley Owens, say Lululemon Athletica is back in the crosshairs on Reddit after another leggings line sparked see-through outrage on social media. The note follows last month's "Get Low" backlash, when the brand was forced into damage-control mode after Redditors raged about similar issues.

Owens said a version of Lululemon's leggings, the "scattered heart print," was called out by some Redditors for being, as they described it, see-through when bending and squatting.

A top Redditor who goes by "persimmoncove" on the Lululemon subreddit said the scattered heart print did not pass the squat test.

Persimmoncove stated:

Sadly, the shorts and leggings are completely see-through in the squat test. I thought about it for a while and considered keeping the leggings and making sure to wear non-slip dark underwear with them, but after trying to convince myself it would work, I realized I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it. The shorts are more see-through than the leggings, so those earned an immediate spot in the return pile.

It's really a shame because the print is so freaking cute and I really liked the fit. Fortunately, the bras don't have any of the issues the bottoms do, so I'll be keeping both of them.

This is a rare case where I wish they had just double-lined them.

Shares have fallen about 16% since the Get Low controversy broke out mid-last month.

Last month, amid the Get Low leggings debacle, founder Chip Wilson blasted the company's board for transforming the athletic-apparel brand "from being a leader in the category to, honestly, a bit of a follower."

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/12/2026 - 12:45

IEA Slashes Oil Demand Growth Forecast For 2026

By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice,

Global oil demand is expected to rise by 850,000 barrels per day this year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday as it cut its growth estimate from 930,000 bpd expected last month.  

All the 850,000 bpd growth this year is poised to come from developing economies, with China leading the additional demand, the agency said in its closely-watched Oil Market Report for February.   

Petrochemical feedstock products are set to account for more than half of this year’s gains, compared with only a third in 2025 when transport fuels dominated growth, the IEA said. 

The agency’s forecast is well below OPEC’s estimate of 1.4 million bpd oil demand growth this year from 2025, which the cartel reiterated in its own monthly report earlier this week. OPEC sees robust growth of 1.3 million bpd for 2027, too. 

The IEA today confirmed its estimate that the oil market will be in a surplus in 2026, with supply set to rise by 2.4 million bpd in 2026, to 108.6 million bpd. Growth will be roughly evenly split between non-OPEC+ and OPEC+ producers, the agency said. 

Last month, the IEA expected oil supply to rise by 2.5 million bpd this year, but it slightly revised down the estimate this month due to the winter storm in the United States and disruptions in other countries. 

In January, global oil supply plunged by 1.2 million bpd to 106.6 million bpd, as severe winter weather disrupted North American operations, while outages and export constraints curtailed Kazakh, Russian, and Venezuelan flows.  

But world oil supply is set to rebound in the coming months as output recovers from the plunge in January, when extreme winter weather forced the shut-in of more than 1 million bpd of output in North America, the IEA said. In addition, prolonged disruptions at Kazakhstan’s key export terminal since November were compounded by a power outage at the country’s largest oilfield, Tengiz, last month, temporarily tightening Atlantic Basin light crude markets, the agency noted.   

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/12/2026 - 12:30