Zerohedge

Attorney General Pam Bondi says the Jeffrey Epstein client list is ‘sitting on my desk right now to review,’ per a ‘directive by President Trump.’

Speaking with Fox News, Bondi was asked one day after the confirmation of FBI Director Kash Patel whether “The DOJ may be releasing the list of Epstein’s clients,” to which she replied:

🚨 FOX: “The DOJ may be releasing the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients. Will that really happen?”@AGPamBondi: “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review. That’s been a directive by President Trump.” pic.twitter.com/9J925rSx6v

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 21, 2025

Epstein, a financier and convicted sex offender was found dead in a New York jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. While his death was rules a suicide, he was also good friends with the Clintons and several other high-profile figures such as Britain’s Prince Andrew, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, former Barclays CEO and ‘Disney princess‘ aficionado Jes Staley, Harvey Weinstein, and former Victoria’s Secret boss Les Wexner.

On Thursday, Bondi told journalist Benny Johnson from CPAC that the Epstein and P Diddy lists contain “Lots of documents,” adding “We are keeping this promise” to release them, adding “I was briefed on that yesterday I can’t talk about that that publicly.”

When asked by Johnson whether Americans can expect “actual movement on this,” Bondi replied: “Donald Trump doesn’t make empty promises. I think promises made, promises kept. And that’s why we’re all there to carry out his directive about making America safe and prosperous.”

🚨PANIC: Attorney General Pam Bondi reveals imminent release of the Jeffrey Epstein and P. Diddy lists:

“I was just briefed on this topic. There are LOTS of documents. LOTS of documents. Stay tuned. We are keeping this promise.”

It’s Happening. pic.twitter.com/roFqY982FD

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 21, 2025

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump suggested that he would be open to releasing the Epstein list, while Bondi said in November that anyone named in the documents who are “still fighting to keep their names private, Sean, they have no legal basis to do so unless they’re a child, a victim or a cooperating defendant.”

Last April, data obtained by Wired revealed a flood of visitors who visited Epstein’s notorious ‘pedo island,’ with some of the travel originating from gated communities in Michigan, Florida, as well as homes in Martha’s Vineyard and Nantuckett and a nightclub in Miami.

Media Room?

In late 2019, Jeffrey Epstein victim Maria Farmer alleged that the deceased pedophile had a “media room” on the first floor where high-profile johns were allegedly recorded having sex with women and children.

“So if you’re facing the house, there’s a window on the right that’s barred – that’s the room, the ‘media room’ is what he called it,” Farmer said. “And so there was a door that looked like an invisible door with all this limestone and everything and you push it and you go in and I saw all the cameras.”

Maria said: “What it was – was like old televisions basically, like stacked.“

“They were monitors inside this cabinet and there were men sitting here and I looked on the cameras and I saw toilet, toilet, bed, bed, toilet, bed.

“And I was like I’m never going to use the restroom here and I am never going to sleep here.” –The Sun

The claim was supported in a 2024 lawsuit by two women – Danielle Bensky and Jane Doe 3, who said Epstein employed a sophisticated system involving constant CCTV surveillance within his New York mansion.

The two women say that Epstein and his circle of enablers collected compromising information in order to keep people quiet, and that the victims received monetary payments described as “hush money” following abusive incidents, or when they acted as recruiters to lure more young women and girls into Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation.

The room worked like a panopticon, a circular prison with cells arranged around a central well from which prisoners can at all times be observed.

The lawsuit details that Epstein not only hired individuals to keep watch but also provided his victims with transportation and communication devices, purportedly under the guise of security and convenience while allegedly using these means to track their whereabouts.

“The Epstein Enterprise would not have existed for the duration it did and at its scope and scale, without the collaboration and support of others,” reads the lawsuit. “No one, except perhaps [convicted Epstein accomplice] Ghislaine Maxwell, was as essential and central to Epstein’s operation as these Defendants.“

Why were Epstein and Ghislaine (daughter of a suspected Mossad asset) recording all of these people again? Mysteries abound.

 

In echoes of the case against Michael Flynn, a federal judge on Friday refused to dismiss the DOJ’s case against New York Mayor Eric Adams, and has instead appointed an outside lawyer to argue against dropping the charges – a motion which was otherwise unopposed.

The Biden DOJ notably began pursuing Adams after the NY Mayor spoke out about unchecked crime and illegal immigration into the Big Apple.

Biden-appointed Judge Dale E. Ho – a former director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, and who argued twice against the Trump administration in front of the Supreme Court on behalf of immigrant advocacy groups, appointed former George W. Bush US Solicitor General, Paul Clement (extra deep state) to analyze the Trump DOJ’s decision to drop the case.

The order came after federal prosecutors argued that the ongoing case “improperly interfered” with Adams’ 2024 reelection campaign and “unduly restricted” his ability to help the Trump administration fight illegal immigration.

“Here, the recent conference helped clarify the parties’ respective positions, but there has been no adversarial testing of the Government’s position generally or the form of its requested relief specifically,” wrote Ho, the former attorney for illegal immigrant advocates.

Ho also called for additional briefs from the parties, and scheduled a tentative oral argument for March 14 if he felt it was necessary.

“The Court reiterates that it understands the importance of prompt resolution of the pending motion and will endeavor to rule expeditiously after briefing (and, if necessary, oral argument) is complete. The adjournment of trial and all related deadlines alleviates any prejudice resulting from a short delay,” Ho wrote.

Ho’s decision, made in a five-page ruling, will now prolong New York’s largest political upheaval in a long time – and comes amid mass resignations and firings of federal prosecutors in New York and Washington DC, and several of Adams’ opponents calling on him to step down.

Authored by Naveen Athrappullly via The Epoch Times,

Optimism among American CEOs surged in the first quarter of this year from the previous quarter, with concerns about various business risks easing down, according to a new survey from the think tank The Conference Board.

The “Measure of CEO Confidence,” an assessment of the U.S. economy from the perspective of U.S. chief executives, rose by nine points in the first quarter of 2025 to 60—the highest level in three years—the think tank said in a Feb. 20 statement. This is the first time since early 2022 that the index scored a value “well above 50,” suggesting that CEOs were moving away from the cautious optimism from last year to a more “confident optimism.” The survey was conducted among 134 CEOs.

The improvement in CEO confidence in the first quarter was “significant and broad-based,” said Stephanie Guichard, senior economist of global indicators at The Conference Board.

“All components of the Measure improved, as CEOs were substantially more optimistic about current economic conditions as well as about future economic conditions—both overall and in their own industries.

“There was a notable increase in the share of CEOs expecting to increase investment plans and a decline in the share expecting to downsize investment plans. Still, a majority of CEOs indicated no revisions to their capital spending plans over the next 12 months.”

Roger W. Ferguson Jr., chair emeritus of The Conference Board, said CEOs reported that concerns regarding a wide range of business risks had eased.

He said fewer chief executives ranked regulatory uncertainty, supply chain disruptions, financial and economic risks, and cyber threats as “high-impact” risks in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the fourth quarter of 2024.

While executives expressed optimism, many businesses reported challenges. A recent poll by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) found that even though owners were optimistic about future business conditions, uncertainty was rising.

“Hiring challenges continue to frustrate Main Street owners as they struggle to find qualified workers to fill their many open positions. Meanwhile, fewer plan capital investments as they prepare for the months ahead,” said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg.

Impact of Tariffs

The optimism among businesses comes amid concerns that President Donald Trump’s various tariffs could negatively affect the country’s trade and economy.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration imposed an additional 10 percent tariff on imports from China. A proposed 25 percent tariff on Mexican and Canadian imports was paused for a 30-day period. Steel and Aluminum imports now face 25 percent tariffs.

Trump signed a plan to institute reciprocal tariffs on America’s trading partners.

“For many years, the U.S. has been treated unfairly by other countries, both friend and foe. This system will immediately bring fairness and prosperity back into the previously complex and unfair system of trade,” he said.

This week, Trump announced plans for new tariffs on lumber and other forest products. He also revealed plans for 25 percent tariffs on imported cars and similar duties on chips and drugs.

According to the Tax Foundation, the tariffs imposed on China are estimated to reduce long-run U.S. GDP by 0.1 percent, and the tariffs proposed on Mexico and Canada by 0.3 percent. These estimates do not take into account “foreign retaliation.”

The 2018–2019 tariffs implemented by the Trump administration and carried forward by the subsequent Biden administration “raised prices and reduced output and employment, producing a net negative impact on the U.S. economy,” the foundation said.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President John Murphy called the imposition of tariffs “unprecedented,” warning that such a move “will only raise prices for American families and upend supply chains.”

However, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher J. Waller does not expect Trump’s tariff push to significantly impact inflation.

“My baseline view is that any imposition of tariffs will only modestly increase prices and in a non-persistent manner,” he said in a recent speech.

“I concede that the effects of tariffs could be larger than I anticipate, depending on how large they are and how they are implemented. But we also need to remember that it is possible that other policies under discussion could have positive supply effects and put downward pressure on inflation.”

Stocks suddenly tumbled shortly after lunch and trading desks are scrambling to find a catalyst. With today’s big $2.7 trillion options expiration ‘unclenching gamma’, the market is more free to move, but many are citing a report by The Daily Mail claiming a new coronavirus has been discovered in the wild in China that has the potential to another pandemic.

Yes, you heard that right.

Here’s what The Daily Mail reports:

Another coronavirus feared to be powerful enough to spread through humans has been discovered in China. 

In scenes eerily reminiscent of the beginnings of Covid, researchers at the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology detected the new strain living within bats.

HKU5-CoV-2 is strikingly similar to the pandemic virus, sparking fears that history could repeat itself just two years after the worst was declared over. 

The new virus is even closer related to MERS, a deadlier type of coronavirus that kills up to a third of people it infects. Virologist Shi Zhengli, known as ‘Batwoman’ for her work on coronaviruses, led the discovery, published in a top scientific journal.

The new HKU5-CoV-2 is a coronavirus belonging to the merbecovirus family of pathogens. Merbecoviruses have been detected in minks and pangolins – the animal believed to be the intermediary for Covid between bats and humans. This, the scientists wrote, ‘suggests frequent cross-species transmission of these viruses between bats and other animal species.’

The research was conducted by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is at the center of the lab-leak theory, which claims Covid-19 was manufactured in a Chinese lab and accidentally leaked to the public.

While stocks overall were dumped on the report…

Drugmakers, like MRNA and PFE surged…

Bonds are bid as safe-haven flows hit…

The market is extremely anxious here but for now, this seems like the catalyst for this leg down – however farcical that may seem.

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

For Part 1 on “Tariff Risk” read: Tariff Impact Not As Bearish As Predicted.

In “Trumpflation” we discussed why the tariff risk was not inflation. To wit:

“Today, globalization and technology give consumers vast choices in the products they buy. While instituting a tariff on a set of products from China may indeed raise the prices of those specific products, consumers have easy choices for substitution. A recent survey by Civic Science showed an excellent example of why tariffs won’t increase prices (always a function of supply and demand).”

Of course, if demand drops for products with tariffs, prices will fall, reducing inflationary pressures. Furthermore, the tariff risk is not a one-sided event. If Trump tariffs Chinese, European, or Canadian products, those countries tend to enact counter-balancing tariffs on U.S. products. Such slows demand for goods and services between all parties, again a deflationary process.

But therein lies the real tariff risk investors should focus on- the corporate profitability risk.

How We Got Here

Corporate profit margins in the U.S. are at historic highs, with S&P 500 companies enjoying levels well above their long-term exponential growth trends.

Post-pandemic demand surges, supply chain disruptions, and massive fiscal and monetary interventions supported those elevated margins. As evidenced by the chart below, the correlation between economic growth rates and corporate profits is high. Note that outliers of the correlation are historically related to events such as the “Financial Crisis” and post-recession economic recoveries.

However, as the economic landscape shifts, several factors threaten to erode these profit margins, which should raise concerns for investors.

Pandemic-era stimulus measures played a critical role in boosting corporate profits. Trillions in fiscal and monetary support created robust demand, while low interest rates reduced borrowing costs. Businesses capitalized on supply chain disruptions, passing increased costs to consumers with little resistance. At the same time, industries like technology and healthcare benefited from market consolidation, strengthening their pricing power. Labor costs also lagged behind inflation during this period, helping businesses maintain wide margins.

However, these conditions are now waning. As economic growth slows, supply chains normalize, and inflation moderates, sustaining high profit margins will become more challenging.

Such is particularly the case when it comes to tariffs.

Tariff Risk On Corporate Profits

Corporations react to cost increases in their business (i.e., wages, benefits, commodities, utilities, etc.), which must be factored into the selling price to maintain profitability. Crucially, corporations can only pass on higher input costs to consumers if demand remains higher than the available supply of those goods or services.

In 2020 and 2021, corporations could pass on most of the inflationary increase to consumers as they were willing to spend the Government’s money. However, as excess savings run out, inflation declines as consumers decrease spending; corporate profits weaken as the ability to pass on higher input costs to customers fades. As shown, as inflation declines, the rate of change in corporate profits also weakens.

We see the same if you use a two-year average of corporate profits minus inflation. Again, when inflation surged in 2020, corporations could pass on the bulk of the cost increases to consumers. Today, as inflation slows due to declining demand, corporations must absorb the inflation to sell products or services.

Another way to view this issue is by comparing the spread between the consumer price index (what consumers pay for goods and services) and the producer price index (what corporations pay). When inflation rises and consumer demand exceeds supply, corporations can pass higher input costs to consumers. However, when inflation declines, corporations must absorb higher input costs due to slower demand to sell products or services.

Here is the crucial point:

“Corporations don’t create inflation. They merely react to changes in demand and adjust pricing and supply to maintain profitability. When the consumer slows down, corporations cut prices to reduce supply.”

While many risks, such as high labor costs, increased borrowing costs, slowing economic growth, and tax policy risks, threaten corporate profitability over the next few years, tariff risk is often overlooked.

“The narrative in markets is that the outlook for the US is great, and the outlook for Europe, UK, and China is not good. For markets, the problem with this narrative is that 41% of revenues in the S&P 500 come from abroad. If we have a recession in Europe and a continued slowdown in China, it will have a significant negative impact on earnings for S&P 500 companies.” – Torsten Slok, Apollo Academy

One of the risks the Trump administration faces by imposing tariffs is the negative impact of tariffs on exports. Tariffs are an additional tax on imported goods, increasing the costs of those products. However, as noted above, tariffs are never in isolation, as the countries we impose tariffs on will likely impose tariffs back on the U.S. This “tit-for-tat” process threatens to raise costs on exports to countries already impacted by the purchasing power differential caused by a strong dollar. The chart below shows net corporate profit margins during the previous Trump-era tariff policy. Logically, given the high corporate revenue derived from international sales, investors should expect that any cost increase will immediately impact profitability.

With this potential tariff risk in mind, what are the implications for investors in 2025?

Implications for Investors

As always, the problem facing investors is the timing of when the impacts of economic, political, or regulatory changes occur. Sometimes, those impacts can be immediate, such as a reduction in corporate tax rates; other times, the effect of a political or regulatory change can take much longer to manifest.

However, given the exceptionally high profit margin levels in an environment where employment growth is declining, tariff risks are increasing, and economic growth is slowing, being somewhat cautious about specific market exposures may make sense. The chart below shows the long-term relationship between employment growth (where wages and economic demand come from) and corporate profitability as a percentage of the economy.

So, what should investors do? One step would be to monitor portfolio holdings with an exceptionally large foreign revenue exposure. Below is a table of notable S&P 500 companies with substantial international revenue exposure. (Note: The percentages of revenue from international sales are approximate and based on available data as of 2023. Current P/S and P/E ratios are subject to change based on market conditions and company performance.)

Furthermore, investors should adopt a proactive and diversified strategy. The following steps can help mitigate these risks:

1. Focus on Resilient Sectors: Certain industries, such as utilities, consumer staples, and healthcare, are less sensitive to tariff risks due to consistent demand. Allocating a portion of the portfolio to these sectors can help offset volatility in other areas.

2. Evaluate Profit Margin Trends: Rising costs, slowing demand, and tariff risks pressure high corporate profit margins. Investors should analyze companies’ ability to maintain profitability amid these challenges. Companies with efficient cost structures and strong pricing power are better positioned to weather such conditions.

3. Hedge Against Currency Risks: A strong dollar can compound the negative effects of tariffs by making U.S. goods more expensive abroad. Investors can consider hedging strategies or exposure to companies that benefit from a strong dollar.

4. Adopt a Long-Term View: While tariff policies may create near-term uncertainty, investors should focus on long-term fundamentals. Maintaining a disciplined investment strategy and avoiding reactive decisions based on short-term market volatility can lead to better outcomes.

While I have no idea whether tariff risk will threaten corporate profit margins with certainty, the data suggest that risks exist. As we proceed into 2025, the risk of markets reversing to realign prices with valuations seems increasingly likely.

We suggest that becoming more cautious may pay more significant dividends later this year.

*  *  *

For deeper insights into managing your investments in today’s volatile market, visit RealInvestmentAdvice.com for expert guidance and actionable strategies.

Apple has elected to remove its most advanced, end-to-end encrypted security feature for cloud data in the United Kingdom after the government ordered the company to build a backdoor for accessing customer data.

On Friday, Apple announced that Advanced Data Protection, a stronger form of end-to-end encryption used on a wide variety of user data, is no longer available in the UK for new users. This affects iCloud data storage, device backups, web bookmarks, voice memos, notes, photos, reminders and text message backups, Bloomberg reports.

“We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP will not be available to our customers in the UK given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy,” Apple said in a statement. “ADP protects iCloud data with end-to-end encryption, which means the data can only be decrypted by the user who owns it, and only on their trusted devices.”

Two weeks ago reports surfaced that the UK government had ordered Apple to build a backdoor into customer data globally – which Apple said was “unprecedented overreach by the government,” which the company said meant that “the UK could attempt to secretly veto new user protections globally preventing us from ever offering them to customers.”

Customers in the UK who are currently using ADP in the UK will need to manually disable it during an unspecified grace period in order to keep their iCluod accounts, while the company says it will issue additional guidance to affected users.

This would have happened in America if President @realDonaldTrump had not won https://t.co/RMTueGaCaY

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 21, 2025

According to Bloomberg, pulling the encryption feature rather than building a backdoor is a “clear rebuke of the government’s order.” That said, it may not satisfy UK regulators.

Apple on Friday said that “enhancing the security of cloud storage with end-to-end encryption is more urgent than ever before” and that it “remains committed to offering our users the highest level of security for their personal data and are hopeful that we will be able to do so in the future in the United Kingdom.”

The move to pull its most secure encryption technology in the region appears to be an effort from the iPhone maker to appease UK regulators, though it’s plausible the government will determine the company isn’t going far enough. “As we have said many times before, we have never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services and we never will,” Apple said. -Bloomberg

UK users who attempt to enable ADP will receive a message on their device that says “Apple can no longer offer Advanced Data Protection (ADP) in the United Kingdom to new users.”

As part of its order to Apple, UK authorities demanded access to global user data, and required the company to provide access under the country’s Investigatory Powers Act – a law which grants the government power to force companies to remove encryption under a “technical capability notice.”

The law also makes it illegal for companies to announce when the government has made such a demand.

Crypto prices tumbled this morning – most notably BTC and ETH – on reports that cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has reportedly been hacked for over $1.4 billion in liquid-staked Ether and MegaETH (mETH).

The sudden downturn liquidated roughly $100 million worth of leveraged derivatives trading positions, overwhelmingly longs anticipating prices to rise, CoinGlass data shows.

As Vince Quill reports for Cointelegraph.com, following the incident, the onchain security analyst ZackXBT warned users to blacklist addresses associated with the hack. Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou also provided an update on the security breach.

Zhou confirmed that a transfer was made from the exchange’s multisignature wallet to a warm wallet approximately one hour prior.

The CEO said the specific transaction was masked to appear legitimate but contained malicious source code designed to alter the smart contract logic of the wallet and siphon funds. Zhou reassured customers:

“Please rest assured that all other cold wallets are secure. All withdrawals are NORMAL. I will keep you guys posted as more develops. If any team can help us to track the stolen fund will be appreciated.”

The incident follows several high-profile hacks and security incidents throughout 2024 and early 2025 that left crypto exchanges drained of funds.

The crypto industry experienced an uptick in hacks and scam-related activity in the first several weeks of February 2025.

Bybit ETH multisig cold wallet just made a transfer to our warm wallet about 1 hr ago. It appears that this specific transaction was musked, all the signers saw the musked UI which showed the correct address and the URL was from @safe . However the signing message was to change…

— Ben Zhou (@benbybit) February 21, 2025

“Bybit is Solvent even if this hack loss is not recovered, all of the client’s assets are 1 to 1 backed — we can cover the loss,” the Bybit CEO added in a separate post.

In an X statement, the exchange assured that its cold wallets “remain fully secure.” “All client funds are safe, and our operations continue as usual without any disruption.”

Bybit detected unauthorized activity involving one of our ETH cold wallets. The incident occurred when our ETH multisig cold wallet executed a transfer to our warm wallet. Unfortunately, this transaction was manipulated through a sophisticated attack that masked the signing…

— Bybit (@Bybit_Official) February 21, 2025

Elon Musk is no stranger to using physical props to make a point – After his purchase of social media giant Twitter, which shocked the political left to their core, he famously entered corporate headquarters on day one with a bathroom sink in his hands.  “Let that sink in” became a mantra and a meme as Musk proceeded to fire around 80% of the bloated leftist company’s staff without any visible decline in operational ability. 

Musk proved a common conservative conspiracy theory correct:  That Twitter was a corporate monstrosity which employed thousands of people whose only job was to censor views and information contrary to the woke establishment.  No website needs 7500 staff members to function; 80% of the workers were only useful as long as the censorship apparatus was in place.

Much like old Twitter, the federal government is also a bloated, festering edifice that needs to to be cut down into a more manageable and far less corrupt structure.  One political leader that has experience with this process is Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei.  

The day Javier Milei was sworn in as president he shuttered 13 ministries and fired over 30,000 government bureaucrats.  Argentina’s economy has been a train wreck for almost three decades due to socialist mismanagement and out of control debt spending.  The country has been indebted to the IMF for many years and was suffering from multiple bouts of hyperinflation since 2001.  Milei ran on a Libertarian platform and his campaign promise was to eliminate government waste.  He went on to reduce spending by 30% and cut monthly inflation from 25% down to 2.7%.

By all accounts, Milei’s administration has been a resounding success in terms of economic reform and he has proven that Austrian economics work in practice and not just in theory.  His open disdain for the political left was refreshing to see in a political candidate – Much like Trump, he has not been afraid to say what he really thinks of progressives.

After a decade of woke authoritarianism (much of it funded with American tax dollars) it’s hard to argue with anything he says here.  Milei’s disdain for the political left is only matched by his disdain for big government.  His favorite campaign prop was a chainsaw, representing his intent to chop the fat off the bureaucracy.  

Elon Musk’s DOGE group under the direction of President Trump is seeking to top Javier Milei’s cost cutting accomplishments with the rapid exposure of wasteful government agencies like USAID.  To celebrate Musk’s efforts, Milei arrived at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington DC with a gift for Musk – A giant chrome “chainsaw for bureaucracy”.

🔥LEGENDARY! President of Argentina Javier Milei just linked up with Elon Musk and gifted him a DOGE chainsaw.

Absolute beast mode.
pic.twitter.com/oOFZe3dEEN

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 20, 2025

The saw blade is engraved with Milei’s catchphrase, “Viva la libertad carajo!,” which roughly translates to “Long live freedom, Goddammit!”  Musk wielded the chainsaw on stage at CPAC, swinging it wildly.  Thankfully the machine appeared to be inert, otherwise Musk probably would have cranked it into action and run around the stage with it.  

🚨 LMAO! Elon Musk just paraded around the stage at CPAC with a chainsaw given to him by Javier Milei 🤣

“THIS IS THE CHAINSAW FOR BUREAUCRACY!” 🔥 pic.twitter.com/NcL2f22xjO

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) February 20, 2025

Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer recently stated that though cuts to government might be necessary, Musk was taking a “meat axe” to the system and chopping everything.  Chuck is right, a meat axe is not the proper tool, a chainsaw is much better.

Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Delta Air Lines is offering US$30,000 to each of the 76 passengers aboard the plane that flipped upside down while landing at the Toronto Pearson International Airport on Feb. 17.

Those hurt in the crash sustained non-critical injuries, according to the airport’s chief executive.

A Delta spokesperson said the payment offer is a good-faith gesture with no strings attached, according to a statement sent to media outlets on Feb. 19. They will be offered to all passengers, not just the injured.

There were 76 passengers and four crew members aboard Flight 4819 when it crashed during landing and overturned at a snowy Toronto-Pearson International Airport just after 2 p.m. EST on Feb. 17.

Communications between the tower and pilot were normal on approach, and the cause of the crash is still under investigation. The airport’s fire chief has said that the runway “was dry and there was no crosswind conditions.”

The flight originated from Minneapolis. There were no fatalities, though 21 people were injured. As of the morning of Feb. 19, one person remained in the hospital, according to an update by the airline.

The crash left passengers, who were buckled into their seats, dangling upside down, before being helped by the crew to get off the plane.

If all passengers aboard the jet, a Mitsubishi CRJ-900LR, take the offer, the total payout amounts to more than $2.2 million. Some passengers have already retained legal representation to pursue further action.

The airport authority has credited the actions of the flight crew and first responders in saving the passengers.

“The crew of Delta flight 4819 heroically led passengers to safety evacuating a jet that had overturned on the runway, on landing amidst smoke and fire,” Greater Toronto Airports Authority CEO Deborah Flint said on Feb. 18.

The plane’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder have been recovered and sent to a lab for further analysis, according to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, which is leading the investigation into the incident.

“Following this initial impact, parts of the aircraft separated and a fire ensued,” Transportation Safety Board of Canada senior investigator Ken Webster said in a Feb. 18 update. “The fuselage came to rest slightly off the right side of the runway, upside down, facing the other direction.”

The agency has said it’s still unclear what led to the crash.

“At this point, it’s far too early to say what the cause of this accident might be,” Webster said.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, Delta’s incident response team, and Mitsubishi, the maker of the CRJ900 aircraft (originally made by Bombardier), are also taking part in the investigation.

As of Feb. 19, two of the airport’s five runways remained closed. Crew began removing parts of the wreckage on Feb. 19. The airport authority says once the wreckage is removed, it is expected that delays will persist as authorities inspect the runway to ensure everything is in proper condition.

Jennifer Cowan and The Canadian Press contributed to this report. 

*  *  *

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Update:

A Financial Times report claimed earlier that a “high-level Japanese group that includes a former prime minister has drawn up plans for Elon Musk’s Tesla to invest in the struggling carmaker Nissan.” The report was dismissed as fake news, not only by Elon Musk but also by one of the former Tesla board members mentioned in the story.

“I have absolutely no involvement in what is reported in this article and am unaware of any such moves by the Japanese government. I am no longer with Tesla but personally doubt if Tesla has any interest at all in Nissan factories as Tesla’s factory design is so unique,” former Tesla border member Hiro Mizuno wrote on X, tagging Elon Musk in the post. 

The fake news strikes again

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 21, 2025

Musk responded: “The fake news strikes again.” 

*   *   * 

Shares of Nissan Motor in Tokyo jumped on Friday after the Financial Times reported that a “high-level Japanese group that includes a former prime minister has drawn up plans for Elon Musk’s Tesla to invest in the struggling carmaker Nissan.” This follows the collapse of merger talks between Nissan and rival Honda earlier this month

Sources told the FT that former Tesla board member Hiro Mizuno is leading the initiative, with support from former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and his former aide Hiroto Izumi. Those familiar with the matter said several Nissan board members know about the new proposal, which could involve the world’s largest electric vehicle maker acquiring Nissan’s US plants.

News about a consortium of investors seeking to “court Tesla on Nissan investment” comes just weeks after Honda’s proposed $58 billion merger with Nissan to create the world’s fourth-largest carmaker collapsed. 

FT noted that the failed Honda-Nissan deal has “spurred fears that Japan’s third-largest carmaker could fall into potentially hostile foreign hands, with Taiwanese iPhone assembler Foxconn, activists, and private equity groups circling.” 

The report was not clear about which Nissan assets were part of the deal.

Nissan shares in Tokyo closed up 9.5% on Friday. Shares are trading at Covid lows…

On X, Tesla’s Elon Musk told investor Sawyer Merritt: “The Tesla factory IS the product. The Cybercab production line is like nothing else in the automotive industry.” Musk was responding to Merritt’s post, citing the FT report. 

The Tesla factory IS the product.

The Cybercab production line is like nothing else in the automotive industry.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 21, 2025

“For Tesla, it’s difficult to think there are any merits in buying Nissan,” Yasuhiko Hirakawa, head of investment at Rakuten Investment Management, who Bloomberg quoted. 

Hirakawa noted, “It obviously has no need for legacy assets like engines and assembly lines. It’s difficult to imagine something Tesla needs that Nissan can offer.”

Right, especially since Tesla has its own struggles, including the first annual sales drop in a decade. 

Tesla Spikes Despite Soft Q4 Results After Forecasting Vehicle Business Returning To Growth https://t.co/8OY0913I36

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 29, 2025

Rieko Otsuka, an MCP Asset Management strategist, explained, “Whoever the buyer is, Nissan’s restructuring is unavoidable.”