Category: News
EEUU autoriza ventas de chips de Nvidia a China, con condiciones
Por MICHELLE CHAPMAN
La administración de Trump impuso nuevos requisitos de seguridad a las ventas de semiconductores de Nvidia a China, pero esencialmente dio luz verde a la exportación de sus potentes chips de inteligencia artificial H200 a compradores chinos.
Nvidia debe asegurarse de que haya un suministro adecuado en Estados Unidos, y los chips H200 deben someterse a una revisión de terceros antes de ser exportados a China, según las nuevas reglas establecidas por la Oficina de Industria y Seguridad del Departamento de Comercio. Sin embargo, las nuevas reglas reducen el umbral para las exportaciones.
China no podrá usar los chips con fines militares y no se le permitirá importar más del 50% de los chips vendidos a clientes en Estados Unidos.
“Aplaudimos la decisión del presidente Trump de permitir que la industria estadounidense de chips compita para apoyar empleos bien remunerados y la manufactura en Estados Unidos”, declaró Nvidia en un comunicado preparado el miércoles para The Associated Press.
“Ofrecer el H200 a clientes comerciales aprobados, verificados por el Departamento de Comercio, logra un equilibrio reflexivo que es excelente para Estados Unidos”, agregó.
Las nuevas reglas del Departamento de Comercio llegan poco más de un mes después de que el presidente Donald Trump dijera que permitiría a Nvidia vender el H200 a “clientes aprobados” en China.
El H200 no es el producto más avanzado de Nvidia. Esos chips, llamados Blackwell y el próximo Rubin, no formaban parte de los chips aprobados para exportación.
Un grupo de senadores demócratas ha objetado las ventas en China, argumentando que los chips podrían ayudar al ejército chino, permitir a China llevar a cabo ciberataques más efectivos contra Estados Unidos y fortalecer el sector económico y manufacturero de China.
La aprobación de las licencias para vender los chips H200 de Nvidia refleja el creciente poder y la estrecha relación que el fundador y CEO de la compañía, Jensen Huang, disfruta con el mandatario. Sin embargo, ha habido preocupaciones de que China encuentre formas de usar los chips para desarrollar sus propios productos de IA de maneras que podrían representar riesgos para la seguridad nacional de Estados Unidos, una preocupación principal de la administración Biden que había buscado limitar las exportaciones.
En agosto, Nvidia y AMD acordaron compartir el 15% de sus ingresos por ventas de chips a China con el gobierno de Estados Unidos, como parte de un acuerdo para asegurar licencias de exportación para los semiconductores.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
Trump Flips Off, Mouths ‘F–k You’ At Ford Worker Who Called Him ‘Pedophile Protector’
Trump Flips Off, Mouths ‘F–k You’ At Ford Worker Who Called Him ‘Pedophile Protector’
After being called a “pedophile protector” while touring a Ford plant in Michigan on Tuesday, President Trump lashed back, twice mouthing “f–k you” and then giving the middle finger to the auto worker who made the accusation. That worker has now been suspended, but says he has “no regrets whatsoever” about accusing Trump of helping to conceal information about convicted sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“I don’t feel as though fate looks upon you often, and when it does, you better be ready to seize the opportunity,” 40-year-old TJ Sabula told the Washington Post. “And today I think I did that.” Suspended and with his job in peril, Sabula said he’s being “targeted for political retribution” for “embarrassing Trump in front of his friends.”
Sabula’s outburst came as Trump was touring a Ford F-150 plant in Dearborn. It happened while Trump was briefly unaccompanied by reporters, but someone captured the exchange on cellphone video that quickly made its way to gossip site TMZ and then went viral. “A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response,” White House communications director Steven Cheung told the Post.
NOW – Trump mouths “fuck you” and gives Ford plant worker middle-finger after he shouts to Trump: “Pedophile protector!” pic.twitter.com/taeU3xazIb
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) January 13, 2026
In the video, Sabula, a United Auto Workers Local 600 line worker, can be heard yelling “pedophile protector!” at Trump. The president stared at Sabula, mouthed “f–k you” twice, and then gave a middle finger as he walked on. Sabula said he was about 60 feet from the president, and that Trump could hear what he yelled “very, very, very clearly.” Sabula calls himself a political independent who hasn’t voted for Trump, but has backed other Republicans.
Sabula appears to be one of many Americans who resent Trump’s change of stance regarding the release of millions of pages of Department of Justice documents relating to investigations into Epstein and his convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell. Before being elected for a second term, Trump told podcaster Lex Fridman, “I’d be inclined to do the Epstein [release], I’d have no problem with it.” Asked about a “list of clients that went to [Epstein’s] island that has not been made public,” Trump replied, “It’s very interesting isn’t it? It probably will be, by the way, probably.”
In July 2025, however, conservatives were stunned when Trump suddenly called the Epstein-files controversy a “hoax,” going so far as to disown anyone who demanded transparency. After lashing out at a reporter who inquired about the issue, Trump raged on social media:
“The Radical Left Democrats have hit pay dirt, again! … Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this “bullshit,” hook, line, and sinker. They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years.
I have had more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country’s history, and all these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax. Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!”
The Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was enacted in November, gave the DOJ a Dec. 19 deadline for releasing “all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” relating to Epstein and his convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. It released some 100,000 pages on the due date, but the DOJ subsequently revealed that the first batch represented a tiny 1.9% of the total inventory — before accounting for duplicates.
Rep. Thomas Massie: Epstein had close ties to our own intelligence agency and Israel’s intelligence agencies. That’s why they’re trying to stop this.
(Learn about those ties in Drop Site News – link below) pic.twitter.com/c2L1bLQyO6
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) November 19, 2025
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna have led the push to compel the release of the documents. Beyond missing the deadline, the two accuse Trump’s DOJ of making improper redactions that violate the law that now mandates transparency. Earlier this month, they asked a federal judge to appoint a special master — an independent monitor — to supervise the DOJ’s handling of the release process.
“Put simply, the DOJ cannot be trusted with making mandatory disclosures under the Act,” Massie and Khanna wrote to Judge Paul E. Engelmayer of the Southern District of New York. “Absent an independent process, as outlined above, we do not believe the DOJ will produce the records that are required by the Act and what it has represented to this Court.” Separately, Massie told reporters that, in addition to over-redacting, the DOJ is “releasing [information] in a manner as to just flood the channel with stuff that doesn’t matter while they withhold the things that do matter.”
While Trump’s critics are likely to claim his response to the auto worker in Michigan was unprecedentedly undignified for someone holding high office in America, note that, in 1976, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller was famously photographed giving the finger to a heckling student at SUNY Binghamton. The student had given the gesture first, and Rockefeller said he was merely “responding in kind.”
Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/14/2026 – 10:50
Are Central Bankers Willing To Truly Upset Markets So Trump Backs Off?
Are Central Bankers Willing To Truly Upset Markets So Trump Backs Off?
By Michael Every of Rabobank
Officially it’s 2,000, but reportedly as many as 12,000 Iranian protestors could have been killed by their own government over the past few days. While the West has seen none of the mass protests that the last two-plus years have been full of, President Trump told those on Iran’s streets to keep going and that “Help is coming,” adding if the government starts hanging those it’s arrested, matters will be even worse. What might this mean though? It’s unclear. The Wall Street Journal reports that US Gulf Allies, led by Saudi Arabia, have been lobbying the US not to get involved (as the Trump admin labelled three Muslim Brotherhood branches as terrorist organisations).
The intricacies of the Middle East defy the space available here (or on protesters’ placards), but alongside tensions in Yemen/South Yemen and Somalia/Somaliland, a key takeaway is that the Western assumption of a more moderate Saudi-led GCC is perhaps being called into question. Rather, it looks as if there is a Saudi-UAE split, with the former moving closer to Qatar, Turkey, and Pakistan as it loses fear of Iran as a regional hegemon and instead works with those it sees as able to fill that power vacuum who aren’t Israel (see ‘From partners to rivals: What the Saudi-UAE rupture means for Europeans’). That will matter hugely ahead, if so; and for now it’s wait and see on what the US will do in Iran.
That isn’t the only energy story, as two Russian tankers were hit by drones in the Black Sea; that’s as 70% of Kyiv’s power went down as Russia goes all out to try to plunge Ukraine into darkness. Europe is also going to redouble efforts to stop China and India buying Russian oil: how, without sanctions or Trump-style tariffs? (One asks, as the EU is now close to dropping tariffs on Chinese EVs in favor of a minimum price – which effectively means the EV is the same price for the consumer but the tariff flows to China instead of the EU. Realpolitik is hard for some.)
On Greenland and NATO, tensions remain high. Greenland’s PM said the territory chooses Denmark over the US, which Trump rejected; Russia trolled that Greenland might vote to join it, not the US; US senators introduced a bill to prevent the US from invading NATO territory; and France continued to lobby for the EU military aid package for Ukraine to only be spent on EU weapons – which they cannot provide in the volumes required, in the same way that the US underlines that they can’t actually provide adequate forces to cover Greenland.
Meanwhile, help came for embattled Fed Chair Powell. Not the CPI print of 0.3% m-o-m and 2.7% y-o-y headline and 0.2% and 2.6% core, which frankly don’t matter much against the current backdrop. Rather, we saw ‘Central bankers of the world, unite!’ as the BIS, ECB, BoE, RBA, Riksbank, SNB, BCB, BoK, BoC, and the Norges Bank —all institutionally opposed to unionization, “because markets” — said they “Stand in full solidarity” with Fed Chair Powell, who is facing a possible criminal investigation by the DoJ. (Something that isn’t new to one of those central bankers.) “The independence of central banks is a cornerstone of price, financial and economic stability in the interest of the citizens that we serve. It is therefore critical to preserve that independence, with full respect for the rule of law and democratic accountability,” was their defiant collective message.
(Of course, this overlooks that their track record on those fronts is questionable, and that for most of global history we didn’t have independent central banks and did fine – better than recently, in fact, if you look at post-WW2 growth and inflation.)
But where was the BoJ? That omission speaks volumes about realpolitik and a central bank with a balance sheet amounting to a terrifying % of GDP (as a snap February election looms, JPY falls, and the 5-year JGB yield just hit the highest since 2000: somebody can’t afford to annoy the US right now).
Where was the RBI, as India is close to trade deal with the EU, and German Chancellor just stated he wants to build deep economic and defense relationships with it.
Where was the PBoC, from the world’s second largest economy and the largest in PPP terms? That obvious absence speaks volumes about how little the West grasps that its ‘liberal world order’ doesn’t speak for the world – and, increasingly, all liberals.
Where was this collective outrage when Bank of Poland Governor Glapinksi was being leaned on by his liberal government? Is Poland –which just overtook the UK in GDP per capita, and which will soon have the second most powerful conventional army in Europe at a time when that really matters– ‘just an EM’? Protests are variable, it seems.
On the specifics of the Powell case, the US DoJ stated, “None of this would have happened if they had just responded to our outreach,” which makes the case that the Fed doth protest too much. However, the FT claims Powell sent a letter to US senators with details of his Fed refurbishment project following his testimony, which makes the investigation look political. (At least this isn’t happening in South Korea, where the impeached former president now faces the death penalty for his recent actions.)
Yet in reality everyone is rallying round Powell, not Poland, because if the Fed is part of economic statecraft, not neoliberal global establishment monetary policy, then there isn’t a neoliberal global establishment.
Free trade has gone – as Canada’s Carney walks a tightrope on a trip to Beijing to try to diversify away from the US, while Trump stated the USMCA is “irrelevant” during a Ford Motor factory tour. Free movement of people is going.
Free movement of capital is declining. The fiscal rules are being ripped up as fiscal dominance rules. And, as shown back in 2016’s ‘Thin Ice’, if central bank cooperation collapses, it’s game over. Realistically, what would the ECB and BoE, etc., do if the Fed was politicised under US neo-mercantilism?
Equally logical is the fact that the Fed is a vital part of any true Gramscian revolution, and would ideally be flipped well before the looming mid-term elections. Did you not notice Trump using an executive order to de facto institute MBS QE last week? Those are the real stakes.
Yet given Powell is gone in a few months anyway, what will this resistance achieve vs Trump that the slew of lawfare didn’t in the run-up to the 2024 election? That’s as BlackRock’s Rieder emerges as a new Fed Chair tip in the home stretch: is that the gamekeeper turning poacher or vice versa? Do central bankers really think Trump will retreat when called out? Or are they willing to truly upset markets so he backs off?
In short — and unlike in Iran, where things are hard to call — this looks like a battle that the establishment probably can’t win. Indeed, while a brighter day might be on the horizon for the Iranian people, no help is coming for the liberal world order.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/14/2026 – 10:30
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/are-central-bankers-willing-truly-upset-markets-so-trump-backs
El senador Schumer opina que Trump tratará de interferir en las elecciones de noviembre
Por THOMAS BEAUMONT
El líder de la minoría del Senado de Estados Unidos, Chuck Schumer, cree que el presidente republicano Donald Trump intentará interferir en las elecciones de mitad de período, y opina que las redadas migratorias en las principales ciudades están creando una sensación de caos que los votantes rechazarán en noviembre.
Los comentarios fueron parte de una entrevista telefónica de 20 minutos con The Associated Press, en la que el demócrata de Nueva York argumentó que la entrada de la excongresista de Alaska, Mary Peltola, en la contienda por el Senado le da a su partido un camino hacia la mayoría.
Schumer expresó que las preocupaciones económicas han comenzado a consolidarse en la mente de los votantes y que los demócratas tienen planes de construir su campaña en torno a los costos, el caos y la corrupción que atribuyen a la administración Trump.
La Casa Blanca ha calificado tales declaraciones demócratas como “alarmismo” para ganar puntos políticos.
Esta es una transcripción editada de la entrevista.
Prevén la interferencia de Trump
P: Algunos creen que Trump intentará impedir unas elecciones intermedias abiertas y justas, y se espera que dispute los resultados. ¿Comparte esas preocupaciones?
R: Las compartimos, y ya tenemos equipos de senadores y abogados analizando todas las formas en que Trump pudiera intentar estropear las cosas, y estamos luchando contra eso. Ya tenemos un equipo para asegurarnos de que se cuenten los votos de manera justa. Hay que recordar que todavía muchos de los mecanismos electorales los manejan los estados. E incluso en estados republicanos, hay resistencia a la interferencia de Trump.
Trump hará lo que sea necesario, y no tiene honor, ni credibilidad, ni respeto por la ley. Pero estamos preparados para ello, y creemos que tendremos éxito.
Influencia de las redadas del ICE en las elecciones
P: ¿Qué impacto cree que están teniendo las redadas del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE) en las elecciones de mitad de período desde el principio?
R: A la gente no le gusta el caos. Ven que ciudades y alcaldes que estaban perfectamente tranquilos y seguros ahora están experimentando todo este caos. Y, como dije, el gasto es lo número uno. Pero son el gasto, la corrupción y el caos. A la gente no le gusta. Y Trump, al mismo tiempo que dice que quiere proteger a los manifestantes en Irán, está persiguiendo a manifestantes y otros civiles inocentes en Minneapolis. No tiene sentido para la gente.
Trump y la economía
P: ¿Los factores económicos que son insatisfactorios para gran parte del electorado seguirán en este año electoral?
R: Absolutamente. Lo que más preocupa a las familias estadounidenses es que no pueden pagar todas las facturas.
El gasto es el tema número uno. El costo de vida, la asequibilidad, llámelo como quiera. Pero es el tema número uno, y ahora se dan cuenta de que Trump los está perjudicando en todo esto.
En atención médica, al no extender los subsidios fiscales de los seguros médicos, en energía, al deshacerse de la energía limpia, eólica y solar, encareciendo las facturas eléctricas con aranceles, lo que está haciendo que el costo de todo suba. Así que la gente ahora se da cuenta de que Trump los está perjudicando.
Nos vamos a centrar en cinco temas para reducir el gasto de las personas. Son la atención médica, la vivienda, los aranceles —ya sabes, costos de bienes—, los precios de los alimentos, debido a los monopolios alimentarios, y el cuidado infantil.
Trump y los republicanos están en una burbuja, y no lo entienden. Lo ignoran, y por eso las cosas siguen mejorando para nosotros.
Entorno legislativo para las elecciones intermedias
P: Si estamos viendo en la Cámara de Representantes de 25 a 30 escaños cambiando de manos, ¿hay una correlación directa con lo que podría suceder en el Senado?
R: Mire, al comienzo del (último) año, la gente decía: “Bueno, hay una oportunidad de ganar la Cámara de Representantes y ninguna oportunidad de ganar el Senado”. Pero debido a los temas de los que he hablado y porque la Cámara de Representantes y el Senado han estado en gran medida en sintonía en esos temas y está resonando con el pueblo estadounidense cómo estamos de su lado, creo que la diferencia entre la probabilidad de ganar la Cámara y la probabilidad de ganar el Senado ha disminuido considerablemente.
P: Sin embargo, en este momento, al comenzar el año electoral, ¿estaría de acuerdo en que los demócratas tienen un camino estrecho de regreso a la mayoría del Senado?
R: Digo que es un camino mucho más amplio de lo que piensan los escépticos, y un camino mucho más amplio de lo que era hace tres meses y ciertamente hace un año. Y sigue mejorando, y creemos que tenemos una muy buena oportunidad de recuperar el Senado.
Votantes jóvenes y no blancos de Trump
P: Los votantes jóvenes y no blancos se inclinaron por Trump en la última elección. ¿Cuál es su plan y qué se necesitará para que los demócratas los conquisten?
R: El tema del costo ya está teniendo un efecto. Mire las elecciones de 2025. Mire cómo (la demócrata Abigail) Spanberger ganó por 15 puntos en Virginia y (la demócrata Mikie) Sherrill ganó por 13 puntos (en las elecciones de gobernador de 2025). Pero no fueron solo esos dos estados. Ganamos elecciones en Georgia. Ganamos elecciones en todo el país. Y eso se debe a que los votantes, jóvenes y mayores, pobres y de clase media, no creen que Trump los estuviera sirviendo bien. Así que ha habido un cambio total sobre Trump.
Y en gran parte, ayudamos a que sucediera al centrarnos en los costos.
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Beaumont informó desde Des Moines, Iowa.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
FBI Raids WaPo Reporter’s Home In Classified Docs Case
FBI Raids WaPo Reporter’s Home In Classified Docs Case
The FBI executed a search warrant on the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson as part of a probe into “a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified government materials,” the paper announced Wednesday.
Natanson, was at her Virginia home when the agency showed up with a warrant. According to the outlet, “law enforcement was investigating Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a system administrator in Maryland who has a top secret security clearance and has been accused of accessing and taking home classified intelligence reports that were found in his lunchbox and his basement.” The journalist’s home and devices were search.
According to her X bio, Natanson covers “the Trump administration’s reshaping of the government and its effects.”
Perez-Lugones is a US citizen who was born in Miami and now resides in Laurel, Maryland according to the FBI’s criminal complaint. He has been a government contractor since 2002 and holds top secret security clearance.
According to the complaint, at least one document found in Pererz-Lugones’ basement was related to national defense. WaPo reports that Natanson has been part of its most sensitive coverage in the 2nd Trump administration. She told WaPo that the FBI seized a phone and a Garmin watch.
Developing…
Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/14/2026 – 10:08
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fbi-raids-wapo-reporters-home-classified-docs-case
Winfield officials criticize bill that would allow developer to de-annex parcel
The Winfield Town Council has called legislation drafted by State Senator Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell, a “perversion of the entire concept of home rule.”
Winfield officials, in a news release posted Monday on the town’s Facebook page, are challenging the proposed bill and asking residents to contact Niemeyer’s office to voice their concerns in regard to Senate Bill 274.
“The Winfield Town Council expresses serious concerns about efforts by Niemeyer to strip 400 acres of land out of Winfield so that a local developer can advance a plan to add 4,000 homes to the Winfield area without having to adhere to local planning guidance, rules, ordinances, and the normal process for controlled, responsible Development,” the release said. “Senate Bill 274, legislation drafted by Senator Niemeyer but not yet proposed, is intended to strip 400 acres of land from Winfield via deannexation to bypass our processes and avoid the usual steps of public hearings, public comment, and negotiation with the town of Winfield, which is charged to protect the interests of its residents.
“The developer, LBL Development, LLC, owns or controls approximately 400 acres in the southwest portion of Winfield and another 800-plus acres adjacent to Winfield, in unincorporated Lake County, and is looking to build approximately 4,000 homes in that area of Winfield.”
According to the specifics of Senate Bill 274, the law applies only to a town incorporated after 1990 and located in a county having a population of more than 400,000 and less than 700,000, of which Winfield is the only town in the state that fits the description.
Winfield Town Councilman David Anderson, R-at-large, said that a bill similar to Senate Bill 274 was introduced in the spring of 2025 by State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso.
“The town of Winfield got it killed. Now, a year later, here we are again, this time with Rick Niemeyer,” Anderson said.
Anderson, who serves on the Winfield Plan Commission, said LBL Development in September of last year submitted to the town a request to have its 400 acres in the southwest portion of the town — roughly south of 121st Avenue and west of Gibson Street and southwest of the new Taft Middle School — rezoned into a Planned Development or PD.
After making the initial application, the developer’s representatives, including Chris Salatas and Steve Kil, met with town staff in a Technical Advisory Committee meeting, where a petitioner may receive initial feedback from a number of stakeholders, according to the Winfield town release. John Lotton, the developer of LBL, was not at the TAC meeting.
The petitioners received numerous items of feedback from the TAC about standards, expectations and practical considerations associated with the proposal, according to Winfield officials. According to town officials, a plan commission hearing was offered to the petitioners but representatives of the developer declined as they wanted to revise their submission and provide conceptual drawings.
On Jan. 8, Niemeyer’s draft of SB274 appeared online with language that would allow LBL Development to de-annex the parcel it owns even though LBL has not yet attended a public hearing or submitted conceptual plans. Winfield officials said it appears that Niemeyer proposed this legislation as a lifeline to a developer who is unwilling or unable to adhere to Winfield’s community standards, as well as the planning and zoning process in Winfield.
“We think this proposed bill is a perversion of the entire concept of “Home Rule” promulgated by the Indiana Legislature which provides that local municipalities, being closest and best connected with constituents, should be left to control the development and standards in their own communities, not Indianapolis,” Winfield officials stated.
“Not only does this proposed bill strip Winfield of its ability to effectively represent its residents in their efforts to control the development in their community, it also sets a dangerous precedent whereby any developer, anywhere in Indiana, can feel justified in going to Indianapolis to cut out local planning commissions, zoning boards, and local officials when they don’t like a community’s standards instead of working collaboratively,” the letter stated.
“We think it’s important our residents have a voice in what happens in their backyard and we implore the residents of Winfield, Winfield Township, and neighboring communities to contact Sen. Niemeyer to voice your concerns about this legislation and the consequences of massive development such as this occurring without appropriate local oversight and management,” Winfield officials said.
Neither Niemeyer nor Salatas, who is the director of Public Affairs for Lotton Development, returned requests for comment.
Five months ago, Niemeyer wasn’t quite so charitable to the developer as he was ready to meet Lotton in court over a different annexation: the unincorporated parcel in Hanover Township.
Niemeyer told the St. John Town Council at a packed September 10 public hearing that he wrote a law in 2014 allowing the Town of Lowell to annex a non-contiguous parcel — House Bill 1099 and cosponsored with Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago — because Lowell owned and operated an existing well field and wastewater treatment plant on which they wanted to make some updates. Last summer, St. John was attempting to annex 167 acres of land with a planned-use development on it at 12863 State Line Road after the town built a water treatment facility on it; once the facility was up and running, Lotton Development would build a 982-unit subdivision on the land.
In the Lowell case from 2014, the land wasn’t contiguous to the town border, so Niemeyer said he created the statute so the town “wouldn’t have to run to county all the time.”
“I want the people to know, and the council to know, that I was very adamant in making sure that nothing could be done off of these parcels because it was a big deal to let these municipalities do it, and I didn’t want to open up the state of Indiana where (bad actors) go out and grab a piece of property somewhere and think they have the zoning on that piece of property once they get that into their jurisdiction under a well field. It just can’t happen, the way I read it.”
If St. John decided to go through with it, Niemeyer said he wouldn’t let the action go unanswered.
“I don’t typically get involved in other towns’ business, but I worked with (Legislative Services Attorneys) to put (HB 1099) together. We’ll have to let the lawyers work it out,” Niemeyer told the Post-Tribune.
St. John in October voted to terminate the annexation plan.
Deborah Laverty and Michelle L. Quinn are freelance reporters for the Post-Tribune.
John Mellencamp announces a greatest-hits tour, coming to Tinley Park
Singer/songwriter John Mellencamp on Wednesday announced a “Dancing Words Tour” this summer, taking him to 19 U.S. cities including the Chicago area.
He’ll play July 11 at the Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre in Tinley Park. Tickets go on sale in a Citi presale at 10 a.m. Jan. 20, followed by additional presales and a general public sale at 10 a.m. Jan. 23. More information at www.mellencamp.com.
The tour, produced by Live Nation, will focus on the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s greatest hits across five decades, including songs like “Pink Houses,” “Jack and Diane” and “Ain’t Even Done With the Night.” Mellencamp last played locally with a trio of shows at the Chicago Theatre in 2023.
dgeorge@chicagotribune.com
July 10: Grand Rapids, Michigan, at Acrisure Amphitheater
July 11: Tinley Park’s Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
July 13: Kansas City, Missouri, at Morton Amphitheater
July 14: Shakopee, Minnesota, at Mystic Lake Amphitheater
July 16: Clarkston, Michigan, at Pine Knob Music Theatre
July 18: Noblesville, Indiana, at Ruoff Music Center
July 19: Cincinnati at Riverbend Music Center
July 21: Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, at Blossom Music Center
July 24: Mansfield, Massachusetts, at Xfinity Center
July 25: Holmdel, New Jersey, at PNC Bank Arts Center
July 26: Wantagh, New York, at Northwell at Jones Beach Theater
July 29: Bristow, Virginia, at Jiffy Lube Live
July 30: Charlotte, North Carolina, at Truliant Amphitheater
Aug. 1: Alpharetta, Georgia, at Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
Aug. 3: Tampa, Florida, at MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
Aug. 6: Houston at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Aug. 9: Phoenix at Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
Aug. 10: Hollywood, California, at Hollywood Bowl
Aug. 12: Mountain View, California, at Shoreline Amphitheatre
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/14/john-mellencamp-tour/
“Defining Moment”: Saks Global Files For Bankruptcy After Botched Neiman Marcus Takeover
“Defining Moment”: Saks Global Files For Bankruptcy After Botched Neiman Marcus Takeover
Luxury department store conglomerate Saks Global filed for bankruptcy protection late Tuesday night, in one of the largest US retail collapses since the Covid era and, among other things, what appears to be a casualty of the menacing K-shaped economy.
Saks Global has been weighed down by heavy debt following its $2.7 billion, debt-fuelled acquisition of Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman in 2024. Slowing luxury sales, a K-shaped economy, and dwindling cash levels led Saks to delay payments to suppliers, prompting some vendors to halt shipments or demand cash on delivery, which further pressured sales. The retailer missed a $100 million interest payment in December.
Despite the bankruptcy filing, Saks secured $1.75 billion in financing, including $1.5 billion from senior secured bondholders, and appointed former Neiman Marcus chief Geoffroy van Raemdonck as CEO. The restructuring will wipe out existing equity holders, including newer investors such as Amazon and Salesforce.
“This is a defining moment for Saks Global, and the path ahead presents a meaningful opportunity to strengthen the foundation of our business and position it for the future,” said van Raemdonck, adding, “In close partnership with these newly appointed leaders and our colleagues across the organization, we will navigate this process together with a continued focus on serving our customers and luxury brands. I look forward to serving as CEO and continuing to transform the Company so that Saks Global continues to play a central role in shaping the future of luxury retail.”
The future of the Saks Global empire will be much clearer in the weeks and months ahead as bankruptcy proceedings begin and new investors enter the picture. It’s important to note that van Raemdonck is a luxury retail veteran who has played key leadership roles in Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren.
Saks’ demise appears to stem from slowing luxury sales and the Neiman Marcus deal, as well as …
“In a market where luxury brands are moving direct-to-consumer and shoppers expect personalization and speed, that (merger) was always going to fail,” said Brittain Ladd, a strategy and supply-chain consultant at Florida-based Chang Robotics, who was quoted by Reuters.
In markets, the Goldman Luxury European Index (GSXELUXG), a sell-side benchmark tracking luxury heavyweights including LVMH, Hermès, Richemont, Burberry, Ferrari, and others, has traded largely sideways since 2022.
Morningstar analyst David Swartz recently noted, “Rich people are still buying … just not so much at Saks.”
Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/14/2026 – 09:55
How Independent Is The Federal Reserve?
How Independent Is The Federal Reserve?
Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,
The Department of Justice has opened an investigation into cost overruns in the Federal Reserve’s renovation project, with particular focus on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and his testimony to Congress in June 2025. The question is whether he perjured himself concerning what he knew and when.
Powell responded with a highly unusual video message to the public. He defended himself and further speculated that this investigation is merely a tactic to interfere with the Fed’s independence.
“The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president,” he said. “This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions—or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.”
He speaks to a long-running dispute on the relationship between the Fed and the executive branch. The organizational chart of the federal government puts the central bank clearly under the authority of the president. That said, there is a long-running understanding that its operations would be politically independent and that presidents would not and could not interfere.
The courts have affirmed its independence in passing, but the status of the institution in constitutional law remains murky.
Powell’s certain supposition that this is not really about the renovation project might in fact be incorrect. In July 2025, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) referred Powell for criminal investigation over false testimony. Powell had denied to lawmakers that the renovation involved a “VIP dining room, premium marble, water features, and a roof terrace garden.”
But Luna found the plans submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission that clearly had all those features, requiring cost overruns of $600 million. Looking through the plans, the sheer opulence and scale are what stand out. Powell grants that costs have ballooned but blames unexpected discoveries of new needs and, ironically, inflation.
Contrary to Powell’s dismissals, this is actually serious. The subpoena is based on genuine grievances that Powell simply lied to Congress.
Independence is one thing, but spending $600 million without congressional authorization is another matter entirely.
In his statement, Powell said, “I have carried out my duties without political fear or favor, focused solely on our mandate of price stability and maximum employment.”
Here we have another problem. We have just lived through the second worst inflationary bout in a century of monetary policy. The great inflation of 2021–2024 reduced the overall purchasing power of the dollar by 25 percent to 30 percent for a broad index of goods and services. Some particulars show far higher price increases. You can probably think of examples in which the posted price has doubled since 2019.
In other words, this is not the most opportune time for Powell to cite the Fed’s dedication to price stability.
What’s more, the inflation that shocked the country was a direct consequence of Powell’s decision in March 2020 to flatline interest rates to make possible vast funding that would flow as part of the COVID-19 pandemic response. He had spent the two previous years gradually increasing rates as a means of patching up the Fed’s broken balance sheet.
The problem he had sought to solve with higher rates traced all the way back to 2008 under the leadership of Ben Bernanke. The Fed adopted a zero interest rate policy to bail out financial institutions following the collapse of the market for mortgage-backed securities. Part of the scheme involved paying banks for deposits at a higher rate than the market would bear, thus forestalling inflationary pressure.
The downside of such a policy involved grave distortions in industrial production structures plus a Fed holding on to useless debt assets. Powell had been determined to reverse this error and at least get the Fed on a sound financial footing.
All was going well until the first week of March. Someone, somehow, got to him and persuaded him to completely reverse course. The result was a default back to zero interest rates for the next two years, with disastrous results.
The rate of money creation during this period broke all records. Unlike the quantitative easing of 2005, the new money was sent directly to Americans’ bank accounts and became hot money on the street. This fueled inflation never before experienced by anyone younger than 45. Far from being transitory, it was devastating, wiping out the whole value of the stimulus payments.
There can be no question that the Fed was responsible.
As the inflation roared, Powell stepped in with the fastest rate increases on record. This policy likely contributed to the taming of the inflationary beast. And yet just as we were approaching the national election of 2024, he reversed policy yet again, in a manner that could easily be interpreted as a boon to then-Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign and the Democrats.
Looked at in total, these are not the actions of an independent Fed but rather one that changes policy based on political pressure. Powell denies it, but the evidence is rather clear.
This was perhaps not the best time for the Fed to renovate its headquarters with luxury accommodations and $600 million in cost overruns. Even leaving aside the sheer power of the central bank to manipulate political outcomes, it surely needs some oversight from the people’s elected representatives. For the central bank to claim that it is an institution dedicated entirely to economic science and the public interest is a real stretch.
The Constitution includes no mention of an independent central bank. Its mentions of money include only a provision that only gold and silver can be coined as money by states, an implicit rebuke of unsound money. This is why the institution of a national bank has invited so much controversy over the years.
On July 10, 1832, President Andrew Jackson issued a veto of the chartering of the Second National Bank. It is one of the most famous presidential vetoes in U.S. history. It was also a genius move, bolstering his standing and guaranteeing his reelection. The United States was thereby protected against a central bank until one emerged in secret in 1913.
The truth is that central banking has never been popular in U.S. history. This is for good reason. Inflation is a genuine trauma. Since the Fed’s creation, the value of the dollar has been on a long downward slide, and is now worth about 3 cents from 1913. This is not a record about which any chairman of the Fed should feel pride.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/14/2026 – 09:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/how-independent-federal-reserve
Snow expected to continue Wednesday as temps fall to high teens
Snow showers and patchy blowing snow is expected to continue in the Chicagoland area Wednesday as temperatures fall into the high teens in the night hours, weather officials said.
Current morning conditions at O’Hare International Airport are light snow at 38 degrees with a wind chill of 3 degrees. Farther south at Midway Airport, conditions are overcast at 39 degrees with a wind chill of 4 degrees.
Wednesday night, officials expect scattered flurries and blustery conditions with temperatures falling in the high teens.
A hazardous weather outlook was given for portions of north central, northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana with an elevated risk in Porter County, Indiana. Wind-driven accumulating lake-effect snow is expected to reduce visibility on the roadways Wednesday through Thursday morning across northwest Indiana.
In other places a period of gusty snow showers Wednesday morning may sharply reduce visibility and accumulations of an inch of snow in parts of northeast Illinois, officials said.
Dangerous travel conditions are expected.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/14/weather-forecast-snow-3/
