The U.S. government added $696 billion to the national debt over the past four months, borrowing $94 billion in the month of January alone, the Congressional Budget Office reports. The number further heightens the risk that America will experience some kind of financial crisis unless deficits are tamed, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget Maya MacGuineas warned. "If we continue to borrow at this rate, it leaves us on the path to another year of a $1.8 trillion or higher deficit," MacGuineas stated Monday. "If these estimates aren't alarming enough, the national debt continues to climb toward record levels " equaling about the size of the entire U.S. economy today." Read more
Amid Rock the Country's lineup disruptions this week - with artists including Shinedown, Ludacris, Morgan Wade and Carter Faith making exits - the festival's July 25-26 weekend in Anderson, S.C., is no longer on the schedule. The South Carolina stop originally announced as part of an eight-city trek has been removed from Rock the Country's website. Billboard reached out to a representative for Rock the Country for comment. Shinedown, who pulled out of the festival on Feb. 6, was one of the acts booked to perform at the South Carolina dates. The band opted to drop out after receiving backlash from fans for participating in the festival. Read more
Binance holds about 87% of USD1, the stablecoin issued by a Trump family crypto venture"a greater concentration than any other major stablecoin has at a single exchange"underscoring the depth of the financial relationship between Binance, whose founder Trump pardoned in October, and World Liberty Financial, which already has added an estimated $1 billion to President Donald Trump's net worth. Binance is prohibited from serving U.S. customers under the terms of its 2023 settlement with the Treasury Department, meaning if the rules are properly followed, the 87% of USD1 kept in Binance-controlled wallets would mostly be held on behalf of customers outside the United States.
A British woman who was shot dead by her father while visiting his home in Texas had argued with him about US President Donald Trump earlier that day, an inquest has heard. Lucy Harrison, from Warrington in Cheshire, was shot in the chest on 10 January 2025 in Prosper, near Dallas. Police in the town investigated the 23-year-old's death as possible manslaughter but no criminal case was brought against Kris Harrison after a grand jury in Collin County declined to indict him. An inquest into Lucy Harrison's death opened earlier at Cheshire Coroner's Court, where her boyfriend Sam Littler described the "big argument" about Trump, who was preparing to be inaugurated for his second term of office.
If you needed an example of the disconnect between legacy media and the country at large, look no further than "Melania." The new documentary on Melania Trump follows the first lady in the 20 days leading up to the 2025 presidential inauguration " and her second stint calling the White House home. The critics HATE it, giving it a lousy score of just 10%, according to Rotten Tomatoes (compare that with the 93% score critics gave the 2020 documentary "Becoming" about former first lady Michelle Obama). Yet, the Americans heading to the theater to watch "Melania" have a vastly different takeaway. They've given it a score of 99%. This discrepancy has broken the film rating site's 27-year record.
Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie named the Emirati businessman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem as the individual Jeffrey Epstein had emailed about a "torture video". Sulayem is chairman and CEO of DP World, a major global logistics firm based in the UAE. Newsweek has contacted DP World's media office via email for comment.
Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX) thanked God for "getting us a new president" in Donald Trump, who has saved this nation from "apostasy, blasphemy, taking our children down the path of homosexuality and perversion."
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Submarine manufacturer General Dynamics Electric Boat is reportedly preparing to hire 8,000 employees this year, a recruitment goal that is significantly higher than hiring levels in recent years.
Donald Trump has cast himself as Republicans' chief messenger on the cost of living in an election year, but a Reuters review of his speeches shows a president repeatedly declaring inflation beaten while rarely acknowledging the strain many Americans say they still feel.
Ford has refused to fire the factory worker who heckled President Donald Trump last month. Thomas "TJ" Sabula, 40, was suspended after calling Trump a "pedophile protector," but United Auto Workers Vice President Laura Dickerson says the 40-year-old is back working and does not have a negative mark on his personnel file. Cameras captured Trump, 79, responding to the heckle by flipping Sabula off at a plant in Dearborn, Michigan, and saying, "F--k you." Dickerson said that the president also told the auto worker, "You're fired." The union leader told a Washington crowd on Monday that it would never happen. "This ain't The Apprentice," Reuters reports Dickerson said, referring to Trump's pre-politics life as the host of the reality TV show.
Everyone's wringing their hands about the latest rounds of corporate layoffs. But no one is talking about the real reason these people are being laid off.
USSECSTATE Marco Rubio Addressing Employees at Foggy Bottom
The FBI warned US Border Patrol agents working along the US-Mexico border to maintain a heightened sense of awareness because the leaders of a notorious Mexican drug cartel ordered members to shoot at federal agents from across the border.
Mexican Drug Cartels
Bill Carns, former chairman of the Nye County Republican Central Committee, was arrested on Saturday, Jan. 31. He faces five charges, including creating or distributing child pornography, using the internet to control explicit images of someone under the age of 16, as well as gun-related charges, including possessing a sawed-off shotgun, possession of a dangerous weapon, and having a firearm without a serial number. "I've known him for about four years, and it's devastating," said Pahrump resident Edward Bevilacqua. "These are horrific allegations." "I can't believe the sheriff would do something to this gravity without evidence, without going through the procedures, and I think the charges speak for themselves," said Leo Blundo, current chairman of the Nye County Republican Party.
Feb 6, 2026 Interview
The Kyiv Independent's Jared Goyette speaks with a Canadian volunteer, Brittney Shki-Giizis, who left the Canadian military to fight in Ukraine.
A former tank instructor, she explains why she chose to come to the front, how she learned Ukrainian to serve in a Ukrainian unit, and how the war's shift toward drones led her to become an FPV (first-person view) drone pilot. Read more
