"Some people called it the poor man's nuke." - (krisnewby) The Army weaponized ticks because they inject directly into the body, bypass any protection, and leave no trace.

AI token spending has more than doubled since December 2025.

Kevin Warsh is inheriting the highest 10-year Treasury yields on a Fed chair's swearing-in date since Alan Greenspan in August 1987.

US money supply growth just hit 4% on a 6-month rolling basis. Fastest growth in 4 years.

TFTC 749 w/ (KrisNewby): "They weaponized fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes so we could drop them on our enemies during the Cold War." We discuss: ⚡ The CIA's tick bioweapon program ⚡ The Cuba operation in the JFK files ⚡ How Lyme Disease broke containment

The Trump administration is preparing for a possible new round of military strikes on Iran, per CBS News. No final decision has been made. Trump has signaled some flexibility on timing but has also made clear there will be consequences if Iran doesn't make a deal. Trump canceled his Memorial Day weekend plans and is returning to the White House. He's also skipping his son's wedding, citing "circumstances pertaining to Government." Some military and intelligence officials have also canceled weekend plans as the Pentagon updates readiness posture at overseas installations. The US transmitted what it called a final proposal to Iran on Wednesday via Pakistan, with a warning that rejection means strikes resume. Iran is reviewing it. Trump said Friday: "Iran is dying to make a deal. We'll see what happens." Rubio referenced NATO conversations in Sweden about reopening the Strait of Hormuz by military force as "Plan B" if Iran doesn't agree to do so on its own. Iran's IRGC warned that further strikes could widen the conflict "beyond the Middle East." House Republicans abandoned an effort Thursday to vote on limiting Trump's war authority against Iran after concluding they didn't have the votes.

The SEC approved Nasdaq to list cash-settled Bitcoin index options on the PHLX exchange. The options are European-style, based on the CF Benchmarks Bitcoin Reference Rate, and settle in USD. No physical bitcoin is held. These are separate from the Bitcoin ETF options already trading on CBOE. Index options are standard derivatives infrastructure across equity markets.

JPMorgan is looking to offload $4 billion in risk from NAV loans, which are loans backed by private equity fund assets. The proposed structure lets them keep the loans on their balance sheet but shift potential losses to outside investors. NAV loans have been one of the most controversial instruments in private equity. Buyout firms use them to create artificial liquidity and boost returns without actually selling anything. The market is projected to hit $700 billion by 2030. Critics have warned they add hidden layers of leverage on top of already leveraged portfolios. The largest bank in the US building a structure specifically to transfer losses to someone else is a signal. You don't do that if you're comfortable with the risk. Investor sentiment toward private credit has also weakened over concerns about loosening lending standards and AI disrupting the software sector, where a large portion of PE fund value is concentrated.

Fox Business: The Trump administration wants to make purchasing a home with bitcoin "the real estate norm." A $4.2 million home already sold with bitcoin and closed faster than most traditional transactions.

The SEC delayed a plan that would have given crypto firms broad exemptions to trade tokenized versions of US stocks. The exemption was originally expected by May 18. Stock exchange officials and other market participants raised concerns after learning the details, specifically a provision that would allow trading of third-party tokens issued without the backing or consent of the public companies involved.

Rep. Nick Begich’s American Reserve Modernization Act has secured 21 cosponsors.

Economist Richard Werner: "Christine Lagarde says we need CBDC because there's Bitcoin. Well, the digital is not the new aspect. We have digital money. It's the central aspect that this is about."

Economist Richard Werner: "The IMF World Bank system has been designed to keep developing countries from developing. To prevent development and keep them poor but effective cheap exporters of raw materials according to the British colonial model." "The Belt and Road Initiative is an alternative. Many countries including in Africa have joined for this reason."

Sen. Cynthia Lummis gives her farewell to Jerome Powell.

Catherine Herridge ((C__Herridge)) reports the CIA was tracking every keystroke on computers used by DNI Gabbard's Director's Initiatives Group, the task force investigating the JFK, RFK, and MLK assassinations, COVID-19 origins, Crossfire Hurricane, Havana Syndrome, and UAPs. CIA whistleblower James Erdman testified under oath that the CIA illegally surveilled the group's computers, phones, and contacts with whistleblowers. Investigators looking into Havana Syndrome discovered third parties listening in on their secure phone calls. DNI IT experts confirmed someone had to submit an engineering work order to make that possible. The CIA also denied the group access to key analysts, blocked requests to review internal communications about whether Biden-era Havana Syndrome intelligence was manipulated, and sent members demands to come in for questioning outside of normal security review procedures. The group concluded the Intelligence Community's analytic tradecraft under Biden was "defective" and recommended recalling the 2023 and 2024 Havana Syndrome assessments. Their final report was prepped for release but never made public. Judicial Watch has now sued for the records.

Tulsi Gabbard resigned as Director of National Intelligence today after her husband Abraham was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer. Effective June 30. Here's what her last few months looked like. Gabbard opposed the US strikes on Iran from the start. As the war escalated, she was reportedly sidelined. Sources told Tablet Magazine she "doesn't get invited to meetings anymore." While Trump and top national security officials like Rubio and CIA Director Ratcliffe directed the war from Mar-a-Lago, Gabbard was in Washington. Both of her top deputies quit over the same conflict. Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned in March saying Iran "posed no imminent threat" and accused Israeli leaders of feeding Trump "misinformation" about a "swift path to victory." Then this week, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, a former CIA officer and RFK Jr's daughter-in-law, also resigned over disagreement with the strikes. One Republican lawmaker told Politico that "both Kent and Gabbard have had less and less influence." Last week, a CIA whistleblower testified to the Senate that the CIA removed roughly 40 boxes of JFK assassination and MKUltra files from ODNI that were being processed for declassification. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna said the files were taken "in the middle of the night." ODNI denied it was a "raid," but multiple intelligence sources confirmed to the Daily Caller that the CIA did take the files and hasn't returned them. As of yesterday, Gabbard was working to declassify a FISA Court opinion that reportedly exposes ongoing abuse of Section 702 warrantless surveillance. The FISA Court found in March 2026 that problems the DOJ claimed to have fixed are still happening and extend beyond the FBI. Her anti-weaponization task force, the Director's Initiatives Group, was dissolved in January 2026 after a CIA officer assigned to the group testified that internal "drama" over a circulated memo led to the shutdown. She was being openly discussed as the "next one out" as far back as March. She's the second Trump Cabinet member to depart after Kristi Noem was fired as DHS secretary in early March.

President Trump posted: "Unfortunately, after having done a great job, Tulsi Gabbard will be leaving the Administration on June 30th. Her wonderful husband, Abraham, has been recently diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer." "Tulsi has done an incredible job."

"The South African Treasury realized they could revise a 1930s law to pass this without parliamentary support. They don't need any votes to make it happen." South Africa is waging a war on Bitcoin self-custody.

Tulsi Gabbard resigns from her post as Director of National Intelligence.

"I still get questions about my choice of words, which I know has caused upset to some colleagues. For that I am sorry." Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters on calling staff being replaced by AI "lower-value human capital."