Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🇺🇸 Immigration policy changes
• 🥶 It’s cold in the US
• 🎶 The Army <3 musicians

… and more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.46-minute read (1,186 words).

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“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”

–Jim Rohn (1930-2009)

President Trump signed a series of immigration-related executive orders hours after being sworn into office on Monday.

A breakdown

Trump began by declaring a state of national emergency at the US-Mexico border, clearing the way for military forces to be deployed to the border to suppress a recent influx of illegal immigrants.

Additional executive actions include:

• Ending the current policy of releasing asylum seekers into the US while their cases were considered by immigration courts.
• An attempt to "clarify" the language in the 14th Amendment to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants (which doesn’t appear to revoke existing citizenship). The federal government – and most legal experts – have long interpreted the Constitution as guaranteeing birthright citizenship.
• Designating certain Mexican drug cartels and Latin American criminal groups as foreign terrorist organizations, which grants federal and state law enforcement additional tools against the groups’ connections in the US.
• Suspending CBP One, an app introduced under the Biden administration that allowed immigrants to apply for legal entry to the US as asylum-seekers.

Big picture: US Border Patrol reported 2.1 million total migrant encounters along the southern border for the fiscal year ending September 2024, a 14% decrease from the ~2.5 million reported in FY 2023.

Over 7.3 million unauthorized migrants illegally crossed the border into the US during President Biden’s administration (2021-24), compared to ~1.9 million unauthorized migrants during Trump’s first administration (2017-20), per federal data gathered by the Washington Post.

Looking ahead…Several of Trump’s executive orders are expected to encounter legal challenges soon. Case in point: the attorney generals of 18 states filed a lawsuit yesterday seeking to block Trump’s executive order regarding birthright citizenship.

📊 Flash poll: In general, how do you feel about President Trump’s new immigration-related executive orders?

• Support
• Oppose
• Neutral
• Unsure/other

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Most of the southern half of the US is sitting in the weather version of a restaurant deep freezer, as a “generational winter storm event” brings record-setting snow and ice.

• Governors in Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi have all declared states of emergency.
• F​lorida has likely broken its state snowfall record.
• The city of Mobile, Alabama, also set its single-day snowfall record.
• As of Tuesday afternoon, ~3-5 inches of snow had fallen in Houston, the most in a generation.
• Parts of Louisiana have already gotten 10 inches of sneaux. New Orleans also got its first measurable snow since 2009; the city also set its modern snowfall record yesterday.

Crazy stat: The snow that has fallen so far in Nola exceeds the January snowfall in the Twin Cities, as well as Anchorage, Alaska.

No-fly zone: VCs are probably seeking a pitch deck from the storm, given all the disruption it's causing. 2,000+ flights within the US were canceled yesterday (mostly in Texas and Louisiana), with 13,000 more delayed.

❄️ America or Antarctica? The Gulf storm is part of a polar vortex-related blast of arctic air that has brought heavy snow to the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, and frigid temperatures to the Rockies and the Upper Midwest. ~278 million people – ~85% of the population of the contiguous US – live in areas expected to see freezing cold over the next seven days.

Stay up to date on the latest storm news here.

Cattle gallstones – small, hard, crystalline masses found in the gall bladders of ~1% of slaughtered cattle – are attracting the interest of thieves and smugglers from around the globe, according to a new Wall Street Journal report.

For example: Thieves in Brazil’s São João da Boa Vista recently broke into a farmhouse and made off with $50,000 in gallstones; slaughterhouse workers in Australia’s Queensland have been arrested for stealing stones while on the job; a brother and sister in Uruguay were sentenced to prison late last year for smuggling $3+ million worth of cattle gallstones into Hong Kong. (The gall of these people, amirite?)

Money is the motivation. Some traders are willing to pay as much as $5,800/ounce – twice the price of gold – for the little bile nuggets. José de Oliveira, CEO of Oxgall, a Brazilian gallstone trading company, told the WSJ that a single gallstone can be worth more than all the meat on a cow.

Demand is mostly being driven by China’s $60 billion/year traditional medicine industry. Gallstone powder is mixed with other ingredients (like rhino horn) to make “Angong pills,” for example, a stroke treatment commonly found in Chinese households that can cost $200 for a couple of pills.

🌏 Zoom out: Though cattle gallstones raise few concerns, many conservationists say the Chinese medicine industry is behind an alarming rise in the trafficking of endangered species. In addition to rhino horns, traditional remedies can include ingredients like pangolin scales and tiger penises.

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📈 US markets rose across the board (S&P: +0.9%; Dow: +1.2%; Nasdaq: 0.6%). | 🪙 The SEC announced a “crypto task force” aimed at developing clear regulations for the industry.
• ⚖️ KPMG is poised to become the first accounting giant to own a US law firm. | 🤖 Goldman Sachs rolled out an AI assistant for its employees.
• 📺 Netflix is raising the prices on most of its streaming plans (again); the company reported strong Q4 earnings, with a record 19 million subscribers added (now 300+ million in total).

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with Asutra

• ⚾ The MLB's 2025 Hall of Fame class was revealed: Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, and Billy Wagner are headed to Cooperstown.
• 🎾 Australian Open: Novak Djokovic beat Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s quarterfinals; on the women’s side, Coco Gauff was eliminated by Spain’s Paula Badosa. | 🏈 CFB: See the final AP top-25 rankings. | 🏈 The Chicago Bears hired Detroit Lions OC Ben Johnson as the franchise’s next head coach.
• ✌️ IMDb founder Col Needham is stepping down as the entertainment site’s CEO after 35 years; COO Nikki Santoro will replace him.

*From our partners: 🙌 Empower your self-care for 2025 with Asutra… Improve your sleep, pain, and mood with the healing power of magnesium and other natural botanicals. Women founded and operated. Featured in Forbes and People. Sign up for Asutra’s newsletter to save 15% here.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 💉 GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are associated with reduced risks of 42 health conditions, including heart attacks and Alzheimer’s, per the largest-ever study of such drugs. | 🧠👃 The FDA approved Spravato, Johnson & Johnson’s nasal spray for depression; it’s the first-ever standalone therapy for treatment-resistant depression.
• 🪐 A planet-sized interstellar object may have visited our Solar System in the distant past and altered the orbits of the four outer planets, per a new study.
• ⭕ Having a talent for hula hooping is more dependent on body shape than technique, according to new research.

MISCELLANEOUS

in partnership with Tuft & Needle

• 🔥 Los Angeles fires: Local officials remained on high alert yesterday amid strong winds and dry conditions, as firefighters made progress against ongoing blazes; the larger Palisades and Eaton fires were 63% and 89% contained, respectively, as of yesterday; at least 27 deaths have been attributed to the fires, as well as the destruction of ~15,800 structures.
• ⚖️ The federal judge who oversaw President Trump’s classified documents case blocked the DOJ from sharing former special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on his probe with members of Congress.
• ✍️ President Trump signed an executive order to begin withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization; it mirrors a similar decision from his first term that was later reversed by former President Biden.

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Americans are increasingly catching a new strain of the travel bug. Long, leisurely vacations are projected to be the most popular type of travel in 2025, outpacing weekend getaways and road trips, according to a pair of recent travel reports.

• Skift Research calls 2025 "the year of long getaways" in its annual Travel Outlook report, which found ~25% of Americans expect to take a long international or cross-continental vacation this year.
• Travel agency Zicasso’s annual Luxury Travel Report found 74.4% of tourists preferred single-country trips in 2024, up from 64.5% in 2023 – with that figure expected to further increase this year, in a "trend toward depth over breadth in travel experiences."

The trend is partially driven by “PTO hacking.” This strategy, which involves tacking paid time off onto days surrounding federal holidays, has surged in popularity in recent years.

☝️ Forget Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos – artist Mikael Genberg aims to put the first house on the Moon. Ispace’s Resilience Moon lander, which launched last week, is carrying the “Moonhouse,” a toy-sized Swedish cottage designed by Genberg as a piece of art that “questions our perception of what is possible and meaningful in the cosmos.”

🤔 Did You Know? The US Army is the largest employer of full-time musicians in the world, with ~6,500 musicians who play in a combined 130 ensembles.

📰 Worth a Read: What Are the Greatest Sequels of All Time? A Statistical Analysis

🖱 Clickbait: The professions Americans trust the most – and least

🐒 Jefferson County, Missouri, police officers rescued a runaway spider monkey earlier this month after the primate escaped a nearby home. The monkey, who was wearing a pink tutu during the whole ordeal, cooperated with the officers until she was returned safely home. 

❤️ Like chicken soup for the soul... Check out Positive News' wholesome list of moments of kindness people have experienced from strangers. We dare you to not feel all warm and fuzzy inside by the end. 

🐟 Dave Henault is finally getting back to his normal life after receiving a life-saving kidney transplant from his nephew in September. The tackle shop owner is looking forward to returning to fishing, traveling, riding his bike, target shooting, cooking, and baking.

🪐 Roll call: Seven planets will align next month.

📱Tiny Thin: Derek Zoolander would be all about the rumored iPhone Air.

🥶 Enjoyable freezing: Check out some fun things to do while the US is frozen.

🍿 For cinephiles: 10 fascinating facts about Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar.

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🌟 How do you keep up with new entertainment and media business trends? Read TheFutureParty, a free newsletter with the latest developments and quick insights from inside the industry. Sign up free here.*

*A message from our partners.

👻 Trivia: In what year was the original Pac-Man released?

🎓 True or False? Bananas grow on trees.

🤔 Riddle Me This: I have keys but no locks. I have space but no room. You can enter, but you can’t go outside. What am I?

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👻 Trivia: 1980

🎓 T/F: False, they grow on giant herbs (to be fair, this was a trick question)

🤔 Riddle: A keyboard