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Please note that news, news articles, and current events can also be discussed on /pol/; however /news/ is exclusively for recent news articles, and not general discussions of politics, social phenomenon, or world events.
A 24-year-old Tifton woman faces criminal charges after experiencing a miscarriage, raising concerns about the application of Georgia’s strict abortion legislation.
What We Know: Selena Maria Chandler-Scott was arrested and charged with concealing the death of another person and abandonment of a dead body following a medical emergency on March 20. According to police reports, emergency services responded to Brookfield Mews Apartments around 6 a.m. Thursday after receiving a call about an unconscious woman who was bleeding. Medical personnel determined she had suffered a miscarriage and transported her to Tift Regional Medical Center for treatment.
Police claim a witness reported that Chandler-Scott had placed the fetal remains in a bag and disposed of it in a dumpster outside the apartment complex. Officers later recovered these remains, which were sent for autopsy.
The Autopsy: According to the autopsy, the fetus was 19 weeks old at the time of the miscarriage. There were no signs of trauma and the fetus did not take a breath. The coroner’s office ruled it to be a occurring miscarriage. At 19 weeks, a fetus is about the size of a mango and lungs are just beginning to develop but are not fully developed yet.
In Context: Georgia’s “heartbeat law,” officially the Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act, bans most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. The law also grants personhood status to embryos and fetuses, potentially exposing women who miscarry to criminal charges if authorities believe they contributed to the pregnancy loss or improperly handled fetal remains.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/27/politics/alleged-ms-13-member-arrested-bondi/index.html
Alleged top MS-13 member arrested in Virginia was ‘leader for the East Coast,’ AG Bondi says
Federal law enforcement officers captured an alleged “major leader” of the MS-13 gang Thursday morning, President Donald Trump said on social media.
“Just captured a major leader of MS13,” he wrote. The alleged 24-year-old gang member, who was arrested in Prince William County, has not yet been publicly named and is expected to face charges in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was present for the raid along with FBI Director Kash Patel, said in a news conference that the man was “the leader for the East Coast, one of the top three in the entire country, right here in Virginia, living half an hour outside of Washington, DC.”
“He is an illegal alien from El Salvador, and he will not be living in our country much longer,” Bondi said.
The arrest was executed by a new interagency task force established by the Trump administration to target transnational organized crime and coordinate ongoing immigration enforcement efforts across Virginia. Its creation was part of a crackdown by the Trump administration on foreign gang members residing in the United States.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/28/trump-pardons-nikola-trevor-milton-ceo-securities-fraud-electric-vehicle.html
President Donald Trump pardoned Nikola Corp. founder Trevor Milton for his October 2022 conviction of federal crimes related to defrauding investors with false claims about the success of the electric and hydrogen-powered truck maker.
Milton, 42, was sentenced in December 2023 to four years in prison, but he has been free since then pending an appeal of the former CEO's criminal conviction on securities and wire fraud charges in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
The pardon came two weeks after federal prosecutors urged District Court Judge Edgardo Ramos to order Milton to pay restitution of $680 million to Nikola shareholders, and another $15.2 million to Peter Hicks, a victim of his wire fraud.
Because of the pardon, Ramos could not order restitution of any kind.
"Oh my gosh, oh, you won't believe what just happened," Milton said in an Instagram video posted on his personal account Thursday. "Probably the best day I've had in five years."
"I just got a call from the president of the United States, on my phone, and he signed my full and unconditional pardon of innocence," said Milton, who appeared to be driving a vehicle in the video.
"I am free. The prosecutors can no longer hurt me," he said. "They can't destroy my family, they can't rip everything away from me, they can't ruin my life."
The White House confirmed the pardon.
Defense attorneys for Milton did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office, which prosecuted Milton, declined to comment on the pardon.
“It’s not the hypocrisy that bothers me; it’s the stupidity,”
“We’re all shocked — shocked! — that President Trump and his team don’t actually care about protecting classified information or federal record retention laws,” the former secretary of state wrote.
“But we knew that already.”
“What’s much worse is that top Trump administration officials put our troops in jeopardy by sharing military plans on a commercial messaging app and unwittingly invited a journalist into the chat,” Clinton wrote.
“That’s dangerous. And it’s just dumb.”
Clinton, said the Signal scandal is “the latest in a string of self-inflicted wounds by the new administration that are squandering America’s strength and threatening our national security.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/28/hillary-clinton-trump-signal-texts-hegseth-waltz-leak-houthi-yemen.html
Unlike the death of god, however, no collect ‘we’ did this. Wealthy folk at the top of the human food chain realized it got in the way of profits. Something punishable by death. Artificial intelligence can make images that look shockingly real. Faces of anyone, real or otherwise, and be puppeteered by a machine to do whatever the operator pleases. The machine is built by the work of millions of artists who gave no consent to the machine's creation. Be aware, this is not progress. This is a twist of a knife we have been manipulated to believe is not there. Any good this does for the common people is luck. It is the crumbs left on the plates of an aristocrat’s feast. Truth had been dying for a long time. Murders across the planet could always be erased with the slight of hand and the consent of the government. Or the rich. The president of the United States posts an artificial video celebrating the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people and possible annexation of the Gaza strip. A false voice sings the soulless lyrics that exclaim that Trump will set the Palestinians free, and that there will be “no more tunnels” and “no more fear”, because “Trump Gaza is finally here”. So many people choose to ignore others suffering because the media brushes it under the rug or outright tells them to. I find it baffling that the human mind is so easily tricked and persuaded to walk right into the vile rich folks traps. So many just following orders. Swallowing each bit of propaganda hook, line, and sinker. It seems as thought the only intelligence left is but an echo of what once was. We working class folk aren’t just victims, we aren’t just complacent, we are enablers. Enablers of the machine that fuels the dreams of the richest, most spoiled brats the world has ever seen.
https://www.fox7austin.com/news/carl-innmon-arrest-baranoff-elementary-school
Remember these shmucks got addresses
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/28/powerful-earthquake-strikes-myanmar
Reports already in:
>damage reported as far as Napydaw
>Saggaing bridge over Irrawaddy tottally collapsed
>no news yet on possible rebel offensive on ruined Tamadaw positions
>no news yet from Mogok or Pin-oo-lewyn
>large building collapsed in Thailand trapping 43
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order targeting the Smithsonian Institution, which operates more than 20 museums and research centres visited by millions yearly in Washington DC and New York City.
The order directs the vice-president to "eliminate improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology" from the institute's museums, centres and the National Zoo in Washington.
It also directs the interior secretary to restore federal properties, including parks, memorials and statues, which "have been improperly removed or changed in the last five years to perpetuate a false revision of history".
The move is part of Trump's effort to shape American culture, in addition to politics.
The order is titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History". It says that Vice-President JD Vance, who became a member of the Smithsonian Board of Regents due to his position in government, will lead the purge.
Trump's order says that Congress should not fund Smithsonian exhibits and programmes that "divide Americans by race". It alleges that the American Women's History Museum, which is in development, plans to "recognize men as women".
It also singles out the National Museum of African American History and Culture, saying that the museum "has proclaimed that 'hard work,' 'individualism,' and 'the nuclear family' are aspects of 'White culture'." The museum opened in 2016 in Washington as former President Barack Obama, America's first black president, was leaving office.
The Smithsonian museums offer free entry to some 15 to 30 million visitors each year. It operates 21 museums in Washington, Virgina and New York.
They include the National Museum of American History, the National Portrait Gallery, the American Art Museum, the National Zoo and more than a dozen others.
https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1905332049021415862
State and county public health departments and non-profit groups are reeling after the Trump administration announced abrupt cancelation and revocation of roughly $11.4 billion in COVID-era funding for grants linked to addiction, mental health and other programs.
"This is is chopping things off in the middle while people are actually doing the work," said Keith Humphreys, an addiction policy researcher at Stanford University, who also volunteers doing harm reduction work with people in addiction. He warned the move could trigger layoffs and treatment disruptions.
"Services will be dropped in the middle. Bang, the clinic is closing. It's a brutal way to make these cuts," Humphreys said.
The federal grant funding had been scheduled to run through September 2025. In a statement sent to NPR, a spokesperson with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it made sense to freeze the program immediately.
"The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago," the statement said, adding that the Trump administration will refocus funding on America's "chronic disease epidemic."
Drug overdoses linked to fentanyl and other substances have declined sharply in recent years, thanks in part to a surge in funding for addiction treatment during the Biden administration. But street drugs still kill more than 84,000 people in the U.S. every year, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
President Donald Trump has made fentanyl smuggling a top concern during the opening weeks of his administration, extending an emergency declaration linked to the powerful street opioid.
Paul Hyon Kim, 36, was arrested Wednesday by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, after at least five cars were allegedly set on fire on March 18 at a local Tesla Collision Center.
Kim has been charged with multiple crimes ranging from destruction of property, arson and possessing a fire device, according to jail records.
He will also face federal charges, Spencer Evans, the FBI agent-in-charge of the bureau's Las Vegas office, told reporters at a Thursday news briefing.
"There's nothing courageous or noble about firebombing private property and terrorizing your local community," Evans said. "The self-righteous mob that's cheering you on today to commit acts of violence on their behalf will leave you high and dry and forget about you tomorrow. And at the end of the day, you and you alone will be held responsible and face the prospect of a lengthy prison sentence."
Police say Kim arrived near the location in a black Hyundai Elantra before walking over to the Tesla building. He allegedly concealed his face, wore gloves and black clothing.
He allegedly also damaged surveillance cameras with a rifle, police said.
The word "resist" was spray-painted on the Tesla center’s front doors. An unlit Molotov cocktail was found in one of the cars, police said.
Authorities said Kim's social media activity showed potential links to communist groups and Palestinian causes. His DNA matched DNA samples collected at the scene of the attack, authorities said.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/man-arrested-molotov-cocktail-attack-tesla-shop-las-vegas-federal-charges
BRUSSELS, March 26 (Reuters) - The withdrawal of all Russian forces from Ukraine would be one of the main conditions to lift or amend EU sanctions, the European Commission said on Wednesday.
The United States reached separate deals on Tuesday with Ukraine and Russia to pause their attacks at sea and against energy targets, with Washington agreeing to push to lift some sanctions against Moscow.
The EU was not invited to those talks. The Commission said the EU welcomed the agreement between Washington and Kyiv.
"The end of the Russian unprovoked and unjustified aggression in Ukraine and unconditional withdrawal of all Russian military forces from the entire territory of Ukraine would be one of the main preconditions to amend or lift sanctions," EU spokeswoman for foreign affairs and security policy, Anitta Hipper, said in a statement.
mega based. hope anti gun politicians get jailed
why isn't NYT or the post covering this? also this is significant and shows that dems should not be allowed to be judges on any level since in 2016 Caetano v. Massachusetts the scotus ruled unanimously 8-0 that stun guns are prima facie arms. how the fuck do you have a district court case that says literally the exact opposite of a scotus case?
youngkin has used a record number of vetos to defeat the foreign communist human rights denying legislature's attempt to ban guns
Vice President of the US JD Vance is a man to be feared many senior diplomats believe after recent comments (and alleged texts) have shown a bitterness to Europe
Bitter JD Vance, also dubbed JD Dunce, is the most dangerous man in the White House because he resents Europe so much, top diplomats fear.
The VP's festering fury was suppose recently in a major S N.A.F.U. after tRump's key cabinet members added US journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to a top secret chat about war plans on messaging app Signal.
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/jd-vance-most-dangerous-man-34931473
The best-known member of Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) service team of technologists once provided support to a cybercrime gang that bragged about trafficking in stolen data and cyberstalking an FBI agent, according to digital records reviewed by Reuters.
Edward Coristine is among the most visible members of the Doge effort that has been given sweeping access to official networks as it attempts to radically downsize the US government. It is headed by Musk – the world’s richest man – with a powerful mandate from Donald Trump.
Past reporting had focused on the staffer’s youth – he is 19 – and his chosen nickname of “bigballs,” which became a pop culture punchline. Musk has championed the teen on his social media site X, telling his followers last month: “Big Balls is awesome.”
Beginning around 2022, while still in high school, Coristine ran a company called DiamondCDN that provided network services, according to corporate and digital records reviewed by Reuters and interviews with half a dozen former associates. Among its users was a website run by a ring of cybercriminals operating under the name “EGodly,” according to digital records preserved by the internet intelligence firm DomainTools and the online cybersecurity tool Any.Run.
This comes just a day after a Signal chat accidentally leaked by his team to an Atlantic journalist showed Vice President J.D. Vance appearing to oversee military operations in Yemen in the aging Commander in Chief's stead.
"Look" said the oldest president in US history when asked about the situation in Lithuania "I don't know anything about that, all I know is President Obama is doing a terrible job running this country, and we need to come together in 2012 and vote him out of office. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm late for a meeting with Yeltsin about building Trump Tower Moscow."
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-briefed-missing-soldiers-lithuania-b2722329.html
Donald Trump sparked anger online after he claimed he knew nothing about four U.S. soldiers who are missing in Lithuania, despite search operations having been underway for hours.
The president was asked Wednesday if he had been briefed about the men, who disappeared during a training exercise outside Lithuania's capital, Vilnius, and were mistakenly initially declared dead.
tl:Dr -- Mueller did not establish that Trump or members of his campaign coordinated or conspired with Moscow to affect the 2016 presidential electio
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5213403-trump-declassify-fbi-russia-investigation/
Trump orders declassification of FBI’s Russia investigation
President Trump on Tuesday signed a memorandum directing the declassification of FBI files related to the investigation into his 2016 campaign’s potential ties to Russia.
The memorandum calls for the declassification of “all files related to Crossfire Hurricane investigation,” White House staff secretary Will Scharf said as Trump prepared to sign the order at the White House.
“We believe that it’s long past time for the American people to have a full and complete understanding of what exactly is in those files,” Scharf said.
“This was total weaponization. It’s a disgrace…but now you’ll be able to see for yourselves,” Trump said as he signed the memo.
The FBI opened the Crossfire Hurricane investigation in July 2016 over whether members of Trump’s campaign were coordinating with Russian officials. The investigation preceded the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller.
Trump and his allies have for years cast doubt on the legitimacy of the FBI’s probe into his campaign, arguing it was a politically motivated investigation.
Mueller ultimately did not establish that Trump or members of his campaign coordinated or conspired with Moscow to affect the 2016 presidential election, but he and his team declined to reach a conclusion on whether the president obstructed justice.
Trump Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that the devices used in destroying Teslas at dealerships constitute a “weapon of mass destruction.”
Elon Musk’s actions as DOGE czar have precipitated a wave of protests, as well as vandalism that includes setting the cars on fire at dealerships.
But on this week’s edition of Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures, Bondi took things up several notches when she accused vandals of using a “weapon of mass destruction” and conflating calls for peaceful protest with “domestic terrorism”:
BARTIROMO: Well, what about these vandals on Tesla vehicles and dealerships? Give us the consequences there. And what are you learning once they’re arrested? Why are they doing this?
BONDI: Well, we’re looking at so much on this. There have been three federal charges so far. And I say so far. We are looking at all of these cases across the country. We have a dedicated task force.
These are not isolated incidents, as you know, and these aren’t vandals. These are Molotov cocktails. That could be a weapon of mass destruction…
BARTIROMO: Wow.
https://www.wral.com/story/supreme-court-upholds-biden-rule-requiring-serial-numbers-and-background-checks-for-ghost-guns/21929497/
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Biden administration regulation on the nearly impossible-to-trace weapons called ghost guns, clearing the way for continued serial numbers, background checks and age verification requirements to buy them in kits online.
Seven justices joined the opinion, authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, upholding the rule. Two justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, dissented.
Ghost guns were found at crime scenes in soaring numbers across the U.S. before the regulation went into place, rising from fewer than 1,700 recovered by law enforcement in 2017 to more than 27,000 in 2023, according to Justice Department data.
Since the federal rule was finalized, ghost gun numbers have flattened out or declined in several major cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Baltimore, according to court documents. Manufacturing of miscellaneous gun parts also dropped 36% overall, the Justice Department has said.
Ghost guns are any privately made firearms without the serial numbers that allow police to trace weapons used in crime. The 2022 regulation was focused on kits sold online with everything needed to build a functioning firearm — sometimes in less than 30 minutes, according to court documents.
Ghost guns have been used in high-profile crimes, including a mass shooting carried out with an AR-15-style ghost gun in Philadelphia that left five people dead. Police believe a ghost gun used in the slaying of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO in Manhattan was made on a 3D printer rather than assembled from a kit.
Summary
-Two years before becoming a DOGE staffer, Coristine provided network support to a cybercrime group
-EGodly cybercrime group boasted online of hacking government emails and cyberstalking FBI agent
-Coristine didn't comment; Reuters could not determine his role at DOGE
WILMINGTON, Delaware, March 26 (Reuters) - The best-known member of Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service team of technologists once provided support to a cybercrime gang that bragged about trafficking in stolen data and cyberstalking an FBI agent, according to digital records reviewed by Reuters.
Edward Coristine is among the most visible members of the DOGE effort that has been given sweeping access to official networks as it attempts to radically downsize the U.S. government.
Past reporting had focused on his youth - he is 19 - and his chosen nickname of "bigballs," which became a pop culture punchline. Musk has championed the teen on his social media site X, telling his followers last month that "Big Balls is awesome."
Beginning around 2022, while still in high school, Coristine ran a company called DiamondCDN that provided network services, according to corporate and digital records reviewed by Reuters and interviews with half a dozen former associates. Among its users was a website run by a ring of cybercriminals operating under the name "EGodly," according to digital records preserved by the internet intelligence firm DomainTools and the online cybersecurity tool Any.Run.
The details of Coristine's connection to EGodly have not been previously reported.
On Feb. 15, 2023, EGodly thanked Coristine's company for its assistance in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
The initial invite to the group apparently came from national security adviser Mike Waltz. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly sent the group details including weapons used, targets, and timing — two hours ahead of the attacks, which began March 15.
Others in the group were Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
In the stunning report, Goldberg claimed Waltz connected with him on Signal on March 11 and, two days later, he was invited to join a chain called the “Houthi PC small group,” in which they discussed strikes against the Houthi militant group in Yemen — seemingly unaware of the journalist’s presence in the group.
He wrote that he initially had strong doubts the text group was real, “because I could not believe that the national-security leadership of the United States would communicate on Signal about imminent war plans.”
Goldberg also said he “could not believe that the national security adviser to the president would be so reckless as to include him in the discussions with senior U.S. officials.”
He said he realized the text chain could be real after the person who was supposedly Hegseth messaged to the group that the first detonations in Yemen would be felt in two hours, at 1:45 p.m., which was in line with what took place.
>https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5211030-us-houthi-attacks-yemen/
Kratsios, who will serve as both OSTP director and assistant to the president for science and technology, previously served as the managing director of Scale AI and as chief technology officer during the first Trump administration.
At his February confirmation hearing, Kratsios faced questions from Democrats on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation about the mass firings of federal workers, but his nomination was ultimately advanced with bipartisan support in a 24-4 vote.
https://fedscoop.com/senate-confirms-michael-kratsios-white-house-ostp-director/
Trump literally can't do anything right
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/24/nx-s1-5328157/fentanyl-overdose-death-drugs
Reporter's notebook: 8 theories why fentanyl deaths are plummeting
Over the past six months, I've been tracking something really cool and mysterious happening on American streets. For the first time in 30 years, drug deaths are plunging at a rate that addiction experts say is hopeful — but also baffling.
In the past, even the most ambitious, well-funded efforts to slow drug deaths only helped a little bit. Reducing fatal overdoses by 8% or 9% was seen as a huge win.
But now, deaths nationwide plunged more than 26% from the peak in June 2023, according to the latest preliminary data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That means roughly 30,000 fewer people a year are dying. Many states are seeing even bigger improvements of 30% to 50%. In some states, progress has been sustained since 2021 and 2022, which suggests this isn't a temporary blip
So how did the U.S. finally turn the corner on drug deaths?
What's going on? No one knows for sure, but here are eight leading theories I hear from experts.
1. Naloxone, also known as Narcan, may be the game-changer. The Biden administration raced to make this medication, a nasal spray that quickly reverses opioid and fentanyl overdoses, far more widely available. People can buy it now over the counter without a prescription. It's distributed for free in many high-risk communities, and people using drugs often carry it. It's unclear how many lives naloxone is saving each year, but many front-line public health workers tell me the impact is huge. Learn more here.
The order by the Tokyo District Court will deprive the controversial organization of its status as a religious corporation with tax advantages, although it will still be allowed to operate in Japan.
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2025/03/6eaa2c29a725-urgent-japan-court-orders-dissolution-of-unification-church.html
>imperialist zogbots btfo
>trump trannys coping and seething
>enlightenment champs & yamato chads stay winning
> https://metro.co.uk/2025/03/24/donald-trump-hates-distorted-portrait-demands-taken-22777267/
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Devices that were deemed “incendiary” by Austin Police were found at the northwest Austin Tesla showroom on Monday morning, police said.
APD said it responded to a call about suspicious devices at the showroom around 8:04 a.m. Monday. The APD bomb squad was called out to investigate.
The devices were “determined to be incendiary” and were taken by police without incident, APD said.
Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) also responded to the scene, an agency spokesperson told KXAN.
There have been numerous instances of vandalism aimed at Tesla showrooms and cars throughout the nation in the past few weeks, ranging from cars being defaced to cars or even Tesla chargers set on fire. In one instance, the Associated Press reported an Oregon man was arrested after he was accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at a store in Salem. It prompted the Justice Department last week to investigate, with Attorney General Pam Bondi saying “The swarm of violent attacks on Tesla property is nothing short of domestic terrorism.”
wow, who would have thought the company founded by google's CEO's jewish wife would sell people's sensitive data
The FBI said on Monday that it has launched a task force to investigate scores of attacks in recent weeks targeting Tesla, the electric vehicle company headed by Trump administration DOGE chief Elon Musk.
The announcement of the task force, which is operating in conjunction with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, came hours after a bomb squad found multiple incendiary devices at a Tesla showroom in Austin, Texas, the same city where the company has its headquarters.
That incident is the latest in a series of attacks and vandalism on Tesla properties related to CEO Musk’s DOGE team.
DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency, is engaged in a wide-ranging effort to sharply cut federal government spending and staffing.
There have been at least 80 reported cases of vandalism or arson of Tesla vehicles in the United States and Canada, in addition to peaceful protests at Tesla showrooms, NBC News reported.
“The FBI has been investigating the increase in violent activity toward Tesla, and over the last few days, we have taken additional steps to crack down and coordinate our response,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post Monday on X, the social media site owned by Musk.
“This is domestic terrorism,” Patel wrote in that tweet. “Those responsible will be pursued, caught, and brought to justice.”
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino tweeted, “Justice is coming.”
The New York Post first reported news of the task force.
Laurie Shelby, Tesla’s vice president of Environment, Health and Safety and Security, did not immediately respond to CNBC when asked what the company is doing to protect its facilities.
Musk at a Tesla event on Thursday referenced the spate of vandalism on Tesla vehicles and sites.
https://www.msn.com/en-in/lifestyle/family/donald-trump-heaps-praise-on-his-son-barron-on-his-19th-birthday-says-he-has-mastered-technology-and-points-out-that-all-his-kids-are-very-smart/ar-AA1BswAc
https://www.aol.com/news/us-turns-brazil-eggs-considers-141424431.html
The U.S. has almost doubled imports of Brazilian eggs once used only for pet food and is considering relaxing regulations for eggs laid by chickens raised for meat, as President Donald Trump's administration seeks to bring down sky-high prices spiked by bird flu.
While none of the Brazilian or broiler chicken eggs would wind up on grocery shelves, they could be used in processed foods such as cake mixes, ice cream or salad dressing, freeing up more fresh eggs for shoppers. Allowing the use of broiler chicken eggs would require changing regulations, and some food safety experts warned that this could risk tainting food products with harmful bacteria.
Nationwide economic strain persists from the virus that has wiped out nearly 170 million chickens, turkeys and other birds since early 2022. Grocery shoppers peruse thinly stocked shelves, restaurants have raised menu prices, and wholesale egg prices surged 53.6% in February before easing a bit in March.
The egg shortage has fueled food inflation even as Trump's trade disputes have threatened to disrupt supply chains and raise costs for fresh produce and other goods.
In February, the administration announced a $1 billion plan to lower egg prices, which includes helping farmers prevent the spread of the virus and researching vaccine options. The Trump administration is also promoting imports from countries such as Turkey, Brazil, and South Korea, which typically send a few eggs to the U.S., and has asked Europe to send more.
U.S. egg imports from Brazil in February increased by 93% from a year earlier, the Brazilian Animal Protein Association said.
The Philadelphia Eagles aren't the only team invited to the White House this year for winning the Super Bowl.
President Donald Trump told Outkick that he plans to invite the Kansas City Chiefs to Washington to celebrate their win in Super Bowl 54 five years ago.
Greenlandic leaders have criticised an upcoming trip by a high-profile American delegation to the semi-autonomous Danish territory that Donald Trump has suggested the US should annex, Reuters reports.
The delegation, which will visit an American military base and watch a dogsled race, will be led by Usha Vance, wife of vice-president JD Vance, and include White House national security adviser Mike Waltz and energy secretary Chris Wright.
Greenland’s outgoing prime minister Mute Egede called this week’s visit a “provocation” and said his caretaker government would not meet with the delegation.
“Until recently, we could trust the Americans, who were our allies and friends, and with whom we enjoyed working closely,” Egede told local newspaper Sermitsiaq. “But that time is over.”
Prosecutors asked the court in a filing Sunday for a quick ruling that Justin Eichorn be kept in jail instead of released to a halfway house as scheduled on Tuesday.
Eichorn’s new attorneys, whose hiring was first noted in a court filing Sunday, did not immediately reply to voicemails and emails from The Associated Press seeking comment on Monday. The 40-year-old former Republican lawmaker from Grand Rapids has not publicly commented since his arrest during a sting operation in Bloomington last Monday. He was charged in federal court last Wednesday with attempted coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in prostitution, a felony that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years.
In their motion to reopen a detention hearing that was held Thursday, prosecutors said they learned afterward that he had several phone calls in jail with a Grand Rapids woman — identified only as Individual A but described as a close associate — and arranged with her to retrieve a computer and other items from the St. Paul apartment where he lived alone during legislative sessions. They said both had been warned that the call was not private and would be recorded.
According to Eichorn’s profile, which was removed from the Senate website last week, he is married with four children.
https://www.wdio.com/front-page/top-stories/feds-seek-to-block-release-of-former-lawmaker-justin-eichorn/
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/22/politics/atf-agents-fbi/index.html
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/liveblogs/live-blog/2380551/ice-arrests-394-tren-de-aragua-gang-members-in-major-operation.html
ICE Arrests 394 Tren de Aragua Gang Members in Major Operation
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons: This month, through the work of DHS and President Trump, we have designated Tren de Aragua a top priority… in the last 48 hours, ICE and our partners have arrested more than 68 TDA gang members. To date, we’ve arrested 394 of these terrorists.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14526417/spies-donald-trump-tren-aragua-criminals-us.html
Inside the gang-busting team of spies helping Trump nab violent Tren de Aragua criminals in the US
A covert team of Venezuelan informants and ex-US officials are working with the Trump administration to track down members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang.
The small team made up of Venezuelans and former US officials has been providing information to the Trump administration about the number and identities of members of Tren de Aragua and other Venezuelan gangs headed to or already in the country.
The Tren de Aragua gang, formed in the notorious Tocorón prison in Venezuela's Aragua state, has spread throughout countries bordering Venezuela and in the last decade has developed a reputation for being 'ruthless' and 'fearless.'
Now, the highly-skilled group of investigators, which has deep connections to police and intelligence in Venezuela, is sharing crucial information on the dangerous criminals with the White House staff.
In one briefing before Donald Trump's January inauguration, the group delivered a presentation including documents obtained from South American police agencies identifying 1,800 gang members believed to have been sent into the US, the Miami Herald reported.
However, Gary Bernsten, a former CIA station chief revealed a more sinister clue, claiming those sent to the US had 'received paramilitary training in Venezuela.'
'Among those sent to the US were 300 gang members who had received paramilitary training in Venezuela,' Berntsen said.
President Trump said he has revoked the security clearances of more than a dozen political adversaries, including former President Biden, former Vice President Harris and several former Biden administration officials.
In a presidential memorandum released Saturday, Trump said it was "no longer in the national interest" for the named individuals to have access to classified information — a move critics view as retaliation for Biden's decision to strip Trump of his clearance in 2021 due to concerns over what Biden described as Trump's "erratic behavior."
The list of those affected goes beyond Biden and his administration, targeting figures involved in Trump's first impeachment trial, including Fiona Hill, Norm Eisen and Alexander Vindman. Former Secretaries of State Antony Blinken and Hillary Clinton are also named.
It also includes legal figures like New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, both of whom have pursued high-profile legal cases against Trump. Two Republican critics of Trump, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger — who both served on the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — were also included in the memo.
Several former officials shrug off move as meaningless
The practical effects of the move are likely minimal. Security clearances for former officials are generally revoked after they leave office unless they continue to engage in national security matters. Many of those on the list have not had active clearances for years.
An estimated 34,000 people gathered Friday evening at Civic Center Park in Denver to hear Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York push a number of progressive policies.
Just hours later, they spoke before a crowd of about 11,000 at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.
The two stops for the progressive leaders in Colorado were part of what they dubbed the "Fighting Oligarchy Tour."
"They want to know if the people of America are going to stand up to Trumpism, oligarchy," Sanders said to a cheering crowd.
The tour is part of an effort by Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez to push back against President Trump and the influence that they say billionaires have over American politics.
"Musk is not our Congress. Act lawfully, not awfully," said Nancy Larsen, a rally attendee who feels the federal government is prioritizing corporate interests over ordinary Americans. "I feel like we're in kind of a reverse Robin Hood situation right now, where we're taking from the poor and disadvantaged and giving more money to the rich."
On the enemy's orders, the woman was supposed to adjust the air attack on the locations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Marine Corps. The occupiers also hoped to obtain the coordinates of the temporary stay of Ukrainian border guards and police officers who were carrying out missions on the southern front.
The adjustments were made by a 39-year-old local unemployed woman who was waiting for the occupation of Odessa. She wrote about this in the comments under pro-Kremlin publications in Telegram channels. There she came "into the FSB's field of vision" and, after remote recruitment, began collecting geolocations of the Defense Forces.
To cover up the reconnaissance missions, the agent would allegedly go for a walk with her 6-year-old son and at that time photograph the buildings of potential targets and mark their coordinates on Google maps. After the "walks" with the child, the woman would summarize the intelligence report and prepare to hand it over to her Russian handler.
After completing enemy missions, the occupiers promised their accomplice "evacuation" to Russia through third countries with subsequent employment on the territory of the aggressor country.
STUPID BITCH FORGOT TO SHARE HER TIKTOK INCOME!! GUESS WHO WILL RAPE HER AND 6 YEARS OLD KID NOW!!?
https://korrespondent-net.translate.goog/city/odessa/4766563-v-odesse-ahentka-rf-hotovyla-raketnyi-udar-po-baze-morpekhov-vsu?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp
The list was given to the embassy by the South African Chamber of Commerce in the U.S., which said it became a point of contact for white South Africans asking about the program announced by the Trump administration last month. The chamber said the list does not constitute official applications.
Trump issued an executive order on Feb. 7 cutting U.S. funding to South Africa and citing “government actions fueling disproportionate violence against racially disfavored landowners.”
Trump’s executive order specifically referred to Afrikaners, a white minority group who are descendants of mainly Dutch and French colonial settlers who first came to South Africa in the 17th century. The order directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to prioritize humanitarian relief to Afrikaners who are victims of “unjust racial discrimination” and resettle them in the U.S. under the refugee program.
There are approximately 2.7 million Afrikaners in South Africa, which has a population of 62 million. Trump’s decision to offer some white South Africans refugee status went against his larger policy to halt the U.S. refugee resettlement program.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-white-refugee-afrikaner-south-africa-0fbca411470d3b439886cabc12c7600d
Federal agents who usually hunt down child abusers are now cracking down on immigrants who live in the U.S. illegally.
Homeland Security investigators who specialize in money laundering are raiding restaurants and other small businesses looking for immigrants who aren’t authorized to work.
Agents who pursue drug traffickers and tax fraud are being reassigned to enforce immigration law.
As U.S. President Donald Trump pledges to deport “millions and millions” of “criminal aliens,” thousands of federal law enforcement officials from multiple agencies are being enlisted to take on new work as immigration enforcers, pulling crime-fighting resources away on other areas -- from drug trafficking and terrorism to sexual abuse and fraud.
This account of Trump’s push to reorganize federal law enforcement – the most significant since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks – is based on interviews with more than 20 current and former federal agents, attorneys and other federal officials. Most had first-hand knowledge of the changes. Nearly all spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss their work.
"I do not recall ever seeing this wide a spectrum of federal government resources all being turned toward immigration enforcement," said Theresa Cardinal Brown, a former Homeland Security official who has served in both Republican and Democratic administrations. "When you're telling agencies to stop what you've been doing and do this now, whatever else they were doing takes a back seat."
ASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's administration will revoke the temporary legal status of 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans in the United States, according to a Federal Register notice on Friday, the latest expansion of his crackdown on immigration.
The move, effective April 24, cuts short a two-year "parole" granted to the migrants under former President Joe Biden that allowed them to enter the country by air if they had U.S. sponsors.
Trump, a Republican, took steps to ramp up immigration enforcement after taking office, including a push to deport record numbers of migrants in the U.S. illegally. He has argued that the legal entry parole programs launched under his Democratic predecessor overstepped the boundaries of federal law and called for their termination in a January 20 executive order.
Trump said on March 6 that he would decide "very soon" whether to strip the parole status from some 240,000 Ukrainians who fled to the U.S. during the conflict with Russia. Trump's remarks came in response to a Reuters report that said his administration planned to revoke the status for Ukrainians as soon as April.
Biden launched a parole entry program for Venezuelans in 2022 and expanded it to Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans in 2023 as his administration grappled with high levels of illegal immigration from those nationalities. Diplomatic and political relations between the four countries and the United States have been strained.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/musk-to-receive-top-secret-briefing-on-u-s-war-plans-for-china-922eafdf
https://archive.md/PqkpN
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/us/politics/musk-pentagon-briefing-china-war-plan.html
WSJ:
Elon Musk will receive a briefing Friday on the U.S. military’s top-secret war plans for China, according to two U.S. officials, giving the wealthy businessman and presidential adviser insight into one of the Pentagon’s most closely guarded operational blueprints.
Musk will be briefed on how U.S. forces would fight in a potential China war, including maritime tactics and targeting plans, the officials said. China will be one of several topics to be discussed at the Defense Department, one of the officials said.
The meeting underscored the crosscutting interests Musk has as a senior adviser to President Trump with a powerful and expansive role in the new administration. It could give him as the head of Tesla, which relies on China for car production, and SpaceX, a U.S. defense contractor, access to sensitive military secrets unavailable to business competitors.
Musk, according to one person familiar with the arrangements, is receiving the briefing because he asked for one. He has a security clearance but isn’t in the military chain of command or known to be a military adviser to Trump.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that Musk would visit the Pentagon on Friday. In a statement on X, Musk’s social-media site. “It’s an informal meeting about innovation, efficiencies & smarter production,” he said, denying that the presidential adviser would receive a sensitive China briefing.
In a post on Truth Social on Thursday evening, President Trump said that “China will not even be mentioned or discussed” at the Pentagon meeting.
Also in The Financial Times https://archive.md/Co54H and Newsweek https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-suggests-us-could-join-british-commonwealth-2048679
Nearly 250 years after America declared independence from Great Britain, President Donald Trump suggested he was open to taking a small step back towards the warm embrace of the British monarchy after a media outlet reported that King Charles III intends to extend an offer for the United States to join the Commonwealth of Nations.
The King is reportedly preparing to extend the offer of “associate membership” in the voluntary association of 56 nations, most of which have history as former British colonies. Trump, it seems, is open to the idea.
Writing on his Truth Social platform while sharing an article referencing the unprecedented offer, Trump said: “I Love King Charles. Sounds good to me!”
First reported by the Daily Mail, the offer from Charles III would be formally extended during the planned state visit by Trump to the U.K. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer delivered a hand-written invitation from the King to the U.S. leader during a visit to the White House last month.
A member of the Royal Commonwealth Society told the Mail that the possibility of America making entry into the Commonwealth is “being discussed at the highest levels” as “a wonderful move that would symbolize Britain's close relationship with the U.S.”
“Donald Trump loves Britain and has great respect for the Royal Family, so we believe he would see the benefits of this. Associate membership could, hopefully, be followed by full membership, making the Commonwealth even more important as a global organization,” the person added.
When you thought FoxNews couldn’t sink any lower they manage to outdo themselves.
"The days of committing crimes without consequence have ended," Bondi said Thursday. "Let this be a warning: if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars."
All three face charges carrying a minimum penalty of five years and up to 20 years in prison, the department said.
Adam Matthew Lansky, 41, on Jan. 20, threw approximately eight Molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership located in Salem, Oregon, federal prosecutors said. One vehicle was completely destroyed, and several others were damaged.
Lansky also threw a "large heavy object through the dealership window," they said. At the time of the attack, he was armed with a suppressed AR-15 rifle.
Lucy Grace Nelson, also known as Justin Thomas Nelson, 42, was arrested in Loveland, Colorado on Jan. 29 after attempting to light Teslas on fire with Molotov cocktails, prosecutors said.
Nelson was later found in possession of materials used to produce additional incendiary weapons, including a container of gasoline, bottles, and wick materials, on Feb. 24, prosecutors said.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/domestic-terrorism-hits-tesla-drivers-dealers-former-fbi-field-boss-warns-could-get-worse
Linette Tobin is representing Jerce Reyes Barrios, a professional soccer player from Venezuela who protested the Maduro regime in February and March 2024 and was detained and tortured after one of the demonstrations.
Barrios came to the U.S.-Mexico border legally through the CBP One app in September 2024 but has been accused of being a Tren de Aragua, or TdA, member and was detained at a facility under maximum security, Tobin said.
The Biden administration expanded the use of the CBP One phone application to allow migrants to submit some background information and schedule appointments with immigration officials at ports of entry. Officials would then determine if the person could be allowed into the country, some in order to submit an asylum claim. President Donald Trump eliminated that feature during his first days in office.
The Department of Homeland Security has accused Barrios of having a gang-affiliated tattoo and claimed a photo of him showed him displaying gang signs. ABC News has reached out to DHS.
The tattoo in question showed a crown sitting on top of a soccer ball with a rosary and the word "Dios" (God), according to Tobin. A declaration from the tattoo artist confirmed that Barrios chose it because it was similar to the Real Madrid soccer team logo, the attorney said. According to Tobin, those alleged gang signs were the hand symbol for rock and roll and "I love you" in sign language.
>https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/man-deported-el-salvador-alien-enemies-act-soccer-logo-tattoo-attorney/story?id=119983892
Her husband has been charged with wire fraud for defrauding COVID relief programs.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/03/20/cori-bush-busband-indicted-covid-fraud/
Husband of former congresswoman Cori Bush charged with wire fraud
Cortney Merritts, 46, faces two counts of wire fraud for allegedly filing sham applications in 2020 and 2021 with the Small Business Administration.
The husband of former congresswoman Cori Bush (D-Missouri) has been charged in connection with more than $20,000 in payments from the pandemic-era Paycheck Protection and Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs, according to an indictment filed in D.C. federal court on Thursday.
Cortney Merritts, 46, faces two counts of wire fraud for allegedly filing sham applications in 2020 and 2021 with the Small Business Administration, enabling him to collect money aimed at helping struggling businesses make payroll during the pandemic.
The indictment was signed by Ed Martin, the interim U.S. attorney for D.C., whom Trump has nominated to serve as the permanent top prosecutor in the nation’s capital. The investigation into Merritts appears to have begun during the Biden administration.
An attorney for Merritts said he plans to plead not guilty.
“We look forward to litigating this case in the courtroom,” Justin Gelfand of the law firm Margulis Gelfand DiRuzzo & Lambson said in a statement.
Most Republicans support the right to protest — unless it’s against Israel, according to new polling.
In the latest Economist/YouGov survey, a strong majority of GOP respondents, 73%, said they support Americans’ ability to protest against actions they view as unjust. Just 12% said they oppose this, and 14% said they weren’t sure.
But, when asked if it should be legal or illegal to protest “against Israeli actions in Gaza,” less than half of Republicans, 42%, said it should be legal. Meanwhile, 23% said this kind of public demonstration should be illegal, and 35% said they were not sure.
The poll — conducted March 16-18 with 1,618 U.S. adults — found support for protests was more consistent among Democrats and independents.
Eighty-six percent of Democrats and 81% of independents said they backed the right to demonstrate against actions perceived as unjust, while less than 20% of both groups said they opposed this or were unsure.
When it came to anti-Israel protests, 73% of Democrats said they should be legal, while 5% said they should be outlawed and 22% said they weren’t sure. A majority of independents, 57%, also said they should be legal, while 9% said they should be illegal and 34% said they didn’t know.
The right to protest is enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution, which states that no laws shall be made that prohibit “the right of the people peaceably to assemble.”
The poll — which has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points — also found views on the sympathies of anti-Israel protesters differed greatly by party.
A majority of Republicans said they believe all (13%), most (25%) or half (14%) of the people who protest against Israeli actions in Gaza support Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist group by the U.S.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/patel-says-fbi-has-captured-its-3rd-most-wanted-fugitive-since-trump-took-office-let-good-cops-good-cops
Patel says FBI has captured its 3rd most wanted fugitive since Trump took office: 'Let good cops be good cops'
'This administration is giving the new FBI and AG Bondi the resources to get the job done — and we won’t stop,' FBI Director Kash Patel said
The FBI has captured its third fugitive from the "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, according to agency director Kash Patel.
In a post on X on Tuesday night, Patel said the FBI's success in bringing down some of America's most wanted is "not an accident" and can be attributed to letting "good cops be good cops."
https://electrek.co/2025/03/19/tesla-tsla-accounting-raises-red-flags-as-report-shows-1-4-billion-missing/
Tesla’s (TSLA) accounting practices are raising red flags as a new report from the Financial Times shows that $1.4 billion is missing.
Many Tesla shorts and detractors have questioned Tesla’s accounting for years, but they have never gained much traction – until now.
Today, the Financial Times has released a new report
Compare Tesla’s capital expenditure in the last six months of 2024 to its valuation of the assets that money was spent on, and $1.4bn appears to have gone astray.
The article points out that Tesla reports having spent $6.3 billion on “purchases of property and equipment excluding finance leases, net of sales” in the second half of 2024, while property, plant, and equipment rose by only $4.9 billion in that period.
Accounting experts agree that, in most cases, the capex number matches closely to the increase in gross PP&E, but some factors can make a difference: sales or impairments of assets, foreign exchange, etc.
However, Tesla didn’t report any significant enough change in the usual suspects to justify the difference.
Kennedy recently suggested that instead of culling infected birds, farmers should instead allow the virus to run through flocks to identify naturally immune birds.
"We can identify the birds and preserve the birds that are immune to it," Kennedy recently told Fox News.
Though Kennedy has no direct control over farms, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has also expressed interest in testing the idea.
"There are some farmers that are out there that are willing to really try this on a pilot as we build the safe perimeter around them to see if there is a way forward with immunity," Rollins told CBS News.
But veterinary experts say this could backfire.
"That's a really terrible idea, for any one of a number of reasons," said Dr. Gail Hansen, a former state veterinarian for Kansas, in a report published by The New York Times.
Since January 2022, bird flu has affected more than 166 million birds across every U.S. state. Experts warn that allowing the virus to spread could increase the risk of it mutating.
>https://phys.org/news/2025-03-secretary-health-human-bird-flu.html
The investigation found that Russian intelligence services "noticed" the girl, when she was looking for quick money in Telegram channels. To attract her to cooperate, the Russians "hacked" her phone. They blackmailed the girl and threatened to "leak" explicit photos of the minor on the Internet.
As a result, the schoolgirl agreed to work for the enemy and, following the instructions of the occupiers, made a homemade explosive device (IED). She then hid it in a backpack and secretly left it under a car that was parked next to the police administration building.
At that moment, the Russian secret services planned to remotely detonate an IED in order to kill their agent and the maximum number of citizens passing by.
After her parents finally paid the money to friendly SBU agents(they dont have male children), the girl has been notified of suspicion. She is now under house arrest. She faces up to 10 years in prison with confiscation of property.
https://korrespondent-net.translate.goog/ukraine/4765867-shkolnytsa-planyrovala-sovershyt-terakt-vozle-polytsyy-v-ternopole?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp
shut up and ice cream. unironically based. I like the ice cream but have not bought it in years because ben and jerry are jewish communists and I don't want my money going to trannies
https://www.alreporter.com/2025/03/20/after-apr-exposed-david-coles-fraud-tubervilles-residency-next-in-the-crosshairs/
The head of the Alabama Republican Party made it clear Tuesday: if U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville makes a run for governor, the “specifics” of his residency won’t be ignored. Years of Senate reimbursement filings, legal documents and public records will be dragged into the spotlight — and they’ll likely show exactly where “Coach” calls home when he’s not in Washington.
Appearing on The Jeff Poor Show, ALGOP Chairman John Wahl said he didn’t believe there was a “basis right now for a challenge on residency,” citing Tuberville’s nearly six years in the Senate and his yearlong campaign across the state prior to taking office. But despite Wahl’s claim, Tuberville didn’t take office until January 2021 — which means he’s been a senator for just over four years, not six.
But Alabama law doesn’t care about campaign stops or press tours. It requires a candidate for governor to have lived in the state for seven consecutive years prior to qualifying. And that’s where things could get interesting for Tuberville, who has been dogged by residency questions since he first floated the idea of running for governor.
APR reported Tuesday that Tuberville doesn’t personally own property in Alabama. He’s said — including in a 2023 interview following reporting from The Washington Post — that he lives in Auburn. The home in question is on Cherry Street, a 1,500-square-foot house valued just under $400,000, owned by his wife, Suzanne, and son, Tucker.
But should anyone file a challenge, Tuberville would have to do more than point to an address on paper. He’d have to prove — first to ALGOP officials and possibly to a court — that his primary residence is the modest Auburn home and not the $6 million, 4,000-square-foot beachfront mansion in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/social-security-administration-to-require-in-person-identity-checks-for-new-and-existing-recipients/ar-AA1BbW79
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an effort to limit fraudulent claims, the Social Security Administration will impose tighter identity-proofing measures — which will require millions of recipients and applicants to visit agency field offices rather than interact with the agency over the phone.
Beginning March 31st, people will no longer be able to verify their identity to the SSA over the phone and those who cannot properly verify their identity over the agency's “my Social Security” online service, will be required to visit an agency field office in person to complete the verification process, agency leadership told reporters Tuesday.
The change will apply to new Social Security applicants and existing recipients who want to change their direct deposit information.
Retiree advocates warn that the change will negatively impact older Americans in rural areas, including those with disabilities, mobility limitations, those who live far from SSA offices and have limited internet access.
The plan also comes as the agency plans to shutter dozens of Social Security offices throughout the country and has already laid out plans to lay off thousands of workers.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/trump-musk-french-scientist-detained
A French scientist on his way to a conference in the United States was allegedly denied entry by Customs and Border Patrol over messages found on his phone that criticized President Trump’s science cuts.
The French newspaper Le Monde reports that on March 9, a space researcher was randomly selected upon arrival in Houston for a search, and CBP found messages criticizing the Trump administration’s treatment of scientists, which, according to the agency, “conveyed hatred of Trump & could be qualified as terrorism.”
The researcher’s phone and computer were allegedly confiscated, and he was sent back to Europe the next day. The news prompted the attention of the French government, which expressed alarm.
“I was told with concern that a French researcher, on a mission for the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), who was going to a conference near Houston, was banned from entering the US before being expelled,” said France’s Minister of Higher Education and Research Philippe Baptiste, in a statement Wednesday. “This would have been taken by the US authorities because the researcher’s phone contained exchanges with colleagues and friendly relations in which he expressed a personal opinion on the Trump administration’s research policy.”
According to one source cited by Agence France-Presse, CBP said that the French researcher expressed “hate and conspiracy messages,” prompting an FBI investigation, only for the charges to be dropped later. Another source said the scientist was banned due to messages “that can be described as terrorism.”
https://apnews.com/article/transgender-health-ohio-gender-affirming-care-lawsuit-e1605ac3b1a5f3340f481c4af05f9b3d
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors is unconstitutional and must be permanently blocked from being enforced, a three-judge panel of appellate judges ruled Tuesday. The law also banned trans women and girls from participating in female sports.
The state attorney general vowed an immediate appeal.
On Tuesday, the state 10th District Court of Appeals reversed a lower court judge’s decision last summer to allow the law to go into effect, after finding it “reasonably limits parents’ rights.” The law bans counseling, gender-affirming surgery and hormone therapy for minors, unless they are already receiving such therapies and a doctor deems it risky to stop.
The litigation was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Ohio and the global law firm Goodwin, who argued the law not only denies health care to transgender children and teens, but specifically discriminates against them accessing it.
The appellate court agreed, in a 2-1 majority opinion written by Judge Carly Edelstein, and cited a number of flaws in the lower court’s reasoning.
The judge cited a number of flaws in the lower court’s reasoning. She said that the Ohio law does not outlaw identical drugs when they’re used for other reasons, only when they’re used for gender transitioning, which makes it discriminatory. She also said that a prescription ban is not a reasonable exercise of the state’s police power when it is weighed against the rights of parents to care for their children.
Addressing proponents’ arguments that minors are not in a position to understand the long-term impacts such procedures could have on their lives, the judge said that, while they may not be, their parents are.
The USIP, an independent nonprofit founded by Congress, had its president, Greg Moose, and its board fired last week by the Trump administration. The Associated Press reported that DOGE workers on Monday had law enforcement escort them into USIP, which is not located in a federal building, after previously being denied access.
“DOGE just came into the building—they’re inside the building—they’re bringing the F.B.I. and brought a bunch of D.C. police,” USIP lawyer Sophia Lin told The New York Times as she and other staff members were forced out of the building.
“What has happened here today is an illegal takeover by elements of the executive branch of a private nonprofit,” Moose told reporters. “It was very clear that there was a desire on the part of the administration to dismantle a lot of what we call foreign assistance, and we are part of that family.”
It’s business as usual from the White House’s perspective.
Due to USIP staff’s noncompliance with Trump’s order, “11 board members were lawfully removed, and remaining board members appointed Kenneth Jackson acting president,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said. “Rogue bureaucrats will not be allowed to hold agencies hostage. The Trump administration will enforce the president’s executive authority and ensure his agencies remain accountable to the American people.”
>https://newrepublic.com/post/192854/elon-musk-doge-police-independent-nonprofit-usip
For those unaware, "TDS", or "Trump Derangement Syndrome", is a derogatory term coined by supporters of former Jeffrey Epstein client turned Miss Teen USA owner Donald Trump, to mock people who take issue with pedophilia and don't approve of child sex predators holding state or federal office.
https://www.fox9.com/news/minnesota-senator-justin-eichorn-arrest
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (FOX 9) - A Minnesota Senator from Grand Rapids was arrested, accused of soliciting a minor for prostitution.
Local perspective:
Sen. Justin Eichorn, 40, was arrested on March 17 in Bloomington. The Bloomington Police Department says they communicated with a man who thought he was talking to a 16-year-old girl.
On March 17, a detective arranged to meet with him near the 8300 block of Normandale Boulevard in Bloomington. The man, identified as Eichorn, was seen arriving to the area in a pickup truck. He was then arrested and booked into jail.
He has not been formally charged, but felony charges of soliciting an under 18 year old to practice prostitution are pending from the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, a press release said.
Eichorn is a Republican who is married with four children, according to his Minnesota State Senate bio. He made headlines earlier this week for being a sponsor of a bill that would declare "Trump derangement syndrome" a mental illness.
>Anime Streamers Have Met With Trump Allies to Block Piracy Sites in the US
New reporting indicates that major entertainment industry companies and brands – specifically those related to the Anime genre – have gathered together to meet with a US Congressman to discuss new anti-piracy initiatives. Companies like Amazon, Disney, and Warner Bros. Discovery (via Consumer Technology Association) reportedly met with US Representative Darrell Issa at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, where talks were said to focus on the subject of digital piracy from foreign sources, and whether blocking access to entire sites was an actionable measure.
According to Representative Issa, these discussions “really went well, because there was a level of consensus on most of the issues by virtually everybody. There are solutions around the world, and we need to find one that works for the United States.” The next step is Issa meeting with additional companies like Paramount, Google, YouTube, and Verizon for further research and consultation geared toward getting his anti-piracy bill, the “American Copyright Protection Act” to the table.
American legislators and entertainment companies have been struggling to address online piracy since torrent sites and other lanes of Internet piracy started appearing in the 2000s. The biggest challenges have been getting a clear-cut definition of what constitutes “piracy,” and then, if and when a site is liable for hosting pirated materials. Even if a pirating site is identified, the method of cutting off access to it can be extremely challenging, as hackers and pirates are well aware of the censorship limits that hamstring most companies trying to stop the spread of copyrighted content.
https://comicbook.com/anime/news/anime-streaming-new-anti-piracy-bills-trump-administration-studios-meeting/
Di State of Emergency wey President Bola Tinubu impose for Rivers State on Tuesday night go officially take effect if two-third of di members of di National Assembly vote to approve am.
Dat na according to di Nigeria constitution, and e dey expected say di lawmakers go meet today to vote on di matter.
BBC dey monitor di situation and go bring you di tori as soon as e happun.
Di announcement by President Tinubu surprise many Nigerians and already, plenty political sabi pipo and groups don dey chook mouth.
Tinubu tok say e take di decision sake of how di political crisis for Rivers State dey get worse and e don lead to destruction of federal goment oil infrastructure for di state.
"No good and responsible president go standby and allow di grave situation to continue witout taking remedial steps prescribed by di Constitution to address di situation," Tinubu tok as e invoke section 305 of di Nigerian constitution to declare a state of emergency for Rivers state.
>Wetin dey section 305 of Nigeria constitution?
For Nigeria, na section 305 of di constitution give di president power to declare a state of emergency, and di conditions for dat include:
- If di kontri dey for war
- If real danger dey say di kontri fit dey involve for war, or say di kontri fit dey invaded
- If actual breakdown of public order and public safety for di kontri or any part of di kontri dey, wey require extraordinary measures to restore peace and security;
- If danger dey say breakdown of public order and public safety fit happen for di kontri or any part of it, and extraordinary measures dey necessary to avoid am
- If ogbonge natural disaster happen for di kontri or any part of am, or if danger dey say big natural disaster fit happen wey go affect pipo wella for di kontri
- If any oda public danger dey wey go be threaten di existence of di Federation
- If di governor of a state, wit support from di state assembly, ask di president to do so
>The veracity of much of the data is unclear. 404 Media has verified that at least some of the people listed on the site do appear to be Tesla owners or supporters of the company or Musk, but it is not clear if every person listed is. The addresses of several Tesla dealerships checked by 404 Media were correct. 404 Media found some plots on the map don’t correspond correctly to their real world locations.
https://www.404media.co/dogequest-site-claims-to-dox-tesla-owners-across-the-u-s/
Why does diversity always lead to violence?
Zegler recalled the unsettling experience of being forced to prove your heritage to a room full of white executives.
By Ryan Coleman Published on March 18, 2025 11:04PM EDT
https://ew.com/rachel-zegler-asked-by-white-execs-if-legit-latina-for-west-side-story-11699539
Rachel Zegler is still shocked by some of her experiences throughout the West Side Story casting process.
"There's confusion because I don't have a single ounce of Latin in my name," she told Los Angeles Times in a Tuesday interview. "When I was in the running for María in West Side Story, they kept calling to ask if I was legit. I remember thinking, 'Do you want me to bring my abuelita in?' I will. I'll bring her into the studio if you want to meet her."
The 23-year-old, New Jersey-born actress was among thousands of talents, well known and otherwise, who vied for the plum role in the adaptation of the 1957 stage musical. Zegler was very much in the "otherwise" camp, having never appeared in a screen role before director Steven Spielberg put out a 2018 casting call for Spanish-speaking actors for the film. The resulting film, which earned Zegler's costar Ariana DeBose an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, also draws heavily on the first film adaptation of the musical, which massively expanded the star profile of its María, Natalie Wood.
They currently have a net -25 approval, while Republicans have a net -12 approval.
It's mind boggling, really. Somehow people liked them more when they bought and sold people like property than they do now.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5197910-democratic-partys-favorability-hits-record-low-poll/
Democratic Party’s favorability hits record low: Poll
The Democratic Party’s favorability rating has hit a record low, according to a CNN survey released Sunday.
The survey, conducted March 6-9, shows 54 percent of surveyed U.S. adults say they have an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party, while 29 percent say they have a favorable opinion and 16 percent say they have no opinion.
That represents a shift from early January, before President Trump was sworn into office for the second time, when 48 percent of survey respondents said they had an unfavorable opinion of the Democrats, 33 percent said they had a favorable opinion and 17 percent said they had no opinion.
In late October, ahead of the 2024 election, a survey of registered voters included 51 percent of respondents with an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party, 39 percent with a favorable opinion and 10 percent with no opinion. The year before, in October 2023, a survey showed 50 percent of U.S. adults had an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party, while 37 percent had a favorable opinion and 11 percent had no opinion.
Meanwhile, the Republican Party’s favorability rating remains unchanged from January, at 36 percent, while the unfavorability rating has ticked up from 44 percent in January to 48 percent in the March survey.
President Trump wrote on social media on Sunday night that he no longer considered valid the pardons his predecessor granted to members of the bipartisan House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the Capitol, and a range of other people whom Mr. Trump sees as his political enemies, because they were signed using an autopen device.
There is no power in the Constitution or case law to undo a pardon, and there is no exception to pardons signed by autopen. But Mr. Trump’s assertion, which embraced a baseless right-wing conspiracy theory about former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., was a new escalation of his antidemocratic rhetoric. Implicit in his post was Mr. Trump’s belief that the nation’s laws should be whatever he decrees them to be. And it was a jolting reminder that his appetite for revenge has not been sated.
A year ago, Paul Dans was chief architect of what was shaping up to be the blueprint for Donald Trump’s second term. Eight months ago, he was sent into MAGA exile.
Dans was the director of Project 2025 at the Heritage Foundation when, midway through the 2024 presidential campaign, he and his program started to become a huge political liability for Trump. Democrats warned of Project 2025’s “radical” agenda, saying it would mean a ban on abortion, elimination of LGBTQ+ rights, and complete presidential power over federal agencies along with the elimination of some of them, including the Department of Education. At the Democratic National Convention, Saturday Night Live’s Kenan Thompson held up a giant-size replica of the 900-page Project 2025 book and quipped, “You ever see a document that could kill a small animal and democracy at the same time? Here it is.”
Conservatives began blaming Heritage and Project 2025 for hurting Trump’s election chances. Trump himself repeatedly contended he hadn’t even read Project 2025, claiming on Truth Social that he had “no idea who is behind it.” In an interview with the POLITICO Deep Dive podcast published Saturday, Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita complained that “there was some stuff in there that we were like, ‘Where the hell did that come from?’”
Dans became a sacrificial lamb. Pressured to resign from Heritage, Dans left in a fit of pique at the end of July, and he later criticized LaCivita and campaign co-head Susie Wiles for campaign “malpractice.”
Now Dans, who lives in Charleston, South Carolina, and works as a lawyer and government relations consultant, is letting bygones be bygones and says he’s delighted with the extent to which Project 2025 has, in fact, become the Trump administration’s playbook.
They met through mutual friends, had a first date at the local steakhouse, married after two years and were saving to buy a house and have kids. Muñoz was already caring for Bartell's now 12-year-old son as her own.
But last month, on their way home to Wisconsin after honeymooning in Puerto Rico, an immigration agent pulled Muñoz aside in the airport.
"Are you an American citizen?" asked the agent. She answered no, she wasn't. She's from Peru. But she and her husband had taken the legal steps so that one day she might get U.S. citizenship.
Millions of Americans, including Bartell, had voted for President Donald Trump's promise to crack down on "criminal illegal immigrants." But eight weeks in, the mass deportation effort has rapidly expanded to include immigrants whose application for legal status in the country is under review.
Even those married or engaged to U.S. citizens are being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, USA TODAY has learned.
In addition to Muñoz, USA TODAY has confirmed through attorneys, family members and documents that ICE has detained for weeks:
a woman in her 50s who has lived in the country more than 30 years and is married to a U.S. citizen;
a woman in her 30s with proof of valid permanent legal residency, whose father and siblings are U.S. citizens, and who first came to the U.S. as a teen;
a European woman in her 30s engaged to a U.S. citizen who overstayed her visa when she was 21;
a woman engaged to a U.S. legal permanent resident, with whom she has lived for nine years.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/wisconsin-man-voted-trump-now-155503248.html?guccounter=1
The Global Times, a daily English-language tabloid and Chinese Communist party mouthpiece, celebrated the cuts to the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees broadcasters such as VOA and RFA.
“When it comes to China-related reporting, VOA has an appalling track record,” the Global Times said in an editorial on Monday.
“From smearing human rights in China’s Xinjiang … to hyping up disputes in the South China Sea … from fabricating the so-called China virus narrative to promoting the claim of China’s ‘overcapacity’, almost every malicious falsehood about China has VOA’s fingerprints all over it,” the editorial said.
The Beijing Daily, a newspaper run by the Chinese Communist party (CCP), also published a column commending the cuts.
The schadenfreude comes after US president Donald Trump signed an order gutting USAGM and instructing it to reduce its operations to the bare minimum mandated by the law. He accused VOA of being “radical” and “anti-Trump”.
The order would “ensure taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda” the White House said in a statement. USAGM employed roughly 3,500 people and had an $886m budget in 2024, according to the agency’s latest report to Congress.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/mar/18/chinese-state-media-celebrates-trumps-cuts-to-voice-of-america-and-radio-free-asia
Americans are increasingly concerned about Donald Trump’s effort to overhaul the US economy with sweeping tariffs on foreign goods, according to an exclusive poll for the Guardian, despite the US president’s efforts to downplay the risks of his strategy.
“Have no fear, we will WIN everything!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday, claiming that tariffs were already “pouring money” into the country.
But fears are growing. When given a list of issues including inflation, healthcare and immigration, 72% of Americans said they are concerned about tariffs.
The survey was conducted by the Harris Poll in early March. When it conducted the same survey in mid-January, 61% of those polled said tariffs were a concern.
A lot has changed since then. Since returning to the White House, Trump has pushed for tariffs against many of the US’s key trading partners. He tacked on an extra 20% tariff on Chinese imports and hiked tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports.
How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man?
The United States and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are both vowing escalation after the U.S. launched airstrikes to deter the rebels from attacking military and commercial vessels on one of the world's busiest shipping corridors.
The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the overnight U.S. strikes killed at least 53 people, including five women and two children, and wounded almost 100 in the capital of Sanaa and the northern province of Saada, the rebels' stronghold on the border with Saudi Arabia.
"We're not going to have these people controlling which ships can go through and which ones cannot. And so your question is, how long will this go on? It will go on until they no longer have the capability to do that," Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS on Sunday.
He said these are not the one-off retaliation strikes the Biden administration carried out after Houthi attacks.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday vowed to use "overwhelming lethal force" until the Houthis cease their attacks, and warned that Tehran would be held "fully accountable" for their actions.
The Houthis have repeatedly targeted international shipping in the Red Sea, sinking two vessels in what they call acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel has been at war with Hamas, another Iranian ally.
The attacks stopped when a Israel-Hamas ceasefire took hold in January — a day before Trump took office — but last week, the Houthis said they would renew attacks against Israeli vessels after Israel cut off the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza this month.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh is a kidney specialist who did a fellowship at the Ohio State University’s medical school from 2018-20. Alawieh hds been working at Brown University in Providence since July, according to the Providence Journal, a USA Today Network newspaper in Rhode Island.
Alawieh recently obtained another visa and was returning from a two-week trip to see family in Lebanon Thursday when customs officials at Boston Logan International Airport detained her.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney doctor who trained at Ohio State medical school and is now with Brown University Medicine, was detained at Boston Logan Airport when returning from a trip to Lebanon. She was deported back to Lebanon despite a legal visa and passport, and in violation of a federal judge's order, according to an attorney and Brown officials.
Federal authorities deported Alawieh on Friday evening — despite a federal court order to delay her deportation flight for at least 48 hours.
The Providence Journal reported that Alawieh, 34, worked at Rhode Island Hospital with kidney transplant recipients, evaluating patients at multiple stages of their procedures.
>https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/communities/2025/03/16/rasha-alawieh-deported-ohio-state-lebanon/82468566007/
Abramowitz said that the order left VOA unable to carry out its "vital mission... especially critical today, when America's adversaries, like Iran, China, and Russia, are sinking billions of dollars into creating false narratives to discredit the United States".
The president's order targets VOA's parent company US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which also funds non-profit entities such as Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia, which were originally set up to counter communism.
It tells managers to "reduce performance… to the minimum presence and function required by law".
CBS, the BBC's US news partner, said that VOA employees were notified in an email by Crystal Thomas, the USAGM human resources director.
https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/trump-entlasstungen-voice-of-america-100.html
Trump Derangement Syndrome. "Trump Derangement Syndrome" means the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal persons that is in reaction to the policies and presidencies of President Donald J. Trump. Symptoms may include Trump-induced general hysteria, which produces an inability to distinguish between legitimate policy differences and signs of psychic pathology in President Donald J. Trump's behavior. This may be expressed by:
(1) verbal expressions of intense hostility toward President Donald J. Trump; and
(2) overt acts of aggression and violence against anyone supporting President Donald J. Trump or anything that symbolizes President Donald J. Trump.
https://www.livemint.com/news/us-news/minnesota-senate-republicans-bill-proposes-adding-trump-derangement-syndrome-to-mental-illness-definiti-11742049348473.html
Minnesota Senate Republicans Bill proposes adding ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ to mental illness definition
A controversial bill introduced in the Minnesota Senate seeks to modify the state's definition of mental illness by including a new condition labeled Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). The bill, if enacted, would amend Minnesota Statutes 2024 to formally recognise TDS as a mental health disorder.
Bill overview
The proposed legislation, introduced during Minnesota's Ninety-Fourth Legislative Session, aims to redefine mental illness under state law. It seeks to amend the Minnesota Statutes to include Trump Derangement Syndrome alongside other mental health conditions.
According to the bill, TDS is described as an “acute onset of paranoia” in response to the policies and presidencies of Donald Trump
The bill also expands the definition of mental illness for case management and community support services, incorporating TDS within the framework of mental health intervention
“DOGE Has 10 Staffers at Social Security in Hunt for Dead People,” the headlines read this past week.
I found a dead person on Social Security. Right here in Seattle, on Capitol Hill.
Of course the circumstances of Ned Johnson’s death were completely the opposite of what Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency had claimed was rampant.
“You wake up one day and discover you’re dead,” Johnson told me. “It’s been truly surreal.”
That’s the biggest difference — my deceased guy turns out to be very much alive. Musk is contending that hordes of dead people are listed as alive in the Social Security databases, and are fraudulently still drawing benefits (which the Social Security director disputes).
Johnson is 82 and still kicking. Yet sometime last month, someone or something led Social Security to both tag him as dead and start clawing back his benefits.
Johnson’s strange trip through the netherworld began in February, when a letter from his bank arrived addressed to his wife, Pam.
“We recently received notification of LEONARD A. JOHNSON’s passing,” it began. “We offer our sincerest condolences …”
At first she figured it was a scam — her husband, after all, was sitting right there. But then the bank got to the point.
“We know this is a difficult time, and we’re here to help,” the bank wrote. “We received a request from Social Security Administration to return benefits paid to LEONARD A. JOHNSON’s account after their passing.”
“There’s nothing you need to do — we’ve deducted the funds from LEONARD A. JOHNSON’s account.”
Uh oh. It itemized how $5,201 had been stricken from their bank account, on the grounds that Ned wasn’t justified to get those benefits — because he was dead. That was for payments he’d received in December and January.
United States President Donald Trump‘s administration is mulling a new travel ban that is expected to affect citizens from dozens of countries to varying degrees, The New York Times reported.
Quoting anonymous officials, the report published on Friday said the US government’s draft list featured 43 countries, divided into three categories of travel restrictions.
The first group of 10 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Cuba and North Korea, would be set for a full visa suspension.
In the second group, five countries – Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar and South Sudan – would face partial suspensions that would affect tourist and student visas as well as other immigrant visas, with some exceptions.
In the third group, a total of 26 countries that includes Belarus, Pakistan and Turkmenistan would be considered for a partial suspension of US visa issuance if their governments “do not make efforts to address deficiencies within 60 days”, the draft memo said.
A US official speaking on condition of anonymity told the Reuters news agency there could be changes to the list and it was yet to be approved by the administration, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Trump issued an executive order on January 20 requiring intensified security vetting of any foreigners seeking admission to the US to detect national security threats.
https://nypost.com/video/trump-gets-hit-in-the-face-with-a-boom-mic-she-just-became-a-big-story-tonight/
Social media was in shock and outrage last friday as during a press talk event. Current president Trump was assaulted by a mic held by one of the reporters at the event. The attack triggered various conspiracy theorists to claim it was premeditated with individuals going as far as saying law enforcement should quickly confiscate the mic to check for signs of potential chemical toxins.
As of now the reporter nor their outlet have yet to be identified and there are no plans to press charges.
Following the two attempted assassinations of the current president during his election campaign by far-left operatives, the president's security retinue are more cautious then ever of looming potential threats.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-dei-universities-investigated-f89dc9ec2a98897577ed0a6c446fae7b
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 50 universities are being investigated for alleged racial discrimination as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs that his officials say exclude white and Asian American students.
The Education Department announced the new investigations Friday, one month after issuing a memo warning America’s schools and colleges that they could lose federal money over “race-based preferences” in admissions, scholarships or any aspect of student life.
“Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “We will not yield on this commitment.”
Most of the new inquiries are focused on colleges’ partnerships with the PhD Project, a nonprofit that helps students from underrepresented groups get degrees in business with the goal of diversifying the business world.
Department officials said that the group limits eligibility based on race and that colleges that partner with it are “engaging in race-exclusionary practices in their graduate programs.”
https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-trump-gop-chuck-schumer-86385e644239a3dc1558b37d13094234
Senate approves funding bill hours before shutdown deadline, sending to Trump for signature
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed a Republican-led spending bill Friday hours before a government shutdown, overcoming sharp Democratic opposition to the measure and sending it to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.
The essentially party-line vote, 54-46, didn’t give the full picture of gnawing Democratic angst over how to confront the Trump administration as its Department of Government Efficiency fires federal workers and dismantles operations. Democrats argued over whether to fight even risking a shutdown and fumed that Republicans drafted a measure that included little of their input, shortchanging health care, housing and other priorities.
But in the end, enough of the Democratic senators decided a government shutdown would be even worse, and backed Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer’s strategy to allow the bill to come forward.
“A shutdown will allow DOGE to shift into overdrive,” Schumer said. “Donald Trump and Elon Musk would be free to destroy vital government services at a much faster rate.”
Democrats were confronted with two painful options: allowing passage of a bill they believe gives President Donald Trump vast discretion on spending decisions or voting no and letting funding lapse. All told, 10 Democrats voted to break the party’s filibuster to advance the bill to a final vote. On final passage, two Democrats supported the bill, and one Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, opposed it. It funds the government for another six months.
Schumer gave members of his caucus days to vent their frustration about the options before them, but abruptly switched course,
"Stalin, Mao, and Hitler didn't murder millions of people," the post, which he shared to his over 200 million followers, reads. "Their public sector workers did."
The post also highlights Musk's long-established disdain for public sector workers. W
our nurses, teachers, firefighters, librarians — chose making our communities safe, healthy and strong over getting rich,"They are not, as the world’s richest man implies, genocidal murderers."
"Elon Musk and the billionaires in this administration have no idea what real people go through every day," Saunders added. "That’s why he’s so willing to take a chainsaw to people’s jobs, Medicaid, Social Security and Medicare."
the Democratic Majority for Israel tweeted "remove musk now"
Defending Stalin, Hitler, and Mao in order to justify firing VA nurses and park rangers? Drug addled insanity.
We have reached the 'Hitler did nothing wrong' stage of Elon Musk totally not being a Nazi," one user tweeted.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-defends-hitler-mao-162840873.html
In experiments at Stanford University, chemists discovered that microdroplets in fine sprays of water generate streaks of “microlightning”. When surrounded by the right mix of gases, these sparks power chemical reactions that synthesise many molecules for life.
Prof Richard Zare, a chemist who led the team, said: “This is a real contribution to understanding how you can go from non-life to life. You have water sprays all over the place, particularly around rocks, and there are crevices in rocks where these chemicals can accumulate.”
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/mar/14/microlightning-strikes-sparked-life-on-earth-evolution-science
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-eliminate-tax-people-earning-less-150000-howard-lutnick-2044049
President Donald Trump's goal is to eliminate taxes for people earning less than $150,000 per year, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said.
"I know what his goal is — no tax for anybody making under $150,000 a year. That's what I'm working for," Lutnick told CBS News on Wednesday.
He said that major tax cuts could be implemented without causing spiraling national debt through tackling overseas tax fraud.
Why It Matters
The proposal to remove taxes for people earning less than $150,000 per year would impact the vast majority of Americans.
In 2022, around 93 percent of Americans aged 15 and over earned less than $150,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The proposal would consequently massively reduce tax revenue generated for the federal government and threaten a huge increase in national debt.
What To Know
Lutnick said on Wednesday that Trump's aim is to remove taxes for individuals earning less than $150,000 per year. He also outlined the president's other tax strategies, which include abolishing tax on tips, overtime, and Social Security, and implementing significant reductions to individual and corporate taxes
Lutnick said that the federal government would counteract massive U.S. tax cuts by implementing tariffs on foreign nations and curbing overseas tax evasion
Commercial ships sail under the flags of other nations such as Liberia to avoid U.S. taxation. "All those ships are paying no tax, its a tax scam," he said.
He added that U.S. companies hold their ip in Ireland because of its favorable tax regime.
"Ireland has a $60 billion surplus... because our companies drop their IP there. They pay Ireland the money," he said. "How about we end the tax scams."
Yet another one of bidens problems trump has fixed.
Thank you, Donald J Trump
https://www.newsweek.com/2025-eggs-prices-per-dozen-economy-donald-trump-2044401
Chart Shows 2025 Egg Price Surge Wiped Out In Single Week
The price of eggs has dropped from $7.22 per dozen, just a little less than the all-time high of $8.17 a few days before, to $4.90 in a single week, new data shows.
Why It Matters
Egg prices have skyrocketed to historic levels over the past year, with wholesalers recently paying more than $8 for a dozen eggs, compared to just $2 per dozen in previous years.
The issue became a flashpoint issue during last year's presidential election as a symbol of the increasing financial hardship many Americans have been experiencing.
A Gallup poll showed that voters overwhelmingly cited economic pressures as the key reason they voted for President Donald Trump in November.
What To Know
This year started with the price of eggs at $5.81 on January 3, moved up to $6.55 by January 23, $7.09 five days later, $7.52 by the end of the month and $8.76 at the start of February.
By February 20, the price had shot up to $8.03, before hitting an all-time high of $8.17 on March 3. But then the price started dipping, down to $7.22 by March 6, $6.08 by March 10, $5.18 by March 12 and $4.9 on March 13.
The surge in egg prices is the ongoing bird flu outbreak, which has decimated poultry stocks at farms across the country—more than 111 million birds—mostly egg-laying hens—were infected or culled between February 2022 and January 2025.
Other issues that have affected prices include inflation, supply chain issues, transportation costs, and new state animal welfare regulations
Trump promised that he would tackle egg prices on "day one" of his administration but said in December 2024 that it was "hard to bring things down once they're up."
https://www.nanaimobulletin.com/home2/bc-looks-to-seize-surrey-property-linked-to-mexican-drug-cartel-7878813
B.C. looks to seize Surrey property allegedly linked to Mexican drug cartel
Property, firearms, vehicles, motorcycles, jewelry, and electronic devices along with a boat were seized by police on Sept. 24
Anna Burns Anna Burns
about 4 hours ago
7 pounds fentanyl, 1 pound meth, 2 pounds cocaine, and a pound heroin seized from a cartel member in Minnesota who was previously deported and illegally entered under Biden
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/brooklyn-center-mexican-cartel-drugs/
Authorities seize 10+ pounds of cartel drugs from Twin Cities home, charge alleged possessor
March 11, 2025 / 6:37 PM CDT / CBS Minnesota
Cartel member in Colorado was arrested. Another illegal immigrant with a previous deportation. Fbi has not yet announced his name to the public
https://gazette.com/news/crime/fbi-arrests-man-in-colorado-springs-accused-of-cartel-involvement/article_564d7bc8-003a-11f0-a547-6f08aaccd842.html
FBI arrests man in Colorado Springs accused of cartel involvement
Mackenzie Bodell mackenzie.bodell@gazette.com Mar 13, 2025 Updated 1 hr ago
Mexican president announces to journalists that she is not a fan of trump but says that what he is doing to fight the cartels is working well
https://www.nysun.com/article/trumps-crackdown-on-mexican-cartels-finds-a-partner-in-president-sheinbaum
Trump’s Crackdown on Mexican Cartels Finds a Partner in President Sheinbaum
‘I’m not a Trump fan per se,’ says one Mexican artist, ‘but what he’s done is working.’
HOLLIE McKAY
Published: Mar. 13, 2025 01:18 PM
Elon Musk’s Tesla has warned that Donald Trump’s trade war could expose the electric carmaker to retaliatory tariffs that would also affect other automotive manufacturers in the US.
In an unsigned letter to Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative, Tesla said it “supports fair trade” but that the US administration should ensure it did not “inadvertently harm US companies”.
Tesla said in the letter: “As a US manufacturer and exporter, Tesla encourages the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to consider the downstream impacts of certain proposed actions taken to address unfair trade practices.”
The company, led by Musk, a close Trump ally who is leading efforts to downsize the federal government, said it wanted to avoid a similar impact to previous trade disputes that resulted in increased tariffs on electric vehicles imported into countries targeted by the US.
Tesla said: “US exporters are inherently exposed to disproportionate impacts when other countries respond to US trade actions. The assessment undertaken by USTR of potential actions to rectify unfair trade should also take into account exports from the United States.
“For example, past trade actions by the United States have resulted in immediate reactions by the targeted countries, including increased tariffs on electric vehicles imported into those countries.”
Trump has imposed significant tariffs that will affect vehicles and parts made around the world.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/mar/14/tesla-trump-trade-war-harm-car-companies-elon-musk-tariffs
DOJ lawyers and attorneys representing Trump's former co-defendants argued that Judge Cannon should "under no circumstances" release the volume of Special Counsel Jack Smith's final report about the president's alleged retention of classified documents, alleging the report would violate the due process rights of Trump's top White House aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira.
"They endured approximately a year-and-a-half of rampant pretrial publicity and vilification after their indictments were sought by an unconstitutionally appointed prosecutor with unconstitutionally limitless funding, who then went on to use the materials he collected in his unlawful investigation (at continued unconstitutional expense) to craft the Report intended to justify his actions," the DOJ lawyers wrote in a status report filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
"We had an amazing judge in Florida, Trump said at DOJ headquarters on Friday. "Actually, she was brilliant. She moved quickly. She was the absolute model of what a judge should be. She was strong and tough."
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/final-report-trumps-handling-classified-documents-released-doj/story?id=119823414
Preliminary reports showed that at least three people had died in crashes in the greater Amarillo region, according to officials there.
The wildfires were being fueled by gusty winds and dry air across a parched landscape in eastern New Mexico and Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and even portions of the Midwest. Forecasters at the National Weather Service warned that more fire outbreaks appeared likely going into Saturday.
By Friday afternoon, more than 100,000 had lost power across the Texas Panhandle region and parts of Oklahoma, according to poweroutage.us. The authorities warned that rolling blackouts were a possibility to avoid fires caused by downed power lines. In Norman, Okla., about 15 miles south of Oklahoma City, the authorities were urging some residents to evacuate.
In the greater Lubbock and Amarillo areas in Texas, Highway Patrol officials reported more than three dozen car crashes.
Sgt. Cindy Barkley with the Texas Department of Public Safety in Amarillo said that the agency was “inundated right now with crashes.” State Highway 207 between Borger, Texas, and Panhandle, Texas, was closed because of a multivehicle pileup. Preliminary reports showed that three people had died in crashes in the region, Sergeant Barkley said.
>https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/us/wildfires-texas-oklahoma.html
(Sorry for paywall but this is the best singular article for this at the time. Just use 12ft.io)
Consumers
Consumer Sentiment Nosedives on Gyrating Economic Policies
University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index fell to 57.9 in mid-March, the lowest level since 2022
Consumer sentiment in the U.S. sank this month, reflecting increasing unease over shape-shifting economic policies and their potential to drive inflation higher.
The University of Michigan’s closely watched index of consumer sentiment nosedived an additional 11% to 57.9 in mid-March from 64.7 last month, much weaker than expectations of 63.2. It marks the lowest level since 2022 and a third fall in as many months.
Compared to this time last year, consumer sentiment is down 27%. A loss of confidence can be a headwind for economic growth, since consumers can delay or abandon planned purchases if they feel downbeat about their prospects.
https://www.wsj.com/economy/consumers/consumer-confidence-march-2025-drops-trump-trade-e7e0964d
https://www.sb.by/en/european-commission-to-use-10-trillion-euros-of-citizens-savings-for-eu-defence.html
https://www.wdam.com/video/2025/03/11/wva-legislature-passes-bill-allowing-doctors-inspect-childrens-genitalia-confirm-gender/
On March 11, the West Virginia legislature passed Senate Bill 456.
An amendment introduced by House Judiciary Chair J.B. Akers on March 6 would have allowed medical professionals to “to visually or physically examine a minor child for purposes of verifying the biological sex of the child without the consent of the child’s parent, guardian, or custodian.”
That amendment was adopted into the bill.
Before officially passing the Senate, Senator Patrick Martin (R - Lewis, 12) proposed two further amendments, one of which clarifies “that the article does not authorize certain examinations of minor children.”
Senator Martin’s amendment nullified Delegate Akers’ amendment, thereby excluding it from the final bill.
SB 456 was passed by the Senate Tuesday 32-1 with one Senator absent for the vote. In the House, 90 delegates voted in favor, eight opposed, and two were absent.
U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes had criticized the department’s lawyer for not having read three reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cited in his policy banning transgender members of the military, according to Politico’s senior legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney, who posted several updates on the hearing on X.
An internal memo issued by the Pentagon in February “disqualified” transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military.
“Service members who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are disqualified from military service,” the memo said, also banning individuals who had a “history of cross-sex hormone therapy or a history of sex reassignment or genital reconstruction surgery as treatment for gender dysphoria or in pursuit of a sex transition.”
Reyes claimed that Hegseth’s policy banning transgender service members had “egregiously misquoted” the three reports it cited, and she couldn’t believe that the Justice Department’s lawyer hadn’t bothered to actually read them.
Reyes requested that the court take a 30-minute break, and asked the department’s lawyer to review the reports and compare how they’d been misquoted by Hegseth in his policy. Then, they could tell her whether they believe she could reasonably rely on Hegseth’s interpretation of those reports.
>https://newrepublic.com/post/192657/judge-military-trans-ban-trial-lawyers-incompetence
It’s the accounting maneuver that could break the Senate, upend the federal budget process and explode the national debt.
That’s according to critics of a fiscal tactic that congressional Republicans are now seriously considering as they struggle to figure out how to deliver on all of President Donald Trump’s policy demands.
Adopting the “current policy baseline,” as it’s called, could be the only way for the GOP to make Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent and avoid painful cuts to federal programs, as well as pile on new income tax exemptions for tips, overtime and Social Security. Trump is expected to discuss the move with members of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee at a White House meeting Thursday.
If lawmakers adopt the change, it would essentially make it appear as though extending current tax rates, set to expire at the end of the year, would cost nothing rather than the roughly $4 trillion over 10 years that nonpartisan scorekeepers estimate.
He only managed to arrest 32,809 people since being elected, falling short of the 33,242 people arrested Biden in 2024.
CHUDS are seething
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-triples-ice-arrests-mass-deportation-plan-off-target-2043610
President Donald Trump oversaw a surge in ICE arrests during the first 50 days of his second term in office—more than doubling the daily rate under President Joe Biden's administration—newly released figures show.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents made 32,809 migrant arrests between January 20 and March 10, officials said at a news conference on Wednesday.
By comparison, ICE arrested and detained about 255 people each day last year under Biden. Despite the sharp increase, the numbers still fall narrowly short of his election promise to carry out "the largest deportation program of criminals in the history of America," when he referenced the 1954 "Operation Wetback," which rounded up an estimated 1 million people.
Why It Matters
At the current daily rate, over a four-year term, more than 950,000 arrests would be made, though that does not mean they would all be deported.
What To Know
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE leaders claim they discovered that the Biden administration was manipulating ICE arrest data to mislead the public. Officials allege the previous administration was "cooking the books," reporting tens of thousands of arrests while actually releasing many people into the community under catch-and-release policies
In fiscal year 2024, ICE recorded 33,242 at-large arrests—which refers to arrests made in community settings rather than jails or border checkpoints. In the first 50 days of Trump's second term, ICE has made 32,809 at-large arrests, nearly matching the total from the entire previous year
the bill was designed to close the "loophole" known as the second amendment. the bill's sponsor is an illegal alien
https://newrepublic.com/post/192589/democrat-poll-brutal-verdict-no-one-trusts-them
Democrats’ Own Polling Reveals No One Trusts Them
Democrats just received some brutal poll results—from their own firm.
Democrats are losing trust in battleground districts and struggling to connect with independent voters.
That is what new internal polling conducted by the Democratic group Navigator Research says about the party, which doesn’t bode well for next year’s midterm elections. In contested House districts, most voters believe that Democrats in Congress are “more focused on helping other people than people like me.”
Only 27 percent of independent voters in such districts believe that Democrats are focused on helping them, versus 55 percent who say they focus on others. The full findings of the poll, one of the first of battleground congressional districts since November, will be presented to House Democrats and their staff on Wednesday at their Issues Conference in Leesburg, Virginia.
The conference is supposed to help coordinate House Democrats’ messaging heading into the 2026 midterm elections, and if the results are any indication, the party needs to figure things out—and fast.
“The Democratic brand is still not where it needs to be in terms of core trust and understanding people’s challenges,” said Molly Murphy, one of the pollsters. “Even though voters are critical about Trump and some of the things he’s doing, that criticism of Trump doesn’t translate into trust in Democrats. The trust has to be earned.”
the fags who faked global warming for government gibs from biden are going to jail
Robert Morris, the Dallas-area megachurch pastor who resigned last year amid sexual abuse allegations, has been indicted in Oklahoma for child sex crimes that date back to the 1980s.
Morris is a former spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump, and Gateway — one of the nation’s largest megachurches — has been particularly active in politics. In 2020, Trump held a “Roundtable on Transition to Greatness” there that was attended by then-U.S. Attorney General William Barr and other prominent Republicans.
Morris faces five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office said in a Wednesday evening press release.
The indictment comes less than a year after Morris resigned from Gateway Church in Southlake after an adult woman, Cindy Clemishire, said Morris repeatedly sexually assaulted her while she was a child in Oklahoma in the 1980s. Morris was at the time working as a traveling preacher.
In a Wednesday text message, Clemishire said through an attorney that she was grateful for the indictments.
“After almost 43 years, the law has finally caught up with Robert Morris for the horrific crimes he committed against me as a child,” she said. “Now, it is time for the legal system to hold him accountable. My family and I are deeply grateful to the authorities who have worked tirelessly to make this day possible and remain hopeful that justice will ultimately prevail.”
Clemishire’s disclosure came as the Dallas religious community was still reeling from a handful of recent sex abuse scandals. Since then, at least a dozen Dallas-area churches or pastors have been accused of committing or concealing sexual misconduct, allegations that have ensnared some of the area’s most prominent leaders and institutions.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday turned the South Lawn of the White House into a temporary Tesla showroom in a conspicuous favor to his adviser Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of the car company.
Tesla delivered five of its vehicles to the White House and parked them on a driveway for Trump to personally inspect, hours after he said in a post on his app Truth Social that he planned to buy a Tesla to demonstrate his support for Musk and for the slumping car company.
With Musk beside him, Trump declared the vehicles “beautiful” and in particular praised the company’s unusually designed Cybertruck.
“As soon as I saw it, I said, ‘That is the coolest design,’” Trump said.
Though Trump frequently attacked electric vehicles during last year’s campaign, he told reporters that he’d heard good things about Teslas from his friends. He sat in the driver’s seat of a sedan, with Musk seated beside him, and said he planned to buy one.
“The one I like is that one, and I want the same color,” he said, pointing to a red Model S. The vehicle is listed on the Tesla website for $73,490, or $88,490 for the all-wheel-drive Model S Plaid.
He did not take a test drive but said he might “another time.”
Because of ethical restraints it is extremely rare for a senior government official, let alone a sitting president, to endorse a consumer product so explicitly. In 2017, when then-Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway told Americans to buy from Ivanka Trump’s clothing line, she received a warning from a government ethics office and promised never to do it again.
By reviewing the Teslas in public before cameras, Trump ensured that his purchase would receive wide attention. Dan Scavino, a White House deputy chief of staff, livestreamed the event on X, the social media app owned by Musk.
As Musk spoke to Fox Business’ Larry Kudlow about running his companies while working with the government, several social media users noted that he was 'holding back' tears.
Elon Musk was visibly emotional as he told Fox Business that he was running so many businesses 'with great difficulty'. The billionaire's statement came as Tesla shares fell to a five-month low, more than 15% on Monday,
https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/elon-musk-crying-holds-back-tears-amid-tesla-slump-with-great-difficulty-watch-article-118879988
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8557rRpFTs
(Musk's plea for compassion is at 1:46 of the YouTube Fox video)
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Tuesday that President Trump’s tariff policies will be worth it, even if the economy ends up in a recession.
In an interview that aired Tuesday, CBS News’s Nancy Cordes asked Lutnick whether the tariffs will “be worth it if they lead to a recession, even a short-term recession.”
Lutnick responded: “These policies are the most important thing America has ever had.”
“So it is worth it?” Cordes pressed.
“It is worth it,” he said.
Lutnick quickly added: “The only reason there could possibly be a recession is because of the Biden nonsense that we had to live with.”
Lutnick has been a fierce defender of Trump’s approach to tariffs and said over the weekend that Americans should “absolutely not” be concerned about a possible recession.
In the latest interview, Lutnick doubled down on his support for the president’s tariff policies and insisted they are not chaotic.
“These policies produce revenues,” Lutnick said.
“So you’re saying when it looks chaotic and unpredictable from the outside that there actually is a master plan when it comes to these tariffs?” Cordes asked.
“It is not chaotic,” Lutnick said. “And the only one who thinks it’s chaotic is someone who’s being silly.”
References to a World War II Medal of Honor recipient, the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan and the first women to pass Marine infantry training are among the tens of thousands of photos and online posts marked for deletion as the Defense Department works to purge diversity, equity and inclusion content, according to a database obtained by The Associated Press.
The database, which was confirmed by U.S. officials and published by AP, includes more than 26,000 images that have been flagged for removal across every military branch. But the eventual total could be much higher.
In some cases, photos seemed to be flagged for removal simply because their file included the word “gay,” including service members with that last name and an image of the B-29 aircraft Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II.
This is why I don't give a shit what trump and the GOP does. Semi auto guns have been for sale in the US since well before World War I
Intelligence information would also be passed on to the country attacked by Russia , it said. In addition, an agreement on Ukrainian raw materials is to be concluded "as soon as possible".
" Ukraine has agreed to accept the United States proposal to implement an immediate, temporary 30-day ceasefire, which may be extended by mutual agreement of the parties, and which must be accepted and simultaneously implemented by the Russian Federation," the ceasefire proposal read.
The US would make it clear to Russia that reciprocity in such an agreement is "the key to achieving peace". Regarding the resumption of military aid, the joint statement continued: "The United States will immediately lift the freeze on information sharing and resume security assistance to Ukraine."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who attended the talks in Jeddah along with National Security Advisor Mike Waltz , said the ball was now in the Russians' court.
https://www-stern-de.translate.goog/news/usa-nehmen-ukraine-militaerhilfen-wieder-auf-35543208.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp
https://youtu.be/oN8MsCs1VlE
hope she loses her house and her kids starve to death
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, eat shit and die
https://www.newsweek.com/new-data-shows-inflation-rate-plummeting-2043395
Inflation Plummeting, New Data Shows
data suggests a notable deceleration in the U.S. inflation rate, potentially offering some relief to both consumers and policymakers.
According to Truflation, a blockchain-based provider of real-time economic data, inflation has slowed to around 1.3 percent, having dropped to below the 1.5 percent mark at the start of March. By Truflation's readings, these are the lowest levels inflation has reached since December 2020. It peaked at over 11.5 percent in June 2022.
Why It Matters
Trump's campaign placed a heavy emphasis on the state of the U.S. economy and in particular inflation, painting his predecessors policies as an accelerant and vowing to bring prices for American consumers down "on Day One." As a result, inflation has been framed a key touchstone evaluating the success of his economic agenda.
While inflation will need to slow further—reaching negative figures—for the price of goods and services to decline, significantly slowing inflation signals price stabilization, serving as a slight relief for concerned consumers and the Federal Reserve, which has been tasked with achieving a 2-percent inflation target.
What To Know
As outlined on its methodology page, Truflation's real-time inflation metric relies on market price data from more than 30 commercial and public sources, capturing 13 million price points for goods and services at any moment. This separates it from the commonly consulted consumer price index (CPI), released monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which relies on periodic surveys, though this allows time to both collect and verify data.
"We'll take this offer now to the Russians, and we hope that they'll say yes," Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters.
Rubio, standing alongside national security advisor Mike Waltz, did not detail exactly what was in this agreement, but according to a readout provided by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, Kyiv has agreed to a 30-day ceasefire contingent on Moscow's acceptance of the terms.
"We hope the Russians answer to that," Rubio said. "The best goodwill gesture the Russians can provide is to say yes."
In response to Kyiv's willingness to accept Washington's hard-fought preliminary proposal, President Donald Trump agreed to lift the pause on U.S. security assistance to Ukraine "effective immediately" and renewed U.S. intelligence sharing.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/ukraine-accepts-deal-says-rubio-well-take-russians
Big titty baby Alex Jones says Infowars reporter Jamie White was fatally shot near Texas home. The victim’s vaccine status is currently unknown but he was recently seen entering the basement of a local pizza parlor and may have uncovered something there about Hillary’s email server. Alex Jones suggests buying his supplements in lieu of flowers for the bereaved.
Alex Jones has reported that a journalist for his website Infowars has been killed near his Texas apartment in a suspected homicide.
The far-right shock jock said in a broadcast on Monday afternoon that Jamie White, whom he called his “best” reporter, had been "brutally murdered" late Sunday night near his home in Austin.
Jones accused Austin's Democratic district attorney and other Democrats across the country of "aiding and abetting" in White's death by failing to control crime, calling them "demons."
City police have not confirmed White’s death, saying only that they responded to an emergency call at 11:57 p.m. Sunday night and found an injured man with “obvious signs of trauma,” who later died in a nearby hospital.
Officials did not respond to a request for comment from The Independent, and no other source beyond Infowars — which has a long history of fabrications — has yet confirmed White’s identity.
In his broadcast, Jones blamed local Democratic politicians, including Austin District Attorney José Garza, for cutting police budgets and failing to lock up dangerous criminals.
The Democrats, which favour gradual independence from Denmark, more than tripled their seats to 10 in the 31-seat Inatsisartut parliament, according to results released on Wednesday, and will begin talks to form a coalition.
The strongly pro-independence Naleraq doubled their seats to eight from the prior election, while the ruling coalition lost almost half of its share of the vote.
"People want change," the Democrats' leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen told reporters in Nuuk after the final vote count. "We don't want independence tomorrow, we want to build a good foundation."
Independence became the central campaign theme in Tuesday's election after Trump's repeated insistence that the semi-autonomous Danish territory is vital to U.S. national security and will eventually become part of the United States.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/greenland-votes-pro-business-independence-parties-trump-interest-looms-2025-03-12/
“Multiple states” were recently notified of these cuts, the nonprofit School Nutrition Association said in a statement Tuesday.
An estimated $660 million in funds through the Local Food for Schools program for 2025 will no longer be available to support childcare institutions and schools, the group added.
“This program will strengthen the food system for schools and childcare institutions by helping to build a fair, competitive, and resilient local food chain, and expand local and regional markets with an emphasis on purchasing from historically underserved producers and processors,” the USDA website says about the Local Food for Schools program.
The Independent has reached out to the USDA for comment.
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education confirmed it received a notice of termination from the USDA on Friday of the second round of Local Food for Schools grant funding, an award of $12.2 million, claiming that they “determined this agreement no longer effectuates agency priorities and that termination of the award is appropriate,” the state’s governor Maura Healy said in a Monday statement.
The governor suggested the cuts were made as part of a Department of Government Efficiency-led effort to reduce spending in the federal government.
>https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/usda-cancels-funding-food-banks-schools-trump-b2713125.html
FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump's Department of Education announced Monday that 60 universities are currently under investigation for "antisemitic discrimination and harassment," Fox News Digital has learned.
"The Department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite U.S. campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year. University leaders must do better," Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement.
"U.S. colleges and universities benefit from enormous public investments funded by U.S. taxpayers. That support is a privilege and it is contingent on scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws."
Elon Musk is asserting his social media site X has been deluged by a “massive cyberattack” Monday following weeks of upheaval about his cost-cutting crusade across the federal government.
The purported cyberattack, which has impacted users since at least Monday morning, has destabilized many features on his website like viewing posts and user profiles. “We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources,” Musk wrote on X. “Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved.”
It comes days after people across the country took to the storefronts of his car company Tesla to protest Musk’s allegiance with the Trump administration. Some fired shots at an Oregon dealership last week, while others in Manhattan stormed a showroom.
Speaking to Fox Business on Monday afternoon after the outage, Musk said the attack could have originated in Ukraine, though did not provide any evidence to support his accusation.
“We’re not sure exactly what happened, but there was a massive cyberattack to try to bring down the X system with IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area,” he said.
Musk has been on increasingly acrimonious terms with Kyiv, calling for a halt to American aid and publicly lambasting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukraine for its part has accused Musk of spreading pro-Russian propaganda via X.
The tech billionaire’s quasi-government agency, called the Department of Government Efficiency, has orchestrated cuts to thousands of federal government workers and has roiled many Americans impacted by the reductions. Now, scientific research at universities, cleanup services at national parks and efforts to curb bird flu have been diminished as the federal government looks to readjust after Musk’s hack-and-slash directive.
With fears brewing over the potential tariff impact, the labor market slowing and indicators pointed toward possible negative growth in the first quarter, the president and his top lieutenants are projecting a mostly optimistic outlook tempered with warnings about near-term churning.
“There is a period of transition, because what we’re doing is very big,” Trump said Sunday on the Fox News show “Sunday Morning Futures.” “We’re bringing wealth back to America. That’s a big thing. ... It takes a little time, but I think it should be great for us.”
Asked whether he thinks a recession is imminent, Trump said, “I hate to predict things like that.” He later added, “Look, we’re going to have disruption, but we’re OK with that.”
The comments come during a tumultuous period for markets, with stocks riding a continuing roller coaster depending on the news of the day. Major averages slid again Monday, with the most recent White House assurances doing little to assuage jangled market nerves.
While Trump used Wall Street as a continuous barometer of his progress during his first term in office, he discouraged making it a yardstick this time around.
“What I have to do is build a strong country,” he said. “You can’t really watch the stock market.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/10/trump-says-transition-period-likely-for-economy-and-you-cant-watch-the-stock-market.html
Every time they boo the anthem tariffs will be increased by 10%. They have been booing the anthem so much it's causing a national emergency to be declared.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/11/trump-raises-canadian-steel-aluminum-tariffs-to-50percent-in-retaliation-for-ontario-energy-duties.html
Trump raises Canadian steel, aluminum tariffs to 50% in retaliation for Ontario energy duties
President Donald Trump said he has ordered his administration to raise tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports by an additional 25%, bringing the total duties to 50%.
Trump said he was imposing the latest tariffs in response to a decision by Ontario’s government to slap a 25% tax on electricity exports to the U.S.
Trump also repeated his calls for Canada to be absorbed into the U.S. as the “Fifty First State.”
Markets, already reeling from the impact of Trump’s tariffs and broader fears of a recession, sank further after the president’s post
The people of Romania are rioting in the streets
https://www.rferl.org/a/romania-protests-calin-georgescu-presidential-election/33273091.html
Fresh Protests Erupt In Romania Over Canceled Presidential Election
Thousands of people rallied in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, on January 12 to protest the December annulment of the presidential election in which right-wing, pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu unexpectedly won the first round.
The protest began around 2 p.m. at Bucharest’s University Square and spread out to other sites. At 10:30 p.m., some 200 people were still in front of government buildings near Victory Square.
Protests have been continuing in Romania since December 6 when the Constitutional Court canceled the election two days before the second round amid allegations of Russian interference.
Demonstrators on January 12 waved the Romanian flag and carried Christian icons as wells as banners that read "Democracy," "Freedom," and "Give us back the second round," as they demanded the court to reverse its ruling.
They also called for the resignation of the outgoing President Klaus Iohannis, whose term expired on December 21 but is staying on as head of state until his successor is elected.
While the rally, which blocked traffic, was peaceful, police said they have arrested three people for "possession of knives and other prohibited items."
Georgescu, who is critical of NATO and opposes Romanian support for Ukraine against Russia's invasion, was a little-known figure in Romania until he unexpectedly won the first round of the presidential election on November 24 with about 22 percent of the vote.
Georgescu, 62, was to face pro-European centrist candidate Elena Lasconi in a runoff, which had been seen as a referendum on the future course of Romania, a member of NATO and the European Union.
Israel said Sunday that it would be cutting off its electricity supply to Gaza.
Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said he signed an order that would shut off electricity to Gaza “immediately.”
“Enough with the talk, it’s time for action!” he said in a post online.
The full effects of the order are not immediately clear, but the power in Gaza fueled drinking water production, The Associated Press reported.
It comes just days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the country would be halting the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza until the Palestinian militant group Hamas agrees to the next phase in the ceasefire plan.
Tensions in the region are high, and the deal is at a fragile point.
Hamas accused Israel of trying to derail the agreement, and the group characterized the electricity cutoff as part of Israel’s “starvation policy,” the AP reported.
Hazem Qassem, a spokesperson for Hamas, said the cutoff is part of Israel’s starvation policy that is “in clear disregard for all international laws and norms.”
Hamas wants negotiations to begin, which would release the remaining hostages in Gaza.
yuros think trump, who was democratically elected, is a dictator because he won't ban guns and won't send taxpayer money to jewish dictators who ban elections
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-disbands-two-expert-panels-economic-data-2025-03-05/
WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has disbanded two expert committees that worked with the government to produce economic statistics, potentially affecting the quality of data.
The terminations by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick were effective February 28 and communicated on Tuesday via email to one of the panels, the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee (FESAC), which assisted with inflation and employment gross domestic product (GDP) data.
The email read in part "the Secretary of Commerce has determined that the purposes for which FESAC was established has been fulfilled and the committee has been terminated, effective February 28 2025." The second group - the Bureau of Economic Analysis Advisory Committee, which consulted on a separate group of economic data - was also terminated.
"This will impact the quality of data because it's a core principle of federal statistical agencies that they continually improve and innovate," Erica Groshen, a former FESAC member, told Reuters. "Without a robust flow of information and advice between experts outside their agencies, it's going to be harder for them to do that."
The Commerce Department and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday evening.
Groshen, who is also a former Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) commissioner, said FESAC was made up of academics, private-sector economists and data scientists, and focused on continually improving economic data produced by the BLS as well as the Commerce Department's statistical agencies, the Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Mark Carney shall replace Justin Trudeau
Who was controlling the government for the last 4 years?
Large chunks of the states money spent on homelessness simply disappeared and can't be accounted for.
You may remember California from such films as "Night of the Living Fentanyl Addicts" and "Hobocalypse"
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/court-finds-why-las-homelessness-spending-fails-to-produce-results/ar-AA1AtX2m
Court finds why LA's homelessness spending fails to produce results
A court-ordered assessment(https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.775720/gov.uscourts.cacd.775720.870.0.pdf) of the City of Los Angeles’ $2.3 billion in recent homelessness spending has found officials often paid bills without verifying services were provided.
This means in many instances, taxpayer money was spent without any results. That could explain some of the contradiction about rising homelessness despite rising homelessness spending.
The City of Los Angeles is home to 45,252 homeless individuals, while Los Angeles County is home to 75,518 homeless individuals, according to the latest point-in-time homelessness count from early 2024.
“LAHSA did not contemporaneously verify that the service provider invoices reflected actual services provided at the given location before approving payment,” wrote staff at Alvarez & Marsal Public Sector Services, who completed a court-ordered assessment of the City of Los Angeles’s homelessness spending. “Instead, it appears that LAHSA approved service provider invoices based solely on a high-level review of supporting financial documents, which did not include receipts or clear indications of the specific services delivered, allowing for potential misalignment between the services being reimbursed and those outlined in the service providers’ contracts.”
A&M also said it could not actually assess much of the spending because ”insufficient financial accountability led to an inability to trace substantial funds allocated to the programs"
“As officers approached, the individual brandished a firearm and an armed confrontation ensued, during which shots were fired by our personnel,” the Secret Service said in a statement.
The man was hospitalized. The Secret Service said his condition was “unknown.”
The Metropolitan Police Department will investigate because the shooting involved law enforcement officers. The police department declined to provide more details.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/secret-service-shot-armed-man-near-white-house-while-trump-out-of-town-authorities-say
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78ez2g5306o
Olympian wanted by FBI on drug ring charges
2 days ago
Mallory Moench
BBC News
Former Olympic snowboarder and Canadian national Ryan Wedding, 43, has been placed on the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives list for allegedly running a violent transnational drug trafficking network.
Wedding is wanted for allegedly shipping hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and southern California, to Canada and US locations, and for orchestrating multiple murders and an attempted murder to further these drug crimes.
The US is offering a reward of up to $10m (£7.7m) for information leading to Wedding's arrest or conviction.
Investigators believe he is living in Mexico, but have not ruled out his presence in the US, Canada, other Latin American countries or elsewhere.
It was not clear if he has a lawyer.
Wedding competed in Giant Slalom snowboarding for Canada during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
His aliases include "El Jefe," "Giant," "Public Enemy," "James Conrad King," and "Jesse King," the FBI said.
In June 2024, Wedding and his accomplice Andrew Clark, 34, also Canadian, were charged in California with running a continuing criminal enterprise, committing murder in connection with the enterprise and assorted drug crimes, and conspiring to possess, distribute, and export cocaine.
Clark was arrested by Mexican authorities and was among 29 fugitives extradited to the US from Mexico last week.
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/06/nx-s1-5318674/ukraine-russia-european-union-summit-trump
The EU backs a big defense package as Zelenskyy confirms talks with the U.S. next week
BRUSSELS — European Union leaders backed a plan to spend more than $680 billion on defense on Thursday, marking a shift in the 27-country bloc's efforts to protect the continent.
The plan includes about $160 billion in loans and loosens debt restrictions so EU member countries can increase military spending.
A joint statement said the defense of "all EU land, air and maritime borders" contributes to the "security of Europe as a whole, in particular as regards the EU's eastern border, considering the threats posed by Russia and Belarus."
Speaking late Thursday, European Council President António Costa said the member countries "decided to invest in priority areas" such as air defense, missiles, drone and anti-drone systems, artificial intelligence and more
EU leaders approved the package in an emergency summit, which was called at a time when the United States is pressing Europe to step up its own protection and Russia continues to wage its war on Ukraine. The meeting also followed President Trump's pause on military supplies for Ukraine and intelligence sharing with the country, after a meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy at the White House last week.
"A stronger defense also provides deterrence for Ukraine," Costa said. "Ukraine's security is at the core of Europe's security."
Zelenskyy — a non-EU leader who's seeking membership in the bloc for his country — received a warm welcome from European leaders and expressed gratitude for Europe's steadfast support.
"Ukraine is ready to work 24/7 with our partners in the United States and Europe for peace," Zelenskyy later wrote on social media.
Fresh off of her interview with President Donald Trump, MAGA-boosting Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo warned her viewers that there are warning signs that the American economy could be heading for a “recession,” but that it would not be the president’s fault.
“It would be Biden’s recession,” she declared, pointing the finger directly at Trump’s predecessor.
During her interview with Trump, which was aired throughout her morning Fox Business program on Friday, Bartiromo informed the president that his constant flip-flopping on tariffs was doing little to silence concerns from business leaders looking for less volatility in the market.
President Donald Trump said Friday that he is seeking a new agreement with Iran to curb the country’s nuclear program, warning ominously of a conflict if a deal can’t be reached.
The president earlier told Fox News that he sent a letter to Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, calling for an agreement to replace the one that the Trump administration canceled in May 2018 in favor of what they called a “maximum pressure” campaign.
He suggested, without specifics, that the issue could quickly lead to conflict with Iran, which has accelerated its production of weapons-grade uranium since 2018.
“We’re at final moments.” Trump said. “We can’t let them have a nuclear weapon.”
The White House did not release the letter and the president did not make it clear whether he was suggesting direct U.S. action was an option in dealing with the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran — an issue that has challenged multiple administrations.
“There’ll be some interesting days ahead, that’s all I can tell you. We’re down to final strokes with Iran,” he said.
Later, Trump added that he was interested in peace with Iran.
“Hopefully we can have a peace deal,” he said. “I’m not speaking out of strength or weakness, I’m just saying I’d rather have a peace deal than the other, but the other will solve the problem.”
the tRump administration is redrawing Nato engagement in a way that favours member countries with higher defence spending.
The move, the latest in Donald tRump’s pivot away from the bloc, would see America pull out of exercises beyond those already scheduled for this year.
The withdrawal concerns exercises that are on the “drawing board”, according to Swedish newspaper Expressen.
It means that Nato countries will be forced to plan exercises without the participation of the US military, the largest in the alliance.
On Friday, he warned that the US may not defend Nato allies who don't pay up
The president is said to be considering prioritising military exercises with member countries that are spending the set percentage of GDP on their defence, officials told NBC
The Telegraph reported on Friday that Mr tRump is also considering pulling US troops out of Germany and redeploying them to Eastern Europe.
He is understood to be weighing up withdrawing some 35,000 active personnel and moving them to Hungary.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-cease-future-military-exercises-170123156.html
CHICAGO/WASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture has eliminated two committees that advise it on food safety, the agency said on Friday, raising concerns about government oversight of the food supply as the Trump administration seeks to downsize the federal bureaucracy and slash costs.
The USDA eliminated the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods and the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection, a spokesperson said.
The committees provided scientific advice to the USDA and other federal agencies on public-health issues related to food safety, said the non-profit consumer advocacy group Consumer Reports. Representatives of the group had served on both committees, according to USDA websites.
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/usda-eliminates-two-food-safety-advisory-committees-members-say-2025-03-07/
Lucy Grace Nelson made repeated trips to the Tesla car lot in Colorado she spray-painted “Nazi” in black under the dealership’s entrance sign, she ignited a molotov cocktail near a Tesla Cybertruck. She also allegedly used red spray-paint to scribble a message on the car dealership’s entrance doors: “F--- Musk.”
more than a dozen violent or destructive acts have been directed at Tesla facilities,
In March, several Tesla superchargers at a shopping center in Massachusetts, were set ablaze. Vandals in Maryland spray-painted “No Musk” onto a Tesla building, alongside a swastika-like symbol. In February, a man brandishing an AR-style semiautomatic weapon fired at a Tesla storefront in Oregon. Just a few weeks earlier, investigators say, the same man attacked the same dealership by throwing molotov cocktails at Tesla vehicles and through the store window.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/03/08/elon-musk-tesla-protest-violence-vandalism/
According to two administration officials, Trump told top members of his administration that Musk was empowered to make recommendations to the departments but not to issue unilateral decisions on staffing and policy. Musk was also in the room.
Trump stressed that he wants to keep good people in government and not to eject capable federal workers en masse.
The president later told reporters he wants Cabinet members to “keep all the people you want, everybody that you need.”
The timing of the meeting was influenced by recent comments from Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), who said on CNN Tuesday that Cabinet secretaries should retain the full power to hire and fire, according to one official. The official said Trump has been flooded with similar concerns from other lawmakers and Cabinet secretaries.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/06/trump-cabinet-musk-025093
>Dethroned in Hollywood
>Now Dethroned in food
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mcdonald-dethroned-world-largest-fast-230452889.html
McDonald’s dethroned as world’s largest fast food chain by company with no restaurants in the US
Brittany Miller
Fri, March 7, 2025 at 12:15 AM EST 3 min read
McDonald’s is no longer the largest restaurant chain in the world.
Mixue Bingcheng is a Chinese bubble tea and ice cream chain with more than 45,000 restaurants worldwide as of September 2024, while the number of McDonald’s restaurants all over the world is around 41,800, according to Statista via Chowhound.
The Asia-based fast-food chain is known for selling soft-serve ice cream cones for one yuan (15 cents) and drinks ranging from between 2 to 8 yuan (30 cents to $1.20).
Despite its huge number of locations, 90 percent of them are in China. There are also outlets in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia. There isn’t a single location in the United States.
Mixue Bingcheng was founded in 1997 by Zhang Hongchao, and originally started out as a store selling shaved ice and cold drinks.
“Let people around the world eat well and drink well for just two American dollars,” Hongchao previously told Chinese state media about his strategy for the business.
The bitcoin reserve will be seeded with bitcoin (BTC-USD) already owned by the federal government that was taken as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings, Trump’s crypto czar David Sacks said in a post on the social media platform X.
"This means it will not cost taxpayers a dime," Sacks said. Before signing the executive order in the Oval Office, Trump asked Sacks if he believed in the reserve and then said, "We made the promise" — referring to the pledge of a bitcoin reserve he made on the 2024 campaign trail.
Sacks said on X that the US government owns an estimated 200,000 bitcoins after selling off about half of what it acquired through criminal seizures, although he said there has never been a complete audit.
Had the government not sold that sum for roughly $360 million over the last decade, according to White House officials, its bitcoin holdings would potentially be worth $17 billion.
Sacks said the US will not sell any bitcoin once it is in the reserve and that it will be kept as a store of value.
The reserve, he added, “is like a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency often called ‘digital gold.’”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-creates-bitcoin-reserve-ahead-of-white-house-crypto-summit-090057235.html
https://apnews.com/article/stocks-markets-china-rates-inflation-72339ddf1ecb65d7815f4bb5272197d7
NEW YORK (AP) — Democrats danced, partied and were generally elated as U.S. stocks tumbled Monday and wiped out even more of their gains since President Donald Trump ’s election in November, after he said that tariffs announced earlier on Canada and Mexico would take effect within hours.
Democrat activists took to X (formerly Twitter) to excitedly speculate that tariffs were the issue, despite tariffs being a tax.
The S&P 500 dropped 1.8% after Trump said there was “no room left” for negotiations that could lower the tariffs set to begin Tuesday for imports from Canada and Mexico. Trump had already delayed the tariffs once before to allow more time for talks.
Trump’s announcement dashed hopes on Wall Street that he would choose a less painful path for global trade, and it followed the latest warning signal on the U.S. economy’s strength. Monday’s loss shaved the S&P 500’s gain since Election Day down to just over 1% from a peak of more than 6%. That rally had been built largely on hopes for policies from Trump that would strengthen the U.S. economy and businesses.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 649 points, or 1.5%, and the Nasdaq composite slumped 2.6%. Making Democrats extremely happy.
Monday’s slide punctuated a rocky couple of weeks for Wall Street. After the S&P 500 set a record last month following a parade of fatter-than-expected profit reports from big U.S. companies, the market began diving following weaker-than-expected reports on the U.S. economy, including a couple showing U.S. households are getting much more pessimistic about inflation because of the threat of tariffs. Democrats propose more taxes, abortions, and finally getting Trump as the solution.
Thats a 5.1% negative change, which is impressive in how terrible it is.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/us-trade-deficit-hits-record-high-in-january-on-imports-surge/ar-AA1AnYq0
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit widened to a record high in January amid front-loading of imports ahead of tariffs, suggesting that trade could be a drag on economic growth in the first quarter.
The trade gap surged 34.0% to an all-time high of $131.4 billion from a revised $98.1 billion in December, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) said on Thursday. The percentage change was the largest since March 2015.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the trade deficit soaring to $127.4 billion from the previously reported $98.4 billion in December. President Donald Trump this week slapped a new 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada and doubled duties on Chinese goods to 20%, triggering a trade war.
Imports soared 10.0%, the most since July 2020, to $401.2 billion. Goods imports increased a record 12.3% to an all-time high of $329.5 billion. They were driven by a $23.1 billion increase in imports of industrial supplies and materials, mostly reflecting finished metal shapes, which are probably gold.
Consumer goods imports rose $6.0 billion, boosted by pharmaceutical preparations, cell phones and other household goods. Imports of capital goods increased $4.6 billion amid rises in computers, computer accessories and telecommunications equipment.
Imports of services rose $0.4 billion to $71.7 billion, lifted by rises in charges for the use of intellectual property and other business services. But travel service imports decreased.