Canadians Leaf USA Out Of Travel Plans To Protest Trump
Canadians Leaf USA Out Of Travel Plans To Protest Trump
Pissed off Canadians are skipping trips to the United States over President Donald Trump's trade policies and 'disrespect' - after Trump's repeated calls to annex the northern neighbor as America's 51st state, https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/28/canada-united-states-travel.html
reports.
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When reached by the outlet for comment, a White House spokesperson said that "everybody wants to come to President Trump’s America," adding that Canadians "will no longer have to endure the inconveniences of international travel when Canada becomes our 51st state," while "Europeans are eager to enjoy the Golden Age of America if they so choose to."
The boycott on travel comes amid a $50 billion travel deficit in the United States - just weeks after former Canadian PM Justin Trudeau encouraged Canadians to "choose Canada," and suggested "changing your summer vacation plans to stay here in Canada and explore the many national and provincial parks, historical sites and tourist destinations our great country has to offer."
According to the US Travel Association, there is "a question of America’s welcomeness, a slowing U.S. economy and recent safety concerns.
"These challenges are real and demand decisive action," they continued, adding that it is "actively working with the White House and Congress to advance policies that drive economic expansion and keep the U.S. competitive on the global stage."
Worldwide Trend
Meanwhile, it's more than just Canada, as https://www.statista.com/chart/34191/number-of-travelers-from-western-europe-to-the-us/
had initially predicted international travel to the U.S. to grow by 9 percent this year, it recently downgraded its forecast to a 5 percent contraction.
Some Europeans are among those rethinking their trips to the United States https://www.reuters.com/world/some-europeans-reconsider-trips-us-protest-against-trump-2025-03-24/
, there was an 8.5 percent decrease in the number of German travelers arriving to the U.S. between February 2025 and February 2024, a 5.6 percent decline in French travelers and a 3.9 percent decline among other countries in Western Europe. The United Kingdom and Italy show a different trend, however, with a 6.9 percent and 0.1 percent increase, respectively, between February 2024 and 2025.
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https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 04/01/2025 - 06:55
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/canadians-leaf-usa-out-travel-plans-protest-trump
US Must Be Ready For A 2027 Chinese Invasion Of Taiwan; Rep. Perry
US Must Be Ready For A 2027 Chinese Invasion Of Taiwan; Rep. Perry
The United States must act as if the Chinese regime’s ambition to annex Taiwan by 2027 is a “realistic potential,” Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) said late last week.
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It follows a recent https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56VJQCqvVNk&t=209s
by the commander of U.S. Strategic Command, Gen. Anthony J. Cotton, at an annual defense conference that Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s goal to invade Taiwan in 2027 has driven the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) investment “in land, sea, and air based nuclear delivery platforms, and infrastructure necessary to support a major buildup of their nuclear forces.”
Meanwhile, rumors of escalated purges within the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in the past weeks have https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/reported-arrests-of-chinas-top-military-brass-indicate-political-crisis-experts-say-5830877
on how the CCP’s internal power struggle will impact the regime’s decision-making on Taiwan.
Speaking to The Epoch Times, Perry said taking Taiwan by 2027 has always been the CCP’s goal, and the world “needs to take that seriously” rather than assuming the CCP will be unable or unwilling to carry out the plan.
“We have to proceed in everything that we do and say, in every decision we make, as though that’s a realistic potential,” he said.
Perry, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and a retired Army brigadier general, is among the 28 lawmakers who backed a https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/8?s=1&r=70
between the United States and Taiwan.
“We ought to signal very loudly that we do not accept China’s narrative and China’s coercion to try and get—slowly—the rest of the world to just accept that China is going to take over Taiwan,” he said, adding that the United States should “publicly” recognize “the diplomatic efforts and the sovereignty of Taiwan.”
Taiwan’s official name, the Republic of China, was the name of mainland China between 1912 and 1949, before the Kuomintang government lost the civil war to the CCP and was forced to retreat to Taiwan.
The CCP has never ruled Taiwan, but it aims to “unify” with the island, by peaceful means or by force. The regime has https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/paraguay-expels-chinese-diplomat-over-interference-in-taiwan-relations-5772138
Taiwan’s diplomatic relations and blocked its participation in international organizations. It insists the world should follow its “One China” principle, which claims that the communist regime is the only legitimate government on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
an alternative “One China” policy that acknowledges but doesn’t endorse the CCP’s position.
Since Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te took office last year, the Chinese regime has stepped up its rhetoric against so-called Taiwan separatists, and declared that “diehard” support of Taiwan independence can be https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/taiwan-says-ccp-has-no-jurisdiction-to-threaten-independence-supporters-with-death-penalty-5673541
.
It has also ramped up https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/taiwan-military-practices-rapid-response-to-potential-chinese-attack-5828044
in the Taiwan Strait in recent years, sending PLA or coast guard aircraft and ships to the Strait nearly on a daily basis.
In 2023, then-CIA Director William Burns https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/cia-chief-warns-of-chinas-serious-intent-to-invade-taiwan-by-2027-5031428
U.S. intelligence, saying Xi had ordered the PLA to be ready for invading Taiwan by 2027.
In an email interview with The Epoch Times, retired U.S. Army Reserve Colonel Lawrence Sellin said Beijing has so far “pursued a ‘salami-slice strategy’ using a series of many small actions to produce a much larger result.”
The regime appears to be reluctant to launch an attack or a blockade because such actions “would cause an immediate strong reaction from the United States and regional powers opposed to China’s unlawful expansionism, possibly provoking a major war,” he said, adding, “but that could change.”
Last year, Yuan Hongbing, a former law professor at China’s prestigious Peking University, who has connections in the CCP’s upper echelon, said party leaders were https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/ccp-funding-north-korean-military-aid-in-russia-insider-alleges-5771897
to establish a strategy to “solve the Taiwan issue by 2027” in a report penned by top PLA experts.
According to Yuan, the report described the goal as a “political guarantee” for the CCP’s 21st National Congress, which is set for 2027, to go smoothly, suggesting CCP elites have banked the party’s legitimacy on absorbing the self-ruled island.
Meanwhile, the recent https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/china-keeps-silent-as-speculation-grows-over-fate-of-no-3-military-official-5832540
on whether Xi is losing grip on power, and whether a coup would accelerate or hamper the CCP’s plan to invade Taiwan.
On how the United States should react, Perry said anything that hampers the CCP’s oppression of the Chinese people and slows the spread of communism around the world is “a good thing,” but the United States can’t “just sit back and hope that that occurs organically.”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 03/31/2025 - 23:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-must-be-ready-2027-chinese-invasion-taiwan-rep-perry
Peak Permian? Geology And Water Say We're Close
Peak Permian? Geology And Water Say We're Close
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Peak-Permian-Geology-and-Water-Say-Were-Close.html
Some areas in the Permian have hit geological limits while others, yet to be drilled, are not expected to be as prolific as the prime Tier 1 acreage.
Despite record U.S. crude oil production, limits to growth have started to emerge.
In the Permian, the gas-to-oil ratio (GOR) has steadily risen from 34% of total production in 2014 to 40% in 2024.
After more than a decade of relentless drilling in the top U.S. oil-producing basin, the Permian, some areas have hit geological limits while others, yet to be drilled, are not expected to be as prolific as the prime Tier 1 acreage that producers have started to exhaust.
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Top executives at major shale firms have already expressed opinions that Permian oil production could hit its peak as early as the end of this decade.
To be sure, crude oil output in the top basin continues to rise, but growth has slowed since 2022—not only because producers restrain capex and don’t drill themselves into oblivion.
Higher gas-to-oil ratio and water-to-oil ratio in the Permian suggest that some formations in the basin are reaching geological constraints, and more drilling isn’t necessarily proportionate to the oil volumes produced.
The Permian still leads U.S. oil production growth and will do so in the coming years, forecasters including the Energy Information Administration (EIA) say.
Total U.S. crude oil production is expected to average 13.61 million bpd this year, rising to 13.76 million bpd next year, according to the EIA’s latest https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/pdf/compare.pdf
.
Despite record U.S. crude oil production, limits to the growth have started to emerge, executives acknowledge.
Vicki Hollub, the chief executive of Occidental Petroleum, said at the CERAWeek conference early this month, “We think that between 2027 and 2030 it's likely that the U.S. will see peak production, and after that some decline.”
Ryan Lance, CEO at ConocoPhillips, expects U.S. oil production to plateau this decade and remain flat for an undefined period of time after 2030.
“It’s going to be a slow decline beyond that because there’s a lot of resource” left to drill, Lance https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-03-13/specter-of-peak-oil-production-looms-once-again
the CERAWeek conference.
However, what’s left to drill may not be as oil-yielding as the best Permian locations, which were the first to be tapped by drillers.
Production of associated natural gas from the Permian, the Eagle Ford, and the Bakken oil wells has surged over the past decade, the EIA https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=63584
.
In the Permian, the gas-to-oil ratio (GOR) has steadily risen from 34% of total production in 2014 to 40% in 2024.
Pressure within the reservoir declines as more oil is brought to the surface, which allows more natural gas to be released from the geologic formation. The pressure will also decrease as more wells are concentrated within an area, the EIA says.
Another ratio is even more suggestive of the Permian oil wells and the operating costs for drilling wells—produced water.
The water-to-oil ratio in the Permian is much higher than in other basins. On average, four barrels of water are produced for each barrel of oil, according to data from oilfield water analytics firm B3 Insight cited by https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/us-oil-producers-face-new-challenges-top-oilfield-flags-2025-03-27/
.
While the Permian crude production is set to exceed 6.5 million bpd in 2025, up from more than 6 million bpd in 2024, the basin “is simultaneously generating an unprecedented volume of produced water—a costly and complex byproduct of hydrocarbon extraction,” B3 Insight https://www.b3insight.com/balancing-growth-and-risk-why-water-management-is-the-permian-basins-biggest-challenge/
this week.
Crude-focused wells in the Permian account for the vast majority of the produced water generated in the leading U.S. shale plays, analysts at RBN Energy https://rbnenergy.com/coming-around-again-permian-produced-water-posing-challenges-and-offering-opportunities
last year.
The higher produced water ratio will ultimately drive costs for oil producers higher, according to Shannon Flowers, director of crude and water marketing at Coterra Energy.
“There are only so many places to drill, inject and frac, and as that goes down, you still have to find a home for the rest of your produced water,” Flowers told Reuters.
Higher costs to dispose of, reuse, or recycle produced water isn’t good news for U.S. oil producers who are already concerned with the U.S. Administration’s preference of a $50 a barrel oil price.
“There cannot be "U.S. energy dominance" and $50 per barrel oil; those two statements are contradictory. At $50-per-barrel oil, we will see U.S. oil production start to decline immediately and likely significantly (1 million barrels per day plus within a couple quarters),” an executive at an exploration and production firm wrote in https://www.dallasfed.org/research/surveys/des/2025/2501#tab-comments
to the Dallas Fed Energy Survey for the first quarter of 2025.
“The U.S. oil cost curve is in a different place than it was five years ago; $70 per barrel is the new $50 per barrel,” the executive noted.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 03/31/2025 - 13:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/peak-permian-geology-and-water-say-were-close
Capping Carbon Admissions: Biden Administration Accused Of Burying Conflicting Climate Change Report
Capping Carbon Admissions: Biden Administration Accused Of Burying Conflicting Climate Change Report
,
There is a major story developing on Capitol Hill after House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer, R-Ky, revealed that a long-withheld report from the Biden Administration directly contradicted the claims of climate change used to limit increased U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. The suggestion is that this was an knowing effort to cap carbon admissions rather than carbon emissions.
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The impact that new U.S. LNG exports have on the environment and the economy was reviewed by U.S. Energy Department scientists and completed by September 2023. It appears that neither President Biden nor Secretary Jennifer Granholm liked the science or the conclusions. Rather than “follow the science,” they buried the report while allegedly making claims directly refuted by their own experts.
The report was finished while Biden was still running for reelection and would have likely enraged environmentalists. The draft study, “Energy, Economic, and Environmental Assessment of U.S. LNG Exports,” found that, under all modeled scenarios, an increase in U.S. LNG exports and natural gas production would not change global or U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. It further found that it would not increase energy prices for consumers.
Biden and Granholm reportedly buried the report and then announced a pause on all new U.S. LNG export terminals in January 2024, citing the danger to environmental and economic impacts.
Comer’s office told Fox News Digital that DOE repeatedly declined to provide this study to the House Oversight Committee or comply with other requests for information.
What is most concerning is that our LNG exports help reduce the dependence on Russia and would have decreased the revenues to that country to support its war in Ukraine. However, critics charge that Biden ignored the national security and economic benefits. Supporters note that we still exported a massive amount of LNG.
When the U.S. ramped up exports to Europe, progressive Democrats like Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., went ballistic. This appears to have worked in shelving the study while slowing demands for further increases.
The Biden Administration later released data in December 2024 suggesting that a rise in exports could cause consumer prices to rise by as much as 30%.
There are obviously two sides to this debate. The problem is that it seems that only one side was allowed to be publicly presented by the delay in the release of the study.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 03/31/2025 - 13:05
Victor Davis Hanson: How Donald Trump Is Reshaping America In Just 7 Weeks
Victor Davis Hanson: How Donald Trump Is Reshaping America In Just 7 Weeks
https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/03/28/how-donald-trump-is-reshaping-america-in-just-7-weeks/
How should we characterize the first seven weeks of the Trump administration because we get so much information and misinformation?
Almost a day doesn’t go by where https://www.dailysignal.com/tag/wall-street-journal
is predicting that we are headed for a recession, that our allies are furious at us, that the economy is on the brink.
So, what are we gonna make of all this? I think it’s time to take a deep breath and envision the first seven weeks is something like the following: https://www.dailysignal.com/tag/donald-trump
is in a race. He’s in a race to enact fundamental, disruptive change, a counterrevolution, and it’s going to be rough for a while, as he pointed out.
But the things that he has already done are going to have, shortly or maybe even midterm, fundamental advantages for the United States. The question is, can he message and can he explicate and explain what he’s doing so people hang on? Because the eventual reward will be great.
Now, what do I mean? We’re talking about tariffs, tariffs, tariffs, but even the mere mention of tariffs for all of these countries that have not been reciprocal and have imposed tariffs on us in a way that we would never think of imposing on them, that idea that we might return to parity, it’s had an enormous effect.
Some $4 trillion of announced investment from the Europeans, from the Saudis, from the Chinese, from the Mexican government, from the Canadians even. That will create hundreds of thousands of jobs. And that is in the process of working out.
When Donald Trump entered office in 2017, we were only pumping about 9 million barrels. When he left, we were pumping 12 million. The Biden administration immediately cut back. And then it decided, before the midterms, “Hey, Americans like affordable oil.” So then they continued the Trump plan and got up to 12, almost 13 million barrels.
Already in just seven weeks, we have increased the amount of oil produced per day in the United States by about a third of a million barrels. And we’re on schedule to get up to about 14 million barrels by the beginning of the year. And that is coordinated with an increase in Middle East production as well.
So, we’re going to see a moderation of energy prices, which may explain, already, why the inflation rate was not nearly as high as was predicted.
If we look at the border, it’s amazing. We were told that the border problem was unsolvable without comprehensive immigration reform. And there were 10,000 people swarming up per day. We don’t even—nonchalantly, nobody talks about it anymore. But it’s a revolutionary achievement. There’s nobody going across the border illegally, or at least, it’s statistically insignificant.
The big issue right now is the Left is https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/03/24/liberal-lawfare-2-0-left-wing-activist-judges-plan-to-stop-trump/
to prevent, not the deportation of somebody who’s working, who’s never been arrested, who’s been here for five or six years, but criminals and people who already have been ordered out of the country or pro-Hamas, pro-terrorist supporters.
But the point I’m making is, what we’re doing now is Phase Two. The border is essentially solved, as far as security, and in seven weeks. Now, we’re having a difficult task of trying to find out who these 12 million people were that https://www.dailysignal.com/tag/joe-biden
deliberately and with intent—malicious intent—allowed to come into the country.
But the point I’m making is this is an incredible success.
There’s a final point that I want to make. We hear about Elon Musk is not authentically American. He is a nepo baby. And we hear Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, threatening his person, along with threatening Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
All of this chaos and nihilism coming about https://www.dailysignal.com/tag/elon-musk
and what he’s doing, but what he’s finding out, almost every day, in the Treasury, in the IRS, in the Department of Energy, in the intelligence communities, is a vast unreported siphoning off of hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions, to favorable and mostly left-wing entities, both abroad and here in the United States.
And already, he has cited areas where the Cabinet officers can cut $200 billion. That’s a fifth, only after seven weeks. He’s got a fifth of the way to go. He thinks he can cut a trillion dollars without touching entitlements. I don’t know if he can.
But let me just sum up. If Donald Trump is able to fulfill this promise of commitment by foreign entities of $4 trillion in investment—$4 trillion—if he is able to cut a trillion dollars within a year or two, if he’s able to solve the Ukraine war, and if he is able to have a general peace in the Middle East, that will be the most substantial presidency—if he does nothing else—that we’ve seen in 50 years.
Final word, everybody, keep calm. There’s events in process that if they are brought to fulfillment and fruition, this country will be a radically different and radically better place.
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Mon, 03/31/2025 - 07:20
"The Luigi Mangione Access To Healthcare Act": Cali Considers Ballot Initiative Named After UnitedHealth CEO Killer
"The Luigi Mangione Access To Healthcare Act": Cali Considers Ballot Initiative Named After UnitedHealth CEO Killer
Just when you thought Democrats couldn't outclass themselves after Rep. Jasmine Crockett referred to Texas Gov. Abbott as "hot wheels", here comes California to make sure you're always entertained.
A new California ballot initiative, named after alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione, has been filed with the state Attorney General. It seeks to ban insurers from delaying, denying, or altering any doctor-recommended treatment that could risk serious harm, including death or permanent injury, https://ktla.com/news/california/proposed-california-ballot-initiative-luigi-mangione-act-would-make-it-harder-for-insurers-to-deny-medical-care/
.
If passed, the initiative would require that only physicians—not insurance company staff—can decide to delay, deny, or alter medical treatments. Hiring non-physicians for such reviews would become a felony.
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Insurers would bear a high burden of proof if they delay care, needing clear and convincing evidence the treatment was unnecessary or wouldn’t prevent serious harm. Patients could sue for treble damages and attorney fees.
that the measure is under review, with public comments open until April 25. The Attorney General will finalize its title before signature gathering begins.
Recall, Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old from Towson, Maryland, is accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024.
A University of Pennsylvania graduate, Mangione was apprehended in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and faces multiple charges, including first-degree murder and terrorism-related offenses.
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Mon, 03/31/2025 - 06:55
Trump Says He Is 'Not Joking' About Running For 3rd Presidential Term
Trump Says He Is 'Not Joking' About Running For 3rd Presidential Term
(emphasis ours),
President Donald Trump on Sunday said that he is “not joking” about recent talk of him potentially seeking a third term in office, although such a move would likely face significant legal hurdles.
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“A lot of people want me to do it,” Trump https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-third-term-white-house-methods-rcna198752
NBC News on Sunday morning. “But, I mean, I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration.”
When asked about whether he is serious or joking about the third term comments, Trump said, “I’m not joking.”
“It is far too early to think about it,” he said, adding elsewhere in the interview that he is “focused on the current” term in office.
Since taking office, Trump has, on multiple occasions, suggested that he wants to run for a third term, which could pose a legal challenge, because the 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R40864#:~:text=The%20Twenty%2DSecond%20Amendment%2C%20ratified,of%20the%20President%20they%20succeeded.
“no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.” That amendment was ratified in 1951 after President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected four consecutive times. Roosevelt was the only president in U.S. history to be elected to either a third or fourth term.
Days after Trump took office in January, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) https://ogles.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-ogles-proposes-amending-22nd-amendment-allow-trump-serve-third-term
two-thirds of Congress members to vote for its approval, which would then have to be ratified by three-fourths of state Legislatures.
A reporter just asked President Trump about a third term.
Trump: We’ve got a long way to go—almost four years—but despite that, so many people are saying, ‘You’ve got to run again.’ Most importantly, they love the job we’re doing. https://t.co/afAXJiDABD
— Grace Chong, MBI (@gc22gc) https://twitter.com/gc22gc/status/1906504600510947678?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Explaining why he would want to seek a third term, Trump said that, “You have to start by saying, I have the highest poll numbers of any Republican for the last 100 years.”
“We’re in the high 70s in many polls, in the real polls, and you see that. And, and you know, we’re very popular,” Trump said.
When asked about how he could be elected to a third term, Trump told NBC News there might be ways to do so.
NBC’s Kristen Welker then provided him with a hypothetical situation: “Well, let me throw out one where President Vance would run for office and then would, basically ... if he won, at the top of the ticket, would then pass the baton to you.”
In response, Trump said, “Well, that’s one. But there are others, too. There are others.”
“Can you tell me another?” Welker asked Trump. “No,” he said.
The 12th Amendment, which was ratified in 1804, https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/amendment-12/
that “no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.”
Also in the interview, Trump was asked about why he wants to continue to be president, which Welker described is “the toughest job in the country.”
“Well, I like working,” replied Trump, who would be 82 at the end of his current term.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Sun, 03/30/2025 - 22:10
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-says-he-not-joking-about-running-3rd-presidential-term
A $100 Million Coin Collection Was "Buried For Decades"; Now It's Up For Auction
A $100 Million Coin Collection Was "Buried For Decades"; Now It's Up For Auction
If you're looking for motivation to take the ole' metal detector out on the beach and wander around aimlessly today, we might have it for you.
A coin collection buried for over 50 years is expected to bring in more than $100 million at auction, making it likely the most valuable ever sold. Known as the Traveller Collection, it includes coins from over 100 regions, spanning ancient to modern times, https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/27/style/buried-coin-collection-auction-scli-intl/index.html
last week.
The first sale, run by Numismatica Ars Classica, begins May 20, with auctions continuing over the next three years. Experts say the collection’s hidden past—buried underground for decades—makes it especially rare and remarkable.
According to a press release shared with CNN, the anonymous collector behind the Traveller Collection began buying gold coins after the 1929 Wall Street Crash and developed “a taste for coins with great historical interest, beauty and rarity.” Over time, he amassed around 15,000 coins.
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The https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/27/style/buried-coin-collection-auction-scli-intl/index.html
says in the 1930s, he and his wife traveled across the Americas and Europe, acquiring rare coins and documenting each purchase. As World War II loomed, they buried the collection in aluminum boxes underground, where it remained hidden for 50 years.
“The collection spans all geographical areas and contains exceptionally rare coins often in a state of preservation never seen in modern times,” the release states. Some coins have never appeared at public auction before.
Among the most notable pieces is a massive 100 ducat gold coin from 1629, minted under Ferdinand III of Habsburg. Weighing 348.5 grams, it’s one of the largest European gold coins ever produced.
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The auction will also feature an “exceedingly rare” five-piece Toman set, minted in Tehran and Isfahan during the late 1700s and early 1800s by Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar. Only five complete sets are known to exist, including one housed at Oxford's Ashmolean Museum.
Arturo Russo, director of Numismatica Ars Classica, called the sale “a landmark in the history of numismatics,” citing the range, rarity, and quality of the coins, along with the collection’s unique backstory.
David Guest, a consultant to the collection, added: “Not only was the quality exceptional but many of the coins before me were of types not known to have been offered for sale in over 80 years and, in some cases, completely unrecorded.”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 03/30/2025 - 21:35
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/100-million-coin-collection-was-buried-decades-now-auction
B-21 "Bomber On A Budget"
B-21 "Bomber On A Budget"
https://realclearwire.com/articles/2025/03/27/b-21_bomber_on_a_budget_1100253.html
,
Even in the era of DOGE, President Donald J. Trump is doubling down on American investment in sixth-generation aircraft. The Air Force F-47 fighter and a new Navy carrier plane will restock American airpower. While air dominance is priceless, the fact remains that experience with the B-21 Raider bomber has quietly given Trump, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg, and the new leadership team the confidence to invest in advanced aircraft programs. Saving money and executing on a predictable schedule is now a must for the survival of Pentagon programs.
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The B-21 is a “bomber on a budget.” One of the most overlooked insights from the recent Air Force budgets is that the B-21 program is proving a new business case by keeping costs under control. During the 2025 budget cycle, smooth progress on the production line enabled the Air Force to negotiate lower rates for the B-21 bombers now in production. The Air Force trimmed about $1 billion off the B-21 program’s cost for Fiscal Year 2025 alone and bagged additional savings for future years.
Coming in under budget is a first for a stealth aircraft – and quite a victory for the bomber leg of the nuclear deterrence Triad. Contrast that with the snarls affecting nuclear shipbuilding and the Columbia-class submarine program. It is also a great vote of confidence for future sixth-generation programs for both the Air Force and the Navy.
The B-21 was planned from the outset to “bend the cost curve” for advanced aircraft procurement. A cost cap of $550 million per bomber (averaged over 100 aircraft, and in 2010 dollars) was set as a performance parameter for the competition. Northrop Grumman was widely believed to have won the B-21 program due to the combination of its experience in stealth bombers and its low bid price. However, executing the B-21 plan has been a testament, first and foremost, to the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO), the team that ran the B-21 from source selection onward but likes to stay out of the limelight.
The Air Force is also capitalizing on progress with digital design, open software approaches, sophisticated aerospace composites, and a host of other advances in the American aerospace industry. The net effect is smoother progress through design and early production. For example, in 2021, a “major redesign” of the B-21 engine inlets was completed while the first two B-21s were being assembled, without incurring cost or schedule overruns. “There’s nothing going on in that program that is leading to either a cost or schedule breach,” Air Force Lieutenant General Duke Richardson https://aviationweek.com/defense/aircraft-propulsion/b-21-completes-redesign-no-cost-schedule-impact-usaf
at the time.
New approaches to software are also paying off. One example is the shorter time anticipated for weapons integration. “It would take me years to integrate a new standoff missile on the B-2,” Air Force Global Strike Command chief General Timothy M. Ray https://www.airandspaceforces.com/new-threats-demand-nuclear-modernization/
in March 2021. “It will take me months with the B-21.”
By 2022, the Air Force announced that the engineering and manufacturing development contract was producing a quality build B-21, with significant design maturity. “The B-21 test aircraft are the most production-representative aircraft, both structurally and in its mission systems, at this point in a program, that I’ve observed in my career,” https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2991747/air-force-awards-b-21-raider-advance-procurement-to-support-acquisition-of-long/
Randy Walden, who was then the Director of the RCO.
This was a critical time period. The B-21 achieved its roll-out at Palmdale, California, in December 2022 and its first flight in November 2023.
Of course, inflation in the wake of the COVID pandemic hit the B-21 along with other defense programs, leading to increased costs for wages and supplies for both prime contractors and their hundreds of suppliers. The B-21 program quickly digested those costs. In January 2024, Northrop Grumman reported that it had taken a one-time after-tax charge of $1.2 billion due to macroeconomic factors that increased the costs of manufacturing the B-21. The cost was swallowed as the first low-rate production lot began.
As a result, by spring 2024, the Air Force was https://www.defensenews.com/air/2024/04/09/us-air-force-reports-lower-b-21-costs-after-negotiations-with-northrop/#:~:text=When%20the%20first%20B%2D21%20was%20unveiled%20to,average%20procurement%20unit%20cost%20of%20%24692%20million.&text=The%20company%20reported%20a%20nearly%20%241.6%20billion,citing%20rising%20production%20costs%20and%20macroeconomic%20disruptions.
in lowering costs for the next four lots of B-21s. Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall informed the Senate that B-21 unit costs had decreased during contract negotiations with Northrop Grumman. The Air Force saved money on the B-21 without reducing the planned quantity.
In turn, the Air Force was able to reduce its own procurement line for the B-21 down from $6.3 billion to $5.3 billion for the enacted Fiscal Year 2025 budget. The Air Force was also confident enough to harvest the B-21 cost savings across the out-years. An Aviation Week report https://aviationweek.com/defense/budget-policy-operations/usaf-favorable-b-21-pricing-results-lower-budget-request
across the five-year defense plan.
The situation was very different for the B-2 Spirit back in the 1980s. The Air Force requested significant design changes, including the requirement for low-altitude flight capabilities. The Northrop engineers responded with “a miracle a day” to build the bomber. Meanwhile, President Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger, received personal briefings every three months on the progress of the B-2 and often had to allocate additional funds to keep the program going.
Forty years later, stealth bomber manufacturing is leading the way for efficient production of sixth-generation aircraft. With the B-21, the Air Force has a robust program that is delivering on schedule and is ready for a production increase if the Trump administration decides to increase quantity. As other sixth-generation programs follow the discipline of the B-21 Raider, America won’t lose a step in dominating the skies.
Dr. Rebecca Grant is a national security analyst and vice president, defense programs for the Lexington Institute, a nonprofit public-policy research organization in Arlington, Virginia. She has held positions at the Pentagon, in the private sector and has led an aerospace and defense consultancy. Follow her on Twitter at @rebeccagrantdc and the Lexington Institute @LexNextDC.
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Sun, 03/30/2025 - 21:00
These Are The U.S. Cities Where People Are Most Delinquent On Debt
These Are The U.S. Cities Where People Are Most Delinquent On Debt
A new WalletHub study ranks the 100 largest U.S. cities by debt delinquency, using two key metrics: the percentage of delinquent credit tradelines and the percentage of total loan balances delinquent as of Q4 2024. Cities were scored and ranked based on both the number of delinquent accounts and the dollar value of unpaid debt. The findings spotlight regions where consumers are struggling most to keep up with payments, often reflecting deeper economic stressors in those communities.
Laredo, Texas tops the list as the most debt-delinquent city in America, https://wallethub.com/edu/cities-where-people-are-most-delinquent-on-debt/134712
.
In Q4 2024, 16.01% of all tradelines in Laredo were delinquent—the highest in the country. Even more striking, residents were delinquent on 22.36% of their total loan balances, also the highest nationally. This combination places Laredo at the top of the list with a perfect delinquency score of 100.
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The https://wallethub.com/edu/cities-where-people-are-most-delinquent-on-debt/134712
noted that San Bernardino, California ranks second, with 15.98% of its tradelines delinquent and 18.18% of total loan balances unpaid. While its tradeline delinquency rate is nearly identical to Laredo’s, the total debt amount past due is slightly lower, putting it behind Laredo overall. Still, these numbers make San Bernardino one of the most financially distressed cities in the country.
Detroit, Michigan follows closely in third place. About 15.45% of loans and credit lines in Detroit were delinquent, and 18.92% of the city's total debt was unpaid—the second-highest in terms of overall loan balance delinquency. Despite not being the worst on any single metric, Detroit's consistently high scores across both measures placed it third overall.
Newark, New Jersey and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania round out the top five. Newark had the second-highest tradeline delinquency rate at 16.00% but slightly lower total loan delinquency at 17.40%. Philadelphia, meanwhile, had a similar tradeline delinquency rate (15.57%) but lower unpaid balances (13.95%), ranking it fifth.
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Overall, the most delinquent cities are often older, economically challenged urban centers—many of them in the Rust Belt or South—where residents face a mix of high costs and limited income growth. This study provides a snapshot of where debt stress is most acute, offering insight for policymakers and financial institutions focused on economic stability.
Analyst Chip Lupo commented: “Being delinquent on debt can significantly damage a person’s credit score and make it more difficult to get a credit card, rent apartments, or buy cars and homes in the future. People who miss a loan payment should try to get current as quickly as possible. The good news is that for many types of debt, borrowers have at least 30 days before delinquency gets reported to the credit bureaus."
"That allows people a little leeway to get the funds together and avoid credit score damage, though the issuer will still likely charge a late fee.”
Thanks for the tip...Chip.
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Sun, 03/30/2025 - 20:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/these-are-us-cities-where-people-are-most-delinquent-debt
A Case For Net Zero Immigration
A Case For Net Zero Immigration
,
Elon Musk fired over 6,000 Twitter employees, which was about 80 percent of the company's workforce, starting in November 2022. He told Tucker Carlson "It turns out you don't need all that many people to run Twitter". Recently President Trump offered two million federal workers a buyout severance package to leave their jobs. What if it turns out you don’t need all that many people to run America?
At this historical juncture when America is at last taking action on unlawful migration on the one hand and on the other hand credible sources such as Goldman Sachs are predicting radical worker displacement by AI and https://litslink.com/blog/how-many-jobs-will-ai-take-over-the-statistics
) if it is to be accomplished re-industrialization will look less like Rosie the Riveter and more like Robby the Robot.
There are some, with whom the Donald Trump of the shockingly gold-festooned NYC apartment might instinctively side, who call for bigger because…better, right? Matthew Yglesias argues this case in One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger. Of course if it only required a mega-sized population to be successful 800 million people in India would not depend upon daily government food https://news.ucsb.edu/2025/021738/researchers-link-indias-food-program-better-health-and-stronger-incomes
. So before inviting another 666 million people to enjoy the blessings of US liberty, policy makers should best examine all the most likely future scenarios.
If America is not completely full, it’s certainly full of foreigners. A 2018 study by researchers from Yale and MIT utilized mathematical modelling and estimated that the number of undocumented immigrants could be around 22 million, nearly https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/yale-study-finds-twice-as-many-undocumented-immigrants-as-previous-estimates
) of 50 million illegals you get a staggering 80 million foreign born residents, fully 24 percent of the aggregate Census Bureau population.
According to most sociological studies, it typically takes around https://siepr.stanford.edu/news/what-history-tells-us-about-assimilation-immigrants
for European immigrants to become fully assimilated into American culture. Therefore isn’t the case for a ten-fold increase of foreign immigrants weaker than the case for Net Zero Immigration?
The populist Swiss People’s Party which leads most polls has campaigned on a promise to cap that tiny country’s population at 10 million. Larry Fink, head of investment behemoth Blackrock has cited studies which show countries with stable or declining populations may become the world’s leaders in incorporating https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210916114542.htm
. Human drivers cannot compete with 24/7 operation, no strikes, and lower insurance rates. That being the case does it not make sense to discover which immigration policies most benefit the shrinking and increasingly threatened middle class citizen?
During January 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show that over one million foreign-born workers found a job but effectively zero net jobs accrued to https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/lost-todays-job-revision-chaos-over-1-million-foreign-born-workers-found-job-and-no
?
China has no immigration program equivalent to H1B. Yet according to https://itif.org/publications/2024/09/16/china-is-rapidly-becoming-a-leading-innovator-in-advanced-industries/
systems deployed and used in active warfare with contrasts to the US total of zero.
Let us graciously disagree with Mr. Ramaswamy and consider the alternative case that there is no shortage of qualified or trainable workers in America. Let us further consider that the most practical course of development of the vast and varied landscape of the country’s economy is a steady state where a fixed number of 350 million citizens preside over an economy whose GDP growth is powered not by randomly adding foreign bodies but by the ever-increasing power and efficiency of automatons.
Will Elon Musk’s off-the-cuff prediction that there would come a point when "https://www.barrons.com/news/elon-musk-issues-warning-about-humanoid-robots-in-ai-age-of-abundance-713dbbe5
are as much a dead end as Marxism for a simple reason: reality doesn’t work that way.
However…let’s fast forward to 2035: the country has a sensible skill-points and quota-based immigration plan, keeping the population stable as the nation is given time to assimilate the 60 million foreign born residents dumped into it during the previous 60 years and time to adjust to the Robot Industrial Revolution. These wise policies have not resulted in wage inflation or a labour shortage but has strongly incentivized corporate America to retrain the millions of workers displaced by AI and replace seasonal migrant labour with world-beating robotics which https://youtu.be/RLPAD5kfM4w
.
Imagine Alfred Lutz, formerly employed as a Master Diesel Technician, recently retrained as a data scientist working for Walmart. Alfred makes enough money to support a politely hot stay-at-home wife and 2.6 mildly sassy but generally agreeable children. He works hard but can insist on reasonable leisure time and vacations; he is secure in the knowledge that his employer cannot just outsource his job to 2.5 H1B replacements for the same salary and no benefits. He is part of the resurgent middle class rescued in the mid-2020s by the MAGA movement.
As a flying drone limousine glides over Dallas freeways and lands him on his spacious driveway/helipad, Alfred may well reflect that the new American Dream rests on a foundation of net zero immigration and robot luxury capitalism.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 03/30/2025 - 14:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/case-net-zero-immigration
Mysterious Airstrip On Island Off Yemen Might Be Used By US Warplanes
Mysterious Airstrip On Island Off Yemen Might Be Used By US Warplanes
Friday and the overnight hours saw US warplanes significantly ramp up airstrikes on Yemen, with several dozens of strikes on Friday alone, and more through the night and Saturday.
"United States air strikes have hit more than 40 locations across Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen, including in the capital, Sanaa, according to local media affiliated with the rebel group," regional media https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/28/us-hits-multiple-targets-in-yemen-report
. Some reports have counted over 70 strikes in the last 24 hours.
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Some half of these attacks were on the Tahrir and Qiyada districts of the Yemeni capital, which contain residential neighborhoods. The Sanaa International Airport was also struck for a second night in a row.
The US-led attacks have become nearly non-stop, with dozens killed and many wounded on the ground, after President Trump this week warned that he's ready to bomb Yemen for "a long time" if the Houthis don't halt their drone and missile attacks on Red Sea shipping.
The US President hailed the Yemen operation, which has been ongoing for about two weeks at this point, as "very successful beyond our wildest expectations." However, there's been no signs the Houthis intend to halt their own attacks off Yemen's coast and against Israel.
Al Jazeera has noted that "The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM), which now has authority from the White House to strike offensively in Yemen without pre-approval."
According to emerging reports of strikes which continued https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/u-s-launches-new-strikes-against-houthis-in-yemen-apparently-killing-at-least-1-person
:
Meanwhile, satellite photos analyzed by the AP show a mysterious airstrip just off Yemen in a key maritime chokepoint now appears ready to accept flights and B-2 bombers within striking distance of the country Saturday.
The strikes into Saturday targeted multiple areas in Yemen under the control of the Iranian-backed Houthis, including the capital, Sanaa, and in the governorates of al-Jawf and Saada, rebel-controlled media reported. The strikes in Saada killed one person and wounded four others, the Houthi-run SABA news agency said.
Times of Israel has reported more on the above-mentioned airstrip as https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/mysterious-airstrip-in-bab-el-mandeb-strait-off-yemen-appears-ready-satelitte-images-show/
:
Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC show an airstrip now appears ready on Mayun Island, a volcanic outcropping in the center of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off Yemen.
The images show the airstrip had been painted with the designation markings “09” and “27” to the airstrip’s east and west respectively.
A Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthis had acknowledged having “equipment” on Mayun, also known as Perim. However, air and sea traffic to Mayun has linked the construction to the UAE, which backs a secessionist force in Yemen known as the Southern Transitional Council.
So it appears US warplanes can now utilize a 'local' airspace under Saudi coalition auspices.
Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC show an airstrip now appears ready on Mayun Island, a volcanic outcropping in the center of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off Yemen.https://t.co/3blmJQfJW6
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) https://twitter.com/JasonMBrodsky/status/1905941231714128103?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Instead of the attacks forcing the Houthis to back down, the militant group has continued attacking southern and central Israel with ballistic missiles.
"The missile force targeted Ben Gurion Airport in the occupied Jaffa (Tel Aviv) area with a Zulfiqar ballistic missile and a military target south of occupied Jaffa with a Palestine-2 hypersonic ballistic missile. The operation successfully achieved its goal," Yemen's Houthi military had said Thursday.
Israel has reported no deaths or casualties from these attacks, but there's been limited damage. Most inbound projectiles have been intercepted or fell in the desert before reaching Tel Aviv.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 03/30/2025 - 13:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/mysterious-airstrip-island-yemen-might-be-used-us-warplanes
Sanctioned Syrian Population Desperately Trying To Access Oil & Gas
Sanctioned Syrian Population Desperately Trying To Access Oil & Gas
Syria's severe power shortages have continued throughout the country, also as many towns and cities remain largely destroyed following well over a decade of war. Rebuilding seems nowhere on the horizon as access to global investment and materials has been blocked by Washington.
The post-Assad Hayat Tahrir al-Sham government under Jolani (former AQ/ISIS commander) has just announced a tender to purchase around 7 million barrels of light crude oil, according to a fresh petroleum ministry statement.
Syria Issues Tender for 7M Barrels of Light Crude Oil: Syria TV
Here comes the Al qaeda oil
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1905205233388494942?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The purchase of 7 million barrels of light crude oil is to supply to the Baniyas refinery, Syrian media has https://x.com/Attaqa0/status/1905016489633042882
.
Further, this week has seen limited efforts the ease the population's ongoing petrol woes. State-run SANA announced Tuesday, for example, that ship carrying 5,600 tons of gasoline arrived at the oil terminal of the Syrian Oil Transport Company Syrian Petroleum in Baniyas.
The last several years, as US sanctions have tightened, have seen long lines at gas stations and people having to ration fuel.
Additionally, cities and households have had to endure the majority of the day with no electricity. Often this is merely an hour of power to homes a day, but there are reports that Damascus this month has improved to several hours of electricity daily.
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This bettered energy situation in the capital may be the first fruits of a deal which was struck with Qatar https://apnews.com/article/qatar-syria-natural-gas-electricity-energy-shaqrouq-de3c12491048b5470b1a54beee29efd6
. "Qatar will provide natural gas supplies to Syria with the aim of generating 400 megawatts of electricity a day, in a measure to help address the war-battered country’s severe electricity shortages," as quoted in SANA.
"Syria’s interim Minister of Electricity Omar Shaqrouq said the Qatari supplies are expected to increase the daily state-provided electricity supply from two to four hours per day," AP also reported.
"Under the deal, Qatar will send 2 million cubic meters of natural gas a day to the Deir Ali power station, south of Damascus, via a pipeline passing through Jordan," the report indicated.
Main takeaway: with Assad gone, we’re now allowed to admit that sanctions harm civilians. https://t.co/yqRqAgeKfr
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1905042747830006201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
It's still unclear what future fate awaits the oil and gas fields of Syria's northeast Deir Ezzor and Hasakah regions. US troops and their proxies - the Syrian Democratic Forces - still occupy these. Pre-occupation Syria drew enough resources from these fields in order to supply domestic needs.
US sanctions have all the while sought to cut off the flow of Iranian or Russian oil to the country. For now Trump appears willing to keep the sanctions in place, even with Assad gone.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 03/30/2025 - 07:35
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/sanctioned-syrian-population-desperately-trying-access-oil-gas
If Everything Is Going To Be Okay, Why Are The US & The EU Feverishly Preparing For World War III?
If Everything Is Going To Be Okay, Why Are The US & The EU Feverishly Preparing For World War III?
If there is going to be peace in the Middle East, why has the Pentagon sent 25 percent of our entire fleet of B-2 stealth bombers to the region? And if there is going to be peace in Europe, why is the European Union telling all of their citizens to store up food and water for a war with Russia? We keep being told that everything is going to be okay, but meanwhile western officials continue to make moves that indicate that more war is coming.
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According https://www.newsweek.com/us-iran-nuclear-list-conflict-2050825
, the United States has “significantly increased its military presence” in the Middle East during the past couple of weeks…
The U.S. has significantly increased its military presence in both the Gulf and Indian Ocean, deploying B-2 stealth bombers, cargo planes, and aerial refueling tankers, alongside key assets like the USS Carl Vinson and USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carriers.
I am particularly concerned about the deployment of highly advanced B-2 stealth bombers to the region.
It is https://www.the-sun.com/news/13872701/us-bombers-british-island-diego-garcia-houthi-yemen-strikes/
that “at least five” B-2 stealth bombers have been deployed to the island of Diego Garcia…
The US military has sent at least five B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to highly strategic island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
These heavy bombers can obliterate targets with their huge 25 tonne bomb payload per jet.
This means the US’s deadly fleet of five could carry an astounding 125 tonnes of bombs.
For those that do not know, Afghanistan was relentlessly bombed by U.S. air assets based in Diego Garcia during the invasion of that nation in 2001, and Iraq was relentlessly bombed by U.S. air assets based in Diego Garcia during the invasion of that nation in 2003.
Currently, the U.S. only possesses 20 B-2 stealth bombers, and so that means that 25 percent of them are now in Diego Garcia.
It is being speculated that these B-2 bombers could be involved in the ongoing campaign to bomb the Houthis in Yemen, but it is important to note that these B-2 bombers would also be ideal for carrying out the sort of https://www.twz.com/air/signs-u-s-massing-b-2-spirit-bombers-in-diego-garcia
that would be necessary to take out Iran’s nuclear program…
The bombers present a unique mix of capabilities, particularly their ability to penetrate past dense enemy air defenses to carry out ‘bunker buster’ strikes employing 30,000-pound class GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs. MOP, which only the B-2 is currently certified to employ operationally, itself offers a unique conventional option for striking deeply buried and fortified targets, of which there are many in Iran.
We do know that President Trump recently delivered a letter to the Iranians that gives them a choice with a very clear deadline.
Either the Iranians must make an agreement to end their nuclear program within two months https://www.newsweek.com/us-iran-nuclear-list-conflict-2050825
…
Recently, President Trump revealed that he had sent a letter to Tehran, demanding a new nuclear agreement within two months or face significant military consequences. With negotiations stalled and the deadline looming, the diplomatic window for de-escalation is quickly closing, leaving military action as an increasingly likely outcome.
The Iranians have already told us that they have no plans to negotiate.
So it appears that it is just a matter of time before the second option is implemented.
In a recent interview with “Face the Nation”, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz made it clear https://www.twz.com/air/signs-u-s-massing-b-2-spirit-bombers-in-diego-garcia
…
“Iran has to give up its program in a way that the entire world can see,” Mike Waltz, Trump’s National Security Advisor, said during a separate interview on CBS News‘ “Face the Nation” this weekend. “It is time for Iran to walk away completely from its desire to have a nuclear weapon, and they will not and cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapons program. That is its weaponization and its strategic missiles program.”
If B-2 stealth bombers start hitting Iran’s nuclear facilities, we will officially be at war with Iran.
I hope that everyone understands the implications of that.
Meanwhile, the European Union is https://www.the-sun.com/news/13853765/trump-ukraine-russia-peace-talks-saudi-arabia-riyadh/
to prepare an emergency kit in case a direct war with Russia breaks out…
European Union bureaucrats are pushing for every household in the 27-nation bloc to prepare the kit for war and natural disasters.
It is expected that will be part of a union’s broader “preparedness strategy” amid the threat from Russia.
Key items they will ask the bloc’s 450 million citizens to gather includes water, energy bars and a flashlight.
Why does every home in the EU need to prepare for war with Russia if there is going to be peace?
Do EU bureaucrats know something that the rest of us do not?
Sadly, it appears that even the very limited agreements that Russia and Ukraine just agreed to are not going to hold. The Ukrainians just launched more strikes against Russian energy infrastructure, and the Russians just keep sending waves of drone attacks https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ukraine-and-russia-s-truce-agreements-run-into-trouble-within-hours/ar-AA1BHD3S?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=0c89f04d3b494172aed13786fe09d068&ei=75
…
Overnight, Russia said it had taken down nine drones, including two over the Black Sea. It also said Ukraine tried to attack a gas storage facility in Russian-occupied Crimea and energy infrastructure in Russia’s Kursk and Bryansk regions. Ukraine said it conducted no such strikes.
Ukraine’s military reported 117 Russian drone attacks overnight. Local officials said the city of Kryvyi Rih had been hit by the biggest drone attack it has faced yet.
Hopefully both sides will come to their senses, because this is our one shot at peace.
If negotiations ultimately fail, it is inevitable that both sides will escalate matters, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is warning that an attack on Poland or any other NATO member https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/nato-issues-direct-ww3-threat-to-vladimir-putin-and-warns-of-devastating-retaliation/ar-AA1BHBfO?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=0c89f04d3b494172aed13786fe09d068&ei=33
…
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte issued a stern warning to Vladimir Putin, stating that any attack on Poland or another NATO member would be met with a “devastating” response.
“If anyone were to miscalculate and think they can get away with an attack on Poland or on any other ally, they will be met with the full force of this fierce alliance. Our reaction will be devastating” he declared in Warsaw. “This has to be very clear to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and anyone else who wants to attack us.”
Those are unusually strong words.
Is he expecting something to happen?
Ominously, we are being told that four U.S. soldiers were just found dead https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/2032823/us-soldiers-missing-belarus-lithuania-training
…
Four US soldiers have reportedly been found dead in Lithuania after going missing during a training mission. A major search operation was launched after the tracked vehicle they were travelling in disappeared at around 4.45pm yesterday.
The Embassy in Vilnius has yet to confirm the deaths after releasing a statement to confirm only that four soldiers were missing. But speaking to reporters while visiting Warsaw, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said: “Whilst I was speaking the news came out about four American soldiers who were killed in an incident in Lithuania,” as he confirmed he had no further details. The search, involving Lithuanian and US assets, has identified a “possible location” of where they are believed to have disappeared.
This is a very alarming incident.
Hopefully we will learn more details shortly.
There is one last thing that I wanted to mention today. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy just told European journalists that Russian President Vladimir Putin https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/2032497/putin-clear-signal-no-peace-zelensky
…
Volodymyr Zelensky has predicted that Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘will die soon’ in a candid assessment as he discussed the war on Ukraine. Speaking during a round table with journalists including the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen, the Ukrainian leader said: “He will die soon, and that’s a fact, and it will come to an end.”
What an irresponsible thing to say.
Yes, Putin has been experiencing health problems for a long time.
But if Putin does die soon, the Russians will remember what Zelenskyy just said. At that point it would be exceedingly difficult to convince the Russians that nothing nefarious was going on, and getting both sides to agree to any sort of a peace deal would almost certainly become impossible.
We are at such a delicate moment.
The decisions that global leaders make over the next several months could dramatically alter the course of human history, and right now I am not particularly optimistic about where things are heading.
* * *
Michael’s new book entitled https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DFVKTRJR
.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 03/30/2025 - 07:00
SpaceX Offers Starlink To Myanmar, Thailand After 1000 Dead In Massive Earthquake
SpaceX Offers Starlink To Myanmar, Thailand After 1000 Dead In Massive Earthquake
SpaceX announced on Friday that it is "prepared to provide Starlink kits to assist with communications and relief efforts" in Thailand and Myanmar (also known as Burma), after more than 1,000 people were killed when a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck the country earlier in the day.
Devastating to hear of the earthquake’s toll on Thailand and Myanmar. The SpaceX team is prepared to provide Starlink kits to assist with communications needs and relief efforts, pending any necessary governmental approvals.
— Starlink (@Starlink) https://twitter.com/Starlink/status/1905777899204137068?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In addition to a death toll of 1,002 as of Saturday, there are 2,376 injured and 30 missing according to the military government, up sharply from the 144 dead reported by state media on Friday.
the epicenter of the earthquake—which was 6.2 miles deep—was close to the city of Mandalay in Burma.
A dramatic https://x.com/WeatherMonitors/status/1905514748801691664
circulating on social media shows a high-rise building in Bangkok collapsing in a cloud of dust as construction workers run for their lives. Thai authorities said nine people had died and 101 were missing in Bangkok, mostly laborers trapped in the rubble of the collapsed tower.
High-rise building collapses due to strong https://twitter.com/hashtag/earthquake?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— Weather Monitor (@WeatherMonitors) https://twitter.com/WeatherMonitors/status/1905514748801691664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The high-rise building was being built for the auditor general of the Thai government by the China Railway Construction Corporation.
The USGS’s predictive modeling estimated the death toll could exceed 10,000 people in Burma, and that losses could be greater than the value of the country’s gross domestic product.
In Burma, the military government has declared a state of emergency in six regions and states, including Mandalay and the capital, Naypyidaw.
It said on the Telegram messaging app, “The state will make inquiries on the situation quickly and conduct rescue operations along with providing humanitarian aid.”
The Red Cross said: “Initial reports from the ground suggest the earthquake has caused significant damage. Information on humanitarian needs is still being gathered.”
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The Burmese government’s spokesman, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, told state-run MRTV television channel that blood was in high demand in hospitals in Mandalay, Sagaing, and Naypyidaw.
The president of the European Commission https://x.com/vonderleyen/status/1905575753527238787
on X: “Heartbreaking scenes from Myanmar and Thailand after the devastating earthquake. My thoughts are with the victims & their families. Europe’s Copernicus satellites are already helping first responders. We are ready to provide more support. We stand with you in full solidarity.”
Chinese media reported that the earthquake was felt in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces.
Burma’s second biggest city, Mandalay, was close to the epicenter, and a local resident, Htet Naing Oo, said several people had been trapped inside a tea shop which had collapsed.
She said, “We couldn’t go in. The situation is very bad.”
Photographs and videos posted on https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122186208446123962&set=pcb.122186208530123962
showed widespread damage in Mandalay.
Most houses in Mandalay are low-rise structures.
A 90-year-old bridge in the Sagaing region, southwest of Mandalay, collapsed, and the highway connecting Mandalay with Burma’s largest city, Yangon, was also damaged.
In the capital, Naypyidaw, Buddhist shrines were toppled and some homes damaged.
The tremor, which took place around midday on Friday, was followed by an aftershock with a magnitude of 6.4, https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us7000pn9z/executive?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=usgs_quakes
to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The greater Bangkok area is home to around 17 million people, many living in high-rise apartments.
Many people have been evacuated from office and residential buildings, pending the all-clear.
‘A Lot of Panic’
Fraser Morton, a British tourist who was in downtown Bangkok shopping for camera equipment, said, “All of a sudden the whole building began to move, immediately there was screaming and a lot of panic.”
“I just started walking calmly at first but then the building started really moving, yeah, a lot of screaming, a lot of panic, people running the wrong way down the escalators, lots of banging and crashing inside the mall,” he added.
Morton said, “I got outside and then looked up at the building and the whole building was moving, dust and debris, it was pretty intense. Lots of chaos.”
Water from infinity pools in several high-rise hotels can be seen in videos pouring down the sides of the buildings as they shook.
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Thousands of residents, workers, and tourists took shelter in the city’s Benjasiri Park, which is away from high buildings.
Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, called an emergency meeting on Friday to assess the impact.
Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention said the tremor was felt in almost every region of the country.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Sat, 03/29/2025 - 23:55
Federal Judge Halts Shutdown Of Voice Of America
Federal Judge Halts Shutdown Of Voice Of America
(emphasis ours),
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from dismantling Voice of America (VOA), the government-funded international news service whose 1,200 reporters and employees were placed on paid leave earlier this month.
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The judge, J. Paul Oetken of the Southern District of New York, on Friday https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xjoa-yPjBH2NGw3NftHof099cBc6G6Ra/view?usp=sharing
a temporary restraining order in favor of VOA employees and their unions. The order prevents the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees VOA, from shutting down the broadcasting network and its associated radio programs.
VOA employees filed the lawsuit against USAGM, its acting Director Victor Morales, and special adviser Kari Lake on March 21. The https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.639139/gov.uscourts.nysd.639139.1.0.pdf
accused the agency of failing to fulfill its legally mandated missions and violating both press freedom and the separation-of-powers doctrine when it took a “chainsaw” to the outlet, ordering the entire staff not to report to work, turning off the service, and locking the agency’s doors.
In his ruling, Oetken stated that VOA was likely to succeed on its claims, noting that USAGM’s actions appeared unconstitutional. He said that Lake lacked legal authority to withhold congressionally appropriated funds or terminate USAGM staff, programming, or contracts.
“By withholding the funds statutorily appropriated to fully administer USAGM, VOA, and its affiliates ... the executive is usurping Congress’s power of the purse and its legislative supremacy,” he wrote.
The judge did not require VOA to resume broadcasts, but made it clear that employees must not be terminated while the court determines whether the shutdown violates the Constitution or other federal administrative laws.
Friday’s order echoed a similar ruling by another district judge earlier in the week, which granted a temporary restraining order to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, blocking its funding freeze. The Trump administration has since https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25868580-government-response-in-radio-free-europe-case/
in court filings that it has resumed funding for these outlets.
President Donald Trump and his supporters have been critical of VOA for years over alleged https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/03/the-voice-of-radical-america/
against conservative Americans and in favor of America’s adversaries.
In 2020, the White House sent an email accusing VOA of spending taxpayers’ money to “speak for authoritarian regimes.” It took issue with, among other things, a VOA social media post featuring a video of a light show celebrating the end of the lockdown in Wuhan, the Chinese megapolis where the COVID-19 virus first emerged; as well as the agency’s characterization of China’s effort to control the outbreak as a “model” for other nations.
“VOA too often speaks for America’s adversaries—not its citizens,” The White House https://web.archive.org/web/20201223130225/https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/amid-a-pandemic-voice-of-america-spends-your-money-to-promote-foreign-propaganda/
. “Journalists should report the facts, but VOA has instead amplified Beijing’s propaganda.”
The VOA first began broadcasting in 1942 in German-occupied territories as part of the Allies’ effort to engage Axis propaganda broadcasts with counterpropaganda. In the following decades, it became a staple in the propaganda war against the Soviet Union and other communist regimes. Over time, it evolved into a global news organization, now operating in more than 40 languages.
Elon Musk, a tech billionaire and Trump’s top adviser for downsizing the federal government’s spending and workforce, has echoed calls to shut down VOA and its sister networks, arguing that they have outlived their purpose.
“Yes, shut them down. Europe is free now (not counting stifling bureaucracy). Nobody listens to them anymore,” he https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1888574212316582230
on X, accusing the outlets of being “radical left” and “torching $1B/year of US taxpayer money.”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sat, 03/29/2025 - 23:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/federal-judge-halts-shutdown-voice-america
Maryland Democrats Pass "Sleep Tax" - Is A Thinking Tax Next?
Maryland Democrats Pass "Sleep Tax" - Is A Thinking Tax Next?
Maryland lawmakers are scrambling to address a staggering $3.3 billion budget shortfall.
To close the gap, far-left Governor Wes Moore and activist Democrats have proposed a wave of tax hikes that would hit Marylanders' wallets the hardest amid a deepening affordability crisis.
QUESTION:
Maryland lawmakers spent too much money. The state has a $3.5 BILLION deficit.
To close the gap, Annapolis is looking to raise your taxes/fees. Here's a list of the proposed increases. Which affect you most? Or... have you already ordered the U-Haul truck?
Tax…
— Chris Papst (@chrispapst) https://twitter.com/chrispapst/status/1905954341623599452?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
With power bills already skyrocketing to record highs for many folks due to backfiring and disastrous green energy policies, these same progressive lawmakers are creating even more nightmares for taxpayers—this time by proposing a tax that effectively targets sleep.
A small but vocal group of conservative Republicans in the Maryland House of Delegates were stunned on Friday when far-left Democrats pushed through HB 858—a bill that establishes a mattress stewardship program under the guise of promoting safe disposal and recycling. This is another tax on Marylanders as the state sinks into financial turmoil and elevated credit downgrade risks. The new 6% tax on mattresses is on top of the existing 6% sales tax.
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Del. Mark N. Fisher (R-Calvert), one of the leaders of the Maryland House Freedom Caucus, blasted the "Sleep Tax" and asked if there would be a "snoring surcharge."
Democrats just passed the ‘Sleep Tax’. Marylanders already pay a 6% sales tax when you buy a mattress. Now, https://twitter.com/mddems?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— Mark Fisher (@fisher4maryland) https://twitter.com/fisher4maryland/status/1905646848695566372?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Torrey Snow of WBAL Radio said this about the ridiculous tax passed on sleep...
Oh, you think I'm joking! Maryland Democrats literally passed a bill to tax your good sleep! House Bill 858. Look it up! https://twitter.com/hashtag/maryland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— Torrey Snow WBAL (@TorreySnowWbal) https://twitter.com/TorreySnowWbal/status/1905681892327960674?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Meanwhile...
Virginia, Delaware, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania Mattress stores right now….. https://twitter.com/hashtag/Maryland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— Libertarian Party of Maryland (@LPMaryland) https://twitter.com/LPMaryland/status/1905676026077708684?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Also, Moody's Ratings recently warned that Maryland—a state heavily dependent on the federal government—faces heightened recession risk in the era of DOGE-related cuts. The warning comes amid a twin crisis: a https://www.zerohedge.com/political/maryland-democrats-clearly-denial-state-races-twin-crisises
.
If far-left Gov. Moore and Democrats are willing to tax Marylanders' sleep, these woke activists could easily push another bill to tax thinking.
Maryland Dems...
Maryland Dems Lose All Sense Of Reality: Focus On Condoms For Kids, Reparations As Crises Pile Up https://t.co/WnoOnJxnbi
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1897434485261549819?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
It's time for common sense to re-enter Maryland politics after decades of Democrats torpedoing the state to the brink of financial crisis. Perhaps the Maryland House Freedom Caucus will be those heroes needed to rescue the imploding state.
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Sat, 03/29/2025 - 15:45
Downsize Your Euphoria
Downsize Your Euphoria
Submitted by https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/downsize-your-euphoria
While the 25 Stocks I’m Watching for 2025 list (part 1 https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/25-stocks-im-watching-for-2025-part
) continue to perform well relative to the S&P, I can’t say the same about the overall market.
The looming question yesterday was whether the market snapback early in the week was a path to the S&P taking back its trend and continuing to move higher, or just a “bear market rally”. It shouldn’t be a surprise that I believe it was the latter.
There’s an old expression that “nothing good ever happens below the 200-day moving average.” As you can see, that’s where the S&P 500 continues to be (under the red line).
Then there was the question of auto tariffs yesterday, and whether or not Trump was going to immediately flip-flop on them—or whether he was even serious about them to begin with. While he does have a history of changing his mind quickly with regard to tariffs, it appears that, at least for the time being, these auto tariffs are here to stay.
The tariffs are sizable enough, and in a consequential enough industry, that they will create significant trade uncertainty between the U.S. and many of its major trading partners—introducing the stock market to more of the one thing it doesn’t like: uncertainty.
Finally, the big headline this morning is the news that CoreWeave, a purported player in the same atmosphere as Nvidia, was being forced to downsize its plans for an initial public offering.
Semafor https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/downsize-your-euphoria
that CoreWeave is set to scale back its IPO, cutting both the share price and fundraising target. The cloud firm is now aiming for a valuation closer to its $23 billion private-market figure from last year, down from the $30 billion it originally sought. It may also raise less than the $3 billion it had planned.
Shares are expected to price Thursday night and begin trading Friday, though shifting sentiment during today’s session could influence final decisions.
My longer-term readers know that about a year and a half ago, I started asking questions about where the black swans in the market could be. Where are the bodies buried that the rest of the market doesn’t necessarily know about yet? One of the places I https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/has-the-markets-black-swan-just-arrived?utm_source=publication-search
was potentially between Nvidia and CoreWeave.
I wrote about the two following critical analysis that began circulating in lesser-trafficked analyst circles about the circuitous relationship between Nvidia and CoreWeave. As a reminder, here’s https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/downsize-your-euphoria
I linked to with another writeup by The Mad King (paywalled now) — both of which made their rounds in mid-2023.
That circuitous relationship seems to, again, be what’s holding up CoreWeave:
, in their must-read analysis of the situation.
“Not surprisingly, CoreWeave - which also counts Microsoft as its largest customer - has been frequently rumored to be a core spoke in revenue roundtripping schemes involving Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI,” they continued.
And over the course of time since my 2023 article, other players in the same industry—namely Super Micro—have also https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/28/super-micro-shares-fall-23percent-on-filing-delay-hindenburg-research-report.html
.
And just yesterday, legendary short-seller Jim Chanos raised critical questions about one of Nvidia’s acquisition of Lepton AI.
“Don’t know if this deal happens, and it’s not particularly big, but trying to buyout your resellers is usually a huge red flag. It’s often a way to bury inventory costs and/or avoid receivables provisioning,” https://x.com/RealJimChanos/status/1904968699582251447
.
He continued: “Just to be clear, these kinds of deals w/customers and distributors do not necessarily have to be material in size to be material in impact, since near the end-of-cycles managements know that missing guidance by even a few pennies can be disastrous…”
For those unfamiliar with Jim Chanos’s pedigree, not only was he first to blow the whistle on Enron, he teaches a course called “A History of Financial Market Fraud: A Forensic Approach” at Yale. His short-sale of Enron shares was dubbed by Barron’s as "the market call of the decade, if not the past fifty years."
Does the CoreWeave IPO necessarily denote that there’s fraud or wrongdoing under the surface? No. But at the very least, what it does show is that the market’s appetite for the AI story—and perhaps for risk-on type investments in general—isn’t what it was a year ago. When companies start pricing IPOs under expectations, it is an indicator that the bid many thought to exist in the market—whether it’s for a specific industry, specific style of stock, or specific name in general—isn’t there.
🔥 50% OFF FOR LIFE: Using this coupon entitles you to 50% off an annual subscription to Fringe Finance for life: https://quoththeraven.substack.com/subscribe?coupon=d8097c43
To me, this CoreWeave news this morning, combined with concerns that Mr. Chanos raised yesterday—on top of what we already knew—sure seems to suggest to me that the AI story may at least be temporarily losing steam. Lest we also forget just yesterday it was https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-pulls-back-more-data-center-leases-us-europe-analysts-say-2025-03-26/
from more data center leases “due to an oversupply relative to its current demand forecast”.
Even David Faber on CNBC https://x.com/ConsensusGurus/status/1904989671920181687
for her opinion on things—but Faber has done great lately.
Not only did he raise critical questions about customer concentration and debt load just hours before the IPO was significantly downsized, I also watched him a couple of weeks ago argue the bear case against multiple analysts who pushed the same AI narrative we’ve heard for the last year, and made bombastic claims like stocks that are trading at 40x earnings are “cheap” because they’re down a couple percent off their highs.
I’ve often said that crypto is the tip of the risk-taking spear, and to watch that asset class as the canary in the coal mine for the rest of the market. As it relates to equities, however, AI is the tip of the narrative spear that still lures people into buying technology equities. If that narrative starts to crumble, I don’t think it is too much of a stretch to suggest there could be a domino effect in the rest of the equity market.
I don’t want anything to do with these AI names until I get significantly more clarity on the space and the overall market is far less volatile.
QTR’s Disclaimer: Please read my full legal disclaimer https://quoththeraven.substack.com/about
with my best effort to uphold what the license asks, or with the permission of the author.
This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in. I may add any name mentioned in this article and sell any name mentioned in this piece at any time, without further warning. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. I may or may not own names I write about and are watching. Sometimes I’m bullish without owning things, sometimes I’m bearish and do own things. Just assume my positions could be exactly the opposite of what you think they are just in case. If I’m long I could quickly be short and vice versa. I won’t update my positions. All positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice and at any point I can be long, short or neutral on any position. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe. Assume any and all numbers in this piece are wrong and make sure you check them yourself. The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this page. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I did my best to be honest about my disclosures but can’t guarantee I am right; I write these posts after a couple beers sometimes. I edit after my posts are published because I’m impatient and lazy, so if you see a typo, check back in a half hour. Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it twice because it’s that important.
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Sat, 03/29/2025 - 15:10
Trump Signs Exec Order Restoring Improperly Removed Statues And Public Monuments
Trump Signs Exec Order Restoring Improperly Removed Statues And Public Monuments
President Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at overhauling the Smithsonian to combat what he calls "divisive, race-centered" narratives pushed under the Biden administration, https://redstate.com/rusty-weiss/2025/03/28/trump-signs-eo-to-restore-statues-improperly-removed-in-past-5-years-restore-truth-to-american-history-n2187204
.
Titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," the order criticizes the museum system’s recent direction: “Once widely respected... the Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology,” it states, arguing such views frame American and Western values as “inherently harmful and oppressive.”
The order tasks Vice President JD Vance, a member of the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents, with leading efforts to “remove improper ideology” across the institution.
President Trump’s latest executive order targets the Smithsonian, aiming to restore what he calls a truthful, uplifting view of American history and culture. The directive criticizes recent shifts toward “divisive, race-centered ideology” and tasks Vice President JD Vance with rooting out “improper ideology” across its museums and research centers.
President Trump has signed an executive order aimed at restoring accurate representations of American history in educational institutions. https://t.co/BQy31t6E8Z
— Executive Order & Presidential Action News (@47_Tracker) https://twitter.com/47_Tracker/status/1905395212618248269?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
quotes the order: “It is the policy of my Administration to restore Federal sites… to solemn and uplifting public monuments that remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage,” the order states, insisting museums should educate, not “indoctrinate.”
The order also instructs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to review and “restore” public monuments removed over the past five years. A White House fact sheet says many were taken down to “perpetuate a false revision of history” or unfairly disparage historical figures.
Critics quickly lashed out. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) wrote on X: “You cannot erase our past.” But as Trump allies note, this comes from a party that demanded the removal of statues of figures like George Washington and Jefferson.
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Trump’s move follows earlier efforts to reclaim institutions from what he calls far-left ideologues—turning places like the Smithsonian and the Kennedy Center into cultural battlegrounds.
Past controversies at the Smithsonian include omitting Justice Clarence Thomas from its African American history museum in 2016—later correcting it only under pressure—and celebrating transgender activists like Sylvia Rivera in its American Women’s History Museum. It even preserved a suit worn by Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) during Capitol cleanup after January 6, a move critics call symbolic pandering.
The order sets a deadline of July 4, 2026—America’s 250th birthday—for completing all reforms. “President Trump aims to ensure that the Smithsonian… sparks children’s imagination, celebrates American history and ingenuity… and makes America proud,” the White House said.
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Sat, 03/29/2025 - 14:35
"Content Agnostic": EU Official Denies Anti-Free Speech Policies In Bizarre Letter To Congress
"Content Agnostic": EU Official Denies Anti-Free Speech Policies In Bizarre Letter To Congress
After returning recently from https://jonathanturley.org/2025/03/24/a-new-world-order-with-european-values-the-unholy-union-of-globalism-and-anti-free-speech-measures/
is both evasive and deceptive.
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In my book, https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1668047047?tag=simonsayscom
, I detail how the DSA has been used to allow for sweeping speech investigations and prosecutions. In direct contradiction to past statements by the EU, Virkkunen denied any effort to regulate speech or enforce the DSA outside of Europe.
What is particularly maddening is the false claim that the EU remains “deeply committed to protecting and promoting free speech.” Many in the free speech community view the EU and the DSA as the greatest threatshttps://jonathanturley.org/2024/08/19/the-eu-just-declared-war-on-free-speech-in-america-it-is-time-to-fight-back/
in the West.
In his letter, Jordan correctly raised the concern that the DSA could “limit or restrict Americans” constitutionally protected speech in the United States by compelling platforms to crack down on what the EU considers “misleading or deceptive” speech.
In her response, Virkkunen bizarrely describes the DSA as “https://www.politico.eu/article/social-media-law-does-not-regulate-speech-eu-tech-chief-tells-us-lawmaker-henna-virkkunen/
while insisting that the DSA “applies exclusively within the European Union.”
That is not what EU officials previously said or what the law itself allows. https://www.eu-digital-services-act.com/Digital_Services_Act_Article_34.html
of the DSA require all sites to identify, assess, and mitigate “systemic risks” posed by content, including any threats to “civic discourse”, “electoral processes,” and “public health.” It is up to the EU to define and judge such categories in terms of compliance.
The act bars speech that is viewed as “disinformation” or “incitement.” European Commission Executive Vice President https://thehill.com/people/margrethe-vestager/
celebrated its passage by declaring that it is “not a slogan anymore, that what is illegal offline should also be seen and dealt with as illegal online. Now it is a real thing. Democracy’s back.”
Some in this country have turned to the EU to force the censorship of their fellow citizens. After https://thehill.com/people/elon-musk/
bought Twitter and dismantled most of the company’s censorship program, many on the left went bonkers. That fury only increased when Musk released the “Twitter files,” confirming the long-denied coordination and support by the government in targeting and suppressing speech.
In response, https://x.com/HillaryClinton/status/1517247388716613634
and lashed out at the failure to control disinformation).
The EU immediately responded by threatening Musk with confiscatory penalties against not just his company but himself. He would have to resume massive censorship or else face ruin.
This campaign recently came to a head when Musk had the audacity to interview former president Donald Trump. In anticipation of the interview, one of the world’s most notorious anti-free speech figures went ballistic.
Former European Commissioner for Internal Markets and Services Thierry Breton issued a threatening message to Musk, “We are monitoring the potential risks in the EU associated with the dissemination of content that may incite violence, hate and racism in conjunction with major political — or societal — events around the world, including debates and interviews in the context of elections.”
The EU has long been one of the most aggressively anti-free speech bodies in the world. It has actively supported the evisceration of free speech among its 27 member states. The EU is not “agnostic” when it comes to free speech; it has long championed a type of free-speech atheism.
We have faced EU officials engaging in Orwellian doublespeak for years. Nevertheless, Virkkunen’s letter to Jordan stands out for its sheer mendacity.
* * *
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1668047047?tag=simonsayscom
.”
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Sat, 03/29/2025 - 09:20