News of the World

[kyonides]

New Jersey Congressmen Call for Halt of Offshore Wind Projects
Amid Spate of Whale Deaths

Reps. Jeff Van Drew and Christopher Smith of New Jersey, Andy Harris of Maryland, and Scott Smith of Pennsylvania convened the first congressional hearing into the matter amid a surge in whale and dolphin deaths along the New Jersey shore, which they attribute to survey work for the wind farms.

Twenty-nine whales have died on the East Coast since Dec. 1. And six dead dolphins have washed ashore in New Jersey in the past month, including one on the eve of the hearing.

More than 500 gathered in the convention center where the congressional delegation heard public testimony from local experts and stakeholders.

Van Drew explained that Danish energy company Orsted plans to build its newest offshore wind farm along the Jersey coast, just 15 miles from the Wildwood Convention Center.
...
“This is their own scientist warning BOEM that offshore wind will severely impact the whales, yet they moved ahead and completely ignored the few people in their group who would tell the truth,” Van Drew said,

Jacob Chansley’s Lawyer Intends to File to Vacate Conviction

Bill Shipley, the lawyer representing Jan. 6 defendant Jacob Chansley, started the process of requesting the court to vacate Chansley’s 41-month sentence next week, Shipley confirmed in an exclusive interview with The Epoch Times on Friday.

Shipley said he intends to file a vacate-conviction motion pursuant to 28 U.S. Code § 2255 (remedies on motion attacking sentence) next week, pending government response to a letter he sent to the DOJ on Friday requesting information about Chansley’s case. That provision in the law states that a “prisoner in custody under sentence of a court established by Act of Congress claiming the right to be released upon the ground that the sentence was imposed in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States.”

On Friday, Shipley sent a letter to Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Paschall to ask about the factual basis of the government’s representation of Chansley’s case in a separate lawsuit. He said he’s “prepping the battlefield” for a prospective filing to request the court to vacate Chansley’s conviction.

Los Angeles Metro Station Blasts Classical Music to Deter Homeless

“Many of you have noticed that we’re playing music over the public-address speakers, as do many other types of businesses and municipalities,” Metro officials said in a February statement. “The idea is to create an atmosphere that is comfortable for spending short amounts of time transiting through our station, but not conducive to hours-long loitering.”

Crime is now down about 20 percent, and the number of emergency service calls dropped by 75 percent after the music program and other safety measures were launched in mid-February, Dave Sotero, LA Metro spokesman, told the Los Angeles Daily News via email.
...
Hammel said it falls in the realm of “hostile architecture,” like a park bench split in half with an armrest, for example, to prevent homeless people from sleeping on it.

“It’s alienating music on purpose,” he told The Epoch Times. “It’s the musical equivalent of turning up the heat to a relatively intolerable temperature.”

Biden Urges Congress to Toughen Penalties for Executives of Failed Banks

President Joe Biden recommended that executives of failed banks should be banned from working in the banking sector again.

The White House released a plan to hold senior management more accountable when their financial institutions collapse and enter Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) receivership. In addition, the administration urged Congress to make it easier for federal regulators to punish bank executives when they engage in mismanagement and take excessive risks.

The announcement on Friday highlighted recent reports that show Silicon Valley Bank CEO Gregory Becker sold about $3 million worth of shares in the entity just days before its failure, citing a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.

One measure would be to claw back compensation from executives at failed banks, such as Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank. This, according to President Biden, would include gains from stock sales.

The FDIC possesses clawback power under the Dodd-Frank Act, but it only covers large banks.

International Arrest Warrant Issued for Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been formally accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of war crimes and faces an arrest warrant, which the Kremlin considers illegitimate.

ICC president Piotr Hofmanski said in a video statement Friday that an arrest warrant has been issued for Putin for the “alleged war crimes of deportation of children from Ukrainian occupied territories into the Russian Federation.”

International law prohibits occupying powers from transferring civilians from occupied areas to other territories.

Hofmanski said the contents of the warrants would be kept secret to protect the identities of the allegedly abducted children.
...
While the ICC’s judges have issued the warrants, it will be up to the international community to enforce them as the ICC has no police force of its own.

UN Nuclear Watchdog: 2.5 Tons of Uranium Missing in Libya

Some 2.5 tons of natural uranium stored in a site in war-torn Libya have gone missing, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said Thursday, raising safety and proliferation concerns.

However, forces allied to a warlord battling the Libyan government based in the capital of Tripoli claimed on Thursday night that they recovered the material. U.N. inspectors said they were trying to confirm that.

Natural uranium cannot immediately be used for energy production or bomb fuel, as the enrichment process typically requires the metal to be converted into a gas, then later spun in centrifuges to reach the levels needed.

But each ton of natural uranium—if obtained by a group with the technological means and resources—can be refined to 5.6 kilograms (12 pounds) of weapons-grade material over time, experts say. That makes finding the missing metal important for nonproliferation experts.
...
Estimates put the Libyan stockpile at some 1,000 metric tons of yellowcake uranium under Gadhafi, who declared his nascent nuclear weapons program to the world in 2003 after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

But the 2011 Arab Spring saw rebels topple Gadhafi and ultimately kill him. Sabha grew increasingly lawless, with African migrants crossing Libya, saying some had been sold as slaves in the city, the U.N. reported.

In recent years, Sabha largely has been under the control of the self-styled Libyan National Army, headed by Khalifa Hifter. On Thursday night, Hifter’s forces issued a statement claiming they had recovered the material.

[kyonides]

‘Jurassic Park’ Star Sam Neill Reveals
Diagnosis for ‘Ferocious Type’ of Blood Cancer

Sam Neill, likely best known for playing paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant in Steven Spielberg’s original “Jurassic Park” franchise films, has recently revealed that he’s receiving treatment for stage-three blood cancer.

The 75-year-old actor told the BBC this week that he was diagnosed with “a ferocious type of aggressive” non-Hodgkin lymphoma about 12 months ago, explaining that his initial thoughts were, “I’m crook, I’m dying.”

Neill first noticed that he was experiencing swollen glands during a publicity tour for “Jurassic World: Dominion” in March last year.

In an interview published in the Guardian on March 17, Neill said that the first rounds of chemotherapy treatment failed, but he’s now cancer-free after switching to a relatively new anti-cancer drug that he will have to take on a monthly basis for the rest of his life.

“I’m not off the hook as such, but there’s no cancer in my body,” Neill told the publication.

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is an aggressive form of cancer that develops in the lymphatic system. It can potentially return, even after it has been eliminated, but Neill’s anti-cancer drug will decrease the chances of this happening.

Trump Suggests He Will Be Arrested Next Week

Former President Donald Trump has issued a statement saying he expects to be indicted next week by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and called his supporters to protest and “take our nation back!”

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is investigating Trump for his company’s classification of a $130,000 reimbursement to his former personal attorney Michael Cohen over a payment allegedly made to adult actress Stormy Daniels.

The former president has repeatedly condemned the probe as a partisan witch hunt and in a Saturday statement on Truth Social, Trump doubled down on his rhetoric.

Trump said that “illegal leaks” from the “corrupt & highly political” Manhattan DA’s office indicate that he will be arrested on Tuesday of next week. He insisted that no crime has been proven and that the possible indictment in the case would be “based on an old & fully debunked (by numerous other prosecutors!) fairy tale.”

“Protest, take our nation back!” Trump urged his supporters in the message.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on Trump’s statement.

Soros-Backed Group Helped Elect Manhattan D.A. Allegedly Planning Trump Arrest

A George Soros-funded group helped elect Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who former President Donald Trump says plans to arrest him.

“Bragg was elected in November 2021 with indirect backing from left-wing billionaire George Soros, who gave $1 million to the Color of Change PAC, which spent to elect Bragg,” Breitbart News noted last year.

The Color of Change PAC is a left-wing group that describes itself as “the nation’s largest online racial justice organization.”
...
The district attorney has been heavily criticized, as many see him as being soft on crime. One such instance where Bragg’s application of the law led to public outrage occurred in January when he reportedly offered a plea deal to an alleged antisemitic attacker charged with a hate crime.
...
After a career criminal allegedly shot and killed New York City Police Officers Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora while they were responding to a domestic violence call early last year, Rivera’s wife blasted Bragg while speaking at her husband’s funeral.
...
“I know you were tired of these laws, especially the ones from the new DA,” she continued.

Florida Libel Bill May Challenge Long-Standing Supreme Court Decision

Zak Young says his business and livelihood were destroyed—and innocent lives endangered—when CNN allegedly trashed him in TV and print stories.

As an elite security operator who had the skills and contacts to extract people from Afghanistan as it fell to the Taliban, Young saw himself savaged as a black marketer seeking to fleece helpless refugees and then not saving them to boot.

None of it was true, Young says in his libel lawsuit complaint against CNN. He says he advertised for corporate sponsors to pay the stiff costs of covert extractions. Some had spent the money and were satisfied: he’d rescued Afghan employees of Bloomberg, Audible, and other multinational companies.

But after CNN’s report, his income plummeted to zero and his rescue pipeline completely shut down, he says in the complaint.

The contacts he’d built over a lifetime in the military and related security work valued his skill and discretion. They didn’t want to do business with someone labeled as a black marketer fleecing helpless and desperate Afghans with exorbitant fees, he says in the complaint.

Silicon Valley Bank UK Staff, Execs Receive
‘Modest’ Bonuses Totalling Tens of Millions

Bankers at the British branch of the failed Silicon Valley Bank reportedly received bonuses totalling tens of millions of pounds just days after the Bank of England stepped in to help orchestrate a rescue package deal that saw its assets bought up by HSCB for £1.

According to a report from Sky News, “modest” employee bonuses totalling between £15 million and £20 million were given out to staff and executives, though it is currently unclear exactly how much CEO Erin Platts and other executives may have received.

The broadcaster, citing an inside source, claimed that the banker bonuses demonstrated the confidence that HSBC has in the British arm of the failed Silicon Valley Bank, as Europe’s largest bank would have had to sign off on the payouts after it took over SVB UK on Monday.

It follows reports that bonuses were also handed out to the U.S. staff of the failed bank just hours before it became the largest bank to collapse since the 2008 global financial crisis.

SVB UK, which employed around 700 people and was a profitable business, faced the possibility of collapsing after its American parent company went under.

To prevent damage to the British tech sector, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak held an emergency auction for the bank, which ultimately saw it purchased by HSBC for £1 after it secured assurances that it would be exempt from the ‘ring-fencing’ rules that were put into place after the 2008 crisis, mandating that the nation’s largest lenders keep functions such as banking services separate from other activities such as investments and international banking.

 1 British Pound only!?
 They're awarding failed bankers with bonuses for going broke... again.

[kyonides]

Biden Signs Bill to Declassify COVID Origins Intelligence on Wuhan Lab

President Joe Biden has signed into law a bill mandating the declassification of intelligence related to the origins of COVID-19, saying that he shares “Congress’s goal of releasing as much information as possible” on the issue.

“We need to get to the bottom of COVID-19’s origins to help ensure we can better prevent future pandemics,” Biden said in a statement. “My Administration will continue to review all classified information relating to COVID19’s origins, including potential links to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”

He added that, in implementing the legislation, the administration will “declassify and share as much of that information as possible, consistent with my constitutional authority to protect against the disclosure of information that would harm national security.”

This month, both the Senate and the House unanimously passed the bipartisan bill, dubbed “COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023,” before sending it to Biden’s desk. The bill directs the director of national intelligence to “declassify any and all information relating to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin” of COVID-19.

Biden Signs Resolution Overturning DC Crime Bill

President Joe Biden signed on March 20 a GOP resolution overturning a Washington, D.C., crime bill.

The GOP-controlled House and Democrat-controlled Senate both passed the resolution on a bipartisan basis and Biden expressed that he would sign the bill, pitting himself against progressives and his own belief that the District of Columbia should be a state. The conundrum also put Biden on the spot amid GOP criticisms of his fellow Democrats being soft on crime. The city’s Democrat mayor, Muriel Bowser, vetoed the bill—only for the city council to override her veto. The resolution was the first time in decades that Congress voted to override a D.C. bill.

“I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule – but I don’t support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor’s objections – such as lowering penalties for carjackings. If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did – I’ll sign it,” posted Biden on Twitter on March 2. This was a reversal from the administration saying that Biden would veto the resolution.

In a Jan. 4 letter to D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson explaining her veto of the Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022 (RCCA), Bowser lamented that the bill “reduces sentences for illegally carrying a gun on our streets … [reducing] the maximum penalty from 15 years [behind bars] to four years.”

California County to Sue State for Changing Squaw Valley’s Name

This year, the government again upset many of them by renaming the town without asking, Singh said.

“I’m hurt, more than anything, because it’s my homeland,” she told The Epoch Times. “That’s where I grew up. It’s where my tribe is from.”

In January, a federal committee renamed Squaw Valley to Yokuts Valley after deciding the term “squaw” was a slur against Native American women. The decision has rocked the small community of about 3,500 located 220 miles north of Los Angeles.

“It’s pretty offensive,” Singh said. “Nobody ever directly came to us and asked us anything regarding it. It doesn’t come from the people. It came from one person, and he doesn’t represent us.”

Fresno County Supervisor Nathan Magsig has tried to tell state and federal officials that most residents didn’t want the change, he told The Epoch Times. According to a survey he took of residents, 87 percent didn’t want it, he said.

Fresno County voted March 14 to sue California over a new state law passed last year that paved the way for the federal decision.

New York DA Office Responds to Demands for Information About Trump Arrest

“We will not be intimidated by attempts to undermine the justice process,” a spokesperson for Bragg told news outlets in the first public response to inquiries linked to the Trump investigation. “Many false claims have been lobbed out, so let’s set the record straight. New York remains one of the safest big cities in the US.”

Republicans, Trump, and some legal scholars have said that Bragg’s pursuit of what they have called left-wing policies have led to a surge in violent crime in New York City and have questioned why the DA is targeting Trump over an incident that occurred in 2016 while crime remains relatively high in the city. Law enforcement groups have said the DA’s office’s policies have led to the release of repeat offenders who instead should be jailed, leading to more criminal activity.

The New York City Police Department’s data shows that overall crime in New York City was up 22 percent in 2022 over 2021. The city saw 433 murders last year, which is an 11 percent drop year-over-year, but that’s still far higher than previous years. For example, police data shows that New York City 295 murders and 318 murders in 2018 and 2019, respectively. There were 462 murders in 2020.
...
House Republicans sent a letter to Bragg on Monday, demanding testimony and documents over the investigation. Both Trump and Republicans say that Bragg is engaging in a politically motivated investigation.

US Expedites Delivery of Abrams Battle Tanks to Ukraine

The United States is expediting its delivery of battle tanks to Ukraine by providing a different variant of armored capability than previously decided.

Ukraine will still receive a full battalion of Abrams battle tanks from the United States, but will be getting the M1A1 variant rather than the M1A2 variant. The M1A1 is a slightly older variant with similar armament but older electronic systems and different tracks.

“[Department of Defense] announced in January that the United States would be providing 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine under the Ukraine Security Assistance initiative with the intent of providing the M1A2 variant,” said Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder during a March 21 press conference.

“However, ever since we made this announcement, we have been committed to exploring options to deliver the armored capability as quickly as possible.”

Ryder added that close bilateral study and analysis had led Ukrainian and U.S. officials to conclude that expediting the delivery of tanks by sending the M1A1 variant would be more beneficial than waiting for M1A2s.

Russia Says Jet Scrambled as US Strategic Bombers
Fly Over Baltic Sea Toward Border

A Russian fighter jet was scrambled on Monday to intercept a pair of U.S. strategic bombers flying over the Baltic Sea, Russia’s defense ministry said.

“On March 20, 2023, radars of the Western Military District Air Defense force on duty detected two airborne targets over the Baltic Sea, flying towards the state border of the Russian Federation,” the ministry said, as per Russian state media TASS. “The targets were identified as two U.S. Air Force B-52H strategic bombers.”

A single Su-35 fighter jet took to the air to “prevent violations of the state border” by the American warplanes that allegedly reached a “designated air patrol area,” but returned to its home base after the targets moved away from Russian territory, according to the ministry.

“No violation of the state border of the Russian Federation was permitted,” the ministry said, without specifying near which part of the Russian Baltic border the incident took place. Russia directly borders four NATO members in the region: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and Poland via its Kaliningrad coastal enclave.

In a statement released Tuesday, the U.S. Air Force in Europe said that the bombers were conducting a mission with NATO allies and partners in Estonian airspace as a part of their “normally scheduled training operations.”

[JayRay]

This bear masterminded 2 St. Louis Zoo escapes. Now he's off to the Lone Star State

Mar. 22—After a four-year-old Andean bear escaped from the Saint Louis Zoo for the second time in February, staff are arranging a transfer to a zoo in Brownsville, Texas.

Gladys Porter Zoo will be Ben's new home, and the Andean bear habitat onsite has a moat. Ben previously escaped his enclosure at the Saint Louis Zoo by breaking through steel mesh. Staff made adjustments to the habitat after the first escape Feb. 7, but the bear was able to slip out again last month.

"We used 450-pound tensile-strength clips to hold it closed, as well as an 1,800-pound cable, and even then, he was smart enough to figure out how to undo it," Regina Mossotti, vice president of animal care at the Saint Louis Zoo, told the News-Democrat.

Andean bears have been recognized for their intelligence, and Ben seems to be particularly smart, even for a member of his species.

"And so with that, it just goes to show how incredibly intelligent Andean bears are, but especially Ben," Mossotti said.

Ben's transfer will take place in the next few weeks, Mossotti said, but a specific date has not been set yet. It will be a bittersweet trip, as staff will be sad to see him go but glad he will be in a safe environment where he can thrive.

"It's so funny because we often don't think of animals as having a personality, but oh my gosh, every single animal has their own unique personality," Mossotti said. "Ben, he is so playful, he is energetic, our team has just fallen in love with him."

Ben has been at the Saint Louis Zoo for about a year and a half, and he is on loan from the Queens Zoo, where he was born. He is currently residing in a non-public area of the Saint Louis Zoo, and staff are training him through positive reinforcement to help him become comfortable in a travel crate.

When asked whether the Saint Louis Zoo will host Andean bears in the future, Mossotti said, "We're gonna evaluate that habitat and figure out what the next steps are for it and the right species to go into that. We haven't made that decision yet."

The habitat Ben escaped from has hosted Andean bears for years, Mossotti added, and he was the first to figure out how to break out.

The Andean bear species is considered to be vulnerable to extinction, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society. Estimates say fewer than 18,000 currently survive in the wild.

Deforestation has been a major threat to Andean bear populations, the Wildlife Conservation Society reports.

"This threat will only worsen in coming years as urban populations continue to rapidly expand throughout the Andes-Amazon region," the Wildlife Conservation Society website says.

Zoos often work with species survival plans to promote conservation of vulnerable species, and transfers happen pretty regularly for breeding and other conservation interests.

More on the Andean bear

The Andean is the only bear species native to South America, according to the Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute.

The bears grow 5 to 6 feet long and 2 to 3 feet at shoulder height. Males typically weigh up to 340 pounds, while average females weigh closer to 180 pounds.

Andeans are also known as "spectacled" bears, as white or cream colored "spectacles" encircle their eyes.

"Andean bears' thick coats are usually either black or brown, occasionally tinged with red. Each individual spectacled bear has its own distinctive set, or 'fingerprint,' of distinct cream or whitish markings on its head, throat and chest," the Smithsonian website says.

They eat fruit, grasses, berries, small animals and more, and they travel alone outside of breeding season.

The average lifespan of an Andean bear being cared for by humans is about 20 years, but they can live to their late twenties or even early thirties. Their average lifespan in the wild is unknown.

This story was originally published March 22, 2023, 12:08 PM.

[kyonides]

House Passes Parents’ Bill of Rights Act

The bill comes after COVID-19 restrictions led many parents to receive a better glimpse into their children’s education, as they were learning at home via their computers. Many parents learned in this setting about the far-left ideology being pushed in the classroom.

In turn, parents across the nation began showing up to school board meetings to protest the curriculum.

Later, Attorney General Merrick Garland was caught in an Oct. 4, 2021, memo offering federal resources and legal aid to states days after the National School Boards Association wrote a letter to President Joe Biden saying the country’s “public schools and its education leaders are under an immediate threat” from these parents and called verbal confrontations and other incidents at local school board meetings across the country “domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”

Since that memo came to light, McCarthy has vowed to deliver legislation to ensure that parents’ control over their children’s education is legally protected.
...
The main component of the bill would require schools to publicly disclose the contents of their curriculum and library materials to parents.
...
Additionally, the bill would establish the right of parents to see their kids’ schools’ expenditures.
...
The bill would also ensure that parents are notified of, and give consent to, any medical procedure performed on their child on school grounds.

A similar provision would require that parents be notified of any violent activity on school grounds.
...
Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), who led Democrat opposition to the bill, dismissed the legislation as the “Politics Over Parents Act.”

Jan. 6 Defendant Accused of Stealing Pelosi’s Laptop
Receives 3-year Prison Sentence

A woman who was accused of stealing then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s laptop computer and other criminal actions at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has been sentenced to three years in prison.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson handed down a sentence on Thursday against Riley Williams, whom a jury had convicted in November on six counts related to her actions at the Capitol. Prosecutors accused Williams of playing a key role in leading a group up a set of stairs and into Pelosi’s office.

A jury ultimately convicted Williams on charges on six charges, including civil disorder; impeding officers; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted area; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a capitol building and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.

Prosecutors had accused Williams of stealing Pelosi’s laptop and said a witness who described themselves as Williams’ former romantic partner made several calls to the FBI claiming Williams had taken Pelosi’s laptop or hard drive and planned “to send the computer device to a friend in Russia, who then planned to sell the device to SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence service.”

The witness told the FBI that Williams’ plans to send Pelosi’s laptop to Russia fell through and that she either kept or destroyed the device. The jury was ultimately deadlocked on the question of whether Williams aided and abetted in the theft of Pelosi’s laptop, and the government dismissed the charge with a mistrial motion.
...
Prosecutors also alleged Williams used commercial-grade software “to wipe her computer six times” in an effort to hide evidence. Williams allegedly changed her phone number and deleted her accounts on social media platforms like Facebook, Reddit, and Parler.
...
Williams also said she had been “addicted to the internet since before I can remember.”

Car Kills 6 Maryland Highway Construction Workers, Including a Father and Son

Maryland State Police revealed the names of six highway workers, including a father and son, who were killed while working at a construction site outside of Baltimore on Wednesday. The men were killed when a car torpedoed through the construction zone after it collided with another vehicle on Interstate 695 in Baltimore County.
...
The victims are identified as Rolando Ruiz, 46; Carlos Orlando Villatoro Escobar, 43; Jose Armando Escobar, 52; Mahlon Simmons III, 31; Mahlon Simmons II, 52;  and Sybil Lee Dimaggio, 46. WTOP News confirmed the two Simmons were father and son.

Lisa Adrienna Lea, 54, of Randallstown, was identified as the driver who plowed an Acura sedan into the workers.
...
While the driver of the Volkswagen, identified as 20-year-old Malachi Brown of Windsor Mill, did not sustain any injuries, Lea was taken to the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Shock Trauma Center for medical care.

According to the Maryland government’s data on crash fatalities, 563 deaths occurred in the fiscal year 2021, and 135 were “pedestrian” fatalities, like the crash that killed six construction workers.

However, that year’s total number of crashes was 108,656, and 28,084 resulted in injuries.

 I guess it's dangerous to drive in Maryland after reading those crazy statistics there.

Mississippi Governor Signs Legislation Prohibiting Ballot Harvesting

Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill on Wednesday banning ballot harvesting in the state.

“Regardless of where you vote, or how you vote, you deserve to have the utmost confidence in the integrity of our elections,” Reeves said. “That’s because free and fair elections are a key pillar of our republic.”

Senate Bill 2358 will prohibit political operatives from trafficking large amounts of absentee ballots to direct an election.

Those in favor of collecting multiple ballots for people who aren’t voting in person, mostly Democrats, argue that it helps those who can’t get to the polls, such as the disabled and disenfranchised.
...
However, Reeves, who is running for his second term this year, argued that the process of ballot harvesting “is an open invitation for fraud and abuse.”

US Aims to Allocate Over $7 Billion in Aid for Pacific Islands to Counter China

The Biden administration aims to allocate $7.1 billion in funding for three Pacific Island nations with which the United States has economic and defense ties, a U.S. official said on March 23, in a move to counter Beijing’s influence in the region.

State Department official Jane Bocklage told a congressional hearing that President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget request included $7.1 billion in funding for the Marshall Islands, Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).

The funds would be paid out over 20 years to extend the Compacts of Free Association (COFA) agreements, which allow the United States to provide economic aid to the three countries in exchange for permission to operate defense bases there.

Bocklage said that Washington is working to finalize negotiations with the three island nations to renew the COFA provisions that are set to expire in 2024 for Palau and later this year for FSM and the Marshall Islands.
...
Bocklage said the $7.1 billion funding consists of $6.5 billion in direct economic assistance and $634 million for the unfunded costs of extending the U.S. Postal Service in the Marshall Islands, Palau, and FSM.

Last month, Washington said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with FSM, which outlined a “shared understanding reached on levels and types of future U.S. assistance” to be requested by FSM.

US Commerce Department Adds 14 Chinese Firms
to Unverified List, Increasing Scrutiny

President Joe Biden’s administration has added 14 Chinese companies to an export precautions list, requiring U.S. exporters to more closely document their business transactions before shipping goods to the Chinese firms listed.

The U.S. Department of Commerce added these Chinese firms to its Unverified List (UVL) on Thursday after commerce officials were unable to verify certain aspects of these foreign business entities, such as how items exported to these firms are ultimately used.

The Chinese entities added to the UVL include:

• Airpart Consolidated Trading
  
• ECOM International (HK) Co., Ltd.
  
• Guangzhou Trusme Electronics Technology Co., Ltd.
  
• HK P&W Industry Co. Ltd. (HKPW)
  
• Jet-Prop International Forwarding (HK) Ltd.
  
• Kesina Services
  
• Lightstar Technology Ltd.
  
• Shandong Yuehaitongxin Keji Ltd.
  
• Shengwei Technology Co., Ltd.
  
• Small Leopard Electronics Co., Ltd.
  
• Solar Way (Hong Kong) Ltd.
  
• Sunway Technology Electronics Ltd.
  
• USETA Tech (HK) Ltd.
  
• Winners Global Trading Co.
  

As suggested by their inclusion on the UVL, information is limited for several of these businesses. A web page of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council indicates Airpart Consolidated Trading deals primarily with the import and export of aircraft components. The names of several of the other listed entities suggest they deal with electronics and other technology components.

Utility Shuts Down Minnesota Nuclear Plant Over Radioactive Leak

A utility company said it will shut down its nuclear power plant in Minnesota after it found a radioactive substance that’s being leaked into nearby groundwater.

Xcel Energy confirmed Thursday it will start the shutdown of the Monticello power plant on Friday to perform repairs to “permanently resolve a leak of water containing tritium at the plant,” according to a news release. The firm said that no disruptions will be made to customer service.

“While the leak continues to pose no risk to the public or the environment, we determined the best course of action is to power down the plant and perform the permanent repairs immediately,” claimed Chris Clark, president of Xcel Energy, in a statement. “We are continuing to work with and inform our state, federal, city and county leaders in the process.”

Earlier this month, Minnesota regulators said they are monitoring the cleanup of a leak of 400,000 gallons of radioactive water from the Monticello facility. At the time, Xcel said there was no danger to the public.

While Xcel reported the leak of water containing tritium to state and federal authorities in late November, the spill had not been made public before this month. State officials said they waited to get more information before going public with it.

AstraZeneca Sued Over COVID-19 Vaccine Injuries

Families and patients are suing vaccine manufacturer AstraZeneca in the UK, claiming that their loved ones died or suffered severe reactions after taking its vaccine, according to their lawyers.

A legal team representing a group of vaccine-injured people is pursuing personal injury compensation against AstraZeneca, arguing that the vaccine was “not as safe as the public were entitled to expect.”

Peter Todd, consultant solicitor with Scott-Moncrieff & Associates, told The Epoch Times by email that he has started a claim against AstraZeneca under the Consumer Protection Act 1987.

“I have started a claim against AstraZeneca seeking damages for injury (namely thrombosis with thrombocytopenia) and consequential loss caused by their COVID vaccine,” he said.

“The claim is under the Consumer Protection Act 1987, which holds manufacturers liable for injury caused by a defective product,” he added.
...
“A product is defective under this legislation if it is not as safe as consumers were reasonably entitled to expect. Our contention is that the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine was not as safe as consumers were reasonably entitled to expect in that it caused serious injury or death when we were assured it had been established to be safe through extensive clinical trials,” he added.

He said that the government “agreed in the procurement contract of the vaccine to indemnify AstraZeneca against any liability of this kind, so we ask the government to do the right thing and to support people who were vaccinated and help them cope with the devastating consequence of their life changing injuries.”

“Strict time limits apply to such claims so anyone who thinks they may have been affected in a similar way should get in touch,” he added.
...
The Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) is a one-off tax-free payment of £120,000 if someone is proven to have been severely disabled or has died as a result of vaccination from diseases such as measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), swine flu, and more.
...
One in 20 claims made to the UK vaccine injury scheme are successful in the case of COVID-19 jabs, according to data obtained by Freedom of Information requests in March.

According to responses, 44 claimants have been notified they are entitled to a Vaccine Damage Payment, which means over £5 million has so far been paid out.

[kyonides]

US Conducts Airstrikes in Syria
After 1 Killed in Suspected Iranian Drone Attack on Base

The U.S. military carried out an airstrike in Syria on Thursday after a drone attacked a U.S. base, killing one and injuring six more, including service members, according to the Department of Defense (DOD).

In a late Thursday night statement, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that he had authorized U.S. Central Command forces to carry out precise airstrikes in eastern Syria against facilities used by groups linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
...
According to the U.S. Intelligence Community, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) responsible for the attack on the coalition base near Hasakah in northeast Syria was determined “to be of Iranian origin.”

The UAV targeted a maintenance facility and struck at approximately 1:38 p.m. local time, resulting in the death of one U.S. contractor and injuries to five service members and an additional U.S. contractor.

Two of the wounded service members received medical treatment on site while three other service members and the U.S. contractor were evacuated to coalition facilities in Iraq for further medical attention.

The DOD declared that the strikes were carried out with the aim of safeguarding and defending American personnel. It also affirmed that the response was “proportionate and deliberate” and aimed to curtail the possibility of increased hostilities and casualties.

Austin emphasized that President Joe Biden had conveyed the message that the United States would use all necessary means to protect its people and would retaliate on its own terms.

Rockets Target US Troops in Syria Day After US Strikes, No Casualties Reported

U.S. troops stationed in eastern Syria came under rocket attack on Friday, a day after U.S. forces conducted retaliatory air strikes on Iranian forces operating in Syria.

The barrage of eight rockets targeted U.S. troops stationed near the Al-Omar oil fields in Syria’s Deir ez-Zur province at around 8:05 a.m. local time.

“We can confirm there was a rocket attack on Green Village in Syria,” Maj. John Moore, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), said in an emailed statement.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) spokesperson reported no U.S. or coalition personnel were injured, and no equipment or facilities were damaged in this latest attack.

The rocket attack came a day after a U.S. contractor was killed when an explosives-laden drone crashed into a maintenance facility on a Coalition base near Hasakah in northeast Syria. Five U.S. service members and another U.S. contractor were wounded in that attack. U.S. forces determined the suicide drone was of Iranian design and attributed the attack to Iranian-affiliated groups operating in Syria. U.S. forces responded to the Thursday suicide drone attack by launching retaliatory air strikes against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

Neither CENTCOM nor the DoD attributed Friday’s rocket attack to Iranian forces or their proxies in the area. Still, the incident could be the latest exchange of fire between the U.S. and Iranian-aligned forces in Syria.

A social media post purportedly shows a U.S. Army Apache attack helicopter operating over the Deir ez-Zur province in Syria on Friday afternoon.

Manhattan DA Office Responds:
Trump Created ‘False Expectation’ He Would Be Arrested

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg fired back at House Republicans seeking to probe his reported case against former President Donald Trump, offering the first public response to the former president’s claim that he would be indicted by Bragg’s office soon.

“Your letter dated March 20, 2023 (the ‘Letter’), in contrast, is an [unprecedented] inquiry into a pending local prosecution,” Bragg’s office wrote (pdf) to House Judiciary Republicans in the letter, which was posted online by multiple news outlets. It said that the GOP’s letter “only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day, and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene. Neither fact is a legitimate basis for congressional inquiry.”

If Bragg’s office were to comply with the request, it would “interfere with law enforcement,” and the GOP letter represents an “unlawful incursion into New York’s sovereignty,” according to the letter. It was written by Bragg’s general counsel, Leslie B. Dubeck, and dated March 23.

The letter represents the first public comments Bragg made specifically about the investigation into Trump after the former president announced last weekend that he would be indicted on Tuesday, although Tuesday passed without any charges being filed against him. So far, Epoch Times requests for comment to Bragg’s office have gone unanswered.

However, the letter provided little insight into the investigation and whether the grand jury will return an indictment against Trump. Several witnesses, including former Trump attorney Michael Cohen and fellow lawyer Robert Castello, testified in front of the grand jury in recent days, triggering even more speculation about the case.

Trump Lawyer Says Manhattan DA Bragg Should Be Investigated,
Ethics Complaint Filed

Joseph Tacopina, attorney for former President Donald Trump, has accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of violating prosecutorial conduct in his case against Trump.

In an interview with The Epoch Times, Tacopina noted that he had filed a recommendation to an oversight body requesting an investigation on Bragg.

The remarks came a day after Alan Dershowitz, a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, said on Fox News’ “Hannity” that Bragg should be investigated for bringing into the proceedings former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who reportedly became a star witness in the grand jury investigation issues surrounding Trump’s alleged involvement in hush money Cohen paid to adult entertainment actress Stormy Daniels. Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels, saying he’s a victim of extortion.

“I have never seen a weaker case, and, in the end, I really do think that Bragg is worried about his own bar card. I think he’s worried that [if] he brings this case, and he uses a witness who he has to know is lying, there could be investigations of [Bragg], and there should be investigations,” Dershowitz said, referring to Cohen.

The testimony of Cohen, who claims that he paid Daniels at Trump’s direction, is likely to be critical in establishing charges against Trump, which experts expect to be felony falsifying business records. That charge would require that the fraud had been to hide another crime—in this case a violation of federal campaign law.

Tacopina, who has represented high-profile clients such as Michael Jackson and rapper ASAP Rocky, told The Epoch Times that he agreed with Dershowitz’s assessment.

Kellyanne Conway Breaks Silence on Michael Cohen’s Trump Allegations

“Michael Cohen never told me he was using money to pay this person,” Conway, Trump’s 2016 campaign manager, told Fox News on Tuesday, responding to details that surfaced about the probe. She was referring to Cohen’s claims that he paid hush money to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign, while Bragg’s office is reportedly trying to determine whether Trump misclassified the payment.

Conway met with Manhattan prosecutors several weeks ago and was seen arriving at the district attorney’s office in early March, according to reporters. In her interview with Hannity, Conway confirmed she testified in front of the grand jury, noting that she did so without a lawyer present.

“They are trying to build a case against Donald Trump … based on the testimony of Michael Cohen,” she said, adding that Cohen “had nothing to do with the [Trump] campaign” in 2016.

Two years after the 2016 campaign ended, Cohen was indicted on federal charges and ultimately pleaded guilty to tax evasion, campaign finance, and making false statements. Cohen’s three year sentenced ended in mid-2021 and at the time, he told reporters he will work with law enforcement to “ensure that others are held responsible for their dirty deeds and no one is ever believed to be above the law.”
...
During the Fox News interview, Conway noted that in late 2016, weeks before the November election, nobody believed Trump would win the presidency after several women threatened to come forward with allegations against him. She noted there were “women coming out” constantly and “nothing came of any of that.”

Man Drives at Pedestrians Inside German Airport Garage

A motorist drove at pedestrians and rammed parked cars on Friday in a parking garage at Cologne-Bonn Airport in western Germany, injuring three people slightly, police said.

Two police officers also were slightly hurt as they pinned down the 57-year-old man, who appeared to have mental health issues, according to a police statement.

Most people apparently were able to get out of the way of the vehicle, though one of the injured was squeezed between cars.

The driver was detained and taken to the hospital. He was uninjured.

Police said that, before the incident, security officers had twice thrown the man out of the airport “because of his behavior.” They didn’t elaborate.

He then apparently climbed into a rental company’s minibus that had been parked in the garage for cleaning and drove across the parking garage—shifting gears, going forward and backward over and over again until police stopped him.

[kyonides]

Putin Says Russia Will Place Tactical Nuclear Weapons in Neighboring Country

A senior White House official on Sunday said that there is no indication that Russia will station nuclear weapons in nearby Belarus after Russian President Vladimir Putin made a public pledge to do so a day earlier

“We have not seen any indication that he’s made good on this pledge, or moved any nuclear weapons around,” White House strategic communications coordinator John Kirby told CBS’ “Face the Nation” when asked about Putin’s comments.

Although not unexpected, the plan is one of Russia’s clearest nuclear signals since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine 13 months ago, and Ukrainian officials called for a meeting of the U.N. Security Council in response. While Washington, the world’s other nuclear superpower, played down concerns about Putin’s announcement, NATO said Moscow’s non-proliferation pledge and his description of U.S. weapons deployment overseas were way off the mark.

“Russia’s reference to NATO’s nuclear sharing is totally misleading. NATO allies act with full respect of their international commitments,” NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu told Reuters on Sunday, adding, “Russia has consistently broken its arms control commitments.”

During a state television event, Putin revealed plans to place tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, located next to Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, and Lithuania. The Russian leader said that his military will have control of any weapons that are stationed in Belarus, which was used in part by Russian forces to help stage last year’s invasion of Ukraine.

Federal ‘Major Disaster’ Declared in Mississippi After Dozens Killed by Tornadoes

President Joe Biden on Sunday issued a major disaster declaration in Mississippi after tornadoes left dozens of people dead, according to a White House statement.

Biden early on Sunday “declared that a major disaster exists in the State of Mississippi and ordered Federal aid to supplement State, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, and tornadoes from March 24 to March 25, 2023.”

Federal disaster funding will be made available for affected individuals in Carroll, Humphreys, Monroe, and Sharkey counties, the White House said. Assistance can be used for temporary housing, home repairs, low-interest loans to cover property losses, and other programs, it said.

Multiple tornadoes ripped through Mississippi and Alabama starting Friday, destroying entire towns and leaving at least 26 dead in Mississippi and one dead in Alabama, according to officials. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves declared an emergency in affected areas and wrote on Twitter that the state activated its medical support system.

New York Close to Passing Statewide Gas Stove Ban on New Homes

New York state is reportedly close to enacting the nation’s first legislative ban on gas stoves for most new construction, including single-family homes and commercial buildings.

Amid a statewide uproar over the plan, the Democrat-led state legislature is set to advance the move as part of Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $227 billion budget blueprint, which heavily focuses on phasing out the use of fossil fuels with a commitment to creating a “cleaner, healthier environment for future generations.”

If passed as is, the measure would prohibit the installation of “fossil fuel equipment” and building systems in the construction of new one-family and smaller multi-family homes, beginning on Dec. 31, 2025. The same prohibition would apply to new larger multi-family homes and commercial buildings starting on Dec. 31, 2028.

This policy means that any new apartments or homes built after the effective dates wouldn’t be allowed to have many other common fossil fuel household items, including furnaces, water heaters, and clothes dryers. The term “fossil-fuel equipment” actually covers a wide range of oil- or gas-powered plumbing, heating, lighting, insulating, ventilating, air conditioning, and refrigerating equipment, as well as elevators and escalators that run on fossil fuel.

Exemptions for commercial kitchens, laboratories, laundromats, hospitals, crematoriums, and critical infrastructure projects would be likely, the governor’s office stated last month.

The state budget is due at midnight on April 1.

Philadelphia Officials Issue Emergency Alert to Residents
to Drink Bottled Water After Chemical Spill

The city of Philadelphia issued an advisory to locals on March 26 that they should drink bottled water “out of caution” following a chemical spill in the nearby Delaware River.

On Twitter, the city wrote that it’s currently “responding to a spill of a latex product that occurred along a Delaware River tributary” and that “more information will be provided as it becomes available.” As of March 26, it wrote that “no contaminants” were discovered in the city’s tap water and that any potential contaminants would most likely be found at the Baxter Drinking Water Treatment Plant.

“Out of an abundance of caution, residents in the impacted areas may want to switch to bottled water,” the city of Philadelphia stated.

Authorities pointed to a map, titled “Delaware River Latex Spill Map,” that showed districts in Philadelphia that may have been “potentially impacted” by the spill as of March 26. That included much of the city’s border along the Delaware River.

“As has been reported, on [March 24] a chemical spill occurred in Bristol Township, Bucks County, which released contaminants into the Delaware River,” Mike Carroll, the city’s deputy managing director for transportation, told CNN. “The Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) became aware of this through the Delaware Valley Early Warning System (EWS) and has been evaluating the situation since that time to understand potential impacts to the public. Although early indications have not revealed contamination, we are still monitoring the situation and conducting testing.”

Honduras Severs Diplomatic Ties With Taiwan, Recognizes China

Honduras’s leftist government cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the Latin American country announced on March 25, stating that it recognizes “only one China in the world,” under pressure from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Hours later, Beijing and Honduras established diplomatic relations, China’s state-controlled media reported on March 26.

The announcement by Honduras’s Foreign Ministry, which was posted on Twitter, comes amid rising tensions between the regime in Beijing and the U.S.-led democratic international rules-based order, including the CCP’s increasing aggression toward self-ruled Taiwan. The move leaves Taiwan with diplomatic relations with only 13 sovereign states.

“The government of the Republic of Honduras recognizes the existence of only one China in the world and that the government of the People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government that represents all of China,” the Honduran ministry statement reads.

It notes that “Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory, and as of today, the Honduran government has informed Taiwan of the severance of diplomatic relations, pledging not to have any official relationship or contact with Taiwan.”

Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said on March 26 that the governments of Honduras and China were discussing establishing ties and that Taiwan had ended its relations with Honduras to “safeguard its sovereignty and dignity.”

[kyonides]

US Welcomes Pause in Israeli Judicial Reform Plan

The United States welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement on March 27 that Israel will halt its attempt at judicial reform until the next legislative session, which will be after Passover.

In Israel, Passover starts on April 5 and ends on April 12 (April 13 outside of Israel).
...
Netanyahu announced the suspension of his efforts to change Israel’s judiciary.

“I am taking a timeout in the legislation of the judicial reform,” he said.

“In order to prevent a rift in our people, I have decided to suspend the vote on the second and third reading of the legislation in the current Knesset session, in order to try and reach an understanding on the legislation during the next Knesset session.”

Netanyahu pledged to “bring a reform that will restore the balance between the different branches of government while strengthening civil liberties.”

Massive protests were happening in Israel in response to the proposed changes and after Netanyahu fired his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, who voiced opposition to the reform efforts, on March 26.

The United States expressed concern about the protests.

 So was Netanyahu a defender of liberties or a dictator on par with Putin?

Beware of Toxic Spices: Heavy Metals Found in Major Brand Names

Four lawsuits have been filed over the last two years over significant levels of toxic heavy metals in big brand names of herbs and spices. An analysis by Consumer Reports (CR) in 2021 detailed the problem, though big box stores continue to carry the listed brands and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet set limits for heavy metal levels in dry herbs and spices.

The CR report, titled “Your Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead,” detailed an analysis of 126 individual products from national and private-label brands, such as Great Value (Walmart), La Flor Spices, McCormick & Company, Penzeys Spices, Spice Islands, and 365 by Whole Foods Market.

The analysis found that roughly one-third of the tested products (40) had “high enough levels of arsenic, lead, and cadmium combined, on average, to pose a health concern for children when regularly consumed in typical serving sizes,” with most raising concern for adults as well.

McCormick & Company, Inc. was the first major brand to face a class action lawsuit after the report was made public. The suit was filed in January 2022 and Top Class Actions reported it was settled for $3 million in May of 2022.Per the suit, the defendant failed to warn consumers that some of its herbs and spices may be tainted with significant levels of toxic heavy metals.

The McCormick spices that contained problematic levels of toxic heavy metals, including lead, arsenic, and cadmium included McCormick’s Culinary Ground Basil, Ground Ginger, Ground Oregano, Paprika, Ground Thyme, and Ground Turmeric.

The lawsuit outlines that the Customer Reports analysis shows “it is possible for herb and spice companies to limit heavy metals in their products” as about “two-thirds of the spices [Consumer Reports] tested did not have concerning levels of heavy metals.” They noted that other companies such as Bolner’s Fiesta and Al Wadi Al Akhdar do perform such tests.

Moreover, the defendant would have had the knowledge that it could test for heavy metals, but did not, and it could safely remove these metals from its herbs and spices, but, again, did not. The suit claims that instead, “the defendants chose to ignore the health of the consuming public in pursuit of profit.”

Nashville School Shooter Identified as 28-Year-Old Woman

Three children and three adult staff members at a private elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, were fatally shot on March 27 after a 28-year-old woman opened fire inside the building, officials said.

The shooting occurred at The Covenant School, a Christian school for students in preschool through sixth grade. The suspect, who Metro Nashville Police Department (MPND) officials identified as Audrey Elizabeth Hale, was shot and killed by officers in a lobby area on the second floor of the school, according to police. Officials said Hale had once attended the school.

Calls about the shooting occurred around 10:13 a.m. local time and MNPD alongside Metro Nashville Fire Department (Metro Fire) responded to the scene immediately, according to officials from both agencies.

“Officers entered the first story of the school, began clearing it, they heard shots coming from the second level and immediately went to the gunfire,” MPND spokesman Don Aaron said at a news conference. “When the officers got to the second level, they saw a shooter, a female, who was firing. The officers engaged her. She was fatally shot by responding police officers.”

The officers had engaged the shooter by 10:27 a.m., roughly 14 minutes after the first call came in.

Aaron said the assailant had gained entry through a side entrance and had two assault-type rifles as well as a handgun, while Nashville Police Chief John Drake said the suspect had a map “of how this was all going to take place.”

Aaron said that on a typical day, there would be about 209 students in the building and approximately 40 to 50 staff members.

Kendra Loney, a spokesperson with Metro Fire, said crews are dispatched to active shooter situations for medical support and rescue task force response to go in alongside MNDP. She said fire department members went in as soon as it was safe to do so and attempted to provide life-saving efforts for survivors.

Supreme Court Leaves Trump’s Steel Import Tariffs Intact

The Supreme Court decided on March 27 to not take up an industry challenge to steel import tariffs that then-President Donald Trump imposed in 2018 on U.S. national security grounds.

President Joe Biden has left the tariffs, which Trump said were needed to ensure robust levels of domestic steel production, largely intact. The Biden administration had urged the court to reject the challenge.

The tariffs went into effect on March 1, 2018. A 25 percent tariff on imported steel from most countries was imposed, along with a 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum.

“When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win,” Trump wrote on Twitter the next day.

“Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country [China] and they get cute, don’t trade anymore—we win big. It’s easy!”

Trump cited Section 232 of the Trade Act of 1962, which permits the president to impose restrictions on the importation of goods deemed essential to national security. He said at the time that the tariffs were needed to bolster the production of airplanes, ships, and military materials with U.S. steel. The tariffs created tension with some U.S. allies, although some countries were exempted from the policy.

The Supreme Court turned away the petition in USP Holdings Inc. v. United States, court file 22-565, in an unsigned order. The court didn’t explain its decision. No justices dissented from the order.

Biden’s FAA Nominee Withdraws After Debate Over His Qualifications

Phillip Washington, who was President Joe Biden’s choice to lead the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), withdrew his name from consideration over the weekend amid questions from lawmakers about his level of aviation experience.
...
The FAA has been without a Senate-confirmed commissioner since Steven Dickson left office at the end of March 2022; Billy Nolen has been serving as acting FAA administrator.

Washington’s withdrawal may hamper the administration’s efforts to address the airline system following several narrowly avoided collisions in recent weeks. In addition, the FAA’s Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system also experienced an outage in January that led to thousands of commercial flights being grounded across the United States.
...
While Washington is the current CEO of Denver International Airport, he isn’t a trained pilot. During the Senate confirmation process, Republican lawmakers made note of Washington’s lack of direct flight experience.

During one hearing on March 1, Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) quizzed Washington on a number of existing aviation regulations. Budd said that he asked Washington seven questions on aviation policy, but that the Biden nominee was unable to answer any of them.
...
As Budd continued his line of questioning about various flight regulations, Washington said, “Senator, I’m not a pilot, but I would lean on our career employees and our safety folks within the FAA.”

Budd organized a letter (pdf) on March 16 calling on Biden to withdraw Washington’s name from consideration for the FAA leadership role. Thirteen other Republican lawmakers who have pilot’s licenses and other formal aviation experience also signed the letter.

Empty Shipping Containers Pile Up in Chinese Ports
as China’s Exports Continue to Decline

Empty shipping containers used for export have been piling up in Shanghai, Ningbo, Guangdong, and other major Chinese ports since December 2022, as China’s foreign trade continues to decline.

The latest data from ContainerxChange, a global container trading platform, show that in the sixth week of 2023 (February 5 to 11), the container availability index (CAx) of Shanghai Port’s 40-foot container reached 0.64, and has remained above 0.6 for 11 consecutive weeks.

A CAx higher than 0.5 indicates that the port has a surplus of containers, and one less than 0.5 indicates a shortgage.

Meanwhile, several mainland Chinese media outlets have recently revealed that there are more than four layers of containers stacked together at the third container terminal in Beilun of Ningbo, all of which are empty. Empty containers are piled up to six or seven stories high at various terminals in the Waigaoqiao Port Area of Shanghai Port.

Workers at Shanghai dock told the media that the empty containers have piled up to eight stories high and that there are also a large number of empty containers in the Yangshan Deepwater Port Area. Yantian Port in Guangdong currently has the highest number of empty containers, stacked up to seven layers high, since the opening of the port 29 years ago.

A man using the pseudonym Zhao Mingli said he used to do foreign trade business in the megacity of Shenzhen in south China but had to switch careers to real estate demolition. He told The Epoch Times that it used to be hard to find an empty container in Yantian Port, but now they are piled up like mountains. “This year is a cold winter for [China’s] foreign trade, and empty containers are returning to China from around the globe.”

Sun Xiaoning, who works at a logistics company in Foshan in Guangdong Province, told The Epoch Times recently that many domestic companies have closed down, his company transports only one container a month, and transportation capacity has been reduced by 50 percent.

Andrew Cuomo Rips Probes Into Trump as Feeding ‘Cancer in Our Body Politic’

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, criticized investigations into former President Donald Trump, calling them politically motivated and a “cancer in our body politic.”

Cuomo, a former attorney general, told host John Catsimatidis in an interview on WABC 770 that he expects Trump will be indicted in Manhattan [this] week.

“The expression, for prosecutors, is you can indict a ham sandwich because the prosecutor controls the entire indictment process,” Cuomo said.

Trump himself has said he expects to be indicted and arrested in a probe that he has denounced as a “fairy tale” and a “witch hunt.”

Cuomo said that he doesn’t understand why Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is “putting such an emphasis” on the case against Trump, which he argued will stoke division and be viewed as a political hack job by an increasingly jaded populace.

“You have a cynical public, they don’t believe anyone. And when you start to see these prosecutors bringing political cases, it just affirms everybody’s cynicism,” Cuomo said.

“I don’t believe any of this. I don’t believe a Democratic prosecutor just happens to be attacking a Republican,” he continued.

“I think it’s all politics,” Cuomo added. “It feeds the cynicism and that’s the cancer in our body politic right now.”
...
House Republicans led by Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), and Administration Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) wrote in a letter to Bragg that his “decision to pursue such a politically motivated prosecution” requires scrutiny by Congress about how public safety funds are being used by local law enforcement agencies.

[kyonides]

We've got an update on the Nashville school shooting.

Joe Biden Opens Comments on Nashville Christian School Shooting
with Jokes About Ice Cream

President Joe Biden ascended the podium Monday and joked about chocolate chip ice cream before calling for more gun control in the wake of the Nashville Christian school shooting.

He joked about ice cream with the audience in the East Room prior to shifting to talk about the Nashville school attack.

Biden said, “We know there are a number of people who did not make it, including children.”

He said, “We have to [do] more to stop gun violence. It’s ripping our communities apart, ripping at the  very soul of the nation. We have to do more to protect our schools, so they aren’t turned into prison[s].”

Biden added, “The shooter, in this situation, reportedly had two ‘assault weapons’ and a pistol, two AK-47s.”

He said, “I call on Congress again to pass my ‘assault weapons’ ban. It’s about time that we begin to make more progress.”

 But what did Biden say that could sound so outrageous?

I came down because I heard there was chocolate chip ice cream. By the way, I have a whole refrigerator full upstairs.

I guess his brain got  frozen back then.  

Chris Christie: Unfortunate Biden Joked,
Played Politics After Nashville Shooting

Former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) said Monday on FNC’s “The Story” that President Joe Biden “unfortunately” joked and played politics after six people were killed in a mass shooting at Covenant School in Nashville.
...
Christie said, “To say that he misunderstood the moment would be an understatement. You know, the president is watching, you’d hope before he comes down there, the awful scenes from the shooting and the reactions of family members and friends of people in that school and to be coming down, joking about the fact that he’s Jill Biden’s husband and looking for chocolate chip ice cream is hardly the way to start it. There’s no way to talk about something like this except to say that for all of us that are parents, what we dread every day is the news about the health and life of our children. So there’s no room to joke in that circumstance at all. Certainly not from the president of the United States.”

Regarding Biden’s call for an assault weapons ban, Christie said, “It’s not about playing politics, and unfortunately, the second worst thing to make a joke on a day like today is to play politics with it. Unfortunately, that is exactly what the president did. He went back to the old playbook.”

DOJ: Feds Gave Green Card to Haitian Mayor Who Ordered Political Killings

The former mayor of Les Irois, Haiti, was awarded a green card to permanently resettle in the United States despite allegedly carrying out political killings and human rights abuses, the Department of Justice (DOJ) alleges.

This month, 50-year-old Jean Morose Viliena — the former mayor of Les Irois — was arrested, charged, and indicted in federal court on charges that he fraudulently obtained a green card by failing to disclose political killings and human rights abuses that he allegedly carried out or ordered while holding office in Haiti.

According to federal prosecutors, Viliena served as mayor in Les Irois from December 2006 to at least February 2010 during which he was backed by the Korega political machine, which uses armed violence to exert power over local residents.

The indictment alleges that in July 2007, a witness accused Viliena of assaulting his neighbor during criminal proceedings in Les Irois. That evening, the indictment claims, Viliena led an armed militia to the witness’s home, murdered the witness’s brother, and smashed his skull with a rock in front of a crowd of onlookers.

In a second incident, the indictment claims, Viliena and an armed militia forcibly shut down and seized a local radio station that had been founded by journalists and activists. Some members of the militia allegedly carried machetes, picks, and sledgehammers.

Viliena, in the midst of seizing the radio station, allegedly pistol-whipped and assaulted an individual before ordering his murder. The individual ultimately suffered a gunshot wound to the leg, which had to be amputated. Another individual was shot in the face and left blind in one eye as a result.

Less than a year after the first incident, Viliena applied for a visa to enter the U.S. at the American embassy in Port au Prince, Haiti.

Liberal MP Discussing 2 Michaels With Chinese Consulate Directly
Amounts to ‘Monumental Government Negligence’

The case is called 2 Michaels because of the 2 Canadian men that China put in prison to force Canada to negotiate a deal that later would end up approving the release of the Huawei empire's heir Meng Wanzhou.

Former Liberal MP Han Dong should have faced “serious consequences” for discussing the case of imprisoned Canadians with the Chinese consulate without informing the government, says a former Canadian ambassador to China.

Dong, who is now sitting as an Independent MP representing Toronto’s Don Valley North riding, resigned from the Liberal caucus on March 22, hours after a Global News report, citing national security sources, alleged that Dong advised a Chinese diplomat in February 2021 to hold off the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. The report alleges that Dong said their release would benefit the opposing Conservative Party. Dong denies the allegations, and has announced that he is suing Global News for its reporting.

The two Canadians, now widely known as the “two Michaels,” had been detained in China for over two years by that time, in what was regarded as retaliation from Beijing over Canada’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition request in December 2018.

Dong confirmed to Global News that he had raised the issue of Kovrig and Spavor with the Chinese consul-general Han Tao at the time, but said that he demanded their immediate release rather than advising against it.

David Mulroney, who was Canada’s ambassador to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) between 2009 and 2012, argues that Dong’s contact with the Chinese Consulate at all during the crisis is questionable and unusual.

“What seems indisputable in the Han Dong affair is that, in the midst of the Meng/2 Michaels crisis, a [government] MP discussed the case with a senior PRC diplomat without ever informing the foreign minister. Or anyone. And that he felt this was okay and somehow his responsibility,” Mulroney said on social media on March 24.

“A normal [government], in a crisis of this magnitude, would ride herd on MPs, staffers, officials, shutting down all unauthorized communications with China. Nobody would be allowed to freelance. Failure to comply would have swift, serious consequences.”

Mulroney says this raises issues of incompetence on the part of the government.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul says staff member 'brutally attacked,'
sustained 'life-threatening' injuries

The office of Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul confirmed Monday that a member of his staff was "brutally attacked" on the streets of Washington, D.C over the weekend.

"This past weekend a member of my staff was brutally attacked in broad daylight in Washington, D.C.," Paul said in a statement. "I ask you to join Kelley and me in praying for a speedy and complete recovery, and thanking the first responders, hospital staff, and police for their diligent actions."

"We are relieved to hear the suspect has been arrested. At this time we would ask for privacy so everyone can focus on healing and recovery," he added.

Paul's office did not confirm the identity of the staff member who was attacked, however a press released issued by the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department on Monday afternoon said the victim was an adult male who had sustained "life-threatening injuries."

The statement announced the arrest of a suspect, 42-year-old Glynn Neal, "in reference to an Assault with Intent to Kill (Knife) offense," and that the incident occurred on the 1300 block of H Stree, NE, less than 1.5 miles from the U.S. Capitol.

This doesn't seem the first time that the Senator Rand Paul's office announces such a terrible news to the American public.

Sen. Paul himself was attacked by a neighbor and sustained serious injuries in 2017. He suffered six broken ribs, including three displaced fractures, and his recovery was complicated by fluid and blood around the lungs and recurrent pneumonia.

Paul and his wife were also previously attacked by a mob as the pair made their way back to a hotel following Donald Trump’s 2020 Republican National Convention acceptance speech at the White House. One man was charged with assaulting a police officer near Paul at the time but it was later dropped.

[DerVVulfman]

IRS visited Twitter Files Journalist’s Home
Same Day as Congressional Testimony

Yes. The IRS visited a Witness when he was to appear before Congress!!!

Just as Matt Taibbi was to appear in Congress over the Weaponization of the Government, the IRS paid Mr. Taibbi a visit. And for that, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan issued a demand to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel and the Department of Treasury for an explanation over the oddly timed visit. Taibbi had been deeply involved in the Twitter File dumps, revealing the unfair bias in Twitter's past and its contact with certain government officials.

In the initial visit by the IRS, Taibbi was informed by an agent told that his 2018 and 2021 tax returns were both rejected due to identity theft concerns. But when Taibbi came forward to Congress regarding the IRS visit, he produced documents that indicate his 2018 return had been electronically accepted and the IRS never told him or his accountants there was an issue with it over the last 4¹/₂ years.  And of his 2021 returns, they were filed twice and rejected, even though his accountants used a unique Pin Identification number that the IRS themselves provided.

  Again, Taibbi was a witness over the Weaponization of the Government, and this extremely suspicious behavior of the IRS would remind many of the 2013 IRS Targeting Scandal... a case dropped by the Obama Department of Justice.  To those that do remember, this appears as witness tampering.