Tag: news

Authored by Rudy Blalock via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed federal charges against a suspect in connection with a firebombing attack on a Tesla dealership in Loveland, Colorado.

Cooper Frederick, 24, faces federal charges related to the March 7 attack, according to Attorney General Pamela Bondi, who announced the charges on Monday.

“I made it clear, if you take part in the wave of domestic terrorism, I’ve made it clear if you take part in the wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, we will find you, arrest you, and put you behind bars,” Bondi stated. “Today, I’m proud to announce that the Department of Justice has unsealed federal charges against another Tesla attacker.”

Frederick, a Fort Collins resident, was initially arrested by Loveland Police on March 13 on multiple state charges, according to a City of Loveland news release. The charges included possession of explosives, second-degree arson, criminal mischief, and criminal attempt to commit a felony.

A fire erupted after an incendiary device was thrown at the Tesla building and landed between two vehicles. Several people inside the building were cleaning at the time and could have been injured, according to the news release, which stated a responding officer quickly extinguished the fire.

Larimer County Jail records show Frederick bonded out of jail on March 14.

Bondi stated in the same announcement that, following the latest charges, Frederick was re-arrested in Plano, Texas, following an investigation by the FBI.

Frederick’s arrest comes amid a wave of violent attacks against Tesla properties since CEO Elon Musk became head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the Trump administration.

Incidents have occurred in at least nine states since January, with targets including Tesla showrooms, vehicles, and charging stations.

According to a report by The Epoch Times, on March 18, two Cybertrucks were set ablaze at a Las Vegas repair center, and “Resist” was spray-painted on the building.

Over that incident, police arrested 36-year-old Paul Hyon Kim on March 27, charging him with 15 offenses, including arson and firearms violations. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said Kim had self-proclaimed affiliations with far-left organizations, including Communist Party USA-affiliated groups and other movements.

In February, a suspect allegedly threw eight Molotov cocktails at a Tesla showroom in Salem, Oregon, while armed with a suppressed AR-15 rifle.

Additional attacks have also occurred in Charleston, South Carolina, and Austin, Texas.

“All of these cases are a serious threat to public safety. Therefore, there will be no negotiating. We are seeking 20 years in prison,” Bondi said.

In Canada, approximately 80 Tesla vehicles were also vandalized in Hamilton, Ontario, on March 19.

President Donald Trump has condemned the attacks on Tesla properties, suggesting perpetrators would face long sentences for their crimes.

“I look forward to watching the sick terrorist thugs get 20-year jail sentences for what they are doing to Elon Musk and Tesla,” he said in a March 21 post on Truth Social.

During a town hall event in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Sunday, Musk condemned the attacks.

“They’re burning Teslas and shooting up dealerships and calling for the death of the president and me … That’s somebody else’s car. Leave it alone,” Musk said during the livestreamed event.

A group called Tesla Takedown has organized protests at dealerships nationwide. On its website, the group states that “Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he’s using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it.” The group called for a Global Day of Action on March 29, which saw protests targeting Tesla around the United States and smaller-scale rallies in several European locations.

From NTD News

On Tuesday the Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, claimed that they shot down another American MQ-9 Reaper drone while it was flying over Yemen.

“Our air defenses successfully shot down an American MQ-9 Reaper drone while it was carrying out hostile missions in the airspace of Maarib Governorate, using a suitable, locally made missile,” a Houthi military statement said.

The US military has not yet confirmed that it lost a drone, but if accurate this would mark the 16th US MQ-9 drone that’s been downed in the region, as the Houthis announced.

While the Pentagon has acknowledged the loss of several drones since conducting anti-Houthi operations over the course of the last year, it has not specified or confirmed each and every downing, only leaving its sporadic statements vague.

If the Houthis have really downed 16 Reaper drones at this point, this would amount to nearly $500 million in lost military hardware, considering each MQ-9 is commonly estimated to cost the US about $30 million. Houthis statements throughout the war going back to Oct.7, 2023 tend to be accurate.

Each MQ-9 Reaper drone costs the US about $30 million, so if the Houthis’ number is accurate, that means the US has lost $480 million worth of drones.

The Houthi statement further confirmed ongoing US military action targeting Yemen, describing that the US had in the last hours “launched a number of raids on various areas, resulting in martyrs, injuries, and damage to citizens’ properties.”

Meanwhile President Trump in his latest statements on the Yemen campaign asserted the Houthis have “been decimated” by the new waves of strikes which began on March 15.

Widely circulating Houthi video purporting to show the latest alleged drone downing…

The #Houthis have shot down another American #MQ9 #reaper drone worth over $30 million

This was reported on air by the representative of the Ansar Allah movement, Yahya Saria, on AI Masirah. pic.twitter.com/KZPX2G9XKk

— News.Az (@news_az) April 1, 2025

“Many of their Fighters and Leaders are no longer with us,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We hit them every day and night — Harder and harder. Their capabilities that threaten Shipping and the Region are rapidly being destroyed. Our attacks will continue until they are no longer a threat to Freedom of Navigation.”

Trump added: “The choice for the Houthis is clear: Stop shooting at U.S. ships, and we will stop shooting at you. Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come, for both the Houthis and their sponsors in Iran.”

The Iran-supported Yemeni militants have vowed to continue fighting so long as Israeli’s military is active in the Gaza Strip. So far there’s been no hint they’ll back down, even in the face of overwhelming US airstrikes.

Just before 4am local time, while much of the city was sleeping, Beirut was pounded by another large-scale Israeli airstrike, reportedly targeting a Hezbollah official who was among four killed in the attack. A woman was slain in the attack too, according to Lebanese health authorities.

Top floors of a multi-story building were decimated in the strikes on a southern suburb of Beirut. It reportedly killed the following, identified in AFP:

A source close to Hezbollah, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to brief the media, told AFP the strike killed Hassan Bdair, Hezbollah’s “deputy head for the Palestinian file” who was “at home with his family.”

While Al Mayadeen has described Bdair as a rank and file Hezbollah member, other regional sources have indicated he was a member of Hezbollah’s Unit 3900 as well as the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The Israeli army subsequently said Tuesday that fighter jets “attacked a Hezbollah terrorist in the Dahiye area of ​​Beirut who had recently been directing Hamas operatives and had assisted them in attempting to carry out a serious attack against Israeli civilians in the immediate future.”

“We couldn’t see each other because of all the dust,” one eyewitness who lives across the street from the destroyed building told AFP, describing “a very big explosion,” followed by another.

“Not just one person is targeted — everyone in the country, from young to old has become the target,” another nearby Lebanese resident said.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has warned that war is returning to Lebanon and called on Israel to stop these attacks, which he said suggests Israel is seeking escalation.

“The Israeli raid on the southern suburb is a serious warning about the intentions lurking against Lebanon. Israel’s persistence in its aggression requires us to exert more effort to address Lebanon’s friends and rally them in support of our right to full sovereignty over our land … to prevent violations from abroad or infiltrators from within, who provide additional pretext for aggression,” Aoun said. 

Lebanese as well as regional journalists and the populace are outraged given the large airstrikes happened without warning, in the middle of the night and in a highly populated residential area…

As always, Israel claims it was targeting a Hezbollah member—its go-to excuse for war crimes. But once again, it acts in defiance of international law and above all accountability.

The truth: the building hit was a residential home in Hay Madi, a civilian neighborhood in… pic.twitter.com/pC4WMew9mc

— Hala Jaber (@HalaJaber) April 1, 2025

What’s more is that it happened on the Eid al-Fitr Muslim holiday marking the end of the Ramadan fasting period. Days ago rockets were launched on northern Israel from south Lebanon, which resulted in Israeli reprisal strikes. Hezbollah denied it was behind the launches, and the Lebanese government announced arrests of the culprits, in an apparent effort to stave off war.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years you’re probably familiar with the controversy surrounding the “wokification” of Disney and their constant attempts to inject leftist activism into their media products.  Disney’s cult-like dogma played a considerable role in the rise of the anti-woke movement and ultimately the fall of Hollywood, which is now reeling from an avalanche of box office failures.

One such predictable failure (perhaps the ultimate predictable failure) is the woke Snow White live action remake starring a veritable unknown actress by the name of Rachel Zegler.  To summarize why the public despises Zegler and this film so much, let’s backtrack to 2021 when Zegler was announced for the beloved role.

First, the movie is called Snow White.  It’s based on a centuries old German fairy tale which was eventually written down and published by the Brothers Grim in 1812.  These tales are an integral part of Medieval European heritage.  Though she is part Polish, Zegler is certainly not “snow white”.  The casting choice was viewed by many fans of the original animation as a deliberate attempt to race swap yet another classic European character and troll western audiences with DEI.

If it was minority folk figure being replaced, the response from leftists would be rabid.  But, it’s okay as long as the characters are white.

Then there was the public complaints of an angry little actor by the name of Peter Dinklage, who praised Disney for hiring a Latina to play Snow White but argued that hiring real life dwarfs to play the Seven Dwarfs would be “backwards” and demeaning.  Thus, in his burst of pint-sized outrage, Dinklage destroyed any chance for seven actors with dwarfism to make a name for themselves on the big screen. 

Then there was the leaked production photos of the “Seven Dwarfs”, who were played by a laughably diverse cast of normal sized people.  Disney initially lied about the images and claimed they were “Fake and not from our production…”  As it turned out, the images were real.  The internet collectively laughed and gasped simultaneously at how bad and woke the movie was clearly going to be.

This is the sort of blunder that occurs when you try to make every “marginalized” activist group happy. 

The biggest handicap for the film, however, was Rachel Zegler’s big mouth.  The actress hammed it up in interviews, disparaging the original Snow White as a “weird” relic of the patriarchal past and asserted that the remake would be a representation of empowerment for women who “don’t need no man”. 

Then there was Zegler’s steady stream of anti-Trump and anti-conservative rants on social media.  A classic mistake of modern Hollywood actors; thinking that the public has any interest in their political insights.  Her comments hurt the film’s chances even more.  Disney was eventually forced to delay the release for a year, claiming that it was “because of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike”.  

The final product turned out to be a travesty, as everyone expected.  Snow White’s bizarre DEI casting, set in a Medieval European landscape, takes the audience out of the story and reminds them that they are watching propaganda.  The overall structure and changes to the original are ill conceived and poorly though out.  The movie has hit a 40% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 1.5/10 on IMDB.  It is currently expected to lose at least $140 million at the box office, though this may not include marketing costs.

 

Despite this undeniable defeat, once again proving that if you “Go woke” you will also “Go Broke”, the Hollywood elites are proclaiming Zegler’s role a success.  Why?  Because it served the interests of progressive messaging, even if no one watched the movie.  

Variety argues that Zegler is now an “icon” simply because “everyone is talking about her”, playing on the old fallacy that all press is good press.   This piece was published after Variety posted a more honest assessment of Zegler’s behavior, blaming her negativity as contributing to Snow White’s demise.

Rachel Zegler: “People will wait in line despite my flaws.”

Welcome back to reality princess.. Snow White was a complete flop
pic.twitter.com/QaPHZtjqnL

— aka (@akafaceUS) March 24, 2025

Some celebrities have also jumped to Zegler’s defense, and activists suggest that her behavior had nothing to do with the film’s poor reception.  In other words, progressives  continue to deny that wokeness is box office poison.  All the evidence to the contrary will not sway them.  

Snow White only matters because it is a symbol of the culture war and the political left’s refusal to accept reality.  They were warned for years that the movie would implode, but they would not listen.  Now that it’s undeniable, they once again shift gears and make the controversy about the “victimization” of another loud-mouthed lead actress.

Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,

“In retrospect, the spark might seem as ominous as a financial crash, as ordinary as a national election, or as trivial as a Tea Party. The catalyst will unfold according to a basic Crisis dynamic that underlies all of these scenarios: An initial spark will trigger a chain reaction of unyielding responses and further emergencies. The core elements of these scenarios (debt, civic decay, global disorder) will matter more than the details, which the catalyst will juxtapose and connect in some unknowable way. If foreign societies are also entering a Fourth Turning, this could accelerate the chain reaction. At home and abroad, these events will reflect the tearing of the civic fabric at points of extreme vulnerability – problem areas where America will have neglected, denied, or delayed needed action.” – The Fourth Turning – Strauss & Howe

“Don’t think you can escape the Fourth Turning the way you might today distance yourself from news, national politics, or even taxes you don’t feel like paying. History warns that a Crisis will reshape the basic social and economic environment that you now take for granted. The Fourth Turning necessitates the death and rebirth of the social order. It is the ultimate rite of passage for an entire people, requiring a luminal state of sheer chaos whose nature and duration no one can predict in advance.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning

In my last Fourth Turning article, a few days before the presidential election, I stated Trump would win in a landslide, unless the Deep State pulled some outrageous stunt to steal it, like they did in 2020. Their cheating machines were unable to overcome the dementia dummy effect and running a vacuous cackling moron DEI candidate as Trump’s opponent. I also thought the ingrained opposition would use all their vast ill-gotten financial resources to pay for violent protests, if Trump won. The gutting of USAID has defunded the domestic terrorists and made their protests pathetic.

Trump’s overwhelming victory in the election and defeat of the illegal lawfare attacks from his Deep State enemies defused their ability to keep him from being inaugurated. And boy did he hit the ground running. His first 7 weeks in office have been a tornado of executive orders, shockingly bold cabinet picks, mass firings of government drones, deportations of illegals, tariff wars, threats to take over Greenland and Canada, confrontations with world leaders, war on DEI and woke bullshit policies within the government and at universities funded by the government, and unleashing Musk and his DOGE team on the Federal bureaucracy.

The dynamics of this Fourth Turning have begun to crystalize in my mind with the re-ascension of Trump to the most powerful position in the world, and now willing to wield his power on a far grander scale then he did during his first term. The previous two Fourth Turning presidents, during the Great Depression/World War II Fourth Turning and the Civil War Fourth Turning, acted like dictators, wielding their authoritarian powers, using war as the excuse for overstepping their Constitutionally granted authority.

Ruling by executive order has now become commonplace, as our Republic has degenerated into a corporate fascist totalitarian state where the spoils have been shared by the privileged few, while the rest of us have been propagandized into subjugation, depravity, debt, and debasement. Trump has assumed a dictatorial attitude, with the rationale that he must do so to defeat the evil forces of the Deep State, and more than 50% of the population is enthusiastically onboard.

There is generally no middle ground when it comes to Donald Trump. You either despise him and scream he is literally Hitler, or you worship him as the savior of America, leading us to a glorious renaissance. Personally, I find myself in the middle ground, based on what he has done, rather than what he says. I was disappointed in his first term, even though he did a number of good things. His personnel choices were awful, putting Barrett on the Supreme Court was a terrible selection, and locking down the country while making a deal with the devil (Fauci & Pfizer) to produce a toxic vaccine destined to kill far more than it saved, continues to be a massive blemish on his record. But what is done is done. Even the most skeptical cynic has to admit, there have been several positive developments in Trump’s second term.

The issue which had biggest impact in getting Trump elected was the border and the democrat plot to destroy America by funding the invasion of America by 3rd world dregs. The dementia dummy president was given ice cream and told to stand aside by his Obama handlers, while millions of lowlifes poured across our southern border. Trump’s selection of Tom Homan as border czar was brilliant, and the actions taken to secure the border thus far have produced dramatic results. We need millions more deportations, but we are off to a good start.

Trump learned his lesson from the first term, when he surrounded himself with Deep State backstabbers, while failing to purge the departments of his enemies. He has appointed highly competent outsiders into most of the key cabinet positions. The DC bureaucracy is being gutted as we speak, if not by his appointees, then by Musk and his DOGE army. Purging the swamp of his bureaucratic enemies is essential to achieving progress. And purging the judiciary of far-left apparatchiks on the payroll of Soros must be next.

There truly is $2 trillion in spending that can be cut. Going back to 2019 spending levels, before the “Covid emergency spending” should be the goal. The amount of corruption, bribery, and fraud within the Federal government is astronomical, and Musk and his DOGE unit should be applauded for lifting the rocks and shining a light on these maggots. DOGE claims to have saved $130 billion thus far. That sounds like a lot, and it is. But some perspective will reveal the true nature of our predicament.

The Federal government spends $130 billion per week on average. We add over $5 billion to the national debt every single day. This tsunami of deficit spending is a perpetual uniparty supported machine. The continuing resolution jammed through by Trump and his minions increases spending. DOGE is great PR for the Trump army, and it is the perfect bogeyman for his enemies. But, it is unlikely to materially alter the course we are on. The national debt was $36.2 trillion when Trump assumed control. There is no doubt it will exceed $44 trillion before he leaves office.

There are 135 million full-time workers in the U.S., and approximately 18 million of them work for the government. Many millions more in private industry are dependent upon government contracts to sustain them. I am 100% onboard gutting government bureaucracy. But there will be consequences. Data from Washington DC is already showing a plunge in home prices and surge in unemployment. The combination of layoffs, reduced government outlays, and tariff impacts will likely push us into recession during 2025.

Taking the pain in year one of his administration may be Trump’s game plan, with an anticipated strong recovery in the 2nd half of his presidency. The question is whether the recession will deflate the everything bubble – stocks, bonds, real estate, and crypto, or just be a bump in the road to long term prosperity. With valuations in all asset classes at nosebleed heights, I expect a major correction across the board. Whether a recession and correction turn into a depression and crash will depend upon the behavior of our leaders.

At each of these great gates of history, eighty to a hundred years apart, a similar generational drama unfolded. Four archetypes, aligned in the same order – elder Prophet, midlife Nomad, young adult Hero, child Artist – together produced the most enduring legends in our history. Each time the Grey Champion appeared marked the arrival of a moment of “darkness, and adversity, and peril,” the climax of the Fourth Turning of the saeculum. – The Fourth Turning – Strauss & Howe

There has been much debate since Trump descended on the escalator in 2015 at Trump Towers as to whether he was one of the Grey Champions of this Fourth Turning. I had my doubts after the 2020 election was stolen, but his re-ascension to power in 2025 leaves no doubt he is the lightning rod for what will take place in the final stages of this Crisis period. Trump, Putin and Xi Jinping are all from the Prophet generation and have assumed the mantle of Grey Champions for their nations.

How these men interact over the next several years will determine the course of this Fourth Turning. Thus far, the skirmishes in Ukraine and the Middle East have been relatively contained. Fourth Turning climaxes have been historically bloody and devastating. If China invades Taiwan, North Korea invades South Korea, or the EU pushes Putin too far, that will surely spur mass destruction and mass casualties on a grand scale. And with nuclear technology far more advanced since WWII, the possibility of planetary destruction is not a zero possibility.

Fourth Turnings can have multiple regeneracies with the first being when the financial system was artificially propped up by the Fed and Treasury in 2009, making the financial system far less stable over the long-term and setting the stage for the grand collapse. The regeneracy cannot always be identified with a single news event.  But it does have to mark the beginning of a growth in centralized authority and decisive leadership at a time of great peril and urgency.

Trump’s actions during his first 7 weeks back in office most certainly classify as a regeneracy, through executive orders, mandates, and decisive actions, designed to undo all the purposeful destruction incurred under Biden. The reaction of his enemies, using lawfare, their media mouthpieces, and judicial roadblocks, has ratcheted the anger and vitriol within the country to a boiling point.

The blowback from the Trump/Musk agenda of slashing Federal bloat, firing government drone bureaucrats, dismantling corrupt, treasonous organizations hidden within the Federal bureaucracy (USAID), eliminating ineffective departments, like the Department of Education, and trying to root out corruption and waste, has been predictably violent. The burning of Tesla dealerships, coordinated anti-Musk messaging from the captured mainstream media, and artificial protests across the nation are all funded by Soros and his ilk, just as the fake BLM protests were used to destroy Trump’s first term.

Every executive order designed to rectify the purposely created border invasion, cut waste, fraud, and corruption within the Federal government, along with the purging of agencies of his enemies, has been met with judicial obstruction by judges placed in positions of power by Soros and the lawfare army created by Obama and his minions. The term Constitutional Crisis has been overused, but I believe we are headed for a clash that will not resolve itself through the existing legal system.

The judiciary can no longer be expected to interpret the law in an unbiased manner based upon the Constitution. When Trump decides to ignore the rulings of this plethora of corrupt judges, what happens next? The so-called judges thwarting Trump at every turn are not interpreting the law, they are exercising activist political prerogatives which they have been paid off by Soros and his lawfare organizations to sponsor.

From my perspective, the world has become more chaotic and confusing on a daily basis since Trump’s election. From a Fourth Turning perspective, this is to be expected. The Crisis never resolves itself through compromise or an agreed upon peaceful resolution. The cascade into a spiraling downward implosion of trust in institutions, politicians, media talking heads, corporate titans, and central bankers is leading the country and world towards a catastrophic debt collapse which will plunge the world into a global depression.

Whether this has been pre-planned by the ruling oligarchs to invoke the Great Taking, the new world order, and CBDCs, is still a question in my mind. Is Trump a willing participant in this diabolical plan or a well-intentioned patsy they are manipulating with his MAGA army to ensure their plan goes off without a hitch?

What is clearly evident to me, is the globalist cabal ruling elite are absolutely trying to thwart Trump and Putin’s peace efforts in resolving the Ukraine war. They are using every opportunity to provoke Putin into starting WW3 with NATO and forcing the U.S. to honor our treaty obligations. Their desperation is obvious, as the discredited and highly unpopular stooges governing France, the U.K., Canada and Germany make unhinged statements and threats on a daily basis, threatening war with Russia.

Putin is the only statesman, operating in a rational manner, and attempting to negotiate a sane outcome to a conflict initiated by U.S. neocons in 2014. This global crisis will just be exacerbated by the brewing Constitutional crisis being precipitated by the Deep State operatives and their judicial machinations, designed to force Trump into initiating a violent response to Soros and his bought off treasonous judicial cronies.

Trump’s rhetoric about a glorious new era of economic nirvana, built upon tariffs, lower taxes and energy independence sounds great, but it is nothing but pie in the sky pipe dreams. It’s too late. Talk about balancing the budget is nothing but bloviating bullshit. Trump and his economic gurus have no intention of balancing the budget, because doing so would lead to the worst depression in history.

This entire Ponzi economic house of cards depends upon the issuance of $6 billion of debt PER DAY. Our fake positive GDP growth data depends on the government spending $5 trillion of printed fiat (17% of GDP) per year on wars, welfare, and waste, with the ignorant brainwashed masses spending $19 trillion of money they don’t have (using credit cards) on shit they don’t need making up 68% of total GDP.

Meanwhile, financial markets are at historically high (and dangerous) levels, home prices are at all-time highs, real inflation has been pushing 10% for the last five years, credit card, auto and student loan debt are at record levels, and most importantly, gold continues to hit new record highs every day. The stock market is wobbling like it normally does as a precursor to a crash. Home sales are at decade lows as sky high prices and higher mortgage rates have made it impossible for most people to buy.

Credit card and auto loan delinquencies are surging. Millions of people who haven’t made a student loan payment in years now have to pay up. Their credit scores are crashing due to non-payments. Gold surges when the financial system shows signs of collapse. All the ingredients are present for a catastrophic explosion, just waiting for a spark to ignite the volatile mixture. At this point, the financial system is so unstable and fragile that an otherwise inconsequential grain of sand added to the pile could precipitate the collapse.

I believe the chaos, confusion, conflict, and collapse of confidence portends a prolonged period of discord as this Fourth Turning accelerates towards its denouement. The numerous neocon forces in the EU and US attempting to prolong and broaden the Ukraine conflict, along with the Zionist efforts to provoke a war with Iran, have pushed the world to the brink of a new global conflict. All previous Fourth Turnings were decided by an all-out bloody war, and this one is likely to experience a similarly tragic outcome. The billionaire oligarchs who have purposely created havoc and turmoil as a means to increase their wealth, power, and control over the politicians they have put into place to implement their new world order agenda.

The proliferation of assassinations and assassination attempts is a sign of increased vitriol towards those considered evil and expendable by their enemies. The assassination of corporate executives, attempts on Trump, and foiled plans against a Supreme Court justice and Musk mark a new violent turn to this Fourth Turning. Will someone try to take out some of these leftist judges who are impeding the will of the people on behalf of their leftist billionaire quislings?

Will the Ukraine and EU attempt to assassinate Putin, as they have done to numerous other Russian politicians? What I do know is there is a powerful faction attempting to initiate a global war as part of their new world order agenda. All it will take is for someone somewhere to do something stupid and then it will turn nasty, with more death and destruction than a reasonable American can possibly conceive after living in their false bubble of safety and security for decades. Once the dominos begin falling, there will be no stopping them.

“With so much chaos, someone will do something stupid. And when they do, things will turn nasty.” – Inspector Finch – V for Vendetta

The burning of Tesla showrooms, brainwashed idiots committing acts of vandalism, and the Soros funded fake protests across the country are only infuriating the normies and pushing us closer to civil chaos. Russia rightfully accusing France and the UK of committing acts of war against energy sites within Russia, along with Trump fulminating about Putin not cooperating, while bombing the shit out of Yemen as instructed by Israel, has turned up the heat on the imminent global conflict.

The two Prophet generation lightning rods for the coming conflict, Trump and Putin, with Bill Gates and RFK Jr. as lesser players, will make the decisions and choices which will determine the future course of this world. In the previous two Fourth Turnings, Nomad Generation facilitators of Lincoln and FDR’s strategy, Grant, Sherman, Eisenhower, and Patton, had to unflinchingly send hundreds of thousands of men to their deaths. Trump’s Nomad Generation agent of change – Elon Musk – has concentrated on rooting out fraud, waste, and inefficiencies in the Federal government, provoking violence and revealing the traitorous henchmen within the judiciary and Soros financed NGOs. Putin’s chief Nomad generation right hand man – Dmitry Medvedev – is a bomb thrower who thrives on conflict.

This Crisis period is accelerating and intensifying on a daily basis, as Trump, Putin and Xi, and a myriad of other world leaders provoke, posture, and threaten each other, with all signs pointing towards military conflict. The propaganda media, led by the NYT, are now admitting we have been at war with Russia since 2014. The entire conflict since 2022 has been funded and fought using U.S. technology, weapons, and personnel. Over $200 billion wasted on another lost war. Those of us in the alt-media revealed the truth about this proxy war years ago.

With Zelensky following orders from his EU benefactors, the fledgling peace efforts of Trump and Putin are destined to fail. The ongoing slaughter in the Middle East, along with the intense saber rattling regarding the U.S. attacking Iran on behalf of Israel, and the US declaring China as its largest military threat regarding their eventual takeover of Taiwan, are building towards a major global conflict, which the purposely distracted and dumbed down masses have no clue is approaching. Boomer leaders are unbending, punitive, authoritarian minded, and willing to risk the destruction of the planet in order to achieve what they have been assigned to accomplish by the globalist oligarchs calling the shots. In 1997, Strauss & Howe predicted the dangers we would face as the climax of this Fourth Turning approached.

“The risk of catastrophe will be very high. The nation could erupt into insurrection or civil violence, crack up geographically, or succumb to authoritarian rule. If there is a war, it is likely to be one of maximum risk and effort – in other words, a total war. Every Fourth Turning has registered an upward ratchet in the technology of destruction, and in mankind’s willingness to use it.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning

“History offers no guarantees. Obviously, things could go horribly wrong – the possibilities ranging from a nuclear exchange to incurable plagues, from terrorist anarchy to high-tech dictatorship. We should not assume that Providence will always exempt our nation from the irreversible tragedies that have overtaken so many others: not just temporary hardship, but debasement and total ruin. Losing in the next Fourth Turning could mean something incomparably worse. It could mean a lasting defeat from which our national innocence – perhaps even our nation – might never recover.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning

Gold and Oil have been surging, with gold hitting new highs every day, up 38% in the last year, indicating all is not well in this world. The United States has been a nation for two and half centuries, only becoming an empire within the last one hundred years. Trump can pontificate about creating a new morning in America, but it is too late, as darkness descends upon the Republic created by strong courageous men, but slowly destroyed by weak cowardly men, moneyed interests, corrupt politicians, traitorous globalist billionaires, and a populace too dumbed down and distracted by technological bread and circuses to care about future generations.

In 1785 the Americans had won the Revolutionary War, but had not yet written the Constitution or elected a president in the final stages of the first American Fourth Turning. Exactly 80 years later in 1865, the American Civil War Fourth Turning reached its bloody conclusion. Exactly 80 years later in 1945, World War 2 was won, after the loss of 65 million lives. We are now exactly 80 years later in 2025, ready to write another dramatic chapter in the annals of history.

After World War 2, America was the conquering hero wearing the golden crown, but failed to heed the warning all previous empires had also ignored – all glory is fleeting. As we approach our rendezvous with destiny, take note, as described in the bible, that history is cyclical and there is a time for everything. 

I think everyone needs to understand we are entering a time of war, a time to hate, a time to kill, and a time to die. I wish it weren’t so, but the cycles of history don’t lie. Good luck and Godspeed.

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven;
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Hundreds of thousands of pounds of egg items are being pulled off the market, citing the potential presence of an “unapproved substance,” according to the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

Michigan-based Cargill Kitchen Solutions is recalling “approximately 212,268 pounds of liquid egg products that may contain a cleaning solution with sodium hypochlorite,” the agency said in a March 28 recall announcement. “The problem was discovered when FSIS received a tip about the potential contamination of these products.”

According to a 2022 study, sodium hypochlorite, commonly known as bleach, is a main ingredient in cleaners and has good sanitizing effects. One of its uses is sterilizing food factories. Ingestion of the compound can result in vomiting, nausea, and burning sensations in the mouth. When large amounts are ingested, it results in “serious toxicity.”

“After conducting an investigation and thorough assessment of the contents of the cleaning solution, FSIS scientists concluded that use of this product should not cause adverse health consequences, or the risk is negligible, resulting in a Class III recall.”

Class III is the lowest of the three recall classifications under the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is assigned to products that pose a “marginal risk” to people.

The recalled items were shipped to distributors in Ohio and Texas as well as for food service use in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, and Iowa. FSIS said the products could have been distributed nationwide.

The products were manufactured on March 12 and 13, with “use by” dates extending to August 2025 and March 2026. They were sold in 32 oz. cartons.

The agency has received no confirmed reports of adverse reactions from consuming the recalled products. It advised people who have ingested the item and are worried about illnesses to contact a health care provider.

In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, Cargill said the products were voluntarily recalled “out of an abundance of caution.”

“Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them, and food service locations are urged not to serve them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase,” FSIS said.

Individuals with questions about the recall can contact Cargill Kitchen Solutions at 1-844-419-1574.

Multiple other food recalls have been initiated over the past years due to the presence of unapproved substances.

In February last year, New York-based MF Meats withdrew more than 93,000 pounds of raw meat products out of concern they could have been contaminated with “non-food grade mineral seal oil, which is not approved for use in meat processing.”

Back in August 2022, Kraft Heinz recalled around 5,760 cases of juice drink blend beverages. The recall was triggered after a “diluted cleaning solution, which is used on food processing equipment, was inadvertently introduced into a production line” at one of the company’s factories.

The issue emerged after Kraft Heinz received multiple complaints from customers about the taste of the item.

Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

Many friends of mine are frustrated at what they consider slow progress from the Trump administration. Whatever the pet issue, they want results now, and are otherwise ready to declare failure or betrayal.

This is a reflection of the high hopes of the incoming administration. There was never a way to keep up.

That’s why we should take a few moments to consider the achievements of this administration, which have gone some distance in restoring popular government over whatever we had before.

One feature I noticed on my travels is just how suddenly nice the TSA is at the airports. I could not understand why. Employees very quickly explained their absolute exuberance that the public-sector union that used to be in charge no longer is.

The Trump administration removed collective bargaining privileges and restored normal management. This led to a wave of firings of lazy, troublesome, and incompetent workers, absolutely thrilling everyone else.

This is a massive change that was hardly announced at all. But it has made a dramatic difference.

Prompted by this example, I’ve chronicled 50 changes that the Trump administration has made that have made life dramatically better in record time.

1. Defanged the public-sector unions. This happened with hardly any announcement. It pertains to nearly the whole of the government’s workforce. It has emancipated the employees from their terrible unions and led to the almost immediate elevation of merit over DEI as many employees have explained to me. This is very obvious when you travel. You can actually have a human conversation with TSA employees and passport control.

2. Stopped BOIR. The Biden-era mandate was for all businesses to file a Beneficial Ownership Information Report with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Treasury, and do so annually. The mandate added wholly unnecessary bureaucracy. Even more, it was just really strange and scary for every sole proprietor to be required to file this thing as if everyone was a criminal in waiting. The Trump administration stopped it.

3. Ended the hen slaughter. Wholesale egg prices have collapsed from $8 per dozen to only $3 in a matter of weeks, mostly driven by the end of the Department of Agriculture’s work to mandate slaughtering hens in the name of controlling bird flu. Trump’s change of policy has resulted in a big supply boost. The DOA has also stopped the vaccine that was ready for distribution, which would likely have made the chickens sicker.

4. Ended the war on crypto. Since 2013, the federal government has tried to control this sector with reporting requirements, regulations, taxes, investigations, and jail time. Trump has ended this with a new embrace and a favorable push toward the entire sector.

5. The clean-up of the FDA. The main vaccine scientist who had purged the agency of doubters in the past has now announced his resignation, upon pressure from the Trump administration. This has cleared the path for some transparency and an end to the use of this agency as an advertising bureau for Big Pharma.

6. Restoration of free speech. Since 2016 and onward, we have documented proof that government agencies were intervening with media and tech companies to push one political way of thinking and exclude all others. That practice is now fully banned by executive order.

7. The end of DEI. The Trump administration now correctly regards systematic discrimination in the name of DEI to be illegal discrimination; that is, the law is now being consistently applied and DEI programs across government and industry are coming to a quick end.

8. Stopped the migrant invasion. As a long champion of the freedom to migrate, I was shocked to see evidence that the entire system was being gamed to bring about a skewing of voter demographics to keep one party in power. We have the receipts. That is now stopped.

9. RFK at HHS. The leading champion of freedom against lockdowns and vaccine mandates now holds the most powerful position in health in the world, as head of Health and Human Services. He is completely restructuring all agencies under his control.

10. Restoring Science. Jay Bhattacharya is a lead author of the Great Barrington Declaration and a champion of real science. As head of the National Institutes of Health, he is in a position now to restore real science as a priority for this powerful funding source.

11. Busting the Treasury Payment Monopoly. The Treasury’s payment portals have been off-limits to outsiders since 1946, with not a single non-agency person or institution permitted access. DOGE gained that access to reveal some $4.7 trillion in untagged payments in addition to another dozen money printers operating throughout the government.

12. Ferreting out Social Security Fraud. DOGE also discovered millions of people on the Social Security rolls who were too old to be alive, in addition to millions of illegal immigrants who had Social Security numbers and were receiving benefits. That is ending.

13. Ending USAID. This powerful agency has long subsidized far-left causes all over the world, operating as a kind of slush fund with little oversight. That entire agency has been gutted.

14. Gutting the U.S. Institute for Peace. This nonprofit was created by Congress but has long served as a clearing house for compromised diplomats and mostly a welfare state for has-been players in deep-state circles. Having had personal experience with the place, I was thrilled to see the Trump administration fire the entire staff and gut the budget.

15. Stopping the NGO Fraud. DOGE and others have discovered an amazing little racket that consists of putting nongovernment organizations on agency payrolls for billions in funding that have served partisan political ends, including the funding of legacy media. That little money-laundering operation is now under serious pressure.

16. Exposing the press. We have to appreciate what it means that the Trump administration is now longer deferring to the power of legacy media, calling out false stories by the day and refusing to grant exclusive access to the fourth estate. This has been a wake-up call to many not to trust something just because it appears in formerly prestigious venues.

17. Boosting traditional architecture. The Trump administration has pledged to sell off hundreds of ugly federal buildings and bring back architectural grandeur to Washington, D.C. This might be the final nail in the coffin of the Brutalist style, a form of architecture developed as an homage to the prison camp.

18. Bringing together MAHA and MAGA. For generations, crunchy liberals and American patriots had no real connection with each other politically or culturally. Now these teams have joined forces against a common enemy, forming new friend circles and modes of community action.

19. Reducing inflation. Almost to the day, the intensity of inflation diminished from the inauguration. This is due to many different factors, including a change in the velocity of money and also Fed policy which has kept the money stock flat for some six months. In addition, inflation expectations were reduced and thus the prophecy became self-fulfilling. Trump deserves some credit there for making a compelling case that higher productivity is on the way.

20. Stopping the regulatory tsunami. The Trump administration has stopped by executive order all bureaucratic lawmaking. The executive order permissions in a range of products that were ruled out by regulatory edict. It will probably require litigation to make it real but this is extremely promising.

21. Defunding the Green New Deal. The science behind climate change and the support for Green New Deal policy was completely unquestioned in public life for a very long time. Trump has put an end to this, pulling the funding and stopping the march of deindustrialization. This needs to be written into law but it is an excellent start.

22. Ending gender confusion. At some vague moment over the last 5 or 10 years, there was actual confusion in legislation over the biological difference between men and women, as incredible as that sounds. But during this time, men began to refashion themselves as women and compete as such in sports, to the amazement of everyone. Trump had the courage just to announce the truth that there are only two sexes.

23. Stopping the war on gas and oil. For many years, oil and gas, among America’s greatest resources and one of our few remaining competitive industries, faced absurd restrictions. Trump has repealed them all and stopped the absurd subsidies for wind and solar power. The entire “fossil fuels” industry is excited about the future for the first time in perhaps decades.

24. Freeing the prisoners. My good friend Ross Ulbricht, sentenced to more than two lifetimes in jail for creating a website, has been freed. Many more besides: hundreds of people who did nothing wrong were languishing in prison for having protested on January 6. These people are now free, thanks to the Trump administration.

25. Push back on legacy media. The White House now has a competent press secretary who takes on the legacy media, and the 100-year monopoly of the White House Correspondents Association has been shattered, allowing podcasters and new media to have access.

26. Vaccine mandate rollback. Federal employees are no longer required to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which has been proven to be ineffective and potentially harmful.

27. Ending COVID shots on green cards. Many families were separated by this vaccine mandate for green card holders. That is now gone.

28. EV Mandate pause. Automakers have long been forced to devote a portion of their production to making cars that people do not want. That mandate is now gone.

29. Critical Race Theory ban. This theory attacks America in its history and present meaning and was being taught in schools at all levels. The Trump administration has withdrawn all funding for this project, which is designed to spread guilt and shame and tell a false version of history.

30. Transgender military ban. Until recently, transgender people have ascended to great heights within the U.S. military. That has been completely stopped. It is no longer permitted that men can pretend to be women and visa-versa.

31. IRS hiring freeze. The previous administration had hired some 80,000 new tax collectors who are all now fired, to the great celebration of the oppressed middle class.

32. Leaving WHO. The World Health Organization had spent years promoting fake science and lockdowns at U.S. taxpayer expense. The U.S. is now fully out of this organization and the NGOs that backed it are now defunded.

33. Climate accord exit. You remember the fake science of COVID? It turns out that the fake science of climate change was just as bad or worse. The Unites States was actually party to an accord that mandated the Green New Deal. That is now gone.

34. Union dues opt-out. No federal employee is required to pay union dues anymore and most have declined to continue doing so, thanks to a change initiated by the Trump administration.

35. Fisheries deregulation, easing Magnuson-Stevens conservation rules, aiding 10,000 fishermen. This is a technical change but it matters to the heroic people who work daily to bring us food.

36. Small Business tax break. The new 20 percent deduction on new businesses was set to expire but is now back again.

37. Foreign aid audit. Fully $5 billion in foreign aid has been frozen pending a full review of whatever was behind this.

38. Title IX reversal. The previous administration had ruined this regulation by blurring the difference between men and women. The old rule has been restored, which particularly impacts sports.

39. Many JFK files released. Not all the files have come out but the ones we have reveal deep involvement of the deep state in the assassination that rocked the country. We still await many promised releases.

40. Federal land drilling. The Trump administration has opened up 1.5 million acres in Alaska, projecting 50,000 barrels daily.

41. Sanctuary City funding cut. The Trump administration has withheld $200 million from noncompliant cities, pressuring cooperation with the migrant/criminal crackdown.

42. Clean up voter roles. For years, Trump claimed that the 2020 election was compromised. We doubted this. Now we know for sure, based purely on math. Voter ID is now the law of the land. Without verifiable citizen voting, there is no democracy, no freedom, no society run by the people. Trump deserves every credit for seeing this problem and sticking his neck out to defend democracy.

43. Dignified new media. Thousands of citizen journalists have been working for years to cover politics and government but have been denied access and legitimacy. The Trump administration has seen the value they add and treated them with dignity and respect. This is actually huge for information systems and the public mind.

44. Empowered new employees. Trump has not gone along with the usual system of hiring cabinet officials who get chewed up by the bureaucracy. Instead, he has trusted them with massive decisions over their realms, enabling them to hire and fire and determine policy. This is probably the first time this has happened in my life or perhaps 100 years.

45. Focus on Ending international conflicts. The Trump administration has put the cause of peace in the Ukraine war with Russia as a first priority. His insistence on this might have prevented World War III, which is rather important.

46. Dramatic cuts in civil service. In the first days of the administration, Trump invited every employee of the federal government to resign with full severances. About 5-7 percent accepted and all of them have been paid. Then the firings started, just as promised. The downsizing must happen. This process needs to go much further but it has been started.

47. Push for food cleanup. Under the great influence of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the U.S. food system is starting to be cleaned up. We have some of the most dangerous food in the world, as anyone who travels internationally can tell you. Maybe this can change, along with the empowerment of local farmers.

48. Banned CBDCs. An executive order has banned Central Bank Digital Currencies and made it clear that America will never have a Chinese-style social credit system linked to our personal financial lives. This has been a gigantic relief, particularly in light of all the debanking that has taken place.

49. Spotlight on the Fed. DOGE is sparing no institution in D.C., not the Pentagon and not even the Federal Reserve, which is to be subjected to a real audit. We shall see how long the power of the central bank lasts but this is the first real challenge it has made since its founding in 1913.

50. Challenged the judges. There are more than 100 cases extant against the Trump administration’s attempt to be the real executive department rather than just a headline group of temporary managers. These lower court judges have presumed to be more powerful than the president that the people elected. They are facing foundational challenges that will surely land in the Supreme Court.

Am I thrilled about everything that the Trump administration has done? No. I have objections on many fronts about which I could write another column. But here is what is critical: these are legitimate differences one might expect in a democracy, which is precisely what Trump is restoring.

I’m fine with argument and disagreement. What is not fine is an administrative state that runs all things from behind the scenes while elected rulers just pretend to be in charge.

All Americans regardless of their political differences should celebrate the enlivening of the democratic imperative, which is what the Trump administration has done, with spectacular results in only three months. Let us hope there is much more to come.

The first quarter was an incredibly tumultuous period for markets, with the S&P 500 posting its biggest quarterly decline since 2022. 

The main driver of the market volatility according to DB’s Jim Reid, was an aggressive round of tariffs, as President Trump launched measures going well beyond his first term, with reciprocal tariffs still looming on April 2. Otherwise, the release of DeepSeek’s AI model early in the quarter led to growing questions about big tech valuations, and the Magnificent 7 ended the quarter in bear market territory. 

But it wasn’t all bad news, and European equities saw a significant outperformance thanks to a huge fiscal regime shift towards higher defense spending. In fact, Q1 marked the biggest quarterly performance gap between the STOXX 600 and the S&P 500 in a decade, and the biggest underperformance of the US vs the rest of the world in 23 years.

Nevertheless, the overall tone was generally risk-off for markets, and as the conversation turned increasingly towards stagflation, gold prices posted their biggest quarterly gain since 1986.

Quarter in Review – The high-level macro overview

Despite the disappointing overall performance, “Queasy Q1” actually got off to a decent start in January. For instance, data over the first couple of weeks pointed to robust growth and demand pressures, including in the US. For instance, the ISM services print was up to 54.0 in December, exceeding expectations, and the prices paid indicator moved up to 64.6, the highest in nearly two years. Then the US jobs report for December showed nonfarm payrolls up by +256k, a nine-month high. And that’s since been revised up to +323k, making it the strongest month since February 2023 on current revisions. Indeed, it also meant there was a sizeable bond selloff in early January, with the 10yr Treasury yield surpassing 4.80% intraday for the first time since late-2023. But that rapid rise in yields reversed course after the US CPI print wasn’t as bad as some feared, raising hopes that the Fed would still cut rates this year.

However, after a strong start in January, markets began to show signs of wobbling towards the end of the month. One of the most important developments was the release of DeepSeek’s new AI model, which raised questions as to the sustainability of big tech valuations in the US. The initial market impact was felt on January 27, with the NASDAQ down -3.07% that day, while Nvidia fell -16.97%. And even though that sharp selloff for the NASDAQ quickly unwound, it raised doubts about the narrative of US tech exceptionalism that had powered the equity market’s advance for the last couple of years. Then in February, Nvidia’s earnings showed the smallest revenue beat in two years, which was underwhelming for investors used to much bigger upside surprises.

Late-January also saw one of the biggest stories of the quarter begin, which was the widespread imposition of tariffs by the United States, after the new Trump administration arrived in office on January 20. Initially, they said that 25% tariffs would be imposed on Canada and Mexico, which led to a risk-off move on February 3, but those were extended by a month at the last-minute, and investors became increasingly relaxed about how things might develop. Indeed, the S&P 500 moved up to an all-time high on February 19, at which point it was up +4.6% in total return terms on a YTD basis.

But as the tariff uncertainty began to mount, markets began to experience much larger risk-off moves. For example, the extension for Canada and Mexico ended, and 25% tariffs were imposed on both on March 4, whilst the additional tariff on China was raised from 10% to 20%. Separately, tariffs on steel and aluminium were imposed at 25% on March 12. And looking forward, investors are still awaiting the reciprocal tariffs, which have been scheduled for April 2.

The tariffs also meant investors became increasingly concerned about higher inflation, which exacerbated existing fears given inflation was still lingering above target across the major economies. For example, the US 1yr inflation swap moved up +72bps in Q1 to 3.25%, its highest level in two years, and the biggest quarterly jump in three years. Moreover, consumers’ inflation expectations also moved higher, and the University of Michigan’s long-term measure moved up to 4.1% in March, the highest since February 1993. Matters weren’t helped by the latest PCE inflation data, which is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, where the 3m annualised rate of core PCE was running at +3.6% in February, the highest since March 2024. And at the same time, there were also growing concerns about the US growth outlook, and even mounting speculation about a recession. For instance, the Conference Board’s consumer confidence measure fell to just 92.9 in March, the weakest since January 2021. And the expectations measure fell to 65.2, the lowest since March 2013.

These fears about stagflation led to a clear risk-off move, which gathered pace towards the end of the quarter. So the S&P 500 was initially up +2.8% in January in total return terms, but in February it was down -1.3%, and then in March it fell -5.6%, marking its worst monthly performance since 2022. And for the quarter as a whole, the index was down -4.3%, marking its worst quarterly performance since Q3 2022, back when the Fed were still hiking by 75bps per meeting to deal with rapid inflation. 

Those losses were particularly concentrated among tech stocks, and the Magnificent 7 ended the quarter down -16.0%, having shed -20.7% since its December peak. The US Dollar itself also struggled, with the dollar index down -3.9% in Q1, whilst the Euro was up +4.5% against the US Dollar to $1.08. 

While all that was going on in the US, Q1 also saw an incredible fiscal shift in Europe as the continent moved towards significantly higher defense spending. That followed the German election on February 23, where the incoming coalition proposed a reform of the constitutional debt brake to permit higher defense spending, alongside a €500bn infrastructure fund. Meanwhile at the EU level, the Commission proposed that member states could significantly increase defense spending without triggering the EU’s deficit rules.

The prospect of a significant fiscal stimulus had an immediate impact among European assets. In fact, the announcement saw the 10yr bund yield post its biggest daily jump since German reunification in 1990, moving up +29.8bps in a single day on March 5. Over the quarter as a whole, the 10yr bund yield rose +37bps to 2.74%, and the German DAX was one of the strongest-performing European indices, up +11.3% in total return terms. Significant outperformers included the STOXX Aerospace and Defense Index, which surged +28.9%, whilst the German firm Rheinmetall was up +114.6%. Another result was a notable steepening in yield curves, with the German 2s10s curve moving up +41bps on the quarter to 69bps. And given the sharp policy divergence, Q1 saw the biggest quarterly performance gap in local currency terms between the STOXX 600 (+5.9%) and the S&P 500 (- 4.3%) in a decade.

Finally from central banks, Q1 saw a continued policy divergence across countries. The Fed kept rates unchanged in Q1, and continued to signal two cuts for 2025 in their March dot plot, just as they’d done in December. However, they did slow the pace of QT, with the runoff in Treasury holdings to slow from $25bn to $5bn from April 1. Over at the ECB, they delivered further 25bp rate cuts in both January and March, taking their deposit rate down to 2.50%. Meanwhile in Japan, the Bank of Japan delivered another hike in January, taking their policy rate up to 0.5%, and signalling further hikes ahead.

Which assets saw the biggest gains in Q1?

• Gold: With inflation concerns mounting, gold prices surged up to an all-time high of $3,124/oz, and their quarterly increase of +19.0% was the most since 1986. 
• US Treasuries: The risk-off move and mounting speculation of a recession helped to support US Treasuries in Q1, with a total return of +2.9% over the quarter. The 10yr yield itself also moved down -36bps to 4.21%.

Which assets saw the biggest losses in Q1?

• US equities: In Q1, the S&P 500 was down -4.3% in total return terms, marking its worst quarterly performance since Q3 2022. Those losses were particularly clear for the Magnificent 7, which fell -16.0%.
• US Dollar: With investors moving out of US assets, the US Dollar struggled in Q1, and the dollar index itself weakened -3.9%. Conversely, the Euro strengthened +4.5% against the US Dollar to $1.08, marking its biggest quarterly jump since Q4 2022.
• Euro sovereign bonds: The prospect of higher spending led to a selloff among European sovereign bonds, with bunds down -1.8% in total return terms. That included a +37bps rise in the 10yr yield, which ended the quarter at 2.74%.
• Cryptocurrencies: The risk-off move meant it was a weak quarter for cryptocurrencies, and Bitcoin fell -12.1% to $82,421.

Here are the best and worst performing assets during the March Massacre…

… and here is Queesy Q1:

Source: Deutsche Bank

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Today, the voters of Wisconsin go to the polls in what may be the single most expensive and important judicial race in modern history. 

Both parties are spending millions with the balance of the state Supreme Court in the balance. 

If liberal Susan Crawford wins, the expectation is that she will vote with the Democratic majority to approve a gerrymandering of congressional districts to guarantee the loss of two Republicans and possibly flip control of the House of Representatives to the Democrats.

The raw political pitch in the election is disturbing. It assumes that both candidates will blindly support the objectives of their respective parties. The real reason to cast a vote today should be on judicial ideology. Ironically, the United States Supreme Court made that plain in an important Wisconsin case argued just the day before the state election.

The case is Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission.

In the decision below, the Democratic-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Catholic Charities could not benefit from a religious exemption to the state’s unemployment tax because its charitable work was not sufficiently religious.

Catholic Charities is one of the world’s oldest and most respected charities. However, the church believes that it has a duty to help people of every faith who are in need. Thus, the church does not proselytize in offering such aid and services.

A state labor commission ruled that the charity’s lack of such religious expression and prayer makes it secular, even if it has religious motivations.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed and ruled that the charity is not operated primarily for religious purposes because it does not “attempt to imbue” beneficiaries “with the Catholic faith nor supply any religious materials to program participants or employees.” In other words, the fact that Catholic Charities helps everyone and does not proselytize worked against it. The Wisconsin Supreme Court essentially argued that it needs to pray more to offer such charity as a church.

It is a disturbing ruling that would allow the state to choose between religions in weighing their relative manifestations of faith.

Even liberal justices cried foul over the standard.

Justice Elena Kagan suggested it was “pretty fundamental that we don’t treat some religions better than others. And we certainly don’t do it based on the content of the religious doctrine that those religions preach.”

Kagan noted, “Some religions proselytize. Other religions don’t. Why are we treating some religions better than others based on that element of religious doctrine?” 

She noted that the standard “basically puts the state on the side of some religions with some doctrine versus other religions with a different doctrine.”

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson suggested that the Wisconsin Supreme Court was asking the wrong questions about what it means to be an organization “operated primarily for religious purposes.”

Justice Neil Gorsuch virtually mocked the standard of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, asking if Catholic Charities have to require the people receiving their services to “repent.” He then asked: “is mandatory church attendance versus optional church attendance, that’s the line?”

Gorsuch then delivered the haymaker:   

“Isn’t it a fundamental premise of our First Amendment that the state shouldn’t be picking and choosing between religions, between certain evangelical sects, and Judaism and Catholicism on the other, for example?”

The case shows that there are far more important issues dividing these candidates on judicial philosophy that should drive this election. I am not a fan of state elected judges and justices precisely because of the raw political element to these contests. 

The Catholic Charities case shows that the Wisconsin Supreme Court is divided along more than just a party line.

*  *  *

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”

 

On Tuesday morning, former Biden administration “disinformation czar” Nina Jankowicz repeatedly refused to disclose who’s funding her new gig – the ‘American Sunlight Project’ – which cropped up after a stint at the USAID-funded UK-based Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) – for which she registered as a foreign agent while serving as their Vice President.

To review – Jankowicz, who previously served as a disinformation fellow at the Wilson Center, advised the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry as part of the Fulbright-Clinton Public Policy Fellowship, and was then selected to head the Biden DHS’s newly formed Disinformation Governance Board – which was quickly dismantled amid criticism over censorship under the guise of fighting disinformation. 

Four months later, she launched “The Hypatia Project” for CIR – where she was the Vice President until April 2024, at which point she co-founded the American Sunlight Project.

Fast forward to this morning, Jankowicz was evasive when asked by Republicans during a congressional hearing on disinformation about her funding…

Nina Jankowicz, the short-lived head of Biden’s Disinformation Governance Board aka Disinformation Czar refuses to say if her new org, The American Sunlight Projegt, is funded by George Soros.

“So sunlight for other people but not for your donors” @RepBaumgartner quips… pic.twitter.com/2RIiI1VU16

— Rob (@RobMcGravytrain) April 1, 2025

Well, Well, Well

As it turns out, Jankowicz’s co-founder at the American Sunlight Project is Carlos Alvarez-Aranyos, a “communications professional” who worked for the Biden DoD, and is “one of the people who launched the call for a boycott of Tesla.“

Alvarez-Aranyos comes from a wealthy and prominent family in the Dominican Republic. His father, Luis Álvarez Renta, is a well-known Dominican financier. Carlos is a nephew of the renowned fashion designer Oscar de la Renta.

Biden’s censorship queen Nina Jankowicz currently works at the American Sunlight Project (ASP), and previously worked at USAID-funded Center for Information Resilience.

The ASP was co-founded by Carlos Alvarez-Aranyos is a “communications professional” who worked for Biden’s… https://t.co/uIgDszSDKL pic.twitter.com/x60Ju2wzYh

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 1, 2025

“I need to have on my resume, so I can get a job when this thing is over, that I bankrupted Tesla.”

This is an outright admission the top Tesla boycott organizers’ personal financial prospects depend on taking down Tesla, and they must succeed in order to get paid. https://t.co/CJnQDX38rC pic.twitter.com/Ti775yTplt

— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) March 30, 2025

Alvarez-Aranyos has been scrubbed from the American Sunlight Project’s website, which is why the internet archive exists.

Early organizers of the “Tesla Takedown” protests said last month that the organization’s goal is to drive down the price of Tesla stock.

Another “Tesla Takedown” organizer, Edward Niedermeyer, told Fortune Magazine that dropping Musk’s wealth is exactly their aim.

“The goal, I would say, is to bankrupt Elon Musk—bring down his empire,” he said.

Read more on the Tesla Takedown organizers here…

Musk chimed in, calling the organizers “Evil people…“

Evil people https://t.co/6NCHAzZC9B

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 1, 2025