With Hooters on the verge of bankruptcy, the legendary restaurant where you can eat mediocre food and check out tits (and pay in cash so your wife doesn’t find out) is getting rid of Bikini Nights and skimpy outfits, and hopes that an improvement in the food will stave off doom.

Neil Kiefer, CEO of parent company HMC Hospitality Group, told Bloomberg he’s calling the ‘family friendly’ changes “re-Hooterization.”

“You go to some parts of the country and people say, ‘Oh, I could never go to Hooters, my wife would kill me,” said Kiefer. “That’s depressing to us. We want to change that.”

According to the report, Hooters also plans to use fresher ingredients in the kitchen and provide faster service.

The move comes after the chain has closed several locations across the country – with 40 shuttered last year, and the remaining 300 on the line. At its peak in 2008, there were 400 locations.

In 2021, the chain unveiled a new uniform featuring “wedgie” micro shorts – which resembled bikini bottoms, and which some waitresses called “porn.”

According to industry analyst Aaron Allen, “For a business to be successful and sustainable, it helps to appeal to more than just men.”

* * *

We’ve sold a TON of these lighter / flashlight combos…

Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back

The turnaround plan would likely see HMC and other Hooters franchisees take over most of the US locations that are currently owned and run by Hooters of America, which would likely see the closure of some locations, according to people familiar with the discussions. HOA is currently owned by Nord Bay Capital and TriArtisan Capital Advisors, LLC.

The end result is that HMC, should the plan go through, would help oversee the overall brand and advise franchisees on how to operate. The fix, according to Kiefer, boils down to three principles: good food, good service and regular reinvestment in the stores’ operations, something he says has been lacking at the eateries owned by HOA.

“There’s a noticeable difference,” Kiefer said. “The food’s different, the service is different — I hope to correct it all.”

In 2022, HOA’s owners, among other things, added $50 million in subordinated debt, after issuing approximately $300 million in asset-backed bonds in 2014, which were packaged as ‘whole-business securitizations,’ pledging most of its assets, including franchise fees, as collateral. The current bankruptcy under consideration would see certain holders of its securitized debt team up with HMC to facilitate a change of control, according to the report. In this scenario, the debt holders would likely agree to restructure or roll their debt into securities with a longer maturity and the same or similar collateral pools.

RIP this:

Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

President Donald Trump said on March 29 that he did not ask automotive CEOs to avoid raising prices in response to sweeping tariffs and that he “couldn’t care less” if they do so on foreign-made cars.

The Trump administration is poised to levy 25 percent tariffs on all foreign-made automobiles and components on April 2, with temporary exceptions given to companies that import vehicles or parts under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) until the government creates a process for applying those duties, according to the White House.

Trump made the comments in a Saturday phone interview with NBC News. He was asked about his recent message to automotive industry executives and whether he warned them against raising prices.

“The message is congratulations, if you make your car in the United States, you’re going to make a lot of money. If you don’t, you’re going to have to probably come to the United States, because if you make your car in the United States, there is no tariff,” Trump said, adding that he never told them not to raise prices.

“No, I never said that. I couldn’t care less if they raise prices, because people are going to start buying American-made cars,” he said. “I couldn’t care less. I hope they raise their prices, because if they do, people are going to buy American-made cars. We have plenty.”

The president emphasized that he wasn’t concerned about car prices increasing.

“No, I couldn’t care less, because if the prices on foreign cars go up, they’re going to buy American cars,” Trump said.

Following the interview, one of the president’s aides clarified to NBC that Trump was specifically talking about an increase in foreign car prices. The Epoch Times has requested a full transcript of the call from NBC.

Trump also said the 25 percent tariffs on foreign cars and components would be permanent.

“Absolutely, they’re permanent, sure. The world has been ripping off the United States for the last 40 years and more. And all we’re doing is being fair, and frankly, I’m being very generous,” he said.

Set to take effect on April 2, which he has referred to as “Liberation Day,” the tariffs will also hit a variety of other consumer goods. Trump said on Saturday that he prefers to not further delay the implementation of those tariffs, but he would consider negotiations “only if people are willing to give us something of great value. Because countries have things of great value, otherwise, there’s no room for negotiation.”

The Trump administration has said its goal with the tariffs is to promote American manufacturing and equalize the nation’s trade deficit worldwide.

Venezuelan illegal immigrant Leonel Moreno, known as the “migrant influencer,” who amassed a half million followers on TikTok, was deported to Caracas early Friday morning following his 2024 arrest by ICE in Ohio.

In a series of short videos on TikTok, Moreno bragged about receiving ‘stacks of cash’ from American taxpayers and urged other illegal aliens to take advantage of all the free money progressives were handing out. He has thanked “Papa Biden” for the free cash.

Moreno was one of 178 Venezuelan deportees to arrive at the Simón Bolívar International Airport – which was confirmed by Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela’s interior minister.

According to Cabello, many of the deportees on the plane were “angry” at Moreno, which required special security measures.

“He [Moreno] was on the list of those who were there and he will go through the same procedure — now, what happened with that gentleman is that many of the people who were on the flight were upset because his campaign was to point out that Venezuelans in the world are criminals. So many of those who were there were angry,” said Cabello, adding “From the first moment we had to provide special security, and they put him on the flight because the other passengers, the other comrades who were coming were very upset.“

#28Mar | La madrugada de este viernes arribó al país un vuelo con 178 migrantes venezolanos que fueron deportados de Estados Unidos.

“Este octavo vuelo trae a los compatriotas que han sido perseguidos y estigmatizados en Estados Unidos, entre ellos hay 13 mujeres y 165… pic.twitter.com/gL9ux6rCsu

— El Diario (@eldiario) March 28, 2025

🇻🇪🇺🇸| Fue deportado de EE.UU hacia Venezuela el tiktoker Leonel Moreno, conocido como “Leito Oficial”, que se hizo famoso alentando a los migrantes ilegales a violentar las leyes estadounidenses.

Llegó hoy a Caracas junto a otros 177 migrantes venezolanos. pic.twitter.com/WfE6w3DLfq

— Alerta Mundial (@AlertaMundoNews) March 28, 2025

Moreno made a series of brazen posts on TikTok inciting migrants to commit crimes. He also mocked people with traditional jobs – showing large sums of money while bragging about sucking US Aid out of the Biden administration.

“I didn’t cross the Rio Grande to work like a slave,” Moreno said in a TikTok video in Spanish, adding, “I came to the US to mark my territory.”

“You’re hurt because I make more than you without much work while you work like slaves, understand?” he said in another video, noting, “That’s the difference between you and me. I’m always going to make lots of money without much work, and you’re always going to be exploited and miserable and insignificant.”

Moreno even encouraged other illegal aliens to invade American homes under squatting laws: “I learned that there is a law that says if a house is not inhabited, then we can take it … and here in the United States, terrain deformation also applies, and I think that will be my next business: invade abandoned houses.”

Leonel Moreno, the TikTok influencer who encouraged illegals to squat in houses and take advantage of squatters rights laws has been arrested. pic.twitter.com/TnlCPU91SW

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 29, 2024

Thanks to President Biden’s disastrous open southern borders, Moreno crossed into the country illegally in early 2022 through Eagle Pass, Texas. He skipped out on his initial check-in with ICE. 

Via Remix News,

A judge has ruled Marine Le Pen is ineligible to run for office, along with eight MEPs from her National Rally party, after they were found guilty of misappropriation of EU funds. The move is the latest attack on democracy in the EU, with judges increasingly deciding elections in Europe. Le Pen has also been sentenced to four years in prison, with two years suspended.

Notably, the news comes right as Le Pen leads the polling for French presidential elections in 2027, as Remix News reported earlier today.

The court estimated that the total losses amounted to €2.9 million, as a result of “paying by the European Parliament people who actually worked for the far-right party.” Le Pen was found to be responsible for €1.8 million in damages herself. The judgment also concerns 12 assistants. The prosecutor’s office initially alleged that €7 million had been used in this way.

Investigators accused Le Pen of managing the illegal use of European subsidies between 2004 and 2016, when she served as an MEP. They stated that instead of working in Strasbourg, assistants were to work for Le Pen’s National Rally party in a domestic capacity.

“It was found that all these people actually worked for the party, that their deputy did not commission them any tasks,” said the judge. Assistants then “passed from one deputy to another.”

“It was not about combining the work of assistants, but about combining the budgets of MPs,” said the judge.

Le Pen said before the trial that the matter is entirely political and that her opponents wished for her “political death.”

Other commentators have expressed surprise at not only the verdict but also the decision to exclude her from elections.

Pierre Lellouche, a lawyer and former Deputy of the French National Assembly, appeared on CNEWS to point out that the current prime minister, François Bayrou, faced the same charge and suffered no consequences.

“Then, last but not least, there is the case of (François) Bayrou, the current prime minister, who has been prosecuted for exactly the same thing, i.e., for abuses of party funding declared as parliamentary assistants in Europe, at the EU parliament. Bayrou emerged from this affair without being in the least concerned. In fact, the public prosecutor’s office has once again referred the matter to the courts, but even so, we’re dealing with a double standard here. It’s a bit surprising.”

He noted that the “separation of powers” is increasingly shifting towards judges, and noted that in many previous elections, these judges have tipped the scales in favor of certain candidates.

“We’re finding that more and more, everything is getting mixed up, everywhere. Look at Trump, who had seven judges behind him, and that didn’t stop him from winning. Finally, Strauss-Kahn was eliminated, Fillon was eliminated by a somewhat untimely and rapid indictment at the time of the presidential election, which allowed Mr. Macron to govern the country for seven years after all, which is no mean feat. Especially since, in the Fillon affair, the public prosecutor subsequently indicated that this was not entirely neutral and that the Élysée was particularly interested in this case. So you see, there is a separation of powers, but at the moment, power is shifting to the judges, and that can have a huge impact.”

Another attorney, Maxime Thiebaut, also brought up the case of Bayrou, saying:

“At the very least, you know, it comes as a surprise that Marine Le Pen has been found guilty. I would point out that Mr. (François) Bayrou was acquitted on a similar charge, because it was considered that he had not acted with intent. So I wasn’t in Mr. Bayrou’s file and I wasn’t in Ms. Le Pen’s file, but I note that there was also an expectation that Madame Le Pen would be guilty. 

We all know very well that when you’re the leader of a political party, you’re pretty far removed from the actual running of the party. Mr. Bayrou was recognized by Ms. Le Pen. Is it political or not? I don’t know and I won’t give my opinion on that.”

This is not the only such case either, with Romania banning the presidential frontrunner, Călin Georgescu, from running for president as well as arresting him.

Read more here…

Via The Daily Signal,

How should we characterize the first seven weeks of the Trump administration because we get so much information and misinformation?

Almost a day doesn’t go by where The Wall Street Journal is predicting that we are headed for a recession, that our allies are furious at us, that the economy is on the brink.

So, what are we gonna make of all this? I think it’s time to take a deep breath and envision the first seven weeks is something like the following: President Donald Trump is in a race. He’s in a race to enact fundamental, disruptive change, a counterrevolution, and it’s going to be rough for a while, as he pointed out.

But the things that he has already done are going to have, shortly or maybe even midterm, fundamental advantages for the United States. The question is, can he message and can he explicate and explain what he’s doing so people hang on? Because the eventual reward will be great.

Now, what do I mean? We’re talking about tariffs, tariffs, tariffs, but even the mere mention of tariffs for all of these countries that have not been reciprocal and have imposed tariffs on us in a way that we would never think of imposing on them, that idea that we might return to parity, it’s had an enormous effect.

Some $4 trillion of announced investment from the Europeans, from the Saudis, from the Chinese, from the Mexican government, from the Canadians even. That will create hundreds of thousands of jobs. And that is in the process of working out.

When Donald Trump entered office in 2017, we were only pumping about 9 million barrels. When he left, we were pumping 12 million. The Biden administration immediately cut back. And then it decided, before the midterms, “Hey, Americans like affordable oil.” So then they continued the Trump plan and got up to 12, almost 13 million barrels.

Already in just seven weeks, we have increased the amount of oil produced per day in the United States by about a third of a million barrels. And we’re on schedule to get up to about 14 million barrels by the beginning of the year. And that is coordinated with an increase in Middle East production as well.

So, we’re going to see a moderation of energy prices, which may explain, already, why the inflation rate was not nearly as high as was predicted.

If we look at the border, it’s amazing. We were told that the border problem was unsolvable without comprehensive immigration reform. And there were 10,000 people swarming up per day. We don’t even—nonchalantly, nobody talks about it anymore. But it’s a revolutionary achievement. There’s nobody going across the border illegally, or at least, it’s statistically insignificant.

The big issue right now is the Left is cherry-picking judges to prevent, not the deportation of somebody who’s working, who’s never been arrested, who’s been here for five or six years, but criminals and people who already have been ordered out of the country or pro-Hamas, pro-terrorist supporters.

But the point I’m making is, what we’re doing now is Phase Two. The border is essentially solved, as far as security, and in seven weeks. Now, we’re having a difficult task of trying to find out who these 12 million people were that former President Joe Biden deliberately and with intent—malicious intent—allowed to come into the country.

But the point I’m making is this is an incredible success.

There’s a final point that I want to make. We hear about Elon Musk is not authentically American. He is a nepo baby. And we hear Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, threatening his person, along with threatening Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

All of this chaos and nihilism coming about Elon Musk and what he’s doing, but what he’s finding out, almost every day, in the Treasury, in the IRS, in the Department of Energy, in the intelligence communities, is a vast unreported siphoning off of hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions, to favorable and mostly left-wing entities, both abroad and here in the United States.

And already, he has cited areas where the Cabinet officers can cut $200 billion. That’s a fifth, only after seven weeks. He’s got a fifth of the way to go. He thinks he can cut a trillion dollars without touching entitlements. I don’t know if he can.

But let me just sum up. If Donald Trump is able to fulfill this promise of commitment by foreign entities of $4 trillion in investment—$4 trillion—if he is able to cut a trillion dollars within a year or two, if he’s able to solve the Ukraine war, and if he is able to have a general peace in the Middle East, that will be the most substantial presidency—if he does nothing else—that we’ve seen in 50 years.

Final word, everybody, keep calm. There’s events in process that if they are brought to fulfillment and fruition, this country will be a radically different and radically better place.

Just when you thought Democrats couldn’t outclass themselves after Rep. Jasmine Crockett referred to Texas Gov. Abbott as “hot wheels”, here comes California to make sure you’re always entertained. 

A new California ballot initiative, named after alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione, has been filed with the state Attorney General. It seeks to ban insurers from delaying, denying, or altering any doctor-recommended treatment that could risk serious harm, including death or permanent injury, according to KTLA.

If passed, the initiative would require that only physicians—not insurance company staff—can decide to delay, deny, or alter medical treatments. Hiring non-physicians for such reviews would become a felony.

Insurers would bear a high burden of proof if they delay care, needing clear and convincing evidence the treatment was unnecessary or wouldn’t prevent serious harm. Patients could sue for treble damages and attorney fees.

KTLA writes that the measure is under review, with public comments open until April 25. The Attorney General will finalize its title before signature gathering begins.

Recall, Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old from Towson, Maryland, is accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024.

A University of Pennsylvania graduate, Mangione was apprehended in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and faces multiple charges, including first-degree murder and terrorism-related offenses.

Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com,

Precious metals expert and financial writer Bill Holter has long said there is a long list of financial trouble coming to America.  DOGE (Department of Government Accountability) has put the financial reckoning for massive debt and fraud into hyperdrive.  

Gold smells big trouble with another new record high just last week.  Gold is in hyperdrive in an economic hyper-levered house of cards.  Holter explains,

“Gold is now considered a Tier 1 asset, but more importantly, gold cannot bankrupt.  I think big money is looking at the financial system and understanding that it is a hyper-levered house of cards or Ponzi scheme.  Sovereign Treasuries from across the world can and, highly likely, will default in some cases.  Gold and silver cannot default.  Gold and silver are money.  This fiat experiment started off with dollars, European currencies, the yen, etcetera.  They were derivatives of gold…

They have had several suppression schemes to keep the price down, and they desperately have to keep the price of silver down because if silver runs, gold is going to follow.  

High and rising gold process are basically a vote of no confidence by the international community.”

Don’t underestimate how disruptive DOGE cutting fraud and waste will be on the economy.  Holter points out, 

“The last time we interviewed, we talked about DOGE and all of this slush money being paid out.  Look at the 14 magic money machines that Elon Musk has found.  All this money being spewed into the economy registers as GDP.  So, if you shut those spigots off, you are shutting off the money, and the real economy slows down.  There is less cash flow from that.  The real danger, and I am not so sure it is by accident, is this Trump’s idea of pulling the plug?  I have to believe he understands that by cutting the spending or cutting the capital that is going into the system, with the system as leveraged as it is right now, it’s going to take everything down.  What you are doing is cutting off new money to the Ponzi scheme, and no Ponzi scheme can survive without continually getting new money coming into it.”

Holter also says, “The United States was considered for years and years the safe haven because of its pristine rule of law.  When you pull the curtain back and everything is rotten, confidence breaks…”

”  You are not going to have money moving into the US for safe haven status.  You are going to have money leaving the United States.  It’s not just the money that is not going to hit the streets because of DOGE, but mentally because of the corruption they are exposing.  DOGE is basically exposing that the United States is corrupt and a shitty place to do business.”

In closing, Holter says, “DOGE revealing that they just pay money out of thin air is a huge problem.”

”  You can’t do the math if you don’t have good numbers. . . . If we can glean that they are going to cut $500 billion or $1 trillion or $2 trillion and we can figure out that is a problem for the real economy and the financial markets, don’t you think the people running the show know that?  That tells me they are purposely pulling the rug out from under the system.  It’s game over.”

There is much more in the 53-minute interview.

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with financial writer and precious metals expert Bill Holter for 3.29.25.

*  *  *

To Donate to USAWatchdog.com Click Here

Bill Holter’s website just keeps getting more and more viewers.  It’s called BillHolter.com.  There are lots of new free articles posted.

For budget-conscious travelers, some destinations offer incredible experiences at a fraction of the cost, while others can drain your wallet faster than expected.

To help inspire your next vacation, Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu ranked the 15 cheapest and 15 most expensive countries to visit in 2025, based on data compiled by Hellosafe (prices converted to USD).

Methodology and Highlights

The average daily travel budgets shown in this graphic are calculated based on the following:

• Accommodation costs: Hotel or Airbnb-type reservations

• Food expenses: Based on local CPI indices and restaurant costs

• Transport costs within the country: Covers domestic flights, train, bus, etc.

• Expenditures on tourist activities

Note that these average budgets do not include the cost of transportation to the destination country.

The Cheapest Countries to Visit in 2025

Many of the world’s most budget-friendly destinations are found in Asia and Africa, where lower costs for food, accommodation, and transport make travel more affordable.

There are a few challenges to be mindful of when picking these destinations.

For starters, infrastructure and public services may not be as developed, meaning extra planning for accommodations and transport is required.

Another factor is health precautions, as some destinations may require vaccinations or extra care with food and water. In tropical locations like Ghana, Rwanda, and India, travelers should be cautious about mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria or dengue fever.

The Most Expensive Countries to Visit in 2025

Among the most expensive travel destinations are several small island nations where high costs are driven by limited resources and imported goods.

Barbados, which tops the list at $330 per day, has a well-developed tourism industry that caters to high-end travelers with luxury resorts, fine dining, and exclusive beachside experiences.

Other pricey destinations that aren’t islands include Switzerland and the U.S., with the latter being the third most visited country after France and Spain.

If you enjoyed this post, check out our ranking of the world’s most powerful passports on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Authored by Jackson Richman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

South Africa’s highest court denied on March 27 a bid to have the song “Kill the Boer” be deemed hateful speech.

“The application should be dismissed as it bears no reasonable prospects of success,” stated the order from the Constitutional Court.

The case was brought by AfriForum, a South African nongovernmental organization representing white South Africans, who constitute 7 percent of the population and own 70 percent of the farmland. South Africa consists of 62 million people.

“After this shocking court ruling, we see that this is no longer the case. We are seeing an increasing radical implementation of the Constitution. We see an increase in ideologically-driven judges,” said AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel in a statement. “However, we are not going to become discouraged.”

“Kill the Boer” is an apartheid-era song. Boers are white settlers of primarily Dutch descent who often pursued an agrarian living in what is now South Africa. The term “Boer” has been used to refer to white farmers in the country, and the lyrics of the “Kill the Boer” song mostly consist of the word “shoot.”

Recitations of the chant often correlate with rising violence targeting white farmers, according to Ernst Roets, a South African political activist and executive director of the newly formed advocacy group Pioneer Initiative. 

“When the slogan, particularly is chanted at high-profile events, by a high-profile politician, there tends to be an increase, especially in the murders on the farms,” Roets told The Epoch Times on March 28.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s senior adviser Elon Musk, who is from South Africa, posted on X last week that the song has been “actively promoting white genocide.” He has criticized the country for passing a law that he said allows for land to be seized from white people in what supporters say is an attempt to rectify the past history of apartheid.

Willie Aucamp, national spokesperson of the Democratic Alliance, the second-largest party in South Africa’s parliament, said that it is “deeply troubling and unacceptable” that some political figures in the country continue to sing the song, according to News24, an English-language South African news website.

“The song ‘Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer’ goes beyond mere words. It incites violence, stokes hatred, and deepens divisions within our society,” he said.

“We should be working towards unity and healing, and songs like this only serve to deepen the rifts that still exist in our country,” he continued. “Farmers play an essential role in feeding the nation, and to see their work and lives targeted by such harmful rhetoric is an affront to the values of respect and dignity we should uphold.”

The Trump administration has stopped funding to South Africa over what it said was the country’s government seizing land from white farmers.

In February, the White House said that South Africa has enacted “government policies designed to dismantle equal opportunity in employment, education, and business, and hateful rhetoric and government actions fueling disproportionate violence against racially disfavored landowners.”

The administration also said that “South Africa has taken aggressive positions towards the United States and its allies,” noting that the country accused Israel, instead of terrorist group Hamas, of genocide in the International Court of Justice, and reinvigorated “its relations with Iran to develop commercial, military, and nuclear arrangements.”

The United States will “promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation,” said the White House.

Roets, through his Pioneer Initiative, has argued that South Africa should be broken into multiple smaller sovereign states.

“The only way forward is for these nations, such as the Afrikaner people, and others … to have self-governance so that we’re not subjected to this kind of situation that we are in at the moment,” Roets told The Epoch Times.

Ryan Morgan, Jan Jekielek, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Russian forces have continued rolling up villages in the east and south of Ukraine on Saturday and Sunday. A full battlefield press has continued even amid President Trump’s efforts to get all sides at the negotiating table.

First, on Saturday Russia’s defense ministry announced the capture of the two villages of Shchebraki in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and Panteleimonivka in the eastern Donetsk region.

“Russia is making a mockery of peacekeeping efforts around the world. It is dragging out the war and sowing terror because it still feels no real pressure,” Zelensky has said, condemning also stepped up drone strikes.

For example in the overnight and early Saturday hours there had been over 170 drones launched on Ukraine. Four people had been killed in Dnipro after a strike hit a hotel, injuring an additional 21 – including a pregnant woman.

On Sunday another key village was captured which lies less than ten kilometers from Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region. This particular boundary has not yet been breached after more than three years of war.

Russian forces “liberated the village of Zaporizhzhia” in the eastern Donetsk region, the defense ministry said.

Ukraine forces are still on the retreat in Kursk region, but there are reports of new fighting erupting inside Russia’s Belgorod.

“Just as Ukrainian forces are losing their grip on the pocket of Russia’s Kursk region they captured last year, they have staged a little-publicized incursion into the adjacent Belgorod region, according to Russian military bloggers,” Reuters reports.

“Several Russian military correspondents said on Friday that Ukrainian troops were inside Belgorod and fighting battles with Russian forces there,” the report adds.

As for the now failed Kursk operation, The NY Times has offered some new information on Washington and Kiev clashing on whether or not to launch the operation in the first place.

Via ‘War Mapper’: An overview map of the situation in Ukraine as of 27 March 2025.

“For the Americans, the incursion’s unfolding was a significant breach of trust. It wasn’t just that the Ukrainians had again kept them in the dark; they had secretly crossed a mutually agreed-upon line, taking coalition-supplied equipment into Russian territory,” the Times report states.

“It wasn’t almost blackmail, it was blackmail,” a Pentagon official said, based on an apparent agreement that Ukrainians could only fire American weapons within a limited zone.