Authored by Steve Watson via modernity.news,

Presidential loser Hillary Clinton, who was found to have used a personal email address for government communications, is definitely the last person who should be commenting on the leaked Signal group chat between Trump officials, but she just couldn’t keep her trap shut.

As we highlighted, the story was a nothing burger that Democrats desperately tried to jump on unsurprisingly given that they have absolutely nothing else going for them.

But the most hilarious development to come out of this is Hillary mounting her high horse and declaring how sacred national security materials are.

Clinton had the audacity to splurge her mind matter all over The New York Times opinion page, shamelessly proclaiming “It’s not the hypocrisy that bothers me; it’s the stupidity.”

It’s not the hypocrisy that bothers me; it’s the stupidity. https://t.co/mfGQvtkHxj

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 28, 2025

X comments are closed…obviously.

Hillary sardonically blathers “We’re all shocked — shocked! — that President Trump and his team don’t actually care about protecting classified information or federal record retention laws.”

She adds, “But we knew that already. What’s much worse is that top Trump administration officials put our troops in jeopardy by sharing military plans on a commercial messaging app and unwittingly invited a journalist into the chat. That’s dangerous. And it’s just dumb.”

First of all, there were no “military plans,” as Pete Hegseth has pointed out. Democrats are pathetically clutching at straws.

Secondly, this is coming from the woman who used her own email server to share classified communications.

This is the bleach bit lady, who when asked by reporters if she had indeed wiped all her emails to get rid of the evidence, sarcastically responded “Like with a cloth?”

Remember when Hillary Clinton was caught with over 31,000 government emails on an illegal private server?

And when she was asked if she deleted the evidence, she joked “what like with a cloth or something?”

No FBI raid on her house & no DOJ indictment

pic.twitter.com/ESQYfrK250

— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) June 9, 2023

Hillary Clinton weighing in on “Signalgate?”

Fmr. CIA Analyst @TPASarah thinks that’s pretty rich.

The difference is… pic.twitter.com/AGPuXL9tto

— Chanel Rion OAN (@ChanelRion) March 30, 2025

And she’s talking about “hypocrisy.”

Hillary Clinton just published an op-ed in the NYT slamming Trump

Her opening salvo is about the Signal debacle

This is coming from the woman that insisted on using her own private email server which was hacked

Immediate hypocrisy, as always pic.twitter.com/BhNkQd82rF

— Shaun Maguire (@shaunmmaguire) March 29, 2025

Yeah, maybe you should sit this one out Hilary. Sit right at the end of a long long table and shut all the way the hell up.

Crooked Hillary had 22 top secret emails on her Gmail account alone. https://t.co/U7Pm8TjhA5

— House Foreign Affairs Committee Majority (@HouseForeignGOP) March 29, 2025

Crooked Hillary had 22 top secret emails on her Gmail account alone. https://t.co/U7Pm8TjhA5

— House Foreign Affairs Committee Majority (@HouseForeignGOP) March 29, 2025

Crooked Hillary had 22 top secret emails on her Gmail account alone. https://t.co/U7Pm8TjhA5

— House Foreign Affairs Committee Majority (@HouseForeignGOP) March 29, 2025

Crooked Hillary had 22 top secret emails on her Gmail account alone. https://t.co/U7Pm8TjhA5

— House Foreign Affairs Committee Majority (@HouseForeignGOP) March 29, 2025

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Ahead of Tuesday’s pivotal election in Wisconsin—which will determine whether conservatives or liberals control the state’s Supreme Court—Elon Musk’s America PAC hosted a town hall to rally support for conservative candidate Brad Schimel. The event covered several topics, including an update on DOGE-related efforts in the corrupt DC Swamp.

Forty-two minutes into the online town hall—streamed on X and other social media platforms—Musk welcomed Antonio Gracias, founder and CEO of the Chicago-based growth equity firm Valor Equity Partners. Gracias has been leading DOGE efforts to uncover fraud and waste in Social Security. 

Musk told the audience with Gracias on stage that DOGE found “20 million dead people marked as alive… Social Security database, this is too crazy, and then you’ll notice there’s a strange trend here.”

At that moment, Musk and Gracias turned their backs to the audience to explain a graph projected on the wall titled “New Non-Citizen Social Security Numbers Issued. “

Gracias told the audience, “We started at the top of the system—mapping the whole system of Social Security to understand where all the fraud was—and there were a lot of great people there who showed us, um, really a lot of waste, and so that came with a big list of stuff. But this is what jumped out at us. When we saw these numbers … we were like, what is this? In 2021, you see 270,000 people go all the way to 2.1 million in 2024. These are non-citizens that are getting Social Security numbers.” 

Musk said this chart “was mind-blowing …” 

Gracias followed that up with: “This literally blew us away. Like we went there to find fraud, and we found this by accident – and this isn’t political, by the way – my parents are immigrants – uh yeah, this country has been great to us. My brothers and sister were all born in Spain. I’m pro legal immigration. This is not political. This is about America and the future of America, and there are a lot of good people in the system who pointed us in this direction. I want to honor them right now who work in the government today, who took risks to show us these numbers and tell us what’s going on. I want to stop for a minute. I want to honor those people today – very good people. I have been from DC to Social Security offices and to the border to track this down, and very good people have helped us along the way. I want to thank them.”

He explained, “This number – what is when you come in the country if you’re an illegal, uh there’s a couple ways come in – you can go through a Port of Entry and you can tell them you’re afraid and you’ll get an asylum case and you’ll get an interview then you get in – that’s one way to do it. Another way to do it is to go to the border – literally, this happened. I talked to the border patrol myself.  Elon was there too. I went to Laredo, and you walked up to a border portal officer and told them you wanted to come. They have a couple of choices. They could charge you with a misdemeanor or a felony under 1325 or they can make an administrative offense like a parking ticket basically, they were told to do that make an administrative offense under the last Administration and then you go walk across the border they uh do what’s called a release from your own recognizance and they give you an NTA (notice to appear) which to appear at a judge the weight times on judges are like average six years -look at Grok-you’ll see it on immigration judges – there’s only 700 of them this is 5.5 million people.” 

“Next, once you’re in the country and you got asylum through one of these pathways we mapped the whole thing out – you can apply for a work document – you file a 765 – it’s the work form – you get this form called the 766 – that’s the authorization – and then Social Security Administration automatically sends you in the mail your social security number – no interview no ID,” Gracias explained further. 

Musk chimed in: “Just reiterating, sometimes people think that Biden was asleep at the switch. But this was a massive large-scale program to import as many illegals as possible ultimately to change the entire voting map of the United States and disenfranchise the American people and make it a permanent deep blue one-party state, from which there would be no escape.” 

Gracias emphasized that “defaults in the system from Social Security to all of the benefit programs have been set to Max inclusion – max pay – for these people and Minimum Collection – that’s what’s happening. We found that 1.3 million of them are already on Medicaid. And the 5 million of them on benefit programs.” 

“What was really disturbing us was why. We’re asking ourselves why, and so we actually just took a sample and looked at voter registration records and we found people here registered to vote in this population – yes – and we found some by sampling some that did vote. And we have referred them to prosecution at the homeland security investigation,” Gracias said, adding, “Truly disturbing thing to me and the darkest thing about this to me uh the voter fraud is terrible but the human tragedy this created is extraordinary. Americans need to know – that’s why I’m here – that human traffickers made 13 to 15 billion dollar off of this – that’s the money that’s going around the world moving people around the world to our borders because of these incentives.” 

Elon Musk exposes massive social security fraud with non citizens receiving a social security number

Why would anyone be against eliminating fraud like this in government? pic.twitter.com/dSwUTbcbQg

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 31, 2025

Last month, Musk summed up why the Democratic Party and corrupt NGOs, along with far-left globalist billionaires, facilitated the illegal alien invasion:

“The REAL reason so many Democrats are upset about entitlements (social security, medical, etc) fraud investigations is that they are using your taxpayer money as handouts to attract and retain ILLEGAL immigrants. Their future voters.” 

The REAL reason so many Democrats are upset about entitlements (social security, medical, etc) fraud investigations is that they are using your taxpayer money as handouts to attract and retain ILLEGAL immigrants. Their future voters.

That’s what it’s all about.

Truth.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 17, 2025

At the same time, the Democratic Party and their globalist billionaire allies prioritized their desire for more power over the nation, which triggered alarming national security and biosecurity threats.

In response to the Democratic Party’s illegal alien invasion scheme, shadowy Marxist NGOs aligned with the woke party have launched firebombing attacks against Elon Musk’s Tesla showrooms, charging stations, and vehicles across the country—all in retaliation for DOGE exposing this massive fraud.

Time for …

Issuing social security numbers to illegal immigrants? This is one way they plan to circumvent E-verify.

By the way, E-verify is like Real-ID and the Patriot Act: another government checkpoint that will be used to further control law abiding citizens. https://t.co/ExlAbvbxgL

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 31, 2025

. . .

Vaccine stocks tumbled in the early U.S. cash session after Peter Marks—a top FDA regulator and pro-vaxxer—abruptly resigned on Friday.

Wall Street analysts view Marks’ departure as a bearish signal for vaccine stocks, such as Moderna, Novavax, BioNTech, and others, which already face mounting headwinds, including a wave of layoffs expected at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Moderna puked at the open, down 12% in early trading, while the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF sank 2%. Other makers of vaccine stocks plunged, including Novavax -10% and BioNTech -5.8%.

Moderna shares are also down 95% from peak Covid highs.

Bloomberg provided color on Marks’ role and how his departure is bearish for the industry: 

As the leader of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Marks was a key figure in the quick approvals of Covid vaccines during the pandemic. Along with shots, he was responsible for the agency’s evaluation of cutting-edge treatments such as cell and gene therapies.

In his resignation letter, Marks cited friction with the views of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine critic.

“I was willing to work to address the Secretary’s concerns regarding vaccine safety and transparency,” he said. “However it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”

Analysts—including BMO Capital Markets’ Evan David Seigerman—view the departure as a “significant negative” for the biotech and biopharma sectors.

“It’s no secret that Biotech has been under immense pressure recently given broader macro issues, this unfortunate update does nothing to reassure investors or provide relief,” Seigerman told clients, adding that gene and cell therapy companies are under pressure given Marks’ relationship with many of them. 

Here’s further analyst insight into the change of guard at the FDA in the era of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. running the Department of Health and Human Services (courtesy of Bloomberg):

William Blair, Matt Larew

• Expects in the space could weaken further given that Marks “was a cheerleader for innovation in biotech and strong supporter of new modalities”

• Says Marks’s departure and the recently announced HHS cuts stack on top of “an unsettlingly large pile of news flow in the space year-to-date that creates uncertainty for funding, regulatory and approval processes, and supply chains”

• Adds that the steady stream of negative news flow “has simply been too much for stocks in the space to overcome

RBC Capital Markets, Brian Abrahams

• Says the news is not good for the biotech industry even beyond vaccines, as Marks had been a key advocate for more flexible, efficient approval processes for drugs particularly those for orphan diseases such as gene therapies

• “We expect some weakness for biotech as uncertainty continues to be perpetuated”

Truist, Joon Lee

• Says news of the resignation could put some pressure on companies whose drugs are currently, or planned to be, under review by the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research

Last week, Bloomberg reported that leaked documents reveal the Trump administration plans to slash $28 billion in global health initiatives—including funding cuts to Bill Gates’ vaccine alliance, Gavi.

WINNING. President Trump has cancelled $1 BILLION to Bill Gates ‘GAVI Vaccine Alliance’…

“Bill Gates controls the WHO which mandates ‘vaccines’ for the entire World…” -HHS RFK Jr.pic.twitter.com/9Y4BCx1qhM

— Liz Churchill (@liz_churchill10) March 30, 2025

Meanwhile…

• USAID Panic Mode: Bill Gates Goes On MSM, Bashes Musk’s DOGE, Fear-Mongers About Next Pandemic

• Climate Group Controlled By Bill Gates Hit By Layoffs

. . . 

Welcome to the last day of March ahead of the hotly anticipated “Liberation Day” on Wednesday. US and European markets are sharply lower and Asian equity markets are also sinking as the fear of what it may contain continues to build (the Nikkei tumbled into a correction overnight). As Goldman trader John Flood writes, “brace yourself for a crazy week ahead. S&P 500’s implied move through Friday” (4/4) is 260bps (he will take the over).  

On the economic data front we get China’s NBS PMIs on Monday morning, US Manufacturing ISM (Tuesday morning; the Street is modeling 49.8, down from 50.3 in Feb), Services ISM (Thursday morning; the Street is modeling 53.1, down from 53.5 in Feb), and Jobs (Friday morning; the Street is modeling 135K, down from 151K in Feb, and according to Michael Hartnett this number is more important than Trump’s tariff announcement). Also need to keep an eye on the first major political contests since Trump’s reelection taking place on Tuesday 4/1 (the judicial election in Wisconsin and the special House races in Florida).

According to Flood, the Grand Daddy of this week’s events is the tariffs announcement on April 2: he notes that Goldman economists believe that “risks lean towards a negative surprise on announcement day for 2 main reasons: First, administration officials have said that the soon-to-be announced tariff rates are intended as the basis for negotiation, which incentivizes the proposal of higher rates at the outset. Second, their recent survey showed that market participants anticipate the reciprocal tariff rate to be 9% on average, while GS economists believe the initial proposal could be closer to double that expectation.”

Moving back to this week, outside of “liberation day” and 25% tariffs on imported autos commencing on Thursday, it’s also a big week for macro with all roads leading to Friday’s payrolls and a speech by Powell. Before that, the main highlights are: today’s German CPI; tomorrow’s US manufacturing ISM, US auto sales, US JOLTS, China’s manufacturing PMI, Japan’s Tankan, Eurozone CPI, the RBA rate decision, and a speech from Lagarde; Wednesday’s ADP report; Thursday’s US ISM services, China’s services PMI, Eurozone PPI, and the ECB account of the March meeting; all before the big end to the week on Friday.

In terms of what to expect from “Liberation Day” on Wednesday, the bid-offer is huge. As DB’s economists laid out last week reciprocal tariffs could add roughly 4 (best case) to 14ppts (worst case) to the overall US tariff rate relative to its 2024 level of 2.5%. The hit to 2025 real US GDP growth could be as little as -25bps to as high as -120bps. For core PCE inflation, reciprocal tariffs could add anywhere from a couple of basis points to potentially 1.2ppts. Importantly, these impacts are additional to the risks to growth and inflation from previously announced tariff actions.

DB’s economists calculate that the trade actions taken to date (if they remain in place through year end) imply an overall US tariff rate of roughly 10.5%, which is the highest since WWII. The Trump Administration’s auto tariffs could push the US tariff rate as high as another couple of percentage points higher depending on the implementation details. So the starting point before “liberation day” is 10.5-12.5%. As such by the end of this week we could be looking at a aggregate US tariff rate of (very roughly) between 15 and 25%.

Over the weekend, Trump told NBC that he “couldn’t care less” if automakers had to raise prices in the US as it would force Americans to buy US made cars. The 25% tariffs are due to come into force on Thursday. So its becoming ever clearer that this administration is serious about bringing massive change to economic policy. If and where their pain threshold is in terms of markets and the economy is the next most important question. The rhetoric from the administration at the moment seems to suggest its high but there is an extraordinary amount of uncertainty at the moment.

The pain isn’t showing up in the hard data at the moment and in terms of US payrolls on Friday there’s only likely to be a small impact, DB forecasts +150k for both headline and private against +151k and +140k respectively last time. Incorporated in that is a roughly 20k drag from federal layoffs which have been complicated by court actions against them. DB expect the unemployment rate to just round up to 4.2% from 4.1% last time. Before that it will be interesting to see if the US manufacturing ISM (Tuesday) and services (Thursday) show any sentiment hit.

As an aside, several weeks ago, DB’s Jim Reid referred to a “rather insightful” podcast featuring US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the “All-In” podcast (link here). He outlined his ideologies and, in my view, committed the administration to potentially transformative policies. Shortly thereafter, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appeared on the same podcast (link here) and presented perhaps an even more radical perspective on the potential policy direction.

As Reid notes today, “these are valuable podcasts to listen to and have helped convince me that this administration is serious about radical change.” We will have more to say about this shortly.

Back to this week’s events, tomorrow sees two special congressional elections in Florida to fill the seats of Matt Gaetz and Michael Waltz in the US House of Representatives. These are Republican strongholds but some polling has suggested it could be close. The Republicans will still control the House regardless but only have the narrowest of majorities so these are important elections in terms of breathing space for their agenda.

In geopolitics, the focus will be on a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on April 3-4. Its the first time they’ve met since Trump’s inauguration. So they’ll have plenty to discuss

Staying on this theme, over the weekend, Trump suggested he was angry at Putin over his recent comments that Zelenskiy should be replaced as a price for peace negotiations. Mr Trump used slightly stronger language according to NBC. Trump said that if Russia was to blame for there being no peace deal he’s prepared to put secondary sanctions on Russian oil.

Courtesy of DB, here is a day-by-day calendar of events

Monday March 31

• Data: US March MNI Chicago PMI, Dallas Fed manufacturing activity, China March official PMIs, UK March Lloyds Business Barometer, February net consumer credit, M4, Japan February industrial production, retail sales, housing starts, Germany March CPI, February retail sales, import price index, Italy March CPI
• Central banks: ECB’s Panetta and Villeroy speak

Tuesday April 1

• Data: US March ISM index, Dallas Fed services activity, total vehicle sales, February JOLTS report, construction spending, China March Caixin manufacturing PMI, Japan Q1 Tankan survey, February jobless rate, job-to-applicant ratio, Italy March manufacturing PMI, new car registrations, budget balance, February unemployment rate, Eurozone March CPI, February unemployment rate, Canada March manufacturing PMI
• Central banks: Fed’s Barkin speaks, ECB’s Lagarde and Lane speak, BoE’s Greene speaks, RBA decision
• Other: US House special elections in Florida

Wednesday April 2

• Data: US March ADP report, February factory orders, Japan March monetary base, France February budget balance
• Central banks: Fed’s Kugler speaks, ECB’s Schnabel and Escriva speak

Thursday April 3

• Data: US March ISM services, February trade balance, initial jobless claims, UK March official reserves changes, China March Caixin services PMI, Italy March services PMI, Eurozone February PPI, Canada February international merchandise trade, Switzerland March CPI
• Central banks: Fed’s Jefferson and Cook speak, ECB’s account of the March meeting, BoE’s March DMP survey
• Other: Nato foreign ministers meeting, through April 4

Friday April 4

• Data: US March jobs report, UK March new car registrations, construction PMI, Japan February household spending, Germany March construction PMI, February factory orders, France February industrial production, Italy February retail sales, Canada March jobs report, Sweden March CPI
• Central banks: Fed’s Powell and Barr speak

* * *

Finally, looking at just US macro, the key economic data releases this week are the ISM report on Tuesday and the employment situation report on Friday. President Trump is expected to announce new tariff policies on Wednesday. There are several speaking engagements from Fed officials this week, including speeches by Vice Chair Jefferson on Thursday and by Chair Powell on Friday.

 
Monday, March 31

• 09:45 AM Chicago PMI, March (consensus 45.0, last 45.5)
• 10:30 AM Dallas Fed manufacturing index, March (consensus -5.0, last -8.3)

Tuesday, April 1

• 09:00 AM Richmond Fed President Barkin (FOMC non-voter) speaks: Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin will discuss monetary policy and the economic outlook at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations. On March 28th, President Barking noted that the rapid policy changes implemented and proposed by the Trump administration have created “a sense of instability” in the business community that could “quiet demand.” Barkin characterized the current stance of monetary policy as “moderately restrictive,” which he said was a “good place to be.” He also said that he was “open to the notion” that tariffs would provide a one-time boost to the price level rather than a persistent boost to the inflation rate but noted that he did not “start with [that] assumption,” in part because inflation expectations “have been loosened—not de-anchored, loosened—for both price setters and price receivers” after the recent inflationary episode.
• 09:45 AM S&P Global US manufacturing PMI, March final (consensus 49.8, last 49.8)
• 10:00 AM Construction spending, February (GS +0.3%, consensus +0.3%, last -0.2%)
• 10:00 AM JOLTS job openings, February (GS 7,500k, consensus 7,680k, last 7,740k): We estimate that JOLTS job openings declined to 7.5mn in February based on the signal from online job postings.
• 10:00 AM ISM manufacturing index, March (GS 49.5, consensus 49.5, last 50.3): We estimate the ISM manufacturing index declined by 0.8pt to 49.5 in March, reflecting softer manufacturing surveys so far for March (GS manufacturing survey tracker: -0.6pt to 51.7) but a tailwind from residual seasonality.
• 05:00 PM Lightweight motor vehicle sales, March (GS 16.4mn, consensus 16.0mn, last 16.0mn)

Wednesday, April 2

• 08:15 AM ADP employment change, March (GS +110k, consensus +120k, last +77k)
• 10:00 AM Factory orders, February (GS +0.3%, consensus +0.5%, last +1.7%); Factory orders ex-transportation, February (consensus +0.4%, last +0.2%); Durable goods orders, February final (consensus +0.9%, last +0.9%); Durable goods orders ex-transportation, February final (consensus +0.7%, last +0.7%); Core capital goods orders, February final (last -0.3%); Core capital goods shipments, February final (last +0.9%)
• 04:30 PM Fed Governor Kugler speaks: Fed Governor Adriana Kugler will deliver a speech on inflation expectations and monetary policy at the Griswold Center for Economic Policy’s 2025 Public Talk. Text and Q&A are expected. On March 25th, Governor Kugler said that the FOMC was “well positioned” and could “react to new developments by holding at the current rate for some time as we closely monitor incoming data and the cumulative effects of new policies.” Kugler highlighted that goods inflation had “turned positive in recent months,” which she said was “unhelpful because goods inflation has often kept a lid on total inflation and also affects inflation expectations.”

Thursday, April 3

• 08:30 AM Trade balance, February (GS -$126.0bn, consensus -$123.4bn, last -$131.4bn)
• 08:30 AM Initial jobless claims, week ended March 29 (GS 230k, consensus 225k, last 224k); Continuing jobless claims, week ended March 22 (consensus 1,867k, last 1,856k)
• 09:45 AM S&P Global US services PMI, March final (consensus 54.1, last 54.3)
• 10:00 AM ISM services index, March (GS 52.5, consensus 53.0, last 53.5): We estimate that the ISM services index declined to 52.5 in March, reflecting sequential softening in our non-manufacturing survey tracker (-0.5pt to 52.6 in March) and a headwind from residual seasonality.
• 12:30 PM Fed Vice Chair Jefferson speaks: Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson will deliver a speech on the economic outlook and central bank communication at a conference hosted by the Atlanta Fed. Text and Q&A are expected. On February 19th, Vice Chair Jefferson said that “monetary policy remains restrictive,” but that “with a strong economy and a solid labor market, we can take our time to assess the incoming data to make any further adjustments to our policy rate.”
• 02:30 PM Fed Governor Cook speaks: Fed Governor Lisa Cook will deliver a speech on the economic outlook at the University of Pittsburgh. Text and Q&A are expected.

Friday, April 4

• 08:30 AM Nonfarm payroll employment, March (GS +150k, consensus +138k, last +151k); Private payroll employment, March (GS +160k, consensus +130k, last +140k); Average hourly earnings (MoM), March (GS +0.3%, consensus +0.3%, last +0.3%); Unemployment rate, March (GS 4.1%, consensus 4.1%, last 4.1%): We estimate nonfarm payrolls rose 150k in March. On the positive side, big data indicators pointed to a solid pace of job creation. The return of striking workers will be a 15k net boost, according to the strike report, and we expect a rebound in hiring among weather-sensitive industries following the particularly cold weather in January and February. On the negative side, we expect a moderate hit—we assume 25k—from the combined reduction in force actions of the federal government and a more moderate, but still positive, pace of state and local hiring (+15k). We estimate that the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1% on a rounded basis and that the participation rate was unchanged at 62.4%. We estimate average hourly earnings rose 0.3% (month-over-month, seasonally adjusted), reflecting positive calendar effects.
• 11:25 AM Fed Chair Powell speaks: Fed Chair Jerome Powell will deliver a speech on the economic outlook at the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing’s Annual Conference. Text and Q&A are expected. We saw Chair Powell’s comments at the press conference after the March FOMC meeting as somewhat dovish. Powell downplayed the sharp increase in Michigan inflation expectations, noted that other measures have been more stable, and said that the baseline is that tariffs will only delay further progress on inflation until 2026. He also reiterated that the FOMC was well positioned to wait for further clarity and not in a hurry to cut again.
• 12:00 PM Fed Governor Barr speaks: Fed Governor Michael Barr will deliver a speech on artificial intelligence and banking. Text and Q&A are expected.
• 12:45 PM Fed Governor Waller speaks: Fed Governor Christopher Waller will take part in an event on payment systems at a conference hosted by the New York Fed. Q&A is expected. Governor Waller dissented from the FOMC’s decision to slow the pace of balance sheet runoff at its March meeting. In a statement explaining his dissent, Waller said he thought that reserves were not yet “closer to an ample level of reserves” that he saw as an appropriate place to slow or stop balance sheet runoff. Waller also said that the FOMC had a “variety of tools” to address “unanticipated disturbances to reserve demand” should they emerge. On March 6th, Waller argued that the FOMC’s ability to lower the fed funds rate this year would “depend on our ability to tease out the effects of tariffs” on inflation. He also noted that “the uncertainty around tariffs has caused a lot of caution from the private sector and households.”

Source: DB, Goldman

Via The Cradle

Syria’s self-declared interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa announced the formation of the country’s new transitional government late on Saturday. “The formation of a new government today is a declaration of our joint will to build a new state,” Sharaa said during a speech marking the formation. 

Several of his top officials have retained their posts, including Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra. Anas Hassan Khattab, who served as intelligence director after the fall of the former government of Bashar al-Assad, was appointed as Minister of Interior. 

All three were members of Sharaa’s extremist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) organization, the former branch of Al-Qaeda in Syria (when it was known as the Nusra Front), which has been officially dissolved, but retains the bulk of its fighting formation as part of the country’s new army and security apparatus. 

The formation comes as Sharaa has been under increasing western pressure lately to establish an inclusive administration, weeks after his government forces killed over 1,500 Alawite civilians in a series of bloody sectarian massacres in early March. 

Hind Qabawat, a Christian and a former member of the Riyadh-based Syrian Negotiation Commission, was appointed Minister of Social Affairs and Labor. She is the only woman in the newly appointed transitional government. 

An Alawite, Yarub Badr, was named as Transport Minister. Member of the Druze community, Amgad Badr, was appointed as Minister of Agriculture.

Mohammad Bashir, who was prime minister in the caretaker government following the fall of Assad’s government on December 8, 2024, has been made Energy Minister. There is currently no prime minister, as the temporary constitution signed by Sharaa recently states that a secretary-general will lead the government. 

Raed Saleh, leader of the White Helmets group, which now operates as the official Syrian Civil Defense, was appointed Minister of Emergency Situations and Disasters. The White Helmets worked closely with Al-Qaeda throughout the Syrian war and participated in its executions. 

Saleh previously praised US airstrikes on Syria during US President Donald Trump’s first term. Mazhar al-Wais, another former HTS and Nusra Front member, was appointed Justice Minister, replacing the controversial Shadi Mohammad al-Waisi, who was seen in videos from 2015 directing the execution of women.

Syrian Kurd Mohammad Terko was made Minister of Education. No representatives of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) or the affiliated Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) were appointed to the government.

Sharaa signed a temporary constitution on 13 March after receiving it from a committee of legal experts that drafted it. The president had previously claimed that drafting a constitution and holding elections in Syria would take several years.

Correction: Al Qaeda started the “White Helmets are Alqaeda” frenzy.

Here’s Abu Jaber, a top Al-Qaeda leader in Syria (now known as “HTS”), praising the White Helmets as “hidden soldiers.” https://t.co/jIE2wF6HqQ pic.twitter.com/RupNQ3qnIV

— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) December 5, 2024

Days before the temporary constitution was signed, government forces massacred well over 1,500 Alawite civilians during a violent security operation to quell an armed uprising on the Syrian coast carried out by elements of Syria’s former military. 

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.