Authored by Aaron Sobczak via The Mises Institute,

On January 20th, the Trump administration indicated it would pause foreign aid to most countries for 90 days. Newly-confirmed Secretary of State, “Little” Marco Rubio, confirmed this and paused “all new obligations of funding, pending a review, for (U.S.) foreign assistance programs funded by or through the Department and USAID.”

He also recently floated closing USAID permanently and merging it with the State Department. It is right to credit the Trump administration for this. He is pausing more aid than any other modern president and implementing parts of his “America First” agenda. Foreign assistance, after all, has been historically ineffective and rife with mismanagement and corruption. USAID is notoriously used to spread “pro-democracy” messaging (pro-censorship and Western intervention) via think tanks around the world. Libertarians and international realists should applaud any measure that seeks to curb the foreign aid cartels.

Unfortunately, President Trump’s attempt to cut foreign aid spending has hit some snags and features glaring omissions. What is probably most unfortunate is that this order does not officially touch military aid. Hundreds of billions of dollars are sent to countries worldwide, with the likes of Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan being the chief recipients. Ukrainian President Zeleneky confirmed that Kyiv will still receive aid from Washington, and Trump recently ordered $1 billion in military equipment and weapons be sent to Israel. This military aid further entangles Washington in foreign conflicts and enriches politicians, defense contractors, and the like.

Secretary of State Rubio has also added regular exceptions to Trump’s order. “Life-saving” aid will continue in some countries, and USAID proponents are asking for more exceptions.

Real cuts to foreign defense spending could assist Trump in a hypothetical battle to rein in the deficit and show voters that he is serious about an “America First” agenda. Washington is also much more likely to abstain from future conflicts in East Asia, Eastern Europe, or the Middle East if aid were cut to Ukraine, Taiwan, or Israel, as this can ensure that policymakers stop falling for the “sunk cost fallacy.”

In addition to foreign entanglements, foreign aid drains the budget and has a low return on investment. The national debt is over $36 trillion, and interest on the debt is over $1 trillion. Rather than giving tens of billions in aid annually to foreign countries, Washington should focus on paying down the debt. The argument for cutting should be even more apparent when considering return on investment and some of the specific things foreign aid is spent on. A good investment should yield good returns rather than decades of lost capital.

Pakistan, for example, has received hundreds of billions over the years since 1947, with only brief instances of respite for various reasons. Aid peaked in the country initially in 1963 at around $3 billion and then again in 2010 at around $4.5 billion, with an almost complete pause from 1992 to 2002. The country saw its first big GDP jump from 1999-2000, when American aid was at a low, and then lagged significantly again from 2008-2010, when American aid was at a new peak. This observation alone isn’t conclusive, but it makes sense that long-term, no-strings-attached aid would serve as a moral hazard rather than a legitimate solution.

In addition to the general inefficiency of most foreign aid projects, there are numerous reports of the USAID agency promoting censorship or governmental changes in different countries. A former US State Department Official revealed that USAID had been funding NGOs in Brazil that were designed to affect the country’s political landscape. The former official claimed the agency operated as a “geopolitical manipulation arm.” In many of these cases, Brazilian journalist David Agape claims that these funds are given under a humanitarian or anti-disinformation guise but actually assist in pushing for American interests in the government.

That isn’t all; from assisting an Ecuadorian prosecutor as she targeted her opponents, to funding the cultivation of poppy fields in Afghanistan, this agency is clearly not just a vehicle for transferring American aid to less fortunate countries. It is deeply involved in spreading Washington’s ideology and crony agendas.

Unfortunately, it is doubtful whether Trump’s administration will make enough significant changes that will last beyond his second term. While technically having potential, Elon Musk’s DOGE has failed thus far in cutting meaningful government spending. Daily spending is at about $30bn a day under Trump, up from about $26bn under Biden. Only about 25 percent of the country’s 7 trillion dollar budget is discretionary, and about half of that goes to defense. President Trump and some Republicans have paid lip service to the “America-First” agenda, but the party is very unlikely to cut the Pentagon’s budget, as Republican voters generally prefer high defense spending. Even if Trump were to close USAID, it would save the US government .6 percent of its budget every year.

The first Trump administration had a mixed record regarding foreign aid, it still sent money to Ukraine and increased aid to Israel. Additionally, one of his favorite pieces of legacy is the Abraham Accords, which commit to Arab countries hundreds of billions in aid (and other promises) in return for their recognition of the state of Israel. Trump plans to expand the Abraham Accords in his second term, leading to further foreign aid promises and defense agreements. He would be wise to actually pursue an America-first agenda in his second term by not only scrapping aid provided through USAID but by also removing Washington’s financial interests from the Middle East and Ukraine. The hawks in the Republican Party are scared that he might just do it.

Update (1820ET): The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying the four crew-9 astronauts safely splashed down in the waters off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida.

The Dragon Capsule’s parachutes automatically deployed at around 6,500 feet, bringing it from roughly 119 MPH to 16 MPH, according to SpaceX’s Kate Tice.

What a sight! The parachutes on @SpaceX‘s Dragon spacecraft have deployed; #Crew9 will shortly splash down off the coast of Florida near Tallahassee. pic.twitter.com/UcQBVR7q03

— NASA (@NASA) March 18, 2025

Splashdown of Dragon confirmed – welcome back to Earth, Nick, Suni, Butch, and Aleks! pic.twitter.com/M4RZ6UYsQ2

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 18, 2025

“There’s just breathtaking views of a calm, glass-like ocean,” said NASA’s Sandra Jones just before touchdown.

SpaceX-operated rescue ships sped towards the capsule. Upon arrival, a rig onboard one of the vessels will haul the spacecraft out of the water into what’s known as the “Dragon’s nest.”

We can’t wait for all the ‘Hitler saves astronauts’ articles from regime media.

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NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are finally returning home after what was supposed to be a week-long mission in a Boeing Starliner spacecraft left them stranded on the International Space Station for nine months. The toxic political environment further prolonged their extended stay under the Biden-Harris regime.

NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov also joined Williams and Wilmore aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that undocked from the ISS early Tuesday morning.

The @SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying four #Crew9 members undocked from the station at 1:05am ET today and is headed for a splashdown off the coast of Florida in the Gulf of America at 5:57pm. More… https://t.co/eISgbf1ngL pic.twitter.com/kHSzIlrZhP

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) March 18, 2025

 “NASA’s Crew-9 return coverage will resume at 4:45 p.m. Tuesday on NASA+ until Dragon splashes down at approximately 5:57 p.m. off the coast of Florida, and crew members are safely recovered,” the space agency wrote in a statement.

Days ago, Williams and Wilmore thanked Elon Musk for deploying a Dragon capsule to rescue them after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft malfunctioned last summer.

❤️🚀🚀❤️
pic.twitter.com/aAkJRKsu1Q

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 16, 2025

Due to Musk’s DOGE efforts, the rescue mission has been widely ignored by the leftist conspiracy networks on corporate television. 

After Hunter Biden made headlines by vacationing in South Africa with a Secret Service detail on a week he was scheduled to appear for a deposition in a civil trial he initiated, President Trump on Monday night announced that he was canceling Hunter’s federal protection, and his half-sister Ashley’s too. 

Trump’s announcement came just hours after a reporter asked him about Hunter’s travel and ongoing, taxpayer-funded security. “I just heard about it for the first time…I would say if there are 18 [Secret Service agents] with Hunter Biden… That will be something I look at this afternoon,” he replied amid a tour of the Kennedy Center, where he earlier this year installed himself as chairman of the board. 

True to his word, at 5pm Monday, Trump took to his Truth Social account to inform Hunter, Ashley and America that the government would no longer provide security protection for Joe Biden’s adult children: 

“Hunter Biden has had Secret Service protection for an extended period of time, all paid for by the United States Taxpayer. There are as many as 18 people on this Detail, which is ridiculous!  … Please be advised that, effective immediately, Hunter Biden will no longer receive Secret Service protection. Likewise, Ashley Biden who has 13 agents will be taken off the list.”

To get some idea of how much the Bidens’ security details were costing Americans, a Daily Mail Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) inquiry determined that the Secret Service spent more than $4.5 million to protect Hunter over an 18-month period between the start of 2021 and June 2022, while Biden lived in Malibu. During that stretch, the service shelled out $30,000 a month just for a villa to house their agents.  

Former presidents and their spouses are assured of life-long Secret Serve protection by federal statute. Protection for children over age 16, terminates along with the president’s term in office — officially, but not in practice. Outgoing presidents frequently extend adult children’s coverage for up to six months, as Biden, Trump, Obama and George W. Bush all did. Already during his second term, Trump has canceled elective federal protection for several other individuals, including former NIAID director Anthony Fauci, Trump’s former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his former national security adviser John Bolton.   

It’s not clear exactly when Secret Service agents will step away from Biden’s children. “We are aware of the President’s decision to terminate protection for Hunter and Ashley Biden,” said Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi in a statement. “The Secret Service will comply and is actively working with the protective details and the White House to ensure compliance as soon as possible.” 

At the same time he was in South Africa, Hunter was scheduled to give a deposition pursuant to a lawsuit he filed against former Trump staffer Garrett Ziegler, accusing him of illegally hacking and then circulating 10,000 photos from Hunter’s infamous “Laptop from Hell.” Earlier this month, Hunter told the judge he wanted to drop the case, on the basis that he had millions of dollars in debt and sales of his artwork and memoir were tanking.

Secret Service agents no longer having to follow Hunter to the hood to buy crackpic.twitter.com/pOfg49F4Uy https://t.co/cL4Sl0eks7

— Mostly Peaceful Memes (@MostlyPeacefull) March 17, 2025

Hunter was already in Cape Town when the judge agreed to cancel the case on Thursday. “That means he [was] assuming his daddy’s appointee is gonna rubber stamp what he wants,” Ziegler told the New York Post. In an unusual twist, Ziegler had sought to contest Hunter’s dropping of the case. “Hunter wants to cry uncle,” he said. “We are OPPOSING that. We want our attorney’s fees to be paid, for Hunter to cease lying about us and me, and just generally to shut the f**k up.”

Trump’s Monday announcement took aim at Hunter’s current travel destination. “He is currently vacationing in, of all places, South Africa, where the Human Rights of people has [sic] been strenuously questioned,” wrote Trump, who earnestly supports the governments of Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other countries where the human rights of people have been strenuously questioned. Hunter’s wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, is South African, and we’ll watch to see if Trump condemns South African Elon Musk should he decide to visit family in his crumbling native country where whites are in increasing peril.  

Authored by Spencer Morrison via American Greatness,

Critics of President Trump’s trade policy – tariffs, tariffs, and more tariffs – cry that tariffs will cause inflation and make Americans poor. This is false.

Although there will be a brief period where the market adjusts to the new normal, tariffs will not cause inflation. In fact, tariffs will lower the cost of living in the long run.

Perhaps the more interesting question to ask is: inflation of what? Consumer goods? Why are these critics not concerned about the inflation of assets like houses or investments that are caused by economic globalism and the trade deficit?  Why are the Democrats and Neocons so preoccupied with keeping the cost of disposable products low, when people cannot afford their rent or mortgages?

Fiddling with the grasshoppers

Contrary to popular belief, tariffs did not raise the cost of goods during President Trump’s first term, and they are not likely to do so the second time around. 

There are a few reasons for this.

First, a tariff is a tax imposed on imports. For example, a 25% tariff on steel would increase the price of steel coming from Canada or South Korea. However, that same tariff would not apply to steel that was made in America. In this way, tariffs are a completely avoidable tax. If you do not want to pay tariffs, buy American. Simple.

Not only do tariffs create an incentive for consumers to buy American, but they also create an incentive for foreign producers to lower their costs. If countries like China or Mexico want access to America’s market—which they certainly will—then they will have to find a way to reduce their costs to balance out the tariff. Ultimately, lower production costs will benefit everyone.

At this stage, critics will argue that even if you buy American, you will still end up paying more. Why? American goods cost more to begin with, and without foreign competition, American businesses will price-gouge.

This may not be true in the short term and is certainly false in the long term. To begin with, America’s manufacturing industry is among the most productive in the world. Given that productivity is what ultimately drives prices, America’s manufactured goods should also be among the cheapest in the world—and it is.

The problem is that prices are skewed by economic externalities, foreign currency manipulation, and predatory trade practices. This results in efficient and cost-effective American factories being closed, while inefficient foreign factories—in places like Italy and Germany, for example—remain open for business. Protecting American markets from abuse will help our domestic free market function more efficiently. This will lower costs as the market adjusts to the new normal.

Further, tariffs will reshore American factories and thereby increase domestic output. Manufacturing is an interesting industry because prices are subject to increasing returns. That is, the more that we manufacture, the lower the price of each unit of production becomes. This is because capital costs are fixed, and the more we make, the more these costs are disbursed. As such, we have good reason to believe that prices of American products will actually decrease if we impose tariffs. This will help offset the expected short-term increases.

Finally, the only way to decrease prices in the long run is to increase productivity—to invent and implement new technology. The best catalyst for this is higher input costs, particularly labor costs. We can expect that companies that reshore their factories from places where labor is plentiful and cheap will be looking to invest in capital and technology that improves productivity. In the long run, this will drive invention and innovation and lower the cost of goods—not just for Americans, but for everyone.

The world prospers when America prospers. Tariffs are an effective tool to rebalance America’s economy away from financial interests—moving money—and into productive investments. Tariffs will realign the economy towards building the future, rather than buying it.

Compared to what?

The media laments that tariffs will increase the price of consumer goods. However, they appear blissfully unaware that the current trade paradigm—massive, chronic trade deficits driven by unfair and asymmetrical trade with the rest of the world—also causes inflation of a different kind.

America imports far more than it exports. This results in a trade deficit, which we need to pay for. How do we do this? By selling assets and debts. As a result, the trade deficit directly contributes to the increase in prices—inflation—of American assets and debts. For example, in 2024, foreigners bought an estimated $42 billion of residential real estate, $8 billion of agricultural land, and $12 billion of commercial real estate. This drives up real estate prices, locking our own young people out of the real estate market and denying them their share of the American Dream.

In addition to real estate, foreigners buy American businesses. As of June 2023, foreign investors own 17% of all American equities. Ownership of our businesses has dire consequences, such as giving foreign governments direct access to our technologies. This perpetuates the massive theft of American intellectual property, which costs hundreds of billions annually, and jeopardizes our national security.

We also trade debt. This is sort of like buying groceries on our credit cards, except is occurring at the national level. For example, foreigners own some $8.67 trillion of U.S. Treasury securities, accounting for 24 percent of the public debt. Further, America’s corporate and household debt has ballooned since 1973 to the highest levels since World War 2.

Debt is especially dangerous because we have to repay the principle and we pay interest. This inflates the cost of buying foreign products in a way that most economists fail to appreciate. Consider that America became a debtor nation in 2006—for the first time since the Great Depression. As a result, we are now paying over $150 billion in interest every year to foreign entities for the privilege of buying the products we should be building.

The elites oppose tariffs because consumer goods—things people want—may rise in price. In comparison, the absence of tariffs inflates the price of housing—something people need. From this, we can see that the elites do not actually care about inflation. Instead, they are using trade policy to inflate the price of assets that they already own, such as real estate and stocks, at the expense of the livelihoods of ordinary Americans.

Tariffs may increase the inflation of consumer goods, but this will be offset by the deflation of assets and debts. 

Not only that but reshoring the factories will drive down prices in the long run by creating fertile ground for invention and innovation. The logical conclusion is inescapable: America needs tariffs to reshore our factories and revive the American Dream.

The Trump administration is taking steps to reinstate thousands of probationary federal workers who were fired in an effort to downsize the government, according to court filings in one of two cases where judges deemed the terminations unlawful.

U.S. District Judge James Bredar, an Obama appointee, ordered the mass reinstatement of employees at 18 federal agencies last week, determining that the administration’s justification for the firings—poor performance—was not supported by evidence. The ruling follows another decision by a federal judge in San Francisco, who also found terminations at six agencies to be illegal.

According to more than a dozen declarations filed by the government Monday night, the administration has moved to reinstate roughly 24,000 probationary workers.

Rehiring Process Creates Uncertainty

According to the Monday night filings, many of the reinstated employees have been placed on paid administrative leave, while others have returned to full employment. However, officials warn that the reinstatement process could create confusion and operational challenges, particularly for employees who are reinstated only to potentially face termination again if an appellate court overturns the ruling.

Reesha Trznadel, the acting chief human capital officer at the Department of Energy, cautioned in a declaration that reinstating employees “could impose burdens on DOE and cause significant confusion and turmoil for the terminated employees.”

Since taking office, the Trump administration has taken aggressive steps to reshape the federal bureaucracy, including dismissing employees during their probationary periods. The recent ruling represents a legal setback for these efforts, reinforcing protections for federal workers and challenging the administration’s justification for its sweeping dismissals.

The legal battle is expected to continue, with the possibility that an appellate ruling could overturn Bredar’s decision. Until then, agencies must navigate the complexities of onboarding and retraining employees who may face further job uncertainty in the months ahead.

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

The Chaos Monkeys are so masterful at distracting and confusing us with sensory-digital overload, we’re not even aware of the game until the extortion begins.

Chaos Monkeys excel at distraction and extortion. They appear suddenly, leaping about in disorienting mayhem, selecting their targets among those dizzied by sensory overload and confusion.

They may appear harmless, until they grab something of ours that is valuable or even essential, and then extort something they value in exchange for what they stole from us.

Here’s how the extortion works in the larger world: you buy an accounting software program, and over the years you dutifully upgrade it from time to time, storing all your financial data in the program.

Enter the Chaos Monkeys: you can no longer buy the software, now you must rent it via a monthly subscription.

Wait–did you just grab my data, and are extorting me to pay you to get it back?

Yes.

Chaos Monkeys don’t offer you higher quality goods or services; they take something away from you and extort a payment if you want it back.. This is–along with addiction–the business model of this era: take something away from you and then extort a payment to restore it.

Distracted and disoriented by the chaos around us, we cave in to the extortion. What’s being taken from us comes in many forms. The durability of basic appliances has been taken from us, and the extortion payment is “extended warranties.” Wait a minute–didn’t this product once have a multi-year warranty? Not any more. Now you have to pay extra for a warranty.

The problem with the Chaos Monkeys Business Model is deeper than its crassness. The problem is the Chaos Monkeys Business Model erodes trust in the system, as everything is either designed to addict us or become essential enough that we can be extorted to pay more for what was once standard.

The extortion is so blatant that it reveals the true nature of our economy and society. As with purposefully addictive products and services, we’re nothing more than profit centers to the addiction dealers and the Chaos Monkey extortionists.

One trust is eroded, the system starts collapsing under its immense weight of chaos, addiction and extortion. When everything is a con of one kind or another, then what’s left? In terms of a functional social order, nothing.

What isn’t fake, a fraud, addictive, misrepresented or designed to extort future payments from us? The Chaos Monkeys are so masterful at distracting and confusing us with sensory-digital overload, we’re not even aware of the game until the extortion begins: do you want what you once had back? Then pay up.

New podcast: Roaring 20s or Great Depression 2.0? (40 min)

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Summary: The call readouts from both sides are out, outlining the some 90-minute ‘positive’ conversation between Presidents Trump and Putin. The huge ‘win’ for Trump diplomacy is getting his Russian counterpart’s agreement to halt all aerial strikes on Ukraine’s badly damaged energy infrastructure. This is a first of the war. It marks a huge victory for the White House, albeit much will be determined on Ukraine’s willingness to cooperate. After all, Zelensky has been cut out of this deal-making and is in the meantime being urged on to escalate action from some quarters of Europe, particularly the UK, France, and the Baltic states. “Both leaders agreed this conflict needs to end with a lasting peace,” the White House readout says. It pledges that Washington and Moscow will improve the bilateral relationship with an eye towards achieving “enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability when peace has been achieved.”

“This conflict should never have started and should have been ended long ago with sincere and good faith peace efforts,” the US readout emphasizes, in another swipe at the Biden administration. The Russian readout crucially acknowledges the commitment for a 30-day pause in attacks on energy infrastructure. “During the conversation, Trump proposed a mutual agreement between both sides to refrain from striking energy infrastructure for 30 days. Putin welcomed the initiative and immediately instructed the Russian military to comply,” it says.

Further, “Putin also responded constructively to Trump’s proposal regarding maritime security in the Black Sea, and both leaders agreed to initiate negotiations to further refine the details of such an arrangement.” But the bulk of the Kremlin readout is very guarded, as expected: 

Reaffirming his commitment to a peaceful resolution of the conflict, President Putin expressed readiness to work closely with American partners on a thorough and comprehensive settlement. He emphasized that any agreement must be sustainable and long-term, addressing the root causes of the crisis while considering Russia’s legitimate security interests.

Regarding President Trump’s initiative for a 30-day ceasefire, the Russian side highlighted key concerns, including effective monitoring of the ceasefire across the entire front line, halting forced mobilization in Ukraine, and stopping the rearmament of its military. Russia also noted serious risks due to Kiev’s history of undermining previous agreements and drew attention to terrorist attacks carried out by Ukrainian militants against civilians in the Kursk region.

It was emphasized that a crucial condition for preventing further escalation and working toward a political-diplomatic resolution is the complete cessation of foreign military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

Germany’s Scholz has in immediate response said “there must be no decisions” on the war “without Ukraine’s backing”. This coming evening and overnight will be crucial, as for the past week nighttime cross-border drone strikes on either side have been constant. Highlights of the Trump-Putin call below:

• Limited Cease-Fire Agreement: Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to a 30-day cease-fire targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure during a call with President Trump.
• Trump’s Diplomatic Effort: This marks Trump’s first tangible success in securing concessions from Russia, having mainly pressured Ukraine while offering Russia improved relations.
• Cease-Fire Terms: The agreement focuses on halting strikes on energy and infrastructure facilities but falls short of a full cease-fire.
• Planned Middle East Negotiations: The U.S. and Russia will begin technical discussions in the Middle East on expanding the cease-fire to include maritime operations in the Black Sea and a broader peace agreement.
• Russia’s Additional Demands: The Kremlin stated that achieving a broader cease-fire requires Ukraine to halt military rearmament and forced mobilization.
• Prisoner Swap Agreement: Russia and Ukraine will exchange 175 prisoners each on Wednesday.
• Ukraine’s Stance: Kyiv previously agreed to an unconditional cease-fire, but Moscow rejected it, opting for a partial halt to hostilities instead.
• No U.S. Concessions to Russia: Both the White House and Kremlin confirmed the U.S. did not agree to any concessions, despite Ukrainian concerns that Trump might make compromises.
• Zelensky’s Silence: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, currently visiting Finland, has not commented but has warned the U.S. against trusting Putin.

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Update(1333ET): According to the emerging call readouts, Putin and Trump held “detailed and frank talks on Ukraine”. Both are characterizing that the call went ‘very well’. But much in the readouts. The White House called for the need for peace and a ceasefire in the Ukraine war. Putin agreed to start talks to “work something out”. But perhaps the most substantial agreement included a Putin pledge not to hit Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for a period of 30-days, in an apparent nod to the US-backed interim ceasefire proposal:

• WHITE HOUSE: THE LEADERS AGREED THAT THE MOVEMENT TO PEACE WILL BEGIN WITH AN ENERGY AND INFRASTRUCTURE CEASEFIRE
• KREMLIN: PUTIN SUPPORTS IDEA NOT TO HIT ENERGY FACILITIES
• PUTIN BACKS IDEA NOT TO HIT ENERGY FACILITIES FOR 30 DAYS
• PUTIN SAYS READY TO CONTINUE SEARCHING FOR WAYS TO PEACE: IFX
• KREMLIN: PUTIN, TRUMP AGREED TO STAY IN CONTACT – TASS
• KREMLIN: PUTIN AND TRUMP DISCUSSED UKRAINE, ECONOMIC TIES
• WHITE HOUSE: THE LEADERS AGREED THAT THE MOVEMENT TO PEACE WILL BEGIN WITH AN ENERGY AND INFRASTRUCTURE CEASEFIRE
• KREMLIN: PUTIN ORDERS TO PAUSE STRIKES ON ENERGY FACILITIES
• *WHITE HOUSE: PEACE TO BEGIN W/ ENERGY, INFRASTRUCTURE CEASEFIRE
• WHITE HOUSE: WILL NEGOTIATE FULL CEASEFIRE AND PERMANENT PEACE
• RUSSIA, UKRAINE TO SWAP 175 POWS EACH ON WEDNESDAY: KREMLIN

But so far the plan to refrain from energy attacks is an ‘idea’ – suggesting that if Ukraine keeps up its own cross-border attacks on Russia, it will all be moot.

Will this really take shape?

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Update(1235ET): The highly anticipated Trump-Putin call has ended, and given the length (akin to the first one), there was no doubt a lot covered, which included the prioritization of working on “normalization” of US-Russia ties, as earlier previewed by the White House:

PHONE CALL LASTED ABOUT AN HOUR AND A HALF: MSNBC

It was widely reported earlier Tuesday that the US could be ready to extend to Moscow the recognition of sovereignty over the Crimean peninsula, which should be the easiest to grant. The White House has also been floating possible territorial concessions – something which Zelensky and hawkish supporters in the EU have rejected. 

* * *

Just ahead of the high-stakes phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, Bloomberg is reporting that the Russian leader will stipulate that all weapons deliveries to Ukraine, including US and European aid, be suspended. At this very moment the European Union has been busy ramping up efforts to deliver fresh military aid packages.

This comes as no surprise, given that from the start Moscow has condemned the build-up of NATO military infrastructure in Ukraine. It will be the first call between the two since Washington advanced the 30-day ceasefire plan with an aim of achieving a lasting peace. Putin is also expected to request that Ukraine’s military cannot resupply or conduct training – especially by Western military programs – during the interim truce.

“Many elements of a Final Agreement have been agreed to, but much remains,” Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social. He stressed that the war “must end NOW.” Reports say the call is expected between 9am and 11am Washington time, and will include focus on “further normalization” – the Russian side indicated.

Trump’s prior mention of “dividing up certain assets” was cause for much speculation on Monday, with much of the commentary focused on the likely question of control over Ukraine’s nuclear power plants.

According to the latest from Bloomberg:

• Vladimir Putin is demanding a suspension of all weapons deliveries to Ukraine during any ceasefire, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
• Ahead of his call with Trump today, Putin has made this a prerequisite for Russia signing up to a truce, said a senior European official and three people in Moscow familiar with Russia’s position.
• While Russia wants to halt all arms deliveries, its minimum aim is that US military aid should stop, two of the people said.
• The senior European official said Europe was extremely reluctant to agree to the demand. It would risk a situation where Russia was able to rearm during a truce but Ukraine was prevented from doing so, they said.
• It is the latest example of maximalist demands made by Putin which will be very difficult for Ukraine and Europe to accept.
• The UK and EU are both working on efforts to deliver fresh military aid packages to Ukraine as soon as possible.
• The suspension of arms supplies sought by Putin would be lifted after a final peace accord so long as Ukraine agreed to limits on its army, one person in Moscow said.

And: As of 8:00am S&P futures are down 0.3%, losing ground after Bloomberg reported Russian President Vladimir Putin is demanding a suspension of all weapons deliveries to Ukraine…

There are also reports saying that the US is mulling recognizing Crimea as part of Russia, and that it may urge the Untied Nations to do the same. This could be an ‘easy’ one for the US, which is likely to entice Putin.

Trump had continued in his Monday social media post, “I look very much forward to the call with President Putin. Many elements of a Final Agreement have been agreed to, but much remains.”

And Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that the two leaders will discuss “a large number of issues from the normalization of our relations and the Ukrainian issue.” He said, “The leaders will speak for as long as they deem necessary” – after their first phone call had lasted 90-minutes.

EU leaders are said to be “trembling”… “That is why there is a mood of alarm in Europe’s capitals,” Bild wrote Tuesday. This also as Trump has floated the possibility of dropping anti-Russia sanctions for the sake of peace.

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

President Donald Trump said on Monday that he was authorizing his administration to use coal-fired power plants for energy production to counter China’s economic advantage.

In a Truth Social post, Trump stated that the nation’s coal industry had been “held captive by environmental extremists,” which he said had allowed countries such as China to gain an economic advantage over the United States by opening hundreds of coal-fired power plants.

Trump stated that he would move to authorize his administration “to immediately begin producing energy with BEAUTIFUL, CLEAN COAL,” but did not provide further details.

The move would mark a major reversal in U.S. environmental policy, as the country has shifted away from coal, which was its primary fuel for electricity generation in the 2000s, toward lower-cost alternatives such as natural gas and renewable energy.

As of 2023, coal made up about 15 percent of the power generated in the United States, a significant decline from 51 percent in 2000, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

After taking office on Jan. 20, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to review existing regulations that restricted the use of domestic energy resources—particularly coal, hydropower, and nuclear energy resources—and declared a national energy emergency to expedite the development of the nation’s energy infrastructure.

Trump stated in his order that “burdensome and ideologically motivated regulations have impeded the development of these resources, limited the generation of reliable and affordable electricity, reduced job creation, and inflicted high energy costs upon our citizens.”

To fulfill Trump’s objectives, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) administrator Lee Zeldin said on March 12 that the agency would take steps to roll back several environmental regulations in what he called the “largest deregulatory announcement in U.S. history.”

The EPA outlined its planned regulatory rollbacks in a series of statements, targeting rules or suites of rules initially authored by the agency and published during the administrations of Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, which it considers to be the origin of “trillions in regulatory costs.”

The EPA stated that it would reconsider the previous administration’s rules on power plant emissions, commonly referred to as the “Clean Power Plan 2.0.”

It stated that the Supreme Court had struck down a 2015 version of the Clean Power Plan. In that ruling, the court “barred EPA from misusing the Clean Air Act to manipulate Americans’ energy choices and shift the balance of the nation’s electrical fuel mix,” according to the EPA.

“President Trump promised to kill the Clean Power Plan in his first term, and we continue to build on that progress now,” Zeldin said. 

“We are seeking to ensure that the agency follows the rule of law while providing all Americans with access to reliable and affordable energy.”

Earlier this month, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum suggested that the United States should restart its shuttered coal-fired power plants to meet surging electricity demand.

“I think as part of the national energy emergency which President Trump has declared we’ve got to keep every plant open,” Burgum said in an interview with Bloomberg. 

“And if there have been units at a coal plant that have been shut down, we need to bring those back on.”

Burgum also stated that the country should keep existing coal-fired power plants operational by easing environmental regulations imposed by previous administrations.

China’s construction of coal-fired power plants reached its highest level in a decade last year, according to a report by the Finland-based Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air released on Feb. 13. The report states that China constructed 94.5 gigawatts of coal-fired power plants last year, the highest volume of new builds since 2015.

After making a mockery of the German democratic process, as Bloomberg explained not once…

“Germany’s “whatever it takes” spending spree is being orchestrated by Friedrich Merz, who spent the recent campaign arguing against doing any such thing. This isn’t a great advertisement for democracy, and there will be real trouble if it goes wrong.” – Bloomberg’s John Authers

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 6, 2025

… but twice…

The fake facade of German politics, which are now leftist in all but name pic.twitter.com/6tRCciONyV

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 17, 2025

… on Tuesday, Germany’s outgoing parliament passed a record increase in government borrowing, the biggest in German history, including a sweeping change to the country’s debt rules.

Late on Tuesday afternoon, chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz’s conservatives and the centre-left Social Democrats, currently in talks to form a government following last month’s election, had proposed a €500BN fund for infrastructure and changes to borrowing rules to bolster defence and revive growth in Europe’s largest economy. 

The controversial legislation was approved in the lower house of parliament with 513 votes out of a total of 733, clearing the two-thirds threshold required for constitutional changes.

The bill will release defense spending from debt restrictions, creating a potentially unlimited supply of money to rearm to deter Russia, or at least limited by how long it takes for the German bond market to crack because unlike the US, the Euro is not the world’s reserve currency. And judging by the recent surge in bund yields – not driven at all by a stronger economy but merely by term premium and fears of even more debt – it won’t take too long.

It would also set up a €500 billion ($546 billion) fund to invest in the country’s aging infrastructure.

Commenting on the decision Deutsche Bank’s Robin Winkler  said that“after much nail-biting over the last fortnight, Germany’s outgoing parliament today decided to reform the constitutional debt brake. In our view, this is a historic fiscal regime shift, arguably the largest since German reunification. Yet, as with reunification, a fiscal expansion does not guarantee success: the next government will need to deliver structural reforms to turn this fiscal package into sustainable growth.” 

“This is possibly the biggest spending package in the history of our country,” Lars Klingbeil, the co-leader of the Social Democrats and a likely cabinet member in the next governing coalition, said during the debate in Berlin. “Germany must take on its leadership role in Europe.”

To secure the necessary two-thirds majority in parliament, the outgoing German government (which is rushing to get a deal done before March 24 when the new incoming government would have blocked it) had to integrate last-minute demands from the Greens party into their proposal, a plan which was originally meant to fund “defense” against Russia, but has since mutated into a debt-funded free-for-all, with all the participating parties promised generous pork to get their approval.

The biggest irony is that this kind of debt/deficit-funded spending is precisely what incoming premier Merz had campaigned against, signaling that in its terminal slide to oblivion, Europe – overrun by foreigner – will first turn hard left before running right into the abyss.

The legislation now goes to the Bundesrat upper house, which represents Germany’s 16 states, and is set to vote on Friday. 

As we reported previously, the vote in the Bundesrat – the second chamber comprising the sixteen state governments – is expected to take place on March 21. The session is scheduled to start at 9.30 am CET (see schedule). The eventual fiscal compromise is likely to entail a significant fiscal boon for the federal states, with as much as €200 bn of the off-budget infrastructure fund to go to the federal states in addition to their net borrowing cap being lifted from 0% to 0.35% of GDP. Thus, they should have a clear incentive to vote for it.

In the Bundesrat the vote will mainly depend on the support of the Greens and the Free Voters, the CSU’s junior coalition partner in Bavaria.

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

An enforcement operation in northern Virginia has led to the arrests of 214 criminal illegal immigrants, including those connected to international gangs, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

ICE said the operation was conducted alongside other law enforcement agencies from March 1 to 13.

Transnational criminal organizations targeted in the operation included the MS-13 and 18th Street gangs.

MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, is a transnational gang based in El Salvador that was designated as a terrorist organization by the State Department in February. The 18th Street gang engages in a variety of criminal acts throughout the United States, including robbery, kidnapping, murder, and the trafficking of narcotics, according to the Department of Justice.

Among those arrested was a 46-year-old Salvadoran MS-13 member who has been convicted of disorderly conduct and “illegal reentry after removal,” a 37-year-old Jamaican convicted of second-degree murder, and a 46-year-old Mexican illegal immigrant convicted of “indecent liberties with a minor.”

Russ Hott, field office director at ICE enforcement and removal operations in Washington, said authorities targeted the “most dangerous alien offenders” during the enforcement operation.

He called the large number of arrests in a brief period of time “an impressive number by any measure.”

“We are making gang members an offer they can’t refuse; leave the United States now,” Hott said. “If you don’t, we will find you, and there will be consequences. We will arrest and prosecute you to the full extent of the law.”

ICE was assisted by local law enforcement in the operation, including the U.S. attorney’s offices for the eastern and western districts of Virginia, the Virginia Department of Corrections, and the Virginia State Police.

In late February, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order instructing local law enforcement to assist federal immigration enforcement efforts.

The order directed the Virginia Department of Corrections and the Virginia State Police to sign agreements with ICE and established a state police task force including federally deputized troopers tasked with taking into custody illegal immigrants deemed a risk to the public.

“As governor, protecting our citizens is my foremost responsibility, and today we are taking action that will make Virginia safer by removing dangerous criminal illegal immigrants from our Commonwealth,” Youngkin said at the time.

“Dangerous criminal illegal immigrants should not be let back into our communities to assault, rape and murder. They should be sent back where they came from.”

Arrests of criminal illegal aliens have jumped in the first 50 days of the Trump administration, with ICE making 32,809 enforcement arrests, close to the 33,242 at-large arrests the agency made in the entire fiscal year 2024, the agency noted in a March 13 statement.

More than 14,000, or nearly half, were convicted criminals while roughly a third have pending criminal charges. ICE arrested 1,155 criminal gang members, 2.5 times more than over the same period last year.

“We have deported known terrorists, cartel members, and gang members from our country,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. “We will see the number of deportations continue to rise. And illegal immigrants have the option to self-deport and come back LEGALLY in the future.”

Meanwhile, the overall number of illegal immigrants apprehended at the border by authorities has seen a major decline under the current administration, according to a March 12 report by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Average apprehensions of illegal immigrants by Border Patrol hit 330 per day last month, the “lowest nationwide average apprehensions” in CBP’s history. Authorities took into custody 8,347 illegal immigrants at the southern border in February, a 94 percent decline on an annual basis.