Officials with the United States Surface Transportation Board approved the merger of Kansas City Southern Railway Company and Canadian Pacific Railway Limited on Wednesday, marking the first combination of major rail companies in two decades.

General Mark Milley said Wednesday that he was not prepared to consider Russia’s downing of an American drone to be an act of war. “Incidents happen,” he said.

Republican Florida Congressman Greg Steube said Wednesday that he was cleared to return to work after falling off his roof.

Update (1300ET): CNBC's David Faber is reporting that the large banks are planning - as a group - to deposit around $20 billion of their own cash with First Republic.

JPMorgan, Citigroup, BofA, and Wells Fargo are among the banks in talsk over the despoit of their cash into First Republic. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are also reportedly involved along with US Bancorp and PNC Financial Services.

This makes some sense as the 'big banks' have lots of reserves relative to assets... 

Defending his role on the board of the failed Signature Bank, former Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank has told Financial Times, “I need to make some money."

The man whose namesake Dodd-Frank Act piled regulations on banks in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis says he's “chagrined" over Signature's closing, "because obviously people will say, ‘Oh, hey mister, you told everybody else how to run a bank and the bank you were helping run failed’.”

Frank served on Signature's board since 2015. He told FT that, having declined a congressional pension, he needed the income: 

“Having retired, not having a pension by my choice, not wanting to be a lobbyist for reasons personal, I need to make some money. I do it in part by writing. But I also do it by joining boards. Logically, I’m asked to join boards on subjects with which I was identified.”

Hallie Biden received a cut of $3 million in cash from China sent through an associate of Hunter, according to subpoenaed bank records released by Republicans.

Beau Biden's widow was identified on Thursday as the third member of the first family wrapped up in Rep. James Comer's investigation into allegations they used their names to profit on business deals around the world.

In a memo seen by DailyMail.com, Hallie received $35,000 in two transfers in March from Biden family associate John 'Rob' Walker, after he received a $3 million wire from the Chinese State Energy HK Limited, a firm affiliated with CEFC China Energy.

Sam Bankman-Fried secretly transferred $2.2billion from FTX to his personal account and $1billion to five members of his inner circle before the cryptocurrency exchange collapsed, according to bankruptcy court filings.

Bankman-Fried and five of his friends transferred $3.2billion in total to their personal accounts as 'payments and loans' using funds primarily coming from Alameda Research, a crypto trading hedge fund affiliated with FTX, according to financial statements filed with the bankruptcy court in Delaware on Wednesday night, according to the Financial Times. 

John Ray, who was appointed chief executive of FTX after the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings in November, has been in charge of locating cryptocurrency and other assets in order to return it to millions of FTX customers whose accounts have been frozen since the bankruptcy. 

The upstart populist pro-farmer party FarmerCitizenMovement (BBB) shook the foundations of politics in the Netherlands overnight, securing a significant victory in Wednesday’s provincial elections on the back of growing resentment against the globalist government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his plans to introduce Great Reset-style environmental policies.

“People, what the fuck happened?” exclaimed the frank-talking, half-Irish leader of the BBB, Caroline van der Plas in a victory speech on Wednesday evening as her party, which was formed just three years ago, saw the most gains of any party in the elections that will determine the makeup of the Dutch senate.

The BoerBurgerBeweging (FarmerCitizenMovement) dominated voting in rural areas of the country largely as a result of anger towards the government’s plans to impose EU-driven regulations on farming, particularly the use of nitrogen fertilisers, which many farmers have warned will put them out of business.

Love him or hate him, Tucker Carlson has become the most important political analyst of our era.  The release to him of suppressed J6 Capitol footage that contradicted the Democrat/media narrative dominated political news until Carlson's questionnaire on Ukraine policy to the potential GOP presidential field knocked it out of the headlines.  Not since Woodward and Bernstein dominated the news with Watergate has a media source produced results that focused the national spotlight so completely as Mr. Tucker Carlson.  Unsurprisingly, many are the progressives who want to see him knocked off the air.

Last night, he began his top-rated hour-long program with the following startling statement: "You're going to get a hot war with Russia — and China — whether you want one or not."

He followed with analysis of the Black Sea drone incident and the calls for retaliation and escalation from Lindsey Graham and "his friends in the war party" that would likely lead to outright war.  And wartime, he noted at the end of the segment, leads to extraordinary suppression of political dissent.

Over $50 billion dollars in fresh liquidity to CS and the market is saying - moar!

Despite SNB's bailout, Credit Suisse shares are fading back from overnight exuberance...

Additionally, Credit Suisse's credit risk has barely improved...

Update: Here is a live feed of Christine Lagarde who now faces the unenvious task of explaining why she hiked 50bps at a time when Credit Suisse is on the verge of collapse and every incremental rate hike by the ECB makes keeping deposits at the bank that much more difficult

It’s almost spring cleaning time, but according to one college professor, cleaning your pantry is racist and sexist.

Two people were arrested and one police officer was injured Tuesday night after a mix of protesters and black-clad rioters clashed with authorities and damaged property at the University of California, Davis, in protest of a Turning Point USA event featuring Charlie Kirk.

A top Russian official claimed on Wednesday that the U.S. was “directly involved” in fighting the war in Ukraine after Russian pilots initiated a provocation against a U.S. drone operating over international waters this week that led to a collision and destruction of the drone.

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s administration has demanded that a liberal school system cut ties with allegedly Chinese Communist Party-linked groups, according to a letter obtained by The Daily Wire.

A “Drag Story Hour” event hosted by New York Attorney General Letitia James will have some competition from Libs of TikTok.

coHealth Alliance, a New York City-based nonprofit that works internationally to prevent emerging diseases, has been scrutinized by Republican politicians for its relationship with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, and research money in the years leading up to the COVID-19 outbreak.

EcoHealth is now back in the spotlight following a CBS News report stating they may have double billed for Wuhan projects through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

"What I've found so far is evidence that points to double billing, potential theft of government funds. It is concerning, especially since it involves dangerous pathogens and risky research," Diane Cutler, a former federal investigator hired by Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, told the outlet.

China’s foreign minister on Thursday spoke by telephone with his Ukrainian counterpart as Beijing continues to signal its desire to play a part in ending that country’s war with Russia.

Qin Gang, the Chinese official, spoke with Ukraine’s Dmytro Kuleba, both governments confirmed.

Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John Kennedy (R-LA), and John Cornyn (R-TX) held a press conference on Thursday morning to introduce the Respect for the Second Amendment Act; the act as introduced is intended to “codify second amendment rights for law-abiding citizens.”

Graham shared the news on Twitter.

“With this bill, we are ensuring that the rights affirmed by the Supreme Court are part of the federal code – and preventing a future Supreme Court from reversing this decision.”

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson and his panel of six renowned scholars take a deep dive into the Ten Commandments and relate them to important topics of today, including virtue signaling and the dangers of social media in the tenth episode of “Exodus,” released Wednesday on DailyWire+.

The number of January 6 prosecutions could double if a newly revealed prediction by the Justice Department comes true.

Senator Rand Paul stormed out of the Homeland Security Committee hearing, and suggested every Republican leave the meeting as well on Wednesday.

During the hearing, Paul (R-Ky.) butted heads with Senator Gary Peters (D-Mich.) who serves as Chair on the committee, after Peters blocked each Republican amendment to the Fire Grants and Safety Act.

“We have what, unlimited second-degree amendments?” Paul said.

Peters then proceeded to tell Paul that he does not have jurisdiction to call an amendment up for a vote.

“You can’t call it up, senator, only the chair,” Peters said. “You weren’t recognized to call it for a vote. Only the chairman can do that. The chair can call up the amendments as the chair sees fit.”

“If this is the way you’re going to run the committee, I would suggest that Republicans leave,” the Republican Senator replied. “I don’t see why we should stick around if you’re going to make up the rules. I mean you’re going to offer up a third-degree amendment.”

Joe Rogan said on his podcast this week that he would not interview Russian President Vladimir Putin if Putin offered to fly him to Russia so the two could meet.

National Security Adviser to President Biden Jake Sullivan played a prominent role in plotting the September 26, 2022, sabotage against the Russo-European Nord Stream pipelines, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh has revealed. So, who is Jake Sullivan: “the cat’s meow,” “once-in-a-generation intellect,” or a reckless hawk?

“I have great respect for Hersh and his reporting and believe that Sullivan could certainly have been instrumental in pushing for and carrying out this deceitful campaign that likely has inflicted monumental damage on citizens worldwide while also sapping America’s remaining national prestige,” Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel told Sputnik.

In December 2021, Jake Sullivan, acting with Joe Biden’s blessing, convened men and women from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the CIA, and the State and Treasury Departments to come up with a plan on how to destruct Nord Stream 1 and 2 designed to pump Russian natural gas to Europe, according to Seymour Hersh’s recent bombshell.

In early 2022, the CIA told Sullivan that they knew how to blow up the pipelines. The group decided to keep the risky plot on a hush. The US Congress wasn’t informed. The US military and intelligence operatives did their best to conceal Washington’s role in the sabotage. As per the investigative journalist, the team had concerns about the legality of the plot and was well aware that it could quickly morph into a foreign policy nightmare.

Student-activists at the University of Pittsburgh are outraged that Daily Wire host Michael Knowles is scheduled to appear on campus and take part in a debate on transgenderism next month.

China has launched dozens of satellites in the past six months and the People's Liberation Army now has 347 orbiting craft that can gather intelligence on American armed forces, according to the head of the U.S. Space Force.

Gen. Chance Saltzman told senators that Beijing was the 'most immediate threat' to U.S. operations as it develops lasers to disrupt satellite sensors, electronic warfare jammers and even builds craft that could grab and move rival orbiting platforms out of position.

It is all part of its plan for a fully modernized, world-class military designed to achieve China's 'Space Dream' of being the most powerful nation in space by 2045, he said. 

Webmaster addition: As a side note, the US is developing these same capabilities going back to Reagan's "Star Wars" project!

The Biden administration demanded that ByteDance, the Chinese technology firm which controls social media platform TikTok, sell the vertical video application or face a possible ban in the United States.

“Geraldo still doesn’t get it — after 50 years in journalism you have to assume he simply doesn’t want to get it,” Michael Caputo responded, and a number of others quickly followed suit.

They pointed to the 2020 presidential election — and the fact that multiple outlets and social media platforms had actively suppressed The New York Post’s bombshell report on Hunter Biden’s now-infamous laptop. Many of them argued that he hadn’t really been investigated until after the election was over, when other outlets slowly began to concede that the laptop was real and did, in fact, belong to the younger Biden.

But it was The Federalist’s Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway who did exactly as Rivera asked — she “put up” multiple crimes that may have occurred — and she may have given him more than he bargained for.

“Setting aside the gun crimes, prostitution crimes, drug crimes, tax crimes, bribery receipts, foreign agent shenanigans, money laundering, pay-for-play, and kid-glove treatment from the corrupt and politicized FBI and DOJ, this is a really astute observation,” Hemingway tweeted.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) slammed the Biden administration’s bailout of Silicon Valley Bank this week, warning that it will incentivize future bad behavior from banks.