The collapse of American banks has triggered drastic movement in bank shares as investors fear contagion in financial institutions despite assurances from US President Joe Biden.

US bank stocks plummeted into a chaotic situation stemming from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on Friday, after customers demanded their deposits and the company’s stock fell amid worries over the bank’s financial health. The tech-focused bank was shut down by regulators shortly after California-based, crypto-focused Silvergate bank announced its liquidation earlier last week. Later, New York-based Signature Bank was shut down over the weekend due to concerns for the lender’s liquidity.

Shockwaves from the collapse of the banks, which were focused on tech startups and cryptocurrency, triggered big moves in bank shares on Tuesday as investors fretted over the chances of the financial failure of more of the US banks.

Joe Biden on Monday blamed Donald Trump for the recent bank failures and broadening contagion.

Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapsed over the weekend.

Silicon Valley Bank is the largest bank to fail since the 2008 liquidity crisis.

Webmaster addition:

The FBI and U.S. Department of State have not yet provided documents in response to a congressional request for information on the origin of the COVID-19 virus, which is due March 13, but the agencies are expected to comply, according to the House panel seeking the information.

The information was requested on Feb. 27 by Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and by Rep. Brad R. Wenstrup (R-Ohio), chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.

“We have not received documents at this time, but we are in communication with the agencies about the chairman’s request, and we expect compliance,” a spokesperson for the subcommittee told The Epoch Times on March 13.

A spokesperson for the State Department told The Epoch Times, “President Biden has directed every element of our intelligence community to put the effort and resources behind getting to the bottom of the origins of COVID-19. We will continue to use every tool to figure out what happened here. And if we gain further insight, the President has directed the Administration to share that with Congress and the American people.”

The FBI declined to comment.

In a harsh blow to an already-reeling sector, Moody’s Investors Service cut its view on the entire banking system to negative from stable.

The firm, part of the big three rating services, said Monday it was making the move in light of key bank failures that prompted regulators to step in Sunday with a dramatic rescue plan for depositors and other institutions impacted by the crisis.

“We have changed to negative from stable our outlook on the US banking system to reflect the rapid deterioration in the operating environment following deposit runs at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Silvergate Bank, and Signature Bank (SNY) and the failures of SVB and SNY,” Moody’s said in a report.

The move followed action late Monday, when Moody’s warned it either was downgrading or placing on review for downgrade seven individual institutions.

Russian troops keep coming in waves along the frontline in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian soldiers said on Tuesday, as President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed his view that Russia's very existence as a state was at stake in the war.

In the eastern Donbas region, Russia and Ukraine are locked in the bloodiest infantry battle in Europe since World War Two, after Moscow launched a winter offensive with hundreds of thousands of freshly called up reservists and mercenaries.

Putin has framed Moscow's year-long invasion as a defensive pushback against what he sees as a hostile West bent on expanding into territories historically ruled by Russia.

Failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has announced she will be joining an environmental advocacy dark money group that is pushing to regulate and ban natural gas-powered stoves.

Rewiring America, the nonprofit group Abrams will join as senior counsel, is a self-described "leading electrification nonprofit, focused on electrifying our homes, businesses, and communities."

Through her role, Abrams will "launch and scale a national awareness campaign and a network of large and small communities working to help Americans go electric," according to the group.

The Treasury Department will comply and release suspicious activity reports (SARs) generated by the Biden family and their associates’ business transactions to the House Oversight Committee, Breitbart News has learned.

The Treasury’s compliance to disclose the SARs is a massive development in the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into the Biden family business to determine if President Joe Biden is compromised by communist China. The committee is investigating the Biden family business for nine violations, including wire fraud and money laundering.

U.S. banks have flagged over 150 SARs from Hunter and James Biden that included “large” amounts of money tagged for further review by the Treasury. SARs “often contain evidence of potential criminal activities, such as money laundering and fraud,” according to a 2020 Senate report.

According to US European Command, a US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone collided with a Russian Su-27 fighter jet, an incident that risks a major escalation of the tensions between Washington and Moscow.

European Command said in a press release that two Russian Su-27 fighters intercepted the MQ-9. “At approximately 7:03 AM (CET), one of the Russian Su-27 aircraft struck the propeller of the MQ-9, causing US forces to have to bring the MQ-9 down in international waters,” the command said.

It’s not clear where in the Black Sea the incident occurred or how close to Russian territory the MQ-9 was operating. Gen. James B. Hecker, the commander of US Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa, claimed the MQ-9 was conducting a “routine” flight and blamed the collision on the Russian pilots.

Webmaster addition: Given the fact that the Reaper is built to carry weapons, I can understand why the Russians would be curious.

After one of its top staffers was arrested for involvement in a domestic terrorist attack, Rep, Matt Gaetz wants the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) put under the investigative microscope. 

Specifically, Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, wants GOP lawmakers to probe the FBI’s reliance on the SPLC in determining who is or isn’t a domestic terrorist, Fox News reported recently.

As The Free Press reported last month, a trio of Florida Republicans — Sen. Rick Scott and Reps. Greg Steube and Bill Posey, of Sarasota and Rockledge, respectively — demanded answers from FBI Director Christopher Wray after an FBI analyst in Richmond issued an anti-Catholic report.

The document described “Radical-Traditionalist Catholics” as potential terrorists who adhere to “anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ and white supremacist ideology.” The source for that analysis was the SPLC.

Controversial lab studies that modify bird flu viruses in ways that could make them more risky to humans will soon resume after being on hold for more than 4 years. ScienceInsider has learned that last year, a U.S. government review panel quietly approved experiments proposed by two labs that were previously considered so dangerous that federal officials had imposed an unusual top-down moratorium on such research.

One of the projects has already received funding from the National Institutes of Health's (NIH's) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Bethesda, Maryland, and will start in a few weeks; the other is awaiting funding.

Webmaster addition: Get ready for another dropped test tube!

Twelve years have passed since the 2011 nuclear disaster and preparations are underway to discharge treated radioactive water into the sea from the crippled Fukushima power plant, although local fishermen and Japan's neighbors remain wary of the plan.

The Japanese government seeks to begin releasing the water sometime this spring or summer, with operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc asserting the many large tanks holding treated water are obstructing work to decommission the defunct reactors.

TEPCO and the government plan to release the water containing trace amounts of tritium into the Pacific Ocean despite opposition from fishery communities whose businesses have finally made progress in recovering from reputational damage caused by the disaster, considered the world's worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown.

One day before lawmakers on the House Weaponization Committee held their second hearing last week, Colorado Republican Rep. Ken Buck sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken decrying State Department censorship.

In February, the Washington Examiner exposed the Department of State funneling taxpayer money to a shadow network of corporate censors that operate to suppress dissident media. The Global Disinformation Index (GDI), a British group that recommends where advertisers spend their marketing dollars, received $330,000 from the Biden State Department.

GDI’s list of websites says the “riskiest” or “worst” offenders of disinformation include conservative outlets such as the American Spectator, Newsmax, The Federalist, the American Conservative, One America News, the Blaze, Daily Wire, RealClearPolitics, Reason, and the New York Post. Some of the outlets it calls the least risky are those that peddled the Russia-collusion hoax and suppressed both the Hunter Biden laptop story and revelations about the pay-to-play scandal implicating then-candidate Joe Biden right before the 2020 election.

Webmaster addition: In other words, this violation of the First Amendment will continue, but they promise to be nice about it!

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has called on the United States to find a peaceful resolution to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. The move contrasts starkly with many congressional Republicans, who have advocated for indefinitely arming Ukraine rather than finding a peaceable solution to the conflict.

During his Monday night program, Fox News host Tucker Carlson revealed his team had sent a series of questions regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict to potential and declared 2024 GOP presidential primary candidates. Included in the list were questions such as “Is opposing Russia in Ukraine a vital strategic interest for America? “What’s our objective in Ukraine, and how are we going to know when we’ve achieved it?” and “What is the limit of money and weapons you’d be willing to send to [Volodymyr] Zelensky?”

When parents cannot care for a child, the children often go to relatives.

This leaves family members with extra children to care for and provide for. In some cases, it’s not the child’s fault. For example, when parents get killed by a drunk driver. Oklahoma seeks to make life a little easier for the ones left behind.

The bill, Bentley’s Law, was first passed in Missouri. Cecilia Williams was left to care for her grandson, Bentley, after his parents were killed in an accident with a drunk driver. This allows judges to include child support in a sentence for a person convicted of a DUI, providing a little bit of relief for those left to care for those often left behind.

Fox News star Tucker Carlson has warned his viewers that Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration will usher in a federal government-control digital currency if Americans don’t make their voices heard over the banking crisis.

During the opening of his show, Carlson warned that the collapsing banking system will open the door to digital cash.

On Monday morning trading was halted on 20 banks as the markets opened.

The New York Stock Exchange halted trading at Charles Schwab.

Over the weekend, amid populist howls of outrage that a bailout of SVB would promote moral hazard (in the end depositors did get bailed out with a full recovery, but other unsecured creditors oddly enough would get nothing, while the common stock is a doughnut), we said that while technically true, the events that toppled SVB and now SBNY as well, are really a subsidy for the big banks.

Former President Donald Trump spoke in Davenport, Iowa, on Monday to deliver his platform on education issues as his 2024 presidential campaign kicks into high gear.

During the speech, Trump stated that his administration had extensively studied the possibility of breaking up the Department of Education altogether and reallocating its functions to the states, earning raucous applause.

"We studied it very closely and I was getting ready to do it, pull the trigger," he said. "The long-term goal, but now it's a short-term goal, of breaking up the federal Department of Education and redistributing its functions to the states."

A United Airlines flight from Guatemala to Chicago was diverted to Houston’s George Bush International Airport on Saturday evening.

An emergency was declared “for an incapacitated pilot,” stated a Houston UAL internal document given to CDM.Press. 

“UA Flight 2007 GUA-ORD is diverting to IAH. Declaring an emergency for an incapacitated pilot. Gated at E20. Current ETA shows 1747. Unknown if flight will clear here at this time or just re-crew and go. Will advise when information is available. Pilot reportedly taken to a hospital,” states the UAL Operation Center communication. 

According to the UAL file, "Left seat Capt had chest pains.  Could not get him out of the seat.  Right seater landed."

Biden didn’t specify which protections he believes the federal government should enact, though he has said in the past that transgender Americans should have “every single solitary right, including use of your gender identity bathroom in public.” Restricting such rights is legally and morally wrong, he said last fall.

The president singled out restrictions imposed in Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis has touted a ban on sex-change surgeries and puberty blockers for children, for criticism. DeSantis, a frontrunner for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination, also championed a ban on biological boys competing in girls’ sports.

Webmaster addition: Don't you have more pressing things to worry about, Joe?

A Russian Su-27 jet fighter collided with an American MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday, the US military's European Command said.

"Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9," said US Air Force General James Hecker, commander of US Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa.

Webmaster addition: I imagine the Sukhoy needs some body work as well!

Germany is facing an inevitable economic decline after losing its access to Russian energy, but cannot do anything about it because it is not a sovereign nation, the secretary of the Russian National Security Council has claimed.

“Germany tried for many years to build its economy on a combination of cheap Russian energy and advanced German technologies. Like no one else, it realizes that the terrorist attack against the [Nord Stream pipelines] will definitely cause the German economy to decline further,” Nikolay Patrushev said in an interview published in Argumenti i Fakti newspaper on Monday.

The advantages that German businesses enjoyed by getting access to Russian fuel has long irritated the governments of the US and the UK, he continued. But Berlin is not at liberty to continue cooperating with Moscow, “because the German nation is not independent.”

Webmaster addition: The fact that Germany has not complained to the US about the Nord Stream pipeline suggests that Nikolay is correct!

Kevin O’Leary Stuns CNN Panel Telling Them “Biden Just Nationalized U.S. Banking System”…

The Federal Reserve moved quickly late Sunday to prevent the collapse of SVB Financial from causing any further damage to the U.S. banking system, offering lenders billions in secured loans with a backstop from the Treasury. 

The Fed said it will establish a “Bank Term Funding Program” (BTFP) that will allows U.S. banks to borrow billions, at favorable market terms, if the loans are backed by Treasury bonds, high-quality agency debt or  mortgage-backed securities. 

Those securities will not be subject to the usual discount, or haircut, when used as loan collateral, the Fed said, allowing U.S. banks to get fast cash based on their full par value. Banks are sitting on an estimated $620 billion worth of unrealized losses from Treasury, agency and MBS bonds following the surge in market interest rates that has swamped fixed income portfolios around the world.

Webmaster addition:

China will make further efforts to enable private entrepreneurs to grow and thrive, and the country's private enterprises will enjoy a better environment and broader development space, Premier Li Qiang said on Monday.

The nation will continue to foster a market-oriented, law-based market environment in keeping with international standards, treat companies of all types of ownership as equals and protect the property rights of enterprises as well as the rights and interests of entrepreneurs in accordance with the law, Li said. He was speaking at his first news conference as premier following the conclusion of the first session of the 14th National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

Noting that the country has a supersized market with huge demand and a lot of new untapped sectors, Li said that all these factors promise great opportunities for private entrepreneurs.

President Joe Biden is set to announce a new executive order that would move the United States “as close to universal background checks as possible without additional legislation.”

Breaking

President Biden will announce an Executive Order with the goal of increasing the number of background checks conducted before firearm sales.

This was in Biden's backpocket. These announcements always timed to change topics. (Not sure how criminals will find guns now)

Webmaster addition: Things are falling apart. All the government's lies are coming home to roost. Americans are getting angry. Expect the push to ban guns to really ramp up now!