Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has admitted that her administration imposed more COVID-19 lockdown measures than were necessary for the state.

In April 2020, Whitmer issued an executive order that prevented most stores from selling gardening supplies, including seeds and plants, to individuals who wanted to grow their fruits and vegetables.

During an interview with CNN's Chris Wallace on March 12, Whitmer acknowledged that some of the state's stringent lockdown policies were not practical in retrospect. "There were moments where, you know, we had to make some decisions that in retrospect don't make a lot of sense, right? If you went to the hardware store, you could go to the hardware store, but we didn't want people to be congregating around the garden supplies," she said.

Scandal-plagued New York Representative George Santos officially filed with federal regulators formally declaring his run for re-election.

On Tuesday, George Santos (R-N.Y.) filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to seek re-election in 2024 to represent New York’s 3rd congressional district. Despite numerous scandals and calls for him to resign, Santos still believes that he is qualified for his current position and re-election.

Santos has faced heavy scrutiny in recent months after revelations surfaced that he lied about his education, work history, and numerous details of his life.

The gift that keeps on giving, Tuesday’s late-winter nor’easter that’s already seen more than 2 feet of snow fall in several Massachusetts communities is expected to slow down after midnight and stop entirely by 8 a.m. Wednesday.

Here’s how much snow is likely to fall in Massachusetts communities Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday.

The Department of Energy under President Biden has recently proposed new efficiency standards for washing machines to tackle the global climate crisis.

These new rules require manufacturers to use significantly less water in their appliances. While some have welcomed the move, leading industry corporations have criticized the mandates, claiming they will force manufacturers to reduce cleaning performance to comply.

Manufacturers like Whirlpool have warned that each cycle will take longer, detergents will cost more, and clothes will be less clean. This is the latest example of the Biden administration pushing for more consumer regulations to advance green initiatives. In February, the administration came under fire for a leaked proposal that would have banned half of America's gas stoves, along with another proposal to regulate refrigerators heavily.

The US and UK are arming Australia in a run up to a war with China. Indonesia has reminded Australia that this violates their nuclear peace deal but do they care? Most likely not. But is China on a winning streak for peace? The Wall Street Journal reports that Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to meet with Ukrainian President Zelensky next week after a meeting with Russian President Putin. Could he do what no one else has been able to do and broker an actual peace deal?

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has issued a sweeping subpoena for 14 years of bank records linked to three individuals concerning the panel's investigation into Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings.

The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin, revealed that the subpoena was issued to Bank of America on February 27 and seeks records from when Joe Biden became Vice President.

Raskin denounced the subpoena in a letter, stating that it was issued with little notice and covered a staggering 14-year period. The three account holders in question were business associates of Hunter and James Biden in a venture with CEFC China Energy, including John “Rob” Walker. Raskin added that the subpoena was overly broad and suggested that the investigation conducted a "dragnet of political opposition research on behalf of former President [Donald] Trump."

Some really decent and smart people believe that if the GOP just works harder on its mail-in ballot efforts, it will overcome the Democrats and win the 2024 election.   This is a ludicrous losing proposition!

First of all,  people need to realize that the Democrats and their Deep State are really, really corrupt and criminal.  They are not good people.

The Dems and Deep State will spy on innocent Americans without the right to do so.  They will make up lies about Russian collusion and run a coup in an attempt to remove a sitting president from office.  They will turn the Justice Department into a crime syndicate.  They will create a “censorship industrial complex” to censor conservative speech and pay for it with taxpayer money.

We previously discussed the movement in journalism schools to get rid of principles of objectivity in journalism. Advocacy journalism is the new touchstone in the media even as polls show that trust in the media is plummeting. Now, former executive editor for The Washington Post Leonard Downie Jr. and former CBS News President Andrew Heyward have released the results of their interviews with over 75 media leaders and concluded that objectivity is now considered reactionary and even harmful. Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, editor-in-chief at the San Francisco Chronicle said it plainly: “Objectivity has got to go.”

Notably, while Bob Woodward and others have finally admitted that the Russian collusion coverage lacked objectivity and resulted in false reporting, media figures are pushing even harder against objectivity as a core value in journalism.

We have been discussing the rise of advocacy journalism and the rejection of objectivity in journalism schools. Writers, editors, commentators, and academics have embraced rising calls for censorship and speech controls, including President-elect Joe Biden and his key advisers. This movement includes academics rejecting the very concept of objectivity in journalism in favor of open advocacy.

ON MONDAY, California Gov. Gavin Newsom praised the Biden administration’s decision to intervene on behalf of Silicon Valley Bank’s clients after the bank was taken over by the FDIC on Friday amid a bank run. The White House “acted swiftly and decisively to protect the American economy and strengthen public confidence in our banking system,” Newsom said in a statement. What Newsom didn’t mention is that it also protected his own companies if they held over $250,000 in deposits.

CADE, Odette, and PlumpJack, three wineries owned by Newsom, are listed as clients of SVB on the bank’s website. Newsom also maintained personal accounts at SVB for years, according to a longtime former employee of Newsom’s who handled his finances, and who requested anonymity to avoid professional reprisal.

“Governor Newsom’s business and financial holdings are held and managed by a blind trust, as they have been since he was first elected governor in 2018,” Nathan Click, a spokesperson for Newsom, told The Intercept in an email.

The crisis of American national power has begun. America’s economy is tipping over, and Western financial markets are quietly panicking. Imperiled by rising interest rates, mortgage-backed securities and U.S. Treasuries are losing their value. The market’s proverbial “vibes”—feelings, emotions, beliefs, and psychological penchants—suggest a dark turn is underway inside the American economy.

American national power is measured as much by American military capability as by economic potential and performance. The growing realization that American and European military-industrial capacity cannot keep up with Ukrainian demands for ammunition and equipment is an ominous signal to send during a proxy war that Washington insists its Ukrainian surrogate is winning.

Russian economy-of-force operations in southern Ukraine appear to have successfully ground down attacking Ukrainian forces with the minimal expenditure of Russian lives and resources. While Russia’s implementation of attrition warfare worked brilliantly, Russia mobilized its reserves of men and equipment to field a force that is several magnitudes larger and significantly more lethal than it was a year ago.

A growing number of students who finished high school during the pandemic are choosing not to go to college, with many opting to join the workforce or enroll in trade programs.

“Pfizer Inc. and Seagen Inc. today announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Pfizer will acquire Seagen, a global biotechnology company that discovers, develops and commercializes transformative cancer medicines, for $229 in cash per Seagen share for a total enterprise value of $43 billion,” Pfizer said in a statement.

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto accused the Russian mercenary Wagner Group of facilitating the increase in migration reported this year from Africa to Europe...

Russian mercenaries are responsible for a surge in illegal immigration into Europe and are engaging in “hybrid warfare” against countries supporting Ukraine in the ongoing conflict, Italy’s Defense Minister Guido Crosetto has claimed.

Speaking on Monday, the Italian minister claimed the Russian Wagner Group, which operates in several African countries and holds considerable political influence, has been facilitating an increase in illegal immigration across the Mediterranean into Italy.

“I think it is now safe to say that the exponential increase in the migratory phenomenon departing from African shores is also, to a not insignificant extent, part of a clear strategy of hybrid warfare that the Wagner division is implementing, using its considerable weight in some African countries,” Crosetto said.

The chemical disaster that hit East Palestine, Ohio, due to a Norfolk Southern train derailment has essentially evaporated from the news…especially in the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse.

Personally, I find it very troubling that bank executive concerns emanating from California and New York received immediate attention and promises of massive fiscal assistance. In contrast, the good people of Ohio had to wait weeks for a press conference.

So, I thought I would look at the response’s status and the consequences of the chemical contamination that spread due to the choice to do a controlled burn of the chemicals being shipped in the train that derailed.

On Tuesday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern:

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a 58-count civil lawsuit in federal court today seeking to hold Norfolk Southern financially responsible for the Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine that caused the release of over 1 million gallons of hazardous chemicals, “recklessly endangering” both the health of area residents and Ohio’s natural resources.

“Ohio shouldn’t have to bear the tremendous financial burden of Norfolk Southern’s glaring negligence,” AG Yost said. “The fallout from this highly preventable incident may continue for years to come, and there’s still so much we don’t know about the long-term effects on our air, water and soil.”

On Monday, the Florida House of Representatives passed a bill that would forbid public universities across the state from providing financial support to programs that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) or Critical Race Theory (CRT).

As Just The News reports, the bill now heads to the Florida State Senate for a vote, which may occur as soon as Wednesday. The bill declares that public universities are prohibited from donating to or otherwise financially supporting “any programs or campus activities that espouse diversity, equity, or inclusion or Critical Race Theory rhetoric.”

“A state university is prohibited from using diversity, equity, and inclusion statements, Critical Race Theory rhetoric, or other forms of political identity filters as part of the hiring process, including as part of applications for employment, promotion and tenure, conditions of employment, or reviewing qualifications for employment,” the bill states.

At least two of the banks that collapsed over the weekend had previously been two of the biggest advocates for easing regulatory rules on the banking industry.

According to The Hill, both Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and the New York-based Signature Bank had lobbied for a 2018 bill called the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, which ultimately became law. The law made the banks and other banks of their size and caliber exempt from stringent stress testing and capital requirements that had previously been implemented in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.

The bill had passed through Congress with bipartisan support and was signed into law by President Donald Trump. It dictated that banks worth $250 billion or less in assets were not “systemically important,” and thus made them immune from strict oversight reviews conducted by the Federal Reserve.

he Australian Senate is infested with pro-Ukrainian foreign influence. Senators are pushing for more Australian involvement in war against Russia. Liberal, Labor, Nationals & Greens all blindly support more weapons, money and troops for Zelensky. There is no opposition in tr senate, no discussion, no debate, no scrutiny and no questioning the decisions to send Australia to war.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has announced the opening of two more emergency migrant shelters as the southern border crisis continues to stretch the city’s resources.

The shelters will house up to 1,200 single men and one will be located in the vacant Candler Tower office building in Times Square, which used to be one of the most profitable 24-hour McDonald’s restaurants in the country. The second location is a six-story commercial building at 455 Jefferson St in Brooklyn. Of the 103 emergency shelters already in use, only one is in hotels across the five boroughs. The city has estimated to spend $4.2 billion on the migrant crisis by mid-next year.

The announcement comes as the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement office faces a backlog of processing migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. The office is fully booked through October 2032, as the Post revealed, the lengthiest backlog of any ICE office in the U.S., which raises concerns that migrants without valid asylum claims could choose New York City to avoid facing an immigration judge for as long as possible.

Vast quantities of lies from top U.S. government officials led up to the Iraq invasion. Now, marking its 20th anniversary, the same media outlets that eagerly boosted those lies are offering retrospectives. Don't expect them to shed light on the most difficult truths, including their own complicity in pushing for war.

What propelled the United States to start the war on Iraq in March 2003 were dynamics of media and politics that are still very much with us today. Soon after 9/11, one of the rhetorical whips brandished by President George W. Bush was an unequivocal assertion while speaking to a joint session of Congress on Sept. 20, 2001: "Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." Thrown down, that gauntlet received adulation and scant criticism in the United States. Mainstream media and members of Congress were almost all enthralled with a Manichean worldview that has evolved and persisted.

Update(1510ET): After nearly two hours since the story first broke in international press, the Kremlin has issued its version of events concerning the US drone crash in the Black Sea Tuesday. The Russian Defense Ministry said nothing about the Pentagon's allegations that a Russian Su-27 aircraft dumped fuel on the MQ-9 drone, but instead blamed the pair of Russian jets' erratic maneuvering for the collision. 

"US drone MQ-9 fell into the Black Sea on Tuesday morning due to its own sharp maneuvering, Russian fighters did not come into contact with it and did not use weapons, the Russian Defense Ministry said," according to Russian media. The statement is as follows [emphasis ours]:

"As a result of sharp maneuvering around 09:30 Moscow time [06:30 GMT], unmanned aerial vehicle MQ-9 went into an uncontrolled flight with a loss of altitude and collided with the water surface. The Russian fighters did not use airborne weapons, did not come into contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle and returned safely to their home airfield" the ministry said.

At a moment Western officials and even some mainstream media are beginning to express doubt over Ukraine's ability to push Russian forces back, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who will likely enter the race for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, has issued his sharpest criticisms yet of America's role in the Ukraine war, calling it fundamentally a "territorial dispute" which the US should stay out of.

The statements came as part of his response to a questionnaire issued to possible 2024 presidential candidates by Fox News’s Tucker Carlson. The questionnaire asked whether protecting Ukraine should be part of US "vital national interests". DeSantis ripped Biden's policy as a virtual "blank check" which serves to erode US interests and "distracts" from what should be more pressing priorities.

He stressed that the United States government "cannot prioritize intervention in an escalating foreign war over the defense of our own homeland" - which also echoes the scathing critiques of a small cadre of GOP Congressional members like Matt Gaetz, Thomas Massie, and Marjorie Taylor Greene.