Important Takeaways:
- Biden’s Crackdown on the Internet Is WORSE Than You Think
- We’re being played: The Left isn’t “saving democracy,” and the internet is NOT free. The Murthy v. Missouri Supreme Court case is just the tip of the iceberg. The pro-speech plaintiffs argue the Biden White House colluded with social media platforms to censor speech they don’t like. Speech on topics like COVID origins, masks, vaccines, lockdowns, the Hunter Biden laptop, climate change, mail-in voting, and election integrity.
- There is much more of this censorship in our future. Thanks to a FOIA request and eventual lawsuit brought by America First Legal, AFL was able to uncover a report by U.S. Agency for International Development that was intended for internal use only.
- Glenn digs into this report called the “Dis-information Primer,” which provides a disturbing insider’s view of our government’s strategies for dealing with rampant so-called “information disorder.” And instead of debunking speech it doesn’t like, the government employs a strategy called “pre-bunking.” Wait, what?! We are up against a SPRAWLING network of government agencies, think tanks, and the largest companies in the world, all collaborating in multiple ways with the same end-goal: to censor unapproved speech in media and especially online.
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Important Takeaways:
- Ukraine shot down a Russian strategic bomber 300 km (185 miles) from its border on Friday after the warplane took part in an airstrike that killed at least eight people, including two children, in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, Kyiv said.
- Missiles rained down on the city of Dnipro and the surrounding region in the early hours, damaging residential buildings, the main train station and wounding at least 28 civilians, regional officials said.
- In a first for Ukraine during the invasion, Kyiv’s air force commander and military spy agency said they had shot down a Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bomber that had fired missiles at Ukraine during the overnight attack.
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Important Takeaways:
- The strike came less than a week after Iran’s unprecedented retaliatory drone and missile attack on Israel, to which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed to respond.
- U.S. officials did not provide any information about the location or extent of the Israeli strike, and the Israel Defense Forces would not comment on the attack when asked by CBS News.
- State media and Iranian sources speaking with various news outlets mentioned only small drones flying around a couple sites in the country, without any reference to a missile strike.
- Iran’s President, Ebrahim Raisi, spoke of Iran’s assault a week earlier against Israel, which he called “necessary, obligatory” and a “sign of the power of the Islamic republic and its armed forces.”
- Iran announced that it had grounded commercial flights in Tehran and across areas of its western and central regions, but state television later said normal flight operations had resumed.
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Important Takeaways:
- The Biden administration has unveiled new rules aimed at safeguarding LGBTQ+ students and changing the ways in which sexual harassment and assault claims are adjudicated on campus.
- The new provisions are part of a revised Title IX regulation issued by the Education Department, fulfilling a campaign pledge by President Biden to revamp those issued during the Trump administration.
- Missing from the new rule, however, is a policy forbidding schools from enacting outright bans on transgender athletes competing against biological females.
- The new rule makes “crystal clear that everyone can access schools that are safe, welcoming and that respect their rights,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said.
- “No one should face bullying or discrimination just because of who they are, who they love,”
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Important Takeaways:
- Bowman said Omar, D-Minn., had questioned Columbia leadership’s commitment to “free academic expression” during a fiery congressional hearing on Wednesday and the following day her daughter, Isra Hirsi, was arrested.
- She was among more than 100 people issued a summons for trespassing, the NYPD said.
- Hirsi, an organizer with Columbia University’s Apartheid Divest group, was released hours later from NYPD headquarters.
- Dozens of anti-Israel activists began protesting at Columbia University on Wednesday morning, creating an encampment on the main lawn in protest of Israel’s war against Hamas.
- Fiery protests continued into the overnight hours with calls for an intifada and the death of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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Important Takeaways:
- Chinese government-linked hackers have burrowed into U.S. critical infrastructure and are waiting “for just the right moment to deal a devastating blow,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Thursday.
- An ongoing Chinese hacking campaign known as Volt Typhoon has successfully gained access to numerous American companies in telecommunications, energy, water and other critical sectors, with 23 pipeline operators targeted, Wray said in a speech at Vanderbilt University.
- “Its plan is to land low blows against civilian infrastructure to try to induce panic.”
- Earlier this week, a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said Volt Typhoon was in fact unrelated to China’s government, but is part of a criminal ransomware group.
- Wray said China’s hackers operated a series of botnets – constellations of compromised personal computers and servers around the globe – to conceal their malicious cyber activities.
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Important Takeaways:
- Storm dumps heaviest rain ever recorded in desert nation of UAE, flooding roads and Dubai’s airport
- Heavy thunderstorms lashed the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, dumping the heaviest rain ever recorded in the country in the span of hours as it flooded out portions of major highways and Dubai’s international airport.
- The state-run WAM news agency called the rain “a historic weather event” that surpassed “anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949.” That’s before the discovery of crude oil in this energy-rich nation then part of a British protectorate known as the Trucial States.
- The rains began late Monday, soaking the sands and roadways of Dubai with some 20 millimeters (0.79 inches) of rain, according to meteorological data collected at Dubai International Airport. The storms intensified around 9 a.m. local Tuesday and continued throughout the day, dumping more rain and hail onto the overwhelmed city.
- By the end of Tuesday, more than 142 millimeters (5.59 inches) of rainfall had soaked Dubai over 24 hours. An average year sees 94.7 millimeters (3.73 inches) of rain at Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel and a hub for the long-haul carrier Emirates.
- At the airport, standing water lapped on taxiways as aircraft landed. The airport ended up halting arrivals Tuesday night and passengers struggled to reach terminals through the floodwater covering surrounding roads.
- Dubai International Airport acknowledged Wednesday morning that the flooding had left “limited transportation options” and affected flights as aircraft crews couldn’t reach the airfield.
- “Recovery will take some time,” the airport said on the social platform X. “We thank you for your patience and understanding while we work through these challenges
- Rain is unusual in the UAE, an arid, Arabian Peninsula nation, but occurs periodically during the cooler winter month
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Important Takeaways:
- Why a $100,000 income no longer buys the American Dream in most places
- The American Dream — which for many people involves some combination of owning a home, getting married, having kids and making enough after expenses to save for retirement and spend on leisure — is becoming increasingly expensive.
- “The benchmark of a six-figure salary used to be the gold standard income,” Sabrina Romanoff, a clinical psychologist, told CNBC. “It represented the tipping point of finally earning a disposable income and building savings and spending based on your wants, not just your needs.”
- A new report from GOBankingRates used that framework to analyze how much money a family of two adults and two children would need in each state to own a home, a car and a pet. The report tallied estimated annual essential expenses for such a family and then doubled that figure.
- Using that framework, GoBankingRates found that all 50 states require more than a $100,000 annual income, according to the report, with 38 states needing more than $140,000.
- “Now people making well over six figures are still living paycheck to paycheck,” Romanoff said. “So what used to symbolize financial freedom is now keeping people stressed about making ends meet.”
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Important Takeaways:
- ‘Rather Despicable’: John Eastman Speaks Out After Bank Of America, USAA Shut Down His Accounts
- John Eastman, once an attorney for former President Donald Trump, was de-banked twice in the span of several months by two prominent financial institutions, Bank of America and USAA, he told the Daily Caller. His accounts were closed as he faced substantial backlash for his work advising Trump around the time of the 2020 election.
- Eastman said he had switched most of his banking from Bank of America to USAA, a company that provides financial services exclusively to military veterans as well as their families, due to the former’s “wokeness.” Both corporations are federally insured, and Bank of America was bailed out with billions of dollars in taxpayer funds during the global financial crisis.
- Bank of America alerted Eastman in September of 2023 that it would be closing his accounts, a letter obtained by the Daily Caller shows. Shortly thereafter, USAA notified Eastman in November that his two bank accounts with the company would be closed, a separate letter shows.
- When Eastman inquired about the closures, the banks said it was their policy to not provide any more information on the matter
- “De-banking” is a phenomenon in which financial institutions refuse financial service to the targets of political activism, who often end up being conservatives.
- Bledsoe spoke to the political nature of de-banking and how it can make Americans’ lives harder.
- “I’m gravely concerned. It really is the kind of next step in [Environmental, Social and Governance]. So ESG across the board, it really is about like, re-directing capital away from the politically disfavored and to the politically favored at the moment, without going through the political process at all,”
- “De-banking contradicts the very character of our nation, as elites wrongfully use their power to punish their political opponents. Here’s the bottom line: If financial institutions are punishing consumers who don’t fall in line with their political beliefs, that could constitute a violation of both state and federal law,” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey told the Daily Caller.
- Just days after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, Eastman resigned as a law professor from Fowler School of Law at Chapman University after the school faced pressure to oust him, Forbes reported.
- Then, at the end of that month, the University of Colorado’s Benson Center for Western Civilization banned Eastman from speaking at the institution despite being a visiting scholar, according to Forbes
- Now, Eastman is being prosecuted by Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis as part of her case against Trump. On March 27, a California judge ruled that Eastman should be disbarred due to his legal advice in the wake of the 2020 election. The case will now move to the state Supreme Court for a final decision.
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Important Takeaways:
- Mom, 28, forced to sell her dream car after forking out $40,000 in INTEREST alone over three years – as America’s auto debt spirals to $1.6 TRILLION
- Three years ago, 28-year-old Blaisey Arnold entered a local auto dealership and came away with the keys to an $84,000 Chevy Tahoe.
- Despite paying $1,400 a month in payments totaling more than $50,000, she still owes a balance of $74,000 to her lender – GM Financial.
- Not only did she not make a down payment, she said she traded in a previous car on which she had fallen into negative equity.
- Negative equity occurs when a driver owes more on their car loan than the vehicle is now worth. Sometimes, a dealer or lender can offer to roll the balance of an existing auto loan onto a new one, making it more expensive.
- ‘Honestly, it blows my mind that I have paid $50,000 into this car and only paid off $10,000,’ Arnold said.
- ‘The dealer pretty much told me they can get me out the door with the car within an hour. He didn’t act like it was something I should be concerned about,’ she said.
- Auto loans are becoming a major source of strain for car-obsessed Americans and leaving an increasing number with runaway debt.
- Last year, auto debt in the US reached a record-high $1.6 trillion, which comes out to an average of more than $13,000 per household.
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