"Seriously

"You think that Jeffrey Goldberg got added to a high-level national security conversation by chance? Maybe you thought Covid was from the wet market and not from the lab that was right there and contained Covid-like viruses.

"The chance that this was done by an operative looking to embarrass the administration is about 90 per cent. The chance someone added him because they were looking for another Jeffrey is about 10 percent.

"This was a security breach but most likely one by a partisan trying to undermine the administration than by the participants on the chain. I'm not a conspiracy theorist -- I just play the odds and the odds it was an innocent mistake are low and deliberate act are high. Of course, though, I'm waiting for the final answer."

Read the entire article here.

"Democrats had a tough time at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing yesterday on the censorship industrial complex.

"They had to argue there was never any censorship during the Biden administration (including during Covid!) and that free speech and freedom of the press were never threatened by the partnership of government agencies with private institutions to combat 'disinformation.' After all, the government was just trying to catch foreign disinformation operations, they argued, so any censorship that did happen was necessary and proper.

"Put another way, the censorship industrial complex never happened -- and if it did it was a good thing and the targets deserved it."

Read the entire article here.

"Few things are so unhelpful as the journalist who buries the lede.

"There has been a lot of that lately, especially insofar as the Trump administration's mmigration crackdown is concerned.

"Take, for example, the case of the Georgetown University researcher arrested in Virginia last week over his alleged ties to terrorism. Badar Khan Suri reportedly spread Hamas propaganda online while having 'close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas,' according to the Department of Homeland Security.

"This is pretty serious stuff, which is why the coverage has been so maddening. In most reports, the allegations against Suri are buried so deep as to be next to the dinosaur bones."

Read the entire article here.

"Environmental group Greenpeace must pay more than $660 million in damages for defamation and other claims brought by a pipeline company in connection with protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline's construction in North Dakota, a jury found Wednesday.

"Dallas-based Energy Transfer and subsidiary Dakota Access had accused Netherlands-based Greenpeace International, Greenpeace USA and funding arm Greenpeace Fund Inc. of defamation, trespass, nuisance, civil conspiracy and other acts. Greenpeace USA was found liable for all counts, while the others were found liable for some. The damages owed will be spread out in different amounts over the three entities."

Read the entire article here.

"The Associated Press (AP) retracted a story Tuesday claiming that U.S. National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard publicly referred to President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin as 'very good friends.'

"The outlet withdrew its story titled, 'Gabbard Says Trump And Putin Are "Very Good Friends" Focused On Strengthening Ties,' before publishing a correction clarifying that Gabbard was referring to Trump's friendship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the AP announced.

"'This story was updated on Mar. 17, 2025, to delete erroneous reporting that U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin "are very good friends,"' the AP wrote in an editor's note at the bottom of the story.

"A spokesperson for the AP told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the initial report was removed from their site because 'it did not meet [their] standards.'"

Read the entire article here.

"While the legacy media often reports that the world is rapidly transitioning away from fossil fuels to renewable energy, a new report from J.P. Morgan shows that narrative is simply not correct. Since 2010, $9 trillion has been spent globally on wind, solar, electric vehicles energy storage, electrification and power grids, but despite this expensive effort -- mostly at taxpayer expense -- the share of final energy consumption by carbon-free energy sources is advancing by approximately a scant 0.3% to 0.6% per year.

"Michael Cembalest, Chairman of Market and Investment Strategy for J.P. Morgan, explains in 'Helliocentrism,' the 15th annual energy paper by the investment firm, that the reason fossil fuels remain the dominant source of energy is that modern prosperity is tied to certain kinds of industrial products, including chemicals, steel, cement, food and paper. Approximately 80% of the energy inputs for these products are fossil fuels. JPMorgan Chase is the world's fifth largest bank by total assets, with $3.9 trillion as of 2023.

"'As things stand now, modern prosperity is highly reliant on fossil fuels,' Cembalest said in a podcast on the report. Dr. Roger Pielke, Jr., retired professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, estimates on his 'The Honest Broker' Substack that at the current pace, the world will not be carbon free until sometime after the year 2200."

Read the entire article here.

"American taxpayers are subsidizing a Columbia University professor who marched in pro-Hamas demonstrations on campus.

"Neuropsychologist Jennifer J. Manly participated in a human blockade to prevent administrators from dismantling the unauthorized encampments last April.

"In photos taken of the event, Manly is visible wearing an orange vest and standing with fellow Columbia professors as they marched for Gaza, in front of banners reading 'Demilitarize education' and 'Palestine is Everywhere'; others called for financial boycott of and divestment from Israel.

"According to the National Institutes of Health and other publicly accessible databases, Manly has been named in connection with over $100 million in grants over the past 20 years."

Read the entire article here.

"Senate Democrats say privately that they will not allow the government to shut down on Saturday, despite growing pressure from activists and liberal lawmakers who want them to kill a GOP-crafted six-month stopgap spending bill.

"Senate Democratic sources say Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) is giving plenty of room to centrists in his caucus to vote for the House-passed continuing resolution (CR) if doing so is the only way to avoid a government shutdown at week's end.

"And one Democratic senator familiar with the internal deliberations said Senate Democrats will ultimately vote to keep the government open, despite the rumblings of liberals within their caucus who are heaping scorn on the House-passed funding bill.

"Still, the private assurances don't rule out the possibility that something unexpected could happen to change the political calculus."

Read the entire article here.

"The Department of Education announced Tuesday it was firing nearly half of its workforce, the latest Trump administration move to shrink the federal government that could face swift legal challenge.

"A senior department official said 1,315 staffers will be let go and received the notification Tuesday.

"The Education Department started President Trump's second term with more than 4,000 employees, but even before Tuesday, hundreds had already been put on leave or had taken a buyout offer.

"After this reduction, there will be 2,183 employees left with the department, which Trump has repeatedly called to shutter completely."

Read the enitre article here.

"'Making Iran Broke Again' has a nice ring to it.

"After four years of shady appeasement by the Biden administration, Iran's bloodthirsty regime is under pressure again -- and just in the nick of time, before it finesses its nuclear weapons capability.

"Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hammered Iran in his speech to the Economic Club of New York last week, foreshadowing harsh new sanctions and a long-overdue crackdown on the Islamist regime's black-market oil economy.

"Iran's sanctions fraud was a dirty little not-so-secret of the Biden administration, known to intelligence agencies and hedge fund traders alike."

Read the entire article here.