Week in Review

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Week in Review

03/29/2025

For the week 3/24-3/28

[Posted 4:30 PM ET, Friday]

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Edition 1,353

Sadly, we will be hearing of rising death tolls in Myanmar and Thailand after a mammoth 7.7 magnitude earthquake, centered in Mandalay, Myanmar, struck the region today, Friday.

But it won’t be easy getting an idea of the true scope because Myanmar’s government (junta) is fighting a civil war, with many areas totally closed off to aid groups and reporters.

You all have seen the early damage in Bangkok and understand that it is 600+ miles away from the center of the quake in Myanmar, or about the distance from New York City to Indianapolis.

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I discuss the sham ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, brokered by the United States, in great detail below.  President Trump has been quiet on the topic since an “agreement” was reached Tuesday.

By Wednesday, the two sides were accusing the other of flouting a separate truce on energy strikes, which had been reached earlier, and the so-called Black Sea truce was a farce because of all of Vladimir Putin’s added conditions, most of which involve sanctions being lifted before the maritime ceasefire can start.

As one scribe put it, it’s “a maritime nothing-burger.”

Thursday, Russian artillery damaged an energy facility in Kherson, President Volodymyr Zelensky calling on the U.S. to react to this alleged breach of the agreement to halt attacks on energy infrastructure.

“This is not a battlefield,” Zelensky told reporters in Paris.  “Civilians lost energy. I believe that there should be a reaction from the United States.”

[Two people were killed and five injured in strikes on Kherson Thursday night.  In the Kharkiv region, close to the frontline, 11 people were injured in a “massive” drone attack, according to the regional governor.]

Putin at week’s end claimed that Russian forces have the “strategic initiative” along the Ukrainian front line and says his army has a reason to believe that they “will finish them off.”

Putin also suggested today an interim government in Ukraine under the support of the UN, adding that elections could then be held to hand power to a “capable government” to begin peace talks.

Vlad the Impaler then said Russia would hold talks about a peace treaty with the new government, and “sign legitimate documents which would be recognized worldwide and be reliable and stable,” according to Russian state media agency TASS. 

Putin succeeded in packaging a Black Sea ceasefire with one to end air strikes on energy infrastructure, which means that any truce on the ground is now also subject to Putin’s list of conditions.  Reaction in Ukraine ranges from incredulous to furious.

President Trump is being played, with Putin flipping the script on “The Art of the Deal” author.

But then your editor always knew this would be the case.

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And a breaking story Friday morning that could have profound consequences...Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison, the conglomerate run by 96-year-old mega-billionaire Li Ka-shing that had agreed to sell its two strategic Panama Canal ports to a consortium led by U.S. investment giant BlackRock, announced it would NOT be signing the agreement on April 2nd, as per the original deal.

I have been telling you the last few weeks of the immense pressure Beijing was putting on Li.

How will President Trump respond?  I have yet to see a response on Truth Social, but this could easily become a major headline with serious financial market considerations. 

This deal, which involved the divestment of a majority of CK’s global ports business, including the Panama Canal assets, was designed to yield over $19 billion in cash.

We hope the delay is to just gain more time for working out the details in a complicated transaction, but I don’t think so.

CK only receives 12% of its revenue from businesses in China, but for President Xi, that’s not what matters.

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Trump, Elon, cont’d....

--The story broke Monday afternoon, and it rocked Washington.

In an all-time display of incompetence from any administration, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared war plans over an unclassified chat app, Signal, according to The Atlantic Monthly’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.  Goldberg was added, apparently by accident, to the group chat used by the defense secretary, Vice President JD Vance, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, and more than a dozen other principals and staffers, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, a user identified as “MAR,” which appeared to be Sec. of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, to discuss the March 15 renewal of U.S. airstrikes targeting the Houthi terrorist group in Yemen.

At 11:44 a.m. on March 15, Hegseth posted the “operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing,” Goldberg wrote.  “The information contained in them, if they had been read by an adversary of the United States, could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East.”

In an interview, Goldberg said that “up until the Hegseth text on Saturday, it was mainly procedural and policy texting. Then it became war plans, and to be honest, that sent a chill down my spine.”

The chat’s veracity was confirmed by National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes.  “This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number [Ed. Goldberg] was added to the chain,” Hughes said in a statement Monday.  But he characterized the thread as “a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials” executing national security strategy.  Questions remained, however, about how the administration has discussed classified issues and whether anyone will be disciplined – or fired.

The crux of the matter: Hegseth disclosed “precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing,” Goldberg explained, while being particularly careful not to reveal any classified information in his report, which followed two days of discussions among Trump’s national security team.  Relatedly, one of the chat messages from user “John Ratcliffe” contained “information that might be interpreted as related to actual and current intelligence operations,” Goldberg wrote; and he also kept that information out of his report.

Transmitting such details over an unclassified network can be a crime.  Several defense officials told the New York Times “That having this type of conversation in a Signal chat group itself could be a violation of the Espionage Act, a law covering the handling of sensitive information.  Revealing operational war plans before planned strikes could also put American troops directly into harm’s way.”

Aside from the entire national-security team participating in this potential violation, Mike Waltz may have violated the law additionally by setting the Signal threads to autodelete, “likely deliberately defying the Presidential Records Act,” according to intelligence reporter Marcy Wheeler.

Hegseth insisted to reporters on Monday that “Nobody was texting war plans.”  [Goldberg’s reply: “He was texting war plans.”]  Hegseth later called Goldberg “deceitful” and a “discredited so-called journalist.”

Recall, as a Fox host, Hegseth repeatedly denounced “reckless” handling of classified information.  And at his confirmation hearing, he vowed “Leaders – at all levels – will be held accountable.”

For his part, Monday afternoon, hours after the story broke, President Trump said: “I don’t know anything about it. I’m not a big fan of the Atlantic.”  Tuesday morning, however, he said, “Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man.”

A person close to the White House told Politico: “Everyone in the White House can agree on one thing: Mike Waltz is a f---ing idiot.”

On Capitol Hill, there was selective outrage: “We’re very concerned about and we’ll be looking into it on a bipartisan basis,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said Monday.  “It appears that mistakes were made,” Wicker added.

Republican colleague John Cornyn (Tex.), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, described it as “a huge screwup.”

“If true, this story represents one of the most egregious failures of operational security and common sense I have ever seen,” Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.), the Senate Armed Services Committee’s top Democrat, said in a statement.  “Military operations need to be handled with utmost discretion, using approved, secure lines of communication, because American lives are on the line.  The carelessness shown by President Trump’s cabinet is stunning and dangerous.”

“Putting out classified information like that endangers our forces – and I can’t believe that they were knowingly putting that kind of classified information on unclassified systems – it’s just wrong,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a former Air Force one-star.  “And there’s no doubt – I’m an intelligence guy – Russia and China are monitoring both their phones.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), said he has no interest in investigating the incident.  “It’d be a terrible mistake for there to be adverse consequences on any of the people that were involved in that call,” he told reporters. “I think the administration has acknowledged it was a mistake and they’ll tighten up and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said in a statement to The Hill.

“In normal times, this would see people sacked,” wrote Mick Ryan, a retired Australian army two-star.  “For a Secretary of Defense who allegedly values a warfighting ethos, this shortfall in security is appalling,” he added.

“Let’s be honest – if a mid-ranking national security official had shared classified intel & war plans on a phone app, they’d be swiftly prosecuted & likely imprisoned,” wrote Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute.  “Shouldn’t @SecDef, @MikeWaltz47, @SecRubio etc. be held to an even higher account? YES.”

But also in the chat, Vice President Vance disclosed his disdain for Europe: “I think we are making a mistake. 3 percent of U.S. trade runs through the Suez,” the canal blocked by Houthi fire, while “40 percent of European trade does...I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now.  There’s a further risk we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices,” an account identified as “JD Vance” wrote to the group. “If you think we should do it [that is, strike the Houthis] let’s go.  I just hate bailing Europe out again,” he added in a message directed to Hegseth.  The Hegseth account responded three minutes later, “VP: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading.  It’s PATHETIC.”

There is little Democrats can do, except to say things like what former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrote on X: “From an operational perspective, this is the highest level of f---up imaginable.  These people cannot keep America safe.”

David French / New York Times:

“This would be a stunning breach of security.  I’m a former Army JAG officer (an Army lawyer). I’ve helped investigate numerous allegations of classified information spillages, and I’ve never even heard of anything this egregious – a secretary of defense intentionally using a civilian messaging app to share sensitive war plans without even apparently noticing a journalist was in the chat.

“There is not an officer alive whose career would survive a security breach like that....

“Nothing destroys a leader’s credibility with soldiers more thoroughly than hypocrisy or double standards. When leaders break the rules that they impose on soldiers, they break the bond of trust between soldiers and commanders.  The best commanders I knew did not ask a soldier to comply with a rule that didn’t also apply to them. The best commanders led by example.

“What example has Hegseth set? That’s he’s careless, and when you’re careless in the military, people can die. If he had any honor at all, he would resign.”

Tuesday, President Trump downplayed the texting of sensitive plans for a military strike, saying it was “the only glitch in two months” of his administration as Democratic lawmakers heaped criticism on the administration for handling the highly sensitive information carelessly.

Trump told NBC News that the lapse “turned out not to be a serious one,” and articulated his continued support for Mike Waltz.

During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, said, “This is an embarrassment. This is utterly unprofessional.  There’s been no apology.  There’s been no recognition of the gravity of this error.”

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the committee’s top Democrat, said in his opening remarks: “If this was the case of a military officer or an intelligence officer, and they had this kind of behavior, they would be fired,” noting that in addition to the targeting information, the text chain included the identity of an active CIA officer.  “This is one more example of the kind of sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior, particularly toward classified information,” exhibited by the Trump administration, Warner said, adding, “This is not a one-off.”

Tulsi Gabbard, addressing the committee, at first declined to say whether she was involved in the group chat.  Later, she and CIA Director Ratcliffe insisted that no classified information was shared in it – a claim that triggered an incredulous backlash from the committee’s liberals.

“What if that had been made public that morning before the attack took place?” Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) asked in the hearing, referring to the details of the bombing plan.

By discussing the timing of a military campaign, they were revealing “the time period during which enemy air defenses could target U.S. aircrews flying in enemy airspace,” Sen. Ossoff said.

“I don’t know that” Ratcliffe said.

“You do know that” Ossoff countered.

Some of the Republican senators on the committee chose not to pose questions about the Signal episode, saying they would ask them during a subsequent classified section on the hearing.

Editorial / Financial Times

“U.S. allies have quickly had to adjust to the disruptive and often antagonistic policies of the second Trump administration.  But the stunning disclosure that top U.S. officials discussed sensitive U.S. military operations in Yemen on a Signal message that mistakenly included a journalist reveals something else: the sheer amateurism of the Trump White House. The breach will raise disquiet across the U.S. security and military apparatus about the risks of such behavior to personnel.  Allies could question what intelligence they are prepared to share with Washington in the future....

“The White House dismissed criticisms of the breach as a ‘coordinated effort to distract from the successful actions’ of the president.  But the Democrat Mark Warner, vice-chair of the Senate committee, suggested that ‘sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior’ should lead to sackings. Though the FBI and justice department are headed by Trump loyalists, it is still possible that investigations will follow.  The administration should, at the very least, revamp its procedures to ensure there is no repeat of such an incident.  Donald Trump is doing enough harm to U.S. standing in the world without adding dangerous ineptitude to the list.”

Wednesday, after Jeffrey Goldberg released more texts detailing specific times that F-18s, MQ-9 drones and Tomahawk cruise missiles were to be deployed, Sec. of State Marco Rubio speaking from Kingston, Jamaica, said: “I’ve been assured by the Pentagon and everyone involved that none of the information that was on there, though not intended to be divulged, obviously, that was a mistake and shouldn’t have happened and the White House is looking at it. Obviously, it was a big mistake.”

“But none of the information that was on there at any point threatened the operation or the lives of our servicemen,” Rubio added. “In fact, it was a very successful operation, and it’s an ongoing operation.”

The Pentagon said the information wasn’t classified and there was no intelligence in the messages, the secretary said.

Sec. Hegseth again insisted on social media Wednesday that he shared “no classified information” in the Signal chat.  “No names.  No targets.  No locations.  No units. No routes. No sources.  No methods” were included in the chat, he said, and added, “Those are some really shitty war plans.”

But the unsecured chat laid out specific timing and weapons, and as Goldberg initially reported, Hegseth revealed this information well before the strikes occurred, and more than 30 minutes before the first aircraft launched to carry out those strikes.

Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) and West Point alumni with two combat tours in Iraq: “This level of operational detail – timing, strike package, battle damage assessment, and more – is 100% definitively, unequivocally CLASSIFIED information.  Sharing that on an unsecured network, EVEN WITHOUT A REPORTER, is a crime and put the lives of service members at risk,” Ryan said in a social media threat Wednesday.  “Hegseth must resign.  IMMEDIATELY.”

Editorial / Wall Street Journal

“Which brings us to the Administration’s defensive insurance that the chat didn’t disclose any ‘war plans,’ which is a weak attempt at obfuscation.  Here is one of the messages that the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg released on Wednesday, from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: ‘1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package).’  Later: ‘1536: F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched.’

“This is obviously sensitive information about a pending attack, and in the wrong hands it could have compromised the mission.  It didn’t, and the Houthi strikes were a success and represent the best of Mr. Trump’s instincts on restoring deterrence. But Mr. Hegseth on X.com on Wednesday was dismissing the episode as the media peddling ‘hoaxes.’

“The White House is allowing its mistake to dominate the news for days and devolve into a larger question of competence. The Administration seems to think it can bully its way through anything by shouting Fake News and attacking the press.  Sometimes it needs to admit a mistake, take the loss and move on, which we are happy to do.”

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that “Israel provided sensitive intelligence from a human source in Yemen on a key Houthi military operative targeted” in the attack described by Mike Waltz in the Signal chat.

Israeli officials complained privately to U.S. officials that Waltz’s texts became public, one U.S. official said.

“The first target – their top missile guy – we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and it is now collapsed,” Waltz wrote.

Waltz didn’t describe the sources of the intelligence but said in another text that the U.S. has “multiple positive ID.”

The identity of a person in Yemen who was supplying information in real-time about the strikes would likely be carefully protected.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) have said they will investigate the security lapse.

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--In an interview Thursday night with Fox News’ Bret Baier, Elon Musk said he plans to slash $1 trillion in government spending by the end of May.

Musk said he believes his Department of Government Efficiency can find that level of cost savings within 130 days from the start of Trump’s term.

That is an ambitious goal, as it would mean slashing more than half of the $1.8 trillion the U.S. spent on non-defense discretionary programs in 2024.

--Vice President J.D. Vance and wife Usha traveled to Greenland Friday, along with National Security Adviser Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, as President Trump has suggested the United States should take control over the semi-autonomous Danish territory.

Mrs. Vance was originally to travel, sans hubby, on Thursday and had said her team will “visit historical sites, learn about Greenlandic heritage, and attend the Avannaata Qimussersu, Greenland’s national dogsled race.”  But then plans were scaled back and JD added himself to the travel party.  Instead, they were to visit just the U.S. Space Force Base at Pituffik, in northwestern Greenland, not the dogsled race or other attractions.

The United States is putting unacceptable pressure on Greenland, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told broadcaster TV2 on Tuesday, ahead of the trip.

“I have to say that it is unacceptable pressure being placed on Greenland and Denmark in this situation.  And it is pressure that we will resist,” Frederiksen told TV2.

The delegation had not been invited by the governments of Greenland or Denmark.

Brian Hughes, the National Security Council spokesman, said the delegation aimed to “learn about Greenland, its culture, history, and people.”

Frederiksen dismissed the idea of a private visit: “You cannot make a private visit with official representatives from another country.”

Greenland’s prime minister, Mute B. Egede, said on Sunday that Greenlanders’ effort to be diplomatic just “bounces off Donald Trump and his administration in their mission to own and control Greenland.”

The prime minister, in making his angriest comments yet on the topic, seemed especially upset with Waltz’s involvement.

“What is the national security adviser doing in Greenland?” he asked. “The only purpose is to demonstrate power over us.”

“His mere presence in Greenland will no doubt fuel American belief in Trump’s mission – and the pressure will increase,” he added.

Other Greenlandic officials complained about the inopportune timing of the visit, pointing out that Greenland had just held parliamentary elections and that a new government has not even been formed.

Well, lawmakers on Thursday agreed to form a new government, with four of the five parties agreeing to form a coalition that will have 23 of 31 seats in the legislature.  The agreement was to be signed today.

Trump reiterated Thursday that the United States will gain control of Greenland “one way or the other.”

“The fact that the Americans are well aware we are in the middle of negotiations,” said Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the leader of the most popular political party, “once again shows a lack of respect for the Greenlandic people.”

In a recent poll, 86% of Greenlanders said they do not want to become part of the United States, though many want improved relations with Washington.

I’ll have comments on Vice President Vance’s remarks late today next week.

--Last Friday, President Trump told reporters he did not sign the controversial proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport migrants his administration says are violent gang members from Venezuela.

“I don’t know when it was signed, because I didn’t sign it,” Trump told reporters at the White House.  “Other people handled it.”

But Trump did sign it.  White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said late Friday that Trump did personally sign the proclamation.

But then Cheung said Trump’s claim he “didn’t sign it” was a reference to the law passed 227 years ago and not the more recent document, which was a crock of shit, to further state the obvious.

“President Trump was obviously referring to the original Alien Enemies Act that was signed back in 1798,” Cheung said.

The thing is, more and more evidence is emerging that a few of the migrants deported have no criminal records in the U.S., and you can’t do that!!! [To use the president’s three exclamation points emphasis.]

--J. Michael Luttig, former U.S. Court of Appeals judge / New York Times:

“President Trump has wasted no time in his second term in declaring war on the nation’s federal judiciary, the country’s legal profession and the rule of law.  He has provoked a constitutional crisis with his stunning frontal assault on the third branch of government and the American system of justice.  The casualty could well be the constitutional democracy Americans fought for in the Revolutionary War against the British monarchy 250 years ago....

“The very thought of having to submit to his nemesis, the federal judiciary, must be anguishing for Mr. Trump, who only last month proclaimed, ‘He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.’ But the judiciary will never surrender its constitutional role to interpret the Constitution, no matter how often Mr. Trump and his allies call for the impeachment of judges who have ruled against him.  As Chief Justice John Marshall explained almost 225 years ago in the seminal case of Marbury v. Madison, ‘It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.’

“If Mr. Trump continues to attempt to usurp the authority of the courts, the battle will be joined, and it will be up to the Supreme Court, Congress and the American people to step forward and say: Enough.  As the Declaration of Independence said, referring to King George III of Britain, ‘A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.’

“Mr. Trump appears to have forgotten that Americans fought the Revolutionary War to secure their independence from the British monarchy and establish a government of laws, not of men, so that Americans would never again be subject to the whims of a tyrannical king.  As Thomas Paine wrote in ‘Common Sense’ in 1776, ‘In America the law is king.  For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other.’

“If the president oversteps his authority in his dispute with Judge Boasberg, the Supreme Court will step in and assert its undisputed constitutional power ‘to say what the law is.’  A rebuke from the nation’s highest court in his wished-for war with the nation’s federal courts could well cripple Mr. Trump’s presidency and tarnish his legacy.

“And Chief Justice Marshall’s assertion that it is the duty of the courts to say what the law is will be the last word.”

Related to the above, a Reuters/Ipsos survey, which closed Sunday, found that 82% of respondents – including majorities of Democrats and Republicans – agreed with a statement that the “president of the United States should obey federal court rulings even if the president does not want to.”

When questioned specifically about Trump’s recent deportation of people under a wartime authority, which a court ordered halted, 76% of Republicans agreed with a statement that “the Trump Administration should continue to deport people they view as a risk despite the court order.”  Only 8% of Democrats backed the approach.

--Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that he will be cutting the size of the department he leads by 10,000 full-time employees spread across departments tasked with responding to disease outbreaks, approving new drugs, providing insurance for the poorest Americans and more.  The worker cuts are in addition to roughly 10,000 employees who opted to leave the department since President Trump took office, through voluntary separation offers, according to the documents.

In shrinking to 62,000 federal health workers, the department will also lose five of its 10 regional offices.

“We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic,” Kennedy said in a statement.  He will be creating a new subdivision called the Administration for a Healthy America, which will combine various offices into one central office that will focus on chronic disease prevention programs, and health resources for low-income Americans.

Among the cuts are 3,500 jobs at the FDA, which inspects and sets safety standards for medications, medical devices and foods.

And thousands of job involved in monitoring for infectious diseases and at the NIH, the world’s leading public health research arm.

--Amid growing concerns over the fate of Social Security, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested that only “fraudsters” would complain about missing a Social Security check – but honest people like his mother would simply live with the fact that the government didn’t mail their monthly payment.

“Let’s say social security didn’t send out their checks this month. My mother who’s 94, she wouldn’t call and complain,” Lutnick said during an appearance on a podcast.  “She’d think something got messed up, and she’ll get it next month.  A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining.”

Lutnick said the “easiest way to find the fraudster is to stop payments and listen.”

Lutnick is estimated to have a net worth exceeding $1.5 billion, according to Bloomberg.

The Social Security Administration website has crashed numerous times this month because the servers were overloaded, blocking millions of retirees and disabled Americans from logging in to their online accounts. In the field, office managers are forced to answer the phones because so many employees have been pushed out.  And the agency no longer has a system to monitor customer experience because that office was eliminated in Elon Musk’s DOGE cuts.

“What’s going on is the destruction of the agency from the inside out, and it’s accelerating,” Sen. Angus King of Maine said in an interview (his state having the oldest population in America).  “I have people approaching me all the time in their 70s and 80s, and they’re besides themselves. They don’t know what’s coming.”

Trump has repeatedly said that the administration “won’t touch” Social Security, a promise that aides say applies to benefit levels that can be adjusted only by Congress.  But in just six weeks, the cuts to staffing and offices have already taken a toll on access to benefits, officials and advocates say.

Well, the SSA is beginning to backtrack on some of the ID requirements from last week after the backlash.  People applying for Social Security Disability Insurance, Medicare, or Supplemental Security Income who are not able to use the agency’s online portal can complete their claim entirely over the phone instead of in person.  Other SSA applicants will still be required to verify their identities at a field office.

--Food banks across the country – already facing huge cuts to locally grown food assistance – learned this week that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is canceling $500 million in expected food deliveries, further disrupting help at a time when need continues to rise.

One of every six Americans sought food from food banks in 2023, according to a Feeding America study. That was a 38 percent increase from 2021.

Much of the food is purchased from local farmers.

--From Michael Birnbaum / Washington Post:

“President Donald Trump’s crackdown on lawyers is having a chilling effect on his opponents’ ability to defend themselves or challenge his actions in court, according to people who say they are struggling to find legal representation as a result of his challenges.

“Biden-era officials said they’re having trouble finding lawyers willing to defend them.  The volunteers and small nonprofits forming the ground troops of the legal resistance to Trump administration actions say that the well-resourced law firms that once would have backed them are now steering clear.  The result is an extraordinary threat to fundamental constitutional rights of due process and legal representation, they said – and a far weaker effort to challenge Trump’s actions in court than during his first term.

“Legal scholars say no previous U.S. administration has taken such concerted action against the legal establishment, with Trump’s predecessors in both parties typically respecting the constitutionally enshrined tenet that everyone deserves effective representation in court and that lawyers cannot be targeted simply for the cases and clients they take on....

“Legal scholars say there is little precedent in modern U.S. history for Trump’s actions.  But the president is following a playbook from other countries whose leaders have sought to undermine democratic systems and the rule of law, including Russia, Turkey and Hungary.  Leaders in those countries have similarly attacked lawyers with the effect of hollowing out a pillar of justice systems to expand their power without violating existing laws.  They have successfully used the strategy to blast away their political opposition and any effort to counter their actions through courts.

“ ‘The law firms have to behave themselves,’ Trump said at a Cabinet meeting on Monday. ‘They behave very badly, very wrongly.’”

I would just add...look at what is happening in Turkey this week.

--President Trump issued an executive order Tuesday overhauling U.S. elections, including requiring proof of citizenship to register and vote in federal elections.  The move is certain to be challenged because the Constitution gives states broad authority over elections.

Trump’s order, which also requires that all ballots be received by Election Day, says the nation has “failed to enforce basic and necessary election protections.” It calls on states to work with federal agencies to share voter lists and prosecute election crimes, and threatens to pull federal funding from states where election officials don’t comply.

“There are other steps that we will be taking in the next coming weeks, and we think we will be able to end up getting fair elections,” Trump said after signing the order.

--Thursday, Trump issued an executive order promising to eliminate “improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology” from the Smithsonian Institution’s museums and restore “monuments, memorials, statues, markers” that have been removed over the past five years.

The “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” order directs Vice President Vance to eliminate what he finds “improper” from the Smithsonian Institution, including its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo.

This last one ought to be interesting.  I’d note on my proprietary “All-Species List,” ‘Man’ is in the 400s...Dog No. 1.

The Smithsonian has 21 museums, and is governed by a Board of Regents, which is made up of nine citizens, six members of Congress, Chief Justice John Roberts, and JD Vance.

Understand that restoring any monuments or memorials removed since Jan. 1, 2020, is part of the executive order.  That was the start of an American reckoning with the way Confederate icons were honored in public spaces.  You can see where this is headed.  Another ugly moment is on the way.

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Wall Street and the Economy

April 2nd is coming.  President Trump and the White House have been touting it as sort of a D-Day for a U.S. push back against other countries’ tariffs.  Trump has called it “Liberation Day” against countries that export far more to the U.S. than they import from it.

But then Trump on Monday said he might exempt some nations, and reciprocal tariffs may be softened.  Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said some tariffs could stop short of a threat to equalize what the U.S. charges versus what other countries charge.  Levies on imported autos, lumber, and pharmaceuticals may come later.

Trump did announce Monday that the U.S. would impose a 25% tariff on imports from any country that buys oil or gas from Venezuela.  That comes on top of existing duties, so tariffs on imports from China would amount to 45%.  The White House released an executive order saying those tariffs will take effect ‘on or after’ April 2.

The price of copper hit an all-time high this week amid reports that President Trump has directed the Commerce Department to look into potential copper tariffs, which while a report was to be submitted within 270 days, tariffs could arrive in just weeks, according to reports.

So then Wednesday afternoon, Trump said he was placing 25% tariffs on auto imports, a move the White House claims would foster domestic manufacturing but could also put a financial squeeze on automakers that depend on global supply chains.

The tariffs, which the White House expects to raise $100 billion in revenue annually, could be complicated as U.S. automakers source their components from around the world.

The tax hike, which starts April 3rd, a day after the broader slate of trade actions, means automakers could face higher costs and lower sales, though Trump argues that the tariffs will lead to more factories opening in the United States and the end of what he judges to be a “ridiculous” supply chain in which auto parts and finished vehicles are manufactured across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

More than seven million cars in 2024 were imported to the U.S., and half or more of the parts on many popular models assembled in the U.S. come from Canada and Mexico.

The effects will be uneven. General Motors’ Chevy Equinox is made in Mexico.  Toyota’s RAV4 is built in Canada.  The Ford Escape is made in Kentucky.  Tesla is the least exposed to tariffs, based on domestic production.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that when “President Trump convened CEOs of some of the country’s top automakers for a call earlier this month, he issued a warning: They better not raise car prices because of tariffs.”

“Trump told the executives that the White House would look unfavorably on such a move, leaving some of them rattled and worried they would face punishment if they increased prices, people with knowledge of the call said.”

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday that President Trump’s tariffs are a “direct attack” on his country and that the trade war is hurting Americans, noting that American consumer confidence is at a multi-year low.

“This is a very direct attack,” Carney responded.  “We will defend our workers. We will defend our companies. We will defend our country.”

Carney added that the U.S. was “no longer a reliable partner” and that his country would announce its own retaliatory tariffs next week.

In Germany, Robert Habeck, economy minister, said it was “crucial that the E.U. delivers a decisive response to the tariffs,” adding, “It must be clear that we will not back down.”

Staying with Canada, Prime Minister Carney called for a snap election on April 28, claiming he needs a mandate to address Trump’s tariffs.

“We are facing the most significant crisis of our lifetimes because of President Trump’s unjustified trade actions and his threats to our sovereignty,” Carney said.

He will be facing off against his main rival, the Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre.

For months, polls indicated that the Conservatives had a strong lead in the election, but Carney’s Liberal Party has seen a surge in popularity following the twin threats from Trump.

Carney said: “President Trump claims that Canada isn’t a real country.  He wants to break us so America can own us. We will not let that happen.”

Poilievre, who launched his campaign on Sunday with a “Canada First” message, has repeatedly portrayed Carney as a leader ill-equipped to deal with Trump.

“Today, the Liberals are asking for a fourth term in power after swapping Justin Trudeau for his economic adviser and handpicked successor, Mark Carney.”

When asked how he would handle his relationship with Trump, Poilievre said he would insist the “independence and sovereignty of Canada” was recognized and “I will strengthen our country so that we can be capable of standing on our own two feet and standing up to the Americans where and when necessary.”

Carney and Trump then held a phone call Friday, which Trump called “extremely productive.”  He also addressed Carney “Prime Minister” rather than “Governor” as he had with Trudeau.

Carney, busy with campaigning, had his office respond initially in saying the leaders agreed to begin “comprehensive negotiations” to be led by Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

---

Meanwhile, we had a number of Fed governors speaking this week, and Governor Adriana Kugler said Tuesday that she is in favor of holding interest rates steady for “some time” as economic data shows signs of softness and progress on inflation slows.

The Fed’s rate-setting committee “can react to new developments by holding at the current rate for some time as we closely monitor incoming data and the cumulative effects of new policies,” she said in a speech in Washington, citing a “heightened level of uncertainty.”

Kugler, a permanent voting member on the Open Market Committee, is particularly watching inflation amid an increase in consumer expectations for inflation in the short term because of Trump’s tariffs.

“I am paying close attention to the acceleration of price increases and higher inflation expectations, especially given the recent bout of inflation in the past few years,” Kugler said.

St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem said Wednesday that he’d be “wary of assuming that the impact of tariff increases on inflation will be entirely temporary.”  Fed Bank of Boston President Susan Collins said it looks “inevitable” that tariffs will boost inflation, and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari also emphasized the pace of price growth, saying it’s “above our 2% target so we have more work to do.”

Friday’s personal consumption expenditures index is an important part of the Fed’s equation, their key inflation barometer.  For February the PCE rose 0.3%, 2.5% year-over-year, while the critical core reading was 0.4%, 2.8% Y/Y, these last two a tick higher than expected, core PCE a revised 2.7%% in January, all of which bolsters the hawks’ case at the Fed for holding the line on rates.

[Personal income in February rose 0.8%, consumption 0.4%.]

In other economic data, the Conference Borad’s latest reading on consumer confidence fell to 92.9, below the 100.1 seen in February and the lowest level in more than four years.

The expectations index, which is based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions, ticked down to 65.2 from 72.9 and remained below the threshold of 80 – which typically signals recession ahead – for the second straight month. This marked a 12-year low for the expectations index.

February durable goods (big-ticket items) rose a stronger than expected 0.9%, 0.7% ex-transportation.

February new home sales came in at a 676,000 annualized pace, basically in line. The Case-Shiller home price barometer for January had the 20-city index rising 0.5% month-over-month, and 4.7% from a year ago.

A final look at fourth-quarter GDP registered 2.4%.  So the last three years....

2022...2.5%
2023...2.9%
2024...2.8%

But we had inflation.

The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow barometer for first-quarter growth is minus-2.8%, down from -1.8% just two days earlier.

Freddie Mac’s 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is at 6.65%.

I liked a comment from Rick Reider, BlackRock’s global fixed income chief investment officer, who told CNBC while describing the business and investment environments:

“Companies are going to sit on their hands.  We came into the beginning of this year and it was all about animal spirits and it seems like it’s moved to animals in hibernation, and that can translate into slower growth for a couple of quarters.”

Slowing growth amid sliding consumer sentiment and tariff uncertainty.

Next week, we get key readings on manufacturing and the service sector, as well as the jobs data for March.  And Liberation Day!!!  Yippee!

Europe and Asia

We had flash PMI readings for March in the eurozone, courtesy of S&P Global / Hamburg Commercial Bank, with the composite index at 50.4, a 7-month high (50 the dividing line between growth and contraction); manufacturing 50.7, a 34-month high, and services 50.4.

Germany: manufacturing 52.1 (36-mo. high, due largely to a rise in new orders for the first time since March 2022), services 50.2.
France: mfg. 48.8 (34-mo. high), services 46.6.

UK: mfg. 44.6 (17-mo. low), services 53.2.

Dr. Cyrus de la Rubia, Chief Economist, Hamburg Commercial Bank:

“Just in time with the beginning of spring we may see the first green shoots in manufacturing.  While we should not be carried away by a single data point, it is noteworthy that manufacturers expanded their output for the first time since March 2023. It’s also encouraging that the index output has risen for three months straight.... However, given the will of Europe, to invest heavily in defense and infrastructure – in Germany a corresponding historical fiscal package has been approved only last week – hope for a more sustained recovery seems well founded.”

France: The government said it will add an extra 1.7 billion euros ($1.85 billion) to defense expenditure via public-investment vehicles as European countries prepare for a shakeup of the continent’s security order, France echoing Germany’s recent pronouncements.

Turning to Asia...nothing of note from China on the data front, but Chinese President Xi Jinping is taking advantage of the tariff chaos by calling on global business leaders to push back against protectionism, seeking to promote his country as a reliable partner.

Today, Friday, Xi made a veiled critique of Trump’s trade actions, touting China’s stability at a meeting in Beijing with some 40 corporate leaders including Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone Inc. 

“Some countries are building a small yard with high fences, erecting tariff barriers, politicizing business issues, using them as tools and weapons,” Xi said at the Great Hall of the People, without naming any nation.  “I hope you will share your sensible views and take actions to push back against the retrogressive rules and the zero-sum games,” he said.

Inbound investment in China last year tumbled to its lowest level in over three decades.  Xi promised to improve market access and address their challenges of operating in the country.

Japan’s flash March PMI readings showed manufacturing at 48.3, services 49.5, the latter a drop from 53.7 prior.

Lots of PMI data from across the globe next week.

Street Bytes

--Stocks ended down for the week as we had a vicious selloff today, with the above-noted weakening consumer sentiment and tariff concerns.  The Dow Jones lost 1.0% to 41583, the S&P 500 -1.5%, and Nasdaq -2.6%.

And it didn’t help that today we had what was supposed to be one of the splashiest IPOs of the year, CoreWeave, a pure play AI cloud company that generates all of its revenue from cloud rentals of AI servers that use Nvidia chips, priced at $40 a share, well below the $47 to $55 range the company was targeting for a fully-diluted valuation of up to $32 billion.  The lowered valuation put it at $23 billion.

It closed its first day at, err, $40.00!  As Derrick Coleman would have said, “Whoopty-damn-do.”

--U.S. Treasury Yields

6-mo. 4.22%  2-yr. 3.91%  10-yr. 4.26%  30-yr. 4.64%

Bond yields after a volatile week ended largely unchanged, thanks in no small part to today’s selloff in equities.  President Trump again called for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, which we know ain’t happenin’ in the next few months, barring a geopolitical calamity.

“I’d like to see the Fed lower interest rates,” Trump said Monday during a Cabinet meeting, where he stressed that grocery and energy prices are coming down [Ed. not really].

“That’s just my opinion, because things are coming down. We have inflation under control.  Tremendous amounts of money will be soon coming in from tariffs.”

--Twenty-five years ago this week, March 24, 2000, the S&P 500 posted a record level it wouldn’t see again until 2007.  After a huge run from August 1995 to March 2000, the S&P was essentially cut in half by October 2002 [1527 to 776.] The carnage was worse in Nasdaq.

But...some rather spiffy gains since then.

--The International Energy Agency said global energy demand surged at a faster pace last year as record-high temperatures fueled the need for cooling systems.

With last year the hottest on record, intense heat waves in the likes of China and India pushed up coal use, contributing to a 2.2% increase in the world’s energy demand compared with an average 1.3% rise seen in the 2013-2023 period.

Emerging and developing economies accounted for more than 80% of overall energy demand growth.

Among fossil fuels, natural gas saw the strongest growth. Demand rose by 2.7%.  Demand for oil increased 0.8% in 2024, a significant slowdown from the 1.9% pace seen in 2023.  Oil’s share of total energy demand fell below 30% for the first time.

Coal demand rose by around 1% to reach an all-time high, but its growth rate has significantly slowed.

Meanwhile, overall carbon-dioxide emissions increased by 0.8% to 37.8 billion metric tons, but the rise was tempered by the rapid adoption of solar and wind power, nuclear and electric vehicles.

--Going back to last Friday, I didn’t have all the information to report on the Boeing contract to develop a 6th-gen fighter jet* as the centerpiece of the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program, President Trump announced at the White House.  The NGAD had been put on hold by the Biden administration over questions of cost and suitability for the future fight.

The aircraft is envisioned as the centerpiece of a family of systems, with new drones called Collaborative Combat Aircraft in development to fly alongside the jet.  It’s intended as a successor to the F-22 raptor, with longer range and more advanced stealth.

The aircraft will be called the F-47, a manned fighter jet that Air Force chief Gen. David Allvin said “honors the legacy of the P-47, whose contributions to air superiority during WWII remain historic.”  The numbering also “pays tribute to the founding year of our incredible @usairforce, while also recognizing the 47th @POTUS’s pivotal support for the development of the world’s FIRST sixth-generation fighter,” Allvin wrote on social media Friday evening. [Defense One]

*Generations refer to the technology and capabilities of certain planes; the F-35 and F-22 are fifth-generation fighters.  Russia and China have fifth-generation fighters, and China seems to have a prototype of a sixth-generation fighter jet.

Boeing beat out Lockheed Martin, the only rival for the contract after Northrup Grumman dropped out last year.

The NGAD contract was originally to be rewarded in 2024, but the service paused the program after soaring cost projections said each jet would cost as much as three F-35s.

The Air Force plans to spend $20 billion over the next five years to develop the program, according to its 2025 budget request, and Boeing could then reap production orders worth hundreds of billions more.

The F-47 is designed to be “virtually unseeable” and will fly with “many drones, as many as we want,” the president told reporters Friday.

Meanwhile, Lockheed is sweetening its F-35 offer to Canada, trying to keep Ottawa from changing its plan to buy more of the jets, Canada’s press has been reporting.

Elon Musk, by the way, has publicly campaigned against manned aircraft, which he said were “obsolete in the age of drones.”

The drones that will operate with the new fighter are well into development.  The first of them – produced by General Atomics and Anduril Industries – will fly this summer and are designed to carry missiles. Future versions will handle other missions and include electronic warfare and sensing.

Separately, Boeing wants President Trump to let it out of a guilty criminal plea agreement the jet maker reached with the Biden administration, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reports BA is pushing Trump’s new Justice Department officials to allow it to withdraw from a 2024 plea, in which it admitted that its workers conspired to defraud aviation regulators.

Avoiding a criminal conviction would be a major victory for the company that could allow it to avoid compounded headwinds as it tries to show progress on several fronts more than one year after a door plug blew off a Boeing-made Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 jet.

--The annual cost of the United Explorer card is rising to $150, up from $95.  United Airlines said it is adding benefits in return.  I sure as heck hope so, being a cardholder. The fee hike for existing Explorer cardholders will take effect on or after Jan. 1, 2026.

--London Heathrow’s unprecedented blackout last Friday put the airport’s reliance on potentially vulnerable infrastructure into focus, at a time when the biggest UK hub is lobbying for an ambitious expansion plan.

A nearby electrical substation fire cut off the power supply to Heathrow, bringing flights to a standstill and backup systems did not support full operations.

The public blowback in the UK was swift, with Willie Walsh, the former chief executive officer of British Airways parent IAG SA and now IATA (International Air Transport Association) director, saying it’s “yet another case of Heathrow letting down both travelers and airlines.”

I was watching an interview on the BBC with an airport executive, and the gentleman’s responses to the hard questions, like ‘why no real backups?’ were pathetic.

--TSA checkpoint numbers vs. 2024

3/27...110 percent of 2024 levels
3/26...104
3/25...83
3/24...95
3/23...117
3/22...92
3/21...103
3/20...115

--Tesla’s market share in Europe continued to shrink year-on-year in February, data showed on Tuesday, as sales of the all-electric vehicle maker dropped for a second month despite rising EV registrations overall on the continent.

Tesla has sold 42.6% fewer cars in Europe so far this year, data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association showed.

Tesla commanded 1.8% of the total market and 10.3% of the BEV (battery-electric) market in February, down from 2.8% and 21.6% last year.

It sold fewer than 17,000 cars in the European Union, Britain and European Free Trade Association countries, compared to over 28,000 in the same month in 2024.

Meanwhile, Tesla’s share price rallied 12% on Monday, after a 5% rise last Friday, amid talk that Trump’s reciprocal tariff plans will not be as severe as first feared.  And then we learned the auto tariffs that Trump announced Wednesday redounded to the benefit of Tesla.

The rally actually started a week ago, Thursday, when Elon Musk addressed nervous employees, emphasizing the company’s gains in self-driving technology and robotics ensure a bright future.

Tesla is supposedly about to roll out its highest-level driver-assistance product in China, called Full Self-Driving (FSD), which can help sell more vehicles, although the company charges several thousand dollars for its driver-assistance features while Chinese peer BYD essentially gives them away.

--Speaking of BYD, it overtook Tesla last year after revenues surged past $100 billion for the first time.

The Shenzhen-based company, which has dozens of showrooms across Britain, has established itself as the leading competitor to Tesla with a 29% surge in revenues last year.  BYD’s sales climbed to $107.2bn, outstripping the $97.7bn of revenues made by Tesla.

The milestone comes a week after BYD stunned the world with its claims to have developed a new fast-charging system capable of delivering a full charge in the same time it takes to fill up a petrol tank.

BYD, which has pledged to “demolish” Western incumbents, has recently expanded beyond China by selling cars in the UK and Europe.

--The head of Samsung Electronics’ smartphone and consumer electronics business died from cardiac arrest on Tuesday, jolting the South Korean technology company during a business slide that leaders have called a crisis.

Jong-Hee Han, 63 years old, was appointed co-CEO of Samsung Electronics in December 2021.  The company’s other CEO Jun Young-hyun, oversaw the unit making semiconductors and other tech companies.

Jun will lead Samsung as solo CEO for now.

Samsung has traditionally used a co-CEO system because it makes myriad electronic gadgets and appliances, from smartphones to washing machines to televisions.  It is also a major components supplier to other tech companies that often sell products that compete with Samsung.  But the Suwon, South Korea-based company has stumbled in recent years, as the tech industry has undergone an artificial-intelligence boom.

Rival SK Hynix outmaneuvered Samsung to become the early supplier to Nvidia.  In 2024, for the second straight year, Apple shipped more smartphones than Samsung, which has long held the No. 1 spot.  Taiwan Semiconductor, TSMC, has extended its dominance in advanced chipmaking and recently unveiled plans to spend at least $100 billion more in U.S. production.

--Dollar Tree is selling Family Dollar to a pair of private equity firms for $1 billion after a decade trying to make its acquisition of the bargain chain fit.

Dollar Tree acquired Family Dollar for more than $8 billion in 2015 after a bidding war with rival Dollar General.

Last year, DLTR announced that it planned to close hundreds of Family Dollar stores.  The company also said at the time that it would record a $950 million impairment against the trade name Family Dollar, on top of a $1.07 billion goodwill charge.

Dollar Tree had little room to maneuver in unloading Family Dollar as Americans have been tightening their spending, even at bargain chains, amidst sliding consumer confidence.

Shares of DLTR rose 4% in response.

Additionally, in reporting earnings, ex-sale from the Family Dollar banner, the company posted net sales of $5 billion for the quarter ended Feb. 1, a marginal rise from $4.96 billion reported a year ago.

DLTR expects 2025 net sales to be in the range of $18.5 billion to $19.1 billion, with comparable store sales growth of 3% to 5%.

--Lululemon Athletica’s fourth-quarter earnings were higher than anticipated, but the stock fell sharply (15%!) after management’s financial guidance for the year fell short of expectations.

The activewear company reported earnings of $6.14 a share for the quarter ended Feb. 2.  Analysts expected $5.85 a share.  Revenue rose 13% to $3.6 billion, in line with projections for $3.58 billion.

But the company said for the full year ending next January, Lululemon expects net revenue to range from $11.15 billion to $11.3 billion, representing growth of 5% to 7%, with the Street projecting a revenue increase of 7% to $11.3 billion.

The earnings per share will be between $14.95 to $15.15, the midpoint, $15.05, well below current consensus of $15.37 for the year.  Executives are factoring in an impact from tariffs on Chinese and Mexican imports.

--Millions of Americans who sent their saliva to 23andMe in the hopes of finding lost relatives or identifying health risks buried in their DNA now face seeing their genetic information sold to the highest bidder as part of the company’s bankruptcy, setting up a test of existing legal safeguards about privacy and safety.

23andMe has proposed a May 14 auction for the sale of its assets, which include the genetic data of more than 15 million customers.  Founded in 2006, 23andMe said in court papers that the data represents “one of the world’s largest crowdsourced platforms for genetic research.”

A 23andMe spokeswoman said that customers can delete data within their account and don’t need to contact customer care to do so.  In a note to customers, the company said the bankruptcy filing doesn’t change how they store or protect personal data and any buyer will be required to comply with applicable laws with regard to treatment of such information.

--Walt Disney’s “Snow White” was a disappointment at the box office, but still won top billing during a slow weekend for Hollywood.  The live-action remake of its animated classic came with plenty of controversy, however, and casts doubts on the potential success of Disney’s upcoming live-action remakes.

“Snow White,” which cost more than $250 million to make, sold an estimated $43 million domestically through Sunday, and reached $87.3 million globally.  The studio and movie theaters may have been hoping for closer to $100 million, along the lines of last month’s “Captain America: Brave New World.” 

Controversies surrounded the film before its debut, changing the seven dwarfs in its original Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs into a diverse group of magical creatures, omitting the song “Some Day My Prince Will Come,” and casting Rachel Zegler as Snow White.

Zegler had defended the changes, telling Variety that “She’s not going to be saved by the prince and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love,” and in another interview calling the original version “weird.”

Other films with poor openings have nonetheless gone on to generate big sales.  Like “Mufasa: The Lion King” went from a $35.4 million opening weekend in December to gross nearly $718 million worldwide.

But the weekend was slow overall, and year-to-date receipts are 7% lower than this time last year.  Warner Bros.’ “Alto Knights,” starring Robert De Niro, opened to just $3.2 million in domestic ticket sales.

By the way, the original “Snow White...,” Disney’s first animated feature film, was so successful it paid for the company’s Burbank studio lot.

--I had an extensive obituary on George Foreman in last weekend’s “Bar Chat,” but for this space, after Salton brought Foreman on to sell its grill, The George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine, by 1996 it had sold $5 million of them.  The company would go on to sell more than 100 million of the appliances, thanks to the pitchman. 

From Kim Severson of the New York Times:

“The celebrity chef Bobby Flay started watching boxing as a kid during the golden age of the heavyweight bout, when Mr. Foreman and Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier were superstars.  He remembers what a revelation it was that a boxing champion could be the face of grilling.

“ ‘It made no sense, except it made perfect sense,’ Mr. Flay said in an interview.  ‘His personality was so unbelievably infectious.’”

Foreman and his partners sold their slice of the business in 1999 for an estimated $137.5 million.

I loved mine...and can’t remember who I gave it to. I replaced it with a Gotham Steel product that is nowhere near as good.  Career Mistake No. 7,431. [Actually, chronologically, it was probably No. 2,346 at the time, my mistake rate speeding up at light speed as I age.]

--Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his fiancée Lauren Sanchez finally sent out their wedding invitations after a nearly two-year engagement.

They are to be married in Venice, Italy, this summer, reportedly tying the knot on their $500 million yacht, Koru, off the coast of Italy in June.

I keep checking my mailbox...no invite yet.  Then again, I’d rather stay home and watch the Mets.

Foreign Affairs

Russia/Ukraine: Adding more meat to my opening, last weekend, President Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff had raised hopes of “real progress” on a Black Sea ceasefire, even as the Kremlin was playing down expectations for rapid progress.

Monday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, “It is necessary not so much to wait for breakthroughs but to understand that work is going on a number of directions.  This is one of them,” she told Russian media Monday.

Also on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov underscored Moscow’s continued hardline stance, saying Russia will pay “constant attention (to) the solution to the problem of denazification of the state [emphasis mine] that remains under the control of the Kyiv regime.”

Oh brother.  Russia has used this formulation as part of its drive to remove Zelensky and his government, claiming that his leadership is illegitimate.

Back to Witkoff, in an interview on Sunday, he sparked controversy when he repeated Putin’s false claim that parts of eastern and southern Ukraine are Russian because of referendums held there in 2022.  “There’s a view within the country of Russia that these are Russian territories, that there are referendums within these territories that justify these actions,” Witkoff said.  “This is not me taking sides.”

Witkoff did not acknowledge that the referendums were staged and held under military occupation, with some residents saying they were forced to vote under threat, at times in their home in the presence of heavily armed soldiers.

“The question is will they be, will the world acknowledge that those are Russian territories?” Witkoff said.  “Will Zelensky survive politically if he acknowledges this?  This is the central issue in the conflict.  Absolutely.”

This guy is a clown.

Editorial / Wall Street Journal

“Steve Witkoff...says he’s not taking sides as he tries to mediate an end to the war Vladimir Putin started in 2022.  He could have fooled us after a podcast interview this weekend in which Mr. Witkoff parroted one specious Russian talking point after another.

“The biggest howler during a long podcast with Tucker Carlson – we’ve struggled to narrow down the list – is Mr. Witkoff’s claim that Mr. Putin ‘100%’ doesn’t want to overrun Europe. Mr. Witkoff suggested Russia doesn’t even want to control Ukraine, with the exception, that is, of the large areas Mr. Putin already occupies.

“ ‘Why would they want to absorb Ukraine?’ he mused of the Russians.  ‘That would be like occupying Gaza. Why do the Israelis really want to occupy Gaza for the rest of their lives?  They don’t.’  Does Mr. Witkoff know anything about Russian or Mr. Putin’s history?

“Tell this to Georgia and Moldova, among others, and especially the Baltic states. All of these are under threat from Mr. Putin’s long-stated intention to reconstitute a Greater Russian empire, and Georgia endured an invasion and Russian land grab in 2008.  Russia doesn’t need to occupy Ukraine if it can impose a Russian-friendly, authoritarian government like the one in Belarus.  The Soviets dominated Eastern Europe for more than 40 years.

“Another Russian talking point Mr. Witkoff has fallen for concerns the regions of eastern Ukraine Mr. Putin attempted to annex in 2014.  ‘They’re Russian-speaking,’ Mr. Witkoff said of these regions.  ‘There have been referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated they want to be under Russian rule.’

“Setting aside the many Ukrainians who voted with their feet by fleeing these regions for free parts of Ukraine, Mr. Witkoff thinks a referendum staged by an autocrat under military occupation means something....

“We can understand the need to tone down hostile rhetoric amid negotiations, but the Administration’s propensity to fall for Russian propaganda is something else. Certainly no one would accuse them of following in Churchill’s footsteps. Whether they follow in Neville Chamberlains’ will depend on what the final details are in the peace accord that Messrs. Witkoff and Trump are negotiating.”

So then the next day, Russia and Ukraine agreed to cease fighting in the Black Sea and to hash out the details for halting strikes on energy facilities, the White House announced on Tuesday, in what would be a significant first step toward a cease-fire three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

But the deal doesn’t pause combat, which Trump administration officials have been pushing, and it remains unclear how and when such a limited truce would be carried out or how firm was either side’s commitment.  Last week, Russia and Ukraine agreed in principle to stop attacking energy facilities, only to quickly accuse each other of continuing such strikes.

It was “too early to say that it will work,” President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters on Tuesday.  “Additional technical consultations” were needed as soon as possible to put the deal in place, added Rustem Umeroz, Ukraine’s defense minister and chief negotiator at the negotiations in Saudi Araba.

And after the three days of intense talks, Moscow added significant caveats, at least some of which the United States appeared to agree to while gaining little in return.  In a statement, the Kremlin said it would honor the maritime security portion of the deal only after Western countries removed restrictions imposed on Russian agricultural exports after the invasion began in 2022.

The White House pledged in a statement that it would “help restore Russia’s access to the world market for agricultural and fertilizer exports,” among other particulars.

Zelensky complained that the provision was “a weakening of positions and a weakening of sanctions.” And lifting restrictions on Russia’s agricultural exports would also need the approval of the European Union, which seems unlikely.

But the White House’s willingness to cede to a Russian demand over Ukrainian objections was the latest sign of President Trump’s increasing alignment with Vladimir Putin.

Trump administration officials have expressed interest in broadly improving U.S. relations with Russia.

At the same time, the U.S. intelligence agencies’ annual review of global threats, released on Tuesday, deemed Russia an “enduring potential threat to U.S. power, presence and global interests.”  The report found that Russia had the upper hand in its invasion and had greater leverage to press Ukraine and its supporters to negotiate “an end to the war that grants Moscow concessions it seeks.”

Amidst the deep mistrust between Russia and Ukraine, U.S. mediators met separately with delegations from both sides in Riyadh.

Besides Russia’s agricultural interests, the White House did reaffirm its commitment to some of Ukraine’s longstanding demands, such as facilitating “the exchange of prisoners of war, the release of civilian detainees and the return of forcibly transferred Ukrainian children.”

So while the agreements seem like a breakthrough, the White House has extracted zero major concessions out of Russia.  The Kremlin always wanted security in the Black Sea, for example, but that it would not abide by the limited cessation of hostilities unless its state agricultural bank and other financial institutions involved in the trade of food were reconnected to the international payments system, and unless Western companies restored deliveries of agricultural equipment to Russia. And it wants sanctions lifted against Russian fertilizer and food producers.

And Putin has rejected the earlier U.S. proposal to end the fighting, which was accepted by Ukraine, that would have resulted in an immediate 30-day cease-fire.

Putin has called for a broader truce that would include a halt to Western military aid to Ukraine and its mobilization efforts – two conditions that are nonstarters for Ukraine, which has argued they were evidence of the Kremlin’s desire to continue the war.

So whether the truce in the Black Sea and the cessation of strikes on energy facilities actually begins, and holds, remains to be seen.

President Zelensky said at a news conference in Kyiv, “The U.S. side considers that our agreements come into force after their announcement by the U.S. side,” adding that he did not trust Russia to honor the arrangements.

Speaking later in his nightly video address, Zelensky said Russia was already deceiving the world.

“Unfortunately, even now, even today, on the very day of negotiations, we see how the Russians have already begun to manipulate,” Zelensky said.  “They are already trying to distort agreements and, in fact, deceive both our intermediaries and the entire world.”

--Meanwhile, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was a Russian facility and transferring control of it to Ukraine or any other country was impossible.

The ministry also said that jointly operating the plant was not admissible as it would be impossible to properly ensure the physical and nuclear safety of the station.

It said Zaporizhzhia region, partly controlled by Russian forces, was one of four in Ukraine that had been annexed by Russia by virtue of referendums staged seven months after Moscow’s full-scale invasion and a presidential decree had formally made the station Russian property.

Western nations have dismissed the referendums as sham votes.

“The return of the station to Russia’s nuclear sector has been a fait accompli for quite some time,” the ministry statement.  “Transferring the Zaporizhzhia plant to the control of Ukraine or another country is impossible.”

Russia seized the station early in the invasion and each side has routinely accused the other of staging attacks that endanger safety at the plant, Europe’s largest with six reactors.

While the plant now produces no electricity, the UN’s nuclear watchdog has monitors stationed there, as it does at all Ukrainian nuclear power sites.

Ukraine demands the return of the station to its jurisdiction and rejects the 2022 annexation of the territory as illegal.

President Trump, during a phone conversation this month with Zelensky, suggested the United States could help run and possibly own Ukraine’s nuclear power plants.

Zelensky said the plants belong to the Ukrainian people. The two, Zelensky said, discussed a potential U.S. investment in the plant.

--Russia continued its attack amidst the negotiations. At least three people were killed last Sunday during a large drone attack on Kyiv, hours before the U.S.-mediated talks were to begin.  The Ukrainian Air Force said that Russia had launched nearly 150 drones across the country, and that it had shot down approximately 100, an assertion that couldn’t be independently verified.

The toll in Kyiv, including ten injured, was unusually high, as it is heavily defended.  But Russia has been intensifying its attacks on the capital, aiming to overwhelm air defenses with waves of drones.

In an attack on the northern city of Sumy, Monday, Ukrainian officials said 65 people, including 14 children, were injured, the strike targeting children’s establishments and a hospital, according to Sumy’s regional head.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said the attack showed Russia was “once again showing that it wants to continue the terror.”

“The international community must increase the pressure on Russia to stop the aggression and ensure justice and save the lives of Ukrainians,” he wrote on X.

Sumy borders Russia’s Kursk region.

Speaking of Kursk, South Korea’s military said Thursday in its latest assessment that North Korea sent around 3,000 additional troops to Russia in January and February.

The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea has also been sending more missiles, artillery equipment and ammunition.

The Joint Chiefs have assessed that around 4,000 of the 11,000 military personnel Pyongyang has sent have been killed or wounded.

--NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte appealed for unity on Wednesday as European nations scale up their armed forces and defense industries after the United States warned that Europe must take care of its own security in the future.

Trust between the 32 member countries is at a new low, with the Trump administration saying America’s security priorities now lie in Asia and on its own borders.

Still, Rutte said he is “absolutely confident” about the U.S. commitment to NATO’s Article 5 security guarantee.  He added that “nothing can replace America’s nuclear umbrella, the ultimate guarantor of our security.”  Britain and France are also nuclear powers but their arsenals are tiny by comparison.

--President Zelensky predicted Vladimir Putin “will die soon” amid swirling speculation about the Russian leader’s health – as he warned the U.S. against helping Moscow escape from political and economic isolation.

“He [Putin] will die soon, and that’s a fact, and it will come to an end,” Zelensky said Wednesday in an interview with Eurovision News.

But we’ve seen years-long rumors about Putin’s health woes – including reported strokes, multiple bouts of cancer and even Parkinson’s disease.

--The Kremlin confirmed Monday that Vladimir Putin had gifted to Donald Trump a portrait he commissioned of Trump.

Putin gave the painting to Steve Witkoff earlier in the month in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response to a journalist’s question, declining further comment.

Witkoff mentioned in his interview with Tucker Carlson that Trump “was clearly touched” by the portrait, which he described as “beautiful.”

Witkoff described Putin’s gift as “gracious” and recalled how Putin told him he had prayed for Trump last year when he heard the then-candidate for the presidency had been shot at a rally in Pennsylvania.  “He was praying for his friend,” Witkoff said, recounting Putin’s comments.

--According to a new Gallup survey, more Americans say U.S. assistance to Ukraine is not enough.

Three years into the war, 46% of Americans say the U.S. is not doing enough, a 16-point jump since December to a record high for the trend since 2022.  The support is largely driven by Democrats (+31 points to 79%) and independents (+14 points to 46%), while 56% of Republicans still say the U.S. is doing too much, which is down 11 points from December.

Israel/Gaza/Lebanon: As it renewed the war, Israel has been targeting leaders of Hamas, including Ismail Barhoum, who had been given the job of de facto prime minister, who most people in Gaza apparently didn’t know was the ‘prime minister.’

Barhoum, who was also called the head of the group’s financial affairs, was killed in a strike on Nasser Hospital, the main medical facility in Khan Younis, where he was receiving medical treatment after being wounded in an air strike four days earlier, a Hamas official told the BBC.

The attacks are aimed at crippling the militant group’s ability to govern, but also highlights Israel’s intelligence gathering in the enclave.  There have been protests against Hamas in Gaza, and the killings hurt perceptions of Hamas’ ability to remain in control.

“I think it raises questions about Hamas’ ability not only to protect itself as a political, military actor, but the broader population,” said Sanam Vakil, Middle East analyst at the UK’s Chatham House think tank.  “That Israelis reoccupying and pushing for a different outcome here really showcases Hamas’ vulnerability.” [Wall Street Journal]

The toll in the Gaza campaign hit 50,000 last weekend, according to the Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. Israel claims it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Last Saturday, Israel’s Cabinet approved a proposal to set up a new directorate tasked with advancing the “voluntary departure” of Palestinians in line with President Trump’s proposal to depopulate Gaza and rebuild it for others.  Palestinians say they do not want to leave their homeland, and rights groups have said the plan could amount to expulsion in violation of international law.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the new body would be “subject to Israeli and international law” and coordinate “passage by land, sea and air to the destination countries.”

Meanwhile, Israel struck Lebanon on Saturday in retaliation for rockets targeting Israel, killing two, including a child, in the heaviest exchange of fire since the ceasefire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Earlier, rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel, for the second time since December, sparking concern about whether the fragile ceasefire would hold.  In a statement Saturday, Hezbollah denied being responsible for the attack, saying that it was committed to the truce and accused Israel of blaming it for the strikes as a pretext for more attacks.

Israel’s army said the intercepted rockets targeted the Israeli town of Metula.

Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that erupted last September killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced about 60,000 Israelis.

Friday, Israel launched an attack on the Lebanese capital, Beirut, for the first time since the ceasefire took hold in November.

Israel said it attacked a Hezbollah drone storage facility in a key stronghold for the militant group.  Israel said it had issued advanced warning for people to leave and no word on casualties.

Turkey: Nightly protests in Istanbul and across the country that began a week ago Wednesday have so far seen more than 1,900 people detained, including students, journalists and lawyers.

The nightly unrest began last Wednesday when the Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu – who is seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival – was arrested on corruption charges.

Rights groups and the UN have condemned the arrests and the use of force by police on the protesters.

Imamoglu said the allegations against him were politically motivated, a claim the Turkish president has denied.

Speaking to a group of young people at a Ramadan fast-breaking meal in Ankara on Tuesday, President Erdogan urged patience and common sense amid what he described as “very sensitive days.”

He added the people who want “to turn this country into a place of chaos have nowhere to go,” and the path protesters have taken is “a dead end.”

The BBC said on Thursday that Turkey had deported a correspondent who was covering the protests, after he was detained and labeled “a threat to public order.”

The journalist, Mark Lowen, was taken from his hotel on Wednesday and held for 17 hours.

Deborah Turness, the chief executive of BBC News, described the detention and deportation as “an extremely troubling incident.”

China: Beijing launched a new tip-off channel on Wednesday, urging the public to report alleged supporters of Taiwan independence.

The new channel – announced by the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office – targets those Beijing describes as “accomplices” involved in persecuting pro-unification voices.

It has provided a dedicated email address for the public to send information about individuals or groups allegedly obstructing peaceful cross-strait ties or undermining moves towards reunification.

South Korea: Protesters gathered by the tens of thousands last Saturday in Seoul, divided into two camps that reflected a nation divided over its embattled president.

One crowd shouted for the country’s top court to remove Yoon Suk Yeol, calling him “a ringleader of insurrection.”  Separated from them by walls of police buses, another crowd chanted for him to be restored to office, with speakers calling his parliamentary impeachment fraudulent and warning of civil war if he was ousted.

Never have the jitters run so high in South Korea before a court ruling as the country waits impatiently for the Constitutional Court to decide whether to uphold or reject the impeachment of Mr. Yoon.  The walls of the court have been fortified with razor wire as the eight justices prepare the ruling, which could shape the future of the country’s democracy.

The Constitutional Court did overturn the impeachment of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, reinstating the nation’s No. 2 official as acting leader Monday while not yet ruling on the separate impeachment of President Yoon.

Many observers said the 7-1 ruling in Han’s case did not signal much about the upcoming verdict on Yoon, as Han wasn’t a key figure in imposing martial law.

Random Musings

--Presidential approval ratings....

Gallup: New numbers...43% approve of President Trump’s job performance, while 53% disapprove.  35% of independents approve (Mar. 3-16).  The prior split was 45-51, 37.  Ninety-one percent of Republicans approve, four percent of Democrats.  Yup, a rather wide difference of opinion.  It’s obviously the independent voter percentage that will be a key come the midterms, and, cliché alert, voter turnout!

Rasmussen: 51% approve, 48% disapprove (March 27).

--In a stunning move, the White House withdrew Rep. Elise Stefanik’s nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, after her confirmation had been stalled over concerns about Republicans’ tight margins in the House.

Trump confirmed the decision on Truth Social Thursday, saying that it was “essential that we maintain EVERY Republican Seat in Congress.”

Stefanik’s nomination advanced out of committee in late January and she would have been confirmed, but with Republicans currently holding 218 seats, and Democrats 212, keeping Stefanik in the House was deemed more important, even though the GOP ‘should’ win two special elections in Florida in the coming weeks.

--Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he will not step down, as anger and pressure builds among his fellow Democrats over his decision not to block a Republican-led government funding measure.

“Look, I’m not stepping down,” Schumer told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” program on Sunday.

Schumer told MTP he made his decisions “out of pure conviction as to what a leader should do and what the right thing for America and my party was.”

The government funding measure was “certainly bad,” Schumer said. “But a shutdown would be 15 or 20 times worse.”

“I myself don’t give away anything for nothing,” former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at an event in San Francisco last week.  “I think that’s what happened the other day.”

Pelosi said Schumer could have tried to get Republicans to agree to a “third way.”

--Mia Love, the first Black Republican Congresswoman, died after a three-year battle with brain cancer, her family wrote on social media.  She was just 49.

Love was born Ludmya Bourdeau to Haitian immigrants on Dec. 6, 1975 in New York City.  After getting a degree from the University of Hartford, she converted from Catholicism to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and moved to Utah.

Love got involved in local politics and in 2014, was elected to Congress, becoming the first Black Republican Congresswoman and first black lawmaker representing the state of Utah.

Love served two terms but lost in the 2018 midterm elections.  She became a political commentator for CNN, but in 2022, was diagnosed with a glioblastoma, a malignant brain tumor.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox said he was “heartbroken” after learning of her death, calling her a true friend on X.  “Her legacy of service inspired all who knew her.”

--Bird flu cases are down, but the threat hasn’t passed.  Egg prices are dropping as the deluge of bird flu infections on dairy farms has slowed, and farmers are destroying fewer sick chickens than a few months ago.  But experts don’t seem hopeful that the problem is over.

The issue is that water birds that carry the virus in the wild have just begun their spring migration, and peak season in April and May will bring renewed risks of infections on chicken farms and in dairy herds.

--The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld federal restrictions aimed at curtailing access to kits that can be easily assembled into homemade, nearly untraceable firearms, i.e., ‘ghost guns.’

In a 7-to-2 decision, written by Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, one of the court’s conservatives, the justices left in place requirements enacted during the Biden administration as part of a broader effort to combat gun violence by placing restrictions on the ghost guns.

Conservative justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas each filed dissents.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives estimated that use of the gun components and kits in crime increased tenfold in the six years before the rules were adopted.

--Elon Musk double-downed on calling Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly a “traitor” because he traveled to Ukraine to support wounded soldiers.

Kelly, a decorated war hero and former astronaut, told CNN that Musk was aligning with “a bunch of billionaires” with values that were “much closer to Russia.”

But Thursday, in the aforementioned interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, Musk said: “I think somebody should care about the interests of the United States above another country, and if they don’t they’re a traitor.”

Even Baier paused to remind Musk of Kelly’s accolades.

“That doesn’t mean it’s OK for him to put the interests of another country above America,” Musk replied.

Kelly said shortly after on CNN in response: “My entire life has been about serving this country, and I always stand with the best interests of our nation.  And I will tell you this...standing with our allies and standing up for democracy is in the best interest of the United States.”

--The list of names for the 2025 hurricane season has been released, starting off with Andrea.  I’d be worried about Humberto and Olga.

--Wind-driven wildfires that are among the worst in South Korea’s history ravaged the country’s southern regions, killing 28 people, and forcing more than 27,000 to evacuate, officials said Wednesday.

The main fires have now been contained.  Many historic temples were destroyed.

--At least six people are believed to be dead and another nine injured – six critically – after a tourist submarine sank off Egypt’s Red Sea coast Thursday.  Twenty-nine of the roughly 45 passengers on board were rescued, with those injured taken to local hospitals according to the BBC.  [The Russian Embassy said four Russian tourists had died.  Local news outlets said six overall were dead.]

The submarine, “The Sinbad,” can descend 82 feet deep in the sea and offers stunning views of the coral reefs and marine life, according to the website for Sinbad Submarines.

--In a feel-good story, five traumatized lions from the war zone in Ukraine were rescued and after a 12-hour journey by road and ferry from temporary homes at zoos and animal shelters in Belgium, they joined a lioness Yuna, who arrived in August, at the sanctuary in England, as part of an international effort to bring them to safety.

The five lions were originally from the illegal pet and wildlife trade, and were not in zoos in Ukraine.

--Pope Francis made his first appearance in more than six weeks last Sunday, appearing on the balcony of a Rome hospital to greet hundreds of people gathered in the square in front.  Looking frail, Francis gave a thumbs up.

“Thank you everyone,” he said softly.  He then headed to the guesthouse where he lives in the Vatican.  His aides say he requires weeks of rest and is likely not to ever travel overseas again.

The Pope suffered serious damage to his lungs and respiratory muscles, as his doctors explained.  They also said he was near death at one point.  One report I read said the pontiff’s personal nurse insisted that everything be done to keep him alive.

---

Pray for the men and women of our armed forces...and all the fallen.

Four U.S. soldiers were missing after an apparent training accident in Lithuania on Tuesday.  A statement from U.S. Army Europe and Africa public affairs in Wiesbaden, Germany, said the soldiers were conducting scheduled tactical training at the time.  Their vehicle was found submerged in a swamp, but as I go to post, they (or their bodies) haven’t been found.  They were six miles from the Russian border.

Slava Ukraini.

God bless America.

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Gold $3112...more new highs
Oil $69.24...third straight up week, albeit just $2 and change over that time

Bitcoin: $83,768 [4:00 PM ET, Friday]...unchanged on the week....

Returns for the week 3/24-3/28

Dow Jones  -1.0%  [41583]
S&P 500  -1.5%  [5580]
S&P MidCap  -1.0%
Russell 2000  -1.6%
Nasdaq  -2.6%  [17322]

Returns for the period 1/1/25-3/28/25

Dow Jones  -2.3%
S&P 500  -5.1%
S&P MidCap  -6.6%
Russell 2000  -9.3%
Nasdaq  -10.3%

Bulls 30.5
Bears 28.8

Hang in there.

Brian Trumbore

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