Weekly News-March8-2024
Here are our top 5 stories of the week.
#1 – Federal Government Asked Big Banks to Surveil Purchases of VPNs and Gift Cards, Transfers to Crowdsourcing Sites
by Tom Parker | Reclaim The Net
In January, the House Judiciary Committee sounded the alarm about the federal government asking banks to surveil transactions related to certain keywords, such as “MAGA” and “Trump,” as part of investigations into January 6, 2021 at the Capitol. But new documents obtained by the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government have revealed that the surveillance that was initially identified by the House Judiciary Committee in January was much broader than these early reports suggested.
The House Judiciary Committee’s initial letter about this financial surveillance revealed that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) sent several financial institutions lists of terms that it deemed to be indicators of potential violent extremism and suggested that banks use these search terms to flag suspect transactions. These lists included terms such as MAGA and Trump and also recommended searching for more generic terms, such as terms related to purchases of transportation and terms related to purchases of books (including religious texts) and other media that FinCEN deemed to be “extremist.” Read full article >
#2 – Europe is Alarmed Enough to Begin Wargaming a Food Crisis
by Tyler Durden | Zero Hedge
Governments of the European Union are engaged in wargames which simulate and foresee a global food crisis. A mix of major factors including the Russia-Ukraine war and impact on grain supplies there, as well as weather events like El Niño and La Niña and their impact on Latin American soy output, and the anti-EU farmers’ protests which have disrupted supermarket supply chains, have been cause for alarm, European officials say. Of course there’s also the example of how drastically a pandemic can interfere with supply chains. Panic buying was a trend and constant fear within the early months of the coronavirus crisis.
Bloomberg details of a conference held in Brussels last month that envisioned a 2024 to 2025 food shortage in Europe: “…over two days in central Brussels last month, some 60 European Union and government officials, food security experts, industry representatives and a few journalists gathered to confront the possibility of something barely on the radar a few years ago: a full-blown food crisis.” Read full article >
#3 – Biden Goes To Court, Demanding Warrantless Surveillance Powers
by Dan Frieth | Reclaim The Net
A request by the Biden administration to the courts for the renewal of contentious warrantless surveillance powers, has stoked controversy.
These surveillance powers, demanded by American intelligence agencies, are on the verge of expiration. Critics argue that this move either reflects business as usual, or reflects a sidestepping of spying reforms.
According to US Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), the decision of the US Department of Justice to pursue an extension of the FISA Section 702 for a year without congressional consideration manifests a disregard for reforms aimed at safeguarding American rights. Read full article >
#4 – America is Running Out of Power, Are Rationing and Soaring Energy Prices Ahead?
by Evan Halper | Washington Post
Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power as electricity-hungry data centers and clean-technology factories proliferate around the country, leaving utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the nation’s creaking power grid.
In Georgia, demand for industrial power is surging to record highs, with the projection of new electricity use for the next decade now 17 times what it was only recently. Arizona Public Service, the largest utility in that state, is also struggling to keep up, projecting it will be out of transmission capacity before the end of the decade absent major upgrades.
Northern Virginia needs the equivalent of several large nuclear power plants to serve all the new data centers planned and under construction. Texas, where electricity shortages are already routine on hot summer days, faces the same dilemma.
The soaring demand is touching off a scramble to try to squeeze more juice out of an aging power grid while pushing commercial customers to go to extraordinary lengths to lock down energy sources, such as building their own power plants. Read full article >
#5 – NSA Finally Admits The Purchase Of Americans’ Sensitive Data
by Denys Tsvaig | Hackernoon
In the digital age, where our every click and keystroke can be tracked, privacy often feels like a distant memory. But what if the very guardians of our freedoms were covertly peering into our online lives without the necessary checks and balances?
Recently, a revelation shook the foundations of trust in government surveillance. But the surprising aspect is there wasn’t a bombshell or a breaking news alert. Rather, it was a quiet unveiling of documents that painted a stark picture of the NSA’s covert activities.
Senator Ron Wyden disclosed that the National Security Agency has been purchasing Americans’ web browsing data from commercial data brokers without warrants.
This means that government agencies regularly spy on Americans by acquiring confidential information, bypassing the court orders intended to safeguard individual privacy rights. Read full article >
Here are our top 5 most underreported or most bizarre stories of the week.
#1 – Biden Proposes to Lay Waste to 22 Million Acres in Western States for Solar ‘Development’
by Victoria White Berger | American Thinker
Biden’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has announced another “climate change” gambit, again through the so-called Inflation Reduction Act:
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday unveiled an updated solar roadmap that proposes opening 22 million acres for developing utility-scale solar on public land in 11 Western states.
The proposal refines the BLM’s existing maps of land open to solar development in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah, and adds new maps of potential development areas in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The BLM’s climate change heist has an unexpected wrinkle, that is, opposition from some environmental interests—who are not (yet) on the same page, as may have been the federal assumption… Read full article >
#2 – United’s Boeing 737 Max Jet Veers Off Runway in Houston, Marking Third Incident in Week
by Tyler Durden | Zero Hedge
What the hell is happening with United Airlines’ Boeing jets this week?
The third incident occurred on Friday morning, as United Flight 2477, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 carrying 160 passengers and six crew members, skidded off the taxiway and into a grassy area after landing at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.
Up close photos of @United Flight 2477 (Boeing 737 MAX 8) that left the runway and came to a stop in grass at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in Houston. @KPRC2 has learned no one was injured.
📸 Janet Bumbarger pic.twitter.com/oH8JZa1lGZ
— Gage Goulding – KPRC 2 (@GageGoulding) March 8, 2024
#3 – Transgender Man Will Represent UK at United Nations’ Women’s Commission
by Matt Lamb | LifeSite News
A gender-confused man will represent the United Kingdom at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women starting next week.
“I’m happy to announce that I’ve been accepted as a U.N. Women U.K. delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, which is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women,” Martin “Katie” Neeves, a male confused about his gender, wrote on X (formerly Twitter). Read full article >
#4 – California Moves to Expand Zero-Down, Interest-Free Home Loan Program to Illegal Immigrants
by Tom Ozimek | The Epoch Times
A controversial bill that would let illegal immigrants receive the same kind of homebuyer assistance as U.S. citizens has advanced in the California state legislature, drawing criticism from those who object to granting perks to people who break the law by entering the country illegally.
The measure, Assembly Bill 1840, was first introduced in mid-January, and after several amendments, it advanced last week to the Committee on Housing and Community Development, where it awaits further action.
Assembly Bill 1840 would change existing law to allow illegal immigrants to be eligible for the California Dream for All Fund, which provides interest-free loans for a down payment on a home for first-time buyers.
The bill was introduced by California Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula, a Democrat, who last month told GV Wire, a Fresno-based news outlet, that he “wanted to ensure that qualified first-time homebuyers include undocumented applicants.” Read full article >
#5 – Americans Face Decades in Prison for Convincing Women Not to Have Abortions
by Beth Brelje | The Epoch Times
Heather Idoni picked up a phone receiver and punched in her inmate number on a keypad to activate it through the visitation window at Grayson County Detention Center.
She had 15 minutes to talk before the sound was cut off without warning and her guests were told to leave.
In prison, every move an inmate makes is controlled. Ms. Idoni, 59, is getting used to that. She must, because she is facing more than 41 years in prison—the rest of her natural life.
Her sentence is expected to be the longest in the United States for someone charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a 1994 law that prohibits interfering with anyone obtaining or providing “reproductive health services.” It was seldom used until the Supreme Court’s decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization reversed Roe v. Wade in June 2022, which returned abortion regulation to the states. Read full article >
