Gold and silver sell-off accelerates as inflation fears grip global markets

Source: CNBC

“Gold and silver joined a broad sell-off on Thursday, with the metals shedding around 5% and 10%, respectively, as fears about the Iran war and inflation gripped global markets. At 8:43 a.m. ET, spot gold was down 4.9% at just over $4,600 an ounce. Front-month gold futures were down 5.8% at $4,612. Spot silver was 9.5% lower at $68.22 an ounce, while silver futures lost 12% to settle at $68.31.” (03/19/26)

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/19/gold-and-silver-sell-off-as-inflation-fears-grip-global-markets.html

Thomas L. Knapp

US states sue Trump over his move to scrap greenhouse gases ruling

Source: BBC News [UK State Media]

“Three dozen state and local governments have challenged the Trump administration’s reversal of a landmark Obama-era scientific ruling which held that greenhouse gases were a threat to public health. The lawsuit seeks to overturn the administration’s repeal last month of the 2009 ‘endangerment finding’ that underpins US policies aimed at lowering emissions from cars, power plants and other sources of planet-warming emissions. Several environmental organisations filed a similar lawsuit last month. President Donald Trump touted the climate change rollback as a major achievement, calling it a victory over the Democratic Party’s ‘radical’ energy and climate policies. The petition filed in the US Court of Appeals argues that overturning the ‘endangerment finding’ violated provisions in the Clean Air Act. The group challenging the administration includes 23 states and 17 cities, counties and state agencies, among them New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.” (03/19/26)

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr51n6j9qvzo

Steve Trinward

Ted Cruz Is the Republican Kamala Harris

Source: The American Conservative
by Jack Hunter

“Many consider J.D. Vance the heir apparent to Donald Trump’s MAGA legacy and the man to beat in the 2028 Republican presidential primaries — a state of affairs the Republican foreign policy establishment has never liked. Hawks have long worried that the vice president is too much of a foreign policy restrainer for their tastes (though Vance has often sounded more like neoconservatives in Trump’s second term). Still, neocons were giddy last week when polling showed that Marco Rubio’s numbers had improved against Vance, with the secretary of state being hawks’ main man in the 2016 GOP primaries and a figure who could repurpose ‘MAGA’ as the neoconservatism of old (though Trump seems to be doing this already, making Vance’s supposed 2028 inevitability less clear). But there could be more than one neocon champion in 2028.” (03/19/26)

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/ted-cruz-is-the-republican-kamala-harris/

Thomas L. Knapp

Dog bites man: Senate Republicans vote against being US Senators again

Source: United Press International

“Senate Republicans have blocked a Democrat-led effort to curb President Donald Trump’s powers to wage war against Iran, as the nearly three-week-old conflict escalates and rattles global energy markets. The Senate voted 53-47 mostly along party lines Wednesday night to reject a resolution that would withdraw U.S. armed forces from conflict with Iran absent congressional approval. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only Republican to join his Democratic colleagues and vote in favor of the motion, while Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only member of his caucus to vote against it.” [editor’s note: They continue to pretend it’s the opposite of what it is. Without congressional APPROVAL in the form of a declaration of war, the war is illegal; failing to vote AGAINST it doesn’t magically make it legal – TLK] (03/19/26)

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/03/19/Senate-vote-war-powers/6951773909421/

Thomas L. Knapp