(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who targeted Donald Trump for years with his Russiagate investigation, died Saturday after suffering from Parkinson’s disease for over four years.
Trump issued a celebratory statement upon the news.
“Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!” the president said.
🚨MUST SEE🚨
President Donald Trump reacts to Robert Mueller’s passing:
Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people! President DONALD J. TRUMP pic.twitter.com/6YTLAA4AUt
Mueller was FBI director from 2001 to 2013, and he later led the federal probe into the debunked and fabricated allegations of collusion between President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Russian government. The investigation spanned from 2017 to 2019, consuming nearly the entirety of Trump’s first term.
Lesser known is the fact that Mueller also ran a program to stage neo-Nazi rallies throughout the country when he was FBI director in the mid-2000s. Headline USA exposed Mueller’s program in an investigation last year.
🚨EXCLUSIVE🚨 Interviews and newly unearthed records reveal FBI program to stage Nazi rallies under then-Director Robert Mueller
This was the subject of Part 1 of The Hidden History of Robert Mueller’s Right-Wing Terror Factory
Last September, the House Oversight Committee said that it would subpoena him to testify about the FBI’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. Epstein was first charged with soliciting a minor in 2006, during Mueller’s tenure.
The Oversight Committee’s efforts to depose him is what caused the news of his disease to become public, with his family issuing a statement about the matter to the New York Times.
“Bob was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the summer of 2021,” the family reportedly told the Times. “He retired from the practice of law at the end of that year. He taught at his law school alma mater during the fall of both 2021 and 2022, and he retired at the end of 2022. His family asks that his privacy be respected.”
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) American legend Chuck Norris’s passing drew tributes across the country, but the elitist media wasted no time smearing him over his perceived political views.
Norris’s family confirmed he passed peacefully while surrounded by loved ones, and shared their personal tribute on Instagram.
Chuck Norris held a 183-10-2 record and was a 6x world champion in full contact bare knuckle karate.
On top of that, he beat heavyweight kickboxing world champion Joe Lewis 3 consecutive times and also had a brutal sparring match with undefeated kickboxing world champion, Bill… pic.twitter.com/4FilGW9z9Q
“To the world, he was a martial artist, actor, and a symbol of strength. To us, he was a devoted husband, a loving father and grandfather, an incredible brother, and the heart of our family.”
Several media outlets rushed to tarnish Norris’s legacy, even in death, a now-familiar tactic used against figures the left views as insufficiently aligned.
Variety took the lead, pushing a story headlined, “Chuck Norris Was a Great Action Star — but Politics May Overshadow His Legacy.”
In a long rambling piece for Variety, writer William Earl attempted to tie Norris’s legacy to modern political debates.
“Was Norris a brilliant athlete and top-shelf star? Yes. But there’s no denying that his roles were part of a body of work used to show American strength, might and the pernicious attraction of taking the law into one’s own hands — something that seems less fun in a year in which our country is funneling money into bombing Iran and ICE agents are acting like one-man militias.”
Earl went further, arguing that “given our nation’s divisions in morality, information literacy and overall sense of reality, it’s easier to see Norris’ characters as justification for a fringe conspiracy movement rather than a moral standing.”
Other left-leaning outlets followed suit, immediately framing Norris’s death through a political lens.
PinkNews ran the headline: “Chuck Norris dead at 86: A history of the controversial actor’s anti-LGBTQ+ comments.”
The Advocate similarly wrote: “Chuck Norris, panned for past antigay remarks, dies at 86.”
The backlash was swift, with OutKick founder Clay Travis writing on X: “You’re better off dying a terrorist than dying as a Trump supporter when it comes to legacy media coverage.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis added: “Chuck Norris was an action legend and a great American. ‘Variety’ is an example of why so many people detest the media.”
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Former North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson came clean about damning accusations that he posted inflammatory comments on a pornographic website—allegations that cost him the 2024 governor’s race.
The report quickly became a political weapon, with Democrats and the media using it to hammer Republicans ahead of the 2024 election. Robinson went on to lose to Democrat Josh Stein.
The accusations, first reported by CNN weeks before the election, centered on claims that Robinson used a pseudonym to post racist and disturbing comments on a pornographic website.
In an Thursday interview on the After the Call podcast, Robinson admitted parts of the report were true.
“I won’t say that I completely lied,” Robinson said when asked why he did not speak the truth when the CNN story hit. “Some of the things about the whole story, some of it, there’s some truth to it. But there again, those were the things that I wanted to separate at that moment.”
He said he followed his campaign’s advice to stay silent—a decision he now regrets. Robinson also suggested that speaking the truth at the time would have hurt Donald Trump during the election.
CNN’s report, published in September 2024, accused Robinson of making extreme online posts, including referring to himself as a “black NAZI!”
Robinson acknowledged this week that at least some of the behavior described in the report did occur.
“More than anything, you know, allegations that I watched pornography and was involved with people that watched pornography, and that that was absolutely true,” Robinson added.
Robinson served as lieutenant governor from 2021 to 2025 alongside Democrat Roy Cooper, as the offices are elected separately in North Carolina.
(Money Metals News Service) In a recent episode of the Money Metals podcast, host Mike Maharrey sat down with Chris Powell, co-founder of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee, for a wide-ranging discussion on gold and silver markets, government intervention, and what it all means for investors navigating today’s volatile environment.
The conversation begins with Powell explaining the origins and mission of GATA. Founded in the late 1990s, the organization set out to challenge what it viewed as systematic manipulation of gold markets. Over time, however, GATA shifted its focus away from legal action and toward documentation and public awareness after concluding that government intervention in gold markets is not only real but legally authorized under existing statutes.
Powell describes decades of work collecting official records, central bank communications, and policy documents that he believes demonstrate a consistent effort by Western governments to influence gold prices. While the mainstream financial press has largely ignored these claims, Powell argues that awareness within the precious metals community has grown substantially.
(Interview Starts Around 8:56 Mark)
The Machinery Behind Price Suppression
The discussion then turns to how this alleged intervention actually works. Powell outlines a multi-layered system involving central banks, bullion banks, and derivatives markets. Governments, he says, can influence prices through direct sales of reserves, leasing and swapping gold, and most importantly, through the creation and selling of large volumes of paper contracts that represent metal but are not backed by physical supply.
These actions are not random. Powell argues they serve a clear purpose, which is to support fiat currencies and maintain confidence in government bonds. Since gold tends to rise when confidence in monetary systems falls, suppressing its price helps preserve the perception of stability in the broader financial system.
Paper Gold vs Real Metal
A central theme throughout the episode is the growing tension between paper markets and physical reality. Powell suggests that gold and silver markets are heavily leveraged, with far more paper claims than actual metal available. This imbalance becomes especially visible during periods of heightened demand.
Recent price surges in both metals are described as evidence of this dynamic. Powell points to short squeeze conditions, where even modest increases in demand for physical delivery can trigger outsized price movements due to the underlying scarcity of real metal relative to paper obligations.
Why Physical Ownership Still Matters
This leads naturally into a discussion about ownership. Powell emphasizes that gold’s unique appeal lies in its lack of counterparty risk. Unlike financial assets that depend on institutions, gold held directly is outside the control of third parties.
He is particularly critical of exchange-traded funds. While ETFs offer price exposure, Powell warns they do not provide meaningful access to physical metal for most investors. He argues that these instruments may even facilitate further market intervention, since large financial players can move metal in and out of funds in ways retail investors cannot.
If It’s Manipulated, Why Invest
Maharrey raises an important question that many investors share:
Powell acknowledges the concern but argues that intervention does not eliminate value. Instead, it distorts pricing in the short term while setting the stage for more dramatic corrections later.
He suggests that growing global demand for physical metal, combined with rising skepticism toward paper assets, could eventually overwhelm the system. In his view, recent price action may represent early signs that the market is beginning to break free from long-standing constraints.
The Media Blind Spot
The conversation also touches on the role of the financial media. Powell argues that institutional incentives discourage serious investigation into gold market intervention. Large banks that participate in these markets are also major advertisers, creating a structural reluctance to challenge the system.
Despite these challenges, Powell notes that awareness is spreading, even if slowly. He points to occasional coverage breakthroughs as signs that the issue is becoming harder to ignore.
Gold as Financial Independence
By the end of the episode, the discussion returns to a broader philosophical point. Gold and silver are not just commodities or trades. They represent an alternative to centralized financial control and a form of monetary independence that cannot be easily replicated.
For listeners, the takeaway is clear. Understanding the forces shaping precious metals markets requires looking beyond surface-level price movements and questioning the systems that underpin them.
(Headline USA) A man wielding a butcher knife tried to slash tires and threatened to stab a bus driver at a Boston transit station Friday before being taken into custody, authorities said.
Richard Sullivan, superintendent of police for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, said transit officers acted quickly after receiving a radio call about the man at the Forest Hills station late Friday morning. A struggle ensued, during which the suspect tried to grab an officer’s gun, he said. The gun went off, but no one was shot or stabbed.
“This was a violent person armed with a butcher knife,” Sullivan said. “These officers, without hesitation, immediately rushed to the danger while other people were running away from it.”
Two male transit officers, a Boston police officer and the suspect were injured, Sullivan said. According to Boston EMS, six people were taken to the hospital from the station, but Sullivan said he wasn’t aware of the other two.
The incident drew multiple police cars and ambulances to the station, which includes bus, train and subway stops in the city’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood. The facility’s upper busway was shut down around 11:15 a.m., with service rerouted to another section.
(Headline USA) The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday announced a public-private partnership to develop a major data center with its own power supply on the site of a decommissioned uranium enrichment plant in southern Ohio, as it pushes commercial development of artificial intelligence technology.
The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Pike County — now being branded as the “PORTS Technology Campus” — is expected to include a 10-gigawatt data center and up to 10 gigawatts of new power generation, including 9.2 gigawatts of natural gas generation, according to the Department of Energy.
The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant was on a list of 16 federal sites released last year as locations where the department could invite technology companies to build data management and storage capacity.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump called tech companies to the White House and asked them to commit to developing their own power generation alongside the electricity-intensive sites. The Ohio project includes both on-site and grid-connected power generation, along with billions of dollars in transmission upgrades, officials said.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum visited Piketon on Friday for the project announcement, along with officials from SoftBank Group, a Japanese investment management company, and its affiliate SB Energy.
DOE said SoftBank, through SB Energy, is partnering with AEP Ohio to build the power generation and transmission infrastructure, including a $4.2 billion investment in grid upgrades and new transmission lines that the companies say will not raise customer rates.
DOE said the project is part of the U.S.-Japan Strategic Trade and Investment Agreement announced by Trump last year. The department said the initiative includes $33.3 billion in Japanese funding tied to the natural gas generation component.
In a statement, Wright said the project would “add power generation, create jobs, and ensure the United States wins the AI race,” while Lutnick described it as part of a broader effort to “reindustrialize the country” through large-scale energy and infrastructure projects.
The visit comes days after a group of rural Ohio residents filed a petition to put a constitutional ban on mega data centers on the statewide ballot — joining a growing chorus of opponents concerned about the environmental, financial and societal costs of AI.
Ohio ranks fifth in the nation for data centers, with about 200 sites, according to the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, which represents utility customers. That includes projects by Google, Amazon Web Services and Meta.
SoftBank is collaborating with OpenAI and Oracle on Stargate, an artificial intelligence infrastructure initiative aimed at building out large-scale U.S. data center capacity to support AI, with a potential $500 billion in investment. Last fall, the three companies said a site in the Midwest would be part of their partnership.
DOE said construction on the Portsmouth project is expected to begin this year and that it will create thousands of jobs while supporting research in areas such as fusion energy, quantum computing and national security applications. Officials also said excess power capacity generated at the site would be fed back into the grid to help lower electricity costs in the region.
(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) The US military said on Thursday that a US F-35 fighter jet was damaged by suspected Iranian fire while operating over Iran and was forced to make an emergency landing.
“The aircraft landed safely, and the pilot is in stable condition,” said Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for US Central Command. “This incident is under investigation.”
Hawkins’ statement came after Iran said that its forces successfully struck an F-35 and released a video that purported to show the aircraft being hit. “The fate of the fighter jet is unclear and under investigation, and the likelihood of its crash is very high,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement.
The extent of the damage to the F-35 is unclear. Both the US and Israeli air forces have F-35s in their fleet, and each aircraft costs around $100 million.
Since the US and Israel launched the war against Iran on February 28, the US has lost at least three manned aircraft: three F-15 fighter jets and one KC-135 refueling tanker, which crashed in Iraq, killing all six crewmembers. The US claimed all three F-15s were mistakenly shot down by Kuwait and that the KC-135 crashed due to an accident, though the incident happened amid frequent drone and missile attacks on US assets in Iraq.
The US has also lost about 12 MQ-9 Reaper drones, which cost at least $30 million apiece. US officials told The Wall Street Journal that MQ-9s had been lost both on the ground and in the air as Iranian missile and drone attacks have hit US bases across the region, and the drones have been used to launch airstrikes over Iran.
(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) Israeli officials told The New York Times on Thursday that the attack on Iranian facilities linked to the South Pars gas field was coordinated with the US, despite President Trump claiming the US “knew nothing” of the plans to strike the energy infrastructure.
The South Pars gas field, shared by Iran and Qatar in the Persian Gulf, is said to be the world’s largest natural gas field. Following the Israeli strikes on Iran’s infrastructure, Iranian retaliatory strikes targeted energy infrastructure in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.
According to the CEO of QatarEnergy, strikes on Qatar’s Ras Laffan natural gas facility caused $20 billion in losses and wiped out 17% of Doha’s gas export capacity. Following the round of attacks, Trump attempted to distance the US from the bombing of Iran’s gas facilities.
“Israel, out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East, has violently lashed out at a major facility known as South Pars Gas Field in Iran. A relatively small section of the whole has been hit. The United States knew nothing about this particular attack, and the country of Qatar was in no way, shape, or form, involved with it, nor did it have any idea that it was going to happen,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“Unfortunately, Iran did not know this, or any of the pertinent facts pertaining to the South Pars attack, and unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion of Qatar’s LNG Gas facility,” Trump added.
The US president said that there would be “no more Israeli attacks” on such facilities and threatened that if Iran attacks Qatar’s gas infrastructure again, the US “will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before.”
The Israeli officials speaking to the Times said that the US was notified of the plans to strike Iran’s gas facilities ahead of the attack. Axiosalso reported that Israeli officials said the Trump administration had approved the attack, and said the Israeli claims were confirmed by a Pentagon official.
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A top Democratic lawmaker appeared on the defensive Thursday as the Trump administration accused one of her staffers of making repeated false statements in federal paperwork to gain access to immigration facilities.
The accusations target the office of Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, after one of her caseworkers, Benito Torres, allegedly misrepresented himself as an attorney to access ICE facilities.
Torres has worked in Escobar’s office since 2019 and previously worked for Robert “Beto” O’Rourke, a three-time failed political candidate from Texas, according to LegiStorm.
DHS said Thursday that Torres claimed to be legal counsel for specific ICE detainees in federal paperwork and visitor logs, but did not specify which facility he may have accessed.
.@RepEscobar’s staffer, Benito Torres, repeatedly falsely claimed to be an attorney representing detainees — even signing federal paperwork attesting that he was legal counsel for specific individuals.
He was allegedly caught passing a phone to multiple detainees and later admitted to a facility administrator that he was not an attorney, but was visiting as a private citizen.
Torres has since been banned from the facility.
Torres reportedly signed a form authorizing electronic device use, identifying himself as “an attorney or an accredited representative appearing before EOIR on immigration matters.”
The form, signed Oct. 31, 2025, preceded another signed on Nov. 25, 2025. Eleven additional visitor logs show Torres listed as a “lawyer” visiting clients.
Escobar pushed back but stopped short of directly denying that Torres signed the forms, saying she had “every reason to believe these allegations are unfounded.”
She suggested the claims may be part of an effort to intimidate her, noting she has sent “multiple letters” requesting information about ERO El Paso Camp East Montana, presumably the location where Torres signed the paperwork.
“This administration has a history of engaging in intimidation tactics against Members of Congress as well as continuously attempting to obstruct our ability to provide oversight,” she added. “I stand proudly by the members of my team who have demonstrated nothing but dedication and integrity to serving our nation and our community.”
Torres would not be the first staffer accused of falsely presenting himself as an attorney. Edward York, a former Senate outreach coordinator, was fired by Sen. Tammy Duckworth over similar allegations.
Today, accusations were made by ICE against one of my caseworkers — a dedicated public servant, Army veteran, and experienced member of my team. I have every reason to believe these allegations are unfounded.
It is worth noting that ICE has refused to respond to multiple…
(Zachery Schmidt, The Center Square) The Arizona Legislature this week passed a bill renaming a major Arizona highway after conservative leader Charlie Kirk.
Senate Bill 1010 renames Loop 202 as the “Charlie Kirk Loop 202.”
Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, who is SB 1010’s sponsor, said, “Loop 202 runs right through the heart of the Phoenix metro area and connects communities across the Valley. It’s a corridor millions of Arizonans rely on every day.”
“Charlie built a national platform, but he called Arizona home,” Petersen said, answering The Center Square’s questions by email. ”Naming one of the state’s most visible, heavily used roadways after him reflects the scale of his influence and ensures his impact is seen and remembered by future generations.”
After its passage, SB 1010 headed to Gov. Katie Hobbs’ desk, where, according to Petersen, its fate is uncertain.
Earlier in March, the Democratic governor vetoed SB 1439, which would have created a license plate honoring Charlie Kirk. Republicans hold majorities in both houses of the Legislature, but lack enough seats to override Hobbs’ vetoes.
In her explanation of why she vetoed it, Hobbs called Kirk’s assassination “tragic.”
“Political violence puts us all in harm’s way and damages our sacred democratic institutions,” Hobbs said.
The governor added she would work “toward solutions that bring people together,” but noted SB 1439 fell “short of that standard by inserting politics into a function of government that should remain nonpartisan.”
Petersen told The Center Square that he was disappointed Hobbs vetoed SB 1439.
He said the bill was a “simple way for people to voluntarily show support for someone who encouraged civic engagement.”
Petersen is hopeful Hobbs will sign the highway bill.
“We have many roads in Arizona named after political figures,” Petersen explained, adding that the state has a “long tradition of recognizing people for their contributions, not their party affiliation.”
“I’m hopeful the governor will do the right thing with this bill,” he said.
Petersen said he has not had any feedback from Hobbs’ office regarding the highway bill.
“Unfortunately, the governor does not communicate well with the Legislature on bills,” the Senate president said. “We’ve had more productive communication with prior administrations when it comes to working through legislation.”
“At the end of the day, this is a straightforward decision. It’s about whether we continue Arizona’s tradition of recognizing impact, regardless of politics,” Petersen added.
Regarding feedback from his constituents, Petersen told The Center Square that his bill has had “overwhelming support from Arizonans.” He said this was “understandable when [people] look at the number of people who showed up to honor Charlie after his death.”
Kirk was a Scottsdale, Ariz., resident who cofounded Phoenix-based Turning Point USA. He was appearing at a rally Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University in Orem when he was shot and killed. Tyler James Robinson, 22, has been charged with aggravated murder, and there have been several pretrial hearings at the Fourth Judicial Court in Provo, Utah. Another hearing is scheduled there on April 17.
“Charlie was the only person in Arizona history to ever fill two stadiums at his funeral,” Petersen said. “Charlie’s passion for American values and his ability to bring young people into civic engagement is exactly why so many believe his impact should be recognized.”
