Archaeologists in Mexico have discovered two stuccoed high reliefs in Tetlatlahuca, Mexico, offering new insight into the region’s pre-Hispanic past. The objects were uncovered during an emergency archaeological excavation launched in February 2026 at Cerro de las Tres Cruces, located in Tetlatlahuca, Tlaxcala. Dating to the Epiclassic period (AD 650–900), archaeologists suggest that the carvings symbolise the authority of an ancient Indigenous lineage and hold ritual or symbolic significance. Archaeologist Ramón Santacruz Cano said that while the reliefs are incomplete, they include fertility and elite power references, such as serpent bodies; one of them also preserves the distal part of a forked tongue and fragments of fangs that could be associated with the god Tláloc (the god of rain, water, lightning, and fertility). Serpent motifs were central to Mesoamerican symbolism, often associated with authority and sacred spaces. Similar imagery has been identified at major Epiclassic centres such as Xochicalco and Cacaxtla, typically in elite or ceremonial contexts. Image Credit : INAH The reliefs were found within what appears to be a palatial courtyard, indicating the presence of a larger residential or administrative complex. Excavations have also revealed floors, stucco-coated walls and fragments of mural paintings resembling the “Cacaxtla style”, reinforcing connections to elite traditions. The discovery contributes to broader debates on Epiclassic political organisation. Rather than being concentrated in a single centre like Cacaxtla, power may have been distributed across multiple settlements, including Tetlatlahuca, Teacalco and San Juan Huactzinco. “The high reliefs were reinforced with compatible materials to prevent their collapse, and in the short term they will be covered to ensure their preservation until conditions are suitable for public access. The Tetlatlahuca City Council committed to installing fencing to delimit the archaeological site and to continuing to provide security for it,” said INAH. Sources : INAH

Six U.S. Western allies announced in a joint statement on Thursday their support for a potential coalition to reopen the Strait of Hormuz for commercial ships and oil tankers. The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Japan issued a joint statement, saying, “We condemn in the strongest terms recent attacks by Iran on unarmed commercial vessels […] The post Six Western Allies Pledge to Help Open the Strait of Hormuz appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

'We will share updates if and when we’re able'

'Parallel Prosperity for Main Street and Wall Street.'

Ahead of President Donald Trump’s next meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, a Republican congressman is leaning on the president to fight for the liberation of prisoners in China. Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., held an event on Thursday at the U.S. Capitol with the daughters of two figures being held prisoner in China: Hong Kong businessman Jimmy Lai and Pastor Ezra Jin. Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on China, announced he had “sent a letter to President Trump about all the prisoners of conscience China is holding.” He said of China’s prisoners, “These courageous people are persecuted for their religious beliefs, or political opinion, or other activism that the [Chinese Communist Party] opposes, and I’m urging the president to [press] for the release of prisoners of conscience held captive by the CCP in any future meeting with Xi Jinping.” At the event, Grace Drexel, the daughter of Ezra Jin, and Claire Lai, the daughter of Jimmy Lai, spoke of their fathers’ imprisonment. Ezra Jin, the pastor of Zion Church, was detained in November 2025. He is one of 18 members of the church who are currently imprisoned, his daughter said. “They are all being held under their charge of illegal use of information networks,” said Drexel. “Really what they are in prison for is because my father’s church wanted to be able to make the sacred decisions … like who becomes a pastor, what they can preach on, what kind of small groups they can host, how many people can be baptized, whether or not kids can come into the services.” She added, “I just want him to be back with us in the U.S. as soon as possible.” Claire Lai similarly called for the release of her father, “who wishes only to spend his remaining days serving our Lord and with his family.” Jimmy Lai is a Hong Kong businessman who founded the anti-communist newspaper Apple Daily. According to his daughter, he “had his political awakening in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 and entered the Catholic Church the year of Hong Kong’s handover to China in 1997.” The democratic activist was arrested in 2020. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February 2026 for allegedly seeking to undermine national security with his publications and remains in solitary confinement, his daughter told reporters. He is 78 years old. The House’s China committee was formed in 2023 and focuses on America’s economic and military competition with the nation, as well as issues of human rights in China.  Moolenaar told The Daily Signal that much of the committee’s work involves public pressure, and the upcoming Sino-American summit provides a valuable chance for its members to apply pressure through Trump. “With a future summit occurring, there’s a real opportunity to raise these issues,” said Moolenaar. “Quite frankly, I think one of our main roles for the committee is to highlight and put a spotlight on what’s occurring here.” The meeting between Trump and Xi, originally scheduled for April 1, has been delayed at Trump’s request amid the war with Iran. Lai, who was a guest of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., and Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. at Trump’s State of the Union address, says she is grateful for statements from administration officials in support of her father. “Secretary of State [Marco] Rubio has tweeted calling for my father’s humanitarian release, and we are so extremely grateful for that,” she said.  “President Trump himself has mentioned my father a number of times, and he has shown … a commitment for the release of my father. We are just extremely grateful for the support, and we hope that our father will be released soon,” Lai added. The Chinese Embassy to the United States did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The post Congressman Asks Trump to Press China to Release Prisoners appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Officials from Fulton County, Georgia, wanted to quash a subpoena from the Georgia State Board of Elections because providing “approximately 750 boxes” of material would be too burdensome.  Yet, when the FBI came knocking in a Jan. 28 raid, federal agents left with 656 boxes (653 by one count), prompting a top Georgia election official to wonder about the gap in the number.  “That’s almost 100 boxes of evidence,” Janice Johnston, vice chair of the Georgia State Election Board, told The Daily Signal.  She referenced one county affidavit that only estimated “over 700 boxes” at the county elections hub. She said, “Even 50 [extra] boxes would be a lot of evidence.” !! WHAT IS GOING ON??!!*FULTON 2020 ELECTION BALLOTS & DOCUMENTS*First there were 750 boxes of election documents, then there were 700 boxes of election documents,and now… only 653 boxes of election documents were turned over to the FBI!! @FBIDirectorKash WHERE ARE 100… pic.twitter.com/5nLBOFrPwk— Dr. Jan-Election Advocate (@Election_Adv) February 26, 2026 In a post on X, Johnston posed the questions, “WHERE ARE 100 BOXES OF ELECTION DOCUMENTS?!! … WHO HAS THE BOXES?!!” A rough estimate does not excuse such a large numerical disparity in an affidavit or court filings, Johnston said. The State Election Board has since made a records request to the Fulton County Board of Elections to provide information about materials delivered or removed from storage in the four weeks preceding the FBI raid. “Fulton County is effectively the person of interest in this case,” Johnston said. “We are not assured that everything was available.”  The FBI seized materials from the 2020 election that included ballots, tabulator tapes, and ballot images from a recount, Georgia Public Broadcasting reported, citing court documents that supported the search warrant. About 370,000 ballot images are missing, Johnston noted.  Someone is LYING to the FBI and COURTS!!Ballot Images WERE required to be kept in the 2020 ELECTION in Georgia!!WHO is LYING? WHO is REPEATING the LIE?Over 370,000 ballot images are missing from the original ballot count of November 3,… pic.twitter.com/fkpSHQQ0KN— Dr. Jan-Election Advocate (@Election_Adv) March 12, 2026 After the raid, Fulton County sued the Justice Department, calling for a return of the documents. The lawsuit also asked the court to prevent the FBI from reviewing the documents.  Johnston called the lawsuit “over the top.”  “They have been fighting the State Elections Board over the same documents,” Johnston said.  The Daily Signal sought comment from Fulton County Board of Elections Chairwoman Sherri Allen and Elections Director Nadine Williams. A Fulton County spokesperson responded to the inquiry. “Fulton County complied fully with the search warrant executed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on January 28, 2026, seeking records related to the 2020 Election,” Fulton County spokeswoman Jessica Corbitt told The Daily Signal in an email.  “Agents spent more than 8 hours at the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operations Center and had the opportunity to review all files related to the 2020 Election,” Corbitt continued. “Agents were made aware of all 2020 documents and selected the files that they removed from the premises. This is now a matter that is being handled by the courts.” An FBI spokesperson declined to comment on this story.  Fulton County, in a court filing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, said 656 boxes were taken.  “The United States executed the Warrant later that day, seizing and removing approximately 656 boxes containing the original versions of 2020 election-related materials from the Fulton County Clerk of Superior Court,” the complaint filed on Feb. 5 says. “Robert L. ‘Robb’ Pitts, Chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, and the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections respectfully request the return of all original seized materials and an order instructing the Respondent to maintain, but not review, any copies of the seized materials until this matter is resolved.”  That estimate of 656 boxes was smaller than a figure given in a petition to quash a November 2024 subpoena. That petition asserted that it would be an “unreasonable and oppressive substantive burden” to produce records on the 2020 election.  “The substantive request in the subpoenas would require a review of all materials retained from the 2020 election, which have been archived in approximately 750 boxes,” wrote Michael Tyler, a lawyer representing the county, in the Nov. 15, 2024, petition. “Petitioners estimate temporary staff of approximately 20 full-time people will need to be retained to review the documents.” Then, on Feb. 4, 2025, Williams, the election director, provided a sworn affidavit and reduced the estimate for both boxes and staff time from the November response. “Fulton County’s 2020 election materials are stored in over 700 boxes, each of which must be opened, searched, and sorted systematically to locate the majority of the documents requested in the subpoenas,” Williams said in the affidavit.  “The DRE [Department of Registration and Elections] does not have sufficient staff to conduct this search and make copies of the documents requested,” Williams added. “I estimate that we would need to hire 15 temporary staff members to work full time (40 hours a week), at approximately $26/hour, for a period of approximately 15 weeks to conduct the searching and copying necessary to comply with the subpoena.”  The post ‘Who Has the Boxes?’: Fulton County Estimates on 2020 Evidence Before and After FBI Raid appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A Fight Over Water Rights Thanks to a Planned DHS Detention Center

Russia Lost 1,700 Troops on Tuesday

On Wednesday night and Thursday morning, ABC and NBC used their flagship newscasts to paint Homeland Security Secretary nominee — current Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) — as a hot bed of controversy who faced a “heated” and “tense” hearing over his “anger issues” and Republican opposition from Senator Rand Paul (R-KY). The networks even admitted they were making a mountain out of a mole hill by conceding he was on track for confirmation despite all these hoopla. Unsurprisingly, ABC led the way with the buffoonery. Wednesday’s World News Tonight included this tease from anchor David Muir: “Also tonight, the heated moments during the Senate confirmation hearing for the President’s pick to replace Kristi Noem to run Homeland Security. The fiery moments right here as Senator Markwayne Mullin is questioned by lawmakers on both sides.” Muir later doubled down on the “heated moments” line and boasted Mullin was “questioned about potential anger issues and about what he said about that ICU nurse killed by federal agents in Minneapolis.” ABC's 'World News Tonight' giddily promotes DHS secretary nominee @MarkwayneMullin having serious "anger issues" pic.twitter.com/3BVXVa19dH — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 18, 2026 Capitol Hill correspondent Jay O’Brien relayed from D.C. the recap of “the surprisingly personal confrontation” with “Paul accusing...Mullin of having serious anger issues” in relation to comments Mullin made after Pul was the victim of “assault by a neighbor in 2017.” “Paul then playing a video of the time Mullin, a former MMA fighter, tried to fight a union leader in the middle of a Senate hearing,” O’Brien added, only conceding after the entire back-and-forth that the man in question — Sean O’Brien of the Teamsters — was sitting directly over Mullin’s shoulder to support his now-friend. Following a soundbite about Mullin expressing regret for passing judgment on the Alex Pretti case, O’Brien then admitted this was all for naught: “Mullin is on track to be confirmed. Senator Paul telling me he is a no. Mullin likely to get the support of one Democrat, Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman.” Thursday’s Good Morning America feature more of the same shtick. Co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos teased vague allusions to a “[h]eated hearing with President Trump’s pick to take over the Department of Homeland Security.” “Now to the heated confirmation hearing for President Trump’s nominee to run the Department of Homeland Security, Senator Markwayne Mullin. Things got personal. He was grilled by fellow Republican Rand Paul,” Stephanopoulos later said in his toss to O’Brien. This time, O’Brien at least led with the fact that “Mullin is still on track to be confirmed as the next DHS secretary, but his nomination causing a last minute stir after that fiery hearing yesterday” before running through the supposed highlights. Shifting to NBC, Wednesday’s Nightly News included fill-in anchor Hallie Jackson declaring Mullin “fac[ed] heat” and senior correspondent Tom Costello weaving it into a story about the ongoing Homeland Security shutdown. Costello said the shutdown was “part of a contentious confirmation hearing” (along with Paul’s personal vandetta). On the substance, Costello said “Mullin softened some position on immigration policies and defended officers who shot and killed two Americans in Minneapolis” and “regrets the statements he made about Alex Pretti” shortly after his death. Thursday’s Today was more in line with the ABC newscasts in dialing up the drama. Here was co-host Craig Melvin’s tease: Getting personal...Republican Senator Rand Paul clashing with President Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Inside the tense confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill and the tough questions he’s facing about national security, the role of ICE, and protecting our borders. Longtime correspondent Kelly O’Donnell had the story and made it seem like Mullin is Kristi Noem 2.0 (while also admitting Mullin himself insisted otherwise): “The Department of Homeland Security has often been at the center of controversy and the work to find a new secretary brought out more heat and drama. The President’s choice, Markwayne Mullin, made clear he sees things differently than outgoing Secretary Kristi Noem.” Long with ABC, NBC’s ‘Today’ really tried to make a mountain out of a molehill with the Mullin hearing, leaning into Rand Paul’s complaints even though they won’t actually matter pic.twitter.com/gMYyEUNJro — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 19, 2026 “But he’s also in a very personal feud with the Republican chairman, Rand Paul, who said Mullen has anger issues that could affect whether he can set the right example,” she continued. Having placed drama in the fornt, O’Donnell backloaded her piece with the actual subject matter about DHS (click “expand”): O’DONNELL: But Mullen did reverse course, admitting he was wrong to label Alex Pretti “a deranged individual” after his fatal shooting by ICE in Minneapolis. (....) O’DONNELL: Mullin, a former pro-MMA fighter, with a multi-million dollar family plumbing business, repeatedly distanced himself from fired Secretary Kristi Noem’s tenure. On deportations, he said he was open to reforms for ICE agents. MULLIN: Judicial warrants will be used to go in to houses, and into place the businesses unless we’re pursuing someone that enters in that place. O’DONNELL: Mullin said he would not close FEMA. MULLIN: I think it needs to be restructured and not eliminated. O’DONNELL: And pledged to end a Noem policy that required her signature for dispersing certain disaster relief funds that critics say caused delays. MULLIN: Absolutely. That’s called micromanaging. And I don’t know if secretary put that in or someone else did. I’m not a micromanager. O’DONNELL: Under questioning, Mullen told senators he would cooperate with investigations of the DHS contracting process under Noem’s leadership. Today, in an exclusive from NBC News, our team reports that some companies wanting to do business with the government complained to the White House that Kristi Noem aide Corey Lewandowski stood to personally profit from government contracts at DHS. That’s according to multiple sources. Lewandowski has denied those allegations[.] Finally, Wednesday’s CBS Evening News was relatively muted. Anchor Tony Dokoupil focused on DHS being without funding and one of its agencies — the TSA — bearing the brunt. He led a combined hearing/shutdown segment by emphasizing the latter: “Today, President Trump’s nominee to run Homeland Security urged lawmakers to put aside partisanship and fund the department.” Correspondent Mark Strassmann did the same, noting “Congress shows no sign of touching the impasse, other than a DHS secretary nominee waiting to get confirmed.” Only after focusing on what actually affects everyday Americans did Dokoupil allude to the personal beef, telling viewers “[t]o be confirmed, Mullin needs every Republican vote to go his way, which isn’t guaranteed, especially given the personal history he has with Senator Rand Paul, who brought it up today, questioning Mullin about comments he had made following a 2017 altercation between Paul and a neighbor.” Once he played a portion of Paul ripping into Mullin, Dokoupil ended the extended brief: “I should add, with the support of at least one Democrat on the Senate committee, Mullin is expected to eventually be confirmed.” Thursday’s CBS Mornings never even covered the hearing other than this single sentence from co-host Gayle King about the shutdown of the agency Mullin would lead: “Yesterday, the President's nominee for Homeland Security secretary urged Congress to break that deadlock.” To see the relevant transcripts from March 18, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC). To see the relevant transcripts from March 19, click here (for ABC) and here (for NBC).

His third studio album cemented his reputation as "the grocer of despair." The post Leonard Cohen: His “Gloomy” ‘Songs of Love and Hate’ appeared first on Best Classic Bands.