Month: May 2019

Bloomberg – by Edvard Pettersson

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has put up just 1.7 miles of fencing with the US$1.57 billion that Congress appropriated last year for President Donald Trump’s wall along the Mexican border, a federal judge was told.

A lawyer for the U.S. House of Representatives provided the information Tuesday to the judge in Oakland, California, who is weighing requests from 20 state attorneys general and the the Sierra Club to block Trump from using funds not authorized by Congress to build the wall.  Continue reading “U.S. federal wall funding of US$1.57B yields 1.7 miles of fence”

The Guardian

The US says it has seen signs the Syrian government may again be using chemical weapons in its attritional offensive to recapture the last rebel-held pocket of the country, warning the use of any such weapons would incur retaliatory measures from Washington and its allies.

The alleged attack occurred on Sunday on the border of Idlib province, where in recent weeks the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, has stepped up an air and ground campaign that has killed at least 150 people and displaced more than 200,000 from their homes. Continue reading “US investigating possible Assad chemical attack in Syria”

The Mind Unleashed – by Emma Fiala

On Friday, the rumble of 25 motorcycles signaled the start of a big surprise in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

An Indiana-based nonprofit responsible for distributing easy to prepare meals in pouches was organizing a large shipment of meals for sites in Guatemala and Honduras, but after being contacted by Victoria Fisk, Pack Away Hunger decided to route some of those meals to Las Cruces instead—30,000 non-perishable meals, to be exact. The donated meals consist of rice, vegetables and textured vegetable protein.  Continue reading “Bikers Deliver 30,000 Meals to Migrants Seeking Asylum in New Mexico”

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

US existing home sales slumped for the 13th straight month in March, but the pressures on the national housing market have yet to translate into cheaper rents: To wit, average national rent climbed 3% YoY in April, and 0.3% from the prior month, according to Yardi Matrix data cited by RentCafe.

The national average rent hit $1,436 in April, climbing about $42 from the prior year to $1,436 – which, though still positive, marked the slowest pace of growth in 11 months.   Continue reading “US Rents Climb To Fresh Record Highs Despite Slowest Price Increase In 11 Months”

End of the American Dream – by Michael Snyder

It looks like global food production could be well below expectations in 2019, and that could spell big trouble in the months ahead.  In recent weeks, I have written extensively about the problems that we have been experiencing here in the United States.  As many as a million calves were lost to the flooding that hit the state of Nebraska in March, farmers have planted less than half of the corn that is normally in the ground by this time of the year, and a lot of the crops that have been planted in the middle of the country are really struggling due to extremely wet soil.  Continue reading “Floods And Drought Devastate Crops All Over The Planet – Could A Global Food Crisis Be Coming?”

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

Some 500 Nusra-front militants, accompanied by seven tanks and about 30 pickup trucks armed with mounted heavy machine guns launched three major offensives against government troops in Idlib province on Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The counterattack focused on the town of Kafr Nabudah, which was recently captured by the Syrian government.  Continue reading “Syrian Rebels Attack Russian Air Base In Major Offensive”

Breitbart – by John Binder

Two illegal alien members of the violent MS-13 gang have been charged with the murder of a 14-year-old girl in Maryland after previously being released from custody by a sanctuary city.

Last week, illegal alien MS-13 gang members Josue Rafael Fuentes-Ponce, 16-years-old, and Joel Ernesto Escobar, 17-years-old, were charged with first-degree murder — along with 14-year-old Cynthia Hernandez-Nucamendi — in the death of 14-year-old Ariana Funes-Diaz in Prince George’s County, Maryland.  Continue reading “MS-13 Illegal Aliens Charged with Murdering Teen Girl After Being Released by Sanctuary City”

In mid-January 2018, the Turkish General Staff announced the beginning of Olive Branch Operation. The goal was to oust the Kurds from the outskirts of Afrin, as well as to create a buffer zone along the Syrian-Turkish border.

These steps were sharply criticized by the world community, but Ankara hastened to declare that the presence of its troops in Syria was temporary. Erdogan promised to return these territories to Syrians. Indeed, the fighting stopped on March 20 2018, after capturing Afrin when several hundred Kurds were killed and wounded. However, now it looks like Turkey is not going to leave the occupied territory.  Continue reading “Turkish army pullout will bring peace to Northern Syria”

Lew Rockwell – by Mark Nestmann

In the last few years, banks have been falling over themselves to get rid of “undesirable” customers. Basically, if your bank isn’t making enough profit servicing your account, it will close it.

Of course, banks won’t admit they’re doing this. Instead, they’ll blame laws and regulations. Compliance with money laundering rules is their favorite excuse.  Continue reading “Your Bank Might Lock You Out of Your Own Account”

Daily Mail

From wearing designer clothes and relaxing on yachts to driving the latest sports car, Rich Kids of Instagram are an envy-inducing tribe who boast about the best of their posh lifestyles online.

Taking to Instagram, social media users from around the world have shared pictures, under hashtags #NotARichKidOfInstagram and #BudgetLife, of their inventive methods to replicate the luxury lifestyle. Continue reading “The ANTI-Rich kids of Instagram show off the highs and lows of growing up without money”

KSFY

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KSFY) UPDATED: 5:52 p.m. Tuesday

A 44-year-old man was shot by a Minnehaha County sheriff’s deputy after authorities say he charged officers with a knife Tuesday afternoon at the Minnehaha County Jail.

Authorities said the subject entered the Minnehaha County Jail’s front lobby, creating a disturbance. Deputies and corrections officers were dispatched to address the situation. Shortly after, authorities said the suspect began hitting the glass door of the lobby with an object, and an officer attempted to keep the doors shut. The door shatters in the process, causing the officer to suffer minor injuries.  Continue reading “Subject shot in deputy involved shooting at Minnehaha County Jail”

Government Financial Officers Association

Continue reading “Evaluating the Sale and Securitization of Property Tax Liens”

The Great Recession

The graph here shows the point at which I said early last summer housing sales had turned over (for the worst) and would remain on a downtrend indefinitely, and it shows how that prediction has panned out.

Existing home sales were down again nationally (4.4%) in April (fourteenth month in a row of declining sales year on year). That is the longest stretch without a single positive month since the housing-market collapse that brought on the Great Recession.  Continue reading “Housing Collapse 2.0 Continues as Predicted Here … as does everything else!”

AOL

NEW YORK (AP) — After Eric Garner’s death following a confrontation with New York City police five years ago, one officer involved in the struggle wrote up paperwork that exaggerated the seriousness of the dead man’s suspected crime, that officer testified Tuesday.

Officer Justin Damico said that after riding in an ambulance with the dying Garner, he filled out arrest papers listing a felony tax charge that would have required prosecutors to prove Garner, a small-time street hustler, had sold 10,000 untaxed cigarettes. Continue reading “NYPD officer says he inflated charge against Eric Garner”