When the U.S. falls into a recession, a credit bubble will explode – MarketWatch

Experts tell me that Dodd-Frank requirements have reduced major banks’ market-making abilities by around 90%. For now, bond market liquidity is fine because hedge funds and other non-bank lenders have filled the gap.

The problem is they are not true market makers. Nothing requires them to hold inventory or to buy when you want to sell. That means all the bids can “magically” disappear just when you need them most.

Worse, I don’t have enough exclamation points to describe the disaster when all high-yield funds try to sell at once and at fire-sale prices to meet redemptions. In a bear market, you sell what you can, not what you want to. The picture will not be pretty.

Credit collapse will lead to recession
To make matters worse, many of these lenders are far more leveraged this time. They bought their corporate bonds with money borrowed at record-low rates. And they’ll continue doing so as long as central banks keep them low.

via When the U.S. falls into a recession, a credit bubble will explode – MarketWatch

Bond yields in EU have gone NEGATIVE… red flag warning!

Counting Offit’s Millions: More on How Merck’s Rotateq Vaccine Made Paul Offit Wealthy – AGE OF AUTISM

Furthermore, to the extent that Offit has attempted to create the perception that he only made $6 million from Rotateq®, our analysis shows that he has selectively withheld information on important additional payments. Our calculations show that he has likely received $8.4 million in lump sum payments so far and earned approximately $10 million in total income based on Rotateq® sales through this year, after including ongoing royalty payments he has earned based on Rotateq® revenues through year end 2009.

Put differently, through year end 2009 Offit will have received less than half of his potential return on Rotateq®, and therefore his financial future is clearly tied into the success both of his specific rotavirus vaccine and the reputation of vaccines more broadly, especially worldwide. The increase in royalty payments above $300 million on which Wistar’s royalty payments so strongly depend will be realized most effectively if rotavirus vaccine uptake proceeds expeditiously in international markets.

Finally, although we do not question the sincerity of Offit’s strongly held beliefs on the benefits of all vaccines, we note that his vaccine (not to mention his autism) advocacy is closely tied to his personal financial interests.  As foreign governments and health authorities are persuaded to adopt the American policy of intensive infant vaccination, Offit’s personal wealth will increase.

via Counting Offit’s Millions: More on How Merck’s Rotateq Vaccine Made Paul Offit Wealthy – AGE OF AUTISM

Caged alone 24 hours a day, denied medicine: lawsuit claims ‘torture’ in US migrant jails | US news | The Guardian

The suit filed in Los Angeles on Monday outlines individual experiences at eight different facilities, but immigration lawyers say the mistreatment is representative of systemic problems that affect tens of thousands of people. The complaint comes as the Trump administration escalates its efforts to make it harder for asylum seekers and migrants from certain countries to come to the US, detains undocumented migrants for longer periods of time and expands the use of private prison contracts in the immigration system.

Attorneys said the conditions at some US detention centers were so brutal that migrants who have fled torture and violence “are forced to abandon viable claims for immigration relief and accept deportation out of a desperate desire to escape the torture they are enduring in detention on US soil”.

“They cannot take it any more,” said Elissa Johnson, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center, one of several not-for-profit organizations involved in the suit in Los Angeles. “That is not a choice that anyone should have to make,” she told reporters.

via Caged alone 24 hours a day, denied medicine: lawsuit claims ‘torture’ in US migrant jails | US news | The Guardian

When the country of immigrants starts torturing immigrants who have a legal claim of asylum, and those same legal migrants are put in prison with the assumption that they are all criminals, down to the children and babies, that is psychotic and sociopathic..

The US is sinking lower and getting much darker, as fascism rises.

The Justice Department Sent Immigration Judges A White Nationalist Blog Post With Anti-Semitic Attacks

An email sent from the Justice Department to all immigration court employees this week included a link to an article posted on a white nationalist website that “directly attacks sitting immigration judges with racial and ethnically tinged slurs,” according to a letter sent by an immigration judges union and obtained by BuzzFeed News.

According to the National Association of Immigration Judges, the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) sent court employees a link to a blog post from VDare, a white nationalist website, in its morning news briefing earlier this week that included anti-Semitic attacks on judges.

The briefings are sent to court employees every weekday and include links to various immigration news items. BuzzFeed News confirmed the link to a blog post was sent to immigration court employees Monday. The post detailed a recent move by the Justice Department to decertify the immigration judges union.

via .buzzfeednews The Justice Department Sent Immigration Judges A White Nationalist Blog Post With Anti-Semitic Attacks

How A German City Found An Absolutely Genius Way Of Handling Neo-Nazis | HuffPost

Instead of greeting the group with protests, they put up banners welcoming them to the “Nazis Against Nazis” walkathon, according to a video on a YouTube channel run by the organization that promoted it.

Mocking signs throughout the route encouraged them to keep walking to raise more money, and organizers put out a table of bananas to help them keep up their energy so they could keep walking ― and keep raising money.

They even painted numbers in the ground so the neo-Nazi marchers would be forced to see how much money they’d collected at every milestone.

via How A German City Found An Absolutely Genius Way Of Handling Neo-Nazis | HuffPost

Sales plunge at fastest rate since financial crisis as UK retailers forecast trouble ahead

A new report from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has found that retail sales volumes and orders both fell at their sharpest rate since December 2008 in the year to August.

Companies in the retail sector are also expecting further trouble in the months ahead, with industy sentiment falling to its lowest levels in more than a decade.

“Sentiment is crumbling among retailers, and unexpectedly weak sales have led to a large overhang of stocks. With investment intentions for the year ahead and employment down, retailers expect a chilly few months ahead,” said Anna Leach, CBI’s deputy chief economist.

via Sales plunge at fastest rate since financial crisis as UK retailers forecast trouble ahead – © blogfactory

Bernie Sanders Is Drawing Massive Crowds Around the Country—No Big Deal, Says Washington Post – In These Times

With each city Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders visits, the number of supporters he draws to his rallies keeps growing. Since June 1, Sanders has spoken to 100,000 people across seven events.

In Phoenix, Arizona, on July 18, he drew 11,000 people, setting a new record for 2016 presidential candidates. His record continued in Seattle with 15,000 supporters, and then in Portland with 28,000 supporters. In Los Angeles on August 10, Sanders drew about 27,500 supporters, according to the Sanders campaign.

But for Washington Post columnist Philip Bump, those numbers “don’t matter much.”

via Bernie Sanders Is Drawing Massive Crowds Around the Country—No Big Deal, Says Washington Post – In These Times

7 Types of Spirit Guides (& How to Connect With Them) ⋆ LonerWolf

1. Half Man Half Beast (Trans-Species)
Many spirit guides manifest themselves as half man/woman and half animal. Examples include centaurs, fauns, harpies, mermaids, sphinxes, fairies, and minotaurs. Many deities also appear as spirit guides, for instance, Anubis (jackal-headed Egyptian god), Ganesha (elephant-headed Indian god), Ra (falcon head, human body), etc. The first ever spirit guide that I personally made contact with was Pan, a half man half goat entity, who “revealed” to me my own personal shadow self and the need for me to embark on a journey of healing my core wounds.

2. Animals/Totems
Animals are well-known spirit guides and have gained a lot of popularity over the past few years, perhaps thanks to their accessibility in our everyday lives. Some ancient cultures, such as the indigenous Americans and Chinese, held animals as sacred representations of their tribes or lineages. These days, animals come to represent and reflect a person’s own inner yearnings and needs, moving from group use to more personal and individual use in this day and age. I offer personal spirit animal readings here.

3. Light Beings
Many people describe “light beings” (also commonly known as guardian angels), as being their spirit guides. Light beings are said to help people move through traumatic areas of life such as death, loss, and grief. Light beings are called such because of their tendency to appear bright, glowing or full of light.

via 7 Types of Spirit Guides (& How to Connect With Them) ⋆ LonerWolf

Vaccines are Religion, not Science

Many constitutions in the world have an article that in some way states that the government cannot establish a religion or force a religious practice on the people.

Vaccines are a religion and vaccinations are a (barbaric) religious ritual. That means that any kind of mandatory vaccination law is unconstitutional.

Some people might still play semantics and say that a belief system is not the same as a religion. But let’s look at the vaccine religion.

– You are expected to go to preparation classes (prenatal check-ups)
– You are expected to give birth in the temple (=hospital).
– As soon as the baby is born you are confronted with the temple servants (doctors/nurses/midwives) who want to submit your baby to the standard ritual (two injections)
– If you decline they usually will try to convince or coerce you
– At set times after birth you need to bring your baby to another temple (doctor’s practice) for more rituals
– If you don’t want to submit your baby to the rituals you can expect extremely negative reactions, which can become aggression and end up with you not being welcome in the temple anymore
– If you lose the faith (or never join in the first place) you can expect social exclusion and often serious family trouble. Some grandparents even consider “saving their grandchildren” by bringing them to the temple themselves, without the parents permission.
Vaccinations have almost every characteristic of a religion, so the desperate argument that a belief system doesn’t equal a religion doesn’t hold up.

Politicians won’t like it, but if you go to court with this you will win and mandatory vaccinations will have to be abandoned, or at least you can stay free of them.

The only thing you need to do is to state that vaccines are a religion and the government is constitutionally banned from mandating a religious practice.

via vaccineimpact Vaccines are Religion, not Science

One Of The Largest “Too Big To Fail” Banks In America Boldly Declares That “The Wheels For A Slowdown Are In Motion”

All of the numbers are pointing in the same direction, and I am going to share some brand new figures with you in this article.  But first, I want to address what Morgan Stanley just released to the public.  In a note that was just published, Morgan Stanley’s chief economist unequivocally stated that “the wheels for a slowdown are in motion”…

The downtrend in some global economies is becoming contagious as weakness in the manufacturing sector begins to spread, according to Morgan Stanley, which warned clients that “the wheels for a slowdown are in motion.”

“Even as we have been revising our growth projections lower, we continue to highlight that the risks remain decidedly skewed to the downside,” Chetan Ahya, the bank’s chief economist, warned in a note published Tuesday.

via theeconomiccollapseblog One Of The Largest “Too Big To Fail” Banks In America Boldly Declares That “The Wheels For A Slowdown Are In Motion”

Jobs: U.S. employment is 501,000 lower than believed after revisions

Employment in several industries was revised down especially sharply. Payrolls dropped 175,000 in leisure and hospitality, and 146,000 in retail – two bellwether service sectors that depend heavily on consumer spending, the economy’s main engine.

Employment also fell by 163,000 in professional and business services and 69,000 in education and health services.

via usatoday Jobs: U.S. employment is 501,000 lower than believed after revisions

Luxury Homebuilder’s Woes Show Mounting U.S. Slowdown Fears

Bloomberg) — Wealthy buyers are pulling back from some of the most expensive housing markets in the U.S., the latest sign that sky-high prices and fears of a recession are weighing on a key sector of the economy.

Toll Brothers Inc., the nation’s largest publicly traded luxury-home builder, said late Tuesday that purchase agreements fell 3% from a year earlier, worse than a decline of less than 1% that was expected by a Bloomberg survey of six analysts. The company’s orders in California, home to some of the priciest markets in the country, tumbled 36% from a year earlier.

via finance.yahoo Luxury Homebuilder’s Woes Show Mounting U.S. Slowdown Fears

Colorado adopts zero-emissions vehicle program

On Friday, August 16, the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission adopted the zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) program, joining California and nine other states that already have a ZEV program. This is a huge step forward, as Colorado is the first state to adopt such a program in a decade and other states are lining up to follow.

The ZEV program requires auto manufacturers to sell electric vehicles and other ZEVs in that state, thereby giving residents more options to purchase EVs and increasing overall EV adoption.

via pluginamerica Colorado adopts zero-emissions vehicle program

No Shots No School Not True! School Districts Lying to Parents by Stating all Students Must be Fully Vaccinated when State Law Provides Exemptions

Idaho State law actually allows for vaccine exemptions for religious and medical reasons. (Source.)

One concerned mom in Idaho writes:

I was registering my son for kindergarten today (his only partial year of public school before he will be homeschooled). I noticed this passage and the way it was worded when I was filling out his registration paperwork. I came with his vaccine exemption form in hand already filled out, which they accepted.

I was really bothered by the fact that we have the right to waive vaccines, and yet they write to parents that by law they have to have their vaccinations. This is wrong. They should say something like, “It is Idaho State Law that you must have complete immunization records or an Idaho School Immunization Exemption Form to register your child for school.”

I listened to moms coming in worried that they didn’t have vaccination records and the school never gave them the option to waive.

If it is our right to waive, why is this not disclosed as part of proper informed consent? (Source.)

Health Freedom Idaho has obtained several such school district notices that seem to clearly violate state law, and seem to coerce parents into vaccinating their children when they have a legal right to vaccine exemptions if needed.

via No Shots No School Not True! School Districts Lying to Parents by Stating all Students Must be Fully Vaccinated when State Law Provides Exemptions

Half a Billion Bees Drop Dead in Brazil Amid Jump in Pesticide Use

Around half a billion bees dropped dead in 4 of Brazil’s southern states in the first few months of this year. Samples showed most of the dead had been poisoned with Fipronil, a insecticide proscribed in the EU, classified as a possible human carcinogen by the U.S. EPA (thread)

— Bruce Douglas (@bruceecurb) August 19, 2019

Most of the dead bees had traces of Fipronil, an insecticide classified by the European Union and the US Environmental Protection Agency as a human carcinogen.

Since President Jair Bolsonaro took control in January, the Ministry of Agriculture has approved sales of a record 290 pesticides, up 27% YoY for the same period. There’s also a bill sitting in Congress that would dramatically decrease pesticide standards.

Data from the United Nations discovered Brazil’s pesticide use jumped 770% from 1990 to 2016.

via naturalblaze Half a Billion Bees Drop Dead in Brazil Amid Jump in Pesticide Use

Forest fires happen regularly in all ecosystems, ranging from deserts, grasslands, brushlands, savanna forests, and even rain forests. The only difference between the fires in these different areas is the frequency that they occur. Humans can try but will fail to prevent the natural fire cycle.

via Fires Are A Natural Part Of Ecosystems In Grass Prairies, Savanna, Chaparral, Coniferous Forest And Even Rain Forests – Suppressing Natural Forest Fires Only Makes Them Worse When They Do Happen, And Eliminates Many Species That Depend On Regular Forest Fires – Fire Ecology | A Green Road Journal

3.9 million hectares of old-growth forests were lost in 2018

Old-growth rain forests are some of the greatest carbon capture tools on Earth. Because they’ve never been cut, their roots extend deep into the soil, storing extra carbon. Yet in 2018, across the world, 3.9 million hectares of primary rain forest–collectively, an area the size of Belgium–disappeared.

Some of this loss was due to events like wildfires. But much of old-growth forest loss across the world, and the disappearance of 12 million total hectares of tree cover last year, was caused by human activity, a new study from the World Resources Institute’s and the University of Maryland’s joint program, Global Forest Watch.

via fastcompany 3.9 million hectares of old-growth forests were lost in 2018

What happens when a rainforest burns? | Grist

The natural fire cycle in these forests is about 500 to 800 years. In other words, once every half-millennium or more this forest may experience a moderate-sized fire. But that’s now changing. Mark Huff, who has been studying wildfires in the park since the late 1970s, told Seattle’s public radio station KUOW that in the past half-century there have already been “three modest-sized fires” here, including the Paradise, though the other two were less destructive. According to a National Park Service map (“Olympic National Park: Fire History 1896-2006”) in the western rainforest, during that century-plus, two lightning-caused fires burned more than 100 acres and another more than 500 acres.

If, however, fires in the rainforest become the new normal, comments Olympic National Park wildlife biologist Patti Happe, “then we may not have these forests.”

A team of international climate change and rainforest experts published a study earlier this year warning that, “without drastic and immediate cuts to greenhouse gas emissions and new forest protections, the world’s most expansive stretch of temperate rainforests from Alaska to the coast redwoods will experience irreparable losses.” In fact, says the study’s lead author, Dominick DellaSala, “In the Pacific Northwest … the climate may no longer support rainforest communities.”

via What happens when a rainforest burns? | Grist

Mike Pence’s nephew outed as ‘section leader’ who orchestrates chants at Trump rallies

Thanks to former White House aide Omarosa Mangault Newman, we now know that there are section leaders at each Trump rally who are tasked with urging the crowd to chant and also leads them in certain chants. And one of those section leaders is none other than a man named John Pence, who just so happens to be the nephew of Vice President Mike Pence.

via theunitedstatesblues Mike Pence’s nephew outed as ‘section leader’ who orchestrates chants at Trump rallies

North Korea nuclear leak fears as satellite images show rivers turned BLACK near uranium mines

By examining satellite images of the Pyongsan uranium site, Mr Bogle believes a horror has been unfolding which has been covered up by the highly secretive and insular state.

But he thinks the catastrophe may soon be hard to hide because the toxic leak is now flowing into the Yellow Sea the country shares with neighbouring South Korea and China.

This could ultimately affect an estimated 600 million people and end up being the world’s worst man-made disaster.

In the photos, a pipeline built to carry toxic water from the facility to a nearby waste reservoir appears to be leaking into a river instead, which in turn empties into the Yellow Sea.

via thesun North Korea nuclear leak fears as satellite images show rivers turned BLACK near uranium mines

Vaping Damages Blood Vessels After Just One Use, New Study Says – EcoWatch

Vaping one time — even without nicotine — can damage blood vessels, reduce blood flow and create dangerous toxins, according to a new study published in the journal Radiology.

The study found that the heat created when e-cigarettes turn liquid into vapor stirs the compounds into toxic particles, which damage blood vessels. To perform the study, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine took an MRI scan of 31 healthy non-smokers before and after vaping nicotine-free e-cigarettes.

The study participants took 3-second drags 16 times on an e-cigarette that had tobacco flavoring and sweeteners, but no nicotine, as NBC News reported. The researchers found that after vaping, blood flow decreased in the femoral artery — the main artery that delivers blood to the thigh and the leg. In fact, the participants had had worse circulation, stiffer arteries and less oxygen in their blood

via Vaping Damages Blood Vessels After Just One Use, New Study Says – EcoWatch

Cherokee Nation Sending First-Ever Delegate To Congress

Two Native American tribes, the Cherokee and the Choctaw, are both granted the right to send delegates to the House of Representatives. The Choctaw still haven’t exercised that right, but the Cherokee are in the process of sending their first: Lobbyist Kimberly Teehee, who served as Barack Obama’s senior policy advisor for Native American affairs.

via newsweek Cherokee Nation Sending First-Ever Delegate To Congress

It’s raining plastic: microscopic fibers fall from the sky in Rocky Mountains | US news | The Guardian

“My results are purely accidental,” he said, though they are consistent with another recent study that found microplastics in the Pyrenees, suggesting plastic particles could travel with the wind for hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometers. Other studies have turned up microplastics in the deepest reaches of the ocean, in UK lakes and rivers and in US groundwater.

A major contributor is trash, said Sherri Mason, a microplastics researcher and sustainability coordinator at Penn State Behrend. More than 90% of plastic waste is not recycled, and as it slowly degrades it breaks into smaller and smaller pieces. “Plastic fibers also break off your clothes every time you wash them,” Mason said, and plastic particles are byproducts of a variety of industrial processes.

It’s impossible to trace the tiny pieces back to their sources, Mason said, but almost anything that’s made of plastic could be shedding particles into the atmosphere. “And then those particles get incorporated into water droplets when it rains,” she added, then wash into rivers, lakes, bays and oceans and filter into groundwater sources.

via It’s raining plastic: microscopic fibers fall from the sky in Rocky Mountains | US news | The Guardian

A bullet to the head: Three ‘suicides’ and the ‘apartheid paedophile ring’

A bullet wound to the head. That is the common denominator linking alleged suicides three decades apart that silenced three people with intimate knowledge of an alleged apartheid-era paedophile ring extending to the highest echelons of government in South Africa.

Mark Minnie‚ former policeman and co-author of The Lost Boys of Bird Island‚ was found with a gunshot wound to the head at a smallholding on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth on Monday.

He was investigating fresh leads after publication of the book‚ which identified former defence minister Magnus Malan as being part of a paedophile network that preyed on young boys at Bird Island in Algoa Bay near Port Elizabeth during the 1980s.

via timeslive A bullet to the head: Three ‘suicides’ and the ‘apartheid paedophile ring’

The water is so hot in Alaska it’s killing large numbers of salmon – CNN

With so many salmon dying before having a chance to spawn, scientists will have to keep tabs for the next few years to see if this year’s heat-related deaths have longer term effects on the state’s salmon population.

Salmon populations are under stress from other angles as well.
Overfishing is threatening salmon further south in southwestern Canada and northwestern Washington. Orca whales, which are themselves endangered, feed on salmon.

via The water is so hot in Alaska it’s killing large numbers of salmon – CNN

Record 81 degrees in stream… kills salmon with eggs still inside of them.

Record heat in Arctic region, about 94 degrees.. never seen before.

Epstein Spent Hours in a Room With a Young Female Before His Death

(TMU) — An attorney who had visited Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) said Jeffrey Epstein spent at least two hours alone in a private room with a young woman the day after he was reportedly taken off of suicide watch. The private room is reserved for inmates and their attorneys.

According to Forbes, the attorney, who neglected to give his name in fear of angering prison administration, visited MCC on July 30, only one day after Epstein was removed from suicide watch. Of Epstein’s visitor, the attorney was quoted saying:

“The optics were startling. Because she was young. And pretty.”

via themindunleashed Epstein Spent Hours in a Room With a Young Female Before His Death

Extremely High Water Stress In 17 Countries, Representing One-Quarter Of The World’s Population – Openhearted Rebellion

Water scarcity can have far-reaching consequences. Of the 17 countries identified with extremely high water stress, 12 are located in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Experts have identified that water stress can intensify conflicts and migration in these regions. And because water is used to grow crops as well as power industry, food insecurity and financial instability are other possible realities. (1)

via Extremely High Water Stress In 17 Countries, Representing One-Quarter Of The World’s Population – Openhearted Rebellion

BRAVE NEW WORLD: The Technological Revolution Devours its Children – By Dimitry Orlov | RIELPOLITIK

The all-time high mark for standard of living was set by white American suburbanites in the 1950s, when daddy worked at a factory punching holes in sheet metal and earned enough money to pay for a house and two cars and feed the whole family, a dog and a cat, while all mommy had to do was operate various labor-saving domestic appliances, pop out babies and take them shopping. It’s been a downhill ride ever since then.

How far downhill? Now many fewer children can only find part-time employment and can’t afford to start families once they grow up. Most of them live in their parents’ attics and basements. Many of them have been brainwashed into thinking that they don’t need to start families anyhow: you see, the planet is overpopulated already and anthropogenic climate change will cause everyone to go extinct in another decade or so, and therefore bringing more children into the world would be a cruel thing for them to do. They’ve also been conditioned to think that they are some “gender” or other than one of the three biological sexes (male, female, reject). This makes traditional mating rituals ineffective, impairing family formation.

This is both good and bad. It’s bad, especially from the parental perspective, because what’s the point of bringing up children that won’t have children of their own? It’s good, because if we find the perspective of evolving into free-range troglodytes unappealing and want to stay “on the inside,” where there will be less and less room as resources are consumed and depleted, then fewer people is what we want. (I am not sure who “we” are in this instance since that’s not a club to which I wish to belong.)

“But that’s not necessarily everyone’s fate!” you might exclaim. True, the more talented young people can move to where there are still good jobs, in cities such as New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, where they spend most of what they earn on rent for closets and bunk beds to sleep in and the rest on gadgets. This gives an entire new meaning to the expression “on the inside”: the $1600/month bunk beds they inhabit are quite similar to the ones found in prisons. Will they be able to do this for the rest of their lives or will they suffer burn-out, get tossed out and join these cities’ burgeoning homeless populations?

via BRAVE NEW WORLD: The Technological Revolution Devours its Children – By Dimitry Orlov | RIELPOLITIK

DAS KAPITAL: ‘Writing on the Wall’, Ignore It at Your Own Peril – By MN Gordon | RIELPOLITIK

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports an unemployment rate of just 3.7 percent. The BLS also reports price inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), of 1.8 percent. Yet big city streets are lined with tents and panhandlers grumble “that’s all” when you spare them a dollar.

In addition, good people, of sound mind and honest intentions, are racking up debt like never before. Mortgage debt recently topped $9.4 trillion. If you didn’t know, this eclipses the 2008 high of $9.3 trillion that was notched at the precise moment the credit market melted down.

Total American household debt, which includes mortgages and student loans, is about $14 trillion – roughly $1 trillion higher than in 2008. Credit card debt, which is over $1 trillion, is also above the 2008 peak. To be clear, these debt levels are not signs of economic strength; rather, they’re signs of impending disaster. Moreover, they’re signs that American workers have been given a raw deal.

How is it that the economy’s been growing for a full decade straight, but the average worker’s seen no meaningful increase in their income? Have workers really been sprinting in place this entire time? How did they end up in this ridiculous situation?

via DAS KAPITAL: ‘Writing on the Wall’, Ignore It at Your Own Peril – By MN Gordon | RIELPOLITIK

So much winning and MAGA.. just waiting for all of these HUGE debt bubbles to burst..

Andrew waves goodbye from Epstein’s mansion

The Duke is seen in the video emerging in the imposing doorway of the New York building which Epstein’s victims have dubbed the “House of Horrors” to chat for a few seconds and then wave goodbye to an unnamed woman.

Before he closes the door he peers around it apparently to see if anyone is watching.

Less than an hour earlier Epstein had left the house in a thick fur-lined coat in the company of a young blonde woman who was wearing a thin jumper and appeared to be shivering.

via Andrew waves goodbye from Epstein’s mansion – © blogfactory

Insurers Quietly Withdrawing from Climate Risk Areas | Climate Denial Crock of the Week

New York Times:

Insurers are quietly reducing their exposure to fire-prone regions across the Western United States, putting new pressure on homeowners and raising concerns that climate change could eventually make insurance unaffordable in some areas.
Officials in California, Washington, Montana and Colorado are getting more complaints from people whose insurance companies have refused to renew their coverage. The complaints follow years of record-setting wildfires in both size and cost, a trend that scientists expect to continue as global warming accelerates.
“I think that we are not far away from a lot of weather-related events being too expensive for most people to purchase comprehensive coverage,” said Carolyn Kousky, executive director of the Wharton Risk Center at the University of Pennsylvania. “What happens then is the big question.”

via Insurers Quietly Withdrawing from Climate Risk Areas | Climate Denial Crock of the Week

As it did then, today’s reignited arc of fire signals the advance of an agribusiness frontier dominated by cattle and soy. Bolsonaro and his allies in Congress and Amazonian state governments vow to accelerate this advance in the name of progress. Doing so will require eliminating the young laws and agencies established to protect the rainforest, its supernova of life that accounts for most of the planet’s species, and its traditional Indigenous inhabitants, whose very existence Bolsonaro and his ministers have cursed and denied, and whose moral and spiritual challenge they fear but do not comprehend.

via In Bolsonaro’s Brazil, a Showdown Over Amazon Rainforest

U.S. Steel plans to lay off hundreds of workers in Michigan

U.S. Steel will temporarily lay off up to 200 workers at its Great Lakes facility in Michigan in coming weeks, according to a filing the steelmaker made with the State of Michigan.
In mid-June, the company said it would idle two blast furnaces at its Great lakes and Gary Works plants, citing lower steel prices and softening demand.
An official at the United Steelworkers union, which represents U.S. Steel workers, said lay-offs were also planned for the Gary Works facility in Indiana.

via U.S. Steel plans to lay off hundreds of workers in Michigan

So much winning…

Extremists creep into Roblox, an online game popular with children

“My kid plays Roblox,” she wrote in an attempt to alert the company. “Did you know you have members on your site promoting #WhitePowerExtremist #DomesticTerrorism groups?”

Roblox, like Minecraft, allows users to create avatars and virtual worlds for those characters to roam around in. While most people use the game’s platform to create fun, innocuous characters, some have used it to try to spread hateful messages. The game has become yet another frontier in the ongoing battle over content moderation and appropriate lines of speech on private platforms that are now often spaces where people congregate.

For years, YouTube, Reddit, Instagram, Facebook and many other sites and services have faced similar struggles. “There are so many kids that play that game, and the company should be more careful and be aware of the content that’s on their site,” the woman, who asked that her name be withheld for fear of real-world harassment, said in a phone interview with NBC News.

NBC News quickly located and identified four hateful profile accounts, one of which included clear anti-Semitic language. Another showed a model of a Nazi-era uniform, and two others were Proud Boys-related profiles and included an avatar of its founder, Gavin McInnes. The Proud Boys organization has been identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

via nbcnews Extremists creep into Roblox, an online game popular with children

Sign the petition to the National Archives: Release Brett Kavanaugh’s records without delay

This request has been a long time coming. During his confirmation process, Republicans refused to reveal over 90% of Kavanaugh’s records during his time as an advisor in George W. Bush’s administration—and even then, the records they received were from Bush’s private lawyer, not the non-partisan National Archives.

Now, with the full investigative power of House committees behind them, Democrats are taking matters into their own hands. (And it’s not just House Democrats, either: Senators Whitehouse and Coons are also turning up the heat and calling for details about how the FBI handled their investigation of Kavanaugh last fall.)

It is crucial that the National Archives release Kavanaugh’s records as expediently as possible. Given that in the next year, the Supreme Court will hear critical cases regarding human rights, we need as much information as possible about Kavanaugh’s true beliefs before the Court’s term begins in October. The future of abortion access, immigrant justice, and LGBTQ+ rights literally rest in Brett Kavanaugh’s hands. We must stop him.

Sign the petition to the National Archives: Release Kavanaugh’s records to the U.S. House of Representatives as soon as possible.

via Sign the petition to the National Archives: Release Brett Kavanaugh’s records without delay

House Democrats request trove of documents Senate Republicans hid for Brett Kavanaugh

Republicans withheld something  like 92% of the documents from Kavanaugh’s time in the Bush White House. The Archives said it had about 3.85 million pages of records related to his tenure, but fewer than 300,000 were made available to the committee and to the public—and then in a very short time frame. Not a single page of what the committee saw was from the Archives, but House Democrats want that to change, because what’s in those documents could prove once and for all that Kavanaugh lied under oath to the Senate. They could also shed light on his true views on issues such as Roe v. Wade, revealing biases that should disqualify him from hearing abortion-related cases in the future.

It was clear at the time of his hearings that Kavanaugh was not being truthful with the committee, now and back in 2006 when he was being confirmed for a lower court seat.

He downplayed his role in facilitating virulently anti-abortion nominations to the courts for Bush in 2006. He lied to the committee about what he knew about the lawless programs of warrantless surveillance and torture in the Bush administration in 2006. He was even lying about stuff that stretched back to the Starr investigation into President Bill Clinton. What we don’t know is the extent of Kavanaugh’s lying about all of these things during his hearings in 2018—for a position on the highest court of the land.

This is significant now because, as Nadler and Johnson write, “In the coming year, the Supreme Court will again address important matters regarding civil rights, criminal justice, and immigration. The Court may also review certain high-profile cases related to reproductive rights, the separation of powers, and the limits of executive authority—all topics within the jurisdiction of the House Judiciary Committee.” Kavanaugh will be in a position to rule on those issues and he is under a cloud. “Now and as always,” they write, “the Court’s fidelity to the principles of equal and impartial justice, as well as the public’s faith in the integrity of the judiciary, are foundational to maintaining the rule of law.”

That faith was rocked by an illegitimate Senate process that put a person of highly questionable character on the nation’s highest court, for life—unless there’s enough in these documents to impeach him.

via House Democrats request trove of documents Senate Republicans hid for Brett Kavanaugh

Bootleg Cannabis Vape Carts Have Given Nearly 100 People Severe Lung Diseases and Even Coma – Openhearted Rebellion

According to the CDC, nearly 100 people have contracted serious and often life-threatening lung illnesses that may be linked to their use of illicit e-cigarettes, which heat oils into inhalable aerosols, allowing users to consume nicotine, THC or CBD in a highly discrete and smoke-free manner.

The news comes as counterfeit vaping cartridges proliferate across the U.S. with generic packaging and false labels that obscure the fact that they contain a number of mysterious adulterants including cough syrup, various hydrocarbons, toxic heavy metals such as lead, and dangerous synthetic cannabinoids —a category that includes the lethal drug K2 or “spice.”

In many cases, black-market cartridges also contain myclobutanil—a fungicide that when heated releases hydrogen cyanide, a chemical found in Zyklon-B, the poison used in Nazi gas chambers during the Holocaust.

via Bootleg Cannabis Vape Carts Have Given Nearly 100 People Severe Lung Diseases and Even Coma – Openhearted Rebellion

Jewish Dems Condemn Trump’s Latest Weaponization of Anti-Semitism – Jewish Democratic Council of America

“We live in a democracy, and Jewish support for the Republican Party has been halved since Trump has been in office – from 33% in 2014 to 17% in 2018 (according to Pew) – because Trump doesn’t represent Jewish or American values.

“President Trump’s repeating of anti-Semitic tropes, emboldening of hate groups, and use of anti-Semitism for political purposes have made us all less secure. Today’s remarks are yet another example of Trump continuing to weaponize and politicize anti-Semitism for his own perceived political gain, and it won’t work.

Jewish voters are deeply concerned about a range of domestic policy issues – including the startling rise of anti-Semitism during his presidency – in which Trump’s and Republicans’ policies have been antithetical to Jewish values. That is why the Democratic Party has been – and will continue to be – the political home for the overwhelming majority of American Jews.

via Jewish Dems Condemn Trump’s Latest Weaponization of Anti-Semitism – Jewish Democratic Council of America

As it did then, today’s reignited arc of fire signals the advance of an agribusiness frontier dominated by cattle and soy. Bolsonaro and his allies in Congress and Amazonian state governments vow to accelerate this advance in the name of progress. Doing so will require eliminating the young laws and agencies established to protect the rainforest, its supernova of life that accounts for most of the planet’s species, and its traditional Indigenous inhabitants, whose very existence Bolsonaro and his ministers have cursed and denied, and whose moral and spiritual challenge they fear but do not comprehend.

APURINÃ ASSEMBLIES ARE garrulous affairs even by the standards of participatory village democracy. In their language, Apurinã means “the people who talk,” a habit encouraged by their fondness for awyry, a bright green stimulant made from powdered forest seeds. Punctuated by the sounds of awyry sniffed through polished animal bones, the proceedings in early April lasted until darkness crept over Kamarapa. The people who talk had a lot to discuss: Expanded armed foot patrols. A network of monitoring stations equipped with radios. Deeper cooperation with neighboring ethnic groups, including traditional enemies. Outreach to potential allies in Brazil and the publics and governments of Europe and Asia, the main markets for Brazilian beef and soy. “We are doing what we can, organizing, monitoring, and petitioning,” said Fabiana Apurinã, a bright-eyed woman of 23 who attended the assembly from a village several hours downriver. “We are warriors and will mobilize to defend ourselves and the forest. But we need help.”

via In Bolsonaro’s Brazil, a Showdown Over Amazon Rainforest

Norway Freezes $33.2M Transfer to Brazil’s Amazon Fund Amid Deforestation ‘Surge’ – EcoWatch

Ola Elvestrun, Norway’s environment minister, announced Thursday that it is freezing its contributions to the Amazon Fund, and will no longer be transferring €300 million ($33.2 million) to Brazil. In a press release, the Norwegian embassy in Brazil stated:

Given the present circumstances, Norway does not have either the legal or the technical basis for making its annual contribution to the Amazon Fund.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro reacted with sarcasm to Norway’s decision, which had been widely expected. After an official event, he commented: “Isn’t Norway the country that kills whales at the North Pole? Doesn’t it also produce oil? It has no basis for telling us what to do. It should give the money to Angela Merkel [the German Chancellor] to reforest Germany.”

According to its website, the Amazon Fund is a “REDD+ mechanism created to raise donations for non-reimbursable investments in efforts to prevent, monitor and combat deforestation, as well as to promote the preservation and sustainable use in the Brazilian Amazon.” The bulk of funding comes from Norway and Germany.

via Norway Freezes $33.2M Transfer to Brazil’s Amazon Fund Amid Deforestation ‘Surge’ – EcoWatch

Donald Trump labeled “Antichrist” amid calls for 25th Amendment, after Trump declares himself “King of Israel” and the “Chosen One” – Palmer Report

How far down the rabbit hole has Donald Trump gone? He just canceled a planned meeting with Denmark because it’s refusing to sell Greenland to him – and that not even the most asinine thing he’s done in the past twenty-four hours. In fact Trump has gone so far off the deep end today, we’re not even sure where to start.

via Donald Trump labeled “Antichrist” amid calls for 25th Amendment, after Trump declares himself “King of Israel” and the “Chosen One” – Palmer Report

Shell workers pay threatened if they didn’t attend Trump event – Business Insider

President Donald Trump has frequently accused protesters and activists of being paid by powerful liberal forces, but many the attendees at his own events were financially compensated to be there.
Despite his own disdain for supposedly paid protesters, Trump himself has benefited from people being paid to attend his events, both in his capacity as a political candidate and as president.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that union contractors working for a natural gas plant owned by Shell were told they would not receive pay for the day if they didn’t attend an official Trump speech at the plant.
In 2015, a sub-contractor hired by the Trump campaign to produce Trump’s campaign rollout at Trump Tower put out a casting call to pay actors $50 for attending the event and holding signs.
Mariela Szwarcberg Daby, a political science professor at Reed College, told Insider that Trump’s actions are a clear example of political clientelism, or promising political support, such as turning up for a rally or voting for a particular candidate, in exchange for particular goods or services.

via Shell workers pay threatened if they didn’t attend Trump event – Business Insider

Jon Voight praises Trump, hits out at ‘radical left’

“I’ve said this many times and I’m saying it again. From the deep truths of my heart and soul, President Trump is a man of truths, love and justice for the American people and also for the people of a sacred place, Israel. Not only does he love our country, the United States of America, but he has a love for the people of all nations.

“Let us pray for peace. Let us pray for this country that President Trump will take on four more years of his strength, devotion, knowledge of truths. And all that doubt and have extreme anger toward President Trump, may they be shown differently, that President Trump is the greatest president of this century.

via yahoo Jon Voight praises Trump, hits out at ‘radical left’

This is exactly what white privilege, white supremacy, racism, plus bigotry sound like. Anyone saying anything close to the above is in deep denial about their racism and bigotry.

WTF? Jeffrey Epstein Signed Will Days Before He Was Found Hung In Prison; Youngest Victims 12 Years Old

Epstein is said to have signed his will of a nearly $600 million fortune, according to court papers filed in the U.S. Virgin Islands exclusively obtained by the NY Post.

The 66-year-old former hedge-fund manager was worth $577,672,654, or about $18 million more than he previously stated in court papers while futilely trying to land bail on federal sex-trafficking charges, the new documents show.

He put all of his holdings in a trust, called The 1953 Trust, after the year he was born.

Bloomberg News, noted that Epstein had asked that Darren K. Indyke, who had served as his attorney, and Richard D. Kahn be appointed as executors of the will.

One of the two Brooklyn lawyers listed as witnessing the signing is Mariel A. Colon Miro — an attorney for drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo’’ Guzmán who also was accused of raping underage girls.

via activistpost WTF? Jeffrey Epstein Signed Will Days Before He Was Found Hung In Prison; Youngest Victims 12 Years Old

Donald Trump’s War On LGBTQ Americans Is Ramping Up | HuffPost

In Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia and Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda, gay men say they were fired because of their sexual orientation. R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission takes up the case of a funeral director named Aimee Stephens who was fired from her job after transitioning to female.

To put it simply, the question before the court is: Can you be fired for being gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgender?

Last Friday, the Trump administration made it clear that its position is: Yes, you absolutely can.

The Department of Justice filed its brief in the Harris case, arguing that Title VII does not protect sexual orientation or gender identity. It argues that in 1964, when the law was passed, lawmakers considered the meaning of “sex discrimination” to be confined to women’s rights. It’s the kind of argument designed to appeal to conservatives.

via Donald Trump’s War On LGBTQ Americans Is Ramping Up | HuffPost

Trump revives controversial ‘public charge’ immigration clause – Business Insider

During the Nazi era, roughly 300,000 additional Jewish refugees could have gained entry to the US without exceeding the nation’s existing quotas.

The primary mechanism that kept them out: the immigration law’s “likely to become a public charge” clause. Consular officials with the authority to issue visas denied them to everyone they deemed incapable of supporting themselves in the U.S.

The Trump administration is now resurrecting “the public charge” clause as a way to limit legal immigration without changing immigration law. On August 12, US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced new regulations that will deny admission to those unable to prove under tough new standards that they won’t claim government benefits.

via Trump revives controversial ‘public charge’ immigration clause – Business Insider

A month after law enforcement descended on Blessed Hope Boys Academy in Alabama in December 2016, three leaders of another unrelated religious boot camp in nearby Mobile were convicted on multiple counts of aggravated child abuse.

Their school had been raided in 2015, when 36 children and teens were removed after officials learned students had been handcuffed to beds, locked in solitary confinement for weeks at a time, and forced to fight each other.

In May 2016, the Alabama legislature passed a law that regulates these kinds of private youth facilities, requiring them to perform background checks on staff and banning the use of certain punishments.

via Religious boarding school raided in Alabama reopens in Missouri – al.com

Trump doctor says Trump wrote his own glowing 2015 letter on health

Harold Bornstein, who was Donald Trump’s personal doctor for decades, acknowledges that his over-the-top statement about Trump’s health in 2015 was not written by him — but by the then-presidential candidate.
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Bornstein’s admission to CNN on Tuesday comes as he also said publicly for the first time to NBC News that Trump’s one-time bodyguard and two others “raided” his office in New York last year and took all his medical files on the president.

via Trump doctor says Trump wrote his own glowing 2015 letter on health

Just another conspiracy theory; Trump is in the best health of anyone, ever.