Bad..

 

The American economy isn’t looking great right now. U.S. GDP shrank last quarter, despite a hearty showing from American consumers. Inflation is high; markets are down; both wages and personal-savings rates show some troubling statistical signals. Is the U.S. destined to have a recession in 2022? I don’t know for sure. But here are nine signs that worry me.

 Recession is coming for Europe. The U.K. economy is shrinking, and the central bank says inflation will exceed 10 percent this year. War in Ukraine has sent energy prices skyrocketing throughout Europe, and most economists believe that the continent’s economy will contract this year. 

Europe seems very likely headed toward both stagnation and inflation the dreaded combination that, 50 years ago, gave birth to the awful term stagflation. If Europe shrinks while Chinese growth decelerates, American exporters will have a hard time contributing to growing GDP. Just an "Awful" thought.

Geneva..

 

One person was dead and five others were injured in a shooting during a meeting of Asian churchgoers in Southern California Sunday, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said.

The attack was reported at Geneva Presbyterian Church at 1:26 p.m. in the retirement city of Laguna Woods, the department said. Four victims suffered critical injuries, it said.

Sheriff’s officials said a group belonging to a Taiwanese church was at the facility when gunfire broke out.

Police sources said the man detained is in his 60s and of Asian descent. 

Congregants Hogtie Gunman After Shooting.

No Sanctions..

 

The European Union said companies can keep buying gas without breaching sanctions, as it softened its stance in a standoff with Moscow over energy supplies.

The European Commission sent its revised guidelines to member states on Friday, a spokesperson said on Monday. In the updated recommendations, it said companies should make a clear statement that they consider their obligations fulfilled once they pay in euros or dollars.

EU sanctions “do not prevent economic operators from opening a bank account in a designated bank for payments due under contracts for the supply of natural gas in a gaseous state, in the currency specified in those contracts,” the commission said. “Operators should make a clear statement that they intend to fulfil their obligations under existing contracts and consider their contractual obligations regarding the payment already fulfilled by paying in euros or dollars, in line with the existing contracts.” 

Trouble..

 

Michael Sussmann, a lawyer for Clinton’s 2016 campaign, is charged with lying to the FBI during a meeting at which he presented the bureau’s top lawyer with data that purported to show mysterious contact between computer servers of a Russia-based bank and Trump’s company, the Trump Organization.  

Prosecutors say Sussmann misled the FBI by saying he wasn’t participating in the meeting on behalf of a particular client when he was actually there on behalf of the Clinton campaign and another client, a technology executive who had provided him with the data.  

So really Hillary didn't want to or participated in this deception process? 

Just a thought.

Hunger..

 

G-7 foreign ministers warned over the weekend that the war in Ukraine is increasing the risk of a global hunger crisis. This is because Ukraine has been unable to export grains, fertilizers and vegetable oil, while the conflict is also destroying crop fields and preventing a normal planting season.

This has increased the reliance on nations from other parts of the world for these products. But some of these countries, concerned about supplies for their own citizens, have imposed restrictions on exports. This is the case in India, for example, which announced a ban on wheat sales "to manage the overall food security of the country."  Indonesia's ban on palm oil exports, "make matters worse."

"We agreed with the United States to cooperate and coordinate our approaches in this area, because ... as a response to Russia's aggression against Ukraine and a corresponding increase in food prices. 

Does anyone care about PEACE and starving poor people around the world? 

Lisbon..

 

California residents are fleeing to the country of Portugal and in many cases bringing problems that have made life more difficult for natives, according to the Los Angeles Times report. 

A story titled "Welcome to Portugal, the new expat haven. Californians, please go home," reports that the number of Americans living in Portugal has risen by 45% in the past year with many of those Americans moving from California in order to escape high housing costs, pandemic lockdowns, and "Trumpian politics" in the United States.

The article explains that "resentment of newcomers is growing" in Portugal as California expats have become the "root of questions over gentrification, income disparities and immigration.

The Portuguese government has responded to the housing crisis by suspending its "golden visa" program in large cities that offered residency to foreigners who purchased homes that cost more than $500,000 euros which was a program "dominated" by Americans

An Ass..

 

Card..

 

Majority..

 

 We saw in today’s inflation data: 70% of the increase in prices in March came from Putin’s price hike in gasoline,” Biden said at a Poet LLC ethanol mill in Menlo, Iowa. “We need to address this challenge with the urgency that it demands.”

Biden said that families’ ability to fill their gas tanks should not “hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide half a world away.” Biden has previously said Russia is carrying out war crimes in Ukraine, but has stopped short of accusing Putin of genocide.

Let us try one lie after another. It is the honorable thing to do. You Go Guy.

NIH..

 

National Institutes of Health acting director Lawrence Tabak confirmed to lawmakers Wednesday that US health officials concealed early genomic sequences of COVID-19 at the request of Chinese scientists — but insisted the data remains on file.

esident Biden rarely speaks publicly about wanting China to be transparent about the origins of the pandemic. Former President Donald Trump, by contrast, has demanded that China pay $10 trillion in reparations.

Documents published in September by The Intercept revealed that US health officials indirectly funded so-called “gain of function” research at the Wuhan lab — including the modification three bat coronaviruses distinct from COVID-19 and the discovery that they became much more infectious among “humanized” mice when human-type receptors were added to them.