Squirmy and Grubs play both sides: they bait us for the easy attention and fame that their incongruous physicality brings, but they also want to be seen as serious activists.
Tag: science
New Home Sales Suddenly Soared In July… Prices Jumped As Mortgage Rates Tumbled
New Home Sales Suddenly Soared In July… Prices Jumped As Mortgage Rates Tumbled
US new home sales soared by 10.6% MoM in July (the most since Aug 2022), five standard deviations above expectations…
…which pulled sales up 5.6% YoY…
Source: Bloomberg
That unexpectedly massive surge pushed new home sales SAAR up to 739k – its highest since May 2023 (just shy of Feb 2022)…
Source: Bloomberg
Bear in mind that the last three months have seen massive upward revisions for new home sales data (which is very much not the norm of the last few years)…
Source: Bloomberg
…as mortgage rates have tumbled back below 7.00%…
Source: Bloomberg
The pickup in sales allowed builders to make a dent in inventory last month, which fell to the lowest level since the start of the year.
Nonetheless, the 462,000 homes for sale is still near the highest since 2008.
At the current sales rate, that represents 7.5 months of supply, the lowest since September but above pre-pandemic levels.
But the median price of a new home rose once again (and back higher than used home prices)…
Source: Bloomberg
…and we are sure that Kamala’s new plan to increase homeownership will really help that!
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/23/2024 – 10:34
Trans advocate Roxy Tickle wins discrimination case after being banned from women-only app Giggle in Australian court
“Unfortunately, we got the judgement we anticipated. The fight for women’s rights continues.”
“It’s Not OK Any More”: UK Free Speech Crack-Down Targets “Extremist Ideologies”
“It’s Not OK Any More”: UK Free Speech Crack-Down Targets “Extremist Ideologies”
The crackdown on free speech continues in the United Kingdom as officials use recent rioting to justify a roundup of citizens who they view as “pushing harmful and hateful beliefs.”
The government is ramping up arrests of those with “extremist ideologies” in the latest wave of arrests.
The crackdown includes those accused of misogynist views.
In my book, “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage,” I discuss how difficult it is to get a free people to give up freedoms. They have to be afraid, very afraid.
For that reason, governments tend to attack free speech during periods of public anger or fear.
That pattern is playing out, yet again, in the United Kingdom.
The recent anti-immigration riots have given officials a renewed opportunity to use anti-free speech laws to target those with opposing views.
For years, I have been writing about the decline of free speech in the United Kingdom and the steady stream of arrests.
A man was convicted for sending a tweet while drunk referring to dead soldiers.
Another was arrested for an anti-police t-shirt.
Another was arrested for calling the Irish boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend a “leprechaun.”
Yet another was arrested for singing “Kung Fu Fighting.”
A teenager was arrested for protesting outside of a Scientology center with a sign calling the religion a “cult.”
Last year, Nicholas Brock, 52, was convicted of a thought crime in Maidenhead, Berkshire.
The neo-Nazi was given a four-year sentence for what the court called his “toxic ideology” based on the contents of the home he shared with his mother in Maidenhead, Berkshire.
While most of us find Brock’s views repellent and hateful, they were confined to his head and his room.
Yet, Judge Peter Lodder QC dismissed free speech or free thought concerns with a truly Orwellian statement:
“I do not sentence you for your political views, but the extremity of those views informs the assessment of dangerousness.”
Lodder lambasted Brock for holding Nazi and other hateful values:
“[i]t is clear that you are a right-wing extremist, your enthusiasm for this repulsive and toxic ideology is demonstrated by the graphic and racist iconography which you have studied and appeared to share with others…”
Even though Lodder agreed that the defendant was older, had limited mobility, and “there was no evidence of disseminating to others,” he still sent him to prison for holding extremist views.
After the sentencing Detective Chief Superintendent Kath Barnes, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE), warned others that he was going to prison because he “showed a clear right-wing ideology with the evidence seized from his possessions during the investigation….We are committed to tackling all forms of toxic ideology which has the potential to threaten public safety and security.”
“Toxic ideology” also appears to be the target of Ireland’s proposed Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) law. It covers the possession of material deemed hateful. The law is a free speech nightmare. The law makes it a crime to possess “harmful material” as well as “condoning, denying or grossly trivialising genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against peace.” The law expressly states the intent to combat “forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law.”
The Brock case proved, as feared, a harbinger of what was to come.
The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has vowed to crack down on people “pushing harmful and hateful beliefs.” That includes what she calls extreme misogyny.
Cooper said that the problem revealed by the recent protests was “gaps in the current system” and stressed that “it’s not OK any more to ignore the massive growing threat caused by online hatred towards women and for us to ignore it because we’re worried about the line, rather than making sure the line is in the right place as we would do with any other extremist ideology.”
She added:
“For too long governments have failed to address the rise in extremism, both online and on our streets, and we’ve seen the number of young people radicalised online grow. Hateful incitement of all kinds fractures and frays the very fabric of our communities and our democracy.”
For free speech advocates, it is chilling to hear UK officials state that they have been too lax on free speech in the past and must now take censorship and arrests more aggressively.
The United Kingdom has a myriad of laws criminalizing speech with vague terms allowing for arbitrary enforcement. For example, Public Order Act 1986 prohibits any expressions of racial hatred, defined as hatred against a group of persons by reason of the group’s color, race, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic or national origins.
Section 18 of the Act specifically includes any speech that is “threatening, abusive, or insulting.” An arrest does not have to be based on a showing of intent to “stir up racial hatred,” but can merely be based on a charge that “having regard to all the circumstances racial hatred is likely to be stirred up thereby.”
For those Americans who have remained silent during as this anti-free speech movement grows, you need only to look to the United Kingdom to see what this movement means for our “indispensable right.”
That wave has now reached our shores and it will require each one of us to defend a right that defines us all.
* * *
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage” (Simon & Schuster).
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/23/2024 – 03:30
This Is The Chart That Keeps Japanese Policymakers Up At Night
This Is The Chart That Keeps Japanese Policymakers Up At Night
Japan has a demographic crisis that started in 2017 and picked up steam in 2020 and will accelerate from there into at least 2050… as a high life expectancy and a low birth rate has created an unprecedented aging population.
As a simple and effective measure of that ‘crisis’, we look at the old-age dependency ratio measures the number of people over the retirement age of 65 for every 100 working-age people.
The higher dependency ratio means fewer workers are supporting a growing number of retirees, which strains social security systems, healthcare, and pension funds. This situation could lead to economic stagnation or decline unless addressed through policy changes like increasing immigration or boosting birth rates.
In charts by creator Preyash Shad, Visual Capitalist looks at old-age dependency ratios of the top 10 economies based on data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Japan in Trouble
Japan has had a rapidly rising old-age dependency ratio for several decades and has the highest ratio currently at 54.5.
Meanwhile, Germany is the runner-up in the top 10 economies with a distant second-place dependency ratio of 41.4.
At the same time, the United States maintains a relatively low old-age dependency, with a ratio of 31.3, which places it seventh among the top 10 economies.
India, now the world’s most populous country, has the lowest ratio of 11.6, in large part because it also has the youngest population.
Projections for 2050
By 2050, Japan will maintain the highest old-age dependency ratio of the group, moving from 54.5 to a staggering 80.7.
In an effort to head-off such a high ratio, Japan is has put policies in pace to attract young immigrants and migrant workers.
However, despite government incentives, cultural shifts towards later marriages, fewer children, and more women entering the workforce have not significantly reversed the trend in Japan (or many other nations).
Italy, which is facing similar demographic pressures, will move from distant third to a close second, moving from a ratio of 40.9 to 74.4.
China, because of the results of the one-child policy and low immigration, could surpass the U.S. by 2050 with a ratio of 47.5.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/22/2024 – 20:30
JACK POSOBIEC: ‘How can RFK clean out the deep dark swamp?’
After being the first to report that Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will reportedly withdraw from the race to endorse President Trump at his upcoming campaign rally in Arizona on Friday, Human Events Daily host Jack Posobiec discusses how Kennedy could benefit a potential Trump presidency. This includes RFK Jr. helping the Trump…
Taliban fires hundreds of men from security detail because they can’t grow beards
The Taliban has fired hundreds of beardless men from Afghanistan’s security detail over their clean-shaven appearance.
Venezuelan Supreme Court affirms Maduro win in highly contested election
Venezuela’s Supreme Court affirmed Nicolas Maduro’s win in the July presidential election on Thursday after the highly contested outcome.
‘No Israeli Withdrawal, No Ceasefire Deal’: Hamas
‘No Israeli Withdrawal, No Ceasefire Deal’: Hamas
Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement released a joint statement on Thursday, confirming they will reject any agreement that does not include an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The joint statement was issued following a meeting between PIJ Secretary-General Ziad Nakhala and Hamas Shura Council head Mohammad Darwish in Qatar’s capital, Doha.
The statement stressed the “necessity of stopping the aggression and war to which the Palestinian people are being subjected and punishing the leaders of the occupation for the crimes they are committing against humanity.”
“The position of the resistance and the Palestinian people on achieving any agreement is a comprehensive cessation of aggression, a complete withdrawal from the Strip, the start of reconstruction, and the end of the siege with a serious exchange deal,” the joint statement added.
It also held “the occupation leaders responsible for aborting the efforts undertaken by the mediators through their insistence on continuing the aggression and denying what was done in previous stages, especially the proposal approved by the movement [Hamas] on 2 July.”
Additionally, the Hamas and PIJ statement renewed the call for the immediate delivery of sufficient amounts of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, warning of the “consequences of the continued collective punishment” by Israel.
The statement comes as a new round of ceasefire talks – unattended by Hamas – are expected to kick off in the coming days. The meetings were initially scheduled for Wednesday in the Egyptian capital but were delayed to an unspecified date.
“The high-level Cairo meeting regarding the negotiations will be held on Saturday or Sunday. The negotiating team is working around the clock to bridge the gap, including the Philadelphia file with Egypt,” an Israeli official told Yedioth Ahronoth on Thursday.
Wednesday’s Biden-Netanyahu phone call included the US President issuing the same repeat call for achieving a quick ceasefire, but with little other substance…
🇺🇸 🇮🇱 President Joe Biden spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu by phone last night about the threat presented by Iran and its proxy forces, and about the necessity for a ceasefire in Gaza.https://t.co/vhKiuBLo0x | @docinkc pic.twitter.com/wSLQmOmOwg
— Faytuks Network (@FaytuksNetwork) August 22, 2024
Hamas has rejected a new US-backed proposal – which Washington says Israel has agreed to – for failing to address the group’s demands for a permanent ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and several other issues.
It is unclear precisely what is in the new proposal. A Hamas official told Al-Sharq on August 20 that the proposal does not include an Israeli withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border, as Hamas’ terms stipulate. Netanyahu himself confirmed on the same date that Israel would refuse any withdrawal from the Gaza–Egypt border.
The source also said the proposal demands a screening mechanism to inspect displaced Gazans who would return to the northern strip as part of an agreement – one of the many Israeli conditions complicating recent negotiations.
Some pundits have pointed out that the US President could bring real pressure to bear on the situation if he wanted to…
I wrote in the Guardian about how Reagan with a single phone call made Begin end his Beirut offensive in 1982 in 20 mins. It turns out Carter did the same 4 years earlier, with the threat to cut off military aid.
Joe Biden could be doing so much *if* he wanted to stop Netanyahu. https://t.co/O4fjt70hPt
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) June 21, 2024
It also does not guarantee a permanent ceasefire. The US proposal states that “a permanent ceasefire will be discussed in the second phase within a specific limit, and if Hamas does not agree to the Israeli demands, the army will return to the war and carry out its military operations,” according to the source.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/22/2024 – 14:35
Next Issue Of The Wild Bunch: How To Defeat Large Violent Mobs Without Using Guns – Alt-Market.us
Issue #117 of The Wild Bunch Dispatch, Alt-Market’s exclusive newsletter covering concepts and tactics for defeating globalism, is set to…
The post Next Issue Of The Wild Bunch: How To Defeat Large Violent Mobs Without Using Guns appeared first on Alt-Market.us.