Riots and flash mob violence is breaking out everywhere now. Yesterday at the grocery store I saw a mini-flash mob in the prepared food section. A group of about 6 kids opening up packages of cooked hot dogs and sandwiches and eating them on the spot. By the time I'd picked up the bread I was after the manager was shooing them off and threatening to call the police. The "I'm gonna get mine" mentality has taken over.
Gardening is coming along slow but steady. I've lost a couple of rows of late-planted potatoes but I'll fill in the cracks with tomato plants and we should still get some sort of a harvest. Otherwise it'll be a sparse year. From what I understand, it's that way everywhere. The neighbors I pass on the way into town who garden seem to have already given up and let their gardens go completely to weeds.
Well, before they send the riot police in here after me, let's get on with the report. We're at an all-time high of 32 today. Looks like it's going to be an ugly week at the beginning of what is to be an ugly summer.
---
1. The government has reached the debt ceiling and is raiding federal pension funds to keep operating. Expected to continue until August 2nd when they'll have to find another source of operating revenue in order to keep the doors open. If they haven't resolved this come August, keep your hand on your wallet. UPDATE: Congressional Budget Office releases the numbers - 32nd straight month that the federal government has ran a deficit.
2. We are past the 60th day of American involvement in the NATO-led Libyan campaign. NATO is ramping up activities and currently the president and all military personnel participating in this are violating the law. Nobody seems to notice, however, and the other branches of government appear to be giving the executive branch a free pass on this one, further undermining the rule of law. UPDATE: Some lawmakers are SUING the president and Boehner has issued some harsh words. Supposedly a bill has been presented which will cut off funding.
3. In response to growing tensions in the South China Sea, our government is sending a navy destroyer to face off against recent Chinese belligerence. Could this be the spark which sets off a U.S.-China war? China is not going to like us interfering in what they consider their backyard. UPDATE: The Chinese has sent ships across the coast of Japan in a move designed to intimidate.
4. As Greece plunges further and further into insolvency, Obama urged the European Union to bail them out and pledged OUR financial support as well. No news on how much money we'd be contributing or where exactly it would come from.
5. American action in Yemen intensifies with further bombings. This makes FOUR global conflicts we are simultaneously involved in. Can we economically sustain this?
6. 30 days after his violation of the War Powers Act, Boehner warns Obama that on Friday he will be IN VIOLATION of the War Powers Act. No indication of what they'll actually do about it. Perhaps send a strongly worded letter 30 days from now. UPDATE: Apparently the rest of the government doesn't care about this.
7. Officials are warning of blackouts and food shortages in Europe this year due to drought. Is there anywhere in the world that ISN'T warning of food shortages? Except North Korea, apparently, where Dear Leader has promised each family a pig in the pot.
8. Greece continues to devolve into an anarchic state. People there are throwing petrol bombs at the police after the bankrupt government started making austerity cuts. Watch this one carefully, folks. Greece is a modern industrialized nation, not some third-world backwater. And they are being torn to pieces by their entitlement state now that they're forced to cut back on the free stuff. When you look at Greece, you're looking at OUR future. UPDATE: Austerity measures have been passed that now effectively enslave the Greek people for the next 4 generations.
9. The IMF warned the United States and other debt-ridden nations that we are "playing with fire" if we don't immediately cut our deficits. This is a warning the IMF usually issues to third-world dictatorships shortly before the "El Jefe" flees the country to live in exile on millions in Swiss accounts.
10. Obama instructs immigration to NOT enforce laws against illegal immigrants if they are enrolled in higher education or have a relative serving in the military. This is a backdoor amnesty program which will bring in a whole new flood and hasten the decline of public services.
11. VIPR sweeps by TSA exceeds 8,000 per year in public locations. The TSA has introduced a new "flash mob" approach where they descend on public locations with a large number of armed officers and heavy equipment and conduct identity checks and pat downs. Bus stations, sporting events, and even on city streets over the past year, they have conducted at least 8,000 of these sweeps. Was this the sign you were waiting for?
12. TEPCO in Japan released information that Fukushima released MORE radioactive material into the environment than Chernobyl did. Some studies indicate now that this is increasing child mortality rates on the West Coast. This bears extra watching as we can trust our government and compliant MSM to NOT inform us of what's going on.
13. China's Zhejiang province, their main agricultural center, is experiencing massive flooding. China has already had a problem with food supplies and this may cause even more problems. Are you ready for a billion Chinese to be going hungry while their government holds almost all U.S. debt?
14. Reports indicate North Korea has tested a "super EMP" capable of taking out the entire North American power grid in one shot.
15. Since 2008, U.S. combat casualty rate has increased 5 fold. Not a good time to be a soldier with 4 wars going on. Oops. Not wars ... kinetic actions.
16. CBO releases projections that servicing our nation's debt will reach 101% of our GDP by 2021. Got kids? Teach them Chinese.
17. Obama is bringing NATO and G-8 leaders to Chicago, despite that city's fiscal woes. Could this increase violence in the city as anarchists descend upon them, Vancouver style?
18. Debt talks have broken down. No sign of progress. Will this eventually lead to a shutdown of the government?
19. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told the House Small Business Committee on Wednesday that the Obama administration believes taxes on small business must increase so the administration does not have to “shrink the overall size of government programs.”
20. North Dakota flood evacuations have been expanded. No sign of improvement in their situation. How widespread is the flooding? This has mostly been bumped off of the news but I don't think it has gone away.
21. Mexican authorities have arrested a notorious cartel leader who also turned out to be the BATF's frontman for their gunrunning scheme! Do you think Issa will subpoena him?
22. NEW Gang of 8 blacks in Columbia, SC beat a young white teen half to death to steal his cellphone. It's difficult to say if this is part of the growing flash mob violence by urban blacks or if this is just criminal activity.
23. NEW A mob of 70+ black teenagers rampage through the streets in Peoria chanting "kill all the white people". Cars were damaged and homes were attacked but there are no reports of actual injuries before the police were able to disperse the crowd. According to the one news report I read, no arrests were made.
24. NEW In Philadelphia, a flash mob (race not reported) broke a woman's leg and beat her and others while stealing purses, cellphones, and other electronic devices.
25. NEW A big street brawl at a Carribean festival in DC ends in arrests and injuries.
26. NEW Floodwaters have surrounded the nuclear power plant in Nebraska after one of two levee systems was breached. Supposedly the plant is surrounded by at least 2 feet of water.
27. NEW This is the week the Greeks vote on the critical austerity package. The rest of Europe is bracing for a Greek default.
28. NEW Spain and Italy are entering the early phases of spending cuts, the same process we saw in Greece.
29. NEW In North Korea another massive famine is hitting leaving children begging on the streets for food and their army starving. When this has happened before it has always initiated belligerent action from NK in order to secure food relief from the rest of the world.
30. NEW In a step towards a "One World Religion", a group sponsored readings from the Koran in over 50 prominent Christian churches this past Sunday. This is all part of an interfaith project being promoted by the Interfaith Alliance and Human Rights First. The theme of this Sunday is “Faith Shared: Uniting in Prayer and Understanding”, and the stated goal is to show how much Christian churches in the United States respect Islam.
31. NEW More than 3 millisieverts of radiation has been measured in the urine of 15 Fukushima residents of the village of Iitate and the town of Kawamata, confirming internal radiation exposure, it was learned Sunday. This should put to rest all of the bunk we heard about how Fukushima was a non-event.
32. NEW The overseers of the power grid are proposing a new experiment to save and reduce load that may damage electrical appliances in homes. Surprised to find that you can't even depend on the grid?
