Author: J.P. Knowles

 

As the Federal Reserve attempts to control inflation with a series of swift interest rate hikes, a frequently ignored economic indicator revealed on Friday that the U.S. economy is either already in or headed for a recession.

The Leading Economic Indicators index from the Conference Board indicated that things continued to get worse in October, falling 0.8% from the prior month. This comes after a decrease of 0.5% in September.

“The U.S. LEI fell for an eighth consecutive month, suggesting the economy is possibly in a recession,” said the senior director of economic research at The Conference Board.

The downturn is a result of both a protracted downturn in the housing market and consumers’ worsening outlook due to higher interest rates and persistently high inflation.

As the Fed raises interest rates at the fastest rate in three decades to keep up with escalating inflation, there is an increasing expectation on Wall Street that this will lead to an economic downturn.

This month, officials approved a fourth consecutive 75-basis-point rate increase, bringing the federal funds rate to a range of 3.75% to 4%, which is close to restrictive levels, and they gave no indication that they would stop raising rates.

A worrying development is that the Fed’s rate increases to date have not been able to control inflation: The consumer price index increased 7.7% from the prior year in October, according to government data released this month, approaching a 40-year high.

 

That suggests that the Fed will need to maintain its aggressive course, increasing the likelihood that it will stifle consumer demand and raise unemployment.

“Let me say this,” said Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. “It is very premature to be thinking about pausing. When people hear lags, they think about pauses. It’s very premature, in my view, to talk about pausing our rate hikes. We have a way to go.”

 

Despite being formally reinstated on Twitter, Donald Trump expressed skepticism about his future use of the social media site. After the riot at the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021, Trump was previously suspended from Twitter for allegedly inciting the violence or out of concern that he might do so in the future.

Trump announced that he would not be switching back to Twitter in a post on Truth Social, a social media platform he has used since being given a lifetime ban in January 2021.

“Vote now with positivity, but don’t worry, we aren’t going anywhere. Truth Social is special!” he posted.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk officially reinstated Trump over the weekend after conducting a poll that received more than 15 million votes from users.

“Reinstate former President Trump: Yes or No,” the poll asked.

Fifty-two percent of users said yes he should be allowed back to the platform, which has already restored other lifetime bans, such as the Babylon Bee, Kathy Griffin, and Jordan Peterson accounts.

“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated,” Musk wrote. “Vox Populi, Vox Dei.”

The people have spoken.

Trump will be reinstated.

Vox Populi, Vox Dei. https://t.co/jmkhFuyfkv

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 20, 2022

More than 134 million people saw the poll, according to Musk.

Trump, however, announced he would not be returning to the platform, even if he were reinstated.

“I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on TRUTH,” Trump said. “I hope Elon buys Twitter because he’ll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on TRUTH.”

Since taking over the platform, Musk has come under almost constant fire for firing the majority of its senior leadership and staff, overhauling the platform’s subscription and verification system, and announcing numerous changes to its moderation.

 

 

 

During a training run, a car going the wrong way accelerated into a group of 75 recruits from the Los Angeles County sheriff’s academy, leaving 25 injured in critical condition. A video of the incident has since surfaced.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva called the incident “very odd” and “horrific,” and it took place in Whittier early on Wednesday. The driver, a 22-year-old who failed a sobriety test and was arrested at the scene, suffered head trauma, broken bones, and “loss of limb,” according to the sheriff.

“It happened so quickly that just the people that just saw it veer into them, they jumped out of the way, but the people behind had no chance because they never saw it,” Villanueva described to reporters. “They didn’t have that sufficient warning. As soon as the accident happened, the chaos that ensued they said it looked like an airplane wreck, there were so many bodies scattered everywhere in different states of injuries.”

 

According to Villanueva, the class was eight weeks into a 22-week training course, and the California Highway Patrol is currently looking into the incident. Five of the 25 recruits who were hurt in the group, he continued, were critically hurt.

Eight of the recruits in the group were wearing reflective vests, according to Academy Capt. Pat McDonald, and two safety vehicles were watching over the entire class.

Video of the incident shows an SUV barreling toward the recruits and colliding with them before hitting a light pole by the side of the road.

“Thank God for that light pole, because the vehicle ultimately hit it and stopped, as opposed to possibly hitting more recruits,” McDonald said.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said that it is “hoping for all involved to have a full and speedy recovery.”

Republicans Jim Jordan and James Comer asserted that President Biden had been actively involved in international business dealings during a press conference on Thursday.

Citing whistleblowers, Comer announced that the Biden family “flourished and became millionaires by simply offering access to the family.”

“Was Joe Biden directly involved with Hunter Biden’s business deals, and is he compromised? That’s our investigation,” Comer declared.

Jordan is slated to take over as chair of the Judiciary Committee soon, and Comer will serve as the new chair of the House Oversight Committee.

The representatives claimed that Joe and Hunter Biden engaged in “waste, fraud, and abuse” in their dealings with foreign companies.

On Thursday, the Republicans published a report outlining their conclusions.

The Republicans claim to have found evidence of crimes such as money laundering, tax evasion, wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Comer claimed during the press conference that California Rep. Adam Schiff is to blame for the Oversight Committee’s recent decline in credibility.

The committee promised on Thursday to keep the media and general public informed of its specific findings.

According to court documents, Kayla Montgomery, the stepmother of a New Hampshire girl who has been missing for years and is presumed dead, has agreed to cooperate with the prosecution’s case against her husband, the girl’s father, and to plead guilty to unrelated charges.

The 32-year-old is charged with lying to a grand jury about a prior job from 2019, according to court papers filed in New Hampshire’s Hillsborough County Superior Court on Wednesday. The documents describe the 32-year-intent old’s to plead guilty to those charges. Prosecutors claimed she specifically lied about the start time of a shift and the address of her workplace.

Prosecutors have stated that they would drop the allegations that she had stolen guns in her possession and lied to the state about caring for Harmony Montgomery, a 5-year-old who disappeared in 2019, in order to receive welfare payments. After the girl’s death, Kayla allegedly told police that Harmony’s father was responsible.

A judge must first approve Kayla Montgomery’s plea agreement. She should receive a two-year prison sentence, according to the prosecution. On Friday, she is anticipated in court for a formal plea hearing and

Between November and December of 2019, Harmony was last reportedly seen with her father and stepmother.

It wasn’t until 2021 that the police even discovered she was missing. Adam Montgomery, her father, has since been accused of murder, abuse of a corpse, and fabrication of evidence. His defense was not guilty.

Adam Montgomery has a history of drug use and violent arrests, including one in 2014 for allegedly shooting a man in the face while robbing drugs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that will formalize same-sex marriage into federal law, advanced on Wednesday after the Senate overcame a significant procedural obstacle.

In a 62-37 vote, the bill received support from both parties, and a few Republicans voted to advance it, giving it the necessary votes to overcome the filibuster threshold of 60.

The top senate Democrat reaffirmed his intention to introduce the bill for a vote in September, but he decided to postpone the vote at the urging of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle to give the

“Much better to pass this legislation and move equality forward than simply have a show vote that would bring political reckoning, but no real change,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“If both parties can come together, today could be truly one of the highlights of the year for this body,” he said.

A vote on the bill’s final passage is anticipated this week or after the Thanksgiving break because the Senate will not align the legislation with the version previously approved by the House of Representatives.

A co-author of the bill, Susan Collins, R-Maine, also spoke, praising its protections for religious liberty and conscious rights and stating that it “recognizes the extraordinary and special importance of marriage on both an individual and societal level.”

Some conservative groups argue against the bill calling it “lip service to religious liberty while undermining the First Amendment freedoms available to each of us.”

“Right now, government officials across the country—including the Biden administration—argue in court that individuals and religious organizations who love and work with people from all walks of life should face civil and criminal penalties if they don’t abandon their beliefs on this issue,” said Kristen Waggoner CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom.

“Make no mistake, this bill will be used by officials and activists to punish and ruin those who do not share the government’s view on marriage,” she said.

“My job at the end of the day will always be to prioritize getting things passed through this chamber, and marriage equality is too important an issue to risk failure,” Schumer continued. “There’s every reason under the sun to move forward and begin debating this important legislation.”

 

An earlier campus threat was reported as blood was seen seeping from the home where four University of Idaho students were brutally murdered over the weekend.

Blood was seen dripping from the first-floor bedroom down an exterior wall at the back of the house in horrifying new photos of the crime scene.

An officer described the interior as being very bloody.

Back in September, campus security sent a massive group text known as a “Vandal Alert” to staff and students with the subject line “Threat with Knife” notifying everyone of the alarming incident.

“The Moscow Police Department received a report that a group of students was walking between the Steam Plant parking lot (Lot #14) and the Student Recreation Center on Paradise Path and were threatened by a person with a knife,” states the alert.

“No individual was harmed in the incident, but campus community members are advised to be cautious,” the notification stated.

The Moscow Police Department declined to comment on the incident, the suspect’s whereabouts, or whether it was related to the nearby quadruple homicides that happened on November 13 if they were connected.

Police announced they had not retrieved the murder weapon but thought it was likely a knife and called the gruesome killings an “isolated, targeted attack.” However, they added there is no imminent threat to the community.

Police were called to a report of an unconscious person at a rented house on King Road close to the university’s fraternity row, and they arrived to find the students’ bodies.

The campus community and the locals are on edge as a result of the shocking murders.

During testimony on Wednesday in the trial over his Tesla compensation package, Twitter CEO Elon Musk discussed his plans for the future of the social media company.

 

According to the Wall Street Journal, Musk stated during his deposition in the Delaware Court of Chancery that he plans to “reduce my time at Twitter” and “find somebody else to run” the social media company “over time.” He reportedly acknowledged that since purchasing Twitter in late October, a significant portion of his time has been devoted to it, but he expressed expectations that this would not be the case in the long run.

After a protracted legal battle, Musk and the social media company were given until October 28 to complete the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter by the same court and judge before whom he testified on Wednesday. Since assuming control, he has made significant changes to Twitter, including firing about 50% of the company’s employees and introducing a verification badge that can be purchased for $8 per month.

Musk stated that his workload “has recently increased quite a lot” and that he has “too much on my plate, that is for sure,” while participating virtually in a conference earlier in the week. He co-founded OpenAI, Neuralink, and The Boring Company, and he leads SpaceX in addition to his roles as CEO of Twitter and Tesla.

Musk tweeted that he had “been at Twitter SF HQ all night” and “will be working & sleeping here until org is fixed.” Adding that Twitter’s “fundamental organizational restructuring” is expected to be finished soon..

In the trial that began on Monday for a lawsuit brought by Tesla shareholder Richard Tornetta in 2018, Musk will testify. His compensation plan at the manufacturer of electric vehicles is being challenged and is intended to be invalidated.

According to a proxy statement, Musk received a 10-year grant of stock options that vest over 12 tranches as part of the Tesla compensation package, which could be worth more than $55 billion if the electric vehicle company meets certain market capitalization and operational benchmarks. The CEO receives options worth roughly 1% of Tesla’s stock for each tranche.

The trial is scheduled to continue through next week.

 

Over the weekend, Jay Leno had to postpone a performance in Las Vegas due to a medical emergency. On Saturday, November 12 at 12:28 p.m., Burbank Fire Department personnel responded to an “emergency medical call,” according to Battalion Chief Dave Burke’s statement.

Leno said in a statement, “I got some serious burns from a gasoline fire. I am OK. Just need a week or two to get back on my feet.”

The television icon is currently in stable condition and being treated at the Grossman Burn Center for injuries to his “face and hands from a gasoline accident in his garage,” said the Director of Strategic Communications at the West Hills Hospital & Medical Center.

She added, “He is in good humor and is touched by all the inquiries into his condition and well wishes. He wants to let everyone know he is doing well and is in ‘the best burn center in the United States.’”

The Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Erik Scott said, “We are not aware of any response matching that description,” in response to rumors that a fire started in Leno’s Burbank garage.

Leno has long been an expert on automotive culture. He worked as a mechanic while advancing in the stand-up comedy world, and he now owns more than 280 distinctive vehicles.

The impressive collection of rare, antique, and vintage vehicles is reportedly worth between $50 million and $100 million, though estimates fluctuate due to speculation about the potential value of some extremely rare automobiles.

On “Jay Leno’s Garage,” Leno displays his prized collection of automobiles, motorcycles, and all-terrain vehicles while chatting with car enthusiasts about their favorite makes and models.

His favorite automobiles include the 1972 Mercedes-Benz Kompressor, the 1994 McLaren F1, and the 1963 Jaguar XK-E.

The 2014 McLaren P1, with a $1.4 million price tag, was driven

After allegedly waiting the entire flight for water, a passenger was seen on camera demanding to be given some.

On Tuesday, Nov. 8, a male passenger on a flight from Bangkok, Thailand, to Singapore can be seen shouting at a flight attendant and requesting water.

The video was captured shortly after Singapore Airlines flight SQ711 touched down at Changi Airport in Singapore.

The passenger is heard making fun of the flight attendant and lamenting the lack of water he received during the two-hour flight.

“You actually think I’m going to listen, right? Why don’t you get me water,” he said.

The passenger even made a threat to push the attendant aside once in order to get the

“I’m going to push you over. Get some water,” he said.

The male flight attendant was verbally abused by the passenger before being presented with a bottle of water.

“I asked for water for two hours. … After two hours I get water, wow,” he said.

The passenger was escorted off the aircraft after being seen drinking the water.

Then, the other travelers who had seen the event burst into applause.

The passenger was supposed to be seated, according to the viral video’s videographer, who was sitting a few seats away when the incident occurred.

“The seat belt sign was still on, and he was supposed to be seated,” the person who took the video said.

“He wasted all the passengers’ time while the ground staff and security took him off the plane.”

The man had been acting inappropriately during the meal service, according to a Singapore Airlines spokesman.

“After his multiple requests for alcohol, our cabin crew assessed the situation and politely declined to serve him alcohol to ensure the safety of our customers on board the flight.”

The airline stated that the safety of its passengers and crew was the number one priority.