Lee Ardis

RETAIL APOCALYPSE: Over 800 Retail Stores Set to Collapse Due to Inflation, Interest Rates, Crime

A mass exodus of retail stores across America is on the horizon as more than 800 big box locations set to close shop for good.

Big names set to close or downsize included Bed Bath & Beyond, Walmart, Gap and Party City.

Soaring inflation means people are struggling to make ends meet and do not have the same disposable income they did a few years ago.

Combine that with rising interest rates, rampant crime, and you have a perfect storm.

There are at least 803 stores set to close over the rest of 2023, with many desperate trying to cut costs.

But it’s not just retail struggling. Silicon Valley is also braced for the economic downturn, with 70,000 jobs already lost in recent months, as we reported in January.

UN report: Uranium particles enriched to 83.7% found in Iran

Inspectors from the United Nations nuclear watchdog found uranium particles enriched up to 83.7% in Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear site, a report seen Tuesday by The Associated Press said.

The confidential quarterly report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency distributed to member states likely will raise tensions further between Iran and the West over its nuclear program. That’s even as Tehran already faces internal unrest after months of protests and Western anger over sending bomb-carrying drones to Russia for its war on Ukraine.

The IAEA report only speaks about “particles,” suggesting that Iran isn’t building a stockpile of uranium enriched above 60% — the level it has been enriching at for some time.

The IAEA report described inspectors discovering on Jan. 21 that two cascades of IR-6 centrifuges at Iran’s Fordo facility had been configured in a way “substantially different” to what had been previously declared. The IAEA took samples the following day, which showed particles up to 83.7% purity, the report said.

Iran can make fissile material for a bomb ‘in about 12 days’ – U.S. official

Iran could make enough fissile for one nuclear bomb in “about 12 days,” a top U.S. Defense Department official said on Tuesday, down from the estimated one year it would have taken while the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was in effect.

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl made the comment to a House of Representatives hearing when pressed by a Republican lawmaker why the Biden administration had sought to revive the deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)

“Because Iran’s nuclear progress since we left the JCPOA has been remarkable. Back in 2018, when the previous administration decided to leave the JCPOA it would have taken Iran about 12 months to produce one bomb’s worth of fissile material. Now it would take about 12 days,” Kahl, the third ranking Defense Department official, told lawmakers.

“And so I think there is still the view that if you could resolve this issue diplomatically and put constraints back on their nuclear program, it is better than the other options. But right now, the JCPOA is on ice,” Kahl added.

Hamas: Huwara riots are a ‘declaration of war,’ cross all red lines

Suhai al-Hindi: “We are required to confront this conspiracy, killing and arson, with all our might, and the occupation knows only the language of force.”

The settler riots that swept Huwara on Sunday are a “declaration of war” and cross all red lines, warned Hamas political bureau official Suhai al-Hindi on Tuesday.

“The results of the Aqaba Summit are more killing, blood, and destruction for our Palestinian people, and what Nablus witnessed was a joint attack, as the occupation soldiers sponsor settlers to kill the Palestinian person and burn the Palestinian house and Palestinian entity,” said Hindi to the Palestinian news outlet Al-Watan Voice.

“We, on our part as Palestinians, cannot in any way accept this equation, and we cannot raise the white flag or accept that the enemy harms the Palestinian people,” added Hindi. “We are required to confront this conspiracy, killing and arson, with all our might, and the occupation knows only the language of force, not the language of dialogue, agreements and meetings.”

Hindi additionally pointed to riots that have taken place in recent days along the Gaza border, saying “The message of the rebellious youth in the eastern Gaza Strip is very clear, that when the Palestinian people suffer, the settler here on the Gaza border must suffer.”

Army Chief Warns Conflict With China Will Result In Strikes On US Mainland

Speaking at a recent event at the American Enterprise Institute, Christine Wormuth, Secretary of the Army, outlined the potential risks facing the U.S. homeland in the event of conflict with China. She explained that the Chinese military could launch kinetic and non-kinetic attacks, including cyberattacks on power grids and pipelines, in an attempt to erode support for any conflict.

Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn, Commander of U.S. Army Pacific, urged that American forces must be prepared and should accelerate their preparations, emphasizing that 2023 is an important year to create “enduring advantage.” He stated that the U.S. military is ready to respond to any threat that may arise and urged his forces to position themselves strategically to be ready to respond should the situation escalate beyond control.

Tensions have been rapidly escalating between China and the United States as experts warn that the two superpowers may be on a collision course towards war. In November 2021, Chinese dictator Xi Jinping ordered his troops to prepare for war and declared unifying Taiwan with mainland China “must be achieved”. Most experts predict that Beijing is “all but guaranteed” to attack Taiwan – it is just a matter of when.

Such a conflict would cut off U.S. access to world-leading semiconductors and other critical components manufactured in Taiwan. Not to mention the numerous pharmaceutical and consumer products we already rely upon China directly for. U.S. supplies of many products would soon run low, shutting down many businesses who rely on just in time inventory. Rationing, unemployment and inflation are all sure to follow.

20,000 people may have been exposed to measles at Asbury University revival: CDC

An estimated 20,000 people who flocked to Asbury University in Kentucky last month to participate in a two-week-long prayer event could have been exposed to measles by an attendee later found to be infected with the highly contagious virus, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned.

According to the CDC, measles, which spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes, “is so contagious that if one person has it, 9 out of 10 people of all ages around him or her will also become infected if they are not protected.”

Asbury University said in a statement that the infected revival participant is a Jessamine County resident who was unvaccinated and asymptomatic when they attended the event, which started on Feb. 8. The infected participant attended the event on Feb. 18.

As of Feb. 28, only 3 cases of measles have been reported nationwide, including the Asbury revival participant. The agency urges doctors to “be on high alert for measles symptoms” among people who attended the event.

Texas sheriff warns that America is experiencing a ‘silent invasion’ of military age men

What’s happening at the southern U.S. border with Mexico is in fact an invasion, Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe says.

“We’re experiencing a silent invasion of military age men,” Coe told The Center Square when describing what his deputies have been increasingly facing over the past two years.

He spoke with The Center Square during an Operation Lone Star task force multi-day operation during which law enforcement officers rescued foreign nationals from a burning vehicle and revived a five-year-old girl being smuggled who’d been stashed inside of a car’s trunk.

The “silent invasion,” Coe said, is being committed primarily by single, military age men between the ages of 17 and 45 who are illegally entering the U.S. They’re wearing camouflage and carrying backpacks, according to video captured by cameras placed throughout the county viewed by The Center Square. Many are armed and dangerous, committing robberies and engaging in shootouts with law enforcement, Coe said.

Spain decriminalizes sexual relations with animals as long as there is no physical injury that requires a veterinary visit

In case you didn’t think the world was sinking low enough with all the gender/pedophilia craziness, I give you Spain’s new Animal Welfare Law that decriminalizes having sex with animals because zoophiles are just another spectrum on the trans flag.

Here’s a link to a zoophilia march in Germany if you’re a moral human being having trouble believing this is a thing. It’s age-restricted on Youtube, so I’m not going to embed it here.

The Spanish zoophilia-affirming law was pushed by Ione Belarra Urteaga, the Minister of Social Rights and 2030 Agenda.

Now, let’s pause a moment and think about that. There’s an actual ministry of the Spanish federal government with the words “2030 Agenda” in its official title.

In addition to championing human/animal love the 2030 Agenda ministry also oversees family affairs, minors protection, disability and prevention of youth crime, adoptions and foster care, and the promotion of cultural communication and youth association.

Kamala Harris Claims Biden Admin Reduced Electricity Costs. Here Are Some Facts.

Vice President Kamala Harris claimed on Wednesday that the Biden administration has decreased electricity prices for American families even as data indicate the exact opposite.

Harris remarked during a speech at Bowie State University in Maryland that efforts from the White House to lower costs have translated to lower power bills. “For working families,” she said, “we have reduced heating and electricity bills so folks have more money in their pocket to buy things like school supplies, replace the dishwasher, or take a family vacation.”

The national average cost of electricity has nevertheless increased from $0.136 per kilowatt-hour in January 2021 to $0.168 per kilowatt-hour in January 2023, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, constituting a 24% increase over the two years since President Joe Biden assumed office. Electricity costs had remained relatively stable for the previous decade, never exceeding $0.150 per kilowatt-hour until March 2022.

Power costs in the northeastern United States increased 39%, from $0.169 per kilowatt-hour to $0.235 per kilowatt-hour, between January 2021 and January 2023, while western and midwestern cities, respectively, saw prices rise 17% and 15% over the same time horizon.

Even more severe trends exist for utility natural gas: national average prices for the fuel rose 63% between January 2021 and January 2023, according to more data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Prices for utility gas increased 112% for cities in the western United States, while prices rose 55% and 47% in the midwestern and northeastern portions of the country.

Canada: Committee Urges Govt To Extend Assisted Suicide To ‘Mature Minors’

A Canadian parliamentary committee has recommended the government expand its assisted suicide policies to allow “mature minors” to seek medical assistance to end their lives.

The parliamentary committee put out a report with 23 recommendations for the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, among them a call to allow “mature minors” to seek Medical Assistance in Dying, known as MAiD in Canada.

The report does, however, suggest that the children who undergo assisted suicide should only do so if their natural death is “reasonably foreseeable” the National Post newspaper reports.

Members so the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) expressed dissent in the report on the subject of allowing children to seek MAiD and stated they could not back all of the recommendations in the report.

Other recommendations from the committee include calling on the government to look into the views of minors themselves on the topic of assisted suicide and their personal experiences.

Earlier this month, the Trudeau government moved to delay an expansion to MAiD that would have allowed people only suffering from mental illnesses to seek out assisted suicide.

Justice Minister David Lametti, who has previously directly compared MAiD to suicide, claimed the year-long delay was needed to “ensure that we move forward on this sensitive and complex issue in a prudent and measured way.”

“It will provide time to help provincial and territorial partners and the medical and nursing communities to prepare to deliver MAiD in these circumstances,” he said and added, “the safety of Canadians just comes first.”