Black Horse – Page 3 – The Faithful Watchman

Indonesia earthquake: Search for survivors as death toll soars

Rescuers in Indonesia have continued their efforts to find survivors trapped after Monday’s earthquake in West Java.

The latest official figures say 271 people were killed – many of them children – and are 40 still missing. Hundreds of others were injured.

Damaged roads and the vast size of the affected area are making it difficult to locate and help victims.

Aprizal Mulyadi was at school when the quake hit, and was trapped after “the room collapsed”.

The 14-year-old said his “legs were buried under the rubble”, but he was pulled to safety by his friend Zulfikar, who later died after himself becoming trapped.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said on Tuesday that 22,000 houses had been damaged, and that more than 58,000 people had taken shelter in several locations in the region.

The 5.6 magnitude quake struck a mountainous region the previous day, causing landslides that buried entire villages near the West Java town of Cianjur.

Florida picks up after Nicole kills at least 5 and leaves ‘unprecedented’ damage to Daytona-area coastline

As Nicole threatens the Carolinas and Virginia on Friday with tornadoes and flooding, Floridians – many still recovering from Hurricane Ian – are picking up the pieces after this week’s storm killed at least five people and ripped apart buildings with its dangerous storm surge and powerful winds.

In Volusia County, Florida, at least 49 beachfront properties, including hotels and condos, have been deemed “unsafe” in the aftermath of Nicole, which hit Florida’s eastern coast south of Vero Beach as a Category 1 hurricane early Thursday before weakening into a tropical storm and eventually becoming a post-tropical cyclone Friday afternoon.

“The structural damage along our coastline is unprecedented,” Volusia County Manager George Recktenwald said in a news conference, adding more buildings will likely be identified as compromised.

Housing Affordability Plummets To New Low, With All The Least Affordable Housing Markets In California

Housing affordability has fallen to its lowest level in a decade, with all of the least affordable markets in the state of California, according to data from the National Association of Home Builders.

The organization’s Housing Opportunity Index shows that a mere 42.2% of American families earning $90,000 per year were able to afford new and existing homes sold between the beginning of July and the end of September. Affordability is expected to weaken further as mortgage rates increase.

“The housing market and affordability conditions have continued to weaken throughout the year as rising mortgage rates, supply chain bottlenecks and a lack of skilled construction workers continue to push housing costs higher,” National Association of Home Builders Chairman Jerry Konter said in a statement. “Entry-level buyers are particularly hurt, as more of them are getting priced out of the market.”

The organization has not recorded a lower affordability reading since its analysts began tracking the metric consistently in 2012. The most recent affordability data marks the second consecutive quarterly record low.

Read more at: www.dailywire.com

Biden Doubles Down On Student Loan Cancellation Despite Federal Ruling

The Biden administration doubled down on its move to cancel student debt for millions of borrowers after a federal judge nixed the controversial program.

U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman in the Northern District of Texas declared the debt cancellation plan illegal on Thursday evening in response to a lawsuit filed by the Job Creators Network Foundation’s Legal Action Fund. The student loan cancellation plan would eliminate $10,000 in debt for borrowers earning under $125,000 per year and $20,000 for students who attended college using Pell Grants.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that an appeal has already been filed. “The President and this administration are determined to help working and middle-class Americans get back on their feet, while our opponents — backed by extreme Republican special interests — sued to block millions of Americans from getting much-needed relief,” she remarked. “We will never stop fighting for hardworking Americans most in need — no matter how many roadblocks our opponents and special interests try to put in our way.”

Read more at: www.dailywire.com

Top Hedge Fund Firm: ‘Dishonest’ Officials Set World On Path To ‘Hyperinflation,’ ‘Societal Collapse’ Possible

One of the world’s largest and most influential hedge funds is warning that “dishonest” policymakers have set the world on the path to potentially the worst period of hyperinflation in modern history, which could result in “societal collapse.”

Elliott Management, a Florida-based firm founded by billionaire Paul Singer, said in a letter this week that an extraordinary set of rash policies during the coronavirus pandemic have “made possible a set of outcomes that would be at or beyond the boundaries of the entire post-WWII period.”

“Investors should not assume they have ‘seen everything’” just because they’ve lived through numerous other financial crises, the letter said, according to the Financial Times, the idea that “‘we will not panic because we have seen this before’ does not comport with the current facts.”

Read more at: www.dailywire.com

Unemployment Spikes Upward As Economy Deals With Rate Hikes And Elevated Prices; Biden Reacts

The unemployment rate reached 3.7% in the month of October as payrolls rose by 261,000, according to a Friday report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The health care sector saw the most robust employment gains, while professional services and manufacturing likewise witnessed notable increases. The hospitality industry continues to suffer most from labor shortages, with employment continuing to remain well below levels seen at the beginning of 2020.

Jobless rates have remained between 3.5% and 3.7% for much of the year. The most recent figures indicate a 0.2% uptick from levels recorded in September.

Read more at: www.dailywire.com

Latest GDP report shows US economy grew 2.6%, but recession risks loom

Call it the calm before the storm.

After shrinking the first half of the year, the U.S. economy rebounded from July through September despite inflation that has hovered near a 40-year high and sharply rising interest rates. But the performance likely marked reprieve ahead of next year’s projected recession rather than a sign of brighter outlook.

The solid showing was fueled by a more favorable trade balance and modest rises in consumer and business spending, offsetting another plunge in housing construction and weaker business stockpiling.

“The U.S. economy is undeniably cooling,” Gregory Daco, chief economist of EY-Parthenon, wrote in a note to clients.

The nation’s gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced in the U.S., grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.6% in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Bloomberg had forecast a 2.3% rise in output.

Powerful M6.8 earthquake kills one in Michoacan, Mexico just three days after a M7.6 shook the same area, killing two

Strange Sounds – September 22, 2022

A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 struck Mexico early Thursday, causing buildings to sway and leaving at least one person dead in the nation’s capital.

The earthquake struck shortly after 1 a.m., just three days after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake shook western and central Mexico, killing two.

The U.S. Geological Survey said Thursday’s earthquake, like Monday’s, was centered in the western state of Michoacan near the Pacific coast.

The epicenter was about 29 miles (46 kilometers) south-southwest of Aguililla, Michoacan, at a depth of about 15 miles (24.1 kilometers).

Michoacan’s state government said the quake was felt throughout the state.

It reported damage to a building in the city of Uruapan and some landslides on the highway that connects Michoacan and Guerrero with the coast.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said via Twitter that it was an aftershock from Monday’s quake and was also felt in the states of Colima, Jalisco and Guerrero.

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said via Twitter that one woman died in a central neighborhood when she fell down the stairs of her home.

The earthquake rattled an already jittery country.

Monday’s more powerful quake was the third major earthquake to strike on Sept. 19 — in 1985, 2017 and now 2022.

https://strangesounds.org

Brace Yourself: Food Shortages Will Be a Reality in the West This Winter

Stacey Lennox – September 07, 2022

Because most people don’t know a farmer personally anymore, everyone should realize that they don’t make piles of money producing our food. A good year can be followed by three bad ones, and 2022 has been a burden. Between record heat waves in the U.S. and abroad, droughts in the middle of the country, fertilizer shortages, and rising costs for just about every farm input, many American farms are on the brink. Everyone will feel the pinch in continued food price increases and shortages at the store.

As bad as the agricultural outlook is in America, it is far worse in Europe. The dedication to a green energy suicide pact on the continent is colliding with the news Russia will not ship any fossil fuels until the West lifts sanctions. The skyrocketing energy prices have farmers leaving crops in the fields to die.

Norway’s largest vegetable producer is also considering storing the vegetables on the field for as long as possible beyond the autumn. It will be too expensive to store and cool the vegetables in the usual way. One carrot producer is already beyond the appropriate harvest time and believes his harvest will only be good for “pig fodder.”

Nearly every Western nation is proposing ways to control nitrogen emissions. Nitrogen is essential to plant growth. Even if a grower uses hydroponic systems, the plant food in the water contains nitrogen. I plant peas every fall in my own garden to nitrogen-fix the soil. Elites in Davos and the EU believe they have the solution to make agriculture more environmentally friendly. Their arrogance leads to a 21st century Lysenkoism that is anti-science and pro-scarcity.

And American farmers won’t escape the green power grab. The “Inflation Reduction Act” puts farmers under the control of the EPA to govern nitrogen emissions. Additionally, it allocates $20 billion to fund “climate-smart agricultural practices.” News from Europe helps us to predict how bureaucrats will use this money. Regulators will spend it reducing meat production further, especially beef, and lowering food output by restricting fertilizer and energy from fossil fuels.

Farmers are the most conservation-minded people alive because their livelihood depends on it. Yet, no Western government seems at all interested in listening to them.

https://pjmedia.com

China earthquake death toll rises to 82

Space Daily – September 8, 2022

The death toll from a strong earthquake that struck southwest China rose to 82, state media reported Thursday, as rain and possible mudslides threatened the search for dozens of missing people.

The magnitude 6.6 quake hit about 43 kilometres (26 miles) southeast of the city of Kangding in Sichuan province at a depth of 10 kilometres on Monday, according to the US Geological Survey, forcing thousands to be resettled into temporary camps.

State broadcaster CCTV said that 46 people died in Ganzi prefecture near the epicentre, while 36 deaths were reported in neighbouring Ya’an city.

More than 270 were injured, while the number of missing remained at 35, CCTV reported.

The national weather service said moderate rain will continue in the affected earthquake area on Thursday and Friday, with some localised heavy showers.

“Since the post-earthquake geological conditions are inherently fragile, and the impact of additional rainfall may lead to landslides and mudslides, the local area needs to beware of secondary disasters,” China’s meteorological administration said.

The People’s Liberation Army, paramilitary police, and fire rescue services dispatched more than 10,000 workers to the area, who continued search operations and landslide clean-up efforts in the remote countryside.

https://www.spacedaily.com