June 29, 2020

Trump in 'fragile' mood and may drop out of 2020 race

Source: The Independent

Donald Trump may drop out of the 2020 presidential race if he believes he has no chance of winning, a Republican Party operative reportedly told Fox News.

The claim comes in a report in the president’s favourite news outlet that cites a number of GOP insiders who are concerned about Mr Trump’s re-election prospects amid abysmal polling numbers.

Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, currently holds an average lead of nine points over the incumbent, according to a tracker of 2020 polls by RealClearPolitics.

Crucially, Mr Trump has lost support from older white voters — typically a bedrock of support for the Republican Party and a group that was crucial to his narrow 2016 victory. Mr Trump is also trailing the former vice president in almost all the swing states.

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election/trump-2020-us-election-drop-out-fox-news-republican-a9592036.html

---

The source is anonymous, so I'm a bit skeptical.

June 20, 2020

N Carolina protesters hang Confederate statue from post

Source: AP/Yahoo News

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Protesters in North Carolina's capital pulled down parts of a Confederate monument Friday night and hanged one of the toppled statues from a light post.

Demonstrators used a strap to pull down two statues of Confederate soldiers that were part of a larger obelisk near the state capitol in downtown Raleigh, news outlets reported.

Police officers earlier in the evening had foiled the protesters' previous attempt to use ropes to topple the statues. But after the officers cleared the area, protesters mounted the obelisk and were able to take down the statues.

They then dragged the statues down a street and used a rope to hang one of the figures by its neck from a light post. The other statue was dragged to the Wake County courthouse, according to the News & Observer.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/n-carolina-protesters-hang-confederate-130548855.html

---

Hallelujah!

May 15, 2020

Coronavirus pushes German economy into recession

Source: BBC.com

Germany's economy shrank by 2.2% in the first three months of this year as the coronavirus pandemic pushed it into recession, official figures indicate.

It was the biggest quarterly fall since 2009, when the country was engulfed in the global financial crisis.

The figures from the Federal Statistics Office come as Germany takes its first tentative steps to exit lockdown.

Shops are reopening, pupils will gradually return to class and football is restarting behind closed doors.

At the same time, figures for the final three months of 2019 were revised to show a contraction of 0.1%.

That means German GDP growth has been negative for two successive quarters, the technical definition of a recession.

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52673727

April 28, 2020

Jesse Ventura weighing presidential run on Green Party ticket

Source: New York Post

Former WWE star Jesse Ventura has admitted he is considering jumping in the ring with a wildcard presidential run — only days after bashing rumors about it.

“OK, I’ve decided I’m going to test the waters. IF I were going to run for president, the GREEN party would be my first choice,” the 68-year-old wrestler-turned-Minnesota governor tweeted Monday.

“To be clear: I haven’t filed anything. I authorized a letter of interest that was sent on my behalf to the Greens and I’m testing the waters for Green Party nomination,” he said.

“I’m an independent. I’m not a Democrat or a Republican because I know they’re not the solution.”

Read more: https://nypost.com/2020/04/28/jesse-ventura-weighing-presidential-run-on-green-party-ticket/

---

This guy is Trump, but not an idiot....

April 24, 2020

US unemployment rate approaches 20%, economists say

Source: Salon.com

US unemployment rate approaches 20%, economists say
Last week's 4.4 million new unemployment claims don't account for the backlog that has yet to be processed

NICOLE KARLIS
APRIL 23, 2020 11:00PM (UTC)
On Thursday, the Department of Labor released data showing that 4.4 million Americans filed for unemployment insurance last week. This brings the number of initial jobless claims to a total of over 26 million since the coronavirus pandemic brought the U.S. economy to a standstill five weeks ago.

For context, this means all job gains since the Great Recession have disappeared. At this rate, 2020 is predicted to exceed historically horrific full-year unemployment totals. That includes 1982, when unemployment reached 30.4 million, and 2009, when it reached 29.8 million.

"Today's report shows the labor market is almost certainly pushing into new territory, jolting the unemployment rate up above the Great Recession's 10% peak and wiping out more jobs than we've gained in the recovery," Daniel Zhao, senior economist at Glassdoor, an online job search firm, told Reuters.


Read more: https://www.salon.com/2020/04/23/us-unemployment-rate-approaches-20-economists-say/

---

So much winning...

March 10, 2020

Biden's confrontation with ammosexual

[link:http://

|

I'm pleased Biden stood up to him.

June 5, 2019

Schwere Schaden nach Tornado in Bocholt

Source: Nachrichtenagentur dpa

Im münsterländischen Bocholt hat in der Nacht zum Mittwoch ein Tornado erhebliche Schäden verursacht. Der Sturm hatte in einem Straßenzug verheerende Schäden angerichtet. Dachziegel wirbelten umher, ein Dach wurde vollständig abgedeckt. Ein Auto wurde vom Wind erfasst und zehn Meter weit durch die Luft geschleudert. Fenster und Wintergärten gingen zu Bruch, Bäume wurden entwurzelt. Insgesamt wurden nach Angaben der Stadt neun Häuser beschädigt und etwa 100 Bäume entwurzelt.

Read more: https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/panorama/katastrophen/id_85875266/bocholt-schwere-schaeden-nach-tornado.html

---

I'm expecting this to be deleted, but this is more than just anecdotal evidence of climate change. Tornadoes are all but unheard of in Germany, and the fact that there was one this severe is noteworthy. I have not found any mainstream reporting from English sources as yet.