Retail Closures in US Hit Pandemic Levels

January 2, 2025

StoreClosuresRetail

Over 6,481 retailers have closed their doors since the beginning of the new year, according to data from Coresight Research in November, but that figure is expected to reach 7,327, marking a 57.8% increase in closures since 2023.

During the pandemic, closures exceeded openings by 180 stores in 2020, with the gap widening in 2021 to 6,000 retailers. There were 5,919 store openings in 2023, barely easing the burden. While online shopping has nulled the need for many brick and mortars, the types of retailers that experienced the steepest declines are telling.

Nothing at the dollar store costs a dollar. That changed years ago during the pandemic, thanks to tariffs and supply chain issues. Retailers had to mark up these cheap goods to make a meager profit. As a result, Family Dollar shut their door to 677 locations and 99 Cents Only stores shed 371. Big Lots, also known for selling discounted items, has been forced to close 580 locations, although the bankruptcy played a larger role.

Rite Aid also experienced bankruptcy in 2024, closing 408 locations. Pharmacies, in general, took a major hit this past year. Walgreens plans to close 1,200 locations over the next three years and lost 259 locations in 259. CVS closed 586 locations as well. The convenience of picking up items while at the pharmacy does not overshadow the need for a discount. People are not willing to pay more for essentials at the pharmacy when they can receive them for a discounted price elsewhere. The same goes for convenience stores like 7-Eleven which shed 492 locations in 2024 with plans to close another 400 worldwide.

Another major contributing factor is the workforce – people do not want to work low-wage jobs that do not support their cost of living. Enter any pharmacy or low-end store, and you will find a severe shortage of workers. One pharmacy by me that is part of a major chain is only open two days a week because they simply do not have the staff to keep it operating.

There is a reason that retail closures are at their highest level since the pandemic. Americans are spending more on less and their spending habits are shifting from convenience to practicality.

Biden Out of Office 40% of Term

January 2, 2025

Biden 2024 Lets finish the job

Countless Americans saved up their PTO throughout the year to enjoy the holiday season with family. The leader of this nation need not take such precautions. I’ve reported that Joe Biden has only been a part-time president, and that claim still holds true as it has been revealed that the president spent 40% of his presidency out of office.

The president has been unavailable for 570 days of his entire term thus far. This is what I say when I explain there is no one at the helm in Washington. Biden now holds the record for being the least active president in American history.

BidenBeach

I believe this has less to do with laziness and more to do with the simple fact that the man is unwell. A newly released report shows that Biden began showing signs of mental decline long before his 2020 Presidential Campaign and the White House was forced to  “adapt … around the needs of a diminished leader.”

The report notes that Biden was unable to handle long meetings without becoming fatigued. The White House was unable to hold early morning meetings and often canceled meeting entirely when the president was having a bad day. “He has good days and bad days, and today was a bad day so we’re going to address this tomorrow,” one aid commented.

A picture of Joe Biden relaxing on the beach in Delaware has accompanied nearly every crisis that America has faced over the past four years. Let us not forget that Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents resulted in deeming the PRESIDENT too mentally unfit to stand for trial. Hur said the public would see Biden as a “well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory” if he were to stand trial. In other words, the public was never meant to see his decline.

The public should be absolutely outraged that the Biden Administration hid this crucial information from the people. Anyone with integrity would have called for his resignation. Instead, we were fed lies for four years and told to look the other way when disastrous mistakes happened under his watch.

Ignoring the Supreme Court

January 1, 2025

 

Roberts Sworn In

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts came out strong against what has been encroaching upon the very foundation of our tripartite government. Mainly, the Democrats have been attaching the court for overruling Roe vs Wade’s abortion ruling, which was clearly outrageously unconstitutional. The Democrats have no problem discriminating against anyone who has money they want to get their hands on. Suddenly, there is no Equal Protection of the Law. But somehow, Due Process includes the right to have an abortion? Never has such a ruling ever been applied to any social program.

2009 Ginsberg Eugenics

Even Justice Ginsberg said when she was on the Court that Roe vs Wade was all about eugenics – not women’s rights. Chief Justice Roberts warned what he described as “dangerous” talk by some officials about ignoring federal court rulings, using an annual report stressing the importance of an independent judiciary.

Roberts wrote about officials “from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings,” in the report just released by the Supreme Court. “These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be soundly rejected.” The chief justice didn’t detail specific politicians.

In all fairness, Trump has repeatedly argued the federal judiciary is rigged. There is no question that is the case. The point is not to ignore the Supreme Court, the circuit courts already do that. In my own case, the Supreme Court had ruled in Grupo Mexicano de Desarrollo, S. A. v. Alliance Bond Fund, Inc., 527 U.S. 308 (1999) on June 17th, about 3 months before my case began. My lawyers raised the case that clearly said there was no such authority whatsoever to even bring the case against me since we were buying portfolios in Japan and issued 10-year notes that were UNSECURED, and all accounts in New York were in my name – not clients.

The District Court lacked the authority to issue a preliminary injunction preventing petitioners from disposing of their assets pending adjudication of respondents’ contract claim for money damages because such a remedy was historically unavailable from a court of equity. 

Altering Transcripts closing court

 

AP 42700 r2

Constitutionally, both the Sixth Amendment and Due Process of Law require court proceedings to be open to the public. The judge took my lawyers away, closed the courtroom, threw the Associated Press Out, and then the Second Circuit claimed the lost the appeal THREE TIMES and then refused to hear the issue.

Owen Changing Transcripts

 

Judge Richard Oweb was altering the transcripts, and I made a motion to recuse, forcing him to admit that he was committing a felony. Again, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals knew what was taking place and, in public opinion, claimed it did not have the power to order judges to comply with the law.

“According to counsel, the Southern District is somewhat unique in this practice. See Leiwant Decl. at 2.

Courts do not have power to alter transcripts in camera and to conceal the alterations from the parties.11  Given the issues that arose in this case as a direct result of this practice, there appears to be little justification for continuing the practice in its present form. To be sure, a procedure that corrects obvious mistakes in transmission is useful, and the parties have little interest in closely monitoring such a procedure so long as the alterations are cosmetic. Monitoring by the parties, however, provides some assurance that only cosmetic changes will be made or, if not, that changes will correctly reflect what transpired in the particular proceeding. Moreover, there is little cost in informing the parties of cosmetic changes or at least of directing court reporters to give parties access to the original transcript when they request it.

Nevertheless, whether we have the power to order a change in such a practice is unclear.12  We review judgments, and our review of the convictions and sentences here may not be an appropriate vehicle for the fine tuning of this practice. However, we invite the judges of the Southern District to consider revision.”

UNITED STATES v. ZICHETTELLO 208 F3d 72 (2d Cir 2000)

18 U.S.C. § 1506 states:

“Whoever feloniously steals, takes away, alters, falsifies, or avoids any record, writ, process, or other proceedings, in any United States court, whereby any judgment is reversed, made void or does not take effect; or whoever acknowledges, or procures, in any such court, any recognizance, bail, or judgment, in the name of someone, not privy or consenting to the same, shall be fined or imprisoned up to five years, or both.”

This hatred of Trump and his agenda is putting us on a collision course with a Supreme Court as they try to prevent him from taking office using the 14th Amendment if they dare. Still, they will try to challenge many issues, and if they lose, they will retaliate against the court.

The likelihood of ignoring the Supreme Court has often been a problem. Even back in 1957, for instance, President Dwight Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock to integrate its schools after officials sought to defy Supreme Court decisions that found segregated schools unconstitutional.

Roberts stated that some “public officials” had “regrettably” attempted to intimidate judges by “suggesting political bias in the judge’s adverse rulings without a credible basis for such allegations.” Those attempts, he warned, are “inappropriate and should be vigorously opposed.” Indeed, the press reports that appointed them when they rendered a decision imply that they are not interpreting the Constitution but politics. This is the very source of the problem that the press suggests that a decision they do not like should not be followed.

 

Happy New Year!

January 1, 2025

happynewyear2025

Happy New Year! We hope that our content has helped you to navigate 2024 — the political year from hell. We will keep you informed on what to expect as we look ahead to 2025.

2025 – What Now?

December 31, 2024

opening door to 2025

I will be posting a review of the closings for 2024 tomorrow

on the Private Blog.

NATO & Invoking Article 5

December 31, 2024

NATO Article 5

COMMENT: Martin,

I must admit, I have never read NATO article 5 until this morning while reading your post from yesterday.
Looking at the actual wording, it seems to me that the whole article revolves around one little word, namely “it”.  In this case, it refers to each NATO member nation in the case of an attack on any other member nation.  To summarize:
“…each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence…will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking…such action as IT deems necessary…”
Thus, each member nation is neither bound nor sworn to join into any attack, but only bound to take whatever action it feels necessary.
For example, a member nation could limit its support to humanitarian aid.  Furthermore, if a member nation believes any NATO nation provoked the attack, or believed the attack was a false flag, then the member nation could “deem” that no action was necessary at all except to discuss terms of peace.
You certainly have more experience in the law, but am I mistaken here?
-DB

Tehran Iran 2

REPLY: That is very correct. Trump would not be bound to join WWIII. That is why they are scheming to try to delay his inauguration so they can invoke Article 5. Just for the record, the last time Article 5 was invoked was 911 to justify invading Iraq, which had nothing to do with 911 and never had weapons of mass destruction. It was Dick Cheney who schemed to invade Iraq, and then they intended to go right into Tehran.
NATO Article 5 2001

 

It was Dick Cheney who crafted the intelligence, and to cover his ass, he invoked Article 5 to start his war, which was, I believe, to conquer the Middle East. The US pitched it in October 2001, and as this article quotes, they provided “clear and compelling” evidence. Everything presented to justify this quest to conquer the Middle East was a lie, as always. They are preparing the very same strategy to conquer Russia and divide the spoils of the wealthiest nation on earth in terms of natural resources.

 

They have lied to start every single war because they get to expand the government and line their pockets. They have no remorse for the people who die in these actions. These people who constantly push for war are Psychopaths and are classified as people with little or no conscience but can follow social conventions when it suits their needs. They are far more dangerous than a mere Sociopath who cannot feel empathy and remorse but possesses merely antisocial personality disorder (APD) rather than a deliberate and conniving Psychopath.

 

 

Here is Lyndsey Grachm for once telling the truth. This is not about democracy, and nobody cares if any Ukrainians remain. This is about strip-ming Russian assets. They will invoke Article 5, and the main country NATO is pushing to be the attack-dog is Poland.

The Second US State to Tax Fossil Fuel Companies

December 31, 2024

Oil Tanker

New York state has enacted a bill to extort fossil fuel companies in the name of climate change. Governor Kathy Hochul believes the bill will generate $75 billion in funds for the state over the next 25 years, which she claims will be used to fight climate change.

Why would any energy company want to operate out of New York? The fines for merely existing are unclear, but the New York Department of Environmental Conservation will begin determining the extent of each company’s greenhouse gas emissions. Worse, they will begin fining companies for the amount they began releasing 24 years ago in 2000. ANY company that the department deems “responsible” for greenhouse gas emissions is subject to a fine.

Vermont was the first state to enact such a law under the Climate Superfund Act. Oil and energy companies are mandated to pay into a climate change fund if they have released over 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases from 1995 – nearly 30 years ago – until now.

“This bill represents a major step forward in ensuring that responsible parties, like Big Oil – companies like ExxonMobil and Shell that have known for decades that their products are disrupting the climate – be required to also pay a fair share of the cleanup costs,” the Vermont Natural Resources Council said after blaming the industry for the catastrophic flooding that occurred earlier in the year.

American Petroleum Institute declared that this tax unjustifiably violated due process of rights. Society at large is dependent on fossil fuels, but these taxes aim to extort profitable companies that have been providing a service to the public. Both Vermont and New York have also failed to explain how they will calculate emissions or the true costs involved.

Imagine if the government told you that you needed to pay additional taxes spanning back decades. This is absolute insanity and yet another brain-dead policy aimed at punishing fossil fuels. Stepping on the neck of a crucial sector is not how to generate state revenue. Anyone cheering that these laws punish Big Oil fails to understand that these fees will simply be passed down to the consumer as residents of New York and Vermont should expect to pay more in energy costs in the near term.

Ukraine to Starve Hungary and Slovakia of Russian Oil

December 31, 2024

Fico Robert Slovakian PM

The European Union would prefer to cut off Slovakia and Hungary from accessing energy than to “cave” to Russia. Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia paid a visit to Russian President Vladamir Putin to discuss the matter as tensions between EU nations heat up over the energy scandal.

Hungary and Slovakia are exempt from the EU ban on Russian crude oil. These landlocked neighbors are to receive oil through the Druzhba pipeline, but Ukraine has prevented these nations from receiving shipments. Lukoil may be the main supplier using this line, but Russneft, Tatneft, and Gazprom also utilize this line, leading Ukraine to intervene. Hungary was blocking aid to Ukraine as a result, but Brussels repeatedly told Hungary that it was wrong. Slovakia would like to continue receiving Russian gas through Ukraine, noting that alternative routes would cost over 500 million euros in additional fees. Yet, the EU and Ukraine would prefer to starve these nations of energy than to permit them to use Russian oil.

Crude Oil Production

Russian gas composed 40% of the EU’s supply, down to only 10% as of 2023. Slovakia and Hungary, however, rely more heavily on imported gas from Russia. “Slovakia is part of the single European energy market and Fico must respect common European rules,” Zelensky stated, claiming that Putin gave Fico the orders to “open a second energy front” against Ukraine.

Fico has threatened to cut off emergency power supplies to Ukraine if they blocked their ability to access Russian energy. The current standing transit deal is due to expire, and Zelensky does not care if other nations suffer as a result. Zelensky said he will not renew the contract or work with Moscow in any capacity. Brussels also does not care, which is precisely why the EU is beginning to crack.

Why should Slovakia continue sending endless aid to Ukraine when Zelensky is causing its people to suffer needlessly? Zelensky is not a diplomat but a dictator, as are the unelected officials in Brussels. Fico offered to aid in peace talks, but of course, he logically knows that is not an option. This single issue is causing EU nations to break with Brussels in favor of Moscow, as Putin now appears to be the only reasonable leader with their interests in mind.

1 9 10 11 12 13 999
Page 11 of 999