California's Unemployment Insurance Fund will end the year with a $21.7 billion debt to the federal government that will continue growing through 2025, according to the latest Unemployment Insurance Fund forecast from the Employment Development Department. The debt triggers an automatic tax increase on employers. The EDD's report stated that the debt triggered a $396 million tax increase on employers in 2023, projected to increase to $812 million this year " a cumulative $1.2 billion tax hike for just those two years. California's UI Fund, responsible for providing financial assistance to unemployed residents, has faced financial challenges since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund ended 2019 with a $3.3 billion surplus, but that reserve was quickly depleted due to a sharp rise in unemployment associated with the pandemic and government-mandated business closures. read more
A decade ago, when conservatives were attacking President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act as government encroachment in health care, they worked to amend state constitutions around the country to affirm a broad right for people to control their own medical decisions. "Each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions," reads section 38(a) of the Wyoming constitution's Declaration of Rights, under the header "Right of healthcare access." The provision was placed on Wyoming's ballot by state lawmakers and approved by voters in 2012; voters saw ballot language that described the measure as preserving this right "from undue governmental infringement." Now these anti-ACA provisions"and their broad affirmations of a right to decide"have turned into an unlikely weapon in progressives' fight against restrictions on abortion. read more
Spirit Airlines filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, as mounting losses, unaffordable debt, increased competition for bargain-seeking airline passengers and the inability to merge with other airlines left it little choice. The airline said it will continue to operate as it restructures its debt. read more
SACRAMENTO, California " Phillips 66 announced Wednesday that it will close its Los Angeles oil refinery next year, citing "long-term uncertainty" two days after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law clearing the way for new regulations on the state's refiners. The closure would knock out about 8 percent of refining capacity in a state that barely produces enough of its special-blend gasoline to meet demand from its 31 million gas-powered vehicles. read more
At the time, I was unaware of a full dossier with additional allegations, which led some to accuse the New York Times of withholding that information from me. However, the article clearly stated that it was my "initial reaction" to those allegations, not a complete analysis. Today, I reviewed the complete dossier prepared by Dr. Stefan Weber, whom I have covered before. I also performed a peer review of one of his papers in 2018. With this new information, while I believe the case is more serious than I commented to the New York Times, the overarching points remain. While there are problems with this work, the pattern points to sloppy writing habits, not a malicious intent to defraud. Is it problematic? Yes. But it's also not the wholesale fraud that many have claimed it to be. It sits somewhere between what the two sides want it to be. read more
Russia and North Korea are actively attacking Ukrainians.
After decades of encroachment and lies from the west.
It was bound to happen, Washington wanted it to happen.
WATCH: Jeffrey Sachs tells the cold, hard truth how the US and NATO provoked war in Ukraine in 4 minutes
"It started in 1990, when US Secretary of State James Baker said to Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not move one inch eastward...
The US then cheated on this, starting in 1994, when Clinton signed off on a plan to expand NATO all the way to Ukraine.
The expansion of NATO started in 1999 with Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.
Then, the US led the bombing of Serbia in 1999. That was the use of NATO to bomb a European capital for 78 straight days to break the country apart.
The Russians didn't like that very much, but even Putin started out pro-European and pro-American. He considered whether to join NATO when there was still the idea of some kind of mutually respectful relationship.
In 2002, the US unilaterally walked out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. What it did was trigger the US putting in missile systems in Eastern Europe that Russia views as a dire, direct threat to national security, by making possible a decapitation strike of missiles that are a few minutes away from Moscow.
In 2004-2005, the US engaged in a soft regime change in Ukraine, the so-called First Color Revolution.
In 2009, Yanukovych won the election and became president in 2010 on the basis of neutrality in Ukraine.
In 2014, the US participated actively in the overthrow of Yanukovych. Nuland and the US Ambassador to Ukraine...talked about regime change. So they made the new government!
The US then said 'now NATO's really going to enlarge.' Putin kept saying 'stop, you promised no NATO enlargement.'
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, seven more countries in the 'not one inch eastward.'
In 2021, Putin put on the table a draft Russian-US security agreement. The basis of it was no NATO enlargement.
The special military operations started, and five days later Zelenskyy said 'okay, okay, neutrality.'
And then the US and Britain said no way, you guys fight on. We've got your back. That's 600,000 deaths now of Ukrainians since Boris Johnson flew to Kyiv to tell them to be brave. Absolutely ghastly.
We're not dealing with, as we're told every day, this madman like Hitler. This is complete bogus, fake history that is a purely PR narrative of the US government.
We're playing games here. So God forbid a nuclear power comes at us. I don't know what's going to happen, but we came at them."
x.com
Russia is welcome to take a shot at America we have no qualms about leveling their provincial military.
#2 | POSTED BY TOR
My guess is Russia would take a shot at military bases that might cause China problems.
It might also attack the factory for the StormShadow in Ireland if I am not mistaken.