2 months ago
A financial crisis that has long been predicted by Russia experts and Kremlin insiders appears to have finally arrived as banks see depositors scramble to pull out their money amid fears it may be seized.
In the first half of August, Russians withdrew $3.4 billion (286.4 billion rubles), according to central bank data cited by the Washington Post. That's after $7.3 billion was withdrawn in July and $4.5 billion in June.
"Drones are flying. Things are burning down. Nervousness is growing. And people's everyday wisdom may be kicking in that they need to have cash under their pillow and not somewhere in banks where it may never be returned," a former finance official told the Post, adding that banks have much of their capital tied in loans elsewhere.
The situation echoes the iconic scene from the movie It's a Wonderful Life, when panicked depositors show up at the Bailey Bros. Building & Loan demanding their cash, only to learn that it's not all there.
The bank run in Russia may not be as dramatic or precipitous. But the stampede out of lenders this year is on track to nearly double the $24.7 billion pace that was seen in 2022, when Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine.
#kremlin
In the first half of August, Russians withdrew $3.4 billion (286.4 billion rubles), according to central bank data cited by the Washington Post. That's after $7.3 billion was withdrawn in July and $4.5 billion in June.
"Drones are flying. Things are burning down. Nervousness is growing. And people's everyday wisdom may be kicking in that they need to have cash under their pillow and not somewhere in banks where it may never be returned," a former finance official told the Post, adding that banks have much of their capital tied in loans elsewhere.
The situation echoes the iconic scene from the movie It's a Wonderful Life, when panicked depositors show up at the Bailey Bros. Building & Loan demanding their cash, only to learn that it's not all there.
The bank run in Russia may not be as dramatic or precipitous. But the stampede out of lenders this year is on track to nearly double the $24.7 billion pace that was seen in 2022, when Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine.
#kremlin
3 months ago
The Trump administration on Tuesday finalized a rule that will bar Medicaid from covering gender identity healthcare for children enrolled in the government's low-income insurance program.
The new policy prohibits states from using federal Medicaid funds to pay for any gender identity care for enrollees under 18, marking the administration's latest effort to restrict youth access to transgender healthcare.
President Donald Trump celebrated the move in a Truth Social post, touting it as necessary to crack down on "barbaric surgeries and practices, which result in unthinkable and irreversible harm to their young bodies."
"Just think about all the young, innocent, and perhaps confused children who will be spared!" Trump wrote on social media.
The president has sought to make transgender care a central issue in the run-up to the midterms, frequently describing such gender identity healthcare procedures in graphic terms and claiming, without evidence, that swaths of children are being pressured to secretly transition without their parents' knowledge.
#gender
The new policy prohibits states from using federal Medicaid funds to pay for any gender identity care for enrollees under 18, marking the administration's latest effort to restrict youth access to transgender healthcare.
President Donald Trump celebrated the move in a Truth Social post, touting it as necessary to crack down on "barbaric surgeries and practices, which result in unthinkable and irreversible harm to their young bodies."
"Just think about all the young, innocent, and perhaps confused children who will be spared!" Trump wrote on social media.
The president has sought to make transgender care a central issue in the run-up to the midterms, frequently describing such gender identity healthcare procedures in graphic terms and claiming, without evidence, that swaths of children are being pressured to secretly transition without their parents' knowledge.
#gender
3 months ago
A small plane was forced to make an emergency landing on the interstate in Florida after the pilot and flight student reported a mechanical issue. Video shows the plane swoop into frame, narrowly missing an overhead sign.
#Florida #emergency #pilot
#Florida #emergency #pilot
3 months ago
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — David Cifaldi and his two hiking companions were crossing Montana's ominous Froze-to-Death Plateau and approaching the top of the state's highest peak when their adventure took a bizarre and dangerous turn: Cifaldi slipped and impaled himself on his trekking pole as he fell.
The 44-inch (112-centimeter) steel-tipped pole passed through the flesh beneath Cifaldi's left arm, missing any vital organs, and protruded from his back. After conferring with his friends — and considering the high cost of a helicopter rescue — Cifaldi knew who would save him: himself.
"I was like, 'We've got to get off this mountain.' And they're both like, 'I don't know about that,'" Cifaldi said of his friends' initial reaction. "I'm pretty confident this is outside my chest wall. 'Tis but a flesh wound."
The 32-year-old nurse, who works in wound care at a hospital in Billings, Montana, did a self-assessment. He was alert. There was little pain or blood. And the pole wasn't moving. The group used a satellite-based communication device, a Garmin inReach, to contact local authorities and inform them of their plan to self-rescue.
Then they started hiking out. They carefully descended from the plateau along an unmarked route, navigating through boulders and snowfields before bushwhacking their way to an established trail.
#cifaldi #himself #like
The 44-inch (112-centimeter) steel-tipped pole passed through the flesh beneath Cifaldi's left arm, missing any vital organs, and protruded from his back. After conferring with his friends — and considering the high cost of a helicopter rescue — Cifaldi knew who would save him: himself.
"I was like, 'We've got to get off this mountain.' And they're both like, 'I don't know about that,'" Cifaldi said of his friends' initial reaction. "I'm pretty confident this is outside my chest wall. 'Tis but a flesh wound."
The 32-year-old nurse, who works in wound care at a hospital in Billings, Montana, did a self-assessment. He was alert. There was little pain or blood. And the pole wasn't moving. The group used a satellite-based communication device, a Garmin inReach, to contact local authorities and inform them of their plan to self-rescue.
Then they started hiking out. They carefully descended from the plateau along an unmarked route, navigating through boulders and snowfields before bushwhacking their way to an established trail.
#cifaldi #himself #like
3 months ago
McALLEN, Texas (AP) — A nun who was taken into immigration custody last month in Texas said Thursday that she went into a cold sweat as two armed men approached her while she walked to Sunday Mass in her habit, thinking about the day's Bible readings and carrying little more than her rosary and cellphone.
"At that moment, I did not understand what was going on, what was happening to me," Sister Leticia Ugboaja said at a news conference at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in McAllen, where she spoke out for the first time since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested her on June 28.
Ugboaja's attorney says she has for years been granted protection from removal to her native Nigeria because she was likely to face torture there.
Ugboaja, 56, was released several hours after being detained while on her way to church near the U.S.-Mexico border. Parish officials' posting about her on social media brought attention to her case, and Congress members ultimately intervened on her behalf. President Donald Trump made mass deportations a central promise of his second administration, with his immigration crackdown leading to unusually aggressive tactics that have faced scrutiny.
Ugboaja, who has a check-in appointment with ICE on Tuesday, said she wanted to speak out to help others, and pleaded for people to have the chance to be heard before being taken into custody.
#mcallen
"At that moment, I did not understand what was going on, what was happening to me," Sister Leticia Ugboaja said at a news conference at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in McAllen, where she spoke out for the first time since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested her on June 28.
Ugboaja's attorney says she has for years been granted protection from removal to her native Nigeria because she was likely to face torture there.
Ugboaja, 56, was released several hours after being detained while on her way to church near the U.S.-Mexico border. Parish officials' posting about her on social media brought attention to her case, and Congress members ultimately intervened on her behalf. President Donald Trump made mass deportations a central promise of his second administration, with his immigration crackdown leading to unusually aggressive tactics that have faced scrutiny.
Ugboaja, who has a check-in appointment with ICE on Tuesday, said she wanted to speak out to help others, and pleaded for people to have the chance to be heard before being taken into custody.
#mcallen
4 months ago
Former campaign official for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Joel Rubin called out the Vermont senator last week for pushing the "most categorically anti-Israel, antisemitic candidates" he's seen in recent years.
"I think what Sanders and the Sanders operation have done is shove into our system the most categorically anti-Israel, antisemitic candidates that we've seen in a generation — if ever, certainly within the Democratic Party — and it's by design," Rubin said in an interview with Jewish Insider.
"The goal is to undermine Democratic unity and even rationality on Israel at this stage," Rubin said.
Sanders Under Fire For Propping Up Platner As Dems Torch His Toxic Endorsement 'Pattern'
Joel Rubin, who previously helped lead Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign, criticized the senator for embracing antisemitic candidates.
#sanders
"I think what Sanders and the Sanders operation have done is shove into our system the most categorically anti-Israel, antisemitic candidates that we've seen in a generation — if ever, certainly within the Democratic Party — and it's by design," Rubin said in an interview with Jewish Insider.
"The goal is to undermine Democratic unity and even rationality on Israel at this stage," Rubin said.
Sanders Under Fire For Propping Up Platner As Dems Torch His Toxic Endorsement 'Pattern'
Joel Rubin, who previously helped lead Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign, criticized the senator for embracing antisemitic candidates.
#sanders
4 months ago
(NewsNation) — A United Airlines commercial flight from Houston to Phoenix was forced to land at a military base Monday due to severe weather.
The emergency landing happened at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Arizona, a reroute from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
The pilot told air traffic controllers there were 160 people on board, according to radio transmission. The controllers told the pilot different options for where to land, including the base.
Frontier to offer Starlink internet after years without in-flight WiFi
When the flight was supposed to land, the Phoenix airport was under a ground stop due to thunderstorms.
#phoenix #base #flight #airport
The emergency landing happened at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Arizona, a reroute from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
The pilot told air traffic controllers there were 160 people on board, according to radio transmission. The controllers told the pilot different options for where to land, including the base.
Frontier to offer Starlink internet after years without in-flight WiFi
When the flight was supposed to land, the Phoenix airport was under a ground stop due to thunderstorms.
#phoenix #base #flight #airport
4 months ago
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) on Sunday said his colleague Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who died suddenly the night before, could be "loud and obvious, and sometimes even obnoxious."
Scott reflected on his time working with Graham in the Senate during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday" with Gillian Turner, saying Graham's death left a hole in the Senate that "cannot be filled" and that it could take "many of us to step up to the plate and take on the responsibilities that he had from a global perspective."
"And as you know, I know Lindsey Graham was never kind and gentle about the priorities he had," Scott later said. "He was loud and obvious, and sometimes even obnoxious, because he understood that he had the power of a microphone to make a difference, not for himself but for others."
Graham's office said the senator died after a "brief and sudden illness" on Saturday night. He was 71.
Scott said he spoke with Graham about issues affecting South Carolinians, including foreign policy and affordability.
Scott reflected on his time working with Graham in the Senate during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday" with Gillian Turner, saying Graham's death left a hole in the Senate that "cannot be filled" and that it could take "many of us to step up to the plate and take on the responsibilities that he had from a global perspective."
"And as you know, I know Lindsey Graham was never kind and gentle about the priorities he had," Scott later said. "He was loud and obvious, and sometimes even obnoxious, because he understood that he had the power of a microphone to make a difference, not for himself but for others."
Graham's office said the senator died after a "brief and sudden illness" on Saturday night. He was 71.
Scott said he spoke with Graham about issues affecting South Carolinians, including foreign policy and affordability.
4 months ago
Last month, we marked eight years since the Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME that public employees cannot be forced to pay union dues as a condition of keeping their jobs. Until then, those dues had been mandatory for millions of government workers.
What's more, most of them never learned that Janus had changed that, until organizations like mine started telling them.
The 2018 ruling was decided 5-4. The majority held that compelling a public employee to subsidize a union's speech — speech he may deeply oppose — violates the First Amendment. For workers who had spent years funding ideological messaging and political activity they disagreed with, it was long overdue.
So, what has changed since? More than unions want to admit, but also less than workers deserve.
As of 2023, as many as 1.2 million public employees had either cancelled or declined union membership who otherwise would have been forced to join prior to Janus. That represents a cut of roughly $720 million per year in union revenue nationwide.
What's more, most of them never learned that Janus had changed that, until organizations like mine started telling them.
The 2018 ruling was decided 5-4. The majority held that compelling a public employee to subsidize a union's speech — speech he may deeply oppose — violates the First Amendment. For workers who had spent years funding ideological messaging and political activity they disagreed with, it was long overdue.
So, what has changed since? More than unions want to admit, but also less than workers deserve.
As of 2023, as many as 1.2 million public employees had either cancelled or declined union membership who otherwise would have been forced to join prior to Janus. That represents a cut of roughly $720 million per year in union revenue nationwide.
