progree
progree's JournalDrought conditions are damaging some homes (soil shrinking causing voids under foundations...
Katie Molitor has noticed small cracks in her home in Savage getting longer and deeper. There are also cracks in her back patio and on the exterior of her foundation walls.
Andy Berreth with Innovative Basement Authority says these are symptoms of a house on unstable soil. Drought conditions are one of the causes.
"What happens is the soil will actually shrink," Berreth said. "As it dries out, it shrinks and when it shrinks, voids actually will occur under the foundation itself."
He says the house then twists and torques, and cracks can form in drywall. Windows and doors can get stuck closed, too.
Berreth says virtually any house can be susceptible to this, but homes built into hills or on slopes are particularly at risk.
MORE: https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/drought-conditions-are-damaging-some-minnesota-homes/
More on where to look for cracking
Obviously not something unique to Minnesota homes.
As if we don't have enough already to worry about
Coastal erosion in Puerto Rico - CNN reports (4 min video)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/coastal-erosion-is-the-latest-battle-for-the-u-s-island-caught-in-the-crosshairs-of-climate-change/vi-AA10BJ8hReally eye-catching of how narrow the beaches are in some places, and gone in other places where streets and houses are crumbling, and how quickly all this is happening. And it reminds us that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.
*Cross posted in U.S. territorities (there's no Puerto Rico group)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/12861303
Federal investigators say US Bank workers opened fake accounts for sales goals
Source: CBS Minnesota
For more than a decade, US Bank pressured its employees to open fake accounts in their customers' names in order to meet unrealistic sales goals, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Thursday, in a case that is deeply similar to the sales practices scandal uncovered at Wells Fargo last decade.
The CFPB alleged that US Bank accessed consumers credit reports to open checking and savings accounts, credit cards and lines of credit without their permission. Employees were encouraged to do so, in order to meet the bank's goals of selling multiple products to each customer with the bank.
The scale of US Banks's fake accounts scandal was not disclosed immediately by the CFPB, but the bank was forced to pay $37.5 million in fines and penalties and will have to refund customers any fees they paid for the fake accounts.
...
A spokesman for US Bank said the bad sales practices were a legacy issue at the bank dating back to 2016, and that the bank has made significant improvements to its sales practices since then. The consent order reached with the CFPB acknowledges that US Bank did make improvements to its sales practices in recent years, which included no longer tying pay to opened accounts and requiring customers' consent to open new services.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/federal-investigators-say-us-bank-workers-opened-fake-accounts-for-sales-goals/
It was a huge story about 6 years ago when Wells Fargo was caught at this. I had not heard of any other bank doing this particular kind of thing, although there have been plenty of bank scandals, Bank Of America comes to mind. And of course all the corruption leading to the liars loans and 2008-9 housing bubble collapse.
Anyway, very disappointing hearing about workplace cultures like this. And they wonder why so many are not in the labor force. I mean, who wants to play corporate games 80 hours a week?
U.S. Bank / U.S. Bancorp is the 5th largest bank in the U.S.
Bow down, peasants!
https://www.bankrate.com/banking/biggest-banks-in-america/
The Minneapolis Alano may have to close - donations less than 1/3 pre-covid levels
The famed "2218", 2218 1st Ave. S. Around these parts, if you want to burnish your AA credentials, you mention your time spent at "2218". And of course you attended the "By the Book 4th Step Workshop" (I forget how many weeks that is).
Contrary to what the article says, it's not a "treatment center". It's just a place that holds AA and Al Anon (and maybe some other 12-step) meetings and hosts events.
This may be a "local story" but I'm sure the same thing is happening everywhere -- fewer face-to-face meetings, fewer donations. I hate to see the physical infrastructure crumble and go away.
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/historic-substance-recovery-center-in-minneapolis-faces-closure-as-funding-fades/
It's one of the oldest treatment centers in the world - and the Minneapolis AA house could have to close - unless something changes fast.
The timing couldn't be worse. Substance abuse and overdoses skyrocketed during the pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
It's a piece of recovery history, and these days it's a piece of work, as part of the 1887 building is crumbling. This Minneapolis Alano AA Club is a place for people to go to meetings and keep themselves busy and sober in the evenings.
the building is crumbling and the funding is fading.
"COVID reduced our pledging numbers to less than a third of what they were and COVID reduced our income to less than a third.
And prior to COVID, we were barely scraping by," treasurer Cheryl Larson said.
So they are hoping to raise $250,000 for emergency repairs so they can keep repairing lives.
"The Alano Society of Minneapolis was incorporated in March of 1942 which makes it is the oldest continuously operating Alano Club at a single location in the world."
http://www.2218alano.org/history.html
So at least we have one world-class distinction, pretty surprising for "north of flyover country".
Only 7 years (6 3/4) after Dr. Bob had his last drink.
There are other alano clubs in Minneapolis, and plenty more in the metro area, but this one is the "mother ship".
Texas Republicans pass resolution denying Biden won 2020 election
Source: CBS News by way of MSN
The Texas Republican Party officially rejected the results of the 2020 presidential election over the weekend, passing a resolution in its platform that falsely blames election fraud in five battleground states for President Joe Biden's victory over former President Donald Trump. The resolution refers to Mr. Biden as "acting" president.
...
It claims that the elections in five states violated Articles 1 and 2 of the Constitution because "various secretaries of state illegally circumvented their state legislatures in conducting their elections in multiple ways, including by allowing ballots to be received after November 3, 2020."
Reviews of the vote tallies and various recounts did not change the outcome of any state's election. Officials including Attorney General William Barr have repeatedly rejected claims that there was widespread election fraud. The president and his allies waged dozens of unsuccessful legal battles and looked to the Supreme Court to help deliver Mr. Trump a second term in the White House after Mr. Biden was declared the winner, asking the justices to take up numerous disputes that sought to halt the certification of election results from key battleground states.
But the Supreme Court appeared not to have an appetite to wade into the disputes -- it rejected requests to fast-track cases that took aim at the election results in Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania and spurned other challenges to the outcome of the election in those four states.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/texas-republicans-pass-resolution-denying-biden-won-2020-election/ar-AAYFEFt?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=3fae966f50fd44e589d32b75677bf22a
I don't know how much of this nuttiness I can take, but unfortunately, I'm sure there is plenty more coming down the pike.
There is also a lot of stuff about a gun resolution in the article, but I barely skimmed it, as I can't take any more of this.
People who read LBN have probably seen this one --
Texas Could Vote to Secede From U.S. in 2023 as GOP Pushes for Referendum
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142932106
Iraq's 'pearl of the south' Lake Sawa dry amid water crisis,
This year, for the first time in its centuries-long history, the lake dried up. A combination of mismanagement by local investors, government neglect and climate change has ground down its azure shores to chunks of salt.
. . . Lake Sawa is only the latest casualty in this broad country-wide struggle with water shortages that experts say is induced by climate change, including record low rainfall and back-to-back drought.
. . . “The degradation of the water began over 10 years ago, but this summer was the first time we lost the entire wetland,” said Laith Ali al-Obeidi, an environmental activist in southern Iraq.
Experts said the lake has not dried up for good but its disappearance this year is a concerning consequence of the thousands of illegal wells dug by businessmen in nearby cement factories and manufacturing zones, a result of drought and decreasing waters along the nearby Euphrates.
By early June, some water began to reappear because farmers, done with the harvest season, stopped diverting underground water.
================================
It was apparently only 5 square miles in the good ol' days, so it wasn't a monster.
It is south of Baghdad -- about halfway between Baghdad and the Iraq-Saudi border.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawa_Lake
Map
I've been seeing several articles lately about how long and severe Iraq's drought has been.
Toronto Blames Woman Who Was Pushed Onto Subway Tracks: 'She Was Travelling Alone'
The TTC is the Toronto Transit Commission. See reply #2 for their Facebook page.
... According to the TTC’s statement, Al-Balushi “failed to take reasonable steps and precautions for her own safety and protection.” The statement says “she chose to stand close to the edge of the platform,” “failed to pay due care and attention to her surroundings,” and “was travelling alone and unassisted on public transit when she knew or ought to have known that it was unsafe for her to do so.”
More: https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7be5a/toronto-woman-pushed-onto-ttc-subway
Since the TTC went ahead and let out their inner bigot, I'm surprised they didn't go all the way and suggest she is unwise to ever leave her house without an adult male escort, who is either a husband or blood relative. Otherwise, she is just "asking for it".
And it really is a thick yellow line - there are some pictures at the TTC's Facebook page (See #2 below). Maybe 2 feet thick.
Edited to Add Video --
Woman shoved onto Toronto subway tracks speaks out as video emerges of disturbing incident
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/disturbing-video-captures-moment-woman-is-pushed-onto-tracks-at-toronto-subway-station-1.5867608
the standing and pushing --- start at 0:48
And here are a couple of pictures the 2nd one just as she was about to be pushed.
Cross-linked to Women's Rights and Issues https://www.democraticunderground.com/113813582
Minnesota GOP chair Hann apologizes for antisemitic image - Soros manipulating two puppets with the
faces of two prominent Minnesota Jewish Democrats --
... The chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota apologized Thursday for an image that was projected at the party's state convention of George Soros manipulating the strings of puppets with the faces of two prominent Jewish Democrats. The image was contained in a video shown by secretary of state candidate Kim Crockett. The faces on the puppets were DFL elections attorney Marc Elias and Secretary of State Steve Simon. Soros is also Jewish.
... Crockett, who won the party endorsement at the convention, has not spoken publicly about the video, but [Minnesota GOP chair] Hann said he talked to her.
... “I have concluded after talking with Ms. Crockett that the depiction of Mr. Soros was not intended as antisemitic, and that neither Ms. Crockett nor her creative team were aware that the depiction of a puppet-master invokes an old but persistent antisemitic trope,” Hann said.
... [DFL Party Chair Ken] Martin also pointed to an earlier incident when Crockett was suspended from the think tank the Center of the American Experiment for making a racist remark about Somalis in Minnesota.
Crockett apologized for that remark at the time, but was captured on video during this year's campaign saying that she would say the same thing today.
More: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/05/19/gop-chair-hann-apologizes-for-antisemitic-image
the Center of the American Experiment is far right, so for them to be upset about a racist remark about Somalis, well it had to be pretty awful
Crossposting to Jewish Group
Picture from Behind the Aegis's Jewish Group posting:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/122311413
There's a big hole in the Fed's theory of inflation --- incomes are falling at a record 10.9% rate
(that's after adjusting for inflation)
(no paywall, its an msn.com link -Progree)
The most concerning thing about Thursday’s report on U.S. gross domestic product for the first quarter wasn’t that the first line of the first table showed that real GDP fell at a 1.4% annual rate. It was the little-noticed news on line 34 showing that real disposable incomes fell for a fourth straight quarter.
Over the last four quarters, the purchasing power of after-tax household incomes plunged by $2.2 trillion (in 2021 dollars). That’s a 10.9% decline, by far the largest in the records dating back to 1947.
Of course, the decline in incomes is merely the unwinding of the massive support that households received from the government in 2020 and 2021 via direct pandemic stimulus payments, the child tax credit, and enhanced benefits for unemployment insurance, food stamps and Medicaid, and more.
. . . But the Fed is determined to quash demand. That’s what raising interest rates is all about: Slowing demand in an overheated economy by raising the costs of borrowing. ((the article argues that quashing demand when inflation-adjusted incomes are falling like this is only going to make incomes fall more -Progree))
. . . The prospect for stagflation—low growth with high inflation—is real. “The appropriate solution to inflation would be to work to alleviate supply-side constraints,” say Nersisyan and Wray. To do that, unfortunately, “we need more domestic investment, not less.”
More: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/there-s-a-big-hole-in-the-fed-s-theory-of-inflation-incomes-are-falling-at-a-record-10-9-rate/ar-AAWHEFQ?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=15f1a5a79a714edd9e40436aeb6fdd32
The Personal Income Report he is referring to is at:
https://www.bea.gov/news/2022/personal-income-and-outlays-march-2022
The full release with all the tables is at: https://www.bea.gov/sites/default/files/2022-04/pi0322.pdf
I can't find the Line 34 data he is talking about. But in Line 46 of Table 2 of pi0322.pdf, it has
Disposable Personal Income, Total, billions of chained (2012) dollars: quarterly,
2020 Q4: 15,443.0, 2021 Q1: 17,221.6, Q2: 15,805.6, Q3: 15,640.0, Q4: 15,418.0, 2022 Q1: 15,339.2
And yes, there are 4 straight quarters of decline, and 2022 Q1 over 2021 Q1 is a 10.9% decline:
(2022 Q1 / 2021 Q1 - 1) * 100% : (15,339.2 / 17,221.6 - 1) * 100 = -10.93%
Table 2 Line 22 "Government social benefits to persons" shows a huge amount in 2021 Q1 relative to the preceding and following quarters.
Future such comparions of quarterly real disposable income vs. the same quarter a year ago will likely be much less dramatic declines, with the unusual 2021 Q1 falling out of the comparison. For example, comparing 2022 Q1 to 2021 Q2 (that's the last 3 quarters) is
(2022 Q1 / 2021 Q2 - 1) * 100% : (15,339.2 / 15,805.6 - 1) * 100 = -2.95% (-3.91% annualized)
2022 Q1 vs. 2021 Q4 (one quarter) is a 0.51% decline (-2.07% annualized)
but its still in the wrong direction, just not so apocalyptic.
Edited to add the personal savings rate graph below (#7)
Film of Prince at age 11 discovered (known as "Skipper" then)
in WCCO's news archives, the CBS affiliate. They were researching the 1970 Minneapolis school strike, and guess what -- they asked this young boy about his views on the school strike. Cross-posted to GD
start at about 1:09
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2022/04/03/prince-rare-footage-1970/
Great pic:
?resize=620,349
Edited to Add:
Crickets in the GD forum added this:
I couldn't get the video to play at your link, but I found one on YouTube. At time of posting, there are two here: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Film+Of+Prince+At+Age+11+
Here's one of them - skip to 1:34 for Prince and his childhood friends at 3:42:
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