After Losing Billions to Scammers, This COVID Aid Program Won’t Require All Loans To Be Repaid

Posted on by Lone Candle

“With so much money stolen, it is likely that many EIDL loans will never be repaid. That doesn’t mean the SBA should just throw up its hands and stop trying.”

https://reason.com/2023/10/20/after-losing-billions-to-scammers-this-covid-aid-program-wont-require-all-loans-to-be-repaid/

Government-Run Grocery Store Is Predictably Losing Money

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Grocery store chains don’t have some anti-Chicago bias. If the people in charge of the city made those neighborhoods safe and economical places to do business, groceries would be as plentiful as they are anywhere else in America. Reducing Chicago’s high crime rate would surely help, though that’s admittedly a long-term project. But there is something city officials could do almost overnight: Reduce Chicago’s commercial property tax rates, which are some of the highest in the country, or the city’s high sales taxes that incentivize consumers (the ones who can, anyway) to do their shopping outside the city.
At best, a government-run grocery store is merely addressing the symptoms, not the underlying problems plaguing Chicago—and it seems unlikely to improve the symptoms, for that matter.”

https://reason.com/2023/10/23/government-run-grocery-store-is-predictably-losing-money/

Cities are asking the Supreme Court for more power to clear homeless encampments

Posted on by Lone Candle

“In 2018, a federal court issued a consequential decision about homelessness in America: People without housing can’t be punished for sleeping or camping outside on public property if there are no adequate shelter alternatives available.
The Ninth Circuit’s decision, Martin v. Boise, said that punishing homeless people with no other place to go would violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Ever since, cities and states have struggled to comply with it, crafting convoluted policies like a new camping ban in Portland, Oregon that prohibits homeless camping during the hours of 8 am to 8 pm.

As municipal backlash to Martin grew, so has the nation’s homelessness crisis, especially in the nine Western states under the Ninth Circuit’s jurisdiction, where some 42 percent of the country’s homeless population now lives.

The Supreme Court declined to hear Martin in 2019. But they now could reconsider the decision. A petition was filed in late August concerning a similar case in Grants Pass, Oregon, a city of 38,000 people. In 2022, the Ninth Circuit decided it would be unconstitutional for Grants Pass to fine homeless people sleeping on public property if there was nowhere else for them to go. The city is challenging that decision.”

https://www.vox.com/2023/10/10/23905951/homeless-tent-encampments-grants-pass-martin-boise-unsheltered-housing

China increasing nuclear arsenal at exponential rate, expected to double by 2030, Pentagon report says

Posted on by Lone Candle

https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-increasing-nuclear-arsenal-exponential-223204996.html

The US carrier groups posted near Israel could be under threat from Hezbollah’s new anti-ship missiles: report

Posted on by Lone Candle

“The Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah has obtained Russian anti-ship missiles capable of targeting US carrier groups posted near Israel, Reuters reported.
In a speech last week Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah issued a veiled threat to the US, saying that the militant group had weapons capable of striking US warships in the region to deter attacks on Israel.

Reuters, citing unnamed sources, said that Nasrallah was talking about Russian Yakhont missiles which Hezbollah obtained while fighting alongside Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s forces in the Syrian civil war.

The missiles have a range of around 186 miles, and can be launched from ground, sea or air.

Speaking about the possibility that Hezbollah had acquired the weapons, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters: “This is news without any confirmation at all. We do not know if it is true or not.”

A US official told the outlet: “We’re obviously paying a lot of attention to that… and we’re taking what capabilities they have seriously.””

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-carrier-groups-posted-near-144048895.html

Hospital used as Hamas underground terror HQ likely Israel’s next big battle challenge

Posted on by Lone Candle

“As the Israeli military shores up its strategic positions in northern Gaza, preparing to enter deeper into Hamas’ stronghold of Gaza City, one of the key points of battle, the army has indicated, is likely to be the Palestinian enclave’s largest medical center:

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