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Freedom of Speech Dead? German Businessman Fined €6,000 For Billboard Mocking Green Party Politicians

A businessman is facing a €6,000 fine for putting up a political banner on his own property mocking left-wing politicians.

by Denes Albert
Info Wars

A 52-year-old German entrepreneur has been fined for putting up a political billboard depicting Green party politicians in a negative light.

The billboard, which was erected in front of the house of German businessman Michael Much, mocked the top Green party heads. Green Party leader Ricarda Lang is pictured on a concrete roller, while Economics Minister Robert Habeck has empty pockets. Underneath the politicians is the slogan: “We’ll flatten everything.” Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is also depicted as a little girl, a reference to her lack of foreign policy experience.

The poster also contains a widely mocked quote by Habeck, when he said: “Companies don’t go bankrupt, they just stop producing.” In response to this, the billboard asks provocatively: “Can he even count to three?”

Continue Reading at InfoWars.com…

Pawn Shop Inventories Are Exploding as the Failing U.S. Economy Hammers Those at the Bottom of the Economic Food Chain

by Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse Blog

How much longer will the Biden administration and the mainstream media continue to deny that we are in the midst of a very painful economic downturn? Debt levels have never been higher, delinquency rates are spiking, the commercial real estate market is crashing, the banking industry is mired in turmoil and large companies are conducting mass layoffs all over the nation. Anyone that attempts to claim that the U.S. economy is in good shape is just being delusional. Unfortunately, it is those that are at the bottom of the economic food chain that are being hurt the most.

If you want to know what is really going on with the economy, pawn shops are a great place to look.

When the economy is doing well, pawn shop inventories tend to go down because people aren’t pawning much stuff and there is lots of buying going on.

Continue Reading at TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com…

Thinking About Buying a Franchise? with Greg Mohr

from Kerry Lutz's Financial Survival Network

Kerry and Greg Mohr discussed the appeal of investing in franchises, specifically in the home service industry. They explored the motivations for individuals to enter the franchise business, the types of home service franchises available, associated costs and potential returns on investment, and success rates of franchises. Mohr shared a success story of a couple who shifted from real estate investing to owning a flourishing electrical services franchise, emphasizing the importance of being coachable and leveraging the established game plan of a franchise for success. The discussion also covered financing options, including SBA loans and self-directed 401k or IRA investments. The meeting concluded with contact information for Mohr and a note of appreciation from the hosts.

Click Here to Listen to the Audio

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A California Company is Making a Business Out of Kicking Squatters Out of Properties

by Brandon Morse
Red State

Hey California, having a problem with squatters? Well, the free market has provided an answer, once again.

Introducing the “Squatter Squad.”

According to the company’s website, their business is going into your property where squatters may have taken up residence and do what’s necessary to remove them:

We offer fast and effective squatter removal and prevention services throughout Southern California.

Our job is to save our customers from all of the wasted time, money, stress, and headaches that come from squatters overtaking your property.

“Squatter Squad” makes it clear that they’re not an “eviction service.” In truth, they’re much faster:

Continue Reading at RedState.com…

Theft Legal in NY, Black Swan Coming, Fed Rate Cut Tease

by Greg Hunter
USA Watchdog

It is looking like the Democrats are making theft legal in New York. Donald Trump is on the verge of losing nearly a half billion dollars of property in Westchester County because he lost a fraud case where nobody actually was a victim of fraud. The case is a classic study in abuse of power by the New York State Attorney General and a judge willing to suspend reality to bankrupt the GOP nominee for President. Theft appears legal in New York if it is orchestrated by Dems against the GOP. The Appellate Court should step in and put a stop to the theft for the good of everyone.

General Michael Flynn, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) at the Pentagon, is warning of a coming “Black Swan” before the 2024 Election. Is this coming because the Deep State realizes it just cannot beat Donald Trump, and they will do anything to keep Trump from a second term? Who knows what General Flynn knows, but he knows something big and bad is coming. You should take this warning seriously and prepare for rough riding by the fall.

Continue Reading at USAWatchdog.com…

What Happens When There’s Nobody Left to Save Us?

by Charles Hugh Smith
Of Two Minds

Passively waiting for centralized powers to “save us” from their own excesses is not a solution.

It’s no exaggeration to say that our way of life depends on somebody somewhere saving us from the excesses that are the bedrock of our way of life. What excesses, you ask? There are none. This is true in one sense: all the excesses have been normalized by previous “saves”: whenever the bedrock excesses threaten to collapse under their own weight, the Federal Reserve or the Federal government rush in to save us from the excesses they’ve created.

Stripped of artifice, the bedrock excess that has been completely normalized is to goose consumption by borrowing from future earnings and resources. As long as growth is eternal, this works great: we can always pay more interest on ever-expanding debt with future earnings because those will be inevitably be even larger than the interest due.

Continue Reading at OfTwoMinds.com…

Shades of Early December

by Craig Hemke
TF Metals Report

A dovish/bullish FOMC allowed for a new all-time high close in spot gold late yesterday. You’ll recall a similar all-time high back on Friday, December 1. The trading since has been eerily reminiscent of the trading on December 3-4 so we must be alert to where things may trade from here in the short term.

Now much/most of this price action today could be attributed to the POSX. It’s unexpectedly back up 45¢ as I type, essentially reclaiming all of the losses from late yesterday.

[…] And though rates are mostly unchanged, bonds have sold off this morning and the yield on the 10-year note is up 6 basis points from where it was when the Comex opened.

Continue Reading at TFMetalsReport.com…

Profit Taking Bites

by Alasdair MacLeod
Gold Money

Gold and silver both had spectacular weeks, with gold peaking at a record $2222 overnight on Thursday and silver at $25.75, before profit-taking set in. In European trade this morning, gold was trading at $2166, up $4 on balance from last Friday, and silver at $24.58 was off 60 cents. Comex volumes were moderate except for yesterday when there was a significant peak and subsequent sell-off. These are next:

[…] The Thursday peak followed the Fed’s FOMC decision to hold the funds rate at 5.25% to 5.5%, but in forward guidance the Fed maintained a “no comment” stance and markets are still expecting in June the first of possibly three cuts.

Continue Reading at GoldMoney.com…

Why Own Anything But Stocks?

Do you find it tough to make financial decisions these days? You’re not alone…

by Dr. Chris Martenson
Chris Martenson’s Peak Prosperity

In our latest episode of FinanceU, I’m joined by the astute Paul Kiker to explore the many difficulties making decisions in today’s turbulent financial landscape. Why are people so filled with uncertainty and anxiety that seems to be affecting people nationwide? This episode particularly highlights the growing unease felt across various levels of society, from everyday budgeting struggles to broader economic concerns. It’s ‘a thing.’

Paul and I also explored the critical subject of personal financial planning in these uncertain times. He shared valuable insights into guiding clients through the complexities of retirement planning and risk management, underscoring the importance of being well-prepared in the current economic climate.

Thanks to everyone who has been tuning in for these conversations and who have been describing how much they get from them.

Continue Reading at PeakProsperity.com…

Wake-Up Call

by James Howard Kunstler
Kunstler.com

“Those who organized the disaster will take advantage of the inevitable discontent arising from efforts to overcome it, for if there is one thing that they are skilled in, it is demagoguery.” – Theodore Dalrymple

Can you feel it? The tension rising to the red-line? It runs clear through all of Western Civ. We are ruled by governments of fiends. But now, the sun rides higher in the sky. The sap is rising in the northern forests. The earth heaves. The buds swell and blush. Something is in the air. The animals are waking from their long winter sleep. The natives are restless.

The two traditional political divisions, liberal and conservative died with Covid. Now there are simply the sane versus the insane. The sane have had enough of being pushed around by the insane. The insane don’t register much of what reality tries to tell them. They have a body of insane ideas to comfort and protect them from the reality’s rigors. To call that body of ideas an “ideology” is way too polite.

Continue Reading at Kunstler.com…

The First Amendment Takes a Beating in the Supreme Court

A brief recap of oral arguments in the long-awaited Supreme Court case on state-sponsored censorship

by Matt Taibbi
Racket News

Late in oral arguments yesterday during the Murthy v Missouri censorship case before the Supreme Court, newest Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson interrogated J. Benjamin Aguinaga, Solicitor General of Louisiana:

JACKSON: So my biggest concern is that your view has the First Amendment hamstringing the government in significant ways in the most important time periods…

Can you help me? Because I’m really — I’m really worried about that because you’ve got the First Amendment operating in an environment of threatening circumstances from the government’s perspective, and you’re saying that the government can’t interact with the source of those problems.

“Can you help me?” Yes, I would love to help you, Justice Jackson, to a less challenging line of work… Hamstringing the government, Good God!

Continue Reading at Racket.News…

The One and Only Case for Lower Rates – Still Another Fix for Wall Street

by David Stockman
LewRockwell.com

There is surely no development more inimical to main street prosperity and democratic governance than the lock, stock and barrel capture by Wall Street of the nation’s central bank. That baleful condition enables and sustains the two very worst forces in American society today—the spenders and warmongers of Washington and the Wall Street speculators, who otherwise claim to be traders and asset managers.

The not-so-secret sauce of the Fed’s rogue monetary regime, of course, is artificial, ultra-cheap interest rates, which have been sustained over extended periods of time. In fact, the Fed’s key policy instrument—the Federal funds rate—has stood at negative levels in inflation-adjusted terms for more than 93% of the time since March 2008. And even the current positive rates barely peeking above the zero bound per the chart below are still far, far below the healthier levels recorded from 1984 through the year 2000.

Continue Reading at LewRockwell.com…

Amid Weak Demand for Existing Homes, Active Listings & Price Reductions Jump, Listing Prices Weaken

by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street

“Many potential buyers are postponing their purchasing plans in hopes of securing lower rates. Consequently, lower buyer competitions exerted downward pressure on prices”: Realtor.com

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales of existing single-family houses, condos, and co-ops rose 9.5% in February from January, but that increase was smaller than the increase in February 2023 (+11.5%), and so the annual rate of sales at 4.38 million homes, was still down 3.3% from the already collapsed levels of February 2023, according to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) today.

Continue Reading at WolfStreet.com…

Weaponizing Reality: The Dawn of Neurowarfare

Stavroula Pabst explores the race to apply emerging neurotechnologies, such as brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), in times of both war and peace, expanding conflicts into a new domain — the brain — while perhaps forever changing humans’ relationship with machines.

by Stavroula Pabst
Unlimited Hangout

Billionaire Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface (BCI) company Neuralink made headlines earlier this year for inserting its first brain implant into a human being. Musk says such implants, which are described as “fully implantable, cosmetically invisible, and designed to let you control a computer or mobile device anywhere you go,” are slated to eventually offer “full-bandwidth data streaming” to the brain.

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are quite the human achievement: as described by the University of Calgary, “A brain computer interface (BCI) is a system that determines functional intent – the desire to change, move, control, or interact with something in your environment – directly from your brain activity. In other words, BCIs allow you to control an application or a device using only your mind.”

Continue Reading at UnlimitedHangout.com…

U.S. Troops Are One Mile From the Chinese Border

by Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse Blog

The U.S. cannot afford a war with China. The size of our military has been shrinking, and our resources are stretched way too thin. Today, the U.S. has military bases in 80 different countries, and we have troops stationed in 178 different countries. That is insane. No empire in the entire history of humanity has had forces spread all over the planet like this. Our ammunition levels are extremely low due to major conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, and every war game that our leaders have conducted has shown us losing a war to protect Taiwan. So we should be trying to avoid sparking a war with China, because we are holding a losing hand.

But our politicians seem determined to provoke one anyway. It is being reported that officials in Taiwan have confirmed that U.S. forces are now permanently stationed “on its islands in the Taiwan Strait”…

Continue Reading at TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com…