Important Takeaways:
- Storm dumps heaviest rain ever recorded in desert nation of UAE, flooding roads and Dubai’s airport
- Heavy thunderstorms lashed the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, dumping the heaviest rain ever recorded in the country in the span of hours as it flooded out portions of major highways and Dubai’s international airport.
- The state-run WAM news agency called the rain “a historic weather event” that surpassed “anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949.” That’s before the discovery of crude oil in this energy-rich nation then part of a British protectorate known as the Trucial States.
- The rains began late Monday, soaking the sands and roadways of Dubai with some 20 millimeters (0.79 inches) of rain, according to meteorological data collected at Dubai International Airport. The storms intensified around 9 a.m. local Tuesday and continued throughout the day, dumping more rain and hail onto the overwhelmed city.
- By the end of Tuesday, more than 142 millimeters (5.59 inches) of rainfall had soaked Dubai over 24 hours. An average year sees 94.7 millimeters (3.73 inches) of rain at Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel and a hub for the long-haul carrier Emirates.
- At the airport, standing water lapped on taxiways as aircraft landed. The airport ended up halting arrivals Tuesday night and passengers struggled to reach terminals through the floodwater covering surrounding roads.
- Dubai International Airport acknowledged Wednesday morning that the flooding had left “limited transportation options” and affected flights as aircraft crews couldn’t reach the airfield.
- “Recovery will take some time,” the airport said on the social platform X. “We thank you for your patience and understanding while we work through these challenges
- Rain is unusual in the UAE, an arid, Arabian Peninsula nation, but occurs periodically during the cooler winter month
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Important Takeaways:
- Why a $100,000 income no longer buys the American Dream in most places
- The American Dream — which for many people involves some combination of owning a home, getting married, having kids and making enough after expenses to save for retirement and spend on leisure — is becoming increasingly expensive.
- “The benchmark of a six-figure salary used to be the gold standard income,” Sabrina Romanoff, a clinical psychologist, told CNBC. “It represented the tipping point of finally earning a disposable income and building savings and spending based on your wants, not just your needs.”
- A new report from GOBankingRates used that framework to analyze how much money a family of two adults and two children would need in each state to own a home, a car and a pet. The report tallied estimated annual essential expenses for such a family and then doubled that figure.
- Using that framework, GoBankingRates found that all 50 states require more than a $100,000 annual income, according to the report, with 38 states needing more than $140,000.
- “Now people making well over six figures are still living paycheck to paycheck,” Romanoff said. “So what used to symbolize financial freedom is now keeping people stressed about making ends meet.”
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Important Takeaways:
- ‘Rather Despicable’: John Eastman Speaks Out After Bank Of America, USAA Shut Down His Accounts
- John Eastman, once an attorney for former President Donald Trump, was de-banked twice in the span of several months by two prominent financial institutions, Bank of America and USAA, he told the Daily Caller. His accounts were closed as he faced substantial backlash for his work advising Trump around the time of the 2020 election.
- Eastman said he had switched most of his banking from Bank of America to USAA, a company that provides financial services exclusively to military veterans as well as their families, due to the former’s “wokeness.” Both corporations are federally insured, and Bank of America was bailed out with billions of dollars in taxpayer funds during the global financial crisis.
- Bank of America alerted Eastman in September of 2023 that it would be closing his accounts, a letter obtained by the Daily Caller shows. Shortly thereafter, USAA notified Eastman in November that his two bank accounts with the company would be closed, a separate letter shows.
- When Eastman inquired about the closures, the banks said it was their policy to not provide any more information on the matter
- “De-banking” is a phenomenon in which financial institutions refuse financial service to the targets of political activism, who often end up being conservatives.
- Bledsoe spoke to the political nature of de-banking and how it can make Americans’ lives harder.
- “I’m gravely concerned. It really is the kind of next step in [Environmental, Social and Governance]. So ESG across the board, it really is about like, re-directing capital away from the politically disfavored and to the politically favored at the moment, without going through the political process at all,”
- “De-banking contradicts the very character of our nation, as elites wrongfully use their power to punish their political opponents. Here’s the bottom line: If financial institutions are punishing consumers who don’t fall in line with their political beliefs, that could constitute a violation of both state and federal law,” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey told the Daily Caller.
- Just days after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, Eastman resigned as a law professor from Fowler School of Law at Chapman University after the school faced pressure to oust him, Forbes reported.
- Then, at the end of that month, the University of Colorado’s Benson Center for Western Civilization banned Eastman from speaking at the institution despite being a visiting scholar, according to Forbes
- Now, Eastman is being prosecuted by Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis as part of her case against Trump. On March 27, a California judge ruled that Eastman should be disbarred due to his legal advice in the wake of the 2020 election. The case will now move to the state Supreme Court for a final decision.
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Important Takeaways:
- Mom, 28, forced to sell her dream car after forking out $40,000 in INTEREST alone over three years – as America’s auto debt spirals to $1.6 TRILLION
- Three years ago, 28-year-old Blaisey Arnold entered a local auto dealership and came away with the keys to an $84,000 Chevy Tahoe.
- Despite paying $1,400 a month in payments totaling more than $50,000, she still owes a balance of $74,000 to her lender – GM Financial.
- Not only did she not make a down payment, she said she traded in a previous car on which she had fallen into negative equity.
- Negative equity occurs when a driver owes more on their car loan than the vehicle is now worth. Sometimes, a dealer or lender can offer to roll the balance of an existing auto loan onto a new one, making it more expensive.
- ‘Honestly, it blows my mind that I have paid $50,000 into this car and only paid off $10,000,’ Arnold said.
- ‘The dealer pretty much told me they can get me out the door with the car within an hour. He didn’t act like it was something I should be concerned about,’ she said.
- Auto loans are becoming a major source of strain for car-obsessed Americans and leaving an increasing number with runaway debt.
- Last year, auto debt in the US reached a record-high $1.6 trillion, which comes out to an average of more than $13,000 per household.
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Important Takeaways:
- Dr. Phil Guest Exposes High-Tech Chinese Military Operations Near American Bases On U.S. Soil
- A map displayed on Dr. Phil Primetime showed how Chinese nationals are buying massive amounts of land surrounding American military bases.
- An expert named Kyle Bass of Hayman Capital Management explained how, in one instance, a Chinese military general named Sun bought over 100 square miles of land between America’s most active Air Force training base and the Mexico border.
- Bass noted Sun obtained a permit to build windmills on the land despite the location having a small amount of wind, saying, “They want to put up windmills for two reasons. They want to connect directly to the U.S. grid so that they can upload malware to the grid and they can monitor the grid.”
- He added, “They also want to build these windmills 700 feet tall. Imagine a windmill that’s almost as tall as the Washington Monument and they can put cameras up there that map the horizon and they can map the horizon with one square inch of clarity. Right next to our largest Air Force military training base. Every Air Force pilot trains at Laughlin Air Force Base.”
- Regarding the approval of the land purchases, Bass accused the U.S. Treasury of being a pawn of Wall Street and basically allowing China infiltrate the country in exchange for profit.
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Important Takeaways:
- How ancient hatreds are reshaping the Middle East and forging unlikely alliances. The rise of Iran – and its chilling proximity to a nuclear weapon – has driven old foes closer, explains STEPHEN POLLARD
- The competition is strong, but for my money the most important geopolitical statement so far this year came on Monday from an obscure Israeli news site.
- A member of the Saudi Arabian royal family had reportedly told the broadcaster Kan that, in his view, Iran had started the Gaza war by instructing its proxy group Hamas to massacre Israelis on October 7.
- Tehran’s intention, according to this nameless royal, was to thwart the imminent normalization of diplomatic relations between Israel and the Saudis.
- Why is that so important? Because it symbolizes the extraordinary transformation under way in the politics of the Middle East. For a Saudi royal to express such a view – that a Muslim country instigated the conflict for the purpose of spreading discord – would have been unimaginable only a few years ago. But that’s not the only way in which the winds of change are resettling alliances in this volatile region.
- On Saturday night, the ayatollahs of Iran inflicted their first direct attack on Israel since they came to power in the 1979 revolution.
- Allies such as the US and UK played a role in this. But they were joined by two other countries for whom defending the Jewish state would have been fanciful until recently: Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
- For most of the time Israel has existed, Saudi, as one of the world’s leading Muslim nations and home to the holy city of Mecca, has been its implacable foe. But now it is on the verge not just of tolerating Israel but becoming an ally.
- Similarly, back in 1967, Jordan actually invaded Israel – a disastrous move which lost it the territories of East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Yet now Jordan, too, has stood alongside Israel to protect it from Iranian bombs. This newfound co-operative spirit continues: just yesterday it emerged that both the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates had passed helpful intelligence to America to use in Israel’s defense, with Jordan further agreeing to let the US and ‘other countries’ warplanes’ use its airspace, as well as sending up its own jets.
- One thing is clear. The rise of Iran – and its chilling proximity to a nuclear weapon – has driven old foes closer.
- There is a logic, then, to the gradually deepening alliances between Sunni states and Israel. The Arab nations understand that while Israel has no ambitions to dominate its neighbors, Iran [the Ayatollah] seeks to control all of the Middle East.
- In Gulf states such as the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and especially Saudi Arabia, the Shia threat – in other words the threat from Iran – is seen as existential.
- It needs to be stressed that the vast majority of Sunnis and Shias would rather just get on with their lives than embroil themselves in these disputes
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Important Takeaways:
- Oil prices a ‘chief concern’ for markets after Iran attack on Israel
- Colas estimated that a spike in oil prices pushing U.S. gasoline to $5.40 a gallon this summer would make a recession later in 2024 “a genuine possibility.” U.S. gas prices averaged $3.634 a gallon at the pump on Monday, according to AAA, at last check.
- “Crude prices are our chief concern, but we are a long way” from $125 a barrel — a level of West Texas Intermediate oil that “would almost certainly cause a recession if sustained,” said Colas. “Gasoline prices are the transmission mechanism between Mideast conflict and the US economy: when pump prices increase quickly, consumers must cut back on other spending.”
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Important Takeaways:
- How could Iran’s attack on Israel affect gas prices? What you should know
- Iran, one of the world’s largest producers of crude oil, has long been engaged in a shadow war with Israel, but there have been concerns the Israel-Hamas war could become a broader regional conflict.
- Any ripple effects on gas prices depend on the countries’ next moves and whether they seek further retaliation against the backdrop of an already raging war, said Michael Walden, Reynolds Distinguished Professor Emeritus at North Carolina State University.
- “We’re uncertain about what’s going to happen,” he said. “And so the impacts are going to be very dependent upon what does evolve.”
- The average price for a gallon of regular gas in the U.S. was $3.63 as of Monday, according to AAA, up almost 4 cents from a week earlier and 22 cents from a month ago. The price was down 3 cents from a year ago, however.
- Oil benchmarks had risen on Friday in anticipation of Iran’s retaliatory assault, with prices soaring to their highest since October.
- If you are planning a last-minute road trip, though, it may be worth going somewhere closer or putting off travel until a later date. Drivers who can take other modes of transportation, such as walking or biking, could consider that as well.
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Important Takeaways:
- Biden administration announces new partnership with 50 countries to stifle future pandemics
- President Joe Biden’s administration will help 50 countries identify and respond to infectious diseases, with the goal of preventing pandemics like the COVID-19 outbreak that suddenly halted normal life around the globe in 2020.
- S. government officials will work with the countries to develop better testing, surveillance, communication and preparedness for such outbreaks in those countries, according to a senior Biden administration official who briefed reporters Monday about the program on the condition of anonymity. The official did not share a list of countries that will participate in the program.
- The U.S. program will rely on several government agencies — including the U.S. State Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health and Human Services and the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID — to help countries refine their infectious disease response.
- Last year, the World Health Organization declared mpox a global emergency, with more than 91,000 cases spanning across 100 countries to date.
- The U.S. has devoting billions of dollars to the effort. Biden, a Democrat, is asking for $1.2 billion for global health safety efforts in his yearly budget proposal to Congress.
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Important Takeaways:
- Bank of America accused of religious and political ‘discrimination’ by ‘de-banking’ or refusing to service Trump supporters, Christian churches and Republican-led states want answers
- A dozen Republican-led states plan to send a letter to Bank of America demanding an explanation for why it allegedly de-banked Christian and other conservative groups.
- The letter obtained first by DailyMail.com, led by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, demands that the financial institution turn over documents related to its account cancellation policies and requested that the bank update its terms of services to not discriminate against clients with certain political or religious beliefs.
- The notice comes after it was revealed that Bank of America sent the FBI and U.S. Treasury private consumer financial data to help the agencies investigate crimes related to the January 6 Capitol protest.
- ‘Unfortunately, Bank of America appears to be conditioning access to its services on customers having the bank’s preferred religious or political views,’ Kobach writes in the letter to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan obtained by DailyMail.com.
- ‘Your discriminatory behavior is a serious threat to free speech and religious freedom, is potentially illegal, and is causing political and regulatory backlash.’
- The committee’s probes remain ongoing.
- Currently, the Bank of America is the second-largest bank in the U.S., handling over $3 trillion.
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