How Is This Possible?

North Dakota strict abortion ban signed

by governor, but cannot yet go into effect.

Governor Burgum (R-ND) has signed a bill that

bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy

regardless of rape or incest cases.

Six weeks? Most pregnant women

don't even know they are pregnant at that point!

The law passed the legislature and bears the

governor's signature, but it is not going to

take effect immediately if ever.

The North Dakota Supreme Court recently

decided that a court challenge that has been

filed will block the new 'law' until the

court challenge is resolved in favor of the

so-called pro-life advocates. Observers say

the law may not hold up in court.

News Source... Associated Press

Alec Baldwin Now Only Allowed To Hold Out His Finger As A Gun In Movies

SANTA FE, NM — As part of an agreement with prosecutors to have the charges against him dropped, actor Alec Baldwin is now reportedly only allowed to hold out his finger as a gun in movies from now on.

"This is the only way to ensure the safety of the cast and crew," said Heather Brewer, spokesperson for the Santa Fe District Attorney's Office. "From this point forward, if Mr. Baldwin is portraying a character who is holding a firearm, he must hold out his index finger with his thumb pointed upward in the classic 'gun' pose and shout ‘BANG!' in lieu of firing blanks. He's an actor, after all, so he should be pretty good at pretending."

Baldwin had been charged in the unintentional shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, and though prosecutors did make it known that charges may be re-filed in the future after further investigation, Baldwin was free to return to work on the set of the western film Rust. "We have advised producers of the film to be very careful about what props they allow Mr. Baldwin to hold," Brewer continued. "Should he accidentally strangle a fellow actor with a lasso or mistakenly stab a crew member in the throat with a pen, it will certainly raise some suspicion."

At publishing time, investigators were continuing to look into the shooting, though sources inside the D.A.'s office indicated the belief that Baldwin will not have to face any further criminal charges, as prosecutors believe being Alec Baldwin is punishment enough.

source: Babylon Bee - Fake News You Can Trust

When the attempted-murder weapon

is from a yo-yo.

In Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota,

a local man named Derek D. Dillman is

facing serious charges for allegedly

trying to strangle his girlfriend with the

string from a children's toy, a yo-yo.

Dillman, 32. who has a long rap sheet that

includes previous misbehavior from

filing a false police report to domestic

violence, had been driven to a police

station by the girlfriend, to face

unrelated warrants. There he

allegedly wrapped the yo-yo string

around her neck and attempted to

take her life.

He then ran away only to be picked up

by police at the North Dakota State

Capital Grounds.

Dillman will face charges that include

attempted murder, in July.

The girlfriend survived with red marks

visible around her neck.

Sources... InForum, Bismarck Tribune

Fox "News" loses another half billion dollars,

today alone.

Monday's firing of ex-Fox propagandist

*ucker Carlson sent Fox's stock shares

plummeting.

New York Magazine reports that the stock dive

lost shareholders 507 million dollars in value

in Tuesday trading.

Fox had lost over three-quarters of a billion dollars

in last week's settlement with Dominion Voting

Systems for defaming Dominion.

Analysts say that settlement, the largest ever

in a defamation case, will embolden another

vote-counting plaintiff, SmartMatic, which has

been preparing for the suit it filed against Fox

seeking 2.7 billion dollars. 

Fox shareholders are also expected

to file a lawsuit, no doubt prodded

by today's half-billion-dollar swan dive

on Wall Street.

cccmedia

Fox News, partnering with Anheuser-Busch in an attempt to stem their shareholders losing confidence, have announced today the appointment of the new host of "Tucker Carlson Tonight".

Fox News, having fired the only reason people watch Fox News, is confident that Tucker's replacement will boost it flailing popularity.

Meanwhile over at CNN they ditched alledged misogynist "Don Lemon".

THIS JUST IN!

Tucker Takes New Role On ‘The View’

NEW YORK, NY — As part of a plan to broaden its audience, the long-running daytime talk show The View has announced former Fox News host Tucker Carlson will be joining the program's panel. Producers hope Carlson's presence will both draw new viewers and educate current cast members.

"Tucker's going to be a great addition," said Executive Producer Brian Teta. "Not only will we reap the benefits of bringing in a more politically conservative audience but our other co-hosts will benefit from hearing new political perspectives! Win-win!"

Early test footage shows Carlson surrounded by laughing women looking perplexed, apparently shocked by a dumb thing Joy Behar said.

Though Carlson had quickly become a hot commodity on the media landscape after his shocking departure from Fox News was announced, his new co-panelists expressed mixed feelings about him joining the group. "We don't tolerate any differing opinions on this show," said longest-tenured panelist Joy Behar. "There's a reason the program is called ‘The View,' and not 'The Views!' There is only one acceptable view around here! Tucker is a Nazi!" She then screeched loudly and attempted to claw the conservative anchor's eyes out.

The program has featured some conservative voices in the past, but analysts believe this time will be far different. "It's going to be a bloodbath, for sure," said one expert. "Just wait until Whoopi Goldberg says something really stupid and Tucker has to respond. Must-see TV, right there."

At publishing time, Behar, Goldberg, Sunny Hostin, and Ana Navarro were considering walking out and reportedly already accusing producers of perpetrating "literal violence" simply by hiring Carlson.

Source: Babylon Bee - Fake News You Can Trust

A billion here, a billion there, after a while

it starts to add up to real money.

It seems clearer why billionaire

media mogul Rupert Murdoch is shying away

from the prospect of matrimony.

This month, Rupert at 93 broke off his engagement

to a 66-year-old woman after less than

three weeks' time.

Maybe Rupert could see ahead to the billions

he and his Fox "News" enterprise would be

paying to fake-news-damaged plaintiffs. This

week his Fox Corp stock hemorrhaged

half a billion dollars in valuation in one day

after the *ucker Carlson fiasco and the recent

defamation settlement.

Looks like ol' Rupert may have been thinking ahead

to 2031 when he will turn 100 -- unless advanced age

and the stress of it all get him first -- when he

may need whatever cash he can conserve now.

His 1999 divorce cost him a reported

1.7 billion dollars.

So why gamble on another potential split by

marrying again in 2023?

SCOTUS chief won't testify.

U.S. Supreme Court accountability and ethics reform

will happen, says  Senator Dick Durban, regardless

of whether SCOTUS participates in the process or not.

Durban (D-IL) is chairman of the Senate Judiciary

Committee.

Chief Justice John Roberts has declined Durban's

invitation to testify about the Clarence Thomas

scandals and the apparent need to institute

better guidelines for justices' ethics.

Justice Thomas and his wife have been under fire

for her support of the failed 2021 coup and his

acceptance of millions of dollars worth of

luxury vacations over the years.  There is also

the matter of the unreported sale of Thomas's

mother's house to a billionaire who

wants to create a museum dedicated to Thomas

as the Nebraska site.

cccmedia

A major decision for Expats.

The decision whether to rent or buy their home

here in Latin America is a big deal for Expats.

The general rule is not to buy a home or property

until after living 12 months or more in the target area.

Some Expats are eager to buy or build a

home in Latin American as soon as possible ..

despite the potential headaches.  Even buying

an existing property makes one responsible

for remediation of floodiing incidents, the

headache of needing to resell without a reliable

property listing service if they decide to move

again and security issues if they're not in a

gated community.  Also to mention those who

buy and then see that rowdy dogs move into the

neighborhood or dogs in packs (looking at you,

Ipiales, Colombia) are allowed to roam the

streets at ngiht.

Still, it's obviously a matter of great interest

to new arrivals.  When Kathleen Peddicord

started Live & Invest Overseas 15 years ago,

she had 10,000 subscribers.  Today, according

to a report on Expatting posted by the BBC,

Peddicord's publication and website have

300,000 subscribers.

cccmedia in Quito, Ecuador

One million USA Expatters can't be wrong.

I just saw a statistic published at the

Cuenca HighLife site stating that one million

USA-born citizens are now living in Mexico,

according to Mexican officials. That is up

from 360,000 in year 2000.

The article states that Jalisco, Guanajuato and

Baja California have traditionally been

where USA visitors and retirees have moved.

Today, popular relocation areas include

Lake Chapala communities and Mexico City,

the latter having made improvements in

safety and security.

Resource... the article posted today, April 27,

2023 at www.cuencahighlife.com, titled

Latin America has become the new Sun Belt

for multitudes...

cccmedia

@cccmedia I was in Medellin in 2020 and would consider living there permanently.  I loved it.  I don't know much about Ecuador how is life there?  I am looking to move closer to the states.  I'm in Indonesia now but it's time to move on and I like Latin America. 

Hello, Anthony, a.k.a. Digitarius.

Since this thread is about 'How Is This Possible?'

and resides on the non-country-specific Expat Cafe,

I have respoonded to your questiion about life

in Ecuador .. at the Ecuador Mailbag thread of

the Expat.com Ecuador forum.

The title of my post over there is

Anthony Wants to Know About Ecuador.

cccmedia in Quito, Ecuador

Camilla: Queen or Queen Consort?

In the days before Camilla (1947-  ) and her husband,

King Charles, receive their Coronation (May 6),

people want to know... will she be known as the queen

or as queen consort, consort having been a title

given to the spouses of British monarchs historically.

The answer is .. Queen Camilla.

It wasn't always clear that she would receive this title.

Camilla met Charles in 1971 .. yet after they became

romantically involved, the Palace decision-makers

decided she wasn't the ingenue they desired

for Charles's bride. Enter Diana, but that's beyond

the scope of this post.

Camilla wed Charles in 2005.

In Britain, a reigning queen, such as

the late Elizabeth II, is known as queen regnant.

The widow of a king is known as dowager queen,

until a child of hers ascends to the throne and

she is then spoken of as the queen mother.

At the coronation, Queen Camilla will be crowned

with the headpiece worn by Queen Mary at

the 1911 Coronation.

Source... The Washington Post

@cccmedia

Camilla, formerly one of the (now) king's concubines

The most runs ever in an MLB baseball game.

The date was August 25, 1922, about 100 years ago.

The Chicago Cuibs were outscored 17 to 1

in the late innings, yet held on to defeat the

Philadelphia Phillies, 26-23.  The 49 runs scored

in that "barnburner" remain the highest

two-team total ever tallied in a

single game.

The Cubs built a huge lead, scoring ten runs in

the second inning and 14 in the fourth. 

Cubs outfielder Marty Callaghan faced the

same pitcher three times in the fourth.

21 of the runs were unearned as the teams

combined to commit nine errors.  The

Phillies collected 26 hits, just six for

extra bases.

---

As for the most runs scored by one team in the

modern era, since 1900,  that record is held

by the Texas Rangers, who routed the

Baltimore Orioles in 2007 by a score of 30-7.

Source... baseballscouter.com

Gold.

As investors fret over banking failures and the

U.S. Dollar's status as the world's reserve currency,

gold may be getting more attractive.

Here's longtime investment analyst Doug Casey's

latest take...

"Did you know the banking system is a

mile-high house of cards that could collapse any time?...

"Bank holidays, capital controls, bail-ins and CBDC's*,

are all on the menu, and sooner than many think....

"That's where gold comes in.

"The price of gold is breakiing out.

"It soared past $2,000 (US per ounce) and shows

no sign of slowing down.

"The collapse of the banking system could be

a tremendous catalyst for gold.

"An ocean of capital could flow into gold

as depositors flee the banking system.

"We think it is just the start of what will be

the greatest gold bull market in history."

Source... Doug Casey's The International Man

        May 4, 2023 Internet dispatch

* CBDC's are a digital form of a country's

fiat currency.  Fiat currency is not backed

by gold or another asset, rather it is

deemed to have value by fiat or declaration.

ESPN Comentator calls A.D.'s performance

in Game 2 "straight up garbage."

The marquee matchup of Stephen Curry of

Golden State and LeBron James of the

L.A. Lakers gets a lot of attention in the

NBA playoffs. But it's the perplexing play of

L.A.'s Anthony Davis that's got the attention

of ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, the Howard Cosell

of his generation.

Six-foot-ten center Davis dominated in the

Lakers' Game 1 victory at San Francisco

as he scored 30 points with 23 rebounds,

then scored only 11 points in L.A.'s Game 2

blowout loss in the same arena.

On ESPN today, Smith hollered his conclusions

into his microphone on the program 'First Take'...

"You got to call this brother out. Cause he's

too great. In your sleep you can score 11 points.

In your sleep....

"There's only two ways Anthony Davis scores

only 11 points. Either he's hurt or he's disinterested."

I see a third way... He's tired! He can't get his energy up

for the playoff challenge with only a single day off

between games after 11 years of NBA wear and tear

and weeks of tough play required to get the Lakers

to barely qualify to make it into this post-season.

At age 30 and with three days off before Game 1,

he had time to rest and recover for it. All the games of

the current series are scheduled every second day, i.e.

May 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, etc. and A.D. is not up for that pace.

(Note that this is a theory, not my firm conclusion.)

Back to Stephen A. Smith:

"Last night, he looked disinterested. He looked

apathetic.... It was an atrocious

performance. You left LeBron James hangin'....

"Wearing the purple and gold comes with a

special responsibility. You can't show up like that....

*You ain't no goddam scrub. You ain't a good player.

You are a great player....and you played

like garbage."

As for LeBron, he scored 21 points in the first half

as the Lakers fell behind by 11 points at the

intermission. He scored only 2 points in the

second half as coach Darvin Ham pulled all the

L.A. starters at the start of the fourth quarter,

down 30 points. L.A. allowed the Warriors

to score over 40 points in each of the

second and third quarters.

Final score... Warriors 127, Lakers 100

cccmedia

@cccmedia This is interesting.  I keep hearing a lot about gold going up and stocks going down.  I think a small investment in gold can't go wrong if only as a hedge against inflation. 

Baseball used to be called the national pastime.

That was before the average time of a nine-inning

MLB game peaked at 3 hours 11 minutes two years ago.

It was decided to put a pitch timer on pitchers and batters

to speed things up.

And this season .. it has.

The pitch-o-meter has shortened games by an average

of more than 40 minutes per game, according to

Theo Epstein, a consultant to Major League baseball.

Epstein gained fame as a baseball executive when he led

the Red Sox and the Cubs to their franchises' first

World Series titles in about a century.

Epstein says the pitch timer has restored the pace of

the game to what it should be .. ditto for the length

of games, which he says is now back to 2.5 hours for

a nine-inning affair.

Source... Epstein was interviewed on the

ESPN program 'Pardon the Interruption' earlier today

@Digitarius

Charting Gold.

Viewing the xe.com chart for gold (XAU) versus

the U.S. Dollar (USD), one sees the steady increase of

gold from $1626 per ounce last October to

this month's breakout above $2000.

There was a dip in gold's value in February of

this year into early March, before the move

above 2K.

Gold closed today at $2016 per ounce.

cccmedia

Scoring in every inning -- a baseball oddity.

It's something that can be expected to happen

only once every 451,834 games, according

to the statistics site SABR:  an MLB team

scoring in each of nine innings.

In the past century of major league games

(1924-2023), it has only happened in one game --

on September 13, 1964 at Wrigley Field, when the

St. Louis Cardinals scored in every frame

against the Chicago Cubs, winning 15-2.

The Cardinals scored no more than two runs

in each inning except the seventh.

In that inning, against Cubs pitcher

Sterling Slaughter, Flood singled, Brock

and Groat doubled .. and Maxville, running

for Groat, scored on a Boyer single, tallying

the third and final run of the inning.

St. Louis    2 1 2  2 2 1  3 1 1  -  15

Chicago     1 0 0  0 0 1  0 0 0  -    2

---

The Cardinals went on to win the

World Series that year in '64, defeating

the Yankees in seven games.

Source...

   research.sabr.org/journals/scoring-every-inning

Awaken to the Kraken.

While you weren't lookiing, the NHL added

an ice hockey team called the Kraken.

The Seattle expansion squad, named after a

mythical sea beast, actually joined the league

as its 32nd team in the '21-22 season.

In development, says the NHL, the team

spent 18 months and received 215,000 votes

for 1,200 potential names for the Seattle club

before deciding that 'Kraken' was the

name to go with.

The Kraken garnered fourth place

(46-28 with eight ties) in the

Pacific Division of the NHL this season and

the team is currently tied 1-1 with

the Dallas Stars in a playoff series that is

underway.

Not bad for an expansion team in any sport.

Source... nhl.com

It is interesting to hear about a case involving the filing of FBARs and the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to hear it. It will be important to see how the court rules and whether it has any impact on the obligations of U.S. citizens and residents to disclose their foreign bank accounts.
-@JosephDemps

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled on the Bittner case,

announcing the court's decision on February 28, 2023.

For U.S. citizens, the court ruled, IRS penalties for non-reporting

of foreign accounts are to be assessed on a per-report basis

rather than on a per-account basis.

In so ruling, Reuters reports, the court reduced

Alexandru Bittner's obligation from the IRS-assessed

$2.72 million .. down to $50,000.

In its analysis of the ruling, accounting firm KMPG stated,

the SCOTUS decision in Bittner vs. US is "favorable to

taxpayers in that it decided that the most-frequently

imposed penalty applies just once to each FBAR (report)

as opposed to applying to each account that was not listed

on an FBAR."

---

FBAR refers to Foreign Bank and Financial Report, which

Expats and other taxpayers must file with the IRS

for any tax year in which an individual's foreign accounts

exceeded 10,000 USD in aggregate.

Relevant form... FinCEN form 114.

Alexandru Bittner is/was a dual citizen of Romania and

the United States.

cccmedia

Fani Willis has full pockets.

Why did the Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis

let it be known two months ago that an

indictment decision for election interference

was "imminent" and then last week say

that decision might be announced as late

as September?

The Meidas Touch legal network has

figured out that Fani's 'imminent' comment

was not meant for the general public, but

to alert those who had agreed to be fake electors

that time was running out for them to

fess up.

The strategy apparently worked, as late reports

indicate that eight of the fake electors

have flipped and are co-operating with

the prosecutors of the 2020 election-fraud plots.

  ----

Legal analysts surmise that Ms. Willis may have

the strongest case among the prospective and

actual indictments in New York, D.C. and

Georgia.  That's because, in addition to the

fake electors she has in her judicial pocket,

in her other pocket she has the tape recording

of the infamous phone call in which the

Insurrectionist-in-Chief asked the Georgia

Secretary of State to "find" the thousands of

votes needed to steal the state's electoral votes

from Joe Biden.

cccmedia

SCOTUS drip, drip, drip.

The New York Times presented a round-up

of the corruption and alleged corruption

involving sitting Justices of the U.S.

Supreme Court, in the form of this weekend's

column by Pulitzer Prize winner

Maureen Dowd.

Dowd reports that Justice Neil Gorsuch

continued a family 'tradition' of weakening

the U.S. government's ability to protect

the environment.

Decades ago in the Reagan years,

Dowd reports, Gorsuch's mother was

the administrator of the EPA and was

attacked as an "enemy of the environment"

who corrupted a once-proud agency,

slashing rules and spending.

Gorsuch has a record of voting to

weaken the EPA. For instance, he

enthusiastically joined a 6-3 majority

last year that voted to severely curtail the

EPA's ability to regulate power-plant

emissions. Dowd says Gorsuch has been

completing the "toxic mission" of his

mother, who resigned the EPA top job

in 1983, under pressure.

(to be continued)

Dowd points out that Justice Samuel Alito

recently told The Wall Street Journal that

he is bothered by the way that SCOTUS

is being "hammered" daily in the media.

Dowd considers that ironic since that's

how millions of women feel, she says,

since Alito's opinion was published

invalidating Roe v. Wade and stripping away

women's nationally-protected right to

abortion healthcare.

Dowd points out that not only did

Justice Clarence Thomas fail to report

luxury trips and the sale of his

boyhood home to a billionaire benefactor

as required by law, but ProPublica

this past week reported that Thomas

accepted the gift of years of

tuition for the private-school education of

Thomas's grandnephew .. paid for by

the same billionaire .. and also not

disclosed by Thomas.

(to be continued)

More scrutiny of the Justices.

Maureen Dowd of the Times also

pointed to the reporting, not denied,

that Justice Clarence Thomas's wife

received a secret payment of $25,000

from a bigwig at the Federalist Society,

which over the decades enabled the

packing of the Supreme Court with

conservative opponents of Roe v. Wade.

The payment was delivered hush-hush

by then-pollster Kellyanne Conway, who

appeared on television this weekend to

criticize the Washington Post for its interviews

with her past contacts but did not dispute

that she made the secretive payment.

Dowd points to Chief Justice John Roberts

for his refusal to appear before a

Congressional body to discuss the

alleged misconduct of his colleagues.

Dowd points out that Roberts' wife

was paid millions as a recruiter

for the placement of attorneys

at fancy law firms which had

business before the Supreme Court.

That was an obvious conflict of interest.

Source... Maureen Dowd's column

in the New York Times, titled

'Supreme Arrogance'

The World's population is estimated

to be more than 8-billion people.

Did you know that Nigeria and Ethiopia

are two of the world's top-ten

most populated countries?

China, of course, is the most populated

of all countries, with 1.42 billion souls.

India, at number-two, is just behind

China, with 1.41 billion.

Here are the other nations with at

least 100 million inhabitants....

(3) USA ... 339 million

(4) Indonesia... 276 million

(5) Pakistan... 237 million

(6) Nigeria... 220 million

(7) Brazil... 216 million

(8) Bengladesh... 172 million

(9) Russia... 145 million

(10) Mexico... 128 million

Japan, Ethiopia, the Philippines and Egypt

are next in population size.

---

Source... worldpoplulationreview.com ...

Population statistics above #3-10 are

estimates, rounded to the nearest million.

Minnesota: is this a legal traffic stop?

Traffic stops pitting a motorist against the cops

seem to be a hot topic at YouTube lately.

Often it's about a motorist trying to avoid

giving too much information during a

traffic stop.

At a highway in Bloomington, Minnesota, on

a freezing night in January .. an officer stops

motorist Ricky who was driving five miles under

the speed limit. Ricky presents his

drivers license and when the cop runs it, he

finds no warrants outstanding.

The cop makes Ricky exit his vehicle and stand in

the cold for a seemingly unending series of

questions, including what he does for work.

If the strategy is to make Ricky so cold that he

submits to a search of his rented car, it works.

After 20 minutes freezing in the Minnesota night

and repeatedly refusing to allow a search as is

his right under the Fourth Amendment,

Ricky agrees to let the officer and his backup

search the car.

After the search finds nothing incriminating,

Ricky is released.  He follows up with a complaint,

a request to the city attorney and, according to

the narrator, there is a crowdsourcing effort.

One potential issue is the coercion involved in

making Ricky stand in the cold for longer than

is necessary .. potentially to coerce him to

submit to the search.

Source... youtube.com

"I said No!" Never let cops search your car

How 14 popular (U.S.) fast-food chains are bulking up their poultry-based offerings with seaweed, beef, soy, oats and WOOD(!)

McDonald's 

Wendy's

Carl's Jr. 

Subway

Jack in the Box

Whataburger

Burger King 

Domino's

Dairy Queen

Arby's

Culver's

White Castle

Del Taco

source; Daily Mail, UK

GOP's key informant flies the coop.

The U.S. House Oversight Committee Chairman,

James Comer (R-KY), has just held a much-heralded

news conference that the GOP billed as a

"judgment day" for Joe Biden and the

Biden "crime family." The committee has been

investigating the Bidens' activities for four months,

seeking to tie Mr. Biden to alleged corruption.

The news conference proved "anticlimactic,"

Yahoo! News reports, "largely consisting of Comer

throwing around vague, unsubstantiated accusations"

and failing to link Mr. Biden to any alleged

influence peddling.

On Fox 'News' on Sunday, Congressman Comer

admitted that his committee has lost track of

a key party. As Yahoo! News puts it, Comer

admitted "the probe's primary informant

had flown the coop." As in, flying out and away

from a chicken coop.

I mean, really, how is this even possible?

Of the 35 countries included in the research, the United States was ranked bottom for cost of living

America also came bottom of the pile in terms of time spent with children

Mexico was ranked worst for safety in the index, with the US just behind, while Iceland was ranked best

America was ranked 34 out of 35 in a comparison of the world's biggest economies, scoring three 'F' grades for safety, cost of living and work-life balance, a 'D minus' for health, and a 'C+' for happiness and education.

Source: here

Dem Donna for Jax.

Donna Deegan has just been elected as the first

woman mayor of Florida's largest city, Jacksonville.

Deegan is a fifth-generation native of the city,

a longtime TV anchor there and a breast-cancer

survivor.

Although Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) called

Donna's party a dead carcass by the side of the road,

Democrat Donna prevailed over her opponent,

52 to 48 percent.

---

And how is this possible? While you weren't looking,

Jacksonville grew to 963,000 in population and

now has twice the population of number-two in

the Sunshine State, namely Miami.

Credit:  MSNBC's Morning Joe, which interviewed

Mayor-elect Deegan upon her victory.

@Aidan in HCMC

Interesting comparison and article, thank you. The Daily Mail is quoting the original article, which is here:

https://www.asherfergusson.com/raising-a-family-index/

Well, just arrived back home in Viet Nam. We spent approx. 4 weeks in USA handling tailings of business there, after moving to VN, last year.

So, why do I see USA issues on VN forum? Hmmmm............. blah, blah, blah, blah.

Guess I should mind my own business.

Give it up folks, we are here for many reasons, no need to bang that drum. Happy to be home.

MAc

Well, just arrived back home in Viet Nam. We spent approx. 4 weeks in USA handling tailings of business there, after moving to VN, last year.

Welcome home, Mac68 ! Glad to hear that you made it back, and safely.

So, why do I see USA issues on VN forum? Hmmmm............. blah, blah, blah, blah.

You don't. You're reading this on the "Expat Cafe - open discussions" forum, under the topic "How Is This Possible", with participants from the world over. A cursory review, however, of the posts in this thread will reveal the vast, vast majority to be about the United States of America.

Guess I should mind my own business.

Not at all! Please feel free to jump right in, sir!

Give it up folks, we are here for many reasons, no need to bang that drum. Happy to be home.
MAc
-@Mac68

I kept looking for updates from you on the VN forum about your home-build experience. Hope all went smoothly on that front.

Again, welcome home.

Well, just arrived back home in Viet Nam. We spent approx. 4 weeks in USA handling tailings of business there, after moving to VN, last year.

Welcome home, Mac68 ! Glad to hear that you made it back, and safely.
So, why do I see USA issues on VN forum? Hmmmm............. blah, blah, blah, blah.

You don't. You're reading this on the "Expat Cafe - open discussions" forum, under the topic "How Is This Possible", with participants from the world over. A cursory review, however, of the posts in this thread will reveal the vast, vast majority to be about the United States of America.
Guess I should mind my own business.

Not at all! Please feel free to jump right in, sir!
Give it up folks, we are here for many reasons, no need to bang that drum. Happy to be home.
MAc
-@Mac68

I kept looking for updates from you on the VN forum about your home-build experience. Hope all went smoothly on that front.
Again, welcome home.
-@Aidan in HCMC

Home build experience was generally good. Some small issues, but all resolved.

best I can say is choose your builder carefully, see other projects they did etc. What we found is that the Builder mostly subbed out the skilled labor. And Highly skilled they  were. However, builder was not aware of my contracting/engineering background. Came in handy though. Don't know if I made this comment recently, but talking with a retired professor from local university (Taught Engineering and construction) Be careful 'There are no laws in Vietnam governing this work per se, ( enforced

@ individual level), ..........but there are skilled craftsmen. Ensure you monitor carefully, all the way down to add/mixtures of concrete. Thank you so much for your interest.

MAc

"Sex, lies and audiotapes": Rudy Giuliani's

dealings with Noelle Dunphy have it all.

Upon learning about the almost-unspeakable

ways Giuliani allegedly treated his long-time

assistant, Noelle Dunphy, one might wonder

why she stuck around doing his bidding for years.

Questions related to this are answered in some

detail in a YouTube video featuring the

legal eagles Popok and Karen.

Check it out at the 20-minute mark of

Jack Smith Ready to Pounce after Trump

Gets More Bad News -- Legal AF, on YouTube's

MeidasTouch channel.

Noelle Dunphy also produced the allegation that

the disbarred Giuliani and his infamous former cllient

cooked up a scheme to illegally sell presidential pardons

for $2-million each and then split the illicit fees.

The tawdry details of the Giuliani-Dunphy

liasons can also be scrutinized

in the lawsuit filed by Ms. Dunphy against

the one-time participant in the abominable

Four Seasons Landscaping news conference.

cccmedia

How can we get this resolved by 9 p.m.?

News analyst Howie Klein often appears on

YouTuber David Feldman's program

'The Mop Up' to discuss late-breaking news

about a certain twice-impeached, defeated,

recently-indicted former chief executive.

On today's program, Howie said the New York

Times just broke a story about how counsel

Jack Smith is seeking the impeached individual's

communications related to personally monetizing his

dealings with seven foreign countries (allegedly).

Feldman asked the knowledgeable Howie Klein

when he thinks Smith will indict the infamous

ex-leader.

Klein: I'm hoping by 9 o'clock.

#indictnow

Source... YouTube's David Feldman, The Mop Up