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News, Video

WARNING: Graphic Content shown in video

A video taped in the aftermath of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, captures a conversation and crime scene that supports the account of Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson. A voice of someone who alleges to have witnessed the shooting is heard saying the 18-year-old charged at the officer who fired in self-defense.

So-called witnesses have said Officer Wilson shot the the 6 foot, 4 inch, 300-pound Brown as he ran away with his hands in the air. However, among the angry trash-talking crowd and cameraman, who tells the crowd Wilson killed Brown “for no reason,” another media-silenced witness is heard telling a very different story.

“I mean, the police was in the truck [sic] and he was, like, over the truck,” the witness says. “So then he ran, police got out and ran after him. The next thing I know, he comes back towards them. The police had his guns drawn on him.”

While the video was initially published by someone who claims their intention was to back up the Brown family, a closer examination of the video and witness comments does just the opposite.

The cameraman, who just so happened to be in the right place at the right time, gins up the crown by telling them that Wilson shot Brown as he held up his hands and said “Don’t shoot,” but according to the cameraman, the officer stood over him and “shot him some more.” However, he later admits he only hearing shots and did not witness the shooting. To back up his claim, he offers a bleak “that’s what they said” defense. Who exactly “they” were is unknown.

“They say he had his hands up and everything, and they just shot him anyway,” the unidentified camera operator quickly adds.

Dorian Johnson, Brown’s friend who was with him when he was shot and is suspected by police to have been Brown’s co-conspirator when he perpetrated a strong-arm theft at a liquor store, claimed Brown was never reaching over or into Wilson’s squad SUV. He said Wilson struck Brown with the vehicle door as he got out and began firing at Brown as he ran away with his hands in the air in surrender.

However, the forensics simply do not back up either the cameraman’s or Johnson’s story, something that isn’t lost on one person in the onlooking crowd.

“He was running away?” one man asks. “Why his body come this way, though?”

Well, of course, it couldn’t have. But those who look at the video hoping to see evidence of police brutality toward young black males will see what they want to see.

“I posted this video to provide some additional clarity on a tragic act of violence perpetrated by Ferguson police officers,” the user who posted the video, named BlackCanseco on YouTube wrote in one comment. “Yet like most things, it’s served to bring out trolls and racists.”

An autopsy conducted at the request of Brown’s family by Dr. Michael Baden, the noted former chief medical examiner of New York, reportedly determined that Brown was hit with six bullets, four to the right arm and two to the head, all to the front and none from close range. One of the bullets entered the top of Brown’s skull, suggesting his head was bent forward.

“This one here looks like his head was bent downward,” Baden told The New York Times. “It can be because he’s giving up, or because he’s charging forward at the officer.”

Meanwhile, a woman claiming to be a friend of the officer involved in the shooting of Ferguson’s Mike Brown called into “The Dana Show” offering Darren Wilson’s side of the story. She said that Officer Wilson

“All of a sudden he just started to bum-rush him. He just started coming at him full speed, and he just started coming at me full force and I just started shooting and he just kept coming,” the woman says is Wilson’s own account.

The FBI under the direction of Attorney General Eric Holder has opened a civil rights investigation , and Holder has approved a third autopsy on Brown’s body, which will be conducted by a federal medical examiner.

President Obama has changed his tone after initially condemning the actions of the Ferguson Police Department, which protestors-turned-rioters have blatantly acknowledged gave them confidence to cause the unrest. Now, Obama called for calm and issued a statement expressing condolences to the family and the community, though curously left out a personal statement to Officer Darren Wilson.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon had declared a state of emergency and implemented a midnight-to-5-a.m. curfew in the city, which was repeatedly broken during so-called protests that have resulted in more shooting deaths.

A video taped in the aftermath of

Opinion

missouri riots

A demonstrator raises his hands in front of of a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 11, two days after Michael Brown was shot and killed. (Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

Ferguson is on fire and the situation was clearly avoidable. Looking at the scenes on TV it’s easy to blame everyone and explain away the chaos as racial unrest. This is not the case. Although there may be racial elements in play, an examination of the facts tells a different story.

The truth is rarely obvious, and often a step back from the scene can get people to see the forest for the trees. A couple of things to note about the sad situation in Ferguson:

1. A store owner was the victim of “strong-arm” robbery who was clearly outmatched physically. The store owner had no defense other than the police who apparently were not coming quickly. If the owner had a gun and defended himself, then none of this would be happening and, furthermore, the police did not stop any crime from originally happening. Most people would be hailing him as a hero.

2. While the store owner did the right thing and called the cops (according to leftists) and allowed the police to handle it, they clearly did not. For his trouble, the store owner was then looted again a few nights later which the police were both unable to stop or prevent. So far the suspects are all still at large. Owners who defended their property by arming themselves — both in Ferguson and 20 years ago in Los Angeles during the Rodney King riots — were untouched. No retaliation has been taken against those store owners by the mobs. It should be noted that some gun owners in LA after the riots were charged with weapons violations. No looters or rioters were. It remains to be seen who will be charged with what in the aftermath of Ferguson.

3. Clearly, the local population’s relationship with the heavily armed police is what led to this sad state of affairs. Had police been lightly armed and not been using deadly force with regularity in Ferguson, then the situation might not have been explosive. Store owners and other townspeople who are heavily armed were not seen at the riots, nor did they use such weaponry against the police. Rather, it was mostly homemade weaponry that was ineffectively used by the rioters. The townspeople who were armed used their guns for defense — not against the local police, nor to rob their fellow-citizens.

4. Although some people have been arrested, the looting and rioting have not stopped nor have they lessened, despite extensive hi-tech gear like armored vehicles and sonic artillery. None of it has proven effective in Ferguson and, in fact, may be contributing to the tension at the heart of the violence. No justice has been carried for either injured party on both sides. However, this gear has proven very effective in killing people in cases where citizens have armed themselves legally and barricaded themselves inside homes against the police. This is the complete opposite of how we are told this gear is intended to be used.

5. The situation in Ferguson is based on a lie. The autopsy clearly shows medium to close range impacts from a police revolver as Brown was hunched or stooped over the policeman– not in the back as multiple eyewitnesses reported. The officer was also injured from a blow or blows by the perpetrator and, therefore, Brown’s death was likely the result of a justifiable shooting. The media have repeatedly shown videos and eyewitness accounts expanding on this lie, but not on the officer’s behalf. They have shown Brown allegedly manhandling the clerk, but emphasized in reports the officer in question was not responding to any call, nor did he know Brown was even a suspect. Who was? Why wasn’t he? Did the police just not care? Or, are there so many police in Ferguson that there was no need to care, as someone else was handling the case? Note that the officer was able to handle the situation with nothing more than a service revolver.

People should be aware that while the arming and expansion of police forces in this nation has made cursory sense, a careful analysis of the problem will show it to be a false narrative. The police cannot protect you, are slow to dispense justice, and more typically will use this paramilitary, “non-lethal” gear in non-life threatening situations where more often than not, it is deadly to the target. Arming yourself, however, is very effective, defuses situations and removes both a financial and social burden from society. As shown in this case, it is not the source of crime or unrest.

While the police are not guilty of any crime here, we should be aware of the many causes of rioting, looting, civil unrest and the dangers of militarizing the police forces of this nation.

We should examine this from a position of intellectual clarity and not emotion or bias.

Looking at the Ferguson riots on TV

Politics

joe miller alaska senate

Joe Miller, the 2010 Republican nominee and 2014 Alaska Senate candidate, picked up key endorsements ahead of Tuesday’s primary and appears to be gaining momentum.

Joe Miller, the 2010 Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, has picked up several big endorsements ahead of Tuesday’s Alaska Senate primary. Miller, by far, has the most energized and devoted base of supporters out of the three Republican candidates vying for the chance to take on embattled Democratic Sen. Mark Begich in November.

Miller’s base appears to be swelling during a crucial time when former Natural Resources Commissioner Dan Sullivan appears to be losing steam, increasing the possibility him and Lt. Governor Mead Treadwell could split the establishment vote.

On August 14, the Anchorage Tea Party joined several other already-announced conservative groups by throwing their support behind Miller, kicking off a string of endorsements from former Gov. Sarah Palin, conservative talk show host Mark Levin and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

“ Although all three Republican candidates are saying things we want to hear, ATP believes that Joe Miller is the only one who can be trusted to take action consistent with his promises,” the statement from the Anchorage Tea Party read. “While all of the three Republican candidates will be more attuned to ATP values and principles than is the incumbent, ATP is not convinced that their values and principles will not ‘evolve’ over time.”

The endorsement preceded the coveted powerhouse endorsement of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who many prematurely thought was sitting out of the Republican primary. “We said we’d send the good guys in Washington their reinforcements, so, Alaska, here we go,” Palin said last week on Fox News. “Vote for Joe Miller on Tuesday and shake off the liberal stronghold so we can get on the right track.”

Reliable polling in the Alaska Senate primary has been nil, and polling “The Last Frontier” is notoriously difficult. The liberal pollster Public Policy Polling released polling August 5 that found Miller with the momentum, surging from 14 to 20 percent against Sullivan (35 percent) and Treadwell (29 percent). However, according to PPD’s pollster tracking, which rates pollsters on past accuracy, PPP has an abysmal 1 out of 5 track record in Republican primaries, which requires missing the margin of error by over 3 points nearly 75 percent of the time.

And underestimating Mr. Miller’s base support was the norm in his last bid for the nomination. In 2010, one pollster said Miller was trailing in a race he won by 32 points.

Regardless, if Miller was trailing yet still gaining momentum in early August, the groundswell of endorsements could make Tuesday’s primary a nail-biter. Immediately following Palin’s endorsement, influential radio talk show host Mark Levin threw his weight behind the 2010 nominee.

“[Joe] was endorsed today by our dear friend Sarah Palin, and I would like to endorse him today myself,” Mark Levin said, adding that Miller is a “constitutional conservative” running against “two establishment” GOP candidates. “Our friends in Alaska, you need to get out; you need to vote” for Joe Miller.

The latest endorsement came over the weekend from former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, now the popular host of “The Huckabee Show” on Fox News. The potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate said Miller was “the common sense choice for those who desire limited government and free market economics.”

“I am proud to endorse Joe Miller for United States Senate in Alaska, because Joe embodies the kind of values our country so desperately needs,” Huckabee said in a statement. “He is unequivocally pro-life, pro-family, and pro-traditional marriage. And above all, he understands that life and liberty come from God.”

While most believe that Miller remains the underdog in the race, the same was true in 2010 when he defeated sitting Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the Republican primary at a time when her approval rating was in the 70s, supposedly.

“I believe one reason we are seeing such a groundswell of support and endorsements as the election nears is because of what Alaskans have seen during the debates,” campaign spokesman Randy DeSoto said. Miller performed above expectations in all of the debates, one of which, Dan Sullivan decided to sit out.

The Alaska Senate primary is rated a “Toss-Up” on PPD’s 2014 Senate Map Predictions model. In January, PPD’s senior political analyst Richard D.Baris predicted this potential outcome, which he says was unjustifiably ignored throughout the campaign.

“Sullivan and Treadwell now find themselves in the kind of trouble I expected them to be in months ago,” Baris said. “Joe Miller appears to have all the momentum and excitement and, unless the establishment coalesces behind one or the other to a greater degree, Alaskan voters may send national pundits yet another message — we pick our own candidates out here, not you.”

Joe Miller, the 2010 Republican nominee for

Politics, Video

Judge Jeanine Pirro got right to the point in her monologue this weekend, A famous appeals court judge once said a grand jury could indict a ham sandwich,” Judge Pirro said.

“Now I believe in the rule of law, but I am not going to sugar-coat this one. The indictment of Texas Governor Rick Perry for abuse of his veto power and coercion of a public servant is pure, unadulterated hogwash.”

Pirro said the indictment embarrasses District Attorneys like her, and noted how former Obama advisor David Axelrod said the indictment was “pretty sketchy” in a tweet after the news broke.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry was indicted late Friday on charges he allegedly abused his veto power, but details of the indictment are leading some to question whether this is all a political witch hunt.

An Austin grand jury indicted the governor on felony counts of abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant after the governor vetoed $7.5 million in funding over two years for the so-called public integrity unit, which is run by Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, an outspoken Democrat and known political enemy of Gov. Rick Perry. Lehmberg heads up the public integrity unit, which investigates statewide allegations of corruption and political wrongdoing.

Perry repeatedly and publicly said he wouldn’t allow Texas to fund the unit while Lehmberg was still in charge. Perry had called on Lehmberg to resign after she was arrested for drinking and driving and pleaded guilty in April 2013.

A video recording made at the jail shows Lehmberg spitting and shouting at staffers, demanding they call the sheriff directly, who she presumed would pull strings and get her off the charges. She is seen kicking the door of her cell and sticking her tongue out at police officers. Court records obtained by PPD show Lehmberg’s blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit for driving.

Judge Jeanine Pirro, who before her judgeship served as a prosecutor in New York Superior court and as an elected District Attorney, said “nothing in this indictment makes sense.”

Judge Jeanine offers commentary on the Perry

Politics, Video

 

From October 2013 and May 2014, authorities at the US-Mexico border began detaining migrant children at an alarming and unprecedented rate. In “Undocumented and Underage: The Crisis of Migrant Children,” Vice News documents how during this period, thousands of underage migrants ended up in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detention facilities along the border.

From Vice News:

Capacity at CBP detention facilities was overwhelmed by the influx of migrants, who predominantly came from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. As overcrowding became more severe, conditions for the migrants worsened. Lacking proper installations and sufficient personnel at the facilities, Department of Homeland Security officials began to release underage migrants into the custody of family members in the US, and cited them to attend immigration hearings at a later date.

The situation is similar in Mexico. The flow of underage migrants in the border region has increased rapidly, and shelters for child migrants report that the Central American population they care for now outnumbers the population of Mexican children.

VICE News travelled to the border between Texas and Tamaulipas to speak to people who have been detained on both sides of the border. They told us about their reasons for crossing the border, how they were detained, what their stay was like inside the detention centers, their plans for the future, and their fears.

Now migrants have two options: return to their country, where they could be killed by gang-related violence, or attempt to enter the United States again, hoping that their luck will change, and they will achieve their American dream.

Subscribe to VICE News here: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News

In "Undocumented and Underage: The Crisis of

Opinion

ISIS massacre

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS or ISIL, massacred at least 90 male members of Iraq’s Yazidi minority in a northern village and kidnapped “dozens” of women and children. President Obama, who claimed last week that U.S. airstrikes broke the Islamic militants hold on northern Iraq and halted their advance on minority communities, apparently spoke too early and gave Iraqi citizens a false sense of security.

Just one day after the president gave the American people, Iraqi citizens, and the world false assurances, the U.S. military was forced to conduct new airstrikes against the Islamic militants caught by surveillance drones carrying out the massacre.

“They arrived in vehicles and they started their killing this afternoon. We believe it’s because of their creed convert or be killed,” senior Kurdish official Hoshiyar Zebari said.

Well over 500 Yazidis have been murdered since ISIS first seized Sinjar. U.S. airstrikes are not enough to stop what many have characterized to now be a full-blown genocide. Pentagon officials say the U.S.-led airstrikes have only forced ISIS to seek cover underground, which only resulted in a shift in the terrorist army’s strategy.

Despite the president’s assurances, military analysts from Lt. Colonel Ralph Peters to Colonel William Hunt have all said there are only two ways to address the threat from the ISIS army. Either U.S. forces meet the ISIS with overwhelming force, or we acknowledge we are allowing Iraqis to die an unbearable death at the hands of a terrorist group that even Al Qaeda deemed to be too extreme, and have plans to turn their attention elsewhere.

However, the Iraqi citizens aren’t the only ones who took a false sense of security from the president’s words. There is bipartisan agreement that the security of the United States is threatened by ISIS, with the most recent threat coming from a young boy who ranted in a video that they want to “rip America in two.”

isis terror teen

“I swear to Allah we will divide America in two,” the child, who looked no older than 12, declared to VICE Media in an angry rant. “And we’ll destroy the enemies of the religion all of them, all who fight the Islamic State.”

Apparently, when they aren’t using children to spew their hate-filled rhetoric, these disgusting individuals are cutting off their heads. These are monsters that neither know nor show any mercy. Meanwhile, the southern border of the United States is wide open, easily allowing these theocratic psychotics to slip through the cracks with a suitcase of fissile nuclear material they obtained from the University of Mosul after seizing Iraq’s second-largest city.

While it is understandable that Americans may not be inclined to take the word of a ranting child in a video thousands of miles away, they should be concerned about the tone of lawmakers sounding the alarm.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told “Fox News Sunday” last week that ISIS was a well-funded, well-oiled organization that is a “direct threat to our homeland.”

“Mr. President, be honest with the threat we face,” Graham said. “They are coming.”

Graham’s statements came after a Vice News video was released that shows an Islamic State militant saying, “We will raise the flag of Allah in the White House.” Nearly a decade and a half has passed since the tragic attack on September 11 2001, yet our compliancy has reverted back to pre-9/11 levels.

As someone who personally suffered a loss of loved-one that day and, constantly struggles to balance the reality of the Islamic threat against my skepticism toward interventionist policies, I do not favor a combination of foreign and immigration policies of disengagement that will result in catastrophes becoming a common occurrence. Losing a family member to Islamic extremism is not an experience I want to repeat again, let alone watch fellow-countryman experience.

We are not immunized against radical terrorists, and not immune to the horrific results spawned from their hate.

Just one day after the president gave

News, Video

Jonathan Gentry posted a video on his Facebook page last week condemning rioting and Ferguson protests that broke out in the aftermath of police shooting a black teenager. His video has since gone viral. Gentry appeared on Fox & Friends to discuss his frustration with how the black community has responded to the events.

Mr. Gentry took to Facebook again after it was learned that the so-called “innocent” Michael Brown had committed strong arm robbery just before he was fatally shot by Officer Darren Wilson, an officer who has six years of pristine service under his belt.

Post by Johnathan Gentry.

Jonathan Gentry appeared on Fox & Friends

Video, World

WATCH: Episode Four Of VICE Media’s stunning report the formerly al-Qaida-linked terror group that now prefers to be known simply as the Islamic State (IS).Since capturing large swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq, the formerly al-Qaida-affiliated terror group now prefers to be known simply as the Islamic State (IS).

Last week, as ISIS approached the Kurdish city of Erbil in Iraq, President Barack Obama authorized American airstrikes against the group to stop its advance.

WATCH: Episode Four Of VICE Media’s stunning

Politics

rick perry indicted

Gov. Rick Perry indicted on charges he abused his veto power after denying funding for an anti-corruption panel led by a Democrat arrested for a DUI, and displayed less-than acceptable professional behavior. (Photo Credit: Justin Hayworth/AP Photo)

Texas Gov. Rick Perry was indicted late Friday on charges he allegedly abused his veto power, but details of the indictment are leading some to question whether this is all a political witch hunt.

“This clearly represents political abuse of the court system and there is no legal basis in this decision,” Perry’s defense attorney David L. Botsford said in a statement. Botsford said he was “outraged and appalled” at the decision.

Perry, a popular governor who has been in office since 2000 and is already the longest-serving governor in Texas history, is also now the first Texas governor to be indicted in nearly a century. An Austin grand jury indicted the governor on felony counts of abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant. The maximum punishment on the first charge is five to 99 years in prison, and two to 10 years on the second.

The governor vetoed $7.5 million in funding over two years for the so-called public integrity unit, which is run by Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, an outspoken Democrat and known political enemy of Gov. Rick Perry. Lehmberg heads up the public integrity unit, which investigates statewide allegations of corruption and political wrongdoing. Perry repeatedly and publicly said he wouldn’t allow Texas to fund the unit while someone like Lehmberg, a figures whose character is very much in question, remained in charge.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said the indictment was “highly-questionable” and pointed out that the Travis County District Attorney’s Office that indicted Perry has a “sad history” of engaging in politically-motivated prosecutions. Her office is the same office that indicted U.S. Republican Rep. Tom Delay as part of a finance probe, which was later vacated. Former Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison was indicted by this office three times, and each time she was acquitted.

Perry had called on Lehmberg to resign after she was arrested for drinking and driving and pleaded guilty in April 2013. When Lehmberg was pulled over by the police, she was weaving in-and-out of the bicycle lane while drinking from an open vodka bottle police found in the front seat.

A video recording made at the jail shows Lehmberg spitting and shouting at staffers, demanding they call the sheriff directly, who she presumed would pull strings and get her off the charges. She is seen kicking the door of her cell and sticking her tongue out at police officers. Court records obtained by PPD show Lehmberg’s blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit for driving.

Pressure from both sides of the aisle was building on Lehmberg to resign. Gov. Perry said the integrity of the entire public integrity unit was compromised under her leadership and, unless she resigned, he would veto state funding. Lehmberg didn’t even serve half of her 45-day jail sentence and refused to resign her office.

After Lehmberg refused to resign, Gov. Perry used his legitimate line-item veto power to remove the funding from the state budget, as he previously stated he would.

So, if no one disputes that Gov. Perry is legally entrusted the power to veto measures approved by the Texas State Legislature, including part or all of the state budget, then how did this indictment come down?

The liberal so-called government watchdog group, Texans for Public Justice, filed an ethics complaint accusing the governor of coercion. They said he threatened to use his veto before actually doing so in an attempt to pressure Lehmberg to quit.

The indictment came down late Friday, after a special prosecutor spent months calling witnesses and presenting evidence they say corroborates the liberal group’s complaint. Perry was never called to testify, but several top aides to Perry appeared before grand jurors in Austin, including his deputy chief of staff, legislative director and general counsel, all of whom testified that the governor did not break any laws. Mary Anne Wiley, general counsel for Perry, said in a statement Friday evening that the governor’s actions were allowed under Texas law.

“The veto in question was made in accordance with the veto authority afforded to every governor under the Texas Constitution,” she said. “We will continue to aggressively defend the governor’s lawful and constitutional action, and believe we will ultimately prevail.”

Still, despite the Democrat’s legal tradition of championing due process, the Texas State Democratic Party is now calling for the governor to resign in what suspiciously appears to many to be a coordinated effort.

“Governor Rick Perry has brought dishonor to his office, his family and the state of Texas. Texans deserve to have leaders that stand up for what is right and work to help families across Texas,” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement.

Whether the left has motive to make Gov. Perry the target of a political witch hunt, is indisputable. The Texas State Democratic Party has been in shambles for years, unable to break the GOP hold on statewide office and earn the support of Hispanic voters by the large margins seen nationwide. State GOP Chairman Steve Munisteri of Houston said the indictment was clearly a result of “a politically motivated prosecution.”

In the Texas governor race, Democrat nominee Wendy Davis has failed to live up to expectations and is currently trailing Attorney General Greg Abbott badly in polling among Hispanics in Hidalgo County, a must-win for Democratic candidates.

Further, Gov. Perry, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2012 and has aspirations to run again in 2016, has made trouble for Democrats nationwide, as well. Perry has been an outspoken critic of President Obama and the Democrats on the issue of immigration, which has become a full-blown crisis on the Texas border. After meeting with President Obama, Perry made the decision to call up the National Guard after President Obama made clear he would continue to ignore the flood of illegal immigrants that are posing a danger to the sovereignty of Texas and the U.S., while endangered Border Patrol agents clearly aligned politically with Perry.

“Rick Perry is a friend, he’s a man of integrity,” said Sen. Cruz. “I am proud to stand with Rick Perry. The Texas Constitution gives the governor the power to veto legislation. And a criminal indictment predicated on the exercise of his constitutional authority is, on its face, highly suspect.”

The indictment is the first of its kind since 1917, when James “Pa” Ferguson was indicted on charges stemming from his veto of state funding to the University of Texas in an effort to unseat faculty and staff members he objected to. Ferguson was eventually impeached, then resigned before being convicted — allowing his wife, Miriam “Ma” Ferguson, to take over the governorship.

Gov. Rick Perry indicted on charges he

Economy, Markets

economic news

While global political turmoil appears to be thrusting Europe into another recession, investors in the U.S. have been seemingly un-phased as they enjoy a continued bull market. While U.S. stocks were sluggish Friday after reports that Ukrainian troops attacked Russian military vehicles that had crossed the border, U.S. markets still hover near all-time highs.

However, the market and the economy are two different animals, and this week’s slew of economic news provided some cause for concern to working Americans, as the fundamentals remain shoddy. On Thursday, the Labor Department said the number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits rose last week to 311,000 from an upwardly revised 290,000 the week prior.

Wall Street anticipated a moderate increase to 295,000, up from an initially reported 289,000. But missing economists’ expectations is less concerning than the fact there obviously remains high eligibility for first-time unemployment benefits considering the weak labor participation rate and the abysmal employment-to-population ratio. Both are at 30-plus-year lows.

The New York Federal Reserve reported Friday that manufacturing growth slowed to 14.69 in August from 25.6 the month prior. Again, Wall Street anticipated a much smaller drop to 20, but aside from the previous quarter, the higher-paying manufacturing jobs have suffered under this administration. Readings above 0 indicate expansion, while those below point to contraction. While White House officials tout six straight months of job creation above 200,000, the vast majority of these jobs are part-time, low-paying positions that further erode the purchasing power of working Americans.

Speaking of which, the Labor Department reported Friday that prices at the wholesale level increased 0.1 percent in July, matching fortunately matched expectations. Excluding the food and energy components, prices rose 0.2 percent, also matching Wall Street views.

Still, a reading on consumer sentiment from Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan fell to 79.2 in August from 81.8 in July. Wall Street expected the gauge to show increased consumer sentiment at 82.5, but the report was a sobering piece of date. Not only was the reading at its lowest level since November, but summer typically shows an increase in consumer sentiment or, at least, it would if it was a healthy economy at its core.

Retail sales fell flat in the United States last month, a finding consistent with the gauge of consumer sentiment. Wage growth has failed to surpass inflation, leaving many consumers unwilling or unable to spend more. Sales at auto dealers and department stores fell in July.

Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) this week cut its profit outlook, while Macy’s (NYSE:M) also slashed its sales forecast.

“Consumers are finding they can live without a lot of the stuff they used to buy automatically,” says Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors, in a research note. “Right now, people are just not parting with their hard-earned funds.”

Recapping this week's economic news demonstrates the

People's Pundit Daily
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