Tag Archives: martial law

Fukushima

Five Years Later: TEPCo screws up another nuclear reactor, admits it can’t stop the deadly water! Government screws over thousands of survivors!

08 March 2016 (15:15 UTC-07 Tango 01) 18 Esfand 1394/28 Jumada al-Ula 1437/30 Xin Mao 4714

Five years after the ongoing nuclear melt downs at Fukushima Daiichi, another nuclear power plant is in trouble!  Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reported the sudden unexplained movement of a highly explosive nuclear fuel rod!

Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, in Nigata Prefecture, is operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company, the same outfit operating Fukushima Daiichi.

Reator 5 of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa has 185 explosive fuel rods and during the operation of some valves one of the rods moved out of place.  If rods touch each other, that’s all she wrote man!  TEPCo administrators swear the operation of valves on the reactor should not cause any rods to move.  They say one minute later the rod repositioned itself.  An investigation is underway.

This isn’t the first time Kashiwazaki-Kariwa has been in trouble.  Back in 2007 a transformer exploded and caught fire due to an earthquake, which also released cobalt-60 and chromium-51 into the air.

More proof why you can’t trust TEPCo:  Five years after promising the world that it could handle the nuclear disaster, TEPCo administrators are now going to the government of Fukushima Prefecture for help!  Specifically they’ve admitted to the local government that they can’t handle the ongoing contamination of water, to the tune of 5-hundred tonnes per day!  TEPCo’s Fukushima Daiichi Decommissioning Officer Masuda Naohiro made the revelation during a recent interview with NHK.

And several anniversary reports by NHK (Nippon Housou Kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation) reveal that thousands of homeless disaster survivors are being screwed over not only by the national government, but by local governments as well.

Several prefectures are forcing survivors out of taxpayer funded temporary housing into non-subsidized permanent housing.  Many surviving families are concerned as they have yet to find permanent jobs and can’t afford to pay rent.  One news reports revealed that disaster survivors are intentionally being shunned by employers! Some prefectures are playing a shell game, shuffling survivors from one housing project to the next, claiming it’s part of a plan to provide them with permanent housing.

Recently the Reconstruction Agency revealed that thousands of people have died, and hundreds of thousands are still in temporary homes.  One of the reasons for so many deaths of survivors is the game that’s being played with their housing, and health administrators warn the ongoing games by government will lead to more deaths by stress.

Business/Economics, Idaho

“It hit me like a brick!” Romney style Vulture capitalist behind sudden shutdown of 166 restaurants, with no paychecks for thousands of employees! : U.S. Job Losses & Closings 08 March 2016

Incomplete list of job loss announcements and shutdowns.

Delaware:  In Newark, God powerless to stop the shutdown of ‘his’ British empire based 23 years old Salvation Army Thrift Store (in the Park N Shop plaza).   Obviously money is the true god as the greedy landlord demanded more in rent!

Florida: The saga of the sudden mass Ovation Brands restaurant shutdowns continues. This time reports that several Ryan’s Buffets shutdown without warning, or paychecks for employees, in Horry County. A local news report said as many as 3-hundred restaurants across the U.S. are affected by the sudden bankruptcy!    In Pensacola, after 28 years Dollarhide’s Music Center shutting down, the owners want to retire: “I turned 70, it hit me like a brick!”-Bill Dollarhide, co-owner

Idaho: East of Boise, after 73 years iconic Ben’s Crow Inn shutting down by September.  The owner admitted in the early years all he served was pizza and beer. Now it’s famous for seafood and steak.  The owner also admitted that the ever expanding metro of Boise has jacked up local property values so much that he couldn’t refuse an offer from a greedy property developer.

Illinois: In Naperville, after 3-million customers the 21 years old Zero Gravity Food-Dancing club shutting down mid-month.  Rumors say it’ll be replaced with a bigger operation.

Iowa: The saga of the sudden mass Ovation Brands restaurant shutdowns continues.  This time a Ryan’s in Clive, and an Old Country Buffet in Des Moines shutdown without warning or final paychecks.

Maryland: Allen Harim Foods shutting down their 71 years old Cordova operations, 3-hundred jobs lost as the company consolidates ops to save money!

Massachusetts:  More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t directly blame the internet/high tech for your demise; Boston Weak based sports app Fancred now for sale, all employees now unemployed!  It’s blamed on a failed crowd sourcing attempt.  After 47 years Johnny D’s Restaurant Music Club shutting down this weekend.  In Lowell, God powerless to stop the shutdown of ‘his’  108 years old (surviving The Great Depression and numerous recessions) Franco American School.  It’s blamed on increasing costs and declining student enrollment.

Michigan: What automotive industry recovery? Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) furloughed more than 3-thousand people at its Sterling Heights factory back in February! They were supposed to be back to work this month, but FCA has extended the furlough ’till April! FCA is ending production of its slow selling Chrysler 200.

Minnesota: God powerless to stop ‘his’ 70 years old mega-church North Heights Lutheran from shutdown. Local news reports say it’s due to a “civil war” inside the church!  Traverse City Area Public Schools shutting down the Interlochen Community School and the International School at Bertha Vos, blaming a $1.2-million USD shortfall.  Administrators will also not replace retiring employees (attrition) and reduce school bus service.

Nebraska: Schweser’s shutting down their 87 years old store (surviving The Great Depression and numerous recessions) in Columbus, by this weekend.  Last year the Fremont based clothing retailer announced it would begin shutting down stores due to “…a dropoff in sales…over the past 3-4 years…We can come up with many excuses from the rise of internet shopping, reduced trips to physical stores, or changing demographics, but whatever the reason, we have not been able to overcome them quickly enough in some towns. Our expenses continue to rise….”

Pennsylvania: Joy Global Underground Mining conducted mass layoffs in Venango County, 382 jobs gone!  In Fredericksburg, after 28 years ‘natural’ food store The Pantry Self shutting down due to the death of the owner.  The saga of the sudden mass Ovation Brands restaurant shutdowns continues. This time the Old Country Buffet in Summit Township suddenly shutdown, claiming it was for “asset inventory” and asking employees to return on Wednesday for an update.  Non-profit Historic Philadelphia Center shutting down, the bad economy is forcing the non-profit operator to focus on more popular Historic Philadelphia sites.

South Carolina:  The saga of the sudden mass Ovation Brands restaurant shutdowns continues. This time six Ryan’s restaurants (in Columbia, Conway, Greer, Orangeburg, Spartanburg and Surfside Beach) suddenly shutdown, no warning, no paychecks for hundreds of employees! Local news reports say this is the third bankruptcy for Ovation Brands/Buffet LLC since 2008!  Nation’s Restaurant News reports that 92 restaurants across the country were shutdown over the weekend without warning! That’s on top of 74 restaurants shutdown last month, for a total of 166 in the past five weeks!  Not only did they shutdown the restaurants without warning, but they quickly removed cooking equipment and hauled it away (this must be what they mean by “conducting asset inventory”)!  Ovation Brands/Buffet LLC was taken over last year by Texas based FMP (Food Management Partners).   In the bankruptcy filing FMP claims their take over of Ovation Brands was a big money losing mistake as sales immediately crashed by 22%!  Nation’s Restaurant News discovered that FMP is a Mitt Romney-Bain Capital style vulture capitalist group that is responsible for the sudden shutdown of California based Catalina Restaurant Group’s Coco’s Bakery and Carrows restaurants last year!  “FMP has also acquired Don Pablo’s, Furr’s Fresh Buffet and Zio’s Italian Kitchen.”

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed!

Employees of religious non-profits might not qualify for unemployment assistance: “If the non-profit organization is a church, you may or may not be entitled to unemployment. It all depends upon state regulations for church employers. In many cases, churches are allowed to set their own rules regarding unemployment benefits, meaning the church can choose whether to offer benefits to former employees.”

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) no longer issues mass layoff reports: “On March 1, 2013, President Obama ordered into effect the across-the- board spending cuts (commonly referred to as sequestration) required by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended. Under the order, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) must cut its current budget by more than $30 million, 5 percent of the current 2013 appropriation, by September 30, 2013. In order to help achieve these savings and protect core programs, the BLS will eliminate two programs, including Mass Layoff Statistics, and all ‘measuring green jobs’ products. This news release is the final publication of monthly mass layoff survey data.”

Business/Economics

Profiteering corporations avoid taxes! Mo massive restaurant shutdowns & no final paychecks! Healthcare provider kills shopping mall! : U.S. Job Losses & Closings 07 March 2016

Incomplete list of job loss announcements and shutdowns.

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence only 28 corporations made 50% of all profits in the U.S. in 2015, and 27 avoided paying U.S. taxes due to pro-corporation tax laws! The 28 profit stealers are: Apple, Too Big to Jail JPMorgan Chase, Warren Buffett’s job killing Berkshire Hathaway, Too Big to Jail Wells Fargo, drugs maker Gilead Sciences, Verizon Communications, Too Big to Jail Citigroup, Alphabet-Google, despite low oil prices Exxon Mobil, Too Big To Jail Bank of America, Johnson & Johnson, Walmart (who recently announced mass store shutdowns and layoffs), AT&T, IBM, Intel,  Microsoft, Cisco Systems, General Motors (GM), Oracle, Disney, Procter & Gamble, Comcast, Dow Chemical, American Airlines, United Technologies, Ford Motor,  Coca-Cola, and United Continental.

Alabama: In Huntsville, the now shuttered non-profit Sci-Quest museum is officially chapter 7 bankrupt busted.

California: The once Sears Holdings owned Orchard Supply Hardware shutting down their stores in Watsonville and Folsom.  The Watsonville store is apparently being kicked out by the landlord, who wants them out by January 2017, 40 jobs lost.  The Folsom store will shutdown during Summer.  These shutdowns come after Orchard Supply donated $5-thousand USD to the McClellan Ranch Preserve, and revealed they’ve been building new stores.  In Watsonville, the owner of the Crossroads shopping center served eight tenants with eviction notices! Yep, it’s the same landlord that’s kicking out the Orchard Supply store.  The eight mom-n-pop tenants being kicked out in the next 30 days are Crossroads Books, Arcadia Hair Salon, Wild Rose Artists’ Supplies & Custom Framing, Jansen Music, The Gamer’s Den, Queen’s Shoes & More, Trop-Aquarium & Pet Center and Claudio Franca Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Some of the tenants have been there for the past 22 years!  You can blame this on the  Crossroads property owner signing a more lucrative deal to allow healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente to move in.  City administrators are pissed at the uncouth healthcare provider and greedy property owner, who gave no warning of the deal: “It’s not a good way for them to come into the community, by kicking out eight businesses with eviction notices. I am going to make sure they know that the mayor is opposed to the 30-day eviction…..!”-Felipe Hernandez, mayor

Connecticut:  More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t directly blame the internet/high tech for your demise;  Hartford based healthcare provider Aetna eliminated 26 jobs with its iTriage App in Colorado.  Aetna then announced plans to merge iTriage App with WellMatch App.  No word on how many more IT jobs will be lost.

Florida: In Miami, food service contractor Boykin Management issued a mass layoff WARN, 119 jobs lost by May!

Illinois:  In Chicago, after two years critically acclaimed restaurant Tete Charcuterie shutdown without warning over the weekend, due to lack of sales.  In Frankfort, Burger King shutdown their Town Center location without explanation.

Michigan: What construction industry recovery? Germany based WKW Roof Rail Systems shutting down their Battle Creek factory, 130 jobs eliminated to “reduce costs and improve competitiveness”!

Minnesota: State Department of Employment and Economic Development reports that in 2015 The North Star State lost 1-thousand 990 mining jobs!  And in what I call Ripple Effect Layoffs (REL), another 4-thousand 7-hundred suppliers and contractors lost their jobs as a result!  Employment administrators also admitted that not all those who lost their jobs registered with the  Department of Employment and Economic Development (one reason why official unemployment rate is down).

Missouri: In Saint Louis, Peabody Energy revealed it eliminated more jobs, but would not say how many.  Reports say creditors are pushing for bankruptcy.

New York: In NYC, after five years Team Gallery shutting down its space on Wooster Street due to the greedy landlord wanting to double the rent to $50-thousand USD per month!

Pennsylvania: In Wilkes-Barre Township, two Old Country Buffet restaurants shutdown without warning, leaving almost 1-hundred people without a job or a paycheck!  It’s connected to the sudden bankruptcy of Ovation Brands (see South Carolina below).  Weis Markets shutting down its 56 years old Manchester Township grocery store by the end of the month, claiming it’s too small: “Given the age and size of the building, it was no longer possible to operate a full service supermarket in this location.” 

   

South Carolina: Greer based restaurant operator Ovation Brands (formerly known as Buffets) now chapter 11 bankrupt busted, affecting restaurants Country Buffet, HomeTown Buffet, Ryan’s, Ryan’s Family Steakhouse, Granny’s, Tahoe Joe’s, Tahoe Joe’s Famous Steakhouse, Soup ‘N Salad Unlimited, Roadhouse Grill and J.J. North’s Grand Buffet.  Already local news reports say 74 restaurants have been shutdown across the U.S. without warning.  Two Ryan’s restaurants suddenly shutdown in Upstate South Carolina leaving 80 people without a job or paycheck!  (a warning shutdown took place in Moline, Illinois, the day before)

Texas: More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t directly blame the internet/high tech for your demise; in Austin after moving into new HQ, 10 years old internet based wholesaler network Bazaarvoice announced it will eliminate 50 jobs in order to remain successful “…in the coming year and for many years to come.”  Invista Victoria issued a WARN, 50 jobs lost by May.  What automotive industry recovery? In Grapevine, Standard Motor Products issued a WARN, 93 jobs lost by the end of April. In El Paso, Bruce Foods shutting down, 171 jobs lost by May!  The Forever 21 clothing store in Dallas shutting down, 68 jobs lost by the end of April.  San Antonio based Palmaz Scientific now chapter 11 bankrupt busted due to being “…seriously impaired by a negative campaign of false information disseminated by certain individuals about the company. Litigation involving these false charges was brought by and against the company in 2015.”

Washington: More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t directly blame the internet/high tech for your demise;  Redmond based Microsoft announced it will shutdown two game development studios, one in United Kingdom the other in Denmark.  In Bellingham, Albertsons-Safeway shutting down their 56 years old store on Birchwood Avenue, 66 jobs lost by May.

Wisconsin: In New Berlin junk food maker Mexican Accent issued a WARN, 155 jobs lost by the end of April!   In Yorkville, Publications International eliminating 50 jobs by April.  In Watertown, Eaton Corporation eliminating 91 jobs starting in June.

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

05-06 March 2016: “We don’t pay well!”

Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed!

Employees of religious non-profits might not qualify for unemployment assistance: “If the non-profit organization is a church, you may or may not be entitled to unemployment. It all depends upon state regulations for church employers. In many cases, churches are allowed to set their own rules regarding unemployment benefits, meaning the church can choose whether to offer benefits to former employees.”

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) no longer issues mass layoff reports: “On March 1, 2013, President Obama ordered into effect the across-the- board spending cuts (commonly referred to as sequestration) required by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended. Under the order, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) must cut its current budget by more than $30 million, 5 percent of the current 2013 appropriation, by September 30, 2013. In order to help achieve these savings and protect core programs, the BLS will eliminate two programs, including Mass Layoff Statistics, and all ‘measuring green jobs’ products. This news release is the final publication of monthly mass layoff survey data.”

U.S.

Gun Ban Failure: UnConstitutional NYC laws fail to stop attack on cops!

07 March 2016 (05:06 UTC-07 Tango 01) 17 Esfand 1394/27 Jumada al-Ula 1437/29 Xin Mao 4714

The near total ban on guns in the Failed State of New York City failed to stop a man from attacking people, with a knife and with fire!

When the smoke cleared one man was stabbed dead, a homeless man burned, a woman stabbed in the neck and face, and two cops set on fire!  The 23 years old is now in jail after police shot him in the legs.  This proves you need to carry a gun, it was the only way the cops were able to stop the fire-starter.

Gun Ban Failure: Yet more mass stabbings of children in total gun ban China! 

 

 

Business/Economics, Idaho

“This sudden decline in demand was unexpected.” Idaho’s youth get the hell outta Dodge! : U.S. Job Losses & Closings 05 – 06 March 2016

Incomplete list of job loss announcements and shutdowns.

Arizona: In Phoenix, Fuego Bistro shutdown its CityScape location.  In Glendale, after 46 years restaurant La Peria shutdown due to not being able to pay its rent.  In Scottsdale, Stingray Sushi shutdown.  RT O’Sullivans sports bar-eatery shutdown on U.S. 60.

California: Illinois based drugs maker Baxalta eliminating 1-hundred jobs in Thousand Oaks by May, due to being taken over by an Irish company.  In Stockton, S-Mart grocery store shutting down mid-month, 50 jobs lost due to lack of profits.

Connecticut:  More proof of Depression; the city of Bridgeport eliminated 24 jobs due to lack of tax revenues.  Administrators warned “There may be more than that.”  And here’s another reason why tax revenues will continue to go down,  battery maker Duracell warns it will move its Bethel HQ to Illinois due to being taken over by job killer Warren Buffett.

Florida: Tomato Land Farmers Market store-restaurant shutting down next month, due to the property being sold-off.  In Tampa’s Ybor City, after 33 years The Spaghetti Warehouse Restaurant shutting down on Wednesday. No specific reason was given, but in 2010 the Church of Scientology became the new landlord.

Idaho:  Good news if you hate loan sharks, bad news if that’s how you make your living; according to the state Department of Finance the number of ‘licensed’ payday loan business crashed by 34% in 2015!  More will shutdown as new tougher federal laws go into effect: “What we are hearing and reading nationally is the lenders are saying they cannot afford to stay in the business.”-Mike Larsen, Idaho Dept. of Finance Consumer Finance Bureau

The Idaho Department of Labor admits that many Idahoans born between 1980 and 2000 are fleeing the Right to Work (you over) Gem State, and the biggest reason is the same reason I’ve heard since arriving in 1997, not enough good paying jobs: “People want to stay here, but there aren’t many options or much industry available in Idaho.  We’ve been avoiding this issue for a long time, because our employers don’t like to hear it: We don’t pay well!”-Ken Edmunds, Idaho Department of Labor

Back in 2003 I interviewed several Idaho State University Alumni who graduated in 1973.  They all stated they were making more money back in the 1970s.  One social sciences graduate stated he continued working at his loading dock job because he was making more money than what he would get with his sociology degree, but once Idaho became a Right to Work state (in the 1980s) everything went to hell.  As a dock worker in Pocatello (on Garrett Way) he was making $15.00 per hour in the 1970s, and that’s not adjusting for inflation!  He wasn’t married and his rent, utilities and food was so cheap by today’s costs that he felt like he was living in luxury.  By 2003 most of the distribution/warehouse jobs left the city, and at his age he was lucky to find a job that paid him $7.00 per hour.  He said the only reason why he wasn’t homeless was because he paid-off his cheap mobile home in the late 1970s and was still living in it.  Many of the older Pocatellans I interviewed wondered how young adults were surviving financially.   For decades local and state level politicians promised to bring god paying jobs to the state.  In Pocatello and Chubbuck there is a covert push to make the area a warehousing/distribution hub again, but the average starting wage for such jobs is between $10 and $15 per hour.  When adjusted for inflation that’s way less than what the same jobs paid in the 1970s!

Illinois: In Moline, Ryan’s Steakhouse shutdown without warning, pissing off employees.  The restaurant was shutdown officially for an “asset inventory”, but then, the employees were told they could pick up their final paychecks!  A local TV news report said one employee was told of the layoff after she clocked-out to go home.

Kentucky: An example of what I call Ripple Effect Layoffs (REL), Carmeuse Lime and Stone eliminating 76 jobs in Maysville, blaming it on a customer who suddenly announced it will shutdown a coal fired power plant in Pennsylvania: “FirstEnergy is the largest customer for Carmeuse’s Maysville Operation and the idling of the Bruce Mansfield power generation capacity has caused a significant and abrupt decline in demand for our products. This sudden decline in demand was unexpected.”    

Minnesota: Stillwater School District shutting down three elementary schools. Interestingly administrators blame increasing enrollment!  They claim they’re shifting children out of older schools into new buildings designed to handle more students.

New York: In NYC, after 29 years never ending building remodeling by the landlord killed-off Cardiology gift store: “We lost all the morning business. It’s a struggle every month to make the rent.”-Richard Barbosa

Pennsylvania: FirstEnergy suddenly shutting down its Bruce Mansfield power generation plant, after asking PJM Interconnection to grant a surcharge rate increase to its utility customers, and after claiming it spent $450-million USD on upgrades last year.  The news of the sudden shutdown was revealed by a major supplier in Kentucky.  385 jobs threatened! 

Texas: Aluminum maker Alcoa announce more layoffs, this time a second round of layoffs at their Howmet Castings ops in Wichita Falls.  They already laid off 60 people back in January, no numbers given for this section round of job culling.

Virginia: In South Richmond, after less than six months White Horse Tavern shutdown due to lack of dinner sales.  News reports say yet another restauranteur is about to take a whack at opening an eatery in the same location.

In Richmond, low income daycare Southside Child Development Center shutting down in June: “Funders are saying that they just can’t continue to support us without us being able to support ourselves, which is a hardship when you deal with the families that we serve.”-Sheila Pleasants

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

03-04 March 2016: “unsustainable”

Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed!

Employees of religious non-profits might not qualify for unemployment assistance: “If the non-profit organization is a church, you may or may not be entitled to unemployment. It all depends upon state regulations for church employers. In many cases, churches are allowed to set their own rules regarding unemployment benefits, meaning the church can choose whether to offer benefits to former employees.”

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) no longer issues mass layoff reports: “On March 1, 2013, President Obama ordered into effect the across-the- board spending cuts (commonly referred to as sequestration) required by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended. Under the order, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) must cut its current budget by more than $30 million, 5 percent of the current 2013 appropriation, by September 30, 2013. In order to help achieve these savings and protect core programs, the BLS will eliminate two programs, including Mass Layoff Statistics, and all ‘measuring green jobs’ products. This news release is the final publication of monthly mass layoff survey data.”

Business/Economics

Potential Presidential candidate kills 1,000 jobs! 2016 kills big sales for Kroger! : U.S. Job Losses & Closings 03 – 04 March 2016

Incomplete list of job loss announcements and shutdowns.

California: Saddleback Memorial Medical Center shutting down in May.  Administrators say ObamaCare has driven away so many patients that it’s now “unsustainable”.  Japan based video game maker SEGA (SEGA was created in the U.S. territory of Hawaii in 1940, where it made slot machines) revealed they eliminated an undisclosed number of jobs from their San Francisco SEGA Networks ops.

Colorado: Russia based steel oil pipe maker EVRAZ expanding their job destruction to Pueblo, 70 jobs lost to low oil and steel prices.  This is on top of the 230 jobs in Oregon.

Connecticut: In Stamford, after 50 years Pat’s Hubba Hubba restaurant shutting down by the end of the month.

Illinois: In Lake Zurich the Sears Appliance & Hardware shutting down by the end of April.  John A. Logan College eliminating 55 jobs claiming to be short $7-million USD.  Protesting students pointed out that certain departments are not suffering job losses and that school executives refused to say why.   Computer Systems Institute shutting down campuses across the state, eliminating 172 jobs between now and September!  In Chicago, Computershare issued a layoff WARN, 56 jobs lost by the end of April.  Food giant Tyson issued a shutdown WARN, 170 frozen food jobs eliminated between April and August!  In Elk Grove Village, food service company Sodexo issued a shutdown WARN, 54 jobs lost by the end of April.  Also in Elk Grove Village, Arrow Plastics shutting down after being sold-off, 165 jobs lost by mid-April! In Westmont, IlliCare Health shutting down due to loss of contract, 68 jobs lost by the end of this month.  In Bensenville, Tek-Cast issued a shutdown WARN, 119 jobs lost by mid-April! Deer Run Mine issued a layoff WARN, 84 jobs lost between March this year and January 2017 (blamed on a “natural disaster”).  Joliet Generating Station eliminating 94 jobs between April and October.  Bankrupt Sports Authority shutting down their Romeoville store in April, 66 jobs lost (for a list of all the Sports Authority stores being shutdown as part of the bankruptcy, click here).  TDC Filter shutting down their Bolingbrook factory, 91 jobs gone by the the end of this month. In Rochelle, Ryder truck rentals issued a shutdown WARN, 2-hundred jobs lost by the end of April!  The Kewanee child prison being consolidated with other prison ops, 203 jobs lost by July!

Maryland: In Amherst, beef eatery White Hut shutting down by the end of the month.  The family owners say sales have only been “modest” and not enough to justify renewing the lease.  They hope their flagship Great Depression era restaurant in West Springfield doesn’t meet the same fate.

Massachusetts: Framingham based, Mitt Romney (yep, the very same Mormon guy who’s threatening to run against Donald Trump) co-founded Staples announced it is shutting down an additional 50 stores.  Mitt Romney’s Staples has shutdown 242 North American stores in the past two years, and eliminated 1-thousand jobs between November 2015 and January 2016!

Minnesota: Dow shutting down their warehousing ops at their GMO seed factory in Olivia, 25 jobs lost.  However, GMO “Research and Development (R&D) activities will continue at the site.” 

New York: Solar equipment supplier Direct Energy shutting down their Henrietta operations, 53 jobs lost in May.  Too Big to Jail Goldman Sachs eliminating 43 jobs in May, they accuse the employees of being “under-performers”!   Berkley Publishing Group revealed they eliminated an undisclosed number of jobs last week, blaming crashing paperback book sales.  News reports say the book publisher has been eliminating jobs since Summer 2015.

Ohio: Grocery store giant Kroger warning investors that same store sales crashed in the last three months of their fiscal 2015 (for the entire year their sales were still up)!  Kroger owns stores that sell more than just food, but administrators warn that across the board sales will be down for 2016, which breaks Kroger’s record of more than 12 straight years of sales increases!  Kroger administrators blame competition, and deflation which will kill profit margins.

Oregon: The Kroger owned  Fred Meyer distribution center in Clackamas is threatening 2-hundred jobs, as Kroger decided to find a new contractor to provide the labor!

Texas: God powerless to stop ‘his’ 30 years old Central Christian Academy from shutting down. Church leaders blame The Rapture, I mean declining church membership for forcing them to sell the school property (told you before, this proves money is the true god).

Utah: British empire United Kingdom based Rio Tinto eliminating about 2-hundred jobs at their Kennecott mine, blaming low prices for metals!

Vermont: Entergy eliminating 97 jobs at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant due to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission eliminating the ten mile emergency evacuation zone.

Virginia: After 89 years (surviving The Great Depression and numerous recessions) clothier Young Men’s Shop shutting down.  The owner said that despite most of his clothing being made in the U.S. more and more people buy off internet.

Washington: Seattle based retailer Nordstrom’s revealed they eliminated ten IT jobs, last week.  This is despite the fact that Nordstrom’s internet sales have gone up.

Wisconsin: OEM Fabricators laying off 34 people in Baldwin as the company shuts down in April.

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

02 March 2016: “We have to remove ourselves from what once was.”

Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed!

Employees of religious non-profits might not qualify for unemployment assistance: “If the non-profit organization is a church, you may or may not be entitled to unemployment. It all depends upon state regulations for church employers. In many cases, churches are allowed to set their own rules regarding unemployment benefits, meaning the church can choose whether to offer benefits to former employees.”

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) no longer issues mass layoff reports: “On March 1, 2013, President Obama ordered into effect the across-the- board spending cuts (commonly referred to as sequestration) required by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended. Under the order, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) must cut its current budget by more than $30 million, 5 percent of the current 2013 appropriation, by September 30, 2013. In order to help achieve these savings and protect core programs, the BLS will eliminate two programs, including Mass Layoff Statistics, and all ‘measuring green jobs’ products. This news release is the final publication of monthly mass layoff survey data.” 

Fukushima

Five Years Later: 3,400 dead! 349,000 domestic refugees! No more fat kids?

05 March 2016 (11:45 UTC-07 Tango 01) 15 Esfand 1394/25 Jumada al-Ula 1437/27 Xin Mao 4714

Five years after the March 2011 quake-tsunami-nuclear disaster the Japanese Reconstruction Agency revealed that more than 3-thousand 4-hundred “survivors” have died.  Not surprising, 56% of those deaths took place in the nuclear disaster reactor prefecture of Fukushima!

Other data proving the failure of Japan’s response to the 2011 disasters; by mid-February this year more than 174-thousand people are still in temporary housing.  I should point out that back in 2011 government officials were expecting the ‘temporary’ housing to be used for no more than six months!  Many administrators were not prepared for the radiation levels that, in some areas, are still preventing people from returning to their homes.  Another 156,234 survivors are living in homes/apartments that are being rented by local governments.  18,237 survivors are living with relatives.  All together about 349-thousand people are living as refugees in their own country!

43,139 survivors of the initial 2011 disaster from Fukushima are still living outside the prefecture, however, the ongoing nuclear disaster is blamed for an exodus of 115-thousand residents since then!

For more proof that living as a refugee, even in your own country, is worse than staying put NHK  (Nippon Housou Kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation) surveyed more than 5-hundred survivors: 42% said their standard of living has not improved. 37%  said their situation is worse. 11% said they are struggling.

In a sign of some improvement, children in Fukushima are no longer fat?  After fours years of gaining weight school aged children in the nuclear disaster are suddenly losing it.  That’s according to the Ministry of Education.  It’s assumed that reason why school kids got fat was because they were not allowed to play outside due to the radiation contamination.  In the past year the ban on playing out side was lifted, and education administrators think that’s why the kids have suddenly lost weight.  It must be pointed out that being fat in Japan does not mean you’re actually fat, it’s based on the government standard for being overweight.  The government has somehow determined how much a person should weigh, and if you’re 20% or more over that limit you’re a fatty!

But don’t credit declining radiation contamination for the lifting of the outside play ban, the real reason is that the number of parents keeping their kids out of Fukushima schools has jumped; 1-thousand 785 children were kept out of school in 2015, that’s 2-hundred more than before the March 2011 disaster!

Confirmed: Population death spiral for Japan!

Japan admits Fukushima workers dying of cancer!

Business/Economics

“We have to remove ourselves from what once was.” No help for those who work for God? : U.S. Job Losses & Closings 02 March 2016

Incomplete list of job loss announcements and shutdowns.

What housing market recovery? “…under the new federal real estate settlement procedures that took effect late last year, an unexpected problem is taking shape: Many lenders and title companies are refusing to provide copies of the final closing documents to real estate agents representing home buyers. That, in turn, is threatening to jeopardize one of the traditional services agents perform for their clients: scrutinizing closing statements for inaccuracies that could cost them money or delay the settlement unnecessarily.”-The Washington Post

California: More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t directly blame the internet/high tech for your demise; Palo Alto based ‘cloud’ computing company SurveyMonkey eliminating 1-hundred jobs, saying “The products and solutions in place were not going to generate long-term value for SurveyMonkey.”  

Colorado: Just a few days after Blind Bat News was told by an unnamed Kmart employee of pending shutdown, Sears Holdings confirmed they will shut down the Fort Collins Kmart, 33 jobs lost in May.    Englewood based Sports Authority now officially chapter 11 bankrupt busted. Last month I wrote that they were shutting down 140 stores, on top of the shutdowns already conducted.

Illinois: Troubled drugs maker Abbott Laboratories about to fire U.S. workers and replace them with migrants from India: “-You have given 180 U.S. employees 60-days notice, and their last day of employment at Abbott Labs will be April 22, 2016.

-To add insult to injury, the Abbott Labs IT staff who will be laid off will first be forced to train their replacements.

–You have awarded Wipro Ltd, a large Indian outsourcing firm, with a contract to take over the jobs of these American workers.

-You are offering the U.S. workers severance of a week’s pay for each year they spent at the company, but in order to receive this severance you are requiring these employees to sign away their right to sue or disparage the company. The severance packet you gave your workers contains a full-page ad listing jobs at Wipro.

-The people you are laying off have stellar experience, credentials, and performance reviews, and some have been with your company for 15-20 years.”-Dick Durbin, U.S. Senator

Maine: In Portland, God is powerless to stop economic warfare within ‘his’ own church! Non-profit Good Cause Thrift Shop being shutdown by its owner, the Catholic girls only Catherine McCauley High School, which claims it’s an economic decision.  According to Maine’s employment law, if you work for God’s non-profits you do not qualify for unemployment assistance!  A local news report revealed the employees were ordered by ‘christian’ leaders not to reveal the shutdown, but the employees basically said ‘bullshit on that’!  (that’s why we know about it)

Maryland: After 58 years Harbin Farms shutting down due to A-Hole zoning rules which will impose at least $375-thousand USD of property upgrades upon the family owners: “We’re probably going to move. We have to remove ourselves from what once was.”-Kim Taylor

Minnesota: Ferrara Candy shutting down their Winona factory and consolidating to its factory in Illinois, more than 120 Minnesota jobs lost!  

Nebraska:  In Lincoln, after 21 years Doozy’s sandwich shop shutting down: “There are a number of reasons….We have other jobs and other things happening.”-Tafe Sup Bergo, co-owner

New York: New York LaGuardia Airport Marriott hotel coming under new management, 191 jobs threatened by the end of May!  Japanese company Canon Solutions lost their contract with New York Life, 38 jobs lost by the end of May. In Saratoga Springs, after only seven months restaurant Spa City Trifecta shutting down tomorrow “Due to the fact that the restaurant is no longer permitted to use its smoker on the premises…”  Germany based Siemens Dresser-Rand eliminating jobs at their Wellsville factory, so far they won’t say how many.  

Reports that Armonk based IBM began eliminating more jobs, just a month after reducing their six month severance plan down to just one month.

Oregon: Pinnacle Workforce Logistics issued a WARN, they’re eliminating 190 jobs in Clackamas by April!

Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh-Post Gazette warned unionized employees of mass layoffs, apparently due to efforts to bribe (voluntary buyouts) more than a hundred people to quit have failed.

Tennessee: Kroger shutting down their Memphis grocery store on South Perkins, admitting they built too many Kroger stores, several within a mile of each other!

Washington: Apollo Education-University of Phoenix shutting down their Seattle operations, 46 jobs lost by the end of April.

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

01 March 2016: “Our outlook for 2016 reflects the weakening in the industrial economy that began broadly impacting our businesses late last summer.” 

Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed!  Employees of religious non-profits might not qualify for unemployment assistance: “If the non-profit organization is a church, you may or may not be entitled to unemployment. It all depends upon state regulations for church employers. In many cases, churches are allowed to set their own rules regarding unemployment benefits, meaning the church can choose whether to offer benefits to former employees.”  

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) no longer issues mass layoff reports: “On March 1, 2013, President Obama ordered into effect the across-the- board spending cuts (commonly referred to as sequestration) required by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended. Under the order, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) must cut its current budget by more than $30 million, 5 percent of the current 2013 appropriation, by September 30, 2013. In order to help achieve these savings and protect core programs, the BLS will eliminate two programs, including Mass Layoff Statistics, and all ‘measuring green jobs’ products. This news release is the final publication of monthly mass layoff survey data.”

U.S.

Operation Jupiter: Massive Syphilis outbreak near U.S. military base! Not 1st, 2nd or 3rd time U.S. govt spread the disease!

02 March 2016 /19:21 UTC-07 Tango 01 (13 Esfand 1394/23 Jumada al-Ula 1437/25 Xin Mao 4714)

In Nevada’s county of Clark there is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) raging out of control.  Most main streamer news sources are focusing on the famous city of Las Vegas, insinuating its the source.  But there is another source, a source which has been guilty in the past of intentionally spreading syphilis, the Christian dominated U.S. military.

Clark County is also home to Nellis Air Force Base.  The U.S. military has a nearly 1-hundred years history of playing around with sexually transmitted diseases.  Regarding syphilis, in 2010 president Barack Obama officially apologized to the people of Guatemala who were intentionally infected with syphilis, and other STDs, by U.S. government medical personnel.

Under the direction of the U.S. Public Health Service, from 1946 to 1953 the U.S. government infected more than 1-thousand people, most against their will as many were prisoners and some were children as young as ten, under the guise of developing treatments to protect U.S. military personnel from infected prostitutes.    Another 5-thousand 128 people, some as young as only one year of age, were used in antibodies studies.  U.S. military personnel from the Guatemala Air Base were also used as guinea pigs.

The sick experiment wasn’t made public until the personal documents of one of the scientist were donated to the University of Pittsburg after his death in 2003.  But wait, the Guatemala scandal wasn’t the first time your government intentionally spread the disease.

The Guatemala experiment was based on an earlier experiment on prisoners in Terre Haute, Indiana, from 1943-44.  In that case we’re supposed to believe the prisoners volunteered for the job.  Realize that 1943-44 was in the middle of the Second World War and Congress had officially declared war, which is Martial Law.  Under martial law you have no freedoms, the military is in charge an overrides the Constitution.  But wait, the Indiana prison experiment wasn’t the first time your government intentionally spread the disease.

As far as we know, the first time the U.S. government intentionally spread syphilis started in 1932.  It was called that Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, and it lasted until 1972!  It involved the ‘black’ Tuskegee University and hundreds of poor ‘black’ men.

Even though the government claimed they were providing free medical care, it was revealed that government officials refused to treat the subjects with the anti-biotic penicillin (even after it was proven to be an effective treatment).

By 1947 penicillin was the standard treatment for syphilis, yet, the U.S. Public Health Service refused to treat the infected men, even decades later.  The Tuskegee experiment ended in 1972 only after a whistleblower leaked details of it to the news media!  In 1997, president Bill Clinton officially apologized for the scandal.

Operation Jupiter: Hundreds of people exposed to AIDS and Hep B & C in U.S. hospital!

Christianity: Unity challenged by “sexual services” of church leaders! 

Technology

Terminator: Israel on verge of creating All Seeing, Knowing, Powerful satellite to control the World!

02 March 2016 (15:05 UTC-07 Tango 01) 12 Esfand 1394/22 Jumada al-Ula 1437/24 Xin Mao 4714

“And he will be established like the moon for eternity, a faithful witness in Heaven.”-Psalms 89:37, Aramaic Bible

Israeli tech company SkyFi claims it is on the verge of completing a “nano satellite” system that will be able to connect to any internet based device anywhere in the world, even locations that are currently ‘out of service’.

There are estimates that 4-billion people on Earth cannot access the internet due to lack of local service (this seems high as it would mean only 3-billion people are connected to the internet, belying all that main stream media hype about everybody being online-social media-bullshit).

The official motivation for the new all powerful eye in the sky nano satellites is to bring those 4-billion unfortunate off-gridders into the web of the beast: “We are planning to launch 60 nano-satellites that will cover the entire planet, working together in constellation that will offload tasks to each other as needed. Each satellite will cost a million dollars, so 60 nano-satellites will cost the same as one full-sized satellite, with the advantage of being able to spread them around the globe and connect them in a network that can work together.”-Raz Itzhaki Tamir,  SkyFi ceo

SkyFi claims their nano-satellites have incredibly fast communication speeds, a gigabyte per second!  That’s far faster than any satellite in orbit now: “This type of solution will conquer the market, because it addresses some of the most serious and bothersome issues for satellite operators.”-David Pollack, Spacecom ceo

A proof of concept launch will be conducted next year.  Chinese news reports said the SkyFi system could eventually think for itself, Reuters calls them “smart satellites”.  If it works then just imagine what could be done with a potentially autonomous satellite network that can access everything, everywhere on the planet!

Here’s a report that might explain Israel’s true reason for creating such a satellite system: Israeli troops relying on Waze app blunder into Palestinian area

And here’s one that might explain why the U.S. would support such a network: “‘The coordinates recorded on the GPS devices taken from the 10 U.S. marines confirmed their trespassing’ into waters off heavily-guarded Farsi island…”