Amazon Cuts 100,000 Employees From Workforce In A Single Quarter

Amazon, one of the largest tech employers in the world, has revealed that it is now hiring at the slowest pace since 2019 and has cut over 100,000 employees globally in the June quarter, likely due to the dramatic economic slowdown since 2021.  It is the largest workforce cut in a single quarter in the history of the company.  The layoffs are part of an increasing trend of protecting the bottom line within the tech industry.  The cuts likely played a large role in Amazon’s recent revenues beat and their rosy profit projections for the third quarter, though it still lost a net $2 billion in the second quarter.

The more employees lose their jobs, the more healthy the company appears to be when shareholders examine quarterly earnings; it is inevitable that layoffs will continue.  There have been over 30,000 job cuts by tech companies in the US in the past few months alone, and unemployment claims have climbed to 8-month highs.

The covid pandemic lockdowns and subsequent stimulus checks created an enormous artificial boost for tech companies like Amazon in 2020 and 2021, but the $6 trillion stimulus has since circulated out of the pockets of most Americans and globally the lockdowns did incredible harm to existing economic stability.  Demand for peripheral goods is in steep decline as inflation in necessities continues to rise.  In 2022, the stagflation crisis is leading to imminent demand destruction.  Source: ZeroHedge

New Video Shows Drag Queen Performing at NYC Catholic High School Chapel

A new video has been released to social media by a drag queen who was invited to perform at the chapel of a New York City Catholic high school.

The drag performer is a cross-dressing man who pretends to be a woman, revealing part of his buttocks to students while wearing a skimpy mini skirt.

The Iowa Standard reports the individual posted the video to Instagram, writing: “A Catholic High School here in NYC invited me to their Pride Chapel. Visibility matters and I’m so honored to have had the chance to talk to you about my work as a LGBTQ+ Drag Queen Activist.”  Source: CBN News

 

UAE floods: seven found dead after wettest weather in decades

Seven people have been found dead, as authorities continued a major clean-up operation on Friday after the UAE recorded its heaviest rainfall in 30 years.

More than 800 people were rescued and thousands more placed in temporary accommodation in Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah after a summer deluge led to widespread flooding.

“We regret to announce that six people of Asian nationalities have been found dead as a result of the floods that took place in these emirates,” Brig Gen Dr Ali Salem Al Tunaiji, director general of the Ministry of Interior’s Federal Central Operations, said on Friday. Source: UAE Today

Individual Freedoms Ends With Digital ID Warns Australian Senator

Australian Senator Malcom Roberts warns, “It is only through the relentless digital stalking of citizens that the Liberal National’s government can micromanage purchasing choices. Businesses are punished with tax while consumers get their credit score docked.”

“When the Liberals tell you that digital identity will make your life easier. Remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch.”

US Carrier Group Heads Towards Taiwan Ahead Of Potential Pelosi Trip After China Warns Of ‘Forceful Response’

If House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) follows through on her planned trip to Taiwan, the US military will beef up security in case a ‘mishap, misstep or misunderstanding’ endangers her safety, AP reports.

While the trip is still an uncertainty, officials say that the military would ‘increase its movement of forces and assets in the Indo-Pacific region,’ though they declined to go into further detail – aside from noting that fighter jets, ships, surveillance assets and other military systems would be used ‘to provide overlapping rings of protection’ for her flight, and any time she spent on the ground.

To that end, the USS Ronald Reagan and its escorts left Singapore on Monday sailing northeast, according to ship tracking information reported by the South China Morning Post (SCMP).  Source: ZeroHedge

BRICS developing new global reserve currency – Putin

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that the BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – are currently working on setting up a new global reserve currency.

“The issue of creating an international reserve currency based on a basket of currencies of our countries is being worked out,” he said at the BRICS business forum.

According to the Russian president, the member states are also developing reliable alternative mechanisms for international payments. Source: Russia Today

Major new study casts doubt on longstanding ‘chemical imbalance’ theory of depression

A major new study published this week suggests that a longstanding theory of mental depression has little to no evidence to support it.

The study, conducted by an international team of scientists and published in Molecular Psychiatry, argued that the “serotonin hypothesis of depression” is bolstered by “no consistent evidence” despite its popularity among psychiatrists for decades.

That hypothesis has held that depression is caused by what many psychiatrists have termed a “chemical imbalance” in the brain of those who suffer from it. The researchers said a broad review of multiple studies failed to establish that claim.   Source: Just the News

Sheriff: Residents should tell ATF agents conducting warrantless gun inspections to leave

A Washington state sheriff Friday advised residents in his county that if agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) come to their homes without a search warrant asking to inspect their firearms, they can tell them to leave their property.

Klickitat County Sheriff Bob Songer said in a press statement that agents are “making surprise home visits of persons who have purchased two or more firearms at one time. To my knowledge, these ATF visits have not occurred in Washington State yet.”

Mr. Songer told The Washington Times he became concerned about the Second Amendment rights of the residents of Klickitat County after viewing a doorbell video that showed a firearms owner who ATF agents coerced, without a warrant, to inspect his firearms. Source: Washington Times