https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/lifestyle/michael-jordans-former-highland-park-illinois-mansion-now-listed-on-airbnb/vi-AA1HN5fK?t=13
POLAND KNOWS HOW TO STOP ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSINGS..AND NOW ADDING A MINE FIELD!
Poland Stops 98% of Illegal Migrant Crossings with a 116-Mile, 16ft-High Border Wall – and Now it’s Adding a Minefield
Poland cut illegal immigration from Belarus by 98% after building a 116-mile border wall – and now Donald Tusk’s Government is adding a minefield. Turns out robust clampdown on illegal entry is okay if it’s from Russia. The Mail has more.
Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has claimed a £300 million border wall has proven “98% effective” at preventing attempts of illegal migration from Belarus.
“We had large numbers of people who were invited by Russia and Belarus from the Middle East and Africa who were then pushed across the Polish-Belarusian border into Poland,” Sikorski told BBCR4’s Today programme.
Warsaw alleges that Minsk and Moscow have long been waging a “hybrid war”, seeking to flood Poland with refugees to strain the country’s finances and law enforcement resources, and destabilise civil society.
“This year we have completed a big and beautiful fence with sensors overground, underground, with a patrol road alongside it, so hardly anybody gets through that barrier,” Sikorski declared.
He also mentioned a recent amendment to immigration legislation that stipulates migrants attempting to reach Poland via Russia and Belarus can continue to apply for asylum in Poland, but only at consulate buildings in Moscow and Minsk.
The anti-migration fencing was completed in June 2022 and now spans a 116-mile-long stretch of the Polish-Belarusian border, but was subsequently upgraded with surveillance equipment, including CCTV cameras, heat and motion sensors.
The five-metre-high metal fence scythes through the Polish countryside, covered with miles upon miles of barbs and topped with razor wire.
Border checkpoints are also reinforced with huge concrete slabs, each weighing more than 1.5 tonnes, along with secondary walls and barbed-wire fencing.
Sikorski spoke to BBCR4 amid discussions about soaring illegal migration figures in Britain, with 20,000 migrants said to have arrived in Britain via small boats crossing the Channel so far in 2025.
Now, Polish authorities are proceeding full steam ahead with a new project – East Shield – which aims to transform its entire frontier with Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad into one gigantic, closely surveilled fortification.
The 400-mile-long construction, announced last year and targeted for completion in 2028, arguably constitutes the single most significant national security investment in Poland’s post-war history at more than £2 billion.
It was green-lit by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine, and Moscow and Minsk’s so-called hybrid war tactics.
In addition to the barbed wire-topped fencing, concrete reinforcements and secondary defences, the East Shield will see strips of land turned into minefields and littered with anti-tank fortifications including steel and concrete hedgehogs, ‘dragon’s teeth’ obstacles and deep trenches, along with drone defence equipment.
This multi-layered line of defence is expected to extend more than 200 metres back from the initial border wall.
Behind these defences, Warsaw is constructing bunkers, firing posts and other military infrastructure in the forests, woods and small villages spanning the length of the country to provide yet more resistance should the deterrent fail.
According to details provided by the government, the programme will also employ state-of-the-art surveillance equipment, including imagery intelligence (IMINT), signals intelligence (SIGINT), and acoustic monitoring to improve situational awareness of the would-be battlefield.
Worth reading in full.
Poland of course is an EU member and an ECHR signatory, so it seems those are no barrier to these kinds of measures – Yvette Cooper take note. It’s amazing how accommodating Europe can be when it feels like it.
BIDEN’S ADMINISTRATION WASTED BILLIONS TO CRONIES FOR CLEAN ENERGY IN FINAL DAYS !
Despite Warnings, Biden’s Energy Department Disbursed $42 Billion In Its Final Hours
In its last two working days, the Biden administration’s Energy Department signed off on nearly $42 billion for green energy projects – a sum that exceeded the total amount its Loan Programs Office (LPO) had put out in the past decade.
The frenzied activity on Jan. 16 and 17, 2025, capped a spending binge that saw the LPO approve at least $93 billion in current and future disbursements after Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election in November, according to documents provided by the department to RealClearInvestigations. It appears that Biden officials were rushing to deploy billions in approved funding in anticipation that the incoming Trump administration would seek to redirect uncommitted money away from clean energy projects.
The agreements were made despite a warning from the department’s inspector general, urging the loan office to suspend operations in December over concerns that post-election loans could present conflicts of interest.
In just a few months, some of the deals have already become dicey, leading to fears that the Biden administration has created multiple Solyndras, the green energy company that went bankrupt after the Obama administration gave it $570 million. These deals include:
- Sunnova, a rooftop solar outfit that thus far had $382 million of its $3.3 billion loan guaranteed, filed for bankruptcy this month. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
- Li-Cycle, a battery recycling facility, had a $445 million loan approved in November, but since then, the company was put up for sale and has filed for bankruptcy. The Energy Department said no money has been disbursed on that deal. Li-Cycle did not respond to a request for comment.
- A $705 million loan was approved on Jan. 17 for Zum Energy, an electric school bus company in California, and its “Project Marigold.” At $350,000 and more, electric school buses currently cost more than twice as much as their diesel counterparts. So far, Zum has received $21.7 million from the government, according to usaspending.gov. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
- A $9.63 billion Blue Oval SK loan on Jan. 16 was the second largest post-election deal, topped only by a $15 billion loan the next day to Pacific Gas & Electric, with most of that for renewables. The Blue Oval project in Kentucky – a joint venture between Ford Motor Co. and a South Korean entity – has been dealing with numerous workplace complaints, and construction of a second EV battery manufacturing plant there has been delayed. More than $7 billion has been obligated on that deal, according to the Energy Department. Blue Oval did not respond to a request for comment.
The money and the hasty way in which it was earmarked have drawn the attention of the Trump administration. “It is extremely concerning how many dozens of billions of dollars were rushed out the door without proper due diligence in the final days of the Biden administration,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement to RCI. “DOE is undertaking a thorough review of financial assistance that identifies waste of taxpayer dollars.”
The enormous sums came from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which injected $400 billion into the LPO, a previously sleepy Energy Department branch originally intended to spur nuclear energy projects. That total represented more than 10 times the amount the LPO had ever committed in any fiscal year of its existence. Prior to the post-election blowout, the office’s biggest fiscal year was 2024, when it committed $34.8 billion, records show.
Even with the rush to push billions out the door in its last months, close to $300 billion of the Inflation Reduction Act money remains uncommitted by the LPO. Trump administration officials have already nixed some smaller deals. Secretary Wright recently urged Congress to keep the money in place as the LPO now aims to use it to further the Trump administration’s energy policy, particularly with nuclear projects.
That unprecedented gusher of cash from the LPO echoes the efforts of the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency to push $20 billion out the door before it left office. As RCI has previously reported, the EPA – which had never been a consequential grant-making operation – was tasked with awarding $27 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and Solar For All programs. It did so in less than six months in 2024, including an unorthodox arrangement in which Biden officials parked some $20 billion outside the Treasury’s control. That money was earmarked for a handful of nonprofits, some of which had skimpy assets and were linked with politically connected directors.
The LPO’s post-election bonanza was put together in even less time. The Energy Department deals, however, involve mostly for-profit enterprises, which raises questions about whether the Biden administration was propping up companies that would not have survived in the private marketplace. Should any of the companies hit it big in the future, shareholders could get rich, while taxpayers will receive only the interest on the loan.
“The loan office should not be in the virtual venture business,” said Mark Mills, executive director of the National Center on Energy Analytics. “But in a few cases, it could make sense to serve as a catalyst or backstop for viable and important projects from a national security or policy perspective.”
RCI spoke with several Trump administration officials who declined to comment on the record, given the extensive ongoing review of both the LPO’s post-election arrangements and other Energy Department projects linked to Biden’s climate agenda.
“They wanted to get the billions to companies that probably wouldn’t exist unless they could get money from the government,” one current official said. “The business plans, such as they were, were ‘how do we secure capital from the government?’”
During Biden’s tenure, the office was run by Jigar Shah, who on June 17 was named to the board of directors of the nonprofit Center for Sustainable Energy. Bloomberg News reported last month that Shah “helped select roughly 400 companies with development plans to receive grants and loans upwards of $100 million each.” In response to the Trump administration’s pushback on green subsidies, Bloomberg reported that Shah is working to help some of the companies he bankrolled shift operations to Europe.
The Center relies chiefly on government contracts instead of donations, and it saw that revenue jump from $274.1 million in 2023 to more than $500 million in 2024, according to tax records. The center did not respond to a request to speak with Shah.
Thus far, no entity has received the entire amount of the deals the Biden administration struck since last November, according to the Energy Department and usaspending.gov. In a handful of cases, companies have come to the current administration and opted out of the deals.
Still, millions of taxpayer dollars have already been distributed, in some instances, to deals the department listed as “conditional commitments.” Wright has said there are “reasons to be worried and suspicious” about the post-election binge, and vowed some of the deals will be scrubbed.
In 2023, the Biden administration made subtle changes to the LPO’s regulations, cutting strings and stipulations that traditionally attach to loans. Consequently, the office cut deals after the election on terms more favorable to the recipient than the taxpayer, and in several cases, making a “conditional commitment” the same as a loan, according to Trump officials. The changes also moved money that a later administration could have cut into “obligated” silos, making the deals harder to cancel, according to the current Energy Department.
“Essentially, they had the Loan Program Office operating like a graveyard energy venture capital fund,” one Trump official told RCI. “This was all tied to the religious fervor for any green energy project in the prior administration, and the goal was not to get the government repaid but to advance the ‘green new deal.’”
The $93 billion under review represents a separate “green bank” from smaller Biden administration deals that the Energy Department has already canceled. Last month, the Government Accounting Office said the department was not on track to “issue loans and guarantees before billions of dollars of new funding expires.”
As part of the review, Wright issued policy guidelines in May that he said offer more protection to taxpayers. The department may now require significantly more information from loan recipients and applicants, such as “a project’s financial health, a project’s technological and engineering viability, market conditions, compliance with award terms and conditions and compliance with legal requirements, including those related to national security.”
The department declined to provide the terms of specific deals, again citing the ongoing review. Trump administration officials claim the business plans for many of these deals were threadbare, that term sheets were essentially tossed out, and the entire process could be described, in the words of a Biden EPA official in December, as “throwing gold bars” off the Titanic “as an insurance policy against Trump winning.”
Despite these dubious outcomes and the alleged removal of taxpayer protections that accompanied the deals, Trump administration officials said they remain committed to the LPO. The office has a valuable role to play in fulfilling energy policy goals, which include nuclear projects, strengthening the nation’s power grid, and limiting the U.S. reliance on Chinese supply chains for key minerals and elements.
“It’s as if you went away and the kids threw a rager in the house,” one official told RCI. “You may need some new furniture and the like, but it’s still a really nice home. The Office can be a critical resource for the manufacturing base of this country, and our goal is not to end the LPO but to improve it.”
The Trump administration could face some of the same financial issues if it rejiggers the LPO along lines that support its energy policy goals, particularly within the nuclear industry. Projects there have been marred by unprofitable plants and massive cost overruns and delays in construction, making federal loans to the section inherently risky.
Prominent voices – and investors – like Bill Gates have also encouraged the government to back new sources of energy and minerals. Geothermal projects are one such field, and there appears to be bipartisan support in Washington for capital that will shore up U.S. energy independence. On Jan. 15, the Biden administration approved a $1.2 billion “conditional commitment” with a subsidiary of EnergySource Minerals LLC (ESM), which hopes to extract lithium from geothermal brine.
A deal with ioneer Ltd. appears to match some of the professed goals of the Trump administration, but it has also been plagued by financial setbacks since Biden’s LPO approved it in its final days. The company’s deal grew from an original $700 million “conditional commitment” in 2023, to the $996 million approved on Jan. 17, 2025.”
The Rhyolite Ridge project is a mining and manufacturing center in Nevada to produce lithium and boron. Those elements have implications for defense and national security in addition to energy, according to ioneer Vice President Chad Yeftich.
“Ioneer believes government policy should encourage projects if we want critical minerals developed domestically,” Yeftich said. “Time is the key risk for development as China continues to provide financial support to its critical minerals industry and dump critical minerals into the market thereby depressing the price.”
Yeftich noted Rhyolite Ridge has secured $200 million in private capital, but in February, its chief private equity partner broke ties with the project. Finance professionals familiar with big deals told RCI that such a rupture so close in timing to the loan would likely deep-six the arrangement, but Trump officials said Biden’s LPO stripped such boilerplate language from many of the post-election deals.
Secretary Wright told RCI that these maneuvers suggested the previous administration was more interested in disbursing funds than protecting taxpayers. “Any reputable business would have a process in place for evaluating spending and investments before money goes out the door, and the American people deserve no less from their federal government.”
WORLD MILLIONAIRES LIST IS GROWING…AND THE ARE MOVING !
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US expected to gain 7,500 millionaires in 2025, bringing $43.7B in wealth: report
UAE tops global list while the UK faces massive wealth exodus
The U.S. is expected to see a net influx this year of around 7,500 foreign millionaires – who have an estimated $43.7 billion in wealth — as the U.K. experiences a significant outflow of its rich.
Around 142,000 millionaires around the world are projected to migrate to a new country in 2025. The countries gaining the greatest number of millionaires are the United Arab Emirates, the U.S., Italy, Switzerland and Saudia Arabia, respectively, according to a newly released provisional report from investment consulting firm Henley & Partners.
US CREATED EYE-POPPING NUMBER OF NEW MILLIONAIRES IN 2024, REPORT FINDS
The benefits of millionaire migration include that they contribute to forex revenue, frequently start new businesses, boost the local stock market and middle class, indirectly create jobs via their spending power, and can have a multiplier effect on wealth growth, the report noted.
The UAE tops the list of millionaire migration, with a net inflow of around 9,800 millionaires who have an estimated wealth of around $63 billion. The Middle Eastern country has seen a 98% increase in millionaires between the years of 2014 and 2024. The country’s “welcoming immigration policy,” zero income tax, strong infrastructure and political stability are all factors that make it attractive to high-net worth individuals, Henley & Partners said.
The UAE tops the list of millionaire migration, with a net inflow of around 9,800 millionaires who have an estimated wealth of around $63 billion. (FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The U.S. ranks No. 2 on the list, with a net influx of 7,500 millionaires, bringing with them around $43.7 billion in wealth. From 2014 to 2024, the U.S. has seen a 78% increase in millionaires. Henley & Partners said the country’s EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, which was established in 1990 and has brought in more than $50 billion in foreign direct investment, and an overall “entrepreneurial ecosystem” that is “unmatched in delivering transformative growth potential” make the U.S. an ideal location for wealthy individuals.
The U.S. ranks No. 2 on the list, with a net influx of 7,500 millionaires, bringing with them around $43.7 billion in wealth. ((Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images) / Getty Images)
GOODBYE NYC, HELLO MIAMI: WHY MILLIONAIRES ARE FLOCKING TO SOUTH FLORIDA
Italy follows behind at No. 3, gaining 3,600 millionaires with an estimated wealth of $20.7 billion. The number of millionaires has increased by 20% in Italy from 2014 to 2024.
Switzerland ranks No. 4 on the list and is expected to bring in 3,000 millionaires with wealth of around $16.8 billion. The country has seen a 28% increase in millionaires from 2014 to 2024.
Saudi Arabia follows behind at No. 5 on the list, with 2,400 millionaires expected to migrate to the country, bringing with them $18.4 billion. From 2014 to 2024, the country has seen a 55% rise in millionaires.
Meanwhile, the U.K., China, India, South Korea and Russia, respectively, are losing millionaires.
MILLIONAIRES ARE BOLTING THESE COUNTRIES MORE THAN ANY OTHERS
The U.K. falls at the very bottom of the list, with a projected net outflow of 16,500 millionaires, taking with them an estimated wealth of $91.8 billion. From 2014 to 2024, the country has seen a 9% decrease in millionaires.
The U.K. is expecting an outflow of 16,500 millionaires from the country. (Julia Kilian/picture alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Following behind is China, which is expected to lose 7,800 millionaires with $55.9 billion in wealth. The country has seen a 74% increase in millionaires from 2014 to 2024.
Ranking third to last on the list is India, with a net outflow of 3,500 millionaires who have an estimated wealth of $26.2 billion. From 2014 to 2024, the number of millionaires in India has increased by 72%.
Fourth to last on the list is South Korea, with an outward migration of 2,400 millionaires with wealth of $15.2 billion. The country’s number of millionaires has risen by 17% from 2014 to 2024.
South Korea had an outward migration of 2,400 millionaires with wealth of $15.2 billion. ( ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Ranking fifth to last on the list is Russia, expected to lose 1,500 millionaires with wealth of $14.7 billion. From 2014 to 2024, the country’s number of millionaires has decreased by 25%.
In its recently released Global Wealth Report, UBS found the U.S. gained more than 379,000 new millionaires in 2024. The total number of millionaires in the U.S. climbed 1.5% in 2024, hitting 23.8 million, according to the report.
THE WORLD NEEDS WATER-MIT JUST INVENTED GETTING IT FROM THE AIR!
MIT Invents “Bubble Wrap” That Pulls Fresh Water From The Air…Even In The Driest Places In The World
MIT researchers have invented a new water-harvesting device — a high-tech version of “bubble wrap” — that can pull safe drinking water straight from the air, even in extreme environments like Death Valley, the driest desert in North America, according to LiveScience.
In a study published June 11 in Nature Water, the team described how their innovation could help address global water scarcity. “It works wherever you may find water vapor in the air,” the researchers wrote.
The device is built from hydrogel, a material that can absorb large amounts of water, sandwiched between two glass layers resembling a window. At night, the hydrogel draws moisture from the air. During the day, a special coating on the glass keeps it cool, allowing water to condense and drip into a collection system.
The hydrogel is molded into dome shapes — likened to “a sheet of bubble wrap” — that swell when absorbing moisture. These domes increase surface area, helping the material absorb more water.
LiveScience writes that the system was tested for a week in Death Valley, a region spanning California and Nevada that holds the record as the hottest and driest place in North America.
Despite the harsh conditions, the harvester consistently produced between 57 and 161.5 milliliters of water daily — about a quarter to two-thirds of a cup. In more humid regions, researchers expect even greater yields. According to MIT representatives, this approach outperforms earlier water-from-air technologies and does so without needing electricity.
One major breakthrough was solving a known problem with hydrogel-based water harvesters: lithium salts used to improve absorption often leak into the water, making it unsafe. The new design adds glycerol, which stabilizes the salt and keeps leakage to under 0.06 parts per million — a level the U.S. Geological Survey deems safe for groundwater.
Though a single panel can’t supply an entire household, its small footprint means several can be installed together. The team estimates that eight 3-by-6-foot (1-by-2-meter) panels could provide enough drinking water for a household in areas lacking reliable sources. Compared to the cost of bottled water in the U.S., the system could pay for itself in under a month and remain functional for at least a year.
“We imagine that you could one day deploy an array of these panels, and the footprint is very small because they are all vertical,” said Xuanhe Zhao, an MIT professor and co-author of the study. “Now people can build it even larger, or make it into parallel panels, to supply drinking water to people and achieve real impact.”
The researchers plan to continue testing the device in other low-resource areas to better understand its performance under different environmental conditions.
WELL KNOWN PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS STUCK WITH OVER $668 BILLION IN BAD DEALS, AND 12,000 BUSINESS THEY CAN NOT SELL!!!
Deal Drought Adds To Private-Equity Costs
Private equity’s three-year deal slump has worsened a longstanding problem: billions of dollars of aging, underwater funds that continue to cost investors money.
The slowdown in mergers and acquisitions that began in 2022 has made private equity less profitable and reduced the amount of money firms return to investors. While this year began with hopes of a recovery, the slump has persisted, and shares of the biggest firms— Blackstone, Apollo Global Management and KKR — are down 10% or more in 2025. Over the same time, the S& P 500 has risen roughly 5%.
Beyond hitting profits, the slump has delayed the timeline for private-equity firms to sell investments, adding to the pile of so-called tail-end funds, those a decade or more old.
Firms had $668 billion of private-equity assets globally stuck in tail-end funds as of the most recent data, from the end of 2023, 19% higher than the previous year, according to a forthcoming report from Treo Asset Management, a special-situations firm.
“Funds are getting older, and the holds are getting longer,” said Finbarr O’Connor, Treo’s chief investment officer and founding partner. While the report is based on data more than a year old due to a lag in when firms issue financial data, O’Connor says the trend continues, and he forecasts tail-end assets to hit $1 trillion in coming years.
Many of these deals are underwater. The Treo report showed more than a third of assets held eight years or more are worth less than the initial capital invested.
These stuck funds can be a double blow for a fund’s backers: Often unsuccessful investments that are hard to sell, they raise investor costs by extending the annual management fee for years past the usual term.
Fund limited partners are likely paying between $3 billion and $13 billion a year in management fees on the $668 billion in tail-end assets, based on the typical fee range of 0.5% to 2% of net asset value, according to Treo’s estimate. Firms often reduce a fund’s management fee from the industry-standard 2% once it enters tail-end territory— but rarely all the way to zero.
The report underscores some of the cascading effects of private equity’s exit drought. In the U.S., firms’ combined exit volume in the nearly 2½ years since the start of 2023 remains below the 2021 sum alone, according to research provider Pitch-Book Data. By 2023, U.S. firms’ median investment hold time had climbed to a record high of seven years, and it remains near the historic peak.
U.S. buyout firms held nearly 12,400 unsold companies as of the first quarter of 2025, a seven- to eight-year backlog at the current pace of sales, PitchBook says.
Private-equity investors have grappled with the problem of old, struggling investments for years.
Selling tail-end stakes on the secondary market is hard, because most buyers want bluechip assets, not old funds full of odds and ends. Continuation funds are a popular way to extend promising assets, but are less viable for those of uncertain or little value.
Removing a fund’s general partner and installing a new one to wind down the assets is something more investors are considering now amid the sales slowdown, O’Connor said. It is considered a drastic step, and happens rarely.
Often, investors have no better option than to be patient and wait for a sale. But that leaves the question of fees, and how to best motivate managers to sell and wind the fund down.
More investors “are scrutinizing the fee model” of these late-stage funds, said Runjhun Kudaisya, a partner in the private- funds group at law firm Goodwin Procter. With average fund life—which used to be 10 to 12 years—now stretching toward 15 years, “there has been a shift in the market” and fund backers increasingly try to negotiate late-stage fees CERTAINLY TIME TO STOP INVESTING WITH THE BIG NAMES. THE ONLY THINGS THEY ARE GOOD AT IS GETTING FEES!
LAVISH PALACES WHERE AUTHORITARIAN RULERS LIVE
What do Ukraine’s Mezhyhirya Residence, Turkmenistan’s Oguzhan Palace, and Turkey’s Presidential Complex have in common? All were built at enormous expense, flaunting lavish amenities and sprawling grounds — monuments to the wealth and power of authoritarian rule.
Here’s a look at some of the world’s grandest presidential residences, where opulence meets political might.
UKRAINE, Novi Petrivtsi: Mezhyhirya Residence
Mezhyhirya was Viktor Yanukovych’s residence during his time as Ukraine’s prime minister and president until he fled amid the 2014 Maidan Revolution. Now a “museum of corruption,” it boasts a car museum, golf course, zoo, fountains, helicopter pad, and even a church — showcasing the former leader’s lavish lifestyle.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, Abu Dhabi: Qasr Al-Watan
Qasr Al-Watan, the presidential palace of the United Arab Emirates, was completed in 2017 and opened to the public in 2019. Built at a cost of $490 million, this predominantly white palace houses historical artifacts and manuscripts while also displaying diplomatic gifts received by the U.A.E.
TURKEY, Ankara: Presidential Complex
The Presidential Palace in Ankara, also known as Ak Saray (White Palace), was completed in 2014 for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Built on former forest land, it boasts over 1,100 rooms and officially cost around $615 million, though critics say the true price was much higher. The complex includes a mosque with a capacity of around 3,000 and Turkey’s largest library, with a collection of more than 4 million books.
RUSSIA, Gelendzhik: ‘Putin’s Palace’
This palace complex on the Black Sea coast near Gelendzhik is rumored to be Vladimir Putin’s residence, with speculation about its existence dating back to 2010. In 2021, the late Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny released an investigative documentary claiming the palace was built for the Russian president at a cost of around $1.4 billion. According to the investigation, the complex features an underground hockey stadium, a theater, a vineyard, and a church. It also has a no-fly zone, and boats passing must give it a wide berth. Putin has denied ownership, while Russian oligarch Arkady Rotenberg claims the palace is his.
RUSSIA, Moscow Region: Novo-Ogaryovo
Novo-Ogaryovo is Vladimir Putin’s state residence located outside Moscow. Originally constructed in the 1950s, the estate underwent extensive renovations under Putin’s direction after 2000. According to some reports, areas have been added to the compound recently, including a recreational facility belonging to Russia’s Federal Protection Service (FSO), heliports, and even air-defense systems. There might also be a tunnel leading from the FSO facility to Putin’s residence.
TAJIKISTAN, Dushanbe: Palace Of The Nation
The Palace of the Nation, completed in 2008, is the official residence of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon. To make space for the palace, a 100-year-old synagogue and other buildings in the neighborhood were controversially demolished. Built for $300 million, the palace is surrounded by parks, fountains, and other notable landmarks, including the Independence Monument and the Dushanbe Flagpole, which rises to a height of 165 meters and was once the tallest in the world.
TURKMENISTAN, Ashgabat: Oguzhan Presidential Palace
The Oguzhan complex is the official residence and workplace of Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhammedov. Named after an ancient Turkmen tribal leader, it has been home to the country’s presidents since the 1990s. In 2011, a new palace and additional facilities were added at a cost of approximately $350 million. A state reception house and a square for parades and other state events are currently under construction in front of the palace.
FREDDY THE CUSTOM INSPECTION K-9 WAS DOING HIS JOB WHEN A MEAN EGYPTIAN KICKED HIM!
Man who kicked customs dog at Dulles ordered to leave U.S.
A 70-year-old man pleaded guilty to attacking Freddie the Beagle and was ordered to pay $840 in vet fees.
“He violently kicked Freddie with sufficient force to lift the 25-pound beagle off the ground,” a CBP news release says. A veterinarian said the dog suffered contusions to his right rib area and ordered “rest and a mild dose of pain meds,” agency spokesman Stephen Sapp said in an email.
Customs officers arrested Hamed Ramadan Bayoumy Aly Marie and took him to a local jail. He was charged with willfully and maliciously harming a police animal.
Further investigation revealed what Freddie had detected: 55 pounds of beef, 44 pounds of rice, 15 pounds of vegetables, corn seeds and herbs — items that were not allowed into the country and seized, according to the news release.
“Being caught deliberately smuggling well over one hundred pounds of undeclared and prohibited agriculture products does not give one permission to violently assault a defenseless Customs and Border Protection beagle,” Christine Waugh, CBP’s Area Port Director for D.C., said in a statement. “We rely heavily on our K9 partners and Freddie was just doing his job. Any malicious attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.”
In a quick resolution, Marie pleaded guilty in federal court during his initial appearance Wednesday. He was ordered to pay restitution for Freddie’s vet fee — $840 — and had to report to CPB to be removed from the U.S. He flew to Egypt on Thursday.
It was just the latest chapter in an eventful life for the 5-year-old beagle, who was found on a median in Georgia before going to work for the U.S. government. The Washington Post wrote about Freddie and fellow Dulles sniffers in November.
His handler said at the time that he has learned to sniff out meat like cane rat, pigeon, snake and camel in addition to beef and pork. He is part of a “Beagle Brigade” used around the country to keep out diseases, invasive pests and plants.
According to CBP, the agency’s agriculture specialists and canines seized nearly 3,600 prohibited items including plants, meat, animal by-products or soil at U.S. entry points in a standard day last year.
Freddie’s plight drew attention on social media; well-wishers asked for updates in the comments on videos posted earlier this year on an official Facebook page.
In an Instagram post Friday, the agency said the pup would make a full recovery and shared a photo of him sampling a Starbucks “Pup Cup.”
“Freddie should be back in a week,” Sapp said in an email.
WHAT DOES JEFF BEZOS SPEND MONEY ON AND WHAT DOES HE OWN???
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 From Amazon Stock to Property To Jets, a Look at Mogul’s Wealth Jeff Bezos used to drive a 1997 Honda Accord and repurposed surplus wooden doors as desks. Now he is one of the wealthiest people in the world. His vast sums have allowed Bezos to spend on passion projects such as Blue Origin rockets, and a Venice wedding to fiancée Lauren Sanchez that some estimate could cost $15 million to $20 million. Total wealth Bezos is among the richest billionaires, according to The Wall Street Journal, which in February estimated his net worth at $263.8 billion. Bezos owns about 8.6% of Amazon, a percentage valued at roughly $190.56 billion as of early June, per FactSet. In 2024, Bezos sold about $13.5 billion of Amazon shares. The billionaire’s private investment firm, called Bezos Expeditions, manages his personal wealth and investments. It has around $107.8 billion of assets, the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute estimated. The firm’s website said it has invested in companies such as Airbnb, Uber Technologies, Perplexity and the Washington Post, as well as spacetransportation company Blue Origin. Real estate Bezos is the country’s 23rd-largest landowner, with 420,000 acres across the U.S., according to the Land Report, a trade publication. He has also spent hundreds of millions of dollars on homes, including: The Warner Estate in Beverly Hills, Calif., at left, which he paid $165 million to buy in 2020. A 14-acre compound in Maui that cost Bezos $78 million in 2021. Three properties in Indian Creek—an exclusive island near Miami— that Bezos bought for a total of $234 million in 2023 and 2024 Three apartments at 212 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, costing a collective $80 million in 2019. Jets and a superyacht Bezos has become a collector of fancy planes. He also owns a huge yacht that he primarily parks in Port Everglades, Fla. The 417-foot-long superyacht, named Koru, cost at least $500 million, according to luxury lifestyle publication Robb Report. Its support vessel, the Abeona, cost an additional $75 million and features a helipad, the publication said. Bezos owns two jets and two helicopters, according to Jack Sweeney, who tracks celebrity jets. Bezos’ Gulfstream G650ER jet costs more than $50 million, while his G700 ,above, sells for around $75 million. |
PRIVATE JETS OF CLIMATE FIGHTERS SUCH AS JOHN KERRY AND BERNIE SANDERS CAUSE MORE CLIMATE DAMAGE THAN AIRLINES!
Study Exposes the Hypocrisy of Climate Cultist Elites and Their Fossil Fuel-Guzzling Private Jets
Private jets produced more emissions than all flights at a major international airport in 2023, according to a new report from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT).
The ICCT found that that the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of private jets outweighed the emissions of all flights, including commercial ones, departing London’s Heathrow airport in 2023. Just one private jet produces as much GHG emissions as 177 cars or nine heavy-duty trucks, and there has been an increasing trend in private jet emissions over the past decade, the report states.
“Private jets are a surprisingly large source of air and climate pollution,” ICCT aviation fellow Daniel Sitompul said.
“It’s pretty well known that in a typical year, private jets are responsible for about 2 percent of aviation emissions,” ICCT research director and co-author of the new report Dan Rutherford told The Washington Post. “What we’ve done for the first time is, we’ve basically used flight trajectory data to break that out into the individual contributions of airports and countries.”
The report measures and maps the GHG emissions produced globally by private jets throughout 2023 through a combination of data sources including worldwide flight paths, engine emission databases and airport coordinates, according to the report. ICCT then used the data to “spatially allocate fuel use and emissions to airports and countries for about 94% of private jet activity globally,” according to the report.
Data also indicated that GHG emissions from private jets have increased globally from 2013 to 2023, according to the report.
ICCT compared these data with Heathrow airport’s 2023 sustainability report that notes the emissions of its departures that year, the report indicates. Heathrow is Europe’s busiest airport and is now the fourth busiest in the world, though it was the seventh busiest in 2023, according to Time Out.
Though several environmentalists, celebrities and Democrats shun GHG emissions and support policies that seek to limit them, many of them have been caught using private jets to fly to and from occasions like sporting events and climate change policy summits. For example, the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference ushered in guests who arrived on private jets and proceeded to exchange ideas about cutting GHG emissions.
Prominent celebrities that preach about climate change initiatives while still regularly using private jets include Leonardo DiCaprio, Taylor Swift, Oprah and Steven Spielberg among several others. Notably, Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders also recently defended his private jet usage while on his “fighting oligarchy” tour.