DELEITURAS

Defense Department officials announced the details of DOD’s fiscal year 2020 budget request.

Highlights of the $718.3 billion budget include:

Great Power Competition

The budget request reflects focus on the great power competition with Russia and China, as called for in the 2018 National Defense Strategy. The past two budgets did begin to focus on the NDS, but the greater focus was on replenishing depleted munitions stocks and addressing readiness concerns that were the result of sequestration.

Focus on Space and Cyber

Space and cyber are the two newest warfighting domains. They got a big boost in defense dollars: $14.1 billion for space, a 10 percent increase over last year’s budget, and $9.6 billion for cyber, a 15 percent increase over last year.

In space, funds will go toward standing up the new Space Force, space communications, space-based warning systems and space launch capacity, and position, navigation and timing. Cyber funding will go to improved offensive and defensive capabilities, protecting the network and moving to a multi-cloud environment.

Multidomain Operations

Multidomain operations is a relatively new concept of the joint force. Future battles will be fought on land, at sea, in the air and in space and cyberspace, with allied troops operating together across all five domains in support of defeating the enemy.

The budget request asks for funding for multidomain weapons and equipment upgrades. DOD has requested $2.6 billion for disruptive technologies such as hypersonics, $3.7 billion for unmanned and autonomous systems, $235 million for directed energy weapons, and $927 million for artificial intelligence and machine learning systems.

President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he had a “very good call” with Chinese President Xi Jinping regarding progress on a comprehensive trade deal.

A deal could bring an end to what has been a back-and-forth trade war that has lasted for months.

After campaigning on a platform to end China’s “unfair” trade practices with the U.S., Trump has gone on to tax billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods. The U.S. slapped the communist country with a 25 percent punitive tariff on $50 billion worth of their imports in June. The president upped the ante in September, imposing a 10 percent levy on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.

Trump threatened to go even further, announcing his administration was ready to hike the tariff rate to 25 percent.

However, during a G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina in early December, Trump and Xi reached an agreement, with the Chinese president submitting to a number of concessions in return for Trump agreeing to postpone the tariff hike.

Xi agreed to purchase more agricultural products from U.S. farmers, along with a pledge to buy more industrial and energy products. The Chinese leader also agreed to label the opioid fentanyl as a controlled substance — making any person who sells fentanyl to the U.S. subject to stricter penalties under Chinese law — and pledged to adhere to a number of cybersecurity and property theft concessions.

In return, Trump is postponing the tariff hike for 90 days, giving U.S. and Chinese negotiators time to reach a permanent deal.

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is hoping to pull National Guard troops away from the U.S.-Mexico border to help protect his state’s struggling marijuana industry.

Faced with competition from a robust black market, the legal cannabis industry in California has not experienced the growth that supporters had expected. Newsom — who enjoyed hundreds of thousands in campaign donations from the marijuana lobby — wants to aid the industry by redeploying at least 150 California National Guard troops from the U.S.-Mexico border and instead use them to combat illegal grows in Northern California.

“There are legitimate concerns in Northern California particularly as it relates to illegal cannabis grows. They are getting worse, not better,” Newsom stated, according to the Los Angels Times. “I want to see more enforcement.”

California citizens voted to legalize recreational marijuana in November 2016, and the law officially changed in January 2018. Proponents initially anticipated a thriving cannabis industry within the country’s most populous state. California officials, for example, estimated there would be up to 6,000 licensed cannabis shops within the first few years and that the industry would bring up to $1 billion a year in revenue.

Instead, the state only issued 547 temporary and annual licenses by December 2018, and California is only expected to rake in $471 million in revenue this fiscal year. New Frontier Data, a firm that analyzes marijuana sales, estimated the black market accounts for as much as 80 percent of the marijuana sold in the state. California’s illegal pot market is estimated to be four times that of the legal market.

Beyond a thriving black market, experts blame California’s lackluster marijuana sales on complex and burdensome regulations by the state government.

Newsom’s plan to target drug cartels and illegal grows comes after he blasted the Trump administration’s security prioritization at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Democratic governor announced on Feb. 11 that he would be pulling most of the state’s 400 National Guard troops from the southern border, rebuking an agreement his predecessor made with President Donald Trump in 2018 to beef up border security.

“We are not interested in participating in this political theatre. I think it is political theatre,” Newsom said in Sacramento as he announced his decision. He went on to claim that border crossings are at record lows and argued that immigrants commit fewer crimes than native-born citizens. “The whole thing is ludicrous,” he said of Trump’s border security efforts.

The Democratic governor — who is serving his first year in office — offered further criticism of the president’s border agenda in his State of the State address.

Luxury home prices rose 3.2 percent year over year to an average of $1.7 million in the third quarter of 2018, according to Redfin, the next-generation real estate brokerage. This is the lowest growth rate since the fourth quarter of 2016, when prices were up 1.1 percent from a year earlier. The Redfin analysis tracks home sales in more than 1,000 cities across the country and defines a home as luxury if it is among the top 5 percent most expensive homes sold in the quarter. The average price for the bottom 95 percent of homes was $343,000, up 3.6 percent in the third quarter compared to a year earlier, but down from the second quarter’s 5.1 percent growth rate.

“A great deal of the slowing price growth among luxury homes can be explained by the stock market, a strong indicator of luxury homebuyers’ wealth, or at least their perceived wealth,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. “The stock-market fluctuations that began last quarter likely caused some uncertainty among wealthy individuals, which has made luxury buyers more sensitive to price. The swings many people have been watching in their stock portfolios have only grown more frequent in recent weeks, so we expect this trend of slowing luxury home price growth to continue at least into the end of the year.”

Luxury homes went under contract after an average of 65 days on market, eight fewer days than in the third quarter of last year, and tied with the second quarter for the fastest pace on record since Redfin began tracking this metric in the first quarter of 2009. The market for non-luxury homes also sped up in the third quarter, with homes spending an average of 49 days on market, nine fewer days than last year.

“We have seen homes go under contract faster every year since 2015. Buyers are able to look at more homes more quickly in part thanks to real estate technology,” said Fairweather. “For example, a potential home buyer can use Redfin’s website to go on virtual tours, or immediately book a home tour using Redfin’s book-it-now feature.”

Luxury homes sold fastest in San Jose, California, where they found buyers in an average of 19 days, followed by Ashburn, Virginia (23); Oakland, California (28); Seattle (29); and San Francisco (44).

 

Q3 Market Summary	Luxury Market (Top 5%)	Rest of Market (Bottom 95%)
Average Sale Price	$1.70 million	$343,000
Average Sale Price YoY	+3.2%	+3.6%
Average Days on Market	65	49
Days on Market YoY	8 days faster	9 days faster
Percent of Homes that Sold Above List Price	1.5%	23.1%

 

Cities with the Biggest Luxury Price Gains and Declines

Cities in Florida and Nevada saw some of the nation’s largest increases in luxury home prices in the third quarter. In West Palm Beach, Florida, the average sale price for a luxury home shot up 54.5 percent over last year to $1.7 million. Luxury home prices were up 29.6 percent in Reno, Nevada, 26.0 percent in Boca Raton, Florida, and 22.5 percent in Miami.

“There are a lot of people selling average/modest multi-million dollar homes in the Bay Area and buying true luxury homes in Reno,” said Redfin agent Jaime Moore. “Buyers coming from the Bay Areafind themselves with strong purchasing power and are able to easily afford luxury homes in Reno.”

The average price for a luxury home fell the most in Vero Beach, Florida, down 46.1 percent year over year last quarter. Prices for high-end properties also fell in St. Petersburg, Florida, (-16.8%); Fort Lauderdale, Florida, (-16.4%); Sarasota, Florida, (-8.4%); and Delray Beach, Florida (-8.3%).

Sales of Luxury Home Were Up 3.2 Percent, Smallest Growth Since Early 2016

For luxury sales and supply trends, Redfin analysed a group of homes priced at or above $2 million, rather than the top 5 percent of homes in each city. Sales of homes priced at or above $2 million were up 3.2 percent in the third quarter, the ninth consecutive quarter of sales growth, but the smallest rate of growth since early 2016.

The number of homes for sale priced at or above $2 million fell 6.0 percent year over year in the third quarter of 2018 compared to a year earlier. Interestingly, inventory of homes priced under $2 million is slightly increasing as of the third quarter, but the luxury market is still seeing a decrease in the number of homes for sale compared to a year earlier.

 

by Gabrielle Okun

Meghan Markle’s wedding to Prince Harry was Saturday, so here is a look at seven other brides who definitely dressed to impress at their royal weddings.

Here are seven of the most fairytale-inspired royal wedding dresses:

1) Princess Diana of Wales

The 20-year-old Princess Diana of Wales chose David and Elizabeth Emanuel, a husband and wife designing duo, to create her wedding dress. The gown had a 25-foot-long train, which broke the record for the longest train ever for a wedding dress. However, marrying Prince Charles was apparently so stressful that Diana ended up losing five inches off her waist, causing the designers to have to keep changing their design to fit her tiny frame, according to Vanity Fair.

2) Princess Grace

Grace Kelly’s marriage to Prince Rainier III of Monaco, which Vogue dubbed the “Marriage of the Century,” surely did not disappoint. Kelly’s dress was made by Academy Award–winning costume designer Helen Rose who had 30 seamstresses help her craft the stunning design. The final result included 300 yards of lace and 150 yards of taffeta, tulle and silk. Luckily, everyone could view her dress since Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) allowed the movie star to break her contract if they could film the wedding, according to Vogue.

3) Princess Sofia of Sweden

Princess Sofia of Sweden, the Duchess of Värmland, was once a reality star prior to marrying Prince Carl Philip. However, her white lacy number was fit for a princess during her 2015 nuptials in Stockholm. The princess wore a custom-made dress by Swedish designer Ida Sjöstedt and topped it off with a tiara for a truly fairytale wedding, The Knot reported.

4) Princess Claire Of Luxembourg

Princess Claire Of Luxembourg married Prince Felix Of Luxembourg in 2013 in a stunning Ellie Saab creation. The Chantilly lace creation was truly no match for her veil, which was covered in white lace perched below a tiara, Hello! magazine reported.

5) Princess Letizia Ortiz

Princess Letizia Ortiz from Spain wore a unique collared wedding dress to her 2004 wedding to Prince Felipe VI. The couple now reign as king and queen. The gown was designed by Manuel Pertegaz and had a 14-foot train, according to InStyle.

6) Princess Caroline of Monaco

Princess Caroline of Monaco’s wedding gown definitely incorporated 1970s style trends. The bride’s veil was truly innovative and featured flowers circling her hair, InStyle reported.

7) Princess Salwa Aga Khan

Princess Salwa Aga Khan, born Kendra Spears, was an American fashion model dubbed the next Cindy Crawford. However, this changed upon marrying Prince Rahim, whose father is the spiritual leader of Shia Ismaili Muslims, resulting in the former supermodel converting to Islam. The wedding was a traditional Muslim ceremony. The bride wore a gold and ivory sari, a simple chignon and nude heels for their 2013 nuptials in Geneva, Vogue reported.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) took to Twitter Monday to take a jab at Iran’s presence in Syria after it carried out a strike against Iranian targets in the region, which Israel claims was in response to an Iranian rocket fired at the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

The IDF’s official Twitter account posted a picture of a map of the Middle East decked out with pink arrows pointing to where Iran is, and where it “belongs” with the caption: “Iran, you seem to be lost.”

The apparent troll on Iran came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed a series of Israeli strikes against Iranian targets in and around Damascus, including munition storage sites and training camps as well as a few Syrian aerial defense batteries, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The attacks killed 11 people, and at least two of them were Syrian nationals, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

“Whoever tries to hurt us – we hurt them,” Netanyahu tweeted Monday. “Whoever threatens to destroy us will bear the full responsibility.”

We are acting against Iran and against the Syrian forces that abet the Iranian aggression.

Netanyahu said their strike came “after Iran launched a missile from there at our territory,” referring to a medium range surface-to-surface missile that was fired toward the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights Sunday afternoon.

The IDF claims the missile was launched by Iranian forces in Syria as part of a “premeditated attack.”

“We will not ignore such acts of aggression as Iran attempts to entrench itself militarily in Syria and given explicit statements by Iran that it intends to destroy Israel, as the commander of the Iranian air force has just said,” Netanyahu continued.

The Israeli strikes in Syria were “the most intense and violent [attacks] against the regime forces and their allies in terms of casualties since May 2018,” according to the SOHR.

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan said Saturday that the Pentagon is inspired by the coalition’s ability to eliminate the ISIS Caliphate.

“We are inspired by the battlefield success of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF),” Shanahan said in a statement. “Today’s SDF announcement that the liberation of the territory once held by ISIS in Iraq and Syria is 100 percent complete confirms that more than 20,000 square miles in Iraq and Syria have been cleared of ISIS since January 2017 and the terror group no longer controls populated areas.”

Shanahan recognized the SDF who led the fight against ISIS in Syria, the Iraqi Security Forces who led the fight in Iraq, and the Coalition and U.S. Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines for their bravery and strength in support of coalition partners.

“While this is a critical milestone in the fight against ISIS, we understand our work is far from complete,” he said. “As the D-ISIS campaign in northeast Syria transitions from liberating territory to enabling local security and preventing resurgent ISIS networks, we will continue to work by, with, and through our partners and allies to enable stabilization efforts.”

Shanahan said that the Department of Defense is committed to denying ISIS “safe haven anywhere in the world” and the defeat of ISIS>

“We remain committed to ISIS’s enduring defeat and we are confident that we will prevail,” he added.

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan replaced James Mattis in the Pentagon role late Monday and vowed to work with President Donald Trump to advance his agenda, a task Mattis professed in his resignation letter to no longer being able to do.

Trump announced the leadership change Dec. 23, just three days after Mattis submitted his letter of resignation and announced his plan to serve through February. Mattis wrote that Trump reserves “the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects.”

Mattis decided to leave his post after clashing with Trump and his plan to begin pulling American troops from Syria, but Shanahan’s Tuesday statement reads with a slightly, more agreeable tone.

“I now look forward to working with President Trump to carry out his vision alongside strong leaders including the service secretaries, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the combatant commanders, and senior personnel in the Office of the Secretary of Defense,” Shanahan said.

“It is an honor to work with such a dedicated team committed to the greatness of our nation,” he added.

Shanahan, a former Boeing Co. executive, is now confronted with the Syria pullout, a move that drew bipartisan hysteria.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a usual Trump ally but opponent on this issue, signaled Sunday that Trump is re-evaluating his rapid troop removal.

“I think we’re slowing things down in a smart way,” Graham told reporters outside the White House after meeting with the president. “But the goal has always been the same: To be able to leave Syria, to make sure ISIS never comes back, our partners are taken care of and Iran’s contained,” he added.

Mattis delivered a final message to the military Monday before handing the reigns over to Shanahan, advising his fellow Department of Defense employees to “keep the faith in our country and hold fast, alongside our allies, aligned against our foes.”

Chinese manufacturing sunk to a three-year low in February as the U.S. ratcheted up pressure on China over trade issues, according to data released Thursday.

The news comes after high-level talks between the U.S. and China last week that resulted in President Donald Trump delaying higher tariffs set to take effect Friday.

Thursday’s data was the lowest since March 2016 and “is the latest among many signs of persisting weakness in a slowing economy,” reported The Wall Street Journal. If U.S.-China trade negotiations fail, the manufacturing decline could continue, according to CNBC.

China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) in dropped to 49.2 in February from 49.5 in January, data from the National Bureau of Statistics cited by TheWSJ showed.

Economists also noted that the low figures coincided with a long Lunar New Year celebration but that the data still pointed to a slowdown.

Trump announced on Twitter Sunday that he and Xi will hold a summit at Mar-a-Lago following the trade talks between U.S. and Chinese officials.

“I am pleased to report that the U.S. has made substantial progress in our trade talks with China on important structural issues including intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agriculture, services, currency, and many other issues,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

“As a result of these very productive talks, I will be delaying the U.S. increase in tariffs now scheduled for March 1,” he continued. “Assuming both sides make additional progress, we will be planning a Summit for President Xi and myself, at Mar-a-Lago, to conclude an agreement. A very good weekend for U.S. [and] China!”

Trump’s trade war had caused China’s manufacturing industry to contract in December 2018 as well.

The trade war had caused some businesses to frontload orders of Chinese exports as China and U.S. engaged in tit-for-tat tariff impositions, reported TheWSJ.

The Chicago Police Department confirmed Friday that the suspects arrested in the alleged racist and homophobic attack against “Empire” star Jussie Smollett on Jan. 29. were two black men.

The men were identified as Nigerian brothers, The Associated Press reported. CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said both were arrested for suspicion of assault and battery. One of the suspects was on “Empire.”

TMZ reported the names of the suspects, but CPD officer Michelle Tannehill said to The Daily Caller News Foundation over email they “do not have the names of the persons of interest.”

Smollett reported two men beat him up, tied a rope around his neck, said racial and homophobic slurs and threw an unidentified chemical substance on him on Jan. 29, according to The AP.

He claimed that the attackers said “This is MAGA (Make America Great Again) country,” in a follow-up interview with CPD.

TMZ originally reported the alleged attackers were white and they were told twice that their reporting reflected Smollett’s version of events accurately.

CPD said the attack could have been racially motivated in a statement released after the incident was reported.

The “Empire” star disputed that he ever said the attackers wore MAGA hats in a Good Morning America interview Thursday. Smollett added he believed more people would have supported instead of doubted him had he said the perpetrators were Muslim, Mexican or ‘someone black.’

Several media outlets and journalists circulated allegations from sources that Smollett and the two men were conspirators and the attack was staged. Guglielmi, however, said the “supposed CPD sources are uninformed and inaccurate” on Twitter Thursday.

Police do not have footage of the incident, but are still looking, The AP reported.