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With a Zionist pioneering spirit, for greening the desert and trusting in God, we decided on the Negev for our vineyard not far from biblical Kadesh Barnea. Our vineyard has survived not only the heat and desert winds, but also the "eighth plague" of huge swarms of locusts from Egypt in 2013. Our farmer and winemaker Oren Shalom maintains the vineyard with loving tender care.
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America is increasingly becoming a divided nation. Those with money are flocking to the major cities on both coasts, while many of those that don’t are fleeing to rural areas. As a result, economic conditions can look vastly different depending on where you live. In large cities on the east and west coasts that have been heavily “gentrified”, it can seem like times have never been better. Alternatively, there are certain areas in rural America where it feels like we are in the midst of a horrifying economic depression that never seems to end.
Some elitists derisively refer to the rural areas between the east and west coasts as “flyover country”, and they have little sympathy for the struggles of rural Americans. But those struggles are very real, and in this article you will see that poverty and suicide rates are soaring in non-urban parts of the country.
A new study that was just released contains some hard data about the “income sorting” that is going on nationwide. According to CBS News, the study found that those that are moving into expensive cities make much more money than those that are leaving, and conversely those that are moving into poorer cities make much less than those that are leaving for greener pastures…
America’s wealthy households are increasingly moving to coastal cities on both sides of the country, but those with more modest incomes are either relocating to or being pushed into the nation’s Rust Belt, according to a new study.
That’s creating “income sorting” across the country, with expensive cities like Los Angeles, New York and Seattle drawing wealthier residents. For instance, Americans who move to San Francisco earn nearly $13,000 more than those who move away, the study found. Conversely, those who are moving into less expensive inland cities such as Detroit or Pittsburgh earn up to $5,000 less than those who are leaving.
One of the consequences of this phenomenon is that real estate prices are wildly different depending on where you live. As wealthy people have steadily migrated into expensive cities such as New York and San Francisco, this has pushed housing prices into the stratosphere…
The trend may not only hurt poorer residents who are forced out, but also the rich Americans who move to coastal cities. Well-off residents who move to already expensive cities like San Francisco are bidding up real estate prices until property becomes unaffordable for all but the very richest families. Many end up renting — until that, too, becomes unaffordable.
The California real estate bubble has reached dizzying heights in recent years. Earlier today, I came across an article about a rancher in Marin County that has reluctantly decided to sell his ranch, and he seemed quite sad about it.
Mark Pasternak is a Marin County-based rancher who produces specialty meat products for local shoppers and some of the toniest restaurants in the Bay Area. He bought his 75-acre Devil’s Gulch Ranch in western Marin County back in 1971 for $550 an acre and has been raising pigs, sheep, rabbits and poultry ever since. The farm is a fixture in the local community, so it shocked many when Pasternak announced the ranch is for sale.
He said he’s selling because of the jump in value. The land around his has already been snapped up by wealthy people for private ranches with large homes. The property Pasternak paid less than $40,000 for is now worth about $5 million.
Meanwhile, things continue to go from bad to worse in many rural parts of the country.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nearly one out of every four children in rural America is living in poverty…
According to estimates by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nearly a quarter of children growing up in rural America were poor in 2016, compared to slightly more than 20 percent in urban areas.
It was a southwestern state, Arizona, according to the report, that had the highest rural child rate of any state, with 36 percent.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the report found the highest concentrations of child poverty, overall, in the Mississippi Delta, Appalachia and on Native American reservations.
These days, most of the good jobs are concentrated in the major cities. Small businesses and family farms have traditionally been the lifeblood of rural communities, but our “modern economy” has not been kind to small businesses and family farms.
In rural America, times are tough, and that is one of the reasons why the suicide rate is much, much higher in rural areas than it is in the large cities. The following comes from CNN…
The suicide rate in rural America is 45% greater than in large urban areas, according to a study released last fall by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A more recent CDC report said Montana’s suicide rate leads the nation, coming in at nearly twice the national average. A third long-touted CDC study, currently under review, listed farming in the occupational group, along with fishing and forestry, with the highest rate of suicide deaths.
That occupational study was based on 2012 data, when farming was strong and approaching its peak in 2013, says Jennifer Fahy, communications director for the nonprofit Farm Aid. Farmers’ net income has fallen 50% since 2013 and is expected to drop to a 12-year low this year, the US Department of Agriculture reports.
We live at a time when the gap between the wealthy and the poor is exploding, and this is putting a tremendous amount of strain on our society. At one time the wealthy lived in the “good parts” of our major cities and the poor lived in the “bad parts”, but now the poor are being completely forced out of our expensive cities on a massive scale.
It is most definitely a tale of two Americas, and I don’t think that it is going to have a happy ending.
First Known Ethiopian Jews to Move to Israel with 'Official' Permission Since 2017
Family of Chidon HaTanach participant Sintayehu Shaparou to arrive in the country later this month; will resettle in northern Israel
Some 8,000 Ethiopian Jews remain abroad, living in poverty
August 22, 2018 ------------- The mother and siblings of Sintayehu Shaparou, the Ethiopian who competed in Israel’s April 2018 Chidon HaTanach contest, will arrive in Israel later this month. The family is being granted residency status after months of lobbying the government.
“We are finally seeing progress,” said A.Y. Katsof, director of The Heart of Israel, who raised $10,000 for flights and early resettlement costs of the family in Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu in northern Israel.
The Shaparous are members of the Falash Mura community in Ethiopia. Sintayehu Shaparou’s father and half-siblings immigrated to Israel 17 years ago while Shaparou, his mother, and other siblings awaited approval for Aliyah in Ethiopia – though the approval never came.
Sintayehu Shaparou was granted residency by the Interior Ministry in April 2018 after it became public that Sintayehu was forced to deposit money with immigration and border control officials as a guarantee that he would leave the country following the Bible contest.
The Shaparous have never learned the reason for the rejection of their immigration application, according to Katsof, who stressed that the family’s situation is just one example of hundreds whose families have been separated and left in limbo.
The government decided in 2015 to bring the remaining members of the Falash Mura community to Israel. The government brought a first 1,300 in 2017 and has yet to approve a budget for any further immigration. Since the government would not pay for the Shaparou's Aliyah, the Heart of Israel raised the money from private donors.
Interviews available.
For more information: Maayan Hoffman at +972-50-718-9742 or maayan@israel365.com.
WATCH: The Heart of Israel visits Sintayehu's family in Ethiopia.
Pictured above: (Photo 1) Sintayehu's mother, Alma, presents Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked with a hand-made Ethiopian gift. Shaked visited the last Jews of Ethiopia earlier this year. Credit: The Heart of Israel. (Photo 2) Sintayehu Shaparou receives a National ID from Israel Minister of Interior Affairs Aryeh Deri in April 2018. Credit: Struggle for Ethiopian Aliyah. Click on photos to download larger versions.
Taxpayer-funded Big Abortion is spending a small fortune to buy anti-Judge Brett Kavanaugh ads.
We told you how the pro-abortion left was losing its collective mind at the president's nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court. This was not surprising given the fact that Judge Kavanaugh is an incredibly intelligent jurist with a proven record of unwavering commitment to the rule of law.
Judge Kavanaugh is also the thing that perhaps scares the left the most: a man of faith.
Big Abortion immediately went into panic mode, lighting up their base on social media with fearmongering and warnings that Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation would spell the end of their world.
Now, just weeks from the start of September's Senate confirmation hearings for Judge Kavanaugh, sources report Planned Parenthood has launched a desperate six-figure campaign to buy anti-Judge Kavanaugh advertisements.
Planned Parenthood announced this media buy in conjunction with its new #DearSenators initiative. #DearSenators is yet another Planned Parenthood website where it is sharing stories it claims are from supporters who would be affected by the confirmation of a pro-life justice such as Judge Kavanaugh —whom they disingenuously call "unfit to serve" on the Supreme Court.
The ads will specifically be aimed at several senators, including Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, both considered swing votes in the past.
Pricey anti-Kavanaugh television commercials will run in Main and Alaska, and digital ads will be run across the country.
Of course, the rub is since Planned Parenthood receives a half-billion dollars in taxpayer support every year, the American people are subsidizing and essentially paying for these ads—along with the hundreds of thousands of abortions Planned Parenthood performs each year—whether they like it or not.
We just told you about Planned Parenthood's massive new online propaganda campaign called "Unstoppable" to activate its supporters and attack life. This initiative—featuring flashy imagery and pop music by pro-abortion artists and celebrities—urges followers to sign a "manifesto" essentially stating they support taxpayer funded abortion and will stand against pro-life candidates and lawmakers.
Big Abortion knows its empire is crumbling, which is exactly why it's mounting this new campaign to rally their troops and put them on the offensive. These campaigns cost money. And we know where Planned Parenthood gets its funding—the American taxpayers.
This foolishness has to stop. The American people should not be forced to pay for one more abortion, let alone Planned Parenthood's deceptive pro-abortion ad campaigns.
The ACLJ is directly engaged in numerous cases to defund Planned Parenthood and cripple the Big Abortion machine—including an amicus brief we recently filed at the Supreme Court to defund and defeat Planned Parenthood. We need you to take action with us.
