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Adding on from a conversation with the Monument PD officer who referenced a bulletin the agency received as well as conversation with El Paso County deputies;
Callahan and El Paso County Sheriff's both doing shift change at 1600, going from a whopping 4 law enforcement officers in Northeast El Paso County to 0 for about a half an hour. Based on my observation Elbert County to shift change around then also.
Northeast Colorado Springs and Monument getting robberies and burglaries daily from both tweakers and Latin gangs impersonating food delivery, FedEx, and Amazon drivers. This particular officer lives in Elizabeth off County Road 13 and he's had Latino suspected gang members knocking on his door and then going around and checking the other doors and looking through the windows according to his security cameras.
All of El Paso County having vehicles broken into daily and the deputy recommended if we have a CCW and we leave our vehicle carry our gun don't leave it in the vehicle.
A cute little crime spree in southern Colorado Springs, Fountain, Security Widefield areas, where some group specifically went after law enforcement and military identified vehicles and estimates are at least 50 sets of plate carriers and helmets were stolen in a one week period.
Southeast El Paso County had incidents where Latino men were on dirt roads blocking them as if there's road hazard, sometimes putting out a cone or two, and then when people stopped they were ambushed from the right and left side and robbed. Advice given was if it does not look like official road crew with large barriers and large reflective signs to either push through people saying "stop there's a hazard" or if you could identify it early to stop turn around and go the other way, don't even take the risk of an ambush.
Overall theory from officer was that the cities have so much competition for crime territory that these people are coming out to the country to explore uncontested targets of opportunity.
JUST IN - Investigators have identified shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms to Taco Bell restaurants as a possible source of contamination in a parasitic illness outbreak that has sickened thousands across the United States, WaPo reports
@insiderpaper
🇺🇸 ⚠️ Rainfall totals for portions of the Texas Hill Country have been extreme since Monday, with several areas getting double-digit rainfall totals and isolated areas seeing 20+ inches
📌 Just in the last 6-12 hours, dangerous flash flooding has continued, especially for the Guadalupe River through Kerrville... and there has been a 35-foot rise in 4 HOURS in Center Point, Texas
🚨 FLASH FLOOD EMERGENCY was once again been issued for the Guadalupe River and through Kerrville, with Water rescues currently underway.
🇨🇳🛢 Excluding any US-Iran talks about Hormuz, China remains the most important factor for oil prices for the next 60 days or so. All eyes on Beijing.
Ex-China Asian oil imports have recovered to normal levels within the 2023-2025 range. What China does next is crucial.
Last week, I wrote this Opinion column about what China may do next. I see a recovery in oil imports in July and August, but purchases will remain 25% below pre-war levels. Based on my industry soundings, I don't see China stockpiling in the short-term.
Important to note that the (very preliminary) data for July 1-14 shows no recovery whatsoever in Chinese oil imports, with seaborne offloadings running at ~5.5m b/d (below June average), per Vortexa data. That's extraordinary for a country that pre-war was buying 10-12m b/d.
🔗 Javier Blas