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There’s A Lot Of Evidence That We’re Near The Top

A report from the Wall Street Journal. “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are pulling back on some mortgages meant to make homeownership more affordable, their latest effort to rein in risk at the behest of their regulator. The two companies are cutting back on the proportion of loans they back to borrowers with small down payments, for example, and mortgages to deeply indebted borrowers. The regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, says it wants Fannie and Freddie to be prepared for a possible economic downturn. ‘Some of this really is a reflection of the increased emphasis and focus on: let’s do what we need to do to get out of conservatorship,’ FHFA director Mark Calabria said in an interview.”

“Fannie and Freddie don’t make loans. Instead, they purchase loans from banks and other lenders and package them to sell to investors, then guarantee payments on them. David Battany, executive vice president for capital markets for Guild Mortgage Co., a San Diego-based lender, said Fannie and Freddie are rejecting some of his firm’s loans that they once would have agreed to back.”

“Mr. Calabria said he wants to make sure the companies won’t require another bailout. He said he also wants Fannie and Freddie to avoid making loans that may go bad during a downturn. ‘I think there’s a lot of evidence that we’re near the top of this cycle,’ Mr. Calabria said. ‘It would be counter to their mission where we get borrowers into loan products that would leave them vulnerable in a downturn.'”

“Fannie and Freddie also have been tapping the brakes on loans made to borrowers who devote more than 43% of their monthly incomes to mortgage payments and other debt. Fannie backed a higher volume of these loans last year, accelerating a multiyear rise, but the company pulled back in early 2019, according to people familiar with the matter. Freddie took those actions as well. Fannie and Freddie have now shrunk the share of these loans in their businesses for three straight quarters, according to industry research group Inside Mortgage Finance.”

From Vail Daily in Colorado. “In today’s environment, lending standards are still tighter than they were a dozen years ago. But, Nicholle Jackson, a broker at the Valley Home Store said, there are mortgages available for 3%, 5% or even no money down. While qualifying for a mortgage is harder than it was in 2007, loans are more available than they were in, say, 2010. But the Home Store has a powerful tool to get people into homes: the Eagle County Down Payment Assistance Program.”

“Bill Holm is a broker with Fortius Realty. That firm is now finishing off the Two Rivers project at Dotsero. Holm said he doesn’t lose many buyers because they can’t qualify for a mortgage. ‘People that are serious about it can get in. Lending is more accessible for people these days,’ Holm said. Between down payment assistance programs and fixed-rate mortgages available below 4% interest, there are opportunities. Those programs open up the mortgage market ‘to people who couldn’t afford it two years ago,’ Holm said.”

The Shawnee Mission Post in Kansas. “For several months, I have been bombarded with commercials on XM radio about refinancing and home equity lines of credit. Where HELOC’s can get to you into trouble are when all of the available equity in a home is pulled out for a remodeling project, for example. When all of a homeowner’s available equity is accessed and then spent on an improvement, or to pay off revolving debt, or to purchase a new car, the homeowner is then subject to market conditions.”

“What do you mean subject to market conditions? Most banks will allow a homeowner to access up to 85 percent of their available equity when obtaining a HELOC. And that seems like a safe number, until the market heads into a downturn. I remember a similar boom in HELOC’s before the recession. I also remember meeting with homeowners right after the recession began who had maxed out their HELOC and suddenly found themselves upside down in their home.”

“Meaning they owed more on their home than it was worth at the time. In many cases, I witnessed seller’s writing checks at the closing table in order to sell their home. That’s right. Instead of getting a proceeds check from the sale of their home, they were writing a check for the emaining balance of their mortgage that was not satisfied by the sale.”

From Houston Agent Magazine in Texas. “Cash-strapped Generation Z and millennial veterans are taking advantage of VA loans that allow them to purchase with no down payment, no mortgage insurance, flexible credit guidelines and the industry’s lowest average interest rates. More than 624,000 veterans and service members have utilized their VA home loan benefits in fiscal year 2019, according to new data from the Department of Veterans Affairs.”

“VA purchase loans have increased for the eighth-straight year and are up 43 percent compared to five years ago. In Houston, VA purchase loans were up 13.69 percent from fiscal year 2014. ‘Younger veterans and service members are fueling the continued growth of this historic loan program,’ said Chris Birk, Director of Education for Veterans United Home Loans. ‘This benefit was built to help boost access to homeownership for those who serve, and it’s helping a new generation of veterans and military families put down roots in communities across the country.'”

“According to the Veterans United Home Loans study, Generation Z and millennial buyers accounted for nearly half – 45 percent – of all VA purchase loans in FY 19, the only two generations to see year-over-year growth in these loans. That number is expected to go up in January 2020, when changes to VA loan limits take effect. These changes, which allow borrowers to purchase above their county loan limit without having to factor in a down payment, are a huge win for veterans, especially those living in expensive housing markets.”

“VA refinance loans were also up 44 percent in FY19 compared to five years ago. VA loans continue to have the lowest average interest rate on the market, according to data from Ellie Mae. The VA has now backed more than 8 million loans over the last two decades, with nearly 70 percent coming within the last 10 years.”

A press release at Yahoo Finance. “Even with foreclosure rates dropping as a whole, some states were not as lucky. For example, these states saw an increase in the third quarter of 2019: Montana: 33%, Georgia: 32%, Washington: 16%, Louisiana: 15%, Michigan: 12%. Furthermore, many large metropolitan statistical areas throughout the country experienced foreclosure rate growth during the third quarter: Atlanta, GA: 37%, Columbus, OH: 27%, San Antonio, TX: 24%, Portland, OR: 22%, Tucson, AZ: 21%.”

“What Will 2020 Bring? Much the same as in 2019, some states and cities will suffer more than others. ‘Even when foreclosure rates dip – which is a good thing on many fronts – there are still opportunities for those interested in investing. In 2020, there will remain cities and states that have more available properties than others. For example, it makes sense to believe that New Jersey, Illinois, and Florida will continue to have some of the highest foreclosure rates in the country, said Simon Campbell of BankForeclosuresSale.”

“Just the same, some cities never seem to escape a foreclosure rate increase, and that trend should remain in the new year. ‘Last year, Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Rockford, Illinois, had some of the highest foreclosure rates in the country,’ Campbell added. ‘We don’t yet know how these areas will perform in 2020, but I’d guess that you’ll see these three cities in a similar position during Q1 and possibly beyond.’

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  2. Like the FHA changes earlier in the year, what’s happening in lending is a housing earthquake.

    ‘Fannie and Freddie also have been tapping the brakes on loans made to borrowers who devote more than 43% of their monthly incomes to mortgage payments and other debt. Fannie backed a higher volume of these loans last year, accelerating a multiyear rise, but the company pulled back in early 2019, according to people familiar with the matter. Freddie took those actions as well. Fannie and Freddie have now shrunk the share of these loans in their businesses for three straight quarters’

    As I’ve said for many years, take away the loan gravy and poof! This is all further evidence that this was not a market based on fundamentals, but easy lending and speculation. Just whyis the gubermint guaranteeing cash out refis and second shacks?

    1. October 4, 2019

      “The federal government has dramatically expanded its exposure to risky mortgages. In 2019, there is more government-backed housing debt than at any other point in U.S. history, according to the Urban Institute. A growing number of homeowners faces debt payments that amount to nearly half of their monthly income.”

      “‘There is a point here where, in an effort to create access to homeownership, you may actually be doing it in a manner that isn’t sustainable and it’s putting more people at risk,’ said David Stevens, a former commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration. ‘Competition, particularly in certain market conditions, can lead to a false narrative, like ‘housing will never go down’ or ‘you will never lose on mortgages.’”

      “The Federal Housing Finance Agency, at the time under Director Mel Watt, began working on plans to direct Fannie Mae to purchase loans with higher debt-to-income thresholds, Watt said. ‘It is intuitive – you think the higher somebody’s debt-to-income ratio, the more problems they are going to have,’ he said from his home in North Carolina, where he is now retired. ‘But that’s just not the best criteria to apply to be quite honest.’”

      http://housingbubble.blog/?p=2452

      1. What’s going to happen to their paper when F&F are “privatized” in a year? The OTC shares are two bucks _with_ Fed support.

        US Treasury owns 80% of F&F and they are dumping their garbage onto, where else, pension funds. That they are trying to IPO at all shows you what absolute suckers they think the public are.

        Even Whalen says publicly it makes no sense. https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/company-news/video/fannie-mae-and-freddie-mac-reform-makes-no-sense-investor~1779123

        Thirty-year mortgage might as well not exist in a private market. Rates will skyrocket without Fed support.

    3. David Battany, executive vice president for capital markets for Guild Mortgage Co., a San Diego-based lender, said Fannie and Freddie are rejecting some of his firm’s loans that they once would have agreed to back

      Hmm I wonder if this is why Jay “Repo Man” Powell is delivering nightly bags of cash to mortgage pimps in the lending ghetto.

  4. Click my name for full link.

    San Diego Reader
    Dec 9 2019

    Why these nine Encinitas restaurants are closing

    Retirement, fire, property taxes, competition, franchise fees, poor economy
    By Ken Harrison, Dec. 9, 2019

    EmailLetter to Editor
    What’s happing to restaurants on Encinitas’ El Camino Real? In the last two months, eight restaurants have closed in the ten blocks between Encinitas Boulevard and Leucadia Boulevard.

    The latest being on November 25. The owners of the Greek American Family Restaurant, opened since the 1980s, reportedly wanted to retire.

    Gone are franchised or corporately owned restaurants of Noodles and Company, Subway, and Firehouse Subs. Also out of business, vacant, and up for lease are the former locations of locally owned businesses Pie Craft, Swirls Frozen Yogurt, and 2 Good 2 Be Bakery. (The McDonalds in the Encinitas Ranch Town Center was closed three weeks ago due to fire. Its expected to be reopened.)

    Steve Amster, the 23-year owner of Garden State Bagels, across the street from three of the closed restaurant sites, says the reason is rapidly raising rents. He says even in a high real estate market, shopping centers are being bought and sold. “Every time a center is sold, the Proposition 13-controlled property taxes reset,” said Amster. In his 16-unit center, which changed hands recently, the new owner’s property taxes were adjusted upward radically. “Rents go up to cover the increase, and it forces businesses to leave,” he said.

    Opened since 1980, when asked why two restaurants next door to his Subman sandwich shop went out of business, owner Tim Lee said, “There’s too much competition. Too many restaurants around.”

    In the case of the closed franchised restaurants, a nearby 7-Eleven owner says the corporations may also be the cause of the closures. “They [franchisors] take their franchise fees off the top, whether or not the owners are making money.

    She gave an example of 7-Eleven’s long running 79-cent Big Gulp soft drink promotion pointing out that the corporation doesn’t give a discount or credit to help the owners cover the loss in a low-cost promotion. “We still have to pay our employees, buy the products from the company at their franchisee pricing, and all the other expenses.”

    Long-time restaurateur Gerry Sova, owner since 1970 of Capt. Keno’s Restaurant on Coast Highway 101, says he believes the reason for the closures is the economy is not as good as we are being told. Amster and the 7-Eleven owner agree. The 7-Eleven owner says she has had to bring in family to help out. “My store is worth half of what it used to be. We couldn’t sell it if we wanted to, she said.”
    Amster believes the closures may also be a sign that a recession is coming, but added “If Trump stays in office, it won’t be as bad as 2008,” pointing to the continuing rise in record levels of the stock market and low unemployment rates.

    As of press time, a ninth El Camino Real restaurant announced it is throwing in the towel. Chili’s Bar & Grill, located at the Encinitas Ranch Town Center on the corner of Leucadia Boulevard, will be closing on January 3.

    1. “Why these nine Encinitas restaurants are closing”

      It has to be a least an hour, or more, to commute to the San Diego metro area. How many family supporting career employers are there in Encinitas?

      1. Sorrento Valley is 15 miles from Encinitas. I suppose that at rush hour there would be a lot of traffic.

        There are jobs in Carlsbad too, though the pickings are slimmer.

        1. Lived in Cardiff (part of Encinitas) for 8+ years while I worked in La Jolla, so about the same distance to Sorrento Valley. This was over 15 years ago but traffic was mind numbing even then – easy 1-1.5 hour ride home every thursday and friday, tuesday too (people take long weekends off was my theory). And this was before the zillions of homes built along the 56 – used to just be plant nurseries and horse stables along a sometimes dirt road. Plus there werent as many big tech companies in SD at the time either, much thinner job market. Drive in usually wasnt too bad – I also had good hours – worked 11 to 7 so I could surf in the morning and skip rush hour. Most Thursdays/Fridays I wouldnt even fight the traffic, I’d just hang out in La Jolla around the cove. Oh, and weekends got so bad with people going into SD saturday and leaving sunday that the I-5 was a parking lot most every weekend. I stopped going to stuff like concerts in the city or events at balboa park I would normally go to because it wasnt worth the time invested.

          Things were quite good in the mid 90s, before the dot com boom. You could drive all over, even into the city without much hassle. Prices were reasonable (homes in the 200s +/-, now those same places cost close to if not more than a million) and there were surf shops, used clothing and record stores. As the dot com madness started to gain momentum all the cool stores got pushed out and replaced with art galleries and day spas. I knew I had to get out.

          2. That makes me think of Prospect Ave in La Jolla. I remember when there were plenty of people there every night, especially students from UCSD. That last time I was there it looked like a ghost town.

          3. There is a healthy job market in Carlsbad, I work for the biggest employer. When you are on a cross country flight streaming Netflix and its rock solid you are on our system, if its disappointed you are using our competitors. There are lots of Biotech jobs in and moving to Carlsbad. I can’t think of anything in Encinitas outside of healthcare to support a family. The I-5 is currently adding 4 lanes to get to Sorrento Valley where all the jobs are and the trains are getting double tracked. From North County outside of rush hour, the airport and downtown San Diego is 35 minutes. Housing is crazy expensive but if you want an active lifestyle its hard to find year round places I would rather live.

          4. Rush hour traffic in San Diego in most directions is intolerable at this point. I don’t try do anything in the evenings anymore on weekdays.

          5. I do a lot of back and forth between Poway and Encinitas, mostly via Rancho Santa Fe. Almost every time I cross over I-5 on Requeza St., it’s a parking lot in one direction.

          6. I ONLY take the train now when I go to San Diego. That drive down I-5 is ridiculous. However, you get a “trespasser incident” ie a hobo gets run over by a train, you’re likely to be stuck there for 2-3 hours for the investigation.

            Also the double tracking takes the train out of commission for 2 or 3 weekends at a time.

            Just can’t win.

    2. “In the case of the closed franchised restaurants, a nearby 7-Eleven owner says the corporations may also be the cause of the closures. ‘They [franchisors] take their franchise fees off the top, whether or not the owners are making money’.”

      Ah, perfection! Suck in a franchisee and then bleed him to the max. When his bank account is cleaned out cast him aside and suck in the next ignorant puke; It is not as if there is a shortage of them.

      Like it, love it, want more of it.

      1. BTW, this article is a good example of Ben Jones’s dry cleaners effect. You can see this going on everywhere if you care to take a look.

    3. High rents started it and minimum wage hikes are moving it along. Those that stay open are jacking up prices to eye-popping levels. Just over the last 18 months I’ve seen prices on entrees go up $3-5 in restaurants I frequent which is making me frequent them much less.

      1. I’ve seen prices on entrees go up $3-5 in restaurants I frequent which is making me frequent them much less.

        We get the 20% service fee in many places here in Seattle as well, which is _pre_ tax (the gov’t gets to take an extra cut of that as well!)

        The price of eating out has gone way up, to be sure. Good thing we have a nice wine cellar at home, and enjoy cooking…

  7. ‘these states saw an increase in the third quarter of 2019: Montana: 33%, Georgia: 32%, Washington: 16%, Louisiana: 15%, Michigan: 12%…experienced foreclosure rate growth during the third quarter: Atlanta, GA: 37%, Columbus, OH: 27%, San Antonio, TX: 24%, Portland, OR: 22%, Tucson, AZ: 21%’

    A lot of “red hot” markets right there.

    2. Foreclosure Est: $3,634,262
      5 bd– ba6,000 sqft
      501 W Highland Dr, Seattle, WA 98119

      8/20/2019 Foreclosure auction $855,535 unpaid balance
      Home in default
      8/15/1995 Loan issued

      https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/501-W-Highland-Dr-Seattle-WA-98119/48753390_zpid/

      20023 97th Ct NE
      Bothell, WA 98011
      3 beds 1.5 baths 2,150 sqft
      Off Market
      Zestimate®: $716,647

      https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/20023-97th-Ct-NE-Bothell-WA-98011/48681324_zpid/

      My source for the last one says: ‘Sold to outside party for: $595,000’.

      Down it goes…

      2. “501 W Highland Dr, Seattle, WA 98119”

        That tall brick chimney is an earthquake hazard that would go right through the roof and each floor until it stops in the basement.

      3. $3.6M?? Tax Assessment $3,031,000?? ($30k/yr property taxes)

        I see the location, but is the view from Highland Drive worth that much???

        Geeze, with listings like that Mortgage Watch/Mafia Blocks is starting sound sensible…

        1. The irony here is I and a few others are the only sensible and honest individuals here.

          How bout it my good friend. How bout it.

          Portland, OR Housing Prices Crater 11% YOY As Seattle and Vancouver BC Housing Markets Turn Toxic On Rampant Appraisal Fraud

          https://www.zillow.com/portland-or-97209/home-values/

          *Select price from dropdown menu on first chart

          As a noted economist stated so eloquently, “A house is a rapidly depreciating asset that empties your wallet it every day you own it.”

          2. Houses Depreciate. You’re almost to getting that. Land is either worth what it can produce or it’s a beanie baby.

          4. Land is valuable only if it has gold or oil underneath the surface.

            Timberlands are valuable. Arable land is valuable. Tidelands are valuable. There are a lot of different aspects to land.

          5. I was quoting a very old aphorism.
            Land produces value of in the form a short commute or otherwise easier transit. That is, “location location location.” If we all had teleport (my choice of superpower), location would be moot.

  9. “In today’s environment, lending standards are still tighter than they were a dozen years ago. But, Nicholle Jackson, a broker at the Valley Home Store said, there are mortgages available for 3%, 5% or even no money down. While qualifying for a mortgage is harder than it was in 2007, loans are more available than they were in, say, 2010.”

    Heed my words you stupid sideline buyers, ITS DIFFERENT THIS TIME!!! END OF STORY! BUY NOW OR BE PRICED OUT FOREVER!

  10. In the Old West, horse thieves and cattle rustlers were usually hanged after summary trials. Contemporary records reveal that when the condemned were asked if they had any last words, nearly three-quarters responded with “Realtors are liars.”

    2. Scientists have recently discovered the root cause of climate change was an excess of hot air blown out of realtors spineless bodies. The increasing amount of NAR members has fueled activists such as St. Greta to pursue a new movement to banish all realtors from the earth.

  11. LOL@ Vail. It’s about a hundred miles from Denver, but driving there on I-70 to ski on the weekend will take anywhere from two to six hours each way.

    1. media source

      This is fantastic. If asking for an investigation a High Crime, then what is directly sending your top hand to do an investigation? Way to go Rudy!

    2. Biden keeps widening his lead among Democrats. All the Republicans have to do is play the video of him bragging about getting the Ukrainian prosecutor fired as a campaign ad and the election is over. It is just another case of the MSM so protecting Democrats that they actually hurt them. Bernie would have been stronger in 2016 then Hillary but her corruption was covered up until WikiLeaks released what the MSM already knew. Those who do not watch or read the conservative press are the last to know. We cannot help know about what the left has because we are bombarded with it.

      1. Looks like the republicans are keeping their powder dry, waiting until the opportune moment. If I were the Rs, I wouldn’t show that video until October 2020. And don’t forget that image of all those Dems — Warren included — raising their hands to pledge free health care to illegal immigrants. If there’s one thing people are touchy about, it’s health care costs. We pay through the nose for health insurance, and just giving it to illegals immigrants (and their numerous babies) is one freebie too far.

        1. If there’s one thing people are touchy about

          People should be touchy about graft and kickbacks in politics.

    3. Every TV and radio station has phrased the Trump deals with Ukraine as using influence to investigate “his political rival.” They never to seem to mention that at the time Biden was not Trump’s political rival. Biden was a sitting Vice President.

  14. “…I also remember meeting with homeowners right after the recession began who had maxed out their HELOC and suddenly found themselves upside down in their home….”

    HELOC’s have just gotta be USA’s number 1 financial opioid.

    1. yeah. Even the very left-leaning reddit crowd can mostly see the train wreck that is that idea. A few more years and the stress in the system will hopefully snap things back to the right (probably along with the ”great crash of the 20(20)s” )

  16. According to Zilldow, there are 297 homes listed for sale in La Jolla, a small San Diego community, almost all listed for over $1 million.

    Are there really that many San Diegans in the market for $1+ million dollar homes during the Holiday Season!? I suspect this is the tip of the fire sale iceberg, but then I am a professed bear, so take my mixed metaphors with a grain of salt!

    1. “Are there really that many San Diegans in the market for $1+ million dollar homes during the Holiday Season!?”

      La Jolla has some nice trophy properties. Perhaps there is some more money launderers or IPO millionaires looking to buy before 2020?

  17. ‘It would be counter to their mission where we get borrowers into loan products that would leave them vulnerable in a downturn.’

    Barn door left open
    All of the horses have fled
    Hurry, shut the door!

    1. Democrats fighting hard to restore and protect tax cuts for the wealthy folks in the “gated” blue communities that vote for them. Let’s put the burden on the working poor, where it belongs.

      How about that.

      1. its disgusting! i liked the comment made the other day about the monopoly game we play. we all own a baltic ave and constantly land on boardwalk with a hotel. great analogy!

          3. I doubt that any of us live in a Baltic Avenue house. I would equate that with a small rural shack that functions but not much more. My Cold War burb ranch, tbh, is probably a St. Charles Place.

          4. true and perhaps my statement of “all” should have been “many”. I rent a middle grade place (indiana ave?) but pay half what the mortgage would cost to buy it. my reference was that the .001 percentage own the multi million dollar houses (boardwalk / Park Place) and the majority of working class can barely make their monthly commitments of taxes / mortgages on a median cost house. Why the ultra rich are getting their panties in a bunch over the SALT caps and trying to append it is the disgusting aspect of this to me

    1. this is just NOT QE, please dont pay attention to it, its nothing to be alarmed about… The recent QE4 announcement is also nothing to be worried about as it will help keep all the values of the markets propped up and the wealth that it creates for the consumers to keep consuming and paying taxes they cant afford FOREVER! ITS DIFFERENT THIS TIME!

    3. Hard to believe that the Fed is injecting more money into the banks than Nancy Pelosi is injecting Botox into her face but the facts speak for themselves. However I think we are going to see big banks go under in India and Europe soon. I think the Fed is being the central bank for the world and encouraging US banks to keep the other countries banks liquid.

  21. “Fannie and Freddie don’t make loans. Instead, they purchase loans from banks and other lenders and package them to sell to investors, then guarantee payments on them.

    It infuriates me that these criminals “guarantee payments” on toxic-waste mortgages with my involuntary tax “investments.” All so Comrade Pelosi and the DNC can harvest the FSA vote.

  22. Well this is rich. The FBI routinely leaks information to the press on “subjects of interest” that they want to malign, and FBI lawyers have no problem with that. But when Lisa Page gets her private texts released into the public domain, showing that she’s scheming with her FBI loverboy about how to lay Trump low, suddenly privacy matters. Of course for Lisa it’s all about her, with no heed paid to the perversion of justice by biased political hacks abusing their positions and authority in pursuit of a Deep State agenda.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/10/lisa-page-sues-doj-fbi-text-messages-081001

      1. They all seem to have had their turn at Page. Maybe Trump should troll her by playing “Turn the Page” at campaign rallies.

  23. Lending standards to slide further while our worthless regulators and policymakers facilitate manifestly non-creditworthy future FBs buying overpriced shacks they can’t afford. “Disadvantaged minorities” can wail that they were victims of predatory lending, but what are the rest of these “victims” going to do when they lose “their” shacks?

    https://www.marketwatch.com/story/lending-standards-to-slide-for-homeowners-with-spotty-credit-moodys-warns-in-2020-outlook-2019-12-10?mod=mw_latestnews

      2. I would be happy if they stopped voting twice. Once for themselves and once for someone else. Sick of seeing Democratic districts with 101 percent turnout.

    3. Been going to WRSA for 15 years +. It has been interesting to see the shift from Boomer Con to a more Libertarian if not AnCap perspective.

      1. The modern man stands stoically at 2 am at the Javits Center in NYC on a night in November, a single tear strategically rolling down a chiseled cheek as he looks at up at the monitor airing MSNBC and holds his long-time not-wife.

        That’s the image I am reminded of.

  25. It’s amazing how fast these old Dudes went from racist slave owners to ‘Founding Fathers’ and framers of the Constitution.

    From Washington to Lee to Trump

    We must reckon with the racism in our nation’s history – and present.

    By Linda J. Killian Opinion ContributorAug. 17, 2017, at 12:00 p.m.

    https://www.usnews.com/opinion/op-ed/articles/2017-08-17/george-washington-thomas-jefferson-donald-trump-and-race-in-america

    Pete Buttigieg wants Thomas Jefferson events renamed: ‘Racism isn’t some curiosity out of the past’

    May 19, 2019

    Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg has said events named after US founding father Thomas Jefferson should be renamed because he was a slave owner.

    The 2020 candidate said changing the title of his party’s annual dinner events – designated in honour of presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson – was “the right thing to do”.

    Speaking on a nationally syndicated radio show, Mr Buttigieg was asked whether the Democrats’ Jefferson-Jackson dinners be renamed across the US because both were holders of slaves.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/pete-buttigieg-thomas-jefferson-racism-slavery-2020-election-democrats-a8920616.html

    America’s ‘Founding Fathers’ star in Trump impeachment hearing

    DECEMBER 4, 2019 / 6:38 PM / 6 DAYS AGO

    The Founding Fathers, the American leaders who declared independence from Britain and created the democratic framework for the United States, were invoked by constitutional experts and lawmakers alike, as they argued over impeachable bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors, and obstruction of justice.

    Harvard Law School professor Noah Feldman said he believed the framers of the Constitution “would identify President Trump’s conduct as exactly the kind of abuse of office, high crimes and misdemeanors, that they were worried about.

    “And they would want the House of Representatives to take appropriate action and to impeach.”

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-impeachment-framers/americas-founding-fathers-star-in-trump-impeachment-hearing-idUSKBN1Y82ZL

  26. Finally, the cesspool in the SF streets is having verifiable impacts on the bottom line.

    “Oracle is moving its annual OpenWorld conference from San Francisco to Las Vegas and it signed a three-year agreement with the Caesars Forum for the move.
    The San Francisco Travel Association estimates the move will cost San Francisco $64 million a year.
    The travel group told members that Oracle cited San Francisco’s high hotel prices and “poor street conditions” as reasons that attendees were unhappy with the city.”

    https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/10/oracle-moving-openworld-from-san-francisco-to-las-vegas-caesars-forum.html

  27. Student claims teacher assaulted her for “Women for Trump” pin

    Posted: Mon 6:29 PM, Dec 09, 2019

    MASON, MI. (WVLT/WILX) — A high school student in Mason, Michigan claimed a teacher assaulted her during school hours for wearing a “Women for Trump” pin.

    Sadie Earegood, 16, told NEWS 10 she was assaulted when a teacher ripped the pin off her shirt.

    According to WILX, the teacher whose name has not been released, started off by saying he didn’t like the pin she was wearing.

    “I was just really shocked that a teacher would especially would do that,” she said. “He’s talking about the Women for Trump pin and I said, that’s fine you don’t have to like it, we can have our opinions.”

    “He grabbed it and I pulled and I tried to push his hand away and he grabbed my shoulder, just kind of put his hand there, and then he started pulling more and more and I just started backing up,” Earegood said.

    The 16-year-old said the teacher then put the pin, upside down on his shirt, and stated that it belonged that way.

    The Earegood’s filed a police report.

    “I made a criminal assault and larceny report against the teacher. He had no right to put his hands on my child over a pin or anything else. The first amendment gives everyone the right to express their freedom of speech. No one should get that upset about someone wearing a political pin,” said Capri Eargood, Eargoos’s mother.

    Earegood said that she won’t be silenced and just wants people to know that she will continue to show her political views.

    https://www.wvlt.tv/content/news/Student-claims-teacher-assaulted-her-for-Women-for-Trump-pin-565995071.html

    1. These anti trump, Hillary / screech supporters still cant stand they lost in 2016. Deal with it. Behavior like this makes me proud to be on the current side knowing if it had gone the other way, the current elected president supporters would not be behaving like school yard children. Enjoy the avocado toast and starbucks latte, keep engaging in the ongoing 4 year conversation of how bad the president is.

  28. ‘The war in Afghanistan, that 19-year horror movie that never seems to end, is the perfect metaphor for a bankrupt foreign policy elite whose arrogance is second to none. A rolling series of errors, wasteful spending, botched execution, wishful thinking, hubris, mismatched priorities, and misleading statements to the American public — revealed by the Washington Post this week in what has been dubbed the “Afghanistan Papers” — have fueled a war that goes on and on in an endless loop without a hint of resolution. Alternatives to the status-quo, like finally ending what has long been the longest U.S. military campaign in the nation’s 243-year history, is swatted away by the elite as unserious and dangerous. Those seeking a withdrawal are derisively labeled as wobbly, short-term thinkers or regarded with outright contempt. In the alternative universe that is the Beltway, it’s up to the American public to convince their leaders why the present course they themselves set is a disaster — the complete opposite of how a democracy is supposed to function.’

    https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2019/12/10/the-afghanistan-papers-highlight-the-systemic-rot-in-u-s-foreign-policy-making/

    1. Liberals are bringing back the NYC which existed in the 1970s. We will see whether millennials will want that life. My guess it will be ok Boomer what do you want for that house in the burbs?

      1. “Liberals are bringing back the NYC which existed in the 1970s.”

        Isn’t that when Charles Bronson was working on his aim?

    1. Does anyone still read that rag? Even when I see a copy in a Dr’s waiting room I don’t bother with it. I have also found that National Geographic mostly spews The Narrative.

  32. Redpilled Redhead. I’ve been teaching for 17 years. If you need the loopholes to get your kid what he needs, message me. You’re a lawyer, so you probably know most of them, but if you’re running into a wall, I can ask questions of the right people. Hang in there, mama. Love wins every time.

    1. I’m navigating the waters the best I can and thankfully better than most parents. This is one mama bear the school district does not want to mess with! I, nevertheless, appreciate the encouraging words.

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