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There’s Blood In The Water, And That’s When Sharks Feed

A weekend topic starting with Bloomberg. “Regional players New York Community Bancorp Inc. and Signature Bank are becoming a case study for potential trouble from a sudden downturn in the Big Apple’s property sector, and their share prices are suffering. With retail and apartment vacancies rising and rents falling, and with the prospect of employers cutting their office space looming, the question is whether the hundreds of millions of dollars the banks have set aside for commercial-property loan losses will be enough.”

“‘It could be a two-, three-year window of things slowly working itself out,’ said Jim Costello, senior vice president at property-research firm Real Capital Analytics Inc. ‘There are going to be some price changes, but is it enough to get through to the lenders? That would have to be kind of severe.'”

“Banks are also trying to avoid another phenomenon from the last crisis: getting stuck with foreclosed-upon properties. ‘It’s sort of a domino effect of, first you get some distressed debt, then it leads to a few distressed-property sales, everybody readjusts their pricing expectations on those distressed sales, and then lenders aren’t going to lend at the same prices from before,’ said Costello. ‘And we’re not even through that first step yet. It’s a whole chain of things and it just hasn’t happened.'”

The Wall Street Journal. “The operator of New York City’s historic Martinique hotel, one of Manhattan’s oldest, filed for chapter 11 protection, hoping for relief from rent payments and union obligations as the Covid-19 pandemic hammers the Big Apple’s lodging market. New York City’s hospitality market was sluggish even before the coronavirus began spreading this year as a glut in property development put pressure on room rates.”

From Bisnow on New York. “After six months of upheaval for the New York City housing market, multifamily developers are adjusting to a new economic and cultural reality amid a public health crisis with no clear end date in sight. ‘Here is the backdrop of where we are in New York City’s multifamily world — and if you are standing up, you may want to sit down,’ said Meridian Capital Group Senior Executive Managing Director Helen Hwang. ‘Overall vacancy is at record high in decades. And that is not even accounting for the collection loss, and that the absorption figure is second-lowest in the country behind LA, and with about two to three months of concession, effective rents are down at least 15% to 25% for many apartments.'”

The Boston Globe in Massachusetts. “Some renters have avoided the eviction cliff — for now — by pushing the debt into their futures. Renters are taking on financial risk associated with borrowing from family and friends, using credit cards, or taking out loans to pay the rent. Families are shifting their food budgets toward the rent, with food pantry requests in Massachusetts up by as much as 931 percent.”

“But for most families, even these sacrifices are not enough to scrape the rent together. In the week leading up to the CDC moratorium, the Eviction Lab research group at Princeton University found that new eviction filings were well above historical averages in the majority of cities without moratoriums. Even after evictions, landlords may never see the months of missing rent payments, which will result in a cascade of negative repercussions for property owners and communities. Without rental payments, small property owners, who lack access to credit to cover emergencies, are at increased risk of foreclosure and bankruptcy. “

The Akron Business Journal in Ohio. “The college student housing complex 22 Exchange in downtown Akron has a new owner and will soon be repurposed as a conventional apartment complex aimed largely at young professionals. Capstone Real Estate Investments principal Christopher Mouron said the new rents will be at ‘an attractive price point.’ Mouron said in July, before the sale concluded, that the complex could be converted into conventional residential housing because declining enrollment at the University of Akron indicated a student housing model appeared to no longer be viable. The property in March 2019 escaped foreclosure and a sheriff’s sale.”

From Multi-Housing News. “When it comes to securing multifamily construction loans across the nation, it is a lender’s market. Analogous to the ramifications of the Great Financial Crisis, financing companies have become extremely stringent about what projects they give the green light to finance. As a result of the challenges of securing debt with traditional lenders, private lenders are seeing an escalation in financing requests from multifamily developers. Since March, our originations team has seen an increase in construction loan requests from borrowers pursuing business plans that were easily financeable prior to COVID-19 but are now being called into question by traditional lenders and left unfunded.”

The Des Moines Register in Iowa. “Developers of a troubled downtown skyscraper project allege Des Moines officials made ‘flagrant breaches’ in their development agreement, potentially torpedoing a plan to transform a tract on the southeast corner of Fifth and Walnut streets into a multipurpose showplace. In a cross-claim filed this week in Polk County Court, developers Justin and Sean Mandelbaum and their development entities for the project, known as The Fifth, are seeking $101 million in damages from the city. They also are asking for a temporary injunction blocking the city from reclaiming the property.”

“Situated on the site of what was a deteriorated, city-owned parking garage, the $170 million project is slated to include a 40-story apartment and hotel tower; a theater and restaurant complex; and a 751-stall, 11-story parking garage that already is under construction. The city filed a notice of default against the developers in June for failing to meet construction deadlines. And last week, Bankers Trust Co. filed a foreclosure petition, alleging the Mandelbaums and 5th and Walnut Parking LLC had failed to make payments on a $48 million loan for the garage.”

“The city’s actions, they say, resulted in Bankers Trust refusing to extend the maturity date of the loan, precluding them from securing any alternative financing, as ‘no lender would or could provide financing to a project under the cloud of the city’s erroneous and absurdly aggressive default notices.'”

The Real Deal on Florida. “The ultra-luxury Faena House condo, an oceanfront Miami Beach tower, has a big lawsuit on its hands. The condo association is suing the developer, general contractor and subcontractors for a laundry list of alleged construction defects at the 17-story building, including a broken elevator in the penthouse, missing art, cracking in the concrete and chalky paint.”

“It’s not uncommon for condo associations to sue the developer, contractors and subcontractors after the developer hands off control of the association to the unit owners. Last month, the Aria on the Bay condo association filed suit against affiliates of the Melo Group, Arquitectonica and other firms that worked on the 53-story condo tower north of downtown Miami.”

From Multi-Housing News on Florida. “The co-living sector has expanded in the past few years as more and more people stopped seeing it as a way of living suitable for students, but rather a way of connecting with one another. Despite short-term concerns about the need for social distancing, people are still looking at co-living as a viable alternative. ‘It’s all driven by an oversupply of traditional luxury apartments targeted at high earners,’ said Ryan Shear, managing partner at PMG. The company recently opened Society Las Olas, a 34-story co-living development in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.”

The San Diego Reader in California. “No talk of the economic fallout from the covid-19 pandemic is complete without a nod to the commercial real estate market. Travel is down, particularly business travel. Occupancy rates at hotels have plummeted. Areas such as downtown, where hotels rely heavily on conventions, have been hit hard. Owners of apartment buildings are contending with missed rent payments from legions of tenants whose livelihoods have been damaged by the state’s reaction — overreaction, many say — to covid-19.”

“‘I will tell you that the best minds in real estate are struggling over these questions, with no clear consensus,’ says Stath Karras, the executive director of the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate at the University of San Diego. ‘Would you pay historic values? No. But is there a price at which you would buy, say, a shopping center that’s having issues? Sure. That’s why you are seeing distressed asset funds starting to build up, with the thought that in the current environment, there may be opportunities to buy. Shopping centers, hotels. Hotels are getting slaughtered, and yet there are funds to buy distressed hotels.'”

“The hospitality industry has been hit even harder than retail, Karras says. On a national level, the weekly hotel occupancy rate just hit 50 percent for the first time since mid-March, according to STR, a data research firm serving the hospitality industry. STR data shows the local hotel occupancy in San Diego rate peaked at 79 percent in 2018, then dropped to 77 percent in 2019. In May, San Diego Tourism Authority data showed that average countywide occupancy rates dropped to as low as 24 percent among hotels that had remained open.”

“The multi-family residential market — apartments — is in good shape, although the pressing need for more housing is tempered by the high unemployment rate and the inability of some tenants to pay their rent. ‘Everyone needs a place to live,’ Karras says. ‘The big issue here is: now that government subsidies are starting to wear off, what are collections going to look like?'”

“No surprise, then, that multi-family housing ‘is flying off the shelves,’ says Tim Lopez of KW Commercial in Carlsbad, who has been dealing with commercial real estate for more than 30 years. Adding to the frenzy is the fact that some landlords are panicking because tenants aren’t paying their rents and evictions are on hold. ‘In a market like here, there’s blood in the water,’ he says. ‘And that’s when sharks feed.'”

“A new report by the market research journal Visual Capitalist found that nationwide, the default rate among hotel and retail properties funded by commercial mortgage-backed securities debt soared 792 percent between May and June. ‘Ratings agencies are growing increasingly nervous about the… business side of the residential mortgage-backed securities market that touched off the 2008 global financial crisis.'”

“Lopez isn’t overly concerned. ‘People want to own commercial property in Southern California. I don’t think it’s ever going to be a bad buy. I think a lot of it is overpriced, and one reason for that is that buyers aren’t necessarily looking at cash flow, they’re looking at depreciation, where they can take a tax break.'”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “Major landlords are ramping up incentives to lure new tenants after the COVID-19 epidemic crushed demand for rental housing. The pandemic has brought out a higher level of competition to entice a weaker flow of tenants, including in Toronto and Vancouver, where incentives are rarely needed. ‘Once the incentives start, they do become common, as rental providers have to compete more with each other, and eventually tenants start to expect them,’ said Shaun Hildebrand, president at real estate consulting firm Urbanation.”

“There were more than 50,000 purpose-built rental unit completions across the country in 2019, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. – the highest tally in decades. Plenty more supply is on the way. But since COVID-19 hit Canada, rental demand has been slammed by restrictions on immigration, remote learning at universities and rampant job losses that have affected household finances.”

“Park Property Management, which has roughly 8,750 units spread across 72 buildings in Ontario, is offering incentives in Toronto and in places where student demand has dried up, such as Waterloo. Incentives are a ‘newer thing’ for the company, said senior vice-president Margaret Herd, with one month of free rent being a common offer. ‘People are shopping around now,’ said Ms. Herd. ‘It’s like when you get a sale on a car.'”

“The Toronto market is undergoing a massive shakeup. Out of 50 purpose-built apartment complexes in the city tracked by Urbanation, 29 have offered incentives during the third quarter. This includes free parking, one or two months of free rent, and move-in bonuses of up to $1,500.”

“‘I’d say it’s been more than 10 years since we’ve seen incentives to any meaningful level in Toronto,’ Mr. Hildebrand said. Another factor in Toronto, Ms. Herd said, is that tighter restrictions on short-term rentals (such as Airbnb) are forcing some investors to find long-term tenants, contributing to a recent surge of new supply in the city. ‘If you want to live downtown, there’s an awful lot [of units] available,’ she said.”

“In Alberta, rental demand has been tepid for years because of economic weakness, and the market is no stranger to incentives. Still, the pandemic has added another complication, forcing many landlords to increase their offerings. The province has ‘seen discounting and incentives pretty much across the board, and we have certainly adopted the same approach to remain competitive,’ Minto Apartment REIT chief executive Michael Waters said in an August earnings call.”

“The company’s website shows three buildings in Edmonton that are offering three months of zero rent. A Minto spokesperson said that, depending on the property and market conditions, signing bonuses are on offer for lease renewals.”

The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia. “Billionaire retailer Solomon Lew has blasted efforts by Myer management to restructure its board and said the company is headed for administration in a further escalation of tensions between the struggling department store and its shareholders. Mr Lew told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that this week’s move to cut two directors and reduce board fees was a ‘drop in the ocean’ in the context of Myer’s $172 million loss earlier this month.”

“Myer chairman Garry Hounsell made the changes following pressure from Myer’s second-largest shareholder Geoff Wilson, but Mr Lew said his issues with the board were not to do with fees but rather with their contribution, ‘or lack thereof,’ to running the business. ‘The ship is sinking. What does it matter if you pay the captain a bit less on the way to the bottom?’ he said.”

“Mr Lew also said he believed he was sold a dud when he invested $101 million in Myer in 2017, which gave the businessman an 11 per cent stake in the retailer that is today worth just $20 million. ‘When we invested nearly three years ago, and I think we invested on information that wasn’t correct,’ Mr Lew said.”

“The veteran retailer also would not comment on whether he planned to call an extraordinary general meeting to force change at Myer, and said he believed administration may be the most likely outcome for the beleaguered merchant. ‘The banks have now got control of Myer, so Blind Freddie can see what’s going to happen,’ he said.”

The Australian Financial Review. “Vacancy rates have surged to record highs in the Melbourne and Adelaide CBDs, while regional areas enjoyed the tightest rental markets on record as renters move away from the city, according to SQM Research. At the same time, official figures show house prices fell 2.6 per cent in Sydney and 2.8 per cent in Melbourne in the June quarter, while attached dwelling prices fell 1.4 per cent in Sydney and 1.0 per cent in Melbourne. One in 10 rental apartments in the Melbourne CBD sat empty in August as the lockdown took its toll – up from 8.8 per cent the previous month.”

“Vacancies in Adelaide jumped to 8.4 per cent, up from 7.6 per cent in July, taking the total number of empty rentals to 804. Sydney and Brisbane CBDs fared slightly better with vacancy rates falling to 12.9 per cent and 11.4 per cent respectively. In July, Sydney vacancy rates sat at 13.2 per cent and Brisbane at 13 per cent.”

“Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show the mean price of a NSW home fell almost $20,000 in the past quarter to $871,800, down from $891,400 in the previous quarter. In Victoria, the mean price fell from $754,300 to $736,800 over the quarter. ‘The number of residential property transactions fell substantially in the eight capital cities during the June quarter 2020, due to the effects of COVID-19 on the property market,’ head of prices statistics at the ABS, Andrew Tomadini, said.”

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This Post Has 285 Comments

  1. I realize this is way too long, but I’m trying to catch up to all the crater.

    ‘Overall vacancy is at record high in decades. And that is not even accounting for the collection loss, and that the absorption figure is second-lowest in the country behind LA, and with about two to three months of concession, effective rents are down at least 15% to 25% for many apartments’

    How do those 5% cap rates look now?

    1. I realize this is way too long, but I’m trying to catch up to all the crater.

      When it comes to documenting crater, there’s no such thing as too long (that’s what she said).

      1. I got up this morning and didn’t even do any searches before this post. I had more than enough and still left some out. It’s been years since I did that. Look at how widespread this is.

          3. I see why builders/users of lumber need to look at futures

            Who else invests in lumber futures? Hedge funds? Resource mutual funds. If you look at the graph in the CNBC article, some party was manipulating …

            Reminds me of the frenzy about the Baltic Dry Index

          6. I was talking to the new General Contractor I am using for a few improvements/long term maintenance updates to Casa Spiffy – His cost for lumber is up about 70% since the lockdowns.

            I’ve pushed the deck rebuild (with composites) into next year mostly due to weather and contractor availability, so hopefully material prices will be more realistic then.

            I’m only needing about 900 board feet of cedar for the chimney redo before the rainy season kicks in – everything else I’m doing this year is stuff like drainage, electrical, landscape, etc.

          7. I’m only needing about 900 board feet of cedar for the chimney redo before the rainy season kicks in – everything else I’m doing this year is stuff like drainage, electrical, landscape, etc.

            Wow. Sounds like the carrying costs for “Casa Spiffy” are extremely steep.

          8. The speculative bubble in lumber is popping

            The FED is just blowing bubbles left and right. What an embarrassment of an organization.

          9. Wow. Sounds like the carrying costs for “Casa Spiffy” are extremely steep.

            Not really, it’s already cheaper than renting anything comparable here, though I know a lot of you like to take shots at it. 😉

            As I’ve said here many a time, my intent is to live here until I’m carried out on a stretcher, which hopefully will be sometime after 2050. To that end, I’ve been doing a few one-time things to get the place to the point where I should not need to deal with anything major for 25+ years or more.

            I can well afford it, and have no interesting in viewing it as ‘an investment’ unless it’s investing in the amount of joy, comfort and security I get from living in and working from it.

          10. So many bubblets, so many craterlings…

            The Tell
            That stock-market storm investors are so worried about? It’s already here, warns fund manager who’s returned 50% so far this year
            Last Updated: Sept. 26, 2020 at 11:47 a.m. ET
            First Published: Sept. 24, 2020 at 2:09 p.m. ET
            By Shawn Langlois
            Are lumber prices signaling trouble ahead?
            Patrick Smith/Getty Images

            Tiiimber?

            Michael Gayed, the man behind the risk-on, risk-off ATAC Rotation Fund ATCIX, and its whopping 50% return this year, is sounding the alarm on lumber prices and what they could mean for the broader stock market. “Nearly every major correction, crash, and bear market has been preceded by weakness in lumber,” he told MarketWatch on Thursday. “The collapse over the last few weeks is a warning sign that the storm may already be here.”

            Lumber prices have, indeed, shown signs of weakness lately after kicking off a rally back spring that ultimately led to record highs amid optimism the U.S. economy, battered by the coronavirus lockdown, would bounce back. Gayed, in his widely followed Lead-Lag Report, warned last Friday of an imminent decline and positioned his fund accordingly. The call proved timely considering the direction of the major indexes earlier this week.
            …

  2. Proper noun. Blind Freddy. (Australia, informal) An imaginary incapacitated person held up as an archetype of incapacity: what blind Freddy can see (understand) must be very obvious.

    Blind Freddie definition and meaning: an imaginary person representing the highest degree of incompetence

    1. Blind Freddie could be substituted by another term that needs no definition: “a blind man in a bar room fight”

  3. With retail and apartment vacancies rising and rents falling, and with the prospect of employers cutting their office space looming, the question is whether the hundreds of millions of dollars the banks have set aside for commercial-property loan losses will be enough.

    Meanwhile, the banks’ collateral on their CRE and residential loan portfolios is decaying at an accelerating rate. Recall that the Fed had to step in last October to pump trillions into the financial system via its repo operations in a “short-term emergency measure” that was supposed to last two weeks, and stop interbank lending from locking up, but like all Fed “emergency measures” continues to the present day. What happens when these fraudsters can no longer hold true price discovery at bay?

  4. ‘There were more than 50,000 purpose-built rental unit completions across the country in 2019, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. – the highest tally in decades. Plenty more supply is on the way’

    Worser.

    ‘the default rate among hotel and retail properties funded by commercial mortgage-backed securities debt soared 792 percent between May and June’

    Is that a lot?

    ‘People want to own commercial property in Southern California. I don’t think it’s ever going to be a bad buy. I think a lot of it is overpriced, and one reason for that is that buyers aren’t necessarily looking at cash flow, they’re looking at depreciation, where they can take a tax break’

    Only idiots pay what doesn’t have a healthy cash flow. Which brings up the low income tax credit fiasco.

    1. ‘People want to own commercial property in Southern California. I don’t think it’s ever going to be a bad buy.

      Until the gimme dats and BLM-Antifa arsonists and looters come calling.

    3. Depreciation is somewhat of a bs excuse from my point of view – that only works in a minority of cases.

      —
      The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) allows commercial real estate investors to reduce the value of their investment property in equal installments over a period of 39 years. This ‘useful life’ of the property doesn’t include the land value, only the building and improvements.

      Example provided
      Value of building only = $1 million
      Annual depreciation deduction = $1 million / 39 years = $25,641
      Investor taxable income = $225,000 – $25,641 = $199,359

  5. ‘Analogous to the ramifications of the Great Financial Crisis, financing companies have become extremely stringent about what projects they give the green light to finance. As a result of the challenges of securing debt with traditional lenders, private lenders are seeing an escalation in financing requests from multifamily developers. Since March, our originations team has seen an increase in construction loan requests from borrowers pursuing business plans that were easily financeable prior to COVID-19 but are now being called into question by traditional lenders and left unfunded’

    This is a credit event.

  6. ‘There are going to be some price changes, but is it enough to get through to the lenders? That would have to be kind of severe.’”

    I wonder if these bankers are genuinely in denial, or if they know full well the carnage that is about to hit the financial sector, despite 11 years of Fed efforts to protect them from their own greed and recklessness.

      1. South Florida Business Journal
        Metronomic files Chapter 11 bankruptcy – South Florida …
        The filing comes just days after a foreclosure lawsuit was filed against its GroveHaus … The developer aimed to build apartments, student housing and boutique …
        19 hours ago

        1. Palo Alto Online
          Palo Alto candidates diverge on housing, unite on police reform … trend, has changed the situation and created what Lauing called a “glut of offices.” Varma said …
          20 hours ago

    2. After 11 straight years of keeping it up all the time, 24/7, it almost seems as though the Fed has run out of Viagra and gone limp.

        1. Short summary: Other than at a few other points in the post-2007-2009 Quantitative Easing era, we are currently at the lowest Fed Funds rate level in 62 years. And in real terms, we are possibly at the lowest ever (not sure how often real rates have been as far to the negative as currently, though).

          2. Something is crashing.

            That’s what happens when the wealth is concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people.

          3. “Something is crashing.”

            “That’s what happens when the wealth is concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people.”

            Or, that’s what happens when:

            1. The supply of greater fools approaches zero (not likely),

            or …

            2. The supply of greater fools who have access to money approaches zero (most likely).

          4. 2. The supply of greater fools who have access to money approaches zero (most likely).

            Not so, because when you look at that chart you see that it is crashing even when the biggest credit bubble in history was expanding.

  7. ‘It’s sort of a domino effect of, first you get some distressed debt, then it leads to a few distressed-property sales, everybody readjusts their pricing expectations on those distressed sales, and then lenders aren’t going to lend at the same prices from before,’ said Costello.

    B…b…but that means anyone who bought a house in the last few years is hosed.

    1. everybody readjusts their pricing expectations on those distressed sales, and then lenders aren’t going to lend at the same prices from before,’ said Costello.

      Wow, this guy’s a real genius.

  9. It wasn’t the “pandemic” in which 99.9% of folks fully recovrer that did this.

    It was mas cow crazy wanna be dictator mayors and govenors that did this.

    “After six months of upheaval for the New York City housing market, multifamily developers are adjusting to a new economic and cultural reality amid a public health crisis with no clear end date in sight. ‘

      1. NY is still showing 800+ cases per day. I don’t know how many of them are very low levels of virus. But I think if we just all tossed our masks and went back to bars and restaurants, we would definitely get another wave.

        I wonder if more has been found out about the T-cell immunity. Antibodies only last a few months, but if SARS-1 is any indication, T-cell immunity could last upward of 15 years. In that case, it might be useful to develop a good test for that and dust off the old idea of immunity passes. But really, I think everyone is just waiting on the vaccines.

        1. 800+ cases per day

          Cases of something that hasn’t been fatal for months. I only know one person who is “waiting for vaccines”. The rest of us are back to normal as much as is allowed, waiting for the remaining stupid restrictions to fall away.

          We’re well into back to school and there is no outbreak as many feared. The state has a dashboard for this too in it’s “forward” website.

          2. Not sure what New York is doing right that the rest of the U.S. isn’t. National level COVID-19 death tallies remain elevated, regularly exceeding 1000 per day in recent weeks, with the cumulative total well north of 200,000.

            By comparison, a total of 2,977 people died in the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks.

          3. what New York is doing right

            We got a head start!

            Hard to say that we did anything “right”. According to the official numbers, it was burning out before we did anything at all.

        3. Mother of one of my childhood friends passed away from covid earlier this week. She came down with first symptoms last week.

          1. 36k bonus for the hospital that diagnosed her death to the beer flu! Surely nobody dies of any other cause now a days!

          2. I’m sorry to hear that. Did she have any comorbidities? How old was she?

            And that is what is so frustrating about this disease. It ranges from no symptoms to a two-week death. It’s insulting to call this a “plandemic.”

          3. I’m sorry to hear that. Did she have any comorbidities? How old was she?

            I think she was 77. We’re at the age where my childhood classmates are losing parents (was normal back then or mom to be 20-22 when having first child)

            No known comorbidities. Really good health, weight for her age and active. Friend has grandparents who lived into their 90s on both sides. Just the usual mega-flu symptoms and respiratory function cratered.

            This thing with coronoa and some other viruses is just how much our susceptibility goes up in a curve with older age. Like a game where as you get older your max hitpoints drop and a punch you could once absorb is now fatal.

          4. We’re at the age where my childhood classmates are losing parents

            Some of us here are at the age where we’re losing our old classmates. I’m 14 years from the age at which my father died 2 days after catching the flu.

          5. My mother died at 65yo 11 months after her mother at 92yo. We all have expiration dates. We just don’t know when and how.

        4. Once “scientists” started lying, as well as hospitals and the CDC, etc., they became the collective “boy who cried wolf.” Everything is bullsh!t.

  10. Families are shifting their food budgets toward the rent, with food pantry requests in Massachusetts up by as much as 931 percent.”

    The parking lot of the food pantry closest to my house is always filled with late model luxury cars and SUVs. Freeloading is the default answer for a lot of these debt donkeys. The real hardship hasn’t even started yet.

    1. Isn’t people spending beyond their means the way the American economy has managed to expand for the last four decades? These debt donkeys were just doing their patriotic duty.

      1. Food banks should be reserved for those who truly need the assistance, not for moochers and debt donkeys who are trying to game the system.

      1. With announcement of a future California moratorium on the sale of gasoline powered automobiles, the value of our modest fleet of Japanese beaters is anticipated to rise over the next few years.

      2. “Does anyone still drive beaters?”

        (Me.laughing) … Before thee.deeth.viru$👾 debacle … Eye used my x1 owner $600.00 Saturn station.wagon (39 mpg) as a train.depot rambler.mobile.

        (449,227 miles … ju$t.pa$$ed CA $mog $70.00 … Eye’m plea$antly surpri$e by that too!)

      3. cash for clunkers sort of changed the auto landscape.

        We make so many autos, then pimp them low monthly payments that a lot of what once were higher end vehicles become the bulk of the $3-7K 20-year old, 200K mile stuff.

    3. The parking lot of the food pantry closest to my house is always filled with late model luxury cars and SUVs.

      I know I’m repeating myself, but I am resentful when I see photos of the food lines, with most of them driving much nicer vehicles than I. If you can afford a $500+ per month car payment, you do not need my tax dollars for food. FAWK YOU.

      1. FWIW, I doubt they qualify for SNAP/EBT, so they go to food banks and take whatever they are given. I’m sure those shiny pickups and SUV’s were worth it.

  11. ‘Would you pay historic values? No. But is there a price at which you would buy, say, a shopping center that’s having issues? Sure.

    Anyone who buys before the bursting of the Fed’s Everything Bubble is a complete moron. Trillions of fictitious Yellen Bux valuations are going to be flushed from the system as true price discovery lays waste to 11 years of Keynesian monetary malpractice.

    1. Anyone who buys before the bursting of the Fed’s Everything Bubble is a complete moron.

      Agreed, but they are doing their best to make you feel stupid forsitting on cash and getting a new zero return while waiting it out.

  12. How much more destruction will have to be inflicted on American towns and cities before the populace says “Enough!” and starts dealing decisively with the BLM-Antifa scum, their Democrat enablers and political adjuncts, their media cheerleaders, and the globalist oligarchs funding and directing the looters and arsonists?

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bethbaumann/2020/09/25/one-month-later-a-look-at-the-destruction-in-kenosha-n2576907

    According to Heather Wessling, the vice president of economic development for the Kenosha Area Business Alliance, 100 businesses have sustained significant damage and roughly 40 businesses are “out of business” for good. Based on the business association’s findings, which were announced two weeks ago, around $50 million in damage was done to buildings and businesses.

    1. How much more?

      Burn Loot Murder has already effectively re-elected DJT. Justice Barrett may not be ideal, but I’ll take her.

      Today is a great day for American democracy.

        1. might stand back and let the commie insurrectionists get stomped this weekend

          The “peaceful protestors” will likely make themselves scarce.

    2. Next up: African Americans and their leftist apologists lamenting the absence of jobs and economic opportunities in areas that were ransacked by BLM looters, which they will blame on systemic racism.

      I’ve seen this movie before.
      Kids who don’t play nice in the sandbox soon have the sandbox all to themselves with no playmates.

      1. “Kids who don’t play nice in the sandbox soon have the sandbox all to themselves with no playmates.”

        dtRumpsis was lonely little bully, $ad

        1. There will never be a vaccine for Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), regrettably. But it can be managed in most cases with the right combination of meds and talk therapy.

          2. Trump doesn’t give me boner. Watching liberals’ unhinged reactions to Trump, on the other hand, is when El Señor Woodrow pays me a visit.

    3. How did we get here?

      The evil of democrat controlled areas.

      We tax you to death.

      We encourage and support looters and arsonists in mostly peaceful demonstrations.

      We order the police to leave the violent thugs alone and the democrat DA will not press charges even if they were arrested.

      And if you defend yourself or property, you will be brutally prosecuted. Have your licenses revoked. And bankrupted.

      The easy answer first step is to stop voting democrat

      1. “How did we get here?” + “And if you defend yourself …”

        kinda hard to defend yerself, iffin’ yer handcuffed & have a 190# knee on yer neck for 8mins&46seconds.

        1. And died of a fentanyl overdoses with Covid complications.

          So what’s your point? A career criminal who resisted arrest with drugs and covid died. The officer has been charged. Trial is pending.

          This is the excuse for burning, looting and murder in all major cities?

        1. When you factor in military spending and bases that blue states don’t seem to want.

          The dems control the house. Why don’t they fix this?

        1. blm = Bureau.of.Land.Management … Eye’m a partime card.carding member.😱

          Sometimes, eye work for the “evil”😠 National Forest Service too.

          (Now ya can really seethe @ me!self!) 😜

  13. $peaking of $harks and blood in the water, do you take the impression that your stock HODLings are slowly circling the drain, in preparation for Wall Street’s next great muppet reaping?

    1. The Financial Times
      Markets Briefing Equities
      Tech rally fails to prevent fourth negative week for US stocks
      S&P 500 posts weekly decline of 0.6% on stimulus impasse and European Covid-19 concerns
      Nerves have become frayed as coronavirus cases surge and lockdown measures are introduced
      © Bloomberg
      Colby Smith in New York and Camilla Hodgson in London yesterday

      US stocks fell for a fourth straight week, despite notching gains on Friday, as investors confronted the reality of a second coronavirus wave in Europe and broader uncertainty about the prospects of additional stimulus measures from Congress.

      The S&P 500 closed up 1.6 per cent on Friday, extending gains from the day before. But steeper losses on Monday and Wednesday dragged down the benchmark index, resulting in a 0.6 per cent decline for the week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fared better, rising 2.3 per cent on Friday for a 1.1 per cent gain on the week.

      Meanwhile, European bourses remained largely negative on Friday.

      Nerves and a broad equity sell-off this week were sparked by rising infections, renewed lockdown measures, a more cautionary tone from policymakers and disappointing eurozone data that pointed to a slowing economic recovery.

      “People had just got comfortable running a bit more risk in portfolios,” said Jason Borbora-Sheen, portfolio manager at Ninety One. “This will be a painful episode.”
      …

    2. For giggle$, eye always$ keep x1 $tock of my pa$t purcha$es.

      For example, this learning/teaching example $tock is currently up: $+25%!

      Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc
      OTCMKTS: HMNY
      0.00050 USD +0.00010 (25.00%)

      Plu$ doing so makes wonderful vi$ual chart$ of why there is faith to $till believe that old time truth adage: $tawke$, like $helter.$hack.price$, AL Lway$ goes 📈! 🎉👏 ☕

          1. True, which reminds me of a couple more investing principle$:

            1) Always know how the dice are loaded and which direction they are aimed.

            2) Don’t fight the Fed!

          2. In $treet.lingo parlance, it what’$ known as a “Hu$tle” & $ubstitutes: “inve$tor/$takeholder$ for “Mark$” you’ll bee in the monie$!

            “Which.$hell hold$ thee.pea?”

            Wrong.again!

      2. I can’t say I have zero invested in stocks. That wouldn’t seem very prudent, given the Fed’s ongoing efforts to throw savers under the bus to subsidize speculators. But my portfolio allocation to stocks is laughably small compared to standard recommendations of Wall Street experts. Plus I avoid FAANG+ and other investing fads like I avoid the covid.

        1. eye’s only purcha$ed a few individual$ lo$ers since thee.deeth.virus👾 started.$preading.

          Nokia @ $3.10 … (on account$ those lite.skinned Nordic$ know how to rake their forests so well, figure they can handle 5G just a$ well too! 👊Take that AT&T!)

        2. I can’t say I have zero invested in stocks. That wouldn’t seem very prudent, given the Fed’s ongoing efforts to throw savers under the bus to subsidize speculators.

          Likewise. Although I did sell my shares of FNG and halved AA some time ago.

      3. Mrs Spiffy is felling pretty good about selling all of her ESPP shares and opting out entirely for 2H 2020.

        I asked her why she did that, and it was because her Fortune-10 employer changed the ESPP rules. No more “use the best price of the start or the end of the ESPP period”, (which I guess was the most common in corporate America) – they will only use the ending share price, which limits the upside potential for participants.

          1. Been a while since I had that chance to participate (MSFT, DIS, TWX) they were all like that (old way) back then. Less upside for the little people probably meant more upside for the executive suite.

  14. https://www.hometownstation.com/santa-clarita-news/community-news/santa-clarita-named-7th-safest-city-in-california-347330

    Santa Clarita has been named the 7th safest city in California, according to public safety data.

    ‘The study noted Santa Clarita has a lower property crime rate than other California cities but has a higher rate of violent crime and mass shootings.’

    Some comments:

    ‘This tells you how bad things have gotten all over the State, given that there are now reports of stabbings and shootings every week in Canyon Country and Newhall, multiple murders, robberies and other violent crimes this year and yet we are still top 10. Wow.’

    ‘That’s scary. Deputy ran over with a stolen car, Deputy attacked, shootings, home invasions during the day, while people are in their homes. Resulted in one woman being injured in her driveway, left to die. Theft, vandalism, burglaries, drug dealing, assaults are common. So this tells me California is going downhill, if we placed 7th. Businesses closing each week. Overpriced housing developments in the works. Schools that can’t reopen until LA County gets their liberal demands met. Better off going to Orange County. My advice…..don’t move to SCV. It’s lumped in with LA County. So you will be screwed.’

    ‘SCV is still a great place to live, despite the demonic, deceitful Liberals infiltration from LA, SFV, Palmdale, Lanc., Bakersfield!! Thanks LE for the extremely hard job of keeping us safe!’

    1. I have a few rules of life like:

      Don’t go and see Madonna movies.

      Don’t live in an area you can’t defend yourself, family or property.

    2. If you watched any of the video from that Hollywood riot with the cars being chased down, etc, you know California is done. These were just random people trying to go on their way. This is what happens when you slip into socialism. Years go by and things get waved off, ignored. “Oh we’ve always had home invasions in yadda.”

      You got the mayor of NYC quoting Marx to reporters. How much more obvious does it have to get? Recent posts here about homeless insanity with the needles and Boston moms dodging human feces with their strollers and public masturbation in New York. Ghost towns. It’s noticed: I was reading yesterday about gun sales to first time buyers going way up – primarily in swing states. Is it surprising that areas where mass violence is encouraged, people feel a need to defend themselves?

      1. I was reading yesterday about gun sales to first time buyers going way up – primarily in swing states.

        I would guess that those people are “moderates”, and they won’t be pulling the D lever in November

      3. The “BLM Protesters” have been blocking highway tunnel in Seattle lately, and for whatever reason(s) the local TV stations and Media are barely mentioning it. I’m only finding out because of twitter, nextdoor, etc.

        https://old.reddit.com/r/SeattleWA/comments/ix9bwy/black_lives_matters_blockades_thousands_inside/

        https://old.reddit.com/r/SeattleWA/comments/iu0nle/todays_morning_march_blocked_the_i90_tunnel_for/

        Now I’m probably more ‘in the middle’ than a lot of us here, but listening to my neighbors and friends, they are pissing everyone who isn’t over 99.6% to the left off. They’re doing a great job of convincing everyone that they have nothing to do with actual justice and reform, and lots of ordinary people are saying it’s only a matter of time before conflict with them get nastier.

        1. It sux to be trapped in a tunnel by BLM protesters with no police available to arrest them for illegally obstructing a public roadway.

    3. Palmdale, Lanc., Bakersfried!!,

      Belong to thee “Redist” County in the $tate: Kern

      & as the the old Texas gal says: “Theys got more tattoo’$ than teeth!”

  15. Try not to get stucco.

    “Banks are also trying to avoid another phenomenon from the last crisis: getting stuck with foreclosed-upon properties. ‘It’s sort of a domino effect of, first you get some distressed debt, then it leads to a few distressed-property sales, everybody readjusts their pricing expectations on those distressed sales, and then lenders aren’t going to lend at the same prices from before,’ said Costello. ‘And we’re not even through that first step yet. It’s a whole chain of things and it just hasn’t happened.’”

  17. ‘China’s economy has rebounded since the coronavirus outbreak eased, but office vacancies in major cities are at their highest since the global financial crisis in 2008, reaching an average of 15% in the first quarter of this year.’

    ‘Prime office buildings in Shanghai and Shenzhen saw vacancy rates reach 20% and 21% respectively, while rates in Beijing climbed to 15.5%, according to CBRE Group.’

    ‘China’s initial lockdown during the pandemic left up to 7 million square metres of office space empty in the four tier one cities by the end of the first quarter, while rents have declined for six consecutive quarters.’

    ‘Efforts to support businesses have pressured landlords. State-owned firms in May were called on to grant rent-free periods of up to three months for smaller enterprises. Private providers were encouraged to so the same.’

    ‘ Covid-19 is not the only factor to blame. A supply glut has occurred with many new office spaces entering the rental market in key Chinese cities. For example, total office stock in Shenzhen is expected to surge 60% by 2023 from the end of last year, according to Jones Lang LaSalle.’

    ‘The huge jump in supply is in line with larger efforts to strengthen the position of the southern tech hub of Shenzhen and the Greater Bay Area as a regional economic powerhouse. More than 500,000 sq m of grade A office space was added to Shenzhen last year, but tenants have only occupied around 100,000 sq m, according to Cushman & Wakefield.’

    ‘Competition among landlords will become fierce in the near term, with rents down by almost 12% in Shenzhen and 9.5% in Shanghai, according to a forecast by Colliers.’

    https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1969515/high-office-vacancy-rates-trouble-china

    1. ‘Landlords of Hong Kong’s “Ginza-style” commercial buildings are slashing rents by up to 40 per cent and shifting their focus away from restaurants and bars to survive the dramatic downturn in the catering and retail sectors caused by the coronavirus pandemic.’

      ‘As rents of street-level shops and restaurants have tumbled, these projects – buildings typically packed with cafes, bars and small shops on higher floors – are struggling to retain tenants.’

      https://sg.news.yahoo.com/landlords-hong-kong-ginza-style-073042191.html

      1. ‘…to survive the dramatic downturn in the catering and retail sectors caused by the coronavirus pandemic.’

        At first glance, I thought it said, “…cratering retail sector…”

  18. 100 businesses have sustained significant damage

    And that’s in tiny Kenosha, WI, population 100K. I wonder what Minneapolis must look like. And how long it will take to repair and revitalize the burned-out bits? DC needed 30+ years after the 1968 riots.

    1. if i was the prez…….. Its not a natural disaster, you hired people to look after your city and you got what you paid for, So tomorrow raise your city sales tax to 10%, and property taxes 50% and within a month money will come into your bank accounts and you can start to rebuild your city, Its just wrong to demand the rest America pay for what you could have avoided.

    2. It takes 30 years, plus or minus ten. By then, all the people who participated in the riot are gone or old, and just about everyone has forgotten about it. In the meantime, the consequences dissuade people from additional riots.

      That’s how it worked in New York anyway.

    3. Inner city Detroit, St. Louis, and many other Midwestern cities never recovered from the 1960s riots. If anything, the urban blight spread farther and deeper over time.

      1. Many of the kids I grew up with – their parents had fled Detroit because of the riots and were looking for someplace safe to have families.

        To this day, 50+ years later, you can still easily see the scars driving around Detroit.

      2. 13% of the population cause 75% of the violent crime and property destruction in the country. Lincoln failed to repatriate and here we are. No one even wants to watch them chase after a ball or twerk anymore.

        1. They would have a lot more credibility if they would have honest conversations. Instead, they ignore the violence problem in their own community, where they butcher each other, then lie about examples of “police brutality” which turn out to be completely justified killings in self-defense of a perp gone mad.

  19. San Francisco Business Times
    On Real Estate: The flight of the techies – San Francisco …
    Another, the owner of a small but stylish portfolio, said he’d never seen so many intractable vacancies in Palo Alto, and that his rents are down 21% from a year …
    1 day ago

  20. ‘Neil MacGregor, general director of Savills Vietnam, said: “The market started to see owners or landlords giving short-term incentives for tenants, such as a 10-20 percent lease discount in a given quarter, or an increase in the free service period – moves that could be judged as unprecedented.”

    ‘In the second quarter the market started to see tenants cutting space or moving to cheaper places. In both major cities, leased areas shrank as a result. Following a fresh outbreak of COVID-19 in July, the office market continues to experience shrinking demand, and so occupancy rates are expected to fall in the second half of the year.’

    https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-office-market-will-make-rapid-recovery-experts/187614.vnp

  21. ‘Major retailers like JCPenney and Kate Spade have closed their Manhattan stores and more than 2,800 smaller retailers have shuttered in Manhattan since Mar. 1.’

    ‘As a consequence, the cost of doing business in SoHo has gone down. According to the CBRE Group, in early September, retail rents in SoHo fell by close to 38% since the pandemic began, plunging below $500 per square foot for the first time in six years.’

    https://www.glossy.co/fashion/suitsupply-bets-on-new-yorks-retail-recovery-with-expansion-of-soho-store/

    1. Drone 3 video showed the 9,700 square foot house in Southington. Neighbors say buses have been dropping off and picking up dozens of people at the DeFashion Street home.

      I think everyone here knows where I fall on the topic – I want to see a wave of clamping down hard on residential short-term rentals, and all the wannabe AirBnB-lords bankrupt… Hey, a guy can dream you know.

  23. ‘Gov. Gavin Newsom flatly declared Wednesday that “In the next 15 years we will eliminate in the state of California the sales of internal combustion engines.” It was the latest example of Newsom’s fondness for headline-grabbing pronouncements of “big hairy, audacious goals.”

    ‘The classic example was his flat campaign declaration that he would solve California’s chronic housing shortage by building 3.5 million new homes. That was impossible, as anyone familiar with housing issues could attest, and after his election, Newsom backed off, calling it an “aspirational” goal. Actually, housing production has declined during his governorship.’

    https://calmatters.org/commentary/2020/09/california-newsom-ban-gas-powered-cars/

    1. ‘After hand waving LA’s responsibility for the homelessness crisis, Garcetti says, “[t]he City is kind of like, at the Rose Parade, you know those folks who are dressed up in the cowboy outfits but they’re behind the horses? Sweeping up everything that falls out of their rear ends? That’s kind of what the city’s role is when it comes to homelessness. We aren’t necessarily feeding or producing it, but we are having to clean it up.”

      https://knock-la.com/mayor-eric-garcetti-homelessness-horse-rose-parade-town-hall-a4bebf767767

      1. ‘A handful of San Francisco leaders and community activists have publicly opposed a plan announced this week by City Attorney Dennis Herrera to block more than two dozen drug dealers from entering the Tenderloin neighborhood. The plan, which must be approved by a state Superior Court, is essentially a restraining order against 28 repeat-offender drug dealers, in an effort to prevent them from entering a roughly 50-square-block area, under penalty of fine or arrest. The civil injunctions will target specific dealers, from cities like Oakland, Hayward and San Jose, who have been known to frequent the neighborhood, selling fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine or heroin, Herrera said.’

        ‘We should use our resources to provide meaningful alternatives to street-level dealers – including housing, job training, and employment.’
        Mano Raju, SF Public Defender’

        ‘But immediately after Herrera made the announcement, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin and Public Defender Mano Raju both issued statements saying they don’t believe the plan will be effective. And community activists who have long fought against ‘gang injunctions’ in the city argue this is more of the same punitive approach that the city previously took with gang injunctions, one that will increase police presence and limit civil liberties.’

        ‘Since the beginning of the year, 81 people have died in the neighborhood from drug overdoses. And in the city at large, the availability and use of fentanyl is a growing concern. Use of the drug spiked in 2019 — a 70% increase over the previous year — and was the cause of more than half of the city’s 441 overdose deaths, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health.’

        ‘Supervisor Matt Haney, who represents part of the Tenderloin, says his constituents are exhausted. Haney says he typically sees about 50 people selling and using drugs within just a block of his Hyde Street apartment. And although he has some hesitations about Herrera’s move, he thinks the plan will prompt a much-needed “disruption of the status quo”.

        “We can have an understanding and a deep belief that the drug war in and of itself is an ineffective response, and … also feel that those folks shouldn’t be coming into this neighborhood day in and day out and doing that,” he said.’

        ‘Benal argued that the injunctions increased police harassment of Black and brown men, violating their civil liberties, while failing to address the root causes of crime. “As opposed to having 40 cops deployed to the Tenderloin at once to arrest these ‘drug dealers,’ what does it look like to have 40 outreach workers at any given time?” Bernal said.’

        https://www.kqed.org/news/11839787/a-recycled-approach-some-sf-leaders-activists-bristle-at-plan-to-ban-dealers-from-tenderloin

        Notice the MSM is now capitalizing Black. Not brown or white though.

        1. Notice the MSM is now capitalizing Black. Not brown or white though.

          You noticing that, and commenting on it, is rayciss. Your social credit score has been forwarded to the globalists’ creepy Orwellian tech companies for review and downgrade.

          2. From the SPLC commentary on today’s Portland Proud Boys rally:

            “The greatest threat to the country comes from a fascistic right-wing political bloc that includes groups like the Proud Boys. They work symbiotically with right-wing media and a power structure – helmed by Trump – that is eager to clamp down on protesters and enact political revenge on progressive constituencies like Portland.”

            These shakedown artists masquerading as a civil rights organization turn reality on its head with their lies. The most dangerous threat to the country comes from the Fed, first of all, which along with its globalist oligarch accomplices has been systematically plundering and defrauding the 99 percent. Second, the BLM-Antifa mobs and other Red Guard groups funded and directed by the likes of Soros have so far caused more than $2 billion in damage, not to mention thousands of lost livelihoods, in American cities. The so-called “right wing media and power structure” is a willful SPLC distortion of the globalist media – six globalist-controlled corporations own every MSM outlet of note in this country – and power elites who are systematically trying to subvert and destroy what remains of heritage America and its institutions.

            There is indeed a danger from the far right, but this is because the security void created by progressive administrations’ kowtowing to violent mobs of fellow leftists is causing those who are fed up with the lawlessness and destruction of the globalists’ Red Guards, and the impotence of law enforcement who let the BLM-Antifa scum attack and harass citizens with impunity, to take matters into their own hands.

        3. Do Democrats believe their brand of racism, with race-based privileges for Blacks and BLM rioters, is somehow superior to other forms of racism they deplore?

          I have a dream: That my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

          — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

          2. No. I’m just interested to point out how hypocritical their finger pointing accusations of racism are.

    2. Eye’m eagerly awaitin’ “thee.nui$ance” to one up “thee.🍊.jesus”:

      “& only I can fix it!”

      1. Hwy50ina49Dodge
        September 25, 2020 at 8:27 pm

        “Eye would rejoice to visit his corpse.”

        Hwy50ina49Dodge
        September 26, 2020 at 6:38 am
        “you do a little more research on the subject”

        Like dtRumpsis, just send me a 2 year olds flashcard for comprehension.

        Here it is.

        EXCLUSIVE: Friend of Jake Gardner reveals his last messages before his suicide, calls out left-wing mob who doxxed and defamed him

        Mia Cathell
        The Post Millennial
        September 21

        In the wake of Jake Gardner’s tragic death, his close friend—who organized two since-deleted GoFundMe pages for his legal defense—spoke to The Post Millennial about the relentless doxxing and defamation by the leftist mob prior to the Trump supporter’s suicide.

        “All the news headlines were racially motivated when I don’t believe this shooting had anything to do with race and in fact about a man trying to protect his livelihood as well as his elderly father,” Justin—who declined to use his full name for fear of retribution—said in an exclusive interview.

        Justin reached out to his beloved friend the night before he was found dead Sunday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound outside a medical clinic in suburban Portland, Oregon.

        “Hey man thinking about you!” Justin messaged Gardner on Facebook, the last text he sent to him early Saturday night.

        On Tuesday, Justin informed Gardner of the GoFundMe account he had launched to aid his legal defense.

        Then Justin received backlash on social media and the page was taken down due to a flood of email complaints, raising just $100.

        When Justin created a second page, that’s when he was personally attacked. A Black Lives Matter activist group contacted his place of employment with a scripted demand, claiming to black ball him and any of the companies he works for. Justin changed his screen name on Facebook after his LinkedIn profile was posted to several websites, including pictures of his son.

        “Never have I been targeted so viciously,” Justin stated as he was forced to deactivate the second GoFundMe fundraiser, only raising $45.

        After two censored attempts on the mainstream crowdfunding platform, Justin decided to create an alternative Spotfund page that sadly turned into a memorial fund.

        “I am sorry to announce he is no longer with us,” Justin wrote under Gardner’s alias. “This tragic loss of life never had to happen! Please help the family on the funeral expenses. God bless Jake and his sweet soul!”

        On May 30, Gardner was confronted and attacked by BLM activists outside Gardner’s Hive bar in the Old Market, a neighbourhood in downtown Omaha. While backing up, Gardner reportedly lifted his shirt to show a handgun, cautioning instigators that he was armed. Then when knocked to a puddle on the ground, Gardner fired two warning shots in the air, attempting to rise to his feet. An 18-second scuffle broke out with 22-year-old James Scurlock before Gardner shot Scurlock, Norfolk Daily News reported.

        (video of incident here)

        Video evidence also depicted Scurlock inside the building next door, destroying computer monitors, a desk phone, and drywall at RDG Planning and Design, an architecture firm. The rioters escaped through an already shattered window.

        Douglas County District Attorney Don Kleine originally ruled Gardner’s case an act of self-defense, deciding not to pursue charges after reviewing corroborating evidence. Kleine had determined that Scurlock dived on Gardner’s back and choked him, the New York Post reported. Gardner could be heard in another bystander’s video shouting, “Get off me, get off me.” With his right arm pinned, Kleine noted, Gardner switched the gun to his left hand and fired over his shoulder. The bullet hit Scurlock in the shoulder-neck area, killing him. But Kleine buckled after BLM activists took to the district attorney’s house in July, demanding justice for Scurlock.

        “You can’t tell me a person found completely innocent on the grounds of self-defense was later found indicted because of pressure and numerous anonymous witnesses that came forth against Jake later on,” Justin declared. “I don’t believe them to be even credible in Jake’s death I believe is personally at the feet of weak city officials and the mob rule.”

        According to the coroner’s toxicology report, methamphetamine and cocaine was found in Scurlock’s urine, Omaha World-Herald reported. Scurlock was also stained by a significant criminal history at just 22-years-old. An affidavit obtained by Nebraska News Channels revealed that Scurlock was arrested in 2014 for robbery and use of a firearm to commit a felony. Law enforcement officers implicated Scurlock’s involvement in a home invasion robbery as part of a group of black males who entered the residence and threatened four civilians at gunpoint for drugs and money. He was sentenced to three to five years in prison but served less than a year, released the following August. Scurlock was also found guilty of assault and battery charges last year, serving one day in jail. The suspect additionally plead guilty to third-degree domestic assault this past February, completing a 90-day jail sentence.

        “A significant misconception that was being passed around the media was that [Gardner] was a white supremacist which is furthest thing from the truth,” Justin continued, pointing out that a majority of Gardner’s patrons were African American.

        Radical activist Shaun King hurled the racism accusation in a tweet late Sunday night, outraged that Gardner was not arrested upon learning of his death. “Not justice,” King fired to his massive Twitter following.

        “I never once heard Jake even say a negative term or a mean thing to anyone much less any racial slur,” Justin urged. “I believe the media and people in Omaha tried to label him as a racist in an effort to excite a racial situation.”

        Gardner was a former U.S. Marine who served two tours in Iraq, suffering two traumatic brain injuries from combat that placed the veteran on disability.

        Justin recalled Gardner not sleeping, plagued by the unbearable stress. All Gardner wanted for the future was to move past this traumatic event and travel the United States with his service dog Bron, Justin stated.

        https://thepostmillennial.com/exclusive-jake-gardners-friend-speaks-out

        1. Jeff.er.referee, “Eye would rejoice to visit his corpse.”

          eye was speaking of thee.🍊.jesus using Arlington as his chosen government maintained “heavenly.eternal” resting $pot.

          Don’t get yer whitey.tighty fruit.of.loons briefs all twisted up.

          1. Is that why you included this in your post?

            “I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.”

            or are you back pedaling faster than Jake Gardner did from his criminal thug attackers?

            I’m not a fan of corporate sponsored mob rule or Doxxing.

            Redpilled Redhead
            September 25, 2020 at 7:00 pm
            May he rest in peace. I hope the President hears the plea to bury him at Arlington so that his grave isn’t defiled.

            Reply

            Hwy50ina49Dodge
            September 25, 2020 at 8:27 pm
            Yeppers, appropriate place fer thee.🍊jesus, dirt.dead in the former backyard of a loser general’$ house which was divided & used as a burial ground for the hell.he.wrought to support the division of America.

            Eye would rejoice to visit his corpse.

            “I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.”

            Reply

          2. Seethe harder.

            I have met Jeff in person, he even treated me to a delicious lunch in December 2015.

            This isn’t Reddit here, btw. You’re not going to receive any upvotes or karma points for your Reddit-tier posts with an orange emoticon.

          3. ” …any upvotes or karma points”

            Don’t 🐝 such a “Eddie.eye.can.dish.it.out.but knot.take.it.Haskell”

            Hey, Beave, where’s Wally?

          4. “Is that why you included this in your post?”

            “I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.”

            yer quick! ✌

          5. This isn’t Reddit here, btw. You’re not going to receive any upvotes or karma points for your Reddit-tier posts with an orange emoticon.

            This is one reason of many I have added him to my block list. His puerile schtick is another.

          7. “lunch in December 2015.”

            Wow, has it really been almost 5 years? Lot of water under the bridge since then, if you’re ever in the hood again please let me know.

          8. After last night’s vile post, I added him to mine.

            He seems to be extremely angry, almost like he’s going insane.

          1. I don’t block anybody because anonymous people on the internet don’t affect me. But I have started glossing over most of his stuff when I see his name, especially because of the word salad.

    3. Newsom’s trying to distract from his failure to contain any fires like its all trumps fault because of Global warming. Chasing CA business to China where power is coal fired instead of natural gas isn’t helping buddy

      I see many Impeach Newsom signs these days

      1. There seems to be a big push on by Nuisance to replace traditional high output power plants with windmills on land and at sea. Can anyone tell me how many windmills it takes to replace the electricity generated by a single coal fired plant? And how many endangered species of birds will see their dwindling populations whacked by those giant propellers?

        1. “endangered species of birds”

          Actually, repubican’s could care le$$ about birds, except the one’s they cherish in the middle.of.their fingers.

          Are Turkeys birds? On accounts that the bird Benjamin Franklin thought should bee Americans National bird.brain Symbol

          1. It’s Democrats who are going all in on clean energy. I am personally interested in learning more about the negative impacts on the environment that come with establishing ginormous wind farms on land and sea.

          2. “negative impacts on the environment that come with establishing ginormous wind farms on land and sea”.

            Think Texa$, more $o than California, they also are open.carry.guners which they use to shoot lots of those preciou$ birds, quail, pheasant, ducks, ostrich, & grouse.

            Guess Texans don’t fret much about dtRumpsis warnings on “blade.cancers”

        2. Short answer: 50-100, depending on your sizing.

          Typical numbers per google-fu:
          Coal: 500 megawatts continuous
          Natural gas: varies widely but 800 megawatts continuous is typical
          Nuke: 580-1000 watts, with the larger plants dominating as older smaller plants shut down.
          Wind turbine: the largest is a 10 megawatt behemoth, probably not continuous.
          All these numbers are for a single unit. Many plants place more than one unit on a site.

          3. “…probably not continuous.”

            For certain! One needs to measure average output over time rather than maximum potential output to get a relevant comparison.

            And I note that times when power demands in California are highest, such as our recent brutal heatwave, unfortunately coincide with the absence of wind to replace superheated air with a cooling marine layer.

            I might be wrong, but I suspect that a nuclear or coal fired plant poses far less risk to birds than the huge windmills do.

        3. Watch “Planet Of The Humans” for an excellent expose of the fraud and folly of the “climate change” freaks, brought to you buy an ultra-lib himself.

      2. “I see many Impeach Newsom signs these days”

        won’t happen.

        (But iffin’ it doe$, my vote will go for Arnie.in.Venice, again!.)

    4. Is Nuisance going to compensate the owners of California oil production, processing and retail sales of gasoline for the consequences of his effort to make the bicycle the vehicle of choice for California commuters?

      1. 👀🔮 Thee California future$ i$ $olar.Brite 🌞, … No.worrie$, 🐝 Happy!💃 …

        (⚡🚲 are a bla$t & lessin’s the sweat need to get that big hill @ Torrey.Pine$!) … Black’s.beach.bound!

        Amtrak & the Coaster are 👾.compromised, dang.

  24. – Filed under “Inconceivable!”
    – Australia is in desperation mode and is doubling-down on its housing “market”. “Whatever it takes” to keep the game going, just a little longer.
    – Consequences? “No worries, mate.”

    “We’re essentially continuing a system where profits are privatized and…losses socialized,” – Nouriel Roubini

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-25/government-responsible-lending-changes-home-loan-credit-cards/12702260
    Analysis
    Josh Frydenberg’s planned responsible lending changes defy Hayne’s banking royal commission
    By business reporter Michael Janda
    Posted 1 day ago, updated Yesterday at 7:41am [Sept. 25, 2020]

    “”Flabbergasted.” That’s the universal response I’ve been hearing from consumer rights advocates to the Federal Government’s proposed abolition of the responsible lending obligations.”

    “They simply can’t understand what the Government is aiming to achieve by freeing banks from their legal obligation to check whether potential borrowers can afford to repay a loan before they are granted it.”

    Other than a free kick for the banks.

    “As we learnt to our cost during the GFC, weaker lending standards mean people will be loaded up with as much debt as possible. There is significant profit to be made in pushing borrowers to the edge,” said Financial Counselling Australia’s Fiona Guthrie.

    “Removing responsible lending obligations will free banks up to aggressively push credit onto their customers.”

    Guthrie’s organisation helps thousands of Australians every year to pick up the pieces of their financially shattered lives, often after being approved for loans or credit cards they could never hope to afford.

    The part of the law that the Government proposes to excise was written a bit over a decade ago to prevent exactly that.

    Put simply, it requires lenders to check how much a potential borrower is earning and how much they’re spending and whether there’s enough left over to make their repayments without “substantial hardship”.

    “Except that, since being legislated in 2009 it had never really been enforced, at least not against the mainstream lenders. At least until March 1, 2017.”

    “As the Consumer Action Law Centre observed, the Government’s proposed changes to the National Consumer Credit Protection Act are “a solution in search of a problem”.”

    “What will the changes mean?”

    “Australian households are already the second most indebted in the world after the Swiss.”

    f these changes, as the Treasurer says, make it easier to borrow and increase the flow of loans they may temporarily boost economic growth but will do so by increasing household debt even further.

    Ultimately, all that does is set Australia up for a future financial crisis and recession.

    And, if that does happen, the banks will be in deep financial trouble.

    “That’s OK for them, because they have both an explicit Government guarantee on deposits and an unwritten guarantee that at least the big four will be bailed out by the taxpayer if they look like falling over (that’s something factored in to the credit ratings of the major banks by all the major global agencies, who peg the big banks’ ratings to that of the Australian Government).”

    https://www.newsline.com.au/2020/09/25/disaster-consumer-groups-slam-proposed-responsible-lending-repeal/
    Saturday , September 26 2020
    ‘Disaster’: Consumer groups slam proposed responsible lending repeal
    admin 2 days ago

    “In a strongly worded statement, the heads of Choice, the Consumer Action Law Centre, Financial Counselling Australia and the Financial Rights Legal Centre hit out at the proposals which would see lenders’ responsibility replaced with the borrowers’ responsibility.”

    “But Karen Cox, the chief executive of the Financial Rights Legal Centre and an opening witness to the banking royal commission, lashed out the proposals.”

    “The problem people are having right now is too much debt and not enough income,” she said. “The government’s solution is to [have them] take on more debt with fewer protections. Unsustainable debt hurts real people and is a short-sighted fix for a flailing economy.”

    “Watering down credit protections will leave individuals and families at severe risk of being pushed into credit arrangements that will hurt in the long term,” Ms Cox warned.

    “How can we have so quickly forgotten the hard lessons from the GFC and the Hayne royal commission?”

    Choice chief executive Alan Kirkland said the idea of “buyer beware” had been removed from consumer law decades ago.

    “To make it the principle that guides lending in the middle of a recession has disaster written all over it,” he said.

    “Piling more debt onto people who can’t afford it has never solved an economic crisis. Banks are in a much better position to assess a person’s ability to repay, so they need to shoulder some of the responsibility.”

    “The day after Westpac received the largest corporate penalty in Australian history, the government is changing the rules to benefit the banks,” he said.

    “Looser lending standards will result in higher profits, higher dividends, and more money flowing into the most overpriced housing [market] in the world. This is not the pathway to recovery.”

    1. I’ve been enjoying Tim Pool’s podcasts much more often since the summer of Burn Loot Murder began. He is rather prolific, publishing over six hours of original content almost every day.

      Sadly, he probably won’t have a platform on YouTube much longer.

      Gloabliast gonna globe.

  26. ” …the idea of “buyer beware” had been removed from con$umer law decade$ ago. ”

    Borrow $750,000+ for 30 year$ @ 1.86% & 0.0005% good.faith depo$it

    Where’$.the.beef! 🍖 lambchop$?

    More!💲💵, More!💲💵, More!💲💵 … 0%! Lower!, 0%! Lower!, 0%! Lower!

      1. “As a noted economi$t said, “If you bought a hou$e in the last 20 years, you’re $crewed.”

        Yer quite thee “Truth.$layer!” … what’$ the daily rate @ the Motel 6 $uite you re$ide in?

          1. “There you go again …” + ” … taking falling hou$ing price$ per$onal”

            $orry Raygun Blockhead, matter$.knot.to.me, eye’m knot $ellin’ & wouldn’t ya know it, NO $helter.$hack.moan$. NO a$ in Zero’$

            wascally wabbit: “eh, he don’t know me verrrry well do he?”

            🥕munch, munch, munch

  28. “Even after evictions, landlords may never see the months of missing rent payments, which will result in a cascade of negative repercussions for property owners and communities. Without rental payments, small property owners, who lack access to credit to cover emergencies, are at increased risk of foreclosure and bankruptcy. “

    Why are economists quoted in the MSM always so negative?

    It definitely seems like there could be some positive repercussions as well:

    1) Greed pigs who used massive leverage to buy multiple houses under the assumption that they would make themselves fabulously wealthy by HODLing real estate and renting it out will get their rightful come uppance.

    2) Young people who have been stuck renting from greedy landlords at exorbitant rents may finally have a chance to buy homes of their own at truly affordable prices.

    3) Many of the investors in U.S. residential real estate over recent years have been foreign nationals using dirty money to outbid American families who just want a home to live in. If rent moratoriums followed by a massive price correction wipe out these foreign speculators, that would be a great outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

    Sorry, I’m totally missing the grim picture the gloomsters are trying to paint. Where’s the downside?

    1. Where’s the downside?’

      Free market goes away and CA and possibly federal Government takes over defaulted housing and puts crackheads, homeless and “repressed ” people in them and we pay for it. I remember Palmdale back in the early eighties, recession and then HUD signs everywhere how’d that turn out ? Way back in my ATC days used to be a nice place , a little windy but wide open. Now not so great.

      And no way are old pickup trucks, lawnmowers, leaf blowers, homeless and fires , etc going away in this 3rd world State no matter how hard Newsom behind his walled and guarded mansion puffs about it. Sanctuary state and everyone drives Telsas Ok sure buddy .

      read the book “Flashback ” its got people living in abandoned malls maybe not so far fetched after all ?

      1. “Free market goes away…”

        Do you mean the one that is supported by federal guarantees of mortgage loans to subprime borrowers who can’t afford to hold on to the homes they end up purchasing? Or the one that is subsidized by low-to-zero downpayment assistance programs, the mortgage interest deduction, the $500,000 capital gains exclusion, and (in California) Proposition 13 tax rate cap? Or the one the Federal Reserve has deliberately propped up in recent years through purchases of mortgage backed securities and by forcing real interest rates down to negative levels in order to drive rates of home price appreciation up to historically unprecedented, unsustainable double-digit rates of appreciation that make it clear to everybody that home ownership is a certain path to riches?

        THAT free market…now I get your point!

        1. And don’t forget one more element in the “free market” for housing:

          Landlords deprived by government fiat of their property rights to hold up the agreement in a signed lease contract. What would happen if landlords organized a class action lawsuit against the politicians who summarily threw them under the bus to reward the current occupants of their homes with free rent? Would the Supreme Court side with the owners or with the renters?

          And on another note, doesn’t Modern Monetary Theory suggest the problem could be resolved by bailing out those on both sides of failed rental contracts?

          1. ” … doesn’t Modern Monetary Theory suggest the problem could be resolved by bailing out those on both sides of failed rental contracts? ”

            Remind me how thee Federal.Re$erve define$ “UNLIMITED+!” ?

            What is their ceiling on x#’$ of Trillion$ before they get a “mandated” $panking?

            How large is their “per$onal” in$urance policy that covers their univer$al “indemnification$” for National financial failure$?

        2. I worry the Government could decide to be Blackrock next crash for the greater good of course. Free market probably not the best choice of words for RE.

    2. 1. “…will get their rightful come uppance$.”
      2. “… been $tuck renting from greedy landlordy$ at exorbitant rent$”
      3. “…If rent moratorium$ followed by a ma$$ive price correction wipe$ out these foreign $peculators, that would be a great outcome$ of the COVID-19 pandemic $ituation.

      B.i.n.g.o, B.i.n.g.o, B.i.n.g.o & Bingo wa$ hi$ name.o!

      (Apologie$ fer the “$” edit$ of yer quote$ Professor.)

      thee.deeth.virus👾, munch, munch, munch, $till.$preading (even.in.Floor.ra.duh!🌴🐊) … 👾Deeth$ every 86 second$ (+ or – 3 ticks)

    1. “One of the demonstrators is now…trying to pull the driver out of his vehicle”

      And to add insult to injury, it was the Prius driver who was arrested.

      I am beginning to doubt that I will ever set foot again in the anarcho-tyrannical state known as California.

    2. I have to wonder what the driver did to get himself arrested, while the rioters who blocked his car and assaulted him were seemingly ignored. It’s quite hard to know what actually happened from the perspective of a short video of unstated origin.

      1. If I had to wager a guess, he was probably arrested for running over thugs while trying to escape with his life.

        I’ve wondered why there haven’t been more incidents where motorists shoot their way out (like the Austin incident). My guess is that anyone who owns a firearm probably has enough brains to steer clear of such locations. They know that the local authorities will sit on their hands and do nothing to protect them, and that if you protect yourself, you’ll be arrested.

        1. anyone who owns a firearm probably has enough brains to steer clear of such locations

          Every single prepper channel I have watched has advocated exactly that. How to prepare to survive a protest? Avoid it. The end.

          1. I was wondering how I have been so lucky as to never have seen a single protest during a summer of hate and hate crimes. Could it be due to the fact that I simply avoided coming to the nuisance?

      2. It’s also strange that the aerial footage followed the white driver instead of, say, staying with the black pickup that chased him down and blocked his escape in order for the occupants of the pickup to hop out and commence damaging the Prius and assaulting the driver. I’m pretty sure the peaceful peotestors’ acts would be considered illegal in parts of the U.S. outside of California.

        1. In Colorado Springs, any BLM-Antifa mob that attempted to pull that crap would likely not be dealing with a soy boy Prius driver and fellow Biden supporter. Instead, they’d more than likely find themselves starting down the barrel of a legally carried pistol, in a town where no jury would convict any driver who used lethal force against such a direct threat.

          1. +1

            And cheers to all of the southern and western Colorado towns I’ve had the pleasure to visit this summer where I don’t see a single Burn Loot Murder lawn sign.

    3. B…b…but in its statement on today’s Proud Boy rally, the SPLC had this to say:

      (“Riots,” it’s worth noting, that are overwhelmingly peaceful.)

      Um, yeah. It’s telling that all three of the “protesters” shot by 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha, WI, were convicted felons who picked the wrong kid to assault.

    4. What’re the odds that a Prius-driving libtard just had his road-to-Damascus awakening as to the true nature of the Left?

  30. Driving around town today I saw a few Biden-Harris signs, and realized, those homeowners have nothing to worry about as far as getting their signs stolen or their property vandalized by Democrat Red Guards. If the latter don’t have enough basic respect for other people’s property and First Amendment rights to leave their Trump signs alone, do you really think I’m going to let Comrade Beto’s deputized goons come to my house and confiscate my sole means of ensuring my rights and liberties aren’t trampled by the mob?

    Vet has to chain his Trump sign after unhinged Red Guards keep knocking it down.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbcp0f5I6lA

    1. nothing to worry about as far as getting their signs stolen or their property vandalized by Democrat Red Guards

      Liberal privilege.

    1. CalMatters
      Posted in Economy
      California Exodus: An online industry seizes COVID-19 to sell the Red State Dream
      By Lauren Hepler
      September 25, 2020

      Juliette Saunders, 53, and her fiancee, David Clarke, 60, sit in the living room of their recently sold home in Fullerton on Sept. 15, 2020. Saunders and Clarke are moving to Texas after being furloughed and struggling with unemployment during the pandemic.
      Photo by Tash Kimmell for CalMatters

      In summary

      Beyond the conservative Facebook memes and viral YouTube videos, has California reached a breaking point?

      At first, Stephanie Morris was nervous about leaving Modesto. She’d lived in the Central Valley her whole life, but her family couldn’t keep paying $850-a-month for her sons to share a living room while she, her husband and the baby slept in their apartment’s only bedroom.

      The anxiety faded by the time her family pulled out in a U-Haul bound for Salt Lake City on a smoky September night. Morris, 31, had still never been to Utah — her husband liked it when he worked there as a truck driver — but she had discovered a whole world of people planning similar escapes online. They posted faraway landscapes on Pinterest, smiling family photos on Instagram and memes about leaving “Commiefornia” in Facebook groups like “Conservatives Leaving California.”

      “I have to keep reminding myself that I’m not moving out of California to a third-world country,” Morris said. “I’m leaving a third-world country to join America.”
      …

    2. Growing Number Of Californians Opting To Leave The State
      By CBSLA Staff
      September 23, 2020 at 11:40 pm

      LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Experts say over the decade, over 150,000 people have left the state and that number is expected to climb as remote working options increase during the coronavirus pandemic.

      “It is hard to keep up with the demand,” said Daniel Carrillo with Pasadena Moving Company. “In our whole history, we’ve never seen that before. We used to have maybe 5% to 7% of our moves out of state.”

      The pandemic is not just forcing people to reevaluate finances but reconsider living situations, and as a result, business at local moving companies is surging.

      “That affordability motivator for going to a place where they can actually afford to be a homeowner is still there, and now they’ve got that wind in the sails in terms of that flexibility to be able to do that while still keeping their California-based jobs,” Jordan Levine, a Senior Economist with the California Association of Realtors.

      Many people are moving from California to nearby states, including Texas, Nevada, Arizona, and in some cases Oregon and Washington, according to Levine.

      Some people are also choosing to move to other affordable locations in the state.

      “Areas that are more affordable and folks can actually achieve home ownership now that they’re not strapped to these more dense, urban areas,” Levine said.
      …

    3. No time like the present if you can. We can’t for another 10 years. I looked at moving to Austin not too long ago. Texas is one of the worst states for raising an autistic child.

      2. Texas is one of the worst states for raising an autistic child.

        Is it because there is no treatment available in Texas, or is it because Gov. Gavin pays for it in California?

        1. “Treatment” is a collection of supports and services, most of which are provided through school districts. Texas’ record is atrocious. See link below. The availability and quality of in-home supports and services via insurance and the state outside of school districts are also underwhelming.

          https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/in-depth/2019/11/14/351300/texas-students-still-fighting-for-special-education-despite-federal-order-to-fix-services/

        1. Better than a position I considered in Oro Valley, AZ where I’d need monthly moisture wraps at the nearest spa and a pantry full of lotion and sunscreen.

      4. “Texas is one of the worst states for raising an autistic child.”

        ( rumor has it that there is ample religious hovel/communes near Waco that are very low.co$t! & free.to.join!)

    4. California is a failed state. How do we know? They’re moving to Arizona in droves
      Opinion: You can’t blame Californians for moving to Arizona. But let’s hope they leave behind the progressive policies that ruined their state.
      Jon Gabriel
      opinion contributor
      Life in California is hardly a beach these days. Blame the failed liberal policies that have dominated that state for years.

      Driving across Arizona, it’s hard not to notice a surge in California license plates. The reason for this is becoming more apparent every day. California is a failed state.

      After nearly a decade of one-party rule, the once-Golden State is tarnished, possibly beyond repair. Listing all the problems facing our neighbors across the Colorado River would require several books, so I’ll only highlight a few.

      The fifth-largest economy in the world and home to many of the greatest technology companies on Earth can’t keep the lights on. The state’s three largest utilities turned off power to more than 410,000 homes and businesses last Friday, then again to half as many Saturday.

      California’s energy policies have failed

      Gov. Gavin Newsom sprung to action on Monday by announcing more blackouts. “We failed to predict and plan these shortages,” the governor said. “And that’s simply unacceptable.”

      But accept it he did, noting that the state’s near-religious promotion of solar and wind power left a gap in the reliability of its power grid. You don’t say.
      …

      2. 75% Mail in ballots in Arizona! No wonder they keep staying RED! … “Hanging.Fraud! … Hanging.Fraud!, Hanging.Fraud!”

        Both campaigns will spend most of their time chasing ballots in a state with a long history of absentee and mail-in voting. Three-quarters (75%) of Arizona voters cast a vote early or by mail in 2016, the highest rate of any state that does not conduct elections entirely by mail.

        $cram, get the Red States to provide yer ❄🐖 need$ & care$ & “root.yer.vote!” … Loverly!

        September 23, 2020

        How fast population growth made Arizona a swing state

        The Hill / BY REID WILSON

        GLENDALE, Ariz. — Four fathers watched their young children race around a playground on a recent Saturday morning, before the temperature broke triple digits. Three of them had moved to Arizona within the past year. The fourth, the grizzled veteran of the bunch, dispensed park, restaurant and soccer league advice. He had been here for two years.

        For decades, Arizona has been one of the fastest growing states in the nation. Now, as new developments spring up seemingly overnight in the Phoenix metropolitan area’s increasingly sprawling suburbs, the type of people who are moving to the Valley of the Sun has changed dramatically.

        What was once a destination for West Coast and Midwestern retirees is now an attractive housing and job market for younger workers, lured by the thriving tech industry springing up around the Loop 101 that encircles Phoenix.

        Phoenix was once the largest major city in America led by a Republican mayor. Today, Democrats hold a majority on the City Council, and Democratic candidates have won nonpartisan races for City Council seats in Mesa. Registered Democrats now outnumber Republicans in Glendale and Tempe.

        “Republicans had a margin of error. We used to be able to screw up” and still win, said Chris Tolino, a GOP strategist here. “Republicans aren’t used to playing on a level playing field.”

        Arizona has 4 million registered voters today, up about 900,000 since 2012. The state expects to add a new congressional district in the next round of reapportionment, following this year’s census.

        Thee.🍊jesus: ” …those mail.in.ballots, get rid of ’em, just toss ‘am way, can’t trust ’em, eye knowit, you knowit, the Repubicans know it too! Hoax … Rigged! “

    5. TheHill
      Media
      September 16, 2020 – 02:15 PM EDT
      Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire leaving California: ‘Terrible governance has consequences’
      By Joe Concha

      The Daily Wire is moving its headquarters from Los Angeles to Nashville, Tenn., later this year, the conservative media company, which was co-founded by Ben Shapiro, announced on Tuesday.

      “We’ve been asked over and over and over again when we would leave California. The answer: now. See you in Nashville, gang!” Shapiro wrote to his more than 3.1 million followers on Twitter.

      “I’ve lived my entire life in California. Within weeks, we’ll be taking our 75 jobs and leaving. We’re not the first. And we certainly won’t be the last. Terrible governance has consequences,” he added in a subsequent post.
      …

      1. Let’s have a little fun on a Saturday evening.

        Never mind Ben for a minute. But once you do a Google image search (safe search off) for his sister “Abby Shapiro nude” you’ll never be able to un-Google that 😉

        1. I visited Nashville last year. The traffic was worse than DC. The major highway going through (Route 40) is a parking lot as bad as the Beltway. The system of exits and merges simply can’t handle the volume of traffic. It’s pretty ruined.

    6. National
      Warmer. Burning. Epidemic-challenged. Expensive. The California Dream has become the California Compromise.
      A view of downtown San Francisco at 11:15 a.m. Wednesday. The city was blanketed in an eerie haze from the wildfires.
      A view of downtown San Francisco at 11:15 a.m. Wednesday. The city was blanketed in an eerie haze from the wildfires.
      (Nick Otto/For The Washington Post)
      By
      Heather Kelly,
      Reed Albergotti,
      Brady Dennis and
      Scott Wilson
      September 12, 2020 at 3:40 p.m. PDT

      SAN FRANCISCO — The cityscape resembles the surface of a distant planet, populated by a masked alien culture. The air, choked with blown ash, is difficult to breathe.

      There is the Golden Gate Bridge, looming in the distance through a drift-smoke haze, and the Salesforce Tower, which against the blood-orange sky appears as a colossal spaceship in a doomsday film.

      San Francisco, and much of California, has never been like this.

      California has become a warming, burning, epidemic-challenged and expensive state, with many who live in sophisticated cities, idyllic oceanfront towns and windblown mountain communities thinking hard about the viability of a place they have called home forever. For the first time in a decade, more people left California last year for other states than arrived.

      Monica Gupta Mehta and her husband, an entrepreneur, have been through tech busts and booms, earthquakes, wildfire seasons and power outages. But it was not until the skies darkened and cast an unsettling orange light on their Palo Alto home earlier this week that they ever considered moving their family of five somewhere else.

      “For the first time in 20-something years, the thought crossed our minds: Do we really want to live here?” said Mehta, who is starting an education tech company.
      …

        1. Allow me to decode for the non-Californians…

          “Rake the forests” = “Vote out the Socialist Democrats in the State Legislature”

          “Kill the boring beetles” = “Kick out the civil service unions and do a sate CH 9 BK filing to trim those bloated pensions”.

          Both side of those equations are difficult to achieve…

          1. Both side of those equations are difficult to achieve… Both sides require their duly elected legislators to act on behalf of the “general welfare” not their own,nor that of their paying supporters. Will that happen? Fat. Chance.

    7. More people are leaving California than ever before, driven out by worsening wildfires, politics and the skyrocketing cost of living
      By Marlene Lenthang
      For Dailymail.com 11:19 EDT 13 Sep 2020 , updated 14:18 EDT 13 Sep 2020
      – More people are leaving California than arriving, driven out by worsening wildfires, power outages and the skyrocketing cost of living
      – In 2018 more than 86,000 people left California for Texas, nearly 70,000 left for Arizona and about 55,000 left for Washington
      – Between 2007 and 2016, some 5million residents moved to California and 6million people moved out to other states
      – According to a poll locals say they consider leaving due to the high cost of housing, heavy taxation, or political culture
      – Today more than two dozen fires are blazing, ripping through a record 3.1million acres of land and killing 22 people, the worse inferno in the state’s history

      More people are leaving California than arriving as the state reels from devastating wildfires that only worsen by the year, power outages, poor air quality, and a burgeoning cost of living.
      …

    8. California
      California COVID-19 hospitalizations could jump 89% in next month amid signs of coronavirus spread
      Rita Moisson draws blood from Robin Gaven at the Las Virgenes Unified School District headquarters in Calabasas.
      (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
      By Alex Wigglesworth, Staff Writer
      Sep. 25, 2020
      8:09 AM
      UPDATED 3:27 PM

      California is expected to see an 89% increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations over the next month amid growing signs that the spread of the coronavirus may be intensifying again, state officials announced Friday.
      …

        1. A friend’s 4yo niece was required to be tested weekly until she tested negative. Four positive “cases” just for her.

    9. Wildfires, coronavirus and an earthquake collided for California’s terrible week
      Nicole Chavez, associate writer CNN Digital
      Updated 8:25 AM ET, Mon September 21, 2020
      Filmmaker captures devastation left by California wildfire

      (CNN) It was a long, dizzying week to be a Californian.
      The Golden State has been trying to contain the surge of coronavirus cases that started in the summer while dozens of wildfires are burning and smoke is making it hard to breathe. Then, as if not enough crises had collided, Southern California was caught in the clutches of yet another hazard — an earthquake.

      Here’s more about what people in California faced last week:

      Wildfires pushed them to flee their homes
      …

    10. People were already leaving California at an accelerating rate for many years before COVID-19. And there is no chance that the rate of net outmigration did not increase further in this summer of recession, COVID-19, heatwave, electricity blackouts, fires, riots, and generally failed governance.

      Business
      California outmigration jumps 38% as departures rise for 7th straight year
      Census figures show 691,145 Californians last year left for other states — the largest loss nationally and up 4.6% in a year
      STAFF GRAPHIC
      By Jonathan Lansner | jlansner@scng.com | Orange County Register
      PUBLISHED: October 31, 2019 at 9:38 a.m. | UPDATED: November 4, 2019 at 7:53 a.m.

      California had 190,122 more residents move out to other states in 2018 than arrived — a 38% jump in a much-discussed outmigration benchmark, new Census Bureau data shows.

      More outs than ins — or what experts call “net domestic migration outflow” — is frequently blamed on California’s high cost of living, from housing to high taxes. And the state’s liberal politics have soured some conservatives on Golden State living.

      Census figures show 691,145 Californians last year left for other states — the largest loss nationally and up 4.6% in a year. It was the seventh consecutive annual increase.
      …

    11. Commercial Real Estate
      On Real Estate
      Viewpoint: Will California flame out?
      Wine country wildfire destruction in Santa Rosa on October 10, 2017.
      Todd Johnson | San Francisco Business Times
      By John McNellis
      Aug 28, 2020, 8:00am EDT

      “Scotts Valley evacuated. Our Safeway center is shut down,” my partner texted last Friday. That meant four of our shopping centers in Northern California were threatened by wildfires.

      The CZU complex fire, the one endangering Scotts Valley and Santa Cruz, remains out of control as of this writing. Another 500 wildfires are burning throughout the state. The Easterners’ lament when they settle in California — “But I miss having real seasons” — is now passé. We have one: fire season. Thanks to global warming, it can begin in July and end as late as mid-November, sometimes later. The Thomas fire in Southern California, the largest single fire ever, broke out on December 4th, 2017. Counting this year, the >em>annus horribilis of the 21st century, three of our last four fire seasons have been utterly devastating.

      Those in business may debate climate change over a genteel sherry, but they vote with their wallets. Case in point: We looked at a shopping center for sale in Quincy six weeks ago (a month before fire season started). Quincy is a small town in the Sierra, about a two hour drive north of Lake Tahoe.

      I asked a savvy retailer what he thought of the property; he went off in an unexpected direction. “It’s surrounded by hundreds of miles of bone-dry national forest. What if there’s another Camp Fire, like the one that destroyed Paradise? The Paradise Safeway center is still a burned-out shell two years later. Even if the center is spared in a fire, what happens if the Quincy residents who lose their homes don’t rebuild? The center fails.”
      …

  33. Evidently California isn’t the only corner of the West Coast whose citizens are questioning their sanity for not leaving as soon as possible for a Red State sanctuary.

    1. Ideas
      I’m Leaving the West Coast
      The fires, smoke, and heat are no longer a fluke, but our future. The time has come for us to flee.
      6:00 AM ET
      Karleigh Frisbie Brogan, Writer
      The Portland Steel Bridge covered in smoke from wildfires on September 16, 2020.
      Rebecca Smeyne / Bloomberg via Getty

      Portland, Oregon, has its share of gloomy days, so waking up to darkness wasn’t that strange. When I looked outside, however, the sky wasn’t overcast. It was filled with smoke the color of pumpkin spice, the result of nearby fires. A soupy miasma. The most noxious air in the world. I’d had enough. I told my husband, “We need to move.”
      …

      1. I told my husband, “We need to move.”

        Of course you did, because you’re a whiny brat. The way this woman writes is nauseating.

        1. In fairness, if you read further into the article, you realize that her parents recently lost their home in a wildfire along with cherished possessions such as irreplaceable family photos, and narrowly escaped with their lives.

          Before moving to California, I had this preconception that earthquakes were the biggest geological hazard that residents face. It doesn’t take long as a resident to realize that in most parts of the West Coast, wildfires are a far more omnipresent risk which pose a threat every year between April and November, not to mention during the other months as well. And the PNW climate has changed to become much more like California’s in the summer, hotter and drier with far greater fire risk than a few decades ago.

          1. The air quality was “fair” in much of Colorado today due to the West Coast fires. Can only imagine what it would be like to have to breath smokey, particle-contaminated air for days and weeks on end.

          2. Boring.beetles Prof, 100 million dead forest trees in CA, North to South, East to West, they burn hotter & longer than grasses & bushes.

            Arizona, Colorado, Oregone, & Washington too!

            (Dang, no emojis for Nordic rakes)

  34. Behind the torrent of unhinged leftist attacks on Supreme Court nominee Amy Barrett’s Catholic religion is blind terror that that she is a Constitutional “originalist” who understands the supreme importance of the law being faithful to the Founding Father’s original intent. By contrast, Constitution-hating Bolshevik hag Ruth Bader Ginsberg sought to lay the groundwork for annulling the Second Amendment with a patently false argument that now that we have a standing army, a militia was no longer needed and thus the idea of an armed citizenry as the ultimate check on government tyranny was obsolete. So wrong on so many levels.

    The collectivists and their globalist oligarch string-pullers know full well that until they get a court that will rubber-stamp their edicts, our national march to Bolshevism faces one insurmountable obstacle: armed citizens who have the will and means to resist collectivist tyranny and rule-by-mob.

    https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/tyler-o-neil/2020/09/25/5-things-to-know-about-amy-coney-barrett-n966406

    1. now that we have a standing army, a militia was no longer needed

      “We,” that is, the American colonists, already had a standing army; i.e. the British Army. The Revolution was basically a group of British seceding from the United Kingdom, not a fight to throw off a “foreign” power.

      Think of a Civil War where the North and South were separated by an ocean and the South won. That’s basically what the Revolution was.

      1. a “foreign” power The definition of “foreign” changes with circumstances. After the English Puritan revolution in the 1600s and in the aftermath of new laws after the French & Indian War, a chunk of the “British” colonists along the east coast began to see the government of George III as “foreign”. Another chunk didn’t, they were dispossessed and eventually expelled from the new nation. Another chunk didn’t much care one way or the other & went with the winners.

    2. “wrong on so many levels”… I looked up definitions for “militia” & found the following, apparently encoded in law:

      (a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
      (b) The classes of the militia are—
      (1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
      (2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

      Only someone profoundly ignorant and profoundly biased could come up with what Ginsberg the god did in that opinion of hers.

  35. they’re looking at depreciation, where they can take a tax break.’”

    Golly, what would happen if that deduction went away?

  36. I truly hope this freak follows through with his empty threats.

    John Legend says that Americans ‘will have to start thinking about going somewhere else’ if Trump is reelected

      1. No, it’s a man, just not much of one. Women don’t have an Adam’s Apple. It’s also billed as a man’s shirt.

        2. No kidding. Check out the description for the outfit:

          “Inspired by grunge looks from the ‘90s and styled over ripped denim pants, this tartan smock in delicate colors reflects the idea of fluidity explored for the Fall Winter 2020 fashion show, disrupting the toxic stereotypes that mold masculine gender identity.”

    4. That’s not a girl. Not even close. That’s a dude all day long. Check the adams apple, the bones, etc. That’s a freak show.

  38. I am waiting for more inventory and housing prices to crash in Sacramento and Placer county and bad realtors to leave the field.

    1. Yes, we’ve heard this almost every day for weeks on end, perhaps months. It’s going to be 3-5 years before you see any “deals.” Remember?

  39. The Donald has stepped off the plane in Pennsylvania, a state he won and will win again in 2020.

    FOUR MORE YEARS

  41. I’m not a huge Star Wars fan but does anyone else hear Yoda watching/hearing DiFi saying to ACB: “The dogma lives loudly within you”?

  42. Congressman Nadler audibly sh*t his pants and then scurried off the stage, sounds like Biden / Harris America to me.

    “They’re not sending their best”

    1. New public safety film coming soon: “Unsafe in Any Speedo”

      Per the Will Ferrell SNL bit: “Tacos! Burritos! What’s coming out of your Speedos!”

  44. “…sharks…blood in the water…”

    Yep.

    The Financial Times
    Commercial property
    Debt collectors bulk up to deal with US property loan defaults
    Rise in distressed commercial mortgages puts special servicers in demand
    The onset of coronavirus and worldwide lockdowns have plunged a vast number of commercial properties into jeopardy © AFP via Getty Images
    Joe Rennison in London September 24 2020
    Be the first to know about every new Coronavirus story

    Debt collectors for US property loans have been on a hiring spree to deal with a deluge of defaults and prepare for lenders to assume control of shops and hotels — an alarming omen for owners of billions of dollars worth of commercial mortgage-backed securities.

    When property loans that have been bundled into these bonds come under severe stress they are passed to so-called special servicers, which work with borrowers to either find a way to keep them paying their mortgage, or to eventually foreclose on the property and recoup cash for bondholders.

    The onset of coronavirus and worldwide lockdowns have plunged a vast number of commercial properties into jeopardy, putting these companies in demand.

    “It’s a naturally countercyclical business,” said Alex Killick, head of special servicing at CW Capital, who joined from JPMorgan Chase at the start of 2008.

    CW Capital, responsible for just under $34bn of commercial mortgages according to data from Wells Fargo, says it has boosted the number of staff working on distressed loans by almost 30 per cent, taking the total workforce across the business to more than 100 people. Almost $4bn of loans have been transferred to its hands since the pandemic hit.
    …

  45. All the globalist media outlets are predictably apoplectic with rage this morning at the prospect of a relatively young, religiously devout, Constitutionalist derailing the oligarchy’s efforts to install Constitution-hating RBG clones as Supreme Court justices to complete their subversion of the rule of law. The simian-like shrieks from CNN are particularly glorious on this fine morning.

  47. “Federal records show that Turner (above being arrested) filed a trademark application for Caravan4Justice in July, and a GoFundMe campaign names her as the group’s ‘founder’.”

    GoFundMe takes 2 accounts down to raise defense money for 2 time Iraq tour veteran Jake Gardner who was protecting his business and ultimately his life and leaves this POS societal leech’s account up and running.

    Shocking moment BLM organizer plows her car into crowd of Trump supporters in California and injures two – before she is arrested and charged with attempted murder

    By KEITH GRIFFITH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and ASSOCIATED PRESS
    PUBLISHED: 23:43 EDT, 26 September 2020

    A Black Lives Matter organizer has been arrested after video showed her driving a car into a crowd of Trump supporters in southern California, injuring two.

    Driver Tatiana Turner, 40, of Long Beach, was arrested and charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon following the incident on Saturday in the city of Yorba Linda, about 30 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

    Federal records show that Turner filed a trademark application for Caravan4Justice in July, and a GoFundMe campaign names her as the group’s ‘founder’.

    Police confirmed that Turner is believed to be a member of the Caravan4Justice.

    It was around 3pm, police say, when a car in the parking lot of the of the Yorba Linda Public Library at 18181 Imperial Highway accelerated into the road and struck at least two individuals.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8777035/Shocking-moment-BLM-organizer-plows-car-crowd-Trump-supporters.html

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