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Now We’re Just Trying To Stay Afloat

A report from the Daily Mail. “Property sales in New York City plunged 46 percent in 2020 from the prior year’s level, costing $1.6 billion in lost city and state tax revenue, according to the Real Estate Board of New York. The steep decline in real estate transactions came as residents fled the city in a mass exodus amid pandemic fears, punishing lockdowns and soaring crime.”

From WCVB in Massachusetts. “‘There are not a lot of resources for us landlords. There’s mortgage assistance that as landlords, we can apply for, but that is only a small part of the expenses of being a landlord. We have insurance, repairs on the property, etc’, said Doug Quattrochi, a landlord who also serves as the executive director of Mass Landlords, Inc. Quattrochi said he felt there were not enough resources provided by the government to make sure landlords stay afloat if they are unable to receive rent from their tenants.”

“The options for landlords are not the same as the ones that tenants have in terms of getting financial assistance, so they are left with other options that do not necessarily benefit them in the end. ‘Many landlords are selling their properties because they often cannot afford to keep their property due to their tenants not being able to pay the rent,’ said Quattrochi.”

From Motley Fool. “If you’re looking for your next rental investment, you’ll probably want to steer clear of any major tech hub. According to Realtor.com, these cities are seeing double-digit rent declines. The numbers are pretty jaw-dropping, too: In San Francisco, for example, rents on studio apartment units were down 34% over the year in December 2020.”

“But it’s not just San Fran that’s getting hit hard. As the report states: ‘Rent declines in expensive, high-tech hubs remain the norm. Counties in the San Francisco Bay Area are seeing the largest declines in rents, along with Manhattan, Boston, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.'”

“In Chicago’s home seat, studio rents have dropped more than 20% since December 2019. One-bedroom apartments are also down considerably (11.1%). New York County: New York has the second-biggest drops across all three property types, with anywhere from 16% to 21% declines. San Francisco County: The Bay Area has seen some of the biggest declines. As mentioned, studio rents are down 33.8%, with one-bedroom apartments dropping 25.5% and two bedrooms 22.8%. Nearby Alameda and San Mateo counties are seeing drops as well. San Mateo’s one-bedroom rents fell 17.6% last month, and Alameda’s studios were down 18%.”

“Santa Clara County, California: Home to Silicon Valley, this tech-heavy area has seen serious drops in rents, too. They’ve declined more than 19.6% on studios, 13.1% on one bedrooms, and 10.8% on two beds. Suffolk County, Massachusetts: In Suffolk County, home to Boston, rents are taking a similar beating. Studios are down 20.4%, while one- and two-bedroom are down 17.6% and 14.8%, respectively.”

The Star Tribune in Minnesota. “Anthony Aguirre left his corporate job to manage his eight Minneapolis vacation rentals full time. Now, as the city prepares to implement a new short-term rental (STR) ordinance that will limit investors to one STR other than the home they live in, he’s being forced to make a decision: Sell, or convert them to long-term rentals. ‘We’ve been running the business as the city wanted us to,’ he said. ‘But this could destroy my business.'”

“Sharon Cohn, the developer of a nearby North Loop building, which opened last spring in the midst of civil unrest and the COVID-19 pandemic and who also has a partnership with Sonder, wrote that without Sonder’s commitment ‘the project would be nearly vacant.'”

“Kari Lundin, a Twin Cities real estate agent who specializes in working with small real estate investors, said the ordinance comes at particularly perilous time for many small investors who are already struggling to deal with rising vacancy rates and new tenant protections. ‘People want out [of the city],’ she said. ‘I have a number [who] don’t want to do business anymore in Minneapolis.'”

“Aguirre, who runs a small STR consulting company, said he bought his first rental in 2012 — a triplex that he lived in and initially ran as a long-term rental. After leaving his full-time job nearly three years ago, he’s not sure what’s next. ‘We hoped to have a long-term business in Minneapolis,’ he said. ‘Now we’re just trying to stay afloat.'”

From Insauga in Canada. “The average rent for all Canadian properties listed on Rentals.ca in December was $1,723 per month—down 7.1 per cent year over year (but the lowest rate of decline since May). The average monthly rental rate per square foot has declined 20 per cent annually in downtown Toronto, dropped 13.4 per cent in the amalgamated City of Toronto and decreased 11.3 per cent in the GTA. The report says that condominium apartments in Canada took a big hit in average rents in 2020, falling 18.5 per cent annually to $2,009 per month from $2,465 per month in December 2019.”

“The report also says that, due to travel restrictions, some investors are now advertising their Airbnb units for long-term use, further saturating the condo market. ‘In many markets, rents have dropped to the point where tenants can lease a suite with an additional bedroom for the same rent as they were paying last year,’ said Matt Danison, CEO of Rentals.ca.”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “An Ontario judge has ordered two alleged fraudsters to pay at least $9-million to investors as punishment for repeatedly disregarding his pretrial orders in a civil lawsuit. Ontario Superior Court Justice Markus Koehnen said that the contempt for the court exhibited by property developers Michael Hyman and Giuseppe (Joe) Anastasio means they should pay the full amount sought by the investors suing them – even though the case hasn’t gone to trial.”

“Thrive’s capital came, predominantly, from unsophisticated retail investors in Brampton’s Sikh community. When Thrive realized its investment had allegedly been squandered, it obtained multiple orders from Justice Koehnen. The judge ordered Mr. Hyman and Mr. Anastasio to provide, among other things, a list of their assets, an accounting of what happened to Thrive’s investment, as well as the locations of the developers’ luxury automobiles, including a 2019 Lamborghini Aventador and a 2019 Porsche 911.”

From Letting Agent Today in the UK. “Data from SpareRoom suggests that London’s typical room rent has dropped further. This is the third consecutive quarter that London has seen a significant decline in average room rents, with rents down throughout 2020. In Q4, every London region was down year on year with the EC postcode seeing the biggest drop in rent (down no less than 19 per cent in 12 months), followed by the WC postcode down 16 per cent and the W postcode down 12 per cent.”

“SpareRoom says 27 per cent of renters in London plan to move after the pandemic has come to an end, with half of them intending to leave the capital altogether. The upshot is a projected 13 per cent net exodus of renters from London, the platform claims. The London postcodes where room rents have dropped most over the last 12 months are EC3 (Aldgate) down 26 per cent; SW1 (Westminster/Belgravia/Pimlico) down 23 per cent; EC2 (Bishopsgate/Cheapside) down 21 per cent; and W8 (Holland Park) down 20 per cent.”

“Matt Hutchinson, SpareRoom director, comments: ‘London rents continue to fall and, as has been the case throughout the past year, it’s the expensive areas where they fall the fastest. We’re now seeing the biggest drop in London room rents since spring, and there’s no immediate sign of a recovery.'”

The Advocate in Australia. “As the call for a pause on short-term accommodation permits stalls, the financial appeal of offering properties as holiday rentals continues to lose its shine with Tasmanian listings on Airbnb plummeting. The Tasmanian Hospitality Industry said it would support such an action, as well as a review of current short-stay accommodation regulations. But it added that in the current tourism climate, a pause would not make much difference anyway.”

“‘Accommodation is going to struggle while there is limited tourism, whether that is traditional accommodation providers, or those who are unregulated.'”

“Louise Elliott said a pause was not necessary, as market forces would resolve the issue naturally. ‘My Airbnb is at really low occupancy, it is at 20 per cent whereas it used to be 90 per cent, and a lot of owners can’t tolerate that. They have gone back to long term rentals and stay wary of Airbnb because of the income insecurity,’ he said.”

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This Post Has 84 Comments

  1. ‘After leaving his full-time job nearly three years ago, he’s not sure what’s next’

    Yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip
    Sha na na na, sha na na na na
    Sha na na na, sha na na na na
    Sha na na na, sha na na na na
    Sha na na na, sha na na na na
    Yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip
    Mum mum mum mum mum mum
    Get a job, sha na na na, sha na na na na

  2. ‘Thrive’s capital came, predominantly, from unsophisticated retail investors in Brampton’s Sikh community. When Thrive realized its investment had allegedly been squandered’

    Ground hog day. How many “developers” in California have recently defaulted, been foreclosed, caught using ponzi schemes, etc. But UHS says red-hotcakes.

  3. ‘The average rent for all Canadian properties listed on Rentals.ca in December was $1,723 per month—down 7.1 per cent year over year …condominium apartments in Canada took a big hit in average rents in 2020, falling 18.5 per cent annually to $2,009 per month from $2,465 per month in December 2019’

    When I first came across this data a few months ago, I could hardly believe it. This isn’t one or two commie cites: this is the whole of freaking Canadia!

  4. ‘According to Realtor.com, these cities are seeing double-digit rent declines. The numbers are pretty jaw-dropping, too’

    One thing the MSM isn’t touching with a 10 foot pole: how many millions of people are getting their a$$es kicked by these whopping craters.

  5. ‘The steep decline in real estate transactions came as residents fled the city in a mass exodus amid pandemic fears, punishing lockdowns and soaring crime’

    Where’s frozen soup line Larry?

    1. How can this be?

      Pedo Joe got 15 million more votes then obama.

      The most popular president eva.

      Surely, people wanted marxist overlords in charge by overwhelmingly margins.

  6. the developer of a nearby North Loop building, which opened last spring in the midst of civil unrest and the COVID-19 pandemic and who also has a partnership with Sonder, wrote that without Sonder’s commitment ‘the project would be nearly vacant’

    Yer fooked Sharon. This STR crap was always a house of flimsy cards.

    ‘Kari Lundin, a Twin Cities real estate agent who specializes in working with small real estate investors, said the ordinance comes at particularly perilous time for many small investors who are already struggling to deal with rising vacancy rates and new tenant protections. ‘People want out [of the city]’

    I get to reflect from time to time, about past myths. Oh, Minneapolis has a shortage! They can never build enough airboxes! Yer fooked too Kari.

    1. New tenants inbound.
      https://dnyuz.com/2021/01/23/barred-from-u-s-under-trump-muslims-exult-in-bidens-open-door/

      The way this article is written will make you retch. Here’s a quote from it the works equally well with Covid lockdowns but somehow those are ok:

      “But the human cost of Mr. Trump’s measures, stitched into the fabric of disrupted lives stained with tears and even blood, can hardly be counted — families separated for years; weddings and funerals missed; careers and study plans upended; lifesaving operations that did not take place.”

      1. My understanding was the law Trump followed was written long before he became president. He just enforced the law.

    2. This STR crap was built on a business model of never ending losses by circumventing existing hotel health, fire and tax regulations/laws because of an “app.”

      This STR crap was always a house of flimsy cards.

    1. A years worth of oversupply of condos…

      Is that a lot?

      Good thing everyone put down 20% and didn’t overpay and the developers have large reserves

  8. https://www.theepochtimes.com/thousands-of-national-guard-troops-to-remain-in-dc-through-march_3668372.html

    ‘Christopher Rodriguez, a District of Columbia homeland security official, said that same day that the city requested continued support from the Guard with traffic management and crowd control through Jan. 30 “because we do anticipate that there will be another National Special Security Event occurring in the joint session of Congress.”

    He he…

  9. But…but…massive equity!!!!

    “‘Many landlords are selling their properties because they often cannot afford to keep their property due to their tenants not being able to pay the rent,’ said Quattrochi.”

  10. Here is a hint.

    It is not about Tech.

    It is about the marxists in power.

    “If you’re looking for your next rental investment, you’ll probably want to steer clear of any major tech hub. According to Realtor.com, these cities are seeing double-digit rent declines. The numbers are pretty jaw-dropping, too: In San Francisco, for example, rents on studio apartment units were down 34% over the year in December 2020.”

  11. You fvcked up…you trusted us.

    ‘We’ve been running the business as the city wanted us to,’ he said. ‘But this could destroy my business.’”

  12. How can this be?

    Pedo Joe got 15 million more votes then obama.

    The most popular president eva.

    Surely, people wanted marxist overlords in charge by overwhelmingly margins.

    ‘People want out [of the city],’ she said. ‘I have a number [who] don’t want to do business anymore in Minneapolis.’”

    2. ‘I have a number [who] don’t want to do business anymore in Minneapolis’

      Gee, it couldn’t be because of all the burning, looting and violence, right?

  14. No houses for us normies (1/23/2021):

    “I was born and raised in Golden, and will probably never be able to afford a place of my own in the Denver metro area. Makes me sad to think that moving is the only way to make that happen.”

    “We showed up to a showing the other day with four other people booked into the same slot. It was a mess. There’s no houses for us normies — you better have tons of $$ AND time.”

    https://www.westword.com/news/denver-house-supply-low-demand-high-say-readers-whove-tried-to-buy-11887368

  15. Biden says his mask mandate is common sense. Republicans say ‘kiss my ass’ (1/22/2021):

    “When Joe Biden issued an executive order this week requiring mask-wearing on federal properties, it was framed as the least controversial provision he would issue early in his presidency.

    “It’s not a political statement,” he said, “it’s a patriotic act.”

    But shortly after the newly elected president uttered that plea, some Republicans made clear that even this ask wouldn’t go over well with them.”

    “The Biden administration is already headed in the wrong direction,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said on Friday. “Continued federal overreach won’t end the Covid-19 pandemic or put food on the table.”

    https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/22/biden-mask-mandate-461533

    We are the leaderless resistance.

    1. America has no history or real experience in political deprogramming and even less in organized political violence based in ideology. Is it coming now? (1/22/2021):

      “According to some very authoritative and repetitive CNN talking heads, nearly our entire political class, and former luminaries like the washed-up Katie Couric, 74.5 million Americans—and that includes you—need to be “deprogrammed” immediately.

      Arch-liberal Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson got even testier in the aftermath of the D.C. riot on January 6. Appearing on MSNBC, Robinson said “there are millions of Americans, almost all white, almost all Republicans, who somehow need to be deprogrammed.” He called them members of a “Trumpist cult.” They are racist, white supremacists who need to be dismissed, detested, and demonized, he explained.

      Conservatives and nationalist patriots are now labeled a terrorist “cult.”

      They should be sent away to gulags and reeducation camps to completely rid them and ergo, the rest of the now woke country, of their beliefs.

      One person thought it could perhaps be done digitally—or employing a social credit system akin to the one already deployed in Communist China. Other Democrats want deplatforming on social media and shaming so that none of these people are ever gainfully employed again.

      No, deprogramming has a long and tortuous history so it may be worth relearning some of it before we depart down this route of no return. Contrary to Joe Biden’s inauguration address—it is not a very unifying action. Quite the opposite.”

      https://amgreatness.com/2021/01/22/deprogramming-you/

      We are the leaderless resistance.

          1. I’m not going to die or be on my knees, but I do support hanging these bashtards. “Oh Ben, that’s so extreme!” Really? Are these neo-nazis saying they want us to volunteer to be corralled by the millions to go into reeducation camps? Or are they openly promoting having armed thugs round us up (or die if we resist) and deny us our life and liberty? Cuz it sure sounds like the latter.

            Basically they are calling for (more) mass murder.

      2. By Jessica Chasmar –
        The Washington Times – Tuesday, January 19, 2021

        TV news veteran Katie Couric is facing backlash on social media after she suggested during an appearance on “Real Time with Bill Maher” that members of President Trump‘s “cult” needed to be “deprogrammed.”

        “But I also think some of them are believing the garbage that they are being fed 24/7 on the internet, by their constituents, and they bought into this big lie,” she continued. “And the question is how are we going to really almost deprogram these people who have signed up for the cult of Trump.”

        https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jan/19/katie-couric-slammed-after-saying-members-of-trump/

        1. members of President Trump‘s “cult”

          Sorry Katie, it can only be a cult if it is a religion. Not ascribing to your religion does not make us a “cult”. Loving Trump or loving Freedom will never be a “cult”. The beautiful thing about Trump is that we are not mindless followers. He led in the way we wanted to go. We’re still going there. This is something Katie cannot understand.

        2. Bear in mind these words of wisdom:

          The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.

          — H.L. Mencken

      3. “No experience with . . . Organized violence. . “. . Where you been hiding. US Gubt. Has a LONG history of organized violence in the name of forced “good”. Indigenous Indians, Japanese internment camps, FDR’s summary execution of violent socialists. The list is long and this is another Chapter.

    1. Now I carry mine turned the other way which means I open it against the back, not the front side of my pants or shorts pocket. It also leaves my pinky finger, not index finger 0:42 in the loop and a backhand grip that can’t be loosened.

      Certainly would be an unwelcome surprise for those first attackers to arrive and would certainly give the others following something to reconsider before joining in.

      https://youtu.be/CuwSK2O9_t0

    2. “In broad daylight (video) Police said the attackers took the man’s cell phone and removed his pants, underwear and shoes”

      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.

      Martin Luther King, Jr.

    3. Kind of looks like a gang of ten black dudes kicking the sh!t out of an isolated white victim.

      But heh…Black Lives Matter, so it’s all good…

  17. Aguirre, who runs a small STR consulting company, said he bought his first rental in 2012 — a triplex that he lived in and initially ran as a long-term rental. After leaving his full-time job nearly three years ago, he’s not sure what’s next.

    It’s always the promise of easy riches that draws them in. Working and saving is for suckers. I’m sure that during the fat times Aguirre showed off his expensive car(s) to his friends who still work at a job.

    And he had a corporate job, he wasn’t flipping burgers. And being Hispanic probably meant that he received preferential treatment where he worked. Of course, now his little empire is coming unraveled: few AirBnB customers and the city wants to regulate him, restricting the number of STR’s he can rent out. So now he’s going to have to unload his properties at a loss, and go back to his old employer, hat in hand, to ask for his old job back.

  18. Suppose that coordinated Unlimited Quantitative Easing measures by globalist central bankers, beginning in March 2020 as a pandemic response, escalated Irrational Exuberance among stock market and cryptocurrency bulls into the uncharted realm of Insane Overconfidence?

    How would it end?

    And would the complicit central bankers pull strings to prolong and further heighten the insanity, rather than allowing it to die a natural death?

    1. Roh roh…here come the bubble duck-typing stories from MSM sources. Is this the journalistic version of a shoeshine boy moment?

      1. Streetwise
        If It Looks Like a Bubble and Swims Like a Bubble…
        Several parallels between the dot-com bubble and today’s stock market are strong
        Tesla illustrates the surge by stocks connected to electric vehicles.
        Photo: sun yilei/Reuters
        By James Macintosh
        Jan. 24, 2021 9:03 am ET

        I have been resisting the comparison between the dot-com bubble and today’s stock market, but the similarities have grown too strong to ignore. Here are five areas where the parallels are strong, along with one caution about applying the bubble label to the broader market.

        Exponential growth in the price of story stocks

        Anything connected to electric vehicles or clean energy has gone ballistic in the past few months. Electric-car maker Tesla is the most obvious example, becoming the fifth-largest U.S. company by value after rising eightfold last year. This year so far, it has added $134 billion to its market capitalization, far more than the $78 billion it was worth at the start of 2020.
        …

          1. On Twitter, Jesse Felder asked rhetorically what the Scott McNealy of 20 years ago would think about Tesla trading at 30 times revenues. Scott replied, “I want to be Elon Musk.”

          2. All electric cars are a fraud. With what electricity will they be charged? Especially when rolling blackouts become the norm?

          3. “With what electricity will they be charged?”

            If customers want to pay me to install chargers to charge their Tesla with electricity produced from burning coal, I am going to take their money.

            Everybody wins: they get to virtue signal, and I get their money.

          4. I would love the day when a solar panel on the roof of the car / truck was so efficient, this wont matter
            —— Especially when rolling blackouts become the norm?

          5. with electricity produced from burning coal

            But that isn’t the plan, is it? The plan is to close those coal plants and raise electric rates substantially to reduce consumption, while moving everyone to electric cars, or at least those who can still afford cars. Everyone else can ride the bus.

          6. I would love the day when a solar panel on the roof of the car / truck was so efficient, this wont matter

            Even at 100% efficiency, there isn’t enough power in sunlight to do that, unless the car is made of styrofoam.

          7. what the Scott McNealy of 20 years ago would think about Tesla trading at 30 times revenues

            McNealy has enough money to not worry about money. Yeah, he’s not a multibillionaire, but he’s doing just fine. And I would say that Sun Microsystems made a bigger impact than any electric car. Sure, it’s now just a business unit in Big Red, but Java alone is more pervasive than any Tesla. In fact, I’ll bet there is a lot of Java code running in Tesla cars

          8. Even at 100% efficiency, there isn’t enough power in sunlight to do that, unless the car is made of styrofoam.

            Yeah, unless you leave it out in the sun every day and only drive it once a month a couple of miles to the grocery store/Walmart/Target and back.

          9. I would say that Sun Microsystems made a bigger impact than any electric car. Sure, it’s now just a business unit in Big Red,

            Yeah, people may not know that Sun kind of WAS the internet for quite a while there. Even now almost everything under the surface still runs on some flavor of Linux…

          10. “I would love the day when a solar panel on the roof of the car / truck was so efficient, this wont matter”

            Better have a bottle of Sea & Ski in the glove box.

          11. “…Sun Microsystems made a bigger impact…”

            Apple is getting the ARM microprocessor credit these days for energy saving RISC processing when it was Sun Microsystems and their SPARC microprocessor with Solaris that paved the way.

          12. Back in the early 90s, Sun advertised with the tagline “We’re the dot in dot com.” One of the best taglines ever.

          13. “I would love the day when a solar panel on the roof of the car / truck was so efficient, …”

            I’m not a physicist, but based on what little I know, this is not technically feasible. Unlike fossil fuels, sunlight is a very diffuse energy source.

  20. Hard to tell, but it looks like there may be some softening in the single family shack prices in the 33458 zip of Region IV.

  21. This is a bedwetting article.

    New York Times — Capitol Riot Puts Spotlight on ‘Apocalyptically Minded’ Global Far Right (1/24/2021):

    “Leaderless but united by racist ideology that has been supercharged by social media, extremists have built a web of real and online connections that worry officials.”

    https://archive.is/CNWVg

    A message to the Southern Poverty Law Center: I was radicalized by NPR and the New York Times.

    This is the kind of “healing and unity” that the globalists have planned for you:

    https://ibb.co/GVdwm2S

    2. Gotta love it. It was Antifa and BLM who were burning the country down last summer, and making threats to “come to the suburbs.” But it’s the “far right” who is dangerous.

      I guess those elite congress critters soiled their pants when a handful of unarmed yahoos entered the capitol building. I remember when Antifa/BLM tried to storm the state capitol in Denver, which had been locked up nice and tight. All the media was concerned with was that the cops were using tear gas on the rioters. No one cared that the local “Temple of Democracy” was under siege.

      Or when an Antifa clown was caught on camera shooting at a motorist who broke through a blockade on I-270 in Aurora, missed and hit two of his comrades? They did their best to send that one to the memory hole.

      Ben is right, this is not the “loyal opposition” we are dealing with. I also suspect that the threats of mass deprogramming are being made to provoke a violent reaction, so they can say “See? They’re dangerous! This calls for drastic action!”

      1. “provoke a violent reaction”

        When we stop giving these people money, we win.

        The simple, nearly effortless act of using the archive website to share a link to a New York Times article means that we can all still read the article without generating any revenue for them.

  24. CNN’s Acosta: Trump, Conservative News “Represent Existential Threat To This Country”

    Infowars.com
    January 24th 2021, 2:00 pm

    Fake News CNN correspondent Jim Acosta melted down Sunday over Donald Trump and exploding conservative media, calling them an “existential threat” to America.

    While celebrating Trump’s censorship during “Reliable Sources”, Acosta projected CNN’s own fake news ethos onto Trump and all conservative media and organizations, calling them the “disinformation industrial complex.”

    “And that is, you know, Trump and his people, conservative outlets like Fox News, and then conservative websites and organizations aligned with the president and conservative platforms.”

    “These three pillars of this disinformation industrial complex essentially help put Trump in power, kept him in power, sustained his grip on the Republican Party, and it remains a threat to our democracy,” the activist correspondent continued. “It is the reason why hundreds of Trump supporters storming the Capitol on January 6th.”

    Acosta then called for more censorship against his competition and other organizations with views he doesn’t agree with.

    “And until that poison, that toxin is drained from the national political discourse in this country, I do think that these forces represent a potential existential threat to this country,” he concluded.

    https://www.infowars.com

    Julio Rosas
    @Julio_Rosas11
    ·
    5h
    .
    @Acosta
    : Trump, Fox News, and conservative news are the “disinformation industrial complex” and “until that poison, that toxin is drained from the national political discourse in this country..I do think that these forces represent a potential existential threat to this country”

    https://twitter.com/Julio_Rosas11/status/1353382362239754241?s=20

    1. CNN’s Acosta: Trump, Conservative News “Represent Existential Threat To This Country”

      It occurs to me that the two sides have a very different definition of “this country”. Acosta might be right in regard to his definition. And he’s certainly doing his best to be a threat to theirs. Which is what will make eventual war so hard to avoid. Just wanting to be left alone is a threat to him.

      1. Which is what will make eventual war so hard to avoid. Just wanting to be left alone is a threat to him.

        +1000

  27. Today is the first championship weekend I have not watched the NFL games in decades to go along with not watching any games this year.

    NFL Playoff Ratings Take Big Hit: TRAINA THOUGHTS

    JIMMY TRAINA
    JAN 12, 2021

    1. Last week, I wrote about the 7% ratings dip the NFL took over the regular season and predicted super wild-card weekend would produce excellent ratings based on the matchups, markets and star players involved.

    Well, I was wrong in a big way.

    On Tuesday morning, Sportico’s Anthony Crupi reported ratings for last weekend’s games were down big on Saturday (-25%) and Sunday (-20%).

    https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2021/01/12/nfl-super-wild-card-ratings-down-big

    1. You’re probably not missing much there.

      I spent some time earlier today talking on the phone (for millennials and gen z’ers that is when you speak into a telephone) with some old school peeps who live in other Regions of the United States.

      That’s not a bad way to spend part of a Sunday.

      1. I’m sure they appreciated your phone call. I make it a point to reach out knowing how much they need some interaction.

    2. I didn’t even realize the playoffs were going on until I saw some YouTube comment on Tom Brady. The only sport I watch now is ice skating.

  28. “Beyond all the evidence-gathering and charging decisions left to do, federal officials concede there will likely be some number of people who were there that day and are simply never identified, due to some combination of luck, masks or lack of social media posts.”

    Remember when the internet was new and fresh and full of hope? Now it’s just an endless sea of advertising, data mining and facial recognition.

  29. Just got back from a few days in the desert/Salton Sea. Watched Being There last night. This 1979 movie portrays how our government works to this day.

    1. “Just got back from a few days in the desert/Salton Sea.”

      Did you notice an increase in the number of desert shanties?

      1. Drove around the Salton Sea through Bombay Beach and learned about Slab City. Hell is probably more hospitable.

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