thehousingbubble@gmail.com
Blog

It’s Still A Long Way Back From The Moon

A report from Boston 25 News in Massachusetts. “Despite this persistent rise in prices, UMass Boston economics professor Keren Horn, doesn’t believe this is a bubble. Horn has been looking at the types of transactions taking place. ‘I really don’t think it’s driven by speculation or unreasonable expectations. I think people just want more housing and there’s not enough supply. In some cases, yes, I think people are putting themselves in positions that are untenable,’ Horn said. ‘But there is no evidence that people are overstretching themselves financially to get these homes and that we’ll see ourselves in a foreclosure crisis.'”

“But for homebuyers out there today, it still feels like hand to hand combat. ‘Sellers are accepting cash offers and when you think about the prices of these houses, who has that kind of money sitting around?’ asked a buyer.”

From San Angelo Live in Texas. “With an inexpensive money supply and easy home lending, the demand for homes has not abated. There is little price resistance. Ryan Newlin, broker for ERA Newlin and Co., said that every home is selling right now. ‘We need more land to develop,’ he said.”

From Bay News 9 in Florida. “Sunny Alexander is a Tampa realtor. Both she and her husband served in the U.S. Army and say the military has opened a lot of doors for them. New legislation for the VA loan came out in 2019, but Sunny says a lot of agents, especially ones with smaller military populations, aren’t up to date. ‘The veteran, as long as they qualify, their debt to income supports it, they can get up to 2 million or even higher for a VA loan,’ she said. ‘The veteran gets a lower interest rate, there is no down payment, the veteran is a strong buyer. Basically, the foreclosure rate on a VA loan is 1.98% compared to conventional foreclosure rate of 2.47%,’ she said.”

“For veteran buyers who don’t have a lot of cash on hand, she suggests looking at new constructions or homes where the seller had aggressively priced the home and are now chasing down the market.”

From CNBC. “Nearly two-thirds, or 64%, of millennials (ages 25 to 40) say they have at least one regret about purchasing their current home, according to a new poll of more than 1,400 U.S. homeowners from Bankrate. ‘These purchases, even for those who are well qualified, can be a leap of faith,’ says Mark Hamrick, Bankrate’s senior economic analyst. People tend to focus so much on actually being able to buy a home that many times there’s a sense that everything else will resolve itself once the initial purchase is completed, he says.”

“Beth Holmes-Roberts, 38, and her husband purchased their first home in January 2019. The 60-year-old home in San Antonio consists of four bedrooms and two bathrooms and was listed for $195,000. ‘We literally walked into the house the first day that we were looking and said, ‘We need this one,’ Holmes-Roberts says. She does wish that she had done a little bit more research into what the homebuying process looked like ahead of time, especially around the mortgage procedures. ‘It just sort of felt like a whirlwind of activity that ended up with us standing in front of this empty house with a set of keys going, ‘OK, here we are,’ she says.”

“Beth Holmes-Roberts, 38, and her husband purchased their first home in January 2019. The 60-year-old home in San Antonio consists of four bedrooms and two bathrooms and was listed for $195,000. ‘We literally walked into the house the first day that we were looking and said, ‘We need this one,’ Holmes-Roberts says. She does wish that she had done a little bit more research into what the homebuying process looked like ahead of time, especially around the mortgage procedures. ‘It just sort of felt like a whirlwind of activity that ended up with us standing in front of this empty house with a set of keys going, ‘OK, here we are,’ she says.”

“Home maintenance has been an ongoing challenge, Holmes-Roberts says. Over the past two years, they’ve had a lot of plumbing work done, including fixing toilets and a bathtub that didn’t drain properly. They also had to replace their entire garage door. All of the family’s stimulus payments over the past year, more than $6,500, have gone toward home maintenance.”

From NPR. “Oregonians struggling to maintain their mortgage payments due to the economic stressors caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will have until June 30 to begin repaying. According to Sen. Lee Beyer, who carried the bill in his chamber, this extension is aimed at helping those who have been unable to keep up with their mortgage payments through no fault of their own.”

“‘The one difference in this from the original one passed is in order to get this protection, the homeowner has to contact their lender and tell them that they are not able to pay their mortgage because of loss of income related to the pandemic,’ Beyer said. ‘But perhaps the secondary, and maybe more important to many of us, is by having this in place we keep all of those homes that could have been foreclosed on from going onto the market all at one time and devaluing the rest of the properties.'”

From Socket Site in California. “Having inched up 2 percent last week, the net number of homes for sale across San Francisco has since ticked up another 4 percent to around 920, which is 10 percent more homes on the market than at the same time last year, another 10-year seasonal high and 90 percent more inventory on the market than there was in mid-May of 2015. And while the number of homes in contract across San Francisco is still up around 50 percent versus the same time last year, pending sales dropped 6 percent over the past week with an average list price per square foot that’s down 7 percent, year-over-year.”

The Los Angeles Times in California. “It took three years and six price cuts, but Houston Astros ace Zack Greinke finally took advantage of the hot market and sold his Studio City home for $4.75 million. That’s $175,000 shy of what he paid for the compound in 2013, records show.”

From CBC News. “Canada’s red-hot housing market showed small signs of cooling down in April, even as the average selling price is up by nearly half from the lows it hit in the early days of the pandemic. The group that represents Canadian Realtors says sales were down in 85 per cent of all markets across the country, including just about everywhere in Ontario and British Columbia. ‘While housing markets across Canada remain very active, there is growing evidence that some of the extreme imbalances of the last year are beginning to unwind, which is what everyone wants to see happen,’ CREA chair Cliff Stevenson said.”

“Bank of Montreal economist Robert Kavcic says April’s numbers still paint a picture of a booming housing market. ‘Demand is extremely strong even if down from record levels,’ he said. ‘This market is still extremely strong across geography and segment, even if we’ve likely seen peak momentum — it’s still a long way back from the moon.'”

The Herald Sun on Australia. “Experts warned that the mass ‘hype’ of Melbourne’s auction and opening of houses may be the disguise of the ‘fragile’ market being covered by the smokescreen. Simon Pressley, a market analyst and head of real estate research, said that compared with other capital cities, Melbourne’s economic weakness, population decline and record high rental supply paint a bleak picture.”

“He said that increasing construction efforts to increase the number of locked jobs is a dangerous move. He said that it may exacerbate the problem of oversupply and push the city’s market into a downturn, similar to the city’s housing prices from 2018 to 2019. The median plummeted 134,000. ‘The hype you see on an open house in Melbourne today is the same as the hype we saw on an open house in 2016,’ said Mr. Presley.”

“Melbourne’s weak economy, declining population, record high rental supply and increasing new housing construction are a series of fundamental factors that are as weak as Darwin and Perth have seen in the past decade. ‘If you consider all our capitals and all regions, and talk about all these factors that affect the real estate market, then Melbourne is just as vulnerable as the rest of Australia.'”

“The Australian Bureau of Statistics data included in Propertyology’s latest report shows that Melbourne’s population has fallen by 26,000 in the past year. Mr. Pressley said that, coupled with the decline in the number of interstate and overseas immigrants caused by COVID-19 and the impact of the city’s long-term blockade on the local economy, there is a real risk of overstimulating construction and construction that may inhibit housing demand.”

“Presley said: ‘Melbourne usually grows by about 100,000 people a year, rounding it up to a whole number, but this is not only not adding new recruits, but also losing more people. There is a good balance. Every city needs to create jobs. The construction industry is an important industry in every city, but if you over-stimulate it, it will eventually lead to a downturn in the real estate market.'”

Related Posts
This Post Has 108 Comments

  1. ‘I really don’t think it’s driven by speculation’

    ‘Sellers are accepting cash offers and when you think about the prices of these houses, who has that kind of money sitting around?’

    Speculators.

    ‘In some cases, yes, I think people are putting themselves in positions that are untenable…But there is no evidence that people are overstretching themselves financially to get these homes’

    Waiving off appraisals isn’t stretching Keren with two E’s?

    ‘and that we’ll see ourselves in a foreclosure crisis’

    ‘‘But perhaps the secondary, and maybe more important to many of us, is by having this in place we keep all of those homes that could have been foreclosed on from going onto the market all at one time and devaluing the rest of the properties’

    Ahem…

  4. ‘he said that it may exacerbate the problem of oversupply and push the city’s market into a downturn, similar to the city’s housing prices from 2018 to 2019. The median plummeted 134,000. ‘The hype you see on an open house in Melbourne today is the same as the hype we saw on an open house in 2016’

    It’s rare you see the REIC openly exposed. And the timeline is important to the whole thing. This crater was the result of a crackdown on insane lending. New guberment comes in, says striaght out, “we’re driving prices up” and boom, you got a whole new crop of FBs.

    Keep in mind it was a week or so ago that we read about Melbourne loanowners taking a 30% a$$ pounding on a ten year old purchase. The REIC counts on people being so weak minded they can’t remember a week past.

  5. ‘She does wish that she had done a little bit more research into what the homebuying process looked like ahead of time, especially around the mortgage procedures. ‘It just sort of felt like a whirlwind of activity that ended up with us standing in front of this empty house with a set of keys going, ‘OK, here we are’

    Yer fooked Beth. BTW, San Antonio is a sh$t hole.

    1. I live for articles of millennial regret. You don’t win a participation trophy this time 🙁

  6. ‘The veteran, as long as they qualify, their debt to income supports it, they can get up to 2 million or even higher for a VA loan…there is no down payment’

    You read that right. How many veteran salaries support 2M? They took the cap off. I’ll point out again: last decade VA loans were 2% of the market. Last report I saw had it at 12%. Nobody would buy this paper if it wasn’t guberment guaranteed.

    3. “VA Loans are not typically provided by the VA or federal government itself, but are private loans from everyday mortgage lenders that are insured by the government.”

      Meaning, the lender assumes no risk. Lots of rewards, but no risk. 😁

      “Because of the federal guarantee, lenders can offer terms and loan options not available with traditional mortgages.”

      Because? The lender does not assume the risk.

      “VA loans require no mortgage insurance; this can save the borrower a bundle of money. Also, VA loans often require no downpayment. The mortgage-related fees are also lower than average.

      “Though there is no specification on the VA’s part as to a required credit score, private lenders will often have their own requirements and are likely to accept a lower than usual score, considering the nature of the loan.”

      “Loans for new home purchase include fixed rate, adjustable rate (ARM), and VA jumbo loans.”

      😁

      VA Loans | [What Are the Different Types?]
      https://www.consumersadvocate.org/va-loans/different-types-of-va-loans?pd=true&keyword=va%20loan%20rates&gca_campaignid=687469815&gca_adgroupid=52718581625&gca_matchtype=p&gca_network=g&gca_device=t&gca_adposition=&gca_loc_interest_ms=&gca_loc_physical_ms=9031071&gclid=CjwKCAjwy42FBhB2EiwAJY0yQl9x5URV56zDsjZl-0iFhBwE2fQWTFAZCiBz0JbMiWGyQ_DghMXQXhoCMLsQAvD_BwE

      1. Assuming that the Fed can hoover up the VA loan paper as needed, it seems like there’s no risk for anybody on a VA mortgage.

        Am I missing something?

        1. No Sir, you aren’t missing a thing. It’s blatant, in your face corruption…wherein taxpayers take the fall for private lender’s fraudulent profiteering.

    1. A letter to the editor in Canadia:

      ‘Re Should Canada Ditch AstraZeneca? (May 11): Three weeks ago, I received the AstraZeneca vaccine. I did this with great hesitancy as I, like many, had been reading about potentially fatal clots. Yet I went ahead and got my jab. Why? Because my government told me to.’

      ‘Now, can anyone imagine how it feels to receive a vaccine that the government no longer believes is safe enough? I believe the rollout was politicized to save face as Canada lags far behind other developed countries in vaccination. I have always trusted my government. This trust has been completely eroded.’

      https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/letters/article-may-18-can-anyone-imagine-how-it-feels-to-receive-a-vaccine-that-the/

      YOU F****D UP! YOU TRUSTED US!

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPJDPSUevt4

      1. I have always trusted my government.

        Anyone who still trusts their government in 2021 is a sheep and an imbecile.

      2. The AZ backpedalling is so they can funnel people to the phizer kill shot. The kontrollers know they shouldn’t kill everyone cause they’ll still need sheep to fill their private jets, fix their megayachts and brew their high end scotch.

    2. So we have gone from people tripping over each other to get the jab, to being cajoled to get it, and then being threatened (we won’t hire you unless you’ve had the jab- Delta Airlines) to get get it.

      Sounds like people around the globe might not trust the vaccines.

      1. You will eat the bugs. You will live in a tiny house. You will get the vaxx. You will not not buy Dr. Seuss books.

        1. From Crain’s New York:

          ‘Whiplash’: New mask guidance is too much too soon, public health experts say’

          “We’re afraid to leave our urine soaked mattresses!”

          1. The sex change will be paid for with other people’s money. It’s their constitutional right to have the parts that match whatever gender they want to reveal.

    1. It’s pretty interesting to see lumber starting to crater at the same time as crypto suffers a $0.50 trillion loss in one week. (At least that’s what MarketWatch reported yesterday. Seems to have been widely ignored by the MSM…guess half a trillion is chump change in the Quantitative Easing / MMT era?)

      Are crypto and lumber highly correlated asset classes? Or is it more a matter of the same group of speculators using their Powell bux to drive prices to the moon?

      1. Good to see China’s financial authorities cracking down on this speculative racket. I wonder how long it will take other countries to follow their lead.

        China bans financial, payment institutions from cryptocurrency business
        Reuters
        1 minute read
        A small toy figurine is seen on representations of the Bitcoin virtual currency displayed in front of an image of China’s flag in this illustration picture, April 9, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

        China has banned financial institutions and payment companies from providing services related to cryptocurrency transactions, and warned investors against speculative crypto trading.

        Under the ban, such institutions, including banks and online payments channels, must not offer clients any service involving cryptocurrency, such as registration, trading, clearing and settlement, three industry bodies said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

        “Recently, crypto currency prices have skyrocketed and plummeted, and speculative trading of cryptocurrency has rebounded, seriously infringing on the safety of people’s property and disrupting the normal economic and financial order,” they said in the statement.
        …

      3. I ran across this …

        “What if you could leverage your long and short positions on Bitcoin or other cryptos by 2X, 10X or even 100X, without having actually to hold the capital required in order to open such positions?

        “Welcome to our crypto margin trading guide. In this guide, you will learn what margin trading in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies is, how does it work, top exchanges enable margin trading, and most importantly – you will learn must-read tips before placing even the smallest margin position.”

        Leverage + Ignorance = Interesting Results.

        Bitcoin Margin Trading Guide & Best Exchanges (2021 Updated)
        https://cryptopotato.com/bitcoin-and-crypto-margin-trading-exchanges-and-guide-for-beginners/#:~:text=To%20open%20the%20position%2C%20the,a%20portfolio%20valued%205%20Bitcoins.

        1. Drawing a diagram of shorting and naked shorting was very informative for me.

          With no physical product, just digital, it’s just a question of getting form point A to point B with as limited exposure as possible, and as simply as possible.

        2. About the author: ” Yuval Gov has over 15 years of trading experience in the stock exchange, graduated from TAU – Economics and Management. Fell in love with the crypto space. Does Crossfit to get away from FOMO.”

          LMAO!

    2. Now you’re no longer a cheerleader chiding people, you’re stating the obvious that many of us saw long ago?

  13. Keren Horn said

    “… But there is no evidence that people are overstretching themselves financially to get these homes and that we’ll see ourselves in a foreclosure crisis….”

    It doesn’t take a PhD to figure out that “getting” a home is the easy part.

    What is never mentioned by the PhD / REIConplex are *holding costs*.

    Property taxes, Insurance, Maintenance, HOA, utilities, etc.

    Buyers aren’t stretching themselves? Who is fooling who?

    “…All of the family’s stimulus payments over the past year, more than $6,500, have gone toward home maintenance….”

    1. Correct. In 10 years I’m now already paying more for taxes and insurance than I am for the mortgage.

    2. LOL@ my “maintenance” expenses are light bulbs and cleaning supplies.

      Loanowners are such broke @ss loosers.

      2. My maintenance expense is the time it takes to text the landlord that there is a maintenance problem for him to remedy.

        1. In my experience, land lords, especially those of the corporate type, will drag their feet when things need to be fixed. I once suddenly had no water in my apartment. The management company couldn’t tell me when it would be fixed (they let me use a vacant apartment’s bathroom). After two weeks they still couldn’t tell me when it would be fixed, so I moved out.

          1. That’s why I screen my landlord better than most landlords screen their tenants.

            The HBB’s resident spokeswoman for the Maryland Association of Realtors would have you think that you’re somehow beholden to large corporate property management companies.

            I have so much money after “throwing money away on rent” every month that I don’t know where to throw it.

          2. We’ve gone with small scale investor-landlords who deal with us personally. It’s been a mutually beneficial arrangement all along…they get to keep the bubble gains, but also cover maintenance and other ownership expenses, and face the risk of investment loss if Housing Bubble 2.0 ever ends. We pay the rent and avoid ownership headaches. And if the bubble eventually implodes, I will weep tears of pity for our landlord.

  14. there are more delivery vans that now transit my street than resident vehicles. and they are so quiet. surreal.
    joked w/one driver that the military just needs to use a fleet of stealth Amazon vans for the next invasion.

    game,set & match.

    1. Filed under: “thank you, Captain Obvious.”

      “And he blames the FED.”

      More Captain Obvious. This guy’s a real clairvoyant. Was it the fact that prices have already massively eclipsed last bubble that was his first clue?

      Something I’ve noticed that’s different this time around than last time is everybody and their mother is aware of what the FED’s doing, and laying blame squarely at their feet. Even billionaire beneficiaries like Stan Druckenmiller are taking it to the FED with both barrels. The question is, when does the bought and paid for CONgress finally do something about it, if ever?

      2. The Financial Times
        US economy
        Larry Summers accuses Federal Reserve of ‘dangerous complacency’ over inflation
        Ex-Treasury secretary warns of risk US central bank will be forced into knee-jerk rate rise
        The comments from Larry Summers at a conference on Tuesday marked a significant escalation of his attacks on the Federal Reserve
        James Politi in Washington
        2 hours ago

        Lawrence Summers, the former US Treasury secretary, has sharply rebuked the Federal Reserve for its loose monetary policies, accusing the central bank of creating a “dangerous complacency” in financial markets and misreading the economy.

        The comments from Summers at a conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta marked a significant escalation of his attacks on the US central bank. The Harvard University economist and former top Democratic presidential adviser had already criticised Joe Biden’s fiscal stimulus as overly excessive earlier this year.

        Summers said monetary and fiscal policymakers had “underestimated the risks, very substantially, both to financial stability as well as to conventional inflation of protracted extremely low interest rates”.

        The Fed has vowed to keep US interest rates on hold close to zero until the recovery hits certain milestones, including full employment, while predicting that spikes in inflation will be transitory. The latest median forecast from the central bank’s officials shows rock-bottom rates remaining in place until at least 2024.

        “Policy projections suggesting that rates may not be raised for . . . close to three years are creating a dangerous complacency,” Summers said, adding that the Fed could be forced into a knee-jerk tightening of monetary policy that would spook markets and even hurt the real economy.

        “When, as I think is quite likely, there is a strong need to adjust policy, those adjustments will come as a surprise.” That “jolt” would do “real damage to financial stability, and may do real damage to the economy”, Summers warned.
        …

        1. “…warns of risk US central bank will be forced into knee-jerk rate rise…”

          I don’t get this. Doesn’t the Fed have all the levers needed to control interest rates indefinitely at whatever levels they choose?

          1. Larry Summers has an admirable reputation for sharing what’s on his mind without concern for political repercussions or cancellation. It’s cost him a couple of career hits, but he’s had no problem landing on his feet…

  17. This guy is an economist and saying crap like this? Yeah he is either the dumbest, most willfully ignorant economist ever or he is trying to be the next FED chairman and practicing his gaslighting now.

    UMass Boston economics professor Keren Horn, doesn’t believe this is a bubble. Horn has been looking at the types of transactions taking place. ‘I really don’t think it’s driven by speculation or unreasonable expectations. I think people just want more housing and there’s not enough supply. In some cases, yes, I think people are putting themselves in positions that are untenable,’ Horn said. ‘But there is no evidence that people are overstretching themselves financially to get these homes and that we’ll see ourselves in a foreclosure crisis.’”

    1. “Subprime is contained.”

      These guys are pathological liars. They have no problem going in front of the camera and lying through their teeth the entire time.

      1. They are just using what works.

        Words are cheap. Utter a series of well-selected cheap words and – presto! – truck loads of money flow in your direction.

        Easy peasy.

        1. I don’t know what “?cx_testId=22&cx_testVariant=cx_1&cx_artPos=2&mod=home-page-cx#cxrecs_s” does but it takes only a few seconds to trim that garbage off of a URL.

          Posting clean links denies them data they can use to exploit you. This is why I use the archive website.

          1. I tried what you suggested, but the link didn’t work after cleaning. May have done it wrong…

          2. …jobs-and-easy-policy-11621351060?cx_testId=22&cx_testVariant=cx_1&cx_artPos=2&mod=home-page-cx#cxrecs_s

            Snip starting at the question mark.

  18. Are you worried that the massive pandemic stimulus rally since March 2020, which nobody could have seen coming, might not last forever?

    1. The Financial Times
      Markets Briefing Equities
      Wall St stocks waver as investors fear rally’s end
      Oil and gold rise as traders buy commodities to hedge inflation risks
      Fears of sustained inflation in the US is also suppressing gains
      Naomi Rovnick 2 hours ago

      Wall Street stock markets wavered on Tuesday as investors questioned whether a lengthy equity rally boosted by monetary and fiscal stimulus would last much longer.

      Fears of sustained inflation in the US also suppressed gains, while driving up prices of oil and gold that investors purchase to safeguard their portfolios against future inflationary shocks.

      The blue-chip S&P 500 index traded flat in early Wall Street dealings, and the technology-focused Nasdaq Composite added 0.4 per cent. Europe’s Stoxx 600 rose just 0.1 per cent.

      The S&P 500 has gained about 85 per cent since last March, boosted by the Federal Reserve’s $120bn of monthly asset purchases, trillions of dollars in government economic stimulus and effective coronavirus vaccines.

      Investors were now struggling to assess whether the lengthy market rally had much further to run, said Francesco Sandrini, senior multi-asset strategist at Amundi.

      “We are standing on a very foggy plateau and we cannot see if we can go up higher or we are coming to a descent,” Sandrini said. “But I am cautious that the cycle is changing,” he added, with the dominant narrative in US stock markets moving to one of a slowing recovery combined with higher inflation that would erode the real returns from stocks and bonds.
      …

  19. Forgive the long post but I felt this is important to address because someone has been on here claiming to be a biomedical expert for over a year pontificating about what everyone in society should be doing regarding covid and their health and commented yesterday as follows (relevant references follow):

    “Seriously, does ANYONE bother to do ANY thinking around here? 🙄 Flu and COVID are not the same disease, so they do not spread the same way. Flu spreads by touching your nose with contaminated fingers. COVID spreads on aerosolized droplets. I’m pretty sure a mask knows the difference between a finger and a microdroplet.”

    This is just a sampling, the list could have been much longer:

    High infectivity and pathogenicity of influenza A virus via aerosol and droplet transmission
    Peter F M Teunis  1 , Nicole Brienen, Mirjam E E Kretzschmar

    Influenza virus may be transmitted through the respiratory route by inhalation of an aerosol of non-sedimenting droplets, or by deposition of sedimenting droplets in the upper respiratory tract.

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21352792/

    Influenza in Children
    Virendra Kumar 

    Transmission of influenza occurs through droplets from infected person or through direct contact with person or fomites.

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27641976/

    Overview of influenza viruses
    Stephan Pleschka 

    Aerosol droplets transmit the virus that causes a respiratory disease in humans that can lead to severe pneumonia and ultimately death.

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23124938/

    Influenza
    Sameh W. Boktor  , John W. Hafner 

    These viruses are transmissible through respiratory droplets expelled from the mouth and respiratory system during coughing, talking, and sneezing.

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29083802/

    H1N1 Influenza
    Talha N. Jilani  1 , Radia T. Jamil  2 , Abdul H. Siddiqui  3

    However, the 2009 H1N1 virus was not zoonotic swine flu because it was not transferred from pigs to humans. Instead, it spread through airborne droplets from human to human, and potentially, through human contact with inanimate objects contaminated with the virus and transferred to the eyes or nose.

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30020613/

    Influenza A virus transmission via respiratory aerosols or droplets as it relates to pandemic potential
    Mathilde Richard and Ron A.M. Fouchier

    It is without any doubt that influenza viruses of subtypes H1N1, H2N2 and H3N2 can be transmitted via respiratory droplets or aerosols between humans and other mammals, as it has been shown during previous pandemics and outbreaks in animals, and in the laboratory using animal models.

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26385895/

    Aerosol transmission of influenza A virus: a review of new studies
    Raymond Tellier  1

    These include direct demonstration of the presence of influenza viruses in aerosolized droplets from the tidal breathing of infected persons and in the air of an emergency department; the establishment of the guinea pig model for influenza transmission, where it was shown that aerosol transmission is important

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19773292/

          1. Given the non-narrative compliant topics that Ben allows us to discuss, I’m not so sure casual readers would agree.

    2. pontificating about what everyone in society should be doing

      It’s a catechism, or statement of belief. As such, repeating it is not intended to bring clarity and conformity to the hearer, but to the speaker.

      1. Don’t read the popular press or online rags for information on medical or scientific topics. Writers are not experts, scientists or physicians. Even lots of scientists aren’t really scientists. And of course, many MDs aren’t really physicians.

      2. All this attention on transmission and masks ignores the fact that we have highly evolved immune systems to deal with these things.

        1. What I find ignored is that the government can turn this crisis off now at will. We’ve noted that any cause of death is Covid, no matter what else was going on. We’ve noted that the PCR test with 40+ CT was entirely bogus. Both those things appear to be changing now for the vaccinated.

          I suspect that the vax program will be made to look a great success, victory will be declared and we can all leave home!

          1. turn this crisis off now at will

            CA’s Health and Human Services Secretary won’t implement CDC’s mask guidelines until June 15 even though the state supposedly has among the lowest case and positivity rates in the nation. Science!

          2. One of my counterparts running a job in NY texted me a pic last night of a sign on Walmart saying you don’t need a mask if you’ve been vaccinated. I was quite surprised.

    4. LOL@ I just went to Walmart and was about 1 in 10 not wearing a mask. Then I went to King Soopers (Kroger) less than a mile away and put on a mask because The Science™.

      Clown World gonna clown.

      1. Then I went to King Soopers (Kroger) less than a mile away and put on a mask because The Science™.

        I was in Kings yesterday and saw plenty of people not wearing a mask.

        1. We had a good laugh with Costco checkers this morning over the ridiculousness. They said that they have people tell them not to touch food, like dozens of other people haven’t already touched it.

      1. Get your Medical Advice HERE–Straight off the presses! But given that many supposedly educated people believe in Globull Warming and the existence of “transgender” people, the only accurate conclusion is that humanity is doomed and the internet is hastening its demise.

        Oh, and given that half of America has Trump Derangement Syndrome and that the entire Democratic Party voted to impeach Trump, can we just all agree that “1984” has arrived. Truth is lies, up is down, hate is love, and all white people are racissss.

        1. I agree with you that its a 1984 type fake news with a cult like mind control based on fear mongering and false narratives, bringing out the worse in human potential.
          I like to hear different opinions to see just how much the bizarre narratives are working.

          I, like many people at first though that maybe China unleashed a bio weapon virus on the US. But the evidence started adding up that this was a pre planned fraudulent Medical Pandemic event along with the rigged election. Lockdowns and useless mask wearing to combat the invisible enemy used as a weapon of mass destruction and control, with a timed takeover by fake news, censoring any dispute.Global vaccination wasn’t justified , and bribing the Medical systems to report all deaths as Covid was obvious.
          Now its the vaccinated against the non vaccinated with the Puppet President Biden trying to punish people that don’t exactly want to be a guinea pig to some new technology by Big Pharmacy, that kills 250 thousand a year in the US by adverse reactions to percribed drugs. The lock downs filtered money to the big monopolies, while it destroyed alternative smaller business .
          And how ridicules was it that people were allowed to go shop at groceries stores and Big Monopoly outlets while they implied that the masks and 6 feet apart only worked in Big Monopoly outlets.
          And it was ok to let up on lock downs when the army of communist thugs went to riot over racial issues, that Big Corporations donated to that endorsed lawlessness and terror from these goons.
          The evidence shows that Big Monopolies are working together , with the Medical Monopoly Fraud being the biggest weapon of Tyranny, with Big Corporations wanting to enforce this medical dictorship and power grab by this insurrection by a One World Order of Monopoly control.
          While these Entities have been working for years now in a undercurrent way to take over, its only now that they have exposed the degree of their One World Order plan to take over the US Constitutional Republic.
          Their false narratives are so absurd and they get more absurd by the day. They have obviously corrupted Government , and they are coming after the first and second amendments, and all freedoms.
          The biggest need right now is to bring back the vote not being rigged. The Swamp needs to be taken out along with all corrupted Government agencies that are working on behalf of this One World order insurrection by Psychopaths.

          1. The biggest need right now is to bring back the vote not being rigged.

            I’m sure the left is doing everything possible to make sure that doesn’t happen

  21. Ooooo, Uber and Lyft offering free rides to get the vaxx.

    Ok then.
    1. Im 800 miles from OH but I choose to get my vaxx there so I can win the lotto. Pick me up.
    2. Take me home but get me my donut on the way home
    3. Mark of the Beast very trendy.
    4. My body my choice. Biden told me I will pay a price. Bc Freedom

    1. The death rate is high, the vax rate is low
      And you’re confused on which way to go
      So I’ve come here to give you a hand
      And lead you into the promised land, so

      Come on and take a free ride
      Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

      Free Ride | The Edgar Winter Group

      https://youtu.be/qHWjxPayrYs

  22. Great cover Great video

    Until I saw the list in the comments section quite a few of the photos had me stumped but none more than than James Dean at 7:10

    Marilyn Monroe died from an accidental overdose, sure she did. 0:40

    Otis Taylor – Hey Joe – Rare Photos

    Claudia de Magalhães
    2 years ago (edited)

    The complete list:
    0:01 Jerry Hall e Mick Jagger
    0:05 Clint Eastwood
    0:10 Twiggy
    0:15 Dennis Hopper
    0:20 Brigitte Bardot
    0:25 Frank Sinatra
    0:30 Mohamed Ali / Cassius Clay
    0:35 Charlie Chaplin e Paulette Goddard
    0:40 Marylin Monroe e J.F. Kennedy
    0:45 David Bowie e Elizabeth Taylor
    0:50 Iggy Pop
    0:55 Lou Reed
    1:00 Rod Stewart e Bebe Buell (Liv Tyler’s mother)
    1:05 Nixon e Elvis Presley
    1:10 David Bowie
    1:15 Queen Elizabeth II e Marilyn Monroe
    1:20 Jane Fonda
    1:25 Michael e Kirk Douglas
    1:30 Elvis Presley e Natalie Wood
    1:35 Kate Moss, Johnny Depp e Iggy Pop
    1:40 Marlon Brando
    1:45 Don Johnson e Melanie Griffith
    1:50 Cassius Clay e Sammy Davis Jr.
    1:55 Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. e Frank Sinatra (The Rat Pack)
    2:00 Star Wars Actors
    2:05 Don Johnson e Melanie Griffith
    2:10 Eric Clapton e George Harrison
    2:15 Kurt Cobain
    2:20 Michael Caine e Nancy Sinatra
    2:25 Frank Sinatra
    2:30 Steven Tyler (Aerosmith)
    2:35 Sonny & Cher e Bob Dylan
    2:40 David Bowie, Iggy Pop e Lou Reed
    2:45 Yoko Ono, Andy Warhol e John Lennon
    2:50 Elvis Presley
    2:55 James Dean e Natalie Wood
    3:00 Bonnie & Clyde
    3:05 Cassius Clay
    3:10 Charles Manson
    3:15 The Manson Family
    3:20 Jack Nicholson, Lauren Bacall e Warren Beatty
    3:25 Marilyn Monroe
    3:30 Charlie Chaplin e Marlene Dietrich
    3:35 Andy Warhol e Isabelle Collin Dufresne (aka “Ultra Violet”)
    3:40 Elvis Presley e Barbara Stanwyck
    3:45 Johnny Depp e Winona Ryder
    3:50 Mickey Rourke e Charles Bukowski
    3:55 Diana Ross e ‎Brooke Shields‎
    4:00 Clint Eastwood e Maggie Johnson
    4:05 Che Guevara
    4:10 Jack Nicholson
    4:15 John Voight e Angelina Jolie
    4:20 Salvador Dali
    4:25 Elvis Presley
    4:30 Michael Jackson
    4:35 Iggy Pop e David Bowie
    4:40 Marlon Brando
    4:45 Sean Connery e Brigitte Bardot
    4:50 Christopher Walken
    4:55 Salvador Dali
    5:00 Alfred Hitchcock
    5:05 Stephen Stills e Jimmi Hendrix
    5:10 John Travolta
    5:15 Woody Allen e Diane Keaton
    5:20 Johnny Depp e Winona Ryder
    5:25 Bob Dylan e Neil Young
    5:30 James Dean
    5:35 Marylin Monroe
    5:40 Anthony Perkins e Audrey Hepburn
    5:45 James Dean
    5:50 Charles Manson
    5:55 Jimmy Page
    6:00 Che Guevara
    6:05 Andy Warhol e The Velvet Underground
    6:10 James Dean
    6:15 Liza Minelli e Judy Garland
    6:20 Mick Jagger
    6:25 Freddy Mercury e Jane Seymour
    6:30 Pablo Picasso
    6:35 Jack Nickolson
    6:40 Sean Penn
    6:45 Marlon Brando e Frank Sinatra
    6:50 Churchill
    6:55 Hitler
    7:00 Jeremy Irons e Meryl Streep
    7:05 Alice Cooper
    7:10 James Dean
    7:15 James Dean

    https://youtu.be/woaX1ImmpDE

  24. Utah: (Draper, Sandy, Cottonwood Heights)
    I forgot to mention what we saw at the open houses this past weekend in my loooong post yesterday about Utah. I went to 4 open houses Saturday. There were no swarms of people. All the open houses we’ve attended prior to Mother’s Day weekend were swarming with people – so many people. Not anymore. We were the only ones there, and I stick around for awhile to interrogate the realtors about the shifting market 🙂 As we were leaving we did see a car pull up at 2 of the open houses. Did someone flip a switch? Are some buyers (at least at the higher end of the market) standing back on the sidelines until forebearance ends?

  25. Real Journalists:

    “After the CDC said fully vaccinated people don’t need masks outside last week, she decided to walk barefaced in her neighborhood.

    Then a man with two children, all masked, darted into the street to avoid her. When she told him there was new guidance, the man told Kee she was lying and he hoped her family would get sick and die.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/cdc-mask-guidelines-confuse-americans/2021/05/15/e6d37726-b4f1-11eb-ab43-bebddc5a0f65_story.html

    Sounds like a Democrat Party thing.

    1. ALRIGHT, that’s enough breathing for you, you little fuq#er!

      “Jacob Schwandt, a 26-year-old government and civics teacher at Oldham County High School near Louisville”

      “The amount of time I spend each day prompting students to pull their mask up or put their mask back on is staggering,” he said.

      1. What a little b*tch. As a teacher,I despise many of my colleagues bc of their Marxist-lite ideology enabled through a no-need-to-competr govjob-fo-life-brah, but the blindly obedient young are the worst. 10 to 1 that guys’ students could whoop his butt if they decided to.

  26. Sounds like a Clownifornia thang:

    “Initial shots were fired at the bus when it was traveling eastbound on Interstate 580 at the Seminary Avenue off-ramp, according to a statement from CHP. A second shooting occurred shortly after near Foothill Boulevard at 68th Avenue.

    The East Bay Times reported that authorities said “someone in another vehicle began shooting at the bus on the freeway and the suspects followed the bus off I-580 and shot at them some more on city streets, near 68th Avenue and Foothill Boulevard.”

    https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/party-bus-shooting-Oakland-21st-birthday-16184984.php

    1. No description of who was partying on the bus. I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess they were vibrants.

  27. “Woke” companies lose money. “Woke” militaries lose wars.

    Purge at the Pentagon: Outrage as Defense Secretary’s woke race adviser plans trawl of military personnel’s social media for ‘extremist and concerning behavior’ – using private company to circumvent the First Amendment

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9591775/Pentagon-trawl-military-personnels-social-media-extremist-activity.html

    The Pentagon is planning to ‘continuously’ trawl the social media accounts of military personnel for ‘extremist behavior and views’ – and will use a private security company to shield itself from concerns that it’s violating First Amendment rights.

    The pilot program, which is being created as part of the Biden administration’s plan to crack down on domestic extremism, will result in the ongoing monitoring of military personnel for ‘concerning behaviors’, according to sources and internal documents obtained by The Intercept.

  28. Would now be an excellent time to buy the dip in stonks and crypto, just before they rocket to unprecedented heights?

  29. Even California used home sellers association members seem to sense the market has left the tracks behind.
    …
    California’s median home price broke last month’s record and set another new record high in April as the statewide median price surged more than 34 percent from a year ago. The statewide median home price climbed 7.2 percent on a month-to-month basis to $813,980 in April, up from March’s $758,990 and up 34.2 percent from the $606,410 recorded last April. The year-over-year price gain was the highest ever recorded, and it was the first time since June 2013 that the state recorded an annual increase of over 30 percent.

    “Not only do skyrocketing home prices threaten already-low homeownership levels and make it harder for those who don’t already have a home to purchase one, it also brings to question the sustainability of this market cycle,” said C.A.R. Vice President and Chief Economist Jordan Levine. “As vaccination rates increase and the state reopens fully, higher home prices will hopefully entice prospective sellers who have held off putting their homes on the market during the pandemic to feel more comfortable listing their homes for sale, which would alleviate pressure on home prices.”
    …

    1. As vaccination rates increase and the state reopens fully

      No. As mortgage forbearances expire.

Comments are closed.