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The Writing Appears On The Wall

A report from the Globe and Mail. “About 500 investors, many from South Florida’s Venezuelan American community, were taken in by Efrain Betancourt Jr.’s sales pitch of high-interest returns on their investments in his short-term loan operation Sky Group USA. Mr. Betancourt spent a portion of the US$66-million raised from promissory notes on a lavish lifestyle that included a Miami waterfront condo and a wedding to his fourth wife in Monaco, the SEC complaint charges. It also accuses him of transferring money to his ex-wife and friends and of using at least US$19-million from a Ponzi-style scheme to make interest payments to some investors to keep them at bay.”

“Mr. Diaz’s client, Andres Zorrilla, told the newspaper he became suspicious when Mr. Betancourt wouldn’t take his calls and ignored his e-mails when he tried to withdraw US$30,000. ‘The guy was just stealing money, said Mr. Zorilla, 38, who added that he also referred his wife, her brother and several other business associates to Mr. Betancourt’s company. All together, Mr. Zorrilla and his immediate family invested US$150,000 in the company. They received some interest payments, but lost all of their principal. ‘He made a lot of money and went a little crazy with the money,’ Mr. Zorrilla said.”

The Los Angeles Times in California. “After a half-decade of criminal charges and court battles, the half-finished mega-mansion of developer Mohamed Hadid has sold at auction for $5 million. Next, it will be destroyed. The company tied to Hadid was eventually forced to put it on the market for $8.5 million. With no takers, the price was eventually lowered to $5.5 million before it was auctioned off.”

“Records show the buyer is Sahara Construction Co. Proceeds from the sale were originally supposed to fund the property’s demolition, but because the winning bid came in short of the listing price, Sahara agreed to foot the bill.”

From My South Texas. “Houston-based Commercial Real Estate Firm McLeod Sears, who has also developed the old Kmart area in Portland, is looking at 44 acres of vacant retail property at the northeast corner of U.S. 181 near Walmart. Portland resident Antonio Chia spoke during the public hearing and said, ‘I recently bought a home about three years ago and I’m very, very happy where I’m at and I know Portland is growing and I love it. But the people that live here have noticed a big problem, especially on the exit coming out of Walmart and putting more traffic lights like the images show will just cause more of a bottleneck. And flooding is a problem in that area. A few years ago, we had a tremendous amount of rain and everything flooded, so that’s a major issue.'”

“He also said that with more retail stores come more shoplifters and more foot traffic to the area which may lead to more break-ins to the homes already in the area. ‘I don’t know much about property value, but with all that noise and business coming, who’s going to want to buy my home later on if I try to move. Who’s going to want to put up with all that noise?'”

From Mortgage Professional America. “Searching for resources to avoid foreclosure against a backdrop of pandemic can be a daunting and humbling task for a typical homeowner. Now, enter the aptly named Cakeforms software to make the process a little sweeter. The Cakeforms Automated Underwriter for Mortgage Assistance is designed to let vulnerable homeowners know immediately if they are pre-approved for the new COVID-19 mortgage recovery programs created by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA.”

“There are still more than one million – some 2.7 million at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic – locked into forebearance agreements, a temporary program that put a stop to mortgage payments to allow people to recover economically from the corrosive economic effects of the pandemic. But those programs are about to end for many.”

“‘Their lender can only pause the foreclosure and those payments for so long, and usually that period of time is between 12 to 18 months, max,’ Cakeforms CEO Allan Robinson told Mortgage Professional America. ‘Once the forbearance nears expiration, something has to be done. Either the lender forecloses, or the homeowner is transitioned into a long-term, loss mitigation option.'”

“Sadly, not all will weather the storm – with or without his software: ‘When they declared the COVID emergency on March 01, 2020, you had to be less than 60 days delinquent. So, you could only have missed one payment or you didn’t qualify for the program,’ Robinson explained. ‘So there’s going to be lots of people that fall through the cracks, basically.'”

From AFP on China. “Shares in embattled Chinese property giant Evergrande tumbled 10 percent in Thursday morning trade in Hong Kong, after a report the group had failed to meet two more offshore payments. Both payments, dollar-bond coupon payments worth a combined $250 million, have a 30-day grace period. Earlier struggles to pay suppliers and contractors due to the debt crisis led to sustained protests from homebuyers and investors at the group’s Shenzhen headquarters in September.”

From News.com.au. “It has been a year from hell for Chinese property juggernaut Evergrande, with its billionaire founder losing a staggering $US17.2 billion as the firm nears collapse. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Chinese real estate tycoons lost $US46 billion this year. ‘If any investor still had hopes then that Evergrande was too big to fail, those are far gone now,’ Bloomberg’s Venus Feng wrote, noting the developer’s ‘debt and shares are trading near record lows.'”

“It comes as Chinese creditors have sued Evergrande for more than $US13 billion in allegedly overdue payments, the Financial Times reports. According to documents seen by the publication, a Chinese court has accepted a whopping 367 cases against Evergrande. Insiders claiming it is one of the biggest indicators yet that local creditors have lost confidence in the firm’s ability to handle the ongoing crisis.”

“IG markets analyst Kyle Rodda told news.com.au it had been a horror year for the property juggernaut. ‘Basically, as we’ve been expecting, the company is going through a controlled collapse, and it’s technically defaulting on its debt now,’ he said. ‘Via various channels, many of which are a little opaque, the company has been able to meet some of its obligations, and isn’t completely illiquid yet. But the writing appears on the wall.'”

“Mr Rodda predicted moving forward, there would be a co-ordination by Chinese authorities to ‘sell-off the company’s good assets, pay back bond holders with quite a hair cut, and ensure that incomplete projects are largely finished’ to avoid putting too much stress on the property market.”

Related Posts

Where Did The Buyers Go?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFWp8bJP3-s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FVsg9XlRns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBiiO4EmRzE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u0v5d2s1To

This Post Has 121 Comments

  1. ‘he also referred his wife, her brother and several other business associates to Mr. Betancourt’s company…They received some interest payments, but lost all of their principal’

    Well that was an awkward Thanksgiving dinner.

  3. ‘Proceeds from the sale were originally supposed to fund the property’s demolition, but because the winning bid came in short of the listing price, Sahara agreed to foot the bill’

    Sold for less than it will cost to tear it down. That’s some red hotcakes right there.

    1. It’s not going to cost $5M to tear the structure down. It will probably cost half a million and the $5M was for the 1.22 acres. The property itself isn’t all that great. It’s the peak of a hill and faces away from the LA skyline, i.e. hard to build and no million-dollar view. Looks like houses in the neighborhood run $5M – $10M. Maybe Sahara can build a house for $2M and sell for $11M or so and make some profit. IMO anything is better than leaving it as it is.

      1. He also illegally tore out much of the hillside, which I’m assuming the new owners will need to undo. And I’m guessing that will require lots of reinforcement with concrete columns and retaining walls. It’s gonna cost a fortune.

  5. 465,670 new “cases” of COVID reported in the U.S. yesterday, according to the Worldometers site, an all time daily high.

    Imagine still believing that a reported “case” actually means anything, because it doesn’t. COVID didn’t destroy the economy, government destroyed the economy. The U.S. Constitution does not contain a pandemic clause.

    We’re taking our country back. Globalists, GFY.

    1. This morning I was within ear shot of fox business. I’d bet if you counted the number of times covid, vaccine, pandemic, omicon was said it would be in the hundreds. This isn’t “reporting”, it’s beating the drum of lies and propaganda. Do you really need to say something hundreds of times for an audience to get the gist? Obviously not.

      The death shot is not a vaccine. So have you wondered why they haven’t started on a real “covid-19” vaccine? Because they’ve tried covid vaccines before and the test subjects died and they concluded it was impossible.

      1. In the ten days prior to Christmas, I watched / heard more corporate TeeVee than in the ten years prior to that. And sadly, much of this in the company of an older relative who watches between eight to twelve hours of TeeVee a day, every day.

        One thing I noticed is that at the introduction of every segment about CCP Flu, the producers (regardless of which channel) air almost the same montage of fear porn imagery.

        Locations are never identified, and faces are never shown, but it’s always the same murky swirl of what appears to be patients in ICU beds hooked up to tubes and machines, medical staff wearing full PPE including face shields and Tyvek suits.

        This is sh*tty journalism at its best, and the saddest thing, as evidenced by the avid viewing of someone now experiencing post-retirement cognitive decline, is that it works.

        Eight to twelve hours a day of this TeeVee, every day.

          1. Azz in chair, hand on the remote, eyes on the tube, eight to twelve hours a day.

            Not just watching, we’re talking sucked into the vortex of the endless YouTube algorithm, Rachel Maddow begets more The Young Turks begets more Don Lemon.

      2. This morning I was within ear shot of fox business

        I have been avoiding broadcast TeeVee since Omicron began, as I knew it would be a barrage of propaganda. When I read about getting as many as possible tested before Christmas, I knew that the purpose was to maximize the number of “cases”. I’ll bet that the lion’s share of those who have been testing “positive” have no symptoms whatsoever, in other words, they are NOT sick.

        1. Remember the stories last year of people who did not show up for their Covid test, but who were later contacted and told that they tested “positive”.

        2. I thought everyone was getting tested because they needed a negative test to travel, or because family demanded a negative test to have dinner or whatever. I’m sure the CDC secretly knows that there’s no containing this one, which is why they are comfortable with shortening the quarantine time. But they have to keep up the charade.

          1. getting tested because they needed a negative test to travel
            If you have not watched Dr. Campbell today he essentially says All vaccines and PRIOR infection all work to fight the Omicron to prevent serious disease. (goes into B & T cells). Data from South Africa.
            He also chastises the MSM for sensationalism the Omicron. Also gets on the Biden Admin. for lack of testing supplies. Sounds like HBB when, after saying how ill-prepared the Biden Admin was, he says ( paraphrasing ) “Everyone watching this channel knew that Omicron was going to blow up in the states a month ago.”

        3. You and everyone else stopped watching. Tv news ratings are tanking so they try to sell sensationalism.

          The surge in cases is real. Some of them will get really sick even though many will have the sniffles for 3 days. My high BMI relative on my dads side right now has it, with the pneumonia, and is in awful shape and is monitoring her o2 praying to god that number doesn’t drop into the 80’s which means hospitalization and probably a vent given her overall health.

    2. Real Journalists.

      New York Times — As At-Home Tests Surge, Doubts Rise About Accuracy of Public Covid Counts (12/30/2021):

      “Millions of rapid at-home Covid tests are flying off pharmacy shelves across the country, giving Americans an instant, if sometimes imperfect, read on whether they are infected with the coronavirus.

      But the results are rarely reported to public health departments, exacerbating the longstanding challenges of maintaining an accurate count of cases at a time when the number of infections is surging because of the Omicron variant.

      At the minimum, the widespread availability of at-home tests is wreaking havoc with the accuracy of official positivity rates and case counts. At the other extreme, it is one factor making some public health experts raise a question that once would have been unthinkable: Do counts of coronavirus cases serve a useful purpose, and if not, should they be continued?”

      https://archive.fo/aS4FF

      This is what losing control of #TheNarrative looks like.

      1. Real Journalists.

        Washington Post — Coronavirus risk calculations get harder as a study suggests rapid tests may be less effective at detecting omicron (12/29/2021):

        “As the coronavirus spawns a record-breaking wave of infections, new research suggests that rapid tests widely used to identify potential covid-19 cases might be less effective at identifying illness caused by the swiftly spreading omicron variant.

        The finding is the latest complication for anyone trying to strike a common-sense balance between being vigilant and returning to normalcy as the country approaches the third year of the pandemic.

        The research, issued Tuesday by the Food and Drug Administration and produced by the National Institutes of Health, said the rapid antigen tests — which have been in high demand and often hard to find this holiday season — “do detect the omicron variant but may have reduced sensitivity.”

        https://archive.fo/XmSBO

        This is what losing control of #TheNarrative looks like.

        1. Awesome. So the false negatives can cancel out the false positives and we’ll have a real number. (I’m being half-facetious.) At this point, the more Omicron cases, the better. Every Omicron case is a case that isn’t Delta, and one case closer to herd immunity. Data from South Africa and the UK is very encouraging.

      2. This is what losing control of #TheNarrative looks like.

        The intent is to create a panic with the inflated case numbers, which so far hasn’t happened. I dropped someone off at the airport yesterday. Other than the masks it looked business as usual. No one was social distancing in the lines or anywhere else. TSA could have opened more switchbacks at the checkpoints to enable social distancing, but they couldn’t be bothered, everyone was jam packed into the line.

  6. ‘Chinese real estate tycoons lost $US46 billion this year’

    Are we there yet?

    ‘If any investor still had hopes then that Evergrande was too big to fail, those are far gone now’

    I wonder where they got that idea Venus? Pooh bear killed the housing bubble (it would’ve popped eventually anyway), and the globalist scum media were in denial until now.

    We aren’t seeing behind the scenes. I still suspect pooh bear finally saw this south park episode:

    ‘”Gnomes” satirizes the common complaint that large corporations lack consciences and drive seemingly wholesome smaller independent companies out of business. Paul Cantor described the episode as “the most fully developed defense of capitalism” ever produced by the show, because of various themes in the episode. In the episode, smaller businesses are portrayed as being at least as greedy as their corporate counterparts, while their products are of lower quality compared to the products offered by large corporations. The episode is also known for the nonsensical business plan that the gnomes of the title devise (whose three steps consist of “Collect underpants”, “?”, “Profit”), which later became a common meme used to mock poorly-thought-out business and political strategies.’

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnomes_(South_Park)

  7. ‘‘When they declared the COVID emergency on March 01, 2020, you had to be less than 60 days delinquent. So, you could only have missed one payment or you didn’t qualify for the program,’ Robinson explained. ‘So there’s going to be lots of people that fall through the cracks’

    This is interesting, cuz it means lots of people were in default prior to CCP virus.

    March 26, 2020

    “As America heads into a deep recession, the $11 trillion residential-mortgage market is in crisis. Investors who buy home loans packaged into bonds are dumping even those with federal backing because of panic that millions might not make their payments. Yet one risky sector had started to show cracks long before the coronavirus pandemic sparked the worst financial meltdown in 12 years: the federal government’s largest affordable-housing program, whose lenient terms are geared toward marginal borrowers.”

    “As real estate prices soared in recent years, working-class adults everywhere have increasingly relied on mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration — and U.S. taxpayers. Since 2007, the FHA’s portfolio has tripled in value to more than $1.2 trillion, almost 11% of the market. While private lenders make these loans, they are packaged into Ginnie Mae bonds, common in mutual funds and pensions.”

    “Before Covid-19 started roiling China, a November FHA report found that 27% of borrowers last year spent more than half their incomes on debt, a level it describes as ‘unprecedented.’ The share of FHA loans souring in their first six months has doubled over the last three years to almost 1%.”

    “Not long ago, Alex Castillo drove his shiny black Infiniti SUV through an office park north of the San Antonio airport, along a busy seven-mile stretch of highway that loan officers call ‘Mortgage Row’ because of its abundance of small independent mortgage companies that dominate FHA lending. Castillo, who has the words ‘The Dream Starts Here’ stitched into his jacket, works for Pennsylvania-based American Residential Lending. Oddly, amid the pandemic, his business is booming. His customers locked in FHA mortgages after interest rates plunged this month — adding to federally backed mortgage debt.”

    “‘If the government tells me you’re good enough to get a loan, I have to trust and believe in the government,’ Castillo said. ‘Then we just hope and pray that the client doesn’t get foreclosed on.’”

    “In downtown San Antonio, scores of investors stood on a parched lawn beside the city’s historic granite-and-red-sandstone courthouse. It was the first Tuesday of February, the day of the foreclosure auction. Matt Badders, a San Antonio lawyer who represents lenders, auctioned off two houses. The failed mortgages remind him of the run-up to the financial crisis 12 years ago, when lending to customers with spotty credit nearly brought down the world’s financial system. ‘We’re almost back to 2007, when mortgage originators are waking people up on park benches, saying sign here,’ Badders said.”

    “At the auction, the crowd bid on 338 homes, a third with FHA mortgages, according to Roddy’s Foreclosure Listing Service. One house had dual master bedrooms, a game room and granite kitchen counters. It sold for $202,000 — $52,000 less than the homeowner borrowed only two years ago. The taxpayer-backed FHA insurance fund will take a loss.”

    “Dave Stevens, FHA commissioner under President Barack Obama and former chief executive officer of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said a recession will expose hidden risks in home lending. ‘This should be an alarm bell to policymakers,’ Stevens said. ‘Sometimes you get blinded by a good economy and suddenly look at it and see a bubble of defaults coming.’”

    “The federal government has decided it doesn’t want to pursue — and has asked a judge to dismiss — a lawsuit against Utah-based Academy Mortgage Corp. The judge refused. The suit claims the company’s staff would repeatedly feed information into an automated federal underwriting system, manipulating it until the computer gave the green light. ‘Decline is a curse word,’ Plaintiff Gwen Thrower, a former underwriter, quoted a manager as saying. ‘We don’t use it.’”

    http://housingbubble.blog/?p=3070

    1. lots of people that fall through the cracks’
      I received this email notice from Auction.com this morning
      “2022 Inventory Increase Alert” followed by a list of properties in my listed areas.
      So the foreclosures are apparently ramping up.

    2. Several analysts are predicting a market crash in 2Q 2022. There have been signs of a blow-off market top for at least a year now, but Jay has been able to stave off a crash by printing money and exporting the resulting consumer inflation. They can’t do that anymore. Inflation has come home to the masses.

      The end of Q1 is also the end of the last scraps of pandemic aid. No more moratoriums for rent or mortgages, no more unemployment, no more stimmie checks, no BBB, no more child tax credit, no more QE. With nothing to prop the economy, it will have to stand on its own two feet, which of course it can’t do. However, IMO if there’s a crash, it will be delayed to Q3 due to a post-pandemic optimism rally.

      2. Talked to a Vanguard advisor yesterday they don’t think inflation will be as bad as it was in the 1970’s. But who knows ?

      3. “…end of the last scraps of pandemic aid.”

        There’s no reason the expiration date can’t be postponed.

    3. “cuz it means lots of people were in default prior to CCP virus.”

      Precisely. Keep in mind the majority of borrowers have been maintaining cashflow only via cash out, no doc, no appraisal refis since 2014.

      Chula Vista, CA Housing Prices Crater 25% YOY As San Diego Subprime Mortgage Implosion Accelerates

      https://www.movoto.com/chula-vista-ca/market-trends/

  8. ‘with all that noise and business coming, who’s going to want to buy my home later on if I try to move. Who’s going to want to put up with all that noise?’

    You got schlonged Tony.

    2. Tony- “Mr. Realtor, I see a Walmart from the backyard of this house and a giant open field right next to it.”
      Realtor- “That’s right Tony you can walk to Walmart and get whatever you need.”
      Tony- “And what about that huge field right next to it?”
      Realtor- “Oh that will probably never be developed.”
      Tony- “Even though it’s huge and right next to a Walmart?”
      Realtor- “That’s right Tony. Trust me!”

        1. Tony- “Mr. Realtor, that lot that you said would never be developed is creating so much traffic, brings in hookers and drunks in the middle of the night who want to eat waffles, and is causing more break-ins in the neighborhood.”
          Realtor- “Tony I never said that. On the bright side, you can walk to Walmart AND the Waffle House now. It’s making your neighborhood more desirable.”
          Tony- “I don’t think I can live here any more.”
          Realtor- “I can list your house today. Of course we’re going to have to price it right given that big monstrosity right in your back yard.”
          Tony- “But you said it makes the neighborhood more desirable.”
          Realtor- “I never said that Tony.”

  9. Some news from Jeff’s neighborhood.

    Palm Beach Post — Nearly $1 million worth of handbags stolen from Worth Avenue store (12/27/2021):

    “Thirteen one-of-a-kind Hermes handbags valued at a total of nearly $1 million were stolen from Only Authentics boutique on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach during a grab-and-smash incident.

    Store owner Virgil Rogers said the handbags were stolen when the window where they were displayed was broken some time during the night of Dec. 14.

    Several of the bags are worth more than six figures each, Virgil said, putting the total value of the missing items close to $1 million.”

    https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/local/2021/12/27/hermes-handbags-worth-almost-1-million-stolen-palm-beach-store/8922601002/

    “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon” — Barrack Hussein Obama

    1. “Thirteen one-of-a-kind Hermes handbags valued at a total of nearly $1 million were stolen from Only Authentics boutique on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach during a grab-and-smash incident.”

      If I thought I could get away without having to expose my concealed weapon I would take a ride by Tamarind Ave and see if I could pick up a deeply discounted one-of-a-kind Hermes handbag.

      https://youtu.be/oflLmO9sE8Q

    2. “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon”
      — Barrack Hussein Obama

      “I do have a son. 3, in fact. I try to shape their character rather than worry about looks. No funerals, so far. ”
      — aqius

      1. Such purses have a label on them which says “I can afford to pay $80,000 for a purse.” That’s why they cost $80K.

        1. So many ways to drain away a HELOC..

          What’s the functional difference between a $80 handbag and a $80K handbag?

        2. “I can afford to pay $80,000 for a purse.”

          How many people will be able to “read” that label? I’m suppose that a few fashionistas can, but other than that I think few can. Whereas a 100K car is recognizable by far more people.

          1. “…Whereas a 100K car is recognizable by far more people….”

            Including those who steal $100K cars.

            Insurance companies who charge higher premiums and those who service $100K cars love them too.

          3. Women can spot a designer purse from 100 paces.

            Some do. The ones in my family don’t. Of course, they don’t read the right magazines or watch the right TV shows.

          4. Including those who steal $100K cars.

            FWIW, a lot more Hondas and Toyotas are stolen. Those and pickups are the most stolen vehicles. Of course, they are the most common too.

          6. I have two purses: a tan spring-summer purse and a black fall-winter mini-backpack. Both were $40 each and have served me well.

  10. ‘Earlier struggles to pay suppliers and contractors due to the debt crisis led to sustained protests from homebuyers and investors at the group’s Shenzhen headquarters’

    Open the gates!

  12. Robert Malone MD, was suspended from Twitter yesterday, and will be airing on a new Joe Rogan podcast today:

    “This intellectual obscenity purports to be able to discern and enforce scientific “truth” by defining truth as that which established public health bureaucracies (and singularly autocratic public health “leaders”) say it is. The trusted news initiative aggressively employs both globally coordinated media and the tools of modern big technology to censor, demean, de-platform, delegitimize and de-license all others who seek to document, advance or discuss alternative versions of officially endorsed reality.”

    ***The trusted news initiative has functionally morphed into Orwell’s predicted ministry of truth.***

    “Backed by the combined power of national and international governmental structures, massive transnational investment funds the likes of which the world has never seen before, and the commercial assets (Big Pharma, Big Media, Big Tech) over which the funds exert horizontally integrated control through access to investment capital and structural leadership ties.

    This is the most intrinsically anti-science global organization ever implemented in the history of modern man. The closest historical approximation to this monstrosity is the Catholic Church during the Spanish inquisition.

    When this history of this pandemic is written, the combined effect of the Trusted News Initiative and autocratic national and international public health leaders will be documented as being responsible for massive excess human suffering and loss of life due to suppression of the discussion and dissent which is critical for the modern scientific process to accurately discern evolving truth and inform effective public policy decisions. This must stop, before yet more avoidable, unnecessary suffering and loss of life accrues.”

    https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/on-science-and-controversy

    Nuremburg Trials, coming soon to a globalist near you!!!

  13. CNN’s @kaitlancollins
    ‘It sounds like this decision had just as much to do with business as it did the science.’

    ‘CDCDirector Dr. Rochelle Walensky: “It really had a lot to do with what we thought people would be able to tolerate.’

    https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1476181419063971840

    You know rocky, I’ve never watched a mass execution, but I think I could tolerate it.

    1. The globalists & their Democrat-Bolshevik Quislings will keep pushing the envelope on what they think people will put up with. Tyranny never happens in one fell swoop, but as a series of incremental steps, always driven by so-faux concerns for your “safety.”

      1. Restricting travel is a potential next step, which is why they have been floating trial balloons to see how we react to such proposals.

        1. Biden just re-opened travel to and from Southern Africa. I don’t see how he can restrict any other travel without backlash. And I still think this barely matters. Case numbers in South Africa are falling off a cliff. UK is not far behind, and the US isn’t far behind that.

          1. Case numbers in South Africa are falling off a cliff. UK is not far behind, and the US isn’t far behind that.

            That’s assuming the case numbers being reported in the US are legit to begin with.

            I’m almost tempted to sign up to get tested at the local Walgreens. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was tagged positive.

    2. Real Journalists.

      The Atlantic — Our Relationship With COVID Vaccines Is Just Getting Started (12/29/2021):

      “We probably will need additional shots. But just how many depends on our immune systems, the virus, and how often they collide.

      Some physicians are arguing that certain Americans should dose up again as well. And vaccine makers have long insisted that we’ll likely need annual shots at least. Given the clip at which the coronavirus seems to change, “I do think we’ll have to keep updating the vaccine,” Katie Gostic, an infectious-disease modeler at the University of Chicago, told me.

      At this point in the pandemic, though, there’s no consensus on the number of shots we’ll need in the long term; plenty of the world’s leading COVID-vaccine experts have shifted their stance in just the past few weeks.

      A future of annual vaccinations would almost be a relief. In the past year, the U.S. government has recommended that almost everyone eligible be COVID-vaccinated three times over, and the possibility of an Omicron-focused shot now looms. But the sweet spot for boosting frequency isn’t all that easy to find—both undervaccinating and overvaccinating have downsides—and the narrative is definitely not as simple as more is more. Maybe we’ll luck out, and finagle some truly durable protection out of our current shots. Or perhaps we’re just at the start of what could be the world’s most intense and widespread repeat-vaccination campaign to date.”

      https://archive.fo/RSVK7

      Who is this “We” of which you speak, Katherine J. Wu?

      The Atlantic is a globalist sh*trag.

      2. The Atlantic can’t support itself through subscriptions and advertising and loses money because so few people read or pay for it. It’s subsidized by Steve Jobs widow. Legacy media is becoming less and less relevant everyday.

  14. Another CNN bigwig arrested for being a child molester. This is my shocked face.

    Second CNN producer is arrested for ‘misconduct involving juvenile victims’: Resigns just one week after top producer for Chris Cuomo was fired after sex crime allegations against a nine year-old girl

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10354509/Second-CNN-producer-senior-staffer-criminal-investigation-involving-juvenile-victims.html

    A top producer for Jake Tapper has been arrested as part of a criminal investigation into allegations of misconduct involving ‘juvenile victims,’ just weeks after another CNN producer, for Chris Cuomo was fired over similar allegations.

    Rick Saleeby, a former producer for Jake Tapper’s The Lead, resigned from the network after his arrest on December 18.

        1. Globalist and Communist sure are synonymous. They simply change the bait to draw more people in. For now, they’re drawing in pedophiles and child rapists and molesters.

    2. This is the Brand, this is the Core Identity of the Democrat Party.

      When somebody says “Democrat Party” what the ear instantly hears is “raping kids.” Not FDR, not JFK, but “raping kids.”

      And yes, some, like DNC mega-donor Ed Buck, rape, drug, and murder adults. And some, like failed Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, may find themselves passed out in a hotel room full of meth and male escorts (LOL@ him explaining that one to his wife).

      Don’t let those incidents distract you from the Democrat Party platform, its central tenant, which is and has always been: raping kids.

      1. A minor correction: “Raping kids with impunity.” The globalists & their Democrat-Bolshevik Quislings want total impunity for their crimes. They have succeeded in corrupting and subverting the DoJ & FBI; now they want to use the controlled media-entertainment complex to condition the public to seeing pedophilia and every other perversion as just another “choice” as a precondition to fully legalizing it.

      2. And outright racism. Going all the back to Thomas Jefferson up through the present. Now they just call it anti-racism. Nothing changes in over 200 years with these people.

    1. Now that our “case” numbers have been inflated to the point of being absurd (just wait, we’ll soon hit 1 million new cases a day), the next step will be to inflate the death count. I expect that by mid January we will be told that 10,000+ are dying every day, with fake hospital footage and grim faced doctors screaming at us to get jabbed. Then the Feds will proclaim there is a national emergency, decree a nationwide lockdown and mandate that everyone get jabbed, no exceptions.

  16. With the Biden regime’s green light to every Central American gang-banger and single mother to c’mon in, this is going to be the new normal in the red states getting saturated with resettled “undocumented migrants” and their feral spawn.

    14-year-old guns down three other teens in Texas store shooting: cops

    https://nypost.com/2021/12/29/shirtless-tee-kills-three-in-texas-convenience-store-shooting/

    A 14-year-old boy fired off more than 20 shots at a Texas convenience store, killing three other teenagers and injuring a fourth in a targeted attack, police said Wednesday.

    Abel Elias Acosta remains on the loose after the shooting on Sunday and is considered armed and dangerous, the Garland Police Department said in a statement.

    1. The goal is to create a state of unprecedented crime and lawlessness, as already seen in places like San Francisco and Portland, across the country so that the gooberment can step in and “fix it”. The price we will have to pay, of course, is further loss of liberties and freedoms. And they won’t fix anything. Crime will remain rampant while they deny, as AOC has, that there is any crime wave.

      1. You’ve described the concept of anarcho-tyranny. Favored groups can commit crimes with impunity creating anarchy in the streets, and the tyranny comes from draconian measures to fix what the regime sees as problems, like insane mask mandates and enforcement. It’s because the regimes are weak and too focused on protecting their own power and controlling the population.

  17. This is a pearl clutching article.

    Salon — By watering down COVID self-isolation period, CDC defers to commerce (12/30/2021):

    “The CDC’s decision to halve the self-isolation period for COVID-positive healthcare workers and the rest of the essential workforce is being roundly condemned by the unions that represent that workforce and the occupational health experts they trust.

    Curiously, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reduced the quarantine requirement from ten days to five after a few notable worker shortages. First, there was the cancellation of thousands of flights due to worker shortages starting before Christmas, which made major news headlines. But in the background lurks widespread healthcare worker shortages throughout the nation, which have occurred as tens of thousands of essential workers were sidelined due to infection with the hyper-contagious omicron variant.”

    https://archive.ph/kMupC

    Note that the target audience of this Salon article and related articles are people who have not gone outside or left their house since March of 2020, aka the website Reddit.

    1. What’s left unsaid is that people are refusing the death injection, so they can’t staff critical industry. Narrative breaking down indeed.

          4. All nature documentaries that show male/female roles and behavior that are non-Narrative Compliant must be censored and banned forthwith, lest feminists object and males get aberrant ideas about male dominance.

            Big male lion shows lioness how to deal with hyenas

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5kVoH3746k

            Comment: A pack of hyenas took down a zebra when a lioness showed up trying to steal from the hyenas and almost got a mauling from the hyenas, when suddenly a big male lion appears and the hyenas scatter away. Hyenas are more afraid of male lions because male lions usually have a reputation of dealing with hyenas whenever they have an encounter with them.

          5. All nature documentaries that show male/female roles and behavior that are non-Narrative Compliant

            There is a Brit Sitcom called “Miranda” which stars Miranda Hart. She is rather tall and in the show she portrays herself as very unfeminine. In one episode she unknowingly wanders into a drag queen store and buys an outfit, unaware that she is dressed as a transvestite. Hilarity ensues, as Miranda is horrified when she realizes what she did. I am surprised that episode hasn’t been cancelled, as the implication is that being “trans” is very undesirable and that no one considers them women. This show is about 10 years old.

          6. There is a Brit Sitcom called “Miranda”

            I enjoyed that show. She’s very good. There’s an American version starring Mayim Bialik that is so awful it’s hard to believe. They took the original and removed all the charm.

        2. This covid horsecrap will only fall apart when the medical community grows some sack and calls it out globally.

          Until then variant, mask, jab, rinse, repeat until the Georgia Guidestones become true.

      2. so they can’t staff critical industry

        Imagine if everyone (or enough people) at the local power plants or water works is fired due to being unjabbed, and the lights start going out in the big cities.

        City slickers dismiss their dependence on truckers. A few weeks ago a trucker in Colorado was sentenced to 110 years in prison for an accident he caused. Truckers threatened to boycott Colorado. The court is now reviewing the case and will likely reduce his sentence.

        Take enough truckers off the road for being unjabbed and people will learn what empty shelves at the grocery store really look like.

        2. The governor just reduced the trucker’s sentence to 10 years. I guess he understood what a trucker boycott would do to the Centennial State.

          Now he has his hands full with today’s brush fire in Boulder county, which has already destroyed 300 homes.

  18. Oh dear….

    Evergrande tycoon’s $17 billion bloodbath after Chinese property giant’s year from hell

    https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/wealth/evergrande-tycoons-17-billion-bloodbath-after-chinese-property-giants-year-from-hell/news-story/67be489a671676a5fab8083741142d88

    There are more and more signs Evergrande is doomed, with the Chinese giant’s billionaire founder losing a fortune as “the writing appears on the wall”.

    It has been a year from hell for Chinese property juggernaut Evergrande, with its billionaire founder losing a staggering $US17.2 billion as the firm nears collapse.

    In 2021, the real estate heavyweight earned the unwelcome title of the world’s most indebted real estate firm after racking up staggering debts of around $A408 billion.

      1. Safe house/Oil City Plan? Sounds like a strategy. I’m surprised that more Chinese folks haven’t done that. Instead, they wanted landless airboxes in sh!thole cities, or, at best, multi-million $ mansions near Stanford or UCLA for the kids.

      2. for his family’s asylum

        Makes me think of all those “bunkers” in New Zealand, which are now inaccessible to all the non Kiwis who bought them as NZ is now ultra strict about foreigners entering the country.

  19. “He also said that with more retail stores come more shoplifters and more foot traffic to the area which may lead to more break-ins to the homes already in the area.”

    Vibrants gonna vibrate.

  20. Colorado updates quarantine guidelines for surging omicron variant

    From 9News. I won’t bore you with the contents, because it’s the usual pablum (get jabbed before it’s too late!). But as these articles are wont to do, they omit any mention of natural immunity, as if it simply doesn’t exist. Of course, that is The Narrative.

    1. I pulled up the article and it sounds like a Nothing Burger.

      Haven’t looked at some Internets in a few hours, but apparently Superior and Louisville are currently on fire, and the entirety of both towns have been ordered to evacuate.

    1. Expecting vibrants to not act Impulsively and not commit crimes is raycis. It’s part of their culture and we need to respect that, even if it’s incompatible with our culture. /sarc

      What’s really sad is that there are people who actually believe the above to be true.

  22. Speaking of Palm Beach and grab-and-smash, just not $80k handbags. I could see the boats lined up off shore where the water gets deep quick off Palm Beach loading up the wahoo today and earlier in the week when I was over there checking a job.

    Fantastic wahoo bite closes out 2021

    Eddie Ritz
    Palm Beach Post
    December 29,2021

    From Palm Beach to Boca Raton, the wahoo bite has been good as well. Not just good in the past week, but for several weeks in a row they have been hammering baits. Though they are mostly being caught in 180 to 250 feet they have been caught in as shallow as 90 feet and out as deep as 450.

    https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/sports/outdoors/fishing/2021/12/29/south-florida-weekly-fishing-report-dec-30-2021/9042995002/

    1. Fond memories of going out on the party boats from Fort Lauderdale and Islamorada (a charter boat wasn’t in the budget then) and wondering just what you could pull in out of the ocean.

      I don’t have any family left on the Atlantic side of FL, but if I make it back down to St. Pete again I want to go fishing…

  23. Tesla owner blows up car over $22,000 repair bill

    By CNN Staff
    Published: Dec. 30, 2021 at 3:36 AM EST

    (CNN) – A Tesla owner from Finland decided to blow up his car rather than pay an estimated $22,000 to replace the battery.

    Tuomas Katainen was beyond finished with his 2013 Tesla Model S after he received the repair estimate. He had to ask himself which would be better: a working Tesla or 66 pounds of dynamite exploding. He chose the latter.

    So, Katainen went to the “Bomb Dudes,” or Pommijatkat in Finnish, a YouTube channel known for blowing things up.

    The Bomb Dudes rigged the car with dynamite and used a helicopter to bring in a dummy meant to resemble Tesla CEO Elon Musk to take that final ride.

    https://www.wdtv.com/2021/12/30/tesla-owner-blows-up-car-over-22000-repair-bill/

    1. A Tesla owner from Finland decided to blow up his car rather than pay an estimated $22,000 to replace the battery.

      Makes a new engine or transmission look cheap by comparison. Of course, the engine and tranny on a 2013 car should still work just fine (they do on my 2013 car). I suspect the brutal Finnish winters took their toll on the Tesla’s batteries, sending them to an early grave.

      I remember reading about how a large percentage of cars in Oslo, Norway are electric. Those Nordic drivers are going to be unpleasantly surprised when their EV’s die a premature death. Of course, if they’re jabbed they might beat their car to the grave.

    2. “Used Cars” – 1980

      Rival car dealers hack into Jimmy Carter’s presidential address to the nation about inflation to deliver their own solution to soaring used car prices on a competitor’s lot.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH7vl_iuY_k

      Marshall Lucky blows the ever loving sh*t out of used car prices that are just too high.

  24. Maybe 2022 will be the year that neighborhoods and communities decide they’ve had enough of STR shenanigans.

    NSW Police give major warning on NYE parties in bid to crush short-stay chaos

    https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/news/nsw-police-give-major-warning-on-nye-parties-in-bid-to-crush-shortstay-chaos/news-story/bb40fcc7c59bea3135ebd0e34d8e2ee1

    Short-stay accommodation has been trashed across Sydney in wild parties. Here is the shocking damage caused in out-of-control events.

    Partygoers across New South Wales have been warned to behave at short-stay accommodation over the festive period, as police clamp down on bad behaviour.

    The plea comes amid a rise in trashed rentals caused by out-of-control gatherings which are more often leading to calls to police.

    Images released by NSW Police show the full extent of the chaos with houses hit with thousands of dollars damage.

    1. One would think this kind of thing would be self-limiting. The more STRs get trashed, the less homeowners would be willing offer up their homes for, say, less than a week.

      1. The STR homeowners are bringing this disruption into residential neighborhoods. It’s their choice to put their house at risk. The neighbors, on the other hand, didn’t get a say in the matter.

  25. About 500 investors, many from South Florida’s Venezuelan American community, were taken in by Efrain Betancourt Jr.’s sales pitch of high-interest returns on their investments in his short-term loan operation

    This has to be the oldest trick in the book yet people fall for it over and over. It is amazing how quickly people will trust a scammer just because they have common roots.

    1. “It is amazing how quickly people will trust a scammer just because they have common roots.”

      Especially a wolf hiding among the flock!

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