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The So-Called Golden Age, When Prices Only Went Up, Had Come To An End

A report from the New York Times. “For Claudia Ruffle, living in a co-housing community was a lifelong dream. So she was among the early supporters of what was envisioned as Connecticut’s first co-housing community. Ms. Ruffle and a friend contracted to purchase one of the attached housing units there, and sold their home in New Haven in anticipation of closing in 2019. But their closing date kept getting extended. And then members of the community were told that the project was having a cash flow problem.”

“The entire project went into foreclosure. And Ms. Ruffle’s dream — and finances — was dashed. ‘That money is now gone and there’s no way for us to retrieve it,’ she said. ‘We lost about $170,000. And we both have very low incomes. Ever since, we’ve been living in not good circumstances at all.'”

“Housing Enterprises, a consulting firm in Enfield, helped the group win a $2.6 million housing grant from the state to make some of the units affordable. ‘A lot of people lost money,’ said David Berto, the president of Housing Enterprises. ‘There was a whole group of people who put in money to buy the land, and some of those weren’t home buyers. They were just people who wanted to help, including me. We have all lost money and that’s just the way it is.'”

The Desert Sun in California. “The City of Palm Springs has issued a letter to fractional ownership real estate company Pacaso saying it considers the business a timeshare operation. The letter, sent in early December and obtained by The Desert Sun through a public records request, orders Pacaso to cease operations in the city ‘immediately.’ It calls Pacaso’s position that the city’s timeshare ordinance doesn’t apply to the company ‘not legally tenable.’ The company hired a lobbyist to help it deal with the letter.”

“Founded by former Zillow executives, Pacaso’s business model centers on buying high-end homes in popular vacation markets and selling shares in them to investors. These homes are purchased under newly-created limited liability companies, or LLCs, which serve as the financial vehicles for the Pacaso transaction. Once all shares in a home are sold, Pacaso transitions to a property management role.”

“The city letter cited a range of factors justifying the ban on timeshares in single-family residential zones, chiefly issues relating to housing affordability and negative impacts on nearby residents’ quality of life. The city argued that Pacaso’s model would also create ‘secondary effects’ on neighborhoods similar to short-term vacation rentals, with multiple different occupants, guests and cleaners cycling through a home in a week.”

From KXAN in Texas. “Maria Lopez, an elementary school custodian, bought a brand new house in 2016. When she moved into her new home in the south Austin development Lennar at Bradshaw Crossing, she hoped for a fresh start. But Lopez said soon after moving in, she began noticing cracks growing in the corners of her walls. Lopez’s struggles with her foundation are not unique in her neighborhood. Email after email sent to KXAN from homeowners in Lennar at Bradshaw Crossing detail cracking in walls of their homes and driveways, and the slow-going process to get repairs covered under their warranties.”

“Geotechnical engineering experts say Texas, and Austin specifically, is known for having particularly problematic soil for building single-family homes. ‘In Texas, let me tell you, the particularly bad clays are pretty much along I-35: Dallas, Ft. Worth, Waco, Austin,’ said University of Texas Professor Jorge Zornberg, a geotechnical engineer.”

“Nicholas Bressi, an Austin attorney who has sued Lennar and several other developers related to construction, said the foundation failures being experienced in Bradshaw Crossing are not unique to Lennar developments. ‘The problem with track builders, or someone coming in and building 100, 200 homes in a neighborhood, is they are not going to do 200 soil tests,’ Bressi said. ‘They typically do a pattern sampling throughout the 200 tracked areas, which may include 50 samples. If you are building 200 homes and are doing 50 samples, it is Russian roulette what you are building on.'”

The Standard on Kenya. “The farm-gate prices of onions had just crossed the Sh100-a-kilo mark when John Wambugu met Archangel Barachiel, the Angel of Good Fortune. Half an acre was going for half a million. It sounded like a bargain. Wambugu whipped out his calculator and punched in numbers. Then he made a call he regrets to this day. ‘Within three days, I had bought the land and was ready to start farming,’ he says. It was a huge miscalculation.”

“Towards the end of the season, he was still in for a big harvest. Then one day, while he was in Eldoret, a call came. The valley inside which he had bought the land was a river course. All the onions were gone, as had the topsoil. This, he learned, happens whenever heavy rains fall. ‘It turned out that the man who sold to me was disposing of the land after realising he could not do anything economically viable on it,’ Wambugu says.”

“Paul Syagga, a former professor of land economics at the University of Nairobi, says that while the seller should give full disclosure when selling land, it is upon the buyer to conduct due diligence. ‘That is why we have the Latin phrase Caveat emptor,’ Prof Syagga says. Caveat emptor roughly translates to ‘let the buyer beware’ and is a disclaimer that places responsibility on the buyer to conduct due diligence before making a purchase.”

From Bloomberg. “Zhenro Properties Group Ltd.’s spiraling bond prices show just how risky it is to invest in Chinese developer debt — even when a repayment looks imminent. The firm’s $200 million perpetual bond was trading at 93 cents on the dollar before it plunged 59.3 cents Friday, after concerns emerged that the firm may not proceed with a planned redemption of the note in March. The borrower’s dollar bonds extended steep declines Monday and its shares were poised for a fresh low after falling about 70% since Thursday.”

“Transparency worries are resurfacing in China’s real estate sector as investors try to avoid nasty surprises. Concern about hidden debt and a spate of auditor resignations has already prompted a repricing of risk among dollar bonds as creditors reassess developers once deemed relatively resilient to the credit crunch engulfing the industry.”

The South China Morning Post. “The chairman of China Vanke, the country’s third-biggest home seller by sales, issued a clarion call to his staff, urging them to gear up for a bruising battle that may make or break the company this year. ‘We are on our last legs, which means there are no other options,’ said Yu Liang during the company’s annual staff meeting on January 9, according to an internal document seen by the Post titled ‘You will win, if you dare to fight’. ‘Many of us have not comprehensively understood the situation we find ourselves in.'”

“Yu said the so-called golden age of the past two decades, when home prices only went up and developers made billions of yuan from selling homes, had come to an end, referring to the slowdown in China’s US$1.7 trillion housing market that has affected many industry players. During last month’s meeting, Yu more or less repeated what he has said in the past, asking employees to book cheap tickets and hotels when travelling and cut their spending on treats and gifts.”

“Yu said that he himself had asked his assistant to stop booking first class flight tickets for him and to only buy the cheapest available flight as he wanted to set an example for employees across the company. ‘We must let everyone know that we are now fighting a war, and everything is not the same as before.'”

From Reuters. “The U.S. Federal Reserve announced on Thursday that its 2022 round of large bank stress tests will include a severe decline in commercial real estate prices and turmoil in corporate bond markets. The hypothetical recession the Fed will use as the basis of its tests also envisions unemployment spiking to 10% over two years. Commercial real estate prices will fall 40% over that time frame, while corporate debt and other assets will collapse in value. The test will be applied to 34 of the nation’s largest banks.”

From Kiplinger. “Since the pandemic began, regulators have not been pressuring banks to take action with respect to defaulted loans. Historically, banks have been willing to ‘kick the can down the road’ with respect to defaulted loans if they could do so without significantly impairing the accounting value of the loans with respect to the banks’ capital requirements. Regulators’ current attitudes have allowed the banks to do just this.”

“While the regulators’ laissez-faire attitude has had a definite positive short-term effect on the economy, at some point the regulators know that the effect of their actions will cause banks to have misleading financial statements.”

“It is not likely that regulators’ behaviors will change before the midterm elections later this year. At some point, however, they will have to stop allowing banks to avoid classifying loans. Otherwise, they risk allowing the banking system to continue to mispresent the value of its loan assets, with all the risks of that situation impacting the creditability and stability of the banking system.”

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This Post Has 107 Comments

  1. ‘‘In Texas, let me tell you, the particularly bad clays are pretty much along I-35: Dallas, Ft. Worth, Waco, Austin’

    Specifically on the east side, as far as the eye can see. There’s a reason why you only saw a few farm shacks and barns over this crappy soil for decades. Yer fooked now! And the article points out that ‘arbitration’ means the builder fooked em too.

    RE is a crooked business!

      2. I was thinking more about the story a few days ago Ms Gomez who bought a 350K condo in CA with 3% down. She was a single mother working in retail. The median top quartile retail worker in CA makes 38K which is about 3200$ per month. Her loan amount was 340K based on 3% down. If she a 3,5% 30 year, assuming a respectable credit score and optimal timing, tax, mortgage insurance, principle and interest comes to about 1800$ per month which would be 56% of her monthly income. Even if she is in the top 10% of CA retail workers making about 46K, the monthly payment is still 47% of monthly income. So we have a single mother parting with 50% of her income before putting food on the table, paying an electricity bill, putting gas in the car, etc. So the question is, in this era of supposed rigorous lending standards, how many Ms Gomezes are out there?

    2. if I recall correctly from living in south TX (go warhorses) in my youth, a lot of clay-soil was called “caliche”.
      it was dusty & rock-pan hard. of course, further north gets more rainfall, but I remember that ground seemed pretty solid.

      interesting article.

      1. Indeed. Caliche dries into a non-permeable layer known a hardpan that is so tough a mattock pick just bounces off!

  2. ‘The company hired a lobbyist to help it deal with the letter’

    Is this normal for a company that was just told they are operating illegally? This is the same pattern the VC vultures have used for years. Get some lawyers that know how to bribe and threaten.

    1. They hire high-priced attorneys who know how to string things along in the court system for years, sometimes decades.

  3. “Transparency worries are resurfacing in China’s real estate sector as investors try to avoid nasty surprises. Concern about hidden debt and a spate of auditor resignations has already prompted a repricing of risk among dollar bonds as creditors reassess developers once deemed relatively resilient’

    Auditor resignations? That’s a first.

    I’m not going to sit here like the globalist scum media and pretend this is a real market. This is worse than banana republic stuff because there’s so many pesos swirling the bowl. If you got ‘transparency worries’, you got a large pack of criminals who are out of control.

    1. a spate of auditor resignations

      Translation: Crooked government officials on the take, who are now involuntary organ donors.

      1. By the way, this is one – perhaps the only – aspect of China which I can actually respect. They don’t fock around, and they will execute corrupt officials quickly, especially if they bring shame and embarrassment. This is not to say they’re not all corrupt, but that at least some of them meet the fate they deserve.

        This is in direct contrast with the current system in the US, where we now have 5 decades worth of political cronies entrenched in DC who should have been swinging from the gallows long ago.

        What I have come to realize, which has been highlighted by extreme policies of the past 2 years, is that every country is suffering from rampant political corruption where the “leaders” are essentially using their central banks as their own personal checking account. Most of this money coming from China is stolen by politicians and insiders, laundered in other countries through real estate in Canada and the US.

  4. ‘The hypothetical recession the Fed will use as the basis of its tests also envisions unemployment spiking to 10% over two years. Commercial real estate prices will fall 40% over that time frame, while corporate debt and other assets will collapse in value’

    You doom and gloomers.

    ‘Historically, banks have been willing to ‘kick the can down the road’ with respect to defaulted loans if they could do so without significantly impairing the accounting value of the loans with respect to the banks’ capital requirements. Regulators’ current attitudes have allowed the banks to do just this’

    Regulators encouraged banks to fudge their books. For years.

    ‘While the regulators’ laissez-faire attitude has had a definite positive short-term effect on the economy, at some point the regulators know that the effect of their actions will cause banks to have misleading financial statements’

    Hear ye, hear ye, these bank financial statements are horsesh$t and have been for at least a decade.

    I’ve told this story before. In advanced economics, they had just a couple of pages on the Japan bubble/collapse. It ended when they said this could never happen in the US because our accounting rules would not allow zombie companies and debt to be hidden. Enron would flourish in the current environment.

    1. “It ended when they said this could never happen in the US because our accounting rules would not allow zombie companies and debt to be hidden.”

      With ‘laissez-faire enforcement’,
      those rules don’t amount to a hill of beans.

    2. A few zombie companies is one thing – if there are swaths of these (especially if concentrated in some industries) – there is long term risk to the area or perhaps even to the banking sector

      ————————————
      A “zombie company” is a term used to describe an uncompetitive company that needs a bailout to operate successfully or an indebted company that is only able to repay interest on its debt (interest-coverage ratio of 1 or less). Such companies generate only enough cash flow to pay the interest on the debt and are unable to reduce the actual principal amount. Therefore, they do not have excess cash or capacity and are stagnant, which means they are too weak to invest or grow.
      —-
      Zombie companies are seen as a barrier to productive growth, as the survival of weak companies contributes to lowering the average overall productivity. Economists argue that these companies are detrimental to society. They take up market share and lock up talent (“scarce resources”) that should be available to more successful and dynamic companies.

      Without cash to reinvest, a zombie company is unable to grow and is inefficient. They are “uncompetitive survivors” and contribute to lower productivity in the global economy.

      Although these companies adversely affect the economy, some companies play an important role in the economy. For example, a zombie company may be bailed out by the government simply because the company employs a large number of people. If the company were to go bankrupt, the massive job losses could cause a significant societal impact.

    3. “I’ve told this story before. In advanced economics, they had just a couple of pages on the Japan bubble/collapse. It ended when they said this could never happen in the US because our accounting rules would not allow zombie companies and debt to be hidden. Enron would flourish in the current environment.”

      – Zombie Co’s. currently about 20% of the total in U.S. If they don’t like the financial conditions (that they created), then just change the rules. What’s acceptable? 20%? 50%? 100%? Zombie Co’s. will go BK when rates rise, since they’re already on life support from ZIRP. Clown show. Not a real economy. Potemkin economy. Slow motion train wreck dead ahead.

      https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1490378461717929984
      Wall Street Silver
      US share of zombie firms… and the rate hikes have not even started yet …
      [See chart at links]
      https://www.reddit.com/r/Wallstreetsilver/comments/sm1cmg/us_share_of_zombie_firms_and_the_rate_hikes_have/
      10:34 AM · Feb 6, 2022·Twitter Web App

  5. ‘A lot of people lost money…There was a whole group of people who put in money to buy the land, and some of those weren’t home buyers. They were just people who wanted to help, including me. We have all lost money and that’s just the way it is’

    denial
    anger
    bargaining
    depression
    acceptance <- Dave is here.

    1. War fears lift asset price volatility to multi-month highs
      By Danilo Masoni
      and Sujata Rao
      2 minute read
      U.S. dollar notes are seen in this November 7, 2016 picture illustration. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
      Euro currency bills are pictured at the Croatian National Bank in Zagreb, Croatia, May 21, 2019. REUTERS/Antonio Bronic

      MILAN/LONDON, Feb 14 (Reuters) – Volatility soared across markets on Monday, with a gauge of potential swings in the euro-dollar exchange rate at the highest since November 2020 and a key measure of equity swings rising to the highest in more than two weeks.

      Markets took fright late on Friday after a U.S. warning that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could come “any day”. On Sunday the United States said Russia might create a surprise pretext for an attack.

      Stock markets fell heavily on Monday and Wall Street was tipped for a weaker start, while oil prices headed towards $100 a barrel. Assets such as government bonds and the Swiss franc caught a bid.
      …
      https://www.reuters.com/business/ukraine-tension-reins-euro-drives-rush-safe-havens-2022-02-14/

      1. Does Biden think that starting up a war is going to increase his poll numbers? Not if the CNN ratings are any indication.

        ——————
        “[Dec 2021-Jan 2022] CNN grew +4% in total primetime viewers—and +9% in the primetime demo from what was a particularly rough Dec. 2021. In total day , however, CNN did fall -1% in total viewers and held steady among adults 25-54.

        [Average January]
        Prime time (Mon.-Sun.): 633,000 total viewers/140,000 Adults 25-54
        Total Day (Mon.-Sun.): 493,000 total viewers/101,000 A25-54”
        —————

        What this data says is that war drums aren’t doing much for CNN. Start up the war drum, total viewers drop by 1%. The prime time increase is probably due to a low December, not a January jump. And those Adult 25-54 numbers are dismal by any measure.

        Sorry Unca Joe, nobody is interested in your war.

        https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/jan-22-ratings-cnn-is-among-cables-top-10-networks-but-struggles-at-9-pm-and-sees-year-over-year-declines/499572/

        1. “The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.” – Ernest Hemingway

          – Brandon is worse than Obama 2.0. No words can describe the ineptitude, senility and incompetence. Brandon was not legitimately elected. Globalist lackey and puppet. Manchurian candidate. Worst President ever! Let’s go Brandon!

        2. ** ” . . but struggles at 9pm ”

          err, that’s easy to explain: all the boomers are in bed by 8pm, after watching the fear-driven legacy TV news starting earlier w/local then national, then jeopardy & wheel of f o t ne. (clap clap clap)

          senior breakfast at dennys 6:00am. nab a few sugar packets & catsup on the way out.
          if yer a snowbird, leave a quarter tip & nick the silverware.

    2. The Financial Times
      Markets Briefing Equities
      European stocks drop over fears of Russian attack on Ukraine
      Investors ‘wrongfooted’ by US warning that Moscow could launch invasion in coming days
      Two Ukrainian guards at the border with Belarus on Sunday
      © Chris McGrath/Getty Images
      Naomi Rovnick and Neil Hume in London and Hudson Lockett in Hong Kong 2 hours ago

      European equities sold off and traders rushed into haven assets on Monday as German chancellor Olaf Scholz prepared to travel to Moscow in a fresh effort to deter Russia from launching an invasion of Ukraine.

      The regional Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 2.8 per cent in afternoon dealings, in a broad decline. Germany’s Xetra Dax fell about 3.3 per cent, with sharper drops for bourses in Austria, Sweden, Denmark and Greece.

      Monday’s drop came after Jake Sullivan, US national security adviser, said on Sunday that an attack by Russia against Ukraine could begin “any day now”, including “this coming week before the end of the Olympics “.

      Futures markets implied Wall Street’s S&P 500 share index, which closed almost 2 per cent lower on Friday after the White House issued its first warning of an “immediate threat” of invasion, would drop a further 0.9 per cent on Monday.

      Western nations are continuing to withdraw diplomatic and military personnel from Ukraine, and airlines have cancelled flights to the country, in moves that jolted investors who had been focused on US monetary policy while viewing geopolitical tensions as less of a risk.

      “The market has been wrongfooted,” said Altaf Kassam, head of investment strategy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at State Street Global Advisors. “People expected a de-escalation and it feels like things are rolling in the other direction.”
      …

  7. “While the regulators’ laissez-faire attitude has had a definite positive short-term effect on the economy, at some point the regulators know that the effect of their actions will cause banks to have misleading financial statements.”

    So long as everyone in the financial system is lying to one other, and those being lied to consent to play along, where is the problem?

    1. When my love swears that she is made of truth,
      I do believe her, though I know she lies,
      That she might think me some untutored youth,
      Unlearnèd in the world’s false subtleties.
      Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
      Although she knows my days are past the best,
      Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue:
      On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed.
      But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
      And wherefore say not I that I am old?
      Oh, love’s best habit is in seeming trust,
      And age in love loves not to have years told.
      Therefore I lie with her and she with me,
      And in our faults by lies we flattered be.

      Shakespeare
      Sonnet 138

  9. attention Karens Kennies time to get your panties in a twist….come out of hiding get on the news today….they will conveniently forget the second part.

    Tesla didn’t pay any federal corporate income tax in 2020 and 2019, despite reporting profits in both years, thanks to a tax benefit known as “net operating loss carry-forward,” which allows businesses to deduct past losses from future profits when reporting taxes.

    https://observer.com/2022/02/tesla-2021-federal-corporate-tax-elon-musk-personal-income/

  10. Cryptocurrency trading has some surprising side effects. And the brain drain is just one of them
    Aspiring entrepreneurs in the Balkans are hoping to cash in on the cryptocurrency craze – for better or worse.
    Written by Bojan Stojkovski, Contributor
    on February 14, 2022 | Topic: Finance

    Stories of self-made crypto millionaires create an irresistible allure, but it’s an industry fraught with risk.

    When 31-year-old marketing professional Tale Anastasov first heard how much money could be made mining cryptocurrency, it sounded almost too good to be true. But when his friend sold his apartment and purchased dozens of crypto-mining rigs in 2020, Anastasov decided to get in on it.

    “I bought two crypto-mining rigs for €3,000 each, hoping that this investment could soon make me a passive income of around €500 a month. I was mining Ethereum, which at the time had a price of around €300,” Anastasov tells ZDNet.

    Having bought the mining rigs in October 2020, during the next few months, Ethereum’s price nearly doubled.

    “In December, the price of Ethereum increased to €600, and already in January 2021, it was more than €1,600. By April, my investment had already paid out. Then I invested again and spent around €15,000 on four mining rigs,” Anastasov says.

    Originally from the small town of Veles in North Macedonia, Anastasov now lives in the country’s capital of Skopje. For a country where the average salary is just under €500 per month, many young Macedonians – like Anastasov – are looking to the crypto world as an opportunity to make considerably more money than they’d get from a regular full-time job.

    Others, like Skopje-based fitness trainer Stefan Angelovski, have even quit their jobs to trade cryptocurrencies full-time. Tired of taking underpaid work, 34-year-old Angelovski has been working as a crypto trader for the past few years. Every morning he wakes up and logs onto the crypto stock market through apps like Binance or Coinbase to see what’s happening.

    “Crypto trading is what I do all day long, every day,” he tells ZDNet. Angelovski says he hasn’t seen a lot of success over the past year, but claims he now makes enough money through trading crypto to stop him needing a full-time job.
    …

    1. “…hoping to cash in on the cryptocurrency craze…”

      Isn’t calling it a ‘craze’ suggestive of an incipient collapse?

  11. The “Super Bowl Bounce” starts today?

    Real Journalists actually used this language a few years ago, as if fence sitters were waiting for the end of a sportsball season to start buying.

    “They’re not sending their best”

    2. After watching the woke version of Death on the Nile at the theater (a mistake) I thought I would grab a bite to eat for dinner. To my dismay, many restaurants had closed. One restaurant, a BBQ place, even had a sign on the door saying they had closed early so employees could enjoy “the holiday”. I wound up just going through the Wendy’s drive thru.

    1. These clowns are treating COVID the same way John Wayne treated Little Blackie near the end of the 1969 movie True Grit when he rode that horse till he died.

      Rooster Cogburn : If I don’t get you a doctor,
      you’ll be deader than he is.

      Mattie Ross : Little Blackie can’t carry us both.

      Rooster Cogburn : He’ll have to. He’s all I could catch.

      Mattie Ross : Stop it!

      Mattie Ross : We must stop, he’s played out!

      Mattie Ross : Stop it! You’re killing him!

      http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/t/true-grit-script-transcript-wayne.html

  14. Apparently Bob Saget had more than a bump on his head:

    Dr. Stephany’s report noted other findings from the autopsy conducted on January 10, including an enlarged heart, as well as a 95% blockage in one side of his heart.

    An enlarged heart? Shortly after getting a “booster”?

    Funny how that got downplayed. Gee I wonder if he fell due to Jab induced myocarditis then bumped his head?

    1. “Funny how that got downplayed.”

      In Colorado
      February 10, 2022 at 5:43 pm

      Bob Saget died from head trauma, family says

      Funny, how it took this long for this “explanation” to be divulged. I am amazed that anyone believes anything the media says. I just assume that whatever they report is a lie or a distortion.

      Reply

      jeff
      February 10, 2022 at 7:09 pm

      “I just assume that whatever they report is a lie or a distortion.”

      Yup, heard this story this morning on the network feed to the local news and then again tonight on the ABC Evening News.

      I would be surprised if in a year a forensic accounting of the people in charge of the autopsy and the family didn’t turn up a large chunk of change that could be traced back to Pfizer.

      1. I too wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the estates of celebrities felled by the jab were paid off to be silent, as in an offer you can’t refuse.

        1. “Dr. Sanjay Gupta Examines Bob Saget’s Autopsy Report: ‘This Was Not a Sort of Simple Bump’: “

          Dr. Sanjay Gupta

          Chief Medical Correspondent

          Dr. Sanjay Gupta is the multiple Emmy®-award winning chief medical correspondent for CNN and host of the CNN podcast Chasing Life. Gupta, a practicing neurosurgeon, plays an integral role in CNN’s reporting on health and medical news for all of CNN’s shows domestically and internationally, and regularly contributes to CNN.com.

          https://www.cnn.com/profiles/sanjay-gupta-profile

          1. I don’t like CNN or Gupta but listen to what he says. It sounds like foul play but he doesn’t say it.

          2. Would blunt force trauma cause an enlarged heart? Or did the heart blockage make him faint and fall into something? Or are the two unrelated?

    1. Most neighbors are best kept at an arm’s length. Why would I want to share a kitchen and other facilities with them?

  17. Last week, Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he will end the indoor mask mandate for vaccinated citizens only starting February 15. Shortly after the announcement, Los Angeles County Health Director Barbara Ferrer said the city would not lift the mask mandate on February 15.

    WATCH: Celebrities Defy Covid Restrictions, Go Maskless at Super Bowl LVI

    by Breitbart
    February 14th 2022, 6:02 am

    During the montage of celebrities at the Super Bowl, few, if any, were wearing masks even though masks are required at mega-events in Los Angeles.

    The montage showed celebrities like Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Andy Garcia, and others partying it up free of face diapers:

    https://www.infowars.com/posts/watch-celebrities-defy-covid-restrictions-go-maskless-at-super-bowl-lvi/

    @ClayTravis

    Here’s the video of every celebrity without a mask during the Super Bowl. But every kid in California will have to be wearing them tomorrow in school. They must all be holding their breaths the entire game.

    https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1493028002007035916?s=20&t=-UmFL-D2tR1A_rIl1Ow3dA

    @ClayTravis

    Not a single celebrity wearing a mask at a packed LA stadium, but your kids in California will have to be wearing one come tomorrow at school. So fuc#ing ridiculous.

    7:52 PM · Feb 13, 2022

    https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1493025354608431104?s=20&t=ESchXIWqN0oOv4pnVQqDTA

    1. Not a single celebrity wearing a mask at a packed LA stadium, but your kids in California will have to be wearing one come tomorrow at school.

      I get it that some won’t move away because of family, or maybe they have a sweet unionized gooberment job. But why does anyone else stay in Clownifornia?

        2. I like the weather.

          That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. People will put up with a lot to be in the climate they love.

      2. Because Family and Housing obligations won’t let us move.
        It is a bad place to be in. But, the Central Valley is slightly better than L.A. or The Bay, but getting worse fast.
        I may not have a choice soon.

      1. If he tries to use force, this will backfire on him. A national trucker’s strike would bring Canada to its knees in days.

  20. Rentals are crazy in Austin, Texas.

    Mine came up for renewal. It went up from $1,950 a month to $2,600 for a 2/2 duplex.

    I can’t find anything comparable in the area at a low price in the area.

    The news reported average rentals have jumped 40% in the last year. Obviously, folks haven’t seen their salaries jump by 40%.

    Slowly, but surely, Texas residents are being pushed out of their communities and replaced with folks with a lot more money if landlords can demand these prices.

    https://www.redfin.com/news/redfin-rental-report-december-2021/

    1. It’s like everyone from CA was told Austin is the cooler, cheaper version of San Francisco (it is in many ways) and they’ve all decided to pack and move.

      Soo many tech companies have relocated (with more in the process). I guess renting a 2/2 for $2600 is a steal for SF folks that used to pay $3000 for a 1/1 apartment.

      Everyone who was already living here is getting fooked

    2. “Rentals are crazy in Austin, Texas.”

      Isn’t the population of Austin, Texas about 70% California refugee spreading Wokeism like the flea infected rodents spread Bubonic plague across Europe during the Middle Ages?

      1. Don’t know if it’s 70%, but it must be a non trivial number. My employer moved the HQ from the Bay Area to Austin, even though neither the founder nor the puppet CEO moved to Austin.

        1. It isn’t a trivial number. It is a very large number of people thinking a $750k – $1M home is normal.
          We recently met a young couple from SF who bought a home in North central austin near Burnett and Anderson Ln for $800k after bidding close to 6-figures over asking price.
          They thought it was a good deal based on their experience shopping for home in SF

          1. A friend and her family recently moved to Austin. My friend works for Alameda County but left the Bay Area not long into the pandemic and moved back in with her parents. She’s waiting for her house to be built and just started looking for a new job. Guess what?! Texas jobs don’t pay like Alameda County.

          2. Texas jobs don’t pay like Alameda County.

            I can somewhat understand that if one has an easy, six figure gooberment job in Clownifornia, with a gold plated pension waiting for you when you turn 55, that one might choose to stay put, especially if retirement is not that far off.

            My employer has expanded heavily into Austin, and not just HQ. The lower cost of labor is a factor. We are hardly hiring in the Bay Area anymore, only if we can’t find the skill set anywhere else.

    3. Imagine one year your job allows you to afford a nice rental in town, and the next year you can’t even afford a trailer out in the sticks. Only this isn’t imaginary, this is the shit show that central bankers and politicians just brought us. It’s head choppin’ time.

    1. People are now referring to the Souper Bowl as a national holiday, with shops and restaurants closing early so employees can watch the game,

        1. I could see closing on a Monday due to lack of staff. But a Sunday afternoon? The BBQ place has TV’s all over the place, it would be a perfect place to watch the game. And as I pulled into the parking lot I saw others reading the sign, getting into their cars and leaving. I also stopped by a liquor store to pick up a bottle of Bourbon. Also closed (I did find one that was open).

          They left money on the table yesterday. Perhaps it was a goodwill gesture to employees. What I found odd was describing “Super Sunday” as a holiday. I doubt they will close on Good Friday.

    1. ““Let’s Go Brandon” Ad Aired During Super Bowl”

      SOB it really did!

      I would have watched that damn game just to see that live.

      Although after reading a few of the leftist commenters at the bottom of the Newsweek article below I do take some solace in this…

      dan winright
      1 hour ago

      “According to Google, the super bowl suffered its worst viewership numbers in 15 years.”

      ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ Commercial Airs During Super Bowl

      BY EWAN PALMER ON 2/14/22 AT 5:11 AM EST

      A Republican candidate running for Senate in Pennsylvania ran a campaign ad heavily featuring the conservative catchphrase “let’s go Brandon” during Sunday’s Super Bowl.

      https://www.newsweek.com/lets-go-brandon-super-bowl-ad-david-mccormick-1678820

      1. As a lifelong NYG fans who bled blue I haven’t watched a single NFL games in 3 years. NFL = No Fooking Longer.

        2. Why would you want to? It’s too painful to watch the trainwreck of the NFL better known as the NY Giants.

    2. “Let’s Go Brandon” Ad Aired During Super Bowl

      Was it played nationally or only in the candidate’s state?

      1. “Was it played nationally or only in the candidate’s state?”

        You got it, I am back to feeling good about not viewing the Globalist Social Justice Bowl.

        From the Newsweek article…

        “aired in Pennsylvania during Super Bowl LVI as the Cincinnati Bengals played the Los Angeles Rams”

          1. Sure had a hefty dose of vibrant homage at halftime.

            Foreigners could be forgiven for thinking that the US is 90% black after watching the Souper Bowl for the first time.

          2. I counted exactly one white person. The one kneeling. I gave up on the NFL for almost two years, but this playoffs I allowed it to creep back in. dumb

            True story- my daughter was watching the game and said “Why don’t they ever give the ball to that guy (RB) and he runs to the side and throws it to another guy?” Next play the Bengals ran that trick play.

  24. Hopefully this is a conspiracy theory.

    Top Chinese Whistleblower Warns CCP Deploying Hemorrhagic Fever Virus At Winter Olympics

    by Jamie White
    February 14th 2022, 1:41 pm

    Dr. Yan explained that the CCP was developing more “gain of function viruses” mixed with powerful misinformation operations to sow more chaos when another outbreak occurs.

    And a good testing ground for this next phase of their bioweapons program is the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, Dr. Yan claims.

    Symptoms of hemorrhagic fever, depending on the virus, range from high fever and bleeding from the eyes and mouth, muscle and joint pain, nausea and vomiting, shock, and even death in many cases.

    Given Dr. Yan’s credentials and high credibility after blowing the whistle on the origins of COVID-19 and the CCP’s military bioweapons program in 2020, this information is particularly alarming and hopefully some U.S. lawmakers will take her warnings seriously.

    https://www.infowars.com/

    2. There a whole YouTube genre of black people doing reaction videos to classic rock or other music. It’s surprising the number of teenagers that have never heard Thunderstruck or don’t know that Vanilla Ice ripped off Queen. One of them even (badly) faked a “reaction” to Beethoven Moonlight Sonata — Third movement, no less. Hey, at least they all like Weird Al Yankovic.

      For you hardcore hardware IT nuts out there: Bohemian Rhapsody on Floppotron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph5OW9p-GHM

    3. “These guys give me hope.”

      Smokin’ 🙂

      Yup, they are pretty awesome. Only thing I would tell them is don’t overthink it, you don’t have to dance to every song.

      They had it, they were listening to the jams, moving to the music and had a big sh#t eating grin on their faces. Sometimes that’s enough.

      They were just like us listening to that song cruising around Todd’s Point while cutting class in high school on a beautiful spring day back in 1977, the only thing they were missing was one more girl and the joint we would have been passing around.

  27. oxide
    February 14, 2022 at 4:44 pm
    “Trudeau invokes the Emergency Powers Act. I’m not sure which powers he gets from it,”

    Here’s some…

    Greg Price
    @greg_price11

    Oh my f-ing goodness: Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister says that, as part of the Emergencies Act, they are broadening Canada’s “Terrorist Financing” rules so that they cover crowdfunding platforms and cryptocurrencies to the Canadian Freedom Convoy

    https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1493342812926054418?s=20&t=_HUXMBgrF8qZdzuozGncIg

  28. Does it seem like cryptogamblers go into denial mode every time the value of their imaginary coinage dips towards its fundamental value, which is $0?

    1. Making Sense of the Crypto Crash
      Publisher
      Guest Contributors
      Published
      Feb 14, 2022 10:34AM EST
      By Nick Saponaro, CEO of decentralized payment ecosystem, Divi Labs

      The cryptocurrency market has taken a beating recently. At its worst point, approximately $1 trillion had been wiped off crypto’s total market cap, Bitcoin (BTC) had lost around 50% of its value compared to its all-time highs in 2021, and altcoins had been hit just as hard, if not harder.

      For an industry that enjoyed an unprecedented year of trading and growth in the last year, the present and potentially the future were looking particularly grim. Is this the end for crypto? Has BTC reneged on its promise? The doomsayers will say so and crypto’s critics will say I told you so. But, are they right?

      In a word, no. Pull back and the recent dip is part of a natural pattern of growth and decline the crypto market has experienced since its inception in 2009. This is already being borne out. At the time of writing, there were already signs of a market rally.
      …

  29. I’m sure it’s purely coincidental that cryptocurrency and Quantitative Easing came along at exactly the same point in time.

    It will be very interesting to see if cryptocurrencies can survive the Fed’s upcoming Quantitative Tightening process…very interesting, indeed!

    1. “Videos show Russian units and missiles advancing towards Ukraine border”

      Tim Lister, Gianluca Mezzofiore and Paul P. Murphy, CNN
      Updated 10:26 PM ET, Mon February 14, 2022

      https://youtu.be/OCmuATH2yzo

      Russia Withdraws Troops From Ukraine Border After Media Said Invasion Was Imminent

      by Paul Joseph Watson
      February 15th 2022, 5:56 am

      Shortly after media reports suggested a Russian invasion of Ukraine was imminent, Moscow announced that it was withdrawing all troops from the border and then claimed “western propaganda” had failed.

      Goaded by the Biden administration, major news outlets like the Sun reported that the invasion was set for tomorrow, with a “massive missile blitz” planned, along with 200,000 troops at the ready.

      Major General Igor Konashenkov announced that all Russian troops would begin to be withdrawn from the border region.

      “As the forces complete their military exercises, they will, as always, complete a multimodal march back to their permanent bases,” Konashenkov stated. “The divisions of the South and West Military Districts have finished their tasks and have already begun loading the rail and automobile transport, and today will begin moving back to their military garrisons.”

      Russia also released video clips showing armor being loaded onto railway carriages on its way back home.

      https://www.infowars.com/

  31. Trudeau Invoked ‘Emergency’ Act Only After Biden Administration Urged Canada to Use ‘Federal Powers’

    JOEL B. POLLAK
    14 Feb 2022

    Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time in the country’s history to crack down on protests against his vaccine mandate — just days after the Biden administration urged him to use “federal powers.”

    Last Thursday, several Biden administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, spoke to their counterparts in Canada as protesters closed the Ambassador Bridge.

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/02/14/trudeau-invoked-emergency-act-only-after-biden-urged-canada-to-use-federal-powers/

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