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It Seems Like The COVID Thing Really Brought It All Out

A weekend topic starting with Oregon Public Radio. “Just before Portland’s City Council approved a ban on public drug use last week, Mayor Ted Wheeler described what he’d observed on his way to work that afternoon: ‘The last time I saw somebody consuming what I believe to be fentanyl publicly on our streets was less than five minutes ago, three blocks from City Hall,’ the Democrat said. Oregon voters in 2020 passed Measure 110, a first-in-the-nation law decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of controlled substances such as heroin, methamphetamines, cocaine and fentanyl. Three years later, public drug use has wearied even the most tolerant of Oregonians.”

“A state audit found that the law’s rollout was beset by bureaucratic fumbles and a short implementation timeline. More critically, it coincided with a national fentanyl crisis that overwhelmed the country — not just Oregon — with a cheap, addictive and deadly drug. The measure also took effect during a long-standing homelessness crisis in Oregon and other West Coast states that made public drug use more visible — and discomfiting — in neighborhoods where people live on the streets. It’s particularly problematic in Portland, Oregon’s biggest city, where high rates of commercial property vacancies have hollowed out some downtown sectors.”

KPTV in Oregon. “Residents in a Portland-area neighborhood say their pets nearly died after coming into contact with fentanyl while they were out on a walk. Emily Englebright told KPTV that she was taking her two chihuahua puppies on a quick walk last week in southwest Portland when one of her pets stopped to sniff at something on the sidewalk. The emergency veterinarians administered Narcan, and Fivel started to perk up. ‘She [the veterinarian] thought most likely it was fentanyl that caused it, and she actually already had three fentanyl cases that night,’ Englebright said.”

The Harvard Crimson. “Overdoses are an increasingly common phenomenon in Boston and across the United States as addictive drugs, particularly synthetic ones like fentanyl, have become more powerful and more dangerous over the last decade, leading to a dramatic rise in overdose deaths. David E. Velasquez, a fourth-year medical student said he also witnessed an overdose recovery after encountering a patient — whose brother had administered naloxone in time — during a shift at Massachusetts General Hospital. ‘He ended up leaving the hospital,’ Velasquez said. ‘And while I was still on that same day, we get a call that he had overdosed again, now at a T station.’ ‘But this time, there was no naloxone there. His brother was not there,’ he added. With nothing and no one around to reverse the overdose, the patient died, Velasquez said.”

The Tennessean. “Seven hundred and fifty four people died by drug overdose in the Nashville area last year, a number that makes Davidson County the second-deadliest major metro in the country. Fentanyl was linked to over 77% of those cases. Overdose deaths have more than doubled since 2017, according to data kept by the Metro Public Health Department. The Nashville Prevention Partnership provides training on how to properly administer Narcan and care for someone who is overdosing. There are also several syringe services programs across Tennessee that provide free, sterile needles and syringes; safe disposal containers; testing; and overdose prevention resources.”

The Standout. “You can now buy illicit fentanyl on Washington’s streets for as little as 50 cents a pill. That’s according to police and local advocates working with people who use drugs. They say fentanyl is selling for anywhere from 50 cents to $5 a pill, depending on location and dealer-user relationships. In Seattle, the price of the dangerous opioid is as low as 40 cents a pill in wholesale bulk purchases, said Detective Judinna J. Gulpan, a spokesperson for the Seattle Police Department. However, the street price is usually around $3 to $5, Gulpan said. Dealers will even offer tens of thousands of pills to local distributors without being paid, allowing payment after the pills are sold, said Sergeant Al Schultz, a Tacoma Police Department special investigations unit officer. ‘We have sources trying to give us 20,000 pills when we only want to actually buy 1,000,’ said Schultz, who works undercover.”

ABC 15 in Arizona. “District 4 Representative, Matt Gress, represents much of the City of Scottsdale. He called Wednesday’s hearing so the community could share their thoughts and ask questions to local leaders after the City of Scottsdale agreed to convert hotel rooms into a temporary shelter. The City of Scottsdale got a $1 million grant from the state to help with homeless programs. Representative Gress has been vocal about his opposition to the hotel program.”

“‘I will not allow the disastrous policies of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and even Phoenix seep its way into our community homelessness,’ Gress said. He continues, ‘Homelessness is a humanitarian crisis, but it’s also a public safety crisis. Today’s hearing seeks to address the tragic reality of homelessness.'”

Fox News on Texas. “A series of videos posted on Monday shows the extent of damage Austin’s West Bouldin Creek Greenbelt has endured from a homeless encampment. The videos, from Austin activist Jamie Hammonds, show the encampment covered in trash ‘as far as the eye can see,’ including liquor bottles, needles, Narcan, and other junk. ‘It’s just been destroyed. It’s going to be interesting to see if the city can actually clean this,’ Hammond says in the video, arguing that the damage was ‘as bad if not worse’ than Violet Crown, another greenbelt damaged by a homeless encampment earlier this year.”

“Hammonds told Fox News Digital, ‘you can smell the encampment even before you enter the greenbelt.’ ‘It is so much worse than the Violet Crown Trail,’ Hammonds said. ‘If you look in the Austin guidebooks they talk about [West Bouldin Creek]. It’s one of their pride and joys, so to speak. And this place is never going to be the same.'”

Colorado Public Radio. “About $26,000 worth of steel barricades now encircle the primary gathering place for Grand Junction’s unhoused residents. The city of Grand Junction this week closed off Whitman Park, a 2.75-acre green space whose neighbors include an auto repair shop, the Grand Junction Police Department and a pawn shop that was raided by local law enforcement for multiple felony counts of selling stolen goods. ‘I’ve really come to believe that unhoused are going to be present in the park facilities and that’s okay and that’s fine. They have a right to be there just like everyone else has a right to be there,’ said Grand Junction Parks and Recreation Director Ken Sherbenou. ‘But when they’re outnumbering the general public, then it becomes a feeling that people are less likely to go use that playground or less likely to go use that field. And so a lot of our philosophy is really trying to activate these spaces so that it can be shared-use by everyone.'”

The Washington Post. “For more than a year, New York has grappled with an influx of migrants traveling to the city in search of safety and opportunity. More than 110,000 migrants have arrived since the spring of 2022, the city says. About 60,000 are housed in shelters. Long a gateway for immigrants, New York has largely welcomed the new arrivals, many of whom are seeking asylum in the United States. But the continuing flow of migrants and the rising costs of sheltering them has become a thorny challenge for Mayor Eric Adams (D). The migrants had been processed at the border and released pending the pursuit of their asylum claims. Many came from Venezuela, a country wracked by political and economic turmoil, and all had endured dangerous journeys north through Mexico. The newer arrivals include people from Venezuela and Ecuador but also West Africa and Russian-speaking countries, Adams said this month.”

“Meanwhile, aid groups and immigrant advocates reacted strongly to Adams’s recent comment that migrant arrivals could ‘destroy’ the city. Such remarks are ‘reckless and unproductive fear-mongering,’ said the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless in a joint statement. ‘This dangerous rhetoric is something you’d expect from fringe politicians on the far right of the political spectrum.'”

From CTV News in Canada. “Three B.C. mayors say a ban on illicit drugs in some spaces is a move in the right direction, but should be further expanded. On Thursday, Premier David Eby announced the province is banning possession of illicit drugs within 15 metres of playground play structures, spray pools, wading pools and skate parks. The new rules come into effect Sept. 18. Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West believes the move comes up short and defies logic. ‘The same rationale that says you shouldn’t be smoking crack or using fentanyl in a children’s playground should apply to sports fields where children are playing soccer and baseball,’ West said. ‘When the province rolled out decriminalization, these are the types of things that they should have thought about at the beginning.'”

“Drug advocates said they are disappointed in the way these changes have been communicated. Brittany Graham with the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users told CTV News that drug users have always had a ‘code of ethics’ when it comes to drugs around children. ‘If a child walks by a group of folks on East Hastings, you’ll hear ‘baby on the block’ or ‘child on the block,’ and that reiterates to people to put your stuff away,’ Graham said. ‘To assume that people using drugs are looking to go into areas that children are in is a new version of ‘Just Say No’ or the War on Drugs stigma.'”

The National Post in Canada. “One of Toronto’s most prominent businessmen has issued an open letter decrying the city’s decline into violence and disorder — and calling out civic leaders for letting it happen. Thomas Caldwell, chairman of Caldwell Investment Management Ltd., bought a full-page ad in the National Post headlined ‘Cry for Toronto.’ Caldwell gave an account of the past two weeks. He says he was verbally and physically assaulted in the streets. ‘I assume for the arrogance of wearing a suit and tie,’ he writes. There were also what he calls ‘shouter’ incidents on the subway. ‘I love the vacant TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) announcement ‘If you see something, say something.’ To whom? The woman sitting next to me?'”

“He called his advertisement an open letter to new Mayor Olivia Chow and other civic leaders, and also decried the state of transit and the friction between cyclists, pedestrians and traffic. ‘They probably think they’re doing a great job. And somebody’s got to say, ‘No, no, you’re not connected with what people really need in any functioning city,’ said Caldwell in an interview Monday. In addition to the problems on transit and safety on the sidewalks, Caldwell also writes in his letter that there’s a ‘war on cars’ and that he’s experienced ‘three near misses’ with people on scooters and bicycles.”

“‘No laws protect us walkers, as our local politicians will do anything not to offend cyclists,’ he writes. Driving is also not an option with numerous short tempered confrontations resulting from Toronto’s war on cars and the city’s constant, uncoordinated construction. Driving is a nightmare,’ he writes. ‘Mind you, that’s the only time you see a police officer in the street — directing traffic.’ ‘My job is to articulate the problem, get people thinking about it, and have people starting to discuss it and have our politicians realize that maybe, just maybe, they’re going down the wrong road,’ Caldwell said. ‘I’m just saying, asking, almost pleading with city council to smarten up. Realize what your job is. Your job is to serve the citizen, not to impose your view of the world, which is not one that many of us share.'”

The Associated Press. “California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday the state will intervene in an ongoing federal court case that’s barred San Francisco from cleaning up homeless encampments until more shelter beds are available, saying the judge has gone too far and is preventing the state from solving a critical problem. ‘I hope this goes to the Supreme Court,’ Newsom said. ‘And that’s a hell of a statement coming from a progressive Democrat.'”

The Fresno Bee in California. “A Fresno City Council member whose district includes the city’s downtown core accused the Fresno County Board of Supervisors of becoming ‘an accessory to drug dealers’ after a decision last week to allow a once-a-week needle-exchange program to operate in county-owned space in downtown Fresno. Councilmember Miguel Arias was joined at a press conference Monday morning by council colleague Garry Bredefeld and Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer to denounce the county board’s Sept. 5 vote to approve a zero-dollar lease for the San Joaquin Valley Free Medical Clinic and Needle Exchange to use space inside the county’s Department of Public Health from noon to 4 p.m. each Saturday. ‘To say that I’m frustrated is not accurate,’ Arias said. I’m actually pretty pissed off and angry’ about the board’s 3-2 vote.”

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. “If there was trouble at the Dreamforce convention this week, it was mostly just the good kind. As in crowds so big that it was hard to get into some events, and traffic that slowed to a crawl around the confab’s nexus of Fourth and Howard Streets in San Francisco. What there wasn’t, according to many convention-goers, was mess on the streets to stumble over. Or panhandlers. Or tent camps dotting the sidewalks. Or open-air drug dealing and use. But mild grumbling could be heard several blocks away, where a few homeless folks said they were shooed off in the morning and told to stay away while Dreamforce ruled its part of downtown.”

“‘The police, security guards, those street ambassadors — everyone told me ‘get out of here’ this morning when I woke up around 8 a.m.,’ 66-year-old Jan Weith said as he lounged in a doorway on Powell Street. ‘I walked off to look at the crowds and when I came back someone had stolen my suitcase and blankets,’ he said. ‘And those rich techies? They think they’re all that. They act like they didn’t have enough money to give me $5 or a cup of coffee. They looked right through me. Can’t wait ’til this thing is over and we can get back to normal.'”

Santa Monica Daily Press in California. “Cities in the West can’t legally clear homeless camps unless they can provide adequate alternative shelter to the camp residents. But what, precisely, constitutes ‘adequate shelter?’ Is it one cot among dozens in a congregate shelter? A top bunk for an elderly person? An individual tiny home? A strip of asphalt, without electricity or water, where rows of people can set up their tents? The definition is at the heart of debates raging across California in the five years since a federal appeals court ruled that it’s cruel and unusual punishment to evict homeless people from public spaces when they have no other options.”

“The 2018 decision on that Boise, Idaho case by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, binding on states in the West, did not require cities to set up enough shelter beds for their entire homeless population, but said it would be unconstitutional to criminally penalize people camping in public when they lack ‘access to adequate temporary shelter.’ Last week a three-judge panel of that same court took another crack at the issue — this time declining to lift a temporary order that has, for nine months, halted San Francisco officials from sweeping the city’s homeless camps.”

“Many local governments say they can ban homeless camps and that they have the alternative shelter options to enforce it. Calling it a necessary form of tough love, they’re cracking down on homeless camps, pairing an offer of shelter — or a stern prodding toward it — with the threat of arrest or fine. San Diego in late July began enforcing a ban on homeless camps in most public places during the day; other cities that have recently passed camping restrictions include Sacramento, San Rafael and Culver City.”

“It’s a new option in a city that has historically offered only large congregate shelters, which many refuse or find unsuitable. Mayor Todd Gloria said it comes with the ‘expectation’ that more people will choose it over living on the streets when beds are available. ‘We have put out a tremendous amount of carrots and we do need a few sticks,’ he said. ‘It is the expectations of taxpayers funding these efforts that folks avail themselves of it.'”

“Mirroring other California politicians on the matter, Gloria criticized activists who call the shelter offerings inadequate as an ‘infinitesimally small number of voices who seemingly enjoy seeing encampments on the streets.’ ‘It’s never enough for them,’ he said.”

“Under the din of the Highway 99 overpass along the edge of Sacramento’s urban core, a man emerged from his tent on a recent weekend morning and sat at a makeshift breakfast table, shaking a box of cereal. The man, who would only identify himself as 53-year-old Eric D., said he’d lived at this encampment of about five tents for about a month. ‘Better for who?’ he said, when asked whether he would consider a shelter placement better than the encampment. ‘It depends on the individual.’ His neighbor, Joel Martinez, bagged up trash on the sidewalk before sitting down to light a cigarette. He said he understands why cities are moving to ban encampments, and said not all residents keep their homeless camps clean, though some, he said, ‘police ourselves.’ ‘I know people don’t like to be reminded of the homelessness,’ he said. ‘But it’s here, and it seems like the COVID thing really brought it all out.'”

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This Post Has 175 Comments

    1. the homeless crisis

      My uncle, who’s in his late 70s, is one of them. He’s been sleeping in his car in a Vista parking lot guarded by a Jewish nonprofit, although it sounds like he may have COVID so my dad’s taken him in again.

      1. Wow…that’s rough.

        And I can relate, having had an uncle whose drinking problem ended his medical career and destroyed his family life before landing him in the streets, where my dad ultimately rescued him. They had grown up in the same small town community and he was part of our family, but almost beyond saving. It could have been worse if fentanyl had been around back in the day.

        1. My uncle’s situation isn’t drug related. It’s a f@ck#d up family thing. Has anyone read The Poisonwood Bible? My other uncle couldn’t finish it because it struck way too close to home.

    2. There is little doubt in my mind that the homeless crisis, which is not only nationwide, but present in almost every “western” nation, is intentional. It’s just another depopulation tool the globalists are using to cull the herd.

      1. An engineered breakdown in societal morality, trust, and public safety is a necessary precondition for the elites to create collapse conditions needed to usher in their Great Reset.

  2. Berkeley renters crash ‘vicious’ landlord cocktail party celebrating end of eviction ban: ‘This is what tenant power looks like!’

    Despite the years of leniency, TANC called the celebration “deeply cruel” and “out of touch with the realities of the housing crisis in the Bay Area.”

    The union accused eviction-favoring landlords of helping to increase the homeless population. “The explosion of homelessness in our communities is a direct consequence of the actions of real estate capitalists, including BPOA’s landlord members, who prioritize rent-profiteering over people,” it wrote.

    “TANC, as a tenant union, emphasizes that landlords are largely responsible for gentrification, displacement, and homelessness. Far from celebrating, they should be held accountable for their actions.”

    https://nypost.com/2023/09/14/upset-berkeley-renters-crash-vicious-landlords-party-celebrating-end-of-3-year-eviction-ban/

    These people are just well paid communists.

    3. I don’t like either group. It’s too bad they didn’t kill each other. The landlords have put in power the people whose policies have led to the eviction moratoriums. Limousine liberal focks.

    4. These people are just well paid communists.

      IIRC, Apparatchiks have always been well paid throughout history. I recall that there were special stores and restaurants in Moscow that were only for Party members. They had dachas, cars, could travel, etc.

      1. When the Bolsheviks overthrew the Czar, they moved into the royal palace and were eating like royalty in luxury and splendor.

        Commies gonna commie.

        1. Keven Costner’s wife wants a divorce, and she wants more than the signed prenuptial agreement allows.

          Maybelline girl has gotta Maybelline.

    5. The 3rd Amendment protects property owners from being forced to quarter soldiers against their will. In addition, eminent domain refers to the power of the government to take private property and convert it into public use, referred to as a taking. The 5th Amendment provides that the government may only exercise this power if they provide just compensation to the property owners. Apparently, none of this applies in Berkeley, CA.

  3. A wannabe member of the controversial Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence drag group was arrested last month after police said he blatantly masturbated for an hour in broad daylight at a popular California park.

    Clinton Monroe Ellis-Gilmore, 53, allegedly made no attempts to hide the perverted act around 6:45 p.m. Aug. 12 at Table Bluff County Park in Loleta, a coastal community 15 miles south of Eureka.

    “According to numerous witnesses, Ellis-Gilmore had been at that location for approximately one hour, sitting in his truck with the door open, masturbating,” the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

    There was still an hour of sunlight left when he was cuffed at the beachside park.

    Ellis-Gilmore was arrested and charged with indecent exposure, a misdemeanor that can fetch up to six months of prison time, a $1,000 fine and a requirement to register as a sex offender.

    https://nypost.com/2023/09/13/sisters-of-perpetual-indulgence-member-caught-masturbating-at-park/

  4. A Sutton hotel housing migrant families caught fire Wednesday, sending one hotel employee to the hospital, nearly a week after a state senator raised safety concerns about the building with Governor Maura Healey.

    The Red Roof Inn is one of dozens of hotels and motels being used by the state to shelter homeless people and migrants as part of the state’s emergency assistance shelter program.

    The fire broke out on the same day the National Guard was deployed to fill in gaps at unstaffed shelters like the one in Sutton. The move was part of an emergency declaration by the Healey administration, as officials scrambled to house those in need in the state’s overwhelmed shelters, which have been pushed to the brink amid the current migration crisis.

    In a three-page letter to Healey dated Sept. 7, Senator Ryan Fattman, a Republican from Sutton, outlined issues with the hotel’s location, public safety concerns, and safety hazards.

    He also referred to notices from May and June sent by the state’s Executive Office of Public Safety, chastising the hotel’s management for continuously failing to have a working phone system. The noncompliance, he said, “potentially endangers your guests, employees, and the public.”

    Fattman said he decided to send a letter after the administration briefed lawmakers last week on the state’s response to the influx of migrants. During the call, he raised concerns from Sutton police and fire officials that it was unsafe to use the hotel as a shelter.

    He left the meeting feeling that not enough was being done to address the crisis.

    In an interview Wednesday, Fattman said seeing the fire made him “absolutely sick.” He had arrived at the hotel with the plan to welcome the Guard members alongside other local elected officials when he saw smoke billowing out of a second-floor window.

    “What kind of due diligence is being done about the places these vulnerable people are being placed by the state?” he said. “I was just watching this play out like a horrible movie.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/like-a-horrible-movie-state-officials-were-warned-about-safety-issues-with-migrant-shelter-that-caught-fire/ar-AA1gG7H6

  5. The state of Washington is trying to shame us for littering, but they’re intentionally ignoring the culprits responsible for much of it: homeless people. It’s no more stigmatizing or demonizing to acknowledge their role than it is to blame everyone else.

    In the first litter “study” in almost 20 years, the Washington State Department of Ecology (WA-DOE) claimed 37.8 million pounds of waste ends up outside of trash or recycling bins where they belong. And with the data, the WA-DOE is pushing us to keep “trash bags” in our cars so that we’re not tossing anything out of the window in order to keep the car clean. But we do not appear to be the ones chiefly responsible.

    Drive up and down most freeways, including the on- and off-ramps, and you’re likely to see homeless encampments. Some are obvious, others hidden behind brush. And they’re filthy.

    Despite promises by Governor Jay Inslee to clean them up, his Department of Transportation is unwilling. They follow the failed “housing first” model, which demands there be an apartment, not merely shelter space, to place the homeless that are being swept. Due to their inactions, the encampments have grown, along with the trash that comes with it.

    Those ramps are covered in waste. From food wrappers and cigarette butts to used needles and broken/stolen bicycle parts. There was one trash heap almost as tall as me at an encampment I visited in the International District.

    Yet the WA-DOE claims on and off ramps without encampments “were the type of roadway with the most litter,” according to a spokesperson.

    While it’s certainly true that many of us litter, to pretend the homeless aren’t leading the way is another attempt to downplay the homelessness crisis that’s a result of Democrat’s policy choices.

    Reading the WA-DOE study, you wouldn’t know the state is suffering from a homelessness crisis at all. Just shut up and put a “litter bag” in your car and we’ll have a pristine Washington again.

    https://mynorthwest.com/3928556/rantz-washington-litter-study-blames-everyone-but-the-homeless/

  6. On a brisk morning last September, registered nurse Funmi Nowocien wrapped her crimson cardigan tighter around her body and unlocked the door to her workstation in the Toronto Public Health building.

    Outside, commuters rushed to work through Yonge-Dundas Square, an area reminiscent of Times Square. Inside, Nowocien’s office was quiet, filled only with a handful of employees preparing to open for the day.

    Within the hour, clients would begin to trickle in. Nowocien would show each to a private cubicle featuring a metal desk, a plastic chair, and a mirror mounted to the wall. The counter of each cubicle was empty, save for a lighter, a sharps container, and other supplies needed for a very particular purpose: to safely use heroin and mixes of other illicit injectables, such as fentanyl.

    Nowocien helps to run one of Toronto’s 10 safe injection sites, public health facilities where regular IV drug users can use in the presence of nurses who ensure they will not overdose, while also having access to mental health and housing services; primary health care; and — if they choose — medication assisted treatment programs to treat their addictions. (Safe injection sites also offer to check drugs for purity before use.)

    “When people walk through the door, they know that this is a place where they can use without that fear of dying from an overdose,” Nowocien says.

    Toronto is a model for what Philadelphia nonprofit Safehouse has been trying to do here for several years. This week, City Council members are poised to ban safe injection sites from all but one Council district. The state legislature is also considering a bill that would ban them throughout Pennsylvania.

    Toronto launched its supervised sites with a methodical, community-oriented approach that accounted for the needs of local residents, businesses and users. On the other hand, here in Philadelphia, policymakers and citizens alike agree: What happened with Safehouse is a stark example of implementation gone very, very wrong.

    It is also undeniable that both cities have been affected by the opioid crisis. Philadelphia continues to experience one of the highest overdose rates in the country. In 2022, 1,413 people died from overdoses in the city — the highest number ever reported, according to the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.

    In 2017, Philadelphia set a then-record for accidental overdose deaths, with 1,217 deaths — a 34 percent increase from the previous year. Toronto saw a similar increased in 2016, when the number of overdose deaths jumped 32.5 percent from 2015 , though the death toll was just a fraction of Philly’s: 179.

    Overdose prevention sites — where heroin use is monitored to prevent overdoses — have operated outside the United States for decades. Europe’s first official site opened in Switzerland in 1986. Today, 92 sites operate in 11 European countries, according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Additional sites also now exist in Australia, Canada and New York City.

    Nowocien says she takes every opportunity to speak to skeptics about the work. “People don’t understand … [They ask] ‘Oh, so what’s that about, are you helping people shoot up?’ But that’s an opportunity for me to just educate [them] around what the program is all about,” Nowocien says. “I guess the big thing for me is letting people know that supervised consumption sites are necessary medical services, because addiction is a medical issue.”

    https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/the-last-chance-for-safe-injection-sites/

    1. A band aid gesture so they can claim they are doing something. Meanwhile, the overdoses will continue to increase at high rates.

    2. “I guess the big thing for me is letting people know that supervised consumption sites are necessary medical services, because addiction is a medical issue.”

      And that my friends, is a perfect explanation of the root cause of this “medical issue”. Since the dawn of civilization booze and drugs always leads to destruction.

  9. ‘And while I was still on that same day, we get a call that he had overdosed again, now at a T station.’ ‘But this time, there was no naloxone there. His brother was not there,’ he added. With nothing and no one around to reverse the overdose, the patient died, Velasquez said.”

    No loss.

      1. I was back at a jobsite near Washington Street in North Denver this week. The tranq dope zombies were out there rocking and swaying, trying to stay on two feet, at 7am, 10am, noon, 3pm, all day long.

        Those video clips we’ve seen about Kensington in Philadelphia, it’s in Denver now.

    2. I have a solution for this problem. The Government should give a contract for naloxone to the lowest bidding Chinese company–that guarantees that the injections or spray will contain nothing but saline solution.

  10. According to the NDP, the government has quietly and dramatically cut Saskatchewan Housing Corporation supports over the past ten years, with many units sitting vacant during a “homelessness crisis.”

    Meara Conway, Opposition housing critic, released new figures Tuesday, revealing $596 million in empty Sask. Housing units, and more than $194 million wasted on the empty units during what she calls an “affordable housing crisis.”

    “People who can’t afford rent are sleeping in the streets, families are struggling to find affordable options, and are paying more and more of their income to housing during an affordability crisis,” she said, adding “the Sask. Party government is responsible.”

    “The level of incompetence, of waste, of neglect on the part of the Sask. Party government is truly stunning.”

    In July , the Sask. NDP said there were more than twice as many vacant Saskatchewan Housing Corporation units in 2022 than there were in 2021. Conway said currently there are almost 700 vacant units in Regina.

    “That basically means that in Regina one in four units are sitting vacant,” she said.

    https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/596m-in-saskatchewan-housing-units-sitting-vacant-ndp-says/ar-AA1gCx3Y#image=1

    1. How can there be housing shortages in places like Regina or Saskatoon? There is land as far as the eye can see, and no water shortages either that might prevent development.

        1. My point exactly: the shortages are artificial.

          They want prices to be high. They want the middle class to struggle and end up homeless.

          1. Keep people in a lifetime of debt and you can control them. To be free, you need to have FU money and FU skills

    2. And yet WE keep letting the unwashed and unvaxxed into our nation, displacing our own poor downtrodden citizens who our elected politicians have turned their backs and attention on .

      1. our own poor downtrodden citizens

        The PTB want those people gone, hence the tsunami of new and cheap drugs on the streets that are easy to OD on.

      2. Another example of not getting what you voted for, in this case Republicans. For decades Arizona and Texas elected guys promising to control the border. It was mcstain and the like that, would say that, but make sure nothing changed, then go back to their open borders lingo, only to change again just in time for the next election. And it was politically impossible to break in with a third party challenger because of the two party grip on elections.

        1. And it was politically impossible to break in with a third party challenger because of the two party grip on elections.

          Until a guy named TRUMP showed up. They tried to assassinate RFKjr yesterday, who’s next?

      3. own poor downtrodden citizens
        What can you do? Greedy landlords are sucking up every dollar they have.

  12. ‘Emily Englebright told KPTV that she was taking her two chihuahua puppies on a quick walk last week in southwest Portland when one of her pets stopped to sniff at something on the sidewalk. The emergency veterinarians administered Narcan, and Fivel started to perk up. ‘She [the veterinarian] thought most likely it was fentanyl that caused it, and she actually already had three fentanyl cases that night’

    Even the dogs aren’t safe. Globalist scum media try to hide it, but a lot of these deaths are babies and toddlers who get exposed by parents and family. Remember that STR person who died after staying in a shack used for drugs the day before by a different party?

    And who is regulating it? Whoever took over for El Chapo probably. That’s one heck of a system there guberment.

    1. she was taking her two chihuahua puppies on a quick walk last week in southwest Portland when one of her pets stopped to sniff at something on the sidewalk
      I have been seeing more articles recently about how people need to get rid of their cats and dogs because 1) they are causing climate change, 2) It is cruel and repulsive to own another living thing and of course 3) W$ite $upremecy.
      If this trend makes the MSM, Maybe, just maybe, some of my Progressive (clueless) relatives and friends will get their head out of their a$$es and realize what a crock this whole show has become.
      Keep in mind that “being concerned” about the dog shelter and have a rescue dog (Or 2 or 3) is a Big Brag (virtue signal) for a lot of white liberals. It’s like they seem to want to out do each other when talking about their dog(s) and “show” they care more about dogs than the other person.

      1. The NPC meatbots will follow the narrative no matter what. They will have their pets put down and brag on social media about how they did their part to “save the planet”. These NPC’s are incapable of questioning the narrative, as it would be racist, homophobic, and anti-science conspiracy theory. I’ve given up on them, and that includes my family members. My brother and sister in law have masked their 5 and 8 year old kids again.

    2. one of her pets stopped to sniff at something

      I used to joke that I didn’t take the dog out for a walk, I took him out for a smell. Ol’ Wolfgang would stop to smell something every five feet. I could see how that could be hazardous for a dog in any urban environment.

    3. And who is regulating it? Whoever took over for El Chapo probably. That’s one heck of a system there guberment.

      But Orange Man Bad. No more mean tweets, at least….

  13. ‘The migrants had been processed at the border and released pending the pursuit of their asylum claims. Many came from Venezuela, a country wracked by political and economic turmoil, and all had endured dangerous journeys north through Mexico. The newer arrivals include people from Venezuela and Ecuador but also West Africa and Russian-speaking countries, Adams said this month’

    It’s Chinese too. The cartels are now advertising on tic tok all over the world to bring people in. El Chapo again, what a busy guy!

    ‘all had endured dangerous journeys north through Mexico’

    I’ve said before, if you leave a dog in a hot car you rightfully get arrested. You walk a little child into the desert and yer a hero to these fooks. And that happens thousands of times a year, every year.

    ‘Meanwhile, aid groups and immigrant advocates reacted strongly to Adams’s recent comment that migrant arrivals could ‘destroy’ the city. Such remarks are ‘reckless and unproductive fear-mongering,’ said the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless in a joint statement. ‘This dangerous rhetoric is something you’d expect from fringe politicians on the far right of the political spectrum’

    Globalist scum bezos: firstly fook you. Second, the far right thing doesn’t fly anymore.

        3. These clowns can’t decide what lip stick color goes with their heels.

          They forced millions to take the kill shot with their no jab, no job mandates, and not all of them were overturned. The Federal employee mandate remained until the emergency was declared over.

  15. ‘saying the judge has gone too far and is preventing the state from solving a critical problem. ‘I hope this goes to the Supreme Court,’ Newsom said. ‘And that’s a hell of a statement coming from a progressive Democrat’

    It’s funny that people think this clown could be president. C-fna is a failed narco state.

  16. ‘Dealers will even offer tens of thousands of pills to local distributors without being paid, allowing payment after the pills are sold, said Sergeant Al Schultz, a Tacoma Police Department special investigations unit officer. ‘We have sources trying to give us 20,000 pills when we only want to actually buy 1,000’

    Think about this when guberment talks about ‘keeping us safe.’

    1. 50 cents a pill? How does one even make a profit at those kinds of prices? This doesn’t sound like the capitalist drug-dealer model that was described in Freakonomics, or The Wire, or Scarface. This sounds like Chinese revenge for the Opium War.

      2. 50 cents a pill? How does one even make a profit at those kinds of prices?

        How much does it cost to make one? If it costs a penny then it’s pure profit.

        2. 50 cents a pill? How does one even make a profit at those kinds of prices?
          My understanding Suboxone is now about 3 strips for $50. NOTE you don’t get high on Suboxone you just the the opiate addition controlled.
          I indirectly know one woman who couldn’t get a suboxone so she was smoking Fentanyl to control the opiate sickness. Well she crashed her car while high got busted for a bunch of charges and did a year in jail.
          I think the idea of limited free suboxone type drugs should be looked into. again, you don’t get high on these type of drugs

    2. The wall of lies is crumbling.

      I don’t think so. They are pushing the new jabs as hard as ever, and the vaxx nazis are yammering away as always.

      1. PS – I use our own rms as a bellwether of sorts. Intelligent guy, yet continues to get every booster. If/when he finally tells us he’s had enough, then maybe we’re getting somewhere. I say “maybe” because even when he figures it out, the dullards will still take a while to come to their senses – if ever.

        1. Yesterday, my wife said she done taking covid boosters because they don’t work. The school district is likely going to have a problem on their hands as many of the staff feel likewise.

        1. I still wear a mask at Walmart and the health clinic offices. There’s just too many of the unwashed hordes in our area coughing and hacking, picking their nose, etc.

          1. Before the COVID debacle, it was widely known that face masks are used to protect OTHERS from your exhalations, not the other way around, i.e. medical staff wore masks to protect the patients not themselves.

          2. Nearly every disease is transmitted by your own dirty hands to your eyes, nose, and mouth. Wearing a mask means you touch your face area every time you put on, remove, or adjust the mask. Think about that.

  20. The Canadians are so good at easing old folks out ,and into the graveyards, its scary ,or anyone they think hasn’t got quality of life, no matter what the age. The Germans tried that , in a big way ,and not just for the Jews, because of bad leadership.
    When the Nazis swept into Russia ,in the early 1940’s,they came upon a large ethnic German settlement in Ukraine that had set up a large sanatorian ,to take care of severely handicapped people,their own people , with beautiful buildings and grounds….Within hours , they took all the residents ,plus all the caretakers, all fellow German people, into a nearby plowed field and machine gunned them all….So it really wasn’t the German people that were bad, it was the Leaders , It’s our own leaders that will destroy us in the end, if we let them,

  21. ‘This dangerous rhetoric is something you’d expect from fringe politicians on the far right of the political spectrum.’”

    The truth, you mean.

  22. A reader sent these is:

    UK RICS home price gauge seeing second largest decline in history

    https://twitter.com/DonMiami3/status/1702112331931484382

    This is not a home price decline measurement – it measures # of homes reporting falling prices

    https://twitter.com/DonMiami3/status/1702113124126429414

    Bonds up – markets down, regime change in sight 🤨

    https://twitter.com/DonMiami3/status/1702042460841480347

    Things that keep me up at night? Homer Simpson owned a home and supported a family of five without having a college degree.

    https://twitter.com/dougboneparth/status/1702312540787642693

    “Just How Over Is NYC Airbnb? These Maps Offer a Hint”
    “Virtually all private short-term rentals are now illegal and difficult to list”

    https://twitter.com/InsideAirbnb/status/1702502905352224822

    Real estate investors have bought 45% fewer homes than a year ago. That’s the biggest decline since 2008 with the exception of the quarter before, when they dropped 48%

    https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1702306452764024894

    Austin’s housing market is taking it on the chin. The seasonal head fake is over in Austin—it’s time for more price give up. That’s not a Lance Lambert call. It’s already in the data.

    https://twitter.com/NewsLambert/status/1702128727919145290

    The home price correction is very much alive in Austin. In fact, @Opendoor has “basically stopped buying” in Austin

    https://twitter.com/NewsLambert/status/1702474053091528759

    Trudeau’s Big Housing Announcement = NOTHING. Let’s break it down: the Liberal caucus is in London ON for a “Retreat” the Liberals are experiencing their worst poll results in 9 years and are in deep trouble about Housing. So a “Major Announcement” on Housing happens

    https://twitter.com/ronmortgageguy/status/1702310083701489773

    Me unboxing the new iPhone 15…

    https://twitter.com/dougboneparth/status/1701709871736107342

    In 3 years starting 2022 we will have 3 Million people come to live in Canada (likely more). In the USA that would be 26M people. No one in America would dream of that happening. Britain and France that would be nearly 5M newcomers in 3 years. Which would topple governments.

    https://twitter.com/ronmortgageguy/status/1701586669588090982

    New condo units under construction. But could anything go wrong?

    https://twitter.com/SuburbanDrone/status/1702496333649543562

    Delinquencies on auto loans are at the highest level in a decade.

    https://twitter.com/GuyDealership/status/1702305931894063426

    A net 51% of US Banks are now tightening their lending standards, the highest since 2020 and at levels that have coincided with recessionary periods in the past.

    https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1702514748024312064

    Maybe tread carefully with the NASDAQ.

    https://twitter.com/JeffWeniger/status/1702741317728739456

    The housing freeze is about more than struggling realtors. All of these people have jobs that are reliant on a critical mass of people moving into and out of houses. If people don’t move, these professions get fewer phone calls. This is a short list; there are so many more.

    https://twitter.com/JeffWeniger/status/1702676213292994625

    1. In 3 years starting 2022 we will have 3 Million people come to live in Canada

      Canada is where the globalists test drive what they want to do to the rest of us. In this case, it’s replacement.

  23. Maui Travel Isn’t Recovering; Now What?
    Hawaii Travel News / September 15, 2023 /

    Nearly all airlines have cut Maui flights this week, including Alaska, Delta, Southwest, United, and others. While Hawaiian hasn’t yet, it will likely join soon for various reasons (see below). According to Hawaii Tourism, daily arrivals are simply not changing direction. Typically, we expect to see more than two times as many visitors on Maui at this time of year.

    Since the reality of the unchanging Maui tourism disaster has become apparent, airlines almost across the board have no choice but to reduce flights. Those included United Airlines, which has cut flights from San Francisco and Los Angeles to the island and has temporarily reduced flights from Denver and Chicago.

    While back at Hawaiian Airlines, we see no significant Maui flight cuts at this time, although we firmly believe those are coming. Hawaiian will concomitantly be facing the possibility of having up to one-half of their narrow-body fleet in the shop at any one time, for up to one year per plane over the next two years, due to engine repairs needed due to a massive recall that is spiraling.

    https://beatofhawaii.com/maui-travel-isnt-recovering-now-what/

        1. I find flying to Hawaii a little unnerving as there is nowhere for an emergency landing. When flying to Europe most northern route flights are usually not terribly far from a place to land. I think the stretch between Iceland and the Faroe Islands is the longest: 430 miles. Hawaii is 2500 miles from the west coast.

          1. Labrador to Greenland is 750 miles; Greenland to Iceland is 800 miles. I see no reason to go overseas. Went to a couple First World countries in Europe some years ago, and didn’t like it. The rest I can do on Google maps.

          2. Went to a couple First World countries in Europe some years ago, and didn’t like it.

            I have found such countries to be unwelcoming. Rick Steves makes it look delightful.

            Traveling by air has become unpleasant. You wonder if your flight will be seriously delayed or cancelled. Airfares are through the roof and there is the nagging doubt that perhaps safety isn’t what is used to be.

          3. Went to a couple First World countries in Europe some years ago, and didn’t like it.

            I think they’re nicer to you if you’re a very young girl 😬
            Went on a nine-week Eurail Pass/backpacking trip all over the British Isles and Europe in ’75 (turned 21 running up and down a mountain in Austria imitating Maria Von Trapp 🤣) Teamed up with other girls we met on trains. One told me about being lifted off the ground by the crotch by a Frenchman. We outright rejected any invitations anywhere. Came home wondering why Europeans feel superior to us. We got that message over and over while there, and it became annoying.

            Great to see different customs, beautiful places. Glad to have done it at that age.

        2. I don’t do long flights, especially over the ocean

          Go read, “Fate is The Hunter” and “The High and The Mighty”. If your airplane is losing fuel and altitude, you can always throw luggage overboard. It worked for John Wayne!

          In reality I think it’s been documented that the rate and number of accidents occurring to scheduled airliners over the oceans is much, much lower than accidents occurring over everything else (i.e., the land). Look up the Air Transit flight 236, the Airbus 320 that lost its engines and glided to a safe landing in the Azores.

  24. Another drugs / homeless thread?

    Portland voted for this. Denver voted for this.

    This is Democrat Party. Every parent who votes for them deserves to find their child dead from an overdose, because it’s WHAT YOU VOTED FOR.

      1. Here’s what bugs me about this: aren’t you two the same who said a million times, we’re not going to vote our way out of this? For decades I’ve seen various ‘movements’ to corral ‘free’ people into enclaves of like minded people. All failed.

        None of this would be happening if the New York Post laptop story wasn’t suppressed. IMO we should all stand up for decency and basic rights for every US citizen, no matter where they live. So we got a big fight on our hands. Writing off millions of people as deplorable isn’t going to help.

        1. Let’s take this a bit further: you guys in Colorado don’t like what’s happening? You got what you voted for, right? Fook you commies. When a republican guberment in Arizona told me and all landlords we couldn’t evict non-paying tenants, did I get what I voted for? When guberment closed all the churches and schools and millions of businesses all over the US, did we get what we voted for?

          Here’s what I know: globalist scum make every effort to divide us. Race, sex, religion, they want us fighting each other with no reconciliation possible. I reject that completely.

          1. The Democrat Party has been completely captured & subverted by its globalist moneybags. Tulsi Gabbard might’ve been the last honest Democrat remaining, and now she’s out. Anyone who continues to vote for a party beholden only to the oligarchs & private equity locusts that own the DNC. The Dimms gave been a wrecking ball against heritage America and everything we used to stand for, and everyone who votes D is an accessory to this. Of course, the Establishment GOP controlled opposition is equally beholden to their oligarch & corporate pimps, so what we have is basically a meaningless Kabuki theater in Panem on the Potomac & the Statehouses. I stopped voting after the 2020 election steal, because there was no point. Also, the Republican Party in Colorado Springs is completely in the pockets of the developers, so they don’t represent me any more than the Democrats do. I don’t care about someone’s race, religion, ethnic background, etc. as long as they’re decent and are opposed to government overreach and enabling of parasitism. However, I would note the Republican base – as opposed to the Establishment GOP – by and large shares my values & worldview, whereas Democrats overwhelmingly are A-OK with government overreach like vaccine mandates & lockdowns. Am I going to be uniting with people who are actively abetting what we saw during the scamdemic? I don’t think so. I just want them & Big Brother to leave me the f*ck alone and let me live my life in peace and in accordance with my own values & convictions.

          2. I don’t care who you unite with, one person doesn’t matter. For the many millions of us who freedom and decency, the more we can find common ground, the better. For instance: can we agree that kids should have an upbringing determined by their parents? That streets are as clean and safe as possible? OK, let’s work on that.

          3. they want us fighting each other

            Lest we unite and go after them. The real reason Trump is so despised.

          4. Here’s what I know: globalist scum make every effort to divide us. Race, sex, religion, they want us fighting each other with no reconciliation possible. I reject that completely.

            And don’t forget generations. I constantly see stories on my home page about why Boomers or Gen-Z svck.

          7. Lest we unite and go after them.

            Why would the Free Sh!t Army want to unite with anybody to go after them? That’s where they get their free sh!t from. What do the Republicans have to offer? A job?

          8. Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.

          9. There are millions of us. There is a thousand of them. It would be over in a few days if we all united against Globalist scum.

          10. guys, you really need a third, fourth, fifth party. politics in us is a joke, and politicians on both sides only represent 2%-3% of the people. the rest are simply not represented in any way.

  26. ‘And those rich techies? They think they’re all that. They act like they didn’t have enough money to give me $5 or a cup of coffee. They looked right through me. Can’t wait ’til this thing is over and we can get back to normal’

    Many years ago Flagstaff had a anti-panhanding law overturned by some distant court. Within days there were bums on every major corner. A lot of them were guys and gals in their 20’s.

    1. The entitlement from this bum is nauseating. What makes somebody think they deserve some of the fruits of somebody else’s labor for doing absolutely nothing?

      1. When I was growing up, I learned that “beggars can’t be choosers.” I for one don’t think these folks should be able to choose to live downtown on the sidewalk. They either pay the premium for a legal dwelling in prime real estate like the rest of us, or they take what the gov has to offer. IMO that means old military bases, office buildings, or abandoned malls. Offer services right on premises, so they have no reason to be downtown. If you really want to have fun (which didn’t go over well with HBB the other day), offer a “drug bus” transport where they can go to one of these shelters and choose between rehab and overdose. I don’t know how long we can deal with this limbo.

        1. Last I checked, heroin, fentanyl and all those other hard drugs are illegal. How can the government legally assist in the transportation and use of these drugs as they currently are in Seattle, Portland, etc.?

          If I were in charge of this homeless crisis, the solution is completely obvious. If you are using or under the influence of any of these illegal hard drugs, you go straight to the slammer. From there, you have one of two choices: either choose inpatient rehab, or do hard time for possession. That would clean up over 90% of the people off the streets immediately.

    1. We will be told that a chip inside our skull will make life even more convenient. Then not having one will be a burden.

    2. Last winter, a Sav-a-Lot moved into a old Whole Foods in/near Evanston. The locals raised a stink because they didn’t like the Sav-a-Lot name, because Sav-a-Lot is associated with cheap poor quality food. They wanted Whole Foods quality. But evidently they didn’t want to pay Whole Foods prices, which is why the WH left. The city tried hard to fill the food desert, but Sav-a-Lot was the only grocery store willing to open a store in that area.

      There is really no pleasing the locals.

  29. Internet Slams Dem Hysteria After More J6 Footage Surfaces
    Infowars.com

    September 16th 2023, 7:34 am

    “Remember when the entire establishment tried to convince you that the most heavily armed population in the world attempted an ‘insurrection’ completely unarmed?”

    “It’s like they’re walking into a trap.”

    Behold…the violent insurrection that was “worse” than 9/11 and Pearl Harbor combined:

    5:45

    0:00 – 1:09 and 3:10 – 3:25 cut to the chase.

    Mindy Robinson 🇺🇸
    @iheartmindy
    Eric Clark (J6anon)
    @guyfaux98637517
    South Doors

    https://x.com/iheartmindy/status/1702455256901201928?s=20

    3. It will be interesting to see what Trudeau’s coalition does, as their next elections are not until 2025.

      Will Trudeau dissolve the government and call an early election? If he can’t cheat his way into a win, that is unlikely.

      However, he had to form a coalition to stay in power last time (2023). If the coalition falls apart that could force an early election, but his partners (the other parties) are also leftists, and they would possibly lose seats. The coalition could remove him as Prime Minister, but they won’t replace him with a conservative. Parliamentary systems are weird.

      Perhaps they will decide to continue wrecking the country until Oct 2025? Or declare martial law? Who knows what they are thinking?

    1. They’re credible accusations, including medical records from a rape clinic, a text message apology, and corroborating witnesses.

      2. It took 10 years to come to light? Medical records don’t prove it happened or who did it if it did in fact happen.

        1. He was famous ten years ago but a liberal darling.

          Now he’s a critic.

          It’s not really about crime per se.

  32. Sponsored content article provided by Pfizer and Moderna.

    Washington Post — The CDC’s booster recommendation is overly broad. It’s still the right call (9/15/2023):

    “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention endorsed another round of updated coronavirus vaccines for everyone 6 months and older. While some have rightly criticized the recommendation for being overly broad, federal health officials made the right call given the many competing factors they had to weigh.

    The new vaccines are monovalent ones targeting the XBB.1.5 strain, a subvariant of omicron. They are expected to be more effective against currently dominant variants compared with the bivalent vaccines released last fall.

    That alone should be reason for people who are worried about covid to get the latest type of shot.”

    https://archive.ph/h47M7

  33. Dr McCollugh addressed the European Parliament this week and he blasted them with the truth.
    In summary,
    He outlined who the collusion culprits were in the Covid Response and the dangerous vaccines.
    He said Culprits covered up Covid Lab release.
    He outlined how all the studies show vaccines have caused the death and injury until proven otherwise.
    4.2 % death
    7% serious injury
    15% less serious injury
    30% no reaction
    They lied about spike protein in shots creating damage and not dissolving.
    He said that they are wrong in blaming death and injury on original Covid, its the vaccines. Should be taken off market.
    Said that Countries should pull from WHO, as they were one of the Culprits he named, as well as Bill Gates, Rockerfeller foundation, WEF, United Nations, CDC, FDA, and other Health Agencies.
    Also mentioned how they obstructed med treatments that would of prevented deaths.
    I think the good Dr. needs to beef up his security.
    He basically named the collusion culprits in what he called a “adverse event”.
    It was only about a 20 minute speech but it backed everything in it, including studies.

    1. I think most people who stopped getting the boosters did so because they got jabbed and got very sick anyway, not because they think the boosters are dangerous. The talking heads in the evening news will continue to say “safe and effective” and will encourage everyone to continue getting jabbed. For many, that is good enough a reason, though I won’t be surprised if the screaming doctors return to the evening news.

  34. Christine Anderson yesterday at European Parliament said in summary the following:
    -They are bringing the Covid Tyranny back.
    -Just say no
    – Just say no to masks
    -just say no to shots
    -just say no to lockdowns
    She is another one I hope has beefed up her security.

    1. The corporate presstitute media simply ignores here, so the NPC meatbots that make up 70% of the population do not know she exists.

    1. I saved a couple of Honda Si coupes that have 60k miles and a price tag of $21k or so, and they don’t last the week. Sold! But those $50k hot hatch cars have stalled bigtime with the higher interest rates, and insurance is creeping upward.

  41. Another productive day of demolition on the teardown house. I will probably be scheduling another rolloff dumpster three weeks from now, already moving demo debris to near where the rolloff will sit.

    Nobody is gonna do this for you unless you’re handing them checks. I’ve been doing this almost entirely on my own since I closed on the property in June.

  42. ‘The same rationale that says you shouldn’t be smoking crack or using fentanyl in a children’s playground should apply to sports fields where children are playing soccer and baseball,’ West said. ‘When the province rolled out decriminalization, these are the types of things that they should have thought about at the beginning’

  43. What on earth is keeping housing prices propped up on a permanently high plateau, when fundsmentals suggest they should drop maybe 41% compared to pandemic-era valuations? This is based on a mathematical comparison of how much you can borrow against the same monthly payment stream at today’s 30-year mortgage rates, around 7.27%, compared to the January 2021 low of 2.65%. Not to suggest that financial math should have any affect on what transpires in a mania…but seriously, what is holding prices aloft? Could it be the fentanyl that today’s real estate investors are consuming?

    1. DOW 30 -0.83%
      S&P 500 -1.22%
      NASDAQ 100 -1.75%

      The housing market has never been this expensive
      Phil Rosen
      Sep 15, 2023, 7:55 AM PDT
      The housing market has never been this expensive.
      The housing market has never been this expensive.
      UCG / Getty

      – The median monthly mortgage payment hit an all-time high of $2,632 in the four weeks up to September 10, Redfin said.

      – Mortgage rates are hovering near two-decade highs, above 7%.

      – Home prices, meanwhile, are up 4% compared to one year ago.

      The housing market has never before been this expensive.

      A new Redfin report showed the median monthly mortgage payment hit an all-time high of $2,632 in the four weeks to September 10. That’s up 14% compared to one year ago.

      That’s as mortgage rates are still hovering near a two-decade high, hitting 7.25% this week for the 30-year fixed rate.

      At the same time, the median home sale price is up 3.9% year over year to reach $376,250 in the four weeks to September 10.

      Typically when rates increase, prices decline. But that hasn’t happened in the current market, and economists point to low home inventory as the main culprit behind the affordability crisis.

      Weekly active listings of homes for sale declined 17% year over year in the four-week rolling average up to September 10, and new listings fell 7.1%, according to Redfin.

      Years of under-building have contributed to a massive housing shortage that’s kept many would-be buyers sidelined.
      …
      https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/housing-market-mortgage-payments-record-high-home-prices-inventory-shortage-2023-9

    2. Buyers are getting cold feet as mortgage rates exceed 7%: Redfin
      As median U.S. home sale price rose 3% year over year to $420,846 in August, ‘sticker shock’ is pushing buyers to pull out of agreements
      September 15, 2023, 3:21 pm By Connie Kim

      Buyers facing high mortgage rates are pulling out of their home-purchase agreements at the highest rate in nearly a year.

      Nearly 60,000 home-purchase agreements were canceled nationwide in August, equal to 15.7% of homes that went under contract that month, according to a new report from Redfin.

      That rate is up from 14.3% in August 2022 and marks the highest percentage since October 2022, when mortgage rates surpassed 7% for the first time in two decades.

      The average interest rate on a 30-year-fixed mortgage was 7.07% in August. Rates last month surged to 7.23%—the highest since 2001 – sending the typical homebuyer’s monthly payment up significantly from last year.

      “I’ve seen more homebuyers cancel deals in the last six months than I’ve seen at any point during my 24 years of working in real estate. They’re getting cold feet,” said Jaime Moore, a Redfin Premier real estate agent in Reno, Nevada.

      “Buyers get sticker shock when they see their high rate on paper alongside extra expenses for maintenance, repairs and closing costs. Many of them would rather back out, even if it means losing their earnest money. A lot of sellers are also willing to let buyers slip away because they don’t want to concede to repair requests,” Morre said.

      Home prices not expected to fall
      …
      https://www.housingwire.com/articles/buyers-are-getting-cold-feet-as-mortgage-rates-exceed-7-redfin/

      1. pulling out of their home-purchase agreements at the highest rate in nearly a year

        That’ll happen when prices are falling.

        1. Yep. Who wants to catch a falling knife, exacerbated by the leverage of a mortgage loan that enables you to purchase the risk of a far larger loss than your own meager principle?

    3. Similar question:

      What is propping up the stock market, now that everyone from Warren Buffett on down is pouring money into low-risk cash investments yielding north of 5%, while interest rate increases are relentlessly hammering away at debt-strapped corporate balance sheets, not to mention credit-dependent consumers?

      You would think that at some point, market fundamentals would catch up wit the grater fools who got drunk drinking the Soft Landing koolaide. Don’t they realize the AI chatter is just a way to lure suckers into buying overvalued stocks?

      1. Investor’s Business Daily
        Stock Market Today
        Dow Jones Futures: What To Do As Stocks Show Bearish Action; Tesla Strong, Fed Meeting Looms
        ED CARSON 05:30 PM ET 09/16/2023

        Dow Jones futures will open Sunday evening, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. The Federal Reserve meeting looms large.

        The stock market rally was little changed for the week. But after reclaiming their 50-day lines on Thursday, the major indexes fell back on Friday. While they could rebound again, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also aren’t far from triggering a highly bearish signal.

        Software, which had looked so strong, tumbled this past week amid negative reactions to Oracle (ORCL) and Adobe (ADBE) earnings and guidance.

        AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA), the clear leader of the 2023 market rally, fell below its 50-day line. Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) demand concerns hit many chip stocks on Friday, especially chip equipment.
        …
        The stock market rally had some notable swings during the week, but the major indexes ended narrowly mixed.

        The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.1% in last week’s stock market trading. The S&P 500 index dipped 0.2%. The Nasdaq composite lost 0.4%. All fell back below their 50-day lines on Friday.

        The small-cap Russell 2000 edged down 0.2%, just above its 200-day line.

        Adobe and Oracle earnings and guidance didn’t live up to lofty expectations. ADBE stock tumbled 5.6% for the week, right at its 50-day line. as ORCL stock plunged 9.8%, gapping below its 50-day.
        …
        Cooling hype about revenue from AI services and tools also may have weighed on AI chip giant Nvidia, which fell 3.7% on Friday and for the week to a one-month low.

        Meanwhile, several airlines warned on fuel costs while Nucor (NUE) guided low on earnings. Taiwan Semi reportedly has effectively warned.

        A UAW strike vs. Ford (F), General Motors (GM) and Chrysler parent Stellantis (STLA) began Friday. That didn’t seem to bother investors, though a lengthy outage could have a big industry and economic impact.

        The 10-year Treasury yield rose six basis points to 4.32%. That’s not far from the 15-year high of 4.36% set last month.

        U.S. crude oil futures jumped 3.7% to $90.77 a barrel last week. Copper prices bounced 2.3%.
        …
        https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/dow-jones-futures-stocks-show-bearish-action-tesla-strong-fed-meeting-looms/

      2. On what planet did it ever make good financial sense for companies to borrow money in order to purchase their own stock in order to prop up share prices?

        Granted the practice makes far less sense in a high rate environment.

        1. Financial Times
          Charts that Matter
          Share buybacks
          Companies ease off on share buybacks as rising interest rates push up costs
          Growing pressure to invest and regional banking turmoil also deterred companies from purchasing their own shares
          Trader on floor of New York Stock Exchange
          S&P 500 companies spent $175bn buying back shares in the three months to June — a 20% decline from same quarter last year
          Nicholas Megaw in New York 4 hours ago

          Share buybacks on the US stock market have dropped to the slowest pace since the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic as rising interest rates undermine the incentive for companies to purchase their own shares.

          Companies in Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index spent $175bn buying back shares in the three months to June, according to preliminary data from S&P. That marked a 20 per cent decline from the same quarter last year and a 19 per cent decline from the first three months of 2023.

          Analysts say the slowdown is likely to mark the beginning of a longer-term trend that could put downward pressure on stock markets.

          “Structural reasons as well as the interest rate environment are both contributors,” said Jill Carey Hall, equity and quant strategist at Bank of America. “We would expect buybacks to not be as big for the foreseeable future.”
          …

      3. US Markets
        Dow Jones -0.83%
        Nasdaq -1.75%
        S&P 500 -1.22%

        A legendary economist who called the 2008 recession says another downturn is knocking on the door — and warns stocks will end up falling 40% by the end of this market cycle
        William Edwards
        Sep 16, 2023, 2:00 AM PDT
        Stocks are in trouble, warns Gary Shilling.
        Spencer Platt/Getty Images

        Legendary economist Gary Shilling says the US economy is headed toward a recession — that is, if we’re not already in one.

        “It’s probably starting now, maybe it’s already started,” Shilling, who has worked as an economist at institutions like the Federal Reserve and Merrill Lynch, told Insider this week.

        His main argument for why a downturn is in store is the Fed’s dedication to getting inflation back down to its long-term goal of 2%. Currently, the Consumer Price Index sits at 3.7% year-over-year, while core CPI, which does not capture volatile food and energy prices, is at 4.3%.
        …
        https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-crash-recession-sp500-prediction-inflation-lei-gary-shilling-2023-9

    4. I had a great chat with an older gentleman from one of our local church communities. He told me his investing career began in the late 1950s, and he has invested in real estate through multiple business cycles. He expects mortgage rates to top out over 10%, with a complete shutdown of the housing market to follow.

      It was quite refreshing to have a chat with a more bearish bear than myself.

  44. Just noticed builder putting two of his homes “for rent” today a few miles away. It’s a smaller development of about 25 lots about half built out. So the one still for sell is at 879k (2700sqft, 4/3), the two taken off the market and put up for rent are $3600 and $3400 and about the same size. So if you buy the one still for sell, with 20% down you’re looking at a payment of about $6000. Wow! I’m thinking that one still for sell will be renting soon too because who in their right mind would buy it? Bat sh#t crazy. I’ve been watching reports of builders doing this recently, first time I’ve noticed it locally. The only thing I think they’re thinking is that they’re banking that we will be going back to ZIRP real soon next year. Hope you’re watching JP.

    1. “The only thing I think they’re thinking is that they’re banking that we will be going back to ZIRP real soon next year.”

      That’s a pretty crazy base case against a backdrop of persistently high, uncontained inflation.

      I had a great discussion with a builder, circa 2006. He just couldn’t conceive of how my crash prediction could possibly be correct. Unfortunately, the conversation was a one-off, as he was in town from Arizona visiting his ex, so I never had the chance to say “I warned you” later on.

      1. Oh I entirely agree. I’m just trying to get into these guys heads. What could they possibly be thinking. Because any rational person knows we’re not going back ZIRP any time soon.

  48. OK, here is somethin strange:

    Today is Mexican independence day. There is a traditional military parade every year. What is strange is that the Mexican president invited the Russians to march in the parade. The Ukrainian ambassador protested the invitation. The Russians marched.

    2. “What is strange is that the Mexican president invited the Russians to march in the parade.”

      I would agree that is strange.

          1. But the Russians and Chinese are two interesting invitees.

            Messaging. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

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