I’m One Of Those People Who Bought At The Peak But I Have To Sell

1. Warning about this link:

   Tribune News Service. ‘A landmark agreement from the National Association of Realtors paved the way for a new set of rules that will likely shake up the entire industry’

   It made my computer unstable. Click at yer own risk!

2. ‘We’re not seeing capital appreciation, so let’s list them [they say.] They want to off-load it’

   Pretty much the definition of a bubble Andre.

3. ‘So, imagine going from paying $529 in maintenance fees to $2,279 per month, not to mention that’s on top of my mortgage. But get this: When we met with the project manager, he said he doesn’t think this $3 million budget will cut it. So, you know, that means another special assessment is on its way’

   It’s a good thing you can always sell!

4. You will own nothing.

   1. Not a fuggen thing!

5. I wonder if he just rented to the first person who showed up with Cash to keep it off the books?

   Mahmood says he was faced with piles of trash, bottles of urine, rodents and dog feces

6. Would you pay $1 to buy a home in a high crime area?

   1. Real Estate
      Baltimore is selling hundreds of vacant homes to city residents for just $1 each
      Erin Snodgrass
      Mar 20, 2024, 9:23 PM ET
      A row of abandoned properties in Baltimore
      David S. Holloway/Getty Images

      – Baltimore is selling city-owned abandoned homes to residents for $1 each.

      – The initiative aims to revive neighborhoods with high crime rates and surplus vacant homes.

      – The city tried a similar housing program in the 1970s with homesteaders.
      …
      https://www.businessinsider.com/baltimore-sell-hundreds-vacant-homes-residents-for-just-1-2024-3

7. Turns Out We Do Have A ‘Deep State’… And It’s “Awesome”

   https://ussanews.com/2024/03/22/turns-out-we-do-have-a-deep-state-and-its-awesome/

   After years of denials, the mainstream media has decided to admit the Deep State does exist…and apparently it’s “awesome”…

   At least, according to this new video from the New York Times:

   [A video appears here …]

   The video itself is a six-minute strawman, presenting interviews with rocket scientists – as if they genuinely think that’s what people mean when they refer to the deep state – then piling on insanely manipulative attempts to “humanise” the concept of the Deep State by talking about these guys’ hobbies and interests.

   It’s cheesy and flippant and every bit as cringe as it sounds:

   “We went on a road trip to find out. As we met the Americans who are being dismissed as public enemies, we discovered that they are … us. They like Taylor Swift. They dance bachata. They go to bed at night watching ‘Star Trek’ reruns. They go to work and do their jobs: saving us from Armageddon.”

   Let’s state the obvious – when we talk about the Deep State, we’re not talking about people protecting children from exploitation in Chicago and we’re not talking about amiable Star Trek fans building life-saving rockets – and the New York Times video production team know this as well as we all do.

   We’re talking about corrupt military and intelligence agencies, with ties to big business, who really control the government using “elected” politicians as sock puppets.

   We’re talking about the machinery put in place which impoverishes the poor and undermines human rights to further authoritarian control over the people whilst facilitating and accelerating the transformation of public money into private profits.

   Maybe the people that do all that are also Spock-loving marathon runners, maybe not. I don’t care, I’d just like them to stop.

   The propaganda bait-and-switch is as pathetic as it is clumsy. They think that by putting human faces on the lowest and most amiable rungs of Federal power they can pretend it’s nothing but love and light all the way through. By defending the defensible, they hope to give the indefensible a pass.

   The clumsy message of the video couldn’t be clearer, in fact here it is word-for-word from the NYT:

   “When we hear ‘deep state,’ instead of recoiling, we should rally. We should think about the workers otherwise known as our public servants, the everyday superheroes who wake up ready to dedicate their careers and their lives to serving us. These are the Americans we employ. Even though their work is often invisible, it makes our lives better.”

   Golly gee. How adorable.

   Personally, I am old enough to remember all the way back to 2017 and the dozen different articles all explaining, in great detail, why the US does not have a deep state at all. I wrote a long response to this at the time.

   Turns out they were all wrong anyhow, the US does have a Deep State after all – it’s peopled by bachata dancing Swifties who “save us from Armageddon” – and we should be very grateful for it.

   It’s all reminiscent of the meme that’s been doing the rounds for years, on how the formerly unthinkable is normalised in public discourse.

   1. That doesn’t happen, and everyone who says it does is a conspiracy theorist.

   2. That happens sometimes but it’s very rare.

   3. That should actually happen more.

   4. That is happening a lot and it’s a good thing (we are currently here)

   5. People who don’t like this happening are the problem.

   Guess that means we’ve got number five to look forward to.

   1. When we hear ‘deep state,’ instead of recoiling, we should rally.

      How freaking Orwellian.

8. “The entire U.S. housing market has been transformed by the 40%-plus rise in home prices since the onset of Covid.”

   Was it a 40% rise in home prices, or a
   1 – 1/1.4 = 29% reduction in the real estate purchasing power of the dollar?

   The answer may depend on whether you rent or own, and it may evolve as the effects of higher-for-longer interest rates are eventually priced in.

9. “Vaccine Hestiency ” is a big study now. The grand conclusion is “safety concerns.”
   Notice that we lack disclosure on data on adverse effects and death from a EUA experimental new technology vaccine. Instead , Vaccine Hestiency is the topic of conversation with countless papers on the subject.
   The studies trying to figure out if “Vaccine Hesticency” is a psychological disorder or not, and why would the public reject”safe and effective vaccine,” produced at warp speed, a new technology, that doesn’t keep you from getting Covid or transmitting Covid.
   So, how are the seekers of Scientific truth going to overcome “Vaccine Hestiency ” a major study of concern.
   No studies on known consent breached, especially when people are mandated to take a shot.
   When bribery, fearmongering, “safe and effective”false advertising, censorship of dispute and oppression of free speech doesn’t work, how do you explain “Vaccine Hestiency “.
   The studies show “safety ” is core reason for Vaccine hesitancy.
   Maybe the unvaccinated should be fined more, denied medical services, banned from grocery stores, taken to camps, because “Vaccine Hestiency “is just unacceptable.
   The government should have right to achieve compliance on injection of a medical countermeasure to a gain of function created disease.
   Even free speech should be censored because Government Compliance to expiermental vaccines is for the “greater good” after all. And let’s not study the overwhelming “Black Swan” truth of vaccine produced death and injury globally, because “Vaccine Hestiency “is the major concern
   But don’t despair, ” the WHO Treaty with 194 Goverments of globe will eliminate any vaccine Hestiency, because WHO will be given power to force injections, shut down, mask,commence marshal law and enforce globally, including censorship of dispute.And the CCP is the model for global health policy.
   Also, WHO will exercise their power to dictate health response to Climate Change, and equity which is a global health threat.
   Bottom line, stop the WHO threaty set to be approved in late May, where the public doesn’t even know the rights and Constitutional protections are going to be superceded by a corrupt, infiltrated by CCP, World Health Organization, that’s in collusion with a One World Order take Over of all representive governments.

10. Taxpayer funded NPR clutches their pearls over people actually enjoying themselves at a DJT rally:

    “A Trump rally has the feel of an all-day pep rally mixed with a megachurch service — except with Trumpism as the religion. The rallies are places where a movement largely defined by grievance can be together, away from opponents — not to mention assertions that Trump lies and is harmful to democracy.

    They are places to see that for many Americans, Trumpism isn’t just about politics; it’s a core part of their identities.”

    https://www.npr.org/2024/03/23/1240154160/trump-rally-2024-election

    Pedo Joe can’t get more than 20 people in a room, and these scum journalists want us to believe he won the 2020 election?

11. Globalist scum Language Police™ article.

    Washington Post — Trump escalates solidarity with Jan. 6 rioters as his own trials close in (3/23/2024):

    “Shortly after Donald Trump walked onstage at a recent rally, the voice of an announcer instructed the crowd to rise “for the horribly and unfairly treated January 6th hostages.” Trump saluted, and the loudspeakers blasted a rendition of the national anthem performed by people accused or convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

    Trump then kicked off the rally with a promise to help the defendants — a group that includes violent offenders he has glorified as “patriots” and “hostages” and pledged to pardon if he returns to power. “We’re going to be working on that the first day we get into office,” Trump said at the rally this month in Dayton, Ohio.

    That vow is part of a broader renewed emphasis by Trump to align himself with Jan. 6 rioters, as he intensifies his use of dark, graphic and at times violent language as he has closed in on and secured the Republican nomination. Until November, he called the Jan. 6 defendants, some of whom have been detained by court order or are serving sentences, “political prisoners” before introducing the term “hostages,” according to a Washington Post analysis of his speeches this campaign cycle.”

    https://archive.is/cKTOC

    They are hostages.

    The 2020 election was stolen.

    And the real insurrection started in May 2020 when Pantifa and Burn Loot Murder killed dozens, destroyed over $2 billion of property, and declared an autonomous zone.

    The Washington Post is the enemy of the American people.

12. [CAUTION: This article is long, not housing related, and may force the reader to exercise some independent thought.]

    25 Years Later, We’re All Trapped in ‘The Matrix’

    The 1999 sci-fi classic predicted a world like the one we now live in, where human beings are cut off from one another by technology. But it also reminded us that resistance is possible.

    https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/film/25-years-later-were-all-trapped-in-the-matrix-3f3a3aea?mod=hp_listc_pos1

    It is a cinematic scene familiar to millions: A man named Morpheus sits across from another man named Neo and informs him that his entire notion of reality is a lie. If Neo wishes to know the truth of human existence, Morpheus says, all he has to do is choose one of two pills. “You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill…and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

    This scene is the turning point in “The Matrix,” the sci-fi classic that was released 25 years ago this month. Of course, Neo chooses the red pill and learns the terrible truth that the advent of artificial intelligence allowed machines to take over the Earth. He believes it is 1999, but in fact it is 2199, and all human beings are perpetually asleep in vats, exploited by their AI masters as a source of energy. The world they think they experience is actually a virtual reality known as “The Matrix.”

    Morpheus, played by Laurence Fishburne, has devoted himself to freeing individuals from the Matrix and leading them to a refuge called Zion. He believes that Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, is “the One” destined to liberate humanity.

    Directed by the sibling team the Wachowskis, “The Matrix” was a box office hit in 1999 and spawned two sequels in 2003 and another in 2021. It also became an important cultural influence. The term “red-pilled” is now widely used online to describe someone who has grown skeptical of the way political reality is usually depicted.

    The power of the film lies in the way it adapts one of the oldest allegories in the history of philosophy. In Plato’s “Republic,” the Athenian philosopher Socrates describes prisoners who have spent their entire lives manacled in a cave. A fire behind them casts the shadows of objects on a wall in front of them, and because shadows are all they have ever seen, they assume that what appears before their eyes is reality.

    One prisoner breaks free, however, and makes his way to the surface of the Earth, where he beholds the sun and the real world. Ultimately he returns to the cave, seeking to convince his fellows that reality is out there to be discovered. Plato argues that the philosopher is like this escaped prisoner. It is his job to free humanity from illusion and teach us what is truly real.

    The allegory of the cave is one of the indelible images in the history of Western thought, a metaphor for the capacity of human beings to break free from falsehood. Morpheus and Neo have been widely recognized as Plato’s heirs, philosopher-kings for the digital age.

    But Plato also warns that the prisoners in the cave will resist being freed and that they will hate the philosopher who tries to teach them unfamiliar truths: “If any one tried to loose another and lead him up to the light, let them only catch the offender, and they would put him to death.”

    In “The Matrix,” this attitude is represented by Cypher, played by Joe Pantoliano, who has been set free from the Matrix but longs to return to it. For Cypher, the true world is too dreary and difficult; he has secretly asked the AI overlords to place him back in the vat, to allow him to enter the dream world again. “I choose the Matrix!” he defiantly exclaims, adding that if his digital experiences are more pleasurable than his current unplugged life, then “the Matrix can be more real than this world.”

    To rewatch “The Matrix” is to be reminded of how primitive our technology was just 25 years ago. We see computers with bulky screens, cellphones with keypads and a once-ubiquitous feature of our society known as “pay phones,” central to the plot of the film.

    But in a strange way, the film has become more relevant today than it was in 1999. With the rise of the smartphone and social media, genuine human interaction has dropped precipitously. Today many people, like Cypher, would rather spend their time in the imaginary realms offered by technology than engage in a genuine relationship with other human beings.

    In the film, one of the representatives of the AI, the villainous Agent Smith, played by Hugo Weaving, tells Morpheus that the false reality of the Matrix is set in 1999 because that year was “the peak of your civilization. I say your civilization, because as soon as we started thinking for you it really became our civilization.”

    Indeed, not long after “The Matrix” premiered, humanity hooked itself up to a matrix of its own. There is no denying that our lives have become better in many ways thanks to the internet and smartphones. But the epidemic of loneliness and depression that has swept society reveals that many of us are now walled off from one another in vats of our own making.

    In his 2013 book “The Cave and the Light,” historian Arthur Herman notes that a real cave inspired Plato’s most famous metaphor. It served as the mouth of a temple on the Greek island of Eleusis, where worshipers descended in darkness into an illuminated “inner sanctuary.” For the ancient Greeks this was a cultic ritual, but the allegory of the cave transforms it into a metaphor of human empowerment. “For Plato,” Herman reflects, “the answer to the cave’s uncertainties lies not with esoteric rituals or magic spells but within ourselves, thanks to our reason.”

    For today’s dwellers in the digital cave, the path back into the light doesn’t involve taking a pill, as in “The Matrix,” or being rescued by a philosopher. We ourselves have the power to resist the extremes of the digital world, even as we remain linked to it. You can find hints of an unplugged “Zion” in the Sabbath tables of observant Jews, where electronic devices are forbidden, and in university seminars where laptops are banned so that students can engage with a text and each other.

    Twenty-five years ago, “The Matrix” offered us a modern twist on Plato’s cave. Today we are once again asking what it will take to find our way out of the lonely darkness, into the brilliance of other human souls in the real world.

    1. Very good post.

       The so called matrix,has been operative for a long time.IMHO, the pre- planned final Matrix of the One World Order forced enslavement and dictorship is evident and operative. You can never escape the Matrix now.

       1. “You can never escape the Matrix now”

          Not borrowing money and not paying interest is the direct route of escape.

          1. Right, I agree, there is escape from the matrix.

             1. The Wachowski brothers escaped by becoming the Wachowski sisters, Lana and Lilly. So brave!

                https://people.com/movies/lilly-lana-wachowski-how-transgender-siblings-supported-each-other/

          2. How is the dumpster looking?

13. Beijing House Prices Collapse Overnight: From 10 Million in the Evening to Just 3 Million by Morning
    China Observer
    1 day ago

    In the highly sought-after area within 5 kilometers of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, housing prices have plummeted 40% from their 2021 peak! Discover the extent of Beijing’s housing price decline as uncovered by independent Chinese media figures—
    Reports from Chinese social media influencers are discussing the downturn in Beijing’s housing market. It appears that the dynamic in the real estate market is changing, with buyers gaining more leverage. According to detailed transaction records from real estate agencies, it has become common for transaction prices of second-hand homes in Beijing to be 1 to 2 million yuan lower than the listing prices. Buyers often start negotiations by asking sellers to drop the price by 1 million yuan before proceeding with any further discussion. The most significant drop in prices has been recorded in the Anwai Street No. 3 courtyard within the Dongcheng and Hepingli area, where transaction prices in December 2023 fell to just 4.5 million yuan. This was a decline of 37 per cent from that of its peak value. Sellers who had taken earlier action with the property could have avoided losses of over 1.5 million yuan.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPdhiDI7S10

    18:45.

14. ‘The housing market, it’s rough,’ she said. ‘You listen to the builders talk, you listen to the realtors that are trying to sell the houses. Everyone is having a little rough time.’ Jeong said it went from all-cash offers and bidding wars to crickets’

    ‘Driving through Compton, Calif., past rows of modest one-story houses, Janely Sandoval consulted a list of 38 addresses where owners had missed mortgage payments and were at risk of losing their homes. At each stop, she hoped to make a pitch: Don’t let this ruin your life. Let me buy the house instead. ‘There’s always a way out,’ she tells people. ‘It may not be the way you want, but there is a way out’

    Are we there yet?

    1. ‘There’s always a way out,’ she tells people. ‘It may not be the way you want, but there is a way out’

       Ain’t no way in the world, I’m going out that front door
       ‘Cause there’s a Realtor down there, might be your Realtor I don’t know

       One Way Out (Live At Fillmore East, June 27, 1971) · The Allman Brothers Band

       https://youtu.be/d0En8iD2uVI?si=Msf-fiScuVOVaGLN

       1. LMAO

          Comment from the One Way Out tune above.

          @joeydupre6153
          4 months ago

          I told my wife , if I’m ever on life support, play this song and if my foot doesn’t tap, pull the plug.

          79
          Reply

15. ‘While the demand side of the equation is little-changed from last year, on the supply side, we are seeing significantly more new listings than a year ago…So far this year, while you could still characterize new listings of single-family homes as being in their normal pre-pandemic range, they were at the high end of that range in February’

    Inventory shooting up right into the hot weather Brad. As they say in Mexico, that’s not goood!

    1. A 3% mortgage doesn’t do any good if your insurer cancels your policy and a replacement costs $8000

16. ‘Squatter Sang Kim has barred landlord Jaskaran Singh from his $2 million Washington home after refusing to pay rent for two years. Singh, a Bellevue landlord, is holding a second protest rally on Saturday after two years of Kim living in his rental property without paying rent’

    From the article:

    ‘The Housing Justice Project has stepped up in support of Kim and is offering him free legal assistance and “convincing the courts to delay any judgements in his case,” the GoFundMe said’

    I’m glad this is getting exposed. It’s well funded communist cells using lawfare. Just an extension of what they’ve been doing for years.

17. ‘the total unpaid rent owing exceeds $24,000. ‘Going through all this [caused] stress and mental torture and financial crisis as we had to pay the mortgage during this whole 10 month period’

    Yer still a winnah! in my book Zahid. You haven’t given it away!

18. ‘Unconstitutional’: DOJ Announces Red Flag Center For Gun-Grab Operation Against Americans

    by Jamie White
    March 23rd 2024, 11:00 am

    The Department of Justice announced the launch of the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center aimed at preventing individuals from purchasing or possessing firearms.

    The DOJ’s announcement came just hours after the Senate and House passed a $1.2 trillion government spending bill on Saturday.

    In other words, the government will be granted the authority to confiscate firearms or prevent individuals from purchasing them if medical professionals, family members, or law enforcement arbitrarily declares that they pose a threat.

    Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), and many others raised the alarm over the creation of a “federal red flag center,” citing its lack of constitutional authority.

    “What the hell is this evil? A Federal Red Flag center; We did not authorize this. Announced, of course, just hours after the omnibus passes,” Massie wrote on X Saturday.

    https://www.infowars.com/posts/unconstitutional-doj-announces-red-flag-center-to-limit-gun-access-from-americans/

    Thomas Massie
    @RepThomasMassie

    What the hell is this evil?
    A Federal Red Flag center;
    We did not authorize this.
    Announced, of course, just hours after the omnibus passes.

    U.S. Department of Justice
    @TheJusticeDept
    Justice Department Launches the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center

    https://x.com/RepThomasMassie/status/1771521716805669016?s=20

19. Image files for Jeff — It’s Called Going To Work, Not Called Going To Fun Edition:

    https://ibb.co/5hMykwH

    https://ibb.co/WknqWtt

    30 cubic yard rolloff half full, just from cleaning out the garage. Borrow money and pay interest, or do it yourself? Do it yourself.

    Nothing is stopping anybody from taking on a project like this. Nothing except your laziness and lack of initiative. Git ‘er done!

    1. “Borrow money and pay interest, or do it yourself? Do it yourself.”

       I see you opened a can of Springtime whoop@ss.

       I have demoed more jobs and loaded more dumpsters than I care to remember (although I always had a crew with me) so I appreciate how much work that represents not to mention the way it is packed (because it looks like you know have to fill every space like you’re building a stone wall or loading a moving truck to save money)

       I have seen other contractors use four or five dumpsters where the job could have been done with two, just by throwing sections of walls, doors trim etc, haphazardly on top of each other leaving big empty spaces, hitting that full line at the top and calling for a pull.

       Anyway, nice job.

    2. “Borrow money and pay interest, or do it yourself? Do it yourself.”

       I see you opened a can of Springtime whoop@ss.

       I have demoed more jobs and loaded more dumpsters than I care to remember (although I always had a crew with me) so I appreciate how much work that represents not to mention the way it is packed (because it looks like you know have to fill every space like you’re building a stone wall or loading a moving truck to save money)

       I have seen other contractors use four or five dumpsters where the job could have been done with two, just by throwing sections of walls, doors trim etc, haphazardly on top of each other leaving big empty spaces, hitting that full line at the top and calling for a pull.

       Anyway, nice job.

20. Beatles — Taxman:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bUim9Jv0y6Q&pp=ygUOYmVhdGxlcyB0YXhtYW4%3D

    1. The Kinks — You Can’t Win:

       https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DHYyX3k_HVg&pp=ygUSa2lua3MgeW91IGNhbnQgd2lu

       1. The Who — Anyway Anyhow Anywhere:

          https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aUkJYkVTITU&pp=ygUedGhlIHdobyBhbnl3YXkgYW55aG93IGFueXdoZXJl

    2. “If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet!” —The Beatles

21. From the subreddit, r/SanJose:
    “What do you guys do to meet people? I’m 32 and I stay at home and do nothing a lot. Everything costs money. Where do people just hang out and meet each other?”

    ROTFLMFAO!!

Comments are closed.