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Hopefully A Turn In Fortunes Is Around The Corner Where Investors And Owners Can Offload Underperforming Assets

A report from the Dallas Business Journal in Texas. “Today, we’re focusing solely on areas in DFW where homes sold for an average of $1 million or more in the third quarter. In the million-and-up category in DFW, the second hottest ZIP code in Q3 was 75205, which is the primary ZIP for both Highland Park and University Park. Homes there sold for an average of $2,603,379. The homes had an average list price of $3,023,479, meaning buyers got some bargains with an average of about $420,000 off the list price. The third-hottest luxury home neighborhood in DFW was 75230 in North Dallas. This is the primary ZIP for newer parts of Preston Hollow. The 92 homes that sold there in Q3 went for an average of $1,376,237, compared with an average asking price of $1,452,967, and they spent an average of 75 days on the market before going under contract.”

“It’s worth noting that homes in luxury neighborhoods throughout DFW are selling for less than their list price — in some cases dramatically less. That wasn’t the case during and immediately after the Covid pandemic when a shortage of homes on the market forced buyers to offer tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars above the asking price to grab the attention of sellers.”

WINK News in Florida. “Deborah Hagn lives in Fort Myers Shores. Her street is still lined with debris after facing back-to-back hurricanes. Now, adding insult to injury FEMA is requiring her to raise the foundation of her home and the price tag isn’t pretty. She doesn’t know yet, but Hagn has been living in this trailer since Milton because her home is not livable. So much so that the county gave her a notice of substantial damage. At 67-years-old her retirement dream is a bit more complicated now. ‘And I’ve almost got this house paid off. This was my retirement. I’m a teacher. We don’t make that much,’ said Hagn. On top of losing almost all of her belongings in Ian, Helene and Milton: ‘I’m still paying on the couch, the couch that is out there. I still owe rooms to go for me, and I am still making payments on that couch,’ said Hagn.”

From ABC 7. “The effects of the COVID pandemic are still lingering in an unlikely place – New York City Housing Court. Many people are calling it ‘housing court hell’ as they experience delays and backups that are pushing them to verge of bankruptcy. What they thought would take months to get a resolution in court has turned into years. ‘I think the justice system needs to be adjusted,’ said a tearful Sandra Claxton, sitting inside her Bronx home. She worked for decades as a nurse to buy her retirement home in the Bronx, a home she’s now afraid of losing. Claxton’s home has a second floor apartment that she has been leasing out to help cover costs. But Claxton said her tenant hasn’t paid rent in more than two years. Claxton took her to housing court and won but the tenant is still living in her home all these years later.”

“‘After I finished paying the mortgage, I hardly have anything left,’ Claxton said. Meanwhile, she’s responsible for paying all of the bills and utilities or the tenant could take her to court. ‘She’s the one in trouble, the one not paying and she’s getting a free pass,’ Claxton said.”

The Union Tribune in California. “There’s a couch, a keyboard and a washing machine. You can count two widescreen TVs, a dozen pieces of luggage and who knows how many bicycles. Don’t forget the three-story dollhouse. Or the pile of needles. The collection rests on layers of tarps and clothes that likely adds up to hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds of debris, the remnants of an outdoor encampment on a one-acre plot in City Heights, a neighborhood in southern San Diego. The homeless people who lived there are mostly gone. But the couple that owns the land, Shelly and Jason Stewart, just realized there’s a good chance they’ll have to pay for the clean up — and that they need permission from the state to do so.”

“They weren’t even aware of the latest encampment until a few weeks ago. But neighbors living in condos next door have raised concerns since at least 2021. Some homeless people have washed clothes in the complex’s hot tub, according to Rick Lozier, vice president of the local homeowners association. Fences were cut, he said, and packages began disappearing from doorsteps. ‘It’s just a broken record of bureaucracy,’ Lozier said.”

The Desert Sun. “Los Angeles saw the least number of homes sold for more than half the year, and it wasn’t much better for some of California’s largest metros. The turnover rate is the number of homes sold divided by the total number of sellable properties in an area, said Redfin. Just 15 out of every 1,000 homes in the Los Angeles metro changed hands between January and August, the lowest turnover rate among the metros nationwide that Redfin looked at. It comes as the nation faces its lowest turnover rate in decades: Only 2.5% of homes changed hands during this period, said Redfin.”

“Joining Los Angeles in the top 10 for low turnover rates from January through August were San Francisco, Oakland, Anaheim, San Jose, Sacramento and San Diego. The latter two areas saw about 18 homes sold per 1,000 homes in this period, or about one more home sold than the San Francisco, Oakland, Anaheim and San Jose metro areas. The only non-California metros to make the top 10 were Boston, Providence, Rhode Island and Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.”

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. “It’s a cold fall morning in Hayward, and I’m staring into a technicolor abyss of Herman Miller replicas neatly crammed inside a 50,000-square-foot warehouse. Next to them, vintage Barcelona loungers, live-edge coffee tables and mid-century desk lamps idly sit, waiting to be claimed by savvy interior designers and young startup managers on a budget. Though it might seem like some sort of rare corporate relic, at Better Source — which is in the multimillion-dollar business of liquidating failed Bay Area tech companies — there’s plenty to go around, and for much cheaper than you think.”

“‘We really don’t play in the lower-end world,’ says CEO Darryl Denny of the company’s Hayward outlet, comparing it to a luxury car dealership. The idea came to him when he witnessed the first dot-com meltdown in the Y2K era, back when Silicon Valley felt like a capitalist utopia: Denny suspects that Better Source is still flourishing today because many local companies’ five-year pre-pandemic leases are expiring, and the demands for modern offices are changing. Pinterest, Google and Facebook are just some of its many clients, which have downsized and laid off thousands of people over the past several years. When I show up to one of the retailer’s massive warehouses along a lonely industrial corridor in the East Bay, employees tell me that they’re the biggest used office furniture dealer west of the Mississippi — and it’s hard not to believe them. As I continue to drift through the aisles, I can’t help but feel like some of these items have a forlorn quality to them — a physical representation of the failed dreams of Bay Area startup CEOs and corporate tycoons.”

The Arizona Republic. “One of the Valley’s millionaire restaurant entrepreneurs is accused of defrauding investors out of millions for personal gain, including using funds for a home, out-of-state real estate and an $8 million private airplane. Aaron Wagner, a part-time Scottsdale resident planning to open restaurants in Gilbert and Scottsdale, was arrested by FBI agents on Oct. 24 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Since at least 2021, Wagner, Michael Mains and unnamed co-conspirators allegedly ran Ponzi-like schemes, tricking investors into sending millions to entities they controlled, according to the U.S. Attorney’s indictment.”

“Prosecutors say Wagner and Mains used investor funds to make down payments on a $4 million Scottsdale home, the private airplane and an $8 million real estate property in Missoula, Montana. When past investors and employees complained about Wagner online, some had their social media accounts suspended. Court documents allege that Wagner coerced social media companies into deleting accounts of his critics and, in one instance, used a fake death certificate of a former investor to have their profile removed.”

The Globe and Mail. “Immigration Minister Marc Miller says the federal government is ready to work with the United States as it implements president-elect Donald Trump’s promises to crack down on immigration, but he wants anyone hoping to come to Canada to do so legally. ‘We will always be acting in the national interest and those measures that we move to undertake, regardless of what decision is taken by the new administration, to make sure that our borders are secure, that people that are coming to Canada do so in a regular pathway, and the reality that not everyone is welcome here,’ he said.”

“Stephen Miller, who takes a hard-line stand on immigration, is expected to be Mr. Trump’s deputy chief of policy. On Monday, Mr. Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan said the administration would prioritize deporting migrants living in the U.S. illegally who pose security and public safety threats. The poll asked about plans by Ottawa to accept 395,000 immigrants as permanent residents in 2025, of whom about 68,000 (or about 17 per cent) would be refugees or protected persons. Nik Nanos, chairman of Nanos Research, said the poll shows Canadians are not against immigration, but they are concerned about whether Canada can accommodate more people. ‘When there is a shortage of housing and a shortage of doctors and a shortage of nurses, average Canadians are thinking: Do we have the capacity to take more?’ he said.”

The Daily Telegraph in Australia. “One of the leading auctioneers who called bids on The Block Grand Finale has revealed behind the scenes moments that were pivotal in the final outcome, saying the auctions did not ‘match reality.’ Industry veteran Tom Panos has been a regular on the show in recent years, becoming the most successful auctioneer in the program’s history, but noted that pre-auction meetings dictated the bidding. ‘The auctions on The Block are nothing like what you’d see on a Saturday morning in Sydney or Melbourne,’ he said. ‘Normally the bidders are buying a home to live in or an investment property. Most of the bidders on The Block are there for the media attention and commercial opportunities. I had pre-auction meetings with all the bidders to establish their reasons for being there. Most were there for their brand … we discussed how their bidding could help their (brand).'”

“Mr Panos also had a meeting with Adrian Portelli, the buyer of all five properties featured on the show. The two have a business relationship. ‘I already knew the two girls’ (Maddy and Charlotte) property was going to win because Adrian wanted them to win. He had an emotional connection to the two girls.’ Viewers panned Portelli’s purchase of every property, claiming the show was ‘rigged’. ‘The Block is not a real show anymore,’” one user, Fernando Torres, wrote on X. ‘It’s rigged by sponsors and not even a true auction now. Adrian Portelli just spends the most money on his favourite couple. What a pointless series. It was clearly scripted. What a load of crap.'”

Real Estate Asia. “It’s at the lower end of the original projections at the start of the year. According to the Ministry of Law, there were 3,227 bankruptcy applications made in the first eight months of 2024, 23.3% higher than the 2,617 applications made between January and August 2023, as the number of bankruptcy applications remained elevated. Hopefully, the reduction of interest rates and with Singapore’s economy growing by 4.1% in Q3 2024 based on advanced estimates, a turn in fortunes is around the corner where investors and owners can offload underperforming assets and reinvest the freed up capital in new opportunities in the year ahead.”

“Despite the fall in Q3 2024, mortgagee listings might increase in the next few quarters before diminishing numbers became a trend, with the count of distressed properties getting worse before getting better. This can favour buyers and investors on the lookout for opportunities at more affordable levels especially in a time when interest rates are coming down.”

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  1. ‘Just 15 out of every 1,000 homes in the Los Angeles metro changed hands between January and August, the lowest turnover rate among the metros nationwide that Redfin looked at. It comes as the nation faces its lowest turnover rate in decades: Only 2.5% of homes changed hands during this period’

    But it’s still a red hotcakes sellers market in Los Angeles. The months of inventory is still 1.5 or so. How you get that with 15 shacks selling in 8 months is something you’ll have to take up with Larry.

  2. ‘We will always be acting in the national interest and those measures that we move to undertake, regardless of what decision is taken by the new administration, to make sure that our borders are secure, that people that are coming to Canada do so in a regular pathway, and the reality that not everyone is welcome here’

    Pigs are flying in K-da too!

  3. From the Arizona article:

    ‘Wagner also allegedly misrepresented his background to investors to gain trust. “He would tell a story of growing ‘from sports reject and broke college kid to playing the Rose Bowl to becoming a billion-dollar portfolio manager.’ But Wagner never played in the Rose Bowl, and he never managed a billion-dollar portfolio,” the indictment read.’

    A five minute search on the intertubes could have exposed this ponzi.

  4. ‘the primary ZIP for both Highland Park and University Park. Homes there sold for an average of $2,603,379. The homes had an average list price of $3,023,479, meaning buyers got some bargains with an average of about $420,000 off the list price’

    A mighty a$$ pounding for one of the most expensive sh$tholes in Dallas.

    ‘It’s worth noting that homes in luxury neighborhoods throughout DFW are selling for less than their list price — in some cases dramatically less. That wasn’t the case during and immediately after the Covid pandemic when a shortage of homes on the market forced buyers to offer tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars above the asking price to grab the attention of sellers’

    These were my winnahs!

      1. Assuming Oprah was entitled to some of Kamala’s $1B war chest, what’s the going price for an endorsement?

        1. This got posted the other day but the DNC records showed a one million dollar payment to Oprah’s company. (Harpo productions)

  6. – It’s not just the price of the shack. It’s now also the carrying costs. As were many things, this was affordable at one time. The article doesn’t include COA or HOA fees explicitly, which are not exempt from inflation and other considerations (e.g. FL) and now can be a major factor in housing carrying costs, depending on location.

    \\

    https://www.oftwominds.com/blognov24/cost-of-ownership11-24.html
    The Cost of Owning a Home Is Soaring
    Charles Hugh Smith | Of Two Minds Blog
    November 11, 2024

    We all know that buying a house is now unaffordable, but owning a house is increasingly unaffordable, too.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc4yoIWE8ko
    MACRO ANALYTICS – 11-01 24 – NOVEMBER – The Slow Death of the Single FAMILY Home
    Gordon T Long
    8.03K subscribers
    1,699 views Nov 6, 2024
    VIDEO: 31 Minutes with 40 Supporting Slides

    “It would be nice to attribute it all to one source or one villain, but alas, it isn’t that easy. Costs are rising across the board for many reasons, none of which are reversible by enacting a policy tweak or two. 
”

    “For context, let’s start with inflation since 2020 and the cost of buying a house. Truflation pegs the aggregate inflation (a.k.a. loss of the purchasing power of the US dollar in our domestic economy) at 26% since January 2020. All else being equal, we would expect the cost of housing to have risen by about 25%. 
”

    “But according to the Case-Shiller national housing index, which tracks the purchase prices paid for each house over time, housing costs rose an eye-watering 45% since January 2020, as the index soared from 220 to 320.”

    “But the mortgage payment isn’t the only cost of owning a home. All the other costs that were relatively affordable in decades past are now skyrocketing. Gordon listed the six basic categories of home ownership expenses: mortgage, property taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance and repair and home-related services. ”

    \\

    – Everything is too damn expensive. Inflation is insidious, nefarious, and pernicious. It’s not due to corporate greed or price gouging. Inflation is intentional; it’s .gov policy.

    “The most important thing to remember is that inflation is not an act of God, that inflation is not a catastrophe of the elements or a disease that comes like the plague. Inflation is a policy.” – Ludwig von Mises

    “Whoever controls the volume of money in our country is absolute master of all industry and commerce…when you realize that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another, by a few powerful men at the top, you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate.” – James A. Garfield

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

    “The only thing worse than inflation is nuclear war” – Charlie Munger

    “Inflation is a quiet but effective way for the government to transfer resources from the people to itself, without raising taxes.” – Thomas Sowell.

    “Inflation is a monetary phenomenon. It is made by or stopped by the central bank.” – Milton Friedman

  8. For years the Biden-Harris regime and Democrat apparatchiks have been cooking the books and putting out blatantly false economic data. Now as incoming Trump appointees dig into the ledgers, the full magnitude of the lies and fraud promulgated by the likes of Paul Krugman and his fellow Biden-Harris regime cheerleaders is about to be fully exposed. A soaring stock market fueled by more Fed balance sheet expansion can’t conceal the underlying structural weaknesses in the economy & financial system. Now is no time to buy a shack, said no realtor ever.

    https://x.com/zerohedge/status/1856341213626151039

    1. Joe Sixpack is backed against the economic turnbuckle, and the hits keep coming. Fast food sales are way down, eBay sales have seized-up, small business accounts receivables have stalled, etc. If checks aren’t mailed soon Christmas will be dead on arrival.

      “If money isn’t loosened up, this sucker could go down.” —Dubya, Sept 2008

  10. “Some homeless people have washed clothes in the complex’s hot tub, according to Rick Lozier, vice president of the local homeowners association.”

    Come on in for a dip…the water is fine!

    2. The City of San Diego finished a massive cleanup of encampments under the I-5 freeway along Friars Road at an area known as the “island.” CBS 8 is giving you a close-up look at the results.

      Crews from Alpha Project and Urban Core cleared out more than 62 tons of debris and waste along the San Diego Riverbed where at least 96 people were living.

      https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/san-diego-island-encampment-5/509-7c525091-b8ce-4ac9-9125-0343c8308471

        1. Newsom is busy dry-humping Biden’s leg for some of Netanyahu’s money to bolster California’s Marxist-Progressive ideology against the coming nationalist tsunami.

    1. I like it. This plan to have seats picked ahead of time and quickly rolling out proposals is smart IMO. While you have everybody’s attention, start working on policy.

    1. Unless something changes we are going to see global depopulation. Even Mexico has fallen below the replacement rate.

  13. Gas prices are going to go up in California, but nobody can say by how much.

    That’s after the California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved changes to the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), as ABC10 reported Friday. That’s a program aimed at helping the state meet its climate goals and reduce pollution.

    “No model can accurately predict future credit prices, future transportation fuel prices or passthrough cost for retail gasoline or diesel,” CARB said in a presentation Friday.

    Danny Cullenward calls that “bogus.” He is a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and has been following the LCFS and Friday’s vote.

    He said he’s especially concerned about biofuels, “especially crop-based biofuels.”

    “It’s a little surprising for some people, but when you make fuel out of food crops, you can increase pressure on agricultural activity and that can actually lead to deforestation throughout the world,” Cullenward said. “So if California starts consuming more soybean products to turn that into renewable diesel, which is the dominant thing we are doing with this program today, then we’re going to put pressure on soy agricultural production. And if we import that from places like Argentina, as is planned for facilities in California, we’re likely going to put significant pressure on deforestation in the tropics.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/carb-decision-will-raise-gas-prices-but-nobody-can-say-by-how-much/ar-AA1tUGqe

    1. Actually I agree. Crop-based biofuels are largely a boondoggle of the ag lobby. That’s how we get ethanol from corn, where the environmental cost of the fertilizing and water the corn is greater than any savings from using the ethanol.

  14. California air regulators approve controversial standards that could affect gas prices

    Alongside red-leaning politicians and oil industry stakeholders, climate groups have also expressed their dissatisfaction with the amendments — although for different reasons.

    Adrian Martinez, deputy managing attorney of Earthjustice, described the new standard in a statement as “a failed policy,” adding that “the communities most impacted by air pollution in California will be the ones breathing the price for it.”

    “Most of the program’s billions will go to combustion fuels, so there is no question that this approach is dragging California backwards,” Martinez said.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/california-air-regulators-approve-controversial-standards-that-could-affect-gas-prices/ar-AA1tTnXJ

  15. Last year, the U.S. government spent $67 billion on housing assistance for low-income residents. That’s approximately 1% of the total federal budget. This disproportionately small slice of the pie is nothing new. In fact, with the exception of a spike during COVID, the trend of drastic underinvestment actually continues a long-standing practice of little to no attention being paid to a crisis that is pushing more and more people outside every day.

    It’s actually hard for me to make much sense of our direction after the results of the past week. Election results aside, collectively California made the decision to decrease the likelihood of future resources for housing, while blocking potential added protections for renters and increasing criminalization in a way that will actually make matters worse in the long run.

    It’s a shocking turn of events for a state that has historically put people first. But, then again, when you have west coast cities now requiring drug testing to receive the meager scraps of general assistance or adopting citywide shelter bans, this is all probably par for the course.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/bramson-losing-the-path-home/ar-AA1tTwo2

  16. One issue Trump and Newsom agree on? Homeless encampments

    Housing and homeless services experts in California worry the Trump administration will cut federal funding in those areas, while also doing away with policies deemed too “progressive.”

    But surprisingly, based on what he’s said so far about one of the key issues regarding homelessness, Trump’s agenda isn’t much different from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s. Trump pledged to tackle the encampments that have made cities “unlivable” by working with states to ban urban camping and arrest those who don’t comply — something many cities in California started doing before Election Day, as Newsom encouraged them to clear camps.

    “The homeless have no right to turn every park and sidewalk into a place for them to squat and do drugs,” Trump said in a campaign video posted online in April, 2023. The video appears to be the last time he revealed specific homelessness policy intentions.

    “There is nothing compassionate about letting these individuals live in filth and squalor rather than getting them the help that they need,” Trump said.

    Newsom, who in most other arenas is one of Trump’s biggest foes, has said nearly the exact same thing.

    “There is no compassion in allowing people to suffer the indignity of living in a camp for years and years,” Newsom said in September before signing a package of housing bills. In July, Newsom ordered state agencies to ramp up encampment sweeps, and he threatened to withhold state funding from cities that fail to do the same.

    More than two-dozen California cities and counties already have introduced or passed new ordinances cracking down on camps (or updated existing ones to make them more punitive), after the Supreme Court gave them the green light to do so in June.

    https://www.kpbs.org/news/quality-of-life/2024/11/11/one-issue-trump-and-newsom-agree-on-homeless-encampments

  17. Residents in San Jose’s District 3 are asking for an election to pick who will replace Omar Torres as their councilmember.

    The former San Jose city councilmember recently resigned after he was arrested last week on three counts of sexual assault by force. Residents say they are facing a number of issues in the district.

    Luis Mendoza, a small business owner, he’s had this food truck called Mr. Shrimp on 13th Street for the last two years. He says they’ve faced a number of issues in those two years.

    “We’ve dealt with break ins, fighting, homeless, and a lot of stuff,” he said.

    Mendoza added that he often sees car accidents occur on 13th and Mission streets. He’s hoping for an election where they can choose the next person to represent them instead of the city appointing someone.

    “I’m hoping they bring a little more lights, maybe do a speed bump, light, stop sign in the corner,” he said.

    https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/san-jose-working-replace-embattled-councilmember/3706757/

  18. After Thao and Price recalls, who’s in charge of Oakland?

    After Oakland residents fired their mayor and district attorney with recalls, who is calling the shots in City Hall and the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office? Leadership will remain in limbo this November.

    Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao conceded her defeat after election results showed her trailing in the polls 62 percent to 38 percent. District Attorney Pamela Price also suffered a resounding loss with 64 percent to 36 percent, according to results released Monday.

    Both Thao and Price were in their first terms of office, and held their positions for just two years. Oakland Police Officer’s Association president Huy Nguyen described their short tenures as disasters marred by “arrogance” and “progressive leftist policies.”

    Nguyen said, “Tremendous damage has been done by both Thao and Price. Thao and the city council majority misspent taxpayer money and kicked judgement day down the road. Oakland will likely be bankrupt. The next few years will be excruciatingly difficult because of Price and Thao’s reckless and purposeful destruction of victims rights and defunding of police.”

    Board of Supervisors president Nate Miley said, “We would be looking for someone who is a seasoned prosecutor because we need to make sure we have someone who has the experience and understands the role of a district attorney. You want to hold people accountable for their behaviors and their actions, particularly if they’re heinous.”

    Leaders with the recall campaign, Save Alameda For Everyone, are calling on the board to take immediate actions.

    SAFE leaders wrote, “DA Price is actively pursuing the resentencing and reduction of sentences for violent criminals. We ask the Board to place a moratorium on these actions and to ensure that all cases are reviewed by a competent DA.”

    https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/after-thao-and-price-recalls-whos-in-charge-of-oakland/

  19. Queens sees significant rightward shift as Trump support surges in 2024 election

    Trump generated 37.3 % of the vote in Queens on Nov. 5 compared to just 26.8 % in 2020 when he faced Joe Biden, according to preliminary Board of Elections results. His success this year was also far higher than in 2016 when he faced Hillary Clinton– when he only brought in a meager 21.6 % of the vote.

    Vickie Paladino, a Republican Council Member who represents the 19th District in northeast Queens, believes Trump’s gains in the county suggest that Republicans and moderate Democrats can make gains in the City Council.

    Paladino, whose district is one of the more conservative districts in Queens and includes parts of Whitestone, Bayside, College Point and Flushing, said she was not surprised by the rightward shift in Queens, blaming the shift on the “far-left” faction of the Democratic party in New York City. She added Democrats now have tough decisions ahead of future election cycles and encouraged New York Democrats to abandon “woke” politics.

    “We’ve always been a liberal place, but Democrats took a hard-left turn under DeBlasio and never looked back. Since then, we’ve been ruled by a miserable cadre of far-left progressives who, to be frank, have run New York into the ground. Within ten years, we went from a safe, clean, orderly, and prosperous city to a basket case,” Paladino said in a statement.

    https://qns.com/2024/11/queens-sees-significant-rightward-shift-as-trump-support-surges-in-2024-election/

  20. Biden’s worst gamble? Backing student debt forgiveness

    Canceling student debt wasn’t a major part of Joe Biden’s campaign pitch when he ran for president in 2020. Once in office, however, he cozied up to these proposals, a strategy that ultimately backfired.

    During that campaign, Democrats like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren wanted to cancel $50,000 in student debt per borrower or more, while Biden, portraying himself as a moderate, backed a far lower threshold based on income. Biden won the Democratic nomination, of course, and then the White House.

    As president, Biden leaned harder toward the Sanders-Warren position. By the time the 2024 election rolled around, Biden’s cancellation plans covered about $175 billion worth of loans held by about 5 million borrowers.

    Biden clearly tried to appease the Democratic Party’s left wing and the young, college-educated voters it supposedly appeals to. Did it work? Not even close.

    Biden’s student debt debacle is a microcosm of what went wrong for Democrats in 2024.

    Vice President Kamala Harris replaced Biden atop the Democratic ticket in August and basically ran on his record. Yet Harris ended up doing worse with the groups targeted by student debt cancellation than Biden did in 2020.

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bidens-worst-gamble-backing-student-debt-forgiveness-200936908.html

      1. Harris lost GenX too. By now GenX has paid their loans off. But to be fair, GenX student loans were a lot smaller.

        1. The higher education machine has ruined many lives over the perceived value of going tens of thousands (at minimum) into debt for a potential future benefit. The majority of people who enter higher education will receive absolutely no benefit from it at all. This is especially clear when you realize only 62.2% of those who enter graduate.

          1. And most graduate with soft and useless majors. Many victims studies majors really believe that a six figure job is waiting for them on graduation day. Then they find out all they are qualified for is to serve bad coffee.

          2. Yes. Often I hear that women are graduating from college at higher rates than men are. But as usual, nobody is keeping track of the majors. Those women’s degrees are the soft degrees for sure. And so much of it is from community colleges.

          3. If they’re not overweight their husband’s will likely retire that student loan while she moans about “the bun in the oven.”

  21. Bernie Sanders has some scathing advice for Democrats after the 2024 election

    “The results of the 2024 election have confirmed a reality that is too frequently denied by Democratic Party leaders and strategists: The American working class is angry — and for good reason,” the Vermont Independent wrote in a Boston Globe op-ed Sunday.

    Democratic leaders must recognize the status quo is no longer tenable for working families, Sanders asserted.

    “The Democratic Party needs to determine which side it is on in the great economic struggle of our times, and it needs to provide a clear vision as to what it stands for,” he wrote. “Either you stand with the powerful oligarchy of our country, or you stand with the working class. You can’t represent both.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/bernie-sanders-has-some-scathing-advice-for-democrats-after-the-2024-election/ar-AA1tTGC9

  22. Latinos Demanded Action, Not Promises, on Economy

    For Latino voters, this election was always about how inflation impacted their everyday lives and economic choices. In polls going back to 2021 and leading up to the 2022 midterm election, Latino voters consistently indicated that the economy was their number one issue, which continues to be so. This election’s Latino voter preferences shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Historically, presidents who oversaw periods of high inflation often faced challenges in subsequent elections.

    Moving forward, Democrats can no longer take the Latino vote as a given, and this presents an opportunity for accountability to both parties. The mission for the nonprofit I lead, Latino Prosperity, is to guarantee that Latinos and Latinas are represented in key government roles that shape economic policy-and, in turn, the economic futures of our community.

    With this in mind, I can state the following with certainty: Bidenomics didn’t connect with Latino voters.

    The Biden/Harris administration made historic investments in the American economy. The administration passed the American Rescue Plan, which invested $1.9 trillion into economic stimulus to help prevent a recession from the pandemic. They also passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which led to necessary investments in the green economy. The stock market surged forward, unemployment was near a 50-year low, and Biden’s economic policies created over 13 million jobs. Nearly 800,000 jobs were in manufacturing, which helped working-class families and communities.

    As the voting numbers demonstrated, the Latino community, and many others, didn’t embrace the Democratic Party’s economic message. The reasons for that may vary, but it ultimately boiled down to inflation and the high cost of essential goods like milk, bread, meats, eggs, and other commodities like housing, insurance, and healthcare.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/latinos-demanded-action-not-promises-on-economy/ar-AA1tTuSE

    1. Latino voters consistently indicated that the economy was their number one issue

      Well, they didn’t swim across the river for the abortion rights.

  23. [Captain Obvious says: “This is a long read and it is not at all housing related.]

    Misinformation: The Fictional Foe of Free Thought

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/11/12/misinformation-the-fictional-foe-of-free-thought/

    The term “misinformation” is not what it pretends to be. It’s not a scientific term, nor is it an objective measure of truth versus falsehood. Instead, it is a linguistic cudgel, wielded to discredit opposition and enforce adherence to a narrative. Recent efforts to “inoculate” people against misinformation—most recently championed in a study covered by Science and a preprint on PsyArXiv—are just the latest in a long line of attempts to control thought under the guise of protecting it.

    “Concern about the impact of misinformation on the epistemic integrity of democracy is widespread 1. In addition, misinformation demonstrably affects attitudes and intentions towards
    health behaviors in experiments2 and in real-world situations3,4. In response, researchers have tested a variety of interventions to combat misinformation on social media5 (e.g., accuracy
    nudges6, digital literacy tips7, inoculation8, debunking9). These interventions work via different psychological mechanisms, but all share the goals of increasing recipients’ ability to distinguish
    between true and false information and/or increasing the veracity of news shared on social media. This toolkit of approaches is useful, but it is currently difficult to compare the interventions because they have been tested in different environments, with different sets of
    stimuli (e.g., headlines vs. tweets), using different participants and different methods. These differences make it difficult to know how the interventions would perform in an equal testing environment.”

    This study, with Stephan Lewandowsky included as a lead author, epitomizes how “misinformation” is deployed not as a genuine concern for truth, but as a rhetorical weapon aimed squarely at dissent. By labeling contrarian perspectives as dangerous misinformation, the authors effectively close the door on debate and entrench themselves as arbiters of what can—and cannot—be discussed.

    “Inoculating” Against a Fiction
    Let’s dispense with the pretense that misinformation is a real phenomenon. The term implies an objective standard for truth, but in practice, it is applied selectively and politically. What qualifies as misinformation is not determined by careful inquiry or evidence but by whether a statement aligns with the prevailing orthodoxy. If it fits the narrative, it’s protected speech; if it challenges the narrative, it’s misinformation.

    This sleight of hand is on full display in the Science article. The authors frame misinformation as a disease that spreads like a virus, a framing that conveniently casts dissenters as a public health threat. The supposed solution is to “inoculate” the public by preemptively teaching them how to recognize and reject misinformation. But this raises an obvious question: Who gets to decide what is true and what is false?

    The answer is clear from the study’s methods. Participants were tested using examples of so-called misinformation, including the debunked claim that “97% of scientists agree” on anthropogenic climate change. This figure, derived from John Cook’s heavily criticized study, is itself a prime example of narrative-driven data manipulation. As detailed by Watts Up With That?, the 97% statistic was manufactured through selective coding and arbitrary exclusions, producing a number that served political purposes rather than reflecting scientific reality.

    Yet in this study, participants were “inoculated” to accept this figure as fact, while dissenting views were treated as misinformation. This isn’t education; it’s indoctrination. By teaching people to uncritically accept the dominant narrative, the authors are not protecting them from falsehood—they are training them to parrot the party line.

    The Weaponization of Misinformation
    The true purpose of the term “misinformation” is control. By labeling an idea as misinformation, its opponents can dismiss it without engaging in substantive debate. This tactic is particularly effective in fields like climate science, where the complexities and uncertainties of the subject are often reduced to simplistic slogans.

    Consider how “misinformation” is applied unevenly. Alarmist claims about impending climate doom are rarely scrutinized under this framework, even when they lack scientific support. Predictions of catastrophic sea-level rise or claims that every hurricane is caused by climate change are accepted without question. Yet any skepticism about the efficacy of Net Zero policies or the accuracy of climate models is instantly branded as misinformation.

    This double standard exposes the term for what it is: a rhetorical weapon used to enforce conformity. It allows the proponents of the dominant narrative to delegitimize opposing views without addressing their substance. Worse, it creates a chilling effect on free thought, as individuals and institutions self-censor to avoid being labeled as purveyors of misinformation.

    Lewandowsky: The High Priest of Misinformation Policing
    Stephan Lewandowsky’s involvement in this study is hardly surprising. His career has been defined by a relentless campaign to delegitimize dissent, particularly in climate science. His track record, as documented extensively by Steve McIntyre at Climate Audit, reveals a consistent pattern: framing opposition as irrational or conspiratorial rather than engaging with their arguments.

    Lewandowsky’s infamous “Recursive Fury” paper, for example, was a ham-fisted attempt to paint his critics as conspiracy theorists. The paper was so riddled with ethical and methodological issues that it was retracted, yet Lewandowsky has continued to employ the same tactics. Whether it’s selectively sampling data, relying on non-representative surveys, or outright misrepresenting his opponents, his work consistently prioritizes narrative enforcement over intellectual rigor.

    In this latest study, Lewandowsky doubles down on his preferred strategy: pathologizing dissent. By framing misinformation as a virus, he casts skeptics not as individuals with legitimate concerns, but as vectors of societal harm. This is not science; it is an exercise in narrative control.

    Misinformation as a Political Tool
    The broader context of this study is a societal shift toward suppressing dissent under the guise of combating misinformation. We see this trend in the increasing use of fact-checkers, social media censorship, and calls for governments to regulate “misinformation.” These efforts are rarely about protecting the public from falsehoods; they are about consolidating power by silencing opposition.

    In the climate debate, this is especially evident. Skeptics who question the efficacy of renewable energy, the reliability of climate models, or the unintended consequences of policies like Net Zero are routinely labeled as misinformation spreaders. This tactic sidesteps the need for debate by framing skeptics as morally or intellectually deficient.

    The danger of this approach cannot be overstated. It erodes the foundations of scientific inquiry, which depends on the open exchange of ideas and the willingness to question orthodoxy. By framing dissent as a societal ill, the proponents of misinformation policing risk turning science into a dogma, where only approved views are allowed to exist.

    Conclusion: Reject the Myth of Misinformation
    Misinformation is not a real phenomenon; it is a rhetorical tool used to discredit opposition and enforce conformity. The recent study by Lewandowsky and his colleagues illustrates how this term is weaponized to suppress dissent and promote narrative control. By teaching people to uncritically accept the dominant narrative, the study does not combat misinformation—it perpetuates it.

    True intellectual progress comes from questioning assumptions, debating ideas, and acknowledging uncertainty. The concept of misinformation subverts these principles, replacing them with a regime of censorship and thought policing. If we value freedom of thought and the integrity of science, we must reject the fiction of misinformation and resist efforts to use it as a tool of control.

  24. Immigrants, their employers and groups that work with them are already taking action ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, in which he has promised to deport millions of people.

    Some fear how the new administration could impact their families, while others are hopeful the plans — if they materialize — will make things better.

    Cesar Espinosa, a leader in Houston’s Hispanic community, said he’s had many calls and messages from worried people since Trump won reelection early Wednesday. Espinosa said machismo among Latino men may have contributed to support for Trump.

    “Unfortunately, a lot of people in the Latino community have bought into the rhetoric of being anti-immigrant, even the immigrants themselves,” he said.

    Jorge Rivas’ support for Trump is obvious. He features a MAGA burger on the menu at Sammy’s Mexican Grill, in Catalina, Arizona, north of Tucson, the restaurant he runs with his wife, Betty.

    Rivas, born in El Salvador, was granted asylum at age 17, he says, and sees little connection between his life as an immigrant and those at the top of Trump’s potential deportation list.

    “If they let in hundreds or thousands of people who already have criminal records, if deporting them creates a mass deportation, I’m all for it,” he said.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/donald-trump-has-promised-a-closed-border-and-mass-deportations-those-affected-are-taking-action-now/ar-AA1tS7aQ

  25. ‘We are very scared’: Fear grips migrant families on both sides of the border over Trump deportations

    José María García, director of the Juventud 2000 migrant shelter in Tijuana, described the mood at the site as “a state of fear, anxiety and uncertainty.”

    “They knew things were about to change,” he added, referring to Wednesday morning, when many found out about the outcome of the election.

    Ramón Torres, 18, also from Michoacán, has been waiting for an appointment in Tijuana for three months.

    Torres, who works for a construction company while he waits at the shelter with his family, said they are now considering the possibility of staying in Tijuana. “If we don’t get an appointment between now and January, we could explore the possibility of staying here,” he said. But he said their hope is to seek asylum in the U.S., and reunite with his father.

    Both migrant shelters in Tijuana visited by the San Diego Union-Tribune said they’ve recently seen an increase in those arriving to the shelters after being deported.

    In June the Biden administration implemented an executive order restricting asylum and imposed stricter consequences for those who cross without authorization.

    As a result, migrant encounters decreased along the southwestern border by 55%, and deportations increased, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s latest data. From June through the end of September, the Department of Homeland Security removed or returned more than 160,000 individuals to over 145 countries.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/we-are-very-scared-fear-grips-migrant-families-on-both-sides-of-the-border-over-trump-deportations/ar-AA1tTyM1

    ‘If we don’t get an appointment between now and January, we could explore the possibility of staying here’

    Hit the road Ramón.

    1. But he said their hope is to seek asylum in the U.S

      Asylum from what? Is there a war in their home country? Was there a mass cataclysm, an earthquake?

      No, there is not. They are economic migrants, not “asylum seekers”

      1. Leftists are saying it will cost $80,000 per invader to deport them. I think not. We know where they live, as we pay their section 8, know where they shop, as we pay for their SNAP/EBT and know where their kids go to school as we pay for that too. Rounding them up should be easy. Then we fly them to southern Mexico, near the Guatemalan border, tell them to go home and not come back, and if possible, fly them straight to their home countries (I have read that Venezuela will reject repatriation)

        1. How would Venezuela reject repatriation? Not allow the planes to land at the airports? Can they be dropped off by boat?

          1. Not sure, all I recall reading was that they would reject repatriation attempts. Of course if the people walked back into the country they might not be stopped.

            But if sent by plane they could refuse to allow them to. deplane. I believe that is why they are planning on sending them to southern Mexico. Sheinbaum won’t refuse, as Trump will threaten Mexico with tariffs for not cooperating. Mexico will then quietly arrange for them to be sent to their final destinations, possibly with US financial assistance.

          2. They’ll take them back if we say so:

            The United States is the largest single donor for the humanitarian response to the Venezuela regional crisis, providing assistance that supports refugees, asylum seekers, and other vulnerable populations of concern. More than 7.7 million people inside Venezuela need immediate humanitarian assistance and more than 6 million Venezuelans have been displaced in 17 countries across the region since 2015.

            During the 2023 International Conference in Solidarity with Venezuelan Refugees and Migrants and their Host Countries and Communities in Brussels, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced more than $140 million in additional humanitarian assistance and more than $31 million in development assistance to help respond to the Venezuela regional crisis. This assistance includes more than $56 million through the Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) and more than $115 million through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This brings total U.S. assistance for the response to the Venezuela regional crisis to more than $2.8 billion since 2017, including more than $2.5 billion in humanitarian assistance and $387 million in development assistance.

            https://www.state.gov/u-s-humanitarian-and-development-assistance-for-venezuela-regional-crisis/

    2. ‘Both migrant shelters in Tijuana visited by the San Diego Union-Tribune said they’ve recently seen an increase in those arriving to the shelters after being deported’

      So what they are screaming about started months ago.

      1. Some people think that the deportations need to happen all at once. Of course that can’t be done, it will take time. But if the invaders have their federal free cheese cut off, some will self deport, as the plan was to join the Free Sh!t Army. Once that prosect is gone there is little point in staying here as most of them are unemployable.

        Recovering trafficked children will be more difficult, and I hope the guilty are caught and severely punished, as their crime is utterly heinous.

      2. These deportations only started months ago, and ONLY so that Biden could say that border crossings are down, to win the election. The American people didn’t buy the story.

        Definitely, shut off the money spigot. No more free cheese for guaranteed bookings at luxury hotels or apartments. No more dropping off 20K workers at a factory to supplant American jobs. No more pre-loading Visa cards and then claiming that it “increases GDP.” Now, if after all that, there’s some illegal grandma living with her adult children and grandkids, meh, no need to deport her until everyone else is gone.

        1. Now, if after all that, there’s some illegal grandma living with her adult children and grandkids, meh, no need to deport her until everyone else is gone.

          Exactly, prioritize. First deport the gang bangers, then other felons. Once they are gone ICE can move down the food chain, starting with all the military aged men. It could take years, but will be well worth it. Plus a steady torrent of deportations, including anyone caught trying to cross (no more fist bumps and free debit cards) will send a clear message to anyone thinking of coming to join the Free Sh!t Army: the party is over.

  26. U.S. business leaders who supported Trump have betrayed America and themselves

    There were many sober critiques to be made of Kamala Harris’s pitch to the American people. None of those criticisms should have led someone invested in the long-run success of the U.S. private sector, and the general welfare of the American people, to support Donald Trump. That so many business leaders in the United States did so anyway warrants our scrutiny and our condemnation.

    These are executives and founders whose contributions to society and human innovation that I, for the most part, greatly respect, whose general intelligence I do not doubt, and whose concerns I do not dismiss lightly, even if I substantively disagree with them. But for this election, I am shocked at their conclusions.

    Even a cynical, purely profit-driven businessperson should have supported Ms. Harris. Even a hawkish conservative voter concerned about waning American international influence and preserving its economic weight should have supported Ms. Harris.

    But it is not simply his economic management that matters for American businesses. The inescapable fact is that the long-run sustainability of U.S. democracy is a precondition for the military and economic exceptionalism that many of these business leaders are so invested in. If Americans no longer believe that American elections are fair, then the country is one step further from its fellow advanced economies, and one step closer to the political deadlock of Venezuela.

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-us-business-leaders-who-supported-trump-have-betrayed-america-and/

      1. Indeed. Out of touch like Barry.

        “If you’ve got a business…you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” —Barack Obama, fmr president

  27. A Washington women killed her 67 year old father with a ice pick, claiming she was upset over election results. A man kills his family and himself over election results. Number of suicides also being reported over election results.

  28. Donald Trump’s victory is about class, not race. And that’s a good thing

    Politics in the United States is deeply divided and profoundly polarized. But the divisions, deep as they are, are more than ever about human choices, and less about immutable human characteristics. Today’s political fissure is primarily ideological, not racial.

    For example, exit polls show that almost half of Hispanic Americans – 46 per cent – voted for Donald Trump. Among Latino men, Mr. Trump led Kamala Harris by 12 percentage points. These are huge shifts. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won with Hispanic men by 31 points.

    Hispanic and Black Americans have historically voted in favour of the Democratic Party by vast margins. Ms. Clinton and Joe Biden won the Hispanic vote in landslides. Many Democrats had long assumed that, as the country changed through immigration, they would inevitably become the permanent majority party.

    But a funny thing happened on the way to that destination: As the racial makeup of America changed, Americans started seeing their political choices less and less through the lens of race.

    Let’s start with white voters. This year, Mr. Trump was preferred by white men over Ms. Harris by 23 percentage points. That’s eight points fewer than in 2016. White women favoured Mr. Trump by just eight percentage points, which is also lower than in 2016 and 2020.

    Black Americans, who voted almost exclusively for Democrats for two generations, are also shifting. In 2016, Ms. Clinton’s margin of victory among Black women was 90 percentage points. This year, Ms. Harris’s margin was 84 per cent. Among Black men, the gap between Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump was 56 percentage points in her favour – but that’s 13 points less than in 2016.

    White American voters have become a bit more Democratic. Non-white voters, though still majority Democratic, have become considerably more Republican. And the Republican Party’s voters have never been more of a rainbow coalition.

    Race is still a thing, but the race of voters and candidates is less politically relevant than ever.

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-donald-trumps-victory-is-about-class-not-race-and-thats-a-good-thing/

  29. Canada cancels automatic 10-year multiple-entry visas, tightens rules

    Canada has announced changes to their visitor visa policies, effectively ending the automatic issuance of 10-year multiple-entry visas, according to new rules outlined by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

    The IRCC posted an update on the federal government’s website on Nov. 6 claiming that “multiple-entry visas issued to maximum validity are no longer considered to be the standard document.”

    Previously, visitors to Canada could be granted multiple-entry visas for up to 10 years, which allowed them to enter and exit the country freely during that period.

    Under the new rules, this will no longer be the default option. Now, visa officers will assess applicants based on an individualized basis to determine whether a single or multiple-entry visa will be issued and its validity period, the IRCC said.

    Factors for issuing visas include an applicant’s purpose of visit, funds, medical conditions, ties to their home country and more.

    For multiple-entry visas, officers will also decide the validity period and can choose to provide a time frame shorter than the maximum 10 years.

    The IRCC said factors will include whether there is a short-term purpose for the visit, an applicant’s status in their current country of residence, changes to ties to their country of residence and Canada over time and whether the economic or political conditions are unstable in their home country.

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canada-cancels-automatic-10-year-multiple-entry-visas-tightens-rules-1.7105571

  30. Former finance minister wonders if Canada should institute emissions cap after Trump victory

    Following the re-election of former U.S. president Donald Trump, former finance minister Bill Morneau says the Canadian government should re-evaluate the timing of some cornerstone Liberal policies, such as the oil and gas sector emissions cap, in order to better align with its southern neighbour and its new incoming administration.

    “I would question whether putting caps on emissions right now is the right time,” Morneau said in an interview that aired Sunday on CTV’s Question Period, adding he would be “very careful” in thinking about the emissions cap, considering “the context of the broader North American relationship.”

    Morneau said the issues with which the Canadian government will “inevitably” be faced are “hard policy choices,” but that they’re “the right things to be putting on the table.”

    “It’s not only about having great relationships, it’s also about the substance of what we’re actually going to do to be a good partner to the United States,” he said.

    Last December, the Canadian government published its framework to cap oil and gas sector emissions at 35 to 38 per cent below 2019 levels by 2030, using a national cap-and-trade system starting in 2026. The government introduced its draft regulations earlier this month.

    Trump, meanwhile, has promised to boost America’s fossil fuel production and extract more oil, saying during his speech at the Republican National Convention in July: “Drill, baby, drill.”

    “We’re going to need to think about what policy initiatives, what substance, can we actually think about that will align with the kinds of things that the new president is going to want to focus on,” Morneau said. “We should be worried, and we need to be on the top of our game and think about what we can do to improve our outcomes.”

    When asked whether he believes the Liberals will struggle to reconsider cornerstone policies they say align with their values, such as the emissions cap, Morneau said: “Yes.”

    “It will be tough for them to come around to that, but I don’t think there’s really a choice,” Morneau said, pointing to Trump’s strong mandate after winning not only in Electoral College votes, but with the popular vote.

    Morneau’s interview on CTV’s Question Period was part of a panel discussion with former interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose, who was a member of Canada’s cross-partisan NAFTA advisory council while the trilateral deal was being renegotiated.

    Ambrose said she “absolutely” agrees with Morneau that the Canadian government will have to take a different approach with the new Trump administration, adding that if the Liberals have already written the fall economic statement — expected later this month — she would recommend “they rewrite it.”

    “We’ve got two trains coming at us,” she said. “We’ve got the tariff war that’s coming at us from Trump. There’s only so much we can control there, and as Bill said, there are things that we can put on the table, and we’ve got to hit back hard and retaliate with our own tariffs.”

    “But the other is within our control, and that’s our domestic economic policies,” she also said, pointing to a need to make Canada more competitive.

    Trump plans to lower the business tax rate, she added, plus deregulate sectors to make energy more affordable, while Canada is the only country in the world with an emissions cap, making energy more expensive. The Liberals have also increased the capital gains inclusion rate, which Ambrose called “a drain on productivity, and a drain on investment.”

    “We’ve got to become more competitive, and we’re not doing that here at home,” she said. “We have a chance to do that, and we’re going to continue to be uncompetitive with the U.S. if we don’t. So, we have a chance to pivot.”

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/former-finance-minister-bill-morneau-questions-if-it-s-the-right-time-for-emissions-cap-following-trump-re-election-1.7106058

  31. Greens’ opportunism has tanked their popularity

    It’s no surprise that the Greens are on the nose (“Greens’ support drops as dislike of Bandt grows”, November 12). Once a clearly environment-focused party, it has morphed into a perfection-demanding group of political sooks more interested in blaring noise about pet causes than helping make music for the good of the country. Anything to get a seat in the ring but nothing to help run the show. They might have dipped in the latest public favorability stakes, but they win the trophy for cynical opportunism hands down. Adrian Connelly, Springwood

    https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/greens-opportunism-has-tanked-their-popularity/ar-AA1tVvPJ

  32. How do you get people to go against their own interest and vote for their demise.

    Firstly , you have to capture education system and brainwash the youth for about 3 decades.

    You have to feed the populations toxic water with fluoride for over a century, as well as toxic food and toxic pesticides. God knows what the cloud seeding is doing.So these methods weaken the target you want to destroy.
    You conduct gain of function bio weapons, than unleash it, and countermeasure it with fake expiermental killer/injury vaccines with mandates or you lose your job.
    You invade Borders, increase crime, transgender assult on minors , while forcing vaccine schedule on minors , and throw in some global wars for good measure. Than you convince women that abortion is the greatest issue there is.
    You keep repeating that Trump is Hitler, dictator, racist and threat to democracy, along with his voters, and misquote everything he says.
    You literally censor freedom of speech, so you can defraud people by Globalists bought FAKE news.
    You capture and corrupt Science to defraud the globe on Co2 needing to be reduced to zero, or doomsday Climate Change will occur. This narrative is nonsense .
    You capture global governments to transfer absolute power by TREATIES, to UN and WHO , to override all Governments and Sovereign States authority and Constitutional protections.

    You do all this for a ultimate Agenda of a One World Order Dictorship , enslavement of humanity, you will eat bugs and own nothing.

    And the Dems are shocked they couldn’t stop the massive red wave of the majority voting in their own interest, and overcoming the cheating that no doubt occurred in this election.
    This have now called the House of Representatives for the Republicans with 3 seats still pending count,
    with evidence of cheating by Dems that wasn’t enough to steal the House.
    But the Dems and Fake news are stunned that the majority didn’t vote against their own interest and go for the Interest of the Globalists fraudster demon pig men.

  33. US voters were sick of the economic status quo but Donald Trump’s trade policies could be dangerous

    The soul-searching may be in full swing within America’s Democratic Party after Donald Trump trounced them in the US election last week.

    So far, though, few have failed to grasp the enormity of what went wrong.

    Should Biden have stepped aside earlier, giving Harris a clear run? How could the messaging be improved next time around?

    The idea that a decisive majority of the electorate preferred a convicted felon over Harris was a bitter pill for many to swallow and inconceivable to the party leadership.

    Perhaps they’d do best to cast their minds back a few decades, back to 1992 when James Carville, an adviser to Bill Clinton, coined the phrase: “It’s the economy, stupid.”

    Back then, the global economy was only just starting to emerge from a nasty recession caused by a punishing round of interest rate hikes designed to smash an inflationary outbreak that threatened to replicate the events of the 1970s.

    What occurred last week wasn’t merely an electoral backlash to a cost of living crisis, although there’s no doubt that was a factor.

    Trump’s re-election, rather, was a revolt against economic policies that have fundamentally reshaped the global economy during the past 40 years, and that have left millions disenfranchised and uncertain about their place in the world.

    The president-elect first tapped that rich vein of discontent in 2016 and although his shambolic first administration failed to address, let alone fix, the problem, the decisive nature of his re-election is proof that American attitudes have only hardened since then.

    Who would have thought that an entirely academic and seemingly innocuous concept could generate so much rage.

    With a textbook theory that decrees “everyone’s a winner” if trade is totally free and regulations are abandoned, when economists were let loose at the controls in the 1970s, they went all in convincing governments of the merits.

    Within 20 years, they’d set the wheels in motion and over the course of the next 20, heavy industry migrated away from the West and towards low-cost countries like China.

    Tariffs were abandoned and free trade agreements were being signed almost every month by triumphant politicians.

    Now, suddenly, they’re political poison.

    Why? Because as American workers discovered, the rising tide from the era of globalisation and free trade didn’t lift all boats. While it was true that America became wealthier as heavy industry shifted offshore, the spoils weren’t equally shared.

    What the economic models and the vast mathematical equations that supported the theory didn’t incorporate was the idea of wealth distribution.

    In an era of deregulation and lower taxes, wealth was supposed to “trickle down”.

    Instead, it was the financiers who became rich as corporations moved operations to China, Mexico and other developing nations.

    Once well-paid manufacturing jobs disappeared and entire regions across the American industrial heartland withered.

    True, the price of everything from clothing to cars dropped as cheap imports flooded the market, but many struggled as work dried up and wages in service industries didn’t match their old jobs.

    Then came the global financial crisis, exacerbated by the removal of regulatory oversight on financial markets, and vast numbers of Americans found themselves homeless and out of work.

    And just to rub salt into the wounds, in a desperate bid to stave off economic destruction, a Democratic government led by Barak Obama bailed out Wall Street while those who orchestrated the collapse walked away scot-free.

    Trump’s first presidency may have been chaotic, but it permanently shifted the direction of America’s relationship with the rest of the world.

    He retreated from the ideal of a globalised economy and free trade and instead pointed the US back to its historically familiar stance of isolationism and protectionism.

    The backlash to globalisation was already underway across the developed world when Trump first came to power.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-12/why-trump-thumped-the-democrats/104587776

    1. “Instead, it was the financiers who became”

      How is this even considered to be some kind of “job” or profession? Name them for what they are: the Parasite Class.

      Mosquitos, ticks, leeches, tapeworms, you fit right in with all of them. You’re coin clippers, that’s what you are.

  34. [Some people are REALLY stupid.]

    Left-wing conspiracy theorists claim Elon Musk used satellites to ‘steal’ US election
    Social media used to spread false accusations that Starlink helped manipulate result

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/11/11/left-wing-conspiracy-theorists-elon-musk-satellites/

    Left-wing conspiracy theorists have claimed the 2024 US presidential election was “stolen”, as posts falsely alleging Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite network was used to manipulate the result spread on social media.

    Claims that 20m votes in the election have “disappeared” or that Starlink was used to interfere with vote-counting machines have been shared by thousands of people across X, Threads and TikTok.

    A nine-minute video claiming states had used “Starlink in order to tally up or count ballots” had more than 100,000 likes, 55,000 shares and had been viewed almost 900,000 times on TikTok. The video falsely claimed: “This is why the numbers don’t make sense.”

    Similar claims that Mr Musk, a Trump ally, may have used Starlink to tamper with the election have spread widely across Threads, the social network owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, as well as on X, which is owned by Mr Musk and was previously known as Twitter.

    On Threads, one post with more than 42,000 views and 840 shares claimed Mr Musk “knew who won four hours earlier than we did”.

    It alleged Starlink had been “exploding” communications satellites, with Mr Musk “destroying the evidence”. Another lengthy post with more than 370,000 views and 6,300 shares claimed that voting had been hacked “at the tabulation level”.

    Hashtags such as “TrumpCheated” have been shared across Threads and X, while calls for recounts have been shared with the phrase “SwingStateHandRecount”.

    [A chart appears here …]

    There is no evidence to support the claims spreading on social media. US voting machines are typically disconnected from the internet in order to prevent interference.

    Last week Jen Easterly, director of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said there was “no evidence of any malicious activity that had a material impact on the security or integrity of our election infrastructure”.

    Allegations that there are millions of “missing” votes have been spread by both Democrats unhappy about Trump’s victory and Republicans who claimed the theories vindicate their concerns about the 2020 result.

    The discrepancy in the number of votes cast is mostly down to slow vote counting in California, which as of Monday had only processed around 74pc of ballots despite being called for Kamala Harris days ago.

    Some social media posts spreading the conspiracy claims have been accompanied by fact-checks debunking the claim, such as a post on X that had repeated the Starlink claims.

    On Friday, disinformation analysts at NewsGuard reported that in the hours after it became apparent that Mr Trump had won “Left-leaning social media users claimed that the apparent momentum behind Kamala Harris before the election made it impossible for her to lose, so the only explanation was widespread fraud.”

    Alex Stamos, chief information security officer at SentinelOne and a former executive at Facebook, said in a post on Threads: “This election was not stolen. Neither was 2020.

    “We warned about this exact potential outcome in 2020: the losing side of every subsequent election rejecting the results.”

    The hashtag #DoNotConcedeKamala received 30,300 mentions over the course of eight hours on Nov 6, according to NewsGuard.

    Analysts at Cyabra, an Israeli start-up that tracks disinformation campaigns, said the surge in these posts was initially driven by a network of fake accounts, before being picked up by real online influencers.

    Cyabra found that 270 apparently fake X profiles sent more than 2,100 posts including the hashtag, which were viewed around 40m times. After this, genuine Harris supporters began to share the same claims.

    “As fake profiles pulled back, real influencers began to amplify the conspiracy, making it appear more organic,” analysts at Cyabra said.

    The claims from Ms Harris’s supporters that the election has been rigged against them mirror cries of voter fraud propagated by Mr Trump and his followers in the wake of his defeat in 2020.

    Groups calling for Americans to “Stop the Steal” in 2020 grew to hundreds of thousands of members on Facebook ahead of the Jan 6 riots on Capitol Hill.

    Mr Trump and his allies, including Mr Musk, continued to fuel fears that the 2024 election could be influenced by election fraud, up to and including polling day.

    On Nov 5, Mr Trump posted claims on his social network, Truth Social, of “massive CHEATING in Philadelphia”. Local election officials insisted there was “absolutely no truth” in the former president’s statement.

    Some analysts have dubbed the new phenomenon “BlueAnon”, after the far-Right conspiracy theory “QAnon” that has found appeal among some Trump supporters.

    Grace Rahman, news and online editor at Full Fact, a Meta fact-checking partner, said: “Misinformation about vote counts in the US election is spreading across social media platforms collecting millions of views.

    “Fact checkers have debunked a variety of claims so far, including allegations that Kamala Harris won in states that don’t require voter ID – which is factually incorrect – and unfounded claims that millions of ballots were ‘missing’ that emerged before counting had finished.

    “Even without evidence, false claims like these can be corrosive to public trust in the US and beyond. We urge everyone to check what they’ve seen online is accurate and consult trusted sources before sharing.”

    1. Who woulda thunk that Dominion machines came with a satellite interface compatible with starlink? /sarc

      If they are gonna make something up, it should at least be credible.

  37. ‘And I’ve almost got this house paid off. This was my retirement. I’m a teacher. We don’t make that much,’ said Hagn. On top of losing almost all of her belongings in Ian, Helene and Milton: ‘I’m still paying on the couch, the couch that is out there. I still owe rooms to go for me, and I am still making payments on that couch’

    You should probably stop making those couch payments Deb, it’s not going to change the outcome.

  38. ‘After I finished paying the mortgage, I hardly have anything left,’ Claxton said. Meanwhile, she’s responsible for paying all of the bills and utilities or the tenant could take her to court. ‘She’s the one in trouble, the one not paying and she’s getting a free pass’

    Let’s be clear here Sandy, the lending was sound.

  39. ‘When past investors and employees complained about Wagner online, some had their social media accounts suspended. Court documents allege that Wagner coerced social media companies into deleting accounts of his critics and, in one instance, used a fake death certificate of a former investor to have their profile removed’

    Socialist media doing what it does best. Fat payments were probably involved.

  40. ‘The Block is not a real show anymore,’” one user, Fernando Torres, wrote on X. ‘It’s rigged by sponsors and not even a true auction now. Adrian Portelli just spends the most money on his favourite couple. What a pointless series. It was clearly scripted. What a load of crap’

    This show has been around a long time. It used to be like having a season of 10 superbowls down there. Then the New Zealand version became a ‘national obsession’ too.

    All reality TV is horsesh$t. We’ve watched millions of people glued to their teles like housing bubble zombies for 2 decades, borrowing mad amounts of pesos the whole time.

  41. Nobody Wants Your House (Toronto Real Estate Market Update)

    Team Sessa Real Estate

    32 minutes ago

    In this episode we look at the current Toronto Real Estate Market specifically the detached home prices and market trends for the week ending Nov 6, 2024. We also discuss how attitudes have shifted towards wanting to sell parent’s homes. There was a time where people wanted to hang on to the family home but it seems now people are just interested in the cash.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13MhBK9eFaQ

    16:13.

  42. Trump cabinet: John Ratcliffe picked to be CIA Director | LiveNOW from FOX

    57 minutes ago

    President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he is nominating former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.

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

    2:22. At 50 seconds they omit these words from Trump’s statement:

    ‘When 51 intelligence officials were lying about Hunter Biden’s laptop, there was one, John Ratcliff, telling the truth to the American people.’

    Fox cut that out entirely in the reading.

  43. ‘Oh Really?’: NYC Mayor Eric Adams Has Testy Exchange With Reporter Over Mass Deportations Question

    Forbes Breaking News

    5 hours ago

    During a press briefing on Tuesday, NYC Mayor Eric Adams (D-NY) was asked about potential mass deportations in New York City under the Trump Administration.

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

    3 minutes.

    1. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway hoarding cash in a pattern seen before the financial crisis
      Wall Street Journal with the report – Buffett “has never taken this much off the table”
      Eamonn Sheridan
      12/11/2024 | 01:02 GMT
      The Journal speculates on Buffett’s largest ever pile of cash. The Wall Street Journal is gated, but here is a quick summary of the piece:

      Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway holds $325 billion in cash, mostly in Treasury bills. It remains cautious on new investments.

      Berkshire recently sold parts of its holdings in Apple and Bank of America and has paused stock buybacks, indicating a conservative stance.

      Historically, Buffett and Munger avoided market timing, focusing on long-term compounding, but they’ve built cash reserves in times of high valuations, such as before the 2008 crisis.

      Analysts, including Goldman Sachs and Vanguard, predict low stock returns (3%-5% annually) for the next decade, aligning with Buffett’s own “Buffett Indicator,” which shows U.S. stocks are overvalued at 200% of GDP.

      Buffett expressed interest in acquiring a large company ($50-100 billion) if a suitable opportunity arises.

      With high T-bill yields and expensive U.S. stocks, Buffett may be keeping “dry powder” for future opportunities; Berkshire has favored the U.S. market but has diversified slightly, including recent profitable bets on Japanese trading firms.
      …
      https://www.forexlive.com/stock-market-update/buffetts-berkshire-hathaway-hoarding-cash-in-a-pattern-seen-before-the-financial-crisis-20241112/

      1. Key Takeaways

        – The median home price fell this October in 42 of the 50 biggest U.S. metros compared to September, according to Realtor.com.

        – The Cleveland and Tampa areas saw the largest October price reductions. Among the 11 biggest declines, most were in the Midwest and Northeast.

        – Only two markets—both in Virginia—registered an uptick in October median home prices.

        – Though prices in these metros were largely down, the average monthly mortgage payment rose due to higher October mortgage rates. The average 30-year rate climbed almost a half percentage point, raising the average payment by $107 per month.

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