The Days Of Buying For Financial Gain Are Gone
A report from Realtor.com. “One of the best things about the Thanksgiving holiday is the incredible shopping opportunities, and this year even homes in some of the most desirable cities in the U.S. are seeing their prices slashed. We found five heavily discounted homes that have had price cuts of at least $100,000. But far from being backroad bargains, these properties are actually in some of the country’s most sought-after locations: America’s biggest cities. From a heavily discounted Manhattan marvel to a fabulous Phoenix abode, there’s a real estate steal to suit every taste this holiday season. 12014 Dermott Dr, Houston, TX. Price: $589,000. Recently reduced by $110,900: This brand-new build originally hit the market a few weeks ago for $699,900. 1220 Smithwood Dr, Los Angeles, CA. Price: $2,350,000. Recently reduced by $300,000: This multifamily residence originally hit the market a few weeks ago for $2,650,000.”
The Palm Beach Post. “The condo market in Florida is set to shift dramatically and condo owners need to act quickly to ensure the tides don’t turn too far against them. For many older projects the increasing cost to repair and maintain are not justified by the market value of the units, which for many projects are decreasing. Florida condo owners, hear this bluntly: the window to sell has probably closed. Existing condo sales are down significantly when compared to last year and the median price of a condo over 30 years old has decreased. Even if buyers were looking for condos with sky-high COA fees (which they’re not), banks are going to be hard-pressed to consider lending on a building with such upside down economics as some of these units face. More sellers are coming to the market but buyers simply aren’t interested.”
“Because of the value of the underlying land, in many cases, developers can actually offer unit owners significantly more than the market price of the unit. It’s time condo owners stop seeing themselves as property owners, and start seeing themselves for what they are: landowners. It’s do or die time for condo owners, who need to come together to stave off financial collapse. For many condo owners, united you stand and divided you fall — and the time to stand is now.”
Silicon Valley in California. “Serenity at Larkspur is, in many ways, your standard luxury apartment complex. Perched on the golden hills of Marin County, it offers views of the San Francisco Bay and Mount Tamalpais. Residents have access to a long list of amenities. Rent isn’t cheap. A one-bedroom goes for $3,004 — high but in line with the market. Except Serenity at Larkspur isn’t supposed to be a market-rate apartment building. In 2019, it was acquired by Catalyst Housing, a developer that received a tax break from the city of Larkspur in return for what it described as affordable housing, setting rents at levels that low- and moderate-income renters could afford.”
“The deal came together via an obscure government agency that Catalyst helped create, the California Community Housing Agency, also known as CalCHA, which issued tax-exempt municipal bonds on behalf of Catalyst to finance the $226.5 million deal. The city agreed to exempt Serenity from property taxes, about $2.4 million each year, and in return Catalyst converted the apartments into what it calls ‘essential housing’ — agreeing to cap rents at levels affordable to those making 80% to 120% of the area median income, or about $109,680 to $164,520 for a single person.”
“Since 2019, private developers such as Catalyst have used CalCHA’s bond-issuing powers to buy 13 luxury properties around the Bay Area and more in Southern California. Cities from Berkeley to Antioch enthusiastically signed on to the CalCHA program, forfeiting a collective $21 million in annual property taxes. But rental discounts have been minimal and sometimes nonexistent. A Bay Area News Group analysis of public CalCHA financial documents and rental data for market-rate properties found that nearly half of the CalCHA ‘essential housing’ units in the Bay Area charge higher per-square-foot rates than their market-rate counterparts.”
“But the huge amounts of debt that facilitated these deals could be their undoing. Several CalCHA projects are in financial distress. As is common for municipal bond issuers, CalCHA stocked each project’s reserves with issued money to meet the first few years of interest payments. A few years in, those reserves are dwindling, and some of the properties aren’t generating enough rental income to cover their debt service. In recent months, Serenity at Larkspur, Annadel in Santa Rosa and Twin Creeks and Mira Vista Hills in Antioch all reported in public disclosures that they have less cash than what their investors required them to keep on hand. Public disclosures show that CalCHA and Catalyst are considering renovating some of Serenity’s units so they can charge higher rent, then ‘temporarily’ opening up leasing to people making over 120% of area median income. Cities like Larkspur won’t get any say in how those negotiations shake out.”
The Detroit Free Press. “If General Motors and Dan Gilbert can’t secure the public funding they say they need to revamp the struggling Renaissance Center, the automaker says it’s prepared to demolish the five towers it owns and bear the full cost. By threatening to tear down the group of skyscrapers that includes Michigan’s tallest if taxpayer support doesn’t come through, the developers are trying to force their vision on the public, said Detroit-based urbanist and University of Michigan architecture professor Craig Wilkins. Gilbert and GM are seeking $250 million in subsidies for their $1.6 billion plan to ‘right-size’ the 5.5-million-square-foot complex while adding public space and improving walkability between Detroit’s riverfront and downtown.”
“Tearing down the five GM-owned towers would likely represent the largest voluntary skyscraper demolition in world history. Such demolitions are rare nationally — even more so if a building is structurally sound.”
The Globe and Mail in Canada. “Fence sitters in the Toronto-area real estate market are in a fickle mood at the moment. It’s a peculiar state where aspiring buyers are holding off for lower borrowing costs or a better deal at the bargaining table at the same time they fear rival buyers may not show the same restraint. Near Avenue Road and Lawrence Avenue West, Andre Kutyan, broker with Harvey Kalles Real Estate Ltd., sold a house on Deloraine Avenue in Bedford Park with multiple offers and a premium to the asking price. Another house on the same street, listed with a different agent, quickly sold after that. ‘When a sale like that happens, it makes people think that maybe the market is about to take off again,’ he says. ‘A lot of buyers are like sheep – when they see other people doing things, they jump in.'”
“Mr. Kutyan listed a four-bedroom detached at 87A Bedford Park Ave. early this year with an asking price of $3,385,000. It sold conditionally in the summer for $2.75-million but the deal fell apart when the buyer got cold feet. After a series of reductions, the sellers agreed on Sept. 30 to an asking price of $2.749-million. The three-storey house sold on Oct. 11 for $2.707-million. ‘I’ve been at it since March,’ he says of the arduous process. Mr. Kutyan points out that market fundamentals are markedly different now from years past. ‘Prices are flat. They’re not going anywhere and I don’t think they’re going anywhere any time soon.’ In addition, Ontario and British Columbia show more stress than other provinces. In Ontario, mortgage delinquency rates have surpassed the province’s prepandemic level.”
The Telegraph. “For more than 20 years, Britain’s property market soared. Average house prices have risen from £85,000 in 2000 to £291,000 today, a 242pc increase, according to the Office for National Statistics. But the party may be coming to an end. Wages have stagnated since the financial crisis, while property prices have soared. In 2009, the average property in England cost 6.4 times the average salary; today it costs 8.3 times more, according to the ONS. More sellers are reducing their asking prices, amid the increasing realisation that there is a gap between their valuations and what buyers are willing – or able – to pay. ‘The days of buying for financial gain are gone, a fact people are struggling to come to terms with,’ says Charlie Lamdin, who runs BestAgent, a network of estate agents.”
Radio New Zealand. “A financial adviser has been ordered to pay clients $87,000 after helping them set up a ‘deception plan’ that meant they borrowed $100,000 more than they admitted to their lender. In early 2022, the couple wanted to buy an investment property. Their mortgage adviser approached a non-bank lender on their behalf, inquiring about a loan using the equity in their home. In March of that year, the couple had an offer accepted on a property for $796,000, subject to finance. The lender told the adviser it would approve the loan if the couple could show they had savings or cash of $100,000.”
“They said the adviser told them to get a family member to sign a gift certificate saying he would gift them $100,000. The properly was settled in April. By October, the couple was having trouble paying the loan and told their adviser. Early this year, the two-year fixed period on the loan came to an end and their interest rate increased from 5.4 percent to 9 percent. ‘With great regret, [the couple] decided they had no option but to sell the investment property,’ FSCL said in its case note. ‘To add to their stress, the value of the investment property had dropped with the market so, although they purchased it for $796,000, they were only able to sell it for $728,000.'”
“FSCL said it was fair that the couple and the adviser should bear half of the losses each. It said the couple lost $164,000 including loss in the value of the investment property, less 15 percent to account for market forces outside the adviser’s control, the interest they paid and the losses from the cost of buying and selling the property such as a builder’s report and real estate agent fees. FSCL said the adviser should pay $82,000 plus $5000 for non-financial losses.”
The Daily Telegraph in Australia. “Sydney home prices have shown signs of peaking and are beginning to fall in some areas as buyer demand cools and increased listing volumes pressure sellers to drop their expectations. Economists told The Daily Telegraph the changed horizon for interest rates may be contributing to an increased sense of hesitancy from home seekers. And any sense of FOMO, or fear of missing out, would likely have evaporated after a surge in property listings over spring, which gave those buyers who were transacting much more choice. ‘The market has turned on a dime,’ said prominent auctioneer Chris Scerri. ‘The best homes are still selling well but, with everything else, the price has to be right … some vendors are coming in too high and they’re struggling.'”
This Post Has 99 Comments
‘12014 Dermott Dr, Houston, TX. Price: $589,000. Recently reduced by $110,900: This brand-new build originally hit the market a few weeks ago for $699,900’
Recent new shack buyers – fooked!
I think this is the house for sale.
Sorry for the long URL, it’s a street view image. For that amount of money, you think they would design something with better curb appeal. This just looks terrible.
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.9385556,-95.6027274,3a,75y,329.74h,78.29t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1so9A_arp-L2kcR5yK78qHFg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D11.70630367825072%26panoid%3Do9A_arp-L2kcR5yK78qHFg%26yaw%3D329.737786402164!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTEyNC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
that’s better than most new houses which are just giant garages with little tiny doors off to the side.
‘But the huge amounts of debt that facilitated these deals could be their undoing. Several CalCHA projects are in financial distress’
Check out the article for how much these greedy bashtards were stuffing in their pockets.
“The deal came together via an obscure government agency that Catalyst helped create…”
Uh-huh.
“Since 2019, private developers such as Catalyst have used CalCHA’s bond-issuing powers to buy 13 luxury properties around the Bay Area and more in Southern California.”
Where there’s a will, there’s a way!
“The program has been a financial bonanza for Catalyst, which owns 10 of the Bay Area properties, and other private developers — which together have collected $25 million in upfront fees from the acquisitions and stand to make millions more in interest payments over the 30- to 40-year lifetime of the bonds. Another $48 million in fees has gone to the bankers and law firms that issued the bonds. What’s more, the millions in interest collected by the bond’s investors are exempt from state and federal income taxes, which in California can be as much as 50% for high earners.”
Lefty’s cut is buried in there somewhere.
Check out the article for how much these greedy bashtards were stuffing in their pockets.
No one goes to prison for grift in Clownifornia, though I suspect some of the spoils have to be shared.
It’s time condo owners stop seeing themselves as property owners, and start seeing themselves for what they are: landowners.
Wrong – they’re passengers on the express train to Schlongville.
“Because of the value of the underlying land, in many cases, developers can actually offer unit owners significantly more than the market price of the unit.”
Nope, not Schlongville. The news article is exactly right.
These 30+ year old condo buildings are small, short, and have a lot of common outdoor lawn space and/or surface parking. For example, take a plain-jane 4-story, 25-unit building with a little lawn and a paved parking lot. A developer can knock that all down and build a 20-story, 75-unit tower with a parking garage, on the same plot of land. Suddenly those 25 units are worth 3x more, give or take. Unless the condo owners bought during the 2021 frenzy, they can sell to the developer and still break even.
‘they can sell to the developer and still break even’
That’s a good thing cuz they got 90,000 30 year or older airboxes in Miami/Dade/Broward counties alone. They’ll be fine.
Yeah, I was thinking that too. If you’re going to panic sell, be the first to panic sell. There’s a limited amount of developers willing to build luxury towers and you want to snag the $$ before it runs out.
Now, if your condo land is on waterfront, you’re probably golden. If you’re inland forget it. Nobody wants a tower 2 miles from the water.
Cities from Berkeley to Antioch enthusiastically signed on to the CalCHA program, forfeiting a collective $21 million in annual property taxes. But rental discounts have been minimal and sometimes nonexistent.
This is my shocked face.
A few years in, those reserves are dwindling, and some of the properties aren’t generating enough rental income to cover their debt service.
Die, speculator scum.
In Ontario, mortgage delinquency rates have surpassed the province’s prepandemic level.
Gosh, it would be a darn shame if the FOMO lemmings who bought at the peak of the scamdemic-era BoC housing bubble were to find themselves deeply underwater on their shacks.
The corruption and depravity of the Biden crime family knows no limit.
“The corruption and depravity…”
It’s a beltway thing, IMHO.
This aged well.
https://x.com/hodgetwins/status/1863425270771863982
Love that clip, “Ten Crack Commandments.”
i’m not a Biden fan, But any Dad worth his salt, would do that, help out his son, keeping him out of Jail , most all the stuff he’s convicted of , is stuff almost all Rich people do…..and get away with, too…
There’s a peach-fuzz niece playing with Hunter’s pony.
‘most all the stuff he’s convicted of , is stuff almost all Rich people do’
Yer right, look at all the people named Trump who got pardoned 4 years ago.
‘most all the stuff he’s convicted of , is stuff almost all Rich people do’
We need to build bigger prisons.
I don’t think anyone is begrudging Joe for pardoning the specific tax and gun charges. But Maga is REALLY peeved at that 10-year blanket pardon, which pardons any potential influence peddling through Burisma.
I don’t forget that DJT was IMPEACHED just for*asking* about the Burisma stuff. And yet, this pardon is darn near an admission of guilt for exactly what DJT asked about. DJT was right, AGAIN.
That said, my speculation (not a medical opinion) is that Joe is six months away from needing round-the-clock memory care, and Hunter needs to be free to take care of his father.
I’m sure FJB can afford a small army of care takers.
Couple more things:
1. Jack Poso has a source inside the WH. He has a rumor that over Thanksgiving holiday, Hunter threatened to write a tell-all book, and the pardon bought his silence. That’s why the pardon happened so fast. I guess this (somewhat) quells my fear that Joe was planning to resign soon.
2. There is some debate on X about whether Joe — who has now established a precedent of preemptive blanket pardon — would also pre-emptively blanket pardon FBI or DOJ agents to prevent DJT from carrying out revenge lawfare on them. My guess is “no.” Joe seems willing to risk his legacy to protect Hunter and Jill from future prosecution. But I don’t think he’d go that far for anyone else.
Jack Poso has a source inside the WH. He has a rumor that over Thanksgiving holiday, Hunter threatened to write a tell-all book
OK, you just told us that Hunter was going to take care of his dear old dad in his dotage.
With the shiny new pardon, maybe he will.
Hey, does Hunter even have a job nowadays? He and wifey just hanging out with the kid?
Wages have stagnated since the financial crisis, while property prices have soared. In 2009, the average property in England cost 6.4 times the average salary; today it costs 8.3 times more, according to the ONS.
Heckova job, central bankers.
“FSCL said it was fair that the couple and the adviser should bear half of the losses each. It said the couple lost $164,000 including loss in the value of the investment property, less 15 percent to account for market forces outside the adviser’s control, the interest they paid and the losses from the cost of buying and selling the property such as a builder’s report and real estate agent fees. FSCL said the adviser should pay $82,000 plus $5000 for non-financial losses.”
I love the smell of burning speculators and reckless lenders in the morning…it smells like victory.
And any sense of FOMO, or fear of missing out, would likely have evaporated after a surge in property listings over spring, which gave those buyers who were transacting much more choice.
FOMO replaced by Fear of Getting Schlonged (FOGS) means the universe is finally starting to put itself right after the lunacy of the pandemic-era price run-ups. Squeal like piggies, FBs!
Oh the irony – Mexicans apparently aren’t fans of open borders and globalist Sheinbaum’s facilitation of mass illegal migration. Imagine how they’ll feel when millions of illegals start self-deporting back across our southern border.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/12/02/trump-mass-deportation-mexico-migration-views-harden/75559625007/
Plus the millions more Homan will dump on them.
There is a growing panic spreading throughout Mexico.
Which one of you miscreants did this?
https://x.com/liz_churchill10/status/1862944717970759835
…aka Big Mike. LOL
those sculptures of obama & michelle are waaaay out of actual proportion: obama is much skinnier & michelle is larger-sized in real life.
what a hoot !
“those sculptures of obama & michelle are waaaay out of actual proportion:
I remember reading that photographers on one of many stops of the world wide Moochelle Obama vacation tour while her husband was in office were instructed that pictures of the First Lady from behind were strictly forbidden.
Hugh Jass was a customer at Moe’s Tavern. His name happened to be the same as one that Bart made up to play a phone call prank on Moe.
Bart was playing one of his phone pranks on Moe, and made up the name “Hugh Jass” as a sound-a-like for “huge ass”. The first part of the prank went according to plan, as Moe called out, “Somebody check the men’s room for a Hugh Jass!” Unbeknownst to Bart, there really was someone named Hugh Jass in the bar. Bart was completely taken aback when Hugh answered the phone, asked who was calling, and (after Bart identified himself) pleasantly asked what he could do for Bart.
Bart decided to confess: “Uh, look, I’ll level with you, Mister. This is a prank call that sort of backfired, and I’d like to bail out right now.”
Hugh was a good sport about the call and said, “All right. Better luck next time.” After he hung up the phone, he said, “What a nice young man,” referring to Bart.
https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/Hugh_Jass
In a kayak together:
https://ibb.co/0ryMZdM
LOLZ
“those sculptures of obama & michelle are waaaay out of actual proportion”
I began to write a comment about that too, but it started looking kind of ugly, so I deleted it. 🙂
Ah yes, the $6 million banana “modern art.”
I guess this is literally a double entendre.
Will China’s PBOC be the first central bank to lose control as the long-deferred financial reckoning day lays waste to fictitious “wealth” and mark-to-fantasy accounting?
https://x.com/FinanceLancelot/status/1863431389426675972
The Fed sees no bubbles and thinks its monetary policies are too “restrictive.”
https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1863573721438445981
“Because of the value of the underlying land, in many cases, developers can actually offer unit owners significantly more than the market price of the unit.
I don’t know if I believe that line. First they need funding and as a lender do i want to fund a lot of Ocean Front multi-million dollar Condos? What I have read is Multi-million dollar condos sales are down/very slow in places like Miami and Manhattan so why would multi-million dollar condos sales in other parts of FL be expected to be great? And of course Insurance and maintenance ain’t gonna be cheap on these condos.
Student debt hits a record $1.61 trillion. Regret to inform you, special snowflakes and irresponsible lenders, but Trump will not force taxpayers to assume your non-performing loans.
https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1863365027010359437
So NATO member Turkey is supplying and orchestrating an offensive by pan-Turkic and jihadi terrorists against neighboring Russian client state Syria. What could possibly go wrong?
https://x.com/visegrad24/status/1863485078610780568
If you resist the agenda of the globalist quislings leading formerly sovereign Western nations to ruin, you are, ipso facto, “far right” according to the globalist scum media.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/far-leader-le-pen-never-112224851.html
So apparently if a member of the international banking clan dies under suspicious circumstances, his name is immediately consigned to the memory hole by AI.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14147521/david-mayer-rothschild-ignored-chatgpt.html
I do agree that big builders lead the way down. They are the first to capitulate to slashing prices. Seeing the big guys slashing up to 100k down from earlier in the year in my hood.
“Because of the value of the underlying land, in many cases, developers can actually offer unit owners significantly more than the market price of the unit. It’s time condo owners stop seeing themselves as property owners, and start seeing themselves for what they are: landowners. It’s do or die time for condo owners, who need to come together to stave off financial collapse. For many condo owners, united you stand and divided you fall — and the time to stand is now.”
FLORIDA is finished
Opinion by the readers of The Fresno Bee
‘Low income’ housing too expensive
I just read an article concerning the stalled low-income housing project, Libre Commons. It as a projected cost of $56 million for a four story, 86-unit complex. That comes to over $650,000 per unit and that amount is insane. Is it really not possible to spend less than a half million dollars per unit?
At $100,000 per unit that would be 560 units of badly needed housing instead of 86. Surely, we can come up with a better solution and maybe meet in the middle at $200,000 per unit and come up with 280 units.
We’ve got to use more common sense even in the post-Covid era. Such unrealistic expense for so few units is the reason the project stalled, and meanwhile people are still sleeping on the street.
Joe Messer, Fresno
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-offers-chaos-not-peace-hopefully-america-can-survive-the-next-four-years-opinion/ar-AA1v4uJT
“That comes to over $650,000 per unit…”
That’s roughly about the cost of a homeless’ accessory dwelling unit (ADU) in San Jose. In addition to a toilet, shower and heat, they also need USB charging outlets!
Sail phones
The Labubu bubble bursts: Resale prices crash in Thailand
BANGKOK, Dec 2 — After almost a year of hype, it looks like the Labubu doll market in Thailand has reached saturation point, with once-crazy resale prices now starting to drop.
According to The Nation Thailand, constant production by Pop Mart, the Chinese company behind the collectible dolls, has led to an oversupply. With so many people already owning at least one, demand has cooled off.
The hype all started when global superstar Lalisa “Lisa” Manoban of Blackpink posted a pic with a Labubu Macaron figurine on her Instagram Story in April, sending fans worldwide scrambling to get their hands on one.
Resale prices in Thailand shot up — 3,000 baht (about RM388) for a blind box and 20,000 baht for a big box — as people rushed to cash in.
But high prices don’t always last.
Pop Mart quickly ramped up production to meet demand, but some of the new batches didn’t quite live up to the usual quality standards.
Unhappy customers led to a drop in excitement, and prices started to fall.
Pop Mart tried to revive interest by releasing a second version, “Labubu Have a Seat,” but it just couldn’t capture the same feverish demand in Thailand as the original.
In Thailand, the resale prices for this version peaked at 2,000 baht for a blind box and 12,000 baht for a big box — much lower than what the first version was fetching.
In the end, the oversupply and the fact that most collectors already have at least one means the dolls lost their “must-have” appeal. And with that, resale prices have tumbled.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/life/2024/12/02/the-labubu-bubble-bursts-resale-prices-crash-in-thailand/158643
Tavares resigns as Stellantis CEO after company struggles for months
Carlos Tavares is out as CEO of Stellantis, capping an almost four-year run as head of the company that owns Jeep, Ram, Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat. Tavares’ resignation was announced Sunday in a company news release.
The timing of the announcement came as a surprise, though Tavares’ departure was planned in a year. Tavares, who has led the company since it formed in January 2021 from the merger of Peugeot maker PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, has been under increasing pressure for months as the automaker has struggled. His expected retirement, along with a search for a replacement, had previously been announced.
Stellantis’ struggles, including a stock price that’s less than half what it was earlier this year, likely weighed heavily on the company’s board. In a news release, Henri de Castries, Stellantis’ senior independent director, pointed to divisions at the top of the company.
“Stellantis’ success since its creation has been rooted in a perfect alignment between the reference shareholders, the board and the CEO. However, in recent weeks different views have emerged which have resulted in the board and the CEO coming to today’s decision,” he said in the release.
Struggles have abounded this year for Stellantis, with excessive inventory, significantly lower sales in the key U.S. market, job cuts, fights with stakeholders and growing political pressure.
The UAW, which had been threatening a nationwide strike against the automaker, even launched a website with a derogatory title calling for Tavares’ ouster.
The union and its president, Shawn Fain, had blasted Tavares repeatedly over job cuts and what the union said was the company’s failure to live up to its commitments, particularly at the idled Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois. After Stellantis announced it would cut a shift at Warren Truck, north of Detroit, Fain said that “if any autoworker did as piss poor of a job as Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, they would be fired.”
In an interview with the Free Press last month, incoming U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, of Ohio, an ally of President-elect Donald Trump, highlighted how changing political winds might affect the automaker.
“CEO Carlos Tavares needs to understand the United States government is not going to allow him to gut Chrysler, and Jeep, and Dodge, and Ram, and ship those cars and the direction overseas, in managing a company that was handed to them for free, which never should have been done,” Moreno said at the time, referencing the way Chrysler came to be part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in connection with the 2009 bankruptcy.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/tavares-resigns-as-stellantis-ceo-after-company-struggles-for-months/ar-AA1v5o9J
The union and its president, Shawn Fain, had blasted Tavares repeatedly over job cuts
What do they expect? For the company to manufacture even more cars and trucks that won’t sell? Keep that up and soon no one will have a job.
Meanwhile, the Chinese are just itching to enter the US market, even if that means building factories in Mexico.
With the Jeep Renegade and Ram 3500 diesel pickup truck commanding $90k and $120k, respectively, little wonder the dealer lots are plug full, and Stellantis has to lease space to hold the overflow. These MBAs never saw it coming!
From Breakfast in America:
Could we have kippers for breakfast
Mummy dear, mummy dear
They got to have ’em in Texas
‘Cause everyones a millionaire
Busing people out of homelessness: How California’s relocation programs really work
Mayor London Breed, outgoing mayor of San Francisco, made waves recently with a major policy shift: Before providing a shelter bed or any other services, city workers must first offer every homeless person they encounter a bus or train ticket to somewhere else.
But while San Francisco has gotten an outsized amount of attention for putting its busing program at the forefront of its homelessness strategy, other California cities and nonprofits continue to quietly send small numbers of unhoused people all over the country. At least one new program is set to launch early next year.
Many programs do some homework before sending their clients off on a bus, but the amount of effort they put in varies. One nonprofit serving homeless young people in Los Angeles has a therapist call the client’s family in the destination city, to make sure the client is going into a safe, welcoming environment. One of San Francisco’s relocation programs requires the client only to have a vague connection to their destination city.
Shortly after beginning an aggressive crackdown on tent encampments in San Francisco, Mayor Breed ordered all city agencies to “offer and incentivize” the city’s busing program before other services. Those who decline any help may be at risk of being arrested for illegally camping in a public place.
Providing free bus tickets to unhoused people is nothing new in San Francisco, which has been offering some form of this program for about two decades, said Emily Cohen, deputy director of communications and legislative affairs for the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. But usage declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, when travel was restricted, and it didn’t pick back up, she said. The mayor’s directive was intended to fix that, she said.
https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/how-californias-homeless-relocation-programs-really-work
So the current phase is to play hot potato with the homeless. I suspect this will the norm for the next few years. The numbers will continue to grow. What will be next? Government run camps to keep them out of sight, out of mind?
call the client’s family in the destination city, to make sure the client is going into a safe, welcoming environment.
Sadly, if that homeless person is an addict, they won’t be welcome for very long. Addicts will sell their family’s possessions out from under them to buy more drugs. That’s just a fact.
And yes, at some point I think someone will have to make very hard decisions about the homeless. The free-will community outreach approach is clearly not going to work. Sort them out into categories depending on how recoverable they are, and help them accordingly. The worst cases might very well have to be housed at mothballed military bases.
Government run camps to keep them out of sight, out of mind?
Maybe send them to Mexico? Their President wants open borders. She’s quite proud of herself.
US Senate inquiry into Chicago’s housing of migrants at airports likely to heat up after Republican election wins
A nearly year-old U.S. Senate GOP inquiry into Chicago’s housing of migrants at O’Hare and Midway airports may become more than a political annoyance for Mayor Brandon Johnson next year as Republicans take control of the federal government with an eye on tightening rules about public spending for noncitizens.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, months ago escalated an investigation Republicans on the committee had opened about Chicago’s policy of having migrants sleep at the airports while they waited for shelter beds.
At the time, the letter didn’t get any notice and Cruz’s demands were little more than Washington intimidation tactics as Democrats controlled the Senate and national Republicans were using the immigration issue to rag on big cities across the country, with Chicago consistently being a prime target.
But with the GOP riding anti-immigration fervor that helped sweep Donald Trump back into the White House and Republicans gain control of the U.S. House and Senate, Cruz is set to chair the powerful committee beginning in January. While it remains to be seen how real Cruz’s threats are, one of the committee’s options is moving to withhold federal infrastructure dollars to cities that continue sheltering immigrants at airports.
Tom Homan — the incoming border czar for Trump, who campaigned on a repeated promise of “mass deportations” of immigrants — said recently on Fox News that he will wield a “very, very powerful weapon” in potentially withholding federal funding for states and cities run by Democratic governors and mayors that fight deportation efforts. He also said he would jail the mayor of Denver, another sanctuary city, if the mayor blocks migrants from deportations.
Where Cruz and GOP commerce committee members hope to hit Johnson is by proving the past sheltering of migrants at the airports misused federal resources.
“Repurposing airport facilities and infrastructure to house illegal aliens not only degrades taxpayers’ investment in the national airport system but … violates the requirement that these federally funded facilities ‘be available for public use as an airport,’” Cruz wrote in the initial January letter to Johnson. “No rational person would define an airport as a facility that houses illegal aliens.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/us-senate-inquiry-into-chicago-s-housing-of-migrants-at-airports-likely-to-heat-up-after-republican-election-wins/ar-AA1v5tcT
I wonder if these migrants at the ariport were flown in by plane and simply never left the airport. Are they also getting debit cards and free phones?
Efforts to open a new migrant aid center in San Diego County stall once more
After spending another two months negotiating with a potential operator to establish and run its new migrant transition center, San Diego County has once again failed to close the deal.
This — coupled with the looming threat of President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown — has put the future of the transfer center to help recently arrived migrants in jeopardy.
The county announced this month that it was rescinding its contract award to The Providencia Group, or TPG, to operate the center “as a result of unsuccessful negotiations,” a notice posted online stated. The reasons behind the dispute were unclear. This is the second time the county’s contract talks have been unsuccessful.
Now, it is unclear whether the county will continue with its procurement process. “No award will be made as there were no additional proposals received to evaluate,” the county’s most recent notice stated.
The county had already exhausted its own funds on a temporary migrant welcome center — which operated on $6 million and served more than 81,000 individuals in the four months it was open — to mitigate the release of migrants on local streets. But it closed early this year after running out of money.
To fund the new center, the county planned to use its federal allocation from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Shelter and Services Program, or SSP, which funds non-federal entities that provide shelter and other eligible services to migrants.
However, the county has yet to receive those funds, as SSP funds aren’t provided upfront but are rather reimbursed to entities later, requiring the county to first spend the dollars before they are able to make a reimbursement claim to FEMA, Glenn explained.
Now, as Trump prepares to re-take office, elected officials and local migrant services groups alike are worried about the fate of federally-funded programs like SSP amid Trump’s vow to crack down on immigration — which could result in costs incurred by the county not being reimbursed if the new administration redirects or repurposes funds within the program.
Further east along the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, county officials operating a similar migrant day center say they, too, are worried about the new administration — so much so that they are shutting down the center in the new year.
The center is operated by the same Virginia company that San Diego County officials recently ended contract negotiations with.
The Providencia Group was awarded a contract in 2022 to set up, staff and run El Paso County’s migrant support services center. The center has since assisted more than 115,000 asylum seekers and received national recognition, including being recognized as an “outstanding local government program” by the International City/County Management Association for the second year in a row.
However, last week, El Paso announced it would be winding down migrant services and closing its migrant center at the end of December.
Irene Gutiérrez, executive director of El Paso County’s Community Services Department, says the decision is largely based on the uncertainty of the new administration, including the future of federal dollars — which the center also relies on.
“It’s not a secret they haven’t been supportive of this humanitarian effort, so there are real concerns that the new administration will claw back or impound the funds that they’ve awarded,” Gutiérrez said.
The center has received about $29 million from FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program — a program that was eventually replaced by SSP — to fund its operations, as well as support five local shelters serving migrants.
But because of those funding awards, Gutiérrez says the county has not yet spent any of the approximately $26 million in SSP funding it was allocated this fiscal year — and it’s those funds they are concerned about losing.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/efforts-to-open-a-new-migrant-aid-center-in-diego-county-stall-once-more/ar-AA1v4slL
After spending another two months negotiating with a potential operator to establish and run its new migrant transition center, San Diego County has once again failed to close the deal.
I remember when San Diego was a conservative town. Yeah, I’m that old.
It’s another FEMA illegal alien processing operation. I’d bet they all are. A couple of months ago guberment swore that wasn’t happening and that it was misinformations. At the same time FEMA is giving people grief over their damaged shacks in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. Fill out more paperwork and we’ll call you.
they haven’t been supportive of this humanitarian effort
It’s an INVASION, Irene. I’m so tired of them saying that magic words “I’m JuSt LoOkInG fOr A bETtEr LiFe” and the freebie door swings open.
The Visigoths who sacked Rome were looking for a better life. When the Norse peoples raided Ireland and Britain, they sent their their military-aged men — i.e. Vikings — first to raid the peoples and secure the land. The next ships were full of the women and children looking for a better life. History rhymes. And yeah, you could say the same about Europeans sailing to America to look for a better life. But this time, someone is fighting back.
Documentary to shed light on escaping Sacramento’s human trafficking, ‘an incredibly dark world’
Laura, 45, has a painful personal story to tell. It’s dark, but important, she knows. It’s the story of human sex trafficking on the streets of Sacramento.
Until recently, Laura was mired in that world. At her request, The Bee is not publishing her last name. Sexually and abused as a child, she escaped home at 13, only to become a drug-addicted mom at age 14. Coerced later by an abusive man whom she thought she loved, she ended up, as she puts it, “selling my body.”
“We needed money to stay in hotels,” Laura said. “I didn’t want to do it. He was beating me because I wasn’t making the money that he wanted or needed. He got some younger girls, and I just left.”
The Family Justice Center’s director of development, Daniel Iritani, said human trafficking is entrenched in Sacramento, but little understood, even by local social service providers. The center has been overwhelmed by 1,300 phone calls for help from women and their families since it launched its human trafficking program 18 months ago.
Each day, hundreds of women in Sacramento find themselves working what the sex trade calls the “the blade” or “the track” — general names for streets where prostitution thrives, typically busy commute corridors and streets near freeway exits.
Many Sacramentans drive those same streets to and from home, work and stores without realizing what is occurring around them. “Even though Sacramento is a hub for human trafficking,” Iritani said, “the general public doesn’t understand the nature and gravity of it, and the significant amount of work that is required to exit the life.”
In many cases, the women are stuck. Their abusers often take their identification, their phones and their money. Some of the women are on drugs, making escape harder. The longer they spend on the streets, Iritani said, the more likely they will die on the streets.
“It is time we bring this out and shine some light onto it,” Iritani said. “Human trafficking is an incredibly dark world. A tremendous amount of help and tenacity is required by our staff, our partners and by victims to get out. There are far more barriers than there are doors.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/documentary-to-shed-light-on-escaping-sacramento-s-human-trafficking-an-incredibly-dark-world/ar-AA1v4j23
“We needed money to stay in hotels,” Laura said. “I didn’t want to do it. He was beating me because I wasn’t making the money that he wanted or needed. He got some younger girls, and I just left.”
Just left the younger girls to fend for themselves, right Laura?
Dude, SERIOUSLY? Teenagers with toddlers can barely fend for themselves, much less defend others. Your love of thigh gap has clearly slowed your mind.
Poilievre calls for asylum seeker cap, border plan as U.S. tariff threat looms
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has demanded the federal government present a plan before Parliament to beef up border security as U.S. president-elect Donald Trump threatens to impose stiff tariffs on Canada.
The plan should include measures to increase patrols and technology to crack down on illegal drug trafficking, as well as tightening visa rules and working with provincial law enforcement, Poilievre told a news conference on Sunday.
“The reality is that Trudeau has lost control of the deficit, of immigration and of our border. In less than two months, President Trump will come into office. He’s threatened the possibility of imposing tariffs unless there is action to address Trudeau’s broken border,” he said.
With gridlock in Parliament set to continue, Poilievre said Conservatives “will make accommodations to quickly pass a border plan if it goes towards fixing Trudeau’s broken border.”
“I love real refugees,” Poilievre said. “Our country was built in large part by real refugees who were genuinely fleeing danger, like my wife. But I have no time for people who lie to come into our country, and that is the problem we have to cut off.”
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/poilievre-calls-for-asylum-seeker-cap-border-plan-as-u-s-tariff-threat-looms-1.7129740
“I love real refugees,” Poilievre said.
You need doctors, engineers and scientists, not vagrants!
“The reality is that Trudeau has lost control of the deficit…”
Kind of like triggering a credit cards’ Universal Default Clause.
Newsom tries to redefine the California-vs.-Trump narrative
Nearly two weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom launched a special session to fund legal battles against the president-elect, the Democratic leader appeared to be trying to tone down and reframe the California-vs.-Trump narrative he set in motion.
“It’s not a resistance brand,” Newsom said in an interview with The Times. “It’s around pragmatism. It’s about preparedness. We would be fools not to get on top of this before January.”
The subtle shift signals the governor may be revising his role as a liberal champion in the nation’s culture wars in the wake of Donald Trump’s defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris.
“He’s caught between this old way of being the tip of the spear and just being pure resistance and now considering a presidential run,” said Mike Madrid, a Republican political consultant.
Madrid said Newsom isn’t alone. The governor’s shuffle, in Madrid’s view, personifies a reckoning happening within a Democratic Party focused on identity politics in 2024 without realizing that Trump was winning over voters on economic issues.
“Gavin Newsom has led the Democratic Party into a place where they can win these cultural battles, but that’s not what this election was about,” Madrid said. “The battle is about affordability, and California’s got a huge weakness there.”
Embracing electric vehicles is another Democratic litmus test that runs afoul of Trump’s agenda. Newsom has led the way with a mandate to transition all new car sales in California to zero-emission vehicles by 2035. New state subsidies, he argued, seek to protect the electric vehicle market and industry jobs based here.
To his Republican foes in California, the proposed electric vehicle credits are another example of the liberal governor being “out of touch.”
Nationwide only about 3 in 10 Americans would consider buying an electric vehicle, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center. In the Golden State, electric vehicles account for about 25% of all new car sales — a rise that Newsom touts but which shows most Californians aren’t yet making the switch.
“The reality for most working people is they need their gas-powered vehicle, they can’t afford an electric vehicle, nor do they want one,” said Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City). “When you’re talking about greater tax credits for Hollywood and money for people who want to buy EVs, you’ve missed the memo, bud.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/newsom-tries-to-redefine-the-california-vs-trump-narrative/ar-AA1v40oU
IIRC, Newsom leaves office in two years due to term limits. Will he try to reinvent himself as a centrist or will he beat the drum on what he did in California? 2028 will probably be his last chance to run for the White.
“We would be fools not to get on top of this before January.”
Newsom doesn’t realize that the majority voted for change, not throwing away good money at more of the same. Wake up, lefty!
Embracing electric vehicles
Meanwhile, nobody had the foresight to embrace the electric charging network. Years ago Elon toyed with swappable batteries but had to scrap the idea. So all we have now are a bunch of very expensive bop-around commuter cars owned by rich people with garage space and an expensive wall outlet, and a bunch of suckers and losers who need gaba for their range anxiety until they find the next public charger.
Stomping Grounds: James Carville, Bill Spadea, Jack Ciattarelli and Josh Gottheimer
New Jerseyans aren’t always civil, but it’s still possible for a liberal Democrat and a conservative Republican to have a rational and pleasant conversation about politics in the state. Dan Bryan is a former senior advisor to Gov. Phil Murphy and is now the owner of his own public affairs firm, and Alex Wilkes is an attorney and former executive director of America Rising PAC who advises Republican candidates in New Jersey and across the nation, including the New Jersey GOP. Dan and Alex are both experienced strategists who are currently in the room where high-level decisions are made. They will get together weekly with New Jersey Globe editor David Wildstein to discuss politics and issues.
Watch James Carville’s rant on young campaign staffers and forget about the political party and ideology. What did he say that you agree and disagree with?
Alex Wilkes: Young people, energy, and ideas are essential to a campaign. They always have been. And I do agree with Dan: to the extent that they prove themselves useful and willing to do the less glamorous work (as anyone – at any age – should be willing to do on a campaign), they should be heard.
The problem with Kamala Harris’ campaign is that they let a few emotionally-charged Gen Zers, working in a bubble, take command of a billion dollar, 90-day effort to present an already flawed candidate to the American people.
I know reports of the internal resistance to having her do unscripted content that reached millions of voters, like “The Joe Rogan Experience,” out of fear of hurt feelings and mean words are often cited in making this point – and it’s a great one – but I have another example.
Remember the “Kamala is brat” news cycle of late July? The Democrats had just pulled off an internal coup and told the American people they had a new candidate. Instead of presenting her ideas and qualifications, we had like 2-3 days of Boomer newscasters trying to define what “brat” meant just because her young digital team changed their online branding. Campaigns can always make smart use of pop culture, but in an election where families were struggling to put food on the table, they stepped all over a very important launch.
I think the Harris campaign was doomed from the start of this very nervy effort for a variety of reasons, but maybe in the aftermath, some young liberals will finally step out of their safe spaces and cry rooms to grow some thicker skin. We’d all be better off!
https://newjerseyglobe.com/stomping-grounds/stomping-grounds-james-carville-bill-spadea-jack-ciattarelli-and-josh-gottheimer/
The problem with Kamala Harris’ campaign is that they let a few emotionally-charged Gen Zers, working in a bubble, take command of a billion dollar, 90-day effort to present an already flawed candidate to the American people.
It’s a good the adults were in charge /sarc
Progressive Democrats try and chart a path after Trump
Donald Trump’s decisive victory over Kamala Harris earlier this month means the Democratic Party faces an uncomfortable period in the political wilderness.
Trump’s victory saw his Republican allies flip the Senate and hold the House of Representatives by the thinnest of majorities, giving Democrats plenty of time to lick their wounds, sift through the ashes of defeat and figure out what comes next.
As the smoke of November’s defeat clears, it remains unclear what a winning message or policies could look like two years from the 2026 midterms.
Joe Biden largely bet his presidency on the idea that his policies to fix the economy ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic would give him political capital.
But voters mostly rejected the policies he called “Bidenomics,” decrying inflation as Trump made historic gains not just with white working-class voters but those of color, particularly Latinos. He and running mate JD Vance billed themselves as pro-worker Republicans and Teamsters President Sean O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention.
In the days since the election disaster, some left-wing Democrats have bemoaned the party’s loss of working-class voters. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who has often espoused progressive policies but also collaborated with Republicans for the border bill that ultimately failed, said Democrats need to deliver a more robust economic message.
“I think it’s got to be a more aggressively economically populist party that doesn’t shy away from naming who has too much power,” he told The Independent. “I’ve been saying some of the same things for a long time about the consequences of the liberalism and allegiance to neoliberalism, inside the Democratic Party.”
Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, a pro-labor Democrat who lost his re-election campaign to Republican car salesman Bernie Moreno, criticized Democrats’ abandonment of the working class, saying “We focus our efforts, we focus our discussions, we focus on the dignity of work,” pointing out how he ran ahead of Harris.
Brown’s loss means that he will no longer be the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, which conducts oversight on Wall Street with Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts taking his place. Long before Warren’s failed campaign for president in 2020, she and Brown occupied the same populist wing of the Democratic Party.
Warren will likely find her next fight in the form of Elon Musk, the billionaire Telsa and X executive who has become a close confidant of Trump’s and will help lead the proposed Department of Government Efficiency alongside right-wing businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
On Wednesday, Musk said he would “delete” the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was Warren’s brainchild when she was a professor at Harvard Law School.
As Musk and Trump attempt to slash the federal bureaucracy maligned by the GOP for so long, the likes of Warren and AOC will have to fight Republicans while simultaneously attempting to reimagine their own party and lead it back out of the Washington DC wilderness.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/progressive-democrats-try-and-chart-a-path-after-trump/ar-AA1v4h9S
May they continue to be tone deaf and double down on their failed policies.
we focus on the dignity of work
Brown is about 10 years too late on this. When SCOTUS ruled in favor of gay marriage in 2015, I said, “GREAT, now that the Dems have won the last big social justice battle, they can go back to creating jobs for the working class and maybe revive those old factory towns somehow.” But NOPE, the Dems went right on marching for trans rights and later climate change, leaving the working class in the dust. That’s when I got really suspicious. I gradually red-pilled around 2017.
On Wednesday, Musk said he would “delete” the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
From Wiki:
“The CFPB’s creation was authorized by the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, whose passage in 2010… In June 2020, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the president can remove the director without cause but allowed the agency to remain in operation.”
This is the problem than Ellie and Viv are going to run into, over and over again. Most of these agencies were created by Congress, and therefore can’t be deleted by executive order. Nor do I think E&V will have much luck convincing Congress to pass laws to dissolve or combine agencies.
They might be able to pare down staff and budget. But even then, I think they will find that getting rid of career government employees will be quite the hassle. My guess is that they will toss out the political appointees via Schedule F, cut contractors, strongly encourage attrition through telework and buyouts, and institue hiring freezes to not replace those who leave.
Headline on Fox news:
Trump border czar Homan says he’ll meet with NYC Mayor Adams to address migrant crisis: Let’s ‘get this done’
All those NYC invaders will be packing their bags and getting out of Dodge before Jan 20
Just in case there was any shred of doubt about how wrong and corrupt the MSM is and has been.
Tom Elliott
@tomselliott
SUPERCUT!
Corporate media: Obviously Biden would never pardon Hunter
Corporate Media: Obviously Joe Biden Would Never Pardon Hunter
‘No one is above the law’
5:55 AM · Dec 2, 2024
https://x.com/tomselliott/status/1863537344038740264
2 things today. Trump should on Jan20th pardon Julian Assange. . and Edward Snowden, and invite the to the white house, fair is fair
For those midnight tokers:::::::
How a California pot company went from $575 million in cash to a ‘debt death spiral’
https://www.sfgate.com/cannabis/article/jay-z-linked-california-pot-company-19941342.php
Trump warns there will be ‘ALL HELL TO PAY’ if Hamas hostages aren’t released before his inauguration
By Ronny Reyes
Published Dec. 2, 2024, 3:47 p.m. ET
“Everybody is talking about the hostages who are being held so violently, inhumanely, and against the will of the entire World, in the Middle East – But it’s all talk, and no action!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity,” he said.
“Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!”
Trump’s warning came hours after the Israel Defense Forces confirmed that New Yorker Omer Neutra, 21, was killed by Hamas during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel.
https://nypost.com/2024/12/02/us-news/trump-warns-of-all-hell-to-pay-if-hamas-hostages-arent-released-before-his-inauguration/
Trump warns there will be ‘ALL HELL TO PAY’
Let’s start by destroying Iran’s nuclear program and other strategic military underground facilities that enable proxy terrorism.
‘Kutyan listed a four-bedroom detached at 87A Bedford Park Ave. early this year with an asking price of $3,385,000. It sold conditionally in the summer for $2.75-million but the deal fell apart when the buyer got cold feet. After a series of reductions, the sellers agreed on Sept. 30 to an asking price of $2.749-million. The three-storey house sold on Oct. 11 for $2.707-million…‘I’ve been at it since March,’ he says of the arduous process. Mr. Kutyan points out that market fundamentals are markedly different now from years past. ‘Prices are flat. They’re not going anywhere and I don’t think they’re going anywhere any time soon’
Yer client took a yuuge a$$ pounding there Andre, for a flat market. That’s the spirit buyer, good job fooking em for that extra 32k when the deal fell apart!
‘The days of buying for financial gain are gone, a fact people are struggling to come to terms with…‘To add to their stress, the value of the investment property had dropped with the market so, although they purchased it for $796,000, they were only able to sell it for $728,000…It said the couple lost $164,000 including loss in the value of the investment property’
We’re way past the gains being gone Charlie.
‘The market has turned on a dime’
Was it like somebody flipped a switch Chris?
Panel Installation Continues On The Historic Texas Border Wall
Greg Abbott
7 hours ago
📍Starr County
Panel installation continues on the historic Texas border wall. The border wall is one of Texas’ effective methods to deter and repel illegal immigration. Texas steps up to keep our nation safe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16RC7_eHssg
1:50. No sound. Looks to me like it’s all Mexican Americans building the wall!
WE DO A LITTLE TROLLING…🤣🤣🤣
il Donaldo Trumpo
2 minutes ago I
IT’S ACTUALLY A GOOD IDEA!!!🤣🤣🤣
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO222noIxhc
35 seconds.
Canada has fallen.
https://x.com/liz_churchill10/status/1863766637276500088
[This Hunter Biden thingy is getting interesting.]
Special Counsel Rejects Hunter Biden’s Pardon, Files Scathing Rebuke In Court Case.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/special-counsel-rejects-hunter-bidens-pardon-files-scathing-rebuke-court-case.
Last night Hunter Biden’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss his California tax fraud case after Joe Biden issued a blanket pardon absolving him of all crimes committed over a 10 year period.
“The President’s pardon moots Mr. Biden’s pending and yet to occur sentencing and entry of judgment in this case and requires an automatic dismissal of the Indictment with prejudice,” wrote Hunter’s lawyer Abbe Lowell in the filing, adding that “this Court must dismiss the Indictment against Mr. Biden with prejudice and adjourn all future proceedings in this matter.”
Special Counsel David Weiss isn’t having it. In a Monday response in opposition, Weiss argued that “The defendant’s motion should be denied since there is no binding authority on this Court which requires dismissal.”
“As a matter of past-practice in this district, courts do not dismiss indictments when pardons are granted,” Weiss wrote – citing cases involving Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Joe Arpaio and Ollie North, Above the Law reports. “Instead, it has been the practice of this court that once an Executive Grant of Clemency has been filed on the docket, the docket is marked closed, the disposition entry is updated to reflect the executive grant of clemency, and no further action is taken by the Court.”
Although Weiss purported not to have seen the pardon itself (which Lowell inexplicably failed to docket), he took particular umbrage at the suggestion that the prosecution was politically motivated, huffing that “The court similarly found [Biden’s] vindictive prosecution claims unmoored from any evidence or even a coherent theory as to vindictiveness.”
Judge Mark Scarsi of the Central District of California has taken no action, thus far. But in Delaware, Judge Maryellen Noreika said in a minute order that she intends to terminate the proceedings, and instructing the government to say by tomorrow if it objects to termination by dismissal. Presumably it does, although no objection has hit the docket as of this writing. -Above the Law
Hunter pleaded guilty to the tax charges earlier this year, after a Delaware jury found him guilty of lying about his drug use on a background check form used to purchase a firearm.
In Weiss’ new filing, he writes:
“The defendant did not docket the pardon nor has the government seen it. If media reports are accurate, the Government does not challenge that the defendant has been the recipient of an act of mercy. But that does not mean the grand jury’s decision to charge him, based on a finding of probable cause, should be wiped away as if it never occurred. It also does not mean that his charges should be wiped away because the defendant falsely claimed that the charges were the result of some improper motive. No court has agreed with the defendant on these baseless claims, and his request to dismiss the indictment finds no support in the law or the practice of this district.”
The Biden Crime Family secures impunity for its dirty dealings in Ukraine.
https://x.com/FinanceLancelot/status/1863753324945629656
Nobody phucks with a Biden!
Is there at least some hope the government sponsored enterprises will undergo radical reform under the Trump administration?