As Soon As We Gave Him The Money, It Became One Nightmare After Another
A report from WFTS in Florida. “Jenna Crosley’s front and back yards are both great spots for birdwatching. The only problem? Her Zephyrhills home isn’t adjacent to a nature preserve. Instead, an overflowing holding pond has turned her yard into a swampy mess popular with wading birds. The holding pond beside Crosley’s home on 9th Ave. belongs to the City of Zephyrhills. However, she said the city has done little to fix to fix the problem, even after the pond badly overflowed during Hurricane Milton, putting feet of water in her home. It’s put her in a tough spot. Should she even rebuild? Should she hire an attorney? Or sell the home and take a huge loss? ‘I can’t sell it. Who am I going to sell a flooded home to knowing it’s going to flood again next year?’ she said.”
Long Island Press. “Have you seen the news reports lately about Florida? Due to these catastrophic events, it has caused an exodus out of Florida. Moreover, prices have been plummeting, and this is mainly due to the overall excessive cost of homeowner insurance, increased common charges and assessments by the condo associations. The financial burden on retirees have been monumental and devastating, causing many to leave and others now considering selling and getting out. This is having a direct impact and effect on prices and sales, as inventory has been skyrocketing. I have several friends that had their insurance costs triple from $9,500 to over $30,000 per year.”
New York Post. “The Hamptons, the exclusive beachfront communities on New York’s Long Island, is known for the celebrities and ultrawealthy who flock to its shores — but is there trouble in paradise? Sales of trophy homes have plummeted by nearly $200 million in 2024 from a year earlier. ‘The resetting of luxury high-end property prices often takes time. Sellers sometimes need time to become more realistic about pricing,’ says Tim Davis of Corcoran, who was co-agent for the year’s biggest sale: two homes on Gin Lane in Southampton that sold for $89 million. Davis says another of his trophy properties — 623 Halsey Neck Lane in Southampton — is going to get a price cut. The 10-bedroom, European-style villa with 450 feet of frontage on exclusive Taylor Creek will be reduced from $53 million to $34 million in January. And while exclusive waterfront properties in other areas like Nantucket are seeing values plummet due to coastal erosion, the South Fork isn’t suffering from the same fate. Too valuable to become shark bait, the Long Island shoreline is regularly ‘rejuvenated’ by the Army Corps of Engineers.”
KXAN in Texas. “Redfin mentioned Austin for having more than half of home listings not sell for two months or more in November. The report said 62.4% of Austin homes sat on the market for 60 days or longer without going under contract in November. Twelve Rivers Realty Owner Paul Smith, said a home’s price plays a major factor. ‘A home will sell within one day if it’s priced correctly,’ Smith said. ‘So ultimately, though, the thing is, is that a seller has to be willing to accept that price.’ Smith pointed to the construction boom that started during the pandemic. ‘Everything that we’re seeing right now that’s hitting the market is because of things that happened two to four years ago,’ Smith said. Realtor with Fathom Realty, Miriam Moorman, said more homes were being built because people were going to remote work. ‘Now you see a lot of these people being called back to the office,’ Moorman said.”
From ABC News. “The man suspected of carrying out the New Year’s attack in New Orleans, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, had a checkered marital history punctuated by multiple divorces and financial difficulty, according to court records reviewed by ABC News. In 2012 in Harris County, Texas, ex-wife Nakedra Charrllee Jabbar successfully sued him for child support payments for the couple’s two girls, who were eight and three years old at the time, according to court records. In court records Jabbar laid out some of his financial difficulties as he explained why he sought a divorce settlement that would have the couple selling their house and splitting the proceeds. The property management firm Jabbar founded, Blue Meadow Properties, was failing to produce any revenue and was in fact losing money, per his submissions to the court. ‘Time is of the essence,’ he wrote in an email to his wife’s lawyer on Jan 6, 2022. ‘l can not afford the house payment. It is past due in excess of $27,000 and in danger of foreclosure if we delay settling the divorce. The home was not in default at the time we agreed to the temporary orders. l misunderstood the terms of the loan modification I had applied for at the time.'”
Mansion Global. “A sprawling coastal estate on the Pacific Coast Highway in California with a helipad, stables and vineyards has found a buyer after almost 15 years on the market. Located outside Cambria in San Louis Obispo County, the 78.5-acre property was last asking $28 million before it went into contract earlier this month, and closed for $17.225 million last week, according to Neyshia Go of Sotheby’s International Realty, who represented the seller. The property first came to market in 2010 with an asking price of $58 million. In 2019, it was asking $60 million before going to auction with no reserve, but didn’t find a buyer. In 2021, when it was asking $40 million, it again failed to sell at auction. The difficulty in selling the property was twofold, Go said. First, the area has few comparable properties at this level, making it difficult to price. Second, the maintenance for such a varied property is significant, and can be a turnoff for some buyers.”
National Post in Canada. “Kathy Paquette had been following the Facebook posts about the vessels in Ontario’s cottage country for about a year when she and husband Wayne decided to pack up, sell their century-old house in Midland, Ont., and sink their savings into a home that floats on the water. The vision Joe Nimens, the builder of those floating accommodations, pitched of life on the water sounded idyllic: ‘No lawn to cut,’ his website promises. ‘No driveway to shovel. No hydro bill. No water bills!’ ‘Before we gave Joe money he was as sweet as pie. Man, you would have thought he adored us,’ Wayne said. ‘And then, as soon as we gave him the money, things started to change. It became one nightmare after another.'”
“The couple is one of several now claiming Nimens left them high and dry. The Paquettes are claiming more than $389,000 in damages in a dispute over a float home that now squats, unfinished, on dry land at a marina lot in Port Severn on the shores of Georgian Bay, effectively held hostage in a legal muddle over allegations Nimens defaulted on a lease agreement with the marina. The couple spent the summer living in a makeshift apartment in their daughter’s garage before recently moving into an in-law suite in the basement. ‘Joe left us stranded without a hope of completing our home,’ said Wayne, 66. ‘I can’t even buy Christmas gifts for my grandchildren,’ said Kathy, 62. ‘I paid him $25,000 for solar panels and a water treatment system and never saw them,’ Wayne said. ‘I paid $29,000 for a shed, and there’s only an empty sea can worth $1,500 to show for it.'”
ABC News in Australia. “Brisbane City Council has approved a new St Lucia apartment development despite complaints from nearby home owners that it could cause their property values to fall. The proposed four-storey development at 7 Ryans Road, St Lucia, received stiff opposition from residents in the seven-storey Jerdanefield Towers next door. One of 51 residents who wrote to the council raised concerns the new building would reduce their amenity and property values. ‘My apartment currently enjoys city and river views, a quiet neighbourhood, and an outlook that includes many mature trees,’ the resident wrote in their submission. ‘This is the basis for the economic value of my property.’ Another resident’s submission said, ‘The proposed four storeys will severely impact the river views and property value of the owners and occupiers of the next-door building.'”
“Brisbane City Council, when handing down its decision, said it was satisfied the proposal would not significantly harm neighbourhood amenity. University of Queensland urban planner and associate professor Dorina Pojani said housing affordability should be prioritised over existing property prices. Dr Pojani said Queensland had a problem with ‘NIMBYism’ — where home owners opposed new developments in their suburb to protect their own interests. She said homeowners losing out on capital gains was a ‘fair price to pay’ to ensure more people had a roof over their heads. ‘If new developments cause housing prices to go down, I — as a planner — am completely fine with that because we want prices to go down,’ Dr Pojani said.”
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‘Davis says another of his trophy properties — 623 Halsey Neck Lane in Southampton — is going to get a price cut. The 10-bedroom, European-style villa with 450 feet of frontage on exclusive Taylor Creek will be reduced from $53 million to $34 million in January’
So just like that Tim, yer giving it away.
623 Halsey Neck Lane
Ugly house and useless landscaping.
Realtors are liars.
Realtors are liars.
Realtors are liars
‘Joe left us stranded without a hope of completing our home,’ said Wayne, 66. ‘I can’t even buy Christmas gifts for my grandchildren,’ said Kathy, 62. ‘I paid him $25,000 for solar panels and a water treatment system and never saw them,’ Wayne said. ‘I paid $29,000 for a shed, and there’s only an empty sea can worth $1,500 to show for it’
This article is full of tales of woe. I’m not sure what a sea can is Wayne.
What Do You Call a Shipping Container? Sea Cans, C Cans, or Storage Bins?
https://brownstone.org/articles/read-between-the-lies-a-pattern-recognition-guide/
Isn’t it interesting that a shipping container, which may seem like a pretty simple product, is known by so many different names? A few that we hear from customers all the time are:
“C-cans”
“Sea Cans”
“Storage Bins”
Many of these terms are more slang-type terms that are just faster and easier to say than “shipping containers”, and while we usually know what people are talking about when they use those terms, you’ll rarely hear the BigSteelBox team refer to them that way. Here’s why…
“C-Cans” or “Sea Cans”:
Because shipping containers are manufactured to withstand transport across open oceans, and the rigorous handling in ports and on ships, it makes sense that they’ve adopted the name ‘sea can’ or ‘c can’ for short.
But, unlike typical aluminum ‘cans’, BigSteelBox containers are made entirely of 8-gauge steel, which makes them extremely strong and secure. A 20′ BigSteelBox can hold up to 10,000 lbs of contents, as opposed to 16′ pods-style containers, which have steel frames and aluminum sides, and can only hold about 4,800 lbs or less.
A BigSteelBox is a certified shipping container that is used for transport by ocean, rail, or road. They can be pulled, dragged or craned into place, and their structural integrity is never compromised.
Plus, our all steel storage containers can stand up to Canadian weather because they won’t bend or shift due to the weight of contents inside (shifting can allow water or rodents to get inside), and they can withstand the weight of snow in the winter.
“Storage Bins”
The term storage bin term is commonly used when referring to a shipping container, however, we rarely use it because to us the term ‘bin’ also refers to both plastic bins (typically used for home storage of small items or packing), or larger open roof bins often used for junk removal. Again, this is just an easier way to say ‘shipping container’ or ‘storage container’, but rest assured, none of our BigSteelBoxes are made of plastic or come without a roof!
New and Used Shipping Containers
We rent and sell new shipping containers for moving and storage needs. All of our new BigSteelBoxes are manufactured in China, and are used once for shipping goods when they come to Canada. A new BigSteelBox will be pained white and be free of rust or major dents. We refer to new containers as “one-trip containers”. When they arrive at our port near Vancouver, they are allocated to our network of stores across Canada on trucks.
We also sell used shipping containers. Used containers have typically been in use for a number of years and may have some dents or rust, and they can come in different colours. Many used containers are still certified for ocean travel, but have been sold from ports for other uses.
Many customers who have a need for permanent storage and are not overly concerned with the look or condition of the container, will opt to buy used.
Beware of Shipping Container Sales Scams
Something that people should always be aware of are shipping container sales scams. We’ve learned that a number of Canadians have fallen victim to fake companies claiming to be selling shipping containers over the past couple of years, and most recently, scammers have even been using BigSteelBox location addresses in Facebook ads to help make their post look legitimate.
These scammers are offering container sale prices that are much lower than what you’d see from legitimate container companies, and even posing as partners of those companies. There are many clues that can help you spot a fake container sale ad. Check out this post to learn more: How to Spot a Shipping Sales Scam
Weather and Rodent-Proof Storage Containers
Many shipping containers will only have rubber gaskets along the inside of the door, which can allow moisture inside if there are any rips or tears in the rubber. New BigSteelBoxes have rubber gaskets along both sides of the doors, which creates a tight seal. This keeps the contents safe from weather and rodents.
Rats can chew through gaskets. So Wayne got schlonged on his sea bucket. You can buy those things for 1000-2000 pesos and he paid 15k.
“Isn’t it interesting that a shipping container, which may seem like a pretty simple product, is known by so many different names?”
Tough guys keep their backup cash, cloths, multiple passports, weapons, etc., in a double locked shipping container. 🙂
They said they had 389,000 in damages. Is that the amount they forked over? $389,000 buys a nice mono-hull sail boat or a decent catamaran and then their house could take them OUT of Canada.
Should she hire an attorney? Or sell the home and take a huge loss? ‘I can’t sell it. Who am I going to sell a flooded home to knowing it’s going to flood again next year?’ she said.”
I’m experiencing cognitive dissonance. Here the REIC experts all told me in unison that buying a shack was a surefire way to build generational wealth.
It ain’t that hard to buy a shack you know will likely never flood. First, don’t buy in Florida. Second, understand how drainage and topography work. If you’re in the lowest point of your valley and there’s a pond in the backyard, guess what? And if all that is too hard there’s always flood maps. The last house I built on the Oregon coast I made sure to study the flood zones and tsunami inundation zone maps. If that’s still too hard then you deserve to be flooded.
These are all good points and when a disaster like Helene hits you can’t help but wonder how so many people don’t bother with these considerations. People will even happily build right next to a river known as the river of death. I look at the Asheville debacle and just shake my head. They knew. The watersheds and rainfall projections were all available beforehand and even the ‘experts’ ignored it all. And then there’s Florida. WTF?
“Should she even rebuild? Should she hire an attorney? Or sell the home and take a huge loss? ‘I can’t sell it. Who am I going to sell a flooded home to knowing it’s going to flood again next year?’ she said.”
Take out a huge reconstruction loan using your good credit, and then “sell the place to the bank.” Thanks right,,, default and skip town sweetie!
‘A sprawling coastal estate on the Pacific Coast Highway in California with a helipad, stables and vineyards has found a buyer after almost 15 years on the market. Located outside Cambria in San Louis Obispo County, the 78.5-acre property was last asking $28 million before it went into contract earlier this month, and closed for $17.225 million last week’
I see a lot of ridiculous shack prices in California, but this place is nice. Lots of photos at the link. I’m not saying it’s worth 17 million$ but at least you have some elbow room.
I think it’s hilarious that that place started at 50 million plus FIFTEEN years ago and finally sold (in 50% value dollars) at 17 million. That’s a pretty massive loss. plus upkeep, taxes, utilities, etc over 15 years
Many more photos at the Zillow listing. 7292 Exotic Garden Drive, Cambria, 93428. The google satellite photo shows the layout. I wish there were more pictures, like for the guest houses or inside that pavilion building.
I wonder if the place could be converted into a mini resort. There’s enough land for it. It would need a pool and a horse-trainer ring. The house could be a 12-room hotel and clubhouse. Maybe even convert that giant field to a 9-hole golf course. Golf/wine/horse vacations. Is there a customer base for that?
“It sold to a buyer who plans to use it as a generational compound,” Go said. “They purchased the property on the basis of making it something the family could enjoy forever.”
Chinese or Latin American millionaire, maybe?
Ruby would love it there!
‘The financial burden on retirees have been monumental and devastating, causing many to leave and others now considering selling and getting out. This is having a direct impact and effect on prices and sales, as inventory has been skyrocketing. I have several friends that had their insurance costs triple from $9,500 to over $30,000 per year’
Well it was cheaper than renting.
$9500/yr for insurance? In my neighborhood, insurance costs $2500.
“I have several friends that had their insurance costs triple from $9,500 to over $30,000 per year.”
My friends are not, “movers and shakers.”
“From ABC News. “The man suspected of carrying out the New Year’s attack in New Orleans, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, had a checkered marital history punctuated by multiple divorces and financial difficulty, according to court records reviewed by ABC News”
Wtf does that have to do with being an islamic terrorist? Typical scumbag media making excuses.
This raises all sorts of questions.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14243689/matthew-livelsberger-las-vegas-tesla-cybertruck-explosion-colorado-springs.html
Wtf does that have to do with being an islamic terrorist?
I’m guessing that they are saying that all his “bad luck” led him to being “radicalized”, and that before that he was as American as apple pie, or some other shibboleth.
Aspiring rapper?
Did they forget to check their Associated Press Style Guide?
He was radicalized as a kid and joined the army with that muzzie name………….
Also the guy was a army reserve IT weinie and isn’t smart enough to read the home contract.
We deserve our fate for dumb $hit like that.
Located outside Cambria in San Louis Obispo County, the 78.5-acre property was last asking $28 million before it went into contract earlier this month, and closed for $17.225 million last week, according to Neyshia Go of Sotheby’s International Realty, who represented the seller.
Oh dear…true price discovery is starting to catch up with the Fed’s asset bubbles & Ponzi markets, & the loss of fake wealth created by fake money is going to be epic. This is my “No one could’ve seen it coming” face.
The CCP is presiding over a slow-motion financial & economic collapse. Can you spell “contagion” boys & girls? I knew you could,
https://x.com/MacroAlf/status/1874783951035789528
2025 will be the year that the central bankers are exposed as charlatans and criminals. Fake wealth created by fake money, debt-fueled “growth,” and “shareholder value” built on exploitation of the masses was never sustainable in the long run.
https://asiatimes.com/2025/01/south-korea-poised-to-crash-and-burn-in-2025/
“..South Fork isn’t suffering from the same fate. Too valuable to become shark bait, the Long Island shoreline is regularly ‘rejuvenated’ by the Army Corps of Engineers.”
Of course, these property owners pony up for these maintenance costs. ” (sarcasm)”
Welfare for the rich.
It’s a big club, you (and I) ain’t in it.
Davis says another of his trophy properties — 623 Halsey Neck Lane in Southampton — is going to get a price cut. The 10-bedroom, European-style villa with 450 feet of frontage on exclusive Taylor Creek will be reduced from $53 million to $34 million in January.
Yellen bux “value” is melting away from the Fed’s asset bubbles like FB tears in the rain. 2025 is going to be lit.
Not soon enough… fartcoins and rest of scamcoins are back
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/02/market-speculation-picks-up-to-start-2025-as-crypto-stocks-jump.html
Fartcoin has a market cap of $1.5 billion.
Fartcoin has a market cap of $1.5 billion.
What, that means it almost doubled in value in what 2 weeks?
The mortgage market is breaking down. So much for the late-2024 REIC happy talk.
https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1874836837052874933
[RED ALERT! The following article that emerged from Down Under has nothing to do with housing.]
It’s a win: Bankers are backing away from the Monster Banking Climate Cartel.
https://www.joannenova.com.au/
It’s become a flood
It’s a good start to 2025 — just quietly, the money is exiting the Monster Banker Climate Cartel. Since the Trump win, the bankers are running away suddenly from the United Nations “Net-Zero Banking Alliance” (NZBA) which is a sub-part of GFANZ (the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero) — the world’s largest and richest climate activists club. GFANZ is the public face of every kind of global financial-bullying-to-save-the-world. Economically, the monster collective could eat whole nations for breakfast. At one point the collective assets-under-management were as valued at the fantastical conglomeration of $130 trillion. It is the hydra-head hissing at superannuation funds and national treasurers that don’t comply with sacred green goals. Who cares what the voters want?
The latest round of quiet banker departures started with Moody‘s and Goldman Sachs, a month ago. Only two days ago RealClear Energy took heart that ” U.S. behemoths Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo were still in the NZBA”. But Wells Fargo quit a week ago, and under the cover of New Years Eve parties, the Bank of America, and Citigroup have jumped ship too. No one seems to be saying why they are leaving, probably because there is no good way to admit they were colluding with other bankers in anti-competitive acts, to limit the choices of businesses and voters. Likewise, there is never a good time to say it was a mistake to join a club that put their clients interests second, after the pet obsessions of UN apparatchiks.
Credit for these successes goes to the Republican State Governors and their anti-trust and fiduciary duty legal suits. Their threats are unravelling the giant financial marshmellow man — especially now that the bankers have lost any “protection” the Biden – Harris Presidency may have offered.
Citigroup leaves climate coalition
Bloomberg
Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp said they are leaving a global climate-banking group, becoming the latest Wall Street lenders to exit the coalition in the past month.
In a statement, Citigroup said while it remains committed to achieving net zero emissions, it is exiting the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). Bank of America said separately on Tuesday that it is also leaving NZBA, adding that it would continue to work with clients on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The bankers just want to save the world — and sell green bonds…
Citigroup has been the world’s No. 4 underwriter of green bonds since the start of the decade, trailing BNP Paribas SA, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Credit Agricole SA, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bank of America ranks eighth.
As I’ve explained — these banker bullies can force first world economies to pick up Net Zero policies, even when their voters don’t want it, but their power hinges on a bluff made with other people’s money which the US Republican’s have called them on. Larry Fink doesn’t hold $10 trillion in personal assets, he manages $10 trillion of other people’s investments:
The climate banker cabal called GFANZ — was set up in 2021 by the UN and Mark Carney (former governor of the Bank of England). At one point GFANZ grew to an obscenely unbelievable $130 trillion in “funds under management”, giving it the financial power equivalent to a black hole. The largest 20 national economies in the world have a combined GDP of $87 trillion. So when a collective managing $130 trillion says “jump” there are not many Presidents or Prime Ministers inclined to say “No”. In October 2020, the CEO of BlackRock told the Australian government he wanted them to shut coal plants faster and three weeks later, Scott Morrison and the treasurer signed us up for Net Zero, even though the voters had picked them to do less climate action rather than more.
…it was all a big bluff… all the giant funds use other people’s money to bully and cajole boards, ministers, and global leaders into doing things that none of them might want. They were supposed to be investing pension funds to earn money for workers to retire on, instead it looked and smelled a lot like they were squandering the returns in order to prop up socialist ideologies, dodgy companies, and to coerce governments to legislate policies that the voters didn’t vote for.
Larry Fink the CEO of Blackrock, and his pals, turned our pension funds into a leftist activist machine. Thankfully 19 US States fought back by asking the legal bombshell questions about whether these funds were cooperating in a way that breached antitrust laws and neglected their fiduciary duty.
— from ESG comes undone — BlackRock, JP Morgan abandon “Climate Action 100+”
Appropriately the GFANZ logo is an empty hole. You only think you can see the “zero”.
It’s a big set back for the UN and the bankers
GFANZ and the UN banker cartel was an obscene grab for power. It is an unholy alliance of big money and big government — looking acting and smelling like the start of a World Government machine to take power away from the voters and command their energy, investment, pensions, and freedom from Geneva or London.
The psychopaths and colluding bankers won’t stop colluding, but this is, at least, the beginning of the end for the brazen, naked part of the gambit. Now they will have to go back to meeting at Davos for skiing trips to plot their self serving goals. They have to pretend to compete, which will slow them down. They can’t be seen to “set national policy”, and they must not use their clients funds against them, at least not obviously.
We don’t need all the bankers to shift, we just need a few so we have some competition.
Which banks serve the UN?
Conveniently the bragging UN has made the list of member-bankers searchable by country.
The only big US bankers left in the NZBA are JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley. The US member list is looking decidedly empty… On the other hand, practically every Australian bank has signed on to obey the United Nations “NZBA” club — the ANZ, Comm bank, NAB, Westpac, Macquarie and BoQ. Which banks did not? Bendigo Bank? Please search among the wiki list of Australian banks. Let us all know if you know of one that serves Australians rather than the UN.
The Bank of NZ is also a fully fledged member. For Canadians, like Australians, seemingly every bank is a Bank of the UN — the CIBC, the BMO, Coast Capital, NBC, RBC, Scotiabank, TD Bank and Vancity too. (Forgive me if I screwed up the acronyms.)
The UK bankers include too many to name, but Lloyds, Barclays, HSBC, NatWest, PBS, TSB, Standard Chartered, and Virgin Money for starters.
While the US has the well known “anti-trust” laws which the Republicans are using to frighten the bankers, the rest of the West has fiduciary duty rules, and regulations that prohibit anti-competitive collusion. Hopefully this is just the start of the great climate unravelling.
[Yet another non-housing related article.]
UN’s new mission: ‘Fight the climate-related disinformation running rampant on social media’ – ‘Debunk myths & put an end to the narratives of denialism’ – ‘Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change’.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/01/01/uns-new-mission-fight-the-climate-related-disinformation-running-rampant-on-social-media-debunk-myths-put-an-end-to-the-narratives-of-denialism/
UN.org excerpt: The Brazilian government, the United Nations and UNESCO are joining forces to strengthen research and measures to address disinformation campaigns that are delaying and derailing climate action.
“We must also take on climate disinformation. Together with Brazil and UNESCO, the United Nations is launching the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change. We will work with researchers and partners to strengthen action against climate disinformation.” – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres
The Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change aims to boost support for urgent climate action at a time when scientists are warning that the world is running out of time.
Announced at the G20 Leaders Summit in Rio de Janeiro in November 2024, the Initiative is a dedicated multilateral collaboration among States and international organizations to fund research and action promoting information integrity on climate issues.
“This initiative will bring together countries, international organizations, and networks of researchers to support joint efforts to combat disinformation and promote actions in preparation for COP30 in Brazil.” – President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil
Aiming to expand the scope and breadth of research into climate disinformation and its impacts, the effort will gather evidence from around the world to inform and bolster strategic action, advocacy and communications.
The Initiative responds to the commitment in the Global Digital Compact, adopted by United Nations Members States at the Summit of the Future in September 2024, which encourages UN entities, in collaboration with Governments and relevant stakeholders, to assess the impact of mis- and disinformation on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
“Through this initiative, we will support the journalists and researchers investigating climate issues, sometimes at great risk to themselves, and fight the climate-related disinformation running rampant on social media.” – Audrey Azoulay, Director General of UNESCO
As part of the Initiative, a Global Fund will be created to finance networked, in-depth research that will contribute to exposing and dismantling disinformation related to climate change, as well as socializing the results of the research. The Fund will be administered and implemented by UNESCO and will be structured as a Multi-Partner Trust Fund.
The Initiative will support and strengthen existing communications campaigns on climate change to mitigate and counter climate disinformation, particularly in the lead-up to the 30th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, COP30, to be held in Brazil in November 2025. It will also support ongoing advocacy and communications to strengthen the integrity of information environments globally and work to garner support from civil society and scientific groups worldwide.
Among those joining the Initiative are UN Member States (Chile, Denmark, France, Morocco, Sweden and the United Kingdom have confirmed participation), UN entities (UN Climate Change, the World Meteorological Organization), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and civil society representatives.
…
‘Verified for Climate’
One of the ongoing key efforts to stand up to climate disinformation is Verified for Climate, a joint initiative of the United Nations and the social impact agency Purpose, promoting solutions-focused, science-based information to debunk myths and put an end to the narratives of denialism, doomism, and delay.
Originally launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ‘Verified’ is a global communications infrastructure that addresses the most pressing and emerging challenges of mis- and disinformation around the world.
‘Verified for Climate’ is based on a three-pillar approach: trusted messenger and community engagement to engage and persuade audiences at a ground level; global creative campaigns to reach target audiences en masse and make visible the issue; and convenings that focus on insights from climate communications experts, leveraging solutions to encourage global cooperation.
Wall Street Journal — What Happens When a Whole Generation Never Grows Up? (12/31/2024):
“Now, as a mix of social and economic factors holds back an entire generation, what researchers once called a lag is starting to look more like a permanent state of arrested development.
“We’re moving from later to never,” says Richard Reeves, president of the American Institute for Boys and Men. He notes that the longer people take to launch into a more conventional adulthood, the less likely they are to do it at all.
Median wages for full-time workers ages 35 to 44 are up 16% between 2000 and 2024, from $58,522 to $67,652 adjusted for inflation, according to the Labor Department. The overall wealth of 30-somethings, too, rose 66% between 1989 and 2022, according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve, from $62,000 to $103,000.
In many ways, this age group is in a better place financially, on average, than their parents were at this age. The problem is that they don’t seem to know it. Only 21% of adults in their 30s rated the overall economy as good or excellent last year, per the Federal Reserve, and economists say young adults are significantly more pessimistic about the future than prior generations were.”
https://archive.ph/m89ge
No “pent-up demand” for $800,000 starter homes happening here.
A third of today’s young adults will never marry, projects conservative think tank the Institute for Family Studies, compared to less than a fifth of those born in previous decades. The share of childless adults under 50 who say they are unlikely to ever have kids, meanwhile, rose 10 percentage points between 2018 and 2023, from 37% to 47%, according to Pew Research Center.
In many ways, this age group is in a better place financially, on average, than their parents were at this age.
Real inflation adjusted wages are up 16% from 2000 to 2024, while according to ChatGPT real inflation adjusted housing costs are up a mere 248%.
The kids are too stupid to realize they are better off!
How are wages adjusted for inflation?
Using Core Urban CPI numbers from the Ministry of Truth.
My question is what is done to the wage number to adjust for inflation; not what inflation number is used. That is the issue with inflation – prices go up with or without any wage increase. If anything, the wage number should be adjusted down for inflation IMO. Perhaps I am not seeing the issue properly.
“That is the issue with inflation – prices go up with or without any wage increase.”
Indeed. External factors such as the OPEC Oil Embargo can rapidly drive inflation. Easy credit expansion for housing is another. A better understanding of the Supply vs Demand curves might help explain where inflation comes from.
A better understanding of the Supply vs Demand curves might help explain where inflation comes from.
I have not been asking about inflation, where it comes from, or the causes of inflation.
My question remains: what is done to the wage number to adjust for inflation; not what inflation number is used.
My question remains:
Try not adjusting the current wage at all. Adjust the benchmark (old) wage up by the “inflation” number for comparison.
“too stupid to realize they are better off”
Paul Krugman has entered the chat.
too stupid to realize they are better off”
I thought he was being sarcastic.
What Happens When a Whole Generation Never Grows Up?
In American we frequently have elder abuse while in Japan elders get more respect, which explains the father-in-law often diddling the daughter-in-law.
[Yawn … another non-housing related article (and a long one at that).]
Read Between the Lies: A Pattern Recognition Guide.
https://brownstone.org/articles/read-between-the-lies-a-pattern-recognition-guide/
When Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence, announced during Event 201’s pandemic drill in 2019 that they would “flood the zone with trusted sources,” few understood this preview of coordinated narrative control. Within months, we watched it unfold in real time—unified messaging across all platforms, suppression of dissent, and coordinated narrative control that fooled much of the world.
But not everyone stayed fooled forever. Some saw through it immediately, questioning every aspect from day one. Others thought it was just incompetent government trying to protect us. Many initially accepted the precautionary principle—better safe than sorry. But as each policy failure pointed in the same direction—toward more control and less human agency—the pattern became impossible to ignore. Anyone not completely subsumed by the system eventually had to confront its true purpose: not protecting health or safety, but expanding control.
Once you recognize this pattern of deception, two questions should immediately arise whenever major stories dominate headlines: “What are they lying about?” and “What are they distracting us from?” The pattern of coordinated deception becomes unmistakable. Consider how media outlets spent three years pushing Russiagate conspiracies, driving unprecedented social division while laying the groundwork for what would become the greatest psychological operation in history. Today, while the media floods us with Ukraine coverage, BlackRock positions itself to profit from both the destruction and reconstruction. The pattern becomes unmistakable once you see it—manufactured crises driving pre-planned “solutions” that always expand institutional control.
Mainstream media operates on twin deceptions: misdirection and manipulation. The same anchors who sold us WMDs in Iraq, promoted “Russia collusion,” and insisted Hunter Biden’s laptop was “Russian disinformation” still occupy prime time slots. Just as we see with RFK, Jr.’s HHS nomination, the pattern is consistent: coordinated attacks replace substantive debate, identical talking points appear across networks, and legitimate questions are dismissed through character assassination rather than evidence. Being consistently wrong isn’t a bug—it’s a feature. Their role isn’t to inform but to manufacture consent.
The template is consistent: Saturate media with emotional spectacles while advancing institutional agendas with minimal scrutiny. Like learning to spot a fake smile or hearing a false note in music, you develop an instinct for the timing:
Money and Power:
While the media fixated on January 6th, BlackRock and Vanguard quietly tightened their grip on the residential real estate market
While coverage obsessed over Trump’s Twitter ban, Congress passed the largest upward transfer of wealth under cover of “Covid relief“
While breathless reporting tracked every move of the Johnny Depp trial, the Fed printed more money than in the entire previous century
While media flooded us with Ukraine coverage, unprecedented restrictions on energy production reshaped the global economy
While reporters breathlessly tracked Trump indictments, central banks accelerated plans for programmable digital currency
Medical Control:
While media focused on celebrity vaccine promotion, unprecedented numbers of young athletes collapsed on field
While networks ran wall-to-wall coverage of school shootings, documents revealed Pfizer knew about hundreds of side effects
While coverage fixated on anti-vax “misinformation,” insurance data showed alarming excess death rates
Digital Control:
While media obsessed over Twitter content moderation, digital ID infrastructure was quietly built worldwide
While coverage focused on TikTok privacy concerns, central banks accelerated digital currency development
While endless AI chatbot debates dominated headlines, biometric surveillance systems expanded globally
As these deceptions become more obvious, different forms of resistance emerge. The truth-seeking takes different forms. Some become deep experts in specific deceptions—documenting early treatment successes with repurposed drugs, uncovering hospital protocol failures, or exploring the impact of vaccine injuries. Others develop a broader lens for seeing how narratives themselves are engineered.
Walter Kirn’s brilliant pattern recognition cuts to the heart of our manufactured reality. His tweets dissecting the United CEO murder coverage expose how even violent crimes are now packaged as entertainment spectacles, complete with character arcs and narrative twists. Kirn’s insight highlights a critical dimension of media control: by turning every crisis into an entertainment narrative, they divert attention from deeper questions. Instead of asking why institutional safeguards fail or who benefits, audiences become captivated by carefully scripted outrage. This deliberate distraction ensures that institutional agendas move forward without scrutiny.
His insight reveals how entertainment packaging serves the broader control system. While each investigation requires its own expertise, this pattern of narrative manipulation connects to a larger grid of deception. As I’ve explored in “The Information Factory” and “Engineering Reality,” everything from education to medicine to currency itself has been captured by systems designed to shape not just our choices, but our very perception of reality.
Most revealing is what they don’t cover. Notice how quickly stories disappear when they threaten institutional interests. Remember the Epstein client list? The Maui land grab? The mounting vaccine injuries? The silence speaks volumes.
Consider the recent whistleblower testimonies revealing suppressed safety concerns at Boeing, a company long entangled with regulatory agencies and government contracts. Two whistleblowers—both former employees who raised alarms about safety issues—died under suspicious circumstances. Coverage of their deaths disappeared almost overnight, despite the profound implications for public safety and corporate accountability. This pattern repeats in countless cases where accountability would disrupt entrenched power structures, leaving crucial questions unanswered and narratives tightly controlled.
These decisions aren’t accidental—they result from media ownership, advertiser influence, and government pressure, ensuring the narrative remains tightly controlled.
But perhaps most striking isn’t the media’s deception itself, but how thoroughly it shapes its consumers’ reality. Watch how confidently they repeat phrases clearly engineered in think tanks. Listen as they parrot talking points with religious conviction: “January 6th was worse than 9/11,” “Trust The Science™,” “Democracy is on the ballot” and, perhaps the most consequential lie in modern history, “Safe and Effective.”
The professional-managerial class proves especially susceptible to this programming. Their expertise becomes a prison of status—the more they’ve invested in institutional approval, the more fervently they defend institutional narratives. Watch how quickly a doctor who questions vaccine safety loses his license, how swiftly a professor questioning gender ideology faces review, how rapidly a journalist stepping out of line gets blacklisted.
The system ensures compliance through economic capture: your mortgage becomes your leash, your professional status your prison guard. The same lawyers who prides themselves on critical thinking will aggressively shut down any questioning of official narratives. The professor who teaches “questioning power structures” becomes apoplectic when students question pharmaceutical companies.
The circular validation makes the programming nearly impenetrable:
Media cites “experts”
Experts cite peer-reviewed studies
Studies are funded by industry
Industry shapes media coverage
“Fact-checkers” cite media consensus
Academia enforces approved conclusions
This self-reinforcing system forms a perfect closed loop:
[A chart appears here …]
Each component validates the others while excluding outside information. Try finding the entry point for actual truth in this closed system. The professional class’s pride in their critical thinking becomes darkly ironic—they’ve simply outsourced their opinions to “authoritative sources.”
Most disturbing is how willingly they’ve surrendered their sovereignty. Watch them defer:
“I follow the science” (translation: I wait for approved conclusions)
“According to experts” (translation: I don’t think for myself)
“Fact-checkers say” (translation: I let others determine truth)
“The consensus is” (translation: I align with power)
Their empathy becomes a weapon used against them. Question lockdowns? You’re killing grandma. Doubt transition surgery for minors? You’re causing suicides. Resist equity initiatives? You’re perpetuating oppression. The programming works by making resistance feel like cruelty.
Something remarkable is happening beneath the surface noise: a genuine awakening that defies traditional political boundaries. You see it in the subtle exchanges between colleagues when official narratives strain credibility. In the growing silence at dinner parties as propaganda talking points fall flat. In the knowing looks between strangers when public health theatre reaches new heights of absurdity.
This isn’t a movement in the traditional sense—it can’t be, since traditional movement structures are vulnerable to infiltration, subversion, and capture. Instead, it’s more like a spontaneous emergence of pattern recognition. A distributed awakening without central leadership or formal organization. Those who see through the patterns recognize the mass formation for what it is, while its subjects project their own programming onto others, dismissing pattern recognition as “conspiracy theories,” “anti-science,” or other reflexive labels designed to prevent genuine examination.
The hardest truth isn’t recognizing the programming—it’s confronting what it means for human consciousness and society itself. We’re watching real-time evidence that most human minds can be captured and redirected through sophisticated psychological operations. Their thoughts aren’t their own, yet they’d die defending what they’ve been programmed to believe.
This isn’t just media criticism anymore—it’s an existential question about human consciousness and free will. What does it mean when a species’ capacity for independent thought can be so thoroughly hijacked? When natural empathy and moral instincts become weapons of control? When education and expertise actually decrease resistance to programming?
The programming works because it hijacks core human drives:
The need for social acceptance (e.g., masking as a visible symbol of conformity)
The desire to be seen as good/moral (e.g., adopting performative stances on social issues without deeper understanding)
The instinct to trust authority (e.g., faith in public health officials despite repeated policy reversals)
The fear of ostracism (e.g., avoiding dissent to maintain social harmony)
The comfort of conformity (e.g., parroting narratives to avoid cognitive dissonance)
The addiction to status (e.g., signaling compliance to maintain professional or social standing)
Each natural human trait becomes a vulnerability to be exploited. The most educated become the most programmable because their status addiction runs deepest. Their “critical thinking” becomes a script running on corrupted hardware.
This is the core challenge of our time: Can human consciousness evolve faster than the systems designed to hijack it? Can pattern recognition and awareness spread faster than manufactured consensus? Can enough people learn to read between the lies before the programming becomes complete?
The stakes could not be higher. This isn’t just about politics or media literacy—it’s about the future of human consciousness itself. Whether our species maintains the capacity for independent thought may depend on those who can still access it helping others break free from the spell.
The matrix of control deepens daily, but so does the awakening. The question is: Which spreads faster—the programming or the awareness of it? Our future as a species may depend on the answer.
People had to barely pay attention to see that Event 201 was the blueprint for all of the Covid nonsense in 2020. If they paid more attention the would have found Operation Lockstep is the genesis blue print (from 2014 if memory servers).
From Commiepedia: Event 201 was a pandemic simulation exercise conducted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in partnership with the World Economic Forum and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The exercise took place on October 18, 2019
I mean common man!
Redfin mentioned Austin for having more than half of home listings not sell for two months or more in November.
Where I live, they just re-list it. Voila, brand new!
Bomb materials found in Airbnb linked to New Orleans ‘terror attack’ suspect
Federal, state, and local law enforcement agents are following leads that tie an Airbnb rental to the suspect involved in the Bourbon Street terror attack on New Year’s Day.
Law enforcement was seen along the 1300 block of Mandeville Street in the Marigny neighborhood, after a small fire broke out around 5:30 a.m. in the suspected Airbnb property.
Fire officials evacuated nearby homes and called in the ATF, which deployed bomb-sniffing dogs to the scene.
Sources confirmed to WVUE that bomb-making materials were found in the residence.
Residents in the neighborhood were stunned by the sudden influx of law enforcement.
“They said they found bomb-making material in the yellow house and wanted the bomb squad to look it over,” said Bob Koenig, a neighbor.
While the Marigny became the center of law enforcement activity, just a mile away, French Quarter tourists like Paul and April McGee were cutting their trips short amid rising concerns.
“It’s absolute insanity,” said Paul McGee.
New Orleans residents expressed disbelief over the events that have shaken the city.
“I think it’s crazy. People are frustrated, their mind is gone, and they want to take it out on innocent people,” said Charles Mabon, a New Orleanian.
https://www.mysuncoast.com/2025/01/02/bomb-materials-found-airbnb-linked-new-orleans-terror-attack-suspect/
“I think it’s crazy. People are frustrated, their mind is gone, and they want to take it out on innocent people,” said Charles Mabon, a New Orleanian.
Anything other than aloha snackbar, because that would be raycis or something.
1) The Religion of Pieces
2) Glowies with false flags to wag the dog
3) It’s the jab
4) A combination of the above
^ Causes in no particular order.
Like we needed another reason to hate Airbnb.
‘Sellers will be disappointed’: Experts predict used car prices in 2025
With the cost of living remaining high, and a large number of new car brands entering the Australian new-car market, 2025 will be an interesting time for used car prices.
If you’ve been planning to buy a used car but have been holding off, 2025 might be the year to do it – with experts predicting it’s going to be a buyer’s market.
It’s a trend we’ve started to see forming over the last few months, with demand for used cars cooling compared to the peaks seen during 2021 and 2022 with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Why? There are many reasons, but causes include an abundance of new brands entering, or about to enter, the market (predominantly from China) and aggressive discounting on new cars – especially electric ones.
We sat down with James Voortman, the Chief Executive of the Australian Automotive Dealers Association (AADA), to find out what anyone buying or selling a used car in 2025 needs to know.
“I think what we’ll see in 2025 is the ongoing oversupply of new cars that just flows on into that used-car market,” said Voortman. “It just means that people will take up [the new car] deals that’ll be on offer, and be disposing of any used cars. What we’ll see is what we’ve probably been seeing a bit in the last few months, which is an increase in cars being listed for sale at a higher rate than cars being sold.”
A good time for buyers then, with lots of choice on offer and lower prices too, but Voortman says anyone trying to sell a used car is “going to be disappointed” – with the trend of retained values already going down likely to continue.
“Something we’ve seen for the past year is those retained values are still coming back from those highs we had during the pandemic,” he said. “And I think also with the oversupply of new cars, we’re going to see a lot more demonstrators entering the market, which again, affects retained value.”
“I think a lot of people will still be operating in the environment that they had two years ago, where their vehicles were sort of holding their value very well and they were getting good prices for them. But I think a lot of those people are going to be disappointed given where our retained values have gone.”
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/sellers-will-be-disappointed-experts-predict-used-car-prices-in-2025/ar-AA1wPFLC
I would take a wait and see approach to ChiCom cars. Let’s see just how durable they really are.
I’ve seen enough videos of these mobile BBQ pits on ADV China’s channel. Sometimes they just accelerate on their own and crash into whatever is in their way.
I won’t touch an EV, Chicom or western, with a ten foot pole. I was talking about Chinese ICE cars. From what I have read, they have grabbed about 10% market share in Mexico, mostly due to their rock bottom prices and are expected to grab even more.
“mobile BBQ pits”
Yikes!
Gasoline, and especially diesel, are pretty much inert until needed when a very small amount of it is compressed in a cylinder by a piston and ignited to capture its energy. Now realize that ALL of a battery’s stored energy is Ready To Go! A short circuit is all that’s needed to, “Start the BBQ.”
I would take a wait and see approach to ChiCom cars.
I am in SE Asia now and I have seen 3 different models of BYD cars up close. They all looked really sharp. Thought; High end BMW for one model, and Lexus SUV for a second model, and finally a Ford explorer for the 3rd model.
No clue on the durability but I will say they look nice.
BYD makes nice cars.
Honda, Toyota, GM, BMW, etc., all those guys have manufactured in China for decades and the Chinese aren’t stupid — they learned everything. They can make nice cars.
Last time I was in the PRC I drove around in a Huawei car. Yes, that Huawei. It was fancy, comfortable, fast, etc.
China makes what the specs call for. It’s why the hardware in my computer is top notch, and the cheap plastic Halloween bucket is cheap.
How to teach an Australian English https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4Do29freXc0
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/KUc6dhHCYKg
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Zcg3HOxyVzw
How moderate ‘mushy majority’ of supes could shift SF politics
San Francisco’s November election came to be seen by some political observers as a do-or-die battle for the soul of The City.
Following years of electoral setbacks for The City’s progressives, many in the left-leaning camp warned the ballot fight was perhaps their last chance to ward off what they viewed as an onslaught of conservative forces seeking to permanently reshape the politics of the famously liberal bastion.
But now that the election dust has settled, the outcome seems to be far less decisive than some had expected, and the trajectory of city politics going into 2025, for many, remains a wide-open question.
Some say they are hoping the shifting board composition could mark a turn away from the fractious, often vitriolic brand of politics that has defined San Francisco public life in recent years.
“This is beyond progressive and moderate,” said Steven Buss Bacio, who directs GrowSF, the moderate advocacy group. He cheered the departure of Preston as well as Peskin, both of whom frequently tussled with moderates during their tenure.
In the upcoming board, Buss Bacio said, “We’ve got a room full of adults, and the most obstinate people have been either voted out or termed out of the board, and now we’ve got people who just want San Francisco to be the best version of itself.”
https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/politics/why-sf-election-results-leave-political-future-unsettled/article_9a0765b4-c21d-11ef-97dc-bb3caa393a09.html
now we’ve got people who just want San Francisco to be the best version of itself
They have their work cut out. It will take years, if not decades, to undo the damage..
Having lived in the city and the wider Bay Area, I honestly don’t see how it recovers. The number of high net worth people from Silicon Valley most likely makes up the dominant proportion of owners and voters. These people including my wife’s cousins are all left of center to left of Stalin and Mao. Craik Newmark if you ever read this blog, you fall into the latter category.
Justin Trudeau’s detractors are growing more courageous
The holidays are often a time of reflection. And even as everyone is still shaking off their cheese-induced torpor, the internal calls for Justin Trudeau to resign as Liberal Leader are accumulating.
It emerged this week that a majority of the Liberal Quebec caucus wants Mr. Trudeau to step down, though no one involved seems willing to sign their name to their convictions. This follows a meeting of the Ontario caucus just before Christmas, at which more than 50 MPs agreed that the Prime Minister needed to resign, though they, too, wanted to remain anonymous.
It is that last bit – the skittishness of the Prime Minister’s detractors – that’s been the most telling element of the slow-motion knife fight the Liberals have been having.
In late October, two dozen caucus members signed a letter calling on Mr. Trudeau to resign, and everything seemed about to boil over at the weekly caucus meeting. One MP read the letter aloud to the Prime Minister, but did not disclose who signed it, which is why that moment gets my vote for best political comedy of last year.
Both ends of this interaction – the sidling MPs and the PM who stared them down and then went on with his day – point to a hefty blind spot that exists both in the Liberal Party right now and inside the heads of Mr. Trudeau and his closest confidants.
Now they’re on the far side of nearly a decade of governing, and what was once the plucky confidence to follow their own instincts has calcified into a total inability to hear dissenting voices, as though anyone who doesn’t agree speaks at a frequency undetectable by the ears of this PMO. At the same time, virtually everyone in the Liberal firmament has lived out their entire political careers under Mr. Trudeau as leader – this Liberal Party of Canada is the Liberal Party of Justin Trudeau.
So it’s easy to understand why the naysayers in caucus have been lacking in a certain courage or visibility up to this point. But that seems to be changing.
Calgary MP George Chahal was more blunt in letters he wrote to his caucus colleagues and the president of the party just after Christmas. He pointed to ugly polls, by-election losses and steadily accumulating alarm within caucus, all of which seemed to have been ignored.
“Any rational individual in a position of leadership would resign. Any group of individuals providing advice based on data and logic would reach the same conclusion,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, a small cabal have decided to pursue a reckless strategy of mutual assured political destruction.”
Mr. Chahal urged the party to plan immediately for a leadership race “regardless of the Prime Minister’s formal resignation.”
Unlike the Conservatives – who for a while were shoving their leaders out the window every time they had a bad day – the Liberals do not have a formal mechanism to force the leader out. So they’re reduced to doing what they have been doing: asking him to go – first nicely, then in increasingly loud voices.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/opinion/article-justin-trudeaus-detractors-are-growing-more-courageous/
the Liberals do not have a formal mechanism to force the leader out. So they’re reduced to doing what they have been doing: asking him to go – first nicely, then in increasingly loud voices
If Mr. Singh makes good on his threat to have a no confidence vote, Poilievre could be moving into the PM’s office this spring. Otherwise it is becoming plain to see that Fidelito has no intention of resigning before the October election.
As the Toronto Sun said, ‘He’s Going To Take You All Down With Him’.
The reason that people (normal people) do not understand why the part time substitute teacher will not step down is that they do not understand how sociopaths with narcissistic personality disorder operate. First and foremost they do not feel empathy so they truly don’t care about how you feel and they can go on forever thinking what they did or are doing is perfectly fine.
My theory is that government or centralized power attracts these types of people.
Democrats in search of ‘new faces’ as they prepare for ‘recycled’ Trump
Democrats are at risk of being rudderless at the start of the new year, with a fading President Joe Biden soon to leave the White House and the Democratic National Committee’s elections not until February.
While some Democrats are confident the party will come together again after a disappointing election, others are concerned few lessons have been learned.
For Democrats such as strategist Stefan Hankin, the party needs a “refresh,” a “rebrand,” and “new faces out there.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is a “good start,” according to Hankin, but he encouraged outgoing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who will be Senate minority leader when the new 119th Congress starts on Jan. 3, to do what former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) did and step down.
But Pelosi’s endorsement of and advocacy for Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) to be the lead Democrat on the House Oversight Committee over Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has Hankin asking whether the party learned “any lessons” from last year, one in which Biden was pressured into standing down as the Democratic presidential nominee the summer before the election because of his dismal debate performance against President-elect Donald Trump amid concerns about his age and mental acuity. That meant there was no time for a competitive primary for his replacement, and Vice President Kamala Harris had to run the shortest campaign in recent history.
“It’s not like Schumer has to leave the Senate, but we just need a new look, so it’s not just feeling like the same old, same old,” Hankin told the Washington Examiner.
To that end, more Democrats are announcing their candidacy for the DNC’s leadership elections, which will be held on Feb. 1. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chairman Ken Martin, and Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler, and author Marianne Williamson are among the candidates. At the same time, a couple of lawmakers have pushed older counterparts out of committee leadership positions. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), 62, ousted House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jerry Nadler (D-NY), 77. Retiring Rep. Annie Kuster (D-NH), 65, has also implored members of Congress to reconsider their own plans in an exit interview published last month.
“I’m trying to set a better example,” Kuster told the Boston Globe. “I think there are colleagues — and some of whom are still very successful and very productive — but others who just stay forever.”
For Hankin, the strategist, Democrats have to come to terms with how the party’s nominee “lost for the second time to a totally unqualified wannabe dictator.”
“People agree with us on the issues, but clearly they don’t like us,” he said. “We’re not giving them why, or the vibe, or that North Star, whatever the hell phrase you want to put in there. There is no ‘this is what Democrats are.’ I understand it’s a little tougher. It’s a faction party. There are lots of different groups, but we’ve got to figure out a way to work that and get it done in a way that there is room and a comfort level for the more liberal, urban, college-educated person, black voters, Hispanic voters, younger voters, Midwest voters.”
Iowa Democratic official Charlie Comfort, an at-large member of the Oskaloosa City Council and vice president of its school board, agreed that Democrats have to “figure out” how to make the party “more palatable” to rural America.
“I am watching and living in an area that used to have tons of representation at the local level by Democrats, but now, good local politicians are losing simply because they have the ‘Democrat’ label,” Comfort told the Washington Examiner. “The party has to stop trying to turn out just the urban and suburban vote, and truly figure out why rural America fled the Democrats like rats from a sinking ship.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/democrats-in-search-of-new-faces-as-they-prepare-for-recycled-trump/ar-AA1wNJtV
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Yeah, she’ll bring voters back into the fold. Cue the Critical Drinkers maniacal laugh.
“The party has to stop trying to turn out just the urban and suburban vote, and truly figure out why rural America fled the Democrats like rats from a sinking ship.”
This a mystery!
Tis a mystery.
Wow – Colorado went from #9 to #40 in growth based on Uhaul 2024 report, and California was dead last.
https://www.uhaul.com/Articles/About/U-Haul-Growth-States-Of-2024-South-Carolina-Tops-List-for-First-Time-33083/
Denver is over.
MarketWatch
Home
Economy & Politics
What to expect in 2025 if economist forecasts are as bad as usual
Published: Jan. 2, 2025 at 8:43 a.m. ET
By Steve Goldstein
Nobody has a crystal ball, and that’s demonstrated every year when Wall Street’s professionals hazard a guess on what to expect for the following year.
The St. Louis Federal Reserve crunched the numbers on 21 years of economist forecasts collected by the Blue Chip Survey of Professional Forecasters. The regional Fed tracked the widely followed survey of firms, including Wall Street giants Bank of America and Goldman Sachs, as well as top manufacturers and insurers, over the period from 1993 to 2024.
The results? The forecasts are as good as coin flips.
For GDP growth, unemployment and the 10-year Treasury yield, the percentage of years in which the actual data fell within the range of the average bottom 10 and average top 10 forecasts was below 50%; on inflation, it was slightly better, at 56%.
…
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-to-expect-in-2025-if-economist-forecasts-are-as-bad-as-usual-92c13cc6
How is 2025 shaping up for the rate daters?
Average Rate for 30-Year Mortgage Reaches 6-Month High
Published Jan 02, 2025 at 3:51 PM EST
By Rachel Dobkin
Weekend Reporter
The average rate for a 30-year mortgage in the United States reached a six-month high this week and also leapfrogged the rate during the same stretch one year ago.
Why It Matters
High mortgage rates and home prices have kept homeownership out of reach for many prospective buyers.
What To Know
The average rate for a 30-year mortgage climbed to 6.91 percent from 6.58 last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday, as it also surpassed the 6.62 percent rate from the same period one year ago.
The average rate on a 15-year mortgage also rose, to 6.13 percent from 6 last week. It is also the highest rate for this type of home loan since July and up from the 5.89 percent rate a year earlier.
…
https://www.newsweek.com/mortgage-rate-homes-freddie-mac-interest-rates-2008934
‘Moorman said more homes were being built because people were going to remote work. ‘Now you see a lot of these people being called back to the office’
The lending was sound Miriam, at the time.
I knew a guy in 2021 who got a loan for a house in TX while he lived in UT. That company is back in the office 2 days per week. At least the folks who weren’t laid off in recent years.
‘This is the basis for the economic value of my property.’ Another resident’s submission said, ‘The proposed four storeys will severely impact the river views and property value of the owners and occupiers of the next-door building’…She said homeowners losing out on capital gains was a ‘fair price to pay’ to ensure more people had a roof over their heads. ‘If new developments cause housing prices to go down, I — as a planner — am completely fine with that because we want prices to go down’
That’s a Pitfall of Commie Urban Living™ right there.
Lightning Strikes Water
Titoo Radhakrishnan
7 years ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCdIM67g3mY
1 minute.
Those fish never knew what hit them!
Deep Purple – Smoke On The Water (Official Vinyl Video)
https://youtu.be/pIkX3UqGfIc?si=Xj2mKRPp3fIjKjcg&t=9
Seems like those surfers who can’t resist the large waves ahead of a hurricane’s landfall could learn something from this clip.
They are now building new subdivisions in North County San Diego right up to the edges of freeway on-ramps. It’s freaking disgusting.
Was the recent worst year-end stock market performance going all the way back to 1952 a sign that it’s a good time for dips to buy?
MarketWatch
What stocks’ worst stumble since 1952 in the final days of 2024 may mean for 2025
Provided by Dow Jones Jan 2, 2025 9:05am
By Christine Idzelis
‘The last several days were bad to a historic degree’ for the S&P 500, according to Bespoke Investment Group
U.S. stocks were attempting to kick off the new year on an upbeat note after a rough final stretch of 2024.
The S&P 500 index SPX was up 0.3% late morning on Thursday, the first trading session of 2025, according to FactSet data, at last check. That’s after the index dropped 2.6% from the U.S. stock market’s close between the day before Christmas and the end of 2024, marking “the worst performance for the closing days of the year since at least 1952,” according to a Bespoke Investment Group note emailed Thursday.
“December wasn’t a good month for bulls,” Bespoke said in the note. “And the last several days were bad to a historic degree.”
But such a brutal end to an otherwise strong 2024 for the S&P 500 doesn’t necessarily spell trouble for 2025, with Bespoke finding that the U.S. equities benchmark has tended to climb in the year following a decline of more than 1% during the period between Christmas and year’s end.
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https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20250102255/what-stocks-worst-stumble-since-1952-in-the-final-days-of-2024-may-mean-for-2025