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It Is A Case Of Make An Offer

A report from Atlanta News First in Georgia. “Robert Anthony has worked at the Atlanta VA Medical Center since last spring. He took a vacation just last week for his birthday and came back to some startling news. ‘I’m terminated,’ Anthony said. The Department of Veterans Affairs announced sweeping terminations, saying it is dismissing more than 1,000 employees, all under the Trump administration’s effort to shrink government. Cathy Caballero received the same letter, after 18 years of service at the V.A. ‘We have people who have moved, got houses, got cars or have sick kids and we’re being hit with no notice,’ Caballero said.”

Essentially Sports on Illinois. “Once a $14 million investment for the Chicago White Sox, Tim Anderson now finds himself in a far less glamorous trade—selling his own house. In a league where contracts are tossed around like confetti, his decline from big-money pitcher to real estate salesman is a brutal reminder that MLB careers don’t come with a lifetime guarantee. The times are so bad for Tim Anderson that he has had to sell his own house for below the asking price. The sale happened very quickly. This begs the question of financial difficulties and other problems. After buying the Flossmoor house for $450,000 in 2017, he made a profit, but given his recent earnings collapse, that profit might not be as significant.”

Florida Realtors. “Homes are selling furthest below their asking price in Florida. In West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, the typical home is selling for roughly 5% less than its asking price, the biggest discount among the 50 most populous U.S. metros. Next come two other Florida metros: Tampa and Jacksonville, where the typical home is selling for about 4% less than its asking price. Homes in all of those metros are also selling for a bigger discount than they were a year ago. Coastal Florida’s housing market has taken a hit as natural disasters become more frequent and intense, causing some would-be buyers to have second thoughts. Climate disasters have also led to a surge in home insurance costs, HOA fees and property taxes in Florida. Slow homebuying demand means more sellers are open to accepting an offer under asking price.”

WINK News in Florida. “Cape Coral is once again buzzing with discussions on short-term rentals. One resident expressed her frustration over a rental property behind her home. ‘I have spent the last three years trying to navigate the code compliance for curtailing this rental behind me, it’s been a horrible three years. They are actually pushing us out. We’re thinking of moving,’ she said. Another resident, determined to stay put, added, ‘They climb up on the roof out of the dormers at night, they smoke, they drink, they have parties. I mean, it’s ridiculous. I’ve been in my home for 40 years. I’m not moving. They’re moving.'”

“‘Even if I sit in my living room, I have my TV off, I hear the music from these homes,’ said Markus Hartwich, a Cape Coral resident. Macy Magas, another resident, also shared her concerns. ‘If there were just kids playing and just a family group, that would be totally fine. But it’s the loud music,’ she said. Gregg Mckee described the situation further. ‘You get a little alcohol-fueled party, you hear everything. And not just the music, but you hear the language and all that,’ said McKee.”

Press Democrat in California. “As the disintegration of the LeFever Mattson real estate empire grinds slowly through federal and state courts, a pair of recent developments offer the promise of speeding up the process, and perhaps aiding investors who hope to recoup the money they believe is owed them. The FBI posted on Monday a solicitation on its website inviting potential victims of investor fraud to fill out a form — accessed via a link on the site — detailing the nature of their LeFever Mattson investments. And four days before that, LeFever Mattson Inc. filed two applications in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, seeking to employ real estate brokers to list, market and negotiate the sale of 60 properties owned by the company. Thirty-two of those properties are in the Sonoma area.”

“The message noted that no criminal charges have yet been filed in the case. Notably, the invitation was not limited to people who invested with Ken Mattson and his solo company, KS Mattson Investors. It also seeks to identify investors with LeFever Mattson Inc., Divi Divi Tree LP and other related entities. The bankruptcy filings are less dramatic, but they could move investors one step closer to resolution, and free up money for a pool that might eventually repay some or all of what they say they’re owed. The company has valued its entire portfolio at $400 million.”

“The Press Democrat first published an investigation into the duo’s expanding real estate portfolio in and around the city of Sonoma in early 2023, documenting community concerns as some of the firm’s properties remained vacant or fell into disrepair. The partnership began to dissolve last April. The fallout from that unraveling has included a regime change at LeFever Mattson, property liens and defaults, and a half-dozen lawsuits aimed at the company and its fallen partners.”

From Bisnow. “Cuts aimed at the National Institutes of Health in a Feb. 7 announcement from President Donald Trump could have stark impacts for the life sciences real estate industry, which is already struggling under the weight of supply overages and soft demand. ‘It’s going to touch real estate,’ said Project Management Advisors Senior Project Manager Grayson Mann, a pharma and life sciences expert. ‘It will touch the companies that would make therapeutics and will stop life sciences expansion in our major markets. We’ve already seen an overbuilt real estate market for life sciences… this kind of just pours salt in a wound that’s been festering for almost three years now.'”

“The NIH cuts, along with other recent staffing cuts or funding reductions announced by the Trump administration, including significant proposed cuts to the Food and Drug Administration and thousands of probationary Health and Human Services employees getting let go, have left the scientific community stunned and trying to process the nature of this shift, JLL Head of Global Industries Markets Advisory Travis McCready said. The localized impacts will be disproportionate state by state and institution by institution. McCready predicts Massachusetts, California, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and New York will ‘disproportionately bear the burden of the proposed rate cut,’ since companies in these six states received nearly 75% of NIH research grant funds in fiscal year 2024.”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “335 Lonsdale Rd., No. 406, Toronto. Asking price: $509,000 (November, 2024). Previous asking prices: $549,000 (Mid-September, 2024); $589,900. (Early September, 2024); $599,900 (August, 2024). Selling price: $500,000 (November, 2024). Property days on market: 91. This one-bedroom unit with a solarium struggled to get attention from buyers last fall, especially since it has less square footage and fewer bedrooms and upgrades than other units for sale in the 14-year-old building. ‘It was a hard one because the market was soft, interest rates were still high and consumer confidence was not robust at the time,’ said agent Kimmé Myles. ‘As far as competition, there was a penthouse on the market – which is still on the market – and one came on the market that had the same square footage, but had two bedrooms and was a corner unit. It sold quite quickly.'”

“To enhance this suite, the price was reduced twice in September, though with little effect. The price was cut a third time in November and the listing photos were redone to show a digitally staged version of the unit with more contemporary decor. The changes finally led to a $500,000 deal. ‘Buyers were not seeing a lot of multiple offers or buyer frenzy, so they could pick and chose – and find things that are wrong with it,’ said Ms. Myles. ‘We tweaked the photos through digital staging, and reduced the price to $509,000, then sold for $500,000, which was a great deal.'”

Radio New Zealand. “Developers struggling to sell homes off the plans are trying to sweeten the deal for borrowers – including one in Auckland now offering to pay the buyer’s mortgage. Kelvin Davidson, chief property economist at Corelogic, said he estimated new build sales activity had dropped about 45 percent from the 2021 peak – a deeper downturn than the overall property market fall of about 30 percent. He said it made sense that developers were offering incentives to shift stock. ‘It’s certainly been a tough environment in the new build sector, both for getting the projects off the ground and then eventually selling the properties. You only need to look at dwelling consents to see the scale of the downturn.'”

“Lighthouse Property has offered to pay the mortgage for buyers for the next six sales of properties in a development on St Albans Ave, in Auckland. It said it would pay the mortgage principal and interest for eight months from the date of settlement. The houses sell for prices starting at $1.095 million. Another developer for a Mount Wellington complex last year was offering a free car to buyers. Another, Wirihana, offered $25,000 cashback or a $25,000 whiteware voucher, a car or an interest rate of 1.95 percent for a year. Neighbours were also being offered $2000 as an incentive if they could find buyers.”

From News.com.au in Australia. “Banks are now selling a new round of houses, units and land seized from defaulting homebuyers in four states – the tip of the iceberg for distressed borrowers. Beach cottages, lush homes on acreage, half built inner-city homes, units are among properties across four states whose owners have succumbed to forced sales just before interest rate relief is expected, with the mortgagee sales said to be the tip of the iceberg in terms of distressed homebuyers who have been in discussions with their lender for an estimated six months or more.”

“Lawyer Matthew Williams of Gold Coast City Solicitors said ‘what the general public may not necessarily understand is that there’s probably been several months of back and forth where the bank has really tried to help, and that’s all regulated pretty heavily. As I understand it, they’ve got to give (borrowers) every opportunity available to try and pay, even if it’s to come up with a payment plan. Some banks will even offer a period of relief where (customers) don’t pay the mortgage, but they’ll have to start it back up again. They will bend over backwards to try and help people.'”

“The most expensive price on the mortgagee sales list is $7m for a four-bedroom house occupying prime waterfront position in Caloundra – north of Brisbane. Iain Simms of Henzells Agency has the home listed on behalf of the mortgagee, with the $7m asking price $900,000 lower than the lender originally expected. ‘We had some feedback from the market around that level, and so we priced accordingly realising that the sale price of $7.9m was not achievable given the jump in the cost of building a project like the one that’s proposed on that site,’ Mr Simms said. With such mortgagee sales where homes have already been seized, ‘it’s a normal transaction,’ he confirmed. ‘It is a case of make an offer.'”

South China Morning Post. “Developers will rely on low prices to draw buyers as rising US inflation and Trump tariff threats make rate cuts unlikely, experts say. Hong Kong developers will continue to price their swollen inventory of new flats at discount prices to attract buyers in 2025 as hopes of lower interest rates fade and concerns grow about a liquidity crunch among builders. ‘Expecting interest rate cuts to support the property market is unlikely for this year,’ said Chau Kwong-wing, chair professor and director of the Ronald Coase Centre for Property Rights Research at Hong Kong University. Developers would have to launch projects at a ‘market-acceptable price’ to sell new residential units under high interest rates, Chau said.”

“‘Developers are still under pressure to offload stocks this year as construction costs remain the same,’ said Joseph Tsang, chairman at JLL Hong Kong. ‘With many stocks in the pipelines, their carrying costs are very high.’ On February 6, New World Development (NWD) surprised the market by pricing the first batch of flats at its State Pavilia residential project – the first phase of its redevelopment project at the site of the former State Theatre in North Point – at a massive discount. The strategy worked, as the indebted firm sold all 168 flats that it put up for sale on Saturday. Controlled by the family of tycoon Henry Cheng Kar-shun, NWD priced the first 88 units at an average of HK$18,540 per square foot, which was about 13 per cent lower than the accommodation value of about HK$21,500 per square foot. Accommodation value is the land acquisition cost divided by the gross floor area permitted for the project.”

“Despite some improvement last year, Hong Kong’s property market is still struggling with a glut of new homes, slower-than-expected sales, and falling home prices. Lived-in home prices fell in December to complete three straight years of setbacks, according to data published by the Rating and Valuation Department. Prices weakened 7.13 per cent for the year, following a 15 per cent drop in 2023 and a 7 per cent loss in 2022. The 27 per cent cumulative drop over the past three years is the second-longest slump since official monthly records began in 1993. The 58 per cent crash from 1997 to 2003, during the Asian financial crisis and the dot-com blow-up, was the worst in Hong Kong’s housing market history.”

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  1. FYI update. I was able to purge the caches last night. You may need to manually log in and then it should run as normal. Let me know if you have problems. I was not able to update the software because my php is out of date. I don’t know what that is so I have to call in the web host. I’m not sure when we’ll get that accomplished but I’ll let you know as we go along.

  2. ‘what the general public may not necessarily understand is that there’s probably been several months of back and forth where the bank has really tried to help, and that’s all regulated pretty heavily. As I understand it, they’ve got to give (borrowers) every opportunity available to try and pay, even if it’s to come up with a payment plan. Some banks will even offer a period of relief where (customers) don’t pay the mortgage, but they’ll have to start it back up again. They will bend over backwards to try and help people’

    I included this because it’s what has been going on in the US foreclosure market for over a decade. Lenders are just sitting on foreclosures. Either leaving them in limbo, or not selling much if they do have an REO. There’s ‘distress’ all the time but I watch foreclosures closely and not much has changed.

    1. “Lenders are just sitting on foreclosures.”

      If they let them go to market,,, house prices will plunge. Financial history reminds us that when current homeowners owe more than their house is worth,,, they will also stop paying their mortgage. I’m waiting on the fed.gov to capitulate before the country goes up in flames, and send out checks to everyone, à la Dubya, but emblazed with Trump’s likeness.

    2. And by doing this lenders have created a monster of their own doing. So many stories have come out of the last crisis of how when borrowers stopped making payments the lenders ended up letting them live in the home for years before they finally took action. So now I’m reading posts all the time on social media by recent buyers who just blatantly admit that if there home drops in value they’ll just stop making payments and “game the system” as one poster put it. Then there’s forbearance and tacking on these silent seconds on the back of the loan. Melody Wright has some amazing work on uncovering how many lenders jut keep tacking unpaid interest on the back of the loan. There are cases where it’s been done two or three times in the life of the loan. The bottom line is so many now believe there is only upside to not making the mortgage payment. How could this possibly end well?

  3. ‘The bankruptcy filings are less dramatic, but they could move investors one step closer to resolution, and free up money for a pool that might eventually repay some or all of what they say they’re owed. The company has valued its entire portfolio at $400 million…The Press Democrat first published an investigation into the duo’s expanding real estate portfolio in and around the city of Sonoma in early 2023, documenting community concerns as some of the firm’s properties remained vacant or fell into disrepair’

    This story is following a pattern seen often elsewhere. At first everybody is screaming ponzi scheme! and lamenting their a$$ poundings. Then the lawyers get involved and everybody clams up. $400 millions is a lot.

  4. ‘I have spent the last three years trying to navigate the code compliance for curtailing this rental behind me, it’s been a horrible three years. They are actually pushing us out. We’re thinking of moving’ …‘They climb up on the roof out of the dormers at night, they smoke, they drink, they have parties. I mean, it’s ridiculous. I’ve been in my home for 40 years. I’m not moving. They’re moving’…‘Even if I sit in my living room, I have my TV off, I hear the music from these homes’…‘If there were just kids playing and just a family group, that would be totally fine. But it’s the loud music’…‘You get a little alcohol-fueled party, you hear everything. And not just the music, but you hear the language and all that’

    Everybody calm down. Take a breath and remember – it’s still way cheaper than renting.

  6. Cathy Caballero received the same letter, after 18 years of service at the V.A.

    I’d be interested to know what happened here. She was too long to still be there on probation, and reductions-in-force usually take a little longer. Possibly she had a bad performance appraisal.

      1. Not sure how that would put her on the short list to be let go from FedGov. She’s not the only FedGov with student loans.

        1. I saw some paperwork regarding firing. Defaulted student loans, unpaid taxes on loan forgiveness, etc., anything where the fed.gov is left holding the bag, and “See ‘ya, don’t let the door slap ‘ya where the good lord split ‘ya!”

      1. There’s a law governing federal employment, it’s something like 5 USC 1352, I don’t have the exact number. The same law gives OPM the power to make a regulation governing how RIFs are conducted. So, OPM decided that seniority, performance, and veteren preference determined the ordering of RIF.

      2. probably the union contract, or as the commenter below states
        but it makes good sense

        Get rid of all the young people, the old people more likely to retire (OMG i have to actually do a little work) and more people fall out with you doing less.

    4. Or possibly a promotion or job switch to another VA agency. They used to put the probation requirement in the job postings.
      Shirt tail relative got a promotion to a federal job that was way over her head, if it wasn’t for the probation period, they wouldn’t have been able to send her back to her old job. Old job didn’t want her back either but that’s another story.

      1. “…promotion to a federal job that was way over her head…”

        I’ve seen way more ladies than men in this predicament. Is this a female thing or my bias?

  7. “It said it would pay the mortgage principal and interest for eight months from the date of settlement.”

    Builder incentives should absolutely be included in calculating appraised value. Such a joke!

  8. After buying the Flossmoor house for $450,000 in 2017, he made a profit, but given his recent earnings collapse, that profit might not be as significant.”

    Thanks to Yellen the Felon & BlackRock Jay, the purchasing power of a 2025 greenback is considerably less than it was in 2017, further diminishing that “profit” in real terms.

    1. “Perez allegedly told investigators that he was being paid $2,500 for each undocumented person he allowed to pass at his inspection lane at the Paso Del Norte international bridge in Downtown El Paso, the special agent testified.”

      Wow, that’s a lucrative gig!

      1. He should have known that on Jan 20th the gig would end and that he should have disappeared into thin air.

        They all thought they would get away with it

  10. “Banks are now selling a new round of houses, units and land seized from defaulting homebuyers in four states – the tip of the iceberg for distressed borrowers.

    I’m going to thoroughly enjoy watching the scamdemic-era FOMO lemmings going into foreclosure.

  11. They will bend over backwards to try and help people.’”

    The banks are running out of road for extend-and-pretend on their non-performing shack loans. Once they go into foreclosure, the day when they have to start booking loan losses just got a lot closer.

  12. Prices weakened 7.13 per cent for the year, following a 15 per cent drop in 2023 and a 7 per cent loss in 2022.

    Even applying my Common Core maff skills, I can’t work out how this is building muh generational wealth.

  14. “Homes are selling furthest below their asking price in Florida. In West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, the typical home is selling for roughly 5% less than its asking price, the biggest discount among the 50 most populous U.S. metros.”

    Since the asking price is an arbitrary number that homesellers put out as a starting point in negotiations, I have a hard time interpreting these “% less than asking price” statistics that get mentioned in the media.

    5% less than what?

    And after sitting on the market for how long?

    However, it does seem likely that prices are falling and the ball is in the buyer’s court when homes are selling well below asking price.

    1. Yesterday I was told that if/when I was RIFfed and had to sell my house, I shouldn’t screw up the comps. Well, I will almost certainly screw up the comps. Everything in my house works, but it all needs renovating and updating. I would probably sell quick, as-is, to a flipper who would turn it around with $50K of HomeDepot crap and rent it out.

      1. C’mon, just stop your mortgage payments, become an educated squatter, declare your parcel a sovereign state, establish a no-fly zone above it, and stamp those feet! 🙂

      2. That’s how you do it. Get out, put all the onus on someone else to renovate (which always costs way more than you think) and GTFO

        first out, best out

        1. Yeah I was thinking that. I could put $50K into it tomorrow to make it look nice, but then it would only sell for $50K more. The only person who benefits is the realtor who gets to collect commision on that extra $50K, with no work.

          But I wouldn’t be the first to sell. If there are RIFs, it would be 3-4 months from now. And then I would need a couple months to move and get things situated. So I would be selling into a buyer’s market. At least I’m in a location that’s near a lot of office and industry. People who moved to far-flung McMansion or townhouses, depending on a 2x/week commute, are in a much worse position.

    1. If you’re dumb enough to buy this stuff, then you should be prepared to eat it when it goes bad. It’s just a gamble at a casino (and just like a casino, only the house wins), quit yer whining, take your pounding that you deserved.

    1. Markets
      The S&P 500’s race to a new record may tip it into a bigger pullback. Here’s why.
      BTIG strategist says weak seasonal factors are looming.
      By Jamie Chisholm
      Follow
      Published: Feb. 17, 2025 at 6:01 a.m. ET
      The S&P 500 is poised for a fresh record, but seasonal trends could mean a bigger rout is coming, says BTIG.
      Photo: angela weiss/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

      When U.S. investors return from the long weekend they will be faced with a stock market looking well-positioned to break out to fresh record highs.

      But any such move into virgin territory may precede a “deeper pullback” as negative seasonal factors take hold.
      …
      https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-s-p-500s-race-to-a-new-record-may-tip-it-into-a-bigger-pullback-heres-why-c81dd478

    1. “Western Liberal Democracy” is a farce.

      Anyone who uses that phrase while supposedly defending it is a tyrant. And yes, the 2025 election in Germany was stolen.

    2. More than a quarter of German voters are undecided with only eight days until the parliamentary elections, according to a new poll released Saturday.

      In a representative poll conducted for public television ZDF, 28% of respondents said they are not yet sure whether they will vote or which party they will support.

      The survey showed that opposition leader Friedrich Merz’s conservative alliance CDU/CSU maintained its lead with 30% support. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is holding steady at 20%.

      Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) increased its vote share by one percentage point to 16%, followed by his current coalition partner, the Greens, at 14%.

      The socialist Die Linke was polling at 7%, while both the liberal FDP and left-populist BSW (Bundnis Sahra Wagenknecht) hovered at 4%, just below the 5% threshold needed to enter parliament.

      Since no one will form a coalition with the AfD, they need at least 50%

      1. CDU will start arresting ADF politicians. See clips of the 60 minutes segment where they were arresting citizens that were posting online.

    1. This part is interesting:

      DOGE announced plans to eliminate up to TWO-THIRDS of US government office buildings, per WSJ….Not a single major US government agency is currently occupying even 50% of their office space.

      What would the occupancy be if everyone went back to the office full time? A lot of those workers are still working from home. 47 hasn’t been able to bring them back yet, because they are working under an existing union collective bargaining agreement. After the RIFs, and after people come back to the office, that office space will fill up fast. I don’t think they’ll be able to eliminate that much office space. My guess is that they would be able to eliminate about 40%.

      1. I’m thinking there are “deep state” landlords reaping windfall income streams. Getting rid of these influential beltway ticks is a top priority. The fed.gov can easily rent, or buy, future office space as required.

        1. I’m thinking there are “deep state” landlords reaping windfall income streams.
          I am thinking the exact same thing but in addition I believe there are some rented unoccupied office space that is being paid for that the people don’t even know why they are renting it. Over 25 years ago I was working for a company with a lot of small offices through the states. Some of these unoccupied offices were needed because you needed a physical presence in a state to do business in that state. But after a through review, turns out we had an unoccupied office in a state where we had open an actual staffed branch but still kept paying for the unoccupied branch when it was no longer needed. We probably paid for about 2 years before we caught it. I am sure there are lots of offices being paid for in DC that no one knows why they are being rented.

      2. Both Reagan and Obama deep sixed some existing union collective bargaining agreements so why do you think Trump can’t?

    1. These people were all at the CDC for less than a year. They had nothing to do with any of the COVID debacle.

    3. A few hours ago Elon nearly sparked a panic when he made a post that said “Looking for gold at Fort Knox…” annnnd it’s gone, with an image of the famous Simpson’s meme. People began wondering if Elon had actually audited For Knox.

      A couple hours later Elon had to backtrack and say “what would happen if it was gone.” Hey, at least it sparked a good discussion about the role of gold in backing up the dollar.

      1. the role of gold in backing up the dollar

        Nixon took us off the gold standard via executive order. Trump could put us back on it via executive order.

        1. The goldbugs have already made the calculation. If every single American dollar was 100% backed by American gold, gold would be over $100K/oz. More likely there would be a partial backing, like 40%.

          1. If every single American dollar was 100% backed by American gold

            It never was. That is why redemptions had to stop.

    2. Since Cameltoe wasn’t elected there won’t be any bailouts coming from the Feds. Gruesome will have little choice but to cut.

      1. Gruesome will have little choice but to cut.
        I don’t know. He is going to keep kicking that can down the road as long as he can. Maybe he can last to the next election.

        1. Newsom’s political career is over after January’s fires. He only survived recall because of voter/election fraud. I know for a fact my vote wasn’t counted despite being dropped in a “secure” yellow bag at a polling station. And, I know I’m not the only one who had that happen.

  27. Fortune – ‘Disaster amnesia’: The Los Angeles wildfires revealed a deeper, more vicious cycle that has plagued California for decades.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/disaster-amnesia-los-angeles-wildfires-123200185.html

    It’s a moment of truth for the Golden State. Bearing the risk, do people just rebuild in an area prone to wildfires? Or is it finally time to change the way the state not only responds to disasters but develops homes, neighborhoods, and communities?

    “Disaster amnesia,” is the diagnosis Richard Kent Green, director and chair of the University of Southern California Lusk Center for Real Estate, once heard someone call it. The phenomenon refers to people and their societies forgetting or even minimizing the risk and impact of disasters over time, to the point that they are less prepared when it happens again.

  28. Trump administration’s reduction of federal workforce could hit hard in South Sound

    The Trump administration’s current push to shave as many jobs as possible from the federal workforce could have outsized consequences for South Sound’s economy.

    The federal workforce has a significant presence, with more than 41,000 civilian workers employed by the U.S. government within the 6th an 10th Congressional Districts, which cover most of Thurston County, Tacoma and all of the Olympic Peninsula.

    U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state held a virtual news conference Tuesday focused on federal workers.

    Helen Bottcher, who retired from the EPA in 2023, said at Murray’s news conference that she had “spoken with or heard about employees who are having panic attacks that landed them in the ER, who can’t sleep, and who have become physically ill because of the stress.”

    She added, “The purge has begun at EPA. Last Thursday, nine employees from EPA’s regional office (in Seattle) were placed on administrative leave, suddenly and with virtually no warning. They were targeted because they were identified as working on Environmental Justice issues.”

    While not specifying locations, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin confirmed the action, and said in a statement Tuesday, “The previous administration used DEI and Environmental Justice to advance ideological priorities, distributing billions of dollars to organizations in the name of climate equity. This ends now.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/trump-administration-s-reduction-of-federal-workforce-could-hit-hard-in-south-sound/ar-AA1zasUP

  29. DMV therapists offering low to no cost therapy as federal worker layoffs, rapid executive orders continue

    Man in D.C. are facing incredibly stressful times during the first 100 days of the Trump administration, but a group of local therapists are hoping to lighten the weight on their shoulders by offering reduced fee and pro bono therapy.

    While only two months into 2025, D.C. residents have already faced a deadly plane collision, a series of ever chaning executive orders, and thousands of federal workers being laid off.

    Huma Sikandar Fatakia, a licensed professional counselor and founder and CEO of Sage & Fifth Therapy Place says therapists started seeing an increase in patients with anxiety after the election but lately it has been worse with people losing their jobs, DEI initiative roll back, and people not feeling safe during what feels to be a culture war on the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities.

    “It’s been really hard on our clients, we’re seeing a lot of stress,” Sikandar Fatakia said.

    With sudden layoffs and rapid executive orders being announced daily, the impact on mental health of those effected can be so immense that Sikandar Fatakia says it can feel like a biological threat to one’s system.

    “When you face a threat, and specifically after you’ve tried to fight off a threat and the threat, you know, did not go away, then you kind of go into a fawn or freeze response and that’s when we see a lot of helplessness set in,” Sikandar Fatakia said. “A lot of folks may be feeling sleep disturbances, exhaustion, brain fog, lack of motivation, and there are some people who are still fighting but that helplessness can be really debilitating.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/dc-region-therapists-offering-low-to-no-cost-therapy-as-federal-worker-layoffs-rapid-executive-orders-continue/ar-AA1z9tMr

  30. Alaska federal employees disheartened by the reality, or threat, of termination

    After rounds of mass layoffs within the federal government, a growing number of Alaskans find themselves without a job or fear they might be the next to receive a termination notice.

    Last week, dozens of U.S. Forest Service workers in Alaska received the news that they would no longer be employed if they were still probationary employees. Now, other federal employees in Alaska fear the same thing might happen to them when the workweek starts on Tuesday.

    “We have been stressed. It’s not getting any easier, you know, but we’re doing our best to show up and do our jobs every day,” said federal employee Morgan Saladino. “It’s really disheartening to see the public, a lot of people in the public, either not understanding or caring about what’s going on, or actively rooting for it, when really we’re all just trying to show up and do our jobs every day.”

    Saladino, speaking on behalf of herself and not her employers, said she is concerned she may be next to receive a termination notice given she is still a probationary employee.

    “I got an email that said that they had passed on a list of probationary employees, but so far it was just a list. They have no knowledge so far of what’s going to be done with it,” Saladino said. “It is disheartening, though, to see what’s happening in other agencies, and it does kind of make you think about, ‘OK, where’s this information? You know, what’s going to happen? Are we next?‘”

    https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2025/02/17/alaska-federal-employees-disheartened-by-reality-or-threat-termination/

    1. “It’s really disheartening to see the public, a lot of people in the public, either not understanding or caring about what’s going on, or actively rooting for it, when really we’re all just trying to show up and do our jobs every day.”

      Does the “public” care when private sector workers get the axe?

      1. There’s been a long period of time that these “just trying to show up” types didn’t care about where the money to pay them came from.

      2. “Does the “public” care when private sector workers get the axe?”

        They can learn how to mine coal for God’s sake!

        Biden tells coal miners to “learn to code”
        by Alexandra Kelley | Dec. 31, 2019

        According to Dave Weigel of the Washington Post, Biden said, “Anybody who can go down 3,000 feet in a mine can sure as hell learn to program as well… Anybody who can throw coal into a furnace can learn how to program, for God’s sake!”

        According to Weigel, the comment was met with silence from the audience.

        https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/education/476391-biden-tells-coal-miners-to-learn-to-code/

      4. Does the “public” care when private sector workers get the axe?
        Well, often times when huge staff cuts are announced, the stock price tends to go up. so yeah, they may care and cheer it on.

  31. NC sheriff says $59 million clawed back from NYC hotels for migrants should ‘immediately’ go to Helene survivors

    LOUISBURG, N.C. (WNCN) — A North Carolina sheriff says $59 million FEMA clawed back from New York City for sheltering migrants should go to Hurricane Helene survivors in the mountains.

    The Federal Emergency Management Agency has clawed back more than $80 million from New York City, officials said Wednesday, escalating a dispute between the Trump administration and the nation’s largest city over money for sheltering migrants.

    Gone is a $59 million grant that the administration challenged earlier in the week and another award for $21.5 million, City Comptroller Brad Lander said.

    On Monday, before the funds were officially taken back from New York City, Franklin County Sheriff Kevin White said the money should go to North Carolina residents.

    “FEMA should IMMEDIATELY direct those funds toward housing US taxpayers in Western North Carolina,” White wrote on social media. “These folks have been in dire straits for months.”

    The grants were applied for and awarded during the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden but were not disbursed until last week, the city said.

    “Recent audits by DOGE have uncovered that FEMA sent $59 Million to New York City Luxury Hotels for the purposes of housing illegal aliens,” White wrote.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/nc-sheriff-says-59-million-clawed-back-from-nyc-hotels-for-migrants-should-immediately-go-to-helene-survivors/ar-AA1z7CdU

    1. “NC sheriff says $59 million clawed back from NYC hotels for migrants should ‘immediately’ go to Helene survivors”

      I wouldn’t have any problem with that.

  32. The drama of the end of parole: ‘You flee your country out of fear and now you’re even more afraid in the US’

    Ever since the Trump administration announced its plan to revoke the legal status of more than 530,000 people who entered the United States through the humanitarian parole program, Gabriela has been avoiding going outside. Before that, she had three jobs: as an assistant teacher at an elementary school, as a waitress at a taco restaurant, and as a receptionist at a furniture store in the small town in Tennessee where she lives. These days she only steps outside to go to school, which is two minutes from her house. And she ventures out to Walmart on weekends, to buy the basics.

    Although she is in the U.S. legally, she has put her life on hold while she waits to complete the year and one day in the country to apply for permanent residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act. When she does, even if the card takes a while to arrive, she will go back to her routine with more confidence. An open process “in a way protects me from being deported,” she explains. In the meantime, she plans to remain locked up.

    “I live in an area where immigrants are viewed in a somewhat complicated way. The Ku Klux Klan was founded very close to here, and it has historically been one of the most racist places in the United States. So the old folks in particular tend to be quite closed off to foreigners,” says Gabriela (not her real name).

    Her humanitarian parole, with which she flew from Havana to Nashville ten months ago, gave her the benefit of applying for a Social Security number, a work permit, and legal residence for two years. She came to the U.S. to work so that her mother, who stayed behind in Cuba, would not have to. And also to help her sister, a single mother of two who helped her by sponsoring her parole, a program implemented by the Biden Administration in October 2022 for people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

    Gabriela was saving up to open a hair salon. But all that took a backseat. “If I lose my legal status, I will have to be creative, like everyone else, and find good legal advice. If things get too complicated, I will have to leave. But as long as it is feasible to stay here, I will stay.”

    Leandro, a Venezuelan national, had to wait six months for the parole that his sister sponsored to be approved, and then he had to cross the border into Colombia because there are no direct flights from Venezuela to the United States. He thought that was going to be the only border he would ever cross in his life. In September 2023, he arrived at Houston airport and settled in that Texas city.

    Since his parole expires in seven months, Leandro applied for political asylum shortly before Trump took office. He is not in danger of being deported, but he cannot apply for the work permit granted by asylum because the 150 days required for doing so have not yet elapsed. So if the new administration revokes his benefits, he will be left without a job. “I am happy with the job I have. I can use my intellect, I have opportunities for growth and all those other things that I felt were lost in Venezuela. In two years here I have achieved things, but now I feel that they are hanging by a thread,” he explains.

    At 30, Leandro is not sure if he will end up moving to another place or what will happen with his life. In many ways, it does not depend on him, but on the decisions that Trump and his Cabinet have been making since January 20. “I thought that the United States was an example of a developed country, but right now there is a sense of repression, authoritarianism, racism and discrimination. I never imagined using those adjectives to describe this country, but I am using them because that’s the way it is,” he says.

    Sometimes he feels like joining the demonstrations that are taking place throughout the nation in favor of migrant rights. But he fears that he will be detained, deported or charged with crimes that will affect his asylum process. “Perhaps by trying to exercise your right here you can get into bigger trouble. So even in that I feel like I’m back in Venezuela, where people didn’t go out to protest for fear of what could happen. You flee your country out of fear and now you’re even more afraid.”

    https://english.elpais.com/usa/2025-02-17/the-drama-of-the-end-of-parole-you-flee-your-country-out-of-fear-and-now-youre-even-more-afraid-in-the-us.html

      1. He tries to portray himself as a friendly neighbor migrant who just wants a job. Then he drops the mask and shows that he thinks he has a right to stay in the US.

    2. Leandro, a Venezuelan national, had to wait six months for the parole that his sister sponsored to be approved, and then he had to cross the border into Colombia because there are no direct flights from Venezuela to the United States.

      So he couldn’t make a connection, say in Mexico City or Bogota? Sounds fishy.

      Also, what happens to the SSNs of those who are deported? Do they keep them, or are they cancelled?

    3. right now there is a sense of repression, authoritarianism, racism and discrimination. I never imagined using those adjectives to describe this country, but I am using them because that’s the way it is,” he says.

      Then why are you trying to stay?

      1. “I thought that the United States was an example of a developed country,

        “Gimme your stuff, or you’re not a developed country. Give me special treatment, because equal treatment is oppression. ” Yeah, that’s how you undevelop a developed country.

  33. How Coral Gables became a key end point for smuggled Chinese migrants

    In Coral Gables, the tree-canopied streets remain as pristine as ever, the Mediterranean-style homes just as grand, and the city’s police officers make regular rounds through the neighborhoods. It seems an unlikely place for a human smuggling operation.

    Yet, in recent weeks, two major busts resulted in nearly 50 migrants—mostly Chinese—being detained after arriving by boat from The Bahamas. Their arrests, along with seven men suspected of being smugglers, took place just blocks from the city’s most expensive homes, where real estate ads boast eight-bedroom, 10-bath mansions bedecked with tennis courts, infinity pools and no bridges to the bay.

    The saga began on Jan. 17, when a woman was driving south on Old Cutler Road near Snapper Creek Lakes.

    As she was driving, something caught her eye. A U-Haul van sat parked with its doors open—yet there were no fishing supplies or gear inside, despite its proximity to R. Hardy Matheson Preserve, a fishing spot just south of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Next to the van was a Toyota Corolla with Texas license plates.

    Sensing something was off, she took down the license plate numbers and recorded a video to show a Coral Gables police officer. Just moments earlier, she had passed an officer near Sierra Circle off Old Cutler. He had mentioned that Marine Patrol had intel on human smuggling in the area. She had laughed, “There’s no way.”

    But as she neared the van, she saw a tall man, over 6 feet, forcing a woman into the backseat of the Toyota Corolla. She turned around, sped back to find the officer and showed him the video.

    “I was obviously worried that he was going to think I was crazy, saying that somebody’s being kidnapped at 9:30 in the morning on Old Cutler Road,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified due to her safety concerns.

    She says the officer immediately went after the U-Haul and Corolla. The department issued a “be on the lookout” order and officers soon pulled them over.

    Inside the U-Haul, police found 23 people, including driver Jose Luis Villares, a Cuban citizen, according to a Homeland Security Investigations complaint. The passengers, migrants from China and Ecuador, were crammed into the cargo area with no seats or ventilation, concealed by cardboard taped over the windows.

    Less than two weeks later, on Jan. 28, Gables cops stopped two white vans, also off Old Cutler Road. This time, they found 26 Chinese migrants and charged four men with smuggling.

    Last Sunday, Feb. 9, a Customs and Border Protection patrol boat crew stopped a 25-foot vessel traveling from Bimini to South Florida, carrying 20 migrants and two men, whom agents say are smugglers. The 20 passengers were 12 Chinese nationals, seven Haitians and one Jamaican, according to the criminal complaint filed last week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    One of the alleged smugglers, Bahamian national Demetrius Luciano Kemp, admitted to agents that he was paid $2,000 for the trip and was expecting an additional payment after dropping the migrants off “anywhere he could, whether at a beach or an inlet.”

    “Human smugglers are now trafficking Chinese migrants through new routes through the Bahamas and ending up in [places like] Coral Gables,” said Leland Lazarus, associate director of national security at Florida International University’s Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy.

    A growing number of Chinese nationals are leaving due to China’s faltering economy, said June Teufel Dreyer, a political science professor at University of Miami and an expert on China’s economic and political system.

    “Unemployment among college graduates is very high, and they’ve heard that high-paying jobs are plentiful here,” Teufel Dreyer said. “Even the uneducated have heard that life is easier in America.”

    Lazarus, the FIU expert, said the migration trends have been influenced by increased U.S. enforcement at the southern border with Mexico. Chinese migrants often would take a route from China to Turkey, onto Ecuador and then trek across the Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama before traversing through Central America to the southern border.

    However, that changed when Ecuador ended visa-free travel for Chinese nationals in July.

    An added concern for law enforcement, according to Lazarus, is whether any of the migrants have ties to Chinese crime syndicates that have taken over money laundering and illegal marijuana markets in the Western Hemisphere.

    “These Chinese criminals often rely on illegal Chinese migrants to work on massive marijuana farms from Maine to Oklahoma,” Lazarus said.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/crime/general/how-coral-gables-became-a-key-end-point-for-smuggled-chinese-migrants/ar-AA1z8ZZ0

    There’s a bunch of Chinese in the Oklahoma pot biz, or there were a few years ago.

    2. arriving by boat from The Bahamas.

      Great, even more things for the Border Patrol to think about. But it looks like they have a decent handle on this.

  34. Is it really a good idea to designate Mexican cartels as terrorists?

    Unintended consequences are a risk whenever implementing regulatory change. The U.S. decision to designate Mexican drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Ottawa’s decision to do the same to appease U.S. President Donald Trump creates new legal jeopardy for Canadian financial institutions and our companies that do business in Mexico, where the U.S. military estimates a third of that country is under cartel control.

    The problem was spelled out in a recent report produced for anti-money-laundering professionals: FTO designations “require financial institutions to… determine whether any funds they hold or transactions they facilitate – even indirectly or unintentionally – could benefit a designated party. Banks could … face criminal liability if they fail to detect material support for an FTO.”

    Determining what businesses or individuals qualify as agents of a designated Mexican cartel is properly the work of intelligence and policing organizations. If left to Canadian banks, it will, in many instances, cause debanking – the closing of accounts of firms and individuals because they may expose the bank to criminal prosecution in the United States or at home.

    When the first Trump administration designated Yemen’s Houthis as an FTO in January, 2021, global banks headed for the exits.

    According to former chief counsel to the U.S. Office of Foreign Asset Control, Jason Prince, “Banks treated any and all activities in Yemen as potentially bringing material support to an FTO, and … simply did not engage in any banking activities or process any transactions.”

    Cartels, however, are profit-oriented rather than ideologically motivated organizations such as the Houthis. Their goal isn’t to destroy Western democracies but to maximize profit, which is then hidden within legitimate financial and business sectors around the globe.

    They are extortionists, and they use the threat of deadly violence to extract cash from small and large businesses in areas of Mexico that the cartels control, which is different from bribery in which firms pay money to corrupt public officials to win contracts, a practice Canadians became familiar with during the SNC-Lavalin corruption case several years ago.

    The reality is that legitimate companies in Mexico sometimes pay cartels protection money to keep employees safe and the companies’ businesses open. Under the new U.S. and Canadian rules designating cartels as FTOs, such payments would likely be deemed terrorist financing activity.

    There are precedents. In 2022, France’s Lafarge SA, a building materials maker, pleaded guilty and paid almost $US800-million in fines and forfeiture to the U.S. Department of Justice for “terrorism crimes” after paying protection money to U.S.-designated FTOs ISIS and the al-Nusrah Front in Syria, where Lafarge’s subsidiary had a cement factory.

    Then there is the banana company Chiquita Brands International, which pleaded guilty in 2007 to making payments to a Colombian paramilitary group that the U.S. had designated an FTO. Chiquita was fined $US25-million.

    The good news is that U.S. banks and businesses are in the same boat and face similar risks that Canada’s firms do. Coming to terms with the unintended consequences of designating cartels FTOs should be addressed by the Canada-U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Feb. 3.

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-is-it-really-a-good-idea-to-designate-mexican-cartels-as-terrorists/

    1. where the U.S. military estimates a third of that country is under cartel control

      It’s a lot more than that. Business owners EVERYWHERE in Mexico have to pay protection money (derecho de piso) to the cartels.

  35. German voters demand change as Europe’s biggest economy stalls

    Lars Baumguertel wants Germany’s politicians to get out their cheque books.

    The 58-year-old executive runs one of the last surviving manufacturers in Gelsenkirchen, a former coal town in the industrialized Ruhr Valley.

    But his company, like many in the Mittelstand – the tissue of small- and medium-sized manufacturers that powers Germany’s economy – is reeling from high energy costs after the Ukraine war ended supplies of cheap Russian gas.

    Baumguertel hopes a new government will provide long-overdue infrastructure investment needed to rebuild Germany’s energy system and to transition to a greener, more modern economy. Germany has pledged to become carbon-neutral by 2045.

    “The entire Ruhr region, and Gelsenkirchen in particular, shows how constant change is needed to sustain economic growth,” he told Reuters during a tour of his factory. The family-run firm, founded in 1889, still employs some 2,000 people making galvanizing steel coatings.

    But Germany’s constitutional debt brake has prevented successive governments from making vital investments, ranging from public infrastructure to skills training, needed to overhaul Germany’s ailing economic model, economists say.

    The brake – part of Germany’s response to the 2009 financial crisis under former chancellor Angela Merkel – limits the federal government’s deficit to a mere 0.35% of output. By comparison, last year the U.S. budget deficit was more than 6% of output.

    In Gelsenkirchen, the signs of a downturn are visible everywhere. While the city played a big part in Germany’s post-war “economic miracle”, the rot set in with the decline of coal and heavy industry in the 1960s. Its population tumbled from 390,000 then to just 260,000 now as the local economy cratered.

    The city now has one of Germany’s lowest levels of income per capita and highest rates of child poverty, according to official data.

    Many residents no longer feel the economy is working for them and want change.

    The AfD sees the issue of energy costs as a vote-winner. It blames Germany’s years-long phase-out of nuclear energy, which started in the 2000s and was backed by all mainstream parties.

    “We’ve shut down the power plants here – some of the safest nuclear power plants in the world – to import electricity from the nuclear plants in France,” said local AfD official Christian Loose.

    When Germany pulled the plug on its last three nuclear power stations in April 2023, it became a net importer of energy from France, which produces 70% of its energy from nuclear. However, French energy imports represent only 3% of Germany’s energy consumption.

    The CDU, which is expected to lead a coalition government after the election, has left the door open to reopening these nuclear plants. Its leader, Merz, has described their closure as “a fatal decision.”

    “This is the time when Germany needs to invest and everybody else is doing it except Germany,” Nikolaus Wolf, director of the Institute of Economic History at Humboldt University of Berlin, told Reuters. “It’s really kind of suicidal.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-ae/money/news/german-voters-demand-change-as-europes-biggest-economy-stalls/ar-AA1zbuYh

  36. Swing State’s Focus Groups Are Bloodbath for Dems – Every Single Ex-Biden Voter Loves Trump’s Work So Far

    Voters who helped deliver a crucial state to Donald Trump in November’s election have a message for the new president’s administration: Keep it coming.

    According to a report from Axios, all the swing voters the outlet included in two focus groups last week said they approved of the job President Trump is doing in his first month in office.

    In addition, they also said they were behind, for the most part, the job being done by “special government employee” Elon Musk at the Department of Government Efficiency.

    The Arizona focus groups, conducted by the Engagious and Sago polling firms, did not contain “a statistically significant sample like a poll,” Axios noted.

    However, focus groups can give qualitative as opposed to quantitive feedback — and the information from the Arizona group jibed with what polls have been saying about the new administration.

    The 11 voters in the two groups, held Feb. 11, all backed Biden in 2020 but switched their vote to Trump in 2024, Axios reported Friday.

    As for the voters who switched, Axios said, “they’re good with Trump aggressively testing disruptive, expansionist expressions of presidential power that are piling up in court challenges.”

    “He’s trying to get America back on track as quickly as possible, given the state that it was left in from the previous administration,” one voter said.

    “So, the only way to do that is to do as much as you can as quickly as you can, because government budgets and doing government action take forever.”

    Others were OK with executive orders, as well.

    “I agree we need the Constitution and we need rules and procedures,” one voter said. “But at the same time, how are we going to make big changes? If someone like Trump [is] being unconventional, we need him to be doing these things, to be making these executive orders and making these big changes for big changes to happen.”

    Another: “I like how he’s cleaning house in the government.”

    The group also rejected the idea — popular among the Democrats at the moment — that Trump is attempting to “flood the zone” in order to overwhelm the ability of opponents to focus on any one issue.

    Instead, they thought he was moving with all deliberate speed — and that was a good thing.

    “He said he was going to do this, this, this, and this, and this is what he is starting to get done,” one voter said.

    “It’s not like he can run again, he already did his first term,” another said. “Some of these things, you can’t fix overnight, so he has to get started early on.”

    Axios also noted that “[e]ight of the 11 respondents also said they approve of Musk’s efforts in the administration.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/swing-states-focus-groups-are-bloodbath-for-dems-every-single-ex-biden-voter-loves-trumps-work-so-far/ar-AA1z7nNu

  37. KCRCC celebrates Trump win, expresses confidence during Lincoln Day Dinner

    The words, “The Golden Age,” were displayed high at the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee’s Lincoln Day Dinner on Saturday.

    A video featuring President Donald Trump included a quote, “Our golden age has just begun.”

    For the roughly 600 people in the room, and those who spoke to them, this is indeed the golden age.

    It was for all purposes a big party as the words of speakers were intermixed with laughs and smiles from the crowd and a few zingers aimed at Democrats.

    Attorney General Raul Labrador said he was grateful Trump lost four years ago because it made him a stronger and wiser president today.

    “Because they stole that election from him, he had four years to think about it, and we as Americans had four years to know how bad it was to be in America without a President Trump,” he said.

    https://cdapress.com/news/2025/feb/16/ushering-in-the-golden-age/

  38. FCC investigating KCBS for tipping off listeners about ICE raids

    The Federal Communications Commission is investigating KCBS All News radio for telling listeners where Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents would be conducting deportation raids in the Bay Area.

    Traditionally, the FCC has had a hands-off attitude toward news coverage by broadcasters out of concern about infringing on their First Amendment rights.

    But with a new president, the composition of the FCC now consists of three Republicans and two Democrats. The Republican majority is investigating newsroom operations of broadcasters.

    The FCC’s new chairman, Brendan Carr, confirmed the KCBS investigation during an interview on Fox News. Carr said the San Francisco radio station gave its listeners live locations and vehicle descriptions of immigration agents on Jan. 26.

    ICE has complained that the KCBS broadcasts put their agents at risk. Criminals might use the information to ambush the agents.

    KCBS’ parent company, Audacy, has declined to comment. The FCC determines KCBS was in violation, it has a range of actions it could take, from fining the station to taking away its licenses.

    https://padailypost.com/2025/02/10/fcc-investigating-kcbs-for-tipping-off-listeners-about-ice-raids/

    A comment:

    This is amazing. I listen to KCBS for traffic every ten minutes and I have to say, KCBS has been an anti-American, anti- conservative, absolute trash radio station run by George Soros globalists. It seems the biggest item on their “news” agenda is race baiting through “news” stories (e.g. a white cop yelled at an unruly black suspect, sparking outrage and inquiries into how our police interact with marginalized people) while dividing Americans of all nationalities. As a Trump voter in the Bay Area, this is absolutely beautiful news to hear. I’ll be reaching out to President Trumps office to be inform him of the other shenanigans and atrocities broadcast from KCBS. I want to see that station go down. Can’t spell KCBS without BS after all.

  39. Malibu’s Forgotten Fire: Why the Franklin Fire must be included in disaster relief

    Letter to the Editor

    Dear Editor,

    On Dec. 9, my home burned in the Franklin Fire in Malibu. Just 19 days after it was contained, the Palisades Fire ignited and raged all the way to my neighborhood. The fire was only stopped because there was simply nothing left to burn.

    Despite this undeniable connection, Franklin Fire victims are not included in disaster relief efforts, leaving me and my neighbors in a dire situation with no support.

    During this time, I was unable to return to my property. Homes on my street still lack drinkable water and essential utilities. The communication poles burned down, making recovery even more challenging. The already difficult job of dealing with the Franklin Fire has been compounded by the Palisades Fire, yet we have been left out of relief efforts.

    The housing market is overrun, and price gouging has made anything available unaffordable. I don’t qualify for help because my fire “doesn’t count.” I don’t qualify for free toxin testing or free debris removal from the Army Corps of Engineers. I don’t qualify for streamlined tax relief or financial benefits. I am still waiting for any assistance to cover my family’s initial six-week stay in a hotel with our pets.

    What was initially expected to be a few months of hardship has now turned into an estimated two-year ordeal — because I am at the bottom of every priority list.

    The most devastating realization is that I am woefully underinsured for this disaster. If I were allowed to combine my insurance policy, I would have the funds needed to rebuild. But because the Franklin Fire is not included in the broader emergency declaration, I am prohibited from accessing this option. If the Franklin Fire were bundled with the officially recognized wildfires, I could qualify for the necessary coverage to repair my home.

    It is heartbreaking to see that just 19 days after the Franklin Fire, victims of the Palisades Fire have been granted sweeping benefits and streamlined permits. They will be able to rebuild their homes “like for like” plus an additional 10 percent without the need for permits — not even for homes or septic systems. Meanwhile, I don’t qualify for this exemption. I don’t qualify for state-backed relief efforts. My neighborhood, which was undeniably part of this disaster, is being ignored.

    Instead, I am left with nothing but bureaucratic red tape and empty reassurances.

    Why is my neighborhood excluded from these crucial relief efforts? The answer is simple: Gov. Gavin Newsom has not signed off on it. Other fires across Los Angeles — including those caused by arsonists — have been bundled into the broader wildfire relief programs. Fires that never even touched the Palisades are included. So why not the Franklin Fire?

    Malibu is not just a playground for the rich and famous. It is home to multi-generational families like mine. I was born and raised in Malibu. My grandparents’ home on Pacific Coast Highway, which they purchased in the 1940s, was lost in the Palisades Fire. My parents’ home — my childhood home — was lost in the Palisades Fire. My own home, where I lived with my husband and child, burned in the Franklin Fire just 19 days before. The Franklin Fire was still smoldering when the Palisades Fire ignited. We were still in a hotel, not yet having found a place to rent. We are part of this disaster, yet we have been erased from its response.

    It is time for the Franklin Fire to be included in the state of emergency declaration. We need access to relief, insurance flexibility, and the same streamlined rebuilding process granted to our neighbors. We are victims of this disaster, and we deserve to be recognized as such.

    Marni Kamins, Malibu

    https://malibutimes.com/malibus-forgotten-fire-why-the-franklin-fire-must-be-included-in-disaster-relief

    1. MONEY
      SW Florida housing hitting marks not seen since brutal recovery from the Great Recession
      Phil Fernandez
      Naples Daily News

      Ah, yes, the No. 13.

      For a few, it’s a lucky number. In fact, I wore it often on jerseys in the less manicured days of Southwest Florida’s baseball fields, and I pretty much stunk most years, except when I turned 14. That’s when I peaked athletically.

      For others, 13’s very, very bad. According to 2023 University of South Carolina research of Otis Elevator, for every structure with a floor numbered “13,” six other buildings pretend to not have one, skipping right to 14.

      For some reason, 13 seems to show up a lot in the latest local real estate figures In the Know collected this past week. It is good? Is it bad? Here’s what to know.

      What’s the new mark Naples area set in January increase in listings?
      Let’s start with the ever-increasing inventory of homes in Collier County, thanks to the statistical mighty mites at John R. Wood Christie’s International Real Estate, which did an analysis this past week of Naples Area Board of Realtors numbers.

      New NABOR listings increased by 2,216 units, surpassing any month in the last 13 years. Yes, folks tend to pop their homes on the market around this time in an attempt to ensnare snowbirds before they flock back to their northern nests. But as the next stat may suggest, it’s not going so well.
      …
      https://www.naplesnews.com/story/money/2025/02/17/is-the-no-13-lucky-for-the-southwest-florida-real-estate-market-naples-collier-lee-county-cape-coral/78410873007/

  46. I searched throwing gold bars off the Titanic and found this.

    ICYMI: Administrator Lee Zeldin Announces EPA Found Billions of Dollars Parked at an Outside Financial Institution by Biden Administration

    Administrator Zeldin Demands Termination of Biden-Harris Financial Agent Agreement and Return of Entire Fund Balance

    February 15, 2025

    Contact Information
    EPA Press Office (press@epa.gov)
    WASHINGTON – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the agency found $20 billion dollars parked at a financial institution by the Biden-Harris Administration to fund partisan pet projects.

    Administrator Zeldin called for termination of the financial agent agreement, and for the immediate return of the entire fund balance to the United States Treasury to ensure EPA oversight. He will also be referring this matter to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and Congress, and the agency will work with the U.S. Department of Justice.

    The discovery comes on the heels of a video released of a Biden EPA political appointee talking about “tossing gold bars off the titanic,” intentionally rushing to get billions of tax dollars out of the agency before Inauguration Day in a reckless attempt to avoid oversight.

    In the last couple of days, the Administrator also identified and cancelled a $50 million Biden-era environmental justice grant to the Climate Justice Alliance and announced that the agency would not be renewing nearly half a million dollars in media subscriptions to Politico and its subsidiaries.

    Administrator Zeldin is steadfast in his commitment to review agency spending line-by-line to ensure every penny spent is to advance clean air, land and water for all Americans.

    Read the coverage below:

    https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/icymi-administrator-lee-zeldin-announces-epa-found-billions-dollars-parked-outside

    1. And notice that this isn’t Elon, this is Lee Zeldin, appointed by an elected President and confirm by an elected Congress. They can’t deny that he has authority.

  47. BUSTED: Judge Who Moved to Block Trump’s USAID Funding Freeze Chaired Non-Profit That Got $128 Million From US Gov

    by Adan Salazar
    February 17th, 2025 3:42 PM

    A federal judge who ruled last week that the Trump administration couldn’t freeze federal funding to USAID and other grant recipients failed to fully disclose his fiduciary interests to a Rhode Island nonprofit he’s overseen for nearly 20 years that’s received $128 million in government funding, the America First Legal (AFL) group alleges.

    Calling for Obama-appointed U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell to recuse himself, AFL uncovered documents showing the judge, who enacted a temporary restraining order against the Trump admin, served a 12-year stint as the director of the non-profit NGO Crossroads Rhode Island, where he still serves as Chair-Emeritus.

    “To recap: Judge McConnell has been on the board of an NGO for nearly 20 years, a board he still apparently sits on,” AFL wrote on Sunday. “In that time, that NGO has received over $128 million dollars in government funding from the state, a recipient of federal taxpayer dollars. This NGO, to which he owes a fiduciary duty, stood to lose millions of dollars based on the outcome of his decision in the case.”

    “If, as the documents suggest, Judge McConnell has been a leader of Crossroads Rhode Island, and if, as the documents also suggest, he knew or should have known that Crossroads Rhode Island would stand to benefit from his ruling against the federal taxpayers, then it seems he should have fully disclosed his entanglement with this federally funded organization up front and recused himself from the matter. He did not do these things. Now, it appears he should immediately vacate his TRO and swiftly recuse himself from this case without delay to comply with his ethical obligations.”

    AFL brought receipts and spelled out its case for McConnell’s refusal on X. See their evidence below:

    https://www.infowars.com/breaking-news

  51. The NGOs that under the Biden regime were facilitating mass illegal migration into the United States are now having to wind down their operations because Trump & DOGE have cut off their government (taxpayer) funding. So if these “Non-Government Organizations” are in fact dependent on FedGov funding, doesn’t that make them an extension of the Biden regime & FedGov?

    https://x.com/RealJessica05/status/1891614788364472670

    1. This was on HBB yesterday. I found it from the source before the sun came up. Puddle watcher saw it on Fox = yesterdays news.

        1. Okay, here’s my $0.02…

          I’ll take Definitions, Ken. What is a narcissist?

          * Narcissism involves self-centered, arrogant thinking and behavior, and a lack of empathy. Named after the Greek mythological figure Narcissus, a man in love with his own reflection in the puddle.

        2. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….

          There was a live video feed from a camera watching a puddle. If you watched it, you saw nothing happen and learned nothing. It would be more productive use of your time and energy to look around to things that are happening.

    1. He mentions they can’t make money farming. When the price of land gets higher than equilibrium, speculators turn less productive land into farms. You get oversupply and nobody is making any money.

  53. ‘We have people who have moved, got houses, got cars or have sick kids and we’re being hit with no notice’

    You earned that sweet equity Cathy and it was cheaper than renting. It’s a no brainer.

    1. ‘We have people who have moved, got houses, got cars or have sick kids and we’re being hit with no notice
      Yeah it kind of sucks. But as I have heard people say: Been there done that, got the T-shirt. Suck it up and you will be alright, seriously you will/can be if you tough it out. But yeah, it sucks for you.

  54. [A view from Down Under.]

    The Blob out-flanked by hi-tech science nerds.

    https://www.joannenova.com.au/2025/02/the-blob-out-flanked-by-hi-tech-science-nerds/

    “DOGE can’t be stopped because it’s a very technical team.”
    Trump and Elon Musk make a killer combination — One has business and politics, the other has wildly hi-tech science (and business skills too). For decades the Blob controlled science, captured it and strangled it to make it dependent. But they crippled their own teams so badly that one man came to achieve more than NASA. So it’s fitting that the same man came back to outflank the Blob’s technical defenses and leave them bare…

    Joe Lonsdale, a tech venture capitalist who made his millions selling software to the Defence department, explains why Elon Musk and his tech expertise change everything this time. According to him, when Reagan tried to get answers from the bureaucracy, he’s didn’t have the technical help. They would ask questions but “there are so many ways of obscuring and to block these things. ” As Lonsdale describes it, “– no president has done this, ever. No President has ever had tech people around him.”

    [Click on the link to read the rest of the article.]

    1. No President has ever had tech people around him

      That gives them lightening speed. Before so-called “tech” an accountant with a green visor sitting under a bare lightbulb would have seen these things, if his motivations were honest. I can’t be convinced that millions of staff elbows deep in this stuff didn’t understand all along.

    2. The DOGE team are doing forensic accounting. Arthur Anderson, Deloitte and Touché, etc., have done this sort of thing to identify assets of large firms worth more than their share price back when LBOs became popular. Modern databases make these deep dives much faster.

  55. ‘It will touch the companies that would make therapeutics and will stop life sciences expansion in our major markets. We’ve already seen an overbuilt real estate market for life sciences… this kind of just pours salt in a wound that’s been festering for almost three years now’

    It all seemed so promising during minor respiratory illness Gray.

  56. ‘Buyers were not seeing a lot of multiple offers or buyer frenzy, so they could pick and chose – and find things that are wrong with it’

    That’s the spirit buyers!

  57. ‘Another, Wirihana, offered $25,000 cashback or a $25,000 whiteware voucher’

    whiteware
    noun

    Any pottery of a white or nearly white colour.

  58. ‘Developers are still under pressure to offload stocks this year as construction costs remain the same,’ said Joseph Tsang, chairman at JLL Hong Kong. ‘With many stocks in the pipelines, their carrying costs are very high.’ On February 6, New World Development (NWD) surprised the market by pricing the first batch of flats at its State Pavilia residential project – the first phase of its redevelopment project at the site of the former State Theatre in North Point – at a massive discount. The strategy worked, as the indebted firm sold all 168 flats that it put up for sale on Saturday’

    Fooking the previous buyers of course. Little know fact: Hong Kong has yuuge amounts of vacant land to build on. And it’s the most expensive residential real estate on the planet even after this 27% a$$ pounding!!

  59. Nissan CEO: We Might Move Car Manufacturing Out of Mexico Over Trump Tariffs

    Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida signaled that if the United States imposes 25 percent tariffs on products from Mexico, the automotive company may have to move production out of that country.

    “We are exporting a large volume to the U.S., so if there’s a high tariff, this will have huge implications on our business, so we need to monitor this carefully,” Uchida said in a news conference on Feb. 13 when he was asked about potential tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Mexico.

    Nissan exports a “significant number” of cars to the United States from Mexico, the chief executive said.

    “If the high tariffs are imposed, we need to be ready for this,” Uchida said. “And maybe we can transfer the production of these models elsewhere. If this were the decision, we will think how we can make it a reality while monitoring the situation.”

    Meanwhile, Trump has said he would impose reciprocal tariffs on products from other countries, including India and the European Union, and also take broader actions. Last week, Trump signed an order that bolstered tariffs on all aluminum and steel imports into the United States.

    Those “tariffs on steel and aluminum will support the program’s original objective of revitalizing the domestic steel and aluminum industries and achieving sustainable capacity utilization of at least 80 percent,” the order stated.

    Uchida’s comments came after his company and rival Japanese automaker Honda canceled talks for a merger earlier this month.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/nissan-ceo-we-might-move-car-manufacturing-out-of-mexico-over-trump-tariffs-5811496

    1. “We are exporting a large volume to the U.S”

      Probably because they can’t find another country where people are willing to buy brand new vehicles with bad transmissions.

        1. “Another CVT sob story?”

          Yes, JATCO. Nissan’s answer is servicing the tranny every 5000 miles to the tune of $500

    2. Anyone is better than Newsom at this point, and I agree with the assessment that the LA firestorm sealed his fate.

          1. She’s signed with Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency, which plans to focus on speaking gigs and publishing opportunities. Hopefully, she grifts enough there that she won’t run for governor.

    1. Danielle DiMartino Booth loves to cite Humprey’s Executor as the reason Trump can’t fire FED chair Jerome Powell. She’ll be eating crow shortly.

      https://nitter.poast.org/jimmyfpe/status/1891710542433182193#m:
      @DiMartinoBooth you may finally get a MODERN case updating the antiquated idea that the President’s Executive Branch power to fire Executive Branch employees can be materially hamstrung by Congress or lower courts. Humphrey’s Executor isn’t good law in the present.

  63. Have you noticed lots of great news about affordability improvements so far in 2025?

    I certainly have.

    1. With listings up and demand down, 2025 is off to a rough start for housing
      Samantha Fields
      Feb 17, 2025
      Long-hesitant sellers are finally putting their homes on the market, but potential buyers who are uncertain about their economic futures aren’t ready to make offers. Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

      More homes were for sale in January in the United States than at any point in the last five years, according to a new analysis from Redfin. Demand for homes, meanwhile, is the lowest it’s been since then.

      For the housing market, 2025 is off to a slow start. “There’s a lot of pent-up demand out there, but buyers were certainly moving very cautiously in January,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS.

      She said there are a couple of reasons for that.

      “The most obvious is that mortgage rates have just remained much higher than maybe some prospective homebuyers were hoping,” she said.

      Many of them were expecting mortgage rates to come down after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates last year. Instead, they ticked up.
      …
      https://www.marketplace.org/2025/02/17/homebuyer-demand-down-listings-housing-market-confidence-uncertainty-inflation-interest-rates/

    2. “Have you noticed lots of great news about affordability improvements so far in 2025?”

      Sure it’s a trend, but true affordability is when the gov hillbillies are privatized, and the fed is barred from buying their MBS.

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