This Is Just A Situation Where Some Debt Happened
A report from Bloomberg. “Many American cities have suffered after the disruption of a crucial hometown industry. The nation’s capital never has, until now. Workers caught up in the federal purge meanwhile are calculating how far their savings can stretch. Jenny Carlson Donnelly, an entomologist who had been working on malaria issues at the US Agency for International Development, started to look for a new job after the Trump administration all but shut the agency. Donnelly isn’t sure whether she and her husband and two children will be able to stay in the home they bought in the Washington suburb of Laurel, Maryland, in 2023. ‘Not knowing whether I’m going to find a job in a timely manner and if we can pay the mortgage and the bills is stressful,’ Donnelly said. ‘We have to take things week by week, and we’re not the only ones. If all of these agencies are empty, that’s definitely going to impact the city. It’s not going to be the same after all of this. I don’t understand the end goal. I think come June, we’re going to see a big exodus.'”
“Claude Labbe, a realtor with Douglas Elliman in McLean, Virginia, said that a client who works for the federal government got a new job with his agency in Colorado. But he decided to rent out his house in Washington because of the softening sales market and is now leasing a place in Colorado because he’s not sure what will happen to his job. ‘People are making decisions and then they continually have to reassess,’ Labbe said.”
The Hartford Courant. “The spring homebuying season — traditionally the busiest of the year — hasn’t made much of an appearance in Connecticut for five years. ‘They’re not as trigger happy, right?’ Michael Barbaro, a real estate broker and president of SmartMLS, said. ‘They recognize that they are paying a higher interest rate, so they are taking their time a little bit more, but they are still out there out there, and they are still in the market.’ For two decades, there wasn’t any substantial gain in home values — when adjusted for inflation — until the onset of the pandemic buying frenzy, ‘There was no appreciation at all in Connecticut house prices,’ said Jeffrey P. Cohen, a professor of real estate and finance at the University of Connecticut School of Business in Storrs. ‘So, we’re making up for what we didn’t see over the last 20 or 30 years. This is not a bubble. We’re catching up to where we should be.'”
“A potential seller may look around and see rising prices and want to pump up the list price, according to Kurt Potter, a real estate broker at RE/MAX Right Choice Real Estate in Glastonbury. ‘Well, seven days on the market right now is like, what 30 used to be,’ Potter said. ‘So if you’re overpriced from the get go and you slow that process down, you’re really shooting yourself in the foot.'”
Florida Today. “Cocoa Beach has expanded its enforcement of short-term vacation rentals to include condos and other multifamily residential properties as the city continues to grapple with the growing industry. The measure was approved unanimously by the Cocoa Beach City Commission April 17, restructuring the fees for short-term rental operators in the city. Lisa Bosch, a property owner in Cocoa Beach, said she’s concerned about the new fee structure. ‘At this point I don’t even see it as legally supportable,’ Bosch said. ‘What’s going to happen to a small apartment building with those fees is it’s going to put us under.'”
News 12 Brooklyn. “A city program could put thousands of New Yorkers at risk of losing their homes – and many don’t even know it’s happening. The city’s 2025 tax lien sale is back after its pause since 2021. More than 11,000 Brooklyn homes are on the list. Resident Katherine Arevalo, says she was blindsided after inheriting a home when her relative passed away. ‘This is just a situation where some debt happened, yes,’ Arevalo said. ‘But it’s a shame that houses are taken away this way.'”
The Los Angeles Times. “When Diane Hvolka’s home burned down in January, the real estate attorney didn’t lose just her Pacific Palisades residence but a link to her teenage daughter, who died two years ago. The tragic loss of her only child — whose room she had left untouched — has left her determined to rebuild on her Glenhaven Drive property. But so far, Hvolka said, she’s been stymied by the California FAIR Plan, from which she bought coverage last year after her insurer of more than a decade suddenly dropped her. ‘I want to be on the land where my daughter grew up,’ said Hvolka, 47, who said she was promised a $550,000 check from the insurer in early February that has yet to arrive. ‘This is so frustrating. I’ve been chasing them ever since.'”
“Maral Donoyan and Wilmer Harris have the unwanted distinction of living in the 91001 ZIP Code in Altadena. Their garage partially burned, window seals melted and their home was infiltrated by smoke and ash, they said. ‘It smelled like the inside of a barbecue pit after a long day of barbecuing,’ said Harris, 61, after returning to the 3,900-square-foot house. What happened next stunned them. They said the insurer refused to conduct environmental testing or remediate the smoke damage, suggesting they call the cleaning company Molly Maid. The couple, now in their third Airbnb, has since taken out a Small Business Administration loan for more than $200,000 so they can pay for their own cleanup. They also have retained the same law firm that sued the state plan this month over its smoke-damage remediation policies. ‘The night of the fire we left thinking we had insurance coverage,’ said Donoyan, 59. ‘There was nothing that jumped out at us as to what a crazy ride we were about to take.'”
The Globe and Mail. “Over the past quarter-century, Canada’s housing market has brushed off every crisis that has come its way. It may finally have met its match in the erratic policies of U.S. President Donald Trump. Sales have plummeted in recent months, pulling prices down with them, while the stock of unsold homes – many of them shoebox-sized city condo units that were popular with investors but did little to meet the needs of families – is piling up. Last month, home sales slumped 9.3 per cent to the lowest level since February, 2009, a month that marked the pit of the Great Recession. In Toronto, only 5,011 units changed hands, the lowest number for any March since 1995, according to Toronto Regional Real Estate Board records. Prices also slid in March for the third straight month, with the Canadian Real Estate Association’s broad-based MLS Home Price Index down 8.5 per cent on an annualized basis so far this year.”
“Many Canadians who were actively house-hunting in January have since fled the market. ‘I have multiple clients who have put their plans to buy on hold,’ said Mike Hattim, a mortgage broker in London, Ont., with Dominion Lending Centres. While the inventory of unsold homes is building – for instance, the number of active listings in Ontario is at a 10-year high – builders themselves are putting down their tools. Homebuilding activity ‘is extremely slow right now, we’ve had a depressed market for almost two years,’ said Larry Masseo, a planner and president of the Waterloo Region Home Builders’ Association.”
“‘The starting point for housing is tougher this time, because valuations got so stretched the last few years,’ said Robert Kavcic, a senior economist at Bank of Montreal. Even though house prices since their peak in 2022 have already corrected 10 per cent to 20 per cent, depending on the market, ‘affordability is still stretched,’ he said.”
CBC News in Canada. “Financial adviser Paul Trainor said he’s been hearing a lot of anxiety from Islanders these days about the impact of Trump’s global trade war on their investments, including their RRSPs. ‘Everybody’s concerned about it,’ Trainor told CBC’s Mainstreet P.E.I. He said part of his role lately has been reassuring clients that short-term market drops are normal, and not a reason to act out of fear. ‘Don’t sell, because if you sell, somebody’s going to buy it and make a good profit six months from now. So the big thing to get out to the public is ‘Do not panic… It’s going to be volatile, but it’s going to settle,’ he said. For people nearing retirement, Trainor said most financial advisers would recommend avoiding volatile markets altogether and investing instead in safer options like Guaranteed Investment Certificates, or GICs.”
“Despite the shaky markets, Trainor, who is also a mortgage broker, said now might actually be a good time to enter the housing market, given that interest rates have been trending downward since last summer. In addition to lower interest rates, Trainor pointed to government supports such as P.E.I.’s Down Payment Assistance Program, a pilot program to assist qualified residents of Prince Edward Island with modest incomes to buy a first home. ‘We don’t know how long those are gonna last,’ he said. ‘The reality is that it’s a good time to buy, but I think the interest rates are still going to go down over the next six months. It’s probably a good idea to really take your time to find that home that you might be able to talk down $10,000, $20,000 to get it into your budget and work with — if you don’t have the down payment — work with the powers that be to get the assistance that you need and to get into a home.'”
Radio New Zealand. “House sellers cut their asking prices by a combined $63 million in the first quarter of this year, according to Realestate.co.nz. That figure compares the original asking price of a property when it was first listed with the price when it was sold or withdrawn. Spokesperson Vanessa Wiliams said vendors were trying to price their properties to meet the market, which reduced the need for price cuts once properties were listed. ‘Nationally, the average asking price has been trending downward over the past year, and stock levels are at decade-highs. We’re starting to see sellers come to market with more realistic expectations from the outset, which reduces the need for major price cuts later on.'”
“The biggest drops by dollar value were in Auckland, down almost $10m, Waikato down $7m and Wellington down almost $6m. ‘All up, that’s millions of dollars no longer circulating in the market. Buyers aren’t paying it, and sellers aren’t receiving it.’ The smallest drops were in Wairarapa, where vendors reduced an average of $24,346 from their asking prices. This was followed by Otago (down $26,220) and Hawke’s Bay (down $26,490). Williams said the drops could be a helpful benchmark for buyers and sellers. ‘For sellers, it offers a realistic view of how much they may need to negotiate. For buyers, it can give a sense of how much wriggle room might be available when making an offer.'”
“High levels of listings meant buyers had the balance of power. Although house values had increased a bit, that was likely to be muted. It could take some time for that backlog of property to be sold off, CoreLogic property economist Kelvin Davidson said. ‘I think it’ll take a while to erode some of those listings. We might not see much of a shift until spring or summer, maybe even into this time next year. Mortgaged investors remain on the comeback trail. Lower interest rates are certainly helping investors by reducing the cashflow top-ups out of other income sources that are generally required on a rental property purchase,’ Davidson said.”
This Post Has 76 Comments
Realtors are liars.
‘It smelled like the inside of a barbecue pit after a long day of barbecuing,’ said Harris, 61, after returning to the 3,900-square-foot house’
I love the smell of BBQ Maral.
‘What happened next stunned them. They said the insurer refused to conduct environmental testing or remediate the smoke damage, suggesting they call the cleaning company Molly Maid. The couple, now in their third Airbnb, has since taken out a Small Business Administration loan for more than $200,000 so they can pay for their own cleanup. They also have retained the same law firm that sued the state plan this month over its smoke-damage remediation policies. ‘The night of the fire we left thinking we had insurance coverage,’ said Donoyan, 59. ‘There was nothing that jumped out at us as to what a crazy ride we were about to take’
It was still way cheaper than renting Wilmer.
What does the insurance policy you bought say about environmental assessments and smoke problems? Covered events or excluded events?
200k for some “smoke” damage?
The usual cure for smoke damage is primer to seal it and new paint. Carpet replaced (not sure about hardwood), drapes, but probably not plastic shutters. at most we’re talking 50 grand here, not 200k.
An SBA loan for smoke damage?!
Not much has been said about the re-insurance industry.
‘The starting point for housing is tougher this time, because valuations got so stretched the last few years’..Even though house prices since their peak in 2022 have already corrected 10 per cent to 20 per cent, depending on the market, ‘affordability is still stretched’
Remember how much igloo clusters went up during minor respiratory illness? Parts of Ontario were up around 80% in 2 years. So yer right Bob, the starting point looks like a cliff now that Tiff broke it off in yer a$$.
‘Bosch, a property owner in Cocoa Beach, said she’s concerned about the new fee structure. ‘At this point I don’t even see it as legally supportable,’ Bosch said. ‘What’s going to happen to a small apartment building with those fees is it’s going to put us under’
If you bought based on STR rents, you can get fooked Lisa.
I love the smell of a burning STR investor in the morning!
WSJ – World Economic Forum Opens New Probe Into Founder Klaus Schwab.
.
Founder quit after board moved to investigate whistleblower allegations, which he denies, including use of luxury property and travel
https://archive.is/pOPdp
World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab is under investigation by the organization he created after a new whistleblower letter alleged financial and ethical misconduct by the longtime leader and his wife.
The anonymous letter was sent last week to the Forum’s board and raised concerns about the Forum’s governance and workplace culture, including allegations that the Schwab family mixed their personal affairs with the Forum’s resources without proper oversight, according to the letter and people familiar with the matter.
It included allegations that Klaus Schwab asked junior employees to withdraw thousands of dollars from ATMs on his behalf and used Forum funds to pay for private, in-room massages at hotels. It also alleged that his wife Hilde, a former Forum employee, scheduled “token” Forum-funded meetings in order to justify luxury holiday travel at the organization’s expense.
Klaus Schwab in recent days argued against an investigation, telling board members that he denied the unsubstantiated allegations and that he would challenge them in a lawsuit, the people said.
The board of trustees decided to open a probe during an emergency meeting on Easter Sunday. Schwab opted to resign immediately as the chairman, instead of staying on for an extended transition period as previously planned.
The Schwabs said through a spokesman that they deny every allegation in the whistleblower complaint. To protect their reputation, Klaus Schwab intends to file a lawsuit against whoever is behind the anonymous letter and “anybody who spreads these mistruths,” the spokesman said.
Whenever Schwab charged massages at a hotel to the Forum while on travel, he’d always pay the Forum back, the spokesman said. Schwab and his wife denied the allegations about luxury travel and withdrawing money.
In a statement, the Forum said its board unanimously supported the decision to initiate an independent investigation “following a whistleblower letter containing allegations against former Chairman Klaus Schwab. This decision was made after consultation with external legal counsel.”
The Forum said it takes “these allegations seriously, but they remain unproven, and will await the outcome of the investigation to comment further.”
The letter also raises concerns about how Klaus Schwab treated female employees and how his leadership over decades allegedly allowed instances of sexual harassment and other discriminatory behavior to go unchecked in the workplace, allegations that were raised in a Wall Street Journal article and previously investigated by the Forum. The Forum disputed the Journal’s reporting at the time, and Schwab denied the allegations against him.
“We feel compelled to share a comprehensive account of systemic governance failures and abuses of power that have taken place over many years under the unchecked authority of Klaus Schwab,” the states the letter, which said it was from current and former Forum employees.
The organizer of the annual Davos conference has been shaking up its leadership in recent weeks in response to a previous board probe into its workplace culture. In a recent memo, Børge Brende, the Forum’s CEO, said the Forum would take steps to address leadership issues identified by the prior probe and that the investigation didn’t substantiate the allegations against its founder.
A few weeks ago, Schwab, 87, said he’d step down as nonexecutive chairman of the Forum’s board, and the Forum said the succession process would be completed by January 2027. The whistleblower letter blew up that timeline.
Behind the scenes, a high-stakes boardroom drama unfolded pitting Schwab against the global powerplayers on the Forum’s board. The board includes celebrities like cellist Yo-Yo Ma and politicians like Al Gore. It also has business leaders like AXA Group CEO Thomas Buberl and Accenture CEO Julie Sweet.
Trust between the board and Schwab had been deteriorating over the course of the past year, some of the people said.
After receiving the whistleblower letter, the audit and risk committee of the board decided over the weekend that it would open an independent investigation into the allegations.
One allegation raised in the letter is the Schwab family’s use of Villa Mundi, a luxury property purchased before the pandemic by the Forum, next to the organization’s headquarters in Geneva.
Villa Mundi is a sprawling Modernist house built in the 1950s overlooking Lake Geneva. It was renovated over several years and opened as a meeting and conference center in 2023.
The whistleblower letter maintains that Hilde Schwab maintains tight control over use of the building and that portions of the property are understood to be reserved for private family access; the Schwabs deny the claim. The letter says the Forum paid about $30 million to purchase the property and another roughly $20 million to renovate it.
Hilde Schwab helped oversee renovations to the property, which had fallen into disrepair. The refurbishment incorporated materials such as recycled glass and fishing nets, according to local news reports.
The Schwab spokesman said the renovations to the house, which were costly because of the need to preserve historic features, have boosted the value of the property. The spokesman added that the Schwabs live near Villa Mundi and have used it only for Forum-related events.
In a statement, Hilde Schwab said, “The building is a role model for sustainable architecture, which is dear to my heart, and I was glad to show it to people who expressed interest.”
Over the weekend, Schwab told board members that the whistleblower allegations were unfair and inaccurate, and he sought a chance to address the board during its Sunday meeting. The board decided against that, leaving Schwab feeling that he didn’t have his say.
“He never had a chance to give his side of the story to the board or the audit committee,” the Schwab spokesman said. Schwab forfeited his pension of 5 million Swiss francs as a sign of good faith to the Forum, he said.
The Forum announced his resignation on Monday.
“Following my recent announcement, and as I enter my 88th year, I have decided to step down from the position of Chair and as a member of the Board of Trustees, with immediate effect,” he said in the statement.
The board appointed Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, the former Nestlé CEO, as the interim chairman and established a search committee for the future chair’s selection.
Founder quit after board moved to investigate whistleblower allegations, which he denies, including use of luxury property and travel
Translation: He lost an internal power struggle and the Dark Rider has thrown him from his mount.
a probe during an emergency meeting on Easter Sunday
Ironically, a group of non-religious (amoral) trustees will judge the ethics of their leader.
Interesting choice of day. It just couldn’t wait until Monday. Then again I suspect that few, if any of them, commemorate the Resurrection.
Religious or not, working on Sunday is verboten among the class elites. Weekend work is for serf labor in the factories, you see. If elites were doing actual work on a Sunday, then either something big is going down, or something really big was going to go down on Monday and they had a deadline.
Every day is a day of rest.
The board appointed Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, the former Nestlé CEO, as the interim chairman
Henri Nestlé founded the company in 1867, producing baby food. Little did he know that the family biz would someday be part of the global cabal of overlords.
[paraphrase from ChatGPT]: This guy at Nestlé once espoused the concept that water should not be declared a human right. Since Nestlé is famous for acquiring cheap water rights for their PureLife, San Pellegrino, and Poland Spring bottled water, he was accused of wanting profit off of limiting water to the needy and poor. He later had to massively clarify that declaring water a human right would lead to overconsumption and waste.
Still not a good look IMO, because it still sounds like water should be limited to prevent waste… and *who* would be imposing those limits? Oh yeah, someone like Mr. YouWillOwnNothingAndYouWillBeHappy.
overconsumption and waste.
Water is neither created or destroyed. It’s all recycled. Use it all, it won’t go away. It might go someplace else though.
Reliance on AI for understanding will not go well in the long run.
True, but if you live in more arid locales, potable fresh water is in short supply. The Trump admin sued Mexico for taking more than its fair share from the Rio Grande.
Some people call fresh water the “blue gold”
“Water is neither created or destroyed. It’s all recycled.”
The water itself is not wasted. What is really wasted is the energy that was used to separate sodium chloride and magnesium chloride (and other things) from the water. Ask AI what I’m referring to.
Ask AI
I already know about rain, even if I sometimes say silly things.
If my grandmother were alive, she’d say: Better to be silent and be suspected a fool, than to quote AI incessantly and prove it.
What is up with his left eye?
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Peter+Brabeck-Letmathe
Looks creepy. Maybe he’s possessed?
WTF is going on with his eye?
https://x.com/Risen_SzN/status/1914555524093268266
Former Nestle CEO was known to say that “Water isn’t a human right.” He thinks water should be privatized and controlled in human distribution. Just one more evil bastard wanting Monopolies/Elites to control natural resources.
These Powers that Be want to control everything that’s needed to survive as a human.
“These Powers that Be want to control everything that’s needed to survive as a human.”
Arthur C. Clarke once opined that old people might find life easier on the moon due to its reduced gravity. The downside is that your life support systems, e.g., air, water, etc., are controlled by someone else who may not like the way you vote, dress, etc.
New York Times (4/23/2025):
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of health and human services, escalated his fight against the food industry, declaring that “sugar is poison.”
Yes, Bobby, sugar is poison.
Remember during CCP Flu when exercise and sunlight and fresh air were illegal, but all the drive through McFood goyslop stayed open?
Related article.
HuffPaint — Trump Administration Wants To Ban Soda From Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (4/22/2025):
“In an initiative championed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the administration is encouraging states to change Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program rules to disallow certain unhealthy foods.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders leapt at the opportunity this month, filing an official request with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers SNAP, to restrict which foods are eligible for purchase with SNAP debit cards.
“Banning soda and candy from food stamps will remove some of the least-healthy, most-processed foods from the program and encourage low-income Arkansans to eat better,” Sanders said in a joint press release with USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins.
More than 20 million households receive monthly SNAP benefits, which can be used for almost any food item in a grocery store except alcohol and hot ready-to-eat meals. The Arkansas proposal would cut out “soda, low and no-calorie soda, fruit and vegetable drinks with less than 50% natural juice, unhealthy drinks, and candy” while allowing SNAP recipients to buy hot rotisserie chickens.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/food-stamps-soda-junk-food-rfk-jr_n_6807e12ce4b02faa778d6948
More than 20 million households receive monthly SNAP benefits
Say 4 people per household and that’s 80 million people.
I remember when relying on foodstamps was a source of shame. Now a quarter of the country use them. And they are likely also on Medicaid, Section 8 and other free cheese programs.
I have heard that a common tactic in the Hispanic community is for couples to legally divorce. Then the unemployed wifey loads up on the free cheese, while “ex hubby”, who does work, can afford a super duper Troka.
My family was on food stamps for a short time when I was a kid. It was the early 70s, so food stamps were exactly that, monopoly money paper. My father told me he went to the grocery store early in the mornings, when there were no other people in the checkout line. That’s how ashamed he was to be seen using the monopoly money.
Nowadays it’s almost like a badge of honor.
There are plenty of aimless working-aged men in our small town. I see ’em in their pajama pants, mid day, shopping with the baby momma at Walmart.
I know at least 2 states (nebraska and one other) have now banned soda and energy drinks from being bought with SNAP bene’s. So the window is moving.
“sugar is poison.”
I figured that out on my own a long time ago.
But it’s also big business, which is where the discussion gets interesting!
Unfortunately, I think Bobby needs to concentrate on other poisons first. Sucrose is a lesser poison, and we can handle quite a bit of it. Kids were able to survive a sugary childhood from the 50s to 70s, as long as they cut back as adults. 12 ounces of Kool-aid had almost as much sugar as a can of Coke, we had bananas and citrus all over the place, and we never skimped on the sugar in cakes and cookies and ice cream. Yet people didn’t get fat until age 35.
The real poisons are those seed oils and HFCS (including solids), and possibly some of the additives. Bobby knows this, so I think he’s got people working behind the scenes. I’m especially encouraged that he’s looking into baby formula. If you’re wondering why toddlers are so huge these days, it’s because they’re effectively being fed Coffee-mate.
When I was a kid, butter and sugar sandwiches were on offer if we were outside playing. I was a skinny kid.
“So, we’re making up for what we didn’t see over the last 20 or 30 years. This is not a bubble. We’re catching up to where we should be.’”
Where you should in home prices be is 3 to 4 times median income. I don’t have time to look up Hartford’s numbers this morning but I’m guessing this comment is complete BS.
If all of these agencies are empty, that’s definitely going to impact the city. It’s not going to be the same after all of this. I don’t understand the end goal.
They really don’t get it, do they? The $2T deficits. The wasted money. They really thought the fat times would go on into perpetuity.
Warmists gonna warm.
Colorado Sun — Colorado could become first state to require climate change warning for gasoline sales (4/23/2025):
“The Centennial State may become first in the nation to require retailers to warn consumers that burning fossil fuels “releases air pollutants and greenhouse gases, known by the state of Colorado to be linked to significant health impacts and global heating.”
The warning is the linchpin of a bill — House Bill 1277 — that narrowly passed the state House on April 2 and is scheduled to be heard Wednesday in the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee. Its Democratic sponsors say the bill will raise awareness among consumers that combusting gas in their vehicles creates pollutants that harm their health and trap heat in the atmosphere, leading to more intense and extreme weather, wildfires and drought.”
https://coloradosun.com/2025/04/23/gasoline-warning-label-law-colorado-climate-change/
Marxists gonna Marx.
“Claude Labbe, a realtor with Douglas Elliman in McLean, Virginia, said that a client who works for the federal government got a new job with his agency in Colorado. But he decided to rent out his house in Washington because of the softening sales market and is now leasing a place in Colorado because he’s not sure what will happen to his job. ‘People are making decisions and then they continually have to reassess,’ Labbe said.”
The rest of us call that “life”. Yeah, FedGov workers thought they were exempt, they even gloated about it.
a little political comment:
https://thedailybs.com/2025/04/23/bs-daily-political-cartoons-biden-throws-his-hat-in-to-be-next-pope
Democrats and MS-13, a springtime love affair (4/23/2025):
“Political parties need votes from people, and voters do not like being murdered or seeing their countrymen killed. So you would expect all politicians to take their side on least on this.
But when it comes to Democrats, you’d be wrong about that.
They have embraced an alleged MS-13 gang member, an illegal alien from El Salvador who had been living in Maryland. The man’s wife called the police on multiple occasions and accused him of domestic violence. Yet they are now working tirelessly to reverse his deportation, even though voters in heavily Democratic Prince George County are not on their side. They feel safer after the deportation.
Why would any elected official create such a spectacle around something so unpopular? The answer is simple: President Trump. If Trump is on one side of an issue, Democrats can be counted on to take the other, no matter how insane it is. And they will trample each other to get there, even if there is a trove of video of them proclaiming the righteousness of Trump’s position from some time not long ago. Nothing else matters but opposing Trump.
And it’s not just Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the so-called “Maryland man” in question — it’s every gangster, no matter how violent or how long they’ve been terrorizing communities in this country. They travel to visit them. They rush to get them returned. Their non-profits rush to pay for their defense.
Trump Derangement Syndrome can explain only so much of this psychosis. The other part of it is that you and your community simply don’t rate as priorities for Democrats.”
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/5261502-democrats-and-ms-13-a-springtime-love-affair/
voters do not like being murdered
Logic at its finest.
This needs to translate into voter turnout in 2026, or else it doesn’t matter.
Half the population support Democrats. America has an intelligence problem, not a political problem.
US new home sales jump in March; supply still rising
New home sales jumped 7.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 724,000 units last month, the highest level since September 2024, the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said on Wednesday. The sales pace for February was revised down to a rate of 674,000 units from the previously reported 676,000 units.
In March, new home sales increased in the densely populated South and the Midwest. They, however, fell in the Northeast and West. The median new house price dropped 7.5% to $403,600 in March from a year earlier. Most of the homes sold last month were below $499,999.
The inventory of new homes last month increased 0.6% to 503,000 units, the highest level since November 2007. At March’s sales pace it would take 8.3 months to clear the supply of new houses on the market, down from 8.9 months in February.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-home-sales-jump-march-144550766.html
“US new home sales jump in March; supply still rising”
Do you think this inventory flood will end in CR8R?
“The median new house price dropped 7.5% to $403,600 in March from a year earlier”
Such a bogus number. The builders are throwing everything into the deal to keep this number low. Now builders in my hood are throwing in completely landscaped backyards. You usually just get the front. Another is offering to completely furnish your new home. My calculations tell me that we’re easily approaching 100k in incentives, extras and rate buy downs on these new builds. These 500K new homes should be appraising at 400K if appraisals were really legit. So 7% is hogwash. The entire system is a complete fraud.
Are you piling into stocks, now that DJT is making nice with Powell and deescalating China tariffs?
TSLA P/E 140
After the garbage earnings yesterday (priced in, our betters assured) rockets overnight and was up as much as 8% today.
Clown market gonna clown.
The 33-story administrative building was the only structure to collapse in Bangkok during the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar and Thailand on March 28. The building, which was still under construction, came down in a matter of minutes, killing at least 47 people immediately and trapping dozens of construction workers in the debris. Forty-seven construction workers remain unaccounted for at press time.
https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2025/04/22/thailand-arrests-chinese-executive-bangkok-earthquake-skyscraper-collapse/
WHO announces ‘significant’ layoffs amid US funding cuts
The World Health Organization chief said Tuesday that operations and jobs would be slashed as US funding cuts had left the UN agency with a budget hole of several hundred million dollars.
“The sudden drop in income has left us with a large salary gap and no choice but to reduce the scale of our work and workforce,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told member states, according to a transcript of his remarks.
The United Nations health agency has been bracing for President Donald Trump’s planned full withdrawal of the United States — by far its largest donor — next January.
The United States gave WHO $1.3 billion for its 2022-2023 budget, mainly through voluntary contributions for specific projects rather than fixed membership fees.
But Washington never paid its 2024 dues, and is not expected to pay its 2025 dues.
This has left the WHO preparing a new structure, which Tedros presented to staff and member states on Tuesday.
“The refusal of the US to pay its assessed contributions for 2024 and 2025, combined with reductions in official development assistance by some other countries, means we are facing a salary gap for the 2026–27 biennium of between $560 and $650 million,” he said.
The lower end of that spectrum “represents about 25 percent of staff costs” currently, he said, stressing though that “that doesn’t necessarily mean a 25-percent cut to the number of positions”. He did not say how many jobs would be lost at the WHO, which employ more than 8,000 people around the world.
But he acknowledged that “we will be saying goodbye to a significant number of colleagues” and vowed to do so “humanely”. “These are very painful decisions for all of us,” Tedros said.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/announces-significant-layoffs-amid-us-211736448.html
“The sudden drop in income has left us with a large salary gap and no choice but to reduce the scale of our work and workforce”
8,000 too many.
Chain the front door shut and hang up a Sorry! We’re Closed sign globalist vermin 🐀
All of them parasites who do nothing to improve people’s health
WHO announces ‘significant’ layoffs amid US funding cuts
So the other 100+ members couldn’t chip in and cover the gap?
They expect us to pay for everything..
Just think, all that boot-licking at the feet of pooh-bear and not a single yuan out of it.
Verizon feels the pain of federal layoffs in declining phone subscribers
It appears that job cuts by the federal government are now showing up on corporate balance sheets.
Verizon lost 289,000 monthly phone subscribers in the first quarter, the telecom company said in its earnings report released Tuesday. That’s more than double the decline from the same period a year ago. On its earnings call, the company attributed the decline — at least in part — to a loss of business from the federal government.
If you don’t have a government job, you don’t have a government-issued phone.
“DOGE [Department of Government Efficiency] has had its impact, right?” said Roger Entner with Recon Analytics, which counts Verizon as a customer. “They have laid off a lot of government employees. They have canceled contracts.”
He said the federal government is a substantial client for the telecom. Since there are fewer government workers now, “Verizon will feel the pinch,” along with other telecoms with federal contracts, Entner said.
It might not just be the federal government that’s paring back. Craig Moffett, senior analyst and founder at the research firm MoffettNathanson, said if the stock market continues to falter and the economy slows, that could mean fewer new businesses and fewer new business telephone lines.
Also, families could hold off getting the kids phones.
“Instead of getting a child a phone when they’re 10 years old, they’ll wait until the child is 11, or something like that,” said Moffett.
Moffett is also watching to see how a tightening in immigration policy will affect the industry. He said if fewer people are allowed into the country, or more are deported, “it’s inevitably going to have an impact on subscriptions.”
https://www.marketplace.org/story/2025/04/22/federal-layoffs-reduce-verizons-monthly-phone-subscribers
If you don’t have a government job, you don’t have a government-issued phone.
I’ve never had a corporate phone. I think only the guys in sales get one.
How much of that “government business” was phones for illegal gangbangers? These supposed third world countries can’t figure out sewer systems or basic security or learn a little English, but oh boy they know how to use those phones.
IRS turmoil: Leadership churn, worker exodus and threats to groups’ tax-exempt status roil agency
The height of tax season was the height of turmoil at the IRS. The agency shuffled through three acting directors over the course of a week. It’s preparing to lose tens of thousands of workers to layoffs and voluntary retirements. And President Donald Trump is weighing in on which nonprofits should lose their tax-exempt status, an incursion into the agency’s typically apolitical stance that threatens to further erode trust in federal institutions and weaponize enforcement efforts.
Among other concerns at the agency are fears that Trump will weaponize the IRS against his enemies — and reward his friends.
Some of the Democratic Party’s core political institutions, including fundraising platform ActBlue and the protest group Indivisible, are preparing for the possibility that the federal government may soon launch criminal investigations against them.
Trump said last week at the White House that the administration is looking at the tax-exempt status of Harvard University, which has defied the government’s attempts to limit activism on campus, and environmental groups. He also mentioned the ethics watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
“It’s supposed to be a charitable organization,” Trump said of CREW. “The only charity they had is going after Donald Trump. So we’re looking at that. We’re looking at a lot of things.”
Among other changes in recent weeks are concerns about the IRS’ engagement with the Department of Homeland Security over enforcing a new data-sharing agreement signed earlier this month by Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The agreement will allow ICE to submit names and addresses of immigrants inside the U.S. illegally to the IRS for cross-verification against tax records.
That agreement is being litigated in federal court.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/taxes/irs-turmoil-leadership-churn-worker-exodus-and-threats-to-groups-tax-exempt-status-roil-agency/ar-AA1DrVIz
Among other concerns at the agency are fears that Trump will weaponize the IRS against his enemies — and reward his friends.
Projection.
I received a small refund about 4 days after my accountant filed my taxes. I’m certain no human being reviewed my filings.
HIAS Pennsylvania reels as Trump’s funding cuts hit refugee-resettlement programs
HIAS Pennsylvania is shrinking as the immigrant-assistance agency reels from huge cuts in federal funding under President Donald Trump. By the end of June its staff will have dropped from 88 to 49 as layoffs take hold, and by the end of October its annual budget will have fallen from about $11 million to about $5 million.
That comes as the Trump administration stops the programs that bring refugees to new lives in the United States and support them for a time after they get here.
“I’m obviously devastated,” said Cathryn Miller-Wilson, executive director of the Philadelphia-based agency, “but I’m unshakable in my faith in my staff and the work that we do.”
Similar layoffs and funding losses are taking place at resettlement agencies across the country, some of which joined a conference call with business leaders and elected Democratic officials on Monday to demand that the administration reopen the resettlement program.
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said refugees and other immigrants are vital to his city’s ability to grow, earn, and thrive, and he spoke directly to them, saying, “We want you to come here.”
“We have to get the resettlement program restarted,” the mayor said. “This is how you grow a state, how you grow a city.”
The confirmation of losses at HIAS Pennsylvania follows big funding and staff cuts at Nationalities Services Center, Philadelphia’s largest resettlement agency. NSC’s budget will be down by half come May, and it has already shed a third of its staff.
The U.S. resettled 100,034 refugees in fiscal 2024, the largest number in 30 years, as President Joe Biden rebuilt the shrunken system he inherited from the first Trump presidency.
Trump cut the numbers to historic lows during his first term.
In the last three months of 2024, Pennsylvania received 1,043 refugees, with more than 700 coming from just three countries, Syria, Afghanistan, and Democratic Republic of Congo, according to government statistics. New Jersey resettled 216 refugees during that time.
Brandon Mendoza, president and CEO of the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, told reporters on the call that government support for refugee resettlement is crucial. In Erie, he said, refugees have started businesses, bought homes, and filled job openings — “a lifeline to Erie County.”
Roughly $7.4 million in federal funding has been or is expected to be cut from the local budget, Miller-Wilson said. The agency has not been paid in months for its core programs, and expects funding to disappear for some programs that are still operating, she said.
The federal cuts have been terrible for the agency, but most of all for new arrivals who need help and support to get settled, Miller-Wilson said. “A whole lot arrived in January and February, and all of a sudden it’s, ‘I’m sorry, we can’t help you anymore.’”
“I’m conscious of people who disagree with our work,” Miller-Wilson said, but “the shrinking of our services is not about us, it’s about our country. … We’re losing [immigrant] workers, we’re losing employers, we’re losing the beautiful diversity from all over the world. The cuts to us, it’s not about our agency, it’s about our country, which is devastating and tragic.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/hias-pennsylvania-reels-as-trump-s-funding-cuts-hit-refugee-resettlement-programs/ar-AA1DrE7D
‘refugees have started businesses, bought homes’
Oh dear…
“This is how you grow a state, how you grow a city.”
Only if your dream is a welfare state.
I posted a video yesterday of the mayor (little m) of Philly who can’t even spell ‘eagles’ and according to Wikipedia “After graduating from Lincoln University in 1994, Parker worked briefly as a high school English teacher in Pleasantville, New Jersey”. Here is the video again, it is only 15 seconds:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/K3EcdCnAbqQ
I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict that no one running Philly (or Pittsburg) has any clue how to build a city. In other interesting Philly/US historical events news, here is a great news bit on how things are really going. America’s Flagship, the USS United States has been docked there for 30 years and recently got hauled off to be sunk for a reef. The leaders say it’s about protecting our resources and serving future generations blah blah blah. Philly can’t get anything right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mUElhntVUc
The above link is a great mindf*ck in a short 3min segment but if you are interested in this sort of thing there are some really good independent long form videos on it where they go into the history of the ship and the whole process of hauling it off to Mobile Alabama where it is currently preparing to be scuttled. Clown world.
Last I checked, Pittsburgh built their city through oil, mining, and steel mills. How many illegal immigrants did that?
Orders to leave the country — some for US citizen — sow confusion among immigrants
President Donald Trump suspended CBP One for new arrivals his first day in office but those already in the U.S. believed they could stay at least until their two-year permits expired. The cancellation notices that some received ended that sense of temporary stability. “It is time for you to leave the United States,” the letters began.
Notices have been sent to others whose removal orders are on hold under other forms of temporary protection. A federal judge in Massachusetts temporarily halted deportations for more than 500,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who came since late 2022 after applying online with a financial sponsor and flying to a U.S. airport at their own expense.
Maria, a 48-year-old Nicaraguan woman who cheered Trump’s election and arrived via that path, said the notice telling her to leave landed like “a bomb. It paralyzed me.”
Maria, who asked to be named only by her middle name for fear of being detained and deported, said in a telephone interview from Florida that she would continue cleaning houses to support herself and file for asylum.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/orders-leave-country-us-citizens-041656018.html
“those already in the U.S. believed they could stay at least until their two-year permits expired”
CBP-1 was converted to an open-border app in January 2023. So for many of them, their two-year time already is up.
What will it take to defend Canada? Experts say party platforms miss the target
There is an “anything you can do, I can do better” vibe to the defence policies of both the Liberals and the Conservatives, but a trio of national security and military experts say each of the parties are missing — or avoiding — the fundamental national security issue at stake in this election.
They say voters are likely asking themselves: What will it take for Canada to defend itself without — or possibly against — the United States?
“I think there’s far more similarity than there is difference,” said Dave Perry, president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.
It is, he said, significant that the parties agree on meeting the NATO benchmark, which allies, including Canada, originally pledged to work toward in 2014 following Russia’s invasion of Crimea.
“Canadians need to be aware that we’ve landed on actually living up to the set of commitments we promised to deliver on 11 years ago, just as our allies move on to a new set of commitments when it comes to the share of our economy we’re investing in defence.”
At the upcoming NATO summit in June, allies are expected to approve a higher threshold for investment in defence — perhaps as much as 3.5 per cent of GDP. U.S. President Donald Trump said he wants to see allies spending as much as five per cent of GDP.
“So we’ve coalesced on honouring the commitment we made in 2014, basically just in time for that commitment to get redefined,” said Perry.
“I think Canada is now, unfortunately, in the position where rhetoric and promises are no longer close to cutting it, because our allies, both in the United States and in Europe and in Asia, have heard rhetoric and promises for a long time and haven’t actually seen results.”
University of British Columbia political and defence expert Michael Byers said the question of what allies, especially Trump, think of the promises is almost irrelevant because the American president’s “demands keep changing.”
Where allies, other than the United States, will be important is post-election, he said. The next prime minister should immediately reach out to European NATO allies, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, “to determine how we can support each other.”
But in measuring the commitments of the political parties ahead of the ballot box, Byers said, Canadians need to be asking themselves: “What does Canada need to defend itself, especially in the absence of a reliable ally to the south?”
That is a question each of the parties have studiously avoided, said University of Calgary defence and Arctic expert Rob Huebert. “The existential threat facing Canada is how do you deal with an untrustworthy America, while facing an increasingly nuclear-armed, aggressive Russia and an increasingly powerful China?” said Huebert, who noted that federal leaders spent little time in the debates on that question.
“So the question is not the dribs and drabs. Are we going to turn around and have three bases or one base in the North? It’s really, how do we get serious about protecting Canada?”
There is a reason, Huebert said, the leaders and the parties have avoided tackling such an uncomfortable notion head on.
“I get the sense that neither of the parties really want to address it in any serious context, just because it does create the possibility of electoral disaster if the wrong word is spoken,” he said.
All of the defence experts were skeptical on how many of the promises each of the parties would actually implement if elected next week.
It is a matter of political will, said Huebert. “If you can get a prime minister to actually think about defence and to act on defence, that is when things happen in Canada,” Huebert said, referring to the Liberal defence policy introduced under former prime minister Justin Trudeau.
“You can go back to 2017 and look at how complete that policy statement was, and then follow it up with how much was actually implemented … Canada has developed this tendency to talk about security, but to do nothing.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/conservative-liberal-defence-platforms-analysis-1.7516003
‘What does Canada need to defend itself, especially in the absence of a reliable ally to the south?’
Reliable ally = unca sugar pay our way while we jet around the world on multi-month vacations.
The Canadians are being gaslit to ensure a continued march toward a socialist utopia.
RFR Loses 285 Madison Ave. At Auction As Korean Lenders Become More ‘Aggressive’
A group of Korean insurance firms represented by Daol Asset Management has taken over RFR Holding’s 285 Madison Ave. at a UCC foreclosure auction.
Daol owned $205M of mezzanine debt tied to the building. The roughly $220M senior CMBS loan originally fell into maturity default in late 2022 before being extended.
When it matured again in December and RFR defaulted once more, Daol brought in management firm Ocean West Capital Partners and initiated foreclosure proceedings less than six weeks later, dodging a lengthy workout process.
“With Manhattan office leasing trends improving dramatically and increased investment activity in the market, the mezzanine lender concluded that its strongest course of action was to exercise its foreclosure rights and invest new capital to take control of the property,” an Ocean West press release said.
In 2017, the 25-story Grand Central office tower was appraised at $610M, according to Morningstar Credit. Last year, its valuation was slashed in half to $300M. Ocean West added that the property “remains well leased.”
Ocean West said that 285 Madison is the latest in more than $2B of New York City assets that it has either acquired or advised upon for Korean institutional investors in the past 12 months.
In 2025, nearly 80% of Korean investors say they intend to increase their allocations in real estate both domestically and internationally, with value-add being the most popular investment strategy, according to a survey by CBRE. Korean net buying intentions are 10% higher than the Asian Pacific average.
“We have seen a change in tenor from the Korean lending community whereby they have become more aggressive in protecting assets located in strong markets,” Ocean West principal and co-founder Phil Choi said in a statement. “These investors represent some of the largest insurance companies and pension funds in the world, who have capital to execute a wide variety of strategies.”
Two months before the December foreclosure filing, a judge allowed two debt funds held by Daol to enforce a personal guarantee against RFR’s Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs following their February 2024 default on the mezzanine loan.
Lenders have generally moved onto the offensive as the maturity wall grows. Many banks have begun purging bad debt to stabilize their books and return to lending.
RFR has been among the property owners caught with maturing debt and a portfolio filled with older office buildings that have fallen out of favor compared to new trophy towers.
It was evicted from its ground lease at the Chrysler Building in January and has faced numerous other foreclosure proceedings.
https://www.bisnow.com/new-york/news/capital-markets/lender-yanks-285-madison-ave-away-from-rfr-as-korean-investors-become-more-agressive-129030
Denver Zoning Rules May Be Quietly Fueling RiNo’s Retail Vacancy
Retail vacancies plague some of Denver’s most popular districts and neighborhoods, a paradox that leaves many city proponents scratching their heads as retail in general regains strength after years of turmoil.
In two areas with the highest retail vacancy rates, some commercial real estate players point to obscure city zoning laws as the cause. The River North Art District in particular has been impacted by rules known as design overlay districts, which in effect require ground-floor retail to be included in any large new development.
“Any new project that gets submitted — multifamily, hotel, whatever — has to have ground-floor activation,” said Kyle Framson, senior vice president at Denver brokerage Zall Group. “But there’s too much retail in places where it just doesn’t make sense.”
Framson said developers are building ground-floor space they know they can’t lease just to move forward with the rest of their project.
“It’s the tail wagging the dog,” Framson said. “At this point, we just want to get it activated and hope it helps with the upstairs leasing.”
As of the first quarter of 2025, RiNo’s retail availability rate hit 9%, according to a Newmark report — nearly double the citywide average of 5% and up a point from the end of 2024.
Vacant retail space can lead to vacancy across a development and harm a building’s reputation, according to experts who spoke to architecture firm Weber Thompson.
“We see tenants walk into a building, see empty ground-floor retail, and it scares them off,” Wyatt Lovera, founder and managing owner of The Dwelling Collection, a Denver-based lease-up and marketing firm, told Bisnow in an interview.
https://www.bisnow.com/denver/news/retail/rino-retail-vacancies-zoning-code-design-overlays-128979
There’s no parking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it’s not rocket science
besides being in Dumver, completely unsafe, beggers/druggies everywhere, esp after dark.
And this is all beyond the fact that retail as a whole is dead. There’s this new website called amazon, get you anything you want right to your door. socialist hellholes are so behind the times.
I’ve been here over a decade and the acronym “branding” of these zones (they’re not neighborhoods, they’re zones) is sad and weak.
SOBO here near South Broadway, because it’s the opposite of SOBER.
Denver is an open air asylum of addiction and mental illness.
Why is it so expensive to build affordable homes in California? It takes too long
The spiraling cost of housing in California has affected virtually every facet of life.
California has the nation’s largest unsheltered homeless population and among the highest rates of cost-burdened renters and overcrowded homes.
One reason for the seemingly endless upward trajectory of rents is how expensive it is to build new apartments in California. Those costs are a major contributor to “break-even rents,” or what must be charged for a project to be financially feasible.
I recently led a study that compared total apartment development costs in California to those in Colorado and Texas. The average apartment in Texas costs roughly $150,000 to produce; in California, building the same apartment costs around $430,000, or 2.8 times more. Colorado occupies a middle ground, with an average cost of around $240,000 per unit.
For publicly subsidized, affordable apartments — a sector that California has spent billions on in recent years — the gap is even worse. These cost over four times as much as affordable apartment units do in Colorado and Texas.
There’s no single factor driving these huge differences. Land costs in California are over three times the Texas average. “Hard costs,” or those related to improving the land and constructing buildings, are 2.2 times those in Texas. California’s “soft costs,” which include financing, architectural and engineering fees, and development fees charged by local governments, are 3.8 times the Texas average.
There are some unavoidable California-specific costs, like ensuring buildings are resilient to shaking from earthquakes. But the truly lifesaving seismic requirements explain only around 6% of hard-cost differences, the study estimated. The state’s strict energy efficiency requirements add around 7%.
California’s high cost of living may drive up the price of labor, but we found that construction wage differences explain only 6% to 10% of hard cost differences for market-rate apartments. However, for publicly subsidized apartment projects, which are often mandated to pay union-level wages, labor expenses explain as much as 20% to 35% of the total difference in costs between California and Texas.
“Soft costs” in California are a major culprit. California property developers pay remarkably high fees for architectural and engineering services — triple the average cost in Texas. It’s five times as much or more if you’re building publicly funded, affordable apartments in the Los Angeles and San Francisco metro areas.
Seismic engineering requirements play a role. The bigger factor are complex and burdensome design requirements for affordable housing. These are dictated by state and local funding sources, and have little to do with habitability or safety but contribute substantially to these astonishing differences.
Development fees to local governments make up the largest soft-cost difference in California. Such fees, which were the subject of a 2024 U.S. Supreme Court case, average around $30,000 per unit. In Texas, the average is about $800. (Again, Colorado occupies a middle ground at around $12,000.)
In San Diego, for example, these fees on average eat up 14% of total development costs per apartment.
But the biggest thing driving up California apartment costs? Time.
A privately financed apartment building that takes just over two years to produce from start to finish in Texas would take over four years in California. It takes twice as long to gain project approvals and the construction timeline is 1.5 times longer.
That means land costs must be carried for longer, equipment and labor are on jobsites longer, and that loans are taken out for a longer term, and so on.
Most of the differences that the study uncovered stem from policy choices made by state and local governments. Many are legacies of the so-called “slow growth movement” in California, which has shaped housing production since the 1980s.
Those efforts worked. Population growth in the state went negative for a few years after 2020, due primarily to the high cost of housing. Even more recently, California’s growth was half the numbers seen in Texas and Florida, with younger and higher earners disproportionately leaving.
These departures have dire implications for the state’s fiscal future and political influence nationally. California recently lost a congressional seat for the first time in its history. If current national population trends hold, it could lose four or five seats in 2030.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/why-is-it-so-expensive-to-build-affordable-homes-in-california-it-takes-too-long/ar-AA1CXqJW
The same people who want slow growth also want open borders and unlimited immigration. They’re all idiots. This is where I would point out that California is going to burn but it has already begun.
Trump Criticizes Zelenskyy as Ukrainian Leader Remains Opposed to Land Concessions
U.S. President Donald Trump castigated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on April 23, after the Ukrainian leader said his country would not legally recognize Russian control over Crimea.
The U.S. government recently presented a proposal to end the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war.
The White House has yet to confirm details of the proposal, but Vice President JD Vance has indicated the plan would freeze the fighting along the current territorial lines.
That would, in effect, compel Ukraine to cede some of the territory it has lost to Russia since 2014.
Speaking at a press conference on April 22, Zelenskyy reiterated his position that Ukraine would not legally recognize Russia’s claims to any territory it has seized from Ukraine since 2014, including the Crimean peninsula.
Russian forces first took over Crimea in 2014. Russian forces have continued to assert control over other areas of Ukraine since invading the country in 2022.
Zelenskyy denounced talk of giving up territory, stating: “There’s nothing to talk about here. This is against our constitution.”
Trump, taking to his Truth Social platform on April 23, accused the Ukrainian leader of harming peace negotiations with his recent comments.
“Nobody is asking Zelenskyy to recognize Crimea as Russian territory, but if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it 11 years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?” Trump wrote.
“It’s inflammatory statements like Zelenskyy’s that makes it so difficult to settle this War. He has nothing to boast about!” Trump said in his Truth Social post.
“The situation for Ukraine is dire — He can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country.”
https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/trump-criticizes-zelenskyy-as-ukrainian-leader-remains-opposed-to-land-concessions-5846347
What I’m reading is our congress has ‘zero’ appetite for further funding. If that’s the case the dancing cowgirl can start packing his high heel boots. He wants the war to continue so he can stay in power. The Russians want the war to continue because they are winning and gaining territory by the day. The Russians have sat at the table because they want to get the sanctions lifted, which President Trump said he would do.
I’m sure behind this little actor, there are the European/American globalist scum and the neocon dogs in DC. So can they pony up the dough to keep this going? Even so it would be over far sooner than 3 years.