Bits Bucket for August 27, 2014
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF, being investigated for political fraud. I’m astonished that there’s a country where oligarch bankster enablers like her don’t enjoy complete immunity from fraud of every sort, like they do here.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/27/christine-lagarde-imf-investigated-alleged-political-fraud
I saw that. All I can say is, hope she gets it good.
There isn’t complete immunity for political fraud in the US.
Former Reptile VA governor McDonnell’s case will be wrapping up soon in federal court. He’s going to be convicted of a bunch of things, how much prison time he’ll do will depend on which ones.
This boomer Reptile was basically using the VA governor’s mansion as a way to get gifts for himself while doing errands for donors.
Occasionally you have to throw a sprat to catch a mackerel; in this case the sprat will convince people there are consequences for corrupt politicians; a very small sprat for an enormous mackerel.
Jon Corzine, the DNC “bundler” for Obama’s campaign, presided over the theft, er, excuse me, “rehypothecation” of $1.6 BILLION from customer accounts to cover MF Global’s bad bets on European bonds. He walks the streets a free man without the slightest concern for potential consequences. One law for the many, another for the few.
+1 Nice summary.
Is that legal here in America?
The fact that no bankster has gone to prison for their role in the 2008 financial meltdown, or the mega-swindles ever since, should make the answer to that question perfectly clear.
Confucius say: Money saved in the bank better than money wasted on a house.
which loses value faster a house or cash in the bank?
Seems like people have switched form saving money to buying homes because they can do the saving for them.
what is a dollar someone socked away in 1914 worth today?
There will be contant QE from here on out.
It depends upon how fast real estate is crashing.
cash in the bank doesn’t lose value. it gains value in a deflationary spiral such as that we’re experiencing right now.
your alleged deflationary spiral is not happening at the grocery store.
You’re right there. The Fed’s QE pump ran straight into commodities amongst other things, and jacked up the prices at the grocery store. When you combine said steroidal QE program with bubble farmland prices, government farm subsidies, and a massive food stamp program, you get PAIN at the grocery store.
“your alleged deflationary spiral is not happening at the grocery store.”
Q: How many mouths are you feeding these days?
“your alleged deflationary spiral is not happening at the grocery store.”
Nor is your inflation.
It’s not happening.
I consume many groceries, and there is no deflation in the prices of these groceries.
Precisely. Price action of anything except labor isn’t an indicator of inflation or deflation.
That’s obviously true, IF the money spent on a house is “wasted.”
The Confucius post was in response to one of Ben’s comments yesterday:
Tell me how buying up unoccupied apartment buildings in uninhabited cities is not a waste?
Let’s put it in context:
‘The sharp drop in China’s housing prices has led to an outburst of anger among property owners, leading to violent clashes in some cases, according to local media reports Tuesday.’
‘In one case, scores of property owners surrounded a Shanghai sales office of Greentown China Holdings Ltd. to protest the developer’s 25% cut to prices within a five-day period, according to a report.’
‘Protesters held banners with slogans such as “You cheated us!” and “300,000 yuan [$48,750] worth of assets evaporate within five days — years of work in vain!” according to photographs of the demonstration posted on the site.’
‘In other Chinese cities, such confrontations between buyers and developers have turned violent.’
These Chinese take money pretty seriously. Wait until they find out the US government can’t pay back all the money it borrowed.
“These Chinese take money pretty seriously. Wait until they find out the US government can’t pay back all the money it borrowed.”
There’s that, but also I wonder about the Chinese “immigrants” who bought at the top (they don’t know it yet) in the US. Will there be local demonstrations against sellers, builders, etc.?
Not outside the realm of possibility, a group of Asians really got their boxers in a wad up in Queens when a bunch of low income blacks and hispanics were moved into a building in their neighborhood.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/26/nyregion/homeless-shelters-opening-in-queens-stirs-ugly-exchanges.html
And, you know, there’s something a bit disingenuous about a group of people protesting being cheated when they don’t have any qualms about doing the same.
Especially when it comes to manufactured products and food products.
So have at it, boyz’n'gurlz.
These Chinese take money pretty seriously. Wait until they find out the US government can’t pay back all the money it borrowed.
Wait until they find out that no government on any of the five continents will be able to pay back its debts. Argentina is the tip of the iceberg. The money will continue to flow here because we are perceived as the last man standing.
“Wait until they find out that no government on any of the five continents will be able to pay back its debts. Argentina is the tip of the iceberg. The money will continue to flow here because we are perceived as the last man standing.”
I agree. The Argentina situation is very interesting. I’m surprised Kirchner is still alive, actually. I’ve said in the past that the resolution for all of this is to sweep the board and re-set. Eventually that will happen.
I’ve said in the past that the resolution for all of this is to sweep the board and re-set. Eventually that will happen.
Heck, it’s in the bible. And I’ve said all this “debt” is not as big of a deal as it’s made out to be. Most the wealth will still be there even if the funny numbers get adjusted. And I just found this site.
http://www.jubileeusa.org/home.html
August 7 - Argentina sued the United States today at the International Court of Justice. The suit stems from Argentina’s legal dispute with hold-out creditors.
August 5 - Jubilee USA’s Executive Director addresses the United Nations about the global impacts of the Argentina/NML case.
July 31 - Argentina defaults on its debt as negotiations with predatory hedge funds fail. Grenada and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are two countries that could be impacted by the Supreme Court’s ruling. Jubilee’s views are covered in The Wall Street Journal and NPR’s Marketplace.
June 25 - According to a new IMF paper, corporate tax avoidance hurts the global economy, and poor countries most of all.
June 20 - The IMF releases a major paper focused on increasing financial stability and ending predatory behavior. Jubilee’s views are covered in the Financial Times.
June 16 - The Supreme Court rejected Argentina’s appeal for a hearing in the “Debt Trial of the Century.” See Jubilee’s views in the Associated Press, Bloomberg, Washington Post, NPR, Democracy Now! and Time.
June 13 - The International Monetary Fund Executive Board meets t
Nobody put guns to their heads and forced them to snap up U.S. Treasury bonds.
No way.
‘How Hillary Clinton’s ’smart power’ turned Libya into a dumpster fire’
‘The decision to launch airstrikes on Libya was made in about 96 hours, by self-described “humanitarians” who took up the emerging international norm of “responsibility to protect” as their reason for war. To the applause of Bernard-Henri Levy and other munitions-grade faux intellectuals, they argued that Western governments had a duty to use military resources to help civilians who were being abused by their governments. Not in North Korea where the masses starve, or Zimbabwe where hyperinflation was rampant and the unemployment rate was nearly in triple digits, but wherever there seems to be a winnable civil conflict, with plausible-looking good guys who can be taught to say “democracy” and “human rights.”
‘In the most obvious form of moral hazard, this pernicious “R2P” norm lowers the price of civil war in the developing world, encouraging rebels to make provocative attacks, then lobby for Western air support when the local bad guy punishes them for it. Uncle Sam or NATO deploys resources in a civil war these rebel groups could never win with their own blood and treasure. They often fail to win even when they do get help. The expectation of Western air power has exacerbated and intensified conflicts in Serbia, the Sudan, Libya, and Syria. As an international norm, R2P adds nothing but a noble-sounding gloss on getting more people killed than usual.’
“Smart power” never existed. The phrase was nothing more than a two-news-cycles slogan of self-flattery for sophomoric Washingtonians trying to explain how much more human-rights-protecting and rational their bombs were than George W. Bush’s. A decent society would send these Responsibility to Protect advocates to march the streets of Tripoli with “smart power” written on their backs like a “Kick me” sign.’
I can see why IMF head Lagarde thinks she did nothing illegal, since crony capitalism has been the status quo for so long.
http://rt.com/news/183076-lagarde-corruption-charged-imf/
Will Destroying Evidence Work for the IRS?
I know many of you don’t want to believe that the Obama Administration used/is using the IRS to attack their political enemies, but the have.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2014/08/27/will_destroying_evidence_work_for_the_irs_339852.html
Worked for Sandy Berger after 9/11.
This is from yesterday:
—————–
Comment by Neuromance
2014-08-26 18:53:07
…Like any other destructive business practice - offshoring of all sorts of manufacturing capacity, corporate looting, putting taxpayers on the hook for bad debt and rewarding those who engage in these actions - politicians get paid by businesses indulging in these actions. And as long as voters keep voting them back in, there is absolutely no reason to stop.
None of these people - politicians or the Fed - are social workers… They are doing what they do to enrich themselves and improve their and their associates’ positions.
————–
It would be nice if it were that easy. It’s not enough to just vote out the bad politicians. We have to vote out enough bribery politicians and vote in enough honest politicians to gain a clear majority and surmount that 60-vote filibuster hurdle in the Senate. And keep those majorities for at least two years to get any legislation through. And THEN you have to make sure that those politicians stay bribeless for some length of time.
There is one cental solution, of course. Instead of the Rube Goldberg machine of deciding which candidate will or will not take bribes from destructive businesses, simply cut to the chase and disallow bribes in the first place — and enforce it with actual removal and not just a repremand. Then all of them will be (more) honest by default. And then we can have some cleaner debates about political philosophy. We will see the politicians for themselves instead of as mouthpieces for their paymasters.
Occupy Wall Street saw this clearly, and notice how quickly THAT got quashed.
None of these people - politicians or the Fed - are social workers…
Except, of course, Obama himself. But social work is not a “real job,” remember?
U.S. Intelligence: We are losing the war Against Islam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tsUnCeXWb0
And the UK has already lost that war. I was surprised to hear this segment on NPR this morning, because this is a perfect example of the end results of cultural relativism. The segment notes that police and political leaders were aware that the abusers were young Pakistani men, but stayed silent out of fear they would be considered racist.
http://www.npr.org/2014/08/27/343623192/report-details-horrific-abuse-of-children-in-u-k-town
“And the UK has already lost that war.”
It’s not like they were ever fighting a war to begin with. As the story illustrates above, the UK is so clapped out they’d hand over their own children without a peep.
US seems to be following in its footsteps, although not quite that far gone, as seen in some of the protests against illegal immigrant trafficking here. But close.
Not the first case, or will be the last I fear.
Politicians scrambling for cover. The party leadership is throwing them to the wolves; they seem to be clueless about how upset people are, they really though “lessons will be learnt would do”. Rather under estimated the media’s desire for blood and readership/viewing figures.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-28947707
Yeh, the media will be making money on this for some time in the foreseeable future, I fear. Get ready for one on one interviews with victims, heartbroken parents, that sort of thing. Maybe even a salacious tidbit from one of the traffickers.
Actually the correct punishment for the politicians and child protective services people and anyone who had the capacity to act but didn’t, would be to turn them over to a group of traffickers and forget about them.
I do wonder about the parents, though. Where were they in all of this, or were they too cowed to say anything, given what happens to anyone who stirs racial animosity?
I do wonder about the parents, though. Where were they in all of this, or were they too cowed to say anything, given what happens to anyone who stirs racial animosity?
Right. A caring parent would not say anything about their girls getting molested because they’re afraid of “racial animosity”.
Outlandish.
IMO, this quagmire is going to get a lot worse before it gets better, and it probably won’t get better in my lifetime. The Islamists are winning and ironically the best policy the USA could have ever had was to follow the European policy and stay the hell out of the Middle East, and not be world cop.
Obama, Democrats, Republicans, and NATO: Still playing the Islamists’ foil
http://non-intervention.com/1309/obama-democrats-republicans-and-nato-still-playing-the-islamists-foil/
- turned off italics
“The Islamists are winning and ironically the best policy the USA could have ever had was to follow the European policy and stay the hell out of the Middle East, and not be world cop.”
Keep telling yourself that Mr Chamberlain.
Look up the term Taqiyya and see what the Islamists in Europe and America are really up to.
let israel fight and pay for their own wars, thank you.
+1
reedelberger,
Israel could not exist on its own without U.S. taxpayer aid. $120 billion since 1947. Of course other Middle East countries combined got more U.S. taxpayer aid since 1947.
The point is the Israeli lobby is putting U.S. citizens’ necks on the chopping block for the survival of their stupid little piece of dirt.
I have no sympathy for Israel under attack while their lobby is making Israel’s enemies kill U.S. citizens.
What the USA must do:
- Become energy-independent of the Middle East. Starve them all. Make the Islamic situation China’s problem the next 50 years. Open up the regulations to allow the U.S. to become energy rich and an exporter.
- Every citizen should become armed and well trained in the use of firearms
- Encourage every citizen to hoard precious metals and crypto currencies.
- Every citizen should also stop sanctioning government - voting causes more damage than it fixes. Voluntaryism is the last hope.
Bill, you are delusional. When it comes down to individual freedoms and civil liberties versus the statist/collectivists, the statist/collectivists will win.
Making decisions for yourself and taking accountability for your own actions is just too scary, better for most to seek the comfort of the warm smell of the herd.
Every citizen should become armed? Sorry, with great power comes great responsibility, and too many of our populace are too mentally unballanced, too violent and unlawful, or just too stupid to be entrusted with that kind of responsibility.
Wednesday Drudge links (some of which not written by real journalists)
And remember, kidz, it’s all about framing a narrative
New York Times - Obama Pursuing Climate Accord in Lieu of Treaty (this one is the trifecta, because it’s published in libtard New York Times, and allows link clickers to hate on both Obama and fake global warming)
Breitbart - La Raza: Five Million the ‘Floor’ of What We Want to See Obama Do (here Drudge links to article about topic that real journalists don’t touch)
Breitbart - Unprecedented: Food Stamp Enrollments Top 45 Million 3 Years In a Row (article references the “new normal” of the Obama economy, how’s that S&P 500 record close above 2,000 working out for you Lucky Ducks?)
Washington Free Beacon - Iranian General Threatens Surprise Attack on Israel (it wouldn’t be Drudge if he wasn’t whipping the Christian Zionist slobbering Israel lovers into a frenzy)
Your narrative has been framed. And be sure to tune into Rush Limbaugh at noon eastern time to hear these articles honed into talking points that even a slack-jawed, knuckle-dragging blog poster and article commenter can copy and paste into a browser window.
Rush is great for Rush but bad for the GOP as a whole.
Rush is brilliant at what he does. Second highest paid person (after Howard Stern) in radio ever.
Unfortunately, I don’t think much of his audience actually appreciates the extent of his critical analysis of American media, they only skim the surface and take away the talking points.
Rush’s brilliance lies in the fact that he is his own boss and not really beholden to any MSM. Generates his own ad revenue, etc.
No doubt. The way Rush packages the news makes it irresistible catnip to a certain type of boomer, almost like a schedule 1 drug.
I think I mentioned this last year… I filed a request for early release for an inmate who was sentenced by Rush’s cousin Stephen in E.D. Mo. The inmate was a pretty harmless meth addict who got caught with the crystals too often. He was a mid-40s tradesman (plumber IIRC) with a wife and kids. As the fed gov loves to do, Judge Steve tossed him in the federal pen (expensive!) for an absurdly long time, I believe 15 years. I transitioned this over to someone before leaving my last job, but next time I play softball with those guys I’m going to ask whatever happened with that. Holder relaxed the guidelines for nonviolent drug offenders about 2 yrs ago, so I’m wondering if Steve still thinks it’s smart to spend ~70k/inmate/yr incarcerating these nonviolent Missouri meth clowns.
No doubt. The way Rush packages the news makes it irresistible catnip to a certain type of boomer, almost like a schedule 1 drug.
It’s all about the anger. He gets people to feel angry, from which they derive a lot of satisfaction. You’re right, it’s probably very addictive.
His appeal is probably not limited to baby boomers. The oldest members of the next generation are now in their late thirties. That is around the age that people realize that they’re not going to ever get rich and then start looking for people to blame.
Selling radio ads to angry old white guys is an awesome way to roll in the dough.
Rush is brilliant at what he does
Rush is “brilliant” because he appeals to the ignorant and lies with a weasel’s skill. Note: He does not take callers to debate.
Anyone educated and informed with an IQ of 120 would eat his lunch.
“5 million the floor.”
I’ll do that deal.
The Chamber of Commerce wants 20 million (or really, anyone who can get here.)
How does one threaten a surprise attack?
Just for reference, Feinstein’s comment about real journalists did not refer to the quality of the journalism. The comments were in the context of the media shield law, i.e. the journalistic privilege to withold the names of confidential sources without threat of contempt of court. If there are no clear criteria to define “journalist,” then anyone who is subpoenaed for information could refuse to answer simply by claiming to be a journalist.
apologizing for dianne feinstein? how cute.
so any random bedwetter with a new york times or washington post press badge gets an out, and people like alex jones of infowars dot com will get tossed in jail.
That sounds unlikely. But if he did get put in jail for a few days, he’d probably love it. It would be great for ratings and he could spend weeks ranting and raving about it on the radio.
SF Bay Area median home prices:
http://blog.sfgate.com/bottomline/files/2014/08/8-14_Map_Bay-Area_Median_House-Price.jpg
Rents declining (but still overpriced) in metro DC:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-27/luxury-apartment-boom-favors-d-c-s-millennial-renters.html
I’ve been meaning to get out on my bike and get some pics of new in-fill developments around town. There is a massive concrete structure along my commute that mushroomed up in the past few months, and just got a sign in front of it advertising Cherry Hills luxury rentals coming in Spring 2015.
I’ve been saying for a while that DC luxury rental buildings are popping up like crazy. There are still a dozen big ones under construction (big meaning 100+ units, usually on 8-10 floors).
A lot of the kidz are being subsidized by their parents and have 2 roommates in a 2 BR apt. 2 BR apartments in these areas go for 2500-3500 rent.
Yeah, rents craaatered a whopping 0.1%.
Probbaly because Ms. Millenial and her roommate needed a two-month-free move-in special to afford a $3000 2/2 flat in Virginia Square Towers. And after a year, she will have to move again when she gets the sticker shock from her lease renewal.
“And when the rent does go higher, she knows she has options in the area. This apartment is her third home in less than five years. ”
Yup.
“…Cherry Hills luxury rentals coming in Spring 2015.”
Luxury renters probably leave the premises in good shape with the rent current, so there’s a chance the numbers might really work.
Renting to the bottom of society usually means constant repairs as the “boyfriends” are recycled on a semi-annual basis, kidz everywhere at all hours, etc., are just too much, IMHO.
Where are jumbo mortgage limits at these days?
In the 600’s, I believe.
Kind of irrelevant because from what I read, many of the houses in nicer nabes are going cash only. Like, good luck getting a house in Atherton with a mortgage of any type — the seller’s agent (likely some “air headed chicky poo with an associate’s degree) will probably laugh at people who need financing.
define jumbo for our audience.
define jumbo for our audience.
Mortgages that will never be paid-in-full by the borrower.
With housing demand collapsing broadly, what does it matter.
NSA Shares Hundreds of Billions of Records with Government Agencies
by VW StaffAugust 25, 2014, 5:57 pm
Documents from Edward Snowden Reveal “Google-Like” Search Engine Accessed by Law Enforcement; Questions Raised About Parallel Construction in Domestic Investigations
Documents from the Edward Snowden archive, published this morning by The Intercept, reveal a secret NSA search engine that allows nearly two dozen law enforcement agencies to have access to hundreds of billions of records obtained through electronic surveillance of the communications of Americans and foreigners who have not been accused of any wrongdoing. Ryan Gallagher, staff reporter for The Intercept, provides a detailed analysis of the “Google-like” interface called ICREACH and how it may enable domestic law enforcement agencies to secretly tap NSA surveillance data for investigations that are not related to terrorism. Gallagher’s story reveals that ICREACH was designed to provide access to more than 850 billion electronic records of emails, phone calls, chats, phone locations, text messages and faxes.
NSA Spy Agencies
Keith Alexander the architect behind ICREACH
Recently-retired NSA director General Keith Alexander was the architect behind ICREACH, and in 2006 he wrote in a secret NSA document that the search engine would “allow unprecedented volumes of communications metadata to be shared and analyzed,” opening up a “vast, rich source of information” for other agencies to exploit. Information shared through ICREACH can be used to track people’s movements, map out their networks, predict future activities and potentially reveal religious or political beliefs.
http://www.valuewalk.com/2014/08/nsa-rrecords/
Inventory in my zip code is definitely going up compared to sales. Last year the ratio was ~30% list/sold, now it’s about 50% list/sold. But the list prices are above Zestimate, and don’t seem to be going down, yet.
JAW-DROPPING REVELATION: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CONFIRMS LOST IRS EMAILS ARE STORED ON BACKUP DRIVES
DOJ attorneys and the IRS are now scrambling to offer up an excuse for why they shouldn’t have to show them to the American public
by MAC SLAVO | SHTFPLAN.COM | AUGUST 27, 2014
For weeks the IRS and Obama Administration told the American people a carefully crafted narrative regarding the whereabouts of emails containing information surrounding the targeting of specific groups and individuals based on their political party. The Obama administration vehemently denied that such targeting had taken place or that they had any involvement whatsoever. For their part, IRS heads testified that the thousands of emails belonging to director Lois Lerner, who headed the IRS Exempt Organizations Unit, simply disappeared when her hard drive was thrown away.
Most Americans simply couldn’t believe it. How could an agency that deals with billions of pages worth of tax returns simply lose emails, especially from a department head? Moreover, how is it possible that these emails were not backed up somewhere?
In June we opined that there must be secondary copies of these emails, simply because the government keeps records of everything. Could you imagine what would happen to the IRS if their main email or data server was destroyed by some far off event, and all of the government’s tax revenues for an entire year were lost? Of course not! It’s simply not a reasonable scenario.
It turns out, according to a new report, that the government does have backups.
The Department of Justice has confirmed it.
But there’s a catch. DOJ attorneys and the IRS are now scrambling to offer up an excuse for why they shouldn’t have to show them to the American public.
If you’re not upset at government overreach and lack of transparency yet, then this should seal the deal.
The government says that the problem with accessing the emails is that it would be too “onerous” of a task. Yes, you read that right. They do not want to source the emails because it would be difficult and burdensome.
Or, is there a second possible explanation for their lack of motivation? Could it be that pulling the emails would result in handcuffs and stiff prison sentences for officials involved in the conspiracy at not only the IRS, but the Treasury Department, the Department of Justice, the Federal Elections Committee and even the White House?
The records exist. Now they need to be shown to the American public, and if there was any wrongdoing, people need to be sent to prison, up to and including the President of the United States.
The full report is posted below courtesy of Lily Dane and The Daily Sheeple.
Lies Exposed: DOJ Admits “Missing” IRS Emails DO Exist
By Lily Dane (The Daily Sheeple)
In a stunning turn of events, Department of Justice attorneys for the IRS admitted that Lois Lerner’s emails DO exist on a backup server, but said they would be hard to find.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton broke the news today:
Department of Justice attorneys for the Internal Revenue Service told Judicial Watch on Friday that Lois Lerner’s emails, indeed all government computer records, are backed up by the federal government in case of a government-wide catastrophe. The Obama administration attorneys said that this back-up system would be too onerous to search. The DOJ attorneys also acknowledged that the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) is investigating this back-up system.
We obviously disagree that disclosing the emails as required would be onerous, and plan to raise this new development with Judge Sullivan.
This is a jaw-dropping revelation. The Obama administration had been lying to the American people about Lois Lerner’s missing emails. There are no “missing” Lois Lerner emails – nor missing emails of any of the other top IRS or other government officials whose emails seem to be disappearing at increasingly alarming rate. All the focus on missing hard drives has been a diversion. The Obama administration has known all along where the email records could be – but dishonestly withheld this information. You can bet we are going to ask the court for immediate assistance in cutting through this massive obstruction of justice.
Remember, back in June, IRS officials told Congress that the emails were lost and that the agency had gone to “great lengths” to try to retrieve them.
Conveniently, the emails lost were mainly ones to and from people outside the IRS, such as the White House, Treasury, Department of Justice, FEC, or Democrat offices.
The shocking information was provided to Judicial Watch by order of U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, who, back in July, ordered the IRS to provide a declaration explaining exactly how the agency managed to “lose” two years’ worth of emails belonging to Lois Lerner.
Fitton spoke to Fox News about the revelation:
To see the set of sworn declarations from IRS officials, click here.
Hey, remember when Obama told Bill O’Reilly that there’s “not even a smidgen of corruption” in the IRS?
Those words are coming back to haunt him.
I don’t see how this is a technology issue. Lerner didn’t send her emails into a black hole. Every email that was lost from Lerner’s Outbox should be sitting in somebody else Inbox, shouldn’t it? Just sort everybody’s inbox by “From” and there they are and I don’t see how the White House can stop such a search.
Next time you’re being audited, tell Mr. IRS agent your hard drive crashed and you lost all those records. He’ll be very understanding.
FEDS SEARCH FOR ‘TRANSPORTATION SERVICES FOR UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN’
ICE will award an “indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract”
by JERYL BIER | WEEKLY STANDARD | AUGUST 27, 2014
The Immigration & Customs Enforcement agency renewed its search this week for “Transportation Services for Unaccompanied Children” crossing the border into the United States. An earlier notice posted in January of this year seeking “escort services” for an estimated 65,000 unaccompanied children raised questions about the Obama administration’s prior recognition of the effect that news of its Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) plan would have on primarily Central American parents who mistakenly believed their children would benefit from the program.
The current notice says that ICE will award an “indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract” to provide “unarmed escort staff, including management, supervision, manpower, training, certifications, licenses, drug testing, equipment, and supplies necessary to provide on-demand escort services for non-criminal/non-delinquent UAC ranging from infants to 17 years of age, seven (7) days a week, 365 days a year. Transport will be required for UAC or family groups, to include both male and female juveniles.”
Read more
Why don’t they just hire the “coyotes” that brought them here? As an added bonus the Democrats can issue them drivers’ licenses and voter registration cards as well.
What does a house cost? We see the sale price but that doesn’t take into account mortgage costs, legal fees, taxes and maintenance. Can we safely say that a 125k house would actually cost you double that by the time the mortgage is paid off?
Interest is the largest expense. Bankrate dot com has a nice mortgage calculator which will run you an amortization table and tell you the total interest paid. Taxes and insurance I guess you have to fudge by inflation. For a $125K house with 10% down at 4%, you will pay $80853 in total interest. Add in the other stuff, and yes, you’re about double.
But if you rent for 30 years you’ll probably pay the same amount anyway, and you won’t have a paid-off anything at the end.
“But if you rent for 30 years you’ll probably pay the same amount anyway…”
(a) Depends on what the home ultimately sells for…
“…and you won’t have a paid-off anything at the end.”
(b) This might be moot depending upon (a).
Lotsa uncertainty in either case. They’re both a cost. Problem is, too many people think the game is to get in and cash out for mad profits.
(a) By “ultimately” do you mean at the end of 30 years? This comparison has NOTHING to do with that. This compares initial sales price to 30 years of rental rates, that’s all.
(b) Do you seriously think that a house and the land it sits on would be worth NOTHING at the end of 30 years? (not a condo — those things are crap) Are you planning to drop a nuke on it?
“But if you rent for 30 years you’ll probably pay the same amount anyway…
But if you rent for 30 years you’ll probably pay the same amount anyway, and you won’t have a paid-off anything at the end.”
Well, for the record, I’ve saved several $100K in deferred compensation since living in SD for less than a decade, out of the part of my income I didn’t have to throw away on an expensive mortgage. By contrast, the house we live in is worth less than what our landlord paid for it back in 2004. And I am pretty sure our rent is barely enough to cover the mortgage plus PITI plus upkeep.
And your point was?
“What does a house cost? We see the sale price but that doesn’t take into account mortgage costs, legal fees, taxes and maintenance. Can we safely say that a 125k house would actually cost you double that by the time the mortgage is paid off?”
Funny, my nearly new (18-months) spec house was $125k exactly, and it took me 9-years to pay it off. It still costs me $450/month to operate the place for my family.
Today, the carpeting is shot, both bathrooms need an overhaul, the kitchen cabinetry is shot, the backyard fence is rotting, etc., well you get the idea. Depreciation.
Either you do it yourself, or neglect it because high state labor related expenses have driven legitimate contractor’s fees through the roof. FWIW, we could really use a second income.
That seems like a lot of deterioration for a house that is, what, 15 years old. Bathrooms need overhaul… why? Does tile go out of fashion that quickly? The fixtures can’t possibly be shot. I’m using toilets, kitchen cabinets, and even formica counters from the 1970’s. Has construction quality really gone so far downhill since then?
And you must live in a very high-tax state. Except in the cold winter, my taxes and insurance and utilities together are only a little more than $450 a month, and that’s for a much more expensive house.
Hard water stains, linoleum floor(s) yellowing, particle board cabinetry w/cheap drawer rollers, etc., your basic spec house.
The $450/month pays taxes, insurance, water, sewer and street lights, and the “all electric” utility bill. No income taxes.
FWIW, I’m at the bottom end of the better side of town.
Hardcore Reptile gets shot dead while teaching a 9 yr old girl to shoot an Uzi.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/year-girl-accidentally-kills-shooting-range-instructor/story?id=25139216
LOL.
Darwin award nominee?
Hardcore Reptile gets shot dead while teaching a 9 yr old girl to shoot an Uzi.
She shoots like a girl. I thought 10 was the legal age in Arizona to fire a sub-machine gun.
Put it on a bumper sticker:
“Guns don’t kill, little girls do”
Lotsa comments on this story in the news. Most importantly, evidently the fatal flaw was when the instructor told her to switch the uzi from single-shot mode to Rambo multiple mode (I’m sure that’s not the actual term). The gun recoils a little high after each shot. In single shot mode, the shooter recovers after the recoil, but in multiple mode, there’s no time to recover so the gun just recoils higher and higher until the muzzle flies up into someone’s face, still firing.
The girl was new with the weapon, so she wouldn’t know how to recover from a single shot much less multiple shots, and at her age and size she probably didn’t have the strength to stop it even if she knew how. They should NEVER have put that weapon in her hands. WTF does anyone need with an uzi at that age anyway? Not like she’s going to hunting deer.
The girl was new with the weapon
Your point? There’s no excuse for a nine year old girl in America (especially in Arizona) being “new” to a fully automatic, high-capacity sub-machine gun.
A completely avoidable tragedy. No nine year old girl (or boy) should be handling a firearm.
“A completely avoidable tragedy. No nine year old girl (or boy) should be handling a firearm.”
+1 Agreed.
French unemployment hitting new highs as Holland’s crony-capitalist socialist paradise runs out of other people’s money and the banksters demand moar austerity from the 99%. Serves French voters right for installing this corrupt Pigman and his socialist administration in office.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-27/get-back-work-mr-hollande-french-jobseekers-surge-record-high
French unemployment hitting new highs as Holland’s crony-capitalist socialist paradise
ADD? Like everything everywhere happens because of the past couple years situation?
Hint: The entire western world does not need the jobs that we used to need. We just don’t need jobs like we used to.
This is the new reality. This is a main cause of our economic and social problems - as is gross wealth inequality. Hint: Both problems are related. Think about why.
Looks like the TBTF banks have competition when it comes to defrauding the public.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/08/russian-hackers-suspected-us-bank-attack-201482721433945699.html
This doesn’t look like “de-escalation” in Ukraine. Time for the State Department to unleash another Twitter campaign.
http://www.businessinsider.com/ukrainian-sargent-this-is-now-a-war-with-russia-2014-8
Region VIII checking in.
Oligarchs can get away with treating their employees like dogs, but only stir up real outrage when they unleash their sociopathic tendencies on actual canines.
http://www.businessinsider.com/centerplate-ceo-caught-on-camera-kicking-dog-2014-8
I had an employer renege on a compensation package. I told them I wasn’t asking for more money only that to which we agreed upon. It’s funny the illogical diatribes ones will put you through to help you see it their way. The result ultimately let to a new competitor - I grappled with the fact that if it’s not in writing it never happened…
Integrity is the one thing people can never take from you. You can only give that away. Corporate America is full of soulless sociopaths who from their playground days lacked any character or integrity.
Low class, evil bastard. I’d love to drop him on his hands and knees, and drive my foot deeply into his ribcage half a dozen times so he can see how it feels. Scum of the earth.
LAWYER: COPS NEVER TOLD WALMART SHOPPER TO DROP TOY RIFLE BEFORE GUNNING HIM DOWN
If you see something say something. Say anything you want and please feel free to embellish your story.
Family attorney says surveillance footage indicated man posed no threat
Lawyer: Cops Never Told Walmart Shopper to Drop Toy Rifle Before Gunning Him Down
by ADAN SALAZAR | INFOWARS.COM | AUGUST 27, 2014
Police immediately shot a Walmart shopper on sight after they encountered him leaning on one of the store’s unpurchased BB guns while on the phone, an attorney for the deceased man’s family says.
Michael Wright, a lawyer representing the family of 22-year-old John Crawford III, who was shot and killed by police inside the Beavercreek Walmart earlier this month after being spotted wielding one of the store’s Crosman MK-177 pellet guns, commented at a news conference yesterday on bits of surveillance footage shown to him and the family by the Ohio Attorney General.
Wright said that, based on what he’d been shown, it did not appear Crawford made any threatening gestures, as suggested by a 9-1-1 caller, but was instead leaning on the butt of the air rifle when police arrived.
“The tape we saw saw several shoppers walk by John, look at merchandise in the same aisle with John, including Angela Williams and her children and they were completely indifferent as to John’s presence. No shopper showed any concern about John’s presence that we were shown on tape by the attorney general,” Wright stated.
On August 5, Beavercreek police used lethal force when they responded to a call regarding a man walking around the store menacingly pointing a weapon at other shoppers.
The caller stated he witnessed Crawford “walking around with a gun in the store,” and that he was “loading it right now,” and pointing it at customers and children.
He “was just waving it at children and people. Items…. I couldn’t hear anything that he was saying. I’m thinking that he is either going to rob the place or he’s there to shoot somebody else,” the concerned shopper told police.
“We have no idea what this 9-1-1 caller viewed,” Wright stated. “The video that we were shown shows John doing absolutely nothing menacing, not pointing the gun, doing none of the things that the 9-1-1 caller indicated,” asserted Wright, adding that he had not yet been able to question the caller. “You just saw [Crawford] standing talking on the phone, and the next frame he’s laying on the ground.”
“From what we’ve seen, John had no opportunity to put the gun down,” Wright said. He was “doing nothing more, nothing less than shopping”
Lee Cee Johnson, the mother of Crawford’s children, said she was speaking with him on the phone right before police shot him. She said she heard Crawford tell someone the gun was “not real,” then heard screaming.
“We was just talking. He said he was at the video games playing videos and he went over there by the toy section where the toy guns were. And the next thing I know, he said ‘It’s not real,’ and the police start shooting and they said ‘Get on the ground,’ but he was already on the ground because they had shot him,” Johnson said. “And I could hear him just crying and screaming. I feel like they shot him down like he was not even human.”
Wright said he’s still waiting to view the footage in its entirety, as he’d only been shown select parts, but said what police have released so far is extremely “one-sided” in favor of police accounts.
“Everything released is one-sided. There is nothing favorable to John Crawford. You can’t show different pieces. Show it all. Don’t trickle pieces to gain favor of the public,” said Wright.
Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine says they haven’t released the footage because it “is not the right thing to do,” and because it might affect the opinions of jurors presiding over the case.
The Beavercreek police chief, Dennis Evers, has already weighed in defending the officers, stating, “Preliminary indications are the officers acted appropriately under the circumstances.”
“The officers gave verbal commands to the subject to drop the weapon,” Evers stated at a press conference the day after the shooting. “The subject … was shot after failing to comply with the officers’ commands. The quick response of officers was instrumental in containing this situation and minimizing the risk to customers.”
An innocent bystander also died following the confrontation. The Greene County Coroner indicated Angela Williams, 37, of Fairborn, was “apparently running from a dangerous situation inside the Walmart store when she collapsed. She was taken to Soin Medical Center where she died at 9:14 p.m.” In a sad twist, the mother of two was due to be wed that weekend.
Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation predicted it could be months before the investigation wraps up, a sluggish pace Crawford’s father, John Crawford II, perceives as “stall tactics.”
The state has handed the case over to a special prosecutor, and a grand jury will convene on September 22 to ultimately decide what repercussive actions to take, if any.
One of the officers involved in the altercation, David Darkow, is back on duty, while officer Sean Williams remains on paid administrative leave, according to the Huffington Post.
just back from the garden, lolz
http://www.picpaste.com/IMG_9953-3mxx7NOX.jpg
if you like your taxpayer dollars paying $60,000 a year to incarcerate inmates for this, you can keep your taxpayer dollars paying $60,000 a year to incarcerate inmates for this
think about it
Marvin Gaye - Time To Get It Together:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ttBS0NuV4aI?
Israeli air strikes kill 490 Children
(Reuters) - Israeli air strikes launched before dawn on Tuesday killed two Palestinians and destroyed much of one of Gaza’s tallest apartment and office buildings, setting off huge explosions and wounding 20 people, Palestinian health officials said.
Israel had no immediate comment on the attacks that took place as Egyptian mediators stepped up efforts to achieve an elusive ceasefire to end seven weeks of fighting.
Palestinian health officials say 2,125 people, most of them civilians, including more than 490 children, have been killed in Gaza since July 8, when Israel launched an offensive with the declared aim of ending rocket fire into its territory.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/25/us-mideast-gaza-idUSKBN0GM11320140825
For those of you who bent over and grabbed your ankles for Wall Street by voting for Obama, McCain, or Romney, here’s your chance to stop being a sheep and redeem yourself.
http://banksworstfear.com/the-reset-starts-july-4-2014/
Disclaimer: I’m not a fan of crypto-currencies like Bitcoin and do not support efforts to encourage people to use such make-believe “money” as a medium of exchange. Why trade one created-out-of-thin-air currency for another?
Chinese embezzlers flee to the US to park their ill-gotten loot in real estate and escape justice back home. Generous donations to the RNC and DNC will no doubt buy them immunity from extradiction.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/28/us-china-corruption-idUSKBN0GS01S20140828
The human toll of Obama’s open borders policy continues to mount.
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/08/26/Unsecured-Border-Results-in-Death-of-Two-More-Illegal-Immigrants-Graphic-Images
We’ve always been at war with Oceana.
http://news.yahoo.com/another-red-line-obama-again-considers-airstrikes-syria-232848764.html
Has the Fed’s con game entered its terminal bubble phase? David Tice thinks a 60% market correction is coming.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101950613
Realtor loses testicles over financial dispute
phony scandals