Bits Bucket for December 26, 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.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Photo Submission: hbbphotos@gmail.com
View the HBB Photo Gallery *updated 4/13/2008
2015….almost a decade since the HBB declared the U.S. emperor has no clothes! Now, we see emperors around the world are prancing around buck naked. It is going to be an interesting year!
The year of the Crater. The year of the Donkey. The year of Rage.
The year hope goes out the window as the last of the population pretending that the leaders are wise and smart and trying to do the right thing have that that hope deflated like a wife finding out that her husband’s cheating “incident” was much more than a one-time dalliance.
“The year of the Crater. The year of the Donkey. The year of Rage.”
This resumed today;
http://www.zengrenade.com/html-site/gallery/images/sj_rage.jpg
and;
http://s296.photobucket.com/user/saihukaru/media/Gif%20Funny/dapdaunhanh.gif.html
And there is no reprieve from utopia;
http://www.maximumpc.com/files/u69/ram_falling_prices.jpg
And how could I forget our price pimps.
http://www.politicsforum.org/images/flame_warriors/propeller.jpg
And he cheated with a fat chick to make things worse.
Fat chicks are like mopeds. They’re fun to ride, but you don’t want your friends to catch you on one.
Fraud_Click.
You’re swimming naked, that’s for certain bubblebuyerboy. You’ll be one of the first to be completely decimated.
Yep, have been following the HBB since 2005 or so and remember that back then very few acquaintances, coworkers etc. believed there was a bubble right into mid 2007. This time around maybe half the people I’ve discussed Bubble 2.0 with seem to believe it is very real and will pop in the near future. 2015 will be interesting indeed…if general awareness of the bubble is greater than in 2007 it could deflate VERY quickly as buyers disappear.
since 2005 or so and remember that back then very few acquaintances, coworkers etc. believed there was a bubble right into mid 2007.
Not only did they not believe it—they downright scoffed at the very notion!
Yeah I was in my mid 40s those days. And a colleague scoffed at me. He said a man in his mid 40s should own a house! So funny I will never forget that!
2015: the year of Bitcoin?
http://stpetersburgbowl.com
Do you plan to take a stand for freedom and see the movie “the interview” this weekend?
yes but i can’t find a theatre showing it in this r3gion
Don’t even bother. My buddy rented it on the ‘net for six bucks. Sophomoric.
I gotta give ‘em credit for the marketing campaign, though. A real doozie.
I gotta give ‘em credit for the marketing campaign, though. A real doozie.
+1, Palmy. The snippets I’ve seen of it looked sophomoric indeed, and suddenly people are going to watch it to support freedom?!? WTF?
People are stupid.
The trailer I saw was horrible. I have no interest in the movie, just glad they released it to show up that morbidly obese, cheese-gorging dictator.
It is verrrrrry hard for me to believe that North Korea hacked Sony to prevent the release of some movie.
we have friends that work at Sony Pictures and I can assure you they got hacked. One friend even got a skull and cross bones pop up. We also know the former IT security company that left Sony when they refused to put in the fixes they suggested, they didn’t want their name drug through the mud if they got hacked, and what do you know, hacked.
It was Kim Il Yun himself who did the hacking. Right?
Better than some schlocky Meryl Streep musical being pushed by the artsy fartsy theatre crowd. Where is a good dictator when you need one.
Hey, I liked Stuck on You, despite Meryl Streep.
Watched it last night via torrent. Wasn’t worth pirating, it’s *bad*.
Yeah, the trailer looked terrible.
I took my stand for freedom by not sanctioning the voting scam in November.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xIraCchPDhk
Next question?
Rise in Loans Linked to Cars Is Hurting Poor
By Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Michael Corkery
December 25, 2014 12:13 pm
The rusting 1994 Oldsmobile sitting in a driveway just outside St. Louis was an unlikely cash machine.
That was until the car’s owner, a 30-year-old hospital lab technician, saw a television commercial describing how to get cash from just such a car, in the form of a short-term loan.
The lab technician, Caroline O’Connor, who needed about $1,000 to cover her rent and electricity bills, believed she had found a financial lifeline.
“It was a relief,” she said. “I did not have to beg everyone for the money.”
Her loan carried an annual interest rate of 171 percent. More than two years and $992.78 in debt later, her car was repossessed.
“These companies put people in a hole that they can’t get out of,” Ms. O’Connor said.
The automobile is at the center of the biggest boom in subprime lending since the mortgage crisis. The market for loans to buy used cars is growing rapidly.
And similar to how a red-hot mortgage market once coaxed millions of borrowers into recklessly tapping the equity in their homes, the new boom is also leading people to take out risky lines of credit known as title loans.
They are, roughly speaking, the home equity loans of subprime auto. In these loans, which can last as long as two years or as little as a month, borrowers turn over the title of their cars in exchange for cash — typically a percentage of the cars’ estimated resale values.
“Turn your car title into holiday cash,” TitleMax, a large title lender, declared in a recent television commercial, showing a Christmas stocking overflowing with money.
More than 1.1 million households in the United States used auto title loans in 2013, according to a survey by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation — the first time the agency has included the loans in its annual survey.
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/dipping-into-auto-equity-devastates-many-borrowers/?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-
The only difference between ‘Mericans and Mexicans is “rx”.
racis
◊ Rx comes from the Latin word “recipe,” which means “take.” It traditionally appears in places where medicines are sold.
……so it’s the drugs???
Just make sure you get a receipt for your Rx.
I am in a new region and I don’t know where to check in
“I am in a new region and I don’t know where to check in”
FEMA Regional Offices
Region Location States Serving
Region I Boston, MA CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT
Region II New York, NY NJ, NY, PR, USVI
Region III Philadelphia, PA DC, DE, MD, PA, VA, WV
Region IV Atlanta, GA AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN
Region V Chicago, IL IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI
Region VI Denton, TX AR, LA, NM, OK, TX
Region VII Kansas City, MO IA, KS, MO, NE
Region VIII Denver, CO CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, WY
Region IX Oakland, CA AZ, CA, HI, NV, GU, AS, CNMI, RMI, FM
Region X Bothell, WA AK, ID, OR, WA
Regional Operations | FEMA.gov
http://www.fema.gov/regional-operations - 73k -
Region IV
bro’, what the heck are you doing here? Hope it’s just vacay, because things are pretty toxic here in Region IV.
“things are pretty toxic here in Region IV.”
That’s Regionist.
If I had a Region it would look just like Region IV
Cell phone coverage sucks in this part of the Region
“Cell phone coverage sucks in this part of the Region”
Are you in in the Constitution-free zone of the Region?
Let’s try not to get all regional about it.
“Let’s try not to get all regional about it.”
Not at all, the Constitution-free zone is within 100 miles of any U.S. “external boundary” where most of the people in Region IV live that the NSA has to listen to so the Cell phone coverage is pretty good.
Did you move, or just visiting?
I went to Region IV on business a 18 months ago, and there were title loan places up and down the street. National chains, not just one-off pawn places. It’s easy to image that people would need a title loan; what is surprising to me is how many people actually have a title.
I think you meant Payday Loan
No, it was TitleMax. At the time, I had to look it up.
I’ve been looking at my next vehicle to replace my 14 year old car (bought it new, 239,000 miles on it now.) The used car prices are all very high, I’m assuming the loans (like housing) are keeping used vehicle prices high. Tacomas aren’t that much cheaper used.
Sub-prime auto. If you thought 2006/7 was a great time to buy a vehicle, sit tight.
The used car prices are all very high, I’m assuming the loans (like housing) are keeping used vehicle prices high.
Interesting idea; that had not occurred to me. I was still thinking this was the end result of Cash for Clunkers taking perfectly serviceable vehicles off the road.
Cash for clunkers ended in August of 2009. So even a car bought new under the program is already 5.5 years old — well into used car territory.
There may be some effect from Dodd Frank. Dodd Frank tightened the rules for car loans as well as house loans.
hmmmm….. every underemployed fool with empty pockets is riding on new wheels and now delinquent. DoddFrank didn’t do anything to prohibit subprime auto. It sure knocked the hell out of the lying realtor business though.
“Dodd Frank tightened the rules for car loans as well as house loans.”
Please show me how. Because local dealerships are approving people with credit scores in the 400’s.
Remember…. it’s The Donk braying.
Here is a very good summary of Credit Risk Retention for various loans:
http://www.nelsonmullins.com/newsletters/the-credit-risk-retention-rule-for-community-banks
Most of the article is about mortgages, but most of the way down, the article lists the exemption requirements. Exemption means that if the borrower cannot the criteria, the bank can stil make the loan, but they can only sell 95% of it, and they keep the rest. Even 5% is too much for banks to stomach. Here is the criteria:
1. Borrower must have 24 months of credit history
2. Car loan must be 36% of DTI, as documented in a credit report.
3. Must 36 months without foreclosure, BK, or repo.
4. Loan must be fixed rate fully amortized, no deferring anything.
5. Borrower must put 10% down of price, AND taxes, title, fees etc.
—-
Banks do NOT like retaining 5% of any loan, especially not lucky ducky loans. So they must be charging high interest.
I don’t think that Dodd-Frank will prevent people from buying used cars, but I sure as hell hope that it cuts off people from buying show-off pickups.
Donk,
That has nothing to do with subprime auto and getting to record new auto sales last month in an environment of massive underemployment and record low labor force participation rates.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20141215/RETAIL01/312159980/smaller-supply-for-big-month
So when do you think sales will collapse?
More on subprime auto loans
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-26/will-we-never-learn-meet-subprime-auto-title-loans-2014s-home-atm
I’m assuming the loans (like housing) are keeping used vehicle prices high
More like new cars prices are keeping them high. People go to a new car dealer and get sticker shock, so they decide to buy a used car instead, but since people are keeping their cars longer and don’t trade them in as much, there is less inventory while there is more demand.
Loans? There have always been loans. I remember 30+ years ago dealers would advertise that they could finance anyone (for the right interest rate, pretty much like now), so I don’t see that being any different. But now a new non luxury car can cost more than the average annual salary, which means that for the majority of people a new car is out of the question.
Yeah. And I remember 30+ years ago that a 36 month term was the longest you could get for a vehicle.
When I bought my car in 2007, I had to send the saleswoman back twice to get me a 3-year loan. They really wanted the 60-month loan.
“I remember 30+ years ago dealers would advertise that they could finance anyone (for the right interest rate, pretty much like now), so I don’t see that being any different.”
I used to repo cars, and there plenty balloon payment loans out there starting in the eighties. Wages for many went flat during the Reagan administration, and the credit business had been recently liberalized removing barriers that kept the flakes from accessing credit. Lots of 20%+ paper in circulation.
“More like new cars prices are keeping them high. People go to a new car dealer and get sticker shock, so they decide to buy a used car instead, but since people are keeping their cars longer and don’t trade them in as much, there is less inventory while there is more demand.”
This is simply not true. Have you not seen how strong new car sales have been over the past several years?
While improved from sales levels during the crash, they aren’t close to the pre-crash levels. And not surprising, the average new car costs about 30K. Even subcompacts can cost close to 20K. How many people can afford that?
Once again you don’t know what you’re talking about. Sales are in the 17 million/yr annualized last month which exceeds the 2006 peak of 16.x million.
You’ve got a truth problem.
“And not surprising, the average new car costs about 30K. Even subcompacts can cost close to 20K. How many people can afford that?”
The same number of people as before, because they have extended loans to 8 years. Remember when a long car loan was 4 years?
Can hardly go wrong with a Honda Civic, Accord or Toyota Corrola, Camry.
“These companies put people in a hole that they can’t get out of,” Ms. O’Connor said.
+1 Another debt donkey!
You can’t fix stupid.
Meanwhile, Google is perfecting technology to go on cars that will turn them into Big Brother’s wet dream when it comes to tracking and monitoring the proles.
http://wolfstreet.com/2014/12/24/spy-cars-google-and-automakers-fight-over-who-owns-your-personal-data-but-its-not-you/
Comment by phony scandals
Rise in Loans Linked to Cars Is Hurting Poor
Commercial airing constantly in Las Vegas for the last couple of months, painful:
Title Max Commercial 2014
I thought it was a joke. I wonder whose talentless girlfriend she is.
“Hah hah.”
“Commercial airing constantly in Las Vegas for the last couple of months, painful:”
Geez, 2 viewings of that would have me hitting the last channel button on the remote like a gay marriage story on the news with an imminent dinner ruining man kiss does.
“Commercial airing constantly in Las Vegas for the last couple of months, painful:”
+1 Painful indeed, but the folks who created and edited that commercial are appealing to a cohort that is likely larger than mainstream sociologists would care to acknowledge.
These businesses should be illegal. It really is predatory lending in a nutshell. They serve no good purpose to society.
You clearly fail to understand the symbiotic ties between the payday lending industry and lowlife collection agencies, and the Republicrat Duopoly which whores itself to industry lobbyists. Local courts are increasingly slapping punitive fines on the indigent for minor offenses, then when the broke-ass indigents can’t pay, turning over those loans to collection agenies that kick back a percentage of what they collect to local governments. It is a pure racket, and if you are voting for corrupt Republicrat politicians at the local, state, or Federal levels, you are enabling such scams.
then when the broke-ass indigents can’t pay, turning over those loans to collection agenies that kick back a percentage of what they collect to local governments.
Indigents? Seriously?!? As if the truly indigent are going to cough up enough to make the overhead worthwhile…
Whoa, turbo. What I think “should be” doesn’t necessarily equate to a lack of understanding as to why it ‘isn’t so.’
Raymond K Hessel said…the symbiotic ties between the payday lending industry and lowlife collection agencies, and the Republicrat Duopoly which whores itself to industry lobbyists
And sometimes they’re one and the same.
John Oliver Blanches at the 1900% Interest of the Payday Loans
Aug 11, 2014
thewire.com/entertainment/2014/08/john-oliver-examines-the-resilience-of-payday-loans/375850/
Excerpt from MSN. When the war started out with US support many predicted a quick victory for the rebels like Libya, my prediction was for a long bloody war but the more numerous Sunnis would eventually wear down the Alewites and other minorities, it looks like it is on course:
U.S. airstrikes, concentrated in areas with a heavy Islamic State presence, have allowed Assad to reallocate some resources, but his army is facing a huge problem: It’s running out of soldiers. Ground forces have shrunk from 315,000 to roughly 150,000 troops since the beginning of the civil war in 2011, according to the Institute for the Study of War. The brutality shown by the Islamic State, or ISIS, against Syrian forces in certain areas has hurt morale among troops, and deteriorating living conditions have increased discontent in certain regime-allied minority groups. That has effectively dried up Assad’s conscription pool, and ended the regime’s chances of beating the rebels on the ground.
“The war has reached a sort of dynamic stalemate where it is unlikely it will be ended by any short-term outlook,” said Christopher Kozak, a Syria Analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. “The regime cannot defeat the rebels and the rebels have not been able to decisively defeat the regime. Even ISIS has been bogged down.”
“The war has reached a sort of dynamic stalemate where it is unlikely it will be ended by any short-term outlook,”
Perhaps that was the outcome desired by our MIC? That would explain why we were first training the rebels, then bombing the rebels; if they end up down-and-close-to-out, we’ll probably start assisting them again.
Hmmm… Perma-war may be the desired state of affairs.
Shills seemed to have taken a holiday yesterday but are right back in full swing today.
It occurs to me that as belief systems go, it is much better to be paranoid about the cops than to be paranoid that the Rothschilds are controlling the world economy. Having issues with the cops won’t really impinge on your financial world. But an ‘everything is rigged by the Rothschilds’ attitude can cause you to develop a ‘you can’t win’ attitude that will be very bad for your ultimate financial health.
What say you “problem with authority” types?
Whatever….. you’re not going to win with cops. CYA and keep a low profile, especially in a vehicle.
especially in a vehicle.
And don’t carry too much cash in that vehicle (more than a few hundred $$$s).
And don’t be black.
And if you have to transport large sums of cash over long distances by vehicle it is best to do so in crypto currency. Cops won’t seize your wealth in an encrypted wallet. At best they will destroy the wealth if they seize the thumb drive that holds the wallet. Some countries already have Bitcoin ATMs.
Imagine (if you will), you drive through a canyon of blue uniformed thugs and yeah you get stopped for “a loud muffler,” and of course some warrant less car search happens. most likely you still have your thumb drive after the ordeal and invoking the fifth. Take that, thugs!
I say, just becuz yer paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t out to git ya.
Everyone will be back in line soon. I think the progressives briefly forgot how much they need cops to enforce the idiotic draconian communist policies they force on the unwilling citizenry.
#FundamentalTransformationOfAmerica
Yup. My friend in Hermosa Beach, a fuzzy headed “progressive” hates my anti cop posts on FB.
“Shills seemed to have taken a holiday yesterday but are right back in full swing today.”
Statist update, in case they missed it on their day off. Back to work, boys:
Master statist Putin calls for (yet more) government price controls, this time on Russia’s primary necessity, vodka.
“Since last year, the government-regulated minimum price of half a litre (17 oz) of vodka has increased by around 30% to 220 roubles ($4.10; £2.64), Reuters adds.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his government to curb rising vodka prices.”
bbc news
“Police in Turkey have arrested a 16-year-old student on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to local media.
He was arrested on Wednesday after criticising the ruling AK Party during a speech at a student protest in the central Anatolian city of Konya.
The teenager could face up to four years in prison if found guilty.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu defended the arrest, saying the presidential office “needs to be shown respect”.
Turkey’s penal code makes it a crime to insult the president.“
bbc news
—
Price controls, arrests for criticizing the president, doesn’t it all send a tingle up your leg? If you’re a statist, that is.
Chess master Putin also brilliant at bailing out the banks. A hundred billion rubles here, a trillion (yes!) there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money. Or maybe not, it is the ruble after all.
“Siluanov said on Friday that authorities would provide additional capital to the country’s second-largest bank, VTB, and fellow state lender Gazprombank.
VTB could receive 250 billion rubles and Gazprombank 70 billion rubles to help fund investment projects, including those planned by Russian Railways, he said.
It was not clear whether this support would be in addition to the 1 trillion ruble capital boost the banking sector is set to receive as part of legislation recently approved by parliament.
Credit agency Standard & Poor’s said this week it could downgrade Russia’s rating to junk as soon as January due to a rapid deterioration in “monetary flexibility” in the country.”
yahoo finance
I prefer conspiracies that are too big to be disproven. Makes me always right.
You might be difficult to live with.
Obama Creates the “Truth” of His Agenda
by Michael S. Rozeff | Lew Rockwell Blog | December 26, 2014
Why does Obama come up with such quick judgments on news events and make them public? Whether it’s the downing of MH17, the use of chemical weapons in Syria, the death of Michael Brown, or the hacking of Sony, Obama hastily tells everyone what happened even though he cannot possibly know what has happened. Why does he do this?
In each case, he clearly has an agenda that he wishes to promote. He has ulterior motives. He wants to use the events to advance his political agenda. Whenever he does this, he can be proven wrong — later on. But since he has spoken out early and loudly and since he gets instant and wide publicity, his version becomes the predominant version. Even if it doesn’t predominate, he has managed the news to his own satisfaction. He has altered the attitudes or perceptions of a certain segment of the population, and this has advanced his agenda. He has advanced the reality he’s after, and he has made it come true. His position is so powerful that, with some care and skill, he creates “truth” and reality. What he says about events may later be shown to be false. He’s willing to take that risk and live with it in order to advance his agenda, which is the “truth” or reality he’s after. There’s usually enough uncertainty surrounding events that he can make a plausible-sounding case for his version. The public is not interested in knowing the truth or meaning of many events anyway, and their attention is onto the next story.
There is the truth obtained by careful consideration of causes and effects. This truth is one of understanding and knowledge. This is not what Obama or any politician is after. Their idea of truth is what is real, or what occurs, or what is material reality. The politicians think in terms of objects and what is or is not, as experienced in objects. People to them are objects for manipulation. The free mind and personality are not valued by those who have this will to dominance. They manipulate, as masters to slaves. Their manipulation of the minds of the people who live under their rule is surely of no less importance, and perhaps of greater importance, than all the material aggressions of the state. If people do not mind those material inroads and think of them as not aggressions, they will think themselves free when actually their minds and thoughts have been conditioned and heavily influenced and controlled. The problem here is that, with enough conditioning, slaves can think themselves free.
Barack Obama was born in Africa
Comment by phony scandals
2014-12-26 07:38:43
Obama Creates the “Truth” of His Agenda
lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/obama-creates-the-truth-of-his-agenda/
When the collectivists get their permanent supermajority, they won’t need to rely on pursuasion to deal with dissidents or free-thinkers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVK0yZAhBKM&spfreload=10
The UK and other oligarch-looted Eurozone countries are now gooseing their sagging GDP numbers by adding monies generated by illicit drugs and prostitution to their official GDP figures.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11313327/Britain-edges-past-France-on-world-stage.html
Or they could just legalize and tax weed like we did
I am staying at a house with cable teevee, the show “Pot Barons on Colorado” on MSNBC is really good
Pot Barons *OF* Colorado
Do you have the tee-hees and munchies yet?
It seems that Russia was a bit premature in declaring its ruble crisis over.
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/Currency/USDRUB?countrycode=US
Obama Admin Spends Christmas Trying To Get Islamist Groups Off Terror List [VIDEO]
Patrick Howley
Political Reporter
10:40 PM 12/25/2014
The Obama administration spent Christmas week trying to get two Islamist organizations off a foreign country’s terror list.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim American Society are both listed as Islamist organizations by the Islamist Money In Politics database, which tracks copious political spending by figures linked to the groups. The Muslim American Society was founded as an American-based Muslim Brotherhood front group.
CAIR and MAS representatives met with “senior U.S. government officials” just days before Christmas to discuss the groups’ inclusion on the United Arab Emirates’ official list of terrorist organizations.
“The two American Muslim organizations and the U.S. government pledged to work together to achieve a positive solution to the UAE designations,” the groups said in a joint statement.
The Obama administration’s State Department recently “affirmed that department officials meet regularly with representatives of CAIR and MAS,” according to the groups.
dailycaller.com/…/ - 116k -
Obama Admin Spends Christmas Trying To Get Islamist Groups Off Terror List
What is there to “try”? All it takes is a stroke of the pen. He doesn’t need to get any legislation passed, AFAIK.
Sounds more like it is the Muslim lobby that is doing the “trying”.
Video: U.S. Rejects UAE Labeling of Two American Muslim Groups
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEniuPuN388
That makes more sense. Interesting that the UAE and CAIR don’t agree on which Muslims are terrorists.
Comment by phony scandals
2014-12-26 08:34:57
Obama Admin Spends Christmas Trying To Get Islamist Groups Off Terror List [VIDEO]
dailycaller.com/2014/12/25/obama-admin-spends-christmas-trying-to-get-islamist-groups-off-terror-list-video/
Feds Begin Preparing for Possible 2015 Surge of Unaccompanied Children Across Border
8:01 AM, Dec 25, 2014 • By JERYL BIER
Just two days before Christmas, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) took the first step to prepare for a possible “surge” of unaccompanied minors in 2015. HHS posted a “Sources Sought” notice to gather information on “options for contract surge capacity to shelter and care” for children who enter the country on their own. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 placed the responsibility for such children on HHS instead of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
At this point, HHS is not estimating the number of children for which care may be needed in the coming year:
No decisions have been made regarding the need for surge capacity in 2015, but ORR is exploring options available should the need arise. The purpose of the temporary structures with staffing and services is to identify agencies capable of standing-up soft-sided structures, trailers, or other temporary structures that could shelter 100-2,500 children on federally leased or owned land.
The Washington Post reported in October that Department of Homeland Security secretary Jeh Johnson placed the fiscal 2014 total of unaccompanied children at 68,434. After an enormous surge in the summer months, the numbers fell quickly in the fall. It is not yet clear if President Obama’s immigration actions announced in late November have had any impact on that trend.
Comment by phony scandals
2014-12-26 08:43:39
Feds Begin Preparing for Possible 2015 Surge of Unaccompanied Children Across Border
weeklystandard.com/blogs/feds-begin-preparing-possible-2015-surge-unaccompanied-children-across-border_822454.html
Comrad Pelosi’s glorious Long March to a collectivist, corporate-state future requires a Democrat permanent supermajority, which in turn requires new hordes of DNC entitlement voters.
It’s for the children.
So when are you resigning your citizenship and heading off to greener pastures?
Never.
“So when are you resigning your citizenship and heading off to greener pastures?”
Did you attend George Washington University?
Students at George Washington University signed a petition to deport one American citizen in exchange for one illegal immigrant.
VIDEO:
Maggie Lit Reporter @MaggieLitCRO on Dec 17, 2014 at 9:55 AM EDT
Students at George Washington University (GWU) willingly signed a petition supporting the deportation of one American citizen in exchange for one illegal immigrant.
“Please sign our petition for President Obama to deport one American citizen, in exchange for one undocumented immigrant,” read the petition. “Everyone must be allowed a shot at the ‘American Dream.’ Americans should not be greedy. Let us right the wrongs of our past and make another’s dreams come true.”
“It makes sense,” one student told Campus Reform. “Like, I’ve noticed that there is a lot of like hatred against undocumented immigrants and it’s not necessarily their fault.”
WATCH: Students sign a petition to deport Americans for illegal immigrants.
http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=6151 - 384k - Cached - Similar pages
Why should those who expect their bill of rights to be adhered to have to move? I say those who live government should go to North Korea to get all the government they can get.
We’re far outnumbered. They all think they’re going to get something out of big gov, thus love big gov.
Google Goes Off the Climate Change Deep End
Paul Driessen | Dec 26, 2014
Editor’s note: This article was co-authored by Chris Skates.
In a recent interview with National Public Radio host Diane Rehm, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said his company “has a very strong view that we should make decisions in politics based on facts. And the facts of climate change are not in question anymore. Everyone understands climate change is occurring, and the people who oppose it are really hurting our children and our grandchildren and making the world a much worse place. We should not be aligned with such people. They’re just literally lying.”
While he didn’t vilify us by name, Mr. Schmidt was certainly targeting us, the climate scientists who collect and summarize thousands of articles for the NIPCC’s Climate Change Reconsidered reports, the hundreds who participate in Heartland Institute climate conferences, and the 31,487 US scientists who have signed the Oregon Petition, attesting that there is no convincing scientific evidence that humans are causing catastrophic warming or climate disruption.
All of us are firm skeptics of claims that humans are causing catastrophic global warming and climate change. We are not climate change “deniers.” We know Earth’s climate and weather are constantly in flux, undergoing recurrent fluctuations that range from flood and drought cycles to periods of low or intense hurricane and tornado activity, to the Medieval Warm Period (950-1250 AD) and Little Ice Age (1350-1850) – and even to Pleistocene glaciers that repeatedly buried continents under a mile of ice.
What we deny is the notion that humans can prevent these fluctuations, by ending fossil fuel use and emissions of plant-fertilizing carbon dioxide, which plays only an insignificant role in climate change.
The real deniers are people who think our climate was and should remain static and unchanging, such as 1900-1970, supposedly – during which time Earth actually warmed and then cooled, endured the Dust Bowl, and experienced periods of devastating hurricanes and tornadoes.
“Our scientists have determined that cigarette smoking is not damaging to your health.”
red herring
No, exact same situation. I’m old enough to remember when a brave few (mostly industry sponsored) scientists stood up to the vast majority of scientists, and showed us that cigarettes were indeed safe and healthy.
This is not a conspiracy blog. Take that bs somewhere else.
Comment by phony scandals
2014-12-26 09:06:23
Google Goes Off the Climate Change Deep End
townhall.com/columnists/pauldriessen/2014/12/26/google-goes-off-the-climate-change-deep-end-n1935798
Thanks Tarara
Join the Debate! (about cigarette smoking?)
59 Comments So Far
Friend-of-John-Galt Wrote: 34 mins ago (12:40 PM)
I am not a climate scientist … but I have done work with econometric modeling (which is similar to the models used by climate scientists) — the difference is the variables — I used economic variables while climate scientists use variables that presumably represent climate. The one thing that models must do is to reasonably “predict” the past history. If the model does not do so, then it is inadequate and its results can not be trusted about future predictions. Failure to “predict” history usually leads to discovery of variables that don’t apply to the problem or the amount of variation they contribute is less than expected in the model.
It is important to note that the current climate models as described by the IPCC have not and do not reasonably reflect the past history. Indeed, the past climate history is greatly distorted from the observed historical data (particularly the “little ice age” that occurred over 400 years ago).
Since climate history must review history that goes back thousands of years (before written observations were reliably made), the climate scientists use “proxy” factors, such as tree growth rings and studies of air trapped in ice in polar regions. Then “claims” of relating temperature change to CO2 are made. A key point is that the timing of these proxy methods is not accurate. It is quite possible that the temperature increase came before the CO2 increase in the atmosphere — and it is a known element that CO2 naturally increases when temperatures rise (due to faster breakdown of plants, etc.) It can well be that CO2 is not the primary variable at all, but errors in the timing of data are to blame.
Finally, aside from the scientific arguments (which will go on), the primary goal of those promoting the anthropogenic global warming meme is to impose central planning and improve “social and ecological justice” (code words for socialism) upon the population. You see, it’s actually all about control and overcoming individual rights.
If you like your brown cloud, you can keep your brown cloud.
http://www.imagescolorado.com/img/s11/v31/p1042357074-3.jpg
“If you like your brown cloud, you can keep your brown cloud.”
I assume that’s a result of a temperature inversion?
Evolution is a commie conspiracy of scientists! Teach the controversy!
“Merchants of Doubt is a 2010 non-fiction book by American historians of science Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. It identifies parallels between the climate change debate and earlier controversies over tobacco smoking, acid rain and the hole in the ozone layer. Oreskes and Conway write that in each case “keeping the controversy alive” by spreading doubt and confusion after a scientific consensus had been reached, was the basic strategy of those opposing action.”
wikipedia
The real deniers are people who think our climate was and should remain static and unchanging
I have never heard anyone say that. What I have heard is that the change is happening faster than it normally does.
What I have heard is that the change is happening faster than it normally does.
How accurate is our data on how rapidly it occurred 900yrs ago? 10000yrs ago? 100000yrs ago?
Ah, you have asked the right question.
My current interest is ancient kingdoms and how they disappeared. When I dig into this I find that a few historians and anthropologists determined what happened in the past. The main culprits are from the one country - yes the same one that brought about the industrial revolution.
“The main culprits are from the one country - yes the same one that brought about the industrial revolution.”
The UK?
Warmists gonna warm
Lights please.
“the primary goal of those promoting the anthropogenic global warming meme is to impose central planning and improve “social and ecological justice” (code words for socialism) upon the population. You see, it’s actually all about control and overcoming individual rights.”
That’s what Climate Change is All about Charlie Brown.
“the primary goal of those promoting the idea that tobacco is harmful is to impose central planning and improve “social and ecological justice” (code words for socialism) upon the population. You see, it’s actually all about control and overcoming individual rights.”
Everything old is new again.
Tobacco fascism is indeed central planning, imposing social and economic justice upon the population and overcoming individual rights. How would you describe it?
#FundamentalTransformationOfAmerica
I would describe people who don’t want to breathe second hand smoke as the single greatest threat to the Constitution in America today.
#Carcinogensforall
I’ll bet you support second hand marijuana smoke.
#EveryoneMustGetStoned
Oh, so THAT’S what scientists do. They collect and summarize articles.
While wearing lab coats.
If you like your oligarchical plutocracy, you can keep your oligarchical plutocracy.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-jeb-bush-money-20141225-story.html#page=1
PricePimps are so predictable. Right down to the time they show up here every day.
The nativity is going on in Cheeky’s absence with an unnamed stand in donkey (pictured)
Cheeky the donkey misses annual nativity show after being STABBED 12 times by maniac at community farm
By Keiligh Baker for MailOnline
Published: 12:27 EST, 3 December 2014 |
A donkey is missing her annual nativity show for the first time after being stabbed 12 times by a manic in a night time attack.
Cheeky the donkey, who is 22 years old, was due to star in the Christmas show at Greenmeadow Farm in Cwmbran, South Wales, until she was knifed in the night at her farm by a mystery intruder.
Police are today hunting the cruel attacker who attacked the 22-year-old just days before the nativity show where she would be cheered by children.
Mare Cheeky has been stitched up and will watch the nativity from the wings as she receives treatment for her deep stab wounds.
Workers at the community farm in Cwmbran, South Wales, where Cheeky lives are in shock at the senseless violence.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2859392/Cheeky-donkey-misses-annual-nativity-STABBED-12-times-maniac.html#ixzz3N1fGvggx
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Capital controls: coming soon to a crony-capitalist, centrally-planned banana Keynesian republic near you.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-26/belarus-president-tells-retailers-money-grabbers-and-thieves-capital-controls-will-r
Bitcoin and physical precious metals billion. Why worry?
Bullion.
Oil is dropping, and precious metals are rising. Something tells me the Fed-Wall Street efforts to levitate our Ponzi markets and lock in obscene end-of-year bonuses for the Wall Streeters are going to flounder starting in January.
http://www.bloomberg.com/energy/
I dont want people to lose their jobs.
Cellphones cut off, Ohio suburb weighs bankruptcy
By MARK GILLISPIEAssociated Press
Associated Press / Dec 26, 2014, 02:10 PM
EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) — East Cleveland has long been one of the poorest cities in the state, a model for what urban decay looks like — streets filled with blighted and boarded-up homes and tired commercial districts.
And it’s beyond broke.
The city government’s cellphone provider recently cut off service for nonpayment. It is getting two new salt trucks purchased with federal money but won’t be able to fill them because of what it owes Morton Salt Inc., one of the city’s fiscal overseers said.
This city of 17,000 people is now considering whether to file for municipal bankruptcy, which would be a first for an Ohio municipality.
The Cleveland suburb has been under a state-ordered fiscal emergency since 2012, which means a fiscal commission oversees the city’s finances and works with officials to devise a recovery plan. East Cleveland has been there before. It was under a fiscal emergency from 1988 until 2006, the longest in state history.
The city’s financial woes have reached a point where the head of the fiscal commission doesn’t think bankruptcy would even help. Sharon Hanrahan of the Ohio Office of Management and Budget said she’s concerned the city won’t have enough cash in the bank to make payroll for the first pay period of 2015.
Mayor Gary Norton said a bankruptcy filing is being considered.
“We have to recognize the reality we face, weigh our options and choose a course,” Norton said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Right now, we’re in the stage of weighing our options.”
He bristled at the notion that East Cleveland won’t make payroll, noting that doomsayers have been predicting such a thing for months. He emphasized that city government is still delivering essential police, fire and emergency medical services and is picking up residents’ trash.
By MARK GILLISPIE Associated Press: http://markets.cbsnews.com/Cellphones-cut-off-Ohio-suburb-weighs-bankruptcy/1d4fe8737e2b1768/
How many people are working and how productive are they? That is how you determine growth.
100,000,000 people are out of work folks.
“You have to talk a good game.”
Don’t let the BS fool you.
Another sort of Christmas classic from TBP. Ho Ho Ho from the ‘hood.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2014/12/24/30-blocks-of-ho-ho-ho/
“The extreme fragility of an economy based on ever-expanding mountains of debt piled on declining incomes is apparent: if the Fed can’t raise interest rates even a tiny quarter point without threatening to collapse the unstable pyramid of debt-based affluence/ consumption, what does that say about the fragility of the “growth” (supposedly running at a hot 5% annually) and “prosperity”?”
ASSET BUBBLES don’t fix the structural problems in the economy!
Neither does Wall Street asset-stripping and looting of the productive economy, or Fed monetary policies that reward speculation and malinvestment instead of encouraging the growth of productive wealth-creating enterprises.
crater
crater
Got physical precious metals? Got crypto currency?
http://www.voicesofliberty.com/article/the-irs-can-empty-your-bank-account-for-no-reason/
Someone has to be the collection arm of the statist progressive machine.
#FundamentalTransformationOfAmerica
“SLO County lake levels still low despite December storms”
Now that we’ve had some rainfall, how are San Luis Obispo County’s lakes and reservoirs looking?
In a word: Low.
While a few areas of the county have received as much as 20 inches of much-needed rain since the start of the rain season in July, the deluge hasn’t done much to fill the storage basins that some communities rely on for drinking water.
The hillsides may be green, but local lakes are not much fuller than they were about 10 months ago. In a few areas, reservoir levels have dropped further.
“Our reservoirs are at historic low levels,” Arroyo Grande Public Works Director Geoff English said. “Despite the recent rains, the runoff has not been as significant as it could be even later in the year.”
Thanks to a series of December storms, nearly all San Luis Obispo County locations have already recorded more rain than all of last season, according to PG&E meteorologist John Lindsey.
But in some areas, the ground was so parched that the water soaked into the earth instead of running into reservoirs. In the meantime, water is still being pulled out of some reservoirs to serve cities and communities, and small amounts continue to be released for environmental reasons.
Mandatory water restrictions are ongoing in communities across the county, and local officials are urging residents to keep saving as much water as possible.
“The message is ‘continue to conserve,’ ” said Dean Benedix, San Luis Obispo County’s Public Works utilities division manager. “It’s going to take significant additional rainfall beyond average to get us out of this thing.”
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2014/12/26/3415532_slo-county-lake-levels-still-low.html?sp=/99/100/&rh=1
Yeah I was shocked when I checked one pics of lakes. Few weeks ago. I recall the California droughts of the 70s and 80s. This is similar. I will be back in California tomorrow night after a week in Arizona. No rain in sight in Cali. Was hoping for storms so that I could use my fireplace there.
supposed to rain all next week in So Cal
“supposed to rain all next week in So Cal”
They really need it. Fingers crossed!
realtors are liars