Bits Bucket for March 2, 2015
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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http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/02/28/climatic-jihad/
when senator jim inhofe brought a snowball on the floor of the senate, that was the definitive piece of evidence that convinced me that global warming can’t be happening, because there is snow on the ground outside of the u.s. capitol building
and now back to your regularly scheduled drudge report links
Excerpt:
Climate Crisis industrialists are also fed up with constant carping, criticism and questions from growing numbers of experts who will not kowtow to their End of Days theology. Once seemingly near, their dream of ruling a hydrocarbon-free world of “sustainably” lower living standards become more remote every week. Extremist factions had dreamed of a global climatist caliphate and want vengeance.
So borrowing from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton mentor Saul Alinsky’s book, Rules for Radicals, they have gone on the attack: Pick a target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. A good tactic is one your people enjoy. A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions. They’ve also borrowed from the Islamic State playbook: Silence your enemies.
Led by Greenpeace associate Kert Davies, this Climatist Jihad wing of the climate chaos movement has launched a well funded, carefully choreographed vendetta of character assassination and destruction, vilifying dangerous manmade climate change “deniers” and trying to destroy their careers. Their Big Green, Big Government and media allies are either actively complicit, rooting from the sidelines or silent.
Do you actually give credence to that sort of reporting?
Kowtow, End-Of-Days, Extremist, Caliphate, Vengeance, Islamic State, Jihad, chaos, vendetta, assassination, destruction?
Come on, that has to be a joke. Right? No one would read that and think it’s making a point in a debate. lol.
Pick a target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.
… and Palinize it. The holy grail of bumper stickerization.
Oxide, back in 2008 when this board was filled with CAGW supporters, I was talking about the role played by the oceans in warming particularly the PDO and AMO and how their cooling would cause AGW to cease and how it had been the major contributor to warming between 1979 and 1998. I was ridiculed by most on the board including you for suggesting it. Now, the AGW are just starting to talk about it but are only suggesting that it is the reason for the pause (which you and others were denying in 2008 was even occurring).
Have to go, back on travel.
Actually the pdo comments were in the 2012 cycle.
Alinsky wasn’t talking about climate change.
And neither was I.
Oil company shills don’t like free enterprise or science. They think the government should guarantee oil company profits, and the taxpayer should pay to repair the mess the oil companies make. The entitlement culture lives.
Oxide, back in 2008 when this board was filled with CAGW supporters, I was talking about the role played by the oceans in warming particularly the PDO and AMO and how their cooling would cause AGW to cease and how it had been the major contributor to warming between 1979 and 1998.
So you’ve babbling on about this for over six years now.
“Pick a target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”
That is clearly your tiresome strategy.
Does this translate to, “anyone criticizing me has an agenda and therefore I don’t have to respond”?
That’s how antisocial behavior works.
Warren Buffett is on CNBC trying to goose the stock market, the PTB must be getting scared.
yeah they wheel him out every few months to give people the illusion they can get rich too.
From China Daily today, excerpt:
China’s economy is expected to slow to an annual 7 percent in the first quarter of this year, a top Chinese government think tank said in a research report, a sign policymakers will have to roll out more stimulus to support faltering growth.
The forecast by the State Information Center underscored the rationale of Saturday’s move by China’s central bank to cut interest rates for the second time in less than four months as it steps up efforts to ward off deflation.
“Our country’s economic growth still faces relatively heavy downward pressure amid structure adjustments,” the think-tank said in its research report published in the official China Securities News on Monday.
“As such, it will continue searching for a bottom in the first quarter of 2015 and is preliminarily forecast to grow around 7 percent in the quarter,” it said.
The think tank operates under the purview of China’s top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission.
China’s economic growth held steady at 7.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014 from a year earlier but still hovered near the weakest pace since the global financial crisis, reinforcing expectations that policymakers will have to roll out more support measures to avert a sharper slowdown.
China’s consumer price index (CPI) is expected to increase only 1.2 percent on-year in the first quarter of 2015, compared with 2 percent a year earlier, the think-tank said.
Annual growth of exports is expected at 5 percent in the first quarter, slowing from 6 .1 percent a year earlier, while imports are likely to decrease 10.7 percent in the quarter, compared with a 0.4-percent increase in the same period of 2014, it said.
Chinese documentary on pollution. They’re screwed, no matter how you look at it.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-01/chinese-documentary-got-over-30-million-views-one-day
I haven’t had time to watch the whole thing yet, but I did look at the first few minutes. When I saw the interview with the little girl, I teared up. No wonder they’re leaving in droves. Their nest has been fouled.
Really puts a unique spin on that “yearning to breathe free” business.
I live with three air purifiers. One in the bedroom and two in the living/dining room. They have made a huge difference. I run them 24/7 too.
By Ernest Scheyder
WILLISTON, N.D. (Reuters) - It is getting cheaper to rent an apartment in North Dakota’s oil patch.
Prices, which only last year rivaled levels in New York City and Geneva, have slipped about 15 to 20 percent in the past two months as dozens of new apartment buildings opened in Williston, Watford City and other oil hub cities.
Growth in demand has slipped because the plunge in crude oil prices has led to cuts in capital spending by energy producers.
There are still about 1,800 energy-related jobs unfilled in the No. 2 U.S. oil-producing state, and there is still demand for apartments. But the accommodation shortage is nothing like it was when the state’s oil boom began six years ago. As new developments start leasing, tenants are able to negotiate lower rents.
“You’re starting to see prices fall this year as more units come online,” said Terry Metzler of Granite Peak Development, which has built apartments and a shopping center in Williston, considered capital of the state’s oil boom, and has an additional 480 apartments and houses under construction.
When the state’s oil boom began in 2009, prospective tenants swapped stories of sleeping in cars overnight because there wasn’t enough housing. The dozens of new properties opening in the past two years and at least 20 more opening in 2015 have helped put an end to that.
Property managers, who only a few months ago could heavily scrutinize potential tenants and reject anyone whose credit or behavior was in doubt, are now so eager for move-ins they’re all-but volunteering to carry boxes.
It looks like the flight to safety from asset bubbles and debased currencies is accelerating.
http://www.kitco.com/market/
Lumber Liquidators getting monkey-hammered after a 60 Minues report on its toxic Chinese-sourced laminates. Good to see some old-fashioned investigative journalism in the public interest for a change.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/lumber-liquidators-stock-slammed-by-60-minutes-report-2015-03-02
cheap isn’t always the best deal.
Especially not when you factor in long term health costs and the litigation that’s going to arise from this toxic flooring. Good luck selling a condo or house that has that stuff installed.
If it’s not nailed down, just pick it up and move it with you.
Raymond K
Thanks for the one-up.
Carpet - plastics
Engineered -Formaldehyde in glue and backing as well
Laminate - plastics, formaldehyde, etc…
That fugly Concrete Slab finish is looking better all the time. Just freak’in cold.
concrete lung
Um, you don’t get that from a concrete slab, unless you are the guy spending years and years sanding them—and don’t have the sense to wear a respirator.
Ok, then, earthquake.
That fugly Concrete Slab finish is looking better all the time. Just freak’in cold.
Insulate underneath it, run some radiant-heating pex tubing through it, and then it’s not “cold” at all—it’s cozy-warm and comforting.
But that’s a million dollars right?
Uhmmmm… No.
You know the ppsq for concrete work, right? What do you bid that at? We both know the pex tubing underneath it is cheap.
And I take exception to the “fugly” description as well; I like the look of concrete as a flooring.
are you sure?
“I like the look of concrete as a flooring.”
I like that the hallway slab floor doesn’t squeak when ‘ya have to do that 02:00 bathroom visit.
It can be done without concrete. Use two plys of 3/4 plywood on all decks.
You know the ppsq for concrete work, right? What do you bid that at?
Why won’t you answer the question?
The US integration into the incorporated global plantation is about to take a giant step forward.
http://wolfstreet.com/2015/03/01/crunch-time-for-the-global-corporatocracy/
I must be descendant from from antsy wanderers. I’m getting the urge to relocate for no reason other than the adventure.
Stucco, how’s family life in the San Diego ‘burbs?
Here are cities/areas that pique my curiosity (in no particular order):
Northwest Arkansas
Alpharetta or Rome, Georgia
Flagstaff or Sedona, Arizona
San Diego, California
Provo, Ogden, or SLC, Utah
Move in with Ben and get into all sorts of wacky adventures.
Whatever you do, rent it.
Lol, man. No worries there. Although if I end up in a non-recourse state, why not roll the dice with OPM?
Is history about to repeat itself? In 1931, the failure of an Austrian bank set off a chain-reaction of bank runs that culminated in a European financial collapse (and led the way for a spiteful little ex-corporal to rise to power).
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-02/lehman-moment-austrian-bad-bank-means-worse-coming
Didn’t we fix that? Is any bank failure to big to paper over?
This is a list of link titles on the Breitbart website right now:
AIPAC: Experts Warn Iran Could Cause Middle East to Go Nuclear
Islamic State ‘Fed Murdered Man to His Own Mother’
Watch: Live Stream of the 2015 AIPAC Policy Conference
McCain: Iran Deal Will Make Other Middle East Countries Go Nuclear
Here Comes Bibi
Report: Obama Threatened to Shoot Down Israeli Jets
Brooks: Netanyahu Address to Congress a ‘Disaster’
Kerry: Says USA/Israel Relationship Closest Ever
Ad Campaign Exposes Jewish Leaders Who Fund Jew-Hatred
Pray For Netanyahu
World Net Daily link titles:
McCain Blasts ‘Crazy’ Iran Negotiations
Jerusalem Post Editor Blasts Obama on Netanyahu Eve
Pat Boone to Represent Evangelicals at Bibi Speech
Iran’s Moves In the Middle East and Why You Should Care
Focus on Israel: Iran Brews Up ‘Final Solution’ to Hasten Antichrist
World Net Daily Exclusive: Has Antichrist Ascended to World Stage?
Weekly Standard link titles:
Netanyahu’s Moment
Does Hillary Stand with the Boycotters or Supporters of Israel?
New Docs Reveal Osama bin Laden’s Secret Ties with Iran
Appeasement in Our Time
Did you know that Weekly Standard editor William Kristol has a net worth of over $200,000,000? How many of his children fought in the first Iraq, Afghanistan, and second Iraq wars? Will John McCain’s children put their “boots on the ground” on the front lines of the ground invasion of Iran?
And most importantly, do all of you American taxpayers and voters feel like you are getting your money’s worth?
I don’t remember voting to put a $600,000,000,000 a year war machine and American foreign policy decisions in the hands of Christian Zionists who believe that the Earth is 6,000 years old, that Adam and Eve rode on dinosaurs like horses, and that the end game of all of this is to hasten the Rapture
And remember, every time you click on one of these links, you pull a Shekel out of the U.S. Treasury (paid for by American taxpayers, but more likely borrowed from communist China) and put it in William Kristol’s pocket
Fox News website is all ISIS, Iran, and Israel
So paying for all of that must be special exceptions of “shrinking the size of government to where you can drown it in the bathtub”
Obama is a communist and Fox News hates Obama
But when there’s a war to pay for, no problem borrowing the money from communist China to pay for that
Corporatist, warmonger, fake “conservatives” are hypocrites and liars
And thank you Ben Jones for allowing this discussion
The great orange liberal website is all poutraged over bibi too. I don’t know that much of the history so I can’t really comment.
Thanks for your efforts. Those are some great finds. The day before Bib’s big speech is Netanyahu Eve. Pat Boone is also getting involved. He should have entered his name in the CPAC straw poll.
A pox on both houses, but especially those darned republicans.
oh and…2nd poster in thread.
i thought ‘netanyahu eve’ from world net daily sounded cute
are we supposed to leave out cookies and milk for bibi?
Drill, Bibi, Drill!
Austria gives up on sinking billions into “bad bank” and lets it fail - meaning creditors will be SOL. Still to be seen if account holders will get Corzined.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-01/austria-on-track-to-bail-in-heta-creditors-after-aid-stop
“The republic won’t put a single euro of tax money into Heta anymore,” Schelling said.
That’s it right there!
Hey, rms, are you in Chi town? If so, my sympathies. Rahm vs Chuy looks like a loser, whichever way it goes. Dang, that is too depressing.
The Columbia Basin, Eastern Washington state.
Kind of amusing to watch Pelosi & Co. import millions of Democrat on Arrival voters from south of the Rio Grande, then watch these ingrates practice identity politics that cost old-guard Dems their political positions and careers.
Priced out: The struggle for an affordable Seattle
March 31, 2015
Please join Seattle Times business reporter Sanjay Bhatt for a provocative forum on the intersection of wages, policy and housing costs, and making it – or not – in the greater Seattle area. Local and national leaders explore affordability challenges and solutions for our region, where job growth is outpacing much of the nation, yet income disparity is greater than ever before.
The event is free, but space is limited; registration is recommended.
http://livewire.seattletimes.com/
Joining Sanjay will be Zillow senior economist Skylar Olsen, SEIU president David Rolf, Jake McKinstry, principal with Spectrum Development Solutions, and Redfin’s chief economist Nela Richardson.
Kane Hall- University of Washington
4069 Spokane Lane
Seattle, WA 98105
Tuesday, March 31, 2015 from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM (PDT)
Someone has to wear a HBB tee shirt at this event.
I will print it on my cheeks and moon the assembled worthies.
(scribbling on my calendar…)
Obama Believes He Alone Is The Law In America
1144 Comments
02/27/2015 06:28 PM ET
Rule Of Law: First, the president issues unlawful executive orders giving illegal immigrants amnesty. Then, he dares an equal branch of government to vote on his orders’ legality so he can veto it. Is he establishing a monarchy?
While speaking at a town hall meeting Wednesday night at Florida International University, President Obama clearly indicated that he believes he is the final authority on law in this country. He will not tolerate dissent.
“If Mr. McConnell, the leader of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, want to have a vote on whether what I’m doing is legal or not, they can have that vote. I will veto that vote, because I’m absolutely confident that what we’re doing is the right thing to do,” he told a group organized by Democratic Rep. Jose Diaz-Balart.
In November, Obama announced a set of unilateral actions to change the immigration system. Government agencies were ordered not to enforce the law against up to 5 million illegal immigrants in the country. He also declared that they would not be subject to deportation and were to be handed green cards.
There was no vote in Congress. No consultation with the House and Senate. No law cited that gave him the authority. Just his word.
A month ago, we wondered if Obama was “so hellbent on amnesty for illegals he’ll resort to nullifying and even breaking the law.” Today, we know that he is.
Not even a federal judge’s ruling has stopped him from making and unmaking law as he sees fit. On Feb. 16, Southern Texas District Judge Andrew Hanen issued a temporary injunction against the administration’s executive lawmaking. “No, Mr. President,” said the George W. Bush appointee, “you and your party’s long-term political agenda are not above the law.”
The administration wants Hanen’s order lifted, but one should assume that even if the courts don’t rule Obama’s way, the White House will eventually do as it wishes and challenge the courts to stop it, just as it has taunted Congress.
Several times during Obama’s six years in office he has insisted he’s not a king able to act alone. He said it right up until he began to overtly behave as one.
House Speaker John Boehner’s office counted 22 times that Obama said “he couldn’t ignore or create his own immigration law.”
Yet at a time of his choosing, the president decided he could indeed create his own immigration law, just as he made changes to the Affordable Care Act as if it were his own set of commandments handed down from on high.
Obama is the president who said all he needed was a pen and a phone, that he wasn’t going to wait around for Congress to act.
He’s the Oval Office occupant who, while visiting Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home in Charlottesville, Va., a year ago with French President Francois Hollande, declared that it’s a “good thing as a president, I can do whatever I want.”
Read More At Investor’s Business Daily: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/022715-741325-obama-says-hes-the-law-and-will-rebuke-anyone-who-says-he-isnt.htm#ixzz3TEwYhpwy
Follow us: @IBDinvestors on Twitter | InvestorsBusinessDaily on Facebook
“Obama Believes He Alone Is The Law In America”
Obama lost me early on when he decided that taxpayers had to pony-up for Wall street bonuses.
“Obama Believes He Alone Is The Law In America”
But the same people angry about this will soon over Putin who really IS the law in Russia. It baffles me, makes me think their anger is really directed at something else.
soon=swoon
This post must be the dumbest post ever in the HBB history.
lolz. Because Putin is so perfect, and a real champion of free markets, open governance, and personal liberty.
You got the Putin man-crush too, eh, butter?
Anyone read the housing affordability article in the LA Times yesterday?
Interesting graph on where people are moving to, to escape Cali’s high cost of living and its issues. AZ, Co, Texas (IIRC #1), Ill, etc…
I saw the movie (Redbox $1) “And So It Is” last night, the lite comedy with Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton, and it was filed in Bridgeport Conn. Wow, Captain’s Cove is a pretty area. The east coast is SO pretty.
Ever been to Bridgeport? Get back to me if you ever go.
But yes, there are some pretty parts of the east coast, although Bridgeport is not one of them.
The Rhode Island coast is awesome.
Bridgeport is in Fairfield County, right? ($$$$$$)
It seems like Fairfield County put all their “affordable housing” *cough cough* into one little town so that the rest of the county could be set aside for the beautiful people.
Thanks palmetto and joe smith.
Where ever that seaport village is, I’d love a summer home there. I’d be fishing me up some dinner.
The east coast just has a certain charm that our Beverly Hills is missing. OK, I’ll drive my google car on the RI coast. You’ve got me curious.
More tears of foolishness.
Get back to me after you’ve spent a winter on said pretty East Coast.
OK, I’ll drive my google car
“google car”??? Huh?!?
“Ever been to Bridgeport? Get back to me if you ever go.”
Right.
Newport Beach, CA Rental Rates Dive 8% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/newport-beach-ca/home-values/
The last week has been great for observing how our AIPAC and CPAC puppetmasters go about their business. Truly amazing stuff. If Eisenhower woke up in 2015 and realized these clowns now run his party (both by dictating the message and providing the $$$) he’d want to shoot himself in the face.
(Surely Kennedy would feel the same about the libs during the Mike Brown debacle.)
Liberace!
Slack jawed, knuckle dragging, snake handling, speaking in tongues, daughter diddling, Fox News watching, Rush listening, Drudge link clickers, but their children make great cannon fodder…
LOL!
Kennedy was a poly drug addicted immoral degenerate son of a rich gangster.
Yeah, but he had his bad points too.
“Vixen” (bought new) my 1995 940 335,000 miles Volvo is going to be dearly departed this month. I’m driving her to the junk yard and scoring $100. She can’t pass the smog certification and needs a radiator to boot. Her tires are only 6 months old. Bummer!
I’m looking for a low mileage used car.
I’m driving her to the junk yard and scoring $100.
That’s idiotic. You could sell it for more than that!
I was out taking a test yesterday and I got a bit lost on the way there and back. Good thing it wasn’t a directions test. So anyway, there are ALOT of houses suddenly for sale/rent right now in Phoenix. Big noticeable difference.
Did you move? IIRC you lived in… Cali?
I moved. I’m wayward.
My new neighbs are from Phoenix. They are the flattest people I have lived next to in a long time (a welcome change, FWIW).
fattest?
“flattest” is better than “fattest”!
Not if they’ve been run over by a car.
Where B Cr8TR RAGE!??!??!??!?!??!
The faces of debtor rage are many.
Try not to sink all your hard-earned wealth into a housing money pit.
US govt issues logistics support tender for 300 military personnel in Ukraine
“The contractor shall provide all equipment, vehicles, and personnel…”
by RT | March 2, 2015
The US is planning to send about 300 military personnel to Ukraine from March to October to train the Ukrainian army, according to a tender on a US government website that requires logistics for the troops.
The US government has published a tender, saying it’s hiring services for the movement of equipment and approximately 300 US personnel in Ukraine, according to the Federal Business Opportunities website.
“The contractor shall provide all equipment, vehicles, and personnel necessary to provide ground transportation in accordance with the ordering clause,” the tender states.
Transportation will be required from 5 March until 31 October for about three return trips from Lvov International Airport to the International Peace Keeping and Security Center (IPSC) in Yavoriv.
In February, Washington confirmed it will send troops to Ukraine to train Kiev troops fighting against the militias in eastern Ukraine.
“We’ll train them in security tasks, medical [tasks], how to operate in an environment where the Russians are jamming [communications] and how to protect [themselves] from Russian and rebel artillery,” US Army Europe Commander Ben Hodges was cited as saying by Reuters on February 11.
The Ukrainian government requested the training as “they work to reform their police forces and establish their newly formed National Guard,” Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Vanessa Hillman told Defense News in January.
Funding for the mission was requested by the President Barack Obama administration in the fiscal 2015 budget and comes from the congressionally authorized Global Security Contingency Fund (GSCF). The US is reportedly ready to spend $19 million to put the Ukrainian National Guard through its paces.
The UK has followed the US and is planning to send up to 75 British military personnel in March. They will offer medical, intelligence, logistics and infantry training to the Ukrainian army.
Prime Minister David Cameron said in February that UK support would be given “well away from the area of conflict,” adding that the purpose of aid would be to improve Ukraine’s tactical advantage.
Poland voiced support by saying that Warsaw will send military advisers to Ukraine.
“The defense ministry intends to send Polish instructors to support the training of Ukrainian non-commissioned officers,” Defense Ministry adviser Boguslaw Pacek told Reuters in February.
The Yavoriv operations site, near the Polish-Ukrainian border, is the largest military firing range in Europe, covering 40,000 square kilometers. The last international military exercises in the Lvov region took place in September 2014. About 1,300 servicemen from 15 countries, including the US, Canada, Germany and the UK participated.
Despite the Minsk-2 peace agreement brokered on February 12, Washington is still mulling over sending weapons to Ukraine.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in February that supplying weapons would “escalate the whole situation” in eastern Ukraine and “would be a major blow to the Minsk agreements.”
British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon previously warned that supplying weapons to Ukraine would worsen the conflict, Reuters reported in February.
The White House has also admitted that possible military assistance from the US to Ukraine could increase violence.
“Providing additional military assistance could and is likely to have the effect of increasing the bloodshed,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on February 5.
The head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Aleksandr Zakharchenko, said the US is already supplying Kiev with ammunition and weapons on a “large-scale basis.”
Meanwhile, former US diplomat James Jatras, told RT: “This discussion in Washington about supplying weapons has been going on for some time. Usually that indicates that some kind of a covert program is already in operation and that we already are supplying some weapons directly.”
Commenting on a statement recently made by Poroshenko that the weapons are not intended for offensive use, Jatras said: “The notion that there are offensive and defensive weapons is really absurd here,” and that supplying the weapons is “clearly designed to give Kiev some kind of military option that Kiev does not currently have, and of course it has an offensive intent behind it.”
Another reason Face crapppp is going to die soon….
its only use now is to promote your own business….
http://www.theamericanmirror.com/facebook-suspends-black-middle-schoolers-page-after-slamming-obama/