C19 Open Discussion Week 9

From NJ Spotlight:

Jersey Shore Towns Begin to Open Up — Cautiously: How Ready Are They?

New Jersey’s beach towns prepare for a summer season like no other.

For the bulk of the 41 municipalities stitched up and down the Atlantic coast, from Sea Bright to Cape May Point, the 15 weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day are crucial to the survival of their economies. And not just for the towns themselves — nearly half of the state’s $46.4 billion in tourism spending is generated by the four counties that encompass the Jersey Shore.

Statewide, travel spending for the first four months of 2020 has dropped by 87%, compared to last year, according to the U.S. Travel Association and Tourism Economics. In a report released Thursday, the state projects that 2020 will see tourism spending decline by about a third from 2019. With an economic window as narrow as that of the Jersey Shore’s, many town mayors have reached the critical moment in which they must figure how to begin reopening in order to salvage the livelihoods of seasonal businesses without risking the lives of residents and visitors.

On Tuesday afternoon, after weeks of regular discussions with the governor’s office, the Cape May County-Wide Recovery Initiative, a coalition of freeholders, mayors and business leaders, submitted a formal reopening plan to Gov. Phil Murphy — a first among the Shore counties.

The 35-page document proposes a “progressive reopening” over the next several weeks, with full access to boardwalks and beaches, as well as reduced-capacity opening for indoor and outdoor restaurants and nonessential retail beginning on June 1. According to the report, Cape May County is uniquely vulnerable to a collapse in the tourism economy — in 2018, the industry created 26,572 jobs, and over 23% of the population is directly employed in retail or food service and accommodation.

In a joint statement, the mayors of Avalon and Stone Harbor, located on the county’s 7 Mile Beach island, said that they would open their beaches for “walking, running, fishing and surfing, from dawn until dusk” on Friday, May 8, but that “stationary activity” would remain unallowed. “The beaches will be patrolled to make sure that social distancing practices are followed and there are no large groups of people gathered,” the statement went on, adding that if the rules are not followed, “we will again close our beaches.”

Asked whether they are prepared for an increase in COVID-19 cases should the county’s beach towns reopen, Brian Cahill, spokesman for Shore Medical Center, said, “We have been preparing for an influx of COVID-19 patients since the beginning, and our staff has done an incredible job. We currently have seventy isolation rooms and we can add more if necessary.” With regard to the county’s recovery initiative, Cahill said the hospital is “continuing to follow the guidelines set forth by the CDC and New Jersey Department of Health.”

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167 Responses to C19 Open Discussion Week 9

  1. Hold my beer says:

    Good luck with bennies and their cooties

  2. Fakenewshoaxes says:

    Esx, nothing is dumber than the identity politics movement. Look no further than the claims that covid is racist for proof.

    And despite the Georgia story being a wet dream for adherents like yourself, even the most basic facts have not been established. Was he committing a crime(ie michael brown redux). Let’s also see the unedited video.

  3. Fat Fast Eddie says:

    I’m on shoprite right now, you name it, they got it. This supply side panic and doom and gloom shit has got to stop. The left is pathetic and the media toadies who s.uck their little d1cks. Ridiculous. And the left wants to keep the masses under their thumb by feeding them 2 grand per month? If you don’t let corporations and small businesses especially open up, you won’t have any tax dollars at all. The left s.ucks.

  4. ExEssex says:

    8:01 shaddup stupid. They are gonna fry for this. The sheriff in charge is gonna die got this. Your fat ass is gonna eat pork pie for this. I’m gonna spurt in your gf’s eye for this. Suck on that retawwwwwwd.

  5. ExEssex says:

    11:08 hey stupid. Suck on my fat nuts. Covid is in the oval Orifice. Dooooucche.

  6. ExEssex says:

    Eddie / Gary the fairy continues to align himself with the dumbest of the dumb.

  7. FakeNewsHoaxes says:

    The media described him as an “aspiring electrician.” Maybe that’s what he was doing looking around an in progress construction site. Or maybe not. There were burglaries in that area just before, including the guys with the guns, who were robbed.

    Stop being a drone. Think for yourself. The media fans the flames of this identity stuff which tears the country apart. Idiots like you run with it.

  8. Phoenix says:

    I can’t begin to imagine the countless times I have looked in an in progress construction site just to learn. Went to habitat for humanity sites to look at the energy efficient construction design, ICE construction techniques, look at houses under construction in my neighborhoods to see how mine was built-how they attached additions, etc. But then again no one ever came after me holding a shotgun.

  9. ExEssex says:

    The coronavirus has thrown the real-estate world into disarray, as people empty out of offices, hotels, and malls and work from their homes. The spread of the virus and the economic disruptions that have followed are transforming how people finance, operate, and occupy real estate.

    We’ve been tracking a slew of layoffs in the venture-backed real estate world, as empty short-term rentals and coworking spaces have hit once-buzzy industries hard. And we’re look at how big companies are rethinking office needs and the way big commercial real-estate deals are being impacted.

    We’re also keeping tabs on what experts are saying about the industry, and the future of offices as the virus has created the biggest experiment in remote work ever.

  10. ExEssex says:

    Continued:

    Latest news
    A blockbuster Facebook office deal is a make-or-break moment for the future of commercial real estate. 3 leasing experts lay out the stakes.
    Leaked WeWork document reveals a huge reorg under way for people who manage its buildings. Here’s how the new structure works — and the complex process for staff to save their jobs.
    Meet the 4 dealmakers driving Blackstone’s $325 billion commercial real estate portfolio. They walked us through how they’re thinking about opportunities in the downturn.
    Neiman Marcus just filed for bankruptcy, and it could mark a major blow to NYC’s glitzy Hudson Yards — one of the most expensive mega-malls in US history. Here’s why.
    Inside the drama over control of the iconic Chrysler Building: A real-estate tycoon and a prestigious college are renegotiating a critical $150 million deal
    The CEO of real estate heavy-hitter Eastdil explains the types of deals that are must-do right now — and warns that a ‘de-retailing’ trend is set to accelerate
    State of the commercial real estate market
    As WeWork and flex-space rivals stumble, 18 million square feet of space in NYC is at risk. Here’s what that means for the real-estate market.
    Airbnb and RXR Realty are scrapping a partnership at Rockefeller Center that the home-sharing giant had touted as a ’21st-century hospitality model’
    The lender to a trendy Brooklyn hotel is looking to offload an $80 million mortgage as the hospitality sector craters — and it’s the type of deal distressed-debt investors have been waiting for
    Real-estate tycoon Aby Rosen is abandoning $600 million worth of acquisitions as the coronavirus slams New York City’s multibillion-dollar sales market
    Major tenants are delaying big leases in NYC as they re-think their office space needs for the post-coronavirus world
    Blackstone bet big on 4 huge Las Vegas casinos. Then the coronavirus brought Sin City to a halt, right as the PE giant was trying to unload one of its multi-billion-dollar jewels.
    Airbnb-backed corporate housing startup Zeus Living is asking landlords to renegotiate their leases and withholding April and May rent until they sign
    Knotel is scrambling to pay millions in bills that started stacking up before the coronavirus hit, and hasn’t paid April rent at some locations
    Leaked documents from Knotel show the WeWork competitor struggled to hit financial targets well before the coronavirus hit
    ‘This is the day of reckoning’ for companies like WeWork. 10 real-estate insiders lay out the future of flex-offices, and how employers are preparing now.
    Hospitality startup Sonder is pushing ahead with plans to open its largest NYC apartment hotel yet as coronavirus cripples the travel industry
    7 charts show how the coronavirus could clobber real estate, from retail vacancies of nearly 15% to plunging office rents in Texas cities
    A surge in grocery deliveries is creating a huge opportunity for industrial real-estate developers. Here’s how the coronavirus is transforming retail and warehousing.

  11. ExEssex says:

    Latest news
    A blockbuster Facebook office deal is a make-or-break moment for the future of commercial real estate. 3 leasing experts lay out the stakes.
    Leaked WeWork document reveals a huge reorg under way for people who manage its buildings. Here’s how the new structure works — and the complex process for staff to save their jobs.
    Meet the 4 dealmakers driving Blackstone’s $325 billion commercial real estate portfolio. They walked us through how they’re thinking about opportunities in the downturn.
    Neiman Marcus just filed for bankruptcy, and it could mark a major blow to NYC’s glitzy Hudson Yards — one of the most expensive mega-malls in US history. Here’s why.
    Inside the drama over control of the iconic Chrysler Building: A real-estate tycoon and a prestigious college are renegotiating a critical $150 million deal
    The CEO of real estate heavy-hitter Eastdil explains the types of deals that are must-do right now — and warns that a ‘de-retailing’ trend is set to accelerate
    State of the commercial real estate market
    As WeWork and flex-space rivals stumble, 18 million square feet of space in NYC is at risk. Here’s what that means for the real-estate market.
    Airbnb and RXR Realty are scrapping a partnership at Rockefeller Center that the home-sharing giant had touted as a ’21st-century hospitality model’
    The lender to a trendy Brooklyn hotel is looking to offload an $80 million mortgage as the hospitality sector craters — and it’s the type of deal distressed-debt investors have been waiting for
    Real-estate tycoon Aby Rosen is abandoning $600 million worth of acquisitions as the coronavirus slams New York City’s multibillion-dollar sales market
    Major tenants are delaying big leases in NYC as they re-think their office space needs for the post-coronavirus world
    Blackstone bet big on 4 huge Las Vegas casinos. Then the coronavirus brought Sin City to a halt, right as the PE giant was trying to unload one of its multi-billion-dollar jewels.
    Airbnb-backed corporate housing startup Zeus Living is asking landlords to renegotiate their leases and withholding April and May rent until they sign
    Knotel is scrambling to pay millions in bills that started stacking up before the coronavirus hit, and hasn’t paid April rent at some locations
    Leaked documents from Knotel show the WeWork competitor struggled to hit financial targets well before the coronavirus hit
    ‘This is the day of reckoning’ for companies like WeWork. 10 real-estate insiders lay out the future of flex-offices, and how employers are preparing now.
    Hospitality startup Sonder is pushing ahead with plans to open its largest NYC apartment hotel yet as coronavirus cripples the travel industry
    7 charts show how the coronavirus could clobber real estate, from retail vacancies of nearly 15% to plunging office rents in Texas cities
    A surge in grocery deliveries is creating a huge opportunity for industrial real-estate developers. Here’s how the coronavirus is transforming retail and warehousing.

  12. 3b says:

    The real estate cost savings is going to be huge. There is no way all of these jobs are going back to NYC offices.

  13. Phoenix says:

    “We’re also keeping tabs on what experts are saying about the industry, and the future of offices as the virus has created the biggest experiment in remote work ever.”

    I wonder how much of this “remote work” will be outsourced for profit. I wonder how many people would think doing that is Anti-American, and if that sentiment would only be for certain careers, say IT, vs having teachers outsourced this way.

    Going to be interesting how our presidential candidates are going to field questions about this.

  14. Hold my beer says:

    Until there’s a vaccine or a cure that is readily available and affordable I don’t see how the economy recovers. Who is going to go to a sit down restaurant, an amusement park, get on an airplane? Someone in Seoul who was positive but had no symptoms went out to a few nightclubs last week and there are now 54 known cases linked to him from those clubs.

  15. 3b says:

    Phoenix If they outsource a lot of it , or a big chunk whatever you want to call it, than it’s all over for the economy and the American
    People.

  16. Bystander says:

    Ed,

    Admit that you only take right turns. The other one can’t be trusted.

  17. BoomerRemover says:

    3b,
    The American economy, or whatever you want to call it, comprises of the haves and have nots. Anyone toiling away at and impacted by the foretold near shoring of their job has been feeling like it was all over for them for quite some time.

  18. grim says:

    We saw a lot of jobs repatriated to the US during the pandemic, especially off-shore work in places like India. As they shut down, it became impossible to manage any kind of BCP in those countries, so companies came back to the US, or if not, at least first tier (nearshore) locations.

    Hiring at-home workers in the US was far more expensive, on the order of 3x, but for many companies it was the only option. Keep in mind, in many of these low-cost areas, the rural infrastructure is very unreliable – internet, power, etc.

  19. grim says:

    Me, personally, just the companies and competitors we deal with, I could probably count up about 100,000 jobs repatriated. Let’s see how permanent these jobs are. Nobody suspects all of them to stick, but a large portion will. In addition, those who weren’t quick to move back on-shore, are currently still evaluating it, so that top end number is far, far higher. Remote work makes re-shoring viable as the calculus around cost, ease of hiring, etc – all far better than traditional brick and mortar.

  20. The Great Pumpkin says:

    The executives say it is unclear whether historically low borrowing costs will prompt a surge of homebuying, or aspiring homeowners will be stymied by more restrictive mortgage lending. Either way, there may not be enough new suburban homes to meet demand, given the slowdown in construction.
    “We’re still going to have the fundamental lack of supply to meet normal household formation,” said Invitation’s 39-year-old Chief Executive Dallas Tanner, who is the same age as the company’s typical tenant. “There are 65 million people between the ages of 20 to 35 coming our way.”

    https://apple.news/AqzkepyJnRMa0oi3fn1sfIw

  21. homeboken says:

    You want to stop the bleeding of jobs, tax revenues and incomes in this state? The solution is tied to many things but central to all of them is schools.

    There are 1.4 million kids in the NJ public schools. When these kids are forced to stay home, you completely eliminate the ability for dual income households to return to work normally.

  22. Libturd says:

    I recently purchased the Uno card game. Though it has an Italian or Spanish name. It was created by a barber in Cincinnati. This is interesting, but not as interesting as the fact that it was made in China and sold by Mattel Canada, LLC on Amazon Prime.

    I wonder how many tax dodges were involved my purchasing of the game. Had it been a couple years ago, I would have been part of the scheme, as I wouldn’t have had to pay sales tax on it as well.

    I would also bet that the paper used to produced the cards came from recycled paper we collected here and shipped over to them.

  23. Nomad says:

    Lib,

    Plays right into your thesis:

    “Wuhan reports first new coronavirus cases since end of lockdown”
    Cluster of infections prompts fear of second wave in Chinese city where disease started

    https://www.ft.com/content/fbb9a1bb-9656-4023-aa97-01ff1dae4403

    Heres Admiral McRaven, former Seal in charge of Seal Team 6 on the Bin Laden raid.

    https://twitter.com/14Truth14/status/1259094470269775873

  24. zapaza19 says:

    Can someone confirm this or is this typical RE agent hearsay/BS:

    The agents in my neck of the woods, Hunterdon County, are stating that there is an increased interest of buyers in the NYC/Bergen/Hudson area to relocate over here. That’s for those that are able to work primarily from home.

    p.s. My wife says she’s never visiting NYC again. Hate’s the city. Hates Cuomo. Hates Murphy and his Law. What did living in Florida do to her?

  25. chicagofinance says:

    WSJ Editorial
    OPINION

    Barack Obama on Michael Flynn

    The lawyer President misstates the crime and the real threat to justice.

    By The Editorial Board

    Barack Obama is a lawyer, so it was stunning to read that he ventured into the Michael Flynn case in a way that misstated the supposed crime and ignored the history of his own Administration in targeting Mr. Flynn. Since the former President chose to offer his legal views when he didn’t need to, we wonder what he’s really worried about.

    “There is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free,” Mr. Obama said in the Friday call to about 3,000 members of the Obama Alumni Association. The comments were leaked to Yahoo News and confirmed by Mr. Obama’s spokeswoman to the Washington Post and other outlets. Mr. Obama added: “That’s the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic—not just institutional norms—but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk. And when you start moving in those directions, it can accelerate pretty quickly as we’ve seen in other places.”

    Even discounting for Mr. Obama’s partisan audience, this gets the case willfully wrong. Mr. Flynn was never charged with perjury, which is lying under oath in a legal proceeding. Mr. Flynn pleaded guilty to a single count of lying to the FBI in a meeting at the White House on Jan. 24, 2017 that he was led to believe was a friendly chat among colleagues.

    As for “scot-free,” that better applies to former President Bill Clinton who lied under oath in a civil case and was impeached for perjury but was acquitted by the Senate. We understand why Mr. Obama wouldn’t bring that up.

    We doubt Mr. Obama has even read Thursday’s Justice Department motion to drop the Flynn prosecution. If he does ever read it, he’ll find disconcerting facts that certainly do raise doubts about whether “our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk,” though not for the reasons he claims.

    Start with prosecutorial violation of the Brady rule, which Mr. Obama knows is a legal obligation that the prosecution must turn over potentially exculpatory evidence to the defense. Yet prosecutors led by special counsel Robert Mueller didn’t disclose that the interviewing FBI agents at the time didn’t think that Mr. Flynn had lied about a phone call with the Russian ambassador.

    Worst of all, as a legal matter, is that they never told Mr. Flynn that there was no investigative evidentiary basis to justify the interview. The FBI had already concluded there was no evidence that Mr. Flynn had colluded with Russia in the 2016 election and had moved to close the case. James Comey’s FBI cronies used the news of Mr. Flynn’s phone call with the Russian ambassador as an excuse to interview the then national security adviser and perhaps trap him into a lie.

    All of this was moved along politically by leaks to the media about Mr. Flynn’s phone call with the Russian. The U.S. eavesdrops on foreign officials as a routine, but names of innocent Americans on those calls are supposed to be shielded from review to protect their privacy. Yet senior Obama officials have had to acknowledge that they “unmasked” Mr. Flynn’s name and others in their last months in power. Then, what a surprise, news of Mr. Flynn’s call and its contents pop up in the Washington Post. Did someone say “institutional norms”?

    All of this raises questions about the role the Obama Justice Department and White House played in targeting Mr. Flynn. We already know the FBI had opened up a counterintelligence probe into Mr. Flynn and other Trump campaign officials, yet it had come up with no evidence of collusion.

    Donald Trump’s victory increased the chances that this unprecedented spying on a political opponent would be uncovered, which would have been politically embarrassing at the very least. Targeting Mr. Flynn—and flogging the discredited Steele dossier—kept the Russia collusion pot boiling and evolved into the two-year Mueller investigation that turned up no evidence of collusion.

    This among other things is what U.S. Attorney John Durham is investigating at the request of Attorney General William Barr. Maybe that’s why Mr. Obama is so eager to distort the truth of the Flynn prosecution.

  26. The Great Pumpkin says:

    The crazies got to her, huh? Now she is truly a local.

    Your guys hate for nyc is comical. How many times have they said that nyc would fall in the past, and it only comes back stronger.

    “p.s. My wife says she’s never visiting NYC again. Hate’s the city. Hates Cuomo. Hates Murphy and his Law. What did living in Florida do to her?”

  27. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Again, do you think London or Tokyo would fall…so why would you ever write nyc off?

  28. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Always said worse thing he did was start that “fake news “ sh!t. Destroyed journalism. Created a wave for conspiracy to ride.

    Heres Admiral McRaven, former Seal in charge of Seal Team 6 on the Bin Laden raid.

    https://twitter.com/14Truth14/status/1259094470269775873

  29. chicagofinance says:

    No wonder Barack Obama is “pretty darn invested” in making sure Donald Trump doesn’t win re-election. The former president knows his Teflon coating is wearing thin.

    With his nemesis, Gen. Michael Flynn, suddenly exonerated, he also knows that Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr are closing in on the truth of his role in the whole dirty Russia-collusion lie.

    “There’s more to come,” President Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Friday, the day after the Justice Department dismissed its case against Flynn, having found that the FBI had laid a “perjury trap” for his short-lived national security adviser.

    “I believe [Obama] and Biden … Sleepy Joe was involved in this also, very much.”

    The only way to ensure that the truth about Obama never sees the light of day is to defeat Trump in November, even if all the Democrats have for a candidate is a sleepy guy in a basement.

    “We got to make this happen,” Obama said Friday in a vehement conference call with 3,000 supporters.

    The call was leaked to Yahoo News, in Obama’s first public declaration of war against Trump.

    What brought him out of the shadows was the collapse of the case against Flynn.

    “There is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free,” Obama raged, although Flynn was not charged with perjury and plenty of people, including Bill Clinton, have escaped “scot-free” after lying under oath.

    Obama said the Flynn case means “our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk.”

    No, the rule of law was trashed long ago on his watch.

    It was trashed when the collusion hoax was hatched in the dying days of his administration.

    It was trashed when he planted the seeds of doubt with then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates about Flynn’s contact with the Russian ambassador.

    It was trashed by the FBI’s targeted destruction of Flynn, who they knew was innocent from the start.

    It was trashed when the Steele dossier, which we now know was Russian disinformation paid for by the Clinton campaign, was passed off by the FBI and CIA as legitimate intelligence to damage Trump and cover their own misdeeds.

    Obama’s henchmen knew there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia and, under oath, behind closed doors, they told the House Intelligence Committee so, yet the lie they let loose kept running.

    Flynn was a marked man from the moment Obama fired him as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014, ostensibly for “insubordination.”

    Really, it was because Flynn, the most effective intelligence officer of his generation, had embarrassed Obama by refusing to go along with the “big lie” that the Islamist enemy was defeated.

    In 2014, after Obama dismissed ISIS as a terrorist “JV team,” Flynn warned the Senate Armed Services Committee that the jihadist group was a growing threat. He was fired soon afterward.

    “Frankly, at the White House, it didn’t meet the narrative,” he later told the New York Times.

    Obama held onto his grudge against Flynn, a war hero in Iraq and Afghanistan, the man who, with another heroic general fired by Obama, Stan McChrystal, is credited with saving America from half a dozen terrorist attacks.

    After Trump won the 2016 election, Obama went to the trouble repeatedly of warning him not to hire Flynn as his national security adviser.

    Within a few weeks of taking the job with the new Trump administration, Flynn was forced to resign, after malicious leaks from intelligence operatives about a phone conversation with the then-Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak.

    The man who probably took the greatest delight in blackening Flynn’s reputation was Obama’s director of national intelligence, James Clapper.

    In a July 17, 2017, interview with the House Intelligence Committee during its ill-fated Russia-collusion probe, Clapper claimed Flynn’s “strident views about ISIS” weren’t the reason for his dismissal by Obama. It was his “erratic management style [and] the infamous Flynn facts where General Flynn was convinced that the [Iranians] were behind the Benghazi attack.”

    Clapper said he was “disturbed” about Flynn’s conversation with Kislyak, which had the effect of “essentially neutering — my characterization — the sanctions [against Russia] that had just been imposed [by the Obama administration].”

    But that wasn’t true. There was “nothing wrong” with the call, Barr told CBS last week. “In fact, it was laudable.”

    As a paid CNN contributor, Clapper repeatedly declared, with all the authority his former job carried, that Trump was a Russian “asset.”

    Yet under oath, he told the Intelligence Committee, “I never saw any direct empirical evidence that the Trump campaign or someone in it was plotting/conspiring with the Russians to meddle with the election.”

    It’s a tawdry story. The Trump presidency was booby-trapped from Day One by the Obama administration’s abuse of the rule of law.

    The mystery is how a party so power-mad that it would inflict the collusion fraud on the nation could possibly choose a candidate as hopeless as Basement Biden for such a high-stakes election. Unless he is a placeholder. But for whom?

    Maybe the clue is to be found on Netflix, where a new hagio-documentary of Michelle Obama offers a nostalgic mirage that a pandemic-weary nation might fall for.

    In it, the charismatic former first lady manages to drop plenty of hints about her own “hopes and aspirations.”

    A new and improved Obama would be the answer to Democratic woes.

  30. ExEssex says:

    I dunno. It’s all just Trump using his powers to help out his buddies.
    At least he’s loyal. But everyone and I mean everyone in Trump’s orbit is either family, dirty, or both. He’s hoping like hell the Supreme Court doesn’t finally uncover his taxes. He’ll be leveraged to the hilt and laundering money like a madman. Ooops.

    Tuesday, Tuesday. Tuesday….

  31. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    p.s. My wife says she’s never visiting NYC again. Hate’s the city. Hates Cuomo. Hates Murphy and his Law. What did living in Florida do to her?

    I’ve been to NYC twice in the past 8 years. I used to go at least once a month when I lived in New Brunswick. The first time was a Mets vs. Cubs playoff game. We left four hours early because I wanted to tour City Field as it was my first time going there. Well, the Verranzano had “construction” and we had a 75 minute delay there. The NYC traffic was horrendous and we get to the stadium with about 45 minutes to go. Parking took half an hour. Go to enter with my stubhub tickets (1st row left field) and they inform me that they’ve “voided” my seats because the person I purchased from “purchased too many seats”. I go to their stubhub office and they take my tickets and write “VOID” on them. They offer me “replacement seats” and send me to the very last row of the stadium. It’s windy and near below freezing. Fortunately, I printed out multiple copies of my tickets and we just went down to the seats I originally purchased. Unfortunately, by the time we got through this fiasco it was already into the 2nd inning.

    Last time was this past Christmas. Jazz concert. Take the train in. I have to sit next to a mother with her two kids from Newark talking on the phone about her brother needs to “stop raping girls and shooting at people before someone rats him out”. Get to Penn station and there are homeless people left and right. The people on the street in Time Square were as rude and inconsiderate as ever. The concert was great, but the act of simply walking there was an experience that I did not enjoy.

    The place just sucks and there are better places to go.

  32. ExEssex says:

    New York has an amazing energy. It envelops you. Once you are in the City you are truly in a place with energy, everyone doing New York things. I thinking working in New York just prior to 9/11 was so pure. Heading over the river in front of the Twin towers in a nice Hugo Boss suit about to lead a big meeting on a Spring morning. Before the Dot Com crash. Times were f’ing good! New York was the place to be.

  33. Libturd says:

    Nomad,

    We’ll see. You know I’m as honest as the day is long (except when my memory plays tricks on me). It all depends on how much protection people are willing to take.

    A close friend of mind (a self-proclaimed hick from Sussex) sent me this propagandist video that making the rounds through the right. You might have seen it already. It’s extremely popular. Dr. Jeffrey Barke, a family physician, all decked out in scrubs is speaking to what sounds like a small but emphatic crowd of supporters from the front steps of a medical building. The video, of course, was put out by a far right media group. I watched it in disgust, not because of what the good doctor says, but more in how he says it. I’ve read every single Hitler speech (as well as watched quite a few as well) and this guy has his technique down to a science. He basically repeats a pattern of conjecture where everything he suggests we do sounds simply fantastic. This pattern is repeated over and over again. No science, no facts, just a utopia that dismisses any level of common sense. And much like in Nazi Germany, the crowd eats it up. It’s like when your common rock star comes to Giant Stadium and opens the mic to, “We’ve been touring for the past 30 years, and no crowd is as dedicated, tenacious, and amazing as those from (insert current concert location here).”

    My goal is here is not to claim this doctor is another Hitler or even wrong. It just scares the livin sh1t outta me, how easily people are manipulated. The masses really and truly are asses, ripe for the screwing.

  34. The Great Pumpkin says:

    That’s what it’s about…the energy. It’s unrivaled in America. If you are a go getter, you feed off that energy.

    It’s not for everyone..so I understand the people that loathe the city. Just don’t expect the majority to agree with you. It’s the greatest city in our country and maybe the world.

    The city is also not a place to be raising a family. If you are single, a go getter, and like people….welcome to your heaven.

  35. 3b says:

    Born and raised in NYC, and work in Manhattan. The city came back under Guilani and Bloomberg as far as quality of life but that was all starting to unravel under De Blasio. However, the cool city as in the cool off beat neighborhoods , grant it some of them sketchy, have all gone, as well as most of the great delis and many restaurants. NYC was fast becoming a bland soulless suburban city with its food courts and Disney broadway. I was always amazed at all the tourists, with the exception of ground zero, what is there to see? Of course there is cheap shopping at Century 21, which is always packed with tourists. I don’t get it. I will take Barcelona, and Paris and Dublin over NYC any day. So
    much to see and do. And to top it off the last 10 years have seen nothing but hideous new skyscrapers going up all across Manhattan. Just ugly and cold and soulless. As bad as what they have done to London. The old cool Manhattan is gone. It’s missed.

  36. Libturd says:

    3b,

    Couldn’t agree more. When I started commuting to the city in the early 90’s, I used to walk from Herald Square/Macy’s up to 44th and 5th. Once past Broadway, it was clear sailing. Not a tourist in site and everyone walked really quickly. The city was still raw then. 42nd between 6th and Broadway was still filled with junkies and the older theaters, were still shuttered. This was write around the time the porn shops could no longer have nudes up in the windows. As a matter of fact, there were a lot of low rent restaurants there. I remember there was a Tad’s Steaks. A cheap Thai lunch only joint. An old school pizza place that used to sell Italian Ices out of a cooler on the sidewalk. It was a real mix of tough, rough NY with the occasional suit mixed in looking for a good cheap lunch. Back then Bryant park didn’t even have benches in it. The popular place to sit and people watch was actually the courtyard on the corner of 41st and 6th. The entrance to HBO was there and lots of celebrities could be found coming and going. Things began to change for the cleaner in the early 2000’s. Nothing changed that part of the city more than Disney did when they opened Aladdin(?) at the newly reopened New Amsterdam Theater. Then, one by one, every semi grimy joint fell to a corporate replacement. Then the tourists came. Gone was the crazy black guy who used to blast James Brown on a boom box donned in a green suit that a leprechaun should have been wearing. He was replaced by the likes of the Naked Cowboy and now stuffed mascots. What used to be a quick walk now takes about 40 minutes since the tourists don’t walk. They crawl like slugs. I finally broke down and began to take the subway, get off 42nd and walk the underground transfer towards the 7 but exit near 42nd and Bryant Park. Then I would just cut through two parking garages to get to the office. My move to Varick, which I thought would suck, was a blessing in disguise. The walk from the Christopher Street Path was pretty lengthy, but it was through a much less touristy part of the City. I even saw an occasional hooker or addict. Now, I’m in no man’s land up by the UN building. All I can say is, you have to walk pretty far to find anything affordable to eat. On the bright side, I can still find early bird parking for $20 tax included indoors and no one lives there except for spoiled kids of rich parents.

  37. Libturd, reminiscing says:

    Couldn’t agree more. When I started commuting to the city in the early 90’s, I used to walk from Herald Square/M@cy’s up to 44th and 5th. Once past Broadway, it was clear sailing. Not a tourist in site and everyone walked really quickly. The city was still raw then. 42nd between 6th and Broadway was still filled with junkies and the older theaters, were still shuttered. This was write around the time the porn shops could no longer have nudes up in the windows. As a matter of fact, there were a lot of low rent restaurants there. I remember there was a Tad’s Steaks. A cheap Thai lunch only joint. An old school pizza place that used to sell Italian Ices out of a cooler on the sidewalk. It was a real mix of tough, rough NY with the occasional suit mixed in looking for a good cheap lunch. Back then Bryant park didn’t even have benches in it. The popular place to sit and people watch was actually the courtyard on the corner of 41st and 6th. The entrance to HBO was there and lots of celebrities could be found coming and going. Things began to change for the cleaner in the early 2000’s. Nothing changed that part of the city more than Disney did when they opened Aladdin(?) at the newly reopened New Amsterdam Theater. Then, one by one, every semi grimy joint fell to a corporate replacement. Then the tourists came. Gone was the crazy black guy who used to blast James Brown on a boom box donned in a green suit that a leprechaun should have been wearing. He was replaced by the likes of the Naked Cowboy and now stuffed mascots. What used to be a quick walk now takes about 40 minutes since the tourists don’t walk. They crawl like slugs. I finally broke down and began to take the subway, get off 42nd and walk the underground transfer towards the 7 but exit near 42nd and Bryant Park. Then I would just cut through two parking garages to get to the office. My move to Varick, which I thought would suck, was a blessing in disguise. The walk from the Christopher Street Path was pretty lengthy, but it was through a much less touristy part of the City. I even saw an occasional hooker or addict. Now, I’m in no man’s land up by the UN building. All I can say is, you have to walk pretty far to find anything affordable to eat. On the bright side, I can still find early bird parking for $20 tax included indoors and no one lives there except for spoiled kids of rich parents.

  38. Libturd, rem says:

    Couldn’t agree more. When I started commuting to the city in the early 90’s, I used to walk from Herald Square/M@cy’s up to 44th and 5th. Once past Broadway, it was clear sailing. Not a tourist in site and everyone walked really quickly. The city was still raw then. 42nd between 6th and Broadway was still filled with junkies and the older theaters, were still shuttered. This was write around the time the porn shops could no longer have naked photos up in the windows. As a matter of fact, there were a lot of low rent restaurants there. I remember there was a Tad’s Steaks. A cheap Thai lunch only joint. An old school pizza place that used to sell Italian Ices out of a cooler on the sidewalk. It was a real mix of tough, rough NY with the occasional suit mixed in looking for a good cheap lunch. Back then Bryant park didn’t even have benches in it. The popular place to sit and people watch was actually the courtyard on the corner of 41st and 6th. The entrance to HBO was there and lots of celebrities could be found coming and going. Things began to change for the cleaner in the early 2000’s. Nothing changed that part of the city more than Disney did when they opened Aladdin(?) at the newly reopened New Amsterdam Theater. Then, one by one, every semi grimy joint fell to a corporate replacement. Then the tourists came. Gone was the crazy black guy who used to blast James Brown on a boom box donned in a green suit that a leprechaun should have been wearing. He was replaced by the likes of the Naked Cowboy and now stuffed mascots. What used to be a quick walk now takes about 40 minutes since the tourists don’t walk. They crawl like slugs. I finally broke down and began to take the subway, get off 42nd and walk the underground transfer towards the 7 but exit near 42nd and Bryant Park. Then I would just cut through two parking garages to get to the office. My move to Varick, which I thought would suck, was a blessing in disguise. The walk from the Christopher Street Path was pretty lengthy, but it was through a much less touristy part of the City. I even saw an occasional hooker or addict. Now, I’m in no man’s land up by the UN building. All I can say is, you have to walk pretty far to find anything affordable to eat. On the bright side, I can still find early bird parking for $20 tax included indoors and no one lives there except for spoiled kids of rich parents.

  39. Fat F.uck Fast Eddie says:

    The old cool Manhattan is gone. It’s missed.

    Jimmy Breslin might agree!

  40. Libturd says:

    Fck this. Unmod when you get a moment Grim. Was reminiscing about the old city days

  41. 3b says:

    Fast: I think he would! And all old great bars too!

  42. zapaza19 says:

    I still don’t mind going to the city, but less and less. I worked at Chase Plaza before, during and after 9/11 for a year or so. Visited the City in August of that same year with entire family. Great, memorable day for the entire family. Manhattan was at its peak.

    I also visited the city somewhat in the 1970’s, primarily to run Track and Field races at MSG. What an ugly place it was then. I and my buddies, mostly Jersey guys would walk after the races from the Garden to Times Square. We had to deal with the hookers almost every block. Coming to 42nd street, all hell broke loose.

    What goes around, comes around.

    Oh, and we took the same elevators to the floor of the Garden that the Circus elephants used 24 hours earlier. Got to love it!

  43. homeboken says:

    After my praying mantis research I went down the rabbit hole of #Obamagate.

    The next 6 months are going to be unbelievably difficult for the country. Controlling Covid and re-opening the economy, somehow is going to seem like the small problem.

    The Trump administration, along with Barr and Durham will be bringing indictments to various intelligence officials from the Obama administration. I am convinced these indictments are coming.

    I am not convinced on who is right in all this. Is Trump exacting revenge on his former and current political opponents? Did Obama/Holder undertake a silent coup against the incoming Trump administration?

    I really don’t know what to believe anymore. But this is going to DOMINATE the news cycle very soon. It’s going to be a mess.

  44. grim says:

    Remember when the only reason to walk through Washington Square Park was to buy drugs.

  45. 3b says:

    Zaps one chase plaza is a residential building now , owned by a Chinese concern. It’s called liberty something now since it’s on liberty street . Ironic considering who owns it. Chase plaza address is gone. Crummy spot for a residential building, but lower Manhattan Wall Street filled with residences now.

  46. The Great Pumpkin says:

    No, it’s much improved. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

    “The old cool Manhattan is gone. It’s missed.”

  47. 3b says:

    Pumps I am not talking to you. I have worked there my entire career! What the hell
    Do you know?

  48. Fast Eddie says:

    Remember when the only reason to walk through Washington Square Park was to buy drugs.

    And feed the rats after visiting Ben’s pizza somewhere around midnight.

  49. 3b says:

    Fast : They are negatives of course, and glad a lot of that is or at least was gone. But along with cleaning it up they made it soulless now, it’s all cookie cutter the same, Starbucks, Walgreens , Whole Foods on Fifth, and one new ugly skyscraper after another. It’s dull now.

  50. Fast Eddie says:

    Anything Lou Reed said in a song was the positive. ;)

  51. 3b says:

    Loved Sammys Roumanian too! Not for everybody but it was enjoyable. Used to take clients there to get abused they loved it!!

  52. leftwing says:

    Governor Lockdown finally realizes C19 overwhelmingly kills old people…

    https://nypost.com/cover/covers-for-monday-may-11-2020/

    How’s our resident idiot doing in mastering the obvious?

    Someone in my town was charged because a handful of 40-somethings gathered on his front lawn. How many dead in NJ nursing homes?

  53. leftwing says:

    Tad’s Steaks….holy sh1t Lib haven’t thought about that in decades…lol

    What was the name of that strip joint/movie theater nearby? Showtime? Show Palace? Had the big neon sign projecting out with the full female silhouette, triple DDDs and all, in neon….

    Yeah, they took my city away….went to London for five years in the late 90s, recall describing London to my NY friends as a clean, neat, family friendly version of NY…came back to the city and within five years NY was that scrubbed down, genericized version….there are still some niches, but yeah, whoever said the city feels soulless now nailed it…

  54. D-FENS says:

    Yeah I mean… who bothers to go there to work?

    The good dealers would get you high so you knew you weren’t buying garbage weed.

    grim says:
    May 11, 2020 at 3:28 pm
    Remember when the only reason to walk through Washington Square Park was to buy drugs.

  55. chicagofinance says:

    Trump is a stupid bastard. However, there is no excuse to sabotage a clean handover of the reins of government. I find it amazing that the rumor out there is Trump will not willingly leave the White House if/when he loses. Really? Why did Obama feel the moral imperative to sabotage the next administration. The hubris is stunning……

    homeboken says:
    May 11, 2020 at 2:59 pm
    I am not convinced on who is right in all this. Is Trump exacting revenge on his former and current political opponents? Did Obama/Holder undertake a silent coup against the incoming Trump administration?

  56. Monday Malaise says:

    Homeboken,

    Yep, you are probably right. More importantly is that we have entered the JJ Angleton’s vaunted Hall of Mirrors.

    Is Trump a Putin asset or not?
    Did the Clinton/Chinese intelligence try to do Trump in?

    So what does “real action” say?

    The foreign connections.

    Trump has been tougher on Putin than Obama. But why? Is he trying to show his bona fides or is he acting just like a gay guy married to have a beard?

    Putin’s overriding thought is survival, but he is a fan of “Geopolitical Future of Russia” by A. Dugin. And as an ex-kgb man he likes to mind f.

    Did the Clintons which have always behaved like a mob, went after Trump using DOJ connection? or did the DOJ went after him because he looks guilty as a crook, just as a priest going to vacation in Thailand looks as up to no good.

    Either way the big issue that we are heading into that the great Franklin Delano Roosevelt dealt marvelously with. Is the fact that 1/3 of the country wants to kill the other 1/3 and the rest of the 1/3 will just watch. Very WW2 German like.

    I don’t see any sudden path change, unless either we loose a massive amount of our present political and corporate leadership – aka the Grim Reaper goes on overtime with Wuhan, Cancer, Heart Disease, and puts anyone over 60 in leadership position down like a dog, clearing the way for newer hopefully fresher and smarter decision making. Or we have an event, big war with China or Space Alien want to give everyone r3ctal probes and every comes together because the probes hurt.

  57. Nomad says:

    “As States Rush to Reopen, Scientists Fear a Coronavirus Comeback”

    Some interesting data on countries that have not shut down. Wondering if this whole thing is check mate; virus kills many vs economic disparity kills many.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/health/coronavirus-second-wave-infections.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

  58. Nomad says:

    Disparity should be despair

  59. Fabius Maximus says:

    Chi,

    I haven’t seen gaslighting garbage like that since the last time you delighted us with Peggy Noonan OpEds.

    If you want to understand what Flynn actually did, follow this guy.

    https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1259503300271124482

  60. Fabius Maximus says:

    “I am convinced these indictments are coming.”

    Yes they are. Why Now? Its far enough from the election to give Donnie some meat from the base, but close enough from November where they wont actually go anywhere.

    Its one of Donnies top plays. I’ll sue you. He files the paperwork then later on quietly withdraws before discovery.

  61. Fabius Maximus says:

    And another great summary on Flynn. This woman should be on your daily reading list.

    https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-8-2020

  62. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    Looks like all my cousins that live in Florida are eating out now.

  63. Chicago says:

    There is no summary on Flynn. This could have been written months ago.

    Fabius Maximus says:
    May 11, 2020 at 6:44 pm
    And another great summary on Flynn. This woman should be on your daily reading list.

    https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-8-2020

  64. Chicago says:

    ?

    Fab. You offer a nothing sandwich.

  65. Fast Eddie says:

    Fabisu,

    I stopped at CNN.

  66. 3b says:

    Fab Don’t worry St. Biden and the Order of the Most Blessed and Holy Democrats will win in November, and we can return to quiet peaceful tranquility. All will be right with the world.

  67. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Some gloom for you…

    “The question is will the U.S. go another $3-$5 trillion in the hole to keep the market high or will it let it implode and bail it out from a post-purge position?
    I think no, it will go all in when the aftershocks hit. Then what? Reset. There has to be a reset one way or another because of the global scale of the disruption. That means either asset values go up in smoke or the value of money goes up in smoke. It is effectively the same thing.
    If the world dives back into activity and tries to make up lost ground then we could avoid a depression but that does not seem to be on the cards. The signs are all there that the unlocking of the global economy is going to take months. Just looking at travel is enough to see that the return to normality is not going to be fast.
    Unlike 2007-2008, the contagion is not going to come from one sector, it’s going to come from many. The economic contagion is not going to come from one country and sweep the globe, it’s going to be coming from everywhere at once.
    Imagine there was a country that didn’t lock down and was untouched by the virus. What would their future economic future be looking like? You would think it would be dire because all its trading partners were in trouble. You would expect a bad recession. Now layer that with the incalculable outcomes on the lockdown and you have a multiplier.
    So when the central bank printing stops, down will go the markets. Then we will find out if we are in for the third leg of the W pattern, a drop or the capitulation into the void of a 1929-1932 bear market.
    We will likely know by the end of June or at the latest July. Lets hope the world goes on a spending frenzy. It’s the only hope.”

    https://apple.news/ASdEFEFP2R8SvlCGauw6OZA

  68. Fabius Maximus says:

    “You offer a nothing sandwich.”

    but I don’t offer it for a living.

  69. leftwing says:

    “Looks like all my cousins that live in Florida are eating out now.”

    Sister sent me a photo of her and BIL out at a biergarten in TN on Friday night….

    But we’re safe. Did His Most Highly Clueless deign himself to decide whether the commoners may traverse the beaches anytime soon? Or will that come by proclamation and town crier?

  70. Fabius Maximus says:

    NY plan to reopen, a very interesting read. NY has upstate/downstate/NYC/LI. An interesting balancing act.

    https://www.governor.ny.gov/sites/governor.ny.gov/files/atoms/files/NYForwardReopeningGuide.pdf

  71. grim says:

    Arguable that NJ should look at a similar model. Warren, Sussex, Hunterdon – being the first to open.

  72. grim says:

    The antibody test results in that PDF are really interesting.

    Bronx – 27.9%
    Long Island – 19.2%
    Brooklyn – 19.2%
    Queens – 18.4%
    Manhattan 17.3%

    Latino – 25.4%
    Black – 17.4%
    Multi/Other – 14.4%
    Asian – 11.1%
    White – 7%

  73. Glaring Light of Day says:

    Putting my money on Michelle Obama being chosen as Biden’s running mate.

  74. Glaring Light of Day says:

    Also betting that robot repair and AI coding will be the hot trades of the future, as companies replace sickly humans with robots. The pandemic will speed up the inevitable.

  75. ExEssex says:

    Michelle Obama? Interesting.
    I imagine that “might” spark a turnout uptick among the
    Supporters. She’s a star in many circles.
    I think the election will be a huge turning of the tide.
    The inequities – i. e. blue states funding red states, are out
    on the table. People are fed up and my guess is that the red
    team will take the brunt of the damage. They have more to loose.
    It’s about power with them and money. The Dems will get stuck with
    an abysmal economy once again and folks will complain. But Trump will be gone.

  76. FakeNewsHoaxes says:

    Flynn didn’t do anything that wasn’t commonplace in the influence peddling orbit of DC. He was targeted and entrapped because he was going to uncover the illegal spying activities that were being orchestrated by Obama leading up to the 2016 election. Like all of the other functions of government, the intelligence apparatus was politicized under his administration.

    NBC News is so panicked by the Barr document releases they’ve resorted to jimmy kimmel video editing techniques to suppress the facts. We’re getting to the bottom of the Blama spying scandal, the biggest presidential scandal of the past 50 years, potentially much longer after the gravity of the abuse can be fully fished.

    The man tried to poison and derail the democratic transition of power that is the cornerstone of our form of government. I can’t imagine anything ore radical or egregious. What a despicable POS.

    He failed at that just like everything else he attempted as president.

  77. leftwing says:

    Chamath on cnbc in five.

  78. leftwing says:

    Oh, poor SX, always on the wrong side of the political analysis….

    “Michelle Obama? Interesting. I imagine that “might” spark a turnout uptick among the Supporters. She’s a star in many circles.”

    I would pay for that. Red wins by an appreciable margin.

    “I think the election will be a huge turning of the tide.
    The inequities – i. e. blue states funding red states, are out
    on the table.”

    Data wrong, and wrong side of the analysis. A two-fer.

  79. ExEssex says:

    Red ain’t gonna win dude.
    Your man is an embarrassment .

  80. ExEssex says:

    The big states with money, are tired of funding the morons in red.

  81. ExEssex says:

    8:26 his ” failure ” your word, not mine would be seen as a win compared to anything Trump has done. trump will be known as the man who blew the Obama recoveryZ.
    Lulzzzzz

  82. Chicago says:

    Left. Michelle Obama would cause a large black turnout in swing states. It could very well make the difference. Unless you have specific political intelligence suggesting otherwise, I would tend to disagree with you.

  83. 3b says:

    Robots and AI can replace those sickly humans, but what s the point, if the remaining humans don’t have incomes to purchase the goods and services.

  84. Chicago says:

    Ex. To early for dubage, no?

  85. 3b says:

    It’s rich for Mc Connell from Kentucky to complain about bailing states out if NY and NJ go under then alit less money for places like Kentucky. Of course NY and NJ are notorious for corruption and waste and massive over spending. That being said I always believed that at some point the US could come apart. We really should be more of a confederation than federation.

  86. ExEssex says:

    8:56 breakfast of champions.

  87. Fabius Maximus says:

    FNH

    What’s the troll factory paying these days? is it WFH friendly?

    From my feeds today

    “I’m sick of Democrats saying Trump MUST GO! and then issuing a list of demands to Biden on what he “must do to gain our grassroots support and votes.” When we have a president and government again you can go back to moralizing. Not now! Biden wins or America dies. Period.”

  88. The Great Pumpkin says:

    You nail it, 3b. Mc Connell is looking out for his state. Everyone knows these blue states support the federal revenue stream. The blue states are basically asking the federal govt to not have to contribute right now. It’s not really taking, it’s just asking to not have to contribute right now.

  89. FakeNewsHoaxes says:

    The Obama doctrine of hope and change appeals to emotion. It’s completely hollow. If that is Biden’s pitch this time around I doubt it’s going to get as much traction. Particularly without blamas eloquence.

    I’m ok with America first. It is a winner.

    Sticking to facts for the moment, your man blama corrupted thoroughly our intelligence community. He named a card carrying commie the CIA director, he politicized the agenda to the extent it could not function, I shave to wonder how that contributed to us dropping the ball with COVID. The IC is now a laughingstock.

  90. ExEssex says:

    9:29 laughable facts. It must be lonely to be a conservative republican today. Knowing you elected the worst imbecile to ever hold the office. History will not be kind.

  91. Fabius Maximus says:

    MAGA
    Appeals to emotion – Check
    Complete hollow – Check

    So what has Donnie done in the three years he has owned them apart from heading them up with unconfirmed, unqualified political hacks.

    I always wonder if Rick Perry has forgotten that he promised to close the department he actually was given to run.

    Another great post from my feeds.

    “Sometimes I think that, if Trump didn’t know a mountain of indictments was waiting for him after he leaves office, he’d actually throw the election. I think he hates the job of president. Yes, he likes to strut around and yield power, but he hates governing.”

  92. homeboken says:

    Fab – the email Sally Yates wrote, to herself, just minutes before leaving the Whitehouse forever, is a big problem for me.

    It details that Obama told the head of the FBI (Comey) to keep Obama informed of developments with intelligence and the new administration, over the next few weeks. The next few weeks covers a time frame when Obama is no longer POTUS, just a private citizen. Comey said, per Yates “Will do”.

    So the Director of the FBI and by nature, the entire FBI, is reporting to private citizen (Obama) about the actions and intelligence that he no longer has the right or the security clearance, to see.

    Maybe Trump was up to something. But Obama being involved anymore that you or me, is the problem.

  93. 3b says:

    Ex Essex True. And history won’t be kind to the Democrats in that after 4 years of Trump, all the Democrats has to offer to the American people was Biden.

  94. FakeNewsHoaxes says:

    We’ve known for a while that blama has a hand in the illegal spying and russia hoax, “the White House wants to know everything, but now that Barr has released additional documents the fake news narrative has been blown sky high.

  95. FakeNewsHoaxes says:

    MAGA/KAGA/etc. has policy substance unlike hope and change.

    Trump launched multiple trade wars, implemented tariffs, attempted to distance from China, well before covid, tightened a massively irresponsible immigration system, beat back the bureaucracy.

    Blama did nothing he was an empty suit whose strings were pulled by his handles. His big accomplishment is the gender neutral bathroom sign.

  96. Juice Box says:

    Another 175 days of hearing which geriatric boomer is best for the country?

    The media has been publishing articles for years now that Trump suffers from Alzheimer’s and/or Dementia disease and since Dementia Joe entered the race he is getting similar treatment.

    Both sides are wrong to push either one of these two geezers as a candidate in 2020, they both should be replaced. Perhaps mother nature will intervene this time around and take both out of the race, and we can put the rest of the political boomers out to pasture with them.

  97. Fabius Maximus says:

    home

    No, that’s how it usually works. Senior Administration officials maintain their clearances and continue to get briefings long after they leave office. The view is that they will be up to speed if called upon for help. GWHB continued to get his briefings up to shortly before his death.

    If you want to see a discussion of the issue, google John Brennan and his revoked clearance.

  98. homeboken says:

    Fab – we disagree.

    The Director of the FBI works for the executive. The CURRENT, not former executive. Setting up a reporting structure that removes the elected president and replaces with a private citizen is not what any reasonable person thinks should happen when the power is transitioned. Obama served 8 years. The people then elected Trump. You may not be happy about that fact but the intelligence community reporting to a private citizen starts to smell like “shadow government” really quick. All IMHO of course.

  99. FakeNewsHoaxes says:

    The crux of what blama asked Yates and coney to do is withhold information from the incoming administration so the illegal spying activity could not be uncovered and actually continue. That’s why they had to take Flynn down.

    He would have rooted it out. Instead they began the entrapment, leak and harassment efforts to keep the trump administration off kilter continuously nd it escalated to the mueller hoax when they tried to snuff out the administration completely.

    This was a coup attempt and people should be executed.

  100. Fabius Maximus says:

    GWHB got his briefings through multiple administrations. There is nothing going to him that is not going to the current POTUS as well.
    This is BAU and precedent. It is not a surprise or some FOX conspiracy.

  101. homeboken says:

    I watched Biden on Good Morning America today – He was asked about his knowledge –

    As per usual, he was visibly uncomfortable answering. He started by saying “I knew nothing about any of that” and then less than 60 laters “I know of an investigation, I though you were asking about prosecution”

    I can only imagine the handlers behind the camera waving their arms like mad saying “No No, don’t flat out deny, there is evidence you knew something!”

    Biden literally has all the time in the world to get this set of answers down cold. He also has a super controlled environment (his basement, by himself, with as many assistants/handlers as he can fit behind the camera) to deliver this message.

    I want to see him answer these questions live, in person. He is rattled right now and it is not a confidence inspiring look.

  102. homeboken says:

    Fab – Again, we disagree. This is not precedent. You are not being honest.

  103. 30 year realtor says:

    All the conspiracy crap you folks are parroting this morning has as much credibility as “birtherism”. What a bunch of fools. How many times does someone have to lie to you people before you realize they are full of sh*t?

  104. homeboken says:

    30 year – I don’t think of it has parroting conspiracy theory. I am concerned about corruption of my elected leaders, past and present. Questioning those leaders is precisely what it means to be an American.

    Dismissing documents/conversations/etc as conspiracy theory, is irresponsible. You may disagree with me, and there’s a good chance I’m wrong. But none of this smells right to me.

    Think of how good it will feel if this all turns out to be a big nothing like you said. I will be the first to come here and admit I was wrong. Will you do the same if it turns the other way?

  105. 3b says:

    30 year Yes. They are all full of sh@t including the Democrats. I have been saying that for years. I still think the USA will split up at some point in the future, sooner rather than later.

  106. Fabius Maximus says:

    Flynn went down because he was and is dirty. O told Donnie not to hire him and Donnie went ahead anyway. When it started coming out Donnie fired him for lying to Pence.
    Most of what Muller uncovered went over to the counterintelligence side. Those investigations are still in the hopper.

    The moment Donnie steps out from the WH immunity umbrella, the whole think comes crashing down on him. Funny part is that given his age, it will be his kids doing time for it.

  107. leftwing says:

    “Red ain’t gonna win dude.
    Your man is an embarrassment.”

    Not my man as I state nearly every day.

    Again, regarding the election what the liberals just don’t understand and will cost them the election….”I don’t need to outrun the bear, I just need to outrun you”.

    This election, like the last one, is most definitively not about who the electorate likes. In case you haven’t noticed, the majority don’t like either candidate. The election is about who the voters – the ones who matter, not us – dislike the least.

    Last go around the Dems lost with a candidate highly qualified on technical governance running on extending the Obama legacy who also happened to be the wife of one of their more loved Presidents…so after that surprise loss they want to come back with a less qualified candidate that was more directly attached to that legacy and a lesser qualified wife?

    My lord, daisycutter jokes write themselves.

    Chi, while I agree with the potential black turnout uptick it is often overestimated and there will be an offset of the suburban vote previously lost by Red who will be turned off by the blatant pandering of putting up the ‘wife of’ for the heartbeat away office.

  108. joyce says:

    Has a new administration ever held the previous one accountable for anything? Or did they say things like “let’s focus on the future, not the past” … and issue pardons.

    A new administration is not going to do jack sh!t. They want to keep alive the tradition so god forbid they decide to break the law (ha ha) they will similarly be protected.

  109. 3b says:

    What exactly are Michelle Obama’s qualifications to be President? I blame young Bush, definitely not qualified and his disastrous Iraq adventure! Then again he was Governor of Texas, although Governor in Texas does not yield a lot of power. We went from cluelessness Bush, to empty suit arrogant Obama, to a nut job although at least he stood up to China, and now we are going to have a creepy old guy who has been in DC for 45 years!! The decline continues!!!

  110. Phoenix says:

    America is finished. Thank you lawyers for all the hard work you do- and our legislators for the fantastic laws you help create!

    https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/05/nj-school-district-forced-us-to-do-non-essential-work-during-coronavirus-outbreak-custodians-say-in-suit.html

  111. homeboken says:

    3b – I am still willing to bet that Biden is not the name on the ballot for the D in November.

    Any takers?

  112. Phoenix says:

    What exactly are Michelle Obama’s qualifications to be President?

    Well, according to #metoo, she has not been alleged of groping or touching anyone.

  113. BoomerRemover says:

    Essex,
    Put down the blunt. Michelle as a pick will permit leftists like yourself to experience temporary euphoria before getting crushed by the spite their own face crowd. Though I suppose as Chi has pointed out the competition is for the non voters who rise up and join the lines at the ballot boxes.

  114. 3b says:

    Homeboken In this environment I would say its 50/50 that you are right.

  115. Fast Eddie says:

    The workers claim the board of education is requiring them to perform carpentry and electrical work; repair heating and cooling units; install doorknobs and fix toilets and water fountains.

    “Routine sweeping, mopping and dusting of school buildings in non-essential areas” are also expected, the lawsuit states.

    They’re suing because they’re p1ssed they couldn’t stay home and get paid? Their job is to perform maintenance and fix things. What’s their f.ucking problem?

  116. FakeNewsHoaxes says:

    I heard from a few teachers in the know that a lot of teachers have filed for unemployment due to losses of side gigs and extracurriculars despite receiving full salary. The school board has told the teachers union they are not entitled to unemployment for the loss of a side income but it’s apparently quite a row.

  117. Phoenix says:

    “Perhaps mother nature will intervene this time around and take both out of the race, and we can put the rest of the political boomers out to pasture with them.”

    Sounds like it could be a new season for that show Designated Survivor. Who currently is the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and would they make a good President?

  118. Phoenix says:

    Eddie,
    I don’t know- it was bizarre to me as well. But looks like you lost some weight so glad to hear that. Keep up the good work!

  119. Phoenix says:

    Homeboken,
    I can only hope you are right.

  120. joyce says:

    What conferencing tool are is the senate using right now for its hearing? Hope it’s not Zoom.

  121. ExEssex says:

    CNN)A prominent donor to Sen. Lindsey Graham said this week he broke with the South Carolina Republican to support his Democratic challenger after he started to question Graham’s principles.

    Richard Wilkerson, the former chairman and president of Michelin North America, said in an opinion piece published Sunday in the Greenville News that he supported Graham until 2017 when he “started having real misgivings about him when he failed to mount any significant defense” of the late Republican Sen. John McCain, who President Donald Trump frequently attacked both before his passing in 2018 and after.
    “I asked myself, ‘What is the character of a man who will not defend his best friend? If he won’t defend John McCain, why would I expect him to defend any of us in South Carolina?'” Wilkerson wrote of Graham, who is one of Trump’s strongest defenders in Congress.
    He continued: “My conclusion was that he was more interested in currying favor than in honoring the memory of a true American hero whom he had described as his best friend. I was extremely disappointed.”
    Wilkerson is now endorsing Jamie Harrison, a former chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party. Though Harrison faces an uphill battle in his fight to oust Graham, a three-term senator, he outraised Graham in the first quarter of 2020. Harrison brought in a total of $7.2 million in the first three months of 2020, while Graham raised nearly $5.6 million.

  122. Still Fat Fast Eddie says:

    Omg, the more I read that statement, the more outlandish and laughable it becomes. You mean, you want me to sweep and mop and not stay home AND get paid? LOL!! I’ve been working more remotely than in the office and hearing more sh1t and complaining from my clients than ever before. They’re using me and my team as a literal dumping ground for every inconvenience they can drum up. A 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM day is standard.

  123. joyce says:

    I wonder if a reporter will ask Murphy why he thinks it’s a contest.

  124. Libturd, the Master Beta says:

    The janitors in Montclair are considered non-essential. The schools haven’t had their fields/lawns mowed. The deer ticks are going to have a field day on the next Field Day.

    I know of a particular federal worker who is pissed he has to work from home since so many of his coworkers are home on hazard pay. What’s hazard pay? Well, his closest coworker in title has diabetes. I told my BIL to claim high blood pressure, which he has. But he still believes in service to the tax payer. Plus, I’d never let him hear the end of it if he did file for hazard pay.

    Michelle Obama? That’s just stupid, but I’d take her in a minute over Biden.

    The place with the viewing booths was Show World.

    This is how I remember NYC in the 80s.

    https://bit.ly/3cqShF7

    The purists will recognize the red structure in the picture easily.

  125. homeboken says:

    Michelle Obama would beat Trump by a wide margin. I wouldn’t vote for her for other reasons but she meets my new and most important criteria for POTUS.

    If a candidate has been a member of the House, Senate for more than 10 years, I will not vote for them.

  126. Libturd, cutting the cord says:

    Ok cord cutters.

    Need some advice. I already have a VPN. I am looking at sending way less of my money to FIOS for Cable.

    Currently I have Amazon Prime and a Free NetFlix account. Also have an indoor HiDef antenna for local stations. I tried Kodi, but the interface blows. I do have an Apple TV 4th Gen.

    Want to have the main cable channels (HGTV, Bravo, Cartoon Network, etc.). Must be a decent interface. Will eventually want sports when they come back. Need to be able to interface with a Harmony remote.

    What do you guys use and why?

    BTW, Apple TV box is fantastic but doesn’t offer a subscription plan. Too expensive to purchase all of our channels as one-offs. Though I will say this. Every single program I’ve watched on APPLE + is outrageously amazing. There’s not a huge amount of content yet, but what they do have is just overwhelmingly fantastic. The Beastie Boys documentary alone was worth the price of admission (speaking of old school NYC).

  127. chicagofinance says:

    I am not disagreeing that this description is apt for Trump. Although I do think that Trump does enjoy governing; he just has impulse control, concentration, and executive function issues, so his social conduct is abhorrent and his ability to communicate in a concise and coherent manner is impeded.

    HOWEVER –

    That description is an EXACT profile of the Obamunist.

    Fabius Maximus says:
    May 12, 2020 at 9:51 am
    I think he hates the job of president. Yes, he likes to strut around and yield power, but he hates governing.”

  128. BoomerRemover says:

    Latest gen Amazon Fire Cube. Not the Fire stick, not the Fire HD, but the Cube.

    Lightning fast interface, fantastic UI, and it allows you to download and install everything else under one roof. I’ve since put away the LG remote and use only the fire remote to run all things TV. I added HBO, Apple TV, Disney+, CBS All Access, PBS, PBS Kids, FX, YouTube and Netflix to my apps ribbon. You can add a la carte TV/CABLE channels as well.

    If you are into Alexa this has it onboard, which I understand is different from Echo type devices that do the majority of Alexa processing on the server. Cube also does blue tooth to headphones.

    The Fire Cube transformed our watching experience. Our TV is more than a few years old and the interface and processing speed was lacking. Running everything through the Cube completely overhauled this, the TV is essentially now just a display that outputs Fire Cube signal.

    Also, if you are first responder or know a first responder who will lend their crednetials, Sonos is offering 30% off the entire cart via id.me. Picked up the new Arc and two Five’s to replace our older Sonos units.

  129. ExEssex says:

    (Newswire.com) – Americans are renouncing their citizenship at the highest levels on record, according to research by the Enrolled Agents and accountants Bambridge Accountants New York.

    · 2,909 Americans gave up their citizenship in the first 3 months of 2020

    · Showing a 1,015% increase on the prior 3 months to December 2019 where only 261 cases were recorded

    · 2,072 Americans gave up their citizenship in 2019 in total

    · This is the highest quarter on record, the previous record was 2,365 cases for the fourth quarter of 2016

    · It seems that the pandemic has motivated U.S. expats to cut ties and avoid the onerous tax reporting

    Americans must pay a $2,350 government fee to renounce their citizenship, and those based overseas must do so in person at the U.S. Embassy in their country.

    There are an estimated 9 million U.S. expats. The trend has been that there has been a steep decline over the last few years for U.S. citizens expatriating – the first 3 months of 2020 is a huge increase in the number of Americans renouncing their citizenship.

    Under the IRS rules (section 6039g), every three months the U.S. Government publishes the names of all Americans who give up their citizenship. The first 3 months for 2020 had 2,909 Americans renouncing their citizenship, far more than the total of the four quarters for 2019 (2,072 Americans renounced).

    Alistair Bambridge, partner at Bambridge Accountants New York, explains: “There has been a huge turnaround of U.S. expats renouncing, where the figures have been in steep decline since 2017.

  130. grim says:

    This is how I remember NYC in the 80s.

    https://bit.ly/3cqShF7

    The purists will recognize the red structure in the picture easily.

    42nd just up from Port Authority – I’m guessing that’s what you mean by the red structure in the back.

  131. Libturd, the Master Beta says:

    I think it’s blue now. Right?

    Thanks BR for the cube tip. I have a pretty high end amp running in the living room so I’ll have to see how to integrate it. Amp has the blue tooth already, but it would be criminal not to listen to programs through my system.

  132. Grim says:

    The snarky highway sign committee needs to be fired.

  133. Libturd says:

    Yeah. It’s blue.

    https://bit.ly/2xX596Z

  134. Nomad says:

    Lib,

    Compared to my cable, this is a better price with good channel selection. I’m not good with tech but some of our older tvs are not “smart” so I think for those, I need some type of stick antenna.

    https://tv.youtube.com/welcome/

  135. chicagofinance says:

    Libturd: Right about that vantage point on the Northeast side of 8th Avenue at 42nd Street…… the partial demolition of the structures in place of what is now the Westin was underway in the late 90’s. Suspended on the wall of the since destroyed building on the north have of the block abutting 8th & 43rd, was all the mirrors of a strip bar that were suspended 2 to 3 stories in the air. So fcuking funny…… I still saw some fingerprints on the glass.

  136. Nomad says:

    Lib,

    One more thing to consider. With COVID19, I think cellular companies may accelerate the roll out of their 5G networks. Assuming part of the plan is 5G hubs in homes that eliminate cable wiring in homes. Maybe no more geographic limitations on which legal cable companies you can use and more price competition as a result.

  137. chicagofinance says:

    Does anyone have a seamless DVR that works with a cord cut?

    BoomerRemover says:
    May 12, 2020 at 3:17 pm
    Latest gen Amazon Fire Cube. Not the Fire stick, not the Fire HD, but the Cube.

    Lightning fast interface, fantastic UI, and it allows you to download and install everything else under one roof. I’ve since put away the LG remote and use only the fire remote to run all things TV. I added HBO, Apple TV, Disney+, CBS All Access, PBS, PBS Kids, FX, YouTube and Netflix to my apps ribbon. You can add a la carte TV/CABLE channels as well.

    If you are into Alexa this has it onboard, which I understand is different from Echo type devices that do the majority of Alexa processing on the server. Cube also does blue tooth to headphones.

    The Fire Cube transformed our watching experience. Our TV is more than a few years old and the interface and processing speed was lacking. Running everything through the Cube completely overhauled this, the TV is essentially now just a display that outputs Fire Cube signal.

    Also, if you are first responder or know a first responder who will lend their crednetials, Sonos is offering 30% off the entire cart via id.me. Picked up the new Arc and two Five’s to replace our older Sonos units.

  138. Libturd, the Master Beta says:

    Why do you need a DVR if everything is pretty much on demand?

  139. Libturd says:

    Nomad,

    Waiting for 5G is like waiting for a Covid vaccine. Want to here something pathetic? Lot’s of Costa Rica had 5G coverage when I went down there last December with exPat. Not this December. Last December. In 2018!

  140. Libturd, the Master Beta says:

    I lied. Fool me for trusting billboards. Though there is some 5G now. It will be fully rolled out by end the end of the year.

    I was completely blown away by their cell and wifi coverage. You hardly need a sim card.

  141. leftwing says:

    If I get toward the front of the vaccine line anyone is welcome to my slot.

    PA and 8th…..Recall after the World Series they painted a massive pic of Doc Gooden in full windup on the side of a building facing south…massive mural….first thing you saw turning left out of the building.

  142. Hold my beer says:

    Got my Walmart toilet paper. Pairs great with my Walmart Roku tv.

    My area may have peaked or plateaued. Dallas county has been having about 250 new cases a day for the last week or so. Tarrant, Denton, and Collin counties seem to be dropping a bit. We will see in 2 weeks what happens with new cases as we enter 3 weeks post shelter in place. Wonder if June will be bad if cases continue to decline in May people being human will probably drop their guard or start going out more

    Also Texas attorney general sent out letters to Dallas county that Dallas orders can not conflict with the governors and masks are encouraged but not required.

  143. Nomad says:

    Good read from Bill Gates blog including rationale about the importance of CaoVID testing.

    https://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/Seattle-Coronavirus-Assessment-Network

    Next link about s Gates personal VC fund working on vaccine that offers easy distribution / dosing:

    https://www.informedchoicewa.org/education/bill-gates-and-intellectual-ventures-fund-microchip-implant-vaccine-technology/

  144. Fabius Maximus says:

    Lets take a moment to celebrate the end of this guys Fox career.

    He does make an excellent point.
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1260050135175753730

  145. Juice Box says:

    Secret courts, wiretapping without warrants, unmasking of Americans by ambassadors without any checks and balances, filing for warrants with fake political opposition research. Nobody is going to jail anytime soon either. Americans want to forget about this dark chapter, as it was and still is all politics.

    Gotta wonder what kind of dirty tricks are going to surface in the next 175 days…

    Anyone care to guess?

  146. joyce says:

    I blame John Adams, personally.

  147. ExEssex says:

    Lib- ATT cube also an offering to
    Consider.

  148. Chicago says:

    There is nothing like a DVR. Even VOD tends to lag in availability for 24-48 hours. But mostly the DVR is a workhorse for sports. Even watching live TV and being able to pause for any reason at any time.

    Libturd, the Master Beta says:
    May 12, 2020 at 4:43 pm
    Why do you need a DVR if everything is pretty much on demand?

  149. Fabius Maximus says:

    Grab the popcorn. The Judge is saying “Let the Briefs fly!”

    https://twitter.com/MikeScarcella/status/1260359892222836736

  150. Fabius Maximus says:

    I cut the cord for a few years and just went back to Fios. For me it came down to my Internet access. What I’m paying for that in conjunction with the phone plans, basic TV is now a freebie.

    The HDTV over the air was all I needed. I missed a bit of sports, but just those that are just on ESPN, FOX and the Yankees on Yes.

  151. grim says:

    Apple TV – Movies I rent from Apple
    Disney +
    Netflix
    Sling

    Occasionally watch something on Disney + to make it worthwhile, but may cancel.

  152. juice box says:

    Received a notice yesterday from my car insurance, $34 credit due to. Covid19

    They must be getting a record windfall with hardly any auto claims these days

    government says to pay back more premiums now

    https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/05/nj-orders-car-business-insurers-to-cut-premiums-give-refunds-due-to-coronavirus-restrictions.html

  153. grim says:

    When will we see our property tax rebates for services not utilized?

  154. Juice Box says:

    Still have FIOS, when contract us up we shall see but my wife watches her reality-less TV shows mostly, and before anyone here says to cancel FIOS, I really just don’t see how cancelling FIOS will save me money in the long run, the divorce would cost allot more.

    Disney + Cancelled after Mandalorian was over
    Youtube premium – cancelled after Cobra Kai season two was over

    Netflix – Kids use it mostly as who doesn’t want unlimited cartoons?

    We even have Direct TV (aka AT&T TV NOW) streaming thanks to my FIL, we let him use our Netflix and we use his Direct TV.

    Amazon TV – once is a while come with Prime no need to cancel.

  155. Juice Box says:

    We just adopted a puppy. It’s being brought in from Iowa next week as there is apparently a shortage of puppies here on the east coast.

    I had dogs growing up, my wife never did as my MIL is allergic, kids are excited, have not seem them this excited in a long long time. Since it seems we will be home forever now is the time to do it. Hopefully it will get my kids out of the house more, as one week from today it’s officially Summer and they barely go outside these days do to Covid19.

    So we are going to start with a puppy, and not a rescue. I did consider a rescue and had a rescue once as a kid, but wife and kids wanted a puppy. I am not the one going to doing the training. I swear!

  156. grim says:

    Yeah I start and stop HBO based on what’s playing.

    I would have cancelled Disney+ after Mandalorian – but they keep releasing new movies once a month that makes it worthwhile (Onward, Rise of Skywalker, etc) – since I’d just have rented these via Apple anyway.

  157. grim says:

    Looks like Elon won against California, Tesla plant green light to open next week.

  158. Juice Box says:

    Speaking of Summer!

    I am still paying for Summer Camp,as we take advantage of the early sign up discount. There may not be a Camp this year which means bankruptcy for Camp and no refund for me. All in it’s about 8k for two kids. I need to take a hard look at that contract….

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