C19 Open Discussion Week 42

From WaPo:

Moderna vaccine shipments set to arrive in states on Monday, Operation Warp Speed logistics chief says

Shipments of the second coronavirus vaccine approved by health regulators are set to arrive in states Monday, according to the Trump administration’s vaccine operations chief, one week after front-line health workers received the first shots in the U.S. government’s mass vaccination campaign.

Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, said Saturday that distribution was underway for the vaccine developed by Massachusetts biotechnology company Moderna in partnership with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, following the Food and Drug Administration’s decision to clear the shot late Friday.

Workers were packing the vials into boxes at distribution centers run by the medical wholesale giant McKesson, Perna said. FedEx and UPS trucks are slated to depart Sunday and carry the freezer-temperature containers to their destinations. The government has also begun shipping ancillary kits including needles, syringes and other supplies to help administer the shots, according to Perna.

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301 Responses to C19 Open Discussion Week 42

  1. Chicago says:

    FRIST

  2. ExEssex says:

    Second

  3. Bystander says:

    “I’m telling you the truth, your work day never ends.”

    Boo f-in hoo. Tell her to get that VNO stock price back in high 60s or else.

  4. The Great Pumpkin says:

    No crying, just telling it like it is. If you don’t think a company will rely on its talent 24/7 in a work from home in environment, you are ignorant. 3b likes to think how much time the non commute adds to his day, he is clueless.

    It’s a “now” world. WFH will be used and abused.

    Bystander says:
    December 19, 2020 at 11:04 pm
    “I’m telling you the truth, your work day never ends.”

    Boo f-in hoo. Tell her to get that VNO stock price back in high 60s or else.

  5. The Great Pumpkin says:

    So instead of lib bitching about his commute on NJT, he will complain about his employer is now using this time to make him work.

    Lesson here.. be careful what you ask for

  6. ExEssex says:

    Puleaze.

  7. Hold my beer says:

    If you are a salaried company employee or self employed you are always on the clock. You will always have to respond to texts and emails at a minimum on your days off and evenings. And it’s nothing new. This started pre cell phone with the invention of beepers.

  8. The Great Pumpkin says:

    What an animal…

    “He loved it so much that he had to invent new and exciting ways to do it. One of his favorites was called “pressing.” It involved putting a prisoner under a massive slab of wood and slowly adding weights until they were crushed alive. Henry made sure to add the weights as slowly he could, to make the whole thing as agonizing as possible.”

    https://www.factinate.com/people/41-head-rolling-facts-henry-viii/

  9. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Hold,

    The big difference between pre WFH and now, instead of just responding to an email, they expect you to produce reports immediately instead of waiting to get to the office.

    You can believe me or not, I’m just the messenger.

  10. ExEssex says:

    (CNN)President Donald Trump convened a heated meeting in the Oval Office on Friday, including lawyer Sidney Powell and her client, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, two people familiar with the matter said, describing a session that began as an impromptu gathering but devolved and eventually broke out into screaming matches at certain points as some of Trump’s aides pushed back on Powell and Flynn’s more outrageous suggestions about overturning the election.

    Flynn had suggested earlier this week that Trump could invoke martial law as part of his efforts to overturn the election that he lost to President-elect Joe Biden — an idea that arose again during the meeting in the Oval Office, one of the people said. It wasn’t clear whether Trump endorsed the idea, but others in the room forcefully pushed back and shot it down.
    The meeting was first reported by the New York Times.
    White House aides who participated in the meeting, including White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and counsel Pat Cipollone, also pushed back intensely on the suggestion of naming Powell as a special counsel to investigate voter fraud allegations Trump’s own administration has dismissed (or, as seems more feasible, hiring her in the administration for some kind of investigatory role). Powell has focused her conspiracies on voting machines and has floated the notion of having a special counsel inspect the machines for flaws.
    Another idea floated in the meeting was an executive order that would permit the government to access voting machines to inspect them.

    “It was heated — people were really fighting it out in the Oval, really forceful about it,” one of the sources said.
    One of the sources described an escalating sense of concern among Trump’s aides, even those who have weathered his previous controversies, about what steps he might take next as his term comes to an end.
    Shortly after that meeting, Trump’s campaign staff received a memo from the campaign legal team on Saturday instructing them to preserve all documents related to Dominion Voting Systems and Powell in anticipation of potential litigation by the company against the pro-Trump attorney.

    The memo, viewed by CNN, references a letter Dominion sent to Powell this week demanding she publicly retract her accusations and instructs campaign staff not to alter, destroy or discard records that could be relevant.
    A serious internal divide has formed within Trump’s campaign following the election with tensions at their highest between the campaign’s general counsel, Matt Morgan, who sent the memo Saturday, and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Though the campaign once distanced itself from Powell, Trump has been urging other people to fight like she has, according to multiple people familiar with his remarks. He has asked for more people making her arguments, which are often baseless and filled with conspiracy theories, on television.

  11. Phoenix says:

    Legal weed finally passes in New Jersey. Here’s what you need to know.

    Pumpy, reduce the stress between you and the missus. It’s okay now, it’s legal.

    Relax and light up a bowl in front of the tree.

    2021 you are going to need this and much, much more.

    https://www.nj.com/marijuana/2020/12/nj-lawmakers-just-passed-a-sweeping-legal-weed-bill-heres-what-you-need-to-know.html

  12. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “It’s just a matter of time before countries begin geoengineering. There should be a summit on this and international rules from the UN.”

    “Last month, 16 “artificial rain enhancement rockets” were launched off the back of a pickup truck 300 miles south of Beijing.

    The operation, ordered up by the Juye County Meteorological Bureau in response to a local drought, was reportedly a success”

    https://twitter.com/bopinion/status/1340398565592621056?s=21

  13. 3b says:

    Pumps the difference is I and many others are doing it, you are not. You point to your wife as an example and if it’s true for her then it must be true for all WFH. Simply not the case. You reference me and WFH as it terrifies you, and I have noted repeatedly why. With all due respect in your wife’s case perhaps it’s because corporate real estate is under such pressure exactly because of WFH.

  14. leftwing says:

    “If you are a salaried company employee or self employed you are always on the clock. You will always have to respond to texts and emails at a minimum on your days off and evenings. And it’s nothing new. This started pre cell phone with the invention of beepers.”

    Agree, and would offer a nuance.

    If you are a highly variable comp based employee of a corporation you are always on the clock. To me that is the dividing line and always has been.

    No one goes (or ever went into) banking, corporate law, medicine, high end sales, etc for highly stable comp and well defined 9-5, 40 hours….If they did they were weeded out very early on because it was a fit neither for them or the employer…

    Highly variable comped employees specifically trade off hours and availability for the potential for outsized comp.

    The change by way of WFH is for the true corporatist employee. The guy (girl) who is more administrative or support level type person and really did get away with a 40ish hour week and ring-fenced weekends. They are also most at risk from the ramifications of WFH.

    Easiest example that I know fairly well is HR….why in the world does HR need to be anywhere near the company employees? Or employees of their corporations at all? All their clients are internal and captive with interactions well defined. There is no face-to-face interaction except (perhaps) an exit interview. The entire HR departments of every major financial institution in NY could be outsourced to TN and the effect on the daily operations of those companies would be immeasurable.

    Outsourcing has moved up the ladder, from basic call centers into professional ranks like programmers. WFH is opening the eyes of management that there are many more rungs on that ladder than they ever considered.

    While corporatist employees may pine for 9-5, 40 hour workweeks keep this mind….IF you are able to ring fence yourself so, what you have done in addition to attaining WLB is put a big, fat target on your back….because there will always be someone, somewhere substantially qualified to do your job at less the cost.

    Grim’s coming for you baby.

  15. Phoenix says:

    Proof it’s all about the money and not the plant.

    “But they forgot something. They left in place a harsh drug-war statute that treats growing as few as 10 marijuana plants as the criminal equivalent of setting up a meth lab in the basement. It can draw a prison term of 20 years.”

    It’s not an accident. They did not “forget.” It’s about tax money, pleading out, lawyers making bank, and control over the public.

    Not my monkey, not my circus, but let’s call it what it is…

    https://www.nj.com/opinion/2020/12/20-years-for-growing-weed-at-home-thats-nuts-moran.html

  16. Phoenix says:

    What LW states is true. But in there lies the problem. What is legal vs what is moral.

    When those two lines intersect at the wrong spot, there is hell to be paid. That’s why schools are trying to stun their sheep before they are led to the slaughter.

    Outsourcing is not a positive thing in any way, and is really Anti-American. Imagine trading your child for the one next door because they shovel snow faster.

    Yeah, you get the picture.

  17. BRT says:

    Silicon valley techs come up with algorithm for “equitable distribution” at Stanford Hospital. The administrators at home got it and they left the actual hospital workers out. Administrators say “oh it was an flaw in our algorithm”.

  18. Phoenix says:

    The lesson of today for you kids.

    Make sure you do what it takes to get a government job with a pension.

    Everything else you will be outsourced, undermined, and threatened.
    Your fellow Americans nor your wife will have any sympathy for you no matter what.
    Your government will not help you either, hell, they can’t even pass a decent stimulus bill.

    Learn a lesson from Pumpy. Stay home, sit on a couch, enjoy your weekends off with a pension and great health benefits. Let them work all night for little pay. Do what is in your best interest just like your politicians and corporations.

    Private industry is a race to the bottom.

  19. leftwing says:

    LOL in other categories of societal equity (not really) when is it that Pumpy realizes he can get divorced and keep the house and kid and get alimony and child support to maintain lifestyle to boot?

  20. ExEssex says:

    Pension is “OK” but you gotta give up a lot for that.
    You forgo the main driver of wealth in this Country, stock options.

  21. Bystander says:

    “Outsourcing is not a positive thing in any way, and is really Anti-American.”

    My company won’t invest a dime in US workforce. We are simply here until they can get rid of last SME knowledge. Wage bands have not moved in years. We won’t hire anyone with more than 6 years exp. so to keep them all in analyst band. We will offer highest salary and then screw them for years with no raises until they quit after 3rd year. Rinse and repeat. Analysts can’t have direct reports though. Only time we go AVP or VP is when we hire so many lower India people that we trigger a line manager rule. Skills? We no longer care for Java ETL or DB. Hire three in one by going full stack. Who are these magical people? Who knows? But only want 3-4 exp as full stack keep pay low. Get them for year on major project then move them somewhere else or dump them. Perm or vendor? Who cares? As long we get people for time we need them. No one has any value anymore. NYC wages are toast. 64/ hr is offering for highly skilled technology PM. You would be ground to pieces as well as inheriting f-in mess that has switched hands multiple times. Dufus thinks it is all milk and honey in NYC bc he never competed in his life. The changes are astounding. So many people changing banking jobs, struggling with next move, taking less..I see it every day on LinkedIn.

  22. Dr. Fast Eddie says:

    Flynn had suggested earlier this week that Trump could invoke martial law as part of his efforts to overturn the election that he lost to President-elect Joe Biden — an idea that arose again during the meeting in the Oval Office, one of the people said.

    That would be fine. Any dissenters would be subjected to house arrest depending on level of resistance. I would use the same s0c1al media circuits that manipulated the election to search for any quotes, profiles, proclamations by liberal separatists and non-classical Americans. If not house arrest, then the very least, they should be monitored. I think the leftist media should push this narrative some more.

  23. Dr. Fast Eddie says:

    Bystander,

    I agree with everything you said in your last post.

  24. Dr. Fast Eddie says:

    My new rap name:

    Righteous Sec$shun 8

  25. Bystander says:

    Ed,

    I wish it were not true. In 2012, I was let go by old IB and had a contract role making $125 hr C2C by end of that week (I knew it was coming so interviewing for months). Such started the best 6 year run of my career, I made $240k for two years, was loved by coworkers and then hired FT making 60k more than last perm job. They needed me as the last PMs created a mess. It has been downhill for nearly three years. No regulation, no major growth in traditional IB and therefore no investment. We had three apps that are end of life and they just yanked our all hirings last week. 30 people to be onboarded in India mostly and now projects are toast. I spent 3 months strategizing skills and location hiring. People want to tell me times are great and economy never better? Bull$hit. Tighest @ssholes that I have ever scene in 20 years

  26. Dr. Fast Eddie says:

    Correction:

    Righteous Sec$hun 8

  27. Dr. Fast Eddie says:

    Bystander,

    I’ve lived everything you state in my personal career. Fortunately, I’ve been in a stable role for years but I do shudder at the thought of drastic platform change. I wish I could say more here, maybe we’ll meet at a gathering of some sort and I could explain further. I work in the same teams as you, following the same workflows and procedures but in a different role. I hope somehow the pendulum swings again though I am skeptical.

  28. Dr. Fast Eddie says:

    The walk-free plea continues a long Biden family tradition of avoiding jail time. A Post investigation in July found at least eight other busts of Bidens resulted in wrist slaps.

    A bunch of f.uck-ups, top to bottom.

    https://nypost.com/2020/12/19/caroline-biden-gets-no-jail-time-after-dui-guilty-plea/

  29. ExEssex says:

    Sorry Eddie it’s over and the bums lost.
    Better luck next time.

  30. ExEssex says:

    Trump and Ivanka’s perp walks should be fun to watch.

  31. Phoenix says:

    Bystander,

    A life of being hunted down.

    Your story reminds me of the guy from the SNL Lexus commercial. Could have been anyone in your career.

    Buy her a nice house, get downsized a couple of times, make less, she goes out and taps the neighbor and everyone else, you start drinking @ 9am, you run to the dealer to buy her a car to try to save your marriage……

  32. Bystander says:

    When I was making $240k in 2013, I splurged on new CR-V. We had a 2009 Fit that I bought used in 2011 for my (then) gf to drive 30m commuting each day. That CRV is still sitting in my driveway. At same time I was house hunting. My old manager was mid-50s, leased a new Lexus and bought $1m place in Weston in 2010. He tried to talk me into fancy car and at least 800k house. He was smart guy and worked hard but very image conscious. He also tried to talked me in DDD stock, whick I think he went into at 60g at $20/share. He held too long. Guy is set but fast forward and Weston RE got crushed and he is 63 and still working. He was looking at Boca $1m places to retire back in 2013. Not sure what happened. I am making close to 80k less a year than 2013. Sure he is down too.

  33. Libturd says:

    Phoenix,

    The sad Jingle Bell was good.

    Leftwing,

    You nailed the highly compensated versus everyone else WFH thing spot on. We were leashed 24 hours per day since the advent of the beeper. I was one of the last holdouts to go to the smartphone, entirely skipping the Blackberry years. At least with the pager, you could wait an hour and say you were on the road and wanted to get home to avoid needing to stop at a payphone to find out what’s up. With the smart phone/Blackberry, you have to react immediately. There is no excuse.

    So it’s true, I am most likely working when I used to be rotting in a NJ Transit tin can on wheels. But isn’t this good for business? Doesn’t this support WFH?

    BTW, we just had our most efficient year ever. This coincides with almost a full year of the majority of our employees being WFH. Just more reason supporting WFH.

  34. leftwing says:

    “My company won’t invest a dime in US workforce. We are simply here until they can get rid of last SME knowledge. Wage bands have not moved in years…We will offer highest salary and then screw them for years with no raises until they quit after 3rd year. Rinse and repeat…No one has any value anymore. NYC wages are toast…The changes are astounding…”

    Bystander, respectfully and again with all good intention and to help, Chi and I have been telling you for at least two years GTFO and reinvent yourself.

    It is literally impossible to fight secular decline. Like falling down a sheer rock face…you may hit a protrusion here or there that delays the inevitable but you are not going to beat gravity.

    Reminds me of a ball bearing company story, company I looked at in the first year of my career. The above point was driven home hard back then for me, thankfully.

  35. 3b says:

    Lib: We had our end of year firm wide meeting for the year last week. Company had an excellent year, and saved a fortune with WFH, across almost all fronts , and a big chunk on business travel. WFH is here to stay. NYC will never be the same.

  36. leftwing says:

    Lib, highly compensated for sure but also highly variable comp regardless of level.

    I have a friend who over the last six or so years ranged from 275-600 annually. The majority of his comp is variable. At the low end I don’t think anyone would consider him highly compensated.

    If he works 40 hours and turns his phone off on the weekend he is boxed into 275. And that won’t work. His employer hired him to earn 600, or better. If he gets complacent and starts banging 275 regularly he’s gone. He is fully accessible because he has both the desire and the expectation from his employer that he wants and will work toward that 600k.

    Funny, I just had a similar conversation with my son, the one who took his first permanent job over the summer and just got his first bonus. Without all the details what I told him was that his company truly, truly wants to pay him 500k rather than his current 100k. No way, how he asks? Because if they are paying you 100k then you are generating value for them in the neighborhood of 250k. If they pay you 500 then you are generating value for them of around 1.25m.

    That means when they are paying you 1.25m they are seeing 750k of incremental value from you, rather than seeing 150k of incremental value from you at the lower comp.

    You are 600k more valuable to them if they can pay you more. They really, really want to do that. Trust me. Your job is to figure out how you can produce enough value to them to entice them to pay you that higher figure.

    That is the difference to me between highly variable comp and the ‘corporatists’.

    The former are very difficult if not impossible to outsource. Why would you want to? They are your best lawyers, bankers, salesmen, programmers, etc. And they are available 24/7.

  37. chicagofinance says:

    The Great Pumpkin says:
    December 19, 2020 at 10:05 am
    How many of those people were the “walking dead?”
    How can you measure the effectiveness of a leader’s handling of the virus on the death rate alone? There are so many variables at play. So many things out of a leader’s (managers) control.
    What I do know. He was one of the few governors that realized we have to shut down until we know what we are dealing with. If he didn’t do that, god knows how bad it could have become in this state.
    Is he perfect? No. Is he competent as a leader/manager? For sure.

    Pumps: Here is some footage from Murphy’s handling of COVID patients and nursing homes…….
    https://youtu.be/5p0IP-FVG2I?t=139

  38. chicagofinance says:

    The Great Pumpkin says:
    December 19, 2020 at 10:05 am
    How many of those people were the “walking dead?”
    How can you measure the effectiveness of a leader’s handling of the virus on the death rate alone? There are so many variables at play. So many things out of a leader’s (managers) control.
    What I do know. He was one of the few governors that realized we have to shut down until we know what we are dealing with. If he didn’t do that, god knows how bad it could have become in this state.
    Is he perfect? No. Is he competent as a leader/manager? For sure.

    Pumps: Here is some footage from Murphy’s handling of COVID patients and nursing homes.
    https://youtu.be/5p0IP-FVG2I?t=139

  39. ExEssex says:

    6:38 you probably confused the kid numbnuts.

  40. Phoenix says:

    Horace’s thought’s on Covid and the educators. Seems a bunch want to quit their jobs. Must be nice to be that rich.
    http://www.horacemann.com/~/media/documents/supplemental/The%20Hidden%20Impact%20of%20COVID-19%20on%20Educators.pdf

  41. grim says:

    What’s the over/under on how many vaccines NJ distributes this week.

    Rough estimates last week were 2,000-3,000 of the 70,000 total doses received.

    Additional allocations expected from both Pfizer and Moderna this week. Guessing that number is north of 100,000 additional doses across the two manufacturers this week.

    It will take a year for NJ to distribute the doses received in the last two weeks at this rate.

  42. grim says:

    The fact that Murphy has been screaming about under allocation is a smoke screen for the fact that NJ’s vaccine plan was complete ineffectual last week.

    We’re not even close to being able to distribute 1/10th of the under-allocation.

    Suspect we’re going to find boxes of unadministered vax in dumpsters.

  43. grim says:

    Remember, the Pfizer boxes contain more than 1,000 doses each.

    If you open a box, you must administer all doses in the box, or refrigerate. If boxes were distributed to locations without the requisite cold storage, opened and removed from dry ice, and they didn’t administer all vax, it’s gone into the garbage at this point.

  44. grim says:

    Anyone want to bet I’m wrong?

  45. grim says:

    Team of NJ’s most brilliant health administrators, the best, the brightest, have been working nights and weekends on putting together a list of excuses for why they couldn’t get it done.

  46. Hold my beer says:

    Grim

    NJ only had 6+ months to come up with a plan. Not enough time when you are trying to figure out bike lanes for all and where to build affordable housing in Short Hills.

  47. D-FENS says:

    Dude can’t even plow correctly during a snowstorm. I haven’t forgotten being stranded on a highway for 7+ hours because of this dufus. It’s almost a certainty that Grim is correct.

    Christie sitting on a closed Island beach state park lawn chair looks like a genius in comparison.

  48. BRT says:

    I have a solution grim. We just administer the vaccine at the dmv line.

  49. ExEssex says:

    So Biden’s niece has resolved her legal issues.
    Betcha the same isn’t true for the Trump crime family.

  50. Juice Box says:

    I posted about the 2,100 vaccines administered in NJ by end of day Friday, but it went into Mod. That is about 500 a day over the four days since they started.

    Well by the weekend Florida did over 40,000, and they post their stats by age, sex and even race. Perhaps the warm weather makes them more competent?

    No the did not rely on the Pharmacists from CVS and Walgreens.

    As far as refrigeration the Pfizer vaccine should be thawed and stored in Refrigeration units that are commonly available in hospitals. The vaccine can be stored for five days at refrigerated 2-8°C conditions.

    After storage for up to 30 days in the Pfizer thermal shipper, vaccination centers can transfer the vials to 2-8°C storage conditions for an additional five days, for a total of up to 35 days. Once thawed and stored under 2-8°C conditions, the vials cannot be re-frozen or stored under frozen conditions.

    https://www.pfizer.com/news/hot-topics/covid_19_vaccine_u_s_distribution_fact_sheet

  51. BRT says:

    Horace’s thought’s on Covid and the educators. Seems a bunch want to quit their jobs. Must be nice to be that rich.
    http://www.horacemann.com/~/media/documents/supplemental/The%20Hidden%20Impact%20of%20COVID-19%20on%20Educators.pdf

    I get out at 12:30, I teach classes of 8 in person. No lunch duty. I get to move slower and spread the same amount of grading over a longer time period. This has been the easiest year of teaching I’ve ever had.

  52. D-FENS says:

    @JackPosobiec
    State reps are saying they want to do something about our broken election but are afraid Antifa will come after their families

    This is why Biden and Kamala protect them

    Spent 4 years warning this would happen

  53. ExEssex says:

    oH nO dFenS

  54. ExEssex says:

    This: https://twitter.com/rexchapman/status/1340355283206492160?s=21

    I have zero respect for anyone supporting Trump.

  55. Juice Box says:

    Empty Trains and now Flights to nowhere?

    Airlines get $15 billion in federal aid, must call back more than 32,000 furloughed workers.

  56. 30 year realtor says:

    D-fens,

    Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the man you quoted…
    John Michael Posobiec III (/pəˈsoʊbɪk/ pə-SOH-bik; born December 14, 1985)[1] is an American alt-right[2][3][4] political activist and conspiracy theorist[5] who is considered an Internet troll.[6][7][8][9] Posobiec is best known for his pro-Donald Trump comments on Twitter, as well as using white-supremacist and anti-semitic symbols and talking points, including the white genocide conspiracy theory.[10][11][12][13] He has promoted fake news, including the debunked Pizzagate conspiracy theory that high-ranking Democratic Party officials were involved in a child sex ring.[14] As of 2018, he was working as a correspondent for One America News Network, a far-right cable news television channel.[15]

  57. 30 year realtor says:

    D-fens,

    Do you support white supremacy and antisemitism? If you don’t, please explain why you post sh#t like this.

  58. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Well, apply this to mindset to business. So how does America exist under this mindset? You can do it much cheaper anywhere else. So what is this a race to the bottom? Stupidity.

    When will we learn that the lowest cost is not the most important thing? It’s about setting up a society where you can enjoy life. I hate this mindset, it doesn’t have to be this way, but pea brains can’t escape their own greed and obsession with lowest cost as opposed to doing what brings the MOST VALUE TO SOCIETY. WHAT GOOD IS AN EFFICIENT BUSINESS MODEL IF IT DESTROYS THE SOCIETY YOU LIVE IN?

    WHAT GOOD IS WFH IF IS DESTROYS THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN WORK AND HOME? YOU WANT TO BE CONSTANTLY WORKING? GTFOH

    “While corporatist employees may pine for 9-5, 40 hour workweeks keep this mind….IF you are able to ring fence yourself so, what you have done in addition to attaining WLB is put a big, fat target on your back….because there will always be someone, somewhere substantially qualified to do your job at less the cost.”

  59. The Great Pumpkin says:

    What’s better, Juice? Destroying the gears of the economy so that when the virus is gone, we must start from scratch with the gears that move society? You save money by keeping it going rather than letting it go bankrupt and starting from scratch. Never mind the harm all these workers making nothing does to the economy….sets it back years. It’s dominoes…. every job loss leads to another job loss. Stop the bleeding for god’s sake.

    Juice Box says:
    December 21, 2020 at 8:48 am
    Empty Trains and now Flights to nowhere?

    Airlines get $15 billion in federal aid, must call back more than 32,000 furloughed workers.

  60. The Great Pumpkin says:

    New virus mutation hitting the UK. 70% more effective at transmission. Not good.

  61. Juice Box says:

    30 year – “debunked”

    Yet for some reason pedo rings with rich and famous as well as high ranking democrats did exist. Right now there is a woman on trial for six federal crimes, including enticement of minors, sex trafficking, and perjury. She was friends with Chelsea Clinton because we all know she was at her 2010 wedding and her dad the former leader of the Party and ex-president was a buddy with her now deceased boss, they traveled many times together including visits to an infamous pedo island in the U. S. Virgin Islands.

    Nobody is making that one up.

  62. 30 year realtor says:

    Juice,

    Are you saying you saying you believe in Pizzagate?

    Plenty of Republican pedophiles too. Doesn’t mean it is a conspiracy.

  63. Juice Box says:

    One two two Virus mutations per month is the average.

    There are many many mutations, England, South Africa, Brazil. We may never know fully as many parts of the world have zero testing for it and do not send samples to labs to have the DNA sequenced and added to the databases that exist to track these mutations.

    What is different about this Covid-19 variant in England known as “B.1.1.7” is it had 17 mutations all at once. It is still not known yet if the vaccine is effective on it, but if it continues to spread and somebody who got the shot dies, you can expect the Media to cause a panic.

  64. Juice Box says:

    30 year – I am saying there are underground groups of deviants and criminals in all walks of life, the rich and powerful on the the left or right are not exempt or more virtuous in anyway. They don’t have to be in the basement of some Washington DC pizzeria to be real.

    BTW – The link for Pizza Gate is John Podesta, he was White House Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton.

  65. ExEssex says:

    Juice Bunk you’ve also seen the photos of Trump partying with said pedo ring leaders.

  66. Juice Box says:

    BTW – A little but more on that guy Podesta. He was never charged with any crime when he lied to the Grand Jury during the Monica Lewinsky days. He was called back to the Grand Jury because in his initial testimony he made forceful denials of any improper conduct and refused to answer questions. All later to be proven lies.

    And truthfully I would never let my kids be alone with any of these people, you should not trust any of them since the only thing they crave is power.

    That includes Trump.

  67. Hold my beer says:

    Biden’s are the poor mans kennedys

  68. Hold my beer says:

    Don’t forget the US attorney that gave Epstein his deal became a trump cabinet member

  69. ExEssex says:

    9:53 read up on the Kennedy Clan a bit.

  70. Phoenix says:

    No Kennedy ever looked like Fire Marshall Bill.

  71. Phoenix says:

    Anyone that even remotely thinks the American justice system does anything right needs their head examined.

  72. Phoenix says:

    “He was never charged with any crime when he lied to the Grand Jury ”

    Court’s don’t prosecute liars. It’s too much work for them.

  73. Phoenix says:

    “You are 600k more valuable to them if they can pay you more. They really, really want to do that. Trust me. Your job is to figure out how you can produce enough value to them to entice them to pay you that higher figure.”

    Outsource and fire as many of your fellow American bags of protoplasm, replace the rest of them with Pi zeros. Give them American flags to wave as parting gifts, enough for their children as well. Stay in contact with their wives for when you are feeling a bit frisky.

    Profit.

  74. D-FENS says:

    Your question is absurd. I despise both.

    Perhaps try being open to the fact that accusations of them levied at the president are false.

    30 year realtor says:
    December 21, 2020 at 9:09 am
    D-fens,

    Do you support white supremacy and antisemitism? If you don’t, please explain why you post sh#t like this.

  75. D-FENS says:

    Posobiec is a Polish Catholic. He’s about the furthest thing from a White Supremacist.

    He’s reported extensively on ANTIFA in the US. Accusations of White Supremacy come from them and are completely made up.

  76. Phoenix says:

    “I was one of the last holdouts to go to the smartphone, entirely skipping the Blackberry years. At least with the pager, you could wait an hour and say you were on the road and wanted to get home to avoid needing to stop at a payphone to find out what’s up. ”

    No child is ever going to be able to escape this cage that you were able to avoid.

    This is what greedy boomers have caused.

  77. Phoenix says:

    I still suggest that the youth of America get into government jobs.

    It’s the one place the corporate axe still has at least some difficulty in penetrating.

    Plus if you get up high enough, you can then get kickbacks from those same corporations that you no longer have to fear.
    Or torture small businesses. Whatever you like.

  78. 3b says:

    I know quite a few younger people college grads who have gone the government job route. Less pay, but great benefits, less stress, great advancement opportunities and the one thing they have all said they were looking for was job security.

  79. Phoenix says:

    “one thing they have all said they were looking for was job security.”

    How do you get a 30 year mortgage and not want to have some sort of job security or health insurance?

    Do you want to be the guy in the SNL Lexus commercial with the expensive wife that cheats and costs you thousands and your kids after you lose your job when all she has to do is put on a dress and flirt?

    Would you not want a car that is reliable- or an airplane, or a parachute?

    America and it’s “Patriots” are so deep in it thankfully for those who have Covid they can’t even smell it anymore. Your own neighbor will fire you as long as he can profit.
    Boomers have turned this country into one stinking pile of you know what.

    If you had any bit of ethics, morals, or lack of narcissism you just might shed a tear like that Indian in the trash commercial when you look at the playgrounds full of children whose life you have destroyed.

    Nope, you will all sleep well, you got yours.

  80. BRT says:

    I know quite a few younger people college grads who have gone the government job route. Less pay, but great benefits, less stress, great advancement opportunities and the one thing they have all said they were looking for was job security.

    Being a low level government worker is the pits. Being a paper pushing box checking admin is a very lucrative career.

  81. 30 year realtor says:

    D-Fens,

    The Polish Catholics didn’t work out well for the Jews when the Nazis came calling. Not feeling any better about Posobiec based on that. Got any other excuses?

  82. D-FENS says:

    I’m not going to argue with you 30. You’re hallucinating. Accusing someone of white supremacy doesn’t even mean anything anymore. It’s the first thing someone says when they can’t argue the point.

  83. Phoenix says:

    “Being a low level government worker is the pits. ”

    Working at Walmart or Amazon is the pits. Without benefits.

  84. Phoenix says:

    So many “small businesses” are run by men whose wives have government jobs for the benefits, truth be told.

    I know doctors who use their wives government benefits vs their own.

  85. 3b says:

    BRT: The jobs I am referencing are not low level, more IT based and statistical analysis type work. 2 kids I know were math majors, one at a hedge fund, did not like the environment. All sorts of tests and you can quickly raise through the ranks. And the Feds have an aging work force so apparently air of opportunities. This is what they tell me , not familiar with government jobs.

  86. Dr. Fast Eddie says:

    It’s the first thing someone says when they can’t argue the point.

    Along with you’re a xenophobe, you’re uncompassionate, don’t believe science is real, don’t believe BLM and don’t believe love is love. Basically, anything symbolic as long as it doesn’t include one’s personal finances, time and effort.

  87. leftwing says:

    “6:38 you probably confused the kid numbnuts.”

    Yeah, I butchered the math trying to provide an example here. Shouldn’t type and watch football. Or should lose my data OCD.

    Point is, corporations hire you you generate incremental value. The more they pay you, by definition the more they make….

    Before I left the industry….easiest way to get fired as an IBD MD? Bang down $1m a year for two years.

    At that level you’re unproductive in the seat given you. Firm wants to be writing a $2m+ check for the guy in that position….

    Corporations want to pay you. Your job is to produce the value to let them do so.

  88. 30 year realtor says:

    If you agree with people who say things publicly that indicate support of white supremacy groups or other types of hate groups, you should expect to be perceived as a supporter of those groups.

  89. Phoenix says:

    “Before I left the industry….easiest way to get fired as an IBD MD? Bang down $1m a year for two years.”

    Sounds just like the series “Billions” on Showtime.

  90. ExEssex says:

    11:05 uncapped commission only sales people
    You either starve or you make bank. Gotta have good a product.

  91. Juice Box says:

    30 year – You by admission are a realtor and the real estate industry contributed to racial inequality and segregation in housing. There are more racist realtors than non-racist ones, it’s been proven time and time again and there are now laws to stop it.

    Have you apologized for your role in fomenting housing discrimination?

    It’s a dirty business with a dirty history.

    https://www.seattletimes.com/business/real-estate/realtors-apologize-for-role-in-housing-racial-discrimination/

  92. ExEssex says:

    The GOP is a ticking time bomb.
    Mobilizing uneducated rubes, white supremacy,
    And class warfare by a guy born rich who is mentally ill.
    Soooo much winning (whining).

  93. ExEssex says:

    11:18 the only dirt around here is on your upper lip Sanchez.

  94. 30 year realtor says:

    Juice,

    Have I said anything in agreement with those Realtors? Very different from D-fens and others here who have openly agreed with outspoken haters. If it makes you feel any better, I strongly disagree with actions of real estate agents past and present that have engaged in racist practices.

  95. Phoenix says:

    Guy has so much money even his ex wife and girlfriend are hanging together like pals. Money sure does solve lots of problems, and opens lots of doors. That son of his can have a harem as well if he can hit the the little ball into the hole.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9074591/Tiger-Woods-ex-wife-Elin-Nordegren-watches-son-Charlie-play-golf.html#comments

  96. Phoenix says:

    “the only dirt around here is on your upper lip Sanchez.”

    Never understood the attraction to that. To each his own I guess.

  97. Phoenix says:

    600.00 stimulus.

    Not enough to pay one months rent anywhere in America, or even one month’s property tax bill in NJ.

    Boomers have dug a rabbit hole so deep even the rabbit can’t find it’s way out anymore.

  98. Juice Box says:

    $600 is for bling. You get another month and then there is the dirty renter bailout fund.

    The new bailout bill provides for $25 billion in rental assistance for states and localities through the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) and extends the national eviction moratorium through January 31, 2021.

    The new legislation allows landlords or utility companies to apply for the funds directly from cities and states, rather than giving the money directly to renters. Tenants must cosign the application if landlords apply on their behalf, and if the landlord refuses the tenant can apply directly.

  99. 30 year realtor says:

    How many of you are still on board with Trump’s desperate and unfounded attempts to overturn the results of the election? Clearly D-fens is in with that group. How many more of you want to step out and openly show your support?

  100. joyce says:

    What if I say I prefer low taxes and David Duke says the same thing?

    30 year realtor says:
    December 21, 2020 at 11:09 am
    If you agree with people who say things publicly that indicate support of white supremacy groups or other types of hate groups, you should expect to be perceived as a supporter of those groups.

  101. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Depends on perspective. They also want to take advantage of labor arbitrage. They didn’t send those jobs overseas because they wanted to pay people more money.

    They succumbed to greed and pushed the angel off their shoulder. Empathy need not apply. They lie to themselves that it’s the free market and not themselves sending those jobs over seas.. sending American towns and families to die. They preach to workers to step it up and compete, yet, they refuse to step it up and compete with foreign labor in their business. Instead they cry they can’t compete with their labor costs and go employ foreigners.

    WELL IF AMERICA’S LABOR MARKET COSTS TOO MUCH TO EMPLOY, MAYBE YOU SHOULD LOWER THE PRICES. YOU TAKE A PRODUCT, LOWER THE LABOR COSTS, RAISE PROFITS, AND THEN SELL IT BACK TO AMERICA AT A HIGH PRICE. HOW LONG IS THIS SUSTAINABLE IN TERMS OF ECONOMICS? WHERE IS AMERICA GOING TO GET THE MONEY TO KEEP PAYING THE HIGHER PRICE AS OUR JOBS ARE SHIPPED AND LABOR COSTS REDUCED?

    “Corporations want to pay you. Your job is to produce the value to let them do so.”

  102. 30 year realtor says:

    Joyce,

    Is that the best you can do? There are about a zillion other people you could quote who would agree with your position about taxes. If you chose Duke to be the person to quote on the topic that would say an awful lot about where you stand.

  103. joyce says:

    30year,
    If I run for office and members of the Communist Party USA donate money to my campaign, does that make me a communist?

  104. 30 year realtor says:

    Joyce,

    You cannot control who supports you. You can control who you support or identify with.

  105. 30 year realtor says:

    And Joyce, you can refuse the donation and send it back.

  106. D-FENS says:

    So you can sew a yellow star on their shirts?

    I never hated anyone who’s politics were left of center. I grew up in a household where my Dad was a registered Republican and my Mom was a Democrat and a public school teacher.

    It genuinely scares me how many are hate filled.

    30 year realtor says:
    December 21, 2020 at 11:45 am
    How many of you are still on board with Trump’s desperate and unfounded attempts to overturn the results of the election? Clearly D-fens is in with that group. How many more of you want to step out and openly show your support?

  107. Dr. Fast Eddie says:

    How many of you are still on board with Trump’s desperate and unfounded attempts to overturn the results of the election? Clearly D-fens is in with that group. How many more of you want to step out and openly show your support?

    “Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances because I think this is going to drag out, and eventually I do believe he will win if we don’t give an inch and if we are as focused and relentless as the other side is.”

    ~ Hillary Clinton

  108. 30 year realtor says:

    Eddie,

    Hillary accurately predicted the future. Love her or hate her, she was right this time! Thanks for sharing.

  109. ExEssex says:

    30 year you are arguing with seditious traitors here.
    Or “supporters of” a traitor to the Country.

  110. Juice Box says:

    COVID-19 briefing, as of yesterday 8740 doses given out since tuesday NJ per Judy Persichilli.

    Data shows lots more now doses arriving from Moderna and Pfizer this week.

  111. The Great Pumpkin says:

    You are funny. Yes, it’s only commercial real estate. Do you even work?

    “Prolonged work from home has taken a toll on employees as they experience stress and burnout brought about by unremitting long hours at work.”

    https://yourstory.com/2020/11/burnout-vs-productivity-truth-wfh

    “69% of employees are experiencing burnout symptoms while working from home.”

    https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/working-from-home-burnout

    “What was arguably an adequate short-term solution is now showing signs of wear and tear: Remote workers are burning out, organizational cultures are under threat, and leaders are fretting about the loss of creativity and collaboration.”

    https://theprint.in/opinion/remote-working-is-starting-to-show-tears-but-going-back-to-office-isnt-only-solution/565289/

    3b says:
    December 20, 2020 at 10:42 am
    Pumps the difference is I and many others are doing it, you are not. You point to your wife as an example and if it’s true for her then it must be true for all WFH. Simply not the case. You reference me and WFH as it terrifies you, and I have noted repeatedly why. With all due respect in your wife’s case perhaps it’s because corporate real estate is under such pressure exactly because of WFH.

  112. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Quick google search over the past month and ton of pieces. Yes, it’s only commercial real estate. Do you even still work?

    “69% of employees are experiencing burnout symptoms while working from home.”

    https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/working-from-home-burnout

    3b says:
    December 20, 2020 at 10:42 am
    Pumps the difference is I and many others are doing it, you are not. You point to your wife as an example and if it’s true for her then it must be true for all WFH. Simply not the case. You reference me and WFH as it terrifies you, and I have noted repeatedly why. With all due respect in your wife’s case perhaps it’s because corporate real estate is under such pressure exactly because of WFH.

  113. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Understand, the people that enjoy WFH don’t really work. These idiots don’t realize that they are going to lose their job in short time and be re-hired as part time or on a consultant basis. Enjoy WFH when you can never leave your house because you are always working some part time gig.

  114. Dr. Fast Eddie says:

    All the media outlets are so accommodating to O’Biden. Yahoo is my homepage (I don’t know why… still) and it’s all fluffy stuff about his appointees along with a picture of a smiling fool littered with dementia. We who oppose are traitors? Oppose the same family that runs a syndicate out of China? A pay-for-play RICO organization? A man who has been in DC for half a century reaping benefits off tax payers and abusing policy? LOL!!

    Where do I sign up for the privilege of eradicating those who oppose classical America, who wish to transform my country into a distribution center for the world’s ills, who wish to be part of the greater good without an ounce of sacrifice on their behalf, who hate their neighbor but plant lawn signs telling us love is love? You’re a pathetic lot and liberalism in this country is a thin, bloodless endeavor that seeks to divide, has no foundation in nothing more than a symbolic gesture using tomorrows victims.

  115. 3b says:

    Pumps: I am working every day you little shite! Don’t you dare insult me and my spouse and all of us that are working from home and getting the job done!! Yes, we are suffering from burnout some of us, because we don’t have much of a social life anymore with Covid. Others because of that and juggling young children and school work. That will pass when schools reopen.

    Just be honest and say you demand we all go back to the office so you can keep your pampered life style which is negatively impacted by WFH. It’s here and it ain’t going away.

  116. BoomerRemover says:

    Chi – Thoughts on Kathie Wood? I just watched a Bloomberg interview and have a massive b00ner.

    She spoke of being embedded in the communities they research at a much lower level, where they actually educate the companies on their addressable market share and gathering intel at that level.

  117. Dr. Fast Eddie says:

    When a progressive s0c1alist democrat wipes its @ss with its Puppetry and Leisure Studies degree, does it make a sound?

  118. ExEssex says:

    1:45 that’s insane.

  119. chicagofinance says:

    Remover: she has a serious set of balls…… she was out there over a year ago on CNBC calling for “pre-split” TSLA 7,000. Her ARK ETF’s have flat out crushed 2020.

    I think she has the current zeitgeist figured out, but never marry anyone….. always be dating….. also, I don’t think the ARK ETF’s diversify across product…there is a massive amount of cross holding….

    Bear in mind, she holds 10% TSLA in her portfolios, and also is focused on healthcare…… she is going to look like a genius right now…. never lose your rigor, but she is impressive…..

  120. ExEssex says:

    Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, the two Republican Senate incumbents from Georgia facing runoff elections on 5 January, are trying to nationalize their respective races. They have spent much of their time saying that if their opponents win, thereby giving Democrats a narrow majority in the Senate, the country will be unrecognizably altered. They spin horror stories about a liberal dystopia, focusing particular ire on Loeffler’s Democratic challenger, a Black Atlanta pastor named the Rev Raphael Warnock, and mostly ignoring Perdue’s opponent, the white former investigative journalist Jon Ossoff. The incumbents have tried to mimic Donald Trump’s rhetoric, making poorly veiled racist overtures to the white grievance voters whose turnout they will need in order to keep their seats. Loeffler has gone on conservative media to scaremonger about Black Lives Matter; Perdue pulled a juvenile stunt at a Trump rally in which he pointedly and deliberately mispronounced Kamala Harris’s first name.

  121. Grim says:

    PA on track to distribute 37,000 doses by the end of the week.

  122. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Essex,

    It’s already happening. What do you think the gig economy is? So now combine that trend with the WFH platform. You are going to have some people doing 3 different part time gigs on a daily basis to pay the bills. Corporate only wants you if you are always working. Corporate has become brutally efficient with their tech and data.

    Now throw in the WFH platform weeds out the people they really don’t need to pay full time. Of course the part they miss, this leads to worker burnout if you are constantly humming at a 100%. You can’t keep it up, it wears you down.

    We will learn the hard way of course, as we destroy the lives of the generations that are the guinea pigs for their tech and labor experiments. Their offshoring of manufacturing worked well, what could go wrong with this?

  123. BRT says:

    Thoughts on Kathie Wood? I just watched a Bloomberg interview and have a massive b00ner.

    She spoke of being embedded in the communities they research at a much lower level, where they actually educate the companies on their addressable market share and gathering intel at that level.

    Last time I saw her, she was saying she expects her fund to gain 20% every year.

  124. Phoenix says:

    Axe capital is going to acquire ARK and Kathie Wood.

  125. D-FENS says:

    Murphy will somehow blame Trump. Mark my words.

    Grim says:
    December 21, 2020 at 2:41 pm
    PA on track to distribute 37,000 doses by the end of the week.

  126. BidenIsTheGOAT says:

    Lol, loved the comment about the poor mans kennedys. So true, Biden’s are the Kennedys , without the money, wits or looks, but all the deviant behaviors. I guess it’s a catholic thing.

  127. BidenIsTheGOAT says:

    Is it scaremongering to say BLM is an international Marxist front group? I guess if you’re TDS personified you may think so.

  128. 3b says:

    A Catholic thing?? An incredibly ignorant and bigoted comment to make.

  129. BRT says:

    Talked to a few people who’s wives are nurses. Reached out to my doctor friends as well. Basically, all the hospital administrators magically jumped to the front of the line and got vaccinated. Also wondering wtf AOC is getting a vaccine right now when people in nursing homes are still waiting.

  130. Juice Box says:

    BRT – competitive virtue signaling..

    CEO of Bergen New Bridge Medical Center front of the line.

    https://twitter.com/NewBridgeMedCtr/status/1340009358676160513

  131. Dr. Fast Eddie says:

    A Catholic thing?? An incredibly ignorant and bigoted comment to make.

    I thought it was funny and I went through 12 years of Catholic school, 13 including Kindergarten.

  132. 3b says:

    Fast: I didn’t based on his previous BLM comment if it was reversed. If it’s not ok for one, than not OK for the other. And I did the Catholic school route as well.

  133. ExEssex says:

    Some 42 per cent of voters say they will remember Donald Trump as “one of the country’s worst presidents”.

    That’s according to a recent poll by Fox News, Mr Trump’s once favoured network.

    Pollsters spoke to a random national sample of 1,007 registered voters by phone, in interviews conducted between 6-9 December.

  134. chicagofinance says:

    Juice: have you ever been here? or anyone else?
    https://www.ilnidonj.com/

  135. Bystander says:

    left,

    Did not get a chance to respond. Reinventing myself? F-it. I will be 50 in a couple of years. Should I post those meaningless AI trainings or AWS/Azure certifications like every old unemployed d&ckhead on Linkedin shares on their feed? Maybe but I don’t see lots of mid-50s guys getting hired into those areas of tech right now. More vendor apps, more cloud and less infrastructure so less need for tech staff. What is left can be sent to India and billions of them to learn same shit you are trying to learn for 1/4 price. It is all a race to bottom so why chase it? Hope I can ride out next 10-12 years and see my kids in college. Move elsewhere as I don’t have big financial needs. I can live pretty spartan existence. Pay mortgage off and f-ck the rest. I did my undergrad, masters and certs already. This country wants to continue to f*ck its workers then plenty of high lifestyle, high debt idiots to get through before they finish me off.

  136. Bystander says:

    Did Bill Barr say anything on voter fraud and Hunter investigation today? Oh right, he said they have no basis for special counsel involvement. Anything else red hat dolts? Pull him out by his bottled Orange hair in January. Should be exciting. People are jumping off the crazy bus at alarming speed.

  137. 30 year realtor says:

    Chicago,

    A friend of a friend owns it. I was supposed to go March 12th and covid canceled. My friend raves about the food!

  138. Bystander says:

    Left,

    I take that back. I am going to reinvent myself. I announce today that I will be a Guardian of the Galaxy. Live long and prosper. Where do I pick up my uniform and government issued laser? I will need the automatic AR-15 laser in case some Neptunian gets cute and protests Pluto’s rights to the ore deposits in Kuiper belt. It is an Earthling’s job afterall. Thank you Trump Pence.

  139. Phoenix says:

    It’s time Michael Douglas does Falling Down 2 Covid-19 edition.

    Do a double matinee with The Purge.

  140. ExEssex says:

    My dad managed to reinvent himself at fifty.
    Key is tenacity, timing, and good fortune.
    May we all have a little of that in the New Year.

  141. chicagofinance says:

    thx!

    They must have started about 2 years ago (early 2019?). They have been flying under the radar…… hadn’t heard about it….. that location is right in the middle of where Stu claims is a worthless part of NJ.

    In addition to Nicholas, I guess this place is also high quality…
    https://heirloomkitchen.com/

    30 year realtor says:
    December 21, 2020 at 6:10 pm
    Chicago,

    A friend of a friend owns it. I was supposed to go March 12th and covid canceled. My friend raves about the food!

  142. Grim says:

    AOC got vaccinated?

    How incredibly tone deaf.

    Privilege clearly suits her now.

  143. BRT says:

    Chifi, after looking at those pics of Il Nido, I’m adding it to the list. Maybe it will be the spot for my family’s post pandemic celebration.

  144. BRT says:

    I had a friend in high school. He and his parents had to escape Czechoslovakia in the 80s because the soldiers confiscated his father’s tailoring business. His father, great guy, was blue collar and worked his way through all kinds of jobs. My friend was an amazing musician, best drummer I ever met. They almost hit it big during that whole White Stripes/Hives era. He played live on Letterman and the band was about to take off. Then it all fell apart.

    Found out, he and his dad opened up a custom denim shop in Asbury a while back. He took his old career back home and reinvented it here. He’s living the dream.

  145. 3b says:

    Grim: It will be explained away! Of course if she was a Republican there would be outrage!!

  146. BRT says:

    Marco Rubio got it as well. Young, healthy, and first in line.

  147. 3b says:

    BRT They are all the same!!

  148. leftwing says:

    “Sounds just like the series “Billions” on Showtime.”

    LOL, need to add a zero for the hedgies. IBers are just their bitches, if they even get let in the front door.

    To my point with Lib, not about compensation level but about comp structure.

  149. njtownhomer says:

    ARK (Kathie) is a female Musk.

    She is impressive, possibly have a very good team eyeing on NVDA early on, good marketing and influencer. Today at some point SPY was down, TSLA too and ARKK was 5% up. All that money went into the small companies they heavily own (NNDM and like)

    Some claims she did may not fare well. Like TSLA not being a car company. but a leader in self-driving for example. Almost a kill a day that company makes but for some reason it gets unreported. Too much money in that shitbox. Now that we indexers hold the bag.

  150. BRT says:

    I’m very annoyed. This queue makes zero sense. Parents and in laws are 68. I will be able to get the vaccine before them. So will grocery store workers. What friggin planet are we living on?

  151. ExEssex says:

    America usually finds a way to challenge it’s residents.

  152. grim says:

    Texas now at 42,248 doses administered.

    https://tabexternal.dshs.texas.gov/t/THD/views/COVID-19VaccineinTexasDashboard/Summary?:origin=card_share_link&:embed=y&:isGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y

    Look at that, all the data in a nice dashboard, from backwater Texas.

  153. grim says:

    Doses Administered
    Florida – 43k
    Texas – 42k
    New York – 38k
    Colorado – 34k

    New Jersey – 7k
    North Dakota – 7k
    South Dakota – 7k

    Congrats to NJ for keeping pace with the Dakotas.

  154. grim says:

    Why?

    NJ missed a deadline for COVID vaccines at nursing homes. Here’s the state’s defense.

    he Murphy administration defended itself Monday and seemed to shift some blame to the federal government after missing a deadline to start vaccinating staff and residents of nursing homes this week against COVID-19.

    Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy dismissed a top Republican’s call for Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli to resign over the delay, saying “the last thing we need is people who don’t know what they’re talking about from the cheap seats.”

    Murphy did not say where the responsibility lies for the Department of Health’s failure to submit the required paperwork to the federal government in time to begin vaccinating staff and residents in the locations hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Instead, he urged patience and understanding as his administration rolls out a vaccine that was developed in record time and on a massive scale.

    “This is not an easy, straight-line process,” Murphy said at his regular coronavirus briefing in Trenton. “It is one of the most ambitious federal government initiatives ever undertaken, and folks have to understand that.”

  155. grim says:

    Tom Kean Jr., the Senate minority leader, said it’s “unbelievable and totally unacceptable” that the administration failed to meet the deadline, especially since close to half the state’s 16,315 confirmed COVID deaths have been in long-term care facilities.

    “After more than 7,100 lives were lost in New Jersey’s nursing homes and veterans homes, you would think the Murphy administration would waste no effort to ensure that the remaining residents would be vaccinated as quickly as possible,” Kean said in a statement. “Instead, those vulnerable seniors, our parents and grandparents, will remain at risk even longer over the administration’s failure to file simple paperwork on time.”

  156. grim says:

    Compare and contrast – this was last Wednesday 16th, talking about Monday the 21st.

    ‘Time is of the essence’ for COVID vaccine: Gov. DeSantis frustrated with CVS and Walgreens

    Walgreens and CVS, under a contract with the federal government, received more than 60,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to administer to long-term care residents throughout the state. But DeSantis said that process won’t start until Monday.

    “We were not happy with allowing that wait,” said DeSantis at John Knox Village. “We really believe that time is of the essence.”

    The state of Florida, thus, allocated some of the Pfizer vaccine itself, getting it to the strike teams to assist Walgreens and CVS in getting all seniors in long-term care facilities inoculated.

    The strike teams consist of members of the National Guard and Emergency Medical Services personnel and are there to “take some of the load off Walgreens and CVS,” he said.

    “We’re not waiting. We can’t just wait until Monday. We are going to use what we have and we are going to continue on that mission until the job is down,” DeSantis said.

  157. grim says:

    NJ dead set on maintaining the highest c19 death rate in the country.

    Would Murphy have the gall to hold off on vaccinations until after Christmas in an attempt to dissuade gatherings? Wouldn’t put it past him.

  158. D-FENS says:

    “I’m the bad guy?”

  159. BRT says:

    Murphy trying to blame the fed. Lol, why don’t the other states have these issues with meeting deadlines? This guy is an absolute clown.

    Just learned, my father has been extremely sick for 8 days. Refuses to take a test or hospitalize himself and is too weak to eat. He’s a doctor, so is his girlfriend. But he’s also very reckless when it comes to his own personal health so….we’ll see.

  160. grim says:

    Prayers, hope he pulls through.

  161. Hold my beer says:

    AOC got vaccinated for educational purposes to demonstrate that the vaccine is safe for people who are not old, white, cisgender males.

    In other words. It was empowering.

  162. Grim says:

    Rand Paul declined to skip the line, as did Ilhan Omar.

  163. Grim says:

    Guess they aren’t BFFs anymore.0

  164. D-FENS says:

    Are we vaccinating people who tested positive and recovered? I would hope not if the vaccine is in short supply.

  165. Grim says:

    Suppose as someone who is an essential worker involved in food manufacturing, I should be planning on queuing up early.

    On a more positive note, we are hiring more than two dozen new employees this week.

  166. Grim says:

    We are vaccinating them.

  167. Hold my beer says:

    BRT

    Sorry to hear that.

  168. solarwinds123 says:

    We are the “Dakotas of the East”

    This seems to have snuck through….

    https://www.njspotlight.com/2020/12/nj-massive-corporate-tax-breaks-final-vote-monday-dec-21-fast-tracked-concerns-size-speed/

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/nyregion/tax-incentives-new-jersey.html

    No issue has defined Gov. Philip D. Murphy’s first term in office more than corporate tax incentives. He railed against them as a Democratic candidate for governor and, once elected, initiated an investigation that exposed the program he inherited from his Republican predecessor as a poorly managed boon for politically connected firms.

    Yet on Monday, the State Legislature, with Mr. Murphy’s blessing, approved a new tax incentives bill, and the sheer size of it — as well as the breakneck speed at which it was introduced and passed — was shocking, even in New Jersey.

  169. grim says:

    Pretty sure NJ just got f*cked by that, passed in the middle of the night basically.

  170. Juice Box says:

    Grim most of us here now qualify to be a part of the phase 1 rollout.

    There are three phases 1, 2 and 3.

    It’s all in how you read the latest CDC slides for guidance of Phase 1 workers.

    They break it down into 1A, 1B and NOW 1C

    They say bankers are essential and included in 1C.

    A panel of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today voted to include financial services workers in Phase 1c of COVID-19 vaccinations.

    Phase 1c will include persons over 65 and those aged 16 to 64 with high-risk conditions, as well as workers in the transportation, food service, construction, IT and telecommunications, energy, media, legal, safety engineering and sewer and water industries.

  171. 3b says:

    BRT Hope your Dad will be ok.

  172. Juice Box says:

    The Federal Covid bill is loaded with pork too, 5593 pages!

    Green*house gas emissions reductions
    Billion in Aid for other countries
    $15 billion for airlines to bring back 32,000 workers for empty flights
    $14 billion for empty trains
    $7 billion in broadband funding (telecoms don’t need this, give it to Starlink)
    $2 billion “to replace foreign manufactured broadband equipment that poses national security threats,

    Don’t they know CISCO makes their gear in China?

  173. leftwing says:

    “I’m very annoyed…What friggin planet are we living on?”

    “America usually finds a way to challenge it’s residents.”

    For fun, I’ll noodle around whether this level of incompetence in politicians is a new phenomenon or whether it always existed and we are just more aware of it now given instant access to wide arrays of data.

    Either way, the difference between the artherosclerotic northeastern liberal bastions and Republican run states is stark.

    The criticism heaped on the latter by the former given their respective results would be laughable if people’s well being and actual lives weren’t at stake.

    Azar was just on CBS. Host hit him with Murphy apparently blaming him. He handled like a professional. Without engaging Murphy’s comments specifically he gave a concise, confident, and precise answer of how the process works.

    This guy was the original covid Task Force Head before the Orange Clown replaced him with Pence. If he had just left Azar in that role and had it in his DNA to trust him with an unfettered mic he would have swung enough actual votes to remain in office…

  174. leftwing says:

    ^^^criticism by the northeastern guvs on the others…..

    Really need an edit button here. LOL.

  175. grim says:

    Manufacture of Whiskey is considered Frontline Essential Workers – Phase 1b

    America knows what’s important.

    Who am I to disagree with government orders?

  176. leftwing says:

    BRT, hope your dad pulls through.

  177. Juice Box says:

    BRT – He is a MD, PhD or EdD?

    Sorry had to Ask!

    re” “Refuses to take a test or hospitalize himself”

    Perhaps order the home nasal swab testing kit for Covid? Labcorp is local and has the Pixel

    https://www.pixel.labcorp.com/at-home-test-kits/covid-19-test-home-collection-kit

    At a minimum monitor O2 levels, they apparently drop when you sleep. If he is going to really stubborn about it have him get a nasal cannula and supplemental oxygen even if he does not have covid.

    There is a stomach bug going around too. Hope he gets better soon!

  178. leftwing says:

    Re: vaccinations, as I’ve said before whoever wants my place in line can have it…

    My behavior adjustments have kept me fine…without too much lifestyle disruption.

    Two Midwest flights recently…without too much detail my choice of airplanes, travel times, and airports would make a business traveler bust out laughing but it worked…

    On the other hand I was to be in FL again right now but pulled out…United dropped my flight’s fares through the floor and the plane (737) became booked shoulder to shoulder overnight. I pulled out.

  179. Juice Box says:

    Grim – Slide 33 They were added to “essential workers” for Ethical Principles. “Justice” aKa social justice and “Mitigate Health inequities”.

    They fall into 1B now.

    Workers unable to work from home
    -High level of interaction with public or
    others in the workplace
    -May be unable to control social
    distancing
    -Frequently interact with others in
    the workplace
    -Racial and ethnic minority groups disproportionately represented in many
    essential industries
    -~1/4 of essential workers live in low-income families

  180. Phoenix says:

    This won’t be going away anytime soon, it will continue to wax and wane until 90+ percent of Americans have been exposed to it one way or the other.

    Unless you wear a mask in perpetuity.

  181. Juice Box says:

    I listened to Persichilli and Murphy at yesterday’s conference. They both said there was some kind of percentage of vaccines available number that the CDC said they had to hit before they could start vaccinating the workers and residents of the nursing homes. It’s all bullshit. They are relying on CVS and Walgreens pharmacists to do the work, the private sector is doing the heavy lifting here the nursing homes have to sign up directly with either pharmacy to actually schedule the vaccinations .
    The politicians need to get out of the way, the widely widely cited models say deaths will peak in January. There should be an army of vaccinators sent out today with those vaccines to nursing homes, they should not be sitting in storage.

    There is no excuse.

    Even NYC beat us.

    https://nypost.com/2020/12/21/covid-19-vaccinations-begin-at-ny-nursing-homes/

  182. Juice Box 1c essential worker says:

    comment in mod trying again.

    I listened to Persichilli and Murphy at yesterday’s conference. They both said there was some kind of percentage of vaccines available number that the CDC said they had to hit before they could start vaccinating the workers and residents of the nursing homes. It’s all bullshit. They are relying on CVS and Walgreens pha*rma*cists to do the work, the private sector is doing the heavy lifting here the nursing homes have to sign up directly with either pha*rma*cy to actually schedule the vaccinations. The data is reported to the Federal system directly.

    The politicians need to get out of the way, the models say deaths will peak in January. There should be an army of vaccinators sent out today with those vaccines to nursing homes, they should not be sitting in storage.

    There is no excuse.

    Even NYC beat us.

    https://nypost.com/2020/12/21/covid-19-vaccinations-begin-at-ny-nursing-homes/

  183. 3b says:

    5,593 pages in the stimulus bill, and only hours to read what is in there. Meanwhile Di Blasio is talking about wealth redistribution in NYC s public schools. That will scare a lot of people.

  184. Phoenix says:

    Get those guys that hang outside Home Depot to give it. Offer them 3.00 for each dose they give.
    By Friday 100% of NJ would be vaccinated.

  185. BRT says:

    We would like to distribute the vaccine, but we have to finish our paperwork first.

  186. Fast Eddie says:

    BRT,

    Thoughts for your Dad.

  187. Juice Box says:

    I agree with ACO and Cruz on this one.

    https://nypost.com/2020/12/22/aoc-ted-cruz-agree-covid-relief-bill-was-too-big-to-read/

    They should bring back perhaps the line item veto, or at a minimum pare down what can be included in these massive spending bills. Congress is broken to the point now where there is not time even read what the bill included and there is zero debate.

  188. Phoenix says:

    BRT,
    Best wishes for your father.

  189. BRT says:

    BRT – He is a MD, PhD or EdD?

    Sorry had to Ask!

    re” “Refuses to take a test or hospitalize himself”

    Perhaps order the home nasal swab testing kit for Covid? Labcorp is local and has the Pixel

    haha, yes, MD…trained at the Medical School of Juarez Mexico. He’s actually a great doctor. And his high IQ is countered by complete lack of logic, common sense and thick headedness. Trying to get him to do anything is a lost cause. There’s a reason I only found out about this over a week into it.

  190. D-FENS says:

    AOC is still a bit young. Maybe some time seeing the outright self serving corruption in Washington will red pill her.

  191. Juice Box says:

    BRT – How about some tough love? You could just go over there and swab his nose when he is sleeping. Consider doing it an honor, but for him you would not be around, it’s only logical you return the favor. You could also convince his girlfriend to swab his nose too, but then the honor would go to her.

  192. Juice Box says:

    D-FENS – She is leading now by example, cutting the line is just one example of leadership.

  193. Grim says:

    No surprise that “Stubborn old man” is actually the worst co-morbidity.

  194. Grim says:

    Friend of the family treated with Remdesivir and monoclonal as and was markedly better in 24hr.

  195. solarwinds123 says:

    Best part of new Stimulus bill:
    Surprise Medical Bills Cost Americans Millions. Congress Is Finally Set to Ban Most of Them.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/upshot/surprise-medical-bills-congress-ban.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20201222&instance_id=25294&nl=the-morning&regi_id=12980709&segment_id=47564&te=1&user_id=8f3b9bac082e44718e2f83f64829cc1f

    After years of being stymied by well-funded interests, Congress has agreed to ban one of the most costly and exasperating practices in medicine: surprise medical bills.

    Surprise bills happen when an out-of-network provider is unexpectedly involved in a patient’s care. Patients go to a hospital that accepts their insurance, for example, but get treated there by an emergency room physician who doesn’t. Such doctors often bill those patients for large fees, far higher than what health plans typically pay.

    Language included in the $900 billion spending deal reached Sunday night and headed for final passage on Monday will make those bills illegal. Instead of charging patients, health providers will now have to work with insurers to settle on a fair price. The new changes will take effect in 2022, and will apply to doctors, hospitals and air ambulances, though not ground ambulances.

  196. Phoenix says:

    AOC and the “Red Pill.”

    She should watch this movie. It’s quite good.

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3686998/

  197. Grim says:

    That’s some of the best news I’ve heard.

    Progressive NJ gave providers a pass on it. No balls.

    No surprise, they wouldn’t close the anti-vax loophole either.

  198. solarwinds123 says:

    Woops:

    Managers at New Jersey’s veterans homes where more than 190 residents have died from COVID-19 not only barred employees from wearing protective masks during the first weeks of the outbreak, they devised a series of penalties with the help of Gov. Phil Murphy’s office against nurses who wore the homes’ masks without permission.

    https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/coronavirus/2020/12/22/nj-covid-veterans-home-no-mask-policy-march-outbreak/3893629001/?a=a&utm_source=northjersey-Daily%20Briefing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_briefing&utm_term=hero

  199. Phoenix says:

    Medicare for all would have eliminated the entire problem. It’s okay, providers will just jack up their rates along with insurance premiums.

    Maintaining a human is quite expensive, more when they get old vs when they are infants.

    It might help if you could get them to listen, if they were responsible, or careful.

    Nope, they are emotional and unpredictable for the most part.

  200. BRT says:

    Can’t. Girlfriend would call the cops if I ever tried to enter the home. Not exactly on good terms. I’m probably going to have a place a few calls to his doctor friends today. That’s the easier route.

  201. Libturd says:

    Good luck with your stubborn dad BRT. We all know that type.

    As for politicizing which politicians took it first? You are proving there is no difference between the corruption in the two major parties. They ARE both the same. Only in it for themselves. Selfish pr1cks exist everywhere.

    “Trump is now one of the only senior-most U.S. officials who has not received the first of two vaccination shots, which began being administered last week as part of the largest vaccination campaign in the nation’s history. Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., all were given doses Friday. President-elect Joe Biden was to receive his Monday.”

    I am not surprised that NJ can’t seem to get the vaccine into people. Nearly every government organization is filled top to bottom with unskilled, inexperienced campaign contributors and even more, campaign volunteers. Every single office is now a governor patronage mill. Worse yet, every time we elect a new one, they fire everyone and return the experience level to zero. I know I sound like a broken record, but just follow the money. Every creative (non-profitable) business is built on grants and government subsidies to the politically connected. Sure, these businesses lose money hand over foot, but their CEOs (former campaign contributors) personally profit handsomely? If you don’t believe me, look in any NJ monthly. Every entrepreneur profiled will be a huge Murphy contributor. And that’s without knowing who and how much these assholes are contributing to his blood money PAC that serves as a “fixer” for all of Murphy’s blunders. What’s it called? New Direction? I’m not sure why everyone just sits back and lets it happen? The corruption in NJ’s government is truly unrivaled.

    Leftwing,

    Smart move on bailing on the flights. Like you, the only time I’ll do something in public is when it’s super off hours and empty. Otherwise, I have gotten really efficient at getting others to shop for me (often for free, but I tip generously). The amount of time I am personally saving is so enormous that I may never food shop again. Walmart+ is astoundingly good. I only wish they would take coupons. I’m sure they will in the near future. By the way, if anyone is interested in joining, there is a way to get in with paying nearly nothing for their annual fee, which also gets you unlimited free deliveries of regular Walmart goods at zero cost. The other day we needed something that cost like $4. Was in our hands the following morning at 7am. No charge for shipping. They should really be able to mount a challenge to Amazon, but their lack of promotion and stigma won’t ever allow it to happen. Their grocery prices are astounding. They don’t appear to mark things up by zipcode like the majors do. If anyone want’s to try it, they have a free month trial, but let me know so we can both benefit from referral codes.

  202. Juice Box says:

    BRT – Girlfriend would call the cops.

    Sibling?

  203. Phoenix says:

    And now we have to deal with the newest ones, mothers and women who are drinking more than ever. Goes great with Xanax.

    And up go the bills.
    “Research shows that alcohol use and misuse among women are increasing”

    https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/women-and-alcohol

  204. Libturd says:

    Solar,

    Very good on the news the surprise OON billing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to deal with this headache over the past 4 years. Calling the insurance company is no treat. But neither is being billed $6,000 for five minutes of doctors visits (which is what happened to me in HUMC when I was there for the leg infection I had in October). For a total of 5, thirty second visits by the OON (wasn’t told) infectious disease spec1alist, BCBS sent me a $1,000 per 30 second visit bill. HUMC is in-network. NJ has tried to pass such a bill multiple times in the past decade here in NJ, but as we all know, we are too corrupt to do what is right for the people. Those doctors have huge lobbying powers here and they do a great job of paying off the assembly. I love NJ.

  205. The Great Pumpkin says:

    PLUG is now over $36.00. I really messed that up. I should not have listened to the people poking fun at me for buying it. I knew it was a good idea, yet I was told over and over what an idiot I was for buying it on this board. I had $10,000 worth at 1.25 range. That’s why you don’t listen to anyone when it comes to investing. Most of the idiots are going to tell you it’s bad idea.

  206. chicagofinance says:

    COVID-19 Update (jj Edition):
    Overuse of antibiotics for COVID-19 to blame in ‘super gonorrhea’ spike

  207. chicagofinance says:

    “commence primary ignition”

    grim says:
    December 22, 2020 at 6:30 am
    NJ dead set on maintaining the highest c19 death rate in the country.

    Would Murphy have the gall to hold off on vaccinations until after Christmas in an attempt to dissuade gatherings? Wouldn’t put it past him.

  208. Libturd says:

    So tell me Great Pumpkin. When are you planning to sell. At what price? Cause when the air is let out of this balloon. Companies like Tesla with their 1200 PEs and net debts of 5.5 billion are going to get obliterated overnight. These will be your 80% losers. So how much of your portfolio should we put into TSLA and at what price should we sell oh brilliant one. And as your money sits dead for three years as the FAANGS triple in price, I suppose you would have stayed in TSLA.

    I can’t wait for this bubble to pop. It is not different this time. Mark my words. I read an article recently that said that if the FED interest (lending) rates weren’t at 5% at the start of the fiscal crisis, it is unlikely we would have recovered those losses until about now. What is the FED going to do this time. You eventually devalue your currency if you keep printing your way out of every crisis. The truth is, THIS is what is going to make CHINA the world economic leader. Not us buying their sh1t without tariffs on the sh1t they buy from us.

  209. 3b says:

    Lib: The Fed keeps saying they have other tools beside low interest rates to keep the economy going, and yet they never specify what those tools might be. Why? I don’t know how anyone with half a brain cannot see that the stock and housing market are in a massive bubble! When it blows and it will, I don’t see how we come back from it. The young people get screwed again.

  210. Bystander says:

    Lib,

    Don’t even want to think about the bills that you have to vet. I have two kids, one ASD and one with light asthma. Today, I will devote 2 hours just to handling two rebills from March, where they tell me now copay is now due, one asthma test that insurance disallowed and one dental visit where son had 4 cavities on one tooth. The insurance refused to pay for nitrous anesthesia. Apparently a 6 year old can do without that. This equates to $600 out of my pocket, unforeseen. Blow the whole thing up.

  211. grim says:

    Oh my god…

    “Managers at New Jersey’s veterans homes where more than 190 residents have died from COVID-19 not only barred employees from wearing protective masks during the first weeks of the outbreak, they devised a series of penalties with the help of Gov. Phil Murphy’s office against nurses who wore the homes’ masks without permission.

    Emails obtained by The Record and NorthJersey.com show that at least one worker had to return home because management wouldn’t let him wear a mask even though he had a doctor’s note saying he suffered from asthma.

    Managers at the Paramus and Menlo Park homes were so opposed to mask-wearing at the start of the pandemic that they pushed back against letting outside vendors and ambulance crews wear them at the veterans homes as they transported residents, the emails show.”

  212. Libturd says:

    That’s my biggest concern. The FED is forcing everyone into the market. If it blows, forget about it. And their no raising the interest rate anymore because it will destroy large purchases (housing, autos, etc.), which made it easier to pay down the national debt in the past. Could you imagine if we had to fight a world war? We would be sunk economically.

    https://www.pgpf.org/sites/default/files/0010_federal-debt-proj-full.gif

  213. Juice Box says:

    Lib – Golden Rule for Bubbles. This bubble has to be bigger than the last. The cheerleaders are already calling for orgies, literal orgies due to pent up demand once Covid blows away.

    S&P’s 10 biggest stocks make up 27% of the index’s market value and far as the what will the FED DO THIS TIME. At least this time only two are financial stocks. VISA and JPM are less than 3% of the index.

    I don’t think the others will not need a bailout. Apple, Microsoft, AMAZON, FACEBOOK, ALPAHBET, Berkshire Hathaway and Johnson and Johnson all seems to have plenty of cash on hand.

    One does wonder how much derivatives they might hold. Nothing like some cheap black swan insurance in swaps to cause it all to come crashing down.

  214. Juice Box says:

    Mod again…lets see if a few * will work.

    Lib – Golden Rule for Bubbles. This bubble has to be bigger than the last. The cheerleaders are already calling for org*ies, literal or*gies due to pent up demand once Covid blows away.

    S&P’s 10 biggest stocks make up 27% of the index’s market value and far as the what will the FED DO THIS TIME. At least this time only two are financial stocks. VISA and JPM are less than 3% of the index.

    I don’t think the others will not need a bailout. Apple, Microsoft, AMAZON, FACEBOOK, ALPAHBET, Berkshire Hathaway and Johnson and Johnson all seems to have plenty of cash on hand.

    One does wonder how much derivatives they might hold. Nothing like some cheap black swan insurance in swaps to cause it all to come crashing down.

  215. Libturd says:

    Bystander,

    I owe a car payment to CHOP for the rest of my life. If I lived in Pennsylvania or New York, I would owe them nothing. NJ is a horrible place to have a medical disaster. The medical/insurance lobby is stronger nowhere else. For a century, they have been in bed with our politicians and public worker unions. I am currently working on recouping some money from the NJ Catastrophic fund who FOUND US! We weren’t even aware they existed. Will probably spend my entire winter break calling incompetent hotels, government agencies like EZ -PASS who only let you go back 14 months to see your toll costs online, and various other businesses who have no vested interest in providing invoices to me. Proof of payment is not enough. That I have easy. I have over 1,000 EOBs, medical bills and payments to reconcile. But if it pays over $50 an hour for my time, it’s worth it to me. Without Covid, I would probably have spent the time vacationing. With nothing else to do, might as well get paid. Plus, our trial is still waiting conclusion. So I am being bled dry by the lawyer and support team (liquidity issue). Assets are fine.

  216. Bystander says:

    Meanwhile, the biggest dog$hit of a kids youtube channel, Ryan T0y review makes 30m.

  217. 3b says:

    Lib; The Fed has backed themselves into a corner. Market said no last time the Fed tried to raise rates and the Fed backed down. I still remember when the Fed would do unannounced moves in between meetings , and no one saw them coming. But that was in the day we had real markets and a real Fed.

    In other news I saw over the weekend a former GS exec stating that if income inequality is not addressed, than the people are going to come with torches and pitch forks and tear it all down. I have been saying that for quite some time.

  218. Bystander says:

    Lib,

    You are not spending your free time bl*wing the Mandalorian?? If I see another post on FB praising it..geez.

  219. Libturd says:

    3B,

    I can’t wait. I am 100% certain that Wall Street hurts us more than they help us. Every time they refinance a local debt, they profit and the taxpayer of the future takes it a little deeper. They are replaceable. But since they own our government, it ain’t going to happen until the people demand it. Hopefully in OUR lifetime.

  220. Libturd says:

    Sadly, I absolutely love the Mandalorian. It has the same stupid charm the original Star Wars films had. Plus, sci fi has been mostly replaced by dumb, dumb, dumb comic book films. I absolutely can’t stand the genre. Yet they are so friggin’ profitable, I understand why Hollywood continues.

    Great film suggestion for the board. Sputnik. Russian horror flick, but not cheesy whatsoever. Very unusual film, but extremely entertaining and the sound track is as scary as the story.

  221. 3b says:

    Lib : Blame the politicians too when it comes to debt borrowing they love it!! And Wall Street is happy to help.

  222. Juice Box says:

    Lib -re: “They are replaceable” Nope. Old Boss same as new Boss…..

    Seems ole Gov Murphy has given up on the State Run Bank of NJ, he is now focused on re-election and has named a campaign manager, and will sign the backroom tax breaks handed out to the special interests this week.

  223. Juice Box says:

    I thought Favreau adding Bill Burr was great, also the ending being a secret for so long.

    Twitter verse summed up how the nerds feel “it was the greatest thing to happen in 2020”

    Of course the vaccine really is, but for the nerds I guess a reboot of the old star wars including Luke and R2D2, and Boba Fett will do.

  224. Libturd says:

    Thought the end was pure cheese and felt the same way about bringing back Leah and Han in the recent films. Though, the planets, ships, droids and alien characters are all pure genius. I especially enjoyed the fishermen (squid faced dudes). I could do without the she-woman though.

  225. ExEssex says:

    This is the way.

  226. Libturd says:

    Speaking of Wall Street debt creation. On both of my homes, I refinanced three times. First from a 30 to a 20 and then down to a 15. I did this each time interest rates dropped more than 1.5%. The 20-15 was a no-cost, so even better. What I find the most interesting about the math and the amortization tables is how you end up paying significantly less in the end by shortening the term which majorly reduces the compounding of the interest. Though, you hardly ever pay principle until the last seven years since each new mortgage is so front loaded with interest payments. I question if people who constantly refinance, mostly who do it to pay off out-of-control credit card debt or home improvements realize that if they try to sell, they have built almost no equity. Heck, I’ve been paying since 2004 on my multi and 2011 on my primary and I ma barely over the halfway mark in total principle payments.

    On a side note, my taxes and insurance are higher than my principle payment each month. This is on a 15 year. I imagine if I was in a 30 year, this would now happen from day one.

  227. Libturd says:

    Before lodging, meals (which they don’t reimburse) tolls and mileage, I am at 150K out of pocket for the D’s medical costs. Good thing I have quality insurance. I could only imagine what it would be had I regular insurance or catastrophic. I am not looking for sympathy. I am fortunate enough to be able to afford it. Buy what the hell does the other 98% do and what impact does it have on the sick child?

  228. leftwing says:

    “Congress is broken to the point now where there is not time even read what the bill included and there is zero debate.”

    ACA anyone? Positioning and pandering exceed actually legislating for a while now…

    “After years of being stymied by well-funded interests, Congress has agreed to ban one of the most costly and exasperating practices in medicine: surprise medical bills.”

    Will do more for the average American than anything else in that bill. I have only half jokingly said before I was going to get a medical ID bracelet that basically said something to the effect “You may only treat this patient if you agree to accept insurance payment regardless of network status”. After I stroked out it would give me a nice stay at home hobby, prosecuting that case through the courts for any OON provider…LOL.

    Lib, while not cost based, you would have been proud of my research and angling on flying. United has stopped direct flights to two of the second tier Midwest cities where I have family. The last flight in November? On return I took a 6:00a Embraer regional all the way to Dulles on a Saturday – intentionally – to connect with another regional to EWR at 8:xx. Configuration was 2:1, I got one of the first two single row seats on each flight. No row at all across from you up front, there’s a closet, and the pisser was in the back of the plane so no one walking the aisle by me. As the front row I was last on and first off. The shitty flight schedule, plane, and times meant I was one of six passengers on the first flight and one of 15 on the second.

    Passed on a two leg 737 flight through ORD for that booking. But I probably had less potential exposure over the course of the flights I took than a visit to my local Walmart.

  229. Bystander says:

    No apologies Lib. I am not die hard Star Wars fan. I like the movies but never read books nor do I financially support Disney’s dilution of franchise. I last went into theatre to see Revenge of Sith and that was it for me. The films recently were complete garbage IMHO but I waited a year to watch rent from library. My bro shared his Netflix account and told me I had to watch Mandalorian S1. I did and it was beautifully shot but poorly written and acted. I find it funny how it lionizes Mandalorians as indestructible ninjas yet Boba Fett died in most ridiculously stupid way possible. Oh well, I will take tip on Sputnik. The original Solaris is one of great sci fi movies ever made. I have a problem with people saying I love sci fi then telling me about latest X-Men or some sh$t like Gravity. Godzilla vs Smog Monster had more sci fi depth. To me true sci is mood, color, probably isolation and a story that tries to explain mankind’s role in universe, certainly does not wrap it up in fine bow at end. It is not comics nor just ‘disaster in space’ story. You really have to seek out Eastern Europeans directors and get out of Hollywood to enjoy genre. I did watch Beyond the Black Rainbow which was trippy mind bend but very challenging to watch for 2 hours. That director got it better than any recent director of memory. The color, lighting, mood was incredible but story was tough. He did Mandy with Nicolas Cage which was also beautifully shot but strange over the top Mad Max type gore fest. He might be Canadian but no doubt he has it but no chance to create epic sci fi bc no one will back it.

  230. Libturd says:

    Nice job. I was once on a prop (DH Dash-8) to Chicago out of Newark during a tropical storm. The plane came in from Maine and for whatever reason, was one of the only flights not cancelled. Before the plane came into Newark, the gate attendant advised people of the upcoming turbulence and was willing to rebook anyone for free who wanted to. When the passengers came off from the Maine flight, they had the same look as those who just got off the Super Round Up at Six Flags. Then the pilot gets on the PA and advises those with week stomachs to rebook. By the time we left, it was the pilot, the copilot one flight attendant and me. There might have been one of the Maine passengers too. I recall him saying that you only live twice. Or something like that. Well this was pre 911 so the pilots didn’t close the doors. As we backed from the gate, he puts on the wipers and then turns them off as the rain was so heavy that it actually made it worse. He even said it. I asked the flight attendant in the jump seat directly in front of me about how bad the flight from Maine was and she said it was the bounciest flight she was ever on, but that it didn’t get bad until the last ten minutes and that since we were flying west, the duration would be even shorter. Well it was pretty howering and you couldn’t tell when we got off the ground nor see any lights anyway. At times it felt like we were upside down, though I know that wasn’t the case. And I could tell that we were still climbing between the dips and the side to side tilts which was reassuring. And five minutes later it smoothed out into the clear night. But it was an awesome five minutes. I remember the pilot reassuring himself that this would have been pure misery for a jet as they are not nearly as responsive as props to speed out of drops. In the end, it was one of the quickest and best flights ever. No delay to take off and I know the pilot was at max speed to both climb and to get through it as fast as possible.

    For those who don’t know, the Dash 8 is a pretty big prop and one of the most comfortable planes in the sky due to the wide seats and extra legroom. It holds about 90, believe it or not.

  231. Juice Box says:

    Moving over the Holidays. Trucks are here for neighbor across the street, older couple retiring to Florida moved into home in 2012. It sold for $100,000 more than they paid, after realtor fees and other costs they won’t net much gain, 8 years into a mortgage does not give much equity.

    Home around corner is the one I am watching it just sold for $165,000 more than they paid during the bubble price bought in 2007. That would be the new comp if it closes.

  232. Chicago says:

    Where’s the vomit emoji?

    An­thony Turner, a Black clin­i­cal so­cial worker in Brook­lyn Park, Minn., says mul­ti­ple white col­leagues ap­proached him last sum­mer, af­ter the pub­lic high school where he worked held a manda­tory di­ver­sity work­shop. “There were these lib­eral white women com­ing up to me and cry­ing, ask­ing me for re­as­sur­ance, and I end up com­fort­ing them,” he says. “It was a very un­com­fort­able ex­pe­ri­ence.”

  233. Bystander says:

    I have completely lowered my expectations for Dune reboot. Jodorowsky probably would have done it right in 70s but crazy sums of money that no studio would back. I do like David Lynch a whole lot but just not right genre for him.

  234. BRT says:

    Anyone that acts that way has never had a non-white friend. When you have friends of every ethnicity or even just a few others, no one gives a crap what your skin color is.

  235. Phoenix says:

    Dash 8 does a nice barrel roll as well.
    https://youtu.be/HCtfYF3ITGE

  236. Phoenix says:

    Bill Burr is great in the Mandalorian.

  237. chicagofinance says:

    Best sci-fi I watched in 2020:
    (1) Chernobyl (oh wait)
    (2) Netflix season one of Star Trek the original series……
    “…you will be absorbed…”

  238. BRT says:

    BRT – Girlfriend would call the cops.

    Sibling?

    Nah, ugly situation. She basically broke up my father’s marriage to my mom. She was his business partner. She knows we hate her guts. When she was trying to apply for physician jobs, she continually used my father as a reference. She would leave him email reminders of reference calls coming in. I had his email password so I would send “anonymous letters” to each potential employee about her DUI conviction, among other things.

  239. chicagofinance says:

    forgot
    (3) 2020 Season of Tesla – CEO Elon Musk dupes the world into believing his bullsh!t; circumvents the SEC; refinances the company’s debt; exercises converts and issues $10B of secondary shares to permanently put the company on strong financial footing during a pandemic when he shouldn’t have been able to manufacture or sell cars; moved from California; essentially bribed Xi and the CCP so he could manufacture cars in Shanghai; is considered Green and ESG even though he is tethered to China.

    Personally, I don’t really like season 2020 of Tesla because the viewer really has to suspend belief to accept the plot…… it is so full of holes and is really not engrossing.

  240. chicagofinance says:

    sorry….. I was in the middle of my best Sci-Fi of 2020 list…. my bad….

  241. BRT says:

    Elon musk is going to create an investing feedback loop where by buying bitcoin. The loop will involve Tesla, Bitcoin, and ARK.

  242. Bystander says:

    Barbarella was on last night..that is some fine sci-fi @ss.

  243. Juice Box says:

    BRT -Who needs enemies when you have family to fight with? We all have our stories, mother vs daughter, father vs daughter, father vs son, brother vs sister, cousins vs cousins etc etc.

    Hope you can get someone to talk some sense into your father to take the two second nasal swab and put on an O2 meter.

  244. 3b says:

    Juice : You can’t leave you are a Jersey boy, but I would say you still have a bit of the Bronx in you.

  245. grim says:

    The loop will involve Tesla, Bitcoin, and ARK.

    …and tequila and a flamethrower.

  246. ExEssex says:

    Mandalorian is perfect TV, but it is also ‘good enough’ from an FX appearance to be on a big screen. Yet, with no big screens open, it is great to have some good Star Wars on TV. Most of that was filmed in the US in the deserts around SoCal. First Star Wars since to Orig. to film locally. Great cast! Great little cute thing….5 stars.

  247. Libturd says:

    I caught that restaurant wasteland btw Chi. I’ve eaten at Nicholas twice. It is very good. Though I wouldn’t go back on my own dime. I am willing to spend on quality and the food and service there is pretty good. But not THAT good.

    I just surfed over to their menu. I see that even THEY realized that their prices were outrageous and have reinvented themselves at the Crate & Barrel. Or was that Roost & Barrel. I certainly know what crowd they are after.

    I was down in Holmdel yesterday. Will they ever stop building down there? Passed an emu farm. Another nice tax break for the ultra wealthy I guess.

    Speaking of good restaurants. Our latest two takeout joints that are fantastic are Lamoon’s Thai in Clifton on Market Street, which is a cool neighborhood. Also the best tacos and most authentic Mexican I’ve had outside of SoCal or South of the border itself, in Passaic. Be warned, it’s the real deal and real cheap. A total hole in the wall, but very clean. Angie’s Deli and Restaurant. The goat tacos are a masterpiece. And always $1.50!

  248. grim says:

    Lamoon’s is pretty good Thai.

    The Italian deli around there is fantastic too.

  249. Hold my beer says:

    Grim

    Idaho, Montana, and South Dakota have given out more doses than NJ. Louisiana is beating NJ 10 to 1. And yet NJ residents look down on those states.

  250. Phoenix says:

    Just buy him an Apple watch and monitor him/ his O2 saturation from the comfort of your own home.

  251. 3b says:

    While we are on food , if you like Polish try the Tatra Haus in Wallington. Nice family too.

  252. Phoenix says:

    I’m scheduled for the vaccine. See what happens.

  253. chicagofinance says:

    Do they inject through the urethra for men?

    Phoenix says:
    December 22, 2020 at 4:13 pm
    I’m scheduled for the vaccine. See what happens.

  254. ExEssex says:

    No but they might probe uranus.

  255. Juice Box says:

    Chi should know he is an expert on ere*ctile rejuvenation with all his experience with goth girls.

  256. Grim says:

    All you need to know about NJ efficacy of covid response:

    https://www.nj.com/news/2020/12/coronavirus-closes-two-more-mvc-agencies-as-the-total-shut-down-climbs-to-16.html

    These are the people we are entrusting with vaccination

  257. Grim says:

    Which high end international vacation destination will start including vaccination as part of its all inclusive offerings?

    No law against that.

  258. ExEssex says:

    “Thighland”

  259. Juice Box says:

    3b – A friend I grew up with on the same street in Bergen County and his family moved back to Yonkers and he later moved to Woodlawn when he settled down. Parents are from Galway Ireland. Dad worked as a doorman in a Midtown Hotel and always had stories about the rich and famous.

    My better half as you know is in finance but that has an expiration date too just like many tech jobs these days. For me the shingle will go up as soon as my youngest finishes high school or even earlier, depends really on income.

    I don’t see myself expiring on the boardwalk in Spring Lake or anywhere else here, but you really never know.

    You say you may go to Florida….Many do as well and never go.

  260. Grim says:

    Call up some friends in pharma and see which countries will allow direct purchase of vaccine. Setup a company, purchase a few cases, pay off the local government, retire wealthy.

  261. Grim says:

    I mean, $10,000 a vial retail is a fair price, that’s less than $2k per family member for a family of five.

  262. ExEssex says:

    I want the Moderna Vaxine. It’s better.

  263. Grim says:

    $12,000 for you.

    Any issues flying to Kazakhstan?

  264. Phoenix says:

    Chi,
    Only if you needed a foley for another reason.

    But if that’s your kink, get some filliforms and followers. And a tube of your favorite lube.

  265. Phoenix says:

    Juice I never had a goth girl. I think I missed out on something special.

  266. Phoenix says:

    Chi,
    If you’d like I could get your referral to a female urologist that’s easy on the eyes.

  267. Juice Box says:

    Grim – Might be quicker to apply for a security guard job at a hospital. There are literally hundreds of open positions around here. They have plenty of vaccine on ice at hospitals and one vaccine recipient featured in the news was a security guard.

    The stuff will be piling up at 100,000 doses a week if they cannot figure out how to store it and get it out the door sooner.

  268. Juice Box says:

    Phoenix – go and find out for yourself. QXT is still there by the Post Office in Newark.

    https://www.qxtsnightclub.com/

  269. 3b says:

    Juice: Had a friend of mine do that too. Parents from
    Cavan and Fermanagh. Father was in sheet metal business. Bought a bunch of apartment buildings too in Riverdale and lower Yonkers. My buddy is a dead ringer for Pierce Brosnan. Retired as a partner from Sullivan and Cromwell at 50. Has a house in Spring Lake and a place in Florida and a b&b in Cork. Runs the old mans business as well as all the real estate holdings. Just him and his Sister. Finally got rid of the wife who was a bitch from the beginning, even his kids told him to leave. Lives with his Partner another retired Sullivan Cromwell partner back in Woodlawn in a big old house he restored. Loves it and is happy! Could live where ever he wants but says it’s home and he is comfortable there.

  270. D-FENS says:

    Trump Sends “Disgraceful” COVID Relief Bill Back To Congress, Demands Higher Direct Payments

    https://breaking911.com/breaking-trump-says-hell-veto-disgraceful-covid-relief-bill/

  271. Phoenix says:

    One way to get back over corporate downsizing. Sorry only works for women though.
    https://patch.com/new-jersey/warren/former-warren-executive-sues-johnson-johnson-alleging-sexism

  272. The Great Pumpkin says:

    7. “If you move to Nowhere, Iowa, it’s five o’clock there every day. And what do you do at five o’clock? Go across the street to the pig farm? We are social animals.” — arguing that a mass exodus from cities isn’t realistic.

    8. “All these people who today are thinking this is the end of office space and everybody’s going to work from home. I don’t know how to motivate by modem. ” — Emphasizing that urban centers have weathered financial crises, pandemics, and other disasters in the past.

    9. “Everybody’s going to do Zoom calls. And then one day, a young whippersnapper is going to say, ‘You know, I think I’ve got a better chance if I go sit in front of the guy.’ And so he’s going to get on a plane. And he’s going to sit in front of the guy. And he’s going to get the deal.”

    11. “Everybody else seems to have a kind of timing game in their own head. ‘Well, I can get out before so and so happens.’ The world is full of skeletons of people who believed they could get out before the bad event came.”

    12. “Supposedly, if your index fund matches the market, you’ve succeeded. But if that market is going down like an elevator, I am not sure that’s much success.”

    13. “The single greatest risk that we are dealing with today is the loss of the US dollar as the reserve currency. If we keep doing what we are doing right now, I think it is 10 or 15 years away. If we lose the reserve status, I could see a 25% reduction in our standard of living.”

    14. “Unlimited debt and irresponsible activity don’t lead to positive outcomes. That’s a disastrous kind of scenario.”

    15. “I am very skeptical, frankly, of Bitcoin. Ultimately, it may be the answer or one of the answers. But right now, it’s a world that’s extraordinarily populated by chameleons and other fast-talking characters. I don’t believe everybody involved in it are the kind of people I’d like to follow. ”

    https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/billionaire-investor-sam-zell-questions-tesla-bitcoin-work-from-home-2020-12-1029910959

  273. Grim says:

    Hard to claim harassment with everyone virtual and communication logged.

    It’s like body cams for the office.

  274. 3b says:

    Zell the real estate guy has an issue with WFH, what a surprise! Pumps you are obsessed with WFH. Move on and accept it. It’s not going away much as you hate it.

  275. The Great Pumpkin says:

    The guy is right a lot more than he is wrong. He understands human nature better than you.

  276. BRT says:

    Lib, that mexican place is legit. Checked out the menu. Tongue, Tripe (cow’s stomach), beef cheek. Most Americans won’t go near those foods but IMO, cheek is the most flavorful beef. Tongue is fantastic as well. I love tripe but most people cringe. Mexicans love it though. The only thing missing from that menu is Tacos de Corazon.

  277. BRT says:

    That reminds me. If you want legit street tacos like they do in Mexico, you check out Columbus Farmers/Flea Market in Burlington. They run the vertical Middle Eastern vertical rotiseree grills from a stand making Al Pastor Pineapple Pork. I read up on it a while back. Apparently, in Mexico, there were a lot of Lebanese immigrants and they brought Shawarama there with their grills. The Mexicans modified it into Al Pastor.

  278. The Great Pumpkin says:

    3b,

    Do me a favor. Do all your communicating with your family through zoom or whateVer platform. Tell me how good it is after a year. Now apply this to a company. Good companies are like families, if you lose the connections, the company will fall apart. You can’t run it all through a screen.

    I’m a teacher. Try explaining and teaching someone through a screen. Better yet, take one family that must raise their kid through a screen and another that gets to have face to face interaction. Which kid is going to be more successful. Now apply this to a company.

    And leave my wife out of this. If commercial real estate ceases to exist and nyc dies, she’s still extremely talented that she will find a job somewhere else or start a business of her own. Just leave her out of this. I’m simply taking the position that WFH is not the future and that nyc will not die.

  279. ExEssex says:

    Ooookay pumps.

  280. Phoenix says:

    Juice,
    Have to say it does look like an interesting place.

  281. Walking says:

    So I have survived covid. What a Christmas gift indeed. It was a rough couple of days (8-12) where I could hardly stand more than 10 minutes. Days 8-12 I would sleep 16 hours a day. 13-18 were recovery days. Day 19 was a huge recovery period, by day 20 I was walking mile again.

  282. Walking says:

    Good Neighbors are hard to find…Who knew Gross was loosing his mind,

    Bond billionaire Bill Gross is involved in a legal battle with his tech entrepreneur neighbor over a $1 million sculpture and allegations that Gross blasted the “Gilligan’s Island” theme song on a loop from his house.

    Gross, the co-founder of investment firm PIMCO, and his partner Amy Schwartz installed a large lighted glass art installation on their Laguna Beach property along the property line shared with their neighbors, Mark Towfiq, CEO of data center development company Nextfort Ventures, and his wife Carol Nakahara, according to a lawsuit filed by Towfiq and Nakahra. Gross and Schwartz then installed larger poles and a protective net above the installation, and Towfiq and his wife allege the art installation partially blocked their ocean views.
    After several months of unsuccessful attempts to discuss the matter with Gross, according to Towfiq and Nakahara, they filed a complaint with the city of Laguna Beach in June. The complaint prompted an investigation by the city that determined the installation, netting and lights were a violation of city code and did not have the proper permits, according to the lawsuit.

    Shortly after, Towfiq and Nakahara allege Gross began retaliating against them by harassing and disturbing them with “loud music and bizarre audio recordings at excessive levels” during various hours of the day and night — including pop or rap music, and often a series of television theme songs, according to the lawsuit, including the “Gilligan’s Island” theme on a loop

    Gross and Schwartz sued Towfiq first — on October 13. Towfiq and Nakahara filed their own suit the next day, on October 14.
    Gross accused Towfiq of “peeping” on him and Schwartz, and Gross’s lawsuit asks for a temporary restraining order, according to court documents. Towfiq and Nakahara’s lawsuit alleges Gross and Schwartz executed a “targeted campaign of harassment and abuse” that ensued after a dispute over an art sculpture installation in Gross’ property.
    “Mr. Towfiq has harassed and invaded the privacy of Mr. Gross and his life partner Amy Schwartz,” said Jill Basinger, the attorney who represents Gross, in a statement to CNN Business. “We reluctantly brought a complaint against the defendant because of his unneighborly behavior, which goes back many years within this community and with other neighbors.”
    Basinger called Towfiq “bullying” and “vindictive,” and said he has “been the aggressor toward Mr. Gross and Ms. Schwartz.”
    But Towfiq and Nakahara’s lawyer said the opposite.
    “Mr. Gross is an entitled billionaire who is used to getting his way by bullying coworkers, family and neighbors,” said Jennifer Keller, the attorney who represents Towfiq, in a statement to CNN Business. “Gross filed his own complaint merely as a preemptive strike after learning my clients intended to seek relief from the court.”
    The couple alleged Gross and Schwartz’s actions were attempts to get them to drop their complaint with the city. During one incident, when Towfiq “respectfully requested” the music be turned down, Gross responded, “Peace on all fronts or well [sic] just have nightly concerts big boy,” Towfiq’s complaint alleges.
    Towfiq’s complaint says the alleged abuse was so distressing that it forced Towfiq and Nakahara to leave their home and stay elsewhere. The two were granted a temporary restraining order on October 16.
    Gross and Schwartz have lived at their Laguna Beach property since 2018 and typically stay at their home during the weekends, Towfiq’s lawsuit states. Towfiq and his wife have lived at their home since 2009.
    A hearing is scheduled for November 2, representatives for both Gross and Towfiq said. The hearing is to determine if civil harassment restraining orders will be issued.
    Gross has been given an extension until November 16 to obtain the proper permits. He is “in the process of getting it permitted,” according to Gross’ lawyers.
    In 2014, Gross said he was fired from PIMCO, the firm he co-founded in 1971. He filed a lawsuit against the company in 2015 for wrongfully removing him, in which both parties reached an $81 million settlement in 2017.

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