We’ve heard this before… From Fortune:
The housing market is no longer a wealth-building engine as home prices continue to slump
High home prices and mortgage rates have created unaffordable conditions for many Americans, but the housing market’s ability to create more wealth has sputtered.
That’s because even as home prices continue to hover around record levels, they are also edging lower and lagging behind the rate of inflation, which has heated up amid President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
“For the first time in years, home prices are failing to keep pace with broader inflation,” said Nicholas Godec, head of Fixed Income Tradables & Commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in a statement on Tuesday. The last time that happened was mid-2023.
The latest S&P Cotality Case-Shiller home price data showed that the 20-city index fell 0.3% in June from the prior month, marking the fourth consecutive monthly decline.
On an annual basis, the 20-city composite was up 2.1%, down from a 2.8% increase in the previous month, and the national index saw a 1.9% yearly gain, down from 2.3%. Meanwhile, the consumer price index rose 2.7% in June from a year ago.
“This reversal is historically significant: During the pandemic surge, home values were climbing at double-digit annual rates that far exceeded inflation, building substantial real wealth for homeowners,” Godec added. “Now, American housing wealth has actually declined in inflation-adjusted terms over the past year—a notable erosion that reflects the market’s new equilibrium.”
Weak prices suggest underlying housing demand remains muted, he said, despite the spring and summer historically being the peak period for homebuying.
In fact, this year’s selling season has been a bust. While sales of existing homes have ticked up recently, they are still subdued and prices are flat. In addition, sales of new homes are slumping with prices down.
…
“Looking ahead, this housing cycle’s maturation appears to be settling around inflation-parity growth rather than the wealth-building engine of recent years,” he said.
That’s as pandemic-era hot spots in the Sun Belt have cooled off with demand increasingly tilting toward established industrial centers that enjoy sustainable fundamentals like employment growth, greater affordability, and favorable demographics.
“While this represents a loss of the extraordinary gains homeowners enjoyed from 2020-2022, it may signal a healthier long-term trajectory where housing appreciation aligns more closely with broader economic fundamentals rather than speculative excess,” Godec added.
Release the Epstein files
Fitting for this blog, what NJ real estate agents do on the beach in NJ to celebrate the money they made selling your house. NSFW.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77_nm2Bjbjs
From NJ Business Magazine:
Teenage Employment Wasteland?
For generations, summer jobs have been a rite of passage for American teenagers – a time to earn money, gain experience, and build independence. In 2025, that tradition is under pressure.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national unemployment rate for teens (aged 16 to 19) was 14.4% in June, the highest it’s been since the early pandemic days of May 2020.
At a glance, the broader economy looks stable, with overall US unemployment hovering at 4.1%. But a closer look reveals cracks. New federal data shows that hires and layoffs both dropped sharply in May – by 112,000 and 188,000 respectively – signaling a stagnant “low-hire, low-fire” labor market.
This slowdown isn’t new. Since early 2025, companies have been pulling back on hiring due to a cooling post-COVID economy and renewed trade war uncertainty under the Trump administration. Major employers like Warby Parker, JetBlue, and Polaris have either slowed or frozen hiring altogether. Even universities are enacting hiring freezes in response to threats against federal funding.
So how does this affect teenagers?
The squeeze begins with recent college graduates (ages 22-25). Burdened by an average $35,000 in student debt, many are unable to find jobs in their fields. The unemployment rate for this group reached 5.8% in March – the highest non-pandemic figure since 2012. Desperate for income, graduates are returning to their former high school gigs in retail, hospitality, and food service – roles traditionally filled by teens.
At the same time, automation and artificial intelligence are changing the face of entry-level work. Self-checkouts, digital kiosks, and automated inventory systems are reducing the need for staff in exactly the places where teens once found jobs.
The result? A perfect storm of limited openings, fierce competition, and long-term structural shifts that push teens to the back of the hiring line.
“Now, American housing wealth has actually declined in inflation-adjusted terms over the past year—a notable erosion that reflects the market’s new equilibrium.”
You mean 15% appreciation YOY is not sustainable?
52 people shot, 7 dead over the weekend in Chicago.
They need more bike paths.
White Trash Eddie says:
September 1, 2025 at 9:08 am
“52 people shot, 7 dead over the weekend in Chicago.”
Radical Dem mayor has more important things to do than try to ensure public safety — like shoveling taxpayer funds to the Chicago public school union. Wait and see what uber-radical Mamdani does to public safety in NYC; he’s going to make Chicago’s race-hustling mayor look like a moderate.
Mammdoni is going to be calling Snake Plissken for assistance.
Small and Fast – so you want to send national guard to everywhere there is a mass shooting?
Firat of all, you don’t even care about the people who got shot… so why this sudden empathy for them? Other than fake outrage to further your orange lord’s illegal take over of cities? I know that is obvious but need to call out your bullsh1t.
Dark Phoenix says:
August 31, 2025 at 8:04 pm
Almost halfway to Curtis Yarvin’s vision of America.
https://www.project2025.observer/en
None of this is legal as it was not approved by congress. The next potus will just as easily roll it all back.
I think we should send national guards to the church where kids were shot in MN. Totally unsafe and dangerous.
Or the town in texas where campers died because they had no warning of flash floods. Or all the other red cities like Missouri where crime is the highest.
Gavin Newsom’s parody posts are much needed to throw some reality to the morons on the right.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THE MATTER.
Firat of all, you don’t even care about the people who got shot… so why this sudden empathy for them?
You have another grammar error. I digress.
Empathy: N. – One of the numerous words in the liberal vocabulary in order to create fake outrage.
1.2 million hardworking workers no longer contributing to the economy.
https://apnews.com/article/labor-day-immigration-trump-9a40f9e371209cc1d145e4a7f157a499
Between this and the skyrocketing price of goods – good luck to your standard of living.
FAFO
Gavin Newsom’s parody posts…
Davin Newsome is a parody.
I introduce grammatical errors just for your attention. You are welcome.
I heard WH is looking for grammar police for their truth social account. You should apply.
Putin, Xi and Modi shake hands together.
https://apnews.com/article/shanghai-cooperation-organization-china-us-asia-rivalry-37d58d94f70814c8e7a23721997abc2b
Do you spot any errors (in judgement) of your lord and savior?
Idaho teacher asked to take down “Everyone is welcome here” sign!
https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/idaho-teacher-who-refused-back-down
Rentlord, you are very correct.
The deeper question is; as the USA becomes a poorer backward corrupt MAGA autocracy – think post WW2 Franco’s Spain, then those that are not benefiting directly and have forced or checked out of participating in the society will favor China’s success with their warts and all. Because accepting China’s success is exponentially better than accepting MAGA USA’s success.
This is one of the big reason autocracy fails at everything except keeping the privilige few in power. If you are not one of the privilige few, you want to burn it down. Which oddly enough is the present feeling of those in MAGA toward the pre MAGA USA.
From WSJ Opinion by Rahm Emanuel,
The latest illustration of the division and dysfunction in our politics—images of the National Guard occupying our nation’s capital—has justifiably infuriated my fellow Democrats. But the military’s deployment in Washington shouldn’t be understood merely as the latest MAGA cut against American democracy. It reflects a new zeal among partisan activists for “occupying” adversarial domestic institutions—the “deep state” for some, Wall Street for others. Occupation wasn’t always so important to reformers—but now it’s close to an obsession. The question today: Can China be the external threat that restores internal cohesion to our politics?
Politics hasn’t always been like this. For most of the 20th century, America took strength from its diversity of character and thought. Nazism spurred a nation of immigrants to unite in erecting an “arsenal of democracy.” The “evil empire,” as Ronald Reagan described the Soviet Union, compelled Americans of all stripes to defend the principle of freedom. Sept. 11 should have united Americans, but the years that followed saw a fraying of our common purpose. Our challenge today is to rediscover that purpose by leaning into our strengths.
Far be it from me to point fingers, but we shouldn’t fail to acknowledge how the George W. Bush years saw Americans steer into a series of self-inflicted disasters. The “war on terror” morphed into an Iraq quagmire so disastrous that even the GOP now disparages its legacy. The government responded to the 2008 financial crisis by bailing out banks and insurance companies while working families lost their homes. By the end of the decade, Americans on the left and right both blamed domestic institutions—the federal government or the big banks—for their lot in life. Absent a common foe, activists in both blue and red America believed the path to salvation ran through “occupying” their adversary’s temple.
That shift came at a grave cost. By 2011, the country was beset by two movements defined almost exclusively by anger and resentment. Occupy Wall Street’s antipathy to capitalism fixed the sentiment now driving Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for New York mayor. The tea party simultaneously metastasized into the MAGA movement and the riots of Jan. 6, 2021. With real violence in the offing, politics are worse than they have been in decades.
To be sure, protesting in a park is a far cry from vandalizing the seat of democracy and killing police officers. But while different in scope and scale, the underlying desire to “occupy” institutions controlled by domestic adversaries stems in each case from the same core fear. The American dream—the belief that working hard and playing by the rules offers everyone a clear path to a middle-class perch—has become a nightmare. Too many Americans struggle to keep their heads above water. They’re right to be angry—and they’re justified in wanting relief.
In some Shakespearean sense, China’s long shadow has appeared at exactly the right moment. But Xi Jinping is much more than a foil poised to unite Americans who would otherwise remain defined by their blue and red affinities. The China threat is both real and potent. The U.S. has never before been asked to face down a country that has three times our population, is fueled by an advanced economy, and is capable, as its leaders intend, of replacing us atop the global hierarchy. Failing a broad reorientation, the question won’t be “Who lost China?” but “Who lost to China?” Yet Washington has yet to mobilize in full against a real threat.
The problem is that, rather than leaning into America’s strengths—our top-flight research institutions, our ability to attract the most promising talent from around the world, the depth of our financial markets, the dynamism of our private sector, and our enduring respect for the rule of law—Trumponomics is seeking to shift our approach to a cheap, knock-off version of Beijing’s state-directed model. The evidence is everywhere. The administration intends to take a stake in Intel, to nationalize Lockheed Martin, to receive golden shares of Nippon Steel, to claim a piece of the action from Nvidia and AMD, and to claim royalties from research patents.
The voices who would typically speak up for what makes America unique and exceptional have been cowed and intimidated into silence. As a result, the mainstream discourse has been left to those who want to occupy the institutions inhabited by their political adversaries. Because our politics has taken the character of “The Hunger Games,” China has been able to race ahead without raising the appropriate alarms. In other words, by losing our perspective, we’ve fallen into a strategic trap.
To be fair, that’s not an accident. The Chinese have long believed that they could use this dynamic to defeat us. In the wake of 2008, Mr. Xi made three determinations. First, that Beijing should view America less as a strategic competitor than a strategic adversary. Second, that the shine had come off the American system after the financial crisis. Third, that American society was too divided to act with common purposes in the face of a geopolitical challenge. Today Mr. Xi understands that President Trump’s division and chaos is working to China’s advantage.
That should be our wake-up call. To prevail in the years and decades to come, we will need to avoid the temptation to mimic our adversaries—and we will need to protect and nurture the qualities that have long made us “the shining city on a hill.” As Bill Clinton frequently reminds audiences, it’s never smart to bet against the American people over the long run. The path to a second American century will flow through a rediscovered confidence in American exceptionalism.
Anyone here recently have a parcel delivered by FedEx? I‘m scheduled to have a parcel delivered tomorrow by 6 pm. However I‘m leaving on a six day trip tomorrow so hopefully it is delivered in the morning. When I try calling FedEx all I can talk to is an AI virtual assistant. The email they previously had for customer issues is out of service. I eventually was directed to a form on their website with a response by email that they‘ll get back with me within one business day. Very frustrating.
Uh, buh bye. Local’s summer starts early this year!
As a former Monmouth County resident, you’ll still have this Benny down there every weekend.
My teenagers still work. One scoops ice cream, one works the fish case. Both in Pt Pleasant. Both been working since they could at 14.
The path to a second American century will flow through a rediscovered confidence in American exceptionalism.
So, after offering his opinion multiple times throughout the WSJ piece, he finally admitted that a rediscovered confidence in American exceptionalism has returned. I said it the other day; leaders of nations are flocking to us, we’re not going to them. The attitude and moxie of a strong America has returned after a long absence. Emanuel said American exceptionalism but you notice he didn’t give his opinion on how we demonstrate that exceptionalism. He knows it, I know it and you know it; exceptionalism isn’t the result of pink pussy hats, mariachi bands and transgender story time. So, where does that leave you? It leaves you with balls, brains, determination, effort and hard work. That’s exceptionalism. And if China was so confident in their ability to defeat America, why are the teaming up with India and Russia?
Why are they teaming up? They smell blood in the water.
Trumponomics is seeking to shift our approach to a cheap, knock-off version of Beijing’s state-directed model. The evidence is everywhere. The administration intends to take a stake in Intel, to nationalize Lockheed Martin, to receive golden shares of Nippon Steel, to claim a piece of the action from Nvidia and AMD, and to claim royalties from research patents.
^ is worth repeating.
4:36 –
exceptionalism isn’t the result of pink pussy hats, mariachi bands and transgender story time.
Says who? Exceptionalism is to allow anyone to express their personal beliefs without fear and retribution. This has been fundamental to America’s success and our biggest export worldwide – freedom. You take that away and replace it with closed mind, bible chanting administration and attacks diversity, then we have lost. This is an amazingly sad time to be witnessing this demise.
The administration intends to take a stake in Intel, to nationalize Lockheed Martin, to receive golden shares of Nippon Steel, to claim a piece of the action from Nvidia and AMD, and to claim royalties from research patents.
The up and coming NYC mayor wants to confiscate property, substantially tax selected classes of people, redistribute wealth and seize control of production.
Any questions?
Exceptionalism is to allow anyone to express their personal beliefs without fear and retribution.
Does anyone care to take this and rip it apart? The 1,000 thoughts that immediately went through my head are exhausting.
The rest of that word gravel sounds like you’re drunk. Try having an original fucking thought for once.
The up and coming NYC mayor wants to confiscate property, substantially tax selected classes of people, redistribute wealth and seize control of production.
The difference here is that Mamdani, bad as he is, 1) is just a mayor and 2) doesn’t even have the power to do most of those things on his own- he would need the city council and/or the state legislature to approve them.
A lot of what Mandani has promised are just empty promises to please his idiot base.
Kind of like the empty promises Trump made (bring down the cost of food, end the war in Ukraine in 24 hrs, release the Epstein files, etc.) to please his idiot base.
Putin, Xi and Modi shake hands together.
So we’ve lost India. And Canada. And Europe….
We’ve still got El Salvador!
Disagree. Sign of weakness. Modi needs to get the memo to stop fucking around.
Ex says:
September 1, 2025 at 5:40 pm
Why are they teaming up? They smell blood in the water.
Modi, Xi and Putin are dictators of their own kind. They know one when they see one…
Creating a scenario to have them team up is the one of the worst thing Trump has done. And we lost all moral authority with the reat of the world with whats happening at home.
“Stop fucking around”? lol
Player #4 has entered the game
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/maduro-venezuela-us-troops-caribbean/
Rule #5: quality is better than quantity. At least when it comes to supporters.
Any political conspiracy, reactionary or revolutionary, is in the end a social network. And we observe an
interesting property of social networks: their quality tends to decline over time. It does not increase.
Facebook, for example, succeeded where Friendster and Orkut failed, by restricting its initial subscriber
base to college students, which for all their faults really are the right side of the bell curve.
In order to make an impact on the political process, you need quantity. You need moronic, chanting
hordes. There is no way around this. Communism was not overthrown by Andrei Sakharov, Joseph
Brodsky and Vaclav Havel. It was overthrown by moronic, chanting hordes. I suppose I shouldn’t be rude
about it, but it’s a fact that there is no such thing as a crowd of philosophers.
When you are a narcissist, you don’t see anything other than your own limited defective thought process:
Presidential trade advisor Peter Navarro slammed Modi – despite calling him a ‘great leader’ – for embracing Putin and Xi Jinping later Monday.
‘I don’t understand why he’s getting into bed with Putin and Xi Jinping…when he’s the leader of the biggest democracy in the world,’ Navarro told Fox News.
And we lost all moral authority with the reat of the world with whats happening at home.
Explain.
Yeah. I want to know what reat means too!
TheFutureOfUSA IsAnEnglishSpeakingNorthAmericanBackWater says:
September 1, 2025 at 12:05 pm
“Rentlord, you are very correct.”
Possibly the dumbest comment ever made on this blog!
China wants a new global order. Even Rocket Man wants in on the China/Russia/India alliance. Which democrat in 2028 will be able to handle the new alliance?
RentL0rd says:
September 1, 2025 at 9:48 pm
“Modi, Xi and Putin are dictators…to have them team up…”
India and China are more likely to go to war than to ever become true allies. Of course DJT is correct in calling them out for funding Vlad and the war in Ukraine.
No surprise that TDS-afflicted idiots like PantLoad prefer SlowJoe’s ‘policy’ of shoveling hundreds a billions of dollars of US taxpayer money to Ukraine to fight an un-winnable war, while saying nothing so as to not upset our ‘allies’ like India and Spain who are buying cheap Russian oil and providing Vlad with the funds he needs to keep fighting.
As many as six candidates for Germany’s far-right AfD have died in recent weeks ahead of local elections in the big western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Those are people who died, died
Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died
SmallGovConservative, nailed it. A lasting relationship between India and China is all but impossible. Not only are there territory disputes they are in competition on many fronts and both want to be the hegemony in Asia.
The insane policies of buying Russian oil to prop up their war effort while funding the fight in Ukraine should be addressed if we are going to continue to back Ukraine. Without China and India, the Russians would have fewer options, I mean they are already buying parts for their weapons on aliexpress.
We ultimately pushed the Russians towards the Chinese when we started the Ukraine war. Everyone waiving the Ukrainian pom-poms is ignorant of the history. It was and is a failed state, we strong armed Yeltsin into accepting the borders in 1997 some 6 years after independence was declared, it has always been a kleptocracy. Obama screwed up by not just paying Yanukovych and delegating the situation to Merkle and the EU. Sevastopol was always going to be a hot button issue for the Russians and no one in the west even considered how they were going to react and then continued to antagonize the Russians after they seized Crimea, which the Crimean people overwhelmingly supported.
Ten 428
JCer-
You’ve been reading too much Russian propoganda.
“We” did not start the war in Ukraine- Putin did.
“We” did not “strongarm” Russia into accepting Ukraines borders- Ukraine agreed to give up the (formerly Russian) nuclear weapons within its borders in return for Russia’s official recognition of Ukrainian sovereignty.
In return for recognizing their neighbor’s borders, we also gave Russia the opportunity to join the global community of nations- (the G7, the WTO…) and get increased foreign investment in their oil industry, increased trade…
We gave Russia the opportunity to get rich- just like the west. But Putin has chosen another path.
Happy TACO Tuesday.
Returning of Tariff money would be worse than ever collecting them… and Mr. Market knows it.
Treasury yields jump on prospect of U.S. having to refund tariff money
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/02/us-treasury-yields-investors-look-to-key-jobs-report.html?
Everything you need to know about America is it’s lend lease act to the Soviets, and its attempt to do the same thing to Ukraine.
It only cares about money and hegemony.
Rent lord,
From MSN,
Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services company led by the sons of US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, has offered to buy the right to hundreds of millions of dollars in potential refunds from companies that have paid Trump’s tariffs.
The offer means that the sons of the pro-tariff commerce secretary, Kyle and Brandon, have made a way for investors to bet that President Donald Trump’s signature tariffs will be struck down in court.
Lutnick has been one of the most vocal supporters of the president’s tariff policies. According to him, tariffs can potentially raise “hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars” in revenue for the US. His reason is that the need for Americans making under $150,000 to pay taxes will eventually be eliminated.
According to the court, if Trump’s tariffs are permanently blocked, businesses that began paying “Liberation Day” tariffs on April 2 could be refunded, with interest. Now, Cantor Fitzgerald is jumping at this opportunity.
Here is the deal. According to reports, a representative from Cantor said the firm is willing to trade tariff refund rights for 20% to 30% of what companies have paid in duties.
The representative wrote, “So for a company that paid $10 million, they could expect to receive $2-$3 million in a trade […] We have the capacity to trade up to several hundred million of these presently and can likely upsize that in the future to meet potential demand.”
Some companies are sold. It is too suspicious that the 20-year-old made the decision by themselves. There are arguments that most companies raised prices to offset the cost of tariffs; therefore, it is the consumers who were affected most.
In addition, others don’t want to deal with the court directly. Ryan Petersen, CEO of the logistics technology company Flexport, said, “When you file those things today, it takes six to 12 months to get your money back once approved, it’s a physical check that arrives in the mail […] I think it may be attractive for some people.”
Experts say the deals are used by financial firms seeking to profit from potential legal settlements. Many lawsuits can take years to resolve, and the structure can allow individuals and companies to get money upfront or have their lawyer fees covered.
According to US Customs and Border Protection data, billions of dollars have been collected under Trump’s new tariff policies. Experts estimate nearly $14 billion could be refunded if the ruling is upheld on appeal.
According to reports, Cantor has already made a major deal. “We’ve already put a trade through representing about ~$10 million of IEEPA Rights and anticipate that number will balloon in the coming weeks,” the Cantor representative claimed.
On the other hand, Polymarket thinks that Trump will not need to refund the tariffs. Only 11% of the bettors think that Trump will do the refund.
Kristen Eichamer, press secretary for the Department of Commerce, said that Lutnick is not aware of the decision. She said that Lutnick has no insight or strategic control over Cantor Fitzgerald.
She added, “He has fully complied with the terms of his ethics agreement with respect to divesture and recusals and will continue to do so.”
However, according to Tim Meyer, a professor of international business law at Duke University School of Law, the bank’s decision has revealed what those with connections to the administration think about the merits of the tariffs.
11:38 – Wow, just wow. America certainly excels in financial engineering!
First quarter of ’25 saw nearly twice as many bankruptcies by farmers as all of 2024. But no worries, they can join ICE for a living.
https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/border-coverage/bankruptcy-farmers-inflation-ice-raids/
Linden Public Schools officials say students must wear uniforms this school year in a move that has sparked criticism from some parents and students.
Don’t these schools do enough damage making all these kids think alike, now they have to make them look alike too? It’s not a new idea, either. I first saw it in old newsreels from the 1930s, but it was hard to understand because the narration was in German.
Could have been Latin.
Every day is a deal day. Why not fix the issues on hand instead of announcing a new something every day – that may or may not stick the next day?
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/02/trump-space-command-alabama-00539888
Sleepy Joe did less harm.
Sleepy Joe did less harm.
Sleepy Joe might as well have been dead. Nothing good came of his regime. You don’t like the pace at which Trump moves because liberals in general are adverse to a hardworking mentality. Protesting, whining, dependency, irresponsibility and entitlement suit leftists much better. It’s why they are who they are. They didn’t choose this mentality, they were born with it. They don’t know what they don’t know. It’s a disability, a sickness, mental deficiency, a study in psychopathology. The study has been going on here at this forum. Those who read silently, know.
Word salad with a dose of orange kool-aid.
2:51 retard says what??!
White Trash Eddie,
The trouble for Biden isn’t that his presidency will be argued as successful or not successful. It will be remembered as the greatest presidential scandal ever for covering up his dementia by a willing media and the rest of the Democratic machine. Of course the other question is who had the power and was actually making decisions and running (into the ground) the Federal government. History will not be kind to Joe Biden or those who aided in the cover up.
It will be remembered as ..
Just ‘cuz you collect a few junk items doesn’t make you a historian!
>> running (into the ground) the Federal government
Unless you are living in a cave (maybe you do), you’d have heard that the federal govt has been gutted the last few months. Not before.
OC1, I suggest you read some history, the Russians disputed the borders of the newly formed Ukraine in 1991, the Budapest Memorandum was signed some 3 years before the Russians conceded the borders. The 1997 “Friendship Agreement” between Ukraine and Russia was key to this and the biggest point of contention was the Black Sea fleet and the Sevastopol port. Mind you this was all being done as Yeltsin was having health problems and the Russian economy was collapsing.
Talk to anyone who was resident in Russia or Ukraine at that time and they saw things in a VERY different way. “Opportunity to get rich”, was the opportunity for western firms to take over Soviet industry and make outsized profits at the expense of the Russian people. Things were totally lawless, government authority collapsed and many people were wondering if things were not better in the USSR. Putin returned the country to the strict levels of government control as they were in the USSR and was extremely popular among Russians for that reason, the government began to function again as the oligarchs were made subservient to Putin’s government.
The Maidan in 2014 is at the heart of the war and the intention of Ukraine to rip up the Friendship agreement and cancel the Sevastopol lease is the heart of the conflict. Merkel first botched the bailout of the Yanukovych government and then the MI6/CIA funded the coup d’eta, then they made Putin believe there was intent to end the Donbas conflict peacefully, which they later admitted was “only to buy time”.
If you understood what preceded the invasion you would understand that politically they left Putin no options. Realistically if he allowed the DPR to be crushed by Kiev, and allowed his diplomatic “win”, the Minsk Accords to be totally ignored, politically he would be in a very bad place with the hard liners and his position as the defacto dictator of Russia would be in jeopardy.
Call it what you will but people certainly saw these consequences a mile away yet we engaged in policies we knew were pushing the Russian’s buttons. The situation in the DPR was also predictable as they tried to be independent in the early 20th century, after the fall of the USSR and they were threatening to break away the first time the Yanukovych government was overthrown in the Orange Revolution of 2004-5. Yanukovych was funded by Ukraine’s richest oligarch and had a huge power base in Donetsk. Elements in 2005 threatened to declare war on Kiev so when we had a repeat in 2014 it was a forgone conclusion that the Donbas would declare independence.
I know it’s much simpler to just pretend the big bad Putin woke up one day decided to invade Ukraine but that unfortunately is a work of fiction. Canceling the “Friendship Agreement” and the dalliances with NATO alone gave the Russians a reason to invade. The Russians view the collapse of the Ukrainian state in 2014 as grounds to revisit the borders and from the perspective of the local citizens, Crimean’s overwhelmingly wanted to be part of Russia, so from a Russian perspective they did not “steal” Crimea, it was self determination and from the Russian perspective the elections after the Maidan were not “free and fair”(which admittedly they were not there were ridiculous amounts of voter suppression).
Not to take sides, but as far as I”m concerned there are no “good guys” here, only suffering people in Ukraine and also Russia but we need to be honest about how we would up here to avoid situations like this in the future.
History will not be kind to Joe Biden or those who aided in the cover up.”
How kind were they to St Ronnie who actually did have dementia?
What we always see in here are the armchair medical experts spouting diagnosis with no evidence. How is Hillarys Brain aneurysm these days?
“gave the Russians a reason to invade.”
JCer, leaving aside the rest of that diatribe, I may have may reasons to puch some one in the face, but its my deliberate choice to swing the punch.
„God save the Queen, man.“ One of Biden‘s more famous quotes. The man obviously has been in a steady cognitive and physical decline. You don‘t have to be a medical doctor to see that. I‘m also not saying Trump doesn’t have problems, but the topic here was about Biden.
If you are not a medical doctor, maybe you shouldn’t spout fox news rumors as medical diagnosis. And then claim you don’t even need one? Btw, the topic was TACO.
In other news, 2025 could be the first yesr in history where the US population would shrink.
Japan, here we come!
https://www.derekthompson.org/p/the-us-population-could-shrink-in
Fox news rumors? Are you telling me that you didn‘t have any doubts about Biden‘s condition after falling off of his bike, falling down going up the stairs to Air Force One, falling down at the West Point graduation, flubbing his debate against Trump, talking to dead people, etc, etc. I mean come on man.
Wait, are we still pretending Biden wasn’t losing it during the entire duration of his presidency?
Speaks volumes that you used the word “actually”.
Fabius Maximus says:
September 2, 2025 at 4:45 pm
How kind were they to St Ronnie who actually did have dementia?
I don’t think it’s outside my scope of practice to say that Biden was senile.
Jcer
You got my vote for post of the day
This guy histories, as the kids would say.
Reagan has a monumental legacy; O’biden doesn’t have a legacy nor will he. In a 100 years from now, they’ll look back on him as just a guy that occupied the White House for four years leaving no milestone whatsoever.
I’m not really the biggest Reagan fan as I think a lot of problems that we have can be traced back to him and his refusal to reign in spending. But here’s his last press conference. 30 minutes of eloquent responses that sound more clear and well thought out than anything slick willy, obama, bush 1/2, trump, or biden could ever put together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_puNc2MpCA
Try harder bro
Went to the Flemington DMV to get my RealID; 2:35 appt that I had made online back in May/June. When I checked in at 2:25 I was told it would be at least a 2-hour wait. The guy next to me had been there since 11:30 for his 11:55 appt, and had just been told it would be at least another hour before they’d get to him — 3 1/2 hour total wait, minimum, for that guy! Mind you, every single person there had an appt — no walk-ins.
Typical blue-state incompetence yet there are schmucks here who can’t wait to pay their ultra-high taxes and vote for the next Dem governor. Idiots!
JCer-
Russia signed one “memorandum of agreement” and two treaties recognizing Ukraines borders between 1994 and 2003. Putin himself signed some of them.
Maybe Russia thinks they were “justified” in violating those treaties (just as Hitler thought Germany was justified in violating their non-agression pact with Russia).
But they still violated 3 separate agreements where they recognized Ukraines borders.
There is just no other reasonable way to interpret this.
If Russia didn’t like Ukraines borders, it shouldn’t have signed 3 separate agreements and treaties recognizing them!
The time for negotiating Ukraines borders was BEFORE the agreements and treaties were signed- not 20 or 30 years AFTER.
As for Ukraines “daliances with NATO” giving Russia a reason to invade- perhaps in Putins warped mind.
But as a sovereign state (recognized by Russia and the rest of the world as such) Ukraine has the right to enter into trade agreements, alliances, etc. with anybody it wants to- no Russian approval needed.
Russia may not believe it, but NATO is a strictly defensive alliance- it says so in the NATO charter!
If Russia doesn’t want it’s neighbors forming alliances to deter a Russian invasion all Russia has to do is stop invading its neighbors!
You really sound like a Russian propaganda bot.
Phoenix , I don’t mind the school uniforms as it masks the kids of lower income that may not have parents that can parent and buy them clothes. As unfortunate as it is, sometimes you aren’t given parents that can parent. 2 shirts and 2 khaki pants and the kid can make it through the year on his own and in dignity. BRT can make a better for or against argument. I have distant family where we chip in khakis for the kids, parents can’t even wake up to make them breakfast and leave it up to the 3td grader to get younger siblings ready.
Touché
An activist has started using artificial intelligence to identify Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents beneath their masks — a use of the technology sparking new political concerns over AI-powered surveillance.
Walking
That quote is from George Carlin
OC1
You ever been to court and are forced to sign an unjust agreement?
Over
Still vote your post as post of the day.
Walking,
I understand your sentiment. All jokes aside, it probably is better for all involved.
Being senile and dementia are medically different things. One can argue that Trump is also senile.
That aside, it is evident that a senile sleeping joe did far less harm than orange man.
School uniforms – I went to a catholic school with a strict uniform code… and while I hated it, my parents had a much easier time than we do with kids clothes. So i am all behind bringing school uniforms back!
Russia may not believe it, but NATO is a strictly defensive alliance
I think the alliances pre-WW1 were “defensive” as well…until sh1t popped off
We should all be glad we live in a blue state – at least from a health perspective.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/blue-states-sued-kept-cdc-grants-red-states-feel-brunt-trump-clawbacks-rcna228618
That aside, it is evident that a senile sleeping joe did far less harm than orange man.
slow death versus quick death. End result is the same.
OC1, try again. The Budapest Memorandum was basically a farce, no one really agreed to anything but Ukraine surrendering Soviet Nukes. As nuclear command was in Moscow, Ukraine was not going to keep the nukes they lacked the money and capability to build a nuclear command and the required security, “assuring” them no one would invade was as far as it went, every one was very explicit that there were no “SECURITY GUARANTEES”.
You had the initial attempt at a confederation(CIS) after the fall of the USSR, the Russians intended to leave the borders but intended to have a loosely federated successor state to the USSR that consisted of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. That doesn’t happen, the Russians only agree to cede Crimea and Eastern Ukraine in 1997 and only because of the friendship agreement which effectively keeps Ukraine out of NATO and the split of the Black Sea fleet and Sevastopol lease agreement. Things got ugly again in 2003 when the Russians attempted to build on Ukrainian land in Crimea, that dispute led to an agreement on the border and conditions favoring Russia in the Sea of Azov. Every time the Russians agreed to the borders there were other concessions made the Ukrainians usually around Crimea and the Black Sea fleet among other things, the Poreshenko government was violating these agreements so correspondingly the Russians view the territorial disputes as reopened.
The Russians have made their positions very clear, from Gorbachev to Yeltsin to Putin, people at odds with one an other all had issues with the border, all took issue with NATO expansion on their borders. Defensive alliance my ass, the Russians view it as an amassing foreign military on their border, they don’t care what you call it but foreign bases and weapons on their borders can only be taken as a provocation. As we would take any foreign nation attempting to station troops in Canada or Mexico.
Ukraine has existed as “Sovereign State” since 1992, the borders were in dispute until the year 2000. In it’s 30 year existence it has had 2 revolutions overthrowing the same president twice and was effectively a failed state in 2014, the economy collapsed, multiple regions declared their intent to leave Ukraine and the government was no longer elected in a free and fair election and the elected government was violently Anti-Russian, (These people love Stepan Bandera and the UPA who killed whole villages of Poles and Jews in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia like 200,000 people in horrible ways and collaborated with the Nazis).
It wouldn’t matter who was running Russia, the issues are the same ones they had in 1992. Obama and Merkel screwed the pooch and the resulting instability is a direct consequence of their actions and Biden screwed up, Putin wanted to negotiate in 2021. There was a very delicate truce between the Russians and Ukrainians and instead of maintaining peace like the Clinton administration or the GW Bush Administration by trying to de-escalate and respond to Russian concerns we tried to steamroll them, just like the rhetoric in your post about sovereignty it doesn’t consider the legitimate security concerns the Russians had about Ukraine(an unstable failed nation). The Friendship Agreement made NATO membership impossible, the Sevastopol Lease ensured the continued existence of Russia’s Black Sea fleet threatening those agreements effectively voids all the territorial concessions the Russians granted to Ukraine since 1992. And we haven’t even started on Minsk accord and Donbas which was largely used by Putin but legitimately Kiev was shelling civilians.
It’s not about being pro-russian or pro-ukraine it has everything to do with prudent diplomacy if politicians acted as our did during the Cold War we very well could have had nuclear way, cooler heads need to prevail for the good of the common people.
The US manufacturing sector continued its sluggish year in August.
Data out Tuesday from the Institute for Supply Management showed the ISM’s manufacturing PMI came in at 48.7 last month, an increase from the reading of 48 seen in July but below estimates for a reading of 48.9, according to Bloomberg data. Readings of less than 50 on the index indicate a contraction in activity in the sector.
JCEr
Correct again.
The rest of the world has spoken.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/a-downturn-in-international-travel-to-the-u-s-may-last-beyond-summer-experts-warn
The World Travel & Tourism Council projected ahead of Memorial Day that the U.S. would be the only country among the 184 it studied where foreign visitor spending would fall in 2025. The finding was “a clear indicator that the global appeal of the U.S. is slipping,” the global industry association said.
Beautiful weather today. Schools are opening, and your first impulse is to post some negative shite that AT BEST is ephemeral, although more likely, completely meaningless.
If you were in Universal/Disney two to three weeks ago, the entire park was populated with Spanish speaking people or people from the UK. Americans were maybe 20% of the attendees.
All hail AI.
Speaking ahead of Labor Day – celebrated in the US to recognize the nation’s labor movement – Salesforce CEO and co-founder Marc Benioff said the company had slashed 4,000 customer support roles through the application of AI agents.
“I’ve reduced it from 9,000 heads to about 5,000 because I need less heads,” he told The Logan Bartlett Show podcast on Friday, as if to underscore the need to humanize the tech workforce.
Benioff explained that he needed to “rebalance” the number of people employed in support with those in sales.
He said using AI agents had caused the rethink of the CRM SaaS company’s organizational shape and employment numbers. Now half of all conversations with customers are conducted by AI systems, Benioff claimed, with humans handling the rest. But LLMs could not do everything, he admitted.
Fab – Gasp no more Lindy Hop competitions in the USA?
Perhaps some weren’t really coming here for a vacation but to actually overstay their visa and work? You think the prospect of arrest and deportation might have changed their mind?
Is there any data to back up this claim?
https://www.bts.gov/browse-statistical-products-and-data/info-gallery/total-foreign-arrivals-2019-2025
JCer-
Most of the points you are making are completely irrelevant.
Ukraine was not a threat to Russia.
The fact that some in Russia didn’t like the terms of the treaties Russia signed with Ukraine is moot- all treaties are compromises.
Russia is commiting war crimes in Ukraine- specifically targeting civilians well beyond the battle lines and carrying out ethnic cleansing in the parts of Ukraine they occupy.
Violating treaties, commiting war crimes, multiple violations of international law…
How anybody can justify Russias actions here is beyond me.
Their rent, food, taxes, medical bills and car payments are jacked.
Everything under the sun has been tariffed (aka taxed) to death.
Their American made cars have connecting rod and camshaft failures.
Wanna use the toilet? We have an app for that, it’s 2.99 a month subscription based.
Roads full of potholes, women out monkey branching to support themselves, ICE grabbing random people off the streets so now a simple tomato is 6 bucks at the local farm.
Women barely having kids, see them as work, not interested, rather go out drinking, shopping and partying, men gaming and enjoying cars, they can’t afford a house since Grandma is collecting them like she is playing Monopoly. Who wants to have 3 kids in an apartment? Locust boomer has devoured the plants all the way down to bare soil with greed, incompetence, and arrogance.
The country is so far in debt thanks to boomer, yet boomer supports sending more money to other countries rather than taking care of their own youth. In fact, boomer wants to send the kids all off to war, boomer finds them all annoying.
If you were in Universal/Disney two to three weeks ago, the entire park was populated with Spanish speaking people or people from the UK. Americans were maybe 20% of the attendees.
So of course you won’t see them at Disney. The family unit is done for the average American.
Ukraine was not a threat to Russia.
Ukraine was stealing from Russia. Stealing Gas. And it let the US CIA right up to Russia’s doorstep. That makes it a threat.
Russia is commiting war crimes in Ukraine- specifically targeting civilians well beyond the battle lines and carrying out ethnic cleansing in the parts of Ukraine they occupy.
Commit war crimes? You mean like “weapons of mass destruction” when there arent’ any? Pot, meet kettle.
America’s entire history is filled with this sort of behavior. We just assissinated some people in a boat in Venezuela. This country breeds killers. Don’t forget what happened to the American Indians and the slaves, even if Trump removes it from the Smithsonian, the stain is still on his underwear.
America has broken tons of treaties. Changed it’s mind. You can make anything legal in America with the stroke of a pen. Wanna waterboard somebody, it’s illegal, right?? Nope, we will make a law and off you go. Freedom of speech, well, that one’s head is on the chopping block as we speak, it won’t be long now before you get arrested for speech or your private thoughts.
Project 2025 is in full swing now. Mencius Moldbug
https://keithanyan.github.io/OpenLetterToOpenMindedProgressives.epub/OpenLetterToOpenMindedProgressives.pdf
Juice,
Are your cousins not traveling because they dont want to risk losing their vacation and getting turned away on entry.
https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/travel/2025/04/13/irish-visits-to-united-states-drop-by-27-amid-anxiety-over-trump-administrations-border-controls/
11:02 – Did US make mistakes through out history – certainly. But we had a path.. a path set by several presidents and congress together. We stood for certain things – like Ukraine’s independence, Israel’s existence, NATO, Allies, commitment to foreign aid (and the soft power that comes with it), etc.
The status quo cannot be changed overnight by one man.. we need consensus and debate (at least in congress). And there in lies the problem.. we cannot let one man change everything on a whim by EOs.
To say some presidents in the past did too does not make it right now for the country.
At this rate we stand for nothing, no treaties, no agreements, no allies and undermine ourselves and make our enemies stronger.
At this rate we stand for nothing, no treaties, no agreements, no allies and undermine ourselves and make our enemies stronger.
Leave. Or vote for a fucking fool like Cumalla, AOC or Jism Crockett. Go ahead. Put your money where your mouth is. Vote liberal and progressive up and down the ballot.
A lot of you guys poo poo America so fucking leave. Don’t transform what this country is or was founded on. Go to France or Canada if you want communal support while you’re getting fingered.
And another thing… if those c0cksuckers in China think wagging their small dick is going to threaten us, they better fucking think again. We’ll trounce them. The technology they’re boasting about in that parade was shit we let them have. They stole it. We knew it. We allowed it. We’ll pound those motherfuckers. Fuck Russia, too. We’ll beat them like a three-headed stepchild.
12:14 – This 5th grade machoism is what is wrong right now. Putin, Xi and Modi are playing 4-D chess while Trump struggles with checkers.
Fab: care to post something from Sept 2025? The first thing was a projection made in advance of Memorial Day. Now this thing from April 13th? These data points are without context. I would bet there were serious drawdowns of tourism even WITHIN the U.S. or by Americans going abroad.
You have such a poor reputation. I literally can’t read anything you post because you are so chronically and willfully dishonest. I’m not sure what motivates you to behave this way.
Fabius Maximus says:
September 3, 2025 at 11:31 am
Juice,
Are your cousins not traveling because they dont want to risk losing their vacation and getting turned away on entry.
https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/travel/2025/04/13/irish-visits-to-united-states-drop-by-27-amid-anxiety-over-trump-administrations-border-controls/
12:22:
Your contempt for America is noted.
12:28 imbecile says wut?!?
12:14 oh look another dumbass rant from a retard.
12:28 – do you need to speak to the manager?
1:02 hahahahahahaha … release the Epstein files.
For the very first time, Jobless claims outnumber open positions.
And yet, it’s the people reporting the problem – instead of enjoying the beautiful fall weather, that are the problem!
Don’t forget that it’s also a self inflicted wound.
Reclaiming our country from the MAGA virus will be a slow and long process..
but every little success helps https://www.ft.com/content/4f10fb25-ca61-469f-a1a0-f0b0e01bb525
Two steps back one step forward.
Fab if anything the Irish are afraid to go to the UK. The Pigs in England just arrested the creator of Father Ted when he landed at Heathrow for posting jokes on x.com
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/father-ted-creator-linehan-arrested-uk-over-transgender-posts-x-2025-09-02/
One more win
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/us/harvard-trump-funding-ruling.html
BTW FAB get yer head out of your arse. – Aer Lingus is running a record 24 daily flights to the USA. Overall seat capacity on United Airlines to and from the Irish capital is up by 50% compared to 2024.
Dublin airport is at capacity 32 million passengers, they need to add more terminals, many US based airline use them as a stopover.
https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2025/0708/1522402-dublin-airport-cap-bad-for-economy-airlines-for-america/
4:43 – are you saying all Irish post violent homophobic and anti-trans messages? And you are okay with it. While this can be argued to be free speech – UK govt has a responsibility to protect lgbtq+
4:55 – raising threshold limits and actual number of passengers are two different metrics.
Where does the article say anything about actual number of travelers.
The number of incoming tourists is down across the board including your half-cousins.
Rent – re : “ Reclaiming our county.”
that is the same Boston judge appointed by Obama that ruled Harvard wasn’t discriminating against Asians in admissions. That was overturned by the Supreme Court. SFFA v. Harvard. Chance of appeal is 100%…
Rent – he posted his jokes on x while in the United States. It’s madness arresting foreign comedians over jokes not made in their jurisdiction.That is something Russia or China would do.
Rent – United and aer lingus increased their flights to record numbers. They don’t fly them empty. I will find the real data and tattoo it to you for head with a shillelagh!
Opps I found it.
Load is up too and that ain’t your diaper either.
CEO Lynne Embleton attributed a 27% March dip to “quirky” statistics, noting “really strong” demand. The airline increased North American capacity by 4.5%, carrying 2,141 passengers—a 1.8% rise from Q1 2024—with a load factor of 75.3%, up from 74.9%. Routes to cities like Boston (BOS) and Chicago (ORD) remain popular.
Aer Lingus (EI) launched its largest-ever summer network, adding Dublin (DUB) to Nashville (BNA) and Indianapolis (IND) services, supported by 2 Airbus A321 XLR aircraft now in operation.
The airline’s focus on leisure and business travel, coupled with a 5.4% rise in available seat kilometres, has sustained its transatlantic momentum, defying broader market trends reported for March 2025.
CEOs like to sugarcoat bad news. North America includes Canada and Mexico. Tourists are likely going to canada instead. If you want a true measure, check inbound statistics at US airports.
The decline is significant.
World Travel & Tourism Council projected ahead of Memorial Day that the U.S. would be the only country among the 184 it studied where foreign visitor spending would fall in 2025. The finding was “a clear indicator that the global appeal of the U.S. is slipping,” the global industry association said.
https://www.travelweek.ca/news/destinations/the-sentiment-drag-has-proven-to-be-severe-the-latest-take-on-inbound-u-s-tourism-as-canadians-hold-their-ground/
5:25 stfu leprechaun
Ex- You have been quiet. We are worried you smoked your brains out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT9JoIv2kss
The Conservatives appear to have a very serious pedophilia problem:
https://goppredators.wordpress.com/