At what point is it "fraud" if the banks he "defrauded" made money?  This case is only being brought to distract from the upcoming election.....The real estate game is played this way all the time.  If he gets jail time over this, then every real estate developer that lists properties higher than the actual worth (which is everyone of them) deserves jail as well.  Don't stop there, get the auto manufacturers who set very unrealistic MSRP's that dealers utilize........

https://nypost.com/2023/10/02/judge-implores-media-to-stop-saying-he-valued-mar-a-lago-at-18m/

The Manhattan judge deciding Donald Trump’s fate at his civil fraud trial on Monday stood by the $18 million valuation of the former president’s sprawling Mar-a-Lago estate — despite real estate experts blasting the estimate as “utterly delusional.”

Justice Arthur Engoron again rejected Trump’s claims that Mar-a-Lago is worth $1 billion in favor of the much-lower valuation issued by local Florida officials.

However, Engoron implored the media to stop reporting that he’d been the one to value the golf club and resort at $18 million — the low-end of a determination made by the Palm Beach assessor that has left many real estate industry insiders perplexed.

One prominent Palm Beach real estate broker labeled the valuation as “utterly delusional” to The Post.

“Please, press, stop saying that I valued it at $18 million,” Engoron pleaded, as trial kicked off in Manhattan Supreme Court in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million lawsuit against the former president, the Trump Organization and sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr.

The judge interjected the comment as Trump lawyer Alina Habba had been repeating during her opening remarks that the Palm Beach estate would sell for roughly $1 billion — a figure that Engoron rejected last week in a bombshell ruling.

In his decision, Engoron — who is deciding the trial rather than a jury — cited a local Palm Beach County official saying the country club had been assessed at a range of between $18 million and $27 million between 2011 and 2021.

In the same decision, Engoron rejected Trump’s expert’s valuation that the Florida estate was worth $1.5 billion finding the expert’s opinion “unexplained and unsubstantiated ‘dream[s.]'”

Industry experts were left scratching their heads at the Palm Beach assessor’s seemingly low estimation, claiming that the resort would list closer to $300 million.

Engoron’s ruling found Trump liable for fraud — the key claim in James’ suit — for exaggerating the worth of his assets.

He sided with the AG finding that Trump had fraudulently inflated his net worth — including with his claim that his Trump Tower triplex was 30,000 square feet when it was actually closer to 11,000.

Engoron also revoked Trump’s business licenses in the Big Apple and said a receiver needed to be appointed to wind down his companies in the Empire State.

Trump, 77, attended the first day of trial at the 60 Centre Street courthouse in lower Manhattan prompting protesters to come out in force and block a street outside the historic building.

James also attended the trial, looking on from the first row as Eric Trump — the executive vice president of Trump Org — watched from the second row.

The case is expected to last through Dec. 27 and could see witnesses testify including Trump, Don Jr., Eric, Ivanka, former Trump Org CFO Allen Weisselberg and former Trump “fixer” Michael Cohen.

In his opening statements AG’s office lawyer Kevin Wallace accused Trump of pumping up his net worth in part due to vanity and wanting to move up on Forbes’ billionaires list.

An apparently damning video clip was played of Cohen’s deposition, in which the ex-Trump lawyer described how his boss instructed him and Weisselberg to inflate his worth from $6 billion to $8 billion.

“‘I think I’m actually worth $8 billion,'” Cohen recalled Trump allegedly saying in the video.

Meanwhile Trump’s lawyers told Engoron during their opening statements that the AG’s case is based on the word of Cohen — a convicted felon.

“The government hinges its proof of conspiracy on a serial liar,” Christopher Kise charged.

Habba, meanwhile, attempted to punch holes in the AG’s argument that Trump inflated his assets to get better loan and bank terms, at the expense of the lenders and insurers.

“These banks made money. They were not defrauded,” Habba told the court. “That is not fraud. That is real estate.”

Trump blasted the case before entering the courtroom at the beginning of the day and again when he left during the lunch break.

He called it a “disgraceful trial,” at the midday break.

The President has been having some issues with the Hispanic Caucus as of late, and his latest gaffe probably didn't help after he just, seemingly, called the Hispanics black.....Ol Uncle Joe......

https://nypost.com/2023/09/21/biden-praises-congressional-black-caucus-during-address-to-congressional-hispanic-caucus/

Biden praises ‘Congressional Black Caucus’ during address to Congressional Hispanic Caucus in president’s latest gaffe

Haven't heard Pelosi utter about "the dignity of the office" lately........

https://www.dailywire.com/news/fetterman-presides-over-senate-wearing-short-sleeve-shirt-no-tie-and-shorts?fbclid=IwAR1ys3b1RNd-hGbylTxvr2zOVImA8MHQTvQt8OVskK1yENPF9jjkF66eGkk

Good Ol' Uncle Joe......The Brazilian President clearly did not appreciate the snub.......

https://nypost.com/2023/09/21/biden-walks-into-flag-appears-to-snub-brazils-president/

President Biden looked confused again Wednesday as he walked into a giant flag at the United Nations — then appeared to anger Brazil’s president by walking off stage without shaking his hand.

The gaffe-prone oldest US president in history walked into the 7-foot-tall Brazilian flag as he took the stage, taking a moment to get his bearings as the flag wobbled.

He then struggled with the headset of his translation device, soon noted by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was with him for a joint speech agreeing to partner on workers’ rights.

“Can you hear me, President Biden? This is a historic moment for Brazil and for the US,” the Brazilian leader asked.

When he did not immediately respond, Lula again asked: “President Biden, can you hear me?”

2 hours ago, Muda69 said:

More bizarre stuff from this memorandum filed by the defense:  https://www.jconline.com/story/news/crime/2023/09/20/delphi-murders-document-details-ritualistic-crime-scene-suspects-libby-german-abby-williams/70895144007/

Sounds like there is a Odinist cult/cabal operating in at least Carroll and Cass counties.

 

 

Compelling......and strange......

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s answer to a gay kid asking for advice when MLK wrote an advice column in Ebony:

“Your problem is not at all an uncommon one. However, it does require careful attention. The type of feeling that you have toward boys is probably not an innate tendency, but something that has been culturally acquired. Your reasons for adopting this habit have now been consciously suppressed or unconsciously repressed. Therefore, it is necessary to deal with this problem by getting back to some of the experiences and circumstances that lead to the habit. In order to do this I would suggest that you see a good psychiatrist who can assist you in bringing to the forefront of conscience all of those experiences and circumstances that lead to the habit. You are already on the right road toward a solution, since you honestly recognise the problem and have a desire to solve it.”

Should Dr. King's statue be removed now?  He was obviously a homophobe......Incidentally, this article lists a whole bunch of very prominent and celebrated people that would need cancelling......

https://www.lowellsun.com/2020/07/19/whos-next-on-the-cancel-culture-docket-martin-luther-king-jr/

John Wayne’s 1971 Playboy magazine interview has placed the legendary actor in the crosshairs of today’s cancel culture social justice warriors. Activists demand that his name be removed from an Orange County, California, airport.

What did Wayne say 49 years ago? He said: “I believe in white supremacy until the Blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don’t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people.” He added, “I don’t feel guilty about the fact that five or 10 generations ago, these people were slaves.”

Wayne’s son Ethan does not defend his father’s words, but asks for perspective: “There’s no excuse for the words he said. It was 1971; we used different words back then. It was a different time.”

Does this new standard apply, for example, to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.? King wrote an advice column carried by the popular Black monthly magazine, Ebony. A closeted gay teenager wrote him:

Question: “My problem is different from the ones most people have. I am a boy, but I feel about boys the way I ought to feel about girls. I don’t want my parents to know about me. What can I do? Is there any place where I can go for help?”

Answer: “Your problem is not at all an uncommon one. However, it does require careful attention. The type of feeling that you have toward boys is probably not an innate tendency, but something that has been culturally acquired. Your reasons for adopting this habit have now been consciously suppressed or unconsciously repressed. Therefore, it is necessary to deal with this problem by getting back to some of the experiences and circumstances that lead to the habit. In order to do this I would suggest that you see a good psychiatrist who can assist you in bringing to the forefront of conscience all of those experiences and circumstances that lead to the habit. You are already on the right road toward a solution, since you honestly recognise the problem and have a desire to solve it.”

For this advice, which today would be called offensive and homophobic, should we cancel King?

Recall the furor when President Donald Trump reportedly referred to Haiti and some African countries as “s—-hole countries.” President John Kennedy, according to former New York Times investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, made a similar remark. In “The Dark Side of Camelot,” Hersh described an angry Kennedy reacting to a request from a man who had not supported his election yet nevertheless wanted a high-profile diplomatic assignment in the Kennedy administration. The president exploded, “I’m going to f—- him,” adding, “I’m going to send him to one of those boogie republics in Central Africa.” Boogie republics?

What about Kennedy’s treatment of Sammy Davis Jr.? The popular entertainer campaigned tirelessly for JFK in 1960, even agreeing to postpone his wedding to a white actress to avoid alienating potential Kennedy voters. Burt Boyar, Davis’ biographer, said that when Davis got married following Kennedy’s election, Kennedy rewarded him by disinviting Davis from attending, let alone performing at, the inaugural.

Downtown Atlanta prominently displays a statue of Andrew Young, the former Atlanta mayor and the first Black ambassador to the United Nations. A friend and colleague of MLK, Young was with King at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, where King was assassinated. Young later became a spokesperson for a Walmart advocacy group. In a 2006 interview with a Black newspaper, Young addressed the complaint that Walmart displaces mom and pop stores, many of which are owned by Arabs:

“Well, I think they should; they ran the mom and pop stores out of my neighborhood. But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us — selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they’ve ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it’s Arabs. Very few Black people own these stores.” Young later apologized, but Walmart dropped him as a spokesperson. Should his statue be torn down?

Harry Truman often referred to Jews as “k—-s” and New York City as “k—-town.” In a 1911 letter to his future wife, the future president wrote: “Uncle Will says that the Lord made a white man from dust, a n——- from mud, then he threw up what was left and it came down a Chinaman. He does hate Chinese and Japs. So do I. It is race prejudice, I guess. But I am strongly of the opinion Negroes ought to be in Africa, yellow men in Asia and white men in Europe and America.” But, as president, Truman supported the creation of the modern state of Israel, and his support was crucial.

Robert Kennedy, as attorney general, authorized wiretaps on Martin Luther King Jr., a request made by the notorious FBI head, J. Edgar Hoover.

How far does this cancel culture purge go, and who’s next?

An option for those off-roading electric 4 x 4's ?  🤣

"His pretend life sounds pretty interesting"

https://www.foxnews.com/media/biden-berated-claiming-taught-political-theory-university-pennsylvania-pretend-life

Biden said, "Democracy is at stake, folks. Our democracy is under attack. And we gotta fight for it. I taught at the University of Pennsylvania for four years. And I used to teach political theory. And folks, you always hear every generation has to fight for democracy. And I found myself – it's automatic, we didn't have to believe it – but we do. We do."

Bidenomics......Anyone else thinking Biden could potentially go down in history behind Carter on the economy?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/census-data-income-inflation-joe-biden-economy-social-welfare-spending-3897dbed?mod=hp_opin_pos_3#cxrecs_s

You almost have to admire the brass of the Biden White House. The Census Bureau reported Tuesday that Americans are poorer under Bidenomics, and the President quickly changed the subject to blame Republicans for rising child poverty on his watch. As usual, too many in the press corps bought the spin.

Real incomes at every decile were lower and income inequality was greater than in 2019. Americans in the bottom 10% of earners were 6.3% poorer last year than in 2019 while those in the top 5% saw their incomes decline 4.1%. Inflation invariably punishes lower-income Americans more than the affluent.

These numbers don’t take into account most transfer payments that Congress enacted or expanded as part of its $6 trillion in Covid relief. These include $3,200 a year in stimulus payments per adult and $2,500 per child; a $3,600 per child tax credit whether or not you paid any taxes; larger health insurance, earned income and child-care tax credits; and more generous food stamps.

These provided temporary income boosts in 2020 and 2021, but at the cost of fueling the historic inflation surge that gutted real incomes. Thus after-tax median real income last year fell $6,220 as some, but not all, Covid transfer payments lapsed. Americans with college degrees last year saw the biggest after-tax real income decline ($9,860), perhaps because they benefited most from the expanded tax credits.

Democrats passed their $1.9 trillion Covid bill in March 2021 with the goal of hooking the middle class on bigger government. But the big political surprise is that Americans weren’t thrilled with the handouts. A Hill-HarrisX poll in July 2021 found that 60% of voters, including nearly half of Democrats, thought the child tax credit expansion was too expensive and no longer needed.

Yet there Mr. Biden was on Tuesday lashing Republicans in Congress for not extending the expanded the child tax credit.

“We cut child poverty by nearly half to record lows for all children in this nation largely by expanding the Child Tax Credit,” he declared. “The rise reported today in child poverty is no accident—it is the result of a deliberate policy choice congressional Republicans made to block help for families with children while advancing massive tax cuts for the wealthiest and largest corporations.”

The child poverty rate did jump to 12.4% from 5.2% in 2021, but that is roughly the same as before the pandemic. The expiration of the expanded child credit accounted for about a quarter of the increase in the child poverty rate, though its impact was offset by an increase last year in food stamps, free school lunches and housing subsidies. Most of the increase in child poverty owed to the end of stimulus payments, inflation and higher taxes.

Mr. Biden has apparently forgotten that Republicans didn’t control either branch of Congress in 2021 or 2022. West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin blocked an extension of the expanded child tax credit because it was estimated to cost $1.2 trillion over a decade.

And which tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations is he talking about? Maybe he’s confused and is referring to the Inflation Reduction Act’s green-energy corporate welfare and subsidies for electric vehicles and solar panels that largely benefit the affluent.

The annual census data tell the real story of Bidenomics: A gusher of unprecedented and unnecessary social-welfare spending helped to produce the highest inflation in 40 years that has made Americans poorer. The last thing Congress should do is heed Mr. Biden’s demand to do it all again.

Yeah - DJT was indicted because of a questionable (at best) statement during a phone call.......Yet even with a video where Joe says "S.O.B." in a very overt quid-pro-quo bragging moment the MSM says there's no evidence.......Almost like they got their marching orders directly from the White House......

Oh - wait.....https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4201590-read-biden-administration-memos-media-impeachment/

https://nypost.com/2023/09/13/medias-covert-protection-of-scandal-plagued-bidens-comes-to-light-while-still-protecting-president-and-hunter/

Forget the bank records, shell companies, SEC complaints, sworn testimony, IRS whistleblower statements, FBI informant files, emails, texts, WhatsApp messages, photos, speakerphone calls, voicemails, White House visitor logs, Air Force 2 travel logs, Joe’s pseudonym email addresses and a parade of Hunter’s shady foreign benefactors lining up for handshakes with Joe in Beijing, breakfasts at the VP’s residence and dinners at Café Milano, not to mention millions of dollars in filthy foreign lucre for no discernible product or service other than access to Joe. 

4 hours ago, Impartial_Observer said:

I have long monitored the RV industry for economic trends. I’ll be honest it was somewhat confusing over the last three years. 
I haven’t watched cable news since April of 20, but I did catch most of Biden’s speech in Vietnam…..wow. I was hoping his handlers would shut it down before they did. I think when you look at McConnell, Biden, Fetterman, Feinstein, it’s pretty sickening to me that their handlers are so obsessed with power and greed they would allow their loved ones to be subjected to all this. 
I don’t know about you… but I’m going to bed….

I have long monitored the RV industry for economic trends. I’ll be honest it was somewhat confusing over the last three years. 

Since the pandemic started the industry has been "balls to the walls" building, consolidating, restructuring to the point of the highest shipping year ever in 2022.  SF's opinion was that in 2021, there was nothing else for people to do with the shut-downs in place.  People weren't spending their disposable income on airfare, hotels, restaurants, etc. but they still wanted the ability to travel.  It didn't hurt that Holcomb designated the RV industry as "essential" either.

I haven’t watched cable news since April of 20, but I did catch most of Biden’s speech in Vietnam…..wow. I was hoping his handlers would shut it down before they did. I think when you look at McConnell, Biden, Fetterman, Feinstein, it’s pretty sickening to me that their handlers are so obsessed with power and greed they would allow their loved ones to be subjected to all this. 
I don’t know about you… but I’m going to bed….

SF is truly surprised that Biden is still around.  I predicted originally that he was a placeholder since the previous Democrat President (Obama) didn't even endorse him due to the obvious corruption the former VP had as baggage and expected him to be gone shortly after the 2 year mark.  Now it's just sad.  The likes of having the President as geriatric as he is is appalling and he is truly getting worse.  The fact that they cut him off mid-sentence was very telling to me - He was really ready for bed.

I would (kinda - given the current congressional roster age) be in favor of an upper age limitation.

SF isn't ready to make a solid prediction but I am leaning heavily towards Biden getting replaced before the end of the year if the Democrats really want a viable candidate for 2024.

The President pretty much stated in the first year of his term his plan was to slow the economy down.  Mission accomplished.  (6 - 8 months ago)

A reliable historic bellweather to the economy is the RV industry.  Historically - What happens in the RV industry leads the greater economy by about 9 months to a year.  The RV industry began it's retreat in May of 2022.  Today it is shipping less than 1/2 of 2022 product with deep layoffs that hit last year and deeper ones this year.  Companies still producing are running 1 week on and 2 weeks off with limited staff.  Elkhart County unemployment is over 5% leaning on 6%.  Get ready - SF believes this is where the rest of the economy is heading.

So the geriatric members of the House and Senate are making their intentions known for the upcoming 2024's.....

Nancy's in.....at 83.....

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12496957/Nancy-Pelosi-83-confirms-running-Former-Democrat-speaker-reveals-wants-two-years-Congress-help-San-Franciscos-recovery.html

Nancy Pelosi, 83, confirms she is running AGAIN: Former Democrat speaker reveals she wants two more years in Congress - and to help San Francisco's recovery

• 'Now more than ever our City needs us to advance San Francisco values and further our recovery,' Pelosi wrote on X
• The former House speaker stepped down from her leadership position last year 
• San Francisco is experiencing a major crime wave including smash-and-grab robberies and carjackings 

Never mind that S#!^ - here comes Trump......

SF doesn't think Mayor Adams is wrong.....but aware that this has been going on for decades in TX, AZ, CA & FL.  The phrase "The chickens have come home to roost" comes to mind.....But farmer Joe and his farmhand Kamala appear oblivious.....

https://nypost.com/2023/09/07/nycs-first-day-of-school-sees-influx-of-migrants/

The first day of classes kicked off in New York City on Thursday as schools grapple with the influx of migrant students, with some buildings turning away kids as 21,000 children seeking asylum inundated already jam-packed classrooms.

The line to get inside Newcomers High School in Long Island City stretched around the block early Thursday as frustrated teachers vented that the building had already hit capacity, pushing students at Gotham — a different school inside the building — to a facility across the street. 

“It’s a capacity issue,” a teacher told The Post. “They should have worked this out two days ago!”

Many of the migrant students were beaming and proudly wearing their Queens shelter IDs around their necks.

NYC Mayor is complaining about 110,000 migrants out of the almost 5 million that have crossed the border since January, 2022.  He's asking for more money when he should be asking for the President to actually finish the border wall.  The border states governors are finally letting these sanctuary cities share the struggles the administration is choosing to ignore.....

https://nypost.com/2023/09/07/nyc-mayor-adams-says-migrant-crisis-will-destroy-the-city-during-town-hall/

Mayor Adams warns migrant crisis will ‘destroy’ NYC, rips Biden for failing to help.

“Started with a madman down in Texas who decided he wanted to bus people up to New York City.”

The first migrant-filled bus from Texas arrived at Midtown’s Port Authority on Aug. 5, 2022, and thousands more in the rest of the five boroughs in the following months.

“110,000 migrants we have to feed, clothe, house, educate the children, wash their laundry sheets, give them everything they need, health care,” Adams said.

Texas has sent over 13,000 migrants to New York, according to data shared by Abbott earlier this week.

The mayor said the Big Apple receives around 10,000 migrants a month, at first from Venezuela but then Ecuadorian nationals and Russian-speaking individuals came up from Mexico as time went on.

With our current President's adherence to the left's climate agenda, SF can see this coming potentially before he leaves office.......

https://www.wsj.com/articles/real-climate-change-catastrophism-hasnt-been-tried-biden-emergency-global-warming-environment-b485421a?mod=hp_opin_pos_6#cxrecs_s

Two years ago during Covid lockdowns, I wrote about climate control freaks, facetiously anticipating a future headline: “Bad CO2 Day, Lockdowns Enforced.” A joke that would never happen, right? Well . . .