MAY WE SUGGEST…..
Some epic orchestral Wheatie Christmas music?
AND HERE WE GO!
Joe Biden didn’t win. This is our Real President:
![](https://www.theqtree.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Trump_White_House_Christmas_Portrait_2018.jpg)
AND our beautiful REALFLOTUS.
This Stormwatch Monday Open Thread remains open – VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
And yes, it’s Monday…again.
![](https://www.theqtree.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/polar-bear-dragging-himself-around.gif)
But we WILL get through it!
![](https://media.tenor.com/lxM1Bp6LdTAAAAAC/flying-lost-in-space.gif)
Because it’s CHRISTMAS!!!
![](https://media1.tenor.com/m/Cjj_K6iPWFQAAAAC/thumbs-thumbsup.gif)
We will always remember Wheatie,
![](https://www.theqtree.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/fantasy_walking_on_field_020457_-1024x640.jpg)
![](https://c.tenor.com/7yQgNAe7QsgAAAAC/lady-liberty-smack.gif)
Pray for Trump,
![](https://www.theqtree.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/praying-for-president-trump-jacqueline-manos.jpg)
Yet have fun,
![](https://www.theqtree.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/trump_dancing.gif)
and HOLD ON when things get crazy!
![](https://www.theqtree.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/trump-ride.gif)
We will follow the RULES of civility that Wheatie left for us:
Wheatie’s Rules:
- No food fights.
- No running with scissors.
- If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.
And while we engage in vigorous free speech, we will remember Wheatie’s advice on civility, non-violence, and site unity:
“We’re on the same side here so let’s not engage in friendly fire.”
“Let’s not give the odious Internet Censors a reason to shut down this precious haven that Wolf has created for us.”
If this site gets shut down, please remember various ways to get back in touch with the rest of the gang:
- Our backup site, The Q Tree 579486807, https://theqtree579486807.wordpress.com/
- Our old alternative site, The U Tree, where civility is not a requirement
- Our Gab Group, which is located at https://gab.com/groups/4178
- Our various sister sites, listed in the Blogroll in the sidebar
Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.
![](https://www.theqtree.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/UpsideDownFlag.gif)
Daily outrage and epic phuckery abound.
We can give in to despair…or we can be defiant and fight back in any way that we can.
Joe Biden didn’t win.
And we will keep saying Joe Biden didn’t win until we get His Fraudulency out of our White House.
![](https://www.theqtree.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/GetOut.gif)
Words of Christmas:
Yule
and the related term
Yuletide
nouns
Yule (also called Jul, jól or joulu) is a winter festival historically observed by the Germanic peoples that was incorporated into Christmas during the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples. In present times adherents of some new religious movements (such as Modern Germanic paganism) celebrate Yule independently of the Christian festival. Scholars have connected the original celebrations of Yule to the Wild Hunt, the god Odin, and the heathen Anglo-Saxon Mōdraniht (“Mothers’ Night”). The term Yule and cognates are still used in English and the Scandinavian languages as well as in Finnish and Estonian to describe Christmas and other festivals occurring during the winter holiday season. Furthermore, some present-day Christmas customs and traditions such as the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar, Yule singing, and others may have connections to older pagan Yule traditions.
The compound noun Yuletide (‘Yule-time’) is first attested from around 1475.[4]
LINK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule
Shown in a picture (Yule log)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Chambers_Yule_Log.png)
Yule log description
The Yule log, Yule clog, or Christmas block is a specially selected log burnt on a hearth as a winter tradition in regions of Europe, and subsequently North America. The origin of the folk custom is unclear. Like other traditions associated with Yule (such as the Yule boar), the custom may ultimately derive from Proto-Indo-European religion as similar traditions have been recorded in Celtic, Germanic, Baltic and Slavic paganism, among others.
American folklorist Linda Watts provides the following overview of the custom:
The familiar custom of burning the Yule log dates back to earlier solstice celebrations and the tradition of bonfires. The Christmas practice calls for burning a portion of the log each evening until Twelfth Night (January 6). The log is subsequently placed beneath the bed for luck, and particularly for protection from the household threats of lightning and, with some irony, fire. Many have beliefs based on the yule log as it burns, and by counting the sparks and such, they seek to discern their fortunes for the new year and beyond.[1]
Watts notes that the Yule log is one of various “emblem[s] of divine light” that feature in winter holiday customs (other examples include the Yule fire and Yule candle).[1]
Used in tweets / X posts / whatevs
Let’s see that full image!
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GCDz8NQXEAATs3Q.jpg)
But Wait! There’s MOAR MUSIC!
Need some Christmas music fast? Here is your one-stop shopping solution!
I don’t know – I need something more “Wheatie” – so check this out!
Have an EPIC Christmas, friends!
Need something more classic? An hour of Christmas piano!
OK – I don’t normally do “ads for musicals featured on MSN”, but this is kinda cool, in a Hollywood way.
Well, now let’s try some more modern stuff just for comparison. Check out some “dub-step” electronica for Christmas!
Let’s recover from that, with a smooth orchestral version of a classic – with some false advertising, as there’s no Bing in sight…..
Time to JUMP THE WOLF – with a bunch of great orchestral and “big choral” Christmas tunes – and a RIDICULOUSLY BIG WOLF!
Finally – what’s Christmas without some DS-approved Hollywood?
OK, we can’t finish with that. Merry Christmas — in Latin!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to ALL of you – posters, lurkers, appreciated authors, former posters, beloved guests, wandering journalists, opposition researchers, DS spies, foreign and domestic intelligence, and future historical AIs. We appreciate your presence here on this glorious day, or any other! Come in peace, go in peace, and carry the Good News to the infinite corners of the Earth – and beyond!
THE CHRISTMAS STUFF (& some regular stuff)
![](https://www.theqtree.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Musk_Quote_Important_Do_It-1024x480.jpg)
Wheatie’s last repost on Gab, before Christmas of 2021.
![](https://www.theqtree.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Baby_and_Stuffed_Rabbit_Toy_Christmas.png)
What’s Christmas without BUFFALO?
This is pretty amazing – an hour and a half with President Trump and FLOTUS Melania at Christmas in the White House!
Click out the image on this next one for the full coolness.
“Where’s the beef?”
Demmunists gonna be Demmunists – thanks to the Demmunized media.
Check out the spooky-good approximation of PI (see link) by Egyptian mathematicians. Quite “rational”, they were!
LINK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhind_Mathematical_Papyrus
Hope they’re wrong, but still – it’s time for the world to get control of the insanely evil elites and their flirtations with disaster.
And there are other religions, and some of them, like the Festivians, also celebrate Christmas!
But back to reality for just a moment…..
And back by popular demand!
Just sayin’!
Until victory, have faith!
![](https://www.theqtree.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/qanon_trust_the_plan.jpg)
And trust the big plan, too!
![](https://media1.tenor.com/m/fWvweU47j-kAAAAC/4th-of-july.gif)
And as always….
ENJOY THE SHOW
W
![](https://www.theqtree.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Trump_Melania_Christmas_Phone_Calls.jpg)
☺❅❆❄⁂ “STOLLEN!” ⁂❄❆❅☺
![](https://www.theqtree.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MerryX-768x431.png)
HA!
Yes, and to everybody here – HAPPY – you know – THE THING!
I’m a bit punchy after three Masses (and how many times do I really have to sing O Little Town of Bethlehem?), but that was LMAO funny.
It’s a miracle that he’s back on Twitter (errrr, X), but as the deliverer of the miracle said…..
Be super careful of your health, so “punchy” doesn’t become “beat up.”
Believe me, after the under-educated “soprano” we inherited from a “subsumed” parish breathed on me, I am well aware. In a choir loft, you don’t do that. EVER.
So how is your schedule tomorrow? Busy day? Hope you and yours have a Merry Christmas!
One in the morning, and then food and, uh, beverages. I’ll probably just do a place holder with some tunes.
Boxing day isn’t really that big around this side of the pond! 😉
Yep. Usually the unboxing is more fun 😆 🎄
(Of course there are all the after Christmas sales… where shopping becomes a contact sport 🙂 )….
Wow. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas & got strategic moments to catch your breath between all the many activities. God bless you & yours 🙂
Merry Christmas, all.
Merry Christmas! 🎄 💖 🙏
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Merry Christmas! 🎄 💝 Thanks for being here!!!
Merry Christmas to one and all! 🙂🎄
Merry Christmas, and good healing!
And Merry Christmas to Solas, your official Healing Assistant.
Merry Christmas, and very happy that you’re home and healing! 🎄 🙏
Good to see you up and about on here. Merry Christmas and heal well!
He has come! the Christ of God;—
Left for us His glad abode;
Stooping from His throne of bliss,
To this darksome wilderness.
He has come! the Prince of Peace;—
Come to bid our sorrows cease;
Come to scatter, with His light,
All the darkness of our night.
He, the Mighty King, has come!
Making this poor world His home;
Come to bear our sin’s sad load,—
Son of David, Son of God.
He has come whose name of grace
Speaks deliverance to our race;
Left for us His glad abode,—
Son of Mary, Son of God!
Unto us a Child is born!
Ne’er has earth beheld a morn
Among all the morns of time,
Half so glorious in its prime.
Unto us a Son is given!
He has come from God’s own heaven;
Bringing with Him, from above,
Holy peace and holy love.
…Horatius Bonar
H/T – https://transfigurations.blogspot.com
Merry Christmas, GA/FL!
Merry Christmas and thank you!!! 🎄 💖 🙏
Beautiful. Merry Christmas!
New Schlichter in fine form —
https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2023/12/25/leftist-idiocy-is-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving-n2632808
“What a spectacle – the president of an allegedly prestigious college word-salading it worse than Kamala after downing a bottle of Quaaludes and knocking back a couple of tumblers of Jack Daniels.”
That’s a good point he makes. But it’s something we’ve ALL known since the beginning of the “Diversity Hiring” movement.
I am sure everyone here has seen it in their place of employment. Not sure this exposure will change anything though.
Or, as the brilliant and pithy Rush Limbaugh would sum it up, leftists ALWAYS overreach. They just can’t help themselves.
Yup. ALWAYS.
Which is why PEDOPHILES always place their hopes in DEMONCRATS.
Yep.
They overreach because no one stops them.
Like children without any parental supervision.
Except they’re dangerously inept full grown psychopaths.
Periodically they are stopped. By voters.
I don’t know if that will work anymore, or not. Donald Trump is our best chance to see if it will.
“Periodically they are stopped. By voters.”
__________
Occasionally the voters manage to overcome a specific individual psychopath, but the oligarchy carries on unimpeded, without missing a beat, and the ousted member is given a high paying job in Big Tech, or at a University, or as a board member of some lobbying firm, or a plush job at a ‘think tank’, where they can plan their revenge against the People.
Nothing changes.
Today is a day of hope.
I thought it was a day of truth.
The truth is that our hope is largely neither in this world, nor by our hand. And yet it’s still good news!
Amen!
Thank you Wolf for a great post, Wheatie I am sure is honored! Rest her soul, we never know how much our actions affect others.
God Bless you, your family, and everyone on here.
May the new year bring many blessings to all.
Merry Christmas and God Bless! 🎄 💝
And a Happy New Year!!! 🔔
Amen!
Merry Christmas one and all!
Merry Christmas!!! 🎄💖🙏
what a worm
Lindsey Graham
@LindseyGrahamSC
There were numerous legal and factual concerns about the 2020 presidential election.
As the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with many others, I expressed concerns and investigated different allegations. The president has the right and duty, just like others involved in the process, to challenge the results.
While I voted to certify the 2020 election, there were problems.
It is very unnerving to see the justice system try to criminalize a president for questioning and challenging an election.
…
unnerving… Hell, it is criminal what they are doing to Trump.DOJ knows they are lying. Simply making shit up. Cuz, Trump Must Be Stopped.
he sees which way the wind is blowing…and he thinks he can worm his way into trump supporters’ good graces
Coal in Wittle Windsey’s nylon stockings…
Something else dark and lumpy, actually.
That stinks out loud. 😂
“While I voted to certify the 2020 election, there were problems.”
This statement shows your cowardice like an electron microscope.
You worm.
Worms have beneficial value. Whale shit is a better term for this situation.
😂
True! I do love my earthworms.
I told singingsoul he is like a tapeworm.
He has been a worm for a long time.
Like a tapeworm. Feeding off its host.
that is a good one 🙂
🙂
What a slime ball.
The responses are EPIC.
i MISS being able to read the replies to tweets–some times they were the BEST part!
Delete everything past the question mark and the question mark too.
Replace twitter with nitter and replace .com with .net
Then hit enter
Voila! Comments!
thanks!
Ha Ha! Small sampling. Replies were epic. Called out from every corner.
An epic Christmas post Wolf. Thanks.
Merry Christmas One and All.
You are most welcome! 😃
Merry Christmas and God Bless!!! 🎄 🙏
Merry Christmas PR!
Merry Christmas, phoenix.
Merry Christmas phoenix!!!!
![comment image](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/little-santa-baby-christmas-hat-chrismas-lying-her-belly-35298581.jpg)
so good to see you here!
Amen!!!
Thank You and Merry Christmas ???
Hello stranger. 🙂
It only took me a minute to realize your good friend is an apologist for terrorists.
On this Christmas Day, we will all pray for the souls of everyone who hates God’s Chosen Ones. The Messiah said He did not come down here to bring peace; He came to be sacrificed in atonement for all the sins of the world.
Psalm 83 [written thousands of years before Islam was created] describes today’s situation in Israel; your good friend should read it and take an accounting of his spiritual condition. Hamas is the cause of most civilian deaths and injuries in Gaza. Your good friend should direct his grief and anger there.
😥
Prolly Husam Zumlot’s, “good friend.”
But, well point taken.
I wrote what Hamas deserves, but I deleted it for Christmas.
Instead, I ask simply, who among the Palestinians and supporters will say that what Hamas did was wrong?
I would ask that God spare all who confess the sins of Hamas.
As for the rest, His call.
As we say around here, “They ain’t much count.” if they do not confess and repent.
Learn, Turn, or Burn…
Seems right now they’re stuck on burn…
Glad to see you’re OK, I was concerned.
Glad to see YOU’RE OK!
Great Christmas opener, Wolf!
Our family got together yesterday due to work schedules and such. So a quiet Christmas at home with wifey is on tap.
Please pray for and thank the first responders in your communities for their service. Most are dealing with the invasion and aftermath that is impacting their emotions and families as well as their communities at large.
As an example, one told me that he walked the streets of Gatlinburg a couple of days ago and heard almost no English speaking voices. He has some training in various languages and heard Russian (probably Russian speaking Ukies), Arabic and Hispanic languages in particular being spoken everywhere he went. None of us know the full extent of what has been going on since the stolen election.
Regardless, Merry Christmas to all. We will get through this and be better for it. Thank you, Jesus!
Amen
Verse of the Day for Monday, December 25, 2023
✟
“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;”
Colossians 3:23 (KJV)
Thank You, Jesus, for blessings received and prayers answered !!!
PRAYING ON THE ARMOR OF GOD
Father God, I now follow your command to put on the full armor of God, because my battle is not against flesh and blood but against rulers, authorities, the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the unseen world.
I first pray on the Belt of Truth that it may be buckled around my waist, may I be centered and encircled by your truth dear Lord. Hem me inside all that is true and right, and may I be protected and held up by the truth of your living word, in my Lord Jesus name.
I pray on the Breastplate of righteousness, please protect my vital organs and my inner man, cover my integrity, my spirit, and my soul. Guard my heart for it is the wellspring of life, please strengthen and guard the most vulnerable places in my life with that which is right, good, and noble that I might not receive a fatal blow from the enemy, in my Lord Jesus name.
I pray on the Gospel Shoes of Peace. I choose to stand in the shoes of your good news, and on the firm foundation of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the solid eternal rock. All other ground is sinking sand, I pray that I will not slip or fall, but that my feet would be firmly fitted on your lordship, my Lord Jesus. I choose to stand on you, so that the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus, the eternal Rock of Ages. I receive your holy peace now my Lord, from the sole of my feet to the crown of my head, in my Lord Jesus name.
I pray the Shield of Faith into my hand now. As I take up the shield of faith, I ask that you might extinguish every dart and arrow that is launched from the enemy to take me down spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, and every attempt of the enemy to destroy my joy. I ask that my faith in you would make it flame out. Extinguish every flaming arrow that would come against me, my life, my family, my home, or my ministry. May my faith always be out in front of me like a shield. Give me the courage to “faith my fears” by choosing to walk by faith and not by sight, in my Lord Jesus name.
I pray on the Helmet of Salvation, that you might protect my mind from the thoughts that can lead me astray. I choose to take every thought captive, and arrest all intentioned ideas and motives that would harm others, or distract me from your holy will for me. I submit every captured thought to the Lordship of my Lord Jesus Christ, and ask that you would imprison those thoughts that are not of you my Lord. Transform my mind and renew my thinking that I may think God thoughts, and have a sober mind that is focused on your glory. Please protect me from being double minded that I may allow my mind, I reject to live an earthly life, because I choose to live a holy one, governed by you My Lord Jesus, the prince of peace, please have my mind to be saturated with the holy mind of Christ, in my Lord Jesus name.
Finally, I take up the Sword of the Spirit which is the holy word of God, I pray this powerful offensive weapon into my hand, and ask that your holy word would be fitting for every encounter I face. As the enemy gets close to me, please give me the insight, wisdom, and skill to wield the word of God to drive away the enemy, in my Lord Jesus name.
May the enemy and his team flee from me, upon hearing the word of God spoken by the power and direction of the Holy Spirit. Give me the sword of the spirit to cut through the wiles of the devil, so that I may discern the schemes of the enemy when he is near.
With all kinds of prayers, supplication, and intercession I pray to you my Lord God as the one who fights my battles. Now that I’m in your holy powerful armor, I walk away covered and ready to face my day as you go before me, and please protect me in the midst of the spiritual warfare in this unseen world, in my Lord Jesus name.
Thank you my Lord, for the spiritual weapons of armor and prayer that you have given me. It is written no weapon formed against me shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses me.
Thank you Father God, my Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit, that I am more than a conqueror in my Lord Jesus. I pray all of this in the mighty name of my Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
BE MY VOICE
JESUS LOVES THE LITTLE CHILDREN
CHILD NOT CHOICE
PLEASE PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER
duchess01
Thank you for these. Prayers ongoing for you here and at Marica’s blog. Be well.
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
LOL!!! Merry Christmas!!! 🎁
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2023/12/25/mass-migration-blueprints-reveal-ngos-carefully-planned-us-migrant-invasion-report-says/#more-324423
Frankly, heads should roll for this.
Bingo
“Frankly, heads should roll for this.”
______________
They should, but they’re not gonna roll themselves.
[bitter snort]
You’re right of course.
The ngo’s should be arrested for smuggling people.
“The ngo’s should be arrested for smuggling people.”
______________
They should, but they’re not gonna arrest themselves.
That is the problem they are to busy arresting the opposition.
BQQM!
But the people behind the curtain will not allow it
^^^ No Worries.
Congress will hold hearings.
And issue sternly-worded letters.
Merry Christmas, all!
A small ground report from here in rural Montana:
Yesterday, my church planned the regular services, one at 9am and one at 11am. Then there were special Christmas Eve services at 4pm and 6pm.
I attended the 9am service. It had about the normal number of attendees, probably about 250-300 people. We have been in Matthew, and today’s section was the beheading of John the Baptist. Our poor pastor, trying to make a Christmas day message out of that! He did a good job, though. He contrasted the “feast” being had by Herod, and the following passage about the miracle feast of the feeding of the five thousand.
Then I went to the 4pm service. It was PACKED to the rafters! I’d bet there were 450 people there. We laugh and call them “Chreasters” (only attend on Christmas and Easter), but hey, they were there. It was a beautiful service with lots of music and singing. And the Christmas story, of course.
No matter what the media says, Christianity is alive and well in America. There are a lot of us. Many are quiet and you don’t hear from them until it’s time to vote. But the Silent Majority is real.
God Bless Us, Every One!
Thank you!!! 💝
🙂
Thanks for the report. That sounds encouraging and wonderful!
We went to the 9:30 AM service and the fire marshal would not have been pleased had he known. 387 in a 299 maximum seating allowed sanctuary. The second service was at 11 AM with 225 plus the Fakebook live broadcast of that service adding 113 more.
The children’s Christmas play was the previous Friday evening. A large number of children were sick and unable to perform, so they had some last minute stand-ins from the youth department. As a result they expected a small turnout. Well over 200 came. Amazing.
The church is in the process of going to a third worship service on Sunday due to the growth. Plans for a new sanctuary are on the books and it looks like one will get built in the next few years. All of the churches in our area are growing strongly that have traditional Christian beliefs and practices. The others are dying.
There is a hunger…
I’ve noticed the local news outlets around here saying Merry Christmas yesterday and today instead of Happy Holidays. Also the nfl game announcer’s were saying Merry Christmas today. Little subtle changes that’s nice to see.
Bit of NATO did too. Would it be wrong to ask what they are up too or should we just accept it?
Great stuff! Merry Christmas!
Wonderful report! Merry Christmas, Lady A! 🌲
TY.
I hope your Christmas was wonderful!
It was good but also tiring…trying to regroup today 🙂
This is REALLY good! Leftists hear “fossil fuels,” and think “combustion engines.” But there is a lot more to it. This is about a very important part of that:
“This is my first Christmas without my dad. As hard as it is for me and my siblings, it’s harder still for our mother, who is having her first Christmas since 1963 without him. Dad’s days in the hospital and subsequent death ushered in a wave of emotions, memories, and ponderings about heaven, sin, salvation, and for me, fossil fuels.
The last item in that list may sound strange, but let me explain. As an advocate for the energy industry, work follows me everywhere, and I love it because I love what I do. But fossil fuels are not just my life, they are life-giving and life-sustaining.
After his heart attack, Dad had a cardiac catheterization to assess the damage to his coronary artery. A hollow, plastic tube was inserted through the groin. Then, guided by the doctor, it traveled through the blood vessels, sending back data and information. In this procedure, the plastics are made of oil. The needle is forged to the finest of points by heat produced from coal. The medicines used to prevent infection are petrochemicals likely made from natural gas. Right there: fossil fuels. ”
https://thefederalist.com/2023/12/25/we-cant-let-fossil-fuels-die-because-they-keep-us-alive/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=we-cant-let-fossil-fuels-die-because-they-keep-us-alive
AMEN. Real Science and TRUTH approve of this post!!!
Uh…all but one of those uses is from using petrochemicals for something OTHER than a fossil fuel.
And that furnace could and arguably should have been powered by a nuke.
However this IS STILL an argument for the oil industry…just not the exact argument you think it is. Pull that goop out of the ground and make wonderful stuff out of it!
Oil/Coal/Gas are a part of our society whether or not we burn them, and as you show they enhance and even save lives.
I remember during the ’73 oil embargo hearing a Saudi sheik say that oil is too valuable to be used as fuel.
He’s not the only one.
But the people against fossil fuels make no distinction. It’s not me, it’s them. When they shut down drilling, fracking, etc., they shut down the source of petrochemicals for every purpose.
Precisely. It exposes their collective stupidity.
What I usually see nowadays is an obsession with climate change, not so much the simple act of drilling. Of course if we stopped burning the stuff, THAT wouldn’t be the reason they oppose drilling.
Of course the truth of the matter is they oppose anything that betters human lives, so they’d need some other excuse to oppose drilling.
I’m trying to avoid calling them “fossil fuels” because that’s just one possible use of the stuff. By using the term, you’re focusing on their use as fuel which (again) was only one of the multiple uses listed in the original article you posted. And in doing so you play into their hands because you’re ignoring most of the actual uses of the stuff.
Nice summery and it sounds much like a warning. Not one that we haven’t thought about though, but we seem destined to wait for that shoe to drop. What that shoe will be is an open question, but feels quite confident in saying the invaders will have their feet stuffed in there with whatever else and it seems obvious they want to shove MAGA into that shoe as well along with a host of false flags.
https://rumble.com/v439n85-tulsi-gabbard-bludgeons-the-ukrainian-autocracy.html
BTW, unless the surprise post demonstrates something a bit more personnel I’m going to assume GS or GS’s GF.
LOL!!!
https://dailysceptic.org/2023/12/24/turns-out-alcohol-may-actually-be-good-for-your-health/
No surprise.
I’ll drink to that 😀 🍻 🍾 🍷 🍸 🍹 (not all at the same time, mind you! 🙂 )…..
sneaky way to get phone numbers…
FTA
“As Jill and I think about our New Year’s resolutions, we’d love to hear yours,” it read. “Text me yours at (302) 404-0880.”
First of all, it is obviously a ploy to get people’s phone numbers so they can be put on text notification lists not just for the Democratic party but for their affiliated special interest groups. Pretty standard operating procedure for a lot of politicians, which hopefully most people reading the tweet understood.
But beyond that, I can’t think of many more ways the Biden team can be more tone-deaf than this, at a time when people are continuing to struggle under the “leadership” of Joe Biden, with the economy, inflation, and cost of living issues ranking as their top concerns heading into 2024, and Biden’s approval ratings being reflective of that.
https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2023/12/24/hot-takes-joe-and-jill-ask-what-your-new-years-resolutions-are-and-the-responses-were-lit-n2167914
IF I were to respond, perhaps one or more of the following.
Now, off to the link.
You’re going to end up on the Persecution List if you do that.
i bet you’re right about that
Prolly so. Hence, “IF”. Willing to bet, on one or more lists, just because.
“Witness for the Persecution”…
Good online friends—
Yours Truly asks for prayers. My son and DIL are coming over to look at me and give their opinion if I need to get back to the ER. Thank you.
Incoming…
Please update, time permitting.
I brought an update over from Marica’s a couple of minutes ago, at 21:17.
Thank you!
Just saw it.
🙏
I think you should go back into the ER only if it has cute nurses. 😂
A BLESSED and Happy Christmas to everyone on the QTree (and the other trees, too) and many thanks to Wolf for this blog (a refuge of MAGA, Real Science and Skepticism, and Humor)!
And here’s hoping that the receipts are small and the presents are large, and the happiness and joy are even larger, knowing that Jesus is the Reason for the Season…
And a little bit of Bells of St. Marys…
Merry Christmas Cuppa!
Merry Christmas and God Bless!!! Thank you – and thank you for being here! 🎄 💝
Apparently Argentina’s new leader, Javier Milei, met with Bubba Clintoon:
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2023/11/28/quiet-clinton-meeting-raises-questions-1415765/
.
And apparently Javier is a member of WEF:
https://www.weforum.org/people/javier-gerardo-milei/
Dangerous! VERY dangerous!!!
In the Big Club. Good catch, Scott.
Let’s see how he governs.
“Let’s see how he governs.”
____________
We already see.
He could have arrested the entire political-class, seized all of their assets, sentenced them to work off the debt, and set an example for the entire world.
Instead, he devalued the currency, so the price everything in Argentina just doubled in a matter of seconds, destroying the People.
SMH.
Tired. Really, really tired, of disappointments.
Doggie chiropractor?
Wow! And they seem to like the results!!!
Just a little musical break…..
….it sounded “Christmas-y”.
Maybe someone should resign.
/s
Maybe! LOL!
Stephen Miller is burning POTATUS badly!!!
Clearly we need more Congressional hearings, just to be sure, Briben IS a criminal.
LOL! Clearly!!!
Pal-Pals are escalating.
There have been major threats in Germany and all over Europe the past couple of days; today the main train station in Bielefeld (north Germany) was evacuated and closed for a few hours. Yesterday and the day before, people were “carded” as they were going to church in Köln (Cologne) and also in Wien (Vienna) Austria.
Seems Mo-Ham-Head’s folks just can’t stand the truth about Jesus, His birth, and Salvation. And of course, our lily-livered-faux gubmint does nothing about it… only isolated incidents, etc.
Here’s an article from ReMix, in English…
https://rmx.news/crime/major-counter-terror-operation-across-europe-after-intelligence-revealed-plan-for-mass-attacks-on-christian-landmarks
Good online friends—
Yours Truly is hanging in. I posted an update at Marica’s blog. I again ask for prayers. Thank you.
Good news! Our prayers are with you!!! 🙏
Be sure you eat just like the doctor told you!
American Thinker
Ballot Banishing And Our New Leftwing Confederates
In the election of 1860, southern Democrats in 10 states of the soon-to-be formalized Confederacy made it almost impossible for their own voters to cast ballots for Abraham Lincoln for President.
In that sense, the Left in Colorado would have felt right at home in the ante-bellum South—erasing the name of a presidential candidate whom they loathed and by whom they were similarly terrified.
In eerie fashion, and also similar to the old ethos of the Confederacy, the Democratic Left now believes in state nullification of federal statutes.
So like the would-be secessionist states of 1860-1, over 550 jurisdictions, almost all in blue states, claim that federal immigration laws no longer apply to them.
Thus they brag that they can breezily be defied. (Not so easily or willfully are federal gun laws, or EPA mandates, or federal endangered species lists, ignored in red-state jurisdictions.)
The essence of sanctuary cities is an arrogant sense that federal law means nothing to morally superior local and state governments.
So they nullify federal immigration laws in the manner of defying tariffs by South Carolina in 1832, or racial integration by Alabama Governor George Wallace in 1963.
Wallace tried to block integration by opposing federal implementation of the Supreme Court’s ruling against segregation of students by race in public schools and universities, as well as President Kennedy’s federalization of the Alabama national guard.
This Confederatization of Leftist values and protocols is uncanny. And I wrote about the phenomenon in a recent New Criterion article” The Old South Shall Rise Again”.
The echoes keep popping up periodically and predictably in the news, as we saw with the Colorado erasure of Donald Trump from Colorado’s primary and likely general election ballot.
Take also racial fixations and obsessions. Is the current diversity/inclusion/equity—woke movement based on similar racial essentialism?
Or in Confederate terms, are we back to certifying one’s particular DNA (now by blood tests, but then by genealogists)? Does the South’s old one-sixteenth/one-drop rule (ask Elizabeth Warren) still determine racial status and privilege?
Do our DEI/woke racially segregated campus dorms, segregated safe spaces, segregated graduations, and segregated events echo Wallace’s 1963 Inauguration Address chant—“Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!”?
Are blue-states becoming like one-dimensional “King Cotton” economies of the past?
Just as a “King Cotton” economy ran the politics of the Old South through its unprecedented wealth, so too our modern leftist magnates are often one-industry “Big Tech” titans—of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google—who more or less by their PAC and foundation “donations” (Mark Zuckerberg alone accounted for $419 million ) warped the work of registrars in many of the key 2020 counties.
One mark of Confederates was the strangling of the southern middle class. A tiny plantationists elite sat atop a vast caste of black slaves and a poor hireling white population.
Yet in terms of aggregate state income and wealth, by 1860 five of the wealthiest ten states in America were slave states and about to secede—given the unquenchable global appetite of the growing Industrial Revolution for southern cotton. (Was the desire for and power of Cotton then like iPhones and Google searches?)
So the sheer power, wealth, and influence of the plantationists remind one of clout and superciliousness of California’s Silicon Valley and its $9-trillion dollars in market capitalization.
Indeed, it is eerie in debates and declarations how California Governor Gavin Newsom brags about California mega-Big Tech success and wealth. Often Newsom talks grandly of his Bay Area, Silicon Valley sector, as if he was Sen. James Hammond, a southern plantation owner, and U.S. Senator from South Carolina, who boasted defiantly in 1858 that “Cotton is King!”
But like Hammond, Newsom then predictably grows silent about the state’s one-fifth of the resident population below the poverty line, one third of all US welfare recipients, the crumbling infrastructure, the dismal schools, the huge multibillion-dollar state deficits, the shrinking and fleeing middle class, the exploding homeless, and the retribalization of the state’s society by race.
Just as King Cotton seemed to ensure palatial homes amid an impoverished general population, poor roads, anemic industry and manufacturing, few rails, and bad public schools, so too does blue-state wealth reside disproportionally in the hands of the few atop a growing class of poor and a vanishing middle class.
In the years before the Civil War and in the ante-bellum Jim Crow South, southern states bled populations fleeing to the new territories in the West or to the manufacturing and industrial boomtowns of the North. They were escaping a fossilized society of have and have nots—eerily representative of the current ethos of the blue-state paradigm.
California has the richest zip codes and greatest number of billionaires, and near highest poverty rate. New York is close; both have largest number of residents escaping their states—ironically to a new South that is becoming as dynamic as the old bygone North.
So the recent ballot erasing of Colorado fits this larger picture of blue-states emulating the values of ante-bellum southern states—erasing ballots, defying federal laws, fixating on race and racial privileges, and catering to a one-dimensional medieval economy and caste, amid a growing underclass struggling with neglected infrastructure, poor schools, and growing poverty.
So what will be the new/old Democratic 2024 election mantra?
“Vote for us—and ballot deletion, states’ rights, federal nullification, racial essentialism and segregation, and a one-party, one-economy plantationist nation”?
Dude’s talkin’ ’bout muh fambly!
Good stuff!
What a lovely Christmas post, Wolf. Thank you & Merry Christmas to all!
We had a nice, though exhausting, gathering of all our descendants & all significant others except the twins’ women. The granddaughters actually did Really Well with almost no crying–snacks & toys helped. Both of them were enthralled w/ my jingle bell necklace.
My husband went nuts w/ a major carnivore feast, starting by smoking double pork butts last night for like 12 hours. Then there were deep fried chicken “strips” & onion rings & skewers of seasoned venison & onions on the grill. He outdid himself & wore himself out so ended up napping during some of the present exchange & games chaos. Oh there was a venison heart a smoked fish w/ sharp cheese & crackers & plenty of other side dishes, drinks, & desserts.
Our son Brandon spent the night here after working an OT shift as an EMT & he’s got another OT EMT shift tomorrow. These shifts are in the middle of his 5 days off between alternating 24 hour shifts–an 8 day rotational schedule at the fire house while he’s still in training as a firefighter but fully badged as an EMT…
Michael was also busy serving in his church w/ 2 services Saturday night & Sunday morning plus Thursday practice for their Christmas celebrations. Some of us made it to the Saturday event & were blessed to see him worshipping the Lord on his bass. I also fit in some childcare for the granddaughters over the last few days so we’re all pretty tired now! God is good & these are the good kind of tired to be facing.
Hope everyone had a blessed celebration filled with light, laughter, & love!
God Bless Us, Every One! ❤
Sounds like a great time all-around, leaving everyone suitably exhausted.
Yes. Brandon passed out during the late night football game but finally headed to his “frat house” (friend bought a 6 BR home & rents to a bunch of buddies) a bit before midnight. His EMT shift later today is likely to be wearing him out too 😉
Hope you had a lovely Christmas. We were Quite Excited (Michael is probably going to be Loving the local Sports Talk Radio over the next few days) to see the Detroit Lions clinch the NFC North division for the 1st time in 30 years. We are looking forward to their next game against Dallas on Saturday & Michigan’s return to the Rose Bowl against Alabama on New Year’s. If we win we’ll play for the national championship a week later. Having both football teams playing so well is very rare & much appreciated by Many Michiganders ❤
I’m getting manly meat hunger just reading about this! A well-deserved round of applause from me to your DH!!!
Good family stuff. Thank you for posting! Merry Christmas!!! 🎄 💖 🙏
One must regularly feed that inner man w/ physical AND spiritual meat!
God Bless you & so glad to hear you mention Mrs. Wolf the other day!!!
Tucker/Pomboy interview transcript.
Tucker [00:00:00] If you take one step outside of rich person world where everything is just fine, the first thing you notice is that people are really worried about the economy, not just the macro economy, the effect of monetary policy on the world, but their own personal economies. People in the United States are running out of money, not the homeless, the middle class, even the upper middle class. They’re running out of money. And now Christmas is here. So that’s a huge problem because everything is more expensive. You probably already seen how a typical $20 grocery list in 1990 would now cost you $72. That would have been $44 just last year. So 44 to 72 in one year. But it’s actually worse than that. Since Joe Biden took office, the price of virtually everything you buy has skyrocketed. Bacon up 24%, eggs 41%, alcohol, 11%. Airfare, 42, heating oil 20%. It goes on and on and on. And as the prices have gone up, so have credit card rates, up to 23% from 16%. So there’s no denying that the country is poorer and far deeper in debt. How bad is it and what happens next? Now, most economists you see on television are busy telling you about the stock market. This is up. This is down. Most don’t pay any attention to this. And the ones who do lie about it. By and large. Stephanie Pomboy does not. We trust her on these questions. She’s the founder and president of Macro Mavens and joins us now for an overview. Stephanie, thank you so much for coming on. So those are, that was just a quick snapshot of where the average household is, trying to buy staples to live. But if you wouldn’t mind broadening it out a little bit, it feels like everything is much more expensive. That’s true, correct?
Pomboy [00:01:53] Yes, it is. It is absolutely true. Contrary to what other people on Wall Street and out of the administration might have you believe. I think, you know, it’s interesting for us to have this conversation now, because I’ve spent the last two days doing business news media, talking about the latest slew of inflation numbers. And in the background, you see the stock market on an absolute tear. Wall Street, the administration, the Federal Reserve are all taking a massive victory lap because these reported inflation numbers have slowed from 9.8% to just 3%. But as you outlined, Tucker, for the average American, the price of everything went up massively. And now it’s just going up at a slightly less eye-watering pace. I mean, everything is usuriously expensive and it’s getting more expensive, slightly slower. And so for them, this isn’t cause for celebration. I would footnote since you kind of led me there, that these numbers themselves are highly flawed. I mean, this will not shock you, Tucker, but because they are manufactured by the government, they tend to understate inflation. The reason being that all of the cost of living adjustments that things like Social Security are tied to and our tax payments are tied to our are tied to this particular measure. So it behooves them to keep that number as low as possible. So in the real world, first off, inflation never peaked at nine. In the real world, it was probably 20%. And who knows what it really is now. Just by way of example, this latest inflation number that came out reported a 33% decline in health care insurance year over year. I don’t know about you, but I think my health care insurance is probably up about that amount this year. So these numbers are complete nonsense. And then I would go on, if I may, to just highlight that the real problem is not only is the price of goods gone up, but income growth hasn’t kept pace and this has been a major issue. For comparison, under Biden, real disposable income, which is your income after taxes, adjusting for that government measure of inflation. So not even real world inflation. Has declined $800 billion. Just for comparison, under Trump, it rose 4.3 trillion. So, I mean, this is a massive hole for households. And what are they doing? They’re borrowing, as you mentioned, the 23% credit card rates just to keep up. Net interest payments for households have doubled since Biden took office and are now the highest level of income since the global financial crisis, the Great Recession in 2008. So, long story short, Tucker. Yes, households are seriously struggling in a way that we haven’t frankly seen in decades.
Tucker [00:04:55] So at some point, people won’t be able to pay. I mean, it’s harder than ever to get a home equity loan, I notice. So people are going to run out of ways to raise money. You know, they can’t force their own wages up. So they’re going be putting much more of their expenditures on credit cards. It feels like they already are. What’s the default rate? Are we seeing a rise in that, on credit card debt?
Pomboy [00:05:17] Well, this is sort of classic Wall Street analysis. You know, the default rate hit very low levels during this COVID stimulus spectacular when the government was sending checks to people’s mailboxes and people actually cleverly paying down debt with a lot of that money so that default rates hit these incredibly low to depressed levels and now we’re starting to move higher. And so the numbers have moved up sharply and are now kind of back to where they were following that global financial crisis. But everyone sort of takes comfort that they’re just normalizing from the prior levels. So this is all nonsense. I mean, they’re already moving up very rapidly back to those prior recession levels and I think on their way much higher because as we just talked about, you know, incomes aren’t keeping up. The inflation numbers are really fraudulent. So households are struggling and they are running up credit card debt, which is just mind boggling given that they have to pay 24% interest. Another thing that they’re doing, which is new and really novel to me, not something I would ever consider, but these buy now pay later programs that, you know, if you go to a Home Depot and you buy a saw, you can buy now pay later. And it’s essentially a layaway plan. These businesses are absolutely booming, but the nonpayment rate on these things is massive. You know, the last time I saw a statistic of just like 20 or 30% of people who put things on layaway don’t even make the first payment on it. So there’s going to be hell to pay eventually when when all this comes home to roost.
Tucker [00:07:00] So the main source of ready cash for people is credit cards. And if they’re charging 24% and that debt cannot be discharged through bankruptcy, thanks to Joe Biden’s work on behalf of the credit card companies in the Senate. And they, of course, bought his house for him and gave his son a job in exchange for that. But I’m wondering, like, why is there no conversation about the credit card companies. If I’m in the Mafia and I charge 24% interest, I’m a loan shark and I go to jail. But the credit card companies are not treated as criminals, which obviously they are. They’re treated as heroes. Like, when do we get the national conversation about anyone who lends money at 24%?
Pomboy [00:07:38] It’s interesting, Tucker, because they have really clamped down on the bite on the payday loan guys, which really, you know, their rates were around 24%. You know, what’s the difference. You know? So and you know what I was going to say, you don’t want to get too cynical, but you really have to about which big credit card companies are in, you know, have effective lobbying in with Washington. I mean, clearly, this is just like the big bank cartel, the big credit card companies. In fact, the banks and the credit card companies are largely one in the same. So I think maybe that answers your question.
Tucker [00:08:20] Or I wonder if, you know, if a huge percentage of the population stop paying their credit card bills, like, what could they do about it?
Pomboy [00:08:29] Well, it’s a great question. I mean, I think we’re going to see, we’re going to get an answer to that question soon. We are seeing delinquency rates go up. So people are running up debt on these credit cards and they’re not paying it. And I think the way push will come to shove is that it’s going to reverberate through the financial markets as these losses mount. And as you and I have talked about previously, back when Silicon Valley Bank failed, it’s not like the banks are in shipshape right now either, because they’re sitting on massive losses on their security holdings. So once these loan losses start to pick up on credit cards and everything else, commercial real estate, etc., they’re going to have a real problem. And when we get a problem in the financial system, policymakers will wake up and they will, as always, close the barn door after the horse is already out. So I think we’re going to have to go through the crisis first. Sadly, and as always, Tucker, it’s the middle America that gets hit the hardest with all of this. And they pay the price for egregious monetary and fiscal policy that really fueled this inflation and then necessitated these massive interest rate increases to quash it that is now making home unaffordable and credit card debt usurious. And really, it’s a really tough spot. Meanwhile, they’re uncorking the champagne at the White House and on Wall Street.
Tucker [00:09:55] You know, this is the kind of behavior that, you know, that sparks revolutions. I hope we don’t have one, a violent one. But it does seem very reckless. So how do you foresee this unfolding over the next 12 months? It’s an election year. Obviously, the administration is doing everything it can to prop up a fake economy until Election Day. But what, if you had to guess, what do you think’s going to happen over the next year?
Pomboy [00:10:19] Gosh, well, I’ve been surprised that it hasn’t happened yet, to be honest, because of these rate increases and the issues we just talked about. The consumer is the engine of the US economy. And it’s clear from every measure of consumer confidence that you see that they are deep in recession. So whatever statistics the government might produce, the consumer really is not feeling like this is a good economy. My sense is that these interest rate increases that now everyone is giddily anticipating are going to reverse, will eventually reverse, but not fast enough to bail out all of the issues that we have built up here in terms of delinquency rates rising for consumers. And we’re seeing it on the corporate side. And that’s a big issue. You know, it’s one thing for Joe Sixpack to stop paying his credit card bill. It’s another thing for WeWork to go out of business and stop paying its debtors. And, you know, those kind of things have happened. We’ve seen corporate bankruptcy filings at the fastest pace since the global financial crisis. That stuff adds up and it also blows back to Main Street because those jobs don’t exist anymore when the company goes out of business. So I think, unfortunately, I see a fairly nasty set up for 2024 with a lot of companies closing down because they can’t manage their debt service and laying off a lot of people and making the situation for the average guy even more challenging. So I wish I had a happier message. But yes, you know, eventually you got to pay the piper for these policies. And we have been running just the most reckless monetary and fiscal policies really almost around the globe of anyone. And it’s about time that we finally paid the price for that.
Tucker [00:12:05] So, I mean, I’m not that old, but even I remember a world in which people were suspicious of debt and it was not considered a virtue to be in hock to somebody else. And it was considered crazy and reckless to base your business, much less your economy on debt. And then all of a sudden things changed pretty crisply and debt became like a respectable business. I sell debt, distressed debt. And then we base the whole economy on debt. And obviously that was insane. But how do you think that change took place in attitudes?
Pomboy [00:12:41] Well, it’s interesting. So that really started back in the early eighties. And frankly, I guess not surprisingly, we had that peak in interest rates. And as interest rates started to come down, the allure of debt became more and more appealing because you could borrow at lower and lower interest rates. And then, as you said, Tucker, that kind of became the engine of growth for the economy. And we stopped being people who built real things and we outsourced all that hard labor to countries like China and Indonesia and India and whatnot. And we got into the manufacture of paper, which I guess is a much more elegant thing to do. You don’t get your fingernails dirty doing that kind of stuff. So we let the rest of the world produce all of our widgets and stuff and pharmaceuticals. As it turns out, while we manufactured paper claims. And then we imagined that we could grow forever on all this debt that we were printing because the rest of the world was so enamored with our dollars that they would continue to fling money at us for any, you know, as egregious as our spending was, they would continue to support us by lending us money and taking our dollars in return. And that’s all changing, and it’s changing rapidly. However, here in the US, policymakers still have their blinders on and they imagine that the US dollar will never be challenged as the world’s reserve currency and that we can continue to print money wantonly, you know, indefinitely, and they’ll just suck it up. And in reality, they’re not doing that anymore. They’re not buying our Treasury bonds anymore, and they’re diversifying actually out of our dollars into gold and into oil and strategic resources. And they’re starting to trade in local currencies so that they don’t have to transact in dollars. So I think, you know, the demise of US hegemony is really upon us. And the Biden administration and so many in Washington are just sleeping right through it as if it’s not a reality. And this is incredibly dangerous both for our economy and our national security.
Tucker [00:14:53] And certainly my sense. So every time I’ve been out of the country in the last year, it’s very obvious that America’s control over the world’s financial systems, is in decline, and that maybe that has scary consequences. Do you think it’s that no one in Washington knows it’s happening or it’s just too awful to face?
Pomboy [00:15:10] You know, I ask myself that question a lot, Tucker, and I’ve concluded that for Wall Street, it’s clearly a thought that it’s just far too difficult to acknowledge. The truth hurts too much to accept it. So they continue to indulge these fantasies that there is no competition for the US dollar. In Washington, I’m sure they have to know because they are seeing this happen. You know, the Treasury is aware that foreign central banks are showing up routinely at their auctions like they used to. Quite the contrary. China has been a net seller of Treasuries for years and years now. Russia has no U.S. Treasury holdings at all. They’ve completely depleted all of their Treasury holdings. So in Washington, I’m sure they are aware this is happening, but they have this, as so many politicians do, you know, unmitigated hubris to imagine that somehow they’ll be able to figure out how to put this whole thing back together again if it really gets out of control. So, I mean, I don’t know. It’s a question I ask myself, Tucker. But in the meantime, while we’re wrestling with the answer, the trends are shifting and we’re doing nothing about it. I mean, I hate to sound like some schizophrenic on the street corner with my, you know, The End is Near signs as I listen to myself, you know, tell all this kind of grim news. But unfortunately, there are a lot of things that are happening that are sort of secular, big secular shifts in the economic and geopolitical landscape that are being ignored by our policymakers. And you know, it’s scary to watch and know that nothing’s really. No one’s being serious about these threats.
Tucker [00:16:55] This has been my obsession since the war in Ukraine started. Now, this may not be precisely your area. I don’t know. But I just want to ask you anyway about residential housing markets. People’s homes are obviously the main reservoir of their wealth, of their savings. Those markets in a lot of places are frozen. There’s very few transactions. It’s it’s hard to know what the market is. What happens over the next year with residential real estate, do you foresee?
Pomboy [00:17:22] Yeah, it’s a it’s an interesting question. As you said, the markets are frozen because if you had a 2.8% mortgage and you’re going to sell and have to get a 7.8% mortgage, that doesn’t appeal to anyone. The typical mortgage payment for someone who does that is up 60%, the monthly payments. So no one’s going to do that. And so we’re kind of in a standstill here. You know, I do anticipate that we will have a hard landing, a real recession next year, and the Fed will cut interest rates. And so mortgage rates will start to come down and maybe that will help loosen things up. But then I also think, you know, I hate to cop out with the, you know, real estate is location, location, location, but in an environment where we’re having a recession and that’s the catalyst for interest rates coming down and mortgage rates going lower, these high tax states like New York, New Jersey, California, they’re all going to have to raise their taxes even more because they’ll obviously have more people on social assistance programs, etc., and tax revenues will be down. And so, you know, California is already flipped from a surplus to a deficit. If we go into recession, it’s going to have a major problem and it will obviously raise taxes to fix it. And that will cause a further exodus, in my view, out of these high tax states into the non tax and low tax states. So again, I think it’ll be location, location, location. I don’t know if you could paint the residential real estate market with one brush for 2024 for that reason. But, you know, I’m not a real estate broker, so I’m not certain on how that’s going to play out.
Tucker [00:19:08] It’s hard to imagine people will pay, you know, the majority of their income for the privilege of living in New Jersey or Illinois. But, you know, we’ll see. So last question, without getting into, you know, all the facets of immigration that are relevant to Americans, just on the economics of it. So you’re describing a country that’s transitioning from abundance to scarcity, from wealth to in some cases poverty. And we’re at the exact same moment importing tens of millions of the world’s poorest people into our country and putting them on public assistance. So just as an economic matter, leaving aside the cultural effects. What does that do to our economy?
Pomboy [00:19:49] Well, I mean, the no brainer answer to that is it just ensures that these massive fiscal deficits that we’ve been running are going to continue ad infinitum into the future and quite possibly grow even larger. And where that brings me to is, again, going back to this conversation about the dollar, used to be that we could run these deficits without any increase in our interest rates because the rest of the world was so enamored with holding our U.S. Treasuries and they don’t anymore. So that leaves only one potential buyer for our Treasury debt to finance these deficits, and that is the Federal Reserve. So if the Federal Reserve essentially prints the money to hand to Washington to provide these social assistance programs to the immigration and everything else that they want to do, the dollar will be the valve for those sins. And the way that is manifest in the US is through higher inflation. It’s this is the preferred way to get inflation is to have the dollar silently decline in the background because, you know, the average guy doesn’t understand what that means. But ultimately what it means is that when you go to Wal-Mart, the price of everything that’s imported from China is suddenly going to be twice as expensive as a consequence. So, you know, ultimately that’s where I see this whole immigration problem going. It just compounds our fiscal, our untenable fiscal situation. And the outlook for that will be the dollar and possibly the end of its reserve currency standing in the next few years quite possibly.
Tucker [00:21:30] So that’s just a total reset of our standard of living. Yeah, lots of consequences of. That every time we talk, Stephanie, I think, boy, I hope she’s wrong, but every time I think she’s probably not. So I appreciate that analysis. Thank you.
Pomboy [00:21:44] Thank you. It’s a pleasure. And I hope I’m wrong, too. I sincerely do.
Tucker [00:21:47] Of course, I know. Good to see you.
Pomboy [00:21:51] Thanks, Tucker.
As I have been posting for quite some time, prepare.
Matches everything I’m seeing.
Same. Real estate inventory is so low. People can still sell it at high prices, but where are they going to go to buy something else they want? What keeps going around here is the economy. The tourism sector fuels a lot of it because it is still relatively lower cost to come and stay here compared to other options. As a result jobs are still plentiful. The softening hits us when people can no longer afford to travel.
New residential construction stopped for the most part a year ago except for a couple of national now-not-so-cheap box builders. You can afford to build if materials/labor are higher cost than norm if the interest rates are low or vice versa. Not the case anymore. The inflation wrecked it. The Hispanic invasion helped the trade with lower cost labor, but the materials went higher with the interest rates.So most contractors are totally focused on remodels, renos, additions, etc.
Not tourism related jobs are still somewhat safe around here, but as the rest of the economy cools and the discretionary spending stops – it will hit here as well. Car dealers are already starting to beg again as an example.
You cannot spend more than you take in if you are tapped out in the debt markets. BRICS is doing to us exactly what I have said since it activated. The principle of Proverbs 22:7 always applies. It has been a systematic take down of America. Our politicians have been traitors and criminals. It is all been backwards for way too long. Everything is designed for them to work for us, which they have reversed because we got too fat and happy over the scraps they dish out.
As I learned from my old political mentor in the 1970’s – entitlements and the demands that originate from deadbeats to have them will be the ruination of America because the politicians and their operatives will use them to gain more power.
The Soetoro/WEF/Soros plan of human misery is fully implemented.
Thanks for posting TB2,
I really feel for the young families that are just starting out in this economy.
I agree. So many feel trapped and are losing hope.