What could possibly go wrong?

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House owning is the result of bourgeoise values like thrift, hard work, and cautious spending, and not, as liberals believe, the cause of them. Of course, any proper liberal knows that a “work ethic” is just another manifestation of white racism, so open up the gift bag and start doling out the goodies.

Biden Admin Quietly Injecting Radical Policies Into Housing Market — And It Might Bring The Whole System Down

The Biden administration has pushed for easier home financing for higher-risk borrowers amid surging housing costs, increasing the risk of a wave of defaults, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The government-sponsored corporations Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, regulated by the Federal Home Financing Administration (FHFA), have taken a number of steps to increase financing opportunities for higher-risk borrowers under the Biden administration, including subsidizing higher-risk borrowing by hiking rates on lower-risk borrowers. Many of these actions have led to Americans taking on an increasingly large amount of debt while lending facilitated by government entities has grown in size, creating a growing possibility that a wave of foreclosures and defaults could create a shock in the housing system, according to experts who spoke to the DCNF.

The guidance from the FHFA to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to essentially subsidize higher-risk borrowers took effect in May 2023, according to the Congressional Research Service. For example, under the new guidance, those with credit scores between 640 and 659 who put down a down payment between 15% and 20% would have a fee rate charged of 2.250% instead of 2.750%, while borrowers with a credit score between 760 and 779 with the same down payment would have their added rate hiked to 0.625% instead of 0.250%.

Rising housing costs have also led the entities to raise how much housing debt Americans can take on through the government entities, with the FHFA announcing near the end of 2023 that it was raising the mortgage limit for single-family homes to nearly $1.15 million in some areas, compared to the standard limit of $766,550, allowing Americans to take out even larger government-facilitated loans.

To fund its rising expenses and facilitate more loans to lower-income and higher-risk borrowers, the FHFA has proposed a new rule that would allow the government entities to purchase second mortgages.

“[T]he reality is that you have to look at Fannie, Freddie and FHA as one big entity, its government mortgage: it’s all run by the government, and as a single entity, it’s tilting towards higher-risk loans and higher debt ratios.” Edward Pinto, senior fellow and co-director of the American Enterprise Institute’s Housing Center, told the DCNF. “So you may be able to handle that debt ratio for a period of time. It’s when economic stress increases that you find out; as Warren Buffett said, ‘It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked.’ It’s not until the economic stress increases that you find out who’s over their skis in debt.”

Following the 2008 financial crisis, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau set standards for private lending so that mortgages could not exceed 43% of a borrower’s income. The FHA, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae often try to meet these standards but are not required to due to their relationship with the government, meaning the entities can give riskier loans.

The Biden administration also issued a rule in 2023 seeking to prevent “racial bias” in home valuations, arguing that societal prejudice was effectively leading minorities’ properties to be valued less than their white counterparts. As a result, the price of some homes owned by minorities might be being boosted, [despite] the left-leaning Brookings Institute finding that the vast majority of homes in majority-black neighborhoods are already appraised at or above their contract price.

“An illegal is just a criminal newcomer we haven’t met yet” — Joe Biden

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NYPD officer tackles a moped driver as part of ongoing crackdown following incidents of scooters being used for crimes around the Big Apple

Thursday's operation was part of an ongoing effort by the NYPD to crack down on the illegal use of moped and scooters, which are increasingly being used in crimes throughout the city.

Related:

Bernardo Raul Castro-Mata, 19, was approached by police as he drove the unregistered motorbike the wrong way down a one-way street in Queens. 

The migrant responded by opening fire on the officers with an unlicensed gun, striking one cop in the leg while the other sustained a shot to their bulletproof vest. He then fled the scene on foot at around 1.40am, the NYPD said.

Mata, who illegally entered the US at Eagle Pass, Texas, last July, allegedly told police that he is part of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, law enforcement sources told the New York Post.

The 'coordinator' of the 'snatch and grab' gang is known to provide their members with mopeds that are used in robberies, including stealing cell phones.

The notorious gang has been referred to as 'an invading criminal army' by US lawmakers and a member is suspected of the brutal murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.

The sources also told the New York Post that Mata first checked into a shelter on Ditmars Boulevard in Queens along with three other people, but he hadn't been living there since May 15.

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In February, New York City police officers arrested seven Venezuelan migrants who allegedly stole wallets and cellphones from 62 women with the help of their mopeds.

One of the most shocking thefts involved a migrant on a moped dragged a 52-year-old woman along a Big Apple street to steal her phone - a robbery caught on surveillance footage.

The scooter thief reportedly stole her bag, phone, credit cards, keys, glasses, $60 cash and her ID last month in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn.

For almost a decade, Trump has been warning of thia. Here’s what he said this past April:

"Crime is down in Venezuela by 67% because they're taking their gangs and their criminals and depositing them very nicely into the United States.”

Here’s Politfacts “fact check” that purports to refute that claim — the criminals aren’t coming north because of Biden’ open border, it’s becausae there’s nothing left to steal in their home county. Ah … okay.

"Crime dropped because the opportunities for crime were lost. Generalized poverty in the country, the absence of money circulating, the bankruptcy of companies and commerce all made the opportunities for crime in the country drop," Briceño Leon told PolitiFact in Spanish. "When crime opportunities drop, criminals don’t have people to steal from or extort."

Violent crime has also dropped because many people have left the country, but that does not substantiate Trump’s claim of criminals relocating from Venezuela’s prisons to U.S. cities.

Universidad Central de Venezuela criminology professor Luis Izquiel said many of the people who lived in poor and rural areas and were often the victims of crimes left the country. People who commit crimes have also left, partly because they had fewer opportunities to commit crimes, Izquiel said. 

The migration of millions of young people has also shifted the nature of crime in Venezuela, Briceño Leon said. Small neighborhood gangs have vanished as young people have left and large criminal organizations have consolidated power. 

"Crime has dropped because there’s more organized crime, and organized criminals act more rationally," Briceño Leon said. So, there’s a drop in lethality. For example, young people in small gangs might have killed each other over the same romantic interests. That is less likely to happen now. 

'When you have a passion for something that you love, you can do it for free. Don't ever chase the money. The money will come. Chase your passion, Chase your dream. The money will come,'

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Glamorous Atlanta prosecutor is jailed for stealing $15m of Covid funds and using the cash to buy diamond rings and a Rolls Royce


The former assistant city attorney of Atlanta, who was also a life advice podcaster, has been jailed for seven years after fraudulently obtaining approximately $15 million in COVID relief loans.

Shelitha Robertson, 62, used the illegally gained funds to splash out on luxuries such as a 10 carat diamond ring, a Rolls Royce and a motorbike. 

The former police officer had obtained the money under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a federal stimulus program that was set up during the pandemic. 

Court documents show that Robertson falsely claimed she was responsible for a 427 employees.

The number of 'staff' in her 'companies' allowed her to obtain enormous PPP loans, which were designed to keep legitimate businesses afloat through the pandemic.

In an October episode of the podcast Robertson presented alongside her daughter Brii Renee, she was asked if she would choose integrity over poverty when asked how she would react to the chance to make money quickly.

'I choose integrity and whatever else it brings. I don't choose selling your soul to the devil. Because that would mean I am willing to belittle myself and degrade myself for the love of what? Of a dollar,'

'How my kids view me and respect me, means more to me than earning a quick dollar for me to be something that I'm not,' Robertson said, just weeks before she was hauled off to jail. 

Multiply this thief by 100,000 or 1,000,000, and you have your typical government welfare “relief” fund.

Bidding war in Pemberwick (!)

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3 Hickory Drive, literally on the Greenwich/Port Chester border, was listed in April at $785,000 and closed today for $925,000. It’s interesting, to me at least, that all bids had to be submitted directly to the owner’s attorney, and listing agent Steve Archino added the assurance “I will not be representing a buyer”. Steve has such a solid reputation that no such assurance from him is necessary in the small world of Greenwich real estate agents who’ve known and worked with him for decades, but when some agents end up selling their listing to their own client in these situations, disappointed buyers can suspect that the fix was in. Not the case with Steve, but as a general practice, I think it’s a good idea.

(The listing describes the home as “move-in ready”, but the buyers may want to bring their own air mattress)

It seems like just yesterday that Democrats were claiming that Republicans were out to destroy democracy

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The Democrats’ Justice (sic) department reaches out to crush another dissident.

DOJ charges Texas doctor after he blew the whistle on gender-affirming care for minors

Dr. Eithan Haim was hit with four felony charges related to HIPAA violations

Haim leaked documents to journalist Christopher Rufo in May 2023 showing that the Texas Children's Hospital continued operating its child gender clinic against state law after they claimed it had been shut down.

Last year, Haim anonymously leaked evidence of the child sex-change procedures to conservative journalist Christopher Rufo. The documents revealed that Texas Children’s Hospital had continued running its transgender program, despite announcing that the program had been discontinued in accordance with Governor Greg Abbott’s 2022 directive equating such medical interventions with child abuse. [And after a state law prohibiting drug and surgical “gender-afforming interventions for minors took effect last September.]

Rufo previously stressed that none of the documents he obtained from Haim included patients' personal information at the clinic.

Million dollar price cut

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5 Old Round Hill Lane’s price was reduced today to $10.9 million from the $11.9 it has been looking for since March. The owners paid $10.375 for the house in 2013, tried for $11.495 in 2018, and eventually dropped that price to $9.950 before pulling it from the market in July 2021.

They performed some fairly substantial improvements between 2021-2023 and, as noted, tried again this past March at $11.995; that didn’t work. Certainly, whoever eventually buys this house will appreciate the owners’ generosity in fixing up the place, but they apparently won’t be reimbursing them for their efforts.