Pending on Stepping Stone Lane

1 Stepping Stone Lane, current asking price $2.650, is reported pending, 31 days after going to contract (a time lag that’s perfectly normal). There was an early contract with a different buyer reported on April 3, but that must have fallen through, because the property was marked active again on April 17th with a new price of $2.8 million.

That jump was probably attributable to the first voyage on the sea of price discovery (Publius, I’m using the term these days just to annoy you) attracting several offers, with the accepted one being above the original ask of $2.650. It’d be logical to think that, if there was one buyer (or more) willing to pay in the $2.7-$2.750 range (I’m guessing at the dollar amount of those offers), there should be more. Sometimes that works out, sometimes, as happened here, it doesn’t.

On the other hand, as you’ll see from the history below, they would have been satisfied to get $2.150 million in 2021, so all appears to have worked out nicely for them

Stag Lane closing price reported

55 Stag Lane, whose last asking price was $2.695 million, has closed at $2.6 million. I liked this house pre-renovation, and it looks better now, although I personally am dubious about solar panels, and wouldn’t want them on my own house. But wonky solar panels notwithstanding, $2.6 seems like a good price for the buyer.’

The sales saga here is a bit convoluted, beginning with an opening salvo in 2018 at $1.650, expiring in 2019, by which time its price had dropped to $1.495. The owners kept it off the market while they performed a substantial renovation and returned it to the market this April at $3.250. They didn’t get what they’d hoped for, obviously, but with luck, they made enough to recoup the cost their work and pocket a surplus.

(There’s a video still up on the Internet, but these tend to be taken down quickly, so if you’re interested in viewing it, I’d do it soon.)

Leaving aside for the moment that truth is an absolute defense to slander, what part of his character is left to be damaged?

No damage, no award (beyond, perhaps, a penny). Hunter Biden is suing Fox for defamation of character.

Hunter’s illegitimate and unacknowledged daughter, 3-year-old navy Jones Roberts was unavailable for comment

Let Hunter tell the story, in his own words, of his 2018 stay at LA’s Chateau Marmont:

I’d reach for rocks I’d left on a bedside table and then find, to my horror, that they’d been blown all over the room—somebody left a door or a window open. I’d get down on my hands and knees to scan the floor and comb through the rug with my fingers. Half the time I had no idea what I was picking up: Is this a flake of Parmasean from the cheese platter we ordered last night? Or crack?

It didn’t matter: I smoked it. If it was crack, great. If it wasn’t, I’d take a hit, exhale, and exclaim: “Shit, that’s not it—that’s the fucking cheese!”

Eventually Biden left the Chateau to bounce around hotels and AirBnBs, trolling around LA between midnight and sunrise. He built a reputation, and hanger-ons started to roll through his luxury hotel rooms:

An ant trail of dealers and their sidekicks rolled in and out, day and night. They pulled up in late-series Mercedes-Benzes, decked out in oversized Raiders or Lakers jerseys and flashing fake Rolexes. Their stripper girlfriends invited their girlfriends, who invited their boyfriends.

When they finished, two or three days later, they’d walk out with the hotel’s monogrammed towels and throw pillows and comforter and ashtrays.

Biden was left scrounging for friendship from strangers, but they too ended up spending his money or just stealing it:

Once in a great while, some tender, desperate soul would float into the room who still seemed to possess a trace of kindness or concern. I’d wake up and find all my clothes folded and put back in the chest of drawers. I’d think, “Wow, she is really sweet.” Then I’d find out she folded my clothes after through all my pockets, taking everything and anything she could find. Others did the same thing with my bags or my car. Just cleaned them out.

I lost count of the stolen wallets and credit cards. Charges rolled in: Gucci loafers, an $800 sport coat, Rimowa luggage.

And here’s what the federal government says about Hunter’s character:

US President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, is facing a nine-count criminal indictment for alleged tax evasion.

The 56-page charge sheet accuses him of evading $1.4m in taxes from 2016-19 and funding an "extravagant lifestyle".

Much of the recovering crack cocaine addict's alleged illicit activities occurred while his father was US vice-president under Barack Obama.

But the current US president is not accused of wrongdoing, or even mentioned in the latest indictment.

The Yale-educated lawyer faces up to 17 years in prison if convicted. Hunter Biden was separately hit with a federal indictment on gun charges in September.

How Hunter Biden earned millions of dollars

The indictment outlines how Hunter Biden reaped a "substantial income" amounting to more than $7m between 2016-20.

The payments were mostly made to business accounts he had created for his company, Owasco, PC, and were also allegedly funnelled through a company called Skaneateles, in which he owned a 75% stake. 

Chinese energy: For two years, beginning in late autumn of 2015, Hunter Biden was in a business relationship with CEFC China Energy, a Chinese energy conglomerate. In 2017, he was promised $1m stemming from a deal with a CEFC associate, State Energy HK, a Hong Kong business. Hunter Biden went on to do business with a Chinese equity fund.

Burisma: The president's son began working for Ukrainian private energy company Burisma Holdings Limited in April 2014, with a starting annual salary of $1m. In March 2017, his salary was reduced to around $500,000 per year. The charging document lists payments of $1,002,016 in 2016, $630,556 in 2017, $491,939 in 2018, and $160,207 in 2019. Hunter Biden had previously told the BBC he was hired to serve on the company's board because Burisma had seen his name "as gold".

Romanian businessperson: In autumn of 2015, Mr Biden "entered into an oral agreement" to help an unnamed "Romanian businessperson… contest bribery charges he was facing in his home country". For his work between November 2015 to May 2017, he and two other business associates split a payment of over $3.1m "roughly" between the three of them.

How Hunter Biden allegedly spent the money

The indictment says the president's son allegedly spent his money on "drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes".

His spending amounted to about $1m in 2016, $1.4m in 2017, $1.8m in 2018, and $600,000 in 2019, according to the charge sheet.

Between 2016-19, he withdrew $1.6m from cash machines alone.

In the same period he spent over $683,000 on "payments - various women", another $188,960 on "adult entertainment", $397,530 on clothing and accessories, and $237,496 on health, beauty and pharmacy, prosecutors say.

They list many of the luxury hotels Hunter Biden stayed in during the years that he chose to not maintain a residence. Most were in Los Angeles, New York City and Washington DC.

He used the hotels "for constant partying", prosecutors say.

Other funds went to hire a Lamborghini, which he used after moving to the West Coast while waiting for his Porsche to be shipped to him.

Payments included $1,500 to an exotic dancer at a strip club, $11,500 for an "escort" who was paid "to spend two nights with him", $27,316 in payments to an online pornography website and $10,000 "to purchase a membership in a sex club".

Well, for a woman who lies about everything, starting with the one that she cares about children, this isn't surprising. But still ...

Randi Weingarten goes all out to bravely stand behind Orange Man*

But then the meanies noticed something odd about her sign:

*

A seller's price should exceed his grasp, else what's a razor for?

403 Taconic Road, nine acres and a “Newcomers’ Cottage”, was put on the market at $4.4 million in July ‘23, and has sold today for $3.0

Two-plus years on the market, seventh price cut; maybe they'll get it right this time, if they can resist raising its price again

17 Highland Farm Road, a tear-down that, according to its agent, offers buyers “the opportunity to embark on the creation of the magnificent estate they've always envisioned” has cut its price again today, and now seeks $1.899 million. There seems to be a problem here with their price exploration.

• April, 2022: $2.3 million

• May 10, 2022: $2.099

• May 26, 2022: $1.999

• July 13, 2022: $1.750

• Exp. May, 2023

• November, 2023: $2.199 (presumably, to punish those buyers who failed to see its attraction six months before)

• May, 2024 $1.999

• July, 2024: $1.899

Quick flip near the graveyard

The owners of 26 Memory Lane paid $3.525 million for it in 2022 (it had started at $4.495), put on a new roof, got rid of the worst of the interior decorating, and put it back up for sale in September ‘23, priced at $4.295. Contract by January, it closed yesterday for $4.125.

One can never tell with these things, but perhaps the wisest decision made here was to leave the space rocket shower stall intact: there just aren’t that many of those around, yet their appeal is almost universal.

From 2022:

So, they want to be like US; how complimentary! (UPDATED)

French Left wants to welcome migrant boats and create special status for climate refugees

France will help migrants cross the Mediterranean and give special status to climate refugees if Left-wing parties win the elections on Sunday.

The New Popular Front brings together hard-Left, Green, communist and centre-Left parties in a coalition promising a “total break” with President Emmanuel Macron’s policies.

It came second to Marine Le Pen’s National Rally on Sunday in the first round of the snap parliamentary election. The second round for the National Assembly is being held on July 7.

Mr Macron and Ms Le Pen both backed tough new restrictions on migration last December.

• [R]epeal laws including those delaying welfare payments to migrants and introducing migration quotas.

• It will guarantee French citizenship to migrants’ children born in France, which the December law restricted. 

• A new status would be created for “climate-displaced persons” and illegal immigrants would also be given access to healthcare, according to the group’s manifesto.

• It also wants to revise reforms to EU asylum rules to ensure “a dignified welcome for migrants”.

• The sea and land rescue agency for migrants would be set up at a European level, the joint programme for the Left-wing bloc said.

• Mr Macron has described the coalition’s manifesto as “totally immigrationist” but it stretches far further than migration.

Net zero

• The manifesto calls for a new climate plan to hit net zero by 2050 and a moratorium on new motorways on environmental grounds.

• It also wants ecocide to be recognised as a crime and advocates the creation of an international court of environmental justice.

>>>>

Equality

• People undergoing gender transition should get access to fertility treatments for the first time, the New Popular Front said.

• They would also be allowed to change their status on the civil register for free and the group would launch an effort to “to eradicate violence against LGBTQI people”.

• Inter-ministerial plans to combat anti-Semitism and Islamophobia will also be launched.

• The manifesto calls for equal pay between men and women and for the right for women to have leave during their periods. It earmarks €2.6 billion (£2.2 billion) to combat sexist and sexual violence.

Retirement and cost of living

• The New Popular Front will reverse Mr Macron’s raising of the retirement age to 64 and “reaffirm the common objective of the right to retire at 60”.

• It wants to bring back early retirement for jobs deemed physically or mentally arduous, which were abolished by Mr Macron, and introduce surcharges on high salaries.

• The price of certain food products, energy and fuel will be frozen by decree.

• The minimum wage will be raised from €1,399 net per month to €1,600 (£1,356). The disability allowance will be raised to the new minimum wage from the current maximum of €1,016.05.

• The group also intends to restore the wealth tax abolished by Mr Macron, close tax loopholes and introduce a maximum inheritance. It also wants to increase inheritance tax.

Schools and housing

• It plans to introduce compulsory rent controls in some areas and abolish a law facilitating evictions and increasing penalties for squatters.

“We French have always loved and admired you Americans”, Eco-warrior communist Pepé Le Pew told FWIW, “and we want to be like you in every way. Of course, we have been doing our best to bring La Belle France to a Third World status — Vive Égalité! — but you Americans are, as usual, so far ahead of us on this mission. Thank you for your example, and we’ll meet you in the dustbin of history.”

UPDATE. Stephen Green, at Instapundit:

MON DIEU: Is France Heading for a Civil War?

If the National Rally passes the 289 seats limit, Mr. Macron is supposed to call upon Mr. Bardella to form the cabinet. This would be seen as a casus belli by the militant far left. Alternatively, Mr. Macron may cite law and order concerns to bar Mr. Bardella from the premiership and form an “apolitical” or “technical” cabinet. A move that the right may construe as a coup d’Etat.

The far left’s “civil war” threats should not be ignored and are not. Shops and restaurants are already barricading. Mayors — including the most liberal ones — are begging for police and gendarmerie deployment.

They fear “punitive raids” by the well-trained urban guerilla fighters known as the black bloc — a kind of left-wing “Invisible Empire” that periodically pops up in France and in other European countries — and large scale youth riots and arsons, just like one year ago.

Even more ominous is the ethnic/religious dimension of the crisis. The French take much pride in laïcité, their traditional “wall of separation” between government and organized religion. Only religion — both as faith, culture, and community identity — is back on the map with a vengeance.

It is, first and foremost, a consequence of Islam’s spectacular rise over the past 50 years: a 1,100 percent growth, to about 12 million in 2024 from 1 million in the early 1970s, thanks to high communal birth rates, mass immigration, and conversions.

No matter how it plays out, this dangerous moment is the result of decades of French elites actively working against French interests.

Remember, the Bee is the Paper of Prophesy

Oh, those sneaky people!

WASHINGTON, DC — In a clever move to encourage an embattled Biden to relinquish his position, Democrat leaders convinced the President he had already stepped down yesterday.

"There's no shame in bowing out while you're so ahead," Nancy Pelosi told Joe Biden. "You're at the top of your game, Joe. It's great that you agreed to step down and hand over the reins to someone a little more…alive. Thank you for making that decision all on your own…because you did. Remember?"

Democrats spent the better part of Sunday convincing the President that stepping down was his idea and reminding him he said he'd bow out of the election and hand over power to either Gretchen Whitmer, Gavin Newsom, Michelle Obama, The Monopoly Man, or three members of Hamas stacked on top of each other wearing a trenchcoat but definitely NOT Kamala Harris.

"Yes, I do remember saying all that. That does sound like me," Biden commented to a nearby houseplant. "What are you gonna do about it, little plant boy? Whahtiergohrrrghhh. Biden out."

As of publishing time, Jill Biden could be seen supergluing her husband to the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office and screaming at aides to barricade the doors.

Price discovery in process (that's for you, Publius) up in nosebleed country

159 Bedford Road has cut its price to $3.295 million after trying to get $3.495 for the past 56 days. Nice looking house, and certainly a more substantial property than you’ll find in SoPo Riverside, but Bedford Road can be a slow sell, especially up this far. On the other hand, these owners paid full price, $2.895 million in 2004 during our last land rush; they snapped it up just two days after it hit the market, and may now regret their precipitous action.