#NYT > Real Estate

[joanernapoleon]

Homes for Sale in New York and New Jersey

Homes for Sale in New York and New Jersey https://ift.tt/NWgY4BK This week’s properties are a five-bedroom homes in Old Westbury, N.Y., and Chester, N.J. via NYT > Real Estate https://ift.tt/9VJgSHc November 30, 2023 at 09:00AM

#NYT > Real Estate

[sgiandubh]

The ripple effect

So finally, it would seem the news from Hollywood are not good at all. A press release from SAG-AFTRA informs us that AMPTP/TPTB chose to drop the towel after a very long negotiation process (not a good sign, in my book), that continued even after their latest unacceptable offer, as you can read down below (https://x.com/sagaftra/status/1712368110253285730?s=20):

The mainstream media (always NYT, in this house) reported also on the studios' offer, which may or may not be helpful for understanding what exactly is at stake (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/12/business/media/actors-strike-talks-suspended.html?searchResultPosition=2):

Now that is a very hardball, completely insolent position. I am peeling my eyes in disbelief at the idea of offering 'further protections around the use of A.I.', when it was hoped that the use of A.I. would be treated as an exception, not as future reality the industry should work 'around'. This is what really is at stake, not the almost abusive allegation of 'unbearable economic burden' (that is a mafioso pretext) an 800 million USD yearly viewership bonus would supposedly entail. The real financial impact of such a compromise solution, as disclosed by SAG-AFTRA, is negligible: 'less than 57 cents/subscriber'.

And, to make things worse, it would seem the studios deliberately lied to the press, too (it would not be the first time - we shippers know it so well, eh?):

All this circus, despite a cataclysmic impact on California's economy:

(Sourced at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/21/realestate/writers-strike-rent-ny-la.html).

And that was the situation three weeks ago, when I found this article and promptly set it aside, waiting for the right moment to share it with you. And you know the situation is serious, when news like these are to be found not in the business, but in the real estate section of the newspaper. Along with this kind of comments, likely to suggest the possibility of unrest, if things go on like this:

People living in their flats without electricity or sleeping in their cars: it would seem this strike added unwanted insult to the drastic COVID injury in this particular sector of the labor market.

But what interested me the most about this whole affair was the ripple effect on the British film industry, in an attempt to see what is next for OL's Season 8. Thankfully, I didn't have to go very far and speculate more than the NYT did itself. Oh, and before Mordor starts shouting insanities, their LHR's correspondent paper, back in September, is called 'Hollywood Strikes Send a Chill Through Britain’s Film Industry' (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/19/business/hollywood-strikes-uk-filmmaking-industry.html):

Despite my unflappable optimism, I have to say that doesn't sound good at all, especially when you know this is precisely the case for OL, a production 'with stars who are SAG-AFTRA members' (or at least compelled to stand in solidarity with the strike, by SAG-AFTRA's own statement of conduct). I predict a very late start for the shooting of Season 8. And further unrest in the UK sector 'in the middle of next year' means that UK based and staffed productions may be fewer and less important, since that calendar announced by Equity could seriously compromise their promotion, a risk not many studios are willing to take. So less alternatives for both S&C, at least for the UK alone.

The writers' strike was a very long one - five months. I suppose the studios are willing to play for time and prefer a long stalemate of the negotiations with SAG-AFTRA, in the attempt of breaking the union consensus from the inside. With people's economies gone and the prospect of a dire, uncertain way ahead, there is no way SAG-AFTRA's compensations, mainly aimed at keeping people afloat with their rent costs, could cover the real impact on its members' everyday lives, on the long run. They would also prefer to foolishly cry over a fictitious 800 million USD 'burden' and not see the (at least) six times bigger negative impact on the local economy, which translates both in net losses of profit for thousands of businesses (mainly SMEs) and thousands of lost jobs.

And in the middle of all this, it would seem that Herself is on her way to the NYCC. Whatever for, sweet summer child, I would brazenly ask this strange, diminutive woman who started it all.

#sag aftra strike

[americaisdead]

outtake for today’s NYT Business cover story about the fraught commercial real estate market.

los angeles may 2023 

© tag christof

#tag christof #architecture #cesar pelli #nytimes #fujifilm gfx

[kellyinverse]

Artifacts (a bit on bigots)

Too many nights

certain types

profiling from their bubble of flag hugging

and

tax breaks, because big trucks, boats, and guns

are rights

Nay, privileges they use to elongate what lacks within

sitting next to me

seeking a compliant nod

as they talk over the gps

bewildered by lesbians

that were just having a drink

inserting themselves into a narrative

they wish wrote for them

I miss my old queens

And wonder

What if these

2 twats

Had the courage

To just sit next to each other

Raving about the Dive

And how fierce those gals were

and celebrate their love...

Cracking wise about cock

But no,

They waddled off screaming

Mérica

Promising me a big tip in the app.

Too bad neither or them have seen their dicks without a mirror in years

_____________

That

Michelle, who got

Mad when I mentioned the NYT

Suing Chat GpT et al

She suggested I use AI to write my

Personal essays…

It’s not a real estate ad and no, I doubt

You’re in any danger

But do go on

About how

You’ll tip me in the app

When your cankles hit the pavement

Rushing to

Rant on FB about that lib driver

&

How Joe’s coming for her perjured listings

#writing #poetry #human rights

[kickthecan-revolution]

Done.

We officially terminated and signed the second offer, so we’re in contract. I couldn’t help myself and went and looked on the first buyers’ Facebook and they have two tiny kids - thinking of her diagnosis and what that means made me burst into tears. It’s just a deal that didn’t go through, they aren’t bad people. I’m sure they are going to be angry but they will also understand, given their realtor expertise. I found the property they have for sale and noted that they didn’t reduce the price until a week before their 45 day close date. That’s crazy. Seattle is the number one city for cooling real estate right now per the NYT, so they should have reduced earlier. I get it though it’s hard to make that call.

My sister and I talked and I said how I had such a weird day today and kind of lost my shit on my manager during my review (I haven’t written about that because I’m so mortified). I drove home and felt like I was going to have a panic attack.

We started to walk through the timeline of everything that happened, starting last June when our dad fell and then checked out of rehab after three days, and then he fell again and we forced him into assisted-living by lying and saying he was only going to be there for three weeks. All of his hallucinations and the extreme agitation and screaming at everyone and anyone who came into the room, getting out of bed and running down the hall chasing animals.

Then my sister breaking up with her partner and going through that crazy intense refinancing process in October.

Then my mom going into assisted living in December and all we had to do to make that happen and the sadness of that moment.

Then going to Seattle for Christmas and my niece got COVID so we cancelled the get together but I bought that Santa Suit and drive to deliver presents.

Then my Alki tenant moved out in January and I had so many false starts in finding a new renter. And my new boss started which was…..so horrible.

Then our mom fell in April and broke her pelvis. We also had the renter for the house and had 8 weeks to fix it and it was in such disrepair - then he left the first night they were there due to a car break in.

Then in May, assisted living told us they were kicking our dad out because he was so belligerent. The dozens of calls each week from him.

Then we put him on hospice to get drugs that calmed him. We asked them to stop feeding him as much which made them suspicious of us.

Then he died in June, right after a massive product launch. Then we had three weeks to get the house and yard ready for sale, the endless amount of people who had to be paid.

The arrangements, the urn, the closing of the accounts, obituary, contacting friends.

Then it sold. And we waited in limbo while we watched the real estate market crumble.

Then the call for the first extension on a Friday, she died that Sunday snd we were meant to close that next Thursday.

In shock and not caring, we signed it.

The arrangements, the urn, the closing of the accounts, obituary, contacting friends.

Then the next extension.

Two days after that, the second buyer.

Waiting these 72 hours.

Performance reviews.

And in between all of that, nightmares at work.

Woof.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

There are only five more days left in my Kickstarter for the audiobook of The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.

#20yrsago NYT discovers the “Plam Pilot” phenomenon https://memex.craphound.com/2004/01/28/nyt-discovers-the-plam-pilot-phenomenon/

#20yrsago Irish ISP will disconnect Internet users after three unsubstantiated copyright claims https://memex.craphound.com/2009/01/28/irish-isp-will-disconnect-internet-users-after-three-unsubstantiated-copyright-claims/

#15yrsago Ryanair will fine passengers who board with too much carry-on https://gadling.com/2009/01/22/ryanair-to-ticket-passengers-who-try-to-cheat-the-baggage-system/

#15yrsago BBC promises to put 200,000 publicly owned oil paintings online by 2012 https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/jan/28/bbc-digitalmedia

#10yrsago Gartner Hype Cycle on the Gartner Hype Cycle https://twitter.com/philgyford/status/427840025544650753

#10yrsago Makerspaces and libraries: two great tastes that taste great together https://medium.com/the-magazine/shifting-from-shelves-to-snowflakes-d2a360c7ac7b

#10yrsago Pope Francis on the Internet and communication https://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/2014/01/27/a-gift-from-god/

#10yrsago UK National Museum of Computing trustees publish damning letter about treatment by Bletchley Park trust https://web.archive.org/web/20140130143734/https://www.tnmoc.org/news/news-releases/deciphering-discontent-statement-tnmoc-trustees

#10yrsago What is exposed about you and your friends when you login with Facebook https://twitter.com/TheBakeryLDN/status/427531934294880256

#10yrsago 890 word Daily Mail immigrant panic story contains 13 vile lies https://web.archive.org/web/20140126081130/http://britishinfluence.org/13-reasons-taking-daily-mail-press-complaints-commission/

#5yrsago Bride attains virality by adding pockets to her dress and those of her bridesmaids https://metro.co.uk/2019/01/27/bride-added-pockets-wedding-dress-bridesmaids-dresses-8398183/

#5yrsago Grifter steals dead peoples’ houses in gentrifying Philadelphia by forging deed transfers, then flipping them https://www.inquirer.com/news/a/house-sales-fraud-theft-philadelphia-real-estate-dead-owners-william-johnson-20190124.html

#5yrsago Megathread of Facebook’s terrible, horrible, no-good eternity https://brucesterling.tumblr.com/post/182371861433/all-things-facebook

#5yrsago How Facebook tracks Android users, even those without Facebook accounts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0vlD7r-kTc

#5yrsago Video and audio from my closing keynote at Friday’s Grand Re-Opening of the Public Domain https://archive.org/details/ClosingKeynoteForGrandReopeningOfThePublicDomainCoryDoctorowAtInternetArchive_201901

Berliners: Otherland has added a second date (Jan 28 - THIS SUNDAY!) for my book-talk after the first one sold out - book now!

Back the Kickstarter for the audiobook of The Bezzle here!

Image: Sam Valadi (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/132084522@N05/17086570218/

CC BY 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

#pluralistic

[newstfionline]

Sunday, June 25, 2023

The World’s Empty Office Buildings Have Become a Debt Time Bomb (Bloomberg) In New York and London, owners of gleaming office towers are walking away from their debt rather than pouring good money after bad. The landlords of downtown San Francisco’s largest mall have abandoned it. A new Hong Kong skyscraper is only a quarter leased. The creeping rot inside commercial real estate is like a dark seam running through the global economy. Even as stock markets rally and investors are hopeful that the fastest interest-rate increases in a generation will ebb, the trouble in property is set to play out for years. After a long buying binge fueled by cheap debt, owners and lenders are grappling with changes in how and where people work, shop and live in the wake of the pandemic. At the same time, higher interest rates are making it more expensive to buy or refinance buildings. A tipping point is coming: In the US alone, about $1.4 trillion of commercial real estate loans are due this year and next, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. When the deadline arrives, owners facing large principal payments may prefer to default instead of borrowing again to pay the bill.

Inflation, health costs, partisan cooperation among the nation’s top problems (Pew Research Center) Inflation remains the top concern for Republicans in the U.S., with 77% saying it’s a very big problem. Gun violence is the top issue for Democrats: 81% rank it as a very big problem. When it comes to policy, more Americans agree with the Republican Party than the Democratic Party on the economy, crime and immigration, while the Democratic Party holds the edge on abortion, health care and climate change.

The Brown Bag Lady serves meals and dignity to L.A.’s homeless (USA Today) A Los Angeles woman, known affectionately as the Brown Bag Lady, is serving the city’s unhoused population with enticing meals and a sprinkle of inspiration for dessert. Jacqueline Norvell started cooking meals for people on L.A.’s Skid Row about 10 years ago in her two-bedroom apartment after getting some extra money from her Christmas pay check. She bought several turkeys and prepared all the fixings for about 70 people, driving to one of L.A.’s most high-risk areas to hand out the meals. “We just parked on a corner,” said Norvell. “And we were swarmed.” She says people were grateful and she realized the significant demand. Norvell’s been cooking tasty creations ever since. Norvell garnishes each dish with love and some words of encouragement. In addition to the nourishment, each bag or box has an inspirational quote. “We’ve got to help each other out,” she said. “We have to.”

Facing Brutal Heat, the Texas Electric Grid Has an Ally: ‌Solar Power (NYT) Strafed by powerful storms and superheated by a dome of hot air, Texas has been enduring a dangerous early heat wave this week that has broken temperature records and strained the state’s independent power grid. But the lights and air conditioning have stayed on across the state, in large part because of an unlikely new reality in the nation’s premier oil and gas state: Texas is fast becoming a leader in solar power. The amount of solar energy generated in Texas has doubled since the start of last year. And it is set to roughly double again by the end of next year, according to data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. “Solar is producing 15 percent of total energy right now,” Joshua Rhodes, a research scientist at the University of Texas at Austin, said on a sweltering day in the state capital last week, when a larger-than-usual share of power was coming from the sun. So far this year, about 7 percent of the electric power used in Texas has come from solar, and 31 percent from wind. The state’s increasing reliance on renewable energy has caused some Texas lawmakers, mindful of the reliable production and revenues from oil and gas, to worry. “It’s definitely ruffling some feathers,” Dr. Rhodes said.

Guatemalans are fed up with corruption ahead of an election that may draw many protest votes (AP) As Guatemala prepares to elect a new president Sunday, its citizens are fed up with government corruption, on edge about crime and struggling with poverty and malnutrition—all of which drives tens of thousands out of the country each year. And for many disillusioned voters—especially those who supported three candidates who were blocked from running this year—the leading contenders at the close of campaigning Friday seem like the least likely to drive the needed changes. Guatemala’s problems are not new or unusual for the region, but their persistence is generating voter frustration. As many as 13% of eligible voters plan to cast null votes Sunday, according to a poll published by the Prensa Libre newspaper. Some of voters’ cynicism could be the result of years of unfulfilled promises and what has been seen as a weakening of democratic institutions. “The levels of democracy fell substantially, so the (next) president is going to inherit a country whose institutions are quite damaged,” said Lucas Perelló, a political scientist at Marist College in New York and expert on Central America. “We see high levels of corruption and not necessarily the political will to confront or reduce those levels.”

Chile official warns of ‘worst front in a decade’ after floods, evacuations (Reuters) Days of heavy rainfall have swollen Chile’s rivers causing floods that blocked off roads and prompted evacuation in the center of the country, amid what has been described as the worst weather front in a decade. The flooding has led authorities to declare a “red alert” and order preventive evacuations in various towns in the south of Santiago. “This is the worst weather front we have had in 10 years,” Santiago metropolitan area governor Claudio Orego said.

Crisis in Russia (NYT/AP) A long-running feud over the invasion of Ukraine between the Russian military and Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s private Wagner military group, escalated into an open confrontation. Prigozhin accused Russia of attacking his soldiers and appeared to challenge one of President Vladimir Putin’s main justifications for the war, and Russian generals in turn accused him of trying to mount a coup against Putin. Prighozin claimed he had control of Russia’s southern military headquarters in the city of Rostov-on-Don, near the front lines of the war in Ukraine where his fighters had been operating. Video showed him entering the headquarters’ courtyard. Signs of active fighting were also visible near the western Russian city of Voronezh, and convoys of Wagner troops were spotted heading toward Moscow. The Russian military scrambled to defend Russia’s capital. Then the greatest challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power fizzled out after Prigozhin abruptly reached a deal with the Kremlin to go into exile and sounded the retreat. Under the deal announced Saturday by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Prigozhin will go to neighboring Belarus. Charges against him of mounting an armed rebellion will be dropped. The government also said it would not prosecute Wagner fighters who took part, while those who did not join in were to be offered contracts by the Defense Ministry. Prigozhin ordered his troops back to their field camps in Ukraine, where they have been fighting alongside Russian regular soldiers.

In Myanmar, Birthday Wishes for Aung San Suu Kyi Lead to a Wave of Arrests (NYT) In military-ruled Myanmar, there seemed to be a new criminal offense this week: wearing a flower in one’s hair on June 19. Pro-democracy activists say more than 130 people, most of them women, have been arrested for participating in a “flower strike” marking the birthday of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the civilian leader who was ousted by Myanmar’s military in a February 2021 coup. Imprisoned by the junta since then, she turned 78 on Monday. The protest—a clear, if unspoken, rebuke of the junta—drew nationwide support, and many shops were reported to have sold all their flowers. Most of the arrests occurred on Monday, but they continued through the week as the military tracked down participants and supporters. In some cities and towns, soldiers seized women in the streets for holding a flower or wearing one in their hair. Some were beaten, witnesses said. The police have also been rounding up people who took to Facebook to post a birthday greeting or a photo of themselves with a flower. Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, called the campaign the latest example of the “paranoia and intolerance” of Myanmar’s military rulers.

Sweltering Beijingers turn to bean soup and cushion fans to combat heat (Washington Post) China’s national weather forecaster issued an unconventional outlook this week: “Hot, really hot, extremely hot [melting smiley face],” it wrote Tuesday night on Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter. It was imprecise, but it wasn’t wrong. The temperature in Beijing hit 106 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday, a public holiday for the Dragon Boat Festival. It was the highest June recording since 1961. Visiting the Great Wall was “like being in an oven,” said Lin Yun-chan, a Taiwanese graduate student on her first trip to Beijing. The heat wave is almost the only thing anyone can talk about. Much of the online discussion revolves around food. People are sharing advice about the most hydrating snacks for the hot weather: mung bean soup and sour plum drink are popular options. Entrepreneurs looked for ways to capitalize on the heat wave: One promoted a seat-cushion fan designed to combat a sweaty butt, while tourism companies touted trips to the south of the country, which is usually hotter but currently less so.

Your next medical treatment could be a healthier diet (WSJ) Food and insurance companies are exploring ways to link health coverage to diets, increasingly positioning food as a preventive measure to protect human health and treat disease. Insurance companies and startups are developing meals tailored to help treat existing medical conditions, industry executives said, while promoting nutritious diets as a way to help ward off diet-related disease and health problems. “We know that for adults, around 45% of those who die from heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, stroke, that poor nutrition is a major contributing factor,” said Gail Boudreaux, chief executive of insurance provider Elevance Health speaking at The Wall Street Journal Global Food Forum. “Healthy food is a real opportunity.”

#headlines #news

[90363462]

Karen Bass Defeats Rick Caruso, Becomes First Woman Elected as Los Angeles Mayor

Denver Sean

Los Angeles has officially elected a new mayor.

Karen Bass has defeated billionaire Rick Caruso, becoming the first woman to be elected as Mayor of Los Angeles.

The race was called by The Associated Press.

via NYT:

Ms. Bass survived a bruising race against Rick Caruso, a billionaire real estate developer, that had remained too close to call for more than a week after the election. Mr. Caruso had pumped roughly $100 million into his campaign as a law-and-order candidate, hoping to appeal to a frustrated electorate.

Ms. Bass’s election comes at a tumultuous moment in Los Angeles, a city of 4 million people that emerged from the pandemic to a landscape of tent camps, debris, economic anxiety and spiking violence. Although matters have gradually begun to improve and crime rates remain far below the city’s peaks of the 1990s, Los Angeles residents have expressed fury and exhaustion, particularly at the city’s epidemic of homelessness, according to surveys, focus groups and pre-election interviews.

In an interview last year at her hillside home — a ranch house in the Baldwin Vista neighborhood that was burglarized in September by thieves who stole two handguns — Ms. Bass, 69, said that the main reason she ran for mayor was the familiarity of the current civic unease. She said the city’s mood reminded her of the fear-stoked distrust and divisiveness that preceded the 1992 riots.

“That’s what is frightening to me now — the anger,” she said. “And my concern is the direction the anger can move the city in.”

Ms. Bass has said that as mayor she will declare a state of emergency on homelessness and find housing for 17,000 homeless people in her first year. She also has promised to put more police officers on the street, in part by freeing up sworn members to patrol the city rather than handle administrative tasks.

She will bring to the job a long history of coalition-building, dating to the 1980s, when as a physician assistant and emergency room worker she applied for a federal grant to launch a nonprofit to address the crack epidemic that was ravaging the city. The Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment — now known simply as the Community Coalition, or CoCo — has since become one of the city’s largest and most influential advocacy groups, working across the city’s vast array of ethnicities.

Ms. Bass said on election night that her very family is a kind of coalition. Married for six years in the 1980s, Ms. Bass and her ex-husband, a Latino, went on after their divorce to jointly raise their daughter with his four children. Ms. Bass’s stepchildren spoke lovingly of her at her campaign kickoff rally.

Her biological daughter and son-in-law died in 2006 in an automobile accident, two years after Ms. Bass first was elected to public office. The tragedy, she has said, made her part of “club that you didn’t ask to be a part of,” and left her with “a choice as to whether to go back to work or hide.”

In a Democratic stronghold so liberal that Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont received the most Los Angeles votes in the 2020 presidential primary, Ms. Bass will bring a liberal perspective to the nonpartisan office.

As a child during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, she said, she grew up watching demonstrations on the news with her father, a mail carrier, and volunteered to walk precincts for Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated not far from where she grew up. In the 1970s, she joined a group of young leftists working on construction projects in Fidel Castro’s Cuba, the Venceremos Brigade.

By California standards, however, she is viewed as more center-left than progressive. As assembly speaker during the 2008 financial crisis, she worked with the governor at the time, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to negotiate billions of dollars in deep cuts to balance the state budget. In Congress, where she has served since 2011 and was chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, she has represented a district that spans affluent West Los Angeles and some of the city’s poorest quarters. She was shortlisted as a running mate by Joseph R. Biden Jr. during his presidential campaign.

She will be the city’s second Black mayor, taking office nearly three decades after Tom Bradley retired as the longest-tenured executive in Los Angeles history. And, as the first woman to be elected to the post, she will join an increasingly female pantheon of local leaders, including the city’s first female city attorney and the county’s powerful, five-member Board of Supervisors, which is dominated by women.

Ms. Bass said in the interview last year that she welcomed the opportunity to work with so many women in powerful positions.

“These are general statements, OK? But women are more collaborative. Women are not as transactional. And I think women focus on different issues,” she said. “I think women tend to lead differently.”

For much of the mayoral campaign, Ms. Bass was the front-runner, with polls showing her to be the best known candidate by far in a crowded primary field. But that changed with the late entrance of Mr. Caruso, a deep-pocketed Brentwood businessman who had developed some of Southern California’s best-known shopping destinations and served on powerful boards overseeing the Los Angeles Police Department and the University of Southern California.

The race was the first mayoral contest since the city’s decision to hold local elections at the same time as the statewide general election, and the first to follow a state law that provides every registered active voter with a mail-in ballot. The two changes dramatically broadened interest in the municipal election, and Mr. Caruso’s spending set records in the city, not only for campaign ads but also for phone banks, precinct walkers and other voter-turnout efforts.

In the final weeks, polls showed the officially nonpartisan race narrowing substantially. Ms. Bass, however, garnered numerous high-profile Democratic political endorsements, including one from former President Barack Obama. She also criticized Mr. Caruso for stances that he argued were only tangentially related to the limited powers of a mayor in the city — his belated switch to the Democratic Party, for instance, and his past contributions to conservative candidates who opposed abortion.

Ms. Bass has said she will look to mend relationships when she enters office in December. The City Council is reeling from a series of scandals, including the leak of an audio recording in which a group of Latino members were caught making disparaging and racist remarks, several of which were directed at African Americans.

Congrats to Karen!

[meret118]

This comes amid reporting on the Saudi government intending to work against Biden's re-election. It also comes as a major Saudi real estate developer has inked a deal with the Trump Organization for a villa and golf project worth $4 billion.

. . .

Only six months after leaving government, Mr. Kushner’s investment firm, Affinity Partners, secured $2 billion from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, in what was described in internal documents as a 'strategic relationship' with Mr. Kushner. A panel of advisers to the Saudi sovereign wealth fund had recommended against investing with Mr. Kushner, citing his lack of experience, but Prince Mohammed overruled them."

In the year before it went public last week, the Trump Media company was reportedly kept afloat financially thanks to emergency loans from a firm owned by a Russian-American businessman currently under investigation for money laundering.

#Trump

[joanernapoleon]

Homes for Sale in Manhattan and Brooklyn

Homes for Sale in Manhattan and Brooklyn https://ift.tt/7QLK4yO This week’s properties are in Turtle Bay, Kips Bay and Park Slope. via NYT > Real Estate https://ift.tt/9VJgSHc November 30, 2023 at 09:00AM

#NYT > Real Estate

[asakoch34]

via NYT > Real Estate

#IFTTT #NYT > Real Estate

[antiquery]

I’ve been a longtime mutual of yours, but I can’t keep following you after the article you reblogged. Perhaps it’s an odd stance to take, that one article would lead me to unfollow, but I’d encourage you to think about the way that article denigrates the path to Palestinian liberation and assumes some kind of equal responsibility to being civilized and polite in the face of genocide. Conversations have never ever stopped colonialism from its violent occupation of the global South, and I find the tone of the article quite callous. “The Palestinian case for self-determination—like any stateless people—is bulletproof, even if Palestinians themselves are not.” Don’t you find this to be a cruel, callous statement? Why is the two state solution propped up as the most civilized and practical decision when an active genocide is happening, when real estate sales are occurring for Gazan land? Moreover, his article is inaccurate: I’d encourage you to look at the Intercept article interrogating the NYT’s claims of sexual violence. I hope you don’t see this as an attack, but I couldn’t stop myself from sending this ask as someone who really respected your opinions.

so, a couple things. first, John Aziz, the author of the article, is a Palestinian expat, and in that context I don't find his phrasing at all callous. I don't particularly care to tone police someone writing about his own oppression, and moreover everything else in that article (and everything else he's written) makes it clear that he cares pretty deeply about the conflict, dark puns or no.

second, I did read that Intercept article when it came out (here if you're curious, and here is the NYT article it's responding to). though I didn't find it particularly damning (especially given that that publication's reporting on the war in Ukraine has been…dubious at best, I'm not inclined to give them much benefit of the doubt), what interested me in Aziz's piece was that his argument isn't a moral one-- it doesn't actually matter what happened on October 7, if we're talking about how well violence has served the Palestinian cause. the fact of the matter is that Israel is a wealthy nation with well-developed state capacity, and the Palestinian territories are brutally impoverished, fragmented, under-resourced, and just generally completely unequipped to face a hostile power period, much less one with Israel's capabilities. if there is a pitched us-or-them fight between the two, Israel will win and it won't be particularly close-- if for no other reason than the fact that Israel is a nuclear power, and Palestine is not. this isn't a moral judgement, a state being powerful certainly does not make it good, but anyone seriously interested in Palestinian statehood has to contend with the facts on the ground.

given that, Aziz's argument is that any violent Palestinian offensive is doomed not only to fail, but to leave the prospect of a Palestinian state in a worse spot than before. Israel will retaliate and destroy large fractions of what paltry state capacity the territories have, immiserate the population, and when pressed by the international community point to the fact that they were attacked first and you can't very well expect them to make peace with people who have demonstrated that they are not interested in peace. then, they will impose harsher restrictions on the territories, probably causing thousands more deaths in addition to the toll of the military offensive, and create conditions that radicalize the population and set them up to launch another disastrous attack in coming years. this will happen even if the attack in question is a disciplined military action that targets only combatants and follows the rules of war to a T; if the attack is anything else, it will only worsen the severity of the retaliation.

is this "right" in some absolute sense? I don't think so; Israel is a powerful state and to some extent it's their responsibility to deal fairly with what is essentially a stateless population under their sovereign authority, regardless of their worries about what that stateless population might do. they demonstrably have not done that! but "fairness" has little to nothing to do with effectiveness, and Aziz's point is that the morality of violent resistance is at the end of the day a distraction from the fact that violent resistance has been a disaster for Palestinians. Sam Kriss has an excellent piece on the same subject, and he puts it far better than I can:

Whoever’s saying it, the fact remains that there is no military path to a free Palestine. This fact is inconvenient and unfair and doesn’t leave much room for the optimism of the will, but that doesn’t make it any less true, and if you think there’s an exemption from unfair truths that’s awarded to especially just causes then you are wrong. Israel has nuclear weapons: it will not be overthrown with small arms and explosives. I don’t think I have the right to condemn violent resistance altogether—but I can reject violent resistance that’s doomed to fail, that achieves nothing and produces nothing except violence for its own sake. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad claim to be fighting for an Islamic republic, in which Jews will be free to live peacefully as long as they don’t dispute the sovereignty of Islam. The PFLP claims to be fighting a revolutionary people’s war for a liberated workers’ state. Their critics say that both are actually fighting for an unlimited genocide, the death of every single Jew in Israel. But what difference does it make? This is all make-believe! None of it matters, because none of it is ever actually going to happen! They’re not fighting for anything at all. They’re just fighting.

I've had a number of arguments with friends about my general utilitarian bent, especially when applied to politics. when Dobbs came down there was, briefly, talk about getting Congress to pass a national abortion ban at 15 weeks-- maybe with exceptions for rape and incest, but maybe not. no bans from heartbeat or from conception, but no blue state 20-something week limits either. I was strongly in favor of this. why would I want something so manifestly unfair, something that would almost certainly cost innocent women their lives and their freedom? because the alternative was worse. yes, I supported a sexist proposal; my hands are not clean. who cares? I have no interest in ideological purity or judging political decisions in any terms other than the lives and welfare of human beings. being "right" means nothing; being "fair" is pointless. the only question worth asking is what is the best action to take now.

#bookshelf blogging #pol #forpol #q&a #anonymous #ethics tag

[americaisdead]

outtake for today’s NYT Business cover story about the fraught commercial real estate market.

los angeles may 2023

© tag christof

#tag christof #nytimes #architecture #los angeles #fujifilm gfx

[antonio-velardo]

Antonio Velardo shares: Fire and Luxe by Craig Kellogg and Ashok Sinha

By Craig Kellogg and Ashok Sinha Once a necessity, fireplaces are now an indulgence in New York City. Published: January 26, 2024 at 05:01AM from NYT Real Estate https://ift.tt/2LrQSyD via IFTTT

View On WordPress

#antonio velardo #IFTTT #NYT

[tilde44]

Was surprised this word was in the Sunday NYT crossword, which means it's in the dictionary... and was even more surprised by Webster's reference (they are talking about Sunny Day Real Estate)

#the first known use of badassery was in 1995

[fuojbe-beowgi]

"Two Empty Nesters Strive to Come Up With a Down Payment. Which House Could They Buy?" by Mitch Smith via NYT Real Estate https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/07/27/realestate/bloomington-indiana-houses.html?partner=IFTTT

#IFTTT #NYT