A break from more weighty topics…
After his lawyer quits and 12 people show up at Michigan State, @richardbspencer cancels his "college tour." "Things are difficult…we are now in something that feels like a hard struggle," so he's quitting. https://t.co/J49W6K9Yw6
— Evidence-Based Glenda (@GilmoreGlenda) March 12, 2018
he’s saying he’s having a … struggle? what would be the German for that https://t.co/66h2crexXP
— Eric Rauchway (@rauchway) March 12, 2018
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Also, Peter Thiel’s wannabe neighbors have a big sad about those lousy emigrant-excluding Kiwis. Per Bloomberg, “The Rich Aren’t Happy About New Zealand Foreign Bolthole Ban”:
Rich-listers like Californian billionaire Ric Kayne have issued a warning to New Zealand — banning house sales to foreigners could hurt the country’s reputation and turn wealthy investors away.
Kayne, who has built an exclusive golf course in New Zealand and wants to expand his investments, is one of several rich businessmen who claim the proposed new law will have unintended consequences. They’re seeking amendments to the draft legislation or its withdrawal in its current form…
The new Labour-led government came to power in October on a pledge to fix a housing crisis with a raft of measures, including a ban on foreign speculators buying residential property. While data suggest non-residents have only a minor impact on the wider housing market, support for the move was boosted by headlines about rich foreigners buying mansions and farms in New Zealand as boltholes away from the world’s ills.
House prices have surged more than 60 percent in the past decade amid record immigration and a construction shortfall. In biggest city Auckland, prices have almost doubled since 2007 to an average of more than NZ$1 million ($730,000). That’s made it more difficult for first-time buyers to enter the market and driven up rents, leaving increasing numbers of poor people homeless.
“It’s really important for us that we sort our housing market out, that we give New Zealanders a fair go at buying their first home,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in a television interview Sunday. While the country welcomes foreign investment, “what we want is good-quality investment that supports the productivity of the New Zealand economy,” he said…
Kayne, who plans another golf course of similar quality that will be open to the public, said he will also be forced to sell the house he’s building for himself and wife Suzanne under the new restrictions.
Although he is a New Zealand resident, the legislation would not recognize him as one because it requires people to spend at least 183 days a year in the country — something his business interests prevent him from doing…
Yeah, it’s all about “optics” — but after the horrors that jet-setting parasites have inflicted on cities like London, New York, and San Francisco, I somehow doubt there will be many tears shed for the plight of thwarted golf-course developers and their ilk.
Yutsano
@elgordo: Clean-up on Aisle Racist please.
NotMax
Next, petitioning to change the name to New Galtland.
efgoldman
@Yutsano:
Couldn’t happen to a stinkier, moldier pile of shit.
Major Major Major Major
Ah, 2018. What a year to be alive.
NotMax
Thanks for removing the steaming pile of excrement which was originally above. That any ostensibly sentient being would purposely string together such an abhorrence and then feel it necessary, wise or productive to share same causes the mind to reel.
Beautifulplumage
RE: he-who-was-pepe-punched
Hope he lost a lot of venue deposit $$!
Major Major Major Major
Man, glad I missed that troll.
Chris T.
Empty houses are indeed a big problem in London and elsewhere (probably less so in Auckland, but I have not seen anything one way or another on that). I saw a suggestion for an “empty dwelling tax” or something like that. Aha: see https://www.gov.uk/council-tax/second-homes-and-empty-properties — apparently after 2 years of sitting empty, the price should go up. Half a year would be better, I think.
Yutsano
@Major Major Major Major: As first impressions go…he certainly made one.
Ninedragonspot
Lucre & Lebensraum
World’s worst buddy pic.
NotMax
Been so chilly and damp that decided a tummy warming full-on restaurant-y entree for dinner was in order. Just sitting down to (reheated) teriyaki, garlic and sage pork loin which had cooked a couple of days ago but hadn’t sliced into yet. Used the Instant Pot to first whip up a big batch of bourbon ‘n’ maple glazed carrots, then to make a few days’ worth of roasted red potatoes.
Not the type of feasting usual for me absent guests; a special cool weather treat.
Mel
That sounds delicious. I’m making sweet potato cheesecake this weekend.
NotMax
@Mel
That sounds interestingly unusual. Does it happen to incorporate some feta cheese by any chance?
Mel
@NotMax: It’s cream cheese blended with a small amount of ricotta.
I got the recipe years ago from a college boyfriend whose great-grandfather had worked as a pastry chef in several high end New Orleans restaurants in the early 1900s.
It has the most gorgeous, soft, harvest moon orange color, and the flavor is delicate and wonderful. Even professed haters of sweet potatoes will comeback for seconds.
I usually top it with a little sweetened sour cream layer, and serve it with a side of praline (my Grandma’s recipe). Add a tiny glass of honey mead for sipping, and YUM!!
Mel
@NotMax: It’s cream cheese, but wow, is it good.
I got the recipe years ago from a college boyfriend whose great-grandfather had worked as a pastry chef in several high end New Orleans restaurants in the early 1900s.
It has the most gorgeous, soft, harvest moon orange color, and the flavor is delicate (no cloying sweetness – very subtle and lightly tangy) and wonderful. Even professed haters of sweet potatoes come back for seconds.
I usually top it with a little sweetened sour cream layer, and serve it with a side of praline (my Grandma’s recipe). Add a tiny glass of honey mead for sipping, and YUM!!
J R in WV
Well, open thread? so we just Saturday returned to the US after a week abroad in Mexico, on a “adventure cruise” on the National Geographic Sea Bird watching whales and dolphins and sea lions, etc. Now in Los Angeles for the first time ever.
Today we had enough energy to go to the Natural History Museum, which turns out to be on the campus of USC. I took the camera that did the dry parts of the trip, a Panasonic Lumix, to the museum, because that’s a thing I do. I went to take the lens cover off, and it was kind of stuck, I had to pull on the leash.
When it came off, there was a heap of broken glass inside – I was agast for a moment. There was a UV haze filter, intended to protect the lens from futz and grease and such, cleaning a flat filter is so much safer than cleaning the front of a lens…
So I tried unscrewing the filter, and underneath the lens appears unharmed. I took pictures at the museum, and in the morning I’ll put those photos on the laptop to see if the focus across the photos is OK. A bad moment for a photo taker, to see crushed and broken glass under the lens cap!
Going to bed now. It’s midnight here. Cool, even chilly for southern California, and rainy.
But no snow down here at sea level. We’re staying right outside LAX. Best of luck to you New Englanders with your forth winter hurricane. That’s what these are, and it’s Climate Change doing it to you all. Glaciers next?
Mel
To clarify, about 22 oz. cream cheese, and 2 oz. ricotta. The ricotta gives just a little bit more creaminess, I think.
My godmother (Venetian immigrant) used to make a wonderful Italian cheesecake made with ricotta and a touch of feta. It had a lemon pastty crust, and she topped it with sour cherry preserves.
How I wish I had that recipe!
Mel
@J R in WV Goodnight. Hope the photos turn out! Travel safely.
Mel
Goodnight all. It has been a long day. Helping to caregive for a parent with Alzheimer’s, and recovering from surgery. I am tired to the core.
Sleep tight.
Sm*t Cl*de
Driving away the worthless parasites is an entirely intended consequence.
NotMax
@Mel
Not a big fan of cheesecake in general. However both of those sound intriguing and tantalizing.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@J R in WV: The Natural History Museum is NOT on the U$C campus, it’s in Exposition Park NEXT TO the U$C campus. Glad you enjoyed the museum and hope you caught the WPA model of LA from the 1930’s.
Feathers
The snow begins.
Jay
Yannadouchebag Milo blows up,
https://wonkette.com/630987/we-have-another-example-of-liberal-fascism-for-bari-weiss-it-is-these-ghosts-haunting-milo-yiannopoulos
Laura Southern get’s barred from the UK under their terrorism act,
http://anti-racistcanada.blogspot.ca/2018/03/lauren-southern-banned-from-uk.html?m=1
That’s okay, I sure Brooks et al will have a column in the FTFNYT next week, that the whole problem is that mean leftie people and microtriggered Millenials just won’t let Nazi’s, Nazi.
JPL
@Feathers: Sounds like it’s time to climb back under the covers and just let it snow.
Anne Laurie
@Feathers:
Still falling as freezing sleet here, but my sinuses tell me the barometric pressure is still dropping…
Anne Laurie
@Sm*t Cl*de: Ah, thought you might possibly have an opinion about this!
HeartlandLiberal
One of the Twitter wags wondered what the German word for “struggle” was, so for those of you who missed the reference, the was pointing out the title of Hitler’s book, “Mein Kampf”, which translates to “My Struggle.” Apt. I also am experiencing great Schadenfreude that apparently non one gives a damn about showing up for Richard Spencer’s Nazi White Power rallies. That can only be described as a good thing.
,
NorthLeft12
I am sure the amendments that Mr. Kayne and his posse of plutocrats has in mind are a somewhat selective bending of the residency rules based on net worth. You know, the way all laws should be.
BTW, I love how weak and flighty the idiot alt-righters are proving to be. A little sunlight on them, a bit of resistance and public mockery and they scurry back into their basements.
Bostonian
@Sm*t Cl*de: I wonder if they will levy an extra charge for the door hitting you on the way out.
Good on New Zealand. Of course they should protect their own citizens first. They should build a wall and make Silicon Valley pay for it.
Ian G.
Starving to death on the Stalingrad front for the fatherland is the same as getting heckled while speaking on college campuses, right?
They don’t make Nazis like they used to, and we should be grateful.
different-church-lady
You know who else struggled to get big crowds before he got big crowds?
Butch
$730,000 makes it “difficult” for first-time home buyers? What? I own my home outright and I could not begin to even think about buying a $730,000 house.
Thoughtful David
Someone’s still building golf courses? I thought that was “out.” All that’s happened with golf courses around here lately is that they’ve go one out of business. I understand Trump’s are also yuge money pits, opening more pathways for corruption.
MelissaM
“Although he is a New Zealand resident, the legislation would not recognize him as one because it requires people to spend at least 183 days a year in the country — something his business interests prevent him from doing…”
Yeah, because it’s so hard to conduct your business from a remote island location these days. Sounds like one ripe asshole.
dr. bloor
So, you’re saying there are better ways to hurt a Nazi than to punch him in the face? Whocoodanode?