Opinion
By Dave Scott. 2-7-25
Those who know much about such things are saying home prices nationwide have peaked?
Home mortgage rates have hit 7.0% and if they don’t level off it won’t be good for sellers say national economists.
In order to make monthly payments possible for prospective buyers sellers will have to lower prices, particularly as mortgage rates, taxes and insurance rates continue to rise.
For example if sellers up north and in California have to cut their prices in order to buy a house in Florida, then they will need to pay less for the Florida house because they will realize less from their sale.
Californians are worse off than most Americans due to its overabundance of far-left social engineering cultists, socialist politicians and universities brimming with lefties riding that state’s taxpayer-funded gravy train.
California’s fruitcake climate change policies have almost burned the state to a crisp, but they continue to pile on with their nonsense as long as they can rake in grants, subsidies, and taxpayer money with their massive climate fraud.
Look at that state’s prices for government subsidized EVs, rising utility bills, useless and dangerous windmills and solar farms. wasted water resources, etc. The climate change hoax is the most costly and expensive fraud ever perpetuated in history anywhere, ever.
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In Fernandina Beach ….
Meanwhile Back At The Ranch: A small, fanatical group of Fernandina citizens won the first round in their fight to prevent Rayonier Advanced Materials (RYAM) from constructing and operating a bioethanol plant at its Gum Street facility.
Fernandina City Manager Sarah Campbell said at the Tuesday, February 4 City Commission session that the city will not allow the RYAM facility to be built hereabouts.
“Given the applicable requirements of the Comprehensive Plan and the LDC and the statutory requirements to enforce them, state law requires the City to reject the site plan application related to the development and operation of the proposed 2G Bioethanol Plant and enforce its Comprehensive Plan and LDC. As such, the City will take no further action on the site application concerning the proposed Bioethanol Plant,” the city’s notification to RYAM said.
RYAM can appeal the city’s decision to halt its plan to build the $53 million bioethanol facility that would make 7.5 million gallons of ethanol a year from current waste products The product would be trucked off the island to customers.
The small but loud group of locals created a local brouhaha saying the bioethanol production was “chemical manufacturing” which is prohibited by the city’s Land Development Code. RYAM said the process is fermentation similar to that used in making beer and whiskey and should be allowed.
Many say the small vocal group of frenzied anti-bioethanol fanatics’ tactics are poisoning the local real estate market with their Chicken Little blather about their imagined dangers of the proposed RYAM facility.
The anti-ethanol group hysterically shouts, “Danger, Will Robinson” from every social media outlet. They cite statistics without sources, carry signs that appear to be created by sight-impaired, brain-damaged illiterates. They hysterically shout slogans, shake fists, and wag fingers at public forums. If nothing else these annoying screamers can be categorized as examples for children that parents can point to saying: “See what happens to you when you don’t get an education.”
Their intent is to intimidate and disrupt a benevolent corporate citizen that has safely and financially benefited the island and its citizens with jobs, tax money, and generous charitable contributions for almost a century. It’s also a company that generates environmentally-friendly alternatives to fossil-fuel based products.
Many say the protestors’ antics are doing more damage to the reputation of Amelia Island and local property values than any hurricane by scaring away potential buyers with their undocumented accusations and “the world is ending” nonsense.
If they want to protest actual things that blow up and cause severe damage, maybe someone should point out the weapons aboard nuclear submarines across Cumberland Sound over in neighboring Kings Bay. I’d love to watch this unhinged rabble of kooks confront our U.S. Marine and Navy neighbors with their harebrained stupidity.
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Blowing Hot Air: The world is not ending in 12 years. The Democrats and their media pals lied about it and haven’t stopped lying.
Since November 5 they’ve become even more irrational and shrill in their desperate attempt to regain power and continue defrauding taxpayers. These mindless climate change zombies are frightening and dangerous people.
It’s becoming clear since Trump took office that Barack Obama, or whoever was running the Biden White House, not only lied about Biden’s obvious mental decline, about Covid and the vaccines, Russiagate, Hunter Biden’s laptop, but continued with fierce intensity the hoax about climate change and fossil fuels.
When questioning these climate zealots about their misguided nonsense they look at you like you just broke out in open sores. You’re considered an ignorant troglodyte no matter how much expert evidence there is proving that Earth is not becoming inhospitable and is not experiencing an existential climate crisis
Mark Mills, a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, who is possibly the world’s foremost expert on “Green Energy” wrote in a paper titled “Mines, Minerals and Green Energy: A Reality Check” that green energy “machines” don’t contribute anything, just the opposite.
“Compared with hydrocarbons, green machines entail on average, a 10-fold increase in the quantities of materials extracted and processed to produce the same amount of energy,” he wrote. “Oil, natural gas, and coal are needed to produce the concrete, steel, plastics, and purified minerals used to build green machines isn’t practical.”
He explained that building dangerous wind turbines and bird-incinerating solar panels to generate electricity, as well as batteries to fuel electric vehicles, “….requires, on average, more than 10 times the quantity of materials, compared with building machines using hydrocarbons to deliver the same amount of energy to society. “The energy equivalent of 100 barrels of oil is used in the processes to fabricate a single battery that can store the equivalent of one barrel of oil,” he wrote.
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Who’s In Charge Here? The Democrat Party has no leader. It has no message and it’s future looks dim. It’s run by a crazed crowd of angry activists speaking in tongues.
Other than its fierce hatred for Donald Trump, conservatives, Christians, the military, and business, what’s the Democrat party platform?
Ken Martin, the leader of the state Democratic Party organization in Minnesota, is the new Democratic National Committee chair after winning election, as his party attempts to recover from its 2024 shellacking.
In an interview with the New York Times following his win, the far-left Martin said that the issue wasn’t the party’s policies themselves but rather a “messaging” and “brand problem.”
Really? Good. Let Martin and other Democrat muckety-mucks keep thinking that. It’ll make the 2026 midterm elections easier for conservatives and enable Republicans to solidify their grip on all three levers of power in D.C.
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How Dim Are They? Much to the chagrin and bewilderment of the Democrats, Trump’s popularity continues to rise among the populace as theirs plummets.
The Dems say they have a messaging problem. No. They have a “do” problem They don’t “do” anything except talk, scream, and complain…nothing. The electorate would support them if they saw them do something other than grumble and whine. It’s difficult to expect anything logical from a group that can’t distinguish the difference between a man and a woman and believe men can get pregnant.
Senator Chuck Schumer is a perfect example of Democrat mindlessness. He stands on the Senate floor, glasses perched on his nose, as he tediously reads staff-written speeches in a binder, an exercise designed to cure insomnia.
Even lefty TV personality John Stewart has had it with Schumer. “Hey, who should we get out there to effectively battle one of the savviest presidential media manipulators in history?” asked Stewart recently. “Oh, I don’t know, how about Schumer? He’s uninteresting, but at least he’s monotone. Oh wait, and Chuck, before you go out there, you look too young! Put on these readers and lower them on your nose. Perfect!’” snarked Stewart. “Honestly, listening to Chuck Schumer speak on almost any topic makes me want to bomb Canada.”
Why aren’t Democrats on the streets of the major cities they control supporting the cops, endorsing the roundup of violent illegals, and promoting better schools? Instead they’re out there promoting programs that keep their constituents mired in poverty, victims of crime and their kids in terrible schools.
As a topping on their idiocy they promote expensive phony-baloney taxpayer subsidized debunked schemes likes windmills and solar panels that do nothing but increase utility costs for their already financially strapped citizens.
Their future continues to look as dim as the lousy lightbulbs they promote. Good.
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Wait! What’s Happening? The Democrat’s traditional media allies are confused and losing readers, listeners, and viewers.
The election stunned the legacy left-leaning media that depends on just a tiny sliver of the country to tune into its sour swill. Their audience is getting even tinier as Trump’s popularity grows.
For example, Fox News’ “Gutfeld!” recently delivered an average 2.8 million viewers and 413,000 in the key 25-54 demo during the 10 p.m. ET hour, according to Nielsen, outpacing its cable news competition as well as other broadcast and late night shows, including NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”
These are numbers that are only attractive to potential advertisers on FOX.
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Wait! What? The sight-impaired online “news” outlet Fernandina Observer blared a headline this week declaring “Developer Seeks Airport Land for ‘Luxury Adult Toys’”.
When I read “adult toys” I envisioned a sleezy strip mall type outlet with blackened windows and customer parking in the back.
Instead, the article, which was by-lined by local Jimmy Olsen wannabe and Black Lives Matter activist Mike Lednovich, described a California developer’s concept for a luxury car complex on three acres of Fernandina Beach Airport property.
According to the article the Newport Beach, California firm wants to create an $11.5 million project, called The Paddock Club, to house pricey automobiles, not sex toys.
Are airplanes, yachts, jewelry, mink coats, mansions, etc. considered adult toys too?
Republished with the author’s permission. Read The Dave Scott Blog– subscribe Free
The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida.
