90 Miles From Tyranny

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Late Night Ladies

More Late Night Ladies:

http://ninetymilesfromtyranny.blogspot.com/2013/01/late-night-ladies-links.html

Friday, January 11, 2013

Wyoming Bill Proposes to Imprison Federal Agents

Will Cuba's lifting of exit visas tomorrow mark a new migration surge to Miami?

Last October Cuba announced that on January 14, 2013 they will lift the exit visa requirement. Cubans will be able to depart for vacations, or forever, with only a passport and a visa from the country where they plan to go. Along with the wet foot dry foot policy in the U.S. which states that if a Cuban touches dry American land, they get a chance to remain in the United States, and later would qualify for expedited "legal permanent resident" status and, eventually, U.S. citizenship.

Will there be a rush of Cubans coming to South Florida to take advantage of this loophole or will the U.S. government rush to close this loophole?

Cubans tend to be staunch anti-communists and the first generation votes republican, a large migration could potentially change the political landscape in Florida, once again giving republicans the edge.

Miami is already a city with both a very wealthy population and a very poor immigrant population, the education levels, literacy and poverty rates put parts of Miami on the same level as the third world. While the immigrants may have education, it is likely that English reading and writing was not part of that education.

The Mariel boat lift was a mass emigration of Cubans who departed from Cuba's Mariel Harbor for the United States between April 15 and October 31, 1980. Fidel Castro pulled a fast one on Jimmy Carter by releasing all his criminal and mentally ill population along with some political types and Cuban spies. Some 125,000 Cubans immigrated to the U.S. and half stayed in Miami, which dramatically changed Miami.

Will we have another mass immigration to Miami? The labor market in Miami is not very good at the moment and South Florida would struggle with the potential mass immigration. It seems the wet foot dry foot policy needs to be changed to reflect the changing political landscap

Foreclosure activity is rising in Florida

By Martha Brannigan

mbrannigan@MiamiHerald.com

Florida led the nation in foreclosure activity for the third month running in November, a dubious distinction that will likely dampen the momentum of the real estate recovery in the coming year, according to RealtyTrac.
Even as foreclosure activity decreased nationally, foreclosure filings in Florida jumped 20 percent in November from a year earlier and rose 3 percent from October, the data firm based in Irvine, Calif., said.
Among the 10 metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates, seven are in Florida, the firm said. The metro area covering Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach ranked No. 5 among cities, with one in every 260 residences logging some sort of foreclosure activity, including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, RealtyTrac said.
The pickup in Florida’s foreclosure activity has emerged since the major settlement last spring of the robo-signing cases.
After 49 state attorneys general filed suit in 2010 against five big mortgage banks over egregious foreclosure procedures implemented amid an avalanche of soured mortgages, foreclosure activity slowed dramatically. With the massive settlement approved in April, lenders now have adapted to the ground rules and have a clearer path forward in pressing foreclosure cases, said Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac.
“This is injecting a little reality into the Florida housing market,” Blomquist said of the rising foreclosures. “I don’t think this will crater housing prices, by any means. In markets that are very strong, it may not lower prices at all. It will definitely dampen things. It’ll be a drag on the market.”
One in every 304 Florida residences had some sort of foreclosure filing in November, more than twice the national average, RealtyTrac said.
The rising foreclosure activity in Florida comes as foreclosure activity nationwide fell 3 percent in November from October and plunged 19 percent from November 2011, the firm said. Foreclosure starts hit a 71-month low nationwide.
But in Florida, which is among the states where foreclosures are handled in more time-consuming proceedings in the courts rather than administratively, “we’re seeing a rise in activity across the board,” Blomquist said.
In November in Florida, foreclosure starts rose 7 percent year over year, scheduled auctions jumped 51 percent and bank repossessions rose 15 percent.
Behind Florida, the states ranking highest in foreclosure activity in November were Nevada, Illinois, California and South Carolina, the firm said.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/13/3141246/florida-leads-nation-in-foreclosure.html#storylink=cpy