Trump demands judge halt Biden’s alleged ‘fire sale’ of border wall materials

 President-elect Donald Trump in a filing Thursday night demanded that a federal judge halt the Biden administration’s alleged “fire sale” of US border wall materials before he returns to the White House.

Trump’s lawyer John Sauer asked Judge Drew Tipton in the Southern District of Texas to investigate an explosive report showing that southern border wall slats are being secretly hauled away and auctioned off for as low as $5.

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Donald Trump speaks at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on December 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla.Getty Images

The incoming president is “deeply troubled” about the border fencing being peddled by President Biden, Sauer wrote in the 22-page filing, arguing the current administration’s actions, if proven, would “threaten to encroach unlawfully” on Trump’s executive authority.

“If the current Administration is selling off border-wall materials at rock-bottom prices, imposing financial losses on the United States in an attempt to defeat the pro-wall policy of President Trump, it is unlawfully encroaching on the incoming Administration’s exercise of the Executive Power,” Sauer said.

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“The Court should order an immediate stop of all such sales and perform a searching examination of the Government’s conduct — by ordering formal discovery if necessary — to ensure compliance with the Constitution, the law, and the Court’s orders.”

The Biden administration is selling the unused southern border segments at GovPlanet, an online federal equipment marketplace, the Daily Wire reported last week.

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Migrants walk into the US beside the US-Mexico border wall at Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif., on June 5, 2024.AFP via Getty Images

A Border Patrol agent told the outlet, which captured footage of the construction materials being transported, that the Biden admin is “taking it from three stations” with the goal of completing the operation “before Christmas.”

“That is material that should be used in future border construction, including under President Trump once he takes office in a month — and the people who purchase the material know that,” Sauer seethed.

“This Court should carefully probe the facts, including the Government’s account of its behavior … to determine whether these reported fire sales are an ‘experimentation with disobedience,'” he added.

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Biden halted building the border wall when he assumed office in 2021.Getty Images

“This scrutiny should be particularly exacting and skeptical because the Biden Administration has been an egregious repeat violator of the law — especially when it comes to its mismanagement of the border.”

Trump directly called out Biden for the border wall sale during his press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, claiming his predecessor was committing an “almost criminal act.”

“I’m asking today, Joe Biden to please stop selling the wall,” the once and future president declared. “We’re going to use that to create a strong barrier.”

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The Biden administration has experienced record-breaking numbers of migrants crossing the border.AFP via Getty Images

“It’s very expensive, and now it’s about double the price of what it would have been six years ago, and the administration is trying to sell it for five cents on the dollar, knowing that we’re getting ready to put it up,” he told reporters during a 70-minute session at the Palm Beach, Fla., resort.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement to The Post, “Any attempt by Biden officials to obstruct President Trump’s plan to build the Border Wall is unlawful, unconstitutional, and possibly criminal, as our brief argues.”

“The Biden Administration has an egregious history of violating the law, especially in its catastrophic open-border policy, so the courts should review their actions here with particular skepticism. President Trump will not be deterred from Building the Wall, securing our border, and Making America Great Again,” Cheung added.

The White House and DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

https://nypost.com/2024/12/20/us-news/donald-trump-demands-judge-halt-bidens-alleged-fire-sale-of-border-wall-materials/

Virginia Will Be Home To The World's First Nuclear Fusion Power Plant

 Nuclear adoption continues accelerating, and now Virginia sure thinks it has found the way to "clean energy, billions in investment, and a solution to surging power demand". The state is going to host the world's first fusion power plant, according to the Virginia Mercury.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin said this week: “Commonwealth Fusion Systems plans on building the world’s first grid scale commercial fusion power plant in the world, full stop, and it’s going to be right here in the commonwealth of Virginia.”

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), founded in 2018 in Cambridge, Mass., plans to build a fusion power plant in Chesterfield County's James River Industrial Park. The facility, set to produce 400 megawatts of electricity to power 150,000 homes, could be operational by the early 2030s.

Fusion power, replicating the sun’s energy production, offers a cleaner alternative to traditional fission. The 25-acre project highlights Virginia’s role in advancing energy solutions amid surging demand from energy-intensive data centers supporting big tech.

A JLARC report projects Virginia's data center energy demand could triple to 30,000 megawatts by 2040 if infrastructure supports it. To meet rising needs, Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power are exploring modular nuclear reactors, wind, solar, and natural gas, the Virginia Mercury reported.

Fusion power offers a clean alternative, avoiding emissions tied to climate change. It combines hydrogen isotopes under extreme heat and pressure, using magnets to generate electricity via steam turbines, with helium as the only byproduct.

Dominion Energy Virginia President Edward H. Baine said: “Our customers’ growing needs for reliable, carbon-free power benefits from as diverse a menu of power generation options as possible, and in that spirit, we are delighted to assist CFS in their efforts." 

The report says that CFS chose Chesterfield after a global search and will lease the site from Dominion Energy. Virginia secured the project with $2 million in state and county funding, a tax exemption for equipment, and federal DOE support. Gov. Youngkin estimates it will bring "billions" in development and "hundreds" of jobs.

CFS is building its SPARC demo plant in Massachusetts to pave the way for ARC technology in Chesterfield. Unlike laser-based fusion by California's Lawrence Livermore Lab, CFS uses a tokamak, a donut-shaped device, to confine and fuse molecules.

Alex Creely, CFS director of tokamak operations, concluded: “One of the big advantages of fusion is that it doesn’t produce any long lived waste material, and there’s no risk of some kind of meltdown even. It’s a very safe energy source — something that you can live right next to and feel very comfortable with.”

Recall earlier this week we wrote that nuclear startup Oklo joined the long list of names signing deals with data centers for power heading into the next decade. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/virginia-will-be-home-worlds-first-nuclear-fusion-power-plant

Office Property Meltdown Is Starting to Surface at Regional Banks

 

• The use of CRE loan modifications is soaring at smaller banks
• Regional banks vulnerable after taking lower down payments

Slumping office property values are rippling through US banks, with smaller lenders in particular ramping up the use of loan modifications in their commercial real estate books.

The typical bank with less than $100 billion of of assets modified 0.32% of its CRE loans in the first nine months of the year, a Moody’s Ratings report found. That’s a big increase from the first half of 2024, when it was just about 0.1%.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-12-14/office-property-meltdown-is-starting-to-surface-at-regional-banks-credit-weekly

Barbara Corcoran predicts dropping mortgage rates could make the housing market ‘go ballistic’

 Real estate guru Barbara Corcoran has revealed the mortgage rate drop that she believes would cause the housing market to “go ballistic,” while warning that there is a “desperate need” for more first-time buyers to get onto the property ladder.

Corcoran, 75, shared her expert insights on the current state of the market during an appearance on Fox Business’ “Cavuto: Coast to Coast.”

She told host Neil Cavuto that if mortgage rates drop to anywhere within the 5% range, it could trigger “incredible” homebuying activity.

As of Dec. 12, mortgage rates dropped to 6.6% from 6.69% the previous week, falling incrementally for the fifth week in a row.

Noting that mortgage rates have been “bouncing around” between 6% and 7% for some time now, Corcoran conceded that she doesn’t know whether “we will ever see a 5% number.” However, if such a drop were to occur, “it would be incredible for the market.”

“Rates have been bouncing around for a while now … so people are confused, they don’t have big expectations, they’re no longer waiting for a tremendous rate drop. But if that happens, God, it would be incredible for the market,” she said.

“The buyers themselves have gotten accustomed to the rates being what they are, and they just got tired of waiting,” she went on. “But I am wondering if we’ll ever see a 5% number, because anything with the 5% in front of it is going to make this market go ballistic.”

‘We need more first-time buyers’

Barbara Corcoran spoke about the fall in mortgage rates.ABC

Corcoran, who is also a savvy investor on “Shark Tank,” said on the show that what the market needs right now is more people willing to buy a home for the first time.

“What we’re losing right now and what we desperately need right now is more first-time homebuyers,” she said, before offering a shocking statistic: “Less than 24% of the people are first-time buyers, an all-time low.”

Existing-home sales are up

Interestingly, in a potentially bright spot, existing-home sales have gone up in the past month, by 3.4%, she noted.

This is the first year-over-year gain in existing-home sales in “the better part of three years,” Cavuto pointed out.

However, she added that “first-time buyers were not really a part of” those sales.

Corcoran noted that the uptick in home sales isn’t a huge surprise given that there are more “houses on the market.”

Barbara Corcoran noted that even though home sales are up, most of them are not first time homebuyers.Getty Images

She added that while buyers have choices, they’ve also become accustomed to the status quo and aren’t holding their collective breath for a mortgage drop.

“So there were 25% more choices for the buyer coming out and looking. On top of that, buyers themselves have gotten accustomed to the rates being what they are, and they got tired of waiting,” she said.

Buyers would go ‘ballistic’

Addressing Corcoran’s view of the impact lower mortgage rates could have on the market, Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale agreed that it would be a very big deal for buyers.

“Every drop in mortgage rates is going to make a difference for some home shoppers who are on the margin,” Hale explains.

While Hale doesn’t anticipate a giant slash in the rate, she agrees a sharp drop would certainly jolt the market.

“If we see a slow, gradual decline in mortgage rates, which is more in line with the Realtor.com® forecast, I think we’ll see a gradual build in buyer and seller activity. If we were to see a sharp drop in mortgage rates to 5%, that could bring in a lot of buyers and sellers at once—and really jolt the housing market. It’s going to be not only about the rate itself, but how we get there.”

The reverse, an increase in the mortgage rates, could slow things way down.

“It could slow down the whole market, it would slow down the whole economy, it would slow down all the support services for the housing market—it would be a terrible thing,” she says of a higher mortgage rate.

However, Corcoran also doesn’t anticipate the rates going in that direction.

“I don’t think people are thinking it’s going to go much up,” she said. “That could happen, but I don’t think you’re going to see interest rates above 7% again. I’m hoping it’s going to go and hover around 6% or even go lower.”

https://nypost.com/2024/12/13/real-estate/real-estate-guru-barbara-corcoran-predicts-dropping-mortgage-rates-could-make-the-housing-market-go-ballistic/