As millions know, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) has died. President Donald J. Trump ordered flags to fly at half-staff to honor her life. POTUS Trump also announced last night at a “Great American Comeback” campaign rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina (NC) that he plans on filling the empty seat on the U.S. Supreme Court swiftly and with a woman being his likely nominee.
Whether the GOP can muster the 51 votes to make that happen is another question. The pressure on all sides on so-called moderate Senate Republicans like Susan Collins (ME-R) will be intense. Both major parties are fundraising on the RBG SCOTUS vacancy issue.
Let’s briefly survey the headline topics before moving on to added details plus the headlines for the week.
- The New York Times has revealed a survey result, which if accurate and is properly tapped into by Republican candidates, could spell serious trouble for Democrats in 2020. In brief, The NY Times survey says that minorities, particularly Hispanics but blacks too, don’t much care for the so-called progressive identity politics agenda. More specifically, “Only about 25 percent of Latinos identify with Joe Biden’s progressive identity politics, while more than 60 percent of Latinos favor Donald Trump’s populist, pro-American pitch, according to a September 18 report in the New York Times.” The left-of-center New York Times piece is linked here, with a right-of-center commentary and analysis on that from Breitbart is linked here.
- It may be coincidental, but the Rasmussen daily tracking poll said that President Trump has hit a 53 percent approval rating. With reportedly more negative media than any president since Abraham Lincoln, it’s an surprising accomplishment. Note that Rasmussen claims they were the most accurate poll in the 2016 election cycle.
- Then the UK Daily Mail reported that a Black Lives Matter co-founder, a self-proclaimed Marxist, has been funded for some time by a pro-Chinese Communist Party front-group.
In a report dated September 17, 2020, the Daily Mail shared the following headline and these bullets:
“REVEALED: ‘Trained Marxist’ Black Lives Matter co-founder is being funded by group linked to the Chinese Communist Party
- BLM co-founder Alicia Garza, 39, is the principal of Black Futures Lab, an advocacy group for black people
- The group is financially supported by the Chinese Progressive Association, it has been revealed
- Its donate button links directly to the CPA site
- The CPA was founded in San Francisco in 1972 and has held events with and in support of the Chinese Communist government
- Garza has previously been described as a ‘trained Marxist‘”
As MHProNews has previously noted, direct quotes from the BLM nonprofit leaders and backers make it clear that the group is composed of self-proclaimed Marxists. Nor should the above be construed to mean that there aren’t other sources for funding the BLM nonprofit.
As that insight about revolutionary Marxist aspirations has begun to seep into the population, and with ongoing violence often tied to BLM, their approval has been in decline in recent weeks.
Additionally, BLM and related violence has been funded via dark money channels by the likes of billionaires Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and George Soros.
The report linked above had over 1.1 million hits on MHProNews in the month it was published, with hundreds of thousands more since. That report is still among the top-ranked story on Google under the search term shown in the following screen capture. Note that two more related stories are found on MHLivingNews and MHProNews.
The recent MHLivingNews article on that topic is among those in our weekly headline recap, further below.
A summer of violence and looting marred what some in media and among politicos have described as mostly peaceful protests that followed the troubling video recorded death-by-cop of George Floyd. These issues are reportedly resonating with numbers of voters on both the political left and right, as well as those in the middle, in the run-up to the November 3, 2020 general election.
The above doesn’t imply that President Trump and candidates who support him are assured victory. They aren’t. As another report on the Masthead linked below reveals, there are several advantages that Democrats have, which in some ways mirror for their party of the Warren Buffett “Castle and Moat” stratagem.
Hollywood personalities and Democratic backers who are deeply engaged in politics like Bill Maher and Michael Moore have warned their fellow progressives that they see warning signs that President Trump could pull another upset win. For their part, conservatives point to bullets and headlines like those above and say that the so-called “progressive” movement as actually “regressive” when it comes to the measurable impact on black, Hispanic, women, working class, seniors, and other lives.
As the left-of-center AP and USA Today reported a few weeks ago, there are two disparate views of life in – ‘competing versions of reality’ in America and who are best poised to fix it.
Among the headlines below are reports that shed light on these topics, but others that directly and/or indirectly impact the need and access to affordable housing in America, specifically, federally regulated HUD Code manufactured homes.
Don’t miss the post script for today plus teasers for what’s ahead that follows the headlines.
- MHI is pondering legal action,
- an MHI member is pressing to ‘go public,’
- an ex-Secret Service agent for President Barack Obama is urging that people ‘follow the money,’
- routinely controversial MHI member Frank Rolfe is back stirring the pot,
- Democratic Party advantages in 2020,
- manufactured homeowner and performer Kid Rock plugs in tight 2020 race,
- why the Middle Eastern peace deals matter,
- plus, more are among the headlines for this week in review.
With no further adieu, let’s plunge into the headline reports from the week that was, from 9.13 to 9.20.2020.
What’s Latest from Washington, D.C. from MHARR
What’s New on the Masthead
The Latest from MHLivingNews
What’s New on the Daily Business News on MHProNews
Saturday 9.19.2020
Friday 9.18.2020
Manufactured Housing Institute Warns Members – Pondering Legal Action, Insider Insights
Thursday 9.17.2020
Wednesday 9.16.2020
Tuesday 9.15.2020
Warren Buffett Declared “Class Warfare,” Buffett Says Fellow Billionaires – “We’re Winning”
Monday 9.14.2020
Sunday 9.13.2020
Who is “Drinking the Kool-Aid” – Sunday Weekly Headline Review
Post Script
Manufactured housing has benefited from years of widely bipartisan support. The Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 (MHIA) as well as the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) “Duty to Serve” provision supporting manufactured housing lending both had strong bipartisan support.
Additionally, a D.C. source outside of manufactured housing but involved in affordable housing told MHProNews this week that there has been noticeable buzz about manufactured housing in Washington, D.C. this year.
Those factoids begs several questions.
- Given the ever-growing affordable housing crisis, why is the industry underperforming?
- with widely bipartisan support to pass legislation, why is it that the implementation of those good federal laws are still a decade or two behind?
- Why is it that manufactured housing trade groups MHARR and MHI on paper seem to have some similar views, but in practice their advocacy efforts are so different?
- When MHI is spreading around PAC money in Washington, why can’t they get positive movement on manufactured housing issues before or during an election year?
- What should be made of the fact that billionaires like Warren Buffett and the Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate that he is chairman of are supporting both sides of specific manufactured housing issues, and have been for years?
- Why doesn’t MHI press to enforce its own so-called Code of Ethical Conduct when high profile members seemingly violate their terms and conditions?
- Given documented conflicts of interest from an apparent MHI insider, plus more than a decade of underperformance, why is it that big MHI member companies tolerate the failures to advance the industry on key issues by MHI staff, led by CEO Lesli Gooch?
The allegation has been floating for some years that the “system is rigged” in manufactured housing. If so, who benefits from the status quo? Industry underperformance creates a ‘moat,’ a barrier of entry, which allows for consolidation at discounted valuations. When someone ‘follows the money trail,’ is it consolidators who arguably benefit, while white hat independents and consumers alike routinely are harmed and/or undermined.
As a Democratic staffer told MHProNews, MHI has a reputation for being ‘anti-consumer.’ Ouch.
Plus, several state and federal probes are reportedly underway involving MHI member companies.
MHI and their leaders decline to address those or related concerns. But they, their attorneys, and dozens of their top members are among the regular readers here on MHProNews and our MHLivingNews sister site. So too are public officials, attorneys, mainstream media, investors, advocates, nonprofits, and others who are trying to make sense of why the industry is underperforming during an affordable housing crisis when good laws exist that if implemented would significantly advance the industry?
Pending Reports:
- Two well know giant corporations are increasing their presence in manufactured housing, one in a ‘quiet’ way.
- A new controversy with a key MHI member not mentioned in the above headlines is boiling, we’ll bring exclusive insights in the near term.
- An MHI member has insights for the lumber cost and related drama impacting independent retailers and communities that recently hit Skyline Champion.
- One of several new reports coming out of Washington, D.C. is just ahead.
No one in America, or anywhere else on planet earth, covers the manufactured housing industry with the depth of insight that MHProNews does. That’s why readers like you have made and kept us the runaway number one news source for issues impacting our industry.
It pays to know instead of having a head buried in the sand.
There is always more to read and more to come. Stay tuned with the runaway number one source for authentic “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) (See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.
For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position, and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
Related References:
The text/image boxes below are linked to other reports, which can be accessed by clicking on them.
