The car dealer really wants Mrs. Snark's leased vehicle back.

Boring stuff, but a quick heads up...

Mrs. Snark is a public official in our town, an acquisitions editor for a book company, and also does accounting work for another village.
She works hard and contends with lots of difficult folks, so she rewards herself by leasing a car and swapping it out every few years.
I drive cars into the ground and am currently wearing-down a 2015 Ford. Prior car was a 2000 Pontiac w/ 175K miles.

I looked up the trade-in value on her car, as the lease is up in a few months and was shocked to see it's worth nearly as much as the sticker price was 2 1/2 years ago.
So the vehicle is worth around $7,000 more than the residual value shown on the lease contract. Rather than surrender this windfall to the dealer, she's decided to buy the car.
Part of the calculus is that new cars are quite pricey and in short supply right now, so swapping into a new one would piss away the $7K in equity, as well as subject her to bubble-type prices on a narrow selection of new cars.

First world problems...right?
Well anyhow, if any DUers read this and become aware they're sitting on a unexpected windfall, I'll consider this a win.

Biden's arrival and departure from Crystal Lake, IL today.

Just some rando's view from the front lawn. (not mine, but I've seen some cool aircraft around the area)

Also, how cool are those Osprey aircraft?

Arrival - Osprey flying like a plane.

Metastatic capitalism is destroying the planet.

Michigan-based rock band Greta VanFleet amplifies the message.

AP FACT CHECK: Trump fabricates election corruption

WASHINGTON (AP) — Citing “horror stories,” President Donald Trump unleashed a torrent of fabricated accusations Thursday in an audacious attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the U.S. election.

Standing behind the presidential seal, Trump used a White House setting symbolizing the power of his office to assail an election he portrayed as rife with fraud and corruption. One allegation after another had no basis in fact, such as his accusation that election officials in Pennsylvania and Detroit tried to ban election observers from polling stations.

A look at his remarks, coming as Democrat Joe Biden made progress toward the electoral votes needed to claim the presidency.

Want to know where to get a great Chicago style hot dog?

The Wieners Circle in Chicago, that's where!

We'll be ready to re-open when bus drivers can tell riders to wear a mask & not get spit upon.

Authoritarians are all-in until white privilege has it's fee-fees hurt.

"Front Lines" - Devastating new ad from Priorities USA

AP FACT CHECK: Trump defense misrepresents Mueller findings

How's your 409(k) doing?

Two days ago, BLOTUS boasted about growth in 409K's. Sure it was a typo and he meant 401(K), but he seems to be in mental decline, so lets compare Obama vs. Trump growth rates.
Of course, it's worth pointing out that the richest 1% own 50% of US stocks and to expand the view, the richest 10% own 84% of US stocks.
These facts don't stop garden variety broke-as-fuck trumpanzees from crowing about tRump's superior performance, so let's do the math.

Obama vs. Trump - first 35 months in office** The start/stop data are laid out down below, for those interested

Obama Dow +52.3% <<Clear advantage
Trump Dow +43.5%

Obama S&P 500 +54.2% <<Clear advantage
Trump S&P 500 +41.8%

Obama NASDAQ +80.7% <<Clear advantage
Trump NASDAQ +60.6%

There are 3 standard response you'll get from Trumpists.
1) No!, Fake News, or some such fact-averse push back. (I always challenge them to research it and try to debunk - they can't do it!)
2) Obama became POTUS during an economic downturn (Congrats for recognizing that Obama pulled us out of the 2nd Republican Great Depression - without help from R's)
3) Trump grew it by more points! (Upon which I direct them to the following article. Math=Hard)
https://finance.zacks.com/stock-market-points-vs-percent-6029.html

Percent Math

The designated number of points divided into the value of the underlying stock or index price produces a percentage change. If IBM is up 5 points from $100 per share, that means that it's up $5, and the stock gained 5 percent. If the S&P 500 is up 5 points from 1,420, the stock index gained 0.35 percent. Percentages of change are always calculated from the starting value. Using the percent change makes comparisons understandable. For example, if the Dow is up 130 points from a starting value of 13,180 for the day, and the S&P 500 has gained just 14 points from a starting point of 1,420, both stock indexes are up about 1 percent.