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LoLz! [Never heard the expression before!]

Yeah these African teams are really showing up this year... respect.

Can also appreciate the defense scheme that created the offside.

They probably don't mention and discuss it as much because they don't really take much risk in managing it. I think their focus is on underwriting excellence. And I know in the past they focused on the 10 10 strategy. Where they wanted to get up to $10B of net under written premiums, 90% CR. Despite that they had some steps and have been more transparent recently in discussing the reasons for that. On the investment side, they tend to duration, match and not play the yield duration curve very much. I think their term for float is policyholders funds and they are about 2 times annual underwritten.premiums. On the equity investment side, the returns have been better than Fairfax in recent 15 or so years. And their Markel ventures arm also appears to be doing quite well, although there are clearly some seasonal and cyclical variations in that. So to extent their relatively consistent underwriting and investment performance have made the bond investing part of the returns less significant. I think their bigger problem has been the fact that their insurance operations have grown very anemically over the last hard and soft cycle. If there's one concern for me, it's that they are doing this during a hardening market, that is something we need to keep a very close eye on.

Now it is competition in honesty. And ... China is winning? Suppressing population is often successful, as it is shown by North Korea, Russia, and to great extent by modern China. It's only developed democracies that are vulnerable to exploitation by populists. Because they maintain political freedoms to do so. In aspiring dictatorships all opposition is destroyed early and one person or a small group controls all parts of society.

What are you talking about... The dude was convicted for trying to hide evidence of his wife's significant involvement with the violent attack on the ICE facility. I said I feel sorry for the guy getting 30 years. Nothing in his conviction had anything to do with "Free Speech" - only his role in 19 or 20 AntiFa members planning out and directing an attack on an ICE facility - and then hiding his wife's role. You actually might want to read up on what actually happened.

In the end, suppressing your population leads to some sort of revolution and that is what I think is relevant here-- AfD is leading in the polls in Germany Reform is leading in the polls in the UK National Rally is leading in the polls in France There is a clear pattern here...the people are sick of their voices and opinions being suppressed. At some point, the political status quo will burst at the seams. This is because European leaders have been using undemocratic means of suppressing the will of their people for too long and so the people are turning to something radically different than the status quo.

FYI that account has been reinstated: Elon is definitely a hypocrite if that's why the account got cancelled--but notice in this case it's not the government fining anyone nor sending anyone to jail--it's a private social media platform. The CCP doesn't make posts on "protecting Free Speech" like European leaders do though. European leaders are being dishonest while the Chinese are up front about what they do. They do not pretend.

Huh. I thought you agreed with the right to bear arms. And what does that have to do with a dude moving pamphlets? Did he have a gun? Did he shoot someone? To summarize your argument, you're saying that a dude who transports "free speech" deserves 30 years in prison because people he knew had guns. When I say, "I think it's largely because of political polarization--because everyone's fine with "their side" doing it to screw the other side," your reaction is exactly what I was referring to. Maybe next time, just say, "But it was Republicans persecuting the people, so it's okay." That'll save some typing. As I say, this is all normalizing President AOC doing whatever she wants to do.

Damn, Cabo Verde played a hell of a match.

So let's see. A dozen people show up with AK 47's and pistols, all loaded. They were charged with possession of 50 guns. The leader shoots the ICE agent, who while wounded, returns fire, and disables the leaders AR. The others get scared and take off, some on foot, some in vehicles - most are captured within a an hour - all wearing their body armor, with loaded guns. Yeah @RichardGibbons - I guess that qualifies as having "difference of opinion" instead of "terrorism". ROFL

Cape Verde - man, no matter who this ends, super impressive

Greg, have a Happy 4th of July! Restricted from posting till midnight tomorrow. You were already right, no need for insults or a homophobic response. Cheers!

Ah yes, the crime of having different opinions than the government, so being labelled a terrorist, and persecuted. When I say, "I think it's largely because of political polarization--because everyone's fine with "their side" doing it to screw the other side," your reaction is exactly what I was referring to. You should be prepared for President AOC to arrest you for the things you've posted here that she'll claim are fascist and incitement to terrorism.

Exactly. European REITs are just not great. leverage is too high. if things go good, the stocks just do Ok. If things go against them , the stock a solute get trashed and you are probably looking into diluted capital raises. I have tried in the past several, like Vastned, lured in by large discounts to NAV. That did not work out and I sold after seeing the KPI‘s slowly getting worse. I am invested in US multifamily REITs which have lower leverage and are more tax efficient for me. Why even try? I think there are many many better opportunity out there that European REITs.

Other than BTC, I agree. Someone once said the most important component of wealth is protecting it. Perhaps we need a separate thread on that subject.

Apparently the answer is NO I've never seen or heard of a more controversial asset in history.

Yea I admittedly don’t know anything about soccer and just found myself frustrated because I was watching what had the potential to be a great match and it seemed like every goal is held up and potentially negated because of a coin flip over something that to a casual observer, seemed immaterial

Seriously - that's a gross misrepresentation of the facts. The dude's wife was convicted of several counts of terrorism activities - among them providing material support to the guy that shot the ICE agent in the neck. She was present for the rioting and participated in the attacks on the ICE facility. His conviction was NOT for "Free Speech" - his conviction was for attempting to hide evidence that implicated his wife in the conspiracy. It is a very harsh sentence - but has NOTHING to do with Free Speech - only conspiracy in the terrorist activities. I definitely feel for the guy, but he married a lunatic.

A great many societies have a long history of being 'free' .... until suddenly they aren't; South America, Middle East, Eastern Europe, Asia, etc. The sudden imposition of capital controls is a very normal thing; to the great annoyance of central bankers and state authorities, BTC is a tool that helps to evade them . Hard to appreciate, until you've been in a society experiencing sudden change. SD

Agreed. In general the clarity of thought w.r.t capital allocation and compounding is much higher at Berkshire (of course) and Fairfax.

@Gregmal I understand your feeling. The problem is though: offside is a black and white decision just like if the ball is inside the goal or not. Is what it is. Also the refs and the VAR room know the rules much better than the public and it's their job to apply the rules obv. Wrt offside I've heard it mentioned that they should/could change the rule to if the feet are offside or not. I tend to agree that might be better. Still we'd be having the issue regarding centimers offside, but seem better to look at the feet rather than the body. Easier to see and understand.

I'm also puzzled why this topic came up at all. China is doing better than Europe economically, and free speech there is much worse. No idea why it's in the focus in investor's discussion.

(Gonna assume that this is now a political thread, since it's acting that way. If it isn't, let me know and I'll delete this.) Well, you can do it in the USA until you get 30 years in jail for distributing free speech. Free speech is under attack everywhere in the western world. I think it's largely because of political polarization--because everyone's fine with "their side" doing it to screw the other side. It's very short-sighted. Where I live, Canada, is certainly among the worst.

You can critizise politicians here as you like. You won’t get sued, you account will just get cancelled.