whiskybravo

I'm listening to Terry Reid's album River. How was this guy not a star? Jimmy Page asked him to be lead singer of the New Yardbirds, which became Led Zeppelin. He declined and suggested Robert Plant. He has kind of a Van Morrison feel. Great album!

The level of cash is what allows me to feel comfortable. I jumped into PROT with both feet starting last September. I am up 60% on my 265 cost. LTM PE is up to around 19. It is pricey, but they are growing quickly and I think prudently. This won’t ever have a low price to book (unless it blows up). A good portion of multi year up and to the right stocks have been expensive all along the way. The key is to pick the right one. I balance that riskier proposition with JOE where the margin of safety is large and there is a likelihood that significant value will be realized over time.

Joe 45% PROT.OL 45% Cash 10% Plan is to sell as stocks appreciate to maintain 10% cash. The cash is already close to getting me to judgement day. YTD up 25%. Deep bow to Greg for his amazing and generous postings on JOE. Glad my wife and I got to meet him, Cubs and others at the meeting. Protector is in the midst of multibagging and by market cap is still small. Lots of room to grow expanding into more countries. Both have excellent, shareholder friendly management.

I don’t know the details of the bill, though it was pushed by Dems to say that Republicans are resisting the fix of the border. They are still pushing that talking point even after Trump fixed the border day 1. Jill Biden or whoever was running the country then didn’t want to stop the flow of unvetted illegal migrants.

On a humanitarian basis, I feel for migrants attempting to better their lives. They have become pawns in American politics. Why would the Dems leave the border unprotected for four years? Did they think that would be a force for stability? It sure wasn’t in NYC. I don’t know when or how the US will come to a sane immigration policy. Doesn’t seem likely in the current political environment. Maybe it will take real pressure on the labor force, but what do I know? I am always so full of doubts.

Really great finals. First seven gamer since Cleveland’s thrilling comeback against Golden State.

True

Invert, always invert. Nothing good comes from POTUS. Everything bad is the fault of POTUS, etc. and so on.

Unfortunate. Wouldn’t it have been better not to let 10M illegal migrants cross the border. Maybe you would have won the last presidential election. I see you mock MAGA with the American flag. Leftists!

+1 I used to read it, particularly the first section and continued to for years. Over recent years, it has become very biased. Also WSJ was more solid business and market focused. I still subscribe online, but a lot more general interest stuff. Even their reporting can have a whiff of anti Trump snark.

Just to set the record straight. John Kerry was the swift boat commander in Vietnam. Romney received five deferrals and when those ran out his draft number was 300. Never served. Full respect for John McCain.

You have a nice way of summing things up. Joe Manchin was about the sanest politician we have had.

Also note, the goal included all military vehicles. Imagine recharging tanks in the middle of a battle.

The Republican Party of the recent past were bungling loose cannons who lied to get us in the Iraq war debacle. These overconfident, irresponsible neocons caused me to vote for Kerry, Obama twice, Hillary, and Biden. Sorry I couldn’t vote for Harris (too far to the left, temperament not suited for the job, not vetted through primary process). I have never voted for Trump (didn’t cast a presidential ballot last year), as I don’t think his temperament is fit for the job. Having said that, short of his ridiculous tariff policy implementation and the looming fiscal danger ( I know no small things), I’m in favor of much of his agenda. Like W’s administration turned me away from the Republicans, Biden’s turned me away from the Dems. Energy secretary Jennifer Granholm saying the military fleet could be all electric by 2030 is a nonstarter. How can anyone think we are not better off with Chris Wright? Who could think we would be better off with the border completely undefended? I was hoping Biden was going to be the adult in the room as he assured us in the 2020 campaign, but he caved to the left. So here we are. I’m disheartened to see the Dems seem to be doubling down on their leftist tendencies. I appreciate this board Parsad. It is unique in allowing different viewpoints with a pretty reasonable degree of respect.

Yes, nailed it.

I wasn’t stating a personal opinion, just an attempt at political analysis. Most of my friends and acquaintances are to varying degrees on the left. They are as patriotic as I am, that is to say not hyper patriotic but appreciative of their country and glad that they are lucky enough to live here. There is a political perception that the left is less patriotic and this is what Trump would like to take advantage of on Saturday. My advice to those attending no kings rallies is to wave the American flag. It wasn’t a good look in LA to see foreign flags waved and American ones burned. In fact it was very beneficial, again from a political point of view, to Republicans.

Fair enough. I must admit I haven't given them any thought over the years. Politics is in play here, probably smartly so, because the left is seen to be unpatriotic. The last one not associated with a military victory was 1961 for Kennedy's inauguration, height of the Cold War.

Yes and I suspect that he gets a kick out of it that so many will get their panties in an uproar. Realistically though, if this parade was not on his birthday, would you be looking on it favorably? We have dear friends in Italy whose son, an engineer graduated from Bologna, is an officer in the Italian army in Torino. He said that he can’t wear his uniform in public, because he will be harassed.

Effective constitutional limitations is where the judiciary comes in and until now it has been respected, albeit with some squawking. Come to think of it didn’t Schumer and other Dems do some serious anti judicial squawking? I feel the same as Stealers Wheel once expressed in a song long ago. Trump’s style and M.O. is not to my tastes (I like Ike), but the Dems as currently constituted have become ridiculous.

Good thing we don’t have an autocrat. Italy has had a military parade every year since 1948 on June 2, Festa Della Repubblica. France on Bastille Day. Saturday is the 250th anniversary of the army. Enjoy some John Philip Sousa.

Dictator: a ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained control by force. Autocrat: a ruler who has absolute power. We aren’t there. He was elected democratically, has to pass his legislation through congress (his executive orders can be reversed by the next democratic president), and is subject to the judiciary.

Thanks for your reply. Just wanted to first clear up a point. You had me scratching my head with your comment about WWII starting in 1939. Then it dawned on me that you were referring to a previous post of mine. 1938 referred to Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler. 1941 refer to Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union and its reason for invading. My fault for poor wording and being so vague: “This is not 1938 or 1941. Putin not will push further for living space (lebensraum) for the Russian people or “rush to the Caucasus” to seize the non existent oil resources of Western Europe.” As to present day parallels, the circumstances are very different. Our society is more prosperous and despite recent tariff excitement the economy is relatively sound. I am worried about the fiscal situation. But so far no stormtroopers or SS. I think there is hysteria on the left, because they don’t agree with Trump’s policies and they like to get up each morning and feel fresh outrage.

Sure perfectly valid. See my response just above. I’m 64 years old and all I basically do is read. I think you can assume that most people on this board are pretty well read. When someone looks at something different than you it doesn’t mean they are ignorant.

Sorry, that came off a little harsh. I haven’t read the book in question, but what little I did see when looking into it, was that the author argued for a uniquely German character that laid the grounds for Hitler to successfully propagate Nazism. I don’t see the relevance here. Just being patriotic and actively pursuing policies that the left doesn’t like is not enough to make the leap to fascism/ dictator etc.

Lol so you’re another one who thinks we have only a couple of months left?