whiskybravo

Meant to post this last month. Nearly 8000 Americans buried at the beautifully maintained (by US tax dollars) Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno. A beautiful moving place. Nettuno itself is a charming little resort an hour south of Rome.

There was always a plan for two additional headquarters, even before the New York site was canceled. Subsequent work from home trends have delayed a significant part of the DC (Virginia) area headquarters. But as a result so to have tax incentives and subsidies been reduced by a commensurate level.

I sure do! “We can spend that money better elsewhere.” As if it were sitting in a bank account rather than representing the fruits of future economic activity.

Better to look at the whole scene to see what these officers are subjected to while enforcing the law. Objectively, I see a lot of restraint. The opposition is trained in psyops like tactics forcing decision dilemma. Don’t react, accuse of being weak. Measured response, ignored. Overreact, create viral narrative of tyrannical/authoritarian.

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Does anyone have a recommendation for a daily, circa 30minute per episode, podcast that covers corporate/industry news (not markets or stock picking) and doesn’t have a mainstream institutional slant (not WSJ, Bloomberg etc.)? I listened to an episode of Morning Brew Daily which covered the Open AI AMD deal, Deloitte’s report to the Australian government which was riddled with AI errors and hallucinations, and the Fifth Third/Comerica merger. Seemed pretty good. Then today started with a good bit about the ongoing air traffic controller shortage on top of government shutdown and how a similar situation in 2019 served as a breaking point to end that shutdown. But then it devolved into the WNBA, Carry Bradshaw, Christiano Ronaldo, whether one of the hosts has 150 people in his social circle. Not what I am looking for!

There’s definitely something to this. My wife and I are in Italy right now, and we’ve talked a lot about the same dynamic. It’s hard to put your finger on exactly why, but people here generally seem more polite, calmer, more grounded. It shows up in little things: people say buongiorno when you walk into a shop. They say thank you when you leave. Simple gestures, but they seem to reflect a kind of everyday civility that feels less common back home. There’s less rage, less anxiety in public life. That contrast really stands out, especially on our first days back.

Hey @Castanza. I appreciate your knowledge about guns. I learn reading your posts. I am ok with people owning guns, was raised in a gun owning family. I don’t have the answer to this issue, not even close. I try to analyze and perhaps contribute something to the discussion. Yes the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own firearms for self-defense, even outside militia service. But the Court explicitly acknowledged there were other, historically supported interpretations and those are still intellectually and historically valid, even if they’re not the law of the land.

We have 18th century men laying out rights for the citizens of their new country. Every one of them owned a gun. It wouldn’t seem necessary to formalize the right to gun ownership. So there motivation was, given their recent revolutionary experience, to resist any potential threat of tyranny. Otherwise the second amendment would have simply read: The right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. Why include the clause a well regulated militia?The people organized in militias by states (not federal standing armies), would be capable of resisting tyranny and defending the country. It’s civic, not personal. It’s collective liberty, not individual protection. Then no standing army. Defense of tyranny from well armed state militias. Today we have the largest and most advanced military in the world. State militias cannot meaningfully resist the federal military in any modern sense. And if the tyranny threat is external, that’s for the federal army to address, not state militias. Also the founding fathers couldn’t have foreseen some distant world of high powered rifles, recurrent mass shooting, social media radicalization, etc. Interesting to consider what would the Founders have written if they magically could imagine the world we live in.

I think this is undeniable. The largest cause of death by guns is suicide. It’s pretty clear in this case having a gun around makes it more likely the act will be completed. No gun? Other alternatives have a lower success rate.

While many students get scholarships and such, a full ride is actually pretty rare. So in the hypothetical that all H1B workers could be born and raised in the U.S., only a tiny fraction would get it. I may be misunderstanding your point. In any case, wage and other pressures on American workers exist. Good deal for employers. I can’t reconcile MAGA as DEI for white people since for instance Asians would be significant beneficiaries of meritocracy.

I like your point about structural disadvantages Americans have as a result of the boated cost of higher education. Most Indians competing for these jobs have zero debt. And there is an element of employer coercion. H1B workers are tied to their employers, so will be less willing to push back against unrealistic demands. America has always benefited from talented, hard working immigrants and will continue to do so. But your “inferiority complex” oversimplifies motivations like very high education costs and wage pressures. These are legitimate concerns for American workers.

As Matt Taibbi said: “If the Trump administration follows through on its FCC threats, we will all be robbed of the joy of legacy media failure…..It would be the greatest Schadenfreude robbery in history.” Very hamfisted to turn political hacks masquerading as comedians into martyrs. Let’s not have a government truth commission. Let the market handle it.

If Marco’s view is more in sync with the electorate and the democrats want to win elections, wouldn’t it be wiser to modify such positions? Moral high ground claimed, but Trump president vs. realistic political calculation

Agree time arbitrage works wonders, especially combined with companies that will likely make good returns on investment over time AND are run by honest, competent people. Ideally in small companies whose market cap you could realistically expect to grow many fold over time. And concentrate on your best ideas. I haven’t always adhered to that. When I have though the returns have been great. When I haven’t mediocre.

“This undoubtedly kills IMEC (India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor), the Biden administration's flagship grand strategy to counter China's Belt and Road that was supposed to connect India to Europe via Saudi Arabia.” On no not that grand strategy! We should probably be pivoting away from global overreach. Repeating the successful Cold War playbook would be unwise with China and in general in an emerging multipolar world. China has learned a valuable lesson, which eventually brought the Soviet Union down. Namely geopolitical influence follows economic strength. If we pour money into attempting to counter or otherwise “optimize” our influence in every corner of the world, we will actually be increasing our likely downfall. So don’t be alarmed by these kind of headlines. A strategic recalibration to Western hemispheric concerns is the play. We will still engage and trade with the world, but we can’t expect to be globally dominant. P.S. How’s this for hyperbole: “I don't think I'm exaggerating by saying that this truly is the US's Suez moment”

LC, I love you like one of my leftist brothers, but for the love of humanity would you please stop plastering Trump’s mug on the board? Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Colpa tua. Why do we even have a Trump running the show? Because the electorate said anything but the left. Every swing state. If you didn’t want Trump why open the borders. NYC was flooded with illegal migrants. Completely insane and unmanageable. This from the public accessible portion of the latest Doomberg: “On a scale akin to the US Interstate Highway System, and even the nation’s electric grid itself, US natural gas infrastructure is reaching a tipping point beyond which it will bequeath future generations an inheritance the people of Britain can only envy. Already, it stands among the most complex, integrated, and valuable machines humanity has ever built.” Dems were against this. So because Dems can’t show responsible governance, we have to be subjected to Trump. 80/20 issue? Guess which side Dems take. So regarding having a ridiculous narcissist as president, I sorry my friend, colpa tua. “All the contact I have had with politics has left me feeling as though I had been drinking out of spittoons.” Ernest Hemingway

I think I’ll leave it at that, since we are talking across one another. But I’ll consider your recommendation. First I have seven biographies ahead of it in the cue. When I consider a psychology book, I tend to say…well I’d rather read (fill in the blank). Then again Thinking Fast and Slow was one of my favorite books and really resonated with me.

Where did you get the impression that I thought only “right zingers get axed”? In fact “you KNOW it’s hard for me”. Show more intellectual rigor and less condescension. Because you think it’s extreme, well then he’s fair game. And how about those that can’t afford expensive security? Are they to serve as target practice for those that think they are extreme?

For those doubting there is a problem with the European political class. Here is a quote from British social democrat leader William Clouston (not on the right!): “That this Green Paper exists is a tragedy. For decades, Britain has sleepwalked into an abyss which has made us poorer, weaker, and gutted our industrial base. The heart of this is a self-induced energy crisis which has been catastrophic for our welfare and security. Britons now suffer the highest energy prices in the developed world, with our collective wealth continually drained to fund vast energy imports. How did Britain—an energy rich nation—sink into an energy crisis? We argue below that the causes were part indifference, part profiteering and part lunacy. And it happened because of pretence: an ill-fated attempt to ignore the material world. But as we are finding out, the material world matters, production matters, and tangible needs matter“ This exerpt from Doomberg’s latest continues: “The exactitude of Clouston’s diagnosis of what ails Britain also serves to highlight the enormous chasm in energy positioning between it and its former colonial possession….In less than two decades, the shale revolution, and the enthusiasm with which key US states embraced the technology, catapulted America into the world’s preeminent oil and gas producer by a wide margin.” This, among other reasons, is how the current political class has maneuvered Europe to a less influential global role and if continued an decreasingly competitive position. Three cheers for feckless Ed Miliband. P.S. Feel free to compare blue state policies where appropriate, e.g. New York State fracking ban.

Very cynical and unfair take. Sure you are perfectly within your rights to disagree with Charlie Kirk’s political views. Just as he iwas within his rights to promote them. But he was also promoting dialogue. Trying to give students a different perspective than they were getting from their professors. Since he was having success, he was more of a threat.

Sure, the individual is responsible. But that doesn’t mean we pretend the ideological environment, especially one full of dehumanizing language, plays no role. I’ve seen a lot of calls for violence coming from the left online. There’s a cultural atmosphere of hatred that shouldn’t be ignored.

Today’s Manson girls

Whew is right!