Sweet

Yes, possible, maybe likely. Also:

Crazy operation, the ambition of it, and the fact it seeks to go on without a hitch.

Nobody cared then, weird.

Trump Devotion Syndrome in this case?

Why would anyone still be holding a full position in this?

What thread was this? Lol

per capita there is something like 4x more in the UK than the US. About 70% (or thereabouts) don’t work.

We can’t even keep people like this out of the UK, we are such a joke country:

Completely agree @Saluki. @Gregmal I’m going to look at selling some puts again, last time I looked at this it was a few years ago but my capital base is much bigger now so maybe it’s worth it. We’ll see.

I’ve done ok buying deep OTM puts on stocks, I think the reason why it worked for me is that I was never too greedy - I’d get a double or triple in options premium and close it. Never, to my recollection, did any of those deep OTM puts ever become ITM, so I can see how you are making this work for you so consistently. I stopped though because it wasn’t worth it, using 1% or my port to get a 2-3% just meh returns and if you don’t exit perfectly you can get a zero. I looked at selling puts before, I don’t really want to hold these positions for years so I didn’t bother on LEAPs, and the monthly or weekly had too little premium. I figured that I needed a bigger capital base to make this work for me, I’d imagine you are playing with significantly more than I am. But if you like a stock, i don’t think selling puts is that risky.

We sent our thoughts and prayers. Not exactly nothing.

It’s a related point but different, no country in Europe has an obligation to spend X amount on drugs from America. We do have a NATO obligation.

Have I not been saying this for years Cubs? You know I have because you’ve been on the receiving end of my occasional rants.

I get it, there are reasons, but we need to act with some humility too. Our weakness was Putin’s opportunity. We knew he was eyeing up Ukraine… what did we do about it? We should never have been below 2%.

The only way you can possibly think I’m somehow taken by the current admins ‘BS’ is if you are totally unfamiliar with my views. I have expressed these views in this thread several years ago. I’ve held them for much longer, coming on 20 years now, and I formed them from just looking at the data. Europe has NOT been doing its fair share. Collectively our military spending is / was way below the 2% mandatory threshold NATO spending for years - Denmark included. The UK has nominally been spending 2% but when you back out non-military spending, and things like overseas aid, we British were also spending less than 2%. On both a relative basis, and an absolute basis, Europe is way below the contribution of America when it comes to military contribution. And it DOES matter. How can you even think it doesn’t with all that is going on in Ukraine.

Europe relying on the military might of big brother for defence whilst we spend our tax money elsewhere. European defence capability diminished after several decades of neglect because America has our backs. And all the while many Europeans look down their nose at the uncultured yanks. I can understand why they are pissed at of.

Broadcasting licensing is not the same as private individuals being jailed for their speech. Europe has been subsidised by US defence spending for years and it was wrong. That said, I agree with you, Putin is the ‘baddy’ and some right wing are sympathetic to Putin and Russia. It’s funny, because despite all Trump’s efforts with Ukraine and courting Putin, Putin was trying to pit Europeans against America last week: “If we were to join our efforts with European countries, Russia and European countries, our joint GDP would be higher than the United States. Of course, this is all theoretical, but it is quite obvious, the fact is quite obvious, that unifying and complementing our abilities, we will thrive instead of fighting each other like you are doing." It’s pretty obvious he hates the US and wants to undermine their alliances and influence.

Bound to happen when part of your campaign is just vibing on stage and feeding your audience what you think they want to hear.

I also think it’s embarrassing for him. Trump is all about the brand.

Whatever you want, but I don’t think there is some kind of conspiracy here. Again, if Trump was a pedo I’m fairly sure we’d know. Releasing may sound good on the campaign trail, but publishing in this way arguably stymies actual prosecutions.

Prosecutions are normally brought out of the public eye. It’s quiet and often secret work. The secrecy around such things is not unusual. Trump may have campaigned about releasing the files, but so what? Plenty of other things he campaigned on which I’m sure you don’t want him to do. I’ve never really understood the Epstein obsession, a public enquiry probably would have been better than these releases.

If you think Trump was a pedo why do you think that this information wasn’t released by the FBI when Comney was in charge, or prosecuted the Biden admin? He was hauled into court for exaggerating the value of his business to get a favourable loan deal which he paid down in full (a victimless ‘crime’ if there ever was one), so I’m not inclined to believe there is dirt on him regarding Epstein that his detractors would bury just because. It’s an easy way to get him out of office and into jail that they didn’t take. That’s illogical.

But so far it has been a nothing burger.

Everywhere is different, in the UK it’s been this way for years. Genuinely never had a person with conservative views, who I’ve just met, try and talk politics. Never. I’m unsure why, but it does seem like people live and breath politics and don’t understand that other people just don’t. Like you, I never talk politics with strangers, and I try not to with anyone else either actually.