dwy000

So now a US attorney in Virginia is being forced to resign for not finding enough evidence to prosecute a Trump enemy. Oh and Pentagon reporters are now required to get government authorization before reporting or lose their credentials. How can anyone look at the past few days and not admit theyre watching fascism advancing before their eyes, let alone support it because its from Dear Leader.

I would have to imagine this broker driven business is necessary but will always be a small fraction of the total, yes? Throwing 15% broker fees in there either kills margins or increases rates they have to charge, especially if theyre competing against other directs like Progressive.

I always took that to be the case or otherwise you wouldnt need the bifurcation. If shares are better or the same as LP units (and theyre convertible), cleaning up the cap structure benefits everybody. So the LP holders must have tax benefits from being invested in an LP instead of stock. This is the same structure, I believe, as Baldwin too.

What does our back and forth here have to do with Trump suppressing freedoms, threatening the press and trying to undermine the constitution? The logic of tariffs (which have been deemed unconstitutional) still hasn't been ex0lained by the administration or anyone here (why on earth are we tariffing UK 25% or Brazil when we have a trade surplus there?). Trump is desperately refusing to release the Epstein files which he claimed he would do. Neither of these things have anything to do with what we are talking about here. Wanting to get one up on me doesnt justify what Trump is doing to the constitution.

When did the other side do it? Or any other President? When did they send troops into cities over the objection of local government? When did they threaten to pull licenses for broadcasters who made jokes about them? When did file lawsuits against newspapers for endorsing the other candidate? You keep making these broad generalizations that simply aren't true. To compare what Trump is doing to what any other president has done ever is ridiculous. Its not even close

What? What do cries of racism from a small but vocal group have to do with Trump trying to override the constitution to make himself a dictator? And the only politicians I'm aware of who compared Trump to Hitler are JD Vance and RFK.

This would be true if the transgressions were even remotely comparable. I dont recall having dozens of government actions having to be opined upon by emergency Supreme Court actions during any administration before (of either party). I certainly dont recall any previous President suggesting they should pull Fox's license.

This is just a generalizing rant. The number of people who actually give a crap about pronouns and gender and rainbow sidewalks is tiny. Loud but tiny. And nobody made a huge deal out of it because why would you? Its annoying but it impacted almost nobody and definitely wasnt meant to harm anyone. As you like to say about everything - who care? Just ignore it. What Trump is doing is undermining the constitution, removing freedoms, suppressing dissent and using the office as his own private gift machine and bullying tool. To suggest the 2 are even comparable is simply a joke.

The whole "whataboutism" is just the most ridiculous bunch of crap. I expect that from Cubs. The stuff Trump is doing doesnt even come close to whatever perceived slight you felt. Threatening network licenses if they say bad things about you vs getting upset at pronouns is night and day. Putting troops on the street because you feel threatened by sidewalk rainbows? Really? And let's not even get into the long term economic and international reputation damage for the US all to won the Libs. I suspect the farmers of the Midwest are the first of many thinking "well damn I hate the Libs but I didnt vote for any of this"

Thats exactly how its supposed to work. You piss people off and they stop using your product. Bud Light, American Eagle, Cracker Barrel, Target, etc. Thats the power of the consumer. Thats not what's happening here at all. This is the head of the FCC threatening consequences because his boss has a thin skin and doesnt like being teased. And he continues to say that networks could have licenses revoked if they insult Trump. This is government censorship straight up. Its not cancel culture its dictator stuff.

"Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people into the discussion. Thats why people in influential positions have always targeted it for censorship. Should the govenment censorship speech it doesn't like? Of course not!" Brandon Carr.

Doesn't Spier claim this every four or five years (esp when he underperforms)? Or maybe I'm thinking of someone else. The true value investing ala Walter Schloss and Ben Graham hasn't really been possible since the K's and Q's got put online and you could screen 1000s of companies at once. But as per Munger, all smart investing is value investing - its just a matter of what you deem "value".

And this administration certainly doesn't support lying in any shape or form! How's that Lisa Cook thing going?

Colbert was probably financial (give them the benefit of the doubt) but to argue Kimmels was not due to Trump is just wrong. Brendan Carr was on a podcast saying there would be consequences and Nexstar needs his approval for their merger. If it was not for political reasons they would have wound it down in 2026 as per his contract instead of pulling it suddenly. Come on, Sweet youre better than that - suggesting this was anything other than political pressure is just so obviously not the case.

And that was in response to: Trumps approval rating has been incredibly sticky because he “gets stuff done”.

I wasnt the one who brought them up

We wouldnt want truth getting in the way of a good story for Kool aid hour.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2025/09/17/trump-approval-rating-dips-below-40-in-latest-survey/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna228110

They play to their audience. Just like Fox and Kirk. If they get cancelled because of ratings, just like any other show great, that's fine. But getting cancelled because the President has a thin skin is just wrong in a free society.

Trump has the lowest approval rating of any President in history. And is negative on every single issue at this point. Theres a reason he is begging for gerrymandering and now wants a midterm convention - he's really worried he's losing the independents and minorities he needs to win. If Republicans start seeing him as a midterm liability (post primary) its going to get really interesting, really fast.

In that case I think youre right and its just the brokers "having to do something". I'm sure they see AI headlines and get questions so feel they have to have a view on its impact - and you cant just say it will be minimal even if that's your view, because then you will get accused of not understanding the issue.

Nobody is forcing you to watch their shows just as nobody is forcing you to watch Hannity. Thats the whole freedom of speech thing. Trump is putting troops on the streets over the opposition of local government, publicly stating he doesn't care about sowing division, publicly calling for the cancelation of shows and having his personally picked FCC head criticize networks/shows when he has to approve mergers. And he's making up false accusations against fed officials to try and get them fired because they dont do what he wants. If the dictator/fascist alarm bells aren't ringing loudly, regardless of your polical leaning you just don't want to hear them.

So what was the brokers' argument for AI making inroads or disrupting either direct insurance or the brokers? I can see it being value added to the businesses and potentially cost reducing but I dont see where it could negatively impact the underlying business. Insurers feel more volatile as capital comes into and out of the industry (and claims rise and fall - where's hurricane season this year??). But brokers should be stable and growing either way with the impact more on merger multiples.

I think amyone who celebrates the cancelation of Jimmy Kimmel should be fired. Yes, that was meant to be ironic.

Okay.....did it. I was implying that normally cancel culture is seen from the other side. In this case it is driven directly by the President.