Happy Father's Day!

Be cool.

Comments

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--Yeah, life sharing a cell with some Bubba would be much simpler.--

First, I meant when I was about five and he was about twelve.

Second, hello, this is California. I might have gotten six months in detention.

Third, if they had jailed me I might have met that girl I'm pursuing who guards young miscreants, much sooner.

A win/win/win.

[lyle]

I had you at a reluctant Birkenstock dude like me, Buckeye!

::Beasts successfully baited into commentary with the Bordeaux post. Check::

[lyle]

::hmmm...no, it had nothing to do with the tournament. nope::

[Threadkiller]

Watched enough 20/20 and the Stephanopoulos interview to reach a conclusion on why Sarah Sanders quit.

It was real stupid of Trump to give that little runt any access to him.

Kabuki your hearts out. I think it was a mistake that he is working had to counter.

Nytol.

[Threadkiller]

...working hard to counter...

[Another Bob]

Not sure I’ve ever seen this kind of thing before. Pretty amazing I think.

https://twitter.com/sanzhao4/status/1140264087936307200?s=21

[Another Bob]

So this basically makes it official that Deutsche Bank has failed?

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-deutsche-bank-restructuring-usa-idUSKCN1TH0S7

[clarice]

I never flew the Frozen Goose, Melinda.

[Narciso79]

That's the way it looks like, remember the ba nk at the beginning of the dark knight, where the vp carried a shot gun thats Deutsche bank. A Chinese concern owns about 30% of the stock.

[clarice]

AB, that's a civilized group of people. Unlike the unsocialized brats here.

[Narciso79]

But wait Sallie mae is getting into credit cards, is that they way they are going to bundle student loans now

[JimNorCal]

JamesD: "I probably wouldn’t be allowed to have misbehaving “journalists” dragged out of the room and thrown into a rat-infested dungeon ..."

Well, perhaps not permanently.
But even as a provisional power, I think big gains could achieved!

[JimNorCal]

.

[Narciso79]

Well rats wouldn't associate with acosta they have standards after all.

[Narciso79]

How about that:

https://mobile.twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/status/1140293389218406401

[clarice]

Nytol.

[JimNorCal]

Via Insty.
Heh.

BABYLON BEE: Not to be Outdone, Elizabeth Warren Promises to Cure Smallpox: “‘We will fend off the smallpox attacks of the white man,’ she said while sipping ‘fire water’ in a live video posted to her social media accounts. ‘If I am elected, I will find a way to end this scourge on our people and send the white devils back across the great sea where they came from.'”

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--AB, that's a civilized group of people. Unlike the unsocialized brats here.--

I can't speak for anyone else here but I resent that in no uncertain terms.

[Narciso79]

I think it's more like the ant farm that seems to be struck with revolutionary flu from the planet of the apea

[Gentlejim]

C’mon Iggy, you did consider chucking your knucklehead brother from a dangerous height when you were 5.

:)

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

I think Clarice was referring to American protesters not JOM.

[Another Bob]

That seemed clear to me too Stephanie.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Not exactly GJ.
While I did facetiously say I had considered doing it to a couple of people, I regretted not considering [and doing] it to him. :)

But if I had, my parents would have had to raise some Cain.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

12:41 = joke.

[Narciso79]

I think for the first time in a long while the pla ruling ciuncil miscalculated on this issue

[jim nj]

A UK perspective on Russian armor.

https://wavellroom.com/2019/06/13/scaring-the-bear-russia-and-future-armour-tank-russia-army/

[Gentlejim]

That’s the thing about hindsight, Iggy. Haha
I should go to bed. You all behave or not.

[rich]

Posted by: Gentlejim | June 17, 2019 at 01:15 AM

how can we behave? we're all a bunch of unsocialized brats!

[Narciso79]

When how many tanks have they used in Chechnya or Syria?

[jim nj]

Narciso,

I think the author of that UK article was making two arguments. It is generally thought that superior tanks may win tank battles. That is conventional wisdom, but it also may be due to tactics.

https://www.tanks.net/tank-battles/yom-kippur-war-battle-of-golan-heights.html

Israel had better tanks, but I'm pretty sure they had better tactics too. I can't prove that.

The other thought is that you don't need a tank to stop a tank. There are other means to do so as Grozny proved. The Chechens had about 50 tanks. The Russians sent in about 230 tanks.

https://www.tanks.net/tank-history/tanks-during-the-first-chechen-war.html

While there may have been some tank-to-tank battles, most of the Russian tanks were taken out by anti-tank weapons wielded by small guerilla squads.

So a better tank may take out a lesser tank. Better tactics may negate some of the advantage. Finally, you don't need a tank to take out a tank. A-10 "Warthogs" were built to take out tanks, artillery fire can catch them before they close to target and small groups of men armed with anti-tank weapons can surprise them anywhere on the battlefield.

[mike in houston]

Only a dad, but he gives his all
To smooth the way for his children small,
Doing, with courage stern and grim,
The deeds that his father did for him.
This is the line that for him I pen,
Only a dad, but the best of men.
–Edgar Guest (1881–1959)

[jim nj]

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/17/deutsche-bank-plans-radical-overhaul-with-50bn-hived-off-to-bad-bank-reports

I'm not surprised that Deutsche Bank is ready to make changes. I an surprised that this leaked before they announced the actual implementation.

50 Billion Euro "bad" bank. Is that the nominal amount, notional value or "risk-adjusted" impaired value. What will the German Central Bank have to say about this?
Are they on board with that figure?

" a round of severe cuts to its investment banking operations, according to reports"

Mergers and acquisition people.

"the lender’s stocks and interest rates trading units outside continental Europe would be shrunk or closed entirely"

How deep are they going to cut? Are they going to get out of equities or just derivatives?

If all, traders, research analysts and institutional sales people are in peril.

"The bank is planning cuts at its US equities business, including prime brokerage and equity derivatives"

OK. Maybe not all equities trading. Prime brokerage is big though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_brokerage

It's a package of services offered mostly to hedge funds.

If you are a US employee of the firm, you need to get your resume out now and call back every head hunter who has ever called you (I kept the name and number of every head hunter who ever contacted me. Funny side-story, if I had gone to Solomon Smith Barney after the merger, three of my new co-workers were people I hooked up with head hunters to get jobs there. Along with my two subordinates I could have staged a coup.)

Anyway don't expect to get a lot of work out of these people. Expect that counter-parties are going to be looking at any risk exposure to you. Expect that prime broker accounts are going to talk to other people about handling their business. If you dno't clarify the equities trading situation fast other clients will move their trading elsewhere.

Having gone through a merger I've seen all of this first-hand. It's a disaster for Deutsche Bank and all its' US employees.

[jim nj]

And another thing, without a buyer, or a complete "spin-off" that "bad" bank is still going to be on Deutsche Bank's balance sheet.

Without a track record I don't foresee a buyer. I also don't foresee a viable spin-off without the bank's backing.

[MissMarple2]

The things I run across when I wake in the wee hours:

https://twitter.com/ezralevant/status/1008696692504498176

[MissMarple2]

What's this all about?

https://cbs4indy.com/2019/06/16/people-in-portland-sewers-group-coming-up-from-manhole-caught-on-camera/

[MissMarple2]

AFP news agency
‏Verified account @AFP
40m40 minutes ago

#BREAKING Huawei founder says to cut output by $30bln in 2019-20

[MissMarple2]

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2019/06/16/aoc-female-voters-uncomfortable-with-biden-dems-gave-bill-clinton-a-pass/

[jim nj]

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/local/2019/06/13/fathers-day-2019-joining-dad-family-business/1223435001/

Three cute stories of children following in their parent's footsteps.

Frank Luciano, the first parent mentioned, was a friend of my mother, they grew up on the same block. Frank represented me as a juvenile. I consider him a friend also.

96 years old and he still practices law. Smarter and more experienced than most of the judges he appears before.

[anonamom]

VDH: When normality became abnormal

https://amgreatness.com/2019/06/16/when-normality-became-abnormal/

[Pinandpuller]

Mx. is the new Ms. I thought Reagan took care of those.

[jim nj]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/17/tech/huawei-ren-zhengfei/index.html

More on the AFP story MM linked to.

"The founder and CEO of Chinese tech giant Huawei said the company will miss revenue forecasts by about $30 billion over the next couple of years and he blamed a US campaign against its business."

[jim nj]

I've been reading about the real estate market and I'm somewhat confused that new buyers are spending extra to buy move-in-ready homes.

I'm wondering if they are buying "perfection" or if they no longer have the skills or the time to buy a lower priced home and put some sweat equity into it.

[Robin, eff 'em all]

A friend of mine was just in China for business and bought a Huawei phone, I think for the novelty of it. Anyway, he's had several business associates tell him not to call them from that phone, which doesn't surprise me in the least. He's a smart guy, so I was surprised that he was surprised.

[jim nj]

I mean me and my friends had skills, often raw, but we knew how to fix stuff. Maybe not as well as a true professional, but we had all the basics down. Plumbing, electrical, etc.

I had a friend who bought a house for investment purposes. He hired a bunch of us to fix a crack in an interior wall that went up the staircase to the 2nd floor. At its' worst it was a crack about 3 inches across.

We had a crew in the basement with a new lolly column to jack up a settled beam and another crew on the stairway buttering the crack with slow-drying plaster or wall compound.

Jacked the new lolly column up while we troweled off the squeezed out compound. Within an hour there was no remnant of the crack. It just needed a little sanding.

[jim nj]

Robin,

From the article I linked earlier:

"So far this year, overseas [Huawei] smartphone unit sales have "dropped by 40%," Ren said."

Lots of people are wondering about Huawei.

It's the flip side of stealing technology, the loss of trust in a company that may be worse than Google.

[MissMarple2]

I got kicked off the internet and had to call AT & T for technical help. Finally got things operational again. Boy, I was afraid the computer had given up the ghost!

[Buckeye]

jim_nj

I think most young people have no idea how to make repairs of any kind, unless they grew up on a farm.

[MissMarple2]

Here's Don Surber's column for today. It's full of excellent stuff:

https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2019/06/highlights-of-news_17.html?spref=tw

[joan]

Honestly, the world has gone mad. I read a link on Instapundit (The Federalist Papers) about how Eisenhower dealt with illegals. Of course I wondered, for an instant, why we couldn't do the same thing now -- knowing full well why we don't or can't. Then I clicked on one of their links about how the Democrats spent Father's Day using Barron Trump to attack President Trump. Then I saw a link to a bit about Buttigieg saying we've had gay presidents. “I mean, statistically, it’s almost certain,” Buttigieg said, although he offered no evidence that one out of 45 people is gay."

Made me laugh. :) What a nation of fools we've become to allow this rot to almost become a majority.

https://thefederalistpapers.org/opinion/buttigieg-says-america-many-gay-presidents?ff_source=spotim&ff_medium=spotim_recirculation

[James D.]

I'm wondering if they are buying "perfection" or if they no longer have the skills or the time to buy a lower priced home and put some sweat equity into it.

I think largely the latter. But also, haven’t mortgage rules been loosening again? So that’s more money available to spend, and as we all know, if you make more “cheap” money available, people will spend it and damn the future consequences.

[Jim Eagle]

Mel,

I corrected Northeast to North Central about 2 minutes later. I probably flew it 2 dozen times or more. Only way to get to Marquette.

But the Midway Express was the real deal.

[jim nj]

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1141252/South-China-Sea-latest-Beijing-China-Philippines-purchase-new-plans

The Philippines are looking to buy older sea-reconnaissance planes. They have some gifted by Japan, but they want some unstripped P-3 "Orions" that the US no longer uses. Longer range.

We now use the P-8 Poseidon, but we may have some P-3's left. Built first in the 60's it is still considered a viable aircraft like the B-52's.

Maybe we have some still left in stock, sounds like the Philippines doesn't want to pay for them.

Maybe it's feasible. That would be in our interest. Provided they share data.

[Buckeye]

VDH is spot on in the piece anonamom linked at 4:55.

[Another Bob]

“spending extra to buy move-in-ready homes”

What’s the definition of “move in ready”? Light switch broken? Or wall needs replaced?

I don’t have many data points personally, but when I was a buyer, I simply didn’t have the time to undertake anything like a substantive repair. A leaky faucet, bad light switch, painting a room? Sure. But that was close to my limit.

And even outwardly simple things, where there was some (even smallish) probability of “hidden” damage, I passed.

I also think the home inspection industry is responsible for scaring some buyers away from otherwise reasonable homes.

[Another Bob]

We’ve become a very risk-averse society across the board.

[Another Bob]

James, since you mentioned mortgages, I think the real estate and mortgage industries’ advertising has presented an overly-idealized view of the process. Couple this with the younger generation’s tendency toward unreasonable expectations (e.g high paying jobs for a gender studies degree) and the predictable things happen.

[jim nj]

Buckeye,

I used to watch the "Modern Farmer" or whatever it was called on NBC as a youngster. I had to get up early on Saturday to watch it. The TV turned from "snow", it was off-air at night. They'd show the American flag on screen and play the anthem, and, boom, I had my farmer flicks.

Most people don't realize that farmers are jack-of-all-trades. They need to repair their own farm equipment or pay large fees to others to do it.

Some of the most self sufficient people in the world.

The "greatest" generation learned skills during or after the war and passed them on. Of course, back then we still had "shop" classes. No more with the focus all on college prep.

They really don't seem to teach youngsters anything of practical value anymore.

[Rocco]

Good morning, those cormorants are absolutely hated by fishermen on Lake Ontario. They devastate the newly released fingerlings that sportsmen raise in pens at a sizeable expense. And there's also speculation they're partly responsible for the evasive species that are killing the lake.

https://www.lakeontariounited.com/fishing-hunting/topic/78846-sandy-creek-cormorants/

[Another Bob]

And finally, a coworker was recently in the market. Apparently, the house they were in contained enough mold it allegedly made his wife ill. They remediated the mold problem, but wanted to sell.

He claims many people passed due to some lack of or imperfection in some very minor feature that they wanted - i.e. a different kind of unreasonable expectation.

To which, if it were me, I’d respond: “If you’re that hardover about this minor a thing, you’ll need to build custom. At which point you’ll find yourself paying double and getting a hard lesson in compromise.”

[MissMarple2]

Donald J. Trump
‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump
14m14 minutes ago

Big Rally tomorrow night in Orlando, Florida, looks to be setting records. We are building large movie screens outside to take care of everybody. Over 100,000 requests. Our Country is doing great, far beyond what the haters & losers thought possible - and it will only get better!

[MissMarple2]

Donald J. Trump
‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump
8m8 minutes ago

Only Fake Polls show us behind the Motley Crew. We are looking really good, but it is far too early to be focused on that. Much work to do! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
=============
"the Motley Crew." Hahahaha!

[Another Bob]

Another method kids acquired tool use and repair skills was mine and my brother’s. We were nowhere near a farm, but dad was an aviation machinists mate repairing and maintaining P-2 Neptunes in Japan during the Korean War.

Of course these skills were skewed toward car repairs...

[MissMarple2]

https://nypost.com/2019/06/15/hypocrites-get-last-kicks-at-sarah-sanders-slobbering-over-her-white-house-exit/

[Melinda]

JiB-

Used to fly the Frozen Goose to the Soo. Most of the original pilots were all Airlift vets, as I understood it. NorthWest bought it, and killed off those mining town airports as destinations for a number of years.

[Melinda]

Midwest Express had the right idea by offering the entire plane as a first class experience.

[jim nj]

James D and AB,

Yes, easy mortgage money may be driving this, but that means that people are taking on more mortgage debt and higher monthly payments for "move-in" condition homes.

Buy a "perfect" home and don't know how to maintain it vs. buy a "cheaper home" and know how to improve it. Which one rises in value?

[Jane]

VDH article is great.

Did anyone else see Levin last night?

[Melinda]

On CSpan? Yes, some of it.

[Jane]

No,

His 10PM show on Fox.

[Another Bob]

Wonder how the HK protests are being explained inside China?

A sample...

https://www.chinadailyasia.com/articles/60/248/39/1560734529013.html?newsId=85968

https://www.chinadailyhk.com/articles/18/221/34/1560673682527.html?newsId=85950

[Jane]

BTW last night after his win, Woodland called "Amy" the young woman in the video and told her "thanks for the good vibes" and he couldn't wait to play golf with her again. All his stuff/sneakers, clothes, represented Folds of Honor and kids like Amy.

I think I'm in love.

[MissMarple2]

Richard Grenell
‏Verified account @RichardGrenell
Jun 14

We have officially renamed the Embassy’s outdoor space “The Ronald Reagan Terrace”.
It overlooks the exact spot where Reagan gave his Tear Down This Wall Speech.

[Melinda]

The Prof. John Marini segment?, Jane?

[Narciso79]

Not surprising, another Bob, they dont want their failure to be manifest.

[jim nj]

AB,

My father's temporary designation in WWII was aviation machinists mate third class. His wartime rank was CPO with a crew working for him on a PBM Marauder ASW plane.

I had much better mechanical skills than he did.

Almost all real estate contracts include a back-out provision based on a home inspection. They can be held liable for not reporting properly. If you plan to sell you should hire one before the sale.

If I were to buy a home I would accompany the inspector. I don;t want a written report I want the running commentary.

[Jane]

Yeah that's it Melinda. He said some stuff that I found incredibly meaningful but I can't seem to reiterate it. Did you hear the part about Congress' role?

[Melinda]

Just getting to it.

I usually have little to brook with Claremont.

[JimNorCal]

Next to MissM's 7:25 is this quip

"Four years ago today, our best hope for the presidency came down the escalator at Trump Tower -- a self-made person who knew the damage socialism does, and a person who wanted to make America great again.

Unfortunately, Melania Trump was ineligible for the presidency because she was not born American, and so we settled on her husband. He has done a remarkably good job."

[jim nj]

Melinds,

Apologies, but where did you get your financial savvy? I'm curious,but only because I find no fault in your posts.

nytol, I'm toasted.

[fdcol63 🇺🇸]

Koepka, now FSU plays Michigan in Omaha!

Now if we could just get Taggart to do something with the football team! LOL

Maybe Next Season .... our new favorite refrain.

[DrJ]

jim_nj,

I'll let Melinda speak for him/herself, but Mel is in the business.

[Melinda]

6 minutes in and he's very astute. Well distilled analysis.

[Narciso79]

Let's put it this way he knew that Hillary didnt make it big in cattle future through diligent reading of the journal.

[Melinda]

I'd rather not say more, if that's ok with you all.

[fdcol63 🇺🇸]

Sadly, Harley-Davidson is in danger of going out of business because tough-looking, bearded Millennials in man-buns eschew the toxic masculinity required to ride motorcycles.

Let alone fix them if necessary.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--Midwest Express had the right idea by offering the entire plane as a first class experience.--

Persactly,
Seems to me there is a wide open niche for an airline that splits the difference between first class and coach and outfits a fleet with all business style accomodations. Obviously it will be more expensive than coach, but it would be cheaper than business because they'd make it up in volume, in this case lower volume but higher margin.
I know a lot of people, especially on longer hauls who would either gladly pay considerably more than they do for the comfort or who have simply said they won't fly that far anymore because they can't afford first class but can't take that long in coach.
Maybe such a long haul outfit exists and I'm showing my ignorance. Am I?

[Manuel Transmission]

We still have a few P-3s flying out of Whidbey, but don’t hear/see many P-8s replacing them. The sound of a P-3 is unmistakable, so that may be a factor, although having Boeing birds at pattern altitude is not normal.

[henry]

In Madison of all places:

Vicki McKenna
@VickiMcKenna

WMTV brings back broadcast tradition of airing National Anthem daily.

https://twitter.com/VickiMcKenna/status/1140610652282728448

[joan]

AB and Jim_nj:

About people expecting to move into a "perfect" home and complaining about (minor) imperfections, as well as potential buyers saying "this kitchen is outdated" or "this shower will have to go" expecting the seller to fix things or provide several thousands of dollars in inducement -- I think a good percentage of that is television. The home and garden channels show people, especially young people (often with too much money), shaking their heads and turning up their noses at perfectly acceptable starter homes.

[Captain Hate]

I think golf has a good bunch of players for a post Tiger existence, particularly if Jordan Spieth ever figures out how to make his putter suitable for something other than a toilet plunger stick. Despite a few upward blips like Tiger and Arnie, golf will never have the mass appeal that the rabid promoters want.

[MissMarple2]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7148123/Barack-Michelle-tour-turrets-Chateau-vacation-France.html?ito=social-twitter_dailymailus

The Obamas are vacationing in Avignon, France. The girls are with them. I would like to know why Sasha thought white tennis shoes were appropriate footwear with a cocktail dress.

Interestingly, while this article has plenty of pictures of Sasha and Melania, and quite a few of former President Obama, there is only 1 shadowy picture of Michelle, and truthfully, it could be almost anyone.

[clarice]

In summer it's quite hot in Provence and air conditioning is rare so even the finest restaurants are full of casually dressed patrons.

[Neo]

I wonder how timely this actually is ...

Memorandum on Providing an Order of Succession Within the Central Intelligence Agency

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/memorandum-providing-order-succession-within-central-intelligence-agency/

[Porchlight]

Then I saw a link to a bit about Buttigieg saying we've had gay presidents. “I mean, statistically, it’s almost certain,” Buttigieg said, although he offered no evidence that one out of 45 people is gay."

Someone should let the not-so-bright mayor know that half of all presidents have not been women.

[Narciso79]

I think Buchanan is the guy, but he kept it on the down low, everything else is just feltercarb

Harvard Is just churning out those rocket surgeons, yglesias is not an outlier.

[fdcol63 🇺🇸]

Maybe Lincoln was gay?

Was Abraham Lincoln Gay?

https://allthatsinteresting.com/was-abraham-lincoln-gay

Surprisingly, none of the liberal proponents of this theory postulate that maybe, perhaps, Lincoln started the Civil War (by sending a Federal fleet to resupply Ft. Sumter, violating South Carolinian waters and territorial sovereignty - which caused SC to fire on Ft. Sumter) as a wag-the-dog effort to distract from these nasty rumors.

[Neo]

For being gay, they certainly aren't very happy ..

'She's jumping on the queer bandwagon': Taylor Swift is accused of exploiting gay culture with her new Pride anthem

[Captain Hate]

Alfred E Buttplug sounds like those annoying dickweeds who insist Henry James was a homo just because he didn't fit into their tidy little preformed slots.

[Narciso79]

Good grief, in retrospect Hitchens never told us milt bearden was lobbying for Sudan, when he made the 'wag the dog' claim.

[fdcol63 🇺🇸]

This dude is about as "Sweet" as you can get.