A Pakistani-Born Business Consultant’s Warning August 30, 2020 But first, this warm-up: I Resigned from U.S. Government After My Own Leaders Began to Act Like the Autocrats I Analyzed. And now, for sure, no matter whatever else you have on for today: We Don’t Know How To Warn You Any Harder. Was it a “tell” when we learned Trump — not a big reader — kept a book of Hitler’s speeches by his bedside? A “tell” when we learned he gets on well with journalist-murdering autocrats? A “tell” when he adopted Stalin’s line that the press are “enemies of the people”? As much as most of us are already volunteering and contributing, I think we should consider doing even more. Worst case, we win by “too much.” But in the current circumstances, could that even be a thing?
Adultery August 29, 2020August 29, 2020 If you were smart enough not to buy CNF when first suggested, the good news is that you didn’t; and that it’s now 50% off. I keep buying more. Someone else’s press release about WheelTug. Test Drive approaches! I’ll get to adultery — I promise — but first: Remember how much better things were under Obama/Biden? Take a minute to see how Republicans say things are under Trump. Said differently: Join the fight to save the country. It’s barely a two-month deployment. You don’t even have to leave your couch. So many of your friends are looking for ways to channel their angst into action — send them that link. (If they’re affluent: this one, too.) Conservative David Brooks: Trump and the Politics of ‘Mean World’. An antidote to meanness? Humor. Like this ad from the rancher looking to unseat Louie Gohmert. I couldn’t help myself: I chipped in. And now, finally: adultery. Watch Mike Pence. (And if you’ve never heard the famous Nichols & May adultery sketch, it’s time to have your hat reblocked.)
Winning The Second Cold War August 27, 2020 I was on a call yesterday with Michael Cohen, whose book, Disloyal, comes out September 8, and the top line of whose story you can watch here in under two minutes. Like Carl, Tom, and millions of others, he loved Trump. Indeed, he said not so long ago, he would “take a bullet for Mr. Trump.” On yesterday’s call, he clarified: “Not if it were Mr. Trump pulling the trigger.” It would be impossible for anyone to have sat in on that Zoom, I think, without concluding that Cohen was 100% genuine. (I’m hoping the organizers of the call to see if he’ll agree to its being uploaded to YouTube, in which case I’ll post it and you can judge for yourself.) Cohen doesn’t think Trump will leave. “There is nothing he wouldn’t do” to stay in power, he told us. And Trump has in effect said the same thing numerous times: the only way he can lose — with 8 in 10 Americans believing the country is headed in the wrong direction, no less — is if the election is rigged. And why would he leave if it was rigged? It is a truly scary time. We really need to win by a landslide. And even that might not be enough. So . . . in case you like Cher and are an LGBT ally, join this Celebration with Joe. Or skip the Zoom and use the “I Cannot Attend” box to give whatever fits your budget. And sign up, or get your kids and grandkids to sign up, for the training to be poll workers. With Covid, many of the wonderful seniors who traditionally staff the polls won’t be able to safely to do so this year. Even in “safe” states, we need to pile up a giant margin in the popular vote — not least to show the world that most Americans realize this well-intentioned experiment proved a terrible mistake. That, in fact, Putin is winning the Second Cold War. In record time. (It took us 40 years to win the first one.) “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future. ” — John F. Kennedy At a time like this, it’s important to remember there are Republicans — even Republican senators who (shamefully) voted against impeaching Trump or even hearing witnesses, to whom we should listen. Tom Cotton, Marco Rubio and all the other Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee have revealed that the Russia allegations were not “a hoax” . . . that the FBI investigation was justified . . . that it was not a “witch hunt.” (And 1,027 Republican and Democratic former federal prosecutors concluded he had obstructed justice into that investigation — presumably because he had something to hide.) Take a minute or two to listen to these Republicans if you’ve not yet had a chance to . . . but what I really hope you will find to do, and share, is listen to recently retired conservative Arizona Republican Senator Jeff Flake. He says: I’m pleased to be here today to discuss who I’ll be supporting for president, and why. It was the honor of my life to represent my state, Arizona – my family’s home – in the United States House and Senate for eighteen years. I am a conservative. I’ve always felt that my conservative beliefs and values were best expressed in the Republican Party. I was a Republican long before the president ever called himself one, and I will be a Republican long after identifying as such is no longer useful to him. Principle does not go in and out of fashion, does not chase ratings, or play to the base, or care too much about polls. And principle is the provenance of no one party. That is one of the things I am here to talk about today. The other thing I am here to talk about is the future – both of my party, but more importantly, the future of our country. I was raised on a cattle ranch in Northern Arizona. Goldwater country. When I was a kid, the Republican Party under President Reagan was brimming with ideas, full of purpose and principle. It was coherent, and inspiring, and idealistic. So much so that it awakened the imagination of a kid from the town of Snowflake, and a whole generation of other kids just like him. Made us think big thoughts, and of our place in the world, and of what it meant to be an American in America, the shining city on a hill. With Reagan, a conservative’s vision of America as the indispensable nation was benevolent and big-hearted, a beacon to the striver and to the subjugated and those locked behind an ideological wall that divided the world into free and oppressed. It was morning in Reagan’s America. It wasn’t perfect, but it was always getting better. We were the sum of our goodness, not our gripes – of our resolve, not our resentments. I got into public service believing that for our politics to be healthy, the American government needed people who believed as I do, but also people who believed differently from me. This has become somewhat of a novel idea. But it is the genius of our founders that the Constitution forces compromise. Governing is hard. Democracy is hard. Decency shouldn’t be that hard, but apparently it is. You know what’s easy? Name calling. Demagoguery. The politics of vengeance is easy. Dehumanization requires very little talent. By raging at each other, our minds vacant of reason and reeling with ill-will and tinfoil hat conspiracy theories, we have given in to the horrible tribal impulse to first mistake our opponents for our enemies… then become seized with the conviction that we must destroy that enemy… seemingly oblivious to the fact that not only are we not enemies, we are each vital organs in the same body. It’s as if in order to save itself, your brain decided to destroy your heart. That’s about the level of care we are currently bringing to the proceedings. There is a sickness in our system, and we have infected the whole country with it. We’re all old enough to remember when we elected presidents who spoke to our highest ideals and aspirations as a nation, not to our darkest dystopian fears. I can remember when, once an election was settled, a new president would reach out a hand to those who had opposed him, and pledge to do right by all Americans, not just those who were loyal to him. That’s the way presidents once sought to lead and govern. In fact, it is the way every other president in the modern era, Republican or Democrat, tried to conduct himself in office. Each possessed a keen awareness that a president’s principal role is to serve not himself or his interests or the interests of his clan, but the people of the United States. That was once the American way. Those of us of a certain age in this country have also had the rare good fortune of growing up and into adulthood not having to think too much about the consequences of our votes – or even whether we vote at all in a given election. For our entire lives, through some very fractious political periods, we have taken steady self-governance for granted, and that is a luxury that so many of our fellow human beings living in other countries have never had for a single day of their lives. But the story of the past 3 ½ years is the story of the power that we vest in the presidency, and the consequences when a president does not use that power well. And these times prove the folly of taking anything for granted. In 2016, one candidate running for the Republican nomination described our current President as a “chaos candidate” and if elected he would be a “chaos president.” Can anyone now seriously argue against this proposition? Of course, in 2016 the President was a private citizen, and thus was unaccountable for the chaos he caused. And these traits of the man who would become the standard bearer of my party were bad enough when exhibited by a mere candidate for president. In 2016, it was bad enough when for months in advance of the election, the Republican nominee for president claimed falsely that the coming election would be rigged. Now, as president of the United States, he has said, and I quote: “The only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged.” What kind of president talks like that? What kind of American leader undermines confidence in elections in his own country, as part of his strategy to hold power? This is extraordinarily dangerous to a free society and it stands to inflict lasting damage to our democracy. It was bad enough when as a candidate he attacked a federal judge because of his heritage, saying that Judge Gonzalo Curiel couldn’t preside fairly over a certain case because Curiel’s parents were from Mexico. As President, he has only intensified his attack on judges. He has interfered in cases involving his friends and threatened jail for his opponents, demonstrating how little he knows or appreciates about the independent administration of justice in America. In 2016, it was bad enough for a mere candidate for president to sweet talk the Russian dictator, calling Vladimir Putin a “strong leader for his people,” as if “his people” had a say in the matter. Watching that man as president stand with Putin at Helsinki and take the dictator’s side, defying his own intelligence community and denying the ongoing Russian attacks on our elections – was shocking and appalling. In that moment, and in so many other inexplicable moments of deference to dictators, a president of the United States degraded his office and diminished America’s role as leader of the free world. It was bad enough in 2016 when as a candidate he resorted to calling his opponents childish names. That behavior in a president – which has only gotten worse, is an embarrassment to the office. Do any of us want our children to emulate this behavior? I could go on, but the litany is all too familiar. It is apparent by now that the president’s behavior has not and will not change, whatever hopes we Republicans might have entertained about the office changing the man. Some of my conservative friends will say, yes, we don’t like his behavior, but he governs as a conservative. Here, today, I will say to my fellow conservatives: Whatever else you might call the behavior I have just described, it is most assuredly not conservative. Indifference to the truth or to the careful stewardship of the institutions of American liberty is not conservative. Disregard for the separation of powers – the centerpiece of our constitutional system – is not conservative. Governing by tweet is not conservative. It’s not even governing. And to the refrain – Well, it’s all about the Supreme Court, I say: To fall back on Supreme Court appointments as the last remnant by which we define a once vibrant conservative movement should offer little solace to conservatives. Three conservative principles have defined and animated the Republican Party over the past several decades. A belief in limited government, a commitment to free trade, and a recognition that strong American leadership around the globe makes America a more secure nation and the world a better place. So, how are we doing with these principles? Well, we were running trillion-dollar deficits even before the coronavirus hit us. We have destroyed foreign markets for our goods and services. We have threatened security agreements that have kept the peace for nearly three quarters of a century. We have offended allies who we will desperately need to face China and other long-term threats to our security and prosperity. For no good reason. Can any of us stand here today and claim that our party has remained faithful to conservative principles during the President’s time in office? No, we cannot. If we are honest, there is less of a conservative case to be made for reelecting the President than there is a blatant appeal for more rank tribalism. And further division. And more willful amnesia in the face of more outlandish presidential behavior. I cannot and will not be a part of that. There simply is no future in it. To my fellow Republicans who, like me, believe in the power of conservative ideas – ask yourself: Will we be in a better position to make a conservative case for governing after four more years of this administration? I think we all know the answer. So here we are today. During the 2016 election, given what I had already seen during the campaign, I knew I could not vote for the President. Like many of my colleagues, I chose to vote for a third-party candidate. Today, given what we have experienced over the past four years, it is not enough to just to register our disapproval of the President. We need to elect someone else in his place, someone who will stop the chaos and reverse the damage. Putting country over party has a noble history here in Arizona. In 1992, Mr. Republican, Barry Goldwater, endorsed a Democrat running for Congress over the Republican he felt would not represent the party well. Goldwater hadn’t traded in his conservative credentials. Far from it. He simply believed, in that case, that the conservative cause would be better served over the long term if the Democrat prevailed. And that is what I believe today, in this election. And that is what a growing number of Republicans believe and are declaring today as well. I have never before voted for a Democrat for president. But I’ve been asked many times over the past four years if I, as a conservative, could vote for a Democrat for President. “Sure,” has been my ready answer, “if he or she were a Joe Biden-kinda-Democrat. Well, the Democratic Party just nominated a Joe Biden-kinda-Democrat, whom I am confident will approach his constitutional role with the reverence and dignity it deserves. I know that he will reach across the aisle, because that’s what he’s done his entire career. After the turmoil of the past four years, we need for a president who unifies rather than divides. We need a president who prefers teamwork to tribalism. We need a president who summons our better angels, not a president who appeals to our baser instincts. That’s why we need Joe Biden. If we have learned anything over the past four years, it is that character matters. Decency matters. Civility never goes out of style. And we should expect our president to exhibit these virtues. I have known Vice President Biden for two decades now. I served with him in Congress for much of that time. He is a good and decent man. I haven’t always agreed with him, and there will be many policies on which we will disagree in the future, and that’s okay. The steadiness of leadership, and the health and survival of our democracy – those things far supersede any policy issues on which we might disagree. And this much I know: With Joe Biden as president, we will be able to preserve the civic space wherein Republicans and Democrats can go back to merely disagreeing about issues of policy, without fear of revenge or reprisal. That day cannot come soon enough. And so, it is because of my conservatism, and because of my belief in the Constitution, and in the separation of power, and because I am gravely concerned about the conduct and behavior of our current president that I stand here today – proudly and wholeheartedly – to endorse Joe Biden to be our next president of the United States of America. America’s best days are ahead. Go Joe. Thank you very much. We could heed the Senator’s words . . . or just think up a belittling nickname for him and hope someone punches him in the face. Which kind of country do we want to be?
What’s The Deal With BOREF? August 25, 2020August 26, 2020 As many of you know, this unusual saga began in 1999 — at least for me — as described here (“A Stock That’s Surely Going To Zero”). Many years earlier, I had gotten to know William F. Buckley, Jr., founder of American conservatism — he even took me out for an overnight sail on his little boat — which is another story, except that I remember his telling me that he owned a bunch of little penny stocks for which he had high hopes (and over which there had been some difficulty with the regulatory authorities) . . . and, though I didn’t know it at the time, Borealis Exploration — BOREF — was one of them. So here we are, 40-some years later, Buckley rolling over in his grave at the death of conservatism . . . his brilliant son Christopher just having published Make Russia Great Again (“a hilarious and whipsmart fake memoir by Donald Trump’s seventh chief of staff”) . . . and I owning a ridiculously large number of shares in one of those dubious little penny stocks. Small world. Because some of you, too, own BOREF — with money, you have assured me on numerous occasions, you can truly afford to lose — I thought I would take a break from the disaster in the Rose Garden* to review a recent communication from Borealis. *Just as Carl and Tom may fantasize that I will one day just come out and admit I am a Satan-worshipping cannibal, so I had been fantasizing that Melania would look into the camera and — live, with at least a few seconds before she would be cut off — tell the truth about her sociopathic husband. His sister has. His fixer has. So many others have. So why not Melania? Something to break the spell. Here are excerpts of an email Borealis CEO Isaiah Cox sent shareholders last week (you probably didn’t get it, because you probably own the stock “in street name” so he doesn’t know who you are): As many of you know, the BOREF share price is something of a joke. WheelTug’s shares privately place at a valuation of about $1.25 billion (which we think is a great deal for investors). Borealis Holdings owns more than 58% of WheelTug. So by rights Borealis, if locked to the value of its WheelTug holdings, should have a market cap of $754 million. That would be $150 per share. [BOREF closed at $7.90 yesterday.] That much I basically agree with. One could certainly argue the $1.25 billion valuation on WheelTug is significantly too rich. Then again, it’s beginning to look as though the thing may really work. And the value to the world economy (airlines, airports, and passengers) of eventually cutting 10 or 15 minutes of ground time out of the average flight would be enormous. And if the technology works for airplanes, maybe it could apply elsewhere. And maybe some of the company’s other supposed break-through technologies could prove real, too? So who knows? I would never suggest anyone buy BOREF at $150 today. But neither would I suggest anyone sell it at $7.90. Isaiah continues: Have you ever noticed how, when good news is released, BOREF goes up and then lots of shares are dumped into the market to bring it back down again? It happened again this past week – the stock on the WheelTug news could have easily run away, topping $20 or more by the end of the week. But there is always some kind of mysterious dampener on the stock price. Conventionally, such a dampener would be shareholders taking profit. But ask yourselves: given the news and promise of more good news, how many shareholders really want to sell BOREF right now? My educated guess is that with the incredible WheelTug developments that are now being shared publicly, the number is pretty low. But so is the trading volume — a few thousand shares a day, which on a low-priced stock is nothing. It’s not crazy to me to think that some BOREF holders, tired of holding for decades, and very possibly not noticing the WheelTug news, said to themselves, “Oh, thank God. I can finally get out and break even.” Or whatever. Isaiah’s guess is that short-sellers are to blame . . . and that in addition to whatever legitimate short-interest may have built up over the years (legitimate, because the short sellers borrowed actual shares they will have to return) there may also be a huge “naked” short position where shady brokers sold phantom shares they only pretended were real . . . and that as a result your broker may not make good on the shares you think you own. Reputable brokers in recent years have reported ownership of shares but then, once delivery was requested, insisted that the number of shares was just a clerical error. That particular white-shoe broker had to be sued, and the court found that the broker did not have to deliver the shares, but their cash value instead. It was a net loss for the investor, not counting the legal expense and hassle. His email offers several suggested remedies. Our strong management recommendation that long-term investors move their BOREF shares out of their brokerage accounts to a book-entry account at the transfer agent, Transfer Online (TOL). Then your positions in BOREF are safe. Another bonus is that as brokers have to cough up real shares, they will have to find them in the market. BOREF should skyrocket in price as people deliver to their accounts at the transfer agent or convert to Borealis Holdings, giving BOREF a substantial valuation. If you want to convert your Borealis Exploration shares to Borealis Holdings, just email shares@borealis.com for instructions. If you want to keep in BOREF but ensure your shares are safe, I recommend opening an account with Transfer Online https://transferonline.com, and holding your shares there. If you’re interested in the rest, email kalin@wheeltug.com and ask for a copy of the full email. In my case, I will probably leave most if not all my shares at Ameritrade and Fidelity, not least because if there ever were a short squeeze that rapidly drove the price up to insane heights, I’d be able to sell mine with a few quick clicks. Someone with a physical certificate locked away in a vault, or who had exchanged her shares for Borealis Holdings, would miss that opportunity. I’m definitely not counting on a short squeeze, and I remain prepared for the possibility of total loss. (“Money you can truly afford to lose . . .”) The September 15 demonstration may get postponed. Or — like the shatterproof windows on Tesla’s cybertruck, it could be an embarrassment. But whatever setbacks there may be, it seems (to me) ever more likely there’s real value here. (And Tesla, despite its shattered windows, recently traded at $2,000 a share.) One of my friends with 40 years in the brokerage business, who owns 10,000 BOREF shares, is comfortable leaving them in his brokerage account. He writes: “If you hold the shares in street name in a regular brokerage account at any registered licensed brokerage house, you will be able to sell those shares in the open market at any stage, any day, so long as the company maintains their valid market listing and so long as the SEC doesn’t forcibly delist or stop trading.” By a trillion times, what happens November 3 is more important. But what happens September 15 will be of interest to some of us as well. Isn’t this fun?
Franken And Begala August 25, 2020August 24, 2020 But first, Carl Sagan’s prophetic quote. Ninety honest seconds from Ted Cruz, Susan Collins, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, and Kellyanne Conway. And now: Got 55 minutes for this podcast? Al Franken was a spectacularly good Senator — better even than he was an SNL satirist — and Paul Begala has spent a load of time in the Oval Office (though not recently) and is very close to as funny. Listen as they recall Al’s training volunteers in the procedure of the endless recount that followed his election (he and Paul led them in the chant: “What do we want? Patience! When do we want it? Now!” And as they discuss Paul’s new book, You’re Fired: The Perfect Guide to Beating Donald Trump, which Al had suggested Paul title, Defeat The Moth*rfuck*r: And Other Ways To Restore Civility To Our National Discourse. Sign up to be a poll worker — or urge your kids or grandkids to — and help save our democracy.
Washington’s Left-Leaning POST Meets The Right-Leaning EXAMINER August 22, 2020August 22, 2020 Wow — look at the Trump economic boom that began in 2010! A former Republican state chair, writing in USA Today: I Never Expected the Democratic Convention to Inspire Me. But it did. She concludes: “I can’t help but wonder what next week’s Republican convention will look and sound like. How will Donald Trump’s circus of hate and exclusion compare?” But what you really need to read this weekend — even before the latest n BOREF (below) — is Senator Blumenthal’s op-ed in the Washington Post. That great newspaper’s “Democracy Dies in Darkness” motto has never been more apt: The Threat to U.S. Elections Is Real, and Frightening. The Public Has a Right to Know. . . . America’s elections are under attack. This week, I reviewed classified materials in the Senate’s Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility and received a similarly classified briefing on malign foreign threats to U.S. elections. I was shocked by what I learned — and appalled that, by swearing Congress to secrecy, the Trump administration is keeping the truth about a grave, looming threat to democracy hidden from the American people. On Friday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a statement that only hints at the threats. The facts are chilling. I believe the American public needs and deserves to know them. The information should be declassified immediately. The publicly available facts are terrifying enough. A report released on Wednesday by the State Department outlined in detail attempts by Russian front groups, fake individual online identities and state-funded media to sow disinformation and dissension . . . Russian intelligence operations have perfected the art of laundering distorted and fabricated narratives through media networks, covert hacking, international proxies and others to undermine democracies, attack the United States’ global image and silence criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Though the report was focused on Russia’s global influence campaign, there is no reason to think the United States is immune from its destructive and destabilizing efforts. The sophisticated tactics and techniques described in the report make Moscow’s past interference and nefarious actions look like child’s play. . . . I understand the utility of a classification system that shields intelligence sources and methods. . . . Used appropriately, classifying certain information is essential to protecting the country. But overly broad restrictions do the exact opposite. Unnecessary classification politicizes the national security apparatus and, in this case, keeps the American people in the dark about efforts by foreign adversaries to destroy the bedrock of the nation’s democracy: free and fair elections. The Trump administration’s refusal to share with the American public any information about the Russian threat to the November election is simply unacceptable. Making parts of intelligence reports public is hardly unprecedented. In fact, classified reports frequently include declassified summaries in recognition of the fundamental role transparency plays in a functioning democracy. . . . The White House has no problem with declassification when it protects the president’s interests. Why not support declassification to help protect America’s democracy? Instead, by keeping the facts cloaked in secrecy, the Trump administration and its Republican allies on Capitol Hill invite disinformation and give deception a toehold in the American electorate. . . . Protecting the nation’s democratic values should be a bipartisan imperative. Those of us in Washington should not risk looking back and saying, if only we’d known, we could have done something. We do know. We can do something. It starts with sharing the truth. Forty percent of the country won’t read the truth, let alone believe it; but for those interested, the right-leaning Washington Examiner ran this Saturday: Senate report on Russia blows a hole in Trump’s ‘hoax’ claims. A new, bipartisan report from the Senate Intelligence Committee confirms, unambiguously, that the Justice Department had good reason to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election. It also indicates that investigators were right to examine potential conspiracy with the Kremlin by Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Again, this is a bipartisan report, not a partisan Democratic attack document. It is endorsed by Republican committee chairman (on leave), Richard Burr of North Carolina, by acting Chairman Marco Rubio of Florida, and by all other Republicans on the committee in addition to the committee Democrats. . . . The report contains 952 pages of evidence and analysis showing that these Russian efforts were a serious intelligence threat. . . . In sum, repeat after me: The investigation into Russian perfidy was not a hoax. There was no hoax. There was no hoax. Trump fans need to get this through their heads. . . . the Justice Department would have been derelict not to investigate (even had the controversial “Steele dossier” not existed). . . . The Justice Department investigation, later conducted by special counsel Robert Mueller, produced dozens of indictments and (so far) 10 convictions. As the new Senate report makes clear, the Russian activities were highly nefarious. They needed to be unearthed and punished, and the information obtained from the investigation should be used to guard against Russian and other foreign electoral mischief in the future. . . . “The Russia thing” was not a hoax, conclude the Republican senators. Including Tom Cotton! And I would suggest that the “climate thing” is not a hoax. And the “virus” is not a hoax. Trump is a hoax. The now-Republican-embraced Q-Anon is a hoax . . . as Bill Maher explains. You need to watch. (Also: Trump praises QAnon, a conspiracy theory the FBI has deemed a domestic terror threat.) So make your plan to vote! This NBC News website has state-by-state info on vote by mail and in-person voting. And what comes after we win? Andrew R.: “A clear, in depth examination of the militia/Boogaloo movement that will rise when Trump loses. Don’t dismiss this just because it seems outlandish. It is a reality.” → I desperately hope not. But right now I’d say that, with Trump’s help, Putin is winning the Second Cold War. BONUS (satire, but no hoax): Trump Calls Biden’s Pro-Empathy Message Offensive to Sociopaths. BOREF was up 40% Wednesday, sort of, on not quite 10,000 shares. I say “sort of” because with this super-thinly-traded thinly stock, if someone put in an order to sell 10,000 shares, it would collapse. (So when buying or selling BOREF, use “limit orders.”) You would think the reason it went up was the news, as described here late Monday night complete with a video, that “Test Drive” is set for September 15. A major milestone in this long saga. WheelTug seems to work! And — at least in the company’s estimation — finally to be ready for prime time viewing. I went on to fantasize in that post about a $2 billion value for BOREF’s stake in WheelTug some years from now (which with 5 million shares outstanding would be $400/share) . . . unless they could net $200,000 per year per plane ($800 a share) from 10,000 planes ($1,600 a share). Tuesday the stock rose from $4.97 to $5.05 on 1,800 shares — not quite $10,000 worth. I’ve had dental work that cost more than $10,000. But Wednesday, a few more people hopped on — including me. (Which is insane, because I already have so much of it.) Volume hit 9,805 shares, 1,150 of them mine. My last 40 shares were filled at $7.40 before the stock settled back down to close at $7. (Oddly, the high for the day was shown as $7, but trust me: I paid an extra 40 cents for those 40 shares, and every $16 matters to a child of children of the Depression.) Thursday and Friday it traded as high as $10, but look: This is not — remotely — your typical stock. It’s a gamble, to be taken only with money we can truly afford to lose. All I know is that the economics of cutting as much as 20 minutes out of each flight are hugely compelling for airlines (and would be a boon for airports and passengers) . . . so unless and until the stock goes much higher, I plan not to sell a single share. Even knowing full well that something terrible could happen to keep this from ever coming to fruition. On the off-chance you’ve read this far, have a great rest of the weekend and Monday!
About Last Night August 20, 2020August 20, 2020 Honesty, decency, and prosperity — that’s what Barack Obama gave us for eight years . . . along with super hard work, a great example to our kids, world leadership, a national debt shrinking relative to the economy as a whole, and a scandal-free, highly competent team. (His first Energy Secretary was an esteemed nuclear physicist; Trump’s had no idea what the Energy Department even did and had campaigned on abolishing it.) No Drama Obama. Here’s what he gave us last night. I had lots of other things I wanted to write about today, but they all seem so small and inelegant by comparison. So let me just add this quote that one of you was kind enough to send my way. Winston Churchill, addressing the House of Commons on October 31, 1944: The foundation of all democracy is that the people have the right to vote. To deprive them of that right is to make a mockery of all the high-sounding phrases which are so often used. At the bottom of all the tributes paid to democracy is the little man, walking into the little booth, with a little pencil, making a little cross on a little bit of paper — no amount of rhetoric or voluminous discussion can possibly diminish the overwhelming importance of that point. A key part of the Republican strategy has for decades been to make it difficult for certain people to vote. Never more than now.
Randy, John, Bernie, and Michelle August 19, 2020August 18, 2020 I haven’t posted Randy Rainbow videos before because, though I love them, they can be a tad over the top. But this one — “Kamala” — is all but G-rated and upbeat. And you can watch Kamala address the Convention tonight. I really like this Convention format. It takes only 5 minutes to hear a 5-minute speech — not 10, with all the cheering. And no balloon glitches. Did you see Michelle Monday night? John Kasich? Bernie Sanders? It was all good, in case you want to go back and watch the full two hours; but these three are really worth watching — 18 minutes, 6 and 8, respectively. R. Hubbell on Trump’s “birtherism” calling into question Senator Harris’s qualifications (because she is the daughter of immigrants): The Biden campaign responded with an appropriately worded retort, saying that Trump is << the national leader of the grotesque, racist birther movement with respect to President Obama and has sought to fuel racism and tear our nation apart on every single day of his presidency. So it’s unsurprising, but no less abhorrent that as Trump makes a fool of himself straining to distract the American people from the horrific toll of his failed coronavirus response that his campaign and their allies would resort to wretched, demonstrably false lies in their pathetic desperation. >> The GOP has mortgaged its soul to racism. The debt will ruin the party and destroy the legacy of every Republican leader who remains silent, hoping to benefit from Trump’s effort to exploit the shameful legacy of slavery. If the GOP makes racism an explicit part of its appeal to voters, we must be no less explicit in challenging Republican candidates to denounce Trump in words of one syllable or make them own their legacy as racists. . . . To sign up for R. Hubbell’s daily missive, click here.
Watch And Save August 18, 2020August 18, 2020 I was so excited yesterday by the $506 million judgment that had nothing directly to do with PRKR but that still, in my mind, boded well (see how easily I get excited?), I forgot to insert the link in: << COVID UPDATE . . . the possible effects after you recover. It’s hard to disagree with the final paragraph. >> And now, just a day later, I’m excited by this invitation to attend WheelTug Test Drive. If you own BOREF, you’ll want to click that link. In my case, it represents 21 years of waiting. (Were you even alive when I wrote that first post?) Of course, there’s still a ton that could go wrong. Like: not getting FAA approval. (Because WheelTug is not “flight-critical” in the way a new engine or wing is, experts I’ve checked with think the odds of approval are good.) Or who knows what else? One thing for certain (in my view): the company won’t ever see lease payments of $3.5 million per airplane each year, as its 50% share of the “$7 million annual savings” referenced in the invitation. But you know what? If they can net $100,000 profit per plane each year — far less than they hope to — and if a few years from now 5,000 aircraft are backing out from the gate without having to wait for a tug, thanks to WheelTug . . . and boarding and deplaning from both the front AND rear doors by being able to park parallel to the gate, thanks to WheelTug . . . well, then, they would at that point be netting $500 million a year. If that’s worth 8 times earnings, the valuation would then be $4 billion. For BOREF, that means about $2 billion in value just from its share of WheelTug. Plus whatever other value its intellectual property may have. And what if they could net $200,000 per plane each year? On 10,000 aircraft? At yesterday’s $4.80 close, with 5 million shares outstanding, BOREF was valued at $24 million. If the stock shot up to $20, it would still be valued at only $100 million — just 5% of the $2 billion fantasized above. My point? We’ve come this far . . . with money we can truly afford to lose. I wouldn’t rush to turn in my lottery ticket just yet. The stock could still go to zero, for sure; but I’m encouraged by the progress. And now: Watch Roger Federer square off against . . . Roger Federer. Computing power has come a long way since Pong. Watch the Convention tonight! Check out the schedule. Save the children from Q-Anon. Save us all from cancel culture — Bill Maher is so right, as always. Save America from thuggish autocracy. Harry Harrison: “I worked for 33 years as a mail carrier. In the midst of the current Trump assault on democracy, no one has mentioned the Postal Inspectors Service. Remember hearing about how there were secret crawl spaces and peepholes to spy on mail employees possible illegal behavior? Well, there were!!! And still are!!! It was made known there were severe penalties for invading the sanctity of the mail they really said sanctity). It was a crime to interfere in the timely delivery of the mail. Why the hell did these people ever exist if they just have no role in decrying what Trump is doing? Maybe Dems can find retired Postal Inspectors free to spill their guts about this criminal conduct.”
Pufferfish August 17, 2020August 17, 2020 Friday: bears and sharks. Today: the pufferfish. You will not believe this. Three wondrous minutes. (Thanks, Alan!) Listen to his own people. The BEST people, as he calls them. One minute. Purchase yard signs, caps, masks, and more at Team Joe Store. (Don’t have a yard? Display it in your apartment window.) Buying this necklace won’t help win the Senate; but it looks great on Jennifer Granholm and could look great on you. If you have a neck, check it out. Then consider sending a bit more to my pal Al Gross, the DSCC-endorsed independent who would caucus with the Democrats — my favorite of several seats no one’s counting on but that we just might flip. Don’t miss the Convention tonight! (The week’s day-time and prime time schedule: here.) The first step in restoring hope. COVID UPDATE . . . the possible effects after you recover. It’s hard to disagree with the final paragraph. PRKR update. As a substantial shareholder, I was heartened by this $506 million judgement a different company just won against Apple. Different companies, different cases, different sets of facts. (And for PRKR, Apple is a relatively minor defendant. Its biggest beef is with Qualcomm.) But both companies are represented by the same law firm. And it’s nice to think patents in the “wireless space” can be upheld. Time will tell.