Sunday, December 27. 2015
I found the movie tedious. In addition, it ignored obvious factors which were crucial to the story:
For starters, everybody knew there was a US housing bubble and a mortgage bubble. Dr. Burry was not the only one, but the credit default swaps was a brilliant approach to shorting what was bound to fall sooner or later.
Everybody knew that a large number of mortgages were junk. You could read about it on the internets every day.
Everybody knew that, since Clinton, banks were required to expand mortgage availability to high credit risks. This was not voluntary.
Naturally, banks did not want to keep that junk on their books. They packaged them and sold them to sophisticated willing institutional buyers around the world, same as any other asset a bank did not wish to hold. Can't blame the bankers for doing that. It's their job to sell stuff. It's common sense.
One good thing was included: the slipperiness of the debt rating agencies.
In Honor Of "The Big Short", Here Is Michael Burry's Historic Commencement Speech - it's a dynamite speech
Everybody likes to find a scapegoat. Moral of the story, in my view: Bubbles happen, and always burst. Shorting bubbles makes sense. It just takes balls. Other morals: Abolish Freddie Mac And Fannie Mae - and the Fed. And the notion of "too big to fail."
Thursday, December 24. 2015
Wednesday, December 23. 2015
I know many native New Yorkers who talk like Trump. Not the WASPy East Siders with houses in Litchfield, but the real ones without pedigrees. Charismatic, entertaining, witty, fast-talking, pumped, brash, clever, commerce-oriented, not overly intellectual. I do not mean to say that he is a type, but people who know him find him warm, caring, highly-moral and of course, engaging and provocative.
As I have said, he is a bit of a Honey Badger.
This is not a political endorsement, but a cultural observation.
Trump’s latest treatise deploys subliminally sinister attack on Clinton
Tuesday, December 22. 2015
Higher ed: Subsidies Increase Tuition.
Of course they do. Institutions are greedy by definition. It is never enough.
At 108 US Colleges, More Than Half Of Students Haven't Paid Even $1 On Their Student Loans
Subsidies Increase Tuition
Monday, December 21. 2015
 Confessions of a For-Profit College Inspector
What Are Quantum Gravity's Alternatives To String Theory?
This is over my head
Winter Outlook Update: January - March 2016 to Feel Influence of Strong El Niño
It is passing strange how little jubilation the rescue of the planet has stirred.
I blame Star Wars.
What’s Really Going On With the Earth’s Climate
"Most Liberal" US College Unleashes Demands For "Deconstructing The White Supremacist, Capitalist System"
Bad Dining Hall Food Becomes Racial Grievance
Yale Students Sign Petition to Abolish First Amendment
The Democrats’ Theme for 2016 Is Totalitarianism
Dalrymple:
About twenty years ago I was in the company of right-thinking people (that is to say, people who thought differently from me), among whom was an eminent human rights lawyer of impeccably internationalist outlook. She was speaking with characteristic self-righteousness about a case in which someone’s newly discovered human rights had been infringed. It was shortly after the Rwandan genocide had taken place and, fed up by her moral complacency, I accused her of racism. How could she concern herself with this case, I demanded to know, when half a million people or more had just been slaughtered and the perpetrators were unpunished (as at that time they still were)? Was it because she was racist and did not consider that all those lost lives were important because they were black?
Bipartisan Achievements: Bigger Government, Worse Schools
The Stupid Party Collapse
Paul Ryan Budget Admits More Syrian Refugees Than There Are Republican Voters In Iowa…
The Cruzade, starring Ted Cruz
Regarding Its 'Migrant' Policies, Denmark Tells World to Drop Dead
How wrong of Danes to wish to be Danish
Has Europe Reached the Breaking Point?
ISIS Sets Its Sights on the East
Sunday, December 20. 2015
McInnes amuses:
Christmas is about many things, but a big part of it is indulging yourself. I’m all for that. Be crass. Be an ugly American. Laugh with your mouth full. The men who built this country didn’t do it so we could feel bad about ourselves. They did it so we could all prosper. I’m done feeling bad about being the best. We rule, literally. You’re welcome.
Related: Colonial New Englanders did not celebrate Christmas. In fact, it was illegal to do so in Boston. However, down South in New Amsterdam they had no such Puritanical tendencies.
It is easy for us Yankees to forget that New York was already a substantial, rowdy town when those Pilgrims accidentally landed in cold, damp, and God-forsaken Cape Cod in November. Of course, the Catholic Spanish were in America first. The Brits chased out the Spanish and the Dutch, and then we Brits chased out the French, and then Britain itself for foolish reasons, but it worked out pretty well anyway despite our having, over time, created a far more oppressive and burdensome State than Britain could have dreamed of. A commercial powerhouse, however.
Related: The Gift of the WalMagi
Saturday, December 19. 2015
Democrat Leaders Dance, Gloat, Declare Speaker Paul Ryan ‘Gave Away The Store’
Thus Ryan's reward for civil cooperation and compromise.
Friday, December 18. 2015
Thursday, December 17. 2015
 Camille Paglia assesses the parlous state of today’s feminism.
"The problem with too much current feminism, in my opinion, is that even when it strikes progressive poses, it emanates from an entitled, upper-middle-class point of view. It demands the intrusion and protection of paternalistic authority figures to project a hypothetical utopia that will be magically free from offence and hurt. Its rampant policing of thought and speech is completely reactionary, a gross betrayal of the radical principles of 1960s counterculture, which was inaugurated in the US by the incendiary Free Speech Movement at the University of California at Berkeley."
"When politicians try to tax corporations to death, the corporations are likely to take rational action"
A book: Klemen on Riebling, 'Church of Spies: The Pope’s Secret War against Hitler'
Ugly New Budget Deal Shows Why Americans Hate Washington
Was Marco Rubio Overrated All Along?
Trump’s Commanding Performance - Front-runner projects a kind of strength his opponents can't quite match
Congressman: Refusing Syrian Refugees Hurts National Security
No evidence California attackers were part of terrorist cell: FBI head
Pentagon's Move Against Bowe Bergdahl Was About Its Own Integrity
The military's real problem: Fewer Americans are joining
By keeping its distance from the escalating efforts to rid the region of Islamic State, Israel has strengthened its hand.
How Saddam’s men help Islamic State rule
Why Saudi Arabia's coalition against terrorists might not be all it appears
Women Suicide Bombers On The Rise Don’t Have Much Use For 72 Virgins. Here’s What They Get Instead
Obama's Middle East Delusions
Is Iran taking over Latin America?
Wednesday, December 16. 2015
Tuesday, December 15. 2015
Monday, December 14. 2015
Saturday, December 12. 2015
Friday, December 11. 2015
I am 'very lucky'. I'm 53 years old and both my parents are still alive. When my parents were 53, they had either lost one or both of their parents. Only my maternal grandmother made it to 90. My other grandparents reached their late 70's. Both of my parents turned 80 this year.
I spent last weekend with my family celebrating my father's 80th birthday. My sister and one of her sons flew in from their home in Vienna, Austria as a surprise. My other sisters picked her up to join us, as did my brother, his wife and one of his sons. We all traveled to Connecticut to see my niece play in her first two high school hockey games. She played well, picking up 2 assists and her team won both games, beating one of their rivals for only the second time in history. She is a freshman, excellent on defense, and has the Olympics in her future. My father loves watching her games, so we turned it into a celebration.
As my wife and I traveled home, I reflected on the conversations that weekend, as well as the many I've had with my father over the course of my life. Obviously, my personal points of view were influenced by my parents. But rather than simply adopting their views, both taught me (and my brother and sisters) to think critically. Like most families, our views on life, politics, and economics vary greatly not only from our parents', but from each other.
Growing up, heated discussions took place during meals. We covered all kinds of topics from art, history, literature to politics and music. On Maggie's there is plenty to remind me of those conversations, even some of the heated comments down below. My father's birthday, realizing his parents didn't even reach the age of 80, caused me to think long and hard about the positions I take in these discussions.
After some reflection, I began to realize most of the opinions I fight against are related to envy and desire...
Continue reading "Life in America: The 80's"
The full transcript. As you might expect, highly enjoyable. The guy has a way with words.
No, I'm not a member. Can't say I've ever come close. Not even first base. The closest I've ever come was, while sitting in a bulkhead seat with the flight attendant in a jump seat across from me, hearing her stories of people she'd caught while joining. She informed my seatmate and I that it was illegal (apparently it's not) and you can get in quite a bit of trouble if caught (you can).
This isn't the kind of thing I normally spend time thinking about, but this morning I saw this article. In addition, my best friend is, at the moment I'm writing, somewhere over the North Pole on his way back from Hong Kong. As a result, the concept piqued my interest.
Aside from my wife, I can't say I've ever been remotely interested in any of my seatmates.
I've had plenty of good (and bad) interactions with women on a plane. I had a woman yell at me for wearing a Fox News shirt (I used to work there). I calmly explained to her that it's based in New York, so it's chock full of Democrats, which got a smattering of applause. I helped a girl returning from college, who'd never flown before, find her luggage and reunite with her family. I also had a very cute woman grab my arm, to the point of pain, as she chanted something in Spanish and grasped her Bible during takeoff. I'm guessing she was saying the Hail Mary, but I'll never know. I didn't feel like I should pry her loose, her fear was palpable and the flight was a red-eye. I just wanted her to calm down so I could go to sleep.
 We Are Imazighen: The Development of Algerian Berber Identity in Twentieth-Century Literature and Culture
The Moroccan Berber were more isolated from the Arab and French
No, Suicides Don't Rise During the Holidays
The importance of John Keats' Christmas Letter
Middle-Aged Paul Wolscht Identifies as a 6-Year-Old Girl
And I am a ham sandwich. Bite me.
Fired for Refusing to Call a Biological Girl a Boy, This Teacher Is Claiming Religious Discrimination
Fired for sanity
Dumping Money on Fire
Stupid. Let the fires burn. Fire is natural and healthy for forests.
Gamechanger: Celebrities join Obama in reminding America that they oppose gun violence
A relief to know that
The Middle Class Is Shrinking! Because They’re Getting Rich!
The good news
Middle-Aged Paul Wolscht Identifies as a 6-Year-Old Girl - See more at: http://moonbattery.com/?p=66265#sthash.t8DLImRo.dpuf
Obama’s blind faith in ‘clean’ energy will cost plenty
Why Detroit Cannot Be Rebuilt
Obamacare Is Now on Life Support
Trump's proposal for a pause in Muslim immigration "until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on" strikes this columnist as entirely reasonable. That's not to say it's necessarily a good idea.
Are Japan and Israel fascistic for not allowing Muslim immigration?
Dem Rep. Loretta Sanchez: I’d say, oh, 5-20% of Muslims support terrorism to bring about a caliphate
Glenn Reynolds: Liberals have chosen The Donald as their 'Destructor'
Why do Democrats insist on Clinton?
Sultan: Can the Left Learn to Love ISIS?
Are Democrats Trying to Establish a Right To Immigrate to US?
Yes
Little girl demonstrates art of stabbing: “Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!”
Stab the Jews. And if she gets seriously ill, she'll be treated by a Jewish doctor in a hospital in Israel
Obama's Middle East Delusions
Why Detroit Cannot Be Rebuilt
Thursday, December 10. 2015
 A very old bird
Florida burglary suspect eaten by alligator after fleeing police
Mark Steyn rebukes democrats in climate hearing: ‘You’re effectively enforcing a state ideology’
No Child Left Behind Has Finally Been Left Behind
FBI: 57% of Anti-Religious Hate Crimes Targeted Jews; 16% Targeted Muslims
“One Person, One Vote” Heads To Supreme Court
Nat Hentoff Excoriates ACLU’s Failure to Defend Free Speech
Supreme Court Justices’ Comments Don’t Bode Well for Affirmative Action
SHOCKER: US Govt Spent $4.34 Billion on Outside PR in Last Seven Years
Hillary Clinton’s most repugnant lie
While we fight over Trump, France closes 3 mosques, finds hundreds of weapons
VDH: If Donald Trump Did Not Exist, the Public Would Have Had to Invent Him
LA TIMES: Say, Trump Could Be Right
‘Trump is right!’ Police say parts of Britain ARE no-go areas due to ISIS radicalisation
FLASHBACK: Jimmy Carter Banned Iranians from US, Deported Iranian Students During Hostage Crisis
"Come To Us, We'll Show You Paradise" Salafist 'Aid Workers' Recruit Refugees In Germany
In Germany, nearly 2/3 of Syrian refugees are 'functionally illiterate'
In US, Emergency measures imposed as border surge surprises, overwhelms immigration officials
ISIS Can’t Be Destroyed from the Air
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Sippican: 
When Americans Are Inactive, 
Amazon 
2015: 
Chart via 
You're Right.
The 