Mark Davis

It's that way in the South. College football is king. Most football fans in Atlanta would much rather see UGA win a national title than the Falcons win a Super Bowl. And a good thing for them too. My father in law grew up in south LA and played baseball at LSU. He came along before the MLB common draft. He could have signed with the Orioles or Cardinals out of HS and being a baseball player not good enough, I asked him one time why he didn't give pro ball a chance. He said "I'd have gotten $500 and a bus ticket to Florida and everyone here loves LSU and dreams of playing for them". A couple years later he blows his arm out, all pre TJ surgery days and he was done.

I know, it really ruined my day that he would think that of me.

Our prisons are full of people whose associates and family will vouch for them. Again, I’m not saying it’s impossible. But I wouldn’t expect his friends and family to say anything different. Regardless it looks like we will eventually see

When you say "by all accounts", well not according to the government. I mean you can choose to think the government singled this guy out for a special MS-13 frame job if you want. It's not impossible, but I'd be interested as to why they'd pick this one guy to have a conspiracy.

You can give suspected MS-13 members your concern, that's your choice. I won't miss a beat for people who fall into that category of both here illegally and suspected MS-13 when our government deports them. Hopefully for you the government deports enough of these guys before they cause you any harm as they have for so many. (See, I'm concerned for your well being. I do have a heart.)

In theory you are correct. In that setting, there would be a systemic issue and effort of the government doing this. I haven't seen that be alleged.

It didn't. And I never once had an issue with it. Some people who agree with me on this issue above probably disagree with me about that.

I mean I'm not John Roberts trying to adjudicate this. My comment assumed he would come back and by the booking him on Delta comment I'm assuming the Solicitor General is probably right and we are going to need to get him out of here. I'm all for that. But like I told Tim, my heart isn't broken for the guy because I believe it's much more likely than not that the Solicitor General is telling the truth here versus someone here illegally and is accused of being a gang member. You can lose sleep over this guy if you want, but there's in all probability a lot more people who deserve your concern than this guy.

Right. And my point is I believe the Solicitor General is probably correct as well. I assumed he's going to be back here and likely deported after the fact, it's why I mentioned we can book him on Delta for all I care. We don't need him here. That's the part we agree on. And once it's handled, regardless of how we got there that is what should happen if those assumptions turn out to be true. The part we don't agree on is I really don't have a problem with what the administration did here. The guy is already here illegally, he was allowed to stay if the article is correct due to fear of gang violence. Then now our government has determined he is in one of the most vicious gangs that exists. So I'm not shocked another gang probably doesn't like him very much. We indeed to have a system, one that wasn't set up to deal with millions of illegal immigrants and it's overwhelmed. I know we differ here, but if this guy was a citizen I'd have a big problem with it. Given that he isn't, no I don't have a problem with it.

I didn't realize you went to school in Baltimore. You're struggling with reading but I think I can help as long as you got through Sally D*** and Jane. Let me help. "If he's MS-13" does not assert that anything was proved. The word "if" in our language leaves open whether or not something is true or will or won't happen. The article does say the Solicitor General asserted he was a ranking member of MS-13. I think only using the word "if" when considering the Solicitor General's word against the word of someone who is already here illegally is pretty generous on my part. I mean, do we really expect this guy and his family to say "Aw shucks! You guys got me, I am in MS-13!"

I don't care if we have to book him a ticket on Delta, we don't need MS-13 running around inside the country. If he's MS-13, let them protect him from the rival gang back home.

Correct. My background was as a CPA but I was on the audit side. I reviewed it back during Covid and it was better to leave as is.

I've been looking to get some sideline money in. I'm actually happy with today's pullback. People need to remember turbulent markets have these wild days in either direction. I haven't even opened any of my 401/SEP/ROTH/Taxable account pages since this began. I just know that SP500 at 5000 or so is a pretty substantial discount should we get back to that level. It is looking prudent to average in some here. Anyone who is watching their balance daily is going to have sleepless nights and feel quite a bit of unrest during any time like this, and at 50 I can name you several markets already that have been like this or worse for much longer periods than this week or so we've had.

The basic question is are we ok with them selling us products from ripped off IP cheaper than anyone else can make it? Some of that cost is due to labor savings, but a lot is due to the fact that they steal IP at will and without repercussions. You're right it will have disruption to us, and maybe there's a more gentle way to maneuver into it, but we need to be very very hesitant to leave any of our critical supply chains in China.

Glad things went well Jerry, hang in there!

I think she's pretty attractive, not a 10 by any means but I probably find her more attractive than most here have.

Time to get the sideline cash warming in the bullpen

I never reported anyone on any message board, FBG, FFT, or otherwise. I always figured we were adults and if I got my feelings hurt by someone on a message board then that said more about me than it did about them.

Pitiful all around. I looked at the heat sheets for my daughter's meet this upcoming weekend, she has a friend who is in the high jump. I wasn't familiar with what heights they were doing so I had to look it up. Top seed height is 5'6" for the HS girls here. 4'8" would get in a 12 way tie for the 29th seed out of 49 entrants so far. Even more striking, 44 HS boys entered the high jump. None below 5'0" feet here. Anyone below is in the JV meet.

At the end it was a joke it was so soft. I got a perma ban the night of the Paris terrorist attacks for daring to say it was obviously a Muslim extremist. Gee, I wonder how that turned out.

What I try to tell people is the mistake I admit I made in 2008. I went cash on some 401K funds, and I kept making money as the market dropped, well, until then it didn't. You always think in bad times it's going lower, and momentum wise says most days you are right. The problem is the downside of not being able to buy back in is greater than waiting for the adjustment to work it's way through the market. I used to have a spreadsheet that told me how much that cost me (it's exponential as time goes on because you are rebuying fewer shares if you have to re-enter higher) but that isn't great for the mental health. I just used it as a lesson to not repeat. I've had grad school level finance too, but just like gambling on sports, you sometimes think you know better.

From a market standpoint I don't think this is over. Even short term pullbacks tend to have relief rallies and then more dramatic falls. Lower highs and deeper lows. Shakes out the weak hands. Unfortunately these are the type things that tend to cost individuals who watch their balance daily and when it gets to where they just can't take it anymore, they sell, and never are able to re-enter the market anywhere near the price they sold. If it's longer term and deeper, it could be a good opportunity to deploy cash.

I'm not disputing anything you posted. But the alternative is we do nothing. There's not a plan from Democrats to address this other than opposing Trump. So by default it's this or status quo. If we agree the playing field is not level, this is only partially addressing it, but it is starting to do so. At least Biden did not reverse the tariffs on China when he was in office. One thing that is a possibility, how often does the government willingly let go of revenue? I'd like to see the projections and actual (when available) of what flows into the government from these. It's not going to be small and by default the deficit is going to be reduced. But I agree short term it could be bad. The American public I have next to no faith in as far as having the stomach to stick through turbulent waters if they come and therefore is politically perilous for Trump and Republicans.

That's the part I struggle to get people to understand. Yes it will take some prices higher because it will cost more to make things here or it will cost more for things that can't be ramped up here in the short term or just that cannot be made more cheaply here than the alternative offshore with the tariff. But it does promote domestic production and the tax income from that, as well as all the tariff revenue. It's a use tax. Those extra dollars in cost aren't just going poof, they are going into the government coffers that will reduce the deficit/debt. Short term it definitely can be inflationary, but longer term we are much better off to have a more level playing field. We've let trade get way out of hand and that is a large part of why we have the debt that we do. All these political arguments are just that, they are debates on whether Trump can sustain the will to implement these over what short term reactions to prices might be. Longer term we have to fix the issue and nobody can tell me how else that happens.

These gimmick stocks I stay far away from. It's tempting to try to get in there and stick it out for the duration of what you know is right, but the problem with shorts is there is no cap on the loss you can accrue and you can be forced to fund the account to help cover the loss trying to wait it out.