Olmsted

Investing. Occasional policy comments. Former defense analyst. Not into politics.

[Olmsted @Olmsted2]

This is the gaudiest POS interior of a 'private' plane I've ever seen. Right on brand

[Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @AdamKinzinger]

Meanwhile, he keeps this plane when he leaves.

But gas is under 4 dollars! You’re welcome America

[BluByU @Udntnonutn]

So to clarify.

Qatar donated a roughly $400 million luxury “flying palace” to the US government as an unconditional gift.

We, the taxpayers then paid as much as $1 billion dollars in retrofits to strip it down, add high grade secure communications, and defense systems, so it can serve as Air Force One.

The upgraded plane flies trump for the remainder of his term.

Then it gets transferred to the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation no later than early 2029.

At what point exactly are we supposed to stop noticing that a foreign government’s expensive gift, heavily subsidized and transformed at taxpayer expense, ends up as an asset controlled by trump’s own foundation?

I’m sure it’s nothing.

[Lee Roach @leevalueroach]

I have read approximately 3,000 10-Ks in my life. I have read my wife’s emotional state correctly maybe 11 times. This is troubling because the skills should transfer. Both require you to look past the headline. Both require you to read the footnotes. Both require you to notice what was said last quarter that is not being said this quarter.

I can spot a goodwill impairment from 40 pages away. I cannot spot that my wife has been quietly furious since Tuesday. In a 10-K I notice when management changes the word “challenging” to “dynamic” and I correctly interpret this as a warning. In my marriage my wife changed the word “fine” to “fine.” and I did not notice the period. The period was the entire disclosure.

I missed it. I read a footnote last week in a packaging company’s annual report that disclosed a related-party transaction worth $400,000 and I caught it in 90 seconds. My wife told me three times this month that she was tired and I interpreted this as “tired” when in fact it was a Level 3 disclosure requiring immediate management response. I have a system for 10-Ks. I read the MD&A first, then the risk factors, then the cash flow statement, then the notes. I have no system for my wife. She is a company that does not file. She reports continuously and without warning and the format changes every quarter. Her risk factors are not enumerated.

Her MD&A is delivered through sighs of varying length and I have not yet developed the ear. Last week she said “do whatever you want” and I did whatever I wanted and it turns out the correct interpretation of “do whatever you want” was “do not do that specific thing” and I have no idea how I was supposed to know that, and yet, looking back, the signals were all there. The signals are always there. I have been trained to find signals. I find them in companies I will never meet. I miss them in the person I have lived with for nine years. My wife has started saying things like “you would notice this if I were a stock” and she is correct. She is correct. If she had a ticker I would have already built a 6,000-word model on her. I would know her seasonality.

I would know her capex cycle. I would know which quarters historically run hot. Instead I treat her like a private company and I am surprised every time the auditors arrive. I am going to bed now. She said good night in a tone. I do not know what the tone meant. I will find out in the morning. Or I will not. The 10-K of my marriage is filed in real time and I am, as always, three quarters behind.

[Jill Filipovic @JillFilipovic]

Has any president ever failed so hard and so often at so many things, from the mundane to the massive?

[unusual_whales @unusual_whales]

The TRUMP meme coin generated about $616 million for the Trump family, while buyers lost more than $700 million, according to Reuters' estimates.

The coin has dropped 97% from its January 2025 peak

[Joshua Reed Eakle 🗽 @JoshEakle]

It's once again time to tap the sign.

[Olmsted @Olmsted2]

Unfortunately spot-on. This is a key tactic of cult brainwashing. And it's worked every time since at least Jan 6 2021

[LoLNothingMatters @DastDn]

We are currently at Peak Sanity on Iran Deal. As the immediate shock of the debacle fades it will gradually become accepted & internalized as new reality by more and more people, and then (as elections draw nearer) tribal loyalty will kick in & it will be defended against Dems.

[Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @AdamKinzinger]

He’s right. Oh wait

[Justme @Justme32502116]

@McFaul Flashback to 2015:

JCPOA, 2015
"Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons."

And..
1.) the Straight was open.
2.) no shots fired
3.) no soldiers killed
4.) no children or citizens killed
5.) only 1.7 billion returned

[Olmsted @Olmsted2]

Ha

[Boring_Business @BoringBiz_]

Investment committee: “so explain why we should pay 15x for this business?”

Private equity associate: “one of the things that makes this business so valuable is how valuable it is”

[Andrew Fox @Mr_Andrew_Fox]

Good analysis.

[Olmsted @Olmsted2]

Sweet

[Jürgen Nauditt 🇩🇪🇺🇦 @jurgen_nauditt]

Ukraine has developed a heavy underwater drone named "Sea Trident" that can carry up to 1,000 kg of explosives.

It can dive to depths of up to 60 meters and reach a top speed of up to 18.5 km/h.

Did you just think of the Crimean Bridge, too?

[Olmsted @Olmsted2]

Interesting take

[sam lessin 🏴‍☠️ @lessin]

THE REAL SPACEX IPO LESSON: WE LIVE IN A CAPITALIST MULTIVERSE OF VALUE

[Flip dingo @Flip_Dingo]

@LukeMiani

[Michael Weiss @michaeldweiss]

JFK once invited to dinner 49 Nobel laureates, Robert Frost, William Styron, Ernest Hemingway, James Baldwin, Katherine Anne Porter, John Dos Passos, James Farrell and Lionel and Diana Trilling, and others. His line on the occasion became famous: “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House—with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."

Some of you were alive when that happened.

[O’Hare Trade•Dude Diligence 🐢🏴‍☠️🇺🇸 @OHare888]

This👇

[wheredkittygo @wheredkittygo]

@Timodc

[P a u l ◉ @SkylineReport]

This is beyond ludicrous.

Why the hell are U.S. Marines and soldiers saluting a UFC fighter?

The military swears an oath to the Constitution, not celebrities, influencers, or the latest personality cult. Watching service members rendered as props for a UFC spectacle is beneath the dignity of the uniform and beneath the dignity of the country.