Wade1865

Greta is effectively sanctioned by western governments and holds the favor of the UN. More, her platform is considered globally beneficial, which the majority is aligned with. Andrew made a huge mistake, hahaha -- unless he survives this ordeal, then he’s lionized. What an amazing finish to they year; and socially decisive, imo. (Thank you, Elon )

Andrew (presumably) recently tweeted his first message since being detained, which I think was limited to 24 hours. Has it been 24 hours -- doesn’t seem like it. And updated news reports said Romanian prosecutors requested a 30-day extension; but, if he just sent out a message, he may have been released (for now).

“As the founder and CEO of Jerry’s Pizza, I recognized the pizza boxes and immediately contacted the Romanian authorities, facilitating the arrest and conviction of Andrew Tate as well as the local mafia.” -- George Santos, US Representative-elect

JGP -- likely, Andrew's second biggest error; that is, taking on the role of a celebrity (e.g., he was on a show called Big Brother). His biggest error -- playing the game at the global level despite being a small fish surrounded by much larger sharks.

Also interesting is a (numerologist, if you can believe it) guy on Twitter named @findgg33 who claimed (based on unidentified law enforcement sources over two months ago) that Andrew would be arrested by late 2022 or early 2023 due to pressure against the Romanian government to act. More, that the claim was associated with the American girl who was allegedly exploited back in APR 2022, which likely triggered the USG's initial point of interest. Add in Greta's international reach and what seems to be a direct connection between the Greta-Andrew timeline and his subsequent arrest, it's not impossible that Andrew was a high value target for at least two national governments and one or more moneyed interest groups. If true (however unlikely), he apparently pissed off quite a few global elites.

Interesting backstory on Andrew and family. "Eileen brought up the pair’s three children in the relative property after moving to Bedfordshire, England. At that time, Andrew was only 11 years old." "Andrew said, “I was raised by a single mother in England. I wouldn’t call my mother particularly nice or soft. In fact, my mother was mean and hard.” “I usually saw my dad about once a year when he would visit and I remember one time they had a massive argument.”

The allegations are believable given Andrew's character, history, and the details here and here. Warrants its own thread at this point, hahaha. "The brothers had allegedly detained two young women — one with American citizenship and one Romanian — inside the villa against their will in April, where they were subjected to “physical violence and mental coercion,” the Daily Mail reported." "Prosecutors said the brothers are suspects in an alleged organized crime ring that sexually exploited at least six women, who were recruited, housed and forced into performing pornographic videos for sale online."

Corvinus85 -- that's really cool! I loved all of Europe, but Romania was special to me (because of the people, of course). I was based out of Mihail Kogălniceanu Airbase but spent the bulk of my time in Constanţa. The US footprint was insignificant while I was there, but I believe it has since expanded. Getting to Brașov and Tulcea by road were quite the ordeals, though, hahaha.

Additional footage from the raid and arrest. He had quite a car and weapons collection. And he seems to have had a robust security / surveillance system going, too.

JGP -- it does seem to be connected given the quick turnaround. Regardless, Greta's esteem just catapulted further with this development, however indirectly she was involved. And unless Andrew can survive the arrest and avoid conviction, he's done. Well done, Greta; well done

Andrew's net worth is (if you can believe it) somewhere between a quarter and three-quarters of a billion USD! Although his business activities could have facilitated that amount of wealth, perhaps he was stupid enough to have engaged in human trafficking? His history and this arrest highly suggests he did. This is getting more interesting than the Ye timeline

JGP -- very interesting how this will turn out especially as it coincided with the Greta-Andrew timeline, hahaha. And given that he was arrested, he might not survive this time.

JGP -- you should do it, but don't go alone. A local girl showed me her home town and took me to the Danube Delta (lots of mosquitoes). I think we spent a couple nights at a local cabin, where the food and lodging was very cheap but good! Just don't expect the infrastructure you'd find in Western Europe, hahaha.

JGP -- Romania's a primary source and destination of human trafficking, so I'm not surprised the locals took the investigations seriously (but not too seriously, if you can read between the lines) given Andrew's high profile. It was the second raid I'm aware of, but in both cases there was no evidence of a crime. People who engage in that dark business tend to be ruthless and avoid the spotlight, which is the opposite of what Andrew is and does. I was fortunate to have spent a half year total in Romania, coordinating USA / USAF assets back and forth to AFG, and I absolutely loved my time there. The women were incredibly beutiful; the roads, awful; social life, dynamic; people, very poor; and government, corrupt. After integrating with the locals I was able to experience how many of them lived; most striking to me were the Soviet-era apartment buildings and how dominant the women seemed to be within the household.

Deadlines? What Deadlines? -- it's a certainty! The manosphere movement (i.e., masculinists, antifeminists, pick up artists, Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW), unfortunate incels, men's rights activists, et al.) probably peaked years ago, and was never more than a niche for disaffected men. I'm sure most supporters benefitted to some degree, but like all things it was the leaders and influencers (e.g., Michael Cernovich, Andrew Tate, Daryush "Roosh" Valizadeh, Jack Donovan, et al.) who profited most, many becoming wealthy. Amusingly, one influencer -- Jack Murphy -- was a leading member of the movement but fell out of favor after he verbally attacked a conservative woman, Sydney Watson, during an interview; which when coupled with the discovery of his cuckoldry, homesexuality, and sex videos, resulted in his ostracization.

This Greta-Andrew timeline is great entertainment, hahaha! It's also a pretty cool snapshot of the (Western) world's popular culture / zeitgeist re environmentalism vs consumption; and I thank Elon's Twitter for facilitating it. Both personalities have their loyal disciples; though Greta is clearly held in higher esteem by substantially more people. Greta will benefit off this, especially if she follows up her initial response by disengaging, thus avoiding an equally decisive response. Of course, Andrew will also benefit, and possibly (relatively) more so given his lower social position and appeal to a growing population of alienated men seeking wealth, power, et al. It's a win-win, albeit within their own frameworks. Greta obviously holds and will retain the overall (social and political) advantage.

Fragile Bird -- I literally had to wear socks to bed. You wouldn’t understand.

It was horrible! As they said, a once in a lifetime ordeal. We lost sunshine for at least 4 hours that day, and I had to put on a long sleeved shirt. I almost died. I live in South Florida.

Fire and Jace -- SBUX workers are still pursuing this. 100 stores (110 during the 1-day strike back in NOV) plan a 3-day strike. As a point of reference, there's 9000 company-run stores. Uncle Joe (known to be the biggest supporter of unions) and I will pray for them! "So far, the labor disputes haven’t appeared to dent Starbucks’ sales. Starbucks said in November that its revenue rose 3% to a record $8.41 billion in the July-September period."

Bitcoin holding at a bit under $17K USD! Ethereum, less than $1200. These major coins could weather the exchange fiascos! They could survive and thrive sometime in the future. Dogecoin at $0.81

Straddling 500, now. I have no idea if Power Hour will realize more of the same or an upswing -- short-term movements make no sense to me (yet)! The CNN Business Fear & Greed Index is leaning towards a fear-driven market. A week ago, people were neutral. A month ago, greed. Anecdotally, I don't feel panic, but there's anxiety. And I'm down another point, overall holdings now at -3.33%

Me (15JAN22): I can't believe it, after 40 years of hard work, I can finally retire by the end of this year! Me (15DEC22): hey boss, do you want some Starbucks? Do you like homemade cookies? Hahaha, your jokes are soo funny. How come you're so smart, boss? I'm so grateful to be working here. Of course I can work this weekend!

If I wasn't more than 3 points in the hole and effectively broke, I'd have bid on this. It's made by a famous French designer, Marquette de Cline; a new fragrance, for men.

On the FTX scandal -- earlier this month, Caroline was spotted back in the US, and likely to have had assisted the USG against Sam, which explains how quickly this case has progressed. Nearly two weeks later, he was charged and arrested; then denied bail, locked up in Nassau's only prison while continuing to fight against extradition. Rumor has is that these two will star in the next great financial movie

A day after Jerome's 50 bp hike, the markets dropped 2.25%, DJIA; 2.49%, S&P; and 3.23%, NASDAQ. And my overall holdings dropped around 3.25% (!!!). This reaction seems overly dramatic given that 1) it wasn't 75 bp and, 2) it should have been expected. Tomorrow should be interesting. Given the now steadily declining inflation, I'm sure the next few hikes will be 25 bp, and (as warned), there will be more of them. Unless the war in Ukraine expands / intensifies, or a new one flares in the Pacific, 2023 could realize a softer landing than I anticipated ...