For my part, watching the legacy media die while X and podcasts soar is truly breathtaking. What's funny, to me at least, is Trump is being beaten down daily by a dying media while he is killing it in the new media that matters... and dynamic utterly confuses lefty-elites/dinosaurs because they are seeing in real time their influence & favorite (vapid) candidate lose.
It's amazing to me to watch the WSJ evolve. It was a pretty objective publication but over the last two years has trended woke in its cover page and the resulting stories. The opinion page is still right leaning. I think they are stabbing themselves in the heart when they could be grabbing NYT and WaPo readers.
Real world problem for the journalism racket: With all the colleges and universities in the US leaning far, far, far left where does one go to find young, eager writers with an objective view of the world?
I think the age of print is over and the only value to any of these franchises is their web real estate which means they have to use social media to drive traffic which then validates the alternative of relying on social media exclusively.
Citizen Free Press has picked up where Drudge left off, it even looks the same. No fluff, clickbait, or constant ads like all other conservative sites, just links to interesting stories. It’s exactly what I want in a news aggregator.
I've been reading the WSJ since 1976 (first time I could afford a subscription). News has been creeping woke for the last half dozen years and the editorial page, while sorta conservative, bares little resemblance to the confident pro market stance I remember. I'm trying to figure out what to replace it with but haven't yet. Suggestions welcome.
If one studies Bezos' history in the founding of Amazon, you learn three things:
1. The business took a huge pivot from books to everything.
2. He was incredibly patient, believing in his own assessment, in building the business that did not have a whiff of profit for a decade.
3. He is a huge believer in process and data -- in fact, that is the secret sauce of Amazon and was the impetus for the founding of AWS, a huge business in its own right.
This reveals the man's pragmatism and longer term view of things as well as his reverence for data which is to say "truth."
He is a good businessman. When he conducts a meeting he has a particular regimen that ensures complete information, a consistent level of knowledge amongst the participants, and the necessity for making a decision.
He has had 11 years since he bought it to observe The Washington Post and he can see it is a wildly biased and ineffective organization that makes news rather than reports news. Most importantly, nobody trusts them because they are organically untrustworthy hacks and shills for the Dems.
You will recall that when he first bought the Wash Post he hired on a bunch of reporters to bolster their ability to investigate and report news.
The traditional role of the hands off owner and publisher has to be scrapped. That model is broken irretrivably. He has to run the bloody business just like he did with Amazon.
If he puts his mind to it, he could succeed. I don't see him wanting to climb that mountain.
The democratization of X and the good fortune of it falling into Musk's hands is the future of information. I see no barriers to entry for Musk to do everything the Wash Post is doing right now at a much lower price point.
The term "elite" as tossed around by Bezos and his ilk is troubling. "Elite" implies some talent or ability that sets a person or institution above and apart from others. But the type of dodo bird who thinks the Washington Post is better informed than say the random blogger in Joliet, isn't showing any particular talent whatsoever. They are just going along with the flow, and wanting to be part of the mass of nitwits who think themselves intelligent and talented by cutting and pasting talking points from the Washington Post.
I am as elitist as I can possibly be. But I recognize, I am not all that talented at a wide variety of things. So I don't consider myself elite whatsoever.
So maybe when some dope like Jeff Bezos is sending around pictures of his Johnson to his girlfriend's brother, he could take a step back and have some self awareness that he is a pretty standard knucklehead, not really showing himself as talented or all that different from the mental capacity of Brett Favre etc (though Favre would be considered an elite athlete).
My brother posted this recently about a shirttail (aunt's nephew) cousin and neighbor. I am going with...as close to an extraordinary man as it gets. Or at least he rose to the challenge.
**
Gary Reynolds was born in Clinton, Illinois, and by 1950 was in Nixon Township, near Weldon, Illinois. He went to Deland-Weldon High School, a Kickapoo Conference foe of the Wapella Wildcats. He was a semi-finalist in the Illinois State Scholars program and was class president. He attended my alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was an honor student in political science. He trained for the Peace Corps at Brown University in Rhode Island, and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tunisia teaching English at Lycee De Carcons at Sousse, Tunisia.
Gary joined the US Army 505th Infantry Batallion, part of the 82nd Airborne Division, and served in Vietnam. He saw action in Region 3 in Binh Duong province, south of Saigon, serving as a Private First Class. He was killed in action in Vietnam on 11 Februrary 1969.
Tim Walz will now accuse you of culturally appropriating the term "knucklehead". You are likely to be doxed by a bunch of 20 somethings with three colored hair and multiple body piercings shrieking unintelligible gibberish.
All that I know is I've been concerned that big tech earnings might dump the market, but it looks like I may survive another day as the goog can't print money fast enough and it's up big after hours -- whew! I hope that amazon does as well in a couple of days!
Trump is amazing. Going on Rogan for 3 hours, ha. Kam scared to death to go near Joe. If Trump wins, yay, we get to witness another cry-fest of massive proportions as the MSM all shit their diapers in unison.
The Conservative Treehouse is well worth the follow. It was that site, plus Dan Bongino, that broke much of the horrific propaganda around the Russia hoax in 2017-2018. Still incredible that the legacy media that pushed this garbage have not acknowledged, nor apologized for their roles in that travesty. Similar to the COVID disaster.
Seems to me that the bill has come due for the media in the minds of most Americans.
Bezos is talking out of both sides of his mouth. I think he is playing both sides, in this instance.
If he really believes why he didn't allow an endorsement then why does he allow the yellow journalism that is on the front page of the WP every day?
"Funny thing when I lost money, my entire makeup felt differently. I wanted to fight. I had high energy. I didn’t want to quit. I got angry." - Felt the same way, much like Mortimer Duke: "Turn those machines back on!"
Loved the ideas shared in this column. I've long wrestled with the challenge of trading the market. To be a successful trader one needs to be able to make valuations both independent of the market and in context of the market and then resolve how and whether the difference will be settled sometime in the future. The psychology of this process is not at all easy!
Glad you mentioned the risk of election fraud. I find the allowance of voter fraud to be one of the most discouraging aspects of the American government. If I were to counterfeit $20 bills and spend them in my community it would not take long for the Feds to get on the case. Illegally cast votes don't seem to bother the Feds or state authorities at all! Yes, we know why this is so politically - both parties enjoy the ability to cheat. But this cheating defrauds the American citizen and it is depressing that the American government simply doesn't care.
Great post Mr Carter! I love The Conservative Tree House! Been a fan for years! I've got to admit I'm enjoying the dinosaur print media's melt down quite a bit. Your readers and comments are wonderful also!
I lost a lot of money. A lot. Millions. Not only that, the markets went electronic and I was a dinosaur. I sucked it up and survived. I sold off my real estate. I lived off savings from 2009-2016 (putting two kids through college at the time) and I invested the rest of my money in very very early stage startups, most based in Chicago. I had started HPA in 2007, but some of the leadership there was so biased and politically motivated they told me I wasn't qualified to lead them, nor be a "deal guy". The person they have leading them today has trashed the reason the organization originally started. I tried to get a job at a venture capital firm but I wasn't qualified according to them, so I did it myself. I tried to raise a fund and was continuously told "no" until I found a partner at the end of 2015. We raised a very small venture fund over 2.5 yrs. I just looked at our current marks. We are up 3.76x on invested capital with a lot of room to run. It was a brutal time in my life. The fund might be a 5-7x fund when it is said and done but it could all go to 0 too.
I think the 2009-2016 period was rough on many, Jeff.
My career has been largely either financial or in fixing companies, so at best "investment adjacent". That said, seems to me that the difference between mediocre and above avg returns is the sell discipline. Just my 2 cents
I'd say 2003 on was very rough on the floor traders. I was up around $750k May 1, 2003, and by Dec 31 was -$250k trading Eurodollars. The only change to the market was computerization. I left for the Hogs and they traded 9am to 1pm, no computers. I did well there until the computer came in.
Interesting. As it the automated programs and models designed to spot very small outliers?
While I am a huge believer in data and the power of data crunching and models, still think human ratiocination when harnessed correctly is superior. We have more inputs than even a self-correcting computer model or AI can deliver.
-->"Many people are turning to off-the-cuff podcasts, inaccurate social media posts and other unverified news sources, which can quickly spread misinformation and deepen divisions."
As if the WaPoo is a fount of accuracy, knowledge, insight, and wisdom found nowhere else. They, and the NYT, have trashed their integrity and honesty. It's on them.
As I regularly say, all media is entertainment--the WaPoo is no exception.
Another great piece!! Thanks, Jeff.
For my part, watching the legacy media die while X and podcasts soar is truly breathtaking. What's funny, to me at least, is Trump is being beaten down daily by a dying media while he is killing it in the new media that matters... and dynamic utterly confuses lefty-elites/dinosaurs because they are seeing in real time their influence & favorite (vapid) candidate lose.
What a time to be alive!!
Brilliant observation. I agree more with you than you do with yourself.
The "democratization" of unfiltered information/news is the big story here.
Bravo and well played.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
It's amazing to me to watch the WSJ evolve. It was a pretty objective publication but over the last two years has trended woke in its cover page and the resulting stories. The opinion page is still right leaning. I think they are stabbing themselves in the heart when they could be grabbing NYT and WaPo readers.
Real world problem for the journalism racket: With all the colleges and universities in the US leaning far, far, far left where does one go to find young, eager writers with an objective view of the world?
I think the age of print is over and the only value to any of these franchises is their web real estate which means they have to use social media to drive traffic which then validates the alternative of relying on social media exclusively.
Drudge Report has gone complete woke.
Fuck them all, I say.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
Citizen Free Press has picked up where Drudge left off, it even looks the same. No fluff, clickbait, or constant ads like all other conservative sites, just links to interesting stories. It’s exactly what I want in a news aggregator.
I've been reading the WSJ since 1976 (first time I could afford a subscription). News has been creeping woke for the last half dozen years and the editorial page, while sorta conservative, bares little resemblance to the confident pro market stance I remember. I'm trying to figure out what to replace it with but haven't yet. Suggestions welcome.
💯
Back to the days them being "The Wall Street Urinal"
If one studies Bezos' history in the founding of Amazon, you learn three things:
1. The business took a huge pivot from books to everything.
2. He was incredibly patient, believing in his own assessment, in building the business that did not have a whiff of profit for a decade.
3. He is a huge believer in process and data -- in fact, that is the secret sauce of Amazon and was the impetus for the founding of AWS, a huge business in its own right.
This reveals the man's pragmatism and longer term view of things as well as his reverence for data which is to say "truth."
He is a good businessman. When he conducts a meeting he has a particular regimen that ensures complete information, a consistent level of knowledge amongst the participants, and the necessity for making a decision.
He has had 11 years since he bought it to observe The Washington Post and he can see it is a wildly biased and ineffective organization that makes news rather than reports news. Most importantly, nobody trusts them because they are organically untrustworthy hacks and shills for the Dems.
You will recall that when he first bought the Wash Post he hired on a bunch of reporters to bolster their ability to investigate and report news.
I expect a lot of changes at the Wash Post.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
Are you a buyer of WaPo given the power of X?
The traditional role of the hands off owner and publisher has to be scrapped. That model is broken irretrivably. He has to run the bloody business just like he did with Amazon.
If he puts his mind to it, he could succeed. I don't see him wanting to climb that mountain.
The democratization of X and the good fortune of it falling into Musk's hands is the future of information. I see no barriers to entry for Musk to do everything the Wash Post is doing right now at a much lower price point.
Clearly nobody needs, likes, or trusts the media.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
Was Mr. Hearst hands off?
The term "elite" as tossed around by Bezos and his ilk is troubling. "Elite" implies some talent or ability that sets a person or institution above and apart from others. But the type of dodo bird who thinks the Washington Post is better informed than say the random blogger in Joliet, isn't showing any particular talent whatsoever. They are just going along with the flow, and wanting to be part of the mass of nitwits who think themselves intelligent and talented by cutting and pasting talking points from the Washington Post.
I am as elitist as I can possibly be. But I recognize, I am not all that talented at a wide variety of things. So I don't consider myself elite whatsoever.
So maybe when some dope like Jeff Bezos is sending around pictures of his Johnson to his girlfriend's brother, he could take a step back and have some self awareness that he is a pretty standard knucklehead, not really showing himself as talented or all that different from the mental capacity of Brett Favre etc (though Favre would be considered an elite athlete).
There are no extraordinary men. There are ordinary men who rise to the challenge of extraordinary times and then fade away thereafter.
Churchill - turned out by the British after World War II after saving their bully beef
The supposed "elites" self-destruct and we find out how common and ordinary they are. Tempted by untold wealth, Jeff Bezos went for the tits.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
My brother posted this recently about a shirttail (aunt's nephew) cousin and neighbor. I am going with...as close to an extraordinary man as it gets. Or at least he rose to the challenge.
**
Gary Reynolds was born in Clinton, Illinois, and by 1950 was in Nixon Township, near Weldon, Illinois. He went to Deland-Weldon High School, a Kickapoo Conference foe of the Wapella Wildcats. He was a semi-finalist in the Illinois State Scholars program and was class president. He attended my alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was an honor student in political science. He trained for the Peace Corps at Brown University in Rhode Island, and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tunisia teaching English at Lycee De Carcons at Sousse, Tunisia.
Gary joined the US Army 505th Infantry Batallion, part of the 82nd Airborne Division, and served in Vietnam. He saw action in Region 3 in Binh Duong province, south of Saigon, serving as a Private First Class. He was killed in action in Vietnam on 11 Februrary 1969.
Tim Walz will now accuse you of culturally appropriating the term "knucklehead". You are likely to be doxed by a bunch of 20 somethings with three colored hair and multiple body piercings shrieking unintelligible gibberish.
Have fun and zap them with pepper spray 🤨😄👏👍
All that I know is I've been concerned that big tech earnings might dump the market, but it looks like I may survive another day as the goog can't print money fast enough and it's up big after hours -- whew! I hope that amazon does as well in a couple of days!
Trump is amazing. Going on Rogan for 3 hours, ha. Kam scared to death to go near Joe. If Trump wins, yay, we get to witness another cry-fest of massive proportions as the MSM all shit their diapers in unison.
Better link to Conservative Treehouse story
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/10/29/eight-years-later-fbi-whistleblower-surfaces-to-tell-congress-the-fbi-was-instructed-by-james-comey-to-use-two-female-fbi-agents-to-infiltrate-trump-campaign/
The Conservative Treehouse is well worth the follow. It was that site, plus Dan Bongino, that broke much of the horrific propaganda around the Russia hoax in 2017-2018. Still incredible that the legacy media that pushed this garbage have not acknowledged, nor apologized for their roles in that travesty. Similar to the COVID disaster.
Seems to me that the bill has come due for the media in the minds of most Americans.
Bezos is talking out of both sides of his mouth. I think he is playing both sides, in this instance.
If he really believes why he didn't allow an endorsement then why does he allow the yellow journalism that is on the front page of the WP every day?
"Funny thing when I lost money, my entire makeup felt differently. I wanted to fight. I had high energy. I didn’t want to quit. I got angry." - Felt the same way, much like Mortimer Duke: "Turn those machines back on!"
Loved the ideas shared in this column. I've long wrestled with the challenge of trading the market. To be a successful trader one needs to be able to make valuations both independent of the market and in context of the market and then resolve how and whether the difference will be settled sometime in the future. The psychology of this process is not at all easy!
Glad you mentioned the risk of election fraud. I find the allowance of voter fraud to be one of the most discouraging aspects of the American government. If I were to counterfeit $20 bills and spend them in my community it would not take long for the Feds to get on the case. Illegally cast votes don't seem to bother the Feds or state authorities at all! Yes, we know why this is so politically - both parties enjoy the ability to cheat. But this cheating defrauds the American citizen and it is depressing that the American government simply doesn't care.
Great post Mr Carter! I love The Conservative Tree House! Been a fan for years! I've got to admit I'm enjoying the dinosaur print media's melt down quite a bit. Your readers and comments are wonderful also!
What happened when you had all your money in that one stock and it crashed?
I lost a lot of money. A lot. Millions. Not only that, the markets went electronic and I was a dinosaur. I sucked it up and survived. I sold off my real estate. I lived off savings from 2009-2016 (putting two kids through college at the time) and I invested the rest of my money in very very early stage startups, most based in Chicago. I had started HPA in 2007, but some of the leadership there was so biased and politically motivated they told me I wasn't qualified to lead them, nor be a "deal guy". The person they have leading them today has trashed the reason the organization originally started. I tried to get a job at a venture capital firm but I wasn't qualified according to them, so I did it myself. I tried to raise a fund and was continuously told "no" until I found a partner at the end of 2015. We raised a very small venture fund over 2.5 yrs. I just looked at our current marks. We are up 3.76x on invested capital with a lot of room to run. It was a brutal time in my life. The fund might be a 5-7x fund when it is said and done but it could all go to 0 too.
I think the 2009-2016 period was rough on many, Jeff.
My career has been largely either financial or in fixing companies, so at best "investment adjacent". That said, seems to me that the difference between mediocre and above avg returns is the sell discipline. Just my 2 cents
I'd say 2003 on was very rough on the floor traders. I was up around $750k May 1, 2003, and by Dec 31 was -$250k trading Eurodollars. The only change to the market was computerization. I left for the Hogs and they traded 9am to 1pm, no computers. I did well there until the computer came in.
Interesting. As it the automated programs and models designed to spot very small outliers?
While I am a huge believer in data and the power of data crunching and models, still think human ratiocination when harnessed correctly is superior. We have more inputs than even a self-correcting computer model or AI can deliver.
But obviously, who knows where AI will take us.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/10/29/more-evidence-of-localized-ballot-printing-surfaces/ Evidence of attempted FRAUD
Bezos made me laugh...
-->"Many people are turning to off-the-cuff podcasts, inaccurate social media posts and other unverified news sources, which can quickly spread misinformation and deepen divisions."
As if the WaPoo is a fount of accuracy, knowledge, insight, and wisdom found nowhere else. They, and the NYT, have trashed their integrity and honesty. It's on them.
As I regularly say, all media is entertainment--the WaPoo is no exception.
Unfortunately, Harris only pulled her ads out of one region of North Carolina and dedicated some of that money to a different region of North Carolina