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We need the Iraqi bases for the war with Iran.
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"The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham Lincoln -
The director has a shot of the Chernobyl producer accepting the award and saying something solemn about the victims, the problem is they have a shot of.Salma Hayek directly in the background. What did he say?Comment
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Nothing earth shattering here but the Reuters piece highlights the inter-connectivity of interested parties and complexity of the ME region's current tensions. While you might think that the official word out of Turkey would be condemnatory of Trump and the US, it's not. Instead, it speaks of the potential for "radical" elements in Iran gaining control and of Iraq becoming a "conflict zone" - something the international community seems to be concerned about.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-i...edName=topNews
Still, the global press as well as the press in the US continue to question Trump's action. It likes to report the usual "confusion" and lack of consensus among administration officials over the decision to act against Iran, proclaim in headlines "thousands morn Iranian hero at his funeral," and generally remain critical of the assassination of Qassem Soleimani. Iran has officially announced that Trump is a "terrorist in a suit" ..... LOL, pot meet kettle.
My take remains that the timing of the assassination could not have been more perfect. While it's an escalation and an indication that the US is willing to go down a path (assassinations) that heretofore has been strictly avoided, warfare has since the early oughts, entered a new phase where cyber warfare and isolation (in this case a killing) of the leadership of state and non-state entities that plan for and then fuck with America is a viable strategic and tactical approach ......and let's be clear, there is absolutely no doubt that Soleimani did just that and way more. So, any D who is questioning that presumption needs to STFU.
Like, the attack at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, was faked to draw the US into war, yep, that was actually a claim, was in the news shortly after that event. Then, unlike now, that news was quickly muffled by more patriotic elements in the press and Hollywood that FDR had wisely placed ....... kinda-like Trump and FOX News but damn, FDR was way better at it with Walter Winchel and Meyer Lansky than Trump who has Rupert Murdoch and Sean Hannity. LMAO.Last edited by Jeff Buchanan; January 6, 2020, 09:08 AM.Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.Comment
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Meyer Lansky? The mob accountant?“Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.” - Groucho MarxComment
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Jon, that's the guy. Lanski was strongly anti-Nazism. Accounts have it that he rounded up his Jewish Mobster friends who broke up meetings of American Nazi sympathizers. Here's a quote from The Devil Himself ...... a book I never read but my son recommended it to me after he read it.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-de...is-during-wwiiMission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.Comment
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Excellent, excellent article on the Disney Star Wars franchise. Specifically, getting back to the financial welfare of the LucasArts purchase. The blogpost below examines actual profits achieved by Disney at the box office, adds it to licensing revenues, and then discounts the profits back to the year of purchase at the company's cost of capital.
https://practicaleconomics.org/disne...-the-finances/
The writer estimates that Disney is still a staggering $2.2 Billion in the hole from the purchase. This is due to:
1. Disney not getting anywhere near 100% of the box office revenue -- saying that Disney made $ 2 Billion on The Force Awakens because that's the box office number is simpleton idiocy of a Dave Brandonesque caliber.
2. Time value of money discounting -- this is a huge effect
It doesn't help that nobody wants the new toys because the movies and their characters suck donkey balls.
The author acknowledges that these are estimates because there are no publicly available assumptions for a lot of the necessary data, but you have to add in some downright massive income streams on top of the ones that are publicly known in order to make this a profitable purchase for Disney. Completely blows out of the water the notion that getting LucasArts for $4 billion was a genius masterstroke.
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People who want to offer their sympathy Tuesday and Wednesday from 2-5 p.m. at the consulate building located at 16445 W 12 Mile Road
2-day remembrance for Iranian General Soleimani planned in Southfield
The consulate announced "the opening of a record of my condolences for the lives of the righteous martyrs who were killed as a result of the recent American raids in Iraq." Also will be accepting condolences for Commander Abu Mahdi Al-Mohandes, who was killed in the same airstrike.Comment
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Bolton offering to testify puts a lot of pressure on McConnell to allow it...how do you argue his testimony is irrelevant? It's puts even more pressure on people like Susan Collins and Cory Gardner to break with McConnell if he resists. All it takes is 4 Republicans...
BTW, CNN reporting that Bolton gave McConnell a heads-up...but not the White HouseComment
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There is so much wrong with that article.Originally posted by Hannibal View Post
This analysis would be more impressive on the money if it did the legwork. They didn't give 4 billion in cash for Lucasfilm and the link in there states it directly, but he's goes with that figure anyways. If anything the analysis may be that Lucas made out better than I said previously, but the price was still cheap.
Ignore the fact his analysis ignores in his figures: toys, profits from the parks on Star Wars, the need for Disney streaming content and TV rights for all of the movies then it is an excellent analysis!Comment
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Counting the $4 billion as cash instead of cash+stock doesn't hurt the author's case. If anything, it might help his case, Disney stock has outperformed the Indices since then. George got a share of the profits that Disney makes off of Mickey Mouse, Frozen, the Marvel Universe, and Disney's shitty live action remakes. Turns out, it was a good bet for him. Take the overperformance of Disney stock, relative to the S&P 500, and add that to the purchase price and the numbers get even worse.
The toys are accounted for in the numbers. At least the new toys. I don't know if it accounts for the old toys. That could be big. The value for Disney streaming content is tough to estimate since it's an all-for-one deal. I'm guessing that the TV rights for the original trilogy don't amount to much in the end (which is why they are on basic cable in non prime times). The theme park rides are also tough to evaluate because they cost shit tons of money to build and you don't pay admissions specifically for them.
But in the end, the net present value of the movies less the purchase price is $2.2 Billion in the red. Those are your biggest sources of value and they suck.
It's not a sure thing that Disney even knows whether the purchase has been profitable for them. The fact that Kathleen Kennedy still has a job despite her unparalleled incompetence, fucking up of the movie trilogy, and alienation of the fan base demonstrates that Disney does not have healthy decision-making processes and useful metrics in place. Even if Star Wars was already so inherently valuable that it couldn't possibly lose money, there's no cogent argument to be made that Kennedy hasn't destroyed significant amounts of that value and caused it to fall well short of its potential.Last edited by Hannibal; January 6, 2020, 01:41 PM.Comment
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Yes, Disney's market cap has nearly tripled since they bought Lucasfilm but it was a bad investment, good take!Comment
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Enron had a skyrocketing market cap, how'd that work out? Market cap today better indicates the enthusiasm of investors than it does the actual value of a company.
“Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.” - Groucho MarxComment
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Do you think Enron and Disney are equivalent?Comment
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