by John Walters
Tweet Me Right
Extraordinary footage shows a scientist’s too-close-for-comfort encounter with a killer whale earlier this month in the waters of Antarctica https://t.co/0A1QdSLm1J pic.twitter.com/71GY5qv0wA
— CNN (@CNN) February 22, 2019
Starting Five
Charles In Charge
“That’s what we do, we play basketball.”
Charles Barkley weighs in on Zion Williamson’s situation at Duke. pic.twitter.com/7foEecc6la
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 22, 2019
Love this from Charles Barkley on TNT last night, although the “That’s what we do, play basketball” is not the essential pull quote. The essential quote here is, “When did we ever get to the point where all people talk about is money?”
Charles was on fire last night. He also had some thoughts on Jussie Smollett:
MUST WATCH: Charles Barkley savagely roasts Jussie Smollett all night long on @NBAonTNT… and they tried to cut away from it, but he wouldn’t let it go. Shaq couldn’t stop laughing. 😂
“Do not commit crimes with checks… GET CASH MAN!” pic.twitter.com/jO7t9z1JM3
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) February 22, 2019
Does this mean Jussie Smollett will soon sue TNT for $250 million?
2. Avon Calling…Up!
On the last day of January, billionaire hedge funder Bill Miller appeared on CNBC during the first hour of trading. Asked by CNBC’s Brian Sullivan, “What’s the last, most exciting new stock that you’ve added?” Miller replied immediately and concisely: “Avon.”
“Avon?” Swanson repeated. “Avon? AVP, are we talking about the cosmetics company.
Possibly because the hedge-funder didn’t hedge, or because his track record is so estimable, the stock shot up. When he first mentioned it, Miller added that it was trading at a buck-95. By the time CNBC’s producers posted the ticker 20 or so seconds later, it was trading at $2.01. By the end of the segment, as you can see by the above screen grab, it was up 37 cents, or nearly 20%. This morning, just a little more than three weeks later, Avon (AVP) is trading at $3.11, or up 58%.
In just three weeks. Miller claimed it could be a ten-bagger, Susie B.
We bought some AVP the moment Miller mentioned it (yes, sometimes investing really is that simple). Wish we’d bought more.
3. Going Dutch
Watch Fox News host Tucker Carlson call one of his guests a ‘tiny brain…moron’ during an interview. NowThis has obtained the full segment with historian Rutger Bregman that Fox News is refusing to air. pic.twitter.com/kERYPUaGLY
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) February 20, 2019
Listen to this if you haven’t already. Dutch historian Rutger Bregman appeared at Davos a couple weeks ago and shamed the billionaires about flying in private jets from all over the globe to discuss climate change and also about how they so studiously avoid paying taxes: “I feel like I’m at a firefighters’ conference and we’re not allowed to talk about water.”
Perhaps because Bregman was so uncowed in the presence of elites, Tucker Carlson invited him on his Fox News show. He seemed to admire Bregman. Well, that went south pretty quickly. Fox News never aired the segment—Carlson says it’s because he, Carlson, used the “F-word.” What he doesn’t say is that he used it more than once and that Bregman (who will probably be hosting his own Fox News show by year’s end) clearly got under his skin.
4. Bangladesh Inferno
More than 100 people died in a fire in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, earlier this week. The inferno began when a container of compressed gas being toted in a car exploded. You can read more about it here. Things we didn’t know: Bangladesh is roughly the same size as Iowa but with 50 times the population.
5. O Brothel, Where Art Thou?
As we wended our way up Nevada highways yesterday from Beatty to Reno (a drive you all must do—once), we spotted the “town” of Mina, which appeared to house at least a dozen people. It also is home to the Wild Cat Brothel, whose sign also advertises “Free WiFi.” We regret not having stopped to say, “I’m not here for the sex, I just need to write the blog.”
There might have been a line about unlawful consent with a Mina.
Anyway, here is a helpful Wikipedia list of Nevada’s brothels (thought bubble pops into head about New York Times Travel section freelance story submission).
Well, hopefully in 10 weeks, you’ll be hearing “DING-DONG, its your 10-bagger calling!” 🙂 Good luck, jdubs! And also hopefully, you don’t have any money in Kraft today. Ooof. I don’t either but I do own some BRK.B which owns QUITE a truck-full apparently. See, even Warren Buffett occasionally loses money. (Think I saw he’s down $4 BILLION today & that must sting, even to the Oracle of Omaha!).
Anyhoo, I have a NBA future scenario I want to run past you! 1st, I see the Cavs getting Zion in the draft. Then, the Pelicans trade AD to the Celtics, Kyrie & KD join up on the Knicks (& only afterwards realize it is owned by one of the WORST owners in SPORTS & the organization is CRAP!), Kawhi goes to the Clippers & once again, the Lakers are left WITHOUT A 2ND STAR & LBJ is finally “NOT HAPPY” out there in LaLaland & the thought of wasting yet another year of his precious dwindling peak prompts a trade demand….to his HOMEtown(ish) team, the Cavs, where he & Zion wreck havoc in the East & meet the KD-less Warriors in the Finals & WIN his 4th ring & the Cavs 2nd. AND, most importantly, he’s once again my beloved Sweet Pea. What are the chances? 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Is that Orca just “playing” or is it his/her (er, don’t know where to look exactly for that info on this creature) way of saying “HEY, YOU, GET OUTTA MY OCEAN!”
Susie B.
I’d love my Suns to get Zion, but think he’ll land with the Knicks. Every 35 years they land a big, big fish. As long as my Suns get Zion or Ja, I’ll be happy. As for the East, I hope KD is smart enough to stay put (I know you’d like to see him depart). LeBron will never see another NBA Finals. Book it.
One more thing – just saw that Elizabeth Warren is calling for “reparations”. If she WANTS to kill her candidacy before we even get to election YEAR, that’s the way to do it. Let’s see, what could you possibly ADD to the growing racial “tensions” in this country right about now, oh yeah, “REPARATIONS”. This is almost dumber than JS allegedly planning his own fake attack. Between AOC, Sanders & Warren, the Democratic party is basically doing the GOP’s job for them. They need to STFU or we’ll have 4 more years of the unthinkable!
Just saw the news about Robert Kraft. Wow, today is NOT YOUR DAY if your name is “Kraft”!
Hey, I thought we were all invited on the next MH road trip?
I’m back again! (Sorry, but I’ve been sick for most of the past 2 weeks, 1st, the flu, then a bad sinus infection & TODAY, for the 1st time in 12 loooooong days, I was finally able to sniff a bit of both my facial moisturizer & lavender body wash! whoo-hoo! So give me a break!). Anyhoo, just read that one can legally WAGER on the Oscars this year, but only in NJ (you’re close enough). So, WHO or WHAT would you bet on?
I’d wager on “Shallow” f0r Best Song and Alfonso Cuaron for Best Director. That’s it.
That young Orca is a pod scout. Found something different in the “fridge”. Hear that high pitch sonar squeek? That was his call to the family, “hey who left the refrigerator door open?”