Old Crank
Old Crank's JournalLetter to my broker
I live in Germany and my retirement savings are in US taxable accounts. This means that everything I take out is taxed as income both in the US and in Germany. We have to be careful not to pull too much but want to drawdown a lot of our savings. I wrote a note to my stock advisor asking, half in jest, if there was a Trump trade tracking fund. Sort of like the S+P 500 tracking funds.
She said she has heard chatter about it but mostly the trades would come too late to get the benefit of his short or long sales. Oh well. Below id part of a reply I sent to her about Trump's trading and the SEC.
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Anyway, the major problem I, and I'm sure others involved with investing, have is why are the US stock markets doing so well internationally? I think a big reason is the trust other countries and people have that the market is fair. The market is transparent. The market isn't subject to the whims of teh countries leadership.
China has a problem because you have to trust that Xi won't change the favoured state of the company you invest in or place currency controls on your ability to change investments.
I think this suspicious trading is hurting that trust and transparency. The winners are Trump and who ever he shares his plans with. This degrades the market. It hurts all investors who can't be sure that they have one of the most level playing fields in the world.
The government prosecuted and jailed Martha Stewart for a $500 profit several years back. The profits here are millions. Real people have lost money from this. Yet nothing has been heard from the SEC. This is one of the reasons we are moving money from the US.
Lena Schabus
Just yesterday I saw an exhibit by this photographer.
Very interesting. She layers and knits different photographs together.
The works are large, they look almost real. Some could be real.
This link has English writing but if interested I'm sure you could look for more works.
https://noorderlicht.com/en/whats-on/noorderlicht-bi%C3%ABnnale-machine-entanglements/kick-off-van-de-noorderlicht-bi%C3%ABnnale-in-japan/carrara
Hegseth and the [previous generation of warfare.
The US and Nato aren't even remotely ready for the new warfare types.
You can see that in the excursion in Iran.
You can listen to Mr. Ho Ha Hegseth. The day of what is considered regular infantry is coming to a close.
Humans aren't safe on the field of battle. You can't mass troops and equipment for attacks. Supply lines are all in danger.
Our ships won't be able to operate within many hundreds of miles from shore.
We don't have the capacity to build enough drones, attack or defensive. Huge contracts to Jr. won't help.
From an Email letter I get called Noahpinion'
You can read lots of stories about how drones represent a revolution in military affairs; the recent Carnegie Endowment piece is a good one, as is the slightly older one by the Army University Press. But to really viscerally understand how deeply things have changed, you have to watch videos from the war. Here is a montage of drone strikes in Ukraine, including a terrifying final sequence where a drone flies into a Russian barracks and destroys it. It’s difficult stuff to watch, but if you want to understand the changes that have come to modern warfare, you have to see it.
The age of the human infantryman is rapidly drawing to a close. Simply surviving an FPV drone attack has become an almost impossible task for soldiers on the battlefield. The drone cordon has not yet become so airtight that territory can be held without humans, but these humans’ job is to hide out in dugouts for months at a time alone or in tiny groups, terrified of emerging above ground lest they be instantly droned. And ground robots are developing very quickly, to the point where assaults can sometimes be conducted without humans on the front line at all.
Drones are also slowly replacing bombers and missiles as a modern military’s primary tool for conducting long-range strikes. Russia has been pounding Ukrainian cities with Iranian-made “Shahed” drones for years, but Ukraine is now fighting back. Ukrainian drones regularly destroy Russia’s oil infrastructure and military supply lines. And Moscow was just hit by over 1000 Ukrainian drones, causing widespread damage and chaos:
Here are the links listed but don't show.
Carnegy
https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2026/04/ukraine-russia-war-changing-warfare-practice-military-strategy?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Army press
https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/English-Edition-Archives/July-August-2025/Unmanned-Aircraft-Revolution/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
video of drone strikes. NSF and not pretty at all
https://x.com/WarRoomArchives/status/2046638924060315766?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
The HOA question always elicits complaints
and statements about how horrible they are.
Here is a counter argument.
Relaxing on Whit Montag
White Monday falls on Memorial Day this year. I'm just relaxing on our balcony. We pedalled out to the Isar and Biergarten there for a late lunch. Enjoyed listening to a brass band before riding home.
Reading a lot of nice bitter sweet posts about parents serving in the wars. Noth GPs were on the war to end all wars. My father was in the big one after that. Being in the Canadian AF he missed Korea. I went into the USAF and was too late for Viet Nam. Everyone survived. Even my mothers father who had 2 dud 20 lb bombs straddle him in a trench. My first Father in law was a Sea B. In the Pacific. He learned some Japanese while guarding prisoners on Schimya.
Nothing else to do on that Rock in the Aleutians.
Best wishes and remembrances for any of your family members who didn't make it. And those that did but returned damaged.
The sun is heading down on pur day here. The moon is up already.
My best to all of you.
Schloss Neuschwanstein
We got the earlier time frame for the castle tour. I skipped it and walked around instead.
This is the first good view on the path to the castle from the shuttle bus stop.
This view is from the foot bridge over the creek.
The waterfall under the bridge
The trail away from the bridge
The bridge. Quiet now. Gets packed later in the day and year.
From the higher lookout. About a 75 mm equivalent focal length
Two closer looks.
The family ballots are in the mail.
Now we wait until June 2, for the CA vote day.
One more adulting action put to bed.
Declare victory and walk away.
Seems that Trump is going to surrender. Why the sudden interest in Cuba again.
From the Atlantic.
The outlines of President Trump’s endgame in the Iran war are now emerging. In a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, Trump reportedly explained that the United States was negotiating a “letter of intent” with Iran that would “formally end the war and launch a 30-day period of negotiations” on Iran’s nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The purpose and effect of such an agreement should be clear: The United States is walking away from the crisis. Trump may launch another limited strike to look tough and satisfy the demands of the war’s supporters, but it would be a performative gesture. Endgame in this case is a euphemism for “surrender.”
Trump has blinked many times in the confrontation with Iran—ever since March 18, when Israel attacked the Pars gas field and Iran retaliated with a strike against Qatar’s most important natural-gas-production facility. Trump then called for a halt on U.S. and Israeli targeting of Iran’s energy infrastructure, and the war effectively ended.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/05/trump-surrender-iran-endgame/687252/?gift=hVZeG3M9DnxL4CekrWGK3z7P5ziNahM4p4Y6XS3ozvg&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share&fbclid=IwY2xjawR9SYhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEefwkLuNCyoGYVLMRka3JgSgQGycesKhTP0EHDpGFse9t04Rqh4LylPDdlPyI_aem_NzYE7UmX-Hg1Ut0X0VHDkA
See your dentist regularly
Finally went to the dentist after about 8 years. Not my favorite thing to do so I keep putting it off.
I know I have 2 damaged fillings plus a dire cleaning need.
He found a loose crown and under it was an infection.
Bummer. Out with most of the remaining tooth but ended up at an oral surgeon to get a root piece he couldn't get to.
No I have a raft of dental appointments. I will be getting an implant for the now missing tooth. Nothing but fun.
Get your regular check ups.
Alpsee, Bavaria
Near some castle that Disney used for inspiration
[
King Ludwig II lived in that center castle as a child
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Name: RalphGender: Male
Current location: München, DE
Member since: Tue Nov 14, 2017, 07:17 AM
Number of posts: 7,323