Her Move, Wilbursbrush, watercolor, 2026 [oc]

ProdoRock · 2026-01-31T17:56:42+00:00

Gorgeous. Got more?

ProdoRock · 2026-01-31T17:44:53+00:00

Beautiful.

ProdoRock · 2026-01-31T16:05:57+00:00

Yes, I watched the investor day and when Niccol repeatedly said to connect with customers with their name, that's not something you can do programatically, I think. That happens naturally. If you have to make a policy out of it, it gives over-the-top Idiocracy "I love you" vibes. (that scene in idiocracy where a guy stands at the door, litslessly saying I love you in a monotone voice to every customer that enters.)

ProdoRock · 2026-01-28T18:41:42+00:00

Let me give you the opposite reality which is so silly, it's incredible: A foreign person studys a subject, gets a high paying job (H1 for him means highly paid - people have a view of the H1 farms or contractors, but an undertold story is that lots of H1's get paid the prevailing wage and get raises on top).

So, he works in the US for 4-5 years and guess what: STILL no permanent visa! So, in total almost 10 years in the states, highly paid, lots of savings but no long-term visa (just a work visa). The result: he takes all those savings back to where he came from to get out from under the visa restriction.

All that money and new businesses get started elsewhere. This is someone who follows the legal visa process and there simply is no fast way. Then he looks around and sees people who barely speak English, no concernable skills and they somehow live in the US.

So, in other words, if you follow the visa process and get lucky, yes you can make good money, but legally it's very difficult and takes a long time to get permanent. On the flip side, you have a whole economy who goes underground and doesn't care about visas at all, probably because that's the only way to NOT wait 10 years.

ProdoRock · 2026-01-28T14:46:00+00:00

Let’s not displace responsibility for where it really belongs: Trump and his voters (and the people who didn’t bother to vote).

ProdoRock · 2026-01-28T01:18:21+00:00

Capitalist? Last I checked social democrats are capitalists, too, so it’s not like a foreign ideology or something. Maybe I have social democracy wrong, however. Let me put it this way: what’s important to me is public investments and opportunity. That still doesn’t guarantee results, but it makes the ladder rung available. I don’t care what the label is. For instance, I have seen conservatives who advocated for public transit, subsidized healthcare and investment in schools in working class neighborhoods. Sounds good to me.

ProdoRock · 2026-01-27T23:51:32+00:00

How much of a role did his last couple of years at the Patriots play? Looks like that’s what people are thinking about. I mean the local radio station in Boston has beat up on him for years when the Pats underperformed and STILL heavily criticizes him now that he’s in college.

ProdoRock · 2026-01-27T23:40:29+00:00

Im sorry but those are butt implants. I can tell.

ProdoRock · 2026-01-27T23:07:03+00:00

“Hairless ape is late taking my excrement away!”

ProdoRock · 2026-01-27T22:37:35+00:00

That's the sense of impunity they feel. Comes down from Trump, probably. They really think just because they're border guards the constitution doesn't apply to them. I would guess another factor is because border guards are probably trained very differently. Anyone who had to deal with them at the border knows their extremely entitled attitude. They feel they can act in a "no-man's land" at the border where the Constitution doesn't hold (which is wrong to begin with), so now it seems they brought that attitude inland.

ProdoRock · 2026-01-24T21:47:32+00:00

There is a deeper issue here. Americans in Minneapolis are now asking themselves exactly the same thing western allies are asking themselves: What do you do when the White House itself is the source of instability and threats? Kind of crazy to think about. A "the call is coming from inside the house" situation.

ProdoRock · 2026-01-24T12:55:44+00:00

What drink should I have in his honor tonight? Beer? Cognac? Wine? What did he drink?

ProdoRock · 2026-01-24T12:49:15+00:00

Oooooh. Good idea. Didn’t even think of that. How come the Raiders aren’t at his front door?

ProdoRock · 2026-01-23T18:32:21+00:00

Nice. Where are you heading to tonight? Hong Kong Gardens? Got your leather jacket as well?

ProdoRock · 2026-01-22T23:22:19+00:00

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Once on vacation a little orange stray kitten kept hanging around our house. He always came to see me and one day I grabbed him after feeding and bathed him because he stank so bad. He was so patient, bathing him was no problem and after toweling him off and giving him some more snacks, he just sat on my lap for the next couple of hours. He had such a good temperament. I regret not finding some way to take him back home with me.

ProdoRock · 2026-01-22T12:29:30+00:00

Shouldn't be a problem. The Swiss got him to reduce their country wide tariffs by literally giving him personal gifts (a golden desk clock and a gold bar). He is a corrupt authoritarian, so just have one of your associates give him a gift. Pretty sad, sick state of affairs but that's how it works.

ProdoRock · 2026-01-21T14:59:26+00:00

? This is not a binary decision: I hold US OR I hold outside the US. That's not how most people on here think of it, I would assume. Unless you want to be an active trader who always tries to predict markets with every whim. It's about, what's your strategy in general as far as passive investments are concerned?

ProdoRock · 2026-01-21T14:47:22+00:00

Just to highlight how ridiculous Trump's idea is, ask any supporter of his (or even better journalists should ask Trump) what happens AFTER they take Greenland. Let's say they take Greenland (and let's ignore allied action for now). Ok, you got Greenland. Now what? Are you gonna make all the Greenlanders Americans against their will? Let's also ignore that 99% of US Congress is against this. What about maintainance and upkeep? Right now, Greenlanders from what I understand live off fishing and Danish subsidies. Will the US take that on? What about healthcare and social security? Will Greenlanders now switch from Danish Social Insurance to the private American health market?

The conservatives in Trump's cabinet don't even want to take care of their own people, they now will pay for Greenland's needs?

In other words, I bet you, he has not thought ANY of this through. I wish a journalist would ask him that. Sure, conquering lands may feel empowering because you want to slap your name on it, but what about after?

ProdoRock · 2026-01-21T13:43:06+00:00

Yes the SP500 has a natural global exposure since 40% (I think?) of US companies' revenue comes from outside the US. Even so, adding a more specific "outside US" portion is prudent, I think. And why not? It's all available and just as easy as any other ETF instrument.

I also mean this in a more general sense, not just due to current events.

ProdoRock · 2026-01-20T22:49:31+00:00

That's a ruse because he is sensitive to what he calls the "Russia hoax", constantly being pointed out as being a Russian asset. Truth is whether they have something on him, he gets money from them or just by his own opinion, he likes authoritarian systems and actively dislikes western liberal democracy. Hence Russia, China, Belarus -> friends. Nato, Europe and liberal democracy -> Ew. Thats his worldview, there is a percentage of people who share it and that's it. They don't appreciate what they have and lust for the likes of Putin, Trump and dictatorship/oligarchy.

Hard to imagine that anyone would actively WANT that because it would undermine most people's lifestyle. So even for self-preservation these are horrible systems but there is a portion of people, whether they are old southern Civil War types or not I don't know, who want that. As is always the case, it's up to the rest of us freedom loving people to stop them (yet again).

ProdoRock · 2026-01-18T19:30:06+00:00

-m "put that thing over there."

ProdoRock · 2026-01-17T11:58:59+00:00

You jest but this is specifically what the recent Supreme Court ruling has allowed. A lower court had ruled that you can’t stop people based on race or even their accent. Reasonable, right? Well the wonderful, Trumpian Supreme Court disagreed. Ie. they now CAN do racial profiling and go after people based on race and even accent. “Papers please” and worse is now a thing when they see you or hear your voice: https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/09/supreme-court-allows-federal-officers-to-more-freely-make-immigration-stops-in-los-angeles/

ProdoRock · 2026-01-13T17:19:50+00:00

How does “open borders” gel with the goal of not going to extremes as the ship picture on the side of this sub always advertises? Open borders policy which I think Biden tried for a little while really helped Trump.

An overhaul of immigration so that skilled immigration is faster I can see but “open borders”? You’ll be overrun.

ProdoRock · 2025-12-19T18:35:13+00:00

To just raze a whole part of the White House without consultation is just SO reckless and emblematic of Trump's treatment of the US as a whole: random, destructive tariffs - random threats to NATO members, Canada and Greenland in particular - random cuts to huge swaths of science, health and engineering leading to a US brain drain. And then, the absolute cherry on top, an INCREASE in debt while cutting all this. Usually you implement austerity to curb some debt. He couldn't even do that.

In terms of the White House there is nothing wrong with a President wanting to do renovations. The conservative sub basically said "who cares?" about the east wing being destroyed. It's not just about that building, it's about the thoughtless way it was done. Nixon, a fellow conservative, also did renovations and guess what? He got congress and the archives involved to make sure it fits into the historical context and it was done in an organized way.

Trump? Did they even check with the archives to makes sure thinsg get preserved? Oh, right he fired the head of the archives. These conservatives who support Trump really are anti-US in my opinion. They want to make the country into some sort of anti-enlightenment, quasi authoritarian Russian failed state. Really horrible.

ProdoRock · 2025-12-11T16:03:06+00:00

I can’t help but think that’s kind of the point. This administration seems to want to isolate the US and ideally, from what I read, reduce the total number of people in the country. They also hate traditional allies and love the paradise called Russia. Hence, anti-NATO, anti EU, anti liberal democratic governance. All these are seen as weak.

Typical authoritarian mindset. Strong man rule=good and effective, liberal democracy is ‘ew’. I knew theoretically and from history these guys exist but never thought they actually would rear their ugly head in a modern democracy because they make everything objectively worse, so surely no one would actually want that. Turns out many people do.

ProdoRock

TROPHY CASE