DEATH BY GREED

How patriotic am I? In my perfect world Steve Jobs would have died in prison and every politician, CEO & board member who helped offshore American jobs to enrich themselves would be put on trial for treason. Hear me. Capitalism is the greatest enemy of patriotism.

POLITICS AS CELEBRITY

I knew this crap was coming sooner or later. People are suffering & these mafuckas out here doing sorority photo shoots. Miss me w/ this bullshit. More of the same. Stop treating politics like its a damn elite club & path 2

Stop playing games w/people's lives & maybe then you wouldn't have so many people suffering. I'm going to file this bullshit next to Michelle Obama's $8,000 Versace dress & $4,000 Balenciaga boots. This shit is

Remember when Barack Obama 1st ran for president & Mrs. Obama was heralded as "The J. Crew" 1st Lady who shopped at Target was just like every other American? That bullshit was a lie. Balenciaga & Versace Michelle is who she always was, but she masked it 2 aid her husband's rise.

Now Kamala Harris, like Michelle Obama, out here w/a Marie Antoinette "let them eat cake" tone deafness while Americans are suffering, the Capitol is burning , a pandemic is raging, people are dying & a civil war is brewing, but Kamala skee-weeing on Vogue covers in pink & green-

like she back on the yard at Howard about to do her probate show. Meanwhile, the Obamas globetrotting w/billionaires, gotta half Bil Netflix deal & hv mansions in Chicago, DC & Marthas Vineyard. Nevermind how they got this entire life of wealth & celebrity was through politics &

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WHEN MORALITY BETRAYS

I am no Democrat. I am no Republican. In general, I am not of the perspective that there is any salvation for black people in politics. To the black democrat I say, imagine if Obama fought as hard for you as Trump fights for white supremacists.

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Hear me. Politics is not a morality contest & Democrats often reduce politics to a never ending competition in a self righteous morality Olympics. Their allegiance to morality outweighs their allegiance to the public good. Morality & the public good are NOT the same thing.

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Morality is different things to different people. The public good is all things to the most people. This is not a play on words, but a mindset required to competently engage in the public square. Those who fail to heed such caution render themselves vulnerable to those-

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powerbrokers who morality factors little into their decision making. Herein, lies Barack Obama's fatal flaw. His allegiance to the moral principle of bipartisanship caused him to let Republicans run roughshod over him. He was elected w/a mandate from the American people &

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squandered it. I offer the following as evidence: Allow me to introduce you to Mr. Sureshbhai Patel, an elderly Indian man who was walking through his son's subdivision when a white neighbor called the police 2 report a "suspicious black man" casing the community.

A NIGGA CHRISTMAS

Twas the night before Christmas, when all thru the plantation,
not a nigga was voting, not even for reparations,
Strange fruit was hung on the oak trees with care,
In hopes that Catcha Freeman would soon be there,

Little Sally was nestled all snug in her bed,
While Thomas the pedophile got in his head,
I'm president, I'm white, I can have what I want,
I'll take it, she'll give it, my privilege, I'll flaunt,

While Massa was taking it, I went back to sleep,
And prayed to White Jesus my nigga soul to keep,
When out in the fields arose such an Uncle Ruckus,
I sprang from my haystack to see what the fuckus,

Away to the outhouse, I ran like Nat Turner,
I tore open the shutters and let out a murmur,
when, what to my wondering eyes would appear?,
was Steve Harvey telling slaves "we black out here,"

I looked up in sky, was it a bird or a plane?,
No, It was Oprah in a sled filled with her favorite thangs,
Dropping gifts 2 good white folks who gave her good luck
tossing bootstraps to niggas so we could pull our ass up,

MORNING BANTER

Most people could not handle being around me & my wife due to our ruthless banter. In my wife, I found my match. At 1st glance, my wife seems like a sweet choir girl who reads the bible all day, but she can play the dozens w/the best of them & takes no prisoners.

Ive said many times b4, like comedian Flip Wilson said, "When I met my wife she had a Sunday School face & I had Saturday Night thoughts." I was a frat boy running around campus half naked & she was an honor roll student athlete seduced by a bad boy who partied more than studied.

Many mouths drop at the shit I say in stand up, in speeches, articles & on social media, but if y'all could hear da shit my wife says to me, U would be on the floor howling. Supersensitive mafuckas cant crack our door seal. My wife don't give a fuck about my feelings & I LOVE IT.

So here's an excerpt from our recent morning banter. Now to set the stage, I need to give you a picture of my morning routine. I love nature, so in the morning before I have my 1st cup of coffee, I get up & refill all the bird feeders around our property & water the plants.

Oh & by the way yall dont wanna see me in that garden I'm a beast. Ive been trying 2 do a little winter greenhouse activity 2 see if I can grow certain flowers in the winter & I also have a couple of orchids that belonged 2 my cousin that were dying & I'm trying 2 nurse them back

WHEN WAKANDA FALLS

I need U 2 get just how horrible this is. Incoming black DA in Wakanda, I meant Atlanta, just voluntarily turned over 2 a white Repub AG, the Rashard Brooks case, a black man who was gunned down by a white cop in a Wendy's drive thru.

She also turned over another case involving excessive force of 2 black college students to the white Republican AG as well. Her reasoning is that the previous black DA behaved unethically. Here's the thing. She actually prosecuted the white cop that killed Rashard Brooks years-

ago in an excessive case force 4 which she dropped the charges then. How in the fuck do Wakandans, I meant Atlantans, elect some1 with this history? Here's the bigger picture. Her predecessor was no better. He actually prosecuted black teachers in the ATL Public Schools cheating-

scandal. Wonderful right? If you a dumb mafucka that answered yes, unfollow me now & never utter my name again. For all others, here is a good lesson in politics & why I have no hope of black people ever moving the needle one inch against white supremacy.

Let's say for arguments sake the teachers were cheating. Let's say black Atlanta officials are corrupt. Lets say Atlanta Airport officials are corrupt. If you are Atlanta's DA, do you prosecute them? Before I answer that question, riddle me this, do you think white people would-

#PolicybazaarIPO Long thread: There is monetary printing by RBI, there is lending by banks & finally there is the Indian IPO. “Foreign owned” company with ~1 Bn investment is selling “Indian” unicorn to “savvy” Indians for $ 6.2 Bn. Want to know how this printing works? Let’s go-

The basics: Rs 6017 Cr being raised by new shares (Rs 3750) & re-selling (Rs 2267). Face value Rs 2 offered at Rs ~1000 per share is one of a kind. Who decides the price? Examine the valuation ladder below.
With ~$ 150 Mn invested till 2017, we see $ 525 Mn rushes in after 2018

So, a company valued $1 Bn in 2018 & $ 1.5 Bn in 2019 by key investors like Tencent, suddenly “needs money” in March 2021. Falcon Edge “invests” all of $ 75 Mn in March at valuation of $ 2.65 Bn.
Enter IPO bankers a couple of months later & they value the company at $ 6.2 Bn

Why does PolicyBazaar need $ 75 Mn just 6 months before IPO & give away 2.5 times in returns? And it doesn’t even use that money as the B/S reflects appx Rs 1000 Cr in cash lying around.
What kind of a favor is that? Why do they need US investment bank for this just before IPO?

Notice 50% rise in shareholding of promotors here & a 1: 500 bonus share issue. After all, how do you print money & still keep share price at “reasonable” Rs 1000?
Without bonus issue in June 2021, each share would have costed Rs 50,000. Heard of circular valuation?

If you're new to real estate twitter this is a must-read.

A thread on how most real estate folks structure deals with outside investors.

Most GPs utilize the "preferred equity" structure when they raise money from outside investors. They "syndicate" deals.

Here's the basics:

The person (or team of people) putting the deal together is the "sponsor". Also called general parter. Referred to on twitter as the GP.

They find the property, do all the work, hire the management company and take fees. They often co-sign debt and always secure the financing.

The investor is generally passive, doing no work and putting in cash. This is the "limited partner". Referred to on twitter as the LP.

They don't co-sign debt. They simply read reports and ask the sponsors questions and cash checks every month (if the deal is going well).

There are two equity classes.

"Preferred equity" belongs to the LPs. Cash talks, so this is a higher class of shares. They are first in the "capital stack" behind the debt (bank loan).

"Common equity" belongs to the sponsor. They are generally last in the capital stack.

Sponsors generally co-invest. That means they hold both equity classes. A 10% co-invest is standard.

That means the GP has skin in the game. His 10% co-invest makes him both an LP and a GP.

1) Let's talk about how Alibaba has achieved the holy grail of big data - a holistic view of the consumer - through a plethora of product offerings and investment.

This is their overarching moat. And Amazon's got nothing on them.

2) To the outsider, Alibaba's product range is confusing af. It's all over the place and there seems to be no core competency they are focusing on.

A few divisions - Taobao (B2C marketplace), Tmall (High-end B2C marketplace), Alibaba (B2B marketplace, Cainiu(logistics)..

3) ...Elema (Food delivery), Autonavi (maps), Youku (streaming) and Feizhu(travel booking)

Also the promotional strategy is weird, In the lead-up to singles day, half the time they were promoting some cat rearing in-app mini game.

Wtf?

4) When we view Alibaba's strategy as working to create a full view of a consumer's life, including their preferences, social network and spending capacity (and ability). Then everything starts to make sense.

4) Whether a consumer buys on Tmall or Taobao tells Ali about their preferences and budget, delivery address for packages and food lets Ali know where they live and where they work (also cross-referenced with property data to infer wealth level + occupation).

Seeing a ton of (warranted) criticism re Dems on impeachment — but like where was everyone? We know politicians don’t act boldly if we’re not in the streets to make them. But multi million dollar “movement” orgs are writing petitions & posting graphics instead of organizing

I will always remember the first impeachment trial- pre-Covid-, when a mere 10,000 people marched in NYC. Dems are cowardly and ineffective, and Republicans are fascists but also the grassroots left is all over the place and has some reckoning to do.

These groups have millions of people on their email lists. How are they using that platform? There was zero coordinated national action(not emails, but action) re impeachment that I saw. Not even an ask to post something on social media or take a photo, let alone in person.

And I’m putting the focus on the people with money and resources to organize rather than on Individuals trying to survive a pandemic intentionally.A smattering of groups did some impeachment texting or phonebanking. That’s all I know about.

And because of this lack of direction from the people with resources (seeing this in the climate movement too) local groups or affiliates are getting wrapped up in super local politics, which while fine, is not going to move the national Democratic Party the way we MUST.

"Small deals rely on promises and contracts. Big deals rely on alignment and trust."

@naval