I'm not concerned. General Wins is a good tough guy who doesn't put up with any
BS. My former roomie is a retired Engineer colonel and now teaches in the
Engineering Department (in addition to his other business affairs) and keeps me
and other friends informed about doings at the school. He asked for a meeting
with General Wins and will meet next week. He's a no bullshit guy too and
former battalion and brigade (regiment) commander has some suggestions for the
general. This reporter Ian Shapiro is a know-nothing idiot desperately trying
to keep in front of any publicity he can. These "stories" are poorly researched
"in-your-face" baloney designed to impress those who don't know or read. I
can't find the article now (I don't have a WaPo subscription) but I think one
of the black cadets who complained about racism at VMI later became an
instructor there for a number of years and then moved to a school in Texas.
Strange that he remained at VMI after being badly treated by the Institute?
Maybe his charges stem from not being selected for a permanent position? .
We lived in Chevy Chase for 7 years in between Dad's tours in Spain and Turkey
(3801 Bradley Lane). My brother and I had a newspaper route and were
consistently stiffed by the good old WaPo and wealthy CC folks. It used to be a
fairly good newspaper.
-----Original Message-----
From: rhelkins <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: pa64@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <pa64@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Fri, Jan 28, 2022 8:19 am
Subject: [pa64] Re: Undermoney.
The book will no doubt be far more entertaining, and less likely to raise your
blood pressure, than this article.
https://wapo.st/3g3dtVl
-----Original Message-----
From: harrisfamily436 <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
pa64@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <pa64@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Fri, Jan 28, 2022 9:59 am
Subject: [pa64] Undermoney.
My next read. From this morning's WSJ.
What happens when the world’s biggest hedge fund finds itself secretly targeted
for dueling takeovers by Vladimir Putin and a CIA-backed U.S. senator running
for president? The events associated with this mouth-watering development, long
whispered in the upper echelons of global security and finance circles, are the
subject of “Undermoney,” Jay Newman’s debut novel.It is an important story, and
Mr. Newman, himself a former hedge-fund manager who specialized in sovereign
debt, tells it with a combination of investigative skill and dramatic flair.
Mr. Newman is perhaps best remembered in this newspaper for his role in
recovering billions of dollars in defaulted debt from the government of
Argentina on behalf of Elliott Management.The central character in
“Undermoney,” Elias Vicker, perhaps like many a top American hedge-fund
manager, grew up awkward and nearly friendless. When his trophy wife finally
leaves, having shaken a $2 million diamond ring out of him as a final cherry
atop the usual 10 figure divorce settlement, she utters the battle cry, “ let
freedom ring.” From the physical deserts of Syria to the moral ones of Nice,
St. Bart’s and Park Avenue, freedom is the one thing Mr. Newman’s characters
cannot find. Elias thinks he is on top of the world, but he is really a slave
to the insecurities that keep him striving. He also happens to be in thrall to
the machinations of the last scion of the Medicis, who in turn bears the twin
burdens of centuries-old family expectations and a Swedish wife, even richer
and more secretive than he, who would happily see him murdered.Elsewhere,
well-meaning Americans—ex-Delta Force operatives who long ago in the Hindu Kush
made a pact to save the world—soon find themselves involved in the corrupt and
bloody tasks that their pact requires. Journalists sell their souls to the
hedgies, narcotized nymphomaniac ballerinas sell everything for a trip to Goa
or the Mediterranean, and even Vladimir Putin can’t shake the gangsters who
plucked him from the streets of Leningrad. The only character who is truly free
is Vinnie the Barber. Vinnie does not want anything.The tale is intricate, and
Mr. Newman’s plotting is tight. The twists are compelling, as spectacular
locations spray forth from the pages like rounds from a PP-2000— “the weapon of
choice for Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs,” Mr. Newman observes.This is
“Mission: Impossible” meets “The Wolf of Wall Street,” to be sure, but
“Undermoney” is also much more. Choppers and megayachts whisk us through this
milieu of murderous oligarchs, freelancing spooks, and the people who manage
and move their money. From Rembrandt and Dürer (in their artworks) to John
Ruskin, Marcus Aurelius, Émile Durkheim and Friedrich Nietzsche (in apt
quotation), Mr. Newman’s supercharged world is populated by quite a few
personalities with whom you might actually want to have dinner. Sadly all of
them are dead, but maybe that’s the point.Along the way, Mr. Newman’s uncanny
eye for detail is on constant display. Hepatitis, AIDS and syphilis, we learn,
are so rife in the Russian penal system that your average ex-con sees becoming
a mercenary (with its potential death bonus) as a rational end- of- life plan.
The rich these days prefer their bourbon from Hillrock, their slippers from
George Cleverley and their horse saddles from Devoucoux. The Glock 17 has 34
parts, there is a big difference between the deep web and the dark web, and the
“flinty, chalky soils of Chinon and Saumur” are just the thing for Cabernet
Franc. “Undermoney” is a sophisticated, richly researched book, and that is
part of its fun. But where Mr. Newman’s real expertise comes into play is the
world of high finance.Currencies, shorts, “fat-tail events,” black swans,
offshore jurisdictions, carried interests: For newcomers to this world, Mr.
Newman provides a fine primer; for those already familiar, it’s like having
your own table at St. Tropez’s Club 55 for a whole week in August.Tough but
humane, as learned as it is lurid, fast-paced but deeply thoughtful, and
ultimately an insightful rumination on our times, “Undermoney” does for this
regrettable moment what Boccaccio’s 14th-century “ Decameron” did for the era
of the Black Death: provide escape through storytelling, certainly, but also
commentary and no little degree of passionate illumination.If you can picture
Ian Fleming reading Rabelais over a martini at the bar in Claridge’s, and
placing a Signal call to Tom Clancy to let him know that Hunter S. Thompson
just walked by clutching a copy of Foreign Affairs, you can grasp the urgency
of this book. It is not just that our financial markets are plagued by crooked
and rootless sociopaths while our leaders are foolishly distracted by Russia as
China eats our lunch. It’s also that spring break is coming up and your
Mustique beach chair, your Gulfstream banquette and the bubbling hot tub of
your British Columbia helilodge are calling out for stimulating, relevant and
dramatic reading like this.Mr. Bull has worked in the international financial
markets for 25 years. His next book is a history of Iraq.Choppers and
megayachts whisk us through this milieu of murderous oligarchs, freelancing
spooks and the people who manage their money.
-----Original Message-----
From: rhelkins <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: pa64@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <pa64@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Fri, Jan 28, 2022 6:56 am
Subject: [pa64] Re: So much for "When they go low, we go high"
No kidding. They would send you to a concentration camp if they could. To
"protect you", of course.
-----Original Message-----
From: harrisfamily436 <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
pa64@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <pa64@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thu, Jan 27, 2022 9:36 pm
Subject: [pa64] Re: So much for "When they go low, we go high"
Unbelievable. These people would make really good nazis or commie bureaucrat
party members. .
-----Original Message-----
From: rhelkins <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: pa64@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <pa64@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thu, Jan 27, 2022 4:19 pm
Subject: [pa64] So much for "When they go low, we go high"
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/spencerbrown/2022/01/27/obama-official-calls-senator-sinema-c-for-filibuster-vote-n2602452?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&bcid=d5bdfbf842e7a926a553a5c59cf3cfe8e8c3dab13219d0feeadbe14462a944ea&recip=26154521
