Promises / Chutzpah / Stock Updates

And if you have time . . .

> THE SUPREME BALLROOM

Robert Reich:

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. . . [Five Supreme Court Justices] said the preservationists who challenged the construction of the planned ballroom lacked standing to bring their lawsuit because they were not directly harmed by the project.

That lawsuit was brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit chartered by Congress to guard public buildings. If this organization doesn’t have standing to complain about Trump’s mayhem on the People’s House, I can’t imagine who would.

. . . Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joined with the court’s three Democratic-appointed justices in dissent, saying the construction was “likely unlawful.” He reasoned that because the White House is “an iconic American building whose symbolism and history are wrapped up in its architecture,” it’s important that “those responsible follow the rules in deciding what to tear down and what to build up at the People’s House.”

By the majority’s pathetic logic, Trump could raze the entire White House and put up a Trump tower in its place, or take down the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument and erect monuments to himself, and no one would have standing to complain.

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As you know, Everything Trump Touches Dies.  Look how well the Kennedy Center and the Reflecting Pool are doing.  And our alliances around the world (though he has forged a special relationship with Putin and trades love letters with Kim Jong Un).  And Trump’s casinos, Trump University, Trump airline, Trump steaks, Trump vitamins, Trump mortgages, Trump meme coins, Trump marriages, Trump’s “charity.”  And an independent Justice Department, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Executive Branch competence and integrity generally.  And civility and norms and the respect for the rule of law.  But there I go again.

> CHUTZPAH

Dekleptocracy Alliance President Kristofer Harrison:

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The One Golf Course Trump Won’t Play

A South Korean conglomerate paid a Trump family business $2 million last year for a golf course that does not exist.  “The payment sits in the books as a nonrefundable ‘development fee,’ meaning the money went in and nothing came out.

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> STOCK UPDATES

. . . CHRB
Three years ago, I wrote:

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If all goes well, we get $25 when the notes are redeemed plus $6 along the way, so $31 on a $13.50 investment.

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Yesterday, all went well.  Case closed.

. . . PRKR

When this endless saga dipped below 8 cents a share three weeks ago, I bought yet more — I have a zillion shares — and meant to suggest you consider doing the same (though only with money, obviously, you can truly afford to lose) but then it bounced back to a dime and I figured I’d wait for it to drop again.  Now it’s 15 cents.

With something like 200 million shares outstanding, that gives it a market valuation of “only” $30 million.  I put “only” in quotes both because to you or me, $30 million is a lot of money, and because, well, if ParkerVision never wins any of its lawsuits, its stock will be worth zero, which makes $30 million look very large indeed.

The hope is that it will win or settle one or more of its suits, and for what could net it — who knows?  $100 million?  $500 million?  More?

This remains a total crap shoot, but I believe — as a jury in just one of the cases also believed — to the tune of $174 million in 2013 — that their claims are valid.

(A judge seemed to affirm the verdict, but then six months later — unexpectedly, and under what might be considered suspicious circumstances — threw the whole thing out.)

So who knows?

Case definitely not closed.

. . . YTRA

I haven’t written about this one in a long time.  It is one of the largest travel agencies in India.  I wish I hadn’t suggested it seven years ago at $4.   It recently received an unsolicited partial tender offer for 30 million shares at $1.10 each.   I’m not tendering.  I think it could eventually be worth a lot more (as does, presumably, whoever is offering the $1.10).

. . . BOREF

My albatross.  No brokerage firm I know of will buy or sell shares; I see no quote listed; and the vast number of shares I have at Schwab are valued at $2 each in one account (with a footnote cautioning me not to rely on that quote) and at $0 in another account — at the same firm.  I think one clearly has to assume our shares are or will be worthless . . . and yet the technology and business model are terrific and who knows?  There’s always the chance, faint though it may be, that they will find the right investor or strategic partner to breathe life into the dream.  It’s only been 27 years now.

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