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I would hate to see the Rams reach for a QB in the second round at the expense of another player. Getting Foles saved them from reaching for a guy early, IMO. If it was Bradford, Davis and Keenum they might have to roll the dice and hope. Of course Foles CAN get hurt, but he doesn’t have Bradford’s history at least. And this group of QBs doesn’t make you stand up and take notice. Last year was the year to grab one and they didn’t(not counting Gilbert). This year these guys will go higher than they deserve. But I would not take one in round two even if that means missing on Petty or Hundley or Mannion. I’d even be iffy in round 3 but we’ll see what it looks like.
Sometimes positions just don’t fall your way for a particular draft.
It’s a great wide receiver draft and a good lineman draft. That’s where I’d look.
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. " Philip K. Dick
Red Notice by Bill Browder
Bill Browder was a guest on “The Daily Show” which is how I heard about his book “Red Notice”.
The story seemed interesting then, a hedge fund manager hits gold in Russia buying severely underfunded shares in companies that didn’t even seem to know how much they were worth. Russia didn’t seem to know what they had, and the world didn’t either and the world was a little wary about investing in Russia. Bill Browder was interested in Russia from a young age. His grandfather was the head of the Communist party in the United States.
He saw Russia as an opportunity.
He was persistent about it and went to great lengths to secure money for investing. That i itself is a particularly interesting part of the story. I don’t hang around many billionaires or hedge fund managers so the “behind-the-scenes” so to speak, was entertaining–how these guys, pretty cautious, always about themselves first and foremost and not always trustworthy, could pull the rug out at any moment. It’s a high stakes lifestyle, gambling with huge amounts of money.
But this is how the world works–moving money around from one place to the next–always looking for infinite growth.
But there are risks. No matter how much money you have.
Russia, it’s no secret, has a lot of corruption. So does the United States of course, but when the powerful run into a system that basically laughs at the power they “think” they have it can be an entertaining story.
Russia(to be specific–certain wealthy Russians) essentially stole tax money(over 200 million dollars) that the company paid. So Browder and a Russian attorney and others investigated the theft. Browder was kicked out of Russia and his attorney, Sergi Magnitsky stayed behind to continue the investigation–in the process he found some criminal activity of some powerful people. He was in obvious danger but decided to stay and trust the Russian system of justice. This was a mistake. He was eventually beaten to death in a prison hospital.
Browder launched a campaign to bar those involved from entering America and other countries. It is called “The Magnitsky Act” and the story of how that eventually passed is another lesson in sausage making politics right here in America. It wasn’t easy, or pretty. And if a guy like Bill Browder had a hard time getting it through how can an average citizen hope to accomplish anything?
Interpol put out a “Red Notice” on Browder who the Russians were charging with a tax evasion crime. A red notice is sort of an arrest warrant with the extradition that a country will extradite the individual to the country requesting it.
At the time he was in the Netherlands and had no idea if he’d be able to leave because the notice would pop up at the airport. The other thing is watching other people who had been involved with the investigation dying. He knew about Russia and how they weren’t shy about sending assassins across the globe. And he had personally pissed off Putin as well. It was a difficult situation, one to create plenty of paranoia. Part of writing the book was to get the story out hoping it would offer some protection against something happening.
In any case, I thought it was a great book that was easy to read, was exciting and interesting and moving. Browder devotes much of the book to his search of justice for Magnitsky.
If I have any complaints, I would say that he should have devoted a little bit more time to letting the reader know Magnitsky on a more personal level. There’s a bit of an emotional disconnect on a personal level. He describes Magnitsky and his heroics and actions but I’m not sure I ever really felt him as a human being.
But this book is certainly worth reading. It’s a real-life thriller on one level, an interesting peek at big money investing and a drama in a search for justice.
I thought it was one of the better books I’ve read in the past couple of years and probably the best non-fiction book I’ve read in several more years.
I highly recommend it.
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"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. " Philip K. Dick
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