DocNSDQ

I was on a train in Tokyo. We stopped between stations. Announcement in Japanese, then in English: "We apologize for the delay. We will resume shortly." The delay was maybe 3 minutes. Not a big deal. When the train started moving again, another announcement: "We sincerely apologize for the delay. We were stopped for 3 minutes and 20 seconds. This is unacceptable. Thank you for your patience." Three minutes and twenty seconds. They measured it exactly. And called it unacceptable. When I got off at my stop, there were station staff on the platform bowing and handing out delay certificates. I took one out of curiosity. It was an official document stating that the train had been delayed by 3 minutes and 20 seconds, signed and stamped. The staff member said in English "for your employer. So they know the delay was not your fault." I said I'm a tourist, I don't need it. He looked confused. "But the delay affected you. You deserve an apology." Three minutes. They were treating a three-minute delay like a major incident. Later I mentioned this to a Japanese friend. They said "oh yes, delay certificates are normal. Trains are supposed to be exactly on time. If they are late, they must apologize." I said three minutes isn't late, it's nothing. My friend said "in Japan, three minutes is late. On time means on time. Not approximately on time." They said the train company probably investigated why there was a 3-minute delay. "They will find the cause and fix it so it doesn't happen again." I kept the certificate. It's framed in my apartment now. A reminder that somewhere in the world, people care about three minutes. © 6IX.

I am the Chairman and CEO of Vornado Realty Trust. Eighty-four years old. Seven buildings in Midtown Manhattan. I said what I said. I said "tax the rich" is the equivalent of a racial slur. I said it at REBNY. Into the microphone. Eight hundred people. Median net worth in that room was north of $240 million, I know because our CFO ran the guest list through a Bloomberg terminal as a joke, and then it wasn't a joke. And when I said it, twelve people applauded. The rest nodded. One woman in the third row mouthed, "Finally." I saw her. Sharon, my communications advisor, Columbia, $430,000 a year, very bright, Sharon wants me to walk it back. She drafted something. "Mr. Roth's comments were intended to highlight the emotional impact of political rhetoric on business communities." I read it. I put it in the trash can on my desk. Not the recycling. The trash. Here's my clarification: I understated it. "Tax the rich" is worse than a slur. A slur is just a word. It doesn't come with a CBO score. Nobody is introducing a bill called the Racial Slur Implementation Act of 2026. But there are seventeen active proposals in Congress, I had Sharon count them, seventeen proposals designed to take more of my money. My money. Mine. Money I acquired by being better at acquiring Manhattan commercial real estate than anyone alive for four consecutive decades. That is not a crime. That is a record. I pay property taxes on $18.2 billion in assessed assets. $412 million a year. Say it again: four hundred and twelve million. I carry that number. It's the first thing I think about when I see a protest sign. I think: I pay more in property tax than the entire annual budget of the city of Fort Lauderdale. I looked this up. Fort Lauderdale: $408 million. Steve Roth: $412 million. I am a small city. And the city doesn't get screamed at. My effective tax rate last year was 11.4 percent. I say this because I believe in transparency and because I'm not ashamed of it. The rate reflects the legal structure of real estate investment trusts, depreciation schedules Congress established in 1986, and carried interest provisions that both parties have voted to preserve for forty years. I did not write these laws. I organized my entire financial existence around them with the help of nine full-time tax professionals who have offices on the 38th floor of 888 Seventh Avenue, which I also own. Their office is in my building. Their work protects my buildings. This is not a loophole. Sharon calls it a loophole. I've told her: a structure maintained by nine attorneys across four decades is not a loophole. A loophole is something you slip through once. This is architecture. This is the foundation. This is the building. Last Tuesday, same as every Tuesday, I walked past 1290 Sixth Avenue. My building. And there was a man. Same man as last week. Same sign: "Billionaires Pay Your Fair Share." He was standing on my sidewalk. My literal sidewalk — my company owns the ground lease. He was maybe thirty. He was wearing a jacket I would estimate cost $60. My lunch that day was $114. For one. I am telling you this not to boast but because these are facts. He has decided I'm his enemy. Based on a number he saw on a Forbes list. He doesn't know what I pay. He doesn't know what my buildings cost this city in construction jobs and lease revenue and foot traffic. He knows one number. He has made one judgment. I see him every Tuesday. I've started to notice things. He brings coffee from the cart, not the Starbucks. He has a backpack that looks heavy. He doesn't look unhealthy. He looks like he probably works somewhere, but not on Tuesdays. I've wondered: does he have a job? Does he have a building? Does he have anything that depends on him the way 4,200 employees depend on me? I suspect not. And yet he has opinions about my tax rate. I gave $22 million to charity last year. The Met. NYU Langone. Mount Sinai. I gave a building to NYU. Not money for a building — a building. The Steven Roth Residence Hall. It houses 400 students. That man with the sign has never housed 400 students. He hasn't housed one. He gives cardboard. I give structures. This is not a comparison I'm making to flatter myself. It's just arithmetic. When I said what I said at REBNY, I was saying what every person in that room believes and none of them will say publicly because they have communications advisors and the communications advisors all went to Columbia and they all say "unhelpful." I'm eighty-four. I'm too old for helpful. I'm too old to perform restraint for people who hate me for something I can't change. I didn't choose to be rich. I chose to be good at one thing for a very long time, and this is what happened. You don't punish someone for that. You don't legislate against someone for that. My net worth fluctuates between $3.8 and $4.1 billion depending on the quarter. I fluctuate more in a fiscal week than that man on my sidewalk will earn in his life. Both of these are facts. Only one of them is considered polite to say. They want me to apologize. I'll be dead in ten years. Twenty if I'm lucky. And they'll still be renting my buildings.

@TheCinesthetic @MatthewBetley I was in the actual battle so great movie but just one viewing for me 😊

@TheCinesthetic @MatthewBetley Blackhawk Down

What is a movie that "broke" you so hard you can only watch it once, but you would still recommend it to everyone?

@BBGreatMoments Daryl Thomas. Padres and Dodgers. 1970s. Played all nine

Name a utility infielder you remember more than half the All-Stars from his era.

@EricBurlison @twelveoaks777 Her knee or her patella? A knee dislocation is relatively uncommon

My daughter dislocated her knee. The in-network outpatient MRI was $2,400. A direct primary care MRI clinic right here in southwest Missouri did the same scan within an hour for $600. Same machine. Different building. Different price. That is the racket.

@MissionVlyMafia If they had to leave it should have been Vegas

They lost value relative to the rest of the league by moving. 21st in value to 24th in value after the move. Why is this so hard for Spanos apologists to understand

@omgsidewalks Started investing young, even if it’s just $10 a month. And don’t buy stocks or managed mutual funds. Put it low or no fee index funds and just forget about it for a few years.

I'm 22. Please recommend to me oddly specific life tips. No general “surround yourself with positive people” tips. I want the most random, specific advice possible please.

@imjust_jack06 @nomorefielders Last year maybe. 2024 padres were 8-5 regular season.

@nomorefielders Dodgers Padres should defo not be number one, maybe not even on the list the dodgers kick their ass every time nowadays

Current MLB Rivalries Ranked: 1. Dodgers/Padres 2. Guardians/Tigers 3. Willson Contreras/Brewers 4. Red Sox/Yankees 5. C.B. Bucknor/ABS 6. Mets/Their Fanbase 7. Brandon Marsh/The concept of dry hair 8. Dodgers/Giants 9. Nolan Arenado/Father Time 10. Phillies Fans/Phillies fans

@Padres Anyone still regretting the DeVries trade?? Preller rocks

You don't challenge the Reaper 🤫

@miles_commodore I actually like old crazy Geraldo. Wears his heart on his sleeve and loves the troops.

This Tuesday will mark the 40 year anniversary of Geraldo opening Al Capone’s secret vault. Easily the most embarrassing live TV moment I have ever seen.

Contender for the best community note of all time. Descendent of slavers accidentally whines about the British trying to end the slave trade. If anything she should be paying reparations to us.

@Arrogance_0024 Your useless country hasn’t ever had a military success, so you wouldn’t know…

@DaleStarkA10 Retired Army. We don’t hate USAF. Just Jealous. “The Navy is defiant, the Air Force is devious and the Army is dumb”

Everyone loves to hate on the Air Force until their 600 miles behind enemy lines and need someone to come pick their ass up.

@dmbkparker Nothing wrong with Blackhawks. Incredibly versatile from Dustoff to Gunships to refueling MH60…and faster than Apaches.

Two aircraft that should never be retired. 1. A10 2. Chinook What else goes on the list? If you say Blackhawk, I will virtually slap you.

From Martin Iles, reposted: Having lived in the USA for nearly two years, I've realised something. The USA and the remainder of the Western world are no longer aligned. We all laugh and mock when the Americans say, "Freedom!" because we truly think we're as free as they are. Wrong. We're not. Not even close. The laws, the mindset, and the behaviour, is totally different in this regard. Most of all, the governments are totally different. The USA's convictions around core freedoms are on a scale we do not share. Meanwhile, Donald Trump wins the popular vote, the electoral college, the House, and the Senate... a man who, in every other Western country, is held in open derision, if not contempt. For these and other reasons, we are not the same. Yet the West, including Australia, fully expect to rely on the USA for our very survival. If the world turns bad (which will happen - only a question of time), then the whole West, without America, is toast. So, you may ask - if we're not very aligned ideologically, then it must be that we bring something to the party militarily? Well, no... actually... we don't matter that much militarily. The USA has about 470 ships in its navy, including 11 aircraft carriers, 69 submarines, 75 destroyers... plus 110 new ships in the pipeline. Australia has about 30, including 3 destroyers, 7 frigates and 7 outdated submarines. The UK does a little better, with about 60. Meanwhile, the US has over 14,000 military aircraft. A staggering number. Australia has 252 military aircraft. The UK has 556. The US army has just shy of 1,000,000 uniformed personnel in its military. Australia has about 45,000. The USA spends 3.4% ($968 billion) of its GDP on defence. Australia spends 2% ($36.4 billion). The US spends as much as the next 15 largest military-spending countries (including China) combined. The USA has a fighting culture. The men shoot things (a lot) and hunt things, the veterans get favoured in everything from parking spots to boarding planes. A uniformed young man is thanked in the street a dozen times a day. "Oh, the Americans and their guns!" we say, in our smug way. Yes, they have a warrior culture. We do not. We don't have to, because we're a leech on theirs. How many young British men are willing to fight for their country? Now ask the same regarding young American men. The difference is about as wide as it could be. Militarily, we don't offer squat. Meanwhile, look at the way Australia works against America's interests by loving on China. China made us rich and we stay close. This is a Marxist regime with expansionist aims. Again, you have to spend time in the USA to realise just how vast a gulf there is between us on China. Europe, too. They let China have their way everywhere from Germany to Greenland, all the while importing Islam and sending their own people to court for saying hurty words. Somehow, we have landed the deal of a lifetime with the USA that says, "when the baddies come, you'll save us ok?" Because we can't save ourselves. And we live in peace. But we keep gnawing away at freedoms, keep enabling China, and get flabby and disinterested about our military because Uncle Sam's got it. And, let's be honest, Americans are widely looked down on. To add insult to injury, we don't think that highly of our protectors. So, the USA is finally saying "enough." I am here, I can tell you what the vibe is, and that's it. Trump is doing what people want in this regard. They're over it. And we come across all shocked and hard done by. We behave like people with no self-insight at all. Yes, the global alliance system is all over the place now. From America's perspective, it's about time. And I must say, though I be a proud Australian, I am forced to agree. Something has to change.

@SGTWipper1Each Oh and my son is a Marine

@SGTWipper1Each Dad was Navy in WWII. Grandfather was Army Aircorps WWI. I did 27 years in the Regular Army. Ancestors in Union Army and American Revolution

How far back does Military Service go in your family?

@jabeale Wow memories The bearded one and early march at Camp McCall. Sure brings back a lot of memories. I was there in 93 and I’m guessing you were there probably about 91.

Re CSAR and para-rescue personnel in general: I had an Air Force PJ in my SERE class - he was the only AF guy there amongst Army SF, Ranger and TF-160 guys - and he was an absolute baller. Had a nervous smile, which got him roughed up pretty regularly by the Bearded One, but the man was singularly unflappable. During one of the last hard-sell sessions my interrogator used him as an emotional lever - had him kneeling, shivering uncontrollably in the People's Pond in front of me as he asked me the same question over and over. Each time I gave my cover-story answer he'd have the PJ assume another position in the water (this was early-March North Carolina) until he was face-first, blowing bubbles. When they had him roll onto his back he caught my eye and winked at me - told me all I needed to know as to whether or not to stick to my story. When it was over and we were all sitting around a table at Bennigan's trying to eat more than two bites of the banquet feast spread out in front of us, I told the guys what he did that night. When I told them about the wink, the PJ piped up and said, "A wink? That wasn't a fucking wink - I was having a hypothermic seizure." Got a chance to work with five or six more PJ's during my time there as an instructor and they all shared the same vibe - these guys are truly special. If the PJ's are involved in finding and recovering an American on the ground in enemy territory, I have every confidence that they won't rest until the mission is successfully completed.