Albertsons Says It Is Ending Merger Agreement With Kroger

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Albertsons said on Dec. 11 it is ending its merger agreement with Kroger.

Albertsons said that Kroger breached the agreement the companies had reached, including by not cooperating with Albertsons.

Shoppers walk outside an Albertsons grocery store, in a file photograph. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

“Rather than fulfill its contractual obligations to ensure that the merger succeeded, Kroger acted in its own financial self-interest, repeatedly providing insufficient divestiture proposals that ignored regulators’ concerns,” Tom Moriarty, Albertsons’ general counsel, said in a statement.

A Kroger spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email, “Albertsons’ claims are baseless and without merit.”

Albertsons filed a lawsuit under seal with the Delaware Chancery Court outlining its allegations against Kroger.

The proposed merger had been blocked on Tuesday by multiple judges, which found that if the merger went through, it would have anti-competitive effects.

“On balance, the Court finds that both qualitative and quantitative evidence shows that defendants engage in substantial head-to-head competition and the proposed merger would remove that competition,” Oregon District Judge Adrienne Nelson, one of the judges, said in an order. “As a result, the proposed merger is likely to lead to unilateral competitive effects and is presumptively unlawful.”

Kroger’s faults included providing insufficient documents outlining divestiture plans that ignored regulators’ concerns, according to Moriarty.

“We are disappointed that the opportunity to realize the significant benefits of the merger has been lost on account of Kroger’s willfully deficient approach to securing regulatory clearance,” he said.

The Kroger spokesperson said the allegations are not true.

“This is clearly an attempt to deflect responsibility following Kroger’s written notification of Albertsons’ multiple breaches of the agreement, and to seek payment of the merger’s break fee, to which they are not entitled,” the spokesperson said.

“Kroger looks forward to responding to these baseless claims in court. We went to extraordinary lengths to uphold the merger agreement throughout the entirety of the regulatory process and the facts will make that abundantly clear.”

Albertsons operates more than 2,200 stores across 34 states, with banners including Safeway and Acme. Kroger operates 2,750 grocery stores under various banners such as Ralphs and Harris Teeter.

Kroger reported $150 billion in revenue in 2023, while Albertsons reported $79.2 billion.

Sam Dorman contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Thu, 12/12/2024 - 07:20

Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Gives Eye-Popping $1 Million To Trump's Inaugural Fund

The Wall Street Journal reports that Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, donated $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump's inaugural fund - something neither Meta nor Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg did for Trump's inaugural fund in 2017 or President Biden's in 2021.

The million-dollar donation comes two weeks after Zuckerberg dined with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in South Florida, bringing the Facebook founder and the former president closer in what was once a fraught relationship.

One person familiar with the donation said Zuckerberg's team spoke with the inaugural fund before the Mar-a-Lago club dinner, adding that the social media billionaire has told business leaders that he is optimistic about a Trump presidency. 

At last month's dinner, Stephen Miller, appointed deputy chief of staff for Trump's second term, told Fox News that Zuckerberg had "made clear that he wants to support the national renewal of America under Trump's leadership."

Trump's choice of Brendan Carr to lead the Federal Communications Commission has frightened the federal government for their collusion with Big Tech, partisan' fact checkers,' and an aptly named 'advertising cartel' to censor, de-monetize, and otherwise silence divergent opinions - particularly those which shed light on things like government malfeasance, bullshit wars, Covid origins, and cronyism.

In August, Zuckerberg sent a letter to Congress claiming that the Biden administration in 2021 "repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain Covid content, including humor and satire."

This was around the time Trump warned Zuckerberg and anyone else who illegally interfered in the election would be jailed for life if he won the presidency. 

As for Zuckerberg, he's now 40, and his change of politics must come with age... 

Winston Churchill is often credited with saying that if "you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain."

Welcome to 40, Zuck. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 12/12/2024 - 06:55

India Preparing For A CBDC-Driven Economy, Central Bank Governor Says

Authored by Arijit Sarkar via CoinTelegraph.com,

On his last day as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Shaktikanta Das shared his vision to transform India’s economy with a home-grown central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital rupee.

During the farewell speech on Dec. 10, Das highlighted his six-year-long effort to capitalize on new technologies, including setting up the RBI Innovation Hub in Bengaluru and a regulatory sandbox for fintech innovation.

Speaking about India’s progress in CBDC development, Das noted that many central banks worldwide are stuck in initial discussions and experimentation.

On the other hand, he said, “RBI, among the central banks, is a pioneer,” as it is one of the few central banks to launch a pilot CBDC project.

Press conference by Shaktikanta Das, governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Source: Reserve Bank of India

Indian CBDC could permanently replace the paper-based economy

Das expressed optimism about the future of CBDCs in the Indian economy as he left office:

“As I see it, CBDC has a huge potential in the coming years, in the future. In fact, it is the future of currency.”

Source: Shaktikanta Das

In November, the RBI sought to add new trading partners in Asia and the Middle East to expand its cross-border payments platform for instant settlements. 

India should not rush to implement a CBDC

A related Bloomberg report suggested that India was exploring the use of CBDCs as its primary settlement mechanism for the payments platform, which is currently operational in Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal. 

Previously, Das had advised against implementing a “system-wide CBDC” rollout without understanding the technology’s potential impact on users and India’s monetary policy.

“Such understanding would emerge from the generation of user data in pilots. The actual introduction of CBDC can be phased in gradually,” Das said. 

Still, he had expressed confidence in CBDC’s potential to “underpin the payment systems of the future,” both for domestic and cross-border payments.

Tyler Durden Thu, 12/12/2024 - 06:30

Wind Power Has Hit Its Limits In Europe

Europe is starting to reach its limit when it comes to wind power.

Countries like Denmark and Sweden, once leaders in expanding offshore wind capacity, are now hitting obstacles as power prices and incentives fall too low to support new projects, according to Bloomberg.

A recent Danish auction for offshore wind saw no bids, highlighting the issue. This slowdown in wind development risks prolonging reliance on fossil fuels, as rising costs challenge the sector's earlier success in driving down prices.

Denmark, which generated a world-leading 58% of its electricity from wind last year, saw no bids in its largest-ever offshore wind tender. Companies like state-owned Ørsted A/S cited unattractive investment conditions, with low electricity prices driven by an oversupply of wind power.

The Bloomberg report says that Sweden faces similar challenges, as years of rapid wind expansion have depressed returns, discouraging new projects. Delays and cancellations of green industrial projects in the north further cloud future demand.

The UK’s goal to phase out fossil fuels by 2030 will require a major shift in power consumption to align with renewable energy's fluctuating supply, says the grid operator. Currently, record amounts of wind power are wasted due to grid limitations.

Unlike coal and gas plants, wind farms operate whenever conditions allow, often resulting in excess supply and even negative power prices.

While solar faces similar issues, falling panel costs have lessened the impact. The wind sector, however, is grappling with rising costs for materials like steel and labor. Encouraging consumers to adjust demand—especially with electrification of transport, heating, and industry—could stabilize prices and drive investment in clean energy.

Brian Vad Mathiesen, a professor at Aalborg University in Denmark, commented: “We cannot have an electricity system that’s based solely on wind and solar. There are stark technical and economic limits to how much we can integrate into the grid.”

Tyler Durden Thu, 12/12/2024 - 04:15

MP Calls For UK Government To Embrace Muslim Culture Of Inbreeding

Third-world immigration has led to some unsettling culture shocks over the last decade for Europeans and the population of the UK.  The rise in violent crime and rape incidents due to migrants is well documented in Europe.  The cultural "sharing" has been running rampant and finally the truth is starting to come out. 

In Germany, statistics show that in 2023 41% of all crime was linked to foreign suspects (migrants), while 75% of all victims were native German citizens.  In 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron admitted that around half of all crime in Paris was committed by foreigners. His claim was backed by data from the police headquarters and the ministerial statistical service for internal security, which showed that 70% of violent robberies and 75% of thefts in Paris in 2022 were committed by foreigners. 

Sweden's massive spike in violent crime runs exactly parallel to their open borders policy and the rise in migrants from the third world.  Over 20% of the nation's population is now made up of foreigners.  Migrant gangs spread across Sweden and in 2022 Primer Minister Magdalena Andersson admitted that "integration had failed". 

The list goes on and on.  In the UK, such data is generally suppressed and the government refuses to acknowledge the relationship between increasing migration from certain cultures and the spike in criminal violence.  So much so that British officials are ordering the arrest of anyone who complains about the issue on social media. 

It's not just the rise in crime that's the problem; there's also the imposition of disturbing cultural habits that the western world widely abandoned decades ago.  Inbreeding is just one of these habits - It was made predominantly illegal in the western world once genetic factors were understood, but it might make a comeback as mass immigration changes the demographic landscape.   

UK MP Iqbal Mohamed argued this week that the government needs to stop legislation banning cousin marriages because they are common in Muslim culture and because a ban would be "stigmatizing":

“Instead of stigmatising those in cousin marriages or those inclined to be, a much more positive approach would be to facilitate advanced genetic test screening for prospective married couples, as is the case in all Arab countries in the Persian Gulf, and more generally to run health education programmes targeting those communities where the practice is most common."

“I would therefore urge the House to vote against this motion and find a more positive approach to addressing the issues that are caused by first-cousin marriages, including the health risks and the consequences of modern conflicts and displacement of population around the world.”

  

The MP did acknowledge that the practice leads to a litany of health problems and recommended a "screening process", but he did not specify what problems are commonly associated with consanguineous marriage.  Inbreeding is a plague within Muslim populations, with some Muslim nations containing genetic anomalies in the majority of their people.  In Pakistan, for example, over 70% of marriages involved genetically related partners (usually between first or second cousins). 

Inbreeding, especially over the course of multiple generations, causes a number of genetic mutations including  the HTR2B Q20 mutation.  This mutation has been linked to loss of impulse control, extreme violence and psychopathy.  In other words, cultures that practice inbreeding as a norm are far more inclined to violent behaviors the west often associates with the worst kinds of criminals.    

Keeping it "in the family" is preferred in Muslin society as a means to maintain generational wealth, but also as a form of suppression for women.  In Sweden the practice is about to be banned due to health concerns, but also due to arranged marriages (forced marriages) and the use of women as bartering property.  UK legislators have been working for years to make cousin marriages illegal, but consistently face opposition.

The UK government is perhaps the most blatant villain today when it comes to the forced multiculturalism agenda.  Their open hostility towards the native western public is becoming legendary.  Their policies require adaptation on the part of native residents rather than integration on the part of migrants.  In other words, the UK argues that it is up to the native public to embrace the ideologies and habits of incoming migrants, and if they don't, they could be accused of bigotry (which can now lead to fines and prison time). 

But isn't it correct to admonish cultural practices that lead to destructive behaviors?  Maybe some cultures are simply wrong.  Maybe some traditions should not be welcomed.  Maybe western culture is in many ways superior, and perhaps it's time for the third world to adapt to western values rather the west taking a step backwards into the dark ages?  Or. maybe the two cultures should stay away from each other?  The multicultural experiment has obviously failed - Why continue pretending like it has inherent value?

Tyler Durden Thu, 12/12/2024 - 02:45

Germany Is An Economic Model For What Not To Do

Authored by Rainer Zitelmann via RealClearMarkets.com.,

Many Germans liked to see their country as a global leader in the fight against climate change. Despite Germany being responsible for only 1.5 percent of man-made CO2 emissions worldwide, advocates for climate action argued that Germany could serve as a role model for other nations. These self-appointed “saviors of the world” believed that if Germany led the way, others would soon follow.

But it would now seem that Germany has become more of an anti-role model than a role model. Germany’s economic situation is getting worse every month. Growth is lower than in almost any other OECD country.

BASF, once the largest chemical company in the world, is cutting thousands of jobs in Germany and redirecting several billion euros of investment to China. Germany's largest steel manufacturer, ThyssenKrupp, last week announced plans to cut 11,000 jobs. The company had received two billion euros in subsidies on condition that it transition to producing “green steel” using hydrogen, which is totally uneconomical. BASF and ThyssenKrupp both cited Germany’s exorbitant energy prices and gargantuan bureaucracy as reasons for their decisions.

There has been a significant increase in the number of companies filing for insolvency. The current rate is 66 percent higher than the average for the month of October in the years 2016 to 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a study conducted by EY, fewer and fewer foreign companies want to invest in Germany. The number of foreign direct investment (FDI) greenfield and expansion projects in Germany has decreased by 12 percent compared to the previous year. This marks the sixth consecutive decline and the lowest level of investment activity since 2013.

EY identified Germany’s energy policy as a major deterrent for industrial investors. The combination of a recessionary environment, high energy prices, and uncertainties surrounding energy supply are all highlighted as key factors, along with high labor costs and bureaucratic complexities, all of which serve to further discourage foreign investors.

Estimates of the total costs of the German climate transition vary between 1.8 trillion euros (ifo Institute) and 6 trillion euros (McKinsey). But the indirect costs are even higher. A key component of German and European climate policy is the “mobility transition,” which entails a mandated shift towards e-mobility. The EU has banned the registration of cars with combustion engines from 2035. Consequently, the German automotive industry has been plunged into a severe crisis. Volkswagen has announced plans to lay off tens of thousands of employees and close multiple plants in Germany. Major automotive suppliers such as ZF, Continental, and Bosch have also announced tens of thousands of redundancies.

The German automotive industry, once a global leader that the whole world looked up to with admiration, has become a basket case. The heart of the German economy is stuttering.

Housing construction in Germany has also slumped dramatically. On the one hand, the number of immigrants arriving in Germany keeps on rising, while on the other, less and less new housing is being built. There are 20,000 building regulations and countless rules that have made building more ‘climate-friendly’ and far too expensive.

The origins of Germany’s current economic woes can be traced back to the administration of Angela Merkel, rather than Olaf Scholz’s recently collapsed government. The economic situation in Germany was good not because of, but in spite of her policies. She benefited from the market reforms and tax cuts implemented by her predecessor, Gerhard Schröder. Merkel not only failed to introduce any new reforms during her time in office, she instead exacerbated existing problems, particularly in the realm of energy policy. As was noted here five years ago, Germany’s energy policy is the dumbest energy policy in the world.

The battle against climate change is often cited as the number one objective of our day and age, the one paramount issue that should guide all political decision-making. However, Germany’s decision to shut down its nuclear power plants has led the country to rely on imported nuclear power and electricity from coal-fired power plants overseas. And, despite banning fracking domestically, Germany continues to import LNG gas produced through fracking from the United States. An irrational policy riddled with contradictions.

Is Germany at least the world champion in climate protection? No, Germany holds a respectable third place in the Environmental Performance Index, but in the category of climate protection, of all things, it only comes in seventh place (Great Britain is in fifth place).

Germany wanted to be world champion not only in climate policy, but also in migration and social policy. But the combination of generous social benefits and open borders has not worked.

Today, 64 percent of those on welfare, known as Bürgergeld (“citizen’s income”) have a migration background. The social system is overloaded, crime is rising sharply.

Instead of being a role model for the rest of the world in climate policy and migration policy, as many German politicians had hoped, Germany has now become a cautionary tale. Once again, the model of a planned economy has failed: In a market economy, it is the companies, and ultimately the consumers, who decide what is produced. In contrast, in a planned economy, decisions are made by politicians who believe they know better than millions of entrepreneurs and consumers. In this respect, the rest of the world can learn something from Germany, namely a lesson in what not to do.

Tyler Durden Thu, 12/12/2024 - 02:00

When Rights Become Privileges: Is The Constitution Becoming Optional?

Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

“Rights aren’t rights if someone can take them away. They’re privileges. That’s all we’ve ever had in this country is a ‘Bill of Temporary Privileges.’ And if you read the news, even badly, you know that the list gets shorter and shorter.”

- George Carlin

Disguising its power grabs in the self-righteous fervor of national security, the Deep State has mastered the art of the bait-and-switch.

It works like this: first, the government foments fear about some crisis or threat to national security, then they capitalize on it by seizing greater power and using those powers against the American people.

We’ve seen this play out over and over again.

The government used its so-called War on Terror to transform itself into a police state.

Then the police state used its War on COVID-19 to claim lockdown powers.

All indications are that the government’s promised War on Illegal Immigration will be yet another sleight of hand that allows the powers-that-be to engage in greater power grabs while weakening the Constitution.

Therein lies the danger of the government’s growing addiction to power.

Whatever dangerous practices you allow the government to carry out now—whether it’s in the name of national security or protecting America’s borders or making America healthy again—inevitably, these same practices can and will be used against you when the government decides to set its sights on you.

The slippery slope that starts with illegal immigration has all the makings of a thinly veiled plot to empower the government to become the arbiter of who is deserving of rights and who isn’t.

That quickly, we could find ourselves navigating a world in which the rights enshrined in the Constitution for all persons living in the United States are transformed into privileges enjoyed only by those whom the government chooses to recognize as legitimate.

By persuading the public that non-citizens, particularly illegal immigrants, do not enjoy the same inalienable rights as law-abiding citizens (a fact refuted by the Constitution and every credible legal scholar in the country), the Deep State is leading us down a road in which all rights are transitory.

This is how you establish a hierarchy of rights, contingent on whether you belong to a favored political class.

Be warned.

At such a time as the government is emboldened to flip that switch and appoint itself the ultimate authority on which protected class of individuals gets to enjoy the rights enshrined within the Constitution, the dividing line will not be between legal citizens and illegal immigrants.

It will not even be between Republicans and Democrats.

Rather, the purpose of that line of demarcation will be to distinguish the compliant, obedient, subservient vassal of the American police state (the so-called Loyalists) from everyone else.

We’re almost at that point now.

This is how tyranny rises and freedom falls.

Here are some of the inherent dangers in allowing the government to become the arbiter of who is deserving of rights:

It leads to the erosion of universal rights. The Bill of Rights was designed to protect the fundamental rights of all persons within the United States, regardless of their citizenship status, race, religion, or any other factor. When the government starts making distinctions about who is entitled to these rights, it undermines the universality that makes them so powerful. This creates a slippery slope where rights become privileges, subject to the whims of those in power.

It gives rise to authoritarianism. History is replete with examples of governments that consolidated power by first stripping away the rights of marginalized groups. Once the principle of universal rights is breached, it becomes easier to target other groups deemed “undesirable” or “unworthy.” This paves the way for authoritarianism, where the government dictates who enjoys freedom and who does not.

It creates a two-tiered society. A hierarchy of rights inevitably leads to a two-tiered society, where some individuals enjoy full protection under the law while others are relegated to second-class status. This fosters resentment, division, and social unrest. It also creates a vulnerable population that can be easily exploited and abused.

It undermines the rule of law. The rule of law is a fundamental principle of a just society. It means that everyone is subject to the same laws and that no one is above the law. When the government selectively applies the law based on arbitrary criteria, it undermines the rule of law and erodes trust in the legal system.

It chills free speech and dissent, i.e., the right to criticize the government. When people fear that their rights are contingent on their political views or social status, they are less likely to speak out against injustice or challenge the government. This chilling effect on dissent stifles free speech and creates a climate of fear and conformity.

It contributes to the loss of moral authority. A nation that claims to champion liberty and justice for all loses its moral authority when it denies those principles to certain groups within its borders. This undermines its standing in the world and diminishes its ability to promote human rights abroad.

Remember, the erosion of inalienable rights often starts subtly, with the government chipping away at the edges of those rights for specific groups.

The pattern is subtle at first, with government officials exploiting fear and prejudice in order to target groups that are already marginalized or perceived as “outsiders.” Incrementally, the net is cast wider and wider, so that by the time the injustice is widespread enough to inspire outrage in the greater populace, it’s too late to resist.

Historic examples abound of how the government has manufactured a blatantly unjust hierarchy of rights in order to diminish certain segments of society. These run the gamut from slavery and the persecution of Native Americans to the Japanese internment camps and segregation.

More recently, we’ve seen this tactic deployed in order to justify policies that run afoul of the Constitution, ranging from immigration policies and mass surveillance programs to SWAT team raids, voting rights, and the erosion of due process.

Clearly, Martin Niemöller’s warning about the widening net that ensnares us all, a warning issued in response to the threat posed by Nazi Germany’s fascist regime, still applies.

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

This is how the slippery slope to all-out persecution starts.

It doesn’t help that growing numbers of American citizens barely know their rights. Consider that only 5% of the U.S. adults surveyed could correctly name all five rights in the First Amendment, 20% could not correctly name any, and less than one in 10 Americans know they have a right to petition the government.

Such civic illiteracy lays the groundwork for all manner of tyrannies to follow. After all, how can you defend your rights if you don’t know what those rights are?

Then again, civic illiteracy among government officials, who are entrusted with upholding and protecting the Constitution, doesn’t appear to be much better.

It was ten years ago on December 15, National Bill of Rights Day, that the U.S. Supreme Court in its 8-1 ruling in Heien v. State of North Carolina gave police in America one more ready excuse to routinely violate the laws of the land, this time under the guise of ignorance.

The Heien case, which started with an improper traffic stop based on a police officer’s ignorance of the law and ended with an unlawful search, seizure and arrest, was supposed to ensure that ignorance of the law did not become a ready excuse for government officials to routinely violate the law.

It failed to do so.

In failing to enforce the Constitution, the Court gave police the go-ahead to justify a laundry list of misconduct, from police shootings of unarmed citizens to SWAT team raids, roadside strip searches, and the tasering of vulnerable individuals with paltry excuses such as “they looked suspicious” and “she wouldn’t obey our orders.”

Ignorance of the law has become an all-too-convenient cover for all manner of abuses by government officials who should know better.

I’m not sure which is worse: government officials who know nothing about the laws they have sworn to uphold, support and defend, or a constitutionally illiterate citizenry so clueless about their rights that they don’t even know when those rights are being violated.

This much I do know, however: for anyone to advocate terminating or suspending the Constitution is tantamount to a declaration of war against the founding principles of our representative government and the rule of law.

If there is one point on which there should be no political parsing, no legal jockeying, and no disagreement, it is this.

Then again, as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, one could well make the case that the Constitution has already been terminated after years on life support, given the extent to which the safeguards enshrined in the Bill of Rights—adopted 233 years ago as a means of protecting the people against government overreach and abuse—have been steadily chipped away at, undermined, eroded, whittled down, and generally discarded with the support of Congress, the White House, and the courts.

History provides chilling examples of how quickly rights can vanish, even in a nation such as ours founded on the principles of freedom. As George Carlin astutely observed:

“If you think you do have rights, next time you’re at the computer, get on the internet, go to Wikipedia. When you get to Wikipedia, in the search field for Wikipedia, I want you to type in ‘Japanese Americans 1942’ and you’ll find out all about your precious … rights. In 1942, there were 110,000 Japanese American citizens in good standing, law-abiding people, who were thrown into internment camps simply because their parents were born in the wrong country. That’s all they did wrong. They had no right to a lawyer, no right to a fair trial, no right to a jury of their peers, no right to due process of any kind. The only right they had: ‘right this way’ into the internment camps. Just when these American citizens needed their rights the most, their government took them away. And rights aren’t rights if someone can take them away.”

Remember you were warned, folks.

At the point that rights become privileges, then the Constitution and the government’s adherence to the rule of law will become optional.

Tyler Durden Wed, 12/11/2024 - 23:25

Damascus Airport To Open In 'Next Few Days' But Israel Still Controls Skies

The government of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Damascus on Wednesday said that it expects Damascus International Airport to reopen within days, which would be a surprising and unexpected development.

It had been closed since the dramatic events of HTS-led forces entering the capital, and Assad and his top officials fleeing the country. The airport's director Anis Fallouh said it will reopen "in the next few days" - according to the AFP.

Via AFP

"God willing, the airport will reopen as quickly as possible because we are going to work flat out," Fallouh said. "We can quickly resume flights through Syrian airspace."

For now, however, it seems unrealistic that any flights will land or take off from the airport given that Israeli warplanes have been bombing the country non-stop for at least 72 hours. This has included the targeting of at least 350 Syrian Army sites, as well as facilities for the production of chemical weapons.

With Israeli warplanes roaming the skies, commercial flight travel over Syria remains highly dangerous. There's also the fact that the various al-Qaeda factions now in control of Syria have gained access to at least some of Syria's remnant anti-aircraft missile arsenal, such as MANPADS.

There have also long-been NATO-supplied shoulder-fired missiles all around Syria, supplied to the 'rebels'. Below appears to be evidence of this...

NATO bonanza!https://t.co/p5ScKQOFel

— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) December 10, 2024

Only Cham Wings, a private Syrian airline and Syrian Air, the country's national airline, had been continuing to operate up to the dramatic events of the last ten days. 

But Al Jazeera has noted of the status of these defunct airlines, "Aircraft maintenance official Samer Radi said there were currently 12 aircraft on the ground, one of which had been stripped of its equipment by looters during the takeover by opposition forces."

It's unclear whether these carriers will be reestablished, or a timeline for potential operations. At this moment the country and population are also starved of fuel, after days ago an Iranian tanker en route to Syria turned around as it became clear the Assad government was in collapse.

Before the war, British Airways and Emirates had frequent flights to and from Damascus. But immense hurdles remain in what is still basically a war zone and questions over the fact that a US-designated terror organization is now running the show in Damascus.

The HTS jihadists who seized control of Aleppo International #Airport have reportedly destroyed all whiskey and alcohol bottles in its duty-free zone. It seems that the enforcement of Sharia law has already begun in #Aleppo. pic.twitter.com/81lxrz0b1O

— Greco-Levantines World Wide (@GrecoLevantines) December 2, 2024

"So far, the operations of Syrian Air have been extremely restricted," explained one industry analyst. "Everybody would want to reopen flights into Damascus, which obviously is a significant destination for the Gulf."

"Airlines will have to individually go and do a damage assessment, a liability assessment and a review of what's happened, what's workable, what's permissible, as well as what's functioning and what is not," the analyst continued.

Tyler Durden Wed, 12/11/2024 - 23:00

What's (State-Funded) Russian Media Saying About Syria's Regime Change?

Authored by Andrew Korybko via substack,

Publicly financed Russian media’s reaction to Syria’s regime change is a lot different than most could have expected after they earlier warned that this could lead to an unprecedented terrorist crisis.

Those concerns were warranted since Turkish-backed Harat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is designated as a terrorist group and was originally part of Al Qaeda. Nevertheless, these outlets’ reactions have been surprisingly calm, thus suggesting a desire to play everything by ear for the sake of retaining Russian influence there.

RT published two very thought-provoking op-eds since the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) epic collapse and Assad’s cowardly flight from Damascus that are worth reviewing in this context. The first is by Murad Sadygzade, who’s President of the Middle East Studies Center and Visiting Lecturer at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, and answers the question of “Why did Syria fall so fast and what happens next?” He began by drawing attention to foreign meddling but then dove into domestic details.

This approach is noteworthy since it had hitherto been very rare for publicly financed Russian media to talk about the Assad Government’s many shortcomings, but Sadygzade candidly addressed them:

“A key turning point came when Assad lost the support of even those who had stood by him for years. Economic hardships, sanctions, and a growing sense of hopelessness led many to believe that change was inevitable, even if it came at the cost of destruction. The strategic mistake of the ruling elite – betting on a military solution to the conflict while ignoring political dialogue, both domestically and internationally – ultimately left Assad vulnerable to determined and well-organized adversaries.”

The second RT op-ed is a republication of an article by Gazeta.ru political analyst Vitaly Ryumshin under the title “Assad’s collapse was coming – everyone just looked away”. Here are the highlights:

“Assad’s Syria had been rotting from within for years. The country was locked in a perpetual humanitarian and economic crisis, with 90% of Syrians living in poverty and widespread malnutrition. Desperate families took out loans just to buy food but couldn’t pay them back. Power outages crippled even Damascus, sometimes leaving the capital dark for 20 hours a day. Electricity prices soared by up to 585% in the spring of 2024 alone, pushing an already destitute population deeper into despair.

The Assad government offered no solutions – only mounting repression. Under crushing sanctions, Damascus couldn’t secure foreign loans, and with its oil fields under US-Kurdish control, there was nothing left to trade. Even Syria’s illicit drug trade, once a lifeline, couldn’t plug the gaping holes in state finances. Profits disappeared into the pockets of warlords and traffickers, not the state treasury.

Meanwhile, Assad’s underpaid, demoralized army, bled dry by years of civil war, continued to disintegrate. For a time, Iranian proxies like Hezbollah propped up his forces, but by 2024, they’d shifted their attention to fighting Israel. Attempts to draw Russia further into Syria’s quagmire fell flat. Moscow, busy elsewhere, had no interest in bailing Assad out.”

Ryumshin also twice referred to the Assad Government as a “regime” in back-to-back sentences, writing that “In the south and southeast, dormant rebel cells rose up, striking a final blow against Assad’s hollowed-out regime. On Sunday, opposition forces stormed Damascus from several directions. Bashar al-Assad, whose regime withstood over a decade of civil war, finally fell from power.” It’s a stunning change in RT’s editorial policy that they didn’t replace that previously taboo word before republishing.

Perhaps they listened to what their senior correspondent and veteran Syrian War journalist Murad Gazdiev told them in an interview, where he concluded that “Assad’s govt fell due to corruption, lack of organization, and motivation”. He has a decade worth of experience covering this conflict so his post-mortem on Assad’s Government should be taken very seriously. Publicly financed TASS also editorialized the word “regime” into a headline about Syria on Tuesday in a related visible change of policy.

The day prior, they described HTS’ chief as an “armed opposition leader” without referencing the US’ $10 million bounty on his head for terrorist-related crimes or even his connection to such groups. TASS also reported how “Syrian Embassy operating as usual under new flag”, which implies Moscow’s tacit (key qualifier) acceptance of this regime change in the sense of continuing to recognize those Syrian diplomats as official representatives of the new ruling arrangement who are allowed to keep working.

Their press review of Vedomosti’s article about the future of Russia’s military bases in Syria adds context to why that tacit acceptance appears to have been made. Ibragim Ibragimov, a researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations, told them that “I don’t exclude that a new format of military-technical cooperation will appear soon and that Russian military instructors will play a role in establishing a new Syrian army.” That would be an intriguing turn of events.

It might not be as far-fetched as some think provided that there’s political will and the right conditions to make it work, the latter of which would require the non-terrorist anti-government opposition (NTAGO) to separate itself from terrorist-designated groups and figures. Moreover, such groups and figures would have to prove that they’ve changed their ways, just like the Taliban have sought to do since returning to power in mid-2021 to regain Russia’s trust and try to have restrictions on cooperation with them lifted.

To that end, meaningful progress on implementing UNSC Resolution 2254 from December 2015 would go a long way, which Assad refused to do for reasons beyond the scope of this analysis. The Russian-written draft constitution that was unveiled during the first Astana Summit in January 2017 could also be revived to serve as a model for the constitutional reform that this resolution obligates Syria to undertake. Assad had unofficially rubbished it due to the concessions that he was asked to make.

Judging by what the head of the Syrian armed opposition delegation to the Astana talks told Sputnik and the president of the Syrian Negotiation Commission told RT, these two internationally recognized NTAGO platforms want to retain positive relations with Russia. That could explain why the leader of the new interim Syrian government, Mohammed al-Bashir, was described by TASS as someone who “joined anti-government armed units supported by foreign funding” instead of the previously typical foreign proxy.

Reflecting on publicly financed Russian media’s reports about Syria’s regime change, it therefore appears as though the Kremlin signaled to those outlets within its “sphere of influence” to withhold publishing worst-case scenario forecasts for now while their country’s diplomats try to avert an even worse crisis. The worst might still be yet to come, but it hasn’t yet unfolded and might still be prevented, hence the importance of them remaining calm and reciprocating the new ruling arrangement’s positive messages.

Tyler Durden Wed, 12/11/2024 - 21:45

Eric Trump: My Father Wants To Make U.S. The World's 'Crypto Capital'

Eric Trump, Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, discussed President-elect Donald Trump's plans for the crypto industry, emphasizing his father's vision for the U.S. to become the “crypto capital of the world” during an interview with CNBC. 

ERIC TRUMP: I've been in crypto for a long time and so is my father, and I think he realizes that every country in the world is embracing it. People are running—look at where we are right now in Abu Dhabi. They're putting billions of dollars into crypto, into digital technologies. If we don't do it as America, we're going to be left behind. He wants to make America the crypto capital of the world. He's been very, very clear with that, and I applaud that.

Listen, right now, if you live in America and want to get a home loan, it takes you 90 days. How the hell does it take 90 days to get a home loan? By then, the house is already sold. Your dream is gone. There’s zero chance you’re getting it. There is nothing on blockchain that can't be done better, faster, and substantially cheaper—not pushing paper. The banking system we have around the world, the modern banking system, is antiquated. It's antiquated, and it's just a matter of time before crypto not only catches up but really leaps ahead.

We’re incredibly excited on a lot of fronts, and I think America will be the crypto capital of the world. I fully support it, my father fully supports it, and our family fully embraces it. We believe in DeFi.  We believe that's the way of the future. America better lead the way; otherwise, we're going to leave a lot behind.

DAN MURPHY: All of this also comes back to regulation as well, and one thing your father has spoken about is incorporating new legislation, even deregulation, in the crypto space to really accelerate and move this forward. What does that look like?

ERIC TRUMP: It's transparent, that's what it is. The people in the crypto industry are frustrated that no one's ever put together a sensible plan as to how to regulate an industry. They're fine with regulation, but they just want guidelines, and they've said that. The problem is, you see so many companies have been so unfairly treated—so many lawsuits, hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, people attacked, companies attacked—and they're just saying, "Just give us the rules of the road, and we'll obey them."

And by the way, if you give us the rules of the road, chances are the rest of the world will follow. So I think sensible regulation makes a lot of sense. A lot of people think the crypto industry doesn't want regulation, but that's actually not true. They just want sensible regulation—regulation that they can follow, regulation that's crystal clear, that's black and white.

They don't want to see people like Gensler, who was absolutely a disaster for crypto. He did everything he could to try and stifle innovation. He would do so, and those people have all been cleared out. I think they will put together good regulation. I think we will have a clear roadmap, and hopefully, the rest of the world follows that. Hopefully, we can lead by example because that's what we should do as Americans. Hopefully, we truly are the crypto superpower of the world.

Tyler Durden Wed, 12/11/2024 - 21:20

The Lithium Glut Could Persist Until 2027

Authored by Tsvetana Parskova via OilPrice.com,

• Lithium prices have dropped sharply, prompting production curtailments in Australia and China but not in Africa, where Chinese-owned mines maintain output.

• The global lithium market remains oversupplied, with UBS forecasting imbalances until at least 2027 despite recent production cuts.

• China's strategic focus on EVs and low-cost lithium ensures continued mining, while a potential restocking phase could eventually boost prices.

This year’s plunge in lithium prices has forced curtailments in production in China and Western Australia as lithium miners look to limit losses and reduce the oversupply hanging over the market and prices. 

However, the lithium glut has not gone away and the market could remain oversupplied until 2027, analysts say. 

One of the reasons for a persistent glut could be the fact that while producers in Australia and, to some extent, in China, are curtailing output and delaying project ramp-ups, lithium mines in Africa owned by Chinese battery makers are not reducing supply. 

The mines, especially those in Zimbabwe, continue to operate as Chinese battery makers continue mining operations to have low-cost lithium supply and maintain market share, industry insiders and analysts have told Reuters. 

As a result, the market will continue to be oversupplied for the next two years, and not find balance until 2027, according to UBS. 

The bank still expects lithium supply to have increased by 25% this year and to rise by 15% next year, according to its estimates cited by Reuters.

The supply boost is expected despite the recent curtailments at lithium mines in Australia.

Global lithium miners have moved to curtail production and shrink their workforce—at least until market conditions improve.

Last month, Australian miner Mineral Resources said it was shutting down its Bald Hill lithium mine amid a crash in lithium prices in another project curtailment in the industry.

The low lithium prices have hit other producers and projects, too.

Australia’s Liontown Resources said it would reduce production from its Kathleen Valley lithium project, “to prioritise higher margin ore at reduced costs to adapt to the low-price lithium environment.”

Pilbara Minerals has also announced a suspension of a lithium processing plant in Western Australia.

The world’s largest lithium producer, North Carolina-based Albemarle, booked a net loss of $1.1 billion for the third quarter amid lower pricing in the lithium value chain.

As part of measures to reduce costs and operations, Albemarle will be reducing its global workforce by an expected 6-7% and is slashing its 2025 capital expenditures by around 50% versus 2024 to an anticipated range of $800 million to $900 million.

The reduction in some Chinese lithium supply is being replaced by output in Africa, which is serving the growing Chinese market, Albemarle’s chief commercial officer, Eric Norris, said on the company’s Q3 earnings call last month.

“It is a fragmented market. It is a market with significant Chinese presence today. And it's a market where you have a lot of young companies whose sole reason for existing is to raise a lithium project,” Norris said, commenting on why more supply hasn’t been curtailed.

It could take longer for this market to rebalance, he added. 

Many mines supplying Chinese battery makers wouldn’t close amid the price plunge because they are integrated into downstream supply chains, analysts told Reuters.  

EV manufacturing and sales is a strategic priority for China’s government, which would like to have cheap lithium supply flowing.  

And China’s electric vehicle sales are surging. November marked the fifth consecutive month in which battery electric vehicles and plug-in vehicles outsold gasoline passenger cars.

China’s most recent rebound in demand has pushed local lithium prices higher. But the fundamentals of the global lithium market haven’t changed much—supply continues to outpace demand, setting the stage for at least another year of oversupply and depressed prices, analysts say.

However, an expected phase of restocking of processed lithium for batteries could rebalance the market faster, according to Will Adams, head of base metals research at Fastmarkets, a commodity price reporting agency.

“We’re probably going to be stepping in and out of deficits for a while, but as the deficits get closer, look out for the restocking phase as that can really give prices a boost,” Adams said on a recent webinar on the global outlook for the battery raw materials market in 2025. 

Tyler Durden Wed, 12/11/2024 - 20:55

Russians Urged To Avoid US Travel On Fears Of Arrest Or Being 'Lured' By CIA

In yet another diplomatic tit-for-tat move as relations with Washington spiral, Russia has warned its citizens to avoid all travel to the United States, saying they could face arrest.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova laid out in a briefing Wednesday that "Traveling to the United States privately or on official business is fraught with serious risks."

Via Associated Press

While it at first sounds like Moscow is doing a bit of trolling here, the Kremlin seems genuinely concerned over individual Russians being contacted or "lured" by US intelligence operatives.

Zakharova continued, "In this regard, we urge [Russians] to avoid non-emergency travel to the U.S. and its allied satellite states, including primarily Canada and, with a few exceptions, EU countries, for these upcoming holidays and in the future."

While the message raised the possibility of potential prosecution from US authorities, she also emphasized the following:

"Our compatriots have long been hunted in the direct sense of the word by U.S. intelligence services," she said.

And more:

Russians already in the U.S. should avoid situations where they could become "victims of provocations" and face arrest under the pretext of violating local laws. 

“If the attention shown to Russian citizens by Americans is becoming suspicious and intrusive, it may make sense to cut off these contacts and reconsider travel plans,” she said.

Interestingly, orchestrating 'provocations' is precisely what the State Department has long accused Russia of doing with Americans traveling in Russia, with the most famous recent case being the imprisonment of Brittney Griner (later released in a prison swap with Victor Bout).

The US Embassy in Moscow has in turned warned all US citizens that arbitrary detention could come if they travel through Russia. This has tensions have sourced between the two countries since the Feb. 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Tyler Durden Wed, 12/11/2024 - 20:30

DHS Announces New Rule To Allow Noncitizen Workers To Keep Jobs Longer While Awaiting Renewals

Authored by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times,

The Department of Homeland Security this week announced a new rule making it easier and more reliable for certain noncitizen workers to keep their jobs while waiting for their work permit renewals to be processed.

Starting Jan. 13, eligible applicants who file for their employment authorization documents (EADs) on time will automatically have their work authorization extended for up to 540 days, nearly three times longer than the previous 180-day maximum.

The change will retroactively apply to applications filed on or after May 4, 2022, the agency said.

DHS said the need for the rule change is “clear” as the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency in charge of processing these requests, “received and processed a record number of EAD applications this year.”

This permanent change is expected to help workers avoid forced job breaks caused by processing delays and give employers more certainty when planning their staffing needs, DHS said in announcing the changes on Dec. 10.

Federal officials say this decision is a direct response to business communities that have called for more efficient ways to keep valued employees on the job.

“Increasing the automatic extension period for certain employment authorization documents will help eliminate red tape that burdens employers, ensure hundreds of thousands of individuals eligible for employment can continue to contribute to our communities, and further strengthen our nation’s robust economy,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.

For many applicants, navigating the work permit renewal process can be challenging, DHS said.

Lengthy waits sometimes force employers to temporarily lose trained staff while applications wind through the system. USCIS has taken steps to reduce wait times to address this, the announcement said.

“USCIS is committed to reducing unnecessary barriers and burdens in the immigration system to support our nation’s economy,” said USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou.

“This final rule will help U.S. employers better retain their workers and help prevent workers with timely-filed EAD renewal applications from experiencing lapses in their employment authorization and employment authorization documentation through no fault of their own.”

DHS said the new rule will ensure a more stable employment environment for everyone involved.

The move is part of a broader push to streamline the immigration system and bolster the nation’s economy, DHS said.

Other efforts to cut processing times include extending validity periods from two to five years in some cases, improving how refugee permits are handled, and offering easier online filing options, the agency said.

Tyler Durden Wed, 12/11/2024 - 20:05

Note: Mortgage rates are from MortgageNewsDaily.com and are for top tier scenarios.

Thursday:
• At 8:30 AM ET, The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released. The consensus is for 220 thousand initial claims, up from 213 thousand last week.

• Also at 8:30 AM, The Producer Price Index for November from the BLS. The consensus is for a 0.3% increase in PPI, and a 0.2% increase in core PPI.

• At 12:00 PM, Q3 Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States from the Federal Reserve.

Exxon Plans Large Nat Gas Plants To Supply Electricity To Data Centers

It isn't just nuclear projects getting in on the "selling power to data centers" trend - now oil supermajor Exxon is joining the trend. 

In fact, Exxon is planning a large natural gas-powered plant to supply electricity directly to data centers, incorporating technology to capture over 90% of its carbon emissions, according to the New York Times.

This would be Exxon’s first power plant not dedicated to its own operations. Carbon capture systems remain rare and costly, despite federal subsidies, limiting their broader adoption.

CEO Darren Woods said this week: “There are very few opportunities in the short term to power those data centers and do it in a way that at the same time minimizes, if not completely eliminates, the emissions."

Exxon exec Dan Ammann added: “We’re being driven by the market demand here. It’s low carbon, it’s available on an accelerated timeline and it avoids all the grid interconnection challenges.”

Tech giants are increasingly willing to pay extra for reliable clean energy, including nuclear power. Here are Zero Hedge we spent most of 2024 documenting numerous tech giants like Google, Meta and Microsoft all inking deals with nuclear power generators to secure data center power in the future.

The New York Times adds that Exxon, having secured land and engaged potential customers, plans to launch its gas-powered plant within five years—faster than building new nuclear reactors.

Uniquely, the plant would operate off-grid, avoiding lengthy grid connection delays. This move highlights how the growth of data centers and AI is transforming the energy sector, pushing Exxon into a business it once avoided.

Chevron could be next, too. Its CEO Mike Wirth predicts off-grid power projects will become more common, and Exxon is exploring similar ventures, aiming to launch a gas-powered plant with carbon capture technology.

Exxon plans to spend $30 billion over six years on emission reduction and alternative energy while expanding oil and gas production. The company sees growing electricity demand from data centers as an opportunity to enter the power business, leveraging its expertise in carbon management and pipeline networks.

Tyler Durden Wed, 12/11/2024 - 19:40

The Wild World Of Democratic Ethics: Defeated Representative Accused Of Gaetz Leak

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

“You must be wary of those seeking to use their influence and their expertise to wrongful ends.”

Those words were spoken at the George Washington Law School commencement ceremony two years ago by the recently defeated Rep. Susan Wild (D., Pa.).

This week, the words took on a new meaning after Wild was accused of leaking information from the House Ethics Committee. Wild embodies a party that is in an ethical and political free fall this month.

 If news reports are accurate, Wild appears to have given our students a curious ethical lesson in how not to be a lawyer or legislator.

Wild was fighting to release the report of the investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.).

When Gaetz decided to withdraw from Congress, the report was not released. That is when details from the committee were leaked to the media, and the press reported that “two sources said Wild ultimately acknowledged to the panel that she had leaked information.”

Keep in mind that this is the House Ethics Committee, and she is a member. She is also a member of Congress who took an oath as part of the panel’s rules that “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will not disclose, to any person or entity outside the Committee on Ethics, any information received in the course of my service with the Committee, except as authorized by the Committee or in accordance with its rules.”

Wild herself has not publicly confirmed or denied the alleged leaking of the information.

If the reports are true, Wild knowingly violated an oath that she took not to release information from the Ethics Committee because she was unhappy with losing votes on the release of information.

Her office seems to have shrugged off media inquiries.

As in the past controversy, Wild has avoided public comment on the report that she was the leaker.

This controversy speaks to more than one unethical former representative. This month, we have seen Democrats line up to support one of the most unethical and abusive uses of presidential pardon power in history. President Biden not only pardoned his son but pardoned him for any crimes over a decade, including some that many felt implicated President Biden himself.

The President issued the pardon after repeatedly lying to the public when he was a candidate that he would never do so. In the previous election, Biden lied to the public about not having met Hunter Biden’s clients or having knowledge of his dealings in the influence-peddling scandal.

Biden’s lack of ethics surprised no one. However, even today, the support that he received from Democratic leaders over the pardon has been shocking. Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate majority whip, even called it a “labor of love.”

Indeed, much of the corruption in Washington is a labor of love, from nepotism to influence peddling to corrupt pardons. Indeed, faced with overwhelming opposition of the public to the Biden pardon, Democratic members look like the comical choreography of “Prisoners of Love” from the movie The Producers. (“Oh, you can lock us up and lose the key; But hearts in love are always free!”).

The distorted view of ethics in the Democratic Party was vividly on display during an embarrassing moment recently at the White House when Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed that a poll showed “64% of the American people agree with the pardon — 64% of the American people. So, we get a sense of where the American people are on this.”

That poll actually showed the majority of Americans opposed the pardon.

Yet, it was 64 percent of Democrats who favored a president giving his own son a pardon.

It is all about the ends rather than the means in today’s politics of rage.

The 2022 words of Wild were particularly poignant because they were used as part of a false attack made by Wild at my own school. In a speech to the law students on living an ethical life as a lawyer, Wild accused me of testifying falsely in the Trump impeachment that only criminal acts are impeachable after saying the opposite in my testimony in the Clinton impeachment.

The only problem is that Wild’s statement was demonstrably and undeniably false. I testified in both the Clinton and Trump impeachments that an impeachable offense need not be an actual crime.  Ironically, Wild’s own Democratic colleagues and later the House managers in the Senate Trump trial repeatedly cited my testimony on that very point.

None of this matters in the Wild world of Democratic ethics. It is very simple. Whatever Democrats are attempting cannot be “wrongful ends.” More importantly, it is the ends, not the means, that are the measure of ethics. Since they are only fighting for what is right, the ends justify the means from cleansing ballots of Republicans (including Trump) to supporting a massive censorship system to ignoring court decisions to count invalid votes.

It is the same sense of ethics that led someone at the Supreme Court to leak a draft of the Dobbs decision.

Even though the leak shattered court ethical rules and traditions, the leaker was lionized by many on the left.

For years, the “by any means necessary” wing has dominated the Democratic Party. Ironically, the collapsing of the party’s credibility with the public has left little to show beyond a litany of unethical means used to achieve unrealized ends.

*  *  *

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”

Tyler Durden Wed, 12/11/2024 - 19:15

South Korea's Top Cops Arrested, Ex-Defense Chief Tries Suicide As Failed Martial Law Bid Rocks Country

South Korea continues to be rocked by aftershocks in the wake of President Yoon Suk Yeol's aborted declaration of marital law. In a trio of jarring new developments, the country's top two law enforcement officers have been arrested, the former defense chief attempted suicide in detention, and police raided the president's office -- all while a second impeachment vote looms this weekend with greater prospects for success.  

Late on Tuesday, police arrested South Korea's former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who resigned on Thursday after a warrant was issued for his arrest for his alleged role in aiding Yoon's martial law attempt. He then tried killing himself shortly after midnight in a detention center bathroom. His attempt was thwarted by a "control room staff member," according to a report from the commissioner general of the Korea Correctional Service, and he's said to be under close monitoring and in good health.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (left) with then-Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun -- who resigned Thursday, was arrested Tuesday, and attempted suicide Wednesday (Yonhap/DPA)

The first to be arrested over the constitutional crisis, Kim faces charges of “engaging in critical duties during an insurrection” and “abuse of authority to obstruct the exercise of rights.” A guilty verdict on the insurrection charge would expose Kim to a maximum penalty of death by hanging. While his method of suicide-attempt hasn't been disclosed, it seems Kim wanted to skip the proceedings and administer his own form of justice.

Wednesday also brought word that South Korea's two senior-most law enforcement officers have been arrested on insurrection charges. National Police Commissioner Cho Ji-ho and Seoul metropolitan police chief Kim Bong-sik are behind bars at Seoul’s Namdaemun police station, according to the South China Morning Post.

South Korean soldiers are stationed outside the Parliament. Unbelievable to see how a democracy descends into a chaos and tyranny so fastpic.twitter.com/IZkRK6mxJe https://t.co/QBmQl1OaFv

— Guy Elster (@guyelster) December 3, 2024

The two top cops are in hot water for deploying police to impede lawmakers who were trying to make their way into the parliament building to counteract Yoon's martial law declaration. Then-Defense Minister Kim deployed soldiers to the same location. On Tuesday, Kim issued a statement taking responsibility for his actions and seeking to shield subordinates from consequences for their actions:

"All responsibility for this situation lies solely with me. My subordinates were simply faithful in following my orders and the missions that were given to them. I ask for leniency for them." 

On Monday, the Justice Ministry banned Yoon from traveling overseas, at the request of police, prosecutors, and an anti-corruption agency. As the investigation intensified, President Yoon's office was raided by police on Wednesday, as they sought evidence relating to his attempted imposition of martial law and the accompanying suspension of civil liberties and governmental checks and balances. 

The office search, which has been reported by local media but not yet confirmed by police or the president's office as this is written, flies in the face of previous assurances by observers that the presidential security service would thwart any such raid. They'd pointed to a law barring the search of areas that hold state secrets without the consent of those responsible for such spaces.   

After the martial law declaration, police buses blocked the main entrance to the South Korean Parliament 

The rolling crisis began on Dec. 3, when Yoon stunned South Korea and the international community with a late-night declaration of martial law, which he claimed was necessary to “rebuild and protect” the country, and prevent it from “falling into the depths of national ruin.” The move came after an impasse over the country's 2025 budget, and the attempted impeachment of three top prosecutors. In his announcement, Yoon railed against “shameless pro-North-Korean anti-state forces who are plundering the freedom and happiness of our citizens...I will eliminate anti-state forces as quickly as possible and normalize the country.”

watching the citizens of South Korea revolt against martial law is so badass this woman is a legendpic.twitter.com/TZgUqtrhPt

— Omni ☕️ (@InfernoOmni) December 3, 2024

As soldiers and police surrounded the National Assembly, the South Korean parliament's speaker used his YouTube channel to summon legislators. All 190 who heeded the call voted to repeal the martial law declaration. Six hours after his shocking announcement, Yoon apologized for the move and retracted it, saying he'd acted out of "desperation." 

An impeachment vote last weekend failed in the face of a boycott by the ruling People Power Party (PPP), but the Democratic Party (DP) has announced it will move for impeachment again on Saturday, and some PPP members are now voicing their support. Success requires a two-thirds majority of the 300-member assembly. DP leader Lee Jae-myung voiced confidence:  "The impeachment train has left the platform. There is going to be no way to stop it," 

Tyler Durden Wed, 12/11/2024 - 18:50

Judge Strikes Part Of Federal Law, Making It Easier To Remove 'Powerful' Judges

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Some judges can be removed at will, rather than for cause, a federal judge said in a new Dec. 10 ruling as he also removed a layer of protection for the judges.

The Department of Labor in Washington on Aug. 6, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administrative law judges have been protected in a complex scheme that requires the board to petition a different agency, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, to remove the judges. Even if the protection board agrees, the NLRB can only act if “good cause” for removal is found.

Adding to the “byzantine process,” members of both boards can only be removed themselves for certain reasons, such as neglect of duty, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden wrote in the new decision.

The U.S. Constitution gives the president executive power, which includes, according to Congress and court rulings, the power to remove subordinates. The exceptions are for inferior officers and some boards.

In 2010, U.S. Supreme Court justices said that a scheme protecting Public Company Accounting Oversight Board officers was unconstitutional because it placed the president two layers away from removal. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which appointed the members, could only remove the members for good cause. SEC commissioners themselves could only be fired by the president for neglect of duty, malfeasance in office, or inefficiency.

“In short, two protective layers was one too many,” McFadden said. “So too here.”

The protection NLRB judges have “could result in federal officers pursuing unordained and perhaps unwise paths, with the only fear of reprisal shrouded in a maze of red tape,” the judge said. “Such attenuation from accountability was precisely what the Framers warned against when they rebuffed calls to fashion a plural executive.”

The NLRB said in court filings that the administrative law judges have less power than Public Company Accounting Oversight Board officers and that they are more easily removed than the officers. McFadden said the judges are “powerful actors in the Executive Branch” because they can manage cases without oversight, including granting applications for subpoenas, and that the easier removal does not change the multilayer removal scheme.

The Supreme Court ruling “was clear in its admonition: Officers of the United States cannot be insulated from the removal power by two or more levels of decisionmakers who themselves enjoy job protection,” the judge said. “To find otherwise would poison the soil of Article II and choke off accountability to the President. The removal restrictions are unconstitutional.”

The Supreme Court has not weighed in on the matter. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has found SEC administrative law judges, which had similar protections to NLRB judges, were unconstitutionally protected. Three other circuit courts have found administrative law judge protections to be constitutional.

In two of those rulings, the courts “placed too much weight on the adjudicatory ‘functions’” of the judges, ignoring how the judges “were nonetheless exerting executive power, case by case,” McFadden said. The third ruling was reversed by the Supreme Court, on other grounds.

“That is a tenuous reed to sustain the NLRB’s position,” he said.

In a two-page order, McFadden said that NLRB judges can now be removed by the board itself, without input from the Merit Systems Protection Board.

The ruling came in a case brought by VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 7 Inc., which does business as Saint Vincent Hospital.

A spokeswoman for the NLRB declined to comment. A lawyer for the hospital, which is in Massachusetts, did not return an inquiry.

Tyler Durden Wed, 12/11/2024 - 18:25



 

 

At The Money:  Optimizing Personal Health in Finance, with  Phil Pearlman (December 11, 2024)

Wall Street is always looking for an edge over the competition. But what if there was a giant source of overlooked alpha? We discuss how to obtain “Fitness Alpha.”

Full transcript below.

~~~

About this week’s guest:

Phil Pearlman, is former Chief Behavioral Officer at the Bank of the Ozarks and founder of the Pearl Institute.

For more info, see:

Personal Bio

Professional Site

Prime Cuts Newsletter

LinkedIn

Twitter

 ~~~

 

Find all of the previous At the Money episodes here, and in the MiB feed on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, and Bloomberg. And find the entire musical playlist of At the Money on Spotify

 

 

 

Musical Intro: Hey, feeling good,  like I should  Winning double walk around the neighborhood  Feeling blessed,  never stressed  Got that sunshine on my Sunday best

 

Everyone on Wall Street is looking for an edge. We deploy quant models, hire analysts, run various simulations, All to gain the slightest advantage that might be worth a few basis points over a year.

 

But what if you were overlooking a giant source of alpha?  I’m Barry Ritholtz. And on today’s edition of at the money, we’re going to discuss how Wall Street has been using personal health to gain a competitive advantage to help us understand all of this and its implications for your portfolio. Let’s bring in Phil Perlman.

 

Previously, he served as executive editor at Stocktwits and was chief behavioral officer at the Bank of the Ozarks. Today he runs the Pearl Institute, focusing on personal health and the process of making effective change. So Phil, let’s just start with a basic question. What is Fitness Alpha?  Fitness alpha is a model of performance, and we can derive alpha in markets from so many different areas.

 

And, you know, just as a very brief primer, for those who might not know, alpha is this idea of how much we outperform. So if our benchmark is the S& P 500, we’re a money manager, and we make 25 percent in a year when the market’s up 20%. That’s 5% Percent of alpha and so forth. If we’re, if we’re up 15%, that’s 5% of negative alpha.

 

If the market’s up 20%. And so where do you get the alpha from and you know, do you get it from information, do you get it from having a certain model? There’s different sources and there’s one source that is just a very simple source of alpha that nobody. Is talking about, nobody has ever talked about it.

 

And it’s basically the outperformance we derive from our health, the healthier we get, the better we perform across multiple areas of function. So give us a few examples of some of those multiple functions that create an advantage in the financial marketplace.  Well, markets are a competitive endeavor, and we know from years of research that  health, the better, the more healthy we get, the better we perform across multiple areas of function, including  stress tolerance.

 

Right. So the markets are stressful. 2022, anybody who’s involved with markets for years, think of 2022 for one moment, and you know, it was a stressful time and bear markets occur periodically. I don’t know, every five or six years. And so when we have bear markets and we’re able to tolerate stress more adaptively, our performance will improve not only stress tolerance, but emotional regulation and emotional control, how we’re able to control our emotions, how we’re able to cope with our emotions.

 

Do they affect us behaviorally? Do we go on tilt or do we remain rational during volatile periods. This sounds like you’re referring to fitness alpha helps you make better decisions, especially in times of volatility. Absolutely. And there are so many different areas, for example, stamina and resilience, right?

 

I mean, money managers have pressure, Even during bull markets, because everybody’s sort of chasing returns and that is a stressor. So it’s not just during periods of volatility in bear markets, you get it in bull markets alike and our ability to bounce back. So just to go back to your other question, there’s so many different areas and that’s why I’m harping on it.

 

Resilience. We bounce back better, the healthier that we get, we recuperate faster. We’re able to To stay focused longer, long days. We can put in long days after long days, our charisma, our self confidence and the way we are perceived by others. You and I have spoken about this previously, and you have mentioned that this has quietly become a thing on wall street, more trading desks, more funds are internally discussing fitness alpha.

 

Explain a little bit about what’s happening on the street.  Well, you know, there was a moment, you know, and this goes back 30 some odd years, but there was a moment. When Tiger Woods won the masters, he changed the game of golf forever because before Tiger Woods, none of the golfers really thought about their physical health.

 

And all of a sudden here comes a young golfer who’s in better shape than anybody else out there and he’s crushing the ball and he is able to manage his emotional world, his stress and stay ice cold, even with the greatest pressure on him.  And after Tiger Woods, now you go and you look at the tour, almost everybody is incredible conditioning.

 

And so you’re starting to really see something similar to that happen on wall street, especially, um, at the highest tiers and in the hedge fund industry. I’ve had numerous clients who’ve come to me with, uh, metabolic health problems with, uh, alcohol and other substance problems. And they begin to get those under control.

 

And then all of a sudden they have more energy, they bounce back quicker, their resilience improves. And they’re performing better and feeling like it’s a more sustainable thing than being day to day and hour to hour. So let’s talk about some of the areas of health that you focus on. You touched on drinking, you touched on metabolism, which I assume involves nutrition.

 

What are the areas that you can derive fitness alpha from?  Well, here’s the thing about that. I’d like to keep things really, really simple. Okay. And if you go out there, there’s a thousand books and there’s 10, 000 hours of podcasts focusing on health and wellbeing these days. And they get very, very granular.

 

And there’s a lot of debates and arguments and, you know, mitochondria  and VO two max, and there’s a thousand buzzwords. I like to keep it very, very simple. And from my point of view, there are four elements of health that we can focus on. And if we can just get a little bit better, we don’t have to get 1 percent better every day.

 

We could just get 5 percent better a year. And if we do that year after year, and those four areas, those four elements of good health. or nutrition, what we put into the only body that we are ever issued on this earth body movement, which is exercise, which includes cardiovascular, you know, aerobic exercise, and also anaerobic exercise or resistance training.

 

Uh, it also includes sleep and rest and how we allow our bodies to heal, uh, over time, whether that’s sleeping or whether that’s taking a day off or two, if we’re injured and social and family and love. And that’s the fourth one. It’s a very surprising one when I mentioned that, but huge alpha in a relationship and love, uh, focus.

 

Sleep, nutrition, exercise, social. All right. So those are the four big areas. So within those four areas, someone listening to this, whether they’re a trader or a fund manager or, uh, driving a truck or working in a retail store, what do they need to do to generate that performance boost to generate that fitness alpha in those four areas?

 

Well, all you have to do is get a little bit better at a time.  All you have to do is get incrementally better over time. You don’t have to try. To blow the lights out. Hey, I’m going to start exercising six times a day. I’m going to completely change my diet. I’m going to do all these things. You don’t have to get super duper gung ho.

 

And I would say that for each person, there is a gateway drug in a good way. You know, not a gateway bad drug, but a gateway good drug. There’s a place to start. And it really, there’s individual differences. And it’s dependent on the person. I’ll give you a few examples. If you have somebody who really does not move their body.

 

and they’re gaining weight over the years,  begin to move your body. And that can be as simple as just walking. Walking is an incredible thing. You get outside, you get into the fresh air. Maybe you turn notifications off on your phone and you just begin to get the blood flowing. And the body movement for other people.

 

Hey, you might have people who love food, who are good cooks. Maybe their gateway drug is to say, Hey, I’m going to really begin this by focusing on my nutrition and you don’t have to do anything fancy there. You could keep it stupid, simple there too. And just start eating real foods with very few ingredients.

 

and staying away from ultra processed foods and staying away from foods that have a lot of added sugar. The one other thing that I thought of when you asked me that question was this, that I find that substance abuse and alcohol abuse. It’s very prominent in our culture and extremely prominent among professional market participants.

 

And we know, especially as we age that alcohol and other substances affect our performance and affect our brains very, very significantly. And so if you could get a handle on that, that would be another fantastic gateway. So let’s say we all start moving a little more. We start eating better. We cut the cigarettes and that glass of wine with dinner.

 

How does that show up in our portfolios? What sort of advantages accrue to us?  Well, it begins with executive functioning. And it begins with decision making, and this is a direct relationship to the ideas coming from behavioral economics, um, and this idea that we are not always rational decision maker.

 

And the better, you know, I always use, I always, whenever I hear the word rational, I, I, I substitute the word wise. Right. So we are not always wise decision makers. And we know that the average human suffers from loss aversion. And we know that there’s anxiety related to losses, especially. And so when we are even incrementally.

 

improving our ability to make decisions, to make wise decisions. That’s really where we experience alpha, where we make better decisions that affect our portfolio, that improve our performance. And are there any fringe benefits to this besides just improving our portfolios?  Well, that’s actually a beautiful question because I’m actually flipping the primary use case.

 

You know, when people talk about getting healthier, they’re not talking about improving your portfolio. They’re talking about extending your life and staying healthy for longer and improving your mood and improving your relationships and improving your quality of life. And so really the fringe benefits are just incredibly central.

 

And some would argue primary. I mean, let’s say if you were not an investor or market participant, and I was talking to you about this, I would be making the same exact case related to, Hey, well, wouldn’t you like, you know, we’re only here once. Wouldn’t you like to stay healthier longer? And so that you can enjoy life for a longer period of time.

 

So this sounds like this is not just for wall street traders and fund managers. Uh, fitness alpha sounds like it can apply to just about everybody. I built this model from my own experience, Barry. I was not a healthy person and I was kind of faking it. Like I was performing well enough professionally that I was getting by and I was making some money, but I was not thriving.

 

And I started to get myself healthy and I started to experience this. Wow. I have more energy. Wow. I want to, I want to interrupt you because I want people to realize back in the day, You were considerably heavier. You were a big drinker. You were not in any sort of shape other than round round as a shape, but you were, you know, you, you, you were struggling.

 

Tell us a little bit about that aha moment and tell us what you accomplished. You know, I’m like a hair club for men. Remember that commercial, the hair club for men guy. I use the product myself. So I bought You  know, I mean, I got myself healthy and I was kind of You know, I was kind of faking it. I was an executive within the financial services space and I was miserable traveling too much, drinking too much, not moving my body.

 

When I was 12 years old, 15 years old, I was an athlete, but I had gotten so far away. From who I was, you know, there’s this idea in buddhism of enlightenment This one great author once said that enlightenment is nothing mysterious. It’s really just rediscovering who you always were And so I felt like as I started really getting healthy getting my mind and body in shape That I started really rediscovering who I was getting back to me and lo and behold Uh, I started performing better across all aspects of my life.

 

So to wrap up, fitness alpha is how Wall Street finds yet another edge to enhance their performance, but it’s not just for Wall Street professionals. We sleep better, we eat better, we move, we have better social relationships. Not only does that show up in our portfolios. But it also shows up in extended lifespans and healthier for longer as part of your alpha.

 

I’m Barry Ritholtz and you are listening to Bloomberg’s at the Money

 

 

 

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The post At The Money: Optimizing Personal Health in Finance appeared first on The Big Picture.

Government Spending Shock: US Budget Deficit Soars In Worst Start To Year On Record

We thought last month's US budget deficit was bad. Boy, were we wrong.

It is only fitting that the twilight days of the Biden admin would exhibit more of the same fakeness that defined not only all of the past four years, but certainly the fakeness of that Kamala Harris presidential campaign which had a billion dollars a month ago and ended up in failure, broke... and millions in debt. We are talking, of course, about the relentless debt-funded spree that somehow became synonymous with economic success in the US.

According to the latest Treasury data released today, in November - the second month of fiscal 2025 - the US spent a massive $584.2 billion, a 14% increase from the prior year, and a record for the month of November. For those who remember out outrage from a month ago, will also remember that the latest deficit number follows what was also a record government outlay for the month of October.

On a trailing 6 month moving average basis, to smooth out outliers months, the spending hit $586 billion, effectively at an all time high with just the record spending spree during covid pushing government spending higher.

The surge in spending was driven primarily by higher spending on health, defense and Social Security, but mostly a huge $50BN spike on Medicare outlays!

The long-term chart of government spending shows what we all know: DOGE or not DOGE, there is no stopping this train.

The surge in spending was far greater than the much more modest increase in tax revenues: in November, the US government collected $301.8 billion in taxes, up 9.8% from the $274.8 billion last November. As shown in the next chart, while spending continued to grow exponentially, tax receipts have flatlined, and the 6 month average in October was just $380 billion, the same as three years ago!

To be sure, there were some calendar effects in play. Recall that last month we said that October 2023's tax receipts were unusually higher due to deferred tax receipts that were received that month from companies and individuals affected by disasters including wildfires in California. Taking that into account, the October budget deficit would have been 22% higher (and would offset the freak September surplus which we are convinced was staged to make the last month of fiscal 2024 look abnormally good for the Biden admin). And since some of this calendar effect also nets in November, to avoid the calendar shifts across months we combined the first two months of fiscal 2025.  What we got was this shocker of a chart: 

It shows that in October and November, the US deficit exploded to a staggering $624.2 billion, and even though this included several calendar adjustments - which explains the freak September surplus which as we said was due to calendar effects - the November deficit of $367 billion was $14 billion more than consensus estimates of $353 billion. Worse, combining October and November we find that not only was the combined number of $624 billion some 64% higher than the corresponding period one year ago, but it was also the highest deficit on record for the first two-months of the year (and that includes the spending insanity during the covid crisis).

Putting the deficit in context, the budget deficit in October and November - the first two months of fiscal 2025 - are now officially the worst start a year for the US Treasury on record.

Taking a closer look at what has been the most terrifying trend in the US income statement for some time now, the Treasury’s debt-servicing costs rose once again in November. Gross interest costs totaled $87 billion, up $7 billion from $80 billion in the same month a year before.

And if the November print seems low by recent standards, just wait one month: the December gross interest payment will be an absolute shocker as that's when the bulk of interest payments take place. For December, expect a number north of $150 billion in interest alone!

And while we wait, this is what a chart of LTM spending across the main categories looks like. Yes, gross interest spending is not only the second largest outlay for the US government, just shy of $1.2 trillion, it's also the highest it has ever been, and will continue rising, especially if/when the Fed ends its easing cycle prematurely due to rising prices sparking the next meltup.... in US interest payment.

The good news is that for now (certainly until the December explosion), the surge in US interest payments has been delayed. That's because the weighted average interest rate for total outstanding debt at the end of November was 3.36%, at roughly 15-year highs, but down slightly from the month before, the third monthly decline.

However, don't expect this decline in interest spending to persist because even though the Fed has cut rates twice since September, this has been more than offset by the surge in debt which at last check was now $36.2 trillion, up half a trillion from a month ago, and unless Elon's Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE) manages to somehow slash trillions in both spending and interest, this is what US debt will look like for the next few years, guaranteeing that interest on said debt will very soon become the single largest spending category for the US government.

It's either going to work or it's not. Here is the alternative https://t.co/cHZA2wHnPB pic.twitter.com/LMEI4tISZL

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) November 13, 2024

For those who were still unsure if buying votes has a cost associated with it, now you know.

The mindblowing figures illustrate the monumental challenge for Trump and all those promising to rein in US debt, which has exploded to 120% of GDP after four years of Biden's "drunken-sailor" spending ways. The last hope for the US is that Trump has tapped Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to look at ways to cut spending. Alas, these figures show that the bulk of the outlays are in areas that are bound to be a politically explosive to address, in other words any cuts even remotely close to the $2 trillion suggested by Vivek would lead to a full-blown deep state revolt... and government cataclysm.

It's also why attempts to reroute the US from its inevitable collision with the iceberg of fiscal devastation will likewise end in ruin.

Tyler Durden Wed, 12/11/2024 - 18:00