Today’s News 15th November 2022

• Ukraine Seeks 'Israel-Like' Arms Industry To Produce NATO-Caliber Weapons
  Ukraine Seeks ‘Israel-Like’ Arms Industry To Produce NATO-Caliber Weapons

  Authored by Kyle Anzalone via The Libertarian Institute,

  Kiev is planning a buildup of its weapons industry to produce more sophisticated arms, with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov saying government takeovers of several companies will help Kiev to create an “army of drones” and other NATO-caliber weapons. The defense chief noted that growing military ties between Kiev and the West makes Ukraine a de facto NATO partner.

  In an interview on Thursday, Reznikov told reporters Kiev was seeking to replicate Tel Aviv’s defense industry. “We are trying to be like Israel – more independent during the next years,” he said.

  

  The defense head argued that Israel’s advanced defense industry helps it maintain its sovereignty, adding “I think the best answer [can be seen] in Israel … developing their national industry for their armed forces. It made them independent.”

  Ukraine has received tens of billions in security assistance from the US and its global partners. “We understood that [by] using Soviet weapon systems … we are not independent. And it is better to have new systems with new ammunition of a NATO standard,” Reznikov went on.

  On Friday, Reuters reported additional details of Kiev’s plans for its weapons industry. Reznikov said Ukraine was already in the process of making an “army of drones” and was looking at manufacturing NATO-caliber artillery. The official also said Ukraine needs to develop drone jamming capabilities, as well as unmanned vehicles for the air, land and sea.

  Kiev’s plans to upgrade its defense sector could face several challenges given the complications of wartime. In recent months, the Kremlin has proven its ability to bypass Ukraine’s air defenses and has severely damaged the country’s electric grid. Additionally, Kiev has already passed a 2023 budget with a $38 billion deficit.

  One of the reasons why Israel won’t provide weapons to Ukraine is the fear that it could end up in Iranian hands. https://t.co/yxcS9X4Whu

  — Anna Ahronheim (@AAhronheim) November 8, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  It’s unclear how the Kremlin would respond if Ukraine were to produce NATO standard weapons. While Moscow repeatedly voiced concerns that Kiev could someday host NATO weapons before it invaded Ukraine last winter, Reznikov insisted his country’s ties with the North Atlantic bloc would continue regardless.

  “It doesn’t matter when we become a member of the NATO alliance de jure. We have become a NATO partner de facto right now,” Reznikov said. “That’s why we need to develop our military industry together.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 11/14/2022 – 23:30

• Doug Mastriano Concedes Pennsylvania Governor’s Race To Democrat Josh Shapiro
  Doug Mastriano Concedes Pennsylvania Governor’s Race To Democrat Josh Shapiro

  Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  The Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano, has conceded the race to his Democratic opponent Josh Shapiro. on Sunday, while calling for election results to be counted faster.

  In a statement posted to Twitter, Mastriano, who former President Donald Trump endorsed, said the results of the midterm elections had not gone the way Republicans had hoped and “fought so hard for.”

  “In all, we received votes from almost 2.2 million Pennsylvanians, and I thank every one of you, from the bottom of my heart,” he said.

  Shapiro was projected as the winner in the race for governor late on election night by NBC News. The Associated Press also called the race in favor of Shapiro on election night, when Shapiro had 54.42 percent of the vote, or 2,571,668 votes, and Mastriano 43.74 percent. As of Sunday, Shapiro has 56.3 percent of the vote compared to Mastriano’s 41.9 percent.

  “We gave this race everything we have,” Mastriano said. “Difficult to accept as the results are, there is no right course but to concede, which I do, and I look to the challenges ahead. Josh Shapiro will be our next governor, and I ask everyone to give him the opportunity to lead and pray that he leads well.”

  Mastriano’s statement comes nearly five days after NBC’s initial projection.

  He retired as a Colonel in November 2017 following 30 years of active-duty service and was elected to serve as a Pennsylvania senator by District 33 two years later in 2019.

  

  Campaign Promises

  Mastriano’s campaign had focused largely on election integrity, protecting the Second Amendment rights of Americans, and securing the border amid a mass immigration crisis that has led to an increase of fentanyl being snuck across the southern border.

  The rise in fentanyl transportation across the border is now claiming the lives of Pennsylvanians each and every day, according to Mastriano’s campaign website.

  As a state senator, Mastriano introduced Tyler’s Law, which targets drug dealers who push fentanyl resulting in a fatal overdose, resulting in a mandatory minimum 25-year sentence upon conviction.

  Mastriano also supported a complete ban on abortions and was vocal in his opposition to vaccine mandates and draconian COVID restrictions.

  In contrast, Shapiro, the state’s two-term elected attorney general, had vowed to protect Pennsylvanians’ access to abortions, including protecting the state’s existing 24-week law. He has also focused his campaign on tackling the fentanyl crisis and overhauling the state’s criminal justice system.

  As attorney general, Shapiro had spoken out against Trump’s claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

  In a statement on Sunday, the Democrat thanked Pennsylvanians for giving him “the honor of a lifetime to give me the chance to serve you as Pennsylvania’s next Governor.”

  “While my name was on the ballot, it was always your rights on the line,” Shapiro wrote. “I believe this Governor’s race was a test for each of us to decide what kind of Commonwealth and what kind of country that we want to live in. It was a test of whether or not we valued our rights and freedoms, and whether we believed in opportunity for all Pennsylvanians.”

  “I humbly write to you as your Governor-elect knowing that you met this moment,” he said.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 11/14/2022 – 23:00

• Senator Cotton Vs. Progressive Foreign Policy
  Senator Cotton Vs. Progressive Foreign Policy

  Authored by Peter Berkowitz via RealClear Wire,

  

  Responsible foreign policy in a free and democratic nation-state is a matter of balance. Interest and principle; the logic of geopolitics and the sway of tradition, faith, and political ideology; force of arms and diplomatic finesse; national interest and alliances; spheres of influence and the laws binding all nations; necessity and justice – these and more must be constantly combined and reconciled to meet the demands of the moment and long-term strategic objectives. The Biden administration has thrown this combining and reconciling out of whack.

  Despite President Trump’s bluster and bravado, his administration transmitted to the Biden administration a variety of foreign-policy accomplishments. Foremost among them was reorientation of U.S. diplomacy around the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party to American freedom and prosperity and to the nation’s interest in preserving a free and open international order.

  In addition, the Trump administration revived the Quad – Japan, India, and Australia, along with the United States – to advance shared interests in the Indo-Pacific. It withdrew from the Iran deal, which omitted reliable mechanisms for monitoring Tehran’s nuclear programs and put the terrorism-exporting Islamic republic on a clear timetable to join the nuclear club. It brokered the Abraham Accords, inaugurating a new era of comity between Israel and Arab nations. It persuaded several NATO partners to meet – or come closer to fulfilling – their agreed-upon obligations to fund the alliance. It fostered U.S. self-reliance by encouraging development of domestic oil and natural gas. And it reasserted control over America’s southern border, substantially reducing the influx of illegal immigrants.

  Biden and his team laudably followed the Trump administration in breaking with decades of engagement with China by recognizing that the CCP acts as a strategic competitor determined to reshape the world order to suit the party’s authoritarian convictions. But Biden’s diplomacy has left America in a weaker position than the one his White House inherited.

  The Biden administration opened the southern border, producing record numbers of non-citizens illegally entering the country and permitting the importation of deadly drugs. It restricted production of domestic oil and natural gas, which enriched oil-and-gas-rich Russia and increased European dependence on Vladimir Putin; then, when U.S. gasoline prices predictably skyrocketed, the Biden administration went hat in hand to Venezuela and Saudi Arabia (despite during the 2020 campaign Biden scorning the Kingdom as a “pariah”) pleading for them to pump more oil. It entreated Iran to conclude a second nuclear deal which, like the first, would lack adequate monitoring procedures and provide Tehran tens of billions of dollars in relief while allowing the ayatollahs to continue to develop ballistic missiles and foment terror and sectarian strife throughout the region. It strained to pronounce the words “Abraham Accords” let alone celebrate the historic agreements. And the Biden administration’s calamitously ill-conceived withdrawal from Afghanistan cast doubt in friends’ minds about America’s competence and trustworthiness and emboldened adversaries to surmise that the United States need not be feared.

  To the United States’ detriment, Biden administration foreign policy reflects the spirit and duplicates the consequences of Obama administration foreign policy. To take one example, in August 2013, in the Syrian civil war, President Bashar al-Assad attacked adversaries with the chemical agent sarin. Instead of enforcing his openly declared red line – and decades after the Soviet Union’s expulsions from the region – Obama invited Moscow back into the Levant to preside over removal of Assad’s chemical weapons. Six months later, on February 20, 2014, Putin invaded Ukraine. Similarly, on February 24, 2022 – almost exactly eight years later and six months after President Biden’s August 2021 Afghanistan debacle – Putin again invaded Ukraine. By misjudging foes and leaving friends high and dry, the Obama and Biden administrations dishonored the nation, encouraged aggression, and eroded world order.

  The continuities between the two Democratic administrations are not a matter of bad luck, overpowering events, or impersonal and irresistible forces, argues Sen. Tom Cotton. In “Only the Strong: Reversing the Left’s Plot to Sabotage American Power,” Cotton (an old friend whom I’ve known since his undergraduate days at Harvard) contends that the method to the messes made by Presidents Obama and Biden stems from their progressive convictions and dispositions. With characteristic forthrightness, shrewdness, and tenacity, he sets forth a devastating indictment of the progressive mindset in foreign affairs. He also provides a blistering critique of the deleterious policy choices and ham-handed execution of military operations and diplomacy to which, for more than half a century, progressivism has disposed Democratic presidents. His goal is “to reclaim the tradition of American strength.”

  Cotton knows full well that over the last half century conservatives, too, have made costly foreign-policy errors. But his analysis, informed by serious study of American political ideas and institutions, reveals a crucial difference: Whereas conservatives go wrong when they depart from their principles, which derive from the American founding, progressives do damage by acting on their principles, which repudiate the Founders’ wisdom.

  Cotton contrasts the Founders’ sobriety to progressives’ utopianism. The Founders “built America on eternal principles and timeless truths” rooted in a realistic assessment of human nature. They knew that human beings were unequal in many respects and prone to selfishness and shortsightedness but also inclined to cooperate to achieve common goods and, when put to the test, capable of self-sacrifice and nobility. The Founders embraced the Declaration of Independence’s self-evident truths: Human beings are equally endowed with natural and unalienable rights; government’s chief purpose is to secure these rights; and just power derives from the consent of the governed and is limited by what is necessary and proper to secure citizens’ rights.

  Progressivism arose in the late 19^th century and early 20^th century in opposition to the Founders’ ideas about human nature and government. Progressives tended to deny that human nature served as a moral guide and political standard. Instead, they supposed that science and enlightenment could steadily perfect human beings, and they placed their faith in a theory of history as ineluctably impelling humanity towards peace, prosperity, and happiness. Owing to the elites’ moral improvement and intellectual refinement coupled with the people’s persisting backwardness, progressives argued, government must be expanded beyond the Constitution’s obsolete limits to enable officials to instruct and improve ordinary voters.

  Opinions about human nature and government shape accounts of America’s dealings with other nations. The Founders, Cotton stresses, fashioned a “hard-nosed” foreign policy that made a priority in a dangerous world of ensuring the American people’s safety, freedom, and prosperity. The flux of circumstance, the Founders readily acknowledged, compelled prudent statesmen to adjust policies to achieve America’s abiding national interests. President Reagan’s diplomacy, culminating in the U.S.-led victory in the Cold War, epitomizes, for Cotton, a foreign policy that secures American freedom and prosperity through a blend of principle, competence, and courage.

  In line with the belief that history drives humanity’s unification and perfection, progressive foreign policy tended to put the international community first. Progressives appealed to a transnational corps of supposedly disinterested technocrats, diplomats, and judges to overcome great-power politics and make war obsolete by crafting rules, regulations, and agreements that knit together all peoples and nations in a global society under unified government.

  In practice, argues Cotton, the progressive sensibility issues in dithering and inconstancy, overestimation of America’s persuasive powers, underestimation of adversaries’ ruthlessness, and aversion to use of American military force. The senator chronicles the high price paid by the nation – and military men and women in particular – for progressive heedlessness and irresoluteness. His “brutally frank” examination covers President Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs; President Johnson and the Vietnam War; President Carter and the Iran hostage crisis; President Clinton and Somalia; President Obama and Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan as well as Syria and Iran; and President Biden and Afghanistan and Iran.

  To secure anew the American people’s freedom and prosperity, Cotton argues, we must recover the Founders’ wisdom, rebuild the military, strengthen the southern border, achieve energy independence, distinguish friends – including non-democratic ones – from foes, maintain our global network of partners, and gear up to prevail in the strategic competition launched by China.

  “Only the strong,” Cotton concludes, “can defend a city on a hill.” This stirring image does not mean that the patriotic warrior’s grit, discipline, and courage alone secure justice.

  Fidelity to America’s founding principles and the finest in its constitutional traditions obliges America also to educate its young people in, rather than against, constitutional democracy. Such fidelity fosters the political cohesiveness that enables partisans of many stripes to recognize one another as fellow citizens. And it disposes a responsible U.S. foreign policy to champion human rights while respecting the harsh realities of world affairs and the diversity of other peoples and nations.

  Striking the right balance is the fullest and truest expression of national strength.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 11/14/2022 – 22:00

• Ugly Chinese Data Dump Misses Across The Board, Pushing Futures Higher On Stimmy Hopes
  Ugly Chinese Data Dump Misses Across The Board, Pushing Futures Higher On Stimmy Hopes

  Instead of delaying the largely meaningless GDP print, maybe Xi should have instructed his henchmen to push back on the latest retail sales/industrial production data dump which was once again confirmed that China’s economy is a walking, tocking timebomb.

  In short, everything missed:

  • October Retail sales -0.5% Y/Y, missing exp. +0.7%
  • October Industrial Output +5.0% Y/Y, missing exp. +5.3%
  • Jan-Oct Fixed Investment 5.8%, missing exp. 5.9%
  • Jan-Oct. residential property sales -28.2% y/y vs -28.6% in Jan.-Sept.
  • Oct jobless rate 5.5% vs 5.5% in Sept.

  And visually:

  

  Some more details: retail sales missed by 1.1 standard deviations, and industrial production by 0.6 standard deviations; fixed asset investment which reflects government efforts to stimulate the economy was the closest to consensus. Property investment missed by 0.9 standard deviations, and remains in deep contraction for the year. Unemployment met consensus for 5.5%.

  While stocks initially slid on the news, futures traded up to session highs as the across the board miss – similar to last week’s US CPI – was seen as encouraging for equities and negative for yuan on the expectation that these numbers could spark further easing. Also, recall that the latest Chinese CPI and PPI data showed that China is now in outright deflation, meaning the bar for further easing is getting lower by the day, especially since the post congress environment seems focused on economic revival.

  

  To be sure, as Bloomberg notes, policy, especially monetary, still has a lot to do — note that the total social financing data last week registered a 2.5 standard deviation miss versus consensus, the biggest shortfall since April.

  One final quick note: Beijing was quick to blame the dismal economic data on the latest round of covid outbreaks and resulting lockdowns, which is precisely why Xi continues to use Covid Zero as a “justification” for every economic miss, and why as long as China’s economy continues to stagnate – mostly due to the ongoing collapse in housing and property markets – the covid zero scapegoat will remain to divert attention from the real source of economic devastation – the bursting of the housing bubble.

  And yet, with China’s massive population becoming increasingly angry at the relentless lockdowns, the latest property “rescue package” which just passed this weekend, was right in time to allow China to miraculously exit its “national covid nightmare” some time in Q1 2023.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 11/14/2022 – 21:31

• Biden’s Climate Change Policies Work More In China’s Interest: Ex-NSA Officer
  Biden’s Climate Change Policies Work More In China’s Interest: Ex-NSA Officer

  Authored by Venus Upadhayaya and Tiffany Meier via The Epoch Times,

  

  The Biden administration’s focus on climate change can be geopolitically hazardous as green policies can shift power into the hands of China, which has monopolized the supply chain of rare minerals required in the production of renewable energy technology, said Steve Yates, former deputy national security adviser at the White House from 2001–05, in an interview with The Epoch Times’ sister media NTD Television on Nov. 10.

  “I don’t think they found a sustainable path toward the goal they see. Certainly, it has shifted a lot of power towards China. And China has not proven willing to work with them on this either,” said Yates who’s also a senior fellow at the China Policy Initiative Chair of America First Policy Initiative.

  China is the largest investor in renewable energy in the world, domestically and abroad. Five of the world’s six largest solar-module manufacturing companies and the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer are also owned by China, according to a 2017 report from World Resources Institute. China’s Tainqi Lithium is one of the largest manufacturers of lithium-ion batteries, an important component of electric vehicle batteries.

  U.S. policy on climate change hasn’t reduced China’s stakes in the renewable energy market and its near monopoly over the supply chain of rare earth minerals considered indispensable for renewable energy technology production. The latter has been considered a foreign policy challenge for the United States because of its own dependence on China’s rare earth supply chain.

  Yates said the Biden administration should not make policies that support China’s interest in the renewable energy market and should urgently work to catch up by first using the resources it is endowed within the country.

  The U.S. Senate, which remains intensely divided on climate change policies, approved its first international climate change treaty in three decades on Sept. 21 when it approved a 2016 agreement to phase down refrigerant chemicals that are among the worst pollutants.

  By doing so, the United States joined other 136 nations and the European Union in approving the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol that promises to cut down on refrigerant chemicals by 80 percent in the next three decades.

  The legislation is aimed at jumpstarting U.S. solar manufacturing, however, Cullen S. Hendrix, a senior fellow with the Peterson Institute for International Economics said in an analysis that the agreement doesn’t secure U.S. solar supply chains from China, which control 70–80 percent of the global production.

  “[The bill] would help close the gap in solar module production but would leave the United States dependent on China for critical links in the supply chain. This dependence needs to be addressed. The current situation is a significant source of US strategic vulnerability,” said Hendrix.

  

  Economic Destruction

  Yates called the administration’s focus on climate change a “problematic proposition” and said it can destroy the American economy even before the climate delivers disasters, because the green policies can increase fuel prices and likely become the cause of massive inflation.

  “And that’s hard on households,” said Yates. “So hopefully, they will sober up and come back to work with Americans and more broadly in this hemisphere, to do things ourselves without having to rely on them [China].”

  The situation requires that the Biden administration think and act differently, he said.

  “Part of it means focusing with renewed vigor on our own hemisphere, there’s a lot that we could be doing with countries like Brazil or other parts of our hemisphere. And other parts of the world,” he said adding that rather than depending on China’s “carnivorous market,” the United States should also support countries in Asia and Africa to work with the other free world nations to undo China’s monopoly.

  Ironically, the promises China made on climate change go far beyond the tenure of any Chinese leader as well as beyond the commitment bindings by other nations, according to Yates.

  “And so while the United States and Europe might set these bold goals of having a net zero impact by 2030, or 2035, China’s is like 2060. And beyond! So even when they’re making a promise, it’s so far off, that it can’t really be taken seriously,” he said adding that all this while China has continued to be a leading polluter globally.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 11/14/2022 – 21:00

• US Health System Cash Reserves Plummet
  US Health System Cash Reserves Plummet

  By Laura Dyrda of Becker Hospital Review

  Cash reserves, an important indicator of financial stability, are dropping for hospitals and health systems across the U.S.

  

  Both large and small health systems are affected by rising labor and supply costs while reimbursement remains low. St. Louis-based Ascension reported days cash on hand dropped from 336 at the end of the 2021 fiscal year to 259 as of June 30, 2022, the end of the fiscal year. The system also reported accounts receivable increased three days from 47.3 in 2021 to 50.3 in 2022 because commercial payers were slow, especially in large dollar claims.

  Trinity Health, based in Livonia, Mich., also reported days cash on hand dropped to 211 in fiscal year 2022, ending June 30, compared to 254 days at the end of 2021. Trinity attributed the 43-day decrease in cash on hand to “investment losses and the recoupment of the majority of the Medicare cash advances.”

  Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health reported days cash on hand decreased by 69 days in the last year. The 140-hospital health system reported 245 days cash on hand at the 2021 fiscal year’s end June 30, and 176 days for 2022.

  Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pa., said unfavorable trends in the capital market led to investment losses and a drop in days cash on hand from 216 to 150 days in the 2022 fiscal year ending June 30. The health system also had a scheduled repayment of $191.1 million in advance Medicare dollars as well as $25 million in deferred payroll tax payments.

  Philadelphia-based Thomas Jefferson University reported cash on hand for clinical operations dropped by 10.9 days in just the last quarter due to nonoperating investment losses and repaying government advances, which equaled about five days cash on hand. The health system reported 158.5 days cash on hand as of Sept. 30.

  While the large health systems’ days cash on hand are dropping, they still have deep reserves. Smaller hospitals and health systems are in a more dire situation. Doylestown (Pa.) Hospital reported as of Sept. 30 the system had 81 days cash on hand, and Moody’s downgraded the hospital in June after the days cash on hand dropped below 100.

  Kaweah Health in Visalia, Calif., saw reserves plummet since the pandemic began from 130 to 84 days cash on hand. Gary Herbst, CEO of Kaweah Health, blamed lost elective procedures, high labor costs, inflation and more for the system’s financial issues.

  “The COVID-19 pandemic, and its aftermath, have brought District hospitals to the brink of financial collapse,” Mr. Herbst wrote in an open letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom published in the Visalia Times Delta. He asked Mr. Newsom to provide additional funding for public district hospitals. “Without your help, it will soon be virtually impossible for Medi-Cal patients to receive anything but emergency medical care in the State of California.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 11/14/2022 – 20:35

• When Protecting Criminals’ Rights Comes At The Expense Of Victims
  When Protecting Criminals’ Rights Comes At The Expense Of Victims

  Authored by Nikki Goeser & John R. Lott Jr. via RealClear Wire,

  

  It took four years and nine months before Nicolas Cruz was finally sentenced for the murder of seventeen people in the horrific Parkland massacre.

  So much of the legal system focuses on fairness to the criminal; but the damage to the victims and their families as they wait for trial is tremendous. Those who have to testify or give victim impact statements must continually think about what they will say at trial. There is also uncertainty about the verdict and whether the murderer will be punished.

  In the Parkland case, the victims were denied the closure of Cruz receiving the death penalty. 

  We have seen the consequences of trial delays firsthand. Nikki Goeser, the co-author here, helplessly witnessed her husband, Ben, murdered in front of her by her stalker on April 2, 2009. The murderer had long been obsessed with her. Nor was there any doubt about who the murderer was. Hank Wise shot her husband to death in front of 50 witnesses and was filmed on a restaurant’s security video. Incredibly, Nikki is still dealing with the legal fallout from that case. The murderer has continued stalking her, and a new trial, originally scheduled for the third attempt on Nov. 8, now won’t occur until January 2023.

  There was no doubt that he had carefully planned the murder in advance.

  The night before the murder, he had posted on social media: 

  Predator vs. Prey. I know who you are, run. Where will you work where I can’t find you? At home, at dinner, in your sleep, every f***ing waking moment. This is going to be very painful. You’ve pissed me off now. You are about to see my bad side. What kind of life do you have now?! You are forever un-forgiven.

  In the stalker’s truck in the restaurant parking lot the night of Ben’s murder, police found two more guns (a shotgun and rifle), ammo, a baseball bat, binoculars, gloves, rope, and a knife.

  This was a clear-cut case. But the trial was delayed several times and didn’t happen until three years later, on April 9, 2012. Nikki knew she would have to testify. As each trial date approached, she had to prepare herself and relive the horrifying events.

  Victims worry about whether they will do a good job. What will the defense attorney do to them? Nikki couldn’t put it behind her. We know the nightmares that she had to live through. Nightmares that she has continued to live with to this day.

  Unfortunately, the murderer didn’t get the punishment he deserved. He didn’t get the death penalty or even a life sentence. The death penalty is available in Tennessee, but the district attorney in Davidson County opposed using it. Despite all the evidence of premeditation and planning, the liberal judge reduced the sentence to second degree murder. 

  The murderer is still obsessed with Nikki, and she fears his release. He had her lawyer’s address and had been sending her letters before his 2012 trial. Nikki begged the prosecutors and others to stop him, but they didn’t help, so she told her lawyer to stop telling her about the letters. Then, in October 2019, when she researched her book “Stalked and Defenseless,” she reached out to her lawyer and discovered that the murderer had sent many more love letters from prison – including Valentine Day and Christmas Cards.

  She also discovered that the Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) had awarded the murderer three and a half years of early release/good behavior credits even while he continued stalking her from prison.

  When Nikki approached TDOC about revoking those credits, we were both told they would do nothing because they didn’t want to upset the “prisoner rights groups.” 

  We tried a two-pronged strategy. We paid lawyers over $12,000 to help convince prosecutors and police to bring stalking charges. We also spent over $14,000 publicizing her book with the hope that the publicity would help generate prosecutors’ interest and get TDOC to do the right thing. 

  Hiring lawyers got us nowhere. Being on national news shows also didn’t do the trick. Few people have the contacts or resources we have, but it seemed hopeless despite all our efforts. Finally, a federal prosecutor got involved when a local television news show in Nashville (WSMV-TV) carried Nikki’s story in July 2020, shortly before the statute of limitations was to expire.

  But it has been over three years since she learned of this stalking. A trial scheduled for Nov. 8 is delayed for a fourth time until some still-to-be–determined date in January. Again, these delays take an emotional toll. Nikki must again mentally prepare herself for testifying, reliving her fears and dealing with nightmares in stressful anticipation of trial, only to have the trial delayed again.

  Part of the delay has been due to the murderer claiming insanity. His lawyer claims he is too obsessed with her to be responsible for his actions. His defense during the murder trial was that he had delusional disorder and erotomania, the delusional belief that their target of obsession loves them and that there is a relationship. The murderer has also made threatening comments about what will happen if Nikki finds another person in her life. Understandably, Nikki is extremely fearful about his future release, knowing what he has already proven he is capable of.

  It has been thirteen years since Nikki’s stalker murdered her husband. Yet, she still lives with that horror. Trial delays may occasionally help to ensure a fair trial for the criminal, but they always put victims and their families through hell over and over again. With so many people becoming victims of crime these days, we need to realize that the damage to victims often lasts many years after the crime.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 11/14/2022 – 20:10

• Jeff Bezos Hands Dolly Parton $100 Million To Distribute Among Charities
  Jeff Bezos Hands Dolly Parton $100 Million To Distribute Among Charities

  Jeff Bezos may force his warehouse employees to pee in bottles, but when it comes to making headlines for charitable giving, the Amazon founder has scored an optics win – handing $100 million to 76-year-old country music star Dolly Parton as part of the ‘Bezos Courage and Civility award.’

  

  The award recognizes “leaders who aim high, find solutions and who always do it with civility,” who are then tasked with distributing the $100 million to charities of their choosing, according to Bezos’ girlfriend Lauren Sanchez.

  “The woman you’re about to meet embodies these ideals so thoroughly. She gives with her heart. What she’s done for kids, literacy and so many other things is just incredible,” Bezos said before presenting the award to Parton.

  We’ve just announced a new Courage and Civility award recipient — @DollyParton, who leads with her heart, and will put this $100 million award to great use helping so many people. She joins prior awardees, @VanJones68 and @Chefjoseandres. Congrats, Dolly! pic.twitter.com/dzTuoGVp3G

  — Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) November 12, 2022

  “When people are in a position to help, you should help, and I know that I’ve always said I try to put my money where my heart is. I will do my best to do good things with this money,” Parton said in response to the award.

  More via The Epoch Times,

  Bezos began handing out the award in 2021. On Twitter, the world’s second-wealthiest person said Parton joined activist Van Jones, who served as founding CEO of the REFORM Alliance and Dream Corps, and chef and humanitarian Jose Andres, who established World Central Kitchen, which provides food in the immediate aftermath of disasters, as recipients.

  ‘No Child Should Ever Have to Suffer’

  Parton is no stranger to charitable donations, having donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University’s Medical Center (VUMC) in Nashville for pediatric infectious disease research earlier this year.

  The donation was used in part to help aid research into COVID-19 and diagnosing and treating infections in children with cancer.

  “I love all children. No child should ever have to suffer, and I’m willing to do my part to try and keep as many of them as I can as healthy and safe as possible,” Parton said in a statement at the time.

  The singer-songwriter made a previous $1 million gift to VUMC in April 2020 in honor of her longtime friend, Dr. Naji Abumrad, to help aid researchers in finding a cure for COVID-19.

  Parton has also donated to a number of other charitable organizations including the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, Save the Music Foundation, the Boot Campaign, and Cancer Research UK. She has also worked with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to raise awareness and help stop dog owners from chaining up the animals and leaving them outside.

  Additionally, Parton herself has also founded multiple charities, including the Dollywood Foundation, which was founded in 1988 and under which the Imagination Library program was established. That program spans over five countries and gifts over 1 million free books each month to children around the world.

  The singer was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame earlier this month after previously declining the invitation, admitting she felt that she “hadn’t earned the right.”

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  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 11/14/2022 – 19:45

• A Shocking Defense Of Crypto From JPMorgan: "The FTX Collapse Will Be A Massive Ramp For Institutional Adoption"
  A Shocking Defense Of Crypto From JPMorgan: “The FTX Collapse Will Be A Massive Ramp For Institutional Adoption”

  With many commentators mistakenly equating one person’s record-breaking fraud – namely SBF hubris that he has full immunity from prosecution just because he is a prominent democrat donor – with the failings of the entire crypto space (odd how nobody said Jon Corzine bringing MF Global down with his fraud exposed the failings of fiat currencies) over the past 24 hours we have seen two very unexpected voices speaking out in defense of cryptocurrencies.

  The first comes from Deutsche Bank which notes that just one year ago, in November 2021, the price of one Bitcoin exceeded $65,000, hitting an all time high, whereas just last week, Bitcoin hit a two-year low at just below $16,000 and the FTX crypto exchange deal collapsed.

  But while DB’s Marion Laboure writes that investors have suffered significant losses, she also believes “this second “crypto winter” will be a net positive because the FTX collapse will edge the crypto ecosystem closer to the established financial sector.” Specifically, the DB analyst writes that the FTX crash spotlighted well-known structural issues in the crypto ecosystem: “insufficient reserves, conflict of interest, a lack of regulation and transparency, and unreliable data.” And as a result of the FTX collapse, “market concentration is greater than ever, with Binance being the biggest winner.”

  

  The German bank goes on to note that “every time a major player in the crypto industry fails, the ecosystem suffers a confidence crisis. There are significant consumer and retail losses, but so far there is no systemic risk. However, this confidence crisis requires crypto investors to trust in the “Tinkerbell Effect” even more; in other words, the value of a crypto asset will depend entirely on what people believe it is worth.”

  Tthe Deutsche strategist concludes that “as we have seen, crypto assets are high-risk products that can cause massive personal losses. For this reason, we continue to argue that regulators should quickly require crypto companies to comply with the rules imposed on traditional investment products. This would restrict crypto companies from fishing for financially illiterate consumers while governments develop overarching regulatory frameworks. The need is urgent. Several factors have aligned to create a potentially dismal situation for average consumers who may be susceptible to misleading information.”

  A more surprising defense of crypto came from JPMorgan crypto analyst Steven Alexopoulos, who – just hours after JPM’s Nick Panigirtzoglou said that he expects more contagion and more liquidations as a result of the FTX collapse – wrote that far from being the death knell of the crypto sector, “the collapse of FTX a Painful Step Back but Might Prove to be the Catalyst that Moves Crypto Two Steps Forward.” Below we excerpt from the JPM note (available to pro subs in the usual place).

  With FTX emerging earlier this year as a white knight, bailing out troubled crypto-related companies, the news of FTX itself collapsing this week sent shockwaves through the crypto markets. While this is certainly a major short-term setback, we see the widely publicized collapse of FTX as potentially dramatically accelerating the timeline to which crypto-related regulation will be ushered in (similar to new banking regulation which followed the GFC).

  As a result, we see the news surrounding FTX as one step back, but one that could prove to be the catalyst to move the crypto economy two steps forward (further unlocking the utility value of blockchain). In fact, we see the establishment of a regulatory framework as the needed catalyst to massively ramp the institutional adoption of crypto.

  And the punchline which we have been making ever since the news of the FTX collapse first broke:

  Moreover, while the news of the collapse of FTX is empowering crypto skeptics, we would point out that all of the recent collapses in the crypto ecosystem have been from centralized players and not from decentralized protocols.

  How long before Jamie Dimon, who five years ago infamously warned he would fire any employee who was caught trading bitcoin before capitulating and making crypto a focal point of his bank’s growth, and who now is certainly taking advantage of the crash in crypto to accumulate aggressively having learned his lessons from the first time, becomes one of the most vocal evangelists of digital currencies?

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 11/14/2022 – 19:44

• Trump Says McConnell 'Blew The Midterms'
  Trump Says McConnell ‘Blew The Midterms’

  Authored by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  Former President Donald Trump on Nov. 13 blamed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) after Democrats secured control of the Senate after winning races in Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania.

  “It’s Mitch McConnell’s fault,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Spending money to defeat great Republican candidates instead of backing Blake Masters and others was a big mistake. Giving 4 Trillion Dollars to the Radical Left for the Green New Deal, not Infrastructure, was an even bigger mistake.”

  “He blew the Midterms, and everyone despises him and his otherwise lovely wife, Coco Chow!” Trump added, referring to former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.

  Trump-endorsed tech entrepreneur Blake Masters lost to incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) in Arizona’s Senate race by more than 127,000 votes, or about 5.3 percent.

  

  The Democrats will have at least 50 seats, after Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) won reelection by defeating Republican challenger Adam Laxalt in Nevada’s Senate race. So far, only one Senate seat has flipped, with Democrat Lt. Gov. John Fetterman defeating Republican candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s Senate race. Fetterman will replace retiring Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.).

  The Georgia Senate race remains undecided, with a runoff election scheduled for December after neither Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) nor Republican Herschel Walker secured more than 50 percent of the vote.

  The GOP is still in the position to retake control of the House. Republicans have 212 seats and Democrats have 201, according to data from Decision Desk, which The Epoch Times uses in its Election 2022 map. It requires 218 seats to take control of the lower chamber of Congress.

  In a separate Truth Social post earlier on Sunday, Trump shared an article titled “After Epic Failure, Growing Chorus Of Senators Signals It’s Time For McConnell To Go,” which argues that McConnell must be removed from the Senate Republican leadership.

  “Agree with this 100%!” Trump wrote, referring to the article. “Mitch McConnell is a disaster for the Republican Party and the Country.

  “He should have improved Infrastructure to fix it, not the Green New Deal, wrapped up like Infrastructure. He gave the Democrats 4 Trillion Dollars to throw out the window, and backed bad candidates like Lisa Murkowski,” Trump added.

  The Federalist article, published on Nov. 11, said McConnell “sabotaged Republicans in the 2022 midterms” by “pulling spending from competitive GOP candidates such as Blake Masters” and spending money against Kelly Tshibaka in Alaska.

  Trump-endorsed Tshibaka, a Republican who was a former Alaska Department of Administration Commissioner, has a 1.38-percent-lead (pdf) over incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). The winner has not been declared.

  Senate Republicans are reportedly scheduled to hold leadership elections on Nov. 16. However, some are calling for the vote to be delayed until after the Senate runoff election in Georgia is completed.

  “Think about it – if we hold leadership elections on Wednesday, there’d be more campaigning done in a high-school class president election than in the most deliberative body in the world,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) wrote on Twitter. “It is absurd. These elections need to be delayed.”

  “It makes no sense for Senate to have leadership elections before GA runoff,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) wrote on Twitter. “We don’t yet know whether we’ll have a majority & Herschel Walker deserves a say in our leadership.

  “Critically, we need to hear a specific plan for the next 2 yrs from any candidate for leadership,” Cruz wrote.

  Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Senator-elect Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) have already said that Republicans need new Senate leadership. However, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) told CBS News on Sunday that he will back McConnell as Senate GOP leader.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 11/14/2022 – 19:20

• Here Is What Warren Buffett Bought And Sold In Q3
  Here Is What Warren Buffett Bought And Sold In Q3

  It’s 13F season and while we will have a comprehensive summary of what hedge funds did in Q3 (which ended 45 days ago) – though we have already discussed on several occasions that using real-time data, hedge funds massively derisked after suffering staggering losses in Q2 and Q3 – we start our reporting with what Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway did.

  Which actually wasn’t all that much: the reported value of Berkshire’s long-only equity portfolio declined modestly from $300BN to $296BN, with only modest underlying changes. Here are the most notable ones:

  • Added a new position in Taiwan Semiconductor (it just made the top 10 with at $4.1 billion as of Sept 30); and much smaller positions in Louisiana Pacific ($297 million) and Jefferies ($12.8 million).
  • Exited one position: what was formerly a $180 million stake in STORE Capital
  • Added to holdings in Chevron, Occidental, Paramount, Calenese, and RH:
    • Occidental: 35.8 million shares, up 23% to 194.4 million valued at $11.9 billion, representing 21% of shares outstanding
    • Chevron Corp.: 3.92 million, up 2.4% to 165.4 million valued at $23.8 billion, representing 8.4% of shares outstanding
    • RH: 190,000, up 8.8% to 2.36 million valued at $580.7 million, representing 9.9% of shares outstanding
    • Paramount Global Class B: 12.8 million, up 16% to 91.2 million valued at $1.74 billion, representing 15% of shares outstanding
    • Celanese Corp.: 553,469, up 6% to 9.71 million valued at $877.2 million, representing 9% of shares outstanding
  • Trimmed holdings in Activision, US Bancorp, BofNY Mellon, Kroger, and General Motors:
    • U.S. Bancorp: 42 million shares, down 35% to 77.8 million valued at $3.14 billion, representing 5.2% of shares outstanding
    • Activision Blizzard Inc.: 8.26 million, down 12% to 60.1 million valued at $4.47 billion, representing 7.7% of shares outstanding
    • Bank of New York Mellon Corp.: 10.1 million, down 14% to 62.2 million valued at $2.4 billion, representing 7.7% of shares outstanding
    • Kroger Co.: 2.17 million, down 4.1% to 50.3 million valued at $2.2 billion, representing 7% of shares outstanding
    • General Motors Co.: 2.88 million, down 5.4% to 50 million valued at $1.6 billion, representing 3.4% of shares outstanding

  Berkshire’s largest position remains Apple at 894.8 million shares of $123.7 billion as of Sept 30. Other top 5 holdings are:

  • Bank of America Corp.: unchanged at 1.01 billion valued at $30.5 billion
  • Chevron Corp.: up 3.92 million, to 165.4 million valued at $23.8 billion, representing 8.4% of shares outstanding
  • Coca-Cola Co.: unchanged at 400 million valued at $22.4 billion
  • American Express Co.: unchanged at 151.6 million valued at $20.5 billion

  Full details of all Berkshire Q3 moves can be found in the table below.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 11/14/2022 – 18:52

• Tech Breakthrough Could Slash Fertilizer Emissions
  Tech Breakthrough Could Slash Fertilizer Emissions

  By Brian Westenhaus of OilPrice.com

  

  Tokyo Institute of Technology researchers have developed a metal nitride catalyst containing an active metal (Ni) on a lanthanum nitride support that is stable in presence of moisture. The goal is to cut the energy requirements of the Haber-Bosch process, which converts nitrogen and hydrogen to ammonia. Plus, since the catalyst doesn’t contain ruthenium, it presents an inexpensive option for reducing the carbon footprint of ammonia production.

  The research report has been published in Angewandte Chemie. The Haber-Bosch process, which is commonly used to synthesize ammonia (NH3)-the foundation for synthetic nitrogen fertilizers-by combining hydrogen (H2) and nitrogen (N2) over catalysts at high pressures and temperatures, is one of the most important scientific discoveries that has helped improve crop yields and increase food production globally.

  However, the process requires high fossil fuel energy inputs due to its requirements of high temperatures and pressure. Hydrogen used for this process is produced from natural gas (mainly methane). This hydrogen-producing process is energy-consuming and accompanies huge emission of carbon dioxide.

  To overcome these issues, various catalysts have been developed to allow the reaction to proceed under milder conditions using hydrogen produced by water electrolysis via renewable energy. Among them are nitride-based catalysts that contain active metal nanoparticles like nickel and cobalt (Ni, Co) loaded on lanthanum nitride (LaN) supports. In these catalysts, both the support and the active metal are involved in the production of NH3. The active metal splits the H2 while the LaN support contains nitrogen vacancies and nitrogen atoms in its crystal structure that adsorb and activate nitrogen (N2).

  While these catalysts are inexpensive (since they avoid using ruthenium, which is costly), their catalytic performance is degraded in the presence of moisture, with the LaN support transforming into lanthanum hydroxide (La(OH)3).

  The researchers from China and Japan led by Professor Hideo Hosono from the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), Japan, have developed a chemically stable catalyst that is stable in the presence of moisture. Taking inspiration from stable rare-earth compounds containing chemical bonds between a rare-earth metal (in this case, La) and a metal, they incorporated aluminum atoms into the LaN structure and synthesized a chemically stable La3AlN support containing La-Al bonds that prevent lanthanum atoms from reacting with moisture.

  Prof Hosono explained the La-Al-N support along with the active metals, such as nickel and cobalt (Ni, Co), was able to produce NH3 at rates similar to that with conventional metal nitride catalysts and could maintain a stable production when fed with nitrogen gas-containing moisture. “The Ni- or Co-loaded La-Al-N catalysts showed no distinct degradation following exposure to 3.5% moisture,” said Prof. Hosono.

  While the Al atoms stabilized the support, the lattice nitrogen and nitrogen defects present in the doped support enabled the synthesis of ammonia in a manner similar to the conventional active metal/rare-earth metal nitride catalysts. “Lattice nitrogen as well as nitrogen vacancy in La-Al-N play a key role in N2 adsorption, with the La-Al-N support and the active metal Ni being responsible for N2 and H2 absorption and activation, respectively,” added Prof. Hosono.

  The Haber-Bosch process is an energy-intensive chemical reaction, accounting for about 1 % of global annual carbon dioxide emissions. While alternative environmentally friendly approaches for NH3 production are being investigated, introducing inexpensive catalysts could provide immediate benefits by allowing the process to operate under milder conditions.

  ***

  The Haber-Bosch process might just lock back up more CO2 in plant growth than the process produces.

  Then the ammonia business has lately been immensely profitable. That and the past decade has seen ammonia for fertilizer increase about 10 fold in price.

  It’s enough to make almost everyone hope this technology will scale up commercially and not fall into the clutches of the fertilizer barons.

  It will be interesting to see which technology prevails. Splitting water isn’t energy free but neither is splitting hydrogen from the methane of natural gas.

  If this technology isn’t disappeared, we might finally find out.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 11/14/2022 – 18:30

• Ukraine Backs UN Vote To Send Israel To International Court While Begging For Arms
  Ukraine Backs UN Vote To Send Israel To International Court While Begging For Arms

  Despite Ukraine for months essentially begging the Israeli government to supply it with lethal weapons amid the Russian invasion, Ukraine voted at the UN to send Israel to the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ).

  The UN resolution was voted on in the General Assembly on Friday, and it urged an international investigation into Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands, as well as “annexation” activities and alleged human rights abuses against Palestinians. Ukraine’s representative registered a “yes” vote, and the resolution will now proceed to the next stage (a Generally Assembly plenary, likely next month), given it passed with 98 countries in favor, 17 countries opposed and 52 abstentions.

  🇺🇦 Ukraine: Begs Israel to provide it with advanced offensive weapons

  🇺🇦 Also Ukraine: Votes in the UN to take Israel to International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity 🤣

  You can’t make this up 🤡 pic.twitter.com/srdt26qzpc

  — Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) November 13, 2022

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  Israel was livid following the vote, and summoned the Ukrainian ambassador to issue a formal rebuke and reprimand.

  “Ukraine’s support of the UN resolution ‘Israeli Practices’, denying Jewish ties to Temple Mount and calling for ICJ advisory opinion is extremely disappointing,” Israeli envoy Michael Brodsky stated. “Supporting anti-Israeli initiatives in the UN doesn’t help to build trust”.

  The United States of course voted against the draft resolution, while interestingly both Russia and Ukraine voted in favor. 

  The UN vote is deeply awkward and somewhat embarrassing timing for Ukraine given President Zelensky has recently lashed out publicly against Israel for refusing to send its Iron Dome anti-air defense system.

  In October, Zelensky said in a virtual speech to a conference organized by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, “Isn’t it time for your state to choose who you are with as well?” In addressing Israeli decision-makers, he then charged that in refusing to send arms Israel is turning “a blind eye to Russian terror”.

  Interestingly, some top officials within the Ukrainian government are also expressing their embarrassment: 

  Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s personal aide, Alexey Arestovych, said Sunday that Ukraine’s recent support of a United Nations resolution against Israel was “a grave mistake.”

  In an online livestream, the close aide to the Ukrainian premier said “Ukraine’s foreign ministry’s position was illogical and unacceptable.”

  “We’re teaming up with Russia and Iran who are attacking us, and distancing ourselves from Israel — which we want as an ally,” Aristovich said.

  “Ukraine must at least abstain from such votes,” he added.

  

  Certainly Israel is now going to be much less willing to even contemplate sending lethal arms to the Ukrainians, even despite pressure from the White House to do more than just humanitarian or non-lethal aid.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 11/14/2022 – 18:05

• Russia Price Cap Could Threaten India's Oil Supplies
  Russia Price Cap Could Threaten India’s Oil Supplies

  By John Kemp, senior market analyst at Reuters

  India would be one of the countries most exposed if Russia refuses to sell crude oil at the capped price under proposed sanctions to be imposed by the United States and the European Union.  In 2021, India was the world’s third-largest crude importer (214 million tonnes) after China (526 million tonnes) and the United States (305 million tonnes) (“Statistical review of world energy”, BP, 2022).

  

  India and China rely on imports by tanker from the Middle East, Russia and other regions, in contrast to the United States, which receives most of its imports by pipeline from neighbouring Canada.

  India’s domestic crude and condensate production has been stuck at 30-40 million tonnes per year for the last two decades, data from India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas shows.

  

  By contrast, domestic petroleum consumption has doubled to 202 million tonnes in 2021 from 103 million tonnes in 2002 (“Snapshot of India’s oil and gas data”, Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, Nov. 10).

  

  In the first ten months of 2022, India consumed a seasonal record 182 million tonnes, surpassing the previous peak of 178 million in 2019, before the pandemic.

  

  As a lower-middle income country experiencing rapid industrialisation and urbanisation, India’s consumption is growing fast but its consumers are very sensitive to both price changes and the economic cycle.
   
  Consumption has been growing by around 7% per year in the last 12 months, though there were signs of a possible slowdown to around half that rate in October.

  

  Voracious Oil Intake

  India’s refinery crude processing capacity increased to 251 million tonnes per year in 2021 from 115 million tonnes per year in 2002, and the country has emerged as a major exporter of refined products.

  

  In 2022, India has become a big buyer of Russia’s crude following that country’s invasion of Ukraine and sanctions imposed on its exports in response by the United States, European Union and their allies.

  India and China have absorbed additional crude and products imports from Russia, allowing the United States and the European Union to take more crude and fuels from non-sanctioned sources.

  Because of its import dependence and price-sensitive consumers, India would be extremely vulnerable should Russia retaliate by refusing to sell crude and fuels at the capped price.

  The resulting shortfall in physical crude supplies and surge in prices for both crude and fuels would hit refiners and domestic consumers hard.

  Selling the Price Cap

  U.S. and EU policymakers have said repeatedly they will set the cap at a level to ensure Russia continues exporting and any halt or reduction to exports would be irrational.

  In remarks on Nov. 11 on a a visit to New Delhi, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the price cap would work in India’s interest by giving it extra leverage to purchase Russian crude at deep discounts.

  Russian oil “is going to be selling at bargain prices and we’re happy to have India get that bargain”, Yellen told reporters (“India can buy as much Russian oil as it wants, outside price cap, Yellen says”, Reuters, Nov.11).

  Yellen has become the chief advocate for the price cap concept as the Biden administration attempts to sell the idea to sceptical oil buyers and governments in Asia.

  India is also an increasingly important diplomatic partner as the United States develops an “Indo-Pacific strategy” to counter China, so the U.S. administration has been anxious to allay fears about the price cap’s impact.

  In recent months, the U.S. administration has walked back plans for an ambitious and strictly enforced price cap given concerns about the impact on prices, inflation and the economy at home and in importers like India.

  Remarks in the last few weeks have suggested the administration will declare the cap a success if there is any reduction in oil prices received by Russia, whether deals are done under the cap or not.

  Further SPR Releases

  In contrast to the United States and China, India has limited strategic oil reserves to protect itself from any interruption of imports.

  Ultimately, if there is any disruption to Russia’s petroleum exports, the United States will have to ensure India’s refineries remain supplied by releasing more barrels from its own Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

  Even after recent drawdowns, the SPR contains 396 million barrels of crude, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, equivalent to roughly 50-55 million tonnes, at standard conversion rates.

  The reserve is a fixed stock so it cannot replace the flow of Russia petroleum exports indefinitely, and the crude left in the reserve is not a particularly good match for Russia’s export grades.

  But further SPR releases could buy policymakers and India’s refiners time and are likely in the event Russia retaliates against the price cap.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 11/14/2022 – 17:40

• FedEx Freight To Begin Driver Furloughs Next Month
  FedEx Freight To Begin Driver Furloughs Next Month

  By Mark Solomon of FreightWaves

  

  FedEx Freight, the less-than-truckload arm of FedEx Corp. and the nation’s largest LTL carrier, said Saturday it will furlough an undetermined number of drivers starting in early December.

  The furloughs are scheduled to last about 90 days, during which time affected workers will continue to receive health benefits and will be allowed to file for unemployment benefits in their respective states of residence. Some eligible employees will be offered permanent transfer opportunities to other markets that have hiring needs, the unit said in a statement.

  The furloughs are expected to affect a small number of drivers, and not all facilities will be targeted, said Miranda Yarbro, a FedEx Freight spokesperson. The furloughs will be voluntary, Yarbro added.

  “Because of our previous experience with furlough and with the incentives we are offering, we are expecting employees to volunteer to meet the business need,” Yarbro said in an email.

  The unit employs about 45,000 people. It was not immediately clear how many drivers it employs.

  The action was taken in response to slowing macroeconomic conditions that have impacted LTL demand in recent weeks, the unit said. The LTL segment, which has shown very strong growth coming out of the pandemic, has seen volumes level off recently due to economic uncertainty caused by high inflation and recession concerns.

  FedEx Freight has been the best performer of FedEx’s three transport business units. Its two larger units, FedEx Express and FedEx Ground, have been hurt by high costs and slower-than-expected demand. FedEx Freight, by contrast, has focused on profitable growth and has been willing to shed unprofitable tonnage to achieve that goal.

  In its fiscal 2023 first quarter, which ended Aug. 31, FedEx Freight’s operating income increased 67%. The gains were driven by actions to improve shipment yields, as well as the positive impact of higher fuel surcharges, the parent reported.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 11/14/2022 – 17:15

• Russians With Dual Citizenship Can Now Be Drafted, New Putin Decree Says
  Russians With Dual Citizenship Can Now Be Drafted, New Putin Decree Says

  On Monday Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree which further seeks to address reported manpower shortages due to the war in Ukraine and after the prior controversial ‘partial mobilization’ order. 

  For the first time, Russians who hold dual citizenship are allowed to be drafted, according to the new decree. This changes the longstanding law stating that dual nationals were exempt from conscription. 

  “Nationals of any country can continue to serve in the Russian army under a contract in the ranks of soldiers, sailors, sergeants and foremen, so long as the individual isn’t under investigation, convicted or has a conviction that hasn’t been expunged, similar to the rules that apply to Russian citizens, according to the decree,” WSJ writes.

  

  This will mark the first time that dual-national Russians can potentially drafted going back to a 1999 regulation. The wording of the law suggests Americans or Israelis, or dual citizens of any other countries who previously warned of this possibility could face conscription.

  While this could possibly target a minority of Russians holding dual citizens from Western countries, the decree appears aimed primarily at tapping citizens hailing from border and regional countries. 

  “According to some military observers the easing of the citizenship regulations are primarily aimed at nationals from countries in Russia’s near abroad, such as in Central Asia, whose citizens saturate the migrant-worker labor force in Russia,” the WSJ report continues.

  Russia is commonly estimated to have at least half-a-million people claiming dual citizenship. However, many may have fled the country in the weeks after Putin’s September 21st partial mobilization order. 

  According to a recent report in The Moscow Times, many of the hundreds of thousands of Russians who initially fled on fears of being drafted and sent to Ukraine have returned home due to work and economic stability factors. 

  “Draft-age men who left Russia in fear of being sent to fight in Ukraine are returning home after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced an end to the country’s chaotic mobilization that swept hundreds of thousands into the Armed Forces,” The Moscow Times wrote. “After the initial rush to get out of the country spurred by rumors of border closures, many found themselves facing the tough reality of trying to make ends meet in an unfamiliar city.”

  That September order saw some 700,000 Russian young men flee the country within the weeks following, the Kremlin earlier admitted. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 11/14/2022 – 16:50

• 'Dangerous': Expert Pans Move To Donate Guns, Armored Vehicles To Pro-Beijing Solomons Leader
  ‘Dangerous’: Expert Pans Move To Donate Guns, Armored Vehicles To Pro-Beijing Solomons Leader

  Authored by Daniel Y. Teng via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  The Australian Labor government’s decision to gift weapons and armoured vehicles to the Solomons government has been branded “ill-conceived and dangerous” by Pacific expert Cleo Paskal, saying the move is pushing the country one step closer towards civil war.

  On Nov. 2, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) delivered training and around $1.3 million (US$740,000) worth of equipment to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF).

  In a gifting ceremony, the RSIPF delivered 13 armoured police vehicles and 60 Daniels Defense MK18 rifles, according to an AFP statement.

  Four vehicles will be part of a new Mobile Protection Unit that will provide the RSIPF with a “high-visibility presence” in the community and manage any “security threats and incidents” to critical infrastructure.

  

  

  The move drew a sharp response from the leader of the Solomon Islands’ opposition, Matthew Wale.

  “Sucking up to [Prime Minister] Soga and trying to out-compete China! For use, where, and when?” he wrote on Twitter.

  Keeping the Solomons ‘Safe’

  Clinton Smith, acting commander of the AFP, said the package helped keep communities “safe and secure.”

  “The AFP is proud to be the Solomon Islands’ security partner of choice and will continue to work closely with RSIPF officers to ensure they are trained and equipped to provide the Solomon Islands community with an efficient, modern police force,” he said in a statement.

  While Australia’s High Commissioner Lachlan Strahan said, the handover was another landmark in the ongoing security arrangement between both countries.

  “We have been with each other through thick and thin. As Prime Minister Sogavare has said, our partnership is based on our shared duty to ensure that our region remains peaceful, prosperous, and stable,” he said.

  

  

  The rearmament of the RSIPF first started in 2013 with a commitment from Australia to rearm a “limited number of officers” to ensure the RSIPF was able to deal with criminal threats. The latest move is Phase Two of the rearmament program.

  Beijing was quick to respond, with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announcing a further donation—on top of existing commitments—of two water cannon trucks and other vehicles to the RSIPF.

  Solomons PM Playing Both Sides

  Beijing has ramped up bilateral ties with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Sogavare since his government decided to cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan for Beijing in 2019.

  Since then, Sogavare has moved steadily to shore up power and deepen relations with the CCP.

  In August 2021, Sogavare gave “grants” to 39 of 50 MPs in the national parliament—enough to change the Constitution—using money from a Beijing-backed slush fund.

  In April 2022, Sogavare signed a security pact with Beijing that would allow the CCP to station troops, weapons, and naval ships in the country.

  

  In September, the prime minister managed to secure enough votes to delay the country’s federal election—an election he may lose—claiming the government did not have enough resources to host the 2023 Pacific Games and run a national vote simultaneously.

  “For over a year, he’s been making major moves to show he has no intention of holding an election he will lose and that he is arming himself for the civil war that will result, with the help of his patron China and, inexplicably, Australia,” said Cleo Paskal, Pacific expert and non-resident fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, in an email to The Epoch Times.

  The Australian Labor government has continued a “soft power” offensive—concurrent to similar efforts by the U.S. Biden administration—to win over the Sogavare government, including an SB$100 million pledge to fund the Pacific Games, delivering more regional aid, and now, offering more weaponry.

  “Canberra is in an elite capture race with China that it will lose,” she added. “It’s not going to be able to bribe more, send more weapons, and give international cover to someone who seems on track to kill his fellow citizens. That’s China’s thing, not Australia’s (one hopes).”

  Paskal has long warned that Sogavare plans to trigger some form of civil unrest that will allow his government to deploy the military to consolidate power and delay elections inevitably—a move that has long-term benefits for Beijing.

  Make Peace, Not War

  However, Paskal noted Australia has the ability to use other means to win the influence war in the Pacific.

  “Australia has a very good alternative—fight with ‘peacefare’—China and its authoritarian proxies hate when people come together and build stability from the ground up. That’s exactly what finally enacting the 2000 Townsville Peace Agreement would accomplish,” Paskal said.

  The Townsville Peace Agreement was a roadmap that ended an ongoing civil war in the region and laid the foundation for the future of the country. However, several key steps in the Agreement have yet to be implemented.

  Other suggestions around peacefare include expanding Australia and New Zealand’s migrant worker schemes to ease travel to-and-from the Pacific nations while opening up vast employment opportunities.

  “This alternative future for Australia and New Zealand with our Pacific family would hold a mirror up to the model developing in Honiara under Sogavare and his Beijing backers,” wrote Michael Shoebridge, director of Strategic Analysis Australia, in The Australian newspaper.

  “And it would also end Australia’s decades of failed security and aid-centred assistance to the Pacific, replacing it with a path that is sustainable.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 11/14/2022 – 16:25

• Technical Rally Runs Out Of Gas Despite Dovish Drawl From Fed's #2
  Technical Rally Runs Out Of Gas Despite Dovish Drawl From Fed’s #2

  Over the weekend, we said that with earnings season over, with the lower than expected CPI print in the rearview mirror, and with 4 weeks to go until the next FOMC where just a payrolls report (which may well be the first negative print since the wu-flu) looms, risk has collapsed, and as the following chart from Piper Sandler’s Danny Kirsch shows, the 1-week stradle in the SPX has been slashed in half, and now anticipates just over 2.1% in price movement over the next week, the lowest in almost three months.

  SPX 1 week straddle down to 2.18%…took out all the event risk and looking forward not much on the near term calendar pic.twitter.com/PDocUm570g

  — Danny Kirsch, CFA (@danny_kirsch) November 14, 2022

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  So with fundamentals now largely irrelevant for the next several weeks, what are traders to do? Why listen to Fed speakers, even if they contradict each other as today’s price action demonstrated so amply when first Fed Governor Christopher Waller spooked markets late on Sunday with his hawkish take that policymakers had “a ways to go” before ending interest-rate hikes, before his superior, the Fed’s #2 and vice chair, Lael Brainard, took the mic and whispered soothing words of dovishness, which immediately stopped the selling and sparked a rally that sent the S&P not only above 4,000 but to the highest level in the past two months, before stocks lost steam in the last hour of trading…

  

  … and the Dow Jones pulled back as it was just shy, or less than 2%, from entering a new bull market from the October lows.

  

  Looking beneath the surface, it was another day where energy outperformed…

  

  … while most other sectors lagged.

  

  Elsewhere, after a record two-day surge in Goldman’s most shorted basket, today’s the most shorted names dropped…

  

  … with low-momentum stocks suffering a similar fate, and undoing some of their striking gains from last week.

  

   On the other side of the trade, the chart below shows that high-momentum L/S funds suffered their 2nd worst 2-Day drop in the past 20 years according to Morgan Stanley.

  

  Turning to other asset classes, after plunging last week, and being closed on Friday for Veteran’s day, cash Treasuries went nowhere on Monday …

  

  … as did the dollar which was flat after suffering one of the biggest 2-day drops on record last week.

  

  Finally, here is a chart of the one asset class that everyone is looking at and which prompted the last hour selling: namely cryptos, which were hammered to session lows just minutes before stocks were also hit, and while it remains unclear what prompted the selling – rumor of another exchange run, rumor of another blow up, rumor, rumor, rumor – it is unmistakable that any time cryptos sneeze (and plunge) they drag the rest of the financial world with them.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 11/14/2022 – 16:02

• Jeff Bezos Promises To Give Away Most Of His Fortune To Charity
  Jeff Bezos Promises To Give Away Most Of His Fortune To Charity

  Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the fourth richest person in the world, intends to give away most of his fortune during his lifetime. 

  In an interview with CNN’s Chloe Melas on Saturday at Bezo’s mansion in Washington, DC, speaking alongside his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, he said the bulk of his fortune would go to fighting climate change and unifying humanity. 

  Melas asked if he intends to donate most of his wealth within his lifetime, and Bezos replied: “Yeah, I do.”

  Exclusive: Jeff Bezos tells CNN that he’ll give away the majority of his $124 billion net worth during his lifetime, the first time he’s made such a promise. https://t.co/br4nQKVR3n pic.twitter.com/puR4MFOAAo

  — CNN International (@cnni) November 14, 2022

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  “But the couple’s biggest challenge may be figuring out how to distribute Bezos’ vast fortune. Bezos declined to identify a specific percentage or to provide concrete details on where it would likely be spent,” CNN said. 

  Maybe Bezos wouldn’t commit to a specific figure because, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his net worth has collapsed by 25.6% year-to-date due to a 40% plunge in Amazon shares this year. As of Friday, Bezos is worth $123.9 billion. 

  

  Bezos’ wealth is mostly tied up in Amazon stock.

  

  The 20-minute interview covered many topics, from Bezos’ views on politics to economic turmoil to his space venture where Sanchez plans to visit low-Earth orbit. 

  Bezos has committed $10 billion over the decade, or about 8% of his current net worth, to the Bezos Earth Fund, which Sanchez co-chairs. 

  “The hard part is figuring out how to do it in a levered way,” he said, implying that even as he gives away his billions, he is still looking to maximize his return. “It’s not easy. Building Amazon was not easy. It took a lot of hard work, a bunch of very smart teammates, hard-working teammates, and I’m finding — and I think Lauren is finding the same thing — that charity, philanthropy, is very similar.”

  “There are a bunch of ways that I think you could do ineffective things, too,” he added. “So you have to think about it carefully and you have to have brilliant people on the team.”

  The latest recipient of the billionaire’s money via Bezos Courage and Civility Award, an annual award distributed by Bezos, was country music legend Dolly Parton, who received $100 to donate as she pleases. 

  Oh… and there’s this. 

  Jeff Bezos Says He Will Give Most of His Money to Charity: CNN

  when did he open a crypto exchange?

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) November 14, 2022

   So is the giving all about saving the planet and helping humanity, or is it just a giant tax shield? 

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 11/14/2022 – 15:45

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