Month: March 2023

Wagner Chief Says 70% Of Bakhmut Controlled By His Forces, Warns Momentum Could Stall

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– Wagner Chief Says 70% Of Bakhmut Controlled By His Forces, Warns Momentum Could Stall:

Russia’s Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said Sunday that 70% of Bakhmut is under the control of his forces, according to TASS. But he also said that Ukraine’s armed forces appear to be mobilizing for a major offensive after Russian soldiers maintained the momentum for weeks.

Western media’s coverage of the fight for Bakhmut seems to have waned in the past two weeks, compared with the prior intensity of reporting in early March and February. Kremlin forces have the strategic city on the Donetsk region almost completely surrounded, but there have been reports that their forward advance has stalled.

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Biden Kills Bill To Reverse ESG Investing Rule

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– Biden Kills Bill To Reverse ESG Investing Rule:

The woke industrial complex scored a win on Monday after President Biden issued his first veto since taking office, rejecting a bill that would have reversed a Labor Department rule permitting fiduciaries to consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors when making investment decisions for retirement portfolios.

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Oregon Teacher Caught Asking Students To Describe Their Sexual Fantasies In Short Stories

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– Oregon Teacher Caught Asking Students To Describe Their Sexual Fantasies In Short Stories:

In case you had any doubts about what the end game is for woke ideology being injected into public school curriculum, here is yet another example of a teacher engaging in highly sexualized lessons and course work in a classroom full of minors.

Parents of students attending Churchill High School in Eugene, Oregon were horrified to discover that their kids were being asked to write short stories describing “sexual fantasies” that do not include “penetration or oral sex.” 

The assignment references potential objects to be used in the stories, including candles, massage oil, feathers and flavored syrup.

The health class which featured the assignment is part of a program called OWL (Our Whole Lives).  The curriculum was devised by Unitarian groups working in conjunction with the Oregon Department Of Education.  The OWL course work is deeply embedded in social justice ideology and gender ideology.  Here is a section of the description for curriculum on the OWL home page for Grades K-1:

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First Republic Bank Shares Crash To New Record Low, JPM’s Dimon Reportedly Leading Another Rescue Effort

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– First Republic Bank Shares Crash To New Record Low, JPM’s Dimon Reportedly Leading Another Rescue Effort:

Having dumped $30 billion of deposits into First Republic Bank last week, and the bank then being rumored to be pushing for a capital raise, The Wall Street Journal reports that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is leading discussions with the chief executives of other big banks about fresh efforts to stabilize the troubled regional.

Among the options on the table, the people said, is an investment in First Republic by the banks themselves.

The plan could involve the banks converting some or all of the $30 billion in deposits into a capital infusion, some of the people said.

FRC shares are down over 45% this morning at a new record low…

As a reminder, the San Francisco-based bank’s customers have withdrawn some $70 billion since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.

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Amazon Prepares To Fire Another 9,000 Workers

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– Amazon Prepares To Fire Another 9,000 Workers:

Bloomberg reported that Amazon sent an internal email notifying its employees about an upcoming wave of layoffs, which is part of the company’s continuing strategy to reduce costs amid mounting macroeconomic uncertainty.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy reportedly told employees that an additional 9,000 people would be laid off in the coming weeks.

Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy announced the cuts internally Monday, saying they would occur in the coming weeks and primarily affect Amazon Web Services, human resources, advertising and the Twitch livestreaming service groups. –Bloomberg 

The world’s largest e-commerce company is grappling with sliding online sales growth and bracing for a possible recession.

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There Is No Neutral Option Any More

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– There Is No Neutral Option Any More:

By Benjamin Picton, Senior Strategist at Rabobank

The Neutral Option

So, the Swiss government has brokered a shotgun wedding for Credit Suisse (CS) and UBS: laws are to be changed to get the ring on the finger without putting it to a vote of UBS shareholders. The sticker price is CHF3bn according to Bloomberg, a substantial haircut to CS’s CHF7.4bn market cap when the market closed Friday. Regulators had repeatedly pointed out that CS was well capitalized and enjoyed strong liquidity coverage (even more so after the central bank facility was provided): if so, why was the large discount applied to the value of their equity? Nobody from either side is likely to be dancing at this wedding.

Subsuming CS into UBS raises the risk that instead of healing any sickness, the deal could transfer it to a larger host. Indeed, do the math on the two combined asset bases ($575bn + $1.1trn) compared to the Swiss economy. If a well-capitalised institution with more than $500bn in assets and central bank liquidity backstops was not sufficient to withstand a brief financial panic, will an asset base of 3x prove more resilient? Might the Swiss government want to be kept in the loop about strategic business decisions being taken as a logical result? Does that change political-economy a little? Is there still a neutral option?

Read moreThere Is No Neutral Option Any More