Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
The Judge could place a gag order on Trump, for the entire election cycle.
Talked about on Tucker last night
08:30 in the full show recording.
April is normally a good month for Natural Gas.
"Rallies look likely into late May/June." according to Funstrat's technician Mark Newton.
3/28 Telsey Advisory Group analyst Joseph Feldman reiterates Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) with a Outperform and maintains $540 price target.
FOMO - fear of missing out. Fear of getting fired for not being in the market in Q1 for money managers
I thought Ms Firestone was going to cry on CNBC Halftime today.
Maybe the rules changed since I was in college. At my fraternity, it only took one black ball to prevent a new member, and was a secret vote.
'Florida will not assist in an extradition': DeSantis offers Trump sanctuary after former President's attorney said he was expected to surrender in Manhattan next week following grand jury vote to INDICT him over Stormy Daniels $130,000 hush money
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11921989/Manhattan-grand-jury-votes-indict-Donald-Trump-hush-money-paid-pornstar-Stormy-Daniels.html
Florida Governor and 2024 rival Ron DeSantis offered Donald Trump a partial lifeline on Thursday, saying he would try to thwart the extradition of the former president from his state.
He made his promise after news broke that a Manhattan jury had voted to indict him over $130,000 in hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Trump said Democrats would regret ever persecuting an innocent man when his supporters dump them out of office.
And DeSantis described the prosecution as 'unAmerican' and promised not to help any effort to send Trump to New York to be arrested.
'Florida will not assist in an extradition request given the questionable circumstances at issue with this Soros-backed Manhattan prosecutor and his political agenda,' he said, referring to the fact that Alvin Bragg's election campaign was backed by billionaire activist George Soros.
However, Trump is expected to cooperate. And he is likely to travel to Manhattan next week to be formally arrested, according to a source familiar with the plans, who said the head of his security detail was in New York recently to liaise with prosecutors.
'The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to "Get Trump," but now they've done the unthinkable - indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant election Interference,' Trump said in an emailed statement.
'Never before in our nation's history has this been done.'
The indictment marks the end of a five-year investigation into cash paid to the adult movie star in 2016, allegedly to buy her silence about their affair.
NY grand jury indicts Trump in hush money payment case
Published Thu, Mar 30 20235:37 PM EDTUpdated Moments Ago
(still early, still sealed)
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/30/donald-trump-indicted-in-hush-money-payment-case.html
A New York grand jury indicted Donald Trump in connection with a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels made by his former lawyer Michael Cohen.
Trump will be the first former U.S. president to be charged with a crime.
The indictment stems from Trump’s company describing the reimbursement to Cohen as a legal expense.
Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 before the 2016 presidential election to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump.
10:41 AM EDT, 03/30/2023 (MT Newswires) -- Goldman lowers price target from $55 to $39 on $TFC
Little-Noticed February Vote By Walt Disney World’s Reedy Creek Board “Completely Circumvents” Authority Of New DeSantis-Chosen Overseers
https://deadline.com/2023/03/disney-world-reedy-creek-board-vote-circumvents-desantis-1235313159/
(it's a good thing this wasn't a nuclear arms agreement or end of war treaty. He just isn't ready)
“We’re going to have to deal with it and correct it,” Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board of Supervisors member Brian Aungst Jr. said today of a vote taken by the then Disney-controlled Reedy Creek Improvement District in February. “It’s a subversion of the will of the voters and the Legislature and the governor. It completely circumvents the authority of this board to govern.”
The decision essentially gives Disney power over Walt Disney World’s 27,000 acres near Orlando, an authority that resided with the Disney-controlled Reedy Creek from 1967 until the vote last month. The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District supervisors — appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — were supposed to take over that duty for the state after DeSantis signed a law on February 27 transferring power to his appointees.
DeSantis championed the move to strip Disney of its control of the special district following the company’s opposition to the parental rights bill, dubbed the “don’t say gay” law, but the governor and supporters of the legislation say that it also ends special treatment for one corporation. February’s vote rolled that back.
“This essentially makes Disney the government,” board member Ron Peri said, according to the Orlando Sentinel. “This board loses, for practical purposes, the majority of its ability to do anything beyond maintain the roads and maintain basic infrastructure.”
But in a public meeting today covered by media outlets such as the Sentinel, those appointees revealed that the Reedy Creek board made an end-run around the new arrangement.
DeSantis’ appointees brought legal counsel into their meeting today to assess last month’s agreement by the District. Counsel indicated the new board only recently discovered the agreements, even though they were apparently public. The lawyer called them “unusual” and “suspect,” according to Bob Hasen at WESH 2 news in Orlando.
DeSantis spokeswoman Taryn Fenske, in s statement shared with the Sentinel, called the vote one of Disney’s “last-ditch efforts” to transfer “rights and authorities” to itself. “An initial review suggests these agreements may have significant legal infirmities that would render the contracts void as a matter of law.”
The Walt Disney World resort maintained in a statement to Deadline that “All agreements signed between Disney and the District were appropriate, and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums in compliance with Florida’s Government in the Sunshine law.”
A “declaration of restrictive covenants” related to the Reedy Creek vote last month indicates the agreement is valid until “21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England,” according to the document.
That declaration is known as a Royal lives clause, which is not as unusual to see as it may seem. It provides that a certain right must be exercised within (usually) the lifetime plus 21 years of the last living descendant of a British Monarch who happens to be alive at the time when the contract is made.
The agreement allows Disney to build projects at the highest density and the right to sell or assign those development rights to other district landowners without the board having any say, according to the DeSantis appointees’ legal counsel.
Jesse Waters nailed Lindsey Graham last night
Video in the link
https://dailycaller.com/2023/03/29/jesse-watters-lindsey-graham-restrict-act/
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include comment from a spokesman for Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Fox News host Jesse Watters grilled Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina about his co-sponsorship of the RESTRICT Act Wednesday, asking if the senator read the bill he co-sponsored.
“Did the United States Senate just say we are going to protect you from China by spying on you? Let’s try to get some answers out of Sen. Lindsey Graham who supports this and is here now,” Watters said just prior to Graham appearing on the show. “You have got to be kidding me, Senator. Did you read this?”
The White House announced it would support the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology (RESTRICT) Act, which targets technology from Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, China and Venezuela on March 7, NBC News reported. The legislation does not explicitly name TikTok, but senators supporting the legislation have cited the national-security concerns surrounding the Chinese-owned app.
“I don’t think I support the RESTRICT Act,” Graham told Watters.
“You don’t support this?” Watters asked, “Because you were named as one of the supporters, ‘cause this is garbage.”
Graham co-sponsored the RESTRICT Act, S 686, on Monday, according to congress.gov, joining 20 other senators. Many conservatives criticized the legislation over the potential to be used against American citizens.
“Here’s the problem as I see it. China is the parent company of TikTok and my nieces like TikTok,” Graham said. “I don’t mind them using TikTok. I just don’t want the Chinese government to seize all their data and manipulate the information America sees for political purposes. China is helping drug cartels in Mexico. China is not a friend.”
“On Congress.gov you are listed as one of the co-sponsors,” Watters said. “Maybe it’s like Fetterman when your chief of staff does all your work for you.”
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Feb. 15 to undergo inpatient treatment for depression. A top Fetterman aide told the New York Times that Fetterman’s continued campaigning for the Senate seat after a March 2022 stroke may have caused permanent damage, contradicting a letter released by Fetterman’s campaign last year.
“You have got to go back and talk to the other senators about this,” Watters told Graham. “This thing is nuts. And it’s going to get abused like it always does. We have got clean this up. Can we clean this up?”
“Well, yeah. I mean, number one, I owe you a better explanation than I’m giving you,” Graham said. “John Thune has got a bill to make sure the secretary of Commerce can deal with this, not just TikTok, but the general idea that China – we’re under attack by China. Now, that’s a fact. Chinese Communist Party is stealing American data. Espionage against American businesses is all-time high according to FBI. So, yeah. I’m definitely going to push back against China to be able to steal your data but I want to do it in a constitutionally sound manner.”
Graham also admitted that the co-sponsorship of the legislation without reading it “makes me look bad,” and promised to appear on the show if the legislation really included the provisions Watters criticized.
“Admittedly, it wasn’t Senator Graham’s best interview tonight. It happens. However, I expect Sen. Graham will speak to his support for the Restrict Act and concerns about the Chinese communist party’s control of Tik[T]ok tomorrow,” a spokesman for Graham told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Finally, he said he would be happy to go back on Jesse to discuss the issue further and we look forward to doing that soon.”
As the Federal Reserve's interest-rate hikes sent bond prices plunging last year, some of the country's largest banks used a simple accounting maneuver to help keep billions of dollars of losses from piling up on their books.
They declared that they intended to hold on to large portions of their money-losing bonds until they matured rather than selling them, and they then changed the bonds' accounting labels accordingly. From then on, the bonds would be frozen in time, no matter how far their values fell in the market.
The Wall Street Journal identified six large U.S. banks including Charles Schwab Corp. and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. that together switched the classifications on more than $500 billion of their bond investments last year. For some banks, excluding the unrealized losses from their balance sheets allowed them to report robust levels of capital when in reality their assets were worth much less.
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has drawn fresh attention to a decades-old debate over the accounting rules. Current rules often let companies show vastly different values for the same assets, depending on what they claim they intend to do with them. In addition, the rules often let companies change their stated intentions midstream, which can have outsize impacts on how healthy their balance sheets look.
The six banks were able to flatter their balance sheets with a flick of the accounting ledger. Banks can hold assets as "available for sale," which means they are valued using market prices. Another option is to call them "held to maturity," meaning they won't be sold. These bonds are held at the banks' cost. The logic is that daily market prices aren't relevant to assets that banks wouldn't sell.
The banks' held-to-maturity bonds had a combined $1.14 trillion balance-sheet value as of Dec. 31 , up from $681 billion a year earlier. The increase was mainly due to the reclassifications.
The $1.14 trillion figure was $118 billion , or 12%, higher than the bonds' fair-market values, disclosed in footnotes to the banks' financial statements. The $118 billion was equivalent to 18% of the banks' total equity, which is the difference between assets and liabilities.
A year earlier, the difference between the held-to-maturity bonds' market value and balance-sheet value was negligible. Most of the securities were backed by the U.S. government. The amounts of the reclassifications were disclosed in the companies' financial reports. The Journal found the six banks using data compiled by S&P Global.
The large gap between the stated values and actual values of banks' assets has fueled growing concern about whether a significant portion of many banks' capital is illusory. Capital is roughly synonymous with equity, and refers to the financial cushion a company has available to absorb future losses.
The six banks' reclassifications were part of an industrywide shift last year as bond prices fell. About 48% of securities held by U.S. banks were classified as held-to-maturity at the end of 2022, up from 34% a year earlier, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data. Unrealized losses on securities were $620 billion , of which $341 billion were on bonds dubbed held-to-maturity. The six banks' unrealized losses on held-to-maturity securities accounted for 35% of the industry total.
The biggest such reclassification was by Charles Schwab, which is structured as a savings and loan holding company and regulated by the Fed. It transferred $188.6 billion of securities to the held-to-maturity category from available- for-sale. Schwab wasn't labeling any of its bonds as held-to-maturity at the end of 2021.
PNC transferred $82.7 billion of bonds to held-to-maturity from available-for-sale. JPMorgan Chase & Co. transferred $78.3 billion . Truist Financial Corp. , Wells Fargo & Co. and U.S. Bancorp transferred $59.4 billion , $50.1 billion and $45.1 billion , respectively.
"This is an artificial accounting construct, not an economic measure of the value of the assets," said Sandy Peters , head of financial reporting policy for the CFA Institute , which certifies chartered financial analysts. "The value of a bond doesn't change based upon how management decides to classify it. It's worth what it's worth."
Silicon Valley Bank's parent, SVB Financial Group, didn't reclassify any securities last year, and most of its bonds were labeled held-to-maturity from the get-go. That meant SVB had locked itself into a long-term bet that interest rates would stay low. The unrealized losses on those bonds at year-end were almost as large as SVB's $16.3 billion of total equity. It couldn't sell the bonds without booking losses and taking hits to capital.
By the end of last year, the fair-market value of Schwab's held-to-maturity bonds was $14.1 billion less than their balance-sheet value. The unrealized losses were equivalent to 39% of Schwab's total equity. The unrealized losses exceeded Schwab's $6.2 billion of tangible common equity, which is a bare-bones capital metric that excludes preferred stock and intangible assets.
A Schwab spokeswoman pointed to a March 23 open letter by the company's co-chairmen, Charles Schwab and Walt Bettinger . "Focusing attention on 'unrealized losses' in our held-to-maturity (HTM) portfolio is very misleading," they said, adding that "there is a near-zero chance we'd need to sell any of our HTM portfolio before maturity."
At Wells Fargo , unrealized losses on held-to-maturity securities were $41.5 billion , equivalent to 23% of total equity. At U.S. Bancorp , they were $10.9 billion , or 21% of total equity. At Truist, they were $9.9 billion , or 16% of total equity. The percentages at JPMorgan and PNC were 13% and 11%, respectively.
In their annual reports, most of the banks said they did the transfers to keep the fair-value changes out of their equity and capital metrics. In its annual report, PNC said it changed its intent for the securities "to reduce the impact of price volatility" on equity and capital. Truist said it made the transfers as the company "continues to execute upon its asset-liability management strategies."
Wells Fargo said it made the transfers "to reposition the overall portfolio for capital management purposes." JPMorgan cited "capital management purposes."
Jeffrey Shelman , a U.S. Bancorp spokesman, said: "We are always making decisions to manage our balance sheet to ensure appropriate liquidity, balanced by the desire to mitigate the volatility that is associated with interest-rate movements." Spokesmen for PNC, JPMorgan and Truist and a Wells Fargo spokeswoman declined to comment.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-29-23 0530ET
O’Keefe Media Group Uncovers Potential MASSIVE Money Laundering into Political Campaigns #FollowTheMoney
video dropped last night. Side note funny, first person he interviewed wanted Trump to be hit with a baseball bat.
BREAKING: O’Keefe Media Group Uncovers Potential MASSIVE Money Laundering into Political Campaigns #FollowTheMoneypic.twitter.com/MiNS63G2rI
— O’Keefe Media Group (@OKeefeMedia) March 29, 2023
Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE: TFC) will report first-quarter 2023 financial results before the market opens on Thursday, April 20, 2023. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill Rogers and Chief Financial Officer Mike Maguire will host a conference call to review the company's financial results at 8 a.m. ET.
Sam Bankman-Fried paid over $40 million to bribe at least one Chinese official, DOJ alleges in new indictment
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/28/sam-bankman-fried-paid-over-40-million-to-bribe-at-least-one-chinese-official-doj-alleges-in-new-indictment.html
He should have called Hunter !!!
Shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) climbed 2.3% in premarket trading Tuesday, after the oil and gas exploration and production company was upgraded at TD Cowen, citing a "superior" risk-reward balance. Analyst David Deckelbaum lifted his rating to outperform from market perform and boosted his stock price target to $70 from $63 . He listed a number of reasons for his bullishness, such as "superior" exposure to crude oil pricing, capital structure shifts, a favorable free cash flow yield, well productivity and "captive buying support" from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA)(BRKA), which has been steadily increasing its stake in the company since early 2022 to be Occidental's largest shareholder. Deckelbaum noted that Berkshire owns 26% of Occidental's shares outstanding, and has about 10% further exposure through warrants to buy stock. "Asset and inventory quality is a key focal point for investors in a range-bound commodity tape where we see a superior profile for OXY, but also note ideal exposure to higher oil pricing in the event that macro views of an under-supplied situation in 2H23 emerge," Deckelbaum wrote in note to clients. The stock has lost 3.9% over the past three months, while crude oil futures have dropped 8.5% and the S&P 500 has gained 3.6%.
Flashback - “Campaign Finance Mules” Identified in Georgia Senate Race – Democrat Raphael Warnock Received Over $24 Million from Hundreds of UNEMPLOYED Donors Giving Over 358,000 Donations
by Joe Hoft Dec. 2, 2022 8:00 am
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/12/shocking-huge-exclusive-georgias-raphael-warnock-received-24-million-money-mules-unemployed-gave-small-amounts-358000-donations/
JAMES O’KEEFE STRIKES AGAIN – BIGGEST DROP SINCE ACORN! O’Keefe Media Group Exposes VAST NETWORK of Democrat Donation Harvesters – CAUGHT IN CRIMINAL ACTS! – BREAKING TOMORROW!
by Jim Hoft Mar. 27, 2023 6:32 pm
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/03/james-okeefe-strikes-again-biggest-drop-since-acorn-okeefe-media-group-exposes-vast-network-of-democrat-donation-harvesters-caught-in-criminal-acts-breaking-tomorrow/
(The Demo-Rats are taking legitimate donations and repeating the donation hundreds of times with money from who knows where. The original donors are unaware )
Did Trump mean someone on his social media app added the pictures or did the New York Post add the pictures?
A+ for creative writing. Or maybe he used AI ChatGPT to create it for publication.
Not many would go the trouble of adding the Food Trademarks.
Insider Berkshire Hathaway Inc reports buying 3,666,714 shares of $OXY for a total cost of $216,244,694.92
looks like 58.975 avg
6 Dead At Nashville Christian School Attack, 28 Year-Old Shooter Identified As Transgender
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/28-year-old-woman-kills-6-nashville-christian-school-mass-shooting
(this story will disappear very quickly. Shooting? what shooting. Nothing to see here)
(Update: 1730ET): The shooter has been identified as female-to-male transgender individual Audrey Hale, according to Nashville PD.
'The Real Question Is How Many': James O'Keefe Suggests He Has Multiple Insiders In Manhattan DA Case Against Trump
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/real-question-how-many-james-okeefe-suggests-he-has-multiple-insiders-manhattan-da-case
James O'Keefe, the founder and former head of undercover reporting and whistleblower organization Project Veritas, has suggested that he has multiple insiders in the Manhattan DA's case against former President Donald Trump - either on the grand jury, or otherwise familiar with (or involved in) the case.
"NY DA Bragg likely hid exculpatory evidence from the Trump Grand Jury as their meetings have been postponed," said political influencer Ryan Cunningham, adding "The real question is has @JamesOKeefeIII got to someone on the inside?"
To which O'Keefe replied "The real question is how many do we have on the inside? Stay tuned."
Trump is being investigated by the Manhattan DA over a payment made to former adult film star Stormy Daniels (real name Stephanie Clifford).
More on O'Keefe's new venture via The Epoch Times;
O’Keefe founded Project Veritas in 2010. He departed the group in February after the board of directors suspended him amid an investigation into alleged financial malfeasance. His new project is called O’Keefe Media Group, or OMG.
O’Keefe said that the new group has been sending cameras out, “which means the OMG army of exposers will soon be holding those in power accountable.”
O’Keefe warned people who are planning wrongdoing, adding: “You’re being watched. We’re coming after you. The next time you try and take advantage of honest Americans, the person sitting next to you might have a microphone or a camera. You see, the world is watching. And if you’re lying, cheating, stealing, or scamming, you might be the next unwilling star of the internet.”
OMG’s first story will be released on March 27, O’Keefe said.
At least one Project Veritas staffer has followed O’Keefe to the new project. R.C. Maxwell, a former Project Veritas employee, was in O’Keefe’s new video.
O’Keefe said in another Twitter post he’d just spent one day this week in three states.
“Just wrapped a 20 hour day. Three states, multiple investigations fueled by so many citizens,” he wrote.
New Model
OMG is based on the concept of collecting funds from supporters, buying cameras, and sending them to “citizen journalists” who will capture newsworthy moments.
News outlets “can’t hire everybody,” O’Keefe told The Epoch Times on March 16. “But what if there was a way to empower and mobilize journalists, citizen journalists, and decentralized journalism? In the same way that Uber did that for the taxi, if there was a way to do that for thousands and thousands of people? And you might say, well, that’s impossible, that’s too difficult. Well, that’s the mission that I’m embarking on.”
People have already approached OMG, asking for cameras to record school meetings and other events, O’Keefe said.
Asked whether the citizen journalists would be paid, O’Keefe said he wasn’t sure.
“Most people want to do this for free,” he said.
“I don’t know exactly how it’s going to work, we’re going to figure it out,” he added later.
O’Keefe said being ousted from Project Veritas has turned out to be a “blessing in disguise” because it let him start the new group.
Elliott Wave
video create at 5pm Sunday
Expects oil to go lower over the next couple of months in a wave 5. $52-$53
He also shows where that would be invalidated at $73's
WaPo: Few Self-Claimed ‘Transgender’ Adults Undergo Surgery
https://www.breitbart.com/health/2023/03/24/washpost-few-self-claimed-transgender-adults-undergo-surgery/
Polling data from the Washington Post reveals that a sizable majority of adults who identify as transgender have not undergone medical interventions to aid their transition.
The article from The Washington Post, titled “Most trans adults say transitioning made them more satisfied with their lives,” found that a majority of the trans-identifying 515 respondents have only “socially transitioned.”
While most trans people have socially transitioned, meaning they’ve changed their clothing, names or pronouns, far fewer have medically transitioned. Less than a third have used hormone treatments or puberty blockers, and about 1 in 6 have undergone gender-affirming surgery or other surgical treatment to change their physical appearance.
The main medical interventions which are used by those who identify as transgender and are attempting to change their sex include puberty blockers, cross-sex hormone therapy, and a wide range of different surgical procedures, which usually occur last in the process.
Double mastectomies, hysterectomies, and phalloplasties are all used in the “gender-affirming” healthcare model. Some patients even undergo surgery to masculinize or feminize their face.
But even though the majority of adults who identify as transgender do not undergo irreversible medical interventions, activists have vocally condemned states such as Tennessee, which have passed legislation to defend children from puberty blockers, cross sex hormones, and even surgical sex change operations.
Many of these medical interventions are expensive for patients and profitable for the corporations that provide them. Studies have found that the market for so-called “gender-affirming” surgery is rapidly growing, especially in North America.
A series of investigations from Breitbart News has revealed that there has been a concerted effort on behalf of surgical sex change clinics and the manufacturers of puberty blockers to promote transgender identification, especially among the youth.
Breitbart News found that the “Gender Odyssey” conference, which encourages children to identify as transgender and attempt to change their sex, was sponsored almost entirely by a number of different surgical clinics that offer sex change operations.
Meanwhile, Abbvie Pharmaceuticals, which creates the puberty blocking drug Lupron, is the sponsor of the GenderCool Project, an organization that promotes child transgenderism through media appearances.
Millionaire investor slashes $6M from $44M luxury home sale price in desperate bid to beat new LA mansion tax - as other high rollers cut prices of their properties too
Hedge funder Jeffrey Feinberg is set to accept a $6million loss to avoid LA's latest imposing tax hike
While the financier is attempting to avoid a $2million tax, other lavish homes in the area could lose upwards of $8million
Los Angeles elites are facing a new mansion tax in a week that will take a 5.5 percent slice of any sale over $10million
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11900385/Huge-LA-mega-mansion-approaches-deadline-WEEK-seller-loses-fortune.html
Los Angelinos voted to approve the new mansion tax in November, which was expected to raise between $600 million and $1.1 billion every year.
The money is set to be funneled towards affordable housing and tenant assistance programs in the area, drawing money from every housing sale in excess of $5 million.
How New York Might Prevent a Subway Fare Increase: They’ll Tax Streamers
Lawmakers are considering a 4% state sales tax on streaming services to avoid increased fares for the NYC MTA.
https://www.indiewire.com/2023/03/netflix-tax-new-york-subway-1234822600/
Quick, what’s the connection between Netflix and the New York City Subway? Aside from “you watch Netflix on your phone while on the way to work,” the right answer is “one might soon be paying for the other.”
Per The Wall Street Journal, New York State lawmakers are considering putting the state sales tax on streaming services — such as Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, and others — in the state’s new budget. Under a proposed version of the budget submitted by the New York State Assembly, a 4 percent state sales tax would be applied to digital streaming products, which would result in, for example, $.80 charges on Netflix’s $19.99 per month premium subscription.
A Netflix rep told IndieWire that a 4 percent local sales tax already applies to Netflix subscribers in New York. This also wouldn’t be the first state to tax someone’s streaming bill; Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Washington are among the two dozen or so states that apply sales taxes on streamers. The reasoning behind the proposed tax is unique, as it’s reportedly being floated in New York state budget discussions as a way to prevent fares from rising on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s New York City subway systems.
The Assembly projected that a 4 percent state sales tax to streamers could raise more than $100 million a year. Other ideas to address the MTA deficit could include corporate tax increases, fees on package deliveries, or a surcharge on Ubers and Lyfts (New Yorkers will tell you those car-service fees are already pretty high).
Last year, the MTA projected it would face a $2.5 billion budget deficit by 2025. The organization approved a 2023 budget that assumes the MTA would receive $600 million from other levels of government, and that it would have to increase subway fares from $2.75 to $3, or a 5.5 percent increase. The amount of new subsidy to operate MTA’s subways and buses is expected to rise over $1 billion in 2024.
Governor Kathy Hochul initially planned to prevent fare increases through contributions from New York City’s government and a proposed increase in payroll taxes, which would generate a projected $700 million. However, with state lawmakers expected to reject Hochul’s plan, Democratic members of the state legislature have floated several alternatives.
The current New York State budget expires March 31. According to the state’s constitution, the new budget will need to be approved the next day, on April 1.
GM, the picture is real. I'm amazed an old guy like Trump knew how to create it.
Or maybe his son Barron created it for him. Teenagers like to be up late at night.
I always find it humorous that the New York Post, lectures the rest of us how to pick our candidates. I mean they did a great job picking Zeldin over Hochul. They did a great job exposing Hunter Biden's laptop and getting banned from social Media.
New York and New Jersey are Blue states, maybe the New York Post should move to Florida.
‘Suspicious’ White Powder Delivered to Alvin Bragg’s Manhattan Office Determined to be Non-Hazardous
by Cristina Laila Mar. 24, 2023 2:56 pm
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/03/suspicious-white-powder-delivered-to-alvin-braggs-manhattan-office-determined-to-be-non-hazardous/
I wonder what Kathy Griffin thinks about it.
SQ finally responded.
Block's Response to Inaccurate Short Seller Report
1:33 pm ET March 23, 2023 (BusinessWire) Print
We intend to work with the SEC and explore legal action against Hindenburg Research for the factually inaccurate and misleading report they shared about our Cash App business today.
Hindenburg is known for these types of attacks, which are designed solely to allow short sellers to profit from a declined stock price. We have reviewed the full report in the context of our own data and believe it's designed to deceive and confuse investors.
We are a highly regulated public company with regular disclosures, and are confident in our products, reporting, compliance programs, and controls. We will not be distracted by typical short seller tactics.
About Block
Block, Inc. (NYSE: SQ) is a global technology company with a focus on financial services. Made up of Square, Cash App, Spiral, TIDAL, and TBD, we build tools to help more people access the economy. Square helps sellers run and grow their businesses with its integrated ecosystem of commerce solutions, business software, and banking services. With Cash App, anyone can easily send, spend, or invest their money in stocks or Bitcoin. Spiral builds and funds free, open-source Bitcoin projects. Artists use TIDAL to help them succeed as entrepreneurs and connect more deeply with fans. TBD is building an open developer platform to make it easier to access Bitcoin and other blockchain technologies without having to go through an institution.
Trump arrest update - He Lied
Manhattan DA: Trump created false expectation of arrest, Republicans interfered
https://news.yahoo.com/manhattan-da-accuses-house-republicans-142000058.html
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Manhattan district attorney's office on Thursday said Donald Trump created a false expectation of his arrest and led Republicans in Congress to interfere with the office's probe of the former president.
"Your letter ... is an unprecedent inquiry into a pending local prosecution. The letter only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene," District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office wrote in the letter to three Republicans in the House of Representatives.
A grand jury convened by Bragg in January began hearing evidence about Trump's role in a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 presidential election that he ended up winning. Daniels, a well-known adult film actress and director whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said she received the money in exchange for keeping silent about a sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006.
Trump has maintained his innocence and said the investigation was politically motivated.
The letter from Bragg's office said the three House committee chairmen had sought non-public information about a pending criminal investigation, which is confidential under state law.
"The letter's requests are an unlawful incursion into New York's sovereignty," the Manhattan district attorney's general counsel, Leslie Dubeck, wrote to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, House Oversight panel Chairman James Comer and House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil.
$SQ Block shares plunge after Hindenburg says Jack Dorsey’s company facilitates fraud
Published Thu, Mar 23 20238:45 AM EDTUpdated 6 Min Ago
Block shares plunged after noted short-seller Hindenburg Research said the company’s flagship Cash App facilitates crime and lacks strong compliance controls.
Hindenburg has targeted other mega-cap companies before, including Indian conglomerate Adani Group.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/23/block-shares-plunge-after-hindenburg-says-jack-dorseys.html
But Dorsey killed it with Twitter
PS
Open Outcrier
@OpenOutcrier
·
17m
$SQ Cathie wood bought ~120,000 shares yesterday
Trump grand jury live updates: Panel gets day off, pushing possible indictment date
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/22/trump-grand-jury-live-updates-awaiting-indictment-in-porn-star-payoff.html
bucking the trend, at 34.07 up .36 at 11:12 on 3/22
Gaps
down Mar-13-2023 37.855 to 35.59
down Mar-10-2023 41.38 to 40.76
down Mar-09-2023 43.54 to 43.38
down Mar-07-2023 46.01 to 45.88
down Mar-02-2023 46.417 to 46.41
down Feb-09-2023 49.12 to 49.1
The people who reported the unusual options for this Friday, sold them Tuesday for over 65% return. With a surprise inventory build reported after hours Tuesday, crude is slightly lower. But the $60 options expire Friday
Meanwhile, Trump supporters gathered outside his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida on Tuesday waving flags and signs in support of the former president and his third bid for the White House
pictures in that link
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11886761/Trump-indicted-WEDNESDAY-wont-appear-court-week.html
'Trump will NOT be arraigned this week.' Former president is expected to be indicted tomorrow and Secret Service will make plans for his surrender and appearance in New York court NEXT WEEK
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11886761/Trump-indicted-WEDNESDAY-wont-appear-court-week.html
UK Strikes To Cause A 'Tsunami' Of Unrest For North Sea Oil And Gas
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/uk-strikes-cause-tsunami-unrest-north-sea-oil-and-gas
(no affect to Oxy except the price of oil should go up)
Dozens of oil and gas platforms in the UK North Sea could come to a standstill in the coming weeks after 1,400 offshore workers at five contractor companies have voted to initiate strikes to demand better pay and working conditions, Unite the union said on Monday.
The industrial action is expected to hit platforms of major companies operating on the UK Continental Shelf including BP, Shell, TotalEnergies, CNRI, EnQuest, Harbour Energy, and Ithaca Energy, the union said in a statement.
The prospective action includes electrical, production, and mechanical technicians in addition to deck crew, scaffolders crane operators, pipefitters, platers, and riggers working for Bilfinger UK Limited, Stork construction, Petrofac Facilities Management, the Wood Group UK Limited, and Sparrows Offshore Services, according to the union. Offshore workers at those five companies have overwhelmingly voted in recent days to begin strike action as they demand a better deal on jobs, pay, and conditions.
“Unite, whose members will take action at companies enjoying record-busting profits, predicts that platforms and offshore installations will be brought to a ‘standstill’ due to the specialised roles its members undertake,” the union said.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said, “Oil and gas companies have been given free rein to enjoy massive windfall profits in the North Sea; drilling concessions are effectively licences to print money.”
“1400 offshore workers are now set to take strike action against these employers who are raking it but refusing to give them a fair share of the pie. This will create a tsunami of industrial unrest in the offshore sector,” Graham added.
“Unite will support these members every step of the way in their fight for better jobs, pay and conditions.”
Strike action is set to hit various oil and gas platforms offshore the UK from March 29 and until June 7 in a series of 24, 48, and 72-hour stoppages, the union said.
This week, workers at Petrofac BP and at Worley Services UK Limited on Harbour Energy platforms are also expected to vote on strike actions in disputes over pay.
It's none of my business, until it is.
----------------------------------------------------
....
Daly has no background in banking or managing risk. After dropping out of high school, she worked in a donut shop before eventually getting her GED and entering college, where she became enamored with a socialist professor.
She said she was inspired by Marxian economist Gene Wagner, who “has mentored me my whole life.”
Several years later, after earning a PhD from Syracuse University, Daly landed a job as a labor inequality researcher at the San Francisco Fed, where she ingratiated herself with then-SF Fed President Janet Yellen, who helped her fail upward.
Daly called Yellen an “important mentor in my life . . . [S]he made my career kind of explode.” Daly quickly rose up the ranks, and in 2018, she was named president and CEO of the SF Fed — but more important to the wokesters, she was the “first openly gay” regional Fed bank chief.
https://nypost.com/2023/03/17/why-woke-frisco-fed-chief-missed-silicon-valley-banks-warning-signs/
Video of the seminar, which goes for more than an hour, shows Brigham and Shay delivering a lecture about 'pronouns' with the ultra-woke company seizing the opportunity to laud their title as the 'first bank in the United States to have an openly gay man on the board.'
It was in reference to Barney Frank, former Massachusetts congressman, who co-sponsored legislation regulating banks following the 2008 financial crisis only to this week have his role on the Signature Bank board come under fire.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11860445/Signature-Bank-boss-hosted-company-seminar-gender-neutral-pronouns-prior-bank-failure.html
I was going to say, that video was obviously fake
There is no way a teenage girl is punctual
But I changed my mind
I don't want to get beaked