4 P-8's from NAS Jax off Space Coast from Jax
not uncommon to have two..
09-0016 USAF C-32A heading back to JBA
This is the first visible flight of these 757's since 0120 with 09-0017 that returned to JBA after TFPOTUS returned to Palm Beach
TF=Temporary Former
It's last visible flight was on 0106 and had some company-Cap#2
DEEM63 E-4B Nightwatch NIOME E-6B Mercury and another 757-09-0015
82-8000 USAF 747 departed JBA to the se and at low altitude
Blackstone Adds West Coast Warehouses, Boosting Industrial Bet
Blackstone Group Inc. is acquiring a majority stake in dozens of warehouses, boosting its bet on industrial properties as investors increasingly target a corner of commercial real estate that has fared well in the pandemic. The firm’s non-traded real estate investment trust, BREIT, is taking a 60% stake in 71 warehouses owned by LBA Logistics with a gross value of $1.6 billion, according to a statement Friday.
The properties, mostly in California and Seattle, are primarily in “last mile” locations close to consumers, Blackstone said. The rise of online shopping, which has accelerated during the pandemic, has fueled investor interest in warehouse and logistics properties. That’s driven up prices, even as other commercial real estate sectors have struggled.
Blackstone spent billions of dollars before the pandemic in a long-term bet on warehouses. The asset manager has focused its acquisitions on heavily populated areas where it’s tougher to build, said Nadeem Meghji, Blackstone’s head of real estate in the Americas. “It’s difficult to accumulate scale in these dense, West Coast geographies,” he said. “That’s what makes this opportunity so unique.”
Industrial properties made up about 35% of BREIT’s portfolio at the end of 2020, Blackstone said in a letter to investors this week. That concentration helped propel a 6.1% return for the vehicle last year, compared with a 5.5% decline for a Bloomberg index of U.S. REIT stocks.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/blackstone-adds-west-coast-warehouses-boosting-industrial-bet-1.1552505
5 E-6B Mercurys up
PAVAN16 WEPS22 ALOGY07 SHADO22 PULKA30
Usually 2 and sometimes three up at all times.
ABIDE99 USAF E-4B se from Offutt and GORDO16 E-4B over upper Michigan also out of Offutt
Chuckie makin noise again
Steinmetz sentenced to 5 years in jail in Swiss bribery case
Israeli diamond and mining tycoon Beny Steinmetz was found guilty of bribing a public official to secure an iron-ore mine in Guinea worth billions of dollars. Steinmetz was sentenced to five years by Judge Alexandra Banna in a Geneva court Friday. He was partially acquitted on forgery charges in the case. Steinmetz and two colleagues were convicted of paying bribes of $8.5 million to Mamadie Toure, the wife of Guinea’s deceased former president Lansana Conte to help secure rights to the giant Simandou iron-ore mine.
Steinmetz’s investments in African mining have courted controversy and prompted multiple investigations — but until now no convictions. His lawyers argued he’d only met Toure once and never ordered anyone to pay her. That argument was rejected by Banna and the two other judges who reached their verdict after three days of deliberation. “The fact that Steinmetz wasn’t aware of all details doesn’t change a thing,” the judge said in a ruling that took two hours to read out. “Steinmetz had his hand on the payments and was able to oversee the bribery process.”
After the ruling, a stoic Steinmetz, who remains free, called the ruling a “big injustice.” His lawyer said he will appeal all to the way to the Supreme Court. Steinmetz was also ordered to pay a 50-million Swiss franc ($56.5 million) penalty. Toure, whose pre-trial testimony contained “lies,” according to Steinmetz, was scheduled to testify at the trial but never showed up.
Steinmetz, a French and Israeli citizen who lived in Geneva until about 2016, is likely to appeal the verdict. France doesn’t extradite its own citizens and Israel doesn’t typically either for citizens who are residents at the time of their alleged crime.
During the trial, Steinmetz defended his investment in the mine, telling a Geneva court that the $5 billion valuation for the site that he secured for less than $200 million was part of the industry’s reward for risk-taking.
“If a business takes a risk, it’s normal that it’s compensated,” Steinmetz said during the trial. The project represented “a dream for Guinea,” one that for him, has turned into a nightmare.
https://www.mining.com/web/steinmetz-sentenced-to-5-years-in-jail-in-swiss-bribery-case/
>drones?
gotta one over Cheasapeake Bay nao
SCORE46 US Navy MQ-4C Drone and SCORE92 US Navy E-2 Advanced Hawkeye over Chesapeake Bay doing laps
SAM600 USAF C-32A on final for Pete4son AFB from JBA
Yellen wins unanimous Senate panel vote for Treasury despite Republican tax, debt concerns
The U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Friday unanimously approved Janet Yellen’s nomination as the first woman Treasury secretary, indicating that she will easily win full Senate approval, but Republicans called for her to work with them in developing economic policies. Yellen’s nomination was approved 26-0 in the evenly split committee, with concerns expressed by Republicans about President Joe Biden’s ambitious plans for massive coronavirus relief spending, infrastructure investment and tax hikes failing to sway them against the former Federal Reserve chair.
“I have very strong disagreements with Dr. Yellen on a number of her positions, particularly in the tax policy arena, but she has committed to us that she will work with us,” Republican Senator Mike Crapo said after the vote.
“And I think the strong vote on our side to support her today is an indication that we want to engage.”
Biden has proposed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan and has pledged to invest here $2 trillion in infrastructure, green energy projects, education and research to boost American competitiveness.
At Yellen’s confirmation hearing before the committee on Tuesday, Republicans expressed concerns over the price tag and increased debt in a return to fiscal conservatism after running up deficits with the 2017 tax cuts and nearly $5 trillion in coronavirus spending last year under former Republican President Donald Trump.
Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, due to take over as Senate Finance Committee chairman in coming days, said he is pushing for a full confirmation vote later on Friday. But Senate leaders from both parties, still wrangling over how to organize the evenly split chamber, have not indicated any timing for a Yellen floor vote.
“I can tell you, a lot of times I don’t think you could get a 26-to-nothing vote to agree to buy a soda. So, this is an indication that she is really an NBA All-Star when it comes to Senate confirmation,” said Wyden.
A full confirmation vote just days after Biden took office would put the 74-year-old PhD economist and daughter of a Brooklyn, New York family doctor quickly to work on a deep economic crisis sparked by the coronavirus pandemic. She broke a similar gender barrier when she became Fed chair in 2014, a role she held until 2018.
Yellen’s Republican predecessor, Steven Mnuchin, was not confirmed until three weeks after Trump’s 2017 inauguration, and then by a 53-47 nearly party-line vote in a Republican-controlled Senate.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-yellen/yellen-wins-unanimous-senate-panel-vote-for-treasury-despite-republican-tax-debt-concerns-idUSKBN29R18O
Coupla BUFFS north of Denver
00000000 x2 USAF B-52 Stratofortress south
Red dot Cheyenne Mtn.
SAM600 USAF C-32A go arounds at Peterson AFB
ABIDE99 USAF E-4B Nightwatch go around prior to touch down at MacDill AFB
SAM600 USAF C-32A on ground at Denver Int'l from quick ground stop at Peterson AFB
Landed a few minutes ago
Canada's Trudeau presses Pfizer CEO on vaccine shortage, hints at travel crackdown
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday that Pfizer had reassured him it would meet Canada’s vaccine order in full by end-March as, with a second COVID wave spreading across the country, he hinted at a clampdown on citizens leaving home.
Pfizer, which is retooling a European manufacturing plant, told Canada on Tuesday it would receive no vaccine next week, promising more pain for provinces already complaining about a shortage of supplies. Pfizer also said it would cut supplies to the European Union.
Trudeau, under pressure from political opponents to do more to address the shortage, said that, though the coming weeks would be challenging, the company’s Chief Executive Albert Bourla had reassured him it would supply 4 million vaccine doses as scheduled by March 31. Expressing irritation that Canadians were still taking vacations despite the worsening second wave, Trudeau also indicated Ottawa would bring in measures designed to make it harder and more expensive to travel.
He spoke on Thursday to the premiers of the 10 provinces, some of whom want Ottawa to clamp down on non-essential travel. He reiterated that people should stay home. “We could be bringing in new measures that significantly impede your ability to return to Canada at any given moment, without warning,” said Trudeau, promising more details in coming days. Canada, which has so far reported 18,622 coronavirus deaths from a total of 731,450 cases, already requires all arrivals by air to go into self-administered quarantine for 14 days.
Trudeau said one option was to force people to spend the time in hotel rooms they would have to pay for.
https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-canada/update-2-canadas-trudeau-presses-pfizer-ceo-on-vaccine-shortage-hints-at-travel-crackdown-idUSL1N2JX1RA