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Honeywell Admits Sending F-35, F-22 Part Drawings To China
Honeywell has agreed to pay $13 million in fines and compliance costs after company officials sent multiple engineering and technical documents to China with details of multiple aircraft, including the Lockheed Martin F-35 and F-22, over a seven-year period, the U.S. State Department said May 3.
https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/honeywell-admits-sending-f-35-f-22-part-drawings-china
State Dept. reaches $13M deal with Honeywell to settle allegations of violating export laws
The State Department announced it has reached a $13 million settlement with U.S. defense contractor Honeywell International over allegations it exported technical data concerning fighter jets and other military vehicles to foreign countries, including China.
The settlement resolves 34 charges the State Department leveled against the company for disclosing dozens of engineering prints showing dimensions, geometries and layouts for manufacturing parts for aircraft, gas turbine engines and military electronics. Honeywell voluntarily informed the department in two disclosures that it had violated arms export control laws by sending the technical drawings to foreign countries, the State Department said in a statement. "Honeywell also acknowledged the serious nature of the alleged violations, cooperated with the department's review and instituted a number of compliance program improvements during the course of the department's review," it said. "For these reasons, the department has determined that it is not appropriate to administratively debar Honeywell at this time."
The proposed charging letter said Honeywell, which manufactures and exports a variety of controlled defense articles including aircraft parts and components, first disclosed to the department in December of 2015 that he had identified multiple drawings of export-controlled parts it had sent to Taiwan and China that July as part of requests for quotations.
Following an internal investigation, Honeywell had identified 71-controlled drawings that it had exported to Canada, Ireland, China and Taiwan between July 2011 and October 2015. "The U.S. government reviewed copies of the 71 drawings and determined that exports to and retransfers in the PRC of drawings for certain parts and components for the engine platforms for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, B-1B Lancer Long-Range Strategic Bomber and the F-22 Fighter Aircraft harmed U.S. national security," the document said.
https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2021/05/04/State-Department-reaches-agreement-Honeywell-settle-export-charges/9691620115317/
82-8000 USAF 747 back to JBA after some time over Spooktown, VA
>>50635 pb
French AF CTM1016 Airbus A330 departed JBA after a ground stop sw
This is a new AC for the Frenchy AF and getting quite the workout lately
PIONR91 US Navy P-8 Poseiden @ 250/ft off San Diego/Baja Norte from Pt. Mugu
Fed's Kaplan says jury is out about inflation outlook
Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert on Tuesday said he expects inflation to rise in coming months and then “settle down” near 2.25% by year’s end, adding that he’s still trying to understand how much of the rise in inflation will persist into coming years.
“We’re watching it very very carefully,” Kaplan told the Community Bankers’ of Washington Northwest Conference, noting that his business contacts have begun to tell him they feel the supply chain disruptions and other factors pushing up prices may take longer than they thought to get resolved. As for where inflation will go in the next five years, he said, “The jury is out, and I don’t know.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-fed-kaplan/feds-kaplan-says-jury-is-out-about-inflation-outlook-idUSS0N2LF008
FBI: Man shot outside CIA headquarters has died
An armed man who was shot outside CIA headquarters in Virginia has died, the FBI said Tuesday.
At least one FBI agent opened fire on the unidentified man Monday evening after he "emerged from his vehicle with a weapon," the FBI said in a statement. The man died from his wounds after he was taken to a hospital, according to the FBI.
The FBI said it is reviewing the incident.
"The FBI reviews every shooting incident involving an FBI special agent. The review will carefully examine the circumstances of the shooting and collect all relevant evidence from the scene," Tuesday's statement says.
The FBI did not provide any additional details on the shooting.
https://www.startribune.com/fbi-man-shot-outside-cia-headquarters-has-died/600053457/
>>50447 pb
SAM333 -chek't- USAF G5 departed San Antonio, TX Int'l Airport after an overnight-inbound from Peterson AFB as SAM258 yesterday
Here’s the $47.6 Billion Stock Portfolio Bill Gates Will Keep to Himself after His Divorce from Melinda
It was just 11 days ago that we wrote the following about family office hedge funds like Archegos that are failing to publicly file a list of their stock positions along with the market values, as the SEC requires for entities managing more than $100 million:
“Another example is billionaire Bill Gates’ family office, Cascade Investment LLC. According to CaproAsia it ranks number 3 among the world’s largest family offices with $51 billion in assets. Cascade Investment LLC hasn’t filed a 13F form with the SEC since the quarter ending September 30, 2008 (coincidentally, the same quarter that Wall Street blew itself up, taking the stock market along with it). At that point in time, Cascade Investment showed $4.32 billion in stock positions. Its only filings since that time simply show what stocks it’s acquired and sold, but not the 13F which would show the full positions in its portfolio and their value.”
Since yesterday’s announcement that Bill and Melinda Gates have decided to divorce, we decided to wade through all of those individual filings by Cascade Investment. Here’s what we found.
First, Bill Gates lists himself as the sole member of Cascade Investment and makes clear that the stocks that he and Melinda own jointly through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust are completely separate from his direct ownership of what’s in his family office hedge fund, Cascade Investment, which operates out of Kirkland, Washington.
According to SEC filings dating back to 2015, Gates owns the following through Cascade Investment, based on yesterday’s closing prices:
AutoNation $1.9 Billion
Berkshire Hathaway Class B $1.69 billion
Canadian National Railway $11 Billion
Deere $11.7 Billion
Ecolab Inc. $6.9 Billion
Liberty Global PLC $235.6 Million
Otter Tail Corporation $165.5 Million
Republic Services $11.75 Billion
Waste Management $2.3 Billion
That’s a cool $47.6 billion that it would appear Bill Gates has carved out for himself. And that doesn’t include any cash or money market funds that are sitting in the portfolio.
We also couldn’t track down what happened to the large position that Cascade held in 2015 in Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc. According to an SEC filing in 2015, Cascade owned 9.8 percent of the company’s stock, or 26,912,800 shares. We found no subsequent filing indicating the shares had been sold or acquired. However, on December 11, 2015, a unit of Blackstone announced that they were acquiring the company and paying existing common stock holders $14.25 in cash. That would have been a nice haul of $383.5 million for Gates, assuming he cashed in his shares. Blackstone subsequently flipped the company less than a year later in a sale to a Chinese firm, Anbang Insurance Group Co. Ltd.
https://wallstreetonparade.com/2021/05/heres-the-47-6-billion-stock-portfolio-bill-gates-will-keep-to-himself-after-his-divorce-from-melinda/
>>50653 pb
AF2 USAF C-32A departed Milwaukee, WI Mitchell Airport back to JBA
Kneepads set to visit Providence tomorrow
https://www.wcvb.com/article/vice-president-kamala-harris-set-to-visit-providence-rhode-island-may-5-2021/36303201#
SAM397 USAF G5 departed Peterson AFB east and on descent for JBA behind AF2
SAM258 (was SAM333) USAF G5 east after quick ground stop at Peterson AFB-inbound from San Antonio eearlier
Cascade Transfers $1.8 Billion of Equities to Melinda Gates
Cascade Investment, a holding company Bill Gates created with the proceeds of Microsoft Corp. stock sales and dividends, transferred securities worth more than $1.8 billion to Melinda French Gates, a day after the pair announced their divorce after 27 years of marriage.
Melinda Gates is now the beneficial owner of 14.1 million shares of Canadian National Railway Co. worth about $1.5 billion, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing dated May 3. The investment firm also transferred 2.94 million shares in AutoNation Inc., worth $309 million.
Through Cascade, Gates has interests in real estate, energy and hospitality as well as stakes in dozens of public companies, including Deere & Co. and Republic Services Inc. The couple are also among the largest landowners in America. Gates is worth $145.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/cascade-transfers-1-8-billion-of-equities-to-melinda-gates-1.1599216
ROGUE1 USAF E-4B Nightwatch departed Lincoln Muni Airport sw to Dyess AFB, Abilene TX
Fiserv, Inc sold by KKR&Co.: $2.70b-May 3
Fiserv : Announces Pricing of Secondary Offering of Common Stock by New Omaha Holdings and Associated Repurchase (KKR&Co. Holdco)
Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions, today announced the pricing of the previously announced underwritten public offering of 20,000,000 shares of common stock of Fiserv, Inc. (“Fiserv” or “the company”) by New Omaha Holdings L.P. (“New Omaha”), which is owned by investment funds managed by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P., at a price to the public of $118.30 per share (the “offering”). In addition, New Omaha has agreed to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 3,000,000 shares of the company’s common stock. Fiserv is not selling any shares in, nor will it receive any proceeds from, the offering. New Omaha will receive all of the net proceeds from the offering. The offering is expected to close on May 3, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.
https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/FISERV-INC-4873/news/Fiserv-nbsp-Announces-Pricing-of-Secondary-Offering-of-Common-Stock-by-New-Omaha-Holdings-and-Asso-33119009/
Fiserv, Inc. is a global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions. The Company provides account processing and digital banking solutions, card issuer processing and network services, payments, e-commerce, merchant acquiring and processing, and the Clover cloud-based point-of-sale solution. The Company operates through three segments: Merchant Acceptance (Acceptance), Financial Technology (Fintech) and Payments and Network (Payments). Its Acceptance segment offers a wide range of products and services to merchants around the world. Its Fintech segment is engaged in providing financial institutions with the technology solutions they need to run their operations. Its Payments segment offers products and services required to process digital payment transactions. The Company serves clients around the globe, including banks, credit unions, corporates, associates, government, healthcare, other financial institutions and merchants. Number of employees : 44 000 people.
https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/FISERV-INC-4873/company/
https://finviz.com/insidertrading.ashx?oc=1472698&tc=7&b=2
Cap#2 on the left is...
David H. Petraeus
Partner, KKR and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute
General David H. Petraeus (US Army, Ret.) (New York) is a Partner and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute, which he established in May 2013. He is also a member of the boards of directors of Optiv and FirstStream, a venture investor in some 20 startups, and engaged in a variety of academic endeavors. Prior to joining KKR, General Petraeus served over 37 years in the U.S. military, culminating his career with six consecutive commands, five of which were in combat, including command of the Surge in Iraq, command of U.S. Central Command, and command of coalition forces in Afghanistan.
Following retirement from the military and after Senate confirmation by a vote of 94-0, he served as Director of the CIA
https://www.kkr.com/our-firm/leadership/david-h-petraeus
Arkansas Ends Sales Taxes On Gold & Silver; Additional States May Soon Follow
By signing sound money legislation today, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has officially ended sales taxation on gold, silver, platinum, and palladium bullion and coins– thereby setting an example for legislators in New Jersey, Maine, Ohio, and Tennessee, who are still considering similar measures in their own states this year.
Arkansas’s Senate Bill 336, originally introduced by Sen. Mark Johnson and Rep. Delia Haak, enjoyed tremendous popularity, passing through the state Senate 30-1 before passing out of the state House unanimously by a vote of 93-0. Backed by the Sound Money Defense League, Money Metals Exchange, and grassroots activists and coin dealers in Arkansas, Senate Bill 336 will allow Arkansas investors, savers, and small businesses to acquire precious metals without being slapped with sales and use taxes. The Arkansas sales tax exemption takes effect on July 1, 2021.
Meanwhile, similar bills are still pending in Ohio, Maine, Tennessee, and New Jersey as the national backlash against taxing constitutional money continues. ncluding Arkansas, 40 U.S. states now fully or partially exempt gold and silver from sales taxes. That leaves 10 states and the District of Columbia as the primary jurisdictions that still harshly penalize citizens seeking to protect their savings against the serial devaluation of the Federal Reserve Note.
States have been removing sales taxes from monetary metals for the following reasons:
*Taxing precious metals is unfair to certain savers and investors. Gold and silver are held as forms of savings and investment. States do not tax the purchase of stocks, bonds, ETFs, currencies, and other financial instruments, so it makes no sense to tax monetary metals.
*Levying sales taxes on precious metals is illogical because gold and silver are inherently held for resale. Sales taxes are typically levied on final consumer goods. Precious metals are inherently held for resale, not “consumption,” making the application of sales taxes on precious metals illogical and especially inappropriate.
*Taxing gold and silver harms in-state businesses. It’s a competitive marketplace, so buyers in states with precious-metals sales taxes often take their business to neighboring states that have eliminated or reduced sales tax on precious metals. Investors can easily avoid paying $136.50 in sales taxes, for example, on a $1,950 purchase of a one-ounce gold bar. Therefore, levying sales tax on precious metals harms in-state businesses, who will lose business to out-of-state precious metals dealers. Coin conventions also tend to avoid the sales tax states.
*Taxing precious metals is harmful to citizens attempting to protect their assets. Purchasers of precious metals aren’t fat-cat investors. Most who buy precious metals do so in small increments as a way of saving money. Precious metals investors are purchasing precious metals as a way to preserve their wealth against the damages of inflation. Inflation harms the poorest among us—including pensioners, Arkansans on fixed incomes, wage-earners, savers, and more.
Jp Cortez, policy director for the Sound Money Defense League, explained that “the vast majority of states realize that taxing sound money harms in-state investors, in-state businesses, and even state revenues.” Cortez continued: “by eliminating taxes on the purchase of gold and silver, Arkansas citizens can protect themselves against inflation, while citizens in the few states that still tax sound money are punished for trying to preserve their wealth.” Having eliminated sales taxes on the monetary metals, Arkansas will rise from dead last in the Sound Money Index to 30th place among the 50 states.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/arkansas-ends-sales-taxes-gold-silver-additional-states-may-soon-follow