tyb
morning
>>89267 pb Rep. Herrell tours Holloman Air Force Base, reviews Afghan refugee operations
RCH108T USAF C-17 Globemaster departed Holloman AFB, NM after an early morning arrival and drop-off
This AC departed McGuire AFB last night and had a ground stop at Dulles prior to arriving at Holloman AFB
Holloman AFB review says housing Afghan refugees won't result in 'significant environmental impacts'
On Sept. 8, Holloman Air Force Base released a draft environmental assessment, or EA, finding of no significant impact for Operation Allies Welcome, the operation supporting Afghan refugees which began arriving at the base in August.
"The Draft EA evaluates the potential for environmental impacts associated with the proposed action of mobilizing temporary shelter facilities for Afghan evacuees within the base and potential public concerns associated with the proposal," a Holloman Air Force Base news release states. "To support the (U.S. Department of State) and (U.S. Department of Homeland security) mission, the proposed action involves construction of temporary shelters on vacant land within the base for Afghan evacuees and utilization of existing space in three buildings on base for support personnel and in-processing." The proposed action in the environmental assessment states that due to the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, some refugees would be placed in temporary housing on the former Nenninger Balloon site Facility 13850, Facility 92021 and the surrounding land not to exceed 250 acres plus a reception facility in Building 105 on Holloman Air Force Base. Facilities included existing buildings and establishing new temporary shelters, such as tent cities, the draft environmental assessment states. The Afghan evacuees are expected to stay on Holloman Air Force Base between 180 days and 18 months, the draft environmental assessment states. The draft environmental assessment states that the area where the Afghan refugees are housed will not impact affect water resources, airspace, environmental justice efforts or land use on base.
https://www.alamogordonews.com/story/community/2021/09/08/holloman-afb-afghan-refugees-temporary-housing/5770352001/
morning B
Biden to Sign Order Requiring Vaccines for Federal Workers
Joe Biden will announce a requirement for all executive branch employees and federal contractors to be vaccinated, part of a renewed push to quell the Covid-19 pandemic, a person familiar with the plan said.
Biden will sign an executive order Thursday requiring the vaccinations, said the person, who spoke on on condition of anonymity. The move marks a significant hardening of the administration’s position on vaccine mandates amid the surge in the delta variant that’s threatening to overwhelm hospitals in parts of the U.S. The president plans to highlight steps to require more vaccinations, keep schools open and increase testing in remarks on the federal Covid response scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday at the White House. The speech will include “putting in place additional requirements” on vaccines, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told CNN on Thursday. “The overall goal is to speak directly to the American people about what’s next on Covid.”
Biden focused the early months of his presidency on taming the pandemic, though it has surged again as the delta variant spread, the vaccination campaign slowed and as restrictions and mask mandates lifted.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/biden-to-sign-order-requiring-vaccines-for-federal-workers-1.1649907
As ECB Tapers, Fed's Bostic Gets Cold Feet Amid Delta Doubts
On the 27th of August (2021), Bostic said that the "economy's strength calls for The Fed to reduce support," implicitly backing a taper to the immense flood of liquidity that is floating every zombified boat in the world. The Atlanta Fed head added that it was "reasonable" to trim bond-buying in October. Fast forward two weeks and things appear to have changed.
On the same day as The ECB announces the start of tapering (but don't call it that) their bond purchase scheme, Reuters reports that Fed voting member Bostic is pushing back on the start date of The Fed's taper amid dismal data, potentially driven by the Biden admin's fearmongering over the Delta variant. “As strong as the data was coming in the early part of the summer, I was really very much leaning into advocating for an earlier start than what many may have expected” on the bond buying taper, Bostic told WSJ in an interview published on Thursday. “The weaker data that we’ve seen more recently suggests to me that maybe there’s a chance for some play on this, but I still think that sometime this year is going to be appropriate (to slow the asset buying).”
There's just one thing Raphael - what changed in the last two weeks? Because the divergent paths between reality and markets - enabled by your liquidity-gasm - has only grown wider...Given the trend is crumbling economic data has been going on for months, why the sudden cold feet from Bostic? Was The Fed ever actually going to taper?
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/ecb-tapers-feds-bostic-gets-cold-feet-amid-delta-doubts
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China Intervenes in Oil Market With Historic Sale of Reserves
China made an unprecedented intervention in the global oil market, releasing crude from its strategic reserve for the first time with the explicit aim of lowering prices.
The announcement comes amid surging energy costs in China, not just for oil but also for coal and natural gas, and electricity shortages in some provinces that have forced some factories to cut production. Inflation is rapidly rising too, a political headache for Beijing. Oil slumped. In a late statement on Thursday, the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration said the country had tapped its giant oil reserves to “to ease the pressure of rising raw material prices.” It didn’t offer further details, but people familiar with the matter said the statement referred to millions of barrels the government offered in mid-July.
The Chinese stockpiling agency also said a “normalized” rotation of crude oil in the state reserves is “an important way for the reserves to play its role in balancing the market”, indicating that it may continue to release barrels. The agency said that putting national reserve crude oil on the market through open auctions “will better stabilize domestic market supply and demand”.
No one answered calls to the press offices of China’s State Council and the National Development and Reform Commission seeking comments outside the regular business hours. China is the world’s largest oil importer and over the past decade has built a huge reserve of the commodity. The buffer differs from strategic petroleum reserves, known as SPR, held in the U.S. and Europe, which are mostly only tapped during supply outages and wars. China however is signalling it’s willing to use its reserve to try to influence the market.
China has been selling other commodities from its strategic reserves, including copper, aluminum and grains. In the past, Beijing rarely confirmed the releases, which have tended to filter into the market via trader talk. The public release is being seen by many as an attempt to maximize the impact of the move.
Thursday’s statement started by saying the release was carried out “with the approval of the State Council,” language that Chinese researchers took as an indication that it was directed by China’s most senior political leaders.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-09/china-releases-oil-from-its-reserves-to-combat-high-prices
US Space Force chief convinced China would use satellite killers
Gen. John Raymond, the chief of the U.S. Space Force, says that the security of the final frontier faces a "full spectrum of threats" from China that needs to be countered by allied cooperation.
The Chinese have built and are building "everything from reversible jammers of our GPS system which provides navigation and timing with precision , to jamming of communications satellites," Raymond told Nikkei in a recent telephone interview. "They've got missiles they can launch from the ground and destroy satellites." "I’m convinced that these capabilities that they’re developing would be utilized by them in their efforts in any potential conflict," Raymond added.
Raymond was the first person appointed to lead the Space Force, established in 2019. The body serves as the sixth branch of the military at a level comparable to that of the army and navy. Raymond's military career spans more than three decades, mostly in the Air Force. He was stationed at the U.S. Yokota Air Base in Japan from 2010 as vice commander of the Fifth Air Force. He participated in Operation Tomodachi, the U.S. military's mission to provide assistance during the aftermath of the devastating March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In his observation, the U.S. faces a space domain that has gotten "a lot more competitive." "Space underpins all of our instruments of national power, whether it's diplomatic, economic, information, and national security," Raymond said. "Great power competition is broader than just competition among the militaries," he added, alluding to Russia and China. "It goes across all facets of governments. Space is critical to that."
Satellites play a major role in U.S. military activities, whether tracing enemy movements or missiles, or handling communication between units. "Access to space and freedom to maneuver in space are really important," Raymond said. Yet critics contend that the U.S. has entrusted too much of its capabilities to space assets. If a conflict breaks out with China or Russia, one of the first things to be carried out would be an attack on U.S. satellites to severely damage America's capacity to fight, the reasoning goes. Raymond is especially concerned about China in this respect. Not only is China developing "killer satellites" with robotic arms to incapacitate other satellites, he said, the Asian power looks to field antisatellite missiles and equipment to jam GPS services. One option to resolve any misgivings toward Beijing is for bilateral dialogue between military officials to take place. However, Raymond said: "I have not engaged with the Chinese leadership." U.S. relations with China have grown complicated since former President Donald Trump was in power. The tensions appear to illustrate why Raymond has not spoken to his Chinese counterparts, and the lack of dialogue partly explains the arms race between the two countries.
During June's NATO summit, the leaders for the first time issued a joint communique stating that an attack on any member in space would trigger Article 5 provisions invoking collective defense. Raymond says this position recognizes that cooperation with allies in space has become increasingly important. But it remains unclear whether NATO should take immediate collective action if just one of a member's satellites is attacked. For starters, it would be difficult to determine an attribution if an actor conducted an electromagnetic attack or cyberattack. Given that NATO said in the communique it would respond to threats "on a case-by-case basis" it appears the body will consider and discuss the exact nature of such threats. Raymond did not give a direct answer when asked if the U.S. would consider applying the mutual-defense provision of the U.S.-Japan security treaty to the space domain. Instead he noted the increasing importance for partnerships in space. "Historically, space has been a benign, peaceful domain without threat," which meant that there was little need to rely on partnerships. "That is not the case today, with the strategic environment that we have. We face a space domain that is much more congested."
The Space Force chief said U.S. allies should improve the speed and precision of intelligence sharing as well as expand military exercises in preparation for national security emergencies. He said his inspiration for collaboration in space came from his experience in Japan, especially in his time with Operation Tomodachi. "I saw, for the very first time the value of partnerships in the humanitarian assistance, disaster relief operations." "To operate successfully in the space environment that we see today, on a global scale, you have to have partners. We are clearly stronger together," he said.
moar
https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Interview/US-Space-Force-chief-convinced-China-would-use-satellite-killers
Swiss AF SUI538 CL-600 Challenger departed Sinop, Turkey after a ground stop and west
Departed Zurich Int'l and ground stops at Emmen, Switzerland and Kline-Brogel AB on the Belgium/Dutch border earlier today
RCH821 USAF C-5 Galaxy nw from Al Udeid AB heading to Ramstein
>>89855 pb As ECB Tapers, Fed's Bostic Gets Cold Feet Amid Delta Doubts
Closely Watched Atlanta Fed’s GDP Forecast Cuts U.S. Growth by 41 Percent
The highly respected and closely watched Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow forecast for the third quarter has been slashed by 41 percent since August 2 – from 6.3 percent GDP growth to a tepid 3.7 percent projected GDP growth on September 2. The next update to its forecast will occur tomorrow after the Producer Price Index (PPI) is released at 10 a.m. (The GDPNow update typically occurs within a few hours of a new data release.)
The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model is the seasonally adjusted annual rate. It comes with the following caveat: “GDPNow is not an official forecast of the Atlanta Fed. Rather, it is best viewed as a running estimate of real GDP growth based on available economic data for the current measured quarter. There are no subjective adjustments made to GDPNow – the estimate is based solely on the mathematical results of the model. In particular, it does not capture the impact of COVID-19 and social mobility beyond their impact on GDP source data and relevant economic reports that have already been released. It does not anticipate their impact on forthcoming economic reports beyond the standard internal dynamics of the model.” Despite this dramatic deceleration in growth prospects for the U.S. economy in the current quarter, the following headline ran at Bloomberg News yesterday: “Fed Says Growth Downshifted Slightly July-Aug, Cites Delta.”
Downshifted slightly? Seriously? Take a close look at the above chart-at link too
The Bloomberg News report was based on the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book – which looks at economic conditions across the 12 Federal Reserve Districts. One sentence stands out in the newly released Beige Book: “Economic growth downshifted slightly to a moderate pace in early July through August.”
That entire sentence is problematic. The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow forecast for the third quarter took a dramatic turn for the worse from mid-August to the end of August, dropping from 6.2 percent on August 17 to 5.1 percent on August 27. That’s a deceleration of 18 percent in 10 days. The Federal Reserve, where Jerome Powell would like to keep his job as Chair, is now between a rock and a hard place. If it presents the hard facts on the ground it risks further dampening the mood of the consumer – who represents two-thirds of GDP growth in the U.S.
That mood is already pretty gloomy. The survey of Consumer Confidence from the Conference Board on August 31 dropped from a reading of 125.1 in July to 113.8 in August. And the Conference Board’s report was downright cheery compared to the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index for August. It found the following: “There was no lessening in late August in the extent of the collapse in consumer sentiment recorded in the first half of the month. The Consumer Sentiment Index fell by 13.4% from July, recording the least favorable economic prospects in more than a decade. The Sentiment Index has only recorded larger losses in six other monthly surveys since 1978. The losses were especially large in the Expectations Index, and widespread across all demographic groups, regions, and the outlook for the economy. Personal financial prospects continued to worsen due to smaller income gains amid higher inflationary trends…Consumers’ extreme reactions were due to the surging Delta variant, higher inflation, slower wage growth, and smaller declines in unemployment. The extraordinary falloff in sentiment also reflects an emotional response, from dashed hopes that the pandemic would soon end and lives could return to normal.”
https://wallstreetonparade.com/2021/09/closely-watched-atlanta-feds-gdp-forecast-cuts-u-s-growth-by-41-percent/
ain't neber taking da punchbowl away....
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it all depends on where it starts.
do it here in Ca and they would have a good chance of having it generally accepted (of course there would be resistance-do it in SF and it would have some bumps but would be allowed methinks)
Tesla Reportedly Setting Up Energy Trading Desk, Has Applied To Market Electricity In Texas
In a move that is totally, 100% not a glaring reminder of Enron, Tesla is reportedly looking to staff an energy trading team in California and has also recently applied to begin marketing electricity in Texas.
The team is being set up to "support [Tesla's] battery and renewable power projects," Reuters reported Wednesday. Tesla's "expanded operations" include home solar and large battery storage, the report notes. A LinkedIn postby Julian Lamy, who described himself as a senior optimization software engineer for Tesla read: "I'm building a new team at Tesla focused on Energy Trading and Market Operations."
John McClellan, a managing director at recruitment firm Aurex Group, told Reuters: "Tesla Energy is on their way to becoming a distributed energy provider at the residential level as well as utility scale."
Reuters wrote:
The company plans to use an in-house automated trading platform, called Autobidder, for "bidding batteries into multiple wholesale energy markets," according to the job description on Tesla's website.
The job requires expertise in wholesale electricity markets, and the candidate will "lead trading and real-time operations for battery, solar, and wind projects participating in wholesale energy markets," using Autobidder, according to the job posting. No word on whether or not Jeff Skilling, who has recently ventured back into the energy industry, is being teed up for an executive role at Tesla's newly proposed operation.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/tesla-reportedly-setting-energy-trading-desk-has-applied-market-electricity-texas
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President of Chile Pinera departing Rome after meeting wif Pope Frank
Chilean AF FACH1 767 nw from Rome-Ciampino Int'l Airport after arriving from Madrid yesterday
President of Chile gives Pope Francis a chess set
https://www.romereports.com/en/2021/09/09/president-of-chile-gives-pope-francis-a-chess-set/
French AF CTM1031 A310 departed from eastern Jordan after a ground stop back to Paris
SAM242 USAF G5 KAF AC of interdast inbound to JBA from it's Spangdahlem AFB overnight
GRIMM13 USAF B-52 Stratofortress heading back to Minot AFB, ND after getting a top off of da tanks from 58-0072 over the Atlantic earlier
Currently on the Maine/New Brunswick border heading west