Links For Today

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, MARCH 21, 2023

Kazakhstan’s seizure of Russian space assets threatens the Soyuz-5 rocket

African Swine Fever Surges in China Potentially Driving Pork Prices Higher

Vessels claiming to be Chinese warships are messing with passenger planes

UK Strikes To Cause A ‘Tsunami’ Of Unrest For North Sea Oil And Gas

The UK Will Face A Rising Risk Of Power Supply Shortfalls This Decade

Fears of petrol shortages resurface as French refineries strike against pension reform

These Photos And TikToks Show How The French Have Been Protesting The Retirement Age Rising

Earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, Pakistan

Links For Today

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, MARCH 20, 2023

Explosions Rock Russian Occupied Crimea

Credit Suisse deal: Why are investors worried?

Italy pushing IMF to help Tunisia and avoid instability, minister says

Oil prices fall, Saudi National Bank loses $1 billion over Credit Suisse

Amazon is laying off another 9,000 workers

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

The worst frog disease in recorded history risks wiping them from the face of the Earth

Links For Today

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, MARCH 19, 2023

UBS To Buy CS For $3 Billion As AT1 Bonds Get Wiped Out In Record Bail-In; Swiss Govt Grants CHF9BN Guarantee; SNB Offers $100 Billion Liquidity Backstop

China flexes muscles over Internet subsea cables across South China Sea

Get ready for Manhattan DA’s made-for-TV Trump prosecution: high on ratings, but short on the law However there is also this: Trump Lawyer: About That Tuesday “Arrest” Date, Nevermind

Countdown To New York’s Rendezvous With Energy Impossibility

FOMC Preview: Uncertainty, Likely 25bp Hike, Maybe Pause

Drivers and passengers were stuck in their cars for hours in the cold, many of which were injured, while first responders tried to make sense of the mess. There was debris from crashed cars littering the road, which needed to be cleared before first responders could even get to injured drivers. Then getting cars off the road took even longer. After waiting in the cold, many drivers decided to leave their cars and walk out of the pileup but the conditions were so slippery, it was dangerous to even walk away.

Oops. How the FDIC Guaranteed the Deposits of SVB Financial Group

Links For Today

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, MARCH 18, 2023

Armored Personnel Carriers Make A Charge In Bakhmut

Pakistan: Former PM Imran Khan’s home stormed by police

Trump: I’m Going To Be Arrested Tuesday By Manhattan District Attorney

A perfect storm of food-stamp cuts and low tax refunds is looming — and discount chains like Dollar General and Big Lots could feel the pain

Tick-borne disease babesiosis on the rise in Northeast states

Yes, it’s real: Joe Biden’s Department of Energy just moved to ban nearly all gas stoves

Links For Today

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, MARCH 17, 2023

Arrest Warrant For Putin Issued Over War Crimes Allegations

This is a sign that American style “deep divisions” are spreading around the world. A farmers’ party has stunned Dutch politics, and is set to be the biggest party in the upper house of parliament after provincial elections.

French President Emmanuel Macron is trying to push through a pension reform without a parliamentary vote. That has triggered a political crisis

Strike grips Sri Lanka as unions protest IMF bailout Related: Sri Lanka’s Energy Crisis Is Weighing On its Economy

Berlin Seeks to Recruit Skilled Labor from Africa

For nearly 2 months, a short seller was warning on Twitter that Silicon Valley Bank was about to blow up. ‘It was sitting there in plain sight.’

Big Banks Agree To Historic $30 Billion Unsecured Deposit Injection In First Republic Bank. Related: What’s Going on with First Republic Bank?

Multiple Banks Curb Trading With Credit Suisse As Deposit Run Continues Despite SNB Rescue

When did New York start building slowly?

Links For Today

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, MARCH 14, 2023

Poland Could Give Ukraine MiG-29s “Within Four To Six Weeks”

Pakistani Taliban Using US Weapons to Attack Armed Forces: Report

Best disclaimer ever. Banking in very uncertain times Related:Rapid Deterioration’: Major Rating Service Downgrades U.S. Banking System

How Biden’s New Washing Machine Regulations Could Ruin Laundry Day

In FBI Case, the First Amendment Takes Another Bizarre Hit

Why Are the Chickens So Sick?

Links For Today

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN UPDATE, MARCH 13, 2023

‘Little fissures’: The U.S.-Ukraine war unity is slowly cracking apart

Russia Sending Captured US Weapons to Iran to ‘Reverse-Engineer’

Seoul mayor calls for South Korean nuclear weapons to counter threat from North. Related: North Korea fires ballistic missile

Fed Panics: Signature Bank Closed By Regulators; Fed, TSY, FDIC Announce Another Banking System Bailout

Why regulators seized Signature Bank in third-biggest bank failure in U.S. history

Significant Drop In Oil And Gas Price May Have Saved The Global Economy

“It underscores the fact that still in the 21st century, we truly do not know what is possible in biology,”

What a demographic disaster looks like

I have to admit up front that the title might be unfair. I am sure that to a certain extent the vast preponderance of old people simply reflects those who are willing to be on camera and who needed help. And I also need to warn that from my perspective the videos are on the cringe side but that is more a reflection of me then any great truth.

All those caveats aside, I can’t but help suspect that the below videos show the struggles that an aging society has in dealing with natural disaster. I suspect that the fact that the mountain communities were snowed in like what is shown in the video for over two weeks is as much due to the fact that they have the demographic profile of retirement communities then it has to do with unusual weather (as one old lady notes in one of the below videos, this has happened before in her lifetime). I can’t but help suspect that the fact that a bunch of Mormons from Utah (the stars of this U-tube channel I know for a fact are Mormon, not sure if all there crew is but a lot of them do come from Utah….) have to go rescue people in California deal with snow says something about where America is experiencing demographic decline and where it is still experiencing some growth. When I think about my neighborhood and community at large, I don’t think we are too different although I suspect that the people who would come to the rescue in this area are more likely to be Amish and Mennonite (or ex-Mennonite) then Mormon. But watch the videos below and see what you think.

Links For Today

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, MARCH 12, 2023

Notable because this is a pro-Ukraine source. Ukrainian soldiers in Bakhmut: ‘Our troops are not being protected’

Hundreds of Startups Face Massive Cash Crunch in Wake of Silicon Valley Bank Collapse

In my last startup (RIP food trucks-as-a-service, we barely knew ya) we raised $5.8 million on a deck and were immediately offered more than a million dollars from SVB at extremely favorable terms.

New study challenges our understanding of the immune system