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On the heels of Pelosi’s meltdown last night on CNN, Treasury Secretary and the Speaker met this morning to discuss COVID Relief. It went as well as every other similar discussion has gone in the last month…

Mnuchin commented specifically:

“…getting something done before the election is difficult…”

And stocks slipped to the lows of the day, pushing The Dow and Small Caps into the red from Friday…

We look forward to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asking Pelosi again, why $1.8 trillion is not enough?

“Why not work out a deal with [President Trump] and don’t let the perfect as they say here in Washington, be the enemy of the good?”

Why not indeed Wolf?

By Jonathan Maze at Restaurant Business,

Last week, California Pizza Kitchen canceled its auction after no worthy bidders came forward to buy the casual-dining chain. The result: The company will likely end up in the hands of its lenders. That came the same week that Ruby Tuesday started its bankruptcy process with a plan that hands the keys to the chain to its lenders.

Such deals are far from uncommon and totally understandable. But it’s indicative of the state of the business that once-venerable chains can’t even scrounge up bidders to help fuel bankruptcy auctions.

Indeed, several companies that have filed for bankruptcy since the pandemic have ended up sold in credit bids. CraftWorks, the owner of Logan’s Roadhouse and Old Chicago that declared bankruptcy before the pandemic, was sold through a credit bid in May. Aurify Brands acquired both Le Pain Quotidien and Mayson Kaiser by first acquiring the debt for the two brands and then using that to take over the company.

To get an idea of why this is happening now, we asked Petition, a journalist who covers corporate bankruptcies and restructuring, to get an idea of what’s going on.

“With too many restaurants per capita pre-pandemic and uncertainty about COVID-19 heading into winter, strategic buyers are scurrying to their foxholes to avoid the shakeout,” they said. “Existing lenders have no choice but to play out their option, hoping that less competition, strong digital adoption and execution, a slimmer balance sheet, a reduced footprint and focused management will bridge them to an industry comeback.”

To be sure, the companies above occupy some of the most challenging sectors or subsectors during the pandemic.

Both Le Pain Quotidien and Maison Kayser, for instance, are bakery-cafe concepts in urban areas. Those types of concepts face an uncertain future thanks to empty offices as consumers work from home, along with a potential flight of residents toward the suburbs.

Ruby Tuesday has been struggling and shrinking for more than a decade. It has closed nearly half of its units since 2017 and is less than a third of the size it was back in 2008. Bar and grill casual dining itself faces significant questions—TGI Fridays, once the leading casual-dining chain, is also shrinking.

California Pizza Kitchen is another casual-dining chain. But it was built around pizza. Consumers have shifted much of their pizza consumption to delivery, leaving full-service pizza concepts behind.

Buyers simply aren’t ready to take the plunge on those types of concepts. The business for dine-in sales is weak. It is also expected to remain weak for some time. That leaves the companies with little choice but to hand the keys to the lenders and walk away.

Any buyer of such chains will want that company reduced to only the most profitable locations. And they’re going to want that company for a considerably smaller price than the face value of the secured debt.

A lot of investors live to buy concepts through credit bids. They buy the secured debt on the secondary market, often for considerably discounted prices—lenders, believing they’ll be unlikely to get their money back and eager to get an unworkable loan off the books, will sometimes sell the debt at a discount.

Investors step in and buy the debt cheap. That can give them the inside track when a company ends up in bankruptcy. If a buyer willing to pay the face value of the debt emerges during an auction, the investor can make money based on the discount they paid for that debt. If not, they get the chain and can run it until the situation improves.

But such sales can often prolong the life of a chain that wouldn’t survive on its own, extending the life of “zombie” chains that aren’t growing and aren’t innovating and simply exist. The pandemic, of course, is creating zombies in all sorts of industries. Restaurant chains included.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) may get a taste of her own medicine after Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) introduced legislation to push for her removal as House speaker because she “does not have the mental fitness” to lead the House.

“Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s unwillingness to abide by the Constitution, combined with her recent actions, call into question her own mental fitness, which is why it’s critical that the House of Representatives demand her removal from the line of succession,” Collins told Fox News.

A draft of Collins’ resolution, obtained by Fox News, argues that Pelosi “is unable to adequately serve as Speaker of the House of Representatives and should therefore be removed from her position.”

The resolution states that Pelosi “has spent the majority of the House of Representative’s time pursuing baseless and fruitless investigations” against President Trump and his administration, including launching an impeachment inquiry against him in the fall of 2019. –Fox News

It’s clear that Nancy Pelosi does not have the mental fitness to serve as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

I’m introducing a resolution to push for her removal.

— Rep. Doug Collins (@RepDougCollins) October 12, 2020

“On October 31, 2019, Speaker Nancy Pelosi oversaw the first party-line vote to begin an impeachment inquiry into a president in the history of our country,” the resolution continues.

Collins also cites Pelosi ripping up President Trump’s State of the Union speech in February “before the American people,” and that she “visited a shuttered hair salon in San Francisco where she received a blow-out without wearing a mask in violation of San Francisco’s laws concerning the coronavirus,” then “cast blame on the salon’s owner for ‘setting her up.’”

“Over her tenure of her speakership, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has started to demonstrate a decline in mental fitness, calling into question her ability to adequately serve the House of Representatives and the American people,” it continues.

Collins also references a Tuesday interview  in which Pelosi lashed out at CNN‘s Wolf Blitzer after being pushed on why she won’t accept the Trump administration’s $1.8 trillion coronavirus relief package.

“There are Americans who are being evicted from their homes, they can’t pay the rent. Many Americans are waiting in food lines for the first time in their lives,” said Blitzer, who noted several Democratic colleagues who had urged the Speaker to compromise – to which Pelosi snapped: “I don’t know why you’re always an apologist and many of your colleagues are apologists for the Republican position.”

Speaker Pelosi to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer when he calls her out for refusing to make a deal on COVID-19 relief:

“I don’t know why you’re always an apologist and many of your colleagues are apologists for the Republican position.” pic.twitter.com/WHvnG3kOf3

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 13, 2020

And three weeks ago Pelosi ‘glitched’ in the middle of an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos – blurting out ‘good morning, Sunday morning’ after hesitating to answer a question.

Collins’ resolution comes on the heels of Pelosi’s announcement last week that she is assembling a commission which would allow Congress to oust a president from office using the 25th Amendment, just one day after accusing President Trump of being in an “altered state” while recovering from coronavirus.

Pelosi denied that it had anything to do with the election, and argued that the committee would “give some comfort to people” regarding the stability of government.

Under the 25th Amendment, Congress, the cabinet and vice president can strip powers from a president if for some reason he or she is declared unfit under dire circumstances. But that requires a 2/3 vote of both houses.

Section 4 of the 25th Amendment also states that a majority of “such other body as Congress may by law” determine if the president cannot discharge the powers and duties of his office. The 25th Amendment was ratified in 1967, and Rep. Jamie Raksin, D-Md., who appeared with Pelosi last week, said it’s time for Congress to set up this “body.” –Fox News

Is octogenarian Nancy Pelosi fit to lead the House?

Turkey is readying its comprehensive test of its S-400 missile-defense systems obtained from Russia last year which took Ankara’s relationship with Washington to a new low and resulted in the US blocking and suspending deliveries of Lockheed Martin’s advanced stealth F-35 fighter.

The test is expected to run starting Wednesday through Saturday at Sinop on the Black Sea, for which all flights have been banned in the area running east of the test field at an altitude less than 25,000 feet, according to Turkish aviation notices.

An irate Washington has recently reiterated threats to impose sanctions on Turkey if the Russian system is activated, something Ankara has indicated would happen by April 2020, when the system will go operational. 

Throughout the whole S-400 and F-35 diplomatic saga and standoff of 2019 which took US-Turkey relations to an all-time low, compounded by Turkey’s attacks on Syrian Kurds which were being supported by US troops in northern Syria, Ankara didn’t blink. This even as Washington offered the Patriot system as an alternative to Russian air defenses.

Meanwhile since late last week the Turkish lira has continued weakening to new record lows on geopolitical worries.

Turkey Reportedly Used S-400 System Against US-Made F-16s, and Congress Wants Answers https://t.co/P2uzOCtmLR

— Lena Argiri (@lenaargiri) October 8, 2020

Upon the issuing of Wednesday’s ‘missile notice’ the lira weakened 0.5% to 7.9586 against the U.S. dollar, another fresh record low, before it retraced some losses in the hours following to hold at 7.90.

Regional pressures also included the renewed heightened tensions with Greece and the EU over Turkey’s hydrocarbons exploration activity in the eastern Mediterranean, and Turkey’s increasingly vocal support to Azerbaijan as it clashes with Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Authored by GQ Pan via The Epoch Times,

The University of California’s failed attempt to shut down a student-run publication satirizing “safe spaces” and “trigger warnings” has resulted in over $800,000 in legal fees.

At the center of the legal dispute was a November 2015 article from The Koala, a satirical student newspaper at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), known for publishing articles with crude humor and racial slurs. The article, entitled “UCSD Unveils New Dangerous Space on Campus,” mocked the idea that students needed a “safe space” on campus by suggesting that the university should equally respect certain students’ needs to have “dangerous space.”

In the aftermath, the UCSD student government denounced The Koala for “the offensive and hurtful language it chooses to publish” and in retaliation, denied funding to all student media outlets.

The Koala then filed a First Amendment lawsuit in 2016, arguing that the university was withholding funds to censor their speech.

A federal judge tossed the lawsuit in 2017, but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the decision in 2019, acknowledging the change in UCSD’s funding policy as a means to prevent The Koala from excising its freedom of speech.

The Koala and UCSD settled the case last month, with the university paying the newspaper $12,000 and $150,000 more to cover attorneys’ fees. According to a public records request by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a First Amendment advocacy group, the University of California had spent an additional $662,317 on its own lawyers.

Throughout the 4-year legal battle, the university hired different law firms that usually charged five figures for their services. The records suggest that the first invoice came from Chicago’s Schiff Hardin, which would submit 30 more invoices from 2016 to October 2020, ranging from less than $100 to $110,000. There was also an invoice from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in November 2019 for more than $150,000.

By contrast, the funding originally allocated for The Koala was only $450.

“For those keeping track at home, that’s just north of 1,820 times the amount of money The Koala was denied under the unconstitutional funding change,” FIRE’s Adam Steinbaugh wrote.

“If speech ain’t free, it’ll cost the taxpayers and tuition-paying students a pretty penny.”

Since 2015, many colleges and universities have designated safe spaces where students could go to escape from the stress of controversial ideas. Some others, notably the University of Chicago, rejected the concept, holding that college students should learn to navigate though controversial topics rather than avoid them.

“Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so-called ‘trigger warnings,’ we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual ‘safe spaces’ where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own,” a letter to UChicago’s Class of 2020 read (pdf).

As the number of trial halts involving experimental COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics grows, public policymakers, the scientific community, and billionaires like Bill Gates are becoming increasingly worried about an issue that analysts from Goldman Sachs raised in a recent research note, where they warned that the biggest obstacle to eradicating COVID-19 could be convincing everyone to take the vaccines.

So after doing his part to sow doubt about the reliability of President Trump’s FDA, Microsoft founder Bill Gates is now doing a series of interviews to tout his foundation’s collaboration with the WHO (which aims to provide vaccine doses to everyone in need across the developing world) and urge his audience to stop worrying and accept the vaccine, as soon as it’s available (for the record, Gates said recently that he expects vaccines to be widely available by the end of next year, though he qualified that by acknowledging that the efficacy of vaccines is still unknown).

But as of last night, that timeline has apparently changed, as Gates now apparently believes – perhaps in light of the recent cases of patients being reinfected with the virus – that the initial round of vaccines in development won’t be enough to provide complete immunity.

In an interview with NBC news last night, Gates warned that the world “won’t return to normal” until “a lot of people” take a second “super-effective” coronavirus vaccine that could be years away.

“The only way we’ll get completely back to normal is by having, maybe not the first generation of vaccines, but eventually a vaccine that is super-effective, and that a lot of the people take, and that we get the disease eliminated on a global basis,” said Gates.

We won’t be able to “build back in a positive way” until then, Gates said.

To be sure, viewers should probably take Gates’ latest projection with a grain of salt: as Gates believes our present situation will not be totally reversed until we reach “Zero COVID”, ie totally eliminating the virus worldwide.

That’s a higher bar than any other disease in modern history, as Paul Joseph Watson points out.

Gates’ interview blitz continued as he also did a pre-recorded interview with “Squawk Box” host Becky Quick, which aired Wednesday morning on the show.

Asked by Quick if he has been “surprised” at the amount of pushback to wearing masks, Gates replied that it’s what “the leaders” are saying, though he acknowledged that the messaging on masks didn’t emerge until April or May.

Still, he doesn’t see it as “some kind of ultra-important freedom thing”.

“We’re asking you to cover up,” Gates said, adding that vaccines are “th primary tool we have until these therapeutics and vaccines get out there in big numbers.”

“Given that we tell people to wear clothes, I don’t think of it as some ultra-important freedom thing that there’s another part of your body … we’re asking you to cover up,” says @BillGates on mask pushback in the US, calling it our “primary tool” for now in fighting #COVID19. pic.twitter.com/UivhXZD0Id

— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) October 14, 2020

The next topic was another one of Gates’ favorites: the “conspiracy theories” targeting “Dr. Fauci and myself.”

“Do we have some malign reason to think vaccines are important in general – that’s unfortuante, particularly as it undermines the mask wearing, or it undermines as vaccines get approved…as we want people to protect their loved ones, protect the community…and do something to keep them safe.”

“Two people who are most targeted are Dr. Fauci and myself in terms of do we have some malign reason to think vaccines are important,” says @BillGates on #COVID19 conspiracy theories. “That’s unfortunate particularly if it undermines the mask wearing.” pic.twitter.com/ye8AgvyUBZ

— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) October 14, 2020

Asked if he’s ever discussed the conspiracies with Dr. Fauci, Gates replied that he hasn’t, and that most of his communication with Dr. Fauci is about the antibody therapies, like the therapy from Eli Lilly (trials of which has been halted) seeking an EUA from the FDA, and another experimental therapy from Regeneron that’s also seeking approval.

Authored by Bruce Wilds via Advancing Time blog,

Amazon is a monster that with the help of our government exploits America and continues to engulf and devour its competitors. Of Amazon, we should be afraid, very afraid! Amazon is a job-killing exploiter. The fact is that many of the options Bezos employs to expand Amazon are available to him only because of the many areas his various companies engage in, this is the crux of growing antitrust talk. Jeff Bezos did not purchase the Washington Post in 2013 because he expected newspapers to make a lucrative resurgence. He purchased the long-trusted U.S. newspaper for the power it would ensure him in Washington and because it could be wielded as a propaganda mouthpiece to extend his ability to both shape and control public opinion. 

The ownership of the Post dovetails with Amazon’s role working with the CIA. The Washington Post is without a doubt the most pro-establishment among all large mainstream publications, not only do they defend the narratives of the Deep State but actively attacks anyone who challenges them. This includes both President Trump and Bernie Sanders, both are on the record for having criticized Amazon. This is also part of the reason the USPS continues to be allowed to grant Amazon special treatment by delivering its packages on Sunday and even on major holidays, the USPS has sold out the rest of American businesses for a few dollars in revenue. Ironically, the thing many people on both the far-right and far-left can agree upon is Amazon is not our friend.

The company has over the last year been forced to undertake a massive public relations campaign and increase its advertising to offset growing consumer anger. CEO Jeff Bezos is gifted with the ability to re-frame an issue and this can be seen in its effort to paint a positive image of Amazon as a good neighbor and job creator. Ripping apart this illusion is the sad truth that when Amazon creates a job one or more are lost in another part of the economy. As for being a “good neighbor,” an article recently appeared on Viable Opposition detailing how Amazon exploited and price gouged customers during the bulk of the lock-down.

An All Too common Sight All Across America

Hopefully on Amazon’s Prime Day shopping event  consumers will just say no to the company that weasels its way into our lives. It is difficult to quantify all the damage Amazon has done to America as it has burrowed its way into the fabric of society. This company has exploited communities by continually telling consumers it is the answer to a “better America” while it feeds at the government teat. Only after it has wrecked communities leaving many Americans jobless and retail stores sitting as giant empty shells might short-sighted consumers finally see the airs of their way. Amazon is bad for America – it is that simple!

An example of this surfaced a while back when it was reported that Amazon would be allowed a two year trial in New York state to ship food to customers and be paid with their EBT cards. This is going to hammer Amazon’s competitors located in these areas. While nobody seemed to care this translates into grocery stores willing to locate in poorer areas losing business to a company unwilling to locate in these less desirable markets. This is a rather self-defeating in that it rewards those unwilling to commit to making the community better and damages the brick and mortar stores that will. Not only do these stores pay local real estate taxes and provide jobs for those in the community they also are forced to deal with a huge number of shoplifters.

Small Business Has Continued To Fall

Amazon is not the answer to creating a better America and is a company I simply cannot embrace. I strongly urge people to consider what kind of community and society they want in the future before jumping on the Amazon bandwagon. While in the past many politicians fell over themselves to be in its shadow that trend is stalling. Because of its massive advertising budget and other ties to Amazon, we find the media often seems to be in bed with Amazon and portrays the company as both the flavor of the day and the future of commerce.  This means you seldom hear anything bad about the retail behemoth in these stories put before us that are in effect free advertising. These so-called news articles are often spun to place Amazon in the most flattering light.

Over the years Amazon has employed a strategy that takes no prisoners. It even crushes merchants working on its platform by stealing their product ideas and undercutting them on prices. This is done by giving their own Amazon-branded products premium real estate on their website. Amazon has also been stepping up efforts to recruit Chinese suppliers and manufacturers directly which cuts small American merchants out of the picture. As these new Chinese players have entered the picture “an explosion” of counterfeit products and fake reviews have hit the site. This is an issue prominent in Chinese e-commerce.

Killing Jobs, Small Business, And Communities

For all the praise many people and politicians heap upon small business they are often quick to cut the very throat of the creator of much of our wealth and jobs. The sale of goods over the internet has a great deal of merit, but how it is carried out can have a profound effect on society. Only as local stores continue to close, our children cannot find jobs, and property values begin to wither it will become apparent we have made a deal with the devil. Amazon excels in creating illusions that fail to hold up under scrutiny. Its vision of drone delivery is an example of the kind of pop it can garner with its news blips. Because of its influence, you can count on the media to turn any news about Amazon turned into a promotional ad. 

Current tax laws at the local, state, and federal level have changed little over the decades and lag far behind how business is conducted in our modern age. This feeds directly into creating an unfair advantage for Amazon which has used them as a foundation to fuel its growth. Still, even more troubling is how the company has created an environment that draws in other sellers of goods then in a predatory manner undercuts their ability to compete. When you add these actions to Amazon’s growing influence in Washington due to its strong relationship with the CIA and deep state with its CEO’s ability to drive public opinion through the Washington Post we have every reason for grave concern. Remember the proverbial saying ‘power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. In short, this is why Amazon has become a threat to our democracy and capitalism in America.

Fred’s valuable tip was a “Hallmark moment”

People often claim to expound old-time values such as cherishing personal relationships with the people in their neighborhoods that they do business with. Still, it seems some consumers become almost giddy at the thought of receiving a package from an online seller mistaking it for a gift. The truth is these packages are not free. Even if they are paying the same price such goods come with a hidden cost levied against their community. That cost is lost jobs, local sales, and a lower tax base. This is why if prices are anywhere near the same it is wise to “do the right thing” and support your local merchants.  

People should consider what kind of community and society they want in the coming years before jumping on the Amazon bandwagon. For all the praise many people and politicians heap upon small business they are often quick to cut the throat and turn their backs to those that create much of our wealth and jobs. India recently made an effort to tighten the noose on E-retailers and we should too. America also needs to investigate ways to level the playing field and protect the brick and mortar retailers that provide jobs and are so important to the fabric of communities. Washington has become tangled up in its own feet that it is unable to get anything done, so it is time we the people take action, that is why I urge you to “boycott” anything Amazon.

*  *  *

Footnote: Read the important Viable Opposition piece about Amazon’s price gouging here.