February 2022 – Page 249

Inflation Comes For Your Closet: Cotton Prices Hit Decade High Amid Global Deficit

The global fashion industry is on the rebound as BMO Capital boosted Under Armour’s rating to Outperform from Sector Perform. Fashion retailers breathe a sigh of relief as demand picks up but comes at a high price for consumers.

This year, about two-thirds of fashion executives expect to increase costs due to snarled supply chains. Average prices are expected to rise about 3% across all clothing and apparel, according to the State of Fashion 2022 report by the Business of Fashion and McKinsey & Co.

About 15% of respondents said clothing and apparel prices could jump by more than 10%.

Inflation in fashion hasn’t just been due to transportation bottlenecks and rising shipping costs but also rocketing commodity prices. Bloomberg reports cotton futures have soared to a decade high on Monday due to a “global deficit of the fiber squeezing mills holding huge short positions.”

March cotton futures in New York rose as much as 2% to $1.26 per pound, the highest since June 2011. Prices are up for the seventh straight quarter, the longest streak since 1959.

“Supply disruptions and soaring costs pushed the industry to draw on stockpiles, which have practically vanished at ICE Futures U.S., with higher prices unable to lure supplies into the exchange-tracked warehouses,” Bloomberg said.

High prices for the fiber indicate inflation is coming to shirts, blue jeans, dresses, sweats, and so much more.

Demand for cotton worldwide “is simply not being met,” said O.A. Cleveland, a consultant and professor emeritus at Mississippi State University.

“Industry group Cotlook on Friday shifted its global outlook for 2021-22 back to a deficit, the second shortfall in a row, citing diminished production in top exporter U.S. and India. More plantings in the coming season have been put into question by soaring costs for crop inputs including fertilizer,” Bloomberg continued.

Cleveland said the cotton dynamics are “extremely bullish,” and the “last time I recalled such a situation, I stopped forecasting futures prices once the market reached $1.50 a pound. Will the May or July futures price ascend to such a level? I do not know. This is a no man’s land.”

It’s still unclear how consumers will act when their favorite clothing brand prices continue to rise. But since clothes are considered discretionary spending, there will be a point where consumers will buy fewer of them due to higher prices.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/31/2022 – 20:40

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/Dm7fKpVR0 Tyler Durden

COVID Is In The “Rearview” Because Politicians “Can’t Win Votes Locking You In A Cage”: George Gammon

Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

A couple days ago, my kind friend George Gammon from Rebel Capitalist took the time to answer a couple of exclusive Fringe Finance questions for me. George is one of my favorite economic commentators and has been a friend of mine, and my podcast, for years. I often describe his podcast as similar to mine, just more well thought out, more educational and more useful with less childish humor.

I thought this week would be a good time to tap into George’s head, given that the last time I spoke to George was well before the current market volatility. George prepared two, twenty minute-long exclusive videos for Fringe Finance to try and tackle a list of questions I had for him.

I reviewed George’s first video in this writeup for Zero Hedge, where he talked about everything from volatility in markets, to gold, to the Fed.

On Being Censored By YouTube

In his second video George talks about one of his channel’s bans from YouTube: “Rebel Capitalist did get taken down by YouTube about two months ago. I actually wasn’t that surprised. I looked, couldn’t find it and got an email from YouTube saying they had taken down my account without any strikes or warnings.”

“I went on Twitter and mentioned the YouTube email and got overwhelming support,” George says. Then, after Joe Rogan re-tweeted George’s tweet, his account mysteriously wound up back on YouTube.

“Maybe four hours later, Joe Rogan re-tweeted me. Then it went completely viral. About 2 hours later I got an email from YouTube saying ‘Whoops! Sorry! Our mistake! We reinstated your channel!'”

It’s encouraging to see competition from other social media platforms, George says. “If they continue this draconian censorship around free speech, maybe YouTube will go the way of Myspace,” George says.

On Who He Follows During Market Volatility

George also explains who he listens to when the market is volatile: “Lyn Alden, I’m always paying attention to what she’s doing. She’s got a very very special talent, even compared to other people who are incredibly intelligent. I think Lyn is the best out there, personally. But I’m always listening to Jeff Snyder, and then I try to look at what’s happening in the stock market through the lens of people I talk to.”

“I try to listen to the old school guys – Chanos, Druckenmiller, Jim Rogers, Marc Faber – and kind of those old school type of guys. Gundlach, too.”

“My base case is at the end of 2022, I think we’ll be between 90 and 100 on the DXY,” George adds when asked about whether or not the dollar would crash this year.

On The Future Of Covid And The Stock Market

“I think especially in the red states, Covid is going to be in the rearview mirror by the summer, maybe even by the spring,” George says. “It is possible we have another variant, but it’s unlikely, because another variant would have to be more transmissible. We’ll probably be stuck with omicron for quite some time.”

He continues: “Is it priced into the market? I think it is. I think Covid is still going to be a thing in other countries and some of the blue states. The tell will be what countries are still under the influence of the World Economic Forum and the global elite.”

“I’ve seen a pivot in the mainstream media,” George says. “Politicians know they can’t run and win on a platform of locking you in a cage and vaccine passports and making your kids inject a foreign substance into their body. That’s not a winning platform and I think the politicians are starting to realize that. Then they call the media and say ‘hey, you need to do a 180′”.

In George’s second video, he also talks about:

How lesser known content creators get screwed because they don’t have a following
The free market’s response to censorship
How he has learned the global monetary system by educating others
Thoughts on Covid variants and natural immunity
Why countries closest to the World Economic Forum will likely perpetuate the Covid narrative more than others
Why he doesn’t think the big crash for the dollar is coming in 2022

You can watch Parts 1 and 2 of George’s full video response here.

Now read:

DISCLAIMER:

All content is George Gammon’s opinion. I own physical silver, GLD, GDX, GDXJ, PAAS, PSLV and a number of other metals/miners/gold/silver equities as well as numerous companies with exposure to oil and uranium. Readers should assume George also has positions in all trends/equities/etc. mentioned in this interview – as do I. We will likely stand to benefit if prices of commodities rise and/or our prognostications come true. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. It is only a look into personal opinions and personal portfolios. Positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I get shit wrong a lot. I’m not a financial advisor, I hold no licenses or registrations and am not qualified to give advice on anything, let alone finance or medicine. Talk to your doctor, talk to your financial advisor or your therapist. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/31/2022 – 20:20

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/n63lmIQKg Tyler Durden

Pregnant Reporter Forced To Stay In Kabul After Home Country Of New Zealand Denies Her Entry Due To COVID Protocols

Pregnant 35 year old reporter Charlotte Bellis is not being allowed to return home from Afghanistan to her home country of New Zealand because of the archipelago’s strict Covid-19 protocols.

She had been covering “the difficult conditions mothers and babies face” in the country, and has now herself been forced to take up shelter in Kabul, according to AP. She is 25 weeks pregnant and has been vaccinated three times.

She was working as an Afghanistan correspondent for Al Jazeera, where she resigned in November because it is based in Qatar, where “it is illegal to be pregnant and unmarried in Qatar”.

She then went o Belgium to try and get residency, but the length of time it would have taken her to get in would have left her visa to expire. She then returned to her partner, who is a freelance photographer that has lived in Afghanistan for two years, figuring she could fight to get home using Kabul as a “home base”.

She had considered hopping from country to country on tourist visas until she had her baby, but couldn’t spend on the jet-setting and hotels that would be necessary. She says she is giving herself until she is 30 weeks pregnant to try and engineer a solution from Kabul.

“I am giving myself to the end of February,” she said. “She will still have more than a month left on her Belgium visa so that she can re-enter the country” at that time, AP reported.

“Each day is a battle,” she told AP this weekend. “This is ridiculous. It is my legal right to go to New Zealand, where I have health care, where I have family. All my support is there.”

After she wrote about her plight to return home, New Zealand’s COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins reportedly asked officials if they had followed protocol in her case and found that her situation appeared to “warrant further explanation.”

She has a lawyer than has submitted over 60 documents to New Zealand’s government to try and get her home, but they have been rejected twice.

On Sunday, she received a response from the New Zealand government telling her that her pregnancy didn’t meet the criteria of “threshold of critical time threat.”

“If I don’t meet the threshold as a pregnant woman then who does?” she concluded.

Interestingly enough, she said she was welcomed back to Kabul by the Taliban. She checked with them to make sure it was okay for her to come back despite the fact that she was pregnant and unmarried.

“I appreciate this isn’t official Taliban policy, but they were very generous and kind. They said ‘you are safe here, congratulations we welcome you’,” she told AP.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/31/2022 – 20:00

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/A1TaDYzcF Tyler Durden

Can’t Seal the Alleged Libel Attached to Motion to Seeking Removal of the Libel

In Czernyk v. Bongiovanni,

plaintiff sued defendant over an alleged rape;
plaintiff’s lawyer has recently made various public allegations about defendant and defendant’s lawyer, including on plaintiff’s lawyer’s blog;
on Friday, defendant’s lawyer moved for an order requiring plaintiff’s lawyer “to immediately remove the blog post page” and “a temporary gag order” on the plaintiff’s lawyer “pending the outcome of the hearing on this issue” (see also defendant’s lawyer’s declaration); and
in the process, defendant’s lawyer sought to file a copy of the critical blog post under seal:

The motion at issue arises out of a series of disparaging statements made by Plaintiff and Plaintiff’s counsel about Defendant and Defendant’s counsel.

On January 20, 2022, Plaintiff appeared with her attorney, Susan Crumiller, on “Bronx Talk,” a local television show in the Bronx to discuss her case. Counsel for Defendant, Priya Chaudhry, appeared on the second segment of the show and answered questions posed by the host. During Ms. Chaudhry’s interview, Ms. Crumiller interjected multiple times to call Ms. Chaudhry a liar and make claims that Ms. Chaudhry’s statements about Counterclaim- Defendant’s monetary demand of one-million-dollars during the pendency of the Fordham investigation were lies.

On January 21, 2022, in response to Ms. Crumiller’s defamatory statements, counsel for Bongiovanni wrote a letter to Ms. Crumiller stating that her comments constituted actionable defamation and asking her to retract her defamatory statements. Ms. Crumiller first responded by email demanding that Defendant’s counsel identify the witnesses to the one million dollar demand. Defendant’s counsel responded with the requested information and reiterated the request for retraction of Ms. Crumiller’s statements.

Ms. Crumiller responded by publicly publishing the letter from Defendant’s counsel, again accusing Defendant’s counsel of lying, generally mocking Defendant’s counsel, and calling Defendant “a rapist” on her law firm’s website, blog, and on social media. Ms. Crumiller’s post about Defendant’s counsel was one in a substantial string of expletive-ridden posts disparaging other adversaries and their counsel. Plaintiff later re-posted Ms. Crumiller’s post to her personal Instagram account and Ms. Crumiller and her agents re-posted the original defamatory blog post on Twitter and other platforms.

In response to this behavior, and in an effort to curb any additional damages to Defendant and his counsel, Defendant has moved this Court for a hearing inquiring into Ms. Crumiller’s actions and requesting additional interim relief as Ms. Crumiller’s actions violate the New York Rules of Professional Conduct. In support of that motion, Defendant has filed a memorandum of law and the Declaration of Priya Chaudhry in Support of Defendant’s Motion for Expedited Hearing and Interim Relief. Exhibit E [which the motion seeks to seal] is a copy of the webpage from Crumiller P.C.’s website containing the offending language. This exhibit contains precisely the harmful language that Defendant and his counsel seek to address with their motion and to file this exhibit, unsealed, to the public record would merely exacerbate the damages which they seek to remedy….

There is undoubtedly a presumption of public access to documents on a judicial record, however documents “may be sealed if specific, on the record findings are made demonstrating closure is essential to preserve higher values and is narrowly tailored to serve that interest.” … In making this determination, the court balances the movant’s interest in maintaining the secrecy of the documents with the public’s interest in accessing the information contained in the document.

Good cause to file documents under seal has been found where, as here, public access to the documents or information at issue is likely to cause harm to the movant.

Here, Defendant sees no possible benefit to the public in having access to this document. The document contains defamatory and abusive language aimed at Defendant and his counsel. The content of the document is extremely damaging to the personal and professional reputations of both Defendant and his counsel. Thus, the harm to movant here would vastly outweigh any interest the public might have in viewing the content of the document….

No, said Judge John Koeltl (S.D.N.Y.) this afternoon, ordering the exhibit unsealed:

The defendant has failed to show compelling reasons for such sealing, or that such sealing would be effective in view of other dissemination of the same material.

I appreciate why Ms. Chaudhry would want the attachment containing the alleged libel sealed, and I appreciate that keeping it unsealed tends to in some measure exacerbate the harm of the libel. But in our legal system, decisions by courts—especially decisions that implicate important constitutional rights—generally have to be done in public and subject to public scrutiny, not in secret. That means that the public has to be able to see the bases that the parties urge for those decisions. And it’s very hard to understand a decision about whether some material is libelous and should be ordered taken down (the remedy that Ms. Chaudhry seeks) without being able to see that material.

For two of my forays into cases raising similar questions, see Parson v. Farley (N.D. Okla. 2018) and Manhattan Telecommunications Corp. v. Granite Telecommunications, LLC (Del. Ct. Ch. 2020).

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Can’t Seal the Alleged Libel Attached to Motion to Seeking Removal of the Libel

In Czernyk v. Bongiovanni,

plaintiff sued defendant over an alleged rape;
plaintiff’s lawyer has recently made various public allegations about defendant and defendant’s lawyer, including on plaintiff’s lawyer’s blog;
on Friday, defendant’s lawyer moved for an order requiring plaintiff’s lawyer “to immediately remove the blog post page” and “a temporary gag order” on the plaintiff’s lawyer “pending the outcome of the hearing on this issue” (see also defendant’s lawyer’s declaration); and
in the process, defendant’s lawyer sought to file a copy of the critical blog post under seal:

The motion at issue arises out of a series of disparaging statements made by Plaintiff and Plaintiff’s counsel about Defendant and Defendant’s counsel.

On January 20, 2022, Plaintiff appeared with her attorney, Susan Crumiller, on “Bronx Talk,” a local television show in the Bronx to discuss her case. Counsel for Defendant, Priya Chaudhry, appeared on the second segment of the show and answered questions posed by the host. During Ms. Chaudhry’s interview, Ms. Crumiller interjected multiple times to call Ms. Chaudhry a liar and make claims that Ms. Chaudhry’s statements about Counterclaim- Defendant’s monetary demand of one-million-dollars during the pendency of the Fordham investigation were lies.

On January 21, 2022, in response to Ms. Crumiller’s defamatory statements, counsel for Bongiovanni wrote a letter to Ms. Crumiller stating that her comments constituted actionable defamation and asking her to retract her defamatory statements. Ms. Crumiller first responded by email demanding that Defendant’s counsel identify the witnesses to the one million dollar demand. Defendant’s counsel responded with the requested information and reiterated the request for retraction of Ms. Crumiller’s statements.

Ms. Crumiller responded by publicly publishing the letter from Defendant’s counsel, again accusing Defendant’s counsel of lying, generally mocking Defendant’s counsel, and calling Defendant “a rapist” on her law firm’s website, blog, and on social media. Ms. Crumiller’s post about Defendant’s counsel was one in a substantial string of expletive-ridden posts disparaging other adversaries and their counsel. Plaintiff later re-posted Ms. Crumiller’s post to her personal Instagram account and Ms. Crumiller and her agents re-posted the original defamatory blog post on Twitter and other platforms.

In response to this behavior, and in an effort to curb any additional damages to Defendant and his counsel, Defendant has moved this Court for a hearing inquiring into Ms. Crumiller’s actions and requesting additional interim relief as Ms. Crumiller’s actions violate the New York Rules of Professional Conduct. In support of that motion, Defendant has filed a memorandum of law and the Declaration of Priya Chaudhry in Support of Defendant’s Motion for Expedited Hearing and Interim Relief. Exhibit E [which the motion seeks to seal] is a copy of the webpage from Crumiller P.C.’s website containing the offending language. This exhibit contains precisely the harmful language that Defendant and his counsel seek to address with their motion and to file this exhibit, unsealed, to the public record would merely exacerbate the damages which they seek to remedy….

There is undoubtedly a presumption of public access to documents on a judicial record, however documents “may be sealed if specific, on the record findings are made demonstrating closure is essential to preserve higher values and is narrowly tailored to serve that interest.” … In making this determination, the court balances the movant’s interest in maintaining the secrecy of the documents with the public’s interest in accessing the information contained in the document.

Good cause to file documents under seal has been found where, as here, public access to the documents or information at issue is likely to cause harm to the movant.

Here, Defendant sees no possible benefit to the public in having access to this document. The document contains defamatory and abusive language aimed at Defendant and his counsel. The content of the document is extremely damaging to the personal and professional reputations of both Defendant and his counsel. Thus, the harm to movant here would vastly outweigh any interest the public might have in viewing the content of the document….

No, said Judge John Koeltl (S.D.N.Y.) this afternoon, ordering the exhibit unsealed:

The defendant has failed to show compelling reasons for such sealing, or that such sealing would be effective in view of other dissemination of the same material.

For two of my forays into cases raising similar questions, see Parson v. Farley (N.D. Okla. 2018) and Manhattan Telecommunications Corp. v. Granite Telecommunications, LLC (Del. Ct. Ch. 2020).

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American Mom, School Teacher Was ISIS Batallion Leader, Prosecutors Allege

Authored by Alice Giordano via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

*The U.S. Department of Justice is seen in Washington, on June 11, 2021. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)*

Federal authorities arrested a former Kansas school teacher and mother of five and charged her with plotting terrorist attacks on American soil, including a shopping mall and a college campus.

Allison Elizabeth Fluke-Ekren, 42, was apprehended in Syria late Thursday, according to a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) press release.

Fluke-Ekren began her stint as a terrorist shortly after leaving the U.S. in 2008, according to the DOJ. In a statement released Friday on Fluke-Ekren’s arrest and extradition back to the U.S., the DOJ detailed her intense involvement with the ISIS terrorist group over the course of three years.

Fluke-Ekren allegedly served as a leader of an all-women military battalion of ISIS known as Khatiba Nusayba.

Six eyewitnesses gave detailed accounts to U.S. federal agents of Fluke-Ekren’s alleged terrorist activity starting in 2016, which was about eight years after she moved to the Middle East. One of the witnesses described Fluke-Ehren’s alleged plot to park a vehicle full of explosives in the basement or parking garage level at a U.S. shopping mall and detonate the explosives in the vehicle using a cell phone with a triggering device.

One witness said that the former Kansas school teacher fantasized about large-scale attacks and only considered a location a good one for the attack “if it contained large amounts of congregating people.”

According to another eyewitness account, Fluke-Ekren said she considered any attack that did not kill a large number of individuals to be a waste of resources and campaigned for attacks to occur on American soil.

Fluke-Ekren’s battalion, which included young children, was trained in the handling of AK-47s, grenades, and improvised explosive devices. They were also taught how to prep a “go bag” with rifles and other military supplies.

The DOJ also had information that members of the all-women ISIS group often expressed they were especially proud to have an American leading them.

Under the blog entitled 4kansaskids.blogspot.com, Fluke-Ekren wrote about family exploits in the Middle East before joining ISIS. There are several pictures of her, her first husband, and her children riding camels. Posts dating back to Christmas day in 2008 by friends include well wishings and hugs to the kids.

“Everyone asks about you here in Wichita and KC,” wrote one friend. “Take care and I hope to read much, much more about your adventures!!!!”

Fluke-Ekren replied back stating “Please give everyone in both places my best regards and salaams.”

Several new posts now appear on her blog with a very different tone. One person wrote just yesterday “When you were planning to put a bomb under a shopping mall, did you think of the kids that would be murdered? Kids like your kids?”

The blog posts predate the birth of her fifth child, who is believed, based on information from the DOJ, to be around 13. Her other children would be young adults.

Terrorism appears to have become a family affair, replacing camel-riding activity with toting AK-47s. According to one witness in the federal complaint, one of Fluke-Ekren’s children, estimated to be about 5 or 6 years old, was seen outside the family home in Syria toting one of the gas-fueled assault weapons. Fluke-Ekren’s American husband died in 2016 while leading ISIS snipers in an airstrike. She remarried a Bangladeshi described as a prominent ISIS leader.

According to the federal complaint against her, the ISIS battalion led by the American mom included children about the age of her children seen in pictures on her blog.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, if convicted, the maximum prison sentence faced by Fluke-Ekren is 20 years.

Her arraignment is scheduled for Monday afternoon at the federal courthouse in Eastern District of Virginia federal courthouse in Alexandria. Under federal sentencing guidelines, if convicted, the maximum prison sentence faced by Fluke-Ekren is 20 years.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/31/2022 – 19:40

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/iPbr73xVE Tyler Durden

Regulatory Swagger Comes to Washington

All of Washington is back from Christmas break, and suddenly the Biden Administration is showing a sharp departure from the Obama and Clinton years where regulation of Big Tech is concerned. Regulatory swagger is everywhere.

Treasury regulatory objections to Facebook’s cryptocurrency project have forced the Silicon Valley giant to abandon the effort, Maury Shenk tells us, and the White House is initiating what looks like a major interagency effort to regulate cryptocurrency on national security grounds. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is getting serious (sort of) about monitoring the internal security of electric grid systems, Tatyana Bolton reveals. The White House and Environmental Protection Agency are launching a “sprint” to bring some basic cybersecurity to the nation’s water systems. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is full of ideas for expanding the Security and Exchange Commission’s security requirements for brokers, public companies, and those who service the financial industry. And the Federal Trade Commission is entertaining a rulemaking petition that could profoundly affect companies now enjoying the gusher of online ad money generated by aggregating consumer data. And that’s just this week.

In other news, Dave Aitel gives us a thoughtful assessment of why the log4j vulnerability isn’t creating as much bad news as we first expected. It’s a mildly encouraging story of increased competence and speed in remediation, combined with the complexity (and stealth) of serious attacks built on the flaw.

Dave also dives deep on the story of the Belarussian hacktivists (if that’s what they are) now trying to interfere with Putin’s threatened invasion of Ukraine. It’s hard to say whether they’ve actually succeeded in delaying trains carrying Russian tanks to the Belarussian-Ukrainian border, but this is one group that has consistently pulled off serious hacks over several years as they harass the Lukashenko regime.

In a blast from the past, Maury Shenk takes us back to 2011 and the Hewlett Packard (HP)-Autonomy deal, which was repudiated as tainted by fraud almost as soon as it was signed. Turns out, HP is getting a long-delayed vindication, as Autonomy’s founder and CEO is found liable for fraud and ordered extradited to the U.S. to face criminal charges. Both rulings are likely to be appealed, so we’ll probably still be following court proceedings over events from 2011 in 2025 or later.

Speaking of anachronistic court proceedings, the EU’s effort to punish Intel for abusing its dominant position in the chip market has long outlived Intel’s dominant position in the chip market, and we’re nowhere near done with the litigation. Intel won a big decision from the European general court, Maury tells us. he and I agree that it’s only the European courts that stand between Silicon Valley and a whole lot more European regulatory swagger.

Finally, Dave brings us up to date on a New York Times story about how Israel used NSO’s hacking capabilities in a campaign to break out of years of diplomatic isolation.

Download the 392nd Episode (mp3)

You can subscribe to The Cyberlaw Podcast using iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Pocket Casts, or our RSS feed. As always, The Cyberlaw Podcast is open to feedback. Be sure to engage with @stewartbaker on Twitter. Send your questions, comments, and suggestions for topics or interviewees to CyberlawPodcast@steptoe.com. Remember: If your suggested guest appears on the show, we will send you a highly coveted Cyberlaw Podcast mug!

The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of their institutions, clients, friends, families, or pets.

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Regulatory Swagger Comes to Washington

Finally, Dave brings us up to date on a New York Times story about how Israel used NSO’s hacking capabilities in a campaign to break out of years of diplomatic isolation.

Download the 392nd Episode (mp3)

The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of their institutions, clients, friends, families, or pets.

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Shareholders Sue McDonald’s For Allowing Ex-CEO To Keep $40 Million Severance Package

McDonald’s institutional shareholders have McF**king had it with generous payouts to executives forced out over improper conduct.

More than two years since firing CEO Steve Easterbrook over an inappropriate relationship he had with a subordinate, McDonald’s is now facing a lawsuit from a group of shareholders – including at least one major union pension funds – who believe Easterbrook should reimburse the company for the legal fees it spent trying to oust him.

Easterbrook was fired in 2019 after four years in the top job where he won praise for innovations like all-day breakfast and other initiatives that supposedly bolstered sales.

A trio of pension funds tied to the Teamsters’ union said in a court filing released Friday that McDonald’s should have demanded reimbursement for the millions of dollars in legal fee that it was forced to pay during its battle with Easterbrook. Instead, the company allowed him to walk out the door with almost $40 million.

According to Bloomberg, disgruntled shareholders are also criticizing Micky D’s chairman Rick Hernandez and other board members over allegedly misleading the board about the extent of Easterbrook’s deceptions.

For example, Hernandez and other members of the board were criticized for paying Easterbrook severance after he allegedly misled them about the nature and duration of his allegedly “inappropriate” relationship with a subordinated.

Here’s more on what shareholders had to say:

Board members weren’t acting in the best interest of shareholders by keeping “secret such salacious misconduct and paying Easterbrook a lavish severance package to quietly leave the company,” the investors said in the court filing.

The McDonald’s board will fight the request, its lawyer said Monday. “Plaintiffs’ allegations do not support a derivative claim, and the board will move to dismiss the case,” Ron Olson said in an emailed statement.

Court papers show McDonald’s accused the former CEO of lying about his sexual liaisons with underlings and sending dozens of sexually explicit pictures of women using his company email.

The company originally sought to recoup his severance package, which it valued at $37 million, but eventually caved, as Easterbrook and his legal team fought back.

At this point, even if the shareholders win in their suit against McDonald’s, the money won’t come from Easterbrook, but from McDonald’s insurance coverage.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/31/2022 – 19:20

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/CdVbXuo7F Tyler Durden

Democrats Finally Reach Out To Manchin, Is It Too Late?

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

Control of Build Back Better was always in Senator Joe Manchin’s hands. Stewing Progressives finally admit that. But what’s next?

Ball in Manchin’s Court

The Wall Street Journal reports Democrats Put Build Back Better in Joe Manchin’s Court, emphasis mine.

Democrats are increasingly willing to accept whatever child-care, healthcare and climate package that Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) would support as they return to Washington this week, hoping to salvage elements of the party’s economic agenda after months of failed negotiations.

Party lawmakers have started to change their attitude toward the package as they grapple with the possibility of failing to convert their narrow control of Congress into progress on major party goals. Some have moved away from insisting that the package include particular priorities, instead advocating for the party to notch a result with Mr. Manchin ahead of the midterm elections.

“Democrats can’t let our disappointment get in the way of progress on something we’ve worked hard to achieve,” said Rep. Peter Welch (D., Vt.), who is running for Senate. Many Democrats are eager to start piecing together legislation after Mr. Manchin’s rejection of the House-passed Build Back Better bill put talks on ice for weeks. In a West Virginia broadcast interview, Mr. Manchin said talks had restarted on the bill, adding that he was primarily focused on a separate effort on bipartisan elections legislation.

“There’s a lot of conversations going on, they’ve been reaching out. We haven’t sat down physically and started any negotiations,” Mr. Manchin said on Thursday. “I think taking care of our voting and protecting our right to vote and protecting the ballot box is the most important, urgent thing we have right now.”

Reasons Time May Have Passed

Senator Bernie Sanders is calling for up or down votes on every idea. “The current direction that we have followed for the past five months has failed. We’ve got to move in a new direction,” Mr. Sanders said.
Senator Manchin has other priorities, especially voting.
The House Progressive Caucus will be loathe to accept some of Manchin’s requirements.
Another potential government shutdown is in the works. The 2021 settlement extended government funding through February 18. That will be the top priority for the next two weeks.
Biden pledged to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court but has of yet selected anyone. The Senate confirmation hearings will take a while.
Some Democrats still insist on removing the $10,000 cap on the state and local tax deductions and the expanded child tax credit. A group of Senate Democrats wrote a letter to Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris last week calling on them to continue an expansion of the child tax credit in the legislation.

2022 Congressional Calendar

2022 Congressional calendar from Rational360.Com

Deal Still Possible

Whatever gets done will likely have to get done by the end of July.

In August and October the House is not in session although Speaker Nancy Pelosi could call them back.

There is still time, but the best shots are March, May, June, and July. There is too much other business in February.

Bipartisan Group Targets Election Reform

Please note Senators Seek Changes to Electoral Count Act to Firm Up Presidential Elections

Republicans in recent weeks have started talking about making changes to the Electoral Count Act in an effort to stop a repeat of what happened following the 2020 election. Then-President Donald Trump, a Republican, had urged then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject the Electoral College votes from some states, which he declined to do. That same day, the Capitol was overrun by a pro-Trump mob seeking to stop the certification of the election victory of President Biden, a Democrat.

Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine), who is leading the bipartisan effort, said Thursday she was encouraged by the interest from colleagues from both parties in overhauling the law. Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine), who is leading the bipartisan effort, said Thursday she was encouraged by the interest from colleagues from both parties in overhauling the law.

Overturning the Next Election

If the concern is stealing the Presidency, then fix the Electoral Count Act said the WSJ in Overturning the Next Election on January 4, 2022.

The anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot is Washington’s theme of the week, and waves of righteous anger will roll across the Mall. We agree the riot was disgraceful, but then why not rewrite the law that encouraged Donald Trump’s supporters to think Congress could overturn the 2020 election?

We’re referring to the Electoral Count Act, the ambiguous 19th-century statute that purports to allow for a majority of Congress to disqualify a state’s electors after the Electoral College has voted. Congress’s certification of presidential election results should be a technicality, but Mr. Trump misled supporters into believing Vice President Mike Pence and Congress could overturn Joe Biden’s victory, leading to the Jan. 6 march on the Capitol.

The effort wasn’t close to succeeding, with only eight Senators objecting to the results in any states, though 139 Republicans did in the House. No Senators voted to object to enough states to deprive President Biden of the 270 electoral votes he needed to win. Presiding over the Senate, Mr. Pence properly understood his limited constitutional role and resisted Mr. Trump’s pressure to intervene. He was one of the heroes of that day.

Still, Jan. 6 was the most significant abuse of the law to date and part of a growing trend. A smaller number of congressional Democrats used the Electoral Count Act to object to both of George W. Bush’s victories as well as Donald Trump’s in 2016.

The Electoral Count Act was an attempt to avoid the mess that followed the contested 1876 Hayes-Tilden election, but its ambiguous language has made it open to abuse. In these polarized times, both parties could use the law in the future as an excuse to attempt to overturn an election in the House and Senate.

Congress shouldn’t have even the appearance of this power. The Framers didn’t want the executive branch beholden to Congress, which is why they designed an Electoral College to elect the President. They gave state legislatures the power to certify electoral votes, as they do according to the popular vote count in each state. Though the Electoral Count Act has never been tested in court, in our view it is unconstitutional.

That’s what needs to be fixed, but what Progressives demand is far removed.

And it’s unclear what Manchin is actually referring to when he says “I think taking care of our voting and protecting our right to vote and protecting the ballot box is the most important, urgent thing we have right now.”

Fixing the Voting Rights Act should be a simple process. But somehow these things never are.

Look for Elizabeth Warren and the Senate Progressives to possibly demand more than Senators Manchin and Krysten Sinema are willing to go along with.

This could be done in a week, or two months.

Meanwhile, Senator Sanders wants to try something new. The House is torn on the environment, on child care, and on on removing the $10,000 cap on the state and local tax deductions.

Has Time Realistically Expired?

If the bickering and demands continue, yes it has. Will Democrats salvage something?

This is what it comes down to.

Whether they pass anything at all depends on two things.

1: How long they continue bickering

2: Whether they would rather bitch at Republicans and Manchin for blocking everything than pass something.

It’s possible #2 is more important and it only takes a handful in the House

— Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) January 30, 2022

I still think “something” is likely, but depending on what that something is, I’d rather see nothing.

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Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/31/2022 – 19:00

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/myCVOF1rn Tyler Durden