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TexasTowelie's JournalJaime Harrison is the front-runner to become DNC chair. Will anyone get in his way?
Washington
Even as his own fate on a frantic election night remained unresolved, Joe Biden found time to call Jaime Harrison after he delivered his speech conceding to Lindsey Graham in South Carolina’s U.S. Senate race.
Biden simply wanted to “pick him up and offer words of encouragement,” according to a friend of Harrison’s. Now, many Democrats assume Biden’s next call to the 44-year-old Harrison will be a formal offer to steer the national party.
“Because he ran for DNC chair, because he was a state party chair, because he worked on the Hill and certainly because he ran for the Senate, he knows what it takes,” said Clay Middleton, a Democratic National Committee member from South Carolina who is close to Harrison. “If President-elect Biden were to pick Jaime, there would not be an outcry of pushback.”
Before the election, DNC members were floating the names of state party chairs like Ken Martin from Minnesota and Jane Kleeb from Nebraska as possible contenders to succeed Tom Perez. But ever since influential South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn put out quiet word he was backing Harrison, the talk of rivals has diminished.
Read more: https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article247408405.html
EU derivatives decision leaves London in the lurch
LONDON (Reuters) - London’s dominance of the multi-billion dollar derivatives market is at risk after a European regulator said on Wednesday banks in the European Union will have to use trading platforms within the bloc once Britain fully leaves the EU on Dec. 31.
The City of London’s unfettered access to the European Union, its biggest customer, ends when Brexit transition arrangements expire and Brussels wants trading in euro-denominated derivatives to remain within its jurisdiction or in a country with “equivalent” standards to the bloc.
The Paris-based European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on Wednesday confirmed that EU investors would have to use a swaps platform inside the bloc, or based in a non-EU country that has already been granted “equivalence” or permission, such as the United States from Jan 1.
This will mean that branches of EU banks in London face conflicting EU and British requirements on where to trade derivatives.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-derivatives/eu-derivatives-decision-leaves-london-in-the-lurch-idUSKBN2850SZ
White House considers lifting European travel restrictions - sources
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is considering rescinding entry bans for most non-U.S. citizens who recently were in Brazil, Britain, Ireland and 26 other European countries, five U.S. and airline officials told Reuters.
The Trump administration imposed the bans in a bid to contain the novel coronavirus pandemic. It is not considering lifting separate entry bans on most non-U.S. citizens who have recently been in China or Iran, the officials said.
The plan has won the backing of White House coronavirus task-force members, public health and other federal agencies, the people briefed on the matter said, but President Donald Trump has not made a final decision and the timing remains uncertain.
The White House, Department of Homeland Security and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not comment.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-travel/exclusive-white-house-considers-lifting-european-travel-restrictions-sources-idUSKBN2851EP
Regulator fines JPMorgan Chase $250 million
Nov. 24 (UPI) -- A federal bureau in the U.S. Treasury Department fined JPMorgan Chase Bank $250 million in a civil penalty Tuesday for failure to maintain adequate internal controls.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said it found JPMorgan Chase's risk management practices were deficient and it lacked a sufficient framework to avoid conflicts of interest.
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"For several years, the bank maintained a weak management and control framework for its fiduciary activities and had an insufficient audit program for, and inadequate internal controls over, those activities," the office said in its consent order.
"Among other things, the bank had deficient risk management practices and an insufficient framework for avoiding conflicts of interest. As a result of the foregoing misconduct, the bank violated 12 C.F.R. 9.9 and engaged in unsafe or unsound practices that were part of a pattern of misconduct," the order said.
Read more: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2020/11/24/Regulator-fines-JPMorgan-Chase-250-million/2201606240600/
SpaceX uses booster seventh time on Starlink launch
ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 24 (UPI) -- SpaceX launched one of its Falcon 9 first-stage boosters for a record seventh time Tuesday night as the company launched more of its Starlink satellites from Florida.
The 16th batch of 60 satellites headed toward orbit at 9:13 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The launch marks the 100th such mission for a Falcon 9 rocket, and boosts the number of Starlink satellites in orbit to more than 900.
A risk of rough seas in the Atlantic Ocean, where Elon Musk's company wants to land the booster on a droneship, prevented the launch on Monday night. Rough seas remained a risk on Tuesday night, according to a U.S. Space Force forecast, but the launch took place as planned.
Read more: https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2020/11/24/SpaceX-uses-booster-seventh-time-on-Starlink-launch/1031606153369/
As virus surges in North Dakota, Fargo food distribution workers strike over lack of COVID-19
As virus surges in North Dakota, Fargo food distribution workers strike over lack of COVID-19 protectionsSeventy-five workers at food distributor Cash-Wa in Fargo, North Dakota are continuing a strike over health and safety issues as COVID-19 rampages through the state, which recently reported the highest death rate for any state or country in the world.
The workers warn that inadequate safety protections risk turning the Fargo warehouse, operated by Cash-Wa, into a major vector for disease transmission. The workers, members of Teamsters Local 120, walked out November 18. They had been working without a contract since August. Local 120 claims management has been knowingly violating CDC guidelines.
Workers walked out after over 10 percent of the Fargo workforce tested positive for COVID-19. Strikers are calling for adequate screening measures, proper training of workers in cleaning, and adequate safety protections, including dividers in break areas. The drivers and warehouse workers deliver food to area schools and restaurants. The walkout could affect facilities in South Dakota, Minnesota and North Dakota, including Sioux Falls schools as well as Dairy Queen, Subway, Taco John’s and Pizza Ranch locations in the three states.
Cash-Wa Food Services of Americ is a multi-state company based in Kearney, Nebraska. It bills itself as the eighteenth-largest Broadline Foodservice Distribution company in the US, with facilities in Fargo, Kearney and Aberdeen, South Dakota. Fargo is the only unionized location.
Read more: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/11/25/farg-n25.html
The dust-up over California's off-road beach
Dave Congalton always turns right at the beach.
The local radio host, who has lived near Oceano Dunes for 33 years, leads an informal group of hikers and beach walkers. His pack usually heads north, away from the tumult of off-road vehicles that descend on the state park.
One morning a few years ago, Congalton and his group paused at their usual starting place and decided to take a chance: They turned left.
“We lasted 10 minutes,” Congalton said. “We turned around and left. It was noisy and congested and the smell was overwhelming. We called it Bizarro Beach.”
In March, the cacophony at Oceano Dunes was put on mute when twin orders spurred by the coronavirus pandemic and protection of rare nesting shorebirds closed the state park to off-roaders for seven months.
Read more: https://www.hcn.org/articles/recreation-the-dust-up-over-californias-off-road-beach
(High Country News)
These Days, the Smart Money Is Staying Away From Arctic Drilling
The Trump administration is racing against legal deadlines and a merciless regulatory calendar in its last-ditch effort to sell drilling rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in at noon on Jan. 20.
Even if the White House succeeds in clearing those hurdles, it’ll still face the cold reality of the market: funding for Arctic drilling is becoming harder and harder to find. Both oil companies and banks have decided they can no longer tolerate the risk of drilling in one of the fastest-warming places on the globe. Ben Cushing, who leads the nonprofit Sierra Club’s financial advocacy campaign, put the problem simply: “Smart money is staying away from this kind of development in the Arctic.”
Buying the leases—which could go for as little as $5 an acre—is the cheap part of the oil exploration process. Every other step—from enlisting consultants to conduct required environmental studies to mounting industrial operations in a remote wilderness without existing infrastructure—is hugely expensive. The break-even price for the oil that companies would extract could be as high as $80 per barrel, according to Rystad Energy, a level the market hasn’t seen since October 2018.
Most of today’s likely bidders would need outside financing to actually get anything out of their Arctic leases. But banks are increasingly worried about damage to their public image from backing drilling in the reserve, which 70% of American voters oppose, according to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Underscoring that perceived risk: Institutions associated with Energy Transfer LP’s controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline lost $4.4 billion in account closures and divestments in 2017, research from the University of Colorado Boulder shows.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-24/these-days-the-smart-money-is-staying-away-from-arctic-drilling
Putin Can't Take Russia's 'Safe' Covid Vaccine, Kremlin Says
President Vladimir Putin told fellow world leaders last week that both of Russia’s Covid-19 vaccines, including one he championed as the world’s first inoculation against the disease, are safe and effective. That doesn’t mean he’s taken a jab.
“We have not yet begun widespread vaccination and the head of state can’t take part in vaccination as a volunteer. It’s impossible,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday, in response to a question on whether Putin had been inoculated. “The president can’t use an uncertified vaccine.”
Developers of Russia’s flagship vaccine, Sputnik V, said Tuesday that initial testing showed it was 91.4% effective in preventing infections, although it has not yet published final results in a peer-reviewed journal. Among volunteers who started the vaccination process earlier, preliminary data indicated efficacy of over 95%, according to the Russian Direct Investment Fund.
Russia has the world’s fifth-highest number of cases globally, passing 2 million last week. Putin announced the registration of Sputnik V in August and a second inoculation was approved in October, even as Phase 3 trials to establish safety and efficacy are still taking place.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-24/putin-can-t-take-russia-s-safe-covid-19-vaccine-kremlin-says
Sweden Sees No Signs So Far Herd Immunity Is Stopping Virus
There’s little evidence that herd immunity is helping Sweden combat the coronavirus, according to the country’s top epidemiologist.
“The issue of herd immunity is difficult,” Anders Tegnell said at a briefing in Stockholm on Tuesday. “We see no signs of immunity in the population that are slowing down the infection right now.”
Swedes have been more exposed to the virus than their neighbors elsewhere in the Nordic region, and every third Stockholmer tested has antibodies, according to figures published this week. That’s after the country famously opted against a lockdown, relying instead on voluntary measures.
Tegnell has in the past said that herd immunity is hard to measure and even questioned official figures. Swedish authorities have made clear that immunity isn’t a policy goal, but the nation’s exposure to the virus makes it an obvious test case for observing the theory.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-24/sweden-says-it-sees-no-signs-herd-immunity-is-stopping-the-virus
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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Current location: Bryan, Texas
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