Wednesday, December 20, 2023
Tuesday, December 19, 2023
Maersk reroutes container ships around Africa to avoid the Houthis in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden
Maersk said that, after monitoring the situation since suspending the routes on Friday, it had decided all vessels currently on hold and previously scheduled to travel via the Red Sea would take the Cape of Good Hope.
The vessels will continue on diverted routes “as soon as operationally feasible,” the company added. As of Monday, Maersk said it had around 20 vessels stopped en route, around half of which are east of the Gulf of Aden. The remainder are located south of the Suez Canal in the Red Sea, or north of it in the Mediterranean Sea.
More.
Joe Biden imprudently released 255 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve from November 2021 to May 2023
The November 2021 level was about 605 million barrels, about 30 days worth of supply at a 2022 consumption rate of 20 million bpd.
The 350 million barrel level was reached in May 2023 and has been range bound there for eight months. That is about 17.5 days worth of supply.
Crude oil price has not cooperated for refilling what was released. The 2021 price averaged $68 and climbed to nearly $95 in 2022. With 2023 almost over the price has averaged nearly $78.
The release of less than two weeks of supply during 2022 and 2023 as prices skyrocketed looks like a really silly political stunt. Crude oil production has rebounded to what it was under Donald Trump, so there's been plenty of supply in the higher price environment and no need to squander the SPR in this way.
Now it is too expensive to refill cheaply.
Monday, December 18, 2023
That's not what the pope said but that's what Drudge hopes you think he said
Pope says priests can bless same-sex unions...
Meanwhile, newly couples of weds meet with Pope without exhaustive moral analysis.
Thanks to Biden's so-called Inflation Reduction Act, the Japs are buying U.S. Steel for $14.9 billion
U.S. Steel also supplies to the renewable energy industry and stands to benefit from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which provides tax credits and other incentives for such projects, something that attracted suitors.
More.
There is nothing America will not sell out, as long as the price is right.
BP suspends Red Sea transit while Biden & Co. dither
“In light of the deteriorating security situation for shipping in the Red Sea, bp has decided to temporarily pause all transits through the Red Sea,” it said. “We will keep this precautionary pause under ongoing review, subject to circumstances as they evolve in the region.”
Shipping giants MSC, Hapag-Lloyd , CMA, CGM, and Maersk have also all announced suspensions of travel through the Red Sea due to the drone threat, meaning no access to the key link between Europe and Asia between the Middle East and North Africa.
Violence resumed on Monday in the Red Sea, with the U.K. Maritime Trade Organization saying it was alerted that a vessel nearly 30 miles out from Yemen’s port of Mokha “experienced an explosion on its port side.”
More.
Sunday, December 17, 2023
You know things have to be pretty bad politically at the Arizona border for its Democrat governor to challenge the do-nothing Democrat president
More.
And Reuters.
Independent U.S. presidential candidate RFK Jr now has until March 5 to get on the ballot in Utah
At a recent rally in Kansas City, Missouri, Kennedy asked the crowd
of about 300 voters for help. The state requires independent candidates
to collect 10,000 signatures by July 29 to appear on the 2024 general
election presidential ballot. ...
The requirements for ballot access for candidates who are not the Democratic or Republican nominees vary widely from state to state, and the first deadlines are in early March, for North Carolina and Utah. Utah originally required independent candidates to file by Jan. 8, 2024, but earlier this month — soon after Kennedy filed a lawsuit against the state — it changed the date to March 5. ...
Kennedy's ballot access drive will also be heavily underwritten by the super PAC supporting him, American Values 2024. In December, the super PAC announced it would be investing $10 million to $15 million to put him on the ballot in at least 10 states . . ..
More.
The story likes to compare RFK Jr. to H. Ross Perot, but there's no way that RFK Jr. has anything close to the same appeal Perot once had and which still won him nothing.
Kennedy admits he's a spoiler, but most Americans still want a serious, positive candidacy, not a nattering nabob of negativism.
Saturday, December 16, 2023
World's largest shipping carrier MSC abandons Red Sea/Suez Canal travel, will divert vessels around Africa after Friday attacks by Iran-backed Houthi Rebels of Yemen, Biden administration dithers and jibbers
MSC, the world’s largest shipping carrier, joins shipping giants Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk in Red Sea travel pause amid attacks :
MSC, the world’s largest shipping carrier, said it is no longer traveling through the Suez Canal after its container ship, the MSC PALATIUM III, was attacked Friday while transiting the Red Sea under a subcharter to Messina Line. ...
In response to Friday’s attacks, in which three vessels were attacked, the World Shipping Council said it is deeply alarmed and concerned about the escalating crisis, and that it’s calling for decisive action to protect seafarers.
“The right of freedom of navigation stands as a fundamental right under international law, and must be safeguarded,” the council said. “The time for resolute international engagement is now.”
The U.S. government has been in discussions with countries of the 39-member Combined Maritime Forces to form a maritime task force to “ensure safe passage” of ships in the Red Sea.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees America’s military interests in the Middle East, has told CNBC discussions are ongoing.
Friday, December 15, 2023
Divided Democrats help more divided Republicans pass record high $886 billion NDAA which extends 5.2% pay raise to U.S. military, leaves woke policies intact, authorizes four more months of domestic spying authority
Congress passes $886 billion defense policy bill, Biden to sign into law :
Congress has passed an NDAA for 63 straight years.
The roll call vote is here.
This is a stain on the free nations of the world, which continue to tolerate Iran-backed Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea
Intercepting missiles is not enough.
Maersk to pause all container ship traffic through the Red Sea
"we have instructed all Maersk vessels in the area bound to pass through
the Bab al-Mandab Strait to pause their journey until further notice”
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