Good morning. Here’s your Daily SITREP for Wednesday, 22 November 2023.
Forward Observer’s Black Friday deals are live. Next year is going to be turbulent. Protests, riots, civil unrest, supply chains, markets, elections — you name it, it’s going to get disrupted. You don’t have to go it alone in 2024. The Early Warning intel team keeps you informed on what matters, when you need to know it. Put us on your team with a new Early Warning membership.
- (1) WYDEN SETTING UP BIDEN WARRANTLESS WIRETAP SCANDAL: In a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) urged Attorney General Merrick Garland to release information on the Hemisphere phone surveillance program that allows federal, state, and local law enforcement to request searches of trillions of U.S. phone records without a warrant.
- Wyden said he has “serious concerns about the legality of this program,” and materials Wyden already obtained from the DOJ contain “troubling information that would justifiably outrage many Americans” and other lawmakers.
- According to publicly available information, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy indirectly pays AT&T through a grant to the Houston High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area to allow law enforcement agencies to search customers’ records as far back as 1987.
- Why It Matters: Wyden appears to be setting Biden up for a warrantless wiretapping scandal like the one the George W. Bush administration was hit by in the mid-2000s. This could be an attempt to create an early “October surprise” from Democrats who are putting pressure on Biden to step back from reelection in 2024. – R.C.
- (2) SEVERE RECESSION IN THE FREIGHT MARKET: The highly cyclical freight market is in one of the worst downturns in history, according to supply chain market intelligence company FreightWaves.
- An estimated 35,000 new trucking companies shut down in the fiscal year ending 30 September – more than double the 10-year average of 15,585 annual new trucking company closures.
- Average per-mile rates for trucking fleets fell 12% from 2022 and 34% from 2021, according to the FreightWaves National Truckload Index.
- Why It Matters: Freight analysts believe the trucking industry will improve once tens of thousands of newly established trucking companies close. However, mounting environmental and anti-business regulations could challenge seasoned trucking companies, leading to higher rates of bankruptcies and closures than forecasts show – meaning a tougher freight recession may be ahead. – H.B.
- (3) CHINA’S AMPHIBIOUS SHIP FIRE: One of China’s Yuzhao-class Amphibious Transport Docks was filmed belching black smoke columns while underway yesterday.
- The Chinese government made no official statement. However, there are rumors that this was some sort of drill.
- All of this ship class is part of the East and South China Sea Fleets, which would partake in an attack on Taiwan.
- Why It Matters:The sheer amount and type of smoke coming from the vessel suggests this was an engine fire. As one of nine hulls, this will notably impact China’s naval readiness for an invasion of Taiwan scenario. – J.V.
Forward Observer’s Black Friday deals are live. Next year is going to be turbulent. Protests, riots, civil unrest, supply chains, markets, elections — you name it, it’s going to get disrupted. You don’t have to go it alone in 2024. The Early Warning intel team keeps you informed on what matters, when you need to know it. Put us on your team with a new Early Warning membership.