The price of oil has been dropping & consumers are enjoying some extra cash, but the pressure being put on governments around the world may be unbearable. We’ll deep dive into how lower oil prices are dramatically impacting Russia & the surprise big move made by Putin this week.

Plus the over hyped cyber attacks of the week, the sales from Green Friday & much more!

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— Show Notes —

News

Sony to Officially Name North Korea as Source of Hack Attack | Re/code

Sony Pictures will officially name North Korea as the source of a hacking attack that has exposed sensitive files and brought down its corporate network last week, two sources close to the investigation tell Re/code. An announcement could come as soon as today.

• Sony Pictures and F.B.I. Investigating Attack by Hackers – NYTimes.com

Sony Pictures Entertainment and the F.B.I. on Wednesday were hunting for information into a destructive attack on Sony’s computer systems, including whether North Korea, or perhaps a former employee, was responsible. But the studio said that, contrary to an online report, it was not ready to identify a likely culprit.

Sony’s New Movies Leak Online Following Hack Attack | Variety

At least five new movies from Sony Pictures are being devoured on copyright-infringing file-sharing hubs online in the wake of the hack attack that hobbled the studio earlier in the week.

Copies of DVD screeners of four unreleased Sony movies including the upcoming “Annie” are getting some unwelcome early exposure, but nothing compared with the frenzy enveloping “Fury,” the war pic still in theaters that bowed last month.

“Fury” has been downloaded by over 888,000 unique IP addresses since showing up on peer-to-peer networks on Nov. 27, according to piracy-tracking firm Excipio. That’s high enough to be the second most-downloaded movie currently being pirated, and it’s not out of movie theaters yet.

Another big Sony movie, “Annie,” is also being pirated, this one three weeks ahead of its own wide release. Other Sony movies being downloaded include “Mr. Turner,” “Still Alice” and “To Write Love on Her Arms.”

“The theft of Sony Pictures Entertainment content is a criminal matter, and we are working closely with law enforcement to address it,” a Sony spokeswoman said in a statement to Variety.

Putin says Russia will scrap South Stream pipeline

He said Russia can’t implement the South Stream project because of the European Union’s opposition to it. The project would have involved running a pipeline under the Black Sea to Bulgaria and farther on to Southern Europe.

However, Moscow will boost gas supplies to Turkey and may cooperate with it in creating a hub for natural gas supplies on the border with Greece, he said.

Putin’s Surprise Call to Scrap South Stream Gas Pipeline Leaves Europe Reeling – NYTimes.com

LONDON — Energy executives across Europe were scrambling on Tuesday to understand the implications of President Vladimir V. Putin‘s surprise announcement that Russia would scrap the long-planned South Stream project that was to pipe natural gas to Europe.

The pipeline, which had a projected $22 billion cost and was a geopolitical sore point in recent months, had never been a certainty. But Western partners on the project, including the Italian energy giant Eni, appear to have been surprised by Mr. Putin. They said they learned of his decision, announced late Monday during a visit to Ankara, Turkey, only through the news media.

Despite Mr. Putin’s announcement, officials from the European Union, which had lobbied against the project as part of Western sanctions against Russia over Ukraine tensions, said a previously planned meeting between the main European Union countries involved in the project and the bloc’s energy commissioner would still take place next week.

Vladimir Putin’s worst nightmare may be happening right now

Russian officials on Tuesday warned the country faces a recession in 2015 that could see the economy shrink for the first time in five years.

They believe it will contract by 0.8 percent next year, down from a previous estimate of 1.2 percent growth.

Ordinary Russians have watched as their currency lost nearly 40 percent of its value since the beginning of the year. They can also expect double-digit inflation by early next year, officials predict.

Russian Central Bank Defends Record Low 55 Level, Bonds Tumble

Since the top in oil in June, crude has dropped around 37%… and so has the Russian Ruble. **Monday saw the Russian Central Bank (rumored) to intervene to protect the 54 Ruble to the USDollar level. Yesterday saw weakness resume as oil prices slipped and today it appears 55 is the new line in the sand as the USDRUB was smashed 2 handles lower earlier today (only to begin selling off once again since). **Russian 10Y bond yields are leaking higher however, +20bps to break the 11% line in the sand.

Crude Slides After Saudis Suggest Oil Stabilizes Around $60

Oil may stabilize around $60/barrel, WSJ reports, citing unidentified people familiar.

US Army Sends 100 Tanks To Eastern Europe To “Deter Russian Aggression” | Zero Hedge

U.S. Army Europe, said the Army was looking to add about 100 Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles to the forces in Eastern Europe.

These U.S. Army M1A2 Abrams tanks are part of the European Activity Set,
a combined-arms battalion-sized set of vehicles and equipment pre-positioned
at Germany’s Grafenwoehr Training Area. Markus Ruachenberger/U.S. Army**
**

“We are looking at courses of action for how we could pre-position equipment that we would definitely want to put inside a facility where it would be **better maintained, **that rotational units could then come and draw on it and use it to train, **or for contingency purposes,” **Hodges said in a briefing from Vilnius, Lithuania.

So “better maintained… or for contingency purposes.” Got it. That probably also explains why as NATO is seeking to deliver 100 tanks to Eastern Europe, it has already added several squadrons of fighter jets just minutes away from Russia’s border. For “contingency purposes.”

Before:

After:

As before, we wonder how the US would react if Russia were to place a few extra fighter jets in Cuba or a few hundred tanks in Mexico. Aside from historical fact of course.

But back to NATO’s tanks whose only mission is “contingency”, and certainly not to intimidate Putin that the NATO ring around the nation is closing.

High Note

City Attorney Sues To Shut Down Pot Delivery Smartphone App

More than 400 medical marijuana dispensaries in the city have been closed, and Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer says he is now taking aim against the creator of a pot delivery app.

Officials say the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office has filed more than 200 criminal cases against 743 defendants, including both dispensary operators and property owners, effectively closing 402 medical marijuana dispensaries in the 17 months since Feuer took office.

“My office has moved aggressively to shut down unlawful medical marijuana businesses, already closing half the dispensaries operating in Los Angeles,” Feuer said in a statement. “And today we’re taking action on a new front, tackling medical marijuana delivery.”

Nestdrop is not acting as a “dispensary, collective, grower or even a delivery service,” but is the “technology platform that connects law-abiding
medical marijuana patients with local dispensaries to receive the medication that they need in a safe and secure manner,” Pycher said.

“Our goal is make access to this legal medicine convenient for patients who truly need it — especially as many of these suffering patients may have
limited mobility and may be unable to visit a dispensary unassisted,” and he said he does not “understand why the city is trying to restrict their access
to the important medicine.”

The case is being spearheaded by Assistant City Attorney Asha Greenberg.

What researchers are working on to keep pot smokers off the road?

Researchers at Washington State University are working on a handheld breathalyzer that could detect if a driver tests positive for marijuana use.

WSU chemistry professor Herbert Hill and doctoral student Jessica Tufariello are developing a tool that would give police an immediate way to detect whether THC is present in the driver’s blood stream (but won’t yet tell exactly how much), The News Tribune first reported.

The name and release date of Washington State University’s breathalyzer are currently unknown.

Lessons From ‘Green Friday’: Tips for Successful Holiday Sales & Promotions

“We had our biggest day yet” on Black Friday, said Cristy Aranguiz, the lead budtender at Cannabis and Glass in Spokane, Washington, which offered a free pipe similar to the one the character Gandalf smoked in the “Lord of the Rings” movies. “We had a ton of new customers come in.”

In Washington State, for example, cannabis businesses aren’t allowed to advertise within 1,000 feet of anywhere children tend to congregate including schools, daycare center, parks or arcades.

Instead of traditional advertising — like newspapers, billboards and TV ads — many business owners are finding ways to promote their sales using social media and email blasts.

The Happy Crop Shoppe in East Wenatchee, Washington, took 25% off some glassware and up to 30% off so-called Christmas packs that contained various items, promoting its sales on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram starting about a week in advance.

Roughly half the people who came to the store were new customers, owner Mark McCants said. Overall, the number of customers was up by about 30% from a normal day, he said.

Legal Pot In The U.S. May Be Undercutting Mexican Marijuana

“Two or three years ago, a kilogram [2.2 pounds] of marijuana was worth $60 to $90,” says Nabor, a 24-year-old pot grower in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa. “But now they’re paying us $30 to $40 a kilo. It’s a big difference. If the U.S. continues to legalize pot, they’ll run us into the ground.”

Multi-State MMJ Operators Embroiled in Lawsuits, Legal Disputes

Entrepreneurs seeking cannabis licenses in multiple states have a new concern: legal issues from one market affecting applications in others.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Nicholas Vita and Michael Abbott, partners whose companies have been awarded MMJ business licenses in Nevada, Massachusetts, Arizona and Washington DC, have been embroiled in at least three separate legal cases.

Those legal problems have given at least one Chicago alderman pause as he tries to evaluate whether or not to support any MMJ dispensaries opening in his neighborhood, including Vita’s and Abbott’s application to open a dispensary on the northwest side of the Windy City.