Beijing can impose duties on USD 645 million worth of US imports annually, says WTO

Geneva | January 26, 2022 11:50:28 PM IST

The World Trade Organisation issued a decision in the US-China dispute over subsidy duties on Wednesday and said that Beijing can impose duties on USD 645 million worth of US imports annually.

"We determine that the level of N/I of benefits accruing to China as a result of the WTO-inconsistent methodologies used by the United States in the CVD proceedings concerning products imported from China is USD 645.121 million per annum," said a decision by the WTO arbitrator on Wednesday.

"Therefore, in accordance with Article 22 of the DSU, China may request authorization from the DSB (Dispute Settlement Body) to suspend concessions or other obligations at a level not exceeding USD 645.121 million per annum," read the decision by the arbitrator.

The WTO arbitrator issued the decision on Wednesday on the level of countermeasures China may request in its dispute with the United States regarding US countervailing duties on certain products from China.

"In light of the parties' arguments and evidence in these proceedings, we have determined that the appropriate level of N/I is USD 645.121 million per annum. We have calculated this figure based on the parties' agreement to use a two-step Armington model," said the decision.

The decision also said that the present arbitration proceedings arise in a dispute initiated by China against the United States. The challenged measures of the United States relating to the imposition of countervailing duties on a range of Chinese products, and the investigations leading to the imposition of such duties. These measures were found to be WTO-inconsistent in the original and compliance proceedings, following which China requested the DSB authorization to suspend concessions at an annual amount of USD 2.4 billion, according to WTO. (ANI)

A libertarian tragedy in Indianapolis
The political struggle over the libertarian soul takes a grim and telling turn


Illustrated | iStock

DAMON LINKER
JANUARY 26, 2022

Libertarians often aspire to rise above partisanship. They care about liberty, and Republicans and Democrats alike have mixed records on defending individual freedom. But remaining above the political fray has grown more challenging in our era of hyperpolarization, with some libertarians falling in behind former President Donald Trump's Republican Party, others championing an anti-Trump position, and dwindling numbers continuing to resist choosing sides.

If the reporting in Adam Wren's lengthy exposé in Indianapolis Monthly is trustworthy, this political struggle over the libertarian soul has been fought especially hard — and with especially tragic consequences — at Liberty Fund, a 62-year-old educational institute located in the Indianapolis suburbs. Wren's piece tells the story of how one Liberty Fund employee raised concerns internally about "mission drift, deficient management practices, and potential tax negligence," requested whistleblower protections, was terminated from his position last year, and, shortly thereafter, killed himself.

Liberty Fund may seem an unlikely venue for this story, the sort of libertarian institution that would remain steadfastly nonpartisan, if any could. To the common libertarian aspiration to transcend partisanship, the organization added its founder's distinctive emphasis on Great Books learning. Businessman Pierre Goodrich didn't understand himself to be creating a think tank like the Washington D.C.-based CATO Institute that would directly influence policymaking. He believed in fostering conversation among intelligent people from a range of backgrounds about the foundations and maintenance of a free society.

For decades, he succeeded. I've attended around a dozen Liberty Fund conferences over the past 23 years, and I've even organized one myself (on Thomas Paine). These events have always included a range of people (professors, journalists, business people) from across the ideological spectrum (libertarian, conservative, liberal, even a socialist or two) for a few days of discussion and debate of classic texts — from Plato and Shaftsbury to Raymond Aron and Milton Friedman.

Liberty Fund employee Nico Maloberti, the subject of the Wren report, alleged that this high-minded (and very slow-paced) approach to increasing the understanding of and appreciation for liberty had been yielding in recent years to a more overtly political stance. That was especially so, he thought, at the institute's more journalistic website, Law and Liberty, which was launched in 2012 and eventually began running pieces boosting Trump, conservative politicians and writers, and Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orban, while lambasting their critics. After a couple of years of objecting within the organization to this political turn, Maloberti was unceremoniously let go over the phone, while stuck in traffic. He took his own life a month later.

He wasn't the first employee of the organization to raise alarms about institutional drift, then find himself laid off in what the organization's board of directors calls a "restructuring." Since Maloberti's death, moreover, at least one prominent associate of the institute has publicly severed ties with Liberty Fund, alleging its current leadership is responsible for a "strategic and ethical catastrophe."

However one describes it, the shift could well be driven as much by the corporate imperative to demonstrate influence as by naked political passion and ambition. The businessmen who sit on Liberty Fund's board may be committed Republicans, but they may also have grown impatient with the absence of metrics to show their expensive conferences are making a concrete difference in the world.

In this respect, the story of Liberty Fund's drift away from its founder's vision may be one as much about overt politicization as it is about declining faith in the power of libertarian ideas to win the day through erudite conversation alone. And, far beyond this one organization in Indiana, that's a loss — or, at least, a sign of a larger, deleterious shift — for our country, where once we tried to aspire toward something more reasonable.

Rep. Madison Cawthorn decided that a hearing on burn pits was a good time to clean his firearm

When asked about it his spokesman reportedly said, "What could possibly be more patriotic than guns and veterans?”

BY HALEY BRITZKY | PUBLISHED JAN 20, 2022

A screenshot showing U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) during a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing. (Screenshot via Lindsay Church/Twitter).

Perhaps nothing says “what you’re saying is important to me” quite like deciding to start cleaning your gun in the middle of a conversation — which is exactly what one congressman did this week during a hearing on toxic exposure.

Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), a 26-year-old lawmaker and sweetheart of the far-right, “fiddled with his black pistol” for several minutes during a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday, according to The Daily Beast. The hearing’s focus was the lasting impact of toxic exposure from burn pits on U.S. service members — a topic that advocacy groups have fought to have more attention on for years.

“Here we are taking time out of our day, including the representatives, to talk about a very important issue — a life or death issue for many veterans — and it’s like, I’m sorry am I boring you? You’re not paying attention,” Jen Burch, an Air Force veteran who currently works with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) and who spoke during Wednesday’s hearing, told Task & Purpose.

When asked by The Daily Beast if Cawthorn thought it was appropriate to use that time to clean his gun, his communications director Luke Ball told the outlet: “What could possibly be more patriotic than guns and veterans?” Ball has not responded to a request for comment from Task & Purpose.

A screenshot of the moment was shared to Twitter on Wednesday evening by Lindsay Church, the executive director and co-founder of Minority Veterans of America, who was participating in the hearing.

Burn pits, used by the military in Afghanistan and Iraq to get rid of waste by dumping refuse into a pit, or barrel, and lighting it on fire, have long been believed to be the cause of serious health conditions that service members developed over time. One family of a Minnesota Air National Guard Tech Sgt. blamed burn pits for her pancreatic cancer. Her doctor believed it was likely caused by the burn pit, but couldn’t prove it. An Army staff sergeant had to have two double-lung transplants which he also attributes to the toxicity of the burn pits.

“It makes me really mad,” the Air National Guard Tech Sgt. Amie Muller told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in 2016. “I inhaled that stuff all day, all night. Everything that they burned there is illegal to burn in America. That tells you something.”

Though “burn pits” are often what comes to mind when discussing “toxic exposure” the risks, and the various negative impacts on health, are quite broad, as Keith Dow noted for Task & Purpose in November 2021:

During one’s military career, regardless of time, grade, or job specificity, a service member will inevitably experience multiple exposures to various toxic substances (fuel, chemical, exhaust, ammunition, explosives, etc), and these exposures impact the human body in a multifactorial way. The specificity and volume are dictated by military occupational specialty and time in service, but service members will ultimately be exposed to toxins whether they are turning wrenches in a motor pool or kicking doors in a combat zone. The risk of exposure is inherent to military service and accepted within the culture of perseverance and (i.e., chronic stress, inadequate sleep, environmental conditions), but understanding the sporadic nature of toxic exposure and its impact will help to proactively identify and mitigate risk.

(LOGISTICS SUPPORT AREA ANACONDA, Balad, Iraq) – Soldiers from the 84th Combat Engineer Battalion use a bulldozer and excavator to manuever trash and other burnable items around in the burn pit at the landfill here. (28th Public Affairs Detachment)

Despite the severity of the issue, Cawthorn “worked on his pistol out of sight for several minutes,” according to The Daily Beast — though it became “plainly visible” during one veteran’s testimony.

One witness who took part in the hearing, Rosie Lopez Torres, co-founder of Burn Pits 360, called Cawthorn’s actions “insane.”

“Total disregard and disrespect to America’s warfighters,” she told The Daily Beast. “He was so bored with the topic. Those that are sick and dying and the widows in his district should see how much he cares about the issue.”

It was “pretty disrespectful,” Burch said on Thursday, adding that she got the impression he wasn’t paying attention throughout the hearing because of the questions he was asking, and that it seemed he hadn’t read up on the issue ahead of time.

“While he’s sitting there not paying attention, it just makes us probably have to work even harder, and it’s like we’re already putting more lives in danger waiting for this bureaucratic system to catch up,” she said. “I wonder when it comes time for him to vote, will he be able to make an educated vote on this and vote the right way, because he might not have all the facts because he wasn’t paying attention.”

Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., speaks as the House debates the objection to confirm the Electoral College vote from Pennsylvania, at the U.S. Capitol early Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. (House Television via AP)

Cawthorn started gaining notoriety on the campaign trail in 2020 with a tragic story about how he intended to go to the U.S. Navy Academy, but was left paralyzed at 18 years old in a horrible car accident.

That narrative was called into question in 2020, when the Asheville Watchdog reported that Cawthorn had already been rejected by the Naval Academy before his car accident.

His support of the military is “at the core of the public persona he built,” the Beast reports. Indeed, it’s something he talks about often. He represents a district roughly six hours from the sprawling Army installation of Fort Bragg, North Carolina — a district that, as he put it in July, is “home to THOUSANDS of courageous and heroic veterans.”

“Freedom is born through the sacrifice of patriots,” he tweeted in November. “Their sacrifice must never be exploited.”

US Judge orders man convicted of sexual assault to join the military or go to jail

"If you don't enroll in 30 days, you can report to the Franklin County Regional Jail."

BY MAX HAUPTMAN | PUBLISHED JAN 12, 2022 

Getty Images/Franklin County Detention Center Composite.

A Kentucky judge this month gave a man convicted of sexual assault a perplexing choice: join the military or go to jail. 

Judge Thomas Wingate handed down a 12-month sentence suspended for two years to Brandon Scott Price for second-degree sexual assault, a Class A misdemeanor. If the 28-year-old were to enlist in the military in the next month, however, Wingate would apparently overturn any jail time, according to Frankfort, Kentucky’s State Journal newspaper.

“If you don’t enroll in 30 days, you can report to the Franklin County Regional Jail,” Wingate said. “You are under the gun, young man. You gotta do it.”

Price was a guard at the Franklin County Regional Jail in 2019 when he assaulted a female inmate of the jail, according to a lawsuit filed by the inmate against Price and several other members of the jail staff.

On Jan. 18, 2019, Price was checking an inmate’s blood pressure and found it elevated, prompting an order for Price to take the woman to a local emergency room. “Though Price’s shift was near its end, Price volunteered to transport (the inmate) to the hospital,” the lawsuit states. “Price transported (the inmate) alone, in violation of Jail policy and industry standards and practices.”


While under his custody at the hospital, Price allegedly made “sexually-charged comments” to the inmate and referenced his ability to sway parole board decisions. On the return trip to the jail, Price pulled the van he was driving over and assaulted the woman, according to the suit.

“He turned around and told (the inmate) if she performed oral sex on him, he would talk to the KDOC employee he knew about getting her released from jail earlier,” reads the lawsuit. Price then assaulted the woman while she was shackled in the rear of the vehicle.

When interviewed by prison officials, Price initially said that he had, “made a stupid mistake” and “let a female inmate touch me inappropriately,” but denied any wrongdoing. He was arrested a week later after an investigation by jail officials.

“You’re getting a huge break,” Wingate said during Price’s sentencing. “You made a terrible mistake, which I know personally cost the county money.”

Judge Wingate’s offer to Price seemingly tests the boundaries of a longstanding trope of enlisting in the military: join the Army or go to jail.

While veterans may have heard stories of squadmates who enlisted to avoid a jail stint, the history behind this is a bit more complicated. A judge’s order to a petty criminal to enlist or go to jail carried more weight during the draft lottery of the Vietnam War. But the advent of the all-volunteer military has, over time, sharpened standards for enlistment. And recruiters are under no obligation to accept anyone who doesn’t meet those standards, so a judge’s ruling does not apply beyond the doors of a recruiting office.

Without a waiver, Army Regulation 610-210 — which covers Army recruiting guidelines — states that an applicant is not eligible for enlistment if, “as a condition for any civil conviction or adverse disposition or any other reason through a civil or criminal court, [they are] ordered or subjected to a sentence that implies or imposes enlistment into the Armed Forces of the United States.”

While these determinations continue to occur, they carry no legal weight and only serve to further propagate another military myth. Still, that hasn’t stopped judges and lawmakers from proposing military service as an alternative to jail time. Last December, a Florida state senator proposed a law that would allow people convicted of nonviolent misdemeanor offenses to enlist rather than go to jail.

They also don’t take into account whether service members would want to serve with those who have been convicted of crimes – particularly violent ones. At the height of the War on Terror, the military was granting thousands of moral waivers for enlistments, for things such as drug offenses, violent felonies and sex offenders. One of them, Steven Green, ended up at the center of a notorious war crime committed in Iraq in 2006.

Price will almost certainly not find himself taking advantage of a get-out-of-jail-free card, but it’s likely not the last time that a judge will equate confinement in jail with an enlistment.

U.S. should boost financing to Caribbean nations: Antigua PM

By Brian Ellsworth

© Reuters/GOVERNMENT OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUD 

Interview with Antigua and Barbuda's Prime Minister Gaston Browne

MIAMI (Reuters) - The United States should increase financing and aid to the Caribbean to help the region recover from the pandemic and cope with the growing impact of climate change, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said in an interview.

Countries in the region are facing unsustainable debt loads often equivalent to 100% of gross domestic product (GDP), Browne said, adding that many have been relying on loans from China due to favorable terms offered by Chinese banks.

"I feel that the U.S. ought to pay more attention to the Caribbean region in helping us to maintain our standard of living to avoid any mass movement of people," he said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

"If people are unable to live in (Caribbean) countries, then clearly they'll end up on the shores of the United States as refugees."

China has lent over $4 billion to Caribbean nations in the last 10 years, according to figures compiled by the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue, much of which has gone to finance infrastructure development.

The conditions of those loans are more favorable than even those provided by multilateral agencies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Browne said, adding that borrowing from Chinese banks should not be understood as a political statement.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The Caribbean was disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the IMF, which last year said tourism-dependent countries in the region saw economies contract by 9.8% in 2020.

Many struggle to get aid because multilateral agencies tend to classify them as a middle- or high-income nations based on per-capita GDP measurements, which do not factor in the higher costs facing small island nations or their vulnerability to climate change.

Sustained U.S. support for changing those criteria would provide a significant boost for the Caribbean, Browne said.

"We expect the United States would use its influence in the multinational financial institutions to effect that change," Browne said, adding he had not seen evidence that this was happening.

The vast majority of some $336 million in U.S. aid to members of the Caribbean Community, or Caricom, goes to Haiti, with only around $70 million being distributed among 13 other countries, he said. The population of those countries is around 7.5 million.

"It's just miniscule," Browne said.

Antigua and Barbuda, a nation of two main islands and several smaller ones in the northeastern Caribbean, has, like other countries in the region, faced growing expenses associated with extreme weather events.

Hurricane Irma in 2017 ravaged Barbuda, leaving all buildings uninhabitable and forcing the evacuation of all residents for nearly 18 months. Reconstruction costs were in excess of $200 million.

Antigua and Barbuda bore most of those costs, but got only $169,000 in aid from the United States in 2019, Browne said.

(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth in Miami; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

France probes 'revolting' claims of rapacious care homes

The entrance a Orpea Group nursing home is pictured Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, outside Paris. France's government pledged Wednesday to investigate what it called "absolutely revolting" allegations that a world leader in care for older adults has been putting profit before quality, rationing food and other items for nursing home residents. Orpea, with more than 1,100 care homes in 23 countries, has vigorously denied the accusations of shoddy and rapacious care which have battered its stock-market value in Paris this week and are detailed in an investigative journalist's book published Wednesday Jan;26, 2022. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) | Photo: AP

Updated: January 26, 2022

PARIS (AP) - France's government pledged Wednesday to investigate what it called "absolutely revolting" allegations that a world leader in care for older adults has been putting profit before quality, rationing food and other items for nursing home residents.

Orpea, with more than 1,100 care homes in 23 countries, has vigorously denied the accusations of shoddy and rapacious care which have battered its stock-market value in Paris this week and are contained in an investigative journalist's book published Wednesday.

Government spokesman Gabriel Attal described the alleged practices described in the book as "absolutely revolting" and said "reading such things leaves a knot in the stomach."

Attal said the government is considering launching an independent investigation to inspect "the entirety of the Orpea group."

"Our elders deserve respect," he said. "Tolerating such schemes in our country is out of the question."

Although Orpea is a private-sector company, the allegations are putting French ministers on the defensive because they risk throwing the spotlight back on the France's elderly care policies, after nursing homes saw atrocious suffering in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.

COVID-19 infections devastated older generations before vaccinations curbed death rates in nursing homes and helped restore freedom for elderly residents who were often kept isolated in what some described as prison-like conditions. The pandemic has claimed nearly 130,000 lives in France, with 27,400 dying in care homes.

With President Emmanuel Macron facing re-election in April, the three-year investigation into the business of elderly care by journalist Victor Castanet has been seized upon by Macron's election rivals. Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen is calling for a parliamentary enquiry into the private management of care homes.

Orpea, in a statement, contested the book's allegations as lies. It noted that France's care-home sector is subject to "strict regulation and regular controls by public authorities."

Among those quoted in the book was a former Orpea nursing home employee who alleged that sanitary protections for residents were rationed to three a day in the care unit with a "terrible smell of piss" where she worked.

The government's minister for elderly care, Brigitte Bourguignon, said she wants to determine whether the allegations are limited in scope to just one care home or reveal "a system organized by Orpea."

"Trimming on quality out of concern for profitability would be very harmful," she tweeted.

USA
Medicare posts key nursing home staffing info for consumers

Edward Williams, 62, a resident at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, receives a COVID-19 booster shot in New York Sept. 27, 2021. Medicare says it's shining a light on key markers for nursing home quality. Starting Wednesday, the program is posting details on staff turnover and weekend nurse coverage on its "Care Compare" website, where families research individual facilities. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) | Photo: AP


By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Created: January 26, 2022 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Shining a light on key markers for nursing home quality, Medicare said Wednesday it is now posting details on staff turnover and weekend nurse coverage on its "Care Compare" website, where families can research a facility.

The move by the Biden administration comes as COVID-19 cases and deaths at nursing homes have risen again, despite extensive efforts to vaccinate residents and staff. Staffing is a critical factor in nursing home quality and safety, but a major upgrade of federal requirements is stuck in Congress, bogged down with the rest of President Joe Biden's sweeping social and climate legislation.

To find the new information, consumers must go to the Care Compare website, select a particular nursing home, and then click on "View Staffing Information." On that page, they'll scroll down the list to find nurse staffing details on the weekends, and below that, information on turnover for nurses and administrators.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, said it has researched the links between staff turnover and quality of care. Initial results suggest that as staff turnover decreases, the overall quality rating for a facility increases. Nurse turnover is defined as the percent of nursing staff that stopped working at a facility over a 12-month period. Starting this summer, the agency will use the information on staff churn to help calculate its quality ratings for facilities, which are based on a five-star system.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of staffing for the well-being of residents and it's more important now than ever that CMS release any information related to staffing that can improve quality," agency administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in a statement. "Residents and their families will also find this information valuable as they consider a nursing home for themselves or a loved one."

Nursing homes succeed or fail based on the quality of personal attention they provide to each individual resident.

Medicare said facilities with lower nurse turnover may have more staff familiar with each resident and may be more quickly able to identify telltale changes in a patient's condition that could signal trouble. For example, the nursing home may be able to put a plan into place to keep a patient who's dragging her feet from falling and suffering a potentially life-changing injury.

Medicare said it's also reporting turnover among administrators because that can affect stability, leadership and day-to-day operations, factors that translate to support for the staffers caring for patients.

Medicare's action drew praise from a a nationally known advocate for raising the bar on nursing home quality.

"Workforce is the number one issue facing nursing homes and transparency about staffing is critical to the safety and well-being of residents," said Terry Fulmer, president of the nonprofit John A. Hartford Foundation, which works to improve care for older adults.

But one of the main nursing home industry groups called the agency's action "tone deaf." The American Health Care Association said in a statement the government should instead address a labor shortage leaving many direct care jobs unfilled. "We've repeatedly called for help, yet no meaningful aid has been sent to the frontlines," the group said. "We need public health officials to do more than acknowledge these challenges, but stand up to address them."

Medicare said posting the new information for consumers will not create additional paperwork burdens for nursing homes. The data is already regularly reported to the government; it just hasn't been easily accessible to the public.

The Biden social agenda bill pending in Congress would require nursing homes to have a registered nurse on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It would also set in motion a process that could lead to federal staffing requirements for nursing homes. Those proposals have set off a lobbying war: The nursing home industry says facilities have a hard enough time keeping current staff while consumer groups argue that minimum staffing requirements are essential steps to better quality.

US Navy races to recover crashed F-35 fighter jet in South China Sea 

– fifth mishap on ship in three months

US Navy searching for lost warplane in South China Sea after accident

By Timothy H.J. Nerozzi | Fox News

Something is wrong in the South China Sea.

The U.S. Navy reported yet another incident Monday involving a high-tech aircraft that is now missing somewhere in the depths of the South China Sea. The military is now launching efforts to reclaim the valuable warplane, and experts are wondering how the same carrier has had five accidents in just a few months.

"An F-35C Lightning II, assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2, had a landing mishap on deck while USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) was conducting routine flight operations in the South China Sea, Jan. 24," the Navy said in its shot memo on the mishap.

It began as a routine landing on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson – a U.S. aircraft carrier stationed in the waters off the coast of East Asia. But the F-35C came in wonky, impacting into the surface of the ship as the pilot ejected from the plane.

The crash injured seven crewmen, including the pilot.

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) arrives in Da Nang, Vietnam, for a scheduled port visit on March 5, 2018. The Carl Vinson Strike Group is in the Western Pacific as part of a regularly scheduled deployment. 

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Devin M. Monroe/Released)

"The pilot safely ejected from the aircraft and was recovered via U.S. military helicopter. The pilot is in stable condition," the Navy said. "There were seven total Sailors injured; three Sailors required MEDEVAC to a medical treatment facility in Manila, Philippines, and four were treated by on-board medical personnel."

The Navy reported that there were no fatalities from the crash, and that all three injured personnel were treated promptly.

"All three MEDEVACs are assessed as stable. Of the four Sailors treated by on-board medical, three have been released. Additional details and the cause of the inflight mishap is under investigation."

"All five incidents remain under investigation, and we cannot speak to any pattern until the investigation concludes," a Navy spokesperson told Military.com.


This marks the fifth mishap for the same aircraft carrier in just three months. The four emergencies since November include an in-flight engine fire aboard a Super Hornet warplane and a similar engine fire on a CMV-22B while it was on the ship's deck. A Seahawk helicopter lost its sonar capabilities during a training drill.

F-35C Lightning II carrier variants, assigned to the Salty Dogs of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23, taxi on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) in the Atlantic Ocean on Aug. 14, 2016. VX-23 is conducting its third and final developmental test (DT-III) phase aboard George Washington in the Atlantic Ocean - file photo.

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Alora R. Blosch)

China launched 39 aircraft, mostly fighter jets, near Taiwan Sunday — the largest show of force in months.

The launch came the same day the U.S. Navy sailed two aircraft carriers along with a pair of amphibious assault ships alongside allies in the Philippine Sea.

It's not clear what might have prompted the escalation, but China did something similar in early October during similar U.S. Navy operations.

Taiwan issued radio warnings and sent combat air patrol to deter the Chinese aircraft, while air defense missile systems were deployed to monitor them, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said in the statement issued late on Sunday.

 Navy Seals Stop Training in State Parks as Locals Sue Over 'War Games'

A member assigned to Naval Special Warfare Group 2 conducts military dive operations off the East Coast of the United States, May 29, 2019. (U.S. Navy photo by Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Jayme Pastoric)

26 Jan 2022

Coffee or Die Magazine | By Hannah Ray Lambert

Navy SEALs have paused training operations in Washington state parks as a legal challenge from locals concerned about the environmental and psychological impacts of "war games" comes to a head.

"I do not care to catch a glimpse of apparently armed men skulking around and I DEFINITELY do not want to risk having my young grandchildren see such a sight," one commenter wrote to state regulators.

Navy SEALs have conducted cold water training and other special operations exercises in the state's coastal parks for more than 30 years. The mountain-ringed shorelines of the parks offer unique challenges for commandos practicing clandestine raids and surveillance training, the Navy says, with "cold water, extreme tidal changes, multi-variant currents, low visibility, complex underwater terrain, climate and rigorous land terrain." The dispute centers primarily on parks near Washington's Puget Sound, as well as along the state's southwestern coastline.

The SEALs' previous five-year agreement to conduct training in five state parks expired in 2020. When the service attempted to renew its agreement with the state and expand the number of parks at which it could train to 28, it was met with organized opposition from local residents and park users.

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Hundreds of Washingtonians submitted written and oral comments on the proposal, the overwhelming majority of which were opposed. Commenters cited everything from environmental concerns to fears that SEALs would disturb the peace.

"The plan to have apparently armed people storming beaches in our state parks is an irresponsible and dangerous idea," one resident wrote during the public comment period.

"In these days of great division in our civil society, we don't need stealthy men in camo uniforms toting toy guns around our State and County Parks," wrote another. "People frequent parks to escape tension, not to encounter more. Keep the Navy commando training out of our parks!"

Others were concerned about references to the use of drones, or UAVs. A comment from the Skagit Audubon Society noted that "the Navy's plan is to use larger, gasoline-powered UAV's as well as smaller, electric-powered types. This offers significant potential for direct and indirect injury to birds as well as auditory disruption to the experience of park visitors."

Despite the public outcry, in January 2021 the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission voted 4-3 to approve a scaled-back version of the Navy's original proposal, placing some sensitive areas off-limits to training and restricting the operations to nighttime hours.

But in March 2021, Whidbey Environmental Action Network (WEAN) filed a petition for judicial review against the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, arguing that the proposed training violates laws that dedicate the parks to the public for recreational and ecological purposes. It wants a judge to reverse the commission's decision and award WEAN attorneys' fees and other costs.

WEAN argues many members of the public may avoid state parks for fear of "encountering the proposed war games or being spied upon by Navy personnel," lawyers for the group wrote in its opening brief, filed last month. "It is difficult to find peace in the woods when armed frogmen might be lurking behind every tree."

A hearing in the case is scheduled for April 1 in Thurston County Superior Court. WEAN's litigation coordinator Steve Erickson told Coffee or Die Magazine via email that he expects the judge to issue a final decision sometime after the hearing.

The Navy conducted 37 training events -- each lasting two to 72 hours and including no more than eight trainees plus a small safety cadre -- at Washington state parks from 2015 through 2020. The training included insertion and extraction of personnel via watercraft, reconnaissance, diving, and swimming, Navy spokesman Joe Overton told Coffee or Die in an email.

No Naval Special Warfare training was conducted at the parks in 2021, and operations are on hold again this year pending further review by the parks department, Overton wrote.

Navy officials maintain that there have never been any incidents with park visitors during past exercises, and that the training by its nature requires that trainees leave no trace. Exercises are noninvasive and do not include live-fire ammunition, explosive demolitions, off-road driving or other destructive activities, according to Overton.

Critics have argued that the Navy should use the 46 miles of Washington coastline already under its jurisdiction for exercises rather than state parks. Navy officials have countered that the geography of the parks more accurately represents the type of environment personnel may experience on a mission.

"This area provides a unique environment of cold water, extreme tidal changes, multi-variant currents, low visibility, complex underwater terrain, climate and rigorous land terrain, which provides an advanced training environment," Overton wrote. "Although there are several Navy properties in the area, they do not provide the full range of environments needed for this training to be as realistic as possible."

Hannah Ray Lambert is a staff writer who has previously covered everything from murder trials to high school trap shooting teams

This Seattle bakery sells vegan treats and funds mutual aid efforts

Lara de la Rosa packs up baked goods to transport to the bakery a few blocks away.
CREDIT: KUOW PHOTO/RUBY DE LUNA

BY Ruby de Luna
JAN 26, 2022 a

The pandemic caused many people to do a lot of soul searching, leading some to make life-changing decisions. One Seattle biochemist quit her lab job to follow her baking passion.

An industrial sized mixer is rattling as it whips up chickpea water that will turn into meringue. Once fluffed up, it’ll be piped on top of the citrus tarts that are waiting on the counter.

While the meringue whisks, Lara de la Rosa is boxing up the cookies, conchas, and other goodies. She recently opened Lazy Cow Bakery in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood, featuring vegan baked goods. She and fellow baker Phoebe Katz have been up working in a rented commercial kitchen since early morning.

“I’m getting all these cuts and burns,” de la Rosa said, with a laugh. “So I’m becoming a real chef.”

De la Rosa is 23- years-old and has no professional baking experience. She was working at a University of Washington lab earning a steady paycheck. When the pandemic hit, her lab hours were drastically scaled back. The downtime made her realize she didn’t want to keep doing that job anymore. The protests for racial justice and political upheaval in 2020 also made her question her life's purpose.

“I wanted to do something more in line with activism,” she explained. “There is activism that you can kind of do within biochemistry, but I really wasn’t interested in that. I kind of wanted to work more directly with the community.”

De la Rosa had always enjoyed baking. She’s also been vegan since her teens, and noticed a big void when it comes to plant-based sweets and pastries. So she started to bake and posted her creations on Instagram. The orders started coming in.

What started as a hobby became a vehicle for social justice, she said. In addition to Lazy Cow, she started a mutual aid organization called Casa del Xolo, focused on the needs of the Latino community. For now, there’s a community fridge and a food pantry inside Lazy Cow, funded using proceeds from the bakery. Others have also begun to donate non-perishable foods for the pantry.

“Charity is often given by more privileged group to a less privileged group. Whereas mutual aid is people that are often part of the same community that they’re helping,” de la Rosa said.

Lazy Cow is part of growing number of small businesses that are trying to do good while selling services and stuff.

Deliberate spending

Laura Clise is CEO of Intentionalist, an online guide that helps consumers who want to support businesses that align with their values. She says many small businesses have historically supported their local communities even though they weren’t founded as a social enterprise. But there’s been a shift in attitudes and expectations.

“I think increasingly, we live in a world where especially younger generations are acutely aware of where we’re falling short, and want to do something about it," Clise said.

And it’s not just small businesses. Clise says consumers have valued shopping local, and supporting immigrant or women-owned businesses for decades. But in recent years they’ve become more aware, or they want to know the stories behind their local businesses. And the numbers bear that out.

“If we look at the numbers for Small Business Saturday 2021, consumers spent $23.3 billion in a single day, which was an 18% increase compared to the amount spent in 2020,” Clise said.

Clise notes that more people have been using the Intentionalist’s website as well, another indication of their desire to be more deliberate about their spending.


“The reality is that the decisions that we make about where we spend our money and what we purchase shapes the world around us.”

Clise says it’s easy to take that connection for granted. But over the past two years, we learned and saw what happened when shop windows in our communities went dark.

At Lazy Cow Bakery, de la Rosa unpacks the boxes of pastries and desserts. She assembles a sample plate that will go into the pastry case. She starts a pot of coffee and tidies up the counter before the bakery opens. Behind her, a curtain covers up the kitchen which is still under construction. There are so many things to stay on top of that she doesn’t have time to dwell on the anxieties of starting a small business.

“If I’m being honest, I don’t — I can’t — even think it will fail. I don’t even entertain the idea in my mind. Because I really don’t have an alternative to this. De la Rosa says what’s been challenging about opening a business is living with it day in and day out.

“I’ve talked to other business owners,” said de la Rosa. “I’m like, I’m baking in my dreams! I cannot turn my brain off and I don’t know what to do about it!”

De la Rosa Will be at the bakery until closing. Then she’ll head back to the commercial kitchen for the night shift and bake.

Seattle’s concrete workers strike over low wages and unfair labor practices

Concrete mixer drivers and plant workers allege employers refuse to negotiate and are purging unionized workers

Seattle is at the forefront of America’s construction boom since the pandemic hit. Photograph: Ted S Warren/AP

Michael Sainato
Wed 26 Jan 2022 

“Every day is different,” said Tim Davis, a concrete mixer truck driver in the Seattle, Washington, area.

The work Davis and his coworkers do on a daily basis provides the foundation for every big construction and infrastructure project in the region, with long hours and varying start times every workday, leaving little time to spend with family. “We live in those trucks day in and day out,” Davis said.

He is one of 330 concrete mixer drivers and plant workers – represented by Teamsters Local 174 – who have been on a general strike over unfair labor practices, accusing their employers of refusing to negotiate in good faith. The striking workers fear employers want to purge unionized workers from the area’s construction industry and attempt to bankrupt the union through litigation.

The strike is reverberating through the construction industry in and around Seattle, which has the second most construction cranes of any city in the US and has been leading the country’s construction boom since the pandemic hit. Hundreds of contractors have been laid off as construction projects have ground to a halt or been forced to reduce operations without concrete, and layoffs are expected to continue as the strike drags on.

“The industry is moving forward and we’re falling behind,” added Davis. “The employers say they are family run, but I would never treat family like that. We were out on the picket lines through the holidays in the cold and there’s over 300 other guys out there. They all have families and their healthcare or medical is up this month. That affects 300 families and there are others now being laid off and that affects their families.”

Some 34 dump truck drivers began striking on 19 November at Gary Merlino Construction, with about 100 workers joining the strike on 1 December. The remaining workers launched an industry wide strike on 4 December at six different employers that dominate the concrete industry in the Seattle area: Gary Merlino Construction, Stoneway Concrete, Cadman, CalPortland, Salmon Bay Sand & Gravel and Lehigh Cement. Workers unanimously voted in favor of authorizing the strike.

The companies’ lead negotiator, president of Gary Merlino Construction Charlie Oliver, did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.

The workers’ contract expired on 31 July 2021, and they had worked without a contract for months before walking off the job in response to the stalled negotiations.

“Since the contract expired, we’ve gotten nowhere. It’s actually gotten worse,” said Todd Parker, a concrete driver at Cadman Seattle and member of the bargaining committee. “What we’d like to see is what everybody else got this year. We just want to be treated as equally as everybody else and they’re not right now.”

Workers have argued employers’ proposals for a new union contract included less compensation than other construction industry workers in the area receive, and would result in a decrease in compensation over the next three years, with inflation and the high cost of living in the area taken into account. The union has also claimed employers refuse to fund healthcare for retirees, even though the union offered to cover any cost increases.

“For the last two years we have been deemed essential workers fighting through this pandemic. You think we’d be met with just a little bit of appreciation and gratitude, but that sure hasn’t been the case,” said Brett Gallagher, a concrete mix driver at CalPortland and bargaining committee member.

Gallagher emphasized the pride he takes in his work, along with his coworkers, who get to see and help lay the foundation the rest of the building trades build upon. But he argued that concrete workers shouldn’t be treated with any less respect, as most of the office workers at their employers have been working from home throughout most of the pandemic.

“We’re fighting for not just us, but for everybody else in these trades and everybody else in our communities,” added Gallagher. “A lot of us have families, some with young kids. I have three kids myself who depend on my medical insurance. I’ve got child support to pay and this is tough. It was tough to tell them that it was going to be a lean Christmas this year and they wonder why. It’s because a few people decided they don’t want to sit and talk to us like grownups.”