How The Federal Tax Code Puts Black Americans at a Disadvantage While Benefiting White Families


Finurah Contributor
Wed, February 23, 2022

One of the things widening the racial wealth gap is the federal tax code. The way the tax code is written puts Blacks at a disadvantage, according to a law professor who has spent her career researching racism in the tax system.

Loopholes in the U.S. tax system have held back Black families, said Dorothy A. Brown, a professor of law at Emory University and the author of “The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans — and How We Can Fix It.”

Photo by Ron Lach from Pexels

“What the tax law does every April 15th is see to it that Black Americans pay higher taxes than their white peers because Black and white Americans engage in the same activity, but tax law impacts differently because we bring our racial identities onto our tax forms,” Brown told CBS News.

“Even though the IRS doesn’t ask about race, this doesn’t mean that the 1040 or the federal income tax system doesn’t have different effects for people of different races,” Kim Rueben, Sol Price fellow at the Tax Policy Center, told The Washington Post.

An analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that although high-income Americans pay a larger share of their income in taxes, they still have a significant financial advantage over African-Americans, according to a newly released report.

Tax Policy Center researchers took a line-by-line examination at the 1040 form for individuals and found that the tax code is not neutral when it comes to race.

Marriage tax disadvantage

Since a majority of Black married households both spouses work, this puts them at a disadvantage. Only when one spouse works does the couple get a tax cut. But if both spouses work, most likely, they will have their tax rate go up.

White, married couples are more likely to have a stay-at-home spouse and get a tax cut, according to the Census Bureau.

Read full story at Finurah here.

Home ownership in U.S. rose in 2020 by highest rate on record, survey says

The rate of ownership for Black Americans, however, is lower than it was a decade ago.


The report says that just 43.4% of Black Americans owned a home in 2020 -- compared to 44.2% in 2010 -- and that Black and Hispanic buyers are denied home loans more than any other racial group.

 File Photo by Alexis C. Glenn/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Home ownership in the United States surged by its greatest amount on record in 2020, but ownership rates for Black Americans remains lower than it was a decades ago, an analysis on Wednesday said.

The assessment by the National Association of Realtors says that overall American ownership in 2020 increased by 1.3% -- the steepest annual increase on record. It also showed 2.6 million additional homeowners compared to 2019.

The study, though, also shows that just 43.2% of Black Americans owned a home in 2020, compared with 72.1% of Whites, 61.7% of Asian Americans and 51.1% of Hispanics.

The Snapshot of Race and Home Buying in America report examines homeownership trends and challenges by race and location, and looks at characteristics of who is buying.

In 2020, just 43.4% of Black Americans owned a home, the report said -- compared to 44.2% in 2010.

"As the gap in homeownership rates for Black and White Americans has widened, it is important to understand the unique challenges that minority home buyers face," Jessica Lautz, NAR vice president of demographics and behavioral insights, said in a statement.

"Housing affordability and low inventory has made it even more challenging for all ... but even more so for Black Americans."

The report notes that Black and Hispanic buyers also face extra challenges in obtaining a home loan. Seven percent of Black and Hispanic buyers were denied mortgages -- compared to 4% for Whites and 3% of Asian Americans.

U.S. cities with average home price of $1 million tripled last year
By UPI Staff

Forty-four of the 146 new cities where the typical home price tops $1 million are located in California, and mostly in coastal regions like Los Angeles and San Francisco. 

 Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI | License Photo


Feb. 23 (UPI) -- A record 146 cities in the United States gained million-dollar status -- where a typical home is valued at least that much -- in 2021.

The new cities crossing the threshold raise the total number of million-dollar cities to 481, according to Zillow.
Estimates show that 49 more cities could join the club by midyear as last year's numbers are almost triple those of 2020.

The average price of a home went up 19.6% last year to $408,100. That's $85,500 higher than in January 2020.

Home ownership had surged to the highest level on record in 2020, according to a survey released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors. The assessment noted a decline in the number of Black homeowners.

The Zillow research showed Idaho, Tennessee and Montana gained million-dollar cities for the first time, while others, including Massachusetts, New York and California, added more million-dollar cities.

"We're seeing how the geography of wealth in the U.S. has begun to shift, as 2021 was the first year for both Idaho and Montana to place any cities on this list, and now those Western states boast three million-dollar cities each," Zillow said in its report.

Forty-four of the 146 new cities are located in California, and mostly in coastal regions like Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The most expensive city in the country is Indian Creek, an island in Biscayne Bay off Miami, where the typical home costs around $28 million and boasts owners like Tom Brady and Enrique Iglesias.

The surge in home prices comes as a result of a longstanding shortage of homes and an increased demand for homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

RELATED Investors buy record share of U.S. homes

Escalating prices have made it more difficult for homeowners to afford a property.

A 7% down payment for first-time buyers translates to an average of $70,000 for a million-dollar city.

CAPITALI$M FAILS 
LA spending up to $837,000 to house a single homeless person






LA Homeless Count

Los Angeles city councilmember Paul Krekorian, right, walks past tents where people are living as he walks with staff member Karo Torossian during an official homeless count Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Los Angeles County has resumed its annual homeless count in full a year after it was limited over concerns that it couldn't be done safely or accurately during the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)More

MICHAEL R. BLOOD
Wed, February 23, 2022


LOS ANGELES (AP) — A $1.2 billion program intended to quickly build housing for Los Angeles’ sprawling homeless population is moving too slowly while costs are spiking, with one project under development expected to hit as much as $837,000 for each housing unit, a city audit disclosed Wednesday.

About 1,200 units have been completed since voters approved the spending in 2016, which was then a centerpiece in a strategy intended to get thousands of people off the streets. But the tally of units built so far is “wholly inadequate” in the context of the homeless crisis, said the audit issued by city Controller Ron Galperin.

In recent years, homeless encampments have spread into virtually every neighborhood, while the population has climbed to an estimated 41,000 people. Many are drug addicted or mentally ill, and violence is commonplace.


The program “is still unable to meet the demands of the homelessness crisis,” Galperin said in a letter accompanying the 31-page report. The pace of development is sluggish, he said, while the cost of each unit continues to rise -- in some cases to “staggering heights.”

Most of the units are studios or one-bedroom apartments. The audit found 14% of the units build exceeded $700,000 each, and one project in pre-development is estimated to cost almost $837,000 per unit.

The audit noted that higher prices for construction materials during the pandemic, including lumber, along with labor shortages could be contributing to rising costs.

In a tweet, Democratic Mayor Eric Garcetti appeared to dispute any suggestion that the program – formally known by its title on the 2016 ballot, Proposition HHH – was off track.

The program “is producing more units than promised, at a lower cost than expected,” Garcetti wrote. “There are already 1,200 units online providing critical housing and services. And HHH will deliver over 10,300 units of supportive and affordable housing by 2026.”

John Maceri, chief executive of the People Concern, one of L.A.’s largest nonprofits serving the homeless, agreed with the overall finding that the city needs to build housing faster and cheaper. But he warned the program, while a step in the right direction, represents only a small fraction of the money needed to complete projects.

The solution, he said, is innovative financing, slashing red tape that slows projects and incentives for developers to aggregate funding to speed up construction. “Housing has not kept pace with the urgency of the unsheltered homelessness crisis,” Maceri said.

The audit arrives at a time when homelessness is a dominant issue in the city’s mayoral election, with a large field of candidates promising to do more on an issue that has placed Los Angeles in an unwelcome national spotlight. Sagging tents, rusting RVs and makeshift structures used by homeless people have become familiar sights from Hollywood to Venice Beach and even in the shadow of City Hall.

Garcetti, who was nominated last year by President Joe Biden to become ambassador to India, is in the final year of his second term. He is barred by term limits from running for re-election.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, facing re-election this year, has budgeted record sums to combat homelessness that pervades all of the state's major cities and many smaller communities as well. The state is providing roughly $12 billion on homelessness programs over two years.

The scope of the expanding problem can be seen in the city budget: When Garcetti took office in 2013, the city was spending about $10 million treating homelessness. The budget he signed last year included about $1 billion.

Still, government's inability to clear encampments from streets, parks and sidewalks has left voters angry and frustrated. In 2019, then-President Donald Trump threatened to intercede, though he never acted on the threat. San Francisco's progressive mayor, London Breed, last month declared a state of emergency in the city's Tenderloin district after becoming fed up with the homelessness and open drug-peddling there.

In LA, the audit said the HHH project includes 8,091 housing units — most with connected services for mental health and substance abuse treatment — spread across 125 projects. About 4,200 are in construction. Other funds outside the HHH program are being used for another 2,369 units.

The audit signaled that a fresh approach – and billions more in spending --- would be needed in the future.

“While future plans have not been finalized, building tens of thousands of additional units using the same model will likely cost billions of dollars and will take far too long to match the urgency of the ongoing homeless emergency,” the audit concluded. It urged the city to “find ways to scale up faster and cheaper projects.”

ECOCIDE

A record 1,100 manatees starved to death last year from a man-made famine. Finally, the pace slows


Jim Waymer, 
Florida Today
Wed, February 23, 2022,

As bad as this year's manatee deaths seem, for the moment, at least, last year was way worse.

At least 326 manatees have died so far this year in Florida, through Feb. 18, compared to a five-year average of 167 for that same period and 356 for the same period last year.

Of this year's manatee deaths, 221 sea cows (67%) have been in Brevard, according to the most recent statistics available from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Meanwhile, manatees have been starving in the Indian River Lagoon, as a result of decades of seagrass loss.

Manatees crowding a canal in Brevard County trying to keep warm in the cold weather.

A record 1,100 manatees starved to death last year from a man-made famine that has choked out the seagrass — the staple of the sea cow's diet.

A leafy lunch: The manatees are finally eating!

Lettuce rejoice!: Manatees finally munch down leafy greens biologists feed them

Seacows show resilience: Florida manatees brave extreme cold amid worst year of seagrass famine

The manatee death toll got so bad that in April 2021, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared the die-off an Unusual Mortality Event. In a first-of-its kind pilot project to try to stave off further starvation, state and federal biologists have been feeding manatees at the FPL plant since mid December. They plan to feed the manatees through the end of March.

Manatees have been starving for years in the lagoon, as a result of seagrass die-off caused by decades of runoff, sewage, septic tank and other pollution.

Bringing up a child costlier in China than in U.S., Japan - research


Children at a playground inside a shopping complex in Shanghai

Tue, February 22, 2022
By David Stanway

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -The cost of raising a child in China stands at nearly seven times its per capita GDP, far more than in the United States and Japan, highlighting the challenges facing Chinese policymakers as they try to tackle rapidly declining birth rates, new research showed.

Experts warn China's ageing population will put huge pressure on its health and social security system, while a dwindling workforce could also severely limit growth for the world's second largest economy in the coming decades.

Although new policies allow families to have as many as three children, China's birth rate dropped to 7.52 births per 1,000 people in 2021, the lowest since the National Bureau of Statistics began recording the data in 1949.

The sky-high costs of child-rearing have helped prompt a crackdown by Beijing on the private tutoring industry while some regions have been giving couples cash for having a second or third child.

Beijing-based YuWa Population Research Institute said in a report published on Tuesday that the average cost of raising a child to the age of 18 in China in 2019 stood at 485,000 yuan ($76,629) for a first child, 6.9 times China's per capita GDP that year.

China ranks second highest among the 13 countries included in the study, behind only South Korea, which has the lowest birth rate in the world. The U.S. figure, based on 2015 data, stood at 4.11 times per capita GDP while Japan's figure, based on 2010 data stood at 4.26.

Child rearing costs are even higher in China's major cities, reaching more than 1 million yuan in Shanghai and 969,000 yuan in Beijing. Birth rates in the two cities are even lower than the national average.

One mother, writing under the username "Maning" on China's Twitter-like Weibo microblog site, said she believed child-rearing costs in Beijing were probably even higher than the report suggested.

"With such calculations, I can barely imagine a second child and any family that wants a third is just amazing," she said.

YuWa warned the declining birth rate would "profoundly affect" China's economic growth potential, its ability to innovate and its welfare burden.

China would need to spend at least 5% of its annual GDP to create incentives for couples to have more children, including education subsidies, preferential mortgage rates, tax breaks, equal paternity and maternity leave, as well as the construction of more childcare centres, it added.

On Weibo, another user writing under the name Lawyer Zhang, said that action needed to be taken to address the disproportionate burden faced by women, who are expected to give birth and raise children as part of their natural "motherhood".

"That's why the cost of childbirth is mostly borne by women, making women live in an unfair competitive environment for a long time."

($1 = 6.3292 yuan)

(Reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Shivani Singh)

Black Americans comprise highest percentage of 1 million COVID ‘excess deaths’ in U.S.

Candice Marie Benbow
Tue, February 22, 2022

Structural inequities and disparities in health and preventative care have left African Americans most vulnerable during the pandemic.

Last week, the United States hit one million “excess deaths” since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Scholars and demographers define “excess deaths” as the number of deaths that happen within a specific timeframe outside of what is considered normal or expected.

Photo: AdobeStock

As expected, the majority of excess deaths are due to the virus itself. However, according to the CDC, there has also been an increase in the number of deaths due to heart disease, hypertension and dementia. Robert Anderson, chief of the CDC’s mortality statistics department, spoke to The Washington Post last week after excess deaths reached 1,023,916. “We’ve never seen anything like it,” he said.

While the number of excess deaths has made a detrimental national impact, it has been uniquely felt in Black communities. In 2021, a collaborative study was conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Cancer Institute (NCI) to explore the impact of excess deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic on minority communities. The study found that excess deaths in Black, as well as American Indian/Alaskan Native communities were three to four times higher than white communities.

The study noted that the total mortality rate for Black men had increased from 26 percent in 2019 to 45 percent in 2020. This increase also comes as Black men’s life expectancy was reduced by three years, the most of any demographic due to the pandemic. Additionally, in 2019, Black women’s mortality rate was 15 percent higher than white women’s. In 2020, that doubled to 32 percent.

While the country experienced a significant decline in the number of Americans practicing preventative care, the outcomes were much more drastic for African-Americans. While the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the many structural inequities and barriers that remain within healthcare, a study confirmed the impact of dwindling health resources in Black communities—which actually exacerbated comorbidities such as heart disease, diabetes and hypertension.

Another study found that those comorbidities and other social factors also increased the likelihood of death in Black patients with COVID. Lead study author Dr. Landan Golestaneh spoke to Medical News Today about the research and its findings. Dr. Golestaneh noted that “the worse severity of illness and mortality outcomes seen in racial/ethnic minorities have to do with low socioeconomic status, barriers to adequate high quality healthcare, and residential racial segregation, the latter resulting from a deliberate historical act by the U.S. government to separate residential communities by race and disinvest from Black residential communities.”

While there is hope as the country seems to turn a corner regarding the pandemic and vaccination confidence continues to rise in Black communities, researchers press for a more comprehensive approach to the disparities leaving African Americans most vulnerable. Meredith Shiels, an investigator in the NIH/NCI collaborative study told NBC News that, without it, “there is likely to be a severe widening of racial/ethnic disparities in all-cause mortality as longer-term data are released.”

Candice Benbow is theGrio’s daily lifestyle, education and health writer. She’s also the author of Red Lip Theology: For Church Girls Who’ve Considered Tithing to the Beauty Supply Store When Sunday Morning Isn’t Enough. Find her on Twitter and Instagram @candicebenbow.

Citing drought, US won't give water to California farmers



This Feb. 22, 2008 file photo shows the 602-foot, concrete Shasta Dam near Shasta, Calif. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced, on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022, that it will not deliver any water to California farmers because of a severe drought. The decision will force many farmers to plant fewer crops in a region that supplies a quarter of the nation's food. 

(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)More

ADAM BEAM
Wed, February 23, 2022


SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — With California entering the third year of severe drought, federal officials said Wednesday they won’t deliver any water to farmers in the state’s major agricultural region — a decision that will force many to plant fewer crops in the fertile soil that yields the bulk of the nation’s fruits, nuts and vegetables.

“It's devastating to the agricultural economy and to those people that rely on it,” said Ernest Conant, regional director for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. “But unfortunately we can't make it rain.”

The federal government operates the Central Valley Project in California, a complex system of dams, reservoirs and canals. It's one of two major water systems the state relies on for agriculture, drinking water, and the environment. The other system is run by the state government.

Water agencies contract with the federal government for certain amounts of water each year. In February, the federal government announces how much of those contracts can be fulfilled based on how much water is available. The government then updates the allocations throughout the year based on conditions.

Farmers started last year with a 5% allocation from the federal government but ended at 0% as the drought intensified. This year, the federal government is starting farmers at 0% while water for other purposes, including drinking and industrial uses, is at 25%.

"Last year was a very bad year. This year could turn out to be worse,” Conant said.

Westlands Water District, the nation's largest agricultural water district covering 1,000 square miles (2,590 square kilometers) in Fresno and Kings counties, said drought conditions last year caused farmers to fallow 200,000 acres (80,937 hectares) while leaving “thousands of acres of food unharvested.” The district said it is the fourth time this decade that farmers south of the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta have gotten no water from the federal government.

The water system operated by the state government is also struggling. In December, state officials also announced a 0% allocation. They upgraded that to 15% allocation in January after strong December storms.

“Anyone who's looked out the window in the past two months knows that California has not seen any significant rain and snow during what are supposed to be our wettest months of the year,” said Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources. “While December saw record storms, this type of climate whiplash makes it challenging to forecast conditions ahead.”

State law requires both systems to have enough water available to maintain water quality throughout the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta, a sensitive environmental region home to endangered species of fish.

Despite that, endangered species of fish — including salmon — have been dying by the thousands because there hasn't been enough cold water for them to survive.

In a news release, the Westlands Water District said it was disappointed with the allocation but understood the drought and environmental laws “prevent Reclamation from making water available under the District's contract.”

Regina Chichizola, executive director for Save California Salmon, said environmental water releases are important because they keep ocean saltwater from creeping too far into freshwater rivers.

“Fish and people need that water,” she said.

Most of the water for both systems comes from rain and snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains. That water flows into the state's rivers, which then fill a series of major reservoirs throughout the state. Typically, the reservoirs get depleted during the dry summer months before being replenished by winter storms.

But California is now entering the third year of a severe drought, with rain and snowfall far below historical averages. January and February are usually the wettest months of the year in California. But the northern Sierra mountains, which are important for filling some of the state's biggest reservoirs, have had just 1.7 inches (4.3 centimeters) of rain over those two months. That's the lowest ever recorded, breaking a record set in 2013, said Kristin White, Central Valley operations manager for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

The Central Valley Project's reservoirs have decreased by 26.5% compared with last year. And through the end of September, federal officials predict the reservoirs will get 1.2 million acre feet (1.4 billion cubic meters) less of water than they had planned. One acre-foot of water is typically enough to supply two average households for one year.

WHOOPS

China state media editor says Beijing must back Russia over Ukraine so it gets support when it fights for Taiwan

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, China.

Getty Images

Bill Bostock

Business Insider
Wed, February 23, 2022, 

A Chinese news outlet appeared to accidentally publish "instructions" to cover Russia in a good light.


A top Chinese editor later said China needs to back Russia so Moscow would support it over Taiwan.


China sees self-ruling Taiwan as its own and has threatened military conflict.

A top Chinese state media editor said Beijing needs to back Russia over Ukraine because it needs Moscow's support to assert dominance over Taiwan.

Unlike many other nations, China has not condemned President Vladimir Putin for ordering troops into eastern Ukraine, an act that Western powers consider to be a springboard for a full invasion of Ukraine.

The US and UK announced landmark sanctions on Russian companies and individuals as a result, and the EU also agreed to impose sanctions.

China's foreign ministry, however, said Wednesday that it opposes the use of the measures.

Writing on his WeChat blog Tuesday, Ming Jinwei, a senior editor at the state-run Xinhua news agency, said it is in China's interests to support Russia from afar, as Beijing will need Moscow's support when it wants to force its hand on Taiwan independence.

China has long claimed the island nation of Taiwan, which has been self-ruling for decades, as part of its territory. It has in recent months amped up its threats to engage in military conflict if Taiwan continued to assert its independence.

"China has to back Russia up with emotional and moral support while refraining from treading on the toes of the US and EU," Ming wrote.

"In the future, China will also need Russia's understanding and support when wrestling with America to solve the Taiwan issue once and for all."

"Therefore, with regard to the Ukraine crisis, China should understand Russia's legitimate security concerns," he said.

Russia has already expressed supported for China over the Taiwan issue, with foreign minister Sergey Lavrov saying last October that Russia "considers Taiwan to be part of the People's Republic of China."

On Tuesday, the state-owned Horizon News outlet appeared to accidentally post editorial "instructions" on how to cover the Russia-Ukraine issue on its Weibo page.

The memo said that any content "not positive toward Russia or positive toward West" was banned. The post was later deleted, The Washington Post reported.
'Hit hard. Hit now'

China and Russia have grown closer in recent years — while both clashing with the US — and their militaries have increasing held joint drills on sea and land.

Putin on Monday night acknowledged that Luhansk and Donetsk, two pro-Kremlin oblasts in eastern Ukraine, were independent, and ordered Russian troops and tanks to start entering.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called up all military reservists between the age of 18 and 60 on Wednesday, but stopped short of full mobilization.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with Ukraine's foreign minister Tuesday to discuss "practical steps to protect Ukraine," Ukraine's foreign ministry said.

Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba also called for more economic sanctions against Russia on Wednesday.

"Hit hard. Hit now," he said.

A Chinese news outlet accidentally leaked its own censorship instructions on Russia-Ukraine coverage: report

Jake Lahut

Business Insider
Tue, February 22, 2022

Photo illustration.Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

An accidental post on Tuesday revealed a Chinese media outlet's "instructions" on Russia-Ukraine coverage.

Horizon News, a subset of Beijing News, shared the instructions on its Weibo account.

The post noted that no anti-Russia content would be published, per The Washington Post.

An accidental social media post revealed how one Chinese outlet is toeing the line while the world grapples with the mounting Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Horizon News, a subset of Beijing News, which is owned by the Chinese Communist Party, posted "instructions" on how to cover the escalating tensions to its Weibo page on Tuesday, according to The Washington Post.

China has strengthened its alliance with Russia in recent years and the two countries have also become increasingly active economic partners. Trade between China and Russia has grown from $10.7 billion in 2004 to $140 billion by 2021, according to the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank.

Coupled with China's strict limits on press freedoms, news outlets in the nation are constrained in what they can say without government intervention.

In the Weibo post, Horizon News stated that any content painting Russia unfavorably would not be published. The same applied to any pro-Western framing, according to The Post.

Later on Tuesday, the Weibo post was deleted, The Post noted.

"Simply put, China has to back Russia up with emotional and moral support while refraining from treading on the toes of the United States and European Union," Ming Jinwei, a senior editor at the Xinhua News Agency, wrote in a WeChat blog cited by The Post. Xinhua is the official press agency of the Chinese government.

"In the future, China will also need Russia's understanding and support when wrestling with America to solve the Taiwan issue once and for all," the editor later added.



On the US side, President Joe Biden announced a slew of new sanctions to punish Russia for what the White House is describing as the "beginning of an invasion."

"It can no longer raise money from the West and can not trade in its new debt on our markets or European markets either," Biden said of Russia.

Chinese media accidentally posts CCP rules on Russia-Ukraine coverage, hint at Taiwan takeover


(Photo by Li Xueren/Xinhua via Getty Images) | 

Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

Peter Aitken

FOX
Wed, February 23, 2022

Chinese news media posted instructions to social platforms about how to approach coverage on Ukraine, including a note of China’s need for Russian "support" with Taiwan.

One outlet appeared to accidentally post guidelines on what should and should not be published, while an editor from another outlet weighed in with guidance on language and approaches that he believed necessary in walking a fine line.

Ming Jinwei, senior editor at Xinhua News Agency, wrote in his WeChat blog about how his outlet needed to walk a tight line on its Ukraine coverage, noting that China "has to back Russia up with emotional and moral support while refraining from treading on the toes of the United States and European Union."

"In the future, China will also need Russia’s understanding and support when wrestling with America to solve the Taiwan issue once and for all," his post read. Ming said that it "doesn’t hurt" to use moderately pro-Russia language.

And Horizon News, a social media account belonging to CCP-owned Beijing News, appeared to post similar instructions along with a note that no posts unfavorable to Russia or with pro-Western content should be published. The Horizon News post was later deleted, according to The Washington Post.

An amateur translation on Twitter claimed that the post said "From now on, for Ukraine-related topics, post them on Weibo. All post on Shimian first and then on our major account to promote Shimian. Don't post anything against Russia or pro-west. Let me review your words before posting.

Hu Xijin, former editor of the state-run Global Times, described Russia’s recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk regions as a measure to "break the deadlock" of the crisis in a way that showed "Russia’s strategic determination."

China and Russia have developed a tighter bond over the past few years – a relationship that has accelerated in the past few months. China only last week accused the United States of "playing up" the crisis on Ukraine’s border after Moscow claimed to have pulled back some of its 150,000 troops amassed in the region.

And the day before Russia’s recognition of the breakaway Ukrainian regions, Moscow and Beijing agreed on a new deal that would see Russia supply 100 million tons of coal to its southern neighbor in a move that could help to mitigate any sanctions enacted by the West.

On Tuesday, President Biden announced new sanctions against Russia, citing what he described as "the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine," following reports of Russian troops entering two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.

Robert L. Wilkie, former undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness during the Trump administration and visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, previously told Fox News Digital that China would play a role in mitigating any U.S. sanctions placed on Russia in the event Vladimir Putin authorizes any military action in Ukraine.

"A lot of the talk about economic sanctions is really a pie in the sky because China is now Russia’s banker," Wilkie said. "Xi Jinping will back Putin if sanctions from the West come."

LEAVE IT

Britain mistakenly puts Russian central bank's address on sanctions list

Tue, February 22, 2022,

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain on Tuesday mistakenly assigned the address of the Russian central bank to a privately held bank with close links to Russian President Vladimir Putin that was the target of sanctions announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Johnson slapped sanctions on five private banks including Bank Rossiya, which the government said was "privately owned by elite Russian billionaires with direct links to Putin", but spared Russia's largest state banks for now.

The government mistakenly listed Bank Rossiya's address as "Neglinnaya, 12, Moscow, 107016, Russia" which is the address of Russia's central bank, known in Russian as "Bank Rossiya."

The private Bank Rossiya is based in the northern Russian city of St Petersburg. Neglinnaya Street in Moscow has been home to a Russian or Soviet central bank office for at least a century.

The British foreign office later issued an update to make "administrative corrections to two listings under the Russia sanctions regime" which gave the bank's correct address.

The Russian central bank in Moscow did not reply to a Reuters request for comment, but a source close to the bank said their understanding was that it was a mistake and that it had had no impact on the bank’s operations.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Dmitry Zhdannikov in London and Andrey Ostroukh in Moscow; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Jonathan Oatis)

N. America's old pipelines seek new life moving carbon in climate push


An extension of Denbury Inc's Greencore carbon pipeline is ready to be lowered into its trench, in Montana

Wed, February 23, 2022
By Rod Nickel, Liz Hampton and Nia Williams

(Reuters) - North American oil and gas pipeline companies are gearing up to compete for a budding market moving greenhouse gases to carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects - by building new pipelines to transport carbon dioxide or giving new life to old, under-used ones.

Utilities, chemical makers and oil refiners are counting on CCS to allow them to reduce atmospheric carbon emissions by burying them underground, to help them meet climate change goals.

Few existing pipelines move carbon dioxide, and those that do mostly ship the gas to oilfields where it flushes out crude oil. That lack of pipelines may pave the way for building new or refurbishing old lines for transporting carbon.

If the United States is to deliver on net-zero ambitions to bury or utilize 1 billion tonnes of carbon per year by 2050, it will need 19,000 kilometres (11,806 miles) of carbon pipelines, moving at least 65 million tonnes per year by 2030, according to a 2021 Princeton University study.

"This is a real opportunity to (serve) the same customers we know, but in a new business line that until recently didn’t really exist," said Scott Goldberg, a vice-president at pipeline operator EnLink Midstream.

For now, there is little commercial reason to build. Available tax credits, taxes on carbon emissions, and carbon trading schemes are not sufficient to make CCS profitable for a wide range of industrial emitters.

In Canada, carbon emitters must pay C$50 per tonne, rising to C$170 in 2030. Canadian oil producers say they also need a tax credit to pay the cost of 75% of CCS facilities.

A U.S. tax credit for sequestering carbon, called 45Q, is scheduled to rise to $50 a tonne in 2026. Congressional bills have proposed raising the credit to $85 per tonne.

Yet, building new carbon pipelines and underground storage faces opposition from environmentalists who see CCS as extending the life of high-emission industries, not paving way for clean energy.

PRESSURE PROBLEM

The easiest way to move carbon might be to convert existing natural gas pipelines - but that comes with a technical problem.

Carbon travels most efficiently through pipelines at pressure of up to 2,600 pounds per square inch (psi), much higher than natural gas pipelines, which operate at about 800 to 1,200 psi, said Edouard Asselin, professor of materials engineering at University of British Columbia.

Redeploying natural gas lines requires an operator either to pump carbon at that lower pressure or to install costly pipeline reinforcements every 500 meters, called crack arrestors, to handle greater pressure, Asselin said.

Running at higher pressure than a pipeline's original design risks fracturing a line. If the pipeline were to crack underground, the escaping pressure could be explosive and endanger urban areas, Asselin said.

But EnLink's Goldberg says converting existing pipelines to carry carbon is more cost-efficient than starting from scratch, and regulatory processes needed to convert lines are already established.

EnLink hopes to recycle under-utilized Louisiana natural gas lines to transport carbon. It aims to combine new, higher-pressure pipeline segments with older pipes that have been checked for structural integrity and hydrotested, Goldberg said.

For existing pipelines, EnLink will transport carbon from refiners or other polluters at lower pressure to new pump stations, which will then raise pressure through new lines.

Some industry players say new construction is necessary. Most gas lines do not connect the places suitable for picking up and sequestering carbon, said Colin Gruending, Enbridge Inc's executive vice president of liquids pipelines.

Canada's Wolf Midstream is building new lines rather than converting older pipes. It operates a C$326-million Alberta pipeline that delivers carbon for oil recovery, and in January said it would build a pipeline to move carbon from Archer-Daniels-Midland Co's Iowa ethanol plants to a sequestration site about 350 miles away.

"We designed for very high pressure, much higher pressure than most existing hydrocarbon pipelines," said Jeff Pearson, president of Wolf's carbon business. "You would have to do a whole lot of work to think about repurposing them."

Kinder Morgan Inc, which transports carbon for oil recovery, is negotiating with Midwest emitters to expand its CCS business, said Jesse Arenivas, president of Kinder's Energy Transition Ventures unit, including new pipelines to move carbon for sequestration, and possibly oil recovery.

"We do believe there is limited opportunity over a short distance to repurpose pipes," Arenivas said. "Long-haul, we believe, will require new construction."

(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Liz Hampton in Denver and Nia Williams in Calgary,; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

THE REALITY IS THAT CCS IS NOT GREEN NOR CLEAN IT IS GOING TO BE USED TO FRACK OLD DRY WELLS SUCH AS IN THE BAKAN SHIELD IN SASKATCHEWAN
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-myth-of-carbon-capture-and-storage.html

ALSO SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=CCS