CRIMINAL CAPITALI$T STATE

Failed coup puts spotlight back on Guinea-Bissau's role in cocaine trade


By Aaron Ross

BISSAU (Reuters) - In October, President Umaro Sissoco Embalo told French radio that drug trafficking and corruption were over in Guinea-Bissau, a country that has struggled to shake off its reputation as a "narco state" of West Africa.


© Reuters/AARON ROSSA view of the government palace in the capital city of Bissau

Those words rang hollow a few months later. Fierce gunfire interrupted a cabinet meeting Embalo was presiding over, and within hours of the deadly Feb. 1 attack he described it as a failed coup attempt possibly linked to the drugs trade.


© Reuters/AARON ROSSA RPG is stuck in a tree after last week coup attempt in the capital Bissau

At a news conference on Thursday, Embalo said three soldiers who were arrested by U.S. drug authorities in a 2013 sting operation and pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking had been detained in connection with the attack.

Embalo said he personally saw two - Captain Tchamy Yala and Lieutenant Papis Djeme - during the assault and that ex-navy commander Bubo Na Tchuto was coordinating the coup attempt from navy headquarters.

"When the shots were being fired in the Government Palace, Bubo was at the navy headquarters ... and I heard the assailants say we are going to call him to send us reinforcements.

"Bubo was arrested in uniform - someone who is not on active duty ... That shows the intention," Embalo said.

Reuters has not been able to reach the three men for comment.

Embalo suggested the attack, in which the government said seven security personnel defending the president, three government workers and one assailant were killed, was retaliation for his efforts to crack down on drug trafficking.

"When I committed to this fight against corruption and narco-trafficking, I think that I signed my death warrant," he said.

But some politicians and regional analysts have questioned this, saying drug smuggling has persisted under Embalo's watch and the attack was more likely related to trafficking groups and their political backers competing for the spoils.

"I think it's a conflict between all the factions that participate in the government or some of the factions," said Manuel dos Santos, a senior member of the main opposition African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde.

"And it is probably related to drug trafficking."

The president's uncle Mussa Embalo, until recently an adviser, said Embalo had shaken up the leadership of the navy and judicial police to better combat drug trafficking.

"There are successes and setbacks. We need (the) assistance of our international partners," he told Reuters.

COCAINE HUB

Most people in the capital believe the intense, five-hour gun battle was, in one way or another, tied to narcotics.

It is an indication that, despite false dawns in recent years, Guinea-Bissau remains vulnerable to instability that some top officials blame on the illicit trade.

Embalo said at the news conference that many military officers and politicians continue to be involved in the drugs trade.

Asked how he reconciled that position with his remarks in October that trafficking was no longer a problem, he did not directly answer.

Defence Minister Sandji Fati declined to be interviewed for this article. An armed forces spokesman did not respond to questions on whether officers were involved in the cocaine trade.

The country of two million people emerged as a major cocaine trafficking hub in the 2000s, according to experts.

Guinea-Bissau's location on West Africa's Atlantic coast and lax law enforcement made it attractive to cartels, they said.

By sending their product first to Guinea-Bissau or neighbouring countries and then on a separate ship or plane to Europe or the United States, they could avoid scrutiny typically reserved for cargoes originating in South America.

There were no major cocaine busts in West Africa from 2014 to 2018, leading some to question whether the region had fallen out of favour with traffickers or managed to clean up its act.

But a spate of record seizures in 2019 from Guinea-Bissau to Senegal and Cape Verde put paid to those hopes, and some experts believe the region's current role is substantial at a time of record global cocaine production.

"Guinea-Bissau is one of the rapidly rising West African countries used as a point of transit for drug trafficking on the route to Europe," the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime's regional representative for West and Central Africa, Amado Philip de Andrés, told Reuters.

While he noted some positive developments in recent years, most of which pre-dated Embalo, he said more needed to be done.

"There are still grounds for improvement in Guinea-Bissau, particularly in terms of bringing perpetrators to justice."

For Guinea-Bissau, the repercussions from the trade are serious.

Residents of Bissau, which has experienced around a dozen coups or attempted coups since independence from Portugal in 1974, said in the wake of the Feb. 1 bloodshed that they could not recall an incident of such intense violence.

When Reuters reporters visited the Government Palace three days after the attack, hundreds of shell casings lay strewn on the ground near dried pools of blood, and bullet holes pockmarked all four sides of the main building.

An unexploded rocket-propelled grenade was wedged between the branches of a palm tree. Another was lodged in a wall.

Witnesses in the neighbourhood said ministers had fled the compound on foot into the dirt roads behind the compound, seeking refuge in surrounding buildings.

Embalo said he hid in a side office for five hours with his justice minister and two guards.

"I said: 'we stay here but you leave the door open ... because when the door is open, people think that there is no one inside.'"

TACKLING THE PROBLEM

Two law enforcement sources said that they detected an uptick in activity related to cocaine smuggling in Guinea-Bissau throughout 2020, the year that Embalo took office.

A Western diplomat said he thought Embalo was sincere about wanting to crack down on trafficking but that he was constrained by the military's influence.

Embalo, a former army general, has refused to hand over former armed forces chief Antonio Indjai to U.S. authorities, who last year offered up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest. Indjai was indicted in U.S. court in 2013 on narcotics trafficking charges.

Indjai denies the allegations, and Embalo said he is prevented by national law from extraditing a Guinea-Bissau citizen.

The two men appeared in a photograph at the presidency that was published in local news reports and shared on social media shortly after Embalo's inauguration in February 2020.

Musso Embalo, the uncle, said the photo with Indjai and other senior officers was taken to show the support of the Balanta, Guinea-Bissau's largest ethnic group, for Embalo, who is Fulani.

Indjai is Balanta and the group dominates Guinea-Bissau's military.

The government spokesman did not respond to requests for comment about the photo or the government's actions on drug trafficking.

The president's account of seeing Yala and Djeme during the attack is consistent with a leaked army report that said the two soldiers were at the scene.

The president said there had been a number of other arrests but declined to say how many, pending the outcome of an official investigation.

Na Tchuto, Yala and Djeme were detained in 2013 by U.S. authorities on a luxury yacht after offering to import narcotics into the United States on behalf of informants they thought were South American traffickers.

The three men pleaded guilty to conspiracy in a U.S. court and were later released after serving their sentences.

The case cemented Guinea-Bissau's reputation as a stopover of choice for Latin American drugs en route to Europe and the United States. Even before that, Guinea-Bissau had been described as a "narco state" by the United Nations.

President João Bernardo Vieira was assassinated by soldiers in 2009, a killing widely believed to have been connected to trafficking networks. In 2012, army officers eyeing control of the drug trade seized power in the so-called "cocaine coup".

(Additional reporting by Alberto Dabo in Bissau, Nate Raymond in New York and David Lewis in Nairobi; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Alexandra Zavis)

UN science report to sound deafening alarm on climate

AFP - 8h ago

Nearly 200 nations kick off a virtual meeting Monday to finalise what promises to be a harrowing scientific overview of accelerating climate impacts that will highlight the urgent need to cut emissions -- and prepare for the challenges ahead.

The world is already feeling the effects of global warming, driven largely by the burning of fossil fuels, with last year seeing a cascade of deadly floods, heatwaves and wildfires across four continents.

The upcoming update from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is set to outline in stark detail what the best available science tells us are the impacts of the changing climate -- past, present and future.

During a two-week gathering, diplomats and scientists will vet, line-by-line, an all-important Summary for Policymakers, boiling down an underlying report thousands of pages long.

An early draft of the IPCC review seen by AFP in 2021 makes clear the extent to which devastating climate impacts are a here-and-now reality.

In some cases this means that adapting to intolerably hot days, flash flooding and storm surges has become a matter of life and death.

"Even if we find solutions for reducing carbon emissions, we will still need solutions to help us adapt," said Alexandre Magnan, a researcher at the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations in Paris and a co-author of the report, without commenting on the report's findings.

Species extinction, ecosystem collapse, crippling health impacts from disease and heat, water shortages -- all will accelerate in the coming decades even if the carbon emissions that drive global warming are drawn down, the report is likely to find.

"This is a real moment of reckoning," said Rachel Cleetus, Climate and energy policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"This not just more scientific projections about the future," she told AFP. "This is about extreme events and slow-onset disasters that people are experience right now."

- Planning ahead -

The report comes three months after pledges at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow to halt deforestation, curb methane emissions, phase down coal-fired power and boost financial aid to developing countries.

IPCC assessments are divided into three sections, each with its own volunteer "working group" of hundreds of scientists.

In August 2021, the first instalment on physical science found that global heating is virtually certain to pass 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), probably within a decade.

That is the heating limit envisioned in the Paris Agreement, beyond which impacts become more severe.

This second report on impacts and adaptation, due for release after the two-week meeting, is likely to underscore that vulnerability to extreme weather events -- even when they are made worse by global warming -- can be reduced by better planning.

This is not only true in the developing world, noted Imperial College professor Friederike Otto, pointing to massive flooding in Germany last year that killed scores and caused billions in damage.

"Even without global warming there would have been a huge rainfall event in a densely populated geography where the rivers flood very easily," said Otto, a pioneer in the science of quantifying the extent to which climate change makes extreme weather events more likely or intense.

- Hard choices -

The latest report will also likely zero in on how climate change is widening already yawning gaps in inequality, both between regions and within nations.

This means that the people least responsible for climate change are the ones suffering the most from its impacts.

Not only is this unjust, experts and advocates say, it is a barrier to tackling the problem.

"I do not think there are pathways to sustainable development that do not substantively address equity issues," said Clark University professor Edward Clark, a lead author of one of the reports chapters.

Earth's surface has warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius since the 19th century.

The 2015 Paris deal calls for capping global warming at "well below" 2C, and ideally the more ambitious limit of 1.5C.

This report is sure to reinforce that goal.

"There are limits -- for ecosystems and human systems -- to adaptation," said Cleetus. "We cannot adjust to runaway climate change."

Indeed, the report will probably emphasise more than ever before dangerous "tipping points", invisible temperature trip wires in the climate system for irreversible and potentially catastrophic change.

Some of them -- such as the melting of permafrost housing twice as much carbon as in the atmosphere -- could fuel global warming all on their own.

At the same time, scientists are only just beginning to get a handle on so-called cascading and compound impacts -- how Greenland's melting ice sheet, for example, affects ocean currents across the globe.

"There is a finite set of choices we can make that would move us productively into the future," said Carr. "Every day we wait and delay, some of those choices get harder or go away."

mh/klm/spm

Canadian pipeline operator Enbridge reports higher profit as transport volumes rise

(Reuters) -Enbridge Inc reported a 3.7% jump in fourth-quarter profit on Friday, as a recovery in fuel demand boosted the Canadian pipeline operator's transportation volumes.

Pipeline operators have benefited from a pick-up in volumes with energy prices trading at multi-year highs on a sustained recovery in fuel demand from the pandemic-driven lows.

Enbridge said it transported 3.01 million barrels per day (bpd) on its Mainline system in the fourth quarter, compared with 2.65 million bpd a year earlier.

The Calgary-based company's earnings rose to C$1.84 billion ($1.45 billion), or 91 Canadian cents per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, from C$1.78 billion, or 88 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier.

($1 = 1.2724 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru;Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)

Canadian oil barrels head out of the U.S. Gulf in record numbers

By Stephanie Kelly and Nia Williams - Yesterday 

NEW YORK/CALGARY (Reuters) - Canadian oil companies exported a record amount of crude out of the U.S. Gulf Coast at the end of 2021, a trend that should continue in coming months, as tight international oil markets are in need of the nation's heavy, sour crude.

These barrels are hitting the Gulf thanks to new pipeline connections and expansions that just came online last year, and are meeting surging global demand that has pushed oil prices to seven-year highs. Major producers, including the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, are struggling to raise output, along with traditional providers of heavy crude like Venezuela and Mexico.

By contrast, Canada's oil sands production is at a record 3.5 million barrels a day. Most of that is exported to use in the United States, but a growing number of barrels are transiting the country to the U.S. Gulf Coast, where it is then re-exported.

In 2021, Canadian exports from the U.S. Gulf Coast averaged more than 180,000 bpd, reaching nearly 300,000 bpd in December, a record, according to Matt Smith, Kpler's lead oil analyst for the Americas. That's up from roughly 70,000 bpd in 2019 and 2020. The accelerated pace is expected to continue in 2022.

Those barrels are primarily going to big importers India, China and South Korea - in part to offset for the loss of Venezuelan barrels, which is under U.S. sanctions and dealing with years of underinvestment.

Canadian producers have benefited from changes in pipeline infrastructure that make it easier to ship to the Gulf Coast, the largest U.S. export hub, where more than 3 million barrels ship out every day.

The Capline Pipeline, whose owners include Plains All American Pipeline and Marathon Petroleum Corporation, reversed flows in 2021, sending more oil from Patoka, Illinois, to terminals in St. James, Louisiana.

In October, Enbridge Inc doubled the capacity of its Line 3 pipeline, which carries oil from Edmonton, Alberta, to the U.S. Midwest.

The demand is helping support prices in Alberta, where benchmark Canadian heavy crude is currently trading around C$13.50 a barrel, said Tudor Pickering Holt analyst Matt Murphy.

"As we get more exposure to global markets that's backing up into western Canada," Murphy said. "The industry as a whole benefits."

Companies benefiting from increased Gulf exports are those that have dedicated capacity on pipelines carrying Canadian crude, including MEG Energy, Cenovus Energy and to a lesser extent Suncor Energy, Murphy said. MEG expects to sell about two-thirds of its estimated 2022 production of 95,000 bpd, into the Gulf Coast.

GRAPHIC: Canadian oil exports from the U.S. Gulf 

https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-OIL/CANADA-EXPORTS/akveznyjapr

(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly in New York and Nia Williams in Calgary, Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

KENNEY'S BASE
As Omicron wave declines, COVID-19 spread remains high in parts of rural Alberta

Jason Herring - Yesterday 

© Provided by Calgary Herald

Dr. Jon Meddings, Dean of the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary, on Wednesday, May 22, 2019.

Wastewater and active case data show COVID-19 spread is on the downslope in Calgary and Edmonton.

But it’s a different story in parts of rural Alberta, where infections continue to surge as the province moves to ditch public health measures.

The best indicator of community transmission of the virus currently available in Alberta is wastewater data, according to Dr. Jon Meddings, Dean of the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary.

He said Alberta’s two big cities, as well as other communities including Banff, saw virus spread peak in early January. Medium-sized cities such as Lethbridge and Red Deer saw a peak around the end of January, while rural municipalities such as Lacombe continue to see an increase in virus spread.

That’s not surprising, Meddings said, as the ultra-contagious Omicron variant likely entered Alberta first through Calgary and Edmonton, both of which are home to international airports.

“To me, the pattern is that this is coming from the largest centres. It reached the peak there in early January, and two or three weeks later that peak is in the smaller rural centres, and some of them are still going through it. This is unsurprising,” Meddings said.

Meddings also said wastewater data indicate the Omicron wave is declining more slowly than it took to climb in Calgary and Edmonton.


© Provided by Calgary Herald

As Omicron wave declines, COVID-19 spread remains high in parts of rural Alberta

Though Alberta’s official case counts have become less reliable during the fifth wave amid limited access to PCR testing, active case data also reflect a surge in infections in rural areas even as urban hubs pass their peak.

Active case counts increased in most rural municipalities since mid-January, near the Omicron wave’s peak, while decreasing in Calgary, Edmonton and those cities’ bedroom communities. Currently, case rates are highest in Vulcan County and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, where more than one in 50 residents have active, lab-confirmed COVID-19 infections.

Despite the regional variance, Alberta is moving to scrap COVID-19 restrictions in all parts of the province at the same time, with Alberta’s vaccine passport already cancelled and nearly all remaining restrictions to be removed March 1, as long as hospitalization rates from the virus are declining.

High River physician Dr. Adam Vyse said his community, like elsewhere in Alberta, saw far higher infection rates and patients in ER in recent weeks due to Omicron than in previous waves.

“With that being said, my sense is we haven’t had any significant burden of people getting sick and needing hospitalizations,” Vyse said, adding he believes the High River area is past the peak for this wave.


© Azin Ghaffari

Dr. Adam Vyse poses for a photo in Highwood Health Centre in High River on March 10, 2021.

Vyse said members of his community have done their part by getting immunized against COVID-19 and following public health measures. He said he believes residents are ready to leave behind measures such as the vaccine passport, a decision he also agrees with.

“Vaccination has an impact on serious disease, hospitalization and ICU, but we’re not preventing transmission by excluding non-vaccinated people from restaurants and bars and hampering businesses,” he said.

Mount Royal University political scientist Lori Williams said rural businesses have broadly had a more difficult time navigating policies such as the vaccine passport than their urban counterparts, as business owners worry about alienating customers.

But she stressed rural Alberta isn’t a monolith, with a wide range of opinions and behaviours.

“I think there are a lot of people in rural Alberta who have concerns about (the removal of public health measures),” Williams said. “But there are lots of people in rural Alberta who are also annoyed about their restrictions, who feel their freedoms are being limited.”

jherring@postmedia.com

Twitter: @jasonfherring

 A Highway In BC Is Closed After A Giant Avalanche Crashes Across It (PHOTOS)

Daniel Milligan - Yesterday 11:22 a.m.
© Provided by Narcity

One of B.C.'s major highways has been closed after an avalanche tore across it, blocking both lanes of traffic.

Photos from B.C.'s Ministry of Transportation show the huge amount of debris left following the avalanche on Highway 37A near Stewart.

A DriveBC alert said the incident happened on Wednesday morning between Pearly Gates and Surprise Pullout/Windy Chain Up. An update on whether the road will reopen is expected at 12 p.m. local time Thursday.

Road maintenance teams and avalanche technicians were taken to the site of the avalanche to assess the damage and help with the clean-up operation.

There have been no reported injuries connected with this latest avalanche.

B.C. has experienced several large earthquakes in recent weeks. Last weekend, two people were seriously injured and one died after three separate avalanches hit the Whistler area.

Pemberton RCMP, local Search and Rescue teams, Whistler RCMP, Whistler SAR, Blackcomb Helicopters, and BCEHS ground and air ambulances were all called out to respond to reports that multiple skiers and a snowmobiler got caught up in the avalanches.

In January, Avalanche Canada and Parks Canada issued a special public avalanche warning for North and South Columbias, Purcells, Kootenay Boundary, and Glacier, Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay National Parks.

This particular event was caused by a sudden switch to above seasonal temperatures alongside what the agency described as a "problematic" snowpack.

Subway and Burger King franchisees in South Carolina violated child-labor laws by letting minors work late shifts or too many hours, the labor department says

gdean@insider.com (Grace Dean) - 

Subway and Burger King operators were among those investigated by the DOL. 

The DOL has fined restaurant operators in South Carolina for violating child-labor laws.

They let minors work late shifts or too many hours or undertake tasks that they're not allowed to.

These include the operators of some Subway, Burger King, and Popeyes restaurants.

Some operators of fast-food restaurants in South Carolina have been fined by the labor department for allegedly violating child-labor laws.

The Department of Labor (DOL) said Wednesday that operators of some Subway, Burger King, and Popeyes restaurants had broken the law by letting minors work late shifts or too many hours a week, or undertake tasks that they're not allowed to.

The restaurants "illegally employed workers under the age of 18 at hours and in occupations that jeopardized their safety," the DOL said.

An operator of four Subway stores in South Carolina had let 13 employees aged 14 and 15 work past 9 p.m. during summer months. Another Subway operator in the state allowed five 15-year-olds to work past 7 p.m. in non-summer months, per the DOL. This breaches laws on how late minors are allowed to work.

Four of these minors at the latter operator were also employed in "prohibited baking activities," the DOL said. Workers aged 14 and 15 can prepare food as part of their job, but can't bake, remove items from ovens, or place products on cooling trays under federal labor law.

A large Burger King franchise operator allowed two 15-year-old employees in South Carolina to break a law that caps the number of hours they can work per week during school weeks at 18, the DOL said. Three 15-year-old workers at an operator of Popeyes restaurants in South Carolina were also allowed to work more than 18 hours per week during school weeks, per the DOL.

PLC Dev Group, the Popeyes operator, which has nine locations in South Carolina and one in North Carolina, also "clocked out some employees automatically while they continued to perform work," the DOL said. It added that it had recovered $2,031 in overtime back wages and liquidated damages for nine workers across the operator's locations.

And three 16-year-old employees who were allowed to work as delivery drivers at Frodo's Pizza in Greenville, South Carolina, violating a federal law that prevents employees aged 16 and under from driving vehicles as part of their job.

Subway, Burger King, Popeyes, and Frodo's did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, made outside of normal working hours.

"Restaurant industry employers must understand and comply with child labor laws concerning hours and occupations," Jamie Benefiel, district director of the DOL's Wage and Hour Division in Columbia, South Carolina.

"Industry employers, workers and their parents should contact us with their questions about youth employment laws. The kinds of violations found in these South Carolina investigations – and the penalties associated with them – could have been avoided."

The Wage and Hour Division's Southeast region found child-labor violations at more than 190 food-service employers in fiscal years 2020 and 2021, and assessed penalties of more than $1 million.

The DOL didn't say when the above-mentioned offences were committed but restaurants have been struggling to hire and retain staff during the pandemic. This means existing employees are working longer hours.

In October, Wisconsin's Senate approved a bill that would allow 14- and 15-year-olds to work until 11 p.m. during the summer, and supporters said it could help plug the state's labor shortage.

 

CPPIB commits to net-zero portfolio by 2050 but says no blanket divestment

TORONTO — The fund manager for the Canada Pension Plan has committed to make its portfolio net zero by 2050 but said it would not be making any blanket divestments.

Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press

a day ago

A flare stack lights the sky from an oil refinery in Edmonton on December 28, 2018. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has committed to make its portfolio net zero by 2050 as it reports its net assets grew 1.6 per cent in its third quarter. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

TORONTO — The fund manager for the Canada Pension Plan has committed to make its portfolio net zero by 2050 but said it would not be making any blanket divestments. 

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, operating as CPP Investments, said Thursday it plans to achieve the goal while continuing to invest in the whole economy, and will push for an economic transition to a lower carbon economy as an active investor.

"As a capital provider and partner, and with our experience, expertise and financial resources, we recognize the valuable contribution we can make to this challenge,” said chief executive John Graham in a statement. 

CPPIB said it has also committed to increasing its investments in green and transition assets from $67 billion to at least $130 billion by 2030, and aims to be carbon neutral in its operations by the end of fiscal 2023.

Advocacy group Shift Action for Pension Wealth & Planet Health said in a release that while the net-zero commitment comes as a relief, Canada's largest pension fund doesn't have a credible plan for achieving it. 

It said that many companies, in particular those in the fossil fuel industry, do not have a credible path to zero emissions and that holding those assets in the long-term is not in the best interest of CPP's beneficiaries.

CPPIB said in December that investing is critical to help decarbonize high emitting sectors like agriculture, chemicals, cement, conventional power, oil and gas, steel and heavy transportation.

It said at the time that decarbonizing those sectors was needed for emission reductions as well as to sustain economic growth, stability and a responsible energy transition. 

The strategy contrasts somewhat with the more aggressive stance taken by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Canada’s second-largest pension fund manager, which committed last September to phase out investments in oil production by the end of 2022 as part of its updated climate strategy. 

In October, Dutch pension giant ABP said it would sell off all of its fossil fuel assets, worth some 15 billion euros, because it didn’t see enough opportunity to push those companies towards sustainable practices fast enough. The pension fund said it would instead work to influence companies that use fossil fuels such as utilities, the auto industry and aviation.

CPPIB also reported Thursday that it ended the Dec. 31 quarter with net assets of $550.4 billion, up from $541.5 billion at the end of the last quarter.

It says the $8.9-billion increase in net assets includes $13 billion in net income and $4.1 billion in net Canada Pension Plan outflows.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 10, 2022.

Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press

California sues Tesla over alleged rampant discrimination against Black employees


California is suing Tesla after a three year investigation where the state found racial discrimination against Black workers at its plant in Fremont, Calif.
CREDIT: AP

BY Deepa Shivaram
FEB 11, 2022 

NPR

The state of California' Department of Fair Employment and Housing is suing Elon Musk's company Tesla over racism and harassment toward Black employees at their plant in Fremont, Calif., according to a lawsuit filed by the state this week. The company has called the lawsuit "unfair."

The lawsuit follows three years of investigation into Tesla and alleges that Black and African American employees at the company's Fremont plant are "segregated to the lowest levels."

The lawsuit describes multiple instances of racist language and drawings toward Black employees, penalizing Black employees more harshly than white employees, and denying Black employees career advancement opportunities and equal pay for work similar to other employees.

"These numerous complaints by Black and/or African American workers about racial harassment, racial discrimination, and retaliation lodged over a span of almost a decade have been futile," the lawsuit says. "Tesla has continued to deflect and evade responsibility. While it claims to not tolerate racial harassment or discrimination at its factories, Tesla's investigations of complaints are not compliant with law."

Prosecutors describe years of harassment and discrimination

The lawsuit says Tesla "turned, and continue to turn, a blind eye" to the years of complaints from Black employees at the factory. For example, Tesla allegedly is slow to clean up racist graffiti, including ones with swastikas, KKK, the n-word and other hate symbols, that were drawn in common areas and on the factory machines.

The lawsuit says one Black worker saw "hang N[ ]" written next to an image of a noose in the bathroom of the breakroom. The same worker also saw "all monkeys work outside" and "fuck N[ ]" written on the walls of the breakroom. The writing and drawings allegedly remained for months.

Discrimination against Black employees was constant, the lawsuit says, and has been going on as early as 2012, the year after Tesla started production there. Black workers at Tesla complained that managers and supervisors "constantly" used the n-word and other racial slurs towards them and other Black workers.

Some workers at Tesla with tattoos of the Confederate flag would make their tattoos visible to intimidate Black workers, according to the lawsuit. Workers at Tesla also allegedly referred to the factory as the "slaveship" or "the plantation," in addition to other slurs. "One Black worker heard these racial slurs as often as 50-100 times a day," the lawsuit states.

Black workers had to clean the factory floor on their hands and knees while others apparently did not, the lawsuit says, and Black employees were assigned to more physically demanding work.

If Black employees complained about the harassment and discrimination, they were retaliated against, prosecutors say. And Tesla refused to take "all reasonable steps necessary" to prevent the ongoing discrimination, harassment and retaliation.

Tesla says the lawsuit is "counterproductive"

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NPR.

The department suing Tesla said they attempted to resolve the dispute without litigation at first, which would involve an internal dispute resolution provided by the department, free of charge. When offered in January, Tesla refused to attend. In February, the lawsuit says the parties were "unable to resolve the administrative complaints at the mediation."

On the day the lawsuit was filed, Tesla issued a public blog post, titled "The DFEH's Misguided Lawsuit," where it called the lawsuit "unfair and counterproductive."

"Tesla strongly opposes all forms of discrimination and harassment and has a dedicated Employee Relations team that responds to and investigates all complaints," Tesla writes. "Tesla has always disciplined and terminated employees who engage in misconduct, including those who use racial slurs or harass others in different ways."

"A narrative spun by the DFEH and a handful of plaintiff firms to generate publicity is not factual proof," the blog post says.

Tesla says that they will ask the court to pause the case. [Copyright 2022 NPR]

Lawsuit: Noose drawing, racist slurs etched into walls at Tesla

Tesla has denied allegations of racial discrimination and harassment, calling the California DFEH's lawsuit "misguided."

Biba Adams |
Feb 11, 2022

A lawsuit by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing says it has uncovered a persistent pattern of ongoing racist behavior at Tesla’s Fremont factory.

As previously reported, the agency is suing the automobile manufacturer for alleged racial discrimination and harassment.

A 2020 aerial view of the Tesla factory in Fremont, California, where the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing has uncovered a persistent pattern of ongoing racist behavior. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

“After receiving hundreds of complaints from workers, DFEH found evidence that Tesla’s Fremont factory is a racially segregated workplace where Black workers are subjected to racial slurs and discriminated against in job assignments, discipline, pay and promotion, creating a hostile work environment,” Kevin Kish, the agency’s director, said in a statement, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The East Bay Times has reviewed the lawsuit and notes that “As early as 2012, Black and/or African American Tesla workers have complained that Tesla production leads, supervisors and managers constantly use the n-word and other racial slurs to refer to Black workers.”



“They have complained that swastikas, ‘KKK,’ the n-word, and other racist writing are etched onto walls of restrooms, restroom stalls, lunch tables, and even factory machinery,” says its report.

Also Read:
California sues Tesla for alleged racial discrimination, harassment

The Jerusalem Post alleges that a noose drawn in a bathroom at the factory remained up for months.

The DFEH suit also alleges that “Black and/or African American workers are assigned to more physically demanding posts and the lowest-level contract roles, paid less and more often terminated from employment than other workers. They have also complained that Black and/or African American workers are often denied advancement opportunities, and more often and more severely disciplined than non-Black workers.”



Also Read:
Arizona Republican calls Elon Musk America’s ‘richest African American’

“A common narrative was Black and/or African American workers being taunted by racial slurs and then baited into verbal and physical confrontations, where they, in turn, were the ones disciplined for being purportedly ‘aggressive’ or ‘threatening,’” the suit claimed. “These written warnings in their personnel files had consequences for later promotional and professional opportunities.”

Tesla has denied the allegations, its officials writing in a blog post that the DFEH’s lawsuit is “misguided.”

The company says it “strongly opposes all forms of discrimination and harassment and has a dedicated Employee Relations team that responds to and investigates all complaints,” adding that management “has always disciplined and terminated employees who engage in misconduct, including those who use racial slurs or harass others in different ways.”

Regional NAACP President Rick Callender applauded the state’s efforts.

“The Department of Fair Employment and Housing should be applauded,” he said in a statement, “for seeking justice against Tesla for their racist behavior.”

On Twitter, Callender wrote, ”Racism is rampant at Tesla. @cahinaacp stands behind DFEH & Tesla employees. We demand a racist free workplace. Business & Gov. orgs should know racist behavior is not tolerated in CA. Who thinks they should own a @Tesla now??”

Mining will profit from supporting carbon tax policies, researchers say

Naimul Karim | February 11, 2022 | 

Miners face greater scrutiny from communities at host countries, end consumers and society at large, demanding transparent, ethical supply chains, as well as a lower carbon footprint. (Stock image)

The global mining industry is going to benefit financially from supporting “harmonized” carbon taxation policies, according to a new study released by the University of British Columbia’s mining institute.


Researchers argue that even though the cost of mining metals required for energy transition would increase due to taxes on carbon emissions, the hike would be small in relation to the value of the commodity and that carbon taxes would also compel other industries to shift to cleaner energy, which would further increase demand for metals.

“The mining stance towards carbon taxation policies has been fractured, some mining companies support the policy, a lot of miners have been lobbying against,” Sally Innis, a PhD candidate in mining engineering at UBC who co-wrote the study, told The Northern Miner.

“We thought it would be really interesting to see where these policies intersect, look at the numbers and see how the industry as a whole is impacted by the carbon taxation policies.”

Carbon taxation discourages the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by forcing companies to pay for emissions from their activities. The policy is promoted to fight climate change and limit the rise in global mean temperatures to 2 degrees by 2100, a target set by the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

Using data from publicly available sources, the researchers calculated the value of 23 commodities per tonne of carbon dioxide required to produce them. They found that the high value of metals and minerals from mining makes carbon emissions look small by comparison. That isn’t the case for commodities in the energy and agriculture industries.

For instance, the study showed that more than C$1,500 worth of copper, C$1000 worth of nickel and C$9,400 worth of iron ore can be mined for each tonne of carbon dioxide emitted, but the same emissions yield only C$100 worth of coal or C$200 worth of cheese.

The findings show that given any percentage of taxation tested, most mining industry commodities would not add more than 30% of their present product value, whereas commodities like coal could be taxed at more than 150% of their value, which would accelerate the green transition and demand benefits for mined metals.

The researchers used the 2019 prices of the commodities for the study.

Aside from the financial benefit, supporting carbon tax policies can also help the mining industry “find commonalities” with environment activists who have been at “each other’s throats” for decades, Innis says.

“Every product that can help us reduce the 36 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide we emit every year involves metals,” said PhD student Benjamin Cox, the study’s lead author said in a press release.

“To get to zero emissions, we need metals. It would be the largest boom the mining industry has seen since the California Gold Rush of 1849. The demand would be infinite.”

(This article first appeared in The Northern Miner)

Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi sued the Biden administration for raising federal contractors' minimum wage to $15 an hour

gdean@insider.com (Grace Dean) - 

© Provided by Business Insider

President Joe Biden's executive order of April 2021 saw minimum wages for federal contractors rise to $15 an hour in January. 

AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

Three states have sued to overturn the Biden administration's wage hike for federal contractors.

The lawsuit by Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi officials said it would cause unemployment and inflation.

It said the increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour would lead to "economic disaster."

Three states have sued President Joe Biden's administration for raising the minimum wage at federal contractors.

The multi-state lawsuit, filed Thursday by the attorneys general of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, seeks to have a court overturn the mandate that brought contractors' wages up to $15 an hour, arguing that it will cause unemployment, inflation, and a drop in consumption.

The three states and their residents will suffer "significant hardship" from the policy, which was introduced "with little apparent regard for the widespread havoc on the economy that will result," the lawsuit, led by Texas General Attorney Ken Paxton, says.

The minimum wage at federal contractors was hiked from $11.25 to $15 an hour under Biden's April 2021 executive order. The contractors also have to pay staff overtime wages if they work more than 40 hours a week, and tipped employees must be paid a cash wage of at least $10.50 an hour.

The wage increase came into force on January 30, 2022, and will be subject to potential annual hikes based on inflation.

"States will be burdened with higher unemployment benefits claims and a deteriorating economy, and young, less educated workers could bear the brunt of this economic disaster," the lawsuit says.

It referred to a report by the Congressional Budget Office, which found that employment would be reduced by around 1.4 million workers by 2025 and that goods and services would cost more if the federal minimum wage – not just for federal contractors – was hiked to $15 an hour in 2021.

The new wage increase means contractors' staff collectively get paid around $1.7 billion more a year over the next 10 years, the Department of Labor said. The lawsuit says that these costs "would either be passed on to consumers or would lead to companies going out of business."

But some studies show that raising wages would benefit workers. A study by the Economic Policy Institute found that raising the federal minimum wage would have a significant impact on reducing the wage gap for women and people of color, and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told Insider there was "no question" that hiking the wage for contractors would help solve the labor shortage by reducing quit rates.

The Department of Labor estimated that more than 300,000 workers at federal contractors would see their wages rise.

The lawsuit also accuses Biden of "dictatorially" imposing the policy with help from the Department of Labor and called it an "abuse of their authority." It referred to how Congress had voted against raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, and said that the Department of Labor "did not provide any substantive justification" for the wage hike.

"With full awareness of the negative economic impact of artificially raising the minimum wage, and despite his failure to persuade Congress, President Biden chose to ignore the will of our federal legislators and instead forced a raise in the minimum wage through executive fiat," the lawsuit says.

A SEDITIOUS MINORITY RULE

Thomas Massie says Americans 

(WHITE PEOPLE)  must own enough weapons to overthrow the government 

if 30-40% agree on ‘tyranny’

David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement
February 11, 2022

U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie

A U.S. Congressman is calling on Americans to own "sufficient" weaponry to overthrow the government, suggesting they should do so "if 30 to 40 percent agree" the nation is living under "tyranny."

"If 30 to 40 percent could agree that this was legitimate tyranny and it needed to be thrown off they need to have sufficient power without asking for extra permission – it should be right there and completely available to them in their living room in order to effect the change," U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said in a video (below) posted by Right Wing Watch.

Congressman Massie, who recently came under fire for tweeting a quote by a pedophile-pornography possessing neo-Nazi and falsely attributing it to French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire, appeared on far-right Youtuber Tim Pool's show.

Pool's videos get "millions" of views each day, according to The Daily Beast, which adds he "has racked up more than a billion views and millions in earnings while dangerously whitewashing the far right."

Massie, known for his assault-weapons brandishing Christmas family photo this week was widely mocked for arguing against Medicare for All, because "Over 70% of Americans who died with COVID, died on Medicare.”

During Pool's show, according to Right Wing Watch, the YouTuber added that he believes the Second Amendment entitles Americans to own nuclear and biological weapons.

MAGA CONFEDERATE REBELS

VS 

A10 WARTHOG US NAVY AIRFORCE

Affectionately called the “Warthog” for its aggressive look and often painted with teeth on the nose cone, the A-10 Thunderbolt II is the U.S. Air Force’s primary low-altitude close air support aircraft. The A-10 is perhaps best known for its fearsome GAU-8 Avenger 30mm gatling gun mounted on the nose. The GAU-8 is designed to fire armor-piercing depleted uranium and high explosive incendiary rounds. The A-10 Thunderbolt II has excellent maneuverability at low air speeds and altitude, and is a highly accurate and survivable weapons-delivery platform. The aircraft can loiter near battle areas for extended periods of time and operate in low ceiling and visibility conditions.

 

Oath Keepers leader confirms group was expecting Trump to impose martial law on Jan. 6

John Wright
February 11, 2022

Stewart Rhodes (YouTube)

In a motion seeking his release from jail filed Friday, attorneys for Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes confirmed reports that members of the militia group were expecting former president Donald Trump to impose martial law on Jan. 6.

"They were not there to storm the Capitol, to stop the certification, to takeover (sic) the government," Rhodes' attorneys wrote in the 41-page motion. "They were waiting for President Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act. He did not, so Rhodes and the others did nothing."

New York Times reporter Alan Feuer wrote in response to the motion: "Oath Keeper(s) leader Stewart Rhodes says he was waiting for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act on (Jan. 6) — an order that never came — thus isn't guilty of sedition. A logical question: Why was Rhodes apparently convinced Trump was going to effectively impose martial law that day?"

Rhodes is one of 11 members of the Oath Keepers charged with seditious conspiracy in connection with the Capitol insurrection. Last month, a judge ordered Rhodes to remain jailed pending trial, saying he poses a threat to the public and could evade authorities if he were to flee.

But in Friday's motion seeking his release, Rhodes' attorneys argued that he does not pose a flight risk, in part because he is already on a list that requires federal authorities to be notified before he flies.

"(Rhodes' attorneys) concede that Rhodes summoned Oath Keepers to DC on Jan. 6, but say it was to provide 'defensive assistance to attendees' who might be attacked by 'members of Antifa and Black Lives Matter,'" BuzzFeed News' Ken Bensinger reports. "On Jan. 6, they note, the (Oath Keepers) provided security for Roger Stone & Latinos For Trump."

"The much-discussed Quick Reaction Force (QRF) in Virginia, meanwhile, was 'hardly the commando force the Government is attempting to portray it as' & instead a 'defensive force, called if and only if required to defend members or those with whom they have been charged with protecting,'" according to Rhodes' attorneys.

"There's a lot of stuff (in the motion) on whether the Oath Keepers are anti-government, white supremacists, or sexist (the lawyers say none of the above)," Bensinger reported. "There's also the argument that 'believing that the current political environment will lead to a civil war is protected speech under' (the First Amendment)."

"Processing as I read, but a very large part of the argument is that Rhodes believed Trump was going to invoke the Insurrection Act, at which point it was no-holds barred and he'd unleash the QRF and all its guns," Bensinger added.

Italy’s Mount Etna Lights Up Night Sky in Spectacular Eruption
Reuters Feb 11, 2022

General view of an eruption of the South East volcano of Etna, as seen from Nicolosi, Italy, on Feb. 10, 2022.

 (Antonio Parrinello/Reuters)

ROME —Italy’s Mount Etna, Europe’s highest and most active volcano, erupted in spectacular fashion late on Thursday, lighting up the night sky with explosions and bright red molten lava.

The eruption centered on the volcano’s southeastern crater, at a height of around 2,900 meters, sent ash and plumes of smoke 8 km into the sky, Italy’s National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology said.

General view of an eruption of the South East volcano of Etna, Italy, on Feb. 10, 2022. (Antonio Parrinello/Reuters)

There were no reports of any injuries.

The 3,330 meters high volcano can burst into spectacular action several times a year, spewing lava and ash high over the Mediterranean island of Sicily. The last major eruption was in 1992.

Rakeen Mabud on Supply Chain Breakdown

COUNTERSPIN

 FEBRUARY 11, 2022

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American Prospect (1/31/22)

This week on CounterSpin: You will have heard many things recently about the supply chain—as the reason you can’t find what you’re looking for on store shelves, or the reason it costs so much. But what’s behind it all? Why has the system broken down in this way? Here’s where thoughtful journalism could fill us in, could educate on a set of issues that affects us all, including discussing alternatives. But corporate news media aren’t good at covering economic issues from the ground up, or asking big questions about who is served by current structures. You could say media’s reluctance to critically break down systems is itself a system problem.

Rakeen Mabud is chief economist and managing director of policy and research at Groundwork Collaborative. She’ll join us to talk about the ideas in the article she recently co-authored for American Prospect, “How We Broke the Supply Chain.”

      CounterSpin220211Mabud.mp3

 

Plus Janine Jackson takes a quick look at recent coverage of polling and Israeli apartheid.

      CounterSpin220211Banter.mp3

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