Brandon hides in basement in 3…2…1
Russia to Hold Major Naval Drills Involving Entire Fleet
Reuters
January 20, 2022
MOSCOW, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Russia announced on Thursday its navy would stage a sweeping set of exercises involving all its fleets this month and next from the Pacific to the Atlantic, the latest show of strength in a surge of military activity during a standoff with the West.
The drills will take place in the seas directly adjacent to Russia and also feature maneuvers in the Mediterranean, the North Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk, the northeast Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific, it said.
They will draw on 140 warships and support vessels, 60 planes, 1,000 units of military hardware and around 10,000 servicemen, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
Russian military moves are being closely scrutinized as a troop build-up near Ukraine and a volley of hawkish rhetoric have rattled the West and sparked fears of a looming war. Moscow vehemently denies any plan to invade Ukraine.
In a video posted on Facebook, the ministry showed its Pacific Fleet’s newest diesel-electric submarine test-firing a Kalibr cruise missile at a land-based target from an underwater position in the Sea of Japan.
The missile struck a coastal target in Russia’s far eastern Khabarovsk region from a range of more than 1,000 km (620 miles), it said.
Separately, China, Russia and Iran are set to hold joint naval drills on Friday, a public relations official from Iran’s armed forces told the semi-official ISNA news agency. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
https://gcaptain.com/russia-to-hold-major-naval-drills-involving-entire-fleet/
Biden Administration Allocates $14 Billion to Improve U.S. Ports and Waterways
Reuters
January 19, 2022
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to invest $14 Billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and other appropriations to strengthen United States’ ports and waterways, spanning over 500 projects across 52 states and territories.
WASHINGTON, Jan 19 (Reuters) – The Biden administration on Wednesday said it will fund $14 billion in projects to improve the country’s ports and waterways in an effort to increase climate resilience, improve drinking water sources and bolster the U.S. supply chain.
The funds, for fiscal year 2022, target more than 500 projects in 52 states and territories, including Florida’s Everglades and the Port of Long Beach in California, the White House said in a statement.
“These key projects will strengthen the nation’s supply chain, provide significant new economic opportunities nationwide, and bolster our defenses against climate change,” it said.
WHITE HOUSE FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces Historic Investment to America’s Port and Waterway Infrastructure
The allocation stems from President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan, passed into law last year with bipartisan support from Congress and one of the Democrat’s key domestic agenda items.
Among the projects spearheaded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is $1.1 billion to preserve the Everglades in south Florida, which provides drinking water for more than 8 million people in the state, the administration said.
The Corps will also direct $1.7 billion to reduce inland flood risk via 15 projects and $645 million to reduce coastal flood risk through another 15 projects across the country including in costal Louisiana, Norfolk, Virginia, and Stockton, California.
According to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers press release, $3.936 billion provided through the bipartisan infrastructure deal will address commercial navigation improvements at coastal ports and inland waterways. Specific projects listed by the White House include:
$858 million to support the replacement of locks on the upper Ohio River, west of Pittsburgh
More than $470 million to complete construction of a new lock along St. Mary’s River in Sault Saint Marie, Michigan
$8 million to improve commercial navigation at the Port of Long Beach
$69 million to improve navigation and expand capacity at Norfolk Harbor, Virginia
Forty percent of the funding will be directed to climate and clean energy projects for disadvantaged communities, the administration added. (Reporting by Susan Heavey; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
https://gcaptain.com/biden-administration-allocates-14-billion-to-improve-u-s-ports-and-waterways/
Ship Arrivals to China’s Yantian Port Delayed by a Week
Bloomberg
January 20, 2022
By Bloomberg News (Bloomberg) —
Containers are stacking up at the already backed-up Shenzhen port in China as congestion in the U.S. and Europe ripples back to Asia, delaying ships picking up goods from the manufacturing and technology hub.
Manufacturers in southern China are currently making a last push to ship out goods before the Lunar New Year holiday which starts next week, with the People’s Daily reporting that trucked volumes into Shenzhen’s Yantian terminal on Jan. 13 were about 30% above December levels. Those goods are stacking up as ships coming to pick them up have in turn been delayed by congestion in the U.S. and Europe.
Ships arriving to the Yantian terminal are delayed by an average seven days at the moment, and the number of ships arriving from Europe and the U.S. has fallen more than 40% in the past two weeks, the terminal said in a customer advisory Wednesday. That comes on top of the problems Shenzhen port was already facing, with a viral outbreak earlier this month leading to lockdowns of districts, testing of workers and trucking delays at the Yantian and Shekou container terminals.
The congestion has prompted the Yantian terminal to say it will start restricting the acceptance of containers. To stop operations getting worse, from Friday full containers can only be trucked in four days before vessels are due to berth, the operator said.
This week is the peak period to ship goods in and out of China as workers will start to head home for the holiday from next week, according to digital freight forwarder Zencargo. That’s followed by a lull in activity before shipping demand picks up in mid-February.
Ports globally are still grappling with congestion as the pandemic heads into its third year, piling further pressure on supply chains affected by shortages of workers as the omicron variant spreads. Port congestion was rising in Western Europe last week, with the combined anchorage areas for Antwerp-Zeebrugge seeing the highest container vessel count in about nine months.
“It’s not just China, all shipping operations have been affected world-wide,” said Mark O’Neil, chief executive officer at Columbia Shipmanagement Ltd. “It’s almost certain that we will see more delays to shipping because omicron is a short, sharp step backwards.”(Updates to add map.)
https://gcaptain.com/ship-arrivals-to-chinas-yantian-port-delayed-by-a-week/
Biden's immigration goals fade after setbacks at the U.S.-Mexico border
By Ted Hesson - January 20, 2022
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Days after U.S. President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, two of his top immigration advisors outlined bold plans, including a major immigration reform bill, a 100-day deportation moratorium, and a strategy to restore protections for asylum seekers that were degraded under former President Donald Trump.
One year later, those goals remain unfulfilled after Biden officials spent much of his first year in office grappling with record-breaking border arrests, unfavorable court decisions on immigration, Republican opposition in Congress and internal divisions https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-children-insight-idCAKBN2C21FH between liberals and moderates within his own administration.
Now, the two White House officials who touted the plans, Tyler Moran and Esther Olavarria, are preparing to leave the administration, a White House spokesperson confirmed to Reuters. Both previously worked for immigration advocacy groups and underscored Biden's move away from Trump policies.
Their departures are part of a greater exodus of senior Biden immigration staffers that suggests planned reforms could be put on hold or abandoned altogether as power tips to more security-minded White House officials. In the remaining camp is Susan Rice, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, who has tended to push for tougher enforcement at the border.
A White House spokesperson contested reports of internal divisions, saying that "everyone in this administration from the president on down is committed to building a fair, humane and lawful immigration system and bringing it into the 21st century."
U.S. immigration officials faced the highest illegal border crossings in two decades during Biden's first year in office. Border arrests this fiscal year could surpass last year's 1.7 million, according to current and former officials.
Another chaotic year at the border could provide ammunition to Republicans, who are expected to focus on immigration https://www.reuters.com/world/us/republicans-see-election-opportunity-biden-border-struggles-2021-12-21, an issue that strongly animates their supporters according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, in the run-up to November congressional elections.
While several people close to Moran and Olavarria say they are leaving the White House for personal reasons, other U.S. immigration officials who spoke to Reuters have grown frustrated with Biden's decision to retain some controversial Trump policies.
Lise Clavel, currently chief of staff at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, is expected to replace Moran, according to two people familiar with the move.
Clavel was one of the lead Biden officials tasked with addressing the sudden rise in unaccompanied children arriving at the border in March 2021, but has less of an established connection to advocacy groups than Moran or Olavarria.
Whether the White House has found Olavarria's replacement remains unclear.
REBUILDING
In a phone interview with Reuters this week, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas defended the Biden administration's immigration record.
"In this first year, we have been dedicated to rebuilding an immigration system that was dismantled, virtually in its entirety, by the prior administration," he said. "We have had to rescind cruel policies, bring offices back to life, issue new policies, and rebuild entire operations."
Citing accomplishments away from the U.S.-Mexico border, Mayorkas touted what he called a "profound shift" in how federal immigration officers prioritize who to arrest within the interior of the United States.
"We are not targeting non-citizens who have been contributing members of our communities for years and years," he said, adding that the focus is now on security threats and recent arrivals.
Mayorkas told Reuters he planned to issue a memorandum that would similarly reform immigration detention practices, but did not provide details or a timetable.
The homeland security secretary highlighted as an "extraordinary accomplishment" the efforts to resettle about 80,000 Afghans in the United States since the U.S. military withdrew from the country in late August.
But at the U.S. southwestern border, Biden has not been able to reverse major Trump-era policies that allow border crossers, including families and asylum seekers, to be sent back to Mexico.
Heidi Altman, policy director at the National Immigrant Justice Center, which provides legal services to refugees and asylum seekers, said that as senior Biden immigration officials leave, the White House should "bring in replacements who are committed to making good on those campaign promises that have been broken."
More:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/bidens-immigration-goals-fade-after-setbacks-at-the-us-mexico-border/ar-AASZ8an
‘Fight Like Hell’: Democrats Draw Lines as Biden Agenda Shrinks
Democrats still pushing for child tax credit monthly payments
Pelosi acknowledges agenda must shrink to reach deal
By Erik Wasson and Emily Wilkins
January 20, 2022, 2:50 PM EST
President Joe Biden’s attempt to salvage the centerpiece of his economic agenda has revived some of the same battles among Democrats over the same tax and spending proposals that have bedeviled the plan for months.
Democrats are risking their own defeat in the midterms and Biden’s presidency itself if they can’t unify behind a social spending plan, reversing a string of legislative failures in late 2021 and early this year.
Key Senate holdout Joe Manchin of West Virginia says he wants talks to start from scratch and doesn’t know how long negotiations ultimately will take. But time is of the essence for congressional Democrats clinging to slim majorities in the House and Senate.
Biden on Wednesday suggested the $2 trillion package could be broken into “chunks” with some elements including the now-expired expanded child tax credit set aside for now. But many congressional Democrats aren’t willing to abandon the tax credit, which has emerged as one of the biggest hurdles in negotiations.
Senate Banking Chairman Sherrod Brown said he will “fight like hell” for the child tax credit during an interview with Bloomberg TV’s “Balance of Power with David Westin.”
n his home state of Ohio, Brown said 92% of families with children benefited from the credit, which last year sent parents monthly payments of as much as $300 per child.
“It lifted 40% of kids out of poverty,” Brown said. “It’s relieved so much anxiety for so many working-class and middle-class families and poor families.”
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden also pushed back on any suggestion the CTC could be dropped from the package.
“The child tax credit is even more important now, because it’s a tangible benefit that people get when they’re dealing with extra expenses as a result of the new variant,” he said, referring to the resurgent coronavirus pandemic.
Manchin has said continuing the credit will contribute to soaring inflation and has raised concerns about the lack of work requirements for claiming it. On Thursday, he told reporters he wouldn’t negotiate in the press.
The White House, which views Manchin as the linchpin for a deal, took a similar approach.
“We’ve got to figure out what we can get in a big chunk of a package to get it across the finish line, but I’m not going to negotiate from here,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday.
A Senate Democratic aide called the enhanced child tax credit a long shot in any future bill. Still, senators are discussing cutting the credit’s cost by adding work requirements, shrinking the amount and phasing it out faster for higher incomes, the aide added.
More:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-20/-fight-like-hell-democrats-draw-lines-as-biden-agenda-shrinks
Biden nominee would be 1st Muslim woman to serve as federal judge
President Joe Biden announced the nomination of Nusrat Jahan Choudhury to the federal judiciary Wednesday, who, if confirmed by the Senate, would become the first Muslim American woman to serve as a federal judge. She is also the first Muslim American woman to be nominated to the federal judiciary.
Choudhury was nominated to sit on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York and is also the first Bangladeshi American to be nominated to the federal bench. She would be the second Muslim American appointed to a federal judgeship, according to the White House announcement.
"These choices also continue to fulfill the President's promise to ensure that the nation's courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country," the statement read.
Choudhury is currently the legal director at the Illinois division of the American Civil Liberties Union and previously served as the deputy director of the national ACLU Racial Justice Program. She is a graduate of Yale Law School, Columbia University and Princeton University.
The other nominees include Arianna Freeman, who would be the first African American woman to serve on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals; Ana Isabel de Alba, who would be the first Latina to serve on the Eastern District of California; and Nina Nin-Yuen Wang, who would be the second Asian American to serve the United States District Court. Tiffany Cartwright, Robert Steven Huie, Natasha Merle and Jennifer Rearden round out the president's first set of nominees for 2022 and the 13th of his presidency.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-nominee-would-be-1st-muslim-woman-to-serve-as-federal-judge/ar-AASZ3qx