Trying so hard, getting nowhere as usual but I give ya props for trying
The fact that normies are seeing how liberals change laws, not in the Public Interest, but the Party Interest. Normies are seeing how the two-tiered Legal System in the US has no actual Justice in it when demonrats control the bench.
But hey, since it's okay these days to drag former Presidents into court rooms, let's get Obama in a courtroom to answer for Fast & Furious. I think Criminal Conspiracy and Accessory to Murder would do for a start
So behind the curve, that hating 'spics" stuff was tried prior to the 'Rona
Do catch up, won't you?
Honestly, convinces me Media Matters outsourced the shilling, poor Rajnesh stuck with the ancient playbook and trying shit from 2020 all the way back to 2018
California’s Port Dominance Slipping as Cargo Shifts East
By Laura Curtis (Bloomberg) May 8, 2023
California has suffered a series of economic blows this year, from torrential rains that inundated farmland to the failure of three regional banks. Now the state’s $2.8 trillion freight industry is under threat.
Southern California’s ports have grown up alongside China’s rise as a global trading power, moving almost 40% of containerized imports into the US from Asia for the past two decades. But the pendulum is swinging east as the pandemic’s cargo crush pushed the Los Angeles and Long Beach complex close to the breaking point, allowing ports from New York-New Jersey to Houston to grow their market share.
A gradual shift was already underway. But it’s getting supercharged by simmering West Coast port labor talks, the near-shoring of factory production amid rising tensions with China, and US population growth shifting to the Sunbelt states.
Some observers worry that the LA-Long Beach docks will struggle to stay the US’s No. 1 ocean gateway over the long run.
“Now that pandemic cargo volumes have leveled off, the decline in market share has accelerated,” said Pacific Merchant Shipping Association President John McLaurin in his April trade report.
With negotiations between nearly 22,000 West Coast dockworkers and employers approaching the one-year mark this week, skittish logistics managers are taking action to avoid potential strikes and lockouts by realigning supply routes away from LA’s San Pedro Bay. Burned by pandemic-era bottlenecks, businesses are placing more of a premium on reliability.
Many recall contract talks in 2014 that dragged on for nine months and caused vessel backups and shortages for some consumer goods. Those talks finally ended when the US government intervened, but it took most of 2015 for the shipping industry to return to normal.
This time around, operations at the 29 West Coast ports have been largely smooth since the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association’s contract expired on July 1, though recent disruptions at LA-Long Beach have renewed calls for the White House to get involved.
The standoff “could amount to an entirely avoidable, self-inflicted obstacle to the US economy,” said Jessica Dankert, vice president of supply chain at the Retail Industry Leaders Association. “Retailers will continue working to insulate consumers from the impact.”
Several importers have made the costlier move to divert some, or all, of their cargo away from the West Coast and will stay away until an agreement is ratified, according to RILA, whose members include Home Depot Inc., Target Corp. and Best Buy Co.
The US’s shifting demographics are also a factor — California’s population has shrunk by about 500,000 since 2020, while places like Texas and Florida are growing faster than ever.
The big winner? Gulf Coast ports. An April Descartes report showed West Coast container volumes were down 10% in the first quarter of 2023 compared with the same period in 2019. But Gulf ports saw a 43% increase in goods over the same period, and much of the cargo arriving includes electronics, furniture and machinery — products usually imported from Asia.
LA and Long Beach sit at the nexus of a logistics system largely geared to deliver freight to both major population centers locally and to cities halfway across the country on trains and trucks — often through warehouses, distribution centers and store shelves stretching 2,000 miles (3,219 kilometers) to Chicago.
Able to take larger ships that ply the Panama and Suez canals, ports like those in Texas, Alabama, Georgia and New York have spent years and billions of dollars expanding capacity — deepening channels, adding warehousing, expanding rail links and even raising a major bridge — so cargo flows more efficiently to the Midwest and across the South.
Consider what the Georgia Ports Authority just announced: the opening of the Mason Mega Rail Terminal, a five-year, $220 million investment project billed as the largest port-based intermodal facility on the continent. It’s promising delivery to places as far away as Dallas or Chicago within three days — the average amount of time containers currently dwell on the docks at LA-Long Beach.
Up for Grabs
The Southern California ports still have major advantages: They offer the most direct route from Asia-Pacific and have twice the capacity of their closest rival, New York-New Jersey.
They also offer intermodal rail and a vast network of truckers who ferry cargo to the nation’s largest distribution hub in the Inland Empire. At $1.1 trillion, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim had the second-highest GDP of any US city in 2021.
But a third of the San Pedro Bay’s containers are increasingly “up for grabs,” and the twin ports risk becoming more of a regional hub, according to maritime economist John Martin. This so-called discretionary cargo generated $19.3 billion in 2021, according to a Martin Associates report commissioned by the PMA.
The supply-chain industry drives nearly a third of the state’s economy and supports one in five jobs in California. Even a small dip in cargo volume over the longer term could lead to a cascading loss of employment starting on the docks and spreading through tech, consulting, transportation, warehousing and retail.
“Anytime we see a slowdown in volumes this significant every segment of the supply chain feels it,” according to Port of Long Beach Chief Operating Officer Noel Hacegaba.
Terminal operators at the LA and Long Beach ports paid out about 400,000 shifts to dockworkers in the first quarter of 2023, a drop of about 25% from the same quarter in 2019, according to data from the PMA.
Southern California truckload tender volume, a measure of market demand, was 23% lower than April 2019, according to FreightWaves data. The decline is in contrast to national truckload levels, which are still increasing from pre-pandemic levels.
On a recent trip to Washington, Port of LA Executive Director Gene Seroka lobbied for a share of the $17 billion in federal dollars designated to ports and waterways. He is seeking funds for digitalization measures “to make that cargo flow smoother,” cleaner equipment to help reach its zero emission goals and support for a new workforce training facility.
More:
https://gcaptain.com/californias-port-dominance-slipping-as-cargo-shifts-east/
Bang Bang Fang Fang?
Chinese Militia Boats Cross Indian, ASEAN Warships Exercising in South China Sea
By Laurie Chen and Krishn Kaushik Reuters May 9, 2023
BEIJING/NEW DELHI, May 8 (Reuters) – China’s foreign ministry on Tuesday dismissed accusations that boats belonging to a Chinese maritime militia had deliberately approached an area of the South China Sea where the navies of Indian and ASEAN countries were holding drills.
An independent expert in Vietnam said Beijing appeared to be using the militia to intimidate and disrupt the naval exercise.
“As far as we understand, Chinese fishing and scientific research vessels carry out normal production and work activities in maritime areas under China’s jurisdiction,” China’s foreign ministry said in response to Reuters’s request for comments.
“The outside world should not make groundless accusations or make trouble out of nothing,” the ministry added.
The Indian and Vietnamese governments have declined to comment.
The two-day sea phase of the ASEAN-India Maritime Exercise (AIME 2023) began on Sunday with naval ships and aircraft from India, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei taking part.
They were in the Vietnamese Exclusive Economic Zone when the Chinese boats moved towards them, the Indian sources said. However, the militia boats and naval vessels crossed each other without any face-off, they said.
Indian authorities were tracking the movements of at least five militia boats, according to the sources, who did not wish to be identified as they are not authorized to speak to the media.
A Chinese research vessel was also following these boats towards the same area, they said.
Ray Powell, who leads Project Myoushu on the South China Sea at Stanford University, said the boats belong to the Qiong Sansha Yu militia fleet in the area.
Such militias consist of commercial fishing boats, which work in coordination with the Chinese authorities for political objectives in the South China Sea. The Chinese government, however, in the past rejected the existence of any such militia.
Van Pham, manager of The South China Sea Chronicle Initiative (SCSCI), an independent non-profit which monitors vessel-tracking data, said this was not the first time Chinese “so-called fishing vessels” were around and intimidated warships of other countries.
“So it’s likely that the exercise was interrupted…the pattern was broken and some had to change their directions,” she told Reuters.
Chinese research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 10 had come as close as 10 miles to the participating Vietnamese warship at one point, Pham said.
The drill is the first ASEAN-India Maritime Exercise (AIME-2023) and is co-hosted by the Indian and Singaporean navies.
Several of China’s littoral neighbors have accused it of using its official and militia vessels to harass and intimidate their fishing and military boats in the South China Sea.
China has for years claimed sovereignty over the entire South China Sea, and has been sensitive to the presence of other militaries in the region.
Relations between India and China have also plummeted since a clash between their armies in the Himalayas in 2020 in which 24 soldiers were killed.
https://gcaptain.com/chinese-militia-boats-cross-indian-asean-warships-exercising-in-south-china-sea/
They did have like a 30% stake in Los Angeles/Long Beach until PDJT put an end to that. Not sure they ever had any interest in anything in New York or New Jersey. There was project to increase contaainer capacity in Savannah, but looks like the Ports Authority & the State are on it with some of that federal money getting doled out. Charleston, SC or that LNG facility in Louisiana I'm not sure of who is all involved in the financing, I thought the LNG thing had Saudi fingers in the pie
Baker
Day Shift may want to give that a read so in the interests of the boards I shall
nominate for notable
>>18823283 Anon Opines on Milton's Satan from "Paradise Lost"
Nicola Sturgeon of Scotland looking real good for a pair of stainless steel bracelets
>>18730143 Nicola Sturgeon allies 'warn' Police Scotland to 'think carefully' before arresting her
The former First Minister could be the next high-profile SNP figure to be arrested by cops probing the finances of the nationalist party.
David Walker
21 APR 2023
Allies of Nicola Sturgeon have been told not to interfere with the police investigation into her party amid reports they claimed that cops should think "very carefully" before arresting her due to her reputation.
There is speculation within the SNP that the former First Minister will be the next prominent nationalist figure to be detained by detectives and questioned about the party's finances.
However, her supporters have issued a stark warning to officers that they should take into account the "significance" of arresting her due to her previous high-profile role.
They claimed it would be an "enormous moment for both the SNP and the country due to Ms Sturgeon's electoral success and being the longest-serving First Minister.
But they also admitted that the party had no control over whether she was arrested, telling the Daily Telegraph: "It's not a drama where we're writing the script."
With her husband Peter Murrell and SNP treasurer Colin Beattie already having been detained in connection with the police probe into an alleged missing £660k of Indyref2 funds, one SNP politician told the Times it appeared "inevitable" that Ms Sturgeon would join them.
Former general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation Calum Steele said: "I would not be surprised if the police go for a hat-trick of arrests."
He pointed out that Ms Sturgeon was in a "similar position" to the other two because her name was also on the front of the 2021 accounts which detectives are looking at.
But her closest allies said they "fervently" hoped this would not be the case. One told the Telegraph: "It would be enormous. We will have to wait and see.
"I would have to think the police would have to think very carefully because of the significance of it. It would be a huge moment."
Despite their pleas, police sources have said that Ms Sturgeon's standing would have no impact on their inquiry following the two previous arrests which were also high-profile.
But Craig Hoy, the Scottish Tory chairman, hit out at the attempts to persuade cops not to lift the former First Minister. He said: "It would be outrageous for anyone to try to influence a police investigation in this way.
"Nobody is above the law and no politician must be treated - or seek to be treated - in a preferential way merely because of their role or rank."
Ms Sturgeon has yet to be spoken to by police but has insisted that she will fully co-operate with them when the time comes. She has been in hiding since a leaked video revealed that she told party members not to talk about the SNP's finances and insisted they were "fine."
She has not attended the Scottish Parliament this week as her spokesman claimed she did not want to overshadow her replacement Humza Yousaf's policy agenda.
Her legacy has come under even more fire following a poll which found that almost half of voters think that she should be suspended by the SNP while police probe its finances.
YouGov research found that 43 per cent of Scots wanted this to happen, including 19 per cent who voted for the SNP in 2019. Meanwhile, 31 per cent said she should keep her place while 26 per said they did not know.
Mr Yousaf has so far refused to suspend Ms Sturgeon, Mr Murrell or Mr Beattie from the party claiming that they were "innocent until proven guilty."
The SNP has refused to comment on a "live police investigation".
https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/nicola-sturgeon-allies-warn-police-29772405