Huawei Sues the U.S. Government for Unconstitutional ["]Sales Restrictions["] Imposed by Congress: "Section 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)", 7 March

TAKE II
Huawei sues the US commerce department over seized equipment, 24 June
"confiscated by the US government and held in a facility in Alaska"
FedEx sues US government over export rules in Huawei case NDAA v2

[FedEx] complains that the rules "essentially deputize FedEx to police the contents of the millions of packages it ships daily even though doing so is a virtually impossible task."
[...]
FedEx Chairman and CEO Fred Smith said the lawsuit was broader than "the Huawei issue ... which was three packages out of 15 million packages a day." ... FedEx wants a so-called safe harbor -- a provision that would protect it from being penalized if it didn't know that a particular shipment would violate the export rules NDAA.

archived POWs
U.S. prosecutors seek to disqualify Huawei defense lawyer, 2 May


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

US reporter/stenographers, having discovered that anyone can dial a Chinese website, are losing their minds. Evidently, at least two news journals, funded in whole or in part by China government, have finally revealed, in one or two editorials, the belligerence of the nation. Fragments from these editorials recur in US circulation, scantily clad with newly acquired "talking points" called from USGS data center estimates.

The government is willing and able to embargo rare earth elements (REE), produced and refined in China. As occurred with 2008-2014 KSA-driven oil boom and bust, analysts are incapable of relating profit motive and marketing strategy, much less pricing market power to political economy.

Interest in the credit position of US farmers has crashed. Comprehension of domestic and global supply chain intervals is still mostly dead. US Americans are ill-equipped either to interpret long-term investment planning and decisions, and US gov possess insufficient information to evaluate those of rivals, adversaries, or enemies.

archived Mommy, what's a long march?
Xi Jinping calls for ne 'Long March' in dramatic sign that China is preparing for a protracted trade war

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

IMF welcomes Mozambique's debt relief deal
"On Friday the country's finance ministry said it had reached a restructuring deal in principle with holders of its defaulted 2023 bonds and that the new arrangement would not offer creditors instruments linked to future gas revenues"

Mozambique's top court says state-guaranteed Eurobond illegal
"$1.4 billion of undisclosed borrowing that prompted the International Monetary Fund and foreign donors to cut financial support, triggering a currency crisis and a sovereign debt default"

International partners pledge $1.2 billion to help cyclone-hit Mozambique recover, 'build back better'
"UNDP said the Mozambique Government is establishing a Disaster Management Fund that includes a contribution to its capitalization of 0.1 per cent of the State budget, as well as contributions from partners. Regular external audits will be conducted to ensure transparency and accountability."

archived 2017
debt-for-development swap
& "tuna bond" creditors

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

I idly followed up on 'debt trap' developments in the past year, since the Summit. Looks like Dubai has put the squeeze on Djibouti, not unexpectedly considering its beach head value to ahh adversarial combatant proxy wtfs in the straits forthcoming.

Dispute Between Dubai And Djibouti Over Port Seizure Continues, Despite Tribunal Ruling, 3 Aug 2018

London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) ruled that the Djibouti government had acted illegitimately when it seized control of the Doraleh Container Terminal from DP World on February 22 this year.

"English law" vs ROW (ie. Chinese FDI)

Djibouti [had] moved to strip the company of its concession. Under Law No. 202 enacted in 2017, along with a number of decrees issued in 2018, the government gave itself the power to terminate the contract with the Dubai-based port operator.

VOA | Prospect of Chinese Control of Djibouti Port Concerns [US] Senators, 13 Nov 2018b

In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware said they were concerned about Djibouti's termination of a contract for the Doraleh Container Terminal with United Arab Emirates-based DP World in February and the nationalization of the port in September.

Reports that Djibouti, heavily indebted to Beijing, would most likely cede the port's operations to a Chinese state-owned enterprise were "even more alarming," they said.

Djibouti Ordered To Pay $533M In Compensation to Dubai, 4 April 2019

m'k

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Chamber slaves of the patriarchy (developed nations division) yawn, because intersectionality.

South Africa's president names Cabinet that is 50% women

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Back in 1990, Trump said that it showed "the power of strength":

Donald Trump has praised the Chinese government over Tiananmen Square as well as Kim Jong-un - Independent

He was asked whether he meant a "firm hand as in China?", to which Trump replied:

    When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength. Our country is right now perceived as weak... as being spit on by the rest of the world.

Trump, of course, referring to the Tiananmen Square massacre in which hundreds of pro-democracy protesters were killed by a military presence of as many as 10,000 troops accompanied by tanks.

Hong Kong pupils petition against extradition bill as protests build, Umbrella stand 9 June 2019

In a highly rare move, more than 120,000 pupils, alumni, staff and parents from 185 secondary schools have signed a joint petition against the so-called Fugitive Offenders Ordinance amendment bill. The petition organizers say they are expecting many of their signatories to turn out, with some opposition estimates suggesting some 300,000 could join the rally in what would be the biggest protest since the Occupy pro-democracy street demonstrations in 2014.
[...]
The proposed legislation has stoked mass protests in the freewheeling former British colony, which was promised a high degree of autonomy under a "one country, two systems" formula when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997, including its independent judiciary. Embattled government officials have offered tweaks to the bill but have refused to ditch it, saying that suspects at risk of political and religious persecution and torture would not face extradition.
[...]
Hong Kong's independent courts would still have review of extradition cases as the government seeks to extend case-by-case renditions to countries, including mainland China, beyond the 20 nations with whom it has formal extradition deals.

archived
Hong Kong Lawsuit: DP World v. China Merchants Port Holdings (Djibouti)
Hong Kong legislators brawl over contentious extradition law
China changes laws in trade war with U.S., enforcement a concern

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Brother/sister in arms to send jihadists into Syria and wage another war to remove Assad!

SIRTE, Libya -- An analysis of video obtained by GlobalPost from a rebel fighter who recorded the moment when Col. Muammar Gaddafi was first captured confirms that another rebel fighter, whose identity is unknown, sodomized the former leader as he was being dragged from the drainpipe where he had taken cover.

○ Seven years after Obama's 'worst mistake,' Libya killing is rampant

Related articles, my diary ...

○ From Libyan Jihad to a Strike in UK's Heartland

○ Libya's Fayez al-Sarraj threatens Europe with another flow of migrants

Amnesia and Gaza Genocide

He flips

A day after Joe Biden affirmed his support for the Hyde amendment - a measure that prohibits the use of federal funding for abortions - he reversed course and announced that he could no longer support the ban.

Will an apology to Anita Hill be next?

The progression of moral fortitude in the US, generally, is historical fiction. For example, a sanitized backgrounder by ABC news accompanies promotion of Ava "Artistic License Thwarted in Selma" DuVernay premiere broadcast. It will become award-winning trash supplanting the pulp made of Fruitvale's fatally flawed black martyr, for example, which has not disturbed the scripture of Harper Lee in the annals of neurotic redemption and cos-play.

I was living in NYC in 1989. Weeks of hysteria were difficult to ignore then or ignore today. As it happens, I reminisced with another NYC 'fugee (Poor People campaigner near 20 years my senior) over lunch the other day. We agree, the opprobium now heaped on Trump's profile at the time is misplaced and disingenuous. The Story of Trump's Ad materializes now instead of, say, 2002 absolves rather than exonerates picaresque journeys of NYC tourists unwilling to grasp a simple truth: Trump's burlesque role in "society" gossip pages --among other symbols of nouveau riche incontinence-- titillated New Yorker subscribers from a distance for 40 years. The jury was never charged. An ensemble (Tawana & The Preppie Killer animated a sub-thread of venal excess which they never tired of until the cretin Tarantino's "virtual integration" of film noir in L.A. years later.

Locally the yella sheets --including the tabloid NYT-- concocted a daily gin of race-baiting and financial crime (also 1989) for strap hangers, as was the custom since god made dirt, frankly, to dispose all mayors. At the time three-term Ed "How am I doin'" Koch days were numbered. Hold that thought. Retcon 2019 delivers short shrift to the antagonistic métier of the Naked City.

Koch was succeeded, not coincidentally, by Dave Dinkins. The mild-mannered Dinkins' appearance in the epic cycle of "retail" politics was immediately cast by local press as ineffectual despite his competent performance portraying a pivotal-proto-post-racial-appeaser (first and only BLACK mayor). He was succeeded by the golum f* Giuliani, who viciously campaigned on restoration of law and order and eventually assumed the crown, "America's Mayor", until Wall St. recruited a replacement to avert another demagogue. Three-term Bloomberg deflected the heat from customary, sciencey "racial profiling" back on golum f*'s police commissioners. Sadly, the pendulum of Panic ushered a trend in "criminology" to which the doyenne Fairstein rode to its ignominious end in "transactional" value. The preceding events should put her supporting role in Retcon 2019 in perspective. The answer is: Her useful life coincided with the rise of the second pivotal-post-racial-appeaser de Blasio.

Sufficient popular demand warranted continuous publication of Fairstein's purient literary specialty --sex and crime drama subjects. Fairstein retired from the DA in 1991 to pursue lucrative, artistic projects, the article notes. Besides "writing", Fairstein could easily have secured a retainer as "technical consultant" on production of, say, Law and Order (1990-2010) franchise, of which "Law and Order: SVU" (Special Victims Unit) 1999-present, which was/is shot on location in NYC.

Undoubtedly, too, contractual obligations between the parties specified that Fairstein produce a number of titles for the duration of her contract. Which is to say, no incentive for the publisher to cancel buy-out, release, or litigate the contract existed until liability appeared to exceed benefit of her local notoriety. At which point, say, declining sales or breach or hidden defense costs triggered some lengthy settlement arbitration between the parties. (Add 10 years)

Mystery solved.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Duly noted: Queens Democrats Veer ["]Left["] in Prosecutor Primary Race

Defeating the Democratic Party machine, defense attorney Tiffany Cabán landed one step closer Tuesday to fundamentally reshaping criminal justice in Queens [NY county, NYC borough]. The insurgent candidate for [NY] district attorney wants to end the drug war and decriminalize sex  work [BWAH!] in a borough known for the harsh prosecution of petty crimes.

Have I mentioned Staten Island lately? Borough "enclave"? "Amazon of" city unions? heh

In choosing Cabán, Queens Democrats issued a mandate for a radical departure from the policies of late Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, a tough-on-crime prosecutor who died in May at the age of 86.

hmm

Cabán vowed to swap these traditions for those progressive prosecutors such as Philadelphia's Larry Krasner

UPDATE 3 May 2009

running on a platform of reducing mass incarceration and eliminating racial injustice in law enforcement.

In many ways Cabán has gone farther than her predecessors, though, with her slate of ambitious proposals. She has called for prosecuting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials for civil rights abuses in a borough whose population is larger than six states and includes immigrants from more than 100 nations.

wikiwtf map is kind of useless, if you're wondering about you-know-who. FYI: Long Island City isn't in NY-14. Name places roughly indicate municipal subdivisions (NYC council districts, 51 total). And the highway boundaries are a better fit with prevailing economic pain points.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

This is what happened

Acknowledging that certain practical considerations had been overlooked in production, Boeing president and CEO Dennis Muilenburg admitted at a press conference Monday that the company had made a mistake by including an automatic self-destruct function on all 737 Max airplanes. "At the time, we thought that having a simple, one-step option for destroying the aircraft would streamline operations and provide convenience to pilots, but in hindsight, we now see that it probably wasn't the best idea," said Muilenburg, noting that in light of two crashes within the past year, the button to obliterate the now-grounded planes should have at the very least been labeled and located in an area that wasn't directly on the pilot's yoke. "

More at Naked Capitalism

They have engaged the MCAS.

Design flaw in Boeing 737 MAX - engines on wings compensated by MCAS software feature.

○ Whatis the Boeing 737 Max Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System?

CEO Muilenberg withheld intentionally MCAS details from airlines ... here

At an employee meeting Jan. 14, 2011, Albaugh dismissed the Airbus A320neo and its potential competitiveness vs the 737NG. He stated "I don't think we will re-engine".

○ Pilots reveal safety fears over Boeing's fleet of Dreamliners

Amnesia and Gaza Genocide

Depends how good their test suite is.

Of course, we have the answer to that question. They omitted the test case "what happens when the single-point-of-failure sensor fails and feeds the wrong angle of attack into the flap control override algorithm?"

But there is no way you can test, whether by simulation or physically, to detect fundamental design flaws like that one.


_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}

The fellow didn't even bother hiding the packages under clothes in his suitcase.

Cue in the #Aerococa meme:

É um pássaro??
É um avião??
Não...é o #AeroCoca.... pic.twitter.com/g0E4sUXeYO

— Bob Jack (@bobjackk) June 26, 2019