Author: admin

Authored by Lawrence Franklin via The Gatestone Institute,

Communist China’s space program is demonstrating that it is on a trajectory possibly to surpass the US in the military and scientific exploration in our solar system. China is planning a space spectacular to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party on July 23, 1921. Today, June 17, China launched a three-astronaut crew who will inhabit the command module of its soon-to-be-completed Tianhe Chinese Space Station. This planned human launch follows the June 10 multiple satellite deployment from Northern China’s Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. One of these satellites is designed to track near-earth asteroids.

As early as the mid-1950s, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Mao Zedong declared, “We too will make satellites.” Following that declaration, China aggressively began to compete with both the former Soviet Union and the United States in space — an ambition seemingly energized by China’s desire to develop a nuclear bomb and the means to deliver it. China’s Space Program, called the “Two Bombs, One Satellite” project, was from its inception, placed under the aegis of the CCP’s Central Military Commission, thereby underscoring the military orientation of its activities in space.

During the past few years China has staged a number of space spectacles. In 2018, it quickened its exploratory space activity by staging more launches than any other nation. Also in 2018, China’s “Chang’e-4” spacecraft, named for a mythical Chinese goddess who supposedly inhabited the moon, was launched from the Xichang Space Center in southwest China. The Chang’e 4 landed its Yalu-2 land rover — a first-ever landing on the far side of the moon — on January 2, 2019. The Administrator of America’s National Association of Space Administration (NASA), Jim Bridenstine, hailed the Chinese accomplishment. China’s Chang’e 5, launched from an alternate space facility on Hainan Island in November 2020, collected more than four pounds of lunar rocks. China’s National Space Administration (CNSA), established in 1993, recently topped off another series of space triumphs by landing a land rover on Mars this past May 15.

Communist China seems not only to be directly challenging the US lead in space exploration; its space plans also appear to include an ambitious military dimension, much of whose contents look as if they are controlled by the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). These PLA programs include a vast array of counter-space weapons systems designed to degrade or destroy US space assets. These PLA weapons include satellites and anti-satellite (ASAT) capabilities capable of inhibiting US space materiel from communicating with US military combat units. The aggressive posture of China’s space-based military programs underscores the recent regeneration of US Space Command and President Trump’s establishment of a US Space Force. The Chinese already established its US Space Force’s equivalent, the PLA’s Army Strategic Support Force, in 2015.

China, with its National Space Administration, continues to position its own equipment in space, and is planning several more launches this year and next to complete its own international space station, separate from the existing US-Russian international space station. Chinese space experts have already met several times with European Space Association (ESA) representatives to explore ways in which China and Europe can cooperate in space. European astronauts already are expressing their willingness to join in flights with their Chinese counterparts. China also has now formulated its own equivalent of the US-initiated Global Positioning System (GPS), called the Beidou (Northern Dipper) constellation of satellites. This navigational system enables Chinese military planners to precisely record the movement of foreign military assets along China’s national borders where there exist several territorial disputes with neighboring countries such as India. Beidou also closely monitors the movement of US naval assets in the Chinese-claimed waters and islands in the South and East China Seas.

One advantage that China’s totalitarian regime gives it over the US space program is that the Communist Party of China’s Central Military Commission manages the Chinese Space Program’s integrated network of space launch centers, space cities and space labs in universities.

There are four Chinese launch centers, with multiple launch pads, dispersed throughout the country: Hainan Island’s Wenchang Launch Center, the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, and the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. While all of China’s launch facilities are capable of putting into orbit various satellite systems, it is the Wencheng Center on Hainan Island that will be tasked with the Tianhe (Heavenly Harmony) launches of modules for China’s Space Station. Adjacent urban sites offer logistical and industrial support for launch operations. Nearby higher education facilities offer training programs for space program technicians and astronauts. The Chinese program also includes numerous domestic and foreign-based tracking stations. In the US, however, NASA’s projected increased cooperation with wealthy, independent US space entrepreneurs, such as Elon Musk’s Space-X, may ultimately prove more capable.

Even if there are areas where the US and Chinese space programs could serve universal concerns such as monitoring climate change, international commerce, maritime piracy, and the collection of space junk from expired systems, sadly it would seem foolhardy to cooperate on any program with the CCP. It has not made a secret of its intent to unseat the US as the world’s leading superpower — economically, politically, and militarily — within the next 15-30 years. It has already declared war on the US; the US just seems not yet to have read the memo. China seems to be trying to maneuver a surreptitious surrender, by undermining the US from within, accompanied by the threat of a costly, high-powered war. Unfortunately, many in the US seem to be complying.

Meanwhile, in America, we appear busy with diversions — educating our children to hate our country; allowing our government to torpedo our economy by killing growth and launching a ruinous debt; disabling our energy supply while boosting that of our adversaries; exploding our taxes while making us support countless illegal migrants — that are enabling Communist China to fulfill its dream: enfeebling America to take control not only of “near-Earth” space but everything under it as well.

Ratings for Brian Stelter’s “Reliable Sources” have dropped off a cliff – as the CNN host has lost 72% of his viewers since hitting its highest level of the year on January 10.

Stelter, who just last week groveled at the feet of White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki – asking how the media can better cover President Biden – has failed to attract at least one million viewers for 11 straight weeks, and averaged just 752,000 on Sunday, his smallest audience of the year.

Comparatively speaking, Fox News’ “MediaBuzz” which fills the same timeslot averaged 1.1 million viewers, beating Stelter by 41%.

While “Reliable Sources” is billed as a media program, Stelter’s tiny audience didn’t get a chance to hear about the most buzzed-about segment of the week when he didn’t cover Jeffrey Toobin’s awkward return to CNN after he was caught masturbating on a Zoom call with colleagues from his other gig. 

Stelter had previously reported that some CNN hosts and anchors “expressed a desire to have Toobin back,” but he didn’t name names. Viewers who tuned in to see if Stelter would elaborate on air were left disappointed when he never even uttered Toobin’s name during the program. 

“Reliable Sources” has been hitting embarrassing new lows in various ratings measurables on a regular basis in recent weeks as the program struggles to find relevancy during the Biden era. Stelter spent much of the previous few years criticizing former President Trump at every turn but hasn’t found a formula to attract an audience since Biden was sworn in. –Fox News

When one looks at the coveted 25-54-year-old demographic, just 129,000 people tuned into Stelter.

“Fox News aired 12 different programs on Sunday alone that attracted a larger audience than ‘Reliable Sources,’” reports Fox, which has been Stelter’s primary target over the past several months – calling it “GOPTV” over its spotlighting of Anthony Fauci’s damning emails.

“Routine e-mails portrayed as scandalous. Where have we seen this trick before?” asked Stelter, according to the Daily Wire.

Last week, several callers to CSPAN berated Stelter – with one caller saying “CNN, I cannot watch you. I wish I could. And MSNBC, they are worse than CNN.”

Roasted potato:

Authored by Emily Miller via Emily Post News

When the private tax returns of billionaires were leaked to a left-wing group, liberals and conservatives reacted very differently. Liberals fell for the political trick and immediately said that the tax code was unfair and the rich should get a tax hike. Conservatives saw through the conspiracy and wanted answers on how the Deep State at the IRS could, once again, have so much unchecked power for political purposes. When it comes to outrage, liberals always protest louder, so conservatives have to respond better.

The billionaires’ actual tax returns were “provided”  to the leftist activist group called ProPublica. It says it has “a vast trove of Internal Revenue Service data on the tax returns of thousands of the nation’s wealthiest people, covering more than 15 years.” It alleges that:

The data provides an unprecedented look inside the financial lives of America’s titans, including Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg.

ProPublica never explains that whoever gave them these documents broke multiple federal laws. The end justifies the means in their worldview. 

The FBI is investigating the leak. House Republicans have demanded IRS Commissioner Charles Retting keep Congress informed on the investigation and have hearings into any “evidence of political influence or motivations.”

Partisan politics at the IRS

The stunning revelation that the IRS released private tax returns was overshadowed by the juicy details, like Jeff Bezos didn’t pay any income taxes in 2007 and 2011 and neither did Elon Musk in 2018. (We aren’t told if they lost money those years to explain this.)

The billionaires picked to use for this political hit job were chosen because they are so extremely wealthy and household names. There are many more millionaires who no one would recognize that likely have more income, rather than wealth, so they wouldn’t fit the narrative.

The Left has been jumping all over the billionaires’ low tax rates but never considered that every American will see the horrible breach of privacy by Uncle Sam as a threat to themselves too. That’s why when I saw the leak, my first thought was, this is Lois Lerner all over again.

To remind you, Lerner was the head of the tax exempt division of the IRS that targeted conservative groups from 2010 to 2012, the height of the “Tea Party” movement. Lener admitted what they did — delaying tax-exempt status applications and harassing the groups that sounded right of center — and took the FIfth when she was called before Congress. Everyone at the IRS who had a hand in the political scandal got off without charges.  

I looked around to find what Lerner is doing now. It’s pretty easy to find her and her lawyer husband, Michael Miles. They are both 70-years-old and have lived in the same Bethesda house since 1998 that is now worth about $2 million. She most likely is still receiving her $100,000 a year government pension. There were no consequences for the horrendous abuse of power.

Biden tax hikes

Ostensibly, ProPublica is using the stolen returns to show the public that the super rich aren’t paying their fair share of taxes.  It is supposed to be a revelation that the richer you are, the more you can hire the fanciest and most clever accountants to take advantage of every tax break.

Anyway, the real reason for this stunning power move to drop IRS forms to the public is clear: promote Pres. Joe Biden’s budget agenda.  The timing of this leak and the exact perfect messaging is not a coincidence.  ProPublica writes: 

The revelations provided by the IRS data come at a crucial moment. Wealth inequality has become one of the defining issues of our age. The president and Congress are considering the most ambitious tax increases in decades on those with high incomes. 

The Left wants the public to hate the rich enough to support demands to raise taxes and increase the budget and power of the IRS.  Biden’s budget, called the “American Families Plan”, was released on April 28 and calls for lots of government freebies that are funded by taxing the rich. He wants to increase  the top tax rate from 37 to 39.6 percent and increase the capital gains tax rate to 39.6 percent.

Biden also wants to increases the power of the IRS by spending $80 billion on “enforcement against those with the highest incomes.” By the way, Biden’s term is “increase investment in the IRS.” That means he will invest and get bigger returns by having more agents rifling through tax returns to get more money. Do you really think the IRS where Lois Lerner went for years without getting stopped will only target the billionaires?

Tax facts

Even if you want to just debate the information that ProPublica posted on the billionaires’ taxes, it doesn’t fit the facts. CATO did a great analysis – link at bottom, chart summary below —to show how the clickbait headline “You May Be Paying a Higher Tax Rate Than a Billionaire” is just factually wrong. 

The tax code is already heavily progressive. Americans for Tax Reform’s analysis of a new report from the Joint Committee on Taxation shows:

Taxpayers making $1 million and up pay an average federal tax rate of 31.5% while the bottom half of income earners ($63,179 or less) pay an average federal tax rate of 6.3%. That’s nearly five times as much in taxes as a percentage of income. 

The rich already fund most of the government. The Heritage Foundation, which made the cool graphic below to illustrate the concept, reports that the top 1% of income earners paid 40% of all the federal income taxes. The top 10% earners paid 71% of the federal income taxes.

This number has always struck me because — you can do the math too– 90% of us are only paying for one third of the total government spending. This is why I’ve always supported the flat tax. Everyone should be participating in funding the government — even the lowers income owners — and stop all the tax breaks and schemes. I spend days every year on TurboTax and still come out with using the standard deduction. It’s a waste of time.

ProPublica has a graphic (below) that is supposed to make it easy for people to get angry at the billionaires for reducing their tax bill. But look at it this way: Jeff Bezos paid almost $1 billion in taxes. Elon Musk paid almost half that. These successful businessmen are funding entire government agencies. A busload of the rest of us couldn’t come up with that kind of cash.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also thought of Lerner’s get out of jail free card this week in a floor speech (below.)

Referring to both the Lerner-led Obama administration targeting conservative groups and the release of the National Organization for Marriage returns, McConnell said:

These situations all have two things in common. First, a blatant political agenda aimed at advancing the cause of the political left. And second, the utter absence of criminal charges against the leakers.

The federal government has proven far too often that it is, at best incapable, and at worst unwilling, to protect taxpayers’ data from misuse by the political left.

The left vs right on billionaire taxes

Conservatives took this news so differently because we are inherently suspicious of the government. And, unlike liberals, we admire success and want the rich to do well because it means better jobs and economy. We want to be rich too. That is the American dream.

I hosted a YouTube show on Monday, and we discussed the FBI investigation into the leak of IRS forms to the left-wing ProPublica. I read some of the 1,200 comment on the video from the angry liberal, socialist audience. They mostly hate me for saying there is more to the issue than showing how the rich are paying taxes at a lower rate. The audience fell hook, line and sinker for the IRS/ProPublica tactic and did not want me to tell them that the people who broke federal laws were not the billionaires.

I expected their attacks on me personally because that is how they fight politics- dehumanize the messenger. The comment that surprised me is the one that said that the former hosts — who they miss — would never have told them that there was anything more the story other than billionaires don’t pay enough in taxes. They did not want more facts, they actually prefer to be scammed by the political powers. And that is always the split in how liberals and conservatives consider policies — feelings or facts. When you make a policy decision on your emotions, you are not capable of debating with a rational idea or substantive position, so you attack like a wild animal.

LINKS TO SOURCES:

ProPublica The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax &  You May Be Paying a Higher Tax Rate Than a Billionaire

Americans for Tax Reform: JCT Confirms: Tax Code is Already Steeply Progressive

The Joint Committee on Taxation: Tax Gap: Overview Of Federal Tax Provisions And Analysis Of Selected Issues 

The Heritage Foundation In 1 Chart, How Much the Rich Pay in Taxes

CATO ProPublica Analysis of Taxes on Wealthy

The Hill "Rising" -- Colin and Emily: What Billionaire Tax Story REVEALS About Our Tax System

House Ways and Means Committee Brady Briefed by IRS Commissioner Rettig on Leak of Sensitive Taxpayer Information & Letter to IRS

House Oversight Committee- Republicans Demand Hearing on Massive IRS Leak of Americans’ Sensitive Information

White House Fact Sheet: The American Families Plan

C-SPAN Lois Lerner testimony

*  *  *

For the first time since its mass-vaccination campaign kicked off three months ago, Hong Kong’s vaccination indemnity fund has paid out a total of HK$450,000 ($58,000) as compensation for patients who suffered particularly severe reactions to inoculation against COVID.

Out of more than 3MM doses of vaccines that have been administered in the city-state since February, HK’s Food and Health Bureau said it had received 74 applications for compensation as of June 10, 58 of which were still being processed. As of Sunday, 3,605 people had reported an adverse reaction to their jabs, roughly 0.12% of all vaccination recipients. Only 1.2MM, or 16.3% of the city’s population, has been fully vaccinated.

Awards were given to patients whose reactions were deemed especially severe.

“The principles of severity assessment include fairness to applicants, prudent use of public funding, transparency to the public, and based on medical science,” the bureau said in a statement. “Severity of individual cases is subject to case-by-case assessment according to their circumstances.”

The compensation figures were revealed while authorities also confirmed a new imported case from Sri Lanka, which brought the city’s official tally to 11,881, with 210 related deaths. So far 21 deaths have been recorded involving people who received a jab two weeks before dying, although no connection has been made between he vaccination and the deaths, according to the state authorities.

Between May 17 and Sunday, Hong Kong’s public hospitals reported 2.8 deaths for every 100K vaccinated adults. That’s compared with 58.1 in 100K among the rest who were not.

One of the patients who received a payout from the HK$1 billion ($129MM) fund suffered an allergic reaction that nearly killed them, according to the SCMP.

Of the three claims of vaccine-related deaths, two have already been processed while one was rejected because of a lack of an official vaccination record.

Family members of fatal cases could receive up to HK$2.5MM if a patient is below the age of 40, or a maximum of HK$2MM for patients aged 40 or older.

To be eligible for a payout, a registered doctor must certify all serious adverse events. Another condition is the expert committee monitoring side effects of vaccines cannot rule out that the event is not related to the jab.

Tim Pang Hung-cheong, a patients’ rights campaigner from the Society for Community Organisation, also supported the payout, but said the amount should have been higher to reflect the loss of income and work ability caused by the side effects. He also said the government should publish in detail the reasons for approving or rejecting each claim, to give confidence to those thinking of getting a jab.

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Thursday that a Catholic foster agency in Philadelphia was free to turn away same-sex couples as foster parents on grounds of religious freedom.

The decision (pdf) comes in the case of Fulton v City of Philadelphia, in which Catholic Social Services (CSS) sued the city after being ordered not to exclude same-sex couples from certification.

In a 9–0 ruling, the high court found that the city of Philadelphia violated the First Amendment when it refused to continue contracting with CSS, which does not certify unmarried couples or same-sex couples as foster parents on religious grounds.

“The City’s actions burdened CSS’s religious exercise by forcing it either to curtail its mission or to certify same-sex couples as foster parents in violation of its religious beliefs,” Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the opinion.

“The refusal of Philadelphia to contract with CSS for the provision of foster care services unless the agency agrees to certify same-sex couples as foster parents cannot survive strict scrutiny and violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment,” the opinion noted.

CSS takes the view that “marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman” and believes that certification of prospective foster families is an endorsement of their relationship. It refuses to certify unmarried couples, regardless of their sexual orientation, or same-sex married couples, although it does not object to certifying gay or lesbian individuals as single foster parents.

The Supreme Court noted in the opinion that no same-sex couple has ever sought certification from CSS and if one did, then it would be directed to one of more than 20 other foster agencies in Philadelphia that do certify same-sex couples.

“For over 50 years, CSS successfully contracted with the City to provide foster care services while holding to these beliefs,” Roberts wrote, adding that things changed in 2018 when Philadelphia city authorities took the position that they would no longer refer children to CSS on grounds that its refusal to certify same-sex couples violated a non-discrimination provision in its contract with the city.

“The contractual non-discrimination requirement burdens CSS’s religious exercise and is not generally applicable, so it is subject to ‘the most rigorous of scrutiny,’” Roberts wrote in the opinion. A government policy can only meet the “most rigorous of scrutiny” condition if it is narrowly tailored to achieve “compelling interests,” which the Supreme Court determined it did not.

With the decision, the Supreme Court is carving out legal protections for people with religious objections to same-sex marriage.

The case drew the attention of the Trump administration, which backed CSS in its lawsuit as a so-called friend of the court. The Trump-era Justice Department filed an amicus brief (pdf), in which it argued that Philadelphia’s actions had “impermissibly discriminated against religious exercise” and shown “unconstitutional hostility toward Catholic Social Services’ religious beliefs.”

Currently, laws in 11 states allow state-licensed foster and adoption agencies to reject prospective parents who are in same-sex relationships on religious grounds, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a progressive think tank.

Starting September 1st, Texans will be able to carry handguns in public without a license after on Wednesday the controversial bill dubbed “constitutional carry” was singed into law by Governor Greg Abbott. 

He later presided over a ceremonial signing on Thursday morning where the governor hailed it as the “biggest and best” gun law this session. Standing alongside National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre in San Antonio, where he signed the bill, Abbott said, “Surely there’s no state in America that’s ever done as much protecting gun rights.”

As the law stands prior to the new change, Texans must pass a background check and undergo a safety course, which includes over 1.6 million licensed conceal-carry individuals in the state. The bill still keeps the formal licensing “option” in place. 

But after the new law takes effect anyone 21-years old and up can carry a holstered handgun, whether openly or concealed, without a permit.

The National Rifle Association had months prior called for “Texas to join the 20 other states that have legalized this personal protection option” in a statement. Abbott had previously echoed this stance in media interviews, vowing that if HB1927 should pass the Texas state legislative bodies, he would sign it. “This is something that 20 other states have adopted and it’s time for Texas to adopt it, too,” he told a local radio show in April.

Prior to approval this week the Texas Senate tacked on multiple amendments seeking to address law enforcement concerns that one alarming end result could be that the change allows easier access to weapons for criminals.

Over two dozen #txlege Republicans here for @GovAbbott signing ceremony for gun bills at Alamo pic.twitter.com/xmXXFadFPA

— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) June 17, 2021

According to the Texas Tribune: 

The compromise lawmakers reached behind closed doors kept intact a number of changes the Senate made to the House bill, including striking a provision that would have barred officers from questioning people based only on their possession of a handgun.

The deal also preserves a Senate amendment enhancing the criminal penalties for felons and family violence offenders caught carrying. Among other Senate changes that made it into the law was a requirement that the Texas Department of Public Safety offer a free online course on gun safety.

As expected, Texas Democrats were outraged, with US Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-El Paso) leading the charge in a Wednesday statement saying, “The permitless carry bill will cause more violence and loss.”

Perhaps fittingly of Texas Republicans’ defiant posture, the Thursday signing ceremony was held at the Alamo. 

By Greg Miller of FreightWaves,

Bosko Markovic began working for ocean carrier Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) in 2008. Over the next 11 years, the Montenegrin worked his way up to the position of chief mate, second in command behind the master, with an annual salary of $108,000.

That wasn’t enough money for him, according to prosecutors from the U.S Department of Justice. 

“Motivated by profit and greed,” they said, Markovic attempted to use his management role aboard the container ship MSC Gayane to help pull off one of the largest and most audacious drug-smuggling operations in history.

‘Astronomical’ quantity of drugs

Markovic and three other conspirators from Montenegro boarded the vessel and recruited four additional seafarers. That brought the drug gang to eight, more than a third of the crew of 22.

Markovic, who had a lead role in the smuggling operation on the ship, as well as the three others he came aboard with, communicated with co-conspirators on land using special “narco phones.”

The MSC Gayane was met by speedboats at night on multiple occasions off the coast of South America during a voyage in 2019. The eight members of the smuggling ring loaded duffel bags full of cocaine bricks onto the vessel using the ship’s crane. Markovic, as chief mate, was in charge of the cargo plan, and picked seven specific containers full of legitimate cargo to hide the cocaine in. Fake seals were used to reseal the boxes.

When authorities raided the ship upon its arrival at Packer Marine Terminal in Philadelphia on June 17, 2019, they found 20 tons of cocaine aboard. “This was the largest cocaine seizure in the 230-year history of U.S. Customs and Border Protection [CBP],” said prosecutors, adding, “The sheer quantity of drugs involved in this case is astronomical.”

To put the scope of the bust in perspective, the MSC Gayane is a 2018-built “Neopanamax”-class container ship with a capacity of 11,600 twenty-foot-equivalent units that is leased to MSC and owned by a fund linked to J.P. Morgan. It is currently valued at around $100 million. The seized cocaine was valued at $1 billion — 10 times more than the ship.

5 crew sentenced so far

All eight conspirators pleaded guilty. Markovic was sentenced most recently, on Thursday. Prosecutors said during the hearing that Markovic expected to be paid more than $1 million for his role overseeing the smuggling operation, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Markovic received a sentence of seven years, the longest handed down so far in the case. MSC asserted in a letter filed in the Markovic docket, “The Gayane incident is an undeserved and unwanted stain on [the employees’] record. The company and everyone in it are victims.”

As previously reported by American Shipper, Vladimir Penda, the ship’s fourth engineer, was sentenced to five years and 10 months on April 13. Penda was one of the crew members recruited on board; his sole role was assisting to haul the drugs from the crane to the containers.

Recently unsealed court records reveal that five of the eight members of the MSC Gayane drug gang have now been sentenced.

The two Samoan crew members, who were recruited while on board and helped move the cocaine, were sentenced before Penda, when their dockets were under seal. Laauli Pula, ordinary seaman, and Fonofaavae Tiasaga, able seaman, both received five-year prison terms at a hearing on Jan. 19.

Another crew member, Serbian Stefan Bojevic, the assistant reeferman, was sentenced to five years on March 2, at a time when his docket was sealed. 

The latest judgement on Markovic brings the total MSC Gayane sentences to just under 28 years.

There are three sentences remaining, for Montenegrins Ivan Durasevic, second mate; Nenad Ilic, engineer cadet; and Aleksandar Kavaja, electrician. Durasevic and Ilic are scheduled to be sentenced on July 7, Kavaja on Aug. 2. Based on past prison terms, the aggregate crew sentences will exceed four decades and could approach five decades.

Ship bust skews nationwide numbers

The unprecedented nature of the MSC Gayane seizure was highlighted in the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment report, released in March. The DEA said that reported nationwide cocaine seizures in 2019 surged 70% versus 2018, to 45,241 kilograms from 26,585 kilograms the year before.

But according to the DEA, “The increase is primarily attributed to the record seizure of 17,928 kilograms from cargo containers on the MSC Gayane in Philadelphia [that were] destined for Antwerp, Belgium. Excluding that seizure, nationwide CBP seizures increased a little less than 3% from 2018.”

In other words, virtually all of America’s year-on-year increase in coke seizures in 2019 was driven by a single event: the MSC Gayane drug bust.

In the last month and a half, China has launched the core capsule of the new Tiangong space station and supplies. On Thursday, three astronauts were catapulted into low Earth orbit and successfully docked with the new space station launched in April, according to Nikkei. 

The trio of astronauts – Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming, and Tang Hongbo – were transported in the Shenzhou-12 or “divine vessel” spacecraft on top of a Long March 2F at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country’s northwestern Gobi Desert Thursday morning. By late afternoon local time, state broadcaster CCTV reported the craft had docked with the core capsule. 

This is the first time China has launched humans into space in five years and the seventh since 2003. The country has been banned from the International Space Station (ISS) since 2011, when Congress, under the Obama administration, passed a law that prevented Americans from working with the Chinese space program due to national security risks. 

The launch of #China’s first manned mission to its #space station. It’s pretty incredible what humans can do. The rocket’s chief designer told me after so much work, she was sad to see it go… but ‘thrilled’ that for 10 key minutes ‘it did its duty’.
This was my view.@NBCNews pic.twitter.com/ofDNV8XXU5

— Janis Mackey Frayer (@janisfrayer) June 17, 2021

The three astronauts will be living on the 90-metric-ton T-shaped space station called Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace, for 90 days. The new space station is still under construction as there are eight more missions to expand it. 

WATCH: China’s Shenzhou 12 docking to Tiangong Space Station Core Cabin Module

pic.twitter.com/mvi82lyKEI

— ASB News / MILITARY〽️ (@ASBMilitary) June 17, 2021

The launch was broadcast live on Chinese television and social media, attracting tens of millions of viewers.

This is another milestone for China as there are now two space stations operating in low Earth orbit. The ISS is nearing its working life, and Russia will soon withdraw from ISS cooperation in 2025

Another launch is set for September. That crew will replace the current trio onboard the space station.

For President Xi Jinping, the new space station represents power and his vision to dominate the world and space. 

The great power competition between the US and China, the two largest economies and largest military spenders, means space is becoming the next battleground. 

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

According to a report from Politico, the Pentagon is considering creating a permanent naval task force for the Pacific region to confront and counter China, which has been identified as the Pentagon’s top priority.

Sources told Politico that the plan would include creating a named military operation for the Pacific that would allow the Pentagon to release more funding for Navy operations in the region.

The Politico report said the naval task force would be based on a Cold War-era NATO construct known as the Standing Naval Forces Atlantic (SNFA) that was established in 1968 and served as a permanent naval presence that would rapidly respond to a situation in the Atlantic. The SNFA usually consisted of a rotating force of about six to 10 ships from NATO countries that would sail around the region.

If the US established such a naval force for the Pacific, it would likely include Washington’s European allies and regional ones such as Japan and Australia.

The idea grew from a 100-day task force review of the Pentagon’s China policy that was led by Ely Ratner, a special advisor to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Ratner is a China hawk who came from the interventionist Center for a New American Security think tank. He was appointed to his position to appease China hawks who did not believe Austin had enough experience dealing with Asia.

Last week, Austin ordered the Pentagon to adopt initiatives recommended by the China task force review. Most of the recommendations are being kept classified, but Austin’s directive ordered the military to start acting like China is the top “threat” facing the US instead of just talking about it.

A US official told Defense One that the task force found a “say-do-gap” between what the Pentagon is saying about China and the action it is taking.

Is he thinner, leaner and healthier? Or is he gaunt and sickly? Perhaps he previously suffered a bout of coronavirus which is believed to be ravaging the country also amid severe food scarcity concerns? Or is it stress due to the worsening food and economic crisis in the country? Perhaps he’s just really hitting that treadmill hard.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s appearance is once again setting off widespread speculation over his health. A new Associated Press report calls him “noticeably slimmer” as the latest side-by-side photographs showing a quick months-long transformation show…

North Korean state media issued new photos of Kim on Saturday, after the strongman ruler hadn’t been seen publicly for a month.

South Korea-based NK News published this week a series of side-by-side photo sets while analyzing the likely degree of the weight loss and what it could mean, writing that:

“Though often the subject of less serious online commentary, Kim’s weight and health are closely watched by foreign intelligence agencies, including South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS).”

And The Associated Press at the same time questioned:

Has he gained even more weight? Is he struggling for breath after relatively short walks? What about that cane? Why did he miss that important state anniversary?

Now, the 37-year-old faces fresh speculation in the South about his health again. But this time, it’s because he’s noticeably slimmer.

A thinner looking Kim…

On a national level, it’s been confirmed that there his a major food crisis looming, as CNN details Thursday:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has admitted his country is facing food shortages that he blamed on last year’s typhoon and floods, just months after he warned North Koreans about a looming potential crisis.

Kim told the plenary meeting of the Workers’ Party of Korea the nation was experiencing a “tense food situation,” Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Wednesday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called his country’s food situation “tense”. He blamed the coronavirus pandemic and last year’s typhoons for the food shortages. pic.twitter.com/jwsraCxUmm

— SCMP News (@SCMPNews) June 17, 2021

For over the past year North Korea has been even more isolated than usual, with Pyongyang having ordered a total closure of all borders in efforts to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from spreading – a drastic move which at the same time has resulted in less food and medicines making it in.