Month: July 2020

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Are Executive Orders to Wear Masks in Public Legal?

This article was provided exclusively to the New York Analysis of Policy & Government by the distinguished retired judge, John H. Wilson.

Across the country, a series of local and state governments have mandated that people wear facial masks while in public, regardless of whether they are on public or private property.  For instance, in California, “Gov. Gavin Newsom…ordered all Californians to wear face coverings in public places and at work, as well as outdoors when it’s impossible to stay six feet apart from others,”  while in Kansas, “Governor Laura Kelly reiterated the importance of wearing protective face masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19, insisting that her order requiring masks to be worn in public places is not about personal freedom but a matter of public health.”  

At last count, approximately 18 states have mandated wearing facial coverings in public spaces, including California, New York, Hawaii, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Virginia.  Many local governments have mandated masks regardless of whatever rules their state government has promulgated.  The Mayor of Boise, Idaho has ordered the use of face masks in public, as did the Mayor of Minneapolis (who as we’ve seen, ended up having more serious problems than whether or not people in his city were “socially distancing”) 

Yet, despite these Executive Orders from local and state governments, the question remains – are these orders legal?

The legal challenges to face mask mandates have only begun.  But the history of other restrictions imposed on the public in the name of fighting Covid-19 can be instructive.

In May, the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned the extension of Governor Tony Evers’ “stay at home” order by that state’s Department of Health, calling it both “unlawful” and “unenforceable.” In particular, the Court noted that “an agency cannot confer on itself the power to dictate the lives of law-abiding individuals as comprehensively as the order does without reaching beyond the executive branch’s authority.”

In Oregon, a lower court judge “ruled that (Democratic Governor Kate) Brown erred by not seeking the Legislature’s approval to extend the stay-at-home orders beyond a 28-day limit,”  however the Oregon Supreme Court issued a stay of that decision “pending review by all the high court justices.”  In particular, the lower court “wrote that the damage to Oregonians and their livelihood was greater than the dangers presented by the coronavirus. He also noted that other businesses deemed essential, such as grocery stores, had been allowed to remain open even with large numbers of people present and have relied on masks, social distancing and other measures to protect the public.” 

The Wisconsin Supreme Court and Oregon lower court rulings are consistent with the decision of Kentucky Federal Judge Justin Walker, (discussed in my May 12 article, “Spreading Hatred of the Faithful,” which reversed an order by the Mayor of Louisville preventing parishioners from attending a “drive in” church service.  

In another victory for religious freedom, Federal Judge James C. Dever III ruled that the Executive Order of Democratic North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper violated the First Amendment freedoms of several Baptist churches, in that “the Governor appears to trust citizens to perform non-religious activities indoors (such as shopping or working or selling merchandise) but does not trust them to do the same when they worship together indoors.” 

Thus, Courts have been willing to reverse orders that do not treat all equally (such as allowing liquor sales but not church services), or that exceed the authority of the governing body.

A case study in a local municipality which has used Covid-19 to repeatedly exceed their authority is presented in South Florida.

Recently, a lawsuit has been filed challenging the Commissioners of Palm Beach County, Florida, who issued their own Executive Order requiring face masks in public on June 24, 2020.    EO 20-012 states that “Facial coverings must be worn by all persons…while obtaining any good or service or otherwise visiting or working in any business or establishment, including entering, exiting, and otherwise moving around within the establishment.”  This includes “restaurants, retail establishments, hotels, grocery stores, gyms, pharmacies, indoor recreational facilities, and vehicles for hire.” 

This exceeds the Executive Order issued by Governor DeSantis, which states that “Restaurants and other establishments, and bars…may operate at fifty (50) percent of their indoor capacity…Bar areas may be open with seated service. In addition, outdoor seating is permissible with appropriate social distancing.”   There is no requirement for patrons of restaurants to wear a mask under the Governor’s order. 

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 The Palm Beach Commission’s Executive Order also requires the posting of signs by “restaurants and food service establishments” that emphasize the absurdity of the order.  The required sign states that “all patrons must wear facial coverings except while actively consuming food and beverage. This means you must wear a facial covering when entering, exiting, or otherwise away from your assigned table, including when visiting the restroom.” 

To prove they are serious, the Palm Beach County Executive Order also states that “a failure to establish and ensure such compliance may result in fines, penalties, and/or any other enforcement measures against the business as set forth in this order and as otherwise authorized by law.”

In other words, if you own a restaurant in Palm Beach County, not only must you post a sign, but you must ensure that your patrons wear a mask while waiting for their food, and anytime people are not actively eating, you must have your staff enforcing this rule.  As a patron, if you order a drink, you are expected to wear a mask, take it off to take a sip, put your mask back on, and leave it on until you take another sip.  All while presumably sitting at a table with people you know, probably live with, and probably interact with on a regular basis without wearing a mask.  

All under the threat of a financial penalty.

According to a statement made by the Florida Civil Rights Coalition, who filed the lawsuit against the Palm Beach Commissioners,  “The unlawful mandate clearly violates our constitutional and fundamental human right to privacy and bodily autonomy, and despite having no authority under Florida law to do so, Palm Beach County officials recklessly violated the rights of countless American citizens and Florida residents.” 

 This is not the first time the Palm Beach Commissioners have exceeded their authority.   EO 2020-003a dated March 29, 2020, closed all public and private golf courses in Palm Beach County.  In April, I notified the Palm Beach County Commissioners that their order was inconsistent with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ Executive Order of April 1, 2020, which declared golf to be an “essential” recreational activity, making the Commission’s March 29 order illegal. 

Several of the Palm Beach Commissioners were gracious enough to answer my email, with one defending their Executive Order, claiming that due to an inconsistency between Governor DeSantis’ Executive Orders, there was essentially one set of rules for South Florida, and another for North Florida.  

I informed the Commissioner that their interpretation was incorrect, since Governor DeSantis had stated clearly that his Order of April 1st “shall supersede any conflicting official action or order issued by local officials in response to COVID-19.”  I never heard back from the Commissioners, but by the end of April, the Commission had allowed the golf courses of Palm Beach to reopen. 

There are other states where citizens have united to fight overly aggressive mask regulations.  In Washington State, Gov Jay Inslee’s Executive Order has been challenged by, among others, the Commissioner of Franklin County, Clint Didier.    Back in Florida, a business owner has challenged Orange County’s mask mandate. 

These lawsuits are the most effective way for private citizens and business owners to fight back against the excesses of local and state governments. Without challenges such as these, Governors and local authorities can continue to infringe on your individual rights, all in the name of fighting a “pandemic” with a current death rate of less than 5% of those infected. 

Illustration: Pixabay

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Foreign Policy Update

CHINA

The American people have been “fed a bill of goods that if we simply engage with China, that they would leave us alone and behave in a way that was consistent with how other large nations behaved,” according to Secretary of State Pompeo. In a press briefing this week, he pointed out that the foreign policy establishment wrongly assumed China would open up politically. Unfortunately, the risk to the United States and it democratic allies in the Pacific appears to be increasing in recent months.

President Trump, noted Pompeo, is going to “respond by the simple demand that they engage in trading relationships that are fair and reciprocal…” What this means for China is that when it participates in international organizations around the world, they need to be transparent and open the way that democracies do. “When they engage in behavior like they did around the virus that emanated from Wuhan, China, that’s now killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world and destroyed trillions of dollars in wealth and has got people that can’t go back to work, can’t go back to their churches – when that happens, we’re going to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for their errant behavior,” said Pompeo.

HONG KONG

At the beginning of July the new draconian national security legislation that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong, went into effect. It permits mainland China’s security services to operate with impunity in Hong Kong

On July 14 President Trump responded to the move by Beijing to curtail Hong Kong residents’ rights. The US is taking steps to end U.S. preferential treatment for Hong Kong, terminate the territory’s benefits with regard to U.S. export controls, and direct the initiation of steps to suspend our extradition agreement with Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Autonomy Act, according to the State Department, will give the Administration additional tools to promote accountability for those responsible for extinguishing Hong Kong’s freedoms. The President, according to a state released by the State Department, directed the Administration to “place a special focus on the admission of Hong Kong residents as refugees based on humanitarian concerns, demonstrating the enduring U.S. commitment to stand with the oppressed.

The Chinese Communist Party commitment in the form of an international treaty with the United Kingdom and including the people of Hong Kong confirmed there would be a separate system in Hong Kong with guarantees of certain rights that weren’t available in other parts of China. Now the Chinese Communist Party has “welched on that deal,” said Pompeo. The United States, he added, will now treat Hong Kong as it treats other parts of China since Beijing has declined to follow through on its promise. 

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Hong Kong will no longer be given preferential treatment, said Pompeo, because it’s “just going to become another communist-run city and there’s no reason to live with the fiction of all the things that we have done alongside Hong Kong because they were a place with more rule of law, more democracy, more freedom.”

RUSSIA

On Monday Secretary Pompeo privately reminded  Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov of this country’s obligation not to engage with the Taliban. Lavrov denied any involvement by Moscow. Allegations abound that the Russians have been providing bounties to the Taliban to attack U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. Pompeo, speaking at an Economic Club event in New York said that he has “talked to the Russians about Afghanistan for three and a half years now, first as CIA director and now as Secretary of State.” He pointed out that the Mujahideen was successful at forcing the Russians to leave. The Russians have used proxies around the world and there was some risk they would use proxies in Afghanistan for nefarious purposes. Pompeo said the US has done everything it can to make sure it has the intelligence collection collected appropriately. He also noted that Washington has responded to the threats of outside actors, whether it was the Iranians, the Russians, the Pakistanis, or other outside non-state actors “who were funding and underwriting the Taliban, putting Americans at risk.” 

NORTH KOREA

Secretary Pompeo said he is hope that senior officials from both the US and North Korea will meet for talks. “There’s more discussion than is publicly noticed” on North Korea, according to Pompeo. In a press briefing he pointed out that the United States is continuing to work on the issue. “In June of 2018, in Singapore, Chairman Kim and President Trump met and they laid down a broad set of objectives that were agreed to – not only denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula with a fully verified mechanism to ensure that that had taken place, but also prosperity for the North Korean people, a security situation for both North and South Korea that was satisfactory to each of them as well,” said Pompeo.

DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government.  Each Saturday, she presents key updates on U.S. foreign policy from the State Department.

Illustration: Pixabay

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Star Lore or Star Wars?

Since the beginning of recorded history, the Chinese people have turned to the skies to understand the attributes of their government, their society, and military organizations, according to astronomy professor Jeanne Bishop. From the Tang Dynasty through World War II Chinese swords, viewed as symbols of divine justice, typically were embedded with the powerful Beidou constellation. In the West we know it by the name Big Dipper. Chinese mysticism and religion believed Beidou to be the most potent of constellations and the one that determines our fate. Daoist deities surrounding it, the smaller stars, were linked to Beidou and possessed the power of invisibility to hide their true form. In the West today we refer to this as possessing stealth technology. 

On June 23, 2020, at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province, China sent its 30th and final satellite into space to complete the 3rd generation Beidou Satellite Network. Today China is the only other nation that can compete on par with the United States’ GPS system. The Beidou-3 Navigation System (BDS) has world-wide GPS-like coverage. It is designed primarily for military purposes, according to People’s Daily newspaper. Is Beidou-3 simply part of the country’s star lore or does it portend future star wars?

A July research report published by the Chinese Academy of Engineering said that integration of BDS with the country’s 5G network will likely be one the “key technological advances” of the next ten years. Long ago China viewed important constellations as simple reminders of a particular office, task, or place. Its bureaucratically organized society, according to professor Bishop, was thought to be “governed by a bureaucratically organized sky.” The astronomers and astrologers determined what the Sky Emperor and his sky bureaucracy wanted the Chinese Emperor and his subjects to do. Often President Xi Jinping is referred to as a modern emperor. Is BDS a cleverly-named, authoritarian tool capable of repression domestically and military challenges overseas? 

Beidou-3 provides accurate positioning to within 15 feet in the Asia-Pacific region and 30 feet elsewhere around the globe, with a 20-nanosecond timing accuracy. More than enough to pinpoint any military target. As with the rest of China’s civilian-military fusion program, Beidou-3  is run by the PLA, who hold the senior-most program management positions. Five years ago, China and Russia inked a series of agreements on the sharing of navigation data. Russia offered its GLONASS system and China provided its Beidou data. Russia can operate almost on par with the United States using the GLOSNASS-Beidou high-precision, network corridor. While not a true merger, the two countries already are sharing critical information and working to establish joint monitoring stations and testing to service China’s Belt Road Initiative (BRI).  

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International cooperation does not end with the Sino-Russian agreements. China is promoting Beidou-3 in the Middle East. In April 2018 the China-Arab States BDS/GNSS Center (Global Navigation Satellite System)  became operational in Tunisia. The media in Beijing reported this first overseas operation but few news outlets outside the country took notice. The Tunisian project, according to PRC state media is a “window to showcase BDS…” 

Last year Wang Zhaoyao, a “civilian” manager of the Beidou program spoke at the 2nd China-Arab State Beidou Navigation Satellite System Cooperation Forum in Tunisia. Interestingly, Wang also holds the PLA rank of major general and yet another hat as deputy director of the Central Military Commission Equipment Development Department. The CSNSC, of Zhongguo Weixing Daohang Xiton Weiyuanhui, is the CCP Central Military Commission’s public relations arm covering Beidou. It is hard, if not impossible, to distinguish between the military and civilian aspects of Beidou-3 and China’s future intentions for it.  Like the Daoist deities surrounding Beidou, much of what is happening is deliberately made invisible to those in the West. Kudos to those who named the program!

DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government.  Each Friday, she presents key updates on China.

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COVID Response Prompts Democracy Fears

A number of U.S. governors, without benefit of legislative authority and without even going through the process of declaring martial law, have assumed extraordinary authority in response to the COVID-19 crisis. 

While reasonable arguments can be made regarding the necessity of their actions, the questionable legality and constitutionality of their actions remains in question. The issue is not whether extraordinary measures, some drastic, were required to address the spread of the pandemic from China.  The problem is the implementation of severe measures and the curtailing of personal rights without appropriate legal measures permitting such actions, and indeed, whether there is any constitutional basis for some of the more questionable actions taken.

The Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) and the Washington-DC-based National Endowment for Democracy, supported by 73 pro-democracy institutions as well as political and civic leaders around the world, including 13 Nobel Laureates and 62 former heads of state and government, have addressed the issue in a “Call for Democracy Letter.” 

Overall, More than 500 political and civil leaders, Nobel Laureates and pro-democracy institutions have signed. The signatory organizations state that government response to COVID-19 has resulted in a crisis that threatens democracy.

They point out that “Many governments around the world have assembled emergency powers that restrict human rights and enhance state surveillance, often disregarding legal constraints, checks and balances, and time frames for restoring constitutional order.” Their argument is that “The current pandemic represents a formidable global challenge to democracy. Authoritarian leaders around the world see the COVID-19 crisis as a new political battleground in their fight to stigmatize democracy as feeble and reverse its dramatic gains of the past few decades,” the letter emphasizes. “Democracy is under threat, and people who care about it must summon the will, the discipline, and the solidarity to defend it. At stake are the freedom, health, and dignity of people everywhere.”

While it is unsurprising that authoritarian regimes are using the crisis to tighten their grip on power, some democracies have also introduced emergency powers without the necessary safeguards to ensure measures can be rolled back. Concern about COVID related restrictions have been prevalent. Jacob Gersham, writing in The Wall Street Journal notes that “State constitutions and laws give governors broad but not unlimited authority to restrict personal freedoms for the greater safety of their residents during an urgent health crisis… But …states aren’t guaranteed unlimited leeway…Attorney General William Barr has signaled support for legal challenges, saying the Justice Department would consider filing statements of interest for some plaintiffs…These are very, very burdensome impingements on liberty, Mr. Barr told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.”

Not particularly controversial was President trump’s restriction on entry of foreign travelers from some nations, at least in the legal sense. Democrats, at the time unconvinced of the extent of the threat, criticized the White House move as “xenophobic and racist,” an embarrassing mistake they have striven to remove from the record. Clearly, the federal government has the legal authority to prevent the entry of communicable diseases into the United States. Quarantine and isolation may be used at U.S. ports of entry, and measures can be taken to prevent the spread of communicable diseases between states.

Judge John Wilson (ret.) previously wrote in this publication, “Maybe you have noticed that with the exception of Governor DeWine of Ohio, the vast, overwhelming majority of those governors involved in violating the first amendment rights of their residents [during the COVID crisis] are Democrats.  We could speculate on the reasons for this – a belief in totalitarianism that usually pervades the left, or an elitist conception that as leaders of society, they inherently know what is best for the rest of us, or even possibly justifiable, yet cynical fears of being blamed politically if the virus causes too many illnesses and deaths “on their watch” – but such speculation is unnecessary.  It is a matter of empirical evidence that in most instances, Republican state and local officials are more likely to be protective of individual rights than are Democrats.”
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Three Projects to Save America, Conclusion

Over the past two days, the New York Analysis of Policy and Government examined why rebuilding the nation’s pharmaceutical industry was vital, and how it was time to rebuild the U.S. shipbuilding industry, two of three major projects that could help jump start the U.S. economy, and protect the nation from China’s growing threats. Today, we examine the need to protect the nation’s electrical grid, both as an urgent goal and a good way to help move the economy forward.

In 2018, A declassified report from the Congressional Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack warned that China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran have developed the technology for an Electronic Pulse Attack (EMP) against America.  The danger lurks not only from war.  A repeat of the long-overdue “Carrington Effect,” a result of natural sun cycles, could cripple the entire U.S. electronic grid.

Illan Berman, writing for AFPC notes:

“America’s adversaries have invested in the development of EMP weapons. Indeed, every single one of the main state-based threats currently arrayed against the United States (Russia, China, Iran and North Korea) has devoted considerable time and effort to the creation of such capabilities. The battlefield readiness of these technologies is shrouded in secrecy, but the devastating effects of an EMP event, should one occur, require that American policymakers take the possibility seriously – and, to the extent that they can, to take steps to guard against it.”

As the New York Analysis of Policy and Government previously reported, In 2017 testimony to Congress about the imminent threat of an EMP attack on the United States, Dr. William R. Graham, Chairman, and Dr. Peter Vincent Pry of the Commission to Assess the Threat to America from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), noted:

“In the event of a nuclear EMP attack on the United States, a widespread protracted blackout is inevitable.” According to their report, “The damage level could be sufficient to be catastrophic to the Nation, and our current vulnerability invites attack…We highly commend President Trump’s new Executive Order “Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure” signed on May 11, 2017. We strongly recommend that implementation of cybersecurity for the electric grid and other critical infrastructures include EMP protection, since all-out cyber warfare as planned by Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran includes nuclear EMP attack. However, current institutional arrangements for protecting and improving the reliability of the electric grids and other critical infrastructures through the U.S. FERC and the NERC are not designed to address major national security threats to the electric power grids and other national critical infrastructures. Using FERC and NERC to achieve this level of national security is beyond the purpose for which those organizations were created and has proven to be fundamentally unworkable. New institutional arrangements are needed to advance preparedness to survive EMP and related threats to our critical national infrastructures. “We recommend that U.S. military forces and critical national infrastructures be protected from EMP as outlined in the EMP Commission’s classified reports and unclassified reports provided in 2004 and 2008.”

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The Foundation for Resiliant Societies reports that:

“In the near term, the outlook for grid EMP protection is poor because of resistance by electric utilities and low prioritization by government authorities. Of particular concern, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and the U.S. electric power industry have chosen not to address the EMP threat, arguing that this is the responsibility of federal security agencies―Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Energy (DOE). FERC and NERC have developed benchmarks for solar GMD but these benchmarks are ineffective against EMP and also fall far short of assuring GMD resilience. We must come to grips as a nation with the EMP/GMD preparedness challenges. The consequences of these threats are preventable. The good news is that the engineering tools are available to protect a meaningful set of high-priority infrastructures. Among the critical infrastructure sectors, EMP risk is highest for the electric power grid and telecommunication grids – attention to these infrastructures alone would bring major benefits to national resiliency and enhance deterrent effects. These infrastructures are the most vulnerable due to their organic long lines, and they are also the most critical to the operation and recovery of the other critical infrastructure sectors. As mentioned previously, if we have to pick one infrastructure to protect, the top choice would be the electric power grid.”

On March 26, 2019, President Trump signed an Executive Order mandating that the U.S. be protected from the threat of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that could result from either natural causes (a long overdue activity from the Sun) or an attack by an enemy nation. However,  the actual work to accomplish that order has yet to be commenced.

Costs could total up to $30 billion, split up as follows, according to the Foundation.
Electric Generation Plants $23,0000M; Electricity Transmission & Distribution $2,300M; Electric Grid Control Centers $1,390.M;  Telecommunications $1,480M; Natural Gas System $640M; Railroads $1,380M;  Blackstart Plant Resiliency $80M $30,270M.

Over the past three days, the New York Analysis has described three areas of extraordinary need that must be rapidly addressed for the safety of the nation.  Doing so at this critical time would provide a crucial boost to employment and the recovery of the nation from the downturn prompted by the COVID crisis.

Photo:  Pixabay

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Three Projects to Save America, Part 2

Yesterday, the New York Analysis of Policy and Government examined how rebuilding the nation’s pharmaceutical industry was vital, one of three major projects that could help jump start the U.S. economy, and protect the nation from China’s growing threats. Today, we examine the shipbuilding industry.

In the aftermath of the decimation of the U.S. Pacific Fleet via the attack on Pearl Harbor, America was able to rapidly recover due to the capability of its vast ship building facilities.

That advantage no longer exists. It is both an existential threat to national security, as well as a major loss for the job market. Even now, the decline in the size of the U.S. Navy, from 600 ships in 1990 to the current fleet size of less than 300, and the rise in power of China’s naval strength means that Beijing could win a seagoing war with Washington.

Rachel Sharp, in a Daily Mail article reveals that Pentagon sources are deeply concerned that the U.S. would lose a war with China fought in the Pacific, is unable to defend Taiwan from an invasion and there are fears the Guam military base is already at risk.

Unlike World War 2, there is not an existing national ship building capability that could respond to a massive military threat.

The Pentagon requires a naval force numbering at least 355 ships as soon as possible, but America lacks the ability to produce them on a timely basis. A study by the U.S. Naval Institute found that maintaining and modernizing the fleet requires a sustained and sufficient investment, and a close partnership with the public and private ship repair industrial base.

The loss of shipbuilding capability is an economic as well as a military problem.

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Writing for the Center for Transportation,  Aaron Klein   describes how the “decline in the nation’s shipbuilding industry decimated a once thriving industry. In 1980 there were approximately 180,000 jobs in private shipyards. That number has fallen by over 40 percent, with only 105,500 jobs still existing in private sector shipbuilding according to the most recent U.S. Economic Census. More than four out of every ten jobs in shipbuilding that existed in 1980 are gone today.”  He notes:

“This decline is even more striking when one considers that the nation’s labor force was much smaller in 1980. Back then, there were approximately 168 million potential workers in America. By 2010, that figure had risen to more than 233 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.18 Thus, if shipbuilding employment had simply kept constant as a percentage of the labor market, one would have expected to find more than 250,000 jobs in American shipbuilding by 2010. Instead, the nation had just over 105,000 jobs, meaning that 145,000 had been lost in the industry, taking into account population growth in the labor force.

“The full economic impact of these lost shipbuilding jobs is much greater. The Department of Transportation has found that employment from shipbuilding and repair is roughly 100,000 direct and 400,000 total jobs, a ratio of approximately four to one.19 That means that every direct shipbuilding job is supported by or creates three other jobs – e.g. the engineers designing the ship, the steel workers producing what will become the ship’s hull, the accountants tracking the project, etc. Thus, the missing 145,000 jobs in shipbuilding directly translate into a loss of 580,000 jobs for the entire economy. That is a missing employment base equal to one out of every three private sector jobs in Oregon.”

Loren Thompson, in a Forbes analysis, found that “thanks to subsidized competition from foreign shipyards, the U.S. produces less than 1% of oceangoing tonnage each year; few if any of the surviving American yards can compete outside the protected domestic market… Which brings me to an uncomfortable reality about the shipbuilding industry that the Navy depends on to deliver the most advanced warships in the world. Although the business is bursting with opportunities in the current fiscal environment, its ability to keep up with Navy needs is by no means assured. An interagency task force assembled by the White House reported last year that several chronic problems in the naval shipbuilding sector could compromise industry’s ability to meet projected levels of demand or respond to a national emergency.”

A study by the U.S. Naval Institute found that maintaining and modernizing the fleet requires a sustained and sufficient investment, and a close partnership with the public and private ship repair industrial base.

Tomorrow: Protecting the U.S. from an EMP attack

Picture: NORFOLK (Dec. 18, 2019) Capt. Corey Keniston, commanding officer of the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64), discusses the dry docking availability for the ship with Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Gregory Slavonic at the Old Dominion Dry Dock at BAE Systems shipyard in Norfolk, Va. Gettysburg is currently undergoing upgrades as part of the Navy’s Service Life Extension Program for cruisers and landing support dock ships. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Mckensey Cobb/Released)

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Three Projects to Save America

COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy, which had soared to new heights before it arrived.  The most immediate impact has been on the once-powerful job market, which has risen from record low levels to depths not seen since the Great Depression.

While stimulus payments and business loans are a central part of the recovery equation, the heavy work of bringing America back to the unrivalled prosperity it enjoyed before the Chinese plague hit can come from major new projects.  The nation has several long-neglected needs that urgently require addressing, and this is the ideal time to do just that.  

Not coincidentally, three major areas that should be taken care of immediately have to do with protecting the nation from Beijing, both militarily and medicinally. 

Any doubt that the PRC’s ruling Communist Party is ruthless and reckless enough to engage in actions which could significantly damage America at home and abroad have been removed by the COVID crisis. The threat is real and urgent.

Over the next three days, the New York Analysis of Policy and Government will examine three major projects that could help jump start the U.S. economy, and protect the nation from China’s growing threats.

  1. Pharmaceutical Infrastructure

Washington is restrained from punishing China to the extent it should due to America’s dependence on that renegade nation’s control of the drug market.  Allowing an adversarial power to dominate this life and death industry was an act of unmatched negligence on the part of the U.S. government over the past several decades.  

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In her 2019 testimony before the House Subcommittee on Health, Dr. Janet Woodcock, Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the Food and Drug Administration, reported:

“ in recent decades, drug manufacturing has gradually moved out of the United States.  This is particularly true for manufacturers of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), the actual drugs that are then formulated into tablets, capsules, injections, etc.  As of August 2019, only 28 percent of the manufacturing facilities making APIs to supply the U.S. market were in our country.  By contrast, the remaining 72 percent of the API manufacturers supplying the U.S. market were overseas, and 13 percent are in China… The pharmaceutical sector relies heavily on foreign sourcing for critical components, materials, and finished products…use of foreign-sourced materials creates vulnerabilities in the U.S. drug supply…The number of Chinese facilities producing APIs for the U.S. market has increased over the past decade, as part of a massive movement of pharmaceutical production offshore. …Absent any intervention, FDA believes that this trend is likely to continue…By supporting the growth of advanced manufacturing in the United States, we can reduce our dependence on China and other overseas manufacturers for APIs as well as improve the resilience and responsiveness of our manufacturing base and reduce drug shortages.”

At a 2019 hearing before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Commisioner James Talent stated that “China is the biggest global source of generic drugs, pharmaceutical ingredients, and other health products including dietary supplements, biologics, and medical devices. There are serious deficiencies in health and safety standards in China’s pharmaceutical sector and inconsistent and ineffective regulation by the Chinese Government. Yet, the U.S. imports of these health products, either directly from China or indirectly through companies and third countries continues to increase. According to the Food and Drug Administration, 13.4 percent of U.S. drugs and biologic imports are from China, as well as 39.3 percent of medical device imports, making China one of America’s top sources for medical products. These numbers understate significantly the true sourcing of health products in China because China is also the primary supplier of precursors for pharmaceutical companies in other countries such as India which, in turn, are major suppliers of finished product to the United States.”

In addition to the bricks and mortar rectification of this vulnerability, official Washington, and most specifically the legions of bureaucrats that have been in control of areas such as commerce, foreign affairs, and health need to begin a tough, soul-searching examination of how America was led down this dangerous path of utter dependency in so vital an area.  The chimera and nonsense of globalization, which has imperiled the nation and lost the type of jobs that established the middle class, must be exposed for the elitist fallacy it truly is. 

Tomorrow: Rebuilding the U.S. shipping industry

Picture: Pixabay

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Foreign Policy Update

SYRIA

The United States is applauding the Executive Council of the world’s chemical weapons watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), for its adoption today of a decision that condemns Syria’s use of chemical weapons, according to a statement released by the State Department on Thursday. The OPCW sets out clear measures for the Syrian government to follow, including: the declaration of facilities where chemical weapons used in the Ltamenah attacks were developed, produced, stockpiled, and stored for delivery; the declaration of its remaining chemical weapons stockpile and production facilities; and the resolution of the outstanding issues with its initial declaration.  The Syrian regime’s failure to fulfill these measures, according to the report, will result in a recommendation to the OPCW’s full body, the Conference of States Parties, to take further action.

A few months ago, in April 2020, the OPCW Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) concluded that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Syrian authorities were responsible for three chemical weapons attacks on Ltamenah, Syria during March 2017.  These attacks preceded the more deadly sarin attack in nearby Khan Shaykhun by less than two weeks, and were part of the same concerted campaign of terror perpetrated by the Assad regime.   

VENEZUELA

The Venezuelan people are the ones who must restore democracy, according to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo. In a news briefing on Friday he said that: “…we will do all the things that we can do, which includes not only the economic pressure that has been brought to bear on the Maduro regime and the pressure that’s been brought to bear on Cuba to withdraw their security forces from Venezuela, but we have also, importantly, built out a global coalition to try and help the Venezuelan people achieve their objectives… we see South American countries as part of the Lima Group.  We now have some 60 countries that have recognized that Maduro’s days as a governor are done and that, in fact, Juan Guaido is the duly elected leader, as spoken to by the Venezuelan people.  This is the process that we intend to continue to support what the Venezuelan people want.” Pompeo added that the State is closely monitoring the elections in Venezuela and that he believes the Venezuelan people themselves see what is happening and will restore democracy. 

INDO-PACIFIC INITIATVE

Secretary of State Pompeo on Friday accused the Obama Administration of not taking seriously two components of the Indo-Pacific Initiative. First is the fundamental recognition of the challenge that is presented to the Indo-Pacific from the Chinese Communist Party. He said that “It’s in every dimension.  It’s diplomatically, it’s economically, it’s militarily.” The second component, according to Pompeo, is the communications infrastructure.  He pointed to cyber crime and the theft of intellectual property. He added that the US recognizes this will take a “true global coalition of people who understand this challenge.” Washington is working with its Five Eyes counterparts, G7 partners, ASEAN, and the Quad to create various tools to develop multilateral understandings about how to protect free and open transportation, shipping, commerce, and rule of law.

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IRAN

The United States remains very concerned about missile proliferation from the Islamic Republic of Iran. According to Pompeo, “they continue to work on their missile program in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231.” He said this is the reason Washington thinks it is so important that the world unite to extend the arms embargo that expires just a handful of months from now in the middle of October. Pompeo is concerned that it would be tragically dangerous for the region if it expires and also would create instability throughout the Middle East. Pompeo has bene working with its Gulf state partners to get them to assist the US effort to extend this arms embargo as well as providing a great deal of assistance.

“You see all kinds of U.S. sales of weapons – those are all public – and things that we can do both publicly and otherwise to help provide security in the face of an increasing capability of the Iranians to fire missiles all throughout the region, and ultimately establish a set of missile capabilities that is robust enough to defeat missile defenses throughout the region, but strike in places that go beyond even just their near neighborhood.,” said Pompeo.

During a press briefing on Friday the Secretary provided an example, saying “We watch as they continue to try and build out their space launch vehicle program.  They would, of course, claim this is for a civilian purpose, to put commercial satellites up.  I think the world’s smarter than that.  I think the world recognizes that program as being deeply connected to their desire to have longer and longer range missile systems that they can use to hold hostage the world.”

DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government.  Each Saturday, she presents key updates on U.S. foreign policy from the State Department.

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China’s Genocide

Can China and Western nations agree on a common definition of human rights in 2020? It is blatantly obvious that the communist country does not observe the Universal Declaration of Human Right passed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. For the past 72 years this document, drafted by representatives with varying cultural backgrounds from around the world, has served as a common standard of achievements for all peoples. Yet today China, a member of the UN leadership, seems to disregard totally its preamble that the “inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.”

China is committing genocide against its own minority populations in Buddhist Tibet and Xinjiang, home to many Muslim Uyghurs. Under the new National Security Law in Hong Kong, Beijing has squelched virtually all freedom of speech and assembly and has criminalized dissent to the point that recently a 15-year-old girl was among hundreds in Hong Kong arrested and is facing possible life imprisonment for waving a flag calling for its independence. The Chinese threat doesn’t stop at its shores.

This week FBI Director Christopher Wray argued at a Hudson Institute event that the Chinese communist Party (CCP) is now the “greatest long-term threat to our nation’s information and intellectual property, and to our economic vitality… our economic security – and by extension, to our national security.” The aggressive actions of the CCP leadership stand far outside acceptable international norms of behavior for a modern and powerful nation-state. It calls into question the very premise upon which its  government is based. It is a form of law far removed from western concepts of democratic rule and human rights. No dissent is tolerated under China’s version of communist hegemonic leadership. Xi Jinping, president of China, believes that this form is the only one that works and that the world should and will be made to follow China’s model.

Xi views the West’s failure to push back against Chinese actions in Tibet, Xinjiang, and Hong Kong as a clear indication that the democratic West is vulnerable and weak. Under his leadership, he says, there is a “unity of purpose” in China and the rules are clear. Any deviation results in the use of totalitarian tools designed to supervise power and enforce discipline and compliance with CCP rule. Is it too late for democratic nations to teach China a human rights lesson? 

Sir Ian Duncan Smith, a Member of the British Parliament, says that the West must act now. On June 4, the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, a cross-party alliance of parliamentarians from 17 democratic countries founded the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) to focus on relations with China. With over 100 high-ranked legislative leaders representing their countries, the organization intends to hold China accountable for its actions at home and abroad. It won’t act as a think tank issuing white papers. Instead it intends to aid legislators involved in developing laws in their home countries to counter China’s negative influence. IPAC’s agenda aims to counter the threat that “China’s growing influence poses to global trade, security, and human rights.” India is considering joining IPAC, too. For the first time it appears there is a unified position against China’s flaunting of the rules-based international order. 

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IPAC is concerned with the forced sterilization of Muslim women in China, crackdowns on legitimate protests, and concentration camps for Uyghur Muslims. Internationally its agenda puts the Alliance at the forefront of the collective challenge to restrain China’s aggressive foreign behavior. It also serves as a test of the West’s determination to stop China from encroaching on democratic systems and to preserve “a marketplace of ideas free from distortion.” The only nation today capable of unilaterally confronting China is the United States. IPAC brings together, for the first time, an alliance of nations that are standing up for western values and human rights in a coordinated response to the challenge from China.

In a statement released by IPAC, it said that “By developing a common set of principles and frameworks that transcend domestic party divisions and international borders, our democracies will be able to keep the rules-based and human rights systems true to the founding purposes.” This week in response to IPAC, China’s representative in London, Chen Wen, claimed “China is a force for positive change.”  China is exposed now. The Emperor is not wearing clothes! Xi Jinping will have to face a united front in the West and new foreign policy challenges from the democracies he is trying to undermine. Whether IPAC can force China to improve its record of domestic breaches of human rights, mass atrocities of its minorities, and its intolerance of personal freedoms for its population remains to be seen. IPAC does offer a new glimmer of hope for a world slowly awakening to the threat posed by the communist regime.

DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government.  Each Friday, she presents key updates on China.

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Goebbels, Triumphant

As American mass media and social platforms work to misinform the public, it is important to understand how important lies are to the success of the Left.

Socialist regimes of all types, whether they call themselves Communists as in the Soviet Union, National Socialists in Nazi Germany, or Venezuela’s’ Chavistas depend heavily on suppressing the truth and insisting that blatant lies be accepted by the general public.   Hitler, in his infamous Mein Kampf book, discussed the use of lies so vast that no one could “fathom the reality that they were not the truth.”  His propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, said it best:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

In 2020 America, we are seeing the Big Lie hard at work in so many different ways, on many different fronts.  Consider these items that are accepted as fact, but are in reality sheer nonsense.

The allegation that America suffers from systemic racism is at the top of the list at the moment.  Yes, there are some evil individuals with hatred in their hearts, some act on that. But they are individuals.  To be “systemic,” laws, rules, and official procedures would have to be in place.  Since the end of segregation and other oppressive measures in the 1960’s, there has not been systemic racism.

The Democratic Party, which alleges the existence of systemic racism, is portrayed as the political grouping that helps Black Americans. Nothing could be further from the truth, and only the warping of both history and current events allows this fabrication to continue.  Historically, Democrats are the party that supported slavery and segregation.  Margaret Sanger, who is idolized by Democrats, began her campaign to spread the use of abortion because she believed too many black babies were being born. 

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Since the 1960’s, Democratic “poverty” programs have provided numerous jobs to political appointees, but have done next to nothing to truly undo the poverty that is the legacy of slavery and segregation.  When successful blacks, such as Justice Clarence Thomas, Dr. Ben Carson, or others point this out, the leftist media and Democratic leaders attack them with everything in their arsenal.

Two of the most currently powerful leftist groups, Antifa and Black Lives Matter, claim to be organizations that want greater democracy.  That is utterly false.  Both have engaged in extensive violence.  They oppose constitutional governance. Neither is in favor of free speech. They beat and batter those who dissent. They and their arrogant supporters use every device including physical threats and actions, economic pressure, and more to suppress those who do not surrender to them.  Their drive to “defund the police” and label their opponents as racist is clearly a way to eliminate any obstacle that stands in the way of their illicit push to gain power.  These actions are criminally seditious and should be treated as serious challenges to the continued existence of freedom in America.

Perhaps the greatest Big Lie comes from the supporters of socialism.  Nations that have adopted socialism have endured loss of freedom, loss of opportunity, and a diminished economy.  The USSR collapsed because of it. North Korea and Cuba are hellholes.  The Scandinavian countries are abandoning it. The people of Venezuela, who should be awash in wealth due to their nations’ natural resources, are impoverished because of it. Even the Communist giant, China, utilizes a limited form of capitalism to build its economy. But ignorant pundits, malicious college professors, and those seeking to diminish America are all for it.

Goebbels would be proud of his 21st Century heirs.

Illustration: Pixabay