Random News and Notes 20 February
SCOTUS just ruled on Trump’s use of tariffs. In a 6-3 decision, with a Roberts authored opinion, the Court struck down the Presidential use of tariffs under the IEEPA.
Just so we’re clear, this is the correct decision. Our Constitution clearly states that Congress – and Congress alone – has the power of taxation. Tariffs are taxes. This editor has always been of the opinion that the use of tariffs in the way the President has been using them is unconstitutional. Was that use effective in achieving his policy aims? Sure. Was it Constitutional? No.
This next one is a bit troublesome. An electric patrol boat owned by a security company guarding a BAE systems facility sank in San Diego the other day. It was then recovered. And exploded. Something to do with the Li ion batteries and submersion in salt water I suppose. But that isn’t the story. The CEO of this editor’s goto site for all things Maritime had a bunch to say about what led up to this.
John Konrad, CEO of gCaptain.com and former ship captain, shared photos claiming an electric patrol boat used by Allied Universal exploded after salvage, highlighting port security gaps at the Navy’s key Pacific Fleet homeport. He ties it to BAE firing veteran-led Six Maritime Inc. for refusing untested EV boats with risky lithium-ion batteries.
Their crime? Saying it was dangerous and irresponsible to guard Navy warships and critical drydocks with electric patrol boars.
Two things here are distressing. First, it has been 5+ years since the Bonhomme Richard burned in that selfsame harbor and there still is not a dedicated fireboat. Second, how is Allied, a literal mall cop and janitorial service company, guarding a critical naval facility. If this little precis piques your interest, click through to John’s full thread on this. He goes into a lot more detail about it there.
If you live on the east coast, you might want to prep for a Nor’easter. Forecasters say one is coming with snow from the mid-atlantic through coastal New England. Totals are a bit uncertain, but anywhere from 2″ to a foot + of snow are expected.
The models don’t agree on totals, but they all say a significant amount is coming. So make your grocery run, fill your gas tanks and be ready to shovel come Monday.
There were big doings in Milan yesterday. Team USA brought home not one but two gold medals. We’ll start with Alysa Liu winning in women’s individual figure skating. Alyssa has an interesting story. Her father, Arthur Liu, went into exile from China at age 25 in the 1990s. He supported the 1989 Democracy Movement – the one that spawned the Tiananmen Square massacre – and was forced to flee. Alyssa was pursued by the CCP to skate for them at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. She declined and endured being followed by CCP spies during the Games.
Contrast her story to that of the traitorous freestyle skier, Eileen Gu, who was recruited to ski for the Communist Chinese after the 2019 freestyle ski season.
The other medal went to the women’s hockey team. They beat the canadian side 2-1 in OT. Megan Keller scored the winner with an absolutely devastating crossover.
This editor played juniors as a kid. He might have been talented enough to play in one of the lower minor leagues had he continued playing. That move, the one you just watched, is one every hockey kid plays out in his head a million times. And to do it at the highest level of your sport, damn.
Before we get to the medal count, and there are some pretty big changes, there is something worth pointing out about the winners today. They were all in on Team America. Alyssa skated around with an American Flag draped over her shoulders during the medal ceremony and the Hockey gals were belting out the National Anthem as it was being played.
Here’s today’s medal count; Norway is boat racing everyone with 17/9/10, Team USA moves into 2nd with 9/12/6, host country Italy slides to 3rd with 9/5/12, 4th place is held by Germany with 6/8/8 and France is right on their heels with 6/8/6.
The men’s hockey semis are today. Canada and Finland start the action at 1040 while Team USA and Slovakia face off at 1510. The winners meet in the gold medal game on Sunday. The losers meet tomorrow for the bronze medal game.