August 11, 2023

Friday, August 11, 2023. Annette’s News Roundup.

I think the Roundup makes people feel not so alone.

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Joe is always busy.

Biden to issue new rules restricting U.S. investments in China.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday will establish new rules limiting American investments in high-end Chinese technology sectors — a long-awaited effort meant to stop U.S. capital from financing Beijing’s military development, according to two individuals briefed on the action.

The move represents the first time the U.S. government has sought to impose broad investment rules on U.S. firms overseas — an escalation of the economic conflict with China that is likely to earn a sharp rebuke from Beijing. Until now, U.S. firms have largely been given free rein by Washington to develop business in other countries, except for limitations on a narrow list of military-related goods. But national security officials in both the Trump and Biden administrations have warned that U.S. investors have been financing Beijing’s military advancements by funding Chinese firms that turn around and give their technology to China’s military.

The executive order will prohibit some investments in Chinese firms engaged in developing quantum computing, sensors and networks, as well as advanced semiconductor firms, and certain artificial intelligence firms, according to those briefed on the action. It will also require U.S. firms to notify the federal government if they invest in some lower-end semiconductor production not already covered by export controls, said the individuals, who requested anonymity because the action was not yet announced.

The rules will only apply to new investments — not existing deals — and will go into effect following a comment period for industry. The White House declined to comment.

The administration’s action comes just prior to an expected trip by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to China in the coming weeks and after months of efforts to soothe relations between the two countries that had been in turmoil ever since a Chinese spy balloon was discovered in U.S. airspace. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited Beijing in early July where she signaled that the two sides had made progress in shoring up the frayed relationship.

Despite that engagement, the executive order appears slightly more aggressive than recent expectations. In February, POLITICO reported that the administration had scaled back the executive order by cutting out some industrial sectors — like biotech and clean energy — and only applying investment prohibitions to the advanced semiconductor sectors.

Today’s order will likely go beyond that, though administration officials have emphasized for months that any actions would be narrowly targeted at military technologies and those that have both military and civilian applications. During months of internal debate, the Treasury and Commerce Departments have argued for a more modest action, while the National Security Council and other Defense officials have pushed for a more aggressive approach.

Despite recent changes, the order still puts the Biden administration in a more hawkish position than congressional lawmakers, who have also debated legislation on American investments in China for years.

Last month, Senate lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to add a similar measure — the Outbound Investment Transparency Act — to the yearly defense authorization bill. But that measure contains no investment prohibitions after it was watered down by congressional Republicans. House lawmakers are pursuing a different approach that focuses on expanding existing corporate blacklists at Treasury, Commerce and the Defense Departments, and will likely unveil that bill this fall.(Politico).

U.S. Reaches Deal With Iran to Free Americans for Jailed Iranians and Funds.

The United States and Iran have reached an agreement to win the freedom of five imprisoned Americans in exchange for several jailed Iranians and eventual access to about $6 billion in Iranian oil revenue, according to several people familiar with the deal.

As a first step in the agreement, which comes after more than two years of quiet negotiations, Iran has released into house arrest five Iranian American dual citizens, according to officials at the State Department and the National Security Council.

“We have received confirmation that Iran has released from prison five Americans who were unjustly detained,” said Adrienne Watson, the National Security Council spokeswoman. (New York Times).

This happened too.

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Kamala is always busy.

Why is Hawaii burning?

New York Times -

How Climate Change Turned Lush Hawaii Into a Tinderbox.Declining rainfall, rising temperatures and invasive species have left the islands more susceptible to wildfires.

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Clarence Thomas has no shame.

Clarence Thomas’ 38 Vacations: The Other Billionaires Who Have Treated the Supreme Court Justice to Luxury Travel.

During his three decades on the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas has enjoyed steady access to a lifestyle most Americans can only imagine. A cadre of industry titans and ultrawealthy executives have treated him to far-flung vacations aboard their yachts, ushered him into the premium suites at sporting events and sent their private jets to fetch him — including, on more than one occasion, an entire 737. It’s a stream of luxury that is both more extensive and from a wider circle than has been previously understood.

Like clockwork, Thomas’ leisure activities have been underwritten by benefactors who share the ideology that drives his jurisprudence. Their gifts include:

At least 38 destination vacations, including a previously unreported voyage on a yacht around the Bahamas; 26 private jet flights, plus an additional eight by helicopter; a dozen VIP passes to professional and college sporting events, typically perched in the skybox; two stays at luxury resorts in Florida and Jamaica; and one standing invitation to an uber-exclusive golf club overlooking the Atlantic coast.

This accounting of Thomas’ travel, revealed for the first time here from an array of previously unavailable information, is the fullest to date of the generosity that has regularly afforded Thomas a lifestyle far beyond what his income could provide. And it is almost certainly an undercount.

While some of the hospitality, such as stays in personal homes, may not have required disclosure, Thomas appears to have violated the law by failing to disclose flights, yacht cruises and expensive sports tickets, according to ethics experts.

Perhaps even more significant, the pattern exposes consistent violations of judicial norms, experts, including seven current and former federal judges appointed by both parties, told ProPublica. “In my career I don’t remember ever seeing this degree of largesse given to anybody,” said Jeremy Fogel, a former federal judge who served for years on the judicial committee that reviews judges’ financial disclosures. “I think it’s unprecedented.”

This year, ProPublica revealed Texas real estate billionaire Harlan Crow’s generosity toward Thomas, including vacations, private jet flights, gifts, the purchase of his mother’s house in Georgia and tuition payments. In an April statement, the justice defended his relationship with Crow. The Crows “are among our dearest friends,” Thomas said. “As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips.”

The New York Times recently surfaced VIP treatment from wealthy businessmen he met through the Horatio Alger Association, an exclusive nonprofit. Among them were David Sokol, a former top executive at Berkshire Hathaway, and H. Wayne Huizenga, a billionaire who turned Blockbuster and Waste Management into national goliaths. (The Times noted Thomas gives access to the Supreme Court building for Horatio Alger events; ProPublica confirmed that the access has cost $1,500 or more in donations per person.)

Records and interviews show Thomas had another benefactor, oil baron Paul “Tony” Novelly, whose gifts to the justice have not previously been reported. ProPublica’s totals in this article include trips from Crow.

Each of these men — Novelly, Huizenga, Sokol and Crow — appears to have first met Thomas after he ascended to the Supreme Court. With the exception of Crow, their names are nowhere in Thomas’ financial disclosures, where justices are required by law to publicly report most gifts.

From top to bottom, H. Wayne Huizenga, David Sokol and Paul “Tony” Novelly. These business magnates apparently came into Clarence Thomas’ life after he was appointed to one of the most sacrosanct positions of power in American government.

The total value of the undisclosed trips they’ve given Thomas since 1991, the year he was appointed to the Supreme Court, is difficult to measure. But it’s likely in the millions. (ProPublica). The rest of the article is available here.

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Moving right along.

Workplace relief. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act has gone from legislation to implementation. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission outlined a plan to allow pregnant workers to to seek job restructuring, change their work schedules, take more breaks, and work from home without retaliation. (Bloomberg Law).

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Trump Updates.

Special counsel got a search warrant for Twitter to turn over info on Trump’s account, documents say.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s team obtained a search warrant in January for records related to former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account, and a judge levied a $350,000 fine on the company for missing the deadline to comply, according to court documents released Wednesday.

The new details were included in a ruling from the federal appeals court in Washington over a legal battle surrounding the warrant that has played out under seal for months. The court rejected Twitter’s claim that it should not have been held in contempt or sanctioned.

Smith’s team repeatedly mentioned Trump’s tweets in an indictment unsealed last week that charges the former president with conspiring to subvert the will of voters and cling to power after he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump, a Republican, has pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of Congress’ certification of Biden’s win. He posted on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday that the Justice Department “secretly attacked” his Twitter account, and he characterized the investigation as an attempt to “infringe” on his bid to reclaim the White House in 2024. (Associated Press). The full article can be accessed here.

A prosecutor Trump shouldn’t play games with.

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If convicted of sullying the image of a prosecutor in Georgia, Trump will be ineligible to run for office in the state in 2024.

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Report from the New York Times.

Trump Says He Won’t Sign Loyalty Pledge Required for G.O.P. Debate.

The Republican National Committee has demanded that 2024 contenders pledge to support the eventual nominee in order to debate. Trump is refusing.

Last for the day.

BREAKING: Jack Smith wants a Jan. 2, 2024 trial date for Trump on charges related to his bid to subvert the 2020 election. The prosecutors expect to produce almost all of the evidence by Aug. 28.

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For some judges, the separation of church and state is not a bed-rock American principle.

Judge orders Southwest Airlines to receive “training” from anti-abortion extremist group.

This week, a federal judge appointed by former president Donald Trump, Brantley Starr, ordered three attorneys who work for Southwest Airlines to undergo "religious liberty training" conducted by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a far-right extremist group that opposes abortion rights. Starr ordered that the "training shall be conducted by ADF at a time set by ADF, it shall last a minimum of 8 hours of instructional time, and it must be completed by August 28, 2023." The company "must transport ADF’s representative to Dallas and be responsible for any food, accommodation, or other travel expenses for ADF’s representative."

How did this happen? Starr's ruling is related to a case filed by Charlene Carter, a Southwest flight attendant, against the company. According to Southwest, Carter was terminated on March 14, 2017 for "a two-year grossly offensive and terrible campaign to personally torment Audrey Stone, the then-President of Transportation Workers Union, Local 556." The company says that "Carter sent dozens upon dozens of messages to Stone’s Facebook Messenger account." The messages "ranged from the insults and name-calling to overtly grotesque imagery designed to inflict severe emotional distress." Some of the messages included "images and videos of aborted fetuses along with an image of women wearing headdresses that looked like anatomically correct vaginas." While Stone initially ignored Carter's communications, it eventually became too much, and she reported the harassment to her supervisor.

Several of Carter's messages are too graphic to publish, but here is a sample:

There are more than 100 pages of messages like this that were submitted as evidence in the lawsuit. 

Carter does not deny sending these messages but claims, among other things, that her termination constituted illegal discrimination "for her religious beliefs and practices." Carter said she had a right to share her "religious views" with Stone "while off-duty and without any impact on the workplace." Carter says she is a "Christian who believes that abortion is the taking of a human life contrary to the teachings of the Bible and the will of God" and "sincere religious beliefs require her to share with others that abortion is the taking of a human life."

Southwest says Carter's termination "had nothing to do with her religious beliefs." Further, the company argued, "the right to share any material related to abortion without restriction, no matter how graphic or offensive – is not mandated by her stated religious belief." Southwest noted that the "managers who Carter deposed in this case expressly testified that they share her pro-life convictions and have no animus against Christians." Rather, Carter's managers terminated her employment because Carter chose to engage in "a systemic campaign of torment and harassment upon Stone."

Southwest urged Starr to dismiss Carter's case as a matter of law. Starr declined to do so, and the case went to trial in 2022. A Texas jury ruled in favor of Carter and awarded her over $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Starr later reduced the award to about $800,000 to comply with federal rules limiting punitive damages.

The training ordered by Starr stems not from monetary damages but from further remedial measures Starr included in a December 5, 2022 order. 

The Court… ORDERS Southwest to post the jury’s verdict and the accompanying Final Judgment on company bulletin boards for a 60-day period and issue them electronically to all Southwest flight attendants. The Court ORDERS Southwest… to inform Southwest flight attendants that, under Title VII, they may not discriminate against Southwest flight attendants for their religious practices and beliefs, including—but not limited to—those expressed on social media and those concerning abortion. 

Southwest posted the jury verdict and the Final Judgment on its company bulletin boards and sent it electronically to staff. It also sent an email "to every active Southwest Flight Attendant… advising those Flight Attendants of Southwest’s commitment to refrain from discrimination based on the religious beliefs of employees, including beliefs related to opposition to abortion, whether expressed on social media or otherwise." 

Carter sought additional sanctions against Southwest because in the email sent to flight attendants, Southwest wrote that "Southwest does not discriminate against our Employees for their religious practices and beliefs." (Emphasis added.) Carter argues that Southwest, by using the word "does not," is trying to pretend it won the lawsuit. (In the same email, Southwest acknowledges it lost the lawsuit.) Rather, Carter maintained, Southwest was required to tell Southwest Flight Attendants that Southwest may not discriminate against employees based on their religious practices and beliefs. Carter was also upset that Southwest sent employees a memo encouraging everyone to treat each other with civility and respect.

This appears to be a semantic argument. Starr's order did not require Southwest to use specific language in the email to flight attendants. The company was clearly making a good-faith attempt to comply with the order. But Starr concluded that Southwest's conduct was egregious. He compares Southwest's use of "does not" to Adam lying to God. 

It’s hard to see how Southwest could have violated the notice requirement more. Take these modified historical and movie anecdotes. After God told Adam, “[Y]ou must not eat from the tree [in the middle of the garden],”3 imagine Adam telling God, “I do not eat from the tree in the middle of the garden”—while an apple core rests at his feet. Or where Gandalf bellows, “You shall not pass,” the Balrog muses, “I do not pass,” while strolling past Gandalf on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm.

In the universe we live in—the one where words mean something— Southwest’s notice didn’t come close to complying with the Court’s order. So the Court GRANTS Carter’s motion and holds Southwest in civil contempt. 

Starr further concludes that "Southwest’s speech and actions toward employees demonstrate a chronic failure to understand the role of federal protections for religious freedom." That is why Starr orders "training" by ADF for three Southwest attorneys. Starr describes ADF "as an "esteemed non-profit organization[]... dedicated to preserving free speech and religious freedom."

The truth about ADF

Created in 1994, ADF is a right-wing Christian group with a history of anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ stances. It is notorious for writing the Mississippi abortion ban that was eventually used to overturn Roe v. Wade. Earlier this year, the group published an article on its website touting that “many years of planning and tireless work paid off in the historic Dobbs decision overturning Roe.” The article, which is titled “What You May Not Know: How ADF Helped Overturn Roe v. Wade,” details how the group has worked to dismantle Roe since 2017.

“No matter what may come, Alliance Defending Freedom rejoices alongside others in the pro-life movement over the victory in Dobbs,” the group writes. “It is a testimony to God’s faithfulness that the overturning of Roe v. Wade, something once thought nearly impossible, occurred during our lifetimes.”

Since then, ADF has been dedicated to defending state abortion bans in court. The group is currently suing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for expanding access to abortion pills. One of the key lawyers on the case is ADF Senior Counsel Erin Hawley, who is married to Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO). “The couple has been open in their parallel efforts to ban abortion,” Vanity Fair reported this year. 

ADF has also been identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for propagating “known falsehoods about LGBT people over the years.” (ADF says the SPLC is "an unreliable, scandal-ridden, and far-left activist organization that attacks anyone who disagrees with its narrow political agenda.") Meanwhile, the Human Rights Campaign has dubbed ADF the “nation’s largest anti-LGBT legal advocacy group.” 

Between 2005 and 2006, the group “wrote the original language for discriminatory same-sex marriage bans” in Idaho, Colorado, and South Carolina. The group also has a record of “promot[ing] and defend[ing] anti-sodomy laws that criminalize gay sex.” On its website currently, the group lists “Rebuilding Marriage” between “one man and one woman” as one of its “key campaigns.”

Over the years, ADF has also helped craft anti-trans legislation in dozens of states. In Europe, the group has fought to protect, albeit unsuccessfully, “European laws requiring the sterilization of transgender citizens.” 

The group is also known for “defending anti-gay business owners who refuse to comply with nondiscrimination laws.” Most recently, the group represented Lorie Smith, the Christian web designer who won her Supreme Court case over whether she could refuse to provide services to same-sex couples. 

Starr's politics are in line with ADF. Prior to his tenure as a federal judge, Starr served as a legal advisor to Texas' far-right Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). Starr's views on religious freedom are out of the mainstream. For example, even after the Supreme Court recognized the right to same-sex marriage, Starr “defended the right of county clerks to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples” on religious grounds. Starr also spoke “in support of legislation intended to protect state-funded adoption agencies that discriminate against LGBTQ couples,” saying it was necessary to protect “religious rights of conscience.”

It remains unclear if Starr consulted with ADF before requiring Southwest to receive training from the group. Starr also does not specify what the ADF training would include and how it would benefit Carter, who never asked that Southwest receive any training.  (Popular Information by Judd Legum)

One more thing.

To me, this Southwest case is shocking. I will let you know how this situation develops. I expect Southwest will appeal.

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Gratitude really is Good for You. Here’s What the Science Shows.

In 2022, Stacy Batten said, her “whole year was on fire.”

Her husband died of cancer, and her father died after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Her mother was diagnosed with cancer. And she moved across the country from Seattle to Fairfield County, Conn., after selling the home that she had lived in for 26 years.

In her devastation, she noticed that she felt better when she looked for the good parts of each day. So she took a large Mason jar and turned it into a “gratitude jar,” which she now keeps on her night stand.

Every night, she writes down a few things that she is grateful for on a scrap of paper and drops it inside. They are often as simple as “I met a new neighbor” or “I took a walk with the dog and my mom.”

“The grief is still there,” Batten, 56, said. “But writing those daily notes has helped.”

Two decades ago, a landmark study led by the psychologist Robert A. Emmons sought to understand how people benefit from gratitude, a question that scientists had rarely explored until then.

Dr. Emmons’s findings — which suggested that gratitude may improve psychological well-being — inspired a spate of additional research. To date, numerous studies have found that having a grateful outlook, “counting one’s blessings” and expressing gratitude to others can have positive effects on our emotional health as well as on interpersonal and romantic relationships.

In addition, some studies, but not all, have shown that gratitude can benefit physical health.

“Gratitude heals, energizes and changes lives,” Dr. Emmons said. “It is the prism through which we view life in terms of gifts, givers, goodness and grace.”

Here’s more about why gratitude is so powerful, and how can we incorporate it into our daily lives.

What is gratitude?

Gratitude is a positive emotion that can arise when you acknowledge that you have goodness in your life and that other people — or higher powers, if you believe in them — have helped you achieve that goodness.

In other words, the sources of the good things “lie at least partially outside the self,” Dr. Emmons said.

You might feel gratitude when someone is kind to you, for example.

But “feeling it is only half the equation,” said Philip Watkins, a professor of psychology at Eastern Washington University and the author of “Gratitude and the Good Life.” Expressing gratitude is equally important to reap the benefits of this emotion, he said.

How does it benefit you?

Many studies have asked participants to write letters of thanks, or to list the positive things in their lives, and then measured the effects of those acts.

The results suggest that performing these types of activities provides mental health benefits — reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety, increasing self-esteem and improving satisfaction with daily life. But some studies have noted that gratitude interventions are not necessarily more effective than other kinds of activities to enhance well-being, like asking people to write about the details of their day. Even so, that doesn’t make gratitude activities any less useful, the experts said.

Multiple studies have shown that expressing gratitude to acquaintances, co-workers, friends or romantic partners can offer a relationship “boost” and “helps bind us more closely,” said Sara Algoe, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who has researched how gratitude aids relationships.

What’s more, when analyzing people’s dispositions, researchers have found that those who are more prone to experience gratitude in their daily lives have lower levels of depression and sleep better.

And not only does gratitude improve the well-being of the giver and the recipient, but it may also be good for those who witness it: Watching an act of gratitude between two people can cause an observer to feel more warmth and affinity toward them both.

“What impresses me are the objective, biologically verifiable outcomes that go beyond self-report measures,” Dr. Emmons said. For example, gratitude has also been associated with lower blood pressure, and, in one pilot study, higher levels of heart rate variability, a marker of well-being.

“Gratitude seems to be the gift that keeps on giving,” Dr. Algoe said.

One moment a day is enough.

The studies on gratitude don’t indicate how often we ought to express gratitude or how best to put it into practice. But many experts believe that a small dose of gratitude, once a day, is ideal.

“I think the benefits of gratitude activities truly unfold through long-term habits,” said Joel Wong, a professor of counseling psychology at Indiana University's School of Education, who is studying whether expressing gratitude in a six-week group program can help people with depression.

To develop an enduring gratitude habit, try linking your gratitude practice to an already ingrained routine, Dr. Wong said. He chooses to think about what he’s grateful for in the morning.

“I try to do it when I first turn on the computer at work,” he said.

Gretchen Schmelzer, a psychologist in Philadelphia who regularly incorporates gratitude exercises into her work with clients, said it could be especially useful during difficult times. Earlier this year, she fell while hiking and broke both legs, leading her to use a wheelchair for six weeks.

To avoid spiraling into negative thoughts while she continues to heal, she tells herself each day to “be thankful for what you can do — and not let yourself focus on what you can’t do,” she said.

“Gratitude allows us to look at what we do have and to feel abundance,” she added.

Finally, although many studies have shown the value of writing a letter expressing appreciation, it doesn’t have to be lengthy or time-consuming. A quick email or textcan do the trick.

Be specific.

Imagine that your partner is thanking you for cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. Which statement would you rather hear?

“Thank you!”

Or: “I am grateful that you took the reins and handled all the kitchen duties tonight. I love how we take turns to give one another a break.”

Specificity matters “because it deepens our experience of gratitude,” Dr. Wong said. “It intensifies our grateful emotions and thoughts.”

Dr. Wong has created a list of 100 questions that may serve as useful prompts when thinking about gratitude in a more specific way, whether you are thanking someone else or listing the things in your life that you feel grateful for.

When doing this exercise, Dr. Wong suggests putting pen to paper.

“The act of writing slows down our thinking process and allow us to ponder more deliberately,” Dr. Wong said. He added, “By writing, we retain a permanent record of our blessings; we can return to our gratitude journaling months or years later to recall what we were grateful for.” (New York Times).

Yesterday was a day to remember.

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