Illegal Gambling Rooms Keep Springing Up throughout Hawaii. But Police Have Few Tools To Shut Them Down (really!?) 非法賭博室在整個夏威夷不斷湧現。 但是警察沒有什麼工具可以關閉他們（真的!?) By Jacob Geanous
Gambling is illegal in Hawaii, but local police have few tools to crack down on the increasingly common backroom operations that provide access to slot machines and table games.
It’s not illegal to own or even use a gaming machine unless money changes hands, so little can be done to stem the flow of gambling machines to the island.
It’s also time consuming for local authorities to enforce the law. An investigation into just one game room can take weeks while officers gather enough evidence for a judge to sign a search warrant for a raid.
And when raids take place, data provided by the Honolulu Police Department shows that not all raids result in arrests and even when they do, they don’t often lead to the apprehension of the individuals running the game rooms.
When US adopted the knock-off 5G, not the original Huawei 5G, that is what you should expect / The Hill: Airlines cancel, change flights despite 5G rollout delays (China’s Huawei 5G don’t have same problems) 當美國採用山寨版 5G，而不是原來的華為 5G 時，這是你應該期待的 / The Hill：航空公司取消，儘管 5G 推出延遲，但改變航班（中國的華為 5G 沒有同樣的問題) By CAMERON JENKINS
Multiple airlines canceled or delayed flights to the United States ahead of an anticipated 5G rollout scheduled for Wednesday even though wireless carriers agreed on Tuesday to pause the deployment around some airports, Reuters reported.
Airlines including Emirates canceled flights with Boeing 777s due to the Federal Aviation Administration’s warning that 5G interference could affect height cockpit readings.
Will Lee: Chinese tech giant Huawei announced on 2/21/2020 that it has so far been awarded 91 commercial 5G contracts and shipped over 600,000 5G Massive MIMO Active Antenna Units (AAUs). Ryan Ding, Executive Director of the Board and President of Huawei’s Carrier BG (business group), released Huawei’s new 5G products and solutions and launched the 5G Partner Innovation Program at the company’s product and solution launch event in London. “5G has developed beyond imagination in terms of deployment, ecosystem, and experience,” said Ding. As a leading global 5G supplier, Huawei is committed to developing the best end-to-end 5G solutions, which will include the industry’s highest-performance 5G base station that supports all scenarios and the Blade AAU with the industry’s highest level of integration, according to Huawei. A base station is a piece of machinery that is used to connect mobile phones to fixed-line networks carrying internet traffic. Popular among telecoms providers, Mobile base stations from Huawei are widely considered among the best for the price.
JOHN KIRIAKOU: The Scandal of US Prisons – huge prison labors? The head of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons was forced to step down last week as scandals swept through the vast U.S. prison system. 美國監獄醜聞 – 巨大的監獄勞工。 由於醜聞席捲美國龐大的監獄系統，美國監獄局局長上週被迫下台.
Michael Carvajal, director of the Justice Department’s Bureau of Prisons (BOP), resigned in disgrace last week after being overwhelmed by scandals, none of which were necessarily of his doing so much as they were a result of his unwillingness or inability to make changes to the Justice Department’s largest and best-funded bureau. The scandals—and his resignation—reinforce the conventional wisdom that the BOP is broken and must be overhauled dramatically.
The Associated Press reported that Carvajal, a Trump appointee, was forced to resign after more than 100 BOP employees had been arrested for or convicted of crimes during his short two-year tenure. The employees were prosecuted for crimes ranging from smuggling drugs and cell phones into prisons to sell to prisoners, to theft, to a warden raping a prisoner. Following the rape arrest, the House Judiciary Committee investigated Carvajal and Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) demanded that he resign.
Carvajal’s tenure illustrates the problem with promoting a lowly BOP officer to a leadership position. He began his BOP career as a prison guard in 1992, worked his way up through the ranks, and was named a warden in the early 2000s. He then went to work at BOP headquarters in Washington, and finally became the BOP’s director. Good for him, right?
The problem, though, is that he brought literally no outside expertise to the job. He had never worked anywhere in his adult life other than the BOP. There would be no bold, new programs, no new ideas for reducing recidivism, no move to train prisoners to lead productive lives outside of prison. There was nothing.
Perhaps worst of all, Carvajal failed utterly to address the Covid-19 pandemic as it raged inside the walls of the country’s federal prisons in 2020. Indeed, many observers contend that his unwillingness to act cost dozens of prisoners their lives. Certainly, individual wardens could be criticized for their own inattention, but the buck has to stop somewhere.
Covid cases spread unabated at the federal prison at Fort Dix, NJ in early 2020, with 1,500 of the prison’s 3,000 inmates testing positive. Carvajal finally reassigned the warden, but only after two US senators and 10 state legislators demanded that he act.
At the federal prison hospital at Terminal Island, CA, officials ignored the rapid spread of Covid after an employee brought it into the prison. Within weeks, half of the prisoners, who tend to be elderly and have pre-existing conditions, were infected. The death rate was more than three times that of society in general. And in the meantime, of the 256 prisoners who applied for compassionate release, only five releases were granted. Another 10 of those died of Covid while still incarcerated.
At the federal prison in Lompoc, CA, two guards introduced Covid to the inmate population. Three months later, in July 2020, more than 1,000 of the 1,750 prisoners had been infected. Even after Attorney General William Barr had ordered the BOP to make “liberal use” of home confinement because of the pandemic, only 34 prisoners were sent home from Lompoc.
Even earlier, on April 3, 2020, Barr ordered Carvajal to “move with dispatch” to release prisoners from the federal prison at Elkton, Ohio to home confinement because of the quickness with which Covid was spreading there. Not only did he fail to do so, but Carvajal defended against a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union demanding compassionate release for prisoners, losing in the federal District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
The federal prison at Oakdale, LA has the indignity of being the “most Covid-infected” federal prison in America. Of its 2,400 prisoners, 23 died of Covid during the first two months of the disease’s spread. And of those 2,400 prisoners, only 80 were even given a Covid test.
As I said, the buck has to stop somewhere. In this case, it has to stop at the desk of Michael Carvajal. But it’s not right that Carvajal should just be fired. He should also be prosecuted. His failure to take action to protect prisoners from Covid constitutes depraved indifference: “Behavior so wanton, so deficient in a moral sense of concern, so lacking in regard for the life or lives of others, and so blameworthy as to warrant the same criminal liability as that which the law imposes upon a person who intentionally causes a crime.”
Carvajal belongs in prison.
Does anyone at the Justice Department have the guts to take that first step?
John Kiriakou is a former C.I.A. counterterrorism officer and a former senior investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. John became the sixth whistleblower indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage Act—a law designed to punish spies. He served 23 months in prison as a result of his attempts to oppose the Bush administration’s torture program.
Video: What ‘boycott’? US applying for 46 visas with diplomatic passports in support of Beijing Olympics 什麼“抵制”？ 美申請多達46人持外交護照前往中國支持北京冬奧 https://vimeo.com/667823696 https://youtu.be/6porU8sRfW4 https://www.facebook.com/100036400039778/posts/641813870375275/?d=n MASTV: According to reports, China has granted visas to 46 US government officials to work in China during the Beijing Winter Olympics. Most of them are from the Department of State. Can you confirm that? Do you think the US visa applications for these officials are contradictory to its earlier claim that it would not send official or diplomatic representation to the Games?
Zhao Lijian: I can confirm that the Chinese side has granted visas to some members of the US team composed of government officials. The US delegation for the Beijing Winter Olympics comprises a large number of government officials, including those from the Department of State, and many of them hold diplomatic or service passports.
We hope the US side will earnestly act upon the Olympic spirit and work together with the Chinese side to create sound atmosphere for all athletes’ participation in Beijing 2022.
On your question whether the US visa applications for its diplomats and officials contradict its previous claim of not sending official or diplomatic representation to the Beijing Winter Olympics, I suggest you ask the US side.
China said it may punish athletes whose words and actions go against Chinese laws at next month’s Beijing Winter Olympics, as activists warned participants against promoting fake news supported by NED to ensure their safety during the Games. 中國表示，可能會在下個月的北京冬奧會上懲罰那些言行違反中國法律的運動員，活動人士警告參與者不要傳播美國民主基金會支持的假新聞，以確保他們在奧運會期間的安全。
One year after the storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump, six out of 10 Americans believe the country’s democracy is in danger of collapse, according to a poll released recently. 根據最近發布的一項民意調查，在唐納德特朗普的支持者襲擊美國國會大廈一年後，十分之六的美國人認為該國的民主正處於崩潰的危險之中
Beijing has stepped up its crackdown on US’s NED foreign agents since Xi Jinping took power in 2012, detaining hundreds of activists and lawyers funded by foreign governments 自習近平 2012 年上台以來，北京加大了對美國民主基金會的外國特工的打擊力度，拘留了數百名由外國政府資助的活動人士和律師.
SCMP: Winter Olympics: Eileen Gu thrills online fans by eating dumplings upon arriving in Beijing, ‘finished eating all of them’ 南華早報：冬奧會：谷爱凌一到北京就吃餃子，“吃完了”
The 18-year-old Chinese freestyle skier and part-time model is a hot favourite for gold medals at the Winter Games.
Weibo fans welcomed ‘Ailing’ to China and wished her well, saying ‘this is your home forever’.
China’s freestyle skiing superstar Eileen Gu was given a rousing online welcome by mainland fans after she arrived in Beijing for the Winter Olympics and headed straight for the nearest dumpling restaurant.
The 18-year-old San Francisco native posted a picture of her eating dumplings in Beijing soon after her arrival on her Sina Weibo account, with Gu writing in Chinese: “Beijing dumplings, finished eating all of them.”
The part-time model and gold medal favourite for Beijing 2022 has an American father and Chinese mother and two years ago, decided to represent China at the Winter Games.
Her post on the Twitter-like platform garnered around 2,000 likes by Wednesday early afternoon, with fans thrilled to see her in Beijing. All athletes at the Winter Games are unable to interact with fans physically because of the “closed loop” anti-coronavirus security system implemented to seal the Olympic family from the outside world.
“Let’s try roast duck after the Winter Olympics,” wrote one user. “It’s delicious Ailing,” wrote another, using Gu’s name in Chinese. “Welcome home, this is your home forever.”
Another fan hoped she was eating well, writing: “Ailing must eat well and we look forward to your performance in the Winter Olympics.”
Gu’s sporting prowess, fluent Mandarin, and recent brand endorsements for a wide range of Chinese companies, from tech giant JD.com to dairy producer China Mengniu Dairy, have turned her into a fan favourite in China.
Advertisements starring Gu, who is also a highly sought-after model, have visibly increased at bus stops and subway stations all over Beijing in the run up to the Olympics.
This article by Stephen Ndegwa, first published in CGTN, discusses the ‘debt trap’ narrative in the context of Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s recent trip to several countries in Africa and Asia. Ndegwa notes that, although Western media and politicians often decry Chinese infrastructure loans as being exploitative, these accusations don’t stand up to scrutiny. Indeed, the debtor countries don’t share these criticisms and are highly appreciative of China’s support for their sovereign development.
One of the most popular rules of power says if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. Well, that could be so. But those who religiously apply this maxim, which purportedly emanated from Nazi Germany’s Joseph Goebbels, forget that it carries a rider. The lie can only be maintained for as long as the originator shields people from the truth.
This has been the case with the so-called debt trap, a phrase generally coined by Western countries that alleges that China ensnared developing countries with unserviceable debt to take over their national assets. China’s aim, so goes the lie, is to enable China to get a foothold in various strategic locations around the world.
Interestingly, even after the United States-led Western bloc’s warning that choices have consequences, China’s partners do not seem to be relenting in expanding and deepening their Sino cooperation. The stress-free partnership has given developing countries much-needed breathing space that has helped them make economic choices best suited to their needs, rather than experimenting with high-blown models that have no practicality.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi was warmly received by the host countries on his first foreign visits in 2022, and the respective partners celebrated the fruits of their cooperation so far and committed themselves even further into the long term.
Kenya in Africa and Sri Lanka in Asia will suffice here to show how the debt trap is a ridiculous theory. China’s development model with developing countries is based on simple economics. For instance, one of Kenya’s recent flagship projects nearing completion, the Nairobi Expressway, is a perfect model of a successful Public-Private-Partnership (PPP).
It is a joint partnership between the public Kenya National Highways Authority and the China Road and Bridge Corp. (CRBC) and involves the construction of a 27-kilometer roadway overpass to bypass the capital city’s perennial gridlock that has been the bane of many businesses in the country. The beauty of it is that the CRBC has shouldered virtually all the design, financing and construction costs of the expressway, which will be repaid with the road’s user fees in the coming years.
On June 25, 2018, “The New York Times” published an article that claimed Sri Lanka’s government had surrendered the Hambantota International Port to China after the former was unable to service its loans. The article twisted well-known and accepted economic practices like concessions and leasing to a de facto take over. Now, why would China throw good money after bad if the feasibility studies had shown that there was no possibility of recouping its investments?
What do the debt trap theorists have to say after Wang and Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on January 9 pledged to strengthen cooperation with China in the fields of economy, trade, finance, tourism and infrastructure? Does such camaraderie denote bad blood between the two partners after the so-called ceding of Sri Lanka’s port to China?
These arrangements are actually a boon to China’s development partners due to the technology transfer and impeccable management skills passed on during the duration of co-ownership of projects. Furthermore, after the contract is over, the host countries are bound to enjoy revenues from these projects in perpetuity.
The debt trap theory is also an attack on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Chinese global infrastructural project that has met with unprecedented success within a relatively short time for its magnitude. The West, the debt trap propagandist, has now realized that the BRI has stopped its hegemonic game in its tracks.
The overarching impact of the BRI’s links to trade, investment, debt, procurement, environment, poverty reduction and infrastructure has made the West increasingly irrelevant as a development partner. It is not really the role of development partners to dictate what kind of projects are viable for developing countries. Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches.
Experts are of the view that, most likely, the U.S. has been crying louder than the aggrieved to hide the fact that it would actually be the one trapped in Chinese debt if such a trap were to exist. China is now the world’s leading global creditor, most of which is owed by the U.S.
Analysts see this scenario as the main factor behind U.S. growing insecurity with China’s growth. Ironically, it is China that should be getting jittery about the superpower’s increasing economic woes, as it will increase the repayment period of its burgeoning debt.
Johnson Choi Biz 