Chris Hedges's Blog, page 625

Mueller Says Trump Isn’t Currently a Criminal Target

WASHINGTON — Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team of prosecutors has informed President Trump’s attorneys that the president is not currently considered a criminal target in the Russia investigation, according to a person familiar with the conversation.

The person, who was not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations and spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the president is considered a subject of Mueller’s probe — not a target. A subject is typically someone whose conduct is of interest to investigators but prosecutors are not certain they’ve gathered enough evidence to bring charges.

The designation could change at any time, though. The development was first reported Tuesday by The Washington Post.

Trump’s designation as a subject came up as prosecutors and the president’s legal team negotiate the terms of an interview with him. The president has said he wants to speak with Mueller’s team, but his lawyers have not publicly committed to allowing him to be questioned.

Trump attorney Jay Sekulow declined to confirm or discuss the conversations with Mueller.

“We do not discuss real or alleged conversations between our legal team and the Office of Special Counsel,” Sekulow said.

White House lawyer Ty Cobb also declined to comment.

The Justice Department typically treats people involved in investigations as witnesses, subjects or targets. Mueller’s determination that Trump is a subject suggests he’s more pivotal to the investigation than a mere witness, a designation for someone who has observed events of interest to agents and prosecutors.

“The government will say you’re a subject trending to witness or you’re a subject trending toward target,” said Sharon McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan.

Although targets tend to be people the government is gathering evidence against with the goal of prosecuting, subjects have a much looser, broader definition.

“A subject means we’re still looking at you,” McCarthy said. “You’re a person of interest in this investigation.”

Still, the import of the designation wasn’t immediately clear. It is not known, for instance, if Mueller’s office has concluded that, at the moment, there is insufficient evidence to consider Trump a target. It is also possible that prosecutors agree they are bound by a Justice Department legal opinion that contends that a sitting president cannot be indicted.

A grand jury is the way indictments are issued. Yet the White House witnesses with the most direct information about Trump’s actions in the White House have spoken privately with Mueller’s team instead of being summoned before the grand jury, a possible indication that their statements are being used for the purposes of assembling a report rather than pursuing criminal charges.

Mueller’s team has signaled that they’re interested in discussing several key episodes in the early parts of the Trump administration as they probe possible obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors have told the legal team they want to question Trump about the firings of former FBI Director James Comey and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Investigators want to discuss conversations Trump had with Comey in which the former FBI director has said the president encouraged him to end an active investigation into Flynn. They’re also interested in the events leading up to Flynn’s February 2017 firing.

Investigators have said they want to hear from the president to understand his intent and thinking during those events.

___

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

‘The Apostle of Nonviolence’: Nation Honors Martin Luther King Jr.

MEMPHIS, Tenn.—The daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. remembered him as “the apostle of nonviolence” as admirers marked the 50th anniversary of his assassination Wednesday with marches, speeches and quiet reflection.

At events around the country, participants took time to both reflect on King’s legacy and discuss how his example can apply to racial and economic divides still plaguing society. Instead of sorrow, King’s contemporaries and a new generation of social activists presented a message of resilience and hope.

Related Articles





MLK's 'Poor People's Campaign' Rekindled



by

Speaking in King’s hometown of Atlanta, the Rev. Bernice A. King recalled her father as a civil rights leader and great orator whose message of peaceful protest was still vital decades later.

“We decided to start this day remembering the apostle of nonviolence,” she said during a ceremony to award the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize held at the King Center.

In Memphis, where King died, police estimated that 10,000 people showed up for an early afternoon march led by the same sanitation workers union whose low pay King had come to protest when he was shot.

Dixie Spencer, president of the Bolivar Hardeman County, Tennessee, branch of the NAACP, said remembrances of King’s death should be a call to action.

“We know what he worked hard for, we know what he died for, so we just want to keep the dream going,” Spencer said. “We just want to make sure that we don’t lose the gains that we have made.”

Before the march, the rapper Common and pop singer Sheila E had the crowd dancing and bobbing their heads. Memphis events were also scheduled to feature King’s contemporaries, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

In the evening, the Atlanta events culminate with a bell-ringing and wreath-laying at his crypt to mark the moment when he was gunned down on the balcony of the old Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968. He was 39.

President Donald Trump issued a proclamation in honor of the anniversary, saying: “In remembrance of his profound and inspirational virtues, we look to do as Dr. King did while this world was privileged enough to still have him.”

The president has been the target of veiled criticism by some speakers at King commemorations in recent days as they complained of fraught race relations and other divisions made plain since he was elected.

Observances marking King’s death were planned coast-to-coast.

In New York, the Dance Theatre of Harlem, founded months after King’s slaying, planned an evening performance in his honor. Community organizers scheduled a march and commemorative program marking the anniversary in Yakima, Washington.

In Montgomery, Alabama, where King first gained notice leading a boycott against segregated city buses, came a symbol of transformation: The daughter of King’s one-time nemesis, segregationist Gov. George C. Wallace, planned to participate in a program honoring the slain civil rights leader.

The anniversary of King’s death coincides with a resurgence of white supremacy, the continued shootings of unarmed black men and a parade of discouraging statistics on the lack of progress among black Americans on issues from housing to education to wealth. But rather than despair, the resounding message repeated at the commemorations was one of resilience, resolve, and a renewed commitment to King’s legacy and unfinished work.

Wednesday’s events followed a rousing celebration the night before of King’s “I’ve Been To the Mountaintop” speech at Memphis’ Mason Temple Church of God in Christ. He delivered this speech the night before he was assassinated.

“Dr. King’s work — our work — isn’t done. We must still struggle; we must still sacrifice. We must still educate and organize and mobilize. That’s why we’re here in Memphis. Not just to honor our history, but to seize our future,” national labor leader Lee Saunders said on Tuesday night after a gospel singer led a rousing rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” for an enthusiastic crowd.

____

Brumback reported from Atlanta.

China Eyes Tariff Hikes on U.S. Soybeans, Small Aircraft, Beef, Whiskey

BEIJING — China on Wednesday issued a $50 billion list of U.S. goods including soybeans and small aircraft for possible tariff hikes in an escalating and potentially damaging technology dispute with Washington.

The country’s tax agency gave no date for the 25 percent increase to take effect and said that will depend on what President Donald Trump does about U.S. plans to raise duties on a similar amount of Chinese goods.

Beijing’s list of 106 products included the biggest U.S. exports to China, reflecting its intense sensitivity to the dispute over American complaints that it pressures foreign companies to hand over technology.

The clash reflects the tension between Trump’s promises to narrow a U.S. trade deficit with China that stood at $375.2 billion last year and the ruling Communist Party’s development ambitions. Regulators use access to China’s vast market as leverage to press foreign automakers and other companies to help create or improve industries and technology.

A list the U.S. issued Tuesday of products subject to tariff hikes included aerospace, telecoms and machinery, striking at high-tech industries seen by China’s leaders as the key to its economic future.

China said it would immediately challenge the U.S. move in the World Trade Organization.

“It must be said, we have been forced into taking this action,” a deputy commerce minister, Wang Shouwen, said at a news conference. “Our action is restrained.”

A deputy finance minister, Zhu Guangyao, appealed to Washington to “work in a constructive manner” and avoid hurting both countries.

Zhu warned against expecting Beijing to back down.

“Pressure from the outside will only urge and encourage the Chinese people to work even harder,” said Zhu at the news conference.

Companies and economists have expressed concern improved global economic activity might sputter if other governments are prompted to raise their own import barriers.

The dispute “may compel countries to pick sides,” said Weiliang Chang of Mizuho Bank in a report.

“U.S. companies at this point would like to see robust communication between the US government and the Chinese government and serious negotiation on both sides, hopefully to avoid a trade war,” said the chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, William Zarit.

“I can only hope that we solve our differences as soon as possible to avoid damage to the U.S. economy, Chinese economy and to U.S. companies.”

American companies have long chafed under Chinese regulations that require them to operate through local partners and share technology with potential competitors in exchange for market access. Business groups say companies feel increasingly unwelcome in China’s state-dominated economy and are being squeezed out of promising industries.

Chinese policies “coerce American companies into transferring their technology” to Chinese enterprises, said a USTR statement.

Foreign companies are increasingly alarmed by initiatives such as Beijing’s long-range industry development plan, dubbed “Made in China 2025,” which calls for creating global leaders in electric cars, robots and other fields. Companies complain that might block access to those industries.

Wang, the commerce official, defended “Made in China 2025.” He said it was “transparent, open and non-discriminatory” and foreign companies could participate.

Wang said the plan, which sets specific targets for domestic brands’ share of some markets, should be seen as a guide rather than mandatory.

A report released Tuesday by the USTR also cited complaints Beijing uses cyber spying to steal foreign business secrets. It was unclear whether the latest tariff hike was a direct response to that.

The Chinese list Wednesday included soybeans, the biggest U.S. export to China, and aircraft up to 45 tons in weight. That excludes high-end Boeing Co. jetliners such as the 747 and 777, leaving Beijing high-profile targets for possible future conflicts.

Also on the list were American beef, whiskey, passenger vehicles and industrial chemicals.

Zhu, the deputy finance minister, expressed thanks to American soybean farmers who he said had lobbied the Trump administration to “safeguard hard-won economic relations between the United States and China.”

To minimize the cost to China, regulators picked products for which replacements are available, such as soybeans from Australia or Brazil, said Tu Xinquan, director of WTO studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

“China has made meticulous efforts in deciding the list of the products to make sure the impact on China’s economy is controllable,” said Tu.

“If the U.S. decides to increase intensity, China will surely follow suit,” said Tu. “In the event of all-out trade war, both may lose all sense of reason, but I do hope it will never happen.”

The Global Times newspaper, published by the ruling party and known for its nationalistic tone, suggested further retaliatory action might target service industries in which the United States runs a trade surplus. Regulators have wide discretion to withhold licenses or take other action to disrupt logistics and other service businesses.

“What China needs to do now is to make the United States pay the same price” so Americans “understand anew the Chinese-U.S. strength relationship,” the newspaper said.

In a separate dispute, Beijing raised tariffs Monday on a $3 billion list of U.S. goods including pork, apples and steel pipe in response to increased duties on imports of steel and aluminum that took effect March 23.

The United States buys little Chinese steel or aluminum, but analysts said Beijing would feel compelled to react, partly as a “warning shot” ahead of the technology dispute.

In another warning move, Chinese regulators launched an anti-dumping investigation of U.S. sorghum last month as rhetoric between Beijing and Washington heated up.

China has accused Trump of damaging the global system of trade regulation by taking action under U.S. law instead of the through the WTO.

Previously, Trump approved higher import duties on Chinese-made washing machines and solar modules to offset what Washington said were improper subsidies.

The technology investigation was launched under a little-used Cold War era law, Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974.

However, as part of its response, the USTR also lodged a WTO case last month challenging Chinese policies it said unfairly limit foreign companies’ control over their technology.

U.S. authorities say Beijing denies foreign companies the right to block use of technology by a Chinese entity once a licensing period ends. And they say it imposes contract terms that are less favorable than for local technology.

___

AP Writers Gillian Wong and Christopher Bodeen and AP researchers Shanshan Wang and Yu Bing contributed.

___

Chinese Ministry of Commerce (in Chinese): www.mofcom.gov.cn

Trump’s Angry Tweets Confuse Caravan Migrants

MATIAS ROMERO, Mexico — President Donald Trump’s angry comments about a caravan of migrants ricochet around like a soccer ball in the dusty athletic complex in southern Mexico where the 1,000 or so Central Americans have camped since the weekend.

Trump’s words have confused and befuddled families here, some of whom never intended on going all the way to the United States after the end of the “Stations of the Cross” caravan. It is a symbolic event held around Easter each year to raise awareness about the plight of migrants and has never left southern Mexico, though some participants then continue north on their own.

Even coordinators of the caravan seemed to misunderstand the debate in the U.S. when Trump’s endorsed a “nuclear option” for pushing funding for his border wall through Congress. They told worried families Tuesday that the U.S. president had floated the idea of using a nuclear weapon against the caravan of mostly women and children who have fled violence in Central America.

The Mexican government said in a statement late Tuesday that its immigration policy “is not subject to pressure,” but noted the caravan “began to disperse by decision of the participants.”

It said 465 migrants had asked for transit visas and 230 had gotten them, and another 168 were likely to get some sort of visa to stay in Mexico.

Caravan organizers said the Mexican government had not pressured them, and that they are continuing with plans to hold a migrants’ rights symposium this week and wind up with a visit to Mexico City. The caravan was never intended to reach the U.S. border.

Sitting on a thin foam pad and trying to corral her sons, 2-year old Jonathan and 6-year-old Omar, Gabriela Hernandez wondered aloud at what Trump must think of them.

“I see it as something really sad, because I don’t understand how a child this age can make things difficult for him,” said Hernandez, a 27-year-old who is two months pregnant.

She would like to get into the U.S., where she has a cousin in Houston. Crime in Honduras was so bad that she decided to embark on the difficult a journey across several international borders with two young asthmatic sons, the younger of whom is now sick and on antibiotics.

In the minds of Hernandez and many of her fellow travelers, the risks they have taken should be an indication of how unsustainable their circumstances are back home. Hondurans predominate in this year’s caravan, but it includes families from Guatemala and El Salvador as well.

“The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our ‘Weak Laws’ Border, had better be stopped before it gets there,” Trump tweeted.

After hearing that Trump raised the possibility of sending troops to defend the U.S. border, Irineo Mujica, coordinator of the caravan, gathered the camp’s women and children around him and asked which of them Trump was afraid of.

“All of the women, children come fleeing violence,” Mujica said. “These children are not soldiers.”

Late Tuesday, the first migrants began receiving documents from Mexican immigration authorities. Some give them 20 days to transit the country on their way to the U.S. border with the stated goal of applying for asylum. Others got papers in a first step toward a humanitarian Mexican residency visa for especially vulnerable people or a start to the application process for asylum in Mexico.

Mayra Zepeda, 38, of Honduras, said that once she gets documents to cross Mexico, she and her husband will continue their journey toward the border city of Tijuana. She said they hope to find better paying jobs there and aren’t planning to try to cross into the U.S.

The couple left Honduras in December after incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernandez was declared the winner of a contested election. The factory where she made T-shirts for export closed due to the weeks of instability that followed the election, she said.

She and her family stopped in the Mexican town of Tapachula at the Guatemala border for three months and she worked in a restaurant. When the caravan came together there they saw it as a good opportunity to make a move with safety in numbers.

On Tuesday afternoon, she cooked a cauldron full of sliced squash and eggs over an open fire for the caravan’s security team, volunteers who keep an eye on things.

“Honestly, I want to be Mexican,” Zepeda said. “We’re not going to cross. We’re just going to stay here.”

Others were not so fortunate on the first try.

Jose Carlos Lanza, traveling with his pregnant wife from Honduras, rushed forward when his name was called Tuesday only to find that they had got one letter wrong in his name, making his permit to travel across Mexico worthless and potentially delaying him for another day. The problem was that someone was already en route to pick him up and take him to the U.S. border.

“I can’t wait any longer,” he said.

Earlier Tuesday, Lanza said the U.S. government was ignorant about the migrants’ situation.

“They don’t see that the majority of the people here are children and women,” he said. “I think it’s stupid because the only thing we are looking for is safety for our family and it’s not fair that they treat us like terrorists.”

5 Financial Gender Gaps We Need to Close Besides Pay

The gender wage gap gets a lot of attention, and for good reason. At the current snail’s pace by which it’s closing worldwide, the World Economic Forum says it will take about 200 years to close the pay gap. But there are other financial imbalances holding many women back and keeping them from economic independence.

Income is certainly important, as it impacts savings directly and can determine day-to-day lifestyles. It helps build wealth, but doesn’t necessarily guarantee it. “There is an important distinction between income and wealth inequality,” says Rebecca Wiggins, executive director of AFCPE, a nonprofit training finance professionals to understand the gap. “While income levels address short-term needs, wealth accumulation provides mobility and long-term security.” Overall wealth is about financial security, and includes investments, savings, retirement accounts, and other assets.

As more research reveals the stark wage gap between men and women, we should be just as concerned about all of the factors holding back women from building wealth and achieving true financial security. Here are a few of the most striking.

1. The retirement savings gap.

A shocking gap exists between men and women when it comes to saving for retirement.

According to a survey by Student Loan Hero, women save on average about half the amount ($45,614) of retirement savings as men ($90,189). Only a little over half (52 percent) of women report having a retirement savings vehicle like a 401K, while 71 percent of men have saved for retirement using such a vehicle.

2. The student debt gap.

Women have less student debt than men, but report being much less equipped to deal with navigating that debt after graduation. A Student Loan Hero survey showed that women have an average of $91,647 in student debt, and overall, 28 percent of women see their student loans as “not at all manageable.” That’s more than twice the number of men who say their debt is unmanageable (13 percent).

That could be because after college, women earn lower salaries than men, making it more difficult to pay these loans back.

Men also reported to be more educated on how to make their student loans more manageable: 79 percent of men said they were familiar with the concept of refinancing loans, compared to 63 percent of women.

3. The financial literacy gap.

From a young age, men are taught more about managing their finances than women are. A recent survey from T. Rowe Price shows a near 10 percent gap between boys and girls whose parents discuss finances with them. While 58 percent of boys said that their parents discuss financial goals with them, just 50 percent of girls say that is true. Even more disturbing is that plenty of parents believe boys are naturally more equipped to deal with money; 80 percent of parents said their son understands the value of a dollar, versus only 69 percent of parents who have a daughter.

4. The work time gap.

Due to many factors, including the lack of federally mandated maternal leave, women are twice as likely as men to work part-time. As many part-time jobs don’t offer employer benefits like health care, retirement investment, or transit support, that leaves many women paying for these items out-of-pocket, ensnaring them in a catch-22 of missed opportunities to increase their wealth.

There’s no reason to think that women don’t want to be as fully employed as men, but age-old gender biases hold them back. A 2013 survey by the Pew Research Center exploring why more women choose part-time work than men explained that “more than half of the respondents thought children were better off if the mother stayed home” while “34 percent believed they’d be as well off if she worked. Only 8 percent said they’d be better off if the father stayed home.”

Despite the lack of any evidence for it, there is a commonly held belief that stay-at-home-moms are more effective at raising children than dads.

5. The homeownership gap.

Although slightly more single women own homes than single men, homes owned by men are worth more than homes owned by women. Even the rate of appreciation is unequal. As Time reports, over the course of the same time period, “single men’s homes appreciated by $63,921″ while “homes owned by unattached women gained $53,809 in value since the time of purchase.” Additionally, “homes owned by single men on average are valued 10 percent higher than those of single women, and that the value of their homes have appreciated by 16 percent more than those of their female counterparts.”

Another obstacle to homeownership that women face is their disproportionate likelihood to be taken advantage of during the process of applying for a loan. Women of color are far more likely than other groups to be targeted by predatory lenders. Before the housing bubble burst in 2007, Salon writes, “in 2005, women were 30 to 46 percent more likely to receive subprime mortgage loans than men. Black women were a staggering 256 percent more likely to receive subprime loans than white men.”

Finance experts agree that investing in closing these gaps will benefit Americans as a whole. “White women are still earning only 80 cents on the dollar of their male counterparts. It is even worse for women of color,” says Wiggins. “This decreased earning potential impacts things like compounding interest which leads to wealth inequality.

“Women are becoming the primary or sole breadwinners of their families and often make the purchasing decisions for the household, so there are significant implications for the growth and stability of our national economy by closing the gender wealth gap.”

Liberal’s Victory a Bad Sign for GOP, Gov. Scott Walker Warns

MADISON, Wis.—Liberal judge Rebecca Dallet’s runaway victory in a Wisconsin Supreme Court race cheered Democrats eager for more evidence their party is ready for a winning fall in midterm elections.

And Dallet’s hammering of conservative judge Michael Screnock on Tuesday prodded Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who had endorsed Screnock, to warn his fellow Republicans that more losses could be coming.

“Tonight’s results show we are at risk of a #BlueWave in WI,” Walker, who is up for re-election in November, tweeted. “Big government special interests flooded Wisconsin with distorted facts & misinformation. Next, they’ll target me and work to undo our bold reforms.”

Although the race was viewed by some as a bellwether, results of past Supreme Court elections have not consistently proven to be predictive of what will happen in November. President Donald Trump won the state by less than 1 percentage point in 2016, while Dallet thumped Screnock by double digits.

Dallet won by nearly 12 points with unofficial results nearly complete.

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairwoman Martha Laning said the win was a warning shot to Walker, calling it a “huge loss” for him because his “endorsement, philosophy and politics were on the ballot.”

One of the Democratic challengers to Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, of Wisconsin, immediately tried to raise money off the Dallet win. Randy Bryce called the Dallet win “a rallying cry for working folks.” Walker also used the results to raise money.

Dallet’s victory follows a surprising Democratic win in January in a special election for a state Senate seat held by Republicans for 17 years — an outcome that Walker said then was a “wake-up call” for his party.

Two other special legislative elections are coming this June, giving Democrats more chances to build momentum heading into the fall.

The race for a 10-year seat was nonpartisan in name only, with millions in ad spending and public endorsements from the likes of Joe Biden, Eric Holder and the National Rifle Association.

Dallet said her victory, which Democrats quickly seized on as another sign of momentum, was a rejection of special interest influence on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court.

“The candidate with the most experience in our courts and standing up for the fairness of our courts won,” she said. “I think people are tired of what’s been going on in our state in terms of the money coming in to buy these elections and people spoke out tonight.”

Screnock said he was proud of his campaign, in the face of “tremendous outside influence from liberal special interest groups that were willing to say and spend anything to elect their preferred candidate to the bench.”

Screnock, a Sauk County circuit judge, was endorsed by Walker and backed by about $400,000 from the state GOP.

Dallet’s victory narrows conservative control of the court from 5-2 to 4-3. She also will become the sixth woman on the court. And it’s the first time a liberal candidate has won a race for an open seat on the court since 1995. The court has been a reliable ally of Walker and Republicans who have controlled the governor’s office and Legislature since 2011.

Voters who supported Dallet said they hoped her win would send a message.

“People are pretty motivated on the left, from what I can see,” said Doug Clawson, 58, a communications professional who cast his ballot at a Madison public library as cold rain fell outside.

He said a Dallet win “would send a message that we’re not kidding around here and maybe to borrow an axiom from the right: We’re going to take our country back.”

Dallet, 48, has been a Milwaukee County circuit judge since 2008 and previously worked 11 years as a prosecutor. She will join the court in August.

Screnock, 48, was appointed judge by Walker in 2015. Before that he was part of a team that defended Walker’s Act 10 law that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers.

Both candidates argued the other couldn’t be trusted to serve as an independent voice on the state’s highest court because of the partisans supporting their campaigns.

___

Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sbauerAP

China Vows ‘Same Strength’ Retaliation in Trade Dispute

BEIJING—China on Wednesday vowed to impose measures of the “same strength” in response to a proposed U.S. tariff hike on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods in a spiraling technology dispute that has fueled fears it might set back the global economic recovery.

The Commerce Ministry said it would immediately challenge the U.S. move in the World Trade Organization.

“At the same time, we are preparing to take measures of the same strength and same scope against U.S. goods,” said a ministry statement. “These measures will be announced shortly.”

The clash reflects growing tension between President Donald Trump’s promises to narrow the multibillion-dollar U.S. trade deficit with China and the ruling Communist Party’s development plans. Those include using access to China’s vast market as leverage to induce foreign automakers and other companies to help create or improve industry and technology.

Beijing was reacting to a U.S. announcement Tuesday of a list of Chinese goods targeted for a tariff hike previously approved by Trump. They include medical, aerospace and information technology.

The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office said those products benefit from Chinese policies that including requiring foreign companies to hand over technology in violation of Beijing’s free-trade commitments.

Chinese officials have given no indication what U.S. goods might be targeted in response but businesspeople and economists have cited Boeing jetliners and soybeans as possible targets.

The dispute has fueled fears it might set back the global recovery if other governments are prompted to raise their own import barriers.

Asian governments will closely watch Beijing’s reaction in a dispute that “may compel countries to pick sides,” said Weiliang Chang of Mizuho Bank in a report.

On Wednesday, Asian stock markets were mixed. Market benchmarks in Hong Kong and Tokyo were off 0.2 percent at midday but the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.8 percent.

American companies have long chafed under Chinese regulations that require them to operate through local partners and share technology with potential competitors in exchange for market access. Business groups say companies feel increasingly unwelcome in China’s state-dominated economy and are being squeezed out of promising industries.

Chinese policies “coerce American companies into transferring their technology and intellectual property to domestic Chinese enterprises,” said a USTR statement.

A USTR report released Tuesday also cited complaints Beijing uses cyber spying to steal foreign business secrets, but it was unclear whether the latest tariff hike was in response to that.

In a separate dispute, Beijing raised tariffs Monday on a $3 billion list of U.S. goods including pork, apples and steel pipe in response a higher American import duties on steel and aluminum.

The technology-related tariffs are more sensitive for President Xi Jinping’s government because they strike at industries seen by communist leaders as vital for China’s future development.

Companies have warned Trump’s action might hurt U.S. companies and consumers.

“The administration is rightly focused on restoring equity and fairness in our trade relationship with China,” said the executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Myron Brilliant, in a statement. “However, imposing taxes on products used daily by American consumers and job creators is not the way to achieve those ends.”

The USTR also launched a WTO case last month challenging Chinese policies it said unfairly limit foreign companies’ ability to control their technology.

U.S. authorities say Beijing denies foreign companies the right to block use of technology by a Chinese entity once a licensing period ends and imposes contract terms that are less favorable than for local technology.

Foreign companies are increasingly alarmed by initiatives such as Beijing’s long-range industry development plan, dubbed “Made in China 2025,” which calls for creating Chinese global leaders in electric cars, robots and other fields. Foreign companies complain that strategy appears to limit or outright block access to those industries.

Beijing reported a trade surplus of $275.8 billion with the United States last year, or two-thirds of Beijing’s global total. Washington reports different figures that put the gap at a record $375.2 billion.

China has accused Trump of damaging the global system of trade regulation by taking action under U.S. law instead of through the WTO. The Commerce Ministry’s statement Wednesday criticized the latest moves as “a typical unilateralist and protectionist practice.”

Teacher Rebellion Challenges Red-State Republicans

OKLAHOMA CITY—A teacher rebellion in red states from West Virginia to Arizona has put Republicans on the defensive, forcing them to walk a fine line in the months before midterm elections between placating constituents who are angry over education cuts and conservative supporters who want a smaller government and low taxes.

In Oklahoma, most Republicans last week broke with the party orthodoxy and endorsed hundreds of millions of dollars in tax increases to fund public schools and give teachers a raise of 15 to 18 percent.

They acted after Oklahoma teachers demanded action, inspired by a nine-day strike in West Virginia, where they won a 5 percent raise. The rebellion also has spread to Kentucky where teachers thronged the state Capitol Monday to protest cuts in pensions. And in Arizona, restive teachers also are demanding a 20 percent pay raise.

But the epicenter of the revolt now is Oklahoma, where lawmakers got little praise for approving major tax increases and instead caught flak from both sides of the political divide. Thousands of teachers converged on the state Capitol for a second day Tuesday demanding even more money, while anti-tax conservatives vowed to challenge incumbents who supported the plan.

“I’ve had some political blowback, people saying this will be my last term in office,” said Rep. Kyle Hilbert, a Republican from rural northeast Oklahoma, who has gotten an earful from conservatives. “I’d rather serve one term and know I did what was best for my district.”

The Oklahoma strike showed no signs of ending, with many of the largest school districts in the state planning to close for a third consecutive day on Wednesday to honor the walkout.

Some Republicans are trying to express their sympathy for the teachers.Three weeks before a closely-watched special election for an open congressional seat in Arizona, Republican hopeful Debbie Lesko is running a TV ad that shows her reading a book to children as she vows to “fix our schools and give our teachers the raise they deserve.”

The protests also have emboldened teachers across the country to run for office. In Kentucky, teachers bruised by their fight over education pensions are preparing to mobilize to support legislative candidates they see as passing a key test: support for education. About two dozen educators or former educators are running for office this year, most of them as Democrats.

For the Democratic Party, which has been losing legislative seats in many of these red states for years, the intensity of the education movement is an opportunity. The Oklahoma Democratic Party set up a tent outside the Capitol during the teacher protests and urged demonstrators to register to vote.

“I think the people who will be held responsible at the end of the day are the people in power,” said Party Chairwoman Anna Langthorn. “I think we have a lot of momentum.”

Xavier Turner, 17, the student body president at Del City High School in suburban Oklahoma City, held a sign at the protest Tuesday saying: “I’d take KD back before Mary Fallin,” showing his preference for NBA superstar Kevin Durant, who left the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors, over the Oklahoma governor who is term-limited and not running in 2018. He’s not quite old enough to vote, but Turner said that as young people register, they will remember who stood with their teachers.

“We just need to do better as far as the Legislature and who we vote in,” Turner said Tuesday after joining the protest outside the Oklahoma Capitol. “The national spotlight is on Oklahoma. Hopefully it goes well.”

Democrats already have made some gains in Oklahoma, winning four seats from Republicans in special elections in the past year, including two teachers elected to office after campaigning on improving school funding. But they are still deep in the minority in the Legislature.

Recent U.S. history is mixed on whether such grassroots movements can translate into victories at the ballot box. Teachers were at the heart of massive protests at the Wisconsin state Capitol in 2011, fighting a proposal from then-newly elected Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Despite the closure of schools for four days as part of a coordinated sick-out among teachers, a bill that placed severe restrictions on unions passed anyway. An attempted recall of Walker in 2012 led to an even wider margin of victory than he enjoyed in the regular election in 2010.

Kansas is a more encouraging example for teachers. After Republicans there approved massive personal income tax cuts beginning in 2012, budget shortfalls put a lid on education funding increases. A backlash against the tax cuts led to the defeat of about two dozen conservative state lawmakers, and the Legislature last year reversed many of the cuts.

Pat McFerron, a Republican strategist and pollster in Oklahoma, said for many GOP incumbents who voted for the tax-hike plan to fund teacher pay raises, their greatest concern is a right-wing primary challenge. Former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, a hero of the anti-tax movement, urged citizens to challenge their Republican legislators who voted for the plan.

But Carri Hicks, a fourth-grade math and science teacher in the Oklahoma City suburb of Deer Creek, said she decided to run as a Democrat for a state Senate seat this year in part because of the declines in funding for public schools.

“I want to be a voice for the teachers at the state Capitol,” Hicks said, saying the raise for teachers and more money for education was a good first step. “My campaign continues to finish the job.”

___

Associated Press writers Melissa Daniels in Phoenix, Bruce Schreiner in Frankfort, Kentucky, Tim Talley and Adam Kealoha Causey in Oklahoma City, John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.

MLK’s ‘Poor People’s Campaign’ Rekindled

MEMPHIS, Tenn.—When he was killed 50 years ago, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was working on a campaign to unite poor people of diverse backgrounds to demand better homes, jobs and education.

Now, civil rights leaders are reviving the Poor People’s Campaign with 40 days of marches, sit-ins and other peaceful protests. Organizers of the rekindled campaign discussed their plans Tuesday in Memphis on the eve of the anniversary of King’s death.

Related Articles









What Would Martin Luther King Do?



by Ron Young

“This first 40 days is not the end; it’s the launch,” said the Rev. William Barber of North Carolina, one of the co-chairs of the revived campaign. “You will see simultaneous moral direct action. You will see simultaneous training of people to prepare for a season of massive voter mobilization.”

Starting May 14, clergy, union members and other activists will take part in the events in about 30 states, targeting Congress and state legislatures. Then, on June 23, organizers plan a large rally in Washington — similar to what King had envisioned. The original Poor People’s Campaign was carried out in 1968 after King’s death by other civil rights leaders.

Barber and the Rev. Liz Theoharis of New York, who started planning the new campaign in December, discussed the details at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, one of several locations holding events commemorating the 50th anniversary of King’s death.

Aside from mobilizing voters, Barber said the revived campaign will call attention to poverty, racism and environmental issues. Organizers plan to release a study later this month on poverty in America over the past five decades.

King had envisioned the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington as a way to speak out against economic injustice, as he shifted his focus from civil rights to human rights. But before he could finish those plans, he came to Memphis in 1968 to support a strike by black sanitation workers who were tired of dealing with low pay and dangerous working conditions.

King led a march in Memphis that turned violent on March 28, and he went back home to Atlanta. Seeking to prove that non-violent protests still worked, King vowed to lead a peaceful march and returned to Memphis days later.

The civil rights leader was standing on the balcony of the old Lorraine Motel when he was shot on April 4, 1968. He died at a hospital at age 39.

U.S. Sues California Over Law Blocking Sale of Federal Land

Last October, the California Legislature passed a law, SB 50, that purports to give the state the authority to stop the sale of federal land. On Monday, the Trump administration filed suit against the land law, arguing that the legislation oversteps the state’s legal boundaries. The law was passed out of concern that public land could be taken away and used in ways that undermine conservation efforts.

In a statement, Attorney General Jeff Sessions argued that California’s claim was unconstitutional: “The Constitution empowers the federal government—not state legislatures—to decide when and how federal lands are sold. California was admitted to the Union upon the express condition that it would never interfere with the disposal of federal land,” he wrote.

The Hill reports:

The bill, passed into law in October, was viewed largely as a direct check against the Trump administration, which has over the past year sought to increase oil and gas drilling on public lands and shrunk the boundaries of two national monuments.

The bill was passed as part of a trio in an overarching “Preserve California” package. The bill now under challenge by the Trump administration expressly seeks to discourage the sale of federal public land without the state’s permission—by giving California the right of “first refusal.”

In his statement, Sessions criticizes the California law as one of many “extreme” maneuvers taken by the state.

“Once again, the California legislature has enacted an extreme state law attempting to frustrate federal policy” Sessions wrote. “The Justice Department shouldn’t have to spend valuable time and resources to file this suit today, but we have a duty to defend the rightful prerogatives of the U.S. military, the Interior Department, and other federal agencies to buy, sell, exchange or donate federal properties in a lawful manner in the national interest.”

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra responded on Twitter, writing, “#California’s public lands should not be on the auction block to the highest bidder! We’re prepared, as always, to do what it takes to protect our people, our resources, and our values.”

#California‘s public lands should not be on the auction block to the highest bidder! We’re prepared, as always, to do what it takes to protect our people, our resources, and our values: https://t.co/UV6BniXjMq

— Xavier Becerra (@AGBecerra) April 2, 2018

Becerra said California will rise to meet the DOJ challenge. “California didn’t become our nation’s economic engine and the sixth-largest economy in the world by just sitting back,” he said. “We blaze trails, we innovate, and we engage in smart stewardship of our precious public lands.”

Many believe SB 50 was passed in California as a preventative measure, given recent political moves by Republicans to scale back environmental protections. Last October, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski proposed opening parts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling. The proposal was passed in December, tacked onto the massive Republican tax overhaul, and signaled to many environmentalists that they needed to double down on conservation efforts.

About half of California is public land – you bet we have an opinion when the Bureau of Land Management wants to privatize parts of it. I will always fight to protect our public lands – we all should. https://t.co/VB8ZVDctmK via @sacbee_news #CA04

— Regina Bateson (@bateson2018) April 2, 2018