U.S. Reservists to Boost NATO

Plus: Biden administration blocks Wuhan lab from further funding.

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Happy Monday! The hammerhead worm—a 22-inch invasive species that we hear looks like a strand of whole wheat spaghetti if spaghetti could wrap around your ankles, secrete a neurotoxin, and split into multiple wormlets—has arrived in the Washington, D.C., area.

Anyone have a couch we can crash on? Our only requirement is that it be far, far away from here.

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

  • Former President Donald Trump’s trial for allegedly mishandling classified documents will be held in May 2024, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ordered on Friday. That’s later than the December trial date special counsel Jack Smith requested, but Cannon declined to postpone the trial until after the 2024 elections, as Trump’s legal team requested.
  • The United States and 12 allies this weekend began a military exercise involving a record-setting 30,000 troops in Australia—part of broader efforts to prepare for and deter a Chinese attack on Taiwan. The two-week biennial drills coincided with a Chinese show of force as Beijing sent dozens of warplanes toward Taiwan Saturday morning. Taiwan is also set to hold its annual military drills—focused on preventing and responding to Chinese escalations—next week.
  • A month after the Supreme Court ruled against an Alabama congressional district map that included only one majority-black voting district, Republican lawmakers in the state have approved a new congressional map. It increases the concentration of black voters from 30 percent to 40 percent of voters in one district, but still includes just one majority-black district—and has reduced the black majority in that district from 55 to 51 percent. A federal court will evaluate the proposed map next month.
  • The White House announced Friday that seven technology companies—including Google, Meta, Microsoft, and ChatGPT parent company OpenAI—have agreed to voluntary safeguards on artificial intelligence. Under the agreement, the companies will commit to security testing of AI systems before rolling them out, develop tools like watermarks to denote AI-generated content, and share risk management information with academics and governments.
  • Iran has reportedly detained a fourth American citizen, adding pressure to the Biden administration’s attempts to negotiate the release of three other U.S. citizens—possibly in exchange for unfreezing billions of dollars of Iranian assets. The Pentagon also announced Thursday that it was upping the U.S. Navy and Marines’ presence in the Middle East in response to two failed attempts by Iran to seize oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman earlier this month.
  • A landslide triggered by torrential rains in India last week killed at least 27 people in Irshalwadi, a village about 50 miles from Mumbai. Rescuers—working without heavy equipment, which couldn’t reach the sludge-surrounded village—ended a four-day search this weekend with at least 78 people still missing. More than 100 people have died in northern India in the last few weeks amid record monsoon rains.
  • Israel’s Parliament is expected to vote today on a judicial reform law despite ongoing demonstrations against it—and the Biden administration’s call to postpone the vote, fearing the security implications if thousands of Israeli reservists fulfill their promise to skip duty if the measure passes. Some 20,000 protesters arrived in Jerusalem Saturday, many after marching five days from Tel Aviv. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had an emergency procedure this weekend to implant a pacemaker, but promised to attend the parliamentary session today. If passed, the law would limit the Israeli high court’s use of the “reasonableness” test to strike down laws it deems not in the public good. 
  • South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired several cruise missiles into the Yellow Sea—west of the Korean Peninsula—shortly after the departure of a U.S. nuclear submarine sent as a show of strength against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats. North Korea has also so far ignored U.S. officials’ efforts to make contact after a U.S. soldier crossed into North Korea last Tuesday.
  • Spain’s center-right Popular Party came in first in yesterday’s parliamentary election, but no party won the working majority needed to form a government. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is expected to remain in office, with his center-left Socialist party winning 122 seats behind PP’s 136. The election will likely lead to lengthy negotiations to form a governing coalition, with the potential for either the Socialists or the opposition to do so—PP could form a coalition with the far-right Vox party, forecast to win 33 seats. 

Shipping out?

U.S. troops take part in a military training session in Nowa Deba, Poland. (Photo by Artur Widak/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
U.S. troops take part in a military training session in Nowa Deba, Poland. (Photo by Artur Widak/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

We hope 3,000 U.S. military reservists have pet sitters on standby—they could be getting a drop-everything phone call soon, after President Joe Biden authorized additional mobilizations to Eastern Europe earlier this month. 

In addition to the potential troop call-up, the administration adjusted the legal designation of the military’s operations bolstering eastern NATO allies. Administration officials say the steps will increase operational flexibility, but they also reveal how U.S. support to Ukraine and NATO allies has stretched the military’s pre-existing capabilities in the region. 

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  1. Kooyenga

    To those of us serving in the Army Reserve the line above “ We hope 3,000 U.S. military reservists have pet sitters on standby” is flippant and was clearly written by someone without kids or a parent serving. Even with a dog at home worrying about pet sitters is not on the list. We have children we are raising, aging parents and civilian careers. Mobilization of our Armed Forces is a serious matter. Happy to serve but as a Commander of over one hundred Soldiers I see more and more Americans fail to understand the incredible sacrifice being made by those that serve. The pet sitting comment is out of touch and shows a lack of solidarity with those serving.

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  2. Randall Briggs

    The link to the WSJ article is imputed to show that the armed services are failing to meet recruiting and retention goals. But that article only discusses recruiting shortfalls. And, in fact, at least one of the services--the Army--is exceeding its retention goals.

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    Peter_Shalen

    I just noticed the bit about Bernie Sanders's "Vermont upbringing." That's really hilarious. Does somebody really imagine that he speaks with a Vermont accent? Or is this an intentional joke that's too subtle for me?

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    Kimbaukusfitzgibbon

    RE: The aforementioned article from Reason on the Foster Care crisis. It’s worth your time to read it.

    I am a Court Appointed Special Advocate, CASA, for children in Foster Care in Nevada.

    The article does a very good job of explaining the direness of the situation “400,000 children in Foster Care” and ” children languish in institutions or on the floors of child welfare office lobbies”; the ridiculousness of what potential licensed foster parents are asked to do or address: “Applicants in every state are also subject to a "home study" that includes invasive questions about their sex lives and relationships with their parents.” The length of the process “an average of 160 days”. The benefits of kin foster care, and how kin, who “have a poverty rate twice as high as the general population” often take in abused children sans licensure for either no or less funding than licensed foster care homes.

    The article states,” Recruitment of foster parents is at an all-time low, partly because people are fed up with this onerous licensing process.” The process is certainly part of it, but that’s always been an issue. IMO the fallout from COVID is much more the issue now.

    Here’s my argument with this article: “States do not actually have to license relatives at all. They can place a child with a relative in less than an hour.” That is NOT a good idea. Abuse by either neglect or violence that tends to be learned at home. There needs to be a comprehensive evaluation of the child before placement in order to determine the extent of the abuse. The abbreviated non-licensure process that Nevada uses for kin or fictive kin (a person with a close bond with the child) placement has much less restrictive home requirements, excludes homes for reasonable reasons such as for having inhabitants who “committed serious crimes against children or vulnerable adults”, and doesn’t ask you about your sex life. Nevada offers financial assistance to such kin (but not fictive kin) when over the age of 63 and is indexed by poverty, but is at most half of the licensed foster home stipend. These adults and children deserve more, and it’s worth your tax dollars to support these people.

    Thank you for reading. I couldn’t bring myself to pst this in the Reason comment section. It’s hella crazy.

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    SandyG

    Just a response to Doug Burgam: I live in a big state, and that he comes from a little state means nothing to me. But his comparison of his origins and those of Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter or Bernie Sanders ring hollow for me. Clinton and Carter were experienced governors, and Bernie an experienced member of Congress and a city mayor. Burgam has no executive experience in government.

    And treat government like a business? Ridiculous. Government is NOT a business. It has no profit motive and it can never go out of business. More reasons here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johntharvey/2012/10/05/government-vs-business/?sh=36635fb52a54.

    Further, previous presidents have tried:
    - Al Gore led the Reinventing Government initiative in 1993 and 94 "to bring private-sector efficiency into a more results-oriented federal space." Results? That's here: https://www.govexec.com/management/2013/04/what-reinvention-wrought/62836/.
    - Reagan declared war on "a spendthrift, irresponsible bureaucracy".
    - The 108th Congress (2003-2005) had all Inspectors General investigate waste, fraud and abuse in federal programs.
    - Trump promised to manage the U.S. government like a business. Results? that's here: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-true-size-of-government-is-nearing-a-record-high/.

    It's an empty slogan. Only people who haven't been paying attention to presidential politics in the last 40 years would be impressed by that.

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  6. Cparlato

    Bernie Sanders' what now?

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  7. R. James

    The NSC spokesman described the reserve support as logistical and medical in nature, whereas the DOD analyst described it as more of a replacement of operational forces. Just highlighting for everyone that these are not the same roles. Perhaps the 3,000 is a blend of both, but it's unclear based on the conflicting statements about the mission for these selected reservists.

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    Jhc

    "“In North Dakota, we treat the taxpayers like they’re customers,” Burgum told Kyle Peterson for the Wall Street Journal’s weekend interview."

    Nothing raises my blood pressure like a letter from the IRS that opens, "Dear Customer."

    Nope. Nah. I am not a customer in any sense.

    I didn't get to chose to pay you, IRS. So call me 'Taxpayer, or 'Citizen', or even 'Milk cow' - but don't call me 'Customer.'

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    PaulH

    Perhaps more interesting than cutting off funding to the WIV are the revelations that have come out over the last week or so from the scientists who wrote the highly cited Proximal Origin paper (which in Feb/Mar 2020 dismissed the lab leak theory as "improbable"). It turns out -- based on e-mails and slack communications -- that the authors thought that a lab leak was very plausible until all of a sudden they focused on discrediting that that possibility. There is little evidence of scientific facts causing this abrupt change, but some references to "higher ups" intervening.

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  10. Scianti7

    North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum: “There’s so much we can do to reduce the size and scope of the two million federal employees, just by having a business mindset.”

    Why does anyone think running a government is anything like running a business? In a business a CEO or owner has a lot more authority & less accountability than anyone in any position of government should have. Ideally, our country is supposed to be governed by representative committee. It requires convincing, persuading, compromise & being willing to learn & look at things from different angles/perspectives to collectively come up with reasonable solutions. That is not how any business I've been a part of has worked.

    I specifically refuse to vote for anyone who thinks their experience running a business qualifies them to run for office. Because usually that's all they say about it, nothing about leadership, coalitions, compromise, hearings etc...

    Perhaps that isn't what he's trying to say, but I'm wary of the "I'm a 'successful' business person therefore I can run a country." No. Those aren't equal.

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      Jhc

      Ross Perot all over again, maybe?

      But if Gov. Burgum means that the government needs to keep its "left hands" and "right hands" coordinated -- that is, it should avoid contradictory or nonsensical regulations -- then more power to him.

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      1. Scianti7

        I was in highschool when Perot ran the first time (was it only once? I don't recall). I appreciated his influence on having our national debt addressed by both Clinton & congress, to be repealed by GW Bush. But I don't think a country is like a company. Most companies do not have so much at stake with each decision. You're not allowed to kill your workers or risk their lives,at least if you do there is accountability. Governments se d people to war, can bomb other places, can mitigate or fail to mitigate widespread illness, etc. I think the differences are endless.

        If there are actual superfluous regulations, by all means streamline. However, many times I've heard that argument right before an agency is gutted & their authority thwarted. Like when Trump admin decided baby products don't need to be tested by the government for safety any more, because apparently they forgot why we had to do that (the industry had a history of lying & not doing it which led to dead babies, sure you can sue but you can't get your baby back).

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