Navy
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‘Liberty Counsel filed a response asking federal Judge Steve Merryday to deny the Department of Defense’s (DOD) motion to dismiss the case of Navy SEAL 1 v. Austin. The DOD raised the same arguments the court has previously rejected. The DOD added a new argument that each of the plaintiffs and the class should be separately litigated in different courts around the country. However, venue is proper in Tampa because some of the Plaintiffs reside in the Tampa district. The courts are unanimous that a lawsuit may be brought in a court district where some of the plaintiffs or defendants reside. Moreover, the lawsuit alleges a cause of action common to all members of the class – namely, that the DOD and the military branches have unlawfully denied the religious accommodation requests of the service members under both the First Amendment and the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Liberty Counsel represents many military plaintiffs and is seeking class certification for all six branches of the military who have been unlawfully denied religious exemptions from the COVID shot mandate.
Previous injunctions granted by the Court have already determined that the Plaintiffs’ free exercise rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) have been violated. This in addition to the irreparable harm of being discharged and, for some, having to pay back education and training costs. As a result of the pressure, some service members have committed suicide.
After Judge Merryday ordered each branch of the military to file a detailed report regarding religious exemptions from the COVID-19 shot every 14 days beginning Friday, January 7, 2022, the filings prove the DOD is committing blatant religious discrimination. Out of thousands of thousands of requests received, only a few were granted and those service members were already scheduled to leave the military. However, at least 3,449 medical exemptions have been granted. The reports confirm the military continues to deny religious exemptions while granting medical exemptions.
Liberty Counsel presented testimony and several critical documents before federal Judge Steven Merryday during a preliminary injunction for a U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet who faced immediate discipline after being denied his appeal for a religious accommodation from the COVID shot mandate.
During one of the hearings, Liberty Counsel also presented evidence that on January 6, 2022, Brigadier General Paul Moga, a one-star general and commandant of the Air Force Academy, announced to the cadets at a lunch meeting regarding the Omicron variant that “there is very little danger to the force.”
In Congressional testimony on February 17, 2021, Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Director for Operations, Maj. Gen. Jeff Taliaferro, a two-star general, said the military was “fully capable of operating in a COVID environment before vaccinations were available.” Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Committee, asked: “So I take that to mean yes, they’re deployable even if they have not been vaccinated?” Maj. Gen. Taliaferro responded: “Yes, Sir.”
Evidence presented during the hearing included March 2022 memos from Major General Richard D. Burke (Two-Star General), Deputy Principal Cyber Advisor to the Secretary of Defense and Senior Military Advisor for Cyber, and Lieutenant General Michael Howard (Three-Star General), who oversees the U.S. European Command (EUCOM) as Deputy Commander, regarding the approval of mission critical travel for unvaccinated service members who have “no discernable negative impact” on military readiness.
The memo dated March 5, 2022, from Maj. Gen. Burke requested certain “unvaccinated” service members be approved for “mission essential” travel and deployment. He wrote, “Assessed risk to force for co-mingling vaccinated and unvaccinated personnel is low.” In a second memo written the same day, Maj. Gen. Burke wrote: “Headquarters and Headquarters’ Battalion (HHBN), V Corps is 97% fully vaccinated. Assessed risk to force for comingling vaccinated and unvaccinated personnel is low.”
On March 6, 2022, Lt. Gen. Michael Howard’s response to Maj. Gen. Burke’s request regarding “unvaccinated” service members for “mission essential” deployments, wrote “The request…is approved.”
Liberty Counsel also introduced evidence regarding a new change by the Marine Corps for “Quarantine and Isolation” (Q&I). Based on the data, the Marine Corps no longer requires COVID-positive Marines to Q&I from healthy Marines. Now, they are in the same barracks as Marines who do not have COVID and there is no longer any testing required.
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “The evidence is clear that these courageous service members have a strong case and are being used as part of a purging of our military members who love God and love America. There is no other logical or scientific explanation for the Department of Defense’s continued insistence on the shot mandate. We will continue to fight for every service member.”’https://theiowastandard.com/dods-desperate-attempt-to-dismiss-navy-seal-1-case/
‘International demand for commercial ships is fueling the growth of the Chinese navy, according to a new report, which found that billions of dollars in foreign shipbuilding contracts could be being used by Beijing to fund new combat vessels.
The new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a security-focused think tank, found that four major shipyards responsible for building Chinese naval vessels also raked in billions of dollars in foreign commercial investment and technology transfers every year.
“China’s opaque business ecosystem offers limited transparency into the flow of capital within its shipbuilding industry, but available evidence indicates that profits from foreign orders likely lower the costs of upgrading China’s navy,” the report said.
This is because of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) strategy of military-civil fusion (MCF), which aims to prioritize commercial, technological, and research endeavors which simultaneously serve civilian and military purposes.
With MCF in mind, China’s premier state-owned shipbuilders are able to use the profits from international contracts to hasten military projects, such as the CCP’s expanding fleet of aircraft carriers.
The report notes that one such company, state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), is the primary builder of Chinese naval vessels, and also develops weapons and other national security equipment for the regime.
According to the report, CSSC alone accounts for 21.5 percent of the world’s shipbuilding market, and the mammoth company controls more than 100 subsidiaries. The United States placed CSSC on an investment blacklist in 2020 but, as the numbers demonstrate, such has had little to no effect on international demand.
The example of CSSC highlight the important issue of China’s centrality to the global shipbuilding market. In 2020, China accounted for more than 40 percent of all merchant shipbuilding in the world. Second place went to South Korea with 31.5 percent, and third to Japan with 22.2 percent.
The rest of the world combined accounted for less than eight percent of all merchant shipbuilding.
Vitally, the report found that the same shipyards used to build the world’s merchant vessels were also being used to rocket China’s navy to global ascendency.
Four shipyards, Dalian, Jiangnan, Hudong-Zhonghua, and Huangpu Wenchong, received billions from foreign investors in recent years, where top firms from France and even Taiwan commissioned ships to be built in the same drydocks as China’s combat vessels.
Previously, a French ship was being built in the same drydock that is now constructing China’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier. Recent satellite imaging, moreover, showed that a commercial container ship for Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine Corporation was being built in the next dock over.
The incident raises concerns that the Taiwanese shipping titan could be essentially funding China’s capacity to invade the self-governed island.
“It should raise more than a few eyebrows in Taipei that Taiwan’s premier shipping company is pouring money into the coffers of shipyards assembling warships for the Chinese navy,” the report said.
“Given CSSC’s lack of transparency and its central role in supporting the PLAN [People’s Liberation Army Navy], foreign companies should exercise more caution when engaging with it and other Chinese shipbuilders. For democracies, especially those in the region that must weather the brunt of China’s rising assertiveness, these ties are more than just worrying. They present a tangible threat to national security. ”
In all, CSIS found that Evergreen purchased 44 vessels from China from 2018-2022. Only two of those orders were built by shipyards that were not known to produce combat vessels for the Chinese navy.
Evergreen’s contracts with CSSC are just the tip of the iceberg, however.
The CSIS report found that from 2019 to 2021, the four aforementioned shipyards received 211 orders for commercial vessels, with some 64 percent of those orders originating from outside of China and Hong Kong.
As such, the report warned that global demand for commercial vessels was likely accelerating Chinese naval development by a significant margin at a time when the West is increasingly at odds with the communist regime over its global ambitions.
Nevertheless, the report said that there was a silver lining in the fact that the two other largest shipbuilders were South Korea and Japan, which CSIS described as “thriving democracies.” Both nations also enjoy favorable trade and security agreements with the United States.
As such, CSIS recommended that lawmakers in Washington seek to draw international shipbuilding contracts away from China and into the markets of more democratic societies in the Pacific.
“Policymakers in Washington should explore opportunities to incentivize foreign companies away from China and toward partnerships with South Korean and Japanese alternatives,” the report said.
“The shift will not be easy or immediate. Short-term capacity issues will arise. But in managing hard choices vis-à-vis China, especially those critical to national security, the United States should be prepared to steer the lead ship. “’https://www.theepochtimes.com/international-shipbuilding-contracts-fuel-chinese-navy-modernization-report_4397072.html?est=eBFJ5doDK8dDckunmwgx%2BtWt2FpLlFD1zeTDrC5b5YeHX9NJncBCWQzK%2FCyeWH%2FPdg%3D%3D
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