Monday Minutiae

Only a few little ones today.

First up, the holiday Boxes to Boots orders. Seems the problem is that as of September, USPS is requiring harmonizing numbers on the customs declarations labels. Generic phrases like “Deodorant” won’t cut it any more.

The trigger appears to be a September 1, 2025 rule change requiring all international commercial shipments to include a six-digit Harmonized System (HS) code on customs declarations (9). The HS code system, developed by the World Customs Organization, allows customs authorities worldwide to classify goods and assess tariffs.

The practical impact is significant: vague descriptions that worked for years no longer pass muster. According to USPS guidelines, customs forms now require descriptions that make clear “what the item is, what it’s made of, and what its purpose is”.

For decades, APO/FPO addresses have been supposed to work as US addresses, so when you use a first class stamp to send that birthday card to Camp Kimchi, no additional postage is required.

A first-class stamp can get a letter to a service member anywhere in the world. But according to USPS guidelines, customs forms are still required for most packages sent to military addresses overseas (12).

So you pay domestic rates but face international paperwork requirements.

Da Nang Dick Blumenthal says he has become aware that several other charities have had the same issue, and he is suggesting the US needs to pass legislation to address it. Meanwhile, be advised you need to be specific when you do your declarations. More in the article.   Moneywise

US SPECOPS has been busy off the coast of Sri Lanka – intercepting a Chinese ship loaded with equipment used in missile manufacture, such as gyroscopes and spectroscopes. It was headed to Iran, presumably to help the Iranians renew their depleted missile stocks after their brief pissing contest with Israel.

Iran is attempting to rebuild its shattered ballistic missile arsenal, having bombarded Israel with around 500 during their 12-day war in June. Roughly 1,000 more are estimated to have been destroyed in Israeli strikes.

The UN imposed an international ban on arms sales to Iran, as well as products which could aid its nuclear enrichment or ballistic missile programmes.  The Telegraph

Good on yer, lads!

More locally, DOJ shut down a Houston company, Hao Glogal LLC that has been smuggling advanced AI chips to China by rerouting them through acceptable countries, falsifying paperwork, you know – the usual. Unusually in this case, they got busted in “Operation Gatekeeper” and more than $50,000,000 in NVidia GPUs and cash was seized.

“Gong and his accomplices allegedly led a complex scheme to smuggle high-performance graphic processing units to China in violation of U.S. export laws,” said Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.

Also charged in relation to the scheme are two PRC natives. Benlin Yuan, 58, the chief executive officer of a Sterling, Virginia, IT services company, which is the U.S. subsidiary of a large PRC IT company based in Beijing, was arrested in Sterling, Virginia, on Nov. 28 and charged with conspiring to violation the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA) of 2018. Yuan is a Canadian citizen who resides in Mississauga, Ontario.

Fanyue Gong, also known as Tom Gong, 43, a PRC citizen who resides in Brooklyn, New York, is the owner of a New York technology company and was arrested in New York on Dec. 3. Gong was charged with conspiring to smuggle goods out of the United States. DOJ Public Affairs

Again, great job, guys!

Wonder whether there is judicial activism? Here’s a judge who overrode the jury’s unanimous “Guilty” verdict in a $7,200,000 fraud case. Funny, it was in Minneapolis. No, she wasn’t appointed by Walz – but she was appointed by his Dem predecessor, Mark Dayton.

Legal experts say Minnesota’s unusually stringent rule gives judges broader authority to vacate convictions if prosecutors cannot rule out every reasonable alternative explanation for the defendant’s conduct. The Minnesota Supreme Court is reviewing the decades-old standard, but Murray said West was applying the law as it stands today. Fox News

Basically, the judge said that while fraud was being committed in the house owned by Abdifatah Yusuf because prosecutors could not disprove whether his brother, Mohamed Yusuf, was committing the actual fraud (despite AY’s lavish lifestyle funded by the Medicare fraud.)

And in closing, a new record has been set – a new Gordon Murray tribute prototype to the classic McLaren F1 called the S1LM, just became the priciest new car in history. $20,630,000 was what it drew. The car is a 1 of 5 prototype, and the same buyer also bought the other four of the completely bespoke custom rides.

Only five S1 LMs will ever exist. This first commission includes a full collaborative build with Gordon Murray and development driver Dario Franchitti. It carries the traits that define the S1 LM. A 4.3 liter Cosworth V12 producing 700 horsepower at 12,100 rpm. A six speed manual gearbox. A targeted dry weight of 957 kilograms. Carbon fiber surfaces shaped for efficiency and feel, with gold wrapped Inconel exhaust work that recalls the original F1.  Yahoo Creators

Even if the other cars were cheaper with a bulk discount, the new owner has to have dropped at least $75,000,000 on these five cars. Sure hope he can drive as well as he can spend.

Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", China, Crime, Iran