September 30, 2019

A Westerner living in China, has his view changed

An interesting take from a Westerner who moved to China with initial enthusiasm.  Watch as it gets replaced by disillusionment.

Bannon and Lewendowski redux?

This is interesting:


If this is true, I don't think it's just about impeachment, it's about getting them back for the re-election in 2020. The point mentioned about the ad buy by the RNC only underscores that.  The impeachment inquiry is going to go absolutely nowhere, so why bring back Bannon and Lewendowski for that?

It's also not a sign of Trump being nervous.  This was a winning team in 2016, so why not reunite?

China going for the communist duration record

Clampdown in Hong Kong
The Soviet Union lasted from December 30, 1922 until December 26, 1991. That's just a few days short of 69 years. Tomorrow, China will have reached 70 years of communist rule. Perhaps the Communist Party of China has some trepidation that there's a shelf life for communism beyond which the inevitable decay or overthrown of communism happens within a country. Frankly I've wondered that myself; how long can communism last? How long can a democracy or a representative republic last for that matter? But in china's case you can tell they have that sort of calamity in mind. Why else would they be so worried about the protests in Hong Kong? Sure it's a smear on their supposedly perfect rule, but the bigger picture has to be about maintaining communism. Xi Jinping has not only cracked down on drones, drinking or dissent but since his leadership, China's liberalization towards freedoms has been forced into a hard reverse.

China has made a lot of progress in the last 40 years, particularly since the late 1990's, but now they are reversing course because while they want the success, they also want iron fist rule:
The miraculous quality of China’s achievements makes what is happening in the country today especially tragic—and alarming. Under the guise of fighting corruption, President Xi Jinping is methodically dismantling virtually every one of the reforms that made China’s spectacular growth possible over the last four decades. In the place of a flawed but highly successful system, he is erecting a colossal cult of personality focused on him alone, concentrating more power in his hands than has any Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.

In the short term, Xi’s efforts may make China seem less corrupt and more stable. But by destroying many of the mechanisms that made the Chinese miracle possible, Xi risks reversing those gains and turning China into just another police state (think a gigantic, more open version of North Korea): inefficient, ineffective, brittle, and bellicose. And that should worry not just China’s 1.4 billion citizens but the rest of us as well.
There is no historical precedent for fascist rule and sustained economic success, the same is true for communism and sustained economic success.  China and Xi clearly believe not only that they are destined to become the sole superpower down the road, outlasting previous communist regimes by a very long time, but they also believe they can prove that oppressive rule and economic success can coexist. Make no mistake, if it's possible then China is the place it can be done.  But it's not possible really.

What has kept China going is a series of blunders by the West. 

  • 1971 -The U.N. United Nations recognized the People’s Republic of China, giving it the permanent Security Council seat formerly held by Chiang Kai-shek’s Republic of China on Taiwan (since 1945).
  • 1972 - Richard Nixon visited China to improve relations, trying to leverage the rising nation to help offset the Soviet Union in Asia.
  • 1979 - Jimmy Carter granted China full diplomatic recognition, acknowledged mainland China's One China principle and severed normal ties with Taiwan.
  • 1984 - Ronald Reagan, while supporting the Taiwanese morally, agreed to sell weapons to China, following the Nixonian premise of countering Soviet Russia.
  • 1989 - George H.W. Bush witnesses the Chinese Tiananmen Square massacre and suspends sales of weapons to China but takes no further action.
  • 1993 - Bill Clinton launched a policy of “constructive engagement” with China.
  • 2000 - Bill Clinton commited one of the most egregious errors in China policy by granting China permanent, normal trade relations with the United States and setting the stage for China to join the WTO (World Trade Organization) the following year.
  • 2005 - George W. Bush recognized China as an emerging power and in the post 9/11 world, tried to leverage China to use its influence with rogue nations such as North Korea, Iran and Sudan into the international system. 
  • 2012- Barack Obama faced with China's unfair and often unlawful trade practices (including currency manipulation, intellectual property theft and destructive laws towards foreign companies who want to operate in China, it's protective moves towards rare earth metals) complained to the WTO but does nothing else. 
  • 2014 - Barack Obama in the face of Chinese hacking into U.S. government and business computers, had indictments against Chinese government hackers, but did nothing else, allowing China's communist government to continue hacking, despite the indictments. That same year, Obama signed a climate agreement with China, an agreement China was in no hurry to implement on their side.
  • 2015 - Barack Obama did nothing when China started construction of islands in the South China Sea, clearly intended for military use in the disputed waters.
  • 2017 - Donald Trump reaffirmed the nation's One China policy after flirting with recognizing Taiwan once again.

Every president since Nixon has made mistakes - strategic blunders in fact. But president Trump, despite softening on Taiwan in 2017, has since tried to reverse the nation's course, and fairly aggressively. It's not just the tariffs, it's also the 2018 announcement by VP Mike Pence that the United States will treat China as a competitor and not a partner and condemning the actions of China in the South China Sea and interference in American elections. Further in 2018, America's partner Canada arrested a Huawei executive for industrial espionage and the United States banned Huawei from the 5G developments in the United States because of potential spyware embedding. Just this August, 2019 has designated China a s a currency manipulator.

Make no mistake, communist China is a bad actor. They mistreat their own people, they lie to them. They cheat and lie to trade partners and are acting aggressively in the South China Sea, clearly with their eyes on Taiwan. They also have eyes on Africa and other nations with their insidious Belt and Road Initiative.  President Trump's approach is some unpleasant medicine, but it is completely necessary at this point, before China becomes unstoppable.  True they may not be able to sustain their iron fist communism long term, but they are trying to do just that.  Ignoring it is not an option because as I said before, if there is any country suited to despotism, communism and economic power simultaneously, China is it. 

September 29, 2019

Sunday verse


September 26, 2019

Breaking down the Trump Ukrainian transcript

Every second spent on this is a waste of time and Democrats know that.   They want that.  They don't seem to care or understand that Joe Biden is going to be collateral damage. Mark Dice dissects it for us though.

Dinesh D'Souza on why president Trump won, and can win again

This is an interesting take on president Trump's victory in 20016 (and 2020) with a health side implication of politics versus economics.  

Adam Schiff is in La La Land

Adam Schiff makes up a conversation between president Trump and Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelensky. He makes it up! This fool is the House Intelligence Committee Chair! He has become the very embodiment of fake news. It's so bad he later has to explain himself as 'parodying' the conversation in the transcript. Too late though, the damage is done because CNN has their fake news story.


September 25, 2019

Is Greta Thunberg a victim of child abuse?

An interesting discussion follows on child climate activist (and non-expert) Greta Thunberg and whether her parents have mentally abused her.  



The Left thinks of this girl as a golden goose - she's a child, she's frightened and she suffers from a form of autism.  The theory is that conservatives cannot refute her arguments because it will automatically come across as insensitive and cruel.   

But you can separate her argument from her as a person, which is a must. Further, you can discuss whether she is a victim of mental child abuse without it being about attacking her.  Both are important to do.

Bernie Sanders wants a national enemies list

A wealth registry so we all know who is rich and who we can ridicule and blame for everything.  This is truly sickening.

Democrats have lost their minds

If the Democrats wanted Biden out of the race for the Democratic nominee for president in 2020, they have done brilliantly.  Otherwise, they've stepped in it (and by it, I mean it looks like they have stepped right into a trap).



If Nancy Pelosi wants to be known as the leader of a Congress bent on getting president Trump but not only failing miserably but failing to address any real problem that is currently facing the nation (e.g. illegal immigration, the opioid crisis, China, Iran, etc.), then she is succeeding magnificently.  Otherwise she is ensuring a Republican route of Democrats in Congress in 2020.



If Democrats want to to come across as myopic frothing anti-Trump lunatics, mission accomplished. Otherwise this is going to be a huge self-inflicted wounds and exposure of a lot of Democrat corruption from which they could take a decade to recover.



Oh and duplicity?  Check.



Meanwhile president Trump is looking more measured and smarter than ever.

September 24, 2019

IMPEACH HIM!!!!!

The Democrats Are going ahead with impeachment proceedings.  This is great news for president Trump.  No really, it is.


Is Trump playing 4D chess on Biden in the Ukraine whistle blower story?

Quite possibly.  Or it's possible that some other Democrat running for president is behind this...nah.



Hearken back to this story for thoughts on the possibility.

September 23, 2019

Apple moving Mac Pro production back to America

President Trump, still winning, and winning big time.  Let's trace this back.  (1) President Trump promised and then gave tax breaks for companies to move production back on shore.  (2) A lot of companies took advantage of the break, including Apple, which decided to build a campus in Austin Texas.  (3) President Trump started putting tariffs on Chinese goods because of trade deficits and Chinese intellectual property theft, currency manipulation etc.

At each of these stages Democrats and Never Trump Republicans shrilly denounced the moves as anti-trade, counter-productive and bad for consumers and the economy.  (4) President Trump stayed in conversations with Apple CEO Tim Cook.  Today, in order to avoid the tariffs and gain some exemptions for component parts, Apple announced it would be producing its Mac Pro desktop in Austin Texas.
“The Mac Pro is Apple’s most powerful computer ever and we’re proud to be building it in Austin. We thank the administration for their support enabling this opportunity,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a statement.

In July, Trump signaled in a tweet that he wanted to reject Apple’s applications for the Mac Pro exclusions. Trump tweeted on July 26: “Apple will not be given Tariff waiver, or relief, for Mac Pro parts that are made in China. Make them in the USA, no Tariffs!”

“A man I have a lot of liking for and respect is Tim Cook, and we’ll work it out, I think they’re going to announce that they’re going to build a plant in Texas, and if they do that I’m starting to get very happy, okay,” Trump later said.

In response, Cook said that he would like to continue to make the Mac Pro in the U.S. and suggested that Apple is talking to the Trump administration about the issue.

“In terms of the exclusion, we’ve been making the Mac Pro in the U.S. We want to continue doing that,” Cook said on a call with analysts. “We’re working and investing currently in capacity to do so because we want to continue to be here.”
That's a win for American workers, a win for president Trump and a win for consumers who face no price change on the product.

(1)



(2)



(3) This one will make you laugh, Vice from 2 days ago was saying that the tariffs were not working to bring jobs back.



(4)

"It might not be true, but it feels true"

On climate change, spitting facts instead of fake news is not encouraged.


September 21, 2019

Former CIA, Never-Trumper says the president can say what he wants

CNN suffers multiple head explosions.


LOLZ.

Saturday Learning Series - Hypersonic missiles

A little background on what hypersonic missiles are, who is developing them and the challenges they pose in being developed and to international stability.

2020: Can president Trump win New Mexico?

Earlier this week, I posted what I thought were the worst and best case scenarios for president Trump in 2020.  In the best case scenario I didn't have president Trump flipping New Mexico as a possibility. But can president Trump flip New Mexico?

This analysis seems to suggest it's possible:

September 20, 2019

The Jefferey Epstein death saga

Sargon of Akkad spent a lot of time on trying to untangle the conspiracy theories and strange circumstances surrounding the death of "billionaire pimp" Jefferey Epstein.

Here's the background:


Here's the first part of who killed Jefferey Epstein, another part is apparently in the works.



Count me among those who find the whole thing suspicious but at this point all we really have is suspicion.

September 19, 2019

2020 projections are useless, but here's another

It's far too early to predict whether president Trump will win re-election in 2020, but nobody is letting that stop them from making bold predictions. I'm not going to do so. Not exactly. I think there's a realistic range between best cast and worst case for the president. I'm going to kick off my election season discussions with that range as I see it, right now. Thre is still time and room to blow both these scenarios out of the water for or against the president. That said, let me start with the worst case for the president.

Worst case scenario: president Trump loses Wisconsin and Indiana due to the farming bankruptcies as a result of an ongoing U.S.-China trade war.  He loses Michigan as a result of the GM strike fallout and the constant media hammering of the president. Pennsylvania is lost because it was close in 2016 and Democrats are fired up to win back the state.



The good news is that while the president loses in this scenario, it's not a long fall, and he has a lot of runway to prevent this from happening.  Which leads to his best case.

Best case scenario: president Trump holds his 2016 states - Ohio is not in question, Florida is a reasonable hold, as is Georgia and Arizona.  Harder holds are, in order of ease of holding, North Carolina, Iowa (yes, there will be some fallout from the impact on agriculture over the trade war with China, but probably not a color-shifting change), Michigan, Wisconsin (which is going to be harder this cycle than it was in 2016)  and finally a razor thin win in Pennsylvania is still feasible.

Then there's gains - the president, especially if the China trade war resolves to his favor, could see pickups in states like Main, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Nevada and possibly even Virginia.


Click the map to create your own at 270toWin.com

At this point, I think the outcome is somewhere in between.  2020 is President Trump's to lose and he seems poised to avoid losing.  I'd guess at this point he'll be re-elected but there's a lot of game time left to play and any projection and this point is more for fun than real prognostication.


More thoughts on China

Harvard's Graham Allison & Kyle Bass recently talked about China and how it compares to and contrasts with the United States.

Meanwhile in Canada

Prime Minister Justin "apologize for everything" Trudeau has been outed with a photo of him in what's being termed brownface yesterday evening by Time magazine (because in Canada, the media are liberal lapdogs).

Time magazine seems to be trying to regain their independent credibility by going after a liberal - in Canada.  Let's hope that falls flat, just like the up for re-election and resurgent in the polls Justin Trudeau.

Here's to hoping Paul Joseph Watson is right about this in the minds of Canadian voters:

September 18, 2019

Brainwashed America - is it too late?

Prager U's Goodbye America explains how America's sense of it's own history has been lost in far too many circles.



After decades of the warping of history and America's sense of self, is a reawakening to the truth impossible?  I don't think so, or else Hillary Clinton would be president today.  A sense that something was, and still is, wrong clearly exists.  President Trump is just the first salvo in fixing the problem, much more needs to be done. But it's not too late.

September 17, 2019

Steve Bannon's Warning on China

Steve Bannon discusses China's hegemonic ambitions.

U.S. China trade war explained

Patrick Bet-David offers a primer on the U.S. China trade war:

September 13, 2019

September 9, 2019

Dave Rubin talks to Tulsi Gabbard

Tulsi Gabbard has been systemically removed from contention for the Democratic primaries to run for president.  I'm not a fan of hers but she provides some interesting insights in this conversation, and she does so in a way that conservatives can mostly appreciate - she's far more civil than her Democratic cohorts.  In addition, she raises important questions about the whole system  - the DNC, big tech, etc.

Good news / bad new from the Fed

A few days ago, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the Federal Reserve is not expecting a U.S. recession:


The news you don't hear:

  • no looming recession
  • job market growing faster than available workers
  • strong market for consumer 
  • moderate growth
Here's the bad news for president Trump and for borrowers, it sure sounds like rate cuts are not going continue. They will probably remain stable for the rest of the year, barring 


Is CNN in the tank for Trump?

I'm still playing catch up from not posting for a couple of weeks.  Here's a great summary of the Democrats' nationally fatal proclamations on climate change from the equally insane CNN 7 hour town hall on climate change.


Obviously the proposals are insane.  They are a form of national suicide by economic hemorrhage.  But CNN uses it's platform for a 7 hour climate change discussion, gets terrible ratings.  You compound that with two years of never letting up on hammering president Trump on everything, being proven wrong time and again and losing viewership month after month you can only surmise 1 of 2 things is true about CNN.

Either CNN is so blindly anti-Trump they don't care if they eventually die in the process of their ongoing hatred, OR, maybe they are secretly in the tank for president Trump.  Perhaps they want to be his foil.  They want him to succeed and they are playing the villain and losing on purpose.

It sounds crazy but is it any less crazy than the first proposition?  I know it gets into conspiracy theory territory but there are a couple reasons they might want to support the president by being deliberately stupid.  Their ratings clearly are not one of them because the other mainstream media anti-Trump entities, particularly MSNBC are outperforming CNN.  Continuing to chase that same market segment is not working.  So why support Trump?  They could feel that anti-Trumpism is all they have left and without it, and therefore without him,  they have nothing left.  So they could feel they are in this symbiotic relationship with their arch enemy and it is keeping them on life support - the alternative is complete ratings death.

The other reason, even more cynical, is that those behind the far left liberal progressivism that CNN spouts are the same as a lot of other rich liberals - they are secretly greedy crony capitalists and they like the tax breaks.  It's not as likely as them being just blindly anti-Trump liberal elite, or them wanting to continue to produce goods in China and American workers and America be damned.  

Is CNN in the tank for Trump?  It's highly unlikely, but it is possible.  Their actions have been so inexpiable for the past few years, that anything is possible.


September 8, 2019

September 6, 2019

Hollywood zealots walk back their full-tilt crazy

Debra Messing wants to out Trump supporters. Pure McCarthyism.



It's so ridiculous, so evil, that even dependable liberal Whoopi Goldberg had to call out the Will and Grace stars.


Erik McCormack the other Will and Grace star, did do some backtracking:


Kudos to Whoopi Goldberg and John O'Hurley for standing up for what is right.

Dictator Watch - China vs. Hong Kong

Yes, China is a dictatorship.  Hong Kong was supposed to be different when it was returned to China from Great Britain.  Except China wants it to be like the rest of the communist country.

Here's some background on what's happened if you have been living under a rock.



And here's why people in Hong Kong are fearful of extradition to China:



Hong Kong is a blight on China's image of itself.



Despite the recent decision to scrap the controversial law, protesters had 5 demands, and the protests are not going to stop.  This is likely to get even uglier and it is a potential global powder keg.



Dave Chappelle & Drew Brees are clearly scum

Look at what terrible, terrible things they have done.  Man, the world America has gone crazy if these are the bad guys.

First, Drew Brees had the gall to promote the Bible.  



Then there's Dave Chappelle whose recent comedy special took a run at cancel culture.  Immediately the Left was apoplectic. 

Fact checking the fact checkers

Turns out they are Democrat operatives.

Friday Musical Interlude - Patsy Cline

Crazy. Just crazy.

Go away for a while and the world gets crazier

I've been away so long I feel like it's going to be impossible to catch up.  When I say away, I mean busy with my day job.  But I've missed out on blogging on so many things I kinda feel like Dave Rubin in this interview on his own show:


I need to get back to posting my thoughts, because just like this Jeffery Epstein story, things just keep getting crazier.
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