America is losing trust in Washington. 38% is actually not that low for a sitting president; they all take a dip at times, especially between elections. And, it’s November of an off-election year. But, the recent USA Today poll shows a greater dissatisfaction. Democrats don’t want Biden to run again, and he hasn’t even been in office one year. The only other option is Trump. When a sitting president can run for re-election, but doesn’t, that is very bad for the whole party. But, that’s how upset Democratic voters are with their own people.
Republican voters aren’t too happy with their own party. They never really have been. A large portion of the Trump base is still angry with State Republicans for approving the election against their warnings. Nonetheless, that same, blamed Republican party is looking toward progress in the two approaching elections. That means we will switch from control by one distrusted party to control by another distrusted party.
In many ways, that would be a dream come true for the American founders—that government is best when distrusted by its own people. As bad as things are, there is a silver lining.
China has been told, then told again. This week, China was told again again again. The EU gave a blistering rebuke to China’s unsolicited three cents about what other governments call their offices. Specifically, Taiwan is labeling it’s representative office in Lithuania as “Taiwan”. China recalled and expelled diplomats with Lithuania in wake of the matter.
Moves like this show the disturbing psychology guiding the Chinese. Reducing communication does not improve China’s position; it diminishes China’s position. So, why would China do that for anything other than histrionic reasons? The recall of its office in Lithuania resembles Napoleon storming out of his own cabinet meeting just before he fell from power. Moreover, analysis such as this does not cause the Chinese mind to reconsider; the Chinese see the warnings as conjured propaganda without substance.
As if the EU’s response over Lithuania wasn’t enough, US Secretary of State Blinken told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang where the bear crapped in the buckwheat. China’s been aggressive; that’s bad. Single-sided—AKA “unilateral”—action to alter the status quo with Taiwan—AKA “invasion”—is unacceptable. The US will intervene. This may be news to the ears of those in China’s echo chamber where selective listening is the norm. Yes, China may be unaware that the US plans to respond if China invaded Taiwan, even after all that has happened. China’s frame of mind could come partly from three decades of countries letting China push them around. But all of a sudden, a fresh wind blew through the G-20.
Revelations and research into the election continue from both Republican State Legislatures and from Democratic Federal Congress. But, as the story unfolds trying to indict Trump or his allies for the January 6 overrun of the Capitol, the same to-indict testimony cites evidence or arguments as to why the election may have been illegitimate and should have been reversed back in January. This doesn’t compel us to unseat Biden. Congress chose him under its privileges and powers granted by the Constitution. But with the past in the past, the only reason for Democrats to pursue Trump is that they fear his re-election because they know he would have won were it not for certain factors they don’t want the public to know about—more.
The issue at hand is not even about who should be president now, but rather what Congressional Democrats’ actions show that they know which they are not telling us. Most of all, they seem oblivious to how obvious it is to everyone but themselves.
Taiwan was thrust into a position without being asked. In 1971, the United Nations removed the Taipei-seated government known today as “Taiwan” and switched to recognizing the Beijing-based government known as “China”. The Taiwanese were elbowed out of the global forum. Now, the US is working to bring Taiwan back in, but not the same way as in 1971. If the trend continues, China and Taiwan would both have a place in the General Assembly, though no government would admit that outcome quite yet.
At the same time Washington swoons the world and Taiwan toward each other, we hear the old fashioned, non-Trump, typical vibrato from the Biden administration. Biden’s own China ambassador nominees says China can’t be trusted. That kind of diplomacy is rooted in neither Trump’s success-at-any-cost focused strategy nor the moderate go-along-to-get-along mantra. Washington Democrats have read the polls and calculated that hating on China is popular with the electorate. This administration will blame and shame China more than Trump. Expect a WWI style war reparations ending to the coming scuffle, not the rebuilding WWII effort MacArthur did in conquered Japan.
Afghanistan’s failure is a false signal to China, but the Beijing echo chamber sees it as a true sign the US is weak. They don’t get it. America wanted out of Afghanistan. And, Americans won’t want post-Afghanistan disaster to hit Taiwan. China is an election campaign whipping boy, but can’t figure out that because China doesn’t know what an election really is.
Democrats are playing the Fool as perfectly as they always do—lots of posturing, promising, talking about the big wounds Republicans ignore, and then doing everything to make everything worse while their voters praise them for help. It irritates and excites the Republican base, opening the seas to welcome a Trump type who will actually get things done.
That’s how the Republican base sees things. The Democratic base keeps singing the lyrics from Tupac, “Still, I see no changes,” then still keeps on voting for entertainment to continue.
But, Senator Joe Manchin has about had enough. He and Bernie are against the bankrupt-us package of $3T pushed by POTUS and the entertaining Democratic Party. Mother Jones needs a lot of money fast, but broke the story on how Senator Joe might leave the DNC in order to not harm the party. Caught off guard, Joe Manchin arrived at the public position that it would be to save face for everyone—but even that had no takers from any of the ever-entertaining Democrats.
While Democrats bicker, Trump blows up Wall Street. The stock market literally had to shut down when he made a business move. Mainstream news—which is anything but profitable these days—would still have us think that Trump doesn’t matter, no matter how much Wall Street knows he does. Could the term “histrionic” apply somewhere?
Remember the good old days when Trump’s Twitter account was talk of the town? This is what happens when a president gets censored in a country with free speech.
According to Chinese and US claims, China has a high-orbit, hypersonic missile that can hit a target within 24 miles. And, that’s why China is the new boss of the world and everyone else should hate America. The end.
But, that’s not the end in the mind of Taiwan or the US Pentagon. This week, Taiwan asked the Pentagon to speed up its delivery of 22 F-16s. They were expected around 2029, but Taiwan claims China could invade by 2025. China may not agree to wait until 2025, especially since the new Communist hypersonic missile has been tested and even written about in the Global Times. All we need is a Global Times article to announce that China is strong enough to invade Taiwan at anytime, then the People’s Liberation Army would be fully prepared to show Confucian Communist love to the whole world.
America faces a deeper issue that whether vaccines can be mandated. We face a conflict between the Federal and State governments. The 10th Amendment is at stake. Mandating vaccines is not outlined in the Constitution. States can decide vaccine mandates on their own. Some in the Federal government don’t seem to agree.
Still, distaste for vaccines is not the fringe, idiosyncratic extremism that “vaxers” claim it is. With the head of the FOP in Chicago telling police not to get vaccinated, along with countless other objectors—including some 40% of Californian government workers—a popular demand to control “anti-vaxers” may be the largest minority oppressed in American history. The American Black population is only 12%, for which Democrats bend over backwards to help. With these forced vaccines—which go against their own campaign promises—the Democratic Party can no longer claim itself as the party that serves minorities.
Biden is creating a special center within CIA for China. Xi Jinping is irate. Biden knows China almost as well as Trump. He met with Chinese officials as Vice President. While Trump played a “good cop” routine on China, Biden is in a better position to be less diplomatic. After all, hating on China does well in the polls, which Biden desperately needs for Democrats.
The US has been secretly training Taiwan special forces for over a year. The revelation comes from a report, officially recognized by the Pentagon. This all comes in the context of the US reaffirming its dedication to Taiwan.
Is the US trying to deter invasion from China by affirming commitment to stopping China? Or, is the US trying to provoke China by affirming commitment under the guise of deterring invasion from China? Which is it? In geopolitical strategy terms, the answer is: yes. In military buildup, deterring is provocation and provocation is deterrence; but wars are started because people want them to start. Deterrence and provocation are merely measures we take to excuse what we really want.
If the US didn’t want a war with China, then shipping jobs to China would never have been allowed in the first place. But, coupon clippers and Washington big hats agreed on the path that brought us here. And, make no mistake about it: we are here. Now, the world only needs one foreseeable yet somehow unforeseen surprise to spin the accelerating wheel into going out of control.
Social media algorithms are a huge problem. Burning out YouTubers probably wouldn’t have hit the radar, only driven users elsewhere. But, Frances Haugen’s revelations from Facebook could be a game changer. This has full attention from both parties in Congress; more importantly, it has the attention of the American public.
The arguments says that greed directed Facebook to use “ranking” algorithms, which decide what users see on Facebook. It was purportedly safe because of AI. The moral lapse from greed is obvious. The untrustworthiness of AI is a warning for those who might follow this Google executive religion, that literally worships a man-made AI as a deity. But, no one in the discussion looks at the turning point of Facebook’s moral wandering: going public. It all started after Facebook’s IPO.
Once Facebook was publicly traded on the stock market, news stories quoted large investors angry that there weren’t more opportunities to place advertisements. Facebook stock tumbled after some bad images in the press, allowing opportunist investors to get more control of Facebook at a lower price. Now, we see the results of a heavy profit -oriented Facebook. The problem started when the company went public. Now, the problem has manifested itself through ranking manipulation. If the ranking manipulation can end across the social media empire, so many other problems would be solved. And, Facebook might be the last straw.
At the hearing, Haugen said:
If we had appropriate oversight or if we reformed 230 to make Facebook responsible for the consequences of their intentional ranking decisions, I think they would get rid of engagement ranking.
While Congress heard matters of greed and ranking manipulation in social media, the Arizona legislature dug deeper into election fraud form 2020. Nothing would undo Biden’s presidency because Congress chooses the president. But, major changes to end election fraud in the future could be soon coming. And, those who knew Trump had the vote would be vindicated, especially from attacks by a news industry that has contradicted everything coming from the Arizona hearings.
Changing social media may be the last hope for Democrats. They aren’t pushing their own political agenda because they know that their majority is not backed by the actual vote. If Biden and the House truly believed that they won the election fair and square, they would be pushing their Leftist goals hard. But, they aren’t. And, that says a lot about what they know that they aren’t telling us. So, they must join Republicans to force the issue on social media, essentially converting Facebook—and in turn YouTube—into public utilities.
When does regulation of hate become censorship of free speech? Facebook deleted content labeled as “misinformation” which is now seen as truth out of Arizona. But, movements should be larger than Facebook. If any fundamental change is to happen in a nation, it shouldn’t be from one post going viral on a website. That’s not what daily, ordinary social media platforms are for. We need daily events and lifestyle highlights to become viral. But, movements that change humanity must be bigger than anything social media could help or hinder. Such a movement is what we are looking at. Putting a stop to “ranking” algorithms was just one clip along the way of something much bigger—something that is already here and will only grow.
This weekend saw yet another step-up in Chinese aggression—over 90 incursions in three days. While the world asks, “WTF!?” Taiwan rallies international support based on its IC chip industry. Taiwan supplies a good portion of the world’s semiconductors. If China invaded Taiwan, that could pretty much shut down the world’s supply of phones and computers. Coming from Taiwan, it’s almost a PR campaign: “We make your tech work; if China hurts us, then China hurts you too.”
This past weekend was a national holiday for Taiwan and China, celebrating the founding of their common government in history. It is not unusual for military saber rattling to step up about this time of year. That doesn’t mean China isn’t a threat. That means China used its easy excuse to make more threats.
The US responded by clearing its throat, reminding the world of its many military assets in the region. The Philippines wants the Mutual Defense Treaty with the US to have stronger language, clarifying just how much protection the US would bring. China thinks it has standing to object to a treaty for which it is not a party. And, China said Taiwan can expect more next year if the “collusion” between Taiwan and the US doesn’t stop. “Collusion”—that’s how China sees things. Perhaps the word “paranoid” has relevance somewhere.
The US faces economic challenges. We’re about to be done with pandemic inflation—that is inflation wrought to tamp down economic fallout from the pandemic, but arguably a pandemic of inflation in itself. We can’t keep interest rates this low and we can’t keep printing money. Britain has also about had it. The West is due for a change of pace. Enter Taiwan.
China’s incursion of Taiwan’s airspace made Matt Drudge’s top three headlines this weekend. With 93 Chinese military jet incursions in three days, Taiwan says its preparing for war because it must. And, Taiwan rallies allies like Australia with the fact that Taiwan houses one of the largest IC conductor suppliers in the world.
But, consider more than just the Chinese aggression. Consider the Western economic situation.
Chinese aggression and the freedom of Taiwanese sells well to the general public. But, compassion alone does not shape global politics. China is chasing a dream of respect—which isn’t as motivating as Western economies needing a turbocharger. China isn’t just making a miscalculation on its military capacity by winning respect as the world’s bully. China is making the grave error of provoking when the allies of its sworn enemy are hungry. All eyes in the West are about to shift toward a war with China every bit as swift and embarrassing as the Opium Wars.
While China takes center stage, the Supreme Court gears up to review Roe v. Wade and gun owner rights.
The Huawei heir apparent and CFO, Meng, walked. She confessed, then flew home. China immediately released the two Canadians both named Michael, which China had previously said were not detained in any connection to Meng; but they were both released in connection to Meng. The world saw what China did because China did something once again.
Meng gets “deferred prosecution”, meaning she’s guilty, but as a foreigner she goes home because of some arrangement such as her confession. Her charges will be dropped in December 2022, only on condition that she does not contest points connected to her case as to fact. That gives the US 14 months to use her confession as grounds for deciding which countries and big companies to sanction, et cetera.
If we use China’s promise about Hong Kong as any example, we can expect the heat to turn up so high that Meng eventually breaks her promise and charges resume. With what action from the US could come, China may expect her to break her promise and accuse the US, more or less, of lying. If she doesn’t do what China expects, she may wish she was still enjoying her prison-mansions in Canada. Either way, her goose is cooked. The world is learning even more about China. And, the West marches on with its goals.
This week, five more countries urged the UN to recognize Taiwan. That makes twelve out of fifteen formal allies.
A breakthrough in science could change how we make vaccines. Up until now, vaccines were made of dead viruses—but those are only trusted with viruses that don’t mutate. Corona viruses—like the flu and common cold and the COVID pneumoniavirus—do mutate. People doubt the COVID vaccines for the same reason they doubt flu vaccines. But, now we are looking at vaccines that don’t inject a piece of the dead virus, but only DNA from the mutating virus. That could be something that actually works, or it could be a disaster. We’ll have to wait and see, but it will upset everyone’s expectations.
Speaking of upsetting expectations and everyone, Congresswoman Liz Cheney wants an investigation into what happened in the White House January 2021, but there is no concern for investigating what happened at controversial, documented polling stations in November 2020. Americans don’t doubt what happened in January; some believe it was justified while others do not. Clearing up the truth about November would automatically clear up the verdict on January. So, one would think clearing up the truth of November would have priority. But, Washington priorities are not what one would think. This is a theatrical witch hunt. Accordingly, don’t expect any substantive results to come from Pelosi’s “January 6” panel.
While politicians squabble over how to chalk up 2020, billionaires squabble over philanthropy, and America marches on toward a Republican 2022. All eyes are on Justice Breyer since he’s the obvious next in line to go, and this would be the last chance for Democrats to replace a Democrat-appointee on the bench. Pride may keep him there into Republican control; we’ll see. Justices always make decisions in favor of the court. Washington always fudges in favor of Washington. And, everyone sees as it happens.
China steps up expansion via Hong Kong elections. Seven editors are banned from Wikipedia on concerns of not acting in good faith and with relation to China. The US sails through the Taiwan Straight again, this time a destroyer. Taiwan wants more backup runways for fighter jets. Escalations only continue and no side shows any sign of backing down.
