The Court always rules in favor of the Court. When Chief Justice Roberts dissented against the other eight, he ruled against the court to preserve order in the Court. In this case, the students suing over free speech censorship probably don’t want to allow a private settlement to enable it to happen again. The concern at stake was whether the court can decide a real lawsuit after the basis is settled, but the injured party files suit for $1 anyway. Thomas thinks that $1 makes it real. Roberts doesn’t want judges giving opinions on problems that don’t exist—a judicial practice called “advisory opinion” that expired over 200 years ago. The problem is that this case is real, but it was privately resolved, thus the basis disappeared before the court had opportunity to rule.
The result is that anyone can sue anyone for $1 and SCOTUS could hear the case. That certainly favors the Court’s expanded abilities. The Court always rules in favor of the Court.
Europe isn’t happy about COVID-19 vaccines or the predicted third wave. Americans aren’t happy about how Democratic Governors Whitmer and Cuomo handled the pandemic. If nothing else, someone could sue them each for $1 and a Republican-appointed SCOTUS would get to decide their fates.
Military budgets—that’s the talk of the Taiwan Strait. China wants its budget to grow so it can play with the big kids by 2035. China’s apparently not ready to play with the big kids, at least since India just ate China’s lunch. So, with China trying to bulk up even more, people are asking what the heck is going on with Taiwan.
Israel spends 5% GDP on asymmetric defense; Taiwan only spends 3%. So-called “experts” want Taiwan to spend more. The US wants Taiwan to spend more. Apparently even the newspapers want Taiwan to spend more because military budget is the talk of the week.
It was a strange week, though. So many things have gone peaceful in the East Pacific. China and India are suddenly getting along. Taiwan and China talk more about the need to talk. Threats and vibrato from Beijing haven’t stopped, of course. But, things are getting a bit quiet, and it seems somewhat eerie.
The GOP is in a season of soul-searching. The party that’s all too happy to offer financial support to its candidates wants to use the name of the president some of its members voted against. It’s like the Little Red Hen, only if the rat had been fighting her the whole story. Maybe they should be called “rats” instead of “RINOs”.
Whether voters support or oppose Trump, we should all fear a party that allows its members to be so blatantly fork-tongued. Then again, purifying that party with new blood might not solve the problem. It just might make things worse.
Democrats are getting along a whole lot better than Republicans ever did, especially recently. The COVID-19 porkulous bill is sailing through Congress faster than lies from a used car salesman. Yet, the bigger topic of Capitol discussion is the sixty-vote requirement for non-budget bills. That’s part of the Senate’s current “Standing Rules” named after the late Democratic Senator Robert Byrd. So, they call it the “Byrd” rule. They made it, now they want to end it. That would look like a power grab.
You know how midterms go. Democrats ending their own “Byrd” rule might backfire. They seem bent on getting Trump elected in just four years. Obama took eight, so their efficiency is improving. If people can trust elections again, Biden may have to join Carter and HW in the great hall of one-term presidents. Maybe Biden will get lucky and have a dam named after him like Hoover, or maybe a vacuum cleaner.
China was fooled again. They thought Biden would be the same pushover he was as vice president. Oops.
Human Rights groups are amassing. Now the Beijing 2022 Olympics are a candidate for boycott. As if that’s not enough, the USS Nimitz can’t stop making headlines as it is supposed to return home in a month. It’s currently in China’s back yard pool, so to speak. The Chinese aren’t happy. But, when are they ever?
Even with Presiden Biden, Trump restrictions on China are still going into effect. China responds by banning imports on Taiwanese pineapple. But, the pineapple ban came too late. Just think how much better the world would be if China had banned those evil pineapple in a more timely fashion.
But, since the evil Taiwanese pineapple ban came too late, China had to take more drastic action. They arrested 47 people in Hong Kong who like democracy. It is rumored that they might like democracy almost as much as they like pineapple. While this can’t be confirmed, it could be that liking pineapple proved how dangerous those democracy-lovers really were. But, that is pure conjecture.
In case banning evil Taiwanese pineapple wasn’t enough to guarantee domestic safety, China also requires that clergy worship Chairman Mao. The Holy See isn’t sanguine, neither are those evil Taiwanese pineapple farmers.
Trump is back in favor with the party that stabbed him in the back, and Washington is back to business as usual. I only took a month.
The latest porkulous bill, proposed at $1.9T, is being delayed. Democrats in Congress want to use budget reconciliation to double minimum wage across the nation. Rules of the Senate say “probably not”, though the vice president has the final say on rules, but two Democrats in the Senate also disagree, giving them the last say that matters. Without this theater on minimum wage, the porkulus lawmaking process would go more quickly, Americans would get their measly $1,400 more quickly, and other people would get bigger checks more quickly.
The Senate’s requirement of 60 votes to pass a bill is meant to protect the minority. Now, Democrats in Congress call this tyranny from the minority. Since when did Democrats side against minorities?
And, since when did Republicans in Congress support Trump? Why would Conservative voters trust the party that ignored their wishes at state legislatures?
America is past the point of insanity. Conservative and Liberal voters agree on so many things. But, they only use petty differences to scorn whoever sits opposite the fence. They never try to win peace or persuasion to overcome the many problems on which they agree. Now that the RNC has an enemy to complain about, and now that they can pretend to support the president they wouldn’t defend from dubious election stations, Republicans on Capitol Hill are as happy as pigs in their own poop. But, some Americans are waking up to what’s going on. Some are awake.
China is mixing its civilian population with military front lines. This new Sansha “City” probably should be called a province and not a “city”. Leave it to the Chinese and Taiwanese governments to garble province-level translation. It’s not anything the West considers a city. But, it was planted in the middle of international waters, is used as a basis for applying Chinese law in more places, is highly contested by neighbors like Vietnam, and has civilians.
At what point does a civilian population bear responsibility for the action of its government? Is it in supporting that government’s action? Is it in turning a blind eye to that government’s action, providing passive support? Is it in accepting one-sided gossip about other people they never met nor heard from? If so, all people across the world are guilty of every war.
China grew its power when Western consumers sent their jobs overseas to save pennies at the store. Western civilians built Sansha as much as Chinese civilians. When Sansha becomes a war zone, will there be such a thing as an “innocent civilian” anywhere in the world? All of us involve civilians in military matters; at least China is upfront about it.
Drama and theater! The veil is lifting. Tech giants are useful, but they seem driven by parasites. The same can be said of legislative bodies, entertainment giants, and prosecutors going after the January 6 Capitol Insurrection.
Jessica Watkins has an interesting story to tell. Her defense of January 6 could convince the public that the prosecution is over-stating its case, looking to hang anyone and everyone possible as payback for the Capitol being breached. In acquitting those who occupied their legislative floor in 2014, Taiwan’s dignity far outshines that of America’s. To the US Supreme Court: You have a higher bar to reach, so to speak.
Social media takes a bumpy turn for the better. Australia’s social media law is somewhat vague, but mainly forces dialog. As understood by the Times, the Aussie law, along with the infamous ‘Articles 11’ of the EU law, aren’t aimed at the normal guy nor the pundit. Instead, they aim at huge tech giants who use AI to aggregate enormous numbers of new stories as one more added feature of their already behemoth-sized tech services. The infamous EU ‘Article 13’ law banning memes is another story. While Europe wants to tax links on Apple and Google, then ban memes for nearly everyone, Australia just wants Facebook and Google to have a conversation when they re-post part of a news story.
While the giants fight, originality steps up. In the approaching shadow of it becoming illegal to use any old music on YouTube, the need for original music spikes. Such laws were lobbied for by big entertainment companies; ironically it is big entertainment that now faces its fiercest competition from billions of ‘little guys’—who used to be their customers.
So, to the tech giants, tech-phobic lawmakers, copyright mongers, and prosecutors: Keep overreaching. Just keep overreaching.
The WHO probe into China over the pneumoniavirus pandemic doesn’t help ties. The team requested raw data; they were given a summary. China blames America. Joe Biden takes on China over Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Uighurs of Xinjiang. Now, he is joined by Boris Johnson in criticizing China over the WHO.
Meanwhile, Taiwan has gone two days without a single new case—poster boy of the Pacific! When Japan had a 7.3 magnitude earthquake off Fukushima, Taiwan interrupted its holiday season to voice support.
Now, the New York Post revisits old news about the lady who found an SOS message in a box of Halloween decorations made in Xinjiang. Factory co-workers told the messenger that he was the cause of their trouble by sending a message. If people of a factory are so beaten down, and if the WHO can’t even get raw data on the pandemic that rocked the world, Western voters will wonder what else is going on in China. News reports and recent events spell bad luck for China. Worst of all is China’s reaction that only spells guilt in the Western mind.
We are in a new world of politics. Trump actually stands a chance of being a 2024 contender. Even with the irreparable damage the Republican Party did itself, even with the march Trump invited to Washington going its own way, even with lost trust in the election systems—Trump actually stands a chance of being a 2024 contender. A new party or three will likely rise. Party coalitions may become necessary. Something severe will be required of the election system. But, Trump actually stands a chance of being a 2024 contender.
Biden will only embolden Conservative voters, as Democrats always do. Trump overstepped and lost some enthusiasm from his base. Though he didn’t lose much, to stand a chance he will need some diversity in his platform and a Conservative rejected by Republicans. Palin could make it a winning Republican ticket, if any third parties got behind hit. But, Trump actually stands a chance of being a 2024 contender.
Trump is not Jesus Christ. That’s a lesson his base learned the hard way. He can’t stop the problems that are bigger than America itself. He won’t stop the push for a police state nor will he regain trust in law enforcement. Biden may take care of that anyway, which could completely change the issue by 2024. But, the fact that Trump even stands a chance of being a 2024 contender tells us about the state of America itself.
Biden and Trump are both heavily disliked for their own reasons, but things haven’t completely fallen apart yet. The road ahead looks much bumpier than the road behind, but at least the road continues.
Biden doesn’t only continue the stance on China from the previous administration, he seems to be clamping down.
The US sails through the Taiwan Strait, again.
China strong arms Guyana out of an office for Taiwan; the US defends Taiwan.
An Australian reporter was detained by China back in August; we’re just now finding out why—and the abbreviated reasons don’t add up in the minds of her family.
The UK government argues that there is a “very credible case” China is committing the non-killing parts in an act of genocide against the Uighurs of Xinjiang. The British blame Xi Jinping specifically. Responses from China’s government and state-run media are viewed by the British as evidence that the top of China’s government knows what is going on. British Parliament has support from across the political spectrum to take action, even with new legislation empowering the British High Court. The US responds by turning up pressure on China over the Uighurs and on Hong Kong and even Tibet. US Congress, much like the UK, has bipartisan support to stand against China—and the State Department isn’t quiet about it.
Things appear to be entering the later stages of a long campaign to sway public opinion to support Western military action against China. That is necessary, whether justified or unjustified, because Western governments know that they can’t take action without popular support of their people. Such support for action against China is one of the few remaining popular opinions that unite Americans, which puts China at even greater risk should the White House fall out of favor with the people.
To win a defamation case, the plaintiff must establish five things: 1. that a defamatory statement was made, 2. that the statement was about the plaintiff, 3. that the statement was a matter of fact and not opinion, 4. that the statement was false, and 5. malice, the intention to do harm. The farther we get to the end of that list, the more difficult it may prove to prove.
News agencies don’t claim facts; they report what other people claim as facts. Defamation usually doesn’t become a problem for a news agency unless the agency knows a statement to be false and reports it as truth anyway. Usually, defamation cases should target the false witness, not the news agency or the attorney. But, in the case of the 2020 election machines, targeting Giuliani, Powell, and Fox News looks more like a theatrical stage of a failed sting. Pathological liars don’t give up on the lie when caught, but often dismiss and even accuse whistleblowers of conspiracy. The voting machine companies would seem more credible if they were suing attorneys and news agencies for access to the whistleblowers.
Speaking of whistleblowers, didn’t Democrats establish with the Russianewsgategate scandal that whistle-blowers should be protected?
Trump will live at Mar-a-Lago as an employee, which hosts the first ever “Office of the Former President”. Obama holds such a titular office. Trump is the first president to be impeached twice. His post-presidential trial will be held on Tuesday, February 16, only eight days away. Senate Republicans fear convicting him, lest they do even more irreparable damage than their insolvent party has already sustained.
China thinks they own the American president they helped install. Reportedly, a factory was set up in China to create fake ballots, likely as part of the election fraud network Biden boasted about on TV. But, politicians who steal elections stand against the will of the people by definition. Usually, the public doesn’t find out, which allows those politicians to govern to a limited degree. But, when the public knows a politician willfully stands against the people, that leader can only remain in power with an iron fist.
Iron fists don’t gel with America. That’s something China will eventually figure out the hard way. Biden will figure it out the hard way sooner. China believes chaos in America will work to China’s military advantage. It won’t. When the people turn on Biden, he will turn on China like the forked-tongue politician he is. That will be his attempt to gain unity in the American public against a common enemy. He will pound and shame China harder than Trump would have.
So, in a sense, when the Chinese were set up for disappointment, they not only took the bait; they made it even worse for themselves. They don’t like other countries meddling in their goals, yet they reportedly melded in America’s election. Good old-fashioned honesty and respect would have served them well. Instead, the Chinese gambled on trusting an experienced American politician.
Whew! That was an intense week. We have no idea how close we came to martial law, which Trump did not declare because he is not the monster some think him to be. In the future, we may discover just how close we came, but those facts will hide from the history books for a little while longer.
Now, we see things much more important.
For all his flaws, Trump saved the world, and America itself, from America’s messiah complex, which compels us to “help” the rest of the world—even before helping ourselves survive—even when our so-called “help” only injures. Thanks to Trump alone, we stopped wasting so much money on so much uninvited meddling. But, Republicans and Democrats throughout government could not allow Trump to continue because saving the world meant saving the world from them.
Now, Trump faces a Senate trial to remove him from an office he no longer holds, as a shepherd brought before before a judge and jury of wolves.
So much for Washington hating witch hunts! His opposition criticized him for his tone—something they regard as more important than being the first president to get out of other countries’ business. But, when the so-called “moderates” don’t get their way, they become more angry than they blame Trump and everyone else of being. Frank Luntz gave us a perfect demonstration when he harshly scolded his own focus group. What would Luntz have said if Trump even once used half the critical tone Luntz did? These self-appointed ambassadors of bipartisanship can no longer lecture the nation about how to create peace which they themselves sabotage.
America is spiraling toward a long-awaited chaos. It’s well-deserved. Even if Trump had tried to handle the pneumonia virus as Taiwan did, his own base would have revolted. Everyone either over-reacted or acted like there was no outbreak at all. The Taiwanese did neither, yet Americans blame Trump for riding a pendulum Americans themselves won’t get off of.
Ending wars was nice while it lasted. But, just enough people found their excuse to get back to nasty business as usual.
No less than five state legislatures held all-day hearings, receiving evidence and testimony of voter fraud like we have never seen before. Elections don’t need to be proven fraudulent; they need to be proven trustworthy, and this one can’t be. Nonetheless, those same legislatures approved a more-than-reasonably doubtful election of their opposition, as did the US Senate. They constitutionally and lawfully ignored the people and according to rules installed a president statistically proven to be against the will of the people. We saw further evidence of this in the overwhelming dislikes on White House YouTube videos. Though he is the legitimate president under the Constitution, such a president cannot govern. And, such a feckless opposition party cannot remain solvent.
While martial law came close during Trump’s final days, it is a certainty under Biden. That is the only way he could remain in an office he legally and allowably stole with the aid of a treacherous Republican Party. While Republican loyalists would have tolerated martial law in Trump’s situation, Democratic loyalists already doubt both parties and refuse to vote, which is probably why Biden needed the election fraud network he boasted about on TV. The Democratic base quietly left their party before this election. The Republican base loudly left their party after.
If things go as planned—which they won’t—the shadow running the Democratic machine won’t seek to remove Biden until his third year. That way Obama’s vicar Harris can enjoy ten years as president through a political machine of future fake elections. Others may speculate an attempt to remove Biden within weeks. Either way, Biden may have to declare martial law sooner than planned. Then, both parties will have loudly lost solvency. Third party, here we come.
This is a linchpin week. Britain’s new aircraft carrier stands by with courses ready for the South Sea. America has an inauguration scheduled amid more foreseeable chaos, likely greater than Hong Kong. Bad news on China only gets worse—while the Huawei CFO pleas for a life less difficult than her millions of dollars can buy her, she is contrasted to China’s treatment of two arrested Canadians. That doesn’t make China look charitable in the eyes of the five countries that declared the Hong Kong treaty broken late last year.
Diplomats from Taiwan and the US had a diplomat-to-diplomat talk in Switzerland. That’s new. China’s furious. That isn’t new.
A destabilizing United States coupled with swelling Western spite for China make the perfect bait and trap for China to think it should enter a war it couldn’t possibly know it couldn’t possibly win, but should have and would have if someone had only listened.
