Symphony

Encore of Revival: America, August 24, 2020

The US has has taken a hardline on NATO. Of course, NATO members love to criticize the nation that pays the bills that their economic policies can’t afford—or perhaps that their economic priorities refuse.

Germany wants an American debt-funded military and complains like a cat when something is taken away. Everyone wants to negotiate with an Iranian government that actually issued an arrest warrant for the American president. It’s not that those nations believe negotiating is an answer; they don’t know what the answer is. For them, negotiation is nothing more than their ongoing career habit that guided them through fundraisers and elections.

Europe is largely Liberal anymore. It’s like a nest of baby birds whose economic theory is that mamma and pappa bird need to give them more worms—and this is the way to keep the economy going. None of these baby birds demonstrate awareness that worms don’t just appear; the adult birds must go find them! The solution is for baby birds to grow up and learn to hunt for worms of their own. But, tell that to European Liberal leaders these days and you’ll get a response of aloof entitlement and condescension.

There are ways in which things must be done so that cash flows. Money doesn’t move merely because the government told it to. People are driven to invent and pursue dreams and healthy ambitions. Keep them from killing each other, stay out of their way, and then they will gladly generate profit on which they gladly pay enormous taxes.

Ambition is unimaginable to a baby bird who thinks it will never be able to fly simply because it never has. Lucky for us, many Americans are growing up. But, Europe might not grow up in time.

Democrats

Doug Schoen: Democratic convention — On first night this is what worked and what didn’t // Fox News

Death & Taxes

And it’s taxable
Filed your tax return? IRS to distribute tax refund interest checks // USA Today

Security & Public Safety

Attorney General William Barr announces nearly 1,500 arrests so far under ‘Operation Legend’ // ABC News America

Prices, Rates, Oil & Food

300 Pizza Huts are closing after a giant franchisee goes bankrupt // CNN

Mid East

Iran sanctions: nearly all UN security council unites against ‘unpleasant’ US // Guardian

NATO Focus

Victor Davis Hanson: American soldiers leave Germany — and suddenly Germany is upset // Fox News

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Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, April 20, 2020

Just when we thought China couldn’t make itself more unpopular, China made itself more unpopular. Perhaps it was charity. Perhaps it was delusion. We don’t like thinking bad things about others, especially if we sacrificed our jobs and economies to have our stuff made more cheaply by them. Saying bad things about China was as politically incorrect as blaming the Karan for militants wanting to kill their enemies. Thinking bad things about China made Americans feel almost as guilty as thinking that voting against Obama wasn’t racist. No one wanted to say that China might be up to no good.

Why governments and global economy jockeys supposedly didn’t see it coming remains unexplained. But, all of a sudden, China is global enemy number one. The Western press has been educating the world about Taiwan in almost every Taiwan news story for the past decade. Anybody who is anybody at least asks, “What’s the relationship between China and Taiwan?” To Western taxpayers and voters, no acceptable answer will be in China’s favor. These days, China is damned if it does and more damned if it isn’t.

Governments are paying factories to dump China’s manufacturing. But, that’s not the biggest problem for the Chinese.

No one gives as much money to the World Health Organization as the US, behind that is Bill Gates, then the UK. China is among the smallest donors. So, why is so much Western money being used along the propaganda points of such a puny donor as China? If so much money is being usurped, the US would be obligated to pull the plug. And, that’s what it looks like, especially with the WHO siding with China on the matter of Taiwan. While Taiwan’s exclusion from the WHO indicates bias, Western countries are concerned about the WHO helping cover up what happened in China.

With president Trump now calling for investigations in China about the pneumoniavirus, other problems could come up, such as the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. China won’t allow that, not even to regain control of all that US money in the WHO. The world won’t have it. Global hatred toward China is only beginning.

Great Pacific

‘Suppress and lift’: Hong Kong and Singapore say they have a coronavirus strategy that works // Science

Singapore’s Ho Ching thanks ‘friends in Taiwan’ after quibble over masks donation // SCMP

Trade & Tech

Coronavirus: American Factory boss says pandemic will change China’s role in global supply chain // SCMP

Huawei founder to leave board of Shanghai Huawei Technologies // Taiwan News

China

National coronavirus updates: Trump says US wants investigators to go to China // Seattlepi.com

Trump warns China over Covid-19 outbreak as Europe approaches 100,000 deaths // Guardian

Navarro: China went from net exporter of protective equipment to net importer // YouTube @ Fox News

As Coronavirus Fades in China, Nationalism and Xenophobia Flare // NY Times

Coronavirus: China’s economy shrank for the first time since 1976 in first quarter // SCMP

Nancy Pelosi calls Zoom ‘a Chinese entity’ // CNBC

Taiwan

Good news: Taiwan reports zero new coronavirus cases // Taiwan News

Hong Kong

US and UK condemn arrest of Hong Kong democracy activists // Guardian

More than 1,000 Hong Kong homeowners could see loans exceed value of properties in first quarter // SCMP

Cathay Pacific to lay off nearly 300 cabin crew in US, calling bases in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles ‘no longer viable’ // SCMP

Korean Peninsula

North Korean defector becomes first to win South Korea parliamentary seat // BBC News

 

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Faux Report

Habitat For Humanities Funding Cut; Charity To Begin Building Trailers Instead of Houses

trailer

ATLANTA, Georgia – 

Habitat For Humanities, who have been building houses for needy families for years announced today that their funding has been cut by over 70%, and that donations have slowed to a trickle in the last 6 months.

“We’re not sure if we’re going to be able to continue at this rate, but so far, what we’ve decided is that we cannot let families go without a home,” said Habitat president Joanne Miller. “With that in mind, we’ve come up with a cheap alternative, and we have started building modular trailers for our families in need. They’re smaller, and probably a little trashier, but at least it has four walls and a roof.”

Miller says that she hopes that at some point donations start coming back in, but she’s not hopeful.

“It’s very hard to get people to want to donate money to have a house built for someone,” said Miller. “I mean, in all seriousness, I don’t even have my own house, you know? People don’t see it as a real need, because they’re struggling to pay their rent or mortgage, and here we are asking for money to give someone else a free house. It’s hard.”

So far, since funding was cut, Habitat for Humanities has built 3 new trailers in the Atlanta region, with plans on having at least 2 more done by year’s end.

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