Symphony

Encore of Revival: America, May 3, 2021

Books deals are the Democrats’ new excuse for hostile takeover. Publisher employees attack Pence over a book deal, now the whole Supreme Court needs an investigation commission because they get book deals. Of course there are other details. Of course there are problems that need fixing. But, some people are angry that an election doesn’t mean total domination. They aren’t only attacking a former Vice President from an administration they couldn’t control, nor are they only attacking the only Supreme Court that can hold them in check; they are attacking the idea that anyone can write a book—they are attacking free speech.

And, they don’t have the power to change the Supreme Court. If they try, their ability to change the Court will be decided by the Court—which always rules in favor of itself.

While Democrats bark up a tree of books, rich and greedy people are buying up land. Locals are freaked out. And, it seems the rich want to buy the world without anyone knowing. At one point, Zuckerberg told some Hawaiian locals that he’s sorry. No, he isn’t. He’s back at it. Another billionaire drew attention buying buildings in a small Colorado town. Locals are freaked out. Shouldn’t we all be?

Maybe we shouldn’t. Space travel continues. That’s funded by billionaires too. So, when we get to space, we won’t need to worry about billionaires buying up the land on Mars. They think they already own it, you see.

Trump

Thousands of supporters join staff at Mike Pence’s publisher in campaign against book deal // Guardian

Law

Supreme Court’s Ethics Problems Are Bigger Than Coney Barrett // Bloomberg

Supreme Court takes up major case over right to carry guns outside the home // CNBC

Washington as Usual

Monopoly & Big Greed

Zuckerberg Gobbles Up Another Big Chunk of Hawaii Beachfront // Yahoo News

Billionaire Is Buying Up Small Colorado Town—and Locals Are Freaked // Yahoo UK Finance

Space

With another human spaceflight success, SpaceX turns toward flying private citizens to space // MSN News

NASA’s ‘mole’ tried to dig into Mars. It didn’t go as planned. // Mashable

Perseverance rover just made oxygen on Mars // CNN

Pandemic

Concert at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood marks return to large-scale events in Los Angeles // Yahoo News

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Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, October 12, 2020

China has gone effectively “NR”, a tech term for software being “non-responsive”. No matter what any nation says or does, China only digs in, tells the same lies no matter how increasingly obvious, and continues aggression as the solution to losing more friends over its aggression.

Why censor Mike Pence’s statement on China during the vice presidential debate? As an act of good will, China should replay Pence’s statement to correct for the ostensible “no signal please stand by” message during that part of the debate. If anything, letting a foreign vice president make bad statements would help prove that China does not engage in free speech censorship. In all likelihood, the Chinese have been censoring so many people and getting away with it that they thought censoring the American vice president would go unnoticed—it didn’t.

Besides, why keep a foreign vice president’s words away from the ears of their own people. The Chinese people won’t decide how the West will respond to Chinese aggression; the West will decide how the West responds. That’s something else the Chinese Communists don’t seem to understand.

Four nations held a strangely, vaguely-purposed meeting: Japan, Australia, India, and the United States. The reason went largely unexplained, though it was obviously about China. Japan said the meeting wasn’t about one, single country. Australia said no one tells Australia what to do. The US said China is dangerous. From a Chinese Confucian Communist perspective, the meeting seemed out of order. But, in the minds of Western voters, it is clear that all four countries dislike China without having to be told to. It was an unencrypted message China was sure to not decrypt.

Great Pacific

China tells Indian media not to call Taiwan a country, Taiwan says ‘get lost’ // Yahoo News

Pompeo Rails Against China At ‘Quad’ Meeting With Foreign Ministers In Tokyo // NPR

Cambodia confirms US-funded defence facility has been razed // Yahoo News

Trade & Tech

TSMC reportedly obtains license to ship to Huawei – there’s a catch – // gizchina.com

Huawei CFO Dealt Fresh Setback in Fight Against Extradition // Bloomberg

Huawei: MPs claim ‘clear evidence of collusion’ with Chinese Communist Party // BBC News

Six of China’s largest semiconductor projects now halted // Taiwan News

China technology companies face geopolitical, coronavirus changes // CNBC

SMIC Says U.S. Is Placing Export Restrictions on Suppliers // Bloomberg

China

China censored Pence’s comments on China. Signal returned when Harris began talking again. // Twitter @nvanderklippe

China-US relations: PLA slams ‘provocative action’ as US warship sails through South China Sea // SCMP

Censored!
Why did China censor Pence during the VP debate? // YouTube @ Fox Business

Pew survey on negative sentiment toward China, Xi Jinping, coronavirus // CNBC

US warns China against Taiwan attack, stresses US ‘ambiguity’ // Aljazeera

More anti-China sentiment
Stolen Mao Zedong calligraphy said to be worth billions torn in half by unwitting Hong Kong buyer // SCMP

Negative views of China and Xi Jinping at record levels: international survey // SCMP

Negative views of China soar in western countries, poll finds // Guardian

Taiwan

Taiwan’s president calls for less tension with China in annual address // Guardian

What Taiwan needs to defend itself from a Chinese invasion // Business Insider

US warplane appears to ‘draw’ median line between Taiwan and China // Taiwan News

White House has more coronavirus cases than Taiwan, New Zealand, and Vietnam // Taiwan News

With China’s jets repeatedly buzzing Taiwan, here’s what could happen if Beijing attacked the island, East Asia News & Top Stories // Straits Times

China Threatens War Over New Taiwan Independence Proposal: State Media // US News

The more trouble Taiwan creates, the sooner the mainland will teach them a lesson // Global Times (China Govt)

Taiwan says military under pressure from China as missions mount // Deccan Chronicle

Hong Kong

Assistants to former Hong Kong lawmakers among nine arrested on suspicion of helping fugitives flee to Taiwan // SCMP

Korean Peninsula

North Korea Workers’ Party anniversary: Kim Jong Un faces his most daunting challenges to date // CNN

Military Faceoff

How China’s aircraft carriers compare with US Navy flattops // Business Insider

The Air Force is experimenting with a brand new way to put warheads on foreheads // Task & Purpose

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Symphony

Encore of Revival: America, October 12, 2020

The Democrats are desperate. In the vice presidential debate, Kamala Harris promoted a delusional sense of peace with China, describing Obama’s policy to empower China to grow strong and aggressive as the means of peace, blaming China’s aggression on Trump’s policy to disrupt China’s decade of aggression. From Harris’s perspective, time travel would be necessary because she blames Trump’s enforcement of basic respect for China having built military islands and aircraft carriers during the Obama years, which are now used to threaten war against any country not accepting Chinese Communist censorship of free speech. Perhaps she doesn’t think China has been bullying its neighbors; or perhaps she knows, but she thinks the American voters don’t know yet.

Talking as if we all need to “get along” to solve the problem of a sinking ship seems wise to people who don’t know their ship is sinking. Such are Kamala Harris’s arguments, along with other Democrats.

Gretchen Whitmer, who was tipped off to a kidnapping plot by the FBI—under the Trump administration—acted indignant, almost as if she believed Trump himself had planned the kidnapping. Regardless of how credible her response wasn’t, it is not the response of a party that believes it is winning the numbers for an approaching election. If Whitmer believed Democrats were winning, they would have said something different.

Democratic leaders and candidates are resorting to emotional appeals in their public statements. This is the most convincing indication that Democrats themselves believe they are facing a major loss in November.

Russianewsgategate

After Trump criticism, Pompeo says he will release Clinton emails // CNN

US attorney tapped by Barr to review process of ‘unmasking’ resigns from DOJ // Fox News

Trump

Bob Dole claims no Republicans on debate commission support Trump // The Hill

Election

Vice Presidential Debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris // YouTube @ C-SPAN

Biden says voters don’t deserve to know his stance on packing Supreme Court // Fox News

South Carolina Senate debate scrapped after Harrison calls for Graham to get COVID-19 test // The Hill

U.S.-China relations will ‘reset’ if Biden wins election: Max Baucus // CNBC

Analysis: Hits and misses from the vice presidential debate // CNN

Taylor Swift endorses Joe Biden for president: ‘The change we need most’ // Yahoo News

Biden receives a nationally televised, hourlong infomercial // Politico

Opinion: Kamala Harris faces unique challenges in the VP debate // CNN

Rudy Giuliani’s cough kept interrupting him while he tried to attack Biden on Fox News // Yahoo News

US election: Joe Biden unlikely to give Boris Johnson ‘warm, welcoming embrace’ says former ambassador // Independent

New Senate map shows Republicans are increasingly vulnerable // NBC News

Law

Photos: Inside Amy Coney Barrett’s White House reception // CNN

White House

2 more White House residence staff tested positive for the coronavirus // NBC News

Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tests positive for coronavirus // CNBC

Stephen Miller: Top White House aide tests positive for Covid-19 // CNN

Rank & Defense

US Marine Corps assistant commandant tests positive for Covid-19 // CNN

Top military leaders quarantining after Coast Guard admiral tests positive // CBS News

All but one of military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff quarantine after admiral tests positive // NBC News

Washington as Usual

State & Local

FBI busts militia ‘plot’ to abduct Michigan Gov Gretchen Whitmer // BBC News

Condescending, no ‘thank you’ for FBI who discovered it
Gov. Whitmer issues scathing rebuke to Trump // CNN

FBI uncovers plot to kidnap Michigan governor: Live updates // CNN

Democrats

Democrats unveil bill creating panel to gauge president’s ‘capacity’ // The Hill

Republicans

Stretch: It was worse in his first election
Republicans are finally ready to diss Don // Politico

Soc Media, Cybersecurity & Tech

SpaceX’s Starman and Elon Musk’s Tesla just made their 1st Mars flyby // Space.com

House antitrust committee: Facebook ‘monopoly’ buys, kills competitors // CNBC

Big tech blows a collective raspberry at the House’s antitrust report // TechCrunch

Science, Weather & Health

Chris Christie remains hospitalized with COVID-19 in New Jersey // NY Post

NATO Focus

Russian space corporation unveils planned ‘Amur’ rocket—and it looks familiar // Ars Technica

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Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, November 19, 2018

In Taiwanese politics, a mayor candidate's comments about his own benefits from drinking honey-lemonade sparked retribution from the medical community. After a lump under his eye went away, apparently from a vegetarian and honey-lemonade diet, he actually said so. A professional from a hospital was quick to weigh in. It's understandable. If people learned that honey could cure disease, hospital profits would plunge. More importantly, Taiwanese political debates would become outright boring without the ability to, as the saying goes, make lemonade from political debates.

But, lemonade really is important. Google search results even saw a spike after this essential talk of Taiwanese politics made news.

Meanwhile, at the ASEAN summit in Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called for nations to come together at a time when Southeast Asian stability was under threat. In anticipation of APEC after ASEAN, Mike Pence started talking tough, wanting results and genuine action from China concerning an even-flow of trade. He elaborated, that the US has a quarter of a billion dollars in tariffs and isn't afraid to go twice as high as well as take more "diplomatic" action. It was a strong "they know that we know that they know what we think" remark, the kind that precedes otherwise objectionable action to make the action unobjectionable.

Later, at APEC, Pence warned of returning to a "cold war" while making plans for a US-Australian naval base in Papua New Guinea. Rather than dropping its tilted tariffs on goods, China has been openly gearing up for all out war three weeks. APEC ended without a written agreement between member nations for the first time ever because of the disagreements between the US and China.

This past weekend, Taiwan did something that China despises every bit as much as it cannot identify with: Taiwan hosted democratic election campaigns. With all the strong rhetoric concerning Taiwan, independence, and China's loudly and often-spoken determination to invade Taiwan, there shouldn't be any question where China's war-in-preparation will start and why America will easily get involved.

America is already involved in Taiwan to quite an extent. AIT, the unofficial yet de facto US embassy in Taiwan, had an interview scheduled for release with a large TV network in Taiwan. But, after the interview, the TV network, TVBS, scrapped the interview. So, AIT shared the interview in its Facebook page, rather than relying on TVBS.

With the history lessons about Taiwan in almost every Taiwan-related story in the Western press, Americans will take an advancement against Taiwan as an advancement against themselves. China would be perceived as an aggressor and rightly so. Everything the US has done to provoke and irritate China would have only worked if China possessed the old school "Asian Pride" that Sun Tzu warned against, a pride that can't be permitted in a world's superpower because such pride is easily provoked just as much as it is easily shattered. Hardened pride makes for brittle peace. That's something that the entire West won't allow, the US notwithstanding.

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Faux Report

Mike Pence’s Secret GAY Romance REVEALED By Scorned Lover!

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence listens to a question during a news conference, Tuesday, March 31, 2015, in Indianapolis. Pence said that he wants legislation on his desk by the end of the week to clarify that a new religious-freedom law does not allow discrimination. The law has triggered an outcry, with businesses and organizations voicing concern and some states barring government-funded travel to the Midwestern state. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

WASHINGTON, D.C. –

Vice President Mike Pence, a staunch Christian, Conservative, and Republican (in that order), is one of the few people left in this world to a throwback era before homosexuality was, for the most part, legal and accepted. He has previously stepped out against gay marriage, and firmly believes that electro-shock therapy can actually “cure” gay people from their “affliction.”

But all of that seems to have been a front or some sort of clever ruse, because a man has come forward claiming that he is Mike Pence’s scorned lover, and he’s ready to bare it all for the media.

“Mike and I had a relationship for over 15 years, long before he was in the public eye,” said the man, who is speaking anonymously until such time he feels it is right to reveal his identity. “I have letters, photographs, text messages, and…even some risque images that can all be used as proof of our relationship. But this wasn’t all about sex, this was love. I absolutely love him, more than any man I’ve ever met, even know, after he threw me away for politics and a public life.”

The anonymous lover says the romance ended in 2014, a year or so after Pence became governor of Indiana.

“We tried to keep things going, but between his political life, his fake marriage to his wife, and everything else, it was very hard,” said the man. “Of course, I wanted to keep seeing him, but he broke it off, and changed his number. I had no way of reaching him. It still breaks my heart. And it breaks it more every time he says something harsh against the gay community. I know what he’s really thinking, and I see it every time he speaks negatively about us…he’s just doing it to keep a persona, but deep down, he would love to have a dick in or around his mouth again.”

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Faux Report

VP Mike Pence Accidentally Electrocutes Himself, Claims He’s Now Gay

pence

WASHINGTON, D.C. – 

Vice President Mike Pence reportedly electrocuted himself accidentally after touching a light switch after getting out of the shower, while still wet. Ironically, the VP now claims that he is homosexual, and has planned a massive “coming out” party at the White House.

Pence, who has long been known for his completely stupid views on homosexuality and believing that it can be cured via electro-shock therapy, is now referring to himself as “a big, flaming fag,” and says he’s never been happier.

“Oh my God you guys, being gay is so wonderful and amazing. I mean, I wanna say I told you so, ’cause if I’m gay just from getting shocked, there’s no WAY that shocking couldn’t cause the opposite effect, ya know?” said Pence in a fun, sing-song voice. “But, you know, I’m just too damn giddy to even consider being negative like that. I’m the first gay man in power since Elton John’s Tiny Dancer was #1 on the charts. Ohh, baby!”

The gay community, which is normally very happy when a major celebrity comes out, has withdrawn from Pence’s announcement, and calls it “truly stupid.”

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