Del: Trump 109, Kasich 5, Cruz 3
Cadence of Conflict: Asia, April 25, 2016
Northern Korea launched a missile that travelled 1/10 the distance it needs to. Pyongyang considered it a “success”.
China has come to a consensus about its activity in the South China Sea. The consensus did not include all ASEAN nations. And, the US continues to disagree with the consensus.
The City Council Speaker of a southern Taiwan city, Tainan, was found guilty of “vote buying”. This was the second guilty verdict. He was relieved of his speakership the next day, placing control of City Council back in the hands of the majority party, same as the popular Mayor William Lai. Former Speaker Lee is a member of the KMT, which recently lost the national elections for the legislature and the presidency. With Lee removed from the Speakership, Mayor Lai will no longer protest City Council meetings, removing over a year of city-wide gridlock.
Encore of Revival: America, April 25, 2016
In court, there are three main types of arguments: evidence, law, and procedure. Evidence is strongest; procedure is weakest; law, its intent, and its finer details float somewhere between.
A smoking gun accompanied by fingerprints and a video and three witnesses of a crime being committed is pretty solid evidence. Without so much evidence, a law making it illegal for the defendant to be where he was can also incrominate. Procedures of whether the police made the arrest properly could have an entire case dismissed.
Lawyers, attorneys, police, plaintifs, defendants—they all argue which ever of the three is strongest in their favor: evidence first, law second, procedure last.
As of Tuesday, Cruz began a campaign of procedure. This means that he knows he’s losing. And, a continuing loser implies much more.
Senator Ted Cruz—possibly soon-to-be-former, if he continues continuing—, having no mathematical path to a nomination by the people, at most, hopes to win the presidency by collaborating many technical procedures leaning against the popular vote or, at least, plans only to campaign to deny the most popular candidate the nomination. In either case, his intentions do not involve serving the will of the people.
“Lyin'” Ted Cruz shows his true colors more and more with each primary. He hopes to keep the Republican party as divided as the most segregated hour of the week: Sunday morning. Interestingly, Sunday morning was where he got most of his early votes.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me like America today—shame on us all for not being our brothers’ keepers.
How long can America stammer on about the very value of being “United” that her people contradict every day, every week, and every election? We’ll see. But it can’t go on forever.
Somewhere, just beyond a not-too-distant horizon, the people will stop blaming the politicians and publicly-traded companies—and start blaming their own spite against their fellow contrymen.
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Trump 60% 89 del; Kasich 25% 3 del; Cruz 15% 0 del
Exit poll: Voters want leading candidate to be nominee | ABC · · · →
Cadence of Conflict: Asia, April 18, 2016
Historically, Socialism has been great until the State runs out of other people’s money. In the case of China, it will continue to be great until China’s banks run out of their own loans. China’s debt-driven “miracle” is a bubble expected to pop somewhere just over the horizon.
China doesn’t mean to burst Trump’s bubble, but when bubbles are bursting, the more the merrier. While the international spokesmen (AKA pundits and news writers) tell readers what they want the readers to know they should believe, China understands two things: 1. Trump’s ideas are unconventional, 2. US election rhetoric is usually “trumped” up. Economics will likely shift across the Pacific due to a plurality of causes. China says everything will remain more or less the same. So, everything remains more or less the same.
North Korea gears up for a fifth nuke test. The South sees it as more of a power move in lieu of Northern isolation. Russia and the US clashed sheathed sabres; China piped-in as was opportune. The Japanese had some of their own problems, though none them nuclear, which is more than can be said for Korea. Japan’s earthquake was the largest since 2011 and seemed to coincide with Ecuador’s broken record of 1900. This was definitely a week of shake-ups.
Encore of Revival: America, April 18, 2016
Drama and theatrics! Trump and friends complain about the Colorado results long after those results were foretold—August. Generally, Americans have only responded to problems after the fact, never when those problems clearly loomed on the horizon. Trump at Colorado was no exception. Either Trump is incompetent or only complaining after the inevitable results was a brilliant staging of theatrics.
Cruz’s theatrics took their own form this week. In a display that many still can’t digest, once dinner was served, Cruz gave a boilerplate speech for any occasion, after Trump and Kasich gave NY-specific speeches before dinner. His mic kept working at the event, but the live video switched to a house mic, making him difficult to hear. Later, more sound cut out. Yet, not even Cruz’s own campaign chairman pointed out what happened. “Some mic problems” was his dismissive concession when he should have objected. All the brilliant experts had the same false analysis—rather than reporting that the dinner plans and microphone disrupted Cruz, the as-if-choreographed coordinated-like response of the media is that Cruz was wilfully ignored by the dinner audience.
Again, Americans don’t complain at foresight, only in hindsight. Trump and Colorado’s rules, Cruz and dinner being served—everyone acts as if the obvious results were a total surprise. If truly surprised, these news pundits and personalities should resign to make room for better men than they. Conspiracy theories fly, but there is always more going on.
Consider the other conspiracy theory favorites: a staged 9/11 attack, the false Obama birth certificate… While reports of controlled demolition-style explosions and reported evidence of Thermite at Ground Zero seem convincing, the alleged pre-reporting of the second impact by Sky News and the trail of JPEG artifacts behind a plane in the video make it look more like the conspiracy was that a conspiracy be perceived. If Obama’s PDF birth certificate is valid evidence, then the IRS won’t need paper prints for tax audits anymore—unlikely as much as suspicious. But, the presence of PDF layers makes it seem as if someone at the White House wanted it to look like a fake. Once a conspiracy theory includes such obvious blunders, it is no longer valid. Either the alleged conspirators are totally incompetent—and therefore need not be so feared as theorists propose—or there was no conspiracy, only the appearance of one to serve as a rouse.
So, with Cruz and with Trump, such obvious games beg the question: What is everyone up to? Why did Cruz prepare a bland speech for an event where he wouldn’t be heard, where he was reported as being ignored as if he could be heard? Why did Trump act as if what everyone knew from August would happen in Colorado wouldn’t happen?
Consider Paul Ryan: Cruz worked to oust John Boehner. Former VP nominee Paul Ryan “didn’t want” to be Speaker, but is anyway. Now, Boehner recommends Ryan, who “doesn’t want” to be President… and the only reason people are talking about it is because Cruz won’t quit when he’s losing.
The only sure conclusion thus far is: Trump is a master at winning by losing while Cruz continues to be a master at winning by losing while pretending to try to win. That qualifies Trump amongst the most brilliant Commanders in Chief, right up there with wartime presidents W and FDR, who also roused the nation to war after their respective foreseeable attacks. As for Cruz, he is perfect to stay in the Senate. It seems that’s what he wants, whether as Ryan’s VP or as a Senator who continues to help Ryan by losing more battles during a Trump administration.