In Encore

Encore of Revival: America, September 4, 2017

Author SymphonyPosted on

Sheriff Joe Arpio was pardoned, as predicted. His case could set precedent to defend future situations in years to come, notoriety only granted because he was prosecuted in the first place.

Trump will end the work permit program for “Dreamers”, children who entered the US illegally with parents who entered the US illegally. Trump has not officially announced, but notified Ryan’s office and the press on Sunday, though Trump’s official announcement will come on Tuesday. Obama’s program being shut down will continue for six months. If Trump were a heartless tyrant, there would not be such advanced notice.

Those at-their-entry-illegal children now understand America’s culture and will retain the skills necessary to more likely re-enter America with better opportunities than Obama’s quick-fix policy ever offered them. Their road ahead will be rough, but without hatred from even Trump’s gentle yet firm hand. The rewards awaiting them at the end of that road will be all the more gratifying and those who supported Trump will applaud the Dreamers when they reach that goal. The road of the American spirit was never easy, it included pressing through the hard times that come with multicultural and international life.

Territories, provinces, cities, counties, continents, and countries need borders as much as homes need walls, bedrooms need doors, and private property needs marking. Suspending enforcement of those rules hurts everyone. Obama could have worked with Congress to make laws for Dreamers, but Obama chose not to help the Dreamers in the long run. Republicans in Congress have had more than half a year to present their Republican president with a bill to help the Dreamers, but they haven’t. Congress still has six months to help the Dreamers.

But, Obama and Republican Congress have done nothing. They delegated action to Trump, who only has the power to enforce or not enforce. By himself, the president, whether Trump or Obama, can’t dictate the perfect law for “Dreamers”. Trump won’t give false hopes because setting up people for disappointment is heartless. It was Obama who had less of a heart by cultivating false hopes in the first place, but not taking action to secure those hopes in the future. Still, there still is time, if Congress actually wants to do its job rather than just talk all the time.

Houston saw a great flood. Evacuating would likely have caused more problems and saved fewer lives. Individuals are responding from around the country. The good guys and bad guys had a chance to show their true colors. In the end, uncompassionate “Churchianity” that wouldn’t open the doors of “Church Ma Hal” lost, along with the mainstream news casters who debated the first lady’s shoes and interviewed victims in shelters rather than helping them. As much as Hurricane Harvey pounded Houston, it utterly destroyed shallow institutions in America and only strengthened America’s spirit.

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In Cadence

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, August 28, 2017

Author SymphonyPosted on

China should be upset over North Korea for deeper reasons than on the surface. Trump’s “fire and fury” comment a few weeks ago was the clear explanation.

Donald Trump was not in favor of the W. Bush invasion of Iraq. Trump does not like large footprints of war. If this administration authorizes action in North Korea, it would not be anything like Iraq. It would be surgical and instant. There might not be time to react.

With the threat growing from China’s venture missions—flying its flag on man-made islands since it can’t find other ways to fly its flag on more soil—the Pentagon would be foolish not to seek an opportunity for a small demonstration. By not bringing North Korean threats to an absolute halt, China may be giving the US just that opportunity.

China and Russia neither want North Korea to be volatile nor shut down. Perhaps they don’t understand North Korea’s political DNA. It seems they all want to have their cake and eat it too and blame the world if they can’t, a mindset common in Communist regimes.

So, Communism itself is on trial, for its ability to deliver on its goals. But, so on trial also is Democracy’s ability to respond if Communism fails to deliver.

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In Encore

Encore of Revival: America, August 28, 2017

Author SymphonyPosted on

This week saw flooding in Houston and protests in Phoenix and Berkley. Trump is serious about the border, so are smugglers. Border agents found another tunnel, a first so clearly used to smuggle people rather than narcotics.

The TSA is pushing its luck with even more pat-downs. The TSA’s end-game of personal invasion is unclear. Perhaps the TSA wants to overwhelm, then back off to a level of incursion “low enough” for people to accept, but higher than before the TSA sported its blue uniforms and machines at airports. On the other hand, the TSA may be trying to reach as far of an incursion as possible before administrative changes from the top force the TSA to back off. The TSA could also be attempting to get more Republicans elected through reactive voting in the midterms. Then, the TSA may also be attempting to provoke more airports to hire private security teams to replace the TSA. They could be aiming for a separate, privatized network of travel altogether, such as hover cars. Whatever the TSA’s endgame is, the game doesn’t end with the TSA on top.

Frustration against Trump is stirring protests to a point where martial law may be unavoidable. People rioting against Trump only play into the hands they fear. If they were sober in their concerns that Trump was a tyrant, they wouldn’t give him any excuse to march. But, critical thinking doesn’t seem to be a common thing these days.

We also have the ongoing chess plays of racism and counter-racism. “White shaming” on college campuses isn’t completely without warrant. As Howard Moskowitz said, “To a worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish.” White college students discussing multi-ethnic problems amongst themselves is indeed moot. But, the solution is not for professors to blast White students with how wrong they are, but to encourage and empower international lifestyle.

Perhaps Hurricane Harvey might cause Americans to turn their heads to other parts of the world. Then again, not as many people in America were concerned about Typhoon Hato when it hit Macau earlier this week. White people are not the only worms in horseradish. We all have our vegetables and sauces we think the world of.

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In Cadence

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, August 21, 2017

Author SymphonyPosted on

After President Trump warned that North Korea must never make any more threats, North Korea is making more threats than ever. Trump mentioned Hawaii and Guam in his warning, North Korea mentioned Hawaii and Guam in this week’s threats. Again, another US ship in the 7th Fleet crashed into a merchant ship, the USS John S. McCain, right in China’s back yard near Singapore. And, the Navy was sure to announce it to the world through Twitter—another blatant attempt to look incompetent if there ever was one. North Korea and possibly China may even believe it.

China is running into PR problems with the West. Of course, the Communist Party has their reasons, but the press wall between China and non-China makes it difficult to get the story straight.

Hong Kong Umbrella movement leader Joshua Wong was imprisoned this week, along with other leaders. China is not hiding the changes they are making in Hong Kong, even though the agreement between Britain and China was that no such changes would be made for 50 years as a condition of the handover. China has its reasons, but Britain would have no trouble convincing the public that the agreement that Hong Kong belongs to China has been invalidated.

India paid China money to collect annual rainfall data to prepare for seasonal floods. China has not fulfilled it’s contract to deliver the data India already paid for. The data relates to water flowing from China into India. Central territory of interest is Tibet. India provides such downstream data to two of its neighbors at no cost. This week, Chinese troops reportedly walked into India for a few hours, resulting in a few stones being thrown. China has its reasons, but India would have no trouble convincing the public that the agreement of data exchange between China and India to avoid dangerous flash-food incidents has been invalidated.

China has its reasons, but the West also has its reasons and China faces enemies on many sides. Vietnam is getting cozy with the US. India is getting irritated. And, North Korea’s status quo is past being defensible. If China were to find itself in a war, it would already be surrounded. But, rather than bolstering the home front, China is engaging in “venture wars”, seeking to have its flag flown over more territory. Such was the choice of King Richard in his Crusades, which arguably cost him France. Of course, it was his by rite, just as it is China’s by rite.

As things look, the Pacific conflict will likely draw China in on many sides. If China doesn’t win, those many sides will be fighting over many pieces; India may claim Tibet, Britain may reclaim Hong Kong, and Taiwan may sue for normalization with China.

It would be great if it didn’t come to that. But, then so would be a lot of things.

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In Encore

Encore of Revival: America, August 21, 2017

Author SymphonyPosted on

Popularity collided with reality. The departure of Peter Strzok from Mueller’s investigative team comes in the wake of revelations that Russianewsgategate is “nonsense”. Strzok wasn’t wet behind the ears; he knows counter intel. An experienced investigator doesn’t leave a team for no reason. With the financial-legal load of people being investigated and the widespread opinion that Mueller had stepped way beyond scope, Mueller and his team could be looking at being investigated for investigating a “known nothing”.

It takes two to fight. There are always heroes, cowards, and hate mongers on every side. Not everyone in Charlottesville, VA wanted violence. Many wanted to peacefully make their point. But, ideologies don’t always lead where their supporters intend. Trump said as much and condemned everyone who contributed to violence in Charlottesville. But, that didn’t fit the pre-scribed “who to condemn before seeing evidence” playscript of populism and “looking cool” tactics of business leaders. So, the big money CEO council Trump put together condemned Trump’s remarks about the riot and resigned from giving the country business advice.

Their resignations, and Trump’s disbanding the group likely due to their resignations, are out of place. It’s a business advisory committee, not a counter-riot think tank. If IBM and General Electric know so much about riots, they should have provided a privatized solution, if nothing other than research. But, they didn’t. They were simply trying to look good by throwing people under the bus at the right moment. Many companies, including NBC and Macy’s tried similar tactics, which consistently backfired.

The resignation-instigated dissolution of that business advisory council carries two implications: 1. They will no-longer have voice, much like North Korea cutting off relations, which only hurts itself. 2. Business leaders aren’t political experts and should stick to their purpose, no matter how tempting it is to parrot populist mantra. Both of these two reasons will come back to haunt these very companies because their comments were a departure from the mission of their businesses and the task of their council. By commenting off topic, they were the ones who lost.

Republicans in Congress, also, seem to be unwilling to publicly defend Trump, merely because the timing makes it “not cool”. It is interesting that corporate leadership, political leadership, and FBI investigation leadership disbanded after their teams had gotten off task. The country is in a “mission-statement” crisis and the establishment is hammering itself in the foot over and over again with playbook grandstanding. Sooner or later, unnecessary appendixes of the establishment will do themselves in, most likely for the better.

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In Cadence

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, August 14, 2017

Author SymphonyPosted on

A campaign is slowly mounting its ground swell against Philippine President Duterte concerning his past corruption. The Philippines is littered with classic “mafia-machine” style corruption, making it generally easy to find scandals on politicians. This has been building against the new Filipino president since about the same time the Philippines has needed aid from the US against ISIS, all while the Filipino president campaigns on a continued platform of moving away from the US so as not to be “dependent” on anyone, a normal sentiment in Filipino populism.

A similar media war is mounting against both China and North Korea. This week, they came together in a story about “Made in China” -labeled goods actually being made in North Korea. Also, an old story was rehashed about the Chinese using “scientific underwater drones” in the South Sea, which could be used for military purposes, if nothing more than to make underwater maps for the Chinese and to spot American submarines.

It’s not far-fetched or newsworthy to claim that the Chinese could use academic or scientific tools for the military. China wouldn’t be the first to perform military operations in the name of “science”. China’s diesel-powered aircraft carrier, the Soviet-made Liaoning, was purchased from Russia to be little more than a “floating museum”. Now, it has been reverse-engineered to model at least four more aircraft carriers from China. China’s underwater drones first made headlines not long after the Chinese captured a similar drone from the US.

There seems to be a trend that China’s tech is reverse-engineered, not invented. More interestingly is the role the US has played. Better said, how the US has played China. It wasn’t fair, but it was avoidable.

China wouldn’t have most of its tech or its money for these military aggressions if American tech companies weren’t outsourcing jobs to China. Companies only did that because Americans were obsessed with saving a few pennies on their goods. The country learned to copy those goods and took American money doing it, then got a big wallet, then got a big head. If the US had confronted “Shame” culture in its cultural exchanges—government, business, and otherwise—and educated whatever Chinese people they met in daily dealings and insisted on using the Biblical view of “repentance unto hope”, China’s government wouldn’t be trying to “save face” quite so much and might even be cleaning things up at home a bit more.

Then, we have foiled military operations, this week, a crash in Australia. A truly-gone-awry military operation won’t be so easily plastered across headlines. The West is trying to look weak in the eyes of the Chinese while mounting a press war against China and North Korea to stir popular support for action. That action is, indeed, becoming necessary, but only after unnecessary trade money and methods made it so.

The swelling conflict in the Pacific could have all been avoided if Americans had simply insisted on paying a few more pennies to buy American. But, it’s too late to turn back. Now, American taxpayers will have to pay for an expensive, otherwise unnecessary war against their manufacturer.

Everyone is accountable for their own choices, but the US knew better. Americans know the Bible’s teaching “to get one’s own life in order first” and to confront “Shame” by teaching the good news of “forgiveness”. But, the US didn’t do that with China, not in business and not even the Christians in dealing with Chinese churches in America. While it is all sad, the bigger victim is China.

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