Franklin Graham quits GOP (Fox)
Guns, guns, and more guns for Christmas (Today News-NBC)
Obama golfs (Weekly Standard)
China citizen score (Tech in Asia)
China’s anti0terrorism law inspired by US law (Yahoo-AFP)
Chinese media: Activists ‘disrupting social order’ (Yahoo-AFP)
Putin name-drops “Hope no n*kes” (Independent)
Inside: Censor or die: The death of Mexican news in the age of drug cartels (WP) · · · →
As elections push forward in Taiwan and Malaysia, China faces it’s own political issue: Military reform.
The report from Reuters demonstrates two things. Firstly, we see that China’s military does, in fact, need reform. This is evidenced by the 300k military jobs cut since September. With an obviously larger shakeup coming, it is clear that the change is necessary, given China’s implied military status quo.
Secondly, we learn that China needs to sell the need for reform to its own military, thereby implying that, while the reform is necessary, many remain yet to be convinced that it is.
Generally speaking, growing assertiveness while implementing reform where there is no current invasion underway is typically an attempt to spread oneself too thin. This not only relates to the failing political establishment in Taiwan and Malaysia, but generic maritime strategy in the Pacific.
The fourth GOP debate dominated headlines through the week. Paris dominated everything, even over the DNC debate, through the weekend. Look at the numbers from Hollywood Reporter: 8.5 million DNC debate viewers, down from 15 million in the first debate. Not only does the GOP have more debates (indicating marketability of what Conservatives have to say), audiences seem less interested in the Democrats. Viewership itself should be a consideration in predicting elections. The Republican base is energized.
The US response to Paris had the usual boilerplate soapbox grandstanding, which is expected from pundits and politicians. The folks, however, seem disinterested in hearing what everyone already knows. Paris needs friends and prayers more than see-I-told-ya-so anecdotes. That being said, relearning from repeating history isn’t entirely foolish. But there is a time to mention the obvious and an obvious time to mourn.
While political and philosophical policies have left the West wide open to all sorts of attacks, both physical and ideological, the West is waking up. · · · →
The two presidents of the two governments of China met in Singapore. The exiled government was protested on the island where it remains in exile. It was a wild week. Taiwan’s president, Ma, defended the importance of dialog while nearly every branch of his government clashed with protests.
The meeting comes at the brink of significant change. Taiwan is about to undergo a historic turnover of political powers. This may be the last chance the fading KMT-Nationalist establishment has for high-profile dialog with their Communist arch enemy in Beijing.
While China appears as strong as it is controversial, the US whispers about undisclosed technologies that the Communists will not want to encounter in the Pacific. Everyone has his story.
Registration, registration. Changes, changes. Dr. Ben Carson was registered in a small, sideline political party until almost one year ago. It will probably help him since most Republican voters vote Republican under protest. He could be the last viable RNC candidate, if the trend continues, and would be a more viable candidate on account of his former membership.
Homosexuals are announcing their status to the world, finding more and more creative ways to do it. Arguably, “coming out” on Facebook is more of a mating call than a warning to heterosexuals to keep away. “Coming out” is no longer as bold and courageous as it once was.
The courts won’t be able to be fair while differentiating the “Church of the Sword” foam sword fights from the tax-exempt Christian coffee-doughnut meetings on Sunday morning. The New Hampshire Church of the Sword will likely have copycats. The non-necessity of the Sunday morning method of Bible education and Christian friendship has been exposed. · · · →
The unstated reason Chinese Pres. Xi snubbed Zuckerberg is probably for his age. Chinese think a man can’t do business until he’s at least in his 40’s and “is old enough to grow a mustache”. Whatever the reason, China having a Facebook page that Chinese can’t see, arriving in America with CEO’s fawning over him, it’s clear that China’s culture hasn’t changed and Xi is deeply entrenched in it. That should scare Americans because Chinese friendships can easily be used as fronts to get what they want, with unapologetic and total deception.
Zuckerberg’s Mandarin has terrible pronunciation. The crowd that applauds him is not giving a warm affirmation of quality and appreciation as an American audience would, but are “being polite”, giving the response they “should” when someone displays even the smallest attempt at their mother language. The more “happy” the crowd seems, actually, the worse his performance. If Zuck’s Mandarin was really good, the crowd would have been silent and wide-eyed. · · · →
