The last illusions vanish

According to local media, Hong Kong police on Thursday conducted a raid on the office of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, where they seized reporting materials. Five executives have been arrested, including editor-in-chief Ryan Law, for alleged collusion and suspected contravention of the national security law in relation to articles published allegedly calling for sanctions to be imposed against Hong Kong and China.

Hong Kong police raid Apple Daily newspaper and arrest five executives / Twitter

How leftist politics became religion

If religion gives meaning to the lives of the faithful, there are a lot more Americans now who lack that meaning than there used to be, and they’re concentrated on the left side of the political spectrum. It’s not difficult to imagine these people seeking the kind of meaning that religion would otherwise have provided them.

Fanatics
Politics has become a religion.

Bad luck

Sometimes a Coincidence isn’t a Coincidence
Coincidences are interesting things. They’re considered remarkable because their combined occurrence seems improbable. But sometimes, improbable occurrences really happen. Lightning really has struck the same location twice –…

Just suppose

U.S. President Joe Biden asked Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday how he would feel if someone carried out a ransomware attack on Russian oil pipelines …

While saying he had not made any threats to Putin in their talks, which a senior U.S. official said had lasted about three hours, Biden said he had posed a theoretical question to his Russian counterpart about the dangers of cyberattacks.

Biden pointedly asks Putin about cyberattacks at summit
U.S. President Joe Biden asked Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday how he would feel if someone carried out a ransomware attack on Russian oil pipelines, a pointed question during their summit that illustrated the breadth of their disagreements.

“Would you rather that your children were literate, numerate, or curious?” Pick one, and why?

Literate, Numerate or Curious? – Modern Learners
Here’s an interesting question for your next workshop, faculty meeting, or maybe even a dinner party? “Would you rather that your children were literate, numerate, or curious?” Pick one, and why? For many, it’s a tough choice; for most, you want all three. But if you had to choose one, which one wou…

Green Woke vs Wolf Diplomacy

The communiqué issued on Sunday fleshed out some of the proposals that have dominated the summit and was explicit in the need to counter the rise of China.

“Three years ago, China wasn’t even mentioned in the G7 communiqué,” according to an administration official who briefed reporters on its contents. “This year, there is a section on China that speaks to the importance of coordinating on and responding to China’s nonmarket economic practices and the need to speak out against human rights abuses, including in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.”

G7 News: Summit Ends With Agreement on Global Minimum Tax and Common Threats
The world’s wealthiest large democracies issued a joint communiqué that stressed the need for drastic action to end the pandemic and counter China. President Biden then had tea with Queen Elizabeth and said the monarch reminded him of his mother.
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Is power self-legitimizing?

Robinson raises the question of election. An administration’s actual legitimacy may be grounded in such demonstrations of bureaucratic power as gaining the acclaim of institutions. ‘We are in power because we can enforce possession’ may be immoral but enforceable. Even assuming a candidate cheated in an election his ability to get away with it would be a demonstration that the system is willing to go along with it. He can make it happen; he has the vote of the insiders. And that pragmatically counts for something.

Biden sounds the charge vs China but G7 horses keep ambling

Leaders of the world’s largest economies on Saturday unveiled an infrastructure plan for the developing world to compete with China’s efforts, but the democracies didn’t immediately agree on how to publicly call out Beijing, including for its forced labour practices.

G7 Summit: Biden urges G7 leaders to call out, compete with China
Leaders of the world’s largest economies unveiled an infrastructure plan for the developing world to compet…

Journo Who Broke 2016 Clinton-Lynch Tarmac Meeting Found Dead

His death is being investigated as a suicide. He was 45 years old and leaves behind a wife and three children. He was described by ABC 33/40 as a dedicated family man, who “turned down an opportunity to work for one of the national networks to come to ABC 33/40, and he made that decision because of his family.”

Journo Who Broke 2016 Clinton-Lynch Tarmac Meeting Found Dead
Christopher Sign, a news anchor for ABC 33/40 in Birmingham, Alabama, who broke the story about former President Bill Clinton’s secret 2016 tarmac meeting with then-Attorney General Loretta Lync…

Biden explains why he won’t hold presser with Putin

Smart move in a way. Biden wants to avoid invidious comparisons.

“I always found, and I don’t mean to suggest the press should not know, but this is not a contest about who can do better in front of a press conference or try to embarrass one another,” Biden said

Biden says he won’t hold a joint press conference with Putin because he doesn’t want to get ‘diverted’ by who ‘talked the most’
The solo press conference is a departure from the last meeting between a US president and Putin, which last occurred with Trump in 2018.
Continue reading “Biden explains why he won’t hold presser with Putin”