Random stuff I find interesting and you may not.
The investigation of Hunter Biden is not simply about political hay-making, though hay will be made; it is not simply being used as a cudgel against Joe Biden; and — most important — it is not about “family.” How much and exactly what kind of a weasel Hunter Biden is constitutes the minor question, but … Read more
On the first day of Hanukah, December 11, 2020, groups of Jews in a number of countries in a gesture of solidarity celebrated the festival with Uighur Muslims. Prominent Jews had already expressed concern about China’s treatment of these Muslims. Former British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sachs on July 22, 2020 called the treatment a moral … Read more
Human rights groups say that the International Olympic Committee is ignoring their concerns over China’s treatment of the Uighur ethnic minority group and Beijing’s repressive policy in Hong Kong. As first reported by the Associated Press, the activists allege that the committee has “turned a blind eye to the widespread and systematic human rights violations … Read more
China is a success if you consider how economic freedom increased after Mao’s death and hundreds of millions of people were lifted out of unimaginable poverty. But I explain in this interview that China is also a failure because the reforms were too limited and the country may now be drifting in the wrong direction. … Read more
Yesterday, my PJ Media colleague Tyler O’Neill presented a convincing case that the Chinese Communists are the closest analog to Hitler and the Nazis in the world today. Tyler’s thesis is that liberals are hysterical about Trump when they should be angry at Chinese Communist President Xi Jinping for being the true fascist dictator. Tyler … Read more
Pessimism is the mood of the day, with 80 percent of Americans saying the country is generally out of control. Even before civil unrest and pestilence, most Americans believed our country was in decline, Pew reported, with a shrinking middle class, increased indebtedness and growing polarization. It’s a dark hour, but the United States has … Read more
At a San Francisco gala in March 2014, Stanford University President John Hennessy accepted an award for the school’s “Advancement in U.S.-China Relations.” The award was granted by the Committee of 100, a group of Chinese Americans in business, government, academia and the arts, and the school boasted about it on its website. Stanford began … Read more
China is a serial abuser of human rights, but governments and corporations have often looked the other way out of fear that the authoritarian central government will cut off access to the country’s 1.4 billion potential customers. In one particular area of human rights abuses, though, China has gotten extraordinarily gentle treatment: reproduction. Forced abortion, … Read more
As Chinese diplomats are summoned to chancelleries all over Europe for an upbraiding over Beijing’s complicity in the coronavirus pandemic, the clock is ticking on one of the most important diplomatic decisions facing the Vatican. At the same time, the most senior bishop in Asia has bitterly attacked the credibility of the Chinese regime, restricting … Read more
Long’s case is part of an ominous outbreak that began in China and could, according to experts in Asia and the United States, evolve into a pandemic. H7N9 first spread from birds to humans in 2013. Since then, there have been five waves of the virus. The fifth wave began in October 2016. By September … Read more
China’s seemingly inexorable rise has hit a roadblock: demographics. And despite desperate efforts to reverse the effects of the Communist Party’s one-child policy, experts warn it may be too late to prevent lasting damage. Government researchers have predicted that the world’s largest population will peak at 1.4 billion people in 2029. However, it will then … Read more
Larry Harding left his 12-gauge shotgun propped by the door that September night. He feared that otherwise he might shoot the thieves if he stumbled on them in the dark. Instead, he grabbed his camera and went out across the road where they’d raided his ginseng patch the week before. He suspected the bandits would … Read more
In June of this year the China Tribunal delivered its Final Judgement and Summary Report. An independent committee composed of lawyers, human rights experts, and a transplant surgeon, the Tribunal was established to investigate forced organ harvesting on the Chinese mainland. These rumours have haunted the country for years—lurid tales of the fate suffered by … Read more
China is slowly and surely going down the path of Japan. It is aging rapidly as bad bank debts pile up. ‘Japanification’ Stalks the US, Europe, and China . . . Japanification of China Well Underway A Fascinating Conversation With Renowned Short Seller Jim Chanos on Hedgeye TV got me thinking more about China. I … Read more
One Child Nation – Official Trailer | Amazon Studios Anyone drawn to the now-resurgent notion that collectivism is kind of cool would benefit from a viewing of One Child Nation, a documentary that demonstrates what can happen when state bureaucrats are allowed to fundamentally re-order their country’s most intimate cultural customs. The film’s … Read more
Presidential aspirant Beto O’Rourke, thrashing about in an attempt to be noticed, says tax exemptions should be denied to churches and other institutions that oppose same-sex marriage. O’Rourke’s suggestion, and Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren’s plan to tax the “excessive” exercise of a First Amendment right, and the NBA’s painful lesson about the perils of moral … Read more