MY THOUGHTS About News and Stuff.

Previously posted on my Facebook Page.

New York Times: “I Went to China for the First Time in 3 Years, and I Saw Just How Formidable It Is.” And adds: “The country’s economic prospects are being underestimated.” Initially founded as a socialist state with a centrally planned economy, China’s current system is a mixed economy, with a lot of smart modifications of Western-styled capitalism. Result: An almost 30 boom years with GDP growing in double-digits, raising poverty out of mud. 

       The CCP calls it: “Socialism with Chinese characteristics.” Yet mostly it isn’t about ideological paradigm. China is moved by its religion and culture. Political fervor is Maoist Communism and Deng Xiaoping’s shrewd trade design via “Four Modernizations” of the 1970s. Yet it is all about the spiritual (Buddhist) discipline and focused work ethic of the intensely united Chinese. 🎎🇨🇳🎎

New York Times: “Arizona Limits Construction Around Phoenix as Its Water Supply Dwindles.” And adds: “Officials ruled there’s not enough groundwater for projects already approved.” This is a fact and old news. Forty million people rely on water from the Colorado River. Yet when it comes to frivolous consumption, no change or it gets worse each year. Sick and tired of this two-word “climate change” pitch. Most affected states: California, Utah, New Mexico, and Nevada. 🌬💨💦

Smithsonian: “Octopuses May Have Vivid Nightmares, Video Suggests.” And adds: “Costello, a male Brazilian reef octopus, had `bizarre’ defensive outbursts while sleeping in a lab.” We haven’t yet fully explored the intricacies of the human mind and physical body. We get sicker and sicker. Yet we over-focus (sic!) on animal research when they’re better off let alone. Or Big Tech prioritizes inventions of A.I. machines in place of human reflex/response. 🐙🐙🐙

New York Times: “All Americans Have the Right to Dress Exactly How They Want.” Trend watchers agree: Fashion is a sense of self-expression, but some particularly strange trends have emerged over the decades. The answer is probably as simple as the fact that people change. And then that change gets highly politicized. Discoursing skin-tight shorts as outdoor wear or "men lingerie" brings us to Left vs Right caterwaul. Clothes are political statements, beyond individual preference. 👚🩳🩱

Too much ado about PGA/LIV Merger (1). Why the drama? Is it because Riyadh hooked up with Moscow in re global oil pricing, regardless of the war? Or Saudi Arabia shook hands with Iran on China's intercession? Or MBS is a Trump buddy, as does Putin? Yet I do dig the word "friend" over "enemy." Sports bridge animosities. Ain't we in the United States disunited enough? At least the Saudis offer us money in golf and not "arms for oil" that ruled bilateral deals with the Arabs for years.

       We curse at the Saudis for merging with our golf, a sport of the rich, that eats up lots of geography. But then, what about the Arabs’ desert that we dug up since the 1940s to feed our insatiable thirst for fuel? We are still buying oil from them, as we speak. They are guilty of human rights dirt? Who isn’t? Washington tossed billions$ in taxpayer money to heighten war than negotiate for peace. What about support of dictatorships? 🏒🇸🇦🏒

Time: “Apple Strikes Multibillion-Dollar Deal to Use U.S.-Made Chips.” Sure, it can be done. Work things out and revert back to pre-2000 U.S./China trade pact. But it’s going to be a long road. Main material that contributes to the bulk of computer chip design is silicon. China is the world’s runaway #1 producer of this chemical element. Meanwhile, Apple’s longest-running manufacturing partner is Taiwan-owned Foxconn, with 16 factories in China, including the largest in Shenzen. 💾🍎📀

New York Times: “Tara Reade, Who Accused Biden of Assault, Says She Has Moved to Russia.” During the 2020 campaign, Tara Reade, then a Congressional aide, alleged that Joe Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993 in Capitol Hill. Same with Donald Trump's accuser, I ask why only now when the accused is a political spotlight? The “scandal” is trajectoried as campaign weapon. Next, comes $settlement to buy silence. So are we fixing the ills this way? 

       Tara Reade worked for Biden as a Congressional aide in 1992 and 1993, and later attended Antioch University and Seattle University School of Law. She later worked as a domestic violence advocate. 😏😒🤨

Smithsonian: “New York City Is Sinking Under the Weight of Its Skyscrapers, Study Finds.” Coming from a far less wealthy archipelago, I get paranoid. The Philippines is a calamity bait and we'd probably drown in massive floods? Meanwhile, the Big Apple is sinking? Hurricane Sandy in 2012 wasted 43 lives in New York City; economic losses were roughly $19 billion. Worse could happen next. But this is America. How did that happen? NYC is the richest city in the world. Fix it. 🗽🏖🏢

New York Times: “As U.S. Races Ahead, Europe Frets About Battery Factory Subsidies.” And adds: “The European Union is trying to assemble the building blocks to produce electric cars, but subsidies are luring companies to the United States.” But the U.S. needs a steady supply of five critical minerals whose domestic supply is potentially at risk: lithium, cobalt, manganese, nickel, and graphite. And those are found mostly in China and Russia, and their economic allies. 🚕⛏🚗

New York Times: “My A.I. Lover.” And adds: “Three women reflect on the complexities of their relationships with their A.I. companions.” Damn. Complex? Relationship with robots? LOL! Did the A.I.s rant a lot of politics? Crack silly culturally insensitive jokes? Grilled salmon wrapped on aluminum foil? Watched lots of TV? Etc etcetera. Truth is, I know of friends whose reflex and logic were very AI. They were very right. No way to argue with them. They may conk out. 🤖💓🤖