Right click then click on 3rd message.
Whether staged, still on the mark.
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If Your NeverTrumpism Made You Oppose Kavanaugh, You’re Doing it Wrong
It's best to oppose Trump when he does bad things, but support Trump when he does good things - like nominate Kavanaugh. Read in browser »++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
More from Bhutan. (See 1 below.)
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This is from a friend and fellow memo reader.
Linda Sarsour is the women the current Democrat candidate for Governor is enthralled with and apparently was willing to be embraced by .
"Let me get this straight, we have a Muslim women lucky enough to be born here in the U.S. who believes in the Koran and Sharia Law and is a leader in the Women's Rights movement in the U.S. and tells American Women that they are repressed downtrodden and sexually abused under the American system.
This from a woman who first had to get her husbands "permission" to speak out publicly and believes in a religious law that say men can have multiple wives and can automatically divorce his wife by taking an oath not to have intercourse with her for 4 months and who must wear a headscarf and "modest" clothing at all times.
Perhaps she should take her message to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia or Iran or any of a dozen Muslim countries where women are "actually" abused.
So you ask, why would any women in this Country pay any attention to this women much less follow her and endorse her, well meet NY Federal Senator Kristen Gillibrand, honestly, you can't make this stuff up!!"
And more:
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And then there is China. (See 2 below.)
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EARLY VOTING BEGINS NEXT MONDAY.
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DickEARLY VOTING BEGINS NEXT MONDAY.
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1)
This is Wednesday, and, holy Buddha, I am way behind in telling my
tales of this trip. We told Ugyen that
we needed to cut yesterday a bit short so that I could get to the hotel and “do
my work.” We were going to see one more
Dzong, and, as you will read, we have seen plenty of Dzongs.
At the airport, Ugyen and Sonom piled all our bags into the Hyundai
SUV that would be our home for the next few days, and off we went to see one of
the oldest temples in Bhutan. Kyichu
Lhakhang was built in the 7th or 8th century, depending
on your source. It was built as a
monastery, overlooking the Paro River. Guru
Rinpochee, AKA the second Buddha, built this to ward off an evil demon that had
possessed Bhutan. He built a series of
these forts/monasteries in Tibet and Bhutan, but only two remain in Bhutan.
No photos are allowed inside any of these monasteries or temples,
which is a pity, because they are a photographer’s delight. Filled with color and statues and murals,
ornate carpets, flags hanging, offerings of flowers, fruits, rice, and many
other assorted goods, people prostrating themselves, monks praying and sitting
on prayer rugs cross-legged in their red robes – it’s more than the eye can
take in all at once. Outside, there are
rows of prayer wheels. These are metal
cylindrically-shaped objects with prayers inscribed on them. The faithful spin them in a clockwise
direction to send the prayer to
heaven. You will see some of these in
the photos.
Our next stop was Rinpung Dzong, built in 1644 or 1646 by Zhabdrung
Ngawang Namgyal, the unifier of Bhutan.
The word Dzong literally translates to “fortress” and this particular
one translates to “fortress on a heap of jewels.” It was built as a fortress to protect Bhutan
from invaders from Tibet. It was
originally built entirely of clay, without nails. A massive earthquake in 1897 failed to shake
it, but fire destroyed most of it in 1906.
They rebuilt it according to the original plan, but I’m not sure they
used clay this time. And they might have
used a nail or two. Don’t quote me.
Prior to Namgyal unifying the country, it was a cluster of
independent units, each with its own Governor.
Namgyal, by force or by reason, convinced them all to join together as
one country. He is considered the father
of the country and the unifier of Bhutan.
We arrived at our hotel, the Nak-Sel Resort and Spa, after a long,
dusty drive up a hill, past some buildings that made me quite nervous about
what we would find when we reached our destination. But, fear not, travelers! Your little slice of heaven awaits at the top
of the mountain.
We were escorted to two settees to rest and sip apple-spice tea
while Ugyen took care of checking us in and our bags were whisked away to our
room. While we were sitting there, some
dancers were performing on a terrace behind us, so we had a perfect view of
some typical Bhutanese dancing without having to get on a bus and go to the
tourist show.
Dinner was a buffet in the dining room, with several tasty and
spicy options. About 3:00 a.m. I tasted
most of them a second time as they came back up. I’m writing that off to altitude sickness.
I skipped breakfast, still finding food an unappetizing subject,
but Jim reported that it was good. Not
like the Andaz, but good. Ugyen and
Solom, AKA Jazzy due to his hairstyle -- quite similar to mine, actually --
arrived on the dot of 9:00 to drive us east from Puna to Punakha, about a 4-hour
trip toward the center of the country. As
the crow flies, this would not be a long trip (assuming that the crow could get
up pretty high), but we had to drive on a very twisty-turny road up through the
mountains, which made it a longer, but very scenic, trip.
Our first stop was just outside of Puna at Tachogang Lhahking
Bridge, an iron suspension bridge, built in 1420 by Tangteng Gyelpo. He was an iron worker and built every link of
this bridge himself. (I don’t know if
that’s true, but it sounds good.) It
spans the Pa Chuu River. There is a
temple here, also built in the 15th century, and a “new” one built
in the 17th century. In 1969,
the river flooded and wiped out the bridge.
In 2005, they used original chains to restore it. They also built a new suspension bridge next
to it for people to use, since the old bridge is closed. I’ve been on these suspension bridges before,
but this one seemed to sway more than most.
It was quite an adventure getting across. It was festooned with prayer flags, as you
will see in the photos, which made it colorful and, one would presume, safer.
Back in the car to climb to the Dochula Pass, elevation 10,362
feet. Along the way, we consistently saw
stray dogs and cows wandering along the highway. Jazzy said the owners of the cows let them
out in the morning and round them up at night, and all day, they are on their
own. If you hit one, you have to find
the owner and compensate him, so people are careful to avoid them and the cows
just stroll along wherever they please.
At one point, in a town, we found several horses in the middle of the
road and a very young one appeared to be dead.
There was a crowd surrounding them, so we assumed the dead horse had
been hit by a car, and were exclaiming about how sad that was when the little
guy jumped up from his nap and sauntered off.
A happy ending.
The road is two lanes, and often without guard rails along the
edge. Jazzy is an excellent driver, but
he loves to pass slower vehicles on curves and sometimes even when he can’t see
if anyone is coming. Somehow he slithers
back into our lane just in time and never seems to have noticed that it might
have been a close call.
They drive on the “wrong” side here, which always takes a day or
two to get used to. They also seem to yield
to turning vehicles rather than the turner having to wait. Does that make any sense? The only highway signs you see are things
like “No hurry, No worry” and “Please be patient when you drive”. There are no billboards to distract drivers,
and driving while texting is forbidden.
We reached the pass around lunchtime. At the top, it was chilly and the mountains
were hidden by clouds, although the sun was shining on us. There is a collection of 108 stupas here,
built to honor the fourth king by his mother.
A stupa is a square structure with a peaked roof that holds some sort of
relic or treasure. They come in all
sizes. You never go into them or open
them. Most of them are white, I think
-- at least the ones we have seen.
Ugyen told us that 108 is an important number to Buddhists. Their prayer beads have 108 beads. You should say your chants 100 times, but you
will probably lose count, so they say 108 just to be sure. People will circumnavigate this area of
stupas 108 times as a devotional act.
Later, we saw many people walking around the outside of temples 108
times for the same reason.
We had lunch in the cafeteria.
Another buffet. This one stayed
down. Thank goodness, because the
ladies’ room was kind of scary. First,
it was very cold. Second, the floor was
soaking wet. Third, each stall had an
extra faucet and a plastic bucket filled with water and a scoop, in addition to
the usual facilities. I’ve now seen this
arrangement in every ladies’ room along the way, but I haven’t yet used one of
the buckets.
Then down the other side of the mountains, into Thimphu, the
capital city of Bhutan. We will be
coming back here, so we didn’t dawdle.
We continued on toward Punakha, stopping next at the Chhimi Lhakhang
“fertility monastery.” As we were about
to enter via a wooden bridge, a bull and a couple of cows decided to come with
us. At first, Ugyen tried to shoo them
away, but he gave up and they came across the bridge with us.
·
Cows are not sacred here, as they are in India,
but they seem to have the right of way.
All animals are treated with respect, since they are on their way to
becoming humans. Dogs are next in line –
they are supposed to be humans next.
Stray dogs apparently do get fed, or find enough trash to get by on, and
the government is trying to vaccinate and neuter them, but they seem a sorry
lot. They are going to have to do
something to control the population of dogs because they are everywhere.
There is a small industry built up around this monastery selling
phallic symbols. Houses have them
painted on their walls. Male genitalia
are delightfully on display in pinks, blues, purples, greens, carved wood,
plastic, paint, and ceramic. This
monastery was built by “The Divine Madman”, a colorful figure in Bhutanese
history who wanted to help families have children.
On to Punakha and the Dzong, described as the most beautiful
fortress in Bhutan. It is situated at
the confluence of two rivers, a male river and a female river. (How can they tell?) In the winter, the leaders of the monastic
order live here, and then they move to Thimphu in the summer. This is an enormous Dzong, reminiscent of the
Forbidden City in Beijing in some ways.
There are many courtyards, each with a small hallway leading to the
next. The temple is large and ornate and
colorful. I wish I could show you
photos! We do have photos of courtyards
and outdoors, and of the steep stairs leading into the temple.
Our hotel in Punakha, The Green Resort, was delightful. It was very Bhutanese from the outside, with
the same warm, welcoming routine upon arrival.
Our room looked out over the valley
It was large and comfortable, with a big, eggplant-colored bathtub and
separate shower.
Ugyen said they would pick us up at 6:15 for dinner, so we had
about an hour to relax. At 6:15, the
phone rang and woke us both up. We
scrambled around and got down to the lobby in about 15 minutes.
We had dinner – a buffet! – at a local restaurant that was large in
size but small in the number of tables.
They could have fit twice the number of tables in there. Anyway, the only white wine they had was a locally
made peach wine, so I tried a
glass. It would have been better with
dessert. Maybe over ice cream.
Ugyen had warned us about dogs barking at night. He was right.
The stray dogs that sleep all day in the sunshine get together for a
good barkathon at night. They’ll bark
long enough to wake you up, then go silent to lull you into thinking it’s over,
and then get right back at it. We woke
up at least three or four times to the sounds of Lady and Tramp having a
nightly brawl.
We had breakfast at the hotel.
It was a buffet! Imagine
that! Not much to choose from,
really. Some cereal with no fruit that
was suitable, some round things that looked like small chocolate donuts but
turned out to be crackers with something dark painted on top, oranges,
watermelon, chicken sausage, bread to make toast, and an omelet station. Oh, well, the Andaz has spoiled us for
breakfast forever.
Ugyen and Jazzy were about ten minutes late, and the lady porter at
the hotel wanted us to call them because she was anxious for us to be gone. Apparently, all the other guests had already
left, and we were the only holdouts.
Just as Jim was getting out his phone, they pulled up.
We drove back to Thimphu to spend Monday night. We got to stop at the cafeteria at the pass
again, but only for coffee and a rest stop.
Then on to Thimphu. I’d better
stop here, because this is getting pretty long.
More soon, I hope.
Photos, lots of them, may be
found at:
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2) China Has Just Been Caught Spying, Or Has It?
By Matthew Bey
SeniorGlobal Analyst, Stratfor
Highlights
- The accuracy of a report that China inserted specialized chips in electronic hardware used by the U.S. government and major companies still needs to be verified.
- Nevertheless, the United States will use the claim as evidence in its wider campaign against China, both domestically and abroad, while working to secure critical aspects of its supply chain.
- Though Washington may wish to untangle the interwoven supply chains between the United States and China, companies will not do so by themselves, meaning the government will have to enact new regulations if it wishes to enforce change.
The news was a bombshell: China had infiltrated tech supply chains and installed a malicious chip in equipment that was eventually used by nearly 30 U.S. companies — including defense contractors and even the CIA, Bloomberg reported Oct. 4. If true, the story would confirm the United States' worst fears about China infiltrating U.S. security networks at will, but that possibility might be beside the point. Even if the story isn't true — and two of the companies in question, Amazon and Apple, rapidly denied that any such infiltration occurred — the report will still add more grist for the mill as Washington seeks to beat back Beijing's rise in technology.Supplying an Entire World
China has become the epicenter of the global technology sector's supply chain. While Western, Korean, Taiwanese and Japanese companies remain leaders in designing semiconductor chips and other critical hardware, much of the assembly line for components and finished products, varying from motherboards to iPhones, runs through China.
The United States has complained that this step in the manufacturing process represents a strategic risk, because it allows China to embed malicious code and gain direct access to sensitive U.S. information through the back door, thereby compromising the security of Chinese-built products. The Bloomberg report alleged a high degree of operational planning and sophistication, noting that the perpetrators were able to explicitly target certain overseas customers and single out components sold to them. In one case, the news outlet revealed that members of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) are suspected of installing chips the size of a rice grain into motherboards that eventually went into servers used by a U.S. video compression firm that had been awarded defense contracts, as well as onAll this said, there are reasons to doubt the full account of the report. Amazon Web Services, which was said to have alerted U.S. authorities after finding the malicious chip on a motherboard, denied that it knew about any compromise to supply chains. Apple echoed Amazon's comments, rebutting "virtually every aspect of Bloomberg's story relating to Apple." Meanwhile, the company behind the motherboards, Supermicro, said it was not aware of any investigation into the matter.
It is certainly possible that the Trump administration may be trying to leak details or pump up a story as part of its campaign against China. U.S.-based tech firms may also want to distance themselves from the federal U.S. investigation out of fear that China could retaliate or that their reputations could suffer harm. Moreover, only a small handful of individuals at each of the affected companies may be privy to the details of any federal national security investigation and even then, they might have no authority to disclose the matter or alert their respective public relations departments. Nevertheless, the veracity of the report may not even matter that much, because the Trump administration is likely to use it as evidence against China. That's because, like any good spy novel, the details are realistic enough to capture everyone's imagination.
The veracity of the report may not even matter that much, because the Trump administration is likely to use it as evidence against China. That's because, like any good spy novel, the details are realistic enough to capture everyone's imagination
The Trump administration has already launched a two-pronged assault against China's tech sector. The first is the trade assault involving intellectual property theft, which has led to tariffs on more than $250 billion worth of imports. The second is a drive to reduce U.S. supply dependency on China and its ostensibly untrustworthy tech companies. Fears about the activities of China's tech companies are on the rise, as the United States, Australia and other Western governments have banned the use of Huawei or ZTE products for certain applications. In addition, the United States has implored other countries to cease using Chinese equipment due to the alleged risks.
The Department of Defense, one of the targets of the alleged operation, recently launched its "Deliver Uncompromised" strategy to add security — both the cyber and supply chain varieties — as the fourth pillar of its acquisition framework, which includes cost, schedule and performance. In making such a significant shift, the department has demonstrated its recognition of the threats facing its supply chains and cybersecurity in general. From now on, companies competing for defense contracts will need to evaluate their supply chain security. And though China is not the only foreign adversary the Pentagon is facing — Russia is another — it is possible that the shift in strategy stems from a secret investigation into the PLA's intrusion into the Pentagon contractor's supply chains.
Untangling the Links Between the U.S. and China
In pursuing its overall trade strategy — while devoting an increasing focus to technology — the Trump administration is ultimately seeking to untangle U.S. and Chinese tech supply chains. Shifting away from China, however, won't be an easy task for companies due to the East Asian giant's prevalence in the sector's manufacturing value chain and, more importantly, its growing size as an electronics consumer. Instead, companies will try to compartmentalize what they can and conduct more internal reviews and more thorough screenings of components. In the end, however, companies are unlikely to turn their back on China unless the U.S. government implements regulations and a long-term incentive structure to reduce reliance. One aspect of such a drive could be the United States' new push to enact export controls on strategically and industrially significant emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence.
Beyond any formal U.S. action, the alleged infiltration could spark a backlash against Chinese companies and their connections to the PLA and Beijing. Huawei, for instance, maintains that it is a private company with no ties to the PLA, but it has struggled to dissociate itself from the army, especially because its founder is former PLA member Ren Zhengfei. More importantly, the incident demonstrates that even if Huawei or another Chinese company affirms that it has no connections to the PLA, the fact that Huawei, like Supermicro, uses Chinese contractors or assemblers means that the army could infiltrate it in other ways. For China, a consumer backlash against its own companies could imperil some of its long-term economic and tech goals.
At present, it's difficult for anyone to verify how much of the Bloomberg report is accurate, but to channel one of China's biggest accusers on the world stage, "it's yuge" in its significance. The consequences, meanwhile, are just beginning.
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