A common talking point in the press and on the left at the moment is that over 95% of Black Lives Matter protests are peaceful and we should not play up the violent five percent as representative of the movement.
Why then should we play up the tiny number of bad police encounters with black citizens as representative of the whole? There’s a real double standard here and I am getting worn out by it.
I firmly believe we have problems in the country and racism is one of them. But when I see an activist walk up to a police car and try to execute two police officers then see Black Lives Matter activists try to block access to the hospital and cheer for the deaths of the police officers, I’ve got a real problem with it and a movement that could embolden it.
I have a real problem with an American media response being to downplay the incidents, excuse it all away, and pretend it is anomalous.
When I see a police officer kneel on George Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and forty-six seconds, I have a real problem it.
The difference between the two is that Black Lives Matter protestors seem to be increasingly violent as a movement while the police aren’t. But pointing that out gets one labeled a racist, denier, or worse.
There are bad police officers. We don’t need police body cameras to see similarly situated incidents between the police and white offenders tend to turn out better than with black offenders. Though police last year shot more white people in encounters than black people overall, per capita police encounters with black offenders are more likely to end badly.
It is something that needs to be addressed.
But also, it needs to be addressed based on individual circumstances. I need to note that because I have a hard time condemning the police over their handling of Jacob Blake. They told him to stay put, they attempted to tase him, they told him not to reach into his car, and he did anyway. He did not listen. I have a hard time condemning the police for that.
I have a hard time condemning police officers for incidents that play out over seconds, not minutes, where the people who were not there get to play armchair quarterback later. Not every violent encounter between police and a black person is because the police handled it wrong, but almost no one wants to let the facts come out before rioting.
We have seen the George Floyd situation. We know there are times the response from a police officer is wrong. But if we cannot blanketly condemn Black Lives Matter for its activists, we should not blanketly condemn the police.
There are problems in this country that need to be addressed. Racism is real in this country.
We also need to address the problem of people violently marching in the streets, harassing those eating dinner at restaurants, showing up at people’s homes to harass them, having politicians encourage that harassment, and trying to execute police officers in their cars.
We need to address why the media claims Donald Trump provokes violence with his rhetoric and never held Democrats to the same standard even after James Hodgkinson attempted the mass assassination of Republicans because he believed the Democrat rhetoric that Paul Ryan and the Republicans were trying to kill people.
If we aren’t willing to openly and honestly account for those things, I have to conclude all the hand-wringing over everything else is just political and none of the people pushing the outrage really care.
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China to turn Europe against the U.S?
Can China Turn Europe Against America?
In this week’s summit, Xi seeks to play Nixon, luring new allies with cash and upending trade routes.
One ploy for countries competing with other great powers is to peel away the allies of your adversary and convert them to your interests. In 1972, Richard Nixon took a trip to Beijing, one of the most daring and effective gambits in the history of U.S. foreign policy. At the time Beijing was a regional player and a nuclear power, but nowhere near a peer competitor to the U.S. or the Soviet Union. Nixon turned China into a lever of American influence.
We are about to find out how well Beijing can play the strategic game. On Monday the European Union and China are scheduled to hold a virtual summit—originally planned as a meeting in Leipzig, Germany—aimed at hammering out the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. This pact would lay out parameters of trade, address questions of Chinese subsidies and protection of European intellectual property rights, and, if German Chancellor Angela Merkel gets her way, define China’s role in fighting climate change.
So far during negotiations, Beijing has resisted meeting the EU halfway, especially on subsidies. But there are indications that the Chinese may become more accommodating. The summit comes only weeks before the U.S. presidential election, and the meeting will be Xi Jinping’s best opportunity to drive a wedge between the U.S. and Europe on trade. For Europe’s business community, access to the Asian market is seen as essential to the EU’s economic recovery. Having the treaty with Beijing would—at least in theory—help protect European intellectual property and keep vulnerable European firms from being bought outright by the Chinese.
Europe has been central to Beijing’s global strategy for years. Some 75% of European imports come by sea, with access through the North Atlantic being crucial, and China has aggressively pursued acquisitions of stakes in major European ports. Most important, through its Belt and Road Initiative and its investments, China has aimed at establishing an alternative supply chain over land across Europe and Asia.Beijing’s endgame is what I call the “global inversion” of established trade flows, which currently favor maritime routes, a setup that relies on U.S. naval power as enforcement. If China can develop a cross-Eurasian supply chain and protect it, it won’t need to match America in the maritime domain. That would be a fundamental shift in global trade and power distribution. China can do this because so far Washington—which now sees China as both an economic and military challenge of the first order—has not been able to convince the Europeans to see Beijing as anything more dangerous than an economic problem set. European leaders are increasingly concerned about Chinese bullying, but they don’t want to be pulled into an alliance with the U.S. against Beijing.If these conditions hold and China can drive a wedge between the U.S. and Europe, normal trans-Atlantic relations will be a thing of the past. Such a change would transform Europe from the trans-Atlantic gateway to Eurasia into the tail-end of a Chinese-controlled Eurasian supply chain, allowing Beijing eventually to dominate Europe and bid for global hegemony.
China’s Europe strategy has a military component. The People’s Liberation Army Navy has been actively pursuing access to ports in Europe, especially in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It has conducted joint drills with the Russian Navy and the EU, starting in 2018 when it completed its first naval exercise with the EU Naval Force in the Gulf of Aden.
China has stakes in port facilities in the Mediterranean, including Greece, Spain, Egypt, Italy and Morocco, while the Chinese navy operates a support base in Djibouti, positioning itself to project power deeper into Africa. China’s navy has also entered the Baltic and is investing in capabilities in the Arctic, with a tender for a 33,000-ton nuclear-powered icebreaker and plans to operate four nuclear-powered aircraft carriers by 2035.
China sees Europe as a region whose wealth and technology can be exploited for advantage over the U.S. Europe is an attractive target: The Continent is desperate for market access and cash as the economy tries to recover from a pandemic. With Russia as a threat to Central and Eastern European countries on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s flank, Beijing also has an opportunity to exploit fissures within Europe. The rise of anti-Americanism in some countries will make it difficult to achieve a consensus on threats, while the alignment between Beijing and Moscow may deepen cleavages in Europe when it comes to relations with the U.S.
The frayed state of U.S.-European relations, especially the increasingly contentious relations between Washington and Berlin, offers Mr. Xi an opportunity to “play Nixon” in his own way. Washington needs to pay attention to the EU-China summit this week—and its aftermath.
Mr. Michta is dean of the College of International and Security Studies at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
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In many ways, Jackie Mason is a Trumplike comedian. He is irreverent, brash, and in your face. He also is un-orthodox but also very perceptive and extremely anti-PC.
Jackie Mason’s new year message: ‘This world is run by putzes and schmucks’
Legendary comedian Jackie Mason comes out of retirement – well, sort of – to deliver his new year sermon exclusively to readers of Jewish News
This year will be one of the most pivotal years in all of world history, and that is an understatement. We’ve seen a complete breakdown of American civil society over the last several months.
I don’t know what’s going on in the rest of the world, but when I walk down the street to get a coffee in 2020 New York City, I have to thank God that I have 2020 vision and the reflexes of a champion boxer to duck any knockdown sucker punches. And this is on 57th Street, what they call Billionaires’ Row. I can’t imagine what’s going on way Uptown, Downtown or in the Bronx.
Bonfire of the Vanities is like nonsense compared to this. The city has gone to the dogs, the pits, in drerd. Makes you want to stay inside and order food.
That’s what everyone was doing until all their favourite restaurants shuttered.
I have a new name for restaurants that are recently closed. They are ‘cloved’. Covid schmovid cloved. One after the other, all of my favourite restaurants are finished.
Where can you get a decent sandwich in this town? And if you even think of going off on me about some sort of privilege shpiel, you know where you can shove it.
And you know who is solely responsible for all of this? Our two schmegeggi state and city leaders, Mr de Blasio and Mr Cuomo. These two schmucks have led us down a dark and dreary path.
Jackie MasonThe two Putzes-in-chief, but really putz is too nice of a word to call either of them. Actually, it’s an insult to putzes worldwide to include them in that estimable category. These guys have made our lives intolerable.
The degradation of my beloved city has happened in front of my eyes, well at least from what I can see on the TV screen while 60 floors up. It’s a nice view, but it cost a pretty penny. I know the last time this kind of thing happened, it took someone like my favourite dinner partner Giuliani to come to the rescue. Who’s going to be our Giuliani this time?
Only in America can murderers and criminals be put on pedestals. The world is upside down and topsy turvy. No one would believe it if I said in my act that you should let criminals out of prison, but if you don’t wear a mask you’re going to be arrested.
A murderer is let out because of fear that they will contract the coronavirus, and they’re free to commit crimes again.
The truth is I retired at the right time. With all due respect, my genius was that I was able to say exactly what I thought, and left my audience laughing, but more importantly, thinking. I wouldn’t be able to do
that today.It’s not a good time for comedians to speak their minds unless, of course, it’s to say that they hate Trump and then it’s easy. You don’t even have to make up jokes you just repeat over and over ‘I hate Trump’. That’s why I just like to do private dates now, where I can say and do what I want. Otherwise, anything you say is immediately called racist and sexist. You get called a pig and a degenerate.
You really gotta put yourself out there to be a public figure. So the next time you ask me to write this for nothing, I’m not so sure I’m going to agree. And while we’re talking about it, I have to mention that you can find me on Cameo. It’s a website, you can look it up. I’m not going to tell you anything else. See, you’re curious already.
In regards to the frightening times we’re living in, the political climate is the most pressing matter of all.
If you ask any Democrat why do they hate Trump so much, they answer because of what he did to this country. I ask them, what did he do to this country and they answer, I told you because of what he did to this country. I ask, is there one thing he did that is wrong? Is there something he shouldn’t have done? Name one thing that if you had a choice you would overturn. The taxes, the tax law? Did you make money or did you lose money? If he did anything wrong, why did you take the money, why didn’t you send it back? He opened up trade with Canada, he saved everybody money.
Even the Democrats admit it was a good deal, so much so that they tried to take credit for it after it was passed. Before this whole corona thing, he created less unemployment and higher wages. So what did he do wrong? The economy was the best it’s ever been. So what did the president do that everyone should be cursing him all the time? I’ll tell you what he did wrong. He’s wearing the wrong jacket. He has the wrong hairdo. He has the wrong attitude and you don’t like the colour of his tie. What does your side want from him? A new stylist? You don’t like the way he sounds, get some earplugs, turn off the volume on your TV. You don’t like his attitude? He’s not moving in to live with you! So what’s the problem? We ask them and they always say these nonsense things like he doesn’t sound like a president, he’s not presidential. He doesn’t even look like a president. So don’t look at him! Who told you to look at him? You have a TV that only has one channel? Change the channel if you don’t want to watch him.
Let me ask you, if I give you $3,000 would you care what I look like, what suit I wear, and the way I comb my hair? Would you care about what my attitude is?
Give me bad attitude all you want as long as it comes with a cheque and tax refund. Let me ask you, if you needed to go to the dentist, are you more concerned about the dentist being a good dentist or having a good personality? I’ll take the guy who wrecks my teeth, but is friendly. No! I want the guy who fixes my teeth, and he could have the worst bedside manner of all time. Same thing when I call the plumber, and same thing when I vote for president. Really, how can a Jew not love Trump? I heard a rumour from my high-placed sources, but shhh, please don’t tell anybody, that in four years, after Trump leaves office, he’s going to run for president of Israel and he’ll win.
You have a few questions for me…?
It would be encouraging to share your thoughts on the pandemic and how we mentally survive this.
Well, the way I’ve been handling it is I spend some time in the living room, then I turn and I’m suddenly in front of the TV, and I watch a bit, and then somehow I’m in the kitchen, and then back in front of the TV, and then I do some Cameo work, but before I know it, I’m back by the refrigerator. Most of the time some ice cream is a great help.
What do you miss about performing?
The cash.
What will be different about this year’s Rosh Hashanah?
None of the women will get a chance to show off their new outfits. The women are crying and the men are ecstatic because they’re saving a fortune.
Who would you invite to be at your table to break the fast?
Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, Ariel Sharon, and Benjamin Disraeli – and if you want to know what the menu will be, you’ll have to send me a couple of dollars. Okay, okay, since I like you, I’ll tell you the menu would be latkes, blintzes, pastrami and corned beef. With all those personalities it might be hard to agree on a cuisine, so I’ll order for everyone.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++More about China's massive fleet and what it can mean:
| China is Building a Naval Fleet – Why the DoD is Concerned by the Pulse Team | |
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A Biden Talk Show Appearance Confirms That His Candidacy Is a Total Scam
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The second thing I still cannot understand is why Bernie is so disagreeable? I have basically done everything he, AOC, and that young boy from Indiana have asked of me.
Even Pelosi has been disagreeable. She spends more time with and listening to Obama who is always complaining about me . In fact he has been talking to Kamala a great deal and she comes in almost daily carrying his water bucket of complaints. She's my VP not his.
All this infighting is exhausting me. Why did I ever seek this office?
I wish I was back in that warm basement.
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