A Large Regular

All in just 20-years. (Via)

Stuff I found interesting and amusing and thought I'd share.

- Fentanyl found in THC gummies sold at Pennsylvania store. 

- Heh Heh

- Yesterday would have been George Harrison's 80th birthday. It's things like this that made him my favorite Beatle.

- 9 rules for all Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote interactions.

 Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

NBA players and team officials echo "Enough is enough" as they cancel playoff games in protest. Many NBA fans agree but they aren't referring to the same thing. Many fans have had enough and could now care less if the NBA just went ahead and cancelled the rest of the playoffs. Let them eat cake... Not generally a fan of movie remakes but I think I'd enjoy a modern version of The Thin Man with Craig Kilborn playing Nick Charles but really playing a thinly veiled version of himself. He could play a character who marries a mystery writer who finds himself involved in a real-life murder-mystery. A welcome return to snappy dialog and on screen martini drinking... Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?... Also not a fan of police civil asset forfeitures but I would be in cases of any ships or planes found to be smuggling fentanyl. Seize the entire ship/plane and all cargo onboard including any non-related products. Make it a clear shot across the bow of any company doing business with China (the largest producer of fentanyl)... The argument could be made that Canada is trying to interfere with our Presidential election by scheduling NHL playoffs during our political conventions... 

"You got to lower your ideals of freedom if you want to suck on the warm teat of China." - South Park 

The theme this week seems to be China and the US - a new Cold War.

This article looks at the relationship between China and the US in "rear-view mirror" terms to the USSR / USA Cold War. The author does a good job explaining why military confrontation is less likely today.

The struggle today is less ideological and more in tune with national interest - specifically economic interests. Countries are not going to buy into China's version of manifest destiny (such as their Belt and Road or New Silk Road Initiatives) but they will bend to financial incentives. Micro individual serving economics (such as the money and incentives given to individual companies, politicians or "influencers" such as Hunter Biden) versus Macro "Communist vs Capitalist" dogma. Useful idiot individuals willfully sucking on the warm teat of China harming their own nation's national interests in the process.

This article also makes the Cold War comparison but argues that Communist China may be weaker than it appears. It may look stronger in comparison to the USSR in terms of military and economic strength but its reliance on the US is a huge weakness. I agree.

The Chinese tried to punish the US for Trump's increased tariffs by cancelling orders of millions of tons of soy beans thinking this would hurt Trump politically. But China tried to buy soy beans from Russia only to find that Russia barely has enough crops to feed themselves. So look for China to offer to buy millions of tons of food from US farmers during the next round of trade negotiations as their "act of good faith" towards "finalizing" a deal or at least getting a break in tariffs.

China also still has to deal with the protests in Hong Kong. Sadly the Chinese will use the fact that most Americans are "bored" with the story and no longer paying attention to institute a hardline crackdown. My hope is that President Trump uses the One China Two Systems deal which was supposed to be for 50-years to point to the Chinese - how can we trust you not to break our agreement? This could be the only thing that might lessen to blow on the freedom loving Hong Kongers.

Couple this with China not following through on promises to stem the tide of fentanyl coming into the US from known Chinese sources. Now Trump has reason to institute new and harsher tariffs. And if framed as trying to end the fentanyl epidemic - the American people will love him for it. (Look for a move along these lines in the next 12 months.) 

These arguments don't even touch with the Chinese genocide of the Muslim Uighurs (which really exposes what sort of people we are dealing with).

Decoupling is actually the end game goal. The threat of delisting Chinese companies from US stock exchanges foreshadows this. I don't think the US follows through with delisting until at least after the 2020 election. It is also more leverage for President Trump to use in negotiations. But slowly but surely there will be a decoupling until the words "Made in China" are poison to most Western societies.

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Net Neutrality defeated at Federal level but court says States free to act on their own.

- Where does Mexico get its guns? Interesting Fox News article seems to give a plausible justification for the Obama Administration's Operation Fast and Furious but also suggesting the border wall could stem the tide of illegal immigrants coming to the US AND illegal guns into Mexico.

- I did not know this.

- Speaking of exercise - How to work out like Tom Brady

- Good question - why hasn't the FDA made Naloxone available over the counter as a measure to help fight the damage cause by fentanyl?

- It's been 2-years since the passing of Tom Petty. Rolling Stone put together a list of what they consider his top 50 songs to mark the anniversary.

- Journal Nature retracts ocean-warming study. Because of bad math. On a related note - Michael Crichton was a very smart man.

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- The connection between China and fentanyl cannot be dismissed

- Heh Heh - Brexit Beer Deal

- The end of Hong Kong as we know it.

- Bionic legs getting close to being an everyday medical reality

- Starting to get that nagging feeling that perhaps Richard Nixon's biggest crime was to open Communist China to the West.

- Hermann Hesse on the Magic of the Book (long read)

- Still wicked impressive EDIT - Page no longer up. Sorry

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- The lonely man with a gun. Russ Roberts on the Tree of Life shootings.

- 99 life hacks from a couple of years ago that still work today

- And people wonder why nobody watches the news anymore

- The Surprising Power of the Long Game

- Heh heh - Bad Lip Reading Major League Baseball

- USA is now the world's #1 oil producer for the first time since 1973

- This is eye-opening

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Is China using fentanyl in a chemical / drug war against America? Disturbing.

- Tesla's solar roofs do look pretty impressive.

- What most successful people do before breakfast

- Heh heh

- How can it be a "lone wolf" when there's multiple people involved. And that one suspected terrorist is still at large should be bigger news.