Thinking About Taiwan

About the US position on Taiwan's relationship to China, I have formulated my own opinion of how we should proceed. China maintains Taiwan is and always has been part of China.

The people of Taiwan are Chinese, they speak and write Chinese, but are independent of the PRC in everything but name. China claims they are a rebellious province and that is certainly the post-World War II history. 

If the people of Taiwan voluntarily chose to rejoin China, we would not object. If the PRC tried to force them to rejoin, we view that as inappropriate.

I think of Taiwan as a member of the Chinese 'family' who has cut most ties with the rest of the clan. An analogy would be an adult child who for his/her own lifestyle or ideological reasons has stopped being close with the parents and sibs. 

In that situation we oppose any moves by the family to force the child to be close. We urge the parties to learn to live with their differences, or live with the separation.

There are cultures in which a family coercing or even killing a rebellious offspring is permitted or even expected - so-called 'honor killings,' for example. Our culture punishes such coercive behavior on the part of individuals, families, or even nations.

Saturday Snark

An evergreen classic, worth reposting.

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and its Comments section.

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Meme and Let Your Enemies Cry.

Tens of Millions of Mopeds

Fox News’ Bret Baier, in Beijing for the Xi/Trump summit, commented on the tens of millions of mopeds and light motorcycles in China. What he didn’t note is that they run on gasoline, which China does not produce and must import, much of it from Iran. Iranian oil is currently blockaded.

If those tens of millions of personal transport units are parked for lack of fuel, their owners become unhappy pedestrians. Even the autocratic Xi has to consider large numbers of unhappy people are a problem he doesn’t need.

A web search produced the following factoid:

In 2022, 13.8 million gasoline motorcycles were sold in China, which includes mopeds and light motorcycles.

Friday Meme Fest

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The Nation's Cartoonists on the Week in Politics.

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Cartoons of the Week.

Major Matters

A recent study of Texas graduates by the Postsecondary Commission found that programmatic choice (college major) was more important than institutional selectivity in predicting post-graduation salary in the out years (10 years and beyond).  Engineering and computer science were one and two, business (my field) ran third. 

This is a finding the Ivies won't cherish, but from which my former students have benefitted.

Teachers Unions a Problem

Writing at American Greatness, Larry Sand chronicles "mounting resistance" to teachers unions. It's about time, too.

When the DrsC were students in public K-12 too many decades ago, the schools did a good job for most students, certainly for both of us.

The failure of public education began as teachers unions began to become politically powerful. As their strength grew, public education withered. 

Now teachers unions are a major political force in the US and perhaps the Democrat party's strongest backer. Meanwhile public education has, in many jurisdictions, failed to a great extent. Students can't read at grade level, can't do simple arithmetic, and would have no idea how to write a cogent paragraph.

Teacher training programs at colleges and universities now draw their majors from the lowest quartile of the student body. K-12 teaching has become the major students choose when they can't cut it in other programs. It wasn't always so, but it is now. 

Pupils were better off when teachers unions either didn't exist or lacked power. We should rethink collective bargaining for government employees in general, and teachers in particular. 

The protection unions provide teachers is almost always redundant. Unions end up defending the jobs of mediocre teachers who would be better suited to other employment. 

If teacher unions disappeared, kids would benefit.

Friedman Has a Dream

COTTonLINE’s favorite foreign policy analyst - George Friedman - has experienced an outbreak of optimism. We’ll take a look at what he foresees. Fortunately, he isn’t coy about why he thinks things are on the mend.

First, Friedman believes recent events suggest Putin has concluded he has to end the Ukraine war - on the best terms he can get - because his economy is sputtering and his war is stalled. He will have had to conclude Russia cannot recapture former imperial glory, after touting that as his avowed goal.

Second, Friedman believes we are on the threshold of a turning point in our relations with China.. Again economic determination seems to be his fulcrum. 

He thinks a modus vivendi for Taiwan can be achieved that protects the status quo. He notes that, beyond the China Sea, China has not been militarily active. He believes the summit of Trump and Xi would not be happening if most sticking points hadn’t been worked out in advance by lower level functionaries.

Friedman foresees a final end to the Cold War, that began in 1945, and a new beginning globally. It is a beautiful dream that could happen if human cussedness doesn’t get in the way, as it so often does.

Is Friedman correct about both Putin and Xi experiencing an outbreak of realism? I am less certain than he. Nevertheless he makes an argument for both I believe you’ll find interesting. Whether you find it persuasive is up to you.

Fair Warning

- This is real -

Image courtesy of Breitbart.com.

About the Wiles Claim

On Friday we wrote that Trump's office manager Susie Wiles thinks Trump would have won the 2020 election were it not for mass cheating. You may have wondered, as I did, what led her to make this statement.

At PJ Media, Matt Margolis has assembled at least some of what Wiles has been hearing. He reports Monica Crowley, White House chief of protocol, believes the evidence will be forthcoming.

On-air, FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo concerning rigging of the 2020 election.

We are going to be making arrests, and it's coming, and I promise you, it's coming soon.

Margolis adds:

A federal grand jury in Florida is actively examining issues related to the 2020 election. The Department of Justice has also just brought in former U.S. attorney and Trump ally Joe diGenova to work alongside prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida.

The Covid epidemic gave the Democrats near-perfect "cover" for their 2020 election machinations, with "extreme emergency" powers being exercised left and right. I hope these investigations don't become another extravagant promise that fails to materialize. 

Happy Mothers Day

Time to wish all mothers who read this a Happy Mothers Day tomorrow. The DrsC's mothers have passed, but we remember them fondly.

We both had very good mothers, bright, multitalented and hard working. What neither of them exhibited was an excess of gushy, sweet empathy. 

I've often wondered if the then-conventional wisdom was to be as matter-of-fact as they both were. Regardless, they raised successful children for which we are grateful and of whom they were proud.

Saturday Snark

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and its Comments section.

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Wiles: He Wuz Robbed

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, speaking to the Independent Women’s Forum’s Awards Gala in Washington, DC, yesterday. She told of first meeting Donald Trump after the 2020 election.

We had a lovely dinner and at the end of it, he wanted to know why he won Florida but maybe struggled in some other states—that I think we’re going to find out he actually did win.  (emphasis added)

The 2020 election was hinky six ways from Sunday. Where did millions of extra voters - seen never before or since - come from and disappear to? It wouldn't surprise me if Wiles is correct.

An Emerging Trend?

Recent months have seen a lot of back and forth on Congressional redistricting but it is starting to look like Republicans are going to win the battle and come out with more seats. Don't expect any gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair at COTTonLINE over that outcome.

Honest evaluators have long felt the US is at heart a center-right country and its legislature should reflect our ideological balance. Obviously Congress hasn't always done so. Perhaps it will going forward.

I recognize more than a few of my acquaintances and neighbors will be unhappy with the expected policies that result. Reciprocally, I care as little about their new angst as they cared about my unhappiness in years past.

Onward....

Friday Meme Fest

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The Nation's Cartoonists on the Week in Politics.

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Cartoons of the Week.