Xi, Iran Quickie

Do We Really Wanna Make Deals?

What do the following have in common: Linda Sun, aide to NY Gov Hochul; Christine Fang, honeypot of Eric Swalwell; Russell Lowe, Chinese national and longtime driver for Senator Dianne Feinstein, Harvard Prof Charles Lieber; Congress staffer Chris Chen; Shujun Wang; Cindy Yang, and the most recent, Eileen Wang, mayor of Arcadia, CA?

Besides being the tip of the iceberg, all are proven spies for the Chi-coms. Embedded in US society and reporting to the Ministry of State Security. Their job? Spread anti-US, pro-China propaganda and steal info, secrets and pretty much anything not nailed down.

On March 8, 1983 Ronald Reagan took the gloves off. After years of the US government trying to make nice with the Commies, Reagan called the Soviet Union for what it was. Feckless diplomats were aghast when he called the Soviet Union the "evil empire" and declared only one outcome acceptable. "We win. They lose"

Can anyone who has been awake for the last 30 years truly believe China is any different? They have only one goal. World wide domination. They care not a wit about free trade, detente or their own people. They want to destroy America and rule the world.

So is it really wise to be trying to do business there? To truck CEOS from Apple, Blackstone, Boeing etc. on AF 1 to try and make deals? To talk about partnering on policing AI? To capitulate in any way with China's sworn intention to absorb Taiwan and more importantly the world's leading chip manufacturer, TSMC?

Let's face it. As long as Xi rules, China will continue to:

• Build its military with reckless abandon

• Persecute members of all religions

• Sponsor anti-American regimes across the globe

• Pirate everything worth having and they don't

• Steal and cheat on AI.

Now I trust Trump to do what's right for America and his rep for deal-making is proven. But I also know he wants to stay in power for the second half of his term. Even though blips in the price of gas and inflation are clearly temporary, whereas socialism and terrorism are long term, the Dems and their LSM cronies know how to work the crowd. I fear his fear of losing the midterms may dominate his need for some poll-shifting PR.

Same Ole Xi

Kicked off the summit with responsible, reassuring words..."We should be partners, not rivals, achieve success for one another, prosper together and forge a correct way for major countries of the new era to get along with each other,”

Then continued on to threaten Trump that the U.S. would enter an “extremely dangerous place” if Chinese concerns over Taiwan were “handled poorly”.

To repeat - look at the Facts

• China steals our technology and IP

• China persecutes its own people

• China is stockpiling military might

• China aids and abets sworn American enemies

• China hates Christians (All religions really. Party trumps God.)

At least Iran doesn't pretend to want to be "partners".

Trump wants detente. Xi wants Taiwan. Rapprochement takes two to tango.

Timing on Iran

Heard Marco explain. Despite the asinine allegation Bibi made him do it, Trump did not initiate Operation Epic Fury because Israel insisted. He did it when he did it because intelligence reported a massive build up of missiles and drones by Iran in the days following Midnight Hammer. The result: a formidable capability on the part of Iran to deter any attempts to stop their development of nuclear weapons. It was an inflection point.

As Hemingway wrote in Men at War

...Once we have a war there's only one thing to do. Win it. For defeat brings worse things than can ever happen in war.

Finally - a Smidge of Accountability and Decency

No doubt embarrassed by toilet bowl ratings it appears Congress might do the "right thing" as regards future shutdowns. As called for often herein, the Senate is one step closer to adding painful consequences for lawmakers who choose to shut down the government. 

The upper chamber on Wednesday unanimously advanced a resolution from Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., that, if passed, would prevent lawmakers from getting paid during future shutdowns.

Moribund Euros label Trump "Unreliable"

Hah. That's a good one. How so? Because he's holding Woke European leaders unwilling to defend their countries "accountable"? Because he's changed America's bargain with our so-called allies so we're no longer patsies? Because the United States will no longer treat every theater as America’s first responsibility?

The new hierarchy is clear: Defend the homeland, deter China in the Indo-Pacific, increase allied burden-sharing, and rebuild the defense industrial base.

Nah. Trump's not un-reliable. It's just the new version of "reliable" the Euro lefties don't like.

Good Ole John Fetterman

Sticking to his guns...

Calls himself a Capitalist Democrat (talk about oxymorons).

Says he loved DeSantis line about Mamdani..."He's favorite real estate agent"

Called US Senate candidate from Maine, Graham Plattner...an avowed communist. Plattner has a Nazi tattoo.

Said Seattle Mayor, Katie Wilson, is...an avowed Socialist. "Can you imagine when she heard billionaires are leaving because of her taxes, she said..."Bye".

Cuba Get Ready - You're Next

Cuba has completely run out of diesel and fuel oil, the country’s energy minister said on Wednesday, as Havana faces its worst rolling blackouts in decades amid a US blockade that has strangled the island of fuel. “We have absolutely no fuel (oil), and absolutely no diesel,” the energy minister, Vicente de la O Levy, said on state media, adding that the national grid was in a “critical” state. “We have no reserves.”

Fuel oil is, of course, the product used to generate heat or power. The minister said blackouts had increased dramatically across Havana, with many neighborhoods in the capital without light for up to 22 hours a day.

Yet another Socialist success story.

And More Heartwarming News on the Educational Front

From NYT-ATNTFTP...

Almost everywhere in America, students are performing worse than their peers were 10 years ago, according to new, district-level test score data released Wednesday by the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford.

Compared with a decade earlier, reading scores were down last year in 83 percent of school districts where data was available. Math scores were down in 70 percent. The declines have affected both rich and poor districts, and crossed racial and geographic divides.

The new data provides the first national comparison of school districts through 2025, and offers a detailed picture of how individual school districts have performed over time. It underscores that many districts have experienced a long-term slump in student achievement, not just a blip during the pandemic.

From 2017 to 2019, students lost as much ground in reading as they did during the pandemic, and reading scores continued to fall at a similar rate through 2024.

Immediately after the pandemic, there was hope that students would recover quickly. The new data shows that scores inched upward; but nowhere near enough to make up for lost ground, researchers said.

Here's An Interesting Thought

What happens when AI agents start agitating about inequality, collective bargaining rights, affordability? After all, there's a lot of lefties feeding the data and creating the algorithms. Mmmmm.

Be offline for a few days. Gonna try to catch me dem bonefish.