China
October 15, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Paul wrote earlier today about Lebron James’s ill-informed and self-interested comments on Chinese oppression of the residents of Hong Kong, and Daryl Morey’s free speech rights. One of my kids noted this lampooning of James by Barstool Sports, on Instagram. Barstool pulls no punches: “In honor of Lebron denouncing freedom of speech…” When you’re being criticized by sources as disparate as Power Line and Barstool Sports, it is probably time
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October 15, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Lebron James has weighed in on the controversy over the expression by the Houston Rockets’ general manager of sympathy for the people of Hong Kong, and on the NBA’s reaction thereto. James accused the GM, Daryl Morey, of thinking only about himself. James said: [A]t times, there are ramifications for the negative that can happen when you’re not thinking about others, when you only think about yourself. I don’t want
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October 14, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Charles Barkley claims that those who criticize the NBA for not taking a stance on China are hypocrites (and worse). He says people ripped Colin Kaepernick for taking a stance on race relations and the police in America, yet want the NBA and its players to take positions about what happens in a foreign country. Barkley is wide of the mark. First, Kaepernick was ripped not for taking a position
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October 13, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Americans may be ill-informed about many things, but they know a lot about sports. So, ironically, it could be the NBA’s enforcement of Red China’s strictures on unapproved speech that, more than anything else, educates Americans on the nature of the Chinese regime. This happened on Wednesday, but I just saw it via InstaPundit. At an exhibition game between the Washington Wizards and the Guangzhou Long Lions at Capital One
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October 12, 2019 — John Hinderaker
What the Democrats fear most is happening: President Trump and his negotiating team are reaching wide-ranging agreements with China that will be a huge boon to the United States. In an Oval Office press conference yesterday, President Trump and China’s Vice Premier announced a Phase 1 set of agreements that will be documented over the next several weeks. The video of the press conference is embedded below; Trump’s performance was
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October 11, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Steve Kerr coaches the Golden State Warriors. He’s an outstanding basketball coach and, dating back to his days as a player and then an analyst on television, always struck me as a good guy. Early on, Kerr became a strident critic of President Trump. That’s okay. It’s his right. I don’t believe in “shut up and coach.” However, this doesn’t mean that anyone should take Kerr’s critique of Trump, or
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October 9, 2019 — John Hinderaker
CNN reports on the turmoil in the NBA’s relationship with China. The problems, per CNN, are all Daryl Morey’s fault: A simple image consisting of seven words might be the most troublesome tweet in corporate America this year. Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey caused substantial damage with the NBA’s growing relationship with China after he voiced his support for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protestors. China currently accounts for 10% of
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October 8, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
When Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn came to the U.S. after years of captivity in the USSR, he professed amazement at how U.S. journalists who had exhibited cowardice when in the Soviet Union were posing as courageous lions of the press in the more congenial setting of the United States. I get the same feeling about the National Basketball Association. The NBA poses as a beacon of woke liberalism when it comes to
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October 8, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Britain’s Guardian reports on South Park’s mock apology to China in response to the regime’s censorship. The Guardian notes that the South Park crew has stepped up to show the NBA how it’s done: “South Park’s creators posted a statement on Twitter under the headline: “Official apology to China from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, which said: ‘Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into
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October 7, 2019 — Scott Johnson
I learn from the 10-point guide to today’s Wall Street Journal by Matt Murray that “The NBA’s carefully plotted strategic emphasis on China was jolted off course by a tweet Friday night” (WSJ story posted here). Murray’s email newsletter condenses the WSJ story: The league scrambled to contain an escalating crisis in China after Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey tweeted support for Hong Kong’s mass protests against Beijing’s authoritarian
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October 5, 2019 — Scott Johnson
RealClearPolitics has posted video of President Trump’s invitation to the Ukrainian and Chinese governments to investigate the Bidens for corruption here. Trump spoke to reporters gathered on the South Lawn of the White House before leaving for a Florida rally. Asked what he had wanted Ukraine President Zelensky to do about the Biden and son, Trump responded that he thinks Ukraine and China should both look into their business deals.
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October 4, 2019 — John Hinderaker
I agree with Paul that President Trump is making a bold move by calling on both Ukraine and China to investigate corruption involving the Biden family while Joe Biden was vice president. Unlike Paul, I see Trump’s call as entirely defensible. There is strong evidence that the Biden family accepted bribes from both Chinese and Ukrainian interests. Those who bribed the Bidens obviously thought they were buying influence with the
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October 3, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
President Trump today publicly called on both Ukraine and China to investigate the Bidens. Thus, Trump not only went public with his call for Ukraine to investigate a political rival, he called on a second country to do the same thing. Rarely has the cliche “double down” been more apt. Leaders of political parties typically disagree completely about policy. At times, they read the political tea leaves somewhat differently. In
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October 1, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
This is the 70th anniversary of a dark day in history — the founding of the Chinese Communist dictatorship. Jay Nordlinger correctly calls this dictatorship “one of the great tragedies and horrors of modern times.” John McCormick provides examples of the horrors: A decade [after the revolution], Mao’s Great Leap Forward killed perhaps 45 million people. The Communist regime still denies its people freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and
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September 8, 2019 — John Hinderaker
The New York Times may say that America is the land of “land grabs, enslavement, rape and genocide,” but oppressed people around the world know better. Earlier today in Hong Kong, demonstrators marched to the American embassy, waving American flags and calling on President Trump to support them in their fight for the freedoms that were promised when China reclaimed possession of the territory: Sunday’s crowd waved US flags and
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September 7, 2019 — John Hinderaker
For the last three years, Democrats have obsessed over Russia’s relatively trivial participation in the 2016 election. But if they have any concern about China’s reported interest in 2020, they haven’t shown it. Why? Because China’s leaders want to get rid of Donald Trump and replace him with a Democrat who will be more compliant. Bill Gertz’s piece in the Free Beacon is titled “China Trying to Stop Trump Reelection,
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September 4, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
So says Claudia Rosett, writing in the Wall Street Journal. She should know. She has been present for both. It’s true that the two showdowns are 30 years apart and arise in different venues. But in both cases, China’s control of a major city was challenged by a population seeking freedom. In the first case, rather than give in to legitimate demands, the Communist Party resorted to guns and mass
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