90 Miles From Tyranny

Monday, November 13, 2017

It’s easy to see how Melania Trump or President Donald Trump’s granddaughter might attract a lot of fans in China. But as it turns out they weren’t the only ones who apparently have a fan club.

Turns out the Chinese are intrigued and entranced with the Donald himself.

Chinese tend to respect the strong and he certainly projects that in abundance.

From NY Times:

They call him “Donald the Strong.” They heap praise on his family. They fawn over his rapid-fire tweets. They have even created an online fan club.

In America, President Trump faces a feisty press corps, damaging investigations into associates and sagging approval ratings.

But in China, where Mr. Trump arrived Wednesday, he has acquired a legion of admirers who hail him as a straight-talking politician and business mogul with a knack for deal-making.

“He’s true to himself,” said Dai Xiang, a resident of the eastern province of Jiangsu who belongs to an online group of more than 23,000 people that exchanges news and commentary about Mr. Trump. “He’s real, unlike other politicians.”

He’s found many fans and ardent supporters.

They refer to him as “Uncle Trump,” “Grand Commander” and “Donald the Strong.” After Mr. Trump’s visit to the Forbidden City on Wednesday with President Xi Jinping, one fan wrote on social media, “Long live Emperor Trump!”

Mr. Trump’s Chinese fans praise his irrepressible style, his skill as an entertainer and his willingness to say what he thinks. Many also like the fact that he seems less inhibited than previous American presidents about recognizing China as a superpower and as an equal on the global stage.

It’s a different approach to China, recognizing their value and achievements, while not disregarding America’s concerns and interests.

Trump has changed the tone of the conversation with China.

For many Chinese, Mr. Trump is a familiar type: the celebrity businessman. Successful, outspoken tycoons can win godlike status in China’s get-rich society, and Mr. Trump is no exception. His books, including “Trump Never Give Up,” received glowing reviews on Chinese websites. He is presented as a role model, a billionaire with his own empire of...

Lawyer: Oberlin continues to “bully and financially strangle a century-old local business for refusing to succumb to the College’s demand that Gibson’s ignore student shoplifting” (from people of color).

The Oberlin students, with the support of some faculty and staff, accused the bakery of racial profiling three Oberlin students who were arrested for shoplifting. Those three students eventually pleaded guilty, and police stats showed that Gibson’s did not engage in racial profiling. Nonetheless, the turmoil has continued, and Gibson’s is suing claiming a continuing campaign to strangle its business.

Protests and Boycotts After Shoplifting Arrests

Our prior post covered the background of the dispute in great detail, Bakery targeted by Oberlin College #BlackLivesMatter fights back:

On November 9, 2016, Gibson’s employees noticed what they thought was a person shoplifting two bottles of wine hidden in his jacket. That alleged shoplifter was a black Oberlin College student. When they attempted to stop and photograph him, they were attacked by several other people accompanying the student.

The police were called. The Oberlin town police department has posted the Incident Reportonline, reflecting the arrest of the alleged shoplifter and two others involved in the scuffle. …

What could have been a simple shoplifting incident and arrest created a firestorm when Oberlin College students, including the Black Student Union, Student Senate and College Democrats, alleged racial profiling and launched a boycott of Gibson’s. Protests were launched outside the bakery….

Oberlin College Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo provided this statement to Legal Insurrection in response to the news report that she was passing out literature accusing Gibson’s of racism:

Information and literature available at the protest was prepared by organizers, not the college. I passed along a flyer that was circulating among the crowd to a news tribune reporter who was seeking information from students about what was taking place. I did not prepare the flyer and do not have a copy of the flyer. My presence was to help ensure that a safe environment was maintained.

… The Oberlin Student Senate passed a resolution calling for a boycott of Gibson’s ….

As noted in that post, the college issued a statement which at least implicitly endorsed the boycott:

… Regarding the incident at Gibson’s, we are deeply troubled because we have heard from students that there is...

A group of travelers explored one of the most spectacular yet least visited natural landmarks in the world - the Son Doong Cave located in the jungles of inland Vietnam.

The world’s biggest known cave, formed as a result of a cave in caused by a mountain river at least two million years ago, was stumbled upon by a local man in 1991. At at its widest, it measures 150 by 200 meters, stretches for over 5 kilometers, and has a volume of 38,5 million cubic meters, about twice the size of the next largest underground hollow.

Son Doong was entirely closed to visitors until 2013, and the Russian team of six spent a year arranging permits for the trip.

Their journey through the cave took four days of arduous climbs interspersed with spectacular sights, such as some of the world’s most imposing stalagmites, fast-running streams, and an underground forest.

“It’s peaceful here, you feel completely detached and free. This is what you call a reset,” said one of the travelers, Ernest Rudyak, in a video diary of the journey. “It is a sanctuary, a lost world below the surface - a unique ecosystem.”

Only about 2,000 outsiders are thought to have traveled to the remote location, and fewer than a dozen have filmed inside with a drone. Only limited tours costing several thousand dollars are made available each year, and those...

Groups urge Americans to stand with vets over football players staging 'unpopular national anthem protests'

Two groups of National Football League fans urged viewers to boycott Sunday’s games in honor of Veterans’ Day Weekend as the nation continues to grapple with the ongoing national anthem kneeling controversy.

Boycott the NFL, a Facebook page boasting more than 254,000 followers, urged patriotic football fans to skip watching Sunday’s games “in solidarity with veterans around the country.” The conservative watchdog organization 2ndVote also took a stance on Sunday’s games, requesting that football fans “stiff-arm the NFL” and send a “message” to its officials and sponsors by doing so.We’re sending the National Football League, its corporate sponsors, and the television networks a message this Veterans Day weekend!" 2ndVote said Friday. "Americans are sick of the disrespectful National Anthem protests that the NFL has not only allowed to continue, but has institutionalized in pregame ceremonies."

"We are so grateful for the service of our veterans and active duty military and for the flag they served under. In their honor, we are going to #STANDwithVets over those who engage in the inappropriate and immensely unpopular National Anthem protests," 2ndVote continued.

Noting that the NFL "is already feeling the financial consequences" of allowing the national anthem protests to continue, 2ndVote said "we can make a HUGE statement this weekend" by...

When the House passed a preliminary tax reform bill earlier this month the Republican Senate leadership moved quickly to slow the process. The effort has been led (again) by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The primary motivation for the delay isn’t coming from a desire for more time to further review the steps toward eventual tax reform passage but rather to muddy the waters and ultimately ensure it is as weak and ineffectual bill that will provide as little political momentum for President Trump.

That is how deep the dislike for Mr. Trump goes among some of DC’s most powerful political elite.

“He (McConnell) has no intention of seeing a potentially successful tax bill sent to the President’s desk. If something does come out of all this it will be very weak tea – nothing more.”

That is the word from a source who remains close to the ongoing tax bill deliberations.

What McConnell is doing with the tax reform debate has recent precedence – namely what became the disastrous attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare. If that repeal had been successful it would have given POTUS Trump a significant political victory. McConnell and others within the GOP worked to ensure no such victory would happen – the needs of the American people be damned. They are now drawing from the very same playbook to halt needed tax reform.

Just this week McConnell told the New York Times he couldn’t promise some Middle Class Americans wouldn’t see their taxes increase under the current proposed changes to the tax code. Those remarks set off a near-instant behind-closed-doors firestorm among Republicans outraged that Mr. McConnell would be so willing to give Democrats and the media ammunition against...

President Donald Trump hit back at Kim Jong Un by implying the North Korean dictator is “short and fat” after Kim trashed Trump as an “old lunatic.”

“Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me “old,” when I would NEVER call him “short and fat?” Trump tweeted. “Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend – and maybe someday that will happen!”

President Trump was responding to North Korean state-run media reports stating Kim had called Trump’s five-nation Asia trip “a warmonger’s trip for confrontation with our country.”

Kim continued: “Reckless remarks by an old lunatic like Trump will never scare us or stop our advance … it pushes us to speed up the effort to complete our nuclear force.”

In the same tweet storm, Trump also tore into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, mocking her unsuccessful bid to “reset” U.S.-Russia relations.

He also noted that former president Barack Obama “had zero chemistry with Putin.”

Trump underscored that as the only two superpowers, it’s better for the world for the United States and Russia to get along and not be mortal enemies.

The president tweeted: “When will all the haters and fools out there realize that having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. There always playing politics – bad for our country. I want to solve North Korea, Syria, Ukraine, terrorism, and Russia can greatly help!”

Liberal media had a collective meltdown because Trump called Kim Jong Un “fat” when their anti-Trump hero, Senator John McCain, had called Kim a “crazy fat kid” in March 2017 (see video at link).

Similarly, CNN fat-shamed Kim Jong Un in 2015, when it did an entire segment on his dramatic weight gain and speculated about his health even though...