90 Miles From Tyranny

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

The 90 Miles Mystery Box: Episode #1918

You have come across a mystery box. But what is inside?

It could be literally anything from the serene to the horrific,

from the beautiful to the repugnant,

from the mysterious to the familiar.

If you decide to open it, you could be disappointed,

you could be inspired, you could be appalled.

This is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended.

You have been warned.

Visage à trois #623

Three Videos For Your Viewing Pleasure:

FOUR Additional Bonus Videos:

Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #801

Apple Can’t Ignore Its Giant China Problem

Last week’s protests at an iPhone plant affirm that the company’s compromised approach to China is risky and unsustainable.

hile Americans were enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday with their families and friends last week, protests broke out at the world’s largest iPhone factory in China, and protesters clashed with police. The incident is a reminder that Apple can no longer afford to ignore its China problem.

Foxconn, a Taiwan-based company and one of Apple’s most important suppliers, owns the factory in Zhengzhou, China. The factory reportedly employs about 200,000 people. Last week’s protests were driven mainly by two grievances.

First and foremost was workers’ dissatisfaction with the company’s strict Covid protocols and poor living conditions. It has been three years since the first Covid outbreak in Wuhan, China, became known. Yet Beijing has continued to stick to its “zero Covid” policy and to enforce it with harsh measures, including frequent lockdowns.

To avoid shutting down its factory, Foxconn has been running a closed-loop system, keeping employees confined within the factory and company-run dormitories. Following the Chinese government’s Covid protocols, workers have been subjected to daily mass Covid testing and mandatory quarantine for those who tested positive and everyone in their proximity. The company also compels workers to wear N95 masks and take Chinese traditional medicine (there’s no independent research supporting Beijing’s claim that certain traditional Chinese medicine can fight Covid).

According to Bloomberg, these Covid protocols are deeply flawed. For instance, “As many as 20 workers’ throat swabs were put into one tube to speed testing and lower costs. If the results came back positive, all the workers whose samples were in that one tube were put into isolation for further testing. Those who worked on the same production line with someone who tested positive were also immediately removed from their duties and put into quarantine.” As of October, about 20,000 workers were reportedly put in quarantine on-site.

Unable to go outside, workers complained about long physical isolations from friends and families. They were also unhappy with the living conditions inside their dorms. They told reporters that they either received poor quality food or sometimes no food at all. “In some dormitories, trash piled up for weeks because no one was allowed to leave the building.”

Workers Flee

The Chinese government’s “zero Covid” policy created much fear among the Chinese. In October, when rumors about a Covid outbreak inside the plant began to spread, thousands of workers who were already sick of the isolation and the pathetic living conditions fled the factory on foot.

Foxconn tried to lure workers back by promising to pay an extra 30 yuan (about $4.19) in hourly pay. It might not sound much to Americans, but before this additional bonus, only those holding key positions inside the factory earned about 38 yuan ($5.30) per hour. Thus, the bonus was significant enough to entice some workers who fled in October back to work. But last week, when a rumor began to spread that Foxconn would delay the bonus payment until...

Sam Brinton, the transgender “pup” fetishist who was tapped by Joe Biden in February to be the deputy assistant secretary of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition in the Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy, is on leave and facing five years in prison after being charged with the felony theft of a woman’s designer suitcase.

According to a criminal complaint filed obtained by Alpha News, Brinton allegedly stole a navy blue Vera Bradley roller bag worth $2,325 from the luggage carousel at the Minneapolis St. Paul Airport (MSP) on Sept. 16.

After the suitcase’s owner alerted police, detectives reviewed video surveillance footage from the baggage claim area that showed Brinton taking the bag from the carousel, according to the complaint.

The video footage allegedly shows Brinton removing the luggage tag identifying the owner of the bag and putting it in his purse. He “then left the area at a quick pace,” the complaint says. According to law enforcement, Brinton had no reason to be in the baggage claim area, as he had not checked a bag before boarding his flight from Washington, D.C.

According to law enforcement, Brinton continued to use the luggage at least two more times during subsequent trips to Washington, D.C. on Sept. 18 and Oct. 9.

When an officer called Brinton to question him about the incident, the transvestite initially denied that he stole it, but did confirm that it was still in his possession.

“If I had taken the wrong bag, I am happy to return it, but I don’t have any clothes for another individual,” Brinton told the officer, according to the complaint. “That was my clothes when I opened the bag.”

Two hours later, Brinton called the officer back with a different story, and apologized for not being “completely honest,” Fox News Digital reported.

“DEFENDANT said when they opened the bag at the hotel, they realized it was not theirs,” the court filings stated. “DEFENDANT got nervous people would think they stole the bag and did not know what to do. DEFENDANT stated they left the clothes from the bag inside the drawers in the hotel room.”

Brinton told police he took the suitcase because he was “tired” and thought it was his, according to the complaint. He said he brought the bag back to Washington D.C. because it would have been “weirder” to leave a bag in the hotel room, police said. Detectives also noted that no clothing was ever recovered from the hotel room drawers.

Brinton was told to return the luggage to Delta, but as of Oct. 27 the victim still had not received her bag back, according to...

Visage à trois #622

Three Videos For Your Viewing Pleasure:

Three Additional Bonus Videos:

Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #801

Hunter Biden’s dubious business dealings raise specter of a ‘compromised’ president

Joe Biden waves as he boards Air Force One with his son Hunter Biden at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022.

Hunter Biden’s long trail of suspicious business dealings will get new scrutiny as House Republicans, armed with subpoena power, begin what is expected to be an intense, politically charged investigation of President Biden’s suspected involvement in his son’s moneymaking schemes.

By serving on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company, pursuing deals with Chinese Communist Party-linked energy tycoons and reportedly pocketing more than $3 million from a Russian businesswoman and widow of a former mayor of Moscow, Hunter Biden’s far-flung business deals have raised eyebrows for years about potential influence peddling and other possible crimes.

President Biden, who has denied any involvement in his son’s business deals and framed his son’s tribulations as a struggle to overcome years of addiction and grief, has largely been granted a free pass from the mainstream news media and the powers that be in Washington.

All of that is changing, though, as Republicans aim to expand their investigation of Hunter Biden, 52, and look at whether the president has been “compromised by foreign governments” in connection with his son’s overseas business ventures.

Details that Republicans hope to uncover will add to the mountain of evidence accumulated over the years from investigative reporting — mostly by conservative-leaning news outlets — and from inquiries on Capitol Hill.

Much of the evidence was unearthed by Senate Republicans led by Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, then the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, then chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. They led an investigation beginning in 2019 into potential conflicts of interest arising from Hunter Biden’s position on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings while his father served as vice president in the Obama administration.

The Senate inquiry followed accusations by President Trump that Mr. Biden used his position as vice president to improperly press for the firing of Ukraine’s top prosecutor, angling to shield Burisma and his son from a corruption investigation.

Hunter Biden and his business partner, Devon Archer, received more than $4 million from Burisma from 2014 to 2016 despite bringing few qualifications to the table, leading the lawmakers to conclude in their September 2020 report that Hunter Biden “cashed in” on his father’s role as the White House’s point man on Ukraine.

Officials in the Obama administration were aware that Hunter Biden’s position on the board was “problematic” and interfered “in the efficient execution of policy with respect to Ukraine,” but they stopped short of pinning any wrongdoing on Mr. Biden while he was...