Stephen Miller is anti-American. Never throw the baby out with the bathwater. His stand is tp protect Trump as if there was something "Deep State" about Homeland Security.

All of Trump's hardline demands about Homeland Security was carried out under Nielsen. With Nielsen resigning it looks as though Trump is responsible for the inhumanity occurring at the USA southern border. Now, if Trump cleans house the speculation is there is more "Deep State" and Trump is not the issue, so much as the structure of the USA government. 

April 8, 2019

White House senior adviser Stephen Miller (click here) wants to make sure that outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is only the first of a string of senior officials headed out the door.

Trump administration officials say that Miller, who played key a role in Nielsen's ouster, also wants the President to dismiss the director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Lee Cissna, and the department's general counsel, John Mitnick.

A senior administration official also said that under the law, DHS Under Secretary of Management Claire Grady, the current acting deputy secretary, is next in line of succession to be acting secretary. That means there are questions as to whether she will need to be fired as well in order to make Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan the acting DHS secretary, as Trump tweeted Sunday night...

Randolph Alles, current director of the Secret Service, is highly qualified to be in that position. Alles has previous credentials with border security and that is probably what Miller doesn't like. Trump is stupid in removing Alles. He has excellent credentials and there really hasn't been any reportable incidents under his watch.

This is what happens when an administration is hyperpolitical and makes changes under a "theme." The Trump Theme is "Deep State." So, with so many things going wrong in the administration of this president, the theme wins out to satisfy his base.

Ah, oh, the USA is FULL. Time to enforce birth control. Maybe Miller needs to find a speech writer if that is at all possible.

What is the definition of FULL?

April 8, 2019

President Donald Trump (click here) visited the southern border near the California town of Calexico on Friday. At a roundtable event, Trump expressed his concerned over the upsurge in illegal crossings, declaring that the “country is full” so migrants should “turn around.” The visit followed a week of tariff threats against Mexico and foreign aid cuts to Central American countries. California and 19 other states are suing the Trump administration over his emergency declaration to build a border wall.

The Trump administration is seeking to drive border security agencies in a “tougher direction,” according to a statement from the White House. Yesterday, Kirstjen Nielsen announced her departure from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). As DHS Secretary, Nielsen’s tenure became the object of Trump’s criticism for her leniency towards immigration control, despite enacting “zero tolerance” policies at the southern border. Kevin McAleenan, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner, will serve as acting DHS secretary....

Donald Trump and quite possibly Stephen Miller are creating their own emergency at the border. Trump has now cut off all aid to the Northern Triad and more people are leaving for places north. This is ridiculous. The so called emergency at the USA southern border is created by the very people declaring it.

March 30, 2019
By Greg Clary

The United States (click here) is cutting off aid to the Northern Triangle, otherwise known as the Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, the State Department told CNN Saturday, one day after President Donald Trump said they had "set up" migrant caravans for entry into the United States.

"We were paying them tremendous amounts of money. And we're not paying them anymore. Because they haven't done a thing for us. They set up these caravans," Trump said Friday.

"At the Secretary's instruction, we are carrying out the President's direction and ending FY 2017 and FY 2018 foreign assistance programs for the Northern Triangle," a State Department spokesperson said. "We will be engaging Congress as part of this process."

The government of Honduras responded to the announcement later Saturday, blaming "contradictory policies" by US agencies for the move....

The highest amount Guatemala has received from the USA was in 2016 in the amount of $297 million.(click here) That amount of money to a near USA country with the inhumane conditions of drug cartels is not an enormous amount of money.

The F-35 currently costs between $94 million (F-35A) and $122 million (F-35B) for low-rate initial production run 10, though sustainment cost projections are as big a concern as production costs for a program that is expected to cost $1.5 trillion over its 55-year lifespan.

No one can accuse Guatemala of building up it's military against the USA as Venezuela has under Russian oppression and demands.

April 1, 2019
AILSA CHANG, HOST:  The Trump administration (click here) is moving to end aid programs for three Central American countries - El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. This is in retaliation for the tens of thousands of migrants leaving those countries each month for the U.S. White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney went on CNN yesterday to defend the move.

(SOUNDBITE OF CNN BROADCAST)

MICK MULVANEY: The people say it's working, but the proof is in the numbers. It's not working well enough to help us solve our border crisis, and that's what the president is focused on....

...CHANG: Well, now President Trump is threatening to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance. What would that mean to El Salvador, to lose that money? How do you currently use those funds now?

CANJURA: You know, that money - that money isn't managed directly for our government. That money is managed and administrated by different companies, enterprise - enterprises, NGOs that work in the government - that work...

CHANG: And how do they spend the money?

CANJURA: ...In our country. They spend the money in different programs of cooperation that are related to safety, to youth empowerment, to security, you know, that has to be with the creating better conditions of living in our country in terms of improving the conditions for our young people, creating jobs, creating great opportunities, developing spaces of recreation for our people. So it's a very important cooperation for our countries. But we don't manage the money, as government....

Letter of intent to the International Monetary Fund (below). No one bothered to reassess the impacts of the 2008 Global Economic Crisis on country's the USA has sent aid to. If that reassessment had been conducted, it is possible the increase, albeit gradual under Obama, of migrants would have been averted.

It may be the programs need to be bolstered to return impact to the Northern Triad countries, or, they may need to have a more focused approach to bring about recovery of the failings of their governments with the economic collapse of the global market.

At any rate, the reason for the migration north from the Northern Triad is related to deteriorating economic conditions. To cut aid to these countries only increases the crisis. Does the USA actually want more failed governments this close to it's border? We already know the repercussions of this economic failure, but, the idea the USA is not going to participate makes these countries look to other sources of help. The withdrawal of these funds causes as much a national crisis for the USA, but, in a way that attacks national security in countries alienated from USA principals of freedom and democracy.


April 13, 2009

Guatemala―Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies for 2009–2010 (click here)

Chart to right (click here)

1. Over the past several years, Guatemala has made progress in consolidating
macroeconomic stability and in implementing important structural reforms. Reflecting this progress and favorable external conditions, the economy has been expanding at rates above historical records, averaging 4¾ percent in 2005–08. This outcome was attained without a deterioration of the underlying external and fiscal positions.

2. Volatile external conditions, however, are having a strong impact on the
Guatemalan economy. Up until mid-2008, higher commodity prices put upward pressure on inflation and the external current account deficit. We reacted timely, tightening monetary conditions, enhancing exchange rate flexibility, and strengthening the social safety net, while maintaining a prudent fiscal stance. The global economic and financial crisis, however, is now changing the scenario significantly, and our economy has started to feel its impact, through a deceleration of economic activity and tightening of domestic financial conditions.

3. The Guatemalan economy is well prepared to face the adverse external outlook. As the global slowdown is likely to be protracted and significant downside risks still remain, we are adjusting our policies to minimize the domestic effects of the external shock and to be better prepared in case downside risks materialize. At the same time, we remain committed to
addressing the medium-term development challenges facing Guatemala, and we will implement necessary reforms to ensure sustainable medium-term growth, continued progress in reducing poverty, and protection of the neediest....

The policies of previous administration work and they need to continue to work. Capture and release is the only way to handle these migrations. Detention is ridiculous on it's face. Trump is WRONG!

It would be better if the economics were better for these people, but, in pulling support for the Northern Triad the USA is creating it's own crisis and causing instability in USA national security.

...“I didn’t want to emigrate, (click here) but necessity obligated it. I do not want my children to grow up in a place full of violence and poverty,” says F from the room where he lives in Texas with his son. In recent years, the collapse of coffee prices and the increased presence of gangs in his community, which were already threatening K, made him think that there he could not guarantee a future for his children. So he began to plan the trip. He and his wife were convinced that, even if they had to separate, migrating was the best option for the family....

...In the case of F and K, after turning themselves in to the Border Patrol, both spent 52 hours in detention before being released. The father left with an ankle monitor that allows authorities to track his movements. He must also report to the authorities every 15 days. He already has two jobs in Texas that allow him to pay off the coyote and send money to his family while his son goes to school and learns English....

The American consumer is not a guinea pig. If dangers were known and concealed it is malicious.

This is not about the Second Amendment, it is about Article 1, Section 8. 

When companies and organization hide information that leads to deaths, injuries and illnesses of the American people, they are no longer protected by law.

...provide for (click here) the common defense and general welfare of the United States...

April 8, 2019
By Rick Rojas and Kristin Hussey

Documents (click here) proved there were cover-ups: The industry knew about the dangers, but hid facts from consumers, and millions of pages described false advertising and suppressed scientific research. The details, once surfaced, not only revealed wrongdoing but changed public perception.

Lawsuits against cigarette manufacturers exposed crucial confidential records and completely transformed the tobacco industry.

Now, families of the victims from the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School hope to replicate the tactic: using litigation as a means to pry open the gun industry, employing the discovery process to unearth internal communications and examine the practices behind marketing and selling powerful firearms like the one used in the attack.

“We can find out what the Remington defendants have tried every step of the way to block in discovery,” said David Wheeler, whose 6-year-old son, Ben, died at Sandy Hook, about the gun maker that was among the companies named in the lawsuit...

March 14, 2019
By Rick Rojas and Kristin Hussey

The Connecticut Supreme Court (click here) dealt a major blow to the firearms industry on Thursday, clearing the way for a lawsuit against the companies that manufactured and sold the semiautomatic rifle used by the gunman in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The lawsuit mounted a direct challenge to the immunity that Congress granted gun companies to shield them from litigation when their weapons are used in a crime. The ruling allows the case, brought by victims’ families, to maneuver around the federal shield, creating a potential opening to bring claims to trial and hold the companies, including Remington, which made the rifle, liable for the attack.

The decision represents a significant development in the long-running battle between gun control advocates and the gun lobby. And it stands to have wider ramifications, experts said, by charting a possible legal road map for victims’ relatives and survivors from other mass shootings who want to sue gun companies....

2005 was a good year for Cheney extremism. The national energy plan was passed that would allow the petroleum industry to ravage American lands causing seismic activity, polluted drinking water and American deaths and so was protections for gun sales.

February 5, 2013
By Adam Schiff

...In 2005, (click here) when Congress passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, granting the gun industry immunity in state and federal court from civil liability in most negligence and products liability actions, the National Rifle Assn. called passage "vitally important" and fought hard for it. Although there are exceptions in the law, it has been broadly interpreted to preclude most negligence lawsuits. The result is that — unlike the makers of chain saws, knives, automobiles, drugs, alcohol or even cigarettes — gun manufacturers and sellers have a lesser obligation to act with reasonable care for public safety....

The practice of cronyism. The citizen gun industry has absolutely no place as a national security issue, if anything, it causes problems with national security. The only reason this legislation passed is because Republicans benefit from protecting those that give them money to stay in office.

`Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act' text (click here)

Businesses (click here) in the United States that are engaged in interstate and foreign commerce through the lawful design, manufacture, marketing, distribution, importation, or sale to the public of firearms or ammunition products that have been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce are not, and should not, be liable for the harm caused by those who criminally or unlawfully misuse firearm products or ammunition products that function as designed and intended.

"Morning Papers"

The Rooster

"Okeydoke"

The waxing crescent

2.3 day old moon

5.9 percent lit

April 6, 2019
By Page Szmodia

Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL (click here) successfully inserted its spacecraft, Beresheet, into the moon’s orbit yesterday—and they have the photos to prove it.

Late night the spacecraft’s moon-capture maneuver caught these stunning photos of the far side of the moon. One photo is a close up of the surface, taken at a height of 470 km. The other photo captures part of the far side of the moon with Earth in the background....

The USA expects and receives loyalty and services within that loyalty from it's allies.

I AM SICK OF TRUMP EXPLOITING ALLIES FOR POWER AND RETURNING NONE IN RETURN.

Justin Trudeau is not to be ridiculed by Washington, DC ever again. The USA has a national security debt to the Prime Minister.

China is a communist country. So, is Russia. Russia was once part of the G8 which is now the G7. Someone really needs to answer the question, "Did any country in The West believe an invasion into Ukraine was a surprise?" 

China is no exception. The Chinese communists have pushed their power on Vietnam and into international waters. These very aggressive moves are all part of the communists practicing brinkmanship. The West must respond.

The idea a communist country can simply come to the USA and exploit it for communist wealth is one of the most hideous idea I have ever seen the USA entertain. The idea China could simply be welcomed to USA lands and ports and consumer access because it would change any potential of danger to democracy.

China and Russia have a friendship pact as of 2001.

July 17, 2001
By Patrick E. Tyler

Russia and China (click here) signed a treaty of ''friendship and cooperation'' today, binding the two giants closer in the next 20 years and also committing them to oppose jointly much of the framework for international security that the United States is seeking to erect after the cold war.

Composed of 25 articles, the treaty joins Russia and China formally in opposing the United States' missile plans and places Russia more firmly behind China's claim of sovereignty over the island of Taiwan. It also strengthens military cooperation between Beijing and Moscow while rejecting the intervention that NATO undertook in 1999 in the Balkans to stop the killing of civilians.

The accord, sought by China, was concluded in a Kremlin ceremony with effusive gestures of camaraderie. The treaty bears the markings of a strategic pact that sets forth the deep concerns shared by Moscow and Beijing about a new world order dominated by the United States and its European allies. The agreement will quite likely be the center of discussion this week when President Bush and the leaders of the large industrial countries sit down with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia at a summit meeting in Italy.

One Russian commentator here described the treaty as ''an act of friendship against America.''...

Add to this mess, the FACT Trump absolutely loves Russia and Putin.

Deliveries (click here) of ship-to-shore container gantry cranes, which are transported by specialized heavy-lift vessels, rose slightly in 2015, but remain below the pre-recession peak....

...More than one-third of the deliveries during those peak years were to Chinese ports, which were scaling up rapidly to handle double-digit volume growth and rapid increases in ship sizes, PEMA said....

When Nixon went to China, it was to build a friendship between the two country and build mutual engagement in all sorts of things, including the arts, science and technology and trade. Some of the first trade exchanges by China and the USA were ornamental plants. Nowhere in Nixon's wildest imagination did he think the trade between China and the USA would hack away at the Middle Class and provide the USA as a place where Chinese goods dominated the market place. China not only dominates the market place, or should I say, has dominated the market place of the USA, but, there are Chinese gantry cranes in every country in the world. And don't even start about the lousy size of these ships.

When Nixon went to China is was in hopes that the quality of life of the Chinese people would improve. He hoped that China would appreciate the idea that freedom and democracy are profoundly good dynamics for people and their leaders. What the USA got instead was a communist country that exploits every dollar of the globe for it's products while undercutting any domestic rivals. China is not interested in trade, it is interested in controlling the world markets, oppressing the people in every country in the world and opening opportunities for any Russian aggression against The West. 

Late President Nixon never expected China to become a national security threat. After all, plants don't fire bombs.

The idea the USA can simply look the other way while Wall Street and their CEOs rake in billions is grossly wrong. It was never intended and it has become a real problem for The West.

There is no good will between China, Russia and The West. The capacity for good will doesn't exist while communists want to end freedom and democracy. These countries are dangerous. 

The West has to reassess it's ability to conduct trade with hostile powers and realize there can be reversal of relations with such countries until they change their ways and realize human beings come first and not their communist regimes. The people of China and Russia will ultimately be grateful when their regimes end the tyranny of control.

I don't see much of a trade relationship with China. The West needs to market the agricultural commodities once on it's way to China and Russia to the people within their alliances. The farmers no longer have to plant huge crops for export and the commodity prices will reflect that and agriculture might even receive parity for their crops.

Wall Street needs to get over it's greediness and realize the products they profit from are produced by people that are citizens of free and democratic countries. If China and Russia cannot move into the 21 Century and beyond without oppressive regimes, then we sure don't have to help maintain those regimes either.

The Canadian government needs to receive their citizens home as they will never need to be in China again. Prosecutions of Russians and Chinese breaking USA laws must go forward. The marketing to China and Russia need to be trimmed back. The West is going to need it's agricultural capacity on a hot planet.

The EXPECTATIONS of communist countries to move into the modern era has to be realized by them. The USA middle class cannot be the only middle class in the world sought after to provide markets with profit. It is not working well at all.

When the USA engaged in exchanges of culture and science is wasn't suppose to include corporate espionage. 

Enough of this. The strength of freedom and democracies have been demonstrated with the 70th anniversary of NATO. Tell me that should not be envied by the world's government and their people. There is nothing wrong with expecting change from oppressive and dangerous regimes.

I WANT TO BUY CANADIAN LABELED CANOLA!

Remember Canada and their Canadian citizens that count on the USA as an ally?

Three, not one, but three Canadian exporters of canola seed is being effected by China's hissy fit over the arrest of a CEO groomed to carry out espionage to benefit China.

There can be no BUGS that cause problems with canola crops with obvious yields like this. China will be defeated in it's complaint. The proof of such complaint should have been obtained BEFORE the grain left the Canadian ports bound for China, not after the shipment was receive. China has piss poor quality control if it is not testing imports before they leave the port. Such poor business practices result in adverse problems with the suppliers. It is one thing to have a product rejected on it's domestic dock and return the product to it's origins, it is something all together to send a product to it's destination only to have it rejected and then seek to have it returned at the expense of the original source. That is nonsense. All products BEFORE export should be received by the customer that is the destination WITH NO RECOURSE available short of sincere fraud.

April 2, 2019
By David Ljunggren

Canola field in the foreground with flax in the background in at Tigers Hills near Somerset, Manitoba, Canada

Ottawa - Chinese authorities (click here) have filed a quality complaint against a third Canadian exporter of canola, Canada’s agriculture minister said on Tuesday, potentially deepening a trade and diplomatic dispute between Beijing and Ottawa.

Early last month, China cited the discovery of pests as the reason for blocking shipments of canola seed from Richardson International. Shortly afterward, it expanded the ban to a second major exporter, Viterra Inc.

“We have been informed that there is a third company that received a non-compliance notification ... it does not mean that they are suspended,” Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau told the House of Commons trade committee, saying she could not identify the firm.

Beijing has been angry with Canada since the chief financial officer of Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd was arrested in Vancouver last December on a U.S. extradition request.

Richardson, Canada’s largest exporter of canola seed to China, said on Tuesday it would “not be a painless exercise” to find new international markets if Beijing’s ban on imports continued in the long term.

There is no such thing as a secure computer network, not even a military computer network.

I don't know how many times I have complained on this blog site that the F-35 was the most dangerous jet in the military and not because it was effective, but, because it was flown by computers. It isn't dangerous to others, it is dangerous to it's pilot.

There just is no reason that in REAL combat with other major companies these jets will perform to a standard that will result in USA dominance. I am a no vote for more and more USA weaponry to be computerized. The old jets did a heck of a job.

December 25, 2018
By David Majumdar

Fact: "Even combat-configured F-22s (click here) are not invisible to enemy radar, contrary to popular belief. Neither is any other tactical fighter-sized stealth aircraft with empennage surfaces such as tailfins—the F-35, PAK-FA, J-20 or J-31. That’s just basic physics."

State-run Chinese media is claiming that the People’s Liberation Army has been able to track the U.S. Air Force’s Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor stealth fighters over the East China Sea. While the Chinese report might be easily dismissed as propaganda—it is not beyond the realm of possibility. In fact—it’s very possible that China can track the Raptor. Stealth is not a cloak of invisibility, after all. Stealth technology simply delays detection and tracking....

...even combat-configured F-22s are not invisible to enemy radar, contrary to popular belief. Neither is any other tactical fighter-sized stealth aircraft with empennage surfaces such as tailfins—the F-35, PAK-FA, J-20 or J-31. That’s just basic physics....

...Typically, that resonance occurs when a feature on an aircraft—such as a tail-fin — is less than eight times the size of a particular frequency wavelength. Effectively, small stealth aircraft that do not have the size or weight allowances for two feet or more of radar absorbent material coatings on every surface are forced to make trades as to which frequency bands they are optimized for....

I am in no hurry for China to dominate 5G. No one else should be either.

The charges against Huawei and Meng Wanzhou are not minor charges, including corporate espionage. (click here)

Well, looky thar. It's Xi, the control freak. Daddy Wanzhou has been grooming his daughter Med to step into his shoes. 

...Meng, 46, is chief financial officer of a company with revenues close to $100 billion. Her father Ren Zhengfei, 74, is a former officer of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Meng holds multiple passports and owns two luxury homes in Vancouver.

While her father's military background immediately raises flags outside China, the truth is that Ren has skillfully piloted the company, preventing the government from intervening too much and enjoying a certain degree of autonomy. This was the secret of Huawei's success....

The idea there are civilian oligarchs in any communist country that are completely autonomous, is grossly underestimating the power of the communist government. There are no wealthy Russians or Chinese that do not answer to their governments. Recently, China has curbed the investment outside the country because the money is not securing the Chinese mainland so much as exploiting the wealth of The West. Which brings me to my point at the end of this event.

...Military-civilian integration is a strategy designed to increase China's national power by mobilizing and incorporating all advanced technologies held by the PLA, the national government as well as state-run and private companies.

The strategy is spearheaded by Xi, who simultaneously serves as the top official of the Chinese military, the Chinese Communist Party and the state. It has been pursued in tandem with a bold organizational reform of the military...

March 17, 2019
By Julian E. Barnes and Adam Satarino

Chinese President Xi Jinping (click here) inspects troops during a military parade to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army, at Zhurihe training base in Inner Mongolia on July 30, 2017. China's military has the "confidence and capability" to bolster the country's rise into a world power, Xi said 

Washington — The Trump administration’s aggressive campaign (click here) to prevent countries from using Huawei and other Chinese telecommunications equipment in their next-generation wireless networks has faltered, with even some of America’s closest allies rejecting the United States’ argument that the companies pose a security threat.

Over the past several months, American officials have tried to pressure, scold and, increasingly, threaten other nations that are considering using Huawei in building fifth-generation, or 5G, wireless networks. Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, has pledged to withhold intelligence from nations that continue to use Chinese telecom equipment. The American ambassador to Germany cautioned Berlin this month that the United States would curtail intelligence sharing if that country used Huawei.

The warnings stem from the United States’ concern that Huawei and other Chinese telecom companies are a significant security threat given Beijing’s control over the industry. Top officials have pointed to new Chinese security laws that require Huawei and other companies to provide information to intelligence officials, arguing China could gain access to the vast amounts of data that will ultimately travel over 5G, allowing Beijing to spy on companies, individuals and governments — an accusation Huawei has vehemently denied....

Commercial use of spectrum is not crucial to commercial use. It just isn't.

I realize Wall Street thinks it's need for greed is more important than USA national security. It isn't.

September 21, 2017

Bigger swaths of spectrum are crucial to accommodate the massive increase in data usage produced by people and devices consuming more data than ever. For 5G to power these devices and sensors in the near future, it will need a lot more breathing room on the airwaves to acquire the bandwidth needed; refer to my previous blog 5G – Better Broadband Bandwidth....

...600 MHz
In the U.S., the FCC recently auctioned off bands in the 600 MHz range. This is a lower frequency, so it can easily pass through physical objects and travel many miles.

5 GHz

5 GHz, an unlicensed range commonly used for WiFi (and since it’s unlicensed, anything else anyone wants to broadcast in that range such as Bluetooth Low Energy), is more likely to be absorbed by solid objects, but there is much more bandwidth (roughly 500 MHz in total) available for use; albeit shared. It also doesn’t propagate very well, so it is generally used for short ranges. That’s one reason why multiple WiFi access points are required to cover even small buildings.

It’s simple math, really – if you want, say, 800 MHz to deliver fiber-like speeds and also wanted that at a low frequency like 600 MHz, you’d take up from 600 MHz to 1.4 GHz (1400 MHz)....

If you think there is time to end Wall Street's power grab, it nearly isn't. Why is all this spectrum auctioned for a charge of $10 per month. Wall Street really needs an increase in it's capacity to exploit American consumers? No. The reason this is done is because CEOs are always trying to remain CEOs by improving "the take" by stockholders. 

When is enough actually enough?

March 13, 2019
By Tali Arbel

A handful of Verizon customers (click here) will soon have faster wireless service — but they'll have to pay $10 a month more.

Verizon says it'll flip the switch next month on a much-hyped, next-generation "5G" phone network . Service will start in parts of Chicago and Minneapolis.

The offer is available only on unlimited plans, which currently start at $75 for one person without 5G. It requires Motorola's Moto Z3 phone with a special 5G attachment.

Other 5G-enabled phones, including one from Samsung, will come this year. Verizon would not say how 5G pricing would work with those phones....

T-Mobile has said its 5G plans won't be more expensive if its proposed takeover of Sprint goes through. Sprint hasn't announced 5G prices. AT&T did not immediately respond to questions.

December 29, 2018

What does the 5G network (click here) and a non-lethal weapon developed by the military have in common? The Department of Defense has developed a non-lethal crowd control device called the Active Denial System (ADS). The ADS works by firing a high-powered beam of 95 GHz waves at a target—that is, millimeter wavelengths.  Anyone caught in the beam will feel like their skin is burning. The burning sensation stops once the target leaves the beam. This weapon operates on 95GHz waves and 5G will operate on the same frequencies.

Today's cellular and Wi-Fi networks rely on microwaves - a type of electromagnetic radiation utilizing frequencies up to 6 gigahertz (GHz) in order to wirelessly transmit voice or data. However, 5G applications will require unlocking of new spectrum bands in higher frequency ranges above 6 GHz to 100 GHz and beyond, utilizing sub-millimeter and millimeter waves - to allow ultra-high rates of data to be transmitted in the same amount of time as compared with previous deployments of microwave radiation....

There can be no "trade deal" when China shows no remorse for Western citizens in their country.

Wall Streets ambitions to make profits in China is not worth it. It is obvious The West has "know how" that the Chinese like and want, but, the Chinese price on The West's national security is far too high.

China is not a reliable partner and that is completely obvious with these actions. The West and The East are still mortal enemies. Xi wants control of his government without question and this mess is all part of it. Xi cannot be counted on to provide a safe environment for The West and it's "Know How" including business ventures.

None of this is worth it and it certainly is not based in a peacetime environment.

23 December 2018

Canada repeated calls (click here) that China immediately release two citizens it claims were arbitrarily detained there, soon after the arrest of a high-profile Chinese businesswoman.

The Canadian government is concerned about the “worrying precedent” the detentions set, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Saturday.

Michael Kovrig, a diplomat on leave from his post in Hong Kong; and Michael Spavor, an entrepreneur who helped organise tourist trips to North Korea, were seized nine days after Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was taken into custody. Meng is out of jail on bail pending an extradition hearing....

Wall Street considers Huawei a requirement for 5G, but, in actuality Huawei is a national security threat to The West, including NATO.

This was some really excellent work. If China has a clue this arrest would occur, it didn't show it.

April 2, 2019
by Margaret Wollensak

Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou arrives at a parole office, in Vancouver on Dec. 12, 2018. On April 3, The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee is set to discuss a resolution commending the Canadian government for upholding the rule of law in Meng's arrest. 

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (click here) will consider a resolution on Wednesday to commend the Canadian government for upholding the rule of law and to express concern over the Chinese regime’s response over the extradition proceedings of a prominent Huawei Technologies executive.

Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1, 2018, by Canadian authorities at the request of the United States.

Ottawa maintains that it is upholding the rule of law in following its extradition treaty with the United States. However, since Meng’s arrest, Canada has faced increasing diplomatic and trade tensions with the Chinese regime, which has repeatedly demanded that Meng be released.

Sponsored by Sen. James Rich (R-ID), the current Senate resolution title reads as follows: “A resolution commending the Government of Canada for upholding the rule of law and expressing concern over actions by the Government of the People’s Republic of China in response to a request from the United States Government to the Government of Canada for the extradition of a Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. executive.”

The resolution is currently cosponsored by senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Cory Gardener (R-CO), Christopher A. Coons (D-DE), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), and Marco Rubio (R-FL)....

It is obvious Xi wants control. The question is why?

Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji and Han Zheng are the Standing Committee's current members.

Party chief Xi Jinping (click here) has stacked Central Committee with loyalists

By Nectar Gan

...The previous Central Committee, which accompanied Xi Jinping through his first term as party general secretary, was largely picked by his predecessors. But at last month’s congress, which heralded the start of Xi’s “new era” and saw him emerge as China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, it was Xi’s term to dominate personnel decisions.

The reshuffle of the central leadership was the most dramatic in decades, with 67.3 per cent of the new Central Committee’s members being newcomers. That compares with 50.6 per cent of the 16th Central Committee formed in 2002 and 48.7 per cent of the 18th Central Committee formed in 2012, according to data compiled by Cheng Li, a veteran China watcher at the Washington-based Brookings Institution think tank....

China's decision making is conducted by seven men. There have never been women on the "Standing Committee."

Every five years, (click here) the eyes of the world turn to China as the ruling Communist Party holds its congress.

The event determines who will lead the Party. Those people will go on to lead the 1.3 billion people of China - most of whom don't get a say - and helm the world's second largest economy.

The 19th congress will begin on 18 October and while significant leadership changes are expected current Party leader and Chinese President Xi Jinping is widely expected to stay in the top job....

...The party has 2,300 delegates - although only 2,287 have been elected to attend, with reports suggesting the remaining 13 delegates were disqualified because of "improper behaviour".

Behind closed doors, those CPC delegates will elect the powerful Central Committee, which has about 200 members.

This committee in turn elects the Politburo and from that, the Politburo Standing Committee is chosen.

Those are China's real decision-making bodies. The Politburo currently has 24 members, while the Standing Committee has seven, although these numbers have varied over the years.

While there is a vote, in reality many of these people have already been handpicked by the current leadership, and the committee just approves their edict.

The Central Committee also elects the Party's top leader - the general secretary - who becomes the country's president. That is, and will most likely continue to be, Xi Jinping.

Why Taiwan?

Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong establishes the People’s Republic of China in Beijing on October 1 after peasant-backed Communists defeat the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang and thousands of his troops flee to Taiwan. The United States—which backed the Nationalists against invading Japanese forces during World War II—supports Chiang’s exiled Republic of China government in Taipei, setting the stage for several decades of limited U.S. relations with mainland China.

Chiang Kai-shek would come to lead the "Republic of China" better known today as Taiwan. The revolution that moved China from a dynasty to communism first transitioned from 1927 to 1949 through a leader that wanted more democracy. As a matter of fact the KMT (Kuomintang) party expelled communists from it's ranks.

There was civil war in China at the end of WWII. The West never stepped into insure Chiang would have his government. Instead, the conflict cast Chiang to set up a government in Taiwan.

An interesting note about the Chinese Civil War was that it's impetus was Japan. Mao would lead a war against Japan which also advanced The West's war in the Pacific. While Chiang was given credit for the defeat of Japan, Mao ultimately was the person most responsible and took the control of China away from Chiang.

Chiang Kai-shek (click here) was a Chinese military and political leader who led the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) for five decades and was head of state of the Chinese Nationalist government between 1928 and 1949.

Chiang Kai-shek (also known as Jiang Jieshi)....

...In 1928, he led the suppression of the Chinese Communist Party.

Chiang oversaw a modest programme of reform in China but the government's resources were focused on fighting internal opponents, including the Communists. From 1931, Chiang also had to contend with a Japanese invasion in Manchuria, in the north-east of China.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Chiang,Kai Shek, and Churchill in Cairo, Egypt

In 1937, Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China. When the United States came into the war against Japan in 1941, China became one of the Allied Powers. As Chiang's position within China weakened, his status abroad grew and in November 1943 he travelled to Cairo to meet US President Franklin D Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. His wife, Soong Mei-ling, travelled with him and became famous in the west as Madame Chiang.

In 1946, civil war broke out between the KMT and the Communists. In 1949, the Communists were victorious, establishing the People's Republic of China. Chiang and the remaining KMT forces fled to the island of Taiwan. There Chiang established a government in exile which he led for the next 25 years. This government continued to be recognised by many countries as the legitimate government of China, and Taiwan controlled China's seat in the United Nations until the end of Chiang's life. He died on 5 April 1975.

There are rudimentary problems between a democratic country and one that is built on communism.

The People's Republic of China(PRC) (click here) has a Communist type government. The Communist Party of China is the only political party in China. There are no elections. The party chooses the President and Premier of the Nation.

The founder of communist china, Mao Zedong, had introduced a socialist communist government after defeating the democratic nationalist chinese government led by Chiang Kai-shek.

China, traditionally has been a socialist state, but in past two decades, China had embraced a more capitalist approach. Due to this, China, unlike the Soviet Union, has grown into a massive economy state.

China has two self governed regions - Macau and Hong Kong, which are democratic in a way. PRC also claims sovereignty over Taiwan (Republic of China or ROC) to which the Nationalist Chinese(Kuomintang) fled after mainland china fell to the communist.

The Chinese government has imposed lot of restrictions on areas like Press freedom, internet access, freedom to practice religion, freedom to form organisation, and even on freedom to have children (One child policy). The citizens have a very limited role in electing the head of their nation.

The last great Chinese Dynasty of China was the Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty from 1644- 1912.

...Mao (click here) left his family to study at a higher primary school in a neighbouring county and then at a secondary school in the provincial capital, Changsha. There he came in contact with new ideas from the West, as formulated by such political and cultural reformers as Liang Qichao and the Nationalist revolutionary Sun Yat-sen. Scarcely had he begun studying revolutionary ideas when a real revolution took place before his very eyes. On October 10, 1911, fighting against the Qing dynasty broke out in Wuchang, and within two weeks the revolt had spread to Changsha.

Enlisting in a unit of the revolutionary army in Hunan, Mao spent six months as a soldier. While he probably had not yet clearly grasped the idea that, as he later put it, “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun,” his first brief military experience at least confirmed his boyhood admiration of military leaders and exploits. In primary school days, his heroes had included not only the great warrior-emperors of the Chinese past but Napoleon I and George Washington as well.

The spring of 1912 marked the birth of the new Chinese republic and the end of Mao’s military service. For a year he drifted from one thing to another, trying, in turn, a police school, a law school, and a business school; he studied history in a secondary school and then spent some months reading many of the classic works of the Western liberal tradition in the provincial library. That period of groping, rather than indicating any lack of decision in Mao’s character, was a reflection of China’s situation at the time. The abolition of the official civil service examination system in 1905 and the piecemeal introduction of Western learning in so-called modern schools had left young people in a state of uncertainty as to what type of training, Chinese or Western, could best prepare them for a career or for service to their country.

Mao eventually graduated from the First Provincial Normal School in Changsha in 1918. While officially an institution of secondary level rather than of higher education, the normal school offered a high standard of instruction in Chinese history, literature, and philosophy as well as in Western ideas....

It's Sunday Night

Tori Amos - "China" (Official Music Video) (click here for official website - thank you)

China by Tori Amos

China all the way to New York
I can feel the distance getting close
You're right next to me
But I need an airplane
I can feel the distance as you breathe

Sometimes I think you want me to touch you
How can I when you build a great wall around you
In your eyes I saw a future together
You just look away in the distance

China decorates our table
Funny how the cracks don't seem to show
Pour the wine dear
You say we'll take a holiday
But we never can agree on where to go

Sometimes I think you want me to touch you
How can I when you build a great wall around you
In your eyes I saw a future together
You just look away in the distance

China all the way toNew York
Maybe you got lost in Mexico
You're right next to me
I think that you can hear me
Funny how the distance learns to grow

Sometimes I think you want me to touch you
How can I when you build a great wall around you
I can feel the distance
I can feel the distance
I can feel the distance getting close