Yes, it does.

This is a deliberately loaded question asked by Sen. Tom Cotton repeatedly to score propaganda points in the US media. This is because most Americans have been taught to have an irrational hatred of the word “Communist”, without understanding that the word is simply a relic from the Party’s founding in 1921.

Saying that the Communist Party of China believes in Communism is like saying that the US Democratic Party believes that the US is a democracy, while the Republican Party believes that the US is a republic. While there is some basis to this, the policy differences between both parties are much more profound than what is reflected in their names.

Many Americans continue to believe that the CPC is dedicated to “defeating” the US, and converting American society to a form of government like China’s.

In fact, the Chinese government is pro-development and pro-trade, because China has grown to the world’s second-largest economy in fifty years by introducing capitalist policies supported and promoted by the US, and participating in trade organizations like the World Trade Organization (WTO).

US politicians and the media have repeatedly accused Chinese companies of IP violations and violating the rules, but this is something all growing economies have done in their history. In the second half of the nineteenth century, this was what US inventors, entrepreneurs and manufacturers did to Europe.

To sum up, the use of this language is part of a concerted effort to dehumanize any business which has been successful in China, and is now successful outside China.

This dehumanizing paves the way for more extreme measures and actions in the future.

Unfortunately, this rhetoric has been used repeatedly in the US’s past with American Indians, Irish, Italians, Chinese in the 19th century, African-Americans, Jews, Japanese-Americans, Hispanics and Muslims.

Now it is the turn of the Chinese again.

Pretzel Chicken

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

• 8 pieces of your favorite cut of chicken
• 1 cup pretzel crumbs
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Garlic powder, to taste
• Paprika to taste
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions

1. Crush pretzels in blender.
2. Mix (in a bowl or paper bag) pretzels, flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika.
3. In another bowl, combine soy sauce and lemon juice.
4. Dip chicken pieces into liquid mixture, then roll around (or shake in paper bag) in dry mixture.
5. Put the coated pieces in a shallow or flat pan lined with foil.
6. Bake at 375 degrees F for one hour.
7. Turn over chicken over after 30 minutes.

Yes there is. I have experience of both the UK NHS and also HK’s system.

I’ve lived under the PRC system but don’t have much experience with it as I don’t get ill and hopefully this will remain the same for a long time.

The UK has NICE – National Institute of Clinical Excellence.

For regular injuries and stuff no, I had my nose and fingers broken many many times from fights in the UK, they kept putting me back together, but for more complex treatments…

In short they decide what drugs can be used, what to treat and how many treatments you can be given of something. Some drugs under NICE are too expensive for the benefit. So they’re not purchased or used by the NHS. Some treatments like IVF are limited in how many times you can have it.

In HK? There is a nominal fee, but there have been cases where there is strict rationing, the HK medical system is very pain killer happy. They’ll give you painkillers even if you’re quite badly hurt and tell you to go away. There’s 5–6 pretty tragic cases of somebody needing an organ. Organ donation is iffy here due to cultural things. But I remember several men, they found a viable liver / kidney. But they couldn’t perform the transplant as they simply didn’t have the budget to carry out the surgery so they had to wait till the next tax year. But by then the organ had been given to somebody else.

In the early days of the semiconductor industry, technical difficulty and investment were relatively small, and a single company could complete all aspects of design, manufacturing, and testing. For example, Intel in the 1990s completed all aspects alone.

As Moore’s Law continues to develop, semiconductors are becoming more sophisticated and complex. The cost for a single company to complete all links is getting higher and higher, and resource utilization is getting lower and lower. As a result, division of labor began to appear throughout the industry. After entering the 21st century, semiconductor design, manufacturing, packaging and testing are often completed by professional companies.

Semiconductor design companies focus on designing semiconductors and applying them in their own fields. Semiconductor manufacturing companies focus on production, and they do not care about design and application. This will help these companies leverage their own strengths and maximize the use of assets, thereby reducing costs and improving efficiency.

China’s semiconductor companies emerged in the 2010s, when the world’s semiconductor division of labor was already very mature. Their scale cannot be compared with companies like Intel or AMD, or Qualcomm. To compete with leading companies, they must adapt to this division of labor, reduce their costs to the greatest extent, and improve their competitiveness. Even traditional semiconductor giants like AMD and Qualcomm entrust semiconductor production to manufacturers like TSMC.

Therefore, it is very normal for companies like Huawei to entrust semiconductor manufacturing to companies like TSMC. It would be foolish and unreasonable for them to build their own production capacity from scratch and try to replace TSMC.

This is reflected in a reporter’s interview with Huawei CEO Yu in 2020. He told reporters: We used to believe very much in global division of labor, and we believed that global division of labor was the most efficient option. Therefore, US sanctions have made us very passive. If we had chosen to invest in semiconductor manufacturing, we would not be facing these troubles today.

Obviously, it is political behavior that destroys the natural selection of the market, and the global division of labor in semiconductors is destroyed.

When asked a question like this, with respect to India, I always find out

What did the Chinese do?

Next I find out

What are the mistakes the Chinese did?

Next I find out

How can we modify the Chinese solution to suit India given the differences in Land ownership, Laws and Political system?

Facts:-

Now China is a nation of 1.4 Billion people just like India is

In both these nations, Agriculture is a sustenance activity

This means the priority is to FEED 1.4 BILLION PEOPLE rather than use Agriculture and convert it into a Fully Profit based commercial model

Unlike Brazil, Russia or Ukraine where Agriculture is a fully commercial activity like any other with a fully established profit motive

So in both India and China – the Farmer is NOT a businessman working on a profit motive

His priority is to grow as much food grains as possible to ensure the country can eat

India and China both depend on the Supply Side Model

This means farmers grow the maximum crop they can produce and THEN demand is catered to

If there is excess, prices fall and if there is a deficit, prices rise and the Nation imports to bring down prices or uses RESERVE STOCKS

Thus it’s clear that

The Farmer is not a Businessman and treating him like one is a big minus

It is clear that the Farmers only job must be to efficiently grow crops and get a high yield

It is someone else’s Job to protect the farmer from market price shocks and to ensure the farmer can sustain himself and grow

In China – this role is adopted by the State

The State sets a fair price, The State sets the storage and transportation costs, The State provides the seed and facilities, The State gives insurance against floods and bad weather

In India – this role is not fulfilled properly by anyone

Prices are set by exploitative and opaque bodies in the name of market forces, Seed and facilities are private and depend on loans, Insurance is a rarity and non existent on any but largest holdings

Thus Capitalism is brutally exploited

In China a farmer can get a Tractor on a State loan and flexibly pay across a 5 year period with no interest

In India, a farmer borrows at 10.50% interest and can repossess the tractor if 3 months interest isn’t paid

Thus the first thing to do is to

• Offer Nationwide Insurance against Crop failures to farmers which should include payment of bank interest for 6–9 months at least
• Get the State to handle Storage and Distribution of Grain or get a State -Private Body Joint Venture to do so at fixed capped costs
• Change the nature of Agricultural financing

You do this, then the next step is to take care of the operational aspects of Agriculture

An old man named Leonard Mack cried today in court. His attorneys comforted him. In 1975, Mack was a 23-year-old Vietnam veteran, he had a two-year-old daughter and a newborn son. His family meant the world to him. Then, just as he was beginning to find his way in this world, he was falsely accused of raping a teenage girl…

Leonard Mack, an innocent man, landed behind bars. And for almost eight years he remained imprisoned. He missed vital parts of the childhood of his son and daughter. Missed first steps, first words. Life passed him by, and all he could do was be an onlooker from afar, frozen in time, stuck in a steel and concrete hellhole… when he was freed, he was now in his thirties, and forced to go through life as a felon and a registered sex offender. His life, in a sense, was over before it began in earnest. It’s only now that Mr. Mack was finally exonerated in full, and declared innocent.

It took almost half a century for a DNA database proved another man was guilty of the crime for which Mack served the time and suffered the pain. Using DNA to solve crimes is a beautiful invention… but I am often haunted by the thought of all those countless souls who suffered unjustly for the crimes of others, before such technologies were known or widely available to law enforcement.

Image: Me visiting the Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota.

I came to live in the United States in April 2006. I have an American wife and I have persuaded her to cook several British foods that are rarely eaten in the United States.

Interesting to me a visit to the Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota taught me that the canned pork product is much more loved outside the US than at home. Personally despite what you might think with the photo, my visit took me to the very gates of heaven.

Somethings that can’t be found in the US easily.

Ox tongue, it can be found shredded in many Mexican supermarkets as Lingua, but it is not generally found as a sliced meat. My wife has bought a tongue a couple of times and prepared it. It is a long process to do that properly so often I opt for the shredded variety.

Black pudding. Often called by Americans Blood Sausage, it is very difficult to buy because it does contain blood and many people don’t imagine they would like it. Sadly I would have more for me, if only the blood was a legal food additive.

Heinz Baked beans. I find it puzzling that the humble baked bean found in every British grocers and supermarket is almost unknown in the US. Heinz being a US company and all. But they can be purchased in specialist stores that cater to ex patriot British and of course Amazon.

Lamb or Ox liver is difficult to find. The ability to buy offal is extremely limited. It seems Americans just much prefer the outside muscle meat rather than the more nutricious insides of animals. Offal in general is awfully expensive when you find it.

Lamb, Ox or Pig Kidneys. Again it’s offal see Liver.

Fruit Cake. For some reasons Americans like their cakes to be puffy, sweet and overly iced confections. I have tried to eat some American varieties of fruit cake. Finding them to have the weight and consistancy of house bricks. The art of good fruit cake making has not survived in the US.

Mushy Peas: My wife makes me mushy peas to go with my fish and chips. I don’t know why Americans cannot find the heart to love a good spoonful of mushy peas. After all it is a simple product, boiled peas but I am sure if one charged $50 per spoonful on a Las Vegas strip tasting menu they would be raved about on the Food Network and have competitions to the chef making the best mushy pea ever.

Scotch Eggs. My wife quickly learned to make Scotch Eggs. Hard boiled eggs wrapped in a coat of sausage meat. Simple but fr some reason it confounds many Americans that one could combine the two, yet thy eat sausage or sausage patties and eggs for breakfast at times.

Shandy, the 50–50 mix of Bitter and Lemonade. It can’t be bought in stores like it can in Britain, but can be recreated, I buy imported Newcastle Brown Ale and use 7 Up as a lemonade substitute. One place I ordered Shandy in the US filled the glass with Bud Light and added a drop, I mean a real drop of 7 Up. Nowhere near a 50–50 mix and not particularly satisfying on a hot California day.

These are just a few things that I have come across. I have also found many regional American foods that are very good and interesting to eat, many of which have roots in old European everyday working peoples foods. Filling, high calorie and hunger supressing foods to go to work on in the morning and kept you full all the working day.

Most foods from home I can either recreate or use what is available to substitute. So there is no real hardship on my part.

Thanks for reading.

All the best.

Some fun Comix

Honestly, some of these would make great memes.

Paper Bag Chicken

Brown bag chicken is a vintage cooking method that produces delicious, juicy chicken every time. Perfect for any poultry, too! 

If you love the way a bird turns out in those plastic oven bags, but wish there was an alternative then I’m here to make that wish come true for you.

Plastics can impart unhealthy chemicals into foods, so if you’ve gone to the trouble to source local, pastured, organic poultry you don’t want to ruin it with petrochemicals right? Today, I’m sharing how I make delicious, moist, tender and flavorful Brown Bag Chicken (and even holiday Turkeys!) What? Baking in a brown paper bag? Yes, you read that right – in an ordinary brown paper bag.

Apparently, making Brown Bag Chicken has been around for several decades.

Although I could not exactly pinpoint what era in which it began, it seems like perhaps the 40s or 50s. I always feel like I should be wearing pearls, heels and one of those poofy-skirted dresses when I make this. And, depending on the day, I might feel like I got some ‘splainin to do, even though my  name is not Lucy. Maybe that’s because I like to watch I Love Lucy re-runs while I’m cooking.

There are two divided camps on this method.

The Once You Cook in a Brown Paper Bag You’ll Never Go Back camp and the Cooking in a Paper Bag is DANGEROUS crowd.

The nay-sayers warn that the bag could catch on fire or that paper bags are unsanitary. It is technically possible for the bag to catch on fire, but that is probably only if it comes in contact with the side or top of the oven or the heating element in an electric model. Wouldn’t the same be true for plastic bags coming in contact with the same surfaces?

As with any method you employ to cook food inside a giant gas or electric powered box, you should pay attention to what you’re doing and use common sense.

The concern over a paper bag being unsanitary comes from the inks and glues used in manufacturing the bags, and the possibility that the paper could contain metal shavings from being recycled.

Using a bag that has no ink, or very minimal printing on the bag, that has not been used before (you can very easily and inexpensively get a new paper bag at a grocery store), minimizes at least some of those risks.

Honestly, compared to having endocrine-disrupting chemicals being steamed into your chicken, baking in a brown paper bag sounds much more healthy to me. But, that’s your call to make!

I joined the ranks of the Once You Cook in a Brown Paper Bag You’ll Never Go Back camp a couple of years ago.

I’m not even sure how I heard about it, but I can honestly say Brown Bag Chicken is the best chicken ever – moist and flavorful! The bag keeps the moisture inside and browns and crisps the skin.

I always cook my birds breast side down, too – that keeps the breast meat from drying out. You don’t get crispy skin on the breast portion that way, but for me it’s fine since I don’t eat the skin.

It’s so easy, once you try Brown Bag Chicken I’m sure you’ll love it!

Don’t be alarmed if your kitchen smells a little funny at first (kind of like a warm, greasy brown paper bag…if you can imagine that!), that will quickly be replaced by the aroma of delectable, juicy baked chicken.

There’s also no set way to season your bird, it’s more of a technique than a recipe so you can be as minimalist or creative as you want to be.

Ingredients

• Butter, softened
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 whole fryer
• Chopped celery
• Chopped bell pepper
• Chopped onion
• Chopped garlic

Instructions

1. Rub butter all over whole fryer, inside and out.
2. Salt and pepper fryer, inside and out.
3. Stuff fryer with chopped vegetables.
4. Place fryer in a brown paper bag which has been greased inside.
5. Roll up the open end and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes per pound of chicken.

Bag it, seal it, bake it.

Put the chicken in the bag (SEAM SIDE DOWN!) then roll or fold the top in close to the bird, tucking it under if you can. If you can’t, and it won’t stay closed, you could put a couple staples in the fold to keep it shut. I’ve never had to do that myself. Or, you could use kitchen twine and tie it shut.

Place your buttered, seasoned, bagged bird on a baking sheet with sides. Juices will collect on the baking sheet and you don’t want that dripping to the bottom of your oven. You can also use a shallow baking dish or roasting pan. (I love my Pampered Chef Stoneware Bar Pan!).

Put it in the oven and bake for one and a half hours.

You may need to adjust your cooking times according to the size of your bird or if it’s stuffed with stuffing, for example. In my oven, an hour and a half is just right for an average sized chicken.  If you remembered to put the seam side of the bag down, you can easily remove the bag by grabbing opposite corners and pulling the bag off over your chicken. 

Give this brown bag chicken a rest before slicing to keep it juicy.

Waiting 10 or 15 minutes to slice gorgeously roasted bird will keep the tasty juices inside the meat. I know it’s hard to wait, but trust me it’s worth it!

Serve to your hungry and salivating dinner companions and be prepared for oooh’s and aaaahhh’s and PleaseOhPleaseMakeThisAgain’s! Serve this with Buttery Garlic, Mushroom, and Chive Spaghetti Squash or a THM friendly stuffing, such as this S style Healthy Baked Stuffing from Wonderfully Made and Dearly Loved, and a green salad or veggie for a completely healthy and tasty THM S meal!

Thanksgiving turkey turns out perfectly, too.

We’ve made many Thanksgiving turkeys using this same brown bag method. Just be sure your turkey will fit the bag you have (or vice versa).

Any time I’m roasting poultry, I use this brown bag chicken  method and the results are never disappointing!

China has 4 times the population of USA, it will naturally surpass USA if it develops without any foreign interference.

USA lacks knowledge about being the master, because it doesn’t have a long history.

The present situation for USA is like the last years of Ming dynasty of China. At that time, China faced following problems:

1. Manchu’s power is growing, however, Ming took a strong attitude toward Manchus, which caused the latter give up any hope to build a good relationship with Ming and stayed within the map of Ming.（USA to China）
2. Long lasting alert and histility on Mongolians (who established the last dynasty prior than Ming) including trade embargo, Mongolians had no choice but to allied with Manchus. (USA to Russia/China)
3. Military abuse in southwest China, including some places in present Myanmar and Vietnam, but ignored the peasants’ uprising in inland. (USA in Iraq, Afghanistan)
4. War of parties in the government. (Democrats, Republicans)
5. Broken domestic economy，and the chaos caused by bankrupted farmers and merchants, which eventually evolved into a nation wide uprising. (Inflation, high interest rates, banks go bankrupt)

USA adopts a “winner takes all” mindset and does not want to share its power with others, this inevitably made others to think of other possibilities.

A simple case:

In around 2010–2012, there was a hot discussion among China, Japan and Korea to promote an “Asian Dollar” as the three became the biggest ecomoic zone in the world. However, in 2012, Korea and Japan’s relation was broken by Dokudo Island crisis, China and Japan relation was ruined by Diaoyu/Senkaku Island crisis, Japan’s ambassidor was “comitted suicide” at home. The Asian Dollar became an illusion after the relations among the three went down. Everyone knows it is USA behind the whole thing, just like NordStream II. Because if Asian Dollar succeeded, the US Dollar is threatened.

But look back from 12 years later, we can see, the Asian Dollar at that time can not be an independent currency as the three all rely on US Dollar and US market. Therefore, USA can try to exert its influence on Japan and Korea to make AD anchored USD, and USD’s position is guaranteed. Eventhough we can foresee AD does take some share from USD, but AD as a regional currency, will not replace USD globally, same as the Euro.

However, if there’s a AD 2.0 in future, as China’s power grows much stronger, the AD 2.0 does have the potential to replace USD.

In China, there’s an old saying describe this: 丢了西瓜拣芝麻 （Throw a watermelon away to pick up a sesame.）

A Lifeguard Was Fired For Saving A Drowning Man

Sometimes, rules and regulations ply over efforts and emotions!

Tomas Lopez was on duty at Hallandale Beach, Florida, when someone rushed over to his post. A man had swum out too far, Lopez was told, and the victim was drowning. As any lifeguard would, Lopez rushed over and got the man to shore with the help of some other beachgoers. There, they gave the man CPR, called the paramedics, and saved his life.

When Lopez handed in the incident report, he was fired instead of being heralded as a hero .

The drowning man, his company informed him, was “out of the protected area” and a clearly visible sign said that anyone who swam there did so at his own risk.

According to company policy, anyone drowning outside the designated area was to be left to die.

Lopez’s coworkers were infuriated.

Six other lifeguards stood up for him, telling the company and the media that they would have done the exact same thing and that Lopez deserved an apology.

So the company fired them, too.

I had very recently moved across the US and transferred my job working the customer service desk at a high end grocery store. I grew up in Harlem and had recently moved to the deep Midwest. It was very different in a lot of ways.

One of the biggest ways, was “celebrity” behavior. Back home, the biggest rule for cashiers was to politely pretend you didn’t know who you were helping if that person was famous. Hilary Duff, Keanu Reeves, Evan Peters and many more were regulars at the store. We don’t ask for autographs, they don’t ask for special treatment, everyone’s happy.

Midwest is different. I worked at another location of that same expensive grocery store. Young men who played for the local hockey team were shockingly entitled and rude, sneering down at me while my supervisor stood by and sucked their dicks as vocally as he could regardless of how rude they were. “Influencers” in the area would record cashiers if they didn’t scan their kombucha fast enough. But worst of all, was the man who apparently built some kind of air conditioning franchise and was a “local hero” for providing AC in low income areas.

This man was a fucking menace. He didn’t like me from the first moment he saw me, and it took me a while to understand why. But apparently it was a significant personal slight that I didn’t ever invite him to cut to the front of the line, that I didn’t ever roll over backwards to fetch forgotten products for him while he was checking out. And worst of all, I never learned his name. Apparently all my coworkers and superiors had been babying this loud mouthed, disrespectful asshole who was just as much of a nobody as the rest of us were.

The third time I encountered him, I asked for his name to confirm an online order he had placed. The man threw his change at my head while laughing hysterically, then his face contorted into rage as he screamed over and over again, “YOU MUST NOT KNOW WHO I AM.”

I don’t remember exactly how I responded, but I do remember being fired.

The point is, only the most insecure and ungifted say things like “don’t you know who I am??”

If you hear that line, laugh long and hard. It’ll kill them.

No.

If it were then the living conditions of the people would not have improved.

You see a key part of fascism is where corporations get together with the government to fuck over the common man and woman. Yet living standards keep going up, more services and more access to healthcare/education keeps happening.

Police state? – There’s laws, if it says it’s illegal it’s illegal.

Second the bar for arrest is HIGH, this means if you’re a criminal unless you’re caught there and then in some violent crime? The police will take their time to investigate and make a strong case against you before arresting you. That’s why there’s such a high conviction rate.

This is important. It is important because if you arrest with a low bar and then collect evidence? The period up to the trial can also be punishment.

This is Gang Chen.

He was arrested by the American FBI for ‘spying for China’ because despite being an American, yes BORN in the USA he’s not considered an American because he’s not white.

He was arrested in 2021, charged and put under numerous restrictions. Gang Chen was one of the luckier ones as MIT supported him and paid for his defence.

Eventually charges were dropped.

But as noted above he was one of the lucky ones. Other university professors lose everything and the charges get dropped a day before trial. They lose EVERYTHING.