The meaning of this sentence is exactly its literal meaning. It’s mainly something shouted by mainland Chinese internet users.

There’s a similar saying: “I’d rather Taiwan grow no grass than fail to take back Taiwan Island.”

It’s a way to vent anger, I suppose.

One reason is the feeling of being deceived. Growing up, we were taught, “Both sides of the strait are one family; the people of Taiwan are our compatriots.”

But then you go online and see—what family? Some Taiwanese harbor a malice toward mainlanders that’s beyond comprehension.

A big part of it is also due to paid trolls hired by Taiwanese politicians, deliberately stirring the pot. We call them “1450.” Sometimes when Taiwan has a power outage, the Chinese internet suddenly becomes much quieter.

Yes, you read that right—Taiwan’s infrastructure is that bad. Even in this day and age, they still deal with “power outages.”

Another deeper reason, I think, is that Taiwan—whether in terms of ancestry or culture—is fundamentally Chinese, mostly Han Chinese.

So seeing these Han people act so foolishly sparks intense anger: “You’re Chinese! Descendants of the Yellow Emperor! How can you be this stupid?”

The reason China places so much importance on Taiwan is primarily national security.
When Mao Zedong was in his 20s, he pointed out that the issues of Taiwan and Korea are two sides of the same coin. (三韩不守，赢台为墟).

In 1950, Mao discussed China’s security concerns, saying, “(If we show weakness), the American imperialists will press their advantage, following the old path of Japanese aggression against China, perhaps even more viciously. They want to stick three daggers into us: one in our head from Korea, one in our waist from Taiwan, and one in our feet from Vietnam. If the world changes, they’ll attack us from all three directions, and we’ll be on the defensive.”

That’s why we fought the U.S. in Korea, spent enormous effort in the 1960s supporting Vietnam to drive out the Americans, and in 1979 fought Vietnam again when it was backed by the Soviet Union. The logic is the same: these two places—Korea and Vietnam—are critical to China’s survival, areas of existential concern.

Taiwan has always been Chinese territory. Apart from a brief Dutch invasion and 50 years of Japanese occupation, it has been under the control of the central government (even during Zheng Chenggong’s time, he was an official of the Ming Dynasty).

That said, while Taiwan’s politicians are foolish, they’re still a million times smarter than Zelensky.

Even so, Mao seemed quite confident about Taiwan’s future.

In his later years, he complained, “There are always a few people nagging in my ear—nothing more than that little island we haven’t taken back yet.”

When Nixon visited China to establish diplomatic ties, his first sentence was about Taiwan. Mao cut him off, saying, “Taiwan is small, the world is big. Let’s not talk about Taiwan—let’s talk philosophy instead.”

In reality, Taiwan’s strategic importance has significantly diminished.

China has already broken through the second island chain, extending its influence near Australia. As the Chinese navy continues to grow, Taiwan’s significance will keep declining.

Here’s my conspiracy theory: not taking back Taiwan has at least two major benefits.

First, it unites the national will. The Communist Party and Chinese nationalists naturally overlap heavily on the political spectrum. The Taiwan issue rallies the vast majority of citizens, driven by simple patriotic fervor, to support the Party even more.

China’s military spending is 1.7% of GDP—a figure countless people criticize, calling them spineless. Most want it raised to 5% or even 10%, which might be unprecedented globally.

Second, the Taiwan issue provides cover for rapidly expanding military power. Frankly, it’s to avoid scaring you all. With China’s current industrial capacity, we could quickly build a navy three or five times the size of America’s—this is real.

Even at the current pace—derided by the whole nation as sluggish—shipbuilding has already made many countries uneasy, fueling the “China threat” narrative. “China, what are you up to?”
China can just shrug innocently and say, “Just preparing to take back Taiwan, that’s all.”

In the end, will the two sides really come to blows?

I don’t think so. War is just a last resort.

If China focuses on its own development, the Taiwan issue will resolve itself naturally, like ripe fruit falling from the tree.

When we have 20 carrier battle groups and tens of thousands of cutting-edge fighter jets, I think the Taiwan question will sort itself out effortlessly.

How to Make Really Easy, Really
Scrumptious German Pancakes

Kitchen tools, gourmet foods, baking mixes, and hard-to-find baking ingredients mentioned in this article are available at The Prepared Pantry.

by Dennis Weaver

Last weekend, Debbie had visitors in from Minnesota. For breakfast she made huckleberry German pancakes. They were awed. They claimed that there was nothing that scrumptious in Minnesota. Subtract a few points because of gracious guests and it was still very good; I’ve had her huckleberry German pancakes. But she makes them so often, not just because they are very good but because they are easy.

My “go-to” breakfast for guests is pannekoeken, not German pancakes, because they too are easy and scrumptious. They’re both very good—just different. So what is the difference between pannekoeken and German pancakes?

Pannekoeken forms a big, tall bowl while German pancakes roll and buckle. (I can describe the difference better with my hands.)

With a pannekoeken, the fruit goes into the formed bowl after it’s baked. With a German pancake, the fruit goes in before it’s baked.

A pannekoeken is baked in a specialty pan, a pannekoeken pan, or a rounded skillet with a nonstick surface. A German pancake is often baked in a rectangular pan.

A pannekoeken is often loaded with a savory filling or with meat and potatoes. We don’t have a single German pancake recipe that does not include fruit.

How Do you Make a German Pancake

There are a ton of recipes for German pancake batter; Debbie uses a mix. It just makes it very quick and easy. Surprisingly, it’s a pannekoeken mix. It’s the preparation method and the pan that makes the difference, not the batter. Even the ratio of milk, eggs, and mix is the same.

1. Select a pan of an appropriate size. A three-egg German pancake works well in an 8-inch square pan or 9-inch round pan. You can double the recipe and use a 9 x 13-inch pan. A four egg German pancake works best in 9-inch square pan.

2. Heat the pan. Like with a pannekoeken, you preheat the pan with butter in it. Be careful not to scorch the butter.

3. Mix the batter. Mix the batter while the pan is heating. If you use a mix, it’s only mix, milk, and eggs whisked together so it only takes a few moments.

4. Make the German pancake. First, mix the brown sugar with the melted butter. Then pour the batter over the brown sugar. Then distribute the fruit over the batter.

5. Bake the German Pancake. Use a hot oven, usually 425 degrees. It will take 12 to 24 minutes to bake depending on the pan size and the batch size. It’s done when the pancake is puffed and the edges are brown.

6. Serve your German pancake right out of the oven—they are not good cold—with your favorite syrup.

Huckleberry (or Blueberry) German Pancake

This is Debbie’s “go-to” German pancake recipe. But then, she has huckleberries. In August, she and her husband Ben take their two little girls and ride horses up into the canyons in the Big Hole Mountains where they find huge huckleberry patches. Even where they are profuse, they are slow picking but she claims they are worth it. She freezes them for the winter simply by washing them and sealing them in airtight containers.

For the rest of us, not fortunate enough to live in the foothills of the Big Hole Mountains, we’ll make do just fine with blueberries.

This is a three-egg German pancake that fits in an 8 x 8-inch pan or a 9-inch round pan or can be doubled to fit in a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup pannekoeken mix
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup huckleberries or blueberries

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Cut butter into smaller pieces and place in the pan and pan in the oven. Let the pan heat until the butter is melted and bubbly but not scorched, about three or four minutes.
3. While the pan is heating mix the batter by whisking the mix, milk, and eggs together. A few lumps may remain but it should be smoother than pancake batter. The batter will be thin.
4. Take the hot pan from the oven and sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the bottom.
5. Pour the batter over the brown sugar. Distribute the berries over the batter.
6. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 12 to 16 minutes. It’s done when the pancake is puffed and the edges are brown.
7. Serve your German pancake right out of the oven with maple syrup or blueberry syrup.

German Apple Pancake

A German apple pancake is a classic.

We’ve made pannekoeken by sautéing apple slices in cinnamon, brown sugar, and butter and loading it into the pannekoeken when it comes from the oven. This German pancake is similar but the apple slices are oven sautéed in the butter and brown sugar as the pan heats in the oven and once tender-crisp, the batter is poured over the top.

This is a four-egg German pancake that fits in a 9 x 9-inch pan.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup butter
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup sliced, tart cooking apples (about 2 small apples)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup pannekoeken mix
• 1 cup milk
• 4 large eggs

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Cut butter into smaller pieces and place in the pan and pan in the oven. As soon as the butter melts, sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon over the bottom of the pan. Add the apples and place the pan back in the oven to cook until the apples are crisp-tender. The apples should be cooked sufficiently in ten to fifteen minutes. Stir the apples twice while they are cooking so that they do not burn.
3. While the apples are cooking, mix the batter by whisking the mix, milk, and eggs together. A few lumps may remain but it should be smoother than pancake batter. The batter will be thin.
4. Take the hot pan from the oven and pour the batter over the brown sugar and apples.
5. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 12 to 16 minutes. It’s done when the pancake is puffed and the edges are brown.
6. Serve your German pancake right out of the oven with maple syrup, cinnamon cream syrup, or cinnamon apple passion syrup.

Peach German Pancake

I love fresh peaches and if the peaches are good, this is my favorite German pancake. I particularly like it topped with caramel whipped cream. Then it’s more of dessert than a breakfast treat.

To make the caramel whipped cream, simply substitute brown sugar for granulated sugar when you make whipped cream and use caramel flavor instead of vanilla.

This is a three-egg German pancake that fits in an 8 x 8-inch pan or a 9-inch round pan.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup pannekoeken mix
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup sliced peaches

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Cut butter into smaller pieces and place in the pan and pan in the oven. Let the pan heat until the better is melted and bubbly but not scorched, about three or four minutes.
3. While the pan is heating mix the batter by whisking the mix, milk, and eggs together. A few lumps may remain but it should be smoother than pancake batter. The batter will be thin.
4. Take the hot pan from the oven and evenly sprinkle the brown sugar over the bottom of the pan.
5. Pour the batter over the brown sugar. Distribute the peaches over the batter.
6. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 12 to 16 minutes. It’s done when the pancake is puffed and the edges are brown.
7. Serve your German pancake right out of the oven with maple syrup, vanilla cream syrup, or peach syrup.

Banana German Pancake

I never would have thought to have added bananas to a German pancake. But then, we add bananas to pannekoeken all the time. (A pannekoeken with sliced bananas, cinnamon cream syrup, and whipped cream rivals a banana cream pie.)

Debbie and Sara in our test kitchen created this recipe. It’s very good—sort of like banana pie for breakfast.

This is a three-egg German pancakes that fits in an 8 x 8-inch pan or a 9-inch round pan.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup pannekoeken mix
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 medium bananas, sliced

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Cut butter into smaller pieces and place in the pan and pan in the oven. Let the pan heat until the better is melted and bubbly but not scorched, about three or four minutes.
3. While the pan is heating mix the batter by whisking the mix, milk, eggs, and cinnamon together. A few lumps may remain but it should be smoother than pancake batter. The batter will be thin.
4. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together. Take the hot pan from the oven and sprinkle the brown sugar mixture evenly over the pan.
5. Pour the batter over the brown sugar. Distribute the sliced bananas over the batter.
6. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 12 to 16 minutes. It’s done when the pancake is puffed and the edges are brown.
7. Serve your German pancake right out of the oven with maple syrup or cinnamon cream syrup.

Dennis Weaver is the founder of The Prepared Pantry, a full line kitchen store in Rigby, Idaho. The Prepared Pantry sells kitchen tools, gourmet foods, and baking ingredients including hundreds of hard-to-find ingredients.

For my New Years’ resolution this year, I swore off drinking. It wasn’t a completely solid resolution, because I made that resolution while I was drunk. It was New Years, after all.

But since then, I’ve been doing really well.

me and my friend made a ‘toast’ with sauce bottles at a bar

The only time I’ve drank since New Years’ was earlier this week, when a dinner companion of mine insisted that I have red wine with my steak. One bottle turned into three, and when I woke up the next morning, my resolve to quit drinking was even stronger.

I’m now at a point where I consistently refuse alcohol when offered, and I’m genuinely starting to detest the stuff.

But being the only sober person at a dinner or a social gathering isn’t always fun. They tend to want to stay put, stay at the table for two hours longer than you, and they never ask if you want another diet coke as they order themselves more alcohol.

Seeing my friends get drunker and drunker, I realised how I’ve looked to sober people so many times in the past. They were too loud, they were saying silly things, and they were too boisterous, ranting at me while I just sat there silently or said a few sentences.

I ended up chainsmoking half my pack and playing tetris on my phone just to keep my nerves at bay. It was such a shit experience, because I felt like I was on a different plane of existence to them.

But I never drank that night, no matter how bored I got. And believe me, they offered, many times.

I hope I can stay strong enough to not drink in social situations in the future. Because wow it’s hard.

Wish me luck.

If there really comes a day when China becomes the number one power on this planet.

What does it mean to be the number one power?

This nation, which has endured a century of humiliation and massacre, rising again from a pool of blood, suffers from an extreme lack of security.

The consensus among Chinese netizens is: 50%+.

Meaning any key metric—be it military strength, industrial capacity, or the number of patents filed annually—surpasses the combined total of all other countries.

Some of these metrics have already been partially achieved.

For example, annual steel production is there, though industrial capacity still has a way to go. Optimistically, it could be realized by 2035.

The next target would likely be electricity generation.

Sixth-generation fighter jets have already been achieved, as China is currently the only country with sixth-generation fighters.

In short, let’s assume the above goals are met—meaning, as you put it, China becomes the top superpower.

So, which countries would have good relations with China then?

North Korea and South Korea.

Of course, by that time, I believe North and South Korea would have achieved unification, national independence, and expelled U.S. troops.

Historically, the Korean Peninsula has maintained good relations with China—at least for the past 1,500 years.

North Korea is a tricky matter.

Do you know who least wants the North Korean regime to collapse?

The United States.

The U.S. has consistently been North Korea’s largest provider of food aid.

This isn’t because the U.S. is kind-hearted, but because it fears North Korea’s complete collapse.

If the North Korean regime falls, first, the U.S. would lose its pretext for controlling its South Korean “province.”

Second, North Korea would have no choice but to fully align with China—something the U.S. doesn’t want to see.

In reality, the interests of the North Korean people conflict with those of the tiny ruling elite represented by the Kim family.

If North Korea were willing to fully cooperate with China, given China’s size and industrial capacity, supporting such a small country with just over 20 million people would be a breeze.

But here’s the catch:

First, the Kim family and the small elite they represent might lose power or even face a reckoning.

Second, and more importantly, China and the U.S. would lose their buffer zone, and their spheres of influence would directly clash again along the 38th parallel.

I admit, saying this carries a hint of great-power chauvinism, but forgive me—it’s quite likely the reality.

The second country I’d guess would have good relations with China is Vietnam.

Historically, China directly ruled Vietnam for over 1,000 years.

You might find it odd: why is China so fixated on Taiwan yet so lenient with Vietnam, never bringing up phrases like “since ancient times” or “reclaiming lost territory”?

There are, of course, many reasons, but I think one critical factor is the difference in writing systems.

Vietnam and Korea (both North and South) are, apart from China, the countries that understand China best.

In fact, they’ve both historically referred to themselves as “Little China.”

To maintain their independence, they changed their scripts, abandoning Chinese characters and inventing new writing systems.

That’s the trait of nations that know China too well.

A territory that no longer uses Chinese characters yet remains deeply influenced by Chinese culture would be unimaginably costly to govern.

The last time something like this happened was over 2,000 years ago, when the Qin Dynasty conquered the Six Kingdoms.

Back then, the scripts weren’t entirely uniform, but the differences were minor—not even as stark as between German and French. The grammar was the same; only the characters varied.

Another region is Outer Mongolia.

Many people misunderstand the mindset of big powers like China and Russia. It’s about security, not just resources.

Stalin once told Chiang Kai-shek’s son: “Outer Mongolia must be independent; there’s no room for negotiation. I know you Chinese better than anyone. Once you unify, you’ll develop faster than any other nation.” His point was that Outer Mongolia had to serve as a buffer between China and Russia.

To ensure this, he executed 10% of Outer Mongolia’s population, guaranteeing a 100% vote for independence.

Stalin was truly ruthless.

But relatively speaking, his actions gave both sides a bit more peace of mind during the later Sino-Soviet confrontation.

With Outer Mongolia as a buffer, China, facing a potential Soviet tank assault, gained at least 96 extra hours. The young divisions deployed in Inner Mongolia could delay the Soviet offensive by another 48 hours with their lives, buying enough time for Beijing to evacuate the central leadership, artifacts, and precious books to Wuhan under the protection of its two strongest army groups, then retreat to the southwestern mountains.

(Back then, Mao established the “Third Line” defense, saying: “Without Panzhihua [the Third Line hub], I can’t sleep. With it, I can. Even if Beijing falls, China still has Panzhihua.”)

A recent piece of news caught my attention: Outer Mongolia plans to abandon the Russian Cyrillic script (imposed by Stalin) and revive the traditional Mongolian script (used by China’s Inner Mongolians, created during Genghis Khan’s era).

This is no small matter.

Mongolia is fiercely anti-China, claiming the U.S. as its “third neighbor” (being surrounded by China and Russia).

Why, then, would they choose this moment to revert to tradition?

Chinese people shouldn’t get too excited.

This news only signals “they’re preparing.”

But what will the Russians think when they see it?

Is it possible that this is just a message released by the United States?

I suggest we wait and see.

Wait until they fully abandon the Cyrillic script and return to Genghis Khan’s traditional script—the one used by China’s Mongols—before drawing conclusions.

Mongolia is a historical leftover issue.

Let’s set it aside for now and trust the wisdom of future generations to handle it.

As for the rest of the countries, they’d probably all get along well with China.

After all, why wouldn’t you want good relations with the strongest nation on the planet?

That said, I’d guess African nations might be especially close to China.

We carry no historical baggage with them. Historically, we’ve never colonized, massacred, or enslaved Africa.

I found it hard to remain silent in the face of these baseless claims about forced labor connected with Xinjiang cotton.

My uncles and aunts work and live in Xinjiang, where growing cotton is their main source of income. Cotton farming is an incredibly demanding job, especially during the harvest season when they spend two to three months in the fields under the scorching sun. The mornings in autumn can be bitterly cold in Xinjiang, making the work even more challenging.

I still remember the days when my parents and I would visit and help them pick cotton in the fields. It was, without a doubt, one of the toughest jobs I have ever experienced. My parents would teach me on site the importance of studying hard so I could attend college and avoid the back-breaking farm work.

Xinjiang is renowned for producing some of the highest quality cotton in the world, thanks to the region’s long hours of sunshine. Every time my uncles and aunts visit us after the cotton season, they bring cotton they’ve grown. My mother would use it to make quilts, and I had the privilege of taking one to school. My roommates were often envious of my warm quilt.

In 2004, I came across a documentary by NHK titled “Women Picking Cotton: Three Months of China’s ‘Labor Export,'”「女たちは綿花を摘む 中国「労務輸出」の 3 ヶ月」, which detailed the lives of 500,000 to 1,000,000 people, mostly women, who flocked to Xinjiang to earn money by picking cotton. One story in particular moved me deeply. The film followed a young girl who dreamt of buying a mobile phone with her earnings. However, after three months of back-breaking work, she chose to spend the hard-earned money on something more meaningful – attending a vocational school.

This documentary was the first to have such a profound impact on me, vividly depicting the lives of hardworking people striving for a better future. It resonated deeply with me, as it mirrored the experiences of my parents, aunts, and uncles. I have been a fan of NHK ever since.

While writing this answer, I searched for the documentary but could only find scattered remnants of it. This leads me to suspect that someone may be deliberately erasing its presence from the internet.

Nowadays, my uncles and aunts use agricultural machinery to plant and harvest cotton. The tractors they use have self-driving capabilities with the help of GNSS technology, allowing for sub-inch planting accuracy. This approach enables a more efficient work of harvester, resulting in higher output and fewer leftovers.

My uncle mentioned that around 90% of the cotton picking is now done by machinery, while the remaning 10%, mostly due to the rugged nature of the field etc, are done by themselves.

Unlike in the past, when they had to rely on expensive imported harvesters, they can now afford to buy and rent Chinese-brand cotton harvesters, thanks to government subsidies.

When I first encountered the claim of forced cotton labor in Xinjiang raised by Uyghur activists, I was astonished by its sheer absurdity. It defies common sense—anyone who has ever set foot in a cotton field would laugh at such a ridiculous assertion. The workers have legs, after all, and my poor old aunts and uncles would certainly lose in any race against them.

Perhaps these activists also found the claim of forced cotton-picking too wild. They came up with something else, forced Uyghur workers in apparel factories!

The above “evidence” is from a presentation by activists in Leeds University.

Alas, this is just one photo of my cousins. Some of them are employed in the local textile industry, where the locals have built factories to process the cotton grown in the region into textiles and clothes. This initiative helps to create jobs for the local community. There are thousands of such factories all over China. Why has this become an example of forced labor in Xinjiang? I am speechless. These activists are either too lazy or too stupid to concoct such lies. It’s disheartening that some readers are so willing to accept these falsehoods.

I’m fortunate to have experienced both agricultural and industrial life, which enables me to see through these lies at first glance. Unfortunately most of our children haven’t got such experience.

Discerning the facts is at your choice, Cheer!

I have seen it first hand.

I drove a city bus for nearly ten years. One day I stopped to pick up some passengers. One of them was a young man with a serious attitude problem.

This guy ignored my greeting, paid less than the full fare, then just held out his hand. I knew he wanted a transfer, but I ignored him. Finally, he growled, “Gimme a transfer.” I was pulling away from the bus stop, so I held one up without looking at him. He snatched it and walked away to sit down. I called to him, “You’re welcome.” (Yes, I could be a smart-ass, too.)

I respect everyone unless they show that they don’t deserve respect. I could tell that this guy was gonna be trouble.

When the guy rang the bell and got up to leave, I pulled into the stop and activated the back door. He walked right past it and continued to the front of the bus. I knew he was planning to do something so I readied myself. I opened the front door.

When the guy got up to me, he turned and spat at me. I was ready and I leaned back. He completely missed me.

The guy then quickly turned and ran down the steps, out the front door…and rammed himself into the fire hydrant I had lined up the front door with!

As the guy lay on the sidewalk in agony, I looked out the door at him and said, “Have a nice day.” I closed the door and pulled away.

People Believe Western Politicians and Media

Despite their lies, their incompetence, their unqualified opinions, and their wrong takes.

Everyone in Western interests are huffing a copious amount of copium and believing that China’s economy is “flagging”, doing “badly”, despite the numbers showing positive growth and productivity keeps on increasing.

Given how the West typically operates, it is nothing but alignment exercise between the political camps and the media to pacify gullible Western audiences from their predicament of choking inflation.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-consumer-prices-increase-more-than-expected-january-2025-02-12/

 

Here is the thing about Asia:We have an ecosystem of a “broke” lifestyle.

• No need to go homeless when you have slums or government housing
• No shame in dining with $2.50 convenience store meal
• Public transit is affordable

Bento sets that is just $2.60, because we don’t need inflated GDP figures, so Sleepy Joe or laughing Kamala can’t lie about the economy “doing better” in massaged number that is meaningless for everyday people.

Yeah, right on Joe and Democrats.

Even CNN disagrees.

Fact check: Biden falsely claims US has ‘fastest-growing economy in the world’ | CNN Politics

Fact check: Biden falsely claims US has ‘fastest-growing economy in the world’ | CNN Politics

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/10/politics/fact-check-biden-fastest-growing-economy-jimmy-kimmel/index.html

The problem with this kind of lie to massage your own political branding is, you gotta work with too many brainwashed self-righteous American centrist who think that they are too smart for their own good. So much that we are walking towards another 2008 event:

So let me be clear:

And this is the total amount of credit card debts:

This time, when this credit crunch explode like mortgages back in 2008, there will be no China, heroically bailing out US government for more than $500 billion treasury bonds, to hold off the inflation at the cost of slight economic worsening.

There are two stupid countries in this planet that keeps on bailing out the budget deficits of ungrateful ignorant Americans and their repulsive politicians: China and Japan.

But ever since then, there will be no more Mr. nice guy:

Opinion | China Won’t Save the U.S. From Recession This Time

Beijing’s supply-side stimulus eased the 2009 contraction, but don’t expect another one.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-wont-save-the-us-from-recession-this-time-2009-supply-side-bailout-credit-e526c408

Seriously, do you still have the face to ask China for bailouts?

Oh yeah, the US think tanks have been preparing for that too:

It looks pretty bleak, with all that $1.21 trillion they are going to need to bail out bad consumer credit payments.

Not to mention that the collapse of the consumer credit will definitely topple the other huge mounting consumer credit category: auto loans and motrgages – people will totally buy overpriced foods first (thus quickly increasing their credit card spendings), over forking out for car installments.

Here comes Elon Musk and his DOGE

He needs to find that much money, in case something like 2008 happened in 2025, which should likely be triggered by that credit card default crisis.

It is not 2008 anymore, the US are not in any position to ask for the same bail out afforded to Obama, so he can nationalise General Motors back then.

Regardless how many important Murricans be it Yellen, Blinken, or Raimondo – this is no longer Hu Jintao’s China.

Janet Yellen to host China’s top economic official ahead of expected Biden-Xi talks in San Francisco | CNN Business

Mark Schiefelbein/Pool/AFP/Getty Images US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (L) shakes hands with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng during a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on July 8, 2023. Editor’s Note: Sign up for CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter which explores what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. Washington/Hong Kong CNN — US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng to discuss the bilateral relationship between the world’s two largest economies and other global issues over two days starting Thursday. Yellen’s talks with China’s new economic tsar will set the stage for the high-stakes potential meeting expected between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping next week during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in San Francisco. The United States is the host for this year’s summit, which is an annual gathering of top leaders in government and business of the 21 economies in the Pacific Rim. US-China relations have improved in recent months after tensions between the two countries flared early in the year. US and Chinese officials are seeking to shore up diplomatic ties and cooperation on economic issues. That’s on the backdrop of a sputtering global economy and ongoing geopolitical strain in other parts of the world. Yellen last saw He in Beijing in July — the second visit by a US cabinet official to the Chinese capital in a matter of weeks as Washington sought to steer relations back on course. In total, Washington has sent four cabinet officials to Beijing since the summer, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken , c limate envoy John Kerry and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo . Beijing has also sent its top diplomat , Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, to the US capital. The flurry of diplomatic activity appears to have helped stabilized ties between the two sides, which had been at odds over a range of issues including constraints on US investments in advanced technology in China and newly expanded curbs on the kinds of semiconductors that American firms are able to sell there. “Neither Biden nor Xi wants things to deteriorate any further and I think both sides recognize that in this challenging and volatile moment globally, having better stability in US-China relations benefits both nations and the world,” said Mattie Bekink, the Shanghai-based China director of the Economist Intelligence Corporate Network. “This does not mean that tensions are over,” she added. “To the contrary, there seems to be more candor about where and why challenges remain while seeking alignment or at least a framework for engagement where possible — trade and investment, climate change.” Earlier this year, Yellen outlined three principles guiding the US relationship with China: prioritizing national security and defending human rights, promoting a healthy and fair economic relationship with China and cooperating with China to address global issues

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/11/09/economy/janet-yellen-he-lifeng-biden-xi-china-hnk-intl

The Chinese would hang Xi Jinping if he ever decided to bail the US just like Hu did. It probably costed Hu dearly, all those $500 billion to save the ungrateful lying snakes that somehow managed to get addicted to new kind of drugs.

The mainlanders are clear that they won’t spend a single penny for Ukraine, other than them stealing an army of DJI drones for their own use. But Chinese money? Well, such move might get CCP replaced, just like every previous Chinese dynasties.

China is quitting, as of today, it is no longer the biggest trading partner of USA. It is Mexico right now. Moreover, most of that treasury debts are owned by Japan. China relegated themselves to 2nd place in both aspects of US ties. China have been testing their own economy by unnecessarily prolonging their own pandemic lockdown. They are ready when the 2025 economic meltdown happens – which might be worse than 2008.

Therefore, it all comes back down to Americans themselves.

You gotta really help that Nazi-saluting South African immigrant if we want to see some semblance of former United States when the credit default crisis really hits the world this year. Whether you are white supremacist, black nationalist, MAGA, neo-nazi, communist, the useless centrist – as long as you care to save the current American empire – you better squeeze every penny from all the inefficies and grifting to bail yourself out of this. Which is why all the nonsense and expensive misinformation about China also needs to end.

The Prize Paradox: Women Recognize Men’s True Value When They’re Absent

All of Our OTC Pain Relievers – were EXPIRED

Hal Turner World August 11, 2025  

Last week when my wife and I came back up to northeastern PA, there was some work to do around the property.  Grass had not been cut in 3 to 4 weeks.  Hickory nuts from the backyard Hickory trees, had fallen all over the rear deck. All the food in the refrigerator had gone bad.

So, I have to get rid of the bad food.

I’m not sure why ALMOST all of it went bad.  I think when one thing goes, it provides the basis for everything else to go.

It seems to have begun with some of the leftovers we had in there.   All containerized in Tupperware-type containers, but  moldy it all got.  The stink was awful.

Even the NEW, UNOPENED, containerized products like cream cheese all stunk.   Out it all went.

The vegetables were so bad, some of them liquified!  Red peppers, tomatoes, onions – all bad.

That meant a trip to the local supermarket to get new.

My wife had a headache and I got her some over the counter (OTC) pain reliver – ALEVE – and for some reason, I looked at the expiration date: October, 2024.   Oh boy.

So I look at all the other OTC stuff:  Tylenol, Advil, Bayer Aspirin (both the 500 mg extra strength, and my 81mg Baby-aspirin for my blood circulation), Benadryl, Claritin, Allegra, and Zyrtec for allergies – all expired.  NyQuil, Mucinex for congestion, and Robitussin cough medicine – EXPIRED

I put it all on the supermarket list.

That got me to thinking I should check the expiration date on all my Vitamins. D3 and K2, expired.  Zinc, Quercetin, Expired.  Naturello Whole Food multi-vitamins, Expired.   NAC, expired.  Straus’ Heart Drops, expired.  Lauricidin, expired. Holy shit!  All this stuff is waaaaay old.  I mean, half a year or more beyond its expiration date!

I know that it is mostly safe to take such things even though they’re expired, but they do lose POTENCY.   If the SHTF, the last thing I want is OTC meds that don’t work or Vitamins that are useless.

Then I go in the bread box. E V E R Y T H I N G is green molded.  White bread, seedless Rye bread, Thomas’ English Muffins, Martin’s (Potato) Hamburger and Hot Dog Rolls, Tortillas for Tacos — all bad.  Had to throw it all out.

I got the OTC stuff and all the breads, and vegetables, at the supermarket.  Some of the other stuff like Vitamins, I had to order for delivery.

Have you bought any of these things lately?  EXPENSIVE ! ! ! ! ! 

My GMC Sierra has been up here for weeks so I went to start it.  Dead batteries. Both of them.  STONE dead; the gauges in the dashboard wouldn’t even come on.  So I had to get the long extension cords, the NOCO-10 “Genius” charger, and hook it up to charge.   Took a full 24 hours to get the batteries to 100%.

This truck has two batteries and two alternators.  It turned out I left the CB and scanner on.  Some time during the three to four weeks I left the truck up here, they killed the batteries.

I go over to the snowplow truck to start it, very weak batteries – but it started.   I ran it for about fifteen minutes and decided I would put the charger on its two batteries once the GMC was done.

Now I have to cut the grass.  I go downstairs to get the riding lawnmower . . . . . . . dead battery!  GEE WHIZ.    I put an old charger on it — one that has “Emergency start” — and jump-started it with that.  Cut the lower half acre down by the creek.  Had to stop several times to clean out the ejection port which got clogged with the very long, very wet grass.

It’s amazing. Lack of use and things just go bad.

On Saturday, I went to the bank to get some cash money after President Trump talked about a “1929 style Great Depression.”  I don’t want to be caught without cash if, some day soon, they tell everyone “Tariffs were illegal and have to be refunded.  Banks are closed until the country gets its finances in order.  ATM machines are off. Credit cards are temporarily shut off, go home.”  I talked about this on my radio show last week, so I made sure that __ my __ family will have some “fall-back” cash.

As the man of the house, it’s __ MY __  job to look out for my family.  __ I __ have to be prepared.    I am, to the best of my ability.   Are you?

Around 5:00 yesterday afternoon, I gassed-up all the vehicles.

I figure with Trump having made this meeting date for him and Putin to talk in Alaska this Friday, whatever the “deep state” might do to screw it up and cause a war — which I think they want to do — will probably happen THIS WEEK.  I expect some big false flag or other provocation.

If not that, then maybe the meeting itself goes bad and Trump goes ahead with Secondary Tariffs against Russia.  I think war is the likely outcome.   I’m not going to be one of the “masses who are asses” and get caught unprepared.  Are you?

How to Make a Foolproof Omelet in Five Minutes

 

Kitchen tools, gourmet foods, baking mixes, and hard-to-find baking ingredients mentioned in this article are available at The Prepared Pantry.

by Dennis Weaver

 

This is the omelet for the omelet challenged. Never make an ugly omelet again. It’s nearly foolproof, it’s simple, and it’s quick.

We set off to make the best and easiest omelet, something that even a beginning cook could master. We bought ten dozen eggs and started testing methods. At the end, we were making five minute omelets—a little unorthodox but very good and nearly foolproof. We called them “five minute omelets.” You really can cook them in five minutes. And the method is easy.

If you’ve ever made an omelet that didn’t fold well or broke apart or had a tough skin, consider this method.

The Method

Getting the omelet to cook through without overcooking the skin is a challenge. You can lift the edges of the omelet as it cooks to let the uncooked egg flow under the omelet and onto the pan surface. You can put a lid on top to trap heat coming from the hot pan. But for some omelets, that isn’t enough.

A surer method is to start scrambling the eggs when they hit the hot pan, stopping when the eggs are partially cooked. Then pat the eggs into a smooth layer and let them finish cooking without a lid. It works. It’s quick and easy.

Instead of folding the omelet in the pan, simply tip the pan and let the omelet slide onto a plate. As the omelet slips onto the plate, twist of the wrist, and fold the omelet onto itself on the plate. (It’s easy to do; in two or three tries, you’ll have the method mastered.) This method worked so well that we declared a victory. We recorded our methods, developed a couple of recipes, and described the method in an email.

Later we started placing a plate over pan for just a couple minutes once we stopped scrambling and then removing the plate before the omelet was cooked. That accelerated the cooking a little and gave us warm plate on which to serve the omelet but we didn’t leave it on long enough to hide when the omelet was done.

We had perfect omelets in five minutes.

How to Cook an Omelet Using this Method

Choose the right size pan. A three-egg omelet requires an eight-inch pan. The pan should be nonstick.

Whisk the eggs together in a bowl.

Put a pat of butter in your nonstick pan. Place it on medium-high heat. On our stovetop, a high BTU gas burner, that’s 6 out of ten. Heat the butter to just short of brown and swirl it around the pan.

Pour the eggs into the hot pan. Salt and pepper the eggs.

Scramble the eggs with a soft silicone spatula scraping the bottom of the pan and the sides. The eggs will cook quickly and curds will form.

When the eggs approach the consistency of cottage cheese with mostly solids but some liquid egg, stop stirring. Use the spatula as a paddle to pat the eggs down into an even layer. Place a plate over the top of the pan. The plate will trap heat and help cook the top of the omelet. It also warms the plate so that you can serve the omelet on a warm pan.

Let the eggs continue cooking until the liquids are set and the top of the omelet is cooked.

Place the fillings in a row across the omelet just off to one side. For most fillings, you will want them cooked. The omelet should slip around in the pan without a hint of sticking. Move the pan to a plate, tip the pan on angle over the plate, and gently shake the omelet onto the plate filling side first.

When the omelet is about half way onto the plate, twist the pan with your wrist folding the remaining omelet over that on the plate. The omelet should be folded over with the bottom edge protruding about one-half inch.

Unless you’re going to make larger omelets, you’ll need an eight-inch skillet which is the perfect size for a three-egg omelet. It needs to have a good nonstick surface so that it will slide out of the pan easily. If you are making larger omelets, you will need larger pans.

You’ll also need a good silicone spatula to stir the eggs as they begin to cook and to slide under the omelet and loosen it if it starts to stick.

Get an eight-inch pan and start making foolproof omelets.

Dennis Weaver is the founder of The Prepared Pantry, a full line kitchen store in Rigby, Idaho. The Prepared Pantry sells kitchen tools, gourmet foods, and baking ingredients including hundreds of hard-to-find ingredients.

The real reason the West is warmongering against China

China’s spectacular economic development has brought up the price of its labour and dwindled Western corporate profits.

By Jason Hickel and Dylan Sullivan

Published On 3 Aug 20253 Aug 2025

Over the past two decades, the posture of the United States towards China has evolved from economic cooperation to outright antagonism. US media outlets and politicians have engaged in persistent anti-China rhetoric, while the US government has imposed trade restrictions and sanctions on China and pursued military build-up close to Chinese territory. Washington wants people to believe that China poses a threat.

China’s rise indeed threatens US interests, but not in the way the US political elite seeks to frame it.

The US relationship with China needs to be understood in the context of the capitalist world system. Capital accumulation in the core states, often glossed as the “Global North”, depends on cheap labour and cheap resources from the periphery and semi-periphery, the so-called “Global South”.

This arrangement is crucial to ensuring high profits for the multinational firms that dominate global supply chains. The systematic price disparity between the core and periphery also enables the core to achieve a large net-appropriation of value from the periphery through unequal exchange in international trade.

Ever since the 1980s, when China opened up to Western investment and trade, it has been a crucial part of this arrangement, providing a major source of labour for Western firms – labour that is cheap but also highly skilled and highly productive. For instance, much of Apple’s production relies on Chinese labour. According to research by the economist Donald A Clelland, if Apple had to pay Chinese and East Asian workers at the same rate as a US worker, this would have cost them an additional $572 per iPad in 2011.

But over the past two decades, wages in China have increased quite dramatically. Around 2005, the manufacturing labour cost per hour in China was lower than in India, less than $1 per hour. In the years since, China’s hourly labour costs have increased to more than $8 per hour, while India’s are now only about $2 per hour. Indeed, wages in China are now higher than in every other developing country in Asia. This is a major, historical development.

This has happened for several key reasons. For one, surplus labour in China has been increasingly absorbed into the wage-labour economy, which has amplified workers’ bargaining power. At the same time, the current leadership of President Xi Jinping has expanded the role of the state in China’s economy, strengthening public provisioning systems – including public healthcare and public housing – that have further improved the position of workers.

These are positive changes for China – and specifically for Chinese workers – but they pose a severe problem for Western capital. Higher wages in China impose a constraint on the profits of Western firms that operate there or that depend on Chinese manufacturing for intermediate parts and other key inputs.

The other problem, for the core states, is that the increase in China’s wages and prices is reducing its exposure to unequal exchange. During the low-wage era of the 1990s, China’s export-to-import ratio with the core was extremely high. In other words, China had to export very large quantities of goods in order to obtain necessary imports. Today, this ratio is much lower, representing a dramatic improvement in China’s terms of trade, substantially reducing the core’s ability to appropriate value from China.

Given all this, capitalists in the core states are now desperate to do something to restore their access to cheap labour and resources. One option – increasingly promoted by the Western business press – is to relocate industrial production to other parts of Asia where wages are cheaper. But this is costly in terms of lost production, the need to find new staff, and other supply chain disruptions. The other option is to force Chinese wages back down. Hence, the attempts by the United States to undermine the Chinese government and destabilise the Chinese economy – including through economic warfare and the constant threat of military escalation.

Ironically, Western governments sometimes justify their opposition to China on the grounds that China’s exports are too cheap. It is often claimed that China “cheats” in international trade, by artificially suppressing the exchange rate for its currency, the renminbi. The problem with this argument, however, is that China abandoned this policy around a decade ago. As the International Monetary Fund (IMF) economist Jose Antonio Ocampo noted in 2017, “In recent years, China has rather been making efforts to avoid a depreciation of the renminbi, sacrificing a large amount of reserves. This may imply that, if anything, this currency is now overvalued.” China did eventually permit a devaluation in 2019, when tariffs imposed by the administration of US President Donald Trump increased pressure on the renminbi. But this was a normal response to a change in market conditions, not an attempt to suppress the renminbi below its market rate.

The US largely supported the Chinese government in the period when its currency was undervalued, including through loans from the IMF and World Bank. The West turned decisively against China in the mid-2010s, at precisely the moment when the country began to raise its prices and challenge its position as a peripheral supplier of cheap inputs to Western-dominated supply chains.

The second element that’s driving US hostility towards China is technology. Beijing has used industrial policy to prioritise technological development in strategic sectors over the past decade, and has achieved remarkable progress. It now has the world’s largest high-speed rail network, manufactures its own commercial aircraft, leads the world on renewable energy technology and electric vehicles, and enjoys advanced medical technology, smartphone technology, microchip production, artificial intelligence, etc. The tech news coming out of China has been dizzying. These are achievements that we only expect from high-income countries, and China is doing it with almost 80 percent less GDP per capita than the average “advanced economy”. It is unprecedented.

This poses a problem for the core states because one of the main pillars of the imperial arrangement is that they need to maintain a monopoly over necessary technologies like capital goods, medicines, computers, aircraft and so on. This forces the “Global South” into a position of dependency, so they are forced to export large quantities of their cheapened resources in order to obtain these necessary technologies. This is what sustains the core’s net-appropriation through unequal exchange.

China’s technological development is now breaking Western monopolies, and may give other developing countries alternative suppliers for necessary goods at more affordable prices. This poses a fundamental challenge to the imperial arrangement and unequal exchange.

The US has responded by imposing sanctions designed to cripple China’s technological development. So far, this has not worked; if anything, it has increased incentives for China to develop sovereign technological capacities. With this weapon mostly neutralised, the US wants to resort to warmongering, the main objective of which would be to destroy China’s industrial base, and divert China’s investment capital and productive capacities towards defence. The US wants to go to war with China not because China poses some kind of military threat to the American people, but because Chinese development undermines the interests of imperial capital.

Western claims about China posing some kind of military threat are pure propaganda. The material facts tell a fundamentally different story. In fact, China’s military spending per capita is less than the global average, and 1/10th that of the US alone. Yes, China has a big population, but even in absolute terms, the US-aligned military bloc spends over seven times more on military power than China does. The US controls eight nuclear weapons for every one that China has.

China may have the power to prevent the US from imposing its will on it, but it does not have the power to impose its will on the rest of the world in the way that the core states do. The narrative that China poses some kind of military threat is wildly overblown.

In fact, the opposite is true. The US has hundreds of military bases and facilities around the world. A significant number of them are stationed near China – in Japan and South Korea. By contrast, China has only one foreign military base, in Djibouti, and zero military bases near US borders.

Furthermore, China has not fired a single bullet in international warfare in over 40 years, while during this time the US has invaded, bombed or carried out regime-change operations in over a dozen Global South countries. If there is any state that poses a known threat to world peace and security, it is the US.

The real reason for Western warmongering is because China is achieving sovereign development and this is undermining the imperial arrangement on which Western capital accumulation depends. The West will not let global economic power slip from its hands so easily.