Category: China

PGA Tour agrees to merge with Saudi-backed rival LIV Golf

This is disturbing to say the least.

The PGA Tour is merging with Saudi-backed rival LIV Golf, following months of tensions and mounting lawsuits between the competitors.

The two entities signed an agreement that would combine the PGA Tour’s and LIV Golf’s commercial businesses and rights into a new, yet-to-be-named for-profit company. The agreement includes DP World Tour, also known as the PGA European Tour.

IV Golf is backed by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, an entity controlled by the Saudi crown prince and has been embroiled in antitrust lawsuits with the PGA Tour in the last year. The deal announced Tuesday would end all pending litigation.

PIF is prepared to invest billions of new capital into the new entity, CNBC’s David Faber reported Tuesday. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

The agreement — the second stunning sports deal in just months, following World Wrestling Entertainment’s merger with Endeavor Group’s UFC — will require the approval of the PGA Tour policy board, Commissioner Jay Monahan said in a memo to players that was obtained by CNBC.

Source: CNBC: PGA Tour agrees to merge with Saudi-backed rival LIV Golf

Let us not forget 9/11 and Osama Bin Ladin’s backers, who were, in fact, some of the Saudi princes. If I were a professional golfer, I would resign from the PGA and find something else to do. Let’s not forget about the Saudi’s cozy relationship with China too.

This stinks like a rat.

Others: PGATOUR.COM, Politico, The Daily Beast, ABC News, Breitbart, Quartz, Mediaite, 24/7 Wall St., New York Post, RedState, Associated Press, Forbes, Fox News, NPR, The US Sun, Awful Announcing, CBS News, The Daily Caller, Just The News. Political Wire, Washington Post, Washington Examiner, The Daily Beast, Fox News, ESPN, The Hill, TMZ.com, New York Post, Mediaite, Awful Announcing, The Hollywood Reporter, Sportico.com, The Gateway Pundit, The Spectator World, NBC 7 San Diego, Next Impulse Sports, UPI, The Daily Caller, Al-Monitor, Al Jazeera, Ad Age, CNN, MLive.com, Oregonian, National Review, Financial Times, Forbes, al.com, Deadline, Reuters, Golfweek, The US Sun, Joe.My.God., The Messenger, WGN-TV, PGATOUR.COM and CBS News, more at Mediagazer »

Mary Elizabeth Taylor, assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs resigns in protest of Trump’s actions

This is not going to be good for the President at all.

Mary Elizabeth Taylor approaches the lectern before Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch makes a keynote appearance at Trump International Hotel in September 2017 in Washington. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

A senior State Department official who has served in the Trump administration since its first day is resigning over President Trump’s recent handling of racial tensions across the country — saying that the president’s actions “cut sharply against my core values and convictions.”

Mary Elizabeth Taylor, assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs, submitted her resignation Thursday. Taylor’s five-paragraph resignation letter, obtained by The Washington Post, serves as an indictment of Trump’s stewardship at a time of national unrest from one of the administration’s highest-ranking African Americans and an aide who was viewed as loyal and effective in serving his presidency.“

Moments of upheaval can change you, shift the trajectory of your life, and mold your character. The President’s comments and actions surrounding racial injustice and Black Americans cut sharply against my core values and convictions,” Taylor wrote in her resignation letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “I must follow the dictates of my conscience and resign as Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs.” — Source: Top State Department official Mary Elizabeth Taylor resigns in protest of Trump?s response to racial tensions in the country – The Washington

I believe that is quite obvious, that this woman; who by the way, is a lifelong Republican, is basically beginning to feel the same way, that a lot of conservatives probably are feeling or Republicans are feeling about this president… that he is not a Lincoln Republican. But rather someone who has taken the stance of the alt right.

Between this and what John Bolton has published, I believe the president of the United States is going to be soundly defeated in the November election.

It is sad to too, because I honestly thought that this president really had good potential. I thought maybe that his whole ego thing would be shoved aside and the good of the country would be put first and it started out that way; he did promise to get tough on trade, which he did. However, he ended up reneging on the promise and turns out, he was doing it simply for his reelection chances.

So truthfully, the only thing that Donald J trump was honestly interested in doing and that was making himself look good. Which is what happened after the George Boyd protests began. This is why he did the photo op and this is why the peaceful protests in front of the White House were basically gassed, because Donald Trump tried to put an appearance on of being tough to try and salvage his reelection in November.

Of course, this is turned out to be nothing but a futile mistake.

I hope everyone who is a conservative or Republican has enjoyed, especially the trump loyalists — what we got in the past 4 years. But. sadly I think it’s all going to end and it’s going to be sad to watch.

Because, I believe what’s going to happen at the convention is going to be a sad display and it could be like what happened with Richard Nixon or what happened in 1968 at the Democrat party convention

Others: Associated Press, TheGrio, Axios, New York Post, KEYT-TV, The Hill, Raw Story and The Week

WSJ: Bolton Book says Trump pleaded with China’s Xi Jinping for domestic political help

Not going to quote much of this, but this part.

Via WSJ (warning paywall):

One highlight came when Xi said he wanted to work with Trump for six more years, and Trump replied that people were saying that the two-term constitutional limit on presidents should be repealed for him. Xi said the U.S. had too many elections, because he didn’t want to switch away from Trump, who nodded approvingly.

Wow. Just….Wow.

Trump came close, unilaterally offering that U.S. tariffs would remain at 10% rather than rise to 25%, as he had previously threatened. In exchange, Trump asked merely for some increases in Chinese farm-product purchases, to help with the crucial farm-state vote. If that could be agreed, all the U.S. tariffs would be reduced. It was breathtaking.

Then, This:

Trump then, stunningly, turned the conversation to the coming U.S. presidential election, alluding to China’s economic capability and pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win. He stressed the importance of farmers and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome. I would print Trump’s exact words, but the government’s prepublication review process has decided otherwise.

I would advise you to go read the rest of this. It is a truly amazing read. This man is going to lose and I mean BAD in November. Subscription to WSJ is required, or there’s always this for firefox and chrome.

Others: The Cook Political Report, New York Times, Bloomberg, CNBC, NBC News, The Daily Caller, Al Jazeera, The Stranger, The Guardian, The Nation, Washington Post, The Hill, Foreign Policy, Just The News, Redstate, The Last Refuge, Mother Jones, New York Post, Politico, POLITICUSUSA, Breitbart, Raw Story, Mediaite, National Review, Axios, Fox News and KEYT-TV, more at Techmeme »

Video: Idiots React to Coronavirus

This….is….excellent: via Paul Joseph Watson on YouTube:

 

Is the collapse of China’s economy beginning?

I have written and posted videos of the situation of China’s economy.

Now, it seems that the real estate bubble in China is finally starting to pop.

Gordon Chang over at Forbes reports the following:

Nothing is going right for Hangzhou at this moment.  Walmart will be closing its Zhaohui store in that city on April 23 as a part of its overall plan to dump marginal locations—about 9% of the total—in China.

Thanks to the world’s largest retailer, another large block of space in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, will go on the market at a time when there is generally too much supply.  The problem is especially pronounced in the city’s premium office market. Hangzhou’s Grade A office buildings at the end of 2013 had, according to Jones Lang LaSalle, an average occupancy rate of 30%.

The real weakness, however, is Hangzhou’s residential sector.  The cause is simple: massive overbuilding. Sara Hsu of the State University of New York at New Paltz writes that Hangzhou faces “burgeoning swaths of empty apartment units.”

Hangzhou’s market has not yet collapsed.  There are still secondary sales, for instance.  Singapore’s Straits Timesreports Allen Zhao, a businessman, has been looking to sell his two-bedroom flat in Hangzhou for 2 million yuan.  His neighbor just let go a similar unit for 1.7 million.  If Zhao also sells for that amount, he will make a profit, but he will be disappointed.  “That is not much more than the price I paid in 2012,” Zhao told the paper.  “Now I’m regretting not selling earlier—more bad news about the property market keeps coming in every day.

[…]

The People’s Republic in the “reform era” has not suffered a nationwide property crash.  Analysts say the problems in Hangzhou are “regional,” but now fundamentals and market sentiment either are or will be pushing markets down across the People’s Republic.

“The banking system and the shadow banking system are becoming concerned about exposure,” says David Cui of Bank of AmericaBAC +1.46%.  “Once people refuse to provide credit to developers, their balance sheets will be under pressure, forcing them to cut prices.  Once enough of them cut prices, fewer people would buy because most people buy property only when they think the price is going up.  If this persists, it will turn into a vicious loop.”

Premier Li Keqiang has a few tools at his disposal, but they look insufficient to stop a general collapse of property prices across the country.  The problems, deferred from late 2008 with massive state spending, have simply become too large.  And we must remember that he works inside a complex, collective political system that is generally unable to meet challenges swiftly.

But that does not matter.  There is little any leader can do.  Collapses occur when people lose confidence.  That is now happening in China.

Whether anyone wants to admit it or not; China’s economy is directly tied to ours. If their economy tanks, so will ours. You think 2008 was bad? China’s collapse will trigger a Worldwide panic and a massive, and I mean MASSIVE Worldwide economic meltdown that has never been seen in the history of mankind. As of 2012, we were borrowing 3.4 Million from China, a day.

Could you imagine, if China saw that things were getting rough and decided to sell off all of their bonds of ours that they hold? The so-called “experts” say that it would not happen; personally, I would not want to tempt fate.

There is but one solution to this — well, actually a few. We need to do away with these free trade agreements and put back into place tariffs on all imports from overseas. Then penalize any and all businesses who continue to manufacture products overseas. Then we need to elect a President that will stand up to the Federal Reserve and order them under full congressional oversight; and then order them to cease all printing of money; until further notice.  This would help pay down our debt and fund our social safety net.

Then we need to do away with this idiotic progressive tax system that we have in this Country, which basically punishes those who are successful in business. We then need to replace it with a flat tax or a consumption tax system. This would free up the hands of entrepreneurs to create businesses and also create more jobs in this Country.

However, if what this report above that I quoted is true; we are not going to have time to do all of this. Because if China is about to crash; we are going to find ourselves in massive rock and a hard place. We are going to have massive social safety net and no way to pay the people in the net. For the record, Patrick J. Buchanan and Ron Paul; and some very other well known Conservatives have been warning that this was going to happen. Now, it seems that their warnings are about to come true.

I believe it would be a good time, for all of God’s children to pray; because things are about to get interesting….very interesting.

Quote of the Day

Does America fear facing down China because a political and economic collision with Beijing would entail an admission by the United States that our vision of a world of democratic nations all engaged in peaceful free trade under a rules-based regime was a willful act of self-delusion?

What China is about is as old as the history of man. She is a rising ethno-national state doing what such powers have always done: put their own interests ahead of all others, suppress ethnic minorities like Tibetans and Uighurs, and crush religious dissenters like Christians and Falun Gong.

There is no New World Order. Never was. The old demons—chauvinism and ethno-nationalism—are not ancient history. They are not extinct. They are with us forever. And America is not going to be able to deny reality much longer or put off facing up to what China is all about.

Given her current size and disposition, one day soon we are going to have to stop feeding the tiger. And start sanctioning it.

 

This is because China supports their actions

Sometimes the woefully obvious is just too much for the media:

Hong Kong (CNN) — North Korea’s neighbors have condemned the secretive nation’s launch of a long-range rocket, with Seoul calling the launch a “challenge and threat” to stability on the Korean peninsula and the world at large.

The rocket passed close to the territory of Japan and South Korea but both have refrained from any retaliation.

Japan said it did not take any action to destroy what it termed “a missile,” which passed over its territory near the island if Okinawa, and had not seen any signs of damage.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said the launch was “extremely regrettable.”

Beijing, North Korea’s main ally in the region, took a softer line.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei expressed regret at North Korea’s decision to launch despite the concerns of the international community.

via China’s reaction key as neighbors decry North Korea rocket launch – CNN.com.

Anyone that believes that China does not support what the Norks are doing — is crazy. They give the stuff needed to fire those missiles, and so, they obviously must support the actions. Besides, China is a communist nation, as is North Korea; so, why wouldn’t they support them?

Like I said, the obvious is as plain as the nose on the end of ones face. Too bad CNN and rest are just too dumb to figure this out.

Government Records $229 billion deficit for a month

Elections matter folks, this is why. Greece, here we come!

The U.S. government just notched its highest ever monthly deficit, with the red rink running to an estimated $229 billion in February.

The Congressional Budget Office, in a preliminary analysis, reported that the February 2012 deficit broke last year’s monthly record of $223 billion.

The office attributed the shortfall in part to a decline in revenue — mainly because of a $25 billion increase in income tax refunds thanks to disbursement timing issues.

According to the CBO, processing delays pushed refund payments that would have been distributed in January off into February. And the additional day in February this year allowed for extra refunds to be distributed during the month that otherwise would have been paid out in March.

The CBO projected that for the first five months of the fiscal year, the federal government is running a $578 billion deficit.

The projected deficit this year is once again projected to top $1 trillion

via Government Records Highest-ever Monthly Deficit | Fox News.

The only thing I can truly say about this one is this; elections matter. This is what happens when you put progressives and moderate Republicans in Government, they spend on your dime and you get stuck with the tab and most usually, you do not get a thing for it in return.  This is why we have to get people elected to political office, in City, State and Federal levels; who at the very least, have the American people’s interests in mind and not their own political fortunes in mind. Because when the political veterans are running the show; both Republican and Democratic Parties; this is what you get —- Debt.

China cannot buy our debt forever, or eventually they will own this Country. Not to mention, China is not exactly a free Country. All China would have to do, is tell the United States that they will not be buy anymore of our debt and we, as a Nation, would be history. We, as Conservatives have no one to blame, but ourselves for this fine mess.  The Republican Party elected a moderate Republican by the name of Richard Nixon, who wanted so badly to make a name for himself and that idiot liberal Republican just had to go to China and normalize relations with those Communist bastards. Which is pretty darned ironic, considering what the Communists in China did to John Birch.  This is one Conservative who felt Watergate was nothing more than sweet justice. (…and No, I am NOT being snarky!)

This why we the American people, the silent majority; need to vote differently this coming November. Our Nation’s future might just depend on it.

 

 

Debate This: Is this Pete Hoekstra ad racist?

(H/T HotAir headlines)

I honestly do not know if it is or not. If anything, one could say that it is pandering to paranoia or populist sentiment in the conservative movement?

But, does it rise to the level of racism?

Comments welcomed here.