KLEM FM

The steady drip, drip, drip, of bad news and anti-Trump media sentiment (which is not news) is just torture:

That track is actually from a Disney vinyl I had as a kid.  Like "The Song Of The South," you just can't make that stuff any more.
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I promised deborah a shot of my (white) calla lilies, which are in bloom:

There are three levels of flar goin' on. There is a bottom row of tulips which came and went in February. What's left of them can be seen better here:

Tulips are interspersed between rocks and sand. Lilies and star jasmine are rooted in the higher soil, covered with Korean grass. The star jasmine, the climber on the racks, is not yet in bloom; this should happen out here in May or whenever the weather holds steady above 70.

Added: A "before" shot taken that first year when I was still working on the inside:

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It's his rice bowl!

 [video deleted due to technical difficulties] See below for original link.

link

Lot's of rice bowls in D.C.

China Still Wants Its Wattle Back

Japan Condemns N Korea Missile Launch — Trump: U.S. Stands Behind Japan 100 Percent

What's up with damn Chinese and their tolerance & support of the North Korean regime? Oh, I know that they backed them politically, financially, and in every possible way including dying for them. And we fought on the other side, including my own father and uncles.

It is just shameful that China won't defang this retrograde nation. China could so lead by example by allowing the peaceful deposing of the toxic clan running that place. I'm beginning to think that they won't out of stubborn Chinese pride: They want their wattle back:

'The Chinese people do not want to have war, so we will be opposed to [the] U.S. if it stirs up any conflict,' said Liu Zhenmin, vice minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 'Of course, if the Korean War or Vietnam War are replayed, then we will have to defend ourselves.'

What a brash admission of the proxy nature of the Korean and Vietnam conflicts: We were obviously fighting Red China in both wars-- fighting over China's ancient wattle and feet:

I believe there remains a lot of American ambivalence regarding those 20th century conflicts. And yet, are we willing to knuckle under to Chinese hegemony in all things trade, science, and eventually -- culture?

Life-Size Replica of Titanic To Be Assembled Late This Year

A life-size replica of the ill-fated luxury liner Titanic will be assembled in southwest China's Sichuan Province at the end of this year, it was revealed on August 5 during the second China (Sichuan) International Tourism Investment Conference in Chengdu. Link

 I was struck by two related headlines:

And

Titanic Reenactment Club Loses Another 1,300 Members

A Game of Chicken

'The Chinese people do not want to have war, so we will be opposed to [the] U.S. if it stirs up any conflict,' said Liu Zhenmin, vice minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 'Of course, if the Korean War or Vietnam War are replayed, then we will have to defend ourselves.'

What a brash admission of the proxy nature of the Korean and Vietnam conflicts: We were obviously fighting Red China in both wars-- fighting over China's ancient wattle and feet:

I believe there remains a lot of American ambivalence regarding those 20th century conflicts. And yet, are we willing to knuckle under to Chinese hegemony in all things trade, science, and eventually -- culture? 

Choking The Chicken

Should Trump win big later on today, the reaction to watch is not the media's meltdown -- it will be China's reaction. They are watching very closely.

I wish I knew more about economics in order to predict the fallout of a Trump Presidency.

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Link in case the video doesn't load

I cried the first time I heard that. I was alone and driving home late one night.

The piece was originally written in Western style in 1959 by two Chinese men. The music was suppressed until the 1970's. Recently, the work has been "de-Westernized" by replacing the traditional orchestral instruments with traditional Chinese ones.

Obama pledges to hobble US economy for ten years and to ask nothing from China for 15 years*

That's the plan: Link
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*He will ask them off the record to keep financing his Cloward-Piven debt and to give generously to his personal coffers and to those of the DNC.

They're coming after the chicken legs now...

Chinese territorial claims spark violent protests in Vietnam*

Years ago, I worked for a Bay area start-up. We hired a young Chinese guy who worked for us for about a year.  He was a hard worker but contributed no patents or publications (intellectual property), and left, returning to China.  He ended up (according to my former boss) appropriating a decent chunk of alkane activation technology back to China.

Zhu-lin (I recall his name) spent what little time he socialized talking about how the map of the real China resembled a giant chicken, with the Korean peninsula as the wattle and Vietnam being the feet and legs.  You can see this rightward facing chicken if you look at a map and use a little imagination. He said (ca. 1998) that it was only a matter of time before the chicken was whole again.

China has ancient enemies in Asia who have historically been weaker but who may not wish to remain so, though that may be inevitable.
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*h/t Legal Insurrection