Communist China Has Suddenly Become Cool?

(Kaihann’s REDDIT post + Shaoyu Yuan’spost from CONVERSATION in April 2025.)

TikTok is one very reason behind how China is suddenly becoming cool. The comparison TikTok videos in what middle class life looks like between the US and China to be the most influential. Of course, TikTok will not have that impact if China’s middle class was impoverished and downtrodden.

China is becoming cool because: it has a strong and improving middle class; world class infrastructure; cutting edge technology in many new fields; safe and clean cities at a scale unmatched by many Western peers; has a foreign policy which is benign and magnanimous relative to the US ( not without flaws but its relative); is not engaged in constant war.

China is becoming cool because: it is a major supporter for development in other emerging market countries; has a growing number of recognizable consumer brands; on the right side of the tariff dispute, standing up to a bully; has a 144 hour visa free policy for many countries encouraging tourism; many tourists documenting their visits over video refuting US narratives of a police state and genocide.

New York is Fucked: Defund Islamist-Leftist Mayor!

       (Josh Christenson’s post from the NEW YORKPOST on 07 November 2025.)

House GOP clashes over ‘ludicrous’ bill to defund NYC under Mamdani: The only Republican lawmaker representing one of New York City’s boroughs in Congress is lambasting members of her own party for seeking to defund the Big Apple after socialist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s win.

Staten Island Rep. Nicole Malliotakis told The Post Friday that she will “push back on any attempt” by fellow congressional Republicans to “punish” New York City. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) told Fox News on Thursday he was introducing a new bill, the Moving American Money Distant from Anti-National Interests Act, or MAMDANI Act, to block federal funding for the Big Apple.

“I’m going to fight Mamdani’s radical socialist policies — but I’ll also push back on any attempt by my own party to ‘punish’ our city,” Malliotakis said. “I love New York and will always fight for it.” “The mayor-elect did not receive a mandate on Tuesday; nearly 50% of voters opposed his election,” she added. “I’ll never stop fighting for hardworking New Yorkers who believe in the American Dream and the uniformed services that protect them.”

New York Has Fallen: Muslim-Indian-Socialist NYC Mayor

                    (Staff post from the NEWS WEEK on 05 November 2025.)

MAGA Reacts to Zohran Mamdani’s Victory in New York: Zohran Mamdani has defeated former New York governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa to be elected the next Mayor of New York City, something which has come at the dismay of MAGA and conservatives, who have quickly flocked online to share their reactions to Mamdani’s historic win.

Why It Matters: Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist, has become the first Muslim and Indian American mayor. "Today we have spoken in a clear voice: Hope is alive," Mamdani said during his victory speech.

Democrats saw wins across the country, flipping governorships in Virginia and New Jersey and sweeping judicial races in Pennsylvania. The results could signal a shift in where the country is politically, acting as a litmus test ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Many Republicans expressed feelings of doom, and a sense that New York had crossed a line.

UN expert calls Myanmar election 'sham'

                (Staff post from the NHK JAPAN on 30October 2025.)

The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar has described the elections the military plans for December as a 'sham,' noting opposition parties are excluded.

In a Wednesday press conference, Tom Andrews said, "I made it as clear as I possibly could that these elections are a sham. They're a fraud." He added "you cannot have a free and fair election when you arrest, detain, imprison, and torture the leaders of the political opposition."

He also noted that the humanitarian conditions in the war-torn country are worsening, with nearly 22 million people requiring aid.

The military says the voting will take place in phases starting December 28. Campaigning kicked off on Tuesday with 57 political parties registered. But pro-democracy groups including the National League for Democracy, or NLD, which won the 2020 election, have been disbanded after refusing to take part in the process.

Convicts Bloods Dominant in Modern Australia!

             (John Harland’s post from the QUORA on 17 February 2020.)

The now-celebrated First Fleet of eleven English convict ships brought convicts, marines, and their families from Britain to Australia, arriving in January 1788. The primary purpose was to establish a penal colony to relieve overcrowded prisons in Britain. The fleet carried between 750 and 780 convicts, and their arrival in Sydney Cove marked the beginning of European colonization and the transportation of convicts to Australia, which lasted until 1868. 

“Has the gene pool in Australia truly been affected by the fact that a certain number of convicts were sent there as settlers?” It had a strongly positive effect. The people who were sent represented a far broader genetic range than the relatively inbred gentry of Britain. They were also people whose ancestors had faced more-rigorous selection pressure than those living in relative luxury.

Their designation as “convicts” resulted from circumstances. Many were refugees in their own country, having been thrown off the land of their ancestors through the Enclosure of Lands, where the local lord decided that broad-acre agriculture earned him more than having smallholders each farming part of the land.

Trade War: The Victims are the US Soybean Farmers

              (Stuff post from the FOX NEWS on 25 September 2025.)

Minnesota soybean farmers can usually count on big paychecks about this season, but this year, they’re deep in the red because they’ve lost their biggest buyer due to trade war triggered by the idiot Trump’s crazy tariffs. China usually buys $12-$13 billion in American soybeans each year, but it’s now buying from Argentina and Brazil instead.

In the short term, most Minnesota soybean farmers will harvest their crops and either sell them at a loss or pay to store them, or a little of both. But they can only last so long with income at or near zero.

China is a large country with a serious lack of cultivated land. After nearly 5,000 years of development, China has only about 100 million hectares of cultivated land. Therefore, grain crops must be given priority, such as wheat and rice. Therefore, the food imported into China is mainly soybean and corn, and their purpose is mainly for animal feed.

De-dollarization: Collapse of US$ as Reserve Currency?

             (Natasha Kaneva’s post from The JPMORGAN USA on 01 July 2025.)

De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? Top dollar no more? Learn more about the factors threatening the dominance of the world’s reserve currency. While the U.S.’s share in global exports and output has declined, the dollar’s transactional dominance is still evident in areas including FX volumes and trade invoicing.

On the other hand, de-dollarization is unfolding in central bank FX reserves, where the share of USD has slid to a two-decade low. In fixed income, the share of foreign ownership in the U.S. Treasury market has fallen over the last 15 years, pointing to reduced reliance on the dollar. De-dollarization is most visible in commodity markets, where a large and growing proportion of energy is being priced in non-dollar-denominated contracts.

The U.S. dollar is the world’s primary reserve currency, and it is also the most widely used currency for trade and other international transactions. However, its hegemony has come into question in recent times due to geopolitical and geostrategic shifts.

Myanmar Dictator Banned from The ASEAN Summit

       (Karishmar Vyas’s post from The ABC NEWS Australia on 26 October 2025.)

Myanmar too low on agenda as regional leaders meet Trump for summit: Sitting inside an open-air shack along Thailand's porous border with Myanmar, Koko Chit couldn't believe that he was still alive.

Desperate for money, he had left his wife and three children in July and travelled back to northern Myanmar to scavenge for jade at Hpakant's notorious mines. The work was deadly, but it was the civil war that almost killed him.

"There's no security there. When you go to work, there's fighting," says Chit, 31, who didn't give his real name because he feared for his life. "The State Administration Council (Myanmar's military) conscripts workers. They fire their guns to threaten people for no reason. And the resistance forces fire back."

What Happened in 1971? Ending the Gold Standard

        (John Zadeh’s post from THE DISCOVERY ALERT USA on 13 April 2025.)

The Nixon Shock Explained: On August 15, 1971, President Richard Nixon unilaterally ended dollar convertibility to gold, a decision that would fundamentally transform the global economic landscape.

This dramatic move came as US gold reserves had declined precipitously from approximately 20,000 tons to just 8,333 tons. The depletion occurred because foreign nations, particularly France under President Charles de Gaulle, were increasingly redeeming dollars for physical gold as the US ran persistent trade and budget deficits.

Nixon's decision, made during a secret meeting at Camp David with key economic advisors, was essentially a choice to preserve America's remaining gold reserves rather than face an inevitable default on gold-for-dollar obligations. Treasury Secretary John Connally famously remarked during this period that "the dollar is our currency, but it's your problem," highlighting the unilateral nature of this momentous economic shift.