There are two ways American democracy is dying, Trump’s election is one of them
Yiwu Index predicts Trump 2020 victory
Republican National Convention
END OUR RELIANCE ON CHINA
Bring Back I Million Manufacturing Jobs from China
Tax Credits for Companies that Bring Back Jobs from China
Allow 100% Expensing Deductions for Essential Industries like Pharmaceuticals and Robotics who Bring Back their Manufacturing to the United States
No Federal Contracts for Companies who Outsource to China
Hold China Fully Accountable for Allowing the Virus to Spread around the World
ERADICATE COVID-19
Develop a Vaccine by The End Of 2020
Return to Normal in 2021
Make All Critical Medicines and Supplies for Healthcare Workers in The United States
Refill Stockpiles and Prepare for Future Pandemics
JOBS
Create 10 Million New Jobs in 10 Months
Create 1 Million New Small Businesses
Cut Taxes to Boost Take-home Pay and Keep Jobs in America
Enact Fair Trade Deals that Protect American Jobs
“Made in America “Tax Credits
Expand Opportunity Zones
Continue Deregulatory Agenda for Energy Independence
EDUCATION
Provide School Choice to Every Child in America
Teach American Exceptionalism
Lebanon’s Cabinet has resigned over last week’s devastating blast at the Beirut port
Lebanon’s government stepped down on Monday night, less than a week after a massive explosion in Beirut killed more than 160 people and sparked days of violent protests.Prime Minister Hassan Diab addressed the nation, announcing his resignation and that of his government in the wake of the blast, which he called a “disaster beyond measure.”In an impassioned speech, Diab berated Lebanon’s ruling political elite for fostering what he called “an apparatus of corruption bigger than the state.””We have fought valiantly and with dignity,” he said, referring to members of his cabinet. “Between us and change is big powerful barrier.”
Lebanon is a parliamentary democratic republic within the overall framework of confessionalism, a form of consociationalism in which the highest offices are proportionately reserved for representatives from certain religious communities.
‘National security threat’? Trump signs executive orders on TikTok & WeChat, bans transactions with Chinese owners in 45 days
US President Donald Trump has issued a series of executive orders addressing what he dubbed a technological national emergency, barring all transactions with the Chinese owners of social media apps TikTok and WeChat after 45 days.
According to an exclusive report in the Wall Street Journal on August 13, a number of U.S. companies with Chinese operations have resisted the Trump administration’s WeChat ban and stressed that it could weaken their competitiveness in the world’s second-largest economy. Apple, Ford, Walmart, Walt Disney, Procter & Gamble, Intel, MetLife Insurance, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UPS More than a dozen major U.S. multinationals, including Express, Merck and Cargill, held a conference call with White House officials to express their concerns about Trump’s executive order. One of the purposes of the conference call, according to sources, is to clarify the specific meaning of Trump’s executive order. The order will prohibit Americans from carrying out “any transaction related to WeChat,” but leave it to the U.S. Department of Commerce to explain in detail what transactions will be prohibited.
And Craig Allen, president of the US-China Business Council, warned: “Those who don’t live in China don’t understand the impact of not allowing US companies to use WeChat. They will be at a huge disadvantage compared to all their competitors.” The report notes that WeChat has more than 1.2 billion global users and is ubiquitous in Chinese life and work. For any business doing business with China, WeChat is an important marketing venue for communicating with customers. The U.S. companies are hoping that the Trump administration will be able to narrow the scope of the “strike” when it implements the order in the future. It’s worth noting that on the 12th of December, Tencent CFO Luo Shuo Han 罗硕瀚 said that the company believes that the US ban only applies to WeChat’s international version, and not to the domestic Chinese market. They are seeking further explanation from the US authorities. But US companies are still concerned that the Trump administration’s approach could effectively prevent them from entering the lucrative Chinese market, for example by no longer being able to collect payments or advertise on WeChat. And some U.S. media are already worried about iPhone sales in China.
On the other hand, the U.S. entertainment and sports industries are also worried that digital services related to Tencent will be affected. For example, the U.S. professional basketball league (NBA) has reached an agreement with Tencent, authorizing the latter to broadcast games in China. The NBA “is waiting for further explanation of the executive order.
The Wall Street Journal argues that large U.S. corporations are often Beijing’s strongest supporters in Washington, but their influence has waned since Trump took office. Factor in the political climate under the US election and things become even more difficult. According to Scott Kennedy, a China trade expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, “Businesses are worried about upsetting Washington or Beijing and want to stay out of the ‘crossfire’ between the two sides as much as possible.” And in what can easily be seen as a “defense of China,” it is difficult for these companies to stand up and say “the United States is wrong, China is right.
On the other hand, the Trump administration’s daily provocations have greatly affected the business environment. The U.S. media quoted a survey released by the U.S.-China Business Council on the 11th, in which 86 percent of its more than 100 member companies reported that tensions between the U.S. and China have affected their sales and business in China.
At the same time, the survey, conducted in May and June, showed that 83 percent of its corporate members ranked China as a top goal or one of their top five priorities in their global strategy. Nearly 70 percent of respondents were optimistic about the business outlook for China over the next five years, and 87 percent revealed they have no plans to move production out of the country.
”U.S.-China trade and investment provides about 2.6 million jobs in the United States. In the coming years, we’ll have to maintain and add jobs while finding ways to reduce conflict between the two sides in other areas,” The president of the U.S.-China Trade National Council said.
8-14-20 According to market research firm Sensor Tower, more and more users in the United States are opting to download WeChat and its encrypted alternative, Signal, after President Trump threatened to ban it. U.S. WeChat users are hoping to get it installed properly before the software is removed from major app stores. Others want to use alternative services, including Signal, an encrypted chat software developed by the nonprofit Signal Foundation. According to Sensor Tower, WeChat’s average number of downloads in the U.S. in the last six days was 41 percent higher than the week before the ban was announced last Thursday, while Signal’s downloads in the U.S. and China grew by 30 percent and 90 percent, respectively. Some U.S. users say they plan to use WeChat in the U.S. using a virtual commutation network (VPN).
WeChat is not just a texting platform, it is also a payment system for the Chinese users, bypassing the US financial system.
9-19-20 The Commerce Department said Friday that as of Sunday, any moves to distribute or maintain TikTok on app stores such as Apple Store and Google Play will be prohibited, and a more extensive ban against the app would be applied from Nov. 12. Business insiders said that, under Friday’s decision, TikTok’s users who had already downloaded the app may continue using it, but they will not be able to download updated versions from Sunday. According to the company, as of June, the total number of TikTok’s monthly active users in the country soared to 91,937,040, and based on quarterly usage, 100 million Americans used the app.
9-19-20 TikTok on Saturday confirmed that it has reached a proposed deal with US companies Oracle and Walmart. “We are pleased that the proposal by Tiktok, Oracle, and Walmart will resolve the security concerns of the U.S. administration and settle the question around TikTok’s future in the US,” the company said in a statement. Oracle will become TikTok’s technology provider and it’s also working with Walmart on a commercial partnership, the statement said. Shortly after TikTok confirmed the deal, the US Department of Commerce announced an order to delay TikTok’s US app store ban by a week until September 27. The order said the decision was taken “in light of recent positive developments,” and at US President Donald Trump’s direction the ban will be postponed until 11:59 p.m September 27. Trump on Saturday told reporters at the White House he backs the deal with TikTok owner ByteDance, Oracle and Walmart. “I have given the deal my blessing,” Trump said. “I approve the deal in concept.”
9-20-20 A U.S. judge early Sunday blocked the Commerce Department from requiring Apple and Alphabet’s Google to remove Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat for downloads by late Sunday.
9-29-20 Trump’s ban on Tiktok is temporarily blocked by a US federal judge.
Google pulls 2,500 China-linked YouTube channels over disinformation on video-sharing platform
Google says it has deleted more than 2,500 YouTube channels tied to China as part of its effort to weed out disinformation on the video-sharing platform.
The Alphabet-owned company said the channels were removed between April and June “as part of our ongoing investigation into coordinated influence operations linked to China”.
The channels generally posted “spammy, non-political content,” but a small subset touched on politics, the company said in a quarterly bulletin on disinformation operations. Luckily there is the Chinese version https://www.ixigua.com/
Embarassing interview between Trump and Jonathan Swan
Swan: “Oh, you’re doing death as a proportion of cases. I’m talking about death as a proportion of population. That’s where the US is really bad. Much worse than Germany, South Korea, et cetera.”
Trump: “You can’t – you can’t do that.”
Swan: “Why can’t I do that?”
Trump: “You have to go by, you have to go by – look. Here is the United States – you have to go by the cases. The cases of death.”
Swan: “Why not as a proportion of population?”
Trump: “What it says is when you have somebody, where there’s a case, the people that live from those cases.”
Swan: “Sure. It’s surely a relevant statistic to say if the US has X population and X percentage of death of that population, opposed to some-”
Trump: “No, because you have to go by the cases.”
Swan: “In South Korea, for example – 51 million population, 300 deaths. It’s like, it’s crazy compared to other countries.”
Trump: “You don’t know that. You don’t know that.”
Swan: “I do. You think they’re faking their statistics? South Korea?”
Trump: “Ahhhhh, I won’t get into that, because I have a very good relationship with the country. But you don’t know that. They have spikes.”
Swan: “Germany, low 9000s?”
Trump: “Here’s one right here, United States. The number of cases – have a look. We’re last. Meaning we’re first.”
Mr Trump was brandishing another chart at this point.
Swan: “Last? I don’t know what we’re first in.”
Trump: “Take a look, it’s cases. And we have cases because of the testing.”
Swan: “I mean, a thousand Americans are dying a day. But I understand, on cases, it’s different.”
Trump: “No but you’re not reporting it correctly, Jonathan.”
Swan: “I think I am.”
As of April 2020, TikTok has been downloaded more than two billion times worldwide
The latest TikTok statistics show that as of April 2020, the popular video app has been downloaded more than two billion times worldwide on both the Apple App Store and Google Play (Sensor Tower, 2020). In other words, TikTok was able to double its number of downloads in just over a year—a clear sign of the app’s skyrocketing popularity.
Here’s a summary of the TikTok statistics you need to know in 2020:
- TikTok has 800 million active users worldwide.
- The TikTok app has been downloaded over 2 billion times on the App Store and Google Play.
- TikTok ranked as the top most downloaded app in Apple’s iOS App Store for Q1 2019, with more than 33 million downloads.
- 41 percent of TikTok users are aged between 16 and 24.
- TikTok has been downloaded 611 million times in India, which is around 30 percent of the app’s total global downloads.
- When it comes to the daily time spent on TikTok, users spend an average of 52 minutes per day on the app.
- TikTok is available in 155 countries, and in 75 languages.
- 90 percent of all TikTok users access the app on a daily basis.
- In less than 18 months, the number of US adult TikTok users grew 5.5 times.
- There was an average number of more than 1 million videos viewed every day in a year.
8-3-20 Bytedance said it is facing “complexity and unimaginable difficulties” in its process of becoming an international company, including international political tension, cultural clash and smearing from its competitor Facebook.
Bytedance is devoted to its internationalization and will use its legal rights to defend its legitimate interest, the company said.Quote Tweet
Zhang Weiwei, Professor Timothy Ash debate
Zhang Weiwei had a debate with Professor Timothy Ash, a senior scholar at the University of Oxford in the UK, on “China’s victory over the epidemic proves that the Chinese model is superior to the Western liberal model of democracy”, with Zhang on the positive side and Ash on the negative. In addition to the anti-epidemic model, they also discussed the Taiwan issue, the crisis of the Western model, and the global impact of the Chinese model. China is a fascinating story, and sometimes we achieve better communication by engaging!
