Author Archive: Stephen Green

A PREVIEW OF LIFE WITHOUT PRIVATE TRANSPORTATION: RTD union calls Denver Union Station a ‘lawless hellhole.’ “Union Station is a staple of downtown Denver transportation and services shuttle buses, light rails and commuter and Amtrak trains. According to the union, RTD passengers and employees in recent months have faced loiterers, encampments and illegal drug use while boarding buses, trains and light rail.”

COLLUSION: China’s Subnational Influence at Work in the New York State Legislature.

The New York State Legislature has a long record of promoting “friendship” with the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese government.

According to data made available by the Asian American Business Development Center (AABDC), which has been organizing trade delegations from New York to China “specifically designed for state legislators and executives of small and mid-size businesses” since the early 2000s, then-State Senator Malcolm A. Smith, in collaboration with AABDC, led the first business mission to China in 2004. In 2006, the first group of New York State Assembly members formed the New Majority Trade Mission and embarked on a similar trip. One legislator recalled, “[E]verywhere we went, gifts, tea, and the red carpet were pulled out and showered upon us.”

For the following five years, AABDC has curated at least one trip annually with support from the Chinese Consulate in New York and Foreign Ministry-affiliated Chinese People’s Institute for Foreign Affairs. The 2007 “New York State Legislators Trade Mission to China” resulted in the decision to establish the state’s first official presence in China, namely, the New York in China Center in Beijing, which opened in 2008. In 2009, the New York State Legislature and Jiangsu Provincial People’s Congress (JPPC) signed a memorandum of understanding to “establish regular communication between Offices of the President Pro Tempore of the New York State Senate, the Speaker of the New York State Assembly, and the Foreign Affairs Committee of the JPPC Standing Committee” to support exchanges and cooperation.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Elon Musk warns Starship engines could bankrupt SpaceX. “Responding [to] the leaked email on Twitter, Musk confirmed that – in certain circumstances – bankruptcy is indeed a possibility. ‘If a severe global recession were to dry up capital availability/liquidity while SpaceX was losing billions on Starlink & Starship, then bankruptcy, while still unlikely, is not impossible’ Musk tweeted.”

Starship’s first orbital test flight is still expected in January.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: LOL…Democrats Think Mayor Pete Is Their Great White Hope. “Pete Buttigieg is the prime example of how institutionally vapid the Democrats have become. He’s well educated but incapable of original thought. There are third-graders in America who could come up with better solutions to the supply chain problem than he has.”

EXPORTING OPPRESSION: Authoritarian Governments Use Huawei Technology To Censor Journalists. “Researchers at Top10VPN determined that 17 of the 69 countries studied use the Chinese telecom giant’s hardware to enforce censorship laws. Cuba uses Huawei’s ‘middlebox’ devices to censor stories that criticize the country’s communist regime. In Burundi, the government blocks media outlets that have criticized the president. Fifteen other countries use Huawei hardware specifically to censor news, the report found.”

Previously: Biden Gives Blacklisted Chinese Tech Giant Huawei Entry to U.S. Auto Industry.

WELL, BYE: Top Harris Aide the Latest to Flee Sinking Ship. “Symone Sanders, chief spokesperson and senior adviser to the embattled vice president, will depart at month’s end, as turmoil continues. Sanders is the second top Harris aide to announce her departure in less than a month.”