Helping Ukraine Can Deter China
Plus: Emmett Till’s Murder: The Importance of Seeing and Remembering.
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IGOR KHRESTIN AND DAVID J. KRAMER: Helping Ukraine Can Deter China.
The best way the United States can deter China from military aggression in Asia is to help Ukraine defeat Russia.
The West’s cohesive response and Ukraine’s determined resistance to Russia’s latest unprovoked invasion have given Beijing pause regarding the potential use of force against Taiwan. American assistance to Ukraine doesn’t distract from a more significant threat from the People’s Republic of China, as some commentators have argued. The Ukraine fight is the China fight.
Countering China on a European battlefield may seem counterintuitive, but by helping Ukraine successfully repel an assault from a rapacious Russia and by imposing strict sanctions on Moscow for what it has done to Ukraine, we are deterring an authoritarian and revanchist China from taking similar actions toward Taiwan and other vulnerable Asian nations. Halting assistance to Ukraine would risk significantly weakening our chances of containing authoritarian ambitions, whether they come from Moscow or Beijing.
🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧
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BILL RYAN: ‘City of Blows’ Review.
The history of actors writing novels is a rich and strange one. More have done this than you might think (if we throw in memoirs and children’s books, the number of actor-authors increases exponentially). Robert Shaw, for example, wrote several acclaimed novels in his time, including The Man in the Glass Booth, which was then adapted by Shaw into a play and a film. Gene Hackman co-wrote, with Daniel Lenihan, several historical novels; since retiring from acting, he’s written two more solo. Carrie Fisher wrote eight books, four of them novels, over the span of 29 years. Tom Hanks has his first novel coming out this year, following a rather hefty collection of short stories in 2017.
Every so often, this curious subgenre of literature will throw out an idiosyncratic curveball, such as when Michael Imperioli’s novel The Perfume Burned His Eyes, about a young New Yorker’s friendship with Lou Reed, was released. Michael Imperioli wrote a novel? Yes, he did! Or, most recently, the release of director/character actor/playwright Tim Blake Nelson’s first novel, City of Blows.
MARGARET MCMULLAN: Emmett Till’s Murder: The Importance of Seeing and Remembering.
He stuttered because he had polio as a child. To help his speech, he imitated his favorite TV comedians and memorized the Gettysburg Address. He whistled, too.
To prepare Emmett for the racism he would inevitably experience in midcentury Mississippi, his mother gave him instructions: Don’t look white people in the eye. Move off the sidewalk when you see one coming.
“Oh, Mama. It can’t be that bad,” 14-year-old Emmett said.
“Emmett, it’s worse than that.”
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Friday! Ron DeSantis is in Ohio and Virginia (getting an honorary degree from Liberty) while Florida is flooding and Trump is putting out pudding finger attack ads. And late on Friday, Mike Pompeo ended his longshot bid for POTUS while Vivek Ramaswamy (who?) is claiming that Ron DeSantis is stealing all his ideas.
3D mapping… This video was made from stitching together still photographs. Lots of possibilities for this technology!
Meanwhile, at the NRA convention… Donald Trump is talking about the N-word, Kristi Noem is signing pro-gun executive orders (#shesrunning) and talking about her nearly two year old granddaughters’ arsenal.
Biden in Ireland… It seems his advance team has learned from the Philadelphia speech.
Meanwhile, in Ohio… Permitless conceal and carry and unsecured firearm laws are working out just great.
An inch closer to “smart guns…” They’re a darling of the left, you’ve seen them in movies, but they don’t really exist. And one problem with this is there needs to be a market for them first. Do people want them?
How to live the politicized life… A new company is going to text right wing voters “woke alerts” about companies to avoid. Somebody call the Woke Wambulance.
How Tennessee… Illustrates the Three Rules of MAGA. A must-read David French NYT column.
The court that McConnell built… Our pal Stu Stevens writes: “Today respect for the Supreme Court is at an all-time low. Almost 60% of the country has an unfavorable view of the Court, and why not? Mitch McConnell has done more to damage the reputation of the court than any single figure in American history.”
Mifepristone fight goes to the high court… As Alito steps in and puts a stay on the fifth circuit. (The DOJ appealed earlier, but tonight’s midnight deadline is on hold.)
When people show you who they are… Believe them.
Llano county backs down… For now… But it took a federal judge’s involvement to save their library.
The King of Beers speaks… Some argue it’s them caving, others don’t see it. What say you? Come join me to discuss in Substack Notes.
Standing athwart history… Giving you right wing clickbait on beer companies?
Think of me fondly… When we’ve said goodbye. PHANTOM comes to an end. Love the play or hate it, it’s certainly one of the most successful plays of all time. I remember taking a bus from Cleveland to Toronto to see it on our 8th grade trip and the many other times I saw it… You’d come back to your seat at intermission and the Entr'Acte would give you goosebumps. What a run.
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