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from American Military News
Media/News Company in New York, NY
China is trying to collect Americans’ DNA and more, fmr. US intel official says
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Media/News Company in New York, NY
China is trying to collect Americans’ DNA and more, fmr. US intel official says
A former U.S. intelligence official warned this week that the world’s largest biotechnology firm, a Chinese company called BGI Group, is trying to collect Americans’ DNA for China, and could use the data to monopolize critical medical supplies. BGI Group is trying to build COVID-19 testing labs in U.S. states, a move that caught the attention of U.S. intelligence experts such as William Evanina, who until last week served as the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. In an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes, Evanina warned that foreign nations providing biotech services in the U.S. could allow them to collect and use biodata to gain a strategic advantage over the U.S.
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from Asia Times
LEAST BIASED, HIGH; News & Media Website based in Hong Kong
If you’re looking at Tesla as a long-term investment – as you should – there are no guarantees
Elon Musk is now the world’s richest person, edging out Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. Musk’s rocketing fortune is due to the booming share price of Tesla, the maker of electric vehicles and clean energy technologies. In the past week Tesla’s share price surpassed US$880, 10 times its March 2020 low of $85, giving the company a market capitalization (or total value) in excess of $880 billion – more than Toyota, Volkswagen, Daimler, General Motors, BMW, Honda, Hyundai and Ford combined. That’s an extraordinary amount for a company that only last financial year made its first full-year profit since being founded in 2003, and that profit was relatively modest. It gave Tesla a price-to-earnings ratio – a standard measure of a stock’s value – close to 1,700. Compare that with other shares that have boomed since global stock markets rebounded from the Covid-induced lows of March 2020 – technology companies such as Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Google. Amazon’s PE ratio is about 97, Apple’s about 44, and others in the 30-40 range.
Those granted British nationality may lose their Chinese nationality and Hong Kong permanent residency
China has wasted no time in testing new US administration's resolve to remain disputed maritime region's preeminent power
Six days into Joe Biden’s presidency, the first telephone conversation between POTUS and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin took place on Tuesday. Who took the initiative remains a tantalizing detail, given the tense Russian-American relationship and the poor personal chemistry between the two leaders, who have known each other for a decade. But the important thing is, neither was interested in oneupmanship. Their only meeting so far, 10 years ago in Moscow in March 2011, came amid then US President Barack Obama’s push to reset relations with Russia, which of course met with sudden death after Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. They never met again. Biden disclosed in an interview subsequently with The New Yorker magazine that he told Putin, who was then prime minister, “I’m looking into your eyes, and I don’t think you have a soul.” Whereupon, Biden recounted, Putin looked back, smiled, and replied, “We understand one another.” Biden and Putin are both seasoned war horses, and, curiously, have much in common.
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from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, non-profit organization
The stock market saga surrounding GameStop has shown that retail investors hold immense potential.
News reports have alluded to alleged “libertarian” ties to some Trump supporters who stormed the US Capitol weeks ago. It's important to note, however, that for two centuries libertarians have established themselves as singularly opposed to the initiation of force as a method of achieving social or political aims—in contrast to many other political groups. Of all people, they would be the last to participate in, or approve of, any kind of violent attack for political purposes.
New Zealand’s experience is one of numerous examples in which socialism caused ruin that capitalism then fixed. A few decades ago, New Zealand's economy was so regulated one required a doctor's prescription to purchase margarine. Today, it ranks #1 in on the Fraser Institute's Human Freedom index. And the results of this economic transformation are unmistakable.
While a federal $15 dollar minimum wage will help some people, it will hurt many others. Even minimum wage advocates (should) recognize there are limits to boosting income by government fiat. While $15 may seem reasonable to its fans in D.C. and New Jersey, it’s easier to see the disemployment in other parts of the country.
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from The Heritage Foundation
RIGHT BIAS, MIXED American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C.
RIGHT BIAS, MIXED American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C.
President Joe Biden delivered a memorable inaugural address. A week into his presidency, Biden has taken an astonishing 40 executive actions—more than any president in history. While some executive orders are perfectly fine, what we are seeing now are examples of short-circuiting the democratic process by cutting out Congress.
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from National Review RIGHT BIAS
On the menu today: You would have to look far and wide to find a person more celebrated by progressives and most of the national media in 2020 than Andrew Cuomo. You would have to look far and wide to find a political group more celebrated by progressives and like-minded media in 2020 than the Lincoln Project. And you would have to look far and wide to find a place more celebrated by progressives and like-minded media in 2020 than California. And in the last 24 hours, all three fell from their high pedestals and landed with a hard “thud.”
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from New York Magazine
Six days into this new year, ecstatic believers attacked the Capitol. The images from this riot are, in large part, images of unrestrained joy. Followers of QAnon forced their way through, believing that, there, they would receive further instructions from the president. He was going to greet them, affirm them, assume the throne for another four years. Rhapsodic with purpose, his disciples crushed against one another. Ecstasy is always and everywhere the enemy of the state. Brought outside ourselves, we are dangerous to order.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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from Texas Tribune
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Every few months, the question seems to come up: If Texas wanted to, could it secede from the United States? Simply put, the answer is no. Historical and legal precedents make it clear that Texas could not leave the Union — at least not legally. The idea is most often raised by conservatives in the state who are angry over some kind of policy coming from the federal government — and the calls seem to become more frequent when a Democrat is occupying the White House. State Rep. Kyle Biedermann, R-Fredericksburg, filed a bill Tuesday to create a referendum election on whether Texans should create a joint legislative committee “to develop a plan for achieving Texas independence.”
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from The Washington Post
Newspaper in Washington, D.C.
In the earliest days of the pandemic, when we were scavenging for masks and testing kits, no-visitor policies at hospitals may have been justifiable. But there is no reason to perpetuate these counterproductive, traumatic policies. It’s past time for hospitals to let patients see their loved ones. I say this not just as a doctor but also as a casualty. In March 2020, my grandmother was admitted to a nearby hospital after a covid-19 exposure. When I rushed over, the receptionist barred me at the front door. I explained that my grandmother, who was 87 and hard of hearing, wasn’t answering her cellphone.
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