"After the White House sent out its list, Cisco said its chief executive, Chuck Robbins, was unable to attend ... .Jensen Huang, the chief executive of Nvidia, wasn't invited and won't be going to China this week, according to a person familiar with Mr. Huang's plans. His absence comes as Nvidia, the world's most valuable company, awaits approval from both China and the United States to begin shipping an early model of the company's A.I. chips, the H200, to China."

What, no Jared?

Old Yeller should be well rested when he arrives in Beijing, having slept through yuge chunks of his recent WH meetings.
Which does nothing to reduce the negative consequences for all of us due to the Cosmic Fool role Trump habitually plays.
Xi and his buddies will have a ball, running rings around Sleepy Don and his lickspittle crew of flatterers.
The Chinese have experience dealing with court eunuchs.

The Republican talent pool is what, exactly? Bog or swamp?

For target practice?

"I have all the cards!"
Sleepy Don
(Permanently On Tilt)
Bankruptcies = 6
Busted Out Gambling Dens = 4

Noted neocon Robert Kagan, author of the "Checkmate in Iran" essay, echoes sound advice found in the song "The Gambler" ... .

You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the dealin's done

Sleepy Don: You ain't got the cards.

"Remember when Republicans believed in Free Trade and Free Markets?"

Why ... why that's like saying 2+2=4!

If Trump managed to produce a single flabby swing, he'd be gasping for air, staggering and out.

The Strait of Hormuz is as open as Old Yeller's Sharpie can make it.

Starting in the spring of 1945 quite a few European fascisti expats found Argentina's Bariloche and Villa General Belgrano suitably ... forgiving.

"The GOP to move back towards the center."

That purge - which will not happen -could have been a real doozy.

#103
You seem to be in thrall to some profound mental health issues which aren't getting properly addressed. Hopefully you'll receive some decent help. In the meantime, perhaps you might try laying off that lady kink for a bit. It makes you sound fookin nutz.

Yep, good to go. Absolutely.
~ Dr. Wassa Mattahymn

"I've read hundreds of books about China over the decades. I know the Chinese. I've made a lot of money with the Chinese. I understand the Chinese mind."
Donald Trump, The Art of the Deal

"Better to slip with foot than with tongue."
~ Charlie Chan

The Art of the Fail

Old Yeller crashed into Tehran's Grand Bazaar and will be lucky if they take pity on the poor creature and let him stumble back out trailing a single voluminous pants leg.

"If this isn't checkmate, it's close," argues Kagan. "In recent days, Trump has reportedly asked the U.S. intelligence community to assess the consequences of simply declaring victory and walking away."

You can't blame him. Hoping for regime collapse is not much of a strategy, especially when the regime has already survived repeated military and economic pummeling. It could fall tomorrow, or six months from now, or not at all. Trump doesn't have that much time to wait, as oil climbs toward $150 or even $200 a barrel, inflation rises, and global food and other commodity shortages kick in. He needs a faster resolution.

But any resolution other than America's effective surrender holds enormous risks that Trump has not so far been willing to take. Those who glibly call on Trump to "finish the job" rarely acknowledge the costs. Unless the U.S. is prepared to engage in a full-scale ground and naval war to remove the current Iranian regime, and then to occupy Iran until a new government can take hold; unless it is prepared to risk the loss of warships convoying tankers through a contested strait; unless it is prepared to accept the devastating long-term damage to the region's productive capacities likely to result from Iranian retaliation"walking away now could seem like the least bad option. As a political matter, Trump may well feel he has a better chance of riding out defeat than of surviving a much larger, longer, and more expensive war that could still end in failure.

Exactly, good example.

#48
That old Overton Window (and the many OWs), like those dogies on the TV Western Rawhide, keeps "rollin', rollin', rollin.'" And it often does seem to move, as you've suggested, back-and-forth. Along-the way, its slide/glide may encounter resistance of a most formidable and determined sort. Having done the Sixties and at the end stood in its metaphorical ashes, let me suggest a cautionary and enduring Chinese observation: "Better to be a dog in times of tranquility than a human in times of chaos." Or, as the carnies advise customers climbing aboard the Slingshot: "Buckle up!"

This MAGAt mug just might have a future at a rank equivalent to a SS-Rottenfuhrer in the old Waffen-SS if he hooks up with Trump's mob at ICE.

#45
We've met? Lol.

AOC is tapping into - alomg with whatever else she encounters - strong currents of progressivism. The socio-political climate seems to be getting prepped for transformative times.

Should Xi ever want to push for Taiwan, sometime while the Republicans are destroying the US constitutional balance of power - overextending and bankrupting the nation while polishing their performative memberships in the schizo MAGAJeebus cult - just might be ideal. Or he could just wait until he sees smoke rising on the distant horizon.

Looking back across the years and through it all, love and gratitude.

Alam was convicted in federal court of eight felonies " including assaulting law enforcement " and three misdemeanors for his role in the attack.

Witnesses said he broke the glass of a door through which insurrectionist Ashli Babbit climbed before she was shot dead by an officer defending the US House chambers.

The Trump administration later reached a $5m settlement to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by his slain supporter's family.

At Alam's US Capitol attack trial, prosecutors outlined how he was among the first of a mob that entered the building from its west lawn and hurled items at police from a balcony.

He also used a helmet to shatter three glass panes in the door through which Babbitt was fatally shot before leaving while urging others to come back later with guns.

"The US says that its policy favouring the status quo on Taiwan has not changed. But Trump is famously flaky on Taiwan," notes Tisdall.

He frequently makes contradictory, sometimes alarming statements. Discussing Xi's intentions, he said recently that any move to invade was "up to him" " a choice of words that suggests he does not care much either way, even if he did add that he would be "very unhappy" were China to invade.

Summit bottom line: will a weakened, outmanoeuvred Trump cut back US support for Taipei in return for Xi's help with Iran and favourable deals on, say, rare-earth minerals and agricultural imports? Serious questions similarly surround the depth of Trump's commitment to South Korea and Japan " Beijing-Tokyo tensions are running hot at present, partly because of Taiwan; and his ability to persuade China to rein in North Korea, a hostile, bullish rogue state that, unlike Iran, really does possess nuclear weapons.