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Now, onto the news….
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1.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping met on Thursday with Saudi Arabia’s king and crown prince while on a visit to the kingdom, solidifying ties with a region crucial to his country’s energy supplies as sanctions intensify on Russia over its war on Ukraine.
Xi arrived at Al Yamama Palace in Riyadh and was greeted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, King Salman’s assertive son who stands ready to rule the oil-rich kingdom in the decades to come. Xi shook hands with the prince as an honor guard on horseback carried Saudi and Chinese flags.
It wasn’t immediately clear what Xi focused on in his discussions, though he wrote in a newspaper column published by Al Riyadh newspaper that “exchanges between China and Arab states date back more than 2,000 years.” The column also quoted a saying by Islam’s Prophet Muhammad: “Seek knowledge even if you have to go as far as China.”
HALPERIN SAYS: For all of the Team Biden efforts around the world, the U.S. still does not have sufficient leverage over China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, North Korea, or Iran, an absence that is the source of many of America’s problems. And there are no clear solutions in sight.
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2.
HALPERIN SAYS: Not too early to begin to think about how the nation, the White House, and Kevin McCarthy will approach the upcoming State of the Union address – epic moment or ho-hum exercise?
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3.
HALPERIN SAYS: I woke up thinking “Surely the Dominant Media knows it needs to cover this story as a matter of news and of credibility? And, yet, as of this writing, there is barely a mention. Ugh, ouch, and WTF?
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4. Despite this…
…Peggy Noonan sagely points out that the right forum in which the fate of Donald Trump’s control of the Republican Party should/will be determined is the string of primaries (and one key caucus) that will play out in 2024.
HALPERIN SAYS: Although Donald Trump has broken (for himself and for most of the rest of us) many longstanding rules of American politics (and although the DNC is toying with a new nomination calendar), some things remain immutably true. What if, at first behind the scenes and then in a very visible way, Team Trump spends between now and Ron DeSantis’ expected go-no go decision in the late spring building up a massive set of advantages in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada? Team Trump has ways to do that – and the media so far gives off the (mistaken) impression that there is no cost to DeSantis dithering. And delayed entry is likely to be even more dangerous for Glenn Youngkin, since his earned media and fundraising capacities are not in the league of either Trump or the Sunshine State topper.
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5.
HALPERIN SAYS: For a certain category of Wide World of News reader, this is actually the biggest story of the day. The week, really.
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6.
HALPERIN SAYS: Arguably the most wide open World Cup in recent memory at this stage. Actually wouldn’t be surprising if any of the top six clubs took the ultimate victory.
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7. A Wide World of News reader sent in this missive responding to an earlier edition:
I think the issue is that I (and many others) have left the GOP in every sense but party registration. And I voted for Kasich in ‘16!
I can easily answer Tom Edsall’s hypothetical: we got here because Obama weaponized the police state against conservatives. From Lois Lerner to woke military to Russia hoax and FBI — all that work of his admin is bearing its poisonous fruit.
It’s just that simple. You simply can’t use the FBI, DOJ, Homeland Security in that role without supersonic repercussions. (And kudos to the Founders who warned against a national police force!)
Americans can only accept unfairness up to a point and it was bad enough having the media industrial complex against us but the spy agencies and justice is a bridge too far. Always will be.
Fortunately for the Dems, American men lack the testosterone to do what any gen previous would do in response to such tyranny, even such as exercise our first amendment right to peacefully assemble post-J6.
So I expect 4 more yrs of Biden or whoever runs as a D. And I’m not worried about it because all earthly empires fall and it’s certainly appropriate in our case given the level of corruption at the highest levels. It may be His will, especially given how Biden had the chance to reverse field but instead amped up the deep state.
In short — the question is not how to bring Trump voters back into the fold, it’s how to stop our gov’t from warring against/spying on/hating its own citizens.
We didn’t start the fire … it was always burning…
HALPERIN SAYS: If you are in the Gang of 500 or in Blue America, you need, once again, to read this message slowly and carefully, to make certain you understand every important nuance embedded herein.