In this political season I expected to be bombarded with political advertising.  This is true, but unexpectedly I am also getting political advertising both for and against China.  Every couple of weeks or so, a supplement called China Watch is placed inside the Sunday edition of the LA Times.  Also every couple of weeks or so, I get a copy of the Epoch Times in the mail.  With our own election going on, I have not read either one much.  I am not sure if either publication believe it can influence the minds of Americans.  But obviously, they are trying hard to do so.

China Watch is published by the Chinese newspaper China Daily and it said so on the front of the paper.  So it is obvious to readers that it is a publication from China.  It tends to show China in a positive light, including in minority areas such as Tibet and Xinjiang.  I think most Americans will see through this and take the articles with a grain of salt.  There maybe truths in these articles but I bet most Americans who read the LA Times, a liberal publication, will be skeptical of the paper.

The Epoch Times is a media arm of the religious group Falun Gong.  It claims to be a multi-national publication.  Falun Gong claims to be oppressed by the Chinese government.  So it is no wonder that Epoch Times is fervently anti-Chinese government.  So to many Americans, it may very be a fair reporting of the bad things happening in China, especially when it comes to putting down dissent.  

What is not obvious to the casual reader is that the Epoch Times back far right politicians in Europe and Donald Trump in the U.S.  It has association with Steve Bannon who has called for the overthrow of China.  The Epoch Times has also spread conspiracy theories such as QAnon and anti-vaccine propaganda.  

I don't know how successful China Watch and Epoch Times are in influencing Americans with their free papers.  But I would bet that few Americans, either left or right leaning, will suddenly think that everything is great in Tibet and Xinjiang after reading China Watch.  On the other hand, some Americans who lean right, may find the Epoch Times stories to be believable.  So I think the misinformation from the Epoch Times may be more dangerous than those from China Watch.

 Didn't watch much of the debate tonight.  Did watch the analysis afterward.  It was pretty much what I expected.  I am comparing this year's debates to a soccer playoff of 2 games.  In the first game, Trump scores bunch of own goals and so needs a big game tonight.  Biden just needs to not collapse.  So the final score tonight was nil nil.  Biden wins the overall debates.  Kristen Welker was a much better referee than Wallace was in the first debate.  But there were less fighting this time and Walker could hand out yellow cards (muting) this time.  So this was a much easier game to officiate.

So it looks like Biden is in good shape.  But who knows if a James Comey thing from 2016 will happen this year.  Trump and his people are trying to use Hunter Biden to change the narrative like Comey's announcement about Clinton's email last time.  But I think Biden is more liked and trusted by people than Clinton was.  So they are less likely to believe a Biden scandal.  So hopefully Trump will fail to change the narrative this time.

The World Series is getting serious!  I thought that the Dodgers were in good shape with better pitching.  But the young guys are not doing as well as they did in the regular season.  Buehler is the ace and is scheduled for game 3.  That would seem a good situation until I realize the Rays have Morton who beat the Dodgers in 2017 game 7, beat the Astros twice this year, including game 7.  He and Buehler are matched up for games 3 and possibly 7.  So this will be interesting!

 Didn't watch any of the townhalls yesterday.  Figured the baseball game was better.  It didn't turn out that way as the Dodgers got clobbered.  The townhalls went about as expected, according to the pundits, with Trump fighting the moderator and Biden being too boring with details.  But there were a few surprises.

I had expected that Trump will get the better ratings since he is bombastic and try to make absurd claims all the time.  Being a reality tv guy, I would think he knows how to get better ratings.  People hate to admit it but they watch car races awaiting for an accident to occur.  If it is just cars going around in circles, fewer people would watch for sure.  But the preliminary ratings had ABC with Biden beating the combine ratings of NBC, MSNBC and CNBC with Trump.  One of Trump's aides had said that Biden's townhall looks like Mister Rogers Neighborhood.  So I guess Mr. Rogers beats train wreck this time!

Trump, having feasted of softballs from Fox all the time, had trouble answering hard balls from Guthrie.  He basically admits not having tested himself before the first debate, admitted that he only paid a small sum of taxes, admitted that he owes $400 million.  He also refused to condemn the conspiracy theories put out by QAnon.  You would think that without an opponent to attack, he would have to answer questions from the moderator and the audience.  Yet he had no good answers.  Well, maybe there are no good answers possible.

Chris Christie is discharged, which is good.  He also admits he has been wrong.  At least his bout with the virus changed his outlook.  That is unlike Trump who did not see the light but instead doubled down.  He will never change.

Two and  a half weeks left till the election.  Will we finally get rid of this guy or will we turn into a banana republic with a dictator trying to hold on to power and total chaos erupt in the country?

 I was watching CNN last night about Melania's former aide who is promoting her book on Melania.  She had taped some of their conversations and it was not flattering to Melania.  So I was thinking that the tax thing on Trump came out last week and now this.  All seem to be timed for maximum effect before the election.  Still, neither may make any difference.  I was about to get back to watching baseball playoffs.

Then Bloomberg reported that Hope Hicks, one of Trump's closest aide tested positive for COVID.  The timeline seem to make no sense.  As reported, Hicks felt sick on Wednesday night and tested positive on Thursday morning.  She was shown going on Marine One and subsequently Air Force One with Trump and others on Wednesday morning.  None were wearing masks.  So I am thinking everybody on that staff, including Trump, had to know Hicks was sick and should have received tests at latest Thursday morning.  Even if all others were negative, they should have been quarantined.  Yet Trump left for New Jersey Thursday morning for a fund raiser.  There was also no announcement about Hicks' positive test or the results of the tests of anyone else.

Later Trump went on Fox and admitted that Hicks was sick and he got tested and was waiting for the result.  Eventually at 10 pm my time or 1 am on the east coast, Trump tweeted that he and Melania were positive.  It should not have taken the whole day for the results to come back.  He should not have gone to New Jersey even if his test initially was negative.  There was no transparency for the whole thing until Bloomberg broke the news.  The WH spokeswoman must have know about Hicks in her morning press briefing and yet she never talked about it, even though some of the journalists were traveling with Hicks the day before.

So now what?  Who knows!  Trump joins Boris Johnson and Brazilian president Bolsonaro as COVID patients.  All three were skeptical of the effect of the virus in public.  Johnson had a change of heart after spending time in the ICU.  Will Trump do the same?  Will he get sympathy vote from the public even if he is responsible for much of the spread of the virus itself due to his "leadership".  The second debate is probably off.  What would his ardent followers think?  More important, what do the independents think?

Biden, being on stage with Trump on Tuesday, will have to be tested everyday until at least Monday to be sure he didn't catch it from Trump.  God forbid, if Biden got it what kind of chaos will follow?  Trump won't be able to travel to campaign.   Biden may have to play the good competitor and don't campaign in public as well.  But it won't affect Biden as much as he has been careful and has not campaigned in large rallies.

Well, that is all for now.  But this story will dominate for the next two weeks at least.   Will the WH be more transparent?  Will Trump and the WH follow guidelines now?  Don't hold your breath?  Trump won't be able to change the subject as he has been trying.  But at least the tax thing and Melania story will be put on the back burner for now.