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.
Pretty interesting. They must look at the demographics in California and figure they can move the needle and influence Chinese who have yet to vote. I received a postcard from a group called New American Voices. This is a pro Biden advertisement that is in half Chinese and half English. I almost wonder how they know I am Chinese.
ReplyDeleteSo I must be on some list. However, you would think that they would already know who I'm leaning towards already if I'm on such a list.
-LBOAYM
I stayed up to watch. I guess I don't have to question Roberts' pitching changes now. Urias was great. Betts payed off. Congratulations Dodgers! Finally something good in 2020.
ReplyDelete-LBOAYM
Roberts and Kershaw are off the hook. That is great. Now the Rays manager will be criticized for taking out Snell. I think the Dodgers bullpen won the game tonight, not the Rays manager losing it. If the Rays cannot score more than 1 run, they were not going to win. As well as Snell pitched, he had not gone over 6 innings this year. It was unlikely that he would pitch a 9 inning shutout. So chances are the Dodger were going to get couple of runs somewhere along the way. The way Urias pitched, he could have gone 3 more innings.
ReplyDeleteBut it is true that managers go too much the way of sabermetrics. Sports is played with real people, not robots or computers. Emotions, adrenaline, rhythm all play a part of what an athlete does at a particular moment. So yes, I would have left Snell in longer even if sabermetrics tells me that it was time to go to the supposedly great bullpen.
One week to go, the direction of the country and the world will depend what happens in 7 days!
Snell pitched great last night. I kept saying that all the Dodgers needed to do was keep it within 1 run and the Rays would have to go to their bullpen. I was actually surprised that Snell was still pitching in the 5th. My philosophy is to keep your pitcher in there until he shows signs of getting tired but he was still pitching well.
ReplyDeleteI am disappointed that Turner came back out last night. I am also wondering what the protocol was for MLB considering he had tested positive the day or two before and had to get a second test. It's strange they played him knowing that he had test positive previously.
With the no mask celebration going on with kids and family it put everyone out there at risk. I can see if there were no one else out there besides players, but that wasn't the case.
I'm getting pretty nervous about next week but I am confident in the country. One thing that no one is really talking about is the youth vote. Remember that last time, this younger generation could not vote or had skipped voting. I think they'll be out in full force. At least that is my hope.
-LBOAYM
More will come out about Turner but the way I understand it was that he had "inconclusive tests" two days in a role. I am not sure what that means but their protocol was that it had to be a positive to shut down a player. The test he took Tuesday came back positive around the 6th inning and they finally got him off the field in the 8th?
ReplyDeleteTurner then came back out for the celebration and pictures on the field against the command of the medical and security staff. He will certainly be punished for that. It was a selfish action even though I can understand that he wanted to savor the moment. He is supposedly one of the great guys on the team and one of the leaders but he should not have done that.
Did you see Magic and others in the suite who were not wearing masks? Then you have all the players on the field with staff, families and others hugging and not wearing masks. It was not a good sight. Maybe all those people were quarantined in the bubble during the playoffs since the Dodgers had been there for about 3 weeks already. But it is doubtful. Given the pandemic situation it was bad. They had to have expected the rush onto the field, right? What was the protocol in place to make the celebration as safe as possible? I hope answers come out soon.
I probably would not have been as upset about Turner had he just come out and wore a mask and took a picture if there were no family members and non team members out there. But it was a big celebration with wives and kids. I don't know if all those people were in the bubble but still. I wonder if Turner's 3rd test (if there is one) comes back positive or negative. Maybe he took some drug that is causing a false positive. I'm just speculating.
ReplyDeleteI did see pictures of Magic, his wife and his son at the game but I didn't see him with any other people. I know he's been there for about a week when the series started but he hasn't been in Texas the whole time. I also haven't heard if he left the bubble or if he went out on the town. In fact, he was in Michigan, I think, last week campaigning for Biden! He did wear a mask in most of the shots I saw with him. Kind of odd since I'm sure he should be super cautious due to his condition. Though he's supposedly in remission. My assumption is that if he stops taking his meds, the HIV would come back? I don't know if that's the case but I thought I heard that it was just dormant.
Did you hear that Wisconsin had to cancel their game against Nebraska this weekend? I understand that under Big 10 rules that the game is now just cancelled. It doesn't seem quite fair considering that Nebraska would have been able to play. To me, one school obviously did not do enough to keep their players safe and they should have to forfeit the game.
There was a Republican strategist on CNN with Don Lemon last night who gave some great insight on polling...especially in the case of undecided voters. She said something that 3 out of 10 Republicans they polled are undecided but might vote for a 3rd party because they are lifelong Republicans and just wouldn't vote for a Democrat. At the same time, they do not want to vote for Trump. I thought it was an interesting perspective and shows a divide in the GOP.
-LBOAYM
I saw Magic and his wife on tv toward the end of the game in a suite, unmasked. Then when it was over, he hugged this old guy who I assume is one of the owners. There were others there, mostly unmasked. I think that is not good even if they had been in the bubble. There is no cure for HIV yet and the meds are keeping the disease at bay. They keep the immune system strong but Magic would still be at a high risk.
ReplyDeleteI heard about the Wisconsin cancellation but not any detail such as how many got infected. I think it is going to be difficult for most teams in the Big Ten to finish the whole season if they are honest about the infection totals. I think the Big Twelve and the SEC are probably not upfront with their results.
I would be happy if there are actually 3 out 10 Republicans who will vote for a third party candidate. But I got a feeling that a good portion of those who claim to be undecided may end up voting for Trump anyway. About the young voters, many may not be in attendance in college or are only taking online classes. This may decrease the turnout in towns like Ann Arbor where a lot of students are from out of state and so may not end up voting in Michigan, a swing state.