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How a U.K. Firm Helped China Crack Down on Hong Kong Democracy

Plus: Mr. Biden Goes to Moscow

Jim Swift

Sep 20

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Recently in The Bulwark:

BILL KRISTOL & ANDREW EGGER: How Dumb Do They Think You Are?
JVL: Mark Robinson Proves—Again—That the Republican Party Is a Failed State 🔐
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ELLEN BORK: How a U.K. Firm Helped China Crack Down on Hong Kong Democracy

THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION HAS WARNED American businesses operating in Hong Kong that they face “new and heightened” risks as Beijing brings the city’s legal and political regimes into alignment with the mainland. The September 6 advisory from the U.S. Departments of State, Agriculture, Homeland Security, Commerce, and Treasury updated a 2021 warning of the “reputational, regulatory, financial and in certain instances, legal risks” to American companies in the city. According to the advisory, even ordinary business activities may run afoul of the territory’s national security legal regime.
The advisory should have highlighted how companies may come under pressure to do the Hong Kong government’s dirty work. Consider the case of U.K.-based multinational BDO, the world’s fifth-largest accounting firm, which helped the Hong Kong government liquidate Next Digital Limited, the parent company of the popular pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily.

READ THE REST.

NATHAN MCDERMOTT: Mark Robinson: Black Americans Were ‘At Their Highest’ Under Jim Crow

NORTH CAROLINA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE and current lieutenant governor Mark Robinson, already under fire for a series of racist remarks, once waxed nostalgically about the Jim Crow era of intense segregation.
“During Jim Crow, you can go back and you can look at it and the record will show you, that’s when black folks were at their highest in this country,” Robinson said in a speech in 2020. “When the times were the toughest, that’s when they were highest. And why? Because they knew they had to rely on themselves.”

READ THE REST.

🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧

Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: Peter Hamby: Living the Racist Porn Message Board Life [YouTube]
The Secret Podcast: The Way of the Flesh 🔐 [YouTube]
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Across the Movie Aisle: The Issue-Driven Thriller 🔐

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CATHY YOUNG: Mr. Biden Goes to Moscow

JOE BIDEN’S POLITICAL CAREER in the United States might be coming to a close, but he’s about to begin a career as a TV comedy star in Russia. Not the actual Joe Biden, of course. Played by veteran Russian actor/singer Dmitriy Dyuzhev, the American president is about to appear as the main character of a series called Goodbye (not a translation; the title is the English word transliterated into Russian), which is going to air on the national entertainment channel TNT.
The premise: Biden travels to Russia incognito to find out why U.S. sanctions aren’t working, then gets stranded in enemy territory after losing his papers—and is befriended by a patriotic Russian P.E. teacher who eventually opens his eyes to the wonder and goodness that is Russia. Meanwhile, in a classic (or hackneyed) “doubles switching places” plot twist, the Russian lookalike whose identity Biden is using, a retiree named Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov, is flown to the United States by the hapless CIA agents who lost the real Biden, and so ends up in the White House.

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ZANDY HARTIG: ‘Evil’ Comes to an End

THE FIRST THREE SEASONS OF EVIL were inventive, entertaining, and devilishly fun, which makes it all the more disappointing that its fourth and final season ended with a whimper and not a demonic howl. Even though the acting and production design remained consistently excellent, the show’s captivating tension, compelling characters, and intricate plotlines fizzled in the end.

READ THE REST.

🚨OVERTIME🚨

Happy Friday! The weather here is beautiful, but too dry, and nearing a 129-year record high. Hope you have fun plans set for this weekend. It’s never too hot for Oktoberfest.

In the old neighborhood… Early voting has begun, and the totals have already surpassed 2020.

Gov. DeWine’s NYT op-ed… Is nice, but he still supports these guys? Not enough.

Ohio’s Catholic Bishops speak… In a letter that doesn’t explicitly name Senator Boss Baby, a member of their flock, but pretty clearly puts him on blast:

“Today, our nation is divided by partisanship and ideology, which blind us to the image of God in our neighbor, especially the unborn, the poor, and the stranger. These negative sentiments are only exacerbated by gossip, which can spread quickly across social media with no concern for the truth or those involved.”

Georgia goes YOLO… With the elections board proposing likely illegal new rules that will probably cause chaos.

Viva el punto azul… The Omaha blue dot looks likely to remain this cycle. (Omaha World-Herald)

#ElonOwesMe100Bucks… In 2017, I paid Cards Against Humanity $15. It was part of their “Cards Against Humanity Saves America.” 149,999 other people and I bought this pack, not knowing what they’d do with the money. One of the days, they bought some land in Texas to protect a pristine plot of border land. The idea being they wouldn’t let Trump’s border wall run through it. Alas, Elon Musk decided to turn this land, and others’ land, without permission, into a trash dumping spot. So, “Cards” is suing Musk for $15 million, to deliver each of us up to $100 in damages. If I get the $100, I’ll frame it like I did the $1 of Ben Stein’s Money that I possess. Pay up and get off our land, Mr. Musk.

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