Blinken goes to China to maintain the illusion of stability Blinken goes to China to maintain the illusion of stability

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jake Werner

“Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to travel to Beijing this week in the latest round of high-level diplomacy between the U.S. and China. Since the U.S.-China relationship hit new lows in late 2022 and early 2023 — thanks to incidents like then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan and a Chinese spy balloon’s visit to U.S. airspace — both sides have made a welcome effort to slow the slide toward crisis and conflict. … As the State Department signals that no new positive initiatives are on the agenda for Blinken’s visit, U.S.–China diplomacy increasingly seems devoted to talks for the sake of talks, without any ambition to make progress on the deep and powerful underlying forces driving both sides toward confrontation.” (04/24/24)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/antony-blinken-china-visit/

Thomas L. Knapp

City Where Emergency Response Time Is 36 Minutes Wants to Ban Civilians Carrying Guns for Protection

Source: Town Hall
by John R Lott, Jr.

“In 2023, New Orleans had the third highest per capita murder rate in the country according to the FBI. Last week, New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick claimed that the city can lower this rate by creating a ‘firearm-free’ zone encompassing the French Quarter and beyond. Kirkpatrick is particularly concerned about the dangers of Louisiana’s new Constitutional Carry law. But Kirkpatrick’s proposed gun-free zone will create a magnet for criminals to commit crimes in that area. To criminals, gun-free zones make victims easy targets. Police are critical to stopping crime. Academic research shows that policing is probably the most important factor in reducing it. But the police themselves realize that they virtually always arrive at the crime scene after the crime has occurred.” (04/24/24)

https://townhall.com/columnists/johnrlottjr/2024/04/24/city-where-emergency-response-time-is-36-minutes-wants-to-ban-civilians-carrying-guns-for-protection-n2638197

Steve Trinward

Slovakia: Regime moves to reorganize state broadcaster amid fears of press crackdown

Source: Politico

“Slovakia’s government approved a controversial proposal to scrap its public broadcaster RTVS and replace it with what free speech advocates fear could be a mouthpiece for the government of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico. Fico’s government approved the measure on Wednesday. The country’s parliament is expected to vote on it in June and, given Fico’s majority, it is expected to pass. The new channel, Slovak Television and Radio (STVR), will become what the government called a ‘state institution.’ The government will have more control than before over the hiring of the channel’s director-general and board of directors. The broadcaster will also be obliged to broadcast the Slovak national anthem at least once per day.” (04/24/24)

https://www.politico.eu/article/slovakia-public-broadcaster-rtvs-robert-fico-press-freedom-slovak-television-and-radio/

Thomas L. Knapp

Idaho Foils Foul Harvest

Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

“One can be for free trade yet still demand, while sticking to principle, certain restrictions on international trade. The State of Idaho has demonstrated one sort of restriction compatible with a free society’s free-trade rules. ‘As of July 1, it will be illegal in Idaho for health insurers to cover an organ transplant or post-transplant care performed in China or any country known to have participated in forced organ harvesting,’ explains Frank Fang in The Epoch Times (No. 508, A5). The legislation had been passed unanimously in both legislative houses earlier in the month and was signed by the governor on April 10. … The problem to be addressed? The suspiciously short waiting time for organ transplants in China, especially after the Chinese government cracked down on the Falun Gong decades ago.” (04/24/24)

https://thisiscommonsense.org/2024/04/24/idaho-foils-foul-harvest/

Thomas L. Knapp

Amnesty: Israel’s War on Gaza Has Helped Fuel “Near Breakdown of International Law”

Source: Common Dreams

“Government aggression and the rise of Big Tech are threatening the rules-based international order and global human rights, Amnesty International warned in its annual State of the World’s Human Rights report, released Wednesday. The organization expressed particular alarm over Israel’s war on Gaza and the inability or unwillingness of its allies to rein in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from bombing civilian populations, displacing more than 1.9 million people, and restricting the flow of aid into the besieged Gaza Strip. This and other conflicts, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, had led to ‘a near breakdown of international law,’ Amnesty said.” (04/24/24)

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2023-near-breakdown-international-law

Steve Trinward

Contra Hanson On Medical Effectiveness

Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander

“Robin Hanson of Overcoming Bias more or less believes medicine doesn’t work. This is a strong claim. It would be easy to round Hanson’s position off to something weaker, like ‘extra health care isn’t valuable on the margin.’ This is how most people interpret the studies he cites. Still, I think his current, actual position is that medicine doesn’t work …. His argument: there have been three big experimental studies of what happens when people get free (or cut-price) health care: RAND, Oregon, and Karnataka. All three (according to him) find that people use more medicine, but don’t get any healthier. Therefore, medicine doesn’t work. If it looks like medicine works, it’s a combination of anecdotal reasoning, biased studies, and giving medicine credit for the positive effects of other good things (better nutrition, sanitation, etc).” (04/24/24)

https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/contra-hanson-on-medical-effectiveness

Thomas L. Knapp

Until Human Rights Violations End, Put US Aid to Israel in Escrow

Source: Common Dreams
by Mimi Kennedy

“The inability of U.S. citizens, even a majority, to influence our country’s policies of war and peace in a rapid and effective way has long been obvious to many. Our support for Israel’s war in Gaza has made it painfully obvious, and now perilous. The U.S. stands before the world as an accomplice to Israel’s flagrant violation of international law in Gaza. Yet Congress continues to pass aid because so many of our legislators (and their constituents and donors) cannot turn their backs on our ally, for valid reasons of historical memory and conscience. So it is time to create an escrow account for further aid to Israel. With such an account we can still show support for our ally. But the aid will not be released until the U.N. certifies that Israel is in compliance with international law regarding the treatment of civilians in Gaza.” (04/24/24)

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/escrow-account-for-israeli-aid

Steve Trinward