Suggested Discussion Outline

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johnkarls
Posts: 2034
Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:43 pm

Suggested Discussion Outline

Post by johnkarls »

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The following outline is respectfully suggested –


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A. Comments About Specific Chapters of “Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win”

Our tradition is to devote the first portion of each monthly meeting to going through the focus book, chapter by chapter, to invite important comments that are specific to a particular chapter. After all, each participant (except, perhaps, “first timers”) have taken the time to read the focus book and her/his opportunity to opine on anything in the focus book should NOT be denied.

HOWEVER, let’s try to limit the portion of our two-hour meeting devoted to such “chapter comments” to the first hour because there are important discussion issues/questions that should be discussed at length.

Red-Handed Chapters –

1. The Rope

2. The Bidens

3. Capitol Hill

4. Silicon Valley

5. Wall Street

6. Diplomats

7. The Bush and Trudeau Dynasties

8. Higher Education

9. Fighting Back


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B. Suggested Discussion Questions for the Second Hour

1. Re China’s policy of “elite capture” – is there any real practical difference between the “capture” of President Biden via thinly-disguised “gifts” and the “capture” of, for example, Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell via huge lucrative commercial deals in which the spouses of the “captured elites” are involved and whose continued lucrativeness is dependent upon the “captured elites” NOT offending China?

2. Is this an example of why we have always called the U.S. Government “The Best Government That Money Can Buy”???

3. Is “ownership” of the U.S. Government by China the key to solving everything else (Silicon Valley, Wall Street, Higher Education, et al.) because nothing can be accomplished without the power to write the “rules of the game”???

4. Does Chapter 9 of “Red-Handed” entitled “Fighting Back” also fail to provide a principle for what needs to be done???

5. Did we discuss a principle most recently at our –

• 1/31/2021 meeting on Niall Ferguson’s “Civilization: The West and the Rest” – please see the meeting report at viewtopic.php?f=624&t=2020&sid=27a42c2e ... 0e05353ca7.

• 10/16/2019 meeting on Rebecca Fannin’s “Tech Titans Of China: How China’s Tech Sector Is Challenging The World By Innovating Faster, Working Harder and Going Global” – please see the meeting’s Suggested Discussion Outline at viewtopic.php?f=560&t=1833&sid=27a42c2e ... 0e05353ca7.

6. Was the LESS IMPORTANT part of the principle that OUTSIDE THE SPHERE OF MILITARY WEAPONS, scientific research and the accompanying improvement of the human condition can be better achieved through cooperation? In other words, paraphrasing the old saying that “two minds are better than one,” aren’t 1,780,000,000 minds (1.45 billion + 0.33 billion) better than 330,000,000?

7. THOUGH OF ESSENTIAL IMPORTANCE, wasn’t the second part of our principle that the U.S. should take all necessary steps to guarantee that we have the world’s best military weapons???

• Wasn’t the thesis of William Manchester in “The Arms of Krupp” (Little Brown 1964) that virtually ALL wars throughout history were determined by which side had superior weapons?

• Wasn’t “Pax America” extended for another 30 years following the Arab-Israeli War of 1967 (aka “The Six-Day War”) which demonstrated that Israel’s American weapons were superior to Soviet weapons which were used by the attacking Arab countries – because everyone then wanted American weapons?

• Does anyone seriously believe that if Hitler had obtained nuclear weapons before the U.S., the world wouldn’t be speaking German today???

• Ditto Stalin vis-à-vis the world today speaking Russian???

8. Which of “Red-Handed” Chapter 9’s “Fighting Back” recommendations relate to maintaining (or re-achieving) American weapons superiority?

9. Do all of our 5/18/2022 meeting participants agree that (Item 3 above) “ownership” of the U.S. Government by China is the key to solving everything else (Silicon Valley, Wall Street, Higher Education, et al.) because nothing can be accomplished without the power to write the “rules of the game”???

10. In this regard, isn’t it AN ABOMINATION that Sen. Intelligence Chair Dianne Feinstein told reporters vis-à-vis her OBVIOUS CONFLICT OF INTEREST BECAUSE OF HER HUSBAND (Red-Handed, p. 57) – “Maybe I get divorced. Maybe that is what you want.”??? In other words, isn’t the OBVIOUS SOLUTION to Sen. Feinstein’s OBVIOUS CONFLICT OF INTEREST that she NOT serve as Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee??? That California voters have the right to send her to the U.S. Senate but the entire country does NOT have to tolerate her occupying such a sensitive position in the U.S. Senate???

11. Also in this regard, isn’t it “common wisdom” that both political parties in both houses raise funds for the political campaigns of their members (which are IN ADDITION to the “bribes” and “extortion” aka campaign contributions that they are able to generate on their own) by SELLING SEATS on the more-desirable committees such as the Senate Intelligence Committee???

12. If the “common wisdom” is accurate, wouldn’t it be interesting to know whether the Chinese government pays (directly or indirectly) the sales price of those seats for China’s “captured elites”???


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C. Public-Policy “Think Piece” – Transforming “The Best Government Money Can Buy” with Campaign Finance Reform

1. How can American weapons superiority be maintained (or re-achieved) without erecting a so-called (ironically) “Chinese Wall” between China on the one hand, and Silicon Valley and America’s research universities on the other???

2. Isn’t the “first step” in achieving such a “Chinese Wall,” campaign-finance reform so that America no longer has a “Government Money Can Buy” (Item B-2 above)???

3. Wouldn’t our most recent attempt to implement McCain-Feingold (aka The Bi-Partisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002) have achieved that???

[Please see our 3/31/2020 letter entitled “Worth The Fighting For – The Honorable U.S. Senator John S. McCain III and His Dream of Campaign-Finance Reform” which is available for download at viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1910&sid=dfd3537c5 ... 99580bd173]

4. Should our 3/31/2020 campaign now be aimed at other targets in view of the abysmal failure of ABC’s “The View” Co-Hosts and Producers to pick up Sen. McCain’s “fallen banner”???

johnkarls
Posts: 2034
Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:43 pm

Discussion Outline Sec. C “Think Piece” Re Possible “Campaign-Finance Reform” Call-To-Action

Post by johnkarls »

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Ordinarily we do NOT provide meeting reports -- probably less than 10% of the time when we are deluged by inquiries re what happened.

For our 5/18/2022 meeting on “Red Handed,” there has been NO DELUGE.

However, there has been a steady “drip, drip, drip” so this note is designed to halt the “drip.”

In considering the Sec. C “Think Piece,” it became obvious that China’s policy of “elite capture” has virtually nothing to do with campaign contributions, and virtually everything to do with “capturing” key decision makers (e.g., President Biden, Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell) via huge lucrative commercial deals in which the spouses of the “captured elites” (son Hunter in Pres. Biden’s case) are involved and whose continued lucrativeness is dependent upon the “captured elites” NOT offending China.

Accordingly, the crucial policy question is really whether the nation’s anti-espionage laws are sufficient and whether they are being enforced.

Unfortunately, Peter Schweizer’s “Red Handed” had nothing to say on that issue.

And because Sec. C had summarized our thinking before the meeting, none of us had done any independent research on the issue of sufficiency & enforcement of the nation’s anti-espionage laws.

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