Mr Bruce, you are a great writer and I appreciate your work to inform us about what is really going on. But I want to admonish you to do away with your prejudices (inherited from years of Cold War propaganda) about Russia and China, such as, "(It’s the kind of heavy-handed propagandizing you’d expect in Beijing, not Tallahassee.)"
With a little study from acceptable sources, you would find that 'Beijing' is more free and democratic than any city in America. For one, there are very few homeless people. For another, everyone has enough to eat. No one is in debt for education. Parents can afford childcare. People can afford healthcare. And, China's Whole Process Democracy starts at the local level, so that every Chinese is only a few steps of relation to the President of China, less for province government, and almost direct for city. Chinese people approve of their government at the 90% level.
Propaganda in China is no more repugnant than America's attempt to save motorist's lives, "Buckle up! Seatbelts save lives." As for surveillance, there are two purposes: one, China faces real threats from Islamist extremists (Uyghurs), not to speak of decades of American and British agents trying to destabilize the PRC. Two, the Chinese government constantly monitors its policies' effects on the population—not to control people but to serve them.
The idiotic and performative Rethug Kevin Steele may as well have told UF to rename Stadium Drive "Horst Wessel Drive." It's the same damn thing.
Friends of the Everglades just gave a great summary of the many pro-development bills slated for this session.
Mr Bruce, you are a great writer and I appreciate your work to inform us about what is really going on. But I want to admonish you to do away with your prejudices (inherited from years of Cold War propaganda) about Russia and China, such as, "(It’s the kind of heavy-handed propagandizing you’d expect in Beijing, not Tallahassee.)"
With a little study from acceptable sources, you would find that 'Beijing' is more free and democratic than any city in America. For one, there are very few homeless people. For another, everyone has enough to eat. No one is in debt for education. Parents can afford childcare. People can afford healthcare. And, China's Whole Process Democracy starts at the local level, so that every Chinese is only a few steps of relation to the President of China, less for province government, and almost direct for city. Chinese people approve of their government at the 90% level.
Propaganda in China is no more repugnant than America's attempt to save motorist's lives, "Buckle up! Seatbelts save lives." As for surveillance, there are two purposes: one, China faces real threats from Islamist extremists (Uyghurs), not to speak of decades of American and British agents trying to destabilize the PRC. Two, the Chinese government constantly monitors its policies' effects on the population—not to control people but to serve them.
Disgusted by the extremism and corruption? Remember in November!!