It’s hard to describe just how far out in front of us is China 2026. Luckily record numbers are checking out for themselves. Increasingly visa-free travel makes it easier than it’s ever been.
I’ve just been on a “High-speed train” which description fails to do justice. It travels like the wind. If you closed your eyes you wouldn’t know you were moving. China has 50,000 miles of it. It links cities so far better than ours it brings me to tears. Clean. Crime free.
The cops don’t carry guns and their cars don’t have sirens, only flashing lights.
Prices are so cheap I’m scared to tell you. A slap up lunch £2.50. Shirts £12. Deluxe taxis (BMW electric) £4. And this in a Tier 1 City (Beijing Shanghai Guangzhou Shenzen). It’s cheaper elsewhere! The shops are tumbling with goods from the west (at Chinese prices - western goods are of course mainly made in China) from the east often Russia and from a home manufacturing base easily the biggest in the whole world.
Nobody litters or jaywalks, nobody lays in shop doorways, nobody begs. Vertiginous towers of bewildering variety arise everywhere. At night these cities don’t even look real. I have a young wife. When she was born Shenzen was a one-horse town nobody outside had ever heard of. Today it is a Wonder of the World. One of dozens. If you deny it, you’re a fool.
George Galloway
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Ella arrived at Newark Airport from Bellingham, Washington, in the middle of the night, January 2007. We were there waiting to welcome her, comfort her, and clean her off after a cross-country flight that changed her and our lives forever.
She was a part of our family before we even became a family. Ella joined us before we married, before our son grew up, before our daughter was born, before we added four more dogs.
She was a little chocolate brown labradoodle, who proved her strength and fierceness early on when she brought a dead baby bunny back into our house.
She was, as my wife called her, my “constant companion.” Long before the pandemic and even after it, she quietly sat in my office, hearing every conversation, watching every live shot, knowing all the news before it was reported. She didn’t care what the stories were; she just was happy being with me.
When she did leave my office, she loved walks and car rides. She always knew which button to push to lower the window so she could stick her head out and feel the wind in her face.
Over the years, the rides and walks became more infrequent. She lost her vision and hearing. She developed doggy dementia, which led to seizures and breathing issues. She was in diapers. Her dark chocolate brown coat turned gray. But as much as her life changed, she was most happy in our arms or in our bed, laying with us, licking our faces.
Yet Ella’s good days dwindled, and as tough as it was – and we agonized over it -- it became time to let her go. We did that Thursday, an all-time sad day.
For the third time in just over 18 months, we lost one of our beloved furry friends, our other children. We lost Benny in January 2025, Bailey this March, and now Ella. It’s too much. We now are down to two dogs, Apple and Brady. Our house feels empty and our hearts feel broke. Ella’s pain has been transferred to us.
Ella lived almost 20 years – she would have been 20 in November - and was a part of our graduations, celebrations, happy and sad moments. We know what we had and what she meant. But for all the time we had together -- and it was more than most get -- it still wasn’t enough.
We always will remember and love our little Ellies.
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The Smithsonian National Museum actually classified a lot more as “White Supremacy” than was brought up in the recent House Oversight Hearing
According to the Smithsonian, all these things are white supremacy:
- Christianity
- The nuclear family
- Children having their own rooms
- Husband is breadwinner and head of household
- Wife as a homemaker or subordinate to the husband
- Self-reliance
- Independence
- Individuals assumed to be in control of their environment
• Children should have own rooms, be independent
- Objective, rational linear thinking
- Cause and effect relationships
- Quantitative emphasis
- Our entire history is white supremacy
- Hard work is the key to success
- Work before play
- “If you didn’t meet your goals, you didn’t work hard enough” mentality
- Justice system
- Celebrating holidays like Christmas
- Protecting private property
- Making decisions
- Avoiding conflict
- Being polite
All this is “White Supremacy
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