#assassinating a high ranking american general. who's in the country.. on peace talks? i think? it wasn't clear

[mariocki]

Alexandra Bastedo guest stars as "actress" Lola Wells in The Adventurer: Action! (1.13, ITC, 1972); actually she's a member of a sinister, uh.. anti-violence group, who will stop at nothing (not even.. violence..) to get their way

[majesty-the-king]

#public_review

#part One

My dear friends my dear readers,

I am happy to be here with you tonight after an absence, I find that I long to write in glorious Arabic, and I am drawn to the nostalgia for the high-ranking language of the Arabic language.

Times have passed by dragging them on the reality of the world today, time did not speed up as it does today, and the “rapids” of news did not speed up as it speeds up today, the world is changing rapidly around us, and people are accustomed or almost, until they are no longer stopped by nothing but the greatness of the news, as for its young ones, I became accustomed as if it was an evening talk.

I am writing to you today while I am in a different position and with a new responsibility that requires effort, time, arrangement and more accuracy, so I took some time, due to its tightness and urgency, to arrange my office and its shelves, and reorganize what I have to do with my new reality at the head of the “National Security Institution” The strategic “for a great old great new line is the line of the noble gentlemen, Ahl al-Bayt.

Our ancestors in the past were not absent from the reality of life and the world of this world in presence, attention, care and presence, that is hidden or less, hidden or apparent, announced or facilitated according to time and space and the necessities of the total existence of an honorable race that is destined to be the safety of the people of the earth, even if it is absent. The value of his existence for many of the people of the earth.

Since our grandfather Adam we have been on this earth and our existence continued throughout the period of our grandfather Idris, Noah, Abraham, Ismail, Jacob, Isaac, Yusuf, Yunus, Hod, Moses, David, Solomon, Jesus, the seal of the prophets, Muhammad, his guardians and the guardians of his lineage, peace be upon them.

We have been here since our grandfather Adam, peace be upon him, descended to this earth, and we will remain until God authorizes us to return to the motherland after the world is filled with justice and equity, as the oppressors “Satan and his evil descendants” filled it with injustice and aggression.

We were here, entrusting the one who is going to the next with the reins of the honorable existence on this earth until he comes who is the first and the last in the order of the immortal ones.

We were here, and we will remain here until God permits us to return to our homes. The land is ours, glory is ours, and woe to those who give us refuge.

This is the compass of existence for us, the people of the house of prophecy and the message, the houses of honor and the king.

Today, and close to the days of God, the world witnesses events that were transmitted by our ancestors, Kabra, from Kaber, they told us and they told all people, including what reached these generations healthy and unharmed from the forms of distortion, fraud and deception, and some of them were obtained by the hand of treachery, so I changed what I changed to People lose sight of the road and lose their compass.

Our mission on earth is to establish the pillars of the House of Glory so that God will be worshiped knowingly and people may live in safety, knowledge, security and prosperity, and coexist with nations and other creatures in harmony and peace. Satan wants to mislead people far astray, and his party wants to avoid the path of God and They abandon the teachings of Heaven, people fight and kill each other, diseases and injuries spread, and people live in distress, distress and anxiety, fighting over the small and despicable thing.

This is the battle of life that the world and the inhabitants of the earth live in today.

So, let's get out of this language of abstraction to the language of today's reality, and let us speak the language of analyzes and use the propane of strategies so that our language is in the language of our people, so that the Arab and the non-Arab alike can understand you.

#The reality of the Arab region

#sham_events

Do any of you remember “Donald Trump” today, surely many people today no longer remember him?

“Donald Trump” is the pre-current US president who acquiesced to the “Sheldon” project and thought that “the deal of the century would grant him a second presidential term, and when he felt that he would lose that in favor of the American Calvary Movement candidate, he mixed the papers of the region in a strange way outside the established decisions to make the days of his successor black.” in judgment.

Let me speed up the details so that we can go through what is hardly mentioned in the "media today except for a little bit."

#Salt_hospital events

Do you remember what happened then??? a

I think that many have forgotten, except for those sitting in the corridors of the "Jordanian Intelligence".

The answer received by "the Jordanian monarch" at the time, along with the Jordanian strategic depth in Salt Hospital, was a "rude response" from "Netanyahu" to not authorizing his plane to pass over the airspace of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Yes , it was a " rude response " that embarrassed even the " Emiratis " who were appalled that a " special force " belonging to the Gladio operating under the command of " Netanyahu " would commit this heinous act .

In order to do so, it will be planned to strike members of the royal family against each other and prepare the ground for the assassination of Prince Hamzah and accusing His Majesty King Abdullah of this until the Hashemite family’s contract is broken and Jordan disintegrates in the face of the weak social and economic situation in which it is living due to “brazen planning” since the time of the nineties, after the assassination of “Isaac Rabin” at the hands of “Gladio” himself, and then work is done to establish a republican regime under popular pressure that will be a puppet in the hands of “Netanyahu” and his team, and had it not been for the grace of God and the intervention of the Jordanian strategic depth in harmony with the general strategic depth in the region and the world, the world today would be witnessing the birth of A new Gladio regime under the name of the "Republic of Besan" is ruled by "Fertoot", similar to the famous banana states.

What can be said today regarding Jordan has been said, and the last word that must be said as clearly as possible is that the security of Jordan is all of Jordan, the people of Jordan, all the people of Jordan, and the security of the Hashemite royal family, the entire Hashemite royal family, and that His Majesty King Abdullah and the order of government In Jordan, the security of all the nobles of the world will not be allowed to be threatened at all, and this saying applies to every royal family of honorable origin in Arab, Islamic and even global geography and does not stop at the borders of Jordan only.

I hope that "Netanyahu" and his team are well aware of this, I hope so.

And I hope again that the Arab peoples will realize the following:

Through the “gladio agents” who are everywhere in the joints of administrative, political, economic, educational, media, governmental and other life, political action in every country and system is underestimated, and sabotage is done from within in order to strike peoples with their systems and plunge them into wars of attrition. absurd interior, until it is exhausted well in stages, then the stage of total overthrow comes with multi-use revolutions, even if one system falls after another until the whole world falls prey to the absolute demonic control of the systems and then the peoples are lost to be completely enslaved.

Of course, not all the policies of the Arab regimes are bad, and not all of them are good. As a result of the complexities of daily management and the intended mistakes of domestic agents, the efforts of states are underestimated and the moral existence of the state and the regimes as a whole is undermined.

Let us remember the recent past then,

When the Ottoman Empire fell, the citizens of the state dispersed and states appeared by virtue of "Sais-Pico", then the monarchies began to disappear in the Arab and Islamic world and the world in general, then "Gregory" took control of Europe and most of the governments of its regimes, in turn, in favor of emerging republican regimes, most of whose leaders are from lineages Overwhelmed, it looks at the ruling as a gain and not a debtor, so competition and then hatred increases among the parties to the competition greedy for power, so the poor of yesterday overcome the strong of today, who are supported by the forces of the “Gladio” and plunder what they are able to achieve, then the nation becomes dwarfed and its existence weakens whenever the ruler is overpowered by the people. They do not know their origin and they do not have a covenant of satiation, and here personal interests prevail over the higher interest of the nation, and the likes of “Netanyahu” and Netanyahu’s godfathers, who, of course, have nothing to do with their personal interests, do not represent a religion, a belief or a principle.

And when Gregory overthrew the Shah’s regime in Iran, another “problem” appeared for the region, which many think was an “opportunity.” Gregory wanted it to be a “religious problem with the taste of Shiism” so that people would be alienated from religion and from the love of the people of the Prophet’s house May God’s prayers and peace be upon him and his family, just as he took advantage of “the persecution of the Jews of the world” and their longing for a state that would gather them from the diaspora and protect them within the land of their ancestors, according to the “interpretations” of some rabbis of the prophecies of “Prophet Daniel” as explained by “Maimonides” in his books about the day of the end of time, in order to These people hit these people under religious names, in the midst of everyone forgetting that religions came and emerged through the prophets who were truly sent from God, and that politicians seeking interests did not establish them even if they were wrapped in black turbans or even black pants.

Neither those in the new “Iran” represent the Muhammadan religion in the same way as a Shiite, nor do those in “Israel” represent the Mosaic religion or the teachings of the tribes.

Simply put, "Netanyahu" is a politician even if he is a Jew by religion, and "Khamenei" is a politician even if he is a Shiite Muslim.

It is simpler than this..is that when he comes “who is to send” the final tribe of the Prophet, with whom the nations will gather, then people from all the heavenly religions follow him with their doctrines on the truth that he brought, and this is what the “Satan” and his followers do not want and cannot stand… That's why I said at the beginning #we were here and we will stay here the earth is ours the home is ours the mountain the plain the river is ours

#Our_We_The_Sons_of_Adam_And_Noah_Ibrahim_Muhammad_Khatem_of_Prophets.

#us_not_to_the_devil_nor_the charlatan_of_Samaria

#us_we_the_people_of_the_old_house

point, full stop

Therefore, all the peoples of the region and the world should be well aware of what is being woven and not fall into the traps of demons and their snares.

The first part is over

My respect and appreciation to all

#Princess_Shams_Aslan_Noor Al-Huda

#Princess_Shams_aslan_noralhoda

#National_Security_Advisor to the nobles_Ahl_al-Bayt

_______

This article was published on facebook in arabic on the page official of the princess Shams aslan Noralhoda. ( 30/05/2021)

[myupostsheadcanons]

Books “Read” in 2020

Previous entries: 2019, 2018, 2017

I don’t rank these based on actual literary quality, but by how much i enjoyed reading/listening to them. Hopefully with Audible’s new “Premium Included” feature it would cut down on so many Average/Below Average books next year, it’ll give me more of a choice on what kind of books/podcasts i want to listen to rather than given a handful to pick from a month.

The “Top 10″

Forging Hephaestus / Bones of the Past: Villains' Code Series - Drew Hayes has became one of my fav authors over the past couple years, from his Vampire Accountant series, 5-min Sherlock, and his Spells, Swords, and Stealth books. FH is one of the few times he wrote Adult Fiction. This is the second time Drew created a world of super heroes (the YA Superpowereds), thus previous experience in dealing with the nuisances and meta of super meta dynamics. I love the main character, Tori, and especially love many of the side characters (like Ivan) and the comedy is the right tone of dark and not-in-your-face (not quite as well -written as something like The Venture Bros or The Tick, but being adult fiction you can get away with having characters named Johnny Three-Dicks and Captain Bullshit)

Dreadnought / Sovereign - the second super hero series I’ve placed on my top list this year, this one is Young Adult. This one is far more serious and deals heavily in issues like trans and women’s rights, mental abuse, and social acceptance. The main character is full of angst, but that should be a given for a 15 yo with lots of mental baggage and new social pressures. The main character is the main draw, most of the side characters are a bit more one-dimensional.

The Trouble with Peace: Age of Madness, Book 2. It isn’t a “First Law” book if you don’t want to strangle half of the main characters. Many are stepping outside of the shadow of the previous generation and finding themselves falling flat on their faces. If they aren’t at each other’s throats, they would soon have to deal with rebellion in the streets and the constant looming presence of Bayaz, who waits to sweep the board clear and rearrange the pieces the way he sees fit.

Michael J. Sullivan’s: The Riyria and Legend of the First Empire Books.

Riyria Revelations: Theft of Swords / Rise of Empire / Heir of Novron

Riyria Chronicles: The Crown Tower / The Rose and Thorn / The Death of Dulgath

Age of Death / Age of Empyre, Pile of Bones

After finishing the Legend of the First Empire books that came out earlier this year, I went ahead and read the prior series that takes place in the same world. I would suggest reading the entire series by Publish order, but they can be read Chronologically. I read the Legends books first, and it helped me see where Sullivan was heading and when he started to plan out the Legends books in more detail. (The early cameo of the Main characters from Legends in a mural in Heir of Novron, and knowing who is behind the events in Dulgath)

The Dresden Files: Peace Talks / Battle Grounds - They really should be read as one book, because that was how they were written. It is a Feast of Crows / Dances with Dragons situation, where the book got too long and got split up. The fans are pretty divided by the book(s) ending and how some of the main characters are handled, but these are Jim Butcher’s characters not theirs and he can drop bridges on whom ever he wants.

What Lies Beyond: Cycle of Galand, Book 6 - This is a “mythology” book (like Sullivan’s Age of Death was) where it introduces most of the Pantheon of their religion and corrects much of the mythology that had been lost over the decades. They seek a weapon to vanquish the Litch and save their world and the afterlife from oblivion, but not all of their Gods are happy about it.

Will Destroy the Galaxy for Cash - Yahtzee (Zero Punctuation!) has to be one of my favorite internet personalities for the past 10+ years, and I eat up every book he puts out and because he wrote the books, and is an actor himself, he could deliver the lines as they are intended to be. The sequel to Will Save the Galaxy for Food does not disappoint and even ups the stakes from the previous book.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon - This has to be one of the most charming books I’ve read. It is magic and wonder at it’s finest, no need for long explanations on how the world works. If you like Ghibli movies, you’ll be interested in this book. It has its dark moments but isn’t outside of what you’ll find in something like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Nausicca.

The Goblin Emperor - the youngest son of the Elf King finds himself emperor after the death of his father and brothers in an assassination. The only problem is, that he is only half-elf... his late mother was a Goblin, and he had been in exile as an embarrassment to the family for most of his life. He knows nothing of how the courts work and what’s left of his own family work against him just for being who he is.

Lost Gods: Brom - I liked this book more than I did American Gods (which I read a few years ago). It is darker and bleaker by the bucket loads. One of the few books with a downer ending that I actually liked. I would compare this book to books like All the Pretty Horses and No Country for Old Men-- but it is a Fantasy!

Above Average.

Siege Tactics (Spells, Swords, & Stealth. Book 4)  - What happens to adventurers after they retire? A fun concept that is explored with our party of NPCs running across a town full of epic-level characters that no longer have a player.

The Arthurian Saga - The Crystal Cave / The Hollow Hills  / The Last Enchantment / The Wicked Day - A more realistic version of the Arthurian tales, taking the POV of Merlin, bastard son of a princess, as he earns notoriety as a scholar and wizard.  The Wicked Day takes the POV of Mordred, making him far more sympathetic than other iterations of his character.

Arc of a Scythe - Scythe / Thunderhead / The Toll - Science and Technology eliminates death and in order to prevent over population and complacency an order of grim reapers are chosen to randomly deal out quotas of permanent deaths. An example of what happens when every need and want is satisfied by a higher force and the apathy that causes rot in human society and the superiority complex of those in charge of life and death.

The Diviners / Lair of Dreams / Before the Devil Breaks You / The King of Crows - Horror during the Roaring 20′s. Tackles issues as Racism, Poverty, Government Secrecy, Christian-Evangelical Cults, Nationalism Cult Mentality, Communism, Labor Unions, Eugenics, Post-WW1 trauma... It could almost pass as an adult fiction book. I wouldn’t recommend giving it to someone under High school age.

Ancillary Justice / Ancillary Sword / Ancillary Mercy - Artificial Intelligence takes over human bodies as a form of capital punishment, controlling ships and space stations. The dominate human empire outgrew the need to label any gender, using “she” to refer to everyone rather than the vaguer “them/they” pronouns, and only outlying colonies stick to the binary ideals. Think of “The Left Hand of Darkness” but on a more broader scale and as the default majority/ruling empire. Toss in a solid military action novel on top and it isn’t nearly as boring as Left Hand.

Children of Time / Children of Ruin - War destroys the human population of Earth and those that remain are the ones that headed out to the stars on tera-forming missions. A virus created to advance life forms to prepare a world for human habitation runs amuck with out its overseers, creating intelligent arachnids, crustaceans, and squid.

The Licanius Trilogy - The Shadow of What Was Lost / An Echo of Things to Come / The Light of all that Falls -  It is very heavy on info overload, there is a lot to keep track of, so much so there is a summary of book one and two at the start of the third. I like the twist at the end of the first book and that the villain is actually trying to help save the world, and you spend most of the second stuck between who thinks they are doing the right thing and who is actually doing the right thing - a lot to talk about doing the lesser of two evils.

Mythos - Steven Fry - A humorous retelling of Greek mythology. I read Mythology - by Edith Hamilton prior to this book, which is a more scholarly take on the myths, and helps if you are unfamiliar with classical mythology prior to reading Fry’s take on it.

Iron, Fire and Ice: The Real History That Inspired Game of Thrones - a nice history book about Iron Age royalty. It is actually refreshing to read after going through so much faux fiction that is in Philippa Gregory’s books.

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? - Children ask questions to a Mortician about death and what happens to bodies after people die. I listened to her autobiography last year/year before and it is worth picking up this one along with it.

Average, but still good.

Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet Universe: Triumphant (Genesis Fleet, Book 3) / Tarnished Knight: Lost Stars, book 1 - The realistic space battles just drag me back in each and every time.

The Case of the Damaged Detective: 5-Minute Sherlock - Drew Hayes can’t write a boring book. It isn’t quite on point as his other series, but still fun to read. Hayes is really good at making YA books with Adult Protagonists. It is a road-trip book, the main character is a washed-out operative that is getting his second chance playing bodyguard and future assistant to the 5-minute Sherlock.

Locked In / Head On - Do you remember “Surrogates”? that Bruce Willis movie where people walk around in robotic avatars, well... it’s almost the same thing. A virus kills millions, save for a select few that experience “lock in” syndrome and are able to connect to robots via their brains and the internet.  The main character is gender neutral and you get a choice to listen to the book with a male or female reader.

Murder by Other Means: The Dispatcher Book 2 - more John Scalzi! The first book was in my top list a few years ago, and i enjoyed the sequel just as much. Between Scalzi’s The Dispatcher and Locked In series, i like the Dispatcher more.

The Shattered Sea Trilogy: Half a King / Half the World / Half a War - Joe Abercrombie’s attempt to make Young Adult books. It keeps all the grim dark, but lacks all the swearing and humor that made The First Law books more enjoyable. Many of Joe’s favorite character tropes are still present and is one of the better “Fall to Darkness” stories I’ve read. It also has different POV characters each book and is one of those “faux fantasy” settings.

Mage Errant: Books 1, 2 & A Traitor in Skyhold: Book 3 - If you are wanting to get away from Harry Potter, pick up this book series. It takes place in magic school, but it is its own world and setting and not just a hidden world within our own. The main group of kids are misfits among the school, unable to master their powers, that get taken up by the badass librarian to be trained in more unconventional ways.

Dawn of Wonder: The Wakening Book 1 - the main character has ptsd from growing up in an abusive household, and i thought it was handled rather well. He would be rather competent and cleaver most of the time until he gets triggered into an episode, he fights really hard to overcome this short-falling of his. Standard classic affair else wise, family leaves home because the local authority figure doesn’t want them around anymore, goes to big city, kid wants to do good and avenge the deaths he was accused of, joins the badass school of hard knocks...  big powerful evil thing trying to consume the world.

The Rage of Dragons - It shares a lot of tropes and story points with Red Rising... just in a fantasy setting, not in space. If you are wanting fantasy with POC main characters and a non-European-centric culture, that doesn’t pull any punches, give it a shot.

Earthsea - Tehanu and Tales from Earthsea - I had read the first three books several years back, and i did re-read them in order to refresh myself prior to reading the final two.

The Secret Garden - I absolutely loved the movie from the 90′s as a kid, and finally got around to listening to the book.

Six of Crows - A heist book in fantasy world with the magic users being heavily “Jewish / Slavic” coded by how they are treated and persecuted. I might have thought more favorably about the book if i hadn’t read other books with “street rat slum” main characters. (Seriously, after spending six books with Royce in Riyria someone like Kas is just second bananas)

Unconventional Heroes / Two Necromancers - Comedic Fantasy, the humor’s not on par with say MogWorld, and has more jokes than Fred The Vampire Accountant. It is still a parody of villains and heroes in fantasy worlds. I would find it safe for a 12/13yo to read, cursing and all, though they might not be aware of many of the tropes that are being deconstructed. The reader of the book did better in this one then he did with Six of Crows and Beezer, still the audio needed some editing because it repeats itself a few times.

Once More Upon A Time (Free Audio Book)  - I don’t always care to read romance stories. I like the idea behind it however, to trade their love for each other in order to save their partner’s life, then learn to re-love one another again.

Monster Hunter International - If you think Dresden is too liberal, this takes a hard turn to the right.. replace the magic with GUNS, lots and lots of GUNS. An organization that hates the government but hunts monsters for government bounties. The main cast is multi-ethnic and they do make fun of that at one point. There isn’t a lot of thought into the plot, because action is #1, but it is fun enough to ignore the politicking.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Collection - i bitched about there not being an omnibus last year, and then Audible uploaded one. The ending is still one big clusterfuck.

Stephen King’s Insomnia - this book is the bridge between Steven King’s two universes. It is a sequel to IT and brings up the Darktower often. IT dealt mainly with childhood fears, Insomnia deals with Elderly and feminine fears.

D’Arc / Culdesac: War with No Name - I liked D’Arc more than i did Mort-e, and Culdesac is more on track with Mort-e. The virus that mutated the ants and animals reminded me of the virus from Children of Time/Ruin, even though i read Mort-e first, reading D’Arc after CoT let me notice it.

Michael McDowell’s:  The Amulet / The Elementals / Gilded Needles / Blackwater - From the guy that wrote the screenplay of Beetlejuice, and the pioneer of the Southern Gothic Horror. Gilded Needles is a bit out of place, taking place in 1890′s, and is more of a social horror rather than a super natural horror the other books are.

Gardens of the Moon: The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 1 - high fantasy dark fiction. if you really want some CHONKY door stoppers, there’s over 10 of them in this series. Could’ve done less with the manipulative bastard mage that speaks in 3rd person. I had read The Willful Child, an attempted comedy science fiction novel by the same author, and it showed that the author was unfamiliar with that kind of genera and should stick to grim fantasy.

The Knife’s Edge / Citadel of Fire: The Ronin Saga - This is one of those series that I’m always going “oh, that reminds me of [insert another better series]”  At times it reminded me of The Licanius Trilogy, Shades of Magic, Arc of Scythe, Riyria, Korra... It is just shy of being as good as them, and is rather firmly in that Sci-Fi Fantasy Ghetto and has a bit of “anime” feel to it with their magic users having ‘power levels’ and the power creep. 

In Calabria - My only problem with the book is the massive age-gap between the Main character and his love interest. Outside of that, the whole Unicorns in the modern world concept is done very well.

Pout Neuf (Audible Free Book)  - Journalism and romance during WW2. A quick read and the book really shows that research had been done about the setting and time period.

Nut Jobs: Cracking California's Strangest $10 Million Dollar Heist: An Audible Original - Not only does it talk about the heist, it actually touches on the subject of migrant farmers and slave labor, as well as the desertification of the California Valley.

The Science of Sci-Fi: From Warp Speed to Interstellar Travel (Free Audio Book) - a neat little informative podcast if you are looking for an introduction to some of the harder science fiction.

Mythology - by Edith Hamilton - Text book about Greek Mythology. Like “used in schools” text book. It is a good read if you don’t want to go through Ovid, Virgil, Homer, and all the other classical writers on your own.

The Space Race: An Audible Original - America didn’t win the Space Race. Russia did just about everything first. The only thing we did first was put people on the moon. It also goes into detail about how the inventor of the Nazi’s V2 rockets became employed with the US Space program. As well as the government’s announcement to let space travel become privatized.

Pale Blue Dot / Cosmos: A Personal Voyage - It’s Carl Sagan. Come on! Everyone should be reading them. Pale Blue Dot was being turned into an Audiobook in the 90′s but with Sagan’s death, only the first few chapters were read by him and his partner reads the rest of it (she does a decent job, and i understand why they wanted her to read it, it should’ve been done similarly to Cosmos, with guest readers doing each chapter)

Thicker Than Water (Free Audio Book)  - start up pharmaceutical company scams people out of millions with promises of a miracle machine that was ahead of its time. Story told from the whistleblower himself as he recounts what his job was within the company and how he knew the owner/founder of the company and how coming out about what was going on ruined his relationship with his family and friends.

Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - biography on Douglas Adams and the history behind the creative process behind the Hitchhiker’s Guide series.

The Genius of Birds - It reminded me a lot of “The Soul of an Octopus” in quality. It is rather informative about birds, how they behave, and how we judge intelligence in non-human animals.

It’s “ok.”

Les Miserabes - I can see why people favor movies and theater versions because of how dense the book is, getting the cliff notes version of the book instead of reading several chapters about the Battle of Waterloo. 

Viva Durant and the Secret of the Silver Buttons (Audible Free Book) - It’s cute, and I spent the next several weeks humming that freaking song.

Challenger Deep - A book about mental illness by the same person that brought us The Arc of a Scythe series. It isn’t a bad read, but if you are prone to get panic attacks and have mental illness yourself, you might get too into it and make you uneasy. It can help with neurotypical people with understanding how some illnesses work.

Into the Wilds (Warriors, Book 1)  - Ah, the cat book. It is prob because there are soooo many books in this series that it over-saturates the kids impressionable minds.

House of Teeth (Audible Free Book)  - I read this book prior to Monster Hunter International, and thinking back on this one, i am reminded about the other. Save for this one is PG. So... the kid friendly version.

The Martian Chronicles - Space Horror, on Mars. If you like old science fiction, like Classic Trek, Wells, or Forbidden Planet stuff. There is a lot of zerust.

Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection - The third superhero series I’ve read this past year. It is not as ground breaking nor subversive as Villain’s Code or Dreadnought. The humor is a bit too forced and parts of it falls into “we can be more offensive because it is an adult book” category.

Interview with the Robot - Don’t really care for books or programs that are set up in the “interview” format where it is two people talking to one another. (I have no fucking idea how this book got top Kids book of the year on Audible, it is more of a YA book... it must been because it was Free and lots of people picked it because the rest of the choices that month were complete garbage)

Micromegas - perhaps one of the oldest examples of Speculative Science Fiction. Written by Voltaire, it is about a giant from another solar system that is so big that humans and life on Earth are microscopic. “what value are the lives of ants to a man?”

The Three Musketeers - i had forgotten how much espionage there was in this book. I would say this is a good companion book to Don Quixote, as it takes its fair share of inspiration from and even name-drops the character a couple times. 

Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist / David Copperfield / A Tale of Two Cities - DC is the standout IMO among the three, it is Dickens’ Magnum Opus. Les Mis did a far better job with the Revolution than Tale did as well. I felt rather obligated to reading these books because of the subplot in the Age of Madness books being about Poverty during the Industrial Revolution and Workers Revolts against the Ruling Class.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - the version i listened too made most of the Americans sound like GWB... which is funny because one of them is Canadian, and the Comic Relief character about how boorish Americans are.

Stuck (Free Audio Book) -  it is a neat idea, getting jarred free of time but everybody else isn’t and doesn’t remember. It gets a little heavy for a kids book near the end, edging into YA territory as the character gets older mentally and the people around him age physically.

Phreaks (Free Audio Book) - i knew a lot about Captain Crunch and other phone hackers of the 60′s. There is a subplot of the big radioactive corporation covering up causing cancer to their workers, and the father (voiced by Christian Slater) being in the closet but still homophobic about it.

Silverswift (Free Audio Book) - If you like fairy tales set in modern times, it is worth a look. It is similar to In Calabira in that way. The mom being the nonbeliever and thinking grandma is off her rocker, but the granddaughter knows it in her bones that grandma is telling the truth.

Sleeping Giants - alien mechs from the distant past, once mistaken as the titans and gods form mythology, now being studied and experimented on by the government. This is another “interview style” story telling.

Celtic Mythology: Tales of Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes - there is a lot of names and stories, it is worth prob getting a physical copy of the book to keep things straight and to use as a reference.

How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps - A love letter to The Legend of Zelda’s Ocarina of Time and other RPG games.

Casino Royal: James Bond - the movie was rather faithful, including the part of being tied to a chair. I do wish they kept more of the book’s ending where Bond was ready to retire prior to his secret-spy love interest gets killed.

Aliens: Bug Hunt - a compilation of Alien stores about people landing on various planets and encountering aliens, not always the Xenomorphs we know, but the term “Bug” came synonymous to any dangerous alien lifeforms encountered.

Macbeth: A Novel - retelling the story of Macbeth but in a novel form. If you can’t get past the language of the original play, this would help. It sets it more firmly in historical fiction.

Hannibal: A Novel -  I went ahead and re watched the tv show after finishing the book. I’ve seen the movie a dozen times, and i understand why they changed the ending to the movie. The book is the main one that characterizes Hannibal and the show uses a lot of the plot. Hannibal Rising wasn’t really needed because Hannibal (in this book) does think/talk about what happened to his sister and home, and i can see why Harris didn’t want to write that book either. The audiobook is rather poor quality, they talked too fast in places and i don’t really care for their acting...

The Power of Six - I read I am Number 4 several years back and this one popped up on sale so i nabbed it. I like Neil Kaplan, and i think this one is better than the first one and actually gets into the meat of the story.

Cut and Run: A Light-Hearted Dark Comedy - body parts harvesting.... mmmm.

Calypso - non-Fiction, biography of the author. Talks about his family, his life with his partner, and what he does. Much of it is charming and it is read by the author. this was prior to him loosing his marbles about retail workers and becoming a karen.

Our Harlem: Seven Days of Cooking, Music and Soul at the Red Rooster - the history of Harlem and the Harlem Renaissance. I didn’t mind this podcast so much because i was reading The Diviners during the same time.

Malcolm and Me - another biographical book. one of the free books i got during Feb’ Black History Month.

History of Bourbon (Free Audio Book) - Informative about the liqueur industry in America.

Junkyard Cats: Shining Smith Book 1 - post apocalyptic action science fiction novel. the moment that guy showed up i was “that’s your bf.” and it was so... the plot wasn’t hard to figure out, it’s all about the action and setting.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - One of the better Heinlein books. The man can’t write romance and he is rather big on casual polygamy and open marriages. An anarchist-revolution book written by someone that is more on the Libertarian side of the aisle. Mycroft (the computer) comes off as rather antiquated, an AI that runs on a closed server, communicating through the telephone lines and printed paper, makes me wonder what Heinlein would’ve done if he was told about the internet and Deep Fake tech. (the book takes place in like 2075, but written in 1966)

Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World - the production of coffee and it’s prevalence around the world.

The Life and Times of Prince Albert - Exactly what it says on the can. *rimshot*

The Real Sherlock: An Audible Original - a biography of Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle.

The Design of Everyday Things - using psychology to improve the design of systems, products, and the modern business model.  It gives proper terminology for several common design features and how to improve on existing structures.

Bottom of the Barrel.

The Pagan World: Ancient Religions before Christianity. I was hoping there would have been something in there about European Religions, there isn’t, and the book was mostly Greek and Roman life styles and how gods are worshiped. It let me know where the word “auger” came from and why it was used in the Licanius Trilogy.

Life Ever After - disjointed at best. a couple that aren’t good for each other spend the next several hundred years in a crappy relationship.

Beyond Strange Lands: An Audible Original - The audio was complete crap on half of the voices. Which is bad because this could’ve been better. It is a Pod Cast Show and the director couldn’t make sure everybody had decent recording equipment and the sound effects often drown out the actors.

Henrietta & Eleanor: A Retelling of Jekyll and Hyde: An Audible Original Drama - They were going for a modern telling, but the language used is archaic. They speak like Dickens characters even though they talk about cellphones and computers.

A Crazy Inheritance: The Ghostsitter book 1 - The concept is there, but it is too nerfed. It was made for the 8-12yo crowd in mind by people that don’t know how to write for children.

Tell Me Lies (Free Audio Book) - It really wants to be smart. Who’s playing who and who is the actual villain of this story? If you want a quick “who done it?” maybe look into it.

Evil Eye (Free on Audible Plus) - told through phone calls between a mother and daughter. The whole genera of evil boyfriends/husbands isn’t really my cup of tea, and the boyfriend’s actor was too fake and the set up to the meat of the story was annoying.

The Half-life of Marie Curie - I didn’t mind learning stuff about Marie Curie... falls squarely in “made for TV lifetime movie” quality though. You should not carry around a vile of uranium where ever you go.

Alone with the Stars - A girl in Florida hears the call for help from Amelia Earhart, but nobody listens to her. Part fiction, part biographical. It would’ve been better as a biography and talking about various conspiracy theories about what happened to her and finding the pieces of the airplane.

Beezer - The son of the Devil learning to become a good person with a found family... however, most of the characters are annoying.

The Year of Magical Thinking (Free Audio Book) - very heavy on the subjects about loss and death.

Complete Garbage.

The Getaway (Free Audio Book) - A man being a POS by stalking and abducting women. It broadcasts just about everything that is going to happen.

Agent 355 (Free Audio Book)  - Do you like “American Mythology?” Like the whole “the founders are the greatest people in the world” kind of vibe? I don’t. I also hate the main character for being one of those “i’m smart, because i read books that women aren’t supposed to” girls when she doesn’t really think for herself at all.

[lzlbitts]

OBAMA’S ELECTION, THE REPUBLICAN FACTOR, AND A PROPOSAL FOR CHINA 

Liu Xiaobo, like many Chinese, was impressed when American voters chose an African American to be president of the United States. In the following piece, written the day after the election of Barack Obama, he gives his view of the genesis and significance of the event, then follows with a startling suggestion of how a fundamental principle that he sees in the Obama victory might be applied to China.--Ed.

THE SIGHT OF THE OBAMA FAMILY waving to the people in their new role as the next occupants of the White House sparked long dormant political enthusiasm in America and around the world. 

     The eyes of the entire world were on this election because the status of the United States as a superpower and as the leading nation in the free world makes its president the most powerful man on earth. People even jokingly refer to him as “the President of the World.”

     People were watching this election with some problems in mind as well. The financial crisis and the quagmire in Iraq had drastically eroded support for the Bush administration both at home and abroad. The Wall Street crisis had had worldwide repercussions, and the Iraq war seemed to be undermining the international counterterrorist effort. Mainstream opinion in many places was looking forward to “change” in the U.S.

     Barack Obama, an African American who sprang from the grassroots, had no weighty political pedigree, not much of a political track record, and not even much administrative experience. His credentials as a state senator and a U.S. senator seemed meager compared to those of other candidates. People were surprised when such as dark-horse candidate defeated Hilary Clinton, a white democrat from the establishment, in the primary elections. As the election day face-off between him and John McCain approached, there was concern that racist backlash might block an Obama victory, but, just as in the primaries, he defeated his highly qualified opponent by a wider margin than had been seen in years. 

     My view as a Chinese is that Obama’s elevation to the position of 44th president of the United States underscores the greatness of the American system. What interests me most is not whether Obama will be able to handle the crises he faces, but the obvious evidence of how the American democratic system can correct itself. Every four years, the United States can, if it wants, turn itself around by means of a general election that is open to all. It sometimes does this, especially at moments of great crisis. Despite its democratic traditions, America is a predominantly white nation with a problem of racism that pervades its 200-year history. The election of Obama, a man of Kenyan descent, is a remarkable sign of a more tolerant America in the twenty-first century.

     Obama was born in 1961, in an era still marked by racial segregation in the U.S. In 1964 the burgeoning civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. achieved some landmark victories: Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, outlawing racial discrimination and segregation and guaranteeing blacks equal rights under the law; and Dr. King won the Nobel Peace Prize, one of the most prestigious honors in the world. But bigotry remained rampant, as evidenced most dramatically when a racist assassinated Dr. King on April 4, 1968, and then again when riots occurred in Los Angeles in 1992.

     Obama’s election as the first black president is the culmination of a 200-year-long story. His victory grows out of the fertile soil of democracy, the spontaneous struggle of his black brethren, the support of upstanding whites, and the concerted efforts of the Republican and Democratic parties. Obama of course should appreciate what the Democrats have done. But perhaps he should thank his opponents, the Republicans, even more. I say this not only because the Democratic victory was the result of Republican administrative failures. In a much broader sense, the systemic changes that Republicans instituted at earlier points in history did much to lay the groundwork for Obama’s election. 

     The Democrats, and others who oppose racial discrimination, have made historic contributions to the long struggle for racial equality in America. John Brown’s nineteenth-century insurrection set the stage for the abolition of slavery. President Lyndon Johnson, who signed the Civil Rights Bill in 1964, was a Democrat. The Democrats’ strong opposition to racial discrimination is evident, for example, in the left-leaning culture of American academe, where racial equality has become “politically correct” to the point where it has led even to charges of “reverse discrimination.”

     But Republicans have also made enormous contributions to the cause of racial equality. Abraham Lincoln, a colossus in American history, was a Republican. It was he who issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, legally abolishing slavery, and this paves the way for the ratification in 1868 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted citizenship rights to African Americans. These measures, which were the first steps in African American liberation; became the legal foundations for the twentieth-century civil rights movement. Without the Emancipation Proclamation in the nineteenth century, there would have been no Civil Rights Act in the twentieth.

    Moreover it was Ronald Reagan, the preeminent American president of the late Cold War era, who designated the third Monday in January of each year as Martin Luther King Day, a national holiday. Only three people have received this rare honor in the U.S.: Columbus, who is recognized on the second Monday in October for his discovery of America; George Washington, the first American president, who is honored on President’s Day, the third Monday in February; and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., martyr to the cause of civil rights.

     The Republican administration of George W. Bush, despite the predicaments it put the country in at home and abroad, made significant contributions to the advancement of African Americans in the highest echelons of power. In his eight years in office, Bush achieved some “firsts” in this respect: he appointed the first black secretary of state in American history, Colin Powell, and later replaced him with Condoleezza Rice, the first black woman ever to hold this position. The appointments did a great deal to raise the status of African Americans and energized American minorities politically. The media buzz over whether either Rice or Powell might run for president as a Republican did much to prepare the American public for the emergence of an African American presidential candidate. 

     Regardless of how well Obama does in handling America’s problems, America definitely now has a new image in the world. America’s new first family is black--and that fact has more symbolic power than any campaign promises. On the television news, I watched how the whole world--including Obama’s ancestral land of Kenya--hailed his election. 

     In its historical context, Obama’s victory should be called an “American miracle” rather than “Obama’s miracle.” It reminds the world of the greatness of the American melting pot, and inspires us again to look beyond the material aspects of the American dream: its pinnacle is in the White House, not on Wall Street. From now on, the ranks of high-achieving African Americans can include not only Michael Jordans, but Barack Obamas as well. 

     Obama expressed this idea in his victory speech: “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

     These reflections make me think of proposals for solving China’s ethnic conflicts that have come from my friend Wang Lixiong. Wang argues that, as soon as possible, substantive high-level negotiations should take place between the Chinese Communist Party and the Dalai Lama. Such talks could be advantageous to both sides if they happen while the moderate, nonviolent Dalai Lama is still in good health, and while China is still able to maintain peace in Tibet. 

     In fact, the Chinese Communist regime could resolve the entire issue with one bold display of political savvy: it could invite the Dalai Lama back to China to serve as our nation’s president, our Barack Obama. Such a move would make best use of the Dalai Lama’s stature in Tibet and around the world; it could also bring into play a spirit of tolerance among Han Chinese, who have recently been converting to Buddhism in increasing numbers.

     Symbolism aside, a great deal of concrete good could result from such as move, In Tibet, the Dalai Lama is a god and his word is law. If he came back to China, he could marginalize radical Tibetan separatist groups by convincing Tibetans to allow Tibet to remain part of China as an autonomous region. With his worldwide prestige, he could also do a huge amount to improve China’s international image. In addition to all of that, a peaceful resolution of the Tibet question could be a model for solving the Taiwan problem as well as problems with other Chinese minority groups, thereby averting the very real danger that ethnic strife might escalate into large-scale separatist movements. 

     The Dalai Lama, a sagacious man, has a vision for an autonomous, democratic Tibet in which church and state are separate. The vision is grounded in a system that has worked well for many years in the Tibetan government in exile in Dharamsala, India. He has an excellent track record for implementing experiments in democracy similar to those os Chiang Ching-kuo in Taiwan in the 1980s. Such experiments could serve as models for the political transformation of China as a whole. The dawn of true political reform in China can arrive as soon as Chinese authorities sit down at the negotiating table with the Dalai Lama. 

At home in Beijing, November 5, 2008

[yasbxxgie]

A century and a half after slavery was abolished in the U.S., the wounds left by one of the darkest periods in American history are far from healed, as evidenced by the controversy surrounding the recent announcement of HBO’s upcoming drama series Confederate, from Game Of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, which explores an alternate timeline of seceded southern states where slavery is legal and has evolved into a modern institution.

Another alternate history drama series, which has been in the works at Amazonfor over a year, also paints a reality where southern states have left the Union but takes a very different approach. Titled Black America, the drama hails from top feature producer Will Packer (Ride Along, Think Like A Man franchises, Straight Outta Compton) and Peabody-winning The Boondocks creator and Black Jesus co-creator Aaron McGruder. It envisions an alternate history where newly freed African Americans have secured the Southern states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama post-Reconstruction as reparations for slavery, and with that land, the freedom to shape their own destiny. The sovereign nation they formed, New Colonia, has had a tumultuous and sometimes violent relationship with its looming “Big Neighbor,” both ally and foe, the United States. The past 150 years have been witness to military incursions, assassinations, regime change, coups, etc. Today, after two decades of peace with the U.S. and unprecedented growth, an ascendant New Colonia joins the ranks of major industrialized nations on the world stage as America slides into rapid decline. Inexorably tied together, the fate of two nations, indivisible, hangs in the balance.

Deadline announced the Packer/McGruder project back in early February. At the time, it was untitled, and the producers would not divulge any details about the storyline beyond it revolving around an alternate universe in the vein of Amazon’s flagship The Man in the High Castle.

It was HBO’s announcement of Confederate this month that prompted the Black America team to reveal the project’s premise. “It felt this was the appropriate time to make sure that audiences and the creative community knew that there was a project that preexisted and we are pretty far down the road with it,” Packer told Deadline.

Black America, which Packer said is in “very, very active development” with McGruder “off and writing,” originated at Amazon Studios. The service’s head of content Roy Price called Packer more than a year ago while the producer was on the set of his latest box office hit Girls Trip. “Literally, Roy said to me, ‘you’re either going to think that I’m crazy or brilliant’,” Packer recalled of how Price opened the conversation. “I said ‘Well, first of all you’re both, second of all, what’s the idea?’ And after I heard it, I said, ‘Yes, that underscores the idea that you’re both crazy and brilliant’.”

While it may have sounded crazy at first, “I was immediately enthralled by the idea; I couldn’t stop thinking about it and what a provocative and bold piece of content it could be,” Packer said. Price soon reached out to McGruder with whom Packer had briefly worked in the past on Think Like A Man and had been looking to team up again. “Being a fan of Aaron, I thought he definitely had the right tone, the right voice, the right wit to handle a project like this,” Packer said. “Aaron and I sat together and talked about what a huge opportunity and responsibility it would be to do this project and do it right.”

As for the tone of the hourlong series, it’s “a drama, but it wouldn’t be Aaron McGruder without traces of his trademark sardonic wit,” Packer said.

Black America creates the kind of utopia that has been on the minds of generations of black Americans for whom the series may have a sense of wish-fulfillment.

“It was something that was personally intriguing for me as a black American,” Packer said. “You would be hard pressed to find many black Americans who have not thought about the concept of reparation, what would happen if reparations were actually given. As a content creator, the fact that that is something that has been discussed thoroughly throughout various demographics of people in this country but yet never been explored to my knowledge in any real way in long-form content, I thought it was a tremendous opportunity to delve into the story, to do it right.”

That involves “bringing on the appropriate historians to make sure we are telling the story in an accurate and responsible way,” Packer said, noting that historians have been brought in as consultants on the project, working with the producers.

Why is working with scholars on a fictional series set in present time so important? “Even though the story is set in contemporary society, not post-slavery, it relies on us being factually correct in telling the story of how we got to a contemporary society where you’ve got a sovereign country that is run by black Americans,” Packer said.

He declined to comment directly on HBO’s Confederate, which Benioff and Weiss will be writing with Malcolm and Nichelle Tramble Spellman, out of respect to its creators because the series has not been made yet. On a personal level, “the fact that there is the contemplation of contemporary slavery makes it something that I would not be a part of producing nor consuming,” he said. “Slavery is far too real and far too painful, and we still see the manifestations of it today as a country for me to ever view that as a form of entertainment.”

Packer said that it is early to talk about Black America‘s message since the series is still being developed. But by answering the questions “what if reparations were given, what would this country and that alternate country look like today, how would Americans look, our communities, relations, I think that there definitely is a message about how we co-exist today where that didn’t happen, there weren’t reparations, and you still have black Americans who are suffering from the effects of slavery in various ways,” Packer said. “You still have the prison-industrial complex that disproportionally imprisons black and brown people, you can trace that back for many reasons to slavery.”

Ultimately, Black America “will speak to where we are now and the mistakes this country has made and things we should do going forward,” Packer said. [h/t]

[lzlbitts]

OBAMA’S ELECTION, THE REPUBLICAN FACTOR, AND A PROPOSAL FOR CHINA • • • • •

Liu Xiaobo, like many Chinese, was impressed when American voters chose an African American to be president of the United States. In the following piece, written the day after the election of Barack Obama, he gives his view of the genesis and significance of the event, then follows with a startling suggestion of how a fundamental principle that he sees in the Obama victory might be applied to China.—Ed.

THE SIGHT OF THE OBAMA FAMILY waving to the people in their new role as the next occupants of the White House sparked long dormant political enthusiasm in America and around the world.

The eyes of the entire world were on this election because the status of the United States as a superpower and as the leading nation in the free world makes its president the most powerful man on earth. People even jokingly refer to him as “the President of the World.”

People were watching this election with some problems in mind as well. The financial crisis and the quagmire in Iraq had drastically eroded support for the Bush administration both at home and abroad. The Wall Street crisis had had worldwide repercussions, and the Iraq war seemed to be undermining the international counterterrorist effort. Mainstream opinion in many places was looking forward to “change” in the U.S.

Barack Obama, an African American who sprang from the grassroots, had no weighty political pedigree, not much of a political track record, and not even much administrative experience. His credentials as a state senator and a U.S. senator seemed meager compared to those of other candidates. People were surprised when such a dark-horse candidate defeated Hillary Clinton, a white Democrat from the establishment, in the primary elections. As the election day face-off between him and John McCain approached, there was concern that racist backlash might block an Obama victory, but, just as in the primaries, he defeated his highly qualified opponent by a wider margin than had been seen in years.

My view as a Chinese is that Obama’s elevation to the position of 44th president of the United States underscores he greatness of the American system. What interests me most is not whether Obama will be able to handle the crises he faces, but the obvious evidence of how the American democratic system can correct itself. Every four years, the United States can, if it wants, turn itself around by means of a general election that is open to all. It sometimes does this, especially at moments of great crisis. Despite its democratic traditions, America is a predominantly white nation with a problem of racism that pervades its 200-year history. The election of Obama, a man of Kenyan descent, is a remarkable sign of a more tolerant America in the twenty-first century.

Obama was born in 1961, in an era still marked by racial segregation in the U.S. in 1964 the burgeoning civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. achieved some landmark victories: Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, outlawing racial discrimination and segregation and guaranteeing blacks equal right under the law; and Dr. King won the Nobel Peace Prize, one of the most prestigious honors in the world. But bigotry remained rampant, as evidenced most dramatically when a racist assassinated Dr. King on April 4, 1968, and then again when riots occurred in Los Angeles in 1992.

Obama’s election as the first black president is the culmination of a 200-year-long story. His victory grows out of the fertile soil of democracy, the spontaneous struggle of his black brethren, the support of upstanding whites, and the concerted efforts of the Republican and Democratic parties. Obama of course should appreciate what the Democrats have done. But perhaps he should thank his opponents, the Republicans, even more. I say this not only because the Democratic victory was the result of Republican administrative failures. I’m a much broader sense, the systemic changes that Republicans instituted at earlier points in history did much to lay the groundwork for Obama’s election.

The Democrats, and others who oppose racial discrimination, have made historic contributions to the long struggle for racial equality in America. John Brown’s nineteenth-century insurrection art the stage for the abolition of slavery. President Lyndon Johnson, who signed the Civil Rights Bill in 1964, was a Democrat. The Democrats’ strong opposition to racial discrimination is evident, for example, in the left leaning culture of American academe, where racial equality has become “politically correct” to the point where it has led even to charges of “reverse discrimination.”

But Republicans have also made enormous contributions to the cause of racial equality. Abraham Lincoln, a colossus in American history, was a Republican. It was he who issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, legally abolishing slavery, and this paved the way for the ratification in 1868 of the Fourteenth Amendement to the U.S. Constitution, which granted citizenship rights to African Americans. These measures, which were the first steps in African American liberation, became the legal foundations for the twentieth-century civil rights movement. Without the Emancipation Proclamation in the nineteenth century, there would have been no Civil Rights Act in the twentieth.

Moreover it was Ronald Reagan, the preeminent American president of the late Cold War era, who designated he third Monday in January of each year as Martin Luther King Day, a national holiday. Only three people have received this rare honor in the U.S. Columbus, who is recognized on the second Monday in October for his discovery of America; George Washington, the first American president, who is honored on President’s Day, the third Monday in February; and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., martyr to the cause of civil rights.

The Republican administration of George W. Bush, despite the predicaments it put the country in at home and abroad, made significant contributions to the advancement of African Americans in the highest echelons of power. In his eight years in office, Bush achieved some “firsts” in this respect: he appointed the first black secretary of state in American history, Colin Powell, and later replaced him with Condoleezza Rice, the first black woman ever to hold this position. These appointments did a great deal to raise the status of African Americans and energized American minorities politically. The media buzz over whether either Rice or Powell might run for president as a Republican did much to prepare the American public for the emergence of an African American presidential candidate.

Regardless of how well Obama does in handling America’s problems, America definitely now has a new image in the world. America’s new first family is black—and that fact has more symbolic power than any campaign promises. On the television news, I watched how the whole world—including Obama’s ancestral land of Kenya—hailed his election.

In its historical context, Obama’s victory should be called an “American miracle” rather than “Obama’s miracle.” It reminds the world of the greatness of the American melting pot, and inspires us again to look beyond the material aspects of the American dream: its pinnacle is in the Whitw House, not on Wall Street. From now on, the ranks of high-achieving African Americans can include not only Michael Jordans but Barack Obamas as well.

Obama expressed this idea in his victory speech: “ If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

These reflections make me think of proposals for solving China’s ethnic conflicts that have come from my friend Wang Lixiong. Wang argues that, as soon as possible, substantive high-level negotiations should take place between the Chinese Communist Party and the Dalai Lama. Such talks could be advantageous to both sides if they happen while moderate, nonviolent Dalai Lama is still in good health, and while China is still able to maintain peace in Tibet.

In fact, the Chinese Commhnist regime could resolve the entire issue with one bold display of political savvy: it could invite the Dalai Lama back to China to serve as our nation’s president, our Barack Obama. Such a move would make best use of the Dalai Lama’s stature in Tibet and around the world; it could also bring into play a spirit of tolerance among Han Chinese, who have recently been converting to Buddhism in increasing numbers.

Symbolism aside, a great deal of concrete good could result from such a move. In Tibet, the Dalai Lama is a god and his word is law. If he came back to China, he could marginalize radical Tibetan separatist groups by convincing Tibetans to allow Tibet to remain part of China as an autonomous region. With his worldwide prestige, he could also do a huge amount to improve China’s international image. In addition to all of that, a peaceful resolution of the Tibet question could be a model for solving the Taiwan problem as well as problems with other Chinese minority groups, thereby averting the very real danger that ethnic strife might escalate into large-scale separatist movements.

The Dalai Lama, a sagacious man, has a vision for an autonomous, democratic Tibet in which church and state are separate. This vision is grounded ina system that has worked well for many years in the Tibetan government in exile in Dharamsala, India. He has an excellent track record for implementing experiments in democracy similar to those of Chiang Ching-kuo in Taiwan in the 1980s. Such experiments could serve as models for the political transformation of China as a whole. The dawn of true political reform in China can arrive as soon as Chinese authorities sit down at the negotiating table with the Dalai Lama.

At home in Beijing, November 5, 2008