https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhOOFBZwSjI
Amy asks the personal question of Nan and Billy, asking them if they have a sense of humor. She asks Billy if he prefers telling or asking jokes. Nan shares a joke, that he says only a Chinese person is qualified to tell.
Billy discusses George Carlin 7 dirty words.
Amy tells the story of “the bad joke”. She describes the twin boys of the poor farmer family she spent some time with. Both boys had entered the military. There was such a high mortality rate in children at the time, that parents would name their kids with animal names believing that animal names had a higher chance of survival.
Amy received news some years later that the twins had been arrested. Amy explains that the parents probably never owned shoes. The two boys wanted to but them shoes. The shoe salespeople seemed to be increasing the prices of the shoes. The one brother made a joke about Chairman Dung. Eventually the joke came around to the twin brothers and they were arrested and interrogated.
Eventually the brothers received 20 and 15 years in prison respectively.
Nan recalls that during the Cultural Revolution Mao was treated like a god. In every house there was a representation of Chairman Mao. Nan relates that someone had purchases two Mao statues and used a rope to carry them. He tied the rope around the neck of the two statues. He was beaten to death that day.
Amy recalls a Chinese comedian who made some good jokes during the Obama administration.
Michael Harrison joins the show. He reminds us not to forget that there is a connection between the COVID pandemic and the CCP. He introduces the reference of the CCP virus by the Epoch Times. The team discusses the name China Uber Alles.
Michael Harrison suggests that the enemy’s of today are more like “frenimies”. He compares the power struggles of today to the cold war, suggesting that contemporary struggles are more nuanced.
Billy asks if the US is in danger of heading toward the kind of censorship in China. Michael Harrison answers that, between the letter of the law of free speech and the practice of free speech we are not in danger of losing free speech. He points out that we are allowed to be biased.
Michael Harrison suggests that the president being banned from Twitter is not an example of free speech infringement, because Twitter is a private business. He suggests that if Facebook or Twitter were forced to present the president, that would be much worse.
Michael Harrison brings up the fairness doctrine, explaining that it prevented political discussion.
The team discusses issues of free speech in the US and China, Communism and Capitalism.
<Break>
Nan begins the after break conversion by introducing the Penn Biden Center and the new Secretary of State Antony Blinken, pointing out that the center received significant funding from Chinese interests.
Billy suggests that signs seem to indicate that the Biden administration might hold on to some of Trumps assertive policies on China. Nan wonders whether it might be more engagement policies”.
Nan suggests that the people living in the Western World are the victims of a status quo appeasement relationship with China.
Nan mentions the potential for a boycot of the next Olympic games in response to the Genocide of Uygiures in Xinxan province
Don calls Biden “President Xiden”. He mentions the Keystone pipeline and the potential benefits for China.
Nan points out how clean US energy is.
Dick is concerned that there may be a loophole to create political prisoners in the US. Dick ponders whether the first amendment protects us from misinformation on the net. Dick mentions that the current vaccines may not work with the latest strains of the virus out of South Africa.
Nick tells Amy a story about how he does his laundry. He says it makes his place smell like ammonia. He tells a joke about Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
Nan suggests an Olympic boycott would be an excellent way to raise awareness of Chinese human right violations.
Dan says we should boycott the Olympic’s in China. He reminds us of the focus on South Africa prior to the fall of Apartheid. He says that a “leader” is sometimes actually a “ruler”. He would rather call it dictatorship.
Nan makes a strong appeal to boycott the Olympics.