Elon Musk, China, Olympic Boycotts, And More

Hey fam, someone burned down the Christmas tree in front of the Fox headquarters. Thankfully, police caught the guy. Watch:

---

Shoes That Make China Mad

Enes Freedom of the Boston Celtics was allegedly asked by NBA officials to take his shoes off before a recent game. His shoes read “Free Tibet.” The CliffNotes version of the backstory is Tibet borders China and for 60-years China has been working to erase Tibetan culture though a myriad of abusive measures. More on Tibet, here.

Clay Travis @ClayTravis

The NBA begged @EnesFreedom to take off his sneakers that criticized China.

outkick.comNBA ‘Begged’ Enes Freedom To Take Off Shoes That Criticized ChinaBoston Celtics big man Enes Freedom, formerly known as Enes Kanter, is one of the only NBA players willing to speak out against China’s “brutal dictator”

Enes Freedom, previously Enes Kanter, recently changed his name after becoming a U.S. Citizen. When asked to take his shoes off, Freedom said no.

This is from Outkick:

“I was confused. I was getting ready for my citizenship test, and I knew that the First Amendment is freedom of speech. Them telling me to take my shoes off went against my First Amendment rights. I said I would not take them off. I didn’t care if I got banned or fined,” Freedom told The Post. “During halftime I received a text message from my manager: All the Celtics games were suddenly banned in China. It took one half of a Celtics game, with me wearing these shoes, on the bench, for the games to get banned.”

Per The Post, the NBA denies that any employee of theirs asked Freedom to remove his sneakers, which is unusual because the NBA is generally so willing to talk about anything and everything related to China.

“They asked me if I would wear those shoes again and I promised not to — but I wore ‘Free Uyghur,’” Freedom told the New York Post, referring to a minority Muslim group that has endured horrific human rights abuses in China. “The National Basketball Players Association called me and harassed me. I told them to stop calling and texting me.”

The World Is Waking Up To China

The list of countries joining the diplomatic boycott of China’s 2022 Winter Olympics continues to grow. The United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Lithuania were joined late Wednesday by Canada and the U.K.

The reason for the boycott is the plethora of human rights abuses by the Chinese government. Just last week I covered the disappearance of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai.

This is from The Wall Street Journal:

The U.S. said on Monday that it wouldn’t send government officials to the Games, which are set to begin in February, although athletes will still be able to participate. The Biden administration had faced pressure to boycott the Olympic Games for months, but those calls intensified after Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai vanished from public view in November after making a public allegation of sexual assault against a retired Chinese official.

Human rights groups and some governments have cited concern over China’s mass detention of ethnic Uyghurs in the northwestern region of Xinjiang and its efforts to stifle criticism in Hong Kong.

Elon Said What?

In a surprising interview with the Wall Street Journal, Elon Musk sounded quite concerned about government overreach.

Musk opened the interview claiming we’d be better off if the infrastructure plan did NOT pass and that the federal budget deficit is “insane.”

Musk went on to elaborate on his view of the role of government.

This is from Reason:

"I think the role of the government should be that of a referee, but not a player on the field," replied Musk. "Government should try to get out of the way and not impede progress." He continued:

The rules and regulations keep increasing every year. Rules and regulations are immortal, they don't die. Occasionally you see some law with a sunset provision, but really, otherwise, the vast majority of rules and regulations live forever….Eventually it just takes longer and longer and it's harder to do things. There's not really an effective garbage collection system for removing rules and regulations. And so gradually this hardens the arteries of civilization, where you're able to do less and less over time. So I think government should be trying really hard to get rid of rules and regulations that perhaps had merit at some time but don't have merit currently."

Well done, Mr. Musk.

Life Hack: Don’t Call Parents Terrorists

Axios is reporting The National School Boards Association is hemorrhaging money after sending a letter out comparing parent protests to domestic terrorism. The price tag of this letter is expected to be well into seven figures when the dust settles.

This is from Axios:

Alabama's school board association let its membership expire "due to long-standing concerns with the organization’s governance," executive director Sally Smith told Axios in a statement.

Smith called the letter and fallout "symptoms of that dysfunction."

Long-standing concerns also were cited by North Carolina and Florida school board associations.

The report goes on to states that 17 states have cut ties with The National School Boards Association. Maybe comparing parents to terrorists isn’t a good idea?

Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to share with friends and family ⬇️