A lot of confusion here. More Trumpist bungling of complex foreign policy matters. I wonder, with all the reporting contradictions, if Trump did not tell Japan to back off but his minions are now lying in a way to make Beijing think he told Japan to back off. Hard to parse stupidity and ignorance.

Completely consistent with Trumpist transactionalism.

Following Abraham Lincoln, we can celebrate Thanksgiving for victory in a war "to keep a cabal from taking control of the government and turning it into an oligarchy." A slave owning oligarchy, that is. That's something to be thankful for. heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-2...

Preserving energy - qi- has a vaguely Daoist connotation.

You’ll be visited by three spirits The three spirits

I have used it once, when it first came out, to see how my students might cheat on their papers. Really have no interest in engaging with the slop it produces.

“If the Communist party is digging up ancestor’s graves, go dig up Xi Jinping’s ancestral tombs first”.

A perfectly defensible statement. The BBC is backing away from serious analysis of Trumpist corruption and lawlessness.

So Xi lets Trump stew for a few weeks as the soybean problem grows and then puts Taiwan on the table. How desperate is Trump to get economic “deals” done? What is he willing to give to Xi?

"China has not confirmed that pledge." So, there never was a "deal."

Saw Nuremberg yesterday. Good film. A bit overdone at points but the central story line was captivating.

A movie that takes place where you’re from

If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?

There is no press freedom in Hong Kong.

The Useless Tree is back! At least for now. I just posted a long piece on my experience last year at the Tenth Nishan Forum on World Civilizations. Come for the politics of Confucian revival, stay for some jabs at Jeffrey Sachs. Good times! uselesstree.blog/2025/11/22/r...

Oh. But let’s make Farange PM.

This

Good. Here's something many of us can agree on.

Went to a great talk by Yu Jie, from Chatham House, a sharp, insightful analysis of recommendations for 15th Five Year Plan from the Fourth Plenum, 20th Central Committee of CCP. Key points: national security and economic resilience overshadow economic growth and worries about inequality. 🧵 1/

A fair amount of anxiety about maintaining “free speech” here, which opens the door to this sort of slop while people are arrested for public support for Palestine.

If you’re in NYC in January, go see this. You’ll be glad you did.

This why we watch sports, moments like this. There's little enough joy in the world; you take it where you can find it.

Waiting now for exhortation of Xi Jinping Thought on excellence of marinara and bolognese.

This made me feel better this morning

Republicans: the most deeply corrupt political party in US history

Absolutely true. We need to maintain historical consciousness of Great Leap Forward. Definitive account in English is:

Sad, but remember what happened in the Great Leap Forward: “However, the current pavilion was reconstructed in 1993, after the original building was demolished and the monks were dismissed in 1958.”

Europe can't kick the dollar habit.

No mention of evidence or facts or reality. Epistemologically vacuous.

"Xi Jinping Thought is wonderful." "I respectfully disagree, I think Xi Jinping Thought is fantastic."

I liked it, too. A quiet movie. Ultimately, an anti-war movie. If you give yourself over to the music, especially about half way through, it is quite enjoyable. www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...

I'm thinking about retirement. When Trump came in, I thought I'd have to defer it because he would tank the economy. The AI boom has saved him thus far - and that could be running out of time. But now the health insurance crisis is likely the thing to keep me in my job for the foreseeable future.

“It’s a cultural difference” 🤣

The middle class in Britain never had access to hereditary estates.

Here’s a good introduction to Daoism with some fun contemporary applications. Great work from @bryanvannorden.bsky.social youtu.be/lvglQJDrgJI

A great HK T-shirt spotted by @medievalchina.bsky.social

Indeed. Confucianism is the apotheosis of virtue signaling.

If you see this, post an album cover with a motor vehicle on it.

Joe Fewsmith RIP For me, this was one of his most significant contributions:

Join the Independent Chinese PEN Centre with PEN International for “Chinese Prisons and International War: The 2025 ICPC Awards and Panel Discussions” on 14 November 2025, 1–5 PM. Tickets available now ⬇️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/chinese-pr... #DayOfTheImprisonedWriter

So good to see Lina Khan at the front. Go Ephs!

lol

A quick review of political meanings of socialism. When Mamdani invokes socialism he is doing so in the tradition of European democratic socialism (there is really no difference with word order here: call it socialist democracy, or social democracy, if you like). 1/

Truth

A movie you've seen more than seven times with a gif.

Yes. But can’t help but wonder if Xi didn’t raise it because he feels PRC is in a relatively strong position now and doesn’t need anything from US. And Trump didn’t raise it because he is simply incapable of managing complex strategy.

So, no “deal” yet. Trump said: “the US would sign a deal with China "pretty soon". www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

And, of course, by cancelling his visa they are verifying that Trump is, indeed "Idi Amin in whiteface."

Preparing for a talk on political uses of Confucianism and went back to the old blog for ideas. I moved The Useless Tree archive to Wordpress after the closure of Typepad. Haven't attended to formatting and visuals, but here's an old post that's on my mind again: uselesstree.blog/2011/06/21/j...