25% Tariff proposed on Chinese RPG/gaming pieces. Also: is that stuff coming out of a concentration camp? Could you confirm that ‘No,’ please?

This is grey zone at best, I know. Sorry. – ML

So. They’re talking about a potential 25% tariff on Chinese goods used in the RPG and board game industry. Tabletopwire:

Board games and dice are included under the subheading: 9504.90.60. “Chess, checkers, backgammon, darts and o/table and parlor games played on boards of a special design and parts thereof; poker chips and dice.”

Toys are under 9503.00.00. “Toys, including riding toys o/than bicycles, puzzles, reduced scale models.”

Continue reading 25% Tariff proposed on Chinese RPG/gaming pieces. Also: is that stuff coming out of a concentration camp? Could you confirm that ‘No,’ please?

#rsrh Has the Chinese Communist Party lost the Mandate of Heaven?

…because – and forgive this ignorant foreigner for making this observation – but the People’s Republic of China’s endemic structural problems seem to be precisely what happens when you attempt to run an imperial-style government without an actual, you know, Emperor.  Which is to say, the system works well enough until somebody needs a decision made by a person who is recognized to have universal authority.  When that’s not available… well, that’s when things start getting messy.

I understand the unwillingness of the Chinese people to go through another Mao, of course.  So I recommend a constitutional monarchy* with a strong parliament that permits non-Communist Party members to hold office.  The rest will more or less work itself out.  I also suggest letting the Chi-Coms retain certain of their traditional customs and/or folkways: to paraphrase David Weber, permitting the use of “Comrade Emperor” as a title of respect really will help to accommodate the hardliners to the new Son of Heaven…

(H/T Instapundit)

Moe Lane

*I wouldn’t go with strict primogeniture; designating one family – preferably with a clean genetic history – to draw from for rulers should probably work out well enough in the short run.  But those are technical details.

#rsrh Obama meets Dalai Lama at White House…

and the ChiComs are upset about this.  You may safely assume from my use of the term ‘ChiComs’ that I am bearing up under the weight of their disapproval without suffering any visible strain.  Call me an old unreconstructed Cold Warrior if you like, but I think that if the Chinese government spent less time worrying about the movements of the exiled spiritual/temporal leader of one of its conquered territories and more time on turning the People’s Republic of China into something better than the kind of country that one associates with “People’s Republic” then life would be brighter all around.

However, I certainly hope that the Dalai Lama got to use the front door this time (H/T: Gateway Pundit)… what?  Of course I can hold a grudge.  I’m a blogger, remember?

[UPDATE]  There’s just something fun about pissing off a foreign Commie-lover. I note ‘foreign’ because, given that Marxism is intellectualism for stupid people and everything, you usually can’t rely on them having the minimum necessary brainpower to recognize when they’ve been insulted in a language not their own.

Hey, that’s what she said!

You may recall from last week that Ms. Carol Shea-Porter got herself in a bit of hot water over the following quote about the secret cabals out there trying to destroy our democracy, or something: “They’re in the halls of Congress everywhere, and it means, for example, that you sit on a committee and you say something about concern about Chinese influence or something, you don’t even know if in the next election, somehow or another, they manage to send some money to some group that now doesn’t even have to say where they got it.*”  This gem was from a ABC News article wherein the news group interviewed four politicians who had their heads handed to them in the last election, so as you can imagine, there was some bitterness involved.

Now, WMUR has decided to chime in on this, indicating that Ms. Shea-Porter** is attempting to ‘clarify’ the story, which was widely seen as at least implying that the former Congresswoman was blaming her election loss on rampaging Chinese hordes.  The claim is that Shea-Porter was speaking generally, and that she had not intended to suggest that said Chinese influence had had anything to do with her election.  This argument will probably work for anybody who thought that Ms. Shea-Porter was a shining example of Congressional majesty – which is to say, the class of people who are often impolitely designated as having ‘room temperature IQs.’  For the rest of us: read on. Continue reading Hey, that’s what she said!