Mengzi has both sides covered: he recognises we have both good and bad in us. He emphasises the good, and tells us to cultivate the good, but he knows there are elements of inherent badness in us.

Seems that the PRC has neither the capability nor intention to do much more than issue anodyne statements and send a bit of military and economic aid to Iran. Not much of a player.

David Brophy responds tempestmag.org/2026/04/dism...

There, we’ve finally settled it: the Pope is not Catholic.

Just so. As with Confucius if we don’t have a textual reference back to him, an interpretation is pretty shaky.

Question:
Did Jesus ever expound a theory of just war? Not St Augustine, but Jesus himself as recorded in the New Testament?
I’m thinking not.

Napoli night

It’s always funny when conservatives try to be cool with the kids when, by definition, conservatism is not cool.

Hard to see a Magyar-type figure emerging from within Trump regime. Too much sycophancy.

Waiting for Trump to demand to choose Bishops.

Stay as far away as possible from Trumpist idiocy.

Got to believe that if Orban doesn’t try to still thwart this outcome, he will skedaddle to Moscow.
Wonder why he is conceding so quickly. Perhaps armed forces told him they wouldn’t fight it?

What will Trump regime learn from Orban’s electoral defeat?
Intervene with force before voting starts?

Everyone has always said he’s a loser. Overrated.

What Hungary demonstrates: defeating authoritarianism electorally is all about turn out.

Very good.
But is this the end of Orban’s response?

So Orban has not disrupted the actual voting process. That suggests interference will be attempted at the counting stage.

Xi is not Putin. He's much more prudent and generally risk averse. US has much more force in the region and would likely dominate any escalation.
To be clear: I think Trump is a bumbler and the US has no strategy. But in the current circumstances PRC will stear clear.

My guess is that in this case PRC ship would yield. Xi would not want an actual exchange of fire.

China takes note.

Yes. And for those who might wander over to Twitter, this thread provides a list of the sources they simply ignore:

For all of the insistent bloviating about MAGA and the like, the Trumpist monumental arch just screams France envy.

Things getting edgy over at the other place.

Perhaps we shouldn’t over analyze this (though of course we will) but he is slightly leaning away from her. He feels awkward, unsure?

It’s worse: AI slop.

Postliberals learning an obvious lesson that has eluded their shallow, ahistorical sophistries: allowing powerholders to rule unconstrained, even when promised they will pursue the "good," opens the way for corruption, abuse of power, and depravity.

Will Monthly Review retract?
They should.

How did Trump’s lackeys think that it would be a shrewd political move to invoke Avignon to the representative of a sitting pope?
Extraordinarily stupid.

This

now, now Dr. Gow. Everyone will be polite 😆