US President Barack Obama’s visit to China was most notable for his hosts’ refusal to play his game. Nothing could have been more symbolically ludicrous and deflating for Obama and the dignity of the office of US president than speaking before a bunch of hand-picked university students taking part in a “town hall” address in Shanghai. Never mind that the students were mostly or all members of the Chinese Communist Party, that they asked vetted, even infantile, questions or that the students who sat behind Obama — and were thus visible to TV and online audiences — behaved as if they couldn’t understand a word.

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By Johnny Neihu 強尼內湖
I went kicking and screaming the whole way. But I went.

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Johnny goes viral
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By James Wang 王景弘
For the past three decades and up until his death on Nov. 12, James Lilley was one of the few people in US diplomatic circles that truly understood and cared for Taiwan’s interests.

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Since prisoners have a lot of time on their hands for card games, the hope is that they may recognize a face from the ‘unsolved’ murders card decks and provide the missing piece of information that could solve a crime
By Dan Barry
In the down time before another head count, two prisoners play cards. One inmate shuffles and the other flicks his hand, a mystical cutting of the deck. The dealt cards land on the lid of a garbage can used as a table, falling on top of one another, face down.

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By Kate Galbraith
The solicitations have been flooding people’s mailboxes lately: Pay a bit more on your electricity bill for 100 percent clean wind power. Or, the fliers say, buy “green power certificates” to offset your global warming emissions.

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