Trump on Meet the Press

Okay, a lot of people might hate me for this... but honestly whenever you have Trump in an interview, instead of clips and sound bytes, does he sound like Hitler or a crazy racist? No he doesn't. If he is racist, it is not more racist than the average rich white American male. In other words, not conscious racism, but just the subconscious norm. The difference is of course that he is vocal and doesn't care about what people think about what he says. He says what people think.

In fact most of his policies is a version of what we already do. Most of his criticisms about the wars we have been in, are pretty much what I have thought since College. Even when he says really crazy insensitive stuff, or seems out there or seems to contradict himself... he says, "It's called life"

As a political Science minor the scholarly term for it is incremental decision making.

He basically says, "Of course I'm not going to do exactly what I say I'm going to do. I have a plan but obviously you have to negotiate and change things and try to see what works best.

I'm not saying Trump is my idol... but yes I am going to vote for him and then cautiously watch because I am suspicious of ALL of our leaders. I voted for Obama twice. I liked him and I still liked him. It is difficult to tell how Trump would be in person as someone hanging out with you. There is no question that he would not consider himself to be your equal. And Obama really seems to make you feel that he does think so. But is that a trick of Charisma and leadership? Not sure.

In any case, Hillary Clinton certainly does NOT make you feel that way. She makes you feel lowly, even more so than Trump. It's because she had been in power or at least close to power for so long. Bernie Samders is better, but he will not negotiate. He believes in ONE truth and that's it and will push for that, This is consistent however it is not necessarily the best way to make decisions. A lot of Communists in China and probably Russia had very good intentions. They believed in what they were doing. Maybe they didn't want to kill people and a lot of them could not believe what just happened when what seemed like a fighting for the people suddenly became the death of all their friends, mass paranoia and stuff that people are currently trying to say Trump will cause.

Am I racist for voting for Trump? No I don't think so. Or at least I am not more racist than I would be if I were picking Hillary or Sanders or any other candidate. My main issue with Trump is that he seems to be a Climate Change denier and probably surrounded by Yes men right now. That's bad.
He doesn't like to hear criticism. But right now that might be because a lot of the criticism isn't genuine;y constructive.

Am I nervous?

Yeah sure. But let's look back in history and look at who actually started the Japanese internment camps.. who actually de facto banned groups of people (like Fujianese for instance) from immigrating here even when all the paperwork was proper and right.  A lot of times this happened under Democratic Presidents like FDR and Bill Clinton. Heroes of the Democratic party. I'm not a Republican or a Conservative or a Liberal. I don't love Ronald Reagan. There are a lot of problems with how he ran things too. Nobody ever points to Jimmy Carter as a hero. Everyone seems to hate him. But when you really look at what he did AFTER his Presidency when it no longer matters... hey he was the real deal. A genuinely good person trying to change the world.

People hate Nixon. And man he said some stuff that was really bad behind closed doors. But he was also very vocal for racial equality on his college campus when it wasn't popular to have that opinion. And he opened up China. And in the end he did a lot of good. He got caught doing bad and it was time for him to go... but to make him out to be some sort of villain in the grand scheme of things... I mean maybe he would have been horrible if he remained in power but he wasn't as bad as our culture makes him out to be. He is exactly what he was. A President who over stepped his bounds and had to go, but overall, did a pretty good job.

Some people hate Obama. He did all right. Not as good as the people who love him say. Not as badly as the people who hate him say.

What will Trump's America look like? Not all that different. You will see the President on all the Talk shows (Obama seemed to be the first standing President to be on Jay Leno or something like that right? Or even Youtube shows.) Trump will be on TV even more often probably. To be honest... Trump's America will not really be that different for the average American. Won't be much better, won't be much worse. I think it will be slightly better. Will he get re-elected or even elected in the first place? Not sure. Not sure about anything.

But America as a business will probably be run much better. We will only go to war if it is profitable.. which probably means we won't. I suspect we will just team up with Russia and China (something unheard of before) to take care of ISIS and get that high speed train built going right through all that territory. If that actually works, the Middle East could have a  slightly majority Chinese population much like Xin Jiang...and a lot of locals from that area may end up working in Europe or Asia. The U.S. will somehow profit from this monetarily but may swallow pride by taking a back seat in terms of power in the region. But business will boom at home. Lots of people will die.... but it won't be at U.S. hands, it will be Russia and China doing the killing. Trump will not call them out on human rights violations.. instead we will do business. The sounds so dirty but right now we are losing money and soldiers lives and people are blaming us for human rights violations. Trump said he would kill terrorists families. This sounds so bad. But de-facto we have killed groups and people on U.S. soil who were citizens and were just competition, able to start their own political party and work within the system.. not terrorist groups. So basically we have done worse already, and I don't think Trump would have say, had MLK killed or Huey Newton. You may point to protesters beating Black Lives Matter protesters. But look at that. Black Lives Matter (I support their cause) but it is a little less organized than the Civil Rights movement of the past. And the Black Panthers.. honestly I think Trump would have just made a deal. Because he doesn't care about "how does this look politically?" He cares about, "Can I make money off of this." Which ultimately produces a better result. Not the perfect result but a better one.

Maybe I'm completely wrong. Maybe he will be more of an asshole. I don't know. But for sure he will be an honest asshole. Not honest in terms of virtue. But I have a feeling that even people opposing him will end up feeling that they can work with him to hammer out a deal to benefit both sides.

Has he been greatly successful as businessman? He's "used the law" to cover his losses and he has said that. He is honest about the fact that the law benefits him and he has taken advantage of that.

If I met him and it ended up that despite me voting for him maybe he said some really denigrating thing to me.. .I would not be surprised. Maybe, like all the clips out there from his supporters, he would actually help me out and I would be like, "wow he isn't bad after all."

I don't know could go either way.

But I do think that out of the choices now. He is the best choice.

With Hillary we are going to war for idealistic reasons.

With Bernie Sanders we are also going to war for idealistic reasons. I'm talking about the Middle East, not class war fare.

With Trump, we will try to get the most money out of a situation and use are military as leverage for making that money. That sounds better to me.

Playing Dead

So I've been watching a ton of bjj videos including the old footage of Helio Gracie fighting in the 1930's and some of the later footage of no hold barred fights with a Karate school. People had mentioned it to me before and let's put it this way, where I wasn't convinced before, I am now convinced even though the world seems to have moved beyond the whole jujitsu is the Ultimate because so many strikers now win in the MMA.

I'm not convinced I would necessarily lose against  someone just because they do BJJ for 10 years or 6 months in a street fight (though I might) their answer would be of course "you will definitely lose and what you have learned is bs and is on of no use."

There are some aspects of positioning that I noticed and not BJJ practictioners have tried to shoot in and because of certain stances basically I even paused there and told them not to do that because their head was right there and my cup was right there. But again, this was someone who did not practice the art and know how to hide those vital areas etc.

But what I am convinced of now is the genius of Helio Gracie. He independently mastered, not only a way to fight, but a way to train. For instance, all of his or his children's students train in rolling, a way to train where the participants can practice every day without getting hurt... and when they fight they can pretty much fight the same way. Now there is something to be said for the fact that their strikes were a bit under developed. But they still won the fight. And developing strikes (as in boxing) has nothing to do with sparring and more to do with drills, which can be boring and children hate doing. Adults hate doing those basics too. Probably from a bjj perspective, that is not even a good use of time because they can win with an underdeveloped strike. And although developing a "death strike" with the hand takes so much practice... you can stab someone with a tool (let's not even say a knife yet) and that can easily be a death strike without training.

If you can achieve a dominant position to deliver this blow (or even better deliver it from a non dominant position) or just choke the person out... after this if you need to cut their head off (so this would go back to the original purpose of Japanese Samurai jiu-jitsu) it's really easy now. In fact you will probably hold the choke until they are dead. Or if you can ransom them you can make a bit of money.


Now we get to the fact that going to the ground is not always a good idea because in a real situation you want to be able to run. Let me get this straight... that is 100% where I was coming from before. But now I see things a little different. There are some situations when going to the ground is a GREAT idea. A one on one fight in a rice paddy?

No.


A mass shooting?

Okay so running is one option. But for some of those Mass shootings, I think the one I am thinking of was in Nairobi, one of the survivors said he put his friends blood on himself... and played dead.

Isn't that going to the ground?

In fact this is a classic move for survival both in human history and the animal kingdom.

If you read the Novel "Musashi" that is what (though a fictional account of the historical man) Musashi basically did on his first real battle. And real war is different than a one on one fight. If he had tried to run with a leg injury he would probably be dead.

So going to the ground... without training... is a real thing.

Now...you played dead... awww crap! Their standing over you. Is this a gun situation? or is it just one shooter or soldier by himself and he would like to prod you with a bayonet or perhaps rape you for fun? Maybe he wants to see what it's like to make a human head go squish under his boot. I don't know, I've never been in this situation. Maybe you really are just done for.

But there are actually some moves you can do.. and you are on the ground.

Now Kung Fu does have these moves yes. But if you only ever did them in a form and not with another body you will not be as good at them.

But if you did both, you have a better chance.

So I feel like Helio's genius was bringing back the ground game in a way that was not only practical fro a fight, but practical for training. Many kids have said to me that they learned better from sparring.

I put the gloves on them and had them strike me and honestly I DID go in and tackle them with no real technique. Because I am stronger, faster, more experienced, have better horse stance, I mean I am their Sifu.. I am older before that becomes a drawback....I taught them everything I know... and in the end it's like they are my own kids. How can I strike them with chuen pow cup even lightly?

I dare not to. Maybe a tap. Plus I wanted to show that their striking and stance was underdeveloped.

Helio Gracie developed a way to fight even if you are weaker and you are on your back. Are their drawbacks? Of course. I've really been wondering about that whole guard. I mean I had dismissed that position because you can punch the guy in the balls (in fact that was in Way of the Dragon because Bruce Lee wanted to say something about that position)

But again is someone is trying to get you with a Katana and they are wearing Armour.. I'm just saying that position is not just for cage matches.

And I thought about it as I ran through some moves.. This is a lot like "sleeping man" Kung Fu. In fact you can fight multiple attackers from the ground. Many systems from Silat to Impact Self defense have this theory. It is not crazy. It is also of course not a 100% type of thing. Nothing is.

But I'm really liking the whole, you practice this way (and don't hurt each other) and then you fight this way too. You should still develop strikes... but do you need to strike each other? In practice?

I mean the military is right. Because striking with a weapon, especially pulling a trigger, is a better way to spend time to kill than developing a hand strike. So you just have to work on position and accuracy.
Then in the field things do come up where you have to apprehend someone. So that's body positioning again.

Then there is just the whole, "I need something to do with my down time" and a lot of people really like the social aspect of rolling. It's fun because it is a game. I see in this in my son. He would rather lose at wrestling to his friend over and over, than be forced to do forms.

So for my Kung Fu to survive I have to adapt to this mind set.

Of course I will still do forms and I will still teach my kids forms (even if they don't want to learn them.) And I can see the danger here of the modern martial arts school where since the forms aren't practiced.. they look like crap and eventually fall away. But I can see many of the positions wheere certain striked or animal positioning for the forms.. would have worked better in those Jiu-Jitsu fights... for the Jiu Jitsu guy. Maybe they didn't want to kill the opponent or something, but maybe they also hadn't train that type of strike. After all a lot of the strikes in Kung Fu are strangely positioned, and then there is the Chi Shaking (for another post) In the end they will say (I don't need that I won anyway) But a lot of those strikes are.. for a human without training, Actually kind of common sense. Or rather, common nature, and it has been trained out of us. More on that another time.  

Learning new things

I read somewhere that no matter what age you stop learning, you start getting old. I realize that I did close my world off a bit when I went into the Kung Fu world. Not just with other martial arts, but also in terms of what I read and what I focused on. Even now, as I write books, it's all Kung Fu and this or Kung Fu and that. It's good to have a focus, but after I had kids and had to learn new things I realized it's important to always keep learning. First I started learning new things outside of Martial Arts, like Ballet and Music or what not. But recently I played some Jujitsu with a friend of mine... and liked it.

I'm old enough to not really want to be fighting other people to better myself. In fact the brief period of time I even considered this, I did not have good experiences. But learning new things, taking new classes, that sort of thing. Why not? I mean I haven't learned a new form in a long time. I have created a few, I have followed some Yoga out of a book and that was fun. But as I continue to meet new people with passions about what they do.. but in the martial arts and outside of the martial arts... I'm beginning to think.. why not pick up whatever I can? I mean when I was first learning Kung Fu I would meet a lot of older students who had studied for years (some martial art or another) but I was turned off by the fact that they had done so many systems mainly because they also forgot all of those things they learned. It depressed me that you would learn all these forms.... and then not remember them. I really wanted to make sure that didn't happen to me.

However, say, if I were to pick up a Hung Gar form now... the act of learning a new form would challenge my brain in a way that practicing Tiger Crane comes out of mountain... would not, because I already know that form.

If I learned a Wing Chun or Pak Mei form.... that would challenge my brain and my body in a different way. I would be new at these movements. I would basically suck at it.

And then going out of Kung Fu, if I started Jujitsu, or Kendo, or fencing, or Thai Boxing or whatever, I would not be good because I would be new. And honestly really trying to master this stuff would actually mess up my White Crane for a while (I know that from boxing) But if I just started picking it up, for fun.. I think it would be good for my brain and might inspire me. Also, inevitably students have requests to learn other stuff. So it's nice to have picked up a little bit just to give them.. like candy.

Sick?

Something was going around. But I don't usually interact with people so where could I have caught it? And then I remembered that after my little preschool class all those cute little children always want hugs and hi fives. In the past I had somehow avoided this. I mean it had never come up. But suddenly everyone want that attention from the teacher, like I am some sort of Rock Star and they are fans. So I figured why shouldn't I do this hi five thing? Which became hugs too.
Well I hope my aches are some sort of imaginary thing happening.

Well, despite low immune system.. I'm going to watch the Americans now.

Trump vs Hillary

If Trump wants to win, well he might win anyway, but the BEST choice for a Vice Presidential Running mate that he could ask for is Condoleeza Rice. I wonder if he's already talked to her. Would she say yes? When it really comes down to it, as much as everyone wants to say Trump is crazy, if you look at his policies versus our actual policies of the past.... he's not that crazy. He just says stuff people won't say. Compared to the other candidates he was actually dovish when it came to foreign policy. That includes the Democratic Candidates.

As for the whole border thing. The laws are what they are. I'm not crazy about what he says and getting people all frothed up and fired up. But if you are to judge candidates by how they campaign, he is the best campaigner we have seen in a long time. People call it evil... but it's just blunt and honest. I don't love it. I'm just saying is it actually different than what we already do?

I know a lot of my friends will say they will hate me if I say that I am voting for Trump. And I will go into why I actually am in another post.

But don't think "Oh Adam must hate immigrants now" or that "Adam must hate poor people."

I do not, And you may wonder why I continue to push for certain things locally while seemingly voting for someone who is against all that nationally.

The thing is, I have never tied myself down to one way of doing things. I am a "whatever works" type of guy.

There is one issue which I really am against Trump on, and that is his stance on the environment.

But again, I think that maybe he is just saying that to get his base all frothed up, and if not, the truth is that what we actually do and what politicians tend to say we will do are two different things.

Do I trust Trump? No.

Do I trust Bernie Sanders? Actually I do. But I think that the situation that will come out of Bernie Sanders being President will be more negative over all.

Do I trust Hillary Clinton.

Let me put it this way, it really doesn't matter. We have had a lot of her and I think that's enough. I never hated her. But she isn't campaigning well.

Condoleeza Rice, though I would never say that I loved her exactly, has never been accused of doing a bad job as Secretary of State. She is the obvious choice for Trump. She will guarantee him a win really, or at least neutralize the whole "Trump is racist" argument. If Trump is racist, it is simply the white privilege type of racism along with bluntness of speech and insensitivity. He is your typical Ugly American and in truth that really is who we are. But as Ugly as that Ugly American can be, all the good parts of America are still in there too.

I voted for Obama twice and I was not sad to do so. I do not think that Obama was a bad President so basically I am not your typical Trump supporter.  I am not anti-Muslim. I am not anti-Mexican. Most of the stuff Trump says he can do.. I actually don't believe he can do it. What I do believe is that in all the crappy situations we are in he will make the decisions that make the most sense from a business perspective, compromising and getting us the best bargain possible, even in a nasty situation.

Trump is basically that nasty Pau Pau that you send out to by stuff because she will Gong gai and gong gai when any decent person would have just stopped hours ago. Maybe you don't want to hang out with her, and you definitely don't want to go shopping with her. But did she bring home the good stuff for less money? Yes. See? Will Hillary or Bernie do that? No. Because they are an opportunist and an idealist.

 Trump is a realist. (Except on the environment.. but maybe he is just faking that)

The Star Wars Holiday

May the Fourth be with you.

It's funny to have almost an official Star Wars Holiday. In fact Star Wars is so big now that when Larry Wilmore had to explain a joke he was making about Donald Trump saying "Two Corinthians" he explained it in terms of someone talking to Star Wars fans about the Farce, when they should be saying the Force.

In other words, Star Wars is now what you use to explain religion... not the other way around. That's insane.

The same is true of Chi. A lot of times when talking about Chi you might say, it IS like the Force or... it's not like the Force, depending on what context you are talking about Chi. And that goes from Jedi Mind  Tricks and the whole concept of Young Jedi. It is more accessible than "Toh Dai" or disciple.

But when Star Wars first came out.. according to Mandy Chan now, a lot of people in Hong Kong were like, "They stole our idea about the Kung Fu Sifu disciple relationship!"

Many times I have actually explained chi saying, "It's not like the force. It's not like the force."

Because for me. Chi Gung was always something very real, physical and proven. Not something overly mysterious... well I mean it was like that after I started practicing it. When I first started of course I thought about it in terms of movies. Basically after I was able to feel some of this and do some martial techniques with it, I took the mystery out of it myself.

Not to say there wasn't a spiritual side to my Sifu's practice. But even he, having come from Communist China, was not as willing to show or even tell all that he believed openly.

But as I am going around Chinatown collecting more and more stories, I am starting to see that Chi really IS like the force. I mean there are stories from reliable people in recent time in Boston's Chinatown that talk about Chi in a way that goes beyond just circulating it within your body, and even goes beyond just circulating it out to another person. There is something bordering on spiritual. More like what you see in Kung Fu Panda 3. It's there.

But still I'm not going to pull out those stories ina a beginners class. Obviously I will write about it and discuss it on my blog, but I feel like that is different. It has gotten me to start wanting to look back into the Chi Gung aspect of my training. To focus more on it. I mean I haven't been completely neglecting it... but I haven't been striving to be able to achieve anything in a rigorous and disciplined practice either.

When I meditate by myself I believe in a lot of stuff. In a lot of strange things and phenomenon, that might cross right over into religion let alone vague spirituality. Of course there is that sense of mystery and the unknown. Maybe I should start applying that to some of my classes. The reason why I don't is... you know, I'm not sure. Why not start paying with these concepts from a scientific method type perspective? Let's try it.
I have been warned about some problems that could occur.. but I think those problems are no worse than what could happen on a soccer field or playing tag on the playground when you really think about it.

 May the Force be with me.

Annie Dookhan was a vigilante

I just saw a Tweet about some other chemist taking the drugs she was supposed to test and feeding her  drug habit and the tweet compared this new story with Annie Dookhan.


People love to hate on Annie Dookhan.

You know what though?

 Annie Dookhan was a Vigilante. In other words, she was more like Batman than the criminal they tried to make her out to be.

 She isn't a villain. She broke the law, yes. But was it for her own profit? No it was to put drug dealers in jail. Now everyone has to jump all over her, like, "But she put innocent people in jail."

Look. the state didn't want to spend money on chemists so the lab was understaffed and frankly, Annie Dookhan seemed to be the only one working. It turns out she was cheating. She was just returning the drugs and saying they were drugs without actually testing them because it was easier and it helped get the conviction quicker. Because here is how it would work.

I mean just think about it.

A person would be arrested carrying a substance that looked like drugs. She would return a a piece of paper that said, "Yep it's drugs" I guess without testing it.

Not testing the drugs was her crime.

People have done a lot worse than that. Would everyone have jumped all over her if she were a man? What if she were actually an officer on the street with a uniform and a gun instead of just a female chemist in the lab. She held a very important role in the wheels of the justice system... and she cut corners. But you she didn't shoot anyone. Not on purpose and not by accident. She just said, Yeah this white powder is drugs. If anything, she was lazy. But since she was the only one actually working... she was cutting corners the way Batman does. We don't jump all over Batman.

So anyway.. the cert comes back and the drug dealer pleads out. Because even if Annie didn't test the drugs... shoot THAT guy knew it was drugs. He was SELLING them. The only reason why it fell apart because I guess someone must have been carrying fake drugs and they were like, "Hold on... I know that wasn't really drugs." and the man behind the curtain is revealed.

So yes all those drug dealers can now go free. The papers said "Murderers will go free on the street! There will be Chaos!"

First of all there are ALWAYS murderers or potential murderers on the street. In fact you talk like murderers are a particular kind of person and not just a normal part of humanity. Serial killers yes.. And a lot of the murderers that get caught murdering, I guess. But a lot of murderers are people who happened to have committed murder. And these murderers that go free, were obviously not even convicted of murder... otherwise they would not go free. They were convicted of selling drugs.

Basically a bunch of drug dealers get a second chance. I mean they still had to serve two years or whatever. But now they go free. People got up in arms. "This will cost millions to re-try these cases.

Why are we re-trying these cases like we don't ALWAYS have new cases to try because there are ALWAYS people selling drugs, and there HAS always been people selling drugs since the creation of currency. These people caught a bad break when they got caught. And they caught a good break when they happen to fall into this category where they got off a years or decades early. Now, if they sell drugs again, they will be watched more carefully and they will go to jail again.

If they decide not to sell more drugs and adjust to become normal citizens after having only spent a few years in jail... oh wait isn't that sort of what the system is supposed to do? Woe to society if they readjust without serving their full term. Is it fair? Arguable. But it is what it is. It's not the most unfair thing that ever happened. It's not even necessarily a bad thing.

But it happened. Okay. Why is it that whenever a woman commits a crime like this. A cutting corners crime they are like, "She is the most horrible person ever." Again, she was sticking her neck out and taking a risk for the benefit of society to try and make the system flow more smoothly. Most of these cases plea out, and the only reason you wouldn't plea out is because you knew the substance you were carrying wasn't drugs... which means.. you were selling fake drugs. Which means in addition to being a drug dealer, you are a cheat. You're not innocent. You are just a criminal among criminals breaking unspoken laws among the dealer and buyer, scamming the buyer. So what that makes you better than a drug dealer? I don't think so.

I'm not saying she shouldn't be punished. But jail time seems harsh for what it was... I mean basically drug dealers went to jail (and then were released early) because of her. And I guess a few people caught with a drug like substance that they were trying to pawn off as drugs also went to jail for selling drugs... when their crime was selling fake drugs. So isn't just losing her job and maybe getting fined enough? I mean when people cut corners with evidence.... what is usually the punishment.

So when I see a tweet about a Chemist that was actually consuming drugs.. ie. stealing drugs from the STATE and using. Stealing from the State essentially, and that is compared to Annie Dookhan... that kind of pisses me off. Annie Dookhan broke the law. She served her time. That is justice in a way. But even if what she did was illegal and had to be punished, in my eyes she was a hero and then a scapegoat and now people like to drag her name through the mud even after she already served her time. How many people do you know that went to jail just to try and make Justice swift without any monetary compensation?

I mean you can't equate what she did with stuff I've heard from the 70's. Like they the chemist to say, "Nope it's flour" So hard core drug dealers who were well connected with the police wouldn't go to jail.

You know what else I heard went on in the 70's? They would kill people and give the guns to the police to handle it, to make it disappear. That was corruption. Was Annie Corrupt? No. She wasn't getting paid and she was doing the opposite. The final outcome when she got caught was that people were released early and some people went to jail who shouldn't have. (Again why do you have cash and a drug like substance that is not a drug? You are playing some sort of game on Halloween? I think not.)

Essentially she went to jail for trying to make the world better. Perhaps she was misguided. But she is no villain.