Dance for your Renminbi, NBA

In contrast to the Kaepernick-free NFL, the National Basketball Association and its players are outspoken about pressing social issues. Unless it’s about pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, when it breaks like a cheap toy purchased on AliExpress.

The controversy erupted after Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets, one of the most popular U.S. basketball teams in China, appeared to support Hong Kong demonstrators in a tweet late Friday. While the message was deleted and both Morey and the National Basketball Association tried to distance themselves from it, the damage reverberated across both China and the U.S.


The NBA tried to limit the damage, saying in a statement that Morey’s comments were “regrettable.”


In the Chinese version of the statement, it added a further comment: “We are deeply disappointed about Morey’s inappropriate comment and he undoubtedly has hurt Chinese fans’ feelings severely.”

The NBA’s response echoed the cautious approach other companies have been taking in an effort not to offend China, but it immediately generated protests from U.S. politicians.

Cruz, a Texas Republican and longtime Rockets fan, tweeted that the NBA “is shamefully retreating” and said he was “proud” to see Morey’s original comment. Both Democratic presidential candidates from Texas also blasted the NBA, with Beto O’Rourke calling the apology “an embarrassment” and Julian Castro saying the U.S. can’t allow American citizens “to be bullied by an authoritarian government.”

Stand by for the inevitable Trump tweet about this, even though he’s done his own rolling over for China behind closed doors.

Flashback: Canada’s Cirque du Soleil boycotted North Carolina because of its homophobic “bathroom bill,” but kept performing in Russia and Dubai.

Chinese democracy endorsed

Between Rudy Giuliani’s babbling idiocy, Bill de Blasio running for President despite lower approval ratings than Trump in his deeply Democratic home state , and now this, I can only conclude that being mayor of New York City inevitably fries your brain.

China is literally carrying out a genocide at the moment, but they aren’t a dictatorship because they’re moving their coal-fired power plants further away from the cities or something.

There was a time not too long ago when I actually wanted Bloomberg to run for President of the United States. I knew he was a nanny-stater, but at least a competent nanny-stater. But this goes far beyond regulating the size of soft drinks you can buy.

The office of President is far too important and powerful to be occupied by someone who would praise China’s political system.

Oh, right.

Divorce gets ugly

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When Feng’s wife gave birth to a girl, he was convinced it could not be his as he believed their daughter would be as beautiful as her mother, so he concluded his wife must have been unfaithful. He insisted she tell him who the father was.

When a DNA test proved that the baby was his, the wife confessed she was originally rather ugly, but had spent $100,000 (P4 million) on cosmetic plastic surgery in South Korea before they were married. Feng filed for divorce citing “false pretenses.”

Unverified photos circulating in China do show a marked improvement in looks after the women went under the knife. Interestingly, no one has been able to track down a photograph of Feng himself. A pity as we could judge for ourselves if he really is the Mr. Oh So Good-Looking he thinks he is.

After the divorce, he then sued his ex-wife. He argued that she had conned him into thinking she was a beautiful woman.  It’s clearly a man’s world in China. Amazingly, the judge agreed with Feng’s argument and ordered his ex-wife to hand over $120,000 (P4.9 million) in compensation.

“I married my wife out of love, but as soon as we had our first daughter, we began having marital issues,” said Feng. “Our daughter was incredibly ugly, to the point where it horrified me.”