China has become the worlds’ largest and most important movie market and Hollywood is anxious to cash in. Yet heavy-handed censorship from Chinese authorities reveals a harsh truth: the ideology promulgated by the Chinese Communist Party subverts bedrock Western ideals, including the rule of law, respect for private property and, above all, freedom of expression. Martha Bayles, writing in The Atlantic, scrutinizes the long arm of Chinese censorship and American filmmakers’ craven submission in the pursuit of profits. What ultimately is at stake, writes Bayles, is nothing less than artistic freedom.
Javier Milei Makes Fools of the “Experts”
As it began looking like Javier Milei might actually be elected President of Argentina, more than 100 leading international economists warned that this “far-right” political “wrecking ball” would “cause ‘devastation,’ spike inflation, expand poverty, and unemployment.” But as David Harsanyi relates in the Washington Examiner, Milei has tamed inflation, balanced the budget, shrunk the bureaucracy, deregulated the economy, driven down poverty and repaid billions in U.S. loans. And now, Harsanyi notes, Argentina is starting to boom.
