Daily Archives: December 1, 2021

The Biden White House will hold a Hanukkah partyon Wednesday. The story of the Jewish holiday"teaches us that even a little bit of light, wherever it is found, can dispel the darkness and illuminate a path forward,"President Biden said in a statement.

Yet the brightest light of this holiday seasoncame earlier this week. On Sunday night, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, spoke at the National Menorah lighting ceremony to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah. Emhoff is the first Jewish spouse of an American president or vice president, so his appearance meant far more than the usual ceremonial obligation political spouses are often asked to fulfill. Indeed, it underscored how the Biden White House represents a uniquely diverse administration in the history of the American presidency and how honoringEmhoff's Judaismprovides a powerful rebuke to resurfacingforces of intolerance in this country.

Jews have lived in North America since more than a century before the United States' founding, and American politicians, particularly presidents, have often hailed the nation's "Judeo-Christian tradition." Despite this long history, presidential observations of Hanukkah began only a little over 40 years ago. (White House Christmas celebrations, by contrast, date all the way back to 1800.)

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter became the first U.S. president to officially recognize the Festival of Lights when he walked to Washington's Lafayette Park and lit a 30-foot electronic menorah provided by a private Jewish group. The event didn't garner much attention only a few newspapers even reported on it at the time but it did set a new standard. Every president since Carter has participated in some ceremony or observation to commemorate the holiday.

It wasn't until 1989, though, that Hanukkah made it to the White House itself. That year, President George H.W. Bush played dreidel and sang Hanukkah songs with a group of children. He also displayed a menorah in the White House provided by the Synagogue Council of America. The next president, Bill Clinton, became the first to actually light a menorah in the White House. The tradition became an annual event during his presidency, none more infamous than the 1993 celebration where a six-year-old girl's ponytail brushed the menorah's flame and caught fire. Clinton quickly put it out with his hands.

It was President George W. Bush in 2001, however, who would hold the first official Hanukkah party in the White House. Before that, Clinton had invited Jewish leaders to his annual "holiday" parties, just one more example of how Hanukkah has been routinely subsumed in American life by the bigger Christmas season. But Bush, who frequently fused religion and politics in his presidency and also worked to build strong alliances between his administration and Jewish Americans, seemed to recognize that Hanukkah deserved its own separate occasion.

The events of 9/11 may have also shaped his decision that year. Just months after the terrorist attacks, Bush used the White House holiday celebrations to assert America's pluralist tradition and religious diversity as a source of national strength. Of the menorah that would be lit in the White House residence also a firstBush said itwas "a symbol that this house may be a temporary home for Laura and me, but it's the people's house, and it belongs to people of all faiths."

Of course, it is a house only Christian families have inhabited. That's why Emhoff's place in the Biden presidency matters so much. And in his short time as second gentleman, Emhoff haspublicly lived his Jewish faith. Last spring, he presided over the White House's first-ever Passover Seder. "Now this is a moment of many firsts," he rightly observed at the time, a nod to the multiple ways both he and his wife have made history. Recently, Emhoff announced he and Harris had affixed a mezuzah, a sacred object that marks the sanctity of a Jewish home, to the doorway of the vice presidential residence.

But this celebration of Hanukkah may be Emhoff's most significant contribution to presidential religioushistory. While a handful of recent presidents, vice presidents, and first ladies have dutifully recognized Hanukkah as a gesture of inclusion and belonging, Emhoff's actual observance of the holiday in the vice presidential residence powerfully demonstrates that Jews and other non-Christians belong at the center of American power instead of merely being its subjects. As Emhoff said at Sunday's menorah lighting, "Let us remember always that Jewish history is American history; our values, American values."

With rising antisemitism and an increase in hate crimes against Jews in recent years, that message is desperately needed. A recent study by the American Jewish Committee, which found one in four American Jews reported being the targets of antisemitism in the previous year, only underscores the urgency.

Having the first Jewish second gentleman following an administration whose president spoke in 2017 of "very fine people on both sides" of the antisemitic, white nationalist rally in Charlottesville won't heal the nation's deepest divisions or excise its worst religious prejudices. Still, it can shape history in meaningful ways. That much was apparent on Sunday night as Emhoff used his remarks at the menorah lighting to speak of the "hostility, violence, and discrimination" that threaten Jewish Americans' freedom and lives. "We must speak truth about this epidemic of hate," he said.

That unvarnished truth has rarely been a part of presidential observances of Hanukkah before. It's striking that Emhoff wants Americans to see the holiday not as an uncontroversial celebration of diversity and inclusion, as so many presidential administrations have.He spoke of it instead as an urgent call to fight the gathering darkness with Hanukkah's shining light.

Excerpt from:

The history and gravity of Hanukkah in the White House - The Week Magazine

Bornean communities locked into 2-million-hectare carbon deal they dont know about 9 Nov 2021, Mongabay

This was the headline Sabah woke up to on the morning of November 10th. Before the Mongabay story broke, I heard from Australian friends and allies as early as July that something was afoot. Forests, carbon, climate and communities are core to our collaborative work between civil society and government. I asked colleagues in government if they had any information but did not hear a clear response.

Over the weeks, I heard increasingly ominous whisperings. On 28 October, I received an email from international partners who had seen a Sabah deal claimed to be signed in August mentioned by external corporate entities in presentation materials. They were curious if I knew anything about it.

The materials were presented by Tierra Australia, Hoch Standard and Global Natural Capital (GNC) seemingly Australian, Singaporean and Malaysian entities. Here are two slides from the 43 pages I received:

A month later, Im still struggling to understand why and how this happened and why we had to learn about it from outside Sabah.

Much has been revealed since then. Weve now read numerous press articles, social media posts and reposts. Weve seen online videos of the home offices of our new partners and footage of Hoch Standards Corporate Advisor Stan Golokin representing Sabah at COP26 in Glasgow, explaining carbon. Weve read fact sheets and due diligence reports and realized that we dont know who Sabah has signed this deal with. And some of us attended a briefing where Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan and team mansplained the deal to the public and civil society, after the deal was made.

But we have not heard the truth.

I identify as a community member of Sabah. I care about what happens to this tanahair(homeland) we belong to, over the next 100 years and then 100 years beyond that and onwards. I worry about whether our future communities can have food and water, and can be safe, self-determined, and sovereign. I aspire to be a good ancestor.

I, like many people in Sabah, yearn for true leadership that I can trust. I have zero tolerance for vague, unintelligible platitudes and half-truths disguised as leadership. It is an insult to our intelligence.

When will we finally stop with messiah/savior politics? With leaders who only have one tune in their repertoire divide and rule with promises of wealth and whose approach to fighting Federal Patriarchy, nationalism and ketuanan (patronage) involves using the exact same rhetoric? I urge us to get out of this delusional and dysfunctional trance before we lose everything and ourselves with it.

With the British North Borneo Chartered Company/Hoch Standard/Tierra Australia, is history repeating itself? Are we not yet free or healed from our colonial and wartime histories? Are we still riddled with illusions of inferiority and such self-doubt that we will step away from responsibility and sovereignty again? And hand our power, our rights, to those who have no idea who we are and what tanahair means?

Has patronage politics disempowered us and debilitated our agency? How can we stand back while discourse and democracy are replaced by silence and blind loyalty to the lord (Tuan, Datuk, Tan Sri, Bos, etc.)?

The more our doors are closed, the less transparent our processes become, and the wider the division between us. The more divided we are, the more future-altering decisions are made for the majority by a disconnected few. The more this is normalized, the smaller and less human we become, and more corruption breeds.

Two million hectares is more than a quarter of Sabah, two million hectares of forests is more than half our forests, 100 years is about four generations, 200 years is double that.

This is big. So big and so long that Sabahans deserve and need information and time and a say. We do not want to be presented a gift of a done deal with bags of money (to perpetuate patronage politics); prior and open fact-sharing, communication and consultation is what we want and in fact demand from our leaders.

Many of us in the social and environmental justice and conservation fields have spent decades working on a range of issues with growing intersectionality. We have nurtured real and trusting relationships both on the ground in Sabah and out in the world. We sought and continue to seek political and societal will and ambition for an equitable, climate-resilient future for Sabah.

We collectively, and in collaboration with Sabahs civil service, have the confidence, capacities, expertise and partnerships necessary to build a home-grown, bottom-up process: a Sabah process. We do not require the unknown services of a Tierra Australia or the benevolence of a Hoch Standard to tell us who we are, what we have and how we need to manage it.

Is it possible to salvage this moment for Sabah?

Clean up, repent, learn. Pick ourselves up and build a self-governing, sovereign carbon future for Sabah.

I am speaking up in the absence of truth.

Cynthia Ong is founder and Chief Executive Facilitator of Land Empowerment Animals People (LEAP) in Sabah.

Related listening from Mongabays podcast: what good actually came from the COP26 climate talks despite its general failures, and what can concerned citizens do to stay engaged, effective and upbeat? Listen here to Bill McKibben and others:

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Is colonial history repeating itself with Sabah forest carbon deal? (commentary) - Mongabay.com

On November 29, 1961, Enos took his famous flight. The chimpanzee flew into space aboard one of the Mercury Atlas 5 rockets built by San Diegos Convair Division of General Dynamics. The Mercury spacecraft orbited earth twice and later splashed down in the Atlantic, where Enos was recovered.

The spaceflight was conducted as a practice run for the Mercury launch in February 1962, which would make John Glenn the first American human being to orbit Earth.

During the flight, engineers at General Dynamics-Astronautics set up an unofficial tracking tracking station on the roof of one of the Astronautics buildings here and monitored the heartbeat and respiration of the globe-circling space ape, and also recorded data on the Mercury capsules position in relation to Earth.

The day after Enos historic flight, the front page of the Union covered the story. And a reporter from the Evening Tribune sought a tongue-in-cheek reaction from a concerned local source fellow chimpanzees at the San Diego Zoo.

From The San Diego Union, Thursday Nov. 30, 1961:

Enos Recovered Safely; Trouble Cuts Flight Short

CAPE CANAVERAL, Nov. 29 ((UPI) American scientists rocketed a chimpanzee twice around the earth today in a crucial preliminary to manned orbital flight and deftly took him out of orbit to save his life after trouble broke out in the Mercury spacecraft.

Shortly afterward Astronaut John H. Glenn Jr., a Marine lieutenant colonel, was tagged by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to make Americas first manned orbital trip when scientists are convinced the Mercury-Atlas vehicle is ready. That had been expected in a few weeks.

From the Evening Tribune, Thursday, Nov. 30, 1961:

Most chimps at the San Diego Zoo were totally unprepared yesterday for the around-the-world flight of their famed kinsman, Enos

Cindy and Johnny were at the zoo hospital, nursing colds and indisposed.

The four big chimpanzees on Ape Mesa sulked in their cages, unaware that Enos was in orbit.

Zoo Chimps Cagey About Space Ride, report from the front page of the Evening Tribune, Thursday, Nov. 30, 1961.

(The Evening Tribune)

Lucy Receives Press

Lucy, the 4-year-old, was the only member of the zoos chimp colony well enough and happy enough to receive the press.

She first tried to eat the newspaper that carried headlines about Enos double orbit around the earth yesterday and his safe return.

Headlines Amaze

Then when the banner U.S. ORBITS CHIMP TWICE, BRINGS ANIMAL BACK ALIVE was brought into proper perspective, Lucy seemed amazed and impressed.

Asked for comment, Lucy rolled her lips about, showed her teeth, and said, cheep.

When told that orbiting Enos cost several million bananas, Lucy just scratched her tummy.

Dark Eyes Flash

how would you like to take the next rocket ride, the reporter asked.

A startled look came into Lucys dark eyes.

She leaped into her trainers arms and buried her head.

Then as the reporter turned to go, Lucy looked up, wiggled her lips and struck out her tongue.

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From the Archives: A chimpanzee made space history 60 years ago - The San Diego Union-Tribune

From time to time I am asked to visit local historical societies to help them identify artifacts in their collections. Its always fun seeing whats out there and learning from it. I have had the pleasure of seeing some amazing things on these visits. Back in the early summer, the Billerica Historical Society contacted me, and I went by on a Saturday morning for a visit. As I was about to leave, I saw a bullet struck board on the wall of their historic home. It clearly had musket ball holes in it based upon the study I have been working on, but when was it struck? There was no fighting during the American Revolution around Billerica. Was it taken from the Lexington area? Was it from the Siege of Boston or was it earlier?

This led to yet another research project. As I have written about before in my blogs, I am studying all the known bullet strikes from April 19, 1775, but this one intrigued me as it was probably a lot earlier. A check of the history of Billerica provided some information. It wasnt raided by Native Americans during King Philips War, but in 1695 it was. The raid took place on the north side of town and according to town records, fifteen were killed or taken.

I normally do newspaper searches to see if there are any tidbits that can be found there and sure enough in a Boston Journal article from August 16, 1895, there was an article which mentioned the 1695 raid as well as the board! While it isnt written for todays tastes it gives us some information. It is just two centuries ago today that the savage red men stole down upon the little settlement of Billerica and slaughtered 11 of her people and carried off four more. As I mentioned, the article isnt politically correct. It also states To make it more real a board from the Farmer Garrison of the town was brought forward. In this were four holes made by bullets of the Indians fully two centuries ago. As you can see, the board in the image also has four holes from a large bore musket. It also has a lot of age and has to be the one mentioned. The article also goes on in a more descriptive way to describe the scene Mr. Nason drew a most vivid word picture of the scene of two centuries ago, making it so real that one could almost see the scalped, tomahawked families rolling in their own blood at their own hearthstones.

While more research needs to be done, I dont doubt this is the 1695 board mentioned in the 1895 article and saved to remember the event. It may be the earliest American bullet-struck object I have ever seen.

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Collectibles: Forgotten History Hanging on the Wall - Cranston Herald

Ft. Pierre, S.D. (KELO) A massive project is underway in Ft. Pierre. Its a 90-foot mural with a mission. Community members want to share the citys story and thats not all.

The huge project will highlight Native Americans, buffalo, the paddle boats, ranchers and the fort, which all play a role in telling the story of the community.

Fort Pierres first downtown mural is starting to take shape.

Fort Pierre has such rich history that we just thought that it was important to highlight it and remind people, visitors and residents alike, said Gloria Hanson, Mayor of Fort Pierre.

People see it. I mean its a welcome sign is what it is to downtown and to Fort Pierre, said Dave Bonde, Executive Director of the Fort Pierre Development Program.

When its complete, each of these empty ovals will feature scenes from decades past.

It is inspiring others to want to make good changes in Fort Pierre. You know Fort Pierre is not different from any other city in the Midwest, even the big cities suffered from loss of their downtown when malls were built and retail moved to the malls and now its moving back and people want to live downtown and people want to have a lively downtown area so I think thats what its going to do, said Hanson said.

The mural is just the first step in some of the renovations coming to downtown Fort Pierre.

We never lost touch with the idea that we really wanted to bring downtown Fort Pierre back to life again. Weve got businesses that have jumped on that bandwagon and thanks to them were seeing that progress happen, said Bonde.

Updating the downtown area, and adding new features like this mural, could also impact the economic growth of the city.

Weve had people that have invested a lot of money in downtown, in the buildings, and they too want to see it grow. So were just looking for that continued growth from developers and investors that want to see life in downtown Fort Pierre, said Bonde.

The mural will be completed next summer and they are hoping to begin work other murals as well. The city says its goal is to transform the downtown area to look more like an old western town.

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90-foot mural will tell the history of Fort Pierre - KELOLAND.com

'Symbol of Progress' links iconic mill with Hopedale's history

HOPEDALE Linda Hixon has always had a deep and abiding connection to the Draper Corp.

I grew up in Hopedale and in my grandfathers generation, he and all six of his brothers worked at the Draper plant, she said.

For years, she has been collecting old photos of what might be called the "Draper Empire" for a history book she has wanted to write.

When the final remnants of the massive factorybegan coming down last year, she decided it was the perfect time to get it done.

The book, Symbol of Progress, was made from a collection of old photos, newspaper clippings and prose mostly written by Hixon. It was released earlier this fall and the Hopedale Women's History Project a nonprofit organization Hixonfounded and for which she serves aspresident is selling it on Amazon and the Little Red Shop Museum in Hopedale.

The bookwill also be available for sale during Hopedale's winter stroll event on Saturday. Proceeds will go toward supporting theHopedale Women's History Project future history projects.

A company town: For decades, Draper Corp. loomed over Hopedale

But "Symbol of Progress" is nowhere near the complete and definitive history of Draper Corp, Hixon said.

This is merely a look at the Draper companies and originally there were many over the years in photos and words, she wrote in the book's introduction of the book. The Draper family was proud of their accomplishments, and rightly so. Over the years, hundreds of photographs were taken of their buildings, their products, their worker housing and their workers,more images than could possibly fit a book of this length.

The story of the Draper family coming to Hopedale starts with the founding of Hopedale itself in 1842. Ebenezer Draper was among more than 20 people who joined the Rev. AdinBallou in creating a Christian commune society on about 258 acres of farmland on the outskirts of what was then part of Milford.

Photos: Demolition fast tracked at Draper Mill in Hopedale

To help make money for the community, Ebenezer Draper created a business based on his fathers patented self-acting loom temple technology.

In 1853, Draper's brother, George, came to town and helped expand the business to what it would go on to become the largest automatic loom maker in the world, Hixon said, and the dominant force of Hopedale. The company would go on to provide thousands of jobs, workforce housing and more.

Draper Corp. closed in 1980.

Hixon spent the past year gathering newspaper archives, visiting Hopdales history center inthe Little Red Shop Museum and scanning old documents and photos for the book.

What's Next?: Ideas for a new downtown Hopedale emerge from Draper complex rubble

She ended up leaving out more than she included, she said, adding she has enough information to write several books.

This is just the first, I hope, of many, Hixon said.

The next project will focus on Draper Corp. workers, she said.

Hixon said "it isa shame that the building couldnt be saved, but hopes the book can be an educational resource for anyoneinterested in learning more aboutDraper Corp. history and those who would like to reflect on the past.

Hopedale and Draper are totally intertwined, she said. "What Hopedale became and how it was molded was because of the Draper family.

Cesareo Contreras can be reached at 508-626-3957 orccontreras@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter@cesareo_r.

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'Symbol of Progress': New book depicts the link between the Draper Corp. and Hopedale - Milford Daily News

With the vision to make vehicle orders in the quickest and most efficient way, Manufacturing Global walks through the evolution of the just-in-time manufacturing method, created by Toyota.

At the end of World War II Japans primary objective was to rebuild its industry with western methodology in mind.

Gerhard Plenert, identified four challenges that occurred at this time:

Taking 30 years to develop, Toyota pioneered the just-in-time (JIT) method. The introduction of this method helped the automotive manufacturer to optimise their processes in response to these challenges to make their operations lean.

In 1973, Japan faced an oil shock; an economic and political crisis which emerged from export restrictions during the Middle East war.

This crisis coupled with Toyota sharing its Toyota Production System - including the JIT method - brought about a rise in organisations taking notice of the automotive manufacturers resilience.

Starting in 1977 though to 1980, articles in English began to emerge from Japan detailing the JIT method, which the US quickly began to adopt, as well as other western countries

In 1988, John Krafcik, CEO of Waymo, coined the term lean production in an MIT Sloan Management Review. Krafcik was using the term in reference to both Ford and Toyota production systems.

Rather than continuing to refer to the different paradigms as recent Fordism and TPS, I would like to introduce two new terms here - buffered and lean production systems.

Following its partnership with Toyota to build cars in the US, General Motors released its Global Manufacturing System.

Based on the Toyota Production System, General Motors system provided the company with flexible layouts and production processes designed so that all manufacturing facilities globally could build high-quality vehicles at a competitive cost.

With the outbreak of COVID-19, long and lean supply chains struggled with the market's volatility.

The COVID pandemic mercilessly exposed weak points in global supply chains and drummed up the perfect storm we now find ourselves in, said CIPS.

Concerns centred around the over-reliance on JIT are being raised. JIT works brilliantly under the right circumstances, and as such has been the cornerstone of cost-effective, lean sourcing methods for decades. But under exceptional circumstances, the risks increase and this model is often found wanting, added CIPS.

Could this then be the start of the end for JIT supply chain methods? Will organisations adopt a hybrid approach? Or will the industry bounce back and continue to use the method that has served them well before? Only time will tell...

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The history of just-in-time manufacturing - Manufacturing Global

The Great Hall of the People in Beijing. [Photo/IC]

Even before the Sixth Plenary Session of the Communist Party of China's 19th Central Committee had begun, some media outlets in the US had their takes at the ready.

Headlines blared with pronouncements about the historical resolution that would be discussed at the session. This, they declared, would be the moment in which President Xi Jinping cemented his leadership by enshrining himself into the country's history.

Such elementary analysis was to be expected from commentators who didn't even wait for the session to finish much less the publication of the full resolution before broadcasting their ad hoc reckonings far and wide.

Now that the 70-page document is available for all to read, we can draw our own conclusions without those self-proclaimed "experts" butting in, determined as they always are to force an interpretation based on their preconceived notions.

These readings, like their other reporting about China, are the product of decades of informal ideological conditioning. But dismissing them as miscreants with agendas, while accurate, is inadequate. In truth, we should pity them for lacking the theoretical literacy to properly grasp the resolution and what it represents: a survey of Chinese history through the lens of historical materialism.

That's a complicated phrase, one which may confuse the New York Times and Wall Street Journals of the world. As space is limited, I'll do my best to walk them through it. In his Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon, Karl Marx succinctly laid out the relationship between leaders and history: "Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past."

Historical materialists recognize this relationship not as a mantle of destiny, cast down from the sky by divine right, but a product of the times, which carry with them their own challenges and contradictions. Xi himself summarized this concept well in a speech from 2013: "Revolutionary leaders are not gods, but human beingsHistorical figures should be analyzed based on the conditions of the time and society they live in. We cannot simply attribute success in good times to individuals, nor can we attribute setbacks to individuals in times of adversity." The study of history, then, cannot be condensed to an "elect" of supernaturally appointed individuals; a broader, more scientific outlook must be deployed.

This is the difference between the Marxist conception of history which treats history as the movement of and relations between social and economic forces and individualistic notions of history as a succession of "great men". Though both models were formulated in the 19th century, it is the materialist conception of history which remains worthwhile for those who wish to actually understand the world around them. The bourgeois idealist conception of history, a blunt instrument designed to dilute complexity and attribute world-changing events to the whims of a few superior beings, was rightly tossed in the dustbin long ago.

So it was within a real historical framework, not the outdated methodology the Western media clings to, that this new resolution was written and approved during the most recent plenary session. The CPC knows the importance of periodically evaluating its own history and that of the country since its founding in 1921; this resolution is the third of its kind, following ones passed at the seventh plenary session of the Sixth Central Committee in 1945 and the sixth plenary session of the 11th Central Committee in 1981. Each has come at a key juncture in the CPC's 100-year journey the first, during the period of the new-democratic revolution; the second, the period of reform and opening-up; and the third in the "new era" designated by Xi at the 19th CPC National Congress in 2017.

Both earlier resolutions were written to address certain historical questions and clarify the Party's history as of the point of their drafting. Then as now, the capitalist press reduced them to a set of personality clashes; they were treated as nothing more than attempts by a CPC leader to justify their hold on power. Few if any took them at face value, as documents providing a blueprint for studying the Party's past to better inform its present and future. Although these resolutions announced their intentions openly, commentators were hell-bent on blundering their way into a "truer" reading as they combed through the text for hidden messages, like a magic eye painting or a Beatles record. To no one's great surprise, their readings inevitably conformed to the opinions they already held. Again, we must forgive them their trespasses. They lash out at phantoms because they are blind or blinded. But Marxists are not.

We know the mark of a good theory or historical framework is, above all, its usefulness in addressing real-world problems. "Any ideology is ineffective unless it is linked with objective realities, meets objectively existing needs and has been grasped by the masses of the people," Mao Zedong said in 1949. "We are historical materialists, opposed to historical idealism." Quite right. There is no better laboratory for a philosophy, or indeed a leader, than the material world.

In the case of Marxism, it's safe to say the experiment was a success. The working class's victory in the October Revolution vindicated Marxism as the prevailing theory and method for scientific socialists. Its salvoes were a clarion call that reverberated throughout the world, China included. If it was revolutionary practice that served as the crucible for Marxism-Leninism in the Soviet Union, the same can be said for Mao Zedong Thought in its adaptation of Marxism-Leninism to the practical conditions of China. And if the course of the Chinese revolution proved Mao was the right leader for the right time, then the same standard can and should be applied to all leaders of Marxist parties.

As Marx said in The German Ideology, "Circumstances make men just as much as men make circumstances." Xi's place in the Party's survey of history is less about a man singlehandedly creating his own circumstances than it is the demands of the era making a leader like Xi necessary. In his time, China has eradicated absolute poverty, set ambitious goals in the fight against climate change, beaten back a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic and stood up to the hegemony of the United States. Recent years have presented uniquely challenging circumstances, and Xi, the CPC and the Chinese people have proven themselves up to the task.

After 100 years of arduous struggle, it is only right to look back and take stock. "If we do not clarify the history of the Party and the path it has taken in history," Mao said in 1942, "we will not be able to do things better." That's the purpose of the resolution to access, analyze and move forward with renewed vigor.

Unfortunately, that's also something cynics a world away can't possibly comprehend. But don't blame them. It's not their fault no one gave them the tools for the job.

The author is a US writer with China Daily. The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.

If you have a specific expertise and would like to contribute to China Daily, please contact us at opinion@chinadaily.com.cn , and comment@chinadaily.com.cn

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How some US media got China's history resolution - and everything else - wrong - Chinadaily USA

In his best performance of the regular season to date, the two-time All-Star center Nikola Vucevic was huge for the Chicago Bulls in a home win at the United Center on the night of Nov. 29 in a convincing double-digit win over the Charlotte Hornets. Vucevic gave the Bulls a near spotless offensive outing in a 133-119 over the Hornets on Nov. 29.

Vucevic also helped the Bulls post their largest total number of points in a single game in the regular to date in this win over the Hornets.

In this win over the Hornets, Vucevic registered a team and season-high 30 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, no steals, and two blocks. And he shot 12-of-19 from the field, was perfect on six attempts from beyond the arc, and didnt have any attempts from the free-throw line.

Going a perfect 6-of-6 from beyond the arc in this game helped Vucevic to make some history in the process. He joined a group that only includes veteran point guard Kemba Walker in terms of players in NBA history that have racked up at least 30 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists while not missing on at least five attempts from beyond the arc.

Vucevic is also the only player in NBA history to register at least 30 points, a dozen rebounds, and two blocks, in a single game while not missing on at least five attempts from beyond the arc. This really highlights the two-way impact that Vucevic was able to make in this big win for the Bulls.

With this sparkling performance from Vucevic, he was able to register his best shooting night of the season so far. It was also good for his best game score since early last season with the Orlando Magic.

Its easy to see why this was such a big night for Vucevic. If the Bulls are going to get this type of play out of their veteran star big man moving forward, this team is going to be extremely difficult to beat in the weeks and months ahead.

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Nikola Vucevic makes history in Bulls win over the Hornets - Pippen Ain't Easy

I didnt think there would ever be a time I found someone who beat Bobby Bonilla for the greatest contract in sports, but here we are. Oklahoma fans are really going through it with Lincoln Riley bailing for Southern California, and bless their hearts, but my God, did Lincoln put USC through the ringer on his way out the door.

Feast your eyes on this.

Yes, we dont know for sure that this is Rileys contract, but I need to move forward under the assumption that his genius knows no bounds, and this is how it was all structured. So, first, the money obviously its ridiculous. We dont know the length of the deal, but its safe to assume Riley will eclipse they $9.7 million per year that Nick Saban makes at Alabama.

Immediately out of the gate hes the highest paid coach in college football. This might be enough for some people, but not Lincoln Riley my dear friends not at all. The beauty is that Riley ensured his transition from Oklahoma is easy as possible for everyone involved.

USC is buying his houses at a damn markup, because of course they are, and that means the Riley family doesnt need to mess around trying to sell their property, which is a sucky experience. You know what else is annoying? Finding a new home. No matter, USC is buying that for him too and its SIX MILLION DOLLARS.

Then theres that final point, which the family should abuse the hell out of non-stop. Having 24/7 access to a private jet basically means every family vacation is stress-free, requires almost no organization, and can be arranged at the drop of a hat. Simply beautiful. I dont care if Im being paid $110M, Im having my family fly everywhere, all the time, just for the fun of it.

Heck, Im using my prodigious salary to hire some long-lost cousin named Ted to become my airborne Doordash. Say Im feeling like a good pizza, which lets be fair, isnt easy to find in L.A. No matter, Im sending my cousin to New York to buy a pie, and bring it home for dinner. Fresh sushi? Down to San Diego you go, random cousin. Oh man, I feel like some gumbo plane awaits, Ted, youre heading to New Orleans.

What Riley has done is not only taken USC to the cleaners financially, but made his entire life as wonderful as possible on the way. Im obsessed with this contract.

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Lincoln Rileys USC contract might be the greatest in sports history - SB Nation