Pam, Micah, and I were thumbing through YouTube this weekend when we came upon a video that played all the theme tunes and openings of popular 80s TV series.

Oh, those were the days when America was the undisputed best place on earth to live: no Scandinavian ifs, Swiss ands, or Australian buts.

When I hear those tunes, I don’t so much get misty-eyed as I sink into a lethargic melancholy remembering my unsurpassed youth.

No worries, pain, or grief. The worst I had as a child was a rare case of boredom.

I thought money grew on trees - and thanks to the Greenspan Fed, that was partially true. Merely owning a house in the New York Metropolitan Area gave everyone an economic bump, though we paid for that with higher consumer product prices.

In the short term, my parents also benefitted from the Reagan tax cuts, not knowing what hell they would unleash in Congress twenty years down the road.

We didn’t talk much about politics in those days because the difference between Democrats and Republicans was paper thin.

It was “How much more or less do you want to give to the welfare state?” That was about all the difference there was.

But now, there’s a chasm between not just the left and right wings but between the rulers and the ruled.

The APEC Conference in San Francisco has proven that.

San Francisco, 2008

The only time I ever visited San Francisco was in July 2008. I thought it was a magnificent place. It was the only time in my life I seriously looked back and thought I had made a mistake by going into banking and not technology.

From what I can remember, the streets were no dirtier than New York’s, and the general vibe of the place was energetic and lively.

The food was excellent, and the general geography of the city lent it a beauty rarely seen in metropolitan areas.

Like Sydney, Istanbul, and Venice, San Francisco benefits greatly from the surrounding seascape.

I hired a car and drove around the entire Bay Area, visiting Palo Alto and Stanford’s campus, among other things. I remember getting a sunburn on my left arm from driving. It surprised me, as the weather wasn’t all that hot. I finally understood what people told me about SF’s “microclimate.”

Since then, the city has descended into chaos. Crime is ludicrously high and not prosecuted. There’s poop all over the streets. Drug use is through the roof.

Or is it?

“Joetempkin” Villages

First, what’s a Potemkin Village?

Potemkin Villages are a facade. They're fake settlements built only to impress.

The term originates from a legend about Grigory Potemkin, a Russian minister who supposedly built impressive but hollow village fronts along the Dnieper River in the late 18th century. He did this to deceive Empress Catherine II during her visit to Crimea and Ukraine, making it seem like the area was more developed than it actually was.

The story might be more myth than reality, but it stuck because it's a great metaphor.

Today, we use "Potemkin Village" to describe any situation where someone's trying to make something look better or more successful than it really is, often to deceive onlookers or higher-ups.

It's all about appearances over substance, creating a shiny surface to cover up something less impressive underneath.

So I laughed heartily when I saw this tweet from Styxhexenhammer66:

Credit: @Styxhexenhammer666

How about this one?

Credit: @WizardSX0

Former Navy Seal Robert J. O’Neill chimed in:

Now is the time to visit San Francisco. The homeless were herded out like cattle and the streets are spit-shined. The communists are hosting communists.

@fightoracle tweeted:

Says it all right here folks. Trump was at UFC with Uncle Dana, Kid Rock and Tucker Carlson. Crooked Joe Biden in San Francisco wining and dining a communist dictator who unleashed the China virus on the world.

And finally, from Collin Rugg:

REPORT: The San Francisco homeless population has "miraculously" gone missing as President Biden & Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to meet in the liberal city.

Remarkable!

The typical drug addicts & homeless who wander the city like zombies have disappeared as 20,000 people are expected to visit San Francisco thanks to the APEC summit.

The New York Post says sources have told them that the homeless are being "herded" out to other areas of the city.

"They started clearing the tents earlier this week and there is definitely a lot more police presence," said one resident.

The resident also explained that the city appeared to have the capability to do this all along but they refused.

"They’ve cleared out the tents that were near the Moscone Center on Howard Street, which tells me the city had the capability to do this all along... We need a permanent solution."

Another resident said: "They are just essentially herding the problem around but offering no long-term solutions."

"I don’t know if these tents will be in physical view during APEC, but it will be virtually impossible to eliminate all of that."

Clown city for a clown president.

So they could’ve cleaned up the city long ago but chose not to… but you knew that already.

What gives?

Emperor Pooh Bear Calls the Shots

Here’s what I think happened.

China and the US find themselves on the opposite side of every divide in the world today.

• The G7 versus BRICS
• Ukraine versus Russia
• Israel versus Palestine

And of course…

• Taiwan versus China

This is a disaster… for both sides. So, some sort of compromise must be reached.

It’s a disaster for China because, like the Russians though they do, the Russians don’t have a big enough middle class to buy all those Chinese goods. And while Southeast Asia has picked up much of that slack, the Chinese still need America.

And America still needs China’s manufacturing capacity. Because as much as America would love the Mexicans to nearshore everything, Mexico just doesn’t have Chinese capacity.

And, well, Democrats are Commies these days anyway, and the Chinese can’t risk Trump getting back in.

It’s not so much that Trump can permanently hurt China, so much as hit China in a sweet spot that’ll paralyze them for years.

Hence, the meeting between Biden and Xi will give Biden the closure he needs to exit stage left and Gruesome Newsom the legitimacy he needs concerning foreign policy. (Opening the California border doesn’t quite qualify.)

Wrap Up

San Francisco got a makeover, so Gavin Newsom’s pearl city doesn’t look like shit on Chinese television.

President Xi needs a Biden successor he can deal with, and it looks like Newsom is the guy.

Remember when America used to “yea” or “nay” other country’s leaders? Well, welcome to the 21st century.

Have a great week!