The creator of ‘Crazy Rich Asians,’ Kevin Kwan, talks about rich and powerful Jewish families in the city state, and the Mossad connection in his books

By Taly Krupkin @ Haaretz.com, Aug. 30

NEW YORK – [....] “There has always been a Jewish community in Singapore,” says best-selling novelist Kevin Kwan, who recalls how Singapore boasted “many synagogues” when he was growing up in the 1970s. There are several “rich and powerful Jewish families in Singapore,” operating very quietly and behind-the-scenes today, he explains. “And in China, of course, there were very illustrious families – the Sassoon family, for example [aka the ‘Rothschilds of the East’] – that really helped found modern China,” he says.

“There are a few very prominent Jewish families that have made Asia their home and really succeeded in becoming respected in the community,” adds Kwan, whose family left Singapore for the United States in the early ’80s.

As Singapore has developed into a high-tech city state, new money has poured in. “Singapore has become such an international hub, especially for people of high net worth,” says Kwan. “There is a new international billionaire class of people who are moving to Singapore from all over the world. Singapore has become a tax haven – sort of the Switzerland of Asia,” [....]

By Ian Bogost @ TheAtlantic.com for the Oct. print issue

Comcast sent me 10 pizzas. This isn’t nice; it’s manipulative.

With a single scholarly article, Lina Khan, 29, has reframed decades of monopoly law.

By David Stretfield @ NYTimes.com, Sept. 7

[....] In early 2017, when she was an unknown law student, Ms. Khan published “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox” in the Yale Law Journal. Her argument went against a consensus in antitrust circles that dates back to the 1970s — the moment when regulation was redefined to focus on consumer welfare, which is to say price. Since Amazon is renowned for its cut-rate deals, it would seem safe from federal intervention.

Ms. Khan disagreed. Over 93 heavily footnoted pages, she presented the case that the company should not get a pass on anticompetitive behavior just because it makes customers happy. Once-robust monopoly laws have been marginalized, Ms. Khan wrote, and consequently Amazon is amassing structural power that lets it exert increasing control over many parts of the economy.

Amazon has so much data on so many customers, it is so willing to forgo profits, it is so aggressive and has so many advantages from its shipping and warehouse infrastructure that it exerts an influence much broader than its market share. It resembles the all-powerful railroads of the Progressive Era, Ms. Khan wrote: “The thousands of retailers and independent businesses that must ride Amazon’s rails to reach market are increasingly dependent on their biggest competitor.”

The paper got 146,255 hits, a runaway best-seller in the world of legal treatises. That popularity has rocked the antitrust establishment [....]

By Donnie O'Sullivan & Aaron Kessler @ CNN Tech, Sept. 8

Millions of Americans are looking forward to the return of Sunday NFL football this weekend. And somewhere in St. Petersburg, a group of Russian trolls likely is too.

The same Kremlin-linked group that posed as Americans on social media during the 2016 US presidential election has repeatedly exploited the controversy surrounding the NFL and players who have protested police brutality and racial injustice during the National Anthem, playing both sides in an effort to exacerbate divides in American society.

The debate is almost certainly an irresistible one for the Russians, given that it includes issues of race, patriotism, and national identity — topics the Russian trolls sought to exploit during the run-up to the election, and have continued to focus on in the two years since [....]

He's gaining ground because he's gaining attention ... even the NYT piece about Mick Mulvaney's comments re how they'll win, blah, blah headlines that "Ted Cruz Could Lose" (currently).  They quote Mulvaney:

Still, there is a path for Democrats to capture the Senate, and Mr. Mulvaney pointed to crucial Senate races in Texas and Florida as places where candidate quality could be decisive.

“There’s a very real possibility we will win a race for Senate in Florida and lose a race in Texas for Senate, O.K.?” Mr. Mulvaney said. “I don’t think it’s likely, but it’s a possibility. How likable is a candidate? That still counts.”

 Yes, that still counts - even in Texas, apparently.

I am reminded of some early scenes from Bertulocci's The Last Emporer​