News
·2 min read

VP Harris Wipes Hand After Greeting South Korean President

May 23, 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The economic faith of the world is resting in the hands of South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and Taiwan’s TSMC. They are the only two companies in the world capable of producing advanced semiconductors that go into everything from F-35 Raptors, smartphones to automobiles.

Ford is projected to lose $2.5 billion due to unfinished vehicles while GM is projecting a $2 billion loss. The mere fact that two Asian-owned, Asian-controlled, Asian-operated conglomerates have outclassed the most diverse companies in the world is proof meritocracy counts in the end, not diversity.

During his visit to the United States, South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday, May 21. After months of begging from President Biden and Kamala Harris, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics have agreed to invest $17 billion in a new chip factory in the United States.

However, in an act that would have gotten a Republican VP in trouble, VP Harris seemed to be immune from CNN and MSNBC vitriol when she wiped her hand after shaking hands with President Moon Jae-in. The South Korean president’s visit was instrumental in alleviating America’s microchip shortage.

The move was not only disrespectful, it showed the VP’s subconscious racism toward President Moon. Some speculate since Asians hold the cards on microchips, they’re seen as “white adjacent” because success and technological leadership are “white attributes,” according to Lisa Ling.

Plus, basic Biology 101, assuming President Moon had COVID-19, you can’t wipe away a virus on your pants.

See also

Regardless of VP Kamala’s rude and racist move, South Korea agreed to further investments in the United States.

Asian conglomerates also lead in battery development with Japan’s Panasonic supplying Tesla’s battery system and now South Korea’s LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation have also agreed to invest $14 billion in the United States to ramp up EV battery production and keep up with demand.

The United States faces a predicament. TSMC and Samsung are currently investing and building multiple factories that will eventually match global demand. Should the United States spend $30 billion now and build their own factory, which will take years, and still be 10 years behind TSMC or should they just rely on Taiwan and South Korea?

Feature Image via FOX News

News
·2 min read

Group of Teens Terrorizing Businesses in Portland

May 22, 2021

PORTLAND, Oregon—Police are investigating a string of crimes that were most likely committed by the same group of teens in southeast Portland.

The Portland Police Bureau stated their 911 dispatch received multiple people who reported a series of robberies, thefts, and vandalism between the hours of 3:05 p.m. and 7:34 p.m. on Monday, May 17, according to FOX12 Oregon.

Four different neighborhoods were hit that day.

Police Timeline is as follows:

  • At approximately 3:05 p.m., the group entered a convenience store in the 9100 block of Southeast Division Street, spread out, stole items, and pushed an employee as they ran out.
  • At about 3:22 p.m., the group entered a restaurant in the 8700 block of Southeast Division, yelled at the staff to create a diversion while a person in the group stole the tip jar. The group left shortly after.
  • About 3:46 p.m., the group entered a salon in the 8200 block of Southeast Division Street and began throwing products from the shelves and tables tops to the floor. Some in the group went into the employees-only areas and stole property. At least one individual attempted to steal a purse from a customer before leaving with the group. The salon is owned by a sweet Vietnamese lady.
  • At about 4:15 p.m., the group surrounded a person parking their car in the 2700 block of 82nd Avenue and demanded money. One person from the group stole property from inside the car before they all ran off.
  • At about 4:50 p.m., the group surrounded a car as it drove into a parking lot in the 5200 block of Southeast 82nd Avenue. The driver stopped, and one of the individuals opened the driver’s door and pulled the driver out. The group got in and drove off with the car.
  • At about 7:34 p.m., the group was driving the stolen car in the area of Southeast 86th Avenue and Southeast Bush Street. They blocked the path of another car, causing it to stop. The group tried to get into the car, but the driver was able to drive off.

The suspects are described as one black female and four black males ranging from mid to late teens. Police are still unclear if they’re going to categorize the spree as “bias crimes” yet.

Investigators said they believe there may have been more victims who have not called in to make a report. Anyone with information can contact Detective Jeff Sharp at Jeff.Sharp@portlandoregon.gov or Detective Bob Boylan at Bob.Boylan@portlandoregon.gov.

Feature Screenshot via FOX12 Oregon

Entertainment
·1 min read

Meet The Linda Lindas!

May 22, 2021

The Los Angeles Public Library started off its AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islanders) Heritage Month on May 4 with a bang with a performance from a Los Angeles band called The Linda Lindas on “TEENtastic Tuesdays.”

However, it wasn’t until this week that their set went viral on social media when the LAPL posted their performance of “Racist Sexist Boy” to its social media accounts, according to Variety. Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello proclaiming the “Song of the day!” on Twitter also helped spread the word.

The Linda Lindas consisting of Mila, 10, Eloise, 13, Lucia, 14, and Bela, 16, describe themselves as embodying the spirit of original punk, power pop, and new wave (“but it’s still rock and roll to me”).

The girl band has already played with Best Coast, Money Mark, and L.A. punk legend Alice Bag. They were also handpicked by Bikini Kill to open one of their sets at the Hollywood Palladium in 2019, reports Variety.

The half-Asian and Latin band also wrote and performed an original song for “The Claudia Kishi Club,” a documentary about the power of “The Babysitter’s Club” character Claudia Kishi, one of the few Asian characters in American literature in the 80s and 90s.

The Linda Lindas’ Setlist

3:27 – Claudia Kishi

5:25 Missing You

7:50 – Never Say Never

10:41 – Monica

12:34 – Interview

30:53 – No Clue

33:47 – Racist Sexist Boy (?)

35:56 – Rebel Girl (Bikini Kill Cover)

38:39 – Big Mouth (The Muffs Cover)

Feature Screenshot via Los Angeles Public Library

News
·2 min read

Silicon Valley Councilwoman Branded Racist After Saying BLM Activist’s Texts Worried Her

May 21, 2021

SILICON VALLEY, California—Democratic city councilwoman Lynette Lee Eng is struggling with cancel culturists who’ve been harassing her and calling her a racist for months following a dispute with a Black Lives Matter activist.

Eng is a councilwoman in Los Altos and she was in a middle of an official Zoom meeting back on November 24, 2020, when she received a text message from a 22-yar-old activist named Kenan Moos. Apparently, Moos was complaining about how Eng would vote.

The councilwoman was asked to vote on a proposal that would remove two police resource officers from two high schools in the city and put a third party in charge of handling and processing complaints against the Los Altos Police Department. A police department that has 32 officers and has received a total of 1 use of force complaint in the last six years, and 15 other complaints in total, according to the Daily Mail.

Screenshot via The Daily Mail

Eng voted to remove one police resource officer at the request of students, however, she voted to abstain on moving police complaints to a third party because she wanted to know how much it would possibly cost the city—while her colleagues approved the measure.

Almost immediately, Eng received a text message from Kenan Moos, organizer of Justice Vanguard warning her: “Your name will be all over the papers” and saying “we know there are racists that supported you.”

The message was received during a live Zoom session and Eng immediately announced the context of the message to others. Although she never said Moos threatened her, she felt worried for her family’s safety, reports the Daily Mail.

In the weeks that followed, Moos, his family, and his supporters harassed Eng and repeatedly said she was racist because she made him out to be a threat and that his chances of getting killed by police increased.

“Councilmember Lee Eng, your false accusation has put a target on my back. Some in the community may think that I pose a threat to others. My odds of a negative interaction with police are already high.”

His mother, Toni Moos, joined in the fray.

“My husband and I were standing next to our son as he sent those texts….At no point in time did he ever threaten her safety or that of her family,’ she said. He then accused her of ‘criminalizing’ him.” 

According to the Daily Mail, Eng stated she now fears cancel culture will erode local politics and stop people from representing their constituents properly, because everyone’s too afraid to speak their minds.

“I am hesitant to speak out of course which is sad. This is going to change how I interact with my constituents,” Eng said.

She added that she doesn’t necessarily fear Moos nor did she think he was threatening her directly, but worried about what others might take from comments.

Images via Palo Alto Daily Post

Culture
·2 min read

Meet the Chief Engineer of the New All-Electric Ford F-150

May 21, 2021

Linda Zhang arrived in America as a third-grader knowing only the letters A through H, which she learned during her plane ride from China, according to The Exponent.

“I remember flying for the first time and also riding in a car for the first time, all on that trip,” 44-year-old Zhang of Canton, Michigan explained.

“Sitting in the back seat of that car that took me from Chicago O’Hare to West Lafayette (Indiana)—where my father taught as a (graduate” student at Purdue University…it was the coolest ride of my life. That car wasn’t ours. It was borrowed to pick us up,” she said. “It was not a luxury car. But I thought, ‘Wow, this is like a carriage.’ That was probably the first time I fell in love with the automobile and the America Dream,” Zhang stated to The Exponent.

Zhang spent the entire summer watching Sesame Street and Reading Rainbow. As a determined 8-year-old originally born in Jinan, China, she wanted to move past Mandarin and into English. By Christmas of that year, Zhang was fluent in her new language.

“My parents treated me like I could do anything,” she stated. “You are you and you can conquer anything if that’s what you want to do.”

Zhang’s passion for automobiles was compounded by her television show choices.

“In ‘Batman,’ the car did really cool things. In ‘Knight Rider,’ I really loved KITT,” the artificially intelligent car used to fight crime,” said Zhang. “And ‘MacGyver’ was all about problem-solving, finding creative solutions with engineering skills and applied physics.”

Fast-forward a few decades later, Zhang is now leading a team of hundreds of engineers designing an all-electric version of the bestselling pickup truck in America, the F-150. Although Japan’s Toyota Motors has the bestselling mid-size truck (Tacoma), SUV (Rav-4), sedan (Camry), compact (Corolla), and luxury brand (Lexus), they could never quite take the full-size pickup truck market from Ford.

The new all-electric F-150 is capable of towing 10 double-decker rail cars and 42 2019-model year F-150s, weighing more than 1 million pounds, according to The Exponent.

“Linda is the latest in a long line of chief engineers who have done extraordinary things to the truck. She did not parachute in. She’s been shepherding this project since it came out of the research lab. She’s been everywhere, every day overseeing this F-150,” stated Ford North America product communications manager, Mike Levine.

The truck took an estimated three years to develop since its inception.

Zhang is the daughter of an engineer and started off at the Ford College Graduate program at the age of 19 and has worked in manufacturing, finance, strategy and engineering, most recently on the Ford Escape, Kuga, Explorer and F-150. She earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, a master’s degree in computer engineering and an MBA, all from the University of Michigan.

Feature Image via Ford

News
·3 min read

DA Gascón Refuses to File Hate Crime Charges Against Asian Lyft Attacker

May 20, 2021

SOUTH EL MONTE, California—A Lyft driver sitting in his car at an ARCO gas station on Rosemead Blvd was beaten and robbed at gunpoint; the entire incident was captured on video.

67-year-old Paul Lao was refueling and washing his vehicle when a Latino man entered his rear passenger door and pointed a gun at him demanding he hand over his wallet on May 10, around 9 p.m.

The video shows the armed suspect stealing Lao’s smartphone and cash. According to Lao’s daughter-in-law, he had about $1,560 in his pocket at the time.

ARCO robbery footage

The suspect, now identified as 26-year-old Dandre Lorenz Powell of Downy was arrested on Tuesday, May 18 in Paramount with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service, according to KTLA5.

Dandre Lorenz Powell. Image via KTLA5

“This individual is a very very dangerous person, he has a long criminal history of violence,” Detective Sergeant Richard Lewis said during a news conference announcing the arrest Thursday. He called the attack “brazen” and “horrific.”

67-year-old Liao suffered facial trauma and was hospitalized. A GoFundMe account started on his behalf raised over $32,000 in less than a week and was eventually closed due to overwhelming support.

Powell has been charged with one count each of first-degree robbery, victimizing an elder individual in a violent crime and two counts of felon in possession of a firearm. His bail was increased to $2 million.

However, detectives who recommended Powell be charged with a hate crime, stated Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to file them.

According to a Recall George Gascon campaign, Powell should be facing his third strike and get 25-30 years in prison, but he will likely be released in about five years. Authorities stated Powell will be re-released from prison during his “peak” criminal years instead of being behind bars for a long time.

DA George Gascon. Image via Twitter

The Recall campaign stated:

“Since being elected, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon has abandoned crime victims and their families. Gascon has disregarded the rule of law and weakened lawful sentencing requirements for the most violent criminals, including murderers, armed robbers and rapists. George Gascon’s new policies treat career and repeat violent offenders as if they had never committed a crime, ignoring public safety laws approved by the people. Gascon has even reduced sentences on hate crimes, gun crimes, and gang crimes. On behalf of crime victims and their families and in the interest of public safety, we are urging Los Angeles voters to recall District Attorney George Gascon.”

  • DDA’s can’t go to parole hearings
  • No Life Without Parole ever on any case
  • No gun use allegation ever
  • $0 bail for Child Abuse and Domestic Violence
  • No enhancements or allegations at all, ever
  • No hate crime allegation (it’s now allowed)
  • No Great Bodily Injury, ever (it’s now allowed on certain cases)
  • Considers release all criminals after serving only 15 years (even for the most heinous murders)
  • No strikes, ever
  • All policies and directives are retroactive
  • Never files misdemeanor criminal threats, disturbing the peace, trespass, or resisting arrest, ever
  • Does not follow Marsy’s Law and do not notify victims before court hearings
  • Can’t ask for a body attachment for a witness or victim, ever, even in Domestic Violence cases
  • No gang allegation
  • No death penalty for any defendant regardless of the heinous circumstances of the crime
  • Additional allegation or prison time for people who traffic drugs (no additional time for large amounts of narcotics)

Feature Images via Instagram & KTLA5

News
·1 min read

Shoplifting Gang Steals $150,000 Worth of Handbags from Neiman Marcus

May 20, 2021

PALO ALTO, California—Proving once again the Bay Area is Gotham City without a Batman, police say a coordinated group of around 10 African-Americans stole more than $150,000 in handbags from the Neiman Marcus store at Stanford Shopping Center Wednesday afternoon.

Around 12:20 p.m. police received a second-hand report of a man with a gun inside the Neiman Marcus store located at the Stanford Shopping Center at 180 El Camino Real, according to KPIX5.

The 10 suspects, five males, and five females—entered the store and swiped 43 handbags, some bags were physically ripped off of security cables, shattering some glass in display cabinets, reports KPIX5.

The suspects then exited the store and fled in three vehicles before police arrived. Authorities believe at least two additional suspects were acting as getaway drivers but did not enter the store. Police believe witnesses thought shattering glass were gunshots when reports were coming in.

According to KPIX5, witnesses described the suspects as black males and females, all wearing face coverings and hooded items of clothing. The three vehicles were described as a dark blue Infiniti four-door sedan, a white Infiniti four-door sedan, and a white Ford Mustang.

Feature Screenshot via Palo Alto Police

News
·1 min read

Suspect Accused of Stealing Purses from Asian Women Arrested

May 20, 2021

SEATTLE, Washington—Police have arrested 26-year-old James Credit, the man suspected of stealing purses and bags from more than a dozen women in the Chinatown-International District, Rainier Valley, and Beacon Hill, according to SPD Blotter.

Over the course of six weeks, Credit approached his victims—most of them Asian women, from 40 to 80-years-old—near their vehicles, outside grocery stores, and grabbed their bags before fleeing in a vehicle.

On Tuesday, May 18, members of the Robbery Unity, Gun Violence Reduction Unit, Community Response Group, and US Marshals arrested Credit at a Renton car rental lot, reports SPD Blotter.

Authorities also recovered a loaded handgun from Credit—who is a convicted felon and unable to possess any type of firearm—and booked him into the King County Jail for multiple counts of theft as well as unlawful possession of a firearm.

Seattle Police Department’s Bias Crimes unit will also review the case, due to the fact Credit repeatedly targeted Asian victims.

Feature Image via Jonathan Choe KOMO News

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