| Greetings, TicToc readers! We're connecting today's bits and pieces so you can see the bigger picture. Read on...  The NBA's no-win situation in China China's NBA outrage escalated Tuesday as state TV decided to halt broadcasts and suspend live streams of preseason games held in the country. While the NBA isn't the only company forced to toe China's line, the move represents a dramatic escalation of a political firestorm that began with a single, swiftly deleted tweet. Why it matters: Through decades of painstaking deal-making, the NBA has created a multibillion-dollar opportunity in China, the world's second-largest economy. How we got here: - In a now-deleted tweet, Houston Rockets' GM Daryl Morey tweeted an image of an umbrella in support of the Hong Kong protests.
- The Chinese Basketball Association, led by former Rockets star Yao Ming, said it "strongly disagreed" with Morey's remarks and would "suspend exchanges and cooperation with the team."
- Morey responded, tweeting he's "always appreciated the significant support" from Chinese fans and sponsors.
- The NBA said it respects China's history and culture and hopes "sports and the NBA can bridge cultural divides."
- Texas Sen. Ted Cruz interjected to support Morey and blast the NBA for "shamefully retreating," while Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai wrote an open letter to fans, in which he decried Morey's tweet and referred to Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests as a "separatist movement" and a "third-rail issue."
- A growing list of Chinese corporations suspended ties with the Houston Rockets, including Li Ning, Tencent, CCTV and Anta Sports.
- NBA Commissioner Adam Silver affirmed his support of Morey to "exercise his freedom of expression."
- China's state-run television announced it would not broadcast a slate of preseason NBA games to be played in the country this week. In a video, CCTV News anchor Kang Hui said, "Chinese Rockets fans are first Chinese. We love Chinese red more than Rockets red. Morey, this time you really fouled. If you foul, you have to pay the price."
- Silver echoed his earlier comments in a statement and at a press conference in Saitama, Japan, saying the league, "will not put itself in a position of regulating what players, employees and team owners say or will not say on these issues. We simply could not operate that way."
News from around the world In Ankara, Turkish officials said the country will go ahead with a military operation in northeastern Syria and won't bow to Trump's threats to "totally destroy and obliterate" the country's economy. In Oakland, California, utility giant PG&E is orchestrating the biggest planned blackout yet that would affect almost 800,000 customers in the Bay Area to keep power lines from sparking wildfires. In Quito, Ecuador, thousands of indigenous people clashed with security forces as anti-government protests continued a week after a sharp rise in fuel prices. In Hong Kong, Apple removed the Taiwanese flag emoji from some iPhones.  Highly quotable "Cannot be expected to participate." In a letter to Nancy Pelosi, the White House said it wouldn't cooperate with the impeachment probe. Earlier, Democrats accused the Trump administration of obstruction after the State Department blocked U.S. envoy to the EU Gordon Sondland, a key witness in the Ukraine scandal, from testifying to Congress. "Far stranger than we ever could have imagined." The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three scientists whose work exploring the origins of the universe means "our view of our place in the universe will never be the same again." "Malicious Captain Kangaroo." GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz slammed House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff over the "unfair process" surrounding the impeachment inquiry. $ignificant figures 58%. A majority of Americans now support the open impeachment inquiry into Trump, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll. 11. At least how many elephants plunged to their deaths when trying to reach a fallen calf at the bottom of a waterfall in Thailand. 4.2 million. Air pollution kills that many people each year, and leads to billions lost in medical expenses and missed work, according to the World Health Organization.  What's good Making physics fun. It's not lost on the purveyors of the world's most prestigious prizes that "The Big Bang Theory" has been teaching viewers for years that "our whole universe was in a hot, dense state, then nearly 14 billion years ago expansion started." That's why the awards ceremony for the Nobel physics prize began with a shoutout to the show for bringing the "world of science to laptops and living rooms around the world."  You made it this far... Now tell your friends to sign up here. Watch your inbox for our next newsletter tomorrow.
-Andrew Mach | 
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