2021: Taking stock, and looking ahead...

2021: Another eventful year...that I've tuned out.

Where to begin...

Covid

It's year-two of Covid-19. Infection caseload and death tolls rose and fell with second-wave, third-wave etc until media seems to stop numbering it, and simply refer it as "another surge" which might as well. Evolved through 2020, covid the virus has mutated like a petulant child, giving us the Delta variant, and then the Omicron variant. 

When Omicron variant starts showing up in South Africa, and countries (including US) impose travel Ban from South Africa, no one bats an eyelid or complains about it. Yes, that's the right thing to do and it has to be done. There is nothing "racist" about it. When covid the virus speaks, you listen and act. In that sense, it's a good thing. Remember in early 2020 when Trump first imposed the travel ban, and China complained that the act was "racist?" Well, according to the CCP logic, China is the most racist of them all, imposing border closure and travel ban whenever it gets the whiff of covid cases. 

It's also a miracle that two highly effective mRNA vaccines (Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna) are widely available now for anyone who wants it (well, at least in developed countries). There is even an oral pill for covid. What more can mere mortals wish for in a miracle?

And yet, that's not enough for religious-right groups. Nay, that's decidedly not the miracle of their choosing. They want their rights (hence no mandate will suffix), freedom, and they want their money (from government) even if they reject economic relief bills. I have to say, the amount of self-loathing and hypocrisy of these people is really quite astounding. After some two years of covid, after more than 1.8m people have died from it, after effective vaccines are now available, after enough government support to families are given, I've really had enough of any more whining and complaints, not just from the religious-conservative-right but from the far-left-progressive-left. I'd say, if your employer mandates vaccine and you refuse it then you can choose to work somewhere else; if you refuse the vaccine and get sick with it then you are absolutely free to die from it too. No one is stopping them. In fact, I think they should just...DIE.  The world population is exploding so much that it's not a bad thing to have one less petulant mouth to feed. It might sound harsh, but it's absolutely true.

I have stopped discussing about anything covid within family circles as well. The discussion/argument is really pointless. If after some two years and mountain of scientific data, and they still can't be convinced or make up their minds, then I don't think they ever will.

To each their own. I rest my case.

Politics

With the clear majority win by Biden in the 2020 election, one would have thought the matter is settled. Given a sore loser like Trump, things are never settled...not in his mind anyways.

So, instead of quietly retreating to his ever-shrinking rabbit hole in Florida, he schemes and plots to stay in power, even to the extent of inciting the Jan 6th Insurrection on Capitol Hill. The images of armed militia storming Capitol Hill - the pinnacle of US government and power - were both jarring and scary. If this had been in some third-world country like Somalia, no one would give a rat. But this is US of A. How could it ever be allowed to happen?

The Congress inquest in the aftermath has since exposed much of its cumulation. A multitude of GOP lawmakers were actively working with Trump circles, in cahoots with private militia groups, to coordinating and plotting to force the government's hands, even threatening Mike Pence (Trump's own VP) to stop the certifying of the election result. Thankfully there were still a few men left in the GOP ranks who have the half decency left in their bones to not comply with Trump's threat. 

Meantime, lawsuits after lawsuits, each of them more frivolous than the last, from Trump's cronies keep coming, even if all of them got shut down by layers upon layers in the judiciary, all the way to the SCOTUS. From my vantage point, at this point, the only thing that will shut them down, is for them to just DIE as a result of covid. That's the process of natural selection at work. Yet, hypocrites like Trump won't be one of those. He might push falsehood, misinformation, and disinformation, but he'll be the first in line to take the goddamn vaccine. He might incite others to storm Capitol Hill and refuse the vaccine/face masks, but you'll never catch him doing any dirty work. Guys like Trump, are too much a coward to do any deeds. (Remember Dick Cheney who was so trigger-happy to send military troops to start a war? Well, he - much like George W Bush - was another coward who dodged military draft back in the days. GOP should be renamed as COP with a big C for Cowards.)

Yet, more than 40% of US voters (those GOP blowhards) are still solidly behind a con-job like Trump. THIS is the saddest part of the story. Trump is but a symptom of the malaise that these group of voters exhibit. It is thus that I have stopped reading any (and all) stories about Trump. Social media is mostly just junk and mindless videos. Why bother reading such a loser when the most business success that he's ever had, is to declare bankruptcy so that he could get out of debt that he owes? 

China and CCP

The annexation of Hong Kong by CCP is complete. In just two years, CCP has managed to wipe away all that Hong Kong was famous for: Its freedom. Its civil servants and police force used to be highly regarded. No more. As it turns out, they are all just a bunch of kiss-arse and boot-lickers.

It's incredibly ironic to see CCP twist the term Rule of Law. Now that CCP is in charge, it's free to dictate what is in the law, it's free to decide who sits in the legislature that mouth absolute support to only CCP's agenda, and it has free rein on enforcing only the laws that suits its purpose. In fact, CCP only needs one law, which is National Security Law (NSL). All the tear-down is done in the name of NSL. Independent mass media, journalists, and anyone who dares to paint even the slightest hint of bad light on China, they get shut down, arrested and thrown to jail, all for the crime of violating NSL. You would wonder what a 12-year-old student mouthing a four-letter support of Hong Kong (in general) could do in violation of NSL and gets arrested and jailed. The ultimate crime is, the child is not brain-washed enough. There is absolutely no logic or sense in that. BUT, that's exactly how CCP wants it. CCP can do whatever it wants, however way it wants it, and no one can say a fucking word about it. 

The West might mouth some weakly-worded rebuttal, but ultimately they still want to do business with China, and CCP knows it. THIS is their secret weapon. This is also why for whatever outrage that CCP did in South China Sea, no one is doing a damn thing about it. Now that Xi Jinping has secured the office for life for himself, he can simply bid his time, wait for a more "friendly" (or easily bent) politicians in each Western government and even in Taiwan, and then Xi will pick them off, one by one. In short, he's playing the long game, and sadly he seems to be having the upper hand.

Hong Kong seems like a lost cause now. Xinjiang is not even on anyone's radar in any meaningful way. Taiwan is the next frontier. Now that CCP knows that it can no longer use the façade of One-Country-Two-System to bait Taiwan to bent its knees, I wouldn't be surprised if CCP would stage a surprise flash military attack on Taiwan. No country (not even US) has the appetite to start a ground war with China, and CCP will secure this juicy pork of Taiwan (particularly with its chip design and production that China needs sorely).

I really pray for Taiwan.

Australia learns its lesson the hard way, allowing its economy to become so dependent on the China trade that it suffers the hard blow when China punishes it for stepping out of line by criticizing China on covid. This is one silver lining of covid, in showing the world how the interdependence of world supply chain, and the over-reliance on China (both as a market and as a supplier), can be a perilous path to continue.

So far, Biden seems to have learnt the lesson, and kept up the pressure on China (and not rolling back the tariff on Chinese imports). Biden is actually recruiting allies, beefing up Five Eyes, and Quads, as a containment strategy to check the CCP aggression. But, China is no longer the weakling of old, it's buying it minions in so many other weak nations in the world (in Africa, Middle East, South America, and Eastern Europe, while teaming up with Russia). The one silver lining from the awful Trump presidency, is his stance against China that garners support across the board, even the US farmers who bare the brunt in the reduced exports to China. 

The question now, does Biden have the backbone to stand firm and stand tall for long? I'm not so sure.

Covid Economy

There is so much absurdity in this covid economy, I don't know where to begin. There is absolutely no logic to support the meme stock trading (like GameStop, AMC) that has no basis in reality or fundamentals. It's all just a tulip mania waiting to pop. Much like the stupid GOP blowhards (who buy in to the Trump horseshit about election fraud and vaccine fake news), these meme stocks pushers are mostly young men with a lot of free cash suddenly pushed on them by the federal stimulus checks, but with not much of a brain, courtesy to Biden's covid relief bill. 

Same goes with the sudden rise (that will surely fall at some point) with most SPAC listings. 

This year has also seen the cryptocoins seemingly going "mainstream." Or, has it? There is still no true purpose of most BS cryptocoins like Dogecoins. Just because some stupid money is pumping (who likely dumping once you jump in) doesn't make it a "viable investment." Much like those who choose to rather die than to take an effective vaccine to guard against covid, they will die and the world won't miss a beat. For those who lose their shirts in cryptos and SPAC and meme stocks, no one will shed a tear for them in the end.

NFT though, is a different matter. It does serve a purpose to allow a meaningful for owners of intellectual properties to sell that ownership using NFT, although whether it really "means" something, it's entirely up to your interpretation. Just because you can prove ownership of something abstract or ephemeral, that doesn't change the nature of the underlying collateral, even if you are the proven "owner" of it. Who cares if you are the owner of some sand castle, proven with NFT, when the sand castle is already washed away by the water? 

On a macro level, I'm getting so tired of the back-and-forth about the Build Back Better Bill that Biden tries to ramp through, cheering on by the far-lefts. While I understand the more noble goals to act on climate change and address inequity, Joe Manchin is right to challenge the price tag. Democrats are used to complain about GOP being the one-trick-pony of tax cuts and more tax cuts, they themselves are locked in this myopic view that the only way to fix inequity is to give people social welfare, and more social welfare. It's not uncommon to hear Dems complaining about GOP diehards who are recipients of Dems' largesse acting against their own best interest by rejecting Dems. There is some truth in that, with Exhibit A being Manchin (himself coming from WV that is one of the poorest states in US, yet rejecting the BBB Bill). What Dems liberals (mostly progressives from urban enclaves like AOC) fail to recognize, is the mentality of their rural folks who might be poor, but they don't want just handouts. What they want, is good jobs. If Dems can't deliver that, then no amount of free cash is going to help buy their votes.

Thankfully, the Infrastructure Bill was split out and passed by Congress with flying colors. Everyone agrees that infrastructures in US desperately need upgrades. It's a good thing that Manchin was able to get this Bill separated out from the chafe of the BBB Bill. I do have confidence that Pete Buttigieg will see it through.

Speaking of Buttigieg, it reminds of the rather useless Kamala Harris. She is the Exhibit A of a pseudo affirmative-action candidate who got picked (as VP) to fill the checkbox of, yep she's (half) black, yep she's a woman, yep she's minority racial group. She "looks good on paper," but one year on, she has achieved nothing. When she's given a portfolio (eg. border migrant crisis) that seems too intractable to be resolved with news headlines for her to gloat about, she runs from it. When she gets less news headlines than cabinet members (as Buttigieg gets nods from both sides of the aisles for building consensus for the Infrastructure Bill), she instead goes to state and talks about infrastructure too (which isn't her portfolio). And then she turns around and complains that White House doesn't have her back and defend her when she does stupid or useless things or has negative reports (like staff exodus from her own team). All I hear, is a whiny baby. And Dems keep giving her a pass, for being a woman, or a black, or a trailblazer. In short, affirmative action will get you in the door, but it will only get you so far, and affirmative action doesn't guarantee you success or same outcome if you can't perform.

As to the migrant border crisis, the immediate rollback of the Stay-In-Mexico policy by Biden was one of the stupidest things he could have done. Trump has done the dirty groundwork for him and Biden should have utilized it (much like the tough stance against China which Biden lets stay). By rolling it back and now trying to reinstate it, Mexico is no longer compliant. This is the kind of stupid back-and-forths by Biden, pushed by the far-lefts, that irks me endlessly. Biden tries to be the Mr. Nice Guy, but an effective leader requires far more just "being nice."

The way it's going, Nancy Pelosi will lose the 2022 Midterms, and if Harris runs in 2024, Dems will lose White House too. (Yes, GOP has been laying the groundwork of enough negative press coverage for Harris, but it's Harris who walks straight into it.) I'm quite certain of it.

On a Personal Note...

Now I know how being an empty-nester feels like. Even my mentality is shifting. I no longer feels the urgent need to get to work. Maybe I'm gearing up for retirement. Curiously I don't feel the keen interest to travel to new places anymore. The border closures by various countries due to covid might feel more constricting at times, but there is no real hardship on me. 

I've even cut down my workload and find more interests in home-cooking. Even grocery shopping brings me renewed vigor.

Covid also brings sharper focus on the need on estate planning and taxes. I was rather angry when I realize that I had to pay so much taxes for 2020. (Yes, the drastic cut in SALT has a lot to do with it too.) While I was hard at work, the news kept bombarding me with all the free cash and federal stimulus payments that Washington is sending to seemingly EVERYONE. I keep asking myself why I'm working so hard paying so much taxes, seemingly treading water in-situ, while all the taxes go to fund others in chasing stupid things like meme stocks and SPAC. This is all while inflation is shooting up - way up - a rarity in more than 30 years. The long term prognosis for USD and trajectory of the national budget deficit are decidedly not good. If all the free-money handouts are made permanent by the BBB Act, the future generations will be left holding the bag to pay for all these.

And while I understand the initial hardship of low-waged workers during early days of covid when no vaccine was available yet, that is no longer true anymore. So, now if I hear one more person mouthing the word "I Am Scared Of Covid," yet refusing to take the vaccine, refusing to go to work, and INSISTING the government continue paying them free cash because "I Am Poor." Sorry, but that just doesn't cut it anymore. THAT is not an argument for "being poor," but rather, it's an excuse for "being lazy." I don't want my hard-earned tax dollars to fund lazy people doing nothing, or to stupid people doing stupid things. The use of Covid as a trojan horse to ramp through the dramatic expansion of a welfare state is getting increasingly tiresome.

With the interest rate at such record low, I'd be a fool not to refinance the mortgages. I've come to realize that the reduced interests I've saved, plus the reduced taxes (due to my cutting down on workload) actually amounts to more than half of my reduced income.  All told, I'm not much worse off by working less (and less stress), and paying less taxes. Factoring in the likely possibility that Dems far-lefts like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and AOC could successfully push for higher taxes, which would mean I'd be paying even more taxes for keeping the high workload, it in effect doesn't pay to work at all. And so, when politicians and media talking-heads puzzle over about the Great Resignation trend, I am the Exhibit A that they should be looking at.

The lesson learnt is, the country could have squeezed productivity out of me (as a taxpayer), but I choose to work less because I don't want to pay that much taxes anymore (to fund someone else's lifestyle choice). This is decidedly not a good outcome for the country as a whole. If there is something that the Democrats should learn from their BBB Bill push, this is one taxpayer (one who is liberal-learning socially but conservative-leaning economically) telling the Dems, they'll very likely lose my vote in 2022 and 2024.

2020: Taking stock, and looking ahead...

2020: What an eventful year. 

If there is indeed something called Black Swan events, they would have looked to 2020. 

No one could have foreseen an epidemic like covid-19 to becoming a worldwide pandemic in 2020, with more than 1.8m death, out of reported infection cases of 82mso far. I became aware of covid-19 when the news started circulating in China and Hong Kong in Nov/Dec 2019. People starting panic-buying face masks, hand sanitizer, toilet papers, food, emptying out shelves in supermarkets. The issue was still considered "local" and scarcely anyone outside of those areas paid much attention to it. Familes started accelerating their plans to send their kids out of Hong Kong and China. If ever there is something called a "peacetime war," it would have looked like this. 

China always does everything with a sledgehammer, not only in suppressing any news of covid-19 infections, but also criticism on the government's handling of the epidemic within its own border. People were jailed (for reporting the news, or just raising concerns), news and social media were muffled. Wuhan - the place where covid-19 was originated - was suddenly put into lockdown. For a city of 11m people, the heavy-handed approach was highly effective. People were locked inside their own homes, with doors chained from the outside to prevent them from getting in/out. 

And then, infection cases started showing up in Europe (Italy, Spain, elsewhere, and then UK) when finally in Jan 2020, infection started showing up in US. Covid-19 has suddenly become a useful political weapon for Trump to blame everything on China (rightly or wrongly). When Trump announced the travel ban from China into US in late Jan, it was billed as racist and discriminatory. Now, one year on, it is used as the first tool of almost all governments and countries to curb international travel (and spread of covid-19). Idiotic as he is, Trump has stumbled onto something that is much more meaningful than he truly realized. 

I followed all the covid news closely. After some six months into it, I begin to tune out. There's so much repetition. Borders have to be closed, economic activities have to be shut down, there's much suffering (mostly economic but medical as well), no one can provide a more conclusive overview of where the medical research has been, White House has totally abdicated the leadership (worse yet, Trump is actively UNDERLMINING the efforts to make things better, with so much junk and fake news coming from his filthy mouth). Yet, I can't believe people took him seriously when he said maybe people can inject bleach in themselves or use ultraviolet light on themselves to rid the virus from their body. I mean, seriously? I thus don't give a flying fuck when news came out that he was infected. I was only hoping that he should die sooner (given his ripe age of 70s), yet the idiot lived. There is saying that cockroaches are the hardest to kill, I can certainly see much truth in it.

There's much ado about federal stimulus assistance to prop up the economy. Trump never helped much, yet every time when he signed the bill (eg. CARES Act) into law, even without doing anything (in fact he did much to undermine the efforts), he loudly took credits for what others (eg. Democrats in Congress who did all the pushing) had done. What a fucking useless peacock. 

Perhaps not so curiously, covid-19 only amplifies the widening inequality in society. When retail shops are falling (and closing) like flies, when people who live hands-to-mouth are getting desperate (losing their jobs, livelihood, potentially getting evicted), stock market is flying high. 2020 is also a banner year for IPO, and rookie retail traders are crowing about stock trading gains using Robinhood. (I still don't see what's so special about Robinhood as a brokerage.) But when the federal and state governments are stuffing money into people's pocket, regardless of whether they need it or not, there'll likely be tons of money wasted along the way. 

Internationally, WHO is missing in action. Much like White House leading from behind, the credibility of organizations like WHO and agencies like CDC has been thrashed, thanks to Trump. I'm not sure how long it'll take for them to rebuild their reputation. 

Now that vaccines are out (thanks to Pfizer and Moderna, among others), I surely hope that the curious case of this 2020 pandemic will come to past. That being said, I wouldn't take the vaccines from China or Russia, even if someone pays me. How could anyone take it seriously, for China to start vaccinating people when it doesn't even have the clinical trial data to back up its claim? 

Amidst all these hoopla, my life is curiously serene and "normal." I still work from home (as I've always been for the past 18+ years). Wearing face masks is perhaps the only thing that I've done extra. (I always washed hands anyways, though I'm washing hands a few more times now.) I could not have done anything any differently now than I used to be doing, with or without covid. This is perhaps the main reason I'm tuning out all the covid news. I've heard enough. 

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And then, of course, there is the US election. As if Trump isn't enough reasons to make this election more consequential than any other, covid has forced so many rules change and consumer behavior. Suddenly, everyone is working/learning remotely. (In the years past, telecommuting has only been confined to the lucky few.) Suddenly everything has to be done with social distancing. Mail-in ballots are in, voting in-person is out. 

I've become so tired of the two extreme ends of the political spectrum, with Trump cheering on the far-right to disregard the government that Trump himself should've been leading, and far-left progressives like AOC and Bernie Sanders bashing everything as "not enough." No one gives Joe Biden enough credits for being a "known quantity," so much so that he was able to win this election by a wide margin and impressive fund raised, all without all campaigning or fundraising. Obama didn't even help Biden much throughout 2019, and it was only in the final couple of weeks before Nov 2019 that Obama came out swinging for Biden when it's not even needed. Obama, in short, is only interested in maintaining his legacy, rather than helping Biden. As it goes, if Biden has lost the election, it would have been a voter repudiation of Obama's policy. As it turns out, this election is really what voters doesn't want (Trump), rather than what they do want. To be sure, I don't think anyone wants to go back to the good old days. Big trade deals like TPP (championed by Obama but killed by Trump) or NAFTA (championed by Bill Clinton but reneg'ed by Trump) are no longer in vogue since they are really predicated on the backs of the working class. Yet, this will only push the rest of the world into the arms of China who continues to push for this type of big trade deals, given that China (being No.2 in world economy) has become sufficiently large enough to make the access to its domestic market indispensable. 

The Nov election came and went. With the exception of the 2000 election (between Bush v Gore), no one could have imagined a scenario when election results will get challenged every step of the way. Trump and his cronies threw up so many nonsensical and frivolous lawsuits that are nothing more than a joke. Yet, here we are, less than one month before inauguration, after all 50 states have certified their election results (rendering the casting of the electoral votes all but a formality), this symbolic step suddenly becomes yet another roadblock for Trump challenge the reality. This is all while so many of Trump's appointees in courts up and down the judiciary (all the way to SCOTUS) have refuted his claims that have no supporting facts or evidence. 

It is thus that I've been ignoring all these news as well. It's just inconsequential, mere white noise from Trump. He can start his own reality show to do that, but not in my very real world. I have also stopped reading all those news about Trump doing this or that idiotic things (eg. his whining about fashion magazines not putting his wife on their covers often enough). Trump, in short, is just old news. 

Still, Trump continues to weaken the US civic establishment, granting pardon to all those who lied and cheated for him. THIS is something that needs to be reined in, for all future presidents. 

About the only thing that Trump is still doing meaningful work, is the signing of the laws that curb the spread of China's powers (banning Huawei from 5G rollout, banning CCP officials that are linked to suppression in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, boosting support to Taiwan, in particular). I sure hope Biden is not naive enough to think that US can "negotiate" its way with China and make CCP more civil. Has CCP had that inclination, it can roll back its aggression in the South China Sea, which I doubt will ever happen. The world is seeing China's aggression as it is. The Five Eyes are banning together, with Japan, India, and South Korea in tow. Yet, the trade deal with China that EU unanimously agreed to this week only shows how weak EU really is. China is going break EU's back, one member country at a time. 

Looking at Biden's administration lineup, it looks like the tougher stance against China will stand. The only question is, will Biden stand tall? Or, will he fold? 

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Brexit is finally done, four years in the making. All the scary talks, all the huffing-and-puffing, all the posturing, it all comes down to fishing rights (in the UK territorial waters). The UK parliament finally approved the EU deal, less than a day before the no-deal deadline happens on 12/31/2020. 

Things won't be as convenient, or easy, or straightforward. There'll be less trade. People will need visa (as it was in decades past) to work or travel. But that's hardly the end of the world that economists and politicians had made it out to be, all those talks just feel like "whiny babies" to me. I'd say, Get Over It, The Deal Is Done. 

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The curtain is finally falling in Hong Kong. There is no longer any more pretense about the One-Country-Two-Systems, no more No-Change-For-50-Years (from 1997). It's all just a facade, a mirage that wasn't meant to be. China has pushed through the National Security Law in Hong Kong, started arresting opponents like Jimmy Lai, threatening all those protesters in exile, even putting up scary talks like banning people from leaving Hong Kong using BNO. 

Ultimately China doesn't give a damn about anyone leaving Hong Kong (as long as they don't take their money with them). CCP simply wants everyone to kowtow to its whim. China thinks that it can buy allegiance with its money and economic power, even to the extent of demanding public gratitude from European countries when China "donated" PPE (personal protective equipments) in the early days of covid, and the chinese vaccine to third-world countries (who can't afford to get their hands on the Pfizer or Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccines, effectively turning themselves into the beta-testers for China's vaccine in "live" clinical trial). Put it another way, EVERYTHING from China comes with tha string attachd. It's a faustian bargain that sooner or later, dues will have to be paid. 

It is for this exact reason why China will NEVER be the true leader that CCP so desperately wants to be, it is also why China's "soft power" is so damn weak, no matter how much money it's amassed. 

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On a more personal note, there are changes too. My parent has passed away (unrelated to covid). The extended families had originally planned to have big gathering, but was forced to cancel due to border closure of covid, robbing us of the one last chance to meet. The only silver lining, if one has to be found, is that there was no suffering. My mother had lived a long and full life, she had said more than once that she feared no death, her passing would have been what she had wanted. I do admire her religious faith that has sustained her all these years. I do have some faith but am mostly agnostic to religion, though I doubt if I could ever attain that kind of unquestionable faith as she had. 

My health scare last year has subsided, though my mindset has shifted. I'm increasingly less interested in doing the work at work, then to do something else. On the subconscious level, I know that I'm mentally preparing for retirement, even though I haven't found the next interest/hobby that I'd like to do yet. 2021 looks set to be another year of my soul-searching.

Oh, I've recently bought a FitBit (Inspire 2), and love it. With the health data, I've committed to do more physical exercise some more. It also reminds me to drink more water too (which I'm consistently lagging). Given the the food details (calories and macronutrients allocation), I can't bear myself to eat junk food anymore, particularly on those days when my calories burnt is also lagging behind the intake. This is decidedly a good thing which I plan to keep going. 

On the end of Game of Thrones...

I finally published this journal that I wrote last year...

The Game of Thrones (GoT) series on HBO, with its series finale, was finally over. After all the ups and downs in eight years, the ending was bittersweet. I usually like to read the books first before watching the adaptions on big screens or small. But since it's taking George R.R. Martin forever to come out with the books, the HBO TV series is running ahead of it, I'll have to make do. And with screenplay of the HBO show at times diverges quite significantly from the book, perhaps it shouldn't even matter since it's like two parallel universe.

A lot of people are angry about the finale, particularly of how Daenerys the Dragon Queen has devolved from being a slave-liberator to mass murderer, but I don't find it that farfetched, particularly given how the House of Targaryen seems plagued with insanity (all the inbreeding might have something to do with it). It might have been nice, to see Jon Snow joining force with Daenerys and rule the Seven Kingdom as the wise king/queen, though knowing their Aunt/Nephew relationship, it still feels rather problematic. Yes, Daenerys is probably better off dead.

And then there is the issue of her dragon which is never meant to be tamed. Even Daenerys had stayed and ruled in King's Landing, what would happen to Drogo (her most powerful and surviving dragon)? It'll probably end up in chains, living in dungeons, I'd think, which is not a very pleasant prospect. Yes, Drogo is better off living in some faraway land, taking Daenerys' body and memory with it.

It's a bittersweet but fitting ending for Jon Snow too, that he still ends up going back to The Wall and the north. Sansa has grown to becoming Queen of the North, Arya going off to her own adventure as No One, Bran The Broken ends up being the King of the Six Kingdoms, and the the kingdom becoming a republic (!!). Come to think of it, it can't get more liberal than that, though I much doubt that George R.R. Martin would wrap up his book with such a politically correct ending.

Everyone and everything seems to tie up quite neatly, though there are always some unsatisfying loose ends to me. Of all the Stark children, how could Rickon be so inconsequential? Of all their respective direwolf, how could they just disappear (Nymeria, in particular) so readily? One would have hoped that if Arya is going off, Nymeria should come back to her side. The only one that seems to have stayed true, is Ghost. I would really have loved to see Nymeria going by Arya's side, as Ghost does to Jon.

As to the others, the death of Cersei and Jaime Lannister is rather expected. The cunning of Tyrion has sustained him through good times and bad. But it's a bit politically correct to have almost all the good guys left in the finale to rise to the top. It's also a bit jarring, to see Jaime deflowering Brienne (as if he's doing her a favor) before going back to Cersei.

And then there is the Night King. There's been so much talking up of the Night King, his menace to the kingdom of man for thousands of years, yet the finale is like hurrying it all up before the curtain falls which is a bit of letdown.

It's been a long journey, and GoT is a fun ride. Development of the characters is great, particularly the evolving and growing of the numerous strong female characters which is rare, even in today's climate. I can only wish that there are more magical fantasy world like those from GRRM.

2019: Taking stock, and looking ahead...

I'm slacking off in upkeeping my journal, even for the year-end review and a look-back at all the momentous events this past year. Mental fatigue of too much news (and noise) will do that to you. But, let's get this done.

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I always read the year-end recap from last year before writing the wrap-up for the year. Quite a lot has happened, but sadly to say, so much remains the same.

On the economic front, it's tumultuous and steady-as-she-goes, all at once. Domestic economic is going strong, even though the agriculture sector is bearing most of the brunt from the Agriculture sector suffers in US trade war with China with China that Trump has stared. Not surprisingly, the rural sector is a hardy bunch and ardent Trump supporters (for the most part), and they seem to have the grit to hold out for longer. It is instead the urban sectors, the liberal folks who worry about the suffering of the farming sector that they advocate against - or at least "caution" - the trade war.

Economists close ranks and all advocate against the trade war. But by and large, most Americans agree that China needs to be checked. China - and Russia too - has become blazen in espionage (including commercial and military), and hyper-aggressive in military manuveauring. Case in point: China aggression in South China Sea out of nothing in international waters, and unilaterally redrawing territorial waters with Nine-Dash Line which cuts into the waters of neighboring countries.

Response from the rest of the world on all these aggression was moot, unfortunately. There was UN complaint, there was Tribunal ruling on China aggression, but that was three years ago, and no one can seem to stop what China is doing. If this had been in the pre-WWII days, it would have been called appeasement. In modern days, as China has risen to become the No.2 in world economy, with its increasing economic clout (both as an increasingly important markets for the world, and as a vital financial backer to infrastructure projects that third world countries have come to rely on, even to their own long term peril), no one dares to speak up. With US being the No.1 economy (for now), US seems to be the only one who can afford to say no to China.

I'm not a fan of Trump. In fact I utterly despise this guy. (No, he's not qualified to be a president at all in every single aspect.) Yet, he has been the only guy who has the unpredictable and volatile temperament to start a trade war with China, and can roil up his GOP base to rally support for it. The timing of it, is prudential (for the Hong Kong protests). God does work in His own mysterious ways.

Personally I do believe that China's aggression urgently needs to be checked. If it means a fucking trade war, if it means lower GDP, so be it.

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Speaking of economic pain and lower GOP, it brings to mind the bruhaha of Brexit. There's so much scary talks since the referendum was passed three years ago. Economists - much like their universal disapproval of the US trade war - uniformly gave their thumbs down. There was talk of armageddon and collapse in economy (it didn't happen). When pocketbook issues did not seem sufficient to scare the Brits shitless, scare turned to border issues of Northern Ireland that maybe The Troubles in Northern Ireland could be reignited (I doubt it would).

There's a lot of talks about how Boris Johnson mirrors Donald Trump, in terms of temperament, melodrama, nativism-leaning). That much is true. Incidentally they were both able to push through an agenda (that half of the country despises) at a time when they both shoveled a female peer aside: Trump defeated Hillary Clinton (even though she's way more qualified than he is), Johnson sidelined Theresa May. More interestingly, Johnson called the snap election (in the hope to secure a mandate from the people to push Brexit through, even if it's a no-deal Brexit) and won by a landslide. Not so long ago, May took the exact same steps, and she lost miserably. The deal - if you can call it that - that Johnson advocates is essentially the same (if not worse) as May's. So, what's the difference between Johnson and May? Well, for one, May was trying to please everyone and ended up pleasing no one. Johnson? He roiled up his core base, and there's that.

As to Brexit, I really don't see what's the big fucking deal with this, and why so many people sound so scared about it. Yes, there'll be less trade between UK and EU, GDP will be lower, but UK will live. I'll bet in the end, deal or no deal, UK will likely adopt most of the trade rules so that commerce will flow again. What UK will gain back, is its sovereignty, and its ability to call the shot again about its own border. Is that such a bad thing to be able to control one's own border and immigration policy? I would say, no. The UK politicians all want to retain their seats at the decision-making table at Brussels, even if that means UK has to contribute billions of funding to EU every year. It's plain to see that UK voters believe that's a bad deal. I don't disagree at all.

The moment of truth will come soon, in 2020.

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Speaking of politics, there is the impeachment of Trump which is only the third time in history. Trump must have been doing his victory lap when the Mueller Investigation did not amount to a conviction, so much so that Trump became so emboldened that he literally asked Ukraine to investigate his political opponent in exchange for military aid that Congress had already approved for Ukraine. What the hell was Trump (and his peeon like Guiliani) thinking, really? Every extra day that Trump sits in the White House, it's another day that he makes a mockery of the rule of law and US constitution duty that a president swears to uphold. Worse still, the whole GOP establishment would still stand behind this despicable guy, even defending (!!) him on the most indefensible offense, it's totally unacceptable.

Although I've had initially misgiving about impeaching Trump as the 2020 election is drawing closer, I've come to realize that the impeachment means something more. Yes, the best way to beat Trump is at the ballot box, but given the mounting evidence from the Ukraine scandal, we can no longer let it slide, as if such conduct (of the White House occupant, the fucking commander-in-chief) is acceptable. It is no longer just about defeating Trump, it's about defining what is acceptable - and NOT acceptable - conducts for a US president. This, is something that needs to be laid down, as the rule of law, and the US constitution, demands of us (both Congress and voters). We can no longer look away. So, I have to agree with Nancy Pelosi, in this regard.

Listening to the full impeachment hearings in the House, I was totally disgusted by how ignorant, naive, and clueless the GOP have been, who couldn't seem to hold an intelligent argument. What's wrong with these fucking idiots?!?

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As the campaigning of the Democrats primaries kicks into high gear, I was getting somewhat battle fatigue. As the news reporting progresses, it's quite clear that main media (and social media too) is going to get it wrong (AGAIN) about this election (much as it was wrong about projecting landslide victory by Hillary Clinton (HRC), yet she lost the 2016 election to Trump anyways).

Joe Biden continues to lead every single polls in the match-up against Trump, yet all I can see is "bad news" about Biden, about how he's too old, too timid, too same-old-same-old, too "obama". Going moderate, taking incremental approach, has suddenly had a bad name. Why? Because HRC didn't give a flying fuck about bread-and-butter issues of the working class in 2016, thereby giving up (and giving away) all the swing states, even the erstwhile solid blue states. Dems have come to take it for granted that unions (and working class) will always vote Dem, but that's no longer true. Perhaps the only challenge I would like Biden to confront is: What would he do about trade liberation? Will he continue trade war with China? (I hope he does.) What would he do about the economic misfortune for those who don't have the skills to pivot to the new knowledge-society (apart from giving out more and more welfare)? With all that said, Biden is still the only who has consistently sat at the top of all polls (except the couple of early primaries which, to be honest, don't mean much after their primaries are over). If Dems really believes that the number-one task, is to take down Trump, who else could it be, but Biden?

And then there are those on the far-left, in the form of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren). Honestly, I can't stand Bernie Sanders, but at least he's "consistent" in his stance all these years. Warren? She might have "evolved," but seeing her as the people's warrior when she used to defend big corporate clients, once upon a time, it seems hypocritical for her to criticize Pete Buttigieg's fundraising activities (which is no different from what Warren used to do). As the saying goes, don't cast the first stone. It is thus that I'm not surprised to see her star declines after the sixth Dem debate. It's about time.

The two other younger candidates that I watch are, Pete Buttigieg, and Andrew Yang. Buttigieg is an interesting case. On papers, he's probably the dream candidate that Dem should have clammered for. He's young (37), a military veteran, religious and/but gay, smart (Rhodes scholar), comes from rural area (mayor of a small town in IN), and older voters love him (since he speaks respectfully and he carries his arguments well). What is puzzling, is young voters don't like him (they still like Sanders, the oldest candidate in the Dem lineup), and black voters don't like him (they still prefer Biden). Can he overcome these two major voters bloc, to become candidate? It's a major gamble.

And then there is Andrew Yang, the odd ball. America might not be ready for an Asian-American president, but the more I watch him speak and look at his policy agenda, the more I like him. Apparently I'm not alone. His star, surprisingly, is also rising. He doesn't talk like a politician, he doesn't speak like a politician. More importantly, if anyone should need truly fresh ideas, Yang is the one who comes up with the beef. No wonder his Yang Gang hard-core following is growing in size.

As to everyone else (we still have, what, 25 in the Dems lineup?!?), it's all just a joke. I really don't know why they're still in the race. They should just all pack up and go home. (Especially Tulsi Gobbard, Julian Castro, and Cory Booker.)

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Perhaps the most momentous event that touches me the most in this past year, is the protests in Hong Kong that started in June. The initial demand to withdraw the Extradition Bill has since morphed into much bigger issues, exposing fault lines and weakness in the so-called One-Country-Two-Systems (1C2S) model that was decided for Hong Kong by Britain in the 1980s, that was meant to "guarantee" no change in the systems (if you can believe that) in Hong Kong for 50 years, after which China can do whatever it wants with Hong Kong.

Anyone who cares to read those words, would realize that it was never meant to work. China resumes sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997, and can really do whatever it wants with it. In the three decades since the signing of the Sino-British agreement in 1982, the economic fortune and significance of Hong Kong has waned significantly, accounting for 18%+ of China's GDP back then to only 2% today. Everything that Hong Kong has now is inextricably tied to China, beholden its economy to the China trade and tourists to prop itself up, on top of the water and food supply.

Hongkongers have always been an apolitical, pragmatic bunch. Everything has always been about pocketbook. The younger generations in Hong Kong thus take everyone by surprise. They reject the military threat from China, they go on million-man march on the street to demand democracy (universal suffrage) and independent investigation on police brutality against young protesters, they even persist in protests that have resulted in violent confrontations without backing down. And, they make full use of the social media, and organize with clear leaders (so that government cannot easily pin down and crack down on a few leaders, as police did in the 2014 Umbrella Movement). In fact, their guerrilla tactics have been so successful that the government and police are still unable to put a stop to the protests, amidst arresting thousands of protesters (some as young as 12 years old).

I have to say, I admire and respect the Hongkongers and its protests. In fact, this should have happened back in 1982 when China and UK were in secret talks to decide on the future of Hong Kong. That generation, unfortunately, never did anything. They co-op'ed out the future of their birthplace, buying themselves time (50 years and no more) to jump ship and migrate to other countries. In a few words, they didn't care. And that mess is now the reality for this generation. I thus fully support the young protesters and their demands. Yet, so many of those older generations sound disapprobation against the protests since the protests "inconvenience" them, and their comfortable retirement. Such attitude is selfish and despicable.

I joined a number of peaceful march in Hong Kong this past year while I was there. I see it with my own eyes, I feel it in the air. These people are peaceful, they only want to upkeep their civic establishments, the impartiality of judicial system. Unfortunately, Carrie Lam (the current chief executive who is nothing more than a kiss-arse to whoever is in power in Beijing) has neither the wisdom nor the skills to govern, instead she makes use of the brunt force of military tactics against unarmed protesters. Is there any wonders why protesters have to up the ante in order to maintain the momentum? If anything, Carrie Lam is going to go down in history book as the traitor to give away the future of Hong Kong.

The 1C2S has always been just a gimmick, a carrot/bone thrown in Taiwan's way as a "viable" option for peaceful unification into the arms of China. With the weakness of 1C2S fully exposed now, it's no wonder that Taiwan is saying thanks, but no thanks. I would have done the same, if I were Taiwan. Afterall, Taiwan already has democracy, it already has everything that an independent country has (except maybe not the full diplomatic ties to countries that bent backwards for China due to China's economic incentives/threats), why would anyone give those up?

What China is good at, is pretty (and empty) words. They talk beautifully, they have "laws" (but they have kangaroo courts), they have "rule of law" (but "law" is whatever Beijing says it is), making a mockery of those three words. If anyone should still harbor the fancy that Beijing would play nice and treat Hong Kong fairly, they are just delusional. Case in point: Look at how China treats those muslims in Xinjiang. It's a daily threat that's going to come to Hong Kong.

I was happy when Congress passed the Bill to support Hong Kong (or at least put a check on China's actions on Hong Kong) with overwhelming support, so much so that even Trump - who is capable of only seeing everything in transactional nature and is clearly worried about further antagonizing China in the trade war negotiations - has to sign it since the Bill is veto-proof. Again, God works in His own mysterious way.

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On a more personal front, I've had some minor health scare. As people always say, it's always those life-and-death moments that are most effective in prompting us to evaluate our life choices. For me, it is perhaps really high time that I should consider slowing down and take an easier (and slower) path in life.

This is particularly so as I'm joining the ranks of empty-nesters. I'm still very hopeful in life, looking forward to the kids making a better path in life than I do. There is however storm clouds on the horizon. Income equality in society across the globe is worsening, job prospects (in the face of big tech and onslaught of AI, big data, and robotics) can look uncertain, and climate change (even if it's further out in the horizon) is getting real. I can only hope that my generations are not leaving a world to the younger generations that is worse off than when I inherit it. This is also the same reasons why I support the young protesters in Hong Kong, precisely because they are fighting for a better future, how could anyone not support that??

On Trump tweets that moves and shakes the markets around the world...

Has anyone ever wondered if Trump violates any SEC laws by firing tempestuous tweets that moves and shakes the markets around the world, like the latest ones he did that threatens to double the tariffs against China to $200B, causing markets around the world to tremble?

It would have been so easy to prove criminal intents, if Trump or any of his cronies profit from the sudden plunge in markets by placing shorts bet ahead of his tweets. Dems and those who have been trying to catch him red-handed should really take note. 

On workism and the hustle culture in work...

It must be vogue now to bash about the falsehood of WeWork culture in liberal media, the latest one came from The Atlantic, under the banner of workism.

A few misconceptions:

• College diploma is NOT equivalent to better educated. 
• Loving one's work and out to change the world, is NOT the same as chasing a title or climbing a career ladder or making billions of dollars, even though that's the implication a lot of people are equating them with. 
• Trying to link social media as "external trauma" of the millennials in terms of workaholism is just lame. 
• Output of white-collar work (eg. algorithms) is NOT intangible and invisible. This goes to show how little the writer knows or understands about the open-source movement which has been the rage for a very long time now.

If one can't get a paycheck that one's looking for, and if the job at least serves some higher purpose, it'll be LESS stress, not more. Think of all those lower paid work in non-profits, or social service, or nursing. Wouldn't it have made things easier if people do find some meaning in their work, rather than just looking at it as "just a job" and a paycheck? why does the writer have to argue that this is a no-win situation in which everybody loses and should feel miserable about it?

In the end, the writer repudiates himself and all of his "arguments," saying only that "extreme success" is bad, obsessing oneself with sharing one's success on social media is bad, but everything else (the so-called workism) is really not a bad thing. Why? Because he's one of the practitioners.

While public policy would alleviate public's anxiety in work-life balance, government is NOT the villain in advocating work-first ethos. And, how would this change the americans' "devotion"? In fact, more family-friendly public policy would just free up more personal time to devote to work.

Ultimately, it's really a personal choice. If you enjoy work and you happen to be very good at it, and earn gobs of money in the process, all the power to you. But if you simply suck, and you can't find anything that you like to do or are good at, then you'll just be miserable, no matter if you're a "workist" or not.

On the returns of jihadi brides...

I have considered myself one of those independent voters who are in general fiscally conservative but socially liberal. But there are times when issues can still irk me immensely, the latest lawsuit to have a jihadi bride returned home is one of those.

With the imminent defeat of ISIS, all its remnants are scattering about like rats rushing to escape a sinking ship. In a natural order of things, these rats should sink (and die) with the sinking ship, and a chapter is rightly closed. In our modern, civilized society, everyone demands their rights, even if they had been brutally suppressing others when they were in power. In times like this, I do wish they all just die and rid this world of extremists that bring so much hatred and destruction.

Just a few years ago when ISIS was all the rage, extremist groups like Talibans and ISIS terrorized large swath in society, destroying cities and villages, imposing their religious and social orders, maiming and killings those who dare to oppose them. Suddenly, women became invisible, hidden behind niqab, banished from daylight, effectively reduced to providing only domestic functions like being a vassel for procreation and domestic chores. It is a radical new world order that Islamic extremists want to impose on the rest of the infidel world. You're either for or against them, in latter case, you die. From my vantage point, it's not unlike the Aryan nation propositioned by the Nazis.

While I understand that every religion harbor extremist views, and there might be a peaceful side of Islam, the fact that the silent majority of Muslims around the world did nothing to counter the extremist views from the likes of ISIS and Talibans feel almost like a tacit endorsement of their way of imposing the Muslim world view to the rest of the world. Would there come a day when Sharia law becomes a reality? I sure hope not. For that alone, I would say, one must close ranks and fight the spread of Islam, lest Sharia law would take hold.

In reality, there is always many shades of grey. Even among all the Muslims in the Middle East, I doubt if they have one true definition of what Muslim should be, hence allowing anyone to claim the mantle, and confusing the rest of the world about what Islam really is. No matter. Prior to the two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and then Syria, accompanied by the collapse of a number of functioning (some barely) governments in countries like Yemen, the rest of the world saw only strongmen in Middle East. There was Saddam Hussein in Iraq, there is Bashar al-Assad, there is the House of Saud, plus the many "royalties" in the region, all of whom are imposing rules not unlike the authoritarian rule in China.

There was never any radicalization of Muslims from these strongmen and rule, which obviously point to the fact that they are not really that appealing. But, they were able to keep peace, which was more than enough for the rest of the world. It also allows the world to continue using Iran as the straw man, the ultimate bad guy. In hindsight, Iran looks almost like an adult in a room full of trigger-happy extremists like ISIS. At least Iran tries to run and govern a nation. ISIS? They just want misery for everybody.

The plight of Palestinians as a result of suppression from Israel has become a rally cry. It was almost fashionable in the academic and bohemian circles to talk against Israel. But that never spreads far beyond the circle to the mainstream and metastasize into radicalization of general public. There used to be gatekeepers in how the news is packaged and presented. News have to be investigated, presented in a measured and even-keel way that reminiscent of Walter Cronkite.

What's changed, is the perfect storm of the rise of social media and the subsequent wars in Iraq (and then Syria). Suddenly, everyone is a citizen reporter, everyone who has access to the web can broadcast what they see. Wars are always brutal, and suddenly everyone can tell the world  that people are dying in Iraq or Syria or wherever. Whether the cause is just or not, has almost become a moot point. No longer is anyone aspired to be calm and measured like Cronkite, you now need to be loud, bold, and your reports need to be extreme in order to get eyeballs. Beheading, stoning, burning a live human, it's all become commonplace.

One has to ask, how could anyone EVER want to aspire to an extremist like that? How could anyone become brainwashed and indoctrinated to consider that kind of extreme measures can EVER be good? How could anyone EVER consider that being condoned by a supposedly peace-loving religion, as some Muslims advocate Islam to be? How could anyone EVER think that such extreme measures is a utopia, particularly those grew up in the western civil society? In one word, idiots.

All of which brings us back to these jihadi brides. Young, impressionable, naive, stupid stupid idiotic teenagers who believe that all those extreme measures can bring about their ideal society. I do not believe for a second that they did not know better, or that they were "blinded" by indoctrination. These are not 5-6yo, these are 15-16yo. They were tech savvy. I have no doubt that they were aware of the news and brutalities of what ISIS did. How could they have ever justified the ISIS brutality against the Yazidis while talking about suppression of Muslims? I'd say, in their half-developed frontal lobe, all they dreamt of, was adventures.

In the cases of the jihadi brides who were from US and Britain, and who now want to come home, I don't have any sympathy to them at all. They left their families and countries behind, burnt their passports, actively advocated violence against their countries. Apparently, all it takes is a few years of hardship, after a few husbands and babies, they are "ready to come home," as if their adventures to Disneyland is done. Where are the consequences? What of the people who died, thanks to their complicity (even if it's hard to get exact proof)? There are things that cannot be undone, particularly those who have died. Actions, have consequences.

For those who want to atone to their sins, I'm at least willing to hear them out (though human emotions are so easily manipulated, and all these women need to do, is to tell a few sob stories, shed a few tears in front of a camera, and all is forgiven). For those who don't even express remorse? I'd say, fuck you very much, you can rot in the place that you chose to go to in the first place, and die like those whose lives have perished as a result of your complicity.

Citizenship comes with rights, as well as responsibility. For this US jihadi bride's family to sue to have her repatriated, it totally rubs me the wrong way. The liberal side of me says, give them a second chance. But the world-wary side of me says, not everyone has a second chance and not everyone deserves a second chance. Yes, there is complication with young children involved, but the issue becomes even  more fraught when the child comes of age, and turns out to be another radicalized or idiotic, like their parents once was. Somehow, I'm not inclined to give them the benefits of the doubts. On rare occasions like this, I do agree with Trump.