The backers of Trump are rejoicing today as the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Trump's travel ban.  But while they are happy that Trump is tough on Muslims, they should be wondering why he is soft on Muslim dictators.  I have mentioned how he said great things about the dictators in Saudi Arabia, the country where most of the 9/11 terrorists came from.  He has also been admiring Erdogen, the president of Turkey who just won reelection this week.  Just last week, Trump decided to sell the most sophisticated fight jets to Turkey.  I think most people missed that news as the inhumane border trouble was going on.  Erdogen has turned Turkey, which is a NATO member that was becoming a strong democracy, into a dictatorship.  It is also turning more toward Russia.  Most people do not think Turkey is a reliable ally any longer.  Yet Trump goes ahead with the sale of the fighter jets.  The news of that sale, while not important in the news cycle here, would be important in Turkey on the eve of the election.  For now, this sale helps legitimize Erdogen.  In the future, these jets may be used against American and Israel interests.

So after several days saying that he can't stop the separation of parents from the kids at the border, Trump signs order stopping the process.  So when he and his spokespersons say he couldn't do anything and that it was the Democrats' doing, it was all lies.   Of course, the separation may start again in 20 days and the ones already separated may not be united any time soon.  But it is a start of hopefully the stopping of this cruelty.  Trump is still, of course, trying to use leverage to get funding for his wall.  Hey Mr. President, I thought you promised to solve the immigration problem by building the wall with Mexican money?  Does not look like you are keeping the promise by using children as leverage to get Congress to cough up the money!

Twitter is not a problem just for Trump.  Peter Fonda tweeted that Barron Trump should be put in a cage.  This is not only stupid but also heartless.  You should never attack a child for the sins of the parents.  Otherwise you are the same as the people you are supposedly against:  those who want to punish children for the actions of their parents.

There is an old joke about political parties:  The Democrats are young people with big hearts but no brains while the GOP are old people with brains but no heart.  I am wondering with 90% approval rating for Trump among Republicans, do they have even brains?  Trump had excused Putin's killings by saying the U.S. killed also.  He also excused Kim's killing as necessary to hold power.  If Obama had said those things, conservatives would say that is un American.  I would agree that would be less patriotic than kneeling during the national anthem.  But the speaker here was Trump, not Obama.  The GOP have fallen in line behind Trump like they have no brains.  Just Tuesday, Trump candidates that won include an obvious racist and a pimp.  Those who said bad things about Trump such as Mark Sanford lost Republican primaries.  So they are going to follow someone who likes dictators and wants to be a dictator.

U.S. border authorities are now prosecuting illegal immigrants under the zero tolerance edict issued by the Trump administration.  Instead of just being deported, illegal immigrants are now prosecuted as criminals and can get months in jail.  Due to lack of court time and judges, they are using group hearings with multiple cases handled in matter of hours, from arraignment to sentencing.  Even conservatives agree that these people don't belong in jail with drug dealers and murderers.  But they claim jail time will deter others from coming.  I doubt that this is true but in any case these prosecutions are taking away resources that maybe used for other crimes.  For example, in San Diego court times and judges are taken away from white collar crimes such as bank and medicare fraud.  If taking away legal rights really deter crimes, then let's streamline white collar crimes prosecutions and make arraignment to sentencing quickly.  If this deters white collar crimes, we will save billions dollars more than prosecuting illegal immigrants.

Unless you are Fox News, there are two ways you can look at the Trump/Kim summit:  Nothing came out of it or Kim slaughtered Trump.  If you are Fox News, of course, you would say Trump did a historic thing and should get the Nobel peace prize.  Of course, you would be the same people who went crazy at candidate Obama for saying that he would meet the dictator of North Korea.   You would also be the ones who said that you can't make deals with the human rights abusers of Cuba and Iran.  So I guess Trump deserves the Nobel for making concessions to the enemy of Obama right after trashing Obama's friend Justin Trudeau.  Also great that Trump want to bring Russia back to the G7 and that he refused to sign the G7 communique!

The so called agreement signed by Trump and Kim basically says nothing.  The so called denuclearization was already agreed to by Kim to president Moon of South Korea in April.  It was also agreed to by his father many years ago.  It can be broken with a snap of the finger.  Nothing about verifiable or irreversible that Pompeo had demanded.  There was nothing about biologic or chemical weapons nor about missiles that North Korea is amassing.  There was nothing about human rights or the Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea.  So basically we got nothing from this meeting.  OK, you may say this is a beginning and that it is great to open dialogue with your enemy.  But then why did the GOP and Fox excoriated Obama for saying he would meet with the leader of North Korea without preconditions?  In this case, there was no precondition before the summit and no condition during the summit as well.

What is worse that afterwards, Trump said that we will stop join military exercises with South Korea, calling them war games.  This is precisely what North Korea and China wanted.  Does this mean the beginning of the end of the alliance with South Korea?  Did Trump consult his ally South Korea before making the announcement?  I doubt it.  In fact, I don't think he consulted with his security advisors before making the announcement.  You think John Bolton or Pompeo would have gone for that?  There is nothing in return for this.  A total unforced error.

The winners are obvious.  Kim gets his spotlight on the global stage, in equal footing with the U.S. president.  Instead of being viewed as a murderous dictator, he was a rock star in Singapore.  He is going to get an invite to the White House.  He gave up nothing.  He gets a weakening of the South Korea/U.S. alliance.  While sanctions from the U.S. is not ending yet, China and Russia will sure get rid of their sanctions, reasoning that North Korea has reached an agreement with the U.S.  China is an obvious winner.  Kim met with Xi in advance of the summit.  They must have put their minds together to what they want.  Kim even came to Singapore on a Chinese jet.  China will be thrilled if the U.S. decrease their military presence in the Korean peninsula.  It would help China control the western Pacific if that is the case.

The losers are South Korea and Japan.  Both had very little say in this summit despite it was the work of Moon.  There was nothing about human rights and the kidnapped people from these countries.  They are still vulnerable to North Korea missiles.  They must be wondering if the U.S. can be a trusted ally.  While Trump enjoyed his spot in the limelight and must felt good about the ratings, his lack of preparation shows.  He will boast that he made history but unless Pompeo is the greatest negotiator of all time, Trump will be harshly criticized in history.

While traveling thru Hong Kong and Guangzhou I talked to quite a few people about politics.  The age ranged from 30 year old taxi driver to 80 year old friends of my in laws.  Their politics range from conservative to liberal, democratic ideals to socialist leanings.  Interestingly nobody, even in China, was afraid to speak their mind.  In fact nobody I spoke to endorsed communism.  Conservatives believe that Hong Kong's youth are wrong to protest about lack of freedom.  They point out that life is so much better now and the youths never went thru the hard times under British rule.  The conservatives don't endorse communism but believe that HK has more freedom now than under colonial rule and that protests are just bad for the capitalistic economy.  Ironically, I heard old people in China say that despite the improvement in the economy of the country, they do not forget how the cultural revolution caused great pain and suffering in the past and that young people tend to forget that!

But regardless whatever political beliefs they have, everyone I spoke to think that Trump is bad for the U.S. and the world.  Some of the words, among others, they use to describe him are incompetent, immature, stupid, and immoral.  Young or old, they all shake their heads when I mentioned Trump.  Given what happened at the G7 summit this weekend, I think the HK and China's take on Trump will be universal.  His only friends will be Saudi Arabia, Russia and some other dictators.

Most people I talked to still admire the U.S. despite Trump.  Most still believe that the U.S. lead the world in innovations and that HK and China still need to learn from the U.S.  There were a few that ask me if everyone in America carries a gun.  They don't understand the gun violence in the country. They don't understand how such an advanced country can be so uncivilized.  I can't defend the U.S. in this except to say that not everyone in America has guns and that there are many who are against how easy it is to obtain guns. 

Today I will talk about the trouble Hong Kong has with non Chinese people living there.  Hong Kong's population has double since I was there in the 60's to 7.8 million today.  About 600,000 are non Chinese or about 8% of the population.  Half of these are domestic workers, mostly women from Philippines or Indonesia.  About 10% are white and the rest mostly from South Asia with some from the Middle East and Africa.  The 10% white people generally live well in Hong Kong.  They don't have the white privilege when HK was a British colony but they are treated better than other non Chinese.  For example, almost all whites who have lived several years in HK and are employed will be able to get citizenship.  There are actually quite a few who choose to take HK passport and get rid of the passports from North America, Britain or Australia.  HK passports are well accepted throughout the world and certainly makes for easier in and out China for business. 

The domestic workers are not able to get citizenship.  They live a hard life.  They are in their employer's house for 24 hours a day, 6 days a week.  On Sundays you can see many of them congregate in parks or even subway stations for picnic and see their fellow workers.  There are some people in HK who want to put in law prohibiting such congregation.  Where are they supposed to go?  There are some liberals who want to build clubs for them to use. But with land so expensive, it is doubtful that HK government will shell out the money.  There are also reports of abuse by their employers.  Fortunately there is a lot of coverage for these abuses on tv and newspapers recently.  Of course, there are employer claims of stealing.  So not sure how it shakes out in the future.  But obviously HK need these workers just like the U.S. needs workers from south of the border.

For the other non white, non Chinese people, there are two categories.  Legal immigrants who have been in the city for a long time and refugees.  For legal immigrants who are not white, path to citizenship is harder than whites but is successful about 70% of  the time.  Why not 100%?  Not sure but discrimination is probably a factor.  There are refugees from South Asia, Middle East and Africa. If you can find your way to HK, they won't deport you unless you commit a crime.  But you can't officially work and get citizenship.  Some came with the hope of getting to a western country.  Unlike some places where you are stuck in a squalid camp, HK does provide you some monetary assistance for food and housing.  This costs HK about $450 million a year.  But you are in limbo unless you get accepted by a country.

Anthony Bourdain had a segment on refugees in HK on his program of traveling to HK last Sunday.
He visited the Chungking Mansion which is not really a mansion but an apartment complex with stores and eateries on the first two floors.  It is situated in Tsim Sha Tsui district of Kowloon which is like Time Square in NY.  We happened to wander into the Mansion one night looking for a restaurant.  It all run by refugees so it was confusing to us to go into this complex which does not look out of place on the outside but completely different than not only Tsim Sha Tsui but rest of the city inside.  I don't know how it is possible in this area where the land is so expensive but the refugees live in this Mansion.  Supposedly the rent is cheap although the apartments are super small.

Like rich nations, the immigrant situation is difficult for HK to solve.  It is already the 4th most crowded area in the world.  It has no natural resources so it is hard to take in more people.  But given the history of HK people migrating to other parts of the world and faced discrimination, it is important that they treat those who come to HK with respect and dignity.  Domestic workers allow women to go into the workforce full time and thus boost the economy of the city.  If HK allow refugees to go to school and work, perhaps they will contribute to the economy as immigrants in the western countries have done.  Hopefully HK will find humane and fair solutions.

Guangzhou is one of the most advanced cities in China.  It is still about 10 years behind HK.  There are more poor areas that I came across in Guangzhou than in HK.  The quality of food is below that of HK and LA and is more expensive than LA and about same price as HK.  The hotel is a great deal though.   We stayed at a Holiday Inn for about $70 a night.  It is better than any Holiday Inn I have ever seen in the U.S.  Plus this included a great breakfast buffet.  The taxi service is a lot better than 10 years ago and we avoided the disaster where I was stranded at the wrong train station by a poor taxi driver the last time we were here.

The bureaucracy of China is much more difficult to negotiate than in HK.  We had business there that require adherence to Chinese laws and working with banks.  It was difficult but then I guess working with American banks is not that easy now as well.  I would say that HK is way ahead of Guangzhou in finance and banking.  I know that China eventually want the financial center to be Shanghai.  But by talking on the phone with banker in Shanghai, it does not appear that they are up to par with Hk yet.  But maybe they will catch up in the next 10 years.

We did have a free day so we went to my wife's mother and my own ancestral villages in Taishan.  Taishan itself is modernized and so there is a nice highway going from Guangzhou to Taishan.  It took about 2 hours on the highway with a stop at a nice, large rest stop along the way.  So that part of travel was painless.  Once you get to Taishan, the task to find the right village gets more difficult.  Even with GPS, a good driver and stopping to ask people, it was difficult.  There are no accurate addresses and English and Chinese translations of names often don't match.  Seems like all the villages look the same with a huge entrance and a huge courtyard.  Both villages had a courtyard with a basketball court.  I believe that those, along with a narrow road leading from the main road to the village entrance, are built with money donated by oversea Chinese.  My mother in law said that years ago all those areas along with the road would just be dirt and mud.

The houses in both villages are old and not in good shape.  Except the house that my father built in the 1980s to replace our original ancestral home.  That was by far, the newest house in both villages.  In both villages we were greeted by only a few people.  Most of the villages are empty because young adults have moved to the cities for work.  The few old people are taking care of few young kids in the villages.  The fields, which look better than expected, were leased to northerners who migrated to Taishan villages.  So Taishan people, who used to be one of the poorest people in China, are now landlords!  But obviously, even though the draw to move to other countries or HK isn't as big now, the population of the villages are declining as opportunities in the cities are greater.

The old theory of parents "eating bitterness" to improve the prospects of children is long ingrained in Chinese people.  That is one reason why people move out of the country and away from the family.  The next generation of these immigrants seemed to have done well in the past.  But recent studies in China and Hk seem to say that people leaving the villages to work in the cities leaving children behind to be taken care of by grandparents, have not seen success with their children.  Such children left behind, partly because they couldn't go to schools in the cities due to crazy residency laws, have been found to have high drop out rates and depression.  They ended up just as poor as their parents were when the parents were young despite the rise of Chinese economy.  So if the government change rules and allow people to bring the kids with them to the cities, it would mean more over population of the cities and demise of the villages!

Just returned from a trip to Hong Kong and Guangzhou.   Record high temperatures while I was there so it was quite miserable walking around both cities.  I am impressed by the progress each city has made every time I go there.  I will talk about the experience I had in Hong Kong today.

While our infrastructure is crumbling, Hong Kong continues to improve everything.  We never waited for more than couple of minutes for a subway train.  The stations and the trains are clean with great air conditioning.  They are very crowded but the riders all behave in good manner.  All the buses are new and no foul smell smoke coming out of the exhausts.  Internet connections are free everywhere.  Museums are free for all Hong Kong citizens.  We were waved thru despite being foreigners (I guess we still look like Chinese).

There are drawbacks living in Hong Kong, of course.  It is under China control despite being a special administrated area.  The people are not afraid to speak their mind, however.  In the crowded Central District we came across a man standing there singing.  We thought he was a street performer trying to get money.  Turned out he was Ng Siu Hong of the Democratic party running for a legislative seat.  He was not afraid to sing and give a speech about freedom in the middle of the busiest part of the city.  Despite without any natural resources, despite not having total freedom under both Britain and China, Hong Kong people have prospered.  Trump would have described Hong Kong as a shithole fifty years ago.  But if I were to start a country, I would take the people of Hong Kong over the people who backed Trump any time!