4 more HK opposition figures have been released from prison after serving more than four years following their convictions in the city’s largest national security case. In full: buff.ly/xBKIUHd
I wrote about Darren Beattie's weird witch hunt at State:
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
As President Xi Jinping traveled the world, police swept peaceful protesters off the streets: In country after country, local authorities detained and silenced activists to shield the Chinese leader from dissent – ICIJ
Is there a flight tracking community or people on Bluesky?
The name would suggest for it to be THE app for flight tracking social media
This WaPo headline is misleading — Voice of America is NOT back despite the preliminary injunction. No one has been called back to work. No newscasts or programs. No transmissions since mid-March. Stay tuned. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/04/24/voice-of-america-trump-china/
David: Are you concerned about retaliation from the Trump administration because of this story? Jeffrey: It’s not my role to care about the possibility of threats or retaliation. We just have to come to work and do our jobs to the best of our ability. Unfortunately, in our society today—we see this across corporate journalism and law firms and other industries—there’s too much preemptive obeying for my taste. All we can do is just go do our jobs.
A fantastically important postscript to this piece: David Graham asks Jeffrey Goldberg about possible retaliation, and Goldberg gives a perfect answer — with perfect swipes. www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
How much longer will we see serious people saying that event X is inexplicable/incomprehensible/baffling unless condition Y, before they start to accept that condition Y, which is the consistent simple and single explanation for all these baffling events, is the reality we have to deal with?
These guys remind me of people I knew in grad school who would sneer at kids who went out on the weekend; they'd stay in the library, staring at the books and notes, believing that sheer willpower could produce a 4.0
Spoiler: it did not
Performance art for their fellow students - and themselves.
It’s fog season in HK, when prevailing winds shift and warm, humid air wafts up from the south, hit our still-cold waters then condense into mist.
People complain about the lack of seasonal changes here but if you know where to look, they’re all around — and just as beautiful as any cherry blossom.
There is something similar going on in Taiwan (not exact) and I get the feeling it’s part of a global phenomenon post-Covidey but also with different local causes that Covid exacerbated
Keelung harbour at sunset
Keelung continuously is one of my favourite places to go for a day. Yesterday it felt like the whole of Taipei also went to Keelung and caught onto the idea it’s a great city. Sunset and breeze were wonderful as always
The Atlantic asked every GOP member of Congress two straightforward questions: Did Russia invade Ukraine? And is Putin a dictator? A few said yes; one responded with an interaction with a chatbot; most didn’t respond at all. theatln.tc/C9Sz9dk4
I see that the anti-imperialist left is still busy making the "both sides" argument about Ukraine. Get ready for them to also blame Taiwan for "provoking" China by merely existing as an independent democratic country.
For what it’s worth, Taipei’s fifth electoral district has voted in favour of the winning president in every race except 2004.
Will 24% of voters who liked Ko enough to vote for him a year ago back a recall effort against a DPP Legislator?
Based on declining TPP membership, elders being mad enough to chant 垃圾黨 and Huang, not Tsai Pi-ru leading the TPP, the answer would be no in my estimate.
But as Donovan Smith pointed out when I talked to him earlier this week, public polls indicated favour for Tsai Pi-ru while hardline party votes chose Huang for party chair.
I don’t think that bodes well for TPP bolstering 罷免 efforts
www.taiwanplus.com/news/taiwan-...
The fifth electoral district recall may no go nowhere but since last year’s election the TPP has gone further to the blue camp, especially under Huang. If he throws the TPP’s official backing behind the recall it would be indicative how much there is an appetite for a pan-blue TPP
The fifth electoral district in Taipei however is contested, as in 2024 election Lai won 38.23% followed by Hou with 37.10% and Ko with 24.67%
Sitting legislator Wu Pei-yi 吳沛憶 won her seat by 10,000 votes over KMT candidate 鐘小平 and no party affiliated candidate 于美人(former TV host)
If 黃國昌 was testing the waters for the TPP backing KMT recall efforts, seems it did not go over well with elders in Bangka as they chanted “Rubbish party” and “step down from the platform”
udn.com/news/story/1...
Earlier this month before 傅崐萁 quietly went to Hong Kong, local newspaper in Hualien published a survey showing businesses supported the opening of a direct route between Hualien airport and Hong Kong
This is a multiple step set up here:
www.ksnews.com.tw/20250204m04/
The Department of Government Efficiency isn't interested in efficiency. Or transparency, or cutting costs. It's real goal is to destroy the federal civil service. In other words, regime change. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
#China has jailed a former senior journalist from the state news agency Xinhua and canceled his pension and medical coverage after he asked questions about the politically sensitive death of Premier Li Keqiang.
www.rfa.org/english/chin...
HK national security police have arrested a man on suspicion of helping four protesters charged with offences linked to the 2019 unrest to flee the city.
In full: https://buff.ly/3CEtjoh
龍蛇
蛇龍
是隆
攏時
攝龍
隆蛇
是龍！
The sort of behaviour from Hualien officials is unfortunately not a surprise
"Hu Jen-shun (胡仁順), a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) county councilor, said he received complaints from residents who said they had felt intimidated when Household Registration Office personnel came to their homes."
When the Trump administration froze foreign funding and USAID programs last week, dozens of scrappy nonprofits in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the US were immediately affected.
www.aspistrategist.org.au/with-us-fund...
I recall when I was starting my academic journey in 2019 reading a growing group of historians and law academics warning about attack on courts and the position of constitutions.
Six years later and there’s a new constitutional or independence of court crisis every week
Conservative budget wonks (Manhattan Instiutte, Tax Foundation) confirming that this is a consittutional crisis. Not liberal hysteria. Happening right now.
This is crucial reporting from @katherinejwu.com.
Among the data being scrubbed is “the agency’s AtlasPlus tool, which contains nearly 20 years of CDC surveillance data on HIV, hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections, and tuberculosis…”
www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
From a bored and affluent middle class who wanted another season of reality TV.
