Hudson Coleman Lockett IV 康河信

I see we’re doing phrenology again.

I’d like to see the timestamps on v1 and v2, if you please.

My article on land speculation in #Myanmar is featured in the latest @ijurresearch.bsky.social. I show how even without developer mega-projects or evictions, small-scale speculation in Mandalay still leads to urban displacement and inequality. Open access: tinyurl.com/24z2yr48

Warren Zevon’s oeuvre is always salient.

Going into Supreme Court arguments over President Donald Trump's tariffs on Wednesday, it was genuinely difficult to guess how the justices would rule. Within minutes, that suspense vanished. The hearing was a bloodbath for the Trump administration: Six justices lined up to bash the Justice Department's defense of the tariffs, barely disguising their annoyance with the government's barrage of blustery nonsense. At the halfway point, it would've saved everyone time had the court just huddled, announced its decision from the bench, and recessed early for lunch. Trump's signature trade policy-which he expected to raise trillions of dollars for him to use as he wished-looks dead on arrival at SCOTUS. We have spent ten months waiting to see if, and when, this court would set a limit on Trump's power. Perhaps we should've guessed that its extraordinary deference to this president could be outweighed only by its hatred of taxes.

My take on today’s tariff arguments at the Supreme Court. Short version: LOL slate.com/news-and-pol...

In addition to OpenAl's deals with chipmakers, the ChatGPT maker is also eying a broad mix of financing vehicles to fund its infrastructure efforts. Friar said OpenAl is "looking for an ecosystem of banks [and] private equity" to support its ambitious plans. She also hinted at a role for the US government to "backstop, the guarantee that allows the financing to happen," but did not elaborate on how this would work. Asked for clarification, an OpenAl spokesperson said Friar was speaking in the context of the broader Al industry. There are currently no immediate plans about OpenAl pursuing a federal backstop, the spokesperson said.

Hang on, aren’t you supposed to ask for a government backstop AFTER the bubble bursts?
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Roberts now going at the solicitor general like a cat with a wounded mouse. Keeps telling him that tariffs are taxes on the American people. "Who pays the tariffs??" Says Trump's argument would neutralize separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches. Incredible stuff.

Pretty easy to get spicy with 10-year forecasts no one will ever check. I do respect the 6-month target of 6.9 for CNY though.

Teen Vogue Is Folding Into Vogue.com According to Condé Nast’s announcement, the outlet will keep its “unique editorial identity and mission.”

Condé Nast finally achieved its dream of wrecking Teen Vogue and killing its politics section.

www.thecut.com/article/teen...

JCP newspaper alleges Fujita misused public funds for 7 years | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis Co-head Fumitake Fujita of Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) allegedly channeled public funds into an aide's company for seven years, the Japanese Communist Party's official newspaper reported on ...

Japan politics curveball: Japanese Communist Party paper Akahata (Red Flag) alleges co-head of ruling coalition party Ishin funneled public funds into an aide's company for 7 years. Akahata doesn't mess around w/investigations, should be one to follow www.asahi.com/ajw/articles...

My take on today's US-China trade pact: it's not one. Trump and Xi had a nice friendly chat and then kicked the can down the road all the way to April without resolving anything www.reuters.com/commentary/b...

My take on today's US-China trade pact: it's not one. Trump and Xi had a nice friendly chat and then kicked the can down the road all the way to April without resolving anything www.reuters.com/commentary/b...

"The apps are so advanced!" The apps are 13 million migrant workers in a robot suit!

Read what a Chinese officer wrote of D-Day in his diary salvaged in Hong Kong A long-lost diary from a Chinese officer is shedding light on a lesser-known part of D-Day history. Found by urban explorers in a Hong Kong tenement, the diary details the experiences of Lam Ping-yu.

A Chinese naval officer who took part in D-Day wrote an 80-page diary of his time embedded with British forces. “Lam was part of a group of more than 20 Chinese naval officers sent during World War II for training in the U.K. by Chiang Kai-shek.” [apnews.com]

Harvard is abandoning its core mission of preparing the future of knowledge creation by slashing PhD admissions by 2/3.

The money saved will be a tiny rounding error compared to the world's largest university endowment (~$60 billion in 2025).

It’s no secret the academic job market has become increasingly precarious. Many early-career researchers are struggling to find stable positions, and this challenge is global. In Asia, things have recently become more complex due to defunding of Western universities. 1/6

Japan’s new PM faces $550 bln US funding conundrum - @hudsonlockett.bsky.social - tinyurl.com/bdea7m69

New @breakingviews.reuters.com: Sanae Takaichi wants to spend big on Japan, but the country's first female prime minister is going to have to sort out $550 billion owed to the US while she's at it. This turns out to be, well, rather complicated. Full column: www.reuters.com/commentary/b...

Incredible “Don’t Create The Torment Nexus” energy from Thiel here. I haven’t read Tolkien since grade school, but even I remember that claiming the treasure hoard of Erebor very explicitly turned Dwarf King Thorin Oakenshield mad with greed and ended up getting him killed in a war.

Breakingviews - The case for a big, one-off wealth tax Cash-strapped Western states must invest in their militaries and green energy. With the top 1% increasing its grip on wealth, and paying little tax, soaking the rich looks justified. But a chunky one-off levy makes more sense than an annual charge, which is vulnerable to dodging.

Commentary | The case for a big, one-off wealth tax
www.reuters.com/commentary/b...

Breakingviews - Japan politics chaos puts markets in anxious limbo New ruling party leader Sanae Takaichi has ruptured a quarter-century alliance, throwing her prospects as PM into doubt. A firmer yen suggests her big spending plans are kaput, but the generational shake-up will take time to resolve and keep investors guessing for months.

Japan politics chaos puts markets in anxious limbo - @hudsonlockett.bsky.social - tinyurl.com/ycyc22e5

Sweet land, it's like the plot of Cyrano de Bergerac reproduced on an industrial scale. Except there's no Cyrano behind these Christians for a Roxane to fall in love with—only a text prediction machine feeding plausible-sounding bullshit to lazy charlatans.

Honest question: why would any rich Brit look to Dubai over Hong Kong? Are they simply desperate to remain in a Europe-adjacent time zone?

Huh: TikTok took down my 8-second video featuring this image of Debbie Brockman — the news producer just detained by Trump’s CBP agents — saying it violates the “joy of TikTok”

Sweet land, y’all, Japanese politics is getting absolutely buck wild. www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...

Basically pre-Marvel/Star Wars Disney was desperate for IP that would play to young men aged 13-28, so they took Tron out of mothballs in 2010. Now execs are running the same playbook because they've fumbled both of those bigger franchises and can't think of a better way to target said demographic

YouTube video by Purehollow Hollow Knight Silksong : Strive ( moss mother theme) EXTENDED

Maybe the best bit about Silksong's release, besides the game itself: as with Hollow Knight, the stellar soundtrack from Christopher Larkin is positively bursting with tracks perfectly tailored for writers who need to lock in and deliver on deadline youtube.com/watch?v=fNVn...

訂正-コラム：高市氏は「鉄の女」にあらず、自民党右傾化に政局混乱の予感 高市早苗氏は、日本に強硬な保守主義的主張を打ち出す一歩手前まで来た。同氏は４日、自民党の総裁に選出された。約１週間後には日本初の女性首相に国会で選出されることが確実だ。彼女はしばしば自身をサッチャー元英首相になぞらえる。しかし、彼女に「鉄の女」の経済政策を期待する人は、ひどく失望するだろう。

My column on Takaichi's win is now in Japanese! In case, uh, that's what was stopping you: jp.reuters.com/opinion/fore...

Breakingviews - Japan’s leader-in-waiting is no Iron Lady Sanae Takaichi likens herself to fiscal disciplinarian Margaret Thatcher but wants to up spending. Nor is she an unalloyed heir to mentor Shinzo Abe. Rather, her priorities portend either political discord or a sharp swerve that shatters economic consensus and pummels the yen.

Margaret Thatcher was a fiscal disciplinarian who endorsed high interest rates. Sanae Takaichi is the opposite. A welcome corrective to some of the more simplistic weekend reactions from @hudsonlockett.bsky.social.
www.reuters.com/commentary/b...

Breakingviews - Japan’s leader-in-waiting is no Iron Lady Sanae Takaichi likens herself to fiscal disciplinarian Margaret Thatcher but wants to up spending. Nor is she an unalloyed heir to mentor Shinzo Abe. Rather, her priorities portend either political discord or a sharp swerve that shatters economic consensus and pummels the yen.

New @breakingviews.reuters.com: Japanese stocks have shot up on Sanae Takaichi's likely PM win. The hardline conservative likes comparing herself to Margaret Thatcher, but anyone expecting a second coming of the Iron Lady—or even Shinzo Abe—is in for a rude awakening www.reuters.com/commentary/b...