I have too many responsibilities and principles. There’s no time for ‘guilty’ pleasures
A.R. Rahman
By now, you’re probably tired of me apologizing for not updating this blog more regularly. Well, be ready to get more tired: Sorry for not updating this blog as much.
Nonetheless, I thought I’d squeeze this posting in, if for no other reason, to let you know I’m still alive. Unlike most of my posts, this one will be a bit aimless.
What’s been going on since I last posted on January 9? The quick answer: a lot. Very, very a lot.
I should mention that since that last posting, I’ve not been in Malaysia a whole lot. And when I’m away – usually for work – the last thing I want to do is get my mood fouled by the political and social goings on in Malaysia. And so I stay off X/Twitter most of the time, and if I do get on the app (it’s how I get most of my news, by the way), I just read and don’t engage other than doing the occasional RT.
It would be a worthless exercise to try recapping everything that’s happened since then, so I won’t even bother. Maybe just a few highlights. Or lowlights, depending on how you view them.
Malaysia is chugging along okay for the most part. Apart, of course, from the tireless outrage farmers who never fail to find something to get pissed off about. The most recent being the 130-year old Hindu temple issue – which has apparently been settled amicably (more or less).
Elsewhere in the world, Israel’s genocidal war on Palestinians continues, a year and a half since the October 7, 2023 HAMAS raid, which has led to the near annihilation of Gaza. The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues. And the cherry on the “world is total shit” cake, Donald Trump is once more in the White House.
If you thought Trump 1.0 was bad, Trump 2.0 (now in its 76th day) has been a daily routine of me going “WTF?!?“. It’s been literally a case of another day, another facepalm. The latest, of course, is the broad “tariffs” on the rest of the world, based on some really dubious math.
For those of you who are interested, there’s actually a tabulation on Wikipedia of what the Trump administration has done within the first 100 days. The sweeping tariffs include the base 10% on an island whose only inhabitants are… penguins (and reportedly one seal).
The more serious implication of the announced tariffs, made on April 2, 2025, or what Trump has called “Liberation Day” – stock markets in the US and around the world reacted as you’d expect them to react. They tanked.
It appears as if the only thing that got liberated that day was a chunk of the average American’s disposable income. Why? Contrary to what Trump’s sycophants and the average MAGA dimwit think, tariffs are an IMPORT TAX, and not some looney tunes made-up tax the US imposes on other countries.
And who pays for import taxes? The importer. Which then essentially INCREASES the cost. Which, in all likelihood, gets passed on to the consumer. Feel liberated yet?
So, there you have it. Four months into 2025, and the year already feels like if there’s something that can go wrong, it most certainly will.
On my part, no promises that there will be more regular postings. But I will try. I do write the odd bit now and again in other places, like on X/Twitter or Medium. If for some odd, unfathomable reason you actually miss my writing, go find me in either one of those places I mentioned.
Cope as best as you can, won’t ya? The world is a wonky place these days…
myAsylum 