As US funds dry up, activists sell essays

Radio Free Trump is set to be launched in this region - and it may be good news for Hong Kong.

At the moment, US interests are represented on the airwaves in this region by Radio Free Asia, which specializes in horrible news about China - such as the false report that Covid sufferers were being cremated alive in Wuhan this year.

But the US president has drastically slashed the budgets of state-run media and wants to take that sector back to its roots as a straightforward CIA propaganda unit, which annoyed staff have dubbed "Radio Free Trump."

From Hong Kong's point of view, it would be great to lose the fake China horror stories and instead have propaganda clearly labelled as such.

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The same set of US budget cuts has stopped at least three secret payments going to Hong Kong's anti-government activists, including a US$500,000 (about HK$3.9 million) one that had been long promised.

I'm sure this has absolutely no connection whatsoever with the fact that Hong Kong's anti-government activists have set up Patreon accounts, through which supporters can send them cash every month.

You can subscribe to ex-professor Benny Tai Yiu-ting for up US$50 a month to read exclusive essays such as "Ten Principles of Living Under Authoritarian Rule" (which, if Mr Tai has an ounce of self-awareness, will be about life in modern America.)

Then there's Nathan Law Kwun-chung, who was cruelly exiled to the UK by, er, Nathan Law.

He offers VIP membership for US$100, which will entitle you to "personal conversations." Let me tell you about how I was cruelly exiled to the UK by me."

Best of all, you can pay US$150 a month to Joshua Wong Chi-fung and get all sorts of things from him, including "access to posts and photos about my personal life."

Be still, my beating heart.

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Transport enthusiasts at the Road Research Society noticed that the plane on Hong Kong's newest road sign appears to be crashing. Um, planes on road signs are supposed to go up, left or right, Transport Department people, but never down.

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Twelve Hong Kong bail jumpers last week: "We blame the police for our problems - they shouldn't have arrested us."

Twelve Hong Kong bail jumpers yesterday: "We blame the police for our problems - they should have arrested us."

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Love the travel scheme at Harbor City shopping mall in Tsim Sha Tsui where you "check in" to, say, Japan, and then spend the day going from one Japanese restaurant to another. I know several Hongkongers who visit Tokyo to do exactly that.

Reminds me of a British-themed dinner party I once attended whose Hong Kong hosts turned up the air-conditioning way too high, so that we all sat around shivering and ate bad food.

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Annoyed by what some cruel people were saying about Donald Trump's illness, US Republican Caleb Hull tweeted on Friday: "There is no excuse for wishing death on someone you disagree with politically."

Social media users reminded Hull of what he himself tweeted on May 20 this year: "I, for one, hope Kim Jong Un dies a painful death as soon as possible."

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Talking of American politicians, Marsha Blackburn yesterday announced the US president's departure from hospital with a short tweet: "President Trump has once again defeated China."

You can't make this stuff up.

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