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I finished a book called "The New Silk Roads: The Present and Future of the World" by by Peter Frankopan. It is a followup to his previously published "The Silk Roads." He talks a fair amount about the Belt and Road initiative. The numbers are phenomenal and it is a pretty good read.

So my wife wanted to go back to China beginning of October. She will visit her mom, check on her Chinese social security, and some other personal business. She is flying back on Hainan, which we have used before. I originally got her a ticket leaving the last week of September for $430 round trip. However, a few days later we received a message from Hainan that the first part of the outbound trip had been cancelled. There was no explanation. I had to file paperwork online to refund the ticket since they don't automatically do that, and the system would not just let me change the reservation. While trying to book a new flight I saw that they had cancelled all of the flights for that week of September, except one that went for $2400. Anyway, I found a flight leaving October 1st and booked it. Cost was still low at $530. Still, was kind of a pain to go through. We have our fingers crossed that they won't cancel again.

Article on subway/rail cars constructed by the China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) for the U.S. market: https://thehill.com/policy/technology/446997-lawmakers-target-chinese-rail-cars-over-security-concerns Mainly talking about security concerns. There is no company in the U.S. that constructs the cars. Where is Pullman when you need him!

180 days

I am a geologist, by training, in a past life. I worked for the government and oversaw permitting and inspections of exploration and mining on federal lands. The U.S. has deposits of rare earth minerals in a number of western states. How big they are, I don't know. Exploration in New Mexico and Texas was taking place back in 2013 while I was working in Las Cruces, NM. None of those sights has been developed, or are in the process of being developed. The Mountain Pass mine in CA has produced a lot of the minerals in the past. It has closed at various times due to prices. It has also had a number of issues with pollution. I believe that the only way for the U.S. to secure these metals at a price that won't harm the economy, is for the government to subsidize mining them. During WWII the government subsidized mining operations for metals critical to the war effort. I really don't see this being any less important to national security. Here is an article I found that says the same thing: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2019-06-02/is-there-a-way-to-counter-the-chinese-stranglehold-on-rare-earth-metals/

I got everything ready to go ahead of time for my wife's renewal and then sent it in on the first day in the six month window. Renewal went pretty fast, and she received her new card pretty fast.

Yeah, I was surprised that it took China this long to say they might play the rare earth card. It's not that the United States doesn't have rare earth resources, we just aren't in a position to bring them online as a counter measure. The cost to develop them, plus the cost to the environment mining them has made it cheaper to import.

There is one in the Chinatown Plaza here in Las Vegas. We used to shop there quite a bit. Now, however, there are a couple of other asian markets that have better prices. We also shop at a place called La Bonita Mexican Supermarket. It is really hard to beat their prices on vegetables and fruit.

So my wife likes to cook and she also likes to look at food gadgets when she shops. While taking our morning walk yesterday she described some gadget she had seen at Marshall's. She ended the description by saying that it "was made in Italian." She makes this mistake quite a bit and I always tell her it "was made in Italy." We may repeat this several times before moving on to something else. Anyway, after she said this yesterday, and I corrected her, I got to thinking. So this product was made in Italy. In all probability, it was made by people speaking Italian during the process. Therefore, one can only conclude that "made in Italian" could actually be a correct statement. Logic is really twisted some times. On another note, Netflix currently has a series called "Flavorful Origins" that features cuisine from the Chaoshan Region. Each show in the series lasts about 12 minutes. It is fairly interesting and my wife seems to like it a lot.

Making citizens of Japanese heritage move from the coast, or be interned without any proof of being spies, is wrong on any level. Same for anyone who was a permanent resident, especially since they couldn't become citizens by law at the time. I don't remember reading accounts of forced coastal evacuations for people of German or Italian heritage during the war. Were they somehow more "American" than those of Japanese descent? So the way Japanese Americans, and their parents were treated was racist. As to spies for Japan, yes, there were 10 convictions of people spying for Japan during the war. All 10 were Caucasian. To make the blanket statement that "China has little that wasn't first stolen from some other country" is playing into the hands of those who deal on a base level, whether it was truly meant or not. Are there spies in this country? Yes, just as we have spies (domestic and military) in other countries. Also remember that a lot of what China acquired from American companies was given to them. It was a price of doing business in their country that no company had to pay, but gladly did to make money. They could have walked away but chose to pursue profits. We shouldn't look at whole classes of people and be wondering if they are spying. I don't understand the fear and really see no reason to be ruled by it. We should expect something different in the future, something better for the sake of our country. As to the original question of deportation, my opinion is yes it could happen. It could happen easily. My wife received renewal for her 10 yr card last year. Since then I have received 3 emails that USCIS is still reviewing her case and have not closed it.

Just received an email stating that they were still processing her case and that it was not closed yet. A little curious since she received the card. Will just have to wait and see what happens.

I mailed in the application to renew my wife's 10 year green card on September 23rd. She had her biometrics appointment second week of October. She received the new green card in the mail yesterday. So 41 days for the complete process. Next we go to the Chinese Consulate in L.A. to get her passport renewed.

From The Hill - Trump talks to Xi about trade: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/414255-trump-talks-trade-with-chinese-president "President Trump said Thursday that he spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping amid heightened trade tensions between the world's two largest economies. Trump in a tweet described their phone conversation as "long and very good" and said they placed a "heavy emphasis" on trade. The president indicated they would discuss the issue at next month's Group of 20 (G-20) summit of world economic powers. Such a meeting has not yet been officially announced by the White House."

The Nisei were U.S. citizens by birth and many only spoke English, as was the case for Mr. Omura. Their parents, the Issei, were the original immigrants from Japan. Federal law prevented the Issei from becoming citizens. The majority of Japanese immigrants inhabited the Pacific coastal states. Mr. Omura was living in CA at the time WWII began, but he had lived in a number of other places before then. Relocation camps were located in a number of states across the U.S. Some families ended up in camps in states other than those that they originally inhabited. Internment camps in the coastal states were located inland to prevent supposed spies from contacting enemy ships. Manzanar, which was a camp in CA, now preserved for historical purposes is one example. Could it happen again? I would hope not, but unfortunately our better angels may still not prevent it from happening again.

I am 90 pages into the above book. So far, it is an interesting portrait of life in America for those of Japanese ancestry on the west coast. I have a few more pages to go to get into the internment. Mr. Omura encouraged resistance to drafting of imprisoned Nisei into the military, unless their lost citizenship rights were restored. He was arrested, tried, but not convicted, for his convictions. Just as a note, I found this book in Portland, OR at Powell's Bookstore. If you love books then you should definitely stop at this store if you have the chance. I ended up spending over $200 and didn't even get through a quarter of the store. If I lived in Portland I would probably go broke.

During my two trips to China earlier this year I did notice the higher prices for clothing and other non-food items. In Chongqing, prices for clothes were at or above those in Las Vegas stores. Food wise I found prices to still be pretty cheap (in-store and at restaurants) in comparison. There seemed to be a healthy number of people out shopping as well. None of my wife's relatives commented about prices for any items. They did ask my wife if we were doing okay in America.

My wife spends a lot of time in the bedroom reading and watching cooking or other videos on her computer. She does it there so as not to bother me since I read a lot in the living room. We sit together and watch TV in the evenings in the living room. We watch a couple hours of english language programs and then a couple hours of chinese language programs. We also go to a park and walk 3 miles every morning, weather permitting. She really likes to see the animals (rabbits, ground squirrels, hummingbirds, quail, etc) in the park. She also likes to help me when I am out working in the yard.

She is actually at the end (expires March 2019) of her first 10 year green card. I will be printing off the application for the new one and mailing it in today. Filling in the information is easy. I am more worried about the processing by the agency.

I decided to go solar at the end of May. I purchased a rooftop system with 10 panels, that was installed at the end of July. It took the power company almost 30 days to put in the two new power meters so that the system could be activated. It was powered up on 8/22 and seemed to be working pretty well. However, there was a glitch with an optimizer for one of the panels that was replaced on 9/7. The guy who replaced it forgot to turn the system back on, and I was out of town. So it did not produce power for 6 days. There was also a problem with the system not recognizing one of the panels, which has now also been fixed. Even with the problems the system still produced half, and sometimes more than half, of the power we required. That is pretty good with the air conditioners running quite a bit due to the high temperatures. As it cools down, most of the energy produced will go back to NV Energy and they will credit me for it. After a rebate, and the anticipated Federal energy tax credit, the system will cost me a little over $9,000. I had thought about over sizing the system and storing excess power in batteries to go off grid. However, I didn't think the battery systems are quite reliable enough yet.

My wife and I traveled to Chongqing and stayed for two weeks in February, and for two weeks in May, this year. She is on the last of her current green card and there was no problem entering or exiting China. I am more worried about submitting for the renewal of her green card the end of this week, than traveling to, and in China.

You can also use a ROKU player and stream to your TV. There is some Chinese content that can be accessed through it. Some you pay for and some free.

I did not get to see the documentary yet, but will pick it up later. I was fairly up on the history of the Act from reading several books. I also read a number of Supreme Court decisions involving Chinese and discrimination against them. I circulated the court cases to my fellow employees during Asian American and Pacific Islander Month. I read the book by Iris Chang before my wife actually entered the U.S. I decided back then that I needed to understand what other Chinese people had faced, just in case. So far she has not met with any overt racism. Those looking to read something that ties us into where we are at in the world today, may want to read THE SILK ROADS: A NEW HISTORY OF THE WORLD, by Peter Frankopan. I am about 2/3 through it and it is a pretty good read.

Fiat seems to do ok here in Las Vegas, judging by what I see out on the roads. They do not seem to advertise a whole lot though. I thought about looking into getting one based on gas mileage, but went with a Prius instead. Before retiring at the beginning of this year I was driving 70 miles round trip so something fuel efficient was needed.

Jingshan Hill, is in a very nice little park. My wife and I have enjoyed going there several times while in Beijing. Wasn't really crowded any of the times we were there. Really good views when the air quality is good. I would say they did a really good job restoring the balance way back then.

In February, we flew a direct flight from Las Vegas to Beijing and connected onto Chongqing. Came back the same way and no machines were installed in Las Vegas at that time. I am sure it will be coming though. I tried to get them to take the paper form from me twice. Once while we were being interviewed at the counter and once as we were going out of the check area. Ended up shredding it myself at home. I try to stay away from mobile apps as much as possible. I have been in the situation of slow uploading of information to my phone too many times to trust that it is actually going to show up on the phone. My all time wait was 20 minutes trying to get a ticket to load for a show. I can see trying to get this to come up while at Customs, and them deciding to do a cavity search during the wait.