Thread by @BaldingsWorld

Since I have received many questions and crazy accusations, on this last day of 2020 let me give you a random collection of thoughts to close out this year. 1/n

1. I miss Asia. It's awesome. Most countries have a sense that things are getting better and that opportunities exist. From people starting businesses to sending their kids to better schools, there is a vibrancy and optimism that is infectious 2/n

2. Americans are a whiny narcistic self absorbed lot that rather then get down to a task and make things happen are content to complain ad nauseum. The world don't owe you $#!+. Get down to it and get on with it 3/n

3. I was wrong about some key things about corona but also right about some key things. Compared to public health experts I'm probably about even. 4/n

4. I don't really identify with either party. I am pro-immigration and anti-death penalty. I am a foreign policy hawk. I am pro-market but believe anti-trust regulation needs more focus. Socially liberal but think wokeness is idiotic. My issue views do not align with either 5/n

5. Journalists lie. Straight up lie. Not fudge, not slant, straight up bald faced lie. "Never trust a journalist, not even me." --Well known journalist at major outlet to me. Words to live by. Journalists lie. 6/n

6. Foreign policy "experts" in DC are experts because they are credentialed not because they really know the subject area. I don't understand how you can be a country expert and really never have lived there 7/n

7. I am pro-ally and pro-international institution but also believe most "allies" the US thinks they have are not really allies and that most international institutions range from irretrievably failed to compromised. Total rethink is needed on these issues 8/n

8. Lying is at the heart of democracy not antithetical to it. You don't get votes by telling people hard truths. You get votes by telling people what they want to hear. This is why all...ALL.....politicians lie. Always and forever. 9/n

9. I'm sure most China engagers and open letter writers are nice people. They are however completely and entirely without a doubt fundamentally wrong. 10/n

10. Like plutonium I am amazed at the half life of bad ideas. China engagement has failed. Failed. It has not turned out as predicted. Period. EU is signing a treaty based upon this premise and university professors continue to believe in it. 11/n

11. Humans in our data and information driven age wildly over estimate our ability to understand our surroundings and control outcomes. 12/n

12. I would much rather get the issue right than please a specific political party or superior. I do not think about who I will align with when I form an opinion or study an issue. That's called biasing work if you do that. 13/n

2021 here we come!