Why are there foreign judges serving in Hong Kong?

It is a holdover from Hong Kong’s past as a British colony. After the UK handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997, the agreement between the countries stipulated that the special territory would continue to operate with its freedoms and systems for 50 years- including its common law legal system which operates in several other jurisdictions worldwide. Currently there seven foreign judges remaining on the court– three British and four from Australia.

So, foreign judges who are meddling in HK affairs are upset that China (the inheritor of HK) is meddling in HK affairs?

If the West actually cared about HK independence, why do they wish to maintain colonial judges in HK courts? If they cared, shouldn’t HK judges be in HK courts?

While China has been heavy handed in its effort to speed up the timeline of the power transfer, in the end, the West has concluded that HK is to be Chinese territory. By the West’s own policy, these are foreign judges getting kicked out by the “rightful” new rulers, just a bit early.

EDIT: I’ll update my previous comment for clarity

the number of Americans who own 401(K) investments, which benefit from better stock index performance, has increased significantly in recent years

This is the same as saying lots of Americans have bank accounts. The accounts could be empty.

the US cooled inflation down to that level far faster than other Western economies (e.g. the UK and Eurozone)

The US did not experience the same economic effects as the UK. The UK performed Brexit which raised the cost of goods by definition, and had their price of fuel skyrocket due to the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war. The US is not dependent on Russian oil.

wage growth has actually outpaced inflation in recent years

EDIT: Wages with respect to productivity have been stagnant since 1970, but today’s average worker produces far more value for their employer. Employers are not sharing their increased profits with their workers, who are making roughly the same as workers from 1970. So yes, workers got a very slight real increase in pay, but are still vastly underpaid.

The inflation rate measures the price change of a basket of household goods

No, it doesn’t. That’s the consumer price index.

employers are more willing to be generous with pay raises when the economy is good. In short, people credit increases in wages to their own hard work but blame inflation on the Government.

No, increased wages are not because bosses decided to be nice. Corporate profits reached records during the pandemic, paying more reduces profits. Unions and displays of labor activism in the US have expanded significantly in the past few years. People are demanding higher wages from their employers. The entire purpose of the Federal Reserve is to combat inflation. Action by the government is the only way to control inflation.

Economists are not stupid.

That’s debatable, but some are certainly self-serving.

Tell me how high interest rates benefits those who have to borrow money for school, medical expenses, a car, or a first home.

That’s fair.

Is it not tax evasion/fraud? In the US, either can bring criminal charges. For a smaller municipality, is there no assistance available from higher government?

It’s both.

An example of bad urban planning is low density urban sprawl, which requires lots of resources for few housing units.

Less housing, price go up. High build cost, price go up.

Blaming AirBnB for high housing prices is like setting up a chain of dominos, and criticizing a guy who comes by and knocks it over.

Yeah, and that’s exactly what they chose to do. They contributed to the reasons John Public can’t afford housing, and were rewarded massively for it.

If it wasn’t him, it would have been someone else, or the wind.

Yeah, anyone can rob a bank with poor security, but we should still punish the guy who actually robs the bank.

Cops would rather beat up college students and the unhoused than go after landlords.

that’s an expense that’s hard to justify to taxpayers

Ah, yes. We don’t have money because collecting taxes would be too expensive. Classic.

EDIT:

https://www.businessinsider.com/irs-tax-audits-recover-12-dollars-for-every-dollar-spent-2023-6?op=1

OK, now go finish your Cheerios.

After that, you can go give the smoke to someone who deserves it.

I’m not invested in the thread whatsoever. I made a joke about your comment and you are once again making assumptions about people you know nothing about.

Really sounds like a you problem.

Since you need me to explain the joke, here it is.

It comes across as you making the assumption, “there are no biden bros in this thread”.

You then say not to make assumptions about people you know nothing about.

So unless you know everyone in this thread, you are making an assumption about people who you know nothing about.

It’s comedic.

So, lemmy.world and all of its federated communities are far left now? And you want to talk about ignorance?

Believe it or not, internet points are not always very meaningful.

Check your ratios man. You lost this battle.

Because no updoots means you’re wrong and bad and should go away 😠

And there’s no “Biden bro” here. Stop making assumptions about people you know nothing about.

You don’t say…?

The DOD deals death daily, dude.

Or just right-wing oligarchs in general. It’s not like plenty of people within the US wouldn’t want the same.

Of course this could all be addressed by designing robust systems that implement strong redundancy, safety checks, and sufficient regulation, but that increases complexity and costs money.

I think we still need more time/data to get the whole picture. EVs are still in their early stages.

It would be interesting to look at fire rates for vehicles at rest. These types of fires have the potential to become quite serious, as they are often not immediately noticed, especially if the vehicle is parked in a garage or remote area. This additional time allows the fire to spread and intensify.

Since EV fires are typically more intense than ICE vehicles, we should expect EV fires to cause more damage to the surroundings and to spread faster. Though, this danger could be offset if EVs have a lower probability of self ignition.

We should also look at fires while refueling/charging. Lithium cells are most dangerous when charging and discharging. While an overfilled gas tank is easy to spot and may catch fire, a continually overcharged battery is invisible and will catch fire. Also, because of the long charge time of batteries, many EV owners leave the vehicle unattended while charging and would not immediately notice a fire if one were to occur. In addition, EVs are often charged at home, in close proximity to residences and other vehicles, and often within garages. These residential locations do not have the same fire safety requirements and suppression systems as gas stations, so a vehicle fire at home is already much more dangerous and has the potential to severely damage your home.

We have had a century to figure out ICE, but it’s still very early days for EVs, so only time will tell.

LiPo batteries of the same capacity actually have the potential to be much more dangerous than the sodium cell shown here.

LiPo packs typically use flat, soft walled cells which are far more susceptible to being punctured. In the event of a puncture or overcharge event, high temperature enduring flames are produced, with the severity and duration largely depending on the amount of energy within the cell. LiPo batteries also degrade at a much faster rate (both over time and with charge cycles) and have been known to spontaneously combust in storage while at rest.

With the sodium battery, the thrust produced by the puncture could have been easily been overcome by properly securing the cell.

Yep, less/no fire is very important when creating battery banks with many cells. The probability of single cell failure spreading to adjacent cells is reduced, making a catastrophic failure of the entire bank less likely.