Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Trump said (twice) on Monday that he "spoke to a former Presdt about bombing Iran" but 4 denials suggest otherwise.
He likely just spoke to his few aides and Netanyahu--He's in serious hot water now.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/said-spoke-a-former-president-bombing-iran-four-denials-suggest-not-rcna263819?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Yes, I've seen Vin Zhang in Eternal Love and The King's Woman--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vin_Zhang
Vin Zhang--a very beautiful and senstive face--
Cast--Vin Zhang as Suo Jun is particularly good--
https://www.moviefone.com/tv-shows/fireworks-of-my-heart/45Uis5yR6MpgVu15Gjuwl3/credits/
I've seen him before, I think in a fantasy where he plays a man carrying around a dead baby.
He and the male lead look alike, but he is taller and his face is softer--which suits their roles as the Male Lead played by Yang Yang and Vin Zhang plays his side kick or deputy.
The male bonding or bromance, as these friendships are now called, is particularly well-written and played.
In episode 8, Vin Zhang as Suo Jun talks in a young girl from the ledge of a shopping mall.
In this episode which ends with Suo Jun retiring from the Firefighters, VZ does such a good job he could be "stealing the Oscar" from Yang Yang.
Of course, in real life there are many specialists who talk in
wannabe suicides from high places.
One famous one has talked in dozens from the Golden Gate Bridge, and I've even written a scene in which someone like him saves a girl? --this oddly enough in a fantasy I am still working on involving garudas and other fantastic beings including a talking skull.
I must look at this piece of speculative fiction again.
Kyi May Kaung
3-17-2026.
Episode 8 especially good--
Chinese drama Fireworks of My Heart has sparked discussions among netizens about the role of emergency workers. The drama was made by director Li Muge and scriptwriter Xu Su based on a novel called Waiting for You in a City by Jiu Yue Xi.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202307/1294187.shtml
Fireworks of My Heart tells the story of Song Yan and Xu Qin, who have been good friends since childhood. However, as they grow up, their families see the negative side of their friendship. As a result, Song and Xu are forced to go their separate ways. Ten years pass and they both work hard to realize their dreams: Song becomes a firefighter while Xu becomes a doctor in the Emergency Unit section.
The drama integrates firefighting and medical elements, and combines them with real-life cases to present emergency rescue scenes in various crisis situations such as fires, earthquakes and rainstorms. The producers worked with real firefighters and doctors to get a better sense of situations such as dealing with wreckage in a disaster area or flooded tunnels. Song and Xu meet again during a moment of crisis, allowing viewers to see the hardship of these professions.
Song Yan, who plays the lead role told the Global Times, "I hope to show the audience that every profession has a different side, and that they all silently watch over us," adding that he was attracted by Song Yan's sense of responsibility as a firefighter.
Monday, March 16, 2026
I didn't win the painting award I was hoping for, but will keep painting and doing everything else/
Rare tornado warning in DC area--real one--not metaphorical--
building asks to "tie down chairs"on balconies--charge devices.
Possibly fill water bottles--
One woman filled her abthtub during 9/11, another saw the 2nd tower go down.
A trader my son knew through business died.
The uncle of 2 of my friends died also.
***
Dems refer Kristi Noem --to DOJ for criminal investigation.
Minnesota federal Judge Patrick J. Schiltz wrote in a Feb. 26 court order that ICE had violated 210 orders in 143 separate cases, describing the "continued violation" of orders as "beyond the pale."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/03/16/kristi-noem-congress-democrats-justice-department-referral/89182103007/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Durbin and Raskin noted Schiltz's determination in their letter to the Justice Department.
The two Democrats also pointed to Noem's testimony that Trump knew DHS was going to spend $220 million running television ads that featured Noem prominently.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on March 4, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Trump later said Noem's testimony about his awareness wasn't true.
"I never knew anything about it," the president told Reuters in a phone interview.
"These two statements are clearly inconsistent; one of them has to be false," the Democrats wrote in their letter.
***
Fireworks of my Heart--C-Drama--ep 6. Firefighter and Medical Doctor--this one is a long series, and a bit slow-
but very well done--shows a lot of rescue and risk situations--
To me it's emblematic of what the new China after Deng's economic reforms have become.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5qLrwMxM7c
You should of course start from Ep 1.
I could not find ep 3--but it does not matter that much.
Use the formula
Fireworks of my Heart--ep --eng sub to Google--
Don't forget the Eng Sub--it will come in Mandarin or Malay or Thai or Arabic--
It's a big industry now. KM Kaung 3-16-2026
Sling bag made from old jeans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFy-rE5v0D8
I have upcycled 2 corduroy pants into a vest.
Two cotton pants and a too-tight blouse into a summer blouse.
Starmer live at 10 Downing Street--doing things to protect British consumer--clean energy--
Windfall Tax on oil importers, 53 ms pounds to help consumers--capping oil prices for 3 months.
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cx2lr40g17kt#player
After starting this war unilaterally, DJT is now asking for help--displaced persons on streets of Beirut, Xi calls for immediate end to war--T. asks China to help escort tankers through Strait--etc.
Read BBC live updates below.
***
SET UP Google Search for yourself and check about 3 times a day--in the meanwhile keep going and inform your loved ones--
You don't follow the news at your own risk.
Sunday, March 15, 2026
Just found--on Amazon Prime--Cooking for the Crown--so far nothing to do with British Royalty.
Nicely replaces my favorite Mark Weins, who went everywhere and now joined Netflix--
but I am too poor to afford 2 streaming service monthly subscriptions.
And I won't have the time either.
Episodes 1 and 2 cover Indian Muslim and Cambodian Royal food.
On my only trip to Cambodia, I did not go to The Killing Fields nor to Tual Seng prison-
only to Angkor and since I was on a budget 3 day Bangkok Airways tour--the food was not so good--the markets also had not very much food.
However,recipes here are from royal families and look easily replicatable--
For instance you can substitute shrimp for escargot and chicken for mutton (goat).
So give it a try.
And those who are too lazy to cook, no one was born knowing how to cook.
These days it's a necessity.
Kyi May Kaung
3-15-2026
I just watched the Diana movie from 2008 on Amazon. A bit late but in 2008 I just read about it.
I know that Dr.Hasnat Khan, cardiac surgeon, was very careful what he said at the trial, and he also said she was not pregnant, that she took her contraceptive pills regularly and he also thought it was an accident. He also said that he tried to call her the night of the accident, and that his call did not go through.
He didn't seem to like the movie or himself as played by Naveen Andrews--"I never stood like that, with my hands behind my back."
But I didn't know anyone personally.
In 1997, I was newly hired at RFA (Radio Free Asia) and all those 3 years I was severely over-worked, writing, voicing and producing 5 original features a week--everyone else translated AP and other news articles directly.
In April 1997 I went to my first Conference on International Affairs in Boulder,CO. The first of several I went to each spring or Easter--the last one in 2004 which was different, about human trafficking and held in Denver.
In Boulder, I met a British journalist. I've forgotten his name, but I asked him what Princess Diana was like. He said,"She's just an ordinary young lady, and she was terrified (of the press). Think about it,if she's terrified (of us) how are we supposed to feel?"
But I remember the program I did on her funeral,the way I also wrote the obit when Aung San Suu Kyi's husband Dr. Michael Aris died.
The jerk who headed the Burmese section and his two female lionesses were always sabotaging my programs, but I did those obits anyway.
For the Princess Diana piece, jerk said,"That's not about Burma."
But I did it anyway. For a mild-mannered woman,I canbe quite bull-headed.
I carefully recorded the exact amount of sound bytes we were legally allowed--3 mins, copied them from NPR, and I choose the footsteps of the pall bearers to start the program. The streets were absolutely silent.
A few days before, I had seen pictures of Princess Diana at the minefields. I thought then, "Those beautiful legs, they will never be mangled by land mines."
Instead, very soon she'd be killed in a car crash.
Mother Theresa spoke of her, and died herself the next day.
The piece was broadcast and got good feedback from my audience inside Burma.
The kid with broken teeth who was jerk's sycophant--said "Sayama (Female Teacher) you acted like you sounded sad."
I said,"Of course I am sad. Don't you see how Dan Rather talks about such things."
I remember saying the front of the car was folded in like an accordion.
About this movie, I think it's one of the better bio-pics.
It's respectful of the living as well as the dead.
It doesn't assign blame on anyone.
For that you will have to read Dominic Dunne's account of the trial in the link below.
It's truly sad.
Hasnat Khan said something like, "It happened,and there's nothing I can do about it.
He married 3 times,the first 2 marriages ending in divorce, all to Pakistani women.
I don't know who wrote the screenplay.
I don't know how the movie-makers got the rights to depict living persons like the butler Paul Burrell and Dr.Khan himself.
I would give this movie 4 1/2 stars out of 5.
Kyi May Kaung
3-15-2026
Saturday, March 14, 2026
Loss of Nationality Fee reduced--
What To Know
https://www.newsweek.com/us-change-citizenship-fee-legal-pressure-11678058
The State Department has reduced the fee to formally renounce American citizenship by about 80 percent, lowering it from $2,350 to $450. The change was made through a final rule published in the Federal Register and took effect on Friday.
In the rule, the State Department said it cut the renunciation fee after years of complaints from Americans living abroad that the cost, combined with U.S. tax and reporting rules such as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, made giving up citizenship financially burdensome.
The State Department described the cut as a policy decision aimed at reducing the cost burden on people seeking a Certificate of Loss of Nationality (CLN), the document issued after renunciation is approved.
Sinema acknowledges affair with guard while in office--his wife sued her--she says "encounters"
happened on the road, not in the couple's home state.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/03/13/kyrsten-sinema-acknowledges-affair/
Princess Diana had two recorded love affairs with bodyguards.
One was killed in a motor-cycle accident that Diana told friends was an assassination ordered by her father-in-law.
The other has been alledged to be Prince Harry's biological father.
There are other rumors--eventually it will all come out.
The difference is Princess Diana was well-liked and she died.kmk
3-14-2026
Friday, March 13, 2026
The World Anti-Doping Agency is considering rewriting its rules to try barring President Donald Trump and all U.S. government officials from attending the LA Olympics in 2028 in a move that could also have implications for the World Cup being hosted by the U.S. this summer.
https://www.aol.com/articles/wada-weigh-barring-trump-us-214033170.html
Incomprehensible story line and crazy dubbing--Horrible transliterartion.
XinTong--Shin Tong--pronounced repeatedly as "Ex I N, tong"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0FKg6_vQ2Q&t=620s
This is what I found about Westerners, they never ask--they just say it any way they think--
Like an official herald shouting out--Ow oo san kee
for Aung San Suu Kyi
Bush Jr saying Aung Suu San Kyi
and even my prof saying "mau--bin" for Ma-oo bin
and Mony wa--for Mon-Ywa.
If you don't know why don't you ask.
And even Susan Sarandon said "I" for Aye--as in Aye Aye Sir.
Actually it's pronounced Eh
and means Cool as in cool water.
And these are the transliterations given us by the British Colonial writers/scholars.
I've taught my doctors' assistants to all say my name correctly.
And then there was that BBC Hardtalk interviewer I told before the taping started that I was "One of the exile government's advisors," and she said "The Exile Government's Advisor"
And she looked genuinely shocked when I said, "Sanctions are not on and off like a light switch. There are a whole range of different sanctions for different commodities."
"I was so angry I didn't stay downtown for the next interview,but went back home to cool off--where I at once complained on the BBC website.
My colleague ANO said, "I was so mad,I felt like jumping up and throttling them.
Even Savannah Guthrie,whose mother Nancy is still lost--pronounced John Le carre's name wrong as "Le Care"
Even I even in Burma in the 1960s with a few months of basic French knew it was John Le Carre--carr ray--as in the French word for The Square.
But Savannah apologized and pronounced the name correctly the very next day.
I do hope her mother is found safe and sound.
On the other hand, Burmese never admit they are wrong,so cocksure, and it's cocksure, not "hen sure," you know?
Kyi May Kaung
3-13-2026
Thursday, March 12, 2026
This is a different Love in the Kitchen--anyway, it's time to go to sleep--had a long day.
However, day very warm--75F. Things went relatively well. One fave restaurant closed permanently, but Trader Joes opened--easy to walk to,lots of Chinese dim sum,small portions.
Going to change my eating patterns.
Normally eat high fiber, multi-grain, but to prep for procedure have to eat low fiber foods.
Also buying in bulk from cheapie store,found could not eat so much, so some waste.
Therefore will eat like Scallion Shoot who eats small portions--like appetizers or tea time snacks. This good friend taught me a lot.
AS we grow old we need small portions of better food.
So today had 5 halves of deviled eggs and a beet salad.
With bread and the nice waiter filled up my cold coffee.
Waiters and waitresses always very kind to me.
Chinese place even makes steamed eggplant for me without the sauce, and by now they know I only eat brown rice.
Next time going to Trader Joes with shopping cart. Bottle of lemonade was very heavy.
Wow, boasting a little. Benjamina's,The Plum,Whole Foods, Starbucks, Trader Joes all within walking distance, 3 kinds of doctors--nice gardens and benches along the way. The cherry is starting to bloom--warm like summer.
https://www.iq.com/play/love-in-the-kitchen-2020-24nfjclpuxg?lang=en_us
Wednesday, March 11, 2026
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