Three Americans Freed from China in Prisoner Swap

Harrison Li holds a picture of his father, Kai Li

Just in time for American Thanksgiving, US President Joe Biden secured the release of three Americans prisons in China in a prisoner swap deal.

They are Texan businessman Mark Swidan who was arrested in 2012 and accused of drug related offenses; Kai Li, who had been held on espionage charges since 2016, and John Leung, who was born in Hong Kong, and last year was sentenced to life in prison on spying charges.

Swidan was held in China for over a decade

Sean Savett, a National Security Council spokesman says no other Americans are "wrongfully detained" in China, a designation where the US government sees a person as the equivalent of a political hostage, or that charges were fabricated.

In return, the US released Xu Yanjun, a Chinese intelligence officer who was serving a 20-year sentence after he was arrested in Brussels in 2018 and extradited to the US.

This deal was in the works for several months under secrecy, and earlier this month Biden discussed the prisoner swap with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during the Apec summit in Peru.

Earlier this year Secretary of State Antony Blinken had repeatedly pressed his counterpart Wang Yi to release the Americans who were wrongfully detained. 

Leung was in jail on spying charges

This is a big win for Biden in the last few weeks in office; in total he has managed to secure the release of more than 70 Americans that the US consider were wrongfully detained overseas.

"Soon they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years," said Savett.

It's going to be a very special Thanksgiving for them.

Palm Springs: Retail Woes a Harbinger of the 2024 Economy

Santa had no visitors yesterday late afternoon

Yesterday afternoon we went to a shopping mall called Westfield Palm Desert that we went to around the same time last year. It has a few anchor stores, JC Penny at one end, Macy's the other, and Barnes & Noble bookstore in the middle.

Last year it was pretty busy, lots of people starting their Christmas shopping with Black Friday sales after Thanksgiving. This year? Quite the opposite and perhaps a sign of what the US economy will be like in the coming months and year.

JC Penny was looking very dim and uninviting

We first hit Macy's and I remembered it being very busy last year, with long lines for the fitting room and cashier. This year there were only a handful of shoppers looking at the racks. I scored a dress that was originally US$79.50, and was knocked down 25 percent to US$59.62. 

Because it was on a rack with 30 percent off, the dress was further discounted to US$41.73, plus tax was US$44.96.

And if I don't like it, I can return it by January 31, 2024 as long as the tag is attached and nothing altered.

How to department stores even make money these days?

Maybe they made money from the woman in line behind me who was carrying a heap of clothing ready to buy.

The situation at JC Penny was even more dire -- the lighting was quite dim by around 5pm. It was also even emptier than Macy's. The atmosphere was just really sad, with hardly any staff around and people wandering around the aisles of bland-looking merchandise.

Hardly any shoppers around to snap up discounts

Even Santa Claus was having a slow day. The jolly man in the red suit was sitting on his throne waiting for kids to come take pictures so that their parents could send them to grandparents and relatives, but alas not one child came to tell Santa what he or she wanted for Christmas.

Granted it was November 30 and a weekday, but still!

If Westfield Palm Desert is a harbinger of what's to come, it's not looking good for the retail sector next year...

Palm Springs: Post Thanksgiving Blues

Enough vegetables in this salad to fulfill my quota for days

Even though the Thanksgiving holiday ended on Sunday, many people only headed back home today, which is why Palm Springs looks much quieter tonight than the previous few days.

The downtown area (which is only a few streets) hardly had any traffic, though the parking lot was mostly full for dinner.

We went to one restaurant and were greeted outside by two young hostesses who told us there would be an hour wait for a table. An hour? 

So we moved onto Kaiser Grill Palm Springs and inside it was pretty much empty. There were only people sitting at the bar and we soon found out why.

After we were each handed a tablet to peruse the menu, we were surprised to find there were no prices next to the dishes. Our waiter later explained we had to click on each menu item to see the description of the dish and the price.

Some of the dishes were eye-watering expensive, in particular the steaks at 24oz which is huge. We joked all five of us would have to share one to finish it. Who eats 24oz of meat these days?

Our waiter seemed disappointed we were only drinking water until he heard where we were from and began raving about Vancouver and Whistler in particular for the skiing. 

I had a massive bowl of salad with pine nuts along with roasted fig, peach and roasted chicken breast and just barely finished it.

Walking 4 kilometres afterwards helped ease the digestion!

I have been walking 10K the last few days in order to burn off as many calories as possible!!!

Kaiser Grill Palm Springs

205 South Palm Canyon Drive

Palm Springs

760 323 1003