#i love these protection laws we have in europe but i hate how social medias are dealing w them

[givemethedamnflowers]

So this is how they choose to deal w/ european laws ???? Either i agree to them selling my data or i pay ?????? I fucking hate them

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

My name is Jaimee Michell. I am a lesbian woman and the founder and president of Gays Against Groomers. We are a nonprofit organization of gay people who seek to end the sexualization, indoctrination, sterilization and mutilation of children happening under the guise of “LGBTQIA+".

Gay people are not a monolith. I am here to tell you that not all of us are on board with this new modern rainbow movement we are seeing now. In fact, it is the majority of us who are not. That is why I started this organization. I could no longer sit by and watch this toxic ideology be foisted upon children in our name — in my name… I knew I wasn’t alone.

There was just no united front to voice our public dissent to what is being done. So I decided to create one. And now in just a little over a year, we have 17 chapters across the United States, over 100 members, and more than 700,000 followers on social media.

We have also been banned from 11 platforms in that short time, most notably being PayPal and Venmo. They’re clearly terrified of us speaking out from inside the community, and to be completely honest, they should be. They don’t know how to handle us, because they can’t dismiss us as homophobic, transphobic bigots like they do all of you, although they certainly try.

Protecting and safeguarding youth should not be controversial. It should be something everyone can agree on, but clearly that isn’t the case anymore.

The truth is, we never consented to pornographic filth being given to children in schools. We never consented to woke doctors sterilizing and mutilating children in our name. We never consented to radical trans activists taking over and speaking on our behalf.

These people, as well as every major institution in this country are actively manipulating the public and trying to use the rights that we fought for as an excuse for their grotesque behavior and the lies that they tell. Yet these are the same people who preach about how they promote love and acceptance. We beg to differ.

So called “gender affirming care” on minors has been banned in countries across western Europe and has been appropriately labeled the biggest medical scandal since the lobotomy craze. Doctors and scientists in these countries have recognized that gender ideology and the medical practices that go with it are catastrophic for developing children. It is also deeply homophobic at its core.

Without medical intervention, more than half of the children who express feelings of gender discomfort would otherwise grow up to simply be gay adults, according to many scientific studies. There is no wrong way to be a boy or a girl, and telling them otherwise is evil. It’s abundantly clear and cannot be denied that medically transitioning children is the new conversion therapy, only 1000x worse.

These children are being treated like lab rats. And we at Gays Against Groomers have helped pass over a dozen laws and policies across the nation to ban this barbaric practice. We plan on making child sexual mutilation illegal in all 50 states, whether these monsters like it or not.

This ideology is toxic, hateful, violates boundaries, and LIES. It lies to parents, to children, to us… to everyone.

It takes advantage of the most impressionable and vulnerable. Children cannot consent to these interventions. No child can make permanent decisions about ANYTHING, let alone becoming sterile and chopping off body parts. And NO CHILD is born in the wrong body.

Not only is this agenda hurting children, but us as well. The radicals who have hijacked our community are setting us back decades with their assault on children. The acceptance we as gays and lesbians fought to achieve in this country is now being erased seemingly overnight, and it’s devastating for us to watch happen.

We are deeply grateful for Moms For Liberty who are willing to listen and work together. We sincerely believe that the most effective way to end the war on children is by uniting together. Despite our differences, we all share the common goal of saving these kids.

No matter how many times they try to censor us, the truth WILL prevail. They can try to shut us up, but we will never keep quiet. We will not make peace with an ideology that seeks to sexualize, indoctrinate and amputate the healthy body parts of children. We will not let them continue this abuse in our name.

We have a mission and we're not going anywhere. We hit the ground running in our first year. And together, we will restore common sense and reality, and eradicate the social contagion that is poisoning the minds of our youth.

If you would like to learn more about our movement or make donation to help us end the war on children, please visit gaysagainstgroomers.com to learn more.

Thank you.

[the-starsabove-you]

The Spotlight

Chapter 29 - Family Ties  A/N: Sorry for the long update! I have a special announcement soon! Hope I can share it in the following week. But reviews are welcomed! And thank you again for reading 

Michelle let out a deep breath as the plane touched down in Winnipeg. Michelle took a different plane than Mat and the Team. She just needed time to process that she was coming home to Winnipeg for the first time since her career took off. In all honesty, she wasn’t expecting to come back home unless it was for a funeral or a wedding. She wasn’t ready for her family to meet Mat, but she had to be. She made her way to the entrance and she saw her family there. Her mother was waving and her father was standing there and her brother Ty was running to her. Her mother was beautiful, light brown hair and green eyes with a soft smile. She worked as a detective since Michelle and Ty were so small. The job took a toll, her mother often missing a lot of important things in her children’s lives, but her children knew it was because their mother was out there solving crimes and saving lives. Her father had the same dark brown hair as Michelle. Instead of Michelle’s warm blue eyes, her father’s were cold. Some would compare Michelle and her father with looks but Michelle would brush it off, claiming she looked more like her mother. Her father was a lawyer. He was more home with his children, had his own office in the house and would work there while his children would be doing something else. It was basically Michelle and Ty’s childhood, sometimes their father would bring them to his office in a huge building near their house. Michelle’s father was cold, he had high expectations for his children, he wanted his family to be the perfect family with the white fence and everything. Although he was the one mostly present in the children’s lives, they inherited their kind hearts and empathy from their mother. It broke her father’s heart, along with him having bitter feelings towards her when she decided to leave Winnipeg and start a life that was the opposite of what he wanted. Ty, whose real name was Tyson, was graduating high school and going to college. Due to their mother being absent and their father working at home, it was Michelle who raised and looked out for Ty. She loved her brother and wanted to protect him from any bad thing in life. Ty was being forced to go to Law school by their father, Ty didn’t want to go to law school. He always dreamed about being a writer, writing stories and being a journalist. He wanted to make a difference with his writing, not do Law.. Ty ran and nearly crushed his sister as he brought her into a tight hug. Michelle laughed when her little brother picked her up and swung her around “Ty! You’re gonna drop me!” She said and Ty smiled and put her down “I haven’t seen my sister in forever! You can’t blame a little brother for missing his big sister” He said and Michelle grabbed his hand “I know.. I’m sorry, has everything been okay?” She whispered and Ty knew what she meant and he nodded “All is calm within the house.. But I know it will change with our father” Ty muttered and Michelle sighed. Michelle’s father, Thomas went towards his daughter and stopped in front of her. He nodded “Michelle, it’s been a while” He muttered. Michelle never expected hugs from her father, it was always rare to get a hug from him. Michelle nodded “Dad, it’s nice to see you” She said, she knew that her leaving to start a new life was still a sore topic for him, she rather not bring up his career in front of him. Michelle’s mother, Mary, went towards her daughter and brought her into a tight hug “Oh Sweetie, I’ve missed you” She whispered softly and Michelle kissed her mother’s cheek “I’ve missed you too mom, how’s work been?” “It’s been good, you know.. Your mom always brings the bad guys into jail and face justice” Mary smiled softly and Michelle grinned “That’s my mom! Kicking ass and taking names” She said. Thomas looked around, “Your suitcases come out yet?” He asked and Michelle shook her head “Mat took mine with him in the team plane since he’s getting to the hotel first” She said and Thomas nodded “Ok.” He muttered, Ty looking at his sister “You’re hungry?” “Nah, I would love to see what changed in the neighborhood, how’s Mrs Jones doing?” She asked and her father narrowed his eyes “Your mother made lunch at home and you’re not hungry?” He said dryly and Michelle was about to say something until her mother spoke “It’s fine Tom, I didn’t tell her I was cooking.” She said and her father glared at his wife and nodded “Well, let’s go look around.” He muttered and jammed his hands into his pocket and walked towards the car. Michelle and Ty were walking behind their parents and Michelle nudged her brother gently with her arm “You got into NYU?” She whispered and Ty nodded “I did, but also got accepted into Harvard. You can guess what dad wanted me to attend” Ty said and Michelle narrowed her eyes “Ty, you’re like the smartest kid I’ve known.. You’re smarter than me. I dropped out of college to become a model. Whatever makes you happy, you should do it” She said softly and Ty smiled but their father ruined the moment “Well Ty is attending Harvard. So drop the NYU act. You’re right about something, he’s smarter than you. If you didn’t drop out of college, you would have been closer to being a doctor now. But hey, we can’t have everything in life” Thomas muttered the last part and Michelle remained quiet, she was getting more annoyed by the second. But she knew that it was only going to get worse when Mat meets her family. 

The family got into the car and Mary looked back at her children as she was sitting at the passengers’ seat “Wanna stop by the house and get anything?” She asked and Michelle shook her head “It’s okay.. I’m fine, I have everything right now. I’ve been cleaning out things too since Emily stays at my house a lot” She said lying about the fact that it was Mat staying with her, she didn’t want her father to flip. Ty however, knew about her sister’s love life as he paid attention to his sister on social media. Michelle had told him about Mat living in her apartment and vice versa. Ty was really the only family member that she trusted to tell

“Wanna stop by the old park that your father took you guys when you were children?” She asked and Michelle smiled softly “I would love to” Thomas drove the family to the park, Michelle and Ty got out of the car. Michelle looked back and saw her parents were having an intense talk in the car before her father looked frustrated before getting out the car with his mother. Michelle and Ty walked ahead as they walked along the path. They were both nudging each other before Ty smiled “How are you and your boyfriend doing?” Ty asked and Michelle grinned “We’re doing great! We’re going house hunting soon, He wants to move to Long Island but I wanna find a house in Upstate New York. So that’s what we’re bickering about right now” She chuckled and Ty nodded “It’s reasonable for Long Island because of the arena being in Long Island and then you got the Brooklyn one too. Why do you wanna live Upstate?” “I love the nature scenery.. Plus I feel like it’s the most unexpected place.. Paps wouldn’t really know right away” She muttered and she sighed “But I know he would be happier if we moved to Long Island.. So” She chuckled and Ty grinned “Make sure to invite me to the housewarming party” “What are you two talking about?” Their mother called and Ty looked back “I’m just telling Mich my failed relationship..” He said and Mary shook her head “That girl was a fool for giving you up” Thomas called “You heard Alice got married right? The girl that grew up with you.. Expecting a kid” “Dorian is also engaged too, He sent an invite for the wedding too” Mary said and Thomas nodded “James is moving to Europe too with his girlfriend and their newborn son” Michelle in a way felt her heart sink at the feeling that people her age were already getting married and some having kids. Michelle knew that marriage and kids were off the tables right now, they were both too young and both were starting their careers. The family made their way to the Bell MTS Place. Mat managed to get seats near her family for Michelle. Michelle felt sick thinking about when her family finally met Mat. She hoped that her family approved of Mat, even if her father didn’t approve.. It meant the world if her brother and mother liked him. Michelle sat next to her brother and she was watching fans, both Islanders and Jets fans were walking around and interacting. Michelle was trying to keep a low profile with an Islanders sweater and one of Mat’s hats over her head. “This is so exciting!” Mary said as she was eating a hotdog. Her father grunted as he was drinking water. Ty was looking at the ice “This is so cool! You gotta tell me what’s happening in this game. I have no idea about hockey” “This was me when I first went to one of Mat’s game, I was lost too but it’s easy to catch up on” She said and Ty nodded. Soon the buzzer was heard around the arena and players from both teams were coming out. Michelle’s heart raced when she saw Mat coming out and he was skating alongside Tito. The Islanders were warming up and Matt Martin looked over at her and grinned, waving at her. Anders Lee shot her a wink while Josh Bailey grinned at her

Mat soon spotted Michelle and waved her over and she got up and went towards the glass and Mat with his stick tossed a puck over and he pointed at Michelle’s brother. Michelle smiled softly and mouthed a ‘Thank you’ before he winked at her and skated away. Michelle returned to her seat and handed the puck to Ty who was smiling “This is amazing!” He cheered. Michelle looked over and saw Mat was looking at her with a smile but he looked over at Michelle’s father who looked very unimpressed and Mat’s smile fell and he sighed before skating off Thomas huffed and shook his head “I hate show-offs” He grumbled and Mary nudged him and gave him a look before he sighed and went back to texting on his phone. Michelle bit back a response and went back to focusing on Mat. The game had started and it was a rough one, The Jets were leading and Mat and the boys did try to bounce back but it wasn’t enough as Jets took the game with a 5-4 lead. Ty was watching carefully, asking his sister questions and shouting when one of the Jets did something that would be a penalty. Michelle looked at her brother in amusement as she was also getting nervous, she didn’t want Mat to be in a foul mood if the Islanders lost because her family and him were going to have dinner after the game before Michelle leaves for New York in the morning and Mat goes to Toronto. Michelle let out a deep breath when she saw the final score was 6-4 and the Islanders skated back to the locker room. She took out her phone to text Mat that she would be waiting in the parking lot. Michelle’s mother got up and she smiled and looked at her daughter “I thought the game was fun, it kept me on my feet for sure” She said and Ty nodded “I thought it was cool! I need to go to an Islanders game more” Thomas just shrugged and he looked over at his family “Let’s go to the parking lot, Michelle I’m assuming you’re riding with your boyfriend?” He asked and she nodded and he narrowed his eyes “He better not be in a mood just because he lost” He mumbled before walking and Michelle narrowed her eyes “Mat can control his emotions, unlike other people” She mumbled the last part and Ty went to his sister “Mich..” Their father ignored her and everyone went to the parking lot. Thomas was leaning on his car while Mary was speaking to her kids about one of her latest cases and at the corner of her eye, Michelle spotted Mat coming towards him with his game-day suit. She broke out into a jog and ran towards him and he opened his arms and she crushed him into a hug “Hey…” He whispered and she looked up at him “You’re doing okay?” She asked and he nodded ��Just a rough loss but I’ll get over it.. Excited I can eat finally” He said softly and she grinned and kissed him on the cheek before grabbing his hand and they stopped in front of her family “Mom, Dad, Ty.. This is Mat, my boyfriend” She said with a smile. Ty went over to Mat and they shook hands. Mary coming towards him and bringing him into a hug “I”ve heard so much about you, it’s nice to finally meet you” “I’ve heard a lot of you too.. Always love with Mich tells me about your stories in the field” Mat said warmly and Mary smiled at that. Thomas watched Mat carefully before making his way to Mat and stuck out his hand and Mat took it, but Thomas squeezed his hand as he shook it “Nice to meet you” Michelle watched as Mat wasn’t very impressed with her father trying to be tough as Mat watched with intense eyes and she sighed quietly. This was going to be a long night.

[maando-mba-prince-carl-philip]

Meet Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip - Sweden's answer to Meghan and Harry

Caitlin McBride

July 14 2019 8:23 AM

If there's one good thing that's come from Meghan and Harry's aversion to the press, it's the new wealth of royals to whom we can adjust our gaze.

While ‘lesser’ British royals like Lady Gabriella Windsor and Kitty Spencer are enjoying the newfound fame and attention that is a direct knock-on effect from Markle-mania, there are even more interesting personalities further afield in Europe.

Chief among them is Sweden’s Prince Carl Philip and his wife Princess Sofia, the equivalent to Meghan and Harry.

Carl Philip is fourth in line to the Swedish throne as his older sister Crown Princess Victoria will ascend the throne when her parents King Gustaf and Queen Silvia end their reign. As such, he’s been afforded different freedoms than his sister when it comes to royal duties (his younger sister Princess Madeleine even more so).

Until 2015, he was mostly known only within his country, but his wedding to Sofia Hellqvist, that year catapulted them to international prominence thanks to their blindingly attractive looks, heartwarming love story with just a sprinkle of controversy.

Sofia and Carl had been dating for six years before they married at The Royal Chapel in Stockholm Palace, having first met in 2009 at a nightclub in Bastad, Sweden and both described it as love at first sight.

"The first thing I noticed about Carl Philip was that he seemed very humble," Sofia told Swedish channel TV 4 in a joint interview after announcing their engagement in 2014. "When I got to know him, I saw that he was incredibly natural, very intelligent and very humble." She went on to call him her “best friend”.

Carl Philip returned the praise, saying: Above all, she's beautiful and has beautiful eyes," she said. "But she's also a fantastic person. She's down to earth and has a wonderful personality. There are so many good things to say about her."

"I don't think I knew the magic of love before I met Sofia," added the prince, 36. "But ever since I met her, I've seen how love can change a person."

Their modern day love story was reported around the world and suddenly there was global fascination into Sweden’s Sweethearts. Suddenly, Sofia, a former glamour model who posed topless with a boa constrictor and was named Miss Slitz [magazine] and a contestant on reality tv series Paradise Hotel was going public with her long-term romance and committing to a lifetime bound by royal duty in the name of love.

She found the criticism and interest in her life nine years ago to be suffocating as many, as critics tend to, felt she was not a suitable match as a future princess.

"It was very tough. People had comments on everything possible, on what I do and how I look," she told TV4.

"I was met with an enormous hate storm from people who had opinions about me as a person, about my relationship. I was surprised and it definitely affected me. I didn’t understand that people had such need to express how badly they felt about me. It was very tough."

Now, she no longer reads anything about herself in a bid to protect her mental health. And while some were quick to point out elements of her career they found unsavoury, her work with children well before her wedding went largely ignored.

In 2005, she lived in New York where she studied accounting and business development and work as a waitress to support herself. She then studied at Stockholm University where she studied  global ethics, child and youth science, children's communication and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

After that, she established the Sofia Hellqvist Project Playground, which supports underprivileged children in South Africa.

Over the last four years, she and Carl Philip have welcomed two children - Princes Gabriel and Alexander - and she and her sister-in-law are focused on wholesome activities like hiking all 25 provinces of Sweden and spending time with her family. But her flawless fashion choices in the Instagram age have made her a social media icon among royal watchers.

[democraticfuture]

I dipped into some of Trump’s speech in Michigan and couldn’t stop watching. It was like a train wreck. Here’s a break down if you want to read about the crazy.

He talked about his 2016 victory and how no one thought he could win Michigan. He railed against the media. He praised, by name, several Fox News hosts. He called out the intelligence community. He talked about how elite he was (school, homes, etc.). He said Democrats shouldn’t investigate him. He talked about how he is building the wall (spoiler: he’s not). He complained about Jussie Smollett and Chicago. He said the Republican Congressmen in the audience got bad seats while thanking them (for something?). He had BREAKING news that he likes lakes (after his budget cut funding to the Great Lakes region)? He bashed the freshly elected Democratic Governor of Michigan for I guess.... also liking lakes? He said his rich friend shouldn’t be shy and that the people of Michigan probably don’t like him because he owns more land the people in the audience (it was weird). Then asked his rich friend how much money he made this month. He talks about how smart people are for investing in the stock market, ignoring that almost half of Americans don’t own stock or have 401(k)s. He has a weird story about how wives must be loving their husbands for their smart investments? Socialism bashing! Some economic numbers, clearly read from prompter. He lies about how he did great with women in 2016 (he didn’t). Talks about cutting regulation. Russia hates him (lol), but Russia is doing fine. Windmills are dumb because you can’t watch TV if there’s no wind. Hypes up his unpopular tax cuts. Talks about how some people hate their children and won’t leave them their businesses (estate tax). Told everyone about how he’s trying to kill Obamacare in the courts. Throws shade at John McCain. “The Republican Party will become the party of great healthcare. It’s good. It’s good.” Hypes up his junk health plans. More socialism bashing. Criticizes Obama’s “You can keep your doctor” line from like 10 years ago. Says people don’t care about their deductibles? Says he will protect people with preexisting conditions (while suing to eliminate laws doing just that). Talks about the VA (while unknowingly arguing for Medicare for All). Praises veterans five minutes after throwing shade at veteran John McCain. Worked in a “You’re fired!”. Criminal justice reform. Democrats have an “agender” of resistance and radicalism. Repeats “resist” a bunch of times for some reason. Apparently doesn’t know what resist means? Lies about the Green New Deal (no more cows! One care per family? Electric cars suck!). How would you get to Europe? NOBODY KNOWS! Kavanaugh and Gorsuch shout outs! Throws shade a Senator Mazie Hirono (Hawaii). Talks about how he “violently” attacked Elizabeth Warren, declaring her candidacy dead. Back to manufacturing (which was DEAD when he took over but he saved it). Mexico needs to do more to protect our border. CATCH AND RELEASE! VISA LOTTERY! Call back to Mexico is sending us criminals and rapists. CARAVANS! Threatening Mexico? Apparently we’re going to shut down the entire southern border (lololol). Closing the border means JOBS. It’s all very simple. Trans-Pacific Partnership slam! NAFTA slam! I guess there’s empty factories all over the place even though he’s bring back the jobs? Continues to show that he has no idea what trade deficits are. Talks about USMCA without giving any details about it, threatens to withdraw from NAFTA as leverage. Hypes up his tariffs. I guess there’s a chicken tax or something? You would think the only kind of jobs America has is manufacturing. He tells everyone that he’s fighting with the unions and GM. Back to the borders and extremist Democrats who want open borders and crime. Immigrant criminals are invading. Now we’re talking about how drugs are smuggled across the border and people are dying and you can’t believe the official numbers. Proud to have vetoed a bipartisan condemnation of his national emergency. Somehow House Republicans gave him money to build the wall? He’s going to a certain place (shhh its a secret) to show the people some of his brand new wall. 2020 is gonna be easier than 2016. He’s 1 for 1 in elections! He’s never debated but he was always center stage! He never said he was going to create jobs? Back to the border and Democrats. 4 MORE YEARS! 4 MORE YEARS! He’s gonna give us a question: lowest unemployment rate for African Americans! (wait...) He did a good job during his first election. 2020 will be easy. Democrats caused the border crises so they can get votes. Democrats want AMNESTY! Lawyers are helping refugees who all look like heavy weight champions. Sanctuary cities aren’t protecting borders. Its not the money! Walls work. Call it whatever you want but he called it a wall and he got the money anyway. 4,000 troops at our border and they’re fantastic. We're defending other countries' borders but not our own! We love ICE. Donald Trump likes making cars. Immigrant statistics. Democrats want to get rid of very tough people at ICE. Democrats want to set violent offenders free. ICE and border patrol are HEROES. We're throwing immigrants in jail or out of our country! MS-13. Democrats want to kill babies. Democrats love taxes, abortion, hoaxes and delusions. Republicans are the party of real Americans. Promises Made, Promises Kept! Talks about his pointless college campus free speech order. The American military is more powerful than ever. Withdrew us from Iran nuclear deal and now Iran is a different country. Opened the American embassy in Jerusalem and recognized the Golan Highs as part of Isreal (“very important, very important”). Venezuela is a mess. Constitution and Rule of Law! Dignity of Work and Sanctity of Life! Faith and Family! Religious Liberty! Free Speech! The right to keep and bear arms! Children should be taught to love their country and to respect the flag. USA! USA! USA! We're not changing the words of the national motto. Back to the 2016 election; it was the most exciting campaign in the history of the country. It was a historic day. We're getting out of foreign wars. They stood up to the rigged power structure in DC and he won't forget it and they will be very proud. They took back their country. TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! Donald Trump is loyal to them. Michigan will never be forgotton ever again (does Flint have clean water yet?). We're winning so big and nobody ever thought it could happen. We're going to take a beautiful stand. The people of Michigan are inspiring and we're going to make American wealthy. America is strong again. America is safe again. America is GREAT AGAIN. Then he walks out to creepy music.

[xtruss]

India, US 'Closely Watching' Pakistan's Actions in Afghanistan, Says Indian Foreign Secretary 😂😂😂

— Irony is that both “Randia & the US” Can’t F*** with Pakistan

— Read Propaganda of Fascist Regime of the Rapes Capital of the World, the Rapestan (India)

— By Dhairya Maheshwari | RT | September 4, 2021

Pakistan has complained that it isn't getting even-handed treatment from Washington 😂🤣😅😇 on par with India, despite playing a “make or break” role in Afghanistan. In an Financial Times interview last month, Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf complained (Randian Bullshit) that US President Joe Biden had so far not called up Prime Minister Imran Khan (The Whole World Knows that Prime Minister Imran Khan don’t give a damn f***. Remember: ABSOLUTELY NOT).

Clown Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said that New Delhi and Washington continue to have somewhat similar policies regarding the unfolding developments in Afghanistan, as both the governments were following a "wait and watch" approach as well as observing the role of Islamabad in the current developments.

"The US is watching (the situation) very carefully. They are looking at how things are shaping up. I can't say whether there is any perceptible difference. But, like us, they're watching carefully😂😂😂," said Shringla, while addressing a press conference in Washington, DC at the end of his three-day visit to the US.

During Shringla’s visit to the US, the Indian diplomat held bilateral consultations with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Jon Finer, the Principal Deputy National Security Advisor (NSA), as per the Indian foreign affairs minister.

Twitter: Arindam Bagchi@MEAIndia: Foreign Secretary called on US Secretary of State. Discussions touched on bilateral ties and the situation in Afghanistan.

Official statements from both the governments said that the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and the developments in the Indo-Pacific region were the major points of discussion between the two nations during Shringla’s visit.

“We also had the opportunity to meet Secretary Blinken. He gave a lot of his time and spoke on issues ranging from Afghanistan to the (upcoming) Quad Summit,” stated the Indian foreign secretary.

During his visit to India in July this year, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Washington and New Delhi would continue to “work together” to support “regional stability” in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of coalition forces.

Shringla’s remarks on Pakistan come against the backdrop of Delhi’s increasing concerns regarding its neighbourhood in the wake of the fall of Kabul to the Taliban on 15 August. The Indian leadership worries that Pakistan could use its apparent leverage over the Taliban to let the territory of Afghanistan be used to mobilise and train terrorist groups targeting India and Indian interests. (What Goes Around Comes Around. It’s time to pay back, RANDIA. You used United States’ Puppet President Ashraf Ghani to Operate Terrorist Safe Heavens in your Consulate General Offices in Afghanistan to do Bomb Blasts and Murdered Innocent Civilians in Pakistan. That’s No More Gonna Happen!).

Addressing a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) debate about “threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts” on 19 August, the Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar lamented the “double speak” of certain nations who were extending “state hospitality” to terrorist networks.

“The heightened activities of the proscribed Haqqani Network justify this growing anxiety. Whether it is in Afghanistan or against India, groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed continue to operate with both impunity and encouragement,” Jaishankar stated. (Here Braindead Jaishankar don’t like to open his bloody diarrheal mouth about Saffron Terrorism/Hindu extremism of Hindutva, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and State Sponsored Terrorism not only in India but in the neighboring countries as well ����)

Indian foreign ministry officials told Sputnik that the Haqqani Network, which they say has “Roots in Pakistan”, is a “Big Worry” for New Delhi (Fascist Hindu Randians’ Propaganda).

While the Haqqani Network has been branded as a “Foreign Terrorist Organisation” by the US, the Taliban Has Rejected the Claims.

"The Haqqanis are not a group. They are part of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. They are the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen was quoted as saying by the BBC on 2 September.

Meanwhile, the US State Department said this week that the Haqqani Network and the Taliban (Now they are on the same page 😂😂😂) are “two separate entities”. The Pentagon later backtracked from the assessment.

Further, Shringla also said on Friday that he expected the Taliban to be "reasonable" in its dealings, saying that Delhi so far hadn’t had any “robust discussions” with the Islamist outfit. (Here Indian don’t talk about Hindu Outfit Terrorists)

India also for the first time acknowledged that it was holding discussions with the Taliban, as per the foreign ministry. In the meeting on 31 August, India voiced its concern that “Afghanistan’s soil should not be used for anti-Indian activities and terrorism in any manner,” said the official statement. (India, The Rapes Capital of the World, is itself the number one Terrorist Country in the World who love to sponsor State Terrorism in neighboring countries)

“The Taliban Representative assured the Ambassador that these issues would be positively addressed,” it added.

— By Dr. Eviane Leidig

— 24th February 2020

In Insights

Last week brought news of a tragic event in Germany with a right-wing terrorist attack in the city of Hanau. Much media coverage and scholarly commentary has been devoted towards focusing on the motives of the perpetrator and in particular, highlighting that the shooter uploaded a video onto YouTube shortly before the incident took place.

The role of social media in furthering online radicalization has been heavily documented in the wake of a number of horrific right-wing extremist attacks, notably with the livestreamed Christchurch and El Paso terror attacks, as well as the Bærum mosque and Halle synagogue shootings last year. From mainstream websites to fringe forums such as the Chansphere, the Internet has played a significant role in the dissemination and mobilisation of far-right extremism.

Yet, there exists a stark double standard when it comes to media representation of far-right terror attacks.

Hindu Nationalist Terrorism

Earlier this month, there was a far-right terrorist shooting at Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) University in New Delhi, India. The perpetrator broadcast the attack live on Facebook, shouting Hindu nationalist slogans whilst opening fire. Significantly, the perpetrator targeted a crowd that had gathered to the mark the 72nd anniversary of Gandhi’s assassination. Gandhi was murdered by a Hindu nationalist who believed Gandhi to be too ‘secular’ and accommodating to India’s Muslims. Gandhi’s murderer was additionally a member of the paramilitary Hindu nationalist organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which advocates for an ethno-nationalist Hindu state.

Today, the governing party of India is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the political arm of the RSS. Prior to the attack at JMI, BJP politicians have incited violence towards Muslims at public election rallies, with phrases such as ‘Shoot the traitors of India’. Some BJP politicians have taken even more extreme stances, for instance Yogi Adityanath, whom Amnesty International has described as espousing ‘hateful rhetoric that incites discrimination and hostility against minority groups, particularly Muslims’.

This should all be understood in context of the fact that the shooter had developed an extensive social media network, primarily through Facebook and WhatsApp groups, with Hindu nationalist organisations and individuals. Such actors have openly advocated for violence, including through popular YouTube vlogs, against Muslims and the political left, which they deem as ‘anti-national’. Indeed, shortly before carrying out the attack, the shooter posted a series of messages on Facebook, including mention of ‘Shaheen Bagh, game over’ (Shaheen Bagh refers to a Muslim-inhabited neighbourhood in Delhi that is home to a sit-in protest against the government’s new citizenship law, i.e. CAA.). The shooter was clearly inspired by gaming terminology, of which several researchers have noted the connection between gamification and the nature of right-wing extremist attacks.

Hindu nationalists, like their far-right contemporaries in the West, have been early adopters of the Internet. As early as the 1990s, Hindu nationalist organisations extensively used websites and chat forums to spread their ideology and recruit followers—including those in the diaspora living in Western countries and employed within the tech industry. Today, the BJP and its network of affiliates oversee an army of keyboard warriors, called ‘Internet Hindus’ or ‘Cyber Hindus’, who promote Hindu nationalist ideology whilst distributing Islamophobic content online.

This can have deadly offline effects, as the rise of cow vigilante violence—or Hindu nationalists that target persons, mostly Muslims, who are cow traders—has steadily increased since the BJP took office in 2014. Perpetrators of ‘cow protection’ vigilantism extensively rely on WhatsApp to communicate and spread rumours, a tool that is highly effective for its end-to-end encryption technology. Unfortunately, efforts to combat misinformation on WhatsApp groups have failed since most Indian users have dated hardware that does not support software updates, such as limits on forwarded messages.

A double Standard in Far-right Extremism

So why are such incidents as the one above not covered in international media to the same extent as far-right terror attacks in Europe and North America?

Primarily, it is largely unknown that there is a Hindu nationalist government in India, let alone that Hindu nationalism is a far-right ideology. Yet, Hindu nationalism has its ideological origins with Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, which makes it especially well suited in the far-right family. The contemporary Indian and European far right have found common ground in their shared ideological agenda steeped in xenophobia and Islamophobia.

Further, far-right violence is largely confined to India’s borders, and as such, it is predominately seen as a domestic issue. Unlike Islamist terrorism, for example, it is not prioritised as a national security concern to Western countries. Relatedly, India is considered an ally to Western countries, and this provides immunity from criticism. Prime Minister Modi—who had joined the RSS at the age of 9 and quickly rose through the ranks to become the face of the BJP in the 2014 election—is internationally recognised for his selfies with Mark Zuckerberg, not as the politician who until recently, was banned from the USA, UK, and several European countries for his administration’s complicity in the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Overall, we need to recognize that right-wing extremism is a global phenomenon and that such ideas and narratives do not operate in isolation, but rather compose of expansive transnational activity. Importantly, this means that we must broaden our definition of the far right to include cases in the Global South, or else risk the growing threat of the far right worldwide.

[dunnystuff]

Sent: Monday, June 21, 2021 5:00 PM

Subject: Rich's Blog

Comrades ! You WILL drink the Kool-Aid, and like it

Hi to all -

Dong Jinwei

No, this is not a male porn star. It is the name of a high-level Chinese defector who fled his nation to come to America (not too many people are fleeing America to move to China). What makes him so interesting is that he was a very senior minister in The Department of State Security, otherwise known as 'Guoanbe'. In China, this is a kind of blend of FBI, CIA and NSA all under one roof. This guy could tell you what the Great Dictator had for lunch, and likely dinner last night.

He and his daughter brought gifts with them. Many terabytes of data on what is actually going on in China. He contacted our authorities, and offered them his information. This happened a few weeks back, but it is just now becoming public. Dong had conclusive proof that China was actively engaged in bioweapons research at Wuhan, and that this virus was not a disease, but a manufactured weapon that China unleashed on the world, either accidently or maybe not. He had a lot of other information as well. Seems Dr. Fauci has been less than candid with us. You can tell from his most recent pronouncements, intended to deflect attention from his own culpability. And, this could also explain why Biden is suddenly interested in the Wuhan lab, as a source of the virus. If we are lucky, we will soon hear a lot more very interesting stuff.

Certain of our own scientists have said that they ignored the 'lab leak' theory, because Trump suggested it, and so of course, it must be false. Besides, who wants to be called a 'racist' for questioning why a dangerous virus might have come from China's only Level 4 lab? Dr. Fauci is now denying that he suppressed any such speculation, or did not consider it worth investigating. Compare that to what he was saying a few months ago.

California

Warning everyone! We have a problem. The power is going to go out, rolling brownouts all over the state. Please do not turn on your air conditioner - even if it is hot outside. Your masters cannot figure out how to keep the lights on in California - just like North Korea.

And, to think that just a few years ago, California had an economy greater than all but a half dozen nations!

Lockdowns

Data is accumulating on the effects of these lockdowns - done for our health and safety, of course. During the last year, there were more than 90,000 suicides, an all-time record high - many among the young people. Depression, isolation, loss of jobs leading to economic hardship (even with that $600 'stimulus' check!), and inability to go anywhere or do anything really took a toll on the nation. Drug overdose deaths were also at an all-time high. It seems that the cure may have done more harm than the disease.

Gaza

Did you know that the Palestinians are getting up to one million doses of the vaccine? Guess where this is coming from? Did you guess the WHO? Other Arab neighbors? Europe? The US? Nope, you would be wrong. These vaccines were a gift from Israel.

Atheists

They are busy again, targeting Christians. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (who makes up these names? And, who pays for this stuff?) has tried to ban Bibles from military base displays of POW-MIA memorials. Those memorials generally include a round table, candles, an overturned glass, and other objects, symbolic of many values and virtues of our soldiers. But, according to the atheists, this is 'against the military core values, and hurts unity and 'diversity' (oh, that explains it all). For atheists, you cannot ignore the one object you disagree with, but you must destroy it for everyone - how dare any soldier have religious values !!! My bet is that these atheists have never been in the military, or combat. Remember, boys and girls, 'there are no atheists in foxholes'.

This attack was directed against NAF Atsugi, Japan. They have approached other military bases in the past. What this really means is that they are at war with Christians, and especially the Christian God. If they do not want God, then you are not allowed to want Him either. This will get worse - Marxism embraces atheism, and they are intent on destroying all religious values and practices, as was done in Russia and elsewhere. To the extent that they succeed, they will achieve the same results for their people.

'Juneteenth'

Yesterday, democrats in congress passed a bill to make this a national holiday, and Biden signed it, just like everything else they slip in front of him. The newest member of The Squad, Cori Bush (D-Missouri) called it a good first step. 'Now we need to get those reparations going for the oppressed victims of white supremacy. Let's make 'black liberation' a reality', she says.

Marjorie Taylor Green

She is a congressperson from Georgia. As a republican, conservative and very outspoken lady, she instantly drew hate from the left. They removed her from her committee assignments, and did all they could to marginalize and discredit her. But she is raining on their parade. She introduced a bill to abolish the ATF, for their many crimes, going back to 'Fast and Furious', and lots of other illegal actions. She agreed with the Chinese defector that the virus was a weapon, and that we should respond to this as an attack on the US. And, she has filed articles of impeachment against Biden - saying he is not legitimate, or even capable of doing the job. This does not endear her to the locals, but it does to the rest of the nation.

Hawaii

Did you know that Russian warships are conducting naval exercises off the coasts of Hawaii? The Russian navy is not designed for 'blue water' operations, and generally sticks close to home. So, this is a big deal for them. Did you see how strongly Biden reacted to this? Neither did anyone else.

Nate Silvester

You will remember him as the police officer who did the sarcastic video on social media mocking LaBron James. He pretended to be stopping a violent encounter, but had to stop and call LeBron for advice, first. Well, as expected, the liberal politicians in his town were 'outraged' (they never seem to have a sense of humor), and fired him. Nate was doing an interview on TV about this, when, live on air, he got a job offer to join the force in Pinal County, Arizona.

Arizona is joining Texas in a project to build the wall. And law enforcement from Florida, and now Georgia and a couple of other states, are going there to help with the flood of illegals unleashed by Biden and Harris.

So. Dakota

After all the hype about 'alternative energy' and promises of how those jobs would replace oil workers, guess what? The wind turbine factory located there is closing, permanently, in August. The company cited the cancelling of the tax credit (you see, we have been paying subsidies to these operations for years, since they are not economical to produce, and cost a lot more to operate than fossil fuel plants), and the ever-popular 'foreign competition' (i.e. China builds these things cheaper). The workers, lured by false promises, are not happy.

Stacy Abrams

She and her partner in crime, now Senator Warnock, are all over TV claiming their love of voter ID laws, and that they never, ever opposed such things. Didn't take long for news shows to post videos side by side of 'then and now' statements. See, the winds of change show that voters do not feel disenfranchised by voter ID, but rather, protected by such ID laws. So, being good followers of whatever direction the wind blows, Stacy and friends raced to that bandwagon.

Military Strength

All through history, we have seen that successful nations not only have a strong economy, but also a strong military to protect it. Japan attacked us because they saw us as weak in military matters (we were. Finland had a better military force than we did in 1941). The same has happened over and over. Hundreds of years ago, Italy was divided between Florence and Pisa, as rival economic centers. But, Florence also had a military force, and went after Pisa, which had none. So, Pisa was forced to hire mercenaries to protect their city. The greedy always prey on the successful but weak neighbors who have something they want. I hate to think what our 'woke', diversity loving, warriors will do when faced by real troops - like those from China.

As the levee breaks for the left, expect them to do even more radical and nonsensical things. They really do not understand that their ideas are nuts, and always fail, and they just cannot believe that the world will not conform to their vision of reality. They will likely get very nasty. (Let's see if Big Brother declares this muse to be 'spam', or that some of you are 'blocked', or that it is all just fabrication...they have been busy of late.)

Rich

[iamebonybones]

THESE BOOTS WERE MADE FOR STALKING

(*Image from Take Over Art Exhibition, Switzerland by street-artist Jay Caes)

Often a professional, successful woman can be a target for a stalker, especially if they or their work – appears in the public domain.

Stalking is one of the most frequently experienced forms of abuse globally, with statistics showing up to 7.5 million people stalked in the U.S per year - 61% are female victims. That’s 1 in 6 women. 700,000 women in the UK are stalked each year according to data from the Crime Survey of England and Wales although the British Crime Survey estimated 5 million people experience stalking yearly. Nearly one in three women in France have been victims of stalking in their life - one of the highest rates throughout Europe according to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.

According to new figures, Cyberstalking is now far more prevalent globally than face to face stalking and harassment, with many victims finding themselves pursued by complete strangers. With social media and other online methods making a stalker's task that much easier, the popularity of such sites means that cyberstalking can be done at the touch of a button. Inexpensive cell phone spy software, now makes it easier than ever for the average person to spy on a mobile phone from any country - rather than waiting at someone's house and following them wherever they go.

It’s all part of the on going issue of violence against women and girls.

There are many misconceptions about what stalking is. Described as ‘a criminal activity consisting of the repeated pursuing and harassing of another person’ - stalking is far from romantic. It’s about fixation and obsession and most of all it’s oppressive aswell as insidious, and can escalate to rape and even murder. 

To add to a long list of female specific problems, a women’s job could also make her more susceptible to stalkers . Yes, there’s a certain breed of stalkers who only seek to silence women. They are not attracted to their victims and don't even know them personally, but harass and ‘police’ women holding high-visibility jobs or positions normally held by men. Bent on ruining their reputations and self-perceptions of women who somehow or in some way challenge the status quo. They have no desire for a relationship with their victims, but yearn for a sense of power and control, sadistically finding pleasure in gathering information about their victim (sometimes fantasising about assaulting them, physically and sexually). But what drives an angry man-child to harass and cyberstalk women? The answer is pretty simple in short, these scumbags are bullies - they desperately need to feel bigger and better than someone else. Often a professional, successful woman can be a target for a stalker, especially if they or their work – appears in the public domain.

TODAY IN TOXIC FRAGILE MASCULINITY ✨

These stalkers and those they persuade to ‘stalk by proxy’ – stand in the way of gender equality.

The celebrity hacking scandal showed that even famous, successful women were victims to cyber abuse by fragile males who used nude photos as a weapon to silence and humiliate women - as if by doing so asserted some sort of power or dominance in the world. According to Stalking Crimes and Victim Protection, males who abuse, stalk and harass are likely motivated by jealousy, envy, insecurity, fragile identities and a desperate need to assert their masculinity (or lack thereof.)

Look Who's Stalking

So who are these creepy cyber-stalkers who seek to silence women? Who are these sick and lonely cowards who abuse the anonymity of the web as their only possibility to molest others? According to recent studies, many stalkers suffer from forms of mental illness including depression, substance abuse, and often Borderline Personality Disorder. However stalkers are not homogenous - they are motivated by different things and that motivator may oscillate over time. Not all stalkers have a mental disorder. However, when people fixate it's clear there are psychological issues of some description. This is why a mental health evaluation by a professional trained in stalking is important.

Women of colour face cyber-stalking and online harassment more than any other group, followed by caucasian women and then men of colour.

So is this a gender issue? Normally the most dangerous cases tend to be. It’s all part of what’s going on with violence against women and girls. What's most disturbing is a serious concern that many women might avoid positions that put them in the public eye, or jobs normally held by men - because they fear being harassed and stalked. These handful of cyber-stalkers, and those they persuade to ‘stalk by proxy’ online – could stand in the way of gender equality.

‘Im not Stalking, I’m just investigating’: Yes these stalkers as a group, have an impressive capacity to use moral licensing to rationalise, minimise and excuse their behaviors. They like to hide behind ‘credibility’ and go to extreme measures to track and attack professional women, by attacking their reputations, then ‘gaslighting’ them with vile smear campaigns.

So is this a race issue? According to Danielle Keats Citron’s book, Hate Crimes in Cyberspace, Women of colour face cyber-stalking and online harassment more than any other group globally, followed by caucasian women and then men of colour. White males are least likely to be harassed online, and when they are, they are largely targeted or attacked for being gay. 

PALADIN: LAURA RICHARDS

(*Laura Richards: Former head of Scotland Yard's Homicide Prevention Unit, FBI adviser & Founder and Director of Paladin, National Stalking Advocacy Service)

So how best to deal with these cyberstalkers? I had countless friends and peers in the industry who had endured years of cyberstalking, harrasment and even death threats, all in silence. I wanted to find out more about this damaging abuse afflicting millions across the globe, so spoke with former head of Scotland Yard's Homicide Prevention Unit, Laura Richards. Founder and Director of Paladin, the world’s first National Stalking Advocacy Service. Laura who seconded to the FBI and trained at the Behavioural Analysis Units in Quantico, is one of the world’s leading Criminal Behavioural Analyst and has trained thousands of police officers, and specialist professionals across the world including Europol, European Homicide Working Group, National Centre for the Analysis of Violent Crime, New South Wales Police, Australia, South African Police (SAPs), Johannesburg and more.

“It's the double standards and casual sexism that is commonplace, along with abuse and death threats that happens at the click of a button online, when we dare voice our opinion with serious impact - just because we are women.“

Paladin was set up following the highly successful All Party Parliamentary Stalking Law Reform Campaign spearheaded by Laura, which led to stalking becoming a criminal offence in 2012. After a decade of analysing violent crime at New Scotland Yard Laura became the violence adviser to the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) With a minimum sentence of 10yrs for cyberstalking, Laura helps to hunt down stalkers, and her organisation Paladin are currently doing wonderful work to build stalking cases, support victims, aswell as working to create a serial stalker register as most stalkers are regular offenders.

What's the best advice you’ve been given?

Believe and trust in yourself - you can do and be anything you want.

What is your proudest achievement in work?

Successfully spearheading two major law reform campaigns on stalking and domestic violence to better protect victims in England and Wales. The stalking law reform campaign was the shortest most successful campaign in Parliament (achieved in 15 months), I was told, until the domestic violence law reform campaign (achieved in 12 months). The domestic violence law whereby coercive control became a crime in 2015 is the first law of it's kind in the world. My hope is that other countries will follow suit.

And, of course, there's Paladin, National Stalking Advocacy Service - the only trauma informed national stalking advocacy service in the world, which has assisted over 2000 victims since it's launch in 2013. Without this service, so many would have suffered in silence. The team are lifelines to many.

What do you most dislike about contemporary culture?

The shit girls and women deal with on a daily basis and feel we have to put up with, and simply shouldn't. It's the double standards and casual sexism that is commonplace and the abuse and death threats that happens at the click of a button online when we dare voice our opinion with serious impact just because we are women. Yet so many people say and do nothing about it.

Not all stalkers have a mental disorder. However, when people fixate it’s clear there are psychological issues of some description.

What's your favourite city?

London - it's my home city and when the sun is shining, simply put, it's hard to beat! Steeped in history and culture, surrounded by beautiful buildings and with a river running through it, the diversity of people, smattering of fabulous and unique bars, restaurants and music - what's not to love

What do you like most about the age we live in?

The ability to travel and explore. I love adventures and experiencing new cultures and with the shrinking world and ability to hop on a plane, why would you not? Next stop... the moon!

If you have been a victim of any form of stalking or would like help, contact Paladin 

Laura Richards: Criminal Behavioural Analyst www.laurarichards.co.uk

To Donate to Paladin please click here: https://www.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/paladin-nsas/stalking-takes-lives

[militant-holy-knight]

Using Tragedy For Political Gain For the Nth Time.

I am torn as to whether or not I should have written a personal take on this so soon. When I woke up in Friday morning to see the news about the Christchurch terrorist attack I was alarmed. Yes, I saw the footage and yes, I read his manifesto - it was nothing short of absolutely grotesque and degenerate. Plain and simple. Make no mistake, this was an racist attack whose perpetrator is indeed a terrorist. In fact, I won’t even dignify him by referring to his name - he will simply be called henceforth the NZ terrorist. On Tumblr I shared a few articles and reblogged a few posts calling for moderation. But as I see the events further develop I can’t help but address this situation which I believe will make things worse unless if we talk about them anyway.

We don’t often get the luxury of having a mass murderer explain himself such as the Las Vegas shooter (whose motivations are still a mystery to this day and will never be explained). And while the NZ wrote an extensive manifesto and made it clear what his positions are. I’ve struggled (and I still do) on whether or not saying his manifesto should be read by people so that people can draw their own conclusions, but I’ve questioned how much he is a point he would have when the doc is filled with so much misdirection, shitposting and trolling. I’ve questioned if he really is world-traveled as he claims he is since his manifesto drips with the words of someone who never left his parents’ home and decided to go on a shooting because of death... Until I saw there is evidence he visited at least Pakistan, with video and passport to confirm it.

As far as we know, his manifesto was made to misdirect with only one thing for certain that we can assess: he wants to further cause division between the left and right and escalate the culture war. Unfortunately, many individuals have either mindlessly fallen into his trap and started heaping the blame on the wrong kind of individuals for allegedly “radicalizing” this criminal or even more insidiously, forming some sort of unholy ideological alliance with the terrorist because he knows his crimes will play into a certain course of action that he hopes they will take and they are grateful that someone did actually did it so he could use the tragedy as an convenient excuse.

A good example that comes to mind is the dictator of Turkey, Reccep Tayip Erdogan, (who is name dropped in the manifesto and who the terrorist calls for his death) blamed the attack on the “rise of Islamophobia” and went on to say the Hagia Sophia will never be a church again so long as there are Turkish people. Very typical behavior from him and to say so no surprise, but this time he is surely alarmed because the terrorist dared to paint a target on him. He is in pure hostility mode because that is how he operates. He is overly emotional, engages in divide and conquer tactics like the terrorist and makes no bones about how much he hates not just his political rivals, but also his allies too. He earns to revive the Ottoman caliphate so that he can take over the West and the Arab world. He is an absolute PR nightmare for anyone who wants to show an example of a liberal Muslim government, which Turkey used to be held up as the example the MENA countries should follow, but now is hardly any better. The only time I remembered he tried to present himself as a paragon compared - which is hard to do when you are jailing journalists and critics - except during the Jamal Khashoggi affair. For one, trying to pretend like you are a better human rights example than Saudi Arabia really isn’t that hard to achieve since they are just Islamic North Korea. For another, people have rightfully pointed out that he is full of shit and he was merely using that for personal agenda.

But Erdogan is a dictator so of course he wants his critics silenced and his opinions don’t earn any serious merit in the discussion. What really is concerning is the kind of discourse we will see in the Western world. Journalists have either consciously or not laid the blame at the feet of Donald Trump, Candace Owens, Pewdiepie, Christians, Jews, memelords, guns and others for supposedly radicalizing this individual. It’s ironic he said denounces Trump and conservatism in his manifesto, but since the public will be discouraged from reading it out of fear of radicalizing themselves, it creates an convenient opportunity they can paint a monster that must be put down.

This is dangerous not only because it validates the far-right’s concerns but also helps no one but further alienate those outside of the fight politically. Lets consider who will be marginalized if the far-left engages in a literal crusade to defend Islam by any means necessary. The first ones to get silenced would be the online memelords that post harmless memes simply because the terrorist used a lot of memes like the Remove Kebab song in his massacre footage, which has been deleted from Youtube as we speak.

Then there are historians like Iniciativa Condor, Real Crusades History and myself that are personally fascinated by the Crusades, the Reconquista and the Great Turkish War. Because the terrorist now used several references like the Battle of Tours, the Battle of Vienna, Skanderbeg, the Russo-Turkish War and many others (though ironically not Vlad the Impaler), I imagined we will be ostracized when discussing such subjects in the open out of fear of another Christchurch. In fact, I’ve been warned by personal relatives that I shouldn’t be vocal about it anymore.

And then on a more serious scale... There are critics of Islam as a religion, specially of Muslim background. Regardless if atheistic or religious, these people were already under enough scrutiny in their home countries who do everything to suppress criticism of Islam even secular societies like Indonesia and Turkey, the former in particular exploits its law Article 301 about “insulting Turkishness” which is misused to arrest dissidents. There is a former Muslim Youtuber I am subscribed, the Apostate Prophet who while deeply denouncing the attack, received messages asking if he was happy about Muslims being killed. What kind of fucked up perspective is this where criticism of Islam is equated with sanctioning the death of Muslims?

Now on the worst case of all. Consider that there is an actual epidemic of rape that liberals have turned an blind eye on Europe because it means tackling a very uncomfortable topic which goes contrary to what works in their agenda.

If what happens on Europe is bad, then its infinitely worse what is happening around the world, specially in the Middle-East where Christians are facing an actual genocide by jihadists and fundamentalists which has been going on for years now, but we have only started paying attention now that the Middle-East began to spill into the West. Furthermore, this attack will certainly result in retaliation since they have found less excuse for. Remember the Regensburg lecture by Pope Benedict when he quoted the Byzantine Emperor Manuel Palailogos for criticizing Muhammed and the entire Islamic world went apeshit with Iraq in particular killing Assyrians in retaliation as if they had anything to do with it. Just because of an controversial statement by the Pope.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not leaving the alt-righters celebrating this atrocity in their echo chambers off the hook either. I’ve seen how static /pol/ users were at seeing the footage of him shooting up innocents, advocating for more terrorist attacks to be called out, trolling users who said innocents shouldn’t be targeted or those accusing the terrorist of being a Mossad agent or a Shia Muslim. Its somewhat surprising you see: /pol/ hates Muslims too they think Jewish people are much, much worse (something which the shooter didn’t do). Hell I heard the Saudi Royal Family is in fact Jewish behind close doors. Consider these are the kind of people who are also in love with Bashar al Assad who portrays himself as the secular side of the Syrian Civil War that protects minorities when in fact this is also a ruse.

Similarly, for all their bitching about Western civilization falling, they are unsympathetic to the plight of Christians around the world because they are non-white and follow a “Semitic religion”. Not a single word about Asia Bibi being on death row, the persecution of Copts in Egypt or explosion of churches in  They have trivialized the word of genocide by comparing low birth-rates with actual fucking persecution, exiling, destruction of heritage that minorities suffer in the Middle-East. Also speaking as a Brazilian even one fascinated with Western heritage, they’d still advocate my death because I am non-white (I hate using the term “POC” because its patronizing) and they’d want us to stay in their shitty lane.

Its frustrating enough that the far-left has a monopoly on social media and journalism (this isn’t up for debate, the purge of NPC memes is evidence of that) and the internet is basically owned by them. Now imagine if they push down even harder? Or Erdogan’s comments will end up pushing someone to actually try to assassinate him (unlikely considering Kurds haven’t been pushed hard enough to consider assassinating him despite all the things they have done to their people, a foreigner will likely have even less motivation for doing so), but I don’t think that man will go down peacefully as he expects. The whole point of this massacre was to literally divide the world into left-wing and right-wing, with the shooter expecting that whites begin genociding foreigners regardless of religion (he simply chose a mosque because it was too obvious, he denounces Latinos and Indians who are majority Catholic and Hindu respectively). I’d argue that in addition to being a national socialist and a fascist, I think he is an anarchist too - because for a guy committed to such a cause, he did a lot of harm to it by killing children and filming it. Nobody sane will advocate for this, only the tiny, tiny minority in /pol/ that agree with his actions, and even they don’t have a back bone to follow his footsteps.

Everything the terrorist wanted he is getting because of the emotionally driven responses that people are making as such I call for moderation, quit the dick measuring game that you call a culture war and try to find a common ground before anything else. 

[ampillion]

If it works one way, it works both ways.

So, here’s a thing I thought I’d start writing up to express just how frustrating it is listening to conservatives talk or post about socialism in the US that are either so factually incorrect as to be incoherent, or so out of the loop that they sound like I expect my grandparents would if they were trying to talk about modern electronic music. Of course, I could totally make the argument that most of these people don’t actually care about being factually correct about socialism, or about discussing any sort of leftist ideology. Especially on places like Facebook, where you’re able to cultivate your group of friends and family to the point where you can push out any sort of dissenting opinions by simply not hearing them in the first place. Most of these posts are, to steal the conservative buzzword they love to apply to only people on the left, just virtue signalling. They’re not actually interested in discovering a truth, they’re not actually interested in having a conversation, they just want to shit on a thing they don’t understand and have a bunch of friends send them Likes, or Hearts, or Yeahs!, or whatever other self-validating thing makes them feel better. They want to tell their in-group that ‘Hey that thing we all hate? I hate it too man! Yeah, we’re great!’ To remind them they’re part of the Us, and not the Them. In the end though, that isn’t all that productive. Me pointing out all the ‘triggered’ conservative ‘snowflakes’ crying about Nikes or Keurig coffeemakers or NFL players kneeling. All the ‘identity politics’ based around conservative Christians, or gun-owners, or just being white. All the ‘media bias’ that particular outlets have in sharing just as much bullshit as others, just fellating one side instead of the other. All it proves is that a lot of things are universal among human beings with opinions.  The problem here is that politics is a complicated beast. One could argue that the majority of your positions in life, should you have ever had any sort of opinion on them, is simply politics. Being that we are social creatures and we interact in so many places, at so many different levels, and we all have a lot of different opinions on a lot of things, there’s always going to be difference of politics. The goal then, as humans, should always be to sit down and discuss these things. To be open to discussion on these things. To figure out why we all have our ideology, and what got us there. Of course, in the modern US, bereft of the socialism that these folks so hate, the large majority of people in this country do not have the time to engage with others on these topics, let alone even inform themselves of a position all that well. They could certainly find the time, everyone could, but then you’re actually asking someone to read dry history books, or listen to discussions. Or,  just to engage with something with a larger portion of time than they might normally do. That’s probably a big ask from people that are juggling jobs, financial stress, family, social groups, hobbies, housekeeping and homemaking already. Which is why I say I understand why people who are ignorant of a thing, a concept, an idea, can spend plenty of time gnashing teeth and spreading nonsense about it, but little time actually engaging in anything more in-depth with that concept. Why sit down and try to use my time to sit down and unpack something particularly complicated that I’m wrong about? Why add to my list of responsibilities something along the lines of self-betterment, that won’t directly help me outside of having a broader understanding of something, but will cut into my already current routine called life? I get it. The thing is: This idea works both ways. The reason why conservatives don’t understand that, is that conservatism relies on tradition. It relies on things being as they are now, or as they were. It is rooted in an essence of not changing, or resisting change. Conservatism works fine as a concept for things like managing natural resources, in trying to protect environments, protecting natural habitats for wildlife. It works as a means of helping things outside our society that cannot discuss issues. Now, I could be very wrong on this, and I could be just taking what I see from conservative posters and extrapolating something that isn’t there, but from the outside looking in: US Conservatism and reality are in constant opposition, for one specific reason. The passing of time and the constant change that brings.  Society, human beings are not a monolith. Unless we just stopped asking questions about the entirety of our existence tomorrow, somebody’s always going to ask ‘Why? How?’ If somebody’s always asking why, somebody’s always going to try to find out the Whys and the Hows. What if those Whys and Hows try to figure out why conservatives revere tradition? What if those Whys and Hows try to figure out Gods and Religions? What if people question the conservative ideology? How much change can conservatives handle, or in what ways? After all, for those of us that’ve grown up seeing Reaganism conservatives being the mainstream, and then see that conservatives are backing Trump, we have to have assumed that something has massively changed, as Reagan and Trump are vastly different Presidents, vastly different individuals, and yet Evangelical white conservative voters heavily favored both. Again, more Whys. Again, more Hows. Because even from the outside looking in, this shouldn’t make sense even to conservatives. So, my perception has to be, that conservatism in the US is about denying the reality of the world. How can someone be for small government, but for a Border Wall that will require the government to use eminent domain to take property away from people to put it on? How can someone claim that the US is a Christian country, but also be racist, or against immigration reforms that would allow more people to become legalized citizens? How can someone be anti-Government, but be pro-Military and pro-Police, groups directly associated with enforcing penalties for the Government? Where is this going? What does this have to do with the socialism stuff from earlier? If we use the same logic that conservatives do, in that I get to pick any specific part of a thing, and claim that thing to be Conservatism, regardless of how well versed I am on the subject, aren’t I entirely justified in doing the exact same thing? Because I, like some conservatives that understand little about, say, Nazi Germany and think that ‘because it says socialist in the title, it’s socialist’, can do the same thing with conservative views and conservative movements. Funny though, how conservative movements in Europe and the US, are trying to prop up Nationalism, the other word in that suuuuper bad National Socialist phrase. Funny though, how conservative media outlets and pundits have tried to pretend that Hitler was a Liberal. Or that fascism, an ideology that’s perfectly pro-capitalism, is somehow leftist in origin. Again, a lot of denial about the reality of the world, of history. After all, Reagan sold weapons to conservative radicals in Iran, to fund conservative militias in Nicaragua. So I could easily say, “Ah, conservatism is all about enabling conservatives to keep a grip on government power, even if we’re literally selling weapons to people that shout for the death of our country.”  After all, George W invaded Iraq and Afghanistan with the goal of finding WMDs and Bin Laden, found neither, and ended up destabilizing both countries further and bolstering ISIS. So I could easily say, “Ah, conservatism is all about US imperialism, sticking our noses in places it doesn’t belong, while shitting all over the concept of individual or national sovereignty.” After all, Nixon, Trump, and Reagan’s administrations did and have done illegal things in the sake of keeping power in the hands of the Republican party, and supporting other conservative governments. So, I could easily say, “Ah, conservatives are all about lying and breaking the law, so long as it’s them and nobody else doing it. Conservatism is entirely based on hypocrisy.” After all, Republican members of Congress like Steve King or Roy Moore, or Donald Trump even have made statements to defend things such as white supremacy, pedophilia, and sexual harassment. So, I could easily say, “Ah, conservatives are all about morality and family, but are fine with immoral behavior from those they support.” After all, slave owners used to use the Bible to justify owning slaves, because of the Bible containing passages that condone slave ownership, but zero passages stating not to own slaves. And since socialists or any other leftist doesn’t base their political ideology on the Bible, I can only assume those people were also conservative. So, I could easily say, “Ah, conservatives are fine hiding behind their religious beliefs to justify terrible things, even when they proclaim the US as a bastion of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, or Liberty and Justice for all. They really don’t actually mean all. They mean ‘Us’. The conservatives.” You get the gist. If all I do is look at the actions of conservative movements, conservative people online, conservative politicians, I get a really bad picture of conservatives. That doesn’t mean I have a strong grasp on what conservatives themselves are trying to do now, what those positions are, and what informs them of their positions. All it means is this: If you want to try and tell me that Socialism is bad, because of stuff you don’t understand from the 40′s and 60′s, and I tell you that you’re wrong because you don’t understand them. Then you decide you don’t want to be bothered to learn why, then am I entirely justified to have all kinds of misconceptions about all the immoral, illogically consistent things that conservatives have done since the 80′s? Or, since, ever? Because if I’m not, you’ve really only confirmed my misconceptions, in that conservatism is only about ‘rules for thee, not for me.’ It is only about protecting the Us, and vilifying whatever ‘Them’ conservatives have picked out this month. The difference is, I’m here willing to listen. Willing to talk and engage. To explain those misconceptions and where they came from. To actually explain leftist positions, leftist policies. To actually explain, yes, things like socialism.  Are you willing to explain conservatism?

[a-wandering-fool]

From the article:

==================

Apparently I’m not the only one who has noticed that social media platforms only escape direct legal responsibility for the content published on their web sites if they act as completely neutral parties who take no editorial action against content published on their web sites unless prompted to by a formal complaint.

When Digital Platforms Become Censors: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other tech giants say that they’re open forums. What happens when they start to shut down voices they consider beyond the pale?

If you rely on someone else’s platform to express unpopular ideas, especially ideas on the right, you’re now at risk. This raises troubling questions, not only for free speech but for the future of American politics and media. …

Now these companies are trying to have it both ways. They take advantage of the fact that they are not publishers to escape responsibility for the endless amounts of problematic material on their sites, from libel to revenge porn. But at the same time, they are increasingly acting like publishers in deciding which views and people are permitted on their platforms and which are not.

The thing is, it may pass First Amendment muster–as has rightly been pointed out by others, the First Amendment does not apply to corporations. (Though I find it deeply ironic how hard the Left is relying on corporations–for whom they have historic deep distrust–to censor messages for them.)

But that does not mean it necessarily passes muster with certain other laws–specifically Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which acts as a safe harbor for “information content providers” from the content published on their platforms, but only so long as those providers do not actively censor content on their platforms. Otherwise, those platforms are not “information content providers”, but “publishers” who are liable for all the content on their sites.

Nor does it pass anti-trust laws, which is the angle provided in the above article. After all, Alex Jones’ “InfoWars” is itself a media operation–and in competition with companies such as Facebook and YouTube, with CNN and MSNBC. And when one set of media companies shuts down another from the public square–that could be considered prior restraint of trade.

And while one could answer “well, if he really wants to be in the public square, he should do the same heavy lifting internet companies like Facebook has done”–that is a problematic answer itself. Because it suggests for any of us to want to speak our minds on the Internet, if what we want to say is unpopular or seen as hateful, only the extremely wealthy–those who can afford the thousands and thousands of dollars to set up an Internet trunk line and massive servers on multiple coasts–can speak.

I mean, this is the very argument the Left has been using for a while now in its opposition to Citizens United: that it permits a handful of very wealthy individuals and large corporations to monopolize the public square–and to drown out or eliminate alternate political viewpoints.

Or is it the Left only care about such things when it’s their voices who are not in ascendency?

And does this mean to the Left, freedom is like a trolly car: you keep riding it until you get to your stop–then you get off?

Worse–the Internet is corporations all the way down. After all, even if you can afford to spend the thousands of dollars a month for a dedicated trunk line–you still have to buy the trunk line from a Tier 1, 2 or 3 provider. And who is to say that a Tier 2 provider (such as Comcast) or a Tier 1 provider (such as AT&T) won’t be pressured to cut you off from the Internet for saying something people don’t like?

After all, that’s what happened to Pirate Bay, though they were cut off because they were clearly violating the law by pirating music, movies and software.

Without access to a Tier 1 or a Tier 2 provider, you’re left with… what? Running your own fiberoptic cables under the ocean and becoming a Tier 1 provider yourself?

Isn’t that the essence of the Left’s objection to “Citizens United” on steroids?

In the Left’s long march through the institutions a lot of wreckage has been left behind. We’re seeing colleges become jokes. We’re seeing newspapers and television news falling ratings and revenues. We’re watching many other institutions disintegrate–and the latest is seeing a lot of powerful Internet companies, protected by Sarbanes-Oxley from competition from young upstarts (to the point where to make money in technology today, you can’t just create a new idea–you must create an idea that one of Facebook, Apple, Google or Amazon will buy) sow the seeds of their own destruction.

And the reason why this “long march” simply does not work in the United States is because unlike Western Europe, whom the Marxists saw as an impediment to the socialist state they saw as the precursor to true communismand whose culture (of Christianity, authority, family tradition, sexual restraint and patriotism) needed to be destroyed–the United States was founded on the philosophical principles of the Freedom of Man:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

And any agenda of “radical egalitarianism” proposed by the Left in the United States must deal with the real, fundamental and existential question “how is your ‘radical egalitarianism’ better than our devotion to individual liberty?”

As Calvin Coolidge noted in 1926 on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence:

About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.

It’s no wonder those who best embrace the Left’s assertions of “radical egalitarianism” in this country–the fools who join Antifa incorrectly believing–as the (Marxist) Frankfurt School believed–that the United States (having embraced Christianity, authority, family tradition, sexual restraint and patriotism) was ripe for a Fascist uprising similar to the National-Socialists of Germany in the run-up to World War II–are often historically ignorant and culturally blind.

Because unlike the rest of Western Europe, we have already embraced “radical egalitarianism.” Our Declaration of Independence is a declaration to the world of our belief in “radical egalitarianism”, in individualism, and in the supremacy of individualism over the State. Ours is already a country where cultures and governments bend to the needs of the individual, rather than the other way around.

Our governments print voting pamphlets in every native language spoken by the voting population rather than demands our populations learn English to participate in government. Our governments provide reasonable religious accommodation for all faiths and religions–permitting women to wear hijabs in their drivers licenses, for example–rather than going to war against women for wearing the wrong style of dress.

Our history is full of individuals practicing all lifestyles: a century ago we went through a “Christian Perfectionism” phase, where “Perfectionists” of all sorts created great communes to practice odd and interesting lifestyles. One of these “Christian Perfectionist” communities was the Oneida Community, who practiced “free love” (in fact, that’s where we get the term), and started a small company to fund their community which still exists today.

So when the “Antifa” shows up, to Americans they look like NAZI brownshirts but in another guise. We may look at a President Trump with trepidation–after all, every 4 to 8 years we replace the most powerful man in the free world with some inexperienced noob, and Lord knows what sort of chaos that may give rise to. But as radical individualists, the sort of “anti-fascism” being sold by a bunch of often aging radical Leftists does not look like progress.

It looks reactionary, not progress–like proceeding backwards to feudalism (the precursor of socialism), to a time when the world was organized as surfs under the thumb of their (Antifa) manor Lords.

So let the Left continue its long march through the institutions.

Some of these institutions desperately need tearing down and rethinking anyway.

Certainly Facebook has exceeded its usefulness, as has Twitter, and I welcome the next iteration.

Perhaps a more democratic solution based on a common protocol such as RSS,with a search directory that allows us to find our friends and subscribe to their individual feeds without the filtering of a profit-oriented Facebook who wants to rearrange our timelines and insert ads as they see fit.

I mean, hell; all you need is a discovery mechanism associated with RSS which allows an RSS publisher to automatically publish a directory of the RSS feeds of the people they’re subscribed to–and you’ve pretty much replicated Facebook’s “friending” process.

Hoist this on top of a peer to peer networking system with cryptographic handshaking to prevent governments and corporations from intercepting (and censoring) wire messages, and you now have a completely distributed replacement for Facebook–all built on open protocols, that can conceivably then allow individual developers to produce their own clients.

But I am not worried at all about our dedication to Individualism.

The world is moving towards individualism, after all–not away. Unless there is a very powerful authoritarian government on the doorstep of a weaker government, such as Russia chipping away at Ukraine or at Georgia, for most people we are moving towards greater individualism, towards greater individual responsibility and towards greater individual freedom.

Because everyone yearns to breathe free.

Even the Antifa folks yearn to breathe free. They only take the path they do because they’ve been taught that their brand of socialist-communist double-think is a freer path to greater individual autonomy than the alternatives they completely misunderstand. But then, it takes an academic (or a student of that academic) in order to be that fucking stupid.

==================

[riverdamien]

Peniel: “Where Jacob Wrestled With God and Survived,” Newsletter of Temenos Catholic Worker, June 2020

PENIAL, "Where Jacob Wrestled With God."

Newsletter of Temenos Catholic Worker

June Email 

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

www.temenos.org

Father River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T.

Journal of An Alien Street Priest:

A Tale of Two Matthew's

Acts 1:6-14; Psalm 68:1-10; 32-35; I Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11 John 17:1-11

Aldergate Day

    On May 24, 1738, in Aldersgate Street, London, during a meeting composed largely of Moravians under the auspices of the Church of England, John Wesley's intellectual conviction was transformed into a personal experience while Luther's preface to the commentary to the Letter of Paul to the Romans was being read. On a June night at Arcadia, a United Methodist Camp in the Ozarks of Missouri , we felt our heart "strangely warmed" and knew Christ was real, as real as we are, and we became friends, and we experienced our call to ministry.

    We remember Aldersgate each year because John Wesley, and his theology has shaped our life and ministry as has Dorothy Day whose theology of the "Mystical Body of Christ", is the heart of our ministry.

"When we pray with Christ…we realize Christ as our Brother. We think of all men as our brothers then, as members of the Mystical Body of Christ. “We are all members, one of another,” and, remembering this, we can never be indifferent to the social miseries and evils of the day. The dogma of the Mystical Body has tremendous social implications."

    I have been sick for over a week, been tested for the virus, and is negative, so as usual this time of year as the weather changes back and forth simply have fever and congested adjusting  to the weather.

    Last night I had a dream that comes at times of transition, that of the Angel of Death, and in this dream she fluttered around and looked me in the face saying: "Your time is near, but not now.", and disappeared.

    This dream, is always a reminder to me, that we are simply dust, and to dust we will return, and that I am nearer than before.

    As I  laid in bed awake, I thought of two people who are symbolic of this ministry, and of whatever one wants to call a "legacy" (we are forgotten  once we die, but our sparks continue through others). It is a tale of two Matthew's.

    The first Matthew entered my life nearly fifteen years ago. He had heard me speak in his class, and the day before Good Friday called  and asked to come and help with our Good Friday Service. So of course, the answer was yes. On Good Friday morning I drove to San Carlos and as he came out of his house there was a large suit case,  and Matt, long haired, in dye tie,  said, "My parents are in Europe, the person staying with me is not here, and so I am spending the weekend with you." I was shocked, barely remembered talking to him, and when I talked to his mom whom I had never met, a lawyer, she said, "Oh cool, Thanks." I thought she was crazy as a loon, and that began with her a friendship that lasted through thick and thin, the closest friend I have ever had. She died last year and I still grieve. I cried this morning looking at her photo. Vicki said she was not a believer, but she is in that Great Cloud of  Witnesses surrounding us, cheering me on. Very present. She expressed more love to people and represented the "the Mystical Body of Christ", more than anyone we have ever known.

    And Matt, oh Matt, for six years as he went through high school we fought, battled, and stuck with each other. The summer I was sick with malaria I stayed with them, and taught him how to drive, and we put up with each other. He asked me once why I cared for him, and I said, "Why not? "He was, and  still is a pain in the ass. Towards the end of his junior year there was an incident that he was involved in, that possibly may have caused his Catholic High School to kick him out and might have damaged his future,  and I took the blame, oh the condemnation and the hell for me that followed, we have never talked about it, but as he nears his graduation from law school this year, that is my reward. He grew up, has a great girl friend, and is going into environmental law.

    Matthew wrote an email several months ago, telling me how much he appreciated and cared about me and how I inspired him on his journey.  Whatever others might believe, that email told me all was worth it.

    The other Matt is nearing 21, and he came into volunteer when he was 14, and kept coming back, and when I was sick two years ago, at 18 he and two of his friends, took care of me. People consider Matt a wild kid, but to me he was just Matt. We have fought many a battle through these years, made a trip to Amsterdam, hated, and loved each other, but last night as I had dinner with him and his mother, I saw how mature in many ways he has become. As I left he hugged me, and said, "I love you," and that to me is the greatest reward one can have. The scars, the wounds are worth it.

    Both these guys have been considered "difficult", "immature," " not going any where," by others, and both have been and are  my brothers. In them, as seen in my street kids is the "mystical body of Christ."

    Both like the thousands of others will fade into my memory as they move on with their lives, marry, have children and careers. And like "Mr. Chips" (Good Bye Mr. Chips) I will sit on the bench and remember them and the others, as I grow old, and fade away.

    Both symbolize our ministry. The jewel in the cross above was given to me by a young guy in the Haight. A tourist offered him a hundred dollars, which was a thousand to him,  he picked it up and gave it to me saying, "you show us so much love, I want you to have it." It symbolizes our ministry.

    My friend Father Louie Vitalie once told someone: "Christianity is one of many views of God, and in its symbolism, one can find hope in life."

    Ultimately all religions are one of many streams from God, but in following Jesus, one can experience the mystical body of Christ in each person we meet. Christ becomes flesh in each of us. ; All religions that teach of love of neighbor are streams of the one God.

    The two Matthew's for me are symbols of the  "Mystical Body of Christ" for in our struggles Christ is present in his love and redemption.

    Jesus calls us to enter into the lives of our fellow brothers and sisters, to take risks, to get our hands dirty, to let them into our lives, even if we are wounded.

    As I read Facebook, and  social media I hear little of the suffering of people on the street, or of others. We are separated from one another. Through the "Mystical Body of Christ," we know that we are one in life, in suffering, and in death.

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!"

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    Our work continues. We can not give out hot food or any food cooked at home. We give out fruit bars. We are in need of socks and blankets. Thousands are sleeping on the street, afraid, alone, feeling like they are caught in a set of head lights.

    We have visited with individuals with the virus and this virus is not pretty, it is ugly, painful, and really a terrifying illness. So we are asking for donations! No matter how small! We need socks and blankets!

    Thank you for for your support these years! You have no idea of how much it is appreciated and is comforting to know that we are remembered, and your support brings you on to the streets with us in ministry. Thank you! Thank you!

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"Without a sense of the inherent sacredness of the world—in every tiny bit of life and death—we struggle to see God in our own reality, let alone to respect reality, protect it, or love it." Father Richard Rhor

"For all its presumed innocence, this way of life lived by well-off North Americans is both unjust to those who cannot attain this lifestyle and destructive of the very planet that supports us all. —Sallie McFague "

"We’re the only creature who can decide not to do something we’re capable of doing. That’s our superpower, even if we exercise it too rarely. —Bill McKibben "

“There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one's self.” -Benjamin Franklin

[ginnyzero]

Copypaste Cris, Plagiarism, and Fandom

(Originally Posted April 2019)

Recently, there has been a very large controversy in writer twitter. A woman who I’d rather not name outside of Cris, has plagiarized a very long list of books and authors by stitching them together like Frankenstein and then passed the books off as their own. We’re talking taking paragraphs directly from other books and using them in their books. Paragraphs!

This isn’t what anyone ever meant when they said “good authors steal.” Or “taking from many authors is research.” This is out and out theft of other writer’s words. And it’s not cool. And I think most authors in original IP and in fandom spaces would agree about that.

However, what has come out of it is a very informative thread about how authors can search through google if their words have been plagiarized and put up on places like Wattpad or AO3. But in the thread, I noticed that there was no difference being paid to original work and fan works. It’s as if the creator of the thread didn’t know there legally is a difference between the two creations.

Quickly, fandom works are works both written and drawn in a specific book/movie/television universe created by people (fans) not the original author and may or may not use the same characters/settings/world building as the original author. (I have to accommodate for extreme alternate universes here.) They are posted on sites such as fanfiction(net), AO3(org), deviantArt(com) and so on.

Fan fiction has a very long history that includes the Iliad, Dante's Inferno, Shakespeare, etc. Basically, it's older than dirt and not about to go away. The concept of "completely" original work didn't arise until the early 1900s and before then was looked upon with disdain. You couldn't make money off an original work! Le gasp! With the rise of copyright and other such laws, there has become a legal separation between original IP and fan transformative works. (And also the abuse of copyright law.)

And in recent times, it feels that younger authors who are not part of the fandom scene don't know or aren't educated in the difference.

I blame Wattpad.

Wattpad has made a very iffy decision IMO to host both fan fiction and original fiction. There are also a lot of baby authors out there with no context of fandom history and fandom diaspora after the demise of LJ hasn’t created a new “community” to educate.

The closest thing that fandom has now to a history site is fanlore. There are a lot of fandom authors/creators who hate fanlore with an abiding passion. Yes, there are posts on tumblr about fandom history, but its shouting into a void. Because of this, fandom history has been lost or has been shrouded in the veils of hearsay. This hearsay has been spread to original authors making them afraid of things that would most likely never happen.

But simple etiquette things like: Put Disclaimers on your work that you don’t own it. Don’t send your fan fiction to the authors. Don’t try to make money off of fan fiction. And don’t talk about fandom to actors/creators. OMG. No. Have been lost. In fact, a lot of baby fandom authors either don’t care or don’t know they need to know things about disclaimers or why you don’t tell original creators your head canons. This can cause a lot of frustration between original creators and their fans. Not to mention some really awkward moments with actors/creators at Con panels. The meta fiction books about fandom make fandom cringe and froth the way the BDSM community cringes and froths about 50 Shades.

At the same time, the old code of fandom silence and trying not to attract the attention of original creators for fear of being sued has caused this schism between the two writing communities. The schism comes from both communities having 2 sets of rules and each community not knowing the other set unless they’ve come from that community in the 1st place. Not that anyone writes these rules down either.

Each side eyes each other with disdain. (Unless an author has come from fandom into original.)

So, now Wattpad has created this community where original IP authors are mixing with fandom authors. Neither know each other’s etiquette rules and each resents the other for existing in the same space. The reason I call Wattpad’s decision iffy is because when fanfiction(net) realized its authors wanted to post original work, they created fictionpress with a different TOS. As far as I’m aware, Wattpad is posting fan fiction and original fiction under the same TOS.

Legally, I’d call this very squishy and not a good idea. Not a good idea, as in, “Have you been sued today?” Especially as Wattpad is trying to transition from a free platform to a paid platform. If a baby author starts trying to sell fan fic, well, it’s a good way to end up being sued. There is going to come a point where Wattpad is going to have to make a choice. Do they continue posting fan fic and deal with legal repercussions? Or do they ban it entirely and piss off a big chunk of their user base? I predict banning.

Whereas, Archive Of Our Own or AO3, was created by the Organization of Transformative Works expressly for the purpose of hosting and legally protecting fanfiction. AO3 does have original works on it. A tiny fraction of a percent of the millions of work on AO3 are labelled as original work. There are some (57K) original works on AO3. That’s smaller than the number of Tolkien fanworks (61K). Because most authors who post on AO3 know that original isn’t the point of AO3 and they’re posting fandom works under the same pseudonym.

And once again, Fanfiction(net) handled the problem of writers wanting to step out of fan works and into original works by creating an entirely new website with the same user interface. Thus keeping the works legally separated and everyone in the happy space of “this is someone else’s IP I can’t make money off of” and “this is my IP, I’m building a reader platform, and I can make money off of it eventually.”

Fictionpress is probably why you can’t copy/paste or download fan fiction off of fanfiction(net.) Having one user interface means protecting the words of the original IP also means protecting the words of the fandom IP.

On top of this, there are indie and traditional authors that either don’t know or don’t like the concept of fan fiction. They don’t want other people to play with their characters. Those are perfectly valid feelings and ffnet will accommodate certain authors to a point. By to a point, I mean usually under a threat of lawsuit from a very big name author who has asked politely for their works not to be included in the site. FFnet also banned song fics and NC-17 because they rely on ADS.

I don’t know about AO3, because AO3 rose up after some of the bigger authors relented about fanfiction and I don’t have an account there. I stopped posting fanfiction for the most part around 2010 due to severe burnout. It wasn’t until 2012 or so that I worked through some issues and started writing… original.

I still keep a toe in fandom spaces to keep track of the controversies and what’s going on there because it may show up in original spaces later and vice versa. We of fandom often don't realize how small we actually are and how many people don't know about fandom. We're a global community. It's fairly common to have friends in Europe and Asia and Australia. (This makes getting together difficult.) Twitter is now doing this for the original writer community.

If your work becomes popular, say with a related comic or a television show or you get a movie or you write romance in a series that gets a lot of readers. (Yes, book fandoms are a thing.) Fan works, transformative works protected under the rights of fair use, are inevitable. People (fans) that aren't you, the original creator, are going to create stories, make art, put together song lists with, of, and about your characters, that you, as the original creator, will have no control over. And to an extent, in the case of fan fiction, legally shouldn't read in case you're working on a similar idea at the same time due to the universal consciousness of mankind.

Fan works aren't the same as original works. Fandom people know this. They know they can't make money off of your ideas. They aren't even trying to make money off of your ideas, at least the ethical knowledgeable fandom writing creators aren't. (Fan art is different.) They have many other reasons, mostly love, for borrowing your characters to tell their stories with for a time.

Please, don't mix this up with authors plagiarizing your works. There is a legal definition of plagiarism and most fan fiction doesn't fall under it.

Here is the thing, most fandom authors aren’t going to be copying your work word for word into their fic. It’s not really the point of fan fic. They may drop a line or two for reference if they’re doing a canon divergent scene, but paragraphs are off limits. In fact, most the time when fandom authors are caught plagiarizing. They’re plagiarizing works that have nothing to do with the original IP. Or are plagiarizing other fandom authors by reposting those works and claiming them as their own.

9 times out of 10, fandom is your friend. Fandom creating transformative works of your things is free publicity for your work. Granted, fandom usually only swirls around things that become big and popular. Twilight, the Hunger Games, MCU, SuperWhoLock. Fandom is also fickle. The creator and fandom divide has gotten extremely thin with the rise of social media and the demand that creators be on social media. The lines between original and fan fiction have also become blurred. Example, the “omegaverse” controversy.

Fandom can quickly become an enemy. More and more, fans feel entitled to tell creators exactly how they feel about a work when it doesn’t go the way they want it to do so. See Star Wars and a half a dozen cartoons. Fandom has a long memory and an unparalleled capacity for grudges. See James Gunn and GotG. This isn’t cool as because it's the internet and there is "anonymity" it can devolve or escalate into doxxing, swatting, and death threats fair quickly.

Doxxing being when a fan outs where another fan or an original creator lives in order for people to move out of cyber bullying and into the realm of stalking or physical death threats. Swatting is more common in the gaming community where on gamer calls in a fake report to their local police and the police come to raid their house. This is hugely illegal!

In fact, probably within the next 2 decades, those writing fandom stories now are probably going to start being original IP authors peers as more and more YOUNG fandom authors transition from fan fiction into original fiction. There are more traditionally published authors than many are aware of that started out as fan fiction authors to hone their skills or as a hobby that turned into a passion. They’re very attached to fan fiction and quite defensive about it.

(And many self-published authors also started out in fandom circles. However, traditionally published authors like us less than fandom authors.)

They also know the rules of fandom. Disclaim your work. Don’t talk about fandom. Don't send creators your ideas. Especially, don’t talk about your RPF fan work to the actors of a certain series. Don’t email death threats to their spouses. Don’t dox people. Don’t take writing commissions for fan fic. (This doesn’t apply to fan art and thus the arguments rise in fandom spaces about that!)

With the rise of social media and things like AO3, the need for disclaimers have fallen out of fashion. More and more people are willing to stand up and say “we are fandom!” We hear more about the bad things than the good things. Good things are, “fandom keeps me from suicide.” and “I got a job through fandom!” (More artists than writers because of the whole legal issue of original IP writers reading fan works.) “Fandom makes me happy,” is prolly my fave.

Because of copypastecris, there are now a lot of original authors out there afraid that their works are being taken and used elsewhere. They're now googling or using software where they upload passages of their books and try to find similar passages on places like Wattpad or AO3 (if they know AO3 exists.) They don't know there is a difference between original work and fan work.

They just see "oh, people are using my characters. I don't like that. That's stealing! Stealing is wrong!" Then they send a DMCA. When that's not what plagiarism is legally.

And fandom doesn't know that this is happening. Not a peep has come up about copypastecris in the fandom spaces I know about. If an author hits them with a DMCA for plagiarism on a fandom story that is clearly labelled fan fic, they're going to be blindsided. Since many fandom writers are young, they're going to be terrified!

(A DMCA for a stolen photograph/artwork for a cover is different. DMCA away. Too many people think that anything art wise posted to the internet is free for the taking. They also know how to remove watermarks. And yes, this attitude falls upon books too, thus piracy. But that's a different issue than fan works!)

So, please don’t punish fandom for copypastecris. Fandom doesn’t know about copypastecris. They don’t care about copypastecris. And they’d be as pissed as you are about it if they did know because most of them have ethics and that’s not cool.

(I’d compare the copypastecris to their Cassie Claire controversy back in the late 2000s. But even Cassie Claire didn’t have THAT much chutzpah to plagiarize close to 100 books. I have no idea how much editing went into her books to make them publishable as original fiction. Most fandom authors will tell you unless it's an extreme AU, taking a fan fiction and trying to make it original fiction isn't worth the bother. It's too much work.)

Please, check the work before you DMCA and if it is a fan work and labelled as a fan work, take a moment to breathe and not hit that button. Count the words. Make sure it legally fits the definition of plagiarism before hurting someone who loves your stories. Fandom isn’t your enemy. They aren’t trying to claim your IP and make money off of it. Thank you.

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Censorship and the ascent of man

When I use the term ascent of man, certain people will be triggered. Why triggered? In order to be triggered you have to be primed. You have to be set up for it. My view of the ascent of man is a very simple one, we are all caught in a simple duality. This duality is between returning to what we know and following the patterns of before or striving towards something unseen, slightly scary and novel. We've got an insatiable appetite for the novel. We've got an insatiable appetite for games (play), travel and experience. Many have an appetite for learning,  self and social improvement. The issue is that this terrain into the future has few tracks and is not well mapped. Those who come to be known as guides, visionaries or leaders more often than not experience the full gamut of the other side of the coin, being doubted, laughed at pilloried and vilified. But why? It's just easier and safer to look backwards, do what you're told and "toe the party line" instead of questing, challenging and striving. Being a critic is far more "social" and safe. You'll see many games of this type.  The higher you climb, the farther you reach, the more the clamor comes to stop you, to hinder, to halt your freedom (because it reflects badly on the rest). The USA has been a crucible for many of these ideas; the ascent of the individual, the rise of a free society, the quest for a republic. At the same time the US has built an empire. Two models, one body politic. Many of your presidents have warned you about the nature of tyranny, how close it remains at all times. This is a simple idea to understand because man will always scurry back to his primitive state once you raise his (her) emotions ahead of logic. Emotions and "narratives" are from an earlier time, those elements of fear, greed, hate can easily be man-ipulated to draw you backwards, censoring your ability to think and removing your freedoms. Trump talks about "fake news," what he means is real propaganda.  Your media is controlled by a small cabal, very small in fact. They have a very close connection with those who print your money for profit. Money is one of the key things you strive for, as it is the thing which gives you opportunity to do more and have more free time to "express yourself." You have probably noted how in recent years, the amount of work you do does not equate to more freedom, how you are sold a succession of ideas which far from making you free tend to drive you into a "debt culture." Your life becomes of  process of buying expensive "toys" and then paying off the interest to banks. It is in the best interest of banks to have a good relationship with media, both to sell you ideas and manipulate your emotions. If capital controls the media (and the government) then your society is not going to be moving towards freedom and individualism, it will regress because none of these entities values your capacity to be free. You are far better to them as a docile, conformist simpleton. Global banks also have another agenda, to remove your national freedom to control them. If you the citizen control the government, you'd quickly move against them, their only escape is "to globalize."To be to big to fail (that's a joke, but it contains the central idea). All these entities survive on "your taxes." I include the EU parasites in this too (not just a US issue). They have to make local government weak and controlled. The alphabet agencies have many years of experience in this field, so hey presto, you've got a marriage of great convenience (in the voice of Borat), great success!! Censorship is something different to this, censorship usually is deployed to bolster a flagging narrative and stopping people discussing, thinking and addressing the issues of the day. In the old days censorship was possible because only rich men controlled the media and the message, distribution was hard. then print came along and blew this "monopoly power" away. The internet is a great tool for moving ideas, but it is also a very easy tool to deploy censorship and control, it was designed as a weapon, as a directed mass communication device. Interestingly enough it is being deployed against it's own people, the citizens of the USA (and of course the wider world too). Why now?  Well the narrative that those who run this particular game are running is that it is the "end times," a piece of historical claptrap that tallies with the myth and control techniques of a particular group or culture. It's not the "end time" of anything, its just a set of people who want to retain power at all costs (at all costs). There is nothing so banal, so normal as this. This is the "norm," not the exception. Scumbags do what scumbags always do, band together to subjugate the people. Every African country with an octogenarian dictator testifies to the power of fear and of tyranny. At some level the people give up their freedom and "wait" for the tyrant to die, until the new tyrant arrives. This "waiting for freedom" seems to be recipe for disaster (in a literal sense). My guess is that this is the reason that societies like Northern Sweden and Central Africa are still so different, even now in the age of the internet and instant mobile communication. In those places where you need to work together to survive the winter, you'd be quite reluctant to deliver your freedom, physicality and will to the group or collective without some concessions. Those group elements like social care, education (as in access to knowledge), transport structures, judicial, legislative and executive are negotiated. Actually that freedom to negotiate as an individual has been hard won. The ideas of justice, equality before the law and the "rights" of the individual have not just been granted, they've been fought over and many good men have died. Tyranny does not "give" power away, in fact it does the opposite, constantly taking little pieces of your freedom away on different pretexts till you've got none left. In the banking sense, it's called a life of debt or poverty. This has been a widening cycle for many in the US (and Europe) in recent years as tyranny has ramped up by degrees. In Europe Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Ireland were called the PIIGS for a while in the mass media, quite a political message there if you're of a mind to see one. Censorship is an insidious form of activity, you need a group to spy on another group, you need deleters, deciders and deceptionists of all kinds. You have to build in that structure, it takes time. You have to read your Orwell and follow the playbook. Snowball good, snowball bad, etc. then 1984 it under Big Brother's watchful gaze. The thing about censorship is we know intuitively how it goes, it drives us back to a past time, driving messages of fear, hatred and division. In fact that is how they will justify it, telling you they are "stopping" the above mentioned terms. It's "business as usual" and has been done thousands, if not millions of times in human history, it's almost clockwork. "You flung a ditch on my vision and burgled my bank of youth." But, I'd like to end by telling you that there is a world on the other side of this capitalist Truman show. The capacity of one person, one vote is undimmed. You have to see their little Wizard of Oz heads rushing round trying to shore up the bullshit. You must see how lame the whole set of ideas are, how severely limited the individuals pushing this backward narrative. Do you want to be like them? Is your striving in life to be a complete scrotum? Do you aspire to be an asshole, spying scurrying, obfuscating and jeering? Do you want to be a lowlife? If so, join the gang, they love a mindless goon or two. The narrative will be that they're doing it for your own good, that you need protecting from "bad ideas," that your poor little mind can't cope without Big Brother, there might even be a few false flags to keep you tenderized and juicy. What I will say is that they are clearly visible now. Before they were hidden, they surfaced. Surfacing is never good for them. They need to work under cover of darkness, cloaked All three elements, the physical wing, media and big tech, the banking sector are in plain view. They've all pulled their scams and now you see them as clearly as you've ever done. It's not the time to censor yourself, it's the time to understand. To see why they would want to cloak themselves again and disappear back into the depths. Read the full article

[rolandfontana]

China’s Declining Economy can be Good for YOU

One of the compound questions our China lawyers are getting almost daily is “what is happening with China’s economy and what should we do about it.” This post will partially answer both halves of that question.

Our assessment of China’s economy is not based on any deep analysis we perform; it is based on what we read in the mainstream media and in Chinese media and on China social media. Perhaps most importantly, it is based on what you, our readers, tell us in your comments and in your emails to us and on what our own clients tell us.

What we have been reading and hearing is that China’s economy continues to sink. The South China Morning Post did a story earlier this week on how China’s manufacturing profits have fallen nearly 16 percent year-on-year, to their lowest level since 2011 and the “biggest crash since 2009.” See China’s economic concerns mount as industrial profits crash to lowest since 2011. I hate to say this (actually I love saying it), but we told you so. Way back in October, 2018, we came out with a controversial post, titled, Would the Last Company Manufacturing in China Please Turn Off the Lights. In that post we unequivocally stated that American and European companies were moving their manufacturing out of China:

The title is an exaggeration, of course. But with my law firm’s international lawyers fielding a steady stream of client requests for help with leaving China for Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, India, The Philippines, Indonesia, India and Turkey (mostly), it does sometimes feel as though within three years nobody will be making widgets in China anymore.

On top of the client and potential client calls, we have also been getting a steady stream of reporters asking us for permission to talk to our clients leaving or looking to leave China. We tell them that for various reasons, none of our clients are likely to want to discuss their leaving China and then they usually tell us that they “understand.” See How To Terminate Your China Supplier: Very Carefully and How to Leave China AND Survive.

With the extreme reluctance for anyone specific to say that they will be leaving China, whenever we write about companies leaving China (especially when we do so on our China Law Blog Facebook page) we get hit with invective against us claiming we are making this stuff up because we hate China. Well guess what everyone, there is now strong factual support for what we have been saying for the last few months. A huge chunk of foreign companies are looking to move their manufacturing from China.

And if that first post wasn’t strong enough, we came back even more downbeat in December with Would the Last Foreign Company in China Please Turn Off the Lights: A Sort of Part 2. What we were hearing (again and again and again) was that American and European companies were “front-loading their China product purchases in late 2018, both to prepare for the upcoming holiday season and to beat the Trump tariffs. This led us to conclude (well actually just repeat what our clients were telling us) that China product sales would start falling off a cliff come February and continue to do so as production moved from China. The March statistics are confirmation of this and we expect April and May to be even worse.

Yet all this can for you as a foreign business (and not just in manufacturing) can be a good thing.

During a prior China downturn (2008-2009) we wrote, Is Your China Business Recession Resistant? What Is? In that post, we highlighted how when an economy declines, let’s say 10%, not every industry sector declines 10%. Some really tank and others thrive:

One of the things I have always found fascinating is how macro economic issues can have such widely varying micro economic impacts. By this I mean that when an economy starts tanking, let’s say 10%, the impact on individual businesses can be all over the map.

I remember becoming starkly aware of this during the 1997 Asian Crisis, as I spent a considerable amount of time in Korea that year. The news was doing a story on the drop in imported goods coming into Korea. Now I do not remember the numbers very well at all, but I think imports had declined about 20%. But the really interesting part was how unevenly this fall in imports was among various products. The one that stands out for me is that some fruit (I am 99% sure it was either kumquats or quinces) had gone from $20 million in imports the year before to absolutely zero. Zero. The reason given for this was that it was a luxury and that such luxuries were no longer in demand. Some staple food products had seen virtually no decline.

I have a lawyer friend who represents a huge number of medical practices. He told me of a surgeon client of his whose practice had been decimated when insurance companies reduced their payments and stiffened their reviews. Giving my best guess to the numbers again, he said that surgery rates had declined about 5% across the board in the country, but this guy’s practice had been hit so hard, his income had gone from something like $450,000 a year to around $50,000. There were various reasons this had happened, but obviously this particular surgeon contributed a lot more than most of the others to the overall 5% decline in surgeon payments.

I mention all this because I have seen very little written about how China’s decline has impacted businesses differently. My firm has seen increased business of late from companies related to energy and fuel savings, food companies, gaming companies, health care companies, education related companies, and, (no surprise here) collection companies. All of these companies seem to have relatively stable (or even rising) income flows and they are seeking to expand in China or take advantage of China cost savings. Those businesses which seem to have been hit hardest are in luxury goods companies, clothing companies, and financial services companies. Currency fluctuation can also have a huge impact. We are seeing increasing numbers of Japanese, Russian and Korean companies looking to purchase US business and real estate assets. The strength of the Japanese Yen has made US assets relatively cheap, while Korean and Russian companies are looking here out of fear for further declines in their currencies.

So what do we know about how China’s slowing economy is impacting China’s industries and how can you benefit? We know manufacturing is down and this invariably leads to an increased willingness by Chinese factories to reduce costs or required quantities. On the flip side, on the very same day it came out with its article on the decline in China’s manufacturing sector, the SCMP did a story on how “China’s private tutoring industry is booming despite economic slowdown.” This article also noted how international schools are rapidly increasing as well.

What else is happening? China investment overseas, particularly in developed countries has also plunged. If you are planning to sell all or part of your company to a Chinese buyer, you probably should think again. It’s still possible, but less likely. China overseas investment into the United States and Europe fell 73% in 2018. That alone ought to tell you something.

Because our law firm does so much China media and entertainment law, we have seen up close a decline in productions, but we are also starting to see that slowly pick back up again. For a downright fascinating article on what has been happening with China movie production, check out “The Big Error Was That She Was Caught”: The Untold Story Behind the Mysterious Disappearance of Fan Bingbing, the World’s Biggest Movie Star

Despite all the gloom, China’s economy is still allegedly growing at about a 6% rate, which if true, is quite high as compared to the United States and Europe. Even if not true, China’s economy is probably still growing overall and it is certainly growing in certain sectors and regions. And if the United States and China do reach a trade deal, things likely will start improving for China.

But in the meantime, our China lawyers get the sense that there is still a lot of money to be made by foreign companies in education, environmental cleanup and protection, and technology. And as will always be the case, if you have a better or cheaper (or better yet, a better and cheaper) mousetrap, people will buy it, in China and everywhere else. This is true of both services and products.

What are you seeing out there? Please tell us.

Update: Just saw (here) that Sony will be shutting down its China smartphone manufacturing in China, while leaving its Thailand plant open.

Update 2: Just got an email from a European milk company with a link to this article and the comment that the milk industry in China is doing great: Can the world quench China’s bottomless thirst for milk?

  China’s Declining Economy can be Good for YOU syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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New Post has been published on Restore American Glory

New Post has been published on http://www.restoreamericanglory.com/freedoms/democrat-congressman-wishes-he-could-regulate-speech-on-the-internet/

Democrat Congressman Wishes He Could “Regulate” Speech on the Internet

Apparently someone in the Democratic Party forgot to take Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) aside and remind him that there are some things the left is only supposed to hint about – not say outright. But apparently Lieu got so flustered by the Google hearings on Wednesday that he forgot to present a friendly, Constitution-loving face to the country. That would explain why, when asked by CNN’s Brianna Keilar if Democrats should have pushed harder on the conspiracy theories circling on the internet, Lieu admitted that there was nothing he would love more than to get in there and start clamping down on free speech.

“It’s a very good point you make. I would love if I could have more than five minutes to question witnesses. Unfortunately, I don’t get that opportunity,” Lieu said. “However, I would love to be able to regulate the content of speech. The First Amendment prevents me from doing so, and that’s simply a function of the First Amendment, but I think over the long run, it’s better the government does not regulate the content of speech.”

You can see that he sort of catches himself there at the end and remembers: Oh wait, I’m supposed to be in favor of the First Amendment, not just act like I’m a prisoner of it.

It wasn’t enough to stem the flurry of criticism that came at him on social media, and it wasn’t long before Lieu took to Twitter to defend himself. In the process, he arguably made things worse.

“My whole point is that government officials always want to regulate speech, see e.g. the Republican Judiciary hearing alleging Google is biased against Republicans,” he wrote. “But thank goodness the First Amendment prevents me, @POTUS and Republicans from doing so.

“I agree there are serious issues, but the speech issues are protected by the First Amendment,” he continued. “Would I like to regulate Fox News? Yes, but I can’t because the First Amendment stops me. And that’s ultimately a good thing in the long run.”

So yeah, there you have it. A prominent Democrat in the House of Representatives is telling us that we’d better thank our lucky stars for the First Amendment, because otherwise, boy howdy, things would be different. If he had anything to say about it, anyway.

This kind of thing is disturbing to us, not least because Lieu is right about how close some on the Republican side of things have come to suggesting a government crackdown on Google. It is also disturbing because there is a growing faction on the left that is very outspoken (ironically) about how we should implement the same hate speech laws in the U.S. that they have in Europe and Canada. And furthermore, with all the hysteria about InfoWars and right-wing “fake news,” how the government should take action on that as well. So it does not set our minds at ease when a Democrat like Lieu floats one of these little test-balloons to see how the country reacts to such an idea.

The Constitution can be changed, but that’s not what we’re worried about. We’re worried about liberal interpretations of the First Amendment that might suddenly give Lieu the power he so obviously craves. And that would be a very dark day, indeed.