China warns Japan against ‘dangerous’ militarization

Beijing’s Defense Ministry has urged Tokyo to “earnestly learn from the lessons of history”

Japan’s decision to once again embrace the path of militarization is “very dangerous” and warrants the attention of the international community, China’s Defense Ministry spokesman warned on Thursday.

Senior Colonel Tan Kefei was asked by reporters to comment on recent remarks by Tokyo’s Defense Ministry, which sounded the alarm over Beijing’s decision to increase its military budget.

Tan dismissed all such concerns, insisting that China is committed to a path of peaceful development and stressing that its “limited defense expenditure is entirely for safeguarding national sovereignty, security, and development interests” along with regional and global stability. He stressed that China’s defense spending “is open and transparent within a reasonable and appropriate level.”

However, the spokesman noted that Japan “has been playing up the so-called ‘external threat’ in recent years” while boosting its defense budget and working to obtain advanced offensive weapons, thereby fueling regional tensions.

“We urge the Japanese side to earnestly learn from the lessons of history, and be cautious in words and deeds in matters of military security,” Tan stressed, adding that Tokyo should “stop doing things that undermine regional peace and stability”.

Earlier this month, China announced that it would boost its defense spending by 7.2%, bringing the total budget to about $225 billion. However, last December Japan said that its military budget would swell by 20% to a record $55 billion. In February, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also announced that Tokyo intends to buy 400 Tomahawk missiles from the US, citing security concerns over China and North Korea.

Japan, which officially renounced war and embraced pacifism after its defeat in WWII, plans to spend as much as $320 billion in total on defense over five years.

https://www.rt.com/news/573086-china-japan-dangerous-militarization/

UK Bans China’s TikTok from Government Mobile Phones ‘With Immediate Effect’

Citing a “specific risk”, the Chinese-developed video-sharing app TikTok has been banned from UK government devices “with immediate effect”.

The UK banned TikTok on “government corporate devices” on Thursday, it announced in a Parliamentary statement. While government spokesman Oliver Dowden said the ban did not extend to the general public or the private mobile phones of government ministers, he emphasised that individuals should think hard before downloading some social media apps.

Noting that social media apps “collect and store huge amounts of user data, including contacts, user content, and geolocation data” and saying there was a “specific risk” to government devices, Dowden said from now on only apps from an approved list could be installed on government phones and TikTok wasn’t going to be one of them.

The government is “going to ban the use of TikTok on government devices. We will do so with immediate effect… Overall this approach aligns with action taken by allies including the United States, Canada, and the EU”, Dowden continued, saying “our security must come first”.

Nevertheless, there would be exemptions to the ban, he said, meaning TikTok could still be downloaded onto some government devices “where it is required for operational reasons”, presumably for posting government-sponsored content onto the platform in a bid to reach young people. In these cases, the installation of the TikTok app would be reviewed by security before going ahead.

Several government departments still have TikTok accounts.

As Dowden noted, the ban follows several other Western powers have already banned the app for government users over security concerns. Accusing the government of having taken too long to make the move, Britain’s left-wing opposition Labour said the action was “behind the curve”.

…it is clear there could be a risk around how sensitive government data is accessed by certain platforms. As many colleagues will know, social media apps collect and store huge amounts of user data, including contacts, user content, and geolocation data. On government devices, that data can be sensitive. So today we are strengthening the security of those devices in two key respects.

First, we are moving to a system where government devices will only be able to access third-party apps on a pre-approved list. This system is already in place across many departments, now it will be the rule across government.

Second, we are also going to ban the use of TikTok on government devices. We will do so with immediate effect… this is a precautionary move, we know there is already limited use of TokTok across government, but it is also good cyber-hygiene.

Given the particular risk around government devices which may contain sensitive information, it is both prudent and proportionate to restrict the use of certain apps, particularly when it comes to certain apps where a large amount of data can be stored and accessed.

This ban applies to government corporate devices within ministerial and non-ministerial departments, but it will not extend to personal devices for government employees or ministers, or the general public. This is because this is a proportionate move based on a specific risk on government devices.

However as is always the case, we do advise individuals to practice caution online and to consider each social media platform’s data policies before downloading and using them.

Of course, it is the case that ministers receive regular security briefings and advice on protecting data on their personal devices and on mitigating cyber threats.

We will also be putting in place specific, very limited exemptions for the use of TikTok on government devices where it is required for operational reasons. Those exemptions will only be granted by security teams on a case-by-case basis with ministerial clearance as appropriate.

Overall this approach aligns with action taken by allies including the United States, Canada, and the EU.

Our Security must always come first, and today we are strengthening that security in a prudent and proportionate way and I commend this statement to the house.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/03/16/uk-bans-chinas-tiktok-from-government-mobile-phones-with-immediate-effect/

Doctor who helped halt COVID 'misinformation' law sues Stanford for punishing 'political activity'

ACalifornia pediatric emergency room physician who helped secure an injunction against the state's medical misinformation law on First Amendment grounds is now going after his own institution for alleged labor violations based on his public criticism of COVID-19 policy.

Ram Duriseti alleges that Stanford Health Care, part of the university's School of Medicine and his employer of two decades, functionally ignored his noncompliance with its COVID booster mandate "until he engaged in political activity that SHC deemed intolerable," according to his lawsuit, filed by Republican superlawyer Harmeet Dhillon's firm.

Chief of Staff Jay Shah told Duriseti Nov. 11, a day after he asked for "an update on his clinical status" and several weeks after "disinformation" activists publicly targeted him, that SHC had actually suspended him for noncompliance on its latest deadline of Aug. 12.

Suspension would convert to "voluntary resignation" the next day, Shah allegedly told Duriseti, who remains a clinical associate professor at Stanford and has a PhD from its engineering program.

Given that six months had passed between SHC's original, unenforced deadline and subsequent Aug. 12 deadline, the suit claims the mandate was selectively applied against Duriseti in violation of California labor laws because other unboosted employees continue working with no consequences.

While he held out on primary-series vaccination because of his low risk for COVID complications and lack of evidence it could stop transmission, Duriseti eventually complied with SHC's mandate by taking Johnson & Johnson's traditional vaccine, which the CDC now discourages, and got COVID anyway.

Duriseti twice requested an exemption from mRNA boosting, however, because of increasing evidence of its higher association with myocarditis in his male age range and his history of heart inflammation, which could threaten "the two households he supports," the suit claims. Though twice denied, Duriseti says he faced no consequences until his termination.

Omicron variant-targeting bivalent boosters have consistently underperformed against expectations in independent studies, most recently by Finnish government researchers. Their March preprint, not yet peer-reviewed, found "signs of waning" two months after boosting in ages 65 and up and no reduction of severe outcomes in "chronically ill" adults under 65.

They are still mandated at several colleges, however, including the University of California System. The lawsuit claims Stanford withdrew the policy behind the booster mandate after his second denied exemption.

https://justthenews.com/nation/free-speech/doctor-who-helped-halt-covid-misinformation-law-sues-stanford-punishing

Ireland’s Gay St. Patrick’s Day: A State’s Quest for Transgenderism

For Ireland’s progressive government, transgenderism and other “LGBTQ+” talking points have become central elements within modern St Patrick’s day celebrations.

“Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone. It’s with O’Leary in the grave.” So says, William Butler Yeats, one of the greatest artistic minds my country has ever produced. The line comes from a poem titled “September 1913”, a work that mourns the degradation of Ireland as the island slowly but surely became wealthier. At a time when many living on the island were finally starting to see some sense of financial prosperity, Yeats felt that they were becoming less and less like the heroic souls who came before them, and perhaps more and more like their then-fellow subjects living in Britain.

If Yeats found the Irish of the early 20th century of questionable character, he would surely find those of the early 21st completely unrecognisable. Though Ireland is now an independent nation-state, its politicians have largely lost interest in the national question.

The political class of the legendary poet’s period largely occupied itself with the independence of Ireland, fighting tooth and nail in order to establish a sovereign republic with complete control of every corner of the island.

Such political ambitions have long since been cast aside though, with the modern Irish elite more concerned with pushing progressive values onto the rest of the world, whether they like it or not. It has used its minor position on the world stage to push left-wing ideology, bolstering those who support progressivism and lashing out at those who don’t, frequently using its very identity as a currency to achieve these aims.

Like almost every other aspect of Irish culture, heritage and history, St Patrick’s Day has become just another weapon with which the island’s political class can further this progressive agenda.

Ireland’s current progressive obsession is that of transgenderism. Ministers across all of the government parties have adopted the view that the tenants of gender ideology must be taught as fact within the country’s elementary and high schools.

Understandably, this has not only greatly upset many parents in the country, but a number of schooling and religious associations on the island to boot. Amid talk that children in Ireland would soon be told that they would be able to change gender, the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association (CPSMA) — a body representing 89 per cent of the country’s elementary schools — came out to denounce the plan, arguing that there was “no scientific or medical consensus” for such gender ideology.

The group was soon joined by the Irish Muslim Council, which also attacked the measures for being “not appropriate” for school children, backing the claim that there is “a lack of scientific consensus” about the issue.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/03/17/irelands-gay-st-patricks-day-a-states-quest-for-transgenderism/

Failed Silicon Valley Bank gave millions of dollars to BLM and related causes, new database shows

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank New York (SBNY) donated a combined sum of $71.5 million to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, according to a new database released by the Claremont Institute.

SVB forked over a whopping $70,650,000 to BLM while, while SBNY gave $850,000 according to the records gathered by the conservative think tank.

Claremont's database cited several "social impact reports" that recorded the transactions and highlighted SVB's pledge from early last year, to give $5 billion to companies aiming to assist with "the transition to a sustainable, low carbon, net zero emissions economy."

The were criticized following their collapse for taking their eye off the ball, prioritizing eco-conscious environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing over sound investment principles while also focusing on diversity and social justice in hiring over strict merit.

One of SVB's LinkedIn posts in 2022 celebrated the "diversity" hire of Jay Ersapah as the head of Financial Risk and Model Risk Management, highlighting how she helped "establish and is the lead for the LGBTQ+ network at Silicon Valley Bank; where she works closely with Stonewall to create and promote a culture where all can bring their authentic selves to work."

That same year, Ersapah hosted an "exclusive fireside chat with Suki Sandhu, the author of "How To Get Your Act Together: A Judgement-Free Guide to Diversity and Inclusion for Straight White Men." The topics discussed included "How to get started with LGBTQ+ inclusion" and "Global best practice in LGBTQ+ inclusion — what great looks like."

Other big-name corporations listed in the BLM donor database included: CitiGroup and Facebook, which each gave over $1 billion, Amazon (almost $170 million), Apple ($100 million), and American Express ($50 million), among dozens of others.

The Biden administration has received sharp criticism for its role in the banking failures from experts who cite a federal spending spree that drove up interest rates, devaluing assets and further fueling ongoing inflation.

SVB declined to comment when asked by Just The News about the purposes and financial prudence of its donations. SBNY has closed its doors.

Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation gave Just the News a lengthy statement, from which the pertinent excerpts below are culled.

"Associating a multi-billion dollar bank failure to supposed donations made to Black organizations," said the organization, "is quite literally the definition of white supremacy — especially when it's a bank that has been and continues to be largely run by white people."

The SVB failure "happened because of Silicon Valley Bank's financial missteps and due to former President Trump, along with Democrats and Republicans in congress, rolling back regulations on banks in 2018," said the group. "Focusing on donations to Black organizations doing righteous change work instead of Silicon Valley Bank's executives that were selling off their stock and profiting from their extreme risks just days before the bank failed, like CEO Greg Becker who profited $3.6 million by selling company stock, is a hilarious attempt to shift blame to Black people.

"Silicon Valley Bank held $212 billion in assets and $324 billion in total client funds at the end of 2022. Contributions to a variety of progressive Black causes is irrelevant in the conversation about what led to the bank's demise."

The BLM statement concluded: "We need to be demanding real accountability both from the private sector and the government, which leads to immediate policy change, including public banking options. Until we stop protecting the interests of tech executives, shareholders, and billionaires, and start protecting Black people from their gruesome exploitation, then we will unfortunately witness many more big bank bailouts."

https://justthenews.com/government/svb-and-signature-bank-gave-millions-dollars-blm-new-claremont-database-shows

Former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows slams Biden for proposing new taxes in upcoming budget

Meadows explained that the Republicans have put out another budget to counter the one President Biden proposed

Former Trump Chief of Staff and North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows called out President Joe Biden for suggesting the addition of more taxes in a proposed budget.

"Joe Biden put out a budget and…calls for additional taxes, and now get this-it's taxes even on unrealized capital gains," Meadows told the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show Thursday. "So if you think that you've made money, he's going to tax that."

Meadows explained that the Republicans have put out another budget to counter the one President Biden proposed.

"Republicans in the House put forth a budget that cut almost $150 billion of what we would call woke kind of policies in these agencies," he said. "When you look at the House Freedom Caucus's budget, it's putting parents back in control of the classrooms. It's making sure that we don't continue to support Critical Race Theory and a lot of the leftist agenda that's there. So I can tell you Joe Biden's budget is dead on arrival."

Meadows pointed out that when Biden was running for president, he ran as a moderate, and that position probably won't be coming back until 2024.

"When Joe Biden was sworn into office, we got progressive Joe Biden," Meadows stated. "You will see moderate Joe Biden come back because election time is getting closer, but the American people shouldn't believe it."

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/finance/former-trump-chief-staff-mark-meadows-slams-biden-proposing-new-taxes

J.K. Rowling — ‘There’s Something Dangerous’ About the Transgender Movement

Author J.K. Rowling continued to prove she will not back down in her criticism of transgender radicalism in a recent podcast episode in which she called the movement “dangerous.”

Speaking on the Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling podcast, the acclaimed Harry Potter author said she tried listening to transgender activists to better understand their views but ultimately concluded that something “dangerous” lurked within.

“I can only say that I’ve thought about it deeply and hard and long. And I’ve listened, I promise, to the other side,” Rowling said. “And I believe, absolutely, that there is something dangerous about this movement, and it must be challenged.”

The British author addressed the trolls who say she somehow “betrayed” the values espoused in her books.

“I’m constantly told that I have betrayed my own books, but my position is that I’m absolutely upholding the positions that I took in ‘Potter,’” Rowling said. “My position is that this activist movement in the form that it’s currently taking, echoes the very thing that I was warning against in ‘Harry Potter.’”

“I am fighting what I see as a powerful, insidious misogynistic movement that I think has gained huge purchase in very influential areas of society. I do not see this particular movement as either benign or powerless,” she continued.

In the summer of 2020, J.K. Rowling said that transgender ideology could lead to the erasure of womanhood as we know it by denying the basic biological functions that differentiate women from men.

“If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth,” she tweeted.

Following her post, Rowling faced severe social media backlash, prompting “Harry Potter” stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and Eddie Redmayne to publicly declare their support for the trans movement. Actors Ralph Fiennes, who played Voldemort, and Robbie Coltrane, who played Hagrid, have both defended Rowling.

As criticism mounted, Rowling penned an essay about her experiences as a survivor of both sexual assault and domestic violence and argued that the concept of men becoming women erases womanhood entirely.

“It isn’t enough for women to be trans allies,” she wrote. “Women must accept and admit that there is no material difference between trans women and themselves. But, as many women have said before me, ‘woman’ is not a costume. ‘Woman’ is not an idea in a man’s head.’”

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2023/03/17/j-k-rowling-theres-something-dangerous-about-the-transgender-movement/