Protesters Within China Defy Communists: ‘Just Like You, Hong Kong’

Protesters in southern Guangdong province, China, took to the streets last week to demand the communist government not build a polluting crematorium near their town, adopting slogans common to the Hong Kong protest movement, Time magazine noted on Monday.

The Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, which openly supports the anti-communist movement, reported the use of slogans such as “revolution of our times,” which China considers seditious hate speech, and “just like you, Hong Kong!” in Guangdong. As China heavily censors coverage of the Hong Kong protests and bans all statements of support from the few permitted social media sites in the country, the adoption of the Hong Kong movement’s slogans and tactics is a sign that people within Communist China are informing themselves regarding the protests through unapproved means.

The presence of support for the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement within China may signal greater problems ahead for the Communist Party, which spent much of 2018 crushing dissent from its Maoist ranks who see dictator Xi Jinping as too repressive of the proletariat and deviant from communist orthodoxy.

Since protests began in Hong Kong against growing communist incursion in June, China has amassed troops and weaponry in Shenzhen, the Guangdong city on the other side of the border with Hong Kong, and reportedly established a “Hong Kong crisis response” center there. While many interpreted those move as an attempt to intimidate Hong Kong, those forces could easily be turned against the people of Shenzhen itself if the protest movement spreads north out of Hong Kong.

Guangdong is China’s wealthiest province.

The protests Time highlighted on Monday reportedly occurred in Wenlou, about 60 miles from Hong Kong, last week and throughout the weekend. Local officials had told residents they were in the process of constructing a “human ecological park” in what they later revealed would be the site of a crematorium. Crematoria in China, as they are run by the government, are rarely subject to environmental controls and release blasts of harmful smoke and chemicals into the environment. In places like western Xinjiang province, China uses crematoria to destroy local burial traditions and erase the memory of ethnic and religious minorities in the area, replacing them with atheist Marxists members of the Han majority ethnic group.

https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2019/12/02/protesters-within-china-defy-communists-just-like-you-hong-kong/

WOW! Angry Democrat Witness Pam Karlan Takes a Cheap Shot at Trump’s 13-Year-Old Son Barron (VIDEO)

The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, kicked off its first impeachment circus Wednesday morning.

One of the witnesses the Dems rolled out is an angry Hillary Clinton donor who was on Crooked’s list for a potential Supreme Court nomination.

No wonder why this unhinged, dowdy woman is so pissed off!

Ms. Karlan also took a cheap shot at President Trump’s 13-year-old son Barron.

Typical Democrat — They hate children!

“I’ll just give you one example that shows you the difference between him and a king which is, the Constitution says there can be no titles of nobility. So while the President can name is son Barron, he can’t make him a baron,” Karlan angrily exclaimed.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/12/wow-angry-democrat-witness-pam-karlan-takes-a-cheap-shot-at-trumps-13-year-old-son-barron-video/

Over 200 arrested in 13 countries in Europol crackdown on money laundering

More than 200 people have been arrested in 13 countries as part of a global crackdown on money laundering, the European police authority Europol said on Wednesday.

The swoop by law enforcement authorities in European countries, as well as Australia and the United States took place between September and November, AFP reports. The operations resulted “in the identification of 3,833 money mules alongside 386 money mule recruiters, of which 228 were arrested,” Europol said.

More than 650 banks, 17 bank associations and other financial institutions helped to report 7,520 fraudulent money mule transactions, preventing a total loss of €12.9 million ($14.3 million), according to the statement.

https://www.rt.com/newsline/475002-europol-crackdown-money-laundering/

George Bush, Barack Obama, and the CIA Torture Cover-Up

No story in recent U.S. history illustrates the brutal fallacy of American exceptionalism than the CIA torture program and its cover-up. This week on Intercepted: As Washington D.C. remains focused on the Trump impeachment, Daniel Jones, the former top Senate Intelligence Committee investigator into the CIA torture program discusses the years-long battle with the Bush and Obama administrations to make public the findings of his still-classified 7,000 page report. Jones, the subject of the new feature film, The Report, starring Adam Driver and Annette Bening, discusses his findings. He tells the story of how the CIA, under John Brennan, spied on the Senate investigators and accessed their classified computers. As a rebellion in Iraq forces the resignation of the country’s prime minister, Iraqi activist Raed Jarrar describes the roots of the protests, the impact of foreign intervention by numerous countries, and the history of the U.S. encouraging sectarianism in Iraq. Plus, “Bigger Than Baghdad” — we hear new music from Iraqi-Canadian hip-hop artist Narcy about the protests in Iraq.

http://dcs.megaphone.fm/FLM6289256336.mp3?key=2f1425382caf4860a6327dd3b8a57203

https://theintercept.com/2019/12/04/george-bush-barack-obama-and-the-cia-torture-cover-up/

Awful: In the US, 13.5% of 15-year-olds can distinguish between fact and opinion when trying to interpret a complex reading task.

In the US, 13.5% of 15-year-olds can distinguish between fact and opinion when trying to interpret a complex reading task. In the UK, it’s just 11.5%.

Those results are both better than the OECD average of 9%, according to the latest results of PISA, or the Programme for International Student Assessment, an international test of math, science, and reading which is administered by the OECD every three years.

“The world continues to change but education systems have a hard time keeping up,” said Andreas Schleicher, head of the OECD’s education unit.

Like in previous years, the top performers hailed from Asia. China 1and Singapore scored significantly higher in reading than all the other places that participated in the latest test.

qz.com/1759474/only-9-percent-of-15-year-olds-can-distinguish-between-fact-and-opinion/

That’s awful. Our kids are so dumb, unlike those smart Europeans. Well, not so much: “In the UK, it’s just 11.5%. Those results are both better than the OECD average of 9%, according to the latest results of PISA, or the Programme for International Student Assessment, an international test of math, science, and reading which is administered by the OECD every three years.”

It does suggest that K-12 education sucks everywhere, which is not a huge surprise. It also suggests that if, as I’ve argued,education in critical thinking is essential to protect against the harms of fake news and toxic viral ideas, well, we’ve got a long way to go. Makes you wonder if the powers that be actually want citizens who can think critically.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/awful-in-the-us-13-5-of-15-year-olds-can-distinguish-between-fact-and-opinion-when-trying-to-interpret-a-complex-reading-task/

https://twitter.com/beer_parade/status/1202291287073918984

PLATO The Cave

Plato's "the Republic" about the allegory of the cave

Must listen ancient red pill.

BRILLIANT

Why Do Dems Ignore Zelensky Evidence?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is the latest in a long line of people including politicians, lawyers, and Republicans to deny his conversation with Donald Trump was a “quid pro quo” moment. At the epicenter of the impeachment investigation, the phone call between the two world leaders is the linchpin for the Democrats’ case. But despite holding hearings to ascertain Trump’s guilt or innocence, or unearth a scintilla of hard evidence of wrongdoing, the Dems continue to ignore the other major participant in the phone call.

No surprise there.

In a recent interview, Zelensky told the American Democratic Party and the rest of the world that he understands what the now colossally overused Latin term means and he ain’t buying it. He said: “I never talked to the president from the position of a quid pro quo. That’s not my thing.”

Define ‘Quid Pro Quo’

Let’s review what a quid pro quo situation looks like: Hunter Biden, a good friend of substance abuse and political advantages, was appointed to a cushy position with Ukraine’s Burisma Holdings, and he made millions. His father, then vice president, boasted of how he told Ukrainian officials to terminate a prosecutor investigating Burisma Holdings in exchange for a billion dollars in U.S. loans.

Liberty Nation’s Graham J. Noble lays out the problems the Biden family brings to the discussion:

“Certain facts are beyond dispute: Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, in 2014 secured a lucrative directorship with a Ukrainian energy company. The younger Biden’s enormous and highly unusual financial deals with the Chinese are another story altogether but it is worth noting that, everywhere then-Vice President Joe Biden went, his son seems to have benefitted from highly profitable business arrangements.”

Ask any American if that equals a quid pro quo, and the answer would be a resounding “yes.” Insert Trump in place of Biden, and the man would be behind bars. Is what transpired between Trump and Zelensky a conversation on which to hang an impeachment hat? Not according to Zelensky, who said:

“I don’t want us to look like beggars. But you have to understand. We’re at war. If you’re our strategic partner, then you can’t go blocking anything for us. I think that’s just about fairness. It’s not about a quid pro quo. It just goes without saying.” The now-infamous chat between Trump and Zelensky has exposed an untenable situation for Joe Biden – who retains the lead by a small margin in the Democratic primary for president. Seemingly struggling in an arduous race, Biden is nevertheless the Swamp’s perfect offering to sink Trump. If the Dem elites sacrifice Joe, they may avoid future finger nibbling, hairy-leg stump speeches, and another humiliating loss in 2020. But the strategic calculation may be that if they admit Joe committed quid pro quo and link that to Trump’s phone call, they might be able to complete the Hail Mary pass and remove the president.

It’s a light-years-away longshot at best and another among the insanely desperate ploys becoming commonplace for the Democratic Party of late. But it won’t surprise the impeachment-exhausted electorate one bit.

As for the diplomatic relationship between Trump and Zelensky, it seems a bit tense but workable. Whereas Zelensky derided the president for calling his country “corrupt,” he defended the call as nothing more than two allies discussing a mutual rival. And that is all in a day’s business at the top of the leader board.

https://www.libertynation.com/why-do-dems-ignore-zelensky-evidence/

Impeachment Witness: Obama Refused To Give Evidence To Congress

Georgetown University professor Jonathan Turley said during Wednesday’s impeachment hearing that former President Barack Obama withheld information from Congress over the disastrous “Fast and Furious” program.

Operation Fast and Furious was a program of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, overseen by former Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice. Holder allowed thousands of guns to be sold to the Mexican drug cartels by people illegally trafficking firearms. It resulted in the death of a federal agent, among others.

Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, Turley was asked by ranking member Republican Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, if the House of Representatives is abusing its power “if we just say the facts don’t matter.”

“I think so,” Turley responded. “Part of the problem is that to bring a couple of these Articles [of Impeachment], you have to contradict the position of President Obama. President Obama withheld evidence from Congress in “Fast and Furious,” an investigation, a rather moronic program that led to the death of a federal agent. President Obama gave a sweeping argument that he was not only not going to give evidence to this body but that a court had absolutely no role in determining whether he could withhold the evidence.”

After hearings before the House Intelligence Committee, led by its chairman, Democratic California Rep. Adam Schiff, the impeachment inquiry has moved to the judiciary committee under Democratic New York Rep. Jerry Nadler.

Nadler opened Wednesday’s testimony by stating “The facts before us are undisputed,” in reference to the claim that Trump has committed impeachable offenses. The proceedings have been sharply polarized, not only because of the divide between Republicans and Democrats, but by the testimony of the witnesses. Stanford Law professor Pamela Karlan said Wednesday in her opening statement that she was “insulted” by Republican suggestions that she had not read all the impeachment testimony from previous witnesses.

https://dailycaller.com/2019/12/04/impeachment-witness-jonathan-turley-obama-refused-congress/