Free Speech, International, Politics, Society

China: Coronavirus Is 100 Percent Lethal . . . To Free Speech

While China is being criticized for withholding information, it has confirmed one lethal side effect of the virus: the death of free speech. Chinese professor Xu Zhangrun has been arrested after publishing criticism of President Xi Jinping and the handling of the crisis. He is now cut off from the Internet, banned from social media, and could soon find himself in prison. The government will no doubt argue that he had a pre-existing lethal condition in China: a desire for free speech.

Xu has been a tireless and courageous voice in China. His article, Viral Alarm: When Fury Overcomes Fear, shocked many in its open criticism of the authoritarian leader. For those of us who defend free speech, Xu is a reminder of what real free speech advocates face in nations where freedom is a mere abstraction.

I have to believe that there will be a day when China is free and people like Xu will be celebrated for these acts of defiance.

For the moment, China will no doubt argue that he had a pre-existing lethal condition in China: a desire for free speech. The virus only aggravated that terminal condition.

72 thoughts on “China: Coronavirus Is 100 Percent Lethal . . . To Free Speech”

  2. The constitution of the PRC proclaims freedom of speech. However the CCP is also the supreme authority in the land. So much for freedom of speech.

    1. The Soviet constitution had all kinds of meaningless guarantees too.

      Judge Learned Hand said: ‘if the spirit of liberty is not engraved in the hearts of men, no paper will save it”

      or words to that effect

    2. there is no inner-party freedom of speech either. the rumor is the PLA is blaming the coronavirus on the USA. well, if it was engineered by the USA, how did they sneak it into one of the most secure government facilities in Wuhan? Seems to me if it was engineered, it was them playing with fire and they got burned.

      what MAY happen, i doubt it, but it is possible: a coup inside the CPC against Xi Jinpeng, engineered by the remaining strong hands associated with Jiang Zemin. Essentially, blaming him for this disaster, and restoring a greater degree of freedom, instead of letting it continue to go retrograde towards Maoism in the way that XI is taking it.

      or, maybe come march, Xi will use this chaos, and invade taiwan.

      IF XI INVADES TAIWAN, SOMEBODY BUY ME A BEER!

      If XI is TOPPLED, SOMEBODY BUY ME A KEG!

  3. Better be careful what you say about Meghan Markle:

    NHS Staff Can Refuse to Treat Racist or Sexist Patients Under New Rules
    —————————————-
    Health Secretary Matt Hancock wrote to all NHS staff on Tuesday to announce stronger measures to investigate abuse and harassment towards staff, saying “no act of violence or abuse is minor”.

    Mr Hancock outlined a new joint agreement with police and the Crown Prosecution Service which will give police more powers to investigate and prosecute cases where NHS staff are the victim of a crime.

    “All assault and hate crimes against NHS staff must be investigated with care, compassion, diligence and commitment,” he said.

    -Sky News

  4. Maybe adding China to the list of suitable places to send the Pelosians and Schumerites besides the getting short list of North Korea and….. momento…. depends on much repopulation NK needs from the Corona Bug. Might be room for all of the above… meaning this comment, Nice!!

    1. Kristinn Hrafnsson kicks it off, but others are heard from, too, including Jen Robinson.

      Press conference at the Foriegn Press Association with

      @suigenerisjen

      @khrafnsson

      @WilkieMP

      and George Christiansen MP. #dontextraditeassange

  6. The greatest barrier to free speech in China is the thousands-year cultural acceptance of authoritarian regimes. This is the land of dynasties. There was no Magna Carta and an evolution of the idea of liberty. The country was not founded by breakaways who longed for personal and religious freedom. There is a very long history of oppression that has become part of the culture, even part of the family dynamic. One is to recall that this country would force pregnant women who violated the one child rule to have abortions against their will. The country did not revolt against this. This was not their breaking point. It is difficult to overcome so many generations of conditioning.

    Their greatest chance, in my opinion, is Hong Kong. As a British colony, it was exposed to the idea of Western freedoms. For so long it was part of the West, before, in a misguided attempt to distance itself from colonialism, the UK tossed a free people to Communist China. Perhaps mainlanders will see Hong Kong’s freedoms, the people’s insistence that they have the right to free speech, and those ideas will spread from this intermediary.

    I never thought Hong Kong had a chance. However, as Communism always impoverishes its people, China was forced to accept a limited form of capitalism, operating under their totalitarian regime and with no individual rights. It has a reason to allow Hong Kong to exist, despite the protests. Had farmers done so, their fields would have been burned and they would have disappeared, to be replaced with new farmers. They haven’t done this in Hong Kong. Now, the government got caught lying about yet another outbreak. I thought they had learned from their cover up of SARS, but they made the same mistakes. Denial, disappearing critics, mishandling. If killing wanted babies against their mothers’ wishes didn’t rouse the people, maybe 10% or more of them dying from a plague their government lied to them about just might do it. Otherwise, what is it going to take?

    Dennis Prager said that people do not long for freedom; they long to be taken care of. One has to fight to be free. One has to be responsible for oneself, for the successes and the failures. Personal freedom and responsibility does not appeal to everyone. It’s something one has to struggle and fight for. That’s why free stuff appeals to more voters than opportunities and responsibility do. That is the appeal of socialism and communism. To be taken care of. The problem is that no government cares for anyone’s personal well being. One has only to look at China to see.

    1. I agree with just about everything you say – but the mortality rate of Wuhan coronavirus – which has fallen from just over 2 percent to about 1.87 percent now.

      I also disagree that mass deaths will do anything to influience the Chinese Communist state. History shows Mao and his henchmen didn’t shrink from doing things that killed millions of their fellow citizens, but the people of mainland China stopped resisting midway through the 20th century.

      Wikipedia:
      “Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries
      Main article: Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries
      The first large-scale killings under Mao took place during his land reform and the counterrevolutionary campaign. In official study materials that were published in 1948, Mao envisaged that “one-tenth of the peasants” (or about 50,000,000) “would have to be destroyed” to facilitate agrarian reform.[151] The exact number of people who were killed during Mao’s land reform is believed to have been lower, but at least one million people were killed.

      Great Leap Forward and the Great Chinese Famine
      Main articles: Great Leap Forward and Great Chinese Famine
      Benjamin Valentino claims that the Great Leap Forward was a cause of the Great Chinese Famine and the worst effects of the famine were steered towards the regime’s enemies.[155] Those who were labeled “black elements” (religious leaders, rightists and rich peasants) in earlier campaigns died in the greatest numbers because they were given the lowest priority in the allocation of food.[155] In Mao’s Great Famine, historian Frank Dikötter writes that “coercion, terror, and systematic violence were the very foundation of the Great Leap Forward” and it “motivated one of the most deadly mass killings of human history”.[156] Dikötter estimates that at least 2.5 million people were summarily killed or tortured to death during this period.[157] His research in local and provincial Chinese archives indicates the death toll was at least 45 million: “In most cases the party knew very well that it was starving its own people to death”.[158] In a secret meeting at Shanghai in 1959, Mao issued the order to procure one third of all grain from the countryside, saying: “When there is not enough to eat people starve to death. It is better to let half of the people die so that the other half can eat their fill”.[158] In light of additional evidence of Mao’s culpability, Rummel added those killed by the Great Famine to his total for Mao’s democide for a total of 77 million killed.[31][aw]

      Cultural Revolution
      Main article: Cultural Revolution
      Sinologists Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoenhals estimate that between 750,000 and 1.5 million people were killed in the violence of the Cultural Revolution in rural China alone.[159] Mao’s Red Guards were given carte blanche to abuse and kill people who were perceived to be enemies of the revolution.[160] For example, in August 1966, over 100 teachers were murdered by their students in western Beijing.[161]

      Tibet
      Main article: History of Tibet (1950–present)
      According to Jean-Louis Margolin in The Black Book of Communism, the Chinese communists carried out a cultural genocide against the Tibetans. Margolin states that the killings were proportionally larger in Tibet than they were in China proper and “one can legitimately speak of genocidal massacres because of the numbers that were involved”.[162] According to the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration, “Tibetans were not only shot, but they were also beaten to death, crucified, burned alive, drowned, mutilated, starved, strangled, hanged, boiled alive, buried alive, drawn and quartered, and beheaded”.[162] Adam Jones, a scholar who specializes in genocide, notes that after the 1959 Tibetan uprising the Chinese authorized struggle sessions against reactionaries, during which “communist cadres denounced, tortured, and frequently executed enemies of the people”. These sessions resulted in 92,000 deaths out of a total population of about 6 million. These deaths, Jones stressed, may not only be seen as a genocide, but they may also be seen as an “eliticide”, meaning “targeting the better educated and leadership oriented elements among the Tibetan population”.[163] Patrick French, the former director of the Free Tibet Campaign in London, writes that the Free Tibet Campaign and other groups have claimed that a total of 1.2 million Tibetans were killed by the Chinese since 1950 but after examining archives in Dharamsala, he found “no evidence to support that figure”.[164] French states that a reliable alternative number is unlikely to be known, but he estimates that as many as half a million Tibetans died “as a ‘direct result’ of the policies of the People’s Republic of China” by using historian Warren Smith’s estimate of 200,000 people who are missing from population statistics in the Tibet Autonomous Region and extending that rate to the borderland regions.[165]

      Tiananmen Square
      Main article: 1989 Tiananmen Square protests
      Jean-Louis Margolin states that, under Deng Xiaoping, at least 1,000 people were killed in Beijing and hundreds more were executed in the countryside after his government crushed demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in 1989.[166] According to Louisa Lim in 2014,”

      We don’t know how many Chinese Muslimns in Xinjiang provice have died in concentration camps – yet.

      1. Loupgarous, unfortunately, you may be right. If forced abortion didn’t do it, and Mao’s mass murder campaign didn’t do it, and killing unarmed students in Tiananmen didn’t do it, what can move the people of China to fight for freedom? Being “taken care of” by government can take a very dark meaning.

        1. Americans are no different, Karen:

          Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security….all entitlements. Then there are the many other “social programs” where Americans get to coast.

          We need a appropriately sized meteor to hit our country and cull the herd….

        2. “The political world over, absolute governments which do not even do lip-service to the fiction of consent are more common than free governments, and their subjects rarely question their right except when tyranny becomes too oppressive.” That was David Hume’s answer to John Locke’s “The legislative and executive power used by government to protect property is nothing except the natural power of each man resigned into the hands of the community…and it is justified merely because it is a better way of protecting natural right than the self-help to which each man is naturally entitled.” in his Essay concerning Human Understanding.

          All-powerful government wasn’t invented in China, though.

          Thomas Hobbes, in his Leviathan, endorses unassailably strong government by a false comparison between it and social anarchy (implying those are the only two alternatives available): “In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently no culture of the earth, no navigation nor the use of commodities that may be imported by sea, no commodious building, no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force, no knowledge of the face of the earth, no account of time, no arts, no letters, no society, and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” The Chinese Communist Party may endorse that worldview and sell it hard to the people of mainland China, but an Englishman writing in 1651.

          The Green New Deal should be frightening because it justifies the same sort of statist dictatorship Hobbes and today’s mainland Chinese argue for. Once we surrender control over our property rights, rights to free association, our right to an honest livelihood, and to free association to one set of hands (the Democratic Party). we’ll be in the same boat as the people of mainland China.

          There won’t even be the consolation that in doing so we’ll be taking effective steps against global warming. If reducing the amount of carbon dioxide and methane America places into the atmosphere were honestly the point of the Green New Deal, nuclear power would be allowed in that master plan. It is specifically excluded from the national power grid in the Green New Deal.

          The lack of power density of renewable power sources increases the carbon footprint per kilowatt involved in creating enough of it to satisfy national power requirements, and creates a permanent requirement to burn fossil fuels and transport them in leaky pipelines to assure that the national power grid runs when the renewable power grid lacks enough sun or wind to power the nation.

          That could be why Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn has become an advocate of wind power – he knows that demand for his state’s natural gas is built into the Green New Deal, tying renewables to use of methane, which traps heat in the atmosphere 30 times as efficiently as carbon dioxide and leaks into the atmosphere in every phase of its use – from drilling to production, to storage in tanks, to transport to where it’s burned, and then creates carbon dioxide when used as a fuel..

          I just mention this because we’ll keep being invited to hand over most of our civil rights to save the Earth by a party which is ardently in love with unethical power grabs and lies to get that power. We need to look at how China handles the coronavirus outbreak – already someone who’s criticized President Xi’s handling of the crisis has been charged with serious crimes against the state for speaking out. A physician who dared to mention the coronavirus on the Internet at all was forced by local police to repudiate his statements formally – and has since died in hospital.

          It’s no coincidence the Democratic Party wants to control free speech here – free speech is the only cure for tyranny short of war.

  7. The Corona-virus is the lens though which we see the future of open borders. Close what borders? To that extent, it’s a godsend for nationalism.

    1. Mespo, there will always be enough donuts for you to devour irregardless of open borders, dead people walking like zombies across the fruited plain or foreign nationals wrestling your fingers from your remote control, decrypting your WiFi router or storming your 3000 square feet fortified house in a gated community…donuts will always exist because people like you will horde them. Being a good American capitalist means you will sell your coveted donuts at top dollar because that’s what keeps you happy

      “it’s the economy stupid”

      I would like to place an order for rainbow sprinkles on one donut in the name of diversity is our strength.

      2. I’ve been getting ripped off at the donut store by the younger Americanized generation, but the older Immigrant generation, always hooks it up…they haven’t taught their son not to be so strict with the price amount…I can always bargain with the older folks for a deal, an extra donut, throw in some donut holes….they know.

        1. Loyal customers deserve the benefit-of-the-bargain….a gift/bonus donut on top, that’s all I’m saying…

      3. Diversity is our disaster as history shows it always is. You can check with the Incas to confirm that if you can find any among the offspring of the Pizzaro’s Conquistadors.

        1. Yeah, those Conquistadors are tall, but Loco en la Cabeza, grande…Hijole! 😉 We call the Incas, Indio, for short….no pun intended

  8. This is our new normal: acting nucken futs about everything, and anything with no personal introspection on the horizon

    We are a sick world, and Coronavirus has nothing on us. May it wipe out half the population to save the world from us

    2. Wishing for the deaths of 112 billion people are the dreams of serial killers and psychopaths. It is a serious character flaw to wish harm upon anyone else.

      There is a sickness among those who have everything. They hate themselves and their species. They have been brainwashed to think humanity is bad. Some deselect themselves from the gene pool, choosing not to procreate for environmental reasons. All that does is end their own line.

      How absurd. We are the only species on Earth to put so much effort into helping other species and the planet, without any symbiotic benefit. We are the cleverest on the planet, with great scope for good or evil. The complex cultures and societies we have developed are what limit our destructive animal behavior.

      An animal eats all the food until it is gone. Like locusts. The thinking creature plans for the future and leaves some to grow more.

      An animal kills its enemy and rival. The thinking creature has laws that limit killing to self defense.

      Were our ability to reason, care for other creatures, and both destroy and environment and put great effort into healing it observed in any other creature on Earth, there would be rejoicing among the people of Earth.

      This loathing of the human race is a sign of eco depression. Get that checked out before you start fantasizing about physically harming anyone, including yourself.

  9. Since when has Communist China ever had free speech? By the way, it never will as long as it’s under a communist government. We Americans need to be more concerned about the loss of free speech here, something that has been occurring since the 1960s and the rise of Marxism/progressivism.

    1. free speech is relative. it was relatively freer under Jiang Zemin and even more so under Hu Jintao. Xi has taken a turn back towards the repressive policies of Mao.

      1. Who!? Oh, you mean, Winnie, the Pooh!….can’t touch this, dun….dun…dun, hammer time.

  10. This is bad, but on what basis are you criticizing the Chinese government for doing something that the USG is doing all the time? One of the most important trials which will likely end free speech in our so called nation is coming right up. You say nothing. You complain that Mark is being told what to do by our government, a claim which has the situation completely backwards. In the meantime, there’s this: “WikiLeaks twitter account has been locked, shortly before Assange extradition hearing. All attempts to get it reopened via regular channels have been unsuccessful. It has been impossible to reach a human at twitter to resolve the issue. Can someone fix this?”

    JT, have you really not seen how our own govt. imprisons and tortures real journalists and their sources for revealing USGinc’s war crimes and other crimes against our own people and the people of other nations? I see a lot of hypocrisy in criticizing China for the same (and worse) actions taken by our own govt., actions that will have far reaching consequences for the entire world.

    It’s just bizarre to see a professor of Constitutional law, (our Constitution) only criticize other nations while keeping silent about a case which will determine the very existence of free speech in the US. I wish you would do both, criticizing the Chinese govt. for their evil behavior and the USG for its evil behavior) because believe me, if the US is able to quash speech through Assange’s case, you will see all heck break out.

    The Assange case will effectively end free speech for the entire world. Nothing China does will be able to accomplish that aim (although I”m certain their govt. will send a really nice gift to Trump, thanking him for his work on behalf of repression in their society).

    1. This is bad, but on what basis are you criticizing the Chinese government for doing something that the USG is doing all the time?

      Of course we aren’t, but you need these lies to help you feel better about your rotten self.

      3. This is absurd x XX says:February 18, 2020 at 10:24 AM –

        “…but you need these lies”

        You really have no idea, absurd one, ye olde armchair critic — one who doesn’t know nearly as much as he or she would have us believe.

          1. Here is an excerpt from your article:

            “The UK Government refused to grant Assange safe passage to a hospital, despite requests from doctors who had been able to visit him in the embassy.10 There was also a climate of fear surrounding the provision of health care in the Embassy. A medical practitioner who visited Assange at the embassy documented what a colleague of Assange reported: “[T]here had been many difficulties in finding medical practitioners who were willing to examine Mr Assange in the Embassy. The reasons given were uncertainty over whether medical insurance would cover the Equadorian Embassy (a foreign jurisdiction); whether the association with Mr Assange could harm their livelihood or draw unwanted attention to them and their families; and discomfort regarding exposing this association when entering the Embassy. One medical practitioner expressed concern to one of the interviewees after the police took notes of his name and the fact that he was visiting Mr Assange. One medical practitioner wrote that he agreed to produce a medical report only on condition that his name not be made available to the wider public, fearing repercussions.”11
            Disturbingly, it seems that this environment of insecurity and intimidation, further compromising the medical care available to Assange, was by design. Assange was the subject of a 24/7 covert surveillance operation inside the embassy, as the emergence of secret video and audio recordings has shown.12 He was surveilled in private and with visitors, including family, friends, journalists, lawyers, and doctors. Not only were his rights to privacy, personal life, legal privilege, and freedom of speech violated, but so, too, was his right to doctor–patient confidentiality.”

            1. How can the UK government grant “safe passage” to anyone under an extradition order? The embassy is the only place that protects him from extradition. You are asking the UK to break treaties and alliances with the US for someone accused of spying, who refuses to face the justice system.

            2. Of course it is difficult, though not impossible, to find medical practitioners to examine him. Unless they are willing to do so for free, it could not be billed through insurance. Assange is now a controversial political figure. One has seen the dictatorship fo the mob. Don’t like someone’s actions? Then dox him, protest his business, and try to get him fired.

            3. All embassies are bugged. All countries spy upon other countries. Since Assange spied upon the US and distributed hacked information, which was a violation of privacy, he can hardly complain when he is the target. We got Bin Ladin through violating doctor patient confidentiality. A traveling doctor got a blood sample when he vaccinated Bin Ladin, then he gave that to the US for a positive ID. He wanted the terrorist gone. Yes, it was a violation of doctor/patient confidentiality, although it did not occur on our soil, or with a US citizen. In the US, such confidentiality may be broken by a court order. The AMA states a doctor may break confidentiality if they believe the patient may harm himself or others, clearly the case with a terrorist like Bin Ladin. I do know that Russia, and all the other countries who bug embassies and the like have no such compunction.

            https://www.locumleaders.com/when-to-break-patient-confidentiality/

            “The American Medical Association’s Code of Medical Ethics states that physicians may disclose information without a patient’s consent to other health care personnel who are or will be providing care to the individual, to authorities when required by law, and if the physician believes the patient will seriously harm himself or someone else.”

            https://www.aclu.org/other/faq-government-access-medical-records

            “National Security and Intelligence Activities Or Protective Services. We may disclose your health information to authorized federal officials who are conducting national security and intelligence activities or providing protective services to the President or other important officials.”

            Now, mind you, this is part of HIPPA in the US. You are talking about various governments spying upon Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for years.

          2. Why did Ecuador tire of hosting Assange:

            1. “Foreign Minister José Valencia and Interior Minister María Paula Romo accused Assange of riding scooters around the cramped embassy hallways, insulting staff and smearing feces on the walls.”

            2. Wikileaks had been harassing Ecuador over strict rules placed on Assange. “For months, Assange had been pursuing a legal action against the Ecuadorian government, accusing it of violating his rights by introducing strict new house rules for living at the embassy. An Ecuadorian judge rejected the assertions last October.”

            3. Assange’s residence was creating a rift with Spain. “Quito was also irritated by Assange’s support for the Catalonian independence movement: Its Foreign Ministry told Assange to refrain from making statements that could impair Ecuador’s relations with other countries, including Spain.”

            4. Ecuador accused Wikileaks of hacking its own government documents. “More recently, WikiLeaks got personal. On March 25, WikiLeaks posted a tweet bringing attention to a corruption probe that Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno is facing. It linked to an anonymously registered website hosting a vast trove of leaked emails, text messages and other documents pertaining to Moreno’s private life.”

            5. Wikileaks accused Ecuador of spying on Assange in the Embassy. (Likely true, and likely true that a great many countries spy upon Assange.)

            6. Honestly, this had been going on for 7 years. Assange was complaining of the psychological torture of being house bound for 7 years, but he refused to go through the justice system. He can’t have it both ways, avoid the courts, and have total freedom. This could not go on in perpetuity.

            https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/12/uk/julian-assange-ecuador-embassy-eviction-gbr-intl/index.html

              1. Anonymous – nowhere in your article did it address any of the above bullet points, as to why Ecuador eventually tired of Assange.

                If he’s innocent, then that will be proven in a court of law. I believe that Assange has avoided our court system because he agrees that he broke the law. He just feels he had a good reason to do it.

                He couldn’t spend the rest of his life housebound in the embassy, in between worlds. It was just another kind of prison. There has been debate as to whether he was a whistleblower or a spy, or maybe both. Let it play out in court.

                1. There’s nothing one can say or post that will increase Karen’s understanding of the Assange situation. She thinks she understands it, but she doesn’t. Some things must be lived and experienced; one won’t find the truth in the news, or on a blog. Karen obviously lives a rather sheltered life. What’s transpiring with Assange isn’t something that she’s equipped to understand at this time.

                    1. No one ever said you practiced what you preached so you do have that going for you

                      “This loathing of the human race is a sign of eco depression. Get that checked out before you start fantasizing about physically harming anyone, including yourself.”

                  2. Nothing from Karen about those IMF loans to Ecuador. Rather she posts “information” from a CNN article. At best, she has a superficial understanding about Julian Assange.

    2. Jill, you overstate your case. Hyperbole.

      Silicon Valley is the greater threat to free speech than the Chicoms. That much I would say. But it’s not a simple thing such as the way you make it out to be.

      1. Mr Kurtz – unless the House, Senate, White House, and SCOTUS all aligned one day with Silicon Valley. Lord help us if Democrats ever accomplished such a sweep. That’s why they want the White House so badly, for the SCOTUS appointments. They want a Liberal Court, Liberal Legislative Branch and Liberal Executive Branch, except “liberal” no longer has anything to do with personal freedom. It’s a misnomer of the term now.

      2. Not to mention that Hollywood is willingly letting the Chinese communists censor their films everywhere (not just in China) to eliminate things such as the Kuomintang flag from the main character’s vintage bomber jacket from their products. The NBA and its players help the ChiComs censor their operations for fear of losing the mainland Chinese market. Mass entertainment in the USA presents only one side of most political controversies.

        1. yes Hollywood was awash in PRC money. not just homes of Chinese bigwigs and officials offshoring their extra money…. yes lots of that…. but venture funds poured into movies….. to say nothing of PRC movie production companies

          but that’s last years news. today’s news:

          MORE PEOPLE LOCKED DOWN IN CHINA THAN SOULS IN THE UNITED STATES

          ONE OUT OF TEN SOULS ALIVE ON PLANET EARTH ARE LOCKED DOWN IN THE PRC

          THIS IS A MEGA-DISASTER. QUIT WORRYING ABOUT TRUMP TWEETS AND WAKE UP!

    3. Jill – are you claiming that anyone who criticizes the federal government gets thrown into prison in the US? That the government monitors all communications, and has the power to lock us out if we start from party approved speech? Does the US employ its considerable surveillance infrastructure in order to score its citizens with a Social Credit, which is required to get a job or fly? Did the US deny there was any contagious disease outbreak, and kidnap those who claim there was?

      Granted, Democrats have abused the power they gained from their infiltration into the public school system, FBI, EPA, and the IRS in order to target conservatives, but we are not yet at the level of China. That’s why we must vote for any party other than Democrat at this time, until and unless they clean up their act.

      Look what Democrat activists have done when they get power:

      1. Conservative students are targeted at pre-K through graduate school. Invited conservative speakers are threatened with violence. Professors harass Republican students. They spread propaganda such as MAGA is hate speech or racist.

      2. IRS targeted conservative groups.

      3. FBI activists – Comey laid out all the ways in which Hillary Clinton broke multiple federal laws on the mishandling of classified information, and then said she would not be prosecuted. Then there was all the fake dossier provided by Russia used to spy upon Trump and destabilize his Presidency with false claims of Russian collusion. Read the Horowitz Report for very serious malfeasance.

      4. EPA – has become an arm of the Democrat party

      5. A Democrat activist misrepresented what happened on a phone call he did not hear. They changed the rules for a whistleblower to allow second hand information, and then backdated it so he could have whistleblower protection. While the rules do not forbid disclosing his identity, Democrats in the House pretend that they do. They have fought the revelations that the whistleblower met with Schiff, who denied it, as well as Democrat presidential candidates. Evidence showed what he claimed happened in the phone call didn’t happen. But the House pushed through an impeachment that the evidence did not support. Instead of taking the time to try to prove their case, they passed it on to the Senate, and declared a miscarriage of justice when, based on that evidence, the Senate acquitted.

      Do not give them more power. Bernie Sanders brags he will get rid of Charter schools and school choice. Elizabeth Warren opposes school choice. All of their candidates have proposals that would destroy the economy.

      If you don’t like the Leftist dictatorial tactics of China, then don’t give hard Leftists power in the United States. Look at how they persecute conservatives already. It’s gotten to the point that it’s no longer safe to walk outside wearing a MAGA hat. One has to be prepared for harassment and violence. There is no such national trend of violence against Democrats.

      1. Actually Karen, all of these things have happened and are happening. Did you know that once the NDAA passed we actually have at least 4 “disappeared” people? We know they are in custody w/out trial or access to an atty but we don’t know where they are held. It’s already been proven that both corporations and the govt. are taking all of our communications (see Bill Binney who is a conservative). Just as in China, not everyone who criticizes the government is put in prison but anyone can be. The US has political prisoners, look into it.

        The USG is involved in the corona virus through Harvard. We do not know all of that story because our news is tightly controllled. I recommend going to Whitney Webb and Mint Press News to see well documented information about all of this, things we aren’t told are happening in our own govt. You might also read John Whitehead, a libertarian or check out the Ron Paul institute. You will see that in fact the USG does have a secret, social credit scoring system.

        One of the crimes, killing of civilians and their rescuers and a journalist that USG wants to hang Assange for publishing is here:

        Find it on youtube. It is called “collateral murder”

        1. “Just as in China, not everyone who criticizes the government is put in prison but anyone can be. “mi

          The US continues to employ Cointelpro tactics against its citizens — including stalking, harassment and worse. The US uses the media to keep a lid on it.

        2. You just left the land of the rational with

          “The USG is involved in the corona virus through Harvard.”

          .

  12. China kills 1.6 million of it’s people every year from respiratory diseases caused by their pollution. Visit waqi.info/ Now overlap the most polluted areas with a map of the coronavirus in China. God help us if the virus crosses boarders with India. China will lie about the extent of the disease until it’s too late.

    1. No, people die from respiratory ailments. Had they not died of respiratory ailments, they’d likely have died from something else. Life expectancy at birth in China is 76, which is quite respectable for a middle-income country. They have since 1971 added 16 years to their life expectancy at birth.

      1. The pictures coming from china, are they wearing masks because of the virus or from particulate pollution?

        1. air pollution from production is down significantly since the Lunar New Year– since factories have been idled and the streets emptied of the usual traffic. The masks are to avoid the spread of the virus

  13. Epstein Didn’t Kill Himself,

    Lionel of Lionel Nation notes that it is AG Bill Barr that had ruled Epstein killed himself even though some experts said the opposite.

    Barr didn’t even bother to put a hold on any of the property or Epstein’s bank accts.

    What’s up with that.

    And Barrs dad did have connects to Epstein & CIA…Hmmmm….

    1. from 73 to 77 Barr worked at CIA himself.

      I feel confident they whacked Epstein. but if the creep was working for the Mossad and-or CIA, then, he probably had a lot of tales to tell and that was going to be the outcome one way or another.

      Barr is doing far better work than Sessions did.

      1. Unlike Sessions, Barr isn’t, as far as I can tell, wasting time in prosecuting cannabis cases where state legislatures have legalized it. The investigations into the people who blandly broke the law for the Democratic Party are encouraging, but… “indictments, or it never happened,”

  14. Consider they have been lying about it since mid December and there infection toll is probably 500k or greater. There is supposition that they are using open pits to burn the bodies. This is based on aerial photos of Hubei. American manufacturers in China are reporting that workers are not reporting for work. Xi is blaming the local authorities, so he can remain the new Mao. Still, this will, like the Black Death in Europe, completely change China.

    1. Paul, there have been 950 cases reported outside of China, among which there have been five deaths. The virus is lethal but not all that lethal. It’s a passable guess that matters are worse in Hubei because of air pollution there.

      1. According to the GIS-driven “Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by Johns Hopkins CSSE” map, as of today, there have been 73,451 confirmed cases of Wuhan coronavirus, 1,875 confirmed deaths, and 13,147 cases in which patients are confirmed to have recovered.

        Simple math: dividing deaths by total cases show a confirmed death rate of 2.55 percent. Between air pollution and possibly the general poor general state of health in the Mainland Chinese regions with high mortality, You’re probably right that coronavirus isn’t the only factor at work in Mainland China’a relatively high death toll from coronavirus.

        1. The Chicom frauds said the mortality rate was 2.14 about five days in a row. Fancy that precision on the part of the virus!

          These numbers are totally bogus. I tell you the understatement here is collosal. It’s millions infected. Not less than a hundred thousand. That is math. Exponential expansion from December 1.

          The US media is as at least half as fake as the Chinese communists, just less overt about it. Hell, they’re a bunch of pinkos on the news anyhow for the most part. They want us to think about Trump’s BMs while a global pandemic has emerged. INSANITY! NOT JUST CHINA BUT THE US!

          1. with any luck the virus will get you and relieve us of your truly diarhea of the mouth keyboard comments

            you, Oky1, George and Allan are reasons to beg immigrants to invade our borders and, following Mespo (drop that donut!) reference to Incas, they will cut your chest open, remove your heart and feed the sharks….toxic spillage like no other

    2. the mortality rate is probably higher than they say, but not that much higher. No the Black Death was far worse than this and I think new cases are tapering off, a plateau may be in sight.

      But did ya know, they have bubonic there too?

      https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/327045

      plague is out there yet, in the prairie dogs of the world or whatever, and actually worst location for it is Madagascar if I recall properly.

      1. WW33 – sadly my main computer broke and I have transferred some work to a secondary computer. It is harder to keep up on this computer.

  15. Suppression of free speech a virus that has already spread to the U.S.

  16. Pingback: China: Coronavirus Threatens Free Speech | JONATHAN TURLEY – Additional survival tricks

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