Kaotic Wrote:Overall the Sessions hearing was once again much ado about nothing - Kamala Harris being annoying as fuck as per usual.

I think of a certain WWF wrestler, whenever I think of Kamala Harris.

(06-13-2017 04:14 PM)kaotic Wrote:  Overall the Sessions hearing was once again much ado about nothing - Kamala Harris being annoying as fuck as per usual.

Sessions kept stating privilege as well.

All these hearings are literally just a repeat of the last ones - it's a waste of tax dollars.

Actually I take that back - it's a great use of tax dollars to show how pathetic these dems are on their witch hunt.

My only issue is Session saying there was hacking by the Russians.

I hope Kamala runs for president. She all but rolled her neck. If white Americans are so racist, wait till you see how much White women hate black women.

Sessions actually threw ton of shade on the Russian hacking, by stating that he has only seen what is in the papers. The head of the DOJ has not been briefed on Russian hacking and has no knowledge of any such actions on the election. Repeat that in your mind. What he is saying is, that if there is proof of this, he hasn't seen it. Which means if he hasn't then no congressman has either. Which means in a subtle way, you guys are just repeating shit inside an echo chamber with no concrete facts.

The Dems are looking super stupid right now with this Russia stuff. They will spin it as Sessions refused to answer questions, but that is a misdirect. Most reasonable people, especially moderates, see that this Russia stuff is very flimsy.

In many ways, this is ruining Mueller's investigation into the Russian ties. I wonder if he even cares that it is.

(06-13-2017 04:28 PM)DamienCasanova Wrote:  

(06-13-2017 04:07 PM)Samseau Wrote:  I believe the irony of using Trump as Caesar who gets assassinated and causes the destruction of the Republic is totally lost on liberals. Do they really expect anything different if one of their deranged fantasies to murder Trump actually occurs?

The result unforeseen by the assassins was that Caesar's death precipitated the end of the Roman Republic.[107] The Roman middle and lower classes, with whom Caesar was immensely popular and had been since before Gaul, became enraged that a small group of aristocrats had killed their champion. Antony, who had been drifting apart from Caesar, capitalised on the grief of the Roman mob and threatened to unleash them on the Optimates, perhaps with the intent of taking control of Rome himself. To his surprise and chagrin, Caesar had named his grandnephew Gaius Octavius his sole heir (hence the name Octavian), bequeathing him the immensely potent Caesar name and making him one of the wealthiest citizens in the Republic.[108]

The crowd at the funeral boiled over, throwing dry branches, furniture, and even clothing on to Caesar's funeral pyre, causing the flames to spin out of control, seriously damaging the Forum. The mob then attacked the houses of Brutus and Cassius, where they were repelled only with considerable difficulty, ultimately providing the spark for the civil war, fulfilling at least in part Antony's threat against the aristocrats.[109] Antony did not foresee the ultimate outcome of the next series of civil wars, particularly with regard to Caesar's adopted heir. Octavian, aged only 18 when Caesar died, proved to have considerable political skills, and while Antony dealt with Decimus Brutus in the first round of the new civil wars, Octavian consolidated his tenuous position.

To combat Brutus and Cassius, who were massing an enormous army in Greece, Antony needed soldiers, the cash from Caesar's war chests, and the legitimacy that Caesar's name would provide for any action he took against them. With the passage of the lex Titia on 27 November 43 BC,[110] the Second Triumvirate was officially formed, composed of Antony, Octavian, and Caesar's loyal cavalry commander Lepidus.[111] It formally deified Caesar as Divus Iulius in 42 BC, and Caesar Octavian henceforth became Divi filius ("Son of a god")

Because Caesar's clemency had resulted in his murder, the Second Triumvirate reinstated the practice of proscription, abandoned since Sulla.[113] It engaged in the legally sanctioned murder of a large number of its opponents to secure funding for its 45 legions in the second civil war against Brutus and Cassius.[114] Antony and Octavian defeated them at Philippi

Yeah the liberals are ignorant of history as usual. The way this fantasy scenario would end would be Trump being posthumously declared a Son of God, and them being lynched.

I know a liberal black nationalist that recently told me that he now supports Trump because he is our only hope against the Globalists, and this guy did not vote for him. I did not even ask this guy about it, he brought it up because he knows I support Trump. He says more are starting to see that. I hope he is right.

If the liberals turn Trump into a martyr, shit will get really ugly, very quickly and if they go cheer in the streets, I expect some of them to get mowed down by someone they will call a WN or a neo-Nazi. To their surprise, it may end up being a black guy, a gay man, or some other minority.

I'd rather the president keep his boot down and Sessions needs to do what he can to keep him safe by prosecuting people who threaten his life, to send these spineless losers the message clearly.

Meanwhile, in Hollywood, Trump derangement syndrome is the new fidget spinner. They're running out of gas though. First it was a sledge hammer. Now they're down to stickers.

(06-13-2017 04:14 PM)kaotic Wrote:  All these hearings are literally just a repeat of the last ones - it's a waste of tax dollars.

Actually I take that back - it's a great use of tax dollars to show how pathetic these dems are on their witch hunt.

I'm not sure how American Law works - why can't Trump send the tax bill for the hearings to every Senator that demanded it? Why does it have to be on the public's dime?

It'd be worth the triggering alone.

(06-13-2017 05:44 PM)AnonymousBosch Wrote:  

(06-13-2017 04:14 PM)kaotic Wrote:  All these hearings are literally just a repeat of the last ones - it's a waste of tax dollars.

Actually I take that back - it's a great use of tax dollars to show how pathetic these dems are on their witch hunt.

I'm not sure how American Law works - why can't Trump send the tax bill for the hearings to every Senator that demanded it? Why does it have to be on the public's dime?

It'd be worth the triggering alone.

He cannot.

Congress has the power of the purse. They are the ones that could show that, but that isn't worth making a stink out of if you are a Republican member because when it's your turn, like if a juicy detail about Seth Rich comes out, you don't want the Dems to whine. What comes around goes around.

Trump could shame everyone with the bills for Mueller investigation though and he should.

Meanwhile...

(06-13-2017 04:07 PM)Samseau Wrote:  

(06-13-2017 02:55 PM)TravelerKai Wrote:  

(06-13-2017 02:38 PM)heavy Wrote:  So glad Drudge is still out there informing the masses.

The front page picture is the play with assassinated Trump laying on the stage floor...

"AMERICAN EXPRESS refuses to pull funding... "

Welp, I'm getting rid of my amex.

Liberals really get on my nerves. If anyone performed a play of Obama getting killed there would have been another Rodney King type riot across the country for at least a week.

I don't know if Trump isn't letting the Secret Service actually press for charges (or the FBI?) or what, but this shit is getting out of hand. Someone needs to start going to jail otherwise some whackjob will feel encouraged to actually make an attempt on Trump's life. It was kinda funny seeing Kathy Griffin have her career temporarily destroyed, but too many Hollywood liberals quickly came in to rescue her and make excuses for her.

Letting these people do this does make them look like animals and hurts their causes ultimately, but it sends the wrong signal from a safety point of view.

Somebody needs to jail for this to let the whole country know that you cannot threaten violence against a standing president like that.

I believe the irony of using Trump as Caesar who gets assassinated and causes the destruction of the Republic is totally lost on liberals. Do they really expect anything different if one of their deranged fantasies to murder Trump actually occurs?

OH SNAP!
We really need to get those emoticon "likes" that they have on Facebook to prevent cluttering the thread.

You know you've made it in the new right when your image appears in a garrison cartoon.

(06-13-2017 04:56 PM)debeguiled Wrote:  Meanwhile, in Hollywood, Trump derangement syndrome is the new fidget spinner. They're running out of gas though. First it was a sledge hammer. Now they're down to stickers.

I had to have my 22 year old sister explain ableism to me. Its my new favorite ism.

Basically, if you give preferential treatment in hiring or business to people with all their limbs or maybe not in wheelchairs, you are committing ableism.

Say I have a deckhand job available on a fishing boat. Two guys apply, with equal resumes. The only difference between the two is that one has no arms or legs. If I hire the one with the arms and legs, I am an ableist. Never mind that certain jobs require a full set of limbs. In this day and age its better to craft the job around the disability.

To sum up it is better to have people who aren't able to do things do things hose things. Wrap your head around that.

Don't be an ableist.

Aloha!

^

I'm in the building trades and I love shitting on feminists who think a woman can swing a sledge hammer as long or as hard as a man can.

In a woman's mind work occurs in an office setting.

^ Just because someone can't do something doesn't mean they should not do that thing! Damn ableist.

Aloha!

First coal mine under the Trump administration opened in PA. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/06/12/pen...onomy.html

   

Not a 2ft crawlspace tunnel or cart pony to be seen.

How the fuck is a 6 year old supposed to find meaningful work in the mining industry these days?

(06-13-2017 04:14 PM)kaotic Wrote:  Overall the Sessions hearing was once again much ado about nothing - Kamala Harris being annoying as fuck as per usual.

Sessions kept stating privilege as well.

All these hearings are literally just a repeat of the last ones - it's a waste of tax dollars.

Actually I take that back - it's a great use of tax dollars to show how pathetic these dems are on their witch hunt.

My only issue is Session saying there was hacking by the Russians.

Everyone is hacking everyone. That's known to many of us but the fake news media will spin and take that out of context. Still they and the Dems looked like fools today.

Kona can you ask your sister what "Bi Erasure" means, I see it on the middle of the Trump star. Please provide a relevant example/correct usage of the term with a fishing boat situation

(06-13-2017 06:30 PM)budoslavic Wrote:  

Meanwhile...

I think that's the first time I've ever seen a Muslim dinosaur!

(06-13-2017 04:19 PM)TravelerKai Wrote:  

(06-13-2017 04:07 PM)Samseau Wrote:  

(06-13-2017 02:55 PM)TravelerKai Wrote:  

(06-13-2017 02:38 PM)heavy Wrote:  So glad Drudge is still out there informing the masses.

The front page picture is the play with assassinated Trump laying on the stage floor...

"AMERICAN EXPRESS refuses to pull funding... "

Welp, I'm getting rid of my amex.

Liberals really get on my nerves. If anyone performed a play of Obama getting killed there would have been another Rodney King type riot across the country for at least a week.

I don't know if Trump isn't letting the Secret Service actually press for charges (or the FBI?) or what, but this shit is getting out of hand. Someone needs to start going to jail otherwise some whackjob will feel encouraged to actually make an attempt on Trump's life. It was kinda funny seeing Kathy Griffin have her career temporarily destroyed, but too many Hollywood liberals quickly came in to rescue her and make excuses for her.

Letting these people do this does make them look like animals and hurts their causes ultimately, but it sends the wrong signal from a safety point of view.

Somebody needs to jail for this to let the whole country know that you cannot threaten violence against a standing president like that.

I believe the irony of using Trump as Caesar who gets assassinated and causes the destruction of the Republic is totally lost on liberals. Do they really expect anything different if one of their deranged fantasies to murder Trump actually occurs?

Considering who came up with the play, perhaps that is why they enjoy this fantasy. Anything that accelerates progress towards the new Sodom and Gomorrah is good in their eyes.

Perhaps they missed the fact that Sodom and Gomorrah was buried in fire and brimstone. Do they really want the destruction so badly?

Having watched a good chunk of the hearings from earlier today, the most striking thing about them was the difference in human quality between Jeff Sessions and his questioners. Sessions' qualities as a man, his intelligence and particularly his decency, probity, and integrity, are truly exceptional. The other senators range from a couple who are alright but no better than that, to a number of lackluster run-of-the-mill cowards and prevaricators, to outright obvious scum like Kamala Harris. It was a very notable and intense contrast.

It is also interesting to reflect on the difference between the deep and living integrity of Jeff Sessions and the sanctimonious, priggish and jesuitical grandstanding of a type like Jim Comey. Ethical ghouls like Comey are sleazy through and through, but it's not always easy for normal people to understand just how worthless their sort of self-righteousness really is. Observing someone like Sessions can be a very good lesson in what true and unaffected righteousness looks like.

Lastly, it is always beautiful to think about the depth and strength of the alliance -- however temporarily strained by circumstance -- between an upright and unbending southern patriot like Sessions, and the Queens born-and-bred charmer and wheeler-dealer at whose pleasure he serves. It is a testament to the quality and depth of both of these men that they have been able to make common cause -- and not just dutifully, but warmly -- with someone of such a different human type. It is also one of the great charms and virtues of the relationship between T and Mike Pence. We are truly privileged to see these superb American types in action; may they prevail over the evil and unrelenting forces arrayed against them.

(06-13-2017 04:39 PM)TravelerKai Wrote:  

(06-13-2017 04:28 PM)DamienCasanova Wrote:  

(06-13-2017 04:07 PM)Samseau Wrote:  I believe the irony of using Trump as Caesar who gets assassinated and causes the destruction of the Republic is totally lost on liberals. Do they really expect anything different if one of their deranged fantasies to murder Trump actually occurs?

The result unforeseen by the assassins was that Caesar's death precipitated the end of the Roman Republic.[107] The Roman middle and lower classes, with whom Caesar was immensely popular and had been since before Gaul, became enraged that a small group of aristocrats had killed their champion. Antony, who had been drifting apart from Caesar, capitalised on the grief of the Roman mob and threatened to unleash them on the Optimates, perhaps with the intent of taking control of Rome himself. To his surprise and chagrin, Caesar had named his grandnephew Gaius Octavius his sole heir (hence the name Octavian), bequeathing him the immensely potent Caesar name and making him one of the wealthiest citizens in the Republic.[108]

The crowd at the funeral boiled over, throwing dry branches, furniture, and even clothing on to Caesar's funeral pyre, causing the flames to spin out of control, seriously damaging the Forum. The mob then attacked the houses of Brutus and Cassius, where they were repelled only with considerable difficulty, ultimately providing the spark for the civil war, fulfilling at least in part Antony's threat against the aristocrats.[109] Antony did not foresee the ultimate outcome of the next series of civil wars, particularly with regard to Caesar's adopted heir. Octavian, aged only 18 when Caesar died, proved to have considerable political skills, and while Antony dealt with Decimus Brutus in the first round of the new civil wars, Octavian consolidated his tenuous position.

To combat Brutus and Cassius, who were massing an enormous army in Greece, Antony needed soldiers, the cash from Caesar's war chests, and the legitimacy that Caesar's name would provide for any action he took against them. With the passage of the lex Titia on 27 November 43 BC,[110] the Second Triumvirate was officially formed, composed of Antony, Octavian, and Caesar's loyal cavalry commander Lepidus.[111] It formally deified Caesar as Divus Iulius in 42 BC, and Caesar Octavian henceforth became Divi filius ("Son of a god")

Because Caesar's clemency had resulted in his murder, the Second Triumvirate reinstated the practice of proscription, abandoned since Sulla.[113] It engaged in the legally sanctioned murder of a large number of its opponents to secure funding for its 45 legions in the second civil war against Brutus and Cassius.[114] Antony and Octavian defeated them at Philippi

Yeah the liberals are ignorant of history as usual. The way this fantasy scenario would end would be Trump being posthumously declared a Son of God, and them being lynched.

I know a liberal black nationalist that recently told me that he now supports Trump because he is our only hope against the Globalists, and this guy did not vote for him. I did not even ask this guy about it, he brought it up because he knows I support Trump. He says more are starting to see that. I hope he is right.

If the liberals turn Trump into a martyr, shit will get really ugly, very quickly and if they go cheer in the streets, I expect some of them to get mowed down by someone they will call a WN or a neo-Nazi. To their surprise, it may end up being a black guy, a gay man, or some other minority.

I'd rather the president keep his boot down and Sessions needs to do what he can to keep him safe by prosecuting people who threaten his life, to send these spineless losers the message clearly.

As the chinese would call them 白左(bai zuo) or white left:

Quote:If you look at any thread about Trump, Islam or immigration on a Chinese social media platform these days, it’s impossible to avoid encountering the term baizuo (白左), or literally, the ‘white left’. It first emerged about two years ago, and yet has quickly become one of the most popular derogatory descriptions for Chinese netizens to discredit their opponents in online debates.

So what does ‘white left’ mean in the Chinese context, and what’s behind the rise of its (negative) popularity? It might not be an easy task to define the term, for as a social media buzzword and very often an instrument for ad hominem attack, it could mean different things for different people. A thread on “why well-educated elites in the west are seen as naïve “white left” in China” on Zhihu, a question-and-answer website said to have a high percentage of active users who are professionals and intellectuals, might serve as a starting point.

The question has received more than 400 answers from Zhihu users, which include some of the most representative perceptions of the 'white left'. Although the emphasis varies, baizuo is used generally to describe those who “only care about topics such as immigration, minorities, LGBT and the environment” and “have no sense of real problems in the real world”; they are hypocritical humanitarians who advocate for peace and equality only to “satisfy their own feeling of moral superiority”; they are “obsessed with political correctness” to the extent that they “tolerate backwards Islamic values for the sake of multiculturalism”; they believe in the welfare state that “benefits only the idle and the free riders”; they are the “ignorant and arrogant westerners” who “pity the rest of the world and think they are saviours”.

Apart from some anti-hegemonic sentiments, the connotations of ‘white left’ in the Chinese context clearly resemble terms such as ‘regressive liberals’ or ‘libtards’ in the United States. In a way the demonization of the ‘white left’ in Chinese social media may also reflect the resurgence of right-wing populism globally.

However, Chinese netizens’ fierce attacks against the ‘white left’ seem curiously devoid of experiential motivation, since all these problems that conservatives in the west are concerned about – immigration, multiculturalism, minority rights, and affirmative actions – are largely unknown to Chinese society. This is not to say that discrimination against women and ethnic, religious and sexual minorities do not exist in China. They are no less serious or structural here than in any other societies. But cultural and identity politics has never gained much salience as political issues under an authoritarian regime, although feminist activists have received increased attention recently. Overall, there has been ‘too little’, rather than ‘too much’ political correctness as perceived by conservatives in the west.In fact, heated discussions about baizuo on Chinese social media websites rarely make reference to domestic issues, except for occasionally and unsurprisingly insulting Chinese Muslims for being “unintegrated” or “complicit in the spread of Islam extremism”. The stigmatization of the ‘white left’ is driven first and foremost by Chinese netizens’ understanding of ‘western’ problems. It is a symptom and weakness of the Other.

The term first became influential amidst the European refugee crisis, and Angela Merkel was the first western politician to be labelled as a baizuo for her open-door refugee policy. Hungary, on the other hand, was praised by Chinese netizens for its hard line on refugees, if not for its authoritarian leader. Around the same time another derogatory name that was often used alongside baizuo was shengmu (圣母) – literally the ‘holy mother’ – which according to its users refers to those who are ‘overemotional’, ‘hypocritical’ and ‘have too much empathy’. The criticisms of baizuo and shengmu soon became an online smear campaign targeted at not only public figures such as J. K. Rowling and Emma Watson, but also volunteers, social workers and all other ordinary citizens, whether in Europe or China, who express any sympathy with international refugees.

In May 2016, Amnesty International published their survey results indicating that the most welcoming country for refugees was China. Leaving the reliability of its sample and methodology aside, this finding was not at all taken as a compliment in the Chinese media. Global Times conducted their own online survey in response to Amnesty’s claim, and the results were quite the opposite: 90.3% said ‘no’ to the question ‘would you accept refugees in your own household?’ and 79.6% said ‘no’ to the question ‘would you accept refugees in your city, or would you like to be neighbours with refugees?’. Ironically, Amnesty’s portrayal of China as a welcoming country for displaced people was even read by some netizens as part of a foreign conspiracy, intended to pressure the Chinese government to accept more refugees. A senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences commented that this survey was “weird” and seemed to “incite citizens against the government”.

The anti-baizuo discourse in Chinese social media gained stronger momentum during the US presidential election campaign. If criticisms of the ‘white left’ in the context of the refugee crisis were mainly about disapproval of ‘moralist humanitarianism’ mixed with Islamophobia, they became politically more elaborate as Chinese critics of the ‘white left’ discovered Donald J. Trump, whom they both identify with and take inspiration from. Following the debates in the US, a number of other issues such as welfare reforms, affirmative action and minority rights were introduced into online discussions on the ‘white left’. Baizuo critics now began to identify Obama and Clinton as the new epitome of the ‘white left’, despite the fact that they were neither particularly humanitarian nor particularly kind to migrants. Trump was taken as the champion of everything the ‘white left’ were against, and baizuo critics naturally became his enthusiastic supporters.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/digitalibe...net-insult

Alot of Chinese internet users are avid fans of Trump.

And in regards to China the western NGO's and other progressivisms are already subverting Chinese traditions:

Quote:On 7 March 2015, on the eve of the International Women’s Day, five young women in China were arrested on the grounds of “picking quarrels and creating a disturbance”. This incident caught the eye of major international media including the Guardian and CNN, and received a personal endorsement from US presidential candidate Hilary Clinton when she referred to the detention of female activists as “inexcusable” in her tweet. On 13 April, they were released on bail but still under surveillance.

Opposing authority and the existing order

According to the Chinese Human Rights Defenders network, these five women were Li Tingting (better known as Li Maizi), 25, a Beijing-based manager of the LGBT programme at the Beijing Yirenping Center; Wu Rongrong, 30, founder and executive director of the Weizhiming Women’s Centre in Guangzhou; Wei Tingting, 27, director of Beijing’s Ji’ande LGBT rights organisation; and Wang Man, who had worked on issues including gender equality in poverty eradication. They are now often referred to as China’s “Feminist Five”.

Their one-month planned activity on International Women’s Day eve was known as the ‘March 7 stick stick stick’ (Sanqi Tietietie): that is, placing stickers on buses and other public transport vehicles in Guangzhou and Beijing to raise awareness of sexual harassment on public transportation.

Their timing was crucial. The activity was reportedly planned during the “sensitive” time when the ‘Two Meetings’ (the annual sessions of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference), the highest form of manifesting centralised authority and ideology in China, were being held in Beijing. The activists had heard reports that the All-China Workers Federation might introduce an anti-sexual harassment bill during the sessions.

These feminist activists’ work began with a stunt known as “Blood Brides” on Valentine’s Day in 2012, when Li and Wei walked along a busy Beijing commercial area in wedding gowns stained with fake blood to attract attention. They chanted slogans like “Hitting is not intimacy; verbal abuse is not love.” They also distributed anti-domestic violence pamphlets and cards to passers­by. Many of the bystanders were sympathetic to their message and complimented them for their bravery.

Soon after the “Blood Brides” stunt, these young feminist activists organised another attention-grabbing event, called “Occupy Men’s Toilets,” inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement. They encouraged women waiting in long lines outside restrooms to “occupy” the less-used men’s rooms for 10 minutes, then return the stalls to men after the number of women waiting had been reduced. They called for an increase in the size of women’s public restrooms that would equalise wait times for men and women. The event in Guangzhou was such a hit that Li decided to duplicate it in Beijing, where she was residing.

Initially, the movement was not only socially successful but also approved by the authority. More than a dozen newspapers and online media outlets reported on the movement, and “Occupy Men’s Toilets” spread to other cities. Attempting to seize the opportunity, Li and her friends sent letters to representatives in the National People’s Congress, advising them to propose legislation to improve restroom gender ratios.

As a result, Congress delegates raised the issue during legislative sessions in March 2012. In that year alone, several cities made plans to improve public restroom gender ratios. Together with more Chinese feminists and activists, these five women also worked to replicate their success in other areas of women’s rights, including employment and education discrimination, gender­based violence, and the rights of sex workers.

However, they were not so fortunate this time. As the activism grew more active and more spread out, the official tone towards it began to change. On 6 April 2015, the Beijing police submitted the case of the five feminists to the procuratorate office under the criminal charge of “gathering crowds to disturb public order,” referring to the previous “Blood Brides” and “Occupy Men’s Toilet” incidents. According to the lawyers of these feminists, Beijing police only began investigating these activities after detaining the women.

The interregnum between arrest and release was harsh for the female activists. As Li Tingting recalled in an interview with Chinese feminist Zhao Sile, “I was interrogated a total of 30 to 40 times and was under a lot of psychological pressure, since I had never been placed in criminal detention before.”

In the days leading up to their later release, she added, “The police expressed concern that we might become ‘heroes,’ that we might be recruited or used, or that we would agree to be interviewed. The police kept on making implicit demands that I not agree to outside interviews.”

Tania Branigan from the Guardian rightly points out that the fact they are criminally detained – not just informally held – indicates they could have been charged. Detentions and convictions of activists have increased sharply since Xi Jinping became China’s leader two years ago; the women were seized during annual political meetings in Beijing, a very politically sensitive period for the regime. But similar initiatives previously to mark International Women’s Days had not led to custody.

Quote:In the light of such social reality, the praise for the Feminist Five’s actions as the “Chinese Feminist Awakening” by major international media might have neglected a larger imbalances in gender and the new forms of domestic violence and inequality. For many women within China, “Gender violence is getting worse” – as Li Tingting told a Guardian reporter. Recent studies have shown the increasing number of domestic abuses: Xu Xiao from Johns Hopkins University, for instance, found the persisting prevalence of intimate partner violence in China.

An old Chinese aphorism, “beating is love, and scolding is intimacy,” remains popular and silently accepted in terms of both child education and domestic relationships. Violence against a woman by her husband is generally concealed and protected within the sphere of private life and, as such, is largely overlooked and ignored.

In addition to traditional physical violence, new forms violence have emerged. China is now facing an unprecedented shortage of women, due to both the one-child policy initiated and a cultural preference for male heirs, a volatile combination that has led to sex-selective abortions and cases of female infanticide.

China’s female shortage, far from empowering women, has actually resulted in a situation where urban women’s rights are increasingly imperiled. Leta Hong Fincher’s book Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China (2014) researches such phenomenon and details a series of measures ranging from a media campaign to legal setbacks, all of which are ultimately aimed at deterring college-educated women from putting off marriage and family.

By doing so, the Communist Party hopes to maintain social stability — weiwen — and raising the quality (suzhi) of its population. The prevalence of expressions such as “leftover women” in public discourses are not only demoralising, but also makes one wonder about their long-term damaging effects to Chinese women’s self-esteem and the country’s gender equality.

A new generation of activists: The “X-generation” and international exposure

However, unlike the activists before them, this generation’s feminists are equipped with new media, art and a distance from the students and NGO workers. Their protests have often taken the form of performance street art. Photos and posts counting the days of the women’s detention were circulated on social media, sparking a battle between those posting and those seeking to censor them.

According to Spanish sociologist Manuel Castells, the prevalence of personal digital devices gives rises to new concepts of defining people as “digital natives” or “digital immigrants”. “Digital native” is a term that refers to people who grew up in the digital era (that is, roughly from 1980s until now). In contrast, the term “digital immigrant” refers to those who were born before 1964 and who grew up in a pre-computer world. These feminist activists in China are digital natives, and well adapted into the world of technologies and social media.

Even though many international social media—including Facebook and Twitter—are banned in China, they were able to spread their ideas swiftly and widely. More importantly, as their detention already shows, living in an age of social media also means that they have a much level of exposure to the international world which will aid significantly to their work and subsequently, to increase the level of awareness of gender equality within China.

A future for feminists?

On 2 July 2015, in the wake of the US Supreme Court ruling of gay marriage as a legal right in the United States, Li Tingting announced her marriage to her lesbian partner in front of friends and journalists. Meanwhile, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television in China rejected the release of The Imitation Game (2014), considering it indecent for public viewing. The Imitation Game is a biopic on Alan Turing, British war hero and father of AI who committed suicide after being arrested, tried and medically treated for his homosexuality. China’s reason for refusing to import this film echoes the charge against Turing fifty years ago. It seems that, there is still a long way ahead for human rights issues on gender.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/ting-...chal-order

(06-13-2017 09:25 PM)The Lizard of Oz Wrote:  Having watched a good chunk of the hearings from earlier today, the most striking thing about them was the difference in human quality between Jeff Sessions and his questioners. Sessions' qualities as a man, his intelligence and particularly his decency, probity, and integrity, are truly exceptional. The other senators range from a couple who are alright but no better than that, to a number of lackluster run-of-the-mill cowards and prevaricators, to outright obvious scum like Kamala Harris. It was a very notable and intense contrast.
...

RVF NYC crew election night

(06-13-2017 07:32 PM)Leonard D Neubache Wrote:  You know you've made it in the new right when your image appears in a garrison cartoon.

Maybe not; I couldn't tell who any of them were supposed to be.

(06-13-2017 10:19 PM)GlobalMan Wrote:  RVF NYC crew election night

I'll be headed up that way soon (possibly to stay for the summer). We gotta connect offline.