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Clips For You 🔥 @ForYouClips: "The start of his villain origin story… *Man coming through door with balloon seeing woman being fucked from behind*"
Meme - "APRIL IS FRONT DOOR CHALLENGE MONTH. REMOVE THE FRONT DOOR OF YOUR HOUSE IN N SUPPORT OF OPEN BORDERS"
Alt version
Meme - "The European Court of Justice, the EU's highest court, finds Hungary guilty of not allowing migrants into its border. It will now fine Hungary and its people with 1 million euros daily until it complies. On top of that, an initial 200 million euro fine will be levied."
todayisamerica: "Imagine protecting the safety and security of your own citizens and then being aggressively fined into oblivion by a globalist entity for it?"
Meme - i/o @eyeslasho: "The most powerful message of this graph by @AnechoicMedia_ is that the children of illegal immigrants end up being a big problem in the judicial system. But the graph also points out the huge disparities between legal and illegal immigrants when it comes to crime."
Margaret Brennan shocked most Americans back deporting illegal immigrants - "CBS “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan struggled to digest numbers from a recent poll showing nearly two in three Americans support mass deportation of illegal immigrants. Brennan appeared incredulous when pondering recent figures on Sunday showing that 62% of all Americans back, “in principle, a new government program to deport all undocumented immigrants living in the US illegally.”... some Democrats were in favor of mass deportations... Brennan said Sunday that “some of what Mr. Trump talks about could be illegal.”... the Biden administration announced that it would bar asylum for undocumented migrants who cross into the country if illegal crossings exceed 2,500 per day for seven consecutive days — a “crackdown” that will still allow at least 1.8 million asylum seekers into America each year even if fully enforced... Border Patrol encounters with illegal migrants were significantly lower under Trump. some Democrats were in favor of mass deportations"
Enforcing the law is illegal
Meme - "Be Kind
Get rid of the foreigners"
Monopsony and the wage effects of migration - "In a generalization of the well-known "immigration surplus" result, we show immigration must always increase the average native worker's marginal product, in any long-run constant returns economy. But in a monopsonistic labor market, immigration may also affect native wages through the mark-downs imposed by firms. Using standard US census data, we reject the restrictions implied by the traditional competitive model. We find that immigration increases mark-downs, and this effect quantitatively dominates the improvements in natives' marginal products. The capture of migrants' rents significantly expands the total surplus going to natives, but redistributes income among them (from workers to firms)."
"Using U.S. Census data, Amior and Manning (2022) show that the immigration-induced mark-downs in the wages of native-born workers exceed the average gain in their productivity from immigration. Moreover, their analysis suggests that the increase in firms’ monopsony power is driven mostly by undocumented migrant workers who have the least ability to respond to wage mark-downs by quitting their jobs."
GERMANY: Woman Convicted Of “Offending” Migrant Gang Rapists Receives Longer Prison Sentence Than The Rapists - "A 20-year-old woman in Hamburg, Germany, has been sent to prison after making “hateful” remarks towards a migrant who was involved in the gang rape of a child. The woman is just one of 140 people being investigated for making “harmful comments” towards the rapists. The horrific assault took place in 2020, and involved multiple groups of migrant men independently attacking a 14-year-old girl in Hamburg’s Stadtpark over the course of one night... Confused and alone, the girl was defenseless against the first mob of four predators. The men took turns on the girl, repeatedly raping her over an extended period of time. They robbed her of her wallet and cellphone before leaving her. Traumatized and disoriented from the first attack, and having no method of calling for help, the girl was assaulted a second time by two more men who took advantage of her vulnerable state. Disturbingly, her assailants had begun inviting other men to rape her via their chat groups, gleefully sharing the news that there was an isolated teenage girl in the dark park with no potential witnesses. The child was attacked a third time by a single man, and then a fourth time by three more men, who dragged her into a bush and sexually assaulted her. Finally, the child managed to break away and ran, though pursued by her rapists. Eventually, she came across people who recognized her traumatized state and immediately called the police. A total of 11 men were initially charged, but two were acquitted quickly due to a lack of DNA evidence. The sperm of nine of the men, however, had been successfully recovered from the girl’s body. Five of the men were in possession of German passports, while the remainder were not citizens of Germany. Among those charged, none were of German heritage. The rapists were identified as a Pole, an Egyptian, a Libyan, a Kuwaiti, an Iranian, an Armenian, an Afghan, a Syrian, and a Montenegrin. The men had a team of 20 defense attorneys arguing their innocence. Videos of the first and third rapes had been recorded and shared by the assailants to contacts through WhatsApp, but the videos were deleted before the case could be heard in court. Witnesses who did see the footage before its deletion did testify that it depicted clear sexual assault, with one noting that the girl had been holding her hands over her head in a protective position. During the trial, the victim, who now suffers from PTSD as a result of the night of abuse, was called upon to speak about what happened to her. While she recounted her horrific ordeal, the men showed “no signs of remorse” and at least one is said to have almost fallen asleep during proceedings. However, despite DNA and WhatsApp evidence, eight of the nine men convicted walked free with probation and spent no time in prison at all. The ninth was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison without parole. The case caused outrage in Germany, both for the brutality of the rape itself and the lenient sentences given to the rapists... Angered by the news of the case, a 20-year-old woman from Hamburg messaged the number through WhatsApp. The unnamed woman called him a “dishonorable rapist pig” and a “disgusting miscarriage.” She added: “Aren’t you ashamed when you look in the mirror?” The targeted rapist then reported the woman to police, and she was charged with sending him insulting messages. The woman has now been convicted and sentenced to a weekend in prison for her remarks — meaning that she will have spent more time in jail than 8 of the 9 rapists"
Racism is so terrible that it's the most terrible crime around, and deserves the harshest penalties. She should've gotten the death penalty for this
Because 5 of the men had German passports, we need to condemn white nationalism and the far right, and lock them up to keep women safe
Some people still claim the woke virus isn't in Europe
Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 on X - "While reporting on the migrant crisis in Ireland, I was told to go back "to the China" by a newly arrived migrant in a Dublin tent encampment in the city center. All the migrants I saw were men on their mobile phones. Watch the extended video:"
Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 on X - "Update: The migrant camp by the Hilton in central Dublin, Ireland that I documented last week has grown to nearly 50 tents. It’s unclear if they are all occupied but activist nonprofits set them up in the hope that migrants move in."
Racism is only bad if "white" people do it
John Goddard on X - "Each day I wake up to a country I don’t recognise. Everyone’s a foreigner and I get called a bigot if I notice that. I used to be friends with all my neighbours. But they moved out and the new ones don’t speak English. We don’t make eye contact when we walk past each other and that makes me feel strange. On weekends I used to leave my car unlocked when I went down to the beach. Yesterday there was a knife attack there. I don’t think I’ll go to the beach again. There are no Christmas decorations in the stores anymore. But sometimes I notice there’s decorations for Diwali. I don’t know what that is. Most days I just sit inside and watch TV. The TV tells me I need to respect other cultures. For some reason that means no more Easter eggs or Australia Day or Christmas. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I migrated to Pakistan and told them to change their whole country just to make me feel comfortable. I don’t think they’d like that but I don’t want to assume. And sometimes it feels like my culture’s being squeezed out existence. Suffocated by all these new people being poured on top of it. I don’t really know why they moved here. The streets don’t look the same anymore. There’s no sense of community. We’re all just strangers who live close to each other by some strange chance."
Lee Harris on X - "This is a satisfying watch! The BBC assembled the most biased, left-wing, unrepresentative audience possible, and this woman thought she could embarrass Nigel Farage... It backfires spectacularly. Wonderful 🔥 #bbcqt"
"If I paid you £70 now would you admit that this country would be nothing without our rich history of immigration?"
"Well I tell you what... and this is what's gone wrong. Because you talk about immigration, and it ran from after the war up until the millennium at net 30 to 40,000 a year and yes, it worked. In fact, we had the most successful immigration policies of any country in the whole of Europe, no question. Now, it is so totally out of control, just think about this. 2 and a half million people have come in the last 2 years. You wonder what you can't get a house, you wonder why your rents have gone up 25%, in 4 years. You wonder why our infrastructure is struggling. Uh, you wonder why you know we have to build a new house every two minutes just to cope with the numbers. And that's the issue. It's now running at numbers that are literally unimaginable, and are diminishing the quality of life of everybody in this country and frankly, this should be the biggest issue of this election"
Clearly, if you are not for open borders and illegal immigration, you hate immigrants and want zero immigration
Visegrád 24 on X - "Spaniards are outraged by a brutal murder in Gata de Gorgos, near Alicante 3 Moroccan asylum seekers are arrested for beating 39-year-old David Lledo to death with baseball bats after he stopped them from sexually harassing young women in the village 🇪🇸"
Damn far right! How dare he not respect cultural traditions? He got what he deserved!
Roger Williams on X - "How is mass migration supposed to help with the demographic/economic crisis if the immigrants are, on average, a net drain, and why can't we talk about this clearly enormous problem?"
Techie who was once some Army guy on X - "A better question here is what percentage of them "work" in their home countries? Having spent about 8 years of my life in these regions, I can say most don't work normal, continual Western-style jobs. They work for short stints and get paid in basic food stuffs as a reserve of manpower for tribal conflicts that may arise. City life is slightly different but little is actually produced. Almost all of these states function through resource extraction and thus use the funds to pay the citizens in food so they don't riot. There is little meaningful productive work which actually occurs."
Importing millions who will be net fiscal drains is the only way to defuse the demographic timebomb!
Meme - Jonatan Pallesen @jonatanpallesen: "The net financial liability is upwards of a millions euros for a single immigrant, depending on the origin country. Completely crazy numbers if you think about it."
"Figure 6.2 Net contribution of first-generation immigrants and their children for 42 regions of origin with perma-"
Meme - i/o @eyeslasho: "There is no European country containing a decent percentage of Muslim immigrants in which the performance of these immigrants on the most important social and economic measures doesn't end up generating a net financial liability for the nation (except possibly UK)."
Jonatan Pallesen @jonatanpallesen: "Most immigrants to Denmark from Middle East / Northern Africa (blue line) are not working at any age."
Outrage in Germany after Afghan migrant 'rapes two girls' - "A man who raped an 11-year-old girl in Germany was released from custody after 12 days and then went on to rape a 13-year-old just five weeks later, it is alleged. The Afghan migrant's alleged sex crimes have caused outrage in Germany where politicians are calling for his deportation if he is found guilty. The 23-year-old, named as Zubyr S., was first arrested in June but released less than two weeks later after authorities claimed there was no evidence he was likely to re-offend. However, last Friday, he allegedly lured a 13-year-old girl into a corridor and raped her, leading to his second arrest when the girl described him to investigators... the suspect had been released from custody on July 3 after authorities ruled there was no danger he would re-offend or try to escape."
From 2020
Despite raping 11-year-old girl, Afghan migrant allowed to remain in Germany - "The Afghan asylum seeker who was convicted for raping an 11-year-old girl in the central German town of Neustrelitz in January is still in the country, and it appears he will face no threat of deportation. The controversial decision to allow him to remain on German territory is due to the “special protection of minors within the Dublin III Agreement,” according to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Interior Minister Christian Pegel (SPD). In addition, the nationality of the convicted sex offender has not been completely clarified, so while the man is listed as an Afghan, the German government is reportedly unsure of that designation... the Afghan migrant, who entered Germany as an unaccompanied minor, was convicted in July of this year, but outrage followed after he was only given a suspended sentence and served no jail time. There was no record of his actual age at the time of his arrest, and given that a huge number of migrants lied about their age upon entering Germany, a doctor was asked to determine his age, which he estimated at 16. Due to his status as a “minor,” he was given a relatively light sentence. Police believe the perpetrator and the 11-year-old victim were probably loosely acquainted and likely on a date. It is still unclear whether they knew each other through a circle of acquaintances or had met before the incident... Often, despite committing serious crimes, migrants face no deportation risk in Europe, such as in the case in Sweden where a 39-year-old migrant raped a 9-year-old girl but was allowed to remain in the country because authorities approved his citizenship before the incident. It is also not the only case involving an Afghan raping an 11-year-old girl in Germany, with a similar case occurring in 2018. In that case, the girl was a special-needs student, and the 22-year-old asylum seeker raped her with two accomplices. In general, foreigners in Germany are responsible for a highly disproportionate amount of rape and sexual assault cases. Overall, Germany has a poor record on deportations, even for those individuals convicted of crimes. Over 230,000 foreigners in Germany are facing deportation orders but are allowed to remain in the country under a “tolerated” status."
Visegrád 24 on X - "BREAKING: Poland’s Parliament votes overwhelmingly in favor of a new law that allows soldiers, border guards and police officers to fire live ammunition when stopping attempts by migrants to storm the border. 401 MPs voted for the new law, 17 against 🇵🇱"
Wilfred Reilly on X - "Logical response to "border storming." What else would you do - just let the mobs in so you didn't have to hurt them?"
Thread by @billybinion on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "This is Laurens van Beek. Not long ago, he was kicked out of the U.S.—even though he immigrated here as a child. Legally. The kicker: If his family had come *illegally* he would've gotten to stay. A thread on our insane immigration system.
DACA protects some folks from deportation if they arrived in the U.S. illegally as kids. Many recipients do not know any other country but America as home. Laurens can relate. But his story diverges in a crucial way: His family came here lawfully. When Laurens was 7, his family immigrated to Iowa. This is his home. But because his parents came on a small business visa, he didn't qualify for DACA, which only protects the undocumented. So Laurens was expelled not in spite of coming to the U.S. legally—but because of it. There are 250,000 people like Laurens, known as "Documented Dreamers." They come to the U.S. on dependent visas. And if they can't find another visa or get a green card by the time they turn 21, they're forced to leave—often to countries they've never known. Monstrous. This is Roshan Taroll with his little brother. After legally immigrating here with his mom, the family got in line for green cards. But because our system is a circus, Roshan couldn't get one before he turned 21. So after 16+ years here, he was kicked out last month. It can't be overstated how bonkers our system is. Roshan's case is a good example. The gov't restricts how many green cards can be allotted annually to each nationality, punishing people from certain countries. Folks from India will wait...134 years. Many will die in line. Roshan's mom was one of them. She died of cancer after waiting years for permanent residence. "All she wanted was for me and my brother to work hard and have a chance at the American dream," Roshan told me. Well, he won't get the chance. Just awful. A bipartisan group of lawmakers want to protect Documented Dreamers from deportation. It's common sense. But the bills keep dying in Congress. "Comprehensive immigration reform has become the enemy of incremental reform," @RandPaul told me: @RandPaul It's an indictment on our politics that this is still a question. The folks who came here as kids—whether legally or illegally—had no say in the matter. Many don't even speak the language of their home country. Wild that we're still debating this. @RandPaul Politicians talk a big game about immigrating here "the right way." And then the gov't punishes these young people for doing so. It's not conservative, progressive, libertarian, or otherwise to defend that. Because that's simply indefensible."
David Atherton on X - "Today's feel good video. Illegal migrants from the Middle East and Africa arrive at the Belarus-Poland border. Attacking the fences & barbed wire, the water cannon literally blows them away."
Meme - Jonatan Pallesen @jonatanpallesen: "If it wasn’t for non-Western mass immigration, the amount of crime here in Copenhagen would only be 1/3 of what it is now."
Inquisitive Bird @Scientific_Bird: "A major Danish newspaper reported today about the overrepresentation of non-natives in the nation's prisons. Here are the actual numbers. About half of those in closed prisons did not have Danish origin, and as many as two thirds in Copenhagen prisons."
Inquisitive Bird on X - "For context: in 2023 quarter 3, people of Danish origin represented 84% of the national population and 72% of the Copenhagen population. Here is the news story in question:"
French Woman Testifies on the Threat of Islamic Migrants - 'Today Nantes is Becoming More and More like Kabul' (Video) - RAIR - "Melissa, a resident of Nantes, France, recently delivered a testimony shedding light on her personal experiences, which revealed a distressing pattern—she endured multiple assaults, all perpetrated by migrant men. Melissa’s account resonates with a growing sentiment among citizens who increasingly feel that their safety is compromised due to the city’s migration policies. Directed towards Johanna Rolland, the mayor of Nantes, Melissa’s testimony underscores the disastrous consequences of poorly conceived migration policies. She expressed her deep disappointment in the mayor’s reluctance to acknowledge the adverse impact of these policies on the safety of Nantes’ inhabitants, attributing it to ideological reasons. Importantly, Melissa divulged that even individuals who are progressive privately recognize the problems associated with migrants but hesitate to address them publicly. This sentiment among concerned residents reflects a broader concern that Nantes, a city steeped in Breton culture, is gradually losing its distinctive heritage and identity due to shifting demographics. Melissa’s assertion that Nantes is becoming more like Islamic Kabul indicates the significant cultural transformation witnessed in the city. As an alarming example, a Muslim soccer tournament scheduled in Nantes this weekend has raised the alarm among locals. The sharia-adherent event will feature prayer from the Qur’an and Islamic recitations, underscoring the magnitude of cultural change occurring in the heart of the historical capital of Brittany. The tournament’s scale and nature have sparked discussions about the shift in customs and population that Nantes is experiencing."
Meme - Abolish Direct Provision @Abolish: "Racists in Ireland don't represent the majority Irish voters.
*Photoshopped poster from immigration protest* "WE REPRESENT 0.42% OF THE IRISH PEOPLE""
Homa Squwak @HSquwak72764: "So you'd surely support putting immigration policy to a vote. Right?"
As we know, globalist elites represent every country
Thread by @Oilfield_Rando on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "The destruction of Springfield, Ohio inspired me to look at which organizations are being paid the most for refugee resettlement in the state. A 501c3 called National Youth Advocate Project has been awarded $292 million by the Dept of Health and Human Services for assistance to unaccompanied illegal alien children in Ohio since 2021. The organization's 2022 IRS form 990 says that the CEO, Marvena Twigg (social worker), earned $1.27 million that year. Wowie. Catholic Charities only got $2.3 million in direct grant awards for work in Ohio, but the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services funneled another $24 million in subgrants to them. There's no way National Youth Advocate Program got that much for just Ohio. I'm assuming funds were used in the other states in which they operate and they're too lazy to put the right place of performance."
US academic believes he is the first person to gain Irish citizenship based on DNA test - "An academic in the United States who discovered his 100 per cent Irish ancestry following a DNA test has been awarded Irish citizenship. John Portmann (61), who was adopted and unaware of his heritage, was granted an Irish passport after proving that his biological father Thomas Fitzgerald was from Dublin and his biological mother Térese Delahanty’s family was originally from Co Kilkenny. Prof Portmann believes that he is the first person to gain Irish citizenship solely on the outcome of a DNA test"
Northern variant on X - "Look, it's simple. The police don't go in heavy handed because they know it will provoke something larger than they have the manpower to contain, that will have lasting repercussions and make the job even more impossible than it is now. We all know how this works. Immigrants riot and then we get all the usual horseshit from "community leaders" about underinvestment, and they play it for more political control. That's why American cities are now ungovernable shitholes. Essentially, if the police attempt to assert their authority, they will lose because they are outnumbered. We have two options. We can either manage it and contain it, or we can confront it. If we're doing the latter, then we're going to have to put the army on the streets and use armoured land rovers to patrol the cities, so that every city is policed like Belfast in the 80s. Essentially, a low grade civil war. We won't call it that, of course, and will use a euphemism like "the troubles", but soon after follows police murders, and all the sectarian/jihadist gang crime that goes with it. Once that happens, normal life comes to an end, with cities becoming demilitarised zones because there aren't enough patrols, and out of daylight hours, cities become urban deserts and the economy collapses. Ultimately, the police are skirting around the unspoken - that short of mass deportations, there is no solution. The answer, until fairly recently, was glacial integration, but Tory mass immigration has tipped the balance in urban areas so that there's nothing British to integrate into, and the rapid pace of immigration has sent the integration process into reverse. They completely fucked it basically. Thus, as a voter, you have two options. Either you concede that Britain has sown the seeds of its own annihilation, or you recognise that Steve Laws is right and vote accordingly. Either way, it's not pretty."
Thread by @Colleenfrances on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "I agree with all you've said here. But what really gets to me is why is it whenever it's the actual indigenous population of the UK holding a protest or riots if you like or football fans etc the police are still outnumbered but going in all guns blazing no holds barred. 😳 Is it because they have been told they can go in as hard with us as they please but must have a softly-softly approach with the immigrant population. I remember the Brixton riots in 1981. They went in full force then. The Poll tax riots in 1990. The full force was used then. The Miners Riots in 1984-85. Extremely full force was used then. Lockdown Protests in 2020. Definitely no kid gloves used then. They were outnumbered at all these examples but never held back. So what's the difference.The religion ðicity of the protestors.Their legal status? The HoC & their real bosses know that the people are becoming afraid of our streets. Angry at the unequal treatment. Horrified by the savagery we're seeing. They want us to call for the military to intervene. Then,they can legitimately impose martial law on us.Curfews & lockdowns If our own soldiers refuse to turn arms on us, then they have a ready-made huge army of men waiting in the hotels & camps who would have no qualms in subduing or fighting us. Those of us calling for the army to intervene be careful what you are really wishing for. A bleak future."
Nick on X - "Brilliantly put, as an ex cop I couldn’t have described the situation better myself although I have tried on other threads. This is the reality of policing in the UK, not the “two tier policing” conspiracy theory."
Gladimir on X - "I'd agree to a point, but the police have made it their business to defend "minorities" at all costs, including persecuting anyone who speaks against them. They're not just outnumbers - as organisations, they are ideologically for what is happening."
Clarence Worley on X - "Well said. I'm from Belfast. The 80s and 90s were not pretty. Something is going to have to give soon, though. The police are not capable of doing anything more than arresting autistic teenagers or dancing at gay pride parades. They are a laughing stock."
When there's a lack of will to enforce the law equally due to political ideology resulting from left wing capture
As with covid hysteria in general, mask fetishism is about left wing neuroses, not science:
How the NYT undermined mask evidence
"“Listen to the scientists, support masks,” Biden said at a campaign rally, four years ago, berating Trump for not wearing a mask after he had caught Covid. “Support a mask mandate nationwide,” Biden thundered to cheers and adulation. His campaign message captured a “follow the science” sentiment among Left-leaning American voters who derided anyone questioning mask effectiveness with the label “anti-mask”. This, despite a smattering of articles in Scientific American, Wired, New York Magazine and The Atlantic reporting that scientific studies found masks didn’t seem to stop viruses.
The debate over mask effectiveness took an odd turn last year when ardent mask advocate, Zeynep Tufekci, wrote a New York Times essay claiming “the science is clear that masks work”. Tufekci’s piece denigrated and belittled a scientific review by the prestigious medical nonprofit, Cochrane, for concluding that the evidence is “uncertain”.
Shortly after Tufekci published her essay, Cochrane’s editor-in-chief, Karla Soares-Weiser, dashed out a statement, to assure mask advocates that Cochrane would update the review’s language. Cochrane reviews are widely considered as the “gold standard” for high‐quality information to inform medicine, and their process is laborious, with multiple rounds of internal checks and expert peer review. Having Cochrane’s head make a personal pronouncement about a published review is unprecedented — akin to having the executive editor of The New York Times write an essay expressing personal opinions about one of the paper’s own deep-dive investigations.
The incident also marked an odd point in the timeline of mask use. Before the pandemic, few, if any, prominent organisations promoted masks to stop influenza or other respiratory viruses. As the WHO concluded in their 2019 pandemic preparedness plan: “There have been a number of high-quality randomised controlled trials (RCTs) demonstrating that personal protective measures such as hand hygiene and face masks have, at best, a small effect on influenza transmission.” So, it was not surprising that both Tufekci’s claims “masks work” and Karla Soares-Weiser’s allegations that something was wrong with the Cochrane mask review were later found themselves to have no real evidence.
Earlier this year, Soares-Weiser issued another statement, this time explaining the mask review was fine and no changes would be made. Despite the 180, damage to Cochrane’s mask review had already been done. Google sends you straight to Tufekci’s New York Times essay alleging problems in the Cochrane review.
But why did Soares-Weiser change her mind?
I have discovered, through hundreds of emails provided to me by freedom of information requests and a Cochrane whistleblower, that Tufekci bumped Soares-Weiser into making the statement against Cochrane’s own mask review — a move that landed like a grenade inside the organisation.
While Soares-Weiser runs Cochrane, scientists with expertise in each specific subject matter write and edit the reviews. When she rushed out her statement complaining about the mask review, the review authors charged that Cochrane had thrown science under the bus by working with “controversial writer” Zeynep Tufekci; meanwhile, the editor of the mask review reminded Cochrane’s leadership that changes were only being considered because of “intense media coverage and criticism”, not because there were any problems in the review’s science. “I had a very challenging meeting with the [governing board] yesterday,” Soares-Weiser wrote a few days afterwards. “I am holding on, stressed, but OK.”
But the story doesn’t end there. Because the attack by Soares-Weiser and Cochrane’s leadership on their own mask review is illustrative of how media and political pressure undermined and suppressed inconvenient scientific conclusions during the pandemic — and are still attempting to do so. The incident also raises questions about media ethics and whether Cochrane’s leadership is still fit for purpose.
When Cochrane published their 2023 mask review, it was the seventh iteration of a process that began 18 years previously. Back in 2006, Cochrane researchers raked through the scientific literature to see if they could determine what interventions could halt the spread of viruses. They found no good evidence that masks work. The scientists then updated their review in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2020.
With all six updates, each time scouring any new peer-reviewed studies, Cochrane researchers concluded the same: there is no good scientific evidence that masks work to control viruses. And each time, the scientific community yawned. Because until the Covid pandemic, nobody had conceived of a political movement to advocate for masks. Not even Zeynep Tufekci.
“Don’t worry if you cannot find masks,” Tufekci wrote in a February 2020 article for Scientific American. “For non–health care people, washing your hands often, using alcohol-based hand-sanitiser liberally and learning not to touch your face are the most important clinically-proven interventions there are.” Promoting the article on X, Tufekci reiterated this point: “Clinical studies show hand-washing is the crucial step not masks.”
But the following month, a New York Times media reporter praised Tufekci for reversing her former opinion in a 1 March tweetstorm. This was followed by a 17 March essay for The New York Times that convinced the CDC to alter federal guidance and advise Americans to mask.
What makes this all alarming is that Tufekci is an academic sociologist, with no training in medicine or public health. And yet, she managed to alter public health policy with a bunch of tweets and an essay followed, two months later, by a co-authored scientific preprint that promoted mask mandates...
The study’s lead author is Jeremy Howard, a mask advocate and Australian software entrepreneur, who, like Tufekci, has no training in public health or medicine. The review was later published in a medical journal and remains the only article I could find that Tufekci has published in the scientific literature on masks.
Despite such a thin publishing record in the scientific literature, the Raleigh News & Observer (an influential paper among academics) anointed Tufekci a Covid media hero who had challenged the medical and public health establishment and got the facts right — but with essays, not science...
In retrospect, it’s hard to read this article — celebrating an academic for doing science by essay — and not wonder if it’s a satirical piece for The Onion: “Monkey Solves Grand Unified Theory of Physics in a Single Tweet.” Nonetheless, Tufekci played along with the gag, amazed at her magical ability to solve complex scientific problems without doing any actual science — just writing essays.
“I never thought in a million years I’d be writing something that basically said the World Health Organization and CDC and medical establishment in the United States and Europe are wrong,” she told the paper. But one tiny obstacle stood between Tufekci and full acceptance of mask mandates: Cochrane.
When Cochrane released their mask update in January 2023, which again said the efficacy of masks was uncertain, critics of pandemic policies naturally used these scientific conclusions to cast doubt on the mask advocates. “Mask mandates were a bust,” wrote New York Times columnist Brett Stephens, citing an interview by Tom Jefferson, the lead author of the Cochrane mask review. “Those skeptics who were furiously mocked as cranks and occasionally censored as ‘misinformers’ for opposing mandates were right.”
Tufekci’s rise to public prominence is tied closely to her mask advocacy. Reading this column in The New York Times, the most prominent paper in the country, and where she also worked, must have been irksome for her...
The Times published Tufekci’s “masks work” essay. Given the way American journalism works, the piece had most likely been written and edited before she had contacted Jefferson the night before for comment. Although 12 different scientists had been involved in writing and researching the Cochrane mask review, Zeynep singled out Jefferson. She named him several times in her essay for making alleged false statements about the pandemic. Hours later, Cochrane rushed out Soares-Weiser’s statement, and then apologised to the review authors. “We hoped to inform you all before publication but have been blindsided by the NYT and have scrabbled to upload our statement,” Cochrane emailed the review authors.
This did not go down well with the authors. “I will not speak for the others but am deeply distressed by this course of events which have occurred without our knowledge,” replied Jon Conly, a professor and former head of the department of medicine at the University of Calgary. He insisted that Cochrane had thrown the review authors under the bus. “Very naive to think you and the [editor in chief Soares-Weiser] spoke to the media at NYTs (without informing us) and would trust them and that they would not immediately publish what you said, especially with this woman who is well known as a controversial writer.”...
Conly confirmed to me later that Tufekci — who did not respond to repeated requests for comment — never contacted him, even though he is named as the review’s corresponding author, who Tufekci should have contacted for comment. “Not sure who Tufekci would have corresponded with to find any of the authors who would have agreed with her,” Conly said.
As I have seen from internal correspondence, Cochrane’s editors then began discussing how to manage blowback from Soares Weiser’s statement. Brown reminded them the update used the same language from 2020 and that revisions were now being suggested because Cochrane was flinching from media critics, not because the science was wrong...
The review had already undergone extensive, detailed peer review. “If the editor-in-chief and ethics officer were colluding to find criticism afterwards,” he told me, “that would appear to be unethical.”
Meanwhile, Soares-Weiser’s statement and Tufekci’s article were having a significant effect outside the organisation, spurring several news articles as well as ridicule of the mask authors on social media. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author of several books on pandemics, Laurie Garret, accused the mask authors of fraud. “[T]hese bozos have undermined public faith in [masks] & biz/govt willingness to promote use,” she posted on X. (It is notable that, prior to the pandemic, Garrett posted on X in 2018 that masks don’t work for influenza and other respiratory viruses. “We have also known for 100+ years that masks do no good.”)
The argument was even reverberating through politics. Testifying in her final appearance before Congress, CDC Director, Rochelle Walensky, cited Soares-Weiser’s statement, falsely stating that Cochrane had “retracted” the mask review. Congressional staff were forced to correct her testimony: “The lack of trust in public health officials is becoming an enormous problem,” a congressional staffer later wrote.
Word of Soares-Weiser’s actions even reached the highest levels of the British government. That summer, while she was in London for a Cochrane event, an MP invited her to Parliament’s Portcullis House to explain her statement. However, according to a staffer in Parliament, Soares-Weiser dodged the invite and never appeared.
Although he was noted prominently in the “masks work” essay, Cochrane’s Michael Brown told me the Times had engaged in a lot of of “spinning” of his comments and he hadn’t been aware that Tufekci had campaigned for mask mandates, nor that she had published a review whose conclusions contradicted those of Cochrane. In her initial email to Brown, Tufekci had highlighted her ostensibly scientific background, introducing herself as both a New York Times columnist and an academic with a background in statistics and causal inference, and an interest in scientific reviews. “I use and participate in reviews myself (I’m writing one in my own field soon) and thus am familiar with many of the challenges and issues.”
This is something of an embellishment of Tufekci’s bona fides. According to Google Scholar, she has published no academic articles this year and the only one she published in all of 2023 was an opinion piece in Nature. As for the review article Tufekci had pointed to, it has never appeared.
“I’m a trusting person,” Brown told me, explaining that he had never looked up Tufekci’s history before speaking with her. “She’s definitely more of a journalist than a scientist. I didn’t agree with her, the way she then spun it: masks work.”
“The bottom line is that [our] review was well-done,” Brown said. As for the proposed changes to review’s language, Brown explained that the summary language had been written by Cochrane staff reporting to Karla Soares-Weiser, not Tom Jefferson and the other review authors...
Brown made his views on the science clear last September when he emailed the organiser of a talk he was giving that masks “do not make a major impact at the community level when promoted as a public health intervention”. He also told me that a recent scientific review in the Annals of Internal Medicine complemented the findings of Cochrane. “In the end, the conclusions were the same.”
But while Cochrane has ceased attacking its own mask review, The New York Times continues to promote the “masks work” narrative — despite evidence to the contrary. Last May, the paper ran an essay by Tulane University’s John M. Barry. In his piece, Barry wrote: “Masks present a much simpler question. They work. We’ve known they work since 1917, when they helped protect soldiers from a measles epidemic.”
And yet, we know this is not true. Even Barry does. As he wrote his bestselling tome, The Great Influenza: “The masks worn by millions were useless as designed and could not prevent influenza. Only preventing exposure to the virus could.”
But as has become clear, and as Brown confirmed in our conversation, masks are no longer about science: “Instead of just talking about the science, it became a political thing. And people fell on one side or the other,” he said. “And they said some things, and then they have to back up what they’ve said previously. And they’re just digging a hole deeper and deeper.”
What The New York Times did was to embrace a scientific opinion — masks work! — and then defend that notion like a divine ruling — ignoring contrary evidence and attacking researchers such as Tom Jefferson who have spent decades toiling away on a once-obscure topic. “This is what the future holds,” Jefferson told me. “It’s an upside-down world. It’s the death of science.”"
Trust the "experts" - when they push the left wing agenda
"Reading about the behind-the-scenes drama over the Cochrane review on masking, still pretty mad that we all had to spend 3 years in damp, muffled, chapped-chinned suffocating discomfort just so a bunch of terminally online public health people could own the cons"
Meme - "The New York Times
It Turns Out the 'Deep State' Is Actually Kind of Awesome
Meet the unsung heroes making our country great."
"it doesn't exist -> it's a right wing conspiracy -> it is real and it's stunning and brave -> repeat"
Thread by @joni_askola on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "The fact that Julian Assange is alive and free underscores the stark contrast between the democratic west and the authoritarian regimes he supports. Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is an immensely controversial figure. He is regarded as a traitor to the West, working in the interests of our adversaries, possibly due to being driven by a profound antipathy towards the West. Following the resolution of his 12-year fight against extradition to the United States through a plea deal, he was released from a British prison and on Monday, he was journeying back to his home country of Australia. The release of Julian Assange was met with cheers from both adversaries of the west and western traitors, shedding light on the interests he aligns himself with. He is poised to admit guilt to an Espionage Act charge related to obtaining and disclosing nationally significant information, thus officially acknowledging his status as a traitor. While WikiLeaks may have initially served a positive role by uncovering corruption and military misconduct, its reputation took a turn in 2010 when it published a video from a US military helicopter depicting the killing of civilians in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. Assange released the leaks without redacting any names, exposing hundreds of dissidents in Afghanistan and Iraq to "serious harm, torture, and even death." Following the publication of the unredacted documents, some sources reportedly "disappeared." The release of the leaks endangered hundreds of Afghans who were fighting against the Taliban. In response, Assange remarked, "Well, they're informants," and went on to say, "So, if they get killed, they've got it coming to them. They deserve it."In 2010, it was reported that Assange's associate, Israel Shamir, purportedly provided a list of "organisers, instigators, and rioters, including foreign ones" to Lukashenko. In 2012, there were reports that RT would offer Assange his own talk show. Assange is an agent of russian disinformation. A genuine journalist would never host a talk show on RT. In the same year his show premiered, Assange chose not to publish a leak concerning a 2 billion euro transaction between Assad and a russian government bank. In the 2016 US presidential election, the release of hacked emails and documents from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and John Podesta, the chairman of the Clinton campaign, by WikiLeaks, favored the Trump campaign, consequently benefiting russia in return. In 2016, WikiLeaks obtained a substantial collection of documents related to the russian government, with over 50% of them never having been previously published. However, "Assange provided a series of excuses" for not releasing them. In 2017, WikiLeaks sought to quiet its critics by releasing a "Spy Files russia" dump, which included details about the russian online surveillance system SORM. This system had been previously disclosed, and the leak did not reveal significant new information. When questioned about WikiLeaks' role as a whistleblower in russia, Assange remarked that russia already has Kremlin critics like Navalny and publications such as Novaya Gazeta. The question of whether Assange became a disinformation agent and traitor due to being an opportunistic pawn driven by his antipathy towards the West or if he was a legitimate operative for russia or another authoritarian regime remains unresolved. If we in the West behaved like his beloved russia, syria, or china, the current arrangement would not be taking place. He would not be free, or even alive. This is what sets us apart from them. The fact that all the adversaries of the West, including numerous traitors within the West, are exceedingly pleased to see him released speaks volumes about whom he was valuable to. It will be intriguing to observe Assange's future actions now that he is at liberty. It is quite possible that he will persist in his efforts against the West and in favor of authoritarian regimes. It is fortunate that we didn't turn him into a martyr."
When you just hate the West
Why 324 Front Street Barnum Iowa 50518 Is Trending After Hawk Tuah Video - "The trend basically comes from a Google Street View flasher post after a X user spotted a woman standing in a parking lot outside a bar and grill, allegedly flashing the google street view car in broad daylight."
Why is heat in the UK different? : r/AskUK - "Im on vacation in London and was outside basically all day today and I think I got heatstroke. I couldn’t keep my eyes open or see properly, couldn’t walk straight, and nearly fell down a flight of stairs. I’m Canadian but even in other countries I can cope with it better. Why is the heat here hotter even though it’s not as warm"
"The interesting thing is that people from really cold countries (Sweden, Canada) come here during winter and say that although it’s far, far colder where they come from, it feels much colder here because it’s so damp. Basically, our weather’s shit."
"My boss is working from Bali ATM and on every call he looks like he's about to die from the humidity to such an extent I wonder if it's even enjoyable being there for any amount of time"
Why is heat in the UK different? : r/AskUK - "I spend a large part of my life in the Caribbean as I'm 50% Caribbean, I can tell you the heat in the UK is completely different. In the Caribbean, it rarely gets below 20 degrees, however there is a constant cool breeze coming from the sea which works as natural air conditioning. People on holidays are often caught by the heat, cause it seems alright however the sun is quite strong so you burn easily without noticing. The UK isn't built for heat. Houses are built to trap the heat, cause most time of year it's freezing. My flat has great insulation which is amazing in the winter, but deadly in the summer. Once the heat gets in, it's hard to get it out. It's not even hot outside today (17 degrees is a very comfortable temp), but my flat is still 24 degrees from yesterday even with all windows open. Also noticed the UK is quite humid. When it gets hot, the air is so thick and I get clammy. I have asthma so I really notice the difference. It just gets so unpleasantly hot. Honestly, 25 degrees here is not the same as 25 degrees in the Caribbean"
What Could Have Caused Poland's Crooked Forest? - "n a small corner of western Poland, near the town of Gryfino, a strange and eerie woodland exists. This bizarre collection of curved trees, named the “Crooked Forest,” is shrouded in mystery and despite the numerous different theories that have been proposed over the years, no one truly knows what caused the trees to adopt this conformation. The Crooked Forest consists of around 400 pine trees that grow with a 90-degree bend at their base, the vast majority of which are bent northward. Curiously, the Crooked Forest is enveloped by a larger forest of straight growing pine trees. It is estimated that the trees were planted in the 1930s and that they were around 7-10 years old when they experienced whatever force/damage that resulted in trunk curvature... The final idea that has been thrown around that seems to have gained most acceptance is perhaps the most boring one (Occam’s razor and all that), which proposes that the curves are man-made. This would make sense given the fact that the trees are very consistent. The suggestion is that during the 1930s, local farmers planted and manipulated the trees for ultimate use as a construction material, for example for pieces of furniture or, more likely, ship building. An extract from a piece entitled Wooden Vessel Ship Construction even supports this idea... The invasion of Poland during World War II would have likely interrupted this activity, preventing the farmers from being able to finish the job and thus leaving this peculiar forest that we still see today. The local town was also devastated during the war and was not reestablished until the 1970s when a new power plant was built in the area. This would explain why none of the locals have the foggiest idea why the trees look like this."
MEVnet lets you monitor Malaysia's EV charging infrastructure
The network is better than I expected. Of course, uptime is another issue
Meme - "Getting a rejection email with multiple fried chicken related puns is a new low for me"
"KFC. Hi Eboni, Thank you for your application to Team KFC. We're cluckin' delighted you're keen to join our flock, however at this 'moment in time your skills aren't the secret recipe the Colonel is looking for. But we'd love to hear from you again give us a cluck if you would like to apply in the future. Best Wishes,
Team KFC Dublin - Westmoreland Street"
Why US Signs Look Different Than The Rest Of The World’s - YouTube
Even more reasons driving in the US sucks. Even if you are used to then, you need to read text instead of looking at pictures
🍃 on X - "Thinking about when the Jamiroquai guy said in an interview that he broke up with Winona Ryder because her boobs were too big and she wanted to have sex all the time. World historic fumble"
Meme - Mia @miakhalifa: "Stop thanking people for their military service and start asking how many civilians they k*lled"
Licensed Memes: The Banterbury Tales: "No, Mia. Even the most proficient soldiers don't have a body count as high as yours. Look elsewhere."
Meme - Hot Takes Nobody Asked For: "former *corn* actress mia k has received backlash after this statement. maybe she should ask how many people they helped while she was busy trolling online."
Onigiri Shaped By Sweaty Armpits Of Cute Girls Are A Hit In Japan - "There are now places selling onigiri prepared by young and attractive women. The catch? The snack is not shaped by their skillful hands but their armpits that have been, um, scented by their perspiration... These rice balls also don’t come cheap and have been retailing more than 10 times that of regular onigiri. Onigiri in Japan typically sell for just 100 yen to 200 yen (S$0.90 to S$1.70) a ball. According to reports, the onigiri is even said to be made onsite which allows would-be buyers to watch the process of the rice balls being shaped. Back in 2016, a male Japanese reporter decided to try one made by his female colleague and gave an enthusiastic thumbs up. “It’s so good! I didn’t know that it could be this good just because a beautiful woman made it,” he said before adding that he also wished to display his unfinished snack on an altar."
Double word score? New two-sided Scrabble is 'more inclusive' - "Brett Smitheram, the current UK number one at Scrabble and the 2016 World Scrabble Champion, said: “The game speaks to a trend in younger people who want to avoid competitive games and sense of losing, instead favouring teamwork and collaboration working towards a fun goal together.” It comes as a growing number of younger players say they find the traditional game difficult, with three quarters of players aged 25 to 34 admitting they have searched a word online to check it exists. Almost half of Scrabble players also say they have tried to make up a new word to win a game, a poll of 2,000 adults by Markettiers for UK Scrabble found... It also showed the importance of board games in an age when people are glued to their phones, with more than half those polled saying they play board games to de-stress or to unplug from social media. Some 65 per cent of board game players agreed that it helps them to switch off."
Why French chefs want us to eat this bird – head, bones, beak and all - "The customary way of eating ortolan, a delicate songbird, involves the diner covering his or her head with a large napkin. Tradition dictates that this is to shield – from God’s eyes – the shame of such a decadent and disgraceful act. But if a clutch of leading French chefs have their way, the dish will soon be back on the menu, allowing gluttons to indulge in a meal that ranks as one of the most controversial of all time. The four cooks, including Alain Ducasse, who has a dazzling 18 Michelin stars to his name, have called for a partial reversal of the ban on killing and selling ortolans. He told a French food magazine that the prohibition “undermines centuries of tradition, customs, and promotes a black market with exorbitant prices”. A single ortolan bird is no bigger than a baby’s fist and weighs less than an ounce, but they can be sold for as much as £100 to those willing to break the law. “This is a cry from the heart,” said Michel Guérard, one of the inventors of “nouvelle cuisine”, who wants to serve the dish for one day or one weekend of the year. Killing and selling the bird, a member of the bunting family, has been banned in France since the late 1990s, though the ban was not strictly enforced until 2007... the rarity of the bird is not the only reason why killing it is so controversial. It is the method in which they are dispatched. Hunters catch the birds using traps set in fields during their migratory season (when they fly to Africa). They are then kept in covered cages, encouraging them to gorge on grain in order to double their size. It is said that Roman Emperors stabbed out ortolans’ eyes in order to make the birds think it was night, making them eat even more. They are then thrown alive into a vat of Armagnac, a trick that manages to both drown and marinade the animal at the same time. Killing two birds with one glug, as it were. French chefs argue that “it’s not a bad way to die”. Indeed, it is probably no crueller than force-feeding a goose in order to fatten up its liver into foie gras, another dish that French gourmets refuse to give up despite mounting howls of horror around much of Europe. Then comes the eating – part pagan ritual, part essay in gluttony. The birds are cooked for eight minutes and served with their heads still attached. After the shame-hiding napkin is placed over the diner’s head (helping, too, to trap the aroma of the dish), the ortolan is popped in its entirety into the diner’s mouth, who then proceeds to eat everything including the head and bones. Those who have tasted ortolan rave about the hazelnut and gamey flavours... There is some romanticism to the barbarous act – it appears in Proust and the title character devours one in Gigi. The American chef Anthony Bourdain says the experience is close to ecstasy: “With every bite, as the thin bones and layers of fat, meat, skin and organs compact in on themselves, there are sublime dribbles of varied and wondrous ancient flavours: figs, Armagnac, dark flesh slightly infused with the salty taste of my own blood as my mouth is pricked by the sharp bones.” Ducasse and his fellow chefs point out that the songbird ban in France also prohibits the killing of woodcock, which is legal in Britain. This is true. The small, long-beaked bird can be found on the menu of St John restaurant in London, famous for pioneering “nose to tail” eating, where it is served with its head on, split down the middle. Traditionally, the most prized part of eating woodcock is scooping out the brain... The most famous fan of the bird was President Mitterrand, who, just days before he died from prostate cancer, hosted an epic meal on New Year’s Eve in 1995. It involved Mitterrand eating 30 Marennes oysters, foie gras and capon, washed down with Sauternes and local red wine, before moving on to not just one, but two ortolans. The sheer gluttony of the old Socialist shocked many Frenchmen, even those who think us Brits sentimental animal lovers for turning up our noses at horse meat."
From 2014
Sargasso Sea - Wikipedia - "The Sargasso Sea (/sɑːrˈɡæsoʊ/) is a region of the Atlantic Ocean bounded by four currents forming an ocean gyre. Unlike all other regions called seas, it has no land boundaries. It is distinguished from other parts of the Atlantic Ocean by its characteristic brown Sargassum seaweed and often calm blue water"
Actual Fact Bot: Revived | Facebook - "During the Cold War, the Soviet Union used an automatic nuclear weapons system known as Dead Hand. It had the capability to initiate the launch of Russian ICBMs targeting various cities in the event of a detected nuclear attack through seismic, light, radioactivity, and pressure sensors along the country's borders, even without human oversight. Allegedly, the Dead Hand system remains in use by Russia."
Parliament: New ERP system 'not a threat to privacy' (2014) - "Data collected by a satellite-tracked electronic road-pricing (ERP) system Singapore is building will be "aggregated and anonymised", said Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew in response to questions about how privacy will be safeguarded. In Parliament on Monday, Mr Zainal Sapari (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC) and Non-Constituency MP Gerald Giam both raised oft-cited concerns regarding privacy, with the latter pointing out that the new ERP system is not subjected to clauses in the Data Protection Act."
Data from ERP, public transport cameras to be used in terror fight (2016) - "THE Home Team wants to expand its use of intelligence and investigation tools, and it will make better use of available data in Singapore to combat the growing threat of terrorism and serious crimes. Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam made this point in Parliament on Wednesday during the debate on his ministry's spending plans for the new financial year. He cited examples such as the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system and public transport video cameras, both of which contain important data that could be vital to Singapore's safety and security. "We had initially taken the position that some of these data would not be used ... but with a changed security environment, it means we have to change our position," said Mr Shanmugam. The Home Team had to be able to collect and analyse suspicious travel patterns, and respond in a swift and decisive manner "for our collective security".
Police Can Now Use On-Board GPS To Track Speeding; Implementation By Late 2024 (2024) - "The police’s unveiling of their vehicle forensics capability signifies a paradigm shift in traffic enforcement strategies. With plans to fully implement this capability in 2024, authorities are poised to leverage onboard diagnostics (OBD) ports to extract telemetry data, including location, braking, and acceleration patterns."
Singaporeans aren't really Asian - at least not at work - "Singapore is not only not close to Confucian nations of East Asia — it’s their polar opposite. Only 1 in 10 Singaporeans believe their career is influenced by the employer more than themselves, in stark contrast to an astonishing 68 percent in China, 63 percent in Japan and, also a big surprise, 51 percent in Hong Kong, which is often compared to Singapore. Even in Malaysia, which has a close mutual history with the city-state, about twice as many people believe their future depends on their company, not their own efforts. The only other Asian outlier is India, with which Singapore appears to have much more in common than other countries it is typically associated with. But this is not all—it ranks among the nations of the Anglosphere, like Australia, New Zealand, and the UK itself. The United States of America, often hailed for its freedom-loving individualism, is only in the middle of the pack, with fewer people believing their future depends on them than their employers. Is the American Dream dead? Let’s move to another question: who should motivate the worker? And again, Singapore is an outlier, with just 5 percent of local respondents putting the responsibility on the employer. In truth, most surveyed employees globally recognise that they should work on their motivation to do their jobs well — although, again, not in China or Japan, and only a small majority in Malaysia or Hong Kong, long seen as a beacon of commerce and one of the freest economies in the world. Once more, Singapore is accompanied by India, New Zealand, Australia, and the UK, among others. If that’s not enough, however, here’s a third one: who is responsible for work-life balance? This is a triple whammy. Once more Singapore is at the extreme end of the spectrum, with just 9 percent of local workers looking to their bosses for a better balance between their job and personal life, while China, Japan and Hong Kong are on the opposite end, expecting superiors to plan their lives for them. Even bearing in mind that Singapore is not ethnically homogeneous, the differences are just too huge to be ignored. It outranks not only other Asian nations but Western ones as well. It’s not about just a few percentage points here and there but the widest gulf in the entire survey. What could explain such a huge difference? Are Singaporeans simply affected by their heritage as a former British harbour, having spent decades under foreign laws and customs, today finding themselves in the same intellectual category of self-responsible individuals as Australians, New Zealanders and the British themselves? This seems plausible, looking at the proximity between all of the countries in the survey, until we consider the case of Hong Kong. The city had spent far longer under direct British management than Singapore and yet is clearly closer to the Chinese mainland than the Lion City. It seems that the answer is more complex and might remain highly speculative forever. It may be that Singaporeans had to embrace the self-resilience while being raised in a tiny state that could only count on itself surrounded by largely uncooperative, and occasionally hostile, neighbours. Unlike Hong Kong, which had been merely a gateway for foreign business into China, independent Singapore was forced to open itself up to every willing foreign investor or merchant to find relevance and survive. It’s a truly international hub whose success is entirely self-made. This, coupled with the British heritage in law, education and language, could have made Singaporeans even more independent than the original founders of the 19th-century port. Raised under the rigours of compulsory National Service, it wouldn’t be surprising that the mantra of having to do everything yourself — including dying for your country if necessary — is carried over to the workplace... as a recent PISA study for 15 year olds has shown. Singaporean teenagers took the first spot globally in a test of creative thinking"
Is S$100-200K enough to live comfortably in Singapore? — Canadian man who dreams of raising his family in SG asks - "“Very subjective,” said one. “Upper middle suggests a private flat (not public housing) plus a car. If two kids (in local school) I would say S$400,000. Our family lives in public housing. We spend about $180,000 a year – kids in local school, no tuition... “British ex-PR here,” shared another. “$150k was not enough, and that was living in HDB. You’re going to need upwards of $200k.”"
Dear Hong Kong, Singapore is not your biggest rival | The Straits Times - "Intensifying competition from cities in Hong Kong’s immediate proximity – such as Shenzhen and Macau, among others, threatening to overshadow its traditional role as the lone star of southern China’s economy – is what Hong Kong should be most wary of... Hong Kong consumers – many once reluctant to even step foot on mainland China – now flock in droves to Shenzhen on weekends to dine, shop and even undergo dental treatment. They are enamoured with the city’s lower prices, more polite services, greater choices and longer opening hours compared with Hong Kong’s. In 2023, Hong Kongers made 53 million trips to Shenzhen, while mainlanders made 26.7 million visits to Hong Kong. Interestingly, Hong Kong’s closer integration with the mainland in terms of the increased convenience of its cross-border rail services and wider usage of the WeChat Pay and AliPay systems has also aided the migration of consumption out of Hong Kong to Shenzhen. Retail sales in Hong Kong dropped 14.7 per cent in April from a year earlier. For the first quarter of 2024, the figure was down 1.3 per cent year on year. In Shenzhen, consumer spending rose 4 per cent in the same period... As a technology hub, Shenzhen’s economy has already overtaken Hong Kong’s since 2018. The municipal government, which cultivated the industry with targeted policies including talent schemes and tax incentives, now counts tech conglomerate Tencent Holdings and electric carmaker BYD among its start-up successes... “Hong Kong’s role as a star in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) is fading as it lacks innovation and has been too dependent on real estate development to generate income,” Mr Lee said, referring to the economic region comprising Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau. “For years, Hong Kong used to rank top in competitiveness among all Chinese cities. But Shenzhen and Guangzhou have risen up silently in recent years.” Macau is another close competitor that appears to often escape Hong Kongers’ notice. While local news reports in early 2024 went to town on how Hong Kong should emulate Singapore in securing major concerts by global stars such as Taylor Swift and British rock band Coldplay, none played up the fact that the biggest acts in Hong Kong’s immediate region, such as US singer Bruno Mars and US pop band OneRepublic, mostly went to Macau. Industry players blamed Hong Kong’s lack of large venues while officials attributed it to the government’s principle of allowing entertainment events a free hand to operate. A new 50,000-seat stadium would soon draw to Hong Kong its share of mega concerts, they promised. The city’s current two biggest concert venues seat 12,500 people each. Meanwhile, Macau – whose two largest venues each seat about 15,000 people – hosted some 240 concerts in 2023. It was a threefold rise from the pre-pandemic years and Hong Kong singers accounted for 60 per cent of those concerts, Macau media reported... Macau, which has traditionally relied on its casinos as its main economic driver, has made a concerted effort to boost its non-gaming entertainment sector. The rebranding push comes after China’s 2022 crackdown on high-rollers that made up half the city’s gaming revenues, and the Chinese authorities’ imposition of stricter regulations on the casino industry... Where two decades ago Hong Kong was consistently the world’s busiest container port, now a string of mainland ports have knocked it out of the top 10 rankings... Ultimately, HKUST’s Prof Low puts Hong Kongers’ fixation on how their city fares against Singapore – often to the exclusion of its Chinese competitors – down to “a reflection of Hong Kong’s self-image”. “Hong Kong sees itself as an international financial centre, and in that respect, no other Chinese city comes even close,” he said"
The Difference Between Korean BBQ and Japanese BBQ | Explained - "One of the main differences between Korean BBQ and Japanese BBQ is how each is prepared. Korean BBQ is cooked on a Korean BBQ table grill where meat is grilled on gas or charcoal grills that are inlaid into the dining table. Japanese BBQ involves cooking meat either over a Japanese hibachi table grill, which is a small, portable barbecue made from cast iron; or a Japanese teppanyaki grill, which features a solid flat griddle and works with a propane flame... Another difference between Korean BBQ and Japanese BBQ is the way that the meat is flavored. Korean BBQ adds flavor by soaking meat in marinade to make it well seasoned and more flavorful, while Japanese BBQ focuses on the taste of the meat and incorporates various dipping sauces such as garlic, mirin (a type of rice wine that is a common ingredient in Japanese cooking) and soy sauce to add flavor to non-marinated meat. Korean BBQ and Japanese BBQ both incorporate beef and chicken into their dishes, although Japanese BBQ tends to focus more on high-quality cuts of beef whereas Korean BBQ also prominently features pork in its dishes. Korean BBQ comes in several different varieties including bulgogi, which consists of meat that has been soaked in a mixture of sugar, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper, garlic and scallions before being prepared on a Korean BBQ grill table. Another type of Korean BBQ is galbi, which is made with beef short ribs that have been marinated with soy sauce, sugar, water, mirin and onions and then prepared on a Korean barbecue grill table. Other Korean BBQ varieties include daeji bulgogi (spicy pork that is immersed in sauce made with gochu garu, a type of Korean chili powder), as well as jumulleok, which features short steak marinated with sesame oil, salt and pepper. Japanese BBQ styles include yakiniku, where pork and beef are sliced into bite-sized pieces and baked into charcoal; yakiton, which grills different pork meat cuts over charcoal; and yakitori, which typically features grilled chicken charcoal roasted on skewers until the outside is crispy and the inside is tender. Teppanyaki is another popular style of Japanese BBQ that consists of thin slices of beef mixed with soy sauce and sugar and cooked on a Japanese teppanyaki grill. Korean BBQ and Japanese BBQ are also served differently. Korean BBQ is served with a wide variety of vegetable side dishes known as banchan that range from kimchi and spicy cucumber salad to seasoned spinach and kongnamul muchim, otherwise known as seasoned soybean sprouts. On the other hand, Japanese BBQ keeps things more simple and the meat is handled with chopsticks and served alongside a smaller selection of raw vegetables with dipping sauces."
This is a good explainer of woke delegitimisation, which applies in other areas too. Logical fallacies are used because people fall for them.
"The @latimes ran a hit-piece on @ChoooCole
I'm going to go through the piece and explain the various strategies and tactics the author uses to smear Chloe's motives and character.
If you want to win, you need to know how the Gender Ideology smear machine works
Let's go
To understand why the piece was written you need to know who Chloe Cole is, and *WHY* they want to attack her.
The Blockers, hormones, and surgeries done to Chloe have done what @AbigailShrier calls "irreversible damage," and Chloe now lives with this pain.
Now Chloe goes around the world warning people about the dangers of gender ideology, and the dangers of "gender affirming care."
As perverse and evil as it sounds, this tragic story is part of the reason the L.A. Times is attacking her
You see, because Chloe actually had gender transition surgery, she has both the social standing and moral authority to speak about gender ideology and gender medicine...
As such that Transgender Activists can't just dismiss @ChoooCole
When a regular person questions Gender Transition for minors the activists can dismiss them by saying "you're not a doctor," "you have no experience," or calling them transphobic.
That won't work with Chloe.
Chloe actually went through Blockers, Hormones, and Gender Surgery, was irreversibly damaged so they cannot dismiss here. This means the activists have to find some other way of pushing back against Chloe, and this is where the L.A. Times hit piece comes in.
I'll explain...
In order to see what is going on you need to understand something about woke activists: The woke don't try to win by arguing woke views are true and views the woke disagree with are false.
They try to win by socially *DELEGITIMIZING* the people and ideas they disagree with.
The woke do not try to win by presenting the facts and the truth.
The woke try to win by getting the upper hand in the conversation. They want social influence, prestige, clout, status, moral authority and credibility needed to get people to agree with them.
Woke gender activists try to win by using 2 moves:
1. They try to ensure they are the only ones with the social standing, moral authority, and intellectual credibility to be listened to
2. Remove the social standing, and moral authority of anyone who opposes gender ideology
Gender Activists want all the social influence, prestige, status, and authority for themselves so everyone listens to them; and they want to diminish the influence, authority, credibility, standing and status of any person they disagree with in order to delegitimize dissent.
The Gender activists are engaged in a *SOCIAL* fight for *POWER*...not a battle over what is actually true.
And this is why they attack @ChoooCole
Let's take a look at some examples so you can see the various moves that are used to attack Chloe's credibility.
The article does not seek to attack Chloe directly. Rather, the article seeks to suggest, hint, and insinuate that Chloe Cole is being motivated by money, clout chasing, and fame rather then a genuine concern for Kids...and that the right is using her as a political pawn.
The first paragraph below is a masterclass in framing. The framing here suggests that Chloe discredits other people's stories, but they don't discredit Chloe. The unstated suggestion being that Chloe is not being fair to people she disagrees with.
See how that works?
The problem is that Chloe doesn't discredit other people's stories, her point is not that people don'thave their experiences....her point is that she had the exact same experiences other trans kids have, and that is when she wanted to have transition surgery.
Chloe is not discrediting the experiences of youth who struggle with gender, she is saying the opposite: that she (chloe) UNDERSTANDS their experience because she had the same sorts of experiences with gender dysphoria.
Do you see how that first paragraph distorts the truth?
The second move the article makes is to try and impugn Chloe's motives by suggesting she is in it for the money.
The article tells us what Chloe charges to speak, but it does not tell us how much money Marci Bowers (a transgender surgeon) makes doing gender surgeries....
The article questions @ChoooCole's motives, but not the motives of the surgeon who gets paid to perform the gender surgeries
The article goes out of its way to insinuate that Chloe is in it to make a buck, while treating Marci Bowers like a neutral and respectable expert.
The next move the article uses is to attempt to make it look like Chloe is motivated by an attempt to get popularity because the LGBT people kicked her out.
It is not until the last paragraph of the article where it is stated that Chloe is doing this for attention (pic 3)
It is suggested that Chloe is not doing her activism out of a sense of deep conviction, but rather out of a combination of grifting to get money and for attention seeking and validation seeking. Do you see how this works?
The article also goes out of it's way to interview experts who disagree with Chloe, but no medical experts who agree with Chloe get interviewed.
As such, the story is *framed* as "Activist Chloe who is out to make a buck and get attention VS. neutral medical experts."
The article is not trying to argue that Chloe is wrong about the facts. The article is trying to delegitimize Chloe's activism by subverting her social standing and draining her moral authority by making it look like she is in it for money and attention
See how that works?
The article wants to deconstruct Chloe's story of "Teen girl gets pulled into gender ideology and gets damaged by 'gender Medicine,' and regrets it"
It wants to turn her story into "girl regrets transition, so she cynically used her story to make money and get famous"
What the article wants to do is to undercut the power of Chloe's story by making it look like what happened to her is her own fault, and that now she is milking her story in order to make money.
it is an attack on her reputation, standing, authority and credibility.
The article makes no mention of Chloe's extensive medical bills, the fact that insurance won't cover many aspects of the care she needs, or the fact her entire family has been doxxed by Trans activists. That part gets ignored by the article.
See how this works?
The Woke activists do not try to win by being correct about the facts....they try to win by socially *DELEGITIMIZING* the people and ideas they disagree with.
They don't want to win the battle for truth, they want to win the battle over who gets to have *social power*
They want control over who is listened to, who is taken seriously, who is believed, who was social standing, and who has the moral authority to speak on social issues.
And they are willing to smear @ChoooCole to get what they want.
THAT is that the article is doing."