Links - 16th September 2024 (2 - Harris-Walz: Capital Gains Tax)

Max Meyer on X - "There is a *lot* of confusion about the Biden-Harris Admin's "unrealized capital gains tax" proposal. Who endorsed it? Who does it affect? Caveats? I have studied it in detail and will explain it here thoroughly and *neutrally*. At the end, I'll offer my opinion...
FACTS: The proposal appears in the document "General Explanations of the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2024 Revenue Proposals" published March 2023. This is an official document reflecting White House & Treasury policy - and *general* requests to Congress for revenue. But Congress retains tax authority. It's just a proposal. Here it is: "The proposal would impose a minimum tax of 25 percent on total income, generally inclusive of unrealized capital gains, for all taxpayers with wealth (that is, the difference obtained by subtracting liabilities from assets) greater than $100 million." Those are the basics. If the IRS determines you are worth at least $100 million, you should pay a minimum tax of 25% on your income, including on your unrealized capital gains. That could be your house going up in value, your stock, etc.
Your annual minimum tax is 25% times your annual income, realized and unrealized. But there are some key technicalities.
TECHNICALITY 1: The unrealized gains tax payments are treated as a PRE-PAYMENTS on future *realized* gains taxes. So you are not going to pay taxes on the same capital gain twice.*
*TECHNICALITY 1.5: You can get a refund upon realizing the gain if you have "uncredited payments" (unrealized payments that haven't been counted against an actual capital tax) and those uncredited payments exceed what you'd pay in long-term capital gains. This is especially important if you end up selling for a smaller gain than you were "unrealized" taxed for, or if you actually lose money. You aren't paying unrealized on the gain and nothing on the loss. You can get refunded.
TECHNICALITY 2: You don't have to pay it all at once. The first year of minimum tax can be paid in 9 installments. Future years' minimum liability can be paid in 5 installments.
TECHNICALITY 3: if you die, your estate pays the federal death tax and then you get refunded to the extent you "overpaid" unrealized taxes. One thing that has been confused is that this proposal is not *just* applicable at death. It's applicable at all times.
TECHNICALITY 4: if you are "illiquid" i.e. less than 205 of your wealth is in tradable, liquid assets, then you can have only tradable assets count. BUT you have to pay a penalty or "deferral charge" on the gain of of your illiquid assets up to 10%
ANALYSIS/OPINION. HOW WOULD THIS AFFECT SOMEONE LIKE ELON MUSK?
Musk's current net worth (mostly in Tesla public stock, SpaceX private stock, and X private stock) is assessed at $250B. The "unrealized gain" portion of that (on which he hasn't paid taxes) is likely much more than $200B. But we'll be conservative and say $200B. That would mean a year-one estimated minimum tax would be at least $50 billion, which could be spaced into 9 payments of $5.55 billion and would be credited against future capital gains taxes, and refunded versus future capital losses. But right now he would owe $50 billion that he would never have owed unless he sold ALL OF HIS ASSETS. That's why this policy is extreme. You could perform this analysis on other billionaires.
My opinion: it is a confiscatory policy. It is extremely unethical, unworkable, and would cause complete chaos even with the technicalities that have been included. But it is specially designed to target mega billionaires with a large percentage of their wealth in publicly-traded stock. Elon Musk. Warren Buffet. Mark Zuckerberg. Larry Page. For those people, it effectively is the simple 25% confiscation that bureaucrats have been dreaming of forever. For people in the $100M-$1B range AND ESPECIALLY PEOPLE WHO ARE STILL ACTIVE ENTREPRENEURS it would be a nightmare of bureaucracy and compliance. It would terrify people, and in my opinion - discourage further entrepreneurship because they'll try to steal 25% of your ephemeral gains up-front, rather than when you actually earn the income.
HAS HARRIS ENDORSED THIS POLICY?
1. She's the Vice President of the United States. Joe Biden is the President. It's their administration. Unless she says otherwise, it's safe to assume she's on board.
a. Maybe that doesn't mean she would do it herself as POTUS
2. Semafor reports the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget as saying: "The campaign specifically told us that they support all of the tax increases on the high earners and corporations that are in the Biden budget" That's pretty clear. The unrealized tax was a Biden budget proposal. And unless VP Harris specifically says otherwise, I believe we should assume this is her plan, too.
CLOSING NOTE. Biden-Harris Admin says: "Preferential treatment for unrealized gains disproportionately benefits high-wealth taxpayers and provides many high-wealth taxpayers with a lower effective tax rate than many low- and middle- income taxpayers." There is no "preferential treatment" -- it is REALITY treatment. Gains on paper are not income so they are not treated as income. They say this is unfair. It isn't. Treating unrealized and realized gains both as income is lunacy."

Kamala Harris Plan To Tax Unrealized Capital Gain Is Scary, Here’s Why - "In 2019, she floated a 4% “income-based premium” on households making more than $100,000 to pay for Medicare for All, but this has not yet resurfaced in 2024. Among the more controversial of the Biden proposals—which Harris has repeated—is a tax on unrealized capital gains for taxpayers with wealth greater than $100 million. It may be labeled a “billionaire tax,” though $100 million is a tenth of a billion. Even so, few may want to defend billionaires (or someone with a mere $100 million for that matter) in the current climate. Some argue this fairly targets extremely wealthy Americans who have taken advantage of tax rules to pay lower rates than their secretaries. For example, wealthy people can tap their resources by borrowing money rather than selling something that would trigger tax. Some attack the proposal as a wealth tax that will chill investments of capital... We have never had a tax on gains that are not “realized,” meaning sold. In that sense, this new tax would be groundbreaking... Apart from policy, there are administrative issues galore. How do you go about valuing everything every year to be taxed? Public company stock would be straightforward. But most assets could be a nightmare, and who in the end gets to carry the day on value? Disputes about value in tax cases are legendary and voluminous. Nearly every estate tax case with the IRS includes valuation disputes, often with competing experts. In income tax cases, charitable contributions of noncash assets such as real estate or crypto often also end up in major valuation fights. Just imagine what annual value statements with tax returns might look like, in a world where the increase in value since last year turns into taxes. Capital gains have always been singled out for lower taxes, not higher. And except in the case of estate tax measured on death, it has been nearly sacred not to tax “earnings” you didn’t receive... What is arguably the scariest part of this idea? What if this opens the door to a more generalized effort by the government to tax you on something that you still own? Right now the proposal is only to use this wealth tax for the truly wealthy. Not just billionaires, but also anyone with at least $100 million. Once we start down this path, could we some years from now face a tax like this for someone with $20 million, $10 million, even $1 million?"
Left wingers hate the rich, so they would also support things like reversing the presumption of innocence in criminal law for them, and mock those who object as bootlickers, simps or idiots since they are far from rich. So much for "empathy" or even really good sense

Meme - Spike Cohen @RealSpikeCohen: "If you think that taxes on unrealized gains will only be used on the ultra-rich, I have an introductory income tax bracket to sell you."
"Marginal Income Tax Brackets in 1913
Marginal Tax Rate - 1-7%
1% - Over $0 but not over $20,000 - In 2015 Dollars - $480,697"

Meme - Man with mullet in plaid in truck: "Capital gains will be additional tax on people making over $100m. I'm afraid how that'll affect me"
Weird. Left wingers keep boasting that they're all about "empathy", and that wokeness is about "empathy". Of course, they hate the "rich". And empathy aside, it's only smart to recognise bad ideas, especially when they will eventually hurt you in some way

Taxing wealthy people’s unrealized capital gains is not closing a 'loophole' - "I couldn’t help but shake my head at the United States presidential candidate Kamala Harris ‘ proposal, which she has adopted from President Joe Biden, to tax unrealized capital gains for people who are worth US$100 million or more. For such people, they would be required to annually pay a minimum tax of 25 per cent of their income and unrealized capital gains . In other words, wealthy Americans would pay an annual tax — akin to a wealth tax — on their unrealized capital gains. Some progressive think tanks trumpet the ideology that by not taxing wealthy people’s unrealized capital gains, such people are taking advantage of this “loophole,” but I like to think about it another way. This simplistic view is nonsense and violates the good concepts of common sense, fairness and the basic timing issues of profit generally described above. Ideas such as these are poor policies that unfairly target the wealthy . It’s been in vogue forever to “tax the rich” and “stick it to the wealthy” since they are taking advantage of loopholes (a vacuous phrase that describes nothing), but proper taxation and economic policy needs a more foundational underpinning. In addition, like any form of wealth tax, the idea is rife with administrative complexities, such as how to value assets (especially non-financial assets like businesses, land, rental properties and other real estate). What would happen if, in a subsequent year, there are unrealized losses and taxes have previously been paid on those unrealized gains? Liquidity issues would be common since wealth is often tied up in assets that can not be easily liquidated... One can’t help but think that if this proposal were to somehow pass into law in the U.S., the exodus of capital would be large and would contribute to economic chaos. Despite the complexities of tax law (including the timing of receiving income and computing profit), there is inherently some common sense involved in developing all tax and economic policies. The Harris proposal to tax unrealized capital gains lacks common sense."
When left wingers demand to "tax the rich", they mean taxing them so much they are no longer rich

Unrealized Gains Tax is an Economic Fallacy - "Taxing unrealized capital gains contradicts the basic principles of fairness and property rights essential for a free and prosperous society. Taxation, if we’re going to have it on income, should be based on actual income earned, not on paper gains that may never materialize. Moreover, taxing unrealized gains hurts economic activity by discouraging investment and capital formation, the lifeblood of a dynamic economy. When individuals know their unrealized gains will be taxed, they have less incentive to invest in productive assets such as stocks, real estate, or businesses. This leads to a misallocation of resources and slower economic growth. Additionally, this tax reduces the capital available for entrepreneurship and innovation. Start-ups and small businesses often rely on investment from individuals willing to take risks in the hope of eventually earning a return on their investment. By taxing unrealized capital gains, we discourage risk-taking and stifle innovation, essential elements for improving productivity and raising living standards... this new tax would merely redistribute wealth from productive individuals to the government, thereby further misallocating hard-earned money. Furthermore, the tax revenue raised from this tax will be far less than proponents anticipate, as individuals will work less, invest less, and find ways to avoid such taxes through legal paths. This would result in less economic prosperity and a resulting decline in tax collections."

memetic_sisyphus on X - "The wealthiest 1% own 50% of all the stocks. A hundred million puts you in the top .5%. So let’s call it 30% of the stock market.   Every year a tax on unrealized gains for about 30% of the market causes massive sell offs for liquidity, tanking the price of stocks for everyone. Your 401k loses its value every tax season.   Long term this encourages the richest members of society to keep more of their wealth liquid, which means massive shortages in investments for business expansion, VCs drying up, interest rates skyrocketing. (Maybe some drop in inflation).   From a revenue point of view the federal government would almost certainly lower tax receipts. The sell off to pay taxes on unrealized gains would likely impact the capital gains taxes across the board as many would have to sell at a loss.   This is nothing short of an economic catastrophe and even left wing commentators agree."

Meme - memetic_sisyphus @memeticsisyphus: "Every political argument with the left feels like coming to a fork in the path. You know there’s a bear down the left path and you say, “we can’t go that way there’s a bear, it will be unpleasant.”  They respond “look how pretty the path is! We don’t have to go that far!” Then sprint down the path right at the angry bear."
MWT @mountainwesttax: "I’m really worried about a tax on unrealized capital gains over $100M" *man in messy room*

Kamala Harris's 'unrealized gains tax' is so dumb as to be truly historic - "It’s been a while since anyone has proposed a dumber idea, so in that sense, at least, she is a historic candidate. And those who think it’s a good idea are historically stupid. As many others have pointed out already, such a tax would harm everyone investing for retirement, depressing asset values as the uber-rich are forced to make massive annual sales just to pay the tax. And what I’d really like to know is whether, if I’m ever forced to pay taxes on stocks I’m still holding just because their value went up on paper, do I get my money back when their on-paper value goes back down again months or years later? The best defense of this tax, intellectually, is that it falls on only the filthy rich, meaning that only a relatively modest number of people will be completely screwed over by a system far more unfair and unjust than the one we have now. But if you support government screwing over Americans, so long as you get to choose which ones get screwed, that only calls your decency into question. The reality is that taxes that start off narrowly focused on just a small group of people always end up expanding to get almost everyone. This has happened over and over again throughout our history. Consider that you are still paying the Spanish-American War Tax tax every time you pay your monthly phone bill. The tax to fund that 1898 war was easy to pass because only rich people had telephones then. The war ended after less than a year, but the phone tax has survived in various forms for more than 100 years. On occasion, it has been partially repealed, reinstated and altered. The tax on long distance access, one of its descendants, finally ended in 2006 after a court ruling forced the IRS to stop collecting it. There’s still a push to repeal its last remnants, but don’t hold your breath. The income tax, in 1913, hit only the rich. Its top rate was 7 percent, falling on incomes of half a million or more, with lower rates for those making at least $20,000 (about $635,000 today), which very few people did at that time. But a funny thing happened on the way to soaking the rich. Although the income tax was never sold as a way to take 10 percent, 25 percent or even more of what average earners make, that’s what it has become. Add that on top of the combined 15.1 percent of your income that you are losing to Social Security and Medicare taxes. Are you feeling the economic justice yet? The Alternative Minimum Tax was created in 1970 because of outrage over just 154 households with incomes over $200,000 ($1.6 million in today’s money) who had paid zero in taxes the year before. Forty-three years later, Congress was forced to act because its formula had allowed the tax to creep so far down the income scale that it was about to gobble up almost every two-income middle class family in America. Only in 2017 did the Trump tax bill restore its original purpose as a tax paid by only the very highest earners, and even then, it passed over Democrats’ vociferous objections. The inheritance tax was supposed to hit only the rich. But the rich have complicated life insurance products and trusts they use to pass wealth to the next generation tax-free. So, who gets hit with this death tax? Not Bill Gates or George Soros, but Old MacDonald — you know, the farmer. His land and farm equipment may be worth $13 million on paper, but he needs those use-assets to make the slim margin that comprises his annual income. Because he cannot shelter it from the IRS the way the super-rich can, his family will have to sell off the farm to Gates or to some large corporation to pay a tax bill as high as 40 percent of the estate. Harris even wants to expand this tax by changing the treatment of inherited capital gains, hammering death-tax victims a second time. If history is any guide, Harris’s tax on so-called “unrealized capital gains” will ultimately bite all of us. Today’s Democratic Party talks about “the rich” paying “their fair share.” They start by claiming they want to target only a small, very specific group, like those 154 zero-tax families, so that you’re convinced it won’t affect you. But once they get the concept in place, it’s only a matter of time before they get their hands into your pockets, too. The only way to protect yourself, your family and what you’ve earned is to vote against Democrats — to stop them from creating and increasing the taxes in the first place."
Weird. I thought left wingers were very keen on learning "history"
I got a lot of amusing copes after posting these facts

The reality of Kamala Harris' plan to tax unrealized capital gains - ""Economists across the political spectrum agree that when a billionaire's wealth goes up by a large amount of money, it's income even if it's not cash in a bank account," the White House official argues. "They often borrow against their assets and use it as disposable income." When asked if a tax on such loans was discussed as an alternative, he declined to answer. The Harris campaign didn't return an interview request."
Left wingers keep pretending that loans are income. This is why they're poor (besides not understanding compound interest, opportunity cost, marginal tax rates etc)

Marxism in One Minute

Marxism in One Minute
Henry Hazlitt

The whole gospel of Karl Marx can be summed up in a single sentence: Hate the man who is better off than you are. Never under any circumstances admit that his success may be due to his own efforts, to the productive contribution he has made to the whole community. Always attribute his success to the exploitation, the cheating, the more or less open robbery of others. Never under any circumstances admit that your own failure may be owing to your own weakness, or that the failure of anyone else may be due to his own defects — his laziness, incompetence, improvidence or stupidity. Never believe in the honesty or disinterestedness of anyone who disagrees with you.

This basic hatred is the heart of Marxism. This is its animating force. You can throw away the dialectical materialism, the Hegelian framework, the technical jargon, the “scientific” analysis, and millions of pretentious words, and you still have the core: the implacable hatred and envy that are the raison d’etre for all the rest.

--- The Freeman, February 1966

Links - 16th September 2024 (1 - Palestine/Middle East Peace)

Jesus the Palestinian...Really? - "While the exact origin of the name “Palestine” is still debated, there are aspects of the word’s meaning that we can know for sure. It once possibly described a people group known as the Philistines, but that people group was in no way connected to the current era Palestinians – not ethnically, not linguistically, not historically and not culturally. In A.D. 132, the Jewish Bar Kochba revolt took place against the Romans. Things didn’t end well for the Jewish people; and in addition to a bloodbath of gigantic proportions, Israel was renamed Palaestina by the Romans. The rebranding of the land with the name of their enemies, the Philistines, was an effort to undermine Jewish history and humiliate the Jewish people further.  Jerusalem was also renamed Aelia Capitolina by emperor Hadrian. The name Palestine stuck and continued to be used after that time. It is nowhere to be found in the Bible.  When the British were in control from 1922 to 1948, the area was governed under what was known as the British Palestine Mandate. In the original text of the Mandate itself, dated 1922, we can read:  “Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country.”  We should not have an issue calling Israel “Palestine” as long as it is a description of the landmass of Israel prior to 1948. Up to that time in history, the term “Palestine” simply described a piece of land in the Middle East. Even after Israel became a State in 1948 and the name Eretz Yisrael started being used, the word “Palestine” was not an issue for anybody; it was more or less an outdated name for the land of Eretz Yisrael. It is after that time, and under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, that the definition for Palestine went from geographical to political, in an attempt to describe a displaced people group named “the Palestinians”, in need of an “ancestral” homeland.  Before the 1960s, historical documents were replete with descriptions of Israel as Palestine, such as the British Palestine Mandate already mentioned. Israeli stamps, coins and newspaper said “Palestine”, and nobody cared. Palestine was always synonymous with Israel, the Jewish State. Arabs in neighboring countries never called themselves Palestinians, but rather Syrians, Lebanese, Jordanians, Egyptians, etc.  Most Arabs in the early 1900s would have argued that Palestinian Arabs were simply Syrians as Mitchell Bard documents in his well-researched book Myths and Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict. He writes: “Prior to partition, Palestinian Arabs did not view themselves as having a separate identity. When the First Congress of Muslim-Christian Associations met in Jerusalem in February 1919 to choose Palestinian representatives for the Paris Peace Conference, the following resolution was adopted: We consider Palestine as part of Arab Syria, as it has never been separated from it at any time. We are connected with it by national, religious, linguistic, natural, economic and geographical bonds.”... Even the Qur’an (Sura Maida 5:21-22) mentions the “Holy Land” in the context of Moses and the spies preparing to enter the Land of Canaan; but never does it call it Palestine. Jerusalem isn’t even mentioned by name in the Qur’an.  Today, nobody questions the etymology of the word “Palestine” and that is a shame. What is really sad, is that the Arab refugees who were forced by their own countries to remain in Israel post-1948 ended up having children who then had children. These innocent subsequent generations have been labeled “Palestinians” for political gain. They are real people who deserve a real home and a decent life. Backtracking to pre-1948 “Palestine” would connect them all with one or another of the neighboring Arab countries, but that doesn’t serve the current antisemitic agenda of Israeli occupation, colonization and ethnic cleansing, does it?  This would be bad if it stopped there, but it doesn’t. To garner more support from Christians who might not check the accuracy of what they are told, there is now a movement to paint Yeshua as a Palestinian and not a Jew. This is part of what can be called Christian Palestinianism... Yeshua was born in Bethlehem, Judea (Micah 5:2), not Bethlehem, Palestine, and it would be another 700 years before Arabs would get to the Promised Land and invade it. At the time of His crucifixion, Yeshua had a sign nailed above His head that read, Iesvs Nazarenvs Rex Ivdaeorvm meaning “Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews” in Latin. It never said King of the Palestinians.  Victimhood and social justice go hand in hand, and if we can lead some people to believe that the Messiah was a Palestinian, it would go a long way to help further the myopic Palestinian agenda... It doesn’t help when UNESCO decides to call the Temple Mount only by its Muslim name. So, the Kotel or western wall is called al-Buraq wall, and the area in front of it the al-Buraq plaza. It is also claimed that the Al-Aqsa mosque on top of the Temple Mount is the mosque that is referred to in the Qur’an (17:1). There it talks of a journey Muhammad made at night from the Sacred Mosque (Mecca) to the “Farthest Mosque”. Muslim scholars have later identified “The Farthest Mosque” with Jerusalem, but there was no mosque in Jerusalem at that time. Additionally, the al-masjid Al-Aqsa mosque was built in AD 705, which happens to be 73 years after the death of Muhammad. Here we have a historical anachronism conveniently ignored."

Clash Report on X - "Putin asked Khamenei to implement a "controlled response" to Israel, avoid civilian casualties. Source: Reuters"
Haviv Rettig Gur on X - "Putin needs to protect all the things Israel will target in a direct confrontation with Iran. The armament factories, the oil and gas depots, etc.  In other words, this is yet another data point showing that the Iranian regime is vastly more vulnerable than it pretends, and that it’s actually a bit disgraceful that the West is so easily cowed by Iranian sabre-rattling.  Want to avoid the war? Convince Iran it will lose precious things - the sorts of things it sells to Putin - if war comes."

Liza Rosen on X - "Watch: female Palestinian Hamas supporter in Gaza explains her desire to burn Jews including children alive. She wants to watch them suffer and scream for being inferior non-Muslims. During this interview on Turkish TV, she explained that all Palestinian Muslims seek to worship Allah (God of Islam) by killing Jews as a human sacrifice including by burning them to death. She vows that the Palestinians will fulfill Allah's will to islamize the whole world by completing the genocide that Hitler started against the Jews: "[…] by Allah, only the people of Palestine will restore the honor of the Islamic nation.""

Liza Rosen on X - "Watch: Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, says all they want is to invade Israel and kill Jews "for the sake of Allah (God of Islam)". He describes how Palestinian Muslims will sacrifice the Jews as an Islamic act of worship "for the sake of Allah" by tearing their beating hearts out of their body.  Please watch and share this documentary film by Pierre Rehov which exposes how Hamas Hamas exploited women and children to attack Israel during the Gaza border riots."

Liza Rosen on X - "Watch: Palestinian Hamas terrorist explains his desire to go into a nursery in Israel and slaughter all the Jewish children and babies as a human sacrifice for the sake of Allah (God of Islam). As you can see in this documentary, Palestinian Muslims believe that murdering Jews and other non-Muslims for the sake of Allah gives them a one-way ticket to the Muslim paradise where each "martyr" receives 72 slave virgins."

Liza Rosen on X - "Popular Palestinian Muslim preacher vows to conquer Europe and ethnocide Christian nations by imposing Islam: "Soon We Will Conquer Paris and Rome, Rule Europe with Islam".  According to him, Muslims are furious and Allah (God of Islam) is offended by the western world, where women are "prostitutes" and men are "gays". He emphasized during the speech that the only solution is to conquer the West and impose Islam.  Western countries including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany and France donate billions of dollars as "foreign aid" to the Palestinians every year. Is this what the western countries support?"

Liza Rosen on X - "Over the past decade, Britain has "donated" around £4 billion in foreign aid to Pakistan where Christians and Hindus are murdered and churches and temples are burned by Muslims. Link to the article about the persecution of minorities in Pakistan:"
Weird. I thought Israel was protested because it was a Western ally and a democracy which got Western aid

Liza Rosen on X - ""F**k the Jews... F**k their daughters... F**k their mothers... Rape their daughters... Free Palestine" Islamists in London threaten to rape Jewish girls to "Free Palestine". Will the media report on this even if it doesn't fit their narrative? RT!"

Liza Rosen on X - "Shocking video which went viral on social media shows a Pakistani Muslim migrant in the UK speaks his mind on Israel and Jews during a "Pro-Palestinian" rally on the streets of London, England: "Hitler knew how to deal with these people". This shocking rhetoric has no place in the twenty-first century!!!"

Liza Rosen on X - "Watch: female Palestinian-Hamas terrorist explains how Palestinian Muslims took to the streets of Gaza and the West Bank to celebrate the London bombings on July 7, 2005. As the death toll in London rose, the Palestinians' celebrations became wilder. According to her non-Muslim people in Britain are considered enemies of Islam and a legitimate target for jihad. This is a short excerpt from Pierre Rehov's documentary film "suicide killers". Here is a link to the full documentary: https://youtu.be/S1_0zDD1i3A?feature=shared"

Meme - Arab: "I hate you so much the amount of hate is unreal"
Soyjak wearing Trans flag: "Muslim lives matter #queerforpalestine"
Creative Deduction @CreativeDeduct: "Yep. We are so in thrall to the ideal of tolerance that we can't imagine being intolerant of people who would never tolerate us being who we are. We are witnessing the deliberate suicide of the western culture."

Meme - Rabbi E. Poupko. #IStandWith...: "To the @nytimes when a 14 year old Jewish boy is murdered by a terrorist, it is not an act of violence, it only ignites violence. It is not a murder or a killing, it is a "death". This is what having ZERO regard for Jewish lives looks like."
"Death of 14-year-old Ignites More Violence in West Bank. Dozens of Israelis and Palestinians were wounded during clashes at several locations across the West Bank on Saturday after a missing teenage boy was found dead."

Richard Millett on X - "In UK it’s not considered harassment to turn up near a religious Jewish woman’s home @TzipiHotovely just before Shabbat knowing she’ll be home with her husband and young children and then scream for the destruction of her country for 1 hour constant in a Jewish part of London."

Thread by @skedeschi on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "The thing that really winds me up about the global obsession with Palestine is the moral superiority some claim, while indisputably engaging in a clearly racist motivated obsession with anything that involves Jews.  Coming from a family myself that are refugees from *actual* ethnic cleansing (rather than the Palestinian version which is essentially trying to ethnically cleanse someone and failing spectacularly), I perhaps have a bit less empathy than most. I have, after all, managed to get through my parents relocating thousands of miles with just a single suitcase *without* becoming a terrorist or a racist or celebrating people being raped or burned alive, buy hey, that's just me. But the horrific images of murdered Hindus coming out of Bangkadesh reminded me of one of dozens of examples of ridiculousness of the current global obsession with "the nakba" of 1948 and all that's occurred since.
In the 70s, the Bangladesh genocide occurred. An actual genocide. The aggressor was Pakistani Muslims. People who, just a few years earlier had their own state formed on a fairly similar manner to the partition of British mandate Palestine. Anyway, during the Bangladeshi liberation, Muslim forces murdered up to THREE MILLION Hindus. Thats a maximum I admit, but think about that number. They moved through villages and specifically asked for places where Hindus lived before burning them down. Hindus were identified by checking circumcision or by demanding the recitation of Muslim prayers. Time reported it as follows, "It is the most incredible, calculated thing since the days of the Nazis in Poland" Being murdered like flies, and their villages being burned, 30 MILLION Hindus were displaced, 10 MILLION of whom managed to cross the border to India. They got no special UN aid agency.  Pakistan's imams declared Hindu women to be "war booty” and fatwa were issued legitimizing Hindu women as spoils of war. 400,000 were captured and raped. Often by many men. Most of them died in captivity or committed suicide.
Oh yes, and before anyone uses the excuse that people don't care because they west wasnt supporting it, you're dead wrong. Nixon refused to condemn it and provided weapons to the Muslims. So that excuse is pretty null. The ICJ did fuck all. Nor the UN.
Let's stop pretending "the nakba" was a uniquely horrific event when reality is that it was a very minor displacement of people, a very short distance, during a war they started. Compared to the 30 million displaced in Bangladesh that nobody cares a fig about.
Let's stop pretending that "genocide" is taking place when there's 40k casualties, probably mostly combatants in a war where clearly civilian death is carefully avoided. Unlike Bangladesh with 300x as many casualties that they literally went door to door to kill.
Let's stop pretending that Jews have opressed Muslims when reality is that Muslims have opressed,raped and murdered millions of minorities and continue to today. And NOBODY suggests annihilating Pakistan or Bangladesh.
Let's stop pretending UNRWA was needed because the Palestinian refugee situation was particularly serious, when it was not, it was just a politically motivated act to undermine the world's only Jewish state.
And let's not pretend this is about your "tax dollars" being used for evil, because I can tell you now that your tax dollars have and are being used to fund eye curdling evil and always has been. Israel defending itself is not in that category.
And the part that's almost funny? Those screaming the loudest about the evil of Israel are quite often themselves of Pakistani parents. Such as the MP for Gaza, Zarah Sultana or the ICJ Prosecutor who brought the case against Israel. Not to mention that Pakistan itself us still classified as in religious apartheid, and has one of the worst human rights records ON EARTH. Yet these people have the brass nuts to stand up and pretend their humanitarian rather than what they probably REALLY are. So my question to anyone who seeks to pretend Israel is not only "evil", but uniquely evil and deserving of annihilation, murder of it's people and racism towards its citizens around the globe, my question is...HOW DARE YOU?"

Visegrád 24 on X - "China is taking down mosques or “sinicizing” them. In 2023, Xi Jinping called for the deepening of the sinicization of Islam in China. Muslims living in the West seem to be too busy staging pro-Palestinian marches to even care about CCP policy towards Islam."

Thread by @nhazony on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "Large military maneuvers are now underway near a strategic ballistic missile base in Kermanshah, Iran. Israel is bracing for an Iranian attack. So why doesn’t it attack and destroy Iran's ballistic missiles? Why does Israel wait? 🧵
Two weeks ago, Israel planted a bomb under the bed of Hamas' leader Hanyia right next to the Presidential palace in the heart of Teheran. On the same day, Israel killed Hizballah’s chief of staff in Beirut, months after killing Iran’s General Zahedi in Damascus. If Israel’s military is so precise, why doesn’t it locate and destroy Iran’s ballistic missiles? Israel’s Jets can certainly reach Iran. In July, Israel’s Fighter Jets struck the port of Hodeida, Yemen, 2000 kilometers away. Iran is only 1500 km away.
Many assume that Israel can use sophisticated “bunker busters” to try and destroy Iran’s missile sites. But even the largest conventional bombs may not be enough. In northern Iran, the Elburz mountains scrape the sky with peaks reaching 5600 meters, higher than both the Rockies and the Alps. Iran’s Zagros mountains stretch 1500 kilometers from northwestern Iran all the way south towards the Persian Gulf. This map of Iran’s known ballistic missile sites reveals that most of them lie under these mountains, where Iran has spent the last 30 years building fortified “missile cities.” Many of Iran’s sites are over 100 meters underground. Even the United States' GBU-57 bomb, designed specifically for a doomsday scenario, can only penetrate up to 60 meters of mountain before it explodes. To destroy these sites, Israel and the US will need a better bomb. But even if such a bomb exists, splitting a mountain is no simple feat. Changing geological densities within different layers of a mountain can shift the direction of even the most sophisticated bomb away from its intended target.And if the bomb arrives, it still needs to destroy a fortified concrete facility. While Israel can try and destroy all of Iran's dozens of “missile cities,” the success of such an attempt is uncertain.  Launching such an attack would mean starting a full-scale frontal war with one of the most resource-rich countries in the world. Iran could likely still retaliate with its vast ballistic missile arsenal.
This also explains why last week, the US threatened to destroy Iran's economy, instead of threatening to destroy its nuclear and missile capabilities. Destroying Iran’s missiles is a much more difficult task to achieve, even for the US. But within Iran’s natural strength lies a hidden weakness: thousands of kilometers of mountains across its borders also provide the perfect cover for smugglers and spies. This is why so much of Israel’s effort against Iran’s rise to power has been through sabotage. Exploiting this weakness in topography, Israeli spies penetrate time and again into Iran, sabotaging key sites, assassinating nuclear scientists, and even stealing Iran's top secret documents. This recent assassination in Teheran is a clue to what is yet to come."

Meme - "Q: Where is the capital of "Palestine"?
A: In private banks in Qatar and Switzerland"

Meme - "Many American college students are cosplaying as Arabs as they wear a keffiyeh, but this student takes it a step further as he/she protests in DC, wearing a Jewish prayer shawl, Hassidic garb and a keffiyeh. What gave it away that they weren't a real devout Jew or a devout BDSer for that matter is that after a long day of protesting against Israel outside the NATO event, they went to BDS banned McDonald's for a cheeseburger with extra bacon."

Meme - Fat blue haired woman being thrown off roof by militants with Palestinian flag: "BUT I'M ON YOUR SIDE!"

Meme - Jena Gong: "as a Jewish/Palestinian mutt and a queer, whose Palestinian dad could accept neither their Jewishness nor their queerness... yep!!!! it's really weird that the left didn't have ANY of this energy for 'freeing Palestine' when Gazans mobilized en masse to protest the conditions Hamas has imposed upon them back in 2019. even when Hamas arbitrarily made hundreds of arrests, tortured and beat protesters, broke into their homes, and threatened their families the western left was COMPLETELY SILENT. weird. it's almost like the 'free Palestine' movement isn't actually about the liberation of Gazans. I am Palestinian, I have Palestinian friends, to say Palestinian society is not anti-LGBT is patently fucking ridiculous. but i guess anything is possible when you lie."

Meme - Andy Ngo 🏳️‍🌈 @MrAndyNgo: "The U.S. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has announced an Islamic terrorism and Hamas supporter as her VP running mate."
Dr. Jill @DrJillStein: "I'm honored and thrilled to welcome Butch Ware as my running mate and the Vice President we need at this moment in history. His personal experience overcoming systemic injustice, his deep knowledge of history and people's movements, and his commitment to building a sustainable, just, peaceful world make Butch the ideal candidate. This is truly a historic ticket bringing together a Jewish woman and Black Muslim man against genocide, endless war, climate collapse, and rampant injustice, and for an economy that works for working people, a livable future for our children, and an America and a world that works for all of us."
Andy Ngo @MrAndyNgo: ".@ucsantabarbara black Islamic studies professor Ware posted a video on Instagram of his idol Julius Malema praising Hamas and encouraging them to kill more people. The video is so extreme that IG removed it, angering the professor. Malema is the leader of the"

Meme - Shelley G @ShelleyGldschmt: "For anybody who still thinks "Jewish" Voice for Peace was actually Jewish:"
We stand with Palestinians on this national day of mourning for Palestinian leader Ismael Haniyeh- diplomat, peacemaker, who was unjustly martyred before he saw a free Palestine jewishvoiceforpeace"

𝗡𝗶𝗼𝗵 𝗕𝗲𝗿𝗴 ♛ ✡︎ on X - "This activist is crying because she's away from her pro-'Palestine' collective and has to stay with her normal family. Her poor relatives are just trying to live their lives while this weirdo bombards them with Middle East politics - a region she has never set foot in."

Meme - Oli London @OliLondonTV: "Former Bachelorette star Josh Seiter, who transitioned to a ‘woman’ earlier this year, demonstrates outside the DNC with a ‘Trans for Palestine’ sign.   “Im outside the DNC showing my support for Palestinians. I know in their country they would accept me with open arms.”"

Dr. Maalouf ‏ on X - "A Palestinian Islamic preacher in Jerusalem sends a message to the ‘Queers for Palestine’ in the West:  “Once Palestine is free, not a single homosexual will be allowed to live in our pure land.  Such perverted abominations will not be accepted among us.”  🇵🇸🏳️‍🌈"
Damn colonialism!

Visegrád 24 on X - "Turkish men tell interviewers that they are willing to go & fight against Israel in Palestine. When told that the interviewers have rented a bus to take them to Palestine and are taking down the phone numbers of volunteers, they quickly change their mind"

Meme - Harry Theocharous @TheocharousH: "HAMAS DID TO ISRAEL EXACTLY WHAT TURKEY DID TO CYPRUS🚨
🔹Hamas executed 🇮🇱 hostages
🔸Turkey executed 🇨🇾 hostages
🔹Hamas attacked 🇮🇱 early morning
🔸Turkey attacked 🇨🇾 early morning
🔹Hamas r@ped 🇮🇱 young and old
🔸Turkey r@ped 🇨🇾young and old
Palestinians celebrated the invasion
Turkish Cypriots celebrated the invasion
Whereabouts of hostages unknown
Whereabouts of missing unknown"
"ISRAEL 2024
Alexander Dancyg 76 Yoram Metzger 80 Avraham Munder 79
Yagev Buchshtab 34 Nadav Popplewell 51 Haim Perry 79
CYPRUS 1974
Maria Christodoulou (b. 1922). Theodoros Theoklitou (b. 1954). Kostas Glorgatzis (b. 1904). Hadjivasilou Glorgatal (b. 1904). Christodoulos Kamenos (b.1895). Anastasla Kamenou (b. 1902)
Eirini Nikola (b. 1914). Hadjikostas Papageorgiou (b. 1905). Andreas Siamishis (b. 1941). Andreas Evgeniou (b. 1954). Nikolas Tengeris (b. 1901)"
Uzay Bulut on X - "Finally, the right comparison between Cyprus and Israel.   Jews are indigenous to Israel and Greeks are to Cyprus.   Both Israel and Cyprus gained their independence from the British.   Both Israel and Cyprus were once occupied by the Ottoman Turks.   Turkey illegally invaded and occupied Cyprus in 1974, committing many crimes, such as murders, rapes, torture, forced displacements, forced disappearances, and cultural heritage destruction.   Six Arab armies invaded Israel in 1948 with an intent to destroy it at its birth and a major war broke out. Palestinian-Arab terror groups with genocidal intent, including Hamas, have since attacked Israel, rejected its right to exist, committed terrorism, and sabotaged peace in the region many times.   On October 7, Hamas invaded Israel, murdered, raped, kidnapped, and burned Israelis and non-Israelis alive.  The government of Turkey and Palestinian-Arab terror organizations are the aggressors in these two conflicts."

𝗡𝗶𝗼𝗵 𝗕𝗲𝗿𝗴 ♛ ✡︎ on X - "Maryam Au Moussa, Gazan activist: "Allah willing, we will soon throw the Jews into ditches of Hitler who wanted to burn them" "I say to Trump: Your end will come at the hand of a Palestinian boy" When they explicitly tell you who they are, you need to believe them."

Meme - Nioh Berg @NiohBerg: "This is a children's TV show in Gaza in which they go to the zoo to abuse animals - like throwing rocks at lions. Gaza's issues go far beyond Hamas. There is a societal and cultural rot."
"Hamas Bee: Cruelty to animals as lesson against cruelty. Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Aug. 10, 2007"
Clearly, this is the fault of "Zionists", just as millennia of persecution turned Jews into animal abusers too

Meme - Renson Seow: "Left pic: BBC "news" media
Right pic: full pic on X"
BBC: "French police arrest synagogue blast *Man with keffiyeh over face*"
David Atherton: *Man with keffiyeh over face and Palestinian flag tied around waist*
Clearly, the Zionist are just trying to censor "pro Palestinian" "speech"!
Are the terrorism supporters calling this a Mossad false flag yet?

Meme - Eyal Yakoby @EYakoby: "Breaking: Columbia SJP is handing out fliers that label the American Jewish Committee as the "root of all oppression."  They then proceed to name specifically Jewish trustees as the root of all oppression (names crossed off for the trustees' safety)."

Meme - Kirk Lubimov @KirkLubimov: "Toronto's first Muslim Deputy Mayor at a pro terrorism rally with a terrorist flag - Hezbollah over her shoulder."

Palestinians in your country: what to expect? - "With a war looming and probably lots of Palestinian refugee applications on the horizon, I thought it would be wise to summarize what we have so far about them. The horrors of war aside, how good immigrants are the Palestinians? Denmark decided to try it out in 1992 by giving 321 rejected Palestinian asylum seekers extraordinary residence permits, granted directly by parliament by a special law (Danish Wikipedia Palæstinenserloven). These people have been followed since then to see how this experiment went. Here’s the data for the 2019 follow-up written about here:
Of the 321 who were given asylum 270 are still residing in Denmark, meaning the rest either left or are dead.
Of the 321, 204 (64%) have received a serious fine or jail time for crime, with 71 of them being given jail time. (Definition is fine of 1500+ DKK, traffic law excluded.)
A very large proportion of them are receiving some kind of welfare especially the “early pension” (førtidspension) usually given to people with severe physical or mental issues (e.g. handicapped), but also used for immigrants who are basically useless on the job market for whatever reason.
Of their 999 children, so far 34% are convicted for serious crime and some large chunk are already on welfare.
Note that some of the numbers are slightly too low because of the ones who have left.
Why so bad outcomes? Well, let’s summarize the existing intelligence studies of them... they would be a permanent drain on the country’s resources due to high crime rates and high use of welfare, as they have already been in Denmark since 1992."

Links - 15th September 2024 (2 - Migrants: Canada)

Students targeted for prostitution by Brampton landlords? - "A Brampton city councillor claims that rental ads are exploiting desperate international students, particularly girls, and prostituting them for rent. Councillor Rowena Santos told the Toronto Sun that Brampton’s dire international students situation started during the pandemic, and the city “had no choice to deal with it.”... She said that due to what she said is a lack of proper student housing in the city, “they end up in these horrible situations where landlords are exploiting them.” Ads on Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji and other classified sites have increasingly included “friends with benefits” as a so-called bonus for prospective tenants. Concerned residents have begun sharing those ads with councillors... “Because of cultural dynamics, many of these young women don’t even understand sexuality, don’t even understand consent, some of them are completely inexperienced, so the term ‘friends with benefits’ makes it even more horrible, especially if they’re already struggling to find a place to live or the financial means to pay for it,” Santos said.  She noted that some of these young women have ended up pregnant and don’t know what to do because of the shame tied to it, so they don’t want to go home. Worse yet, others are committing suicide and being shipped home in coffins, Santos said.  Brampton is the first municipality to have a charter related to international students’ quality of life and part of the Residential Rental Licensing (RRL) pilot program centres on housing.
Clearly, even more regulations on landlords and building which will reduce housing supply even more are the solution

Alicia Planincic: Want to regain support for immigration? Prioritize economic immigrants once again - "In 2019, around 46 percent of economic immigrants were selected through the federal skilled workers program specifically because they had the highest number of points. Our estimates suggest that by 2026, only 8 percent of all immigrants will be selected on the basis of having the highest points score.   This is cause for concern. The brilliance of the CRS is that it objectively ranks candidates based on who is most likely to bring the greatest value to the Canadian economy. Sure the CRS could be improved, but moving away from it altogether will not only dilute the prosperity gained from immigration but also open the door to political influence of the selection process.  What’s caused this shift?  One factor is the addition and growth of other streams of immigration. These streams are within the economic class but reflect priorities beyond pure economic prosperity. These include population growth, French proficiency, industry needs, or granting permanent residency to temporary residents.  Just in the last five years, several new streams have been added and more are coming. In 2019, the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (now a permanent program) was introduced and in 2022 it was expanded to promote immigration to rural areas. In 2020, an Agri-Food Pilot was launched to prioritize agricultural workers. More recently, a new stream was added to support immigration to Atlantic provinces while another is set to pilot this fall to encourage immigration to Francophone communities.   Meanwhile, other streams and policies have been introduced to prioritize those already in Canada as temporary foreign workers or students. While this might seem like a reasonable approach, selecting individuals for economic immigration based on temporary status creates a workaround to the points system, making the CRS almost irrelevant. Also, though it is not new, the biggest factor driving immigration away from the primary skilled worker program has been growth in the Provincial Nominee Program—a program designed to give provinces more say in immigration...   At the same time, an even bigger change has come from within the skilled worker program itself. Introduced in 2023, a new method called category-based selection chooses the highest-ranking individuals within a subset of the applicant pool based on a “designated category.” Most categories are based on a particular occupation group (e.g., health, trades, and transport occupations) but could be defined by any criteria and can change over time based on labour market information or stakeholder feedback."
Meanwhile, left wingers want to give everyone permanent residence, i.e. de facto open borders

Rohana Rezel 🐘 @rohanarezel@vindi.ca on X - "In April 2022, PM @JustinTrudeau's government removed the automatic shutoff for temporary foreign worker approvals when unemployment hit 6%. Just in case you're wondering why the govt is still approving TFW permits even as unemployment rate climbs to 6.4%. #cdnpoli #tfwp"

Canada's economic implosion a warning for Australia - "the flood of migrant labour into Canada has oversupplied the economy with workers, with 13 out of 15 sectors seeing a decline in output per employee between Q3 2022 and Q1 2024. Canada’s unemployment rate has shot up to 6.4% as of June, up 1.6% from its July 2022 trough. The rise in unemployment would have been worse had it not been for the fall in the participation rate. The weak job market is having a significant impact on individuals trying to enter the workforce.  Economists at the National Bank of Canada noted that students had the lowest employment rate since 1998, whereas new migrants are also struggling to enter the labour market, with their unemployment rate rising to 12.7% in June on a 3-month moving average basis, for a total increase of 5.8 percentage points since its trough.  “This is equivalent to the variation seen in the 2008-09 recession”, the economists noted. “Job creation hasn’t kept pace with the population’s meteoric rise for some time now”... Like Canada, decades of excessive immigration have created “capital shallowing” and declining productivity growth as the population has grown faster than business, infrastructure, and housing investment:"

Meme - The Ferryman's Toll: "Welcome to Dryden, Ontario, India.
'East Indian Meals'
'Please throw the bottles in BIN'
'Don't Spit in the Urinal pot'
'Please Don't Wash Your Feet in the WashBasin'
'Don't wash your feet here !!'
*Hindi translations*"
Clearly this is "far right" "misinformation". People are only putting these signs up and selling these foods to spread conspiracy theories and be racist against brown people

Mercedes Stephenson on X - "Scoop: Global News had learned Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, 62, immigrated to Canada after 2015.  "Toronto man was able to immigrate to Canada despite allegedly having taken part in ISIS violence overseas"  Toronto terror arrests raise questions about security screening
The government is refusing to answer questions about when and how the Eldids immigrated to Canada citing privacy and that there are criminal charges before the court. Global News has also learned 26 year old Mostafa Eldid is not a Canadian citizen, contrary to what was said at the RCMP press conference."

Some foreign workers paying $30K or more in illegal fees for a job in Alberta - "They sell labour market impact assessments (LMIAs). That's a federal document most employers need before they can hire a temporary foreign worker, proving they could not fill the job with a Canadian or permanent resident for at least 28 days.  It's illegal to charge for an LMIA under Canadian immigration laws. The government fee for an LMIA application ($1,000) should be fully covered by the employer who is facing a labour shortage.  But those who work in the immigration field say it's no secret that it does happen due to a poorly structured system, a lack of enforcement and desperation."

UN envoy links temporary foreign worker program to 'contemporary forms of slavery' - "Obokata said migrant workers face deportation if they lose their work permits, which also prevent them from changing employers if they face abuse.  "This creates a dependency relationship between employers and employees, making the latter vulnerable to exploitation," he said, adding that many workers are reluctant to report abuse because they fear losing their permits... The spokesperson also refuted Obokata's suggestion that workers aren't able to change employers. They said workers can apply for a interim work permit that would receive a response within 10 to 15 days."
So employers should never be able to sponsor work permits and you need open borders so migrants don't fear being deported?

Riley Donovan on X - "In 2014, Justin Trudeau wrote an op-ed in the Toronto Star arguing that allowing in too many Temporary Foreign Workers "drives down wages and displaces Canadian workers""
Justin Trudeau: How to fix the broken temporary foreign worker program
Damn racist xenophobe!

Thread by @MikePMoffatt on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "Short thread time: How on earth did the number of low-wage temporary foreign workers nearly triple in 2022?  TL;DR - The federal government made some massive changes a mere 13 days after the Liberals and NDP signed the Supply and Confidence Agreement.
The low-wage stream allows Canadian employers to hire temporary foreign workers for jobs that pay less than the provincial median wage. Note that this doesn't include agricultural workers; that's a separate program. In Manitoba, that's $25/hr.
On April 4, 2022, less than two weeks after the Liberals-NDP signed their agreement, the federal government massively deregulated the Temporary Foreign Worker program to "address current job vacancies across many sectors and occupations." One impactful change was weakening the rule that an employer could only have 10% of their workforce be temporary foreign workers. That got raised to 20%, and in some industries like "accommodation and fast food services" that got raised to 30%. There had also been a rule that, for some occupations, a temporary foreign worker could not be brought in if the unemployment rate was 6% or higher.  That rule was waived, making employers in some high-unemployment regions now eligible.  This was a deliberate move by the federal government to suppress wage growth for low-income Canadians, and increase the number of temporary workers, who have much weaker labour rights than permanent residents. And I cannot stress this enough: This attack on labour rights happened a mere 13 days after the Liberals and NDP signed their Confidence & Supply agreement, which gave the federal NDP more power than they've had in my lifetime (and I'm nearly 50).
We should note how destructive this program is for the TFWs themselves. The UN has criticized Canada:  "Agricultural and low-wage streams of the temporary foreign workers program constitute a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery."
I consider myself on the progressive side of the Canadian political spectrum, and I think we need to acknowledge that we've completely lost the plot on the TFW issue. Our side did this and needs to undo it. Refusing to talk about the problem doesn't help."

Dr. Mike P. Moffatt 🇨🇦🏅🏅 on X - "Let’s think about this for a second. What normally happens if a firm can’t find someone to work for $17 an hour? They raise their wage to $18 or $19 an hour, to get more applicants! But with the expansion of the low-wage temporary foreign worker program, they don’t have to!
“But, Mike, some businesses wouldn’t be able to afford $19/hr, and would go out of business”.  Quite possibly. So what the policy does is keep a handful of marginal businesses in operation while suppressing wages for everyone else.
And Liberals understood the wage suppression that is caused by large scale expansions of the temporary foreign worker program back when Harper did it.
And which economist were Liberals listening to back then about the wage suppressing nature of expansions to the low-wage temporary foreign worker stream?
"Mike Moffatt, who is a professor at the University of Western Ontario, at the business school—someone who is sensitive to the needs of business—says about this program and what is happening in southwestern Ontario:  We're bringing in more and more workers into the worst labour markets in the country. People see that and think this doesn't make sense.  It certainly does not, and that is really an example of a program that is not being run carefully."
And a decade ago, New Democrats also understood how expanding the temporary foreign worker stream suppresses wages."

Language barrier in the workplace causing lots of outrageous issues... : r/CanadaHousing2 - "I just want to provide context so that this situation can be accurately understood by those who read this. I work in a big box retail store in the GTA. I work with a lot of employees. 85% of the staff are South Asian ( From India) and new to the country (most of them are posing as students but they mostly work). They all know at least some amount of English, but 90% of the time they choose to speak their native languages which are Punjabi and Hindi. The area where my store is located, customers are also from this demographic as well although they vary in age more. That doesn't stop them from approaching me in a condescending way and speaking in one of the two languages to me, expecting me to know it, then being annoyed that I don't know either language (especially the older customers). I've had customers look me up and down when I told them I only know English and not Punjabi or Hindi. Canada's two official languages are English and French. English is my native language. I am at the intermediate level in French.  I just want to clarify that my issue is the language barrier not only with customers but also being alienated with colleagues and managers. This issue is making work tremendously harder than it is already. I'm faced with other issues such as bias and clear favouritism. There are a few managers who speak their language with the employees on the floor and in the break room 24/7. So anyone who doesn't speak that language (Punjabi or Hindi) won't know a thing they are saying. They could even be trash talking someone and get away with it... Therefore those who don't speak or understand the language are oblivious to what is being said. It can be alienating, humiliating, even paranoia inducing being in a workplace environment and not understanding a thing anyone is saying because they all choose to speak in their language and leave you out of the loop. These people are laughing, telling jokes in their language, gossiping, etc... and you're treated like a ghost, completely invisible from everyone and everything being said. There are also cliques (which I figured are common in most retail stores) but again, adds more fuel to the fire when these people stick to those who are from their country especially those who are new to the country and are in the same living situation as them. They reveal in passive aggressive ways how unaccepting and disapproving they are to those who were born and/or raised here by socially excusing them.  There are a few older colleagues who have been in Canada for decades. They participate in the same behaviour as the employees who are newer to the country. They fit right in with them. Yeah there are times that they do make some effort to talk with everyone but at the end of the day, they'll stick to what's familar and that's those who are from the same country as them (they feel more of connection to their ethnicity because of these people). They will endorse and enable these "students" wrongdoings, bad behaviour and basically let them get away with almost everything because they feel obligated to defend them.  I fear if I speak up and call out this behavior, this issue won't be addressed or solved. 85% of the staff's native language is hindi/punjabi. The managers, HR, and the store manager are all South Asian. They are the majority. They not only speak their languages in the break room, but they speak it 24/7 on the floor given 65% of customers speak this language too. I've had colleagues intervine (basically take my customers away from me) when I was with a customer because they speak their language and I don't therefore, they want to help to the customer given the language barrier. But go figure because I only know English and some French! I feel like i'm at a major disadvantage because of this situation.  The fact that I don't speak these languages has contributed to the stress and mental/emotional turmoil this job has caused me. On top of all of this I'm undervalued and overworked. I'm seeing far more cons than pros about working here. I genuinely wonder if anyone else has had a similar job experience recently??"
"We actually have this issue at my work as well. Our HR recently had to state that because we all know English, it is the language that is to be used while working. They can speak to each other in their language while on breaks etc, but it’s not productive while working a grill line with two people speaking Punjabi and one who speaks English and can’t understand them. It’s exclusionary to speak a language everyone cannot understand and creates a hostile/tense working environment. I would speak to your HR about it."
"A car terminal in Richmond BC same thing. Management grew some balls and streight up said English or French on work site. What they do on their own time is on them, if they don't follow the rules look for another job.  Blatant attack on Canadian society and culture. Punjab, Hindus or what ever, need to assimilate or get the f out!"
"I too worked in a company that was majority Southeast Asian immigrants and quit within two weeks because they would not speak English or French in meetings."

Thread by @MikePMoffatt on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "This is unbelievably cool - a new website that maps out who got approved to hire temporary foreign workers, and where. Here's the data for City of Toronto.  I'm surprised "Dairy Freeze Inc." couldn't find a worker locally. Here is the tool that maps out Temporary Foreign Workers - Labour Market Impact Assessments. Thanks to the Missing Middle viewer who sent it our way. I really have trouble believing we can't find anyone to work at the Dairy Queen by Fanshawe College.  (Maybe they'd have more luck if they brought back serving ice cream in those upside down baseball helmets.) We really need to stop solving our problems through exploiting temporary workers in a program that gives them almost no enforceable rights.  Anyone good enough to work here is good enough to stay here."
This took a quick turn

Thousands of international students in Canada face deportation, sparking protests nationwide - "Canada is currently witnessing countrywide protests as more than 70,000 international student graduates could face deportation due to federal policy changes, and the unprecedented number of students who came to the country with dreams of a new life say their futures are now in limbo...   International students across Canada are organizing protests against the backdrop of looming deportations.  A group of students have set up encampments outside the legislative assembly in Prince Edward Island, protesting overnight for more than three months.  The international students say they are facing a critical situation as new provincial policies for a 25 per cent reduction in permanent residency nominations have left many unexpectedly vulnerable to deportation.  Similar scenes can be witnessed in Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia.  “I spent the most crucial six years of my life taking many risks to come to Canada,” says Mehakdeep Singh, a former international student who is facing deportation.  “For the past six years, I studied, I worked, I paid taxes, I earned enough CRS [Comprehensive Ranking System] points, but the government has just taken advantage of us.” Singh is one of the former international students who spent his family’s life savings on tuition abroad. He is now facing the dreadful deadline of his work permit expiring, and there is no promise of permanent residency in sight."
When you were never a real student

After Canada cancelled his deportation, this bisexual man pushes for status for all : r/canadian - "We need to stop taking people in regardless of sexual orientation."
"They all get coaching on what to say in their refugee claim, they are told to say they are gay or will face persecution for their sexual orientation."
"Just like the international students who get caught cheating or just not doing assignments are all coached to say they had a death in the family, or are depressed/suicidal because the diploma mills will take these as valid reasons for academic dishonesty. And when that doesn't work, protest outside the campus or file a bullshit refugee claim"
"There’s a whole industry of “human rights” activists out there who actually don’t give a shit about human rights at all, it’s just another way to “take down the system”…there’s huge money in it, no different than environment activists and all the other activists out there. Not saying they don’t believe some of the principles, but that they wouldn’t be so entrenched if they had to come up with their own money to support their “hobby”"
"I don't like sending people back to shitty homophobic countries to die, but I wonder if there's a neuronal responsiveness test couldn't save a whole lot of bother.  I would also think being in a monogamous relationship with a wife and children would make him safe in Kenya unless he was cheating."
"It would be so easy to be a terrorist and just pretend you are a flamer from Kenya. Why is it our problem? Isn't Europe and many other countries much closer than  Canada? It's really cold here. Why don't they go to an African country that is OK with gays? Or are they all bigot savages in Africa? Seems like they are being opportunistic."

After Canada cancelled his deportation, this bisexual man pushes for status for all : r/canadian - "Yeah, I always let people who were supposed to be deported dictate my country’s immigration policies."
After Canada cancelled his deportation, this bisexual man pushes for status for all : r/canadian - "Fuck it, just make anyone born on Earth a Canadian citizen automatically."
This is easier than processing millions of asylum claims, since most "sexual minorities" would qualify for asylum

Tristin Hopper on X - "There's a lot of polls saying Canadians are now "anti-immigration" ... which is sort of like saying that someone with full-body sunburns is now "anti-sunshine." We like immigration when it isn't dialed up to damaging, wildly unsustainable rates for no reason whatsoever.  
"Remind me; why are we demolishing health care access, affordability, the entry-level job market and basic social cohesion just so we can accept a year's worth of immigrants every few weeks?" Trudeau government: *shrugs*"

Government staff told to skip steps vetting TFW applications - "As the Trudeau government promises to crack down on a temporary foreign worker program it admits has been abused, a Star investigation has revealed the government is fast-tracking applications by directing processing officers to skip crucial steps designed to prevent fraud.   Beginning in January 2022, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) directed staff to apply “streamlining measures” when evaluating the legitimacy of applications by employers who want to hire temporary foreign workers. According to internal ESDC documents obtained by the Star and interviews with a current ESDC employee, routine checks meant to ensure the system is not abused by unscrupulous employers have been suspended in an effort to process applications faster.  Those checks include contacting employers to confirm they actually applied to hire a worker, verifying that lawyers and consultants applying on behalf of employers are in good standing with their regulator, and clarifying the overtime, vacation and benefits promised to the worker... Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced changes to the temporary foreign worker program he said were designed to reduce the number of low-wage foreign workers business can hire and prompt companies to hire more Canadian residents... Workers in the agriculture, health care, construction and food security sectors — the sectors hiring the most migrant workers — will be exempt from the changes... A long-time ESDC employee on the front line of labour market impact assessment (LMIA) processing told the Star that as the TFW program ballooned and businesses were allowed to hire more and more workers, checks that curbed fraud in the program have been eroded, prioritizing speed over scrutiny... The employee said that since the directive to speed up application reviews came down from national headquarters, staff have scaled back on approximately “50 per cent of what we’re supposed to read on the application” and that while potential fraud is reported, “nothing” happens... “We had to call every single person (applicant) prior to 2022 and talk to them through the application and about their business needs,” said the employee.  “Now, I would say probably 90 per cent of the people that are applying aren’t even getting a call. We’re not verifying anything.”... Employers can create fake job openings or partner with consultants to get LMIAs approved, which are then sold to foreign workers for tens of thousands of dollars, often with the worker unaware that selling LMIAs is an illegal practice. Many migrant workers come to Canada only to find their job does not exist, Sierah said.  Some employers who actually need workers can also choose to only hire those willing to pay for the job, he added."

Canada turning away more foreigners amid rise in anti-immigration sentiment : r/canadian - "Its not anti immigration its controlled immigration. No more of this fake visa student mills and those overstaying their work visas."
"Every issue of the day has to be presented like this apparently. There is no logical middle ground on any issue, you are either 100% full on screaming in support or labeled a bigot / racist. Very sad, and I don’t see and end to it any time soon."
"The sentiment "you are with us or you're a terrible person" has essentially been the campaign slogan of the Liberals as long as I can remember. I don't think this is new at all, I just think people on places like Reddit have recently found themselves on the wrong end of it."

Canada is vulnerable to U.K.-style riots - "Similar to the U.K., Canada has seen an influx of immigrants from a wider variety of countries, which, while being consistent with human rights norms and enriching diversity, also presents challenges in terms of integration and acceptance. It is also ripe for exploitation by those with divisive agendas... In the U.K., inflammatory rhetoric around this changing demographic contributed to the unrest and Canada is witnessing similar polarization. It should not be a surprise that two-thirds of Canadians say that there are too many immigrants according to a 2023 poll by Abacus.  What can be an easier target to blame for the housing crisis, degrading health-care system, social tensions and economic uncertainty faced by the average Canadian? Perhaps we should be looking at the decades of ignoring infrastructure, lack of any real national housing initiatives, failure of long-term planning and throwing money at short-term fixes by both successive Liberal and Conservative parties at all levels of government. Pointing fingers at foreigners is much easier, of course... These details are conveniently ignored by some politicians and far-right groups in Canada, who appear to be dedicated to fear mongering and division. Canada is ranked among the worst countries globally for white supremacist activity. It has the highest number of far-right extremist groups per capita, according to a report published by the U.K.-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue and led by Ontario Tech University professor Barbara Perry, a leading expert on hate groups in Canada...   As a society we must hold political and social leaders accountable for divisive rhetoric, condemning language that promotes fear and division."
Conveniently, this leaves out the unprecedented scale of immigration under Trudeau, pretends that the number of "far right" groups means anything without looking at their membership and ignores the left wing's divisive rhetoric and promotion of fear and division.

School called CAS on parents questioning child's trans identity

School called CAS on parents questioning child's trans identity

"Julie’s life turned upside down after COVID hit. Barely ten, and physically isolated from much of the world, in early 2021 she installed TikTok and began spending hours online, falling down social media rabbit holes. She eventually “discovered the LGBTQ+ community” and started questioning her identity...

“Transgender activists were actively posting videos about ‘safe’ breast binding and how euphoric testosterone makes you feel and how it makes all your problems suddenly disappear. The more I was brainwashed by these videos, the more I started to resonate with them,” she wrote.

Julie began identifying privately as non-binary in 2021, at the start of Grade 5. She came out to her class at the beginning of 2022.

With the help of a teacher in York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB), her parents were kept in the dark about her use of “they/them” pronouns and a new masculinized name in the classroom. Only in June 2022 did her parents learn what was quietly going on in school. When they objected and asked school leaders to include them in conversations about their daughter, the school called the Children’s Aid Society (CAS), which investigated the family.

In December 2023, Julie detransitioned after realizing she’d been swept up in a social fad that overlooked her underlying mental health issues. Now, her family is raising the alarm about the power schools have to keep parents in the dark.

“It was a horrible time for me as a parent because so much was happening behind my back. I didn’t know for a long while about many things that were happening. I suspected that something was really wrong,” Julie’s mother, Christina, said...

“I was a bit of a tomboy,” Julie wrote in an essay, shared with the Post, reflecting on her childhood and this confusing period in her life. “I loved sports and I had friends who were boys, but I never experienced gender dysphoria. I loved dresses and I felt comfortable being a girl.”

Julie said she started to go through puberty when she was 10 years old, earlier than her peers, and she felt like an outcast.

“I didn’t have many friends at the time, and I was being bullied by people in my class so, of course, I wanted to be part of a community that loves me,” Julie told National Post in an interview. Her bodily discomfort coincided with several classmates identifying across the gender identity spectrum. “I think, unfortunately, that started it,” Julie said.

Christina said at the time she was unaware that her daughter’s school board permitted children to socially transition without the consent or knowledge of their guardians...

The Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies, a group which represents the majority of children’s aid societies in the province, said in a statement that while they could not discuss the specifics of Julie’s case, in general, the body has observed an uptick in gender identity-related calls in recent years.

“Anecdotally, we are hearing from our member agencies that they are increasingly being contacted by community members about issues related to gender identity,” spokesperson Brynne Clarke wrote in an email. “When assessing a concern raised about the well-being of a child or youth, child welfare agencies must ensure they are adhering to Katelynn’s Principle, which puts children and youth’s voices and identities at the centre of all decision-making.”...

Christina and her husband were alarmed by Julie’s change in gender identity and how much she knew about surgical options and hormonal therapy. “I was shocked how much a child knows and where this information is coming from,” she told the Post.

Julie began wearing a chest binder constantly, which led to a heated fight with her parents. Her skin was bruising because of it and Christina feared that it would have long-term health implications. Then, Julie ran away in mid-September. She was hospitalized after running away with the intent to self-harm.

Julie’s interactions with medical professionals throughout this time were overshadowed by gender-affirming advice, she said.

When she was just 11, Julie wrote, her family doctor assured her that “binding is perfectly healthy,” and asked if she was interested in learning about puberty blockers. A psychiatrist warned her parents that if they did not affirm her trans identity, she could kill herself, Julie said.

“At that age, I can’t make a conscious decision about medical interventions with an extremely high risk of life-threatening side effects that could make me unable to ever conceive a child,” she wrote in her essay. “All accepted that I’m a boy and never tried to dig up any underlying problems that might be causing these suicidal ideations.”

When Julie ran away, her principal called CAS, relaying Christina’s opposition to Julie’s transgender identity as a potential “culprit of conflict,” states a report from the Children’s Aid Society...

The school pinned Julie’s struggles on Christina’s failure to affirm her new trans identity. Christina said she believes these calls “for sure” resulted in subsequent CAS home visits and follow-ups...

By January 2023, Christina was still seeking assurances from the school to ensure Julie’s legal name was being used by teachers and administrators. According to an email exchange shared with the Post, the principal responded by telling her that such demands were causing Julie “trauma” and that her “role as an administrator is to support the students in my care.”

Within days of the exchange, the principal placed a third call to CAS in five months, sharing her concerns about Christina’s parenting style. “Caller said ‘she knows that the family loves their child and want the best for the child but they are doing a lot of damage emotionally at this time,’” the heavily redacted CAS report says...

Marty Moore, a lawyer with Charter Advocates Canada, a group which advocates for the protection of constitutional rights, said “this is not a unique situation,” in an email to the Post. “Parents across the country have experienced similar reactions from schools when they express caution or hesitancy about their child identifying as a different sex.” The lawyer said he fears that the “broad statutory language leaves significant room for school officials, and CAS personnel, to be guided by their own subjective views concerning a child’s emotional harm.”...

Throughout Grade 6, Julie’s pattern of running away, periodic self-harm, and hospitalizations continued. Julie said that the lack of support her parents initially showed was distressing. However, she said that the decision by school administrators to exclude her parents from the beginning greatly exacerbated her issues.

“Because the school was hiding a lot of stuff from my parents, I was just trying my best not to accidentally tell my parents about that stuff”...

Christina looks back on Julie’s time in Grade 6 as when “the real hell for us started.” Caring for her daughter, while navigating the legal and educational worlds, visiting hospitals and dealing with surprise CAS visits, became all-encompassing. The stress began taking a physical and mental toll on her, too. “I had to quit my job to be involved because I kept writing letters to the teacher. The teacher and the principal never responded,” Christina said.

Julie continued to struggle with her gender identity and mental health into the early months of Grade 7. After moving to a neighbouring middle school, Christina discovered that the principal voluntarily offered to let Julie use the boy’s washrooms and change rooms without their daughter first proposing the idea...

Julie’s life turned a corner in November 2023, when her father brought home a copy of Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier. The book argues that many young girls experienced rapid onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) as a result of social contagion. Julie’s father bought the book for himself and warned Julie that she wouldn’t understand it and would be “triggered by it,” she wrote. Although Julie thought the book was “transphobic,” she decided to read it out of curiosity.

“After reading about detransitioners and how they came to identify as transgender, I understood I was heading in the wrong direction and needed to turn around before I hurt my loved ones or myself,” she wrote.

Soon after, Julie ditched her chest binder and began reverting to her female identity. However, the stream of applause and support she’d received after initially identifying as non-binary, and then as trans, was nowhere to be seen after desisting, she said.

“When we announced that she wants to go back to female pronouns, everyone kept asking: ‘Are you sure? Are you sure you want to transition?’” Christina told the Post, before Julie cut in. “‘Are you sure your parents are not pushing this on you?’”

Despite assuring her friends and teachers that detransitioning was a voluntary choice, Julie feels it has impacted her social life. “I did not really lose any friends, but my closest friends seem to be, pushing away from me. Like, they’re not talking to me as much, and they’re part of the LGBTQ” community.

As the tide of her transgender identity receded, Julie was left to grapple with the underlying mental health issues that had been overlooked since 2022. She self-harmed after detransitioning, but this time, the mental health counsellor evaluated her with traits of borderline personality disorder, bulimia, and anxiety stemming from body image issues. Christina now feels that her daughter is doing “much better than throughout Grade 6” and is finally addressing her mental health problems.

Julie’s journey dealing with mental health issues, having educators actively hiding what was going on, and finally getting a diagnosis addressing her underlying issues, highlighted the shortcomings of Ontario’s school policies to Christina.

“I was an enemy to my child in their face. If I didn’t support her, don’t call her ‘he,’” she said. “They were giving me a hint that I am, you know, transphobic, homophobic.”

Julie said that suicidal thoughts continued into the middle of April this year, but that her outlook has improved considerably since the summer break.

She attributed part of her ongoing mental health struggles to classmates unwilling to call her by her birth name.

This week, she’s starting Grade 8 at a new school where she hopes to make new friends “who don’t know my past.”"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Links - 15th September 2024 (1 - Get Woke, Go Broke: Concord)

'Concord' Lead Character Designer Believes "Whites Must Acknowledge Their Privileged Position, And Then Actively Work For Equality" Also Claims The Judicial System Is "White Supremacy" - "Jon Weisnewski, the Lead Character Designer for Firewalk Studios, the developer of the recently announced Concord game, is a woke activist that buys into the claim that white people are “privileged.” Following PlayStation showcasing Concord as part of their most recent State of Play video at the end of May, the game’s character designs were mocked across the internet.  In the Gaming subreddit, user gpetrakas declared, “Concord might have the UGLIEST Characters Designs I have ever seen.”... “It’s like they asked chatgpt to make overwatch again but strip it off all identity.”  Still another posted, “piss yellow, moldy green, wine purple and blue lipstick. who tf thought this was a acceptable color palate need to go.”... Former World of Warcraft Team Lead Mark Kern also stated, “Concord, the new game by Firewalk Studios is so focused on ‘inclusive’ teams that they forgot the white guys in their game. Inclusive should not mean racists against white people, but it too often does.” As noted by Grummz not only does Firewalk make it clear they are pushing inclusion as a value at their company, but the company’s Lead Character Designer has made it clear he’s a woke activist.  Back in 2020, he responded to a post by former Bungie Lead Programmer Petar Kotevski who stated, “Thinking that all white people are unconsciously racist is the same as thinking that all black people are unconsciously lazy.”  Weisnewski replied, “This is an over simplification. The sentiment being expressed is that whites must acknowledge their privileged position, and then actively work for equality. It will be hard and confronting work, but if we don’t we’re complicit. And complicity allows systemic racism to persist.”... In September 2020, he claimed that the entire judicial system is white supremacy.  He wrote on X, “The entire thread addresses white supremacy. Proud Boys ARE white supremacy. Police brutality is white supremacy. The entire penal/judicial system is white supremacy. The whole thread. White supremacy.”"

Concord Lead Developer Demands Coworkers Address Her As “Professor” - "Lisa Brown, who goes by @Wertle on Twitter (Now in protected mode after being exposed, of course) a developer at Firewalk, recently declared themselves as non-binary and required all coworkers to refer to her as the "Professor" within the workplace. Something she does not have any professional credentials for, but hey... Details, am I right?   But here's where it gets really crazy...  This change, according to the source, has led to enforced company-wide adjustments in address and interaction. Meetings have taken on a weird life of their own, characterized by phrases like "Teaching/learning with the Professor" which, as reported, have not been universally well-received by the staff... But many who work there are afraid to speak up, due to a very left-leaning political environment - and they work in fear of repercussions for trying to speak out. Brown's influence appears to extend into more contentious areas. The whistleblower details how Brown has been vocal about their political beliefs, expressing a disdain for guns. Yes. You read that right. This dev doesn't have an affinity for weapons, yet worked on developing a squad based hero SHOOTER. This strikes me as someone who probably isn't the greatest fit for... I dunno... working on that type of game. The same thing happened with that Nick developer on Halo. It's becoming a very strange trend.  Not being a fan of guns would be bad enough, but according to the source, Lisa was also advocating for the firing of any unvaccinated staff members. These stances, while perhaps reflective of personal convictions, are suggested to contribute to a divisive and uncomfortable atmosphere at Firewalk Studios."
Another reason woke leads to shit - it destroys the company from within, not just its product

Meme - LearningTheLaw @Mangalawyer: "Concord is a new progressive and modern shooter for Pc & Playstation. It features five black women, four aliens, three robots, and one white man. It's incredibly diverse and non-heteronormative. Plus, it has pronouns. Are you excited? 😆"

Meme - Sir Dammed @Sir_Dammed: "If you think the reason Concord is bombing is because "release timing," I have some very um... important news for you...  People aren't going to play a hero shooter that doesn't have cool characters. This is why Concord is bombing:"

Grummz on X - "UPDATE: @PlayStation  owned studio @FirewalkStudios  has heard your complaints about Concord...  And ignored them.  Sources tell me internal emails show the Concord team is shrugging off the criticism of their characters as "white noise," and dismissing it. Very much in their own bubble.   Meanwhile, their trailer has over 44k dislikes, and their lead character designer bashes white folks and is rumored to be the one who pushed for the character lineup to be super woke.   They are in for a rude surprise.  Meanwhile Sony will be forcing PC players to register for PSN with this game, and barring it from sale in 177 countries.  Vote with you wallets."

Silvia on X - "This is the worst character design I've seen in ages, and I've seen better characters on a doujinshi"

Meme - Renson Seow: "I get the feeling that the game Concord is not doing very well."
Concord: 697. all-time peak 19 hours ago
sex with Hitler. 2,001. all-time peak 1.9 years ago"

Sex with Hitler - Wikipedia - "Sex with Hitler is a 2022 pornographic isometric shooter visual novel video game developed by Romantic Room, wherein the player takes control of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany, and is tasked with dating four women of various ethnicities. The game received generally negative reviews, with critics disputing the game's portrayal of Hitler as having two testicles, as well as deeming it poorly animated and un-erotic."

“Squirrel with a Gun” currenty has 13x more players than “Concord” and 83x more than “Dustborn”. “Squirrel with a Gun” was developed by 2 people and marketed by 1. The sign is clear. : r/CriticalDrinker

Meme - Perma Banned: "Not even one week, and its already getting long queue times you'd see in 3-4 year old multiplayer games.. oof"
"'Concord' Player Reports Over 8 Minute Wait Time As Game Has Lost Over 60% Of Its Players Already"

Meme - "Taking this a little too personally, huh?"
"how about if you pay off that bus you used for Marketing or your Child Support before you say anything, Mark"
Grummz: "F*ck around and find out. Sony said to be increasing PS5 prices to make up for 200M Concord loss."

Concord Is Suddenly Getting Pulled Offline With Sony Promising Full Refunds - "PlayStation hero shooter Concord will be taken offline on September 6, 2024 and all players will receive a full refund, Sony announced today... Concord arrived August 23, 2024, meaning it has been removed from sale just 11 days after launch and taken offline for all players a mere two weeks after. Even those who bought Concord will no longer be able to play after September 6. Its launch was nothing short of disastrous, with analysts telling IGN it has likely sold as few as 25,000 units. It debuted to a tragic 697 peak concurrent players on Steam, a number that made the 12,786 players of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which was dubbed a disappointment by Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav and caused a $200 million hit to revenue, look like a titan.  This comes after eight years of development and presumably tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of dollars, spent by Sony, a company already said to be shifting gears away from a live service heavy future. Sony president Hiroki Totoki committed to launching just six of 12 live service games in development, and one based on The Last of Us has already been canceled."

Concord is now filled with players throwing themselves off the maps as quickly as possible in a desperate attempt to unlock the shooter's Platinum trophy before it goes offline

Meme - "ONE CARROT vs CONCORD
Price: $0.25 vs $40.00
Production time needed: 2 months vs 8 years
Cost: $2 a pack of seeds vs $250.000.000 Estimated
Can you eat it? Yes vs No
Is it recommended by experts? Yes vs No
Is it well received by the public? Yes vs No
Shelf life: 21-29 days vs 12 days"

Meme - Grummz @Grummz: "Concord Open Beta was today and there is very little buzz. This game is so dead. They ignored all the early criticisms, brushed it off as "white noise." Here is every single character in Concord:"

Meme - "Concord Beta: *old woman* 864 In-App
The First Descendant: *2 busty beautiful women* Steam charts. 152,861 players right now"

Concord's First-Party Budget Is Clear as Day - "Sony's investment in Firewalk and Concord is evident, with top-notch visuals and a strong marketing push for the game's release. Despite heavy marketing efforts, Concord's launch numbers have been underwhelming, with a peak player count of just 697 on PC."
Someone was blaming its failure on the lack of marketing. Clearly that is why indie titles with no marketing had even more players

Why Concord failed, from baffling Sony decisions to simple gameplay (aka "A good game like Concord just isn’t good enough anymore")
When an article is so incoherent that its title and contents say different things, and worse, the contents themselves contradict each other (you can tell from the two titles already)

Meme - Concord as smiling sick kid in hospital bed: "Am I gonna be as big as Overwatch!?"
Playstation: "Uh, sure buddy."
*Playstation cries while unplugging life support*

Meme - "Concord devs: I can't believe our game is failing
A legendary skin from the game: *Mid-looking green skinned alien with purple hair, a pussy hat [?] and civilian clothes*"

Meme - "Musician Mila Jam makes history as first playable Black trans woman in a major studio's video game. Mila Jam lent her likeness and voice to the character Bazz in Concord."
"PlayStation shooter Concord shut down after only 10 days because no one played it"

Meme - "Reasons for signing. Let me tell you why this petition is 100% necessary. The week Concord dropped, I was waist-deep fighting misogynists and literal Nazis on Twitter. Like, 8 hours over 5 days, nonstop digital warfare. Meanwhile, Asmongold and his army were out here dragging the game to filth, and I didn't even get a second to play it for myself I was too busy holding back the tide of fascists and trolls-because, apparently, someone has to. By the time the weekend rolled around, instead of actually relaxing and checking out Concord, I had to explain my mental health breakdown to my followers. Fighting Nazis will do that to you! And of course, I had to throw in a reminder that our bodies are beautiful, no matter what some Nazi or Asmon's army troll has to say. The worst part? I STILL didn't get a chance to play Concord-and now it's gone. This is why we NEED Concord re-released. So many of us were fighting real battles that week, and we missed out on the game because we were too busy dealing with the actual garbage of the internet. Its only fair we get a second shot to play the game and prove Asmon's army was dead wrong. Platforms might not help us, but the least they can do is give us this. #ReleaseConcordAgain #NazisBlocked #TooBusyToGame #AsmonsArmylsWrong"