This is what will happen here in America. The Free Press have become a lapdog and stopped doing meaningful work decades ago. They took a victory lap with Woodward and Bernstein and have rested on their laurels ever since. Like Don Quixote, they slayed their "dragon" and can emerge victorious. What really happened though was a peek behind the curtain. Where we get to see them cheerleading for one side to the point of nausea. They don't have to pretend to be fair or even report facts! Retractions aren't ever on the front page, they're on Page 12 under the lawyer ad. There is only a regurgitation of the same sentences from the same sources spread by the same talking heads and the uninformed are still calling it "News". The "presstitutes" can't even see the danger of being a lapdog for a political party because like Bernadette Peters said in the movie "The Jerk" she doesn't care about losing the money. She doesn't want to lose "the stuff". Direct access to what they're supposed to say, phrases to repeat, the junkets they go on, the adulation of seeing their name in print, on the front pages or on tv. While they're still jockeying for placement they forgot to cover what's happening in Hong Kong. The promises made to the British in exchange for honoring their end of a deal. They don't want to believe or think it could happen here. I'm here to tell you that this news article below is EXACTLY how it will go down for the American Press. They're too prideful and stupid to see their own demise. Just look at the newspaper sales in America today. Look at the ratings of the Big 3 alphabet media companies news broadcasts. Its a former shadow of itself and in performing the way they have they've done it to themselves. Now, it's a matter of time before the politicians shut it down with a slow trickle and then shut the spigot off.



After decimating Hong Kong’s free press by forcing the closure of pro-democracy outlet Apple Daily, the Chinese communist regime will face little resistance in its bid to completely take over the city, warned Mark Simon, the newspaper’s senior executive.

“Once you’ve let the genie out of the bottle, it’s not going to sit there. They are going to keep going as fast as they want,” Simon said in an interview.

Simon, a senior executive of 21 years at Apple Daily’s parent company Next Digital, spoke to The Epoch Times on June 24, the 26-year-old paper’s last day of publication. From midnight, supporters had lined up at newsstands across the city, sometimes in drizzling rain, waiting to get the last edition of Apple Daily. The outlet sold out at 1 million copies, more than 10 times its usual distribution of 80,000.

The front page of the last issue pictured a staff member on the Apple Daily building roof, waving at the crowds outside.

“Hongkongers bid a painful farewell in the rain,” the headline read.

One of the city’s loudest voices critical of the Chinese Communist Party, Apple Daily is the latest and largest casualty yet of the draconian national security law imposed by Beijing last year to clamp down on the city’s pro-democracy forces.

A Blow to a Free City

To Simon and many others, the abrupt closure of the pro-democracy tabloid, known for publishing racy celebrity gossip alongside pro-democracy views and investigations of corrupt officials, means more than the death of one newspaper. It marks the dismantling of all that has so far sustained Hong Kong as a vibrant city, a “rock” on which “one of the world’s great economic miracles” was born.

“Hong Kong is a free society. It’s based on free markets. It’s based on free flow of information. And it’s primarily based on the rule of law. All three of those took a hit,” he said, referring to the Western institutions inherited by the city when it was under British rule for 99 years, until the Chinese regime took over in 1997.

“You destroy a free press, you impact the free markets because people aren’t getting the proper information to make their economic judgments. And then, when you completely bypass the judicial system, as they’ve done in Hong Kong in silencing us, well, then you basically destroyed the rule of law. There’s no need in Hong Kong anymore.”

Simon said he takes pride in Apple Daily for holding power to account and “taking up the cause of the people.”

“If you had a problem someplace, and it was a legitimate problem, you knew you could bring it to Apple Daily, and they’d air it out. You knew politicians would be asked questions. You knew police officers, if they beat somebody and were filmed, they would be there,” he said.

Sweeping Campaign of Suppression

The paper shut down after authorities froze its assets amid a national security law investigation. A week earlier, 500 police officers raided the publication’s headquarters, arresting five of the company’s top executives and accusing them of endangering national security. Two were later charged with collusion with foreign forces under the security law and denied bail.

The arrests were the first time that the Hong Kong government has applied the national security law against media professionals for articles they’ve published.

The 55-year-old Yeung Ching-kee, a senior columnist, became the sixth staffer to be arrested on June 23. The same day, the police also called in another staff member for questioning, but didn’t detain him, Simon said.

On the day of the raid, police were calling in the journalists for questioning by name, according to Simon.

“They had a list and were taking details,” he said.

The police asked for journalists’ phone numbers and where they lived, Simon said.

“The only reason for that info is for one reason: picking people up,” he said.

The media group had around HK$521 million ($67 million) in available cash at the end of March, enough to keep the company afloat for 18 months, according to an exchange filing provided by Simon. By halting trading of their shares and freezing the company’s bank accounts, the Hong Kong government made it impossible for the outlet to tap into existing funds, effectively killing the newspaper.

Rubbing salt in the wound, the government-controlled Science and Technology Park Corp. moved to reclaim the land it leased to Apple Daily the very day the publication ceased printing, claiming the company had violated its contract.

Authorities cited more than 30 articles that they said have called for Western sanctions against Hong Kong and Chinese governments, but wouldn’t specify to which articles they were referring. Some of those articles date back to 2019, before the national security law came into force, even though the Hong Kong government has previously said the law wouldn’t be retroactive.

Simon doesn’t believe authorities will be transparent about the evidence supporting the charges.

“They will never tell us what the offending articles were,” he said. “Because people have been digging through our archives, trying to find the articles. And if they were there, you can bet your bottom dollar that pro-China press will highlight them.”

Wen Wei Po, a pro-Beijing newspaper, printed a 24-page pull-out section on June 23 celebrating the closure of Apple Daily, with a picture of its jailed owner Jimmy Lai and a headline calling him a “China traitor Lai at Poisonous Apple.”
‘Police State’

Alongside the intensifying suppression of Hong Kong’s once free-wheeling press, Beijing looks to be consolidating its clampdown on what’s remaining of the city’s pro-democracy contingent.

In a sign that the regime is solidifying its grip on the city, Secretary for Security John Lee was promoted to the chief secretary on June 25, Hong Kong’s No. 2 position. Lee’s hardline stance during the 2019 pro-democracy movement as the former police commissioner, as well as his recent role in crippling Apple Daily, made the promotion alarming to critics who described the move as finalizing Hong Kong’s transformation into a police state.

Legislator Alice Mak, from the Beijing-friendly Federation of Trade Unions, however, saw no reason for concern.

“If it is a police state, why not? I don’t think it is any problem with a police state,” she said in a June 25 press conference, noting that “when we say a police state … we emphasize security.”

Lee, in a local radio interview on June 23, said that police have arrested 110 people and prosecuted 64 of them over 12 national security cases since last year. Among them are Lai, activist Joshua Wong, and opposition lawmaker Claudia Mo, whose WhatsApp message with Western reporters became evidence for the court to deny her bail.

Simon, who keeps track of Hongkongers targeted for political crimes, said he has a list of 180 names—including those charged and jailed over various non-security charges.

Those political prisoners are likely saying: “Hey, give us some help. We’re willing to stick it out here,” according to Simon.

He said he hopes that the international attention could help “keep the Hong Kong story alive,” noting that his largest fear is that “people move on.”

“I can assure you that the name Jimmy Lai will quickly disappear from the pages of the pro-China and pro-Beijing newspapers,” Simon said.

“That’s what the commies do, they just try to disappear you away.”

But at the same time, the communist regime also needs Hong Kong to remain as an international financial hub to keep the money flowing in, Simon said.

“Hong Kong will never be an international city, as long as you have political prisoners,” he said.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/death-of-free-press-spells-the-end-of-a-free-hong-kong-jimmy-lai-advisor_3874872.html 


There's your glimpse into the future for America. 3 Red Banners. Build Back Better. The roadmap has already been drawn.

LOL

I don't get the joke. Does TW laugh as liberty dies? 😰

"After the Apple Daily was forced to cease publication, United States President Joe Biden said in a statement on June 24 that the US would not waver in its support of “people in Hong Kong and all those who stand up for the basic freedoms all people deserve.”

“Through arrests, threats, and forcing through a National Security Law that penalizes free speech, Beijing has insisted on wielding its power to suppress independent media and silence dissenting views,” Biden said. “It is a sad day for media freedom in Hong Kong and around the world.”

Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Friday that the US leader’s comments on the shutdown of the Apple Daily were groundless. Zhao said the US should respect the truth and stop interfering Hong Kong’s affairs.

In a letter published on Saturday, US Senators Pat Toomey and Chris Van Hollen urged Biden to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable by using the Hong Kong Autonomy Act to identify and sanction individuals and entities responsible for Apple Daily’s closure.

On June 10, the National People’s Congress’ standing committee passed an anti-foreign sanctions law after a four-day meeting. Under the law, mainland-based people or organizations cannot implement foreign sanctions imposed on any Chinese person or company in mainland China. It is unclear whether the law will be implemented in Hong Kong."

https://asiatimes.com/2021/06/hk-media-erase-their-archives-amid-rising-arrests/ 

Keeps on getting worse for them.

I'm stylin and profilin and limousine ridin....


WooooooOoOoOoOOOoOoOo!

Whoooooooooo

The Chicoms are just following in the footsteps of Abe Lincoln. If he shut down newspapers and arrested people to silence dissenting views, that's good enough for them.

Well, he doesn't have Trump to rant on about...so...maybe he wants to cash in on his "investment".

Sit boy...sit...goood dog.




​Chinese President Xi Jinping warned that any country that attempts to “bully” China will “face broken heads and bloodshed” during a defiant speech Thursday marking the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party.

“​The Chinese people will absolutely not allow any foreign force to bully, oppress or enslave us and anyone who attempts to do so will face broken heads and bloodshed in front of the iron Great Wall of the 1.4 billion Chinese people,” ​Xi said at the celebration near Tiananmen Square, filled with thousands of people waving Chinese flags and singing patriotic songs.

“Without the Communist Party, there will be no new China,” ​he said to roaring applause.

Xi delivered his speech amid rising criticism over China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic that was first reported in Wuhan in December 2019 and human rights abuses connected to its treatment of the ethic minority Uyghurs who are held in forced labor camps in Xinjiang.

The US and other countries have also taken action against China, which has the world’s second-largest economy, for unfair trade practices and for stealing intellectual property.

During the event, that included a military flyover, Xi predicted that China would soon have the world’s greatest ​fighting force.

“We will turn the people’s military into a world-class military, with even stronger capabilities and even more reliable means to safeguard the nation’s sovereignty, security and development interests,” he said.

Xi also pledged to complete “reunification” with democratically ruled Taiwan.

“Solving the Taiwan question and realizing the complete reunification of the motherland are the unswerving historical tasks of the Chinese Communist Party and the common aspiration of all Chinese people,” ​he said.

“All sons and daughters of China, including compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, must work together and move forward in solidarity, resolutely smashing any ‘Taiwan independence’ plots​,” Xi said. ​

Although Taiwan is self-ruled, China believes it is part of its territory and has vowed to take over the island nation as part of its “one China” policy.

But Taiwan slapped back after Xi’s speech, saying that although the Communist Party had realized “certain economic development,” China is still a dictatorship.

“Its historical decision-making errors and persistent harmful actions have caused serious threats to regional security,” ​Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement.

“Our government’s determination to firmly defend the nation’s sovereignty and Taiwan’s democracy and freedom and to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait remains unchanged​,” it continued.

https://nypost.com/2021/07/01/chinas-xi-warns-bullies-will-face-broken-heads-and-bloodshed/ 


Maybe some of you see this now for what it is. Its not just saber rattling. They are building the largest military while we shrink. Their navy will surpass ours. Their army is amassing on the Indian border. When you don't have a Free Press with boots on the ground what you have is a recipe for mass genocide or worse...war.

WooOoooOOoOoOoOoOO!

That's what Xi said when you elected China-Lovin’ Joe Biden.

BoooooOoOooOoOO!

I'm every woman's dream and every man's nightmare.

Whooooooooooo

You guys are a bunch of f**ckin yahoo's

To be the man.... You have to beat the man.

Wooo