Reeducation Camps Thrive

For John, BLUF:  The Government of China is about Citizens not getting out of line.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Inside China's internment camps: tear gas, Tasers and textbooks

From Agence France-Presse, by an unnamed team of Reporters, 24 October 2018.

Here is the lede plus six:

On state television, the vocational education centre in China's far west looked like a modern school where happy students studied Mandarin, brushed up their job skills, and pursued hobbies such as sports and folk dance.

But earlier this year, one of the local government departments in charge of such facilities in Xinjiang's Hotan prefecture made several purchases that had little to do with education: 2,768 police batons, 550 electric cattle prods, 1,367 pairs of handcuffs, and 2,792 cans of pepper spray.

The shopping list was among over a thousand procurement requests made by local governments in the Xinjiang region since early 2017 related to the construction and management of a sprawling system of "vocational education and training centres".

The facilities have come under international scrutiny, with rights activists describing them as political re-education camps holding as many as one million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslim minorities.

Beijing had previously denied their existence.  But a global outcry, including from the UN and the US, sparked a PR counter-offensive.

Government propaganda insisted the centres were aimed at countering the spread of separatism, terrorism and religious extremism through "free" education and job training.

However, an AFP examination of more than 1,500 publicly available government documents –- ranging from tenders and budgets to official work reports —- shows the centres are run more like jails than schools.

Rumor Control has it that China has up to a million Muslim Uyghurs in re-education camps.

China is working on development of a "Social Credit System" to rack and stack all Chinese Citizens.  [From Wikipedia]

On June 14, 2014, the China's State Council issued an outline for the national social credit system, it was titled "State Council Notice concerning Issuance of the Planning Outline for the Construction of a Social Credit System (2014–2020)".  Law scholar Rogier Creemers translated the document into English.

The plan shows the government wants the basic structures of the Social Credit System to be in place by 2020.[15] The goal being "raising the awareness for integrities and the level of credibility within society."  It is presented as a means to perfect the “socialist market economy” (完善社会主义市场经济体制) as well as strengthening and innovating societal governance (加强和创新社会治理).  This indicates that the Chinese government views it both as a means to regulate the economy at a business level and as a tool of governance to steer the behavior of citizens.

The outline focuses on four areas: "honesty in government affairs" (政务诚信), "commercial integrity" (商务诚信), "societal integrity" (社会诚信), and "judicial credibility" (司法公信).  The Chinese government's plans includes credit assessment of businesses operating in China.

The Social Credit System is an example of China’s “top-level design” (顶层设计) approach.  It is coordinated by the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms.

It is unclear whether the system will work as envisioned by 2020, but the Chinese government has fast-tracked the implementation of the system, resulting in the publication of numerous policy documents and plans since the main plan was issued in 2014.  If the Social Credit System is implemented as envisioned, it will constitute a new way of controlling both the behavior of individuals and of businesses.

So, if your social credit score is poor you can't fly on airliners or put your kids in the good schools or gain other economic or social benefits.  This is not a good thing.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Approved Before Disapproved

For John, BLUF:  Our belief in majority rule and minority rights seems to be going away.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Hardening of Leftist Contempt

The Word of the Day is "defenestration" — "the action of throwing someone or something out of a window:  death by defenestration has a venerable history."

From American Greatness, by Ms Charlotte Allen, 10 April 2018.

Here is the lede plus one:

ast week, as former National Review writer Kevin D. Williamson was defenestrated abruptly from his brand-new post as token “conservative” columnist for the Atlantic over his hardline stance on abortion, I was going through a bit of an abrupt left-wing defenestration of my own. So, Kevin: #MeToo.

I was curtly and unexpectedly barred from covering the 19th annual White Privilege Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the Weekly Standard, even though:  1) I had signed up for a press badge at least a month in advance, carefully and honestly identifying my conservative-press affiliation (the conference has been afflicted by right-wing reporters passing themselves off as participants, but I don’t do undercover); 2) I agreed in writing to an elaborate set of restrictions on my reporting, including no recording (fine—I’d just take notes); no reproduction of conference “content” such as handouts; no interviews without organizers’ permission, and so forth; and 3) I was actually given a press badge at the conference, a silky lavender piece of ribbon to wear around my neck bearing the word “Press” in prominent gold letters.  I (or actually the Standard) had to pay for my attendance, instead of getting in free as is often the case for media. But as I already knew, there are hardly any freebies when it comes to bashing white privilege.

We are going with "safe spaces" to the exclusion of any whose thinking is even marginally different.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Wash Post Sees Antifa Problem

For John, BLUF:  Even The Wash Post sees the problem.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Yes, antifa is the moral equivalent of neo-Nazis

An Opinion Piece by OpEd Writer Marc A. Thiessen, 30 August 2017, in The Wash Post.

Here is the lede plus one.  It is a more interesting story if you read the second paragraph as well as the first.

Last weekend in Berkeley, Calif., a group of neo-communist antifa — “anti-fascist” — thugs attacked peaceful protesters at a “No to Marxism in America” rally, wielding sticks and pepper spray, and beating people with homemade shields that read (I kid you not) “No Hate.”  The Post reports how one peaceful protester “was attacked by five black-clad antifa members, each windmilling kicks and punches into a man desperately trying to protect himself.”  Members of the Berkeley College Republicans were then stalked by antifa goons who followed them to a gas station and demanded they “get the [expletive] out” of their car, warning, “We are real hungry for supremacists and there is more of us.”

The organizer of the anti-Marxism protest is not a white supremacist.  Amber Cummings is a self-described “transsexual female who embraces diversity” and had announced on Facebook that “any racist groups like the KKK [and] Neo Nazis . . . are not welcome.”  The protest was needed, Cummings said, because “Berkeley is a ground zero for the Marxist Movement.”

The Democrats need to reject the Antifa extremism or die in the polling booths.

Hat tip to the Memeorandum.

Regards  —  Cliff

Identifying the Target

For John, BLUF:  Law Prof Glenn Reynolds notes "Going around punching people, even strenuously bad people, just because you disagree with them, is kinda fascist."  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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If you’re going to punch Nazis, first make sure they’re actually Nazis

From Salon and Reporter Matthew Sheffield, on 21 August 2017, with examples.

Apparently, if the Antifa take a dislike to you, you are thereby identified as a Klansman or a National Socialist.  Sort of like the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff