Tag: activism

China Continues to Lock Up Activists in Psychiatric Facilities

The national mental health law—a reportedly much-heralded law in 2013—was supposed to put an end to a barbaric practice in China: the locking up of critics, petitioners, and the unwanted by police in psychiatric facilities better described as prisons from hell.

A new report by NGO Safeguard Defenders shows the problem persists, and there’s no protection for victims.

“Ankang,” meaning peace and good health in Chinese, has been used to describe a system where police can forcibly have people committed to institutions, most often without even an initial psychiatric evaluation performed. It started in the 1980s as special police-run custodial psychiatric facilities outside of the normal mental health system. Once inside, it is nearly impossible to leave. It persists to this day, even if the name has changed.

Some victims languish inside for years without ever having any mental health issues—because the authorities found it a convenient way to make a problematic person go away. Inside, the victims go without even the most basic protections, unlike in detention facilities or prisons.

The new report, mapping 109 institutions that have been used this way across 21 provinces, found that two-thirds of those locked up by police did not receive any initial psychiatric evaluation. Most victims identified were either dissidents or petitioners, a long-standing thorn in the side of local governments.

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British climate activists deflate more than 40 tires on SUVs in NYC’s Upper East Side and leave leaflets saying ‘your gas guzzler kills’: Group warns more cities will be struck in the coming weeks

Climate change activists with a group calling itself Tyre Extinguishers are celebrating their first ‘action’ in New York City – deflating the tires of 40 SUVs on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

The movement, which originated in the United Kingdom, seeks to dissuade people from owning SUVs in urban areas, and switch instead to more environmentally-friendly vehicles.

The SUVs they vandalized had leaflets let on the windshield, which stated: ‘Attention: Your gas guzzler kills’.

On Twitter, they boasted about their actions.

‘BIG NEWS: TYRE EXTINGUISHERS STRIKE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN NEW YORK CITY!’ they tweeted on Tuesday. 

One victim emailed them with the subject: ‘Damn you, Red Coats!’

The SUV-owner said that ‘far more environmentally unfriendly’ pickup trucks would now be called out, to repair the damaged vehicles, and pointed out most of those attacked would be covered by insurance.

The loosely-organized movement encourages anyone to participate, at will. They encourage acting under the cover of darkness, working in pairs, and practicing on bicycle tires first.

Activists are told to avoid cars used for people with disabilities, traders’ cars, minibuses and normal-sized cars – but electric SUVs are considered fair game. 

‘NYC is just the latest place and we expect other cities in the USA to follow,’ they said. 

A spokesman for the group told Fox News Digital they intended to carry out more actions.

‘We are rapidly expanding across the United States and are in touch with people in major cities across the USA,’ a spokesperson said. 

‘We expect this to expand massively.’

In a statement, the group said they ‘want to see bans on SUVs in urban areas, pollution levies to tax SUVs out of existence, and massive investment in free, comprehensive public transport.’

They added: ‘But until politicians make this a reality, Tyre Extinguishers action will continue.’

Critics on social media said the action was misguided.

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Climate Activist Dies After Lighting Himself Ablaze On Supreme Court Steps

A Colorado man has died 24 hours after lighting himself on fire in front of the United States Supreme Court on Earth Day as part of what appears to be a religious protest against the use of fossil fuels and in order to bring attention to climate change.

On Friday evening, Washington, D.C., first responders airlifted Wynn Bruce, a 50-year-old climate activist, to a local hospital after he engulfed himself in flames. He later died Saturday evening despite medical efforts to save his life.

Those reportedly close to Bruce are emphasizing that he did not consider this to be an act of suicide, rather that he was simply practicing Shambhala Buddhism and viewed the intentional act as one of self-immolation in order to draw attention to the supposedly damaging effects of climate change.

On Twitter, Zen Buddhist priest and environmental scientist Dr. K Kritee tweeted, “This guy was my friend. He meditated with our sangha. This act is not suicide. This is a deeply fearless act of compassion to bring attention to climate crisis.”

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Leftists with ‘disinformation’ links launch all-out war on conservative news sites

Activists linked to a left-wing disinformation network are pressuring advertisers to cut ties with conservative news sites.

Check My Ads, a group started by Sleeping Giants co-founder and activist Nandini Jammi and advertising consultant Claire Atkin, bills itself as “Adtech’s first watchdog” and claims to “cut disinformation off at the source.” The organization attempts to curb the spread of what it deems misleading or hateful content by pressuring advertisers and ad exchanges to sever business relationships with certain news and commentary sites.

The targets, almost invariably, are conservative publications such as Human Events and The Post Millennial, and right-wing media figures such as Dan Bongino and Charlie Kirk.

Check My Ads recently took credit for helping to kick conservative talk show host Dan Bongino’s website, Bongino.com, off Google’s ad service Friday, with Jammi celebrating Google’s decision as a “final, devastating blow” to Bongino and exclaiming “we did it!”

The group is currently targeting conservative magazine Human Events, focusing on senior editor Jack Posobiec whom the group describes as a “white nationalist and Pizzagate conspiracy theorist.”

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Activists complain bipartisan antitrust law proposal could make online censorship more difficult

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act that is currently making its way through Senate committees before being put up for the final vote, is attracting attention both from those who support it and Big Tech’s lobbyists, who earlier reports said had already launched a broad campaign against it.

The bill that has so far received bipartisan support, aims to significantly limit the way Apple, Amazon, and Google use their monopolistic business practices to undermine competition and antitrust laws.

Either by design or coincidence, it isn’t just openly lobbying firms who are attacking the bill from various angles; they are joined by organizations like Free Press, which claims it is nonpartisan and fighting “for your right to connect and communicate.”

However, in the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, Free Press sees a “flaw” that would, essentially, make connecting and communicating easier – and doesn’t like it. Namely, the bill, if passed, they argue, could prevent censorship, specifically of what’s labeled as “hate speech or misinformation.”

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New Yorker Amplifies Calls For Pipeline Bombings To Save The Planet

The New Yorker amplified calls for eco-terrorism in the name of sparking action on climate change last week by inviting Andreas Malm, the Swedish author of “How To Blow Up A Pipeline,” onto its podcast.

In the episode titled “How to Blow Up a Pipeline,” Malm explains how it’s time for the climate change movement to “diversify its tactics and move away from an exclusive focus on polite, gentle, and perfectly peaceful civil disobedience.”

Malm stopped his recommendations short of “kidnapping oil workers” but said that “civil disobedience” ostensibly to save the planet should include mass acts of “intelligent sabotage” and property destruction, such as blowing up pipelines.

“I’m not saying we should stop strikes or square occupations or demonstrations of the usual kind. I’m all in favor of that. But I do think we need to step up because so little has changed and so many investments are still being poured into new fossil fuel projects,” Malm said. “So I am in favor of destroying machines, property — not harming people, that’s a very, very important distinction there. And I think property can be destroyed in all manner of ways, or it can be neutralized in a very gentle fashion as when we defeated the SUVs, or in a more spectacular fashion, as in potentially blowing up a pipeline that’s under construction. That’s something that people have done.”

“So you’re recommending blowing up a pipeline,” the host confirmed.

Malm justified such actions by claiming that the supposedly moral pros of combatting the “climate crisis” outweigh the cons.

“I don’t see how that property damage could be considered morally legitimate, given what we know of the consequences of such a project,” Malm said. 

The author also pledged “to be part of any kind of action of the sort that I advocate in the book” before criticizing the climate change movement’s tendency toward nonviolent protest.

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New NPR Ethics Policy: It’s OK For Journalists To Demonstrate (Sometimes)

NPR rolled out a substantial update to its ethics policy earlier this month, expressly stating that journalists may participate in activities that advocate for “the freedom and dignity of human beings” on both social media and in real life.

The new policy eliminates the blanket prohibition from participating in “marches, rallies and public events,” as well as vague language that directed NPR journalists to avoid personally advocating for “controversial” or “polarizing” issues.

NPR’s current ethics policy was first drafted in the early 2000s, and then given an overhaul in 2010-2011.

The new NPR policy reads, “NPR editorial staff may express support for democratic, civic values that are core to NPR’s work, such as, but not limited to: the freedom and dignity of human beings, the rights of a free and independent press, the right to thrive in society without facing discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, disability, or religion.”

Is it OK to march in a demonstration and say, ‘Black lives matter’? What about a Pride parade? In theory, the answer today is, “Yes.” But in practice, NPR journalists will have to discuss specific decisions with their bosses, who in turn will have to ask a lot of questions.

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Biden Nominee Edited Radical Ecoterrorist Newsletter Advocating Violence Against Government Officials

Tracy Stone-Manning, President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), helped edit a radical environmental newsletter that advocated for violent action and sought to further the mission of the extremist group Earth First!, whose members committed acts of ecoterrorism in the 1980s and 1990s.

Stone-Manning testified that she “helped edit” a local Earth First! newsletter called the Wild Rockies Review while she was a graduate student at the University of Montana in Missoula 30 years ago.

Though the editors and contributors of the Wild Rockies Review at that time frequently used pseudonyms or just last names to avoid legal consequences for their writings, multiple issues listed a “Stone” under “Assistance” on their mastheads. Stone-Manning went by “Tracy Stone” before she was married.

One such issue was the “Autumnal Equinox Issue,” labeled Vol. 1, No. 3. Also named under “Assistance” on that issue’s masthead was Stone-Manning’s classmate Bill Haskins, who was one of seven, including Stone-Manning, who were subpoenaed in 1989 over a tree spiking crime.

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Kamala Harris Tells Activists to Knock on Doors and Harass People Who Haven’t Been Vaccinated in Desperate Push to Meet 4th of July Goal

Kamala Harris told left-wing activists to knock on doors to pressure people to get vaccinated as Biden’s July 4th vaccine goal is likely to fall short.

The Biden Admin set a goal to fully vaccinate 70% of Americans by July 4th.

Americans are refusing to get the Covid vaccine for many different reasons, but the Biden Admin is pushing for 70% vaccination so they can wield power over the unvaccinated.

This has nothing to do with saving lives.

It’s all about power.

Kamala Harris told so-called ‘volunteers’ in Atlanta to knock on doors and harass people who may be hesitating to get the vaccine for one reason or another.

Harris even gave the activists several pointers on how to overcome objections.

“For example, if you knock on the door and someone says they ‘don’t have the time to get the vaccine’ — because people are busy. They’re just trying to just make it through the day. Or they say that pharmacies are never open when they do have time, well, let’s address that. Because now, you can let them know that pharmacies across our country are keeping their doors open for 24 hours on Fridays in June, including today. Because we need to meet people where they are! Some folks are working two jobs…” Harris said.

“And what if they say they can’t miss work? Well, you can tell them that there are employers across the country who are offering paid time off for their employees to get vaccinated and we want to encourage and challenge more employers to do the same,’ she said.

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