17 Jun 21
While it feels like democracy can be under threat in the West, let us never lose track of the fact that the totalitarian Communists of China are systematically destroying what remains of the free press & freedom activists in Hong Kong:
Hong Kong police arrested the editor-in-chief and four other executives of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily on Thursday, on suspicion of violating the national security law.
Apple Daily is owned by media mogul Jimmy Lai, who was also arrested and jailed on a string of charges.
Apple Daily is known to be critical of Beijing's leadership.
Dozens of prominent activists have been arrested since the national security law was introduced last year.
Police entered the Apple Daily office premises at around 07:30 local time on Thursday (23:30 GMT Wednesday) and blocked off all entrances and exits,
The paper broadcasted live footage of the raid on its Facebook account.
Police said in a statement that they conducted a search operation at a media company, adding that their warrant "covered the power of searching and seizure of journalistic materials".
The police separately visited the homes of editor-in-chief Ryan Law, parent company Next Digital's CEO Cheung Kim-hung, COO Chow Tat-kuen, Apple Daily publisher Chan Pui-man and Director Cheung Chi-wai, and arrested them.
You've got to love this part:
Police did not name those arrested but confirmed that the five people, aged between 47 and 63, were arrested for "collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security".
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-57507256
The ChiComs will refer to anything that is threatening their stranglehold on power as a threat that is coming from abroad because it is how they will hang on to total dominance.
But, let it also be said, they are not necessarily wrong: the CIA uses endowments like the NED and countless other outfits to fund money to these groups. So, perhaps this contentious point will enable us to have some discussion.
17 Jun 21
It's all good, @Phil.
People in the US are allowed to print books and other media that promotes Marxism. It may be that the publisher
is receiving funds from some government entity, such as China. But in the end, they are never persecuted
by the American government. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press. Take that away and we're screwed. MO