Twitter censors The Epoch Times (and President Xi cheers silencing of Chinese dissidents?)

*UPDATE: Twitter has halted the censorship after a flood of criticism, but not provided any explanation. It shows that speaking up works, but the incident still says a lot about Twitter, and whose side it’s on. They didn’t censor Chinese State media.

_________________

Since Twitter decided to block the upstanding, excellent Epoch Times, I feel therefore obliged to make sure that The Epoch Times gets more attention, not less. Tell your friends, spread the word. If Twitter deems an Epoch page Unsafe, you definitely want to go there. Just click through. Or go straight to The Epoch Times. Who needs Twitter?

We’re in an information war. We must know the enemy. Shore up lines of communication.

If you find yourself self-censoring your commentary for fear of being cut off, remind yourself that that’s exactly what they want. Ownership of your mind…

Twitter Censors All Content From The Epoch Times

The social media company ‘must explain itself for this outrageous act of censorship,’ Senator Marco Rubio says

@EpochTimes

Epoch Times, Unsafe. Twitter Censorship

If you see this, just click through

Twitter Targets American Media, Not Chinese State Media

The Epoch Times was founded in 2000 by Chinese Americans who fled communist China and sought to create an independent media outlet to bring uncensored and truthful information to the world.

At least 10 staff members for The Epoch Times were arrested that year in China, with one editor-in-chief spending a decade in prison.

While operating outside of China, the media outlet has remained a consistent target of attacks from the Chinese regime over the past two decades.

If you have a Twitter Account, either get out now, or use it as a tool knowing they will whip it away when it suits them. Figure out an exit plan for when they cancel you, because it will come when you are most effective. Tell followers where to find you when the censors axe falls. Collect email contacts somehow now. Check out the competition: The Gabs, Parlers, Truth Social. …. Anything but Twitter.

9.5 out of 10 based on 77 ratings

127 comments to Twitter censors The Epoch Times (and President Xi cheers silencing of Chinese dissidents?)

  • #

    It’s seems incredible that the tech giants have been allowed to in effect operate widespread censorship of those whose views don’t agree with theirs.

    The days of free speech, insulting others, engaging in a lively heated debate and disliking certain things whether it might be religions, individuals or counties , seems to be at an end. It’s dangerous even to cause offence online whether or not the expressions given are legal.

    There has been some distinct kickback in the UK in recent months but even though organisations such as the police or universities are told not to close down free speech they still try to do so.. We must strive to ensure online censorship doesn’t become embedded in real world debates.

    440

    • #
      mawm

      I miss the humour that we used to have when it was ok to joke about racial, gender, physical, political, etc. differences. Good humour takes the sting out of this woke mob. Comedians like Rick Gervais are desperately needed to show them how puerile they are.

      141

      • #
        Rupert Ashford

        Shows like “Mind your language” will never be produced in today’s age by the current big money. Dave Chapelle gets in trouble so often and old Will Smith had to apologise for standing up for his wife (whether it was staged or not is a different story) to try and rehabilitate himself in Hollywood.

        30

    • #
      Denny

      I saw a video from the UK yesterday of the police arresting a fellow because he created anxiety for someone on social media. The policeman said precisely that. Unbelievable.

      40

      • #

        Fortunately the police commissioner for the force subsequently berated them and said it was not their place to arrest people because of hurt feelings. This mirrors a high court ruling that the police in this instance seem to have forgotten

        40

  • #

    Who needs Twitter? Indeed. Allegedly called ‘Social Media’. Number One, it is NOT Social and Number Two it is NOT Media.

    310

    • #
      David Maddison

      Who needs Twitter? 

      The Left need it. It is one of their most powerful instruments of propaganda and tools of suppression of free speech.

      It is a dominant force in promoting the Leftist agenda, particularly among the feeble-minded who are unwilling or unable to think for themselves and who have attention spans of about 20 secs and who are probably a voting majority.

      350

    • #
      Ian

      “Who needs Twitter? ”

      I for one do not but equally neither do I need the Epoch Times as I am not an American, do not live in America and can readily obtain news from around the world from the Australian media.

      114

      • #

        Which only shows why you do need The Epoch Times.

        If you read it you’d know that it reports things related to Australia that you can’t find at all in any of The Australian press.

        290

        • #
          Ian

          “If you read it you’d know that it reports things related to Australia that you can’t find at all in any of The Australian press.”

          I don’t read all of the Australian press but I do subscribe to The Australian, The Guardian and the Australian Financial Review as they tend to cover most things of interest and importance

          214

        • #
          Philip

          True. I looked at it today for the first time and it has an Australian version and I was surprised by the quality of topics. I put it in my favourites folder.

          60

        • #

          I get the Epoch Times and it is an excellent news source plus many other subjects on lifestyle. The quality of the news is excellent and very well researched.

          50

      • #
        yarpos

        “…..can readily obtain news from around the world from the Australian media.” wow, eyes and ears wide shut

        110

  • #
    Petros

    I bought a subscription for the paper version to be delivered to my elderly parents. They are continually surprised to learn of news that they don’t hear in the Australian MSM. A lot of older folk have a strong trust in print media.

    430

    • #
      Peter C

      Excellent idea Petros,

      I subscribe to the print edition myself.
      I gave up the subscription to The Age that my late wife paid for. The only thing I miss about The Age is the cryptic crossword.

      The Epoch Times on the other hand has the cryptic quote which takes a bit less time to solve but can be inspirational and educational as well as fun.
      The articles are original and topical and timely and often about things that the MSN does not want to cover.

      My subscription also gives me Epoch TV on my computer but I don’t often have time to watch it.

      190

  • #
    David Maddison

    If Twitter can censor the lawful previous çonservative President of the United States, there is no one and nothing they won’t censor. And President Trump remains censored.

    Apart from overt censorship, less visibly they “shadow ban” people. They and the shadow banned person’s followers don’t know it but their visibility and distribution is limited.

    Elon Musk wanted to turn Twitter into a free speech platform but that deal has fallen through because Twitter couldn’t or wouldn’t prove that a certain minimum proportion of their accounts were genuine and not bots.

    Twitter is a valuable weapon of the Left and nothing terrifies the Left more than free speech. Frederick Douglass said “Slavery cannot tolerate free speech”.

    400

  • #
    Kalm Keith

    “If you find yourself self-censoring your commentary for fear of being cut off, remind yourself that that’s exactly what they want. Ownership of your mind…”

    True; I have recently experienced this need for self censorship.

    260

    • #
      PeterPetrum

      I know – I do it all the time with my two daughters and their families. I tell myself it is to avoid any unpleasantness and lingering tension. But I know I am a coward and I really need to toughen up and find a way to question their beliefs without having to disinherit them!

      130

  • #
    Simon

    The Epoch Times publishes QAnon nonsense and vaccine misinformation. Whether that is sufficient grounds for banning depends upon your views on freedom of speech. Unfortunately, some people will believe it’s a credible news source.

    372

    • #
      David Maddison

      Yes, we should all believe everything we read on Twitter like the Left do…

      E.g.

      “climate change” is real and an “existential threat”.

      The contents of the Hunter Biden laptop were “Russian misinformation”.

      “You can run an industrial civilisation on wind and solar”.

      “Covid vaccines are safe and effective”.

      “Ivermectin and HCQ are dangerous drugs and ineffective for covid treatment.”

      “President Trump and not the Biden family are Russian or Chinese agents.”

      A man can become a woman and vice versa.

      There are more than two genders.

      Polar bears are endangered.

      Etc. Etc. Etc..

      680

    • #
      Broadie

      Pray tell Simon? What is freedom of speech and quite simply what is your view on what should be censored and who should be chosen to apply this censorship?

      340

    • #
      TedM

      The Epoch Times has nothing to do with Qanon. Don’t make false accusations Simon.

      451

    • #
      Margaret H Smith

      Thanks Simon. I’ll look at The Epoch Times immediately as it sounds like it will be worth it.

      441

    • #
      Peter Fitzroy

      Simon, it is important that the epoch times is not restricted. Leave it up to the individuals to determine the worth of what is published there.

      412

      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        on the other hand statements like this

        “We’re in an information war. We must know the enemy. Shore up lines of communication.” are needlessly inflammatory

        \who said ‘in war the first casualty is truth’?

        214

        • #
          Lance

          As near as I can determine:

          “In war, truth is the first casualty”, this quote is purportedly from Aeschylus (525 BC – 456 BC).
          In 1918 US Senator Hiram Warren Johnson is purported to have said: The first casualty when war comes is truth. However, this was not recorded. In 1928 Arthur Ponsonby’s wrote: The ‘When war is declared, truth is the first casualty’. (Falsehood in Wartime.) Samuel Johnson seems to have had the first word: ‘Among the calamities of war may be jointly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages.’ (from The Idler, 1758) .

          So, it isn’t definitive.

          200

          • #
            David Maddison

            And a related quote is:

            “It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.”

            William Tecumseh Sherman

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          • #
            Peter Fitzroy

            so this statement “We’re in an information war. We must know the enemy. Shore up lines of communication.” is now untruthful?

            47

      • #
        Broadie

        Credit where credit is due PF. While you are at it the health Advice the Queensland Chief Health Officer based her decisions on so we could determine it’s worth.

        90

    • #
      Honk R Smith

      Your comment is sufficient grounds for concluding, conclusively, that you do not believe in free speech.

      260

    • #
      yarpos

      Stick with CNN Simon, its your kind of credibility.

      290

    • #
      David Maddison

      Simon, your comment alone has probably just earned Epoch Times three new subscriptions.

      Australian digital and print subscription information here:

      https://tryepoch.com.au/subscribe/

      241

    • #
      Curious George

      I’ll add to vaccine “mis”information:
      President Biden, fully vaccinated and twice boosted, got COVID. After five days of treatment, he tested negative. Today he tested positive again.

      290

      • #
        David Maddison

        Yes, and he got it after using Paxlovid.

        Paxlovid is not properly tested and is issued under an emergency use authorisation in the US and equivalent elsewhere.

        In Australia it costs A$1000 per dose.

        Ivermectin would be safer and more effective at cents per dose.

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    • #
      Philip

      Was Biden handing out vaccine misinformation when he said you wont catch covid if you take the vaccine ?

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    • #
      Philip

      What is next Simon, are you going for your fifth vaccine ?

      160

    • #
      MP

      Here’s some infomation you can trust.

      https://www.openvaers.com/covid-data/mortality.

      70

    • #
      Rupert Ashford

      LOL

      20

    • #
      GD

      Simon, can you provide a link to one article, any article, from the Epoch Times that contains misinformation about the covid vaccines? How about any article that expresses QAnon views?

      Of course, you can’t.

      50

    • #
      James Murphy

      Yes, there’s lots of “nonsense” published everywhere, by all manner of people.
      What makes you so certain that you are able to sort “nonsense” from facts, but other people are not capable of doing so?
      Is it because you think you are intellectually superior to what you see as an ignorant population, or is it because you like to control what others can read, say, and think?

      30

    • #
      Stuart Hamish

      The Ayatollah Khameini has posted anti Semitic tropes and conspiracy theory sermons and Israeli genocide incitement yet the eminently wise and morally consistent Twitter moderators have decided he is not in violation of Twitter’s hateful conduct rules .. The Supreme clerical authority of Iran is still there ..Nor for that matter funky ABC employee and Australian National Library ambassador[ what a charming pick that was ] Benjamin Law who gloated on Twitter – before that ‘credible news source ” the ABC hired him – how he would like to sodomize an Australian war veteran and Liberal MP . There is a profusion of Woke nastiness and profanity on Bens account that would see him banned for life were he a conservative. The misandrist venom of .radical fright-bat Clementine Ford who vented on Twitter her hatred of ,men and desiring all men dead [ ” The coronavirus isn’t killing men fast enough ” she tweeted ]is not on the Twitter censors alert list either.

      Yet Simon’s implied excuses for Twitters censorship of the Epoch Times are QaNon nonsense and [ whatever that means ]’vaccine misinformation ” Thats all ? Have the Epoch Times ever called for discriminatory violence and dehumanization of Jews [ or indeed any nationality or religion ] and ,men or women in entirety Simon ? Of course not ..Its hard not to see the malign tendrilar influence of the Chinese Communist Party in this move

      30

  • #
    David Maddison

    Don’t forget that Twitter (along with other socialist media) censored the true story of the Biden laptop and enough Biden voters would have changed their vote had they known that story that Donald Trump would be still President, disregarding the issues of voter fraud, which they also censored.

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  • #
    • #
      Peter C

      Too Late!!

      230

      • #

        More evidence that Simon doesn’t read the posts he comments on. The UPDATE at the top of the post has been there before even one comment was made here.

        180

    • #
      yarpos

      So do you blow with breeze now that you have been told its OK now?

      200

    • #
      William Astley

      Simon,

      Twitter did not change its ‘mind’. Twitter responded to threats from the US congress, to take action. The Western countries are fighting a not so cold war, with China. China appears to be preparing their population for a bioweapon release.

      “The link you are trying to access has been identified by Twitter or our partners as being potentially spammy or unsafe,” Twitter said.

      The link could be “malicious” and attempting to steal personal information, “spammy” and trying to mislead people, “violent or misleading,” or otherwise in violation of Twitter rules, according to the warning.

      “The censorship affected all of The Epoch Times’ content.

      Multiple U.S. lawmakers decried the development, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

      “Twitter must explain itself for this outrageous act of censorship,” Rubio, the ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote on Twitter.

      Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) were among the other members of Congress who criticized Twitter’s actions.”

      30

  • #
    David Maddison

    Apart from the promotion of other forms of Leftist ideology, Twitter also promotes transgenderism among children and others by banning those who question the medical and scientific basis of this cruel, mutilating and sterilising practice.

    Here is a list of 13 people banned by Twitter for questioning this practice.

    https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/07/05/13-people-outlets-censored-by-twitter-for-questioning-gender-ideology/

    220

  • #
    Lawrie

    I don’t use Twitter because I haven’t seen the need. I do support the Epoch Times along with Gateway and American Thinker. There really is no need to use Twitter because there are other avenues for getting your thoughts out there. I saw an interview with Jordan Peterson last night in which he stated that to have freedom of thought you must have freedom of speech. His reasoning was that most of our thoughts are in words and sometimes pictures. So when talking to someone we are virtually thinking out loud, expressing who and what we are, and also finding out what someone else thinks. It really is how we progress as a species. Take away our freedom to communicate and we lose our ability to think and eventually our species is poorer for it and progress will cease. Maybe that is why the Aborigines here and elsewhere remained in survival mode simple because they could not communicate with a wider world. Civilizations that flourished also had a common language. Rome and Egypt for example.

    The Chinese want to dominate all aspects of our lives however our erstwhile leaders seem to support their objectives above our own. Schwarb now wants to ban private ownership of cars to maintain supplies of rare metals for renewables.

    Whether we like it or not we are at war. War against socialism/communism where, should we lose, and we are losing, we will be just like the Kulaks in Stalin’s USSR. The only plus in that outcome will be that many of the ignorant and enthusiastic boosters will also be just another Kulak for “they know not what they do”.

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    • #
      Geoffrey Williams

      Lawrie, ‘The chinese want to dominate all aspects of our lives’ Where did you get that from ?!
      As far as I can see the people who want to dominate all aspects of our lives are those living right here in Australia ie the ABC leftist, politcally correct, climate change, brainwashed university and radio school of lies who have taken over our country. Do you dispute that ?!
      Wake up to yourself and let the Chinese run their own country.

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      • #
        Lawrie

        I do not agree. The Chinese are using coal and nuclear to drive their economy but they also encourage the Net Zero policies of the West which benefits them both ways, to cripple our own manufacturing and to increase theirs particularly in the renewable sector. The Russians sponsor the anti fracking movement in the UK and so the UK is dependent on imported gas supplies. They don’t use much Russian gas but they do take gas out of the market making Russian gas dearer. The Chinese sponsor outfits like Extinction Rebellion here which influences governments to move away from reliable and cheap coal. The Chinese also have their Confucious centres at all our major universities which refuse to host similar centres for the promotion of Western culture. The Chinese used the request for more information on the origin of the Wuflu as the reason to ban or reduce our exports. That backfired as new markets were soon found. They control major portions of our energy grid, much of our water, particularly in the MDB, and hold leases over two major ports. Then we face their potential control of one of the major waterways for our exports and imports, the South China Sea, and their obvious desire to form a blockade by cosying up to Vanuatu for example. Now we get to your picks for the fifth column. The ABC is staffed by socialists, with at least 40% voting Green. Greens are communists supporting China. Bandt wants us to scrap our defence force and that would benefit whom? The mob that would love our resources and would certainly burn our coal and use our uranium, two resources the Greens and Teals and the ALP would also like to leave in the ground. Universities here do brainwash our kids, no doubt but who funds the universities? Well those thousands of Chinese kids who come here to earn a second rate degree because many do not speak English but then go home to report to Uncle Xi. The Chinese have us by the Sand C aided and abetted our own dear leaders and journalists who promote the woke ideology.

        In a way we are both right. We have external and internal dangers but in both cases we lose and China gains.

        152

      • #
        Kalm Keith

        Geoffrey, nobody disputes that.
        The last line however seems to be out of place?

        01

  • #
    MichaelinBrisbane

    I’ve just come across another Orwellian site — the Centre for Countering Digital Hate.
    Might be related to The ABC’s The Conversation?
    They won’t stomach any doubt against the Climate Change religion.

    220

  • #
    Broadie

    Aborigines here and elsewhere remained in survival mode simple because they could not communicate with a wider world

    Great example of how suppression of Free speech has allowed the re-writing of history to be accepted by someone posting on Jo’s blog. We do not know what level of exchange occurred between ‘Aborigines here’ and their Northern neighbours. We have evidence that technologies such as hunting with fire arrived with one racial group and then the dingo with another approximately 4000 years ago. The Bass straight ferries were not running at this time so another racial group located there did not acquire the latest hunting dog model.

    We are currently dealing with the concept of survival mode. How do civilizations regulate population to a the level of the food sources available to them. Rather than leaving them to die when their worth to the family group means their existence is no longer sustainable we could just shut down the supply chain, lock the elderly and infirm in a room and sedate them until they go to the big sleep and/or jab the children and child bearing age women.

    Who should make these decisions and who has the right to shut down discussion on these topics. Is it some un-elected and unknown entity running twitter?

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    • #
      Broadie

      Apologies. Comment referring to that of Lawrie’s #10. Not arguing just musing within the scope of this topic.

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    • #
      John Connor II

      How do civilizations regulate population to a the level of the food sources available to them?

      Most civilisationg grew rather than stagnated mainly by expanding their empires.
      But looking at most past civilisations, they’re at the mercy of nature.
      Mayans, Aztecs and even even the mighty Egypt fell because of major climatic changes that they simply couldn’t survive, especially when said changes run for years or decades.
      eg. Egypt collapsed when the river Nile completely dried up due to a shift in trans iceanic currents.
      Do you reckon any modern society could cope with such events?
      Now we’re faced with an orchestrated food system collapse not a natural one.

      140

      • #
        yarpos

        Makes it sound like a management problem, regulating population. I think its good deal more messy than that, as per your examples. If you don’t work it out eventually Nature works it out for you.

        40

    • #
      Philip

      Yes the statement indicates that if they were to be in contact with the world they would not have remained in survival mode. Im not too sure about that.

      40

    • #
      Lawrie

      I based the comment on the fact that there were several hundred languages at the time of our first settlement. Why didn’t the desert dwellers, who seem to have had the harshest conditions , migrate to better climes? The history of Europe and Asia is littered with examples of peoples relocating either rapidly or gradually to better hunting grounds or more favourable pastures. We do the same today. Just ask a grey nomad and they will tell you of many better places. Why didn’t the Aborigines do the same thing? You mention the leaving of old, non-contributing people, to die and likewise the killing of babies for food in extreme cases and as a means of survival for the family group.

      After 60000 years of adaptation I do not see any examples of great leap forwards. The woomera is good but the bow and arrow better. It seems to me that communication is the key not only for survival but advancement.

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      • #

        Several hundred languages in Europe 200 years ago too. Your assumptions about mobility suggest you’ve not picked up an anthropology or genetics text in a long time.

        01

  • #
    Zane

    Reportedly people have been censored on SM for something as innocuous as using a Bible quote in a post.

    100

    • #
      David Maddison

      Yes they do censor Bible quotes.

      Here is just one example.

      https://backtojerusalem.com/twitter-bans-bible-verses-and-censors-bethel-worship-music/

      I’ll add my own quote here from Isaiah which applies to Twitter:

      20 Woe to those who say of the evil that it is good and of the good that it is evil; who present darkness as light and light as darkness, who present bitter as sweet and sweet as bitter.

      21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and in their own estimation, of profound understanding.

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    • #
      Kalm Keith

      We must be careful when using bible quotes.

      I think we are all aware of the person who decided to seek guidance from the bible and opened it at a random location and stuck a pin in the page.

      The first spot said ” And Judas went and hanged himself.”

      Deciding to start again he repeated the process.

      The second location said: “Go thou and do likewise.”

      90

      • #
        Zane

        It will be an interesting clash, the tech titans vs. the Bible. It might end up bigger than Ben Hur, as they say. Can the tech juggernauts who control access to information actually cancel the most printed book in the world?

        80

  • #
    Chris

    An online subscription to The Epoch Times is just over $100 Aus yearly, and their documentary TV is all class.

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    • #
      PeterPetrum

      Right at this moment at the top of their page they have a video program of over 1 hour regarding the Capitol Jan 6th. issue. I have just started to watch it and it is fascinating. Lots of previously unseen (by me anyway) shots of the violence unleashed on the crowd by the police. No attempt to subdue or arrest any violent protestors, just the use of grenades, flash-bangs and rubber bullets. Several in the crowd died that day from heart attacks, stroke or just being crushed to death by a panicked crowd. I will watch the rest later. Epoch Times is excellent and I have had a subscription for the last two years.

      90

  • #
    Honk R Smith

    If only the Epoch Times had done in depth reporting on the now known political fabrication ‘Russiagate’, they could have one a Pulitzer Prize for ‘journalism’.
    Actually, anyone with room temperature IQ, knew “Russiagate’ was BS from the get go.

    https://nypost.com/2022/02/20/the-absurd-russiagate-pulitzer-of-the-ny-times-and-washington-post/

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    • #
      Honk R Smith

      won not one

      50

    • #
      Philip

      I suppose I assumed epoch times was centrist and not too interesting. But now twitter has got rid of genuine right edgy stuff the moderates find themselves as the new fringe.

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    • #
      yarpos

      Funny how our resident lefties view Epoch with trepidation. You only have to take a few minutes to listen to the likes of Matt Walsh and Ben Shapiro to realize they are grounded in fact and logic, which is why I guess they get demonized. Arguing the “the feels” and emotive BS really doesnt get far with them.

      Dont agree with all they say, but at least I can understand their position and what its based on.

      60

  • #
    John Connor II

    Like I said – Elon should buy a country instead of Twitter.
    Why waste money on a corrupt, biased, fact deprived, loony left platform?

    The tides are turning and FB/Twitter et al will be left high and dry.

    110

    • #
      Philip

      Yes, Id suggest Rhodesia, and bring it back from the gates of hell to what it should and could be.

      50

      • #
        Russ Wood

        Rhodesia – the farmland is still there, under the 25 years of weeds. Many of the populace still speak English, and (as we in South Africa can confirm) there is a get-down-to-work attitude in the people.

        10

    • #
      David Maddison

      Maybe he could buy Madagascar.

      There are 29 million people.

      Give them US$10,000 each to leave or surrender sovereignty of the country to him. Total cost would be $290 billion.

      That investment could easily be recouped by importing coal from Africa to build proper power stations plus build nuclear power stations as well. Invite industry there and freedom loving people.

      It could process minerals imported from Africa and establish manufacturing.

      Make it into a model of what the United States once was.

      He could also establish a free speech alternative to Twitter to run from there.

      Etc..

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  • #
    Philip

    I censor myself all the time even on this blog. I’d stand for local council but I know I’d say something wildly unacceptable to the censor friendly masses. If kids are around I censor myself completely. Modern kids are like the gestapo. I personally know someone who got reported by their child to Docs for racism (listening to Milo videos) and DOCS followed it up. IF you talk about climate change they get very angry and disturbed and parents get angry at you for bringing up the topic. Censorship and self censorship is a part of modern life, it’s everywhere.

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    • #
      yarpos

      Tend to agree, when we go on car club runs we often choose not to buy into some discussions depending on the group we end up on a table width. The club has the full political spectrum of views and a couple of months ago we ended up with a group discussing how great Dan Andrews was and how keen they were to get their 2nd boosters as it was the only thing that would “keep them safe” Couldnt contribute much until the subject changed.

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      • #
        KP

        Chicken!

        Would they do the same f more of us were there and the debate was how the vaccines are useless, the TGA corrupt and Andrews is a d*ckhead?

        50

    • #
      PeterPetrum

      Philip, exactly my experience too, even with my own now quite grown up grandchildren. I remember writing to my 21 yo grandson about the desperate plight of aborigines on the outskirts of country towns and in remote locations (which I had experienced) and how little they were doing, because of “sit down money”, to better themselves. I got a reply full of fairy stories from Dark Emu about how they had been, before Europeans, peace loving tribes that lived in large towns and grew vegetable and raised animals and traded peaceably with each other! And white man ruined all that and reduced them to their current state, so not their fault. Then his mother (my own daughter) wrote to me and said she suspected that I might be a white supremacist and to desist from attempting to corrupt her children with false ideas! Naturally I have given up doing anything in writing but I will try and get into their minds on this climate debacle.

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  • #
    STJOHNOFGRAFTON

    Why elect to go voluntarily blind with nanny Twitter? Read the Epoch Times without nanny Twitter and make your own decisions.

    41

  • #
    John Connor II

    Twitter said governments are requesting social media user information to censor content

    Twitter said that governments around the world are asking the popular social media company to either remove certain content produced by the opposition or inquire about private details such as confidential information, direct messages, users’ location, and more. According to a report by Twitter, several local, state, and national governments urged the company to remove almost 60,000 contents during the six-month period in 2021.

    Twitter head Yoel Roth said, “We’re seeing governments become more aggressive in how they try to use legal tactics to unmask the people using our service, collect information about account owners, and also using legal demands as a way to try and silence people.” The company said that 20% of these demands are made by the U.S. and India follows right after that. Although, 40% of these demands are made to gain access to the users’ confidential information. Japan has made more than 23,000 requests and half of them are asking for user information and another half for content removal.

    https://www.thetechoutlook.com/news/twitter-said-governments-are-requesting-social-media-user-information-to-censor-content/amp/

    Now ask yourselves what is the government going to do once they know who you are because you dared to have your own opinion.
    The rats in power fear for their own survival…

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    • #
      John Connor II

      It is rare for antitrust suits against the four Big Tech corporate giants (Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon) to avoid early motions to dismiss. Friday’s decision against Google ensures that the suit now proceeds to the discovery stage, where Rumble will have the right to obtain from Google a broad and sweeping range of information about its practices, including internal documents on Google’s algorithmic manipulation of its search engine and the onerous requirements it imposes on companies dependent upon its infrastructure to all but force customers to use YouTube.

      Founded in 2013, Rumble began experiencing explosive growth in the run-up to the 2020 election. Americans were encountering escalating and aggressive Big Tech censorship of political content as the election approached. Conservative politicians, followed by a wide range of heterodox voices on the right and left, began migrating by the millions away from Google’s YouTube to Rumble, which has promised and thus provided far more permissive free speech rights. That was at the time when Google and other Big Tech platforms — at the urging of the Democratic-controlled Congress, began aggressively increasing its censorship of political video content on YouTube on the grounds of “disinformation” and “hate speech.”

      https://www.zerohedge.com/political/court-rejects-googles-attempt-dismiss-rumbles-antitrust-lawsuit-ensuring-vast-discovery

      It all comes back to those at the top seeking to stay there. “Fact-checking” and “hate speech” are just distractions from what’s really going on…

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  • #
    Zane

    Who knows how far it will go. Will the police be knocking on doors as they did with the Ballarat lady who posted on Facebook about trying to organize a protest against Daniel Andrew’s insane Covid restrictions? Reeducation camps or worse to follow? Will being a ” climate denialist ” be equivalent to a non-believer during the Spanish Inquisition? We seem to be moving towards a medieval style of post-scientific irrationality. Don’t expect anyone to save us.

    We have to save ourselves.

    First they came for the vaccine skeptics…

    The Germans have invented a new word and that is not always a good thing. Klimaschutz, or Climate Protection. Klima Uber Alles. You will protect the climate and lower your carbon footprint to zero. Or else. We have ways of enforcing compliance, you better believe it.

    Climate cops. Carbon will be cancelled.

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  • #
    exsteelworker

    The left-wing msm are taking a page out of Joseph Goebbels play book. Censorship, propaganda, bookburning,cancelling people, speeches and everything else they don’t agree with. Today’s left msm, politicians are the modern day equivalent of Nazi propagandists.

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  • #
    m2k

    Epoch Times is an incredible resource, especially Epoch TV which is included in the very reasonable subscription. Having been a subscriber for about a year, I have trouble keeping up with the excellent interview programs such as American Thought Leaders, Facts Matter, Crossroads, Truth over News and many others. Essential viewing when most news sources are heavily biased.

    The new documentary “What really happened on Jan 6” is really worth watching.

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  • #
    Dipole

    Twitter has permanently suspended the excellent medical doctor and fighter for the freedom to be a good doctor, Mary Talley Bowden.
    She has treated over 4000 patients that have Covid with off label medications and all have survived.
    She is suing Methodist hospital in Texas for $25m for defamation and I really hope she wins.
    You can find her on Gettr and Telegram and she needs all the support she can get.

    There are dark forces out there.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      The late Dr Zev Zelenko was also suspended on Twitter.

      Huge numbers of decent people have been.

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  • #
    Zane

    Along with Extinction Rebellion and other enviro zealots are new kids on the block Just Stop Oil. This mob launched on 14 Feb 2022 and claims to be ” a coalition of groups “. Right. Naturally they have a website. UK-based but sure to spread, JSO wants to end all new fossil fuel production. That is quite some aim. I have a sneaking feeling, however, that this prohibition will magically not extend to Saudi Arabia or Russia.

    There is no way these types of activist “groups” just emerge organically. Someone powerful is both creating and promoting them.

    Who is behind the green curtain?

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    • #
      Kalm Keith

      We desperately need that answer.
      Who?
      We can see from ground level up the ladder only so far on these groups, but they are vulnerable in that they are obviously financed and legally must name their income source.

      These activist groups have been given far too much free space by governments all over. If ordinary taxpayers were so free and easy they would be in big trouble with officialdom so the status quo says that they are in favour with the government and public service.

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      • #
        Dave

        The Just Stop Oil is funded by Climate Emergency Fund out of USA
        It was reported here 2 months ago!

        40

        • #
          Zane

          I normally don’t click on links but this time I did. What a scam. Donations are rolling in by the second from clueless climate-befuddled clucks. This is a financial con job. Create a phoney issue, set up a fund, watch the money roll in, and loll back in a nice office on a big salary and fly to climate conferences to virtue-signal with other green scamsters.

          Meanwhile some guy in a hi vis jacket is operating a digger or dragline doing real work that keeps the lights on!

          It’s a crazy world ok.

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      • #
        Zane

        I remember reading about some rich guy in the UK who was funding Extinction Rebellion. Can’t remember his name offhand. Was it a hedge fund manager?

        Okay, a Brave search yielded an answer. Sir Chris Hohn, a British hedge fund billionaire, is supposed to be XR’s biggest donor. He places big bets on companies roiled by environmental scandals and profits when their share prices recover. Not exactly rocket science, but it seems to have worked for him. He’s paid himself £800 million in dividends over the past few years, which certainly isn’t chump change unless you are a Russian oligarch.

        He’s also vowed to ” punish ” companies that do not do enough to ” tackle ” the climate emergency.

        Sounds like a charming fellow.

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      • #
        Ted1.

        30 odd years ago I was informed by a credible source that our local leader of the pack was a professional operator and collected her funding from a Chinese restaurant.

        That’s in “the bush”. Where it’s harder to hide. She doesn’t.

        10

    • #
      Stuart Hamish

      The miscellany of languages is not all that relevant Leaf Motif and you blithely refer to ” an anthropology or genetics text ” yet have not specified any by research publication titles … Aboriginal societies were predominantly nomadic and Lawrie [ perhaps unwittingly ] moved the goalposts of his argument from ‘desert dwelling indigenous tribes to ‘aborigines ” generally [ ” Why didn’t aborigines do the same thing ” ? ..They often did ] …We can speculate desert cultures did not relocate long distances to more salubrious hospitable climate zones for reasons of specialized adaptation to harsh conditions and hostile territorial neighboring tribes The research of professional [ Stephanie Jarret ] and amateur [ Louis Nowras Bad Dreaming ] anthropologists and the chronicles of colonists [ the Strehlows ] ‘chief protectors escaped convicts [ William Buckley ] and explorers document normalized, extreme inter-tribal warfare and homicidal violence within Australian indigenous tribal groups just as in Europe , Asia, Africa and the Americas …The salient difference between European, East Asian , Amerindian African civilizations and the material culture moribundity of pre contact aboriginal cultures inhabiting the Australian continent is staring everyone in the face when looking at a map of the globe and studying a little history : centuries of isolation , the vicissisitudes of geography and the abandonment [ with the exception of Torres Strait and north Queensland islanders ] of long distance maritime craft that would have enabled them to trade intermarry and communicate with neighboring civilizations To the immediate north until the age of European maritime travel and global colonization there was only the Javanese and Mocassan traders Either side the huge expanses of the Indian and Pacific oceans there were no large scale interactions and migrations notwithstanding from the Indian subcontinent in the 4th millennium BCE By contrast, there were incessant invasions and diffusions of new ideas ,gene flows and technologies into Africa Europe Asia [ consider the lasting legacies of the Persian Alexandrian and Roman empires ] and to a lesser extent the Americas [ The Aztecs for example migrated from the north in the 14th century ] compared to Australia …

      It is almost certain prehistoric Australian aboriginal peoples sailed the Pacific in boats [ hypothetically they may have hugged the rims of the vaster Antarctic ice caps in summer subsisting on fish seals sea birds and melted ice water during the Pleistocene glaciations journeying to South America by ‘sight of land’ excursions in small water-craft ] because aboriginal genotypes have been located in South American [ not North American ] Amerindian populations .

      10

  • #
    Honk R Smith

    “Who is behind the green curtain?”

    I often ponder this question to distract myself from worrying about food, electricity, gasoline, and remembering pronouns and passwords.

    I think it is mostly a cultural phenomenon of affluence. People that don’t worry about the above, have time to create there own drum circle.
    The formerly alleged ‘hallowed’ institutions are just circumferential pleasuring confabs.
    Picture in yur mind Joe, Kamala, Dan, Jacinda, Justin, Angela, with Fauci and Klaus leading. And Bono and Bruce providing musical inspiration. 🙂
    ‘They’ will decorate the space, but in the end will be held accountable for all product wasted on the ground.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUspLVStPbk

    The weird thing is that it was a boisterous NYC real estate billionaire/reality TV personality doing the Toto part.

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    • #
      Honk R Smith

      Cr@p … intended as reply to Zane #24.
      Zane, Zane, come back Zane!

      20

    • #
      Honk R Smith

      Ok, I just viewed in it’s entirety the vid linked in my above comment, after not seeing it in a good while.
      Stunning.
      True greatness.
      The greatest court jesters of all time.
      We desperately need such as them today.

      01

  • #
    David Maddison

    Twitter is a major contributor to the destruction of Western Civilisation.

    80

    • #
      Hanrahan

      That would be the MSM, they run protection for every loony left group so they become untouchable.

      20

  • #
    william x

    I can present a hypothesis that 1 + 1 = 2
    and yet my theory will be shouted down by those that know better,
    I will be constantly criticized as I am excluding other numerals that may want to identify as 1 or 2.
    I will be vilified because I did not mention numbers, 3,4,5,6 etc. as I am not inclusive.
    I am told “the” science is settled.

    I am denied the right to question.

    So today, 123 + 4 = 5, will be classed as fact.
    and tomorrow, 98765432 + 1 = 0, will be fact.

    And so on.

    Who would have thought?
    My engineering degree never gave me that insight.

    Maybe I wasted 10 years of studying science and math.

    Like my insightful nephew, maybe I should have studied political science.
    and hold a doctorate as he does.

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  • #
    Hanrahan

    I believe Joshua Philipp, who does a Crossroads podcast, is part of this stable. He does a lot of investigative journalism but only puts half of it on YT. [self censorship]

    If your Epoch Times subscription includes his blog, it’s worth the time.

    10