Thread: Confucius Institutes, aka Hanban, were intitiated in 2004 as a way to spread the CCP narrative while simultaneously gaining entry to foreign universities. Considered "cultural soft power" and a important part of China's overseas propaganda set-up.

1. Michigan : Product of China
Why did Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and Former Gov. Rick Snyder (R) both endorse Joe Biden?
C H I N A !
special guest: Hunter Biden #9

1. The PURGE - so it begins. They took Parler down and then started the Twitter purge. Parler was hacked about the same time it was being brought down. They successfully dismantled the largest group of patriots and without one main platform, 70+ million people are scattered.

2. China did this same thing to the Falun Gong when they reached about 80 million members. They had to break up this group for fear they would be able to take on the CCP. They criminalized the Falun Gong and started rounding up those that "illegally" produced printed materials.

3. They want us divided & separated. They want us not to communicate or care anymore.

Falun Gong was a peaceful movement. It was a Chinese practice of martial arts and spiritual discipline that is centered on peace and self-improvement.

4. So why did the Chinese government viciously crack down on it? Because the FG opposed communism and they grew too large. The CCP had to stop it for fear of the movement taking over the gov.
The CCP created a propaganda campaign against this group. They called them a cult.

5. Please do not tell me Steve Bannon started this group bc he did not. They were around for decades before, but were banned and censored by the CCP. They support anti-communist like Bannon bc they were oppressed and punished so badly by their own country.

1. Justice Stephen Breyer was nominated by Pres. Bill Clinton on May 17, 1994 and has served since August 3, 1994.

2. "He (Breyer) insists that although decisions of foreign courts are not binding on U.S. courts, they could be “instructive,” and American judges should be free to cite and apply foreign law in cases which come before

3. Justice Breyer is married to Joanna Hare.

4. "Her family is also enormously wealthy, having started the Pearson group, which today is a media empire run by Joanna's older brother, Michael J Hare.. A Apr1994 financial disclosure statement, the Breyers list ownership of $2,324,958 in PEARSON

5. "The Breyers vacation at a rustic 320 acre retreat in New Hampshire, as well as having access to a house owned by Joanna Breyer's mother on the island of St. Kitts in the Caribbean."

1. The C-19 Vax which was approved for children 5-11 years of age is for Emergency Use which is really bothersome because the vaxxine has not been approved by the FDA and is still being studied.

2. The Pfizer 5-11 vax is not just a mini dose of the adult version. It DOES contain other ingredients than the full size dose.
While in small doses,
tromethamine and tromethamine hydrochloride are added to this 5-11 vax.

3. Here is the Pfizer 12+ data for comparison.

4. It's been fact checked and it looks like they tried to discount it partly as just a stabilizing pH buffer to make it easier for storage.
tromethamine and tromethamine hydrochloride

5. A little info I found on tromethamine and tromethamine hydrochloride.

1. Brian Fung works for CNN. I will share with you some of his recent tweets and his family. ((thread))

So I was talking to @gewt about Job: A Comedy of Justice and I came up with a theory that I think explains why Heinlein's late-period work is so kinda-terrible and why I still enjoy it so much

So Heinlein had always been very interesting in the short parts of his novels, like the little snippets inside chapters. He had a very fun writing style, and wrote some fun dialogue with fun characters, right?>
It probably comes from how much of his early stuff was short fiction

And I think what happened with a lot of his longer works is that he'd just start writing fun bits and hope it would end up going somewhere or having a bigger plot by the end. like eventually he'd figure out where this was going, then go back and rewrite it into a cohesive whole

and I'm sure he had editors that'd help this process. No editor would let you publish something as rambly and changing-gears-every-other-chapter as The Number Of The Beast, for example... unless you were God-King Of Science Fiction 1980s Robert Heinlein.

so basically I think what happened is that by the 80s (when he was in his seventies!!) he lost the drive to go back and rewrite and he was too Untouchable for editors to make him.

Amongst my absolute favourite musicians of all time, one name that is certainly near the top is of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan sahab. I don’t know if any such data exists, but I am pretty sure he would also be among the most widely sold international artists in India. (1/43)

This is a thread about Nusrat sahab’s connections with India - his first performance here, songs blatantly copied from his compositions, his non-film albums done here, and also his work in Bollywood. So buckle up, coz this is gonna be very very loooong. (2/43)

The story starts in 1979, when a certain legend by the name of Raj Kapoor was invited to a Qawwali show in Birmingham, and heard Nusrat sahab performing there. So impressed by his music was Kapoor sahab, that he made up his mind to invite Nusrat sahab to India. (3/43)

Soon after, in early 1980, Rishi Kapoor was getting married to Neetu Singh, and Raj Kapoor promptly invited Nusrat sahab to perform at one of the sangeet ceremonies. The invitation actually was sent through Pakistani actor Mohammad Ali, a mutual contact of the two. (4/43)

Nusrat sahab accepted the invite, and was apparently excited with the prospect of also visiting Ajmer Sharif. His performance at the sangeet was attended by the who’s who of Indian film and music at the time, and he is said to have performed for hours through the night. (5/43)

I'm gonna do my other star wars thread tomorrow, which will primarily be me yelling at a @RowanKaiser-shaped strawman for calling the First Order and The Resistance "cosplayers who the rest of the galaxy has to deal with"

the deal w/the New Republic, the First Order, and the Resistance is very weird and complex and I actually take issue with how Story Group frames the actual conflict.

pre-TFA stuff is presented as a "cold war" between the New Republic and the remnants of the Empire that form the First Order, which 100% makes sense.

But they frame the First Order's attack on the Hosnian system and the subsequent battle that takes place across TFA and TLJ as a full on war when it's very clearly a coup. A war implies at least equal standing, but the First Order completely wrecks shop and takes over the galaxy.

ok never mind I'm fucking doing this now.

The First Order fleet we see in TLJ is *not* the entire fleet of the First Order (I don't even think Starkiller Base was their main base of operations honestly, it couldn't have been considering they were operating out of Wild Space)

Musicians and their constant battle with substance abuse: A [thread] of studies & findings on the subject 👇

45% of UK musicians reported issues with alcohol. "Entertainers experienced performance-related incentives to drink before, during and/or after a show; including anxiety, matching their intoxication level to the audience’s, and ‘reward-drinking’"

(Forsyth, et. al. 2016)

One study of 226 musicians in New York State found that substance use was “markedly elevated compared to general population samples”

(Miller & Quigley, 2011, p. 401)

One study of 168 significant and famous jazz musicians found that their mean age at death was only 57.2 years.

(Patalano, 2000)

One study of the autobiographies of rock musicians reported that 62% contained a description of the artist’s personal addiction story. (Oksanen, 2013)

Also, the confessional recovery memoir is now an established and popular genre. (Oksanen, 2013; Forsyth, Lennox & Emslie, 2016)