We’re sorry, but our website was not working properly for several days.  It’s almost fixed now and soon should be in full working order.  I’d tell you what happened if I knew.  As for 21^st Century WATCH, we sent the layout to the printer several days before leaving for the Feast of Tabernacles.  In the past we’ve been surprised at how fast we received printed copies back here at the office, and knew that everyone would receive their copy within days.  But you’ve been hearing about shortages and delays with ordered goods?  That’s what we’re being told about the magazine, they couldn’t get the paper in a timely fashion.  And still we wait.  The issue has been posted at 21^stCenturyWatch.com if you’re tired of waiting.

Our immediate concern is for those that are experiencing health difficulties.  Not here in Tyler.  Some have had the dreaded Wuhan virus, and recovered at about the same rate as familiar bouts with the flu. Apparently  people react differently, some with very mild symptoms, others more severe.

These Updates have been a little testy about everybody barking orders and making demands.  Even those who’ve taken the decision and gotten their shots recognize that government officials (the infamous doctor comes to mind) don’t have the power to demand that we inject something.  Hundreds, no doubt thousands of employees at various concerns are walking off the job, unwilling to bow down to heavy-handed dictates by firms doing the government’s bidding.  But there is no law.  When did Congress pass a law requiring vaccination papers for employment?  It’s not been done.  Companies that survive on federal contracts are clamping down for obvious reasons.  The mainstream hasn’t heard.

As we’ve mentioned before, and everybody knows by now, parents have been shredding school officials over the anti-American, racial indoctrination little kids are subjected to as part of their curriculum.  Not only that, but the children are told that there are alternatives if they’re not happy with their gender assignment. No problem.  They can swap genders if they so choose, they’re taught.

The Coronavirus may end up saving America.  It turns out that parents got a good look at the kids’ schoolwork during the great quarantine, and those who paid attention were none too pleased.  School board officials have been publicly thrashed and shamed by furious parents.  You’ve undoubtedly seen some of these incidents.  School officials, fully masked, pretending to be distracted by some papers or their phones, acting disinterested while parents express absolute fury about the drivel their children are forced to “learn.”

According to communications that have gone public, a letter went from some national school board association to the White House saying that officials had been harassed and threatened.  Almost immediately the Attorney General fired off a letter to the FBI suggesting that the parents were a danger and should be investigated.  Maybe you’ve seen that he (Merrick Garland) was questioned before the Senate this week.  It went on and on as he denied everything.  You might call his answers stonewalling.  He had a memorized statement about his “memo” and repeated it to every question.  Even when asked about his daughter and son in law making huge sums off the marketing of the “educational” system, he repeated the same statement, over and over again.

This guy was nominated to the Supreme Court by the messianic transformer.  He didn’t get that job, but may be able to sustain serious damage as the Attorney General.  Some of the exchanges are extremely telling.  Somehow you get the impression that none of these high office holders have America’s best interests at heart.

They can’t wait to spend outrageous sums on socialist dreams for our future.  Maybe the future they plan doesn’t include us, how ‘bout that?  We can be thankful that a couple of holdouts have delayed their plans and may yet scuttle the spending spree, temporarily.  But it may not matter.  Apparently they’ve figured out ways to work around Congress whether there is any advice and consent or not.

So the mainstream media goes on acting as if they have a vast majority, a mandate in fact.  That may not be the case, but that’s the attitude broadcast over about five networks and several social media outlets.  Don’t agree?  Get lost.

Some of us are going to hang on to our Divinely ordained liberty more deliberately than ever before.  There’s only so much they can do to us, and it’s not nearly enough.

Mark

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 22 October 2021 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Pompeo minced no words on China’s threat to the world — its hegemonic designs, The Wuhan Virus and its constant aggressiveness in the South China Sea, and the on India’s northern borders. He stressed on the need for the US and India to work together to counter the threat posed by Beijing to “security and freedom.” He said in his speech in New Delhi – “Our friendship and commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific was clearly, clearly highly on display when we were in Tokyo this past week and a half for the Quad meeting that Minister Jaishankar and I had with our Australian and Japanese friends earlier this month.”

Pompeo reiterated that the US will stand with India as it confronts threats to its sovereignty and liberty.

Interestingly, he also talked about how India belonged in the UN Security Council and the US will support India’s bid to be in it.

As in the dialogue last year, the joint statement denounced the terror proxies of Pakistan and strongly condemned cross-border terrorism including naming Al Qaeda, ISIS, LeT, Jem and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

Weirdly, The Global Times, a Chinese Communist mouthpiece reported that Chinese experts had said that since most of India’s weapons are from Russia, the US services offered to India may be incompatible. Wishful thinking China.

How can an Eye in the Sky be incompatible? So much for Chinese scientists and their bogus claims.

According to Dawn newspaper which reported on Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) statement, the establishment is clearly worried. It reported- ‘The agreement called Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) was signed at the third edition of India-US 2+2 talks held in Delhi. The accord will enable India to access precision topographical, nautical, and aeronautical data and topographical images from US military satellites on a real-time basis. The data could be used for missiles and armed drones.

It is the eighth agreement signed by the United States and India since they embarked on a strategic partnership in 2005. Pakistani strategists believe that the agreement would increase Pakistan’s strategic dilemma, even though it is being presented as part of efforts to contain China.’

The Foreign Office it seems is very alarmed — “Pakistan has taken note of the signing of the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement. Pakistan has been consistently highlighting the threats posed to strategic stability in South Asia as a result of provision of advanced military hardware, technologies, and knowledge to India.”

At least Pakistan had the sense not to suggest that US geospatial intelligence was incompatible with India’s defense requirements!

The fact that Secretary Pompeo is proceeding to Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Indonesia after India is significant as the US is clearly working to get allies on board against the Chinese Dragon, especially the countries that have been singed by its fiery breath.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/no-free-lunch/pakistan-china-in-a-funk-by-indias-latest-deals-with-the-us/

The post Pakistan, China in a funk by India’s latest deals with the US first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Chinese stocks led losses for a mixed day’s trade in Asia on Wednesday, and Hong Kong looks like a police state. There are cops at every intersection, flashing lights wherever you turn, and many of the force’s 31,180 officers are on the street.

The Hang Seng was down 1.1% in late-afternoon trade before a late rally pared that to 0.4% at the bell. Hong Kong’s benchmark has now shed 4.8% since China announced that it would interfere directly in Hong Kong. It will write a treason law in Beijing to insert into the constitution of this supposedly self-governed city.

Hong Kongers are hoping for a response this week as promised by the U.S. administration, while China is bracing for it. The CSI 300 index of the biggest mainland stocks was off 0.7% on Wednesday, at odds with gains of 1.0% in Tokyo.

Hong Kong police fired tear gas and pepper pellets at Wednesday’s protests and arrested at least 300 people. Protesters chanted the familiar refrain “Liberate Hong Kong! Revolution of our times.” The newly proposed sedition law has led to a fresh slogan, “Hong Kong independence, the only way out!”

Today’s protests are sparked by a rubber-stamp reading in Hong Kong’s legislature of a totally different law that criminalizes any disrespect shown to the mainland Chinese national anthem, the March of the Volunteers.

This new law, virtually assured to pass, will punish anyone who alters the lyrics, sings the song in a derogatory way, or insults the song. You can be jailed for three years, and fined HK$50,000 (US$6,400) for not showing the proper courtesy to the dirge, adopted by the Communist forces in 1949 at the end of China’s civil war. The new law forces primary and secondary schools to teach students the song, as well as its “history and spirit.”

You may get a little confused about the drips and drabs of legislation being laid down in Hong Kong. That’s the point. It is a stream of restriction.

We have long prided ourselves on Hong Kong’s “rule of law.” That’s the precedent-based legal system and independent judiciary making Hong Kong so safe and steady compared to the Communist whims of the mainland dictatorship.

China, and its lackey government here, have decided to “rule by law.” They continue to arrest and charge their critics for arcane crimes. There’s selective prosecution. And one piece of new legislation comes after another that whittles away at Hong Kong’s autonomy.

Last year’s demonstrations were precipitated by a proposed law to allow extradition into China’s rigged legal system. That was finally withdrawn. Now Beijing figures it will stop messing around by operating covertly through Hong Kong’s leadership, and will just rule directly.

So China’s parliament is now planning to write a new law especially for Hong Kong, which is supposed to write its own laws. Instead, the Communist Party will be telling Hong Kong what will and won’t be legal in terms of political free speech.

Hong Kong’s constitution says it is required to “enact laws on its own” against “treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People’s Government, or theft of state secrets,” and to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from operating in the city. But an attempt to pass this “Article 23” amendment drew such fury in 2003 that 500,000 people marched against it, and that bill was also withdrawn. The constitution also says Hong Kong must introduce democracy, by the way.

The central government has decided simply to lay down Hong Kong law itself. They have rigged the local government system to their benefit, with half of its members appointed by loyalists, but still can’t get their way. Elections due for September may well elect more democracy advocates.

It’s my duty to quote the official viewpoint on this topic, but essentially the comments are either lies or double talk. You can assume exactly the opposite is true.

The new security law “is for the long-term stability of Hong Kong and China, it won’t affect the freedom of assembly and speech, and it won’t affect the city’s status as a financial center,” Hong Kong’s No. 2 official, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung, said at a press conference.

Unfortunately, the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy very much calls into question its status as a financial center. And I’m not sure what kind of freedom of speech anyone has if they’re no longer allowed to say they think Hong Kong should be independent, or that the Communist Party isn’t perfect, or even that the ponderous Chinese national anthem drags on a little.

The government has not consulted the public about the national anthem law, because they know it is unpopular. Instead, they are today “debating” its second reading, a formality toward getting it passed. Pro-democracy legislators held it up by filibustering before pro-Beijing lawmakers physically seized control of a committee in a scuffle and put themselves in charge.

The political pressure on Hong Kong’s freedoms comes as the city calms down over the coronavirus scare. Hong Kong was on high alert as the Wuhan virus first surfaced just before the Lunar New Year. But Hong Kong has got off relatively easy, with “only” 1,066 confirmed cases and 4 deaths, largely thanks to voluntary distancing and mask-wearing adopted by the public well before they were told to do so.

The Chinese leadership has been furious, and very worried, about the pro-democracy protests that began last spring. The dissident voices are a direct challenge to Beijing’s authority that simply wouldn’t be allowed anywhere in mainland China.

If the national security bill passes, they will no longer be possible in Hong Kong, either. China is planning to allow itself to open branches of its secret service in Hong Kong, sending spies into the city, even though Hong Kong’s constitution says it cannot. So the same chilling effect seen in China, where dissidents are locked up for decades at a time, and members of the public are understandably reticent to speak their political mind, will occur in Hong Kong.

Wednesday’s police state activity here is a sign of things to come. Now … sing that song, it’s an order!

Source: https://realmoney.thestreet.com/investing/hong-kong-looks-like-a-police-state-15332807

The post Hong Kong Looks Like a Police State first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.