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**Kidlicious** · October 20, 2020, 05:42

**Kidlicious** · October 20, 2020, 08:25

Invasion of Taiwan likely next year.

**Kidlicious** · October 21, 2020, 06:58

"
Meet your (Chinese) Facebook censors

By Sohrab Ahmari

October 20, 2020 | 8:04pm | Updated

Shutterstock

China is one of the most censorious societies on earth. So what better place for Facebook to recruit social-media censors?

There are at least half a dozen “Chinese nationals who are working on censorship,” a former Facebook insider told me last week. “So at some point, they [Facebook bosses] thought, ‘Hey, we’re going to get them H-1B visas so they can do this work.’ ”

The insider shared an internal directory of the team that does much of this work. It’s called Hate-Speech Engineering (George Orwell, call your office), and most of its members are based at Facebook’s offices in Seattle. Many have Ph.D.s, and their work is extremely complex, involving machine learning — teaching “computers how to learn and act without being explicitly programmed,” as the techy Web site DeepAI.org puts it.

When it comes to censorship on social media, that means “teaching” the Facebook code so certain content ends up at the top of your newsfeed, a feat that earns the firm’s software wizards discretionary bonuses, per the ex-insider. It also means making sure other content “shows up dead-last.”

Like, say, a New York Post report on the Biden dynasty’s dealings with Chinese companies.

To illustrate the mechanics, the insider took me as his typical Facebook user: “They take what Sohrab sees, and then they throw the newsfeed list into a machine-learning algorithm and neural networks that determine the ranking of the items.”

Facebook engineers test hundreds of different iterations of the rankings to shape an optimal outcome — and root out what bosses call “borderline content.”

It all makes for perhaps the most chillingly sophisticated censorship mechanism in human history. “What they don’t do is ban a specific pro-Trump hashtag,” says the ex-insider. Instead, “content that is a little too conservative, they will down-rank. You can’t tell it’s censored.”

I won’t share the names of the Facebook employees in question. The point isn’t to spotlight individuals, but to show how foreign nationals from a state that still bans Facebook have their hands on the levers of social-media censorship here in America.

The Hate-Speech Engineering team’s staff includes a research scientist based at the Seattle office who earned his master’s degree in computer engineering from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, according to his LinkedIn profile.

SEE ALSO

Facebook workers ‘ashamed’ by tech giant’s censorship of Post’s Hunter Files reporting

Another member of the team, a software engineer for machine learning based in Seattle, earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from Jilin University in northeast China. Still another, an engineering manager, earned his bachelor’s in computer science at Nanjing University in eastern China.

Another software engineer previously worked for the Communist-backed conglomerate Huawei, as well as the Beijing National Railway & Design Institute of Signal and Communication. I reached out to all six employees; two replied to confirm that they are Chinese nationals but refused to comment further; the rest didn’t reply.

Plenty of Big Tech firms, of course, recruit their foreign specialists from China, India and elsewhere, and many of these workers hope to resettle in the United States permanently and share the American Dream.

But some may not, and the trouble is that the society they might return to already deploys one of the most comprehensive and fine-tuned intellectual-control mechanisms on its own population. What’s to stop Facebook’s Chinese engineers from delivering their Facebook expertise to Xi Jinping? Globalists thought that engaging with China would make that country more open; I fear it’s making us more restrictive.

A Facebook spokesperson denied that these employees influence broader policies. “We are a stronger company because our employees come from all over the world. Our standards and policies are public, including about our third-party fact-checking program, and designed to apply equally to content across the political spectrum. With over 35,000 people working on safety and security issues at Facebook, the insinuation that these employees have an outsized influence on our broader policies or technology is absurd.”

Yet, as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) put it in an e-mail to me, these revelations are yet “another indication that Big Tech is no longer deserving” of statutory protections that render it immune to a publisher’s liabilities. Big Tech critic Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), meanwhile, said “this is all the more reason for the Senate to demand that Mark Zuckerberg — under oath and before the election — give an account of what Facebook has been up to.”

Sohrab Ahmari is The Post’s op-ed editor. This is his second column based on conversations with a Facebook "

**-Jrabbit** · October 21, 2020, 11:15

Trump Chinese Bank Account Revealed

Donald Trump maintains a bank account in China where he pursued licensing deals for years, according to a report that could undermine the president’s election campaign claim that he is tough on Beijing.

Tax records reviewed by the New York Times showed a previously unreported bank account in China controlled by Trump International Hotels Management. The account paid $188,561 in taxes in China between 2013 and 2015 in connection to potential licensing deals, according the newspaper.

Earlier reporting by the Times showed he paid just $750 in US taxes in 2016 and 2017.

The recent tax records also showed Trump invested at least $192,000 in five companies charged with pursuing business deals in China. Those companies claimed $97,400 in business expenses, including payments as recently as 2018, the Times reported.

Trump has waged his re-election campaign on his ability to stand up to China on issues from trade to human rights abuses in Xinjiang and political repression in Hong Kong as well as accountability for the spread of Covid-19. Under Trump, ties between China and the US have reached their lowest point in decades.

The disclosures also come after Trump accused his opponent, Joe Biden, of being “weak on China” and described the Biden family as “selling out our country” to China. The Trump campaign has run attack ads against Biden’s son for having “inked a billion-dollar deal” with the government-owned Bank of China, allegations that have been not been substantiated.

Trump has previously pursued an office tower project in Guangzhou in southern China that did not come to fruition. AFP reported in 2016 that the Trump Hotel Collection negotiated with the government owned electricity company, State Grid Corporation of China, to brand and manage a major development in Beijing, resulting in a deal worth up to $150 million over 15 years. Negotiations were put on hold after the state-owned enterprise became the focus of a corruption probe.

A lawyer for the Trump Organization, Alan Garten told the Times that the company had “opened an account with a Chinese bank having offices in the United States in order to pay the local taxes”.

Donald Trump paid nearly $200,000 in taxes to China, report claims

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/21/donald-trump-china-bank-account-nearly-200000-taxes-report

New York Times says records reveal company bank account in China, and documents show he paid more tax there than at home

Ah, the hypocrite-in-chief. Figures that he has paid hundreds of thousands in taxes to China, virtually none to the US.
Never mentioned his own corruption-shaded Chinese business deals to the American public, either.
Corruption, thy name is Trump.

**Kidlicious** · October 21, 2020, 11:22

Fake news. Accusation against Biden is corroborated with hard evidence.

**Ming** · October 21, 2020, 11:26

Originally posted by Kidicious View Post

Fake news. Accusation against Biden is simply allegations with unproven evidence.

FIFY

**Kidlicious** · October 21, 2020, 17:35

"Japan, Vietnam boost defence ties as South China Sea tensions mount

Mon, October 19, 2020, 4:29 AM CDTJapanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga (R, with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc) said Tokyo had agreed to step up defence cooperation with HanoiMore
Japan and Vietnam agreed to step up security and defence cooperation Monday, reaching an agreement in principle for Tokyo to export defence equipment and technology to the Southeast Asian nation.

The deal comes as concerns mount over China's increasing assertiveness in the contested South China Sea, with Beijing expanding its military presence in the region.

The pact would allow Japan to export equipment, likely including patrol planes and radar, to Vietnam, according to Japanese news agency Kyodo."

**Kidlicious** · October 21, 2020, 18:39

Collusion between the Democrats and Chinese.

"Chinese State Media Outlets Target GOP Rep. following Critical Report on Beijing’s Handling of COVID

By TOBIAS HOONHOUT
October 21, 2020 12:08 PM

U.S. Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX) speaks to reporters in New York, November 29, 2016. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)
A number of Chinese state outlets have targeted Representative Michael McCaul (R., Texas) following his release of the China Task Force (CTF) report last month in a coordinated campaign the Texas Republican is calling targeted election interference.

Since the report’s release on September 30, McCaul’s work has been criticized in Chinese state-backed media on multiple occasions, the latest in a string of attacks since his work on the China Task Force and the House Foreign Affairs Committee began focusing on the Chinese Communist Party’s role in aiding the spread of COVID-19. McCaul previously told National Review that the China Task Force’s 82 findings and over 400 recommendations, two-thirds of which are bipartisan, represent an “awakening on the part of the American people.”

The Global Times — the English-language outlet run by the CCP’s People’s Daily — reported Wednesday that the China Task Force is “a small troupe without any legal status or authority” and is an effort by McCaul and Republicans who are “high-risk groups in the 2020 House election, and face the prospect of losing their seat.” On October 3, China Daily ran a news story, which was picked up by the English-language website of China News Service (CNS), that dismissed the CTF report for “shifting responsibility” away from the American government. Among the examples cited in the story were anonymous Twitter accounts that responded critically to Representative Andy Barr (R., Ky.) — who has called the CTF “some of the most consequential work” that he has participated in during his time in Congress.

Two op-eds on the English website of the China Global Television Network (CGTN) — one published on October 2 and another on October 5 — accused McCaul and the China Task Force of pushing “more prejudice and accusations on China” and implementing a “New Wave of McCarthyism,” respectively.

McCaul said in a statement that the criticism showed how “nefarious agents” are attempting “to undermine our election process and sow seeds of discord.”

“I think CCP leaders are worried that policies recommended in the China Task Force report could be enacted and drastically curtail their malign global agenda for the first time in 40 years,” McCaul told National Review. “So nearly two decades after prosecuting Johnny Chung for attempting to tilt U.S. elections toward Democrats on behalf of the Chinese government, I am now the target of the CCP’s latest efforts.”
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The propaganda pieces are not the first by Chinese state-media to criticize McCaul. Earlier this year, McCaul’s interim report with Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the origins of the pandemic — which found that the CCP, aided by the WHO, covered up the early days of the outbreak in Wuhan — drew criticism from multiple outlets.

“US political elites can fool Americans, but not the world” the Global Times wrote. CGTN said the report was at fault for “cherry-picking evidence, jumping to conclusions, and factual inaccuracy.”

Even China’s foreign ministry spokesman chimed in. “By telling lies and spreading disinformation, certain US politicians aim to frame China and the WHO for their own political agenda. We urge them to respect facts and stop political maneuvering,” Zhao Lijian said on July 6 following a question on McCaul’s work.

McCaul is currently facing reelection in Texas’s 10th Congressional District, a race rated by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report as “Lean Republican.” McCaul’s campaign said that Democrat opponent Mike Siegel, who in 2014 described himself as a “red-diaper baby,” has failed to publicly condemn the Chinese Communist Party.

“Mike Siegel has been running for Congress for 3 years now and has dodged the issue altogether,” McCaul’s campaign spokesman Evan Albertson told National Review.

In March, the Democrat admitted that “the Chinese government’s response certainly exacerbated the crisis,” but accused McCaul and Republicans of “pushing hateful talking points” and “fanning the flames of racism and xenophobia” for criticizing China’s initial coverup of the outbreak in Wuhan.

Siegel’s campaign did not return a request for comment."

**Kidlicious** · November 23, 2020, 14:47

All the US news outlets getting that commie blood money.

"Beijing-Controlled News Outlet Paid US Newspapers Millions To Publish Propaganda This Year

(Nicolas Asfouri - Pool/Getty Images)
CHUCK ROSSINVESTIGATIVE REPORTER
November 22, 20208:29 PM ET
FONT SIZE:
An English-language newspaper controlled by the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda department paid U.S. media companies nearly $2 million for printing and advertising expenses over the past six months, even amid heightened scrutiny over Beijing’s disinformation efforts in the West.

China Daily paid The Wall Street Journal more than $85,000 and the Los Angeles Times $340,000 for advertising campaigns between May and October 2020, according to a disclosure that the propaganda mill filed this week with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

China Daily also paid Foreign Policy magazine $100,000, The Financial Times, a U.K.-based newspaper, $223,710, and $132,046 to the Canadian outlet Globe & Mail for advertising campaigns, according to the filing.

The Beijing-based outlet paid several newspaper companies a total of $1,154,666 for printing costs, including $110,000 to the Los Angeles Times, $92,000 to The Houston Chronicle and $76,000 to The Boston Globe. (RELATED: China Watch: LA Times Publishes Paid Chinese Propaganda)

Overall, China Daily spent more than $4.4 million on printing, distribution, advertising and administration expenses over the past six months, according to the FARA filing.

China Daily, which is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party’s State Council Information Office, its propaganda agency, has for years paid newspapers and magazines in the U.S. and other Western countries to publish advertorials designed to look like legitimate news articles.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian at the daily media briefing in Beijing on April 8, 2020. (GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images)

China Daily paid The Washington Post more than $4.6 million from late 2016 through October 2019, according to a FARA disclosure China Daily filed in June.

The Journal received $6 million for advertorials from 2016 through April 2020, according to the disclosure.

So far in 2020, The Journal has received $461,489 in advertising revenue from China Daily.

China Daily’s inserts, which are entitled “China Watch,” have typically offered a pro-Beijing spin regarding the Chinese economy, Chinese culture or China’s geopolitical views.

The Journal, which maintains a website of its sponsored China Daily content, includes numerous articles first published by China Daily touting Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which originated in Wuhan last year.

“Apple CEO: China Getting Outbreak Under Control” is the title of one article on the Journal’s site.

Several articles are critical of U.S. officials who have accused the Chinese government of misleading the West about the pandemic, and allowing the virus to spread globally.

“Trump’s China Remark Rebuked” and “US Spin On Virus’ Name Condemned” are the headlines of two articles on the Journal’s site.

The Journal has not published any articles on its sponsored page since July. China Daily’s FARA filing does not list any payments to the newspaper since the month ending June 30, 2020.

Some American newspapers have cut ties with China Daily in response to the criticism of the pay-for-print arrangements. The Washington Free Beacon reported in August that The New York Times quietly scrubbed its website of advertorials it had published as part of a deal it had with China Daily.

In February, the State Department designated China Daily and four other Beijing-controlled news outlets to be “foreign missions,” which treats them the same as foreign embassies because of their close ties to the Chinese government.

The Wall Street Journal did not respond to a request for comment about its relationship with China Daily. The Los Angeles Times also did not respond to a request for comment."

**Ming** · November 23, 2020, 15:06

Gee... a foreign county bought paid advertising in the US to support their messages. WHAT A SHOCK... STOP THE PRESSES.
They did exactly what companies like Ford, Microsoft, Apple and other people did to get their message across.
Using your logic, than both the Republicans and Democrats paid off the media as well to get their propaganda out there.

What a non story... Try again.

**Kidlicious** · November 23, 2020, 15:42

It matters because if so-called President Elect doesn't do what he's told he's going to be punished.

"
PoliticsChina Publicly Issues Instructions For the “Incoming” Biden Administration

by John HawkinsPosted: November 23, 2020

Fight tech tyranny. Join Dan on Parler @dbongino.

The Global Times, which is a Chinese Communist Party-run paper, has announced that Joe Biden has won the election and they have instructions for him to follow.

Facing a voracious round of assault from the coronavirus and an economy in doldrums because of the health crisis, the incoming US administration of Joe Biden is hoped to chart a new course of policy interventions – categorically different from the inertia displayed by Donald Trump’s team.

Seeking China’s material help and rich experiences to contain the infectious disease and rescue a faltering American economy is equally important for the new US government.

…As to the policies of his new administration, the world pins high hopes on him tossing out the old-fashioned and selfish “America First” doctrine, restoring multilateralism and cooperation with the whole world – particularly stopping the reckless and brutal ideological and economic fight between US and China, which many have likened to a new “cold war”.

…Economic confrontations with China chosen by Trump’s team failed to do the US, or any country in this world, any good. The buying power of Chinese businesses and Chinese households should never be diminished or looked down upon. Australia and Canada, the two hardcore allies of the US who are very unfriendly toward China, have received a bitter lesson from Beijing. Don’t trample on Chinese people’s bottom lines, otherwise they will bite back.

There’s a reason other nations that don’t like America or that want to take advantage of us always get excited if a Democrat gets into office. Liberals always seem to take that as a compliment, but anyone with half a brain can see that they think Democrats are easy marks. Does anyone think China wants us to get rid of “America First” because it’s good for Americans? Do they want to stop Trump negotiations for better trade deals because they think it’s in OUR INTERESTS? Of course, not.

China wants to see America weakened and unable to lead, unable to fight and unable to compete. That’s why they’re excited to potentially see Joe Biden in charge instead of Donald Trump. A senile old liberal who thinks China is our pal would be a big improvement over a ferocious businessman who looks at China as a hostile competitor that we have to beat for the good of the American people."

But we all know he's going to do what he's told.

**Ming** · November 23, 2020, 17:26

Gee... another hack opinion piece that Kid is trying to present as real news.

**giblets** · November 23, 2020, 17:40

Who's ready for another land war in Asia?

**Ming** · November 23, 2020, 17:42

I wouldn't put it by Trump to start a war in a lame attempt to keep power.

**Kidlicious** · November 23, 2020, 18:04

We're at war now.

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