Sure. But you still need to square the circle on public policy.

Are you in favor of minors being forced to attend religious services by their parents or not? Should this forced attendance be a prosecutable offense or not? Should repeat offenders be arrested and charged or allowed to operate in defiance of these rules indefinitely?

As we saw under Biden, liberals love to say they have strong moral convictions. But they hate the idea of actually enforcing any of them.

So, assuming you’re fine with the Yayang Network continuing to operate, you also have to ask yourself… are you going to be happen when these people are running your town? Your state? Your country?

So, I did a little digging on this group - the Yayang Church Network - because I was curious to know the details.

Turns out, there’s a prohibition in China against church attendance for minors. China does not allow anyone under 18 years old to attend religious services or receive religious education under a set of policies rooted in the Regulations on Religious Affairs (revised in 2018) and in the government’s broader mandate to “separate religion and education.”

The Yayang Network operates in open defiance of this rule. It’s leadership - specifically a pair of evangelical pastors named Lin Enci and Lin Enzhao - have made it a practice to openly and publicly denounce the law in services where parents are encouraged to bring young children. And this police action is in response to these organized religious protests.

Now, I’ve been in the Reddit/Lemmy community for a while. And… historically… these sites have been pretty nakedly against religious indoctrination of young people. There’s also a strong anti-natalist sentiment which might run afoul of church’s progenitor - Watchman Nee or Nee T’o-sheng - whose evangelical traditional outlook encouraged large families in strict defiance to the Chinese One Child Policy.

So I do have to wonder if people on this site are going to be outraged at China for religious persecution generally speaking. Or if they’re actually sympathetic to the Yayang Network’s evangelical traditions and founding beliefs.

Silicon Shield

So, let’s pretend the end goal of the Chinese state is a full scale amphibious invasion of Taiwan (it’s not, as evidenced by the soft economic takeovers in Hong Kong, Tibet, Xinjiang, and assorted border nations, but lets pretend).

Now, let’s consider that Xiaomi has already designed a 3nm chip and Huawei is close behind with an expected 2026 release. Economically speaking, who benefits if TMSC blows up its own facilities and hands 70% of the global market share to these two companies (plus Samsung and maybe Intel if they ever get their shit together)?

This feels like Nancy Kerrigan putting a baseball bat to her own knee and threatening to ruin Tonya Harding’s career.

Maybe there can be some kind of NFL style trade.

All y’all thought there was going to be a US Civil War, but it turns out the first shots are getting fired across the Alberta/Saskatchewan border.

Damn, dude. Whatcha gonna do about it?

Plenty of 3rd spaces exist in Texas. You just have to pay to play. The hyper-capitalist dream is alive in the Lone Star State.

I always imagined thats why there were so many drunk people out and about. Because the only habitable place outside of homes were bars if you didn’t have a gym membership.

I gotta wonder how much of the decline of alcoholism in the subsequent generations boils down to affordability.

Gym memberships are way cheaper than bar tabs.

France loves paying $1000 to say they saved $10 on immigration.

This is what Americans don’t get with regard to Trump and Europe. They don’t see any problem with American domestic policy. They just don’t want to be lumped in with Lesser Countries.

Thiel sees Christianity as a threat to his goals and ambitions, so he’s trying to re-code it.

Oh cool. He’s trying to be the next Joseph Smith.

You can’t help but wonder at a man with this much wealth and power getting up in the morning, looking in the mirror, and thinking that highly of himself.

But no. Shitheels like Thiel have existed since time immemorial. He’s not the Antichrist. Just another stupid rich asshole.

China is heavily invested in Panda preservation. Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is world renowned for conversation

Literally no one cares what the US wants anymore.

Plenty of people care. The reactionary white nationalist politics isn’t unique to the US. You’ve got white nationalists crawling all through Europe and Latin America

Idk, the TV told me this is antisemitic to think about

Can’t trust mainstream American news because they’re right wing

Can’t trust foreign news services because they are all psyops campaigns intended to trick Americans

Who the hell are you allowed to trust? TikTok influencers and indie podcasters?

Don’t be a tankie.

The Socialist Fraternal Kiss

Israeli military-grade bullets were recovered from the bodies of children killed during the armed riots in Iran, according to forensic examinations cited by a source within Iranian security structures speaking to TASS.

Among the cases was an 8-year-old girl from #Isfahan, fatally shot in the “stomach, chin, and back of the head” while shopping with her family, and 3-year-old Melina Asadi, who was killed in #Kermanshah while returning from a pharmacy with her father.

The findings come after armed groups infiltrated peaceful economic protests in #Iran in early January.

Iranian officials accused “Israel” and the #UnitedStates of orchestrating the violence that turned the protests into deadly attacks on civilians and security personnel.

Like the US is taking an entire nation hostage

Idk, sounds like Tankie Talk to me

A kind of Third World, independent of the dueling hegemony, as it were?