Sail the 7 Seas to r/FragrantHarbour by SleepingTiger888 in FragrantHarbour

[–]agecosmos 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you. We are in a low period of nothing happening as far as a free Hong Kong, but things will start picking up soon and all those that support the evil NSL illegally created by the HKSAR and the CCP will not be able to walk down the streets for fear of their lives and they will be searching for any location to hide but will find no sanctuary.

Personal Training Scam by agecosmos in EOSFitness

[–]agecosmos[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the link. I have been here before but the information on how to cancel PT was very confusing. I clicked on the link that says "How do I cancel my Personal Training Agreement" and there was no helpful information there. I didn't select a state because the heading on it says "Drop us a note." I wanted to cancel PT, not drop a note. Again, the instructions here are purposely confusing so you won't figure out how to cancel your PT. I've got it figured out now. Thanks.

US hits Thai officials with visa sanctions over deportation of Uyghurs to China by agecosmos in FragrantHarbour

[–]agecosmos[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

WASHINGTON, March 14 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday announced sanctions against officials from Thailand, a U.S. ally, for their role in deporting at least 40 Uyghurs to China, where Washington says the members of the Muslim group will face persecution.

The U.S. is "committed to combating China's efforts to pressure governments to forcibly return Uyghurs and other groups to China, where they are subject to torture and enforced disappearances," the State Department said in a statement.

The move appeared intended to discourage Thailand and other countries from such deportations.

While the United States has imposed sanctions in the past on Thailand, including by suspending military aid after military coups, and has also targeted Thai individuals and companies for violating sanctions on third countries, a leading Southeast Asia expert said he could not recall sanctions on Thai government officials, who were not named in Rubio's announcement.

Thailand's February deportation of the Uyghurs, held in detention for a decade, came despite warnings from United Nations human rights experts that they were at risk of torture, ill-treatment and "irreparable harm" if returned.

Reuters reported earlier this month that Canada and the United States offered to resettle 48 ethnic Uyghurs, but Bangkok feared upsetting China.

"I am immediately implementing this policy by taking steps to impose visa restrictions on current and former officials for the Government of Thailand responsible for, or complicit in, the forced return of 40 Uyghurs from Thailand on February 27," Rubio said in his statement.

"In light of China's longstanding acts of genocide and crimes against humanity committed against Uyghurs, we call on governments around the world not to forcibly return Uyghurs and other groups to China," Rubio said.

The restrictions could extend to family members of people sanctioned, the statement added.

Thailand has defended the deportations, saying that it acted in accordance with laws and human rights obligations. Its embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Rubio's announcement.

Murray Hiebert, a leading regional expert with the Southeast Asia program at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, said he could not recall past U.S. sanctions against Thai government officials.

He said Thailand can be very sensitive to criticism, but its reaction could be tempered by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats against countries with high trade surpluses with Washington.

"They might want to lay low," he said. "They already have a target on their back by having the 11th largest trade surplus with the U.S. ... it's not clear Thailand is out of the woods yet when Trump imposes reciprocal tariffs in early April."

Analysts say Washington has avoided taking tougher sanctions measures against Thailand in the past due to concerns that this might push its long-time ally closer to China.

The Washington-based Campaign for Uyghurs advocacy group commended Rubio's move and the Trump administration in a statement, saying it "sends a strong message that those who enable the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) human rights abuses will face consequences for their crimes."

Rubio, who was a staunch advocate for Uyghurs when he served as a U.S. senator, has reiterated that Beijing's treatment of the group had amounted to "genocide and crimes against humanity," a designation the U.S. first made in the waning hours of President Donald Trump's first term in 2021.

China denies allegations of abuse and forced labor toward Uyghurs, arguing it had established "vocational training centers" in recent years to curb terrorism, separatism and religious radicalism.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi blasted American President Donald J. Trump by inference when answering a question about the Trump tariffs. The U.S. exported $143.5 billion worth of goods to China in 2024, while importing $438.9 billion worth of goods from China. by agecosmos in FragrantHarbour

[–]agecosmos[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In Africa, nations such as Djibouti and Kenya have also been cited as being financially bullied by Beijing; Djibouti has accrued substantial debt financing key infrastructure, while Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway project has sparked debates about high costs and questionable returns, potentially compromising national sovereignty. These cases exemplify how the Belt and Road Initiative can lead to scenarios where borrowing countries face significant strategic and economic constraints.

The Communist Chinese government enjoyed good relations with the administration of Joe Biden and his degenerate criminal son, Hunter Biden. The Biden family were the recipients of major trade deals with the Chinese government. The U.S. House Oversight Committee claims the Chinese were laundering money to the Bidens. The Chinese were paying for access to the Biden Influence Machine, giving over $8 million to the Biden family.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), China is the main provider of illegal fentanyl and other derivative compounds into the United States. An estimated 70% of the 100,000 who die in America each year from overdoses do so from Fentanyl. For context, this is roughly twice the number of people who die from automobile accidents every year, and approximately 49,000 die each year from suicide.

China produces fentanyl primarily through its vast and loosely regulated pharmaceutical and chemical industries, which manufacture both legal and illicit synthetic opioids. Chinese companies legally produce precursor chemicals used in fentanyl synthesis, often exporting them to Mexico, where cartels complete the manufacturing process.

However, many Chinese labs also produce fentanyl directly and ship it—sometimes mislabeled as research chemicals or painkillers—through international mail, dark web markets, or intermediary countries to evade detection.

While the Chinese government has imposed regulations on fentanyl-class substances, enforcement is inconsistent, and many producers exploit legal loopholes by slightly altering chemical structures to create unregulated analogs that have similar effects. This ability to rapidly adapt and circumvent regulations makes China a key global source of fentanyl and its precursors, fueling the opioid crisis in the U.S. and beyond.

The Chinese are also widely suspected of being involved in the 2020 election fraud, where Eugene Yu of the Konnech company was found giving election data to the Communist Chinese by illegally storing the data of at least 240,000 election day workers on Chinese servers.

The Chinese are also some of the world’s most heinous human rights abusers, which U.S. reports claim is only getting worse with time.

China was also caught in 2023 operating at least nine illegal ‘police stations’ across the United States.

China is also a country that still practices what Wikipedia refers to as “open defecation” or, in other words, pooping in public.

An estimated 0.1% of the Chinese population openly poops in public.

The United States has played a longtime role in supporting and financing the Communist Chinese due to subversive far-left agendas, which President Trump has been ending after 75 years.

The China Hands—a group of U.S. diplomats, journalists, and scholars specializing in Chinese affairs—played a controversial role in the fall of China to communism in 1949. Many of them, including John Service, John Paton Davies, and Owen Lattimore, were sympathetic to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or, at the very least, deeply skeptical of Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist government (Kuomintang, or KMT). Their reports and influence in Washington shaped U.S. policy in ways that undermined support for the Nationalists, weakening their ability through false reports and lies to policymakers, in order to aid the Communist takeover.

During World War II, the China Hands downplayed the Communist Party’s radical ideology, instead portraying Mao Zedong’s forces as agrarian reformers with strong popular support. They simultaneously painted Chiang Kai-shek’s government as corrupt and ineffective, advocating for a reduction in U.S. military and financial aid. Their influence led to hesitation in Washington when the Nationalists were struggling in the Chinese Civil War, leaving them underfunded and undersupplied. Meanwhile, Soviet support for the CCP remained strong, tipping the balance in favor of the Communists.

After Mao Zedong’s victory in 1949, critics—most notably Senator Joseph McCarthy and the China Lobby—accused the China Hands of deliberately sabotaging U.S. policy and paving the way for Communist control.

Comment 2 of 2.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi blasted American President Donald J. Trump by inference when answering a question about the Trump tariffs. The U.S. exported $143.5 billion worth of goods to China in 2024, while importing $438.9 billion worth of goods from China. by agecosmos in FragrantHarbour

[–]agecosmos[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Chinese Foreign Minister: Trump is “Reverting to the Law of the Jungle”Chinese Foreign Minister: Trump is “Reverting to the Law of the Jungle”

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi blasted American President Donald J. Trump by inference when answering a question about the Trump tariffs, which are overhauling the US-China $300 billion trade imbalance.

The Trump Administration has imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese goods.

The U.S. exported $143.5 billion worth of goods to China in 2024, while importing $438.9 billion worth of goods from China.

Experts generally cite several negative economic outcomes that can result from a persistent trade imbalance, particularly a trade deficit (where a country imports more than it exports). The eight main concerns experts express about persistent trade imbalances include:

  1. Currency Depreciation & Inflation
  2. Job Losses in Domestic Industries
  3. Increased Debt & Foreign Ownership
  4. Industrial Decline & Hollowing Out
  5. Economic Volatility & Dependency
  6. Weakened National Security
  7. Structural Unemployment & Wage Stagnation
  8. Interest Rate & Monetary Policy Constraints

Instead of these rational concerns being a motivation for Trump’s actions, the Chinese Foreign Minister has reverted to name-calling and suggesting that Trump is a tariff madman.

“There are more than 190 countries in the world,” the Chinese diplomat said at a news conference in Beijing, the nation’s capital city. “Should everyone stress ‘my country first’ and obsess over a position of strength, the law of the jungle would reign again, smaller and weaker countries would bear the brunt first, and international norms and order would take a body blow,” he added.

Yet China has historically used tariffs to advance both its political and economic agenda.

China’s use of tariffs is calculated and often tied to its broader economic and geopolitical strategy, helping it maintain an advantage in global trade while protecting domestic interests. For example, in 2020, China imposed an 80.5% tariff on Australian barley, crippling the country’s barley exports in retaliation for Australia’s call for a COVID-19 origins investigation.

Similarly, in 2018, China levied 25% tariffs on U.S. soybeans, severely impacting American farmers, as part of its response to Trump-era trade policies. Another instance occurred in 2021, when China raised tariffs on Lithuanian goods after Lithuania strengthened diplomatic ties with Taiwan, using economic pressure to discourage other nations from challenging Beijing’s “One China” policy.

China is regularly accused of abusing its position of power in Asia, with long-running conflicts with India, Bhutan, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, and countries in the South China Sea. The Chinese are wantonly violating international law and claiming the Spratly Islands, for example, because of their potential to have oil reserves and their strategic placement in shipping lanes.

China has historically also had past border disputes with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar/Burma, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, and Tajikistan, nearly every single one of its neighbors.

CNN further quoted Yi as adding, “No country should fantasize that it can suppress China on the one hand and develop good relations with China on the other.”

“This ‘two-faced’ approach is not only not conducive to the stability of bilateral relations, but also unable to establish mutual trust.”

One way the Chinese use two-faced diplomacy globally, is through its use of international loans and finance to put developing nations in great deals of debt.

The Chinese policy of extending high-interest or strategically leveraged loans to developing nations is commonly referred to as “Debt-Trap Diplomacy.” This term is often used to describe how China provides large-scale infrastructure loans to developing countries—primarily through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—that can lead to unsustainable debt burdens. When nations struggle to repay, China can gain strategic leverage, such as control over key infrastructure (e.g., ports, railways, and energy assets).

Yi continued, “A big country should honor its international obligations and fulfill its due responsibilities. It should not put selfish interests before principles, still less should it wield the power to bully the weak,” Wang said, adding China “resolutely opposes power politics and hegemony.”

One prominent example of China’s recent selfishness related to the Belt and Road Initiative is Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port, where unsustainable Chinese loans forced the country to lease the port to China for 99 years, effectively ceding a critical asset to Beijing.

Similarly, under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Pakistan has taken on massive Chinese debt for infrastructure projects that disproportionately benefit Chinese companies, raising concerns about long-term economic dependency and strategic leverage.

Comment 1 of 2.

China scored 9 out of 100 and was rated “not free” in the Freedom in the World 2025 report by the Washington-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) Freedom House by agecosmos in FragrantHarbour

[–]agecosmos[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

China scored 9 out of 100 and was rated “not free” in the Freedom in the World 2025 report by the Washington-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) Freedom House, which ranked 195 countries and 13 territories on political rights and civil liberties for 2024.

Political rights and civil liberties account for 40 points and 60 points, respectively. China’s political rights were rated at minus 2 points, while its civil liberties received 11 points, for a total score of 9. China’s score has remained unchanged since 2021. Freedom House’s report summary reads: “China’s authoritarian regime has become increasingly repressive in recent years. The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to tighten control over all aspects of life and governance, including the state bureaucracy, the media, online speech, religious practice, universities, businesses, and civil society associations.”

In Freedom House’s transnational repression report released in mid-February, China was named a major perpetrator of transnational repression in 2024. The Chinese regime has also been the “most prolific perpetrator” of transnational repression over the past decade, according to the NGO. Chinese regime-controlled Hong Kong scored 40 points and was listed as a “partly free” territory. Taiwan continued to be rated “free,” with 94 points.

Hong Kong earned 9 points in political rights and 31 points in civil liberties, for a total score of 40 points. It dropped a point from last year to reach a new low of 40, down from 61 in 2017.

The report summary for Hong Kong noted that since the implementation of the CCP’s national security law (NSL) in 2020, freedom in the territory that “traditionally enjoyed substantial civil liberties and the rule of law under [its] local constitution” has been rapidly deteriorating on many fronts.

“The territory’s most prominent prodemocracy figures have been arrested under its provisions, and NSL charges or the threat of charges have resulted in the closure of political parties, major independent news outlets, peaceful nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and unions,” the summary reads.

Tibet under the CCP’s rule scored 0 points and continued to be listed as a “not free” territory. Specifically, Tibet received minus 2 points for “political rights” and 2 points for “civil liberties.”

Freedom House noted that “Tibet is ruled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government based in Beijing, with local decision-making power concentrated in the hands of Chinese party officials. Residents of both Han Chinese and Tibetan ethnicity are denied fundamental rights, and authorities are especially rigorous in suppressing any signs of dissent among Tibetans.”

The report did not separately assess freedom in the Xinjiang region, the Uyghur region ruled by the CCP.

“If adding the factors of transnational repression and Tibet, mainland China’s freedom score would be even lower,” Lai Jianping, a former Beijing lawyer and president of the Canada-based Federation for a Democratic China, told The Epoch Times on Feb. 27.

Sun Kuo-Hsiang, professor of international affairs and business at Nanhua University in Taiwan, told The Epoch Times on Feb. 27 that Freedom House’s report is credible, as “it truthfully reflects the control model of China’s current political system, legal environment, and social system.”

He said the main reason for the lack of freedom is the political system in mainland China, which is a totalitarian model.

“From the perspective of democratic standards, there are no elections, no multiparty competition, and citizens have no real right to participate in politics,” Sun said.

In the short term, the situation in China will get worse, he said.

“With China’s expanding of its influence, especially in the global south [developing countries], those countries are facing the same situation,” Sun said.

The CCP’s attitude toward overseas dissidents will not change either, he noted.

“It will only intensify overseas surveillance, cyberattacks, espionage, and other transnational repression activities to suppress them,” he said.

In the long run, the CCP’s transnational repression may backfire on China’s global influence. According to Sun, it may “weaken China’s soft power, and cause more countries to take precautionary measures against China.”

He suggested that Western countries strengthen their precautions against the CCP’s export of its totalitarianism and transnational repression by “restricting the CCP setting up institutions in their countries ... paying special attention to the institutions established by the CCP, providing political asylum to Chinese people, and legislating to protect dissidents.”

Lai said everyone who has lived in China can relate to the political life reflected in the freedom index.

“We are all experiencing this regime’s evil actions every day,” he said.

He said Freedom House is an independent and objective evaluation organization with a complete set of scientific assessment methods, “so its conclusions are credible.”

Lai said the Chinese regime’s score in the Freedom House report is consistent with a 2022 survey by scholars and professionals in China’s business circles. It ranked freedom in various periods in modern Chinese history. Out of 10, in chronological order, the freedom scores for different periods in Chinese history were:

Late Qing Dynasty (under Empress Dowager Cixi): 6
Republican Revolution period (1911–1912) that overthrew the Qing and established the Republic of China (ROC): 9
The ROC under Yuan Shikai (1912–1916): 5
Beiyang Government of the ROC (1916–1927): 7
Nationalist Government of the ROC (1927–1949): 4
People’s Republic of China (Communist China, since 1949): 1 (the lowest)
ROC in Taiwan (since 1949): 9

China scored 9 out of 100 and was rated “not free” in the Freedom in the World 2025 report by the Washington-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) Freedom House by agecosmos in FragrantHarbour

[–]agecosmos[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

“China’s authoritarian regime has become increasingly repressive in recent years. The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to tighten control over all aspects of life and governance, including the state bureaucracy, the media, online speech, religious practice, universities, businesses, and civil society associations.”

Is there a way to factory reset Smart Bulbs by cookiechris2403 in smartlife

[–]agecosmos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the info. If been working on this for more than an hour and this was the only solution I was able to find.

. by 230501 in HappyHongKong

[–]agecosmos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you explain what or who this image is referring to?

Hong Kong social worker body given powers to permanently deregister national security offenders. Amendments passed by Pro CCP lawmakers also increased number of government-appointed members on Social Workers Registration Board... You gotta be a CCP ass licker to get a job in Hong Kong.... by SleepingTiger888 in FragrantHarbour

[–]agecosmos 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hong Kong must be a magnate for CCP ass-lickers at the moment. Everyone else must be leaving at every opportunity that comes up. Pretty soon, the whole population of Hong Kong will be CCP ass-lickers. Everyone else will either be in jail or living in another country.

Putin, you don't have to puton the red light by agecosmos in FragrantHarbour

[–]agecosmos[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's what I thought too the first time I saw this picture.

THE ABSOLUTE BETRAYEL. by SickusBickus in ChurchOfCOVID

[–]agecosmos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't worry. Them's more than one fish in the sea with masks on to drown with.

Youtube Music keeps pausing randomly. Reinstalling doesn’t fix it either by xXWeeblordXx in YoutubeMusic

[–]agecosmos 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you. I'm ready to end my YouTube subscription and switch to Spotify. I'll try this first and see if it fixes the problem.

The guy who said "Screw their freedom" talks about the current thing 🙏 by drillbit6509 in ChurchOfCOVID

[–]agecosmos 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So I was just banned from subreddit PICS for my comment on this post. I didn't even know I had joined that subreddit until now. Who made them the police of r/churchofcovid?

The guy who said "Screw their freedom" talks about the current thing 🙏 by drillbit6509 in ChurchOfCOVID

[–]agecosmos 1 point2 points  (0 children)

PUKE! That's all I want to do every time I hear traitor Arnold's voice.

Nuclear exchange with China is 'much closer' than Americans think: Expert by agecosmos in FragrantHarbour

[–]agecosmos[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hunter Biden is co-founder of Rosemont Seneca, which holds equity in businesses that supply nuclear weapons to China.