China’s Global Times defended Chinese internet users allegedly acting independently of the government for praising the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as revenge for an NBA executive expressing support for the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey published the phrase “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong” on Twitter this weekend, triggering an international crisis as the repressive Chinese Communist Party demanded the NBA immediately silence him and the NBA readily complied, issuing an effusive apology.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has attempted to mitigate the outrage in the United States from those alarmed by his league’s willingness to obey a rogue foreign state, saying Morey “is supported in terms of his ability to exercise his freedom of expression,” but not saying the NBA is the group that supports him. He later added that the NBA will suffer financial consequences from Morey’s remark, but “if those are the consequences of us adhering to our values, I still feel it’s very, very important to adhere to those values.”
House Republican Considering Plan to Expel Ilhan Omar from Congress
Bombshell Claim: Brown University Was Asked to Cut Cameras Earlier in the Year to Protect Palestinian Activists
As illicit vapes flood the country, authorities ramp up enforcement
Florida cold case breakthroughs: Sheriff’s unit cracks two long-unsolved killings
Graham leads bipartisan demand for tech reform vote to ‘bring social media companies to heel’
Schumer accuses Trump admin of Epstein files ‘cover-up’ amid document dispute
Chinese researcher on US visa charged with smuggling E. coli into the country, FBI Director Kash Patel says
Trump Admin Immediately Halts Visa Program That Allowed Brown and MIT Suspect Into the Country
Democrats’ last-minute move to block GOP funding plan sends lawmakers home early
Virginia Court Ignores ICE Detainer, Releases Illegal Alien Accused of Murder Hours Later
Judge tosses Trump-linked lawsuit targeting Chief Justice Roberts, dealing setback to Trump allies
Extremely Strange 25-Year-Old Connection Uncovered Between Dead Brown Shooting Suspect from Portugal and Murdered MIT Professor for Portugal
Sports reporter’s 3-year-old opened door for grandpa who then found couple dead in home: report
Suspect in Brown shooting, MIT murder found dead and more top headlines
Video: Brown Univ. President Drops Astonishing Claim on Missing Cameras That Absolutely No One Believes
Morey deleted his pro-Hong Kong statement and has not repeated his support for the anti-communist protests since receiving Silver’s backing. He is still receiving vitriolic tweets from alleged Chinese people – Twitter is banned in China and the company has caught the Communist Party using fabricated accounts to spread propaganda – celebrating the September 11 attacks. Similar remarks have allegedly surfaced throughout accounts on Sina Weibo, a Chinese government-controlled social media outlet.
You!Americans don't know what's going on in China,and just talk about freedom. So 9.11 was about freedom too, that's the same thing!You talk about freedom?Then you're forcing clippers owner Donald Sterling to sell his team? He also has freedom of speech!#China #NBA #morey @dmorey pic.twitter.com/Ar5aitFSqS
— Fly (@cloudfly011) October 7, 2019
The Global Times confirmed on Tuesday that these messages were real – not that the users behind them were actual Chinese citizens, but that the messages existed and were not doctored via screencaps – and justified them by proclaiming that the Hong Kong protest movement is as evil as the September 11 attacks.
“A few angry Chinese netizens said, ‘9/11 is a beautiful date for the US. After all, freedom of speech,’” the Global Times reported – not noting that Americans indeed have the freedom to praise the terrorist attacks without government retribution and that members of Congress have referred to them dismissively without going to prison. “This has been exaggerated by some US media and Twitter users to hype the tension between the NBA and China.”
House Republican Considering Plan to Expel Ilhan Omar from Congress
Bombshell Claim: Brown University Was Asked to Cut Cameras Earlier in the Year to Protect Palestinian Activists
As illicit vapes flood the country, authorities ramp up enforcement
Florida cold case breakthroughs: Sheriff’s unit cracks two long-unsolved killings
Graham leads bipartisan demand for tech reform vote to ‘bring social media companies to heel’
Schumer accuses Trump admin of Epstein files ‘cover-up’ amid document dispute
Chinese researcher on US visa charged with smuggling E. coli into the country, FBI Director Kash Patel says
Trump Admin Immediately Halts Visa Program That Allowed Brown and MIT Suspect Into the Country
Democrats’ last-minute move to block GOP funding plan sends lawmakers home early
Virginia Court Ignores ICE Detainer, Releases Illegal Alien Accused of Murder Hours Later
Judge tosses Trump-linked lawsuit targeting Chief Justice Roberts, dealing setback to Trump allies
Extremely Strange 25-Year-Old Connection Uncovered Between Dead Brown Shooting Suspect from Portugal and Murdered MIT Professor for Portugal
Sports reporter’s 3-year-old opened door for grandpa who then found couple dead in home: report
Suspect in Brown shooting, MIT murder found dead and more top headlines
Video: Brown Univ. President Drops Astonishing Claim on Missing Cameras That Absolutely No One Believes
“Chinese observers said these extreme comments are inappropriate and disrespectful, which the majority of Chinese people don’t agree with, but it should remind Western media that for Chinese people, the Hong Kong riots are just like the 9/11, which is horrible and can’t be justified,” the state-run newspaper claimed. “So when a few of them see a foreigner use ‘freedom of expression’ to justify the statement that seriously harmed their feelings, they decided to make disrespectful comments as well in the name of “freedom of expression.’”
The jihadist group al-Qaeda killed 2,977 people in New York, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania after hijacking four airplanes and flying them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The fourth plane, the one falling in Pennsylvania, never arrived at its target because passengers subdued the jihadists. Hundreds of New York police officers and first responders have died of 9/11-related illnesses in the years since.
There have been no reported deaths in the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement, launched in June. Hong Kong police, controlled by Beijing, have shot two protesters ages 18 and 14. Hong Kong police and armed pro-China mobs have injured dozens of protesters, prominently including a young woman blinded by a close-range bean bag round police shot into her face.
House Republican Considering Plan to Expel Ilhan Omar from Congress
Bombshell Claim: Brown University Was Asked to Cut Cameras Earlier in the Year to Protect Palestinian Activists
As illicit vapes flood the country, authorities ramp up enforcement
Florida cold case breakthroughs: Sheriff’s unit cracks two long-unsolved killings
Graham leads bipartisan demand for tech reform vote to ‘bring social media companies to heel’
Schumer accuses Trump admin of Epstein files ‘cover-up’ amid document dispute
Chinese researcher on US visa charged with smuggling E. coli into the country, FBI Director Kash Patel says
Trump Admin Immediately Halts Visa Program That Allowed Brown and MIT Suspect Into the Country
Democrats’ last-minute move to block GOP funding plan sends lawmakers home early
Virginia Court Ignores ICE Detainer, Releases Illegal Alien Accused of Murder Hours Later
Judge tosses Trump-linked lawsuit targeting Chief Justice Roberts, dealing setback to Trump allies
Extremely Strange 25-Year-Old Connection Uncovered Between Dead Brown Shooting Suspect from Portugal and Murdered MIT Professor for Portugal
Sports reporter’s 3-year-old opened door for grandpa who then found couple dead in home: report
Suspect in Brown shooting, MIT murder found dead and more top headlines
Video: Brown Univ. President Drops Astonishing Claim on Missing Cameras That Absolutely No One Believes
Despite its dismissive tone about the September 11 attacks, the Chinese Communist Party has used jihad as an excuse to force millions of Muslims into concentration camps where survivors say they have been subjected to torture, slavery, indoctrination, rape, forced sterilization, organ harvesting, and other abuses.
“Chinese netizens vowed to draw a clear line with the NBA after league Commissioner Adam Silver defended Morey, who showed solidarity with Hong Kong rioters in his tweet,” the Global Times claimed, without clarifying that “netizens” who disagree with Beijing face swift incarceration.
The newspaper concluded by comparing Morey to former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, expelled from the NBA for racist comments against black Americans.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry tacitly supported the online vitriol hurled at Morey and other Americans for supporting the protests in a statement Tuesday.
“The Chinese Basketball Association and the Chinese cooperation partners to the Houston Rockets made statements on this matter. I believe China’s position on it couldn’t be clearer,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said. “I also suggest you pay attention to the reaction of the ordinary Chinese people.”
The Hong Kong pro-democracy movement, which has remained largely peaceful and leaderless since arising in June, is making four demands of its government: freedom for political prisoners, direct election of lawmakers, an end to the government calling the protests “riots,” and an independent investigation into police brutality.
Story cited here.
