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China Bans Letter N From Internet as Xi Jinping Extends Grip on Power (theguardian.com)
Speaking of things the Chinese government has been censoring in the country, The Guardian reports: It is the 14th letter in the English alphabet and, in Scrabble, the springboard for more than 600 8-letter words. But for the Communist party of China it is also a subversive and intolerable character that was this week banished from the internet as Chinese censors battled to silence criticism of Xi Jinping's bid to set himself up as ruler for life. The contravening consonant was perhaps the most unusual victim of a crackdown targeting words, phrases and even solitary letters censors feared might be used to attack Beijing's controversial decision to abolish constitutional term limits for China's president. The Communist party has painted the move -- which experts say paves the way for Xi to become a dictator for life -- as an expression of overwhelming popular support for China's strongman leader. However, there has been widespread online push-back in China since it was announced on Sunday on the eve of an annual political congress in Beijing.
Well that makes sense.
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
Did you mean "M" Comrade?
Ch-ch-ch-chia
Chia ow has it's ow iteret?
This sig left unintentionally blank.
Nope. Note I provided as many arguments as you did. :)
We know why the first is important, But I don't know what the point is to the second. You must have a way of removing a leader from office, but a limit on their term doesn't make any real sense. If you have the best leader ever, you need to kick them out despite overwhelming public support just because some arbitrary date has passed? Conversely, many countries with term limits fail to have any way to remove a horrible leader before a set amount of time has passed (a term minimum?) which is, in my opinion, an even worse problem.
No, I think #2 should be replaced with: An effective mechanism to remove leaders.
wheel of fortune needs to ax any trips to china
I suspect there will be a long episode of Sesame Street in China when somebody will go looking for the letter "N".
Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
That doesn't necessarily follow. A Prime Minister can decide to retire at any point with their legacy intact., the problem is that the position attracts people who are bad at judging when it's time for someone else. The benefit of term limits is that they're forced to step down for a while. The Chinese limit of consecutive terms is probably a good one: if you take a few years off and still look like the best bet then you can come back, but you can also leave gracefully.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Get your news somewhere better.
It was funny when US right-wingers started freaking out over what is literally nothing more than free prenatal screenings for pregnant women (for a wide range of diseases), as part of extensive prenatal (and postnatal) healthcare coverage. Literally nothing more than that. That many (no, not 100%) choose to terminate their pregnancy if they find out the fetus has Down's shouldn't be surprising, but there's in no way a policy to encourage (let alone mandate) it. Plenty of people with special needs are carried to term, and they're treated a heck of a lot better here than they are in the US. There's even a theatre troupe of actors with Down's Syndrome (Leikhópurinn Perlan), garnering the most attention for their acting in the Sigur Rós music video "Svefn g Englar" (a play on words between "Sleepwalkers" and "Sleeping Angels"). From statistics, we have 334k people and a birth rate of 13,7 per 1000 per year, or 4576 children per year, of which 5-6 have Down's - 1 in every 832. The rate of Down's Syndrome in the US is 1 in 700 children.
Iceland is actually has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe - more restrictive than the US. We don't have "abortion on request" here. There have to be specific reasons (confirmed by two unrelated parties) among a list of valid reasons; is only legal in the first 16 weeks excepting in the event of deformity or a threat to the mother's life; and requires both pre- and post-abortion counseling, including a course on birth control. The word for abortion in Icelandic literally translates as "fetus destruction"; it's hardly glossed over.
I'll repeat: get your news from better sources.
"Lock and load, Brides of Christ!"
That doesn't necessarily follow. A Prime Minister can decide to retire at any point with their legacy intact., the problem is that the position attracts people who are bad at judging when it's time for someone else. The benefit of term limits is that they're forced to step down for a while. The Chinese limit of consecutive terms is probably a good one: if you take a few years off and still look like the best bet then you can come back, but you can also leave gracefully.
Is the ultimate problem with being in charge - you always have to give way to someone less 'qualified' than you are. Nomatter how virtuous you are, that's got to be hard to choose to do.
I'm sure Ella Minnow Pea was consulted. https://www.amazon.com/Ella-Mi...
Liberals restricted the govt's ability to hold people with mental issues.
And by "liberals", you are no doubt referring to Ronald Reagan. As governor of California, he signed the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, which ended the practice of holding mental patients against their will. Then, as president in 1981, Reagan signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, largely un-doing Carter's work at improving the federal mental health care system, which itself built upon ideas outlined by Kennedy before his assassination.
Liberals indeed.
People who say "sheeple" have about as much sophistication as an AOL user, and in fact are probably actually AOL users.
If you have the best leader ever, you need to kick them out despite overwhelming public support just because some arbitrary date has passed?
Yes. Because power corrupts. Especially when you have a truly altruistic leader who looks out for the people and manages to bridge divides. Give them 20 years and they will feel that the good they did means everything they do will automatically be good.
Some democracies do not need term limits as such, because the way their elections are designed make long-term reigns very unlikely. Still, even for those it is good safeguard to have, just in case.
Finally! A year of moderation! Ready for 2019?
So you're going to adopt all the unwanted babies? If not, you're hand-wringing is just shallow concern-trolling.
Perhaps parents have a moral duty to care for their offspring, wanted or not?
Perhaps the state has a duty?
Perhaps we just kill anyone overly inconvenient?
Do you think these are easy questions?
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
I'm sorry, could you explain again what part here is bothering you? The part where we give mothers prenatal care, the part where we have among the most restrictive abortion laws in the west, the part where rates of Down's Syndrome births are pretty much the same as the US, or the part where we treat people with Down's well?
"Lock and load, Brides of Christ!"