We live in a country that arrests Christian women for praying inside their own heads across the road from abortion clinics.
1 Like
This came to mind, but I donāt know why. Itās not really related. 
1 Like
Might as well just ban counter protests full stop, as any counter protest can be interpreted as being āantagonisticā if you wish to view it that way.
Also seems a bit much to call him an agitator when nobody seems to be suggesting that he actually did anything other than be on a street near a protest. The copper clearly had no idea who he was, he didnāt know he was an āagitatorā or campaigner, he literally just saw that he was Jewish.
Guess we just disagree on arresting people for being in breach of the peace in these contexts. I think it is absolutely wild that you can be arrested simply for being in a place, not even for something you have actually said or done. Presence alone doesnāt dictate a breach of the peace.
1 Like
Not familiar with this. But if thatās all theyāre doing then I canāt get on board with that either.
She was arrested for silently praying in her own head across the road from an abortion clinic under the guise of violating a ābuffer zoneā. Police dropped all charges and apologised to her afterwards.
Prohibited activities in this zone include approval or disapproval of abortion through protest, which āincludes but is not limited to graphic, verbal, or written means, prayer, or counseling.ā The order also bars interference, intimidation, or harassment, recording or photographic clinic staff or clients, and the display of any text or imagery related to abortion.
The video of the arrest went kind of viral at the time, so Iām wondering if they only dropped the charges because of public pressure?
@sevchenko Iāve read and watched some more stuff about this incident and actually you were right. He was clearly there to act as an agitator (despite him saying otherwise). He also was trying to cross the street right through the midst of the march, and tried pushing past the police to do this, which could technically be classed as common assault. I got the impression that he was being threatened for arrest for standing where he was, when actually the threat of arrest was for if he tried to cross the street through the middle of the protest. The officer offered to escort him down the street to a place where he could cross the road and reach his supposed desired destination without crossing the path of the protestors, which was a reasonable offer to make and would be seen as such by someone who genuinely just wanted to reach their destination.
There were pro-Israeli counter protestors there, and they were unmolested by the police because they were in one spot and not trying to pass through the procession. Which is good, as this is a fundamental democratic right, and the main thing I was concerned about. So clearly counter protest was fine, but there was a distinction between those counter protestors and this bloke.
Much like if there was a procession of Spurs fans walking to the ground, and I tried to get past the police lines to walk through thousands of them wearing an Arsenal kit to cross the road, this could easily be interpreted as provocative, and an action that could well lead to violence and a breach of the peace, so the police would prevent me doing this, for my safety too.
I think this differs to the anti monarchy protestors who were not allowed to simply stand on a spot with their sign etc, as here the pro-Israeli supporters were allowed to do that, as they should be. But imnot teying to relitigate that old debate with you lol.
So I still have some reservations about applications of ābreach of the peaceā related rules, as I maintain there is a lot of room for āinterpretationā, which will sometimes lead to the law being misapplied. But in this instance, I think it was being applied appropriately, and I was wrong in earlier posts.
1 Like
https://x.com/bbcbreaking/status/1783074557173109249?s=46&t=2U6XWqnXYlWg-4shy9vWIA
https://x.com/mailonline/status/1783064063863406939?s=46&t=2U6XWqnXYlWg-4shy9vWIA
I hate tiktok but this is why they want it banned.
So Iām now against the ban.
https://twitter.com/BRICSinfo/status/1783257899147395519?t=TNZANhLvql-rlZkJ9q7qhA&s=19
Pathetic weasels. Canāt stand not having the monopoly on social media platforms.
1 Like
I donāt believe for a second that banning tiktok in the US is about controlling information paths whatsoever, and the reach argument is more an outdated SoMe vs trad media (but now on the web) point, is a general trend and has nothing to do with this platform at all 
youāre not banning your own platforms there that also outperform your outlets, are you Mr Senator 
And how are you supposed to keep that line going in the future lololo
2 Likes
The ban was on the table under Trump ffs lol years before Gaza and Israel blew up haha
This has everything to do with it being Chinese spyware and a great avenue for Chinese misinformation campaigns in the US which was proved when TikTok pushed a message out to all users telling them to protest the ban and many then turned up at the Capitol to do their bidding
4 Likes
https://twitter.com/IUonStrike/status/1783620195581350102?t=EtSO8cemi3AjfxOT8KmY7g&s=19
Iām sorry but this is the kind of thing China, Arab states, Russia get criticised and get a reputation for doing
Biden and his America can go away, what a hypocritical deranged country this is.
1 Like
How is it any different from facebook, twitter , insta etc? The big bad Chinese communist party has no bearing on the lives of average Americans. In fact, the American tech giants are a major hindrance to democracy with their lobbying of government and selling of data that is then used to target private citizens. And from a utility angle, Twitter and facebook were the main platforms that jumped off the Arab spring. It was organizers that used the platformsānot the other way around.
This ban is driven by two main factorsāpro Palestine/anti-Israel content and the American tech monopolies wanting to get rid of a massive competitor.
As an American citizen I have more to fear from facebook, google, twitter etc. than TikTok or the Chinese communist party for that matter.
2 Likes
Idk about that first part. Like @Cristo said, the Trump administration floated a ban at one point. Trump himself was pretty vocally anti tik tok.
The ban seems destined for litigation though. Iām sure the ACLU will sue.
1 Like
The Trump administration floated a ban but couldnāt follow through for a reason. It would be foolish to think the big tech giants were not behind that whole episode.
Knowing the Trump gang and their unscrupulous nature Iād venture to guess big tech was trying to grease the wheels in order to get a ban. It didnāt happen because there were too many competing interests so it ultimately failed.
I think what made it finally happen is Palestine/Israel. It would also be foolish not to assume that tiktok is also trying to influence policy as well as boosting pro-Palestine/anti-Israel content. Likewise google, fb, insta, twitter are boosting and suppressing in the reverse order.
Long story short, big tech is scared of tiktok but couldnāt make a ban happen until the Palestine/Israel stuff helped to line all the establishment ducks in a row.
The data safety stuff is just bullshit they feed to the public in order to gain enough political capital to actually enact a ban.
I guess weāll agree to disagree. Iāve always seen it more about data mining and scare-mongering over China than anything else.
I still think big tech is behind it, as do you it looks, but I donāt think Israel or Palestine or the War in Gaza are the reasons anyone would have switched their vote.
Is tik tok boosting pro-Palestine content? idk. I feel like I see plenty of it anyway. Itās not like Bytedance are going to promote any content about the UIyghurs, right? 
Anecdotal but itās not like thereās a shortage of pro-palestine content on twitter. This just seems like U.S Protectionism. Anyone that makes a ābetter productā than isnāt American isnāt acceptable here. If we have an pretext to do it thatās even better.
Not that Iām a fan of tiktok (Iām not), but again Iām fascinated by the āsystemā can be pressed right into action, people then are meant to believe many other issues are ādifficultā or āneed timeā or whatever reason thrown out there.
I think it was something wild like seven weeks from inception to bill passage. These old dickheads in Congress (not to be ageist, but maybe a little) can certainly get stuff done when they believe it benefits them. And I think nothing brings Congress together like good old fashioned Communist panic. Look at Tom Cotton making a total fool of himself during the hearing with the Tik Tok Chairman/President.
But maybe growing up in the 90s and 00s I became resigned to the fact that my data is already out there.
1 Like
The public: We need affordable-free healthcare.
Government: Silly goose, whose gonna pay for that?
Ukraine: We need missile system.
Government: TAKE MY MONEY!!! :tierney2: 
3 Likes
I do get it, why are we spending money on arms for Ukraine when weāve got 7.5 million on the NHS waiting lists. It is bonkers but thereās also an argument to be made for defeating Putin.
I think the equivalency is credible but then you find out Rishi pays 20% tax on the millions he owns and there would be money for both if we put that up to 40% for all billionaires.
A Tory government will always find billions when it comes to weapons, especially when arms companies fund the Tories?
1 Like