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China caps film star pay citing 'money worship', 'distortion of social values', and fake contracts

Lily Kuo
The Guardian
Thu, 28 Jun 2018 15:44 UTC
Fan Bingbing
© Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
‘Yin-yang’ contracts said to belong to Fan Bingbing were posted online.
Chinese authorities are capping the salaries of celebrities, blaming the entertainment industry for encouraging "money worship" and "distorting social values".

The salaries of on-screen performers should be capped at 40% of the total production costs, according to a joint notice from five government agencies including China's tax authority, the television and film regulator, and the propaganda department. Leading actors should receive no more than 70% of total wages for the cast, according to the announcement, published in Xinhua.

The directive - the same as guidelines released last year by the China Alliance of Radio Film and Television - comes after a series of Chinese celebrities were accused of signing fake contracts to evade taxes.

In May a well-connected Chinese TV presenter, Cui Yongyuan, posted photos of contracts believed to belong to Fan Bingbing, one of the country's highest paid actors. The contracts, one for $1.56m and another for $7.8m, were meant to be an illustration of "yin-yang contracts", a common method of tax evasion in which only the smaller contract is reported to authorities.

Comment: Not a bad idea for a LOT of professions.

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Bizarro Earth

Left wing justices don't like the law

Andrew Klavan
PJ Media
Wed, 27 Jun 2018 15:30 UTC
Sotomayor Supreme court
© Renee Jones Schneider/Minneapolis Star Tribune via AP
Sonia Maria Sotomayor, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
The left doesn't like the rule of law much. If they legally lose an election, they take to the streets as if some injustice had been done to them. If we enforce our border laws, they become hysterical and try to intimidate and bully public officials. If they can't get a law passed by constitutional means, they are perfectly happy to use regulation to exert extra-legal control over the citizenry.

All of which is bad enough in leftist media, leftist mobs and leftist officials. But in leftist Supreme Court justices, it's even worse.

Comment:

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Stock Down

Trump supporters to learn painful lesson: No one wins a trade war

S. E. Cupp
Townhall
Tue, 26 Jun 2018 14:40 UTC
harley davidson
© Henry Nicholls / Reuters
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent the views of Townhall.com. Trending

On his HBO show two weeks ago, Bill Maher faced some searing scrutiny over his suggestion that only economic pain would save us from President Trump.

"I feel like the bottom has to fall out at some point. And by the way, I'm hoping for it. I think one (way) you get rid of Trump is a crashing economy." He added, "So please, bring on the recession. Sorry if that hurts people, but it's either root for a recession or you lose your democracy."

Despite the fact that Maher would likely be spared the brunt of that pain, he doubled down last week, saying, "If a recession is what it takes to make Donald Trump not so cute anymore, then bring it on."

Comment:

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Star of David

Palestinian Journalists' Club lauds BBC's Andrew Marr for bringing attention to Israel's killing of children


Middle East Monitor
Mon, 25 Jun 2018 15:19 UTC
Andrew Marr
© Chris Boland/Flickr
BBC broadcaster Andrew Marr
Palestinian Journalists' Club (PJC) yesterday hailed BBC broadcaster Andrew Marr after he disclosing Israel's crimes against Palestinian children in Gaza, the Safa news agency reported.

Marr had been rebuked by the BBC on the grounds that he had breached its editorial guidelines when he accused Israel of killing "lots of Palestinian kids".

In a statement, the PJC called for the BBC to stand of the side of humanity and remain objective in reporting the news and not to ignore the Israeli crimes against Palestinian civilians.

It stressed that the occupation's violations amount to "flagrant war crimes and crimes against humanity and they cannot be covered up."

The BBC broadcaster said in April as he was speaking about the killing of Syrian children by chemical weapons at the hands of the Assad regime: "And the Middle East is aflame again. I mean there's lots of Palestinian kids being killed further south as well by the Israeli forces," referring to the killing of Palestinian children in Gaza.

The BBC claimed that Andrew Marr had "risked misleading audiences on a material point," noting that he was in breach of its editorial guidelines.

Comment: The BBC has actually had some good coverage of Palestine over the years - one of the few mainstream channels to call Israeli propagandists on their lies. But notice the context in which Marr's comment was given: Assad "killing children" with nonexistent "chemical weapons".

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Propaganda

Ex-Times editor hits back: The 'narcissistic' NYT making 'horrible mistakes,' needs a 'course correction'

Lloyd Grove
The Daily Beast
Thu, 28 Jun 2018 14:21 UTC
new york times
After her 'pissed off' tweet, the former editor slams the newspaper staff's 'narcissism,' its 'crucifying' Ali Watkins profile, and 'missing' the rise of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

It may not have been the tweet heard 'round the world, but it was certainly heard-like a thunderclap-at The New York Times' headquarters at 620 Eighth Avenue in Manhattan.

"Kind of pisses me off that @ nytimes is still asking Who Is Ocasio-Cortez? when it should have covered her campaign," Jill Abramson erupted on Twitter on Wednesday morning - a biting reference to the newspaper's original headline concerning the 28-year-old socialist's shocking Democratic primary upset, a landslide actually, over incumbent Joe Crowley in New York's 14th Congressional District.
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Info

Suspect behavior, not racism, explains 'racial disparities' in police conduct

Larry Elder
Town Hall
Fri, 29 Jun 2018 11:40 UTC
border official
A new study on racial disparities in police conduct found that differences in offending by suspects, not racism, explains officers' responses.

In the study "Is There Evidence of Racial Disparity in Police Use of Deadly Force?" professors from Michigan State and Arizona State universities analyzed officer-involved fatal shootings in 2015 and 2016. The report's abstract says: "We benchmark two years of fatal shooting data on 2016 crime rate estimates. When adjusting for crime, we find no systematic evidence of anti-black disparities in fatal shootings, fatal shootings of unarmed citizens, or fatal shootings involving misidentification of harmless objects... Exposure to police given crime rate differences likely accounts for the higher per capita rate of fatal police shootings for blacks, at least when analyzing all shootings. For unarmed shootings or misidentification shootings, data are too uncertain to be conclusive."

Two recent studies found cops more reluctant to use deadly force against blacks, including one by a black Harvard economist. Professor Roland G. Fryer Jr. concluded: "On the most extreme use of force -- officer-involved shootings -- we find no racial differences in either the raw data or when contextual factors are taken into account."
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Better Earth

Springtime in Russia as told by an American: Economy growing, focus on family values, people feel safer, life expectancy is up


halfreeman.wordpress.com
Wed, 20 Jun 2018 12:00 UTC
spring russia
According to my calendar June 20 is the last day of spring. It has been a good one in Russia! When I was a kid growing up in South Carolina, I never understood the "solstice" explanation. I had no idea why they said summer started the third week in June. Most years, I had been playing outside barefoot, dressed in tee shirts and shorts for two months. Not every year was like that, but by June it was always HOT. Spring is not nearly as dependable here in the northwest section of Russia. Last year I thought the winter would not end. We even had a couple of significant snowfalls in May. This year, however, May was beautiful and warm. We had to get out our fans to cool our apartment. June is usually quite wet where we live in Russia, but this year we've had only a few rains, and the weather is actually cooler than in May. This morning it is 62 degrees (F). That is what it is most mornings when I walk. I love it.

Russians really appreciate good weather. You can almost sense the better mood in the streets. This year the World Cup is in Russia, and that has added to the excitement. I've read a few reports from journalists on how surprised they have been at the way things are here. Thus far the games are turning out to be the positive exercise of what some call Russian "soft-power," or showing the world that things here are quite different than what they have been told. Despite the fact no American team is participating I saw a report that there are huge crowds of American tourists who came to Russia despite Homeland Security's baseless travel warnings. I am quite sure there are those at work in the West trying to undermine this very positive view of the events. Many of us fear some kind of international incident designed to make Russia look bad.

Comment: Regardless of the West's relentless dirty tricks, Russia works on the side of good and continues to come out on top: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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Pistol

Police report five killed in 'targeted attack' at Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis

Kevin Rector and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs
Capital Gazette
Fri, 29 Jun 2018 02:51 UTC
shooting Capital Gazette
© Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images
Police respond to a shooting at the office of the Capital Gazette newspaper on June 28, 2018 in Annapolis, Maryland.
At least five people were killed and several others were "gravely injured" in a shooting Thursday afternoon at the Capital Gazette in Anne Arundel County, authorities said.

A shooter is in custody, police said.

"This was a targeted attack on the Capital Gazette," said Anne Arundel County Deputy Police Chief William Krampf. "This person was prepared today to come in. He was prepared to shoot people."

The suspect is Jarrod W. Ramos, a 38-year-old Laurel man with a longstanding dispute with the Capital, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation.
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Bizarro Earth

Astroturfed "Families Belong Together" June 30 national protest looks like an open borders movement

Fuzzy Slippers
Legal Insurrection
Fri, 29 Jun 2018 01:23 UTC
"Families belong together, and free!"
Protesters rally against Trump administration immigration policies in New York City, June 19, 2018.
© Brendan McDermid/Reuters
Protesters rally against Trump administration immigration policies in New York City, June 19, 2018.
As the misguided hysteria surrounding the separation of illegal alien families at the border reaches fever pitch, a cohort of "progressive" organizations under the umbrella of "Families Belong Together" are organizing a nationwide protest on June 30th.

The groups include the usual suspects like MoveOn.org, Soros-funded Priorities USA, the Women's March, Obama-affiliated Organizing for Action, the ACLU, the SEIU, and Planned Parenthood.
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Question

Are Anti-Trump, Soros-funded groups joining the immigration borders protests?

Penny Starr
The Conservative Cartel
Thu, 28 Jun 2018 23:58 UTC
Women's immigration march
The Women's March - the same Soros-backed leftist protest group that marched to resist the duly elected President Donald Trump and pushed the anti-gun March for Our Lives - is jumping on the open borders movement in protests planned for Thursday and Saturday in Washington, D.C., and across the country.

The Women's March Facebook page states:
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