Jazzy Jan

Admire the people of Hong Kong so much for standing up for their rights - for their present and their future. People power and why it is so important and vital. Hong Kong protest: 'Nearly two million' join demonstration Nearly two million people have taken part in a mass protest in Hong Kong against a controversial extradition bill, organisers say. If confirmed, it would be the largest protest in Hong Kong's history. Police said turnout was 338,000 at its peak. The masses turned out despite the suspension of the bill - which would allow extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China - on Saturday. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Sunday apologised for proposing the bill. Many protesters, who fear increased Chinese influence over Hong Kong, are calling on her to resign over the unrest. They are also demanding that the bill be scrapped, not just suspended. Meanwhile, supporters of Joshua Wong - the student leader who became the face of Hong Kong's "Umbrella Movement" democracy protests five years ago - say he will be released from prison later on Monday. What happened at the protest? "Today's march we had almost two million people," Jimmy Sham, from the Civil Human Rights Front protest group, told reporters late on Sunday evening. The protest was mainly peaceful, with police officers reportedly holding back to allow the throngs of people to slowly pass through the city. This contrasted to scenes at the last previous major demonstration on Wednesday, which saw clashes between protesters and police that injured dozens. The demonstration began early in the afternoon in Victoria Square, with many wearing black. Many held white flowers to mourn a protester who fell to his death on Saturday from a ledge, where hours earlier he had unfurled an anti-extradition banner. The progress of the march was slow, as the large numbers of people blocked many streets and crowded train stations. As darkness fell, protesters started to take over major roads and crossings and surrounded the legislative council building. They carried placards that read "The students did not riot", in response to police labelling last Wednesday's student protests a riot - an offence punishable by up to 10 years in jail. There was scepticism among some protesters about Ms Lam's decision to suspend the bill. "Carrie Lam has ignored the feelings of Hong Kongers," Mr Ma, a 67-year-old protester, told the BBC. He said Ms Lam had "acted like it was no big deal" after a reported million people marched last week. "Secondly, we are marching for the students who were brutally treated by the police. We need to get justice for them." Chloe Yim, 20, who had joined the protests for the first time, said: "If Carrie sees so many people come out, and still doesn't listen - she's being an autocrat who doesn't listen to people. Hong Kong people can't accept that."

Yes, it is. What these pieces of pond scum did to the 2 women is both homophobic and misogynist O'h and cowardly and barbaric.

The way the world is going at the moment, he will romp in. Everyone keeps saying that the left is too left etc but My God - it is the other way around. The way these right wing, misogynist, racist compulsive liars with heartless ideology are excused and also just shrugged off by people is so frightening. So fed up with the world at the moment and how totally inept, revolting people are just accepted as leaders. .

Disgusting behaviour. Just appalling and such an awful assault and ordeal for the women to go through.

Larry the cat is the most wonderful soul to live at 10 Downing street !

Article continued. One of the most common ways for young Chinese people to discover the truth about that day is by travelling overseas. A friend from Hebei province recently told me her memories of seeing practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline banned since 1999 and labelled an "evil cult" by Beijing, holding banners displaying an image of a tank at Tiananmen Square crushing dissent. At first, she too believed it was the work of "malicious" people trying to disgrace China with lies, and she said it was only after her mother and I confirmed it was the truth that she dropped the idea. For me, the moment of revelation came three years after watching that documentary in 2012, when I began to work as a journalist in China. It was only after speaking with trusted colleagues and interviewing sources who saw students killed with their own eyes, that I came to fully believe that a massacre occurred in my country's recent past. I realised that, in China, the Tiananmen Square massacre existed in a strange void created by a mix of government censorship and people's fear of repercussions. It was a massive wake-up call for me about the power of the state and how humans carry and pass on memories.

One of the most terrifying massacres imaginable - students killed for protesting by their own government. Should never be forgotten and the way China has tried to stop any mention of it being known is just as terrifying. A dreadful shameful day. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-05/china-tiananmen-square-massacre-passed-on-secretly/11168538 Tiananmen Square: How memories of the 1989 massacre are secretly passed on in China It was the summer of 2009 and my journalism lecturer told my class in Beijing that we'd be watching a documentary that day instead of receiving our usual news writing course. "You guys watch it quietly by yourself, I'll be away for a while," the lecturer said, before he pressed play on the projector and walked out of the classroom. Alone in the room, the students witnessed collections of short films and images of the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, 1989, a date that previously held little or no significance for us. There was the famous moment of a lone man confronting a line of tanks, masses of soldiers on the city's streets, and dead civilians lying in pools of blood. As is the case at all Chinese schools and universities, learning about the massacre of pro-democracy protesters in and around Tiananmen Square three decades ago is definitely not part of the curriculum. Discussing the massacre is not officially banned, but doing so can lead to losing your job, being arrested or mysteriously disappearing, and the lecturer was taking a huge risk doing this — so much so that revealing my identity could put people back home at risk. As a child, we lived by Tiananmen Square in 1989, and before entering the classroom that day, the only time I had heard any mention of it was from my parents who would casually refer to it as a "student riot" or the "June 4 incident", and usually in passing responding to things like me whinging about the traffic But for many of the students, it was the first time they'd ever heard of the night let alone seen footage of such a massacre in our very own backyard, and it was startling with many students even shedding tears. I, for one, was of the view that this so-called documentary was generally a one-sided piece of Western propaganda that excluded the Chinese point of view and presented the night in a way that bent the truth. For starters, the documentary was in English and how could Western journalists have evidence of something even we locals didn't have — additionally, journalism school in China teaches that the media in general often tries to manipulate facts in this way. "Why did these people from overseas think they knew better than me?" I remember thinking. When the lecturer returned after roughly under an hour, the main feeling among the students was a mixture of shock but mostly disbelief. He told us that it was important for us to see and know, without specifying why, calmly demanded that we don't tell anyone about what he just showed us, and proceeded to teach class from that day forward without speaking of it again. When I got home that night, I asked my parents what exactly a student riot was and what happened during this June 4 incident, but they brushed aside and refused to answer my questions. After a brief silence, my parents changed the subject, and I got carried away with the conversation. This is the way the Tiananmen massacre is passed on, remembered and spoken about in China: through the memories of its witnesses, behind closed doors, in code, or in ways that shall not be repeated or named. It took me a long time before I started to really think about and believe the devastating images I saw on that hot summer day 10 years ago. Back in 2009, China's Great Firewall was not as impenetrable as it is today, so not long after the class, I began curiously searching "June 4" and "how many were killed during the June 4 incident?" — the answers suggested there may have been a significant death toll, hundreds if not thousands. It was difficult to come to terms with the fact that my own government had killed its own people and covered it up — growing up, we all knew there was censorship, but didn't fully realise how powerful and pervasive it was. It can't be all true," I reassured myself. Today, even the phrase "Tiananmen massacre" remains a mind-blowing concept for my generation, who grew up consuming the heavily censored content produced in Communist China. Many of us ended up discovering its existence through unexpected means, with anti-government art installations or pop culture being another important source of knowledge. For example, recently some fans of Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung Hok-yau discovered the significance of the date after one of his most popular songs — called The Way of Man and written after the massacre — was removed from music streaming platforms in China last year. "How could the soil of the old world became waves in the sea of blood?" the song's lyrics say, and curious fans immediately search for why the song was censored using VPNs to break through the firewall and get on Google. But as China's censorship mechanisms become increasingly robust, knowledge about the Tiananmen massacre — as well as other politically sensitive issues — is more difficult for ordinary people to acquire. Well-educated elites in big cities are more likely than people in rural areas to be equipped with the funds and technological know-how to use a VPN. According to available data, only 4 million people out of China's 800 million internet users regularly get on Google, and at least 1.5 million of those users are based in wealthy regions like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong.

Our salt water crocodiles are massive and terrifying !

Robert "Bobby" Williams The Chesapeake resident was a special projects coordinator who worked 41 years in Virginia Beach's public utilities department. Herbert "Bert" Snelling The Virginia Beach resident was a contractor who was trying to fill a permit at the time of the shooting. Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer told CNN that Snelling was a friend of his. He said he was devastated to learn on social media around midnight about his death. "He started off as a carpenter that did work at (my) house, and then he became a friend. We socialized," Dyer said. "He was just such a great guy. He was a consummate professional. He did great work. ... This really hits home with me." They had met five years. A home repair job turned into happy hours and friendship. Their wives got together. "It's just such a sense of loss and this didn't have to happen," he said. Hansen told reporters Saturday that he'd worked with most of the slain, and that he'd served in the US military with Nettleton in Germany.

Richard H. Nettleton The Norfolk resident was an engineer who worked 28 years for Virginia Beach's public utilities department. Christopher Kelly Rapp The Powhatan resident was an engineer who had worked 11 months in Virginia Beach's public works department. Members of Tidewater Pipes & Drums on Saturday remembered him in a Facebook post. "Chris recently moved to Virginia Beach and immediately joined the band after learning how to play the bagpipes from our friends in the Greater Richmond Pipes & Drums," the post said. "He was quiet but had a passion for the pipes and Scottish culture." "Peace be with his wife, Bessie, and their loved ones," the band members added. Ryan Keith Cox The Virginia Beach resident was an account clerk who worked 12½ years in the public utilities department. His brother, Ervin, posted photos and remembered him on Facebook. "My heart is hurting because my baby brother was murdered today by the shooter in Virginia Beach mass shooting," he wrote. "I won't hears his beautiful singing voice at church or home anymore. I loved my brother and will truly miss his caring soul. Until we meet again in heaven." Joshua O. Hardy Hardy lived in Virginia Beach and worked as an engineering technician for 4½ years in the city's public utilities department. Michelle "Missy" Langer The Virginia Beach resident was an administrative assistant who worked 12 years in the public utilities department.

Just so predictable and so horrifying. Another mass shooting in America. Also noticeable that no-body seems to be that shocked anymore. It has become "normal" More innocent people losing their lives - just by being at work. The needs for the right for guns - how is that more important than human lives. Will never understand it. RIP to all of the innocent victims. Posting their names and photos as seeing the victim just brings home the devastation of this. They deserved so much better than to be taken from this world by a deranged gunman. Virginia Beach victims: One had four decades with the city; another was filing for a permit One was a man who'd worked with Virginia Beach's public utilities department for 41 years. Another was a contractor who was just in the building to file for a permit. Officials released the names Saturday of 12 people who were killed in Friday afternoon's shooting at Building 2 of the Virginia Beach Municipal Center. All but one were employees of the city of Virginia Beach, City Manager Dave Hansen said. Laquita C. Brown The Chesapeake resident was a right-of-way agent who worked 4½ years for Virginia Beach's public works department. Tara Welch Gallagher The Virginia Beach resident was an engineer who worked six years for the city's public works department. Mary Louise Gayle The Virginia Beach resident was a right-of-way agent who worked 24 years for the city's public works department. Alexander Mikhail Gusev The Virginia Beach resident was a right-of-way agent who worked nine years for the city's public works department. Katherine A. Nixon The Virginia Beach resident was an engineer who worked 10 years for the city's public utilities department.

I love Sammy J. Here he is as "country western singer" Buster J with his break up song with Queensland ( over the election result ) Saw Sammy interviewed and he said he is still touring there with a new song - Queensland, we are making up with you. Queensland is laughing though - we always take the piss out of each other in Australia.

OMG. Terrifying. Another great Florida story - how we love Florida ! Not a house guest any of us would like to entertain ! Glad though that it was not a salt water crocodile like this one in Darwin Australia

This is NOT a post supporting Theresa May. I don't like her or her party's heartless policies. Their ideology is arrogant, cruel and awful. . Do have to wonder though, she was against Brexit but took the " helm" so to speak to so called get it though. More fool her. The politicians like that horrible clown Boris Johnson amongst overs, actively supported Brexit, campaigned for Brexit and even lied about facts to promote Brexit, but did not want to lead their party when the vote for leave got up. Went missing completely - was too hard for them. Now want to swan back in and get credit. Such spineless cowards as well as heartless individuals.

I know ! My goodness, what on Earth Still, it is our favourite cult place here - Florida ! Definitely lots of um "characters" in Florida .