China reaches for the Basketball

[tzor]

Report: Houston Rockets Nike Gear Pulled from China Stores

Houston Rockets merchandise was removed from various Nike stores in China amid a free speech uproar sparked by the team’s general manager tweet in which he expressed support for the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, a Thursday report states.

According to Reuters, managers from five Nike stores in Beijing and Shanghai said Rockets’ sneakers and other clothing items were pulled after they received a directive from senior management that the team’s gear was to be taken off the shelves.

Chinese e-commerce sites such as Alibaba and JD.com have also scrubbed Houston Rockets merchandise from their platforms, according to the report.

China Cancels Media Events for NBA Preseason Game

In response to the NBA defending Daryl Morey’s freedom of speech, Chinese officials took it away from the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets.
All of the usual media sessions surrounding the Lakers-Nets preseason game in Shanghai on Thursday — including a scheduled news conference from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and postgame news conferences with the teams — were canceled. It was the latest salvo in the rift between the league and China stemming from a since-deleted tweet posted last week by Morey, the general manager of the Houston Rockets.

“There will be no media availabilities for tonight’s game between the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers,” the NBA said in a statement Thursday, released a few hours before the game.

The game was held as scheduled, with Lakers forward LeBron James and Nets guard Kyrie Irving getting loud ovations when they were introduced as starters. But neither national anthem was played before the game, and no players addressed the crowd before tip-off in a departure from tradition before such international games. Fans arriving at the arena to watch — many of them donning NBA jerseys — were handed small Chinese flags to carry with them inside, and at least one person carried a sign critical of Silver.

We've lost Hollywood to China. We are loosing the NBA to china, but, thank God, South Park hasn't fallen! ‘South Park’ Punches Back: ‘F**k the Chinese Government’

[mrswdk]

Why do foreign brands feel such a need/entitlement to proclaim on China's internal politics? You didn't see Alibaba or Tencent releasing statements on Trump's impeachment.

[HitRed]

This get to the heart of the trade war. China is not BLOCKING access again to a business.

[tzor]

Why do foreign brands feel such a need/entitlement to proclaim on China's internal politics? You didn't see Alibaba or Tencent releasing statements on Trump's impeachment.

Why does China feel the need to so strongly suppress freedom of speech abroad that it will shut down an entire corporation over a single tweet published abroad?

P.S Daniel Zhang's Twitter feed is fascinating.

[NomadPatriot]

you know now you have to do a facial recognition scan in China in order to access the Internet.. ( so your internet activities get logged onto you Social Credit Score...)

also China plans to have 626 million surveillance cameras up soon enough..

[mrswdk]

you know now you have to do a facial recognition scan in China in order to access the Internet.. ( so your internet activities get logged onto you Social Credit Score...)

Did you know that in America you have to have ID to get on a plane?? sicko's >:(

[NomadPatriot]

you know now you have to do a facial recognition scan in China in order to access the Internet.. ( so your internet activities get logged onto you Social Credit Score...)

Did you know that in America you have to have ID to get on a plane?? sicko's >:(

pretty sure every country requires that ...

[spurgistan]

Why do foreign brands feel such a need/entitlement to proclaim on China's internal politics? You didn't see Alibaba or Tencent releasing statements on Trump's impeachment.

Why does China feel the need to so strongly suppress freedom of speech abroad that it will shut down an entire corporation over a single tweet published abroad?

P.S Daniel Zhang's Twitter feed is fascinating.

But the Chinese government isn't censoring things abroad. It's censoring them in China. It's because American companies want access to the Chinese market that they censor themselves. The important reaction to Morey's tweet wasn't Chinese bots brigading him; it was his team's owner (who is not the Chinese government) shutting him down in order to keep from losing business. The free market in action!

[tzor]

Did you know that in America you have to have ID to get on a plane?? sicko's >:(

Mark your calendars of this HISTORIC date. Tzor agrees with Mrswdk. Yes advanced ID / Passports to fly domestically is SICK.

On the other hand, if so many states weren't giving out driver's licences to every Tom, Dick, and Illegal Alien, this would have never been necessary.

In the "good old days" you used to only need a birth certificate to get to Canada, or even Bermuda.

[tzor]

But the Chinese government isn't censoring things abroad. It's censoring them in China. It's because American companies want access to the Chinese market that they censor themselves.

Note the subtle use of words here. My point was retaliation for something that was done abroad. Yes that retaliation was done in China, the elimination of broadcast rights, the dropping of product from State Sanctioned Amazon Equivalent (Alibaba). And yes the NBA has literally sold their soul to Communism for a couple of billion dollars. Their sins remain; the blood of China is also on their hands as well. But the fact that China has found a willing rape victim doesn't mitigate the crimes of China in regards to suppressing free speech all over the world. Can you imagine if the US did this? There would be non stop condemnation of the US from every nation in the world, and rightly so. But we can't upset the great Winny the Poo, can we?

[jonesthecurl]

A quick count shows me that I've boarded planes in at least 10 countries in the last 10 years. I have always had to show ID. The ID check is before you go to your gate, thus applies to all flights (international and domestic) in each of these.

[Dukasaur]

Did you know that in America you have to have ID to get on a plane?? sicko's >:(

Mark your calendars of this HISTORIC date. Tzor agrees with Mrswdk. Yes advanced ID / Passports to fly domestically is SICK.

On the other hand, if so many states weren't giving out driver's licences to every Tom, Dick, and Illegal Alien, this would have never been necessary.

In the "good old days" you used to only need a birth certificate to get to Canada, or even Bermuda.

In the immortal words of Robert Heinlein's character Lazarus Long, "Any planet that needs ID cards is too crowded for me."

Complex identification is just another symptom of an overcrowded planet. In a place with a reasonable population density, everybody knows everybody, and no identification is needed. As the density goes up, mutual knowledge and trust go down, and identification symbols become more important. The more overcrowded the society, the more ID-obsessed it becomes.

[riskllama]

maybe everybody could just start wearing name tags...

[HitRed]

maybe everybody could just start wearing name tags...

nerd

[mrswdk]

In a place with a reasonable population density, everybody knows everybody

So your ideal planet has about 100 human inhabitants?

[D3A7H]

maybe everybody could just start wearing name tags...

Hello
my name is Inigo Montoya
You killed my father,
prepare to die

[Dukasaur]

In a place with a reasonable population density, everybody knows everybody

So your ideal planet has about 100 human inhabitants?

I'd like to cap out around 50 million.

[2dimes]

Why the dickens would you live in Ontario? Saskatoba seems more like what you describe. I don't disagree just wondering. This town used to be so much better at around a quarter of the population.

[Dukasaur]

Why the dickens would you live in Ontario? Saskatoba seems more like what you describe. I don't disagree just wondering. This town used to be so much better at around a quarter of the population.

50% inertia. You go with what you know. I've mostly lived in Southern Ontario since we came to Canada 50 years ago. All my work history is here.

The other 50% is that I genuinely like it here. I don't like the fact that it's overcrowded, but I still love Niagara. It's stunningly beautiful despite the people. Many people that live here get jaded by it all, but I still renew my sense of wonder regularly. I still go down and see the Falls, or walk the gorge, or some of the hiking trails along the top of the escarpment.

I've been through Saskatoba a couple of times. Generally a bit too flat and boring for me, but there were some nice areas I could have learned to love. Just chance that we ended up here instead of there, I guess.

[mookiemcgee]

Why do foreign brands feel such a need/entitlement to proclaim on China's internal politics? You didn't see Alibaba or Tencent releasing statements on Trump's impeachment.

Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba criticizing America's governance.

[spurgistan]

But the Chinese government isn't censoring things abroad. It's censoring them in China. It's because American companies want access to the Chinese market that they censor themselves.

Note the subtle use of words here. My point was retaliation for something that was done abroad. Yes that retaliation was done in China, the elimination of broadcast rights, the dropping of product from State Sanctioned Amazon Equivalent (Alibaba). And yes the NBA has literally sold their soul to Communism for a couple of billion dollars. Their sins remain; the blood of China is also on their hands as well. But the fact that China has found a willing rape victim doesn't mitigate the crimes of China in regards to suppressing free speech all over the world. Can you imagine if the US did this? There would be non stop condemnation of the US from every nation in the world, and rightly so. But we can't upset the great Winny the Poo, can we?

But we can. We just need our billionaires to care more about protecting our rights than protecting their right to increasing profits. That's the problem; like I said China doesn't suppress our speech, we do.

[mrswdk]

State Sanctioned Amazon Equivalent (Alibaba)

Alibaba is a Chinese company, therefore it is controlled by the Chinese government! McCarthy would be proud.

Do you ever stop and wonder whether the propaganda you're fed might not be the whole story, or do you just trust that the five people who control all of US government and media are fair, unbiased and full imparters of all truth in the world?

[mrswdk]

Why do foreign brands feel such a need/entitlement to proclaim on China's internal politics? You didn't see Alibaba or Tencent releasing statements on Trump's impeachment.

Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba criticizing America's governance.

WHATABOUT

So the NBA whatever-he-is tweeting about how Hong Kong's rioters are right is the same as Jack Ma being very specifically asked for his views on the China-US relationship by a US policy analyst, and giving them? H'okay.

[mookiemcgee]

Why do foreign brands feel such a need/entitlement to proclaim on China's internal politics? You didn't see Alibaba or Tencent releasing statements on Trump's impeachment.

Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba criticizing America's governance.

WHATABOUT

So the NBA whatever-he-is tweeting about how Hong Kong's rioters are right is the same as Jack Ma being very specifically asked for his views on the China-US relationship by a US policy analyst, and giving them? H'okay.

Simply pointing our that Alibaba CEO actually did criticize the US gov't very publicly, and one person who is a coach in the NBA, expressed his personal view on twitter. As far as I know, the US gov't didn't request the Ma interview, and they didn't respond by banning Jack Ma's business either.

I'm willing to acknowledge the NBA tweet was a much more subversive act than the very polished words of Ma, but Ma is CEO and the NBA guy is just a coach. He's not an owner, CEO of the NBA, publicist for the NBA or anything else. Just an employee at one franchise. Should the US ban a Chinese company if one employee in any sort of managerial position posted something supportive of Black Live Matter?