we should give Winnie the Pooh laser pens so he can start a protest in Hong Kong with LeBron in the middle of a Blizzard.

Yeah, China should really [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] because [REDACTED] is not [REDACTED] [REDACTED], although [REDACTED] [REDACTED] shouldn't have [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED]. Also, [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED].

(This comment has been edited by the People's Republic of China.)

It's a terrible situation.

• Foreign powers that try to support Hong Kong risk angering China.

• Domestically, protestors are risking what remains of their freedom. China could end the two-systems policy and assimilate Hong Kong. It would certainly be condemned in the West, but that's a distinct possibility.

• Police are stuck being attacked by protestors but at the same time are trying to uphold law and order to prevent the previous point. It wouldn't surprise me if many agreed with the protestors.

• International businesses with significant Chinese operations have to dissociate from Hong Kong or risk losing access to the Chinese market completely. This leads to unfortunate events like Blizzard's ban. From a corporate standpoint, the bad press and outrage was probably the better option than losing access to China.

• Corporate events and tournaments are platforms to speak up. However, free speech does not apply. It doesn't matter if the speech is something you agree with or not, if the company does not want it associated with their IP or event, they are well within their rights to take action against it, as long as that action meets other legal constraints such as not discriminating against a protected class.

• There is a debate about whether social media is free speech. For example, should Twitter be allowed to censor the legal content it hosts, whether by using algorithms to reduce visibility, banning users, or deleting tweets? What if China demanded they alter or remove any trending tags about Hong Kong, etc.? What if a political organization demanded the removal or restriction of accounts like the NRA or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? To what extent is it a public forum, and to what extent is it a corporation provided service?

• How far do you go when meddling in the affairs of another country based on ideological differences?

It's a quagmire with no easy answers.

Personally, I want the people of Hong Kong to enjoy the rights and liberties afforded to industrialized Western nations like they did under British rule. Protesting may be futile or even counterproductive, but if that's how they want to utilize what may be the last days of their freedom, then I really do wish them all the best. I can respect "We will not go quietly into the night" action.

China is literally nazi Germany at this point and the sad thing is that I am not joking or being dramatic. Genocide, organ harvesting, "reeducation"/torture camps, trying to take over Hong Kong, no freedom of speech, government censorship, dictatorship, etc.

**** China

The extradition bill

Complicated because its China and legal for the government to abuse.

If it were another country say the U.S. not having laws like that would like being able to commit a crime in Texas run to California and be free from prosecution because a blue state would never send you back to a red state.

The rest falls under if freedom of speech and freedom of opinion exists or applies because they are or maybe representing others who may or may not agree, which is a giant question and subject to change depending on where the person with the opinion is.

Things might have been simpler if the U.K. had kept Hong Kong.

It seems to me like an immoral thing to cave into China's demands and put money before the liberty of others. But I suppose it's probably a lot more complicated than that. I still have no respect for organizations that are giving in to China's demands just to make more money.

I have no idea what the protests are all about. Been wondering for a while now - but I suspect whatever I find will be biased in one direction or another.

The extradition part isn't clear to me. Are we talking about speech/thought, or are we talking about thieves, murderers, rapists, whatever, or are we talking about whatever some "prosecutor" type of "Chinese Lawyer/Bureaucrat" decides to prosecute? Maybe the Owl could set everyone straight?

I’ve been following the Hong Kong thing for a few months now; it’s really gotten much more public attention in the last week or so, and I’m interested to see what official governmental responses will be.

What should the U.S. do? Maybe the best thing would be to just ignore it, but with the recent rise in awareness, I’m not sure if that’s how it will play out. So then, should the U.S. side with China or Hong Kong? Morally, Hong Kong seems to be the best bet (and this is what the American government seems to be leaning towards). It’s an area with many of the industrial and cultural benefits of western civilizations since it was British until about two decades ago. But if we side with Hong Kong, how can we even help? I don’t want a war with China, and a Hong Kong proxy war could potentially lead to that exactly. So, it might honestly be best to ignore it.

One idea I’ve come to agree with is a purchase of Hong Kong from China. I’ll list the most major pros and cons, and you guys tell me what you think about the idea.

Pros

• Hong Kong is an area with great infrastructure.
• Already more used to western ideas and culture (as evidenced by the protests for rights and such that brought this whole thing up in the first place).
• The transfer of Hong Kong all those years ago included the agreement that Hong Kong would be under a sort of double government, both under their own rule in some aspects and Chinese rule in others. Sound familiar? It’s a system of federalism and could work quite nicely with the U.S. federal government, which could better support Hong Kong’s interests.
• If a conflict ever did break out between the U.S. and China, having land in China/Asia could be a huge boost for the U.S.

Cons:

• The big issue here is tensions between the U.S. and China. Do you really think China wants to be that close to the U.S.? And next to only a small part of it, that has good potential for invasion?
• What kind of price would China offer for Hong Kong, or would they not even be willing to sell it at all?
• I’m not hearing about protests in other places of China. Taking Hong Kong out might remove the ideas for the gaining of freedom in all of China, almost condemning the people of China to stick under the oppressive, authoritarian rule. Though maybe the ideas can spread even better since there would be a moderately-safe land-border full of people eager to preserve rights in China.

There are some other things, but those are the big points.

I mean like, what's the easiest way to run guns to the HK peeps? Big govt sucks.