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Wow. I wonder what they were buying? It’s not spelled out in the article I didn’t realize they were affiliated with Falun Gong. The only reason I even know thi

by a2tech 2y ago

Wow. I wonder what they were buying? It’s not spelled out in the article I didn’t realize they were affiliated with Falun Gong. The only reason I even know this company existed is their billboards started popping up on the highway recently.

bredren 2y ago
From the indictment: > For example, certain of the prepaid debit cards were loaded with fraudulently procured unemployment insurance benefits obtained using stolen personal identification information of U.S. residents. > The crime proceeds were sold on Cryptocurrency Platform-1 to affiliates of the Media Company's Foreign Office at discounted rates of approximately 70 to 80 cents per dollar and in exchange for cryptocurrency.
LeoPanthera 2y ago
We used to occasionally get Epoch Times issues stuffed into our mailbox. (Illegally, I understand, since they were not delivered by the USPS.) They were full of the most disgusting bigoted hateful rhetoric. It actually made me feel quite uncomfortable, thinking about who was writing and distributing it. "Shen Yun", a show that also has billboard ads all over the bay area, is also a Falun Gong operation, just like Epoch.
- manuelabeledo 2y ago
  > They were full of the most disgusting bigoted hateful rhetoric. It actually made me feel quite uncomfortable, thinking about who was writing and distributing it. It's really weird that the people behind Epoch, are the same that one can find peacefully protesting in many major cities against the treatment they receive in China. I have to say, their behaviour in recent years made me rethink their claims about illegal organ harvesting. I know both things, they being a hateful cult and being oppressed and killed by the Chinese regime, can be true, but their alignment with far right groups and conspiracy theorists is hard to overlook.
  - czl 2y ago
    See "This Chinese Cult is Not Your Friend - the Falun Gong story" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JaPzJKycxc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JaPzJKycxc
  - cubefox 2y ago
    During early COVID, they also reported that, based on calls to overloaded crematoriums under false name, the number of COVID deaths was much higher than given in the official figures. Those official figures were eventually corrected upwards, confirming the Epoch times reports.
  - AndyMcConachie 2y ago
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/27212328 https://www.jstor.org/stable/27212328 Falun Gong and Epoch Times receive funding from Congress via the National Endowment for Democracy. I guess the USA promotes them since they're a thorn in the side of China. And yeah, they get up to some weird stuff. https://www.npr.org/2021/04/14/986982387/falun-gong-steve-bannon-and-the-trump-era-battle-over-internet-freedom https://www.npr.org/2021/04/14/986982387/falun-gong-steve-ba...
  - pycoffee 2y ago
    [dead]
  - bakuninsbart 2y ago
    Organ harvesting in Chinese prisons is a real thing that happened (state even acknowledged it), but to what extent and until when is unclear. The probably most comprehensive write-up on the issue is by the China Tribunal, but I wouldn't take their words ar face value, since all the authors are falun gong associated or have a vested interest in making China look bad. If you're interested in the topic, read the report, it contains a lot of circumstantial evidence and conjectures. Nothing that would hold up in a court of law, but imo. At least raises a number of questions surrounding Chinese claims on the issue. The Falun Gong claim that their organs were targeted because they are "purer" sounds like straight up bullshit to me. Horrible as they may be, the CCP is very materialistic and doesn't put much stake in spiritual bullshit. Falun Gong itself was both a cult and a spiritual movement, with at its peak close to 100 million practitioners in China. Since the harsh crackdown in the 90s, mostly the cult side is left, and they are dangerous loonies.
- carlosjobim 2y ago
  > They were full of the most disgusting bigoted hateful rhetoric. Such as? Excuse for doubting, but people - especially people on this board - tend to use those kind of words and accusations whenever there's somebody that has a different opinion on some issue. I've only seen stuff published by Epoch Times occasionally and those times they've had a much tamer profile than what you're describing.
- nirui 2y ago
  Bias alert first, I'm your genuine Chinese, and I don't really like Falun Gong. Maybe they are full of rhetoric, but their propaganda is effective, to the point which you can predict people's narrative based on the recent publications from The Epoch Times, though it mainly effects under-educated Chinese-speaking families who can't consume more established English newspaper/media. Being a far-right (See the description on Wikipedia [1]) media, they mirrors the narrative of other English far-right medias, and they forwards those narratives to Chinese-reading consumers. I guess that's their business model. Also, "Shen Yun" is not Chinese culture, rather the Chinese culture in "Shen Yun" was used as props to add a dose of eastern mystery to attract western audience. Very nice marketing I might add. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Epoch_Times https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Epoch_Times
manuelabeledo 2y ago
> I didn’t realize they were affiliated with Falun Gong. The only reason I even know this company existed is their billboards started popping up on the highway recently. Their media arm is quite ubiquitous in Asia. They also run Shen Yun [0], whose pamphlets you may have seen around from time to time. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_Yun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_Yun

by a2tech 2y ago

bredren 2y ago

From the indictment: > For example, certain of the prepaid debit cards were loaded with fraudulently procured unemployment insurance benefits obtained using stolen personal identification information of U.S. residents. > The crime proceeds were sold on Cryptocurrency Platform-1 to affiliates of the Media Company's Foreign Office at discounted rates of approximately 70 to 80 cents per dollar and in exchange for cryptocurrency.

LeoPanthera 2y ago

We used to occasionally get Epoch Times issues stuffed into our mailbox. (Illegally, I understand, since they were not delivered by the USPS.) They were full of the most disgusting bigoted hateful rhetoric. It actually made me feel quite uncomfortable, thinking about who was writing and distributing it. "Shen Yun", a show that also has billboard ads all over the bay area, is also a Falun Gong operation, just like Epoch.

manuelabeledo 2y ago
> They were full of the most disgusting bigoted hateful rhetoric. It actually made me feel quite uncomfortable, thinking about who was writing and distributing it. It's really weird that the people behind Epoch, are the same that one can find peacefully protesting in many major cities against the treatment they receive in China. I have to say, their behaviour in recent years made me rethink their claims about illegal organ harvesting. I know both things, they being a hateful cult and being oppressed and killed by the Chinese regime, can be true, but their alignment with far right groups and conspiracy theorists is hard to overlook.
- czl 2y ago
  See "This Chinese Cult is Not Your Friend - the Falun Gong story" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JaPzJKycxc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JaPzJKycxc
- cubefox 2y ago
  During early COVID, they also reported that, based on calls to overloaded crematoriums under false name, the number of COVID deaths was much higher than given in the official figures. Those official figures were eventually corrected upwards, confirming the Epoch times reports.
- AndyMcConachie 2y ago
  https://www.jstor.org/stable/27212328 https://www.jstor.org/stable/27212328 Falun Gong and Epoch Times receive funding from Congress via the National Endowment for Democracy. I guess the USA promotes them since they're a thorn in the side of China. And yeah, they get up to some weird stuff. https://www.npr.org/2021/04/14/986982387/falun-gong-steve-bannon-and-the-trump-era-battle-over-internet-freedom https://www.npr.org/2021/04/14/986982387/falun-gong-steve-ba...
- pycoffee 2y ago
  [dead]
- bakuninsbart 2y ago
  Organ harvesting in Chinese prisons is a real thing that happened (state even acknowledged it), but to what extent and until when is unclear. The probably most comprehensive write-up on the issue is by the China Tribunal, but I wouldn't take their words ar face value, since all the authors are falun gong associated or have a vested interest in making China look bad. If you're interested in the topic, read the report, it contains a lot of circumstantial evidence and conjectures. Nothing that would hold up in a court of law, but imo. At least raises a number of questions surrounding Chinese claims on the issue. The Falun Gong claim that their organs were targeted because they are "purer" sounds like straight up bullshit to me. Horrible as they may be, the CCP is very materialistic and doesn't put much stake in spiritual bullshit. Falun Gong itself was both a cult and a spiritual movement, with at its peak close to 100 million practitioners in China. Since the harsh crackdown in the 90s, mostly the cult side is left, and they are dangerous loonies.
carlosjobim 2y ago
> They were full of the most disgusting bigoted hateful rhetoric. Such as? Excuse for doubting, but people - especially people on this board - tend to use those kind of words and accusations whenever there's somebody that has a different opinion on some issue. I've only seen stuff published by Epoch Times occasionally and those times they've had a much tamer profile than what you're describing.
nirui 2y ago
Bias alert first, I'm your genuine Chinese, and I don't really like Falun Gong. Maybe they are full of rhetoric, but their propaganda is effective, to the point which you can predict people's narrative based on the recent publications from The Epoch Times, though it mainly effects under-educated Chinese-speaking families who can't consume more established English newspaper/media. Being a far-right (See the description on Wikipedia [1]) media, they mirrors the narrative of other English far-right medias, and they forwards those narratives to Chinese-reading consumers. I guess that's their business model. Also, "Shen Yun" is not Chinese culture, rather the Chinese culture in "Shen Yun" was used as props to add a dose of eastern mystery to attract western audience. Very nice marketing I might add. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Epoch_Times https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Epoch_Times

manuelabeledo 2y ago

> I didn’t realize they were affiliated with Falun Gong. The only reason I even know this company existed is their billboards started popping up on the highway recently. Their media arm is quite ubiquitous in Asia. They also run Shen Yun [0], whose pamphlets you may have seen around from time to time. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_Yun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_Yun