When it comes to religion, Koreans can be quite aggressive in promoting their churches, but this particular church seems pretty extreme:
A group of Turkish customers are seen in this photo provided by Seo. In the cafe located in Istanbul, Turkey, allegedly running by SCJ’s overseas recruiting team, K-pop fans gathers to dance to Korean music, write letters to the stars and learn Korean culture, according to Seo. Courtesy of alleged former SCJ member surnamed Seo
For a Korean woman surnamed Seo, 29, the last two years and three months have been traumatic.
Her passionate, can-do spirit drove her to leave her country, to pursue an ultimate goal to “take over” foreign countries by recruiting foreign members for Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (SCJ).
“I want the Turkish people to know what the group has done, and still is doing,” she said, as if confessing.
She said for two years and three months, she was one of “them” in Turkey.
With very little support, without telling her parents, her life was all about recruitment. All team members shared the same room, having only one or two meals a day. Some members were even forced to marry Turkish people, she said.
“Single members were often targeted for brainwashing, including me,” she said.
Just another reason why companies should not source products from China:
California firm E.L.F. cosmetics has agreed to pay a nearly $1 million fine for importing fake eyelashes containing materials from UN-sanctioned North Korea, according to the US Treasury Department.
Between 2012 and 2017, the company imported “156 shipments of false eyelash kits from two suppliers located in the People’s Republic of China that contained materials sourced by these suppliers” from North Korea, the Treasury said in a statement.
“E.L.F.’s compliance program and its supplier audits failed to discover that approximately 80 percent of the false eyelash kits supplied by two of E.L.F.’s China-based suppliers contained materials” from North Korea, it added.
This is pretty jacked up that Coast Guard personnel serving in Japan have to get food from a pantry. Regardless it is good to see servicemembers helping other servicemembers in need:
Information Systems Technician 1 Joseph Bruce takes donated items from the food pantry at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019.
Servicemembers working without pay due to the government shutdown picked up donated groceries from a food pantry Thursday at the home of U.S. Forces Japan in western Tokyo. Twenty-two Coast Guardsmen, including 15 at Yokota and seven in Singapore, aren’t being paid during the shutdown, which started more than a month ago. The impasse stems from House Democrats’ refusal to provide President Donald Trump with the billions he demands to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico. Other military branches have continued to receive paychecks, but the Coast Guard, a part of the Department of Homeland Security, not the Defense Department, has gone unfunded. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz on Wednesday publicly criticized the lack of pay. “Ultimately, I find it unacceptable that Coast Guard men and women have to rely on food pantries and donations to get through day-to-day life as servicemembers,” he said in a video posted to his Twitter account.
I don’t know what’s worse, Secretary of State Pompeo referring to Chairman Un or CNN North Korea “expert” Will Ripley’s “Chol” f-up. Does this mean they think Kim Jong Un, his dad, and grandad all shared the same first name Kim, but had different last names – Sung, Il, and Un? https://t.co/mJ03PdsnGg
Yep…finally got to the tank bar, following some neighborhood New Years receptions. All I can say is pictures do not do it justice. Definitely getting one for the retirement hacienda. Thanks @PatDonahoeArmy for the hospitality. pic.twitter.com/A5I45FTQIT
So what do people think of France’s new mandatory service law?:
The mandatory part of national service will last a month, while the second, longer phase will be more closely focused on defence and security
The French government has introduced a plan to bring back national service for all 16-year-olds.
It was an idea put forward by Emmanuel Macron in his presidential campaign, to promote a sense of civic duty and national unity among French youth.
But some remain unconvinced of the benefits.
The new national service will cover all 16-year-olds, girls as well as boys, and will be divided into two distinct phases.
National service in two parts
The first phase is a mandatory one-month placement with a focus on civic culture, which the government says will “enable young people to create new relationships and develop their role in society”.
Voluntary teaching and working with charities are among the options being looked at, alongside traditional military preparation with the police, fire service or army.
The second phase is a voluntary placement of at least three months and up to a year, in which young people will be encouraged to serve “in an area linked to defence and security” – but again, they could opt to carry out volunteer work linked to heritage, the environment or social care. [BBC]
You can read more at the link, but it seems this more like a long summer camp than national service. I guess it is better than nothing. It will be interesting to see how this turns out because I assume there will be legal challenges to it.
In honor of the 17th anniversary of 9/11, below is the best article I have read to commemorate the day from the always insightful Mike Rowe:
You’ve been very quiet about the Kaepernick PR disaster at Nike. Any thoughts? – Sam Wilder
Hi Sam. Nike’s free to celebrate whomever they wish, and Kaepernick is entitled to his opinion – kneeling, standing, or lying down. But if I was going to put someone’s face on a billboard – someone who epitomized bravery and sacrifice – I might have gone another way, especially this time of year. I might have gone with this guy – Tom Burnett.
Tom’s last act on earth was one of the most courageous things imaginable. And his last words to his wife, Deena, are among the most inspiring I’ve ever heard. Those exact words are at the top of this page, and the bottom. They were spoken seventeen years ago, under conditions I hope to never experience. I’ll never forget Tom’s last words. I hope you won’t either. [Mike Rowe]
You can read the whole transcript from Tom Burnett’s phone call at the link.
