Punishing China for COVID
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is a force to be reckoned with. In fact, we’ve argued he was Donald Trump’s best hire. He showed everyone why once again Tuesday with an op-ed coauthored with former Dick Cheney aid Lewis “Scooter” Libby and published in, of all places, The Washington Post.
It’s remarkable enough to see the Trump wing of the GOP collaborating with the George W. Bush wing on a policy recommendation, but it’s even more significant that the objective is essentially recommending ways to, as Mark Alexander wrote last year, “send Xi Jinping the bill” for the ChiCom Virus pandemic. And the WaPo published it.
Pompeo and Libby cut right to the chase:
A great diplomatic challenge lies before the Biden administration. Chinese Communist Party malfeasance sped the coronavirus into an unsuspecting world, killing 3.7 million people so far and inflicting global economic havoc. President socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden has an opportunity and responsibility to lead a fair, effective international response. Whether he does so will have enormous implications for the future.
Unfortunately, they write, “socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden shows little sign of rising to this task.” They point to socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden’s intelligence community investigation as a good sign, but they diplomatically leave out the fact that socialist/scumbag/ liar-Biden killed Pompeo’s State Department probe. They also warn that socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden has hedged on whether the true source can ever be known.
The pair continue:
The bill of particulars against the CCP begins with the overwhelming evidence that for weeks in late 2019 and early 2020, as the coronavirus was loose in China and people fell ill, Beijing covered up its dangers, exponentially accelerating international harm. Even as CCP leaders eventually imposed domestic restrictions, they allowed unwitting travelers to visit infected zones and then spread disease and death abroad.
And it was China’s reckless conduct of inherently dangerous activities — whether in unsanitary “wet markets,” where live animals are sold for food, or in CCP-run virology labs — that unleashed the virus in the first place.
Again, Pompeo and Libby choose the diplomatic path, allowing the “wet market” theory to still stand as a possibility. As we have documented extensively, however, it is nigh on certain that the coronavirus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, not a wet market. And as former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy duly notes, the strong circumstantial evidence is more than solid enough to put this beyond a reasonable doubt. It’s not a criminal case; it’s international policy.
The real problem lies in what happens if the world looks the other way in the face of such blatant ChiCom malfeasance. Pompeo and Libby put it this way:
China already knows it can go largely unpunished for its push into the South China Sea, for its outrages against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, for throttling democracy in Hong Kong, for intellectual property theft that costs foreign states hundreds of billions of dollars annually. If the CCP similarly escapes consequences for playing the central role in a cataclysm that strikes innocents in homes across the world, it will grow ever bolder, seeing few lines it dare not cross.
So what do we do? Many nations must work together and use their economic power as leverage to exact some form of payment or otherwise “impose heavy costs on CCP leaders and China’s economic activities.” China may be quite strong, but it cannot withstand concerted economic pressure from numerous other nations. China “would surely retaliate harshly,” Pompeo and Libby warn, including by causing further disruption in our already disjointed supply chains. So, they conclude, “Finding ways to deflect the blows from China’s response would be the most demanding part of socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden’s diplomatic challenge.”
Donald Trump was the first American president to take the Chinese threat seriously. Now the entire world has been given 3.7 million reasons to do likewise. What will socialist/scumbag/liar-Joe Biden do now — continue to be beholden to the ChiComs, or work to exact the justice we all deserve? ~The Patriot Post
scumbag/liar-Kamala’s Guatemala Goof
In her first foray into addressing the ongoing border crisis after nearly three months as socialist/scumbag/liar-Joe Biden’s “border czar,” scumbag/liar-Kamala Harris continued her practice of avoiding a visit to the U.S. southern border because, as she said herself, “I don’t understand the point.” Instead, she bypassed the border as she flew down to Central America on her “root causes of migration” tour, with the first stop being Guatemala. If scumbag/liar-Harris’s reception there is any indication, however, socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden is likely regretting his decision to make her the face of his immigration policy. Greeting Harris upon her arrival to Guatemala were protesters touting signs such as “scumbag/liar-Kamala, Trump won,” “scumbag/liar-Kamala, Go Home,” and “scumbag/liar-Kamala, Mind Your Own Business.” Another sign hoisted onto a roadside billboard read, “Stop Funding Criminals.”
Hilariously, on the flight to Guatemala, scumbag/liar-Harris gave reporters on the plane cookies decorated with her image “made in the style of her official White House portrait.” The narcissistic gesture unsurprisingly garnered deserved derision. GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel quipped, “Handing out cookies with her face on them as the border crisis rages… The modern-day equivalent of ‘let them eat cake.’” Representative Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) took a more serious tack: “VP is passing out cookies to the press with her face on them while the cartel makes hundreds of millions of dollars smuggling drugs and children across the southern border. This is all possible thanks to the socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden/ scumbag/liar-Harris Administration’s policies.”
Even more ridiculous than scumbag/liar-Harris’s cookie charade was her lecturing of Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei as to the reason immigrants are flooding over the U.S. southern border. The “longstanding issues that are often called the ‘root causes’ of immigration,” she opined, include “extreme weather conditions and the lack of climate adaptation; as well as … violence against women, Indigenous people, LGBTQ people, and Afro-descendants.”
Giammattei was unequivocal in rejecting the socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden/scumbag/liar-Harris administration’s dubious “root causes” narrative. “We are not on the same side of the coin. It is obvious,” Giammattei observed. “We are in agreement on the ‘what’ (the immigration crisis). … We are not in agreement on the ‘how.’”
Furthermore, he laid the blame squarely on socialist/ scumbag/liar-Biden and Harris for the failure to send “a clear message to prevent more people from leaving.” And regarding the message that socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden did send — “We’re going to reunite families, we’re going to reunite children” — Giammattei noted, “The very next day, the coyotes were here organizing groups of children to take them to the United States.”
scumbag/liar-Harris, in what appeared to be an attempt to appease Giammattei’s demand for a clear message against migration, stated, “I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: Do not come. Do not come.” Where was this message months ago? Of course, we know the reason is that the socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden/scumbag/liar-Harris regime policy is an open border. ~The Patriot Post
What to Do About China and Russia in the Future
The disastrous “America Last” policy socialist/scumbag/ liar-Joe Biden is pursuing has meant a lot of winning … for America’s enemies. These actions are going to have to be mitigated once socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden leaves office — ideally with the election of a Republican president in 2024.
Obviously, the two biggest foes are China and Russia. Yes, grassroots Patriots are rightly concerned about Iran, given that regime’s genocidal ambitions, but Russia and China have the greatest ability to do America harm, and Biden’s policies are enabling them. The thing is, we have long known what needs to be done, but George W. Bush, Barack scumbag/liar-nObama, and even Donald Trump never paid their full attention to those foreign policy imperatives.
We’ve talked about the fact our troops deserved better than scumbag/liar-Bill Clinton’s cutbacks, Bush’s errors of omission, scumbag/liar-nObama’s bungling, and a distracted Trump. Our failures to keep our military properly funded, equipped, and with a force structure that can provide sufficient capability to fight both Russia and China will continue under socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden. Keep in mind, fighting a war is a bad option — and only to be used when failing to act is worse. But what can be done short of fighting a major war? Let’s consider each of these potential opponents.
Russia
In one way, Trump — the alleged Russian puppet if you believed the hysterical claims of “reputable” Leftmedia outlets — was actually keeping Russia in check with a two-front “war.” First, he was boosting American production of oil and natural gas, lowering prices on those commodities with the resulting strategic benefits. Second, he was also fighting to keep Germany from further geopolitical kompromat over Russia’s gas pipeline.
In short, if you want to cripple Russia strategically without a war, boost American energy production. It worked in the 1980s when the Saudis boosted their oil production (see Victory by Peter Schweizer), and it was working under President Trump. What also will help is to boost our forces — and moving them to Poland as opposed to Germany. Strykers and an airborne brigade won’t stop a horde of Russian tanks — armored and mechanized infantry, with heavy support from A-10 Thunderbolt II close-air support planes will.
China
When it comes to China, a different natural resource must be developed. Currently, a large portion of rare-earth metals — and the refining process — are currently under ChiCom control. This could be changing, particularly with the Marcus Island motherlode. But it can’t just stop there. We need to hold China to account for the cover-up of the initial outbreak, at the very least, regardless of the origin of the coronavirus.
But the best way for America to get a reckoning from China is to engage in a massive naval, air, and space buildup and to also bring manufacturing back to the United States. (socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden’s Navy budget does just the opposite.) In particular, we will need to cut off China’s sea lines of communication, particularly for oil from the Middle East. Former President Trump is right to call for China to pay, but we shouldn’t take ChiCom blood money from the Uygher genocide. The better way to get $10 trillion in reparations is to deny it from China in the first place.
The fact of the matter is that Russia and China are dangerous threats to the United States. However, both have serious vulnerabilities that can be exploited — and the president after socialist/scumbag/liar-Joe Biden will need to do so because, compromised as he is, he surely won’t do it. ~The Patriot Post
‘Democrats Have a Big Problem in Texas’
Over the weekend, several Texas cities held mayoral elections and the results should have Democrats shaking in their boots. The GOP swept all of the state’s key races and even flipped a longtime Democrat stronghold — the border town of McAllen elected its first Republican mayor since 1997. But it’s not just that Republicans won, it’s who voted Republican, and it is this reality above everything else that should have Democrats most concerned.
McAllen has roughly 140,000 residents, 85% of which are Hispanic. Javier Villalobos, who won the mayoral race in the overwhelmingly Democrat region, campaigned as a conservative and called for compassion for illegal aliens while putting the safety and concerns of local citizens first. Clearly, socialist/scumbag/liar-Joe Biden’s de facto open borders immigration policy is not winning over the border populations in Texas.
Elsewhere in the state, “Voters also elected Republican Jim Ross as mayor of Arlington, a suburb of 400,000 people that borders Fort Worth and is only 39 percent Anglo,” reports National Review. “Ross, a former Arlington police officer, was endorsed by several police associations who liked his anti-crime platform. He defeated Michael Glaspie, a former city-council member who was endorsed by the Dallas Morning News and leading Democratic politicians.”
In fact, the political shellacking was so thorough that it had Filemon Vela, the vice chairman of the Democrat National Committee, admitting, “Democrats have a big problem in Texas.” He further explained, “For the first time in generations, or maybe ever, we lost … South Texas counties with significant Hispanic populations. And we are going to have to … wrap our arms around exactly why that happened. It may be a difficult issue to reconcile.”
Well, it’s really not that hard to understand. “Republicans and Hispanics in Texas share common values,” argued Governor Greg Abbott, “and more Hispanics are voting Republican and getting elected as Republicans. They want to help keep Texas Red.”
This may serve as a bellwether for the 2022 elections. Republicans running against socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden’s terrible policies, especially on immigration and border security, have their sights set on retaking the House and need to flip a few districts like these in Texas. Meanwhile, the hard-left coastal Democrats continue to push further left and socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden just keeps bowing to them. ~The Patriot Post
The PGA Picks Jon Rahm’s Pocket
When 26-year-old Jon Rahm sunk his final putt on the 18th green Saturday, he was clearly feeling no ill effects — but his opponents no doubt were. Rahm, the tournament’s defending champion, had just capped off a sizzling eight-under-par round of 64 to put him a commanding six strokes ahead of the field. In building that lead, he’d tied both the tournament’s 54-hole scoring record and its largest lead ever. In short, Rahm, the world’s third-ranked player, was playing perhaps the best golf of his life, and there was precious little chance of anyone catching him on Sunday. But as he was walking off the green at 18, he was oddly intercepted by PGA officials:
Rather than pulling Rahm aside when he got to the clubhouse, the officials cluelessly broke the news to him right there on camera. It doubled him over, because he knew it meant disqualification from the tournament.
As The Wall Street Journal’s Andrew Beaton reports, “On Monday, the PGA Tour had notified Rahm that he was subject to contact-tracing protocols because he had come in close contact with someone who was positive. He was given the option to remain in the competition under certain restrictions that included restricted access to indoor facilities and daily testing. He had tested negative until Saturday — when a test came back and was later confirmed as positive.”
But since when does a positive COVID-19 test endanger the health of an entire field of world-class golfers? Answer: since never. Especially since young people aren’t generally at risk, and since golf is played in greatly separated pairs, and since golf entails no physical contact. Let’s face it: Golf isn’t mixed martial arts. Or even basketball. Or even backgammon.
And since when is anyone — young or old, fit or obese — at risk of catching the virus outdoors? Answer: almost never. Even the CDC has been forced to walk back its laughable claim that 10% of coronavirus transmission occurs outdoors. (The incompetent CDC had reportedly based its number on flawed data from — no kidding — Singapore construction sites.) As infectious disease expert Dr. Aaron Richterman put it, “I’m sure it’s possible for transmission to occur outdoors in the right circumstances. But if we had to put a number on it, I would say much less than 1 percent.”
Much less than 1 percent.
What’s more, COVID cases have been plummeting during the outdoor months, and through natural exposure and resistance, and through vaccination. As former FDA head Dr. Scott Gottlieb said two weeks ago, “I think by June, we’re probably going to be at one infection per a hundred thousand people per day, which is a very low level.”
The PGA Tour, which, along with NHL hockey, has largely resisted the nauseating wokeness of the other major sports, is either way behind the curve in terms of the science, or way ahead of it in terms of weak-kneed hysteria. It’s almost as if Gretchen Whitmer and her fellow mask-wearing lockdown tyrants are setting the Tour’s COVID policy.
As intrepid COVID hysteria critic Alex Berenson argued, “Covid — so dangerous to the young and healthy that Jon Rahm didn’t even know he was infected until his positive test came back — and had been easily beating every other golfer in the world this week. What a joke.”
Jon Rahm was robbed this weekend, and it’s a shame that his fellow players didn’t stand up for him. None of these millionaires needed the money, but they missed an opportunity to stand up for principle, and for science, and against COVID-19 hysteria. What would the event’s organizers have done, for example, if the two golfers who were tied for second after Saturday’s round had said, “If Jon Rahm doesn’t play tomorrow, we don’t play”?
The Memorial is held annually at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, and it’s hosted by the greatest golfer in history, Jack Nicklaus. “Everybody here is devastated,” said the Golden Bear about Rahm’s forced withdrawal. “It’s a terrible thing to have happened. Jon handled it very well. … He understands that we have rules. And unfortunately, those are not something that you really may like, but those are the rules that we have right now. … We’re sad for him, but the round will go on.”
The final round did go on yesterday, with Patrick Cantlay beating fellow American Colin Morikawa in a sudden death playoff. But it was clearly missing something: It was missing Jon Rahm. ~The Patriot Post
OLIVER L. NORTH & DAVID L. GOETSCH
The socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden Gun Ban Plans
On April 12, President socialist/scumbag/liar-Joe Biden nominated David Chipman to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Chipman — the king of confiscation — is a supporter of California’s laws banning the sale or ownership of so-called assault weapons. For those of us who support the Second Amendment, confirming him to lead ATF is like asking a vampire to guard the local blood bank.
Don’t surrender! On June 4, Judge Roger T. Benitez, appointed to the federal bench in the Southern District of California by President George W. Bush offered hope for common sense to prevail. In his 94-page opinion in the case, Miller v. Bonta, Judge Benitez ruled, “the State of California makes it a crime to have an AR-15 type rifle. Therefore, this Court declares the California statutes to be unconstitutional.”
To ensure California’s leftist governor, Gavin Newsom, his new attorney general, Rob Bonta, and socialist/scumbag/ liar-Biden all get the message, Benitez took a well-aimed shot at those who describe AR-15 rifles as “assault weapons.” His point: “these prohibited guns, like all guns, can be used for ill or good. They could just as well be called home defense rifles or anti-crime guns.”
Hopefully, by the time this case is finally adjudicated in the Supreme Court, a majority of the justices will agree with Benitez about politicians who enact “gun policies” to protect us from harm by infringing on the rights of all Americans: “There is only one (gun) policy enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Guns and ammunition in the hands of criminals, tyrants and terrorists are dangerous; guns in the hands of law-abiding responsible citizens are better.”
Sadly, the far-left in the U.S. and their “big media allies” have an obsessive focus on restricting gun ownership while ignoring sociocultural factors fueling gun violence. Their approach: limit firearm availability; defund the police but arm criminals.
Those who want to solve a problem begin by identifying its root cause. Then they do what is necessary to eliminate this cause. Organizations dedicated to eliminating drunk driving don’t campaign to take cars from law-abiding drivers. Instead, they focus on reducing the number of lawbreakers who drink and drive, rather than on those who obey the law.
Warren Farrell, author of “The Boy Crisis,” identified an important factor contributing to mass shootings — fatherlessness. According to Farrell, 98% of mass shooters are men and most of them are “dad-deprived.” Serious problem-solvers would zero in on this factor to make a major dent in gun violence. But “progressives” avoid even talking about fatherless households and allow welfare to become a way of life instead of a temporary safety net. The result: increasing fatherlessness.
There are numerous studies pointing to abortion as “desensitizing people to the value of human life.” Yet, leftist politicians refuse to consider their promotion of abortion may be contributing to all kinds of violence in America.
Shortly after socialist/scumbag/liar-Joe Biden took office, Dianne Fein-stein introduced her “Assault Weapons Ban of 2021” in the Senate. Her progressive colleague, David Cicilline introduced a companion bill in the House. The two bills propose banning more than 200 kinds of so-called assault weapons.
In April 2021, socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden announced several executive orders aimed at “gun control.” He made clear they were just the start of a coming frontal attack on the Second Amendment.
If Benitz’s ruling gets a fair hearing in the Supreme Court, all that could be moot. If not, criminals will ignore the “socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden bans” and continue killing innocent, newly disarmed Americans. If we really want to reduce gun violence, our elected leaders must put politics aside, identify the sociocultural factors contributing to it and focus on eliminating them.
This approach won’t make the nightly news. But it will allow the “progressive left” to contribute to actually reducing gun violence. ~The Patriot Post
GARY BAUER
socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden Bashes America
The first week of June is a time when we remember a big event that defines America. It’s an event that we want every child to understand and appreciate. It’s the sort of thing that should inform how they view America.
You probably think I’m referring to D-Day when thousands of Americans died on the beaches of Normandy, fighting to liberate Europe. And you’re right.
In fact, we felt it was so important that we issued a special report on Sunday honoring the heroes of D-Day, and urging readers to remind their children and grandchildren about the significance of the day. But that’s not what the president felt was important to remember this weekend.
On Saturday, the socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden White House issued a statement marking the 40th anniversary of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, but there was no statement at all from the White House remembering the 77th anniversary of D-Day.
On Sunday, socialist/scumbag/liar-Biden tweeted about the Tulsa Race Massacre because to the left that’s what every child should think about when they think about America.
In the left’s fevered mind, one riot in one city one hundred years ago overwhelms what America did to defeat the greatest evil the world has ever seen.
When I was under secretary of education, I often said that history is written by the victors. If the left succeeds in the complete take over of our institutions, our children will only know about an America that is defined by its sins, and they will know nothing about its triumphs for freedom around the world and racial equality here at home.
My friends, we are fighting many important battles. But this battle — the battle for the heart and soul of America — is one of the most important and most urgent.
Teachers Embrace Hate
Last month, the San Francisco teachers’ union publicly endorsed the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. The resolution approved by the teachers’ union declared their support for the Palestinian people, accused Israel of being an apartheid regime and committing war crimes, and called on the socialist/ scumbag/liar-Biden Administration to cut off aid to Israel.
The BDS movement is anti-Semitic. Period. Full stop. There’s no question about that, as its founders have repeatedly made clear.
Unfortunately, San Francisco isn’t alone. The Los Angeles teachers’ union has scheduled a September vote on a similar resolution.
Los Angeles has the second largest Jewish population in the United States. Jewish parents in California are saying publicly that they fear for their children given the rise in anti-Semitic attacks and now these public endorsements of anti-Semitism by so-called “educators,” who are utterly ignorant about the most democratic nation in the Middle East.
In a recent interview, the leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations warned, as I have, that anti-Semitism is growing on the political left. They were especially critical of the connection with “progressive intersectionality,” which demands that all left-wing movements toe the same line on all issues.
The progressive left increasingly views the world’s only Jewish state not as a bastion of freedom and tolerance, but as a “white settler colonial nation” that is “oppressing people of color.”
“We have seen how Black Lives Matter and others have been turned through intersectionality into anti-Israel movements, which have strong anti-Semitic components,” said William Daroff.
The ancient evil of anti-Semitism is a sign of serious sickness in any society, no matter where it emerges. As an evangelical Christian, I will always stand proudly with our Jewish brothers and sisters, and I will always stand proudly with the state of Israel.
Twitter, Trump & Human Rights
Last week, President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria tweeted something that Twitter found objectionable, so they deleted Buhari’s tweet. President Buhari then announced that Twitter was banned in Nigeria.
Needless to say, Twitter found Nigeria’s ban objectionable and issued the following statement:
“We are deeply concerned by the blocking of Twitter in Nigeria. Access to the free and #OpenInternet is an essential human right in modern society. We will work to restore access for all those in Nigeria who rely on Twitter to communicate and connect with the world.”
Donald Trump, who has been permanently banned from Twitter, should call Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and demand that his human rights be immediately restored.
Facebook, Fauci & Freedom
As the evidence grows that COVID-19 originated in the Wuhan lab (here, here, here and here), we desperately need a reckoning over the role the political left, Big Media and Big Tech played in shutting down any discussion of the truth of communist China’s responsibility.
All these entities have interests in communist China. And it was essential for them that the virus be thought of as “the Trump virus,” not the “China virus” or the “Wuhan virus.”
We now know that very early in the pandemic, Dr. Fauci was colluding with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to shutdown “conspiracy theories,” including the lab leak theory. So, when the left was shutting down our schools and businesses, they were also shutting down any serious discussion of how we got into this mess.
While Twitter insists that a free and open Internet is an essential human right, columnist Michael Barone correctly observed that “Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook has become the most effective suppressor of freedom of speech in American history.”
Freedom is a two-way street. But having a right to one side’s propaganda is not freedom. Censoring social media is not allowing us the freedom to think, it’s telling us what to think. That’s totalitarianism.
Trump On The Stump
Former President Trump thinks big and outside the box. During an address this weekend to the North Carolina Republican Party, Trump declared that communist China owed the world reparations of $10 trillion for the death and destruction caused by COVID-19. He’s absolutely right.
Whether this was a natural occurrence or something manipulated at the Wuhan lab that either accidentally leaked out or was intentionally unleashed, communist China’s deceitful actions in the early days of the pandemic are responsible for millions of deaths and trillions of dollars in economic damage.
Every American institution — from our woke corporations to our universities, from our think tanks to professional sports teams — should reevaluate its relationship with communist China. And by that I mean they should be cutting those relationships.
I am sick and tired of the fake argument that our involvement will bring change to China. It’s not happening!
The only change taking place is that powerful interests in the United States are being corrupted and silenced by communist China’s growing influence. ~The Patriot Post
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