Friday, June 12, 2020
Beijing's Meddling
Twitter just announced that it has deleted nearly 175,000 fake accounts linked to communist China. According to Twitter, the accounts were "spreading geopolitical narratives favorable to the Communist Party of China (CCP), while continuing to push deceptive narratives about the political dynamics in Hong Kong."
What were those "favorable CCP narratives"? That communist China handled the coronavirus correctly. Of course, we know that is totally absurd.
The accounts also attacked President Trump and anyone who criticized the communist regime's handling of the virus or suggested that communist China should be held accountable for the global outbreak.
Just a few weeks ago, Chinese state media threatened to interfere in the 2020 elections. Well, it seems that they already are.
It's worth noting that this massive propaganda campaign by communist China is about 150 times greater than Russia's social media influencing effort in 2016.
Adam Schiff call your office!
Zoom Bombed
On May 31st, the U.S.-based group Humanitarian China held a Zoom meeting worldwide for human rights activists that featured former student leaders of the Tiananmen Square protests and the Tiananmen Mothers. As the 31stanniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre approached last week, Zoom shut down Humanitarian China's account.
Zoom is a U.S.-based company that also operates in China and has a research and development facility there with more than 700 employees. But why did it shut down the Humanitarian China account?
In response to criticism, Zoom issued a statement saying, "We aim to limit the actions we take to those necessary to comply with local laws." Well, whose laws would that be exactly? Certainly not ours! Zoom caved to pressure from the Chinese Communist Party.
Zoom is now promising to "do better" in the future, but it bombed terribly in this case.
The company has suffered from serious security problems. The Pentagon banned its use after reports that some Zoom data was routed through China.
Full disclosure: As you know, I am one of nine commissioners who serve on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). We meet frequently, but have not been able to meet in person due to Covid restrictions. Like a lot of families and businesses, we have been using Zoom.
Well, I and other commissioners are asking the USCIRF staff to give us a Plan B ASAP. We have cited communist China as one of the world's worst abusers of religious freedom, and we should not be using a platform that does the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party.
Speaking Of Religious Liberty. . .
More than 80 people in Nigeria were killed in an attack this week by Boko Haram jihadis. They reportedly burned down an entire village. It is not clear from the reporting who the victims were, but Islamic supremacists have plagued the West African nation, routinely massacring Christians, burning churches and kidnapping children.
In related news, Christian leaders in the Middle East are praising President Trump's recent executive order advancing international religious freedom.
Archbishop Bashir Warda of Erbil, Iraq, said, "Having directly experienced persecution, crimes against humanity and genocide because of our commitment to our faith, we are deeply grateful for the efforts of the administration to maintain an international focus on this issue."
Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Nigeria called Trump's order a "welcome development especially in the face of the crippling secularism that is trying to push religious identity to the sidelines."
No Joke
There is an effort underway by the media and its left-wing allies to laugh off CHAZ. What's that, you ask? Well, I'm not surprised if you don't know because the mainstream media are totally ignoring the story.
CHAZ stands for "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone," the section of Seattle that has been seized by Antifa.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan was asked how long the standoff will continue, and she responded, "I don't know. We could have a summer of love!" She insists that everything inside CHAZ is just fine, even going so far as to praise the extremists for their "patriotism."
Covering up the truth and joking about it is the left's latest strategy to downplay the seriousness of what is happening there. But law-abiding citizens who live and work in that area do not have access to the laws of the United States of America.
They are living in a zone run by anarchists and communists. Those citizens are being deprived of their liberty. This is not a joke.
But just imagine if a group of conservatives declared a "Christian Autonomous Zone."
Suppose they blocked off streets and shut down the local abortion clinic. Suppose they announced that you could only stay there if you fly the American flag, own a gun and that schools will begin the day with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.
My friends, the tanks would already be on their way to crush this secessionist movement.
By the way, I mentioned recently that one reason why the French revolution failed was because the radicals turned on one another. Well, that already seems to be happening in the utopia of CHAZ.
Who could have predicted that?!