Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Holding China Accountable
Last summer, President Trump tweeted that he was ordering American companies to "immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies home and making your products in the USA."
Predictably, the media mocked the president for acting like a dictator and exceeding his authority. If only our corporate, media and political elites had acted then, we might not be in the terrible situation we are today. And by that I mean our dependence on communist China for vital medical supplies and drugs.
For example, the Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that "60% of 67 different types of imported masks," mostly from China, failed to meet U.S. safety standards. This shouldn't surprise anybody given China's long history of shoddy health and safety standards.
And it's not the first time countries have had trouble with Chinese products during the pandemic. Canada recently discovered that one million Chinese masks were unfit for use. If I were a California taxpayer or medical worker, I'd be very worried right now given that Gov. Gavin Newsom just gave the Chinese a billion-dollar contract to produce masks.
As one columnist correctly noted, "Made In China" should be a warning, not merely a disclaimer about the country of origin.
Thankfully, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the Trump Administration is "turbocharging" efforts to liberate vital supply chains from communist China. The White House is reportedly looking at a variety of options – from tax incentives for "re-shoring" jobs to creating an "economic prosperity alliance" of allied nations like Australia, India, Japan, South Korea and Latin America.
One senior administration official told Reuters, "There is a whole of government push on this." Another added, "The pandemic has crystallized all the worries that people have had about doing business with China." I'm glad to hear it. It's long overdue.
Every day there is more evidence about how China lied and continues to lie regarding the virus. The Trump Administration and congressional conservatives are taking steps to hold Beijing's communist bosses responsible. (Here, here and here.)
Media Notice
Speaking of holding China accountable, I was interviewed last night by EWTN's "Nightly News" regarding China's persecution of Christians. You can watch the interview here, starting at the 19:35 mark.
A Chinese Trojan Horse
I know you've heard of high-tech companies like Google and Facebook. But you probably haven't heard of a company that goes by the initials DJI. It's a drone manufacturer based in Shenzhen, China.
We've reported about the controversial use of drones by local police departments to enforce social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic. If that worried you a little, then what you're about to read next should worry you a lot.
It's likely that these drones were made by this Chinese communist-controlled company.
In recent years, DJI drastically cut its prices, driving virtually every American drone manufacturer out of business. Fortunately, the Trump Administration and the Pentagon banned the use of DJI drones in the U.S. military. But the Chinese have given the drones away for free to dozens of U.S. police departments.
But the Department of Defense recently determined that these drones are being used to collect voluminous data about the United States, and they are sending that data back to their manufacturers in China, where it can be accessed by the communist regime there.
These drones may be a modern-day Trojan Horse, built by a communist-controlled company in China that wants to be the world's dominant superpower.
A Prize For Lies
I was stunned this morning to read that the New York Times and one of its reporters won a Pulitzer Prize for the 1619 Project. If you're not familiar with the 1619 Project, good!
It's a progressive effort to indoctrinate our children with anti-American history, specifically the idea that America began with the introduction of slavery, and that the Revolutionary War was all about the preservation of slavery by the racist colonists.
It is utter garbage. Historians have denounced it. Many black Americans are outraged by it, and fighting to get the facts straight.
Even liberal columnist Andrew Sullivan mocked the award, tweeting: "How many Pulitzer prizes have gone to essays that have had to subsequently publicly correct one of their core claims? Or been challenged by every major historian in the field, right and center and left?"
But the left loves the 1619 Project because it fits the left's anti-America narrative. As one reporter infamously said of the Duke Lacrosse rape case, "The narrative was right, but the facts were wrong." Well, in this case the facts and the narrative are both wrong!
In the left's fevered mind, you don't get a Pulitzer for reporting the truth, you get an award for delegitimizing America. You don't get a Pulitzer for exposing communist China. You get a Pulitzer for bashing the leading proponent of freedom in the world.
More Progressive Insanity
Like many Americans, police officers in San Francisco decided to get creative with their face masks. The police union ordered face masks with the Thin Blue Line flag printed on them. I thought they looked great! And so did many officers.
Unfortunately, some progressives were "triggered" by the masks. One so-called "civil rights activist" complained that the masks were a "political symbol," and he accused officers of orchestrating "some sort of a stunt" to "provoke a controversy."
Sadly, Police Chief Bill Scott banned them as a potentially "divisive and disrespectful" symbol. It's a shame that society is giving in to this nonsense.
First of all, the Thin Blue Line is not political. Police officers are Democrats, Republicans and Independents themselves. They don't ask and don't care whether crime victims are Democrats or Republicans. It doesn't matter.
And I'm fairly certain San Francisco's officers are busy enough that they don't have time to waste "provoking controversies." That's what left-wing activists do.
As Police Union President Tony Montoya explained, the Thin Blue Line "represents law enforcement's separation of order and chaos."
I know the vast majority of Americans are grateful for the courage and sacrifice of our law enforcement officers as they daily risk their lives to preserve order and protect the peace.