Monday, March 29, 2021
Red China Hits Back At USCIRF
I am proud to report that we have angered the Chinese communists! Over the last several years, I have taken a leading role at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) exposing the nefarious activities of the Chinese Communist Party. And Beijing's communist party bosses aren't happy about it.
Over the weekend, the Chinese Communist Party condemned USCIRF and issued sanctions against the commission's leadership.
A few months ago, I overcame resistance among the bureaucrats at the commission to hold a major hearing on how large multinational corporations, including some in the U.S., are using "supply chains" in communist China polluted by slave labor.
In the hearing, I went after the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for trying to block legislation in Congress that would require companies to extract themselves from any sort of forced labor.
The Chinese communist employ large numbers of spies in the United States to identify "troublemakers," so I am sure they have received reports on USCIRF. But just in case they didn't, I went on Radio Free Asia, the official outlet of Voice of America, to condemn the Chinese communists. Millions of persecuted believers heard that interview.
The thugs who run the Chinese government are furious at any resistance. They humiliated President Biden's delegation sent to meet with them in Alaska on March 18th. And they are turning the screws hard on Nike, Apple and other companies who say one word critical of communist China.
I was interviewed again on Radio Free Asia today to tell the Chinese communists that they cannot intimidate us. In a few weeks, USCIRF will issue our annual report. We will once again indict communist China as one of the world's worst violators of religious liberty.
And this year, at my urging, we will for the first time add a special report on how the long arm of Chinese repression and persecution is reaching directly into the U.S. and other countries.
Biden's Border Cover-up
Late last week, Sen. Ted Cruz and several Republican senators traveled to the southern border to see firsthand exactly how bad things have gotten. Yesterday, Cruz told Fox News, "I have been to the border many, many times. It is the worst that I have ever seen. It is a full-blown crisis."
Cruz reported that the Donna border facility in McAllen, Texas, was operating at 1,500% capacity, and that the children in the facility were testing positive for COVID-19 at a 10% rate, twice the current national average.
It's clear there is a crisis at the southern border, and the Biden Administration is doing its best to cover it up. Sen. Cruz also got it on video.
While touring the border facility, a representative from the Department of Homeland Security repeatedly tried to block Sen. Cruz as he attempted to film the conditions in the facility.
The staffer works in Washington, but she was flown to the border to act as a "handler" by the Biden Administration to control what information our elected officials, and by extension you the American people, are allowed to see.
I think Sen. Cruz handled himself well. But this government bureaucrat had no right to interfere with his recording. Members of Congress have a legal responsibility to oversee the executive branch and the money they appropriate on behalf of U.S. taxpayers. She had no right to obstruct Cruz's investigation, and she should be fired.
But here's a friendly tip for Sen. Cruz: Next time, don't just record video. Live stream it on social media. And insist on the name of the unelected bureaucrat who wasn't elected by anyone!
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was on Fox Newsyesterday. She again attacked Donald Trump for sending children back across the border.
Of course, Trump was never at the border physically turning kids away. The liberals act like they are attacking Trump, but they are really attacking our Border Patrol agents, who are enforcing our immigration laws.
Every day, they rescue migrants from drowning. They get sick migrants immediate hospital care. But Biden and his operatives lie and say the Border Patrol sent kids back across the border to starve. They are smearing and defaming the men and women who right now are doing an impossible job trying to keep this country safe.
Progressive Denial
While Biden officials and many progressives refuse to admit that there is a crisis at the border, the American people know better, in spite of the media doing its best to cover for the Biden-Harris Administration. A new ABC Newspoll finds that 54% of Americans believe conditions at the border are a "crisis," and 57% disapprove of Biden's handling of the situation.
Exactly how bad it is? Well, Chief Border Patrol Agent Brian Hastings tweeted this weekend that so far this year agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector have arrested 861 criminal aliens attempting to reenter the country. Among them were 63 gang members, 92 sex offenders and at least one convicted murderer.
Unfortunately, we know that countless other criminals are evading arrest because our Border Patrol agents are changing diapers and babysitting thousands of children who are being dumped at the border by drug cartels and human smuggling gangs.
Baseball vs. The Ballot
Do you want multi-millionaire athletes dictating public policy to you? I doubt it. If someone feels strongly about matters of public policy, they're free to run for public office. But otherwise, professional sports teams should stick to what they do best – sports. And they should leave public policy to our elected legislators.
Unfortunately, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players union appears to be suggesting that the All-Star game, currently scheduled to be played this July in Atlanta, should be moved out of Georgia. Why? Because Georgia legislators recently passed a series of commonsense reforms to restore integrity to their elections.
Predictably, the liberal media and other left-wing activists are jumping on the bandwagon, eager to punish Georgia and to demonstrate their growing power and control over society. Now, there are calls to cancel the Masters Tournament, which has been hosted at the Augusta National Golf Club since 1934.
As I have reported recently, the same is true of major corporations. Not satisfied with producing good products and reaping billions of dollars of profits, Big Business increasingly wants to dictate our values too.
I remember when Coca-Cola used to drive conservatives nuts with goofy ads about uniting the world in song. Trust me, the world is troubled by more than just misunderstandings. Singing Kumbaya around a Coke is not going to bring the world together. But our corporations have gone from goofy ad campaigns to being woke totalitarians.
This comes on the heels of the Chamber of Commerce and other major businesses trying to intimidate South Dakota from protecting young female athletes.
Many major American corporations are comfortable doing business with communist China, and seemingly comfortable aiding and abetting the oppression of the Chinese people. Now they are using their power to dictate everything from voting rules, religious liberty and school sports in this country, and in every case they are coming down on the side of the radical left.
TAKE ACTION: Contact the Major League Baseball Player association at 212-826-0808 or feedback@mlbpa.org. Tell them to stick to issues like to salary caps and getting baseball fans back into the stands. Leave public policy to our public servants.
Good News
Last week, I reported twice on the absurd and outrageous things that Hemal Jhaveri, USA Today's race and inclusion editor, had written about the Boulder mass murders and the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles basketball team. I called for Jhaveri to be fired for her bigoted remarks.