China is Trying to Break up the Five Eyes Intelligence Network by Con Coughlin

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17332/china-new-zealand-five-eyes

The survival of the alliance in its current form, though, is under threat after Ms Ardern’s administration announced that it was making improved trade relations with Beijing its priority, rather than maintaining its support for Five Eyes.

“No matter if they have five eyes or ten eyes, as soon as they dare to harm China’s sovereignty, security or development interests, they should be careful lest their eyes be poked blind.” — Zhao Lijian, the spokesman for China’s foreign minister, BBC, November 19, 2020.

New Zealand’s naive approach to the threat posed by Beijing not only poses a threat to the future of the alliance itself. There is a distinct possibility that Wellington could find itself being expelled from the alliance over its pro-Beijing stance.

As a senior Western intelligence official recently commented about New Zealand’s continued membership of the alliance, the country was now “on the edge of viability as a member” of the alliance because of its “supine” attitude to China and its “compromised political system”.

New Zealand’s socialist government may believe that it is a good idea to throw in their lot with China’s communist rulers. But by doing so, they risk sacrificing their future to domination by China’s despots.

China is making a deliberate attempt to create divisions within the elite “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance by forging closer relations with the left-wing government of New Zealand premier Jacinda Ardern.

The Five Eyes alliance, comprising the US, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand, dates back to the Second World War, when a number of key allies decided to share intelligence in their bid to defeat Nazi Germany and Japan.

Today, maintaining intelligence-sharing cooperation between the five Anglophone nations is deemed essential to combating the threat posed by autocratic states, such as Russia and Communist China.

The Bleak Biden Way What is the Biden way? To surveille, monitor, root out, raid, jail, confine, and smear all impediments to fundamental transformation. By Victor Davis Hanson

https://amgreatness.com/2021/05/02/the-bleak-biden-way/

After a hundred days of President Biden, I think most Americans are now on to what will follow in the next few years. 

Joyless Joe

Biden frowns. He grimaces. He occasionally barks and yells as he delivers a gloomy view of America and its people, past and present. 

Admit it: We are all racists, then and now, captives of Jim Crow still. Biden needs as many fabricated enemies as he can find; otherwise, his speeches, his demeanor, his agenda are little more than absurdities. They cannot stand or fall on their own merits because they have none. So grumpy Biden, in his latest and final incarnation, is always anti-something, usually anti-Trump, anti-racism, and anti-everything traditional America is for.

Lots of bad white people still need to be rooted out—outside of the beltway. These are the ones never woken by Wall Street, Silicon Valley, the media, academia, the corporate boardroom, professional sports, and the foundations. These retrograde deplorables apparently won’t give up their “privilege” without a fight. 

Bidenism demands these environmental desecrators must stop boiling the planet. We are a xenophobic nation that won’t let pioneering migrants enter the United States. We are a Neanderthal America full of people who won’t wear their masks when vaccinated and outdoors. We are a battered America still reeling from the Trump disasters on the border, the Trump failed coup on January 6, the Trump racism that led to peaceful equity marches all last summer. 

So America needs a booster shot, a new way of electing presidents, a rebooted Supreme Court, new Senate rules, more states, and so much more—with so little time. The downer message makes Jimmy’s Carter’s old cardigan sweater sermons look inspiring, as the grey and sullen Joe himself makes Carter in retrospect seem sunny. 

The emerging Bidenism is what some of us warned we’d see last summer when the deceptive Left and naïve NeverTrump mantra preened that old Joe from Scranton would usher in post-Trump “healing.” His therapeutic candidacy was promised to be a “return to normalcy,” as he was a “moderate” eager to “unify” us.  

This illusory reboot from Trump absolutism was to be sort of reminiscent of George H.W. Bush’s “thousand points of light” and “kinder and gentler nation” promises, as the implied corrective to purported heartless eight years of Reaganism.

Ron DeSantis climbs another rung up the presidential ladder By Andrea Widburg

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/05/ron_desantis_climbs_another_rung_up_the_presidential_ladder.html

It’s currently unclear whether Donald Trump wants to run for President again in 2024 or whether he’ll content himself with playing kingmaker. In the latter case, lots of people are looking at Florida’s Ron DeSantis, whose refusal to bow down to leftist shibboleths is catching conservatives’ attention. His latest pronouncement that Critical Race Theory is “a bunch of horse manure” will only raise his profile with all sensible Americans.

Most people living outside of Florida weren’t paying attention to Florida governor Ron DeSantis before 2020. However, in 2020, DeSantis showed himself to be a different kind of leader. While governors across America, especially Democrat governors, were turning their states into totalitarian dictatorships with broken economies, DeSantis increased protections for the elderly and other vulnerable people in Florida, and then allowed life to continue pretty much as usual – no masks, no lockdowns. (I should add that many conservative states successfully resisted the extreme COVID mask and lockdown madness that Democrat governors showed. None, however, were as large as Florida or as entirely resistant to masks and lockdowns.)

DeSantis’s constitutional, liberty-oriented approach to dealing with COVID has driven leftists around the bend. What’s been especially irritating for them is that mask- and lockdown-free Florida had significantly better COVID outcomes than states with comparable populations, such as California and New York. That’s why outlets such as 60 Minutes have been reduced to using blatant dishonesty to attack DeSantis’s competence and honesty.

Small Businesses Fight Arbitrary Shutdowns By Janet Levy

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/05/small_businesses_fight_arbitrary_shutdowns.html

Small businesses, critical drivers of innovation and growth, play an important role in our free-market system.  They not only epitomize traditional American values of individuality, creativity, and self-sufficiency, but also present unique opportunities to achieve financial success.  In 2019, the Small Business Administration (SBA) reported that small businesses created two thirds of net jobs, generated 49.2% of private-sector employment, accounted for 44% of U.S. economic activity, and contributed 43.5% to the GDP.

No event in history has devastated small businesses like the coronavirus shutdowns.  In the first three months (February to April 2020) of the pandemic, mandates requiring restricted access, social distancing, and periodic closures caused the number of small business owners to fall 22%.  After seven months of such restrictions, a Federal Reserve survey found that 44% of small businesses had debts of more than $100,000, up from 13% in 2019.  Three out of every ten said they wouldn’t survive 2021 without government assistance.  One report said 27% of small and medium businesses had to reduce their workforce, and 48% had to lay off at least half their employees.  Among the worst hit is the restaurant industry: 110,000 had closed for good by December 2020.

Federal relief, which could have served as a lifeboat, was poorly administered.  Less than two weeks after the SBA received its first application for the emergency Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the money ran out. 

In a move to create “safer prisons,” California plans early release of 76,000 prisoners “Good behavior credits” are being offered to nearly 20,000 inmates who are serving life sentences with the possibility of parole. Leslie Eastman

https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/05/in-a-move-to-create-safer-prisons-california-plans-early-release-of-76000-prisoners/

After a steady-year of media-supported civil unrest and toxic political choices, a recent review of crime statistics in Los Angeles County shows that murder rates have spiked nearly 200% so far this year compared to the same time in 2020.

There were 60 people murdered in L.A. County as of Feb. 28 – a 186% jump from the 21 killings reported during the same period in 2020, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department told Fox News in a segment that aired Thursday.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva told Fox News criminals are emboldened by District Attorney George Gascón’s progressive policies and stressed that people must understand that such elections will have consequences.

“They need to really pick and choose very carefully.because for them it’s very easy to say, ‘Oh yeah, all cops are bad,’ and, ‘Let’s reform and defund the police,’” Villanueva said. “Yet they’re the very first ones to pick up the 911 when someone’s crawling over their back gate trying to get into their house.”

Against this backdrop, it is stunning to learn California officials are planning the early release of up to 76,000 inmates, including violent and repeat felons, to further reduce the population of what once was the nation’s largest state correctional system.

More than 63,000 inmates convicted of violent crimes will be eligible for good behavior credits that shorten their sentences by one-third instead of the one-fifth that had been in place since 2017. That includes nearly 20,000 inmates who are serving life sentences with the possibility of parole.

The new rules take effect Saturday, but it will be months or years before any inmates go free earlier. Corrections officials say the goal is to reward inmates who better themselves while critics said the move will endanger the public.

Glazov Gang: The Hate of Critical Race Theory. Inside the malice and racist venom of the Counter-American Revolution.

https://jamieglazov.com/2021/05/02/glazov-gang-the-hate-of-critical-race-theory/

This new Glazov Gang episode features Clare Lopez, the Founder/President of Lopez Liberty LLC,

Clare discusses The Hate of Critical Race Theory, taking us Inside the malice and racist venom of the Counter-American Revolution.

Don’t miss it!

Who Gets To Define What’s Patriotic?

https://issuesinsights.com/2021/05/03/who-gets-to-define-whats-patriotic/

Last week, President Joe Biden said it’s the patriotic duty of Americans to wear masks while outside. Years ago, while campaigning as Barack Obama’s running mate, he said it was patriotic to pay higher taxes. It’s hard to decide if these statements are more akin to the ramblings of a child or are uncomfortably similar to Third World despots who demand obedience from their subordinated citizens.

Frankly, they’re both. Making a distinction is virtually impossible.

When we hear Biden try to force his view of patriotism on the country, we think of Woody Allen’s “Bananas,” the 1971 comedy in which a Castro-style revolutionary declares that not only “from this day on,” the official language of the banana republic of San Marcos “will be Swedish,” in addition, “all citizens will be required to change their underwear every half-hour. Underwear will be worn on the outside so we can check.” It’s about commanding, not persuading.

Biden wakes up every morning in the White House – whether he knows it or not – but that doesn’t give him the authority to define patriotism, nor to expect us to follow without question or dissent.

We concede that patriotism is not easy to define. We’re familiar with the line that one man’s terrorist is another man’s patriot, and we’re quite aware that waving the flag is sometimes nothing more than just creating a light breeze.

But we also know that George Washington warned us to “guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism,” and Theodore Roosevelt said “patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official.”

The U.S. Can Support Freedom’s Ferment in Iran Follow the example of the 1975 Helsinki Accords, which helped bring about the Soviet collapse. By Ray Takeyh

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-u-s-can-support-freedoms-ferment-in-iran-11619986320?mod=opinion_lead_pos7

Even Iran has its bipartisan moments in American political circles. Democrats and Republicans alike now largely agree that the 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, needs to be renegotiated and its provisions strengthened. Members of both parties believe that any prospective agreement must address Tehran’s ballistic missiles and its suspect regional activities. Yet often missing is any serious consideration of Iran’s human-rights record. The most consequential victims of the theocratic regime are its own citizens, and their plight shouldn’t be ignored.

Human rights have played an important role in U.S. diplomacy. During the Cold War, American officials routinely brought up the Soviet Union’s repressive policies with their Russian counterparts. In 1975, as part of the Helsinki Accords, the U.S.S.R. agreed to “respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief.”

Soon, so-called Helsinki groups appeared in the Soviet bloc as civil-society activists used the Kremlin’s pledges against it. More than arms control and arms buildups, the Helsinki Accords triggered changes that loosened Moscow’s totalitarian grip. The accords empowered dissidents and highlighted Soviet domestic misdeeds.

One paradox of Iran is that conversations about the Islamic Republic are at times more sophisticated in Tehran than in Washington. Far from being beaten into ambivalence, Iranians are engaged in an informed discussion about their government’s priorities and even the viability of the regime. Former government officials, enterprising intellectuals, dissident clerics and reformist newspapers such as Sharq question many aspects of Islamist rule. They may be shut out of power, but they still command a national platform.

Will Peru Get on the Marxist Path? Presidential front-runner Pedro Castillo favorably quotes Lenin and Castro. Mary Anastasia O’Grady

https://www.wsj.com/articles/will-peru-get-on-the-marxist-path-11619986216?mod=opinion_lead_pos8

Peruvians will vote in a runoff presidential election on June 6, and if the polls are correct, Marxist candidate Pedro Castillo will win. An upset by his rival, center-right candidate Keiko Fujimori, is not impossible, but she is definitely the underdog.

Ms. Fujimori trails Mr. Castillo by 10 percentage points in a Datum poll released Thursday night. Importantly, some 22% of those surveyed say they are either undecided or will cast a blank vote because they don’t support either candidate. Voting is mandatory in Peru.

Until Saturday Ms. Fujimori had been confined to campaigning in Lima because she is the subject of a criminal investigation. That prohibition on travel has been lifted and she now has six weeks—an eternity in Peruvian politics—to make up for lost time.

Mr. Castillo’s thinking is frighteningly similar to that of the late Hugo Chávez, who ruled Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013. Chavismo strangled Venezuela’s democratic institutions, sent human capital fleeing, destroyed the economy, and generated widespread poverty. The military dictatorship is now headed by Nicolás Maduro with important intelligence backing from Havana.

Venezuela was once one of the most advanced countries in the region. Today Venezuelans live primitively, often without running water, electricity or basic medical supplies.

Sorry, Professor, We’re Cutting You Off Funding higher education now means subsidizing the political activists who have hijacked it. John Ellis

https://www.wsj.com/articles/sorry-prof-were-cutting-you-off-11619974459?mod=opinion_lead_pos5

An advanced society functions by creating a series of institutions, telling them what it wants them to do, and funding them to do it. Institutions like the police, fire departments, courts and schools do the jobs society creates them to do. But one American institution—higher education—has decided to repurpose itself. It has set aside the job given to it by society and substituted a different one.

Higher education had a cluster of related purposes in society. Everyone benefited from the new knowledge it developed and the well-informed, thoughtful citizenry it produced. Individual students benefited from the preparation they received for careers in a developed economy. Yet these days, academia has decided that its primary purpose is the promotion of a radical political ideology, to which it gives the sunny label “social justice.”

That’s an enormous detour from the institutional mission granted to higher education by society—and a problem of grave consequence. For the purpose that academia has now given itself happens to be the only one that the founding documents of virtually all colleges and universities take care to forbid pre-emptively. The framers of those documents understood that using the campuses to promote political ideologies would destroy their institutions, because ideologies would always be rigid enough to prevent the exploration of new ideas and the free exercise of thought. They knew that the two purposes—academic and political—aren’t simply different, but polar opposites. They can’t coexist because the one erases the other.

The current political uniformity of college faculty illustrates the point. It meets the needs of the substitute purpose very well, but only by annihilating the authorized one. Analytical thinking requires exploring a range of alternatives, but political crusades require the opposite: exclusive belief and commitment. That’s how far off course academia has gone in its capricious self-repurposing.