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China Is Extending Its Totalitarian Controls to the Rest of the World by Gordon G. Chang

Posted By on April 27th, 2021

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17316/china-totalitarian-controls

In the Haidilao Hot Pot restaurant in… Vancouver, more than 60 surveillance cameras watch 30 tables and send feeds to China. The cameras, manager Ryan Pan explains, are there to “people track” and are “part of the social credit system in China.”

In 2014, China’s State Council issued guidelines for the establishment of a national “social credit system” by 2020, with the feeds from about 626 million surveillance cameras and smartphone scanners and with data from a multitude of sources … For example, criticizing Chinese ruler Xi Jinping would result in the lowering of an individual’s score. There are consequences for low-scored individuals.

Why did Beijing select Ryan Pan’s restaurant for such intensive collection of information? For starters, it is near to the home rented by Huawei Technologies for staff attending to Meng Wanzhou, the firm’s chief financial officer. Meng is in the middle of a multi-year struggle to avoid extradition to the U.S. for alleged bank fraud relating to sanctions evasion, and she is allowed to stay in one of her homes. Beijing, therefore, wants to know what people around her are saying and doing.

In addition to posing a crucial national security risk, the secretive transmission of video to China is a violation of British Columbia law, specifically, the province’s Personal Information Protection Act.

Beijing will, at some point, be able to assign a social credit score to just about everyone on the planet…. it is just a matter of time before they succeed.

China’s Communist Party wants to know everything that happens everywhere on the planet. So far, the Western democracies do not seem to be putting up much of a fight.

China is surreptitiously collecting, for use in its domestic social credit system, video from a popular eatery in Canada.

In the Haidilao Hot Pot restaurant in the Kitsilano district of Vancouver, more than 60 surveillance cameras watch 30 tables and send feeds to China. The cameras, manager Ryan Pan explained to Scott McGregor and Ina Mitchell, are there to “people track” and are “part of the social credit system in China.”

This restaurant is corporate-owned, one of two Haidilao locations in that port city in British Columbia. There are more than 935 of the chain’s restaurants worldwide with over 36 million VIP members. The business started in China’s Sichuan province.

IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

Biden’s Curious Choice to Lead Customs and Border Protection As Tucson Police Chief, Chris Magnus refused to assist Border Patrol. Michael Cutler

Posted By on April 27th, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/04/bidens-unacceptable-choice-lead-customs-and-border-michael-cutler/

The disaster on the U.S./Mexican border has catapulted the issue of border security to new levels of importance. Therefore, the Biden administration’s pick for the Director of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), an always important position, has taken on additional significance.

On April 12, 2021 the Washington Post reported:  Biden picks Tucson police chief to run U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

That article began with this excerpt:

President Biden is preparing to nominate Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus to be commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, selecting a critic of the Trump administration’s immigration policies to run the country’s largest federal law enforcement agency as it contends with the biggest increase in migrants arriving at the southwest border in two decades.

Magnus has led the Tucson police department since 2016 and has prominently associated himself with the movement favored by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party that emphasizes a less-aggressive, community-based policing model.

Magnus opposed efforts to make Tucson a “sanctuary city,” but he generally eschewed cooperation with federal immigration authorities, placing him at odds with the Border Patrol union — and many of the agents and officials who will potentially be under his command.

Here is another important excerpt from the Washington Post article:

Relations between Magnus and the Border Patrol have been frosty, according to three current and former CBP officials, particularly following an incident in 2017 when the Tucson police declined to assist the Border Patrol after a suspect escaped from custody.

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Questions for Kamala There are a number of questions reporters should be asking of Joe Biden’s border policy chief. Her answers would be interesting—if she ever got around to answering them.  By Lloyd Billingsley

Posted By on April 27th, 2021

https://amgreatness.com/2021/04/26/questions-for-kamala/

Since Joe Biden put her in charge of the border, Kamala Harris has been ducking reporters’ questions. If she ever gets around to it, here are some possible queries for the California Democrat: 

Madame Vice President, in your view, what is the purpose of the U.S. border?

Are you aware of any countries that maintain a border policy like the one the Harris-Biden Administration is implementing?

In 2014, then-Vice President Joe Biden said the foreign nationals coming to the United States in caravans were “already Americans.” As the current vice president of the United States, is that also your view?

When Central American parents send minor children to the border in the company of smugglers, does that in any way constitute child abuse?

Are you opposed to human trafficking?

Are you in favor of admitting any foreign national to the United States without screening for COVID-19 or any other disease? 

Are you in favor of admitting any foreign national with a criminal record to the United States?

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The Feds’ Nonexistent Case Against Alleged Sicknick Assailants There is no reason to keep these men in jail, let alone in solitary confinement, in a D.C. prison.  By Julie Kelly

Posted By on April 27th, 2021

https://amgreatness.com/2021/04/26/the-feds-nonexistent-case-against-alleged-sicknick-assailants/

The cause of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick’s untimely death on January 7 is finally settled, but the prosecution of his alleged attackers rages on.

After months of dishonest accounts about what happened to Sicknick—first that he was bludgeoned to death by “insurrectionists” with a fire extinguisher and then that he died of an allergic reaction to bear spray—the D.C. Medical Examiner’s office confirmed the 42-year-old died of a stroke; the chemical sprayed in his direction during the chaos outside the Capitol on January 6 did not contribute to his death.

In its haste to bolster the new narrative maintaining Sicknick was killed by rioters wielding bear spray—the acting attorney general was in on the lie from the start—the Justice Department charged two men with the chemical attack. George Tanios and Julian Khater were arrested March 14 and charged with several crimes including four counts related to possession and use of a “deadly or dangerous weapon” and for conspiring ahead of time to use the spray against police officers.

They’ve been behind bars ever since. Both were transported to the nation’s capital where they joined dozens of January 6 detainees held in solitary confinement in a D.C. jail.  A judge on Tuesday will consider motions filed by their attorneys to release both defendants as they await trial. (Tanios and Khater, friends since college, are being tried together. They deny all charges.)

“An Assault on Our Nation’s Home”

As I’ve reported for the past few months, federal courts, at the direction of Joe Biden’s Justice Department, are denying bond to nonviolent protesters as their cases continue a slow slog through an intentionally overloaded D.C. judicial system. The presumption of innocence has been suspended for Trump supporters involved in the January 6 protest largely based on a supposed “thoughtcrime” of doubting the legitimacy of the 2020 election.

Before announcing his ruling, a federal magistrate berated Tanios from the bench. “Everyone in our country knows what happened on January 6,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Aloi lectured during a March 22 detention hearing. “We also generally know . . . that they were supporting the president who would not accept that he was defeated in an election. And so we have created this culture, radicalized by hate, and just refusal to really accept the result of a democratic process.”

Aloi also suggested the bear spray killed Brian Sicknick—it was “surreal,” the judge said, to see a video of the “officer who no longer is with us”—and described what happened on January 6 “an assault on our nation’s home.”

He preached on: “I don’t think I have ever seen anything play out in a way that was more dangerous to our community.” Even though the judge admitted Tanios did not spray the chemical, Aloi nonetheless ordered Tanios, a business owner with no criminal record, to remain in jail indefinitely.

But the government’s case against Khater and Tanios is weak if entirely nonexistent. The flimsy evidence in the Tanios-Khater prosecution, as in most of these cases, relies almost solely on various sources of video taken on January 6—and the Justice Department is seeking protective orders to keep the full body of video evidence concealed from defense attorneys.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Biden Acknowledges the Armenian Genocide; What about the Other Current Genocides? by Raymond Ibrahim

Posted By on April 27th, 2021

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17315/biden-armenian-genocide

US President Joe Biden, to his credit, has become the first sitting president formally to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide since it occurred more than century ago.

More recently, there appears underway an attempted genocide by the Communist Chinese of the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. More than a million are being held in 1,300 concentration camps. Although the Chinese State insists on calling them “re-education camps,” reports are that they come complete with forced labor, torture, surveillance, forced sterilization and rape.

Companies supporting the supply chains of these crimes against humanity apparently include “at least 82 well-known global brands in the technology, clothing and automotive sectors, including Apple, BMW, Gap, Huawei, Nike, Samsung, Sony and Volkswagen.”

Adding to that, Communist China’s deliberate deception about the human-to-human transmissibility of the Wuhan virus has so far killed more than 3,000,000 people on the planet, it would seem imperative to move the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics to a country that really does espouse the ideals that the Olympic committee professes: ” …the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.” Yes, it is short notice, but doubtless there are many deserving countries that would be happy to scramble. At the very least, the world should not “reward” Communist China by enriching it to commit further aggression.

What several international organizations, however, have referred to as a genocide of Christians at the hands of Muslims is currently taking place in Nigeria — as well as in Mozambique, South Sudan, and other sub-Saharan nations — and in dire need of being acknowledged so that efforts at rectifying the situation can begin.

As commendable as it is for Biden to have recognized the Armenian Genocide, turning his attention to those who are currently experiencing hate and genocide would be far more practical — it would save lives — than acknowledging history.

To his credit, U.S. President Joe Biden has become the first sitting president formally to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide since it occurred more than century ago. On Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, April 24, 2021, the American president issued a statement opening with the following words:

“Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring. Beginning on April 24, 1915, with the arrest of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople by Ottoman authorities, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in a campaign of extermination.”

POLITICS Comments turned off

Why Can’t Democrats All Be Like Tulsi Gabbard? By Megan Fox

Posted By on April 27th, 2021

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/megan-fox/2021/04/26/why-cant-democrats-all-be-like-tulsi-gabbard-n1442748

The Democrats made a big mistake by keeping former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) out of the fold. Her message can and will resonate with an awful lot of people who have grown tired of absolutely everything being viewed through the lens of race. Gabbard took to Twitter to post a video begging people to stop the practice of what she calls “racialism.” Unlike racism, racialism is the blaming of every societal ill on racism until the message is totally lost. Example: Removing all people of color off of grocery packaging.

It’s enough, already. “Please, please, let us stop the racialization of everyone and everything. It’s racialism,” Gabbard said. “We are all children of God and therefore family in the truest sense, no matter our race or ethnicity. This is Aloha. And this is what our country and world need.”

She went on to castigate the mainstream media for ginning up hatred. “The mainstream propaganda media and politicians: they want us to constantly focus on our skin color or the skin color of others because it helps them politically or financially.”

The Hawaiian philosophy of Aloha is beautiful and Gabbard explains it well. “Aloha means respect and love for others. It’s what enables us to see beyond our skin color and see the soul, the person within,” she said. “So let’s do our best to cultivate this Aloha in our hearts and see and treat others through this prism of love, not through the prism of race and ethnicity.”

Gabbard finished strong, saying, “Please, let us not allow ourselves to be led down this dark and divisive path of racialism and hate.”

She’s so normal and good. Why can’t all Democrats be like Tulsi?

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Did hell just freeze over at ‘Haaretz’? Ruthie Blum

Posted By on April 27th, 2021

https://www.jns.org/writers/ruthie-blum/

 In its editorial on Monday, the Israeli daily Haaretz called Yamina Party chairman Naftali Bennett’s efforts to form a national-unity government “cause for optimism.”
Lest loyal readers of the far-left newspaper gasp at the mere suggestion that any move made by Bennett should be seen in a positive light, they can relax. Where the attempt to “put an end to the toxic regime of [Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu” is concerned, siding with an ideological nemesis is rendered kosher.

To ensure that no more of their dwindling subscriptions are canceled, Haaretz justified the softening of its stance towards a figure it used to trash as a dangerous fanatic by invoking the pragmatism card. This method enabled it to launder other political foes—unofficial Yamina co-chair Ayelet Shaked, New Hope Party leader Gideon Sa’ar and Yisrael Beiteinu chief Avigdor Lieberman—each of whom it usually describes as individual and collective stains on liberal thought.
As if to commiserate with its audience, the editorial stressed that nobody on the left “has any illusions” about the above right-wingers. Indeed, it acknowledged, “The ideological gaps between the people of the center-left … and Bennett, Shaked, Sa’ar, Lieberman and their colleagues are fundamental and considerable.”
Nevertheless, the editorial stated, “We must hope that Bennett and Yesh Atid’s Yair Lapid succeed in their mission to enlist them all to a unity government … because it’s critical to end the rule of a criminal defendant who knows no restraint and who puts himself before the state.”
But that’s not the only reason to wish for such a coalition, according to Haaretz. More importantly, if such a government is formed, it will include Yesh Atid, Labor, Meretz and Blue and White, with the backing of Ra’am and maybe even some members of the Joint Arab List. This, claimed the editorial, is “good and hopeful news” in spite of the “right-wing views” of Bennett, Shaked, Sa’ar and Lieberman.
The group in question, the editorial said, shares positions on “annexing the territories and the solution to the conflict with the Palestinians, and thinks similarly about Israeli policy toward the Gaza Strip and Hamas. The four are convinced of the need for a judicial revolution, believe that the state should be tough on asylum-seekers, identify with the so-called nation-state law and are hostile to human-rights organizations—everything that must be fought in normal times.”

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Top Ten Most Racist Colleges and Universities: #4 Georgetown University Fired for being honest about the academic performance of black students.

Posted By on April 27th, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/04/top-ten-most-racist-colleges-and-universities-4-toptenracistuniversitiesorg/

#4: Georgetown University

In a racist misapplication of policies allegedly designed to protect students from racism, Georgetown University Law School has fired one professor and placed a second on administrative leave for comments expressing “angst” that African-American students tend to earn grades near the bottom of the grading scale.

Footage captured two colleagues, Georgetown Law professors Sandra Sellers and David Batson, commiserating on a Zoom call over their experiences grading students.

“You know what? I hate to say this, I end up having this angst every semester that a lot of my lower ones are Blacks,” Sellers commented to Batson. “Happens almost every semester and it’s like ‘oh come on.’”

Sellers added, “I get some really good ones but there are also usually some that are just plain at the bottom, it drives me crazy… so I feel bad.” 

The video shows Batson nodding his head, possibly indicating agreement, but remaining silent while listening to his colleague.

A video of the private conversation, which had followed the conclusion of an online class, was posted to an online database which was accessible to students. Once posted on social media, the video quickly went viral and sparked a petition by Georgetown’s Black Law Student Association which collected over 1,000 signatures demanding that Professors Sellers be fired.

Astoundingly, instead of rebuking the students for seeking to suppress facts that affect them, Georgetown Law School Dean Bill Treanor immediately acquiesced to the mob and fired Sellers. For the apparent thought crime of possibly agreeing with Sellers, Professor Batson was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, and later resigned.

HISTORY, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The Bay of Pigs 60th Anniversary, Part II A story of betrayal — and heroism. Humberto Fontova

Posted By on April 27th, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/04/bay-pigs-60th-anniversary-part-ii-humberto-fontova/

Outnumbered over ten-to-one by Soviet-led forces and betrayed by their sponsor, these mostly civilian volunteers fought ’til the last bullet. In three days of relentless, close-quarter fighting they made monkeys of the Soviet commanders at the scene and their Cuban lackeys and cannon fodder, inflicting losses of 20-to-one.

Castro and Che Guevara were jittery there for awhile, urging caution in the counterattack. From the lethal fury of the attack and the horrendous casualties their troops and militia were taking, the two Soviet satraps assumed they faced at least 20,000 invading “mercenaries,” as they called them.

Yet it was a band of mostly civilian volunteers they outnumbered laughably. But to hear Castro’s echo chamber (the Beltway media and leftist academics), Fidel was the plucky David and the invaders the bumbling Goliath!

(We discussed the battle in greater detail last week here.)

In fact, if JFK wanted some genuine Profiles in Courage he might have looked at the men he betrayed on that heroic beachhead. Some of the most jaw-dropping heroics, however, came after the shooting ended, after they’d spent their last bullets and knew no more were coming from their ally, the most powerful nation on earth, the same one that enforced a “no-fly zone” half a country wide on another continent (Iraq) with half the U.S Air Force for a decade—but refused to provide one three miles across, 90 miles away, for half a day with two planes.

At any rate, the battle was over in three days, but the heroism was not.

Now came almost two years in Castro’s dungeons for the captured Brigada, complete with the physical and psychological torture that always comes with communist incarceration. During almost two years in Castro’s dungeons, the freedom-fighters lived under a daily death sentence.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Glazov Gang: The Left’s Medical Racism “Progressives” bring their racial hate to medicine.

Posted By on April 27th, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/04/glazov-gang-lefts-medical-racism-frontpagemagcom/

This new Glazov Gang episode features Investigative Reporter Peter Barry Chowka.

Peter discusses The Left’s Medical Racism, revealing How “Progressives” are bringing their racial hate to medicine.

Don’t miss it!