Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Gaming The 2024 Campaign ~ VDH


Will Biden’s feebleness still earn him sympathy? Or will it devolve to the point that the public concludes that Joe Biden would not be able to keep any job in America—except the U.S. Presidency?


We have seen enough of the Biden-Trump race so far to predict what lies ahead over the next seven months of the campaign. Currently, the polls are about dead even. Trump, however, for now enjoys small leads in the majority of the fickle swing/purple states that will likely decide the election.

So here is what we should expect:

Biden 

Biden has three major vulnerabilities and three major assets. His fate will depend on how these criteria play out.

First, on the negative side of the ledger, Biden suffers continual mental and physical decline, which is accelerating exponentially. His work week is now more off than on. Aides pray that he can get through a teleprompter without complete incoherence. His speech is so slurred, his syntax so bizarre that he seems to speak a language that is mostly indecipherable.

They rightly fear that any young attractive woman or even preteen might earn a trademark Biden weird call-out, a hair- or accustomed ear-blow, or even an attempted presidential too-long hug or neck nibble.

Steps pose an existential threat, given that the president is one trip away from oblivion. Biden is not even the diminished Biden of 2020, when, in his basement, he at least manipulated the COVID-19 lockdown to mask his infirmities and abbreviated schedules.

The odds are 50/50 whether Biden will even make it over the next five months to the August Democratic Convention. And, assuming that he does, can he rein in efforts to push him off the ticket?

Second, the Biden family is corrupt. Hunter still faces spring- and summer-long felony exposure in connection with his Biden-family brand of tax cheating. Joe knows that his own documents, first-hand witnesses, bank statements, Hunter’s emails, and testimonies from Hunter’s associates reveal that the otherwise talentless but high-living Biden extended family was surviving only by the sale of Senator, Vice President, and future President Joe Biden’s name—and his known willingness to pay fast and loose with legal and ethical constraints.

There is still some chance that, in the current impeachment investigations and trial, more incriminating evidence will emerge or turned witnesses will offer proof of Biden’s criminality. For now, Biden’s lawbreaking is completely dismissed by Attorney General Merrick Garland and by special counsel Robert Hur’s satirical-comedy-worthy argument that even overwhelming evidence pointing to Joe Biden’s criminal behavior cannot be prosecuted because of the president’s dementia.

Third, the hard-left Biden agenda is completely underwater. Not a single Biden administration issue or policy—the border, crime, inflation, energy, foreign policy, race relations, education—polls even 50 percent. Worse, Biden never addresses the inflation created by his massive spending program, the lawlessness in our streets since 2021, the spiking cost of gasoline, or the humiliation abroad, from Kabul to Kyiv to the Chinese balloon. His idea of how to combat inflation is akin to combating obesity by gaining 100 pounds, losing two, and—presto—announcing that obesity was abated.

He spiked racial polarization, proved indifferent to an epidemic of anti-Semitism, and fueled the national debt (an additional $1 trillion every 100 days).

Now Biden is warring on the Supreme Court—a dangerous precedent given that an assassin has already shown up at Justice Kavanaugh’s home, given that mobs have massed at various justices’ residences with impunity, given Sen. Schumer’s prior personal threats at the very doors of the court to Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch, and given left-wing rhetoric about packing the court.

All candidate Biden can do is either deny an open border, inflation, crime, racial tensions, and the Kabul humiliation—or claim that the successful policies of Trump, out of power for nearly four years, were responsible for all that crashed on Biden’s watch.

Biden, however, enjoys some natural advantages, most notably incumbency.

(Note that this was not much of an advantage to Trump himself in 2020, given the wild cards of the COVID-19 pandemic, the disastrous nationwide lockdown, and the mysterious workings of the Trump-hating administrative state. We remember the 11th-hour Pfizer declaration that there would be no pre-election announcement, as planned, of the success of Trump’s Operation Warp Speed vaccination initiative. Then, there was indeed an announcement—immediately after the election. And then there was the mysterious CIA/FBI arming of the Biden campaign, on the eve of the last debate and just days before Election Day, with the fake anti-Trump rebuttal of “Russian laptop disinformation.”)

Biden will pull every lever of incumbency, working the office of the presidency in the most Machiavellian and cynical of ways:

a) hoping to lower gas prices by not filling up the strategic petroleum reserve, jawboning illiberal and “pariah” oil producers to pump what he claims he hates, ordering Ukraine not to hit Russian refineries, and appeasing enemies like Iran to keep its oil flowing,

b) unconstitutionally sidestepping rulings of the Supreme Court to ensure more pre-election illegal student-loan-cancellation giveaways,

c) prodding the supposedly independent Federal Reserve to lower interest rates before November,

d) pressuring Mexico to tamp down illegal entries for a few months to serve their shared interests in defeating Trump.

A second asset is his army of satellites.

These include left-wing justices, weaponized federal, state, and local prosecutors, and Trump-biased jury pools. The left expects these to do what the effort to remove Trump’s name from the ballot did not: destroy the Republican candidate, financially and health-wise, and bind him with the Lilliputian ropes of Fani Willis, Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, and Jack Smith, who are eager to convict him through weaponized judges, juries, and a venomous media. They also include compromised election officials in urban counties in key swing states.

Biden cannot win unless 70-80 percent of voters in the key swing states do not vote on Election Day. Instead, their ballots must be mailed in, harvested, and curated without accustomed audit and without verification of whether voters are registered US citizens or have voted only once and done so legally.

And—his third major asset—Biden will also have billions of dollars more than Trump to pound home these themes in endless ads, social media shenanigans, and news censorship and blackouts.

Biden feels that he nevertheless must make the election hinge on destroying a monstrous, demonic, and hideous Donald Trump through any means necessary. Biden’s is not a positive campaign but will be waged by despising Donald Trump and all who support him. Expect more of those “semi-fascists”/ “ultra-MAGA” Phantom-of-the-Opera Biden hate speeches.

In the next seven months, the Biden effort will play out with three narratives: Trump is a January 6th insurrectionist and dictator and will “destroy democracy,” though apparently without weaponizing the FBI or removing his opponents’ names from ballots or siccing right-wing prosecutors on his enemies.

Trump purportedly will kill women by banning all abortions while relegating non-whites to the pre-civil-rights era—despite leaving abortion up to the states, and likely gaining more Latino and Black voters than any prior Republican presidential candidate. Then we will hear that Trump is a felon who belongs in jail.

All this is the message of the Biden campaign, period.

Trump

Trump likewise has both assets and liabilities. His vulnerabilities are mirror images of Biden’s advantages: he lacks incumbency and the powers that come with it; he does not have an army of officials on his side; and he will have a financial disadvantage.

We have no idea how many gag orders remain. How many late-summer days will Trump spend stuck in court? How many hundreds of millions of his dollars will be expropriated by out-of-control anti-Trump left-wing judges? Can Trump—or any candidate—successfully run with a $1 billion overhead in legal fees and fines and with critical days on the campaign trail diverted to left-wing, media-frenzied, blue-city courtrooms?

In addition, Trump is sometimes his own worst enemy. Trump, one could say, is running mostly against Trump. He knows that if he sticks solely to the agenda, contrasting Biden’s failures with his own past stellar record and future contract with America, he can win. He realizes that he must take the high road and talk idealistically rather than going low and getting angry.

But who could be expected to do so after being the victim of two unfair impeachments, left-wing lies like Russian collusion and disinformation, efforts to railroad him into prison with outrageously politicized legal vendettas, and attempts to remove his name from the ballot?

Trump’s advantages are clear. First, his record: on foreign policy, inflation, and the economy. But most important for the election is his ability to connect with people. So far, the split-screen differences between candidate Trump and President Biden have proved overwhelmingly to Trump’s advantage: Biden in New York schmoozing at a black-tie night with celebrities and ex-presidents to haul in $26 million in campaign cash from the hyper-rich, while Trump is with middle-class NYPD rank-and-file at a rainy wake for a murdered cop—killed by a repeat felon released without bail.

Or Trump buying fast food and milkshakes amid a mostly black Atlanta Chick-fil-A crowd, while Biden dines with the venomous Robert De Niro and the zillionaire Jeff Bezos at a White House dinner, with the celebrities’ trophy girls vying to get the most stares at their multi-thousand-dollar designer clothes—as if they were on the red carpet at the Oscars rather than in the people’s house.

What can Trump do to make the best use of all this? He must magnanimously reach out to former rivals such as Haley, even as she continues to demonize him, and to DeSantis as well. He must unite the House Republicans to keep their razor-thin majority at all costs. He must campaign nonstop among poor whites, blacks, and Latinos, appealing to shared class concerns rather than the racial obsessions and psychodramas of the bicoastal elite.

He should skip the ad hominem invective, forget the past rivalries with his primary opponents, and assume a corrupt media does not deserve a minute of his time. If he does this, he can win.

But if he climbs down into the mud with his leftist opponents, trades insults, wrestles with his opponents, and obsesses about fake news and the crooked media, he will likely lose.

Aside from Trump’s temperament, we must always remember that the answers to two other fundamental questions will determine the outcome of the election:

Can the Republicans monitor the balloting and return it to the environment of 2016 rather than 2020?

Can Trump convince millions of minorities, independents, and former Biden voters that there are plenty of reasons to vote for someone they may not like—including the very future of the United States as a free republic as envisioned by the Founders, rather than an increasingly weak, anemic, cranky socialist has-been?

Finally, we must also remember that, ultimately, the outcome of the election could be determined by unpredictable events. What happens if the Gaza War expands to Lebanon, Syria, and Iran, as Israel is attacked from all directions? Or the military of the United States is attacked in the Middle East, as in the past?

What will be the status of Ukraine by November—static, safer, or absorbed by Russia—and who will be praised or blamed for what ensues?

Will China risk attacking or blockading Taiwan on the theory that it will never be gifted a more ossified president than Biden?

Will the left unleash another late-season October surprise like the 2016 Access Hollywood tape or the 2020 “Russian disinformation” laptop farce? And will these desperate gambits resonate or boomerang?

And, lastly, will the candidates in October and November resemble the candidates of today? These are the two oldest candidates ever to run for president. Will Trump still be vibrant at 78? Will Biden still be upright at 81?

Will Biden’s feebleness still earn him sympathy, or at least respectful silence? Or will it devolve to the point that the public, worn out by his lapses, concludes that Joe Biden would not be able to keep any job in America—except the Presidency of the United States?



Canada - Federal Budget Day -

 

Hey Ross, 

The Liberal Budget has just been released, and The Counter Signal team has gone through all 430 pages and uncovered 3 new taxes and 2 new tax hikes hikes that will threaten the financial wellbeing of every Canadian household.


First, they have announced a new World Economic Forum-compliant “Global Tax” of 15% that will make critical products far more expensive and unattainable for many Canadians.

Second, they have announced a new “FACT Tax” on Fuel, Alcohol, Cannabis, and Tobacco. More about that here.


The other three include taxes on landowners, companies, and individuals. They promised us this would just be on “wealthy Canadians.” I think a lot of us are going to wake up tomorrow shocked to learn that Trudeau’s definition of “wealthy” is anyone who can still afford to shop at the dollar store.


We’ve meticulously examined recent policy reports and Ross, It’s time to take action. Enough is enough and we need to put a stop to Budget 2024. Sign our petition now to show Trudeau and his administration that we will not tolerate his WEF Global Tax or any of his other insidious cash grabs.


What hidden agendas are driving these tax increases? Click here to read our full report.

X22, Christian Patriot News, and more- April 16

 




The Fundamental Unraveling of America


By now, it must be overwhelmingly apparent to every American citizen that what candidate Barack Obama promised on the campaign trail back in 2008 has come to pass. Obama touted a “fundamental transformation of America” if elected president and, once elected, he proceeded to accomplish that one huge goal. The question in 2024 is whether enough people want to make the effort to re-ravel America to the normal, constitutional nation she once was.

It can certainly be argued that the country experienced a slow boiling of the frog during the eight years of Obama’s presidency and that, during that period, the pot neither got to boil too long nor did the frog feel the heat intensely enough to hop out. The Democrats anointed Hillary Clinton to follow Obama to continue the unraveling of America’s constitutional republic, replacing it with their own interpretation of a “democracy.”

But, somehow, out of nowhere, a wrecking ball named Donald J. Trump collided with the original fundamental-transformation plan. That, as we all experienced, was only a temporary setback. Once the 2020 election was successfully rigged and stolen and a hand-puppet-Biden government was installed, Obama and his global handlers continued stirring and reheating the pot to the required boiling point.

As it turned out, this time around, turning up the heat also necessitated putting a lid on the pot because there was a real chance that the frog might finally catch on and attempt to jump out.

So, where are we now?

The pot continues to frantically boil with the frog finally awakening to its fate—but trapped inside the pot. And the only one capable of removing the lid is that same old why-won’t-he-just-go-away-already Trump. Even with the onslaught of tactics straight out of the Jussie Smollett playbook (i.e., if you can’t find a crime, make one up) resulting in New York- and DC-style “fair” trials and verdicts, Trump continues to generate his own heat resulting in the heads of Democrats boiling—and sometimes even exploding.

What is it about Trump and, more importantly, about the movement that he has inspired? One could say that the MAGA movement is the Tea Party supercharged. The latter was pushback against Obama’s early years in office, with a large portion of the country seeing what “fundamental transformation” really means—pitting poor against rich, black against white, women against men, children against parents—and saying these are not the ideals upon which our country was founded nor for which it fought.

Can anyone stand in a cemetery and thoughtfully observe rows upon rows of simple, small, white crosses heading hundreds of graves that mark fallen soldiers and not reflect upon their noble sacrifices? Did these overwhelmingly young men and women not go off to war to fight tyranny overseas to preserve the God-given freedoms we peacefully enjoy here at home? What would any of them say today about their sacrifices? Would they really have gone off to fight to preserve the unraveled, fundamentally- transformed country in which we now find ourselves? A country where:

  • Wide-open borders allow an overwhelming influx of unvetted foreigners, along with human traffickers, drug pushers, killer gangs, dangerous diseases
  • Males claiming to be females win swimming meets and track races against girls
  • Graphic sex literature is made available to kindergarten and young elementary school children
  • Boys and girls are being told they can medically and surgically change their sex if it “feels right,” even without parental consent
  • Election Day has become Election Season, where one party can keep counting ballots until they have manufactured their desired outcome

And of course, rounding out this partial list is the fact that we are a country where the government vilifies and even jails the opposition party.

Whenever Democrats and the Far Left talk about Trump supporters, they always sneer when saying the name “MAGA.” In other words, they never say the words to which the letters refer. Why not? They do not want people to hear that those opposing their leftist views want to “make America great again.”

If you love this country, why would you not want to see it great, now and in the future? And the opposite is also true. If you do not love this country, wouldn’t you naturally want to change it in a whole other direction, thus the need to manufacture a transformation?

When you marry someone, it’s only the most devious who, after saying, “I do,” then say, “Now that I have you, I want you to transform, to be a totally different person. I don’t love you, per se, I love the person I can now turn you into.”

If you don’t love this country, and you don’t want to leave it, you would stay and fundamentally transform it. And to do so, you would have to unravel the very foundations upon which the country was built. Unravel the unity of We the People; unravel the belief of Nature and Nature’s God; unravel limited government. All of these must go because these three principles alone are key to the true freedom made possible within self-government.

This year’s election is our final wake-up call.

Good men and women need to be ever vigilant to make sure that the Democrats, the Deep State, the RINOs, and the globalists do not have even the slightest chance to solidify their scheme to fundamentally transform this great nation by completely unraveling its foundations.



Trump’s Stormy Persecution versus Biden Fiddling While Our Republic Burns


In an age when the drumbeats of potential global conflict are almost drowned out by the sound of political intrigue at home, the spectacle that captures America's imagination is none other than the courtroom drama starring former president, Donald Trump. As nations posture and alliances shift, suggesting a prelude to what could escalate into World War III, the United States seems more engrossed in the hush money case involving Trump. It's as though our political narrative has been penned by a playwright specializing in the absurd. 

This legal saga, with its roots in alleged payments to silence past indiscretions, unfolds with the subtlety of a reality TV show, drawing eyes and commentary. Trump, eyeing the presidency once more in 2024, must juggle his defense against charges that, on their face, seem to have been inflated from misdemeanors to felonies by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecutorial zeal. These allegations hinge on financial maneuvers purportedly aimed at burying damaging information—a strategy seemingly pulled from the playbook of political theatrics.

Bragg’s determination to elevate the charges against Trump by linking them to campaign finance violations has been met with skepticism, suggesting an underlying political motive rather than a pursuit of justice. This effort to cast Trump as the villain in a narrative of legal overreach continues, even though federal agencies have previously declined to pursue the case.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden fiddles while our republic burns. His approach to foreign policy and national security paints a starkly different picture, one that might as well belong to a different genre of political theater. His administration’s simplistic mantra of “Don’t” when addressing international adversaries like Iran appears naive at best. The reality is that Iran, far from being deterred, seems to hardly take Biden's warnings seriously, emboldened rather than chastened by his administration’s stance.

Adding to the script is the narrative of vulnerability at home. Under Biden’s watch, the U.S. border has seen a concerning influx of individuals, notably thousands of Middle Eastern and Chinese men of fighting age, raising alarms about the potential for an internal invasion. This situation, compounded by Biden’s perceived laxity on border security, not only undermines national sovereignty but also poses significant security risks, further emphasizing the administration’s apparent detachment from the pressing issues of national security.

The juxtaposition of Trump’s legal entanglement with Biden’s handling of foreign policy and border security underlines a troubling dissonance in American political priorities. The focus on the former president’s trial, seen by many as a politicized attempt to sideline a political rival, stands in stark contrast to the lackluster response to real and present dangers, both abroad and at home.

As the nation continues to navigate through these tumultuous waters, one is left to wonder at the priorities that have come to dominate our political and media landscape. Are we, as a nation, too caught up in the drama of political vendettas to notice the storm clouds gathering on the horizon? The time has come for a serious reevaluation of where our focus lies, lest we find ourselves unprepared for the challenges that lie ahead.



Why Are Women Naturally Drawn To Toxic Leftist Beliefs?


Was it my personality and disposition that inclined me to fall prey to cult-like thinking, or did leftist values alter my fundamental beliefs?



Recently, I wrote a piece at The Federalist titled “Hell Hath No Fury Like A Single Liberal Woman,” based on my own experience as a former liberal, and offered some explanation as to why single women make up such a large proportion of the Democrat Party. And why, as Jesse Kelly commented, many of those women seem to be somewhat mentally unstable. Based on comments in my inbox and on social media, the piece was fairly well received. Well, mostly well received. Of course, any time you categorically call a group of people, particularly single women, “crazy,” you’re bound to get some pushback. 

One writer at Wonkette penned a dissertation, dissecting my piece line by line to demonstrate why everything I said was a “Jennifer” problem rather than attributable to leftist ideology. I think the author proved my point about leftists being compassionate on the outside but vicious and hypercritical on the inside. Judge for yourself.

However, it did get me thinking. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Was it my personality and disposition that inclined me to fall prey to cult-like thinking, or did leftist values alter my fundamental beliefs? Yes.

Is it Nature?

As much as they whine about “gender” being a social construct, women have inherently feminine traits that predispose them to liberal or progressive values. I use those words as ideological frameworks rather than referring to their etymological meaning. “Progressives” do not seem particularly interested in progress. Table that debate for another time.

The left weaponizes women’s tendency to be more caring and nurturing. They play on emotions all women likely have felt at some point in their lives — the feeling of being taken advantage of, dispossessed, or patronized. Women who have not yet disposed of the victim narrative will continue to empathize with it and stand with their “brothers and sisters.”

The ability to perceive the underlying humanity in everyone is an objective good. But the inability to understand your own life as a unique story with a particular context is ignorant. Women must be willing to ask themselves to what extent is any given narrative true for me? They also must be brutally honest with their answer.

I remember going through this exercise myself during my spiritual and political transformation. To what extent is the toxic masculinity and evil patriarch narrative true for me? While I have had some unfortunate incidents with men, I have more men in my life who have been nothing but supportive, gracious, kind, and courteous. Granted, many of these men were present before I fell into the leftist abyss and reappeared upon emerging from the toxic waters I swam in. But they are there, and I choose to remember and focus on those relationships.

Now when a girlfriend says something about men’s evil paternalistic behavior, I am astute in reminding her it was a certain man’s evil paternalistic behavior. For the record, that particular man usually has one or a combination of words associated with his name — yoga, vegan, and Los Angeles.

Or How We Are Nurtured?

That is the nature side of women’s ideological preferences. The nurture includes institutions in society and culture, as well as personal relationships. It’s not news that our institutions, particularly education, are pushing identity on young women. Same with culture. Friendships, mentors, and social circles also have an outsized influence on shaping a woman’s worldview, particularly in young adulthood. However, the most influential and formative relationship a woman will ever have is the one she shares with her father.

I contest that a woman’s self-confidence, self-worth, and self-perception disproportionately depend on the paternal bond. If that bond is broken or dysfunctional, it will fundamentally alter the way many women interact not only with men but with every person and idea around them.

We’ve Got Daddy Issues

While there’s much ado about absent dads and their effect on young boys — and rightly so — it’s equally important to examine the father-daughter relationship. Even fathers who are physically present may not be well equipped to cultivate the type of bond a little girl needs to feel secure and loved, leaving women unable to enforce appropriate boundaries or be discerning with their empathy.

I submit there are a lot of single women walking around with big old “daddy issues,” making them particularly vulnerable to the left-wing paradigm. One in which the state or a man who abuses power (i.e. Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, or any number of spiritual “gurus”) steps in as the paternal force.

However, maybe we can put politics aside and exercise a bit of benevolence. If I don’t, it means never forgiving myself for the mistakes I’ve made and the maligned view of the world I had. If we don’t, we communicate the message that there is no hope for these women or path to redemption. Frankly, that is heartbreaking, and it isn’t true.

Is Christianity the Solution?

This does not absolve poor and immature behavior. What it does do is highlight the imperative role Christianity plays in Western culture and the need to continue to push for its resuscitation, along with other character-forming institutions and social organizations.

While there were many factors contributing to my own transformation, Jesus was at the heart of it. I mean that literally. Conservatives made fine points that appealed to my logic, but that did nothing to heal the cuts in my heart. Sure, I could put a band-aid on them through meditation and thoughts of peace, love, and unicorns, but ultimately the scabs would get ripped open again and again.

It didn’t matter how imperfectly my father loved me. To know I have a perfect Father Who loves me perfectly and not just intellectualize but feel that love, and feel it deeply, was the most profound healing I have ever received. There is no blame, no anger, no resentment for what I didn’t have growing up — just a gratitude so immense that it brought me to my knees. That kind of gratitude will fundamentally alter someone’s life.

The fact that I am who God says I am and not the broken, lost girl with a slew of failed relationships and unrealized dreams in her wake changed everything. The fact that it is no longer me but “He who lives in me” allowed me to move forward in life unencumbered by the past and absolved from bitterness. This does not mean life is now lollipops and rainbows. Actually, quite the opposite. I’d say it’s gotten even more challenging. However, I am no longer alone in responding to those challenges. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

This new perception requires a depth of humility and submission I have never known — again not a defining characteristic of the far-left.

So maybe before we condemn the crazy, liberal single woman bragging about her 15th abortion or screaming on her knees over another four years of Donald Trump, we can pray for her. There were so many people who did that for me. It worked.



Biden Is Still Funding Iran

Katie Pavlich reporting for Townhall 

As Israeli officials continue to weigh how they will respond to Iran's unprecedented attack over the weekend, the Biden administration is facing new pressure over continued funding for the Islamic regime. 

"As Biden again tries to hold Israel back from defending itself while maintaining both United States and United Nations sanctions relief for Iran, he risks confirming the ayatollah’s calculation — and guaranteeing a more dangerous future for America and our democratic allies. Iran’s weekend attack against Israel was not symbolic or performative — it was an unprecedented and unacceptable act of war," Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior advisor Richard Goldberg writes in the New York Post

"Just last month, Biden renewed a sanctions waiver giving Iran access to upwards of $10 billion to be used as budget support," he continues. "Biden’s desperation for a renewed nuclear deal was never clearer than in October, just days after the Hamas massacre, when he allowed the UN’s missile embargo on Iran to expire rather than work with European allies to trigger the 'snapback' of UN sanctions — a mechanism to restore all multilateral restrictions on Iran without a Russian or Chinese veto."

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are also pointing out the waiver from the Biden administration, which funds Iran's terrorism around the globe. 

 “Iran has encircled Israel and has been attacking our Israeli allies from almost every front for months. They have launched attacks from Syria, Iraq, Yemen, the West Bank, Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon, and of course the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Now they have escalated by launching attacks directly from Iranian territory. These attacks are enabled and financed by deliberate policy choices made by Joe Biden and Biden officials, who have allowed roughly $100 billion to flow to Iran since 2021. Americans and Israelis have been made catastrophically more vulnerable by these policies," Senator Ted Cruz released in a statement Saturday. 

“Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Iran has made a huge mistake in attacking America’s closest ally in the Middle East. Israel will emerge from this crisis stronger.  As I have always done, I stand with Israel to do whatever it takes to defend itself,” he continued. 

Last week an official from the Treasury Department admitted the money is used by Iran for attacks. 


Beijing intentionally funding fentanyl trafficking globally: U.S. Congress hearing

 

"They are knee deep in actively sponsoring and encouraging and facilitating the production and export of fentanyl for distribution in the United States": Former AG



https://www.thebureau.news/p/beijing-intentionally-funding-fentanyl?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1444443&post_id=143636552&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=rd3ao&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

A U.S. Congress committee investigation has presented compelling evidence that Beijing is paying organized crime to traffic fentanyl globally while elite Chinese Communist Party officials are directly implicated in related drug money laundering networks, former U.S. Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday.


Barr was testifying for the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and said he believes Beijing is backing Chinese fentanyl syndicates with the overarching objective of weakening the United States.

The bipartisan group of legislators tabled a report that alleges since “at least 2018” President Xi Jinping’s regime has provided nationwide government subsidies to PRC companies that manufacture fentanyl and its precursors, “so long as these companies sell [it] outside China.”


The committee also found China’s government has ownership stakes in some chemical companies “exporting significant amounts of illicit fentanyl products.”

The bipartisan committee, led by Congressman Mike Gallagher, a former Marine Corps intelligence officer, also reported it believes Xi’s regime is deliberately weaponizing fentanyl, which killed 112,000 U.S. citizens last year, as part of a Chinese Communist strategy to weaken the U.S. and its liberal democratic allies.


“The fentanyl trade boosts China's economy and has allowed Chinese organized crime to become the world's premier money launderers,” the committee’s report said, “with U.S. law enforcement finding evidence indicating that money laundering schemes involve Chinese government officials and the Communist Party elite.”

In his testimony Barr said senior U.S. officials have long suspected that Beijing was complicit in global fentanyl trafficking and organized crime, but “the question was murky.”


“Has this been an illicit business carried out by Chinese organized crime, and corrupt businessmen and officials, with the Chinese government simply reluctant to spend too much effort trying to help the U.S. stop something that they view as primarily our problem?” Barr said. “Or is this effectively an intentional program to wreak havoc in the U.S. even with support and encouragement by the Chinese Communist Party and the PRC? Many of us have suspected the latter. But the question was murky. Until now.


“The Committee has uncovered persuasive evidence that the PRC and the CCP are not just bystanders. They are prime movers. They are knee deep in actively sponsoring and encouraging and facilitating the production and export of fentanyl for distribution in the United States.”

Ray Donovan, former chief of operations for DEA, told the committee its investigation proves what his colleagues believe regarding Beijing’s involvement in global fentanyl trafficking.

“This is about saving lives,” he said. “I do think that we are under attack and I think its intentional. This is an effort by the CCP to tear our social fabric and undermine our economy with billions in black currency, through their drug trade.”

“I think this is strategic,” Barr agreed. “Fentanyl has imposed great costs on our society.”


The committee also heard, that in response to U.S. government efforts to interdict floods of fentanyl originating from Chinese factories and shipped through states including Mexico and Canada, “Chinese counterparts instead of helping, warned the drug traffickers of the U.S. investigation, and took no action.”

Barr said the United States should be considering tough sanctions related to Chinese trade to force Beijing to change its policy.


“I think we have to use trade and economic power to press them, and take enforcement action,” Barr said, “because it’s easily detectable.”

“What we are seeing in the United States is likely being seen in other countries, and will only increase in the future,” Barr added. “Our strength will be working multilaterally with other countries. Frankly, China’s economy needs us, more than we need them. We should be increasing the costs of their inactions.”


The committee heard also of deep ties between Chinese fentanyl syndicates that are protected by Beijing, and Mexican cartels.

One of the clans allegedly protected by Beijing is China-based father and son, Guanghua Zheng and Fujing Zheng, each wanted by Washington for rewards of $5 million.

“They are so well known in Mexico,” the committee heard, “they are known as the Los Zheng cartel.”