Eurosceptic Alliance to Fight Creation of European Superstate - Soeren Kern

 

by Soeren Kern

The signatories said that the EU has become a tool of "radical forces" that are determined to carry out a civilizational transformation of Europe.

• "There is a growing threat that seeks to transform the European Union into an ideologically charged federalist super-state; a corporation which disregards national identity and sovereignty, and therefore democracy, plurality and the interests of the citizens of the nations that form the Union. This drift endangers the Union itself by moving away from the Christian European ideals on which it was founded.... We should cooperate and join forces to protect Europe from enforced ideologies and anti-democratic drift that are leading to its downfall." — Joint Statement, Madrid Summit, January 29, 2022.

• "European institutions cannot become a tool of social engineering aiming at creating a new 'European nation.' Examples of such social engineering could be, among other things, the attempts to ideologically alter our languages in a way which will detach a human being from their culture and heritage, like the recent decision of the European Commission to remove the word 'Christmas' from the public sphere." — Joint Statement, Warsaw Summit, December 4, 2021.

• The signatories said that the EU has become a tool of "radical forces" that are determined to carry out a civilizational transformation of Europe. They accused conservative establishment parties in Europe of having abandoned traditional Judeo-Christian values ​​and of aligning themselves with leftist positions for political gain.

• "The slightest national decision that does not correspond to the wishes of the European institutions is now the subject of blackmail: that is not what the Europe of freedoms is! We love Europe because we love our nations. And we will defend Europe because we defend our nations!" — Marine Le Pen, President, France's National Rally party.

• "What brings us together is stronger than what separates us: the fight for our civilization!" — Nicolas Bay, MEP for France's National Rally party.

• "With regard to major European issues such as more effective external border protection, greater economic independence for Europe and a common, more restrictive migration policy that is completely diametrically opposed to the current one. We all agreed." — Marlene Svazek, Chairwoman, Freedom Party of Austria.

Leaders of European conservative and populist parties met in Madrid on January 28-29 to build a unified political front aimed at defending traditional Judeo-Christian values and the sovereignty of European nation states. The so-called Madrid Summit marked an important milestone in efforts to create a continent-wide alliance to fight the federalist, globalist and anti-democratic drift of the European Union. Pictured: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán speaks to the media during the summit, on January 29, 2022. (Photo by Oscar del Poso/AFP via Getty Images)

The leaders of European conservative and populist parties met in the Spanish capital of Madrid on January 28-29 to build a unified political front aimed at defending traditional Judeo-Christian values and the sovereignty of European nation states.

The so-called Madrid Summit — held under the motto "Defending Europe" — marked an important milestone in efforts to create a continent-wide alliance to fight the federalist, globalist and anti-democratic drift of the European Union.

The two-day closed-door summit, hosted by Spain's conservative party Vox, was attended by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, as well as by the leaders and representatives of conservative parties from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Romania.

The conservative eurosceptic leaders, who vowed to work together more closely in the European Parliament, issued a joint statement that outlined the challenge as well as a path forward:

"The European Community was forged as an area of free cooperation between sovereign states. However, there is a growing threat that seeks to transform the Union into an ideologically charged federalist super-state; a corporation which disregards national identity and sovereignty, and therefore democracy, plurality and the interests of the citizens of the nations that form the Union.

"This drift endangers the Union itself by moving away from the Christian European ideals on which it was founded. Today, some bureaucrats and some parties mistakenly believe that they can promote agendas without democratic legitimacy which go against the needs of Europeans and the survival of Western civilization itself.

"Faced with this situation, we, the participants of the Summit, commit ourselves to defend Europe from external and internal threats. We will confront the currents that advocate a European Union which is alien to its history and which, detached from reality, lead to demographic suicide and societal transformation. Europe is in demographic decline. We have to support pro-family policies.

"We love Europe because we love our nations. And we will defend Europe because we defend our nations. That is why we will not cease to demand a Union focused on common European values, on people, on their families, on the protection of their borders and on the freedom to have energy, industry, and a strong primary sector. We have to regain the culture of mutual respect among Member States and with the EU institutions, where constitutional identities are safeguarded and not criticized. We denounce the politically motivated attacks from Brussels against Poland and Hungary which demonstrate a complete disregard of basic EU principles and violate the spirit of the Treaties.

"In short, we should cooperate and join forces to protect Europe from enforced ideologies and anti-democratic drift that are leading to its downfall."

The joint declaration included nine action points at the EU level, including commitments to: improve border protection; crack down on illegal immigration; ensure that asylum seekers can enter the EU only after asylum has been granted; work toward greater European energy independence; and defend the primacy of national constitutions over EU law.

In a surprising display of unity, Orbán and Le Pen — who are friendly with Russian President Vladimir Putin — agreed to insert a paragraph in the joint declaration that condemns Russia's threats against Ukraine. The leaders vowed to:

"Work to ensure that the nations of Europe act in solidarity in the face of the threat of external aggression. Russian aggressive actions on Europe's eastern border have led us to the brink of war. Solidarity, decisiveness and defense cooperation between the nations of Europe are needed in the face of such threats."

The joint declaration also pledged to establish a "coordination office" in Brussels to "join forces and speak with one voice as often as possible at the European level vote in the European Parliament on the aforementioned issues."

Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki said that Europe's future rests on sovereign states:

"We have shown that there is a different future for Europe, which is based on sovereign countries, not on any centralized structure that takes away powers from states.

"We showed each other that we think almost alike about such important issues as the Russian threats towards Ukraine, migratory pressures, energy issues, with very high gas prices being the result of manipulations on the part of Russia.

"The most important thing is to be united in our values ... and create a document presenting an alternative to the future of Europe. I hope that we are the alternative to the future of Europe."

Eurosceptic Alliance

The Madrid Summit is the second official meeting of eurosceptic leaders. It builds on the first such summit held in Warsaw, Poland, in December 2021. The Warsaw Summit declaration stated:

"The participants of the conference share a common and deep conviction that the EU is made up of free and equal nation states, bound by numerous areas of close cooperation. We share this conviction with many millions of citizens across EU member states.

"Only through such a European cooperation can we save the EU from further crises and tensions, and put a stop to the disturbing idea of creating a Europe governed by a self-appointed elite. We reject the arbitrary application of Union Law, bending or even violating the Treaties. Only the sovereign institutions of the states have full democratic legitimacy. European institutions do not enjoy the same legitimacy, and therefore should play a subservient role in the political architecture to the nation state.

"Equally, for this reason they cannot become a tool of social engineering aiming at creating a new 'European nation.' Examples of such social engineering could be, among other things, the attempts to ideologically alter our languages in a way which will detach a human being from their culture and heritage, like the recent decision of the European Commission to remove the word 'Christmas' from the public sphere. Such a concept of the nation has never existed, does not exist today nor can it exist in the future. The participants declare their will to cooperate in the spirit of solidarity, at various levels and forums with all the parties and organizations that hold Europe's unique heritage and the idea of a Europe of Nations dear."

The two summits are the result of the July 2021 "Joint Declaration on the Future of the European Union," an agreement by 16 eurosceptic parties to jointly oppose efforts by European federalists to transform the European Union into a godless multicultural superstate.

The signatories said that the EU has become a tool of "radical forces" that are determined to carry out a civilizational transformation of Europe. They accused conservative establishment parties in Europe of having abandoned traditional Judeo-Christian values ​​and of aligning themselves with leftist positions for political gain.

The author of the July 2021 document, former Polish President Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said that the EU is "preparing to carry out a cultural revolution that will destroy social structures, starting with the family and traditions, and create a new man." He added: "We don't want this revolution, which we believe will bring unhappiness and a drastic decline in the freedoms of individuals and countries."

An obstacle to building an effective alliance to fight European federalism in Brussels lies in the fact that the conservative eurosceptic parties belong to different political groups in the supranational European Parliament. Members of the European Parliament are organized into ideological groups — currently there are eight different political groups — and may only belong to one group.

Some conservative parties — the Bulgarian National Movement (IMRO), the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania–Christian Families Alliance (LLRA–KSS), Poland's Law and Justice (PiS), Romania's Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNT-CD) and Spain's Vox — belong to the center-right European Conservatives and Reformists Group, which advocates for long-term reform of the European Union, but does not want to exit the bloc.

Still others — the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), Belgium's Flemish Interest (VB), the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE), France's National Rally (RN) and Italy's Lega — belong to the more hardline eurosceptic Identity and Democracy group, some of whose members have advocated for the abolition of the euro, Europe's single currency.

Meanwhile, Hungary's ruling party, the Hungarian Civic Alliance (Fidesz), recently left the European People's Party (EPP) and currently does not belong to any political group in the European Parliament.

The long-term goal of uniting all the eurosceptic parties into a single "supergroup" is easier said than done. They hold different positions on a wide range of domestic and foreign policy issues. Those differences — including economic policy and relations with Russia — will be difficult to paper over.

For instance, although Orbán and Le Pen agreed to include criticism of Russia in the Madrid Summit's joint statement, Orbán subsequently met with Putin at the Kremlin and pledged to cooperate with Moscow. At the same time, Le Pen omitted the paragraph about Russia from the French translation of the joint declaration.

Moreover, neither the leader of Italy's Lega party, Matteo Salvini, nor the three co-leaders of Germany's Alternative for Germany party, attended the Madrid Summit.

Salvini, once at the vanguard of Europe's anti-EU movement, has seen his eurosceptic reputation tarnished by his decision to join the pro-EU government of Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. "I can be in a pro-Europe government while dreaming of a different Europe," Salvini said recently. In any event, Lega was represented in Madrid by Italian MEP Paolo Borchia.

Comments by Signatories

In opening remarks at the Madrid Summit, the leader of Spain's Vox party, Santiago Abascal, said:

"We are all allies. We are all united by our values. If we want to ensure the well-being of our compatriots in Europe, we must change the current course. We must work together to free our citizens from this crisis. There is a lot at stake — our survival as nation states. It is our duty to pass on traditional values ​​to the younger generations."

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki added:

"Today we face many threats. Together we must find the answer to them. We must win the dispute over the sovereignty of nation states, which is threatened by European institutions that usurp rights that go beyond Community law. We must fight together to ensure that freedom means freedom, democracy means democracy and that sovereignty is guaranteed."

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán emphasized:

"We need to strengthen and consolidate common values ​​that are based on Christian values. We need to create a new platform for cooperation to make our positions and views more heard and visible in Europe. Let us not forget that the essence of democracy is elections, so let us support each other."

Vox vice president Jorge Buxadé said:

"National constitutions are the product of many years of historical evolution. Europe has 2,500 years of history. The European Union is just 70 years old. The EU must be at the service of the Europe of nation states."

The leader of France's National Rally party, Marine Le Pen, tweeted: "The slightest national decision that does not correspond to the wishes of the European institutions is now the subject of blackmail: that is not what the Europe of freedoms is!" She added: "We love Europe because we love our nations. And we will defend Europe because we defend our nations!"

French MEP Nicolas Bay for France's National Rally party tweeted:

"Italians, Belgians, Hungarians, Poles, French; members of different groups in the European Parliament; in Madrid we have made progress in friendship, because what brings us together is stronger than what separates us: the fight for our civilization!"

Italian MEP Paolo Borchia of the Lega party said:

"The goal is to build a European center-right alternative to a European Popular Party (EPP) that is excessively biased to the left. It will inevitably be a long process, but the party leaders will focus on what unites us, rather than the differences. From this point of view, I reiterated Lega's willingness to proceed in the direction of a clear and concrete path, respectful of the sensibilities of each individual party."

The chairwoman of the Freedom Party of Austria, Marlene Svazek, in an interview with Austrian public broadcaster ORF, said that the main purpose of the Madrid Summit was to strengthen mutual trust:

"We have decided to set up a coordination office in Brussels at parliamentary level, which will in future more closely dovetail the votes and the structural and organizational aspects of the two parliamentary groups.

"With regard to major European issues such as more effective external border protection, greater economic independence for Europe and a common, more restrictive migration policy that is completely diametrically opposed to the current one. We all agreed."

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Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18202/eu-alliance-conservatives-populists

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Schweizer Hits Another Home Run on Biden-China Corruption - John Dale Dunn

 

by John Dale Dunn

Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win

by Peter Schweizer

352 pages, hardcover $18.25, Kindle $14.95
ISBN-10: 0063061147
Harper, 2022

Peter Schweizer is an Oxford graduate, former Hoover Institution Fellow, and co-founder and president of the Government Accountability Institute of Tallahassee, Florida.  He is a widely read and interviewed investigative journalist and has authored popular and well-received books on political corruption: Clinton Cash, Extortion, Throw Them All Out, and Architects of Ruin.

The book is the usual fare from Schweizer — based on well-documented and researched financial records that support the author's assertions.  In this book, the focus is corruption in high places that results from cozy entanglements with China.  This book focuses on the Chinese communist connections for good reasons: China has set about a long-term effort to compromise the political, business, cultural, academic, and scientific elements of America as a set up for creating global Chinese hegemonic control and dominance.  The Chinese have accomplished a great deal in the decades since the ill-begotten Kissinger Nixon opening to China in 1972, followed by the Clinton-Bush acquiescence to China's admission into the World Trade Association that was finalized with favored status in 2001.

Through these decades, the wolf, bear, coyote China has gradually expanded its dominance of world trade and economics by stealing intellectual property, using bribes and influence-purchasing, and standard espionage and propaganda methods.

The point of Red-Handed is exposing the participation of persons of influence in the West who have been compromised by Chinese efforts to buy influence and power — on a scale not previously seen.

Mr. Schweizer had a big scandal to investigate but a good team of researchers to help him organize the exposé — an exposé that warns of short-term and long-term danger for the survival of Western nations and the ascendancy of a savage and murderous Chinese communist tyrannical autocracy stained by a history of ethnic, religious, and domestic pogroms, persecutions, and genocide of immense and barbaric proportions that are numerous and stunning, extending forward from the millions of deaths of Mao's Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward that resulted in the deaths of millions of Chinese from starvation and systematic political purges to modern-day activities that subjugate Tibet, Hong Kong, the domestic religious minorities while pursuing external influence and dominance.

Now under new leadership, China continues to commit atrocities domestically and expand its influence in foreign political and economic matters, which raises the question — how do the compromised oligarchs of the West who are ensnared in the Chinese web of influence sleep at night or excuse their complicity?  Is money enough to justify complicity with barbaric malevolence?  When does the complicity become the role of accessory to crimes ranging all the way to treason?

With the foregoing in mind, the best this review can do is identify and briefly describe and introduce evidence of the treasonous or traitorous American perps who have sold their positions, stature, and influence to the Chinese political peddlers.  Mr. Schweizer's systematic reviews and investigative revelations include the following (in order of the chapters) — and after every short summary comes my choice of a few words to describe the corruption and treason:

An introduction featuring the ROPE, alluding to the apocryphal commie saying that the capitalists will sell the communists the rope they can use to hang the capitalists.  This chapter is a warning and an exposition of how brutal and cruel socialist systems can infiltrate and influence — ultimately devour civil society from the inside.  How American core concepts can be compromised with cheap talk and promises — brutality can dominate civility, and culture can be eviscerated by aggressive activist advocacy of Marxist nonsense.  The key, though, is the complicity of American citizens.  (vice, infidelity, and treachery)

A chapter on the evil and corrupt Biden family and its selling out to worldwide opportunities for corruption, but particularly Chinese influence-peddling. (decadence and depravity)

A wearying and maddening description of the corruption and pandering, grifting, and shilling by the denizens of capitol hill — Feinstein and family, Swalwell, Pelosi and family,  McConnell and Chou, former congresspeople like Senators  Boehner, Lott, Breaux, Baucus, and of course a long list of congressmen, also from both sides of the aisle — all selling their souls and positions of trust.  (degradation and degeneration)

The culture of power and money lust of the American Corporate Community and its major players — BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Bridgewater, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Twitter, and Musk — and, of course, Gates — that draws them to a plutocracy that would never hesitate to betray America for financial advantage or an opportunity to be a part of a global powerhouse oligarchy complicit with and colluding with malefactor government tyrannies. (avarice, cupidity, and rapaciousness)

The special place of diplomats and the chattering class as the lubricant for the social and societal resets best exemplified by pretentious poseurs like Kissinger, with so many others that the author exposes as self-promoting narcissists who achieve a grandeur that they consider to be well deserved, a grandeur usually as part of the dominant oligarchy — the list of exposed poseurs by the author is impressive because they saturate public life. (egoist and megalomaniac)

A special chapter is set aside for the Bush and Trudeau families, who have been served by their associations with China at the expense of their home countries. (betrayers and quislings)

Academia, for various reasons, provides excellent examples of the perfidy of betrayal but, of course, academics consider themselves beyond such pedestrian concepts as loyalty, fealty, family, tradition, constitutional government since they are pursuing the greater good...and their greater good.  They also identify themselves as "experts," essential to the survival of the world and progress of mankind, although many have no marketable or real-world valuable skills. (overweening, smug, and vainglorious)

Mr. Schweizer saves the last chapter for a grand summary and proposal to reverse the corruption he's put on display that endangers the survival of America.  The key phrase he uses is "Elite Capture," and the elites are vulnerable.  He warns that republics are easy prey for autocrat countries' intel and military influence-peddling and sabotage.  

• Clean up the lobbying and influence-peddling in D.C., and enforce foreign agent registration.
• No lobbying and influence-peddling by foreign intel and military entities.
• Clean up research and academics from influence-peddling and ban joint research.
• Ban foreign military and intel company listings on the stock exchanges.
• Engagement with foreign governments is a dangerous business.  Stop the looseness.
• Transparency and all conflicts declared on all "experts" proposed by media, government, or academia.
• Most of all, a return to the constitutional concepts of limited government and strict equality under the law, equal administration of the laws, no favorites or exceptions.  

Mr. Schweizer has received deserved praise for this excellent book, which is a product of extraordinary research.  I hope my introduction results in your decision to read it.  Three hundred fifty-two pages of your time.

Image: Marc Nozell via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.

 

John Dale Dunn

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/02/schweizer_hits_another_home_run_on_bidenchina_corruption.html

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Why is the New York Times suing for access to State Department correspondence on Hunter Biden and Romania? - Rajan Laad

 

by Rajan Laad

Decoding the NYT vs. Biden State Department.

A few days ago, Politico.com reported that The New York Times was suing the Biden State Department for withholding correspondence mentioning Hunter Biden that is in possession of the U.S. Embassy in Romania.

In its lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, the NYT states that it had on two separate occasions placed requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

The State Department had responded that the requested records would be provided only after April 15, 2023.  The law requires all federal agencies to respond to a FOIA request within 20 business days unless there are "unusual circumstances."

The NYT's suit is obviously an effort to expedite the State Department's timeline for the FOIA disclosures.

To be precise, the NYT had requested access to emails, memos, and other records from 2015 to 2019 from U.S. embassy officials in Bucharest, including former U.S. ambassador to Romania Hans Klemm, mentioning a number of individuals such as Hunter Biden and his former business associate, Tony Bobulinski.

Politico reports that the goal behind the exercise was to investigate if embassy officials did any special favors on behalf of private businesses such as that of Hunter Biden.

The request seeks records about the following:

1. The possible improper use of federal government resources to assist and advance private business interests with connections to United States government officials.

2. The possible evasion of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) by those private business interests.

3. The non-enforcement of FARA by the federal government in relation to those private business interests.

This would raise questions about possible conflicts of interest and corruption.

In a statement to Politico, a New York Times spokesperson said, "As a routine part of their reporting, NYT journalists regularly seek potentially newsworthy information from a variety of sources, including from the U.S. government through FOIA requests."

"We're hopeful the government will promptly release any relevant documents, and as always we are prepared to pursue our request through a lawsuit if necessary.  Just as we do on any line of reporting, we will assess the newsworthiness of the material once we receive it," the spokesperson added.

The State Department has declined to comment on the situation.

Last year, the U.K. Daily Mail reported that an email from Hunter's laptop shows that Hunter was hired by Romanian real estate tycoon Gabriel Popoviciu to overturn his bribery conviction through a massive propaganda campaign with help from V.P. Joe's government connections and former FBI director Louis Freeh.  Despite the efforts, Popoviciu was convicted of bribery. 

Emails also showed that Freeh "donated" $100,000 to a trust for two of President Biden's grandchildren as he sought to pursue "some very good and profitable matters" with him.

Perhaps this is what the NYT is looking into?

Back in October 2020, less than a month prior to  Election Day, the New York Post had reported about Hunter Biden's misplaced laptop that contained emails that proved that Hunter Biden had introduced his father, who was vice president, to a top executive from Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company.  This contradicts Joe Biden's claim that he's "never spoken to my son" about his overseas business dealings.

Burisma was paying Hunter around $1 million a year when Biden was vice president; the amount was cut in half two months after Biden left office.

This was a clear case of nepotism, conflict of interest, and corruption.

Mainstream media outlets scoffed at a New York Post's story, while Facebook and Twitter prevented the stories from circulating.

The Media Research Center study discovered that one of every six Biden voters (17%) said he would not have voted for Biden if he had known the facts about various news stories the mainstream news media refused to cover and that social media chose to block.

The question remains: why would the NYT, who have been willing propagandists for the Democrats, suddenly develop the urge to pursue to truth and sue a Democrat State Department?

Back in 2019, the NYT's Kenneth Vogel was among the rare few in the mainstream media that covered the Hunter story and even described Hunter as both a "significant liability" for Biden.  Throughout the 2020 presidential campaign, the Biden team regularly expressed anger at the Times over Vogel's coverage of Hunter Biden, while Democrats viciously attacked him on all forums possible.

Perhaps Vogel is merely doing his job in pursuing the story or maybe he is taking on the Bidens?  Perhaps Vogel is taking on the Bidens as a vendetta for the abuse he previously received?

It does give the NYT an occasion to feign fairness and claim that it was tough on Biden.

Another possible explanation is that the Washington Media-Democrat complex is tired of Biden's incompetence.  They think Biden's abominable record of misgovernance will cause them to lose rather emphatically to the Republicans during the midterms in November.

However, what the Democrats fear most is that Biden may lose in a landslide to Donald Trump in 2024.  Polls show Biden losing support among all traditional Democrat voter groups.

Perhaps the NYT is being used as a proxy in this struggle.  It has certainly placed Biden in a Catch-22. 

If Biden's State Department were to reveal communication records that prove a clear case of conflict of interest and corruption, Joe certainly looks bad and could be forced out of office.  Their attempt to stall the handover of information makes them appear guilty as if they have something to conceal.  They could be accused of obstructing the path of the news media.

It will be interesting to see if the NYT will actually publish a story that reveals Hunter Biden's shady web of international business relationships cultivated when his father was vice president.

The story perhaps is being used as leverage for the Democrats to compel Biden not to run in 2024 and keep him under control while he occupies the White House.

It is unlikely they would want him out before 2024 since that would make Kamala Harris president, and even the Democrats know that is worse than bumbling old Biden.

In the coming weeks, if CNN, MSNBC, and other propaganda outfits amplify this NYT vs. Biden State Department story, we can be sure that powers that be in Washington want Biden out of the way.

 

Rajan Laad

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/02/why_is_the_new_york_times_suing_for_access_to_state_department_correspondence_on_hunter_biden_and_romania.html

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Suicide: Helping China in Space - Gordon G. Chang

 

by Gordon G. Chang

The Weichert Report, says. "The insanity must stop and America must hold firm against the siren song of cooperation with China in space."

• "[Chris] Hadfield has consistently fronted for cooperation with China in space, never acknowledging how the Chinese Communist Party seeks to dominate Low Earth Orbit and the moon to gain military dominance on Earth to impose a new global hegemony." — Richard Fisher of the International Assessment and Strategy Center to Gatestone, January 2022.

• It seems fanciful that Chinese cooperation in space could proceed while the Communist Party maintains its goal of destroying the United States.

• "Tackling pandemics" is definitely not an argument for space cooperation with China. Wherever SARS-CoV-2 came from...China's leaders deliberately spread COVID-19 beyond their borders by, among other things, lying about contagiousness and, while locking down their own country, pressuring others to take arrivals from China without restrictions or quarantines.

• And because a specific group was targeted—non-Chinese—the crime [deliberately spreading COVID-19 beyond China's borders] constitutes a "genocide" as defined in Article II of the Genocide Convention of 1948. That toll includes 884,000 in the United States.

• So how could Washington consider cooperation, on space or in any other area, with a regime that deliberately took the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans?

• "We all have our better angels and our worst devils in each of us," Hadfield, who has worked for NASA, correctly notes. The problem is that the worst of humanity is now running the Chinese regime, and cooperation with China, in space or below, is morally and strategically wrong.

• "It is completely mind boggling how, after decades of doing deals with China over a variety of issues that only seem to end with the further weakening of the United States and the strengthening of China, the same voices are now calling for massive space cooperation with Beijing, which would only be the world's largest technological transfer in history," Weichert, who produces The Weichert Report, says. "The insanity must stop and America must hold firm against the siren song of cooperation with China in space."

China's militant regime wants the United States to aid its space program, and some, including those in the U.S. space community, are eager to provide assistance. It seems fanciful that Chinese cooperation in space could proceed while the Communist Party maintains its goal of destroying the U.S. Pictured: The crew for China's new space station, astronauts Wang Yaping (R), Zhai Zhigang and Ye Guangfu (L), take part in a pre-launch departure ceremony on October 15, 2021 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

China's militant regime wants the United States to aid its space program, and some, including those in the U.S. space community, are eager to provide assistance. Such cooperation, however, would be extremely disadvantageous for the United States, as it has always been.

On January 28, Beijing issued "China's Space Program: A 2021 Perspective," its fifth white paper on the subject. Listed priorities include moon landings, asteroid defense, and space debris removal.

Beijing also thinks nations should pool efforts in the heavens. "Peaceful exploration, development, and utilization of outer space are rights equally enjoyed by all countries," the paper states. "China calls on all countries to work together to build a global community of shared future and carry out in-depth exchanges and cooperation in outer space on the basis of equality, mutual benefit, peaceful utilization, and inclusive development."

In the white paper's rollout, Wu Yanhua, deputy director of the China National Space Administration, said Beijing will be even more amenable to cooperating with international partners "on higher levels and larger projects."

Wu mentioned that China and Russia "will jointly launch the international lunar scientific research station plan—which is a major long-term international scientific cooperation project." Yet Beijing is looking beyond its traditional partner. "We welcome," he said, "the participation of all interested countries, international organizations, and scientists and engineers."

The Chinese appeal for help is appealing to many. "We need different ways to cooperate," said Canadian Chris Hadfield, former astronaut and once commander of the International Space Station, talking about the U.S. and China with Hong Kong's South China Morning Post. "It's crazy to repeat each other's efforts. It's wasteful. When something as complex and dangerous, and therefore as expensive, as space flight it's really good to be able to cooperate."

"Hadfield," Richard Fisher of the International Assessment and Strategy Center tells Gatestone, "has consistently fronted for cooperation with China in space, never acknowledging how the Chinese Communist Party seeks to dominate Low Earth Orbit and the moon to gain military dominance on Earth to impose a new global hegemony."

"Has Hatfield ever acknowledged that 'peace in space' has never preceded 'peace on Earth'?" Fisher, one of the first Americans to warn of China's military ambitions, asks. "Peaceful and expansive U.S.-Russia space cooperation was only possible after the collapse of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union."

It seems fanciful that Chinese cooperation in space could proceed while the Communist Party maintains its goal of destroying the United States. Nonetheless, many want to repeal the Wolf Amendment, enacted in 2011, which prohibits NASA from working with China. "The utopians who populate U.S. national space policy are at it again," Brandon Weichert, author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, tells Gatestone.

The utopians, however, are having a few problems these days, thanks to Beijing. Take David Dodwell, an opinion columnist in Hong Kong. "To many experts, it has already become clear that simply blocking dialogue and cooperation with China is counterproductive and dangerous—as much in tackling pandemics and global warming as in managing activity in space," he wrote in a January 22 opinion piece in the South China Morning Post.

"Tackling pandemics" is definitely not an argument for space cooperation with China. Wherever SARS-CoV-2 came from—whether or not from a Chinese biological weapons lab—China's leaders deliberately spread COVID-19 beyond their borders by, among other things, lying about contagiousness and, while locking down their own country, pressuring others to take arrivals from China without restrictions or quarantines.

That means the nearly 5.7 million people who perished from this disease outside China were murdered. And because a specific group was targeted—non-Chinese—the crime constitutes a "genocide" as defined in Article II of the Genocide Convention of 1948. That toll includes 884,000 in the United States.

So how could Washington consider cooperation, on space or in any other area, with a regime that deliberately took the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans?

Americans and others from democracies find it hard to comprehend the maliciousness of China's Communist Party. "We all have our better angels and our worst devils in each of us," Hadfield, who has worked for NASA, correctly notes. The problem is that the worst of humanity is now running the Chinese regime, and cooperation with China, in space or below, is morally and strategically wrong.

Strategically right is the American-led Artemis Accords, an agreement among the U.S. and 14 other countries to work to return to the moon. The coalition faces a China-Russia partnership, which, as the Chinese white paper points out, contemplates the establishment of a joint lunar base. It is possible that the Sino-Russian cooperation will be so close that Russia will pull out of the International Space Station in 2025, as it threatened in June.

"It is completely mind boggling how, after decades of doing deals with China over a variety of issues that only seem to end with the further weakening of the United States and the strengthening of China, the same voices are now calling for massive space cooperation with Beijing, which would only be the largest technological transfer in history," Weichert, who also produces The Weichert Report, says. "The insanity must stop and America must hold firm against the siren song of cooperation with China in space."

• Follow Gordon G. Chang on Twitter

 

Gordon G. Chang is the author of The Coming Collapse of China, a Gatestone Institute distinguished senior fellow, and a member of its Advisory Board.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18186/china-space-cooperation

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Afghan Feminists Torture-Murdered, President Biden Unconcerned - Phyllis Chesler

 

by Phyllis Chesler

This one is on you, President Biden. You have forever stained our honor and our standing in the world.

 

Tamana Paryani recorded the terrifying moments before Taliban forces took her from her home.

At all hours of the day and night, Afghan women tell me tales of horror. One woman's rights activist translates an article for me to which she adds her own comments.

"The Taliban have assassinated 15 women's rights activists in Balkh," she says. "In just one month, the bodies of 15 women have been transferred to the Abu Ali Sina Balkhi District Hospital in Mazar-i-Sharif. International organizations have blamed the Taliban for these killings. Women are being tortured and raped! Dozens of women have been taken hostage by this terrorist group. Do not forget all the women by repeating only two or three names."

I cannot find any mainstream media coverage of the torture-murders of these 15 innocents. In addition, at least six women who participated in a Kabul protest last month have been abducted. The United Nations has called upon the Taliban "to take all possible measures to ensure their safe and immediate release, and to hold those responsible to account." A Taliban spokesman "denied that any were being held," the Voice of America reported. But then he contradicted himself and said authorities had the right "to arrest and detain dissidents or those who break the law."

A state-run Turkish network, TRT, reports that the Taliban is in the process of removing "bad people" from its ranks.

Tamana Paryani recorded a video showing her screaming as the Taliban tried to take her. Another woman, Parwana Embrahimkhel, was similarly abducted from her home.

According to the Afghan women I hear from, these women have not been seen since.

Both women participated in a Kabul protest decrying Taliban oppression.

"Stop arresting and killing innocent women," protesters reportedly chanted. "Freedom, education, and working rights."

There are others – many others.

The women's rights activists who are hiding in their homes and with whom I remain in touch are telling me about similar disappearances. For example, one Afghan woman tells me:

"The Taliban arrested woman's right activist Mursal Ayar from her house. Her mother said that the Taliban got Mursal's name from another feminist whom they tortured, then came and attacked Mursal's house, beat her in front of her family and neighbors and then took her away."

Mursal attended the same Kabul protest. "The lives of women in Afghanistan have become very tough .... Our only option is to raise our voice even if it endangers our lives," she told La Prensa Latina before disappearing.

Is it really possible that no feminist groups have been effective in calling for the release of Afghan women? Their educations, careers, and mind-set are entirely due to feminist ideas, American policies, and Western military boots on the ground. The National Organization for Women has done nothing and, while the Feminist Majority does have an article about Afghan women at risk, it does not specifically call on President Biden to demand the release of jailed women or for their evacuation.

To the best of my knowledge, no large organization has launched a campaign to free and evacuate such endangered women.

The Turkish venue, TRT, quotes Human Rights Watch, which has noted "that these arrests represent a frightening escalation in the Taliban's crackdown on the women's rights movement."

Huda Khamosh, a well-known Afghan feminist, stood up at a recent closed-door meeting with the Taliban in Norway and demanded the "release" of the missing women. According to Business Insider, the Taliban leaders were taken aback, calling the women "puppets of the West."

Those women, their families, their dissident and gay male counterparts, who have so far been evacuated and/or who are still being fed – owe their escapes and their sustenance to Western governments – but also to determined individual civilians, ex-Army, and religious groups who have been bucking government obstacles. This is a tale for another day.

Yet again, a woman asks whether there "are any evacuations possible? Are any countries willing to take us? We are all very worried. Every moment of the day and night passes with fear."

I heard from one Afghan woman Wednesday, who notes: "Afghanistan is NOT SAFE for Afghan women activists and the Taliban are shouting every day that [they] have the right to destroy the people who are against us."

On whose watch did we choose to leave such women and their families behind? Women who speak English, are educated, have careers, who worked with American, Canadian, and European organizations in Afghanistan – and who would be most likely to assimilate into the West?

According to journalist George Packer, at The Atlantic, in 2010, then-Vice President Biden said he did not care about Afghan women. Richard Holbrooke, Obama's envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan visited Biden's office. Biden insisted:

"'I am not sending my boy back there to risk his life on behalf of women's rights.' (Biden's son Beau had recently been deployed to Iraq for a year) ...When Holbrooke asked about the obligation to people who had trusted the U.S. government, Biden said: 'Fuck that, we don't have to worry about that. We did it in Vietnam; Nixon and Kissinger got away with it.'"

Packer is not insisting that "human rights" are always the only grounds for committing troops, "but it didn't explain [Biden's] hardness, the combativeness. Questions about Afghanistan and its people made Biden rear up and dig in."

Packer painstakingly confirms what those of us who've been involved in what he calls "Task Force Dunkirk." For a politician who made his name on empathy, Biden's utter indifference to human suffering seems sociopathic. The disastrous way in which American troops were ordered to pull out left the most vulnerable behind, those targeted as prey by the Taliban. There were many other ways to withdraw. Packer writes:

"It could have used the prospect of leverage, demanding secure airfields and safe passage for Afghans whom the Americans wanted to bring out with them. It could have used airfields in Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif, Jalalabad and Kandahar while those cities remained out of Taliban control...but the administration did none of this."

Now, the luckiest Afghan refugees are still housed in refugee camps in the Middle East and across the Western world. Resettlement is slow and hard for all involved. Child marriage, language difficulties, unrealistic expectations, a profound sense of entitlement, deep depression, are only some of the challenges. The unluckiest Afghans are trapped in their homeland, terrified. Parents are selling their daughters – and their kidneys.

As Packer makes clear, it didn't have to be this way.

This one is on you, President Biden. You have forever stained our honor and our standing in the world.

Copyright © 2022. Investigative Project on Terrorism. All rights reserved

 

Phyllis Chesler is an Emerita Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies at the City University of New York (CUNY), and the author of 20 books, including Women and Madness, and A Family Conspiracy: Honor Killings. She is a Senior IPT Fellow, and a Fellow at MEF and ISGAP.

Source: https://www.investigativeproject.org/9134/afghan-feminists-torture-murdered-president-biden

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The Real Anthony Fauci - Joseph Hippolito

 

by Joseph Hippolito

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. exposes Dr. Doom.

 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., founder and chairman of Children's Health Defense, reveals the collusion between the federal government and pharmaceutical firms with meticulous detail in his new book, The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health. In the process, Kennedy exposes Fauci as a self-serving, manipulative bureaucrat who "implemented a system of dysfunctional conflicts and a transactional culture" that enabled Fauci's National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases to become "a seamless appendage of Big Pharma," Kennedy wrote.

Part of the book describes how Fauci manipulated the AIDS crisis during the 1980s to promote a dangerous drug, AZT, which made patients sicker but made a lot of money for its manufacturer, Burroughs Wellcome. The AIDS crisis became the template for Fauci's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kennedy asserts. FrontPage Magazine discussed Fauci's role in the AIDS crisis in October in "Trust Fauci and the Bureaucrats?"

Kennedy, who founded Children's Health Defense in 2016, is a vocal opponent of government vaccination mandates. His father served as President John F. Kennedy's attorney general before becoming a Senator from New York. He was seeking the Democratic Party's Presidential nomination when he was assassinated in 1968.

Since Kennedy was not available, his publisher, Tony Lyons from Skyhorse Publishing, agreed to the following interview.

JH: So who is the real Anthony Fauci?

TL: The real Anthony Fauci is somebody who prioritizes financial return on investment over public health. That's the real Anthony Fauci that is described in The Real Anthony Fauci by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. If he disagrees with that, he should respond. I mean, these are serious allegations of corruption. He should respond to them and disprove them if they're untrue.

JH: How does the book help people understand and negotiate the rapidly changing information maze surrounding COVID-19?

TL: It makes them understand that the mainstream narrative that they're given requires them to do more research. So whatever they hear, they have to recognize that it may be misinformation. Or, to be more clear, it may be disinformation. They should do more research, and this book helps them do that research. The end of each chapter has a QR code that gives you all of the latest research that the nonprofit Children's Health Defense has uncovered since the book was published. So it's meant to be kind of a living document that gives you resources so that you can do further research.

JH: The introduction states Fauci played a major role in making Americans "among the least healthy citizens on the planet." How was he able to do this and how does that specific problem manifest itself in today's society?

TL: The book claims that the financial entanglements he has orchestrated over his 50 years in power has led him to always prioritize medical interventions or products or vaccines or drugs that make a lot of money for a pharmaceutical company, and that are protected by patents, rather than anything that might be cheaper and readily available. So by not prioritizing public health, he has led to a situation where people are misled, and where they don't really know or have access to information that could be helpful to them.

JH: How does Fauci benefit from this financially?

TL: As is described in the book, he's the highest paid public official. But it appears that there are also complex, additional sources of income that come to him and to people who he's worked with and empowered through patents. So it is possible for public employees, for government employees, to make additional revenue based on owning a share of a patent.

JH: How great a role did he play in corrupting the FDA, the CDC, possibly the World Health Organization? How compromised are those organizations?

TK: The book alleges that they are incredibly compromised. Dr. Fauci repeatedly says his favorite book is The Godfather, and his favorite line from that book is, "It's not personal. It's just business." That, I think, has been his mantra. It's about business. It's not about people. It's not personal. It's not about public health.

JH: The book says that from the start, Fauci knew the pandemic models were inaccurate, and that masks and social distancing would be ineffective. So why did he advocate those measures if he knew that? What was he trying to do?

TL: He says repeatedly that he represents science, and that if you disagree with him on anything, you're anti-science. Any disagreement by any other doctor or scientist is then misinformation. So clearly, he doesn't have a problem telling the public to do things that aren't true, and that he knows aren't true. That comes out in some of his e-mails that contradict his public statements. So I think that by doing those kinds of things, he wanted to maintain his position as the ultimate arbiter of what people should do, even though he knew that things were complicated. That's just my own view of it there.

JH: The book goes into great detail about how Fauci manipulated the AIDS crisis. Can you go into that?

TL: The book is meticulously researched with literally more than 2,000 citations. It says that throughout his career, he has steered the public towards drugs and vaccines that were covered by patents, that were expensive, and could make a big return on investment for his pharmaceutical partners.

JH: Why hasn't anybody in Congress investigated him until now? It's an interesting question, given all the research.

TL: I think this book serves as a blueprint for Congressional hearings on the subjects that are covered because the claims are dramatic. If the claims are true, then he is responsible for people dying as a result of not getting access to viable remedies. So it's an important investigation for Congress to engage in. Because if true, we really need an overhaul of the CDC, the NIH, and the FDA.

JH: How do Fauci and Bill Gates mutually benefit from their relationship?

TL: They engaged in sort of public-private partnerships. That. I think, is a piece of it. They had a joint interest, once again, in furthering the use of expensive drugs, and vaccines, versus remedies of any kind that were not covered by patent."

JH: How do Fauci, Gates and pharmaceutical firms threaten democracy? How does the book outline the threats to democracy?

TL: The threats to democracy come in a bunch of different ways, but one of them is the idea that Dr. Fauci represents science, like I said before, and he can't be questioned. So in a democracy, you have to be allowed to question and there has to be a role for dissent. There has to be a role for dialogue and debate. So if you take out that role, then what you have is not a democracy anymore. One of the additional things that he did, or that he seems to have taken part in, is in the censorship of any kind of dissent. He would vilify anybody who disagreed with him. So by doing that, he not only was trying to maximize his own power. He was making it difficult for there to be scientific progress, because for scientific progress, you need to have competing points of view. It has to be possible, for example, for doctors and scientists to publish dissenting views in scientific journals, and for investigative journalists to disagree with, for example, the CDC or the NIH.

JH: One of the things I found fascinating about the book is at the very end, it includes a bracket similar to the kind Americans see everywhere during "March Madness," the NCAA basketball tournament, that Fauci designed. In his bracket, COVID-19 beats out such diseases as Zika and SARS for the championship. How does that reflect Fauci's character or approach to his job?

TL: I think it shows that to Dr. Fauci, this was a game. He's trying to win. He's trying to maximize his own power. He's trying to control people. Doctors and scientists are prevented from publishing dissenting views and investigative journalists are working at newspapers that refuse to allow them to really investigate things, like this book (has), that haven't been covered in any newspaper at all. The only thing that's been covered is that Dr. Fauci and, presumably, people who agree with him have decided that you should attack the messenger in order to discredit the messenger, so that people don't take even meticulously researched writing or research or studies coming out of reputable doctors and scientists seriously. So rather than address the claims that are made in this book, or in other studies, you attack all of the people who disagree.

JH: What kind of a response has the book received since it came out in November?

TL: It's received no response from the mainstream media. It was so badly received that you couldn't even advertise for the book. The New York Times refused to take an advertisement. The big tech platforms all refuse to take advertisements for it. They refused even to allow a book signing and Q & A on YouTube. Even interviews that I had to discuss censorship of the book were themselves censored. But what I find really fascinating is how well the book has done notwithstanding all of the censorship, the boycotts, the media blackout and the lack of reviews. So what it really shows, which I find fascinating, is that people are beginning to recognize that they're not getting the full story. And they're seeking out alternative sources of information, alternative platforms, where things are not censored, because they want to make their own decisions about what they believe and not just be force fed one preconceived narrative.

Joseph Hippolito is a freelance writer and a regular contributor to FrontPage Magazine. His commentaries have appeared in The Federalist, The Stream, Wall Street Journal, Jerusalem Post and National Post.

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/02/real-anthony-fauci-joseph-hippolito/

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Fentanyl poisoning deaths double in 30 states over 2 years: study - Audrey Conklin

 

by Audrey Conklin

Five states saw a five-fold increase in fentanyl deaths

Fentanyl poising deaths doubled in 30 states between 2019 and 2021, according to an analysis of U.S. government data.

Five states including Alaska, Colorado, Louisiana Mississippi, California and Texas saw a five-fold increase in fentanyl deaths, the analysis from opioid awareness organization Families Against Fentanyl shows.

"The fentanyl crisis is getting worse, not better. Fake pills with deadly amounts of fentanyl are popping up everywhere. It’s in fake Xanax and Percocets, it’s being laced in cocaine and ecstasy. A single pill can kill," Families Against Fentanyl founder James Rauh, who lost his son to fentanyl poisoning, said in a Thursday statement.

 

In 30 states, fentanyl poisoning deaths have more than doubled in just two years. https://t.co/WDidlxsx9W #onepillcankill pic.twitter.com/r8QQ6wGhLL

— Families Against Fentanyl (@FafFentanyl) February 4, 2022

The synthetic opioid can be deadly even in very small amounts, and other drugs, including heroin, meth and marijuana, can be laced with the dangerous drug. Mexico and China are the primary sources for the flow of fentanyl into the United States, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). 

CONNECTICUT POLICE SAY 100 BAGS OF FENTANYL FOUND AT DEAD YOUTH'S HOME

"Fentanyl poisoning is tearing families apart and killing our young people at an alarming rate," Rauh said. "This stuff is so deadly it’s been used as a chemical weapon. Even babies and young children have been fatally poisoned by accident. It does not belong on our streets. It’s time for our leaders in Washington to do more."

DRUG OVERDOSE DEATHS, FUELED BY FENTANYL, HIT RECORD HIGH IN U.S.

The 30 states that saw fentanyl deaths doubled — or more-than doubled — over two years include Alaska, Colorado, Louisiana Mississippi, California, Texas, Oregon, Kansas, Idaho, Alabama, New Mexico, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Georgia, Washington, Nevada, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona, South Carolina, Tennessee, Iowa, Indiana, Arkansas, 

I lost a friend to an overdose reads a button on a backpack. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

In 2021, Florida recorded the highest number of total fentanyl poising deaths in the U.S., followed by California, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Tennessee, Illinois, Maryland and New Jersey. 

West Virginia recorded the highest number of fentanyl poisoning deaths per capita last year, followed by Washington, D.C.; Maryland; Delaware; Ohio; Kentucky; Tennessee; Connecticut; Maine and Rhode Island.

TEXAS SEIZED ENOUGH FENTANYL TO KILL 200 MILLION PEOPLE THIS YEAR ALONE, OFFICIALS SAY

Ohio has recorded more fentanyl deaths since 2015 than the 20 states with the fewest fentanyl deaths combined, losing nearly 20,000 people to the dangerous opioid.

Since 2015, Louisiana has seen the most drastic jump — 2,363% — in fentanyl deaths, followed by Arizona (2,172%), California (2,137%), Indiana (1,370%), Minnesota (1,189%) and Washington state (1,169%). 

Officials have a growing concern that middle school, high school, and college-aged kids are being targeted as criminals make fentanyl pills disguised as Oxycodone, Adderall and Xanax. (Cary Quashen/ Fox News)

Families Against Fentanyl released an analysis in December 2021 that found fentanyl deaths surged to the No. 1 cause of deaths for U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 45.

"It is time to attack fentanyl overdoses with the same vigor and approaches as we do the coronavirus. It is heartbreaking to treat babies who overdosed or people who had no idea their pills or powder was contaminated with a deadly poison," Dr. Roneet Lev, emergency physician and former Chief Medical Officer of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in a statement 

 Lev continued: "Treating fentanyl overdoses is an attempt to bring someone back from the dead. As an emergency physician I do my best, but sadly we are not always successful. Fentanyl suppliers are preying on the vulnerable in our society."

 

Audrey Conklin is a digital reporter for FOX Business and Fox News. Email tips to audrey.conklin@fox.com or on Twitter at @audpants.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/us/fentanyl-poisoning-deaths-double-30-states

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GoFundMe backtracks on redistributing money for Canadian truckers, under threat of fraud investigation - Timothy Nerozzi

 

by Timothy Nerozzi

Crowdfunding platform says it will automatically refund $10 million in donations

Facing a potential fraud investigation by the state of Florida, GoFundMe reversed a decision to redistribute money given by thousands of donors to the Canadian "Freedom Convoy" protesting COVID-19 regulations.

On Friday, the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe froze the convoy's official campaign, claiming law enforcement convinced the company that the convoy had become violent and unlawful.

GoFundMe encouraged donors to submit a refund form, and said that any funds not properly returned to donors would be donated to a charity chosen by the Freedom Convoy.

Within hours, however, GoFundMe walked back the refund applications, instead announcing it would be refunding donors automatically.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that he would "investigate" the company, accusing them of fraud.

 

It is a fraud for @gofundme to commandeer $9M in donations sent to support truckers and give it to causes of their own choosing.

I will work with @AGAshleyMoody to investigate these deceptive practices — these donors should be given a refund.

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) February 5, 2022

 

"GoFundMe supports peaceful protests and we believe that was the intention of the Freedom Convoy 2022 fundraiser when it was first created. We now have evidence from law enforcement that the previously peaceful demonstration has become an occupation, with police reports of violence and other unlawful activity," GoFundMe announced. There has been little to no reports of documented violence at the protest.

CANADIAN PASTOR WHO DEFIED COVID BAN BY HOLDING SERVICES SINGS ‘AMAZING GRACE’ AT US BORDER

GoFundMe also drew the ire of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who stated on social media that he would be launching a fraud investigation.

"Patriotic Texans donated to Canadian truckers’ worthy cause using GoFundMe. This BLM-backing company went woke, froze the funds, & failed to deliver Texans’ money," Paxton said. "Today I assembled a team to investigate their potential fraud & deception. Texas donors will get Justice!"

The GoFundMe page to support the "Freedom Convoy" of Canadian truckers was approaching $10 million as of Monday evening, which is more money than the major federal political parties of Canada raised during the last quarter of 2021.

The last truck blocking the southbound lane moves after a breakthrough resolved the impasse where anti-COVID-19 vaccine mandate demonstrators blocked the highway at the busy U.S. border crossing in Coutts, Alberta, Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022.  (Jeff McIntosh /The Canadian Press via AP / AP Newsroom)

"Our current government is implementing rules and mandates that are destroying the foundation of our businesses, industries and livelihoods," read the convoy’s GoFundMe page. "We are a peaceful country that has helped protect nations across the globe from tyrannical governments who oppressed their people, and now it seems it is happening here."

The company additionally cited the group of trucks' evolution from convoy to stationary protest in Ottawa as the reason for the campaign's termination. 

Truckers point to where their sleeper cab was egged while they participate in a protest against COVID-19 restrictions in Ottawa, on Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. (Justin Tang /The Canadian Press via AP / AP Newsroom)

"Organizers provided a clear distribution plan for the initial $1M that was released earlier this week and confirmed funds would be used only for participants who traveled to Ottawa to participate in a peaceful protest. Given how this situation has evolved, no further funds will be directly distributed to the Freedom Convoy organizers — we will work with organizers to send all remaining funds to credible and established charities chosen by the Freedom Convoy 2022 organizers and verified by GoFundMe."

GoFundMe faced immediate backlash for the announcement with tens of thousands of comments on their social media posts about the cancellation.

A protester carries empty cans for fuel as a protest against COVID-19 restrictions continues into its second week, in Ottawa, on Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. (Justin Tang /The Canadian Press via AP / AP Newsroom)

Critics of the company's haphazard cancellation include Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who questioned whether there is a "double-standard," given past fundraisers for legal funds in defense of antifa members and criminal protesters.

 

Hey @elonmusk, get your money back ASAP

— Keean Bexte (@TheRealKeean) February 5, 2022

 

FOX Business' Jon Brown contributed to this report. 

 

Timothy Nerozzi

Source: https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/gofundme-backtracks-canadian-trucker-money-fraud-investigation-threat

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