Month: October 2019

ESPN on Wednesday evening showed a graphic recognizing China’s erroneous claim to own the South China Sea, despite the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling against that claim in 2016.

While transitioning to a segment about the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team arriving in Shanghai for their Thursday game, ESPN showed a graphic of China with the so-called Nine-Dash Line. The dashed lines encircle the South China Sea, marking the large area of it the PRC claims to control.

The Heritage Foundation’s John Cooper posted the clip on Twitter.

Wow, nothing to see here except @ESPN implicitly acknowledging China’s claims to the South China Sea by using the "Nine-Dash Line" on a graphic today #StandWithHongKong: pic.twitter.com/KCDIV77h5H

— John Cooper (@thejcoop) October 10, 2019

China has repeatedly claimed it owns 90 percent of the South China Sea under a so-called Nine-Dash Line. but the Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international court located in the Hague, Netherlands, ruled in 2016 that China’s claim was illegal. The court said there was no evidence or historical context that showed China having exclusive control over the South China Sea or its resources.

"The Tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line,’" the court said.

However, China has rejected this ruling.

Earlier this summer, China conducted a series of missile tests in the South China Sea in an attempt to send a message to the United States, according to Adm. Philip Davidson, commander of the Indo-Pacific Command.

The Chinese fired six anti-ship ballistic missiles in the South China Sea in the first sea launch of the new DF-21D missile. The unique missile is designed to sink U.S. aircraft carriers at sea with a maneuvering warhead.

The Pentagon also said the missile tests were a violation of a 2015 pledge made by Chinese president Xi Jinping not to militarize disputed islands in the South China Sea.

The U.S. statement came amid growing tensions between Vietnam and China over access to undersea resources.

The NBA stirred controversy earlier in the week when it sided with China over Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, who got into trouble with the Chinese government for a tweet supporting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. Morey later deleted his tweet and posted a thread clarifying he was not speaking on behalf of the team, but did not apologize.

Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta quickly distanced himself from Morey, as did Rockets players James Harden and Russell Westbrook. Harden said he was "sorry" and Westbrook said, "We apologize. We love China."

The NBA would later release a statement reading:

We recognize that the views expressed by Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China, which is regrettable. While Daryl has made it clear that his tweet does not represent the Rockets or the NBA, the values of the league support individuals’ educating themselves and sharing their views on matters important to them. We have great respect for the history and culture of China and hope that sports and the NBA can be used as a unifying force to bridge cultural divides and bring people together.

The post ESPN Uses Chinese Propaganda in TV Graphic appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

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As if ballot-harvesting by illegal immigrants were not enough, California has come up with a new way to rig elections to ensure one-party permanant Democratic Party rule.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

SACRAMENTO — Californians will be able to register to vote on election day at local polling places and voting centers under legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday, a potentially significant step toward boosting turnout in key contests next year.The new law provides for a significant expansion of so-called conditional voter registration, which allows a new voter to cast a ballot that is counted after eligibility is determined during the 30-day vote-counting period after an election. That process began in last year’s statewide election,

but registration was available only in county elections offices. Starting next year, voters can register on election day anywhere ballots are cast.

“This simply enfranchises more people to vote,” said state Sen. Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana), the author of the new law. “The presidential race is one thing, but this is going to make an even bigger difference in turnout for local races.”

 

Suffice to say, this is a recipe for disaster. As voting tallies roll out in real time on election day, Democratic operatives, illegally here or not, will be right onto the matter, with lists of unregistered potential voters, going to their homes and signing them up to make the tally go their way. The political muscle used is going to be amazing.

 

With California already not checking who’s legally allowed to vote, and often, through the Department of Motor Vehicles’ automatic voter registration system, you can bet a lot of those newly registered voters are not going to be here legally. The sanctuary state, after all, does not check.

 

Now that they’ve got a register-or-else system of political muscling for registrations in elections going the Republican way, you can bet they will muscle illegals to register – with a warning that they’ll be reported to authorities as illegal if they don’t. 

 

They’ll be additionally shielded from scrutiny based on the fact that the state has refused to cooperate with federal investigators about who’s registered legally, so it’s a perfect game for them.

 

What’s stunning is why they did it at all. After all, haven’t they already gotten the solid blue state they’ve wanted, based on their past rigging? They’ve even gotten deep red Orange County in their column, which has a whiff of fraud. They’ve enacted drivers licenses for illegal immigrations and now automatic motor voter registration which can only be halted on the honor system, if someone says they are not allowed to vote due to being a non-citizen. Plenty of ‘errors’ have already happened.

 

They’ve also enacted automatic mail-in ballots, even if people do not ask for them, putting physical paper ballots on every kitchen table in the state if not in the mailboxes of people who have moved away. Based on that, they’ve enacted ballot-harvesting, where Democratic operatives break the chain of custody in first counting votes coming in and once they see a result they don’t like, fanning out and goking to people’s houses who still have not voted – and ‘collecting’ those votes, once they’ve ‘helped’ these indifferent or unwilling voters to fill them out. You can see how easy it would be to coerce an illegal immigrant in such conditions. Worse still, the fate of the ballot of someone who voted the ‘wrong’ way is anyone’s guess, no one knows if they turn all the ballots in.

 

Rest assured, there’s more rigging: They’ve enacted a first-two-out-the-gate primary system which keeps Republicans off the ballot entirely, forcing voters to choose between just two Democrats, one hideous and the second even worse. That was the nightmare Republicans faced when they were forced to choose between Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who’d just got caught employing a Chinese spy for 20 years, and a crazed leftist affiliated with what’s unaffectionately known as the ‘Mexican mafia’ of California’s political machinery, named Kevin Leon. The map here shows how bad it is.

 

With this kind of rigging, it’s no wonder California, which still has a sizable conservative contingent has nearly zero representation in any public office, state or national. 

 

Yet the left still can’t trust the good thing it’s got and still doesn’t trust those unreliable voters. This measure to stack the total with same-day registrations is just ther latest scheme to ensure permanent power. It stinks to high heaven. 

 

 

 

As if ballot-harvesting by illegal immigrants were not enough, California has come up with a new way to rig elections to ensure one-party permanant Democratic Party rule.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

SACRAMENTO — Californians will be able to register to vote on election day at local polling places and voting centers under legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday, a potentially significant step toward boosting turnout in key contests next year.The new law provides for a significant expansion of so-called conditional voter registration, which allows a new voter to cast a ballot that is counted after eligibility is determined during the 30-day vote-counting period after an election. That process began in last year’s statewide election,

but registration was available only in county elections offices. Starting next year, voters can register on election day anywhere ballots are cast.

“This simply enfranchises more people to vote,” said state Sen. Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana), the author of the new law. “The presidential race is one thing, but this is going to make an even bigger difference in turnout for local races.”

 

Suffice to say, this is a recipe for disaster. As voting tallies roll out in real time on election day, Democratic operatives, illegally here or not, will be right onto the matter, with lists of unregistered potential voters, going to their homes and signing them up to make the tally go their way. The political muscle used is going to be amazing.

 

With California already not checking who’s legally allowed to vote, and often, through the Department of Motor Vehicles’ automatic voter registration system, you can bet a lot of those newly registered voters are not going to be here legally. The sanctuary state, after all, does not check.

 

Now that they’ve got a register-or-else system of political muscling for registrations in elections going the Republican way, you can bet they will muscle illegals to register – with a warning that they’ll be reported to authorities as illegal if they don’t. 

 

They’ll be additionally shielded from scrutiny based on the fact that the state has refused to cooperate with federal investigators about who’s registered legally, so it’s a perfect game for them.

 

What’s stunning is why they did it at all. After all, haven’t they already gotten the solid blue state they’ve wanted, based on their past rigging? They’ve even gotten deep red Orange County in their column, which has a whiff of fraud. They’ve enacted drivers licenses for illegal immigrations and now automatic motor voter registration which can only be halted on the honor system, if someone says they are not allowed to vote due to being a non-citizen. Plenty of ‘errors’ have already happened.

 

They’ve also enacted automatic mail-in ballots, even if people do not ask for them, putting physical paper ballots on every kitchen table in the state if not in the mailboxes of people who have moved away. Based on that, they’ve enacted ballot-harvesting, where Democratic operatives break the chain of custody in first counting votes coming in and once they see a result they don’t like, fanning out and goking to people’s houses who still have not voted – and ‘collecting’ those votes, once they’ve ‘helped’ these indifferent or unwilling voters to fill them out. You can see how easy it would be to coerce an illegal immigrant in such conditions. Worse still, the fate of the ballot of someone who voted the ‘wrong’ way is anyone’s guess, no one knows if they turn all the ballots in.

 

Rest assured, there’s more rigging: They’ve enacted a first-two-out-the-gate primary system which keeps Republicans off the ballot entirely, forcing voters to choose between just two Democrats, one hideous and the second even worse. That was the nightmare Republicans faced when they were forced to choose between Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who’d just got caught employing a Chinese spy for 20 years, and a crazed leftist affiliated with what’s unaffectionately known as the ‘Mexican mafia’ of California’s political machinery, named Kevin Leon. The map here shows how bad it is.

 

With this kind of rigging, it’s no wonder California, which still has a sizable conservative contingent has nearly zero representation in any public office, state or national. 

 

Yet the left still can’t trust the good thing it’s got and still doesn’t trust those unreliable voters. This measure to stack the total with same-day registrations is just ther latest scheme to ensure permanent power. It stinks to high heaven. 

 

 

 

via American Thinker Blog

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The following is an excerpt from Blaze Media’s daily Capitol Hill Brief email newsletter:

In an era when almost everything in American politics and culture is exhaustingly divisive, it appears that one of the few unifying issues is opposition to the importation of Chinese government censorship.

A bipartisan letter to the NBA commissioner about the league’s recent China controversy drew the signatures of Republican lawmakers Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, and Ben Sasse as well as the far-left House firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The bipartisan letter, which was spearheaded by New Jersey House Democrat Tom Malinowski, expresses lawmakers’ concerns about the NBA’s recent apology for Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s tweet that supported pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. It also calls on the NBA to suspend its activities in China until the country ends its boycott against the league and the Houston Rockets.

“We are deeply concerned that individuals associated with the league may now engage in self-censorship that is inconsistent with American and the league’s stated values — and that this incident will only encourage further intimidation of American companies and persons by the Chinese government,” the letter reads, adding that the NBA should have anticipated such a challenge when doing business “in a country run by a repressive, single-party government.”

“Unless American businesses aggressively confront this intimidation campaign, the Chinese government will increasingly punish free speech outside China’s borders,” the letter explains. “The most common method is to threaten access to the growing Chinese domestic market for any international company or organization that criticizes, or allows its employees to criticize, Chinese government policies.”

The post Cruz, Sasse, and AOC join letter calling out NBA and requesting suspension of games in China appeared first on Conservative Review.

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ROME — The Vatican issued a statement Wednesday refuting claims Pope Francis had denied the divinity of Jesus Christ, saying the words attributed to the pontiff were a “free interpretation” of what he actually said.

On Wednesday, journalist Eugenio Scalfari published an essay in the Italian daily La Repubblica declaring, among other things, that the pope told him that he believes that Jesus of Nazareth was an exceptional man, but not God incarnate.

“As has already been stated on other occasions, the words that Dr. Eugenio Scalfari attributes in quotation marks to the Holy Father during talks with him cannot be considered a faithful account of what was actually said, but represent rather a personal and free interpretation of what he heard, as is quite evident from what was written today about the divinity of Jesus Christ,” reads the statement by papal spokesman Matteo Bruni.

According to Scalfari, founder of La Repubblica, “Pope Francis conceives the Christ as Jesus of Nazareth, a man, not God incarnate. Once he took flesh, Jesus ceased to be a God and became a man until his death on the cross.”

Scalfari goes on to say that the pope told him that Jesus’ words from the cross “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” testify to Christ’s merely human nature.

“Pope Francis told me: ‘There are the proof that Jesus of Nazareth, once he became a man, even a man of exceptional virtue, was in no way a God,’” Scalfari wrote.

The divinity of Jesus Christ is a central tenet of Christianity. The Nicene Creed, a summary of Christian belief, reads (in part): “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father.”

This is not the first time the Vatican has been obliged to issue a clarification following papal interviews with Mr. Scalfari, which has led many to suspect that the pope continues to grant him interviews because he desires the confusion and ambiguity that Scalfari’s articles sow.

Pope Francis has repeatedly downplayed the importance of doctrine, the official teaching of the Church on matters of faith and morals. Being a Christian does not mean primarily “adhering to a certain doctrine,” Francis has said, but rather in binding one’s life to the person of Jesus. He has moreover often criticized whose who insist on right doctrine as being “rigid,” “pharisaical,” and “legalistic.”

Over the years of his pontificate, the pope has granted Mr. Scalfari numerous informal interviews and it has been generally understood that he uses this vehicle to get his ideas out, especially more controversial ones, while always maintaining a certain degree of plausible deniability if something Scalfari relates causes problems.

After one such papal interview with Scalfari in 2013, veteran Vatican analyst John L. Allen offered advice as to how these conversations should be read. He noted that though the words may not always be precise, the content is generally trustworthy.

“Look, Italian journalism has many strengths, but a passion for factual accuracy is not among them. It is what it is,” Allen said.

“The takeaway is, the big picture is accurate,” he said. “I don’t think, in any fundamental way, he misrepresented the pope’s thought. But I also think it’s impossible to know where Francis ends and Scalfari begins, at the level of detail. I would just be very careful. I, myself, will not take any direct quotes out of that interview and present them as coming from the pope.”

Pope Francis himself has never denied anything that Scalfari has written about him and seems content to continue granting him interviews.

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A friend of mine posted this on YouTube. The language is a bit on the salty side but the point he’s getting across is great.

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President Trump is fulfilling his promise to put American First.

The president promised to secure the border and despite massive resistance from Democrats in Congress and open borders Republicans he is building a wall and protecting the US border.

Democrats have not given him ONE VOTE to protect America’s borders.

Now this…
According to Breitbart.com the Trump administration deported over 2,500 illegal aliens in the last two months back to central America.

President Trump’s administration deported more than 2,500 illegal aliens in the last two months who had arrived at the United States-Mexico border and claimed to be part of a family unit.

Federal data obtained by Breitbart News reveals that since August, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has deported more than 2,500 illegal aliens who arrived as a family unit at the southern border and have final orders for removal.

Over these two months, ICE agents arrested another 275 illegal aliens who arrived as family units at the border. All of these illegal aliens arrested have final orders for removal, meaning they have gone through the asylum and immigration courts and have been found not to be eligible to stay in the U.S.

Compare these deportation numbers to that of Fiscal Year 2018, when ICE deported 2,711 illegal aliens who arrived as family units at the border for the entire year.

The post AMERICA FIRST: Donald Trump Increases Deportations of Illegal Aliens by 453% in Recent Months appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed in a statement on Thursday that top al Qaeda bomb maker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, believed to have masterminded a failed bombing of a U.S.-bound airliner in 2009, was killed two years ago in a U.S. counterterrorism operation in Yemen.

U.S. officials said last year that they were confident al-Asiri had been killed, but others had cautioned at the time that the evidence was not conclusive.

(Reporting by Makini Brice and Susan Heavey; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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The post Zelensky: “This is not corruption, it was just a call” appeared first on Hot Air.

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Tuesday, during an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Fox Sports 1’s “Speak For Yourself” co-host Jason Whitlock offered an in-depth analysis of the ongoing saga involving the National Basketball Association and the Chinese government.

Whitlock explained to host Tucker Carlson much of the NBA’s tack on China was being done on behalf of the shoe companies with ties to professional basketball. That he explained has an impact on U.S. culture.

CARLSON: Jason Whitlock is the host of “Speak for Yourself” on Fox Sports One and he joins us tonight.

So Jason, this seems inexcusable behavior from the NBA. What’s your view of it?

JASON WHITLOCK, FOX SPORTS ONE HOST: Well, I think the cultural impact that China’s influence over a great sport, a great American sport like basketball is just now being exposed at just how dependent the NBA is on the Chinese economy and Chinese money to put on the appearance of how great the league is doing. Without the Chinese money and without —

Because you really have to understand the shoe companies — Nike, Adidas — they run American Basketball from the high school level all the way to the pros and the shoe companies are dependent on the China market and that’s where all of this is coming from.

You see NBA players constantly over the summer, during their offseason, running to China, to do the bidding of their shoe companies and to sell their shoes in the China market. And so the NBA is really being exposed as not nearly as much of American business, as it is a global business, with China, perhaps having more influence over it than even America.

CARLSON: Which is shocking, given that, of course — and shocking because I don’t think most people know that.

WHITLOCK: No.

CARLSON: But also shocking given that the NBA was, of course, incubated in this country. It wouldn’t have been possible in any other. Basketball was invented in Springfield, Massachusetts in a YMCA. It is the most American of all sports. And I don’t know that there’s any basketball arena that wasn’t subsidized by American taxpayers. So like, how could they possibly take this position?

WHITLOCK: Tucker, the cultural impact of this, and what a great teachable moment it is for most Americans is when people start talking about being a global citizen, I don’t think people really understand what that means for American culture.

And I think for a lot of the everyday, typical American sports fan, this is an educational experience. This is what people have been talking about. We can’t let our corporations, our country being totally driven by China because it’s driving our culture.

These basketball players — LeBron James. James Harden, actually apologized on behalf of Daryl Morey to the Chinese government. We’re apologizing to a communist government, and then we have athletes here and coaches like Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich that rail against our government. We’re the bad guys in the minds of these NBA players and coaches and their little parade of being so woke, all of it to me is at the behest of the shoe companies.

They’re doing the bidding of the shoe companies and protecting China and demonizing us and our culture and dramatically changing our culture. Because these athletes are young and I’m not giving them an excuse, but they’re young. Many of them didn’t go to college or only spent a year or two in college. They don’t understand how they are being used and played to promote a communist, a Marxist agenda.

They have no idea that their actions and a lot of the things they’re promoting, this victim mentality and all the identity politics and oh, everything that America is racist — all of it. It’s all a scam by the shoe companies.

Look how socially aware we are, look how we fight against injustice. No, you’re actually doing a marketing ploy to pretend you have a social conscience, and you’re actually doing the bidding of the communist regime in China.

CARLSON: Yes, maybe the single most racist government in the world. It’s literally an ethno state. And here’s the socially conscious NBA — very quick, it’s a little shocking to me that Kerr of all people who never hesitates to give his opinion and is often lauded for it, can’t manage to say that he takes Hong Kong’s side?

WHITLOCK: Tucker, these guys can rail against our government, our President and be applauded for it. They don’t have the courage to speak out against a communist government, all kinds of human rights violations. It’s the epitome of hypocrisy and cowardice.

CARLSON: It really is. And thank you for putting it in context with the shoe companies. I think that’s the most interesting thing I’ve heard in a long time. Jason Whitlock. Great to see you tonight.

WHITLOCK: Thank you.

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Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) has sent a letter detailing five questions he has for Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson.

Late last month, Atkinson testified behind closed doors before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. During that time, Cotton’s staff said, the IG “refused to answer questions about the political bias of the ‘whistleblower,’ despite being in a closed session and despite this information being unclassified.” Later, Atkinson offered this information to the House Intelligence Committee, which is chaired by a Democrat.

On Wednesday, Cotton sent a letter to Atkinson with five unanswered questions from his testimony.

“Your disappointing testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee on September 26 was evasive to the point of being insolent and obstructive,” Cotton says in the letter. “Despite repeated questions, you refused to explain what you meant in your written report by ‘indicia of an arguable political bias on the part of the Complainant in favor of a rival political candidate.’ This information is, of course, unclassified and we were meeting in a closed setting. Yet you moralized about how you were duty bound not to share even a hint of this political bias with us.”

Cotton’s questions center around the whistleblower’s political bias:

1. Does the complainant have (or did he once have) a professional relationship with a Democratic presidential candidate or campaign?

2. If so, which candidate or campaign and what is the nature of that relationship?

3. What other “indicia of arguable political bias” of the complainant did you find?

4. Did you or anyone subject to your control or influence share with CNN that the “arguable political bias” was merely that the complainant is a registered Democrat?

5. Why did you refuse to answer my questions at the September 26 hearing?

Cotton gave Atkinson a deadline of 5:00 pm on Friday, October 11 to answer the questions.

As Julie Kelly of American Greatness noted, Cotton’s letter lacks any real teeth, reminding readers that the GOP Senate has regularly sent “strongly worded letters” without ever following up on them.

“We’ve seen this movie before in GOP Senate – threats and demands that are never followed-up,” Kelly tweeted. “Just this week, the Senate Judiciary committee asked about criminal referrals it send to DOJ A YEAR AGO related to the Kavanaugh debacle. Lots of letters sent in 2017/18 about FISA/Spy/Russiagate. No action.”

So we have another strongly-worded *letter* from a GOP Senator demanding answers from a shady bureaucrat he called “insolent and obstructive” for refusing to answer questions about the whistleblower even though the info isn’t classified. Cotton set a deadline of tomorrow for… https://t.co/JhhfYpiFcZ

— Julie Kelly (@julie_kelly2) October 10, 2019

A YEAR AGO related to the Kavanaugh debacle. Lots of letters sent in 2017/18 about FISA/Spy/Russiagate. No action. I hope @SenTomCotton does not repeat the same mistake here with Atkinson.

— Julie Kelly (@julie_kelly2) October 10, 2019

Indeed, throughout the two year investigation into whether President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election (the investigation of which found no evidence to support the media and Democrat’s continued claims about this), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sent numerous letters demanding answers to questions. Some of those letters, such as this one, sought answers as to why Democrat-connected consultants were allowed to retroactively file under the Foreign Agents Registration Act while Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was indicted for not doing so in a timely manner. Another letter from Grassley asked why the FBI raided the home of a whistleblower “who reportedly disclosed information about the Clinton Foundation and the Uranium One transaction.” These and numerous other letters from the senator were never followed up on, and as Kelly pointed out, neither was the criminal referrals for people who provided false testimony during the investigation into Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

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