Month: October 2020

The Trump administration led a 32-nation signing ceremony of a declaration that affirms there is no international right to abortion.

On Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Health & Human Services Alex Azar co-hosted the virtual signing of the Geneva Consensus Declaration along with the governments of Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, and Uganda.

The declaration serves as a rebuke to the pro-abortion rights U.N. and World Health Organization (W.H.O.).

It states the nations join to promote women’s health as well as the “strength of the family and of a successful and flourishing society.” The governments also affirm “the essential priority of protecting the right to life.”

The nations that signed onto the declaration, which represent 1.6 billion people, also “reaffirm ‘all are equal before the law,’” and that “human rights of women are an inalienable, integral, and indivisible part of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

The governments declare “the inherent ‘dignity and worth of the human person,’ that ‘every human being has the inherent right to life,’ and the commitment ‘to enable women to go safely through pregnancy and childbirth and provide couples with the best chance of having a healthy infant.’”

The declaration emphasizes that “in no case should abortion be promoted as a method of family planning,” and that “the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.”

The governments also assert that “women and girls must enjoy equal access to quality education, economic resources, and political participation,” as well as equal access to employment and decision-making.

“This is the first time these nations have committed to working together – despite cultural and religious differences – to ensure that human rights are extended to every member of the human family,” Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, observed in a statement.

Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser praised the commitment of the Trump administration to the right to life:

Abortion is not health care. Sovereign nations have the right to protect their most vulnerable citizens, including the unborn, and to be free from bullying and coercive efforts to expand abortion on demand. From day one, President Trump and his administration have worked to stop the exportation of abortion, making respect for life the official policy of the United States in our international relations. We join our friends around the world in celebrating this landmark declaration, which builds on the Trump administration’s commitment to promote authentic human rights and dignity at every turn.

Additionally, seven member nations of the Organization of American States (OAS) signed a joint statement that affirms “every human being has the right to life, liberty and the security of his person,” and that it is the sovereign right of nations to make their own laws protecting life from the moment of conception.

“President Trump is standing for the defense of life in the Americas like no other president in history,” Alfonso Aguilar, president of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, said, and added:

At a time when the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights, which ironically are supposed to promote and defend human rights in the region, are actively seeking to undermine the fundamental human rights of the unborn, the United States, acting in unison with eight other OAS member states, is raising its voice to say in no uncertain terms that the Organization of American States and its affiliate bodies must respect the sovereignty of the counties of the Western Hemisphere to enact legislation that protects life from the moment of conception.

In August 2019, Pompeo and Azar sent a joint letter inviting other world leaders to stand with the United States in defending life against the efforts within the U.N. to create an international right to abortion on demand.

In their letter, Pompeo and Azar asked other governments to join with the U.S. “in ensuring that every sovereign state has the ability to determine the best way to protect the unborn and defend the family as the foundational unit of society vital to children thriving and leading healthy lives.”

“[P]lease encourage other countries in your region to join this growing coalition to push back against harmful efforts to interpret long-standing international instruments as requiring anti-family and pro-abortion policies,” Pompeo and Azar wrote to the other world leaders, “and to promote proactively positions that will protect families and strengthen the health of all people.”

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Friday once again began imposing draconian coronavirus lockdowns on the Windy City’s beleaguered businesses, but owners are at last beginning to organize against the rules.

Lightfoot’s newest restrictions were scheduled to take effect on Friday and include a ban on indoor service for bars without a food license, and curfews, ABC 7 reported.

“As part of the new rules, bars without food licenses will need to stop indoor service again. All liquor sales at all establishments must end at 9 p.m.,” ABC noted.

Lightfoot also demanded “non-essential businesses” must close between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Businesses she deems “essential” will be allowed to operate as usual. Those businesses include grocery stores, pharmacies, and restaurants that serve as take-out.

Lightfoot has also banned gatherings of more than six people, and she claims she will not allow any gatherings after 10 p.m.

But some business owners are finally speaking out. The owners of Four Treys Tavern, for instance, threatened to stay open in defiance of Lightfoot’s orders.

“I just figured the hell with closing up, I’ll just stay open,” Four Treys co-owner Paul Seng told ABC. “Give me my license money back. If you’re going to raise my taxes and all that stuff and put me out of business, then well, it’s insane.”

“It’s more draining for my employees,” said Colleen Flood, another Four Treys Tavern co-owner. “That’s what bothers me the most. Don’t they think about the employees? How are they going to pay their bills?”

Other bar and restaurant owners in Illinois agree, and some are beginning to organize against Lightfoot’s and Illinois Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s renewed draconian lockdowns, Fox News reported.

Ki’s Steak and Seafood in the Chicago suburb of Glendale Heights also threatened to ignore the lockdown orders.

“We are standing up for our freedom, and WE WILL STAY OPEN! We have been in business for 80+ years, and no one is going to tell us we can’t live out the American dream,” the establishment wrote on Facebook.

The owners of DuPage County-based La Hacienda de los Fernandez are also sick and tired of the lockdowns.

“We have collectively decided to remain open at all three of our locations in DuPage County,” the restaurant said on its Facebook page. “It is time we take a stand for our freedom and our rights. Please support us and dine in.”

In addition, the Illinois Restaurant Association lambasted the lockdowns.

“Unless the state of Illinois takes a more reasonable approach to mitigation, thousands of restaurants are at risk of permanent closure,” IlRA President Sam Toia said in a Facebook video statement. “Closing restaurants for indoor service will result in the exact opposite of the intended impact of slowing the spread, as it drives people further into uncontrolled, unmonitored private gatherings where few safety precautions are in place.”

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston.

President Donald Trump treated his supporters at a rally at The Villages in Florida on Friday to a recorded video of former Vice President Joe Biden talking about cutting Social Security and Medicare, among other benefits.

“The video I’m about to play was created by Crazy Bernie earlier this year to expose Joe Biden’s atrocious record and his egregious lies,” Trump said, referring to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who failed to win the Democrat primary against Biden.

The video featured Biden’s history of talking about cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and veterans’ benefits, and was edited together with footage from a Democrat primary debate with Biden and Sanders about the issue.

C-SPAN

“This guy is either really stupid or he lies,” Trump said after playing the video.

Biden’s record on promoting Social Security cuts for the last 40 years was revisited in January 2020 by The Intercept’s Ryan Grim when it became clear that Biden was gaining traction in the Democrat primary.

As Breitbart’s Harris Alec has detailed, Vice President Joe Biden also worked for a spending deal that would have cut federal spending by $2 trillion, including programs like Social Security and Medicare.

At a March 15 Democrat primary debate, Sanders tried to pin down Biden’s past statements.

Sanders: Let me ask you a question, Joe. You’re right here with me. Have you been on the floor of the Senate, you were in the Senate for a few years, time and time again talking about the necessity, with pride, about cutting Social Security, cutting Medicare, cutting veterans programs?

Biden: No.

Sanders: You never said that?

Biden: No.

Sanders: All right, America, go to the website right now, go to the YouTube right now.

Trump has repeatedly vowed to protect Social Security and Medicare, breaking with many leading Republican presidential candidates in the 2016 primary.

Via Daily Wire:

Former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly praised President Donald Trump for his debate performance on Thursday evening, saying that the president was effective, delivered substantive answers and overall beat Democratic nominee Joe Biden “handily.”

“Trump won this debate, handily. Biden wasn’t a force at all. Trump was substantive, on-point, well-tempered. Definitely helped himself, when it mattered most,” said Kelly.

Keep reading…

Newsrooms are not sending us their best people…

This is how Democrats ACTUALLY believe it works:

In September 2015, the Obama-Biden administration approved the sale of a strategically sensitive Michigan manufacturer, Henniges Automotive, to a firm connected to Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, and a Chinese military contractor that was on an American watch list because of its close ties to the People’s Liberation Army. Hunter Biden’s equity fund, backed by the Communist Chinese government, and the Chinese contractor, Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC), needed special approval for the deal from the Committee of Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CIFIUS) because Henniges produced technology with potential military use.

AVIC entities have been sanctioned by the United States on five separate occasions since 1993 and the addition to the watch list–a major red flag—occurred less than a year-and-a-half before they co-purchased Henniges with Hunter Biden’s BHR. The fact that CFIUS approved the deal is alarming given that Henniges owns numerous facilities in the United States that are now controlled by a Chinese military front company.

Internal BHR documents show exactly how the Chinese military contractor was able to disguise its ownership via shell corporations and formed a joint-venture with the son of the vice president to facilitate the Chinese takeover of an American dual-use technology supplier. Additional documents suggest that Hunter Biden’s Chinese-backed venture funneled money to an entity controlled by Vanessa Kerry, the daughter of then-Secretary of State John Kerry, just one month before CFIUS approved the takeover. At the time, Secretary Kerry played a lead role on the Obama-Biden CFIUS committee.

When news of the AVIC takeover of Michigan-based manufacturer Henniges Automotive hit the wire, Biden’s associates celebrated, calling the transaction a “proof of concept” for future Chinese acquisitions. “Congratulations!!!! Proof of concept again,” read the subject line of Devon Archer’s email on September 15, 2015. “This is great. Let’s get a letter out to Ambassador Baucus ASAP Archie (an apparent Archer nickname),” Bevan Cooney replied. Cooney is a former Biden associate who is now incarcerated for a separate venture—the tribal bond scheme—involving Biden’s business partners. [Should we explain that “Archie” is Devon Archer?] Cooney has provided investigative journalists Peter Schweizer and Matthew Tyrmand with access to his emails with written authorization.

Cooney’s emails (and their attachments) reveal how the Biden-led Chinese joint venture known as Bohai Harvest RST (BHR) viewed the Henniges acquisition—which they code named “Project Hanson”—as a major coup and a model for future BHR “cross-border” investments.

Moments after the deal closed, Archer set to work drafting a letter to U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus (who happened to be a longtime friend of the Biden family). Archer’s letter was an invitation to Ambassador Baucus to attend a banquet celebration for the deal with esteemed guest including BHR’s communist state-owned “strategic partners” and investors:

I am writing to invite you to a cross-border banquet to celebrate our acquisition of Henniges Automotive. We consummated the transaction earlier this month, in conjunction with our strategic partner, AVIC, for $600 million. I have also attached a news article about the transaction.

This milestone marks our first U.S.-based acquisition. Our strategic partners, including AVIC and Sinopec, will be in attendance, as will our investors, including the Bank of China and China Development Bank. We hope to discuss the opportunities and challenges of cross-border investments for Chinese companies in today’s macro environment. A member of our team has also extended an invitation to your economics advisor – Jonathan Fritz – to speak at the seminar.

The strategic partners and investors that Archer listed—particularly Sinopec, the Bank of China, and the China Development Bank—are all State-owned entities and therefore arms of the Chinese Communist Party whose executives/officials, along with BHR, clearly wanted to celebrate the Henniges coup.

Indeed, Hunter Biden’s Chinese business partner were pleased. One internal BHR document states in both English and Mandarin Chinese: “We are incredibly proud of the perseverance, dedication and ingenuity of the Project Hanson team who collectively brought to life the first-born of BHR’s cross-border investment platform, the first of many to come.”

2015 – Bhr Newsletter 2015 Christmas Edition by Breitbart News on Scribd

Roger Robinson, a former senior director for international economic affairs on President Ronald Reagan’s National Security Council, claims that “the U.S. government has known for years that AVIC has been helping China’s military and aiding U.S. enemies and as such was sanctioned in the past.” AVIC’s well-known and long-established ties to the Chinese military-industrial complex makes the Obama-Biden administration’s approval “all the more curious.” “This is anything but a benign Chinese enterprise,” said Robinson.

But BHR and AVIC’s Project Hanson helped obfuscate and ameliorate the AVIC connections by creating a complex ownership structure. One internal BHR document reveals precisely how the Chinese military front company was able to disguise its true ownership in a byzantine off-shore structure, presumably obfuscating the fact that the Chinese military was taking over U.S. company whose technology is on the restricted Commerce Control List (“Target” refers to U.S. military supplier Henniges Automotive):

BHR Hunter Biden by Breitbart News on Scribd

Another internal BHR document contains a shocking revelation: Devon Archer facilitated Chinese “support” for an entity called Seed Global Health. Seed Global Health was co-founded and controlled by the daughter of Secretary John Kerry. According to BHR’s December 2015 internal document: “A special shout out to our director and shareholder, Devon Archer, for his involvement with the Seed Global Health non-profit foundation, which works to send medical staff and resources globally to countries in need. BHR will continue to support this and other worthy causes.”

It appears that BHR is referring to a fundraiser hosted by Devon Archer for Secretary Kerry’s daughter and her Seed Global Health organization that occurred on August 16, 2015—less than one month before Kerry’s State Department and the rest of the Obama-Biden CFIUS agencies approved Henniges takeover.  The politically connected Seed Global Health has previously come under fire for receiving more than $9 million in State Department funds without bids or competition and, in 2018, an executive at Seed Global Health was charged by federal prosecutors for violating federal conflict of interest laws and illegal lobbying.

This is a developing story.

Peter Schweizer is the author of Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America’s Progressive Elite. Seamus Bruner is the author of Fallout: Nuclear Bribes, Russian Spies, and the Washington Lies that Enriched the Clinton and Biden Dynasties.