A Good Day, Confronting China, V-E Day

Gary Bauer

by Gary Bauer: A Good Day
Justice had a good day in America yesterday.

The Justice Department ended the prosecution (and persecution) of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn yesterday. Hopefully, Flynn can begin the process of restoring his life and the lives of his family members. Remember, FBI agents wanted to close the Flynn case without charges, but Peter Strzok intervened at the last minute.

Thanks to the courageous decision of acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell to declassify dozens of transcripts, we also know that Obama Deep State operatives knew all along that neither Flynn nor anyone else in the Trump campaign, let alone the president, was colluding with Russia. Yet they still pursued this false conspiracy theory.

More revelations are expected in the days ahead. (Here and here.)

Then there is the case of Dallas salon owner Shelley Luther. Luther faced economic ruin due to the Covid shutdown, and she and her employees were having trouble putting food on the table for their children.

An arrogant judge fined her for reopening her salon with just one customer at a time. He demanded that she apologize to government bureaucrats. Luther politely but firmly refused to bow.

In a country where violent criminals are being let out of jail due to concerns that they might contract the coronavirus, this mother and small businesswoman was sent to jail!

Thankfully, the Texas Supreme Court ordered her release. I believe the case has ramifications way beyond one salon owner in Dallas, Texas.

Finally, there was a more obscure case involving two top aides to former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. They took the fall for something called "Bridgegate." This was a dispute over whether Gov. Christie had attempted to punish a mayor who crossed him by intentionally causing massive rush hour traffic jams in his city.

It was the kind of hardball politics New Jersey is well-known for, but it turned into a vicious vendetta to destroy Christie and prosecute his staff under federal laws normally reserved for organized crime.

The Supreme Court yesterday reversed the convictions of Christie's two aides. And here's the amazing part: The vote was 9-to-0.

Confronting Communist China
Yesterday, we learned that another 3 million Americans lost their jobs last week, bringing the total to more than 33 million since the pandemic began. The death toll in the United States now exceeds 76,000. And we learned this morning that last month's unemployment rate skyrocketed to 14.7% as a result of the mandated shutdown of our economy.

As the United States continues to grapple with the devastating toll of the coronavirus, China declared this week that it was refusing to allow international investigators into the country to discover the truth about the origins of the virus. Meanwhile, Beijing is ginning up a massive disinformation machine to sow confusion and discord in the U.S.

Incredibly, some in our media continue to suggest that we must bow to China. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was asked on CNBC whether it was smart strategy to "raise the tension and rhetoric" with Beijing while we are still so reliant on China. Pompeo shot back, saying:

"We have an obligation to be truthful to the American people. . . We're not raising the rhetoric. We're simply trying to protect the world from a global pandemic by sharing what we know and asking the Chinese Communist Party to do what they say they want to do.

"They say they want to be a nation that participates in the global economy. They say they want to be cooperative. . . Well, then do the right thing. Share the information you're required to under international health regulations."

Kudos to Sen. Rick Scott of Florida! Scott is leading a Senate investigation into China and he called out the Chinese Communist Party during an interview on Fox & Friends this week. Scott said:

"We have to remember . . . it's Communist China, run by the Communist Party of China. Don't ever forget who they are. . . The Communist Party runs the country. They make all these decisions and they're anti-American, they want world domination. They're not a competitor, they are an adversary now. . .

"They steal our jobs, they steal our technology and now they've intentionally caused a problem that's killing American jobs, killing Americans . . . and people all over the world.

"So I think the biggest thing we can do is make sure Americans stop buying their products. And it's a twofer because then we help build our own economy up again by bringing manufacturing back here."

Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL) is introducing legislation tightening the financial screws on universities that permit communist-run Confucius Institutes on their campuses.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) is chairing a special taskforce to investigate the growing threats to America posed by Beijing. Incredibly, no House Democrats are willing to join this taskforce. They would rather investigate Donald Trump.

Speaking of President Trump, the administration is taking steps to block the $50 billion federal retirement fund from investing in Chinese companies, which are often controlled by the Communist Party.

And the Trump campaign unveiled yet another ad this week going after Joe Biden's record on China.

V-E Day
Today is the 75th anniversary of V-E Day, which stands for "Victory in Europe" Day. It's the day in 1945 when the German armed forces signed an unconditional surrender to the Allies, and the Second World War in Europe came to an end.

It is almost impossible to imagine the celebrations that took place that day. Americans poured into the streets of every city across the country to celebrate this great victory. It would take another four months to defeat the Japanese, but Europe had been liberated from the Nazis.

Sixteen million Americans wore the uniform during World War II. Fewer than 400,000 of them remain with us today.

If there is still somebody in your family who served in World War II, today would be a great day to visit with them — if not in person, then by phone or video chat. Write down and record their stories and recollections from that time.

It's also a good day to remind your family that without the U.S. and our British allies, who stood alone in the early days of the war, the world would've sunk into another Dark Age.

The last veterans of World War II are dying. But our memory of what they did must never fade away.
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Gary Bauer (@GaryLBauer)  is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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