Barr's Big Day, Defending Faith, Primary Day
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| Gary Bauer |
Attorney General William Barr had a big day yesterday. He began the day by announcing indictments against four members of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. According to the Justice Department, they are responsible for the massive Equifax hack in 2017 that compromised the personal data of nearly 150 million Americans.
In his remarks, Barr noted that China has demonstrated a "voracious appetite for the personal data of Americans." He cited the Chinese hacking of Marriott hotels, the Anthem health insurance company and the Office of Personnel Management, which exposed the records of millions of U.S. government employees.
While I am glad Barr announced these indictments, it is highly unlikely that these Chinese military officials will ever be brought to justice. The real news is what the indictments say about China's intentions.
As we reported yesterday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned the nation's governors that there is a real effort by the communist Chinese government to compromise their administrations and to bully state and local officials.
Now we know that the People's Liberation Army is attempting to capture voluminous amounts of information on as many U.S. citizens as possible. Why?
Barr indicated that the Chinese are using the information to "feed China's development of artificial intelligence" and for "the creation of intelligence targeting." Barr also noted that nearly 80 percent of the government's economic espionage cases "have implicated the Chinese government."
This is not how a trading partner treats its allies. America's corporate and political elites need to wake up and confront the danger coming from Beijing. It is not just a giant marketplace eager to do business with America.
Suing Sanctuary States
After taking on the communist Chinese, Attorney General Barr turned his attention to the left-wing sanctuary states and cities thwarting the Trump Administration's efforts to deport criminal aliens.
Speaking to the National Sheriff's Association, Barr announced that the Justice Department was launching "a significant escalation in the federal government's efforts to confront the resistance of 'sanctuary cities.'"
Barr blasted "so-called 'progressive' politicians" for "jeopardizing the public's safety by putting the interests of criminal aliens before those of law-abiding citizens." He said:
"When we are talking about sanctuary cities, we are talking about policies that are designed to allow criminal aliens to escape. . . Their express purpose is to shelter aliens whom local law enforcement has already arrested for other crimes. This is neither lawful nor sensible."
Barr announced that in addition to pending federal lawsuits against California, the Justice Department will also sue the state of New Jersey and King County, Washington, seeking to overturn illegal "sanctuary" policies. And he made it clear that these actions are just the beginning.
While some try to downplay the connection between crime and illegal immigration, this is an extremely serious issue, which the left completely ignores.
A recent report from Texas revealed that more than 200,000 illegal immigrants were booked into local jails over the past eight years. Combined they committed nearly 500,000 offenses, including:
- 500 homicides
- 297 kidnappings
- 3,122 sexual assaults
- 23,954 assaults
- 2,026 robberies
- 8,070 burglaries
- 3,158 weapon charges.
Defending Faith
Yesterday, I attended a day-long meeting at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Among the many issues discussed was how to adequately describe a country like Iran, whose supreme leader has repeatedly declared that one of his regime's stated goals is a second Holocaust through the "annihilation" of the Jewish state.
After that, I flew to San Antonio, Texas, to address the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) Leadership Summit regarding growing religious persecution around the world. CUFI has devoted significant resources to fighting anti-Semitism, as well as Christian persecution overseas.
I believe every church in America should be speaking up on this issue. I know many pastors are uncomfortable addressing issues like marriage and abortion because they don't want to "get involved in politics."
But there is no excuse to not speak up for Christians around the world, many of them poor and people of color, who are being shot, hacked to death, burned alive and sold into slavery. It's not a surprise that the world looks the other way when Christians are murdered in massive numbers. But it's inexcusable for the Church to look the other way.
If your pastor has not addressed the persecution of Christians recently, please urge him to speak up.
Primary Day
New Hampshire voters are heading to the polls today for the nation's first primary of the 2020 campaign season. The latest polls all predict a sizeable victory for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
The biggest unknown at this point is how the rest of field finishes. For example:
Can Pete Buttigieg maintain his momentum with another surprise showing?
Can Amy Klobuchar gain any traction?
Is this Elizabeth Warren's "last stand?" She recently suffered a humiliating setback in Nevada too.
What about Joe Biden? Well, he's already given up on New Hampshire.
Anticipating another "gut punch," his campaign announced that there will be no victory party in the Granite State tonight. Instead, Biden cut short his schedule and is heading to South Carolina for a "launch party," where he's hoping to relaunch, reboot and resuscitate his failing campaign.
It may be too late. It seems that Iowa and New Hampshire have punctured the myth that "electability" was Biden's biggest strength. He's now lost his lead in the national polling as well.
And that's not the only surprise. Michael Bloomberg's unprecedented spending is paying off. The former New York City mayor has surged to third place in two national surveys, overtaking Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg, and is closing in on Joe Biden.
But as Bloomberg buys his way into the top tier of the Democrat primary, he's finally facing some of the scrutiny that the other candidates have endured. Today an audio clip resurfaced of the former mayor defending his controversial "stop and frisk" policies.
This interview is going to be a huge problem for Bloomberg, especially with certain elements of the Democrat Party. Virtually every major Republican has been called a racist for far less than what Bloomberg said about young black and Hispanic men.
Whatever happens today in New Hampshire, the Democrat dumpster fire promises to be entertaining for months to come!
Trump Revs Up Republicans
While the media are focused on the Democrat horse race, President Trump went to New Hampshire yesterday and fired up Republican voters like only he can. He packed a 12,000-seat arena and even the overflow area was overflowing!
ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl noted that the Democrats held an event at the same arena over the weekend, and even with all Democrat candidates there together the crowd for Trump was "bigger by far."
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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
Tags: Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, Barr's Big Day, Defending Faith, Primary Day To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
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