This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.
Beirut used to be known as the Paris of the Middle East, a beautiful and civilized oasis in a region that has for centuries by been wracked by death and destruction, much of it at the hands of jihadists. Today, that city lies largely in smoldering ruins as a result of devastating explosions that destroyed what was left of its Christian quarter and vital port facilities.
While what triggered this catastrophe is unclear, we do know that Hezbollah warehoused nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate in the midst of its longtime enemies in the Christian community. The jihadists knew full well the danger: They had used this highly explosive substance in successive, murderous terrorist attacks.
As the world mobilizes to provide humanitarian relief to Lebanon, it must go to the victims, not empower or legitimate the jihadists responsible for their suffering.
This is Frank Gaffney.
This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.
With the United States preoccupied with new surges of the Chinese Communist Party virus, Beijing seems poised to act ever-more-aggressively in the Western Pacific.
In the aftermath of President Trump’s recent surge of two U.S. aircraft carrier battlegroups for exercises in the South China Sea, the CCP has asserted extended sovereignty over waters that allow access to that strategic area. The practical effect of this change remains to be seen. But it fits a pattern of ratcheting up the basis for China to deny ship and aircraft movements in the region as its ability to do so increases inexorably.
There are also fresh Chinese reports that the PRC is preparing to conduct large-scale amphibious “drills” whose real purpose will be to seize islands belonging to Taiwan.
The so-called “new Cold War” with China could get very hot, very soon.
This is Frank Gaffney.
This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.
President Trump has declared that he’s going to follow India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in banning the popular Chinese application called TikTok. He said the company’s sale to an American one wouldn’t change his conclusion that its widespread use, mostly by young people, is a threat to their privacy and to the national security.
Mr. Trump is absolutely right. TikTok has been engineered to collect vast amounts of weaponizable information from its users and transmit such data to China. Worse yet, the app can reportedly be remotely reconfigured to be even more of a Chinese black hole for unsuspecting Americans’ privacy.
Friend-of-China Microsoft is seeking to put an American front on this Chinese collection operation. Its CEO spoke with the President and says he’s going ahead with buy-out negotiations.
Mr. Trump must hold firm: TikTok has to be banned, not bailed out.
This is Frank Gaffney.
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This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.
For decades, a man named Scalia served with distinction at the highest levels of the U.S. government protecting the lives and freedoms of his fellow Americans. Today, that role is being played by one of Justice Antonin Scalia’s sons.
Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia is poised to make an extraordinary contribution to the financial security of millions of Americans who have their savings invested in private pension funds. He wants to ensure their managers’ investment decisions are solely guided by shareholder value, not some ideological agenda.
In response to Sec. Scalia’s request for comments, over two-hundred prominent national security practitioners and other American patriots have urged him to block as well non-transparent investments in Chinese companies. Today is the last day to weigh in and support these important initiatives.
Do so by visiting GetLiberty.org and click on the China Existential Threat button. Thanks.
This is Frank Gaffney.
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This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.
Last night brought another round of riotous attacks on federal property in Portland, Oregon and copycat actions elsewhere in cities across America. These are not isolated incidents of legitimate and peaceful protests gone wrong. They are manifestations of a Marxist revolution underway for the purpose of overthrowing our constitutional Republic.
Local authorities led by left-wing Democrats have declined to enforce the laws prohibiting such criminality. Police officers have been demeaned, defunded and demoralized by their communities’ elected leaders who are aligned ideologically with and, in some cases, working on behalf of the revolutionaries. Increasingly, those officers are, being attacked and harmed.
Every one of the governors, mayors and city councilmen implicated in aiding and abetting this insurrection is in violation of their oaths of office to defend our Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. They must be held accountable.
This is Frank Gaffney.
This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.
Yesterday, the new prime minister of France led his nation’s commemoration of the fourth anniversary of the martyrdom of Father Jacques Hamel, whose throat was slit by two jihadists as he said Mass. Given the recent, full-on assault on churches across that country, though, it is becoming increasingly clear that the real target of such Sharia-supremacists is not just believers and their houses of worship, but Christendom, itself.
As it happens, this problem is not confined to France. The Marxists doing business at the moment as the Black Lives Matter organization and Antifa have attacked and desecrated churches, their stained glass windows and statues portraying so-called “White Jesus.”
The fact that many state and local officials have seized on the pandemic to prevent Christian congregations from worshipping together is intensifying the sense that the faith is under siege worldwide.
Paging President Trump.
This is Frank Gaffney.
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This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.
While reciprocal U.S. and Chinese closures of consulates dominate the headlines, far more consequential actions are in the offing.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo set the stage yesterday for a sweeping overhaul of American policy towards the PRC when he declared an end to the decades-long approach known as “engagement.” He warned we must change Communist China before it changes us.
On Tuesday, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Marco Rubio called for tangible decoupling: He urged Trump administration officials to “deregister” Chinese companies, denying them preferential access to our capital markets from which they have already transferred an estimated $3 trillion.
The next shoe to drop may be one recommended this week to Attorney General William Barr by over five hundred prominent Americans and organizations. It would designate the Chinese Communist Party as the Transnational Criminal Organization it is.
Let’s roll.
This is Frank Gaffney.
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This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.
Yesterday, the Trump administration ordered Communist China to close its consulate in Houston, prompting diplomatic personnel there to begin burning documents in the facility’s outdoor courtyard. The scene evoked memories of Japanese diplomats doing the same on the eve of their nation’s attack on Pearl Harbor.
Reasons given for the shuttering were China’s theft of intellectual property and private data. Given the Chinese Communist Party’s conduct in this country, however, other abuses of the PRC’s diplomatic privileges may include: forcing Chinese nationals to spy in this country; suborning Americans through the so-called “Thousand Talents” program; running influence and intimidation operations on college campuses; and supporting the more than twenty “Communist Chinese military companies” ominously doing business here.
The truth is the CCP is our enemy. Rolling up and shutting down such threatening behavior conducted here under diplomatic cover is both prudent and necessary.
This is Frank Gaffney.
This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.
Last night, Tucker Carlson recounted how his family was forced to sell their home when its address was published and violent opponents of his conservative political views showed up and threatened them. Now, he reports, the New York Times is poised to expose where the Carlsons moved.
A day before, family members of a federal judge were murderously attacked at their residence by someone they thought was a FedEx driver. This is any public person’s nightmare. But all of us should reflexively condemn individuals, let alone prominent corporations, that effectively encourage such violence.
The Times has become a vehicle for promoting the take-down of America. Not surprisingly, its revolutionaries masquerading as journalists want to silence one of our country’s most influential and courageous defenders. They will be responsible if, God forbid, their doxing Tucker causes him or his loved ones harm.
This is Frank Gaffney.
This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.
Donald Trump used his press conference in the Rose Garden yesterday to provide the most comprehensive indictment of the Chinese Communist Party of any President since Lyndon Johnson. He catalogued the myriad ways in which the CCP has harmed the United States, its people and its vital interests. Mr. Trump also documented the role played by former Vice President Joe Biden in supporting – and even enabling – China’s rise at our expense.
While contrasts between the Trump and Biden policies, especially regarding what Ronald Reagan would describe as our time’s “existential threat to freedom,” dominated the President’s remarks, one of his most consequential statements during yesterday’s White House event came in response to a media question. Mr. Trump declared his opposition to U.S. investments in “Chinese defense companies” and that we would soon see more tangible actions to prevent that.
Praise the Lord!
This is Frank Gaffney.
