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    Biden Admin. Spied On Bank Accounts Of Trump Supporters

    By
    Donny Ferguson
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    1
    Image via Pixabay free images.

    Americans who purchased Bibles, sporting goods or products associated with former President Donald Trump were flagged for surveillance by a federal government spy program, U.S. House investigators reveal.

    After the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, FBI officials told banks that Americans who support President Trump or express religious views may be suspected terrorists, and demanded banks report customers whose transactions indicated they may be political conservatives.

    Such blanket surveillance is prohibited by the United States Constitution, which requires the federal government to secure a warrant, based on probable cause, specifically naming the person targeted.

    “New documents obtained by the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government reveal that the federal government flagged terms like “MAGA” and “TRUMP” for financial institutions if Americans used those phrases when completing transactions,” the U.S. House Judiciary Committee revealed in a statement.

    “Individuals who shopped at stores like Cabela’s or Dick’s Sporting Goods, or purchased religious texts like a bible, may also have had their transactions flagged. This kind of pervasive financial surveillance, carried out in coordination with and at the request of federal law enforcement, into Americans’ private transactions is alarming and raises serious concerns about the FBI’s respect for fundamental civil liberties,” the Committee stated.

    In response, the Committee is demanding senior government officials appear for questioning.

    “In light of these revelations, Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has requested transcribed interviews from Peter Sullivan, Senior Private Sector Partner for Outreach in the Strategic Partner Engagement Section of the FBI, and Noah Bishoff, former Director of the Office of Stakeholder Integration and Engagement in the Strategic Operations Division of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN),” the Committee reveals.

    Jordan’s letter to Noah Bishoff reads, in part: 

    “The Committee and Select Subcommittee have obtained documents indicating that following January 6, 2021, FinCEN distributed materials to financial institutions that, among other things, outline the ‘typologies’ of various persons of interest and provide financial institutions with suggested search terms and Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) for identifying transactions on behalf of federal law enforcement. These materials included a document recommending the use of generic terms like ‘TRUMP’ and ‘MAGA’ to ‘search Zelle payment messages’ as well as a ‘prior FinCEN analysis’ of ‘Lone Actor/Homegrown Violent Extremism Indicators.’ According to this analysis, FinCEN warned financial institutions of ‘extremism’ indicators that include ‘transportation charges, such as bus tickets, rental cars, or plane tickets, for travel to areas with no apparent purpose,’ or ‘the purchase of books (including religious texts) and subscriptions to other media containing extremist views.’ In other words, FinCEN urged large financial institutions to comb through the private transactions of their customers for suspicious charges on the basis of protected political and religious expression.

    “In addition, the Committee and Select Subcommittee have obtained documents showing that FinCEN distributed slides, prepared by a financial institution, explaining how other financial institutions can use MCC codes to detect customers whose transactions may reflect ‘potential active shooters, [and] who may include dangerous International Terrorists / Domestic Terrorists / Homegrown Violent Extremists (“Lone Wolves”).’ For example, the slides instruct financial institutions to query for transactions using certain MCC codes such as ‘3484: Small Arms,’ ‘5091: Sporting and Recreational Goods and Supplies,’ and the keywords ‘Cabela’s,’ and ‘Dick’s Sporting Goods,’ among several others. Despite these transactions having no apparent criminal nexus—and, in fact, relate to Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights—FinCEN seems to have adopted a characterization of these Americans as potential threat actors. This kind of pervasive financial surveillance, carried out in coordination with and at the request of federal law enforcement, into Americans’ private transactions is alarming and raises serious doubts about FinCEN’s respect for fundamental civil liberties.

    “As the former Director of the Office of Stakeholder Integration and Engagement in the Strategic Operations Division, you engaged regularly with financial institutions following the events of January 6, 2021, including the distribution of material about how financial institutions could use private customer information to assist federal law enforcement. As such, your testimony will aid our oversight. In particular, your testimony will help to inform the Committee and Select Subcommittee about federal law enforcement’s mass accumulation and use of Americans’ private information without legal process; FinCEN’s protocols, if any, to safeguard Americans’ privacy and constitutional rights in the receipt and use of such information; and FinCEN’s general engagement with the private sector on law-enforcement matters.”

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    GOP-led House to Force Out Horrible DHS Secretary Mayorkas Over Border, Other Disasters

    By
    Paul Crespo
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    7
    NEW YORK CITY (September 11, 2022) Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas lays flowers for USSS Master Special Officer Craig Miller and participates in the September 11th Anniversary Commemoration Ceremony at Ground Zero in New York City, NY. (DHS photo by Sydney Phoenix)

    ANALYSIS – The pressure on incompetent ideologue, Alejandro Mayorkas, Joe Biden’s Homeland Security chief, is increasing daily. 

    His inability, or unwillingness to control the violent chaos at the border, and other major missteps, such as overhyping the ‘right wing’ domestic threat, are making him the lightning rod for the newly elected GOP-led House.

    As I wrote earlier, the House must aggressively investigate Mayorkas, and if needed, impeach him.

    He should be one of the first Team Biden heads to roll in 2023.

    Newsmax reports: “The White House will pressure Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to resign before House Republicans can push for his impeachment, but he likely won’t willingly step down…”

    “The White House sees the writing on the wall,”  said Mark Morgan, the acting Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner under former President Donald Trump, on Newsmax TV’s “Wake Up America.” 

    “They know what’s going on. I think they’re going to put pressure on Secretary Mayorkas to resign to prevent them the embarrassment of being dragged through hearings.”

    But Mayorkas’ “ego and pride” won’t let him “do what he needs to do in the best interests of this country,” Morgan added.

    Newsmax continued:

    His comments come after remarks by House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who hopes to become the House speaker after the new Congress is sworn in this coming January.

    Tuesday, McCarthy called on Mayorkas to step down and warned that the House might call for his impeachment after Republicans take over the majority…

    “We know Mayorkas has been this administration’s chief architect of the open border,” said Morgan. “He took the most secure border in our lifetime and intentionally un-secured it. In the last 22 months, we’ve had over 4.5 million encounters and 1.1 million known gotaways. 

    We know drugs are pouring into this country, literally killing Americans every single day. We know among the 1.1. million known gotaways are hardcore criminals, murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and gang members.

    But while McCarthy emphasizes the border crisis, Mayorkas is also guilty of falsely demonizing and targeting half of all Americans.

    As the Center for Security Policy (CSP) explains:

    Alejandro Mayorkas [has] parroted the oft-repeated line that the biggest terrorist threat America faces comes from “domestic ideologically motivated extremism.”

    This is a central assertion by the Biden Administration…They have even gone so far as to claim U.S. law enforcement and the military are riddled with domestic extremists despite the fact there has been no real evidence released to support this supposition.

    CSP continues:

    In order to hype the seriousness of the domestic threat, the Biden Administration has soft-pedaled the very real danger of international terrorism.  According to Forbes, Mayorkas reported “that since the September 11 attacks, the threat landscape against the U.S. has substantially ‘evolved’ to the point that foreign terrorism is no longer the chief concern of DHS.”

    In other words, the threat from jihad receded and now takes a back seat to domestic “extremism.” In fact, Mayorkas said that the main threat was now what occurred on January 6 at the U.S. Capitol.

    The actions by Mayorkas at the border, and by hyping the so-called domestic threat are nothing short of disgraceful.

    We can only hope his ego doesn’t allow him to resign. It’s time for a real prime-time Congressional hearing focused on all these critical Team Biden- created issues.

    And then, if Biden doesn’t fire him, he should be impeached. GAND

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Amanda Head: My Thoughts On Last Night And What’s To Come

    By
    Amanda Head
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    0

    Election results are still pouring in on Wednesday as Americans wait with anticipation to see which party will gain control of Congress.

    Watch Amanda break down the situation below:

    Boebert Moves to Block Biden Scheme to Hike Your Mortgage if You Have Good Credit

    By
    Donny Ferguson
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    5
    Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

    A new Biden administration proposal to hike mortgage payments for Americans with good credit, to subsidize loans for people with bad credit, is running into opposition to Congress.

    But is it enough to stop Biden?

    The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed an amendment from Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-CO) “requiring the Government Accountability Office to publish a report on its website exposing the costs and process associated with the Biden administration’s socialist housing policies,” a statement Boebert reports. 

    The amendment “will help protect homeowners from Biden’s disastrous scheme to raise fees for people with higher credit scores to subsidize those with lower credit scores,” says Boebert.

    “(O)n a $400,000 mortgage, a borrower with a credit score of 680 would be forced to pay $40 more per month to subsidize similar borrowers with worse credit scores,” Boebert reports.

    “Joe Biden’s decision to subsidize failure makes more sense when you realize he’s hired Mayor Pete, Karine Jean-Pierre, and Kamala Harris. Raising housing fees at a time when mortgage rates are at the highest level in years thanks to the Biden-Pelosi spending spree will make housing less affordable and result in higher mortgage costs and reduced access to credit for most borrowers who are working hard and doing their best to just get by,” says Boebert.

    “My commonsense amendment provides transparency for the American people and exposes the costs and arbitrary processes used by Biden’s minions to ram through his socialist housing policy that penalizes responsible homeowners to subsidize high-risk individuals,” says Boebert.

    “Unelected bureaucrats in Washington should not have the ability to impose these un-American regulations on hardworking middle-class families,” Boebert adds.

    “This is a gross overreach and will ultimately exacerbate the growing inflation problem we have in this country,” Boebert concludes.

    Boebert’s amendment “requires the Government Accountability Office to publish a report on its website and publicly disclose to the American people any costs and the process utilized by the FHFA to unilaterally change Loan Level Pricing Adjustment (LLPA) fees and implement Biden’s unfair, socialist housing policy changes,” her office reports.

    Boebert’s amendment to Congressman Warren Davidson’s Middle-Class Borrower Protection Act was approved by the House in a unanimous voice vote. 

    The amended bill passed the House by a 230-189 vote and now goes to the Senate.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Will Biden Apologize to Trump Over Suddenly Restarting Border Wall?

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    5
    Trump at the border wall via Wikimedia Commons

    ANALYSIS – More than two years after ceasing construction on former President Donald Trump’s border wall, and more than two million illegal immigrants flooding into the United States, Joe Biden is quietly restarting the oft criticized by the left, but critical, border barrier.

    According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) led by the incompetent Alejandro Mayorkas, Team Biden has used executive action to suddenly waive 26 federal laws in South Texas to allow emergency border wall construction.

    The Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act and Endangered Species Act were some of the federal laws waived by Biden to allow immediate construction of the border wall using funds appropriated by congress in 2019. 

    The waivers, also criticized by left wing activists and environmentalists, avoid time-consuming reviews and lawsuits challenging violation of environmental laws.

    The initial construction would be in Starr County, Texas, which is part of a busy Border Patrol sector seeing “high illegal entry.” Around 245,000 illegal entries have been recorded this fiscal year in the Rio Grande Valley Sector which contains 21 counties.

    “There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas,” Alejandro Mayorkas, the DHS secretary, stated in the notice, according to Newsmax.

    Trump responded to the news on Truth Social:

    “So interesting to watch Crooked Joe Biden break every environmental law in the book to prove that I was right when I built 560 miles (they incorrectly state 450 in story!) of brand new, beautiful border wall.” 

    Biden ceased the border barriers that Trump had earlier begun, on Inauguration day Jan. 20, 2021, stating then that “building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution.”

    Texas Governor Greg Abbott renewed some of those efforts after Biden halted them on day one of his presidency. But the state can only do so much.

    Apparently, it took Biden more than two years and massive waves of unvetted, illegal immigrants crowding our major cities, to realize that the border wall is a serious policy solution after all.

    Trump added on Truth Social: “As I have stated often, over thousands of years, there are only two things that have consistently worked, wheels, and walls! Will Joe Biden apologize to me and America for taking so long to get moving, and allowing our country to be flooded with 15 million illegals immigrants, from places unknown. I will await his apology!” 

    I don’t know if 15 million illegals have come in under Biden, but it is a huge number. Border control advocates hope this major reversal will lead to a total overhaul of Biden’s failed border and immigration policies.

    As Newsmax reported:

    “After years of denying that a border wall and other physical barriers are effective, the DHS announcement represents a sea change in the administration’s thinking: A secure wall is an effective tool for maintaining control of our borders,” Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said in a statement. “Having made that concession, the administration needs to immediately begin construction of wall across the border to prevent the illegal traffic from simply moving to other areas of the border.”

    It’s time for the dysfunctional GOP congress to push Biden on this issue. It should be a battle cry for the next House speaker.

    Conservative firebrand Jim Jordan, the Judiciary Committee chair, who has thrown his name into the race for speaker, said his first focus as leader would be border security. 

    ‘The very first thing I would focus on is that no money can be used to process the release of migrants into this country,’ he told Fox.  That, and accelerating border wall construction should be priorities, followed by reinstalling most , if not all of Trump’s effective border and immigration policies.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Is One of America’s Most Powerful Liberal Groups Illicitly Lobbying for this Foreign Billionaire?

    By
    Donny Ferguson
    -
    2
    Image via Pixabay free images

    Members of Congress want to know if one of America’s most powerful liberal political groups is evading federal laws requiring them to report lobbying on behalf of foreign billionaires.

    U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Paul Gosar (R-AZ) want League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski to answer questions about LCV’s fundraising, lobbying, and political activities, and whether it is complying with the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

    The League of Conservation Voters, a radical environmentalist group, is one of the nation’s most powerful political organizations.

    OpenSecrets reports the LCV donated $15,129,989 to federal political candidates in 2020.  They also spent $42,272,125 on ads supporting or opposing federal candidates in 2020, making them the nation’s 15th-biggest political spending.

    But members of Congress want to know if the LCV is lobbying lawmakers at the behest of Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, a radical leftist who opposes American energy independence.

    The members write:

    “Following ‘intense lobbying’ from LCV and related groups that led to passage of the [Inflation Reduction Act,] you met then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi who told you Democrats ‘passed what you wanted’ and asked whether LCV would ‘have our backs’ in the 2022 election. Following the election, in an end-of-year memo on December 19, 2022, LCV detailed how the ‘LCV Victory Fund and affiliated entities invested more than $100 million’ to elect Democrat candidates that align with LCV’s eco-agenda agenda in the 2022 elections. Previously, in the 2018 cycle, LCV spent $80 million on candidates that support its eco-agenda.  

    “LCV has registered to lobby on several activities within the jurisdiction of the Committee, including issues like opposing offshore drilling plans, supporting a ‘pause and review of the federal oil and gas program,’ and supporting the restoration and expansion of a number of national monuments. The Committee is concerned that LCV’s relationship with foreign donors, such as Swiss national Mr. Wyss, who are prohibited from contributing, either directly or indirectly, to domestic political campaigns may impact LCV’s political and lobbying activities relating to America’s ability to achieve energy independence. As you are aware, such political and lobbying activities may require compliance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act.   

    “The central purpose of FARA is to ‘promote transparency with respect to foreign influence within the United States by ensuring that the United States government and the public know the source of certain information from foreign agents intended to influence American public opinion, policy, and laws.’ Hence, FARA requires any person or entity, including non-profits, to register with the Department of Justice (DOJ) if they act as an agent or at the request ‘of a foreign principal or of a person any of whose activities are directly or indirectly, supervised, directed, controlled, financed, or subsidized in whole or in major part by a foreign principal.’ Registration under FARA is also required for any entity that attempts, on behalf of a foreign principal, to influence any section of the U.S. public or a U.S. government official in ‘formulating, adopting, or changing the domestic or foreign policies of the United States.'”

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Biden Doctor Ordered To Testify On President’s Mental Decline

    By
    Donny Ferguson
    -
    1
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    President Joe Biden’s White House physician, along with Biden’s top aides, have been ordered to testify to Congress on Biden’s mental decline and whether top decisions were made by Biden or by unelected figures.

    “As part of the investigation into the cover-up of President Joe Biden’s mental decline and potentially unauthorized use of autopen for sweeping pardons and other executive actions, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) today sent letters to President Biden’s physician and former White House aides demanding they appear for transcribed interviews,” the committee announced in a statement.

    “The cover-up of President Biden’s obvious mental decline is a historic scandal. The American people deserve to know when this decline began, how far it progressed, and who was making critical decisions on his behalf. Key executive actions signed by autopen, such as sweeping pardons for the Biden Crime Family, must be examined considering President Biden’s diminished capacity. Today, we are calling on President Biden’s physician and former White House advisors to participate in transcribed interviews so we can begin to uncover the truth. In the last Congress, the Biden White House blocked these individuals from providing testimony to the Oversight Committee as part of the effort to cover-up Biden’s declining health. Any continued obstruction will be met with swift and decisive action. The American people demand transparency and accountability now,” said Comer. 

    The committee reports:

    Last Congress, Chairman Comer subpoenaed three key White House aides – Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, and Ashley Williams – who ran interference for President Biden and also requested a transcribed interview with his physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor. 

    The Biden White House obstructed the Committee’s investigation and refused to make the aides available for depositions or interviews. Chairman Comer also subpoenaed the audio recordings related to Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, but Attorney General Merrick Garland defied the subpoena. 

    According to a new book, Original Sin, one person familiar with the internal dynamic at the White House stated, “Five people were running the country, and Joe Biden was at best a senior member of the board.”  

    Comer reports he is continuing “the investigation into the cover-up of Biden’s mental decline and use of autopen for key decisions.”

    Judge Blocks Biden-Big Tech Censorship Collusion on July 4th

    By
    Paul Crespo
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    1
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    ANALYSIS – Let Freedom ring! – In a major victory for free speech in America, and a major vindication for conservatives who have been warning of Democrats using the government to censor them on social media, a federal judge is blocking federal agencies from communicating with Big Tech firms to censor posts.

    The Democrats using federal agencies and other official political bodies to coerce or direct social media firms is being called government “censorship ‘by proxy.”

    This injunction is particularly heartening to me, since I was a victim of this censorship when LinkedIn permanently banned my account for ‘multiple violations of their terms of service and user agreement. 

    In other words, I wrote about Hunter Biden’s laptop, the likelihood that COVID-19 leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology biolab.

    All since proven valid.

    I also noted that there are only two sexes, based on science, and refused to use ‘preferred gender pronouns.’

    All these topics were effectively banned by the major social media companies, and as has since been proven via Elon Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ expose, and other investigations, much of this banning was done at the behest of the U.S. government, primarily for partisan political or ideological reasons.

    In the preliminary injunction, appropriately made on July 4th, the judge, Terry A. Doughty, wrote (pdf) that: 

    Opposition to COVID-19 vaccines; opposition to COVID-19 masking and lockdowns; opposition to the lab-leak theory of COVID-19; opposition to the validity of the 2020 election; opposition to President Biden’s policies; statements that the Hunter Biden laptop story was true; and opposition to policies of the government officials in power. All were suppressed.

    He added that government agencies, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Department of State, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are prohibited from taking a range of actions related to communicating or dealing with social media companies.

    The judge provided very limited exceptions, allowing government officials to contact social media companies to alert them of criminal activity or clear threats to national security.

    He also allowed, reported the Epoch Times: “contacts notifying social media companies about posts intending to mislead voters about voting requirements or procedures as well as communicating with companies about suppressing posts that are not protected free speech.”

    The decision comes as a response to Republican state attorneys general (AGs) who sued the Biden administration. According to the judge, the AGs “have produced evidence of a massive effort by Defendants, from the White House to federal agencies, to suppress speech based on its content.”

    Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey hailed the ruling on Twitter.

    Tweet

    “The Court has granted our motion to BLOCK top officials in the federal government from violating the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans.”

    “What a way to celebrate Independence Day.”

    In an accompanying memorandum Judge Doughty stated that the plaintiffs are “likely to succeed on the merits in establishing that the Government has used its power to silence the opposition.”

    In an earlier ruling in March, according to The Epoch Times, Doughty wrote: “This suit arises out of the alleged coercion by the Biden Administration and various government agencies and officials of social-media companies, urging those companies ‘to censor viewpoints and speakers disfavored by the Left.’” 

    He added that the plaintiffs allege that “this censorship was encouraged—perhaps even mandated—by the Biden Administration and several key governmental departments.”

    The judge’s current order notes the various nefarious means in which the Biden administration colluded with Big Tech to censor opposing or dissenting views.

    These means include, per the injunction, “engaging in any communication of any kind with social-media companies urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner for removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.” 

    The Epoch Times reported:

    The agencies are also barred from flagging content on posts on social media platforms and forwarding them to the companies with requests for action such as removing or otherwise suppressing their reach.

    Encouraging or otherwise egging on social media companies to change their guidelines for the removal, suppression, or reduction of content that contains protected free speech by the government is also not allowed.

    To prevent Team Biden and other Democrats from circumventing the order by outsourcing their dirty deeds, it specifically applies to agents, officers, employees, and contractors. 

    While this is just a preliminary injunction, expect more to come in the fight against Democrat censorship.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Amanda Head: Leftists On Twitter Meltdown Over Trump Account Reinstatement

    By
    Amanda Head
    -
    0

    Twitter CEO Elon Musk has reinstated former President Donald Trump’s access to his infamous Twitter account which was notoriously blocked following the Jan. 6th Capitol riot.

    While the former President has yet to make his re-entrance to the Twitter sphere, instead opting for his own TRUTH Social platform, the idea is enough to make liberals’ blood boil over.

    Watch Amanda break down the situation below.

    ‘Transnational Repression’ – FBI ‘Very Concerned’ by Illegal Chinese ‘Police Stations’ in US and Abroad

    By
    Paul Crespo
    -
    4
    Joe Biden via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    ANALYSIS – Highlighting the real domestic security threat by China, the FBI is apparently ‘very concerned’ about, and investigating, the alleged Chinese Communist (Chicom) police stations likely set up illegally in New York, among other cities.

    This is yet another domestic security failure by a Biden administration obsessed with Jan 6 and persecuting conservatives instead of combatting real foreign threats to the nation.

    I have written about these dangerous and repressive Chicom police outposts in the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere before.  

    While ostensibly run by China’s Ministry of Interior via its police forces, and using ‘volunteers,’ the feared Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) – which is both an intelligence and security service – is likely heavily involved with this effort.

    China claims the outposts are merely police service centers to help Chinese ex-pats living abroad. 

    But if you believe that, there is also a bridge for sale in Brooklyn.

    These outposts are mostly being used to monitor, coerce, and sometimes forcibly remove Chinese dissidents living overseas.

    The heightened scrutiny on them follows a September report by Safeguard Defenders, a Europe-based human rights organization, that revealed the existence of dozens of Chinese police ‘service stations’ in major cities around the world, including New York.

    Safeguard Defenders reported that China has set up at least 54 “overseas police service stations” around the world, including one in New York City and three in Toronto. The group said its list was based on official statements, but the actual number may be higher.

    While tasked with cracking down on Chinese-related illegal activities overseas, the police stations represent “the latest iteration in [China’s] growing transnational repression, where it seeks to police and limit political expression far beyond its own borders,” the report said.

    While congressional Democrats obsessed myopically on Jan 6, Republicans in Congress have taken this Chicom threat seriously, requesting answers from Team Biden administration about their legality and influence.

    And finally, we see some response.

    As Reuters reported, Thursday, FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers at the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing that he is “very concerned about this. We are aware of the existence of these stations.” 

    However, Wray declined to detail the FBI’s investigations into this threat.

    Wray added: 

    I have to be careful about discussing our specific investigative work, but to me, it is outrageous to think that the Chinese police would attempt to set up shop, you know, in New York, let’s say, without proper coordination. It violates sovereignty and circumvents standard judicial and law enforcement cooperation processes.

    When asked by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., if such stations violated U.S. law, Wray said the FBI was “looking into the legal parameters of it” and had talked to the Justice Department and the Department of State about unsanctioned operations.

    Wray added that the United States has indicted a number of Chinese government assets involved in harassing, stalking, surveilling, and blackmailing opponents of China’s leader-for-life Xi Jinping who are living in the United States.

    Many of these indicted assets were involved in a notorious Chicom effort to repatriate Chinese dissidents back to China known as “Operation Fox Hunt.”

    “It’s a real problem and something that we’re talking with our foreign partners about, as well, because we’re not the only country where this has occurred,” Wray said.

    According to AP most of the Chinese overseas police stations are concentrated in Europe. 

    The Irish government said last month it had asked China to shut down a police station operating in Dublin. The Dutch government said it was looking into whether two stations named in the report were established in the Netherlands.

    In the two months since the Safeguard Defenders’ report was released, at least 14 governments, including those of Britain, Canada and Germany, have opened investigations into the operations, according to Safeguard Defenders.

    VOA News reported that:

    In response to China’s increased use of transnational repression, the Biden administration has adopted a whole-of-government approach that includes visa restrictions, export controls, and the investigation and prosecution of perpetrators, Uzra Zeya, undersecretary of state for civilian security, democracy and human rights, told a congressional panel in June.

    These are all good first steps, but much more needs to be done to neutralize China’s extraterritorial repression in the U.S. and allied nations. 

    And do so quickly.

    Among additional moves, Team Biden must pressure all the nations listed as having extraterritorial Chinese police stations. This includes Germany, which sees no issues with the Chicom police outpost there.

    But as with its meekness in facing Russia, Germany has a history of turning a blind eye to the threat posed by the Chinese Communists as well.

    It’s time the U.S. makes a very public example of ‘delinquent’ Germany, as President Trump did earlier. 

    But don’t expect this current administration to do much.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

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