CPAC to Expose Socialism, Focus on ‘What Makes America Great

The largest annual gathering of conservatives will tackle the threat of socialism in America and focus on the virtues that make the United States a great nation, according to Dan Schneider, the executive president of the American Conservative Union (ACU). Schneider said the Democratic Party has shifted hard to the left in recent years, a trend evident in the ACU’s federal legislative ratings scorecards. Several Democrats ran on openly socialist platforms in the 2018 midterm elections. “Socialism robs people of their identity. It robs people of their power, of their wealth, and of their influence. We need to reject socialism and all the evil that’s associated with it and restore the dignity of the person so that people could lead fulfilled lives,” Schneider said in an interview with The Epoch Times. “We need to reeducate people about their ideas of our nation’s founding, why America is so special. We are the only nation on the planet founded on the proposition that people can govern themselves.”

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) will open in Washington on Feb. 27, and will draw thousands of conservatives from across the nation. President Donald Trump, congressional lawmakers, and prominent conservatives are scheduled to speak during the four-day event. This year’s CPAC follows the surprise ascendance of young, far-left Democrats in Washington, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Ocasio-Cortez is among dozens of Democrats who back the “Green New Deal,” a socialist policy proposal that would see massive government expansion into the private sector and cost U.S. taxpayers as much as $93 trillion. One of the sponsored speeches at the event, titled: “Debunking the Climate Alarmism Behind Bringing Full Socialism to America,” will address the socialist underpinnings of the Green New Deal. “There’s talk about this Green New Deal. Well, there’s nothing new about the Green New Deal. It’s just Marxism re-marketed,” Schneider said. “When the Soviet Union collapsed, all those card-carrying Marxists in America abandoned the American Communist Party and joined the so-called green movement.”

Schneider noted that while nations around the world reject socialism, there is a resurgence of popularity for the ideology among American youth and on college campuses. Nearly two in three registered voters believe the Democratic Party supports socialism, according to a Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released exclusively to The Hill. Trump, a staunch critic of socialism and communism, will address CPAC on March 2, upon his return from a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. During this year’s State of the Union speech, the president said that “America will never be a socialist country.”

The theme for this year’s conference is “What Makes America Great,” according to Schneider. The tagline is a play on Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.” Asked if CPAC is embracing Trump, Schneider said that Trump is embracing CPAC. “President Donald Trump ran as a populist and I think he has seen the ideas of conservatism as the right kind of solution,” Schneider said. “We are pleased that he is seeing that our ideas are the right ideas.”

A number of the Democrats vying for their party’s nomination for the 2020 presidential election have embraced socialist policies such as the “Green New Deal” and “Medicare for All.” Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced his bid for the presidency less than two weeks before CPAC. CPAC bills itself as the third largest political event of the year, in terms of media attention, trumped only by the State of the Union and the White House Correspondents’ dinner. Some 2,000 members of the media are expected to attend. The event will feature some of the biggest names in conservative media, including radio hosts Mark Levin and Laura Ingraham. A number of Republican lawmakers will also speak, including Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), and Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.).

https://www.theepochtimes.com/cpac-to-expose-socialism-focus-on-what-makes-america-great_2816490.html

Eight Chinese Women Arrested Amid Sex Trafficking Investigation in Florida: Report

Eight Chinese women who were living in Florida were arrested in connection with an international sex trafficking ring that also ensnared New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Kraft last week was charged with two counts of soliciting a prostitute, according to police.

Now, Lan Yun Ma, 49; and Yaping Ren, 27, of Orlando; Lixia Zhu, 48, of Stuart; Yan Xu, 51, of Sebastian; and Ruimei Li, 48; Hua Zhang, 58; and Lei Wang, 39, were arrested after an 8-month investigation into a human trafficking operation, the Daily Mail reported. Marin County Sheriff William Snyder said officials have been following as much as $20 million moving in and out of China, according to USA Today. “The tentacles of this go from here to New York to China, in Florida from here [Marin County] to Orange County,” he stated. Several spas have been closed, and at least 100 men and 200 people in total have been implicated in the investigation.

The women who were used in the spas are being treated as victims rather than paid sex workers. The women speak no English, only Cantonese or Mandarin. They came to the United States on temporary work visas, according to USA Today. “It was clear that multiple women were working and living inside the spas. They were cooking on the back steps of the business,” Snyder also stated. “They were sleeping in the massage parlor on the massage tables.” Police told CBS Miami that Florida Department of Health saw that the Orchids of Asia Day Spa, where Kraft allegedly went, housed two rooms with beds, pillows, and sheets. There were dressers and a fridge. The findings were “consistent with individuals living inside,” the affidavit said. “It was clear to us that this was a trafficking case because of the circumstances I enumerated: They’re not leaving, they’re there 24 hours a day, the hygiene was minimal at best, just a bathroom,” Snyder said. “So we took it upon ourselves to not do what could be the easy way out … and we turned it into a trafficking case.” He said that the women were cooking on the back steps of the spa and were sleeping on the massage tables, according to CBS Miami. The sheriff said the women didn’t get days off and worked long hours as sex workers. They didn’t have access to transportation and were moved around from location to location. Some averaged as many as eight clients per day, he said.

The victims, he said, were lured to the United States under the promise that they would become housekeepers or waiters. When they arrived on American soil, their passports were taken away by handlers. “The problem with these cases is that the coercion is so subtle sometimes that it’s impossible for us to uncover,” he added. “The coercion is not that they’re at gunpoint. The coercion is more subtle, nuanced and more difficult to discern. They may have loved ones in China and they’re afraid if they cooperate. They look at the police here as their enemy.”

But Snyder said the arrests are “the tip of the tip of the iceberg.” “I would contend today that it’s the men in the shadows that are the monsters in this equation. And without moralizing, none of this would happen if those men were not availing themselves and participating in this human misery,” he added. “Wherever you find end users who will use this, you will find these spas.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/eight-chinese-women-arrested-amid-sex-trafficking-investigation-in-florida_2816709.html

https://www.facebook.com/citizens4freedom/