Vatican Is Moving ‘Full-Steam’ in Courtship of Beijing

ROME — The Vatican is pulling out all the stops to woo Beijing into full diplomatic relations, according to veteran Vatican journalist John L. Allen, Jr.

In an article Sunday in Crux, a U.S.-based online Catholic news outlet, Allen wrote that the Vatican is “covetous of a relationship with China, and often apparently willing to stifle objections and give away a great deal” in order to make headway.

In short, “the Vatican is moving full-steam ahead in its courtship of Beijing, with the ultimate prize remaining full diplomatic relations, a secure legal standing for the church, and partnerships on the global stage,” Allen wrote.

His case in point was the notorious 2018 provisional accord between the Holy See and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on the naming of Chinese bishops, a move that received an avalanche of criticism at the time, which has only been aggravated by ongoing CCP aggressions against Christians in the country after the deal was inked.

The Vatican’s 2018 overture to Beijing was sweetened by last month’s launch of a new Chinese edition of the Jesuit-edited journal Civiltà Cattolica, which enjoys a semi-official Vatican status, Allen noted.

Christian persecution watchdog groups as well as the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) have been harshly critical of the CCP’s egregious violations of religious liberty in the country, and yet in its many appeals against human rights abuses around the world, the Holy See has been strangely silent when it comes to China.

For his part, Pope Francis has insisted that China’s communist government protects religious freedom and that “churches are full.” Meanwhile, the chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the Argentinian Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, has declared that the CCP has created the best model for living out Catholic social teaching today.

Mr. Allen’s evaluation of the Vatican’s courtship of China squares with what other Vatican-watchers have been noting as well.

Francis dreams of being the pope who will establish diplomatic relations with Beijing, and to achieve this goal he is willing to make “concessions,” declared Vatican analyst Alban Mikozy on French television last December.

“Pope Francis is a prudent man,” Mikozy said. “He pursues a dream: to be the sovereign pontiff who will restore relations between China and the Vatican.”

“In order to do this, he is ready to make a few concessions: say nothing about Hong Kong, do not get too excited when the Chinese leader talks about rewriting the Bible,” he added, in reference to announcements that the CCP intends to retranslate the Bible and other sacred texts to make them conform to socialist ideology.

Because of this overriding desire, Mikozy said, the pope is willing to turn a blind eye to the CCP’s violations of religious liberty and other human rights issues.

https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2020/05/17/report-vatican-moving-full-steam-courtship-beijing/

Trump Calls into NBC Golf Broadcast: ‘We Want to Get Sports Back’

President Trump called into an NBC Sports golf broadcast on Sunday, to talk about how important it is to get the country’s sports leagues back on the playing field.

The call took place during the TaylorMade Driving Relief event in Florida, the first televised golf event held in about two months. Trump told NBC announcer Mike Tirico vital sports were to the nation’s “psyche.”

“We want to get sports back. We miss sports,” Trump said. “We need sports in terms of the psyche, the psyche of our country.

“We want to be back to normal where you have the big crowds where they’re practically standing on top of each other, not where they’re worried.”

Trump’s remarks about wanting to see the return of “big crowds,” comes on a day when NASCAR made its return in front of an empty track in Darlington, South Carolina. The UFC, the first organization to return to action since the sports world went silent roughly two months ago, held three events from May 9th through May 16th, all without fans in attendance.

Still, as Carolina Panthers Owner Dave Tepper said this week, there’s some optimism that fan attendance – with social distancing restrictions in place – could return in the next few months.

https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2020/05/17/trump-calls-into-nbc-golf-broadcast-we-want-to-get-sports-back/

House Republican Introduces Bill to Ban ‘Ballot Harvesting’

Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL), ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, introduced a bill last week to ban the practice of “ballot harvesting,” which allows anyone to deliver unlimited numbers of mail-in ballots on others’ behalf.

The practice, legalized by Democrats in California in 2016, is banned in most of the rest of the country, except for immediate family members. It is also unknown in the rest of the world, because of its high susceptibility to fraud.

In 2018, California Democrats used “ballot harvesting” as part of a successful effort to flip seven Republican-held seats. Hundreds of thousands of ballots were dropped off by Democratic Party operatives. Republicans have been unable to do the same because Republican voters apparently do not part with their ballots as easily as Democrats.

The new bill, called the “Election Fraud Prevention Act,” argues:

(4) the practice of ballot harvesting in California creates significant vulnerabilities in the chain-of-custody of ballots because individuals collecting ballots are not required to be registered voters and are not required to identify themselves at a voter’s home, and the State does not track how many ballots are harvested in an election;

(5) in North Carolina, a congressional election was invalidated due to fraud associated with ballot harvesting committed by a political operative, and it is unlikely such activity would have been detected were it not for the prohibition against ballot harvesting in the State; and

(6) ballot harvesting invites electioneering activity at home and creates the possibility of undue influence over voters by political operatives.

The bill would prevent states that allow ballot harvesting from receiving federal funds through the Election Assistance Commission (EAC). The only people who would be allowed to deliver other people’s ballots would be election officials; U.S. Postal Service employees and officials authorized to deliver the mail; and a “family member, household member, or caregiver of the person to whom the ballot was mailed.”

In a statement, Davis said:

We cannot allow politics to interfere with the integrity of our electoral process. Ballot harvesting, in the way House Democrats are trying to nationalize, allows any individual to pick up any voter’s ballot for any reason and deliver it to the polling location, completely unchecked. This ‘pandemic relief’ bill from House Democrats would actually jeopardize public health by allowing ‘ballot brokers’ to go door to door with a blatant disregard for social distancing guidelines. Not to mention, allowing political operatives to pick up ballots is unnecessary when mail ballots already have pre-paid postage.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has included nationwide ballot harvesting in every coronavirus relief bill she has proposed. None has become law.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/05/17/house-republican-introduces-bill-to-ban-ballot-harvesting/

Larry C. Johnson: The Media and Pundits Are Lying–The Flynn Unmasking Was Uncommon and Unusual

The Deep State propaganda machine is spinning at hyperdrive. You are being repeatedly told that unmasking is common. Nothin’ unusual here. Move along. Reminds me of the scene from the Naked Gun when faux detective Frank Drebin tried to tell people they were not seeing what they were seeing:

Leave it to lying Jimmy Clapper to pop up as one of the prevaricators eager to feed a false meme to a gullible public. He is caught up in the unmasking with his metaphorical pants down around his ankles and his hideous junk exposed–simply put, Clapper spied on Michael Flynn. Here is Clapper’s pathetic attempt to put lipstick on this crooked pig:

Former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper said Thursday it is “routine” to “unmask” American citizens who have been caught up in surveillance of foreign individuals as Republicans spark an uproar over allegations that officials spied on former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Clapper and other apologists are counting on your ignorance of intelligence community processes and procedures for collecting intelligence.

What I find shocking is that there are thousands of intelligence professionals who understand that Clapper is spewing total bullshit but, because of their hatred of Donald Trump, stay silent and allow Clapper’s lies to go unchallenged.

Let us start with the basics. The document that Acting DNI Grenell declassified last week regarding the “unmasking” of Michael Flynn gives us only the names and dates that requests were made to the NSA. But those requests came in response to a NSA intelligence report or document that the requestors had read. That means finished intelligence.

The following is an example of the formatting and content of the type of NSA messages that the Obama people were reading when they encountered an “unnamed” American citizen and just had to know who it was.

The type of message that had Michael Flynn’s name carried the following classification headers (if you click on the link it will take you to a very interesting NSA document that addresses the whole issue of spying on Americans):

TOP SECRET//COMINT-GAMMA/ORCON/NOFORN

Next you get the Message report number, in this case it is SERIAL 3/00/532318-12, and the the sender and addressee information. In the image immediately below, DIRNSA refers to the Director of NSA, “COS KINGSTON” is the CIA Chief in Kingston, Jamaica. Note that other agencies such as DEA, DIA, FAA and even INTERIOR are sent copies of this message.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/05/larry-c-johnson-media-pundits-lying-flynn-unmasking-uncommon-unusual/

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio will not tolerate crowds outside bars, vows crackdown and threatens to 'shut places down'

Bill de Blasio instructed people to inform the city of anyone or any establishment violating his shelter-in-place executive order.

Mayor Bill de Blasio does not want people gathering in large groups in the streets of New York, despite the photo above from three weeks ago that suggests otherwise. The Democratic mayor had some tough talk for people who are considering congregating outside of New York City bars.

Photos emerged of heavily crowded areas outside of bars and restaurants in New York City this weekend as temperatures warmed up.

After photos and videos of the crowded New York City sidewalks spread, de Blasio vowed a crackdown on people gathering outside of bars.

"The police department will be out, the sheriff's office will be out watching very carefully on the Upper East Side in particular," the Mayor said on Sunday. "We're not going to tolerate people congregating. It's as simple as that."

"If we have to shut places down, we will," de Blasio threatened.

De Blasio then instructed people to inform the city of anyone or any establishment violating his shelter-in-place executive order.

"If we have instances where there is not compliance I want to know about it," de Blasio added. "I want any New Yorker who sees any place allowing dining in to call 311 immediately and they will be visited immediately with inspectors and there will be serious fines. If we have to shut places down we will."

Last month, de Blasio asked the public to take photos of anyone who was not social distancing and report them.

New York City bars and restaurants have been restricted to takeout and delivery service since mid-March.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/new-york-city-bars-beaches-deblasio

Oregon business owner who defiantly reopened says Child Protective Services questioned her family

'I'm vowing to stay open as long as I can'

An Oregon business owner who reopened in defiance of Democratic Gov. Kate Brown's lockdown order said Child Protective Services showed up at her house and questioned her children.

Lindsey Graham, owner of the Glamour Salon in Salem, vowed earlier this month to reopen her business despite the possible consequences of violating the stay-at-home order.

"I'm risking going to jail to do it. That's how important it is to my family," she said, according to KPTV-TV. "I'm deciding that it's more important for me to feed my family and pay the bills that are going to keep our home and our family alive than take the risk to remain being shut down for an undisclosed amount of time."

On Friday, Graham revealed that Oregon's Occupational Safety and Health Division fined her $14,000 for making good on her promise to reopen last week.

But that's not all.

Graham said that CPS showed up at her home last week and questioned her children.

"If you can possibly believe this, on May 7 Child Protective Services showed up at my home. They questioned my husband and I, they questioned my child without me present, they searched our home," Graham said, KOIN-TV reported.

"I've never expected such a violent, aggressive, vindictive thing could have ever been done to me or my family," she added.

Oregon CPS neither confirmed nor denied whether they questioned Graham and her children due to minor protection laws.

Graham will face more fines if she continues to operate her business — something she vowed to do.

"I'm vowing to stay open as long as I can, basically, until the governor tries to take my entire career, something I've worked 15 years for, out from underneath me," she said on Friday.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/oregon-business-owner-who-defiantly-reopened-says-child-protective-services-questioned-her-family

‘Guard of dishonor’: VIDEO shows nurses & doctors giving ICY welcome to Belgian PM over govt’s Covid-19 response

Belgium’s PM Sophie Wilmes has visited one of the nation’s hospitals battling the pandemic – but the medical staff literally turned their backs on her to show that her “display of support” for frontline workers was not enough.

Prime Minister Wilmes faced a cold welcome at the Saint-Pierre hospital in the Belgian capital Brussels, where the doctors and nurses found a novel way to show their dissatisfaction with the government’s policies amid the novel coronavirus epidemic. The nation has had one of the highest Covid-19 mortality rates in Europe.

Footage obtained by RT’s video agency Ruptly shows dozens of medical specialists lining up in the hospital yard along the path of the prime minister’s motorcade. The medics turn their backs to the cars in silence as soon as the vehicles would reach them.

Around 100 people, including nurses, doctors, logistical helpers as well as cleaning and administrative staff, took part in the protest, according to the local media, which quickly dubbed the action a “guard of dishonor.”

The medics and support staff have been dissatisfied with healthcare budget cuts and low salaries. Their anger has been especially fueled by a recent government decree allowing involuntary requisition of medical personnel – meaning that medics could be summoned to work or moved elsewhere whenever the authorities deem necessary.

https://www.rt.com/news/488909-belgian-doctors-protest-covid-prime-minsiter/

DR. ANTHONY STEPHEN FAUCI

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