'Davis was the perfect pawn for this scheme'

'A one of a kind guy'

The West's Churches Are Under Attack -- Who's Responsible?

'Pro-growth agenda'

DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, appointed a member of a political faction that has pledged loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party to a state board that advises the government on Asian American affairs, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation found. Walz first appointed Chang Wang, a Minnesota-based attorney, to the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans in May 2020. Wang now serves as the “interim chair” of the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, which advises the governor, Legislature, and other state agencies by promoting the “economic, social, legal and political equality of Asian Pacific Minnesotans,” according to its website. Wang’s term is up in January 2025. The council spent more than half a million dollars of taxpayer funding in 2023, according to its annual report. But for over a decade, Wang has also been affiliated with the China Association for Promoting Democracy, the DCNF found through a review of Chinese government announcements, archived University of Minnesota records, and Chinese-language publications written by Wang himself. CAPD is one of the handful of alternative Chinese political parties allowed to operate in the communist nation. Like China’s other minor parties, CAPD is “loyal” to the Chinese Communist Party and continues “to function within the structure of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC),” which is the country’s top political advisory body, according to the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. CAPD is allowed to operate in China based upon its organization’s stated promise to “rally closely around” the CCP’s Central Committee and play a role as advisors and assistants to the CCP, according to Xinhua, China’s official news agency. Since joining the Minnesota state council, records show that Wang has been recognized by the Chinese government on multiple occasions, including granting him a title and even accepting a policy research proposal he submitted. “My elderly parents are my only ties to China,” Wang told the DCNF by email, when asked about his relationship with CAPD. Wang’s profile on the University of Minnesota’s website does not currently mention his CAPD affiliation, though an archived version does. Wang previously told the outlet China Insight his parents were “senior scientists” at “Academia Sinica,” which is the historic name for the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The academy reports directly to China’s State Council, with “much of its work contributing to products for military use,” according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The Chinese Academy of Sciences is a “privileged institution” that’s “tightly monitored” by the CCP, said Steve Yates, China Policy Initiative chair at the America First Policy Institute and former Chinese-language analyst for the National Security Agency. “For someone to have two parents in that entity, it basically is the equivalent of being not just a made man, but a made family,” Yates told the DCNF. Wang has also previously said he works as a senior associate professor of law at the Beijing-based China University of Political Science and Law, whose website still lists him as faculty. Neither Walz’s office nor the Harris-Walz campaign responded to multiple requests for comment. Walz’s close relationship with China and its political mechanisms have come under intense scrutiny from Republican lawmakers, like Kentucky Rep. James Comer, who recently sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray requesting information pertaining to “any Chinese entity or individual with whom Mr. Walz may have engaged or partnered.” Walz has traveled to China approximately 30 times and even worked for Macau Polytechnic University while serving in Congress, Comer’s letter says. Media reports have also dug up past comments from Walz where he appears to lavish praise on Chinese communism—for instance, Walz reportedly told high school students in 1991 that communism “means that everyone is the same and everyone shares.” More recently, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported that Walz has attended numerous events organized by members of a Minnesota nonprofit affiliated with a CCP influence and intelligence agency. Among other examples, members of the nonprofit and related organizations held a fundraiser for Walz’s gubernatorial reelection in 2022, the DCNF found. "@GovTimWalz could explain away 1 or 2 facts, but he can't explain away the pattern & the @DailyCaller just dropped an investigation a day or so ago, which showed Walz maintaining regular contact w/ Communist Party front organizations in MN. So, we go back to the 1990s we have… pic.twitter.com/SSeuTVA9in— Philip Lenczycki ?? (@LenczyckiPhilip) August 29, 2024 “You would think that there would be some screening,” Yates said of Walz’s appointment of Wang. “Of what possible value-add is someone with ties to that entity in China to the citizens of the United States or to Minnesota, and why would a governor with a generation of experience coming and going to the People’s Republic of China want someone from that world having privileged access to advise leaders in Minnesota on any issue?” Yates told the DCNF. ‘Not Really About Democracy’ While the word “democracy” appears in its name, the China Association for Promoting Democracy describes itself as “a political party that accepts the leadership of the CCP and cooperates with the CCP as a participant in socialism with Chinese characteristics.” CAPD also says its members are mainly intellectuals working in academia, science, media, and related fields. “When you are engaging entities from communist countries that have the word ‘democracy’ in them, you have a near 100% chance that they’re not really about democracy,” Yates told the DCNF. “You’re talking about organizations that are meant to interact with people and groups in the Free World on behalf of the ultimate authority in the PRC: the CCP.” John Dotson, deputy director of the Global Taiwan Institute, told the DCNF that CAPD is “one of what the CCP calls the ‘eight democratic parties’ that operate alongside the ruling CCP, in the effort to provide a veneer of pluralism to the [Chinese] system.” “Anyone who is a member of one of the ‘eight democratic parties’ should be understood as a CCP member, subject to Party directives, etcetera,” said Dotson, a former U.S. Navy intelligence officer. The DCNF determined Wang’s CAPD membership through a review of multiple archived English and Chinese-language profiles. For instance, an archived version of Wang’s 2022 bio on the University of Minnesota’s China Center website identified him as “one of the twenty-five members serving on the Central Civil and Judiciary Committee of China Association For Promoting Democracy, the third largest political party in mainland China.” At some point between January and July 2023, Wang’s membership in the Chinese political party was removed from his China Center bio. The China Center did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment. CAPD’s Chinese-language website still names Wang as a member of its Central Civil and Judiciary Committee, and also identifies Wang as a professor of the Institute of Comparative Law at China University of Political Science and Law. Wang is currently listed as faculty on the website of China University of Political Science and Law and his position at the school is noted in several online bios, including his Barnes & Noble author bio, as well as in a 2019 interview on his law firm’s website. Wang also taught at São Paulo Law School in Brazil, where his online bio says, “Since 2007, he has been a member of Central Civil and Judiciary Committee of China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD), the fourth largest political party in China.” Wang’s affiliation with the Brazilian law school is noted in social media posts from China University of Political Science and Law. Indeed, Wang’s current bio on the University of Minnesota’s website states he “holds adjunct and visiting professorships at law schools and business schools in the U.S., China, Austria, Australia, Italy, Switzerland, and Brazil.” The bio, however, does not specify any particular schools with which he is associated. (Screenshots of the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans websites) ‘National Advanced Information Worker’ The Chinese government has recognized Wang’s contributions on at least two occasions, the DCNF found. CAPD awarded Wang the title “National Advanced Information Worker For Reflecting Societal Sentiments And The People’s Opinion” in November 2021—more than a year after Walz first appointed Wang to the state Asian American affairs council in May 2020. The list of award recipients appears to have been drafted in December 2020, but officially announced in 2021, according to a review of CAPD’s website. CAPD created the award in order to commend “outstanding achievements and contributions” related to a 2021 CCP Central Committee memo directing China’s eight “democratic parties” to expand their implementation of “Xi Jinping Thought On Socialism With Chinese Characteristics For A New Era.” The U.S. Department of Defense describes “Xi Jinping Thought” as the Chinese dictator’s “namesake ideology.” In July 2021, the Chinese government’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate announced the selection of Wang’s legal research proposal on international cybercrime as a research project to underwrite. The announcement lists Wang by his CAPD membership and his faculty position at China University of Political Science and Law. The Supreme People’s Procuratorate offers selected research projects an approximately $7,000 Chinese government subsidy, the department’s website states. The Procuratorate is responsible for legal supervision and prosecution in China, according to the Chinese government. “What this entity in China does has some functions that touch upon the prosecution of people inside the Chinese system, and oversight of what would be rule-of-law type issues generally,” Yates told the DCNF. Wang did not respond to the DCNF’s questions about the Procuratorate accepting his research proposal or the apparent award that went along with it. ‘Adjuncts of the CCP’ In addition to cooperating with the CCP, the China Association for Promoting Democracy also has several other Chinese government affiliations, such as serving as a “member of the patriotic United Front,” according to its website. The United Front is a “unique blend of engagement, influence activities, and intelligence operations” that the CCP uses to “shape its political environment, including to influence other countries’ policy toward [China] and to gain access to advanced foreign technology,” according to the House Select Committee on the CCP. CAPD members also serve as delegates to another Chinese government United Front agency called the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, according to the CPPCC’s website. The CPPCC’s English-language charter states its delegates must “uphold the leadership” of the CCP “and the socialist cause,” “take advantage of the CPPCC as a United Front organization,” and “keep state secrets.” “In reality, these eight nominal political parties are simply adjuncts of the CCP, and serve as window dressing in fora such as the CPPCC,” Dotson said. China expert and author Gordon Chang told the DCNF that Walz’s travels through China and his history associating with CCP-tied individuals raises the question of why the governor appointed a member of a CCP-approved political party to serve in Minnesota’s executive branch. “Walz appointing a Chinese Communist stooge doesn’t automatically make him a Chinese Communist supporter,” Chang said, “but who other than a Chinese Communist supporter would do that?” Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation The post Tim Walz Appointed Member of Political Party ‘Loyal’ to Chinese Communists to State Board appeared first on The Daily Signal.

NYT: Harris About to Double Down On Failed Strategy

If there’s one topic that lights a fire behind Kamala Harris’ eyes, it’s abortion. And that was made crystal clear in the first presidential debate between Harris and former President Donald Trump on Tuesday night. “I think her strongest moment was when she started talking about abortion. Abortion is what animates her. Abortion is — I don’t think that this is an exaggeration to say — what she loves. It is what she has built her career on,” Allie Beth Stuckey of “Relatable” says. Kamala supports abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, for any reason, and paid for by the taxpayer. She also endorses overturning the Hyde Amendment, which protects American citizens’ tax dollars from funding abortions. “She explicitly supports overturning the Hyde Amendment to force you, Christian pro-lifer, to fund the slaughtering of unborn children,” Stuckey comments, noting that she also voted against the Born Alive Survivors Protection Act when she was a senator in 2019. The Born Alive Survivors Protection Act was created to protect babies who survive abortion outside the womb. Kamala reportedly called it “radical.” During the debate, Trump called out Kamala for her views on abortion, pointing out that she supports abortion in the ninth month and “execution after birth.” While Kamala and her supporters have been laughing in response to Trump’s criticism and pretending it isn’t true, it is, quite unfortunately, true. “She really does not believe in any limitations,” Stuckey comments, again referring to her vote against “protecting babies who survive abortions from execution.” The debate moderators continuously “fact-checked” Trump throughout the debate, while letting Kamala spew her lies, even lying for her at times. At one point, David Muir claimed there was no state where it’s legal to kill a baby after it’s born, but that’s not true. “Data from the Minnesota Department of Health shows that at least eight babies who survived abortions in the state were left to die between 2019 and 2021,” Stuckey explains. Kamala’s VP pick, Tim Walz, signed the Protect Reproductive Options Act in January 2023, which repealed the state's Born Alive Infant Protection Act. The Protect Reproductive Options Act also essentially prohibited any restrictions on abortion, including gestational age limits. The bill also removed the requirement for abortion providers to report cases in which infants survive abortion attempts. “We are talking about babies outside of the womb,” Stuckey says, disturbed. “Tim Walz and Kamala Harris believe that they should have no right to health care, that they should be left to die.” Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Electricity demand has surged after more than a decade of slow growth, when it increased by just 1%. New technologies, such as artificial intelligence, are driving much of this rise, with data centers expected to consume 8% of the nation’s electricity by 2030. The domestic production of semiconductors is also contributing to this trend, prompting utilities to nearly double their demand growth projections by 2028. This surge is good news. Advancements in artificial intelligence and other technologies boost productivity, drive economic growth, and position the U.S. to win the technology race against its rivals. However, there is one major challenge: We need enough reliable electricity to meet this growing demand. We should not shut down dependable power sources until equally reliable replacements have been built. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation estimates that winter electricity demand will increase by 91,000 megawatts over the next 10 years — more power than California’s entire existing supply. In just the next two years, we will need to build the equivalent of 28 nuclear reactors to keep up. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency is advancing regulations that will force coal power plants to close, reducing our electricity supply when we need to increase it. This approach marks a massive step backward at a critical time for our country. Existing EPA regulations, costly tax breaks, and federal subsidies have already led to plans to retire more than 130 coal plants in 31 states over the next five years, just as electricity demand is set to surge. In response, utilities in 14 states have reversed plans to retire coal plants to meet the rising electricity demand. Even if we pretend that replacement wind farms and solar panels could be built quickly enough to replace all coal plants (which they cannot), they would still need to be connected to the electricity grid with new transmission lines that could take years, if not decades, to construct. Even then, the resulting electricity supply would depend on sun and wind, which cannot produce electricity 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Battery storage is not a solution, either, because batteries provide only a few hours of electricity. Ignoring the practical limitations of renewables and their required infrastructure could lead to more frequent blackouts, costing consumers hundreds of millions of dollars. It would also undermine critical industries and our energy security, which, as Europe learned from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are vital sources of geopolitical strength. Meanwhile, China, our other rival, consumes half the world’s coal and continues to build more coal plants to power advanced technologies and expand its military influence. China’s new coal plants alone will generate more electricity than all existing U.S. coal plants combined. Shutting down U.S. coal plants would hand a strategic advantage to our rivals. With electricity demand skyrocketing, the U.S. is still years away from replacing dependable power sources without risking blackouts, hindering economic growth, and jeopardizing national security. While there are many proposals to address this challenge, some are good and many are unrealistic. We have two simple suggestions. First, we must scale back or overturn EPA regulations that threaten our ability to meet future electricity demand. This can be achieved through the courts, a new president, or Congress. The U.S. Supreme Court recently blocked the EPA from implementing its Good Neighbor Plan, which could have forced coal plant retirements. The court’s stay indicates it believes there is a good chance the rule will eventually be overturned. Even more recently, 27 states asked the Supreme Court to stay the EPA’s Clean Power Plan 2.0, which likely would force the entire U.S. coal fleet into premature retirement. Second, we should not shut down dependable power sources until equally reliable replacements have been built. Both ideas will take political will and a sense of urgency. If we wait until the lights go out, it will be too late.