investigating the investigators

Both within the United States and across the Atlantic, attempts to overturn the results of free and fair ballots have been turned back, and those who perpetuated the move now face severe repercussions.

President Trump has instructed federal intelligence agencies to cooperate with the Department of Justice in the effort to uncover how false charges against his campaign, and the ensuing investigation,came about. There are deep-seated and well-founded concerns that the FBI and the CIA violated the law by engaging in highly partisan activities on behalf of the Clinton campaign. Substantial penalties may be incurred by those responsible.

Within the United Kingdom, a 2016 referendum which demonstrated the will of the British people to leave the European Union was essentially ignored by leading politicians, who concocted repeated schemes to ignore the practical results of the ballot. Prime Minister May will soon be forced to leave office as a result.

There is an important lesson to be learned from these two related incidents on opposite sides of the ocean within the two nations most closely associated with freedom. Constitutional safeguards and long-standing traditions do not guarantee that a government will abide by the will of the people, absent firm vigilance by the citizenry.

A counter-revolution against the legacy of personal freedom has dangerously arisen. It can be seen in as ascendancy of elitism within the European Union, and the rising prominence of socialism in the United States. It is evident in the disdain for free speech on university campuses, and the abandonment by many key media outlets of their responsibility to serve as a conduit of objective information to a population that needs it to make electoral decisions.

While a few have pointed to the growing danger, far too many have remained apathetic, mistakenly convinced, despite the rising tide of authoritarianism, that the legacy of liberty is unassailable.

The flood tide of influence against individual freedom is overwhelming. Increasingly, academia scrounges for every anachronistic character flaw in the founding fathers and uses that in its ongoing diatribe against the philosophy they instituted, which has provided more freedom for more humans than anything else in history. Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic rely on every emotion of envy to attack capitalism and foster support for collectivist systems that never work but allow excuses for the reduction of individual rights.

And, looming over it all, is the hyper-partisanship of the left that willingly sacrifices bedrock principles if it results in any electoral gain. Senior Democratic Party officials have discussed abolishing keystone portions of America’s governing structure, including the electoral college and even the U.S. Senate because they believe they would gain an edge. They absurdly ignore the 100,000-plus illegal immigrants streaming across the border resulting in vast expense to the taxpayers as well as danger of crime, disease and terrorism because statistics indicate they would vote Democratic upon reaching citizenship. Those same party leaders vigorously oppose any safeguards against illegal voting so the illegals’ votes can be obtained even before that. The clear, obvious misdeeds of former Secretary of State Clinton, in Benghazi, email security, and the trading of the basic ingredient of nuclear weapons to the Russians in return for “contributions” to her foundation were blithely overlooked by the Justice Department under the belief that she would be the next president. In the same vein, during the Obama Administration, there was no punishment for Lois Lerner’s turning the IRS into a partisan attack machine, or Loretta Lynch’s discussion of criminally prosecuting organizations for merely disagreeing with Obama’s stance on climate change.

There are profound and escalating challenges facing the survival of freedom. They have been ignored for far too long.

Families should take the responsibility side effects viagra of providing their women martial arts lessons. Consequently, males can satisfy their female partners successfully. cipla tadalafil 20mg viagra for women uk http://downtownsault.org/salvation-army/ If being affected by renal disease, liver organ problem, abdomen ulcer, center related illnesses etc. totally takes the therapy on physician’s advice only. Testosterone deficiency is the underlying cause of problem and improves the reproductive health of person naturally. 100mg viagra online

Photo: State Symbols USA

Quick Analysis

China’s Tech Targets

Chinese technology is changing and its leadership is using it, along with espionage, to challenge the West in a number of critical areas. The United States is only one of its targets. Previously, Beijing’s spies primarily sought Western technologies as a way to skip generations of develop cost and time to modernize its economy. Today, its acquisition of advanced technologies, and now also its indigenous development, makes the communist giant a threat to freedom-loving people everywhere. This week Nan Mulchandani, the CIA’s chief technology officer, said Director William Burns is preparing for an “infinite race” with Beijing for artificial intelligence and advanced technologies. He argues the US must pivot toward providing American spies with the latest transformative technologies to outcompete China. Mulchandani says this means updating everything the agency does “from operations to the analytic function, support functions and other piece there.” America, he suggests, needs to alter its thinking toward viewing this not as a race with a finite end point, but as an ongoing competition. Mr. Mulchandani predicted that the next area of competition would “be primarily a software war that is powered by something like AI” rather than hardware fueled by software. That competition, however, is not confined to simply acquiring critical technologies for use in the future. China is also challenging the US in space. China announced today it launched a groundbreaking mission to retrieve samples from the far side of the moon. The space capsule will arrive in four days and collect 4.4 pounds of moon rocks and regolith, or moon dirt. Beijing’s desire to one day become a space power and scientific force is for pragmatic purposes in 2024 a fait accompli. Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, said during a NASA budget hearing this week, that “while the US remains the global leader in space exploration, we face increasing challenges internationally.” Referring to China’s space station, Lucas said: “We cannot allow China to become the front-runner in space exploration… There are too many consequences for our competitiveness, our national security, and our continued ability to explore space.” A new report released this week by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) says that the United States, to further its geopolitical interests and maintain a strong domestic economy, must approach every aspect of economic and trade policy through the lens of global technology competition. The Biden Administration’s approach, it says, discounts the landscape of competition between China and the US and may “jeopardize US advancements in emerging technologies… which could cede the advantage to China….” In particular, the report recommends that the US take action now because quantum and artificial intelligence (AI) need a federal policy to ensure the country can spur the entrepreneurship and R&D efforts foundational to the strength of the technology sector. As China’s Communist Party (CCP) becomes more hostile to the United States and other Western nations, its aggressive activities abroad expand and intensify. Chinese spy cases far outnumber those of Russia and every other nation. CSIS reports that since President Xi took over in 2012 there have been 224 incidents of spying. Estimates of the long -term economic, scientific, and national security cost to the US run into the billions and have “created immeasurable damage to national security with the theft of weapons technology, including nuclear weapons test data… China has added the theft of massive quantities of personal information, political coercion, and influence operations, to its espionage activities.” The CSIS reports says that 49% of incidents of spying in the US directly involved Chinese military or government employees, with private Chinese citizens accounted for 41%. In 29% of the espionage cases the person involved was attempting to acquire military technology, while in 54% of the incidents it was related to commercial technologies. Almost half of the cases involved cyber espionage, usually by state—affiliated actors. No matter where one turns today China is challenging the West, from the depths of our oceans to outer space. The United States cannot count on China to be a good global citizen and refrain from attempting to enforce its vision of world order with Beijing at the apex. The time is growing short for the West to take action. Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Dept.