Biden’s Weakness on Spy Balloon Assures Chinese Aggression

President Joe Biden’s weakness with China is once again on display. Earlier this week, U.S. officials tracked a Chinese reconnaissance balloon over the American mainland. A Chinese Communist Party spokesperson claimed this was nothing more than a "weather research" balloon that had simply blown off course. Sure, the CCP’s harmless weather balloon just happened to pass over multiple sensitive military sites vital to America’s national security—nobody should believe that nonsense, especially not the Biden administration.

Even if it were true, the CCP’s policy of civil-military fusion—which requires all available research and technology, from China's private sector or otherwise, to be shared with the Chinese military—makes such an excuse an impossibility. Thus, this appears to be an intentional act of espionage, and it signals that the CCP is feeling ever more emboldened with Biden in charge. If the Biden administration does not act to change this paradigm quickly, the threat of conflict will only continue to grow. Weakness breeds aggression. America must demonstrate clear strength and resolve.

This is far from the first time the CCP has engaged in acts of espionage against the American people. China is, and has been for years, aggressively engaged in acts of espionage and propaganda against the American people at all levels of American society. The threat from the CCP is very real here at home, in places like Des Moines, Tallahassee, and Pittsburgh. Its malign activity doesn’t stay in Beijing or Wuhan; it is already inside our gates.

The CCP has targeted officials in our federal government, like congressman Eric Swalwell and Senator Dianne Feinstein, as well as our universities, local governments, media, think tanks, and more. The CCP underwrote a program of "Confucius Institutes" at American universities, ostensibly to foster cultural connections on our campuses, but in reality, to spy on students and professors and steal intellectual property. China’s economy was built on the backs of Americans not only by taking American jobs but also, crucially, by an unparalleled campaign of corporate espionage that has robbed Americans of billions of dollars’ worth of intellectual property. Even seemingly innocuous apps like TikTok have been revealed to be little more than tools for collecting the private information of Americans and spreading CCP propaganda.

Instead of falling back on diplomatic platitudes and White House press releases about "deep concern" in the face of these threats, the Trump administration took action. We refused to give an inch to the CCP’s malign actions against the American people. As secretary of state, when I learned that the largest spy ring in American history was operating out of the Chinese Consulate in Houston, we shut it down. For years, American officials had turned a blind eye to its operations, fearing what the CCP would do in retaliation if we put an end to it. This was nothing more than weakness, which only reinforced the CCP’s confidence that it could continue to steal from the American people and get away with it. I refused to let that continue on my watch, so I summoned the Chinese ambassador and told him he had 72 hours to get his people out of the consulate. Despite his protests that the CCP had nothing to hide there, just hours after the announcement news broke that the Houston Fire Department was responding to fires at the consulate. They were burning the evidence.

That wasn’t all. We campaigned to shut down every single Confucius Institute in the United States, and we nearly succeeded. We began the process of banning TikTok, an effort which continues across the country at state and local government, and even recently in Congress. I traveled across the United States and spoke to everyone from local governments to state governors to alert them to the dangers posed by the Chinese Communist Party. I did this because the CCP’s actions threaten the United States at every level, and inaction only invites the CCP to escalate its actions.

If the Biden administration wishes to reestablish the relationship of deterrence and reciprocity we cultivated with Xi’s regime, it must take the following steps:

First, the balloon should be safely brought down in a manner that minimizes risk to American civilians and that allows its contents to be recovered. Then, the content and purpose of the balloon should be made entirely public. The American people deserve to know what they are up against.

Second, we should examine every part of the surveillance balloon, determine the manufacturer of each, and sanction them accordingly. Companies around the world need to be on watch to ensure their high-tech parts are not being used by the Chinese government.

Third, the Biden administration must take the threat posed by the CCP seriously. China has been waging economic warfare against the American people for decades, but Biden still fights to cooperate with them on issues like climate change. This must end.

Fourth, Secretary of State Antony Blinken should use planned travel to the region to consult with allies, partners, and friends on further actions that will deter any more of Xi Jinping’s adventurism and hare-brained schemes.

Lastly, America must demand reciprocity. If China doesn’t allow Americans to purchase farmland next to their military installations, we shouldn’t either. If China doesn’t allow our diplomats to move freely across China, then Chinese diplomats shouldn’t be able to either. If Americans can’t get research jobs at top installations in Beijing, then Chinese researchers shouldn’t be able to get jobs here either.

The CCP’s spy balloon is a symptom of the Biden administration’s weakness, not only in relation to the People’s Republic of China, but to America’s adversaries writ large. Xi noted Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, a complete debacle that made America look weak and indecisive. He watched Russia hack American pipelines and noted Biden’s failure to impose any real costs on Vladimir Putin. He watched Putin’s provocations prior to the invasion of Ukraine, and noted Biden’s allowance that a "minor incursion" would be permissible.

Now, he will watch Biden’s response to a CCP tool of espionage blatantly flying over sensitive American military sites. Failure to deal with the surveillance balloon sends a message of weakness, not strength, and reinforces Xi's decision to take advantage of this administration. President Biden must reassert American resolve, not continue to peddle American weakness. If he fails to do so, he will continue to invite greater risk to the safety of the American people.

Mike Pompeo served under President Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th United States secretary of state from 2018 to 2021.

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/full-of-hot-air-how-bidens-weakness-assures-chinese-aggression/

Hawley calls for investigation of Biden’s ‘baffling response’ to Chinese surveillance balloon

 Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is calling for the Senate Homeland Security Committee to investigate what he says is the Biden administration’s “baffling response” to a Chinese surveillance balloon that floated over U.S. missile installations in Montana, triggering alarms at the Pentagon.  

“We have an obligation to obtain a full understanding of the surveillance that the Chinese government is currently conducting” and the Biden administration’s “baffling response thus far,” Hawley said. 

Hawley said the Biden administration needs to explain why it merely monitored the suspected spy balloon instead of shooting it down, calling its intrusion into American airspace “a gross violation of American sovereignty.” 

“China’s foray into America’s sovereign airspace is deeply disturbing and calls for an immediate investigation,” Hawley wrote in a Feb. 3 letter to Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Gary Peters (D-Mich.). 

“This is a matter of homeland security, and we should hear from senior members of the Biden administration to understand their response, or lack thereof, so far,” he said.  

The Pentagon said it would not shoot down the balloon because of the danger falling debris could pose to people on the ground.

Hawley also rejected the claim by the Chinese foreign ministry that the balloon is a “civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological purposes” and that it was blown off course by weather.

“We know that is a lie,” he wrote to Peters. “The Pentagon has confirmed that the balloon is ‘maneuverable’ and is currently somewhere over the center of the continental United States — in violation of U.S. airspace and international law.” 

The balloon’s flight near intercontinental ballistic missile silos in Montana has prompted speculation that it was sent purposely by the Chinese military or intelligence services to send a message that those sites are potential targets in a future conflict.  

A senior defense official told reporters earlier this week that Biden was briefed on the balloon and asked military leaders to review possible responses to the incursion.  

Pentagon spokesman, Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the balloon was expected to float through U.S. airspace for a few days.  

“Yet rather than shooting down or otherwise disabling this high-altitude balloon, the Biden administration is merely ‘monitoring the situation’ and referring reporters to the Chinese government for answers,” Hawley wrote. 

He said the Senate needs to review the matter because “the American people are demanding answers.”  

Republicans spent much of Friday castigating Biden for his response to the balloon. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) earlier in the day called for a briefing for the Gang of Eight, the top members of Congress who receive classified intelligence.

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/3843167-hawley-calls-for-investigation-of-bidens-baffling-response-to-chinese-surveillance-balloon/

Congress is set to expose what may be the largest censorship system in U.S. history

 This coming week a new House select subcommittee will hold its first hearing on the FBI and the possible “weaponization” of government agencies. A variety of such controversies have contributed to plunging public trust in government and the FBI in particular.

The role of the FBI in prior scandals will remain a point of heated debate in Congress. However, members of both parties should be able to agree on the need to investigate one of the most serious allegations: Censorship by surrogate.

Many of the allegations of FBI bias are worthy of investigation. Some of those allegations are problems of personnel who can be removed. But a far more menacing problem has emerged in recent months with the release of information from Twitter.

The “Twitter files” revealed an FBI operation to monitor and censor social media content — an effort so overwhelming and intrusive that Twitter staff at one point complained internally that “they are probing & pushing everywhere.” The reports have indicated that dozens of FBI employees worked on the identification and removal of material on a wide range of subjects and that Twitter largely carried out their requests.

Nor was it just the FBI, apparently. Emails reveal FBI figures like a San Francisco assistant special agent in charge asking Twitter executives to “invite an OGA” (or “Other Government Organization”) to an upcoming meeting. A week later, Stacia Cardille, a senior Twitter legal executive, indicated the OGA was the CIA, an agency under strict limits regarding domestic activities.

Twitter’s own ranks included dozens of ex-FBI agents and executives, including James Baker, who featured greatly in prior FBI instances of alleged bias.

The Twitter files also show various FBI offices monitoring social media and flagging “misleading” information on various subjects.

The dozens of disclosed emails are only a fraction of Twitter’s files and do not include still-undisclosed but apparent government coordination with Facebook and other social media companies. Much of that work apparently was done through the multi-agency Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), which operated secretly it seems to censor citizens.

Ironically, during the outcry over establishing a Disinformation Governance Board at the Department of Homeland Security, Biden administration officials had to have known they already were employing an extensive censorship system. When the administration finally relented and disbanded the disinformation board, that censorship work appears to have continued unimpeded through the FITF and agency censors.

According to reports, one email in August 2022 sent “long lists of newspapers, tweets or YouTube videos” deemed to be voicing “anti-Ukraine narratives.” Even satirical and comedy sites reportedly were pegged by the social media police.

What is most striking is that the FBI was not responding to false claims about its operations. Instead, these censorship demands were the result of policing “misinformation” and “disinformation” on subjects ranging from political corruption to elections.

Some apologists continue to defend this process, saying the FBI was only objecting to disinformation the way that citizens did on Twitter. That is not true; the government reportedly used back channels and regular meetings to flag unacceptable statements. Indeed, even if it were true, many things are more dangerous when done by government. When your neighbor attacks your opinion, it is just the crank next door. But when it is your government on the attack, it is far more threatening and stigmatizing.

Even if this operation did not cross the constitutional line, there are ample reasons why a democracy does not want the government in the business of targeting those whom it views as misleading or misinforming the public. While the FBI has every reason to pursue criminal fraud, this operation appears to have targeted speech it deemed harmful to political or social discourse.

For years, many politicians and pundits have dismissed free-speech concerns by noting that the First Amendment only applies to the government. So long as corporations do the censoring, they contend, it is not a free-speech problem.

This obviously is wrong on several fronts.

The First Amendment is not the exclusive measure of free speech. Corporate censorship of political commentaries or news stories are denials of free speech that harm our democratic system.

Second, this is a First Amendment violation. The Twitter files have substantiated long-standing concerns over “censorship by surrogate” or proxy. As with other amendments like the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches or seizures, the government cannot use private agents to do indirectly what it cannot do directly. Just as a police officer cannot direct a security guard to break into an apartment and conduct a search, the FBI cannot use Twitter to censor Americans.

To be fair, there were occasions when Twitter reportedly balked at government demands for raw political censorship — in one case, a demand by Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Cal.) led a frustrated Twitter censor to object that “We don’t do this.”

Nevertheless, Twitter’s management certainly now seems to admit that the company worked as an agent of the FBI and carried out most demands for social media suspensions, removals or blocks of individuals. At the same time, the FBI pushed for closer collaboration on content removal.

We do not know the full extent of this operation or its impact, but Congress should want to know if the FBI and other agencies created a system of censorship-by-surrogate. The only reason we now have Twitter’s previously secret communications is because an eccentric billionaire bought the company.

The broader effort with other companies could well constitute the largest censorship program ever run by the government — a system designed to escape both public and judicial scrutiny. It also shows how it is no longer necessary to have a “Ministry of Information” to maintain a state media: You can have an effective state media by consent rather than by coercion or control.

The FBI’s response to disclosure of these long-secret communications is particularly chilling. When some critics denounced it as raw censorship, the FBI accused them of being “conspiracy theorists … feeding the American public misinformation.” So, criticism of the FBI’s work to censor citizens resulted in an official statement denouncing those citizens.

None of these denials or attacks succeed, however. The public understands the threat and strongly supports an investigation into the FBI’s role in censoring social media. Despite the push for censorship by some politicians and pundits, most Americans still want free-speech protections. It is in our DNA.

This country was founded on deep commitments to free speech and limited government — and that constitutional tradition is no conspiracy theory.

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at The George Washington University. 

https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/3843751-congress-is-set-to-expose-what-may-be-the-largest-censorship-system-in-u-s-history/

Hedge fund lobby group supports shareholder rights in Masimo case

 The hedge fund industry trade association MFA on Thursday backed an activist investment firm's push to reverse "draconian" amendments to medical device company Masimo Corp's bylaws, weighing in on one of investment world's most closely watched legal cases.

MFA on Thursday filed an amicus curiae, or friend of the court brief, to express "serious concerns" about the bylaws, arguing that if the court rules that they are enforcible, the provisions would have a direct negative impact on MFA's members, their investors and stockholders more broadly."

The new requirements by Masimo Corp would force any activist planning to nominate directors at the medical device maker to disclose the identities of the fund's limited partners and future plans to nominate candidates elsewhere, information that is usually considered top secret by hedge funds.

Politan Capital Management, which owns an 8.9% stake in Masimo and is run by Quentin Koffey, has hinted at plans to seek board seats. It sued Masimo, which has a market capitalization of $9.1 billion, in October in Delaware Chancery Court.

The lawsuit sparked debate among corporate governance experts, activist investors and corporate executives over how to proceed as the industry adjusts to new corporate ballot rules that could make it easier for activists to win board seats.

"If upheld by the Court, these Bylaw Amendments will have a chilling effect on investors who root out corporate fraud, waste, and abuse," said Bryan Corbett, MFA's chief executive officer.

MFA, which has more than 150 members who jointly manage $2.6 trillion in assets, argues the consequences of these bylaws would harm a wide group of investors not just activists who push for change at corporations by seeking board seats. "The bylaw provisions at issue threaten to limit stockholders' incentives and ability to engage with management teams and boards in order to effect beneficial change. That, in turn, will weaken market-based accountability mechanisms that act as important checks and balances in our corporate governance system to the disadvantage of all stockholders," the brief said. 

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/hedge-fund-lobby-group-supports-021752023.html

Cigna expects revenue gains from launches of Humira biosimilars

 Cigna Corp expects its pharmacy benefit management unit to earn more from the second half of 2023 as makers of cheaper versions of AbbVie Inc's arthritis drug Humira will boost aftermarket discounts to gain access to patients.

Amgen Inc launched a biosimilar version of Humira called Amjevita in the United States on Tuesday, and at least seven others are expected to roll out in July.

Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) act as intermediaries between drugmakers and insurers. They get after-market discounts from drugmakers to add treatments to the lists they recommend to insurers and companies offering coverage for employees.

PBMs typically pass on most of the discounts, called rebates, to their clients and retain some in fees.

Cigna's PBM unit has both Humira and Amgen's Amjevita on its list of covered drugs.

Chief Executive David Cordani said in a conference call to discuss Cigna's fourth-quarter earnings that he anticipates "value creation from the increased availability of biosimilars building in the second half of 2023 and ramping in 2024 and beyond."

Those gains will help partially offset the anticipated cost this year of setting up its contract to manage Centene Corp's annual pharmacy spend of around $40 billion.

Cigna's insurance arm, meanwhile, faces a possible shift towards less profitable government-backed health programs due to chances of the U.S. economy's "fragility" pressuring enrollment in corporate plans, Cordani said.

The company forecast a medical care ratio - the ratio of the amount paid out for medical services versus revenue brought in - of 81.5% to 82.5% for 2023. The midpoint is marginally higher than last year's 81.7% and a Wall Street estimate of 81.9%.

Its annual profit forecast of at least $24.60 per share was marginally below expectations of $24.84 per share.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cigna-beats-quarterly-profit-expectations-110903645.html

U.S. House plans vote to end foreign air traveler COVID vaccine mandate

 The U.S. House of Representatives plans to vote next week on a bill that would end a requirement that most foreign air travelers be vaccinated against COVID-19, Majority Leader Steve Scalise said on Friday.

The Biden administration in June dropped its requirement that people arriving in the country by air must test negative for COVID-19 but has not lifted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccination requirements.

Currently, adult visitors to the United States who are not citizens or permanent residents must show proof of vaccination before boarding their flight, with some limited exceptions.

Republican Representative Thomas Massie introduced the measure to rescind the vaccine requirement. "The CDC's unscientific mandate is separating too many people from their families and has been doing so for far too long. It needs to end," he said on Twitter.

The CDC says vaccines continue to be the most important public health tool for fighting COVID-19 and recommends all travelers be vaccinated. The CDC did not immediately comment Friday.

The U.S. Travel Association said Thursday it has "long supported the removal of this requirement and see no reason to wait until the May expiration of the public health emergency - particularly as potential visitors are planning spring and summer travel."

The group says the United States "is the only country that still has this requirement for international visitors when there is no longer any public health justification."

Mask requirements on airplanes were relaxed last year after a judge declared them unlawful.

But in December, the United States imposed mandatory negative COVID-19 test requirements on most travelers from China as COVID infections rocketed there. 

https://www.yahoo.com/now/u-house-plans-vote-end-222449004.html

FDA: India-made eye drop linked to some infections, blindness and one death

 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned against using an India-made eye drop that has been linked to the outbreak of a drug-resistant bacteria leading to adverse events in at least 55 patients including infections, blindness and one death.

The agency said on Thursday that Artificial Tears eye drop manufactured by India's Global Pharma Healthcare Pvt Ltd has a potential bacterial contamination and the company has violated current good manufacturing practices.

The company, based in India's southern city of Chennai, on Wednesday said it had issued a voluntary recall at the consumer level of unexpired lots of the eye drop, which was distributed in the United States by EzriCare LLC and Delsam Pharma.

Global Pharma Healthcare did not immediately respond to a Reuters request seeking comment on the FDA statement.

The U.S. agency said it was collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and local health departments to investigate a multistate outbreak involving a rare, extensively drug-resistant bacteria.

It said that as of Jan. 31, the CDC had identified 55 patients in 12 states with infections linked to the use of Artificial Tears distributed by EzriCare.

"Associated adverse events include hospitalization, one death with bloodstream infection, and permanent vision loss from eye infections," the FDA said.

EzriCare said in a statement on Wednesday that it had stopped further distribution and sale of the eye drop, and it was not aware of any testing that "definitively links" the bacterial outbreak to the product.

https://www.yahoo.com/now/u-fda-says-india-made-153741796.html