Biden, DOJ scrapping FBI China initiative 'led to more spying'

 The Biden administration’s scrapping of a controversial FBI initiative that monitored industrial and academic relations with China has emboldened the economic giant to increase its spying on the US, according to a security expert.

“It was the wrong thing to do,” said Brandon Weichert, author of the 2020 book “Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower” and an intelligence consultant. “China has strategic deception at the heart of their grand master plan for taking on the US — and part of that initiative of strategic deception is basically convincing your enemy that you are not a threat.”

Last year, the Attorney General’s Office shut down the Department of Justice’s “China Initiative,” a Trump-era national security program focused on prosecuting economic espionage and trade secret theft by Chinese government agents. 

The program, which began in 2018, was fiercely criticized by Democrats and civil rights groups who said it allowed federal agents to unfairly target Asian Americans in their pursuit of intellectual property theft by China.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the DOJ’s decision to scrap its “China Initiative” “emboldens China’s efforts to steal American jobs and American intellectual property and American secrets.”

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“The FBI’s core responsibility to prevent foreign spying must be focused on the CCP [Chinese Community Party]. To scrap the program focused on this target emboldens China’s efforts to steal American jobs and American intellectual property and American secrets,” former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told The Post. “Allowing a spy balloon to transit sensitive military sites evidences an absence of seriousness and urgency with respect to the offensive action of China inside our country.” 

Weichert also cited recent spy balloon activity in US airspace as a sign that China has stepped up its surveillance, as it continues to rely on lobbying groups and trade associations to normalize their influence on US lawmakers, he said.

“The Chinese use lobbyists to influence our political class, who go into power and initiate policy and plans under the belief that China is not a threat,” Weichert told The Post. “And those politicians believe that if we work through peace and in a non-military way, we will create greater understanding between the two countries. It’s very naive when you are dealing with China.”

“Chinese police stations,” like this one in Manhattan, are used by the Chinese Community Party as a way to spy on political dissidents and in, some cases, force them to return to the Communist country.

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According to Laura Harth, spokeswoman for the Madrid-based think tank Safeguard Defenders, “All these efforts largely make use of existing United Front networks of individuals and front organizations across the globe. The United Front Work Department is the CCP’s prime influence agency, which seeks to influence various public- and private-sector entities outside the PRC, including but not limited to political, commercial and academic spheres. The UFWD on the one hand promotes efforts to align policies and activities with CCP interests and narratives — propaganda — and on the other hand seeks to divide and silence CCP/PRC critics.”

She added that among the groups targeted are “chambers of commerce.”

Last year, weeks before the Biden administration was considering ending the “China Initiative,” FBI Director Christopher Wray called China the biggest threat to US security. He also said that the ruling Communist Party had become “more brazen, more damaging” than ever. At that time, the FBI had more than 2,000 China-related cases, Wray said, adding that it was opening a new China-related case every 12 hours. Yet the program was officially scrapped Feb. 23, 2022.

“Allowing a spy balloon to transit sensitive military sites evidences an absence of seriousness and urgency,” Pompeo said.

AP

“To be clear, we are focused on the actions of the PRC government, the Chinese Communist Party, and their agents — not the Chinese people or those of Chinese descent,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen in a speech announcing the end of the initiative last year. “As we talk about the threats that the PRC government poses to the United States, we must never lose sight of that fundamental distinction.”

In the last year, the DOJ issued a flurry of indictments against US former law enforcement officials and private investigators who have cooperated with Chinese authorities to harass Chinese nationals in the US and spy on their own citizens.

The indictments filed against US-based private detectives allege that some have traded on their federal law enforcement connections to obtain classified documents and private information on political dissidents living in the US and targeted by the Chinese Communist Party.

“Biden is desperate not to raise the threat level too high with China,” said intelligence expert Brandon Weichert. “If more Americans find out what China is doing on their shores, they would be outraged.”

AP

In addition to working with private investigators, the Chinese government has set up a network of more than 100 “police stations” in urban centers across the globe, including New York City, according to Safeguard Defenders. The stations, which are ostensibly set up to help Chinese nationals with bureaucratic matters such as renewing driver’s licenses, are said to have a more sinister purpose: to spy on political dissidents and in, some cases, force them to return to the Communist country.

Safeguard Defenders’ Harth said there are at least four “overseas police service centers” in the US set up by “three local police security authorities” in China.

“They’re harassment stations, and there is almost no outrage on the part of the Biden administration about this or the balloons,” Weichert said. “Most of the Biden administration are doves when it comes to China and still angling to do these big geopolitical deals with the country.”

Weichert said he has been told that “Wagner Group soldiers [depicted in a mural above] are using Chinese-made drones [on behalf of Russia], and that they have seen multiple Chinese military advisers on the ground in Ukraine.”

AP

Biden has been a longtime supporter of China, said Weichert. In 2000, when the president was the US senator representing Delaware, he voted to normalize relations with the Communist superpower by pressing for its inclusion in the World Trade Organization.

“Biden is desperate not to raise the threat level too high with China,” said Weichert. “If more Americans find out what China is doing on their shores, they would be outraged.”

Now the Chinese government may also be arming Russia in its invasion of Ukraine through the Wagner Group, a paramilitary organization, Weichert said.

Security intelligence expert Brandon Weichert wrote the 2020 book “Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower.”

Brandon Weichert/ Twitter

“People I know in the special forces community in Australia have said that the Wagner Group soldiers are using Chinese-made drones, and that they have seen multiple Chinese military advisers on the ground in Ukraine,” he said. “It’s a very dangerous situation.”

https://nypost.com/2023/02/24/doj-cutting-fbi-china-initiative-led-to-more-spying-experts/

Medicaid Expansion Shifting Care from Children

 Medicaid spending on children shifted sharply away from children in states that expanded the program under the Affordable Care Act to include able-bodied adults, a new study finds.

The Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid Expansion Is Shifting Resources Away from Low-Income Children, published by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, also notes less than robust enrollment growth for the aged and the disabled in the expansion states.

“The expansion of Medicaid had the good intention of promoting health,” write study authors Charles Blahous and Liam Sigaud. “But well-intended policies can have unintended side effects.”

The study analyzed per capita expenditures for children and adults during Fiscal Years 2013 to 2019. The authors found Medicaid spending on low-income children in expansion states increased by 5.9 percent over the period, whereas in states that chose not to expand, the growth in spending on children was nearly three times higher, at 22.7 percent.

Expanded Demand

The Affordable Care Act, which went into effect on March 23, 2010, expanded health insurance coverage and required states to expand their Medicaid programs to include able-bodied adults with incomes up to 138 percent of the poverty level.

The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled the federal government could not force states to expand Medicaid, making the increases optional. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 39 states and the District of Columbia had expanded their programs as of November 9. In expansion states, nearly all adults earning up to $17,774 annually (for individuals) qualify for health care coverage at no cost to them.

Under expansion, Medicaid enrollment increased by 22 percent without an equal increase in health care providers. In addition, Medicaid pays physicians 54 percent of what they are reimbursed under private insurance, and hospitals receive 62 percent less than private insurers pay, which makes it less attractive to providers, write Blahous and Sigaud.

Unintended Consequences

As a result, families with low-income children in expansion states have more difficulty in finding physicians and getting timely appointments, Blahous told The Heartland Daily Podcast on January 9.

“A lot of children’s health is preventative: wellness checks, you do things to keep children on track; whereas spending for the disabled, the aged, a lot of that probably occurs on an emergency basis, and those people may wind up closer to the front of the pipeline more often,” said Blahous.

“Policymakers must understand how Medicaid’s financial resources are being shifted away from children as a byproduct of program expansion,” write Blahous and Sigaud. “When contemplating future Medicaid policy adjustments, they must consider how the opening of services to new enrollees affects the resources available to previously eligible enrollees. This is especially important in the case of low-income children, who are inherently vulnerable and for whom access to health services can have pronounced long-term effects.”

Unaffordable vs. Free

Medicaid expansion has created a host of distortions in the health care system, says Matt Dean, a senior fellow for health care policy outreach at The Heartland Institute, which co-publishes Health Care News. Dean saw the unintended consequences of expansion first-hand while serving seven terms in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

“While Minnesotans were paying more and more to get less and less health insurance, others were paying less and less to get more and more—a lot more,” said Dean.

Private health insurance is unaffordable for many working families in Minnesota, yet people from any state can get the best health care in Minnesota for free, says Dean.

“A farmer was paying $40,000 a year for family health insurance and was unable to obtain a policy at any price that would allow his family to go to the Mayo Clinic, which was a priority for him,” said Dean. “Meanwhile, anyone without income from any state can appear at Mayo and be treated for free, if they simply declare the intent to move to Minnesota, as they will be retroactively enrolled onto Medicaid.”

Free Riders

Another problem is ineligible people have been enrolled in Medicaid, says Dean.

“Minnesotans are asked to pay for folks who do not qualify for Medicaid because they may live in another state, make too much money, or are dead,” said Dean.

Medicaid-managed care plans do not check whether enrollees qualify, says Dean.

“I sponsored legislation that would ask Medicaid plans to directly contact the patient before they received payment for a Medicaid enrollee,” said Dean. “The ‘I’m Not a Robot’ bill would simply ask insurance companies to receive confirmation that a patient is alive, lives at an address, and wants coverage, before tax dollars are sent to the insurance company. Some patients no longer qualify, while others are covered by Medicaid with multiple plans, each receiving a check from the government to cover the patient.”

Individuals in need have been shoved aside, says Dean.

“States were given a financial incentive to essentially move newly eligible enrollees—who may have had private insurance—ahead of poor or disabled folks who may have no insurance,” said Dean.

https://heartlanddailynews.com/2023/01/medicaid-expansion-shifting-care-from-low-income-children-study/

Procedure to Harvest Live Organs Raises Red Flags

 A medical protocol that expands the pool of live donor organs is getting increased attention from doctors and patient advocates who say it skirts the legal definitions of death.

The practice, known as normothermic regional perfusion with controlled donation after circulatory death (NRP-cDCD), involves inducing brain death in terminal patients by clamping their carotid arteries and restarting their hearts to keep the organs viable. Three hospitals—in Arizona, Nebraska, and New York—are conducting clinical trials to expand the practice, Medpage reported in September.

Patient advocacy groups, such as Respect for Human Life, are warning the public about the ethical problems of NRP-cDCD. Heidi Klessig, M.D., wrote, “Don’t become a victim of unethical organ harvesting practices. Don’t sign that donor card!” in American Thinker.

Potential Conflicts

Patients receiving critical care in hospitals and other medical facilities may not understand the processes by which clinical death is determined or organs may be harvested.

A 2006 revision of the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act allows hospital administrators to take organs from incapacitated patients determined to have irreversible brain function and whose family members are not reachable, Klessig told the Heartland Daily Podcast, on November 28.

“[This] is terrifying when there is a person whose interest is how much money can be made from your organs, not what is in your best interests,” said Klessig.

Live organ transplants can reap millions of dollars for hospitals that procure the organs and the centers that transplant them. According to a report by the consulting firm Milliman, the average billed charges for a heart transplant in 2020 amounted to $1,664,800. Lung transplants were billed at an average of $1,295,900 and intestines at $1,240,700.

No Shelf Life

Unlike tissue from cadavers, vital organs such as the heart, lungs, livers, and kidneys cannot be harvested from a patient whose circulatory system has shut down, says Klessig.

“These organs rely on a continuous supply of oxygen and nutrition through the bloodstream to remain viable,” said Klessig. “They are so complex that once the blood flow stops, they very quickly break down and become unsuitable for transplant.”

This explains why around 100,000 patients remain on an organ waiting list despite 1.5 million people registered organ donors dying each year, says Klessig.

“If a dead person could donate organs, that would work out to 15 organs per waiting recipient which is a lot more than we need,” said Klessig. “So clearly, dead people cannot donate organs and we wouldn’t have a waiting list at all but an organ surplus.”

An exception to the rule is a kidney or a lobe of the liver, which can be donated by patients who remain alive.

Defining Death Down

The current clinical definition of death arises from the 1968 “Report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Harvard Medical School to Examine the Definition of Brain Death,” which replaced previous standards for determining death based on the failure of the circulatory, respiratory, and neurological systems.

The Harvard report led to the federal Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA), which redefined death as either (1) irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions, or (2) irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem.

Allowing for a clinical diagnosis of “brain death” opened the door to certifying the death of a patient whose heart and lungs were still providing oxygenated blood to organs, and thereby created a convenient new avenue to live organ harvesting. The UDDA requires determinations of brain death to be rendered according to “accepted medical standards,” but there is no existing medical requirement beyond clinical observation.

“Irreversible cessation of heart and lung function OR irreversible function of the entire brain, including the stem doesn’t sound terribly controversial but the devil is in the details,” said Klessig. “The problem is that doctors are not always able to determine what is irreversible.”

‘Better Solutions for People’

In 2021, the American College of Physicians stated the NRP-cDCD procedure raised “profound ethical questions regarding the determination of death, respect for patients, and the ethical obligation to do what is best.”

Medical practice should not condone taking the life of one person to save another, says Klessig.

“I really believe if we hadn’t been pouring all our time, money, and research dollars into the current unethical system, I think we would have found better solutions for people, such as augmenting the heart or providing an artificial one,” said Klessig. “Those treatments need to be developed and those scientific pursuits are not being funded.”

Organ procurement is big business with less and less concern for donors’ welfare and lives, says Julie Grimstad, a board member and patient advocate at the Healthcare Advocacy and Leadership Organization (HALO).

“There have been efforts to develop animal transplants; none of them have been successful,” said Grimstad. “There have also been efforts to develop mechanical organs, such as a permanently implanted pump that would act as an artificial heart. A wonderful physician, Harold Kletschka, M.D., developed a successful working model decades ago, but it never went to market due to several unsavory efforts to take control of the project.”

A biography on Kletschka, To Change the Heart of a Man, was published in 2009.

Kevin Stone (kevin.s.stone@gmail.com) writes from Arlington, Texas and

AnneMarie Schieber (amschieber@heartland.org) is the managing editor of Health Care News.

Internet info:

“Think Twice Before Signing that Organ Donation Card – Heidi Klessig, M.D.,” The Heartland Daily Podcast, November 28, 2022.

https://heartlanddailynews.com/2023/01/live-organ-harvesting-procedure-raises-red-flags/

NATO Members Float Plan For Negotiations Amid "Growing Doubts" Ukraine Can Retake Territory

 Update(1525ET): NATO has "answered" China's Ukraine peace proposal unveiled earlier in the day by previewing a peace plan that three major Western allies reportedly have in the works. The plan hinges on Ukraine forging a defense pact with NATO (though stopping short of formal membership), and in return Kyiv would enter talks with Moscow, likely with territorial concessions on the table.

It's said to be motivated in part by Western leaders having "growing doubts" over Ukraine's ability to reconquer territory - thus a more 'realist' and pragmatic perspective might be taking hold one year into the stalemated conflict. The Wall Street Journal broadly outlines the German, France, UK plan as follows: 

Germany, France and Britain see stronger ties between NATO and Ukraine as a way to encourage Kyiv to start peace talks with Russia later this year, officials from the three governments said, as some of Kyiv’s Western partners have growing doubts over its ability to reconquer all its territory.

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last week laid out a blueprint for an agreement to give Ukraine much broader access to advanced military equipment, weapons and ammunition to defend itself once the war ends. He said the plan should be on the agenda for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s annual meeting in July.

But if the plan hinges on creating a 'fortress Ukraine' through ramped up arms deliveries, including tanks and possibly jets, then it's unlikely to sit well with Moscow - especially if the plan falls short of making territorial concessions. WSJ continues: 

The officials were careful to say that any decision on when and under what conditions any peace talks start is entirely up to Ukraine. Sunak on Friday said the West should give Ukraine arms that would give it a “decisive advantage” on the battlefield, including warplanes.

But the fact is that after one year of war, both China and NATO are actually pushing new avenues of peace, which is at least something - or perhaps just a small step downward from the consistent escalation witnessed of late. Meanwhile, public support in the West also appears to be waning, amid complaints of "Ukraine fatigue" and the general population and public discourse losing interest and momentum...

As for the lack of major progress on either side of the conflict in the past half-year, the AP offers this graphic...

* * *

As expected, China has released its much anticipated peace proposal Friday, which marks the one-year anniversary of the Ukraine invasion, calling for a cease-fire and peace talks which is to include end to sanctions against Russia, as the plan takes a clear anti-Western position.

The foreign ministry said in its 12-point proposal to end the fighting that "All parties should support Russia and Ukraine in working in the same direction and resuming direct dialogue as quickly as possible, so as to gradually deescalate the situation and ultimately reach a comprehensive ceasefire."

Via Reuters

The Associated Press describes that "With its release, President Xi Jinping’s government is reiterating China’s claim to being neutral, despite blocking efforts at the United Nations to condemn the invasion." And further, "The document echoes Russian claims that Western governments are to blame for the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion and criticizes sanctions on Russia."

Indeed it calls on the "relevant countries" to "stop abusing unilateral sanctions" and "do their share in de-escalating the Ukraine crisis" - which again lays blame on the outside Western powers for escalating. It charged these countries with "fanning the flames" of conflict.

"Conflict and war benefit no one. All parties must stay rational and exercise restraint, avoid fanning the flames and aggravating tensions, and prevent the crisis from deteriorating further or even spiraling out of control," the Chinese government said. 

While offering no details about how it envisions talks will be held, or in what form, the 12-point proposal calls for the safeguarding of all countries' "sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity."

"Dialogue and negotiation are the only viable way out to resolve Ukraine crisis," it stresses, adding that "China is willing to continue to play a constructive role in this regard."

But as part of the broadly anti-Western position, the proposal condemns the "Cold War mentality" of some nations for standing in the way of peace, and in discussing this comes close to naming NATO directly: 

"A country’s security cannot be at the expense of other countries’ security, and regional security cannot be guaranteed by strengthening or even expanding military blocs," the proposal said.

"The legitimate security interests and concerns of all countries should be taken seriously and properly addressed."

China abstained on Thursday when the UN General Assembly approved a non-binding resolution that calls for Russia to end hostilities in Ukraine and withdraw its forces.

Also outlined in the plan, is protection of prisoners of war, halting all attacks on civilians, and the protection of nuclear power plants and the unimpeded flow of grain exports - though again, no further details were spelled out related to these.

But as expected, it fell flat with the West, with the EU delegation head in China very quickly rejecting it as "not a peace proposal". And yet the Ukrainian government itself greeted it with a surprising level of optimism. "The fact that China has started talking about Ukraine and certain signals have been sent is, in general, very good," President Zelensky said as a first reaction.

"It is important for us that all states are on our side, on the side of justice. However, the fact that China is already talking about this is the first step, which is very good," he added. "We will draw conclusions after we see the specifics of what they offer, and then it will be clear."

After this, State Department spokesman Ned Price struck a more reserved and negative tone, saying, "We would like to see nothing more than a just and durable peace. We very much agree with President Zelensky that this brutal war will have to end at the negotiating table, but we are skeptical that reports of a proposal like this will be a constructive path forward."

Crucially, at a moment China's neutrality continues to be questioned, it abstained at Thursday's UN General Assembly vote which approved a non-binding resolution that calls for Russia to immediately withdraw its forces from Ukraine, which also condemned the war.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/west-cold-shoulders-chinas-ceasefire-proposal-ukraine