백악관, 미국 내 中 공산당 움직임 포착...범정부 '태스크포스' 가동 [크로스로드]

Folks, history was made last week in a big way. For the first time ever in the entire history of the United States, a nativity scene was displayed on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. The Christian Post said this, they said, for the first time in history, a nativity scene was displayed on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Tuesday, marking what organizers say is a milestone for religious freedom and the First Amendment. A display accompanied by prayer, Christmas carols, and a reading of the Christmas story was made possible by a landmark federal court decision that granted Reverend Patrick Mahoney and his supporters the right to peacefully celebrate the Christmas season on Capitol grounds. Held on the southeastern steps of the Capitol, the display was a culmination of a legal battle that began over a decade ago when Mahoney, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Christian Defense Coalition, faced repeated threats of arrest for his attempts to read the Christmas story from the Bible and hold a nativity display at the Capitol Christmas tree. Just recently, May 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Washington, D.C. ruled in Mahoney's favor and declared the Capitol steps to be a public forum where peaceful demonstrations could no longer be prohibited. This decision set a precedent that ensured the steps of the Capitol could be used for public expressions of religious faith, including the display of a nativity scene. Now, this is really a landmark event for religious displays on government property in general, right? Part of this, you could say, is just about the Capitol steps and whether that's a public forum, but really there's been a long debate in this country over this so-called separation of church and state, just in general, right? Some have taken the separation of church and state, which, by the way, is not written in law. It was in Jefferson's letters, but has, again, been taken as if it's law. Some have taken the separation of church and state to mean that religions cannot be interfered with by the state, right? Some have taken it to mean that religious institutions should not be able to get involved in politics, that somehow it's a restriction on religion. In reality, according to the First Amendment of the Constitution, which does define freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, and freedom of religion, right? That is actually where it comes into play. The older interpretations on legal protections on religion suggests that it was actually about preventing the suppression of religion by government, that religion should not be regulated and controlled and pressured and changed and silenced, and not the other way around, that religious people somehow couldn't get involved in politics. It's the other way around, right? And others have raised the point of what the law would be if it was fully separated from religious values. What is government without religious value? What is law without religious value? I would say that law is almost inseparable from some form of religion, the idea that murder is wrong, the idea that stealing is wrong, the idea that harming another person's self-interest is somehow wrong. These things really do come from religion, and when you get into the nuts and bolts of the law, it's almost impossible to separate it in some regards from religious values. Now, it is very likely we're going to see more events like this. The legal case that just happened in D.C., it could still be argued up to higher courts, this may not be the end of it, but it basically upholds religious demonstration as being protected under the same constitutional law as any other type of free speech. And I would say again, if you read the First Amendment of the Constitution, it's pretty much there. Now, in other news, the Chinese Communist Party is actively trying to export its religious persecutions to the United States. The Chinese Communist Party on the far other end of religious persecution, which again persecutes just about every major religion, they again persecute Christians, they persecute Muslims, they persecute Buddhists, they persecute Falun Dafa practitioners, they persecute any other organized religion they can because they recognize them as threats to the atheistic rule of the Communist Party, the CCP wants to bring that here to the United States. And this has been revealed in leaked documents and communications going up to the highest levels of the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP's current plan is to feed disinformation that it's putting together on different organizations, feed that to controlled journalists and influencers, it's little puppets here in the United States, have them frame hit pieces, then use those hit pieces to create legal attacks against its targets. Right now, the main target of the CCP campaign is Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, Chinese religion based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. The CCP deems them a threat to the state because again, the values of Falun Dafa go against the communistic theories and values, again, which communists believe in struggle between earth and man, struggle with heaven, and again, social struggle. Now in particular, this new targeted system, it's going after businesses in the United States that were started by Falun Gong practitioners. That includes the Epoch Times, that includes NTD, that includes Shen Yun Performing Arts. And right alongside this, interestingly, the New York Times has been publishing an ongoing series of hit pieces against Shen Yun. It's been exposed of concealing CCP ties to some of its sources. The New York Times did not mention some of its sources has ties to the Chinese Communist Party. An individual who took credit in helping the New York Times is also a key figure who is actually named in the CCP's documents as being a tool for carrying out its operation. The New York Times notably has a long history also of appeasing the Chinese Communist Party and covering up its genocide against Falun Gong. And it seems this campaign is having some real world consequences. Shen Yun right now is receiving death threats, including threats of mass shootings at its performances right here in the United States. Epoch Times said two US theaters have received threats of a mass shooting if they proceed with hosting performances by Shen Yun Performing Arts, a New York-based company that has long been targeted by the Chinese Communist Party. It notes the threatening messages viewed by the Epoch Times followed a series of similar threats directed at Shen Yun and venues hosting its performances earlier this year, all of which ended up being unfounded. No shootings took place in the end. The local presenters, it says, of the performances reported the threats to the police and the FBI in both cities. They are taking it serious. Now folks, interestingly here, US lawmakers have been responding to the CCP's campaigns to export its religious persecutions to the United States. There are government actions now taking place to investigate, look into and maybe stop the Chinese Communist Party's attempts from bringing its religious persecutions to US soil. Hearings in Washington have been bringing light to the threat and both Democrats and Republicans, both sides of the aisle, have expressed their concerns over the CCP's actions. Now it seems the White House is also getting involved to investigate and expose the Chinese Communist Party campaign. This is through a newly established, just the other day, China censorship monitor and action group. I'll be talking more about this after we come back from a break in less than 60 seconds, so don't go anywhere. Now it seems the White House is also getting involved to investigate and expose the Chinese Communist Party's campaigns. This is through the newly established China censorship monitor and action group. The White House declared this in a presidential action on December 12th. Biden said this in the letter. By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, and to monitor and address the effects of any efforts by the People's Republic of China, CCP, PRC, either directly or through proxies, to censor or intimidate any United States person, it is hereby ordered as follows. He says that I am directing the assistant to the president for national security affairs and the director of the National Economic Council to lead an interagency effort to oversee the development and execution of an integrated federal government strategy to monitor and address the effects of any efforts by the PRC, again the Chinese regime, to censor or intimidate in the United States or in any of its possessions or territories, any United States person, including a United States company that conducts business in the PRC, right, in China, exercising its freedom of speech. Now, in addition to the task force this establishes under the executive office, it also includes representatives from throughout the U.S. government, including the Treasury Department, the Pentagon, the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the CIA, the FBI, and a whole long list of others. And notes the task force will meet at least twice a year, it will also speak with stakeholders in the private sector, the media, and also with foreign U.S. allies and partners. And this could be particularly important since the Chinese Communist Party does have very aggressive efforts to censor American businesses. For example, Hollywood, the CCP controls a lot of the production studios, they control some of the biggest parts of Hollywood. It's very hard to get a film made without the CCP involved in it. A lot of the news media, again, has to censor on the behalf of the CCP if they want to even operate in China. Big tech, for example, it's pressured all the time by the Chinese Communist Party and a whole lot of others. Even the NBA has been targeted by CCP censorship. You might remember if players even talk about slave labor in China, they get attacked. Now, I'd say it's even more important for folks like myself, frankly, and for The Epoch Times and others who dare to speak out against the CCP. The folks who have decided not to censor ourselves and not just go quiet. Because folks like myself, we get openly harassed and attacked because we dare to criticize the Chinese regime. And now we're finding out the Chinese Communist Party is this huge program designed to try to put us and others out of business, mainly by leveraging its connections with puppet journalists and puppet influencers and using them to trigger attacks on the US legal system. That ties notably into the CCP's three warfares program, which means psychological warfare, media warfare, and legal warfare. For the CCP, this is a military operation, leveraging foreign sources like American news outlets that it controls or influences. Now, the task force at the White House is also going to investigate and expose the CCP's actions. It's being put in place shortly before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. So this is really more putting into place than handing off to Trump, frankly. It seems this task force and others similar to it were brought about at least partially through the recent US defense budget, meaning technically Congress made this necessary, right? Bipartisan. And this is something with bipartisan support. Now, folks, that said, hit the like button, leave a comment, and let's jump into some questions.