The Patriot Post® · China Does It Again

As communist China struggles to contain a massive COVID outbreak, it is once again seeding the world with sick “tourists.” Half of the passengers on two recent flights from China to Milan, Italy, tested positive for COVID.

As a result of this shocking news, the Biden Administration announced Wednesday that it will require Chinese tourists to test for COVID two days before their flights to the United States. But this new testing requirement won’t take effect until January 5th!

When Donald Trump announced travel restrictions on passengers from China at the beginning of the pandemic, Biden denounced it as “hysterical xenophobia and fear-mongering.”

Biden’s hypocrisy is bad enough. But his week-long delay in implementing the new testing policy is malfeasance.

Trump Warns Of Traps

Former President Donald Trump sat down for an exclusive interview with Breitbart News recently. During his remarks, he said some things that I know will cause consternation within different quarters of the conservative movement.

But I believe his comments about Republicans “not falling into Democrat traps” deserve serious consideration. For example, here’s what Trump said about Social Security:

“We’re not cutting Social Security. It’s very simple. It’s a simple answer. We’re not cutting Social Security… We have to protect it. It’s a contract with the people. They go in. They work… They put their blood, sweat, and tears into Social Security, and then you have a guy like Paul Ryan or others [who] want to destroy it…

"There are plenty of places we can take from where it’s waste. Look at the Green New Deal nonsense… You don’t have to cut Social Security. I would never do it.”

I know that will upset some in the libertarian/fiscal conservative wing of the Republican Party. But Trump said this in 2015, and he’s right. There is no public demand for cutting your mother’s or your grandmother’s Social Security payments.

New polling finds that only 11% of those surveyed felt the 2023 cost of living adjustment was “too high.”

But in key races all over the country this year, Joe Biden and Democrat candidates repeatedly claimed that Republicans were going to cut Social Security. They have done this for decades because it works.

The second “trap” Trump identified is how we explain our pro-life position. Here’s what Trump said:

“Now, I think a lot of Republicans didn’t handle the abortion question properly. I think if you don’t have the three exceptions [rape, incest, the life of the mother], it’s almost impossible in most parts of the country to win…

"I say this to the Republican Party: If you don’t have the three exceptions [you’re destined to doom.] … The Democrats are radical and they’ll kill the baby at nine months or they’ll kill the baby after the baby is born. Okay? That’s more radical.”

Again, Trump is right. The Democrats are the real extremists on abortion. They support it in all nine months of pregnancy for any reason or no reason at all, and they want you to pay for it. But they have successfully pinned the “extremist” label on Republicans.

To be clear: I am pro-life. Period. Without exception. But I also understand that America is not there. And if the debate switches from the Democrats’ extremism that causes one million abortions a year to what is presented as “Republican extremism” — forcing your teenage daughter to carry a rapist’s baby — we lose.

And if you’re losing, you’re not governing and you’re not able to advance pro-life legislation. It’s as simple as that.

Descending Into Anarchy

Earlier this week, a San Francisco bakery was robbed — for the sixth time. Adding insult to injury, the thieves trashed the store and stole the industrial safe that was bolted to the floor in the basement.

Patrick Ascaso, the bakery’s owner, called out California’s left-wing politicians in a social media post, writing:

“If you cannot protect San Francisco’s small, local, family-owned businesses, how can our city thrive? We are heartbroken. We put so much heart into this location … to make it beautiful … do our best on every level, and this is just too sad. It happens over and over and nothing changes.

"Please, San Francisco and California leaders, do more to care for our city and its small businesses. We deserve better. Our communities deserve better.”

It’s no wonder so many Californians are leaving the once Golden State.

But the San Francisco bakery is hardly an isolated incident. Retail theft — looting and stealing from stores — has soared in recent years. In fact, it’s costing businesses nearly $100 billion a year.

If you’re not a small business owner and don’t work in retail, you may be tempted to think that this doesn’t affect you. Think again. At a minimum, it increases prices and may result in store closures in your area. Leading companies like Starbucks, Walgreens and even Walmart are closing stores because of crime.

But a society that won’t protect businesses and property won’t protect you in your home. Your children won’t be safe walking to school if society slowly but surely tolerates growing property crime and the risk of personal violence that goes along with it.

This is another indication of the moral breakdown of society, and the failure of government to perform its most basic function — to protect its citizens.

And while some state and local governments are totally failing to keep the peace domestically, federal government agents are investigating parents at school board meetings, harassing pro-life activists and working with social media to limit what you can say and read.

Sadly, there is no better example of how far off the rails government has gone.