Beltway Insider: Biden/China, Trump, Schiff Dodges GOP Bullet, India’s Rape Culture, Daniel Ellsberg, Bob Gottlieb

Details: Category: Beltway Insider; Published on Sunday, 18 June 2023 11:43; Written by Janet Walker

President Biden, in an attempt to normalize relations with Beijing, sent Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China to meet his counterpart in an effort to return the two nations back to a more predictable relationship.

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com, for the period ending June 18, 2023 remained consistent at 40.9% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness decreased by 0.3% to 54.3% of those polled who disapprove of his effectiveness. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

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Blinken Heads to China

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with China's foreign minister Qin Gang for more than five hours, numerous media outlets have announced, as the two have begun to attempt to repair the relationship between the two nations since the destruction of the Chinese spy airships were shot down over America.

"The US is concerned about China's military activity around Taiwan and its refusal to condemn Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, while Beijing accuses Washington of trying to contain its ambitions by imposing export controls on advanced technology and extending security arrangements with regional allies," reported the Financial Times.

As Blinken is the first government official to visit China since 2018, before the Covid-19 crisis. With the communication lines reopening, the two nations are slowly returning to a level of normalcy in trade and other issues within the region.

While many are hailing the talks as constructive, the barometer on three main issues, the Ukraine War, technology trade and the Fentanyl epidemic, as Chinese is considered the major importer of chemicals used to make the substance, has not moved even one degree.

While Blinken's overture went well, with all the appearance of sincerity, both sides are cautiously considering the next step in normalizing the relationship.

Trump, Despite Indictment, Soars in GOP Polls

Former Preside Donald Trump, despite his arrest on federal charges this week, continues to lead Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by nearly 25 percentage points.

"Trump's grip over GOP primary voters remains mostly unaffected . . .Nationally, Trump has been over 50 percent in the RealClearPolitics average since early April — following his other criminal indictment, in New York City — and the three polls conducted mostly or entirely after his second indictment show him between 51 percent and 53 percent," Politico.com reported.

The upcoming GOP debate is scheduled for August 23, 2023. With the pool of GOP hopefuls continuing to grow, the Republican National Party has added strict qualifiers for the contenders including the need for each to have at minimum 40,000 donations from national contributions and hold at least a consistent 1% polling rate in three national polls.

The expected match-up at this point will include Trump, DeSantis, Pence, Christie, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech millionaire, and possibly former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson.

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Adam Schiff Targeted by House GOP

California House of Representative Democrat Adam Schiff, who has announced his intent to run for California Senate seat vacated by Senator Dianne Feinstein, dogged a GOP bullet this week as the House GOP attempted to censure the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

In typical government tit-for-tat governing, the House GOP voted to fine Schiff $16million for wasting the taxpayer's money in the effort to investigate former president Trump. Schiff was removed as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee when GOP Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy assumed leadership.

"The censure resolution included a nonbinding clause stating that if the House Ethics Committee found that Schiff "lied, made misrepresentations, and abused sensitive information," he should be fined $16 million. Luna said the amount if half the cost of the investigation into the relationship between the Trump campaign and Russia," The Hill reported.

The motion was tabled by a block vote of democrats and 20 republicans who joined the effort.

Coronavirus Totals

Mandates have been altered or lifted in most urban areas with limited exceptions, and the population is encouraged to maintain personal protective practices. Masks are optional and tolerated. Vaccines and boosters are still considered the most effective agents against contracting the Coronavirus.

For the week ending June 18, 2023, the total of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide reached 767,984,989 people, with a 7-day increase of 234,136 with a total worldwide death toll of 6,943,390 deaths. (Data from The World Health Organization).

COVID U.S. Totals

Infections rates in the United States are also on the rise. For the 7-day period ending June 18, 2023, the total hospitalizations resulting from new Covid infections increased to 6,183,075 and confirmed cases remained at 103,436,829. The coronavirus has claimed 1,132,206 total deaths. (Data from The World Health Organization).

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Protecting for gain of function knowledge only aides those who initiated the constitutional violations. It does nothing to combat homegrown terrorism or narcissistic, above the law, belief. The best obtainable version of the truth.

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India's Rape Culture

The conviction of an Indian student, 20, living in the UK for a shocking premediated rape of an inebriated female, which CCTV cameras show the man carrying her, at times in his arms, other times over his shoulder, to his home to rape her. The attacker, Preet Vikal, also took a trophy photo of the woman in his bed before the assault. He has been sentenced to 78months in prison.

Warning Signs

In a shocking New York Times Op/Ed Vidya Krishnan writes "But there is no escaping India's rape culture; sexual terrorism is treated as the norm. Society and government institutions often excuse and protect men from the consequences of their sexual violence. Women are blamed for being assaulted and are expected to sacrifice freedom and opportunity in exchange for personal safety."

As an outsider looking into a predominately patriarchal and caste system culture, India allows an open season on women by determining women to be lesser and lesser equates to not valuable, without value, of no value, equal to the garbage one would throw away, old shoes would have more value than females in India.

Horrific gang rapes crimes have been reported and like mass shootings, the appalling and outrageous crimes against humanity are almost mind-numbing and a simple goggle search of "India Child Gang Raped" show victims of both genders followed by failures of government, and judicial authorities.

Failure to prosecute results in more crimes. Sexual terrorism, the term used by Krishnan, suggests the level of global response that should be used to fight this insidious and encroaching violence as males, accustomed to the freedom to sexual torture females receive visa to study abroad and like in the UK see an inebriated female as a free target.

Sexual Terrorism isn't limited to the Indian Culture, the failure of prosecutors through the United States to enforce the laws especially when a "good" boy makes a "bad" mistake results in the law once again failing females who are then valued as less than, like the third world cultures that are so often condemned for their human rights abuses.

Sexual Terrorism needs the attention of a sixty-nation coalition, of concerned citizens and world leaders who see the continued devaluation of females as a serious threat to society.

This isn't the only shocking rape crime making headlines in the UK as the leader of a watchdog organized has been arrested of raping a 16-year-old.

"Michael Lockwood, 64, is accused of six counts of indecent assault and three counts of rape against a girl under 16. He left the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) in December after it emerged he was being investigated over a historical allegation," BBC.com reported.

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Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers Leaker, Dies at 92

Daniel Ellsberg, a known most famously for stealing incriminating documents from a Rand corporation study and leaking them to The Washington Post, died this week at 92.

Ellsberg became known as a man with a conscience during the Vietnam War, whose action reverberated through newsrooms across the nation, led by The Washington Post and a young Katherine Graham, the Pentagon Papers detailed action which incriminated presidents and administrations, as co-conspirators in the increasing unpopular Vietnam War.

The printing of the Pentagon Papers, first by The New York Times, resulted in a historic supreme court decision which Supreme Court "Justice Hugo L. Black argued that "only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government."

A statement from the Ellsberg family stated, "Early this morning, Daniel Ellsberg died peacefully in his home in Kensington, CA. His cause of death was pancreatic cancer, which was diagnosed February 17th. He was not in pain and was surrounded by loving family. In the months since his diagnosis, he continued to speak out urgently to the media about nuclear dangers, especially the danger of nuclear war posed by the Ukraine war and Taiwan."

Bob Gottlieb, Famed Editor, Dies at 92

Bob Gottlieb, a member of New York City's literati, famed Alfred A. Knopf editor, and Editor-in-Chief of The New Yorker, died this week at 92.

Gottlieb, who more recently became known to a wider audience through the documentary, Turn Every Page, which detailed the relationship between Gottlieb and longtime LBJ writer Robert A. Caro. Born in Manhattan, a quintessential New Yorker, Gottlieb explained through the documentary that his childhood caused him to seek counseling and for eight years he worked through the issues so he could be a better man, husband, and father.

Living in a home of intellectuals, his love for books drove him to a career in editing. As he explained, there was little else he could do. He took a job as an assistant to Simon & Schuster and two days later knew he had found his career. Editing more than 600 books, he is known for suggesting the number 22 for "Catch-22," for a then unknown Joseph Heller, editing the works of presidents, celebrities, Pulitzer Prize winners and many others over the course of his storied career.

The documentary, directed by his daughter Lizzie, presents Gottlieb as a deeply honest man, who understood at this season in his life there wasn't any reason to allow others to clarify the times, seasons, and events that he carried through the lens of misinterpretation.

He is survived by his wife, Maria Tucci, and three children.

For more information on President Joe Biden w ww.whitehouse.gov.