WELL, WE KNOW NAFTA JOE WILL NOT FIGHT BACK THE MEX INVADERS, MAYBE RED CHINA WILL. PARTICULARLY IF HUNTER BIDEN AND DIANNE FEINSTEIN CAN MAKE A BUCK ON THE DEAL!
Report: Chinese Communist Buys Large Swath of Land In Texas, Alarming Lawmakers
What started as Texans seeking to protect a local river has morphed into a political firestorm after a Chinese billionaire and member in good standing with the Chinese Communist Party snapped up 140,000 acres in the state on the border with Mexico near Laughlin Air Force Base.
And Chinese real estate tycoon Sun Guangxin is not only a neighbor to a top U.S. military installation, but he is planning a wind farm on the property, meaning the operation could be connected to the electricity grid in the state.
Devils River Conservancy was the first to sound the alarm about foreign investors buying up massive amounts of U.S. land based on how those investors could harm the environment.
But when lawmakers found out about Sun and his plans, national security became the focal point.
“These wind farms affect our training routes and pose a severe risk to our national security,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said in a statement provided to Forbes, which published a lengthy article on Sun. “The Chinese Communist Party has demonstrated time and again they’re willing to invest billions of dollars to expand their espionage capabilities and their global reach, including through land purchase schemes near military bases.”
Former Texas Congressman Will Hurd (R) wrote an op-ed published in the Houston Chronicle warning of Sun’s wind farm and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) has also condemned the Chinese operation right in the heart of Texas.
In fact, two pieces of legislation have been crafted locally and nationally to protect the U.S. against foreign investors.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) signed the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act into law in June.
“As far as I know this is the first law of its kind by any state in the United States of America,” Abbott said of the bill designed to prevent “hostile nations” from accessing Texas’ electricity grid and other “critical infrastructure,” such as computer networks and waste treatment systems.
In this file photo, wind turbines are viewed at a wind farm on January 21, 2016, in Colorado City, Texas. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Cruz introduced the Protecting Military Installations and Ranges Act of 2021, a bill that would require the Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to re-review “any purchase or lease of real estate near a military installation or military airspace in the United States by a foreign person connected to or subsidized by” China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea
Those are the four countries also named in the new Texas law.
Forbes reported on Sun’s rise to billionaire status:
Sun’s path — from obscure origins, to billionaire industrialist, to the crosshairs of Texas lawmakers — was fueled by the transformation of China’s economy over the past 30 years. Born the son of a farmer in 1962, just a few years before the start of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, Sun served in the People’s Liberation Army as a teenager and saw active combat in the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese war, rising to the rank of captain, according to English and Chinese language news stories, and the book Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang by Georgetown professor James A. Millward.
After leaving the army in the late 1980s, Sun opened the first fresh seafood restaurant in Ürümqi, the capital of China’s northwestern Xinjiang province. The eatery was a novelty in the landlocked city—and it gave Sun a venue to hobnob with businessmen and party officials. He reportedly then opened other novel attractions in Ürümqi: The city’s first karaoke bar, disco and bowling alley. In 1989, he incorporated Xinjiang Guanghui Industry Investment Group (Guanghui), whose first major venture was importing oil drilling equipment from the collapsing Soviet Union and selling it to state-owned Chinese firms. By 1994, Guanghui was selling construction materials and developing real estate. By the early 2000s, Sun controlled 60 percent of all real estate in Ürümqi and had acquired dozens of state-owned firms, more than any other private enterprise in China, according to Millward’s book.
And Forbes reported on Sun’s plans for his U.S. investments:
Today, Sun’s company, Guanghui, is a sprawling conglomerate that generated over $29 billion in revenue last year and employs more than 108,000 people. Forbes estimates Sun’s net worth to be $2.1 billion. Sun incorporated GH America Investments Group in the United States in 2015. Under the GH umbrella are subsidiaries like GH PacVest, which owns commercial real estate in California; GHA Barnett, the owner of 41 wells producing natural gas in Texas’ Barnett Shale; and Brazos Highland Properties LP, the entity Sun used to acquire land in Val Verde County, including a ranch where he likes to vacation and go hunting—his first purchase in the area—according to GH America’s spokesman. Through Brazos and another subsidiary, Harvest Texas LLC, Sun controls nearly 7% of all land in Val Verde County.
Forbes was shown plans for the Blue Hills Wind Development and reported it would consist of five permanent meteorological towers, each about 500 feet high, and 46 wind turbines, some up to 700 feet tall — 100 feet taller than the Washington Monument.
Operations could begin as soon as early 2023, Forbes reported.
“The question we get a lot is, how in the world would anybody in Texas sell to [the] Chinese?” Randy Nunns, a local landowner and former president of the Devils River Conservancy, said in the Forbes report.
Turns out it was a Texan who sealed the deal with Sun.
“That intermediary was David Frankens, a businessman from Lufkin, a rough-and-tumble town in the east part of Texas, closer to Louisiana than Houston or Dallas and eight hours by car to Val Verde County,” Forbes reported. “Land deeds show that Frankens bought properties from existing landholders and then sold them to Sun’s subsidiary on the same day.”
The unidentified person who sold the land to Frankens said he did not know he would flip the property to GH America.
Ironically, the federal government has given regulatory approval to Sun’s wind farm and the CFIUS also signed off on the project last December.
In July of this year, the Department of Defense gave Blue Hills a mitigation agreement that would satisfy “concerns about turbines interrupting training routes at Laughlin Air Force Base,” Forbes reported.
And Forbes noted that the CFIUS’s approval is conditional and it could reverse its decision.
Follow Penny Starr on Twitter or send news tips to pstarr@breitbart.com.
183-Foot Drug Smuggling Tunnel Found Under California-Mexico Border
An international law enforcement effort led to the discovery and shutdown of a 183-foot tunnel being built to smuggle drugs, weapons, and people under the border into California. The sophisticated tunnel utilized electricity, a ventilation system, a rail system, and an electric hoist to move their illicit cargo from Mexico to the U.S.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations special agents teamed up with Mexican law enforcement officials in Mexicali, Baja California, to locate and seize a sophisticated smuggling tunnel on August 2, according to information obtained from ICE officials.
The team discovered a tunnel inside a home in Mexicali located along the border with California, officials stated. The tunnel ran approximately 183 feet at about 22 feet below the surface to a location approximately three feet north of the border wall in Calexico, California, officials reported.
While the tunnel did not yet have an exit in California, the entrance to the three-foot by four-foot tunnel measured approximately 12 feet by ten feet and utilized an electric hoist to lower the people or drugs underground. The drug traffickers installed an electrical system, ventilation, and a rail cart system to move their cargo through the tunnel.
“These types of tunnels enable drug traffickers to conduct illicit activities virtually undetected across the U.S.–Mexico border,” Cardell T. Morant, special agent in charge of HSI San Diego said in a written statement. “Discovering and shutting down these tunnels deals a major blow to drug trafficking organizations because it denies them the ability to smuggle drugs, weapons, and people across the border.”
“This is an ongoing HSI-led investigation with assistance from the El Centro Sector Border Patrol and the government of Mexico, HSI officials noted. “The HSI San Diego Tunnel Task Force thanks the government of Mexico for its cooperation in this investigation.”
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Face
WATCH: Mexican Cartel Issues Death Threat to TV Anchor
The leadership of one of Mexico’s most violent cartels issued a direct threat to a national news anchor, claiming her coverage favored their rivals. The journalist responded, saying she will continue doing her job without self-censorship.
In a video shared widely on social media in Mexico, a masked man claiming to be Ruben “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes issued a direct threat against Azucena Uresti, a TV anchor with Milenio Television and Grupo Multimedios Radio.
In the video, a man claiming to be El Mencho is wearing a mask at a table surrounded by six men brandishing rifles, machine guns, and grenade launchers. The cartel boss claimed that through her reporting, Uresti portrayed various cartel bosses from Michoacan as self-defense groups when in reality they are ruthless crime lords.
The cartel boss specifically names Uresti, comparing her to a prostitute who cannot hide from the organization.
The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement condemning the threats and and requested protection for Uresti.
A spokesman for Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador issued a statement claiming the federal government would be taking the needed measures to protect Uresti and her outlet.
Uresti has since made public statements claiming that she will continue her work without any restraints and thanked authorities for their prompt responses. On social media, Uresti made no mention of the threats.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
Mexican president plans to ask Harris for southern border to reopen 'completely'
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said in a planned phone call on Monday with Vice President Kamala Harris he would urge the United States to reopen the two countries' shared southern border "completely."
The pair of leaders would also, hopefully, discuss migration and new COVID-19 vaccine donations from the U.S., AMLO said.
“I have a call today with Vice President Kamala Harris. We are going to give continuity to the agenda that we have in common on migration issues, of course, the issue of opening the border, the support that they have been giving us, and that we thank you very much for having enough vaccines in our country," AMLO said in a press conference in Ciudad Juarez, south of El Paso, Texas. Coronavirus cases have spiked in the U.S. and Mexico as new, more transmissible variants continue to spread.
A White House official confirmed the call between Harris and AMLO but did not say whether Harris planned to discuss a new shipment of vaccinations with the Mexican leader. The U.S. government provided 1.35 billion Johnson & Johnson vaccines to Mexico in June, which health authorities vowed to use to vaccinate people living in border states.
"Today, Vice President Harris will speak with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico. Following the call, the office of the vice president will provide a readout," the official said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner.
Mexican officials have urged Washington to reopen the border as soon as possible to allow business to resume between the two countries. But high coronavirus rates have delayed the prospect. Border crossings deemed nonessential have been off-limits since March 2020.
“It must be said that the border is open, not completely, but it has never been completely closed. However, we need to open this one, and it is an issue that we are going to discuss today," AMLO said.
In remarks one day earlier, AMLO appeared to preview new COVID-19 vaccine shipments from the U.S., stating, "There are commitments for us to have more vaccines, provided by the United States government."
"We're going to talk on Monday in order to keep working on our joint agenda of collaboration," he added.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention extended the Title 42 rule that allows migrants to be expelled from the country due to COVID-19 concerns.
Harris was tasked with addressing the so-called root causes of migration from Central America to the southern border, a political liability for Democrats and the Biden administration who have so far failed to wrest control of the numbers. The swell of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border has reached a two-decade high.
Mexican drug cartel threatens to kill TV reporter
Men claiming to speak for Mexico's most powerful drug cartel have released a video threatening to murder a prominent female news anchor over what they deem to be unfair coverage.
The warning was made by a man who said it was on behalf of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG).
He complained that Milenio Television was favouring so-called self-defence groups organised to resist the CJNG.
In the video, journalist Azucena Uresti is threatened directly.
"I will make you eat your words even if they accuse me of femicide," the masked speaker, who is surrounded by six heavily armed men, warns.
He accuses Ms Uresti and the Milenio network of being biased in their coverage of the battle between the cartel and vigilante groups.
Ms Uresti is one of the best-known TV anchors in Mexico and presents Milenio TV's nightly news programme.
She gained further visibility when she anchored some of the presidential debates ahead of the 2018 election and was widely praised for her questions to the candidates.
Groups representing journalists have come out in her support and demanded that the government offer her protection.
Speaking during his daily morning news conference, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that Ms Uresti "was not alone".
The president said the threatened journalist "could count on us" without providing further details of what the government would do to protect her.
Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist. But while attacks on local reporters are common, such public warnings are rare.
In the past weeks, there have been fierce battles between members of the CJGN and vigilante groups in the state of Michoacán for control of the region west of the capital, Mexico City.
The vigilantes say they have taken up arms to defend themselves against the cartel whose leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, is one of the country's most-wanted men. The US is offering a $10m (£7.2m) reward for information leading to his capture.
But the groups are controversial. Some analysts say they often turn criminal themselves or act as a cover for rival criminal groups.
The area has been the scene of clashes between vigilantes and gangs for years but in recent weeks the gun battles have been particularly fierce and sometimes lasted for days.
Ms Uresti interviewed one of the vigilantes involved in the fight for control of the town of Ecatepec earlier this month.
The vigilante alleged that the CJNG would "kill everyone" in the town if they managed to defeat those defending it.
But in the video, the masked man alleges that the vigilante groups are in fact drug traffickers themselves and extort money from the local population.
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