Politico Playbook exclusively reported Wednesday that publishing giant HarperCollins is preparing to release the next investigative bombshell book by six-time New York Times bestselling author Peter Schweizer titled Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win.
Mr. McConnell benefited from his marriage into the Chao family
https://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2020/12/senator-mitch-mcconnell-yes-my-wife.html
The first $10,000 came in June 1989. In the 30 years since, 13 members of the extended Chao family have given a total of more than $1 million to Mr. McConnell’s campaigns and to political action committees tied to him. In 2008, James Chao gave the couple a gift of as much as $25 million, vaulting Mr. McConnell into the ranks of the richest senators.
In a statement, Mr. McConnell said he was proud to have his family’s support.
It is little wonder that Mitch McConnell turned on Trump in recent days even though the President helped him get re-elected. Mr. McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao’s family earns money from a shipping company with Chinese ties and Chao likes to help out.
Across America, breaking the law often means there are no consequences
By Jerold Levoritz
Let’s begin with the conclusion so as not to keep anyone waiting: Punishment under the law is no longer acceptable in a “woke” society. One may still be subjected to legal prosecution if the crime threatens the Left, as happened to Donald Trump, Carter Paige, and Michael Flynn. “Truth,” however, has nothing to do with such prosecutions of convenience, although punishment is highly acceptable under informal social norms. So, we have “cancel culture” that can ruin a person’s life in an afternoon, moving right along until the victim enters his eternal rest.
Rejecting legal punishment except in political cases can be seen in the West Coast’s aversion to prosecuting street crimes such as trespassing, mugging, and serious violence resulting in bodily injury. Just this afternoon, as I am writing, Portland, Oregon has decided not to prosecute someone who drove into a Proud Boy in a parking lot and then left the scene. In the olden days, this was a pure crime, but unworthy of charges at this time and in that venue.
In another case, the prosecutor of a case told the murder victim’s family to “keep their mouth shut.” If victims and their families have no standing, punishment is increasingly irrelevant. The proper “woke” attitude towards victims is that all that happened to them was they had some really bad luck.
From where does this impulse to ignore punishment arise? Most rationalizations explaining this phenomenon do not interest me. I have my own!
Those holding political power who downplay punishment desperately need a punishment-free society to protect themselves from investigation and jail time. If everyone else can get away scot-free, so can those who wield power.
In fact, not only should everyone be allowed to get away scot-free, but they should not even be subjected to questioning about their deeds. My wife keeps laughing at me for continuing to believe Hillary should be wearing orange.
Donald Trump is hated because he blew the whistle on the big game. He brought the entire official Washington world down on him by talking about the “swamp” and calling the fake news “fake.”
It is little wonder that Mitch McConnell turned on Trump in recent days even though the President helped him get re-elected. Mr. McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao’s family earns money from a shipping company with Chinese ties and Chao likes to help out. The continuation of Mr. Trump’s tough line against China could easily cause the collapse of Ms. Chao’s portfolio and that loss of income can only be prevented with Mr. Trump’s timely retirement.
From the Chao example, does it not seem logical and desirable to the average person that our lawmakers should be conflict-of-interest free when they consider our national legislation. Under benign business conditions, having important connections is a good thing, an advantage that helps businesses prosper, but things can quickly get out of hand.
What we have here is a feeding frenzy. As the Federal honey pot keeps growing, gorging by the elected elite has become the rule. If China offers cash upfront, who’s to say no now that the Chinese are defined as “good guys”? In this way “treason” loses its nasty edge. If the New World Order is an ethical position, how can a “local” government like the United States impose punishment for treason on those who work for One World!
So, what we have here, in the end, is a problem of values. For the individual, voting gives him the status of being an American citizen, but the “swamp” can argue that the horrible ignorance of the average voter is too much for a modern functioning government to bear. What the “swamp” never argues is that it too is too ignorant to control a complex system that changes without notice. As long as it can call itself and the money men “good,” there are no crimes either it or its voters can commit; there are only political crimes the other side commits.
The genius of Trump is his extraordinary flexibility. That is what is necessary to respond to quickly changing conditions. Without that extreme flexibility, which requires high intelligence, rejection of dogma, and the complete refutation of self-interest, there is no hope of “making things better.” We will spiral out of control as we bathe in increasing amounts of misallocated money until the monetary system collapses.
It is for this reason that we must beg each other to do the right thing by giving Trump his due – four more years. Maybe the behemoth of government and its enticement to riches can be reduced in that time.
For the Chao Family, Deep Ties to the
As transportation secretary, Elaine Chao is the top Trump official overseeing the maritime industry. Her family owns Foremost Group, a shipping company. Credit...Sarah Silbiger/The New York Times
By Michael Forsythe and Eric Lipton
The family of Elaine Chao, the transportation secretary and wife of Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, has high-level political connections not only in the United States but also in China. That gives the family unusual status in the world’s two largest economies.
Through interviews, industry filings and government documents from both countries, The New York Times found that the Chaos, and by extension Mr. McConnell, prospered as the family’s shipping company developed deeper business ties in China. Along the way, one of the company’s boosters was Ms. Chao, who now oversees efforts to promote America’s own maritime industry, which is in steep decline as China’s shipping sector rises in global dominance. Here are five takeaways.
The Chao family’s connections to the Chinese state go back decades
James S.C. Chao, 91, Ms. Chao’s father, studied navigation at a university in Shanghai before fleeing the mainland ahead of the Communist takeover in 1949. His schoolmate for a time was Jiang Zemin, who would become China’s president.
As China was emerging from decades of turmoil in 1984, the Chao family took a stake in a state-owned Chinese manufacturer of marine electronic equipment, documents show. The company targeted sales to China’s military, among other sectors, and was closely affiliated with a ministry run by Mr. Jiang. After Mr. Jiang came to lead the Communist Party a few years later, Mr. Chao met with him at least six times, including in August 1989 in Beijing — inside the party’s secretive leadership compound. Chao family members said they could not recall this investment.
The family shipping company is centered on China
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The main gate of the Shanghai Waigaoqiao shipyard, a building site for Foremost ships.Credit...Giulia Marchi for The New York Times
Foremost Group, the New York-based shipping company founded by Mr. Chao in 1964, landed its first big contract with the United States government, shipping rice to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.
Now, it builds most of its ships in state-owned shipyards in China, with some financed by Chinese government loans. In at least two instances, those Chinese-backed, Chinese-built ships entered long-term contracts to deliver iron ore for a state-owned steel maker.
More than 70 percent of Foremost’s freight goes to China, and most of that is iron ore, according to recent shipping data. The cargo helps feed China’s industrial machine, which manufactures steel products that are a point of dispute in the deepening trade war between China and the United States. The company describes itself as a small international business and says it does not have a particular focus on China, beyond what most dry bulk carriers have in a world dominated by Chinese manufacturing.
As budget cuts have targeted America’s shipping sector, the Trump administration’s commitment under Ms. Chao has been questioned
The Trump administration has left little doubt that the federal government is willing to use its clout to boost certain American industrial sectors, including coal and steel. Those efforts have not extended to the maritime industry under Ms. Chao’s leadership.
The Transportation Department budget during her tenure has repeatedly called for cuts for programs intended to support the depressed system of American-flagged ships. The agency budget has also called for scaling back plans to replace up to five academy ships to train a new generation of American mariners.
Agency officials noted that many of the cuts were forced on the department by the White House, and that some of the same programs had been previously targeted, only to see the money restored by Congress, as happened again with the Trump cuts.
With the action by Congress, the plans to build the new training ships are now back on track, and overall maritime spending is up. But the proposed cuts have led to bipartisan questions about the Trump administration’s commitment to shipping.
Transportation Department officials say that Ms. Chao has been a champion for the United States maritime system, and that her actions as the head of the agency have nothing to do with her family’s business in China. In China, the Chao family has for decades offered scholarships to students training to join the fast-growing shipping industry there.
“My family are patriotic Americans who have led purpose-driven lives and contributed much to this country,” Ms. Chao said in a statement.
Ms. Chao’s family ties to the shipping company and her dealings in China raise ethical issues
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A certificate being presented to Ms. Chao in her role as an international adviser to the city of Wuhan.Credit...Imaginechina, via Associated Press Images
Ms. Chao hasn’t held a formal position at Foremost since the late 1970s, but she has repeatedly used her connections and status to boost the company’s reputation and visibility.
As transportation secretary, she attended a Foremost contract-signing ceremony in New York in 2017. The other party to the contract, the Sumitomo Group of Japan, was subject to Transportation Department oversight for transit projects. Two months later, she canceled a China trip after officials at the American embassy in Beijing raised ethical concerns when her office asked to have family members from the shipping company participate in events.
The Transportation Department provided no reason for the trip’s cancellation, though a spokesman later cited a cabinet meeting President Trump had called at the time.
At her confirmation hearing, Ms. Chao did not mention her family’s extensive ties to the Chinese maritime industry. She also did not disclose several accolades she had received in China — including a role as an international adviser to the city of Wuhan — though the Senate questionnaire requires nominees to list all honorary positions. An agency official described that as an oversight.
Marilyn L. Glynn, a former general counsel at the Office of Government Ethics, said Ms. Chao should recuse herself from decisions that broadly impacted the shipping industry. “She might be tempted to make sure her family company is not adversely affected in any policy choices, or it might even just appear that way,” Ms. Glynn said.
The department spokesman denied the existence of any conflict, saying that “the family business is not in U.S.-flag shipping.” Angela Chao, Foremost’s chief executive, said her sister Elaine attended Foremost events “as a family member.”
Mr. McConnell benefited from his marriage into the Chao family
s. Chao and Mr. McConnell married in 1993, but her campaign donations, along with those of her parents, sisters and brothers-in-law, began flowing years before the wedding. The first $10,000 came in June 1989. In the 30 years since, 13 members of the extended Chao family have given a total of more than $1 million to Mr. McConnell’s campaigns and to political action committees tied to him. In 2008, James Chao gave the couple a gift of as much as $25 million, vaulting Mr. McConnell into the ranks of the richest senators.
In a statement, Mr. McConnell said he was proud to have his family’s support.
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