OCPAC Weekly Newsletter Published Monday, March 23, 2020
Table of Contents
BOB LINN Fear Not
STEVE ANDERSON How Wuhan made it to Italy Why the Media is Keeping it from You
JERRY HUNTER A Note of Caution to Policy Makers Open Letter to the President and Legislators
RAND PAUL Tests Positive for Coronavirus
| Last week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told NBC’s Today show that “We’re fighting the virus and we’re fighting fear and panic. The fear and panic is, if anything, worse than the virus.”
Last week, Senator James Lankford spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate about global fear and panic. He chastised the Senate for (perhaps, frantically) passing some legislation which made it worse, not better, for small business.
When NBC news correspondent, Peter Alexander, asked the President “What do you say to Americans, who are watching you right now, who are scared?”, I sensed that Mr. Alexander himself was suffering from a good dose of fear. | The reporter clearly rejected the President's optimism. His lack of confidence reflected the hysterics being promoted by the leftist news media. The President chastised him for his role in promoting a national sense of panic. | I am reminded of the now famous statement made by our 32nd U.S. President, FDR, who said in his first inaugural address, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Those who have yet to find their rest in the eternal foundations of our Creator imagine they are surrounded by chaos and uncertainty. As if we are the product of randomness and chance. It is important at all times to find our peace in the eternal foundation of our Creator and Redeemer.
Our purpose was spelled out clearly 6,000 years ago to our First Parents in Genesis Chapter one. Our marching orders are repeated in Matthew 28. He also gave the assurance that His presence will abide with us always.
The call to the church is to trust only Him. The call to our legislative leaders is to think about the long term and to avoid unnecessary (frantic) maneuvers. Especially ones which will be of no real help.
Let’s pray for our leaders at all levels. May God send a spiritual renewal to our pulpits and our churches. May we see another Great Awakening world-wide.
You will all find Steve Anderson's piece on China and Italy fascinating.
However, I encourage our lawmakers to read carefully the open letter to President Trump and our Legislators from Jerry Hunter. Jerry is an extraordinary Oklahoma success story for good reason. We will do well to take heed. | STEVE ANDERSON How Wuhan Made it to Italy Why the Media is Keeping it from You | My many years in the political arena has afforded me quite a number of close acquaintances around the globe. Quite a few of these have been quite successful the business and/or the political arenas. | I’ve also spent a few months recently hunting ducks with many of these old friends and acquaintances.
I was hunting in Kansas recently with one of these men who is always quite interesting. His various businesses take him to Europe, Asia, and the U.S.
Time in a hunting blind provides plenty of opportunities to hash over a wider range of issues than the potential duck harvest. He gave me quite an education as to the reasons why the coronavirus has found such a home in Italy. | In the region of Tuscany, there is an important manufacturing town I had never heard of.
If you’ve ever purchased a Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, or Prada, you bought something that was most likely made in Tuscany’s busiest manufacturing center. Prato, Italy.
However, your fancy Italian accessory was likely not made by Italian craftsmen. | Since the nineteen-nineties, a wave of immigrants from Wenzhou, China appeared in Prato seeking to gain a portion of Italy’s manufacturing market.
My friend revealed that the area is inundated with Chinese novae rich and tens if not hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant Chinese sweatshop labor.
It is the novae rich who engage in frequent travel between Wenzhou, China and Prato, Italy. Well, not just Prato. Over the past ten years, Italy’s Chinese community has exploded. Well over 300,000 Chinese are legal citizens of Italy. Many more not so legal.
Percentage-wise, Prato, Italy has the largest concentration of Chinese people in all of Europe. In terms of raw numbers, it is second to Milan, Italy.
My hunting friend assured me that if I did my own research, I would find plenty of evidence to support his claim. | Many news articles more than substantiate his claims. On December 25, 2013, China Eastern Airlines announced its first direct flight from Wenzhou, China to Rome. You may purchase a ticket here!
It was the first direct flight connection between Wenzhou, China and anywhere in Europe. | In an article published by Academia, Professor Alexander Pisariev noted that by the end of 2011, there were more than 5,000 Chinese owned businesses in Prato, Italy. Of these, 4,000 were in the garment business.
He also notes that China’s population in Milan came principally from the Zhenjiang Province. The seaport city, Wenzhou, is in the Zhenjiang Province. | Wuhan, China is the epicenter of the coronavirus. And, it was not difficult to establish the relationship between Wuhan and Wenzhou.
Wenzhou has a Chamber of Commerce office in Wuhan.
Tens of thousands of Wuhan’s residents originally come from Wenzhou.
The Chinese Lunar New Year began January 25, 2020 and ended on Feb 8, 2020. In preparation for the celebration, thousands began their annual return from Wuhan to Wenzhou in January. By January 29, 2020, more than 33,000 Wuhan residents were in Wenzhou to celebrate with family. | A fascinating article in Sixth Tone related the beginnings of the spread of the Wuhan virus to Wenzhou.
At a press conference on January 20, 2020, Tang Xiaoshu, deputy mayor of Wenzhou, announced that “the incidence of virus infections has risen in direct proportion to the number of returning Wenzhou people.” _____________________ | Wuhan to Wenzhou to Italy
The connections between Wenzhou and the Italian garment industry began making headlines more than ten years ago. On January 2, 2009, the Chicago Tribune wrote, Chinese immigrants Transform Italy’s Fashion Industry.
Other news outlets followed suit every year or two after that. For example, on September 12, 2010, the New York Times led with the article, Chinese Remake the "Made in Italy" Fashion Label.
Just two years ago, the April 16th (2018) edition of the New Yorker Magazine read, The Chinese Workers Who Assemble Designer Bags in Tuscany. It reveals a number of disturbing and little-known connections between Italy and China. It explains, two years in advance, the groundwork which caused the recent and deadly outbreak of the Wuhan flu in Europe. I suggest you read the entire article.
It unmasks the details of Tuscany’s Chinese manufacturing in Prato. | According to Francesco Nannucci, the head of Prato's Police Investigative Unit, the city is also home to some ten thousand Chinese people who are there illegally. Prato is believed to have the second-largest Chinese population of any European city, after Paris, and it has the highest proportion of immigrants in Italy.”
“Native residents have accused Chinese immigrants of bringing crime, gang warfare, and garbage to the city. Chinese mill owners ignore health laws and evade taxes.”
They also bring cheap Chinese labor.
“Between 2014 and 2017, they conducted inspections of more than eight thousand Chinese-run businesses. In rooms without heat, the newest and poorest arrivals, many of them undocumented, sat bent over sewing machines, tacking collars onto shirts or affixing brightly colored stripes to jogging pants. Such pants might sell to retailers for about eight euros—a fifth of what they would cost if they were made legally by Italians.” | Could the unsafe environments with Chinese illegals packed together be contributing to many of the deaths in Italy?
Direct flights between the industrial areas where the corona virus emanated were regular daily events. Many Chinese nationals returned to Italy AFTER the Chinese New Year. An event which was near the PEAK of the outbreak.
Paris is the largest contingent of Chinese in the EU. The French outbreak is no doubt the result of the air travel associated with the celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year. | By the way, last year saw the establishment of yet another direct flight from Wenzhou, China to Italy.
Milan is another long-time home to tens of thousands of Chinese immigrants in the garment industry.
Milan is also the epicenter of the Italian outbreak of coronavirus. Buy your ticket here. | The American Spectator Magazine wrote a telling article on the well-established connections between China and Italy. The Spectator asked the question, why is no one making these connections between Italy and the Wuhan virus?
For ten years, major news outlets in America and abroad have made the China-Italy connection. However, they appear to have forgotten these as they seek to politicize the coronavirus. Read the Spectator's excellent piece here. | The MSM has conveniently not reported all of this for obvious reasons. A pandemic does wonders for establishing the need for controlling our borders. | Trump’s early cessation of travel from China prevented those returning from the Chinese New Year festivities which would mean the MSM media would have to admit he was brilliant in his assessment and strategy.
One does not have to be too bright to know that travel to and from China's celebrations of the Chinese Lunar New Year was perfect for transmission of this virus. Yet, the press has failed to report how large a factor those Chinese citizens returning to other countries after the celebration have been. The reporters and readers of the New Yorker should have known but I have not seen ONE article on this.
~Steve Anderson, OCPAC Political Analyst. Content edited by Bob Linn | JERRY HUNTER
An Open Letter to Our President and Our Legislators | Please slow down for a moment.
Think this through.
As a nation, we find ourselves confronted with a twofold problem – a virus and a financial crisis. Clearly, the first begets the latter. I am neither a chemist nor microbiologist, so I’ll leave the search for solutions to the virus itself to far smarter persons than I. The latter, however, at very least deserves a thoughtful response which carefully weighs ALL factors. | First, this “stimulus package”. PLEASE be smart.
This is NOT the time for a reactionary response, and I’m deeply concerned that’s what’s happening here.
This “stimulus package” of $2000 for each American will accomplish absolutely nothing other than to increase our National debt to the tune of $1 Trillion dollars. Why would we do that, when thus far, NOT everyone has been hurt?
Every American is concerned about two things: the stability of their income, and being able to make their mortgage payments.
We’re at the very beginning of the very beginning of this thing. Keep our powder dry. Please hold on to that capital for the time when we will need it – because I honestly believe this will get worse before it gets better, and I can absolutely guarantee we’re going to need it later.
Yes, SOME people have been hurt financially. The key word here is “some”. To lay the foundation for universal basic income is NOT the answer. It’s wasteful in a time of crisis when every dime needs to be carefully preserved, because we simply don’t know how long this thing drags on.
Those who are unemployed are still receiving unemployment benefits. Those who have jobs will continue to receive a paycheck. For these people, there is no justification to put our nation into further debt by giving everyone an additional $2000. Please don’t squander these resources until it’s absolutely necessary – for the sake of our national debt and our future.
Instead, direct those funds specifically to those who HAVE been impacted, those who have recently been put out of work, those directly harmed by this business shutdown. Administer it through our nation’s unemployment offices to any who have been newly unemployed over these past 30 days as a direct result of this virus. THIS will put the funds to work where they’re sorely needed, while preserving the remaining funds for those who become newly unemployed later.
Second, mortgage relief.
The Federal Reserve has dropped its interest rate to 0%. That’s wonderful and thoughtful, but it doesn’t actually HELP anyone.
Here’s a better idea: Consider every loan carried by every US lending institution. Take every payment due for the next 90 days. Every mortgage payment, every car payment, every loan payment of any kind, and EXTEND THE NOTE for 90 days on the back end, then use that Federal Reserve 0% rate to extend loans in the amount of the payments to the lenders so our banks aren’t harmed. This enables ALL Americans – from the workers to the business owners to the farmers - to breathe a huge sigh of relief knowing their mortgages will be paid, and that foreclosure will not result if income is less than the mortgage obligation.
Reevaluate after 90 days and extend it for another 90 days at that time if necessary.
THIS preserves the American economic engine that is the small business. THIS is how you can breathe confidence into the public and a sense of safety and security into the economy during uncertain times.
You’re going to need those small businesses to pull us out of this when it’s all said and done. We cannot afford to kill them. Our livelihoods depend on their survival.
We all know we will overcome this. The uncertainty rests in “how long?” and “will I lose everything before this is over?”
Right now, mortgage payments and stability of income are the two critical components necessary for everyday Americans to maintain confidence in this Great American economy. This solves both and preserves our economy for an eventual rebound.
Please be smart. Don’t waste our tax dollars needlessly on things that won’t help to solve the problem.
Sincerely,
Jerry Hunter (just a small business owner in Oklahoma) | | RAND PAUL
Tests Positive for coronavirus Sunday | | Rand Paul of Kentucky is the first U.S. Senator to test positive for coronavirus. The news came Sunday afternoon, March 22, 2020.
As a result of this news, two other Republican Senators who have had close interaction with Senator Paul are self-quarantining. Mike Lee (Utah) and Mitt Romney (Utah) will remain isolated for 14 days.
On Sunday, Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe was advised by the attending physician that he had no need to be tested.
Senator James Lankford has not commented. | | | | | | |
