Chinese Americans Busted for "Birth Tourism" ("The News," Fri., Feb 1, 2019)

TOP OF FIRST HOUR:

The Jesse Lee Peterson Show is coming up shortly, I’m James Hake of The Hake Report with 5 minutes of news for you. Hang on, Jesse Lee Peterson is coming up soon!

1. (Fox News) Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) jumps into the 2020 White House race. The high-profile Democrat announced in a tweet and email to supporters including a two-minute campaign-launch video. Quote: “I believe that we can build a country where no one is forgotten, no one is left behind; where parents can put food on the table; where there are good-paying jobs with good benefits in every neighborhood.” Fox News says he’s known for his oratory skills. The former mayor of Newark, NJ, said he envisions a country, quote, “where our criminal justice system keeps us safe, instead of shuffling more children into cages and coffins; where we see the faces of our leaders on television and feel pride, not shame.” … The field of Democrat candidates includes Sen. Kamala Harris of CA (who announced on MLK Day last week); former San Antonio mayor & former HUD secretary Julian Castro; Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of HI; former Rep. John Dalaney of MD; Sen.s Elizabeth Warren of MA & Kirsten Gillibrand of NY set up presidential exploratory committees, as has the mayor of South Bend, IN, Pete Buttigieg. … Booker told the story in his video of his parents’ struggle to move their family into a predominantly white neighborhood with great public schools. He bragged that he moved as an adult to Newark’s Central Ward, a low-income inner-city neighborhood where he continues to live. Back when he opposed Kavanaugh in a big show, he said, “This is the closest I’ll probably ever have in my life to an ‘I am Spartacus’ moment” — Spartacus being a gladiator and  rebel slave leading a rebellion against the Roman Empire. People made fun of him for that.

2. Church with Jesse Lee Peterson is coming up THIS Sunday, Feb 3rd, at 11am Los Angeles time, 1pm CT / 2pm ET. Catch us on YouTube live, Facebook (BOND: Rebuilding the Man), Periscope (@JLPtalk), and last but not least Stream.me/JesseLeePeterson (shout out!). (You can also podcast Church audio as well as THIS show on audio via iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, & Spreaker afterward.) Go to rebuildingtheman.com/church for Church, and JLPtalk.com for Jesse’s radio show.

3. The Fallen State episode with Hasán Piker came out last night, Thur, Jan 31st. Look out on YouTube, etc.

4. (L.A. Times) Travel agents have been charged with bringing pregnant Chinese women to give birth on U.S. soil. Pregnant Chinese women would call “You Win USA Vacation Services” where employees allegedly coached women on lies they should write on bogus applications for tourist visas, and made sure the ladies travelled before their bellies swelled too much to conceal. They were told to fly first to Hawaii to blend in with tourists, list the Trump Int’l Hotel in Honolulu as their destination, then hop on a flight to Los Angeles. Federal authorities say the scheme went on for years. But Thursday the operator of YouWin USA of Irvine, and his wife, as well as the owners of another “Birth Tourism” company called USA Happy Baby in San Bernardino, CA, were arrested & charged with crimes including immigration fraud, money laundering and identity theft, according to indictments filed in US District court. They also indicted a 65-y-o woman, Wen Rui Deng who’s a US Citizen believed to be living in China, accused of running a Los Angeles agency called Star Baby Care. This was a long-running investigation by agents in DHS and IRS into three outfits operating for years out of L.A., the Inland Empire, and Orange County, CA. They charged as much as $100,000 for their services. (Producer note: Children born in the US are as a policy called “citizens” and are “anchor babies.”)

TOP OF SECOND HOUR:

1. Birth Tourism suspect org. You Win USA’s promotional materials said Chinese kids born in America would be of “the most attractive nationality.” Investigated by DHS, IRS.

2. (CBS News) Trump says a time and location has been picked for his next North Korea summit. The White House has said a second summit with Kim Jong-Un will take place at the end of February.

3. (Fox News) Trump accuses 'lame duck' Paul Ryan of breaking promise to fund border wall when GOP held Congress. President Trump lashed out against former House Speaker Paul Ryan in an interview published on Wednesday, saying he broke his word to fund the U.S.-Mexico border wall while Republicans controlled both the House and Senate if Trump signed the unpopular 2018 omnibus bill. The $1.3 trillion spending bill signed in March last year avoided a government shutdown, but didn’t live up to the president’s campaign promise of funding the border wall. (CNN) Trump told the Daily Caller, “Well, I was going to veto the omnibus bill and Paul told me in the strongest of language, ‘Please don’t do that, we’ll get you the wall.’ And I said, ‘I hope you mean that, because I don’t like this bill.’ Paul told me in the strongest of terms that, ‘Please sign this and if you sign this we will get you that wall.’ Which is desperately needed by our country. Humanitarian crisis, trafficking, drugs, you know, everything -- people, criminals, gangs, so, you know, we need the wall. And then he went lame duck. And once he went lame duck, it was just really an exercise in waving to people, and the power was gone so I was very disappointed in Paul because the wall was so desperately needed. And I’ll get the wall.’” Paul decided to retire instead of running for reelection in 2018.

4. (CNN) In an interview with New York Times: Trump slams shutdown talks between Congressional lawmakers as “a waste of time,” saying he's 'set the stage' for taking action on wall. Quote: “I think Nancy Pelosi is hurting our country very badly by doing what she's doing and, ultimately, I think I've set the table very nicely. I've set the table. I've set the stage for doing what I'm going to do.” Trump temporarily ended the shutdown last Friday, but if Trump does not find the deal delivered to him by February 15 satisfactory, parts of the government may shut down again -- and he could declare a national emergency to fund the wall himself. He said of Pelosi, “I've actually always gotten along with her, but now I don't think I will any more.” He said she’s “doing a tremendous disservice to the country…. I'll continue to build the wall, and we'll get the wall finished," Trump added. "Now whether or not I declare a national emergency -- that you'll see." (CNBC) Pelosi told reporters Thursday morning, “There’s not going to be any wall money in the legislation.” Trump accused Pelosi of “just playing games,” and said if they don’t include adequate wall funding, “I don’t even want to waste my time reading what they have, because it’s a waste of time. Because the only thing that works for security and safety for our country is a wall.” Pelosi’s talking about “Normandy fencing,” movable metal bars arranged in an “X” pattern, which would block vehicles but not people. She said, “If the president wants to call that a wall, he can call that a wall. … Is there a place for enhanced fencing? Normandy fencing would work.”

5. (CNN cont.) Trump also defended Roger Stone in his NY Times interview: asked whether he discussed WikiLeaks with Stone or directed anyone to coordinate with him on the matter, Trump told the Times "I never did." He called Stone "a character" who he's "always liked," and called the FBI's early morning raid on Stone's home "a very sad thing for this country."

BOTTOM OF SECOND HOUR:

1. (Fox News) Bloomberg takes swipe at Ocasio-Cortez, suggests 'Green New Deal' not 'realistic.' Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg on Tuesday went after both Trump and fellow Democrat potential rivals. Bloomberg criticized the "Green New Deal," a bill being pushed by Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive lawmakers that would eliminate much of the United States’ fossil-fuel consumption. “You have to have realistic things; we are not overnight going to change everything we do,” Bloomberg said. “People aren’t going to overnight give up their jobs if those jobs happen not to be on the side of the Green New Deal.” He’s contributed millions to the battle against climate change as well as the push for “gun safety.” He says, “One of the things my foundation has done: We’ve funded Sierra Club. They’ve already closed half of all the coal-fired power plants in the country. That’s reduced greenhouse gases by 18 percent.” He says, “I will work to ensure that fighting climate change, and spurring economic development in areas that have depended on fossil fuels, is a top priority for the Democratic nominee.” The 77-y-o Bloomberg is a Republican-turned-independent who returned to the Democratic Party just last year. He criticized Kamala Harris’s “medicare for all” idea, and Elizabeth Warren’s wealth tax for the super rich. He also criticized Bernie Sanders’ idea of free tuition for community colleges. He also criticized fellow billionaire Howard Schultz for running independent.

TOP OF THIRD HOUR:

1. (Fox News, cont.) Mike Bloomberg also attacked President Trump, claiming he “failed at business and now I think it’s fair to say he’s failing at governing.” He says “The government shutdown was an utter failure of executive leadership, and I think it’s an example of just totally incompetent management that needlessly hurt millions of people. I’m glad the shutdown is over for now, but the American people will continue paying a steep cost for White House incompetence, because the president is fixated on a wall we don’t need instead of real challenges we face.” Bloomberg said, ““his own administration produced a damaging report showing that we face what they called ‘substantial damage to the U.S. economy, environment, and human health from climate change.’ And you know what the president said in response? ‘I don’t believe it.’ the president’s EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has been waging an assault on clean air and water protections.”

2. (Fox News) Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was awarded over $580,000 in damages by a Kentucky jury on Wednesday after he was attacked by his neighbor in the fall of 2017. That included $375,000 in punitive damages and $200,000 for pain and suffering, plus $7,834 for medical expenses. The lawmaker was violently attacked by his neighbor, Rene Boucher, in November 2017 while he was mowing his lawn. Paul was tackled from behind and suffered six broken ribs, including three displaced fractures. His recovery was complicated by fluid and blood around the lungs and recurrent pneumonia. Boucher pleaded guilty in March to a federal charge of assaulting a member of Congress and had asked for probation. He was sentenced in June to 30 days in federal prison for the assault. He was also ordered to one year of supervised release, a $10,000 fine, 100 hours of community service, and ordered to have no contact with Paul's family. Paul says he should have gotten a longer sentence. Boucher’s lawyer claims it had nothing to do with politics but with a dispute over something trivial, leaves being blown on his property, piles of brush on Paul’s property — but Paul says there were never words of dispute exchanged, and no quote-unquote “longstanding dispute.”

3. (TMZ) Jussie Smollett’s family called the alleged attack on him “Domestic Terrorism.” (Producer note: I also heard he wouldn’t give his phone to police.)

4. (NY Times) At least 21 are believed dead as the bitter cold spreads east. The latest developments as of yesterday were that at least 21 deaths are believed to be related to the bitter weather system, including an 18yo U. of Iowa pre-med student Gerald Belz who was found behind an academic hall after 2am, several hours before dawn on Weds. A weather observer in Mount Carroll, IL, recorded a temp of minus 38 Thursday morning, which if confirmed by officials would beat Illinois’s record low of minus 36. The cold-taxed energy systems led to some power failures and calls to customers to reduce heat in their homes. Schools, businesses and restaurants remained shuttered Thursday, although some offices reopened and more are expected to open today Friday. Airlines had cancelled more than 2,300 flights by Thursday evening for the day. On Weds. cancellations topped 2,700. Temps in NYC barely broke into double digits Thursday.

BOTTOM OF THIRD HOUR:

1. (CNN) Measles outbreaks in Washington state and New York are challenging public health systems. An official said Weds. the current measles outbreak in Wash. state has tallied the highest number of infections since 1996. One case in Oregon is linked to the outbreak. Two patients have been hospitalized. Hawaii reported two cases of measles in travelers who were infected in Wash. before their visit to the Big Island. (Measles is a contagious virus spread through the air thru coughing & sneezing. High fever, rash all over the body and reddened eyes are typical measles symptoms, which usually disappear with treatment over 2-3 weeks. 1 or 2 in 1000 children who get measles die from complications, says the CDC — US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.) The first case was traced to an international traveler who had contact with “community groups” with low vaccination rates. Wash. Dept. of Health identified 11 healthcare facilities, 13 schools & childcare centers, & over 100 public places including stores where people may have been exposed to the virus. They say vaccination rates are low in “certain communities” with as few as 60% of children getting vaccinated with MMR (Measles, Mumps, & Rubella) vaccine. As a result of a 2014 Disneyland outbreak, California Democrats passed SB 277 removing “personal belief” exemptions from mandatory vaccinations for entry into private OR public schools & day care centers. (Noticeably the media don’t get very specific about the communities who don’t vaccinate, and they don’t cite the concerns such as symptoms of autism, etc., that many people say are linked with some vaccinations.)

2. Church with Jesse Lee Peterson is coming up THIS Sunday, Feb 3rd, at 11am Los Angeles time, 1pm CT / 2pm ET. Catch us on YouTube live, Facebook (BOND: Rebuilding the Man), Periscope (@JLPtalk), and last but not least Stream.me/JesseLeePeterson (shout out!).