Biden Border Crisis Insanity…

[INSIDE JW]

U.S. DIPLOMATS CONCERNED ABOUT CHINA’S ‘ANAL SWAB’ COVID TESTING

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China seems to have been messing with our diplomats, and we’re
digging up the details, which the Biden administration seems intent on
concealing.

We received eight pages
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of communications from the U.S. Department of State revealing concerns
by the U.S. Embassy in Beijing that U.S. diplomatic personnel were
being asked to submit to an anal swab COVID testing policy. The
redacted documents show that at as many as two people were either
asked or required to take an anal test for COVID by the Chinese
government.

We obtained the records in response to a FOIA lawsuit
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against the
State Department for non-identifying records of U.S. diplomatic
personnel being subjected to invasive COVID-19 anal swab tests by the
Chinese government (_Judicial Watch v U.S. Dept of State_
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(No. 1:21-cv-02111)). We sued after the State Department failed to
respond to a June 18, 2021, FOIA request for:

All records about US diplomatic personnel in or seeking to enter China
being subjected to anal swab tests for the COVID-19 virus, including
all complaints and communications regarding such testing. This request
does not seek any personal identifying information of US diplomatic
personnel that may have been subjected to such testing.
On January 25, 2021, an unidentified general services officer in
the U.S. Embassy, Beijing, sent emails
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to personnel evidently under quarantine after traveling to China under
the subject line “Testing Guidance:”

Sorry for the strange questions, but I was directed by embassy
management to survey our people and ensure we are not being asked to
participate in the more invasive testing procedures.
The sender also writes:

There’s no good way to ask this, but has any health authority asked
you or your spouse to conduct an anal swab test? The embassy obviously
does not authorize or permit this type of testing on diplomats, but
others have been asked so I need to verify everyone’s experience.

The testers may also ask to do an “environmental test” where they
enter the residence and swab drinking glasses, furniture, etc. This is
also not permitted. They may swab the outside
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of the doorknob, but nothing internal. [Emphasis in the original.]

For the record, our agreement is for nasal and/or throat swabs only.
If you are asked to undergo either of the above or any other that
seems inappropriate, please refuse and contact us immediately. We will
escalate to [China’s] MFA/FAO [foreign area officer] and go from
there.
One recipient responds
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on January 26:

No, I have had no unusual requests. I received a nasal and throat swab
when I arrived in Shanghai and just a throat swab before departing.
Beginning at 10:34 p.m. on January 26, 2021, another unidentified
sender emails to an unidentified recipient under Subject Line,
“Test:”

[Redacted] please call me at your convenient time [redacted]. Below
text message came from [redacted]. This is not good!”
At 10:39, the recipient responds:

This is becoming so non diplomatic status testing. Disgusting. I hope
the GSO [general services officer] and VIP Beijing visits can do
something about this. I am so disgusted right now.
The sender responds at 11:49 a.m. the next day: “At this point,
if they will insist the anal test, we would like to just go back to
the States.”

Another recipient of the original “Testing Guidance” email
responds on January 26: “Thanks. I am hoping for a smooth covid test
and release on Friday.”

On January 26, an unidentified sender responds to the original “Test
Guidance” email:

That is indeed a very strange test and first time we’ve heard as
well.

Fortunately, the tests we had at the Shanghai airports was just nose
swab and one at Shanghai hotel on our 14th day was just throat swab.

Do you have a good number we can call that we will definitely get a
response right away once they come in for the test on Friday, January
29th? Last Friday, I tried to call 9 to 10 a.m. to be connected to
anyone in the VIP visits and no one answered the office number and the
mobile number same thing when we got inside the LMQC unit at 2:30 I
started calling to inquire more guidelines and I was not able to talk
to anyone.
The original sender of the “Test Guidance” email responds:

Thanks for confirming. Generally speaking, try calling the Embassy
main line and you can ask for my extension of [redacted]. If you
can’t reach me, ask for the Duty Officer of GSO secretary.

GSO isn’t setup for 24/7 call service, but if you reach a Duty
Officer, you can ask for me or one of the other GSOs.
On January 27, another recipient of the “Test Guidance
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email notifies his “team:”

Team – FYI. [Redacted] being asked for anal swab and environmental
test. Can Housing contact [redacted]? I’ll have VIP contact FAO
ASAP.
On March 4, a redacted sender emails
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a redacted recipient in the State Department’s VIP Visits Section
under the Subject Line, “Swabs, swabs, and more swabs” (citing a
Reuters article):

I hadn’t heard this rule before:

Travelers flying into Shanghai must undertake a full battery of tests
including anal swabs, if more than five people on their airplane test
positive for the virus, state media reported, citing one of the local
CDC staff.
In response to this email, the recipient appears to email another
person in the VIP Visits section about the new Chinese rule:

This is certainly different and a variation on the “close contact”
rule.

VIP – please check with FAO again on this. Seems to be a CDC rule
and given our history with close contacts and following hotel
separations, want to make sure the MFA/FAO understand this is not
acceptable for our people regardless of the reason.
The recipient of this email responds
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“Just checked with Shanghai FAO, for in-bound diplomats who’re
close contact to someone tested positive upon arrival, they will still
quarantine in the Wyndham Hotel, but with one additional NAT test
[Nucleic Acid Test].

On March 5, the VIP Visits sender emails the apparently same
recipient:

Just checked with my contact from the PEK [Beijing International
Capital Airport] customs. Airport only does nasal swab and throat
swab. According to some Chinese social media, international travelers
are required to get anal tests during centralized quarantine. It could
happen on Day 3, Day 7, Day 14 or Day 21. Some people were tested once
and some were twice. Samples were collected by medical staff or
travelers themselves or from a fecal sample.
The recipient responds:

Thanks [redacted]. Interesting that there’s no central policy on
this given all the media attention and spin. Please keep me undated if
anything changes.
It took six months and a federal lawsuit to confirm that our embassy
in Beijing was concerned about the Chinese government’s invasive
anal swab and other COVID testing of our diplomatic personnel – at
that as many as two people were asked to submit to a test. Our
diplomatic personnel were harassed in a reprehensible way by the
Chinese government, and the Biden administration seems to have done
little in response – except to cover it up.

U.S. INVESTS $1.5 MIL TO HELP SALVADORAN POLICE DEAL WITH COVID-19
STRESS

Joe Biden and his leftist minders don't just have a carefree attitude
toward the border. Rather, they seem intent on dismantling it. Witness
their recent appointment of a new Customs and Border Protection
commissioner who is a believer in sanctuary cities and whose
appointment was a further blow
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to the already law morale of border agents.

But don’t worry about police morale. We’re taking care of that in
… El Salvador. Our _Corruption Chronicles_ blog reports
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on this clown show:

While local law enforcement agencies around the United States weather
extensive budget cuts, the federal government is dedicating $1.5
million to assist police in El Salvador with challenges and stress
created by COVID-19. The goal is to help the Central American
nation’s 26,966-member National Civil Police (PNC) asses its role
and capacities during a crisis and efficiently provide training to
manage a public health emergency like the pandemic. “The training
will particularly focus on public health orders, personal and
workplace safety measures, education in regards to transmission and
proper treatment, and management of operational continuity,”
according to a grant announcement
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made public this month.

The document explains that in March 2020, the first case of COVID-19
was identified in El Salvador. With no immunity and no vaccine
available to prevent infection in the impoverished country of about
6.5 million, COVID-19 has created challenges not only for the public
health sector, but also for law enforcement agencies. To support
Salvadoran law enforcement during the pandemic, American taxpayers
will fund measures that will strengthen police programs to maintain
control during lockdowns and enforce travel bans and social distancing
rules. “The added support requirements created additional demands
for security services and exposed police personnel to higher risk of
infection,” the U.S. writes in the grant document. “In addition,
because regular duties related to policing operations do not abate
during the crisis, security sector personnel faced greater strain on
resources and high levels of stress.”

Money for the initiative will flow through the State Department’s
Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL),
which was created in the late 70s to reduce drug trafficking into the
U.S. from Latin America. In fiscal year 2022 the State Department
requested $456.8 million
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for INL programs it claims strengthen the rule of law, human rights
protections, law enforcement capacity, anti-corruption activities, and
other critical efforts around the globe. In this case the allocation
will enhance El Salvador’s Ministry of Justice and Public
Security’s capacity of preparedness for a public health crisis by
efficiently providing essential public safety services, maintaining
public order, and addressing additional challenges faced during such
emergency. Among the requirements for grant recipients is that they
identify stresses on officer wellness and police resources in the PNC,
which stands for Policia National Civil in Spanish.

Back home in the U.S. police departments are enduring major budget
cuts as part of a leftist movement ignited by George Floyd’s May
2020 death in Minneapolis. In the last year more than a dozen cities
slashed police funding
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or decreased the number of officers, according to a probe conducted by
a national news agency. They include the nation’s two largest
cities—Los Angeles and New York—which eliminated $150 million and
$1 billion respectively from their police budget. Other cities that
drastically cut police funding include Austin, Seattle, San Francisco,
Baltimore, Portland, Salt Lake City and Philadelphia. Washington D.C.
decreased its police budget by $15 million. Predictably, there has
been a rise in crime, motivating some cities to partially reverse
police defunding. Even New York’s outgoing leftist mayor, Bill de
Blasio, announced plans to reinstate
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$92 million for a new precinct and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf recently
said
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she’ll work to reverse cuts to her city’s police department amid a
spike in homicides and violence in the northern California city.

At the federal level, money keeps flowing to questionable foreign and
domestic law enforcement initiatives. That includes $200,000 to
advance “gender equality”
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in Costa Rica’s police forces by hiring more female cops. The funds
also helped pay for the Central American nation’s first
“institutional meeting of women leaders in gender matters” to help
create a national agenda for the “empowerment of the police forces
in the promotion of gender equity and prevention of gender violence in
all its forms.” A few months ago a Clinton community policing
program received $33 million
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from the government to advance a nationwide effort that includes
tolerance, diversity, and anti-bias training as well as crisis
intervention teams and de-escalation training. Former President Bill
Clinton created the program, known as Office of Community Oriented
Policing Services (COPS), to support “creative” approaches to
preventing crime and promoting safe communities.
Until next week …





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