The alarming messages came fast and furious in mid-March, popping up on the cellphone screens and social media feeds of millions of Americans grappling with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Spread the word, the messages said: The Trump administration was about to lock down the entire country.
“They will announce this as soon as they have troops in place to help prevent looters and rioters,” warned one of the messages, which cited a source in the Department of Homeland Security. “He said he got the call last night and was told to pack and be prepared for the call today with his dispatch orders.”
The messages became so widespread over 48 hours that the White House’s National Security Council issued an announcement via Twitter that they were “FAKE.”
Since that wave of panic, United States intelligence agencies have assessed that Chinese operatives helped push the messages across platforms, according to six American officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to publicly discuss intelligence matters.
I am not on social media so I missed this
When it comes to our economic links with China, we need to Decouple On Sight, Decouple First, Decouple To Kill, Keep Decoupling.
We don't have to go along for the ride China wants to give us. We do have a choice in supply chains.
So we get to say buh bye. Thanks for trading with us.
*From the last data dump:
Perhaps I should reconsider my pledge to call the covid-19 coronavirus the Wuhan Flu out of common practice and to rebuke the Chinese Communist Party for its role in hiding the epidemic and turning it into a pandemic. But if naming the flu suddenly is a way of blaming Asians as the CCP alleges and much of our Democratic Party media suddenly agrees with, perhaps I'm wrong. The people of Wuhan are victims, too, of the CCP. Maybe we should all call it the Xi Jinping Flu. If he wants all the power he should get all the blame. I'm going to ponder this.
Okay, this settles my internal debate on the issue: "From Asia to Africa, London to Berlin, Chinese envoys have set off diplomatic firestorms with a combative defense whenever their country is accused of not acting quickly enough to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic." Xi Jinping Flu, it is.
So there you go. I admit I'm a bit jealous about China's diplomats willing to combatively defend their country under attack. China's foreign office doesn't need a "China Desk," apparently.
