Tea at Trianon: Chinese-Backed Marijuana Farms In United States

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Chinese-Backed Marijuana Farms In United States

From The Daily Wire:

Top House Republicans are requesting a briefing on the spread of illegal Chinese-backed marijuana farms across the United States from the Department of Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Agency, according to a letter first obtained by The Daily Wire.
The Friday letter from House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-TN), Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), and Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) asks for a meeting with the DHS and DEA over what is being done about the proliferation of Chinese marijuana farms. Pfluger is the chair of the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence, and Higgins is the chair of the Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement.
“The Committee on Homeland Security (Committee) is growing increasingly alarmed by the number of illicit Chinese-operated marijuana farms that have been seized by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies across the United States. Many of these illicit grow operations work in conjunction with transnational criminal organizations,” the letter, addressed to DHS Chair Alejandro Mayorkas and DEA Administrator Anne Milgram, said.
“Illicit Chinese-operated marijuana farms have been found across the country and pose significant risks to our nation’s security. First, illicit marijuana farms provide unregulated access for consumers to Schedule 1 substances and help provide additional revenue sources to transnational criminal organizations. Many of these operations have also been found to have labor conditions that are emblematic of human trafficking and forced labor practices. In addition, Chinese investors have financed some of these illegal operations, and these investments include cash payment for large swaths of land to conduct these operations,” the letter said, pointing out that lawmakers have raised red flags over large purchases of land by Chinese nationals.
The Republicans want a briefing schedule with the agencies by January 25. “This briefing should include, but not be limited to, information about the actions your agencies are conducting to monitor, investigate, and dismantle illicit Chinese-operated marijuana farms, as well as information about the links these illegal farms have to transnational criminal organizations and foreign entities,” they wrote. (Read more.)