Ying Ma's Blog, page 13

From a former Oakland resident: Trump is right, the mayor is a disgrace

Washington Examiner , March 16, 2018

Last week, President Trump referred to the mayor of Oakland, Calif., Libby Schaaf, as a “disgrace,” and condemned her for spitting at federal efforts to enforce immigration laws. As a former resident of Oakland, I agree with the president.

I grew up in inner-city Oakland and hated it with a passion. Among other things, I hated the regular breakdown of law and order as well as the city’s casual disregard for the well-being of law-abiding citizens.

Schaaf’s recent rhetoric and actions offer the entire country a glimpse of Oakland’s recurring dysfunction.

To read the rest of the article, please click HERE. 

Ying Ma Speaks to Conservative Women’s Network About Immigration

Conservative Women’s Network, March 9, 2018

Ying Ma spoke to the Conservative Women’s Network last Friday about “Immigrating to America Is Not an Entitlement.” Hosted by the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute and the Heritage Foundation, CWN is a monthly luncheon series featuring conservative women speakers.

To view the program, please click HERE or the YouTube player below.

Marion Marechal-Le Pen’s surprising conservative message

Washington Examiner, March 2, 2018

When French politician Marion Marechal-Le Pen strode onto the stage at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference last Thursday, most conference attendees likely had little or no idea who she was.

There were lots of empty seats in the grand ballroom, where the main events of the conference took place. It was early afternoon, and many of the day’s attendees were still at lunch. Of those in attendance, some were dozing off.

Then the striking young woman delivered a most captivating message.

To open up to the outside, you must have a solid core. To welcome, you have to remain. To share, you must have something to offer. Without nation and without family, the limits of the common good, natural law, collective morality disappears as the reign of egoism continues.

Among other things, she was referring to the failures of the European Union and the French government: Her government had bequeathed sovereignty to Brussels, and as a result, her fellow countrymen lost a certain amount of independence to choose their own laws and own destiny, especially on issues like mass migration.

Her words echoed President Trump’s immigration rhetoric, and he often said on the campaign trail, “We either have a country or we don’t.”

To read the rest of the article, please click HERE.

Donald Trump does “The Snake”

Washington Examiner, February 26, 2018

Shortly before President Trump’s appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference last Friday, his administration announced a new set of severe sanctions on North Korea.

When Trump got on the stage at CPAC, he talked about a wide range of issues, including his hair, CPAC’s perception of him as insufficiently conservative during the presidential election of 2016, his administration’s accomplishments (regulatory reform, tax cuts, and confirming Justice Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court), the recent massacre in Parkland, Fla., and the need to defend Americans from violent criminals and reform the immigration system.

But about an hour into the president’s speech, he still had not said anything about the sanctions on North Korea.

Then President Trump did “The Snake.”

Just like at a concert, the rock star was doing this by request. As the president recounted, “When I walked in today….I had five people outside say, ‘Could you do “The Snake”?'”

“The Snake” is a song that Trump used to “do” at his raucous campaign rallies and freewheeling speeches in the presidential race of 2016. Back then, the candidate often reminded his audience to think about “The Snake” in terms of radical Islam or the admittance of refugees from terror-prone countries.

At CPAC, the president told everyone to think of “The Snake” in terms of immigration.

When he “did” it, he essentially read the lyrics, and it is worth reading or watching in full.

On her way to work one morning, down the path along the lake, a tenderhearted woman saw a poor, half-hearted, frozen snake. His pretty colored skin had been all frosted with the dew. “Poor thing,” she cried, “I’ll take you in, and I’ll take care of you.”

“Take me in, oh, tender woman. Take me in, for Heaven’s sake. Take me in, oh, tender woman,” sighed the vicious snake.

She wrapped him up all cozy in a comforter of silk, and laid him by her fireside with some honey and some milk. She hurried home from work that night, and soon as she arrived, she found that pretty snake she’d taken in had been revived.

“Take me in, oh, tender woman. Take me in for Heaven’s sake. Take me in, oh, tender woman,” sighed the vicious snake.

She clutched him to her bosom, “You’re so beautiful,” she cried. But if I hadn’t brought you in by now, surely you would have died.”

She stroked his pretty skin again, and kissed and held him tight. But instead of saying thank you, that snake gave her a vicious bite.

“Take me in, oh, tender woman. Take me in for Heaven’s sake. Take me in, oh, tender woman,” sighed the vicious snake.

“I saved you,” cried the woman. “And you’ve bitten me. Heaven’s why? You know your bite is poisonous, and now I’m going to die.”

“Oh, shut up, silly woman,” said the reptile with a grin. “You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in.”

When Trump was done reading, the CPAC audience went wild with applause.

For anyone wondering, the snake represented the unsavory elements of immigration to America, such as MS-13, a violent international criminal gang started by Central American immigrants in Los Angeles; or the terrorist who arrived in the United States via extended family chain migration but killed eight and injured 11 by ramming a truck down a bike path in New York City last November.

The tender woman, of course, was a stand-in for liberals, Democrats, establishment Republicans, and others who do not take border security seriously, laud illegal immigrants as if they are saints, refuse to acknowledge the benefits of merit-based legal immigration, and ascribe racism to those who support serious reforms to America’s immigration system.

Trump’s reading of “The Snake” was politically incorrect, over the top, and incendiary. It was also hilarious, absurd, highly entertaining, and highlighted the dysfunction of America’s immigration debate with greater directness and effectiveness than any think tank policy paper could.

After doing “The Snake,” Trump seemed to have remembered that there was something else he needed to tell the audience: “I do want to say, because people have asked — North Korea — we imposed today the heaviest sanctions ever imposed on a country before.”

With that, the president was more or less done unveiling his administration’s new set of massive sanctions against North Korea. He thanked his audience, promised to make America great again, and was off.

If you were looking for more details on the new sanctions, you did not get them, but you got a lot more—bombast, high comedy, and great theater.

The next day, Fox News anchor and comedian Greg Gutfeld exclaimedwhile discussing Trump’s performance at CPAC, “It’s amazing—that’s our president?! How did this happen?!” Was he making fun of Trump or admiring him? Maybe both.

Gutfeld concluded that Trump was having a ball, and maybe everyone else should too.

That is probably the most useful advice for an era in which the president of the United States does “The Snake.”

Ying Ma Talks to Fox News About the Russia Investigation and China’s Strategic Challenge

Tucker Carlson Tonight, February 23, 2018

Ying Ma appeared on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” to discuss China’s long-term strategic challenge to the United States, and how America has taken its eyes off weighty issues like China while being distracted by the Russia investigation into President Donald Trump.

To view the interview, please click HERE.

What the media gets wrong about the Russia collusion probe into Trump

Washington Examiner, January 9, 2018

[image error] Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at Fountain Park in Fountain Hills, Arizona, on March 19, 2016. Photo by Gage Skidmore.

Right before the New Year, the New York Times breathlessly reported that the drunken revelations of a former Trump campaign foreign policy aide to an Australian diplomat in May 2016 prompted the FBI to open an investigation into the campaign’s Russia ties.

The Times story has already been exposed as full of holes and contradictions. It is the latest indication that the mainstream media routinely hypes any bad news, real or imagined, for President Trump in the Russia probe.

Just as disturbing, those who disseminate and explain the news continue to lack a basic understanding of the context and nature of Trump’s unconventional political campaign and often assume that the chaos, lack of organization, and opportunism that existed is synonymous with nefariousness, conspiracy, or broader illegality.

As the country awaits the final verdict of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, other common misperceptions deserve closer examination.

To read the entire column, please click HERE.

Trump’s foreign policy: ‘America First’ and not value-neutral

Washington Examiner, December 27, 2017

Last week, President Trump presented his national security strategy to the country, and outlined a crucial distinction from his two predecessors.

“We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone,” Trump declared, “but we will champion [American] values without apology.”

While Trump is not interested in former President George W. Bush’s interventionism in the Middle East or promises of ending tyranny in the 21st century, he also rejects former President Barack Obama’s endless apologies to foreign audiences and penchant for “leading from behind.”

To many foreign policy commentators, the president’s foreign policy outlook indicates a total lack of interest in human rights. For Trump, “America First” means “America will lead again,” and that leadership is not value-neutral.

Against conventional wisdom, the Trump administration has revealed in its first year a willingness to advocate on behalf of human dignity, even if in a different fashion from previous administrations.

[Read the entire article HERE.]

China’s Rising Influence: Restraint, Humility, and the ‘Ungrateful Fool’

Washington Examiner, December 4, 2017

In the humidity of late summer, I walked into the master practitioner’s office in Hong Kong.

He was a distinguished doctor of Chinese medicine, who counted movie stars such as Jackie Chan, Mark Wahlberg, and others as former patients. He was also a well-respected martial arts master, whose lineage intertwined with that of the legendary Bruce Lee.

I was visiting from Washington, D.C., and was seeking martial arts instruction and medical treatment.

Back home, blaring news headlines provided daily reminders of China’s growing political and economic power, while talking heads and policy types regularly pontificated about a future in which China might displace U.S. global leadership.

Rising global influence was now China’s new bragging right. In the office of the master practitioner, however, a quieter commodity prevailed — traditional Chinese culture.

Click HERE to read the entire article.

Ying Ma Talks to CNN about Trump and Latest Controversies

CNN, November 22, 2017

Ying Ma appeared on CNN’s At This Hour with Kate Bolduan to discuss President Trump, his feud with the father of a UCLA basketball player who was detained in China for shoplifting, and other issues.

To view the discussion, please view player below or click HERE.

Ying Ma Talks to Fox Business Network About Trump’s Asia Trip

“After the Bell,” November 10, 2017

Ying Ma discussed President Trump’s trade rhetoric and policy with “After the Bell” on the Fox Business Network. The President recently outlined his views on a five-nation tour in Asia.

To view the interview, click HERE or the player below.