Virginia
Virginia State Senators to Biden: Address Communist China’s Crimes
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va.—Virginia state senators Mark J. Peake (R-Lynchburg) and Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax) have written a joint letter asking President Joe Biden Biden to “tackle the crimes that the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] has dedicated together with the hazards that the occasion poses.”
Citing the Chinese language spy balloon flying over America for days earlier than the U.S. navy shot it down on Saturday, Peake instructed The Epoch Occasions, “It’s time for Joe Biden to get up and take a stand in opposition to the CCP and allow them to know the place America stands.”
Petersen’s father-in-law is from North Korea. The household was Christian and persecuted; the senator’s grandfather-in-law was executed by the communists.
“This challenge of spiritual persecution by communist governments is one thing that we find out about firsthand, and I’ll converse up,” the senator instructed The Epoch Occasions.
Within the letter dated Jan. 30, Sen. Peake enclosed a duplicate of the decision he sponsored throughout this yr’s Virginia legislative session.
“I help the decision as a result of no particular person ought to be persecuted for his or her non secular practices. However sadly, Falun Gong practitioners proceed to be persecuted for expressing their non secular beliefs,” he wrote within the doc.
“Due to this fact, taking my expressed considerations into consideration, I want to stress heavy emphasis and urgency in addressing the specter of the CCP,” he added.
Peake wrote the letter upon discovering out that he couldn’t introduce the decision to the Virginia Senate as a result of the Virginia Senate Guidelines Committee deemed the problem a federal matter and never throughout the state’s energy, although the Virginia Home handed an identical decision final yr.
The Epoch Occasions has contacted the White Home and State Division for remark.
Falun Gong, often known as Falun Dafa, a meditation self-discipline based mostly on truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, was launched in Virginia in 1996. In three years, the CCP started a nationwide suppression of the peaceable self-discipline in China because the follow’s recognition had drawn an uncomfortably massive variety of adherents—estimated at over 70 million.
Over the previous 23 years, tens of millions of adherents to the ideas of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance have been held in labor camps, psychological asylums, drug rehabilitation facilities, unofficial black jails, or different detention services. The vilification, pressured slave labor, torture, and arranged killing by means of pressured organ harvesting arising from the persecution have led to an untold variety of deaths. Those that survived are left with accidents and monetary and psychological harms suffered from the continued abuses.
Amongst these atrocities, Peake’s decision highlighted pressured slave labor and compelled organ harvesting, and the significance of informing Virginia residents and the medical group of such crimes.
He stated that the CCP’s pressured organ harvesting on Uyghurs was well-known, “however I feel it’s necessary for Virginians to know that they [CCP] are doing it to the Falun Gong as nicely, along with the slave labor and the brutality that they’ve raked upon the Falun Gong.”
Within the decision, Peake additionally cited native help within the Commonwealth, “Regardless of little media protection of the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong, greater than 5,000 Virginia residents have signed petitions to their native governments, and greater than 20 Virginia localities have adopted associated resolutions condemning the CCP’s atrocities in opposition to Falun Gong practitioners in China, together with the usage of pressured organ harvesting and slave labor.”
Among the many supportive localities, the County of Fluvanna in Peake’s district handed a decision condemning the persecution (pdf) in November 2021. The Metropolis of Fairfax in Petersen’s district additionally handed an identical decision in June 2021.
Beforehand in 2020, each Peake and Petersen joined 47 different Virginia lawmakers in sending a letter to the then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, urging him to take “forceful, and sustained motion” to finish the “psychological and bodily torture” and “immoral follow of non-consenting organ harvesting by the CCP.”
West Virginia has landed its second commitment out of the transfer portal, and its first on the offensive side of the ball.
Sunday evening, Eastern Michigan wide receiver transfer Oran Singleton Jr. announced his pledge to the Mountaineers.
This past season for the Eagles, Singleton caught a team-high 64 passes for 639 yards and two touchdowns. Prior to arriving at Eastern Michigan, Singleton played one year at Akron and then made the move to the junior college level to play for Hutchinson CC. There, he led the team in receptions (31) and was second in yards (419).
West Virginia will continue to add to the wide receiver room in the coming days and weeks as they look to replace the departure of Justin Robinson along with the potential departures of Traylon Ray Ric’Darious Farmer and Hudson Clement.
Singleton will have one year of eligibility remaining.
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Still without Tucker DeVries, Sunday’s game against Mercyhurst would be West Virginia’s final opportunity to figure things out ahead of their holiday break, followed by the gauntlet that is the Big 12.
While the Mountaineers would ease past the Lakers, they couldn’t do it without suffering another injury. Starting center Amani Hansberry was injured in the opening minute and did not return as West Virginia beat Mercyhurst 67-46 at the WVU Coliseum to close non-conference play.
The Mountaineers persevered the early departure of Hansberry by getting inside on the Lakers. After a Jonathan Powell 3-pointer, eight of WVU’s next 13 points came at the rim as they took a 16-7 lead in the opening eight minutes of action.
While the Lakers would be able to keep the West Virginia lead in single digits, a late 11-3 run helped West Virginia into halftime with a 35-22 lead.
While West Virginia shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, the second half would have a much different feel to it.
West Virginia made only one basket, and that came on a score from Eduardo Andre just a minute into the second half. After that, though, West Virginia’s offense went silent, and it allowed the Lakers to get back into the game.
Mercyhurst went on an 8-0 run from the 17:23 mark until the 14:46 mark of the second half, as West Virginia’s lead was cut to 38-30. The Mountaineers would respond appropriately, though, going on a 16-0 run themselves, pushing the lead to 24 with 8:13 to play.
During the run, it was a plethora of players who got involved for the Mountaineers. Five different players scored during the run, including Javon Small, who scored on a fastbreak dunk after a steal from Joe Yesufu. The dunk would be Small’s 1,000th career point.
Mercyhurst countered with a 5-0 run, but that didn’t faze the Mountaineers in the slightest. West Virginia scored the next nine points as they continued to lock down on defense.
Mercyhurst would score only 11 points in the final 14:45 of the game, shooting 22 percent from the field in the second half and 28 percent from the field on the afternoon. West Virginia held Mercyhurst to shoot only 5-for-17 from beyond the arc.
The Mountaineers shot 48 percent from the field despite struggling mightly from three as they shot 5-for-19 from beyond the arc. Small led West Virginia with 19 points on the afternoon.
West Virginia now will be off until Dec. 31, when they open Big 12 play on the road against No. 8 Kansas.
A Richmond, Virginia, woman lost more than $30,000 after police say she fell victim to a scam.
Click here for updates on this story
RICHMOND, Virginia (WTVR) — A Richmond, Virginia, woman lost more than $30,000 after police say she fell victim to a scam.
CBS 6 Crime Insider Jon Burkett spoke to Frank Oley, her financial adviser and Greg Wade, a Richmond detective about how this happened.
The woman got an email which appeared to be from PayPal.
“It was about the purchase of some type of malware and if you didn’t want it to call a certain number,” Wade said.
She then called the number and got swindled.
“After the transaction was done, he said, ‘You added too many zeroes,’ and, ‘Oh, my God, I’m going to lose my job, it’s Christmas time and I have kids,’ laid it on thick to her. This client being such a nice, honest and decent person felt sorry for this guy,” Wade explained.
The woman felt so bad she withdrew a total of $34,300 from two banks in an effort to pay for what she thought was her mistake.
The scammer instructed her to load the cash into a bitcoin machine along Azalea Avenue. It took her two hours and 873 separate transactions to do.
Detective Wade got a search warrant and told the store to shut the machine down. A representative came to open it, and the woman’s money was still there.
Her money is being held as evidence for now, but she will get it all back.
“The good news is with George, the Richmond City Police Department, we got the money back,” Oley said.
Wade says the scammer was traced to a location outside the United States.
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