Category: NEWS
Radical climate group slashing SUV tires says they’re now active in 18 countries including US
A far-left international group that encourages groups of people to deflate tires on parked sports utility vehicles (SUV) in an effort to combat global warming has expanded its operations to 18 countries.
The group, named the Tyre Extinguishers and based in the U.K., has claimed credit for tire-deflating operations in American cities including New York City, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco, and cities in England, Canada, France, Spain, Germany and Italy among others. And most recently, on Thursday, members affiliated with the Tyre Extinguishers conducted an action in Lisbon, Portugal.
“Reports coming in of very angry #CarShaggers who are upset they can’t drive their massive tanks around Lisbon. Oh no!” the group said. “Welcome to the fun, Portugal! Now that we’ve had our first action in Lisbon, where’s next?”
The announcement included an image of a Portuguese-language pamphlet the activists left on one of the targeted SUVs.
CLIMATE ACTIVISTS EXPAND TIRE-SLASHING OPERATION BEYOND NYC. HERE ARE THE CITIES THEY’VE HIT
On the group’s website, it provides instructions for quickly deflating tires on parked cars and a template for pamphlets that activists can use during operations. After deflating an SUV’s tires, individuals affiliated with the group generally leave the document, with a headline stating “ATTENTION – your gas guzzler kills,” on the vehicle’s windshield explaining to its owner why the action was taken.
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“You’ll be angry, but don’t take it personally. It’s not you, it’s your car,” the pamphlet says. “We did this because driving around in urban areas in your massive vehicle has huge consequences for others.”
“We are people from all walks of life with one aim: To make it impossible to own a huge polluting 4×4 in the world’s urban areas,” the group’s website adds. “We are defending ourselves against climate change, air pollution and unsafe drivers. We do this with a simple tactic: Deflating the tyres of these massive, unnecessary vehicles, causing inconvenience for their owners.”
According to the Tyre Extinguishers, it doesn’t have a leadership structure, but is instead a “leaderless, autonomous movement of groups that act independently.”
It says its movement has led to the creation of organizations focused on deflating tires worldwide like The DundeeFlators in Scotland, Les Degonfleurs in France and SUVVersive in Italy.
Overall, activists associated with the Tyre Extinguishers are responsible for deflating tires on more than 10,000 SUVs. On a single night in November last year, the group boasted that its members “disarmed” more than 900 SUVs in a coordinated action across multiple cities in the U.S. and Europe.
“This is the biggest coordinated global action against high-carbon vehicles in history, with many more to come,” it said at the time.
Pennsylvania man arrested after allegedly trying to use candy to lure 7-year-old boy to his car at NJ Wawa
A man wanted in New Jersey for allegedly trying to use candy to abduct a 7-year-old boy from a Wawa restroom has been identified and arrested, authorities said Friday.
Thomas Cannon, 79, was arrested Thursday and charged with one count of endangering the welfare of a child following the May 28 incident at the store located on State Highway 47 in Maurice River, the Cumberland County Prosecutor said in a press release.
Cannon, of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, is accused of entering a restroom and offering the boy candy to leave the store with him, according to the New Jersey State Police.
During the encounter, Cannon allegedly grabbed the 7-year-old’s arm to physically remove him from the store after the boy refused to go to his car.
The 7-year-old resisted and broke free from the suspect’s grasp, according to authorities. The young child then ran to his mother, who was using the women’s restroom at the time.
The suspect had already left the store by the time the child’s family learned of the alleged incident.
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During the search for the suspect, investigators released video surveillance footage from the Wawa store showing the suspect entering and leaving the establishment.
Police had described the suspect as a White male with gray, thinning hair combed to the back, and wearing blue jeans and a maroon or burgundy T-shirt. Detectives believe the suspect had left the Wawa in a white Toyota 4-Runner.
Prosecutors say Cannon was charged with a third-degree offense, which carries a penalty of up to five years of incarceration.
Red Sox announcer sets off his iPhone’s ‘Siri’ after announcing at-bat of Rays player with same name
At long last, an iPhone finally went off while someone was broadcasting a Tampa Bay Rays game.
Why would that happen? Because the Rays have a guy named Jose Siri on their team.
And yes, his last name is pronounced just like the iPhone’s “Siri.”
So, when Boston Red Sox announcer Joe Castiglione was introducing the Rays’ Siri during his at bat on Saturday, it brought his iPhone to life.
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People in the booth could not help but crack up.
“Wait a minute, did you hear that? Siri!” Castiglione said.
“I’m not asking you, Siri,” he continued to the phone. “Not this Siri, that Siri!”
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The Hamden, Connecticut, native has been calling Sox games since 1983 and has called four World Series victories for Boston.
However, this certainly is one of his most memorable moments.
Ironically enough, Siri made a diving catch to win the second game of the Rays’ doubleheader against Boston.
Gun safety instructor sues blue state for denying business COVID relief ‘because I’m a straight White male’
A former police officer turned fire academy owner is suing the state of Massachusetts over a COVID-19 grant program designated for specific races, sexes and sexual orientations.
“It goes against everything we stand for as a nation. It’s blatantly unconstitutional. There’s no defense to this,” New England Firearms Academy owner Brian Dalton said on “Fox & Friends First” Friday.
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Dalton moved to take legal action against Massachusett’s “Inclusive Recovery Grant Program,” which offers up to $75,000 in relief to small businesses that were negatively impacted by the pandemic. The program stipulates that funds are available to specific demographics only.
“This program targets businesses that focus on reaching markets predominantly made up of socially and economically disadvantaged and historically underrepresented groups, underserved markets, and those owned by minorities, women, veterans, immigrants, first-generation immigrants, disabled individuals, or those that identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community,” an overview of the program says.
Dalton says the relief would have been a “godsend to start off with” as his company struggled like many small businesses due to lockdowns.
“That money was crucial in an unprecedented time during COVID,” Dalton said. “I had to float the company on my own. What we did is we had to come up and pay every bit. I didn’t defer rent to where the academies were located. I didn’t do any of that. I paid that because I felt everyone was due their money.”
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Dalton defended his business as all-inclusive, adding he’s not receiving help “because I’m a straight white male.”
“To have this happen was really just a kick. It was a pretty good kick to me and to us at the time, and I just can’t see how it went through.”
The lawsuit reasoned that the program is in violation of the 14th Amendment. Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Andrew Quinio joined Dalton on “Fox & Friends First” the further explain details of the suit.
“The Constitution as has been noted abhors racial classifications. Sex discrimination is presumptively invalid under the Constitution. The bottom line is the government, including Massachusetts, cannot treat individuals as mere components of race or sexual class or gender classes. They have to treat us and Mr. Dalton as individuals,” Quinio said.
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According to Quinio, other states are also pushing programs like the one in Massachusetts that “push the envelope.”
“The different jurisdictions try and get away with this because they consistently push the envelope unless there’s someone pushing back,” he said. “Thankfully, folks, hardworking folks like Brian are helping push back.”
“These things are patently plain, plainly unconstitutional.”
Man fined after trying to help bison calf at Yellowstone that was later euthanized
Clifford Walters faced one count of feeding, touching, teasing, frightening, or intentionally disturbing wildlife and will have to pay a fined $500 fine and a series of other fees.
Russian minister rips Washington nuclear arms treaty ‘ultimatums,’ demands US halt ‘hostile’ policy on Moscow
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov reportedly said Saturday that Moscow’s move to suspend its nuclear arms treaty with Washington was “unshakable” and could only be reversed if the U.S. abandons its “hostile” policy toward Russia.
“Our decision to suspend the START Treaty is unshakable,” Ryabkov said, according to Russian state-owned news agency TASS. “Our own condition for returning to a fully operational treaty is for the U.S. to abandon its fundamentally hostile stance toward Russia.”
“Talking to the Russian Federation in the language of ultimatums just does not work,” Ryabkov is quoted as having told Russia’s three main news agencies Saturday, according to Reuters. “Through the fault of the United States, many elements of the former architecture in this area have either been completely destroyed or moved in a semi-lethal state.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin in February – around the one-year anniversary of his invasion of Ukraine – announced that Moscow was suspending participation in the New START treaty. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of State announced a set of four U.S. countermeasures in response to Russia’s violations of the New START Treaty.
As of June 1, the U.S. is withholding from Russia notifications required under the treaty, including updates on the status or location of treaty-accountable items such as missiles and launchers. Russia ceased fulfilling its notification obligation upon its purported suspension of the treaty on Feb. 28.
After confirming that Russia would not fulfill its obligation to provide its biannual data update on March 30, the U.S. did not provide its March 30 biannual date update to Russia. The New START Treaty requires Russia and the U.S. to exchange comprehensive databases in March and September of each year.
On Friday, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told the Arms Control Association (ACA) Annual Forum that “rather than waiting to resolve all of our bilateral differences – the United States is ready to engage Russia now to manage nuclear risks and develop a post-2026 arms control framework.”
Signed in 2010 and due to expire in 2026, the New START treaty limited the number of U.S. and Russian nuclear warheads and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
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According to the U.S. Department of State, the agreement limits all Russian deployed intercontinental-range nuclear weapons, including every Russian nuclear warhead that is loaded onto an intercontinental-range ballistic missile “that can reach the United States in approximately 30 minutes.” It also limits the deployed Avangard and the under development Sarmat, the two most operationally available of Russia’s new long-range nuclear weapons that can reach the U.S.
Though he said Russia’s actions “have been dealing body blows to the post-Cold war nuclear arms control framework,” Sullivan noted how while claiming to suspend New START, “Russia has also publicly committed to adhere to the Treaty’s central limits – indicating a potential willingness to continue limiting strategic nuclear forces.”
But just days earlier, Sullivan pointed out, Putin formally announced that he will withdraw from the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe, “putting the final nail in the coffin of an agreement that once served as a cornerstone of European security, which Moscow began violating years ago.”
Sullivan said the type of limits the United States can agree to after the treaty expires in 2026 “will of course be impacted by the size and scale of China’s nuclear buildup.”
The State Department said the United States notified Russia of the countermeasures, which are “fully consistent with international law,” in advance and “conveyed the United States’ desire and readiness to reverse the countermeasures and fully implement the treaty if Russia returns to compliance.”
Ryabkov noted Saturday that Washington seemed willing to continue to follow the 1998 Ballistic Missile Launch Notification Agreement.
“Accordingly, a certain transparency and predictability will remain in this area and will allow us to avoid further dangerous exacerbation,” he reportedly remarked.
Mystery private jet of migrants arrives in Sacramento, prompting investigation
California officials launched an investigation after over a dozen migrants were flown to Sacramento by private jet on Saturday and “dumped on the doorstep of a local church without any advance warning.”
I’m a mom and I’m not letting fear control my parenting
Fear is a powerful emotion. It can keep us from taking risks that would benefit us and our families, create apathy, fuel doubt and can enable us to stay in toxic patterns of behavior. Fear can even damage the bond between parent and child.
As a parent, there are so many unknowns about our kids that can quite literally keep us awake at night: they can be abducted, they can fall and break bones, they can get into a car accident, they won’t get into the college of their dreams and they can be bullied at school.
The list is endless, but parents cannot protect our kids from everything – nor should we. And nor should we let that fear control our lives. But how? How do you shove that fear aside and resist the urge to control your kids’ lives? How do we stop being just so overwhelmed as parents?
The tendency many parents have when it comes to facing fear is to protect their kids from everything, hovering over them constantly (aka helicopter parenting) and paving the way for them, no matter the mental, emotional, physical, and financial cost.
This leads to kids who have no clue how to do anything for themselves and are afraid to even try. It’s not helping kids or their parents, who are constantly exhausted and stretched too thin. How is there even time to form true relationships when parents are in a constant state of heightened protection and their kids aren’t allowed to do anything for themselves and discover who they are?
Numerous studies have shown how helicopter parenting leads to emotional immaturity, lack of self-confidence, and heightened anxiety and depression among their children. One 2019 study on helicopter parenting published in the Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services concluded that constant monitoring and micromanaging of kids by parents leads to a “decreasing a sense of independence and self-efficacy” as well as anxiety and depression.
If kids don’t learn how to fend for themselves and basic skills to get through life as adults, they are going to be in for a tough road.
Pushing that fear aside in favor of teaching your kids independence has to be a conscious choice. When my kids tripped and fell as toddlers, I’d take several seconds to see how they would react. If I didn’t immediately run over and comfort them, as long as the fall wasn’t serious, they would get up and happily go back to doing whatever it was they were doing.
If I ran over the instant they fell and scraped their knee, then they would start crying. Once I let them realize for themselves that they weren’t hurt, they figured out they could just get up and keep going.
Today, my kids know how to find the Band-Aids and Neosporin themselves to fix any scrapes or cuts they have or break out the tweezers to dislodge splinters. It’s a minor thing in the grand scheme of life, but it’s a stepping stone to building their own self-confidence.
I’ve brought that same spirit of independence elsewhere in my relationship with them. They understand safety rules of not getting in the car with strangers and making sure I’m in sight when we are shopping or at a festival or outdoor event. Yes, I’m fearful for their safety, but I’m not going to let that fear stop my kids from learning independence and building their own confidence.
There is no way to protect our kids from everything. We don’t live in a bubble, yet helicopter parenting doesn’t make that distinction. We have to get our kids out of that bubble and let them enjoy life. There is so much adventure to be had once that bubble has popped.
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While there are a lot of ways to pop the bubble, one huge step I’ve taken to address that constant fear I have as a parent is to get outside. I’ve taken my kids on some epic adventures – hiking the Grand Canyon, scaling mountains in North Carolina, paddleboarding among dolphins, ziplining on mountaintops and swimming in waterfalls.
Nature is such a balm to the soul and has helped my daughters to learn all kinds of skills they never would have learned in front of a screen or if I gave into my parenting fears.
As their mother, I’ve had the privilege to watch them grow as young ladies and see their individual personalities develop, their imaginations soar and learn what makes them tick. Essentially, because I’ve chosen not to be held captive by fear, the relationships I have with my children have been able to flourish.
None of us have tomorrow guaranteed. Living in fear can be paralyzing, and I don’t want to give up whatever control I have over my own life to those emotions. I don’t want my kids to see me cowering to fear, hovering over them and refusing to allow them to make their own mistakes or learn independence and then consequently choosing that path for their own lives. So that’s the decision: give in or fight back?
I choose the latter.
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LGBTQ advocate scolds Target’s ‘rainbow capitalism,’ says it missed opportunity after pulling Pride displays
LGBTQ advocate Heather Hester scolded Target’s “rainbow capitalism” after the retailer dialed back Pride displays, insisting polarizing items such as “tuck-friendly” swimwear are vital while urging Americans to have uncomfortable conversations to help the community.
“Really what Target ultimately did was show that they were in this just for the money,” Hester told Fox News Digital.
“Rainbow capitalism is essentially, you know, selling Pride products for profit and not necessarily standing behind the community with support,” Hester continued. “That’s what happened, right? There are a lot of things that go into that, but that is what happened at the end of the day.”
The saga began last month when a Target insider told Fox News Digital that customers were so bothered by some Pride merchandising displays that corporate decision makers would take steps to avoid a “Bud Light situation,” particularly in southern rural areas of the country.
“We were given 36 hours, told to take all of our Pride stuff, the entire section, and move it into a section that’s a third the size. From the front of the store to the back of the store, you can’t have anything on mannequins and no large signage,” the Target insider said.
Target then confirmed “adjustments” were made to in-store Pride displays with some items being removed altogether. Target said it was tamping down the Pride merchandising to help keep employees safe, claiming rank-and-file staffers have been threatened and harassed. But now, allies of the LGBTQ community –including some employees — feel abandoned.
“This is a huge betrayal because this is your livelihood saying, ‘We don’t see you. We don’t care who you inherently are as a human being. What we care about is our bottom line,’” Hester said.
Hester dedicated herself to helping the LGBTQ community when her son came out as gay six years ago. She initially couldn’t find resources to help him, so she took matters into her own hands. Hester now hosts the podcast “Just Breathe: Parenting Your LGBTQ Teen,” writes for an in-depth website Chrysalis Mama, and speaks with everyone from parents to high-powered executives about how to support kids who come out.
TARGET CONFIRMS ‘ADJUSTMENTS’ TO PRIDE PLANS AFTER LGBTQ MERCHANDISE CAUSED ‘THREATS’ TO EMPLOYEES
She believes Pride displays, like the initial versions that Target dialed back, are vital.
“It is representation. So it allows LGBTQ+, you know, kids, young adults, adults, to see themselves, to have a product that is for them,” she said. “It’s like having representation in media, or in books, or any of those things. It’s important.”
Hester said her son, now 22, was “angry” about Target’s decision, adding it proves the big-box retailer is simply “another corporation showing their true colors.”
“They don’t actually support us,” she said. “They only care about money.”
Hester said Target essentially ran at “the first sign of bullying or intimidation” and could have handled the entire situation in a way that benefited both the LGTBQ community, its detractors and Target staffers. She said management should have properly trained employees how to deal with customers who critiqued the displays, and extra security could have been brought in to protect workers in high-tension locations.
“There were definitely lessons they could have learned from the Bud Light situation,” she said. “Because now what they’ve done is alienate themselves from everybody. Everybody is mad, right? Which is, I don’t think, what they wanted to happen.”
In a perfect world, Hester feels Target could have responded to critics in a way that would have advanced the national conversation surrounding polarizing issues.
“They could have really come out of there smelling like a rose,” Hester said. “This could have been a really cool opportunity for them to really solidify themselves as an ally.”
Instead, Target’s stock dropped for nine consecutive days and billions were shed from its market cap.
Critics of Target’s Pride displays objected to a variety of products, with female-style swimsuits that can be used to “tuck” male genitalia initially making waves on social media. But many were only concerned with the issue because of children, as the LGBTQ community’s influence on America’s youth has been a hot-button issue. Target placed the tuck-friendly swimsuits near items for kids, offered coloring books of same-sex couples kissing, sold a plethora of merchandise with various Pride slogans for children, including onesies for newborn babies, and displayed it all with colorful rainbows directly in the front of stores.
Hester dismissed the term “grooming” that many use to describe Target’s initial Pride displays.
“Grooming is a very negative word and, it’s really, frankly, a distraction and a scare tactic from people who are on the other side of this issue, right? It really takes the focus away from what we should be focusing on. So, I think that this word is thrown out, and it’s become irrelevant,” she said. “It’s meant to scare you. So, do I think Target Pride products groom children? Absolutely not.”
While Hester is annoyed that Target tamped down the displays, she insists none of it was too over-the-top.
“I think the point is we don’t think it’s a big deal if we see straight people kissing, right? And they’re kissing, right? I mean, adults kiss,” Hester said. “It’s just trying to normalize that all people kiss.”
The now-infamous Target Pride swimsuits boasts “tuck-friendly construction” and “extra crotch coverage,” presumably to accommodate male genitalia, even if they are made in an otherwise female style. Hester said it’s “important” that such an item is available to anyone who desires it.
“It’s something that’s not been readily accessible for trans people. And trans people are people,” she said.
“It has historically been something that you have to look really hard to find, and are typically at higher price points, so to have something that is available and to be able to be like, ‘Oh, wow, that’s me and there is something for me,’” Hester continued. “There’s so much value in that. People are just uncomfortable because it’s new. But being uncomfortable is not a bad thing.”
Hester, who has been open about the story of her son, said young LGBTQ people “just want to be seen and loved for who they are.”
“This is who they are. Just love them,” she said, adding that she feels Target can bounce back despite the “missed opportunity” to connect with the LGBTQ community.
“It’s just going to take a little sensitivity… you know, some conversations. Don’t be afraid of the conversations,” Hester said.
Target didn’t respond to a request for comment about the threats it says have been made against its workers.
‘Bridge Man’: The daring dissident who toppled China’s COVID lockdowns by ‘sacrificing’ himself
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been the ruling party in China for nearly 75 years. For those living there, this has meant limited individual rights, far-reaching governmental control and virtually no freedom of expression.
Life under the CCP, in a word, is oppressive.
Beijing’s autocratic tactics ramped up even more during the coronavirus pandemic when it implemented severe travel restrictions, lockdown measures, testing requirements and forced quarantining.
Though not everyone living in China has stood by and accepted the CCP’s oppressive standard of living, critics of the regime have often paid a price for dissidence with their lives.
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Peng Lifa, a name little known in the U.S. but revered among Chinese dissidents both inside and outside China, acted in a show of protest to ongoing COVID restrictions in China in the fall of 2022, when much of the world had long since lifted COVID mandates.
Peng, also known as “Bridge Man,” is widely believed to be the individual responsible for launching one of the greatest protests in China since the Tiananmen Square Massacre some 34 years ago — the “white paper protest,” or the A4 Revolution.
On Oct. 13, 2022, a man dressed in a yellow hard hat and orange shirt hung a banner on Sitong Bridge in Beijing that said, “We want food, not COVID testing. We want reform, not the Cultural Revolution. We want freedom, not lockdowns. We want to vote, not a leader. We want dignity, not lies. We are citizens, not slaves.”
A separate banner also hung that said, “Depose the traitorous dictator Xi Jinping” while a loudspeaker reportedly read out the banner’s commentary.
“He didn’t plan his escape at all. He was trying to buy as much time as possible to expose [the demonstration] for the public,” Xiao Qiang, a human rights activist, founder and chief editor of China Digital Times and a research scientist for UC Berkeley School of Information, where he researches the CCP and censorship, told Fox News Digital.
“And then immediately, of course, people [were] taking videos with their cellphones. And then, a few minutes later, it’s already circulated Twitter and YouTube. At the same time the Chinese censors come in, in a matter of minutes, to delete those messages.”
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Some have argued Bridge Man’s actions were on par with globally recognized figures like “Tank Man,” the individual who stood in front of a line of nearly 60 tanks June 5, 1989, one day after the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
The massacre was the result of the CCP’s response to student protesters demanding political freedoms and the measures Chinese military forces took to crack down and enforce martial law.
The Chinese government claimed some 200 people were killed in the clashes, though a British diplomatic cable released in 2017 suggested that figure was closer to 10,000.
Tank Man’s identity has never been revealed, and the uncertainty surrounding his whereabouts has led many to believe he was arrested by the CCP or disappeared, a fate many fear Peng faces.
Peng is believed to have been taken into custody shortly after he launched his protest, and his whereabouts, along with the whereabouts of his wife and daughter, remain unknown.
But his demonstration worked, and by November 2022, protestors across China began holding up blank sheets of standard A4 printing paper to symbolize the silence Chinese citizens are subject to under CCP rule.
The demonstrators also began chanting slogans like “End zero-COVID,” “We want human rights,” and “Down with the Communist Party,” which human rights advocates have attributed to Bridge Man.
“Peng Lifa stood up to Xi Jinping, all alone with just a piece of cloth and some paint. And he won,” Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., the chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP, told Fox News Digital.
“His protest kicked off demonstrations around China, his words went viral being passed by AirDrop and on bathroom walls. And he inspired the ‘white paper’ protesters who ultimately toppled the techno-totalitarian zero-COVID lockdowns.
“It was the greatest embarrassment of Xi Jinping in his career.”
Gallagher described the demonstrations as “the most significant pro-freedom protests in China since Tiananmen Square.”
“I believe Peng Lifa’s courageous and peaceful protest at the Sitong Bridge belongs up there with Democracy Wall and Tank Man,” he added.
But Peng’s show of protest was significant beyond the inherent risk he took and widespread success it saw.
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“His final action is an incredible piece of not only planning but commitment — sacrificing his own life to do this,” Xiao said. “But he didn’t do that out of impulse.”
Ahead of the Bridge Man protest, Peng sent a booklet or manifesto around to a handful of human rights activists and CCP dissidents through his Twitter account, encouraging them to take further action to stand up to the Chinese government.
Xiao referred to the work as a “sort of tactical manual” on how to stand up to the CCP.
“If you read the manual, you know he had been thinking about this for years. It’s not something he does in just a moment of passion,” he explained.
The work included a collection of research, tactics and the different voices of various CCP dissidents that Xiao was already familiar with.
“But he put them together and put his life on it to sort of personalize this … Chinese resistance,” Xiao added. “He is truly the face of the courage and the resistance.”
The language used during the Bridge Man protest matched that of the manifesto that Peng sent to Xiao and others, which is how human rights groups and Chinese dissidents were able to verify Bridge Man’s identity.
Almost immediately, Xiao realized the significance of the protest and began working with his team to archive Peng’s manifesto to not only preserve his story, but to block the CCP from allowing his identity to again go missing like that of Tank Man.
“This is truly remarkable action. Under the zero-COVID policy, which was really brutal … so many Chinese were unhappy about it, but they cannot express themselves because they are intimidated by the [CCP] power,” Xiao explained. “And then there’s one man that’s standing up to the that power. And that single voice — that’s really a collection [of voices] — he says what all the other people want to say.”
Gallagher and Xiao said they would like to see the U.S. and the Biden administration do more to demand answers from the CCP on the whereabouts of Peng and his family. Though both men also argued that a critical step in ensuring Peng’s story is not lost is to make sure Americans know his courage and how he helped to bring down the oppressive COVID restrictions in China.
“There have been alarming reports that have detailed the crackdown on white paper protesters around China,” Gallagher told Fox News Digital. “My view is if the world turns its back on the peaceful white paper protesters and Peng Lifa now, the CCP will know it can still get away with brutalities like Tiananmen Square.
“The CCP wants to erase the memory of Bridge Man and the white paper protests because they show that the Chinese people are willing to stand up to authoritarianism and demand freedom.”