The NBA’s uncomfortably sycophantic relationship with China (and its money) has officially drawn the ire of multiple GOP lawmakers — and it’s all thanks to the Lunar New Year.

To wit, back in January, The Spectator reported on how China stealthily went about “exerting its soft power” after a video aired during a Jan. 21 game between the Washington Wizards and the Orlando Magic. The Wizards were hosting the Magic at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., with the home team ultimately winning 138-118.

During that game, a video aired during a break in the action where China’s new foreign minister, Qin Gang, made his first public comments in said role.

Chinese state media shared the video across social media, and you can view it for yourself below:

In a video message during tonight’s NBA game at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang addressed the massive crowd and wished everyone a #HappyChineseNewYear while welcoming the #YearoftheRabbit. pic.twitter.com/0fZ5RnWnAn

— CGTN America (@cgtnamerica) January 22, 2023

“Happy Chinese New Year to D.C. family,” Gang says in the video. “This is the Year of the Rabbit, which symbolizes kindness, elegance and beauty.”

It’s all perfunctory, benign stuff that anyone who has been remotely near any such New Year celebration has heard ad nauseam.

But there’s a reason that Spectator reporter Matthew Foldi — and, eventually, GOP lawmakers — described it as China flexing its “soft power.”

Anything more overt would be too obvious, especially in the nation’s capital. But gently easing propagandist Chinese messaging, wrapped up in cheerful New Year’s packaging? It’s the kind of subliminal messaging that would fly over the heads of most Democrats.

Republicans? It may have taken them until March to formally look into this, but they at least noticed something was amiss, which is far more than you can say about Democrats and leftists on most matters China.

Foldi followed up on his January report about Gang’s video on Friday, tweeting out that multiple GOP lawmakers had penned a formal letter to the NBA and commissioner Adam Silver expressing “grave concerns” about the whole situation.

SCOOP from me @TheSpectator:

Based directly on my reporting on the Chinese Communist Party and @WashWizards working together, lawmakers, along with hero @EnesFreedom wrote to @NBA commissioner Adam Silver demanding answers on their $$$ ties https://t.co/H26Vv3Ni2m

(1/xx) https://t.co/f8WdeKr3qa pic.twitter.com/ABq6Ofevwv

— Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) March 10, 2023

Signed by multiple GOP heavy hitters, such as Texas Rep. Troy Nehls, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, (Foldi notes that former NBA star Enes Kanter Freedom also helped craft the letter, though Foldi’s tweets do not include an image of Kanter Freedom’s signature) the letter doesn’t mince words when it comes to its concerns with the NBA’s coziness with the Chinese Communist Party.

“While a message like this may be perceived as an innocent gesture at face value, it is a blatant exertion of soft power at a venue in the epicenter of our nation’s capital and gives the CCP a platform to disseminate their messaging to a national audience,” the letter reads.

The letter also noted that Gang was a particularly concerning Chinese official to have on the video, given that it was only a little over a year ago that Gang told NPR that “military conflict” was on the horizon for the U.S. and China over the status of Taiwan.

What the letter failed to mention was that, in that same interview with NPR, Gang also callously denied the ongoing persecution of the Uyghur Muslims in western China, a maddeningly common trait among Chinese figureheads.

So, yes. Qi Gang does not appear to be a very nice person. Certainly not nice enough to have his messaging shared by the NBA with its young fans.

Fortunately, those aforementioned GOP lawmakers are trying to get to the bottom of this, listing off a number of questions that they want answered.

“Did the CCP, or any instrument of the CCP, pay the NBA to broadcast CCP propaganda during NBA games?” the first question asked.

“Did the NBA willingly broadcast CCP propaganda or was this a favor conducted by the NBA? Was there threat of retribution if the NBA declined?” the second question(s) asked.

“How does the NBA intend to denounce the serious human rights abuses of religious and ethnic groups in China, and support players who speak out against the CCP?” the last question asked.

Color this writer skeptical that the NBA will ever even try to answer those questions.

Why? Because they can’t.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

The post GOP Demands Answers After NBA Team Blasted Chinese Communist Propaganda During Game appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) and Federal Reserve are discussing creating a fund to backstop deposits if more banks fail following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

Silicon Valley Bank was shut down by regulators on Friday in the biggest bank failure since the 2008 liquidity crisis.

Silicon Valley Bank reportedly held $173 billion in deposits.

The Fed interest rate is at 4.57% and $117 billion of Silicon Valley Bank securities are yielding only 1.56-1.66% – this is causing a run on the bank.

By Friday Silicon Valley Bank was in FDIC receivership.

The Federal Reserve caused the run on the bank by raising interest rates seven times in 2022.

2022’s rate hikes totaling 450 basis points is causing problems for bankers because investors want to move their money into higher-yield bonds.

After creating the problem in the first place, the Federal Reserve is now discussing a new vehicle that would allow regulators to backstop deposits if more banks were to collapse.

Bloomberg News reported:

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Federal Reserve are weighing creating a fund that would allow the regulators to backstop more deposits at banks that run into trouble following Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse.

Regulators discussed the new special vehicle in conversations with banking executives, according to people familiar with the matter. The hope is that setting up such a vehicle would reassure depositors and help contain any panic, said the people. They asked not to be identified because the talks weren’t public.

The vehicle is part of the agency’s contingency planning as panic spreads about the health of banks focused on the venture capital and startup communities.

The Silicon Valley Bank failure may not be the only bank to fail.

First Republic’s stock on Friday tumbled 50% after Silicon Valley Bank’s failure.

People lined up at the First Republic branch in Brentwood to withdraw their money on Saturday.

WATCH:

I’ve never seen a bank run in Brentwood Los Angeles in over 40 years — this is at first republic bank branch. People standing in rain pic.twitter.com/k31PqqpyO3

— pjb.eth (@Dr_PhillipB) March 11, 2023

The post HERE WE GO: FDIC and Federal Reserve Discuss Creating Fund to Backstop Deposits if More Banks Collapse appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.