“By her own admission, Eileen Wang secretly served the interests of the Chinese government,” officials say. She was elected mayor of Arcadia in 2022 and has resigned.

Prosecutors said that Wang and Yaoning “Mike” Sun promoted “pro-PRC propaganda” in the U.S. through a website titled “U.S. News Center.” PRC refers to the People’s Republic of China.

Sun pleaded guilty in October to one count of acting as a foreign agent and is serving a four-year prison sentence, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Wang’s plea agreement says she admits she acted as an agent of China’s government and did not notify the U.S. attorney general as required.

The agreement says Wang and Sun “received and executed directives from PRC government officials to post pro-PRC content on the website” and sometimes sought permission from Chinese government officials to post content.

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[–] 58 points 6 months ago* (5 children)

So reading the comments i learned that i could travel to the US. Register myself as a Swiss agent. Buy a 9 mm with a silencer and a suit and just start gathering information?

This timeline is wild.

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  • [–] 17 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Weirdly the silencer/suppressor part foils your plan. You have to Form 1 that with the ATF and its a no-go in California unless you’re law enforcement or a licensed Armorer for Hollywood.

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  • [–] 41 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    B-but ... she resigned! How can she be in jail if she resigned? Resigning absolves politicians of any and all crimes!

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  • [–] 17 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Arcadia in the news. I'm only surprised it wasn't Gardena instead.

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  • [–] 16 points 6 months ago*

    I saw this same story on TikTok earlier today, after a friend sent me the link. I left a comment along the lines of “Oh no, not Chinese propaganda! Everyone knows you’re only allowed to use the news to push American and Israeli propaganda!”

    It was quickly removed for a Community Guideline violation. The irony would be funny if it didn’t inspire so much existential nihilism.

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  • [–] 30 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    Meanwhile all the Russian agents are working in the White House and Congress.

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  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago

    pretty much, chinese still seen as the boogeyman of the gop. besides trump, there is TULSI GABBARD, MOSCOW mitch, CLARENCE THOMAS who is a collectible for harlan crow. Most if it not all of the fox talking heads are funded by putin some form or another(Murdoch being the middle man).

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  • [–] 7 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Wait until y'all figure out what your president is doing

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  • [–] 8 points 6 months ago

    Tcool now do Israel

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago

    Wang and Krasnov share a lot in common. They should share the same cell.

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  • [+] -9 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Would still take her over a Republican

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  • [+] -19 points 6 months ago (30 children)
  • [–] 112 points 6 months ago (24 children)

    she acted as an agent of China’s government and did not notify the U.S. attorney general as required.

    The crime is not the speech. And propaganda, even foreign propaganda, is not illegal. The crime is being an unregistered foreign agent.

    If you do work for a foreign government in the United States, you have to register as such with the US government.

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  • [–] 53 points 6 months ago* (4 children)

    And especially you have to disclose it if you work for the US government at the same time. It's very basic conflict of interest stuff.

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  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago* (1 child)

    It seems like a relatively elegant system, you're totally allowed to be a foreign agent/diplomat/ambassador in the US, you just need to be upfront about it. A Spy may in fact fill very similar roles, or work toward similar goals, but the major difference is that a spy is someone who does it in secret.

    I can't think of the last time there was some actual spy drama In the news, this is all pretty novel to me.

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  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    And just for clarity's sake, I have contracts with local governments, and in the process of initially getting and subsequently renewing them, I fill out a bunch of forms about whether or not I have relationships (paraphrasing) with numerous countries, Iran, Belarus, Russia. Oddly enough, no China.

    This being said, I don't know for sure, but I'm curious if not only was it a lie by omission, but she knowingly submitted false statements via these forms or similar.

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  • [–] 48 points 6 months ago* (4 children)

    This is why Tim Pool got in trouble last year when it was revealed that most of his income was from Russia - The money or his statements weren't illegal, but he never registered, even though he should've known. He only got away with it because he is in fact dumber than what most people realize; He genuinely seems like he didn't know he was in fact paid by the russian state.

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  • [–] 12 points 6 months ago

    I knew someone who knew beanie baldie. He apparently always acts like he had no idea, weasels out of shit, and talks down to people around him it’s who he is. He knew, he rehearsed, and squirmed away. He’s always been a damned snake according to them.

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  • [–] 27 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    And white. He got away with it because he's white.

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  • [–] 35 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    If you do work for a foreign government in the United States, you have to register as such with the US government.

    Unless you're a Republican like Mike Flynn

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  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago* (1 child)

    Seems silly to ask spies to tell you they are spies, but at the same time it works while also not making more types of speech itself illegal to stop spies that are simply promoting another country/government. 🤔

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  • [–] 8 points 6 months ago (4 children)

    If you do work for a foreign government in the United States, you have to register as such with the US government.

    Unless it's Israel.

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  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    There is no reason to assume they're not all registered. If they weren't registered, how else would they get all the invitations and access they're expected to?

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  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    Not exactly - this actually came up in court before. In 2005 they dismissed a case brought against AIPAC to force them to register, even though this law is supposed to apply to lobbying groups that represent foreign interests.

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  • [–] -2 points 6 months ago

    Kinda dumb these days. I'd much rather have my mayor working for like China or Russia instead of the thugs who are going to kill me with their free grenade launchers.

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  • [–] 11 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    She acted as an foreign agent without notifying the government.

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  • [+] -33 points 6 months ago (33 children)
  • [–] 18 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    Not based. She's a piece of shit.

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  • [–] 16 points 6 months ago (25 children)

    Remember kids- Tankies, like fascists, aren't people! Punch 'em!

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  • [+] -17 points 6 months ago (24 children)

    If there's one thing liberals and fascists agree on, it's that communists aren't human.

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  • [–] 26 points 6 months ago (23 children)

    Tankies aren't commies. Try again.

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  • [–] -4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

    the definition of "tankie" disagrees with you, you should contact everybody else on Earth and let them know they've made a horrible mistake!

    Lots of tankies are communists, don't be silly

    Here's the origin of the term...

    tankie noun

    A member of the Communist Party of Great Britain who slavishly followed the Kremlin line, agreeing with the crushing of revolts in Hungary and later Czechoslovakia by Soviet tanks

    ... and the modern usage follows

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tankie

    excerpt...

    Tankie is a pejorative label generally applied to authoritarian communists

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  • [+] -13 points 6 months ago* (21 children)

    Uh huh. Well, the Trump administration is officially designating anyone with “anti-Christian,” “anti-capitalism” or “anti-American” views as a terrorist. Do you fit any of those? Then you'll put put in the concentration camp right along side of me unless we fucking together and you stop punching left.

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  • [–] 16 points 6 months ago (18 children)
  • [+] -12 points 6 months ago* (16 children)

    Answer the question: “anti-Christian,” “anti-capitalism” or “anti-American” - do you fit any of those?

    Because you'll die in a camp right beside me unless we work together. When the US starts rounding up dissidents into camps, US enemies are going to be the only ones that might help us. Europe won't dare disagree with daddy.

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  • [–] 14 points 6 months ago (15 children)

    You're not a commie, despite what you claim. You're just a fascist that likes the Chinese and Russian flavors instead of American. No one wants you, or likes you. Please go away.

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  • [+] -12 points 6 months ago (14 children)

    Since you won't answer the question, I guess I have to assume you love jeebus, love capitalism, and love 'murica.

    You'd better, because if you don't, they're going to fucking kill you. You'll die because you refused to put aside sectarian differences because you believe, somehow, you can defeat US fascism without working together with the US's enemies.

    We hang together or they’ll hang us separately.

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  • [–] 10 points 6 months ago (13 children)

    So long as I don't have to hang next to you, specifically, I'll die happy. Christ, you're an insufferable loser- just like all tankies.

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  • [+] -6 points 6 months ago (12 children)

    Okay, I'll tell you what the fascists are going to do to me. I won't just be killed immediately. I'm trans. They'll take away my hormones and put me in men's prison, and what do you think they'll do to me in men's prison? Yankees looove to make jokes about it, everyone knows what will happen to women like me. I probably won't even survive to my execution.

    And you love it. My only crime is having an opinion that's different from yours on China, and you'd happily die just for me to face a fate worse than death.

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  • [–] 8 points 6 months ago (11 children)

    Lol keep on with your victim complex. I hope your life gets better so you don't feel like everyone is out to get you, specifically. The fact that you're trans doesn't matter to me- I just wish you would transition into a more likable person. The fact that you brought it up shows just how empty your actual values and positions are.

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  • [+] -6 points 6 months ago (10 children)

    We're literally being put on the FBI terrorism watch list. The government is out to get me.

    And you love it. If there's one thing liberals and fascist agree on, it's killing people like me.

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  • [–] 8 points 6 months ago (4 children)

    "No one likes me, because I'm a tankie loser- Waaaah!!!"

    Lady, you need to get off the internet, and actually touch grass. Interact with those around you. Find an actual hobby- because you are really sad to watch spiral.

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  • [–] -4 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    Idaho just passed a bathroom bill making it illegal for trans women to use the women's restroom. It comes with jail penalties, and the Trump regime has issued rules saying that trans women who are incarcerated do not get access to hormones and are to be placed into men's facilities. The same regime is also putting people with "radical gender ideology" onto the FBI terror watch list.

    This is happening right now. They're going to kill me first, and you'll cheer. As you've already said you want me to die.

    And then they're going to come for you, and there won't be anyone left to speak out for you. Start taking this seriously.

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  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    I won't cheer- when I get killed, I can take comfort in the fact that it wasn't by your side, or any other tankie for that matter.

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  • [–] -2 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    You take comfort in the fact that I am going to be tortured and r*ped to death in men's prison, like CIA-backed death squads used to do to communists in Latin America and Southeast Asia - and those were """tankies""", supporters of and sometimes supported by China and the USSR. That's the fate you want for me, and you want it so badly that you'd happily die to make it happen.

    Talking to you is self harm. I hope you wake up to the real danger we're all in before we all fucking die.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago

    If talking with me is self-harm, maybe get offline? Y'know- like I suggested earlier. Because you have been persisting in this "Self harm" for multiple hours now. Pretty sad to watch someone hurt themselves over and over :(

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (4 children)

    Hey so ironically because we're not on db0 here, and there isn't a specific rule against this on .world:

    This dude's a fed.

    Account dormant for a year?

    Wakes up to engage in hardcore agent provocateur behavior, terminology perversion?

    Most of their language is framed in a context that just presumes they are some kind of active soldier, currently fighting some kind of lethal battle, planning on becoming a martyr?

    Devolves into just personal insults, tries to destroy your identity?

    Dude's a fed, probly got a minor socket puppet array.

    Like I'm an anarchist and use tankie as a slur, because I'm an asshole, but this is fucking insane, there's no way you can know anything about communism and the history of the term tankie and somehow just genuinely conclude that tankies are not a slur for a subset of communists.

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  • [–] 0 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    Lol what? My history has been active since I joined last year. Are you a bot?

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  • [–] 9 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Nobody is going to defend someone who identifies with the crimes against humanity supported by tankies. This is lemmy, there are plenty of communists here who also have a conscience. If you dont see any problem with authoritarian regimes contempt for human life, than frankly you arent different enough from Trump to be worth anyones support.

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  • [–] -3 points 6 months ago (4 children)

    So what are the chances she was actually an agent for the Chinese Government? Slightly better than 0? Actually 0?

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  • [–] 8 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    She... she plead guilty.

    So... 1, 0.99, very high likelihood.

    This isn't like an accused street criminal getting basically conned into pleading guilty because the cops planted evidence and got a false witness to make a false testimony.

    This is a person who would not be targeted by that kind of thing and can afford good lawyers.

    She was the mayor.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago

    Over 90% of criminal cases in the US end in a guilty plea bargain. She could have plead guilty to avoid the possible ten years in prison, not because she actual is an official agent of the Chinese government. A mayor of a city like Arcadia can't necessarily afford good enough lawyers to avoid charges.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago

    She… she plead guilty.

    So probably not guilty then

    So… 1, 0.99, very high likelihood.

    Trumps DOJ targeted her, and she pled guilty.

    Both of those things tell me she is very likely not guilty.

    This isn’t like an accused street criminal getting basically conned into pleading guilty because the cops planted evidence and got a false witness to make a false testimony.

    This is the known to be corrupt FBI (under trump) going after somebody who looks different, for a bogeyman crime that we know they dont actually care about.

    This is a person who would not be targeted by that kind of thing and can afford good lawyers.

    The DOJ has been very specifically targeting exactly that kind of person. And Republicans dont care about lawyers because they dont care about the law.

    She was the mayor.

    ok?

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago

    Yeah, no.

    This is the US we're talking about.

    Fuckers can't be trusted. Fuckwits have been sheltering pedophiles in every level of their government and you expect the rest of the world to believe when they frame someone as a foreign agent.

    I wouldn't trust China when it would arrest people as foreign spy. US is on a same or lower level of credibility.

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