Kevin Sorbo’s New Children’s Book Promotes Biblical Masculinity

/in , , , , , , , /by

In a world increasingly opposed to masculinity, actor, writer, and producer Kevin Sorbo has entered the fight in defending it. In his recently published children’s book entitled, “The Test of Lionhood,” Sorbo addresses the topic of gender identity while promoting biblical masculinity. “The attack today on masculinity is a call for us to stay vigilant right now,” he told Fox News. “Let’s let boys be boys and let girls be girls. And let’s stop this whole thing about chopping down the men in the world.”

Sorbo further expressed how being brave and “manly” are not bad attributes, and stated young boys need to understand this. “They’re going out there and protecting people — and they shouldn’t be afraid to confront things that are dangerous,” he said.

Sorbo has been criticized for years as a man who promotes conservative and Christian values in Hollywood, from which he was booted out several years ago, he says. In an interview with The Washington Stand, Sorbo shared further insight. “I guess people are afraid of the truth,” he said. “I’ve always said we need to wake up the lions out there. And all these people talk about the quiet silent majority. Well, when are they going to wake up?”

He went on to say how the Left can cancel whoever they want, whenever they want. “We’re losing free speech more and more all the time,” he said. Between the Left’s constant hypocrisy and the cultural war on gender, Sorbo felt called to write this book. But despite the opposition who want to deem Sorbo’s book as evil, he stated that he simply wants to help boys to understand the importance of their role as boys who will one day be men. “Kids are growing up realizing how the father is not that important to the family unit,” he shared. “And that’s what Hollywood has done. And they’ve done it on purpose.”

But this issue expands beyond Hollywood and what people see on the big screen. For years, experts have acknowledged the crisis of fatherlessness as an increasing one, which negatively impacts the development of boys, and contributes to poverty, drug and alcohol abuse, and the crumbling of society at large. “No matter what I put out there, I’m gonna get backlash,” Sorbo shared. But regardless of inevitable backlash, he stated how he is going to keep making movies that promote masculinity, family, and “good messages.” Movies that aren’t “celebrating evil, hate, anger, sex, and violence,” Sorbo emphasized — the themes Hollywood often promotes.

Sorbo made it clear he wants to use his films to bring back the kind of movies Hollywood used to put out. “You know, movies that make you laugh, think, react, maybe relate to somebody on the screen. … Give them hope, Give them redemption. Give them a chance to live in a more positive world instead of a negative one. I want to live in a world that’s got light in it, not [a] world that lives in darkness.”

Sorbo concluded by offering encouragement for those who need it. “You have to work hard to have success in life,” he underscored. “Most people do not have the strength to do it because they’ve learned just to give up and let the government take care of them. … [But] don’t let anyone set your limitations.”

AUTHOR

Sarah Holliday

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

UK Report: Over One Third of Children on Puberty Blockers Experienced Worsened Mental Health

/in , , , , , , , , , , /by

New research from the United Kingdom is showing that over a third of children placed on puberty blockers and hormone drugs suffered severe mental health deterioration afterwards.

A 2011 study conducted at the Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) clinic for children reported that children who were put on puberty blockers suffered no adverse mental health effects. However, new analysis conducted by Susan McPherson, a professor of psychology and sociology at the University of Essex, and retired social scientist David Freedman found that the majority of children put on puberty blockers and hormone drugs experienced erratic and fluctuating mental health, including over a third whose mental health “reliably deteriorated.”

The original study, conducted on 44 children between the ages of 12 and 15, was reportedly based on group averages, while the new analysis relied on individual results, which McPherson and Freedman explained “allows us to look at how a treatment is performing in terms of the percentage of patients improving, deteriorating, and showing clinically significant change. … It is possible, using this approach, to look at patterns, such as who is benefitting and who is not.”

Last year, Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) opted to close down the Tavistock GIDS clinic after a government report found that the staff rushed and even pressured minors into taking puberty blockers and hormone drugs with almost no psychological or medical oversight. A reported 96% of child patients were placed on puberty blockers by Tavistock staffers, and concerns were raised over a tendentious focus on “gender dysphoria,” instead of considering other psychological factors in recommending drugs or surgeries for minors, which were summarily dismissed. In fact, the situation was so concerning that Dr. Hillary Cass, the pediatrician tasked by the government with investigating the claims against Tavistock, offered her recommendation to shut down the clinic several months early, saying she had enough information already to justify closing Tavistock.

Cass particularly stressed concerns she had over the use of puberty blockers and other hormone drugs, which the Tavistock clinic had been prescribing to children as young as 10 years old, many of whom were already on the autism spectrum or suffering various mental health issues like depression or eating disorders. In her interim report to the NHS, Cass noted, “There is lack of consensus and open discussion about the nature of gender dysphoria and therefore about the appropriate clinical response.” She added, “There has not been routine and consistent data collection, which means it is not possible to accurately track the outcomes and pathways that children and young people take through the service.”

Over the years, numerous whistleblowers — former staff governor Dr. David Bell, consultants and nurses like Marcus and Sue Evans, child safeguarding officer Sonia Appleby, and countless former patients who now, as adults, regret being put on puberty blockers and hormone drugs — have sounded the alarm over the Tavistock clinic’s practices. Most have pointed out that children and their parents were often denied informed consent as staffers rushed children onto puberty blockers after only three or four meetings. Some whistleblowers even explained that topics like “sexual orientation” were effectively off-limits and that a transgender identity and a battery of hormone drugs were the only options explored by clinicians. Others pointed out that the drastic rise in children going through Tavistock (from about 250 “patients” in 2011 to over 5,000 in 2021) and linked it to the growing puberty blocker and hormone drug industry.

The findings of the new analysis of the Tavistock study are in line with research conducted and published by Family Research Council. Dr. Jennifer Bauwens, director of FRC’s Center for Family Studies, explained earlier this year:

“At one time, gender dysphoria was considered a mental disorder, but now, due to the increasing prevalence of a worldview shaped by gender identity ideology, it has morphed into a human rights issue. The ideology borrows from the mental health aspects of gender dysphoria in order to justify medical ‘intervention.’”

She continued, “Advocates of gender-affirming care insist it is both lifesaving and evidence-based health care for those who identify as transgender. But the research used to make such a claim is full of methodological errors and can be easily disputed as a research body that is incomplete.” Notably, the original Tavistock study from 2011 focused on group studies instead of on individual situations and results. Bauwens added, “Not only are the currently published studies problematic, but there is a lack of ongoing and long-term follow-up reports that address the impact of cross-sex hormones and surgeries.”

In June, the NHS banned the use of puberty blockers and hormone drugs on minors, following a growing swath of European medical experts who have backed off gender transition procedures for children. France, Sweden, Finland, and Norway have also put restrictions on the use of puberty blockers and hormone drugs on children. The U.S. still hasn’t.

AUTHOR

S.A. McCarthy

S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICES:

‘Let Us Raise Our Kids’: Thousands of Canadians Protest LGBT School Policies

Most Americans Don’t Consider Same-Sex Couples Raising Kids ‘Completely Acceptable’: Pew Poll

Roy Introduces Bill to Repeal FACE Act and End the Persecution of Pro-Lifers

‘There Are New Threats’: Experts Discuss How to Stop the Sexualization of Children

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Report: Baltimore Public School System Producing Little to No Students Proficient in Math

/in , , , , , , , , /by

In February, news broke that students in the Baltimore public school system were scoring poorly in math examinations, with zero students able to score at a proficient level. In the months since then, it appears that little has changed. On Thursday, Breitbart reported that 13 out of 33 schools in the Baltimore area have zero students with math proficiency, “meaning 40 percent of Baltimore City Schools did not produce a single student proficient in math.”

According to Fox News Project Baltimore, “1,736 students took the test, and 1,295 students, or 74.5%, scored a one out of four,” which is the lowest level one could score. The test scores were not given to Project Baltimore by Baltimore City Schools, who also refuse to participate in any interviews regarding the matter.

Jason Rodriguez, deputy director of the Baltimore-based non-profit People Empowered by the Struggle, classified this issue as “educational homicide,” saying there are “no excuses” for these results. “We’re still dealing with these same issues year after year,” he said, in light of a similar report conducted in 2017 which had some of the same schools on it. “[I]t’s just opening up the floodgates to the school-to-prison pipeline.”

Baltimore City Schools asserted the results can be explained by COVID and “minimal funding.” They sent a statement to Project Baltimore claiming that, despite recent financial “increases,” there are still “years of chronic underfunding that has directly contributed to [the] current incomes.” The statement continued, “That recovery takes an equal or more significant amount of time to remediate.”

Despite their statement, Rodriguez quickly shot down their reasoning. “[I]t’s not a funding issue,” he said. Last school year, Baltimore City Schools received $1.6 billion from taxpayers, with the district receiving an additional $799 million in COVID relief funding. Rodriguez continued, “I think accountability is the issue.”

At Family Research Council’s 2023 Pray Vote Stand Summit, Ben Carson, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, gave a speech where he alluded to the issues plaguing public schools. For Carson, a lot of it comes down to the woke agenda of “dumbing down the population” by prioritizing the wrong things in schools. Carson encouraged his listeners to take a stand of courage and use their constitutional rights to “hold people’s feet to the fire.”

Joseph Backholm, senior fellow for Biblical Worldview and Strategic Engagement at Family Research Council, shared his take on the situation to The Washington Stand. “Part of this is almost certainly related to the fact that millions of students just spent two years or more not in school. That created a massive learning loss that, in reality, will never be made up.”

“But that’s not all that’s happening,” he continued, noting how before COVID, many schools failed students. However, “the laws have been written in a way that hold students’ hostage in failing schools just to make sure money continues to flow to those schools,” he said. “The system has long prioritized the needs of adults over the needs of children.” But with the rise of parents choosing homeschooling and other options they find is best for their children, Backholm pointed out that “we can expect to see outcomes start to improve for children.”

“It’s going to take time, though,” he concluded.

AUTHOR

Sarah Holliday

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.

RELATED TWEET:

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

VIDEO: UK’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak Speaks Sense on Net Zero

/in , , , , , , , , /by

Britain’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, was denounced before he’d uttered a word on net zero ahead of his short remarks on Wednesday.

WATCH: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Net Zero press conference

Lord Deben, the recently departed chair of the statutory Climate Change Committee, took to the airwaves to accuse the government of stupidity. Lord Zac Goldsmith, son of the billionaire Sir James Goldsmith, who resigned from the government earlier this summer, said the prime minister had no mandate to change any net zero commitments and should call an immediate election.

As it turned out, Sunak’s remarks did not substantively change very much. “I’m absolutely committed to reaching Net Zero by 2050,” the prime minister insisted. True, the prime minister pledged that the government wouldn’t force families to rip out their gas-fired boilers and replace them with expensive heat pumps. And, he announced that the ban on sales of petrol and diesel cars would be pushed back to 2035, which former prime minister Boris Johnson had brought forward to 2030 in one of his periodic fits of climate jingoism. What Sunak didn’t say was whether the rising quota of electric vehicle (EV) mandates squeezing out sales of conventional vehicles would remain in place.

This, though, would be to miss what the prime minister had done: politically, everything has changed. “No one in politics has had the courage to look people in the eye and explain what that involves,” Sunak said of net zero. “That’s wrong – and it changes now.” He promised that his approach to net zero would be pragmatic, proportionate, and realistic.

Of course, net zero by 2050 is none of those things. It is ideological, disproportionate, and unachievable. So why the vehemence of the climate lobby’s attacks on Sunak? In their eyes, Sunak has committed the worst crime of all: he has broken the net zero omertà, which enforces a pact of silence on discussing the policy’s true costs. In public, net zero should only be spoken of as the growth opportunity of the century, something that’s good for the economy as well as the planet. That it might inflict cost and hardship must never be said.

Sunak has destroyed this silent agreement. He has made it possible for mainstream political discourse to mention possible downsides to net zero. In this respect, he’s been assisted by his opponent’s reaction. Labor could have closed the issue down by saying it would be counter-productive to bring forward the ban. Instead, Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer immediately pledged to reverse Sunak’s reversal of the 2030 ban on selling new petrol and diesel cars. With EV sale mandates still in place, there is very little before and after difference – except Sir Keir now owns the downsides of the net zero anti-car policy.

Commentary on EVs focuses on the user experience – the vehicles’ cost premium, for example, or problems such as range anxiety and the inconvenience of re-charging them compared to filling up with a tank of fuel. These issues make EVs either a luxury purchase for individuals or a tax-efficient purchase made by businesses on behalf of their employees. There’s been much less focus on the implications for the electrical grid of mass EV adoption. As Manhattan Institute senior fellow Mark Mills discusses in a recent paper, “Electric Vehicles for Everyone? The Impossible Dream,” transitioning automotive energy derived from molecules to electrons has enormous implications for the grid and local distribution networks.

It’s not solely about the relative costs of electricity versus liquid hydrocarbons. (Electricity is much more expensive before taxes, a net zero fiscal hole Labor also needs to address.) According to Mills, transporting a unit of electrical energy using wires and transformers is about 20-fold more expensive than transporting the same quantity of energy as oil in pipelines and tankers. When you fill up your tank with gasoline, the same amount of energy per second is going into your car as being generated by four 5-megawatt wind turbines. The electrical grid and local distribution networks are simply not designed to accommodate the enormous increase in electrical power required for mass EV adoption – and the faster the EV charger, the more power it needs.

Upgrading Britain’s electrical network for EVs will cost many tens of billions of pounds. Who pays? That’s now a question for Sir Keir and Labor to answer. Will electrical utilities discriminate between electricity used to charge an EV and boil a kettle? Some 55% of British households don’t own a car. Does Labor expect the 55% of non-car owners to subsidize the cost of grid and local network upgrades for the benefit of the small proportion of the 45% of car owners who have EVs? Labor’s green socialism inverts traditional socialism. It envisions less well-off community members subsidizing better-off EV owners through their electricity bills.

The prime minister can have had few illusions about the consequences of breaking with the climate consensus to speak of costs and downsides. The climate lobby is well-funded and deeply networked throughout politics and the media. It required courage and conviction for Sunak to have taken this step. Thanks to him, Britain’s climate policy debate will never be the same.

This article originally appeared at Real Clear Energy

Author

Rupert Darwall

Rupert Darwall is a Senior Fellow at the RealClear Foundation.

EDITORS NOTE: This CFACT column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

POLL: 33% of Democrats say Americans have ‘too much freedom to speak freely’

/in , , , , , , , , /by

Freedom of speech is worth fighting for, worth dying for. Our once-great nation was founded on it, and it’s the hill we must die on.

Freedom of speech is the foundation of a free society. Without it, a tyrant can wreak havoc unopposed, while his opponents are silenced.

Putting up with being offended is essential in a pluralistic society in which people differ on basic truths. If a group will not bear being offended without resorting to violence, that group will rule unopposed while everyone else lives in fear, while other groups curtail their activities to appease the violent group. This results in the violent group being able to tyrannize the others.

Americans have ‘too much freedom to speak freely,’ one-third of Democrats say: Poll

By: Candace Hathaway, Blaze, September 25, 2023

A recent poll from RealClear Opinion Research found that one-third of registered Democratic respondents feel Americans have “too much freedom to speak freely.”

The poll, released in September, surveyed 1,000 individuals. Of those interviewed, 377 identified as Democrats, 369 as Republicans, and 255 as independent or “other.”

Read more.

POLL: Is Censorship a Partisan Issue?

By Carl M. Cannon – RCP Staff September 22, 2023

The concept of free speech dates to the 5th century B.C. in ancient Greece and was codified in America’s founding documents on Dec. 15, 1791, with the ratification of the Bill of Rights. The 45-word First Amendment prohibited Congress from “abridging freedom of speech, or of the press,” and has been long understood to include any branch of government.

James Madison, the drafter of the first 10 constitutional amendments, originally drafted a more fiery version of the First Amendment, one that included its underlying rationale: “The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.”

“Inviolable” is a powerful word, notwithstanding the fact that the right to speak and write freely has always come with various limitations. They range from libel and slander laws to national security secrets, obscenity statutes, and the notorious analogy popularized by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. of “falsely shouting ‘fire!’ in a theater and causing panic.”

Most citizens accept some of these caveats; others do not. But by overwhelming majorities, Americans generally still cherish their rights to free expression — at least in theory. A new poll on censorship by RealClear Opinion Research shows that 90% of voters in the United States express support for the Founders’ curbs on government power.

Topline findings: The full polling breakdown

“Overall, 9 in 10 voters in the U.S. think First Amendment protections for freedom of speech is a good thing, while only 9% think it is a bad thing,” said pollster Spencer Kimball, who directed the RCP survey. “This is agreed upon across the demographics, like party affiliation, age, and race.”

For those who oppose censorship and put a premium on the free flow of ideas, that’s the good news. But there is bad news, too. Inevitably in our nation’s current hyper-partisan political environment, when one bores down on this subject, deeply divergent perspectives emerge — partisan differences.

Painting with a broad brush, Democrats grant significantly more deference to government than do Republicans when it comes to regulating free speech. This wasn’t the only fault line revealed by the RCP survey.

Some of what is dividing these differences is generational, as Millennials and Gen-Z have come of age in a digital age environment in which reasonable expectations of privacy seem a relic of the past. “Those under 30 are most open to censorship by the government,” Kimball noted, adding that 42% of this cohort deem it “more important” to them that the government protect national security than guard the right to free expression. Among those over 65 years old, the corresponding percentage was 26%.

Also, a gender gap reveals itself, one that dovetails with the discrepancy in party registration between men and women — but which is more pronounced. Asked whether they support free speech even if it’s “deeply offensive,” 78% of men answered affirmatively, compared to 66% of women.

But the most glaring gap is between conservatives and liberals, i.e., between Republicans and Democrats. On the issue of free expression, at least, Republicans are not the authoritarian party. That distinction belongs to the Democrats, the party launched by Thomas Jefferson — the Founding Father who famously said that if he were forced to choose between “a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

This is a relatively new development. Traditionally, opposing censorship — whether imposed by government or corporations — was a bedrock principle of liberalism in this country. The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 to promote and defend free expression. And this ideal was at the heart of liberal thought, liberal lawmaking, and liberal jurisprudence during most of the 20th century.

Keep reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

RELATED ARTICLES:

“Our System Is Collapsing In Real Time”

ABC Poll: Trump Leads Biden by 10, Pollsters Can’t Believe It

“Uncharged Co-Conspirators”: Smartmatic Implicated in Massive Bribery Scheme

Corporate Democrats Made the Mess

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Is the ATACMS Tactical Missile Already in Ukraine?

/in , , , , , /by

If Ukraine gets the scarce supplies, Taiwan must wait even longer; meanwhile, Russian response remains to be seen.

Russian defense sources say that an ATACMS tactical ballistic missile was launched from Kulbakino Air Field in Ukraine. If the Russian report is correct then the Washington debate about sending tactical ATACMS missiles to Ukraine is fake, as they already are there.

The Russian report has not been confirmed. What is clear is that the Ukrainians used missiles to attack Sevastopol on September 21st, targeting Russia’s Black Sea headquarters.  The historic HQ building was hit.

Reports say that President Biden told Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky that he agreed to send a “small number” of ATACMS missiles to Ukraine. Apparently Biden acted against Pentagon recommendations. Biden had been warned that ATACMS would be a war escalation. He was also told that there were not many ATACMS in inventory.

ATACMS has a range of around 300km.  It is ground launched.

Kulbakino is the home of the 299th Ukrainian Tactical Air Brigade. It is located in Mykolaiv Oblast. It supports a number of aircraft – most importantly the Su-24M fighter-bomber, which has been modified to fire the Stormshadow cruise missile.

ATACMS is typically launched from the M270 MLRS (multiple-launch rocket system).  It can also be launched from a HIMARS platform.

The M270 is a tracked, armored vehicle that supports launch tubes for missiles. It is based on the Bradley fighting vehicle chassis. It can fire one ATACMS missile and then the platform needs to be reloaded.

The M142 HIMARS is based on the Army’s MTV truck frame.  Like the M270 MLRS, it can fire one ATACMS missile.

HIMARS already is in Ukraine so delivery of the missiles will not require any significant field modifications.

The US has only small stocks of HIMARS currently available. The US Marines, who operate HIMARS, need ATACMS in order to blunt any Chinese attack either on the Senkaku islands or aimed at Taiwan. The Marines have carried out joint exercises with Japan, where Japan test fired the M270 in a demonstration. However, with ATACMS in short supply, the Marines operated the vehicle but only simulated firing the missile.

Taiwan has also requested HIMARS from the United States, equipped with the accurate ATACMS system to defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion. Taiwan has ordered 28 launchers and 864 missiles. These are supposed to be delivered between 2024 and 2027. However, if Ukraine gets the supplies instead, Taiwan will be forced to wait even longer.

Because of Biden’s decision the Germans will not be able to hide behind the US as an excuse not to provide the German-Swedish Taurus KEPD 350. Taurus, a joint product of MBDA Deutschland and Saab Bofors, is a long range cruise missile with a range of 500 km.  It is launched by aircraft. Most likely, if Taurus cruise missiles are delivered to Ukraine, they will be operated by Ukraine’s Su-24s, although these are also in short supply. The systems on the Su-25 in Ukraine probably are not modern enough to support the Taurus.

Taurus has a range of 500km after launch.  It carries a 481 kg MEPHISTO (multi-effect penetrator highly sophisticated and target optimized) warhead.

ATACMS has different types of warheads and it is not clear what will be sent to Ukraine. Originally the missiles had cluster munition warheads, but later that was changed to so-called unitary warheads.

The Russians understand that both Taurus and ATACMS are threats to Russian territory, exposing its cities, air bases, nuclear power plants and defense installations to heavy attack.

Most of what Ukraine has so far launched into Russian territory have been small drones.  While drones have done some damage, many of them have been shot down. Russia does have layered air defenses, although they do not appear to be well integrated, and there are considerable coverage gaps.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, interviewed by ABC News, was asked, “Are you OK if Ukraine uses those missiles [ATACMS] to strike deep into Russia?” He replied: “Their decision, not ours.” Blinken knows very well that Ukraine needs support from US overhead intelligence for long-range strikes, something the Russians also understand very well.

The Russians have made clear that delivering these missiles to Ukraine is a significant escalation by NATO and the United States. It remains to be seen exactly how and in what ways Russia will respond.

Originally published by Asia Times

AUTHOR

Stephen Bryen

Senior Fellow

RELATED TWEET:

EDITORS NOTE: This Center for Security Policy column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Hunter Biden’s Chinese Business Associates Put Joe Biden’s Address On Two Payments, House Oversight Finds

/in , , , , , , , /by

Hunter Biden’s Chinese business associates sent Hunter more than $250,000 worth of wires and listed Joe Biden’s Delaware home as the beneficiary address, the House Oversight Committee found.

Hunter Biden was paid $10,000 by Chinese business associate Wang Xin on July 26, 2019 and $250,000 by Chinese business associate Jonathan Li on Aug. 2, 2019, according to the House Oversight Committee. Joe Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home was listed as the beneficiary address on both wires, Fox News first reported. Joe Biden announced his 2020 presidential campaign before the payments from China listed his address.

Hunter Biden’s former business associate Devon Archer testified in July that Joe Biden had coffee with Li in Beijing and wrote a letter of recommendation for Li’s daughter’s college application. Li was CEO of BHR Partners, a joint business venture with Hunter Biden’s investment firm Rosemont Seneca Partners and Chinese investment firm Bohai Capital, Fox News reported.

House Oversight has released bank records showing the Biden family and its business associates received more than $20 million from Ukrainian, Russian, Chinese, Romanian and Kazakh business associates. The committee now has records showing the Biden family and its associates received an estimated $24 million, according to Fox News.

“Bank records don’t lie but President Joe Biden does. In 2020, Joe Biden told Americans that his family never received money from China. We’ve already proved that to be a lie earlier this year, and now we know that two wires originating from Beijing listed Joe Biden’s Wilmington home as the beneficiary address when he was running for President of the United States. When Joe Biden was vice president, he spoke on the phone and had coffee with Jonathan Li in Beijing, and later wrote a college letter of recommendation for his children,” House Oversight Chairman James Comer said in a press release.

“Joe Biden’s abuse of public office for his family’s financial gain threatens our national security. What did the Bidens do with this money from Beijing? Americans demand and deserve accountability for President Biden and the First Family’s corruption. The Oversight Committee, along with the Judiciary and Ways and Means Committees, will continue to follow the evidence and money to provide transparency and accountability,” Comer added.

Hunter Biden was also in business with Chinese firms CEFC China Energy and State Energy HK, according to bank records, emails, IRS whistleblower testimony, Hunter’s failed guilty plea and emails on his abandoned laptop. Hunter Biden also created a business entity, Hudson West III, with a CEFC associate and his uncle James Biden, that brought in roughly $1 million for the younger Biden in 2017, his guilty plea states. Hunter Biden’s failed guilty plea also confirms he spent the summer of 2019 in California after he married his current wife and the payments with Joe Biden’s Delaware address on them were sent.

Joe Biden falsely stated during an October 2020 presidential debate Hunter Biden never made money from China, despite the fact Joe Biden apparently met with CEFC associates in May 2017, Hunter Biden’s former business associate Rob Walker told the FBI in an interview publicized by IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley. The whistleblower confirmed Walker’s statement about the CEFC meeting when he testified publicly in July.

In addition, Shapley released an apparently threatening text Hunter Biden allegedly sent to a Chinese business associate where Hunter references his father’s presence in the same room.

“I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight,” Hunter Biden said, according to Shapley.

“I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father,” Biden added. Images from Hunter Biden’s laptop show he was with Joe Biden on the day he allegedly sent the text messages, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

The House Ways and Means, Judiciary and Oversight Committees are leading the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden related to his son’s foreign business dealings and IRS whistleblower testimony accusing the Department of Justice (DOJ) of giving Hunter Biden special treatment during its ongoing investigation into Biden’s alleged tax and gun offenses. The first impeachment hearing is scheduled for Sept. 28 and will have three expert witnesses.

The White House said in June Joe Biden was “not in business” with his son.

AUTHOR

JAMES LYNCH

Investigative reporter. James Lynch can be reached on Twitter @jameslynch32.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Here’s All The Evidence Connecting Joe Biden To Hunter Biden’s Foreign Business Dealings

Hunter Biden Said He Was ‘Office Mates’ With Joe Biden And A Chinese Business Associate, Emails Show

RELATED TWEET:

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Biden Admin Set To Deport German Family Who Sought Asylum After Being Persecuted For Homeschooling

/in , , , , , , , /by

U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told a German Christian family that was persecuted for homeschooling their children that they needed to prepare to be deported after living in the U.S. for 15 years, according to Kevin Boden, an attorney for the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), who spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Uwe and Hannelore Romeike fled with their family from Germany in 2008 after getting thousands of dollars in fines for refusing to stop homeschooling, which was outlawed in 1918, and sought asylum in the U.S. before being granted “indefinite deferred action status” in 2014, allowing them to remain indefinitely in the country, according to an HSLDA press release. During a routine check-in with the agency in early September, the New Jersey parents were informed that they needed to have their passports ready in four weeks to be deported to Germany.

“They did not tell them why,” Boden told the DCNF. “They were just told there was a change in orders. We don’t know where the orders come down from, they may have come to the local office from the field office director or the deputy Field Office Director, which probably came from ICE headquarters. Whether it came from the Biden administration or somebody more at the executive level, we don’t know, just the change in orders, get travel documents and get ready to go is effectively what they’re told.”

The parents were also reportedly given no written document explaining the situation or the next steps, nor were they given instructions regarding what would happen to their two minor children, who are 12 and 10 years old and were born in the U.S., according to Boden. He said that the Romeike’s five adult children’s status is also of concern; some are married to U.S. citizens and others are not.

“We just don’t know at this point, which is part of the scary nature of it,” Boden told the DCNF. “You can imagine showing up in two weeks and not knowing ‘Will they take me or my wife into custody and then what happens to our two minor children who are literally US citizens?’ So the uncertainty of this is just remarkable.”

The Romeike’s faced similar issues a decade ago when the Obama administration threatened to deport them in 2012 after they were initially granted asylum by an immigration judge two years earlier, according to HSLDA. The judge’s decision was overturned and the family appealed but the Supreme Court declined to review the case.

A petition was sent to the White House with over 120,000 signatures demanding that the executive branch take action to protect the Romeike family, according to the Christian Post. In 2014, the Department of Homeland Security granted the family “indefinite deferred action status” in March.

Boden told the DCNF that HSLDA is looking into its legal options and that they are circulating another petition in hopes of raising public support and “spreading awareness.” He said that the Romeike’s have been “a delightful family” as he’s worked on their case and that anyone “who meets this family would appreciate and enjoy who they are and would have a desire that they be allowed to stay.”

AUTHOR

KATE ANDERSON

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Joe Biden’s Health Department Wants to Erase “Father” and “Mother” From Childcare Law

House Spending Bill Seeks To End Biden’s Migration App Program, Limits On ICE Enforcement

Federal Government Program Allows More Than 200,000 Illegal Aliens to Fly Right Over the Border

Biden Admin Shells Out $240,000 To Children’s Hospital For ‘Interactive’ LGBTQ Youth Sex Education Tool

Netherlands: 9-year-old schoolgirl scolded for intolerance after complaining about having to change in front of biological boy in girls’ changing room

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Jesse Watters Jokes Corporate Media Reported Poll Showing 10-Point Trump Lead ‘Like They Were Covering A Funeral’

/in , , , , , , /by

Fox News host Jesse Watters said the corporate media’s reporting about a new Washington Post poll was “like they were covering a funeral” Monday.

Former President Donald Trump led President Joe Biden by 52% to 42% in a head-to-head matchup, according to the poll released Monday by the media outlet. The poll caused MSNBC host Joe Scarborough to melt down during his Monday morning show, while the Washington Post published an article calling the poll it released “an outlier.”

WATCH:

“This blew Bret’s whole blazer off – the Washington Post poll, Donald Trump beating Joe Biden by 10 points,” Watters said. “That is a Ronald Reagan 49-state landslide. So the president is trying to throw the guy he is running against in person. Does it have anything to do with the polls?”

Watters then played a clip of White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dismissing the polls.

“The polls actually do tell the whole story because Donald Trump was indicted this spring the second he started polling ahead of Biden,” Waters said after the clip. “And the media reported the new Washington Post poll like they were covering a funeral.”

The poll was conducted from Sept. 15 to Sept. 20, reached 1,006 adults and has a margin of error of 3.5%. The poll found that only 30% of Americans approved of Biden’s handling of the economy and that only 25% felt the economy was “good” or “excellent.”

AUTHOR

HAROLD HUTCHISON

Reporter.

RELATED ARTICLES:

New Numbers Show America Regrets Breaking Up With Trump

‘Why Is He Allowed To Run?’: Sunny Hostin Calls For Kicking Trump Off The Ballot

RNC Reveals Which GOP Candidates Will Participate In Second Debate

The GOP Field Needs To Narrow Fast, Or We’ll All Pay The Price

‘I’m Considering It’: Dem Rep Weighs Presidential Bid Amid Concerns Over Biden, Primary Field

RELATED TWEET:

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

 

‘Would Have Sent Hunter Biden A Subpoena By Now’: Matt Gaetz Blasts McCarthy On Impeachment, Says He’s ‘Not Serious’

/in , , , , , , , , /by

Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz blasted Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy about the Joe Biden impeachment inquiry in an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures.”

“We don’t put our pencils down in the investigation of President Biden during a shutdown, so the premise is false,” Gaetz said. “Second, if Kevin McCarthy was actually serious about pursuing the Bidens, he would have sent Hunter Biden a subpoena by now.”

The congressman referred to House Republicans as “fundamentally unserious,” comparing their progress on the Biden investigation to House Democrats who “brought in Donald Trump Jr. three times over nothing” when they had the majority.

Despite Gaetz’s dissatisfaction, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said that the investigation is “following the money” in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. He told Hannity that they will “continue to follow the money” and “if that leads to Joe Biden, or Hunter Biden, or to Jim Biden,” subpoenas will be issued.

On government spending, Gaetz said he is “not pro-shutdown,” proposing “separate, single-subject spending bills” instead of “one up or down vote on the entire government all at once.” The congressman claimed Kevin McCarthy “promised that in January” and is “in breach of that promise.”

“I’m not here to hold the government hostage,” Gaetz told Bartiromo. “I’m here to hold Kevin McCarthy to his word.”

AUTHOR

JULIANNA FRIEMAN

Contributor

RELATED ARTICLES:

Here’s All The Evidence Connecting Joe Biden To Hunter Biden’s Foreign Business Dealings

Ex-Intel Officials Who Signed The Infamous Hunter Biden Laptop Letter Keep Landing Gigs With The Biden Admin

WaPo Disavows Its Own Poll Showing Trump Up By 10 Over Biden

JOSH HAMMER: Is It Too Much To Ask For Our Leaders To Put On Some Pants?

Jesse Watters Jokes Corporate Media Reported Poll Showing 10-Point Trump Lead ‘Like They Were Covering A Funeral’

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Hamas-linked CAIR Files Suit to Discontinue Terrorism Watchlist

/in , , , , , , , /by

Because there is no more terrorism, right? Right?

Could it be that the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) wants to hamstring the little effort that remains to stop jihad terrorists in the U.S.? Oh, surely not!

Civil Rights Group Files Suit to Discontinue Terrorism Watchlist Created After 9/11

by Megan Gates, ASIS International, September 22, 2023 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

A civil rights group sued U.S. federal government officials this week, alleging a terrorist watchlist is used for “harassment and humiliation” and should be discontinued.

The Michigan Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Rights (CAIR), a grassroots civil rights and advocacy organization, announced the filing of the lawsuit on behalf of 12 plaintiffs against 29 U.S. federal government representatives on Monday, including the U.S. attorney general, FBI director, and the U.S. Secret Service director. Dearborn, Michigan, has the largest Muslim population per capita of any city in the United States.

“In Michigan and across the nation, American Muslims targeted by the federal government’s unconstitutional, discriminatory watchlist and [sic] standing up and demanding justice from the government for 20 years of unjust targeting,” said CAIR-Michigan Executive Director Dawud Walid in a statement. “The time has come for the Biden administration to end the use of the watchlist.”

The lawsuit alleges that the defendants violated Fifth Amendment due process, equal protection under the law, and self-incrimination protections by placing plaintiffs and other individuals on the Terrorist Screening Dataset (TSDS), as well as the No Fly List and Selectee List, without any meaningful process. The suit also charges that the defendants have violated the Fourth Amendment by subjecting watch listed individuals to unreasonable searches and seizures when they cross the border to enter the United States.

In addition, the watchlist program is a violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act by “substantially” burdening individuals’ practice of Islam by “repeated and intrusive government inquiry” into their beliefs, religious communities, and religious practices, according to the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs are seeking injunctions that require the U.S. federal government to remedy constitutional and statutory violations by providing individuals on the TSDS and its subsets with a legal mechanism that gives them notice of why they are on the list, as well as a meaningful opportunity to contest their inclusion.

Additionally, the plaintiffs are requesting they be removed from the TSDS and other watchlists that inhibit their travel or ability to access government benefits, that their records of TSDS inclusion be permanently expunged, that the watchlist system be reformed to eliminate any discriminatory focus on Muslim identity or religious practice, and other relief, including a trial by jury and monetary damages.

“Watchlist placement extrajudicially sentences innocent Americans to permanent second-class citizenship,” said CAIR in a statement. “CAIR’s lawsuit reveals for the first time that, even on the rare occasion that the government removes an individual from the watchlist, an individual’s past watchlist will continue to haunt them. Federal agencies retain records of past watchlist status and use them to deny formerly listed individuals access to government buildings, security clearances, federal employment, and other licenses and government benefits.”…

Read more.

AUTHOR

ROBERT SPENCER

RELATED ARTICLES:

INVASION BY DESIGN: Biden’s Customs and Border Protection Cuts Barbwire Barrier Keeping Out the Hordes of Illegals.

China brokered Saudi-Iran rapprochement is leading more countries to engage with Iran

Pakistan’s prime minister: ‘We are waiting all Hindus to be persuaded to the enlighten truth of Islam’

Menendez, facing bribery charges involving halal company, got $2 million in public cash for Ground Zero Mosque imam

Pakistan: Police briefly detain and torture Christian human rights activists

At UN, Pakistan’s prime minister claims that ‘Islamophobia’ is ‘latent threat that undermines millennia of progress’

EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Race Hustler Sharpton: Lack of Gun Legislation is ‘Arming Bigots’

/in , , , , , , /by

Friday on MSNBC’s Deadline, race hustler and network host Al Sharpton said he believed a “lack” of gun legislation in the United States was a civil rights issue because society was “arming bigots.”

Anchor Nicolle Wallace said, “Kamala Harris will lead this effort. She spoke today about witnessing firsthand the impacts of gun violence during her time as a prosecutor and attorney general.”

Sharpton said, “Absolutely. The fact that she has an effective background as a prosecutor, she wasn’t just holding the title, and dealt with this in California, dealt with it when she was D.A. of San Francisco. It was a good choice of the president to put her there. And I know she’ll be all in.”

Biden, or whoever the actual President is, put her there to keep her occupied. She’s the most incompetent, worthless politician in the Biden administration, and she’ll accomplish nothing as Gun Control Czaress.

He continued, “This is the most dangerous time, particularly for young people, that we have seen in American history. And yet, you have almost a wall there of people saying, no, we’re not giving up our AR-15s, we’re not giving up not even background checks.”

Sharpton added, “We just had the hate killing in Jacksonville, Florida. This guy had an AR-15. So even whether you want to look at it from advocating in terms of civil rights, advocating just on guns, it weighs in because people cannot do mass killings unless they have mass instruments. We are arming bigots, we are arming people that are not respectful of the United States citizens. All of these people are being armed by a lack of legislation.”

Sharpton doesn’t care about stopping gun violence. He doesn’t care about the black shooting victims of black criminals every weekend in Democrat-run big cities like Chicago. Like all Democrats, he cares about disarming the law-abiding citizens who stand in the way of total Democrat power.

Al Sharpton

136 Known Connections

  • Founder of the National Action Network
  • Views America as a nation infested with systemic racism
  • Helped incite anti-Jewish riots in Crown Heights, New York in 1991
  • Was convicted of libel for his role in the racially charged Tawana Brawley hoax
  • Incited black anti-Semites against a Jewish business establishment in Harlem in 1995

To learn more about Al Sharpton, click here.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Biden Appoints Border Czar Kamala as New Gun Control Czar

Hochul Glad Biden Gave NY Asylum Seekers Work Permits

Adams Deploys Police Robot to Times Square Subway Station

Glover, Other Dictator Lovers Greet Cuba’s Puppet Prez in NYC

RELATED TWEETS:

EDITORS NOTE: This Discover the Networks column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Zelenskyy, Trudeau Honor Yaroslav Hunk a 3rd Reich Nazi with a Standing Ovation

/in , , , , /by

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy – honored Yaroslav Hunk a WWII Nazi and veteran of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division (14th Waffen SS) with a standing ovation on Friday.

According to B’nai Brith Canada, Hunka, “who immigrated to Canada after serving in the 14th Waffen SS – a Nazi unit whose members swore allegiance to Adolf Hitler during WWII – received a standing ovation from members of Parliament and senators in attendance.”

Adolf Hitler “was the leader of Nazi Germany, Canada and the free world’s nemesis, and military opponent during WWII. The Ukrainian ultra-nationalist ideologues who volunteered to create the SS-Galician division in 1943 dreamed of an ethnically homogenous Ukrainian state and endorsed the idea of ethnic cleansing,” the B’nai Brith Canada statement continued.

On Friday, he was honored during a session of Canadian parliament in which Zelenskyy addressed the lawmakers to thank them for their support since Russia invaded Ukraine, saying that Canada has always been on “the bright side of history.”

Hunka stood for standing ovation and saluted, according to Canadian television.

WATCH:

In a column titled Yaroslav Hunka: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know Heavy.com reports:

1. Yaroslav Hunka Immigrated to Canada After Serving in the 14th Waffen SS, Reports Say
2. Yaroslav Hunka Detailed His Teenage Years During the War & Condemned the Russians in a Lengthy Blog Post
3. Anthony Rota Has Apologized to the Canadian House & Said He Regretted Recognizing Yaroslav Hunka
4. Videos Show Members of Parliament Giving Yaroslav Hunka a Standing Ovation
5. Yaroslav Hunka Served in a Voluntary Unit Mostly Involving Ethnic Ukrainians

Read the full article.

RELATED ARTICLE: Canadian MP’s give standing ovation to prominent Nazi during Zelensky visit to Ottawa

RELATED TWEETS:

EDITORS NOTE: This Vlad Tepes Blog post by   is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Biden Impeachment Inquiry: Scoundrels, Sleaze, and Corruption

/in , , , , , , , /by

Investigations into the Biden family are gaining steam. On September 12, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy opened an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. House Republicans, McCarthy said, have uncovered “serious and credible allegations” that “paint a picture of a culture of corruption.”  On another front, on September 14, David Weiss, the conflicted special counsel in the Hunter Biden probe, indicted the presidential son on three gun-related charges.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton called the impeachment inquiry “a necessary step for accountability and justice.” JW’s own investigations into the Bidens will continue. We’ve been at it for years. In 2020, JW Freedom of Information actions revealed new details about Ukraine corruption. We have repeatedly sued the State Department, Justice Department, FBI, CIA, and National Archives for information related to the Bidens. Read more about JW’s investigations here.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer—who will lead the impeachment inquiry along with Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith—has been banging away since January with an investigation of the Biden family’s foreign business practices and international influence peddling schemes, most notably the activities of Hunter Biden. Up to now, there’s little indication that Comer has gained direct access to the financial records of Hunter and Joe Biden. Opening an impeachment inquiry supercharges congressional powers and opens the way to a deeper probe into Biden finances.

But even without direct access to Biden family finances, the Comer Committee produced a remarkable array of witnesses, testimony and documents. The outpouring of facts, documents and witness testimony can be overwhelming to sort out, but Comer went a long way to clarifying the complex story with the release of a Biden family “Influence Peddling Timeline.” It’s an important document, painting an all-too-human picture of scoundrels, sleaze, and corruption.

According to the committee, Hunter Biden and a web of associated business entities and family members raked in over $20 million from 2014 to 2017—not coincidentally the last years of the Obama administration, when then-Vice President Joe Biden wielded considerable influence. The Hunter Biden hustle has all the hallmarks of a classic Washington influence-peddling operation: shady characters, murky deals, money moving between shell companies.

The gravy train started rolling in the spring of 2014, with money first flowing in from Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine: $142,000 from a well-connected Kazakh millionaire; $3.5 million from a Russian oligarch; $6.5 million from Ukraine. In 2015, a Romanian tycoon began payments eventually totaling $3 million. In 2017, $8 million materialized from China.

The Kazakh Connection: A Sports Car for Hunter

The first sign that something was not kosher in Biden World comes in April 2014, when a controversial Kazakh oligarch, Kenes Rakishev, transfers $142,300 to a key Biden-connected financial entity, Rosemont. The next day, Rosemont transfers exactly $142,300 to a New Jersey auto dealership for Hunter Biden’s purchase of a Fisker electric car, which he quickly trades up for a Porsche.

Rakishev was a close associate of Kazakhstan Prime Minister Karim Massimov. Around the time of Hunter Biden’s sports car windfall, someone had arranged for Rakishev and Massimov to be to be photographed at Washington’s Café Milano with Hunter Biden and a very special guest: then-Vice President Joe Biden.

Such a photograph is precious coin of the realm in corrupt countries—an advertisement of power and connections. Corruption in Kazakhstan is a serious concern, according to international watchdogs. Of course this was a fact well known to both Bidens, but it did not prevent them from joining Rakishev and Massimov for dinner at the Café Milano—twice.

According to a Comer Committee interview of Biden business partner Devon Archer, Hunter Biden and Joe Biden joined the Kazakhs for dinner in April 2014 and again in April 2015. It’s unclear if the famous photograph is from the first or second dinner. In May of 2014, Hunter Biden traveled to Kazakhstan to try to drum up business between the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, Kazakhstan’s KazMunay Gas (where Rakishev served as a director), and a Chinese energy company.

Enter the Russian: A $3.5 Million Payday

 The money trail in the Biden inquiry runs through a private investment firm that began life as Rosemont Seneca Partners and morphed over time into a web of limited liability companies. LLCs offer participants—legitimate companies and crooks alike—maximum secrecy. Rosemont Seneca Partners was founded in 2009 by Biden and two connections from Yale University: Devon Archer and Chris Heinz. Heinz is the stepson of former Secretary of State John Kerry and heir to the Heinz food company fortune. He departed the partnership in 2014.

The Comer Committee offers in its “Second Bank Records Memorandum” a mind-blowing list of twenty-one financial entities associated with the Biden enterprise. Most of them are LLCs and many have the name “Rosemont” or “Seneca” in them. We’ll refer to them simply as “Rosemont entity,” but the diligent reader can find details of the myriad Biden-connected LLCs in the three committee bank records memoranda linked at the end of this report.

Another guest at the Café Milano dinner in Washington in April 2014, according to the Comer Committee timeline: Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina. Two months earlier, Baturina had wired $3.5 million to a Rosemont entity. The Rosemont entity transferred $2.7 million to a bank account in a second Rosemont LLC jointly owned by Biden and Archer. Separately, $750,000 was sent from a Rosemont entity directly to Archer.

The Ukraine Connection: A $10 Million Bribe?

 2014 was a very good year for Hunter Biden’s finances. In May, Biden and partner Devon Archer joined the board of Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky’s embattled energy company, Burisma. Each would be paid $1 million per year.

The committee’s third bank memorandum notes that “then-Vice President Joe Biden visited Ukraine” on an anti-corruption drive aimed at Zlochevsky allies “soon after first payments” were sent to Archer and Hunter Biden. The payments were wired to a Rosemont entity and then “transmitted in incremental amounts to Hunter Biden’s different bank accounts.”

By the end of the year, Hunter Biden had met with a high-level Obama administration official about Burisma. Zlochevsky complained about “government pressure” and urged Biden to contact his father, the vice president. In the interview released by the committee, Archer notes that Hunter Biden “called DC” after being pressured by Zlochevsky and his associates.

Earlier this year, Senator Chuck Grassley released a bombshell FBI informant report of a 2016 meeting with Zlochevsky. In the report, Zlochevsky claimed he had been coerced into paying a $10 million bribe to Hunter and Joe Biden. It “cost 5 [million] to pay one Biden, and 5 [million] to another Biden,” the FBI informant reported Zlochevsky saying.

Zlochevsky told the informant the payments were well hidden. It “would take them ten years to find the records,” he said.

In total, notes the committee, a total of $6.5 million went to “the Biden family and their associates” from the Ukraine connection.

The Romanian Payout: The Robinson Walker Shell

 By November 2015, Hunter Biden had struck up a lucrative relationship with a controversial Romanian real-estate tycoon, Gabriel Popoviciu. Meanwhile, over at the White House, Vice President Biden was taking point on an anti-corruption campaign aimed at Romania. In September, Vice President Biden had welcomed the Romanian president to the White House, declaring his support for the country’s “anti-corruption efforts.”

Popoviciu was fighting bribery and corruption charges connected to a high-profile land deal near Bucharest. Hunter Biden joined the Popoviciu defense team. From 2015 to 2017, according to the Comer timeline, Biden met twice with the U.S ambassador to Romania and traveled at least once to the country. Meanwhile, more than $3 million from Popoviciu flowed to Robinson Walker LLC, an account controlled by a close Biden family associate, John Robinson “Rob” Walker.

According to the committee’s second bank memoranda, the Robinson Walker LLC is at the center of many payments to the Biden family and associates. Robinson Walker “received $3 million from Romanian Gabriel Popoviciu’s Cypriot company and then made payments to the Biden family,” the memo notes. Among the recipients was Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter’s brother, Beau.

The committee noted that “while Vice President Biden advocated publicly for anti-corruption policies in Romania, bank records show Biden family members and business associates were simultaneously reaping in significant amounts of money” from Popoviciu.

China: “10 held for the big guy?”

 By January 2017, the Obama administration was coming to an end and Hunter Biden and his associates were angling for their biggest score of all: China.

The target, cultivated for years, was the giant conglomerate CEFC China Energy. The Biden business plan was to sell U.S. energy products to CEFC and expand into other deals. CEFC was interested in a relationship.

The total amount paid to “the Biden family and their associates” by China, notes the Comer Committee, is “over $8 million.” Payments by CEFC were sent to the Robinson Walker shell—the same LLC used for the Romanian payouts—and distributed to various Biden family members and associates.

In March 2017—two months after Joe Biden left the vice presidency—a $3 million CEFC payment arrived at the Walker shell. Rob Walker distributed “over $1 million of that money to Biden family members,” notes the second bank memoranda, including payments to Hunter Biden; Hallie Biden; Joe Biden’s brother, business consultant and dealmaker James Biden; and a still-mysterious account simply labeled “Biden.”

Another beneficiary was Hunter Biden’s business partner James Gilliar. The Walker shell wired him $1 million. The British energy consultant was a key figure in putting the Biden network together with CEFC—including, seemingly, Joe Biden.

In a May 2017 email to Hunter Biden and associates about profit-sharing from the CEFC deal, Gilliar asks, “10 held by H for the big guy?”

An IRS agent who worked on the Hunter Biden case was pressed about the Gilliar email in July testimony before Congress. Joseph Ziegler told the House Oversight Committee that “all I can do is speak to the evidence there” and “that email, ‘ten held by H for the big guy’ and from what I understand that to be is his dad, President Biden.”

In August 2017, in the biggest payday of all, CEFC wired $5 million to a new LLC formed by Hunter Biden and Gongwen Dong—a top aide to CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming. The new company would pursue energy and infrastructure deals. Hunter would receive a $500,000 retainer and a $100,000 monthly payment. James Biden would be paid $65,000 per month. Hunter Biden also received an additional $1 million retainer to represent Patrick Ho, a high-ranking CEFC official in the United States.

A month after the $5 million CEFC wire, Hunter Biden was busy in Washington setting up a new office for himself and his CEFC partners. “Please have keys made available for new office mates,” he emailed building management. “Joe Biden, Jill Biden, Jim Biden, Gongwen Dong (Chairman Ye CEFC emissary).” Hunter Biden added: “I would like the office sign to reflect the following: Biden Foundation, Hudson West (CEFC US).”

It looked like happy days were here again for the Bidens and their new Chinese friends. But in fact, the end was near.

The Fall of the House of Hunter

 In November 2017, Patrick Ho—the high-ranking CEFC agent—was arrested in New York on suspicion of bribery and money laundering. Four months after Ho’s arrest, CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming vanished. According to news reports, he was suspected of widespread economic crimes at the helm of CEFC and arrested on the orders of Communist Party boss Xi Jinping. Ye has not been heard from since. CEFC collapsed into bankruptcy. Ho was convicted of bribery and money laundering in 2019 in connection with African oil deals and sentenced to three years in prison.

With Ho’s arrest, Biden business came to a screeching halt. Hunter Biden, by his own account, spiraled deep into a crack cocaine addiction. Many of his associates also did not fare well. Former client Gabriel Popoviciu, the Romanian real-estate tycoon, fought a six-year, ultimately successful battle to prevent his extradition from London to Bucharest to face bribery and corruption charges. Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky has been fending off corruption charges since 2012, accused of large-scale theft of government funds. He is believed to be living in Monaco. Karim Massimov, the former Kazakhstan prime minister who dined with Hunter and Joe Biden in 2014 and 2015, was sentenced to eighteen years in prison for attempting a coup. Business partner Devon Archer was found guilty of fraud in 2018 in a conspiracy to cheat a Native American tribe in a bond scheme; he is appealing the conviction.

Doubtless there will be more to come about Hunter Biden as the impeachment inquiry digs deeper into bank records and the money trail. You lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas. But what about Joe Biden? Some questions are obvious.

Who is connected to that mysterious account named “Biden?”

Is Joe Biden “the big guy” and was “10”—or anything—held for him? Where is it?

Did a Ukrainian oligarch funnel $10 million in bribes to the Bidens? Where are the records?

Other questions may lead the committee deep into a wilderness of mirrors.

For example, is there a relationship between Vice President Biden’s anti-corruption statements and payments to Hunter Biden-connected accounts?

Are there other, unidentified accounts?

What is the financial relationship between James Biden to his brother Joe?

Did foreign intelligence services—no doubt tipped off to Hunter Biden’s activities—play any role in the Biden affair?

Interesting times ahead.

AUTHOR

MICAH MORRISON

Micah Morrison is chief investigative reporter for Judicial Watch. Tips: mmorrison@judicialwatch.org

SOURCES:

Read the first House Oversight Bank Memorandum (China) here.

Read the second House Oversight Bank Memorandum (China, Romania) here.

Read the third House Oversight Bank Memorandum (Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan) here.

RELATED ARTICLES:

The New Moral Order Is Already Crumbling

Hunter Biden’s Chinese Business Associates Put Joe Biden’s Address On Two Payments, House Oversight Finds

‘On Behalf Of The Family’: Hunter Biden’s Uncle Thanked Lawyer Who Allegedly Paid $2 Million Of Hunter’s Taxes

RELATED TWEET:

Investigative Bulletin is published by Judicial Watch. Reprints and media inquiries: jfarrell@judicialwatch.org

EDITORS NOTE: This Judicial Watch column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

Unintended Consequences: The California Electric Truck Mandate

/in , , , , , , , , /by

If you own a trucking company that picks up shipments from California ports, you now have to deal with the consequences of a new law designed to reduce your carbon footprint.

Trucking is one of the vital ingredients in our infrastructure that virtually all parts of the economy rely on. About two-fifths of all containerized imports to the US come through one of California’s twelve commercial ports. According to a recent report in National Review, beginning January 1, any trucker doing “drayage” (the technical term for transporting stuff to or from a seaport) in California can only buy zero-emission vehicles, although they can hang on to their existing diesel fleet for a while.

Trucks don’t last forever, however, and evidently the court of wisdom otherwise known as the California legislature decided this was the best way to get truckers used to the additional coming mandate that in 2035, all trucks entering California seaports and intermodal rail yards (where the containers are loaded onto trains) must be zero-emission types.

The ostensible motivation for these laws is to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, of course. And careful analyses do show that over the lifetime of an electric vehicle, even if you include the fossil fuels used in the different types of manufacturing (electric versus internal-combustion) and in producing the electricity for the vehicle, less carbon dioxide results from using electric vehicles. That’s the intended consequence, and unless the law is later modified, it will be achieved.

But the devil is in the details, and some truckers interviewed about the mandate pointed out several unintended consequences that may follow from these laws. For one thing, the number of electric trucks in California will have to go from about 300, where it is today, to around 500,000, and some way will have to be found to charge all those trucks, and to keep them running farther than the alleged 60 miles that the California regulators said was the typical drayage daily mileage. A lot of truckers drive a lot farther than that every day, and if you add several hours a day to charge the trucks, it turns a normal workday into a 20-hour day.

And then there’s the cost. Even if you can find a zero-emission truck that will do the job, it will cost three or four times what a diesel vehicle costs. And one trucker asked what bank will finance such a purchase if you can’t show where you’re going to charge it and how you will work out a schedule that will let you stay in business.

So, if California doubles down on enforcement, we can anticipate something like a gradual strangling of commerce flowing through its ports as the few truckers who manage to jump through the hoops of regulation are all that’s left. And maybe that was what the lawmakers really wanted anyway. If the idealist dream of a zero-emission society were to come to pass in the next couple of years, millions would die of starvation and cold, and those few who are left would be reduced to living a life that would be familiar to a denizen of 1880.

At the very least, essentially shutting down 40% of containerized imports to the US would cause massive supply-chain disruptions that would make what happened during COVID look like a hiccup. If you say no one would let things get that bad, well, we did let things get that bad during COVID, and it can happen again.

I recently came across a true story that should become the paradigm cautionary tale for those who close their eyes to the unintended consequences of legislation.

In England in the mid-1800s, dogs were quite commonly used for transportation. Poor people who couldn’t afford a horse and wagon to carry their goods to market could nevertheless use a dog and a “dog-cart” (not to be confused with the horse-drawn carriage referred to in Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tales). But in 1841, the recently founded Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) successfully lobbied to pass a law prohibiting the use of dogs for transportation. In urging this measure, the SPCA cited a few highly publicized instances of cruelty to transport dogs, although it appears that many if not most of the dogs were well-treated. For good measure, a dog tax was also passed around the same time, further discouraging the use of dogs for business purposes.

I can’t be positive, but I suspect that the SPCA members were largely upper-class types who, if they thought ahead at all, imagined all the dogs formerly used for transport would revert to being beloved pets. Think again. According to Stanley Coren, a dog psychologist and historian, when the law took effect it led to something close to a dog holocaust:

“Dreadful massacres of dogs took place all over England when they could no longer legally be used for cartage but were now taxable. In Birmingham, more than a thousand were slaughtered, and similar carnage took place in Liverpool. In Cambridge, the streets were littered with dead dogs. Because these bodies were becoming a health hazard, the high constable of Cambridge arranged a mass burial of four hundred dogs.”

So much for good intentions. The SPCA survived this debacle somehow, and so did the use of dogs for transportation in other parts of the world, but no longer in England.

No one can be certain of exactly what will happen if California enforces their zero-emission truck mandate. But they are meddling with a piece of infrastructure that is crucial to the entire US economy, and if the law has the unintended consequence of disrupting commerce in ways that harm millions of US citizens, those harms should be weighed against whatever essentially unmeasurable good that may eventually come a century or so after California’s greenhouse-gas emissions go down by a few percent as a result of this law. In my view, the law will do a lot more harm than good, and most of the California truckers think so too.

AUTHOR

KARL D. STEPHAN

Karl D. Stephan is a professor of electrical engineering at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. This article has been republished, with permission, from his blog Engineering Ethics, which is a Mercator partner site. His eBook Ethical and Otherwise: Engineering In the Headlines is available in Kindle format and also in the iTunes store.

RELATED ARTICLE: Target to close nine stores across four states because of theft and crime

RELATED TWEETS:

EDITORS NOTE: This MERCATOR column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.