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Senate report sets forth details of Hunter Biden's extensive foreign business dealings — and Obama officials' determination to ignore them

Jack Crowe
National Review
Wed, 23 Sep 2020 20:56 UTC
Joe and Hunter Biden
© AP
Joe and Hunter Biden - grifting is all in the family
Senate Republicans released a report Wednesday detailing the extensive business dealings that Hunter Biden pursued with politically connected foreign nationals while his father Joe Biden was serving as vice president.

The 87-page interim report is the product of a months-long probe in which members of the Senate Homeland Security and Finance Committees and their staff reviewed more than 45,000 pages of Obama administration records and interviewed eight witnesses, many of whom are current or former U.S. officials.

"The Treasury records acquired by the Chairmen show potential criminal activity relating to transactions among and between Hunter Biden, his family, and his associates with Ukrainian, Russian, Kazakh and Chinese nationals," the report reads. "In particular, these documents show that Hunter Biden received millions of dollars from foreign sources as a result of business relationships that he built during the period when his father was vice president of the United States and after."

Comment: Fox News highlighted Hunter's business jetsetting back in June 2020:



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Handcuffs

China jails outspoken tycoon, former party member Ren Zhiqiang for 18 years for graft


Bloomberg
Mon, 21 Sep 2020 22:23 UTC
Ren Zhiqiang
© AP
China jailed outspoken property tycoon Ren Zhiqiang for 18 years on graft charges, months after he was linked to an article criticizing President Xi Jinping's handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

The former chairman of Huayuan Property Co. was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to four charges including corruption and abuse of power, the No.2 Beijing Intermediate People's Court said. Ren was found to have amassed some 132 million yuan ($19 million) in bribes and other ill-gotten personal benefits between 2003 and 2017, the court said, adding that he had agreed not to appeal.

The allegations also included causing some 117 million yuan of economic losses at unspecified state-owned companies, according to the court, which provided no details about the crimes. Ren was fined 4.2 million yuan.

The prison term was unusually long, although some figures targeted during Xi's eight-year anti-corruption campaign have been given suspended death sentences. If he serves out his full sentence, Ren, 69, would be about 87 years old by the time of his release.

Shares of Huayuan Property were unchanged as of 1:01 p.m. in Shanghai after falling as much as 1.7% earlier on Tuesday.
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Chess

Assange's removal from embassy was coordinated on 'direct orders from the US president', court told

Mohamed Elmaazi
Sputnik
Mon, 21 Sep 2020 20:39 UTC
assange
Journalist Cassandra Fairbanks has informed the court in Julian Assange's extradition hearing that Arthur Schwartz, who is known as Donald Trump Jr's "fixer", had advance warning of the US indictment against the WikiLeaks publisher.

Julian Assange's removal from the Ecuadorian Embassy was done so "on direct orders from the [US] president", according to information provided to American journalist Cassandra Fairbanks.

Ms Fairbanks' explosive testimony would appear to support to position that Mr Assange's prosecution has a political dimension and reflected a shift in the government's attitude with a change in administration from that of former president Barack Obama.

According to Ms Fairbanks' witness statement, which was read into the court by the defence in Mr Assange's extradition hearing on 21 September 2020, she was contacted by Arthur Schwartz, "a wealthy GOP donor who does communications for [former Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell] and works as an informal adviser to Donald Trump Jr". During this phone call, which Ms Fairbanks recorded, Mr Schwartz was panicking because he believed a Tweet that she published revealed "classified information".
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Heart - Black

Silence of the hypocrites: The US uses the compliant Guardian's hack reporting to justify jailing Assange for life

Joanathan Cook
jonathan-cook.net
Tue, 22 Sep 2020 19:36 UTC
assange box dock courtroom trial hearing
© Le Grand Soir/Unknown
Julian Assange is unable to participate in his own trial, confined to a spot reserved for only the most dangerous offenders.
Julian Assange is not on trial simply for his liberty and his life. He is fighting for the right of every journalist to do hard-hitting investigative journalism without fear of arrest and extradition to the United States. Assange faces 175 years in a US super-max prison on the basis of claims by Donald Trump's administration that his exposure of US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan amounts to "espionage".

The charges against Assange rewrite the meaning of "espionage" in unmistakably dangerous ways. Publishing evidence of state crimes, as Assange's Wikileaks organisation has done, is covered by both free speech and public interest defences. Publishing evidence furnished by whistleblowers is at the heart of any journalism that aspires to hold power to account and in check. Whistleblowers typically emerge in reaction to parts of the executive turning rogue, when the state itself starts breaking its own laws. That is why journalism is protected in the US by the First Amendment. Jettison that and one can no longer claim to live in a free society.

Comment: Meanwhile, the psychological assault on Assange continues:
James Lewis, the lawyer representing Washington at Assange's hearings in London, sought to poke holes in the testimony of renowned professor of neuropsychiatry, Michael Kopelman, who said on Tuesday that the WikiLeaks founder is suffering from "severe depression" after being confined to the maximum security Belmarsh Prison for over 16 months.


Kopelman, who has visited Assange more than 20 times in prison, opined that if the court rules in favor of extradition to the US, it might drive Assange to take his own life. He pointed out that the Australian's years-long isolation at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and the history of depression running in his family make the scenario even more plausible.
It's the imminence of extradition and/or an actual extradition that will trigger the [suicide] attempt, in my opinion
Lewis argued that the symptoms of depression Kopelman saw in Assange are no more than pretense, suggesting that Assange has learned how to imitate the condition by reading the British Medical Journal in his cell and might have lied about having hallucinations, reported Shadowproof's Kevin Gosztola, who attended the hearing.

Lewis also blasted the expert for not identifying Assange's partner, Stella Morris, by name in his first report, which Kopelman said was omitted for the sake of her privacy. Lewis then argued that the fact that Assange had a wife and two small children was "a protective factor against suicide" - a notion which Kopelman rejected, saying that suicide is not a sole prerogative of single people.

In a bid to show that the anti-secrecy activist's mental suffering is a cunning ploy to avoid extradition, Lewis, somewhat surprisingly, invoked the fact that Assange hosted a 12-episode interview show for RT, dubbed World Tomorrow, as far back in 2012, and even referenced his publication of documents exposing US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2010.

The prosecutor reportedly asked if the depression Assange ostensibly developed after spending years in self-imposed exile, as well as in prison, "prevented Mr Assange's solicitation or leaking of material from the US government."

Lewis' innuendo that Assange's depression is all just a show has prompted a harsh rebuke from WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, Kristinn Hrafnsson.
It's quite extraordinary to hear the questions which are indicative of their willingness to try to establish that Julian Assange is simply making this up. We see this as appalling in all respects
Should he lose the court battle and be extradited to the US, Assange will be tried under the World War I-era Espionage Act and faces up to 175 years behind bars.


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Brick Wall

Democrats cry 'fascism' as Florida Gov. DeSantis proposes making participation in 'disorderly assemblies' a felony


RT
Tue, 22 Sep 2020 19:57 UTC
Ron DeSantis
© Reuters/Al Diaz; Reuters/Maria Alejandra Cardona (file photos)
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has called for a harsh crackdown on violent and "disorderly" protests, proposing a bill that would bring steep penalties for rioting. Critics insist the law is a "fascist" ban on free expression.

The Republican governor introduced the new law during a Monday press conference - the Combating Violence, Disorder, and Looting and Law Enforcement Protection Act - which, if passed by the state legislature, would make participation in "disorderly assemblies" a third-degree felony, among other measures.

"Our right to peacefully assemble is one of our most cherished as Americans, but throughout the country we've seen that right being taken advantage of by professional agitators, bent on sowing disorder and causing mayhem in our cities," DeSantis said in a statement.
I will not allow this kind of violence to occur here in Florida.
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Dollars

Pentagon redirected pandemic funds to defense contractors: report

Justine Coleman
The Hill
Tue, 22 Sep 2020 09:22 UTC
DoD/dollar/Covid
© Rogue Rocket
The Pentagon redirected most of its $1 billion in pandemic funding to defense contractors who exchanged the money for jet engine parts, body armor, dress uniforms and other military needs, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

The CARES Act passed by Congress in March granted the Department of Defense $1 billion to both prevent and get ready to respond to the coronavirus, but the Post reported that in the weeks that followed, hundreds of millions of the taxpayer money was instead utilized to obtain military supplies.

This was a change from the intent of Congress, the Post noted.

Meanwhile, U.S. health officials are still requesting funding for pandemic response, including $6 billion for states to make vaccines available when they are developed and to address a shortage in N95 masks for hospitals. The Pentagon has also requested that $11 billion be provided in a potential new stimulus bill being debated by Congress.

Congress instructed the $1 billion in the CARES Act to go to Defense Production Act (DPA) efforts, which permits President Trump to direct U.S. companies to manufacture necessary products, such as personal protective equipment (PPE).

Comment: The economic downturn has detrimentally impacted all sectors of global society. The US defense industry would arguably be the best insulated and priority funded. This amounts to robbing the poor to pay the rich.

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Snakes in Suits

Explosive GOP Report: Hunter Biden's alleged connections to Russian trafficking rings, Chinese and criminal activity

Sara Carter
saraacarter.com
Wed, 23 Sep 2020 13:19 UTC
joe biden and hunter biden
This story is developing. Please return for more updates.

An explosive Senate Report exposes possible criminal activity of Former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, and his position on a board with the Ukrainian energy giant Burisma Holdings.

The year long investigation by the Senate ended Wednesday and exposed what Senator's Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee and Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, allege was ongoing malfeasance by Hunter Biden, as well as those connected to him. Those allegations suggest that the son of the Democratic candidate for president took money from senior Russian officials, criminal elements, as well as people and businesses connected to the Chinese Communist party.

For example, one key finding alleges that "Hunter Biden had business associations with Ye Jianming, Gongwen Dong, and other Chinese nationals linked to the Communist government and the People's Liberation Army. Those associations resulted in millions of dollars in cash flow."

Another key finding suggests that "Hunter Biden paid nonresident women who were nationals of Russia or other Eastern European countries and who appear to be linked to an "Eastern European prostitution or human trafficking ring."
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Better Earth

UN thanks Putin for "generous" coronavirus vaccine offer, says it will be studied by experts

Daria Bedenko
Sputnik
Tue, 22 Sep 2020 21:32 UTC

Comment: Sneaky Vlad! The Russian president probably understands that his high-profile 'generosity' forces the globalists to acknowledge alternatives (and likely far safer ones) to those gene-editing vaccines being churned out by the Gates Crony Network...


Stephane Dujarric
© REUTERS / MIKE SEGAR
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric
Earlier during his virtual message at the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered the UN to provide it with Russian-made anti-coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, free of charge.

The UN thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for offering free Sputnik V vaccine to the UN staffers and said that medical services will examine his proposition, according to the UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.

"We thank President Putin for his generous offer, which will be examined by our medical services", he said.

Earlier in the day, Putin offered the UN staffers to provide them with Sputnik V - the first anti-coronavirus vaccine in the world made in Russia - free of charge.

Comment: If there is anyone with any integrity still working at the UN, perhaps this will push them to question why, instead of just opting for Russia's admittedly safer and effective vaccine, they're, instead, wasting time and risking lives concocting a dangerously experimental one of their own: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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Airplane

Tucker Carlson: Dems threaten to fly to Washington, prevent Senate vote on SCOTUS nominee by laying down and blocking the door

Jim Hoft
The Gateway Pundit
Mon, 21 Sep 2020 08:43 UTC
CarlsonFNews
© Fox News screenshot
Tucker Carlson opened his show on the left's latest threats against Republicans, the US President and America. Democrats are determined to prevent the Republican President and Republican Senate to nominate and confirm the next Supreme Court Justice to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The 87-year-old Ginsburg passed away at home on Friday.

Democrats are threatening impeachment of President Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr. And Democrats are even threatening to block access to the Republican senators from entering the US Senate Chamber in the US Capitol Building. Gavin Newsom's Chief of Staff Ann O'Leary tweeted out that she's ready to lie down and block GOP senators from entering the US Capitol to vote on the next SCOTUS justice.


The Democrats are out of control. In fact, they are dangerous.

Comment:



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Pharoah

Military generals are just another group of self-interested technocrats

Mises Institute
Ryan McMaken
Mon, 21 Sep 2020 00:00 UTC
James Mattis
The United States has always had a love affair with certain generals. George Washington, of course, was immensely popular, and thirteen US presidents were generals before they were president.

But prior to the Second World War, generals as a group were not revered or treated with any particular veneration or respect. In fact, in the nineteenth century, full-time US military officers were often treated with suspicion and contempt. While state militia officers were regarded as indispensable night watchmen who preserved order, the full-time government employees who served in the federal military were often derided as lazy and otherwise unemployable.

But now those days are long gone. In recent decades, active generals and retired generals have grown into a group of politically influential technocrats who can be regularly seen on evening news programs and are habitually feted and promoted as incorruptible patriots. They are fawned over by media organizations while being paid enormous pensions. Moreover, upon retirement they are able to turn their former government employment into lucrative positions on corporate boards and throughout the private sector.

Comment: Now we can imagine why some of these generals have just gotten on the election 2020 anti-Trump bandwagon. No doubt a lot of these figures have been promised something in the way of compensation.

See also:

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