Breaking: Biden at Last Presidential Debate: ‘My Son Has Not Made Money’ from China
And:
Now that Biden intends to nominate the lying Susan Rice to lead domestic policy he should also nominate Donna Brazile, another liar, to be in his cabinet. He, then will have just about covered the waterfront in categorized appointees.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++This was verified by a reliable source:
NEW DETAILS: WARNOCK'S TIES TO SUSPECTED CHILD ABUSE DEEPER THAN ORIGINALLY KNOWN
And:
Political corruption is running rampant in and outside our country.
Subject: Experiment: can votes be changed by electronic voting machines?
Watch this full screen....
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Watch Biden claim this:
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"Syrupprised" they too did not get Nobel Peace Prizes:
Joe & Kamala named "Person of the Year" by TIME Magazine
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ China creeping closer to our shores with the intent of increasing our pothead population.
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Rise in Israeli strikes in Syria has led to decrease of Iranian activity
Over 500 strikes on all fronts, but "we still have a long way to go to complete our goals," says IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi.
Iran’s entrenchment in Syria is slowing down as a result of ongoing IDF operations which have increased over the past year, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi announced Friday. The IDF chief also revealed for the first time that the military has carried out cyberattacks.
“The Iranian entrenchment in Syria is in a clear slowdown as a result of IDF activity, but we still have a long way to go to complete our goals in this arena,” he said.The past year has seen an increase in pace and quality of Israeli strikes against Iranian assets in Syria, including kinetic operations as well as an expansion of both covert and clandestine ones.
“We have struck over 500 targets this year, on all fronts, in addition to multiple clandestine missions,” Kochavi said.
Israel has warned repeatedly about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, as well as its aspirations of regional hegemony, and has admitted to hundreds of airstrikes as part of its “war-between-wars” campaign (known as MABAM in Hebrew) to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon and the entrenchment of its forces in Syria, where they could easily act against Israel.
Not only have the strikes in Syria destroyed an immeasurable amount of advanced weaponry, but in recent months, Iran has also significantly reduced the number of cargo flights into Syria which are used to smuggle weapons into the war-torn country.Iranian bases, camps and headquarters have also been moved from the area around Damascus towards the northern and eastern parts of Syria, and the number of Iranian troops and militia members has also shrunk considerably.
And while the IDF has publicly claimed operations in Syria, they have remained mum when foreign reports have blamed Israel’s war-between-wars for strikes in countries far from its borders.
But in a subtle hint, Kochavi admitted that Israel has acted in other countries, saying that “we operate in six areas intensively. There are arenas with activities on a daily basis and there are those with weekly or monthly activities.”
“The Middle East is the most divided and violent region in the world,” Kochavi said, adding that “most of the countries surrounding Israel have areas without governance, and that challenges us to operate with ‘classic’ measures.”
According to the IDF chief, Israel’s military has also “carried out many offensive operations” in the cybersphere, which he said is “the most significant combat arena that has changed this year.”
In late June, as part of the IDF’s Momentum multi-year plan, the military opened the Strategy and Third-Circle Directorate, an entirely new position on the General Staff, which focuses principally on Israel’s fight against Iran.
The new directorate under the command of Brig.-Gen. Tal Kalman is expected to bolster the IDF’s attack capabilities.
But even before the directorate became operational, Israel was accused of launching a major cyberattack on Iran’s Shahid Rajaee Port, near the coastal city of Bandar Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz, causing chaos for days after the facility’s computer system crashed after being suddenly hit by hackers on May 9.
A series of mysterious “accidents” targeting Iran’s missile and nuclear program over the summer led many to wonder if the IDF’s war-between-wars campaign has expanded to target key nuclear sites.
While Defense Minister Benny Gantz denied any Israeli role in the incidents, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi meanwhile hinted otherwise, saying at the Maariv conference in July that “we have a long-term policy over the course of many administrations not to allow Iran to have nuclear abilities. This [Iranian] regime with those abilities is an existential threat to Israel... We take actions that are better left unsaid.”
Like Israel’s war-between-wars campaign, those who carry out cyberattacks usually do so far from the target and anonymously in order to allow for some plausible deniability to prevent an escalation.
Despite the ongoing tensions in the North, the IDF views the overall strategic-security situation as having improved compared to previous years.
“We conclude a year in which we successfully met the IDF’s first mission - to provide protection and security,” said Kochavi, adding that “we prevented all attempts to infiltrate into the State of Israel and saw a decrease in the number of casualties and rocket fire on Israel. “
In the Gaza Strip, for example, 2019 saw the most serious peak of violence between Israel and terror groups since the end of Operation Protective Edge in 2014. Dozens of rounds of violence saw about 1,300 rockets fired. Seven Israeli civilians and two IDF soldiers were also killed, the highest number of casualties since Operation Protective Edge.
But, over the past year, rocket attacks have decreased, with 174 fired in 2020, and terror attacks in the West Bank have also decreased significantly, claiming the lives of one Israeli civilian and one IDF soldier.
Touching on the recent normalization deals with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, two countries who also view Iran as hostile, the chief of staff said that the moves “have a positive impact on alliances and security aspects in the Middle East.”
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If there ever was a lousy Judge his name would be Sullivan.
Judge Sullivan’s Final ‘Verdict’
A presidential pardon prompts a norm-busting outburst from the bench.
By Kimberley A. Strassel
It’s
tempting to say that Judge Emmet Sullivan’s final ruling in the Michael Flynn
case reduced the judiciary to the level of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
But that would be unfair to today’s law enforcement.
Judge Sullivan finally, belatedly, churlishly dismissed the Flynn case as moot on Tuesday, two weeks after President Trump pardoned the former national security adviser. But the self-important Judge Sullivan couldn’t resist delivering a parting “verdict.” He issued a 43-page opinion in which he all but declared Mr. Flynn guilty of lying and perjury and the entire Justice Department corrupt.
Attorney General William Barr has at least been attempting
to atone for the FBI’s and Justice Department’s scurrilous behavior during the
2016 campaign and after Mr. Trump’s election. Earlier this year Mr. Barr
assigned a veteran prosecutor, Jeffrey Jensen, to review the original Flynn
case—amid growing evidence the FBI had entrapped him and that special counsel
Robert Mueller’s prosecutors had pressured him to plead guilty of lying to the
bureau. Mr. Jensen’s findings were unequivocal. He said the FBI’s January 2017
interview of Mr. Flynn should never have happened, as it was “untethered” to a
legitimate investigation. Mr. Jensen recommended the charges be dropped, which
the department officially asked Judge Sullivan to do in May.
This was an important moment—the Justice Department
showing rare humility and attempting to reassure Americans that it was
returning to one standard of justice. With the prosecutors no longer standing
behind the charges, dismissing the case should have been a mere formality. Yet Judge
Sullivan chose to besmirch both the Barr effort and the judiciary by matching
James Comey’s FBI for Trump Derangement Syndrome. He refused to dismiss the
charges, suggesting that the Justice Department was conspiring to help a Trump
crony—a view he pressed straight through his final opinion this week.
In
issuing that opinion, Judge Sullivan
shredded precedent, constitutional principle and other legal standards. Under
the separation of powers, prosecutors, not judges, decide who gets charged. It
is also a longstanding legal doctrine that federal officials are entitled to
the presumption of regularity; judges give deference to the executive branch’s
knowledge of facts and, by extension, to its decision making. In the Flynn
case, the Justice Department presented Judge Sullivan with overwhelming
evidence of regular order. A veteran prosecutor had reviewed the case, and the
department documented to the court the problems of the Flynn prosecution.
Judge
Sullivan positioned himself as prosecutor, judge, jury and lord high
executioner. He went so far as to hire a former federal judge, John Gleeson, to
make the case against Mr. Flynn—and Mr. Barr. Mr. Gleeson gave it his all,
filing a 30-page brief asserting there was “clear evidence” the motion to
dismiss “reflects a corrupt and politically motivated favor unworthy of our
justice system.” That implies a grand conspiracy and impugns the reputations of
dozens of Justice Department professionals. Yet it turns out the only evidence
Mr. Gleeson had for such an outrageous claim was Mr. Trump’s tweets expressing
interest in justice for Mr. Flynn.
Meanwhile,
have pity (or not) on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia, which in August naively provided Judge Sullivan the opportunity to
dig out—which he disrespectfully declined. A three-judge panel in June ordered
Judge Sullivan to drop the case. He appealed, and the full D.C. Circuit agreed
to hear his plea. That was a mistake, establishing joint ownership of Judge
Sullivan’s malpractice.
The court
made a second mistake by wrapping itself in legal knots (with Chief Judge Sri
Srinivasan ignoring his own 2016 precedent, known as U.S.
v. Fokker Services) to give Judge Sullivan an out, claiming he
should at least be provided the opportunity to rule. The appellate court made
clear this was a face-saving exercise; it expected Judge Sullivan to dismiss
the case quickly. Instead he made fools this week of his higher-court
colleagues. He sat on the case for months, and only when forced by a pardon did
he issue a ruling in which he made clear he had no intention of granting the
Justice Department’s dismissal motion. (Judge Srinivisan’s willingness to
remake law at the behest of a rogue judge is worth remembering if his name
comes up for elevation to the Supreme Court.)
It was Mr. Comey’s arrogance that dragged the country into the three-year Russia-collusion saga, so perhaps the Sullivan ruling is a natural bookend. It’s a reminder that for all the caterwauling these past four years about the breaking of “norms” and “standards,” the unhinged critics of Mr. Trump have done the most damage to the system.
Mr. Flynn has finally received justice. It remains a shame that so many
officials were willing to do so much damage to so many institutions while
hounding him for years.
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The Fourth Estate have no credibility and would not know a news story if it hit them in the face unless it was derogatory and involved conservatives, Republicans and/or Trump.
Hunter Biden
Business
The story the press ignored returns in time for Joe’s
Presidency.
The Editorial Board
So Hunter Biden’s
business is news after all. Who knew? Well, the New York Post did, and so did
we and a few others.
But in October when
the Post broke the story of an email, allegedly from Hunter Biden’s laptop,
referring to a meeting he’d arranged between his father and an executive from a
Ukrainian energy company, Democrats and most of the press told Americans it was
Russian disinformation. The story was banned on Twitter. But with the election over, presto, even CNN’s Jake Tapper
is a born-again bloodhound.
That is itself a scandal. When the younger Mr. Biden’s business
relationships first surfaced—e.g., his highly paid position on the Burisma
corporate board, despite no background in Ukraine or energy—it should have
provoked serious reporting. Instead, the people who spent years claiming Donald Trump was a Russian agent ignored
much stronger evidence that the younger Mr. Biden had been getting rich on his
father’s name. He sometimes traveled to business meetings as a tag-along with
his Vice President dad on Air Force II.These latest reports are no surprise to
Sens. Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley, the chairmen of investigating Senate
committees. In September they released a joint report detailing some of Hunter’s
million-dollar dealings with politically connected
foreigners. The report said they raised “serious counterintelligence and
extortion concerns relating to Hunter Biden and his family.”
The press yawned. One who did
not was our Kimberley Strassel. On Oct. 22 she wrote a column headlined “The
Biden ‘Family Legacy,’” based on email and
texts between Hunter and business partner Tony Bobulinski that suggest Joe
Biden’s son knew exactly what he was cashing in on. At one point he reminded
Mr. Bobulinksi that the heads of CEFC China Energy, a Shanghai-based
conglomerate closely entwined with the Chinese government, are “coming to be MY
partner to be partners with the Bidens.”
The story is impossible to ignore now that Hunter admitted
Wednesday that the U.S. Attorney in Delaware “is investigating my tax affairs.”
Other news outlets report the investigation is broader than taxes, covering
subjects from securities fraud to money laundering. The investigation began in
2018, yet Hunter has been spared the leaks that plagued every investigation
into Donald Trump’s finances and dealings. Credit to the Trump FBI and Justice
Department for not leaking.
Hunter Biden says he did nothing wrong and an examination will clear his name. His father issued a statement saying, essentially, that he loves and trusts his son. No doubt. But even the press corps may awaken from its partisan slumbers to wonder if Hunter broke any laws or made himself vulnerable to influence or blackmail by adversaries such as China. The matter will certainly complicate life for whomever Mr. Biden nominates to be his Attorney General.
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And: How did Hunter enrich himself and possible "the big man?"
The Bidens and
Beijing
Tax questions about Hunter’s income raise again the question of how he earned it.
By James Freeman
Hunter Biden may have wanted to hold 10% for the “big guy,” but did he forget to set aside 37% for Uncle Sam? A tax investigation focused on the Biden family’s highly questionable sources of income may finally force them to answer precisely how such income is generated in the first place.
The Journal’s Ken Thomas and Sabrina
Siddiqui report:
Hunter
Biden, the son of President-elect Joe Biden, said in a statement Wednesday that the
U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware is “investigating my tax affairs,” putting
his financial dealings in the spotlight, as his father builds his
administration.
Hunter
Biden said he takes the matter “very seriously” and is “confident that a
professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I
handled my affairs legally and appropriately.”
The
Justice Department declined to comment on Wednesday.
Exactly one year ago,
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and six Democrats
chairing House committees unveiled their plan to charge President Donald Trump with impeachment articles which
did not claim he had committed any crimes. Mr. Trump’s alleged offense was
suggesting that a foreign government look into Hunter Biden dealings which any
reasonable person would say deserved examination. A source now tells the
Journal that the feds began investigating Biden taxes in 2018. One year ago
today, did any of the congressional Democrats know that as they were accusing
Mr. Trump of non-crimes, the subject of his scrutiny was already under U.S.
criminal investigation?
And no, the investigation wasn’t manufactured by Mr. Trump,
according to the Journal’s reporting.
The
investigation was sparked in part by reports of suspicious activity filed by a
bank that handled foreign transactions related to Hunter Biden, one person
said...
The
younger Mr. Biden said in the statement that he learned about the investigation
for the first time Tuesday through his legal counsel, who he said was advised
of it by the U.S. attorney’s office on the same day. The Biden transition
declined to say when the president-elect learned of the investigation.
Now why won’t Joe Biden’s office say when he learned about the
investigation? Perhaps there’s a difference of opinion within the family about
whether Tuesday is a plausible moment for the subject of a two-year-old
investigation to learn about it.
“What is curious is that
Hunter Biden says that he just learned of the investigation on Tuesday,” observes George
Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley on Twitter. “Yet, many of
us have discussed the 2019 subpoena in the case for his laptop as an obvious
indicator of a criminal investigation.”
Ben Schreckinger at
Politico writes:
The
federal investigation into President-elect Joe Biden’s son Hunter has been more
extensive than a statement from Hunter Biden indicates, according to a person
with firsthand knowledge of the investigation...
The
person said that, as of early last year, investigators in Delaware and
Washington were also probing potential money laundering and Hunter Biden’s
foreign ties. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are
not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
In
addition to the probe into Hunter Biden, federal authorities in the Western
District of Pennsylvania are conducting a criminal investigation of a hospital
business in which Joe Biden’s brother James was involved. Federal officials
have asked questions about James Biden’s role in the business, according to a
second person with direct knowledge of that investigation, who said it remains
ongoing.
The Bidens maintain that they are innocent and the Justice
Department isn’t commenting.
“Federal criminal
investigation into Hunter Biden focuses on his business dealings in China” is
the headline on a
CNN dispatch from Evan Perez and Pamela Brown, who write:
Investigators
have been examining multiple financial issues, including whether Hunter Biden
and his associates violated tax and money laundering laws in business dealings
in foreign countries, principally China, according to two people briefed on the
probe.
Some of
those transactions involved people who the FBI believe sparked
counterintelligence concerns, a common issue when dealing with Chinese
business, according to another source.
It surely is a concern, especially when the manifestly
unqualified son of a leading American politician scores financial coups in
China—in ventures that no one seems able to fully explain. The Journal’s Mr.
Thomas and Ms. Siddiqui note:
A
Republican Senate investigation earlier this year looked into Hunter Biden’s
finances, examining a series of payments it alleged he received from entities
linked to Chinese oil company CEFC China Energy Co, among others. The GOP
findings, based on documents obtained from the Treasury Department, showed that
Hunter Biden’s law firm, Owasco PC, received nearly $5 million from CEFC...
Hunter
Biden has owned 10% of a Shanghai private-equity firm, known as BHR Partners,
since 2017 through a corporation registered in Delaware and was formerly a
director there.
Perhaps by now the Bidens
and BHR have come up with a good explanation of what exactly Hunter Biden was
doing for the business. Readers may recall when this issue
came up last year and Cissy Zhou and Jun Mai tried to get
an answer from BHR for readers of the South China Morning Post:
The
company has repeatedly declined to elaborate on the younger Biden’s role at the
firm when contacted by the South China Morning Post via phone, mail and visits
to the office. But Jonathan Li Xiangsheng, the firm’s chief executive and
Hunter Biden’s partner, has said the company was working on an explanation
about the American’s role.
Li
refused to comment on the younger Biden when reached by the Post on Monday.
A
recent visit to the firm’s registered address in Beijing found a small, plainly
decorated office, where a receptionist said she had never seen Hunter Biden.
It’s also not easy to explain many other Biden connections.
Politico’s Mr. Schreckinger runs through some of the more disturbing
associations:
Hunter
Biden has also pursued deals with Chinese oil magnate Ye Jianming and an
associate of Ye’s, Patrick Ho. In 2018, Ho was convicted in the Southern
District of New York of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act over his
attempts to bribe government officials in Chad and Uganda.
Another
business partner of Hunter Biden’s, Devon Archer, was convicted in 2018 in the
Southern District of New York on unrelated fraud charges. Bank records showing
foreign payments to Hunter Biden surfaced as a part of that case.
After a
judge overturned Archer’s conviction in late 2018 (an appeals court reinstated
the conviction last month), prosecutors in the SDNY securities fraud unit
revisited Archer’s case and began last year to scrutinize those foreign
payments to Hunter Biden, looking for signs of money laundering, according to
the person with firsthand knowledge of the investigation. But after conferring
with prosecutors in Delaware, whose investigation was already well underway and
acknowledged Wednesday by Hunter Biden, prosecutors in the SDNY securities
fraud unit ceased their probing without opening a separate, formal
investigation, the person said.
Looking at the roster of
Biden associates, this column’s most
celebrated alumnus might mischievously ask: Why do bad things
keep happening to them? But where and with whom the Biden family chooses to do
business has nothing to do with coincidence.
***
When your humble
correspondent and Maria Bartiromo were interviewing the president last summer for a
book, Mr. Trump mentioned that he used to wonder why his Beltway
adversaries always use Russia when advancing conspiracy theories about him. He
chuckled as he recounted the moment he understood why and said, “They never use
China. You know why? ’Cause they’re all getting rich on China.”
***
Mr. Freeman is the co-author of “The Cost: Trump, China and American Revival.”
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