Wednesday • November 27 • 2024
Vol.XVI • No.XLVIII
Manchester, N.H.
Another aging and in ill-health US Senator for Life, Dianne Feinstein, has died at the age of 90. DiFi, who will be remembered for working diligently to rob people of their right to self-defense and for having a Chinese spy as a driver, passed away from an undeclared cause of death.
Old age, probably.
The California Senator stepped down from her perch atop the powerful Judiciary Committee due to poor health and political pressure after bouts with illness had prevented her from reporting to work, most notably for three months in 2022, and reports of her diminished capacity, including her inability to remember her colleague’s names.
DiFi’s health deteriorated quickly, but they continued to wheel her about to protect the Democrat’s slim majority in the US Senate—Something we like to call elder abuse. Her replacement is expected to vote just like she did, so it’ll be like she’s still there.
Gov Gavin Nuisance is expected to appoint an interim replacement quickly.
(Sept 11, 2023) California Gov. Gavin Newsom confirmed on Sunday that he is prepared to appoint an “interim” replacement for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., if she leaves office early. Newsom made the statement during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. The ailing Feinstein has confirmed that she will not run for re-election in 2024, but speculation about her health has raised questions about whether she will remain in office until her current term ends.
Newsom says he will not pick any of the current candidates running to replace her as the interim appointee, however, much to the chagrin of Rep. Barbara Lee, who had been widely considered Newsom’s top pick for the role.
Barbra Lee is pissed, by the way, which seems par for the course.
Newsom pledged earlier in his tenure that his next interim appointment to the Senate would be a black woman. Lee fits the bill, but she has now been disqualified thanks to the governor’s pledge not to pick a current candidate for Feinstein’s seat. …
“I am troubled by the Governor’s remarks,” she wrote. “The idea that a Black woman should be appointed only as a caretaker to simply check a box is insulting to countless Black women across this country who have carried the Democratic Party to victory election after election.”
Boo Hoo.
Newsom is (actually) right about something for once. If he appoints a candidate, they’ll get an immediate advantage, which wouldn’t be fair.
Win your primary, and the job is yours, not that it’ll make any difference. Can you imagine Shifty Schiff or Barbra Lee in the US Senate for the rest of their life?
California deserves better, but they lack the votes or will to do so.
I wonder if all that earthquake “slipping into the sea” business was metaphorical. The urbanized coast has certainly slipped off a ledge into the progressive bilge in recent years, perhaps never to return. Not if they keep electing Democrats.
The post Breaking News: Dianne Feinstein Has Died – Gov Nuisance to Appoint Her Replacement appeared first on Granite Grok.
“Are you better off than you were four years ago?”
Then-candidate Ronald Reagan posed that iconic rhetorical question during his 1980 debate with then-President Jimmy Carter. The voters answered with a resounding “NO!” when they elected Reagan by a huge margin of 489 electoral votes to 49. That Reagan question has since become a staple of presidential polls.
Fast forward 43 years: a record number of Americans — 44 percent — said in response to an ABC News/Washington Post Poll released in September that they are worse off financially today than before Biden was elected president. Historically, that is the worst figure for any president since the poll began in 1986. In November of 2018, just 13 percent of Americans said they were worse off since Trump took office.
Biden’s approval rating is equally dismal, standing at a weak 37 percent in the same poll. In a hypothetical match-up against Trump, Trump leads by nine percentage points, 51 percent to 42.
These dreadful Biden poll numbers are due in large part to the abject failure of Biden’s radical progressive economic program (which he calls “Bidenomics”). Biden’s misguided policies have led to inflation, the decimation of America’s energy production, reckless spending, a spurious investment in questionable green energy initiatives and the highest mortgage rates in over 20 years.
Bidenomics has created severe economic turmoil for Americans. Families are struggling mightily. Sixty-one percent of hard-working Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck. Seventy-five percent of those earning less than $50,000, and 65 percent of those making $50,000 to $100,000 per year struggle to pay for gas and groceries and to make ends meet due to the heavy burden of inflation.
In difficult straits, many families have resorted to credit cards to pay their bills. As a result, Americans’ overall credit debt has reached a record high of $1 trillion. This represents a $300 billion increase since Biden was elected president.
This mounting debt is creating a financial crisis for families and the country. Delinquencies in payments and default rates on credit cards, auto loans and consumer loans are at their highest levels in a decade and are increasing at a rapid rate. Not only are families in an intractable bind, but consumer-focused businesses such as car dealerships and department stores are dealing with significant losses and shortfalls in revenue due to these delinquencies and defaults.
Meanwhile, home ownership has become a fading dream for many Americans as interest rates rise above seven percent and families’ debt burdens make a mortgage unaffordable and unattainable.
Americans’ struggles are reflected in the ABC News/Washington Post Poll, in which 74 percent of Americans described the economy as not good or poor, and nine out of 10 Americans had the same negative assessment of gas and food prices.
Families are not fooled by Biden’s false economic rhetoric. They see the truth every time they pull into a gas station or buy groceries.
Just like they said “No” to Carters failed agenda more than 40 years ago, American voters today need to say “No” to Biden’s economic crisis, and “Yes” to free enterprise, innovation, entrepreneurship and American energy.
Michael Clancy is a lawyer, member of the Federalist Society, and a frequent contributor to The Daily Caller on Constitutional law and political issues. Follow him on Twitter @MikeClancyVA.
Michael Clancy | Daily Caller News Service
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The illegal alien invasion has been filling up local hotels, driving out local business owners, and now it has reached a new level of perfidy. A New York Nursing Home told its residents to get lost to make room for New York’s newest migrant shelter.
Care of Benny Johnson on Twitter.
Meet Frank Tammaro of New York. Frank is a decorated Korean War veteran.
Frank signed up to serve his country in 1950. He fought honorably. How have Biden Democrats repaid Frank for his service?
Frank was left HOMELESS to make way for millions of criminal illegal aliens that Biden Democrats welcomed into the country. Frank’s nursing home was converted to a “Migrant Shelter” because of New York’s “Sanctuary City” status.
In Frank’s own words, he was “given two weeks” to leave his long-term nursing home and was made “homeless” by Democrat open border policies.
Frank has been kicked to the street by Biden Democrats for a new population imported into America to give the Democrat Party more power.
A vote for Biden Democrats is a vote to make 95-Year-Old American Heroes Homeless.
Remember this evil.
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Many of us question the validity and accuracy of polls. Whether regarding a policy or the policy maker, the stats often seem tainted and biased. You usually have to analyze the poll takers and the source of info that accompanies the poll before you can trust the data. Years ago, polls were taken by calling random home phones. With very few landlines, polling techniques had to change, and the results over the last decade show those changes might not have been correct or effective. Don’t bet the house on poll results; you have to draw trends and the people’s temperature from the polls. To ignore polls is to do so at your own peril. Karine Jeanne Pierre said on Monday that the White House does not pay attention to polls from any source, and with the data on the current polls, they probably wish they could sign an executive order banning them.
There will be seven Republican candidates on the debate stage Wednesday night. Asa Hutchinson did not make the cut, falling short on ratings and contributions. Of the seven that did make the RNC’s cut, they really need to take stock of why they are still in the race. If you have been working the voters of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina and are stuck in single digits in the polls, your message is not getting through or wanted.
The case is the same for the President and his Administration. You may not like or agree with the polls, but if you are so upside down on the President’s approval, the economy, or our defense readiness, face it: any segment of the President’s performance you look at, you have to look in the mirror. You must look at yourself, drop the ego, and admit your vision of the country and the future does not align with the populace. KJP and Biden can take to the microphone daily and tell you how good things are because of Joe Biden’s policies, but politicians are vision and ego; people are reality. The reality today in America is not good. Drop the mic.
The Democrats are not following Biden’s plan of hunkering down, and we will simply win the White House again. They are more realistic than the feeble Biden and know the Oval Office is slipping from their grip. Biden likes to strut and remind everyone that he beat Donald Trump once and, based on the successes of his first term, he will beat Trump again. They see how upside down Biden and Harris are in every poll, and his chances of winning are bleak. The problem is pushing aside a sitting President who does not want to be pushed.
They have a doubly hard task ahead, for if they successfully move Biden, what do they do with Harris. As the sitting VP, she will expect to move into the first spot, but she is even weaker than Biden. No Vice President has ever had lower approval ratings. So what are the options? They are few. They have to prod Biden to make the move himself and give Kamala something to assuage her ego. The clock is ticking, and a decision must be forthcoming in the next few weeks. The final puzzle piece is what to do with Kennedy and Williamson. They have a right to be considered, and having been dissed by the DNC to this point, they will be tough to bargain with. The Dems have a mess of their creation. It will be fun to see them fight their way out of this paper bag.
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Being on the same wavelength as others is the main criterion for businesses to meet the needs of consumers. It is important to keep up with the latest trends to remain competitive in the market. By doing this, you will have a huge edge over your competitors since new trends are forming extremely fast with the rapid progress of technologies.
This article will serve as a guide to help you learn about new trends for developing the best mobile application in 2024. But first, we will touch on some of the statistics.
What Are the Prospects for Mobile Development?Demand in the mobile app development market continues to grow. Statistically, more than 6.3 million users have signed up for mobile networks globally, and this number is expected to exceed 7.7 billion by 2028.
Entering the mobile development market is becoming extremely difficult. New players in the mobile market need to adopt the latest technologies and unique solutions to engage consumers.
Now let’s move on to the main part of the article and see what trends are emerging now.
Artificial intelligence and Machine LearningAI and ML now can be used in a variety of ways to develop mobile applications such as:
Chatbots are software applications designed to imitate human-like dialogue with users via computer-mediated communication. These days, you can find chatbots in a wide variety of applications, from customer service to healthcare and education. Users may get chatbot help whenever they need it since they are available around the clock. They may also collect information and suggestions that are useful in making decisions.
Augmented Reality and Virtual RealityAR and VR are two emerging technologies that are seeing increasing popularity within the realm of mobile application development. Augmented reality enables users to superimpose digital material onto the physical world, enhancing the real-world experience. In contrast, virtual reality offers a fully immersive experience by creating a simulated environment. The use of these technologies by developers is facilitating the creation of applications that serve educational, gaming, and entertainment purposes.
5G TechnologyThe next generation of cellular network technology, known as 5G, provides data speeds that are much higher than those of 4G and reduced latency. Businesses will use 5G technology as an addition to other current networks. This will enable developers to produce more immersive and engaging mobile experiences. Because almost all computations can now be completed on the server side, this will save energy expenditures and increase battery life.
Internet of Things (IoT) App IntegrationIoT refers to the interconnected network of tangible things that are capable of connecting to and communicating over the internet. There is a growing trend among developers to include IoT devices in their mobile applications, enabling consumers to manage and supervise these devices using their smartphones.
Beacon TechnologyMany mobile app developers have begun to use modern beacon technology solutions. In a nutshell, beacons are small, Bluetooth-enabled, low-energy transmitters that broadcast signals to smart devices. These gadgets have been available for about a decade, but they are now seeing a surge in popularity due to their usefulness in mobile app development.
This is particularly relevant to internet stores. Users have access to relevant information based on their current location, timely notifications, and the ability to pay using their mobile devices. In fact, beacon technology is one of the newest trends, innovations, and insights from the mobile app market.
Wearable App IntegrationThe popularity of wearable gadgets, such as smartwatches and fitness trackers, is on the rise. Developers are incorporating these gadgets into their mobile applications in order to enable consumers to manage and supervise their wearable devices using their smartphones. Mobile apps that handle smart gadgets might have the following features:
Due to the increasing use of foldable smartphones, developers must make applications that are tailored for consumers. This entails providing compatibility with various screen sizes and layouts, as well as ensuring optimal functionality of the application in both the folded and unfolded states of the device.
These are a few of the most exciting directions in mobile app development for 2023. There will be fresh developments in the mobile industry as time goes on. Successful mobile app development requires that developers remain abreast of industry developments.
SummaryThe future holds only more intelligence and sophistication for mobile devices. The market for mobile app development reacts quickly to innovations. People want technology that is cutting-edge, practical, and easy to use. Cutting-edge technologies can be simply incorporated into mobile app development like AI, beacons, IoT, 5G, augmented reality, and virtual reality. This is why innovative trends are so important for business executives to monitor.
Every trend doesn’t have to be considered in every app you build. But to be able to adjust as necessary, you must have a basic awareness of how the market is changing.
The 8 trends for app development that we discussed above will rule in 2024, according to a thorough study.
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[This is] a timeline of events focusing on federal authorities’ pursuit of alleged Biden family corruption. This resource will be updated as warranted.
Summary(Click the links just below to jump to the desired section.)
Nov. 2018-June 2020: Hunter Biden Probe Begins;
President Trump Impeached While Pursuing Biden-Ukraine Information; Alleged Justice Department Undermining of Probe Begins.
Nov. 2018: The Internal Revenue Service’s Washington D.C. office opens investigation into Hunter Biden, code name “Sportsman,” as an offshoot of a probe into a foreign-based amateur online pornography platform.
According to IRS Special Agent Joseph Ziegler, the case agent who will later turn whistleblower, evidence will emerge Biden paid prostitutes to cross state lines – potential Mann Act violations. It is not clear whether the Justice Department pursues.
Jan. 2019: According to Special Agent Ziegler, the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI open a separate Hunter Biden investigation.
March/April 2019: Ziegler develops criminal charging material approved by IRS superiors and sent to Justice Department’s tax division for review. The two entities will work jointly on the case, as is customary. The Washington, D.C. and Delaware investigations will be merged.
April 25, 2019: Joe Biden announces his candidacy for president.
Aug. 15, 2019: Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) commences what will become a multi-year investigation into Hunter Biden and Joe Biden’s brother James and their “financial connections to foreign governments and questionable foreign nationals.”
Sept. 24, 2019: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) opens impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump alleging Trump withheld Ukrainian aid to pressure officials to investigate the activities of Hunter and Joe Biden vis-à-vis the firing of Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin. In 2016, Biden leveraged $1 billion in U.S. aid to force Shokin’s firing. Shokin had been investigating Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company on whose board Hunter Biden had sat. Prosecutors will scrutinize Hunter over alleged tax crimes stemming from the hundreds of thousands of dollars Burisma paid him annually.
Oct. 2019: FBI learns that a Delaware computer repair shop obtained Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop, and the following month verifies its authenticity.
Dec. 2019: FBI takes possession of the laptop and notifies IRS it “likely contained evidence of tax crimes,” according to IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley. Shapley, Ziegler’s colleague, will lead his investigatory team and also turn whistleblower.
Dec. 8, 2019: In an interview, Joe Biden says “I don’t know what he was doing” regarding Hunter Biden’s Burisma work.
Dec. 18, 2019: House votes to impeach Donald Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Jan. 27, 2020: Email evidence indicates that Hunter Biden has meeting with impeachment lawyers in Trump-Ukraine proceedings.
Feb. 5, 2020: Senate acquits Trump on a party-line vote, concluding first impeachment.
March 6-April 1, 2020: Shapley’s team prepares physical search warrants in Hunter Biden case. Having established probable cause for the warrants, IRS plans to conduct about 15 contemporaneous interviews. Shapley claims career DOJ officials halt IRS’ actions.
April 8, 2020: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) drops out of Democrat presidential primary, making Joe Biden the presumptive nominee.
June 16, 2020: Shapley tells IRS superiors “DOJ Tax has made a concerted effort to drag their feet concerning conducting search warrants and interviewing key witnesses in an effort to push those actions to a timeframe where they can invoke the Department of Justice rule of thumb concerning [ceasing activities] affecting elections.” Shapley alleges superiors took no action.
June 2020-Dec. 2021:Evidence of Influence-Peddling with Nexus to Joe Biden Grows; Alleged Sabotage of Hunter Biden Probe Intensifies
June 30, 2020: FBI informant tells handler that Burisma founder Mykola Zlochevsky told him he had been coerced into paying Joe and Hunter Biden $5 million apiece in exchange for help getting Shokin fired. This is memorialized in an FBI FD-1023 form. Shapley’s team will not see the document until years later, after being thrown off the case.
Aug.-Sept. 2020: IRS agents obtain WhatsApp messages between an executive from Chinese energy company CEFC and Hunter Biden from summer 2017, in which Biden says, “I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,” regarding a deal with the company. Biden threatens that should the deal not be resolved with the Chinese government-connected company’s executives – “I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows … you will regret not following my direction.”
Investigators believe Biden was staying at the family’s Delaware beach guest house at this time. They seek location data for messages to corroborate in part whether Joe was with Hunter.
Sept. 3, 2020: Delaware Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf shoots down plan to nail down the Bidens’ location during the China call. According to Shapley, Wolf says while “a lot of evidence in our investigation would be found in the guest house … there is no way we will get that approved.” Wolf cites “optics” as a “driving factor in the decision.”
Shapley also recalls prosecutors did not want investigators reviewing CEFC communications, irrespective of any potential national security implications.
Wolf also indicates that a search warrant for emails from Blue Star Strategies, a Democrat-tied firm that lobbied for Burisma, in Shapley’s words, “would likely not get approved.” The agent adds, “This was a significant blow to the Foreign Agents Registration Act piece of the investigation” – that is, whether Hunter Biden lobbied for foreign individuals and entities as an unregistered foreign agent, a felony.
Sept. 4, 2020: Justice Department issues “cease and desist” of investigative activities in Hunter Biden case in run-up to the presidential election.
Sept. 7, 2021: Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), then ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, begins probe into sales of Hunter Biden’s paintings after he turns to art as a career. The sales raise ethical and national security concerns, in the view of House Republicans, given the lack of clarity about who the buyers are. The parties pursued will largely ignore requests while Republicans are in minority. The White House waves off ethics concerns.
Sept. 23, 2020: Sen. Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) release report revealing “millions of dollars in questionable financial transactions between Hunter Biden and his associates and foreign individuals, including the wife of the former mayor of Moscow and individuals with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.”
Oct. 14, 2020: New York Post breaks the story of the abandoned Hunter Biden laptop. Among the paper’s revelations: Hunter introduced then-Vice President Biden to a top Burisma executive in April 2015, months before the vice president would help get Shokin fired. This is at odds with the Democrat presidential nominee’s claim he had “never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.” Twitter and Facebook suppress the story.
Oct. 19, 2020: Politico publishes letter signed by 51 prominent intelligence community officials indicating the New York Post’s story “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
Oct. 20, 2020: Investigators seek to do a “walk by” to confirm the location of and security around Hunter Biden’s California residence in preparation for an interview. DOJ Tax objects.
Oct. 22, 2020: Shapley raises concern to prosecutors that his team has not been granted access to Hunter Biden’s laptop. Assistant U.S. Attorney Wolf confirms prosecutors kept it from investigators, which Shapley calls “unprecedented.”
Wolf also indicates prosecutors would not permit a physical search warrant on Hunter Biden.
During the final presidential debate that evening, Biden rebuts claims about his family’s business dealings, citing the intelligence community letter. Biden also says, “My son has not made money, in terms of this thing about … China … The only guy that made money from China is this guy [Trump] … nobody else has made money from China.” Biden also states unequivocally, “I have not taken a penny from any foreign source ever in my life.”
Oct. 23, 2020: Justice Department and FBI Special Agents from the Pittsburgh field office brief Wolf, among others, on contents of FD-1023 alleged Burisma-Biden bribes. It’s later learned that the Pittsburgh office believed that the allegations seemed credible, was partially corroborated, and merited investigation.
Nov. 3-Nov. 7, 2020: The 2020 presidential election. Joe Biden wins and elected as the 46th U.S. president.
Nov. 9, 2020: Sen. Grassley sends letter to then-Attorney General William Barr calling on Justice Department to review evidence that Hunter Biden and James Biden may have violated the Foreign Agent Registrations Act based on their dealings with CEFC.
Nov. 18, 2020: Sens. Grassley and Johnson release a supplement to their report on potential conflicts of interest stemming from the Biden family’s foreign business, including additional CEFC findings.
Dec. 3, 2020: Investigators prepare for a Dec. 8 “day of action,” to consist of document requests and some 12 interviews, including of Hunter Biden. As investigators meet with prosecution team at Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office, Lesley Wolf allegedly indicates she does not want them asking questions of subjects pertaining to Joe Biden.
Dec. 7, 2020: Investigators plan to notify Hunter Biden and his Secret Service protection on the morning of Dec. 8 that he will be approached that day for an interview as part of an official investigation.
Deviating from the plan, FBI headquarters notifies Secret Service headquarters and President-elect Biden’s transition team of coming interview, in Shapley’s words “essentially tipp[ing] off a group of people very close to President Biden and Hunter Biden,” and giving “this group an opportunity to obstruct the approach on the witnesses.”
Dec. 8, 2020: Hunter Biden’s attorneys call Shapley and his FBI counterpart, indicating Hunter will not participate in an interview. Investigators secure only “one substantive interview” on day of action, from Hunter Biden business associate Rob Walker. During that interview, skirting Wolf’s instructions, investigators briefly pursue a line of questioning wherein Walker discusses Joe’s involvement in Hunter’s business.
Dec. 9, 2020: News of Hunter probe becomes public, with reporting suggesting investigation extends beyond Hunter’s taxes to potential money laundering and financial ties to foreign figures and businesses. Hunter releases a statement: “I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately.”
Dec. 10-14, 2020: From the “day of action,” investigators find that documents concerning one of Hunter’s business entities, Owasco, were archived in a northern Virginia storage unit. Investigators prepare to search it. Wolf, according to Shapley, tips off Hunter’s defense counsel to the planned search, possibly thwarting a potential investigative coup.
March 2, 2021: In a Shapley-convened briefing, investigators mention possibility of blowing whistle on the Justice Department’s handling of the case.
May 3, 2021: In memo to superiors, Shapley indicates probe “has been hampered and slowed by claims of potential election meddling. Through interviews and review of evidence obtained, it appears there may be campaign finance criminal violations … Wolf stated on the last prosecution team meeting that she did not want any of the agents to look into the allegation.”
Aug. 18, 2021-Oct. 21, 2021: Wolf suggests DOJ Tax will not approve another set of desired interviews. According to Shapley, Wolf indicates that the investigative team would get “into hot water” specifically if it pursued planned interviews of the president’s grandchildren over charges made with Hunter Biden’s credit card possibly by his kids.
Oct. 13, 2021: Hunter Biden’s friend Kevin Morris loans him $1.4 million to settle outstanding taxes. Subsequent reporting suggests that all told, Morris will pay off well over $2 million in delinquent taxes on behalf of the president’s son.
Jan. 2022-Jan. 2023:Prosecution Sought and Denied; IRS Whistleblowers Blindsided by Weiss’ Apparent Lack of Authority
Jan. 27, 2022: IRS recommends charging Hunter Biden for felony tax evasion and filing of false tax returns in 2014, 2018, and 2019, and misdemeanor failure to file or pay taxes for 2015-2019. Such charges each have a six-year statute of limitations.
Feb. 25, 2022: IRS sends report outlining charges to Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office. Wolf and, according to Shapley, her DOJ Tax counterpart support the IRS’ recommendations. DOJ Tax prepares memo recommending prosecution, the IRS whistleblowers learn. They will not see the memo.
March 2022: DOJ Tax presents prosecution memo to U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia laying out alleged offenses chargeable in that venue. Prosecutors aim to charge Hunter Biden criminally over foreign income from Burisma “and a scheme to evade his income taxes through a partnership with a convicted felon,” Devon Archer, as well as “potential FARA issues.” Shapley learns the Biden-appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Matthew Graves, reviews the memo but refuses to partner with his Delaware counterpart. “We in the IRS didn’t realize at the time that meant there was no ability to charge there” – that is, that without Graves’ buy-in, Weiss as Delaware U.S. Attorney could not bring his case in Washington, D.C. – Shapley testifies.
During this period, DOJ requests of IRS and FBI all “management-level emails and documents on this case.” Whistleblowers indicate that typically such materials are collected at sub-management level in advance of discovery in connection with an impending case. Shapley provides “sensitive case reports and memorandums” documenting “DOJ’s continued unethical conduct,” which he had been providing superiors for several years.
Facing impending charges, and with statutes of limitation set to lapse on 2014 and 2015 tax offenses, Hunter’s defense counsel reportedly calls for prosecutors not to charge, indicating willingness to sign statute of limitation extensions. Prosecutors and Biden’s counsel will agree to multiple extensions.
March 14, 2022: Prosecutors have first taxpayer conference with defense counsel, allowing target to dispute charges.
March 28-29, 2022: Sens. Grassley and Johnson release financial records corroborating prior reports on Hunter and James Biden’s business with Chinese nationals connected to the Chinese Communist Party.
April 26, 2022: Attorney General Merrick Garland defends Hunter Biden investigation before Senate Appropriations Committee, indicating “There will not be interference of any political or improper kind” in the probe, that it will be free of “any influence from the White House,” and that Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, the “Trump appointee” overseeing the case “is in charge.”
The same day, according to Special Agent Ziegler’s deposition, prosecutors have second taxpayer conference with Hunter Biden’s defense counsel. During that conference, Politico later reports, Biden’s lawyers present a 100-page presentation to dissuade DOJ from charging him. Lawyers focus on casting the prosecution as political – driven from start by Trump – and suggest that to carry it out would damage DOJ’s reputation.
May 9, 2022: Sens. Grassley and Johnson send letter to Weiss asking whether he possesses financial records to the Bidens’ China dealings, including those the senators had publicized. Weiss does not answer, with the Justice Department interceding.
July 25, 2022: Sen. Grassley writes to AG Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray alleging whistleblowers disclosed to his office that in fall 2020, the FBI obtained information about Hunter Biden’s alleged criminal financial and related activity, only to bury and halt investigation of it by claiming it was disinformation.
Aug. 12, 2022: IRS whistleblowers learn that Chris Clark, Hunter Biden’s counsel, warns prosecutors that if they charge Hunter, they will be committing “career suicide.”
Late Aug.-Early Sept. 2022: In meeting with investigators, Weiss indicates he agrees with IRS team regarding charging 2014-15 tax years, but says DOJ Tax has doubts about case. When asked when Weiss will charge, he says, according to Special Agent Ziegler, “hopefully end of September. It was kind of up in the air.”
Mid-Sept. 2022: E. Martin Estrada is appointed U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, the proper venue for charging tax offenses from 2016-19 based on Hunter’s residence there. Prosecutors present charges to Estrada’s office the week he is confirmed.
Sept. 22, 2022: Wolf tells investigators that prosecutors will not take action until after midterm elections, despite DOJ’s Public Integrity Section never issuing such an order.
Oct. 6, 2022: The Washington Post publishes article indicating there is sufficient evidence to charge Hunter with tax crimes and a false statement related to a gun purchase. Chris Clark accuses investigators of leaking information and calls on Justice Department to pursue leakers.
Oct. 7, 2022: In a meeting, Weiss tells colleagues at IRS and FBI that, according to a direct quote recounted by Shapley, “I’m not the deciding official on whether charges are filed.” Weiss also states that D.C. U.S. Attorney Graves will not allow him to bring charges there. The FBI special agent in charge of the FBI’s Baltimore office, overseeing the investigation and present at the meeting, will later reportedly challenge these claims. Weiss also indicates he had asked for special counsel authority from DOJ after Graves declined the charges and was denied. Weiss says he will not be bringing charges against Hunter for the 2014-15 tax years, the statute of limitations for which are to expire in Nov. 2022. “Everyone in that meeting seemed shellshocked … I felt misled” regarding Weiss’ apparent lack of authority, Shapley testified.
Oct. 12, 2022: IRS criminal investigation team conducts final interview.
Oct. 13, 2022: Sen. Grassley delivers letter to AG Garland, FBI Director Wray, and Weiss indicating that based on protected whistleblower disclosures to his office, “the FBI has within its possession significant, impactful and voluminous evidence with respect to potential criminal conduct by Hunter Biden and James Biden.” Letter calls into question whether authorities have pursued the leads whistleblowers detailed to Grassley concerning an alleged pay-to-play scheme involving CEFC and potential criminal conduct involving Hunter’s business with and its owner Zlochevsky.
Oct. 17, 2022: Last meeting in which prosecutors include Shapley’s IRS criminal investigations team.
Oct. 24, 2022: Prosecutors ask IRS for Shapley’s records, in which he had documented alleged prosecutorial misconduct during pendency of case. Shapley and Ziegler will both testify that requesting management communications is highly unusual. The agents indicate that subsequently, the IRS team will be phased out of case.
Oct. 26, 2022: Sens. Grassley and Johnson send letter to Weiss stating that in light of DOJ’s failure to respond to oversight requests concerning their congressional investigation, they are delivering more than 200 pages of records “relating to the Biden family’s connections to the Chinese regime and persons connected to its military and intelligence elements.”
Oct. 31, 2022: In a letter to Weiss, Clark threatens to put President Biden on the stand should the DOJ charge Hunter criminally.
Nov. 2022: After previously agreeing to multiple statute of limitation extensions regarding the 2014 and 2015 tax offenses with Hunter’s counsel concerning Burisma, prosecutors let the statutes of limitation expire – despite willingness of Biden team to continue extending, according to Shapley.
Nov. 15, 2022: Donald Trump announces his candidacy for president.
Late 2022: The New York Times reports that by this time, Weiss “had found some evidence but determined that he did not have sufficient grounds to indict [Hunter] Biden for major felonies.” It adds that one source indicated Weiss preferred not to bring any charges, even misdemeanors, though another denied it.
Jan. 2023: Shapley learns U.S. Attorney Estrada declines to bring charges in the Central District of California.
During this month, Clark will reportedly travel to Delaware and plead his case to Weiss to end the investigation into Hunter, indicating that how he handles the decision could have reputational consequences.
Feb. 2023-May 2023:Hunter’s Counsel Pleads Case Over Weiss’ Head; IRS Whistleblowers Emerge – and Face a Chill; Plea Deal Develops.
Feb. 1, 2023: Clark contacts multiple officials at Main Justice seeking contacts to whom he can appeal should Weiss charge Hunter.
March 1, 2023: Under questioning from Sen. Grassley during a Judiciary Committee hearing, the attorney general testifies that Weiss “has full authority to make … referrals … or to bring cases in other districts if he needs to do that. He has been advised that he should get anything he needs. I have not heard anything from that office that suggests they are not able to do anything that the U.S. Attorney wants them to do.” Garland adds, “I promised to leave the matter of Hunter Biden in the hands of [Weiss and] … I have pledged not to interfere with that investigation … I have carried through on my pledge.”
March 16, 2023: House Oversight Committee releases records showing $1.3 million in payments from 2015-2017 flowing from Biden family associate Rob Walker to Hunter and James Biden, Joe’s late son Beau’s widow Hallie, and a fourth Biden. The bulk of the funds appear to come from Chinese energy company State Energy HK Limited.
March 18, 2023: Donald Trump says he will be indicted in New York.
April 4, 2023: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicts Trump on falsified business record charges pertaining to a $130,000 nondisclosure payment to adult film performer Stormy Daniels.
April 19, 2023: Attorney on behalf of Shapley sends letter to relevant congressional committees indicating Shapley’s desire to make protected whistleblower disclosures to Congress. Letter leaks to Wall Street Journal.
April 24-25, 2023: Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer contacts Shapley’s counsel asking him for a call in light of Wall Street Journal reporting, and the two parties speak. The Daily Mail will later report that Shapley’s counsel felt Weinsheimer “seemed concerned and keen to investigate, and promised he would get Shapley’s team legal permission to share all the details of his allegations.”
April 26, 2023: Chris Clark finally lands sought-after meeting with Main DOJ, sitting down with Weinsheimer, alongside Weiss.
April 27, 2023: Under questioning in a House Ways and Means Committee hearing, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel testifies that “there will be no retaliation for anyone making an allegation or called into a whistleblower hotline.”
May 3, 2023: Ranking Senate Budget Committee Member Grassley and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), submit letter to Garland and Wray indicating whistleblowers have disclosed the FBI possesses an FD-1023 alleging a criminal bribery scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national. The congressmen indicate that it is “unclear what steps, if any, were taken to investigate the matter,” and that therefore they will be reviewing the matter. Comer issues subpoena calling on FBI to produce FD-1023 forms aimed at capturing the alleged Burisma-Biden bribe document.
May 10, 2023: House Oversight Committee releases bank records memo revealing Biden family business deals in Romania and China.
May 11, 2023: Weinsheimer thanks Clark for meeting, indicates Hunter Biden investigation is reaching end, and prosecutors are prepared to make a deal.
May 15, 2023: Shapley learns his team has been removed from the Hunter Biden case at DOJ’s request, which his counsel reports to relevant House committees.
That same day, Delaware Assistant U.S. Attorney Wolf calls Clark, proposing a deal whereby Hunter will not have to plead guilty through use of a deferred prosecution agreement – satisfying Clark’s reported “core demand” of prosecutors. Clark indicates defense will draft a proposed agreement accordingly.
May 16, 2023: House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) requests briefing from IRS Commissioner regarding perceived retaliation against IRS whistleblower.
That same day, Weinsheimer speaks with Shapley’s counsel. In an apparent change in tone, Weinsheimer indicates that DOJ headquarters will not be involved in the whistleblowers’ case. All issues are to run through Weiss. Shapley lawyer Mark Lytle will later say that Weinsheimer, after making “earlier promises and assurances … seemed no longer interested.” His co-counsel, Tristan Leavitt, says he believes that Weinsheimer “wanted intel from Gary [Shapley] before his Hill testimony,” which would come weeks later.
May 18, 2023: IRS’ Ziegler sends letter to IRS leadership recounting criticism over its lack of action in connection with concerns he and colleagues raised during Hunter Biden case, and expressing disappointment over Ziegler and his team having been removed from it.
That day, Hunter Biden’s lawyers send two Delaware prosecutors, including Wolf, the first draft of a proposed deal under which Hunter will not have to plead guilty. The deal would give Biden immunity from other potential offenses authorities had investigated – which would include Foreign Agent Registration Act charges – should he pay taxes owed, among other conditions. Delaware U.S. Attorney’s office, sympathetic to proposal, shares its own suggested terms that do not require Biden to plead guilty.
May 19, 2023: Two superiors respond to Special Agent Ziegler’s email with a reminder that “you need to follow your chain of command.” They insinuate he may have made “unauthorized disclosures” by including “potential grand jury” material, and including recipients unable to receive such material.
That same day, Hunter Biden’s lawyers prepare a draft pretrial diversion agreement covering tax and gun issues, guaranteeing immunity from prosecution of offenses previously investigated, and stating that DOJ will dismiss charges if Biden upholds his end of deal – no guilty plea necessary.
May 22, 2023: Shapley’s counsel sends another letter to relevant House committees indicating the IRS is taking additional retaliatory measures aimed at intimidating whistleblowers into silence.
May 23, 2023: In a major reversal, Wolf tells Hunter Biden’s counsel that Weiss now wants Biden to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of failing to pay taxes.
May 24, 2023: In a CBS News interview, Shapley goes public with allegations DOJ “slow-walked” Hunter Biden probe.
May 25, 2023: IRS sends mass email to personnel instructing them as to proper protocol for reporting wrongdoing like that alleged in the Biden case. The email omits that such employees may bring their concerns to Congress.
Also that day, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) sends oversight letter to AG Garland requesting documents in connection with IRS whistleblowers’ removal from the Hunter Biden case.
May 26, 2023: Shapley testifies behind closed doors before House Ways and Means Committee to make protected whistleblower disclosures.
June 2023:FBI Stonewalls Over Alleged Burisma-Biden Bribes; Trump Indictments Grow; Plea Deal Emerges; Weiss Strains To Harmonize His Story With AG Garland About His Claimed Ultimate Authority
June 1, 2023: Ziegler testifies behind closed doors before the House Ways and Means Committee to make protected whistleblower disclosures.
June 2, 2023: After DOJ reportedly communicates to Hunter Biden’s counsel that he would need to plead guilty to tax charges, and counsel agrees he will do so for two misdemeanor counts of willfully failing to pay taxes – but not gun charge – Biden’s counsel expresses in email to Wolf that immunity is critical. Parties move forward on two-part deal consisting of plea agreement for tax charges and pretrial diversion agreement covering gun charge.
June 6, 2023: Sen. Grassley delivers speech linking July 25, 2022, allegation FBI had sat on and buried evidence of Hunter Biden’s alleged criminal financial activity in 2020 on grounds it was “disinformation,” to FD-1023 alleging Burisma-Biden bribes. He asks whether allegation was dismissed by being falsely labeled “disinformation.”
June 7, 2023: Following a series of correspondences and meetings in which the FBI refuses to turn over the FD-1023, or even acknowledge its existence, FBI relents in permitting Chairman Comer, Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) in camera reviews of redacted version of document. Reviewers can neither retain nor take notes on document. With FBI resisting calls to produce document to full committee, Chairman Comer releases resolution and report recommending FBI Director Wray be held in contempt of Congress.
The same day, Wolf proposes plea deal to Hunter Biden’s counsel including global immunity provision. The deal also includes a protective measure whereby Justice Department can only prosecute Hunter Biden for gun charge if he breaks deal – as determined by presiding judge, not DOJ, providing protection from a future Republican administration.
Also that day, Weiss responds on behalf of DOJ to Chairman Jordan’s May 25 letter to AG Garland. In response, Weiss says “I want to make clear that, as the Attorney General has stated, I have been granted ultimate authority over this matter [the Hunter Biden case], including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges and for making decisions necessary to preserve the integrity of the prosecution.”
June 8, 2023: Special Counsel Jack Smith indicts Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.
The same day, prosecutors send Hunter Biden plea agreement to presiding Delaware Judge Maryellen Noreika.
June 9, 2023: Former Attorney General Bill Barr says FD-1023 alleging Burisma-Biden bribes “was provided to the ongoing investigation in Delaware to follow up on and to check out” via the Pittsburgh U.S. Attorney’s Office, which served as a “clearinghouse” for evidence to be received and vetted in connection with the case.
June 12, 2023: Shapley submits affidavit to Congress indicating neither he, his team, nor the FBI agents working with it were ever provided the information contained in the FD-1023. In a June 19 letter, Ziegler will indicate the same.
June 13, 2023: Donald Trump is arraigned in the classified documents case, pleading not guilty.
Unbeknownst to the public, prosecutors had planned to file the Hunter Biden plea deal documents in Delaware federal court that day. They postpone.
June 20, 2023: Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office announces it has reached plea deal with Hunter Biden charging him with two misdemeanor tax offenses covering tax years 2017 and 2018, and entered into a pre-trial diversion agreement regarding a firearm charge. Absent from the charges are those stemming from Hunter’s Burisma work, or any charges relating to FARA.
Republicans pan the pact as a sweetheart plea deal illustrative of a two-tier justice system, with some indicating it violates DOJ standards. Hunter Biden’s attorney declares, “It is my understanding that the five-year investigation into Hunter is resolved.” Weiss’ office claims the investigation remains “ongoing,” according to the New York Times, at the time “taking Mr. Biden and officials at Justice Department headquarters by surprise.”
Around this time, the Times reports, Wolf’s role shrinks. Leo Wise, a senior prosecutor from the Baltimore U.S. attorney’s office, is detailed to Delaware. He will ultimately sign off on and defend the plea agreement in court.
June 22, 2023: House Ways and Means Committee releases transcripts of Shapley and Ziegler interviews.
Chairman Jordan sends oversight letter to Weiss reiterating prior request for material regarding DOJ’s alleged retaliation against Shapley, and inquiring about the “unusual nature” of Weiss’ June 7 response on behalf of AG Garland to Jordan’s May 25 oversight request.
June 28, 2023: Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lindsey Graham (R-N.C.) sends letter to Weiss asking for information regarding, among other allegations, that he had requested and was denied special counsel authority.
June 29, 2023: Three House Committee chairmen send letter to Garland requesting that he make 11 Justice Department officials pivotal to the Hunter Biden case, including Weiss, Wolf, U.S. Attorney Graves, and U.S. Attorney Estrada, available for transcribed interviews.
June 30, 2023: Weiss responds to Jordan’s June 22 letter indicating DOJ did not retaliate against the IRS team, and that he stands by his June 7 letter indicating he has been granted total authority of the Hunter Biden case, including “where, when and whether to file charges.” Weiss adds, however, that “my charging authority is geographically limited to my home district [Delaware],” and that if another U.S. Attorney’s Office with venue for a case declines to partner on a case, he “may request Special Attorney Status from the Attorney General.” Weiss claims he has been “assured that, if necessary …” he “would be granted” such authority.
July 2023Burisma-Biden Bribes Document Released; Whistleblowers Testify About Obstructed Case Publicly; Hunter Biden’s Plea Deal Collapses in Court
July 9, 2023: Sen. Grassley sends letter to Weiss inquiring as to whether Wolf and others had investigated FD-1023 alleging Biden bribes.
July 10, 2023: Weiss responds to letter from Sen. Lindsey Graham indicating he had not requested special counsel authority with DOJ officials, but rather “had discussions with Departmental officials regarding … potential” special attorney authorities, which would have permitted him to charge in venues other than Delaware. “I was assured that I would be granted this authority if it proved necessary” prior to the Oct. 7, 2022, meeting, Weiss writes.
July 19, 2023: Shapley and Ziegler testify publicly before House Oversight Committee, recounting key claims expressed during their closed-door depositions regarding allegations of slow-walking, obfuscation, and obstruction in the Hunter Biden case.
The same day, Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office emails final deal to Judge Noreika.
July 20, 2023: Sen. Grassley releases FD-1023 alleging $5 million bribes from Zlochevsky to Joe and Hunter Biden in exchange for firing of Shokin, indicating Zlochevsky has text messages and recordings suggesting he was coerced into making such payments.
July 24, 2023: The Federalist reports that the Pittsburgh FBI office that had originally received the FD-1023 had corroborated multiple facts included in the document, and briefed the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office accordingly, per a source.
The same day, DOJ offers to make Weiss available for a public hearing before the House Judiciary Committee as soon as Sept. 27.
July 24, 2023: Buyers of Hunter Biden’s art, totaling $1.4 million in sales, are revealed to include Hunter financial backer Kevin Morris and California Democrat donor Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali. In July 2022, eight months after Hunter’s first art opening, President Biden announced Naftali was appointed to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad. It is not clear whether the sale occurred before or after the appointment. Reports also indicate Naftali visited the White House at least 13 times after December 2021.
July 26, 2023: Hunter Biden’s plea deal collapses under questioning from federal Judge Noreika, with prosecutors and Hunter Biden’s lawyers sparring over scope of immunity provision in pretrial diversion agreement. When asked if government could bring charges under FARA with plea agreement in place, prosecutors say “Yes.” Biden’s counsel disagrees. This ultimately leads Biden to withdraw his guilty plea. DOJ acknowledges aspects of the deal are unprecedented in terms of structure and substance.
Shortly after hearing, prosecutors and defense counsel will confer, with Biden’s lawyers suggesting changes to the deal.
July 27, 2023: Special Counsel Smith issues superseding indictment in Trump Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.
July 29, 2023: Chairman Comer issues oversight request letters to Naftali and the White House counsel in furtherance of probe of Hunter’s art sales. There is no indication federal investigators pursued the sales.
July 31, 2023: Former Hunter Biden business associate Devon Archer testifies before House Oversight Committee for transcribed interview. He alleges Hunter Biden’s business was selling the Biden “brand,” headlined by his father, and that he had witnessed Joe joining Hunter Biden and his business associates in person or by phone upwards of 20 times.
The same day, prosecutors reject Hunter Biden counsel’s proposed deal revisions and suggest their own.
Also that day, relevant House committee chairmen send letter to Garland inquiring about the “unusual plea and pretrial diversion agreements” offered Hunter Biden, in light of whistleblower allegations “the Department has provided preferential treatment toward Mr. Biden.”
Aug. 2023-Present:Another Trump Indictment; Weiss Gets Special Counsel Authority He Wasn’t Supposed to Need; Biden Impeachment Inquiry Opens; Hunter Hit With Gun Indictment
Aug. 1, 2023: Special Counsel Smith indicts Donald Trump on charges pertaining to his contesting of the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Aug. 7, 2023: Hunter Biden’s defense counsel rejects prosecutors’ proposed changes to the plea bargain, which according to an email Chris Clark sent to prosecutors, “without explanation, completely delet[ed] the immunity provision.”
Aug. 8, 2023: Weiss requests special counsel authority.
Aug. 9, 2023: House Oversight Committee releases bank records memo detailing millions in payments from foreign sources to Bidens and their associates from Russian, Ukrainian, and Kazakhstani individuals during Joe Biden’s vice presidency – individuals who Vice President Biden met.
Aug. 11, 2023: Garland names Weiss special counsel, asserting “he will continue to have the authority and responsibility that he has exercised previously to oversee the investigation and decide where, when, and whether to file charges.” Weiss retains his position as U.S. Attorney for Delaware despite rules calling for special counselors to come from “outside the United States government,” and for any special counsel to be “independent.” The New York Times later reports that Weiss was “motivated by a [special counsel] requirement to produce a report that would allow him to answer critics, according to people with knowledge of the situation – an accounting that could become public before the 2024 election.”
The same day, the Justice Department files motions to dismiss the Hunter Biden tax case so charges can be brought in proper venue – either the Central District of California, or Washington, D.C. – an authority Weiss will have as special counsel. Biden had waived any venue challenge enabling the original deal to be cut in Delaware, despite venue for the offenses lying elsewhere.
Aug. 14, 2023: Chairman Comer releases transcript of interview with FBI official corroborating Shapley’s testimony that FBI headquarters had tipped off Secret Service headquarters and President Biden’s transition team about investigators’ planned Dec. 8, 2020, Hunter Biden interview.
The same day, Fulton County (Georgia) District Attorney Fani Willis indicts Donald Trump and 18 others in RICO case regarding Trump’s contesting of the 2020 election.
Aug. 17, 2023: Hunter Biden tax case dismissed in Delaware.
Aug. 19, 2023: Politico and the New York Times publish detailed accounts on collapse of Biden plea agreement based in part on leaked correspondence between Weiss’ office and Hunter Biden’s lawyers.
Aug. 21, 2023: House committees subpoena IRS and FBI officials present at Oct. 7, 2022, meeting in which Weiss allegedly claimed he did not have final charging authority in Hunter Biden case.
Aug. 28, 2023: House Committee chairmen send oversight request letter to AG Garland regarding his decision to appoint Weiss special counsel.
The same day, The Federalist reports on emails obtained via FOIA indicating DOJ intervened on behalf of Weiss’ office on multiple occasions to respond to congressional inquiries – seen as further evidence of Weiss and DOJ officials in Washington seeking to align their stories on who had what authority in Hunter Biden case.
Sept. 6, 2023: Weiss’ office indicates intent to indict Hunter Biden on gun charges in Delaware before Sept. 29 in court filing.
That same day, House Committee chairmen send letter to Hunter Biden’s counsel calling for it to produce documents and communications previously leaked to Politico and the New York Times regarding negotiations surrounding the failed Hunter Biden plea agreement.
Sept. 12, 2023: Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announces House will open impeachment inquiry into President Biden concerning allegations of abuse of power, obstruction, and corruption. “The American people deserve to know that public offices are not for sale and that the federal government is not being used to cover up the actions of a politically-connected family,” he writes.
House committees open joint inquiry into alleged attempts by Hunter Biden legal team to encourage DOJ to retaliate against IRS whistleblowers Shapley and Ziegler.
Also that day, Washington Post publishes report based on leaked transcript from House Judiciary Committee interview with Baltimore FBI special agent in charge Thomas Sobocinski challenging IRS whistleblowers’ claims about what Weiss said about his authority during Oct. 7, 2022, meeting.
Sept. 13, 2023: Shapley’s lawyers respond with the IRS agents’ contemporaneous handwritten notes to rebut Sobocinski’s claims.
Sept. 14, 2023: Weiss indicts Hunter Biden on felony gun charges in Delaware federal court.
Sept. 18, 2023: Hunter Biden sues the IRS over Shapley and Ziegler’s whistleblower disclosures.
Sept. 20, 2023: AG Garland testifies before the House Judiciary Committee. Under questioning from Chairman Jordan, he defends prior comments about Weiss’ authority, stating “no one had the authority to turn him [Weiss] down” in terms of bringing charges, but that “they could refuse to partner with him.” Garland says the two are “not the same under well-known Justice Department practices.” He will also testifies that a U.S. Attorney in one district “does not have the authority to deny another U.S. attorney the ability to go forward” with a case.
Sept. 26, 2023: Hunter Biden makes initial appearance in Delaware federal court in gun charge case, and is arraigned.
On the same day. Hunter sues Rudy Giuliani and attorney Robert Costello over sharing of Hunter’s laptop data in alleged violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Also that day, House Oversight Committee reveals that Hunter Biden received two wire payments totaling over $250,000 during 2019 from Chinese sources, at least one of which was linked to the Chinese investment concern BHR Partners, including its CEO. Hunter’s attorney George Mesires would state that same year that the president’s son had served as a board member at the company in an “unpaid position.” While Hunter Biden was listed as the beneficiary for the funds, the Delaware home of Joe Biden was listed as the beneficiary address.
Sept. 28, 2023: House Oversight Committee to hold first impeachment inquiry hearing.
This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire. Ben Weingarten | RealClear WireYou can republish any of the following articles for free. Simply click on an article and copy the text with one click. RealClearWire is the syndication program of RealClearFoundation, a nonprofit organization working in partnership with RealClearPolitics.
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Democrat politicians endlessly warn us about the “threat to our democracy” posed by Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans. Of course, that claim is patently absurd on two fronts. First of all, as most Americans know, we live under a constitutional republic, not a democracy.
But, putting that technicality aside, presumably, they’re talking about “democracy” in general terms, as opposed to a monarchy, oligarchy, or dictatorship. They’re claiming that MAGA Republicans somehow threaten our democratic way of life and all the benefits associated with it, including the precious right to freely elect our leaders.
From that perspective, do Trump and his supporters really pose a threat to our democracy?
Democrats inevitably point to the incident at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2001. They’ve managed to hype it as an armed insurrection, an attempt to overthrow our government led by Donald Trump himself. But during that so-called insurrection, only one shot rang out. It came from a panicked Capitol Police officer who shot and killed an unarmed female protester, an Air Force vet.
Rational minds have always known that the incident was no insurrection. It was a protest by passionate Americans, outraged by the unresolved voting irregularities witnessed in the 2020 election – irregularities which were caused by last-minute, unconstitutional changes to voting laws by Democrats.
And in the months after the protest, other underhanded Democrat maneuvers aimed at affecting the election results were exposed. There was that letter signed by 51 former intelligence officers, all committed to Trump’s defeat. It was intended to help Joe Biden’s campaign by discrediting evidence of his corruption. After the election, we learned that the letter was conceived and orchestrated by Anthony Blinken, Joe Biden’s campaign advisor at the time.
And there was evidence of government censorship. The contempt for President Trump at the upper echelon of the FBI was made crystal clear by Peter Strzok and others. So it was no surprise to learn that the bureau abused its power by enlisting social media to help suppress the evidence against Biden’s corruption.
It all suggests that, except for a few agitators with various motives, the participants in the January 6th incident were not insurrectionists threatening our democracy but protestors defending the democratic concept of free and fair elections.
What about the four years of Trump’s presidency? Did any of his policies suggest a threat to our democracy? On the contrary, his “America First” agenda made our country stronger. It was manifested through secure borders, energy independence, and a robust economy.
Now consider Joe Biden and the Democrats.
When Biden took office, one of his first acts was the elimination of our border security. Like a power-hungry dictator, Biden simply decided to ignore our immigration laws. His catastrophic border policy resulted in untold millions of unidentified foreign citizens from around the world pouring into our country. Its impact is now being felt in cities across the country. The worst is yet to come.
Likewise, he alone decided to systematically shut down our fossil fuel industries. It immediately increased gasoline and home heating prices and contributed to across-the-board inflation.
And what about the student loan forgiveness program, another decree by Biden? It forces working-class families to pay off student loans accrued by the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It’s a brazen effort to buy votes using taxpayer dollars and can hardly be called democracy in action.
Then there were the shutdowns, the arbitrary suspension of our constitutional rights, the right to peacefully assemble and to worship freely, all in the name of an exaggerated health emergency.
Those actions, all taken in defiance of public opinion and without congressional approval, can hardly be called democratic. But arguably, the most egregious affront to democracy is Biden’s perversion of our justice system.
As President Trump faces four criminal indictments, Democrats are utterly bewildered by his continued support. There’s a simple explanation. His supporters see Trump not as a criminal but as a victim of corrupt politics. It was apparent when, after surviving two reckless and failed impeachments, a man with no prior criminal record was charged with four successive serious criminal indictments. It was obvious because all the prosecutors are Democrats who hate Trump and because other Democrat politicians who engaged in the same crimes for which Trump is charged were never prosecuted. It was made clear by the Democrats’ frenzied effort to exclude Trump from the 2024 ballot.
Their aggressive, relentless, and unwarranted pursuit of President Trump has only succeeded in shredding the credibility of our justice system and uniting Trump supporters.
Biden and the Democrats have seemingly abandoned even the pretense of equal justice and adopted the very same tactics used by authoritarian, tyrannical regimes and third-world countries.
But it’s not just Biden’s tyranny that threatens our democracy.
The Democrat Party now seemingly views socialism and communism not as adversarial systems of government but as paradigms, something worth trying here. Some within their party openly embrace China’s brand of communism. One of Biden’s current senior advisors, Anita Dunn, once praised Chairman Mao’s political philosophy. It cost her her job during the Obama administration. But times have sure changed. In 2021, Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal delivered a speech at an awards ceremony hosted by a Communist Party affiliate. But while most Democrats still try to distance themselves from hard-core communism, a poll conducted just a few years ago showed that 57 percent of Democrats actually had a more positive view of socialism than of capitalism.
But whether it’s socialism, Marxism, or Maoism that captivates Democrats, their endless attacks on our Constitution, our Supreme Court, and our traditional values reveal a deep disdain for our democratic way of life.
They may call themselves Democrats, but they have long ago abandoned the democratic principles that made America great. It’s control and power over the people that they crave, and given the opportunity, they rule by fiat, censorship, and intimidation.
Yes, there is a clear, well-established threat to our democratic way of life. But it doesn’t come from Donald Trump or the Republicans.
This article was originally published on American Thinker.
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While not everyone reading this lives in Nashua, and not every local votes in Ward 2 (which is at Charlotte Ave School, to those who don’t know where they vote), it’s well past time for Alderman Dowd to retire.
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He is just one vote out of a body of 15, but a serial “problem one” nonetheless.
I’d like the readers to look at the ward map of Nashua here. See the area shaded in baby blue. That is the constituency of Alderman Dowd.
At 77, the same age as Mr. Newman, Dowd is the oldest and the longest in office (since 2013).
City elections are in odd-numbered years, this one being of particular importance because our mayor is also up for election. He did not have an opponent in 2019, and I want to thank local native veteran and distinguished civil servant Mike Soucy for stepping up to challenge him. His record speaks for itself, and I encourage anyone with ties to Nashua voters to learn more about him and promote his candidacy, but back to Alderman Dowd.
Alderman Dowd is politically in bed with Mayor Donchess. One can ask a variety of knowledgeable locals for examples, so I won’t lengthen this statement by listing them, but I’d like to point out a few things worth noting. If you prefer to do your own fact-checking, a noble behavioral trait, I would point you to some well-known Groksters’ contributions in the archives.
I’ll start with Laura Colquhoun, an ardent watchdog and fact-finding digger. She found meeting minutes from 2017 when Dowd expressed his unconditional support for the performing arts center at any cost. He had absolutely no regard for my piggy bank, that of my neighbors, or any non-constituent Nashua taxpayers. You can read more about the arts center in Laura’s other articles.
Next, there’s returning school candidate Doris Hohensee, who I did not seek permission to quote so I will keep this generic. However, I encourage ALL of Nashua to reach out to Doris about school board shenanigans, including school spending. Alderman Dowd happens to be the “school liaison” and played a big part in facilitating the construction of a new middle school at an ever-growing price tag of over a hundred million dollars despite declining enrollment that’s not expected to change anytime soon. Also, please see my 2021 article about the new red light at the corner of Manchester and Ferry Streets.
And please see Doris’s Grok pieces that are school-related. I fancy myself a team player, and this message is an opportunity to support 2 teammates, Mike Soucy and Doris, and two more city-wide ones as Aldermen.
As the daughter of a retired accountant, I am appalled by Nashua’s outrageous spending, which is responsible for our current property taxes, though our incumbent mayor is always trying to convince the voters otherwise. Just look at his mayoral town halls from last winter, all beginning with him playing defense in his multi-minute monologues. I encourage all Nashua voters to look at the collection of videos for lots of the mayor’s antics, plus that of Alderman Dowd, whose support of spending speaks for itself.
And then there’s how city hall has handled covid, which has been in a manner that’s repugnant to Granite State values. Attorney Dan Hynes, now a Bedford representative, pointed out in his 2020 Grok piece that NH was not a home rule state when he was running for county attorney. Here is an example of Dowd’s “covidiocy” in addition to him having voted for Mask Madness 1.0 and 2.0. He was also seen on Channel 9 suggesting that business owners act in a law enforcement capacity, whether or not they supported such tyranny.
I would like to follow the model of great authors who offer a conclusion to a character assassination or any complaint with a proposed solution at the end of the venting. I am Alderman Dowd’s opponent, and I am humbly asking for votes. I use the word HUMBLY because asking for help is an act of humility, and saving our city is an all-hands-on-deck battle. Therefore, like the Temptations saying, “ain’t too proud to beg,” I am not too proud to enlist any and all outside help that is legal.
“Why me?” is the question. In an effort to keep this a reasonable length, I won’t go all the way back to 2013, but let’s look at the last 2 city elections. I mentioned earlier in multiple articles, including this one, being an accountant’s daughter. Alderman Dowd’s previous opponent, Donald Scott, is an accountant.
Ward 2 failed to elect a credentialed retired controller, a good man from the private sector with skills that would have helped Nashua in the chamber. And Dowd’s previous opponent and current senator, Kevin Avard, was the sponsor of SB 52, which shored up the “cap” that has been under attack “by any means necessary,” as Hillary would say, no matter how unlawful. Just talk to former Alderman Teeboom with any cap-related questions you might have.
With the two most recent opponents of Alderman Dowd not running again and time running out in the city clerk’s office, I gathered petition signatures for ballot access at the last minute because I’ll be darned if he gets reelected simply because all of Ward 2 was waiting too long for someone else to step up and do it. Look up Kitty Genovese and the bystander syndrome.
“And one more thing,” as Columbo would say, I’m disappointed to report that we don’t have a full slate of worthy candidates on this ballot. Therefore, victory is absolutely necessary for Nashua to “come about,” nautically speaking. Aldermen Klee, Lopez, and Jette don’t have opponents. Three city-wide seats are up for election, but we only have two worthy candidates. Please remind ALL the Nashua voters you know to vote for ONLY Alderman Comeau and private citizen Sean Rogers.
Voting for a 3rd candidate will only harm the chances of them getting elected. This situation also applies to the five school seats. Incumbent Paula Johnson and former member Doris Hohensee are the ONLY candidates worthy of a vote. Public Works has two seats in this election, and Dan Richardson is the ONLY candidate to vote for. So please, everyone in Nashua, vote correctly this time! And educate your fellow voters on the merits of the “undervote.” And everyone outside Nashua, please do what you can to help save Nashua from itself!
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In the last century, states have had great control over channels of media. In most of the West, lobbying groups and cartels working with “liberal” and “democratic” governments regulated who could broadcast while governments, with their endless pools of money and political force, competed alongside private or foreign establishments.
South Africa banned television entirely, and then, after legalizing it in the ’70s, the industry was still controlled by the state.
All media in the Soviet Union was centralized and controlled by the state immediately after the October Revolution—the Bolshevik leaders understood the importance of media control. Every state in the last century has had some grip over the country’s media, propagating favorable narratives and restricting the unfavorable to maintain control over the population.
Traditional media centralization by the state was then rendered obsolete with the popularization of the Internet. As the internet and its related technology developed, decentralization became more pronounced and widespread. When anyone can start a podcast on a plethora of websites with anyone else in the world who has the technology, or when miniature documentaries and video essays can be produced and uploaded by anyone to anywhere that accepts the format, the state-operated or state-supported media that dominated the last century becomes effectively out of date. The new competition was too dynamic, adaptive, decentralized, and evasive for the old system to outcompete, outproduce, or outright ban.
Traditional media wasn’t the only thing affected by the internet. Chat boards, forums, and other means of direct communication undermined multiple key legitimizers of the state, specifically academics and journalists. Barring local rules and guidelines, anyone was free to question and discuss any aspect of academia, usually under the freedom afforded by anonymity.
This innovation was disastrous from the state’s perspective. Total dominance of every channel of media was rendered impossible in the span of a few years. Some nations attempted to restrict the internet through whatever means were available, like China’s Great Firewall, although there are multiple ways to circumvent the restrictions through VPNs or proxies. Western nations opted for subtler restrictions like working through private companies behind closed doors. A stronger and more insidious attack against the benefits to liberty provided by the internet, however, lies in the campaigns against anonymity. Eliminating anonymity and privacy by extension, solves most of the state’s problems that were caused by the advent of the internet, which is exactly why states and their apologists have embarked on their crusade against it.
Solving the State’s ProblemsAnonymity is very dangerous from the state’s perspective as it can no longer rely on its narratives, academics, journalists, and other sources of legitimacy to be publicly unquestioned. With anonymity, superior arguments (as determined by the onlookers) win out. While this does not necessarily mean that truth will prevail in every instance, it does mean that credentialism, a major crutch of the state’s defenders, is bypassed. Onlookers can instead view arguments where one or both sides have entirely removed their person from the discussion through anonymity, leaving only facts and their application as well as rhetoric for consideration. If an academic or a journalist performs poorly against these anonymous posters enough times or is proven to have lied, their credibility will be weakened, preventing them from legitimizing the state in their full capacity.
The state’s apologists have a counter. If anonymity is somehow removed and the once-anonymous person is revealed to have controversial or “far-right” opinions, mobs and miscreants can threaten that person’s safety, forcing them into the decision of either continuing in the face of potential retaliatory violence or leaving the conversation entirely. This tactic is employed if a specific person or group of people has been particularly successful in contradicting the state’s academics and journalists, but it is difficult, time-consuming, costly in terms of reputation and trust, and ultimately not usable on a large scale. Outsourcing the tactic to unsavory and “unconnected” groups helps to alleviate the reputational hit, but this, too, can only be done for so long until everyone can see the pattern, creating a greater potential for backlash.
Instead of threatening a person, the state’s academics and journalists may opt for other, much weaker methods of discrediting anonymous posters. The most popular method centers around trying to make the fact that someone is anonymous a discrediting quality in and of itself. This is an analogous tactic used by interest groups who lobby for licensing. Those without the approval of the status quo are unsafe, unserious, or malicious, so the rhetoric goes, and therefore, a standard in the form of a license, or non-anonymity, must be implemented to guarantee status quo–approved quality. Unlike a license, this social standard does not necessarily need to be forced by the state; social pressure could suffice.
Unfortunately for the anti anonymity crowd, the intensity of social pressure required to make anonymity a taboo is out of their reach. Another strategy is to appeal to honor. If the argument is so important or good, then the arguer should have the confidence to attach their name and face to it. While this is formally a non sequitur and inconsistent (I doubt this standard is ever applied unless one has been exposed by an argument from an anonymous poster), it is popular nonetheless. Despite its popularity, I have not yet come across anyone willing to defend their nonanonymous honor that has been attached to an argument or statement, even when challenged.
The state and its collaborators have another solution, though. If anonymity on any major website can just be done away with entirely, eliminating online privacy altogether, not only will the issue of anonymous critics be solved, but the state could easily reassert itself as the controller of media. The state’s control over media is severely hampered because of its decentralization, yes, but if the decentralization is maintained while privacy is eliminated by way of an anonymity ban (be it state edict or public-private agreement), then the state can control whoever it wants to, just not to the extent that it did last century. Anonymity, therefore, must be defended if the state is to be weakened and ultimately dismantled.
Ryan Turnipseed is an undergraduate in economics and entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University.
Ryan Turnipseed | Mises Wire
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Over the summer, Target made a show of pulling back its controversial Transgender collection. They claimed it was to protect worker and customer safety. That was a cover story to hide a marketing stumble, but Target still has safety concerns, forcing it to close nine stores.
Related: LGBT = Let’s Go Blowup Target: Stores Get Bomb Threats for Pulling Queer Gear
The crime culture in big cities catalyzed by Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and Progressive District Attorneys – in other words, Democrats – has made doing business impossible.
Target is closing three stores each in San Francisco and in Portland, Ore., two stores in Seattle, and one New York City store in Harlem, according to a statement on the company’s website.
The company said it “cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance.” Target can only be successful “if the working and shopping environment is safe for all,” the company said. …
Target “continues to face an unacceptable amount of retail theft and organized retail crime,” Cornell said, according to the Star Tribune.
Walgreens has closed stores, as have Amazon and Wal-Mart, for the same reasons. Add this to a long list of retail downsizing and the closing of local markets and stores, and urban communities are finding it challenging to shop for anything. Chicago has proposed city-owned grocery stores to replace the ones run out of business or out of town by Democrat politics.
For all their talk about equity and access, the Democrat party has consistently embraced politics and policy that harms minorities. I have to wonder if they’ve noticed who is to blame. And it’s not just white Democrats. Black Democrats leaped to the front of the Black Lives Matter crime and riot wave during the Summer of Love (2020). They couldn’t wait to defund local police, which polling showed was not what the urban community wanted.
They did it anyway.
With a vocal lack of support for law enforcement and systemic progressive support for organized retail crime through refusals to prosecute it, Black Lives have suffered exponentially. Add to that the influx of illegal immigrants vying for the declining number of jobs due to retail departures, and nothing good has come from any of it.
The Democrat’s urban plantation has seen a precipitous decline in jobs, opportunity, and access to essential goods and services. On the flip side, property and violent crime have risen. All while inflation sucks the life ot of the few dollars they have left.
It explains all the chatter about reparations.
They’ve so badly compromised their supposed base that the only way they can imagine to keep them is to bribe them. It is money they should take, if they ever get it, with them (now that they can afford to move out of the city) to someplace safer before it gets stolen from them.
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Musician Taylor Swift and NFL tight end Travis Kelce are reportedly dating. It means nothing in real life except that it shows that no matter how much money and success you have, your feminist, girl-boss ways cannot stop you from falling for a masculine man when you are lonely.
This is true no matter who you are, but Swift showed you can be one of the greatest popstars ever to take the stage, make billions off tours and merchandise, and still say yes when the cute football player asks you out because masculinity has an unbelievable draw for women. We need men to have it because it protects our emotional nature, keeping us balanced.
Here comes Kelce, a star football player coming off a Super Bowl championship. He is physically strong and likely ticks all of Swift’s progressive boxes. He took a knee with Colin Kaepernick in 2017, stood with Bud Light after it capitulated to the LGBT agenda, and bent over for Pfizer’s latest push for COVID vaccines.
Travis Kelce took a knee today during the National Anthem #imwithkap #takeaknee pic.twitter.com/9gQopcK1Yy
— Know Your Rights Camp (@yourrightscamp) September 25, 2017
Professional athletes like Kelce are our modern-day Roman gladiators. The games are distractions from real life for its spectators, and an opportunity for men to have comradery and competition as a hobby once a week. Unfortunately, Kelce is a top-of-the-line pawn in this game. Either he only pretends to support these far-left causes because of the sponsorship money, or he is actively working against traditional life. But at the end of the day, masculinity and progressive values don’t align, so something will have to give.
Whether or not these progressive ideologies affect these two very wealthy people is undetermined, but it will undoubtedly make it harder for their fans. When an actual masculine man finds a wife, he gets to work fortifying their life against potential threats, like men who would don a dress and hang out in the women’s bathroom. Kelce isn’t doing that.
In fact, he is doing the exact opposite of protecting women from predatory men. After Bud Light’s disastrous partnership with Dylan Mulvaney, Kelce was one of the first football players to publicly support the brand and welcome it back to the Kansas City Chief’s stadium. To Swift, this is probably a good sign that he isn’t a “dreaded” conservative. But it’s a stark contrast to four-time NFL Super Bowl champion Rob Gronkowski coming out against men playing in women’s sports.
Taylor Swift on Donald Trump. Is she right? pic.twitter.com/FHpOQBKySe
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) September 25, 2023
To someone like Swift, this is the perfect partnership. She has a physically fit boyfriend who will not challenge her to think about something more than herself. But her fans must sit in the painful reality of the progressive policies she and her new boyfriend are lobbying for. (ROOKE: Deion Sanders Epitomizes The Revival America Needs Right Now In Young Men)
When their female fans walk into the bathroom, a full security team isn’t checking before, during, and after for potential threats. Usually, a woman’s husband does this for her, but Swift’s fans are looking for men like Kelce. They believe the lie that progressive men will protect you, but they won’t. So it’s up to the women’s empowerment team to handle the disgruntled, mentally-ill man modeling his Hello Kitty underwear in the female bathroom’s only full-length mirror.
As these women look to their husbands for support when their teenage daughter comes to them begging to get her breasts chopped off, they are nowhere. Like Kelce, these men choose to be the good-time guys. They enjoy the path of least resistance. They aren’t real leaders, so their false masculinity fails to protect against dangers.
While Swift and Kelce have teams of people looking out for risks, their fans are left in the real world fending for themselves.
Mary Rooke is a reporter at the Daily Caller.
Mary Rooke | Daily Caller News Service
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The political left had a literal meltdown over The New Hampshire State Board of Education supporting Prager University’s Financial Literacy course for the Learn Everywhere program. The word was out, all Democrats across the state of New Hampshire needs to show up for the State Board of Ed meeting and oppose this program.
I attended the State Board of Ed meeting and began my testimony saying that I believe that a quality education for children includes a good teacher teaching the content to students. I’ve known the value of a highly educated instructor who can teach students quality academic content. However, there are times when that is not available to children. Or maybe a child has been bullied in school and needs an alternative. Then there needs to be a next-best choice for families.
The Prager U videos that will be available to students offered 15 – 5 minute videos on subjects that should be learned by students in a financial literacy class. They covered topics like simple and compound interest and taxes. The content was good, and there was no political bias expressed in these videos.
So why did Democrats turn out to oppose Prager U’s videos if parents need that alternative? Prager U has an obvious right wing bias as a political organization. It makes sense that one would want to know if that bias was included in their materials. Those who watched the videos could see there was no political bias. Had there been a political bias, I would have opposed them. It’s bad enough families have to fight the left-wing bias they see all the time in their schools, we don’t need to copy that in any materials. We need good quality academic content for students. The videos provided that.
Let’s compare this battle to the battle waging across New Hampshire by parents who have requested the removal of explicit pornographic content available to their children in their public schools. Where have all of these Democrats been? Why have they been absent in that battle?
Pornography in the hands of a child can be harmful. According to stopitnow.org, giving children pornography is considered child sexual abuse. You would think that anyone willing to fight these videos would surely fight against pornography for children. Sadly these same people have been absent from protecting children from child sexual abuse.
We have examples of left-wing propaganda given to children in Bedford’s Personal finance class. Students were required to read a book of Marxist propaganda several years ago. Parents objected to that book, but those on the left supported it.
It sounds like if the political bias is left-wing, these people are good with it. If they believe it’s right-wing, they will show up and fight it. Even if the content if bias free.
So what’s more important to fight? Pornography for children or financial literacy? When it comes to Democrats in New Hampshire, sadly it’s financial literacy.
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A 12-year-old Colorado boy became a victim of “woke” education when he was taken out of class and told he could not return unless he removed a Gadsden flag or “Don’t Tread on Me” patch from his backpack. The school backed down after a video went viral in which a school official told the boy and his mother that the problem with the patch is that the Gadsden flag’s origin is related to slavery and the slave trade. The school was criticized by individuals from across the political spectrum for seeming ignorance of the role the Gadsden flag played in the American Revolution. Among the critics was Colorado Governor Jared Polis, one of the few remaining Democrats willing to defend free speech from the woke mob.
This incident reminded me of a 2009 Department of Homeland Security “fusion center” report warning that individuals with Gadsden flag bumper stickers, or bumper stickers supporting my presidential campaign or the Libertarian or Constitution parties, were potentially dangerous extremists. After I and many other Americans objected, the offending report was withdrawn. But, the fact that it was issued in the first place, just like the fact the Colorado student was ever removed from class for his Gadsden flag patch, shows how the authoritarians view the “Don’t Tread on Me” symbol.
The reason the woke authoritarians hate the Gadsden flag has nothing to do with racism or extremism. It is because the flag represents a rejection of authoritarianism and an embrace of liberty. Benjamin Franklin originally used the rattlesnake to symbolize the rebellious American colonies. He chose the snake because the rattlesnake “never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders.” In other words, rattlesnakes follow the nonaggression principle that forbids the use of offensive force against another’s person or property but allows the use of force to defend against any violations of one’s rights — including those committed by government officials.
In contrast, authoritarianism is rooted in the notion that politicians, bureaucrats, and their favored special interests have the right to tread on everyone.
The smearing of the Gadsden flag as racist is just the latest example of how the woke left is using its power in American education and cultural institutions to discredit the symbols and ideals of limited government and free markets. The woke left views schools as a place to indoctrinate children into Cultural Marxism rather than a place where children can gain a good education.
The rise of woke education is leading many parents to consider homeschooling. Parents looking to provide their children a quality home-based education that promotes real learning that does not push a political agenda but does instruct in the history and philosophy of liberty should look into my homeschooling curriculum. My curriculum provides students with a well-rounded education that includes rigorous programs in history, mathematics, and the physical and natural sciences. The curriculum also provides instruction in personal finance. Students can develop superior communication skills via intensive writing and public speaking courses. Another feature of my curriculum is that it provides students with the opportunity to create and run their own businesses.
The government and history sections of the curriculum emphasize free-market economics, libertarian political theory, and the history of liberty. I encourage all parents looking at alternatives to government schools — alternatives that provide children with a well-rounded education that introduces them to the history and ideas of liberty without sacrificing education for indoctrination — to go to RonPaulCurriculum.com for more information about my homeschooling program.
Ron Paul | Ron Paul Institute
Copyright © 2023 by RonPaul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.
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France is very different from here. But in some ways, we should expect things to be the same. Take crime, for example. A new report focused on crimes that occur on public transportation delivered some alarming and unpleasant truths.
Last year, 69 percent of violent robberies and other violent crimes, including sexual assaults, on public transport in the greater Paris region of Île-de-France were perpetrated by foreign nationals, according to the annual figures of the SSMSI, the statistics bureau of the French Ministry of Interior.
However, looking closer at the data, it is revealed that Africans alone are responsible for 52 percent of such crimes while only representing 3.2 percent of the population of France.
Even for all of France, the data clearly shows that African nationals account for 42 percent of the above-mentioned types of crimes, way above their statistical weight within the French population.
Regarding crimes specific to public transport, the situation has actually not changed substantially over the years. The last time Remix News reported on such data in 2020, 69 percent of sexual assaults were committed by foreigners at that time as well.
America has also deliberately been flooded with people who don’t speak our language, are unfamiliar with the customs, or have no interest in embracing our culture, just like France, with this difference. Americans still have a right to self-defense. The odds of getting shot by your victim or a bystander are greater, and while the local Progs are working to disarm us, each new effort results in a spike in gun sales.
Illegals do commit crimes here, and they will account for more of them simply by sheer mass and numbers. That will not cease even if the border were abruptly closed. Crime is the resort of the deranged but also the desperate when no other means of improvement presents itself, or you find yourself stuck in a welfare trap set by people (Democrats) pretending to be your advocates.
Advocates who keep criminals out of prison to destabilize society until they have the power to impose their own imperious brand of order.
It’s Not Just FranceFrance isn’t the only poster child in Europe for why this sort of approach to borders and immigration is a bad idea (if peace and liberty are valued). Sweden and Norway have been plagued by rape and violent crime for years thanks to loose immigration policy. Germany, as well.
It is an old problem getting “old” fast, but what to do? If “migrants,” legal or otherwise, are responsible for nearly 70% of crimes on public transportation in France, does the left’s absolutism when it comes to firearms apply? Is the solution to over-regulate or ban migrants or public transit?
Neither. Such a thing as that would interfere with the reason for open borders or loose immigration policy in America or France. To dilute your people and culture with someone else’s, regardless of the side effects. A mess with a growing human cost you blame on locals (natives?) resisting the appropriation of their land, jobs, and the destruction of their culture.
That’s typically something Democrats pretend to abhor, but since the goal is to replace free people with one easily subjugated, they are happy to look the other way no matter who pays the cost or how.
HT | PJ Media
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Whether due to a worker shortage, the Dobbs decision, and/or answered prayer, the Planned Parenthood clinic on Washington Street no longer performs abortions, according to its website and anecdotal reports from pro-life activists.
Related: Planned Parenthood Northern New England Is Imploding
The Barre PP clinic website this spring said it offered chemical abortions but now says it provides only ‘abortion referrals’ among its abortion-related subjects. Vermont’s largest abortion provider continues to perform abortions at four clinics statewide, the closest about 40 miles from Barre. Unlike Barre, these clinics explicitly market that they perform abortions.
The clinic is also open only three days a week – despite promising more hours when it closed a clinic in Newport last year “because of limited resources and the national crisis for reproductive health access…we’re reallocating our resources, a spokesperson said. Planned Parenthood isn’t talking about the reduction of hours or services on social media, and it doesn’t respond to VDC inquiries. Three possibilities have been mentioned:
Kelly readily concedes the possibility of #3 is a matter of faith. “We must have faith,” he told VDC recently. “He hears and answers our prayers. PP stands for abortion. PP is the face of abortion. They promote and refer women to abortion.”
The 40 Days campaigns will continue regardless of whether the Barre clinic starts performing abortions again, he said.
“Our 40 Days for Life campaign of prayer and fasting continues whether or not they offer abortion since they promote abortion. PP stands for abortion,” Kelly said.
The kickoff for the fall 40 Days for Life campaign will be held in the cafeteria of the St. Monica’s School in Barre at 1 pm this Sunday, September 24. Eloquent pro-lifer Martin Green of Morrisville will be the keynote speaker. See advertisement on VDC for more information.
Guy Page | Vermont Daily Chronicle
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The CDC’s COVID treatment protocol was simple. Refuse treatment until they have severe flu, use drugs that don’t work, ventilate them, lock their families out, and let us know when they die. We’ll send you a check. That’s not a conspiracy theory.
It is a well-documented fact, though – early on – daring to suggest what was obvious was blasphemous. Many said it anyway. Not enough; they kept at it for quite some time. We know this, but when the COVID bugbear (the politics, not the virus) raises its head, it helps to be reminded.
Today’s clip came with very little detail, but I was able to chase it down. The nurse’s name is (I found it hard to hear in the first video) Nicole Sirotec. The “hearing” is a round table in DC with Senator Ron Johnson where medical experts discuss the pandemic response. Nicole is a founder of American Frontline Nurses and has an extensive video archive, including a viral clip of a nurse crying about how her patients are being murdered.
The 2-minute + clip is powerful, but I went looking and found just over 8 minutes of testimony from Nicole, which I’ve included below.
Here is the entire 8-plus minutes unedited – published in January 2022 in which we learn that if doctors or hospitals reported a condition as a vaccine injury, they didn’t get reimbursed. Negligence and malfeasance are putting it lightly.
…
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The Learning Initiative gives you a good idea about the players in New Hampshire that push national education initiatives, whether they work or not. Think about all of the fads that have come through our public schools only to be shown that they did nothing to improve academic outcomes.
I can list many: Outcome-Based Education (now sold as Competency-Based Education in NH), School-to-Work (more workforce training), Fuzzy Math (Complete destruction of math ed), Whole Language, Common Core/Next Generation Science Standards (another failure), etc. There are more, but you get the idea.
Many of these initiatives come from education reformers on the national stage. Failure does not matter; they repackage their old failed initiatives, give them a new name, and then sell them again. Who are the people taking these failed education policies and selling them in New Hampshire? Look no further than the Learning Initiative.
The Learning Initiative used a bogus study from the Barr Foundation/ U.S. Department of Education to further its education agenda. The Barr Foundation is a big supporter of Competency-Based Education, and we know the U.S. Department of Education has been pushing this failed fad for decades. The U.S. Department of Education started with Outcome Based education, then School-to-Work, and now Competency-Based Education (CBE) which in New Hampshire. CBE pushes more training versus literacy and education on our public schools. While it’s apparent we have an illiteracy problem plaguing our public schools, they want more attention on workforce training instead of ensuring graduates are literate in the core subjects.
They change the names of these fads, so you don’t realize it’s a rehashed failed fad from the past. Notice how they didn’t present an independent or peer-reviewed study on CBE and any impact it’s had on academic outcomes?
The national organizations that continue to push these failed fads on our public schools, like Barr, are listed here with Nellie Mae and the Bush Foundation. Nellie Mae happily tells you that their main goal is to turn kids into community organizers. Graduating literate students is not the primary goal of any of these organizations.
Some of the people working for the Learning Initiative are making money off of these failed fads, so they will certainly want to keep them afloat. Let’s take the ones selling Competency-Based Ed in NH.
Jonathan G. Vander Els is listed for promoting CBE. He sells a book on CBE along with Brian Stack, who is also part of the Learning Initiative. The Competency-Based Ed model has no track record of success in New Hampshire and has shifted more attention in the classroom away from academics.
Brian Stack is the former Principal of Sanborn High School. I wrote about the scathing reviews he received from students who graduated from Sanborn a few years ago: Is Sanborn Regional School District Lying to Parents?
It was the Sanborn students who exposed the problems they faced after graduation, even though Brian Stack tried to sell Sanborn as a district that successfully prepares students for college and careers. Sanborn social media administrators were deleting comments from former students who were exposing the fraud.
Scroll through all of these people working for the Learning Initiative. Can you imagine how much money they are spending on their quest to usher in more national fads? Notice that Portrait of a Graduate is listed too. Read more about that national fad used to ignore poor proficiency scores and push more fads like CRT here.
Student-Centered Learning is another fad that seeks to remove the teacher and replace them with technology/screens. Bill Gates has already told us that teachers can easily be replaced by AI. How does that work for parents if they have to discuss an issue with their children?
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has called for human teachers to be replaced with artificial intelligence-powered machines in schools across America, arguing that AI bots would make “great” educators.
If Competency-Based Education worked so well, we’d have independent/peer-reviewed studies in New Hampshire presenting that evidence. Instead, after over a decade, our public schools continue to struggle.
The Learning Initiative wants to double down and hopes that you ignore the dismal proficiency scores coming out of our public schools and push more of these federal fads into our classrooms. And the worst part of all of this is the New Hampshire Department of Education is included with other progressive organizations in all of this.
You might ask, why would the NEA/teachers union support an initiative that replaces teachers in the classroom? They’ve been bought and paid for. You can see it in this document on page 10 from Education Reimagined. Go to page 10 and look at how adults in the classroom (teachers) are replaced with facilitators. Then go to the last page to see who signed the document: Randi Weingarten, President American Federation of Teachers, and Lily Eskelsen, President National Education Association. Scroll through all of the names to see who is part of this national agenda. It’s a lot harder to see what your kids are learning if there are no textbooks involved.
This isn’t about improving public education. This is about redesigning public ed into what President Obama promised during his tenure. While many of these failed fads are rehashed and have been pushed by progressive reformers in the past, Obama gave them a big push during his Common Core initiative. That’s when he said during a State of the Union Address that he was going to redesign public education. What most did not know is that redesign was a dumbed-down workforce training model…aka…Competency-Based Education Model.
It helps to know who is selling out your children to this dumbed-down training model that profits the Ed Tech industry. Many in New Hampshire are listed as part of the Learning Initiative.
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Imagine saying that the son of Robert F. Kennedy, the nephew of John F. Kennedy, is NOT a Democrat if you said that even ten years ago, you would have been thought to be insane OR so far-left as to be off the political radar screen.
But today’s Democrat Party bears NO resemblance to the Democrat Party of RFK and JFK. Let me repeat that today’s Democrat Party bears NO resemblance to the Democrat Party of RFK and JFK.
Instead, today’s Democrat Party looks and acts much more like the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and of China at the time that JFK and RFK were the leaders of the Democrat Party. More specifically, today’s Democrat Party supports a Police State that has as its ultimate purpose keeping Democrats in permanent power. “Democracy,” to these Communists “Democrats,” is an outcome, not a process. If they win, that’s democracy. If they lose, that’s not democracy.
In other words, today’s Democrats have turned the meaning of democracy upside down. Rigged elections, putting your political opponents in jail, etc., etc., etc., are okay as long as elections are rigged in their favor, their political opponents are the ones put in jail, etc., etc., etc.. Same with free speech, which to these “Democrats” means censoring speech that does not follow their narrative. Etc., etc., etc., etc.
The tweet that inspired this post:
The post I Think She Means RFK, Jr. … Is Not A Communist appeared first on Granite Grok.
The Rutherford Institute is pushing back against efforts by government officials to use warrantless aerial drone surveillance to snoop on citizens at home and spy on their private property.
In filing a joint amicus brief with Cato Institute in Long Lake Township v. Maxon, Institute attorneys are calling on the Michigan Supreme Court to hold government officials accountable for violating the Fourth Amendment by not obtaining a search warrant before using a drone to take aerial photographs of private property, which was not observable from the ground, in order to gather evidence of a civil zoning violation.
“Americans are being swept up into a massive digital data dragnet that does not distinguish between those who are innocent of wrongdoing, suspects, or criminals. Aerial drone surveillance has become a de facto snitch for the police state,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People. “By subjecting Americans to surveillance without their knowledge or compliance, the government has erected the ultimate suspect society. In such an environment, there is no such thing as ‘innocent until proven guilty.’”
In 2008, Long Lake Township brought a zoning action against Todd Maxon, alleging that he was using his five-acre property where he lives as an illegal salvage or junkyard due to having automobiles which he worked on fixing up as a hobby. The case settled that year in Maxon’s favor with a dismissal and the Township agreeing to reimburse a portion of his attorneys’ fees. However, the government did not stop in its pursuit to penalize Maxon and his wife. In 2010, 2016, 2017, and 2018—without obtaining any search warrant—Township officials used a drone to take aerial photographs of the Maxons’ property, which was not visible from the ground because it is blocked by buildings and trees. The Township then filed another zoning action in 2018, alleging that the Maxons had increased the scope of the junk cars and material on their property. The Maxons argued that the aerial surveillance and photographs by the drones of their property was an unlawful search in violation of the Fourth Amendment and should, therefore, be excluded from evidence because people do not reasonably expect drones with high-powered cameras to surveil their private property at relatively low altitudes. The trial court denied the Maxons’ motion to suppress the images.
Noting the maneuverability, speed, and stealth of drones, which could fly directly up to an open bathroom window, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that persons do have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their property against drone surveillance and that government officials must, therefore obtain a warrant for such surveillance. However, although the Court of Appeals held that government officials had violated the Fourth Amendment, the court further held that the exclusionary rule does not apply in civil cases to suppress unconstitutionally obtained evidence. The Maxons appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court. In weighing in before the Court on behalf of the Maxons’ right to be free from warrantless aerial drone surveillance, The Rutherford Institute and Cato Institute warned that failure to apply the exclusionary rule will create a roadmap for the government to circumvent Fourth Amendment protections by simply classifying its fines as “civil” to punish people for violating its laws and ordinances.
Clark M. Neily, III and Laura A. Bondank of the Cato Institute helped advance the arguments in the Long Lake Township v. Maxon amicus brief.
The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties organization, provides legal assistance at no charge to individuals whose constitutional rights have been threatened or violated and educates the public on a wide spectrum of issues affecting their freedoms.
The post No, the Government Should Not Be Allowed to Use Warrantless Drone Surveillance to Snoop on Citizens at Home or Spy on Private Property appeared first on Granite Grok.
Maria Bartiromo had Matt Gaetz on her show in order to spank him for being willing to “shut down the government” in order to keep his promises to the voters. It was Maria, however, who got spanked. For example, she kept claiming that Kevin McCarthy had racked up all these “wins” and that Gaetz was undermining the GOP’s success. But when challenged to enumerate the “wins,” all she could come up with as examples were the hearings where the GOP talks tough at Garland, Mayorkas, Wray, etc.. Gaetz demolished her by pointing out that it is pointless to expose the weaponization of government and then turn around and fully fund that same weaponized government.
Some fireworks between Maria & @MattGaetz this morning: pic.twitter.com/RqXHDEvOhA
— ALX (@alx) September 24, 2023
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