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Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Hunter Biden’s Financial Records Show a Payment Directly from Beijing Listing Joe as the Beneficiary

Fox News: Hunter Biden received wires originating in Beijing for more than $250,000 from Chinese business partners during the summer of 2019—wires that listed the Delaware home of Joe Biden as the beneficiary address for the funds. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., has been investigating the Biden family business dealings and Joe Biden’s alleged involvement in those ventures. As part of the investigation, Comer subpoenaed financial records related to a specific bank account and received records of two wires originating from Beijing, China and linked to BHR Partners. BHR Partners is a joint-venture between Hunter Biden’s Rosemont Seneca and Chinese investment firm Bohai Capital. BHR Partners is a Beijing-backed private equity firm controlled by Bank of China Limited. Hunter Biden sat on the Board of Directors of BHR Partners (Fox News). Oversight Committee Chair James Comer: Bank records don’t lie but President Joe Biden does. Joe Biden’s abuse of public office for his family’s financial gain threatens our national security. What did the Bidens do with this Beijing money? Americans demand answers and deserve accountability (X).

Retailers Lost $112 Billion to Theft in 2022

Beating the previous record by about $18 billion. Insider: Retailers reported losing a record $112.1 billion to inventory shrink in 2022, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual Retail Security Survey. External theft was the largest contributing factor to shrink, followed by theft by employees. Combined, the two categories of theft account for roughly two-thirds of total shrink. Nearly half of survey respondents said they reduced specific stores’ operating hours in response to retail crime, while 28% reported closing specific stores altogether (Insider). Los Angeles Times: Los Angeles was the metro area most affected by organized retail crime in the country, followed by San Francisco and Oakland, the report said. Houston and New York City ranked third and fourth, respectively (Los Angeles Times). No wonder why Target is closing many stores across the country (Axios).

Voters Declare Republicans Have Better a Handle on Economy, Crime and Immigration

NBC: Voters overwhelmingly say they trust Republicans to do a better job than Democrats dealing with border security, crime, the economy and immigration, a new national NBC News poll finds. By some smaller margins, registered voters also say Democrats are better on health care, abortion, the coronavirus and education. The numbers illustrate the feelings of an electorate that has grown deeply dissatisfied with President Joe Biden — but also maintains serious reservations about his most likely rival in the 2024 presidential race, former President Donald Trump. Indeed, the GOP advantage on the economy is the highest recorded in more than three decades of NBC News polling. But it’s at about the same level as it was in September 2022, before Democrats notched surprisingly strong midterm election results in part because of those voter concerns about the GOP (NBC). WRDE: Officials say one alarming trend that appeared in the poll was a dramatic drop in Democratic voters in whether or not their party looked out for the middle class. The numbers are 34 percent for Republicans and 36 percent for Democrats, and though Democrats still have a two-point lead, that number is still the lowest it has been in the history of the poll (WRDE).

Biden’s FTC Sues Amazon

Wall Street Journal: The Federal Trade Commission and 17 states on Tuesday sued Amazon, alleging the online retailer illegally wields monopoly power that keeps prices artificially high, locks sellers into its platform and harms its rivals. The FTC’s lawsuit, filed in Seattle federal court, marks a milestone in the Biden administration’s aggressive approach to enforcing antitrust laws and has been anticipated for months. The federal agency and the states alleged that Amazon violated antitrust laws by using anti-discounting measures that punished merchants for offering lower prices elsewhere. The government also said sellers on Amazon were compelled to use its logistics service if they want their goods to appear in Amazon Prime, the subscription program whose perks include faster shipping times. The FTC said sellers feel they must use Amazon’s services such as advertising to be successful on the platform (Wall Street Journal). Reuters: FTC Chair Lina Khan said that Amazon had used illegal tactics to fend off companies that would have risen to challenge its monopoly. “Amazon is now exploiting that monopoly power to harm its customers, both the tens of millions of families that shop on Amazon’s platform and the hundreds of thousands of sellers that use Amazon to reach them,” she said (Reuters).

California Governor Newsom Signs Major Gun Tax Legislation

Wall Street Journal: California will become the first state in the nation to impose an excise tax on gun and ammunition sales under a measure signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Starting next July, the state will collect an 11% tax on retail sales of guns, gun parts and ammunition. The money would be used for gun-violence prevention, enhanced school safety and programs geared toward victims of gun violence. “It’s a pretty sick thing that we can just casually say it, and we do casually say it, that the No. 1 killer of our kids is guns,” Newsom said. There is already a federal excise tax of 10% on wholesale prices for handguns and 11% for long guns and ammunition. Newsom on Tuesday also signed a measure revising the state’s concealed-carry laws following last year’s Supreme Court ruling that restricts such measures. The state law details dozens of places where concealed firearms wouldn’t be allowed (Wall Street Journal). Associated Press: The law says the first $75 million of that money must go to the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program. The program has funded projects targeting young people in gangs, including sports programs, life coaching and tattoo removal. The next $50 million would go to the State Department of Education to boost security at public schools. That includes physical security improvements, safety assessments, after-school programs for at-risk students and mental and behavioral health services for students, teachers and other school employees (Associated Press).

Governor Newsom Ensures Sexually Explicit Books Remain in Childrens’ Classrooms

National Review: California governor Gavin Newsom on Monday signed a bill that prevents the state’s more than 10,000 schools from banning and censoring books over concerns regarding racial or sexual themes, resulting in fines for any school that disobeys the law. The legislation, formally known as AB 1078, forbids school boards from removing and censoring textbooks or library books even if they do include divisive content, such as critical race theory or pornography. The law, which took effect immediately upon Newsom’s signature, was enacted in response to the California government’s debate with school districts over whether the latter can remove or censor any books that perpetuate left-wing ideologies and immoral content (National Review). Politico: Backed by state schools Superintendent Tony Thurmond, the new law will allow the superintendent to determine whether a district has failed to comply with state curriculum laws, giving the official power to review complaints that would have first had to go through county boards of education in the past (Politico).

Hunter Biden Sues Former Trump Lawyer Rudy Giuliani for “Hacking” Into His Laptop

Townhall: Hunter Biden filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and another attorney for allegedly “hacking into” private data from his infamous laptop. The complaint alleges Giuliani and lawyer Robert Costello “dedicated an extraordinary amount of time and energy toward looking for, hacking into, tampering with, manipulating, copying, disseminating, and generally obsessing over data that they were given that was taken or stolen.” Their actions violate the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the complaint alleges. While Biden does not acknowledge the infamous laptop is his, he states that at least “some of the data that Defendants obtained, copied, and proceeded to hack into and tamper with belongs” to him (Townhall). Washington Examiner: This is not the first lawsuit Hunter Biden has filed in relation to his laptop. On Sept. 13, he filed a lawsuit against former Trump aide Garrett Ziegler, his company, and 10 unnamed defendants for allegedly posting the contents of his laptop illegally (Washington Examiner).

President Biden Spoke at the UAW Picket Line, Supports Demands

Reuters: President Joe Biden on Tuesday joined a picket line with striking autoworkers in Michigan, backing their call for a 40% pay raise and telling them they deserve a “lot more” than they are getting. Biden’s appearance, the first visit by a U.S. president to striking workers in modern history, comes a day before Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner for president, will speak to auto workers in Michigan. Asked if he supported the 40% increase the union had asked for, Biden said simply, “Yes” (Reuters). Representative Lisa McClain: I know the “upper chamber” is busy with wardrobe policy at the moment but stop the lies. Biden told automakers by 2030 they should have 50% of sales be EVs. That hamstrings the auto industry, which jeopardizes autoworkers livelihood. “Union Joe” is responsible for this mess (X). Katie Pavlich: Ford recently reported it will lose $4.5 billion on electric vehicle production this year alone and is losing $60,000 per car produced. The Biden administration continues to argue taxpayers should further subsidize the massive losses to comply with Biden’s climate agenda (Townhall).

Russia Wants to Be Restored to the UN Human Rights Council

BBC: Russia is seeking to rejoin the United Nations human rights council in an election that will be seen as a key test of its international standing. It was expelled from the UN’s pre-eminent human rights body last April after its forces invaded Ukraine. But now Russian diplomats are seeking to get their country re-elected to the council for a fresh three-year term. The vote will take place next month. In the document seen by the BBC, Russia promises to find “adequate solutions for human rights issues” and seeks to stop the council becoming an “instrument which serves political wills of one group of countries”, understood to be a reference to the West (BBC). Hillel Neuer: BBC just reported Russia is aggressively lobbying for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, offering small countries grain and arms in return for their votes. For God’s sake, we can’t have war criminal Vladimir Putin as a world judge of human rights (X).

10.

Virginia Parents Sue School Board for Ignoring Gov. Youngkin’s Trans Policies

Forbes: Two parents are suing the Virginia Beach School Board in an attempt to make it implement Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s transgender policies that require teachers address students by their birth names and pronouns and say involvement in activities, like sports, must be based on sex rather than gender identity. The lawsuit, filed last week on behalf of two mothers in the district, alleges the school board violated Virginia law by not adopting policies consistent with the state’s and “ignored the rights of Virginia parents to make basic decisions about the education and well-being of their children” (Forbes). National Review: Despite the board’s vote on the matter, the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday, says the plaintiffs want a declaration that school boards must comply with Youngkin’s new policies and an injunction that requires the Virginia Beach School Board to adopt them. It also seeks the removal of districtwide policies that “threaten (students with) punishment for intentionally refusing to affirm gender transition” and that allow “biological boys who identify as girls to use the girls’ locker room.” The school board, according to its released meeting schedule, convened Monday to discuss the state’s new model policies in the hopes of reaching a consensus (National Review).