GOP senators suggest Blinken lied about Burisma — was trying to connect with firm’s US lobbyists

 Republican Sens. Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley believe Secretary of State Antony Blinken may have lied to Congress about his knowledge of first son Hunter Biden’s job at Ukrainian gas firm Burisma — in addition to his alleged untruth about never emailing with Hunter.

The senators wrote that emails from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop as well as additional records assembled by legislative investigators cast doubt on Blinken’s professed ignorance of Hunter’s role on Burisma’s board, where he earned up to $1 million per year, and in fact show Blinken was “trying to connect” with Burisma’s US lobbyists.

“Your statement to Congress that you did not email Hunter Biden is clearly not true and calls into question the veracity of your entire December 22, 2020 testimony,” Johnson (R-Wis.) and Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote to Blinken Tuesday morning.

“Specifically, you denied having any awareness of Hunter Biden’s association with the corrupt Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings.”

Lying to Congress is a crime punishable by up to five years in prison — and the intensifying focus on Blinken comes after he was exposed April 20 as the man who inspired 51 former spy-agency leaders to issue a statement casting doubt on the authenticity of documents from Hunter Biden’s laptop implicating then-presidential candidate Joe Biden in his family’s Chinese and Ukrainian business relationships.

Both Blinken and his wife Evan Ryan, President Biden’s current cabinet secretary and an assistant secretary of state from 2013 to 2017, appeared to be aware of Hunter’s Burisma position, the letter says, demanding that the couple hand over by May 15 “all records, referring or relating to Hunter Biden, his business dealings, or his family’s business dealings.”

Sen. Ron Johnson wrote to Blinken saying his statement to Congress claiming he didn’t email Hunter Biden was not true.

AP

Blinken, who was deputy national security adviser when Hunter joined Burisma’s board in 2014 and then deputy secretary of state for the final two years of the Obama-Biden administration, said in a Dec. 22, 2020, Senate deposition he had no idea that the then-vice president’s son scored the Burisma post.

“During your time as deputy secretary of state, were you aware of any association that Hunter Biden had with Burisma?” a Senate questioner asked Blinken.

“I was not,” Blinken said — even though Hunter’s Burisma position was reported by news outlets in May 2014, stoking controversy.

Chuck Grassley and Sens. Ron Johnson said Blinken’s statement calls into question the veracity of his entire December 22, 2020 testimony.

AP

“You were not aware that Hunter Biden served on Burisma’s board?” the investigator pressed.

“To the best of my recollection, I was not,” said Blinken, who one month after the grilling became President Biden’s secretary of state.

Grassley and Johnson, who led an initial investigation of the first family’s foreign business ventures while they led the Senate homeland security and finance committees in 2020, cited emails from Hunter’s laptop that appear to contradict the top diplomat, and referred to further non-public documentation.

“Although you denied having any knowledge that Hunter Biden was associated with Burisma, emails reportedly from Hunter Biden’s laptop reveal that your wife, Evan Ryan… corresponded directly with Hunter Biden (from her personal email address) in an apparent attempt to connect you with representatives of Burisma’s US lobbying firm, Blue Star Strategies,” the two senators wrote.

“In an apparent email exchange on July 14, 2016, Hunter Biden told Ryan that ‘S’ and ‘K’ told him that they called the State Department and left a message. ‘S’ and ‘K’ appear to be Sally Painter and Karen Tramontano, Blue Star Strategies’ Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer, respectively. Ryan wrote to Biden, ‘He didn’t get the msg. He said if we can get him their numbers he can call them late afternoon DC time tmrw — let me know if that works[.]’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a Dec. 22, 2020, Senate deposition he had no idea that the then-vice president’s son scored the Burisma post.

AFP via Getty Images

“Although this email exchange did not reference you by name, State Department documents obtained during our investigation make it clear that you were concurrently trying to connect with representatives from Blue Star Strategies.”

Grassley and Johnson went on: “Another reported email from Hunter Biden’s laptop shows that on July 15, 2016, an individual from Hunter Biden’s firm instructed him and his business associate, Eric Schwerin, to  ‘please call Evan Ryan . . . Hunter – she tried your cell earlier and it went straight to vm[.]’ You told congressional investigators that you did not meet with Tramontano or Painter during  this time period. When asked if either of them informed you that they were representing Burisma, you said, ‘To the best of my recollection, no.’

“It seems highly unlikely that you had no idea of Hunter Biden’s association with Burisma  while your wife was apparently coordinating with Hunter Biden to potentially connect you with Burisma’s US representatives.”

The State Department did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment, but has thus far refused to comment either on Blinken’s role in inspiring the 51-spies letter or on Johnson’s allegation, first made Sunday, that Blinken perjured himself by denying emailing with Hunter Biden.

Data from the first son’s abandoned laptop shows that Hunter and Blinken exchanged emails in May 2015 to set up a meeting where Blinken could give Hunter “advice on a couple of things,” in the Biden scion’s words.

The meeting apparently never took place. Three days after its scheduled date, Hunter’s brother Beau died of brain cancer at Walter Reed Medical Center.

However, Hunter and Blinken did get together for lunch that July, with Blinken emailing from his personal AOL account that it had been good for the two men to “catch up.”

Blinken told Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall on Monday, meanwhile, that he “didn’t ask” former CIA acting director Michael Morell to write the letter aimed at discrediting The Post’s laptop reports by claiming they had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

The former spymasters’ letter, issued just before the 2020 election, was cited by Joe Biden at the final presidential debate to falsely smear The Post’s reporting as “garbage” and a “Russian plant.”

The Post’s reporting showed that Joe Biden met with a Burisma executive on April 16, 2015, and that Joe Biden was involved in and penciled-in for a 10% cut in 2017 from a venture with CEFC China Energy. The reporting was later broadly corroborated.

Senate Republicans currently are in the minority and lack the power to compel Blinken and Ryan to produce documents. However, Republican-led House committees, such as the Oversight Committee, could take up the cause.

Grassley and Johnson wrote that Blinken had exhibited a pattern of dishonesty.

“The public recently learned through congressional testimony from former CIA official  Michael Morell, that you allegedly were the catalyst of an October 2020 information operation aimed to deceive Americans about the authenticity of Hunter Biden’s laptop. It is now evident  that your apparent willingness to deceive the public continued through December 2020 when you  failed to tell the whole truth to congressional investigators about your contacts with Hunter  Biden,” the senators wrote.

“Because your testimony is inaccurate, Congress and the public must rely on your records  as the source for information about your dealings with Hunter Biden.”

The Justice Department, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, makes charging decisions in cases of lying to Congress. Garland allegedly gave false testimony of his own to Congress about the independence of the criminal tax fraud probe of Hunter Biden, according to an IRS whistleblower who contacted Congress on April 19 to allege a coverup.

https://nypost.com/2023/05/02/gop-senators-suggest-blinken-lied-about-burisma-was-trying-to-connect-with-firms-us-lobbyists/

Hundreds of migrants camp out overnight in El Paso amid state of emergency

 Sobering photos show hundreds of migrants camped out in the streets of El Paso overnight Monday, as the Texas city’s emergency order went into effect in anticipation of the end of Title 42.

The asylum seekers are seen in the images on makeshift beds constructed out of cardboard and sheets, holding their belongings close, as border towns brace for an anticipated flood of migrants once Title 42 is lifted on May 11.

Throngs of migrants were packed tightly on El Paso streets and sidewalks into the early hours, with some taking rest while lying across blankets while others sat perched on the curb.

The asylum seekers photographed in the epicenter of the border crisis appeared to mainly be adults.

El Paso declared a state of emergency starting Monday ahead of the expiration of Title 42, the pandemic-era law that allowed the Border Patrol to send migrants from certain countries back to Mexico.

Officials expect to see up to 13,000 people crossing the border each day once the policy is lifted.

Even with a little over a week to spare until the policy ends, more than 73,000 migrants have crossed the southern border illegally in the last 10 days, according to border officials.

Immigrants crowded the streets of El Paso overnight Monday after the city’s state of emergency order went into effect.

James Keivom

More migrants are expected to arrive in El Paso in the coming weeks as Title 42 is set to expire.

James Keivom

Out of those entries, a stunning 16,985 “gotaways” — who were either spotted by agents or caught by motion sensor cameras — managed to enter the country and avoid detention.

On Monday, US Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said 22,220 people had been apprehended at all US borders in the span of 72 hours and that another 51,560 migrants were caught during the previous week.

Agents said in the last 10 days they prevented 19 sex offenders, six gang members and one criminal convicted of murder from entering the country at both the northern and southern borders.

Officials anticipate up to 13,000 people will cross the border from Mexico into the US each day once Title 42 expires.

James Keivom

The asylum seekers photographed Monday in the epicenter of the border crisis appeared to mainly be adults.

James Keivom

Officials say the scene at the border will only worsen once the pandemic-era law comes to an end next week.

James Keivom

Thousands of people eager to gain asylum and start a new life in the US hand themselves over to agents at the southern border each day, but most up until now have been processed and sent back over the border under Title 42.

Officials have warned that the number of migrants at the border will only increase as Title 42 comes to an end.

In El Paso, officials expect anywhere between 12,000 and 40,000 migrants who have been waiting on the Mexican side to cross into the city once Title 42 expires. In preparation for the influx, the city has started building a third intake center for processing migrants.

Officials believe there are thousands of migrants waiting on the Mexican side of the border who will cross once Title 42 expires.

James Keivom

El Paso’s mayor warned migrants against coming even after the law ends.

James Keivom

Crowds of migrants were seen lying in the streets and on the sidewalks in El Paso overnight Monday.

James Keivom

“May 11, they believe, will be the day that they can — without any documentation — they can come into the United States and to continue to move on,” El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said Sunday.

“Which is really one of the furthest things from what’s going to happen,” Leeser added.

“We’re not opening the borders, and the borders are not open today, and they will not be open on May 12.”

https://nypost.com/2023/05/02/migrants-camp-out-in-el-paso-amid-state-of-emergency/

Biden administration deploys 1,500 active-duty troops to border

 The Biden administration is deploying about 1,500 active-duty troops to the southern border to provide support to U.S. immigration authorities, according to multiple published reports. The move comes as U.S. officials prepare for the end of pandemic-era "Title 42" immigration restrictions.

https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20230502281/biden-administration-deploys-1500-active-duty-troops-to-border-reports

PharmaTher Applies for Fast Track for KETARX™ (Ketamine) Treatment of Parkinson’s

 PharmaTher Holdings Ltd. (the “Company” or “PharmaTher”) (OTCQB: PHRRF) (CSE: PHRM), a specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced the submission of a Fast Track Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) for KETARX™ (ketamine) for the treatment for levodopa-induced dyskinesia in Parkinson’s disease (“LID-PD”).

Fast Track designation aims to expedite the development and review of new drugs that are intended to treat serious or life-threatening conditions and demonstrate the potential to fill unmet medical needs. The purpose is to get important new drugs to patients faster. Filling an unmet medical need is defined as providing a therapy where none exists or providing a therapy which may be potentially better than available therapy. Drugs that are granted this designation are given the opportunity for more frequent meetings with FDA to discuss the drug's development plan and ensure collection of appropriate data needed to support drug approval; more frequent written communication with FDA about such things as the design of the proposed clinical trials and use of biomarker; Eligibility for Accelerated Approval and Priority Review, if relevant criteria are met; and, Rolling Review, which means that a drug company can submit completed sections of its New Drug Application (NDA) for review by FDA, rather than waiting until every section of the NDA is completed before the entire application can be reviewed. NDA review usually does not begin until the drug company has submitted the entire application to the FDA.

Following its recently announced Type C meeting with the FDA for advancing KETARX™ towards Phase 3 clinical development, the Company is evaluating a Phase 3 clinical trial design to align with the FDA’s recommendations that would allow for a potential FDA approval. The safety and efficacy results from its previously announced presentation of the Phase I/II clinical study evaluating ketamine as a potential new treatment for LID-PD will be used to support the investigation of KETARX™ in a proposed Phase 3 clinical study.

https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/pharmather-holdings-submits-fast-track-application-to-fda-for-ketarx-ketamine-for-the-treatment-of-parkinson-s-disease/

Biogen prices new ALS drug at more than $14K per dose

 Biogen has priced its new ALS drug Qalsody at $14,230 per dose, a spokesperson confirmed to Endpoints News on Monday.

Qalsody, also known as tofersen, won an accelerated approval last week for a rare type of ALS marked by a mutation called SOD1. Only about 1% or 2% of ALS patients have the mutation, representing about 300 people in the US, according to Biogen.

https://endpts.com/biogen-prices-new-als-drug-at-more-than-14k-per-dose/

IBM To Stop Hiring For Roles That Can Be Replaced By AI

 One month ago, to much dismay and widespread denial, Goldman predicted that AI could lead to some 300 million layoffs among highly paid, non-menial workers in the US and Europe. As Goldman chief economist Jan Hatzius put it, "using data on occupational tasks in both the US and Europe, we find that roughly two-thirds of current jobs are exposed to some degree of AI automation, and that generative AI could substitute up to one-fourth of current work. Extrapolating our estimates globally suggests that generative AI could expose the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs to automation" as up to "two thirds of occupations could be partially automated by AI."

Yet while Goldman's forecast was met with a emotions ranging from incredulity to outright mockery, it may not have been too far off the mark.

Consider that just last week, Dropbox said it would lay off 16% of the company, some 500 employees as the company sought to build out its AI division.  In a memo to employees, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston said that “in an ideal world, we’d simply shift people from one team to another. And we’ve done that wherever possible. However, our next stage of growth requires a different mix of skill sets, particularly in AI and early-stage product development. We’ve been bringing in great talent in these areas over the last couple years and we’ll need even more.”

The changes we’re announcing today, while painful, are necessary for our future,” Houston notes. “I’m determined to ensure that Dropbox is at the forefront of the AI era, just as we were at the forefront of the shift to mobile and the cloud. We’ll need all hands on deck as machine intelligence gives us the tools to reimagine our existing businesses and invent new ones.”

But while Dropbox's layoffs were lateral, and meant to open up space for more AI linked hires, in the case of IBM, it is AI itself that is making workers redundant.

As Bloomberg reports, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said the company expects to pause hiring for roles it thinks could be replaced with artificial intelligence in the coming years. As a result, hiring in back-office functions — such as human resources — will be suspended or slowed, Krishna said in an interview. These non-customer-facing roles amount to roughly 26,000 workers, Krishna said. “I could easily see 30% of that getting replaced by AI and automation over a five-year period.” That would mean roughly 7,800 jobs lost.

Part of any reduction would include not replacing roles vacated by attrition, an IBM spokesperson said.

Krishna’s plan marks one of the largest workforce strategies announced in response to the rapidly advancing technology; it certainly won't be the last as virtually all companies follow in IBM's footsteps and layoffs tens if not hundreds of millions of workers in the coming years.

Mundane tasks such as providing employment verification letters or moving employees between departments will likely be fully automated, Krishna said. And while some HR functions, such as evaluating workforce composition and productivity, probably won’t be replaced over the next decade, it is only a matter of time before these roles are also replaced by AI.

IBM currently employs about 260,000 workers and continues to hire for software development and customer-facing roles. Finding talent is easier today than a year ago, Krishna said. The company announced job cuts earlier this year, which may amount to about 5,000 workers once completed. Still, Krishna said IBM has added to its workforce overall, bringing on about 7,000 people in the first quarter.

The Armonk, New York-based IBM beat profit estimates in its most recent quarter due to expense management, including the earlier-announced job cuts. In the past IBM had managed to manipulate its stock higher thanks to billions in stock buybacks (at much higher prices). But once its debt load grew too big, the buyback game ended, Warren Buffett sold his shares, and the stock price has languished for over half a decade. And since the company's revenue is stagnant at best, its only hope is to drastically cut overhead.

Enter AI: new "productivity and efficiency" steps - read replacing workers with algos - are expected to drive $2 billion a year in savings by the end of 2024, Chief Financial Officer James Kavanaugh said on the day of earnings.

Helping the company's imminent transition to an AI-staffed corporation will be the coming recession. Until late 2022, Krishna said he believed the US could avoid a recession. Now, he sees the potential for a “shallow and short” recession toward the end of this year, although it remains unclear just how once can determine that a recession will be "shallow and short".

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/ibm-stop-hiring-roles-can-be-replaced-ai-nearly-8000-workers-be-replaced-automation