Hunter Sent 'Direct Monthly Payments' To Joe Via Account Paid From 'China And Other Shady Corners Of World'

 Hunter Biden sent monthly payments to his father out of a bank account he used to receive money from Chinese business associates, according to newly released bank records revealed by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, who shared a Monday video on X detailing redacted bank transfers to Joe Biden from Hunter's Owasco P.C. bank account.

"Today, the House Oversight Committee is releasing subpoenaed bank records that show Hunter Biden’s business entity, Owasco PC, made direct monthly payments to Joe Biden. This wasn’t a payment from Hunter Biden’s personal account but an account for his corporation that received payments from China and other shady corners of the world," Comer says in the video, adding that the payments began in September 2018 - six months before Biden announced his candidacy in the 2020 election.

"Payments from Hunter’s business entity to Joe Biden are now part of a pattern revealing Joe Biden knew about, participated in and benefited from his family’s influence peddling schemes."

"Payments to Joe Biden from Hunter’s Owasco PC corporate account are part of a pattern revealing Joe Biden knew about, participated in, and benefited from his family’s influence peddling schemes. As the Bidens received millions from foreign nationals and companies in China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and Kazakhstan, Joe Biden dined with his family’s foreign associates, spoke to them by speakerphone, had coffee, attended meetings, and ultimately received payments that were funded by his family’s business dealings," reads an accompanying release from the Oversight Committee.

See the records below via the Daily Caller;

Hunter and his uncle James' personal business records were subpoenaed by Comer in September following the first impeachment hearing for President Biden.

He released bank records Nov. 1 showing how funds originating in China resulted in a $40,000 check to Joe Biden in September 2017.

A Chinese firm sent $5 million to Hunter Biden’s firm Hudson West III in August 2017, shortly after he established the business entity with a Chinese business associate. Hunter Biden proceeded to wire $400,000 to his Owasco P.C. account and over $130,000 to another one of his corporate accounts, according to the bank records.

Next, Hunter Biden provided $150,000 to the Lion Hall Group, James Biden and his wife Sara Biden’s business account. James Biden and Sara Biden put $50,000 into their personal account and then sent a $40,000 check to Joe Biden, the bank records show. -Daily Caller

And of course the big (rhetorical) question - what services were Hunter and pals providing for such exorbitant sums?

Hunter and James will appear later this month for closed-door depositions.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/hunter-biden-sent-direct-monthly-payments-joe-account-paid-china-and-other-shady-corners

COP28 President: There Is "No Science" Behind Calls For Fossil-Fuel Phase-Out

 by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com,

There is “no science” that says the world should phase out fossil fuels to curb global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to Sultan Al Jaber, the president of the COP28 climate summit, the Guardian and the Centre for Climate Reporting report.

“There is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phase-out of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5C,” Al Jaber said in an online event last month, the remarks from which the Guardian reported on December 3, days after the COP28 summit in Dubai began on November 30

Al Jaber made those comments in response to questions from Mary Robinson, the chair of the Elders group and a former UN special envoy for climate change.

[ZH: Additionally, The Guardian newspaper published video from the call on Sunday, which included al-Jaber off-camera sounding increasingly frustrated, at one point telling three leading women involved with climate change and gender: "I am telling you I am the man in charge.”

“You’re asking for a phase-out of fossil fuel," al-Jaber said.

"Please, help me, show me for a phase-out of fossil fuel that will allow for sustainable socio-economic development, unless you want to take the world back into caves.”

Responding to the remark, U.N. Environment Program Executive Director Inger Andersen said she lives in Kenya with solar power and clean electricity from the local utility.

“I'm not living in a cave," she added.

"That's all I can say.”

The remarks from Al Jaber draw criticism from scientists and are in contrast with the view of Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who said at the climate summit on Friday,

“The science is clear: The 1.5C limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels. Not reduce, not abate. Phase out, with a clear timeframe.”

Al Jaber’s presidency of COP28 has stirred controversy in recent months. He is the first CEO designated to be president of any climate summit so far. But he is also the chief executive of the national oil company of OPEC's third-largest producer, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“The recent comments from COP28 President show how entrenched he is in fossil fuel fantasy and is clearly determined that this COP doesn’t do anything to harm the interests of the oil and gas industry," said Mohamed Adow, the director of Power Shift Africa.

“These remarks are a wake-up call to the world and negotiators at COP28 that they are not going to get any help from the COP presidency in delivering a strong outcome on a fossil fuel phase-out and will need to work hard to ensure a few petro-state leaders don’t imperil the planet in their efforts to protect their oil profits."

Last week, Al Jaber denied reports of plans to use the climate summit in Dubai to push oil deals.

Earlier last week, the BBC and many other news outlets reported that the UAE planned to use its role as the host of climate talks to forge new oil and gas deals. The BBC cited leaked briefing documents obtained by independent journalists at the Centre for Climate Reporting working alongside the BBC. Those documents were purportedly prepared by the UAE’s COP28 team for meetings with at least 27 foreign governments during the climate summit which Dubai will host from November 30 to December 12.

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/cop28-president-there-no-science-behind-calls-fossil-fuel-phase-out

The impossible is happening as Medicaid enrollment drops

 Former President Ronald Reagan once noted, “No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size.” That’s true, which is why what’s currently happening with Medicaid is so remarkable.

During the pandemic, Medicaid enrollment grew dramatically because the federal government tied increased emergency funding to a provision that prevented states from removing ineligible individuals from the rolls. Earlier this year, Medicaid enrollment ballooned from 65 million people to more than 94 million. That’s more than a quarter of the country’s population.

So much for Medicaid being coverage of last resort for the neediest.

Mr. Reagan foresaw that outcome. The rest of his above quote states, “Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this Earth.”

To prove his point, the White House kept renewing the emergency order even as the pandemic faded. This was a backdoor effort to permanently expand Medicaid.

But Republicans in December 2022 rescinded the continuous coverage mandate, forcing states to disenroll those who were improperly using Medicaid. Progressives — eager to see more Americans become government dependent — warned that enforcing eligibility requirements would lead to a massive spike in the uninsured.

That hasn’t happened.

As The Wall Street Journal noted in August, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services projected a less than 1 percentage point increase in the number of uninsured Americans once the pandemic emergency provisions expired.

“Although Medicaid enrollment is expected to decrease significantly,” CMS concluded, “many individuals who were not disenrolled from Medicaid during the public health emergency already had comprehensive coverage from another source (such as through an employer) and thus remain insured even when disenrolled from Medicaid.”

The process is working. Already more than 11 million people have been disenrolled. In Nevada, 176,000 people have been dropped, while around 273,000 have had their coverage renewed. Again, enrollment standards haven’t changed. States are now simply confirming eligibility and removing those who no longer qualify. In addition, there are safeguards in place — an appeals process, retroactive coverage — for those inaccurately removed from Medicaid because of bureaucratic snafus.

If Democrats want a debate about expanding this entitlement program, fine. But etching “temporary” pandemic emergency provisions in stone isn’t the way to go about it.

Cleaning the rolls by enforcing eligibility provisions will, reason.com noted, save taxpayers an estimated $80 billion annually.

Even for the government, that’s real money.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/editorial-the-impossible-is-happening-as-medicaid-enrollment-drops/ar-AA1kXh1e

Revive Trump’s ‘Vision’ for Israeli-Palestinian Peace

 By agreeing to exchange a multiday cease-fire for the release of hostages, Israel is likely to come under mounting pressure to accept a more permanent truce. This would enable Hamas to get away with one mass murder while actively preparing for the next. Nevertheless, some policy makers viewed the agreement as a way to end the war, secure the remaining hostages’ freedom and alleviate the Palestinians’ suffering. President Biden has signaled his opposition to a complete pause—but that opposition may not be so steadfast. The White House is reportedly asking Israel to allow more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza and agree to a “day after” plan that includes a so-called two-state solution.

Israel can expand aid shipments to Gaza, but it should unequivocally reject the creation of a Palestinian state while Hamas rules Gaza and a corrupt Palestinian Authority controls large parts of the West Bank. A Nov. 14 survey found that 75% of the public in the West Bank and Gaza supports the atrocities of Oct. 7 and wants to eliminate Israel entirely.

Yet if speaking about peace is helpful to Mr. Biden, it’s vital to recall that a U.S. proposal for a realistic two-state solution already exists and was approved by a previous Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu.

The proposal is called “Peace to Prosperity: A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People”—or simply the vision. Presented by the Trump administration in 2020, it called for the establishment of a Palestinian state similar in size to the pre-1967 area of the West Bank and Gaza, with unprecedented investment in the Palestinian economy. The vision estimated that within a decade a million new jobs would be created, doubling Palestinian gross domestic product and significantly reducing the poverty rate. The vision provided for the integration of Palestinians into the regional and global economy and for major development projects in Gaza.

Israel, for its part, would receive the security provisions it needs to prevent attacks akin to Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault. Neither Jews nor Palestinians would be forced out of their homes, and both would be given access to their holy sites. Jerusalem would remain united under Israeli sovereignty with a capital created for the Palestinians in its eastern suburbs.

The vision also called for the construction of a high-speed rail line between the West Bank and Gaza, as well as a system of bridges, roads and tunnels between noncontiguous Palestinian territories in the West Bank. The Palestinians would have their own port in Gaza as well as access to Israeli ports, and designated roads would connect the Palestinians to Jordan and the broader Arab world. Under the vision, Palestinians would be able to chart their own destiny, supported by massive sums of money.

Mr. Netanyahu hailed the plan as an opportunity “Israel will not miss,” but Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rejected it with “a thousand no’s.” The vision, he claimed, would give the Palestinians less land than previous proposals would have and prohibit the Palestinian Authority from paying stipends to reward Palestinian terrorists who attacked or murdered Israelis. Today, in the 19th year of his four-year term, Mr. Abbas opposes the vision’s requirements for democratization.

The Palestinians weren’t alone in rejecting the proposal. Most of the media denounced it as too pro-Israel, despite its several territorial concessions to the Palestinians. Many commentators likewise overlooked that right-wing Israelis rejected the vision precisely because it would result in a Palestinian state—albeit one without full sovereignty and subject to overriding Israeli security control.

Mr. Biden has no doubt satisfied his party’s progressive base by abandoning many of his predecessor’s initiatives. Yet his administration continues to maintain the Abraham Accords, which Mr. Trump forged, and hopes to expand it by creating peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia. He ought to extend similar sympathy, and exert equal political capital, to advance the vision.

Talking about peace while Hamas continues to hold more than a hundred people hostage strikes many as tone-deaf. But at least 20 Democratic senators think otherwise and may seek to revive a failed two-state formula. To give Mr. Biden the backing he needs to maintain his principled opposition to a total pause—and provide time and space for Israel to defeat Hamas—the U.S. should renew the vision, at least as the basis for future negotiations. It is the only proposal Israelis might approve if and when the time is right, and it is an opportunity the Palestinians would be wise not to miss.

Michael Oren has served as Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., a Knesset member and deputy minister in the prime minister’s office. Jason Greenblatt is director of Arab-Israel diplomacy for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and author of “In the Path of Abraham.” He served as White House Middle East envoy, 2016-19.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/revive-trumps-vision-for-israeli-palestinian-peace-middle-east-conflict-c8123667

Don’t Let Government Get Away With Poisoning Americans

 This year, Americans had the opportunity to revisit the origins of our nation’s nuclear program with the blockbuster film “Oppenheimer.” But there’s one story line that didn’t make the big screen: those Americans who are still paying the price. 

For decades, the federal government poisoned an untold number of its citizens through our atomic program. It happened everywhere, impacting uranium mine workers in Texas, Native Americans living downwind from nuclear tests in the Mountain West, and communities exposed to Manhattan Project waste in Missouri. And that’s just a small sample. Thousands more were poisoned, sickened, and died. Lives were broken – all because our government was careless, and then covered it up.

Now, the law that delivers some justice and compensation to these victims is about to expire. Congress must include a reauthorization of this life-changing program as part of the annual defense bill. It’s our chance to give justice to victims who have been silenced and forgotten for years. 

This widespread government-caused poisoning ranks among the worst environmental disasters in our nation’s history. The United States conducted nearly 200 atmospheric nuclear tests from the 1940s until the 1960s. Residents living near or downwind from these test areas were exposed to the fallout – often without any warning of exposure. The radiation fell on their homes, their farms, and their families. And it wasn’t just the testing. Tens of thousands of American workers across the country helped to mine and process uranium and worked in facilities that built our atomic weapons, and they breathed in the toxic substances every day.  

These workers answered the call to serve America during a consequential time in our nation’s history. They were a backbone to our national defense from World War II through the end of the Cold War – but many developed cancers as a result. Families and communities suffered.

In 1990, Congress finally acknowledged the government’s egregious neglect and passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to compensate victims who were sickened with cancer from nuclear tests. Championed by then-Sen. Orrin Hatch and signed into law by President George H.W. Bush, the program was reauthorized and strengthened by President Bill Clinton in 2000. President Joe Biden signed a short extension in 2022 with unanimous approval from Congress. Few programs have enjoyed more bipartisan support. As George H.W. Bush said upon signing the law, this will “fairly resolve the claims of persons present at the test site and of downwind residents, as well as claims of uranium miners.”

But in just a few months, funding for the program will be cut off. This cannot be allowed to happen. Since its creation, RECA has helped tens of thousands of Americans and assisted those exposed to radiation rebuild and renew their lives. How can we turn our back on them?

Many more communities still need access to this program before it runs out. In my home state of Missouri, mismanaged nuclear waste from the Manhattan Project era sat exposed for years and contaminated communities in the St. Louis region – and now these areas have elevated cancer rates. In multiple other states, “downwinders” still need compensation. The late Sen. Orrin Hatch wrote in 2020 that updating RECA was “a moral imperative” and “if we let it expire, we leave hundreds of Navajo men and women unable to pay their medical bills for issues directly related to radiation poisoning.” He was right.

Back in July, Congress took the first step to getting this done when the Senate adopted, as part of the defense bill, my amendment with Sen. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico to extend and strengthen the RECA program. I was proud to see that amendment pass with a bipartisan supermajority, reflecting the broad support among both parties for obtaining justice for victims. President Biden has since supported it as well.

House and Senate leadership must not strip this life-changing program from the final defense bill. It would amount to a slap in the face to victims everywhere if our leaders in Congress decide to kneecap the Americans who suffered from these nuclear programs and instead ship billions and billions to defense contractors or foreign wars. There’s no excuse for forgetting about the people we serve.

When the government poisons its own people, it must make it right. We have no other choice.

Josh Hawley is the senior U.S. senator from Missouri.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2023/12/04/dont_let_government_get_away_with_poisoning_americans_150144.html

House impeachment probe uncovers more checks to Joe Biden linking him to family business deals

 A House panel investigating President Biden’s involvement in an influence-peddling scheme produced new bank records tying him to his family’s foreign business deals.

Bank records subpoenaed by the House Oversight and Accountability Committee show the president’s son, Hunter Biden, provided monthly payments to his father from a business account that funneled money from deals made with China, Ukraine and other countries.

The recurring checks to Mr. Biden were small — each totaling $1,380 — but House investigators say the deposits clash with claims made by President Biden that he did not receive money from the lucrative business deals made by family members and their business associates.

“This wasn’t a payment from Hunter Biden’s personal account but an account for his corporation that received payments from China and other shady corners of the world,” House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer said.

The payments of $1,380 were sent monthly from the bank account of Hunter Biden’s law firm, Owasco PC, to Joe Biden’s bank account from September 2018 until November 2018, after Mr. Biden’s second term as vice president had ended and before he declared his presidential candidacy.

Republicans say the proceeds from business deals with China that ended up in the Owasco bank account stemmed from transactions with Hunter Biden that originated during Mr. Biden’s time as vice president. Some were delayed to avoid the appearance of corruption, ex-business associate Tony Bobulinski has testified. Additional money from China poured into the Owasco bank account after Hunter Biden threatened a Chinese business associate by invoking his father’s power and influence, according to a social media message uncovered by IRS agents investigating the president’s son for tax fraud.

The panel has uncovered additional checks to Joe Biden, sent from his younger brother James Biden and totaling $240,000, that appear to be funded by business deals Mr. Biden’s powerful name helped to secure.

Mr. Comer, Kentucky Republican, subpoenaed both James and Hunter Biden to testify in closed-door depositions in December. Mr. Comer rejected a public bid by Hunter Biden to instead provide his testimony in public, where he’s likely to be shielded by Democrats and prolonged partisan bickering.

Mr. Comer, in a letter to Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said Hunter Biden must attend the deposition, scheduled for Dec. 13. The committee would videotape it and release the transcript, Mr. Comer said.

“Other Hunter Biden business associates are also cooperating with our subpoenas and not demanding a public hearing first,” Mr. Comer said. “Mr. Biden seems to believe that he should be treated differently than other witnesses before the committees.”

The Oversight panel is leading the House impeachment inquiry into Mr. Biden.

So far, it has uncovered 20 shell companies that were used to provide Biden family members and associates with $24 million between 2015 and 2019 from foreign business deals that ex-business associates say sold Mr. Biden as “the brand.”

Hunter Biden’s Owasco law firm collected millions of dollars from energy companies linked to the Chinese Communist Party and from businesses in Ukraine, Russia and other countries.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/dec/4/house-impeachment-probe-uncovers-more-checks-to-jo/

'23andMe user data targeting Ashkenazi Jews leaked online'

 Hackers have compiled a giant apparent list of people with Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry after taking that information from the genetic testing service 23andMe, which is now being shared on the internet.

A database that has been shared on dark web forums and viewed by NBC News has a list of 999,999 people who allegedly have used the service. It includes their first and last name, sex, and 23andMe’s evaluation of where their ancestors came from. The database is titled “ashkenazi DNA Data of Celebrities,” though most of the people on it aren’t famous, and it appears to have been sorted to only include people with Ashkenazi heritage.

NBC News was able to verify the data of two 23andMe users in the breach as authentic.

“Crazy, this could be used by Nazis,” one person who appears in the database said.

The company is still investigating the incident, but is treating the leak as authentic. In an emailed statement, a 23andMe spokesperson said the company believes it wasn’t hacked per se. Instead, it believes that the hackers simply gained some users’ passwords that had been hacked and leaked from other sites, then exploited the fact that 23andMe can give users vast access to each others’ genetic information.

A user on a popular hacker forum had claimed to have made a larger database of users for sale earlier this week. It’s unclear if whoever compiled the list to only include Ashkenazi heritage is the same person or group who initially made it for sale.

23andMe tests users’ genetic makeup by having them spit in a tube and processing their DNA. The company sorts people into dozens of types of human “populations“ and tells them which ones they match most closely with. The list appears to be a random sample of hundreds of thousands of people for whom Ashkenazi Jewish is at least in their top three.

A popular option available to the company’s 14 million users, called DNA Relatives, allows any account to search for others who may be even a distant genetic match. A single account can see the accounts of thousands of others. 23andMe believes that the hackers simply recycled some users’ passwords — it isn’t clear how many — to scrape the list of people it had labeled as having Ashkenazi heritage.

“We are taking this issue seriously and will continue our investigation to confirm these preliminary results,” the statement said. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/23andme-user-data-targeting-ashkenazi-jews-leaked-online-rcna119324