Sinema gave 'middle finger' to audience to show disdain for Biden aide Ron Klain
Sinema reportedly 'flashed her middle finger in the air to demonstrate what she thinks of' the former White House chief of staff


The recently turned independent senator from Arizona, Kyrsten Sinema, said that she flipped off a former high-ranking official in the White House, per a Politico report on Thursday.

Sinema reportedly "flashed her middle finger in the air to demonstrate what she thinks of the powerful and now-departed White House chief of staff" Ron Klain.

Klain had called to ensure that Sinema — a noted tiebreaker — would vote with the Democrats and help confirm Roopali Desai to a federal court spot.

Sinema’s flippant response to the story about Klain reportedly sent laughter throughout the room, as Sinema continued to bash President Biden’s former chief of staff.


Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., reportedly "flashed her middle finger in the air to demonstrate what she thinks of the powerful and now-departed White House chief of staff" Ron Klain. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

"I did not call Ron back," the senator added, finishing off a story about Judge Desai’s successful confirmation vote to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Klain resigned from his job as Biden’s chief of staff, one of the most influential positions in the White House, in February. It was in the midst of Biden’s classified documents scandal.

Klain, a longtime political operative who also served under Barack Obama, has also taken heat from other Democrats.


Former Biden chief of staff Ron Klain, left, resigned in February after serving under President Biden. ( Win McNamee/Getty Images )

Former Indiana Democratic Senate nominee Thomas McDermott, Jr. told Klain that he was a "jag-off" and that he did nothing to help the Democrats in Indiana in a tweet this month.

Politico also reported that Sinema mocked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in offhanded remarks and poked fun at Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., for naming Biden’s inflation bill the "Inflation Reduction Act."

But Sinema didn’t stop with Klain. She also called Democratic Party luncheons a waste of time when "old dudes are eating Jell-O" and "everyone is talking about how great they are."

"I don’t really need to be there for that. That’s an hour and a half twice a week that I can get back," Sinema told Politico.


Sinema also called Democrat luncheons a waste of time in which "old dudes" eat Jell-O and "everyone is talking about how great they are." (AP/Getty Images)

She also claimed that the Jell-O eating habits of her former Democratic colleagues varied according to region.

"The Northerners and the Westerners put cool whip on their Jell-O, and the Southerners put cottage cheese," Sinema said, poking fun at Democratic members of Congress.

Sinema’s offices in Washington, D.C. and Arizona did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

 

White House corrects Biden's gaffe claiming law helps keep guns away from 'domestic political advisors'
Vice President Kamala Harris also raised eyebrows with some of her comments at the Women’s History Month event





President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both made confusing comments during speeches Wednesday, but it was Biden’s that forced a correction from the White House.

Biden, along with Harris, First Lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, offered remarks at an event to commemorate Women’s History Month. While Biden was touting his work in the Violence Against Women Act, he made a major slip up.

"You know but this builds on other steps you’ve taken and we’ve taken, like the most significant gun safety law in 30 years to help keep guns out of the hands of domestic political advisors," Biden said, emphasis added.

The White House’s transcript of his comments crossed out "domestic political advisors" and wrote in what he was really supposed to say, "[convicted domestic abusers]."


Biden speaks at an event commemorating Women's History Month.

Earlier in the speech he made another bizarre comment. He said of his wife, "Jill has — puts messages on my mirror, where I’m shaving, so I make sure I see them. And one that was put in about a year ago was, ‘Stop trying to make me love you.’"

Biden has a well documented history of gaffes and awkward anecdotes. In February, he boasted during a speech at the White House that "more than half the women" on his team "are women."

Earlier this month, during a speech about health care policy he told a story about a nurse, saying, "She'd come in and do things I don't think you learn in nursing school. She'd whisper in my ear, I couldn't understand, but she'd whisper, and she'd lean down and actually breathe on me to make sure there was a human connection."


Verbal gaffes and occasionally off-putting personal anecdotes have been hallmarks of Biden's presidency. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

During the same Women's History Month event, Harris also gave a speech with a peculiar soundbite.

"So, during Women’s History Month, we celebrate and we honor the women who made history throughout history, who saw what could be unburdened by what had been," Harris said to the crowd.

Her circular or repetitive rhetoric has often been referred to as "word salads" by her critics.

Harris has even been mocked by The Daily Show Twitter account, which put out a satirical video drawing parallels between Harris and the ditzy main character Selina Meyers (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) of HBO's "Veep."


White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was widely mocked on Twitter after claiming Biden was the "best communicator" in the White House. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

 

White House Scrambles to Fix Biden Gaffe as He Goes Incoherent, Sniffs Baby
By Nick Arama | 8:19 PM on March 23, 2023



AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Joe Biden has been getting worse. Even though they’ve largely just had him doing ceremonial-type things, like the recognition of Women’s History Month, he still can’t seem to get through even the simplest event without issues.

When he had the Women’s History event on Wednesday, he made some bizarre comments about his wife Jill and LGBTQ people, as we reported. He talked about Jill being the “first full-time lady.” He also said that she left what sounds like a sad note for him on his mirror saying “stop trying to make me love you.” Yikes. Then he also made a weird remark when he was trying to pander to the groups in the room, but then oddly talked about the “LGBTQ survivors.”

But he also had another big gaffe that the White House is scrambling to fix, when he vowed to disarm “domestic political advisers.”

https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/sta...goes-incoherent-again-and-sniffs-baby-n720470

Now that’s kind of hilarious. One might argue that his domestic political advisers are not armed — at least not with any common sense. And that maybe they should be “disarmed,” given all the harm that they’ve done.

But what he was supposed to say was “convicted domestic abusers.” How do you read that off the teleprompter and come out with “domestic political advisers”?

They had to change the official transcript of the event.

https://twitter.com/nickaramaOG/sta...goes-incoherent-again-and-sniffs-baby-n720470

But then even as they tried to correct that, he was back at those “what the heck did he say” moments on Thursday during another ceremonial event recognizing the anniversary of the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

“History is made when women decide there is greater risk in accepting a situation they cannot bear than stealing our spine and embracing the promise of change and no one has more in her spine than Nancy Pelosi,” Biden said incoherently. It couldn’t have said that on the teleprompter, but this was just complete confusion, with him, not even realizing it was confusion. What the heck does Pelosi have in her spine and who is stealing spines? What is he even talking about here? You look at stuff like that and you know that he’s just not going to be in any condition for the 2024 race.

When Biden was trying to talk about prescription drugs, he got thrown off his script a little when a baby made noise in the White House audience. Then he had another cringeworthy moment. He said that was alright because “Matter of fact, I like babies better than people.”

https://twitter.com/greg_price11/st...goes-incoherent-again-and-sniffs-baby-n720470

Joe, babies are people.

He also held the baby, the child of Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), and looked like he was trying to sniff the baby.

https://twitter.com/greg_price11/st...goes-incoherent-again-and-sniffs-baby-n720470

Now, he’s in Canada to meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and God knows how he’s going to embarrass us there. He’s already had one meeting in the evening and his issues get worse in the evening.

But I thought here was the perfect symbol for the Biden administration, from a response to that White House transcript change.

Unfortunately, that’s where we are with him. Who knows what he will say next?

 

I GOT HAIRY LEGS!

 

James Comer: Four Biden Family Business Associates Cooperating with Investigation into Joe Biden



AP Photo/Susan Walsh
WENDELL HUSEBØ3 Apr 2023

Four Biden family business associates are cooperating with the House investigation into President Joe Biden and his family, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) said Monday.

Comer is investigating Joe Biden and the Biden family for nine violations, including money laundering and wire fraud. The probe has encompassed subpoenaing bank records and demanding cooperation from family business associates.

“We are in communication with four former Biden family business associates,” Comer told Fox Business. “They are cooperating with our investigation.”

“And I will tell you it’s very concerning,” he said about the information the whistleblowers revealed to the committee.

The committee was not able to confirm to Breitbart News who the four members were due to their whistleblower status, but one member is likely Hunter Biden’s top financial lieutenant Eric Schwerin.


President Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden arrive at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, New York, on February 4, 2023. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

In February, a spokesperson for the committee told Breitbart News that Schwerin was “soon” expected to provide documents to Comer’s probe.

Schwerin’s cooperation with the committee comes after Hunter plotted to betray Schwerin in 2019 amid their crumbling relationship, built upon an off-the-books business arrangement, text messages obtained by Breitbart News from Hunter’s laptop show.

In tandem with whistleblower cooperation, Comer’s probe has begun to produce tangible results. The committee revealed in March the Biden family received a collective $1.3 million cut in 2017 from a Biden family business associate, who was sent a $3 million wire transfer from a Chinese energy company linked to the CCP.

“We believe the reason the family was receiving this money is because of favors that Joe Biden did as vice president and or as president,” Comer told Bloomberg last week.

https://twitter.com/RepJamesComer/s...sociates-cooperating-investigation-joe-biden/

“[There are] at least ten different transactions that will show the president’s immediate family was receiving funds from the Chinese Communist Party,” Comer added.

On Saturday, Breitbart News exclusively reported email exchanges between the Biden family and business associates that reveal the “anatomy of a Biden family business.” The scheme includes Biden family members holding an interest in an organization “on behalf of the VP.” Breitbart News reported:

Team Biden was to receive $12.5 million for the establishment of the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware (UD), which launched shortly after Joe Biden left the vice presidency in 2017. The arrangement meant a nice payday for the Bidens and their associates. And, as it turned out, the launch of the Biden Institute coincided with a bonanza in foreign money donations for the university. Correspondences show that UD wanted Joe Biden to raise funds for the university after his institute opened.

In the weeks and months following the opening of the Institute, UD received foreign cash donations totaling more than $33 million, including $6.7 million from China. Of that sum, three gifts came directly from the Chinese Communist government.

In a series of email exchanges that included Hunter Biden, Valerie Biden Owens (Joe’s sister who called Hunter Biden the “central person” in the UD plans), two of Owens’s daughters (Joe’s nieces), and various Biden business associates, they discussed ways that they could benefit from Biden’s academic ventures and having “the Biden Foundation” or a “family member” sign a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) “on behalf of the VP.” Emails from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop show that UD and Team Biden negotiated ways to compensate Biden family members, including Joe Biden’s sister Valerie Biden Owens.

The recent revelations have impacted public opinion of whether or not Joe Biden was involved in the family business. A Wednesday Fox News poll found more voters over the course of four-month period are convinced Hunter and President Joe Biden have done something illegal or unethical in relation to his family’s business.

 

Even CNN Is Admitting Joe Biden's Numbers Are in Big Trouble Now
By Nick Arama | 4:45 PM on April 06, 2023


AP Photo/Ron Harris

Joe Biden has been a horrible president.


Even now, with the Afghanistan report just dropping, and his administration coming under fire for all their failures, where is he? Out the door again, off early on a Thursday, so he can go to Camp David on yet another vacation for the Easter weekend.

We’re still some time away from 2024. But Biden can’t hide from the facts that even many Democrats don’t want him to run again.

Now, CNN has just dropped a new poll that even they think may spell doom for Biden.

https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/sta...bidens-numbers-are-in-big-trouble-now-n727509

“The numbers are beyond sobering for Joe Biden,” John King acknowledged. The poll shows that most people “have deep doubts” about Biden’s performance, and about the direction of the country right now. He noted it was still a long way to the election, but admitted, “They are still quite telling” about the mood of the people, “and the challenges facing the 80-year-old incumbent.”

They asked the American people if Joe Biden deserved a second term, and just about a third agreed. That’s a horrible number for him if he intends to run again. Just 32 percent said yes, and 67 percent said no. It was dismal when they asked about this back in December 2022, at 37 percent, but now it’s gotten even worse, as Biden has gotten worse and deteriorated more. What’s more problematic for Biden is that what’s driving that is young people and liberals who are unhappy with Biden, who you would think should be behind him, but aren’t. That spells big trouble, possibly in a general election that could be tight if he can’t even hold who should be his base.

Biden’s overall approval number is still underwater at 42 percent approving, and 57 percent disapproving. CNN broke down some of the major issues.

https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/sta...bidens-numbers-are-in-big-trouble-now-n727509

They explained he was “underperforming on a slew of issues,” and that he was underwater on several issues. His lowest approval was when people were asked about the economy and immigration, two issues likely to be critical when it comes to the election, especially with swing voters. His numbers on dealing with China were also underwater, with only 40 percent. So, he didn’t buffalo Americans when it comes to that issue; they saw, for example, how he handled the spy balloon problem, and they know of the Biden family is being investigated over its foreign financial interests, including with China.

Ironically, this poll drops just as the Afghanistan report comes out, as Biden’s numbers took a nosedive after what a debacle his withdrawal was, resulting in the deaths of 13 Americans, and no one has ever been held accountable for that failure that was so harmful. His numbers have never recovered.

These numbers are also likely to spark more Democrats jumping into the race and challenging Biden; it’s clear that Americans have no trust in him. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just filed to run as a Democrat, and that’s already making waves as the media starts to attack him. They are scared he may present a challenge to Biden and yes, open the door to more people.

Prepare for more media meltdowns, because with these numbers, expect those who had been holding back to jump in.

 

Kay.
Now that's funny no matter who you are

 

And now we see Biden biting the hand that feeds him ............

Joe better be careful. Anyone knows, a politician who doesn'
Biden Taunts MAGA For Surrendering To China - Make America Great Again? (msn.com)
Biden Taunts MAGA For Surrendering To China - Make America Great Again?
Story by Lisandra Gomez-Tate • 10h ago


President Biden stepped to the podium playing the role of swaggering evangelist for American technological exceptionalism supported by robust government investment to create not just jobs but a future dominated by American innovation — in everything from clean energy tech to sophisticated chip manufacturing. Was he convincing?

The President called out two entities he perceives as threats to that American-led future — the first is China and the second is MAGA Republicans, as he characterizes it. Biden asserts that the two — China and MAGA — are working together toward the same undesirable goal: a technology future in which China dominates.

Note: Recent GOP actions including Speaker Kevin McCarthy‘s Lower Energy Costs Act passing in the House isn’t the only reason Biden holds his view, though it’s notable that McCarthy’s bill included nixing a $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to boost clean energy that had been in Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.]

Also notable is that China had been until recently a target for some level of bipartisan agreement among American lawmakers. The recent congressional TikTok hearings — coupled with winter’s Chinese spy balloon spectacle — had shown that if bipartisan agreement might be reached, that accord might well center on the dangers presented by China — both military and economic.

Republicans and Democrats alike in Congress lambasted TikTok as a threat to American security for its powerful data collection and for its parent company’s deep ties with the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

And the disagreement over the downing of the spy balloon was mainly about how soon to shoot it down, not if to shoot it down — on that, again, Republicans and Democrats were in broad agreement.

But President Biden — in what sounds like campaign-style positioning — asserts that that’s where agreement on China between his administration and “MAGA Republicans” ends.

In the short video above, Biden castigates and taunts his “MAGA Republican friends” — a group Biden says is working to help China win the future.

Biden accuses MAGA congressional operators of wanting to cut the CHIPS and Science Act, “stripping our investments for the next generation of science and technology from biomanufacturing to quantum computing” and “ceding the future of innovation and technology to China.”

Biden strikes a tough guy stance on the issue with his taunt, saying “I’ve got news for my MAGA Republican friends. Not on my watch. Not on my watch.”

Biden says Republicans want to “cede the clean energy future to China, make us dependent on overseas supply chains, export jobs overseas, and weaken our energy security.” He implies but does not overtly say to MAGA: “that doesn’t sound like Making American Great Again to me.”

 

Biden Afghanistan report mostly blames Trump for chaotic US withdrawal
By Nandita Bose
and Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday released a summary of classified reports that mostly blamed the chaotic August 2021 U.S. pullout from Afghanistan on his predecessor, Donald Trump, for failing to plan for the withdrawal he had agreed on with the Taliban.

The Democratic administration's summary, drawn from top-secret State Department and Pentagon reviews sent to Congress, ignited angry reactions from Republican lawmakers who have demanded the documents for their own investigation of the pullout.



Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee, strongly criticized the administration. Biden ordered the pullout and was "responsible for the massive failures in planning and execution," McCaul said in a statement.


McCaul, who is overseeing the Republican probe, charged that his multiple threats to subpoena the State Department and Pentagon reviews, which were completed last year, finally compelled the administration to send them to Congress.

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"President Biden’s choices for how to execute a withdrawal from Afghanistan were severely constrained by conditions created by his predecessor," said the summary of the reviews. "The outgoing administration provided no plans for how to conduct the final withdrawal or to evacuate Americans or Afghan allies."

The document acknowledged that the administration learned lessons from the withdrawal, and now errs on the side of "aggressive communication" about risks in a destabilized security environment.

CHAOTIC END TO AMERICA'S LONGEST WAR
The withdrawal that ended America's longest war saw tens of thousands of Afghans desperate to flee a return of hardline Taliban rule besiege Kabul's international airport, some handing babies to U.S. troops or breaking in and hanging onto departing aircraft.

The Trump administration also "gutted" refugee support services and virtually halted the processing of Special Immigration Visas for thousands of Afghans seeking evacuation because they worked for the U.S. government, leaving a massive backlog, the summary said.

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"Transitions matter. That's the first lesson learned here. And the incoming administration wasn't afforded much of one," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told a White House briefing.

The 12-page summary placed some responsibility for the chaos of the pullout and evacuation operation on flawed U.S. intelligence and military assessments that failed to foresee the speed of the Taliban takeover and predicted that Afghan security forces would hold Kabul.


[1/2] U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks to U.S. troops, with Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani standing behind him, during an unannounced visit to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, November 28, 2019. REUTERS/Tom Brenner/File Photo/File Photo





"As late as May 2021, the assessment was still that Kabul would probably not come under serious pressure until late 2021 after U.S. troops departed," the summary said.

Pressed on whether Biden bore any responsibility for the Kabul airport disorder, Kirby replied, "Just by dint as the commander in chief, he assumed responsibility for the orders he gives."

WITHDRAWAL POSTPONED
The 20-year war in Afghanistan, the longest conflict involving U.S. troops, was started under President George W. Bush and furthered under President Barack Obama. Over 100,000 people were killed and about 3 million displaced, according to data from the nonpartisan Costs of War project at Brown University.

Biden pledged during his 2020 campaign to end "forever wars" and withdraw from Afghanistan, although he postponed the pullout to which Trump had agreed by three months until the end of August 2021. The U.S.-backed Kabul government collapsed on Aug. 15 as the Taliban were entering the city.

The disorganization and chaos as the U.S. left raised questions about Biden's leadership, the quality of U.S. intelligence and America's commitment to human rights and thousands of Afghan citizens it had relied on.

An Islamic State suicide bomber on Aug. 26, 2021, killed 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghans as they clustered outside a gate of the airport.

Thousands of American citizens, greencard holders, and Afghans who had applied for Special Immigration Visas were unable to leave on the largest U.S. airlift on record.

Altogether, some 100,000 Americans, greencard holders and Afghans - many of whom were not vetted - were flown out before the U.S. withdrawal ended just shy of the 20th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.

The Trump administration agreed in a February 2020 accord with the Taliban on the pullout of all U.S.-led international forces by May 2021. The Islamist militants agreed to stop attacking American troops and hold peace talks with the Western-backed Kabul government.

In laying out the withdrawal chronology, the summary said that successive troop reductions ordered by Trump had left 2,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan when Biden took office in January 2021. The result was that the Taliban controlled or contested half the country, the summary said.

Faced with the choice of delaying the pullout or increasing the number of U.S. forces and facing renewed Taliban attacks, Biden chose the former and ordered planning for the withdrawal and evacuation operation, the summary said.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-...ghanistan-withdrawal-blames-trump-2023-04-06/

 

Biden Family’s CEFC China Energy Co. Partner, Mervyn Yan, Subpoenaed

AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
WENDELL HUSEBØ10 Apr 2023

Biden family business associate Mervyn Yan, a former top CEFC China Energy Co. official, was recently subpoenaed by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY), a notable development in the Biden family business investigation.

As a former CEFC official, Yan was an integral member of the Chinese energy conglomerate with strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Yan appears to be one of the few top CEFC officials who has not been detained or arrested.

In 2018, the chairman of CEFC, Ye Jianming, who had a number of ties to Chinese military intelligence, was detained in China on bribery charges. Through Ye, Hunter established a relationship with his associate Patrick Ho, who Hunter said was “the fucking spy chief of China.” In 2019, Ho was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in a scheme to bribe top officials of Chad and Uganda in exchange for business advantages for CEFC.

Yan has maintained a much lower profile than Ye and Ho. But emails from Hunter’s abandoned laptop show Yan was aware of the money exchanged between the Biden family and CEFC, such as for Hunter’s $1 million legal retainer, and additional Biden family dealings.

Yan did not respond to comment from Breitbart News about whether or not he has complied with Comer’s subpoena or if his information would reveal Biden family wrongdoing. He also failed to answer if he possessed any information that would implicate President Joe Biden is his family’s business dealings with the Chinese Communist Party-liked entity.

Comer has subpoenaed Yan for his role in the Biden family business with CEFC, an entity that had many deals with the Biden family. In 2017, CEFC negotiated with the Bidens on a joint venture in which the “Big Guy” would receive a ten percent equity stake. In the same year, CEFC gave interest-free loans to the Biden family. Hunter also received a large diamond in 2017 from Ye worth an estimated $80,000.

In addition, CEFC had plans to invest in U.S. infrastructure and set up corresponding entities, Hudson West IV and SinoHawk. Hunter and James Biden controlled those entities. In March 2018, James demanded the legal services payment and provided CEFC “wiring instructions” to transfer the funds to Hudson West III LLC.

“Received and will take care of this ASAP,” Yan replied to James. The next day, the wire transfer when through.

As CEFC’s business continued, Yan began to suspect Hunter was not being forthright about Hunter’s business expenses and asked for receipts. In response, Hunter threatened Yan with a lawsuit for not paying. In November of 2018, “Yan signed a document on Nov. 2, 2018, dissolving Hudson West III LLC,” the Washington Post reported.

In March, Comer revealed the Biden family received a collective $1.3 million cut in 2017 from a Biden family business associate, who was sent a $3 million wire transfer from CEFC. Hunter has confirmed the $1.3 million CEFC payout, while Joe Biden falsely denied it. “That’s not true,” Joe Biden told reporters.

Comer has not only subpoenaed Yan. He has also attempted to compel four U.S. banks to provide financial documents about the family’s business deals: Bank of America, Cathay Bank, JPMorgan Chase, and HSBC USA N.A.

According to Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-IA) 2020 report, Cathay Bank received the $1 million wire transfer from HSBC USA N.A. for Hunter’s legal services that Yan promised to facilitate.

In 2018 and 2020, Breitbart Senior Contributor and Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer published Secret Empires and Profiles in Corruption. Each book hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and exposed how Hunter Biden and Joe Biden flew aboard Air Force Two in 2013 to China before Hunter’s firm inked a $1.5 billion deal with a subsidiary of the Chinese government’s Bank of China less than two weeks after the trip. Schweizer’s work also uncovered the Biden family’s other vast and lucrative foreign deals and cronyism. Breitbart Political Editor Emma-Jo Morris’s investigative work at the New York Post on the Hunter Biden “laptop from hell” also captured international headlines when she, along with Miranda Devine, revealed that Joe Biden was intimately involved in Hunter’s businesses, appearing to even have a ten percent stake in a company the scion formed with officials at the highest levels of the Chinese Communist Party.

 

Oopsie.

 

Joe Biden mocked after Hunter has to explain child's question in Ireland: 'I am so embarrassed for my country'
The president previously acknowledged that concerns about his age are 'totally legitimate'



Hunter Biden had to explain a child's question to his father, President Joe Biden, during the president's trip to Ireland Wednesday, shocking social media users. The apparent confusion came after the elder Biden struggled to answer the child's question about success.

"What’s the top step to success?" the child asked the president.

"What’s the top what?" Biden responded.

"Step — steps — step to success," the child answered.

Biden responded that the way to be successful is to stop COVID-19 from spreading.

"Oh, well, making sure that we don’t all have COVID. What — why — what are we talking about here?" he asked.

At this point, Hunter Biden intervened.

"If you can — what’s the — what’s the key to success?" the president's son asked, attempting to clarify the child's question.

"Oh, what’s the key to success? You know what I found out is the key to success is? And I’m not sure I’m the best guy to explain it; these guys can tell you," the president responded.

He then talked about the importance of not personally attacking people with whom you disagree.


US President Joe Biden addresses the Houses of the Oireachtas at Leinster House in Dublin, Ireland, on April 13, 2023. (Photo by KENNY HOLSTON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

People responded to the interaction by arguing that this is, in their view, just another example of Biden being mentally unfit to serve as president.

"Omg. Hunter Biden is our president, isn't he?" Ashe Short, senior editor at Daily Wire, wrote.

https://twitter.com/AsheSchow/statu...n-childs-question-ireland-embarrassed-country

"Hunter steps in to help his father understand the question being asked to him by a child lmfao," Greg Price, a conservative commentator wrote.

"We're all gonna die in a nuclear fireball," author David Jack Smith wrote.

"That the president can't hear, talk, or think seems like it should be a bigger issue," Tom Elliott, founder of Grabien, tweeted.

Conservative commentator Brian Doherty called for the use of the 25th amendment to remove Biden from office.

"What's great is he's the leader of the free world and has no idea WTH what he's talking about. #25thAmendment," Doherty tweeted.


U.S. President Joe Biden (L) and his son Hunter Biden (2nd L) attend the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House on April 10, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

"I am so embarrassed for my country," conservative writer Jerry Fuhrman tweeted.

"This might be the most disturbing exchange yet by the sitting president in taking a question from a child in Dublin. Don't expect to see this anywhere in terms of most media outlets, and the ‘late-night comedians’ will totally avoid it," Fox News contributor Joe Concha said.

Jake Schneider, who works for the RNC, joked that the younger Biden acted as a press secretary.

"Hunter Biden, de facto press secretary: ‘Dad, he’s got a question'", he wrote.

"To be fair, Hunter would be a far better press secretary than Karine Jean-Pierre," he continued.

Stephen L. Miller, contributing editor at The Spectator World, tweeted, "He's fine. He needs his son who is under federal investigation to come along to keep him on track but he's fine." He later joked, "Press Secretary Hunter Biden."

"Joe Biden has officially taken more questions from children than the Press on his Ireland trip," the official GOP account tweeted.

Grant Cardone and Jeff Filali, two entrepreneurs, both noted that Biden said "I'm probably not the right person to ask" in his response to the child's question about success.

"Brightest thing Joe's said yet," Filali remarked.

Author Tony Lopes tweeted, "We're in trouble in this country…"

Biden acknowledged that concerns over his age are "totally legitimate" in an interview with ABC's David Muir earlier this year. He has received criticism for holding fewer press conferences than his predecessors at this point in his presidency.

 

Biden’s massive manufacturing push is working and U.S. companies have already committed $200 billion to new projects

Chris J. Ratcliffe—Bloomberg/Getty Images
382
Tristan Bove
Mon, April 17, 2023 at 4:13 PM MDT




The Biden administration’s efforts to revive U.S. manufacturing appear to be succeeding, with some business sectors plowing in almost 20 times the investment in new U.S. manufacturing projects versus only a few years ago.


Joe Biden made bringing manufacturing jobs and investment back to the U.S. a cornerstone of his presidential campaign in 2020. While he has yet to formally announce a widely expected reelection bid, the president will likely lean heavily into two major legislative wins during his term that unlocked billions to support new U.S. manufacturing—last year’s Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act.

Together, the two landmark acts inject over $400 billion into clean energy technology and semiconductor manufacturing in the form of government incentives and subsidies, as well as create thousands of new jobs. It’s been less than a year since the two packages were passed, but the fresh funds appear to be accomplishing some of Biden’s goals already.


U.S. companies have committed over $200 billion to new manufacturing projects since the bills passed, according to a Financial Times analysis Sunday. The largest investment has been in clean tech and semiconductors, where new financing is almost double what it was in 2021 and nearly 20 times above 2019 levels. The number of large projects that have attracted more than $1 billion has also exploded, up from four in 2019 to 31 currently, the FT found.

The key stipulation in the legislation that has attracted more investment is that manufacturing must be done in the U.S., a ruling that hasn’t gone down well with traditional allies including France and South Korea, which have criticized the Biden administration for advancing a protectionist agenda. Some Republicans have also slammed aspects of the large spending packages, including the IRA’s $80 billion provision to strengthen the IRS, and criticized the CHIPS Act for being “woke,” because it prioritizes funding for companies that provide childcare and use labor union agreements for construction.

Despite the backlash, Biden and Democrat officials have championed the growth of U.S. manufacturing jobs, recently comparing it favorably to job growth under former President Donald Trump.

“The last administration talked a lot about bringing jobs back to America, but failed to take real action. President Biden is taking action and delivering results—creating good-paying manufacturing jobs at home,” Jeff Zients, the White House’s chief of staff, said of the recent jobs boom in a statement to Fortune, adding that the government’s current leadership is eyeing more growth in the future.

An American manufacturing boom
Job creation has been a key selling point for the Biden administration, and could become more important during Biden’s likely reelection campaign.

The White House claimed in December that the U.S. had added over 750,000 new manufacturing jobs since Biden took office. And while much of that boom in 2022 was due to manufacturing jobs rebounding from pandemic-induced historic lows, the spending packages are likely to drive more job growth in the sector.

Over 100,000 new jobs in clean tech, including EV mechanics and wind turbine construction workers, were added in the six months since the IRA and the CHIPS Act were passed in August, according to a January study by the nonprofit group Clean Power, largely owing to businesses tapping new government resources to expand operations.

Some in Congress have continued to criticize the spending package, including Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin, whose signature was vital to the Inflation Reduction Act’s passing last year. Manchin, who has subsequently been critical of the IRA’s tax credit provision for electric vehicle buyers, claimed in a Wall Street Journal op-ed last month that the law had been distorted to “advance a partisan agenda” and risked increasing “clean-energy spending to potentially deficit-breaking levels.”

While the packages have already helped boost U.S. manufacturing, the spending involved has come under renewed criticism recently for higher-than-expected costs. Last month, Goldman Sachs analysts found that subsidies from the Inflation Reduction Act would actually cost around $1.2 trillion, three times as much as what had been originally earmarked. Conservative observers criticized the higher price tag, although the Goldman analysts added that the subsidies would also trigger $3 trillion in private sector investment.

Investment in semiconductor research and production is the other big recipient of new funding from the legislation, according to the FT. The Biden administration has said semiconductor manufacturing is important for national security too, warning that slowing technology research puts the U.S. at a disadvantage to rivals like China, while a reliance on international supply chains puts the country at risk of supply shocks in the event of global economic disruption caused by war or a pandemic.

Last week, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told CNBC that over 200 companies from different sectors had expressed interest in CHIPS Act funding. Several U.S. chip companies have already received billions to expand their operations, including projects for massive new plants in North Carolina and Syracuse, N.Y.

Overall during the past eight months, companies making semiconductors, electric cars, batteries, and renewable energy materials have announced plans for nearly 75 plants worth over $100 million, according to the FT report.

The spending packages passed last year have “catalyzed” expansion of private sector jobs and manufacturing capacity in the U.S., a Department of Commerce official told Fortune, adding that the department projects more growth as more companies start tapping government funding.


https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/biden-massive-manufacturing-push-working-221328463.html

 

Shooter can smell the desperation from here.




The more desperate they get, the more money they throw about, and fuck the debt, eh?

 

Special counsel finds Biden Cabinet secretary violated federal law during 2022 election cycle


The Office of Special Counsel found that Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra violated federal law.

Special Counsel Henry Kerner sent a letter to President Biden regarding his HHS secretary’s violation of the Hatch Act by publicly expressing support for California Democrat Senator Alex Padilla’s re-election while appearing in an official capacity.

"As explained in the accompanying report, OSC concluded that Secretary Becerra violated the Hatch Act by expressing support for Senator Alex Padilla’s reelection while speaking in his official capacity at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Annual Awards Gala on September 15, 2022," Kerner wrote.



The Office of Special Counsel found that Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra violated the Hatch Act by publicly expressing support for California Democrat Senator Alex Padilla’s re-election while appearing in an official capacity. (REUTERS)

"The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from using their official authority or influence to affect the outcome of an election," Kerner continued. "In delivering his speech, Secretary Becerra impermissibly mixed his personal electoral preference with official remarks."

"While federal employees are permitted to express support for candidates when speaking in their personal capacity, the Hatch Act restricts employees from doing so when speaking as a government official," he added.

Kerner wrote that with "a presidential election approaching next year, this report offers an opportunity to deter violations by reminding federal employees at all levels of the Hatch Act’s restrictions."

"Accordingly, I submit to you the enclosed report, together with Secretary Becerra’s response, for your consideration," Kerner concluded in the letter.

In his response to OSC, Becerra called his words an "inadvertent violation" and said that he regretted it, and that while he "did not realize at the time that my off-the-cuff remarks" regarding his "personal voting intentions were in violation of the Hatch Act."

"I now understand why they were not permitted," Becerra said, also saying he received "additional counseling" from the HHS ethics department on the Hatch Act. Becerra said he would "work hard to ensure that there are no future violations."

Padilla first came to the Senate after Vice President Kamala Harris left the chamber to join the Biden administration.


Padilla first came to the Senate after Vice President Kamala Harris left the chamber to join President Biden's administration. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images))

Becerra's policies have come under fire by Republicans in Congress, who grilled him last month about his agency’s remote work policies.

Becerra refused several times to answer questions about what percentage of his workforce is still teleworking, more than three years after the onset of the COVID pandemic and at a time when many offices have returned to work.

During a budget hearing at the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., asked Becerra repeatedly how many HHS employees are still working from home, but got nowhere.

"This is a picture taken at 10:40 am last Monday at HHS headquarters. It’s, like, empty," Cassidy said as he showed a picture of an empty lot. He later clarified that it was the parking lot for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services headquarters.

"Can you give a breakdown of how many full-time employees are at their desk in one of these buildings every day?" Cassidy asked.

"Senator, when you take a look at the workforce at HHS, and we’re close to 90,000 throughout the country, and working in various parts of the country, some here at headquarters… by the way, headquarters…" Becerra began.

"I’ve got limited time," Cassidy interrupted. "So tell me, of what percent of the employees are at their desk… on any given day?"


During a budget hearing at the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., asked Becerra repeatedly how many HHS employees are still working from home, but got nowhere. ((Shawn Thew/Pool via AP, File)

"Our folks are working full time," Becerra said.

"No, but how many are at their desk as opposed to being at home, or someplace else, a coffee shop or whatever?" Cassidy tried again.

"What we make sure we care about is that they’re performing and they’re delivering…," Becerra said.

"That’s not really answering my question, because I know the best practices now in many industries is to bring people back in. So is it 5%, is it 10%, is it 1%? How many folks are actually sitting at their desk in a government building when they are working full time every day?" Cassidy tried for the last time.

"And we have folks who, as they’re working full time…," Becerra started before being interrupted again.

"Clearly, sir, you don’t want to answer that question, and I don’t mean to be rude, but you don’t, and that kind of begs that the answer may not be flattering," Cassidy said.

 

Bidens report $580,000 in 2022 income, donation to police foundation

Reuters
April 18, 2023




By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife Jill released their federal tax return on Tuesday, showing the couple earned nearly $580,000 last year and paid an effective federal income tax rate of 23.8%.

The Bidens also donated roughly 3.5% of their income, or $20,180, to 20 charities, including one associated with U.S. police unions.

The annual disclosure ahead of the deadline at midnight Tuesday for most Americans to file their tax returns comes before a 2024 presidential race in which Biden is expected to seek a second four-year term.

Such a contest could set up a re-run of the 2020 presidential election between Biden, a Democrat, and Republican former President Donald Trump. In contrast to Republicans, Biden has proposed higher taxes on corporations and individuals making over $400,000 per year.

Trump broke with the tradition of presidents making their federal tax returns public, saying he was not able to do so while being audited by the Internal Revenue Service, even as the agency claimed he was free to release them.

The Bidens reported 2022 federal adjusted gross income of $579,514 and paid $137,658 in federal income tax. The previous year, Biden's first as president, they reported $610,702 in income.

Biden draws a $400,000 wage as president of the United States. Jill Biden earned $82,335 from her job teaching English at Northern Virginia Community College.

The remainder of their income is drawn from investment interest, pensions, annuities, distributions from retirement accounts and Social Security as well as a corporation that collects their book royalties, according to the joint tax return.

Their charitable donations included contributions to churches and organizations focused on helping children and first responders, including $2,000 to the National Fraternal Order of Police Foundation.

The National Fraternal Order of Police, the biggest U.S. officers' union, endorsed Trump in 2020 and has opposed many of Biden's proposed reforms in the aftermath of George Floyd's 2020 murder in the custody of a former Minneapolis police officer.

Their charitable organization, the National Fraternal Order of Police Foundation, holds an annual memorial service for law enforcement officials who die in the line of duty, which Biden has addressed as president.

"The National Fraternal Order of Police Foundation does important work serving the families of officers who have given their lives in the line of duty," said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates. "President Biden recognizes the sacrifices made by fallen officers and their families, including when he speaks at the National Peace Officers' Memorial Service."

Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, reported federal adjusted gross income of $456,918, paying $93,570 in federal income tax for an effective federal income tax rate of 20.5%.

The income included $219,171 in salary paid to Harris by the U.S. Senate, $62,870 from her books and $169,665 earned by Emhoff at Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches. They contributed roughly 5% of their income, or $23,000, to charity, according to the joint return.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Chris Reese and Cynthia Osterman)

Read More


https://www.rawstory.com/bidens-report-580000-in-2022-income-donation-to-police-foundation/