COVID Vax Booster Peter Hotez Linked to Wuhan Military Scientists Funded through Fauci

Mark Pellin
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COVID Vax Booster Peter Hotez Linked to Wuhan Military Scientists Funded through Fauci

(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) Covid vaccine propagandist Peter Hotez’s newly-reported ties to Chinese military scientists and their work on coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology could explain his fierce reluctance to engage in public debate over the efficacy of vaccines and vaccine mandates.

A professor at Baylor College of Medicine, Hotez secured a grant of more than $1-million-a-year from the Anthony Fauci-led National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, which ultimately turned into seed money for a long-running collaboration “with scientists from the People’s Liberation Army and the Wuhan Institute of Virology” that were “potentially involved in the development of COVID-19,” according to a blockbuster report from Kanekoa News.

The grant money secured by Hotez, as a cut-out for Fauci’s NIAID, was used to support Hotez’s research project titled “RBD Recombinant Protein-Based SARS Vaccine for Biodefense.” The principal investigator listed for the project was Dr. Jiang Shibo, according to documents obtained by Kanekoa News.

In addition to a background steeped in academia and viral immunology research, Shibo also has a rich history of ties to China’s People’s Liberation Army and its Academy of Military Medical Sciences.

Shibo’s involvement with the Chinese military didn’t prevent him from receiving “research grants totaling over $20 million from NIAID under Dr. Fauci’s leadership between 1997 and 2016.”

Shibo — the “principal investigator” for the Hotez project — “actively collaborated” with the Chinese military/medical complex on myriad research papers, some of which were flagged by a 2020 FBI report as ones that “usually involve undisclosed and illegal transfers of information, technology, or intellectual property detrimental to U.S. institutions,” according to Kanekoa News.

In that vein, Shibo and other leading Chinese scientists dove into patents and papers on SARS and MERS coronaviruses. Those included Dr. Zhou Yusen, a People’s Liberation Army virologist who “filed the world’s first patent application for a COVID-19 vaccine in China on February 24, 2020, just a month after the country acknowledged human-to-human transmission,” Kanekoa News reported.

“This discovery raises suspicions that the Chinese military may have been working on a vaccine even before officially notifying the World Health Organization about the outbreak,” the outlet noted.

Yusen, who mysteriously “fell” from the roof of the Wuhan Institute of Virology within three months of filing the COVID vax patent, is listed as co-author of “at least five publications funded by Dr. Fauci and Dr. Hotez’s grant,” documents showed.

Hotez’s entanglement deepens with his “subcontracted funding” for Chinese military scientists and their ties to Wuhan research “in the field of artificially inserting furin cleavage sites into coronaviruses” and its links to gain-of-function manipulations, according to research papers posted by Kanekoa News.

Given Hotez’s reported history, it might take more than $3-million to lure him into a public debate on vaccines with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“While Dr. Hotez criticizes congressional hearings on the origins of COVID-19, stating that they are ‘inviting fringe elements to testify and promote outlandish conspiracy theories,’ even warning that investigation will ‘undermine the fabric of science in America,’ it is crucial to examine the mounting connections between Dr. Hotez, Dr. Fauci, Dr. Shibo, Dr. Lanying, and Dr. Yusen with Chinese military scientists, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and the suspicious furin cleavage site,” Kanekoa wrote.

“This evidence demands a thorough investigation to uncover the truth about the origins of the COVID-19 virus, a truth that holds profound implications for people worldwide.”

Legal Trouble? Biden’s Shocking Reversal in Denial of Hunter Biz Dealings

Luis Cornelio
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Legal Trouble? Biden’s Shocking Reversal in Denial of Hunter Biz Dealings

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) President Joe Biden has made a shocking reversal, contradicting his previous denials of ever discussing his son’s business dealings. 

Biden, who in 2019 claimed, “I’ve never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings,” now finds himself asserting the contrary through a spokesman. Ian Sams, a White House spokesman for investigations, stated, “As we have said many times before, the President was not in business with his son.”

The dodgy language was a flip from the president’s previous declarations, and come in the wake of explosive revelations from IRS whistleblowers, including the release of a WhatsApp text message explicitly involving Hunter Biden and implicating Joe Biden in his son’s dealings.

Throughout the infamous 2020 presidential election and Biden’s subsequent inauguration, both Biden and his press secretaries, Jen Psaki and Karine Jean-Pierre, dismissed damning allegations of Joe Biden’s involvement in his son’s questionable foreign business dealings.

Conservative voices took to social media to express their outrage at what they saw as a blatant flip-flop. Popular podcast host Ben Shapiro criticized the new statement, referring to it as “careful language.” Shapiro pointed out, “After all, you could be allowing your son to use your name to pick up bags of cash and then getting a cut of the back end without being ‘in business’ with someone.”

Political commentator Stephen L. Miller echoed Shapiro’s sentiments, highlighting the discrepancy and calling for reporters to question the change in context. Meanwhile, author and podcast host Byron York described the statement “Very lawyerly.” 

The Biden White House has chosen not to address publicly the damning WhatsApp text message that directly implicates Joe Biden in his son’s business dealings.

National Security spokesman John Kirby abruptly ended a press conference on Friday after being pressed on scathing revelation from IRS whistleblowers that Joe Biden was actively involved in Hunter’s foreign businesses.

“I am not going to comment further on this,” Kirby claimed during the press conference, before storming out.

WaPo CEO Donated More Than $600K to Democrats

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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WaPo CEO Donated More Than $600K to Democrats

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) The allegedly totally non-partisan Washington Post’s new CEO, Patricia Stonesifer, has donated more than $600,000 to Democrats as part of a decades-long spree of supporting leftist candidates.

For more than two decades, the Amazon board member and former Microsoft executive has been donating to Democrats, with Stonesifer’s first contribution being $500 to former Speaker of the House Tom Foley, D-Wash., in 1993, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

Additionally, from 2008 to 2016, she gave more than $122,000 to Democrat presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. In 2020, Stonesifer also gave more than $100,000 to both Joe Biden’s presidential campaign and joint fundraising committee.

In total, she contributed more than $625,000 to Democrats and other leftist organizations since 1993.

Stonesifer is a longtime friend of Jeff Bezos — the newspaper’s owner, billionaire founder of Amazon and fellow Democrat donor — having served on Amazon’s board since 1997.

Along with Stonesifer supporting swamp dwellers like Obama, Clinton and Biden, she also donated more than $170,000 to the Democratic National Committee and contributed thousands to radical far-leftists the Senate, including John Fetterman, D-Pa., John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., Raphael Warnock, D-Ga. and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.

Stonesifer also exposed her Trump Derangement Syndrome by praising the Post‘s coverage of the former president’s indictment.

Wagner Mercenary Mutiny Rocks Russia, Putin Calls for Leader’s Arrest

Wire Editor
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Wagner Mercenary Mutiny Rocks Russia, Putin Calls for Leader’s Arrest

(Headline USA) Russian President Vladimir Putin is addressing the nation Saturday, after mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin called for armed rebellion and reached a key Russian city with his troops. Prigozhin, owner of the Wagner private military company, has claimed that his forces had military facilities in Russia’s southern city of Rostov-on-Don under their control.

“We will destroy anyone who stands in our way,” Prigozhin said in one of a series of angry video and audio recordings posted on social media beginning late Friday. “We are moving forward and will go until the end.”

Russia’s security services had responded to Prigozhin’s declaration of an armed rebellion by calling for his arrest. In a sign of how seriously the Kremlin took the threat, security was heightened in Moscow, Rostov-on-Don and other regions. It was not immediately clear how he was able to enter the southern Russian city or how many troops he had with him.

Yeveny Prigozhin posted a video of himself in Rostov-on-Don at the Russian military headquarters that oversees the fighting in Ukraine. He claimed that his forces had military facilities in the city under their control, including the air field. Other videos posted on social media showed military vehicles, including tanks, on the streets outside.

Prigozhin said early Saturday that his forces had crossed into Russia from Ukraine and had reached Rostov, adding that they faced no resistance from young conscripts at checkpoints and that his forces “aren’t fighting against children.”

“But we will destroy anyone who stands in our way,” he said in one of a series of angry video and audio recordings posted on social media beginning late Friday. “We are moving forward and will go until the end.”

Russia’s security services had responded to Prigozhin’s declaration of an armed rebellion by calling for his arrest. In a sign of how seriously the Kremlin took the threat, authorities declared a “counterterrorist regime” in Moscow and the capital’s surroundings, allowing enhanced security and restricted freedoms, and security was heightened in Moscow.

It was not immediately clear how he was able to enter the southern Russian city or how many troops he had with him.

Prigozhin alleged that Wagner field camps in Ukraine were struck by rockets, helicopter gunships and artillery fire on orders from the chief of the General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, following a meeting in Rostov with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu at which they decided to destroy Wagner. He also said his forces shot down a Russian military helicopter that fired on a civilian convoy, but there was no independent confirmation.

Prigozhin said he had 25,000 troops under his command and would punish Shoigu in an armed rebellion, and urged the army not to offer resistance: “This is not a military coup, but a march of justice.”

The Wagner forces have played a crucial role in Russia’s war in Ukraine, succeeding in taking the city where the bloodiest and longest battles have taken place, Bakhmut. But Prigozhin has increasingly criticized Russia’s military brass, accusing it of incompetence and of starving his troops of weapons and ammunition.

On Friday, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, which is part of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, charged Prigozhin with calling for an armed rebellion, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

The FSB urged Wagner’s contract soldiers to arrest Prigozhin and refuse to follow his “criminal and treacherous orders.” It called his statements a “stab in the back to Russian troops” and said they amounted to fomenting armed conflict.

Heavy military trucks and armored vehicles were seen in several parts of central Moscow early Saturday, and soldiers toting assault rifles were deployed outside the main building of the Defense Ministry. The area around the presidential administration near Red Square was blocked, snarling traffic.

But even with the heightened military presence, downtown bars and restaurants were filled with customers. At one club near the headquarters of the FSB, people were dancing in the street near the entrance.

Prigozhin, whose feud with the Defense Ministry dates back years, had refused to comply with a requirement that military contractors sign contracts with the ministry before July 1. In a statement late Friday, he said he was ready to find a compromise but “they have treacherously cheated us.”

“Today they carried out a rocket strike on our rear camps, and a huge number of our comrades got killed,” he said. The Defense Ministry denied attacking the Wagner camps.

“The evil embodied by the country’s military leadership must be stopped,” he shouted.

Col. Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of the Russian group of forces fighting in Ukraine, urged the Wagner forces to stop any move against the army, saying it would play into the hands of Russia’s enemies, who are “waiting to see the exacerbation of our domestic political situation.”

Tatiana Stanovaya, a political analyst, predicted this would be the end of Prigozhin.

“Now that the state has actively engaged, there’s no turning back,” she tweeted. “The termination of Prigozhin and Wagner is imminent. The only possibility now is absolute obliteration, with the degree of resistance from the Wagner group being the only variable. Surovikin was dispatched to convince them to surrender. Confrontation seems totally futile.”

Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alexeyev, a top military officer, denounced Prigozhin’s move as “madness” that threatens civil war.

“It’s a stab in the back to the country and the president. … Such a provocation could only be staged by enemies of Russia,” he said.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement that Ukraine was concentrating troops for an attack around Bakhmut to take advantage of “Prigozhin’s provocation.” It said Russian artillery and warplanes were firing on Ukrainian forces as they prepared an offensive.

In Washington, the Institute for the Study of War said, “The violent overthrow of Putin loyalists like Shoigu and Gerasimov would cause irreparable damage to the stability of Putin’s perceived hold on power.”

At the White House, National Security Council spokesperson Adam Hodge said: “We are monitoring the situation and will be consulting with allies and partners on these developments.”

In Kyiv, a Russian missile attack killed at least two people and injured eight Saturday when falling debris caused a fire on several floors of a 24-story apartment building in a central district, Serhii Popko, the head of the city’s military administration posted on Telegram.

He said more than 20 missiles were detected and destroyed. Video from the scene showed a blaze in the upper floors of the building and the parking lot strewn with ash and debris.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Chaos: White House Spox Shuts Down Press Briefing after Explosive Biden Text Messages

Luis Cornelio
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Chaos: White House Spox Shuts Down Press Briefing after Explosive Biden Text Messages

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Tensions ran high in the White House on Friday as National Security Council spokesman John Kirby abruptly ended a press conference following a probing question about a WhatsApp text message that directly implicates President Joe Biden in his son’s business dealings abroad.

Renowned journalist James Rosen confronted Kirby with the damning content of the messages, which explicitly contradict Biden’s previous claims that he never held conversations with Hunter about his business dealings.

The WhatsApp exchange, reportedly between Hunter and a Chinese contact, contained concerning dialogue. The message, which Rosen read out loud, said, “I am sitting here with my father, and we would like to understand why the commitment made was not fulfilled. Tell the director I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight.”

After reading the message, Rosen asked Kirby whether it conflicted with Biden’s claims. A fired-up Rosen asked Kirby, “Does this not undermine the president’s claim during the 2020 campaign and the reaffirmations of that claim by his two press secretaries since then that he never once discussed his son’s overseas business dealings with him?”

A combative Kirby responded negatively. He claimed, “No, and I am not going to comment further on this. James, James, let me save—let me save—let me save you some breath. If you’re going to ask about this, I am not addressing. I’m not going to address this issue from this podium.”

Rosen attempted to ask Kirby why he would not address the scandal, but Kirby opted to exit the press briefing room instead, saying, “Thanks, guys, have a good weekend.”

The Chinese-linked text message came to light after the release of 400 pages of sworn testimony from an IRS whistleblower who accused the Biden administration of successfully thwarting the investigations into Hunter’s crimes, to which he pleaded guilty in a sweetheart deal on June 20. 

Christopher Clark, an attorney for the First Son, dismissed the revelations as misleading and illegal. According to a statement obtained by Fox News, Clark claimed, “Biased and politically-motivated, selective leaks have plagued this matter for years. They are not only irresponsible, they are illegal.”

Gov’t Accountability Office Says Pentagon Isn’t Woke Enough as Recruiting Languishes

Corine Gatti
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Gov’t Accountability Office Says Pentagon Isn’t Woke Enough as Recruiting Languishes

(Corine Gatti, Headline USA) Despite myriad military drag shows and Pride events taking place across the country, the Government Accountability Office said the Department of Defense was not “woke” enough.

A recently released 258-page “diversity audit” from the GAO found that the Pentagon’s top brass failed to promote diversity in its civilian workforce. The review said, the “DOD has shifted in reverse and employs fewer civilian minorities than a decade ago,” the Gateway Pundit reported.

“The DOD has lower percentages of women and members of historically disadvantaged racial or ethnic groups — such as African Americans,” the audit said. “We found that representation of women across the department had not improved. Instead, “it decreased slightly by nearly one percentage point, between fiscal years 2012 and 2021.”

The report found the Pentagon was bound by an executive order signed by President Joe Biden, which mandated greater hiring, support services and benefits for the LGBT community.

The audit looked into civilian minority numbers but didn’t delve into LGBT issues as much as the GOP has done in the past. Critics of the Biden administration have criticized the DOD and the U.S. military for being too woke, which they contend could potentially become a national security concern.

In May, a bill led by Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said that no funds “appropriated or otherwise made available for the Department of Defense and no facilities owned or operated by Department of Defense may be used to host, advertise, or otherwise support an adult cabaret performance,” Fox News Digital reported.

A scheduled drag show to celebrate “Pride” month at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada last month was canceled after Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., publicly decried the event as an inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars.

The military has struggled with recruitment, experiencing the worst crisis since transitioning to an all-volunteer force. The Army faced a shortage of 15,000 troops in 2022, News Week reported.

‘Jussie Copycat’ Claims to Be Hate-Crime Victim after Beating Pregnant Woman

Ezekiel Loseke
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‘Jussie Copycat’ Claims to Be Hate-Crime Victim after Beating Pregnant Woman

(Ezekiel Loseke, Headline USA) A homosexual did his best Jussie Smollett impression, as he claimed to be set on fire as a result of ‘hate,’ but video obtained by police show he was set ablaze by a pregnant woman he was beating in San Diego.

San Diego Police reported receiving a call about a man attacking a pregnant woman at 10:40 p.m. on June 12, according to ABC 10 San Diego.

Police arrived promptly, but the perpetrator had already fled the scene. The woman was bleeding and suffering from other injuries upon the arrival of the police, and she was treated for her wounds at a hospital.

Hours later, just before midnight, police received another complaint, this time from a homosexual who was set on fire.

Police later noted an important connection between the two calls.

“Investigators determined that this man was the suspect who battered the pregnant woman from the earlier incident at 900 6th Avenue,” police reported. “Investigators have since determined the pregnant female was responsible for the burn injuries.”

Police later located video footage of the initial assault.

Violence was initially carried out “by the man on the pregnant woman and the subsequent use of fire as a weapon by the pregnant woman on the man.”

ABC 10 San Diego’s initial reporting indicated that the incident was an anti-homosexual hate crime because of lies told by the homosexual, as reported by The Blaze.

The sodomite reported stopping by a bar to ask for a job, and leaving around 8 p.m. On his walk home, he reported hearing two people shouting homosexual slurs in San Diego, California.

“[I] started hearing f*** this, f*** that. The word came up quite a bit,” the sodomite reported.

The homosexual reported that he bravely confronted the men using ‘hate speech.’ He reported hearing footsteps behind him moments later. As he turned around, he said he saw a man in his 20s or 30s and that he was hit by a liquid that felt like water.

“Immediately after that, I went up like coals on a barbecue. It started off really big,” the sodomite said, fabricating a hate crime.

He said he then stopped, dropped and rolled to put the fire out.

He told ABC 10 San Diego that he was certain of the motives of his assailants.

“This is absolutely a hate crime. The slurs were hate-filled,” he said, as he fabricated the event.

He reported being the victim of roving homophobes looking to set sodomites ablaze.

“Nobody walks around with flammable liquid like without an agenda. In my opinion, they were obliviously out there targeting the LGBT community,” he said.

As a result of the homosexual’s story, ABC 10 San Diego reached out to the police to see if this was being investigated as a hate crime.

When the real facts of the situation became known, ABC 10 San Diego reported reaching out to the homosexual, who did not respond to calls or texts about the situation.

Police did not indicate if the Jussie Smollett copycat will be charged with filing a false police report as was Smollett, who  received five months in jail for fabricating a story that White Supremacists wearing MAGA hats hung a noose around his neck, drenched him in bleach and called him homophobic names.

Sadly, the San Diego sodomite and Smollett are not rare phenomena but rather part of a long pattern of fabricated anti-conservative smears.

Which Way, Republican: WW3 or Peace? Firebrands and RINOs Offer Dueling Ukraine Policies

Ken Silva
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Which Way, Republican: WW3 or Peace? Firebrands and RINOs Offer Dueling Ukraine Policies

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) It’s an issue increasingly dividing congressional Republicans: Should the U.S. enter into a hot war with Russia if the war in Ukraine continues to escalate?

For Sen. Lindsey Graham, the answer is a resounding “yes.” Graham and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., co-sponsored a resolution Thursday that would obligate the U.S. to fight Russia if it uses nuclear weapons or destroys the Zaporizhia Nuclear Powerplant in Ukraine.

“I applaud President Biden for putting on the table that the threat of Putin using a nuclear weapon is real. Our message to Putin is: You can expect a massive response from NATO, and you’ll be at war with NATO,” Graham said at a press conference announcing his resolution.

But on the same day, a group of more conservative-leaning representatives introduced a resolution that runs counter to Graham’s.

That resolution—sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio—would make it clear that Congress must declare war before the U.S. military gets into any foreign conflicts, international treaties notwithstanding.

“Perhaps the most important question a member of Congress will ever face is whether to commit our nation’s young men and women to war. We cannot delegate that responsibility to the president, the courts, an international body, or our allies,” Paul said of his resolution.

“Article 5 of the NATO treaty does not supersede the constitutional obligation that only Congress can declare war.”

Paul’s resolution is also cosponsored by Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Mike Braun, R-Ind., Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., as well as Reps. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and other members of the House Freedom Caucus.

Judging by the initial sponsors and co-sponsors, congressional Republicans who oppose direct involvement in the Ukraine war appear to outnumber those who would start World War 3.

However, there are other House Republicans who are pushing to provide Ukraine with long-range missiles with the ability to strike Russian territory. The Republican-controlled House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution Wednesday that calls on the Biden administration to immediately arm Ukraine with the Army Tactical Missile Systems, which have a range of up to 190 miles.

“There’s no reason to give Ukraine just enough to bleed but not enough to win,” said Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who sponsored the resolution.

The resolution now heads to the House floor. Though the resolution has no binding effect on White House policy decisions, the coming vote on this resolution will serve as a litmus test to see where Republicans stand on the issue of war and peace.

Rep. Greene made her stance clear, saying on Twitter that she adamantly opposes arming Ukraine with long-range missiles to strike Russia.

“Providing long-range missiles, including 200-mile-range Army Tactical Missile System to Ukraine is just like Russia giving long range missiles to Cuba or Mexico!” Greene said.

“The U.S. should negotiate peace NOT wage war!”

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

Hunter Biden Enjoys Lavish State Dinner after Facing Federal Charges

Contributing Author
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Hunter Biden Enjoys Lavish State Dinner after Facing Federal Charges

(Headline USA) Hunter Biden was seen attending a lavish state dinner at the White House on Thursday, just days after being federally charged with two misdemeanor accounts of willful failure to pay federal income tax.

The plea deal was fiercely criticized as a mere slap on the wrist, relative to the charges Biden faced and what other less-connected unfortunate public peons have received. Biden apparently brushed off the charges as no big deal, with pictures from the event showing the privileged First Son smiling and socializing with other high-profile guests in attendance. 

Hunter Biden ignored media questions, as did Attorney General Merrick Garland, who was also in attendance at the state dinner.

Just hours before the gala event, an IRS whistleblower alleged Garland’s Justice Department slow-walked its investigation into Hunter Biden’s tax evasion and shielded him from several tax-related charges.

“We have credible whistleblower testimony alleging misconduct and government abuse that is resulting in preferential treatment for the president’s son, Hunter Biden,” House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., said Thursday. “The federal government is not treating taxpayers equally when enforcing tax laws.”

The charges filed against Hunter Biden this week were the result of a sweetheart plea deal in which Biden will pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax in 2017 and 2018, and enter a pre-trial diversion on a felony gun possession charge, meaning the gun charge could be dropped altogether if he meets certain requirements. The plea deal still has to be approved by a judge.

Several current defendants, including rapper Kodak Black and a mother in Virginia charged after her 6-year-old son used her gun to shoot his teacher, have pointed to the DOJ’s plea deal as evidence that their charges should be dropped or reduced.

The lawyer for Deja Taylor, who pleaded guilty to lying about her marijuana use when she applied for a gun purchase, said this week he plans to cite Hunter Biden’s plea deal in court.

“Why does the prodigal son of a president get diversion on the same gun charge — along with the sweetheart deal on the tax crimes?” Eugene Rossi said. “The disparity is a bit hard to comprehend — let alone swallow.”

Blue-Run Cities No Longer a Good Investment … So Who Will Buy Them Up?

Robert Jonathan
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Blue-Run Cities No Longer a Good Investment … So Who Will Buy Them Up?

(Robert Jonathan, Headline USA) Investors are reportedly souring on investing in once-vibrant, but now often-empty, downtown areas of Democrat-run cities.

“Wall Street is betting against America’s downtowns,” a lengthy Wall Street Journal analysis claimed, in part, because of the remote work increase starting in the COVID era led to empty office buildings and lost real-estate value.

“I hope it’s not a train wreck, but it could be” said the former head of a municipal credit-analysis firm.

In the dismal economic picture that the article paints, “Investors are paying less for bonds linked to New York subways and buses. Downtown-focused real-estate investment trusts trade at less than half their prepandemic levels. Bondholders are demanding extra interest to hold office-building debt.”

Downtowns were once the symbiotic “mother lode” for city coffers, the news organization asserted, insofar as tax revenue is concerned, which could usher in austerity measures and reduced services unless Washington provides bailouts.

“[I]nvestors who bet on downtown office towers, or on the trains and buses delivering workers to them, could generally trust they held a winning hand,” the WSJ recalled.

“Now, with white-collar workers spending more time in their home offices, a phenomenon that shows few signs of ending, investments linked to downtowns are trading at falling prices in volatile markets.”

The related erosion of the tax base is bad news for municipal budgets, too. “It puts under strain some of city governments’ traditional ways of extracting wealth: collecting property taxes on office buildings, taxes on wages earned within city limits, and fares from office workers’ commutes.”

This detailed WSJ focus on financials only hints at the key factor in the demise of these once-prosperous enclaves: public safety.

“From New York to Chicago to San Francisco, residents and visitors complain about empty downtown streets and transit stops that have become way stations for the mentally ill and homeless.”

Mores specifically, Soros-funded soft-on-crime prosecutors, defunded or demoralized cops, catch-and-release policies even for violent repeat offenders, and wrongdoing like shoplifting reduced to “traffic-ticket” misdemeanors have all contributed to the creation of a left-wing dystopia.

Brazen thievery has also prompted many retailers to shut down their stores permanently in high-crime, downtown areas that were once active shopping, dining and cultural districts.

“Congratulations, Democrats. You have demolished America’s cities and with that demolition, you crippled a civilized nation,” longtime newsman Don Thurber asserted.

“What is happening to American cities is what happened to American manufacturing in the Midwest,” he added, insisting that both parties share blame for the latter.

Specifically referencing New York City’s disastrous de Blasio administration, Thurber ominously claimed that “The plan is to dump the middle class into the suburbs in the hope of flipping them blue—and eventually destroy them as well.”

The WSJ suggested that those very suburbs are the likely beneficiary of the purported bad center-city investments.

“The suburbs are going to be one of the big winners in this, and the potential losers could be the large cities that have depended on people coming back and forth to work,” the chair of a municipal-bond investment firm opined.

Another school of thought is that the globalists and big financial corporations will nonetheless buy up vacant or semi-vacant downtown properties at fire-sale cost in a similar manner to which they are currently acquiring single-family homes or farmland.

This, in the end, could perhaps constitute a neofeudalistic scenario benefitting an elite class of state-sanctioned property owners, while turning most global citizens into a permanent class of renters who, in the words of the World Economic Forum, “will own nothing and be happy.”

In the meantime, “The pessimism from investors who bet on office buildings and mass transit can be seen in market signals that are flashing red,” the Journal summarized.

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