Think Tank Where Biden Docs Were Stored Hosted Events For China

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Think Tank Where Biden Docs Were Stored Hosted Events For China

(Headline USA) President Joe Biden’s affiliated think tank, in which several classified documents from his vice presidency were found, hosted events with Chinese officials and organizations looking to develop closer relationships to China, according to a report.

Just this past year, the Penn Biden Center invited congressional staffers to attend a two-day “bootcamp,” during which organizers encouraged closer ties with the Chinese government on issues such as green energy and education, the Washington Free Beacon reported. 

The event included attendees from the Center for the Study of Contemporary China, the Penn Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. There were no security officials present at the event, according to the report, which means guests were allowed to walk around the Penn Biden Center freely and use any of its empty rooms.

The report raises additional questions about Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, including who was able to access them and whether he compromised national security.

Bide has dismissed allegations that he put the country’s security at risk, arguing the Penn Biden Center was “secure.” However, additional classified documents have popped up at different locations, including at his Delaware residence, where his beleaguered, crack-addict son Hunter Biden spent a significant amount of time.

Many Democrats have even spoken out about the scandal. Rep. Jim Hines, D-Conn., said on Tuesday that he is “profoundly disturbed” by Biden’s flagrant violation of the law for the same reason he was disturbed by news that former President Donald Trump had improperly stored classified documents in his Mar-a-Lago home.

“Any time there are classified documents outside of a secure space, I am profoundly troubled, whether that space is owned by a Republican president or a Democratic president,” Hines told CNN. “Any time, any one president or no president has classified documents out side of a classified space, it’s a big problem.”

AG Garland Denies Treating Biden Differently than Trump

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AG Garland Denies Treating Biden Differently than Trump

(Headline USA) Attorney General Merrick Garland claimed this week that the Justice Department has not treated President Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified documents any differently than former President Donald Trump’s.

Speaking to reporters, Garland rejected the allegation that the DOJ is operating under two different standards: one for Biden, and one for Trump.

“The role of the Justice Department is to apply the facts and the law in each case and reach appropriate decisions in a nonpartisan and neutral way without regard to who the subjects are,” Garland said.

The AG who was instrumental in launching the militarized FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home continued to claim the soft-touch approach given Biden’s case was no different.

“That is what we’ve done in each of these cases, and that is what we’ll continue to do. We do not have different rules for Democrats or Republicans, different rules for the powerful or the powerless, different rules for the rich or for the poor,” he added.

Garland has appointed special counsels to investigate both Biden and Trump. However, Republicans have been quick to point out discrepancies in the DOJ’s handling of each case.

Trump, for example, was subjected to an FBI raid, whereas Garland refused to order FBI agents to supervise the search of Biden’s home. Moreover, the special counsel assigned to Biden’s case, Robert Hur, has been tasked only with investigating Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, whereas Trump’s special counsel, Jack Smith, has been told to investigate a wide number of potential infractions, including obstruction of justice.

“Biden knew for years that he’s been storing highly classified documents in his personal office,” said Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas. “He knew it when FBI agents were raiding Mar-a-Lago, and he knew it when he appointed a partisan special counsel. He knew the whole time but still had his DOJ goons persecute Trump.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., agreed.

“Joe Biden took classified documents from the White House when he was Vice President,” she said. “The VP does not have the power to declassify, only POTUS. Joe Biden stole classified documents. This is a very serious crime. DOJ [and] NARA can’t sweep this under the rug and persecute Trump.”

D.C. Mayor Begs Biden to End Remote Work for Federal Employees

Molly Bruns
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D.C. Mayor Begs Biden to End Remote Work for Federal Employees

(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) In her recent inaugural address, third-term Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser begged President Joe Biden to either bring federal employees back into the office or give up the office space occupying much of D.C.’s downtown area.

According to the Post Millennial, Bowser is hoping to transform the offices into housing should the government decide to vacate the space.

“The federal government represents one-quarter of D.C.’s pre-pandemic jobs and owns or leases one-third of our office,” Bowser said in her Jan. 2 speech, which garnered renewed attention following the publication of a Politico column on Friday.

“We need decisive action by the White House to either get most federal workers back to the office most of the time or to realign their vast property holdings for use by the local government, by non-profits, by businesses and by any user willing to revitalize it,” she added.

Since taking office, Biden allowed the majority of the 200,000 federal employees usually inhabiting the area to work remotely for at least part of the week.

Reports from Axios indicated that downtown D.C. during the holiday season was at 45% occupancy.

Another report from Fox News declared that D.C. was the “remote work capital of the country in 2021,” with 48.3% of employees working from home.

“Converting office space into housing is the key to unlocking the potential of a reimagined more vibrant downtown,” Bowser continued. “Right now 25,000 people call downtown home.

She said the goal was to gain 100,000 new residents by adding “15,000 over the next five years and 87,000 more before it’s all said and done.”

The D.C. area’s dearth of affordable housing has long been a struggle for Capitol Hill staffers—and even some lawmakers, like current House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who was forced to take up residence with notorious RINO pollster Frank Luntz after his predecessor, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., banned House members from sleeping in their offices.

But it remained unclear how much of the new space would be dedicated to white-collar professionals and how much to illegal immigrants, who recently have taxed the city’s resources to their brink.

While Bowser has been a vocal critic of states who bused in new arrivals from the Mexican border to send a message to the Biden administration, she recently reaffirmed in a statement that her city would remain a sanctuary for illegals, “because we know that our neighborhoods are safer and stronger when no one is afraid to call on our government for help.”

Alec Baldwin Still Cast as Lead Role in ‘Rust’ Despite Criminal Charges

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Alec Baldwin Still Cast as Lead Role in ‘Rust’ Despite Criminal Charges

(Headline USA) Alec Baldwin will remain the lead actor in Rust as it restarts production this year despite being criminally charged with manslaughter, according to the film’s lawyer.

“The film is still on track to be completed,” Rust Movie Productions lawyer Melina Spadone said in a statement this week.

The late cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’s widower, Matt, will return as an executive producer, as will director Joel Souza.

Baldwin was charged this week with involuntary manslaughter for the 2021 death of Hutchins, whom he shot on the set of Rust.

Prosecutors argued there was more than enough evidence to prove Baldwin acted negligently, ultimately costing Hutchins’s her life, despite his claims that he didn’t pull the trigger of the set gun.

Baldwin’s legal team said this week that the actor will appeal the charges against him, calling them a “terrible miscarriage of justice.”

However, Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said she is confident that charging Baldwin was the right decision.

“Every person that handles a gun has a duty to make sure that if they’re going to handle that gun, point it at someone and pull the trigger that it is not going to fire a projectile and kill someone,” she said. “An actor does not get a free pass just because they are an actor. That is what is so important. We are saying here in New Mexico, that everyone is equal under the law.”

Carmack-Altwies said the investigation into the Rust shooting revealed there were live rounds mixed in with dummy rounds, and crews were not checking ammunition regularly. Baldwin had the responsibility to check his gun’s rounds, she said.

“He didn’t check it. He didn’t do any of things he was supposed to do to make sure that he was safe or that anyone around him was safe,” she said.

If Baldwin is convicted, he could face up to 18 months in prison.

Newsom Blames U.S. Constitution for Mass Shootings, Claims 2A is a ‘Suicide Pact’

Ezekiel Loseke
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Newsom Blames U.S. Constitution for Mass Shootings, Claims 2A is a ‘Suicide Pact’

(Ezekiel Loseke, Headline USA) Gavin Newsom, California’s leftist Democrat governor, proclaimed a part of the United States Constitution, the Second Amendment, was a suicide pact while speaking about a mass shooting carried out with a gun that is illegal in California.

 Newsom complained about the lack of gun regulations, according to Axios.

“The Second Amendment is becoming a suicide pact,” he said.

The Second Amendment reads, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Newsom was speaking about the recent shooting in Monterey Park, California, according to CBS News. That shooting was carried out with a short-barreled rifle with a high-capacity magazine, both of which are illegal in California.

Newsom, when questioned how the suspect got the weapon despite their illegal status, expressed a lack of understanding.

“We will figure it out,” he said. “That’s going to happen. … Things fall through the cracks.”

Newsom’s call for more gun control comes amidst a sea of gun laws. California already has the strictest gun laws in the nation, according to World Population Review.

Newsom failed to address the logical problem that, if, as Newsom reported, the state is incapable of enforcing its existing regulations that, “fall through the cracks,” then how more gun control laws would not also fall through the cracks.

Newsome did, however, dismiss the idea that the mass shooting problem could be the result of mental health.

“I will submit that regardless of the challenges it relates to behavioral health, there’s not a country in the world that doesn’t experience behavioral health issues,” Newsom said.

Newsom expressed significant concern for the safety of Californians on this issue, but he does not always make the safety of Californians his priority. Indeed, just last month, Newsom pardoned 10 violent criminals and drug dealers.

RINO House Financial Services Chair Still Plans to Prioritize ‘Diversity,’ ‘Inclusion’

Jacob Bruns
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RINO House Financial Services Chair Still Plans to Prioritize ‘Diversity,’ ‘Inclusion’

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) The newly appointed RINO chair House Financial Services Committee said he plans to keep “diversity and inclusion” as major aims of its work, as well as that of its and its six subcommittees.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., will continue to prioritize the controversial obejective established under previous committee chair Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., the Washington Times reported.

That is unlikely to allay the recent concerns of House conservatives who already feared newly elected speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., may be too moderate for the job that needs to be done of correcting America’s wayward course and keeping the corrupt Biden administration in check.

Under Waters, House Democrats threatened to weaponize their oversight duties in order to pressure banks to submit to their agenda by denying financial access to companies like gun manufacturers and those that failed to meet their green demands.

Meanwhile, Democrats encouraged woke corporations to use so-called ESG investing in order to exert their own political pressure on those who opposed their radical values.

Many companies have now embraced the principles of “diversity, equity and inclusion”—a Marxist euphemism to promote “equal” outcomes through preferential treatment of minorities instead of equal protection under the law.

The commitee’s website now says that Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., the chair of the Subcommittee on Capitol Markets, will identify “best practices and policies that continue to strengthen diversity and inclusion in the capital markets industry.”

Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., leader of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, will likewise ensure the “programmatic commitment to diversity and inclusion policies.”

Further, the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy, chaired by Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., will resume “identifying best practices and policies that continue to strengthen the financial industry’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.”

McHenry sought to placate the conservative base by telling the Times that he also planned to turn the committee’s toward deregulation and job creation—contrary to the aims of his Democratic predecessor.

“For four years, Democrats wasted the valuable and limited time and resources of our committee to push burdensome mandates on American job creators,” he said. “Democrats’ goal was to name and shame companies until they parroted their woke social agenda.”

Per McHenry, the GOP will “refocus the Committee on the kitchen table issues that matter most to American families, from charting a path out of the dismal Biden economy to expanding opportunities for all Americans.”

Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.

How Feds Destroyed a Cancer Lab, and How the Owner is Fighting Back

Ken Silva
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How Feds Destroyed a Cancer Lab, and How the Owner is Fighting Back

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) In a January 2020 decision, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals determined that LabMD owner Michael Daugherty had been the victim of a collusion scheme between a rogue FBI contractor and the Federal Trade Commission.

But by then, the damage was already done. Daugherty had already closed LabMD, a cancer-detection business that at one point served more than 700,000 patients.

Now, Daugherty seeks to hold the individuals who targeted his business accountable. A legal brief—which Daugherty filed last week to the Washington DC Court of Appeals and provided to Headline USA—outlines his roughly 15-year saga.

In 2008, Daugherty was contacted by cybersecurity firm Tiversa with the news that hundreds of leaked LabMD documents were available online. Tiversa had recently worked with the FBI to investigate child pornography and other computer crimes—efforts that were awarded by then-FBI director Robert Mueller, as documented in a 2019 New Yorker profile.

According to Daugherty, Tiversa offered to remedy his data breach at the rate of $475 an hour. When Daugherty declined, Tiversa allegedly turned the LabMD data over to the FTC, which then launched its investigation.

Embroiled in lawsuits, Daugherty was forced to close LabMD in 2014.

However, a Tiversa whistleblower came forward later that year to disclose the firm’s allegedly nefarious deeds. The whistleblower, Rick Wallace, testified in the FTC hearings about Tiversa’s attempted shakedown of LabMD and numerous other companies, also admitting to his company forging documents to make it appear as though LabMD’s data was found online—and not hacked by Tiversa.

Daugherty also discovered that Tiversa had used proprietary FBI “enhanced peer-to-peer software” against him, according to his recent legal brief.

The FTC’s enforcement action against LabMD was struck down in 2018, and Daugherty’s allegations were validated by an Eleventh Circuit ruling in January 2020. In that ruling, the Eleventh Circuit lambasted the FTC for participating in Tiversa’s alleged blackmail scheme.

“The FTC only received information about the [data] because LabMD had rejected Tiversa’s shakedown attempt,” said a Special Master that the Eleventh Circuit commissioned for the case.

“The FTC knew, or should have known, how Tiversa was getting its leads on companies it was reporting and should have been suspicious when Tiversa relayed the [data] surreptitiously. But it was not … The FTC was accepting information from Tiversa without questioning its motives or the veracity of the information.”

Armed with the Eleventh Circuit judgment, Daugherty is now suing the FTC employees allegedly involved in the scheme. This litigation has been an uphill battle due to the liability protections federal employees enjoy, Daugherty said.

The brief Daugherty filed last week seeks to revive a 2015 lawsuit against the FTC employees. The brief, filed with the Washington DC Appeals Court, urges justices to hold the employees accountable.

“Although [the FTC’s] actions were eventually discovered and exposed, and the Eleventh Circuit vacated the FTC’s enforcement action against LabMD, LabMD, a specialized cancer detection lab, was destroyed in the process,” Daugherty said in the brief. “And the FTC and the individuals responsible for this horrific injustice have evaded any responsibility for their intentional, malicious, and unconstitutional actions.”

The FTC employees have until Feb. 21 to respond to Daugherty’s brief.

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

Firefighters Slam Bill that Would Nix Physical Requirements for Women

Molly Bruns
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Firefighters Slam Bill that Would Nix Physical Requirements for Women

(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) The Democrat legislators of Connecticut are working to reduce physical fitness requirements for female firefighters in attempts to make their firefighting forces more diverse.

The bill, if passed, would allow female firefighter trainees to skip the Candidate Physical Ability Test. The test is a timed examination, enabling candidates to demonstrate their physical aptitude for the strenuous work of firefighting, while wearing a 50-pound vest meant to simulate the gear firefighters carry.

According to Big League Politics, only 10-15% of women pass this test.

The new bill, co-authored by five state-level Democrats, would allow women to take a revised test that would ensure “additional female candidates” can take up positions as firefighters.

Many of Connecticut’s firefighters strongly objected to this bill.

“A citizen in need of rescue doesn’t care if a firefighter is white, black, Hispanic, male, or female,” said Frank Ricci, a retired firefighter who served as the president of the New Haven firefighters union. “They care that they can do the job. This attempt to socially engineer public safety positions will only serve to endanger the public”.

Gear that firefighters carry weighs at least 59 pounds, not including the weight of ladders, hoses, other firemen or victims. According to the Washington Free Beacon, many of the essential tools are not tailored for women, despite the fact that some protective gear now is.

Fire departments across the nation are facing mounting pressure to lower standards for both written and physical examinations, particularly to cater to women.

A lawsuit was levied against the Chicago Fire Department in 2011 over their physical testing, which is more strenuous than the standard Candidate Physical Ability Test used in most states.

The suit argued that the test discriminated against women due to their low passing rate. The department settled and offered jobs to the women who sued.

The Candidate Physical Ability Test, which both the International Association of Firefighters and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission approved, has survived barrages of discrimination lawsuits.

“The idea of the test was to keep politics out of fire service hiring,” said Danny Stratton, a retired New Jersey fire captain. “Now they’re trying to add politics back in.”

Calif. Wants to Tax Wealthy Residents — Even after They’ve Moved from State

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Calif. Wants to Tax Wealthy Residents — Even after They’ve Moved from State

(Headline USA) California Democrats proposed legislation this week that would impose a new wealth tax on the state’s residents, including those who have moved out of the state.

The bill, introduced last week by California Assemblyman Alex Lee, would impose an extra annual 1.5% tax on those with a “worldwide net worth” above $1 billion, starting as early as next year. In 2026, the tax would begin to apply to those with net worths exceeding $50 million.

The legislation even includes a measure that would allow California to tax wealthy residents years after they’ve left the state by creating a contractual claim tied to the assets of a wealthy taxpayer. Under this claim, wealthy taxpayers would have to make annual filings with California’s Franchise Tax Board and eventually pay wealth taxes on assets that cannot be easily turned into cash.

In a tweet defending the bill, Lee claimed the wealth tax is a way to relieve “the tax burden” on the middle and lower classes.

“The working class has shouldered the tax burden for too long,” he wrote. “The ultra-rich are paying little to nothing by hoarding their wealth through assets. Time to end that.”

Financial experts questioned whether California would be able to continue taxing residents after they’ve moved out of the state, arguing that it would likely be struck down as unconstitutional in the courts.

“A wealth tax could be particularly destructive in California, home to so many tech start-ups, because the owners of promising businesses could be taxed on hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of estimated business value that never actually materializes,” Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects at Tax Foundation, told Fox News.

“Very few taxpayers would remit wealth taxes, but many taxpayers would pay the price. The only people who should genuinely love a California wealth tax are the ones who work in Texas’ economic development office.”

M&M’s Pulls Its Candy Mascots after Backlash over Wokeness

Jacob Bruns
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M&M’s Pulls Its Candy Mascots after Backlash over Wokeness

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) M&M’s, the beloved candy brand owned by Mars Wrigley, announced Monday that it would take an “indefinite pause” from displaying its controversial cartoon “spokescandies,” the Daily Wire reported.

Earlier in January, the company had announced a plan to “to create a world where everyone feels they belong and society is inclusive” by diversifying the M&M characters—specifically to empower its “female” candy characters.

But M&M’s tweeted a statement on Monday backing off of the initial advertising campaign announcement.

“America, let’s talk,” the statement said. “In the last year, we’ve made some changes to our spokescandies. We weren’t sure if anyone would even notice. And we definitely didn’t think it would break the internet. But now we get it—even a candy’s shoes can be polarizing.”

The company said it planned to replace the candy characters with former Saturday Night Live comedienne Maya Rudolph, “a spokesperson America can agree on.”

“We are confident Ms. Rudolph will champion the power of fun to create a world where everyone feels they belong,” said the statement.

Backlash to the politically correct marketing gimmick garnered steam after the changes were brought to light by Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

“M&M’s will not be satisfied until every last cartoon character is deeply unappealing and totally androgynous—until the moment when you wouldn’t want to have a drink with any one of them,” Carlson said.

“That’s the goal,” he continued. “When you’re totally turned off, we’ve achieved equity. They’ve won.”

 

Carlson noted that the candy company already had made some concessions to critics, but had proceeded to double-down elsewhere.

“The green M&M’s got her boots back but apparently is now a lesbian, maybe, and there is also a plus-sized, obese purple M&M’s,” he said. “So we’re going to cover that, of course. Because that’s what we do.”

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