REUTERS
"Fed's Powell says no rate cuts this year, and markets hear it differently"
By Ann Saphir and Lindsay Dunsmuir
February 2, 2023
Feb 2 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell had a clear message on Wednesday: as "gratifying" as it is that inflation has begun to slow, the central bank is nowhere near to reversing course or declaring victory.
"It's going to take some time" for disinflation to spread through the economy, Powell said in a news conference following the Fed's latest quarter-point interest rate increase.
He said he expects a couple more rate hikes still to go, and, "given our outlook, I just I don't see us cutting rates this year."
Investors ignored him, keeping bets on just one more rate hike ahead and piling further into bets that rates will be lower by year's end than they are now.
It's not obvious which view will prove right: neither the Fed nor markets have a great predictive record since the central bank's current round of rate hikes began last March.
Markets have repeatedly had to scrap bets for a quick pivot, pushing those expectations out farther as the central bank charged ahead with the most aggressive policy tightening in 40 years.
For their part, Fed policymakers each quarter through last year kept ratcheting up their own estimates for how high they'd push interest rates as inflation proved stronger and stickier than anticipated.
Not once did they signal rates would get cut this year.
How the current disconnect resolves will largely come down to whether inflation drops faster than the central bank expects, or labor markets soften further than it hopes.
"The actual outcome is data dependent, and we won't have the data to confirm or deny...until we are deeper into the first half of the year," said Tim Duy, chief U.S. economist at SGH Macro Advisors.
And as long as there's that uncertainty, it is in Powell's interest to try to keep financial markets from betting too hard on rate cuts that would loosen financial conditions, possibly undermining the Fed's hard-won progress against inflation.
Even simply acknowledging the possibility of a rate cut later in the year could undo some of the Fed's work, forcing more Fed tightening and making it even harder to avoid a recession.
Thus Powell's repeated assertions about not cutting rates, and indeed needing to take them at least above 5% as policymakers forecast in December.
"It is our judgment that we're not yet in a sufficiently restrictive policy stance, which is why we say that we expect ongoing hikes will be appropriate," Powell said.
But so far, said Kroll Institute's Global Chief Economist Megan Greene, "the markets aren't buying what the Fed is peddling."
The central bank's benchmark overnight lending rate is now 4.50%-4.75%.
Traders of interest-rate futures are pricing in one more 25 basis point increase in March before the Fed pauses to assess how its run-up in interest rates from near zero one year ago is slowing the economy.
Rate cuts, they expect, will start in September - a view Powell said Wednesday is driven by the expectation of fast-receding inflation.
Either cutting in September or waiting until next year, would be in the historical range.
Since the 1990s, the interlude between rate hikes and rate cuts has varied from as long as 18 months in 1997-1998 to as short as five months in 1995.
Inflation data is trending in the right way over the past three months.
By the Fed's preferred measure, inflation is now running at a 5.0% annual rate, still more than twice the central bank's 2% goal, but down from a high of 7% last summer.
Wage pressures are also easing, which could allow the Fed to reduce rates later this year as it tries to engineer an elusive 'soft landing,' where inflation comes down without severe harm to economic growth and employment.
DON'T WANT TO REV THE ECONOMY
The Fed is also wary of going too easy on inflation and cutting rates too soon.
Powell and others point to the last big inflation war the Fed fought, in the last 1970s and early 1980s, as a cautionary tale.
"Investors are inviting him to be Arthur Burns, and he doesn't want to accept that invitation," Dreyfus and Mellon Chief Economist Vincent Reinhart said of Powell.
It was on Fed Chair Burns' watch, in the 1970s, that the Fed repeatedly raised rates and then cut them to fight rising unemployment, only for prices to explode again and force more rate hikes.
His successor Paul Volcker ended up jacking rates to almost 20% to finally quash the inflation that Burns had let get out of hand.
The Fed, Powell said Wednesday, cannot risk doing too little.
"We have no incentive and no desire to overtighten, but if we feel like we've gone too far ... if inflation is coming down faster than we expect, then we have tools that would work on that," he said.
Then there's the thorny issue of financial conditions, a proxy for how easy it is to access credit and which the Fed watches closely to see how tight borrowing costs are in reality.
Financial conditions began to ease following the central bank's policy meeting last November and while Powell largely brushed off such concerns on Wednesday, the Fed can ill afford for them to ease further.
"This loosening of financial conditions is undoubtedly not what the Fed was aiming for, and we expect a cacophony of Fed speeches in the coming weeks will aim to reorient the Fed's message," said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY Parthenon.
Reporting by Ann Saphir and Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Andrea Ricci
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/feds ... 023-02-02/
AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
FOX NEWS
"Biden's administration, the least transparent in our history, is about to get a great big wake up call"
Opinion by David Bossie
1 FEBRUARY 2023
In the name of political expediency and to make life as painful as possible for President Trump and his allies, House Democrats under the leadership of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the illegitimate January 6 Committee made the conscious decision to set new precedent and change the rules when it comes to legislative branch power and congressional oversight.
In doing so, they didn’t change things temporarily, they changed things forever.
Republican committee chairman should now utilize the new rules accordingly.
Apparently, Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice didn’t get the memo.
Recently, DOJ attempted a return to pre-Trump precedent when they informed House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, that they wouldn’t be cooperating with his document requests and will instead commence with the customary foot-dragging that used to be part of the "give and take" in our system of checks and balances -- until now.
On account of the decisions made by Trump-deranged Democrats and Attorney General Garland himself, stonewalling Congress is no longer an accepted norm.
The January 6 Committee created a new standard of "no mercy" and the Biden administration took full advantage of it.
In essence, this means that no one can run out the clock out on Congress without serious consequences -- not even political appointees at the Justice Department.
To put things in the proper context, this dramatic change in precedent is crashing into the least transparent administration in history.
For the past two years, the Biden administration was not forced to answer any tough questions from either the Democrat majority in Congress or the biased mainstream media.
Because of that disastrous arrangement, President Biden, his cabinet, senior staffers, and faceless bureaucrats mistakenly believe they’re all untouchable.
Thankfully for the American people, with the election of the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives, there’s finally someone minding the store in Washington.
Republicans have been entrusted with the majority in the U.S. House -- the People’s House -- partly because millions of citizens believe the Biden administration is in dire need of some accountability.
Americans want answers about our open southern border, Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal, the targeting of parents who attend school board meetings, COVID-19 origins, Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified information and his family’s foreign business ties, and the unprecedented raid of Mar-a-Lago.
Telling congressional Republicans, "Sorry, it’s really none of your business," is no longer a sustainable strategy because of the changes that were put into place during the previous Congress.
The Justice Department isn’t a fortress; it’s part of your government that’s supposed to be of the people, for the people, and by the people.
Everyone knows that the executive branch has grown far too big and powerful, but that doesn’t mean Congress is no longer a co-equal branch of government.
Republicans in the House must use all powers at their disposal -- along with the new precedent that’s been set -- to keep the executive branch from becoming an unaccountable monarchy or in the words of Joe Biden -- an autocracy.
Some of these powers include subpoenas and the ability to hold individuals and entities in contempt of Congress.
But in the words of Eric Clapton, "it’s in the way that you use it."
In the post-January 6 Committee world that we live in, document requests that are brushed aside must be followed up with subpoenas without delay.
And subpoenas that are refused must be enforced and complied with or met with speedy contempt of Congress votes and criminal referrals.
Criminal referrals must be handled in a totally non-partisan fashion and fully investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s office in the District of Columbia.
If the evidence supports a criminal indictment, then charges should be brought.
This is the "Bannon-Navarro" contempt of Congress doctrine that the Democrats created; we can’t have a two-tiered system of justice in this country.
Republicans in Congress have their work cut out for them, there’s no doubt about that.
America has a $31 trillion national debt, critical race theory and woke culture are infecting our public schools, deadly fentanyl is pouring across our border, and social media companies are censoring free speech.
These are trying times indeed and moving the ball down the field with a small majority will be tough every step of the way -- but this is no time to back down from a fight.
The Democrats made their bed, now they have to lie in it.
The Biden administration must not be allowed to go back to playing by the rulebook that they just ran roughshod over to achieve their political goals.
So, send the subpoenas, demand transparency, and hold them accountable -- using the new rules they created.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 1d06eab6ca
"Biden's administration, the least transparent in our history, is about to get a great big wake up call"
Opinion by David Bossie
1 FEBRUARY 2023
In the name of political expediency and to make life as painful as possible for President Trump and his allies, House Democrats under the leadership of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the illegitimate January 6 Committee made the conscious decision to set new precedent and change the rules when it comes to legislative branch power and congressional oversight.
In doing so, they didn’t change things temporarily, they changed things forever.
Republican committee chairman should now utilize the new rules accordingly.
Apparently, Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice didn’t get the memo.
Recently, DOJ attempted a return to pre-Trump precedent when they informed House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, that they wouldn’t be cooperating with his document requests and will instead commence with the customary foot-dragging that used to be part of the "give and take" in our system of checks and balances -- until now.
On account of the decisions made by Trump-deranged Democrats and Attorney General Garland himself, stonewalling Congress is no longer an accepted norm.
The January 6 Committee created a new standard of "no mercy" and the Biden administration took full advantage of it.
In essence, this means that no one can run out the clock out on Congress without serious consequences -- not even political appointees at the Justice Department.
To put things in the proper context, this dramatic change in precedent is crashing into the least transparent administration in history.
For the past two years, the Biden administration was not forced to answer any tough questions from either the Democrat majority in Congress or the biased mainstream media.
Because of that disastrous arrangement, President Biden, his cabinet, senior staffers, and faceless bureaucrats mistakenly believe they’re all untouchable.
Thankfully for the American people, with the election of the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives, there’s finally someone minding the store in Washington.
Republicans have been entrusted with the majority in the U.S. House -- the People’s House -- partly because millions of citizens believe the Biden administration is in dire need of some accountability.
Americans want answers about our open southern border, Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal, the targeting of parents who attend school board meetings, COVID-19 origins, Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified information and his family’s foreign business ties, and the unprecedented raid of Mar-a-Lago.
Telling congressional Republicans, "Sorry, it’s really none of your business," is no longer a sustainable strategy because of the changes that were put into place during the previous Congress.
The Justice Department isn’t a fortress; it’s part of your government that’s supposed to be of the people, for the people, and by the people.
Everyone knows that the executive branch has grown far too big and powerful, but that doesn’t mean Congress is no longer a co-equal branch of government.
Republicans in the House must use all powers at their disposal -- along with the new precedent that’s been set -- to keep the executive branch from becoming an unaccountable monarchy or in the words of Joe Biden -- an autocracy.
Some of these powers include subpoenas and the ability to hold individuals and entities in contempt of Congress.
But in the words of Eric Clapton, "it’s in the way that you use it."
In the post-January 6 Committee world that we live in, document requests that are brushed aside must be followed up with subpoenas without delay.
And subpoenas that are refused must be enforced and complied with or met with speedy contempt of Congress votes and criminal referrals.
Criminal referrals must be handled in a totally non-partisan fashion and fully investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s office in the District of Columbia.
If the evidence supports a criminal indictment, then charges should be brought.
This is the "Bannon-Navarro" contempt of Congress doctrine that the Democrats created; we can’t have a two-tiered system of justice in this country.
Republicans in Congress have their work cut out for them, there’s no doubt about that.
America has a $31 trillion national debt, critical race theory and woke culture are infecting our public schools, deadly fentanyl is pouring across our border, and social media companies are censoring free speech.
These are trying times indeed and moving the ball down the field with a small majority will be tough every step of the way -- but this is no time to back down from a fight.
The Democrats made their bed, now they have to lie in it.
The Biden administration must not be allowed to go back to playing by the rulebook that they just ran roughshod over to achieve their political goals.
So, send the subpoenas, demand transparency, and hold them accountable -- using the new rules they created.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 1d06eab6ca
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
1945
"Joe Biden’s Classified Documents Drama Just Got Real"
Story by Tyler O' Neil
1 FEBRUARY 2023
The U.S. Department of Justice is searching President Joe Biden‘s home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Wednesday amid the news that Biden kept classified documents from his time as vice president to President Barack Obama, according to a statement from the president’s personal attorney.
“Today, with the President’s full support and cooperation, the DOJ is conducting a planned search of his home in Rehoboth, Delaware,” Bob Bauer, the president’s attorney, said in a statement Wednesday.
“Under DOJ’s standard procedures, in the interests of operational security and integrity, it sought to do this work without advance public notice, and we agreed to cooperate,” Bauer added.
“The search today is a further step in a thorough and timely DOJ process we will continue to fully support and facilitate."
"We will have further information at the conclusion of today’s search.”
Biden’s attorneys found classified documents at the former vice president’s office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., and at the president’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware.
Classified documents dating from Biden’s time in the U.S. Senate have also been discovered.
Attorney General Merrick Garland tapped Robert Hur, a former U.S. attorney for Maryland whom former President Donald Trump appointed, to investigate the document retention.
It remains unclear where Biden kept the documents later discovered at the Penn Biden Center.
Biden left office on Jan. 20, 2017, and the center did not open until early 2018.
The FBI searched the Penn Biden Center last November.
Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, told CBS News that personal attorneys for Biden found the documents Nov. 2, six days before the midterm elections.
The classified documents reportedly appeared in a box with other unclassified papers.
Sauber said that the White House counsel’s office notified the National Archives of the documents on the same day lawyers discovered them, and the National Archives took possession of the documents Nov. 3.
“Today’s announcement that the FBI is searching Biden’s beach home highlights the urgent need for Biden and his administration to be forthcoming with the American people and members of Congress about the factual circumstances surrounding his retention of classified documents,” Zack Smith, legal fellow at the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal.
(The Daily Signal is The Heritage Foundation’s news outlet.)
“So far, we don’t know what was contained within those documents, why he retained them, or who had access to them,” Smith added.
“The administration has even refused to provide most of this basic information to members of Congress in a classified setting."
"The American people deserve better.”
Tyler O'Neil is managing editor of The Daily Signal (where this first appeared) and the author of "Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 080678b339
"Joe Biden’s Classified Documents Drama Just Got Real"
Story by Tyler O' Neil
1 FEBRUARY 2023
The U.S. Department of Justice is searching President Joe Biden‘s home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Wednesday amid the news that Biden kept classified documents from his time as vice president to President Barack Obama, according to a statement from the president’s personal attorney.
“Today, with the President’s full support and cooperation, the DOJ is conducting a planned search of his home in Rehoboth, Delaware,” Bob Bauer, the president’s attorney, said in a statement Wednesday.
“Under DOJ’s standard procedures, in the interests of operational security and integrity, it sought to do this work without advance public notice, and we agreed to cooperate,” Bauer added.
“The search today is a further step in a thorough and timely DOJ process we will continue to fully support and facilitate."
"We will have further information at the conclusion of today’s search.”
Biden’s attorneys found classified documents at the former vice president’s office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., and at the president’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware.
Classified documents dating from Biden’s time in the U.S. Senate have also been discovered.
Attorney General Merrick Garland tapped Robert Hur, a former U.S. attorney for Maryland whom former President Donald Trump appointed, to investigate the document retention.
It remains unclear where Biden kept the documents later discovered at the Penn Biden Center.
Biden left office on Jan. 20, 2017, and the center did not open until early 2018.
The FBI searched the Penn Biden Center last November.
Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, told CBS News that personal attorneys for Biden found the documents Nov. 2, six days before the midterm elections.
The classified documents reportedly appeared in a box with other unclassified papers.
Sauber said that the White House counsel’s office notified the National Archives of the documents on the same day lawyers discovered them, and the National Archives took possession of the documents Nov. 3.
“Today’s announcement that the FBI is searching Biden’s beach home highlights the urgent need for Biden and his administration to be forthcoming with the American people and members of Congress about the factual circumstances surrounding his retention of classified documents,” Zack Smith, legal fellow at the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal.
(The Daily Signal is The Heritage Foundation’s news outlet.)
“So far, we don’t know what was contained within those documents, why he retained them, or who had access to them,” Smith added.
“The administration has even refused to provide most of this basic information to members of Congress in a classified setting."
"The American people deserve better.”
Tyler O'Neil is managing editor of The Daily Signal (where this first appeared) and the author of "Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 080678b339
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
FOX NEWS
"Pete Buttigieg: EV incentives needed or 'warming happens just a little quicker and a few more people die'"
Story by Hanna Panreck
1 FEBRUARY 2023
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday that electric vehicles need to be "quickly mainstreamed" because lower-income Americans would benefit from them the most.
"There is now an estimate that says it’s literally — and this is not inflation, it’s four times the cost because of the number of folks that are going to benefit from it, and they’re taking advantage of it, the good news is they’re taking advantage of it."
"The bad news is the math is going to be a lot more expensive, which raises the question of actually whether the incentives needed to be as high as they are," CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin said.
Buttigieg replied that there had to be incentives that encouraged U.S.-based manufacturers to produce electric vehicles so that the electric revolution is "made in America."
He also said it was important that it happens quickly so that the U.S. "can meet our climate goals."
"Like any early technology, the early adopters of electric vehicles were people with a lot of means, a lot of resources."
"But this is something that needs to get quickly mainstreamed, especially when you consider that the Americans who stand the most to benefit from having an EV are lower income Americans paying a higher share of their family budget on gas prices," he added.
Sorkin followed up about the overall trend towards electric vehicles in the U.S. and asked if the administration was going to look back in four years and believe that the incentives were too large given that people were already moving towards electric vehicles.
"So like if we didn’t care whether the EV revolution was going to be led by China, if we didn’t care whether or not U.S. manufacturers with high labor standards were going to be at the cutting edge, then I guess we could have not bothered with the incentives and see how that played out, if we didn’t care about the pace of it, right?"
"And if we said, look, these will happen sooner or later, if these climate wins come a few years later and that warming happens just a little quicker and a few more people die because of that, that’s why we have policy interventions," Buttigieg said.
President Biden touted electric vehicle tax credits in a Twitter post on Monday that included a photo of him posing in a GMC Hummer EV.
A GMC Hummer EV costs anywhere between $87,000 and $110,000 and does not qualify for the tax credit because SUVs and trucks must not exceed a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $80,000, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
"On my watch, the great American road trip is going to be fully electrified," Biden tweeted on Monday.
"And now, through a tax credit, you can get up to $7,500 on a new electric vehicle."
The Biden administration recently awarded $1.2 billion in grant funding to different transportation-related projects across the U.S.
The administration based their grant funding decisions in part on the environmental and equity goals of the project.
The law funding these projects, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, requires officials to consider whether the project benefits a "historically disadvantaged community or population."
The law also requires officials to consider the project's construction and equipment needed and whether it would demonstrate "reductions in greenhouse gas emissions."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pete- ... 080678b339
"Pete Buttigieg: EV incentives needed or 'warming happens just a little quicker and a few more people die'"
Story by Hanna Panreck
1 FEBRUARY 2023
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday that electric vehicles need to be "quickly mainstreamed" because lower-income Americans would benefit from them the most.
"There is now an estimate that says it’s literally — and this is not inflation, it’s four times the cost because of the number of folks that are going to benefit from it, and they’re taking advantage of it, the good news is they’re taking advantage of it."
"The bad news is the math is going to be a lot more expensive, which raises the question of actually whether the incentives needed to be as high as they are," CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin said.
Buttigieg replied that there had to be incentives that encouraged U.S.-based manufacturers to produce electric vehicles so that the electric revolution is "made in America."
He also said it was important that it happens quickly so that the U.S. "can meet our climate goals."
"Like any early technology, the early adopters of electric vehicles were people with a lot of means, a lot of resources."
"But this is something that needs to get quickly mainstreamed, especially when you consider that the Americans who stand the most to benefit from having an EV are lower income Americans paying a higher share of their family budget on gas prices," he added.
Sorkin followed up about the overall trend towards electric vehicles in the U.S. and asked if the administration was going to look back in four years and believe that the incentives were too large given that people were already moving towards electric vehicles.
"So like if we didn’t care whether the EV revolution was going to be led by China, if we didn’t care whether or not U.S. manufacturers with high labor standards were going to be at the cutting edge, then I guess we could have not bothered with the incentives and see how that played out, if we didn’t care about the pace of it, right?"
"And if we said, look, these will happen sooner or later, if these climate wins come a few years later and that warming happens just a little quicker and a few more people die because of that, that’s why we have policy interventions," Buttigieg said.
President Biden touted electric vehicle tax credits in a Twitter post on Monday that included a photo of him posing in a GMC Hummer EV.
A GMC Hummer EV costs anywhere between $87,000 and $110,000 and does not qualify for the tax credit because SUVs and trucks must not exceed a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $80,000, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
"On my watch, the great American road trip is going to be fully electrified," Biden tweeted on Monday.
"And now, through a tax credit, you can get up to $7,500 on a new electric vehicle."
The Biden administration recently awarded $1.2 billion in grant funding to different transportation-related projects across the U.S.
The administration based their grant funding decisions in part on the environmental and equity goals of the project.
The law funding these projects, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, requires officials to consider whether the project benefits a "historically disadvantaged community or population."
The law also requires officials to consider the project's construction and equipment needed and whether it would demonstrate "reductions in greenhouse gas emissions."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pete- ... 080678b339
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
"Jay Jochnowitz: The guys who make a living alienating us from each other"
Jay Jochnowitz, Albany, New York Times Union
Jan. 22, 2023
I’ve long toyed with the idea of calling in to one of those national talk radio shows.
You know the kind; the thinner the host’s argument, the louder they scream, journalists are the “liberal media,” and everyone else is either a “patriot” or a “left wing radical.”
Yeah, one of those.
In this hopeless fantasy, I’d get past the call screener, the host’s Kill Switch of Cowardice would be out of order, and it would go something like this:
Hi, Mister Right Wing Radio Host.
I’m a member of the so-called media elite you were just sort of joking, I guess, about lining up and shooting for treason.
While your tech people try to fix your kill switch, I thought I’d tell you a little about myself.
I don’t live in Washington or New York City (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
I did once dream of working for The New York Times or The Washington Post, but it turned out that when I got to Albany I fell in love with the newspaper and upstate New York.
My wife opened a business, we saved up and found a little farm we could afford on our modest incomes, raised kids and horses and chickens and even llamas for a while.
We haul our trash to the local transfer station, go to a square dance every once in a while, grow fruits and vegetables and talk about maybe opening a farm stand in our retirement years.
Like a lot of my neighbors, I can see things changing, and it worries me.
I worry about it especially in the winters when there’s been less snow for some years now, which means less spring melt, a lower water table, and the prospect of a dry well — water our animals, and the animals of all the farmers around here, need to stay alive.
I worry about it in the spring and summer when there’s too much rain, when the fruit growers and vegetable farmers can see a bad crop in the early making, when the guy I buy my hay from worries that if things don’t dry out in time, tens of thousands of bales' worth of hay will rot or go to seed in fields too soggy to drive a tractor in.
Down at Agway or Tractor Supply, we watch the price of grain go up.
Like a lot of folks around here, I own guns – practical guns for weasels and fishers that come for our chickens, and a little more firepower for coyotes, which fortunately stay in the woods and serenade us, country style, at night.
If you need an assault rifle to take out a critter or an imagined intruder, you ought to be at a firearms class or an optometrist, not a gun store.
You want reliable home defense?
Get a dog.
Or a pump action shotgun.
Any cop will tell you that cha-chunk is a sound every burglar knows to run away from.
I used to listen to shows like yours for laughs years ago, until sometime around 9/11, when you and your colleagues on radio and over at Fox News used a terrorist act perpetrated by zealots with a twisted view of Islam to paint all Muslim people as a threat to America, just like fascists and neo-Nazis were doing in parts of Europe.
I heard you calling people “vermin” and “cockroaches” like the ethnic-cleansing radio personality in “Hotel Rwanda.”
I started listening seriously, as a journalist, to your proliferation of hateful, vicious, reactionary ideas.
I saw it metastasize into birtherism.
Into white nationalism.
Into anti-government, racist militias like the Oath Keepers.
Into the tea party.
Into uninformed candidates who seemed sincere enough but had no clue what they wanted to do other than “take their country back” and “cut waste, fraud and abuse” – vacuous tropes spewed by right-wing media types and pandering politicians without a clue of what competent governance is.
And for that, Mister Radio Host, I blame you.
I blame you for painting our government-of-the-people as the enemy.
Of feeding your listeners false facts and rage and empty platitudes that leave them unable to engage in an informed, thoughtful, collaborative way with other well-meaning citizens in the challenge of changing a system they don’t feel is serving them adequately.
Of leaving them vulnerable to any smooth-talking demagogue who promises to drain the swamp, or make government small enough to drag into a bathroom and drown it, or make sure only the “right” people vote.
And I blame you, Mister Radio Host, for painting the mainstream media as an enemy of the people.
I’ve worked 42 years in this business, and know my colleagues to be serious, hard-working people who love freedom and express their patriotism by trying to make the great American experiment work every day by finding the truth and reporting it fully, holding our government accountable, and speaking truth to power.
And telling interesting stories about the people in their communities.
You have alienated a whole swath of America from its real journalists, not the hucksters and ideologues like you and your ilk, and from the marketplace of ideas that has been a vital part of our democratic republic since its founding.
Shame on you.
Click.
https://www.timesunion.com/opinion/arti ... ion%20deck
Jay Jochnowitz, Albany, New York Times Union
Jan. 22, 2023
I’ve long toyed with the idea of calling in to one of those national talk radio shows.
You know the kind; the thinner the host’s argument, the louder they scream, journalists are the “liberal media,” and everyone else is either a “patriot” or a “left wing radical.”
Yeah, one of those.
In this hopeless fantasy, I’d get past the call screener, the host’s Kill Switch of Cowardice would be out of order, and it would go something like this:
Hi, Mister Right Wing Radio Host.
I’m a member of the so-called media elite you were just sort of joking, I guess, about lining up and shooting for treason.
While your tech people try to fix your kill switch, I thought I’d tell you a little about myself.
I don’t live in Washington or New York City (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
I did once dream of working for The New York Times or The Washington Post, but it turned out that when I got to Albany I fell in love with the newspaper and upstate New York.
My wife opened a business, we saved up and found a little farm we could afford on our modest incomes, raised kids and horses and chickens and even llamas for a while.
We haul our trash to the local transfer station, go to a square dance every once in a while, grow fruits and vegetables and talk about maybe opening a farm stand in our retirement years.
Like a lot of my neighbors, I can see things changing, and it worries me.
I worry about it especially in the winters when there’s been less snow for some years now, which means less spring melt, a lower water table, and the prospect of a dry well — water our animals, and the animals of all the farmers around here, need to stay alive.
I worry about it in the spring and summer when there’s too much rain, when the fruit growers and vegetable farmers can see a bad crop in the early making, when the guy I buy my hay from worries that if things don’t dry out in time, tens of thousands of bales' worth of hay will rot or go to seed in fields too soggy to drive a tractor in.
Down at Agway or Tractor Supply, we watch the price of grain go up.
Like a lot of folks around here, I own guns – practical guns for weasels and fishers that come for our chickens, and a little more firepower for coyotes, which fortunately stay in the woods and serenade us, country style, at night.
If you need an assault rifle to take out a critter or an imagined intruder, you ought to be at a firearms class or an optometrist, not a gun store.
You want reliable home defense?
Get a dog.
Or a pump action shotgun.
Any cop will tell you that cha-chunk is a sound every burglar knows to run away from.
I used to listen to shows like yours for laughs years ago, until sometime around 9/11, when you and your colleagues on radio and over at Fox News used a terrorist act perpetrated by zealots with a twisted view of Islam to paint all Muslim people as a threat to America, just like fascists and neo-Nazis were doing in parts of Europe.
I heard you calling people “vermin” and “cockroaches” like the ethnic-cleansing radio personality in “Hotel Rwanda.”
I started listening seriously, as a journalist, to your proliferation of hateful, vicious, reactionary ideas.
I saw it metastasize into birtherism.
Into white nationalism.
Into anti-government, racist militias like the Oath Keepers.
Into the tea party.
Into uninformed candidates who seemed sincere enough but had no clue what they wanted to do other than “take their country back” and “cut waste, fraud and abuse” – vacuous tropes spewed by right-wing media types and pandering politicians without a clue of what competent governance is.
And for that, Mister Radio Host, I blame you.
I blame you for painting our government-of-the-people as the enemy.
Of feeding your listeners false facts and rage and empty platitudes that leave them unable to engage in an informed, thoughtful, collaborative way with other well-meaning citizens in the challenge of changing a system they don’t feel is serving them adequately.
Of leaving them vulnerable to any smooth-talking demagogue who promises to drain the swamp, or make government small enough to drag into a bathroom and drown it, or make sure only the “right” people vote.
And I blame you, Mister Radio Host, for painting the mainstream media as an enemy of the people.
I’ve worked 42 years in this business, and know my colleagues to be serious, hard-working people who love freedom and express their patriotism by trying to make the great American experiment work every day by finding the truth and reporting it fully, holding our government accountable, and speaking truth to power.
And telling interesting stories about the people in their communities.
You have alienated a whole swath of America from its real journalists, not the hucksters and ideologues like you and your ilk, and from the marketplace of ideas that has been a vital part of our democratic republic since its founding.
Shame on you.
Click.
https://www.timesunion.com/opinion/arti ... ion%20deck
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
"Germany: Wind turbine collapses hours before official launch"
September 30, 2021
BERLIN (AP) — Officials in Germany are investigating why a huge wind turbine collapsed just hours before it was due to be officially inaugurated.
The turbine, whose rotor blades reach a height of 239 meters (784 feet), toppled over late Wednesday in a forest near the western town of Haltern.
German news agency dpa reported Thursday that police were not currently suspecting sabotage.
The wind turbine was scheduled to be officially launched Thursday, though it was connected to the power grid six months ago.
Germany is trying to ramp up its use of renewable energy such as wind and solar as part of a transition away from fossil fuels and nuclear power.
https://apnews.com/article/business-eur ... 087d50ed6b
"Germany: Wind turbine collapses hours before official launch"
September 30, 2021
BERLIN (AP) — Officials in Germany are investigating why a huge wind turbine collapsed just hours before it was due to be officially inaugurated.
The turbine, whose rotor blades reach a height of 239 meters (784 feet), toppled over late Wednesday in a forest near the western town of Haltern.
German news agency dpa reported Thursday that police were not currently suspecting sabotage.
The wind turbine was scheduled to be officially launched Thursday, though it was connected to the power grid six months ago.
Germany is trying to ramp up its use of renewable energy such as wind and solar as part of a transition away from fossil fuels and nuclear power.
https://apnews.com/article/business-eur ... 087d50ed6b
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
FOX NEWS
"New York Times columnist argues Joe Biden 'can be seen as the savior of the free world'"
Opinion by Joe Silverstein
1 FEBRUARY 2023
The New York Times published a column by Bret Stephens on Tuesday that made the case that President Joe Biden has the potential "to be seen as the savior of the free world" in fifty years if he is able to thwart Russia's invasion of Ukraine and confront other global challenges successfully.
In the article, titled "How Will Joe Biden be remembered in 50 years?," Stephens praised the Biden administration's decision to send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine and ignored concerns that such military support could lead to escalation in the conflict with Russia.
"A half-century from now, Joe Biden’s presidency will be remembered, as most presidencies are, with a short summary sentence," Stephens wrote.
"It will read: ‘He defeated Donald Trump, and ____________,’ he continued, leaving a blank to indicate that the forty-sixth President's legacy has yet to be written.
Stephens conceded that the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act and infrastructure legislation will not actually reduce greenhouse gases.
"It won’t be the infrastructure bill, the rate of inflation or the Inflation Reduction Act — which, so long as China, India, South Africa and other countries continue building huge coal-fired plants, probably won’t lead to a major reduction in global greenhouse-gas emissions," he wrote.
"It won’t be Hunter’s emails."
"Nor will it be whether he served one term or two," Stephens continued.
"What will matter in 2073 is whether he reversed the global tide of democratic retreat that began long before his presidency but reached new lows with the Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine," he predicted.
Stephens warned that if Biden fails, "much darker days will lie ahead".
The New York Times columnist praised Biden's military aid to Ukraine and advocated for the war-torn nation to join NATO.
"On the positive side, there is last week’s announcement of 31 M-1 Abrams tanks for Ukraine, unlocking German Leopard 2 tanks to be sent as well."
"The decision brings Ukraine a significant step closer to eventual NATO membership, to which it has more than earned the right," Stephens wrote.
Stephens also praised the Biden administration's support of Israel and what he described as its "visibly tougher posture" toward Tehran.
Stephens also praised Biden's "repeated public statements that the U.S. will defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack" but ignored that the White House walked back such promises after Biden made them.
Stephens questioned why the White House did not send 124 tanks to Ukraine instead of 31.
"Thirty-one tanks for Ukraine are better than none, even if they won’t arrive on the battlefield for months."
"So why not announce 62 tanks, or 124, which would bring Kyiv much closer to the 300 it says it needs to win?" he asked.
"In 50 years, they’ll know."
"Biden’s sentence could be, ‘He defeated Trump, and then he defeated Putin, Khamenei and Xi.’"
"Or it will be, ‘He defeated Trump, but then he came up slightly but fatally short.’"
"Time will tell," Stephens concluded.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 080678b339
"New York Times columnist argues Joe Biden 'can be seen as the savior of the free world'"
Opinion by Joe Silverstein
1 FEBRUARY 2023
The New York Times published a column by Bret Stephens on Tuesday that made the case that President Joe Biden has the potential "to be seen as the savior of the free world" in fifty years if he is able to thwart Russia's invasion of Ukraine and confront other global challenges successfully.
In the article, titled "How Will Joe Biden be remembered in 50 years?," Stephens praised the Biden administration's decision to send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine and ignored concerns that such military support could lead to escalation in the conflict with Russia.
"A half-century from now, Joe Biden’s presidency will be remembered, as most presidencies are, with a short summary sentence," Stephens wrote.
"It will read: ‘He defeated Donald Trump, and ____________,’ he continued, leaving a blank to indicate that the forty-sixth President's legacy has yet to be written.
Stephens conceded that the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act and infrastructure legislation will not actually reduce greenhouse gases.
"It won’t be the infrastructure bill, the rate of inflation or the Inflation Reduction Act — which, so long as China, India, South Africa and other countries continue building huge coal-fired plants, probably won’t lead to a major reduction in global greenhouse-gas emissions," he wrote.
"It won’t be Hunter’s emails."
"Nor will it be whether he served one term or two," Stephens continued.
"What will matter in 2073 is whether he reversed the global tide of democratic retreat that began long before his presidency but reached new lows with the Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine," he predicted.
Stephens warned that if Biden fails, "much darker days will lie ahead".
The New York Times columnist praised Biden's military aid to Ukraine and advocated for the war-torn nation to join NATO.
"On the positive side, there is last week’s announcement of 31 M-1 Abrams tanks for Ukraine, unlocking German Leopard 2 tanks to be sent as well."
"The decision brings Ukraine a significant step closer to eventual NATO membership, to which it has more than earned the right," Stephens wrote.
Stephens also praised the Biden administration's support of Israel and what he described as its "visibly tougher posture" toward Tehran.
Stephens also praised Biden's "repeated public statements that the U.S. will defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack" but ignored that the White House walked back such promises after Biden made them.
Stephens questioned why the White House did not send 124 tanks to Ukraine instead of 31.
"Thirty-one tanks for Ukraine are better than none, even if they won’t arrive on the battlefield for months."
"So why not announce 62 tanks, or 124, which would bring Kyiv much closer to the 300 it says it needs to win?" he asked.
"In 50 years, they’ll know."
"Biden’s sentence could be, ‘He defeated Trump, and then he defeated Putin, Khamenei and Xi.’"
"Or it will be, ‘He defeated Trump, but then he came up slightly but fatally short.’"
"Time will tell," Stephens concluded.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 080678b339
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
THE DAILY MAIL
"White House dodges question on whether it knew about Hunter Biden's aggressive new legal strategy"
Story by Geoff Earle, Deputy U.S. Political Editor For Dailymail.com
2 FEBRUARY 2023
The White House on Thursday refused to say whether the president's team knew in advance about Hunter Biden's aggressive new legal strategy – which included having his lawyer fire off letters to the Justice Department and Delaware AG seeking probes.
One Wednesday, Hunter Biden's attorneys fired off letters seeking investigations and retractions related to Hunter Biden's infamous laptop, which a Delaware computer shop owner says he provided to Rudy Giuliani.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre wouldn't say whether people at the White House knew in advance about the new strategy, which comes amid GOP probes of Biden family members.
'As far as that piece, I would refer you to the White House counsel office.'
'And again, don't have anything to add.'
'This is something for his personal representatives to speak to,' she said when asked about it by DailyMail.com.
Jean-Pierre, who on Wednesday and the past has repeatedly stressed efforts to avoid commenting on the Justice Department and investigations, was asked whether the lawyer letters from the president's son constituted pressure on investigators.
'I'm going to be pretty consistent, as I have been from this podium when it relates to that.'
'That particular question that you you're asking me we have been for the last two years.'
'And I will say to you that that is something for Hunter Biden's personal representative, their representative to speak to just not going to speak to it from here.'
'I just knew about before it happened,' she said.
She referred the question to the White House counsel's office and said she doesn't 'have anything to add.'
'And as it relates to the agencies, as you were asking me, look, this is a president and I said this before that believes in the independence of the Department of Justice, or any any enforcement investigations, and he's been very clear about that.'
'He believes that it should not be politicized as he had said for the past,' she said.
Her comments came as former chief White House ethics watchdog Richard Painter called for a 'firewall' between the White House and Hunter Biden's growing team of lawyers.
Painter said Hunter Biden is a 'private citizen, so he's going to disclose whatever he has to disclose,' but told Fox News the first son is 'probably going to get away with not disclosing any of it.'
'Just like with these paintings he's selling and he should be disclosing who's buying the artwork, but he's not,' Painter added.
'And it will probably follow the same approach to the legal defense fund.'
Her comments came after former Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani responded to Hunter's new legal strategy of seeking to get probes and retractions of information linked to Hunter's infamous laptop – and accused a top lawyer heading the effort of 'unethical' conduct.
Giuliani, who had his own law license suspended in New York following his efforts to help Trump overturn the 2020 election results, called it an effort to gin up an 'illegal' investigation.
He spoke a day after it was revealed that new Hunter Biden lawyer Abbe Lowell sought government probes of efforts to circulate emails and images from Hunter's laptop, which Hunter Biden reportedly abandoned at a Wilmington computer repair shop.
'This is a completely – I don't know how to describe it.'
'It's unethical on the part of the lawyers, because it's frivolous,' Giuliani during a night-time podcast from West Palm Beach.
'The complaint that we should be investigated is an attempt to get yet one more illegal investigation started by a Democrat inclined public officials,' he fumed, with a reference to the Democratic-driven first impeachment effort over Trump's effort to get a Biden probe.
'The complaint that we should be investigated is an attempt to get yet one more illegal investigation started by a Democrat inclined public officials,' he said.
Giuliani also tweeted an image of the 2019 repair order that shop owner Mac Isaac has said a person resembling Hunter Biden signed when dropping off broken machines.
It states that it shall be considered 'abandoned property' 90 days after service is completed.
After keeping distance from the laptop saga since it was first revealed weeks before the 2020 elections, Hunter's legal team, which is taking a more aggressive posture, does not appear satisfied with that fine print.
It is going after the repair shop owner as well as Giuliani, his lawyer Robert Costello, and former chief White House strategist Steve Bannon, who received or helped distribute the material.
Letters to the Justice Department as well as the Delaware Attorney General.
Lowell wrote the AG that there is 'considerable reason to believe [they] violated various Delaware laws in accessing, copying, manipulating, and/or disseminating Mr. Biden's personal computer data.
'These unlawful actions caused the widespread publication, manipulation, and exploitation of Mr. Biden's most personal information, wrote Lowell.
The barrage of letters also included a letter to Fox News demanding a retraction for on-air statements about Hunter Biden – and claiming a failure to do so would reveal 'actual malice' – code for grounds for a libel suit.
Referencing the letter to Delaware AG Kathy Jennings, Giuliani said: 'Unless the AG burns it immediately and refers the lawyers for ethical discipline, then he's [stet] just a play thing of the Biden's,' he said.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Lowell for a response.
A three member panel in Washington, DC also found Giuliani violated rules for lawyers as part of his 2020 election overturn effort, although the matter is not resolved.
'This sure looks like a tailor-made RICO case and that's why they're trying to cover this up,' said Ted Goodman, political and communications advisor to Giuliani.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 72df1807bf
"White House dodges question on whether it knew about Hunter Biden's aggressive new legal strategy"
Story by Geoff Earle, Deputy U.S. Political Editor For Dailymail.com
2 FEBRUARY 2023
The White House on Thursday refused to say whether the president's team knew in advance about Hunter Biden's aggressive new legal strategy – which included having his lawyer fire off letters to the Justice Department and Delaware AG seeking probes.
One Wednesday, Hunter Biden's attorneys fired off letters seeking investigations and retractions related to Hunter Biden's infamous laptop, which a Delaware computer shop owner says he provided to Rudy Giuliani.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre wouldn't say whether people at the White House knew in advance about the new strategy, which comes amid GOP probes of Biden family members.
'As far as that piece, I would refer you to the White House counsel office.'
'And again, don't have anything to add.'
'This is something for his personal representatives to speak to,' she said when asked about it by DailyMail.com.
Jean-Pierre, who on Wednesday and the past has repeatedly stressed efforts to avoid commenting on the Justice Department and investigations, was asked whether the lawyer letters from the president's son constituted pressure on investigators.
'I'm going to be pretty consistent, as I have been from this podium when it relates to that.'
'That particular question that you you're asking me we have been for the last two years.'
'And I will say to you that that is something for Hunter Biden's personal representative, their representative to speak to just not going to speak to it from here.'
'I just knew about before it happened,' she said.
She referred the question to the White House counsel's office and said she doesn't 'have anything to add.'
'And as it relates to the agencies, as you were asking me, look, this is a president and I said this before that believes in the independence of the Department of Justice, or any any enforcement investigations, and he's been very clear about that.'
'He believes that it should not be politicized as he had said for the past,' she said.
Her comments came as former chief White House ethics watchdog Richard Painter called for a 'firewall' between the White House and Hunter Biden's growing team of lawyers.
Painter said Hunter Biden is a 'private citizen, so he's going to disclose whatever he has to disclose,' but told Fox News the first son is 'probably going to get away with not disclosing any of it.'
'Just like with these paintings he's selling and he should be disclosing who's buying the artwork, but he's not,' Painter added.
'And it will probably follow the same approach to the legal defense fund.'
Her comments came after former Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani responded to Hunter's new legal strategy of seeking to get probes and retractions of information linked to Hunter's infamous laptop – and accused a top lawyer heading the effort of 'unethical' conduct.
Giuliani, who had his own law license suspended in New York following his efforts to help Trump overturn the 2020 election results, called it an effort to gin up an 'illegal' investigation.
He spoke a day after it was revealed that new Hunter Biden lawyer Abbe Lowell sought government probes of efforts to circulate emails and images from Hunter's laptop, which Hunter Biden reportedly abandoned at a Wilmington computer repair shop.
'This is a completely – I don't know how to describe it.'
'It's unethical on the part of the lawyers, because it's frivolous,' Giuliani during a night-time podcast from West Palm Beach.
'The complaint that we should be investigated is an attempt to get yet one more illegal investigation started by a Democrat inclined public officials,' he fumed, with a reference to the Democratic-driven first impeachment effort over Trump's effort to get a Biden probe.
'The complaint that we should be investigated is an attempt to get yet one more illegal investigation started by a Democrat inclined public officials,' he said.
Giuliani also tweeted an image of the 2019 repair order that shop owner Mac Isaac has said a person resembling Hunter Biden signed when dropping off broken machines.
It states that it shall be considered 'abandoned property' 90 days after service is completed.
After keeping distance from the laptop saga since it was first revealed weeks before the 2020 elections, Hunter's legal team, which is taking a more aggressive posture, does not appear satisfied with that fine print.
It is going after the repair shop owner as well as Giuliani, his lawyer Robert Costello, and former chief White House strategist Steve Bannon, who received or helped distribute the material.
Letters to the Justice Department as well as the Delaware Attorney General.
Lowell wrote the AG that there is 'considerable reason to believe [they] violated various Delaware laws in accessing, copying, manipulating, and/or disseminating Mr. Biden's personal computer data.
'These unlawful actions caused the widespread publication, manipulation, and exploitation of Mr. Biden's most personal information, wrote Lowell.
The barrage of letters also included a letter to Fox News demanding a retraction for on-air statements about Hunter Biden – and claiming a failure to do so would reveal 'actual malice' – code for grounds for a libel suit.
Referencing the letter to Delaware AG Kathy Jennings, Giuliani said: 'Unless the AG burns it immediately and refers the lawyers for ethical discipline, then he's [stet] just a play thing of the Biden's,' he said.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Lowell for a response.
A three member panel in Washington, DC also found Giuliani violated rules for lawyers as part of his 2020 election overturn effort, although the matter is not resolved.
'This sure looks like a tailor-made RICO case and that's why they're trying to cover this up,' said Ted Goodman, political and communications advisor to Giuliani.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 72df1807bf
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
"Hunter Biden's DOJ laptop investigation demand may pose issue for president: Watchdogs"
Story by Gabe Kaminsky
2 FEBRUARY 2023
EXCLUSIVE — Hunter Biden has opened his father, President Joe Biden, up to a possible conflict of interest by demanding the Justice Department investigate people who he alleges disseminated the contents on his infamous abandoned laptop, according to government watchdog groups.
The younger Biden's legal team called on the DOJ on Wednesday to investigate numerous parties, including ex-Trump advisers Rudy Giuliani and Stephen Bannon, for possibly breaking federal and Delaware laws by "accessing, copying, manipulating, and/or disseminating" Hunter's "personal computer data."
This demand could pose a clear conflict of interest, given it was issued to his father's administration, watchdogs told the Washington Examiner.
"He's basically asking his dad to use the U.S. government to attack the people who have been critical of him," said Tom Jones, director of the American Accountability Foundation, a conservative group.
Jones added that if one of former President Donald Trump's children asked his administration's DOJ to investigate certain people, Democrats would claim that it could not be "objective."
Hunter's investigative requests were detailed in letters that his legal team sent Wednesday to Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings and U.S. Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew G. Olsen, who Joe Biden nominated in May 2021 for his role.
The legal team also wrote to the Internal Revenue Service and lawyers for Fox News and Tucker Carlson.
Jennings is linked to the Biden family in various ways and, thus, could have to recuse herself from any cases involving Hunter Biden, according to Jones.
Prosecutors are not supposed to consider “partisan or other improper political or personal considerations or hostility or personal animus towards a potential subject," according to the American Bar Association.
Jennings endorsed Joe Biden for president in April 2019, writing a lengthy Facebook post detailing how she has "known Joe, Jill, and the Biden family for most of my life."
The attorney general was also a state prosecutor in Delaware under Attorney General Beau Biden, Joe Biden's deceased son.
In addition to Giuliani and Bannon, the Biden legal team wants the DOJ to investigate ex-computer repair shop owner John Paul Mac Isaac, who, in late 2019, kept the laptop and hard drive after attempting for months to contact the younger Biden to pick them up.
Mac Isaac then contacted the FBI after reviewing the laptop's contents, including emails related to Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings and videos of him smoking crack cocaine.
Hunter Biden's letters about the laptop mark the first time he appears to have acknowledged that it belongs to him, despite his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, telling CBS News that the letters "do not confirm Mac Isaac's or others' versions of a so-called laptop."
Multiple outlets have long confirmed the authenticity of its contents.
The Washington Examiner in May 2022 commissioned ex-Secret Service agent Konstantinos "Gus" Dimitrelos, who found the laptop files were indisputably authentic and without file manipulation or hacking.
Protect the Public's Trust, another watchdog, thinks that Hunter Biden's attempt to "sic officials" working for his father on people who "wronged him" creates the appearance of a conflict of interest for the president.
"That it is difficult for people to remain objective when it comes to those close to them should go without saying and is precisely why conflicts-of-interest laws are in place," Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public's Trust, told the Washington Examiner.
"While acting at the behest of the president’s son may not be a strict violation of any ethics statutes, it would be hard to convince the average member of the American public of that."
While the federal government retrieved Hunter Biden's laptop from the Delaware repair shop in December 2019, Mac Isaac provided a copy of the laptop to Giuliani's personal attorney, Robert Costello.
The laptop then was circulated to a variety of news outlets, including the New York Post, which published an October 2020 story citing emails showing how Hunter Biden introduced his father to a Ukrainian energy firm executive under one year before Joe Biden pressured Ukrainian government officials to fire a prosecutor investigating the firm.
"With the ongoing conversation about the weaponization of the FBI and the nation’s law enforcement to target political opponents, not to mention the sordid history of the concerted suppression of the Hunter laptop, this development is not positive for ethics and integrity in government," said Pete McGinnis, a spokesman for the Functional Government Initiative.
"Yet here we are with the president’s son, yet again, seeking to avoid his mounting legal problems by calling for DOJ to step in front of the bus," he told the Washington Examiner.
Hunter Biden's investigative demand to the DOJ comes as he faces a long-running federal investigation thought to be primarily centered on possible tax and foreign lobbying violations, as well as an allegedly false statement he made in connection to a gun purchase.
David Weiss, the Delaware prosecutor handling the investigation into Hunter Biden, is reportedly closing in on charging him over late tax filings in 2016 and 2017, as well as allegedly fraudulent business expense deductions.
The initiation of the investigation coincided with the revelation that banks flagged Hunter Biden's financial activities as "suspicious" due to their alleged involvement with China and other countries.
Republicans have demanded that the Treasury Department hand over the suspicious activity reports, which House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) says tally up to roughly 150.
A lawyer for Hunter Biden did not reply to a request for comment, and the DOJ declined the Washington Examiner's request for comment.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 72df1807bf
"Hunter Biden's DOJ laptop investigation demand may pose issue for president: Watchdogs"
Story by Gabe Kaminsky
2 FEBRUARY 2023
EXCLUSIVE — Hunter Biden has opened his father, President Joe Biden, up to a possible conflict of interest by demanding the Justice Department investigate people who he alleges disseminated the contents on his infamous abandoned laptop, according to government watchdog groups.
The younger Biden's legal team called on the DOJ on Wednesday to investigate numerous parties, including ex-Trump advisers Rudy Giuliani and Stephen Bannon, for possibly breaking federal and Delaware laws by "accessing, copying, manipulating, and/or disseminating" Hunter's "personal computer data."
This demand could pose a clear conflict of interest, given it was issued to his father's administration, watchdogs told the Washington Examiner.
"He's basically asking his dad to use the U.S. government to attack the people who have been critical of him," said Tom Jones, director of the American Accountability Foundation, a conservative group.
Jones added that if one of former President Donald Trump's children asked his administration's DOJ to investigate certain people, Democrats would claim that it could not be "objective."
Hunter's investigative requests were detailed in letters that his legal team sent Wednesday to Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings and U.S. Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew G. Olsen, who Joe Biden nominated in May 2021 for his role.
The legal team also wrote to the Internal Revenue Service and lawyers for Fox News and Tucker Carlson.
Jennings is linked to the Biden family in various ways and, thus, could have to recuse herself from any cases involving Hunter Biden, according to Jones.
Prosecutors are not supposed to consider “partisan or other improper political or personal considerations or hostility or personal animus towards a potential subject," according to the American Bar Association.
Jennings endorsed Joe Biden for president in April 2019, writing a lengthy Facebook post detailing how she has "known Joe, Jill, and the Biden family for most of my life."
The attorney general was also a state prosecutor in Delaware under Attorney General Beau Biden, Joe Biden's deceased son.
In addition to Giuliani and Bannon, the Biden legal team wants the DOJ to investigate ex-computer repair shop owner John Paul Mac Isaac, who, in late 2019, kept the laptop and hard drive after attempting for months to contact the younger Biden to pick them up.
Mac Isaac then contacted the FBI after reviewing the laptop's contents, including emails related to Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings and videos of him smoking crack cocaine.
Hunter Biden's letters about the laptop mark the first time he appears to have acknowledged that it belongs to him, despite his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, telling CBS News that the letters "do not confirm Mac Isaac's or others' versions of a so-called laptop."
Multiple outlets have long confirmed the authenticity of its contents.
The Washington Examiner in May 2022 commissioned ex-Secret Service agent Konstantinos "Gus" Dimitrelos, who found the laptop files were indisputably authentic and without file manipulation or hacking.
Protect the Public's Trust, another watchdog, thinks that Hunter Biden's attempt to "sic officials" working for his father on people who "wronged him" creates the appearance of a conflict of interest for the president.
"That it is difficult for people to remain objective when it comes to those close to them should go without saying and is precisely why conflicts-of-interest laws are in place," Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public's Trust, told the Washington Examiner.
"While acting at the behest of the president’s son may not be a strict violation of any ethics statutes, it would be hard to convince the average member of the American public of that."
While the federal government retrieved Hunter Biden's laptop from the Delaware repair shop in December 2019, Mac Isaac provided a copy of the laptop to Giuliani's personal attorney, Robert Costello.
The laptop then was circulated to a variety of news outlets, including the New York Post, which published an October 2020 story citing emails showing how Hunter Biden introduced his father to a Ukrainian energy firm executive under one year before Joe Biden pressured Ukrainian government officials to fire a prosecutor investigating the firm.
"With the ongoing conversation about the weaponization of the FBI and the nation’s law enforcement to target political opponents, not to mention the sordid history of the concerted suppression of the Hunter laptop, this development is not positive for ethics and integrity in government," said Pete McGinnis, a spokesman for the Functional Government Initiative.
"Yet here we are with the president’s son, yet again, seeking to avoid his mounting legal problems by calling for DOJ to step in front of the bus," he told the Washington Examiner.
Hunter Biden's investigative demand to the DOJ comes as he faces a long-running federal investigation thought to be primarily centered on possible tax and foreign lobbying violations, as well as an allegedly false statement he made in connection to a gun purchase.
David Weiss, the Delaware prosecutor handling the investigation into Hunter Biden, is reportedly closing in on charging him over late tax filings in 2016 and 2017, as well as allegedly fraudulent business expense deductions.
The initiation of the investigation coincided with the revelation that banks flagged Hunter Biden's financial activities as "suspicious" due to their alleged involvement with China and other countries.
Republicans have demanded that the Treasury Department hand over the suspicious activity reports, which House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) says tally up to roughly 150.
A lawyer for Hunter Biden did not reply to a request for comment, and the DOJ declined the Washington Examiner's request for comment.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 72df1807bf
Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN
FOX NEWS
"Biden mocked for bizarre boast that 'more than half the women' on his team 'are women:' 'Is he a biologist?'"
Story by Lindsay Kornick
2 FEBRUARY 2023
President Biden made what many saw as a bizarre boast of his administration by claiming that "more than half the women" in his administration "are women."
Biden marked the 30th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act Thursday with Vice President Kamala Harris as well as former President Bill Clinton at the White House.
During the event, Biden praised the legislation for helping women in the workforce while also bragging about female representation on his own cabinet.
"But here’s what matters, more than half women in my cabinet, more than half the people, more than half the women in my administration are women," Biden said in a now viral video.
Several Twitter users mocked the clip as both a ridiculous statement as well as a commentary on the administration’s transgender agenda.
"I completely agree with the President here."
"More than half the women in his administration are women."
"He’s apparently not sure about the rest of the women in his administration," Townhall.com columnist Philip Holloway wrote.
American Commitment president Phil Kerpen joked, "I can only think of a couple who aren't."
Washington Free Beacon executive editor Brent Scher agreed, "The funny thing here is there are several 'women' in his administration who are certainly not women."
"How does Biden know they're women?"
"Is he a biologist?" Senate Conservatives executive director Mary Vought asked.
"Seriously."
"Not a joke," Substack writer Jim Treacher echoed common phrases used by Biden while sharing the video.
"Given what Dems now believe about ‘women’ .... this might actually be statistically accurate ...." Chip Roy strategic advisor Nate Madden tweeted.
Many users also pointed out that the Biden administration has hired multiple transgender members including Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levine and non-binary Energy Department's (DOE) deputy assistant secretary Sam Brinton.
Brinton came under fire in December after a police report revealed that the Biden administration official was charged for allegedly stealing luggage at airports.
Exactly what defines a "woman" was also spotlighted in March when Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown-Jackson insisted that she couldn’t provide the definition of a woman when asked.
"Can I provide a definition?"
"No, I can’t," Brown-Jackson said.
"Not in this context, I'm not a biologist."
Biden continued to call for the U.S. to do more when pushing for equality for women in the workforce.
"Well, 30 years ago, we ranked number six, number six among advanced economies that share women in the workforce."
"Know where we rank today?"
"Nineteenth."
"Nineteenth."
"This is the United States of America for God’s sake."
"Women are 50% of our population, slightly more than 51%, more than 50% of our population."
"We can’t reach our full economic potential leaving half the workforce behind," Biden said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 72df1807bf
"Biden mocked for bizarre boast that 'more than half the women' on his team 'are women:' 'Is he a biologist?'"
Story by Lindsay Kornick
2 FEBRUARY 2023
President Biden made what many saw as a bizarre boast of his administration by claiming that "more than half the women" in his administration "are women."
Biden marked the 30th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act Thursday with Vice President Kamala Harris as well as former President Bill Clinton at the White House.
During the event, Biden praised the legislation for helping women in the workforce while also bragging about female representation on his own cabinet.
"But here’s what matters, more than half women in my cabinet, more than half the people, more than half the women in my administration are women," Biden said in a now viral video.
Several Twitter users mocked the clip as both a ridiculous statement as well as a commentary on the administration’s transgender agenda.
"I completely agree with the President here."
"More than half the women in his administration are women."
"He’s apparently not sure about the rest of the women in his administration," Townhall.com columnist Philip Holloway wrote.
American Commitment president Phil Kerpen joked, "I can only think of a couple who aren't."
Washington Free Beacon executive editor Brent Scher agreed, "The funny thing here is there are several 'women' in his administration who are certainly not women."
"How does Biden know they're women?"
"Is he a biologist?" Senate Conservatives executive director Mary Vought asked.
"Seriously."
"Not a joke," Substack writer Jim Treacher echoed common phrases used by Biden while sharing the video.
"Given what Dems now believe about ‘women’ .... this might actually be statistically accurate ...." Chip Roy strategic advisor Nate Madden tweeted.
Many users also pointed out that the Biden administration has hired multiple transgender members including Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levine and non-binary Energy Department's (DOE) deputy assistant secretary Sam Brinton.
Brinton came under fire in December after a police report revealed that the Biden administration official was charged for allegedly stealing luggage at airports.
Exactly what defines a "woman" was also spotlighted in March when Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown-Jackson insisted that she couldn’t provide the definition of a woman when asked.
"Can I provide a definition?"
"No, I can’t," Brown-Jackson said.
"Not in this context, I'm not a biologist."
Biden continued to call for the U.S. to do more when pushing for equality for women in the workforce.
"Well, 30 years ago, we ranked number six, number six among advanced economies that share women in the workforce."
"Know where we rank today?"
"Nineteenth."
"Nineteenth."
"This is the United States of America for God’s sake."
"Women are 50% of our population, slightly more than 51%, more than 50% of our population."
"We can’t reach our full economic potential leaving half the workforce behind," Biden said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 72df1807bf