Axios Business Suite
"Electric vehicles have an efficiency problem"
Story by Felix Salmon
27 MAY 2023
Car batteries are like wine fridges: They're never big enough.
That's a real problem for anybody who hopes that electric vehicles will help decarbonize the planet and reduce pollution.
Why it matters:
EVs are extraordinarily heavy, and the larger their batteries, the heavier they become.
That makes them more dangerous, increases pollution, minimizes decarbonization, and locks in a geopolitically fraught reliance on China.
The big picture:
Hybrid vehicles that are electric most of the time but can fall back to an internal-combustion engine when needed are a much more efficient use of battery resources.
By the numbers:
Toyota has what it calls the 1:6:90 rule.
Its scientists have calculated that the amount of raw material needed to make a long-range EV could instead be used to make six plug-in electric hybrid vehicles or 90 hybrid vehicles.
"The overall carbon reduction of those 90 hybrids over their lifetimes is 37 times as much as a single battery EV," they write.
Between the lines:
Heavy EVs might not have tailpipe emissions, but they still cause pollution, from eroding tires, road dust and brakes.
They're also significantly more lethal when they collide with pedestrians or cyclists.
The bottom line:
"Government policy should match a limited battery supply to where it can have the maximum impact for consumers and the environment," writes auto journalist Edward Niedermeyer.
That means a lot more hybrids and e-bikes — and a lot fewer EVs with 500-mile ranges.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/autos-h ... 848a&ei=62
POLITICS
Re: POLITICS
Popular Mechanics
"Scientists Find the Holy Grail: the Reason Why Lithium-Metal Batteries Fail"
Story by Darren Orf
27 MAY 2023
* Scientists always knew lithium metal could revolutionize batteries, but they have one fatal flaw: they often short circuit.
* No one knew why this happened—until now.
* Now, scientists can build better lithium-metal batteries to eventually produce more electric vehicles.
When looking for an anode material for your next-gen battery, you can’t do much better than lithium metal.
Due to its high capacity, low density, and non-flammability, lithium-metal batteries could be an absolute game changer for electric vehicles and the green tech revolution at large.
There’s just one problem: Lithium-metal batteries have a tendency to short circuit thanks to tiny fissures in the ceramic electrolyte called dendrites.
The quest to figure out why this happens (and design a battery that circumvents this unfavorable outcome) is a Holy Grail of sorts for material scientists — and the science world has maybe found its Galahad.
This week, researchers from Stanford University and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory revealed evidence as to why these dendrites form within lithium-metal batteries.
Previous theories have suggested unintended electron flow or some other mishap of chemistry could be the cause of the battery’s failure.
But after conducting more than 60 experiments, the researchers discovered that small “nanoscopic” cracks in the ceramic solid electrolyte, some as wide as only 20 nanometers (a human hair is 80,000 nanometers by the way), occur when under pressure during fast charging.
These cracks allowed a lithium-metal “bridge” to form between the anode and cathode, causing a short circuit.
The results were published in the journal Nature Energy.
“Just modest indentation, bending or twisting of the batteries can cause nanoscopic fissures in the materials to open and lithium to intrude into the solid electrolyte causing it to short circuit,” lead coauthor William Chueh says in a statement.
“Even dust or other impurities introduced in manufacturing can generate enough stress to cause failure.”
The researchers combined an electric probe and an electrolyte to create a miniature battery in an attempt to understand why lithium burrowed into certain areas and caused a short circuit.
When resting, the lithium anode performed as designed, but any indenting, bending, or twisting (along with specks of dust gathered during the manufacturing process) increased the chances of failure.
Lead coauthor Xin Xu compared the process to potholes.
As car tires pound rain and snow into tiny imperfections in the road causing an ever-increasing structural failure, the same happens inside lithium-metal batteries (albeit on a much smaller scale).
Luckily, this isn’t a death knell for lithium metal’s future — in fact, it’s great news.
Now, engineers who are already hard at work designing lithium-metal batteries can take these findings into consideration to circumvent these shortcomings.
The paper’s authors also mention that they’re now investigating ways to strengthen the electrolyte during manufacturing as well as develop ways to coat the ceramic barrier so that it self-repairs damage when it occurs.
In 2019, the same Stanford lab developed a method for lithium-metal batteries to retain 85 percent charge after 160 cycles — a major improvement compared to the previously reported 30 percent.
“These improvements all start with a single question: Why?” says coauthor Teng Cui.
“Once we know that, we can improve things.”
Now that researchers have convincingly answered the question of why, the overall question of lithium metal’s future is looking less like “if” and more like “when.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolo ... 848a&ei=69
"Scientists Find the Holy Grail: the Reason Why Lithium-Metal Batteries Fail"
Story by Darren Orf
27 MAY 2023
* Scientists always knew lithium metal could revolutionize batteries, but they have one fatal flaw: they often short circuit.
* No one knew why this happened—until now.
* Now, scientists can build better lithium-metal batteries to eventually produce more electric vehicles.
When looking for an anode material for your next-gen battery, you can’t do much better than lithium metal.
Due to its high capacity, low density, and non-flammability, lithium-metal batteries could be an absolute game changer for electric vehicles and the green tech revolution at large.
There’s just one problem: Lithium-metal batteries have a tendency to short circuit thanks to tiny fissures in the ceramic electrolyte called dendrites.
The quest to figure out why this happens (and design a battery that circumvents this unfavorable outcome) is a Holy Grail of sorts for material scientists — and the science world has maybe found its Galahad.
This week, researchers from Stanford University and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory revealed evidence as to why these dendrites form within lithium-metal batteries.
Previous theories have suggested unintended electron flow or some other mishap of chemistry could be the cause of the battery’s failure.
But after conducting more than 60 experiments, the researchers discovered that small “nanoscopic” cracks in the ceramic solid electrolyte, some as wide as only 20 nanometers (a human hair is 80,000 nanometers by the way), occur when under pressure during fast charging.
These cracks allowed a lithium-metal “bridge” to form between the anode and cathode, causing a short circuit.
The results were published in the journal Nature Energy.
“Just modest indentation, bending or twisting of the batteries can cause nanoscopic fissures in the materials to open and lithium to intrude into the solid electrolyte causing it to short circuit,” lead coauthor William Chueh says in a statement.
“Even dust or other impurities introduced in manufacturing can generate enough stress to cause failure.”
The researchers combined an electric probe and an electrolyte to create a miniature battery in an attempt to understand why lithium burrowed into certain areas and caused a short circuit.
When resting, the lithium anode performed as designed, but any indenting, bending, or twisting (along with specks of dust gathered during the manufacturing process) increased the chances of failure.
Lead coauthor Xin Xu compared the process to potholes.
As car tires pound rain and snow into tiny imperfections in the road causing an ever-increasing structural failure, the same happens inside lithium-metal batteries (albeit on a much smaller scale).
Luckily, this isn’t a death knell for lithium metal’s future — in fact, it’s great news.
Now, engineers who are already hard at work designing lithium-metal batteries can take these findings into consideration to circumvent these shortcomings.
The paper’s authors also mention that they’re now investigating ways to strengthen the electrolyte during manufacturing as well as develop ways to coat the ceramic barrier so that it self-repairs damage when it occurs.
In 2019, the same Stanford lab developed a method for lithium-metal batteries to retain 85 percent charge after 160 cycles — a major improvement compared to the previously reported 30 percent.
“These improvements all start with a single question: Why?” says coauthor Teng Cui.
“Once we know that, we can improve things.”
Now that researchers have convincingly answered the question of why, the overall question of lithium metal’s future is looking less like “if” and more like “when.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolo ... 848a&ei=69
Re: POLITICS
THE NEW YORK POST
"IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley testified for 6 hours about alleged Hunter Biden coverup"
Story by Steven Nelson
26 MAY 2023
WASHINGTON — IRS supervisory agent Gary Shapley spent about six hours Friday privately testifying to Congress about an alleged coverup in the criminal investigation of first son Hunter Biden.
The Republican-led House Ways and Means Committee granted the panel’s Democratic minority equal time to question Shapley about his claims that prosecutors are slow-walking the five-year-old case.
Tax secrecy laws bar Shapley from publicly airing details about the investigation, but disclosures to Congress are legally protected.
Republicans and Democrats alternated their questions in one-hour blocks and did not immediately publicize key exchanges.
“Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley testified for about six hours today to Democrat and Republican staff of the House Ways and Means Committee,” his legal team told The Post.
“Both sides had equal opportunity to ask whatever questions they wanted, and Special Agent Shapley answered all of their questions.”
Shapley had supervised the tax fraud probe of Hunter Biden, 53, since January 2020 and contacted congressional leaders April 19 to offer evidence of “preferential treatment” and alleged false testimony to Congress by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The IRS removed Shapley and 12 subordinates from the case last week in what his legal team alleged was illegal retribution ordered by the Justice Department.
A subordinate, the IRS’s primary case agent on the probe since it opened in 2018, emerged Monday as a second whistleblower.
He has not arranged to testify to Congress, but wrote in an email to his superiors last week that “we have been saying for some time” that prosecutors have “been acting inappropriately.”
Shapley has worked at the IRS for 14 years and said in a whistleblower retaliation complaint submitted to a federal watchdog that “my choice was to turn a blind eye to their malfeasance, and not sleep, or to put myself in the crosshairs by doing the right thing.”
His subordinate has worked at the IRS for 13 years and wrote that he was outraged at being abruptly yanked from the investigation.
The case agent wrote to his bosses that he “spent thousands of hours on the case, worked to complete 95% of the investigation, [and] have sacrificed sleep/vacations/gray hairs etc.”
He added, “my husband and I (identifying me as the case agent) were publicly outed and ridiculed on social media due to our sexual orientation, and to ultimately be removed for always trying to do the right thing, is unacceptable in my opinion.”
The FBI team assigned to investigate Hunter Biden also reportedly is frustrated about the lack of charges against the first son, who reportedly borrowed about $2 million last year from Hollywood lawyer Kevin Morris to pay off back taxes, though doing so does not legally absolve him of the initial non-payment.
Exactly one week after the whistleblower first contacted Congress, Hunter Biden’s legal team met with Justice Department leaders in what experts interpreted as a sign that a charging decision was close.
Shapley’s legal team attempted to broker an agreement with the Democrat-led Senate Finance Committee for either a bicameral deposition or back-to-back hearings on the same day, but was unable to reach an agreement after more than a month of talks and decided to move forward only with the House questioning.
Shapley said in a “CBS Evening News” interview Wednesday that “I don’t want to do any of this,” but felt compelled to do so following a contentious meeting in October involving Justice Department tax lawyers and an unnamed US attorney.
Since he was assigned to the case, “I immediately saw deviations from the normal process."
"It was way outside the norm of what I’ve experienced in the past,” Shapley told CBS.
One of the whistleblower’s attorneys, Mark Lytle, said last month that, “It really doesn’t come down to his credibility, whether you believe him or not, because the things he’s been through are very well documented in emails, and other communications with the Department of Justice.”
Hunter Biden reaped millions of dollars from overseas ventures that Republicans call influence-peddling during and immediately after his father’s vice presidency.
Wealthy figures in China, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Romania, Russia and Ukraine are counted among Hunter’s past clients and associates.
Many of the dealings remain murky, though details were chronicled in files from Hunter’s abandoned laptop and in bank files acquired this year by the House Oversight Committee.
Hunter wrote in emails retrieved from his former laptop that he had to share “half” of his income with Joe Biden and records show that the elder Biden met with many of his son’s partners and even appeared to be penciled in for a 10% cut of proceeds from a Chinese government-linked partnership under negotiation in 2017.
Delaware US Attorney David Weiss is in charge of the Hunter Biden case.
Weiss is a Trump administration holdover recommended to his post by the state’s Democratic senators, who are close Biden allies.
Shapley contends that Garland misled Congress about Weiss’ ability to make charging decisions without the approval of Biden appointees.
In addition to tax fraud, prosecutors reportedly have looked at charges against Hunter for violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, money laundering and lying about his drug use on a gun-purchase form.
The IRS supervisor testified to the Ways and Means Committee one day after the House Judiciary Committee demanded records from the Justice Department about his investigative team’s ouster.
The House Oversight Committee, which is leading an investigation of President Biden’s role in his family’s lucrative foreign dealings, meanwhile, set a Tuesday deadline for FBI Director Christopher Wray to provide an informant file that allegedly links Joe Biden to a “criminal scheme” involving a $5 million bribe in exchange for US policy decisions during his vice presidency.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 848a&ei=83
"IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley testified for 6 hours about alleged Hunter Biden coverup"
Story by Steven Nelson
26 MAY 2023
WASHINGTON — IRS supervisory agent Gary Shapley spent about six hours Friday privately testifying to Congress about an alleged coverup in the criminal investigation of first son Hunter Biden.
The Republican-led House Ways and Means Committee granted the panel’s Democratic minority equal time to question Shapley about his claims that prosecutors are slow-walking the five-year-old case.
Tax secrecy laws bar Shapley from publicly airing details about the investigation, but disclosures to Congress are legally protected.
Republicans and Democrats alternated their questions in one-hour blocks and did not immediately publicize key exchanges.
“Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley testified for about six hours today to Democrat and Republican staff of the House Ways and Means Committee,” his legal team told The Post.
“Both sides had equal opportunity to ask whatever questions they wanted, and Special Agent Shapley answered all of their questions.”
Shapley had supervised the tax fraud probe of Hunter Biden, 53, since January 2020 and contacted congressional leaders April 19 to offer evidence of “preferential treatment” and alleged false testimony to Congress by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The IRS removed Shapley and 12 subordinates from the case last week in what his legal team alleged was illegal retribution ordered by the Justice Department.
A subordinate, the IRS’s primary case agent on the probe since it opened in 2018, emerged Monday as a second whistleblower.
He has not arranged to testify to Congress, but wrote in an email to his superiors last week that “we have been saying for some time” that prosecutors have “been acting inappropriately.”
Shapley has worked at the IRS for 14 years and said in a whistleblower retaliation complaint submitted to a federal watchdog that “my choice was to turn a blind eye to their malfeasance, and not sleep, or to put myself in the crosshairs by doing the right thing.”
His subordinate has worked at the IRS for 13 years and wrote that he was outraged at being abruptly yanked from the investigation.
The case agent wrote to his bosses that he “spent thousands of hours on the case, worked to complete 95% of the investigation, [and] have sacrificed sleep/vacations/gray hairs etc.”
He added, “my husband and I (identifying me as the case agent) were publicly outed and ridiculed on social media due to our sexual orientation, and to ultimately be removed for always trying to do the right thing, is unacceptable in my opinion.”
The FBI team assigned to investigate Hunter Biden also reportedly is frustrated about the lack of charges against the first son, who reportedly borrowed about $2 million last year from Hollywood lawyer Kevin Morris to pay off back taxes, though doing so does not legally absolve him of the initial non-payment.
Exactly one week after the whistleblower first contacted Congress, Hunter Biden’s legal team met with Justice Department leaders in what experts interpreted as a sign that a charging decision was close.
Shapley’s legal team attempted to broker an agreement with the Democrat-led Senate Finance Committee for either a bicameral deposition or back-to-back hearings on the same day, but was unable to reach an agreement after more than a month of talks and decided to move forward only with the House questioning.
Shapley said in a “CBS Evening News” interview Wednesday that “I don’t want to do any of this,” but felt compelled to do so following a contentious meeting in October involving Justice Department tax lawyers and an unnamed US attorney.
Since he was assigned to the case, “I immediately saw deviations from the normal process."
"It was way outside the norm of what I’ve experienced in the past,” Shapley told CBS.
One of the whistleblower’s attorneys, Mark Lytle, said last month that, “It really doesn’t come down to his credibility, whether you believe him or not, because the things he’s been through are very well documented in emails, and other communications with the Department of Justice.”
Hunter Biden reaped millions of dollars from overseas ventures that Republicans call influence-peddling during and immediately after his father’s vice presidency.
Wealthy figures in China, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Romania, Russia and Ukraine are counted among Hunter’s past clients and associates.
Many of the dealings remain murky, though details were chronicled in files from Hunter’s abandoned laptop and in bank files acquired this year by the House Oversight Committee.
Hunter wrote in emails retrieved from his former laptop that he had to share “half” of his income with Joe Biden and records show that the elder Biden met with many of his son’s partners and even appeared to be penciled in for a 10% cut of proceeds from a Chinese government-linked partnership under negotiation in 2017.
Delaware US Attorney David Weiss is in charge of the Hunter Biden case.
Weiss is a Trump administration holdover recommended to his post by the state’s Democratic senators, who are close Biden allies.
Shapley contends that Garland misled Congress about Weiss’ ability to make charging decisions without the approval of Biden appointees.
In addition to tax fraud, prosecutors reportedly have looked at charges against Hunter for violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, money laundering and lying about his drug use on a gun-purchase form.
The IRS supervisor testified to the Ways and Means Committee one day after the House Judiciary Committee demanded records from the Justice Department about his investigative team’s ouster.
The House Oversight Committee, which is leading an investigation of President Biden’s role in his family’s lucrative foreign dealings, meanwhile, set a Tuesday deadline for FBI Director Christopher Wray to provide an informant file that allegedly links Joe Biden to a “criminal scheme” involving a $5 million bribe in exchange for US policy decisions during his vice presidency.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 848a&ei=83
Re: POLITICS
Business Insider
"Tesla leak reveals thousands of customer complaints about random acceleration, phantom braking"
Story by jmann@insider.com (Jyoti Mann)
27 MAY 2023
* Germany's Handelsblatt published a report Friday based on leaked information about Tesla.
* The newspaper spent months investigating a "massive" tranche of data provided by a whistleblower.
* Its report said Tesla had received 4,000 complaints from customers about self-driving features.
Tesla has received thousands of customer complaints about braking and acceleration problems, according to a report by a German newspaper.
A whistleblower leaked 100 gigabytes of confidential Tesla data to Handelsblatt, which reportedly included some 4,000 complaints about its self-driving features.
The "Tesla files" also contained customers' bank details and a variety of personal information, The Guardian reported, adding that the data leak was described as "massive" by the data protection office in Brandenburg, where Tesla has a factory.
Handelsblatt said it spent months examining the data, which included more than 23,000 files spanning 2015 to 2022.
It said it reviewed more than 2,400 customer complaints of Teslas suddenly accelerating and about 1,500 complaints of braking issues, including 383 cases of "phantom braking."
In addition, there were 1,000 logged reports of crashes, per the report.
A lawyer representing Tesla said that a "disgruntled former employee", who worked as a service technician, was the suspected leaker, per Handelsblatt.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched an investigation into the safety of Teslas in February 2022.
The move was sparked by hundreds of complaints from drivers about "phantom braking," when a car suddenly decelerates unexpectedly at high speeds.
At the time, the NHTSA said it had received 354 complaints in nine months from Tesla drivers about the issue.
The agency carried out an evaluation of the problem, which may have affected more than 400,000 Model 3 sedans and Model Y SUVS.
In a letter to Tesla last May, the agency said more than 750 drivers complained about phantom braking incidents.
A Tesla owner filed a lawsuit against the electric vehicle maker last August over phantom braking.
Jose Alvarez Toledo said the problems turned his Model 3's "safety feature into a frightening and dangerous nightmare."
He accused Tesla of hiding safety concerns related to its Autopilot system in the lawsuit.
In November 2022, nine people were injured after an eight-car pileup was blamed on Tesla's phantom braking problem.
One juvenile was hospitalized and the driver of the Tesla told authorities his car was in "full-self-driving" mode at the time of the accident.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/te ... 48a&ei=118
"Tesla leak reveals thousands of customer complaints about random acceleration, phantom braking"
Story by jmann@insider.com (Jyoti Mann)
27 MAY 2023
* Germany's Handelsblatt published a report Friday based on leaked information about Tesla.
* The newspaper spent months investigating a "massive" tranche of data provided by a whistleblower.
* Its report said Tesla had received 4,000 complaints from customers about self-driving features.
Tesla has received thousands of customer complaints about braking and acceleration problems, according to a report by a German newspaper.
A whistleblower leaked 100 gigabytes of confidential Tesla data to Handelsblatt, which reportedly included some 4,000 complaints about its self-driving features.
The "Tesla files" also contained customers' bank details and a variety of personal information, The Guardian reported, adding that the data leak was described as "massive" by the data protection office in Brandenburg, where Tesla has a factory.
Handelsblatt said it spent months examining the data, which included more than 23,000 files spanning 2015 to 2022.
It said it reviewed more than 2,400 customer complaints of Teslas suddenly accelerating and about 1,500 complaints of braking issues, including 383 cases of "phantom braking."
In addition, there were 1,000 logged reports of crashes, per the report.
A lawyer representing Tesla said that a "disgruntled former employee", who worked as a service technician, was the suspected leaker, per Handelsblatt.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched an investigation into the safety of Teslas in February 2022.
The move was sparked by hundreds of complaints from drivers about "phantom braking," when a car suddenly decelerates unexpectedly at high speeds.
At the time, the NHTSA said it had received 354 complaints in nine months from Tesla drivers about the issue.
The agency carried out an evaluation of the problem, which may have affected more than 400,000 Model 3 sedans and Model Y SUVS.
In a letter to Tesla last May, the agency said more than 750 drivers complained about phantom braking incidents.
A Tesla owner filed a lawsuit against the electric vehicle maker last August over phantom braking.
Jose Alvarez Toledo said the problems turned his Model 3's "safety feature into a frightening and dangerous nightmare."
He accused Tesla of hiding safety concerns related to its Autopilot system in the lawsuit.
In November 2022, nine people were injured after an eight-car pileup was blamed on Tesla's phantom braking problem.
One juvenile was hospitalized and the driver of the Tesla told authorities his car was in "full-self-driving" mode at the time of the accident.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/te ... 48a&ei=118
Re: POLITICS
The National Review
"‘American Citizens before Migrants’: Protesters Heckle AOC at NYC Town Hall"
Story by Brittany Bernstein
27 MAY 2023
Protesters booed and heckled Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at a town hall she held in Queens, N.Y. on Friday night.
A man holding small American flags approached the progressive “Squad” member and shouted, “American citizens before migrants.”
“Where are you on the migrant issue?"
"You’re a piece of s***,” he added.
Ocasio-Cortez said, “OK,” as the man was escorted off.
New York governor Kathy Hochul (D.) declared a state of emergency in New York after the expiration of Title 42 earlier this month.
The state has roughly 60,000 asylum seekers relying on social services.
New York City has gotten so overwhelmed with the influx of migrants that the city has begun sending them to the suburbs.
Hochul said she is “looking at all state assets to help ameliorate the problem that is at a crisis level here in the City of New York,” which could includes housing migrants at SUNY campuses, closed psychiatric centers, large parks and parking lots.
Protesters at the town hall held signs concerning a number of issues: “America First. Vetted legal migrants only,” “Stop funding Ukraine,” “AOC: An Obvious Criminal,” and “AOC: Stop pushing drag queen story hour,”
More protesters came forward throughout the evening, including a woman who was critical of Ocasio-Cortez’s support for U.S. funding in Ukraine.
The New York Democrat voted to send $40 billion in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine last year.
“Stop funding this war, there’s a lot of communities that need help and need that money,” another woman said as she was removed from the event.
Ocasio-Cortez was met with both boos and cheers from the crowd when she suggested the Biden administration should abolish the debt limit, as a June 5 debt default deadline looms.
“$100 billion for Ukraine that you voted for!” one man shouted in response to Ocasio-Cortez’s comments on the debt ceiling.
The progressive lawmaker said earlier this week that the “stakes of a default cannot be understated.”
“The chaos that would ensue and the impact on people’s everyday lives would likely be immediate and it is one of the reasons why we need to take default off the table,” she said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ameri ... 48a&ei=110
"‘American Citizens before Migrants’: Protesters Heckle AOC at NYC Town Hall"
Story by Brittany Bernstein
27 MAY 2023
Protesters booed and heckled Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at a town hall she held in Queens, N.Y. on Friday night.
A man holding small American flags approached the progressive “Squad” member and shouted, “American citizens before migrants.”
“Where are you on the migrant issue?"
"You’re a piece of s***,” he added.
Ocasio-Cortez said, “OK,” as the man was escorted off.
New York governor Kathy Hochul (D.) declared a state of emergency in New York after the expiration of Title 42 earlier this month.
The state has roughly 60,000 asylum seekers relying on social services.
New York City has gotten so overwhelmed with the influx of migrants that the city has begun sending them to the suburbs.
Hochul said she is “looking at all state assets to help ameliorate the problem that is at a crisis level here in the City of New York,” which could includes housing migrants at SUNY campuses, closed psychiatric centers, large parks and parking lots.
Protesters at the town hall held signs concerning a number of issues: “America First. Vetted legal migrants only,” “Stop funding Ukraine,” “AOC: An Obvious Criminal,” and “AOC: Stop pushing drag queen story hour,”
More protesters came forward throughout the evening, including a woman who was critical of Ocasio-Cortez’s support for U.S. funding in Ukraine.
The New York Democrat voted to send $40 billion in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine last year.
“Stop funding this war, there’s a lot of communities that need help and need that money,” another woman said as she was removed from the event.
Ocasio-Cortez was met with both boos and cheers from the crowd when she suggested the Biden administration should abolish the debt limit, as a June 5 debt default deadline looms.
“$100 billion for Ukraine that you voted for!” one man shouted in response to Ocasio-Cortez’s comments on the debt ceiling.
The progressive lawmaker said earlier this week that the “stakes of a default cannot be understated.”
“The chaos that would ensue and the impact on people’s everyday lives would likely be immediate and it is one of the reasons why we need to take default off the table,” she said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ameri ... 48a&ei=110
Re: POLITICS
FOX NEWS
"AOC calls to 'eliminate the debt limit' at chaos-filled town hall"
Story by Adam Sabes
27 MAY 2023
Democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said during a town hall on Friday night that the debt limit should be eliminated because of the Constitution.
Ocasio-Cortez made the comments during a town hall in Queens on Friday night.
"I still believe, first of all, that we should start to implement [the 14th Amendment] anyway because we should eliminate the debt limit in the United States because of the Constitutional reasons," Ocasio-Cortez said.
The Congresswoman was making the comments in response to a question asking if the 14th Amendment should be used by President Biden to raise the debt himself without Congress approving it.
While Ocasio-Cortez said during the town hall that Biden believes he "has this authority," people within his administration say that it won't be invoked.
"The 14th Amendment can’t solve our challenges now."
"Ultimately, the only thing that can do that is Congress doing what it’s done 78 other times — raising the debt limit," Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said during a CNN interview on Thursday.
"We don’t have a plan B that allows us to meet the commitments that we’ve made to our creditors, to our seniors, to our veterans, to the American people."
"I think the president and secretary are clear that that will not solve our problems now."
"So, yes, that is a no," Adeyemo said when asked about the 14th Amendment.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress on Friday that the government is expected to run out of cash to pay its debts by June 5.
"Since January, I have highlighted to you the risk that Treasury would be unable to satisfy all of our obligations by early June if Congress did not raise or suspend the debt limit before that time."
"In my letters, I also noted that I would continue to update Congress as more information became available," Yellen wrote in a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
FOX Business' Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 48a&ei=113
"AOC calls to 'eliminate the debt limit' at chaos-filled town hall"
Story by Adam Sabes
27 MAY 2023
Democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said during a town hall on Friday night that the debt limit should be eliminated because of the Constitution.
Ocasio-Cortez made the comments during a town hall in Queens on Friday night.
"I still believe, first of all, that we should start to implement [the 14th Amendment] anyway because we should eliminate the debt limit in the United States because of the Constitutional reasons," Ocasio-Cortez said.
The Congresswoman was making the comments in response to a question asking if the 14th Amendment should be used by President Biden to raise the debt himself without Congress approving it.
While Ocasio-Cortez said during the town hall that Biden believes he "has this authority," people within his administration say that it won't be invoked.
"The 14th Amendment can’t solve our challenges now."
"Ultimately, the only thing that can do that is Congress doing what it’s done 78 other times — raising the debt limit," Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said during a CNN interview on Thursday.
"We don’t have a plan B that allows us to meet the commitments that we’ve made to our creditors, to our seniors, to our veterans, to the American people."
"I think the president and secretary are clear that that will not solve our problems now."
"So, yes, that is a no," Adeyemo said when asked about the 14th Amendment.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress on Friday that the government is expected to run out of cash to pay its debts by June 5.
"Since January, I have highlighted to you the risk that Treasury would be unable to satisfy all of our obligations by early June if Congress did not raise or suspend the debt limit before that time."
"In my letters, I also noted that I would continue to update Congress as more information became available," Yellen wrote in a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
FOX Business' Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 48a&ei=113
Re: POLITICS
THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR MAY 27, 2023 AT 5:32 PM
Paul R. Plante says:
In “1984,” just as there is in the Biden administration, there is a Ministry of Truth, which like Joe Biden’s Ministry of Truth, is really the Ministry of Propaganda.
In both cases, the Ministry of Truth is responsible for any necessary falsification of historical events.
As well as administering “truth”, the ministry spreads a new language amongst the populace called Newspeak, in which, for example, “truth” is understood to mean statements like 2 + 2 = 5 when the situation warrants.
In keeping with the concept of doublethink, the ministry is thus aptly named in that it creates/manufactures “truth” in the Newspeak sense of the word.
In 1984, the book describes the doctoring of historical records to show a government-approved version of events, and in an article in The Hill titled “Joe Biden’s ‘Ministry of Truth’” by Joe Concha on 05/01/22, we find the Biden administration doing the exact same thing, to wit:
The Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced this week that it has launched what is being dubbed a Disinformation Governance Board to combat “misinformation.”
The person chosen to lead this new “Committee of Public Information” under Mayorkas is Nina Jankowicz, who calls herself “a disinformation fellow” and a Russian disinformation expert.
Here’s what Mayorkas’s choice to helm Biden’s “Ministry of Truth” once said about Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop, which many on the left and in the media dubbed as Russian disinformation in the weeks before the 2020 election.
“We should view it as a Trump campaign product,” Jankowicz said of the story at the time.
“Not to mention that the emails don’t need to be altered to be part of an influence campaign.”
“Voters deserve that context, not a [fairy] tale about a laptop repair shop,” she also tweeted in October 2020.
end quotes
Yes, people, Joe Biden’s Ministry of Truth is indeed responsible for any necessary falsification of historical events, and there we had a case of it right above here.
As is the case in the novel “1984,” Joe Biden’s Ministry of Truth is involved with news media, entertainment, the fine arts and educational books, and as we saw above, its purpose is to rewrite history to change the facts to fit Democrat Party doctrine for propaganda effect, so that if Big Brother Joe Biden makes a prediction that turns out to be wrong, the employees of the Ministry of Truth correct the record to make it accurate, which is the “how” of the Ministry of Truth’s existence.
As in the novel, the deeper reason for the existence of Joe Biden’s Ministry of Truth, the “why”, is to maintain the illusion that the Democrat Party is absolute, because to maintain power the Democrat Party must seem eternally right and strong.
And as in the novel, in real life, Minitrue plays a role by changing history, and changing the words in articles about events current and past, so that Big Brother Joe Biden and his government are always seen in a good light and can never do any wrong, and in both cases, the content is more propaganda than actual news.
Which brings us to an OK! Magazine article titled “White House Confession in Leaked Memo About Biden Cash Scandal” by Aaron Johnson on 25 May 2023, where we have as follows:
House Republicans, led by Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, are “admitting” to probing into President Joe Biden’s family finances as an attempt to damage his reputation, according to a memo obtained by NBC News.
“Extreme MAGA House Republicans are being caught doing something they rarely do: telling the truth,” White House spokesperson Ian Sams said.
“They are admitting through their own words and deeds that these so-called ‘investigations’ are actually intended not to reveal facts but to hurt the President’s political standing.”
end quotes
And isn’t he really something, people, Joe Biden’s political propagandist Ian Sams who in an online EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS ON WHITE HOUSE OFFICE PERSONNEL as of Date: Friday, July 1, 2022, was listed as follows:
SAMS, IAN C. EMPLOYEE $110,000 Per Annum SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND SENIOR ADVISOR TO THE WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL
end quote
Not at all bad money, people, is it for telling bald-faced lies to the American people to combat the truth about Joe Biden, so you parents out there teaching your children to be truthful and forthright should consider that maybe you are taking them in the wrong direction, because as Ian Sams makes clear here, in Democrat politics, anyway, the BIG BUCK$ go to the accomplished liars like Ian, not to truth-tellers, and as to his qualifications to be a BIDEN PROPAGANDIST, on his Linked-in page, Joe’s spokesperson and defender Ian Sams describes himself as follows, to wit:
I am a communications professional and strategist, with experience conveying both political and policy objectives on the record for seven state and federal campaigns, including two presidential campaigns, the Democratic Party, in the U.S. Senate, and for the Biden Administration’s COVID response effort. I’ve spent a decade in the trenches of national politics and government — managing teams, media relations, message development, and candidate and principal training and prep. I have deep experience with strategic communications planning, rapid response, crisis communications, domestic policy messaging, and digital content.
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/op-ed- ... ent-804435
Paul R. Plante says:
In “1984,” just as there is in the Biden administration, there is a Ministry of Truth, which like Joe Biden’s Ministry of Truth, is really the Ministry of Propaganda.
In both cases, the Ministry of Truth is responsible for any necessary falsification of historical events.
As well as administering “truth”, the ministry spreads a new language amongst the populace called Newspeak, in which, for example, “truth” is understood to mean statements like 2 + 2 = 5 when the situation warrants.
In keeping with the concept of doublethink, the ministry is thus aptly named in that it creates/manufactures “truth” in the Newspeak sense of the word.
In 1984, the book describes the doctoring of historical records to show a government-approved version of events, and in an article in The Hill titled “Joe Biden’s ‘Ministry of Truth’” by Joe Concha on 05/01/22, we find the Biden administration doing the exact same thing, to wit:
The Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced this week that it has launched what is being dubbed a Disinformation Governance Board to combat “misinformation.”
The person chosen to lead this new “Committee of Public Information” under Mayorkas is Nina Jankowicz, who calls herself “a disinformation fellow” and a Russian disinformation expert.
Here’s what Mayorkas’s choice to helm Biden’s “Ministry of Truth” once said about Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop, which many on the left and in the media dubbed as Russian disinformation in the weeks before the 2020 election.
“We should view it as a Trump campaign product,” Jankowicz said of the story at the time.
“Not to mention that the emails don’t need to be altered to be part of an influence campaign.”
“Voters deserve that context, not a [fairy] tale about a laptop repair shop,” she also tweeted in October 2020.
end quotes
Yes, people, Joe Biden’s Ministry of Truth is indeed responsible for any necessary falsification of historical events, and there we had a case of it right above here.
As is the case in the novel “1984,” Joe Biden’s Ministry of Truth is involved with news media, entertainment, the fine arts and educational books, and as we saw above, its purpose is to rewrite history to change the facts to fit Democrat Party doctrine for propaganda effect, so that if Big Brother Joe Biden makes a prediction that turns out to be wrong, the employees of the Ministry of Truth correct the record to make it accurate, which is the “how” of the Ministry of Truth’s existence.
As in the novel, the deeper reason for the existence of Joe Biden’s Ministry of Truth, the “why”, is to maintain the illusion that the Democrat Party is absolute, because to maintain power the Democrat Party must seem eternally right and strong.
And as in the novel, in real life, Minitrue plays a role by changing history, and changing the words in articles about events current and past, so that Big Brother Joe Biden and his government are always seen in a good light and can never do any wrong, and in both cases, the content is more propaganda than actual news.
Which brings us to an OK! Magazine article titled “White House Confession in Leaked Memo About Biden Cash Scandal” by Aaron Johnson on 25 May 2023, where we have as follows:
House Republicans, led by Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, are “admitting” to probing into President Joe Biden’s family finances as an attempt to damage his reputation, according to a memo obtained by NBC News.
“Extreme MAGA House Republicans are being caught doing something they rarely do: telling the truth,” White House spokesperson Ian Sams said.
“They are admitting through their own words and deeds that these so-called ‘investigations’ are actually intended not to reveal facts but to hurt the President’s political standing.”
end quotes
And isn’t he really something, people, Joe Biden’s political propagandist Ian Sams who in an online EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS ON WHITE HOUSE OFFICE PERSONNEL as of Date: Friday, July 1, 2022, was listed as follows:
SAMS, IAN C. EMPLOYEE $110,000 Per Annum SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND SENIOR ADVISOR TO THE WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL
end quote
Not at all bad money, people, is it for telling bald-faced lies to the American people to combat the truth about Joe Biden, so you parents out there teaching your children to be truthful and forthright should consider that maybe you are taking them in the wrong direction, because as Ian Sams makes clear here, in Democrat politics, anyway, the BIG BUCK$ go to the accomplished liars like Ian, not to truth-tellers, and as to his qualifications to be a BIDEN PROPAGANDIST, on his Linked-in page, Joe’s spokesperson and defender Ian Sams describes himself as follows, to wit:
I am a communications professional and strategist, with experience conveying both political and policy objectives on the record for seven state and federal campaigns, including two presidential campaigns, the Democratic Party, in the U.S. Senate, and for the Biden Administration’s COVID response effort. I’ve spent a decade in the trenches of national politics and government — managing teams, media relations, message development, and candidate and principal training and prep. I have deep experience with strategic communications planning, rapid response, crisis communications, domestic policy messaging, and digital content.
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/op-ed- ... ent-804435
Re: POLITICS
THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR MAY 27, 2023 AT 8:32 PM
Paul R. Plante says:
We common folks in America have become used to the fact that when Joe Biden says something, pretty much anything, for that matter, the actual meaning is the opposite of the words Joe is actually uttering, so that on July 19, 2021, when in his “Remarks by President Biden on the Economy,” Joe said “I’ve said it before, and it’s true: This is a blue-collar blueprint for building an American economy back,” what Joe was really saying was “this is a blueprint for building an American economy on the backs of the blue-collar workers of America,” which takes us to a Reuters article titled “Inflation has eroded US households’ financial security, Fed survey shows” on May 22, 2023, where we have what Joe is talking about in technicolor, to wit:
May 22 (Reuters) – The inflation wave that crested at a 40-year high last year and remains elevated has eroded U.S. households’ sense of financial security, the Federal Reserve reported Monday, with many saying they had reduced their savings to make ends meet, felt less secure about retirement, and had delayed purchases or swapped into cheaper products as they shopped.
end quote
Said the way it should be said, the MIRACLE BIDEN ECONOMY is looting their savings, leaving them poorer than they were before Joe came along to rob them, which takes us back to Reuters, as follows:
In an annual survey showing the corrosive effects of inflation on Americans’ economic confidence, the Fed said the percentage of respondents who said they were doing “at least okay financially” in 2022 tumbled by 5 percentage points – the most since the survey was launched a decade ago – to 73%.
It had stood at a record high the year before.
The share of those saying they were worse off shot up 15 points to 35%, the highest level by far since the Fed first started asking that question in 2014.
end quotes
They are worse off thanks to Joe Biden making them that way, which again takes us back to Reuters, to wit:
Those who considered their retirement savings “on track” fell to 31% among those not yet retired, compared to 40% in 2021.
With a 2024 presidential campaign already in its early stages, the survey also suggested Americans’ souring mood about their own finances carried over to their view of the national economy.
Even though the unemployment rate has been low, below 4%, since January of 2022, only 18% of respondents rated the national economy as “good” or “excellent,” down from 50% as of 2019.
Fifty-four percent of adults said that their budgets had been affected “a lot” by price increases, with parents of children under 18, Black and Latin American adults and those with disabilities ranking among the most likely to report an impact from inflation.
Indeed, overall one-third of households cited inflation as their main financial challenge, up more than fourfold from 2016.
A question meant to measure households’ wherewithal to overcome a modest financial emergency showed fewer thought they had the ability to meet an unexpected $400 expense using cash or the equivalent, such as a credit card expected to be repaid in full at the next statement.
end quotes
And from there, let’s go to a Fox News article titled “Inflation pummeled US household finances last year, Fed survey finds” by Breck Dumas on 22 May 2023, where we have more on Joe building his economy which benefits rich Democrats on the backs of blue-collar workers in America, to wit:
Historically high inflation took a notable toll on Americans’ finances last year, when rising prices outpaced wage gains and chewed into household budgets, according to newly released Federal Reserve data.
The central bank’s 2022 Survey of Household Economics and Decision Making (SHED) report released Monday, which was fielded from October 2021 through November 1, 2022, found the share of U.S. adults who reported they were worse off financially than a year earlier jumped from 20% to 35% – the highest level since the question was first asked nearly a decade ago.
The share of adults who reported spending less than their income in the month before the survey fell below pre-pandemic levels, while the share of Americans who reported their credit card debt increased rose.
The Fed said “inflation affected people’s spending and saving choices in several different ways,” pointing out that nearly two-thirds of adults stopped using a product or used less because of higher prices, 64% switched to a cheaper alternative, and more than half (51%) of Americans reduced their savings due to their budgets being squeezed.
Working adults also showed greater anxiety about being able to afford to retire.
Only 31% of non-retirees reported that their retirement savings plans were on track last fall, a nine-point drop from 2021.
The Fed has raised interest rates 10 consecutive times to the highest level in 16 years in its most aggressive tightening campaign since the 1980s as it battles to bring prices down, but another survey released Monday shows America’s top economists do not expect the central bank to reach its 2% goal any time soon.
The National Association for Business Economics (NABE) outlook survey found just 2% of business forecasters said they believe inflation will have slowed to 2% by the second half of 2023, while a 59% majority don’t believe inflation will decline to the Fed’s target level until 2025 or later.
end quotes
Bottom line, people, we are going to be paying Joe Biden’s INFLATION TAX for some time yet to come.
And that right now is the latest news about Joe Biden’s MIRACLE ECONOMY for the rich, but stay tuned because it does not end there!
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/op-ed- ... ent-804474
Paul R. Plante says:
We common folks in America have become used to the fact that when Joe Biden says something, pretty much anything, for that matter, the actual meaning is the opposite of the words Joe is actually uttering, so that on July 19, 2021, when in his “Remarks by President Biden on the Economy,” Joe said “I’ve said it before, and it’s true: This is a blue-collar blueprint for building an American economy back,” what Joe was really saying was “this is a blueprint for building an American economy on the backs of the blue-collar workers of America,” which takes us to a Reuters article titled “Inflation has eroded US households’ financial security, Fed survey shows” on May 22, 2023, where we have what Joe is talking about in technicolor, to wit:
May 22 (Reuters) – The inflation wave that crested at a 40-year high last year and remains elevated has eroded U.S. households’ sense of financial security, the Federal Reserve reported Monday, with many saying they had reduced their savings to make ends meet, felt less secure about retirement, and had delayed purchases or swapped into cheaper products as they shopped.
end quote
Said the way it should be said, the MIRACLE BIDEN ECONOMY is looting their savings, leaving them poorer than they were before Joe came along to rob them, which takes us back to Reuters, as follows:
In an annual survey showing the corrosive effects of inflation on Americans’ economic confidence, the Fed said the percentage of respondents who said they were doing “at least okay financially” in 2022 tumbled by 5 percentage points – the most since the survey was launched a decade ago – to 73%.
It had stood at a record high the year before.
The share of those saying they were worse off shot up 15 points to 35%, the highest level by far since the Fed first started asking that question in 2014.
end quotes
They are worse off thanks to Joe Biden making them that way, which again takes us back to Reuters, to wit:
Those who considered their retirement savings “on track” fell to 31% among those not yet retired, compared to 40% in 2021.
With a 2024 presidential campaign already in its early stages, the survey also suggested Americans’ souring mood about their own finances carried over to their view of the national economy.
Even though the unemployment rate has been low, below 4%, since January of 2022, only 18% of respondents rated the national economy as “good” or “excellent,” down from 50% as of 2019.
Fifty-four percent of adults said that their budgets had been affected “a lot” by price increases, with parents of children under 18, Black and Latin American adults and those with disabilities ranking among the most likely to report an impact from inflation.
Indeed, overall one-third of households cited inflation as their main financial challenge, up more than fourfold from 2016.
A question meant to measure households’ wherewithal to overcome a modest financial emergency showed fewer thought they had the ability to meet an unexpected $400 expense using cash or the equivalent, such as a credit card expected to be repaid in full at the next statement.
end quotes
And from there, let’s go to a Fox News article titled “Inflation pummeled US household finances last year, Fed survey finds” by Breck Dumas on 22 May 2023, where we have more on Joe building his economy which benefits rich Democrats on the backs of blue-collar workers in America, to wit:
Historically high inflation took a notable toll on Americans’ finances last year, when rising prices outpaced wage gains and chewed into household budgets, according to newly released Federal Reserve data.
The central bank’s 2022 Survey of Household Economics and Decision Making (SHED) report released Monday, which was fielded from October 2021 through November 1, 2022, found the share of U.S. adults who reported they were worse off financially than a year earlier jumped from 20% to 35% – the highest level since the question was first asked nearly a decade ago.
The share of adults who reported spending less than their income in the month before the survey fell below pre-pandemic levels, while the share of Americans who reported their credit card debt increased rose.
The Fed said “inflation affected people’s spending and saving choices in several different ways,” pointing out that nearly two-thirds of adults stopped using a product or used less because of higher prices, 64% switched to a cheaper alternative, and more than half (51%) of Americans reduced their savings due to their budgets being squeezed.
Working adults also showed greater anxiety about being able to afford to retire.
Only 31% of non-retirees reported that their retirement savings plans were on track last fall, a nine-point drop from 2021.
The Fed has raised interest rates 10 consecutive times to the highest level in 16 years in its most aggressive tightening campaign since the 1980s as it battles to bring prices down, but another survey released Monday shows America’s top economists do not expect the central bank to reach its 2% goal any time soon.
The National Association for Business Economics (NABE) outlook survey found just 2% of business forecasters said they believe inflation will have slowed to 2% by the second half of 2023, while a 59% majority don’t believe inflation will decline to the Fed’s target level until 2025 or later.
end quotes
Bottom line, people, we are going to be paying Joe Biden’s INFLATION TAX for some time yet to come.
And that right now is the latest news about Joe Biden’s MIRACLE ECONOMY for the rich, but stay tuned because it does not end there!
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/op-ed- ... ent-804474
Re: POLITICS
FOX NEWS
"Hunter Biden's 'sugar brother' keeps the first son afloat amid multiple scandals"
Story by Aaron Kliegman
29 MAY 2023
As Hunter Biden claims he's facing financial trouble amid a federal investigation into his finances and overseas business dealings, the first son has been turning to a Hollywood mega-lawyer and big-time Democratic donor for money and strategic advice.
Kevin Morris, a prominent attorney whose clients include the likes of Chris Rock and Matthew McConaughey, is perhaps best known for brokering a licensing deal for the creators of the animated comedy series "South Park" worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
He also won a Tony award as a co-producer of the hit musical "Book of Mormon" and is a fiction writer of two novels and a collection of short stories.
In the political world, Morris has donated significant amounts of money to Democratic candidates and groups, according to public records.
Last year, for example, he gave $100,000 to a political action committee supporting Conor Lamb, a Pennsylvania Democrat who lost the Senate primary race to now-Sen. John Fetterman.
Morris, 58, also gave $50,000 to Americans Keeping Country First — a super PAC created to support Republican members of Congress who voted to impeach or convict former President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 Capitol breach — and another $50,000 to the American Bridge 21st Century PAC, which conducts opposition research against Republican politicians.
However, now one of Morris' main projects seems to be helping Hunter Biden.
By all accounts he's assumed an increasingly big role in the first son's life — to the point that the wealthy lawyer has been dubbed Hunter's "sugar brother."
That role has involved a wide range of areas — from financial support, to helping write a book, to lending a private jet.
Indeed, Biden, 53, flew to and from the courthouse for his recent Arkansas child-support hearing aboard a luxury private jet owned by Morris, according to the New York Post, which cited flight and business records.
The 2001 Dassault Falcon 50 — formerly owned by country singer Brad Paisely — is worth $6 million and registered to Plato LLC, for which Morris is reportedly the principal.
The jet took off from Los Angeles on April 30 just after 7 a.m., flew cross-country to Washington, D.C. where it landed, and then went to Arkansas for the hearing the next morning.
Afterward, the jet left around 11:30 a.m. to return to D.C.
The 7,326-mile round trip likely cost between $55,000 to $117,000, the Post reported, noting the total was the equivalent value of up to six months of Biden's child-support payments.
President Biden's son was in court trying to reduce his child-support obligations to his former mistress, Lunden Alexis Roberts, 32, a one-time stripper and mother of his four-year-old daughter, Navy Joan.
President Biden and the first lady have refused to publicly acknowledge the child's existence as their seventh grandchild.
According to Hunter Biden's lawyers, he's been paying $20,000 per month in child support, amounting to $750,000 paid so far.
Biden is arguing he can no longer afford the payments and needs them reduced due to what he's described as a "substantial material change" in his financial situation.
Roberts' attorney, Clint Lancaster, is skeptical of the idea that Biden can't make the payments, making a motion to have Biden disclose who funds his "stable of American super lawyers."
"Mr. Biden claims to be nothing more than a Yale-educated attorney/artist who is somewhat financially destitute and needs his child support adjusted," Lancaster wrote in a court filing for the recent hearing.
"However, for an artist living on meager means, Mr. Biden is living lavishly."
Beyond the child-support hearing, the Post cited flight records showing Morris' plane landing in or taking off from Fayetteville, Ark. at least nine times between February 2022 and April 2023.
Fayetteville is the home of Biden's financial adviser, Edward Prewitt.
Morris has helped Biden maintain his allegedly lavish lifestyle, according to several reports covering at least some of the first son's rent and living expenses.
Perhaps most famously, Morris loaned more than $2 million to Biden to help pay off the first son's overdue taxes, which are in part the subject of a years-long Justice Department investigation into possible tax evasion and other potential crimes.
Morris has additionally advised Biden on a host of legal, personal, and financial matters, ranging from his child-support lawsuit to how to respond to ongoing federal probes in his taxes and business affairs.
Biden lawyer Chris Clark told CBS News last year that Morris is serving as an "attorney and trusted adviser" to the first son.
Morris has also assisted Biden in selling his artwork.
Biden has taken up painting since getting sober and remarrying.
Many of his paintings have been priced at and sold for six-figure values, raising concerns among both the Biden administration and ethics experts about the potential of buyers, including foreigners, purchasing the art in order to influence presidential politics.
The White House developed guidelines for Biden to sell art without him or anyone in the administration knowing the details.
Meanwhile, emails and business records indicate Morris controls valuable assets of Biden as the first son seeks to renegotiate his child-support payments.
Indeed, Biden's stake in a Chinese private equity firm called BHR is now controlled by Morris, the Washington Free Beacon reported earlier this month.
Specifically, Morris controls Skaneateles, which holds Biden's 10% stake in BHR.
An amended joint venture contract for BHR Partners first obtained by the nonprofit investigative group Marco Polo identifies Morris as the managing member of Biden's LLC.
BHR Partners is co-owned by the Beijing-controlled Bank of China and manages $2.1 billion in assets.
Biden initially invested $420,000 in BHR Partners in October 2017 through his personal company, Skaneateles LLC.
His interest in the company spiked to an estimated $894,000, according to a March 2019 email from his former business partner, Eric Schwerin.
Biden's extensive ties to China have been the source of controversy for years and are increasingly coming under scrutiny.
Just this week, Fox News Digital reported that he was scheduled to meet with Alibaba Group co-founder Jack Ma and other Alibaba executives in 2016 as part of a week-long China trip to find potential investors for a movie production venture that Biden and his business partners signed an agreement on.
Among the Chinese investors that Biden pursued were multiple Chinese business executives with high-level ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
Morris met Biden in December 2019 at a fundraiser for the elder Biden's presidential campaign and, according to the New York Times, "soon developed an almost paternal affection" for the now-first son.
Both men lived in Los Angeles and became close as Biden was being scrutinized by then-President Trump and his allies.
According to campaign finance records, Morris had donated $2,800 to the Biden campaign before meeting Hunter and gave $55,000 to super PACs supporting the campaign and opposing Trump in the months after the meeting — much more than he had given to such groups previously.
Morris' wide-ranging support for Biden comes as the president's son continues to be the subject of federal investigations into his finances and complex web of business dealings abroad by the Justice Department and House Republicans.
An IRS whistleblower — Gary Shapley, a 14-year veteran of the agency — had gone public accusing the Justice Department of "slow-walking" its probe into the first son's finances.
It's unclear what the outcome of the investigation will be, but it could have profound political consequences for the president.
But whatever happens, it seems likely Morris will be there to advise Hunter.
Amid the ongoing investigations, Morris assisted Biden in finishing his 2021 memoir, "Beautiful Things," which chronicled his drug and alcohol addictions.
Biden included Morris — who reportedly found a high-powered literary agent for the first son — as part of "the outstanding team behind this book" on the acknowledgments page of his memoir.
Morris has also worked on a documentary project that's expected to build on the memoir's story of redemption while portraying Biden as the victim of attacks from conservatives and Republicans in recent years.
Ironically, the famed lawyer has also been accused separately of posing as a documentarian.
Indeed, Morris allegedly lied to get on to the film set of "My Son Hunter," an independent movie that presents a fictionalized and unflattering account of Biden's drug use and foreign business dealings.
According to several reports, Morris flew to Serbia with two colleagues, identified himself by name to the film crew, and said he was making a documentary about Biden's alleged "corruption" without revealing their relationship.
Morris and his two colleagues were given full access to the set for several days, taping hours of footage for the supposed documentary.
However, when revelations about Morris' connection to Biden first came to light last year, Phelim McAleer, a producer of the film, called the lawyer's behavior "unethical," adding that "if I had known that he was providing legal and media consult to Hunter Biden, I would have treated him rather differently."
"This was an information gathering exercise by a lawyer and his associates for their client," McAleer said in a press release.
"Now that I know of his representation of Hunter Biden, his questions while they were filming suddenly make a lot of sense."
"I thought he was just making a documentary but now it appears he was deceptively spying for his client Hunter Biden."
According to the New York Times, Morris, who's been working to undermine Republican attacks against Biden, could use the footage from Serbia for his documentary.
Morris didn't respond to requests for comment for this story.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 5189&ei=63
"Hunter Biden's 'sugar brother' keeps the first son afloat amid multiple scandals"
Story by Aaron Kliegman
29 MAY 2023
As Hunter Biden claims he's facing financial trouble amid a federal investigation into his finances and overseas business dealings, the first son has been turning to a Hollywood mega-lawyer and big-time Democratic donor for money and strategic advice.
Kevin Morris, a prominent attorney whose clients include the likes of Chris Rock and Matthew McConaughey, is perhaps best known for brokering a licensing deal for the creators of the animated comedy series "South Park" worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
He also won a Tony award as a co-producer of the hit musical "Book of Mormon" and is a fiction writer of two novels and a collection of short stories.
In the political world, Morris has donated significant amounts of money to Democratic candidates and groups, according to public records.
Last year, for example, he gave $100,000 to a political action committee supporting Conor Lamb, a Pennsylvania Democrat who lost the Senate primary race to now-Sen. John Fetterman.
Morris, 58, also gave $50,000 to Americans Keeping Country First — a super PAC created to support Republican members of Congress who voted to impeach or convict former President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 Capitol breach — and another $50,000 to the American Bridge 21st Century PAC, which conducts opposition research against Republican politicians.
However, now one of Morris' main projects seems to be helping Hunter Biden.
By all accounts he's assumed an increasingly big role in the first son's life — to the point that the wealthy lawyer has been dubbed Hunter's "sugar brother."
That role has involved a wide range of areas — from financial support, to helping write a book, to lending a private jet.
Indeed, Biden, 53, flew to and from the courthouse for his recent Arkansas child-support hearing aboard a luxury private jet owned by Morris, according to the New York Post, which cited flight and business records.
The 2001 Dassault Falcon 50 — formerly owned by country singer Brad Paisely — is worth $6 million and registered to Plato LLC, for which Morris is reportedly the principal.
The jet took off from Los Angeles on April 30 just after 7 a.m., flew cross-country to Washington, D.C. where it landed, and then went to Arkansas for the hearing the next morning.
Afterward, the jet left around 11:30 a.m. to return to D.C.
The 7,326-mile round trip likely cost between $55,000 to $117,000, the Post reported, noting the total was the equivalent value of up to six months of Biden's child-support payments.
President Biden's son was in court trying to reduce his child-support obligations to his former mistress, Lunden Alexis Roberts, 32, a one-time stripper and mother of his four-year-old daughter, Navy Joan.
President Biden and the first lady have refused to publicly acknowledge the child's existence as their seventh grandchild.
According to Hunter Biden's lawyers, he's been paying $20,000 per month in child support, amounting to $750,000 paid so far.
Biden is arguing he can no longer afford the payments and needs them reduced due to what he's described as a "substantial material change" in his financial situation.
Roberts' attorney, Clint Lancaster, is skeptical of the idea that Biden can't make the payments, making a motion to have Biden disclose who funds his "stable of American super lawyers."
"Mr. Biden claims to be nothing more than a Yale-educated attorney/artist who is somewhat financially destitute and needs his child support adjusted," Lancaster wrote in a court filing for the recent hearing.
"However, for an artist living on meager means, Mr. Biden is living lavishly."
Beyond the child-support hearing, the Post cited flight records showing Morris' plane landing in or taking off from Fayetteville, Ark. at least nine times between February 2022 and April 2023.
Fayetteville is the home of Biden's financial adviser, Edward Prewitt.
Morris has helped Biden maintain his allegedly lavish lifestyle, according to several reports covering at least some of the first son's rent and living expenses.
Perhaps most famously, Morris loaned more than $2 million to Biden to help pay off the first son's overdue taxes, which are in part the subject of a years-long Justice Department investigation into possible tax evasion and other potential crimes.
Morris has additionally advised Biden on a host of legal, personal, and financial matters, ranging from his child-support lawsuit to how to respond to ongoing federal probes in his taxes and business affairs.
Biden lawyer Chris Clark told CBS News last year that Morris is serving as an "attorney and trusted adviser" to the first son.
Morris has also assisted Biden in selling his artwork.
Biden has taken up painting since getting sober and remarrying.
Many of his paintings have been priced at and sold for six-figure values, raising concerns among both the Biden administration and ethics experts about the potential of buyers, including foreigners, purchasing the art in order to influence presidential politics.
The White House developed guidelines for Biden to sell art without him or anyone in the administration knowing the details.
Meanwhile, emails and business records indicate Morris controls valuable assets of Biden as the first son seeks to renegotiate his child-support payments.
Indeed, Biden's stake in a Chinese private equity firm called BHR is now controlled by Morris, the Washington Free Beacon reported earlier this month.
Specifically, Morris controls Skaneateles, which holds Biden's 10% stake in BHR.
An amended joint venture contract for BHR Partners first obtained by the nonprofit investigative group Marco Polo identifies Morris as the managing member of Biden's LLC.
BHR Partners is co-owned by the Beijing-controlled Bank of China and manages $2.1 billion in assets.
Biden initially invested $420,000 in BHR Partners in October 2017 through his personal company, Skaneateles LLC.
His interest in the company spiked to an estimated $894,000, according to a March 2019 email from his former business partner, Eric Schwerin.
Biden's extensive ties to China have been the source of controversy for years and are increasingly coming under scrutiny.
Just this week, Fox News Digital reported that he was scheduled to meet with Alibaba Group co-founder Jack Ma and other Alibaba executives in 2016 as part of a week-long China trip to find potential investors for a movie production venture that Biden and his business partners signed an agreement on.
Among the Chinese investors that Biden pursued were multiple Chinese business executives with high-level ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
Morris met Biden in December 2019 at a fundraiser for the elder Biden's presidential campaign and, according to the New York Times, "soon developed an almost paternal affection" for the now-first son.
Both men lived in Los Angeles and became close as Biden was being scrutinized by then-President Trump and his allies.
According to campaign finance records, Morris had donated $2,800 to the Biden campaign before meeting Hunter and gave $55,000 to super PACs supporting the campaign and opposing Trump in the months after the meeting — much more than he had given to such groups previously.
Morris' wide-ranging support for Biden comes as the president's son continues to be the subject of federal investigations into his finances and complex web of business dealings abroad by the Justice Department and House Republicans.
An IRS whistleblower — Gary Shapley, a 14-year veteran of the agency — had gone public accusing the Justice Department of "slow-walking" its probe into the first son's finances.
It's unclear what the outcome of the investigation will be, but it could have profound political consequences for the president.
But whatever happens, it seems likely Morris will be there to advise Hunter.
Amid the ongoing investigations, Morris assisted Biden in finishing his 2021 memoir, "Beautiful Things," which chronicled his drug and alcohol addictions.
Biden included Morris — who reportedly found a high-powered literary agent for the first son — as part of "the outstanding team behind this book" on the acknowledgments page of his memoir.
Morris has also worked on a documentary project that's expected to build on the memoir's story of redemption while portraying Biden as the victim of attacks from conservatives and Republicans in recent years.
Ironically, the famed lawyer has also been accused separately of posing as a documentarian.
Indeed, Morris allegedly lied to get on to the film set of "My Son Hunter," an independent movie that presents a fictionalized and unflattering account of Biden's drug use and foreign business dealings.
According to several reports, Morris flew to Serbia with two colleagues, identified himself by name to the film crew, and said he was making a documentary about Biden's alleged "corruption" without revealing their relationship.
Morris and his two colleagues were given full access to the set for several days, taping hours of footage for the supposed documentary.
However, when revelations about Morris' connection to Biden first came to light last year, Phelim McAleer, a producer of the film, called the lawyer's behavior "unethical," adding that "if I had known that he was providing legal and media consult to Hunter Biden, I would have treated him rather differently."
"This was an information gathering exercise by a lawyer and his associates for their client," McAleer said in a press release.
"Now that I know of his representation of Hunter Biden, his questions while they were filming suddenly make a lot of sense."
"I thought he was just making a documentary but now it appears he was deceptively spying for his client Hunter Biden."
According to the New York Times, Morris, who's been working to undermine Republican attacks against Biden, could use the footage from Serbia for his documentary.
Morris didn't respond to requests for comment for this story.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 5189&ei=63
Re: POLITICS
The Daily Mail
"'You guys realize you're not in the real world': Biden mocks reporters for debt ceiling questions"
Story by Geoff Earle, Deputy U.S. Political Editor For Dailymail.com
29 MAY 2023
* Biden said there was 'no reason' why the bipartisan deal wouldn't pass by June 5
* He said reporters who asked about it weren't in the 'real world'
* He smiled and laughed when asked about DeSantis' pardon claim
President Joe Biden dismissed questions about the state of play for a debt limit and budget deal, saying reporters who questioned him aren't in the 'real world' – then mocked their negotiating skills and said he would be foolish to talk up the compromise before the looming vote.
Biden made the comments as he left the White House after taking part in a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, as his agreement with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was taking shots from both the conservative right and the progressive left – including from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
He hailed it as a 'bipartisan deal' that deserved passage and would clear Congress by the 'X date' of June 5th when the nation would go into default.
'You guys you realize you're not in the real world,' Biden told reporters when asked about the compromise as he prepared to fly to his Wilmington home for a night, after spending the weekend at Camp David.
He said the deal would get done by June 5th 'no question.'
The House Rules Committee is preparing to meet Tuesday to start House and Senate action this week.
Biden also said he spoke to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who praised the agreement.
'There is no reason why it shouldn't get done by the fifth.'
'I'm confident that we'll get a vote in both houses, and we'll see,' he said.
At another point, when asked for his message to Democrats who were grousing about it, Biden said it was 'talk to me.'
Asked what he would tell them, Biden said: 'I'm not going to tell you.'
Then he said it would be absurd to try to cast the deal as a win now.
Some House progressives have ripped it, saying it would lock in cuts pushed by Republicans.
'How about if this was a 100 percent deal for the Democrats.'
'You think that'd help me get it passed?'
'Come on,' Biden said.
He expanded: 'One of the things that I hear some of you saying is why doesn't Biden say what a good deal it is?'
'Why would Biden say what a good deal it is before the vote?'
'You think that's going to help me get it passed?'
'No.'
'That's why you guys don't bargain very well. Anyway ...'
At the same time, a group of House GOP conservatives have said the deal's suspension of the debt ceiling until January 2025 amounts to a $4 billion increase.
'Well, prior to this deal ... our country was careening towards bankruptcy."
"And after this deal our country will still be careening towards bankruptcy,' said GOP presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
'And to say you can do $4 trillion of increases in the next year and a half, I mean, that's a massive amount of spending,' he said.
As for Biden's own assessment, he said: 'It feels good.'
'We'll see when the vote starts.
He said he hasn't yet had a chance to speak to Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who has been lobbing criticism at it.
There is no reason it shouldn’t get done by the 5th. I’m confident that we’ll get a vote in both Houses and we’ll see.”
Biden smiled and laughed when asked a question about DeSantis saying he would pardon former President Donald Trump.
(DeSantis said last week he would review individuals on a 'case by case basis' when asked about Trump and January 6 defendants, and said he would start the process on 'Day One.')
Biden raised his hand and turned away when he got the question. 'I'll see you guys,' he said, without answering directly.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... a5bc&ei=27
"'You guys realize you're not in the real world': Biden mocks reporters for debt ceiling questions"
Story by Geoff Earle, Deputy U.S. Political Editor For Dailymail.com
29 MAY 2023
* Biden said there was 'no reason' why the bipartisan deal wouldn't pass by June 5
* He said reporters who asked about it weren't in the 'real world'
* He smiled and laughed when asked about DeSantis' pardon claim
President Joe Biden dismissed questions about the state of play for a debt limit and budget deal, saying reporters who questioned him aren't in the 'real world' – then mocked their negotiating skills and said he would be foolish to talk up the compromise before the looming vote.
Biden made the comments as he left the White House after taking part in a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, as his agreement with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was taking shots from both the conservative right and the progressive left – including from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
He hailed it as a 'bipartisan deal' that deserved passage and would clear Congress by the 'X date' of June 5th when the nation would go into default.
'You guys you realize you're not in the real world,' Biden told reporters when asked about the compromise as he prepared to fly to his Wilmington home for a night, after spending the weekend at Camp David.
He said the deal would get done by June 5th 'no question.'
The House Rules Committee is preparing to meet Tuesday to start House and Senate action this week.
Biden also said he spoke to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who praised the agreement.
'There is no reason why it shouldn't get done by the fifth.'
'I'm confident that we'll get a vote in both houses, and we'll see,' he said.
At another point, when asked for his message to Democrats who were grousing about it, Biden said it was 'talk to me.'
Asked what he would tell them, Biden said: 'I'm not going to tell you.'
Then he said it would be absurd to try to cast the deal as a win now.
Some House progressives have ripped it, saying it would lock in cuts pushed by Republicans.
'How about if this was a 100 percent deal for the Democrats.'
'You think that'd help me get it passed?'
'Come on,' Biden said.
He expanded: 'One of the things that I hear some of you saying is why doesn't Biden say what a good deal it is?'
'Why would Biden say what a good deal it is before the vote?'
'You think that's going to help me get it passed?'
'No.'
'That's why you guys don't bargain very well. Anyway ...'
At the same time, a group of House GOP conservatives have said the deal's suspension of the debt ceiling until January 2025 amounts to a $4 billion increase.
'Well, prior to this deal ... our country was careening towards bankruptcy."
"And after this deal our country will still be careening towards bankruptcy,' said GOP presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
'And to say you can do $4 trillion of increases in the next year and a half, I mean, that's a massive amount of spending,' he said.
As for Biden's own assessment, he said: 'It feels good.'
'We'll see when the vote starts.
He said he hasn't yet had a chance to speak to Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who has been lobbing criticism at it.
There is no reason it shouldn’t get done by the 5th. I’m confident that we’ll get a vote in both Houses and we’ll see.”
Biden smiled and laughed when asked a question about DeSantis saying he would pardon former President Donald Trump.
(DeSantis said last week he would review individuals on a 'case by case basis' when asked about Trump and January 6 defendants, and said he would start the process on 'Day One.')
Biden raised his hand and turned away when he got the question. 'I'll see you guys,' he said, without answering directly.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... a5bc&ei=27