Replies to post #463869 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[blackhawks]

That's on Hunter. STILL no evidence of Joe Biden's involvement in his son's business. And you can't make any more of it than the hapless feckless f'ks in the GOP House have. Get used to it, they made a hash of it because they assumed that what they wanted to believe was true. It wasn't, it isn't.

[newmedman]

In 2006, Biden and his uncle James Biden purchased international hedge fund Paradigm Global Advisors with an $8 million promissory note,[34] but the joint promotion of the fund by an entity of troubled Stanford Financial Group hastened the unwinding of the company in 2010.[39] In September 2008, Hunter Biden founded a consultancy company named Seneca Global Advisors that offered to help companies expand into foreign markets.[40] Biden was a partner in investment vehicles that included the name "Seneca" to denote his participation.[41] In 2009, he, Devon Archer, and Christopher Heinz founded the investment and advisory firm Rosemont Seneca Partners.[34] He also co-founded venture capital firm Eudora Global.[29] He held the position of counsel in the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner LLP in 2014.[21] Biden was on the board of directors of World Food Program USA, a 501(c)(3) charity based in Washington, D.C., that supports the work of the UN World Food Programme from 2011 to 2017; he served as board chairman from 2011 to 2015.[42]

Shell companies are often registered to the address of a different firm or company whose purpose is providing services to shell companies, including receipt of legal correspondence. Such firms can include lawyers and accountants. Also, a shell parent company can act as trustee for a trust.

[sortagreen]

I realize sittin' out there in the holler doing meth and drinkin' shine can addle your thought processes. But please tell us what you're talking about.

What shell companies are we talking about here?

When did Hunter Biden register as a foreign agent?

[fuagf]

B402, See -- Fact check: Republicans make false, misleading claims at first Biden impeachment inquiry hearing
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=172932450

and

[...]How Republicans overhype the findings of their Hunter Biden probe
[...]
“The Committee has identified over 20 companies affiliated with certain Biden family members and their business associates.”
— Majority staff of the House Oversight Committee, Second Bank Records memorandum, released May 10

“We’ve identified about 20-plus shell companies that the Bidens have created to launder the money they were receiving from foreign nationals down to their personal bank account.”
— Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, interview on Fox Business, May 11

“The Committee has now identified over $20 million in payments from foreign sources to the Biden family and their business associates.”
— Majority staff of the House Oversight Committee, Third Bank Records memorandum, released Aug. 9

“The Biden family received over $20 million from our enemies around the world. What did they do to receive the money?”
— Comer, interview on Newsmax, Aug. 10
[...]
For instance, the second staff memo never says that Hunter Biden used “shell” companies — a term often associated with shady or illegal activity, even though a shell company is a legitimate entity. Comer once described such an entity as “a fake company … they don’t make anything. They don’t produce anything. They don’t provide a good or service.” He is not wrong about many shell companies, but the memo lists real companies, with active websites and real business functions. (The third staff memo refers to just one “shell” company, which we will describe later.)

As for the $20 million in payments, Comer and other Republicans invoke this figure often. A close reading of the memos, however, finds that only about $7 million can be directly attributed to Biden family members, mostly Hunter, while the rest went to “associates,” according to the memos. Yet Comer and other lawmakers misleadingly suggest all of the money went to the Biden family or, as some label it, “the Biden crime family ..

Joe Biden is The Brand.@GOPoversight just uncovered $20 MILLION paid to the Biden Crime Family from Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan for access to the power and influence of Vice President Joe Biden.

And Joe Biden knew, he was at the dinners!https://t.co/Qb9QMrlFB2

— Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@FmrRepMTG) August 9, 2023

.” No evidence has emerged that any of these funds can be traced to Joe Biden himself.

Let’s detail the difference between the memos and the rhetoric.

‘Shell’ companies

Comer often suggests that the Biden family used these so-called shell companies to launder money; in his telling, such companies served no legitimate function. But that claim is undercut by the list of 21 companies that appear in the second staff memo.

Virtually all of the companies (many of which now are defunct) had legitimate business interests. Others had clearly identified business investments. Digging through the records, we find only three whose business purpose remains vague; one (Rosemont Seneca Global Risk Services, LLC) may not even be related to Hunter Biden, according to an email found in Hunter Biden’s laptop. The memos do not list any payments that flowed through these three companies.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=173686541

And re one aspect of the relative corruption in the two parties:

Rick Gates Delivers a Public Lesson on Money Laundering and Political Corruption
[...]
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[INSERT: Major GOP donor Len Blavatnik had business ties to a Russian official
[...]
Blavatnik’s donations to US politicians
Between 2009 and 2014, Blavatnik, a dual US-UK citizen, had been giving .. https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2018/05/08/putins-proxies-helped-funnel-millions-gop-campaigns .. relatively small donations to both US political parties; his biggest spend was a total $273,600 in the 2014 election cycle.
P - However, from 2015 to late 2017, he donated at least $6.35 million to Republican party institutions, PACs, and candidates, May wrote in the Dallas Morning News, based on FEC data. He gave the money in a mixture of personal donations and contributions via Access Industries and AI Altep Holdings, which he also reportedly owns. (The two firms share the same CEO and Blavatnik’s brother is listed as AI Altep’s director, according to Open Corporates.)
P - Most of that cash went to Super PACs associated with Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and onetime presidential candidates Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, John Kasich, and Lindsey Graham. McConnell, Rubio, Walker, and Kasich didn’t respond to emailed requests for comment. A spokesman for Graham said the South Carolina senator “has been one of the harshest critics of Russia/Putin out there” and noted that it’s illegal for candidates to coordinate with Super PACs, while inexplicably linking to an article .. https://publicintegrity.org/federal-politics/rules-against-coordination-between-super-pacs-candidates-tough-to-enforce/ .. on how politicians are almost never actually punished for such coordination.
P - Trump’s campaign didn’t receive any Blavatnik cash during the 2016 campaign but he has donated .. https://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-funds-donald-trumps-defense-in-russia-probe-with-help-from-a-handful-of-wealthy-people-1506109617 .. large sums to the Republican National Committee’s legal fund, which has helped finance Trump’s legal defense for the Russia probe, according to the Wall Street Journal. He also gave $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee. The committee raised an astonishing $107 million and reportedly spent $104 million; around double the cost of Barack Obama’s 2009 inaugural celebrations. More than $1.5 million went to Trump’s hotel in Washington, according to .. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/us/politics/trump-inauguration-spending.html .. the New York Times. The White House did not respond to an emailed request for comment. https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=166428196 ]
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https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=172531071

[arizona1]

You live in a shithole state so quit lecturing us.

West Virginia GOP wants exemptions for vaccines as measles spreads in 15 states

West Virginia’s Republicans passed a bill through the House of Delegates on Monday that would allow religious exemptions for vaccines required for school attendance. The bill comes as dozens of measles cases across 15 states have been reported. The bill will now head to the state Senate for debate. If the bill passes, it would be the first nonmedical vaccine exemption allowed in West Virginia.

The bill began as a proposal to eliminate vaccine requirements for public virtual schooling, but it has expanded to allow private schools the right to decide whether to require vaccinations for their students. Whether the bill would allow parents to exempt their child from a public school’s vaccine mandate remains unclear at this time, according to analysis from ABC News.

The state GOP’s attempt to dismantle public health protections isn’t going over well with some West Virginians, though. Dr. Steven Eshenaur, the health officer for the Kanawha-Charleston health department, told the Associated Press, “It escapes sound reasoning why anyone would want to weaken childhood immunization laws. Our children are more important than any agenda that would bring these horrific diseases back to the Mountain State.”
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/2/29/2226648/-West-Virginia-GOP-wants-exemptions-for-vaccines-as-measles-spreads-in-15-states?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_2&pm_medium=web