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Saturday, Mar. 17, 2018
All Gave Some~Some Gave All
*****
Top of the mornin
Shaq Unveils BOLD Idea For Preventing School Shootings, Liberals Will HATE It
NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has a bold idea for preventing shoot shootings, and liberals will hate it.
During an interview Tuesday with WABC’s “Curtis and Cosby,” O’Neal said additional funding to put police officers in every school would keep students much safer than banning guns.
As noted by the Independent Journal Review, the former NBA player said state and local law enforcement departments should be given additional funding to place officers at schools.
O’Neil, a Florida resident and part-time sheriff’s deputy, said departments could station officers at schools full-time to provide security.
“You put ’em in front of the schools, you put ’em behind the schools, you put ’em inside the schools, and we need to pass information,” O’Neal said.
He added: “I would like to see police officers in schools, inner cities, private schools.”
Explaining how he grew up on a military base, O’Neil said it was common for officers to be stationed at buildings to provide security.
His idea is simple: potential shooters will more than likely be deterred if they know armed police officers are present and can fight back.
As simple — and logical — as the idea is, liberals likely won’t consider it given many want to ban all assault firearms in America.
O’Neil’s comments were in response to the tragic shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last month.
Immediately after the shooting, Democrats and far-left groups have exploited the tragedy to promote their calls for banning semi-automatic guns.
O’Neal said banning guns isn’t the answer, but called for tougher background checks and a more proactive strategy to thwart a possible attacker.
“If you can’t protect our children in school, where are they safe?” he asked.
Many Americans agree with O’Neil that despite efforts from Obama-allied groups, eroding the Second Amendment is not the answer.
Armed police officers in every school across the country would play a big role in making a potential psychopath think twice before carrying out an attack.
During an interview Tuesday with WABC’s “Curtis and Cosby,” O’Neal said additional funding to put police officers in every school would keep students much safer than banning guns.
As noted by the Independent Journal Review, the former NBA player said state and local law enforcement departments should be given additional funding to place officers at schools.
O’Neil, a Florida resident and part-time sheriff’s deputy, said departments could station officers at schools full-time to provide security.
“You put ’em in front of the schools, you put ’em behind the schools, you put ’em inside the schools, and we need to pass information,” O’Neal said.
He added: “I would like to see police officers in schools, inner cities, private schools.”
Explaining how he grew up on a military base, O’Neil said it was common for officers to be stationed at buildings to provide security.
His idea is simple: potential shooters will more than likely be deterred if they know armed police officers are present and can fight back.
As simple — and logical — as the idea is, liberals likely won’t consider it given many want to ban all assault firearms in America.
O’Neil’s comments were in response to the tragic shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last month.
Immediately after the shooting, Democrats and far-left groups have exploited the tragedy to promote their calls for banning semi-automatic guns.
O’Neal said banning guns isn’t the answer, but called for tougher background checks and a more proactive strategy to thwart a possible attacker.
“If you can’t protect our children in school, where are they safe?” he asked.
Many Americans agree with O’Neil that despite efforts from Obama-allied groups, eroding the Second Amendment is not the answer.
Armed police officers in every school across the country would play a big role in making a potential psychopath think twice before carrying out an attack.
Dave Brat: Larry Kudlow ‘Is Going to Be a Breath of Fresh Air’ in the White House
by SEAN MORAN
AP Photo/Richard Drew
Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, told Breitbart News Daily on Thursday that newly tapped National Economic Council chairman Larry Kudlow “is going to be a breath of fresh air” in the White House.
President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he picked former Ronald Reagan economist and longtime CNBC commentator Larry Kudlow as his chief economic adviser and director of the National Economic Council.
“Larry Kudlow was offered, and accepted, the position of Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
Congressman Brat told Breitbart News Daily, “On Kudlow, this guy is going to be phenomenal. I think he’s super. He goes back to the Reagan era. He ran the OMB, the Office of Management and Budget. He’s a total free-marketeer. He’s familiar with everything: Reagan politics, free-market economics, Wall Street, TV host, and everybody likes him. Democrats like him. Republicans like him. But he doesn’t shrink back from his message.”
Brat continued, “He knows better than anyone that the performance coming out of free-markets and letting individuals alone and not encumbering them with unending regulations is going to serve us all better in short and the long run. He put together the tax bill way back when, and now, he’s got a slot in the there. He’s going to be a total breath of fresh air.”
Breitbart News Daily host Amanda House then asked Rep. Brat why Congress cannot pass any significant gun legislation, such as national reciprocity. Brat blames the Senate.
Brat explained why the Senate cannot pass any significant legislation: “We passed that a couple months ago. The Senate is the issue on everything. The Senate bombed on health care. The Senate bombs on everything. That’s where everything goes to die. We could if we use budget reconciliation and pass something with 51 votes, but this year, I don’t know if people know, but the Senate did not put that in the budget; we gave up our only ability to pass legislation as Republicans. So we gave up budget reconciliation unilaterally.”
“The Republicans gave up power for no reason,” the Virginia Republican added.
Congressman Brat then discussed the upcoming 2018 midterms and charged that Republicans need to focus on core issues to win.
Brat suggested, “We have to get back to our basic issues. They will lose on the basic issues. Obamacare is still the law of the land. The promise was that you can keep your doctor [and that] prices will stay down. None of that was true. We need to get back to our pillars.”
“The Democrats are going to kick in with the politics of personal destruction. It’s just name-calling,” Brat stated.
Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. Eastern.
Big Abortion wants a monopoly
by Frank Pavone
Last year, according to its own annual report, Planned Parenthood performed 321,384 abortions.(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
The abortion industry doesn’t really like “choice.” It likes monopolies. It wants to be one. It wants to have, as Merriam-Webster defines monopoly, "exclusive ownership through legal privilege, command of supply, or concerted action."
Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and other life-terminators want abortion to be the only option for women with unexpected pregnancies. The more abortions there are, the more money they make.
That’s why abortionists want to wipe out anyone who offers alternatives to ending the life of an “unwanted” child. Aspiring monopolies don’t like competition, and the abortion industry considers pro-life pregnancy resource centers to be “competition.” They want them gone.
To this end, the abortion lobby has convinced abortion-loving legislators and governors in California, Hawaii, and Illinois to grant it “legal privilege” to shut down pregnancy resource centers. These charitable centers, you see, consist of women offering women options other than abortion. They provide free pregnancy tests, ultrasound images of unborn children, counseling, medical and legal services, job and education opportunities, housing, parenting classes, adoption services, diapers, vitamins, and other assistance. They offer women hope.
When women hear that they have options and that there are people to help and share with them, they often choose life for their babies — in 2015, 300,000 women did. With early abortions costing, on average, $600, that’s at least $180 million in potential fees lost. A lot of abortionists didn’t get their luxury vacations.
So, abortionists are trying to fix that. They’ve had their political minions enact laws that require pro-life pregnancy centers to inform women that abortions are readily available to them, possibly for free. And, depending on the state law involved, they’ve made it practically impossible for pregnancy resource centers to advertise and, if they are religiously based, to practice their faith.
Sound familiar? It should.
Previously, the abortion industry tried to force religious organizations (including the one I lead, Priests for Life) to promote abortion, an action that violated not only our fundamental beliefs and religious liberty, but also in our case, our very reason for existence. Abortion proponents used the heavy hand of the federal government to try to coerce us into making abortion more available (through our insurance plans). After a long legal battle and a change of administrations in the White House, the abortion lobby failed.
Now, they’ve turned their attention to the states in more attempts to mandate that religious groups promote the taking of innocent human lives. As previously mentioned, one of the places they’ve turned to is Hawaii.
Hawaii recently adopted a law that requires pro-life pregnancy centers “to disclose the availability of and enrollment information for reproductive health services” — services that include abortion — to women who enter their premises. While this is similar to the laws in California and Illinois, in Hawaii a pregnancy resource center happens to be located in a church building. The statute, then, would force Calvary Chapel Pearl Harbor to promote on its church grounds a practice that directly contradicts its teaching.
Not only is free speech at stake here, so is the right of churches to be free from the government forcing them to violate their beliefs. If these laws are upheld, pregnancy resource centers would face two options — promote the activity that they are working to help women avoid (abortion) or be fined out of existence.
Under California’s law, which is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, pro-life centers that assist women will be fined $500 the first time they fail to post an abortion referral notice; $1,000 per violation thereafter. While compliance with the law is unthinkable, noncompliance would make these nonprofit organizations unsustainable. Either way, the abortion industry would be that much closer to its goal of monopolizing the messages pregnant women hear.
Last year, according to its own annual report, Planned Parenthood performed 321,384 abortions. During that same period, it performed 7,762 “prenatal services” and made 3,889 adoption referrals. While Planned Parenthood won’t reveal how many pregnant women actually received its “prenatal services,” we can safely conclude that too many women who enter a Planned Parenthood clinic pregnant leave that facility not pregnant.
We can also safely deduce that the guidance received at abortion clinics is about as nondirective as that received in the manager’s office of a car dealership. Abortionists sell abortion. It’s their livelihood.
And as far as they’re concerned, the fewer viable options pregnant women think they have, the better.
Father Frank Pavone (@frfrankpavone) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. He is the national director of Priests for Life.
Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and other life-terminators want abortion to be the only option for women with unexpected pregnancies. The more abortions there are, the more money they make.
That’s why abortionists want to wipe out anyone who offers alternatives to ending the life of an “unwanted” child. Aspiring monopolies don’t like competition, and the abortion industry considers pro-life pregnancy resource centers to be “competition.” They want them gone.
To this end, the abortion lobby has convinced abortion-loving legislators and governors in California, Hawaii, and Illinois to grant it “legal privilege” to shut down pregnancy resource centers. These charitable centers, you see, consist of women offering women options other than abortion. They provide free pregnancy tests, ultrasound images of unborn children, counseling, medical and legal services, job and education opportunities, housing, parenting classes, adoption services, diapers, vitamins, and other assistance. They offer women hope.
When women hear that they have options and that there are people to help and share with them, they often choose life for their babies — in 2015, 300,000 women did. With early abortions costing, on average, $600, that’s at least $180 million in potential fees lost. A lot of abortionists didn’t get their luxury vacations.
So, abortionists are trying to fix that. They’ve had their political minions enact laws that require pro-life pregnancy centers to inform women that abortions are readily available to them, possibly for free. And, depending on the state law involved, they’ve made it practically impossible for pregnancy resource centers to advertise and, if they are religiously based, to practice their faith.
Sound familiar? It should.
Previously, the abortion industry tried to force religious organizations (including the one I lead, Priests for Life) to promote abortion, an action that violated not only our fundamental beliefs and religious liberty, but also in our case, our very reason for existence. Abortion proponents used the heavy hand of the federal government to try to coerce us into making abortion more available (through our insurance plans). After a long legal battle and a change of administrations in the White House, the abortion lobby failed.
Now, they’ve turned their attention to the states in more attempts to mandate that religious groups promote the taking of innocent human lives. As previously mentioned, one of the places they’ve turned to is Hawaii.
Hawaii recently adopted a law that requires pro-life pregnancy centers “to disclose the availability of and enrollment information for reproductive health services” — services that include abortion — to women who enter their premises. While this is similar to the laws in California and Illinois, in Hawaii a pregnancy resource center happens to be located in a church building. The statute, then, would force Calvary Chapel Pearl Harbor to promote on its church grounds a practice that directly contradicts its teaching.
Not only is free speech at stake here, so is the right of churches to be free from the government forcing them to violate their beliefs. If these laws are upheld, pregnancy resource centers would face two options — promote the activity that they are working to help women avoid (abortion) or be fined out of existence.
Under California’s law, which is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, pro-life centers that assist women will be fined $500 the first time they fail to post an abortion referral notice; $1,000 per violation thereafter. While compliance with the law is unthinkable, noncompliance would make these nonprofit organizations unsustainable. Either way, the abortion industry would be that much closer to its goal of monopolizing the messages pregnant women hear.
Last year, according to its own annual report, Planned Parenthood performed 321,384 abortions. During that same period, it performed 7,762 “prenatal services” and made 3,889 adoption referrals. While Planned Parenthood won’t reveal how many pregnant women actually received its “prenatal services,” we can safely conclude that too many women who enter a Planned Parenthood clinic pregnant leave that facility not pregnant.
We can also safely deduce that the guidance received at abortion clinics is about as nondirective as that received in the manager’s office of a car dealership. Abortionists sell abortion. It’s their livelihood.
And as far as they’re concerned, the fewer viable options pregnant women think they have, the better.
Father Frank Pavone (@frfrankpavone) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. He is the national director of Priests for Life.
Human, sex trafficking up 842%, California leads
by Paul Bedard
With California leading the way, human trafficking, especially in the sex and labor trades, jumped again last year and has surged 842 percent since since the creation of a federally-supported hotline for victims.
A majority of cases reported last year to the National Human Trafficking Hotline and the BeFree Textline operated by Polaris involved sex.
“Reported cases of human trafficking continue to increase each year. In 2017, 8,759 cases were reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline and BeFree Textline. This number compares to 7,737 reported cases in 2016. The overall figures represent an 842 percent increase over the 10 years Polaris has operated the Hotline,” said the hotline operator which receives federal funding.0:16 / 04:53
A majority of cases reported last year to the National Human Trafficking Hotline and the BeFree Textline operated by Polaris involved sex.
“Reported cases of human trafficking continue to increase each year. In 2017, 8,759 cases were reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline and BeFree Textline. This number compares to 7,737 reported cases in 2016. The overall figures represent an 842 percent increase over the 10 years Polaris has operated the Hotline,” said the hotline operator which receives federal funding.0:16 / 04:53
First daughter Ivanka Trump on Tuesday huddled with congressional opponents of sex trafficking in a boost for legislation targeting online crimes. Her goal was to “highlight the progress that has been made and to discuss next steps in combating human trafficking,” said Lindsay Walters, White House deputy press secretary.
The annual Polaris report highlighted the number of victims that are coming forward to blow the whistle. It also gave details on the types of trafficking involved and where it ranks worst.
Sex trafficking hotline calls accounted for a majority of the calls, 6,081.
Next was labor human trafficking at 1,249.
The annual Polaris report highlighted the number of victims that are coming forward to blow the whistle. It also gave details on the types of trafficking involved and where it ranks worst.
Sex trafficking hotline calls accounted for a majority of the calls, 6,081.
Next was labor human trafficking at 1,249.
The percentages were similar on the BeFree Textline.
California led the way with some 15 percent of all human trafficking calls.
California led the way with some 15 percent of all human trafficking calls.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, commonly referred to as MBS, asserted that Riyadh will pursue nuclear weapons development if Iran possesses a nuclear bomb and reiterated his claim that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is “very much like Hitler” in a CBS interview to air on Sunday.
MBS, who has become the face of Saudi Arabia’s “modernization” campaign to eradicate corruption and contain Iranian expansion, sat down for an interview with 60 Minutes’ Norah O’Donnell that will air shortly before he arrives in Washington to meet with President Donald Trump.
The Trump administration has prioritized improving relations with Saudi Arabia. The president visited the country in May and helped establish a regional center to fight terrorism. Trump has also kept in close contact with King Salman and expressed support for the Saudi government’s crackdown on corruption.
Speaking to O’Donnell, MBS dismissed the idea that Iran is a “rival” to Saudi Arabia because its military and economy are too weak to be a real contender.
“Iran is not a rival to Saudi Arabia. Its army is not among the top five armies in the Muslim world,” he said. “The Saudi economy is larger than the Iranian economy. Iran is far from being equal to Saudi Arabia.”
He nonetheless reiterated his belief that Khamenei was “the new Hitler” and elaborated on his logic.
“He wants to expand,” he said. “He wants to create his own project in the Middle East very much like Hitler who wanted to expand at the time. Many countries around the world and in Europe did not realize how dangerous Hitler was until what happened, happened. I don’t want to see the same events happening in the Middle East.”
Asked whether he has ambitions for his country to develop and keep nuclear weapons, MBS said no, “but without a doubt, if Iran developed a nuclear bomb, we will follow suit as soon as possible.”
MBS first referred to Khamenei as a “Hitler” successor in November, in another interview geared toward American audiences. Speaking to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, the crown prince said, “[Iran’s] supreme leader is the new Hitler of the Middle East. We learned from Europe that appeasement doesn’t work. We don’t want the new Hitler in Iran to repeat what happened in Europe in the Middle East.”
More recently, MBS identified Iran as part of a “triangle of evil” including Turkey and “extremist religious groups” like the Islamic State. The Turkish government is run by Sunni Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, making it not a particularly overt ally to the Shiite Iranian government. The NATO members has moved away from supporting the Gulf States and America under Erdogan, however, and despite differences with Iran on the rule of dictator Bashar al-Assad in Syria, has attempted to establish closer ties to Tehran.
American officials consider Iran the world’s most prolific state sponsor of terrorism. American officials, in Congress and the executive branch, have warned that Iran uses its terror proxy, Hezbollah, to expand its influence in countries like Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Unit (PMU/PMF) militias also depend on Iran for financial and military aid. In Yemen, Iran supports the Shiite Houthi insurgents, who ousted President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi from the capital, Sana’a, and have remained in a stagnant civil war against Saudi-backed Sunni government fighters.
In Latin America, Iran relies upon the support of the communist governments of Cuba and Venezuela to help Hezbollah establish profitable drug and human trafficking operations, according to U.S. officials and think tanks.
Iranian officials have warned the Saudi government not to attack them directly. In May, following remarks by MBS calling the Iranian government “extremist” and warned, “We won’t wait for the battle to be in Saudi Arabia,” Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan told reporters, “If the Saudis do anything ignorant, we will leave no area untouched except Mecca and Medina.”
The Left’s Hysterical War Against the NRA
by Angela Box
“Never let a crisis go to waste.”
I seem to remember one Rahm Emmanuel, Democrat wunderkind, telling Barack Obama those very words in order to politically capitalize on a calamity.
Democrats are nothing if not consistent–consistently anti-Constitution that is.
Because for Democrats, the Bill of Rights is merely an inconvenience in furtherance of their ultimate power grab.
After the Parkland, Florida shooting, CNN produced an ambush town hall with scripted questions and an audience which consisted of 5,000 frothing, frenzied students and their liberal enablers.
One of the force-fed questions given to Republican Sen. Rubio–but NOT to Democrat Sen. NelsonPoor Dana Loesch, National Rifle Association spokesperson, and Senator Marco Rubio looked like proverbial deer in headlights as the pitchforks came out and basically blamed both of them for the massacre.
As questions about the NRA – liberals’ forever bogeyman – became more and more aggressive, Sen. Rubio’s and Loesch’s essential right to exist came into question.
Because Loesch represents the NRA–an organization of law-abiding gun owners that is 146 years old with millions of Americans belonging–she was called a murderer—and some in the audience even called out “Burn her!”
Sanctimony, lies, and scripted questions: This Is CNN.
Rubio was also blamed for the shooting simply because he takes money from the NRA. Never mind that Florida’s OTHER senator Bill Nelson also does!
For Jake Tapper and the clowns at CNN, this bit of hypocrisy doesn’t matter because Nelson—who was also present at the town hall–is a Democrat.
Liberals’ bizarre fixation with the NRA has now reached a fever pitch. Numerous companies have now cut ties with the organization, which will in turn make normal Americans flock to the NRA like never before.
Deflecting blame for his and the Broward County Sheriff’s Department’s failures, wee little Democrat liar Scott Israel tries to blame NRA’s Dana Loesch for his failures.
I mean, don’t these shortsighted, cowardly companies know what Constitutional conservatives did to the NFL this year?!
Probably the biggest outrage in this entire debacle is the behavior of the Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel. All accounts now point to the fact that there were over three dozen calls or visits concerning the very disturbed shooter Nikolas Cruz to both the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and/or the FBI.
In addition, we have now learned that the sheriff’s office, on the day of the shooting, essentially gave a stand-down order to their deputies–or certainly did not encourage them to engage the shooter. Emergency first responders have said they were prevented from entering the school! Can you imagine?
But instead of putting the blame on law enforcement failures locally and even nationally at the FBI, hacks like Scott Israel take the CNN Roman Coliseum-style town hall as an opportunity to place blame on millions of law-abiding Americans who had literally nothing to do with this tragedy.
Some of the cowardly companies boycotting the NRA. Do keep a list, won’t you?This small-minded, manipulative Democrat sheriff decided to whip the crowd into a frenzy and figuratively lynch the NRA.
Talk about shifting the blame!
It’s so ODD our pure-as-the-wind-driven-snow, unbiased media will not point out these hypocrisies as obvious C.Y.A. moves by Israel and the Broward County Sheriff’s Department, as well as the FBI.
Actually, it’s not odd at all. The media always looks to scapegoat the Second Amendment and the people sworn to protect it – and that includes the National Rifle Association.
The American people fully understand what is happening right in front of their faces. They see the blatant manipulation and lies. They highly resent being blamed for a tragedy that certainly looks like it could have been prevented had any one of the dozens of tips/incident reports relating to the shooter were then followed up or logged in the system so Cruz could not obtain a weapon.
Shooter Nikolas Cruz–the only one responsible for the Parkland murders. Dozens of opportunities were missed to stop this massacre from the local sheriff to the FBI.But instead, the tyrannical left seeks to disarm law-abiding Americans–and that has always been their goal.
As calls grow for sensible and pragmatic safety measures in schools intensify – like arming selected teachers with ongoing training and conceal carry licenses or having armed guards patrol the halls– liberals continue to stomp their feet and avoid talking about any solutions whatsoever.
Because never forget: liberals do not want to fix problems. They want continuing problems so as to gain and retain power. They think the public supports them. They are wrong.
As they often do, liberals overstep. They believe the media which tell them the majority of Americans believe as they believe.
They believe approximately half the population is transgendered and/or transitioning, want more of their money confiscated by the government, believe in the hoax of climate change, don’t want a border wall or extreme vetting of all immigrants, hate capitalism and the free market, demand abortion at all stages of pregnancy, and want the Second Amendment abolished.
The Second Amendment was put in the Bill of Rights to stop a tyrannical government from overstepping. The irony, of course, is liberals are the tyrants. They seek to disarm citizens while at the same time shoving their psycho-progressive groupthink down everybody’s throats.
The same liberals who thought Hillary Clinton was a lock to win the presidency also think the majority of Americans want to be disarmed. They are mistaken.
Don’t tell them this, but that farce of a CNN town hall just cost of them the midterm elections.
Make book on it now.
Inside the shady private equity firm run by Kerry and Biden’s kids
John Kerry (left) and Joe Biden.AP
“My frustration,” writes Peter Schweizer in his new book, “Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends,” “is not that the solid reporting on Trump has been too tough, but that the reporting on the Obama administration has been way too soft or in some cases nonexistent.” The author of the 2016 sensation “Clinton Cash” says Trump and his children didn’t invent the blurring of government and business, and details a number of ethical violations on both sides of the political aisle. One example: the little-noticed private equity firm run by the sons of Democrats Joe Biden and John Kerry, as detailed in this exclusive first excerpt.
Joe Biden and John Kerry have been pillars of the Washington establishment for more than 30 years. Biden is one of the most popular politicians in our nation’s capital.
His demeanor, sense of humor, and even his friendly gaffes have allowed him to form close relationships with both Democrats and Republicans. His public image is built around his “Lunch Bucket Joe” persona. As he reminds the American people on regular occasions, he has little wealth to show for his career, despite having reached the vice presidency.
One of his closest political allies in Washington is former senator and former Secretary of State John Kerry. “Lunch Bucket Joe” he ain’t; Kerry is more patrician than earthy. But the two men became close while serving for several decades together in the US Senate. The two “often talked on matters of foreign policy,” says Jules Witcover in his Biden biography.
So their sons going into business together in June 2009 was not exactly a bolt out of the blue.
But with whom their sons cut lucrative deals while the elder two were steering the ship of state is more of a surprise.
What Hunter Biden, the son of America’s vice president, and Christopher Heinz, the stepson of the chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (later to be secretary of state), were creating was an international private equity firm. It was anchored by the Heinz family alternative investment fund, Rosemont Capital. The new firm would be populated by political loyalists and positioned to strike profitable deals overseas with foreign governments and officials with whom the US government was negotiating.
Hunter Biden, Vice President Joe Biden’s youngest son, had gone through a series of jobs since graduating from Yale Law School in 1996, including the hedge-fund business.
By the summer of 2009, the 39-year-old Hunter joined forces with the son of another powerful figure in American politics, Chris Heinz. Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania had tragically died in a 1991 airplane crash when Chris was 18. Chris, his brothers, and his mother inherited a large chunk of the family’s vast ketchup fortune, including a network of investment funds and a Pennsylvania estate, among other properties. In May 1995, his mother, Teresa, married Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. That same year, Chris graduated from Yale, and then went on to get his MBA from Harvard Business School.
Modal Trigger Hunter Biden (left) with father Joe Biden following the inauguration ceremony of President Barack Obama, Jan. 20, 2009.REUTERS
Joining them in the Rosemont venture was Devon Archer, a longtime Heinz and Kerry friend.
The three friends established a series of related LLCs. The trunk of the tree was Rosemont Capital, the alternative investment fund of the Heinz Family Office. Rosemont Farm is the name of the Heinz family’s 90-acre estate outside Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania.
The small fund grew quickly. According to an email revealed as part of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, Rosemont described themselves as “a $2.4 billion private equity firm co-owned by Hunter Biden and Chris Heinz,” with Devon Archer as “Managing Partner.”
The partners attached several branches to the Rosemont Capital trunk, including Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC, Rosemont Seneca Technology Partners, and Rosemont Realty.
Of the various deals in which these Rosemont entities were involved, one of the largest and most troubling concerns was Rosemont Seneca Partners.
Rather than set up shop in New York City, the financial capital of the world, Rosemont Seneca leased space in Washington, DC. They occupied an all-brick building on Wisconsin Avenue, the main thoroughfare of exclusive Georgetown. Their offices would be less than a mile from John and Teresa Kerry’s 23-room Georgetown mansion,
and just two miles from both Joe Biden’s office in the White House and his residence at the Naval Observatory.
In short, the Chinese government was literally funding a business that it co-owned along with the sons of two of America’s most powerful decision makers.Over the next seven years, as both Joe Biden and John Kerry negotiated sensitive and high-stakes deals with foreign governments, Rosemont entities secured a series of exclusive deals often with those same foreign governments.
Some of the deals they secured may remain hidden. These Rosemont entities are, after all, within a private equity firm and as such are not required to report or disclose their financial dealings publicly.
Some of their transactions are nevertheless traceable by investigating world capital markets. A troubling pattern emerges from this research, showing how profitable deals were struck with foreign governments on the heels of crucial diplomatic missions carried out by their powerful fathers. Often those foreign entities gained favorable policy actions from the United States government just as the sons were securing favorable financial deals from those same entities.
Nowhere is that more true than in their commercial dealings with Chinese government-backed enterprises.
Rosemont Seneca joined forces in doing business in China with another politically connected consultancy called the Thornton Group. The Massachusetts-based firm is headed by James Bulger, the nephew of the notorious mob hitman James “Whitey” Bulger. Whitey was the leader of the Winter Hill Gang, part of the South Boston mafia. Under indictment for 19 murders, he disappeared. He was later arrested, tried, and convicted.
James Bulger’s father, Whitey’s younger brother, Billy Bulger, serves on the board of directors of the Thornton Group. He was the longtime leader of the Massachusetts state Senate and, with their long overlap by state and by party, a political ally of Massachusetts Senator John Kerry.
Less than a year after opening Rosemont Seneca’s doors, Hunter Biden and Devon Archer were in China, having secured access at the highest levels. Thornton Group’s account of the meeting on their Chinese-language website was telling: Chinese executives “extended their warm welcome” to the “Thornton Group, with its US partner Rosemont Seneca chairman Hunter Biden (second son of the now Vice President Joe Biden).”
The purpose of the meetings was to “explore the possibility of commercial cooperation and opportunity.” Curiously, details about the meeting do not appear on their English-language website.
Also, according to the Thornton Group, the three Americans met with the largest and most powerful government fund leaders in China — even though Rosemont was both new and small.
The timing of this meeting was also curious. It occurred just hours before Hunter Biden’s father, the vice president, met with Chinese President Hu in Washington as part of the Nuclear Security Summit.
Joe Biden and John Kerry have been pillars of the Washington establishment for more than 30 years. Biden is one of the most popular politicians in our nation’s capital.
His demeanor, sense of humor, and even his friendly gaffes have allowed him to form close relationships with both Democrats and Republicans. His public image is built around his “Lunch Bucket Joe” persona. As he reminds the American people on regular occasions, he has little wealth to show for his career, despite having reached the vice presidency.
One of his closest political allies in Washington is former senator and former Secretary of State John Kerry. “Lunch Bucket Joe” he ain’t; Kerry is more patrician than earthy. But the two men became close while serving for several decades together in the US Senate. The two “often talked on matters of foreign policy,” says Jules Witcover in his Biden biography.
So their sons going into business together in June 2009 was not exactly a bolt out of the blue.
But with whom their sons cut lucrative deals while the elder two were steering the ship of state is more of a surprise.
What Hunter Biden, the son of America’s vice president, and Christopher Heinz, the stepson of the chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (later to be secretary of state), were creating was an international private equity firm. It was anchored by the Heinz family alternative investment fund, Rosemont Capital. The new firm would be populated by political loyalists and positioned to strike profitable deals overseas with foreign governments and officials with whom the US government was negotiating.
Hunter Biden, Vice President Joe Biden’s youngest son, had gone through a series of jobs since graduating from Yale Law School in 1996, including the hedge-fund business.
By the summer of 2009, the 39-year-old Hunter joined forces with the son of another powerful figure in American politics, Chris Heinz. Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania had tragically died in a 1991 airplane crash when Chris was 18. Chris, his brothers, and his mother inherited a large chunk of the family’s vast ketchup fortune, including a network of investment funds and a Pennsylvania estate, among other properties. In May 1995, his mother, Teresa, married Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. That same year, Chris graduated from Yale, and then went on to get his MBA from Harvard Business School.
Modal Trigger Hunter Biden (left) with father Joe Biden following the inauguration ceremony of President Barack Obama, Jan. 20, 2009.REUTERS
Joining them in the Rosemont venture was Devon Archer, a longtime Heinz and Kerry friend.
The three friends established a series of related LLCs. The trunk of the tree was Rosemont Capital, the alternative investment fund of the Heinz Family Office. Rosemont Farm is the name of the Heinz family’s 90-acre estate outside Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania.
The small fund grew quickly. According to an email revealed as part of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, Rosemont described themselves as “a $2.4 billion private equity firm co-owned by Hunter Biden and Chris Heinz,” with Devon Archer as “Managing Partner.”
The partners attached several branches to the Rosemont Capital trunk, including Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC, Rosemont Seneca Technology Partners, and Rosemont Realty.
Of the various deals in which these Rosemont entities were involved, one of the largest and most troubling concerns was Rosemont Seneca Partners.
Rather than set up shop in New York City, the financial capital of the world, Rosemont Seneca leased space in Washington, DC. They occupied an all-brick building on Wisconsin Avenue, the main thoroughfare of exclusive Georgetown. Their offices would be less than a mile from John and Teresa Kerry’s 23-room Georgetown mansion,
and just two miles from both Joe Biden’s office in the White House and his residence at the Naval Observatory.
In short, the Chinese government was literally funding a business that it co-owned along with the sons of two of America’s most powerful decision makers.Over the next seven years, as both Joe Biden and John Kerry negotiated sensitive and high-stakes deals with foreign governments, Rosemont entities secured a series of exclusive deals often with those same foreign governments.
Some of the deals they secured may remain hidden. These Rosemont entities are, after all, within a private equity firm and as such are not required to report or disclose their financial dealings publicly.
Some of their transactions are nevertheless traceable by investigating world capital markets. A troubling pattern emerges from this research, showing how profitable deals were struck with foreign governments on the heels of crucial diplomatic missions carried out by their powerful fathers. Often those foreign entities gained favorable policy actions from the United States government just as the sons were securing favorable financial deals from those same entities.
Nowhere is that more true than in their commercial dealings with Chinese government-backed enterprises.
Rosemont Seneca joined forces in doing business in China with another politically connected consultancy called the Thornton Group. The Massachusetts-based firm is headed by James Bulger, the nephew of the notorious mob hitman James “Whitey” Bulger. Whitey was the leader of the Winter Hill Gang, part of the South Boston mafia. Under indictment for 19 murders, he disappeared. He was later arrested, tried, and convicted.
James Bulger’s father, Whitey’s younger brother, Billy Bulger, serves on the board of directors of the Thornton Group. He was the longtime leader of the Massachusetts state Senate and, with their long overlap by state and by party, a political ally of Massachusetts Senator John Kerry.
Less than a year after opening Rosemont Seneca’s doors, Hunter Biden and Devon Archer were in China, having secured access at the highest levels. Thornton Group’s account of the meeting on their Chinese-language website was telling: Chinese executives “extended their warm welcome” to the “Thornton Group, with its US partner Rosemont Seneca chairman Hunter Biden (second son of the now Vice President Joe Biden).”
The purpose of the meetings was to “explore the possibility of commercial cooperation and opportunity.” Curiously, details about the meeting do not appear on their English-language website.
Also, according to the Thornton Group, the three Americans met with the largest and most powerful government fund leaders in China — even though Rosemont was both new and small.
The timing of this meeting was also curious. It occurred just hours before Hunter Biden’s father, the vice president, met with Chinese President Hu in Washington as part of the Nuclear Security Summit.
Modal TriggerChris Heinz (left) with John Kerry at a campaign fundraiser, April 16, 2004.Dennis Van TineThere was a second known meeting with many of the same Chinese financial titans in Taiwan in May 2011. For a small firm like Rosemont Seneca with no track record, it was an impressive level of access to China’s largest financial players. And it was just two weeks after Joe Biden had opened up the US-China strategic dialogue with Chinese officials in Washington.
On one of the first days of December 2013, Hunter Biden was jetting across the Pacific Ocean aboard Air Force Two with his father and daughter Finnegan. The vice president was heading to Asia on an extended official trip. Tensions in the region were on the rise.
The American delegation was visiting Japan, China, and South Korea. But it was the visit to China that had the most potential to generate conflict and controversy. The Obama administration had instituted the “Asia Pivot” in its international strategy, shifting attention away from Europe and toward Asia, where China was flexing its muscles.
For Hunter Biden, the trip coincided with a major deal that Rosemont Seneca was striking with the state-owned Bank of China. From his perspective, the timing couldn’t have been better.
Vice President Biden, Hunter Biden and Finnegan arrived to a red carpet and a delegation of Chinese officials. Greeted by Chinese children carrying flowers, the delegation was then whisked to a meeting with Vice President Li Yuanchao and talks with President Xi Jinping.
Hunter and Finnegan Biden joined the vice president for tea with US Ambassador Gary Locke at the Liu Xian Guan Teahouse in the Dongcheng District in Beijing. Where Hunter Biden spent the rest of his time on the trip remains largely a mystery. There are actually more reports of his daughter Finnegan’s activities than his.
What was not reported was the deal that Hunter was securing. Rosemont Seneca Partners had been negotiating an exclusive deal with Chinese officials, which they signed approximately 10 days after Hunter visited China with his father. The most powerful financial institution in China, the government’s Bank of China, was setting up a joint venture with Rosemont Seneca.
Often those foreign entities gained favorable policy actions from the United States government just as the sons were securing favorable financial deals from those same entities.
The Bank of China is an enormously powerful financial institution. But the Bank of China is very different from the Bank of America. The Bank of China is government-owned, which means that its role as a bank blurs into its role as a tool of the government. The Bank of China provides capital for “China’s economic statecraft,” as scholar James Reilly puts it. Bank loans and deals often occur within the context of a government goal.
Rosemont Seneca and the Bank of China created a $1 billion investment fund called Bohai Harvest RST (BHR), a name that reflected who was involved. Bohai (or Bo Hai), the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea, was a reference to the Chinese stake in the company. The “RS” referred to Rosemont Seneca. The “T” was Thornton.
The fund enjoyed an unusual and special status in China. BHR touted its “unique Sino-US shareholding structure” and “the global resources and network” that allowed it to secure investment “opportunities.” Funds were backed by the Chinese government.
In short, the Chinese government was literally funding a business that it co-owned along with the sons of two of America’s most powerful decision makers.
The partnership between American princelings and the Chinese government was just a beginning. The actual investment deals that this partnership made were even more problematic. Many of them would have serious national security implications for the United States.
In 2015, BHR joined forces with the automotive subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned military aviation contractor Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) to buy American “dual-use” parts manufacturer Henniges.
AVIC is a major military contractor in China. It operates “under the direct control of the State Council” and produces a wide array of fighter and bomber aircraft, transports, and drones — primarily designed to compete with the United States.
The company also has a long history of stealing Western technology and applying it to military systems. The year before BHR joined with AVIC, the Wall Street Journal reported that the aviation company had stolen technologies related to the US F-35 stealth fighter and incorporated them in their own stealth fighter, the J-31. AVIC has also been accused of stealing US drone systems and using them to produce their own.
In September 2015, when AVIC bought 51 percent of American precision-parts manufacturer Henniges, the other 49 percent was purchased by the Biden-and-Kerry-linked BHR.
Henniges is recognized as a world leader in anti-vibration technologies in the automotive industry and for its precise, state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities. Anti-vibration technologies are considered “dual-use” because they can have a military application, according to both the State Department and Department of Commerce.
The technology is also on the restricted Commerce Control List used by the federal government to limit the exports of certain technologies. For that reason, the Henniges deal would require the approval of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which reviews sensitive business transactions that may have a national security implication.
According to BHR internal documents, the Henniges deal included “arduous and often-times challenging negotiations.” The CFIUS review in 2015 included representatives from numerous government agencies including John Kerry’s State Department.
The deal was approved in 2015.
Excerpted with permission from “Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends,” by Peter Schweizer, published by Harper Collins. The book goes on sale March 20.
Rosemont Seneca and the Bank of China created a $1 billion investment fund called Bohai Harvest RST (BHR), a name that reflected who was involved. Bohai (or Bo Hai), the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea, was a reference to the Chinese stake in the company. The “RS” referred to Rosemont Seneca. The “T” was Thornton.
The fund enjoyed an unusual and special status in China. BHR touted its “unique Sino-US shareholding structure” and “the global resources and network” that allowed it to secure investment “opportunities.” Funds were backed by the Chinese government.
In short, the Chinese government was literally funding a business that it co-owned along with the sons of two of America’s most powerful decision makers.
The partnership between American princelings and the Chinese government was just a beginning. The actual investment deals that this partnership made were even more problematic. Many of them would have serious national security implications for the United States.
In 2015, BHR joined forces with the automotive subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned military aviation contractor Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) to buy American “dual-use” parts manufacturer Henniges.
AVIC is a major military contractor in China. It operates “under the direct control of the State Council” and produces a wide array of fighter and bomber aircraft, transports, and drones — primarily designed to compete with the United States.
The company also has a long history of stealing Western technology and applying it to military systems. The year before BHR joined with AVIC, the Wall Street Journal reported that the aviation company had stolen technologies related to the US F-35 stealth fighter and incorporated them in their own stealth fighter, the J-31. AVIC has also been accused of stealing US drone systems and using them to produce their own.
In September 2015, when AVIC bought 51 percent of American precision-parts manufacturer Henniges, the other 49 percent was purchased by the Biden-and-Kerry-linked BHR.
Henniges is recognized as a world leader in anti-vibration technologies in the automotive industry and for its precise, state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities. Anti-vibration technologies are considered “dual-use” because they can have a military application, according to both the State Department and Department of Commerce.
The technology is also on the restricted Commerce Control List used by the federal government to limit the exports of certain technologies. For that reason, the Henniges deal would require the approval of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which reviews sensitive business transactions that may have a national security implication.
According to BHR internal documents, the Henniges deal included “arduous and often-times challenging negotiations.” The CFIUS review in 2015 included representatives from numerous government agencies including John Kerry’s State Department.
The deal was approved in 2015.
Excerpted with permission from “Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends,” by Peter Schweizer, published by Harper Collins. The book goes on sale March 20.
G’ day…Ciao…Helen and Moe Lauzier
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