China Trashing the Global Environment: 'There Is No Fish in the Waters' - Robert Williams

 

by Robert Williams

Ports built or financed by the Chinese, the study found, pose the greatest risks to marine habitats; the risks remain high even up to 30 kilometers from the port.

• "Risks to marine habitats are most prominent in Caribbean island nations, such as the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda, as well as coastal waters across Africa, most notably along Western and Central African coastlines. In the Bahamas, Angola and Mozambique, more than 2,000 km2 of marine habitats face high impact risks." — bu.edu, December 6, 2022

• "Across Angola, Fiji, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, more than 50,000 square kilometers of marine habitats are "facing low but non-negligible risks from nearby projects." — bu.edu, December 6, 2022

• Ports built or financed by the Chinese, the study found, pose the greatest risks to marine habitats; the risks remain high even up to 30 kilometers from the port.

• China's overseas infrastructure projects are not the only ones ruining marine habitats. China's enormous fishing fleet is simultaneously contributing not only to the severe devastation of marine ecosystems but also to the destruction of the livelihoods of local fishermen.

• Chinese fishing boats are destroying the livelihoods of West African fishing communities on the West African coast. Due to illegal Chinese fishing, they could be losing more than $2 billion each year.

• In Ghana... illegal fishing boats use Ghanaian flags, but, according to the Environmental Justice Foundation, 90% of those boats belong to Chinese owners.

• "There is no fish in the waters. We used to catch up to 90 trays of sardinella fish a day and now we barely get five trays a day." — Dembo Touray, fisherman Bakau, Gambia's largest fishing community, aa.com.tr, 2020.

• Even though, in 2019, Communist Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged that the BRI would become "green and sustainable," he did not say when.

• "China says it will follow environmental guidelines, but history has shown these protections are nonexistent." — William Laurance, distinguished research professor of the Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia, The Guardian, September 20, 2021

• Additionally, China already mines 70% of all rare earth materials, a situation that has made the world virtually dependent on it. The future of the African continent's environment, in short, looks anything but sustainable.

China's overseas infrastructure projects present high-impact risks to the environment. The government in Sierra Leone recently sold off to China 250 acres of protected rainforest and beach land -- an ecotourism spot with rare and endangered marine species. Pictured: Tokeh Beach in Sierra Leone, near Western Area Peninsula National Park, part of which has been sold off to China, with critics calling that move a "catastrophic human and ecological disaster". (Photo by Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images)

China's overseas infrastructure projects present high-impact risks to the environment, a new study has found.

The report -- conducted by researchers from the Boston University Global Development Policy Center, the University of Queensland, the University of California Santa Barbara, and Colorado State University -- focused on the risks to coastal and marine ecological systems posed by 114 of China's overseas development projects between the years 2008-2019. According to the document, those 114 projects represent only 20% of all Chinese development finance projects in that time period, meaning that the results of the study are probably just the tip of the iceberg.

"Risks to marine habitats are most prominent in Caribbean island nations, such as the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda, as well as coastal waters across Africa, most notably along Western and Central African coastlines. In the Bahamas, Angola and Mozambique, more than 2,000 km² of marine habitats face high impact risks," the study noted.

Across Angola, Fiji, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, more than 50,000 square kilometers of marine habitats are "facing low but non-negligible risks from nearby projects."

Ports built or financed by the Chinese, the study found, pose the greatest risks to marine habitats; the risks remain high even up to 30 kilometers from the port.

"These ports are present in the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Cuba, Mauritania, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Angola, Mozambique, Djibouti and Sri Lanka, and are a prominent driver of the regional hotspots of risk," according to the study.

Ports, however, are not the only infrastructure projects built by the Chinese that pose risks to the local environments.

"Several other types of development finance projects present high impact risks within 1 km of the project site, such as power plants, bridges, roads and other facilities," the report concluded.

It also disclosed that one fishing port, the Beira Fishing Port Rehabilitation project in Mozambique, poses "the single greatest mean impact risk to marine habitats within 10 km of all projects considered in the study."

China's overseas infrastructure projects are not the only ones ruining marine habitats. China's enormous fishing fleet is simultaneously contributing not only to the severe devastation of marine ecosystems but also to the destruction of the livelihoods of local fishermen. A South African think tank, the Institute for Security Studies, recently found that Chinese fishing boats are destroying the livelihoods of West African fishing communities on the West African coast. Due to illegal Chinese fishing, they could be losing more than $2 billion each year.

In Ghana, for instance, illegal fishing boats use Ghanaian flags, but, according to the Environmental Justice Foundation, 90% of those boats belong to Chinese owners. Fishing towns in the West African country of Benin stand empty, as locals are forced to leave their fishing trade for lack of fish and seek work elsewhere. One fisherman, Geoffroy Gbedevi, said that feeding his daughter and pregnant wife was getting harder: the number of fish are far lower than previously. "Nothing is going the way it used to," he said.

In the Mauritanian city of Nouadhibou, when China built a port for its large industrial fishing vessels, the small local fishing communities did not stand a chance. China not only threatens the livelihoods of local fishing communities' but also their ability to source food: it depletes local marine habitats of the fish on which locals subsist.

"If we don't do anything about this problem, we're really dealing with a challenge on two levels," said Dr. Whitley Saumweber, director of the Stephenson Ocean Security Project of the Center for Strategic and International Security Studies in October 2021.

"We're dealing with the challenge of developing coastal states, a challenge that affects their sovereignty, sustainability and security. Sovereignty because they're losing access to their own natural wealth and control over that natural wealth. Sustainability because they're losing the ability to manage those resources in a sustainable way. And security because of the potential damage that that lack of management will have for a resource that's critical to their own food security needs and potential development opportunities."

The ports and the high impact risks that they pose to the environment, however, are just one aspect of China's damage to the environment. China invests in ports in Africa, mainly so that it can extract resources from the continent and export them back to China or elsewhere. Building the ports, therefore, is just the first step in a chain of environmental destruction. Fishmeal, for example -- locally sourced fish that is ground into a powder to feed fish raised in aquaculture – is a billion dollar industry. In Gambia, shortly after a Chinese fishmeal factory had begun operating, wildlife in the lagoon of the Bolong Fenyo wildlife reserve began to die of illegal toxic waste from the factory. Meanwhile, as the Chinese fishmeal factories are depleting fish resources, the locals have totally lost the trade in fish.

"There is no fish in the waters. We used to catch up to 90 trays of sardinella fish a day and now we barely get five trays a day," said fisherman Dembo Touray from Bakau, Gambia's largest fishing community, in 2020.

The same scenario is happening in Mauritania, where Greenpeace documented 39 fishmeal factories in 2019, up from just one in 2005, although it is not clear if all of them were Chinese.

While China's overseas ports have received some attention from world leaders regarding the security concerns that they pose, far from enough attention has been paid to the devastating environmental impact that China's Belt and Road projects are causing around the world. In 2017, at the opening of the Beijing Belt and Road Forum, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that the Belt and Road Initiative was driven by the ambition of "global development," and implying that sustainability was one of the driving forces behind it.

Even though, in 2019, Communist Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged that the BRI would become "green and sustainable," he did not say when.

According to distinguished research professor William Laurance of the Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia, there is no hope that the BRI will become sustainable. Laurance previously wrote that China is "wreaking unprecedented damage to ecosystems and biodiversity across the globe." In August 2021, he called China's Belt and Road Initiative "a global planet changer."

"China has said that it will be low-carbon, green and sustainable, but it is anything but that," Laurance said in September.

"New roads will still decimate forests, transport routes will still destroy biodiversity on a grand scale. China says it will follow environmental guidelines, but history has shown these protections are nonexistent."

According to Divya Narain, a researcher from the University of Queensland, the Belt and Road Initiative is potentially the "riskiest environmental project in history."

"It will have extraordinary impacts on the environment as its corridors and other projects crisscross some of the most pristine and vulnerable ecosystems in the world," she told the Guardian in September, adding that many finished projects had already been "hugely damaging."

Some of the worst pollution of all comes from the extraction of rare earth materials, many in Africa, which holds some of the world's largest deposits. Demand is soaring: rare earth materials are used in everything from mobile phones, computers, fighter jets, guided missiles, solar panels, and wind turbines to electric vehicles. Even though the extraction of rare earth materials is highly polluting, China has been securing mining deals throughout Africa.

Additionally, China already mines 70% of all rare earth materials, a situation that has made the world virtually dependent on it. The future of the African continent's environment, in short, looks anything but sustainable.

Robert Williams is a researcher based in the United States.

 

Robert Williams

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19554/china-trashing-environment

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Redfield warned Fauci not to 'give terrorists recipe' to modify bird flu to kill 5%-50% of infected - Greg Piper

 

by Greg Piper

NIH-funded scientists published instructions for making such a pathogen cross the "species barrier" to humans, recounted former CDC Director Robert Redfield.

 

Former CDC Director Robert Redfield's biggest fear for a future pandemic is a genetically manipulated bird flu, given that NIH-funded scientists in 2012 published instructions for making such a pathogen cross the "species barrier" to humans, a highly unlikely result from viral evolution.

"I didn't think we needed to give terrorists a recipe" for modifying a bird flu to kill 5%-50% of people it infects, Dr. Redfield told "Just the News, No Noise," recalling his argument to then-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci —  his future antagonist on COVID origins and gain-of-function research — against publishing the research. 

"I think it's a miracle that no one's used that yet," Redfield said. "But I do think we're at high risk for laboratory-created bird flu that will have high pathogenicity for man," given the "highly inadequate" biosecurity of dozens of labs handling dangerous pathogens.

The "probability of a spillover event" from a lab "is very, very high," he warned, "and I suspect that in the next decade we will have, unfortunately, a major pandemic as a consequence of either gain-of-function research or bioterrorism."

"And this is why I think we need to really look seriously about not only having a moratorium in our own country, but actually having a global moratorium on gain-of-function research until society can decide: Should it really be done? Is the benefit there? And if they decide the benefit's there, then how do you do it in a safe, responsible and effective way?" 

Redfield is highly critical of officials in both the Trump and Biden administrations for squelching an "honest public debate" on both COVID origins and public health response.

NIH organized a "single narrative" that COVID emerged from a "spillover event," contrary to Redfield's favored lab-leak explanation, and "really tried to sideline anybody that didn't agree with them," he said, claiming to have received "hate mail," including a suicide suggestion from "good scientists in the National Academy" of Science.

Greg Piper

Source:https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/health/redfield-warned-fauci-not-give-terrorists-recipe-modify-bird-flu-kill-5-50

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Ex-Obama staffer blows whistle on Biden 'kickback scheme' after Hunter joined Burisma: 'Malfeasance in office' - Bailee Hill

 

by Bailee Hill

Former White House stenographer pushes to testify under oath in Hunter grand jury case after sending tip to FBI

 

A former Obama administration staffer is blowing the whistle on the Biden family's business dealings, accusing President Biden of being involved in a "kickback scheme" in connection with his son Hunter's overseas business dealings while he was vice president.

Mike McCormick, a stenographer for the White House for 15 years, told "Fox & Friends First" the FBI has been ignoring his alarms on the matter despite his willingness to testify under oath before the federal grand jury investigating Hunter.

"In February, I went to the FBI and filed one of their tips on their website. If you do that, and you're lying to them, you go to jail. I'm not lying. I'm telling the truth, and I'm not going to jail," McCormick said Thursday. "Joe Biden is a criminal. He was conducting malfeasance in office to enrich his family. Jake Sullivan is a conspirator in that, and there's more... Obama officials involved in it, I believe."

BIDEN WISHES REPUBLICANS 'LOTS OF LUCK' IN PLANS TO INVESTIGATE SON HUNTER IF THEY TAKE THE HOUSE

McCormick, who worked with Biden from 2011 to 2017, detailed a key dialogue involving the vice president, aide Jake Sullivan and the press on Air Force Two before a trip to Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 21, 2014. 

Sullivan, who is the current national security adviser, outlined in a White House transcript Biden's priorities for his trip to the country, which included U.S. investment in the Ukrainian energy sector days after Hunter joined the board of Burisma, according to the New York Post. 

Months later, and well after the trip, Congress allocated $50 million to Ukraine's energy market. 

Video

"I'm sitting back there with a tape recorder. Jake Sullivan comes back and somebody asks about fracking. His answer is, well, we're bringing a lot of American assistance over for fracking. Burisma was the direct beneficiary of that fracking, and that's what I recorded, and that's in a White House transcript," McCormick said. 

"In the transcript, you don't know who Jake Sullivan is. It's a senior administration official. I'm the witness that says Jake Sullivan is the guy who said it and he should be investigated because at the time Hunter Biden was on the board of Burisma and Joe Biden is bringing American taxpayer money to enrich that company and himself and his family," he continued. 

HUNTER BIDEN INTERVIEW GOES OFF THE RAILS AS HOST SAYS HIS ‘HANDS WERE TIED’ FROM ASKING POLITICAL QUESTIONS

Hunter joined the board of the Ukrainian natural gas firm on April 18, just three days before Biden and his team traveled to Kyiv. But that critical piece of the puzzle was not made public until May 12. 

McCormick argued the timeline of the events suggests that Biden funneled American money overseas to "enrich" himself and his family, and used his own influence to aid his son's rookie energy career.  

The former stenographer made it clear he wants to present the information under oath before the grand jury in Delaware probing Hunter's business dealings, which is led by U.S. Attorney David Weiss. 

Video

Hunter has been under federal investigation since 2018 for suspected tax and foreign lobbying violations. 

The probe into Hunter's alleged violations began after suspicious activity reports (SARs) regarding suspicious foreign transactions were flagged. 

VP BIDEN'S OFFICE TRIED TO QUASH BLOOMBERG STORY ABOUT HUNTER BIDEN AT HIS FIRM'S REQUEST, EMAILS SHOW

Those SARs involved money funneled from "China and other foreign nations," according to sources familiar with the probe. 

And although reports suggested in months past that the investigation is approaching a critical juncture, Republican subpoena power is likely to accelerate the investigation. 

"If David Weiss can't have me in front of his grand jury explaining what I know as a witness, that's a fraudulent grand jury," McCormick said. "It's a fraudulent use of the American judicial system to cover for Barack Obama and Joe Biden's crimes in office."

Video

Biden has repeatedly claimed he has not spoken to his son regarding his overseas business dealings.

McCormick argued the information he has incriminates Biden, and likely more officials he worked with, in connection with the alleged influence peddling scandal. 

"If I went in there, I would tell them to have Barack Obama called in as a witness because he's part of the conspiracy. He's an ex-president. He has to answer who was in charge of this, putting Joe Biden into this role? Did Barack Obama know about it?" McCormick questioned. 

"There's evidence I've seen and put in my Substack on April 16th, so two days before Hunter joins Joe Biden is with Hunter in the West Wing. They have a meeting, and then later that day in the evening, Joe Biden spends a day in the limousine in the back of Barack Obama's limousine in western Pennsylvania," he continued. 

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment. 

Bailee Hill

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/media/ex-obama-staffer-blows-whistle-biden-kickback-scheme-hunter-joined-burisma-malfeasance-office

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Intelligence Leaks and the Consequences of Israel's Resistance Coup - Jonathan S. Tobin

 

by Jonathan S. Tobin

The truth is that those... who are cheerleading for the protests, are not primarily interested in preserving the unchecked power of the judicial establishment that is essentially anti-democratic. What they want is to overturn the results of the last election.

• What the demonstrators are attempting is — despite their virtue-signaling about their devotion to democracy, and venting their fears about Netanyahu and his allies installing a dictatorship — nothing less than an anti-democratic coup of their own.

• President Joe Biden is supporting their efforts for reasons of his own, which have to do with Washington's desire for a weaker Israeli government that won't make trouble about appeasing Iran.

• The truth is that those... who are cheerleading for the protests, are not primarily interested in preserving the unchecked power of the judicial establishment that is essentially anti-democratic. What they want is to overturn the results of the last election, and somehow ensure that the nationalist and religious voters who gave Netanyahu a clear Knesset majority are essentially disenfranchised.

• Israel's liberal establishment fears that the leftist parties that represent its interests can never win another election, and so they have done everything they can to undermine Netanyahu with protests akin to the color revolutions that sought regime change in the former Soviet Union.

• Having succeeded in creating chaos, they now have the chutzpah to blame Netanyahu for the dangers they have brought about that are undoubtedly harming Israel's security as well as sowing dissension with its allies.

• Having convinced themselves that the lies about Netanyahu threatening democracy are true, the Israeli left and its foreign enablers may have rendered themselves insensible to the potentially catastrophic repercussions of their efforts.

Having convinced themselves that the lies about Netanyahu threatening democracy are true, the Israeli left and its foreign enablers may have rendered themselves insensible to the potentially catastrophic repercussions of their efforts. Pictured: Anti-government protesters burn pictures of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on March 27, 2023 in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)

Israel's government was doing damage control this past weekend and, for a change, it wasn't about its losing battle to pass judicial reform, dissension over the surge in Palestinian terrorism or the threat from Iran. Or at least, not directly. Instead, it was put in the unenviable position of having to deny a report published in The New York Times and widely reported elsewhere about leaks from secret Pentagon documents detailing the U.S. intelligence activity.

Yet as controversial as the contents of the report may be, the main concern shouldn't be about the Biden administration's involvement in Israel's internal affairs. Rather, the focus should be on the consequences of the debate going on inside Israel that Washington wants to influence. Even the Israeli government's fiercest and most unfair critics now believe that the Jewish state's enemies regard the current atmosphere of political chaos as evidence of weakness. That means the price for the upheaval inside Israel will continue to be paid not in losing media cycles for the ruling coalition but in the blood of its citizens.

Most of the attention from the shocking exposure of U.S. internal reports centers on the revelations about American espionage that targeted Russia and its impact on the war in Ukraine. But the dump of classified documents that have been spread around the Internet also discussed U.S. spying on friendly countries, including Ukraine, and allies like South Korea and Israel. That included reports about American pressure on Israel to supply lethal aid to Ukraine despite it being in the interests of the Jewish state to stay out of direct involvement in that conflict.

What happened inside the Mossad?

But as concerning as all that might be, the documents that speak about the Mossad — Israel's foreign intelligence agency — are especially troubling.

According to an internal report produced by the CIA, the Mossad's leadership had encouraged its personnel, as well as other Israeli citizens, to participate in the anti-government protests that have shaken Israel over the past three months. If true, it would be an inexcusable violation of the agency's responsibility to remain above politics and to follow the orders of the country's democratically elected government. More than that, it would give some credence to claims by some of the government's supporters, including Netanyahu's son Yair, that hostile elements inside Israel's intelligence community had colluded with the Biden administration to help fuel the protests with the ultimate goal of toppling the government.

The response from Jerusalem was immediate and emphatic.

It stated that the report "is mendacious and without any foundations whatsoever. The Mossad and its senior officials did not—and do not—encourage agency personnel to join the demonstrations against the government, political demonstrations or any political activity. The Mossad and its serving personnel have not engaged in the issue of the demonstrations at all and are dedicated to the value of service to the state that has guided the Mossad since its founding."

Israel's citizens and its friends elsewhere can only pray that the denial is more truthful than the American intelligence report. And although there appears to be no doubt about the authenticity of the documents that were published in the Times, it does not guarantee that the assessments made by American intelligence were completely accurate.

Still, some elements of this report are rooted in the truth. It has also been reported that some in the Mossad requested and apparently received permission to participate in the demonstrations as private citizens. Mossad director David Barnea, reportedly in consultation with Israel's attorney general, seems to have ruled that lower-level staff could join in the protests as long as they didn't openly parade their affiliation.

This fact is still shocking since it shows that Mossad personnel were not instructed that, whatever their private beliefs, their responsibilities as members of a service actively engaged in the country's defense should mean that they must stay out of overt political activities. And by letting them do so—even if there was no encouragement or conspiring with the opposition or foreign government on the part of senior intelligence officials—the defense establishment was sending a message of its acquiescence to an unprecedented effort to topple a government that had been elected only months before.

Disregard conspiracy theories

Some may seize on the Pentagon document and use it to back claims that the protests are primarily the work of some sort of a conspiracy. Allegations about a conspiracy, however, are clearly unfounded. What the demonstrators are attempting is — despite their virtue-signaling about their devotion to democracy, and venting their fears about Netanyahu and his allies installing a dictatorship — nothing less than an anti-democratic coup of their own. Nevertheless, the protests are the product of a widespread belief on the part of secular liberal Israelis that their country is in peril.

That these fears, which have been incited by the biased reporting of Israel's leftist-dominated media and the maneuverings of its legal, economic and academic establishments, are wholly unfounded is beside the point.

The hundreds of thousands who have taken to the streets, blocked highways and sought to sabotage the country's economy and defense believe what they are saying. President Joe Biden is supporting their efforts for reasons of his own, which have to do with Washington's desire for a weaker Israeli government that won't make trouble about appeasing Iran. But though the demonstrators are foolishly welcoming American intervention to help them overturn the results of an election that their side lost in November, they'd be in the streets even if Biden had not sought to intervene in Israel's internal politics.

Still, Netanyahu's critics understand that the paralysis of Israeli society and its government that they have brought about is being closely observed by Iran and its terrorist auxiliaries and allies, as well as by an intransigent Palestinian leadership. They are now testing Israel, as seen by a surge in bloody Palestinian terrorism, coupled by rocket fire from Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

David Horovitz, the editor of The Times of Israel, spoke the truth when he wrote last week that "our enemies smell weakness" as the country seemed to be spiraling out of control due to the fight over judicial reform. Under his leadership, TOI has not just been a cheerleader for the protests but has actively sought to exacerbate divisions over the government's efforts to pass legislation aimed to restrain the untrammeled power of the country's Supreme Court. Indeed, Horovitz even penned a holiday-themed Passover column in which he argued for using the seder as a platform for efforts to demonize Netanyahu rather than encouraging viewing the festival as a moment to work for Jewish unity.

Of course, when speaking of the way the protests have weakened Israel, he and other Netanyahu critics are, like the Biden administration, blaming it all on Netanyahu and his supposedly extremist allies. The truth is that those like Horovitz, who are cheerleading for the protests, are not primarily interested in preserving the unchecked power of the judicial establishment that is essentially anti-democratic. What they want is to overturn the results of the last election, and somehow ensure that the nationalist and religious voters who gave Netanyahu a clear Knesset majority are essentially disenfranchised.

Israel's liberal establishment fears that the leftist parties that represent its interests can never win another election, and so they have done everything they can to undermine Netanyahu with protests akin to the color revolutions that sought regime change in the former Soviet Union. Indeed, they are so determined to oust the government that they even consider measures that could harm the country's finances or undermine its defense, like the refusal of military reserve duty by supporters of the protests, to be legitimate tactics.

Under the circumstances, it's hardly surprising that Iran, Hezbollah and the Palestinians are seeking to exploit the situation. Whether that leads to a major escalation or just an increase in the number of Israelis killed in attacks, any perception of weakness is a standing invitation to just the sort of miscalculation that can lead to more violence and bloodshed.

While the right to protest should not be questioned, the measures undertaken by the prime minister's political foes go beyond normal political activism. Having succeeded in creating chaos, they now have the chutzpah to blame Netanyahu for the dangers they have brought about that are undoubtedly harming Israel's security as well as sowing dissension with its allies.

The Pentagon leaks ought to be a wake-up call that demonstrates that the extremism of the anti-Bibi resistance has gone too far. Unfortunately, the divisions within Israel and among those who care about it may now be so great that a sober re-evaluation of the impact of the anti-government hysteria may be impossible. Having convinced themselves that the lies about Netanyahu threatening democracy are true, the Israeli left and its foreign enablers may have rendered themselves insensible to the potentially catastrophic repercussions of their efforts.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate). Reprinted with kind permission of JNS.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19575/intelligence-leaks-israel-coup

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Dems ripping Clarence Thomas for nondisclosure mum on Biden judges who may have same problem - Nick Givas

 

by Nick Givas

Just The News found that nearly two dozen Biden-appointed judges also left the reimbursement sections blank on their official disclosure forms.

 

Democrats pillorying Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for not disclosing paid vacations with political donor friends remained mum when pressed by Just The News about the nearly two dozen Biden-appointed judges who also left the reimbursement sections blank on their official disclosure forms. 

A Just The News review of the Biden appointees' disclosure forms found that not only did many leave their reimbursement sections blank, but almost none of them had any "gifts" to disclose. 

This alone does not prove wrongdoing, however when asked if these judges were being looked into as well, the White House, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the office of its chairman, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) had no response. 

An article published last week by ProPublica outlined trips Thomas had taken with GOP meagdonor Harlan Crow, one of which included travel on a chartered plane and yacht valued at over $500,000. 

"[Thomas] flies on Crow's Bombardier Global 5000 jet," the outlet reported. "He has gone with Crow to the Bohemian Grove, the exclusive California all-male retreat, and to Crow's sprawling ranch in East Texas. And Thomas typically spends about a week every summer at Crow's private resort in the Adirondacks." 

The story triggered a letter from Durbin and Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday, asking for Thomas to be investigated internally.  

"The Senate Judiciary Committee, which has legislative jurisdiction over Federal courts and judges, has a role to play in ensuring that the nation's highest court does not have the federal judiciary's lowest ethical standards," the letter read. "You have a role to play as well, both in investigating how such conduct could take place at the Court under your watch, and in ensuring that such conduct does not happen again. We urge you to immediately open such an investigation and take all needed action to prevent further misconduct." 

The committee also promised to "hold a hearing" centered on restoring "confidence" in SCOTUS' ethical standards and even threatened to pass new legislation if Roberts opted not to investigate. 

"You do not need to wait for Congress to act to undertake your own investigation into the reported conduct and to ensure that it cannot happen again," the Democratic lawmakers wrote. "We urge you to do so." 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) took things a step further, calling for Thomas' impeachment and accusing the Roberts court of human rights violations in a tweet last week. 

"This is beyond party or partisanship," she wrote. "This degree of corruption is shocking — almost cartoonish. Thomas must be impeached. Barring some dramatic change, this is what the Roberts court will be known for: rank corruption, erosion of democracy, and the stripping of human rights."

 

This is beyond party or partisanship. This degree of corruption is shocking - almost cartoonish. Thomas must be impeached.

Barring some dramatic change, this is what the Roberts court will be known for: rank corruption, erosion of democracy, and the stripping of human rights. https://t.co/t8fnGLVhbV

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 6, 2023

 

The political fallout from the story caused Thomas to issue a rare public response, in which he defended his actions, stating he was in the right after seeking counsel from other court members. He pointed out that the people he was vacationing with were close personal friends and had no business before the high court. 

"Harlan and Kathy Crow are among our dearest friends, and we have been friends for over twenty-five years," the statement read. "As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips during the more than quarter century we have known them. Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable. I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines.

"These guidelines are now being changed, as the committee of the Judicial Conference responsible for financial disclosure for the entire federal judiciary just this past month announced new guidance. And, it is, of course, my intent to follow this guidance in the future." 

Legal commentator and chair of Public Interest Law at George Washington University Jonathan Turley dismissed the allegations against Thomas on Twitter last week, writing: "We can debate the need for a code of ethics that apply to the justices, but there was no clear reporting obligation under judicial ethics for Thomas in such matters of 'personal hospitality.'"

You can follow Nick on Twitter @NGivasDC

 

Nick Givas

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/tues-clarence-thomas-takes-hits-financial-disclosure-liberal-judges-may-have

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Why boycotts of Israel are never kosher - Jonathan S. Tobin

 

by Jonathan S. Tobin

A call to reconsider investing in Israel because of judicial reform isn’t the same as BDS. Yet that distinction is meaningless since it still validates anti-Zionist lies.

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have thought that he was initiating a truce in the battle over judicial reform when he paused efforts to pass his legislative initiative. But the demonstrations against the effort to introduce some democratic checks and balances into the system have continued, despite the Passover holiday and a series of deadly terror attacks within a matter of days. The debate about it also continues elsewhere with the sympathies of largely liberal American Jewish organizational leaders clearly in evidence as the warm welcome afforded to opposition leader Yair Lapid in New York showed this week.

Among those with whom Lapid met was Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who has endorsed the efforts of the anti-Bibi resistance in the streets of Israel. The irony of an American who has sought to pack the U.S. Supreme Court with liberal justices joining along with Lapid, who himself backed Netanyahu’s proposals before he saw it as an avenue to reverse his loss in last November’s election, to support an Israeli judiciary that has far more power and lacking in any accountability to the democratic process was not lost on some.

But, as has long been clear, the rhetoric of the left in both countries has nothing to do with democracy and everything to do with their desire to maintain their hold on power.

Still, the fallout from the debate about Israel’s judicial reform is about more than just the hypocrisy of political hacks like Nadler and Lapid. Far more serious is the blowback from the open letter to Netanyahu issued last month by 255 U.S. Jewish business leaders in which they threatened to halt investments in the Jewish state unless his efforts to reform the judiciary were shelved.

The willingness of these Americans to mimic the talking points of Netanyahu’s opponents is unsurprising. There is nothing new about liberal American Jews taking sides in Israeli politics. Everyone is entitled to their point of view about how Israel should be governed. After all, it is the center of Jewish life and of vital importance to Jews wherever they live.

What isn’t legitimate is their desire to use their financial clout in this manner. Calls to re-evaluate investment are a body blow to the country’s efforts to thrive and maintain its economy. To do so in order to aid one side in political battles is disgraceful. But they are following the lead of secular liberal Israelis who are appalled at the idea that the nationalist and religious voters who gave Netanyahu a clear majority in the latest Knesset election should have a say in the country’s governance.

Some of them, especially in the high-tech sector, have said that if the country’s Supreme Court is stripped of its power to prevent the majority from governing, then they will pull their businesses and money out of the country. Like those who have refused military reserve duty to protest judicial reform, they seem to be saying that an Israel that isn’t run by those who share their political views doesn’t interest them.

If they prefer to depart for the Diaspora rather than live in a country in which the growing number of nationalist and religious voters will predominate, that is their choice. But their protestations and virtue signaling notwithstanding, that has nothing to do with preserving democracy. An Israel with some checks on the power of the Supreme Court will still be a democracy, as it was prior to former Chief Justice Aharon Barak’s judicial revolution in the 1990s in which it seized power it hadn’t had prior to that.

It also has nothing to do with what is in the objectively best interests of their businesses or those of Americans who share their opinions, and who are also ready to pull their money out of Israel.

This call for a boycott of Israel also hasn’t escaped the notice of those who would like to destroy the Jewish state regardless of which political party runs it or how much power its judiciary possesses.

As American leftists have pointed out, if it’s OK to boycott Israel over judicial reform, what’s the difference between that stand and those who support BDS campaigns predicated on the lie that it is an “apartheid” state?

Indeed, some leftists who support partial boycotts of Israel and oppose anti-BDS legislation on the false grounds that they restrict free speech have been quick to point out that Netanyahu’s critics who think their stand is different from BDS are hypocrites.

To that, liberal American Jewish groups like the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League, which oppose BDS, answer that there is a huge difference between the two positions.

They are right about that. The business leaders who oppose judicial reform are not motivated by the same desire to destroy the Jewish state that lies at the heart of the BDS movement. They just want to use their economic leverage to aid the efforts of Lapid and his allies to topple Netanyahu, and to preserve the power of the Israeli judiciary to prevent the right from governing even when they win elections. Some of them may also actually believe the canard about Netanyahu being a would-be authoritarian and that the point of judicial reform is to set up a dictatorship of the right.

Such a stand is both irresponsible and utterly disconnected from the truth since—contrary to the lies about it spread by both the Israeli and American media—judicial reform would make the Jewish state more democratic, not less. But it is a far cry from the thinly veiled antisemitism and anti-Zionist hate that drives support for BDS campaigns. It’s also true that even the letter from the business leaders to Netanyahu stopped well short of a clear boycott threat.

Yet when placed in the context of growing efforts by an aggressive intersectional left-wing of the Democratic Party to oppose Israel’s existence, that is a distinction without a difference.

As has been obvious ever since the anti-Bibi resistance started taking to the streets shortly after Netanyahu’s government was sworn in, the unintended consequence of their claims that the prime minister wishes to destroy democracy is to validate the propaganda of the BDS movement.

And though the threat to re-evaluate investment is not the same as a boycott, to those Americans not familiar with the issues, it sounds very similar to calls for BDS resolutions. They are also predicated on the bogus notion that Israel needs to be disciplined by self-righteous foreigners.

Whether or not those who signed the letter—and those cheering for them—wish to acknowledge it, threats to disinvest from Israel over judicial reform are not just wrongheaded. They also make it much more difficult, if not impossible, for the pro-Israel community to oppose BDS campaigns and to push for anti-BDS legislation.

Anti-BDS laws are not restrictions on freedom of speech. On the contrary, they are no different from other anti-discrimination laws that are already on the books on the federal and state level throughout America since what they ban is discriminatory commercial conduct—a refusal to do business with Israelis and those who do business with or support Israel—in the same manner as those laws that prohibit the same sort of behavior with respect to African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians or other groups.

Try explaining that to Americans who are being asked to accept the idea that it’s fine for American Jews to pull their money out of Israel because of the lie that Netanyahu is a dictator but to oppose those who want to boycott Israel because of the lie that it’s an “apartheid state.”

Boycotts or disinvestment campaigns of Israel are wrong, no matter what the motivations of those calling for them may be.

Those who think it’s kosher to do so in order to topple Netanyahu or to preserve the power of the Israeli left need to understand that what they are doing is legitimizing the false arguments of an increasingly influential intersectional left that wants a future in which there is no Jewish state, regardless of who might be running it.

 

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate). Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin.

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/369923

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Judicial reform will not advance until June at least, say senior coalition members - Israel National News

 

by Israel National News

Neither opposition nor coalition expects breakthrough. Meanwhile, passing state budget is priority.

 

Negotiations at the President's Residence                                                            Kobi Gideon/GPO

Senior members of the coalition have stated that judicial reform legislation will not be proceeding unilaterally for at least the first month of the Knesset's summer session.

According to a report on Kan Reshet Bet, the reason for the delay is that the state budget must be passed by the end of May and it is not feasible to advance two major pieces of legislation simultaneously.

Meanwhile, negotiating teams have been continuing to meet to discuss the judicial reforms during Pesach (Passover), under the auspices of the President's Residence. President Isaac Herzog has expressed optimism regarding reaching a compromise, telling the New York Times that, "It’s a potential for a constitutional moment, a moment where we can direct Israel into a stronger and more resilient structure. Something which we didn’t do since our founding 75 years ago."

According to Israel Hayom, talks between the National Unity, Yesh Atid, and Likud parties continued throughout the week-long festival, with various representatives from think-tanks contributing, among them members of Machon Tachlit, the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), Prof. Yaniv Rosenai of Reichman University, and Dr. Aviad Bakshi of the Kohelet Forum.

Discussions first centered on where to begin the negotiations, with the National Unity party insisting that the first item on the agenda should be the composition of the Judicial Selections Committee, as failing to reach an agreement on this matter will mean that no broad consensus will be reached on any other of the main issues. It is unclear how exactly a compromise can be reached on this issue, as the opposition parties have to date stressed that they will not agree to any "politicization" of the committee and will never allow the government to appoint judges (as the Justice Minister's proposals would have).

The Likud party is seeking to commence negotiations on other issues such as the Basic Law: The Judiciary and on limiting the power of the Supreme Court to overturn legislation, in the hope that reaching agreements on preliminary matters will provide impetus to the talks. The opposition's negotiating teams, however, fear that the Likud party is simply seeking to make a few concessions and then break off the talks with the claim that the opposition has stymied any further chance of reaching compromise.

Nonetheless, the expert taskforce negotiating teams have apparently agreed that there will be no agreement on individual issues without a general agreement on the main issues of contention.

Notwithstanding the president's optimism, neither the coalition nor the opposition holds out great hopes for a breakthrough. Coalition officials believe that the reforms will not progress unless agreements are reached, and predict that some minor aspects of the proposals will have to suffice in order to placate right-wing voters. They appear unprepared to once again arouse the ire of the left-wing in the light of the grave security situation. The opposition, for their part, believe that the coalition parties are not really interested in compromise and are simply dragging things out in order to buy time and some peace and quiet on the political front.

Israel National News

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/369927

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Orthodox Jewish group: ‘Lapid delegitimizing not just Israeli government, but Israel itself’ - JNS

 

by JNS

“When you go back to Israel, we in the Diaspora will face the potential consequences of even more antisemitism, powered by your words,” says the group Am Echad.

 

Opposition leader Yair Lapid speaks at a protest against the proposed judicial overhaul outside the Knesset in Jerusalem. Feb. 13, 2023. Photo by Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90.

Am Echad, a U.S. group associated with the ultra-Orthodox Agudath Israel of America, sent an open letter to Israeli opposition leader and Yesh Atid Party chairman Yair Lapid on April 11 expressing their “grave concern” over comments he made at a recent Jewish Federations meeting in New York.

Shlomo Werdiger and Irving Lebovics, co-chairmen of Am Echad, wrote that they saw the “comments as sowing discord and delegitimizing not just the current Israeli government, but Israel itself in the eyes of the world, both Jewish and not.”

“Rhetoric characterizing the government as ‘extremist’ and ‘undemocratic’ jeopardizes the relationship between Israel and world Jews,” they said. “More importantly, when such statements move into mainstream media, they delegitimize Israel itself, and by extension pose real danger to the safety of Diaspora communities.”

“In your role as the Head of the Opposition, you are both entitled and required to critique the government. However, that does not extend to undermining the government outside the borders of Israel, calling on Diaspora Jews to counter the government, and driving a wedge between Israel and Jews around the world,” they added.

“When you go back to Israel, we in the Diaspora will face the potential consequences of even more antisemitism, powered by your words. Israel is precious to every single one of us. We are proud of its vibrant democracy and amazing growth. We ask you that going forward you refrain from damaging, inflammatory rhetoric against Israel and its government during meetings in the Diaspora,” they concluded.

Lapid met with American Jewish leaders in New York on Monday as part of a United States trip intended to repair ties amid a divisive debate on judicial reform back home.

The meeting was hosted by the Jewish Federations of North America at UJA-Federation of New York’s headquarters in Manhattan and included senior heads of the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish American Organizations.

Lapid has been a vocal opponent of the judicial reform legislation proposed by the coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu, who succeeded Lapid as prime minister of Israel late last year. He has encouraged the mass demonstrations and a general strike that paralyzed the country and resulted in Netanyahu suspending the legislative push until the parliamentary summer session opens on April 30.

JNS

Source: https://www.jns.org/orthodox-jewish-group-lapid-delegitimizing-not-just-israeli-government-but-israel-itself/

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Asian Americans Protest Soros DA After She Calls Them Racists - Daniel Greenfield

 

by Daniel Greenfield

A little boy was murdered, but to pro-crime DAs, the killers are the real victims.

 

Pro-crime is pro-evil and “progressive” prosecutors keep showing us why that’s true. And advocates for victims of crime are rising up against them.

Shouting “justice for Jasper,” “do your job!” and “victims come first,” protestors sounded off on Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price on Monday over concerns about how she’s handing the emotionally charged Jasper Wu case.

The crowd of close to 100 people, many from the Oakland AAPI community, gathered for the demonstration on the steps of the Alameda County courthouse near Lake Merritt.

Wu, 2, was fatally struck by a stray bullet during a rolling gun battle between alleged San Francisco gang members in November 2021.

Why are they reacting that way? Soros DA Pamela Price has given them every reason to.

Jasper Wu, a 23-month-old boy, lost his life to a stray bullet while riding in his car seat.

Three men – Trevor Green, Johnny Jackson, and Ivory Bivens have their preliminary hearing on murder charges in three weeks. A member of the AAPI community asked Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price for an update on the case, and Price sent this email Tuesday that reads in part, “Our office is currently working on a partnership with the Asian Law Caucus to support AAPI victims of violence in ways that open up broader possibilities for healing and non-carceral forms of accountability.”

Price then sent a hostile email blasting Asian-American critics as ignorant of “constitutional law” and argued that the gang members are “presumed innocent”. Then she accused Asian-Americans complaining about her pro-crime policies of “mob violence” and claimed that “as a descendant of people in this country who were historically subjected to mob violence in the form of lynchings, racist profiling and wrongful convictions, I am particularly sensitive to the danger of this type of comment” and proposed a forum to “better educate” Asian Americans.

Some might call this racist, but wokes know that it’s actually “anti-racist”.

The Soros DA not only wants to go easy on a 2-year-old’s killers, but accuses Asian-Americans upset over it of being a dangerous racist lynch mob.

A little boy was murdered, but to pro-crime DAs, the killers are the real victims.

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/asian-americans-protest-soros-da-after-she-calls-them-racists/

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Legal argument by Dem election superlawyer will aid GOP challenge, 'upend' Arizona AG race: Hamadeh - Natalia Mittelstadt

 

by Natalia Mittelstadt

GOP nominee Abe Hamadeh fell just 280 votes short of winning, but at least 1,200 provisional ballots cast by high-propensity voters were "erroneously rejected," calculates state's former assistant attorney general.

 

A legal argument by Democrats' go-to election superlawyer Marc Elias may boomerang to "upend the Arizona Attorney General race," according to defeated GOP nominee Abe Hamadeh, who is challenging the election in court.

Hamadeh is suing his opponent, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, to ensure all votes were counted in their midterm election contest, which Hamadeh lost by just 280 votes, according to an automatic statewide recount.

In a legal challenge to an Arizona election integrity law pending before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Elias' law firm argues that the cancellation of multiple voter registrations for a single voter across different counties could result in voter suppression of populations that frequently move. 

"Elias is unintentionally going to get disenfranchised votes from the November 2022 election counted which will upend the Arizona Attorney General race," Hamadeh tweeted on Wednesday. "I look forward to working with ⁦[Marc Elias]⁩ and the team to ensure that democracy is honored."

Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee has parted ways with Elias, citing strategic disagreements, according to a report on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Mohave County Superior Court scheduled oral arguments on May 16 for Hamadeh's motion for a new trial, which he filed after learning that vote total discrepancies in Pinal County were allegedly not brought to the attention of his legal team or the judge in his initial election challenge.

As Hamadeh's case moves forward, the Elias Law Group's separate lawsuit challenging an Arizona election integrity law could aid the GOP nominee's case.

In August 2022, Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, Voto Latino, and Priorities USA first sued then-Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and then-Attorney General Mark Brnovich with the help of Elias Law Group over Senate Bill 1260, which was enacted in June 2022. The Yuma County Republican Committee intervened in the lawsuit in defense of the new law.

The lawsuit argues that the bill "violate[s] the First Amendment's rights to free speech and association and the First and 14th Amendments' protections against undue burdens on the right to vote," according to a summary by Elias' progressive elections news source, Democracy Docket.

S.B. 1260, according to Democracy Docket, "requires county recorders to cancel a voter's registration if they receive confirmation that the voter is registered to vote in another Arizona county, creates a process to remove voters from the state's permanent vote-by-mail list if the voter is registered in another county and makes it a felony to forward a mail-in ballot to a voter who may be registered in another state."

The lawsuit warns that the bill's provision for the cancellation of a person's voter registration does "not require county recorders to notify the voter or ask for their consent before canceling their voter registration," nor require "recorders to make any inquiry at all of the voter, including to find out where the voter currently resides and intends to vote."

As a result, the law "place[s] an undue burden of affirmative cancellation on voters, particularly those who frequently move or change residences, because voters must cancel their other voter registrations if they want to prevent their current voter registration from being canceled," according to the lawsuit.

In September, the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona "temporarily halt[ed] the enforcement of the cancellation and felony provisions," which meant they weren't to take effect during the 2022 midterm elections.

The appeal of the order is scheduled to be heard by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on May 16.

Elias' legal argument against the cancellation of multiple voter registrations actually helps Hamadeh's case, former Arizona Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright told Just the News on Monday.

Wright, who served in the civil division of the AG's election integrity unit under Brnovich, joined Hamadeh's lawsuit in January.

While the district judge stopped the new law from canceling voter registrations in more than one county for a single voter, there are still policies and procedures remaining in effect that allow the cancellations, Wright explained.

The cancellation provision applies when someone registers to vote in a new county while they are already registered to vote in a different county. In such cases, the new registration replaces the original one, which is canceled.

The audit of the 2020 presidential election in Arizona found that there were voters who registered to vote in multiple counties and voted in more than one county, according to Wright, which is what led to the cancellation provision in Senate Bill 1260. But the issue that occurred in the 2022 midterm elections, she explained, is that high-propensity voters who were previously registered to vote had to cast provisional ballots when they learned at voting centers on Election Day that they weren't registered to vote.

While there were nearly 9,000 provisional ballots rejected statewide during the 2022 general election, Hamadeh's legal team estimates that, based on their research, at least 1,200 of them across roughly half of the state's counties were "erroneously rejected," Wright said, and there could be more in other counties.

Those 1,200 provisional ballots were cast by high-propensity voters, which is unusual, she explained, because typically provisional ballots are cast by first-time or low-propensity voters who aren't fully aware of all the requirements they must meet to vote.

Wright explained that it's common for Arizonans to have two properties and if they register a vehicle at their secondary property with the motor vehicles department, there is a pre-checked box on a form for that process that moves a person's voter registration to the new location.

She noted that provisions in Arizona's 2014 Elections Procedures Manual included safeguards that prevented voters from being erroneously removed without notifying them. However, those safeguards were removed in the 2019 Elections Procedures Manual, which Wright said she didn't initially realize when she was assisting the attorney general's office in defending the challenged election integrity law.

Given that Hamadeh was just 280 votes short of victory in the attorney general's race and there are at least 1,200 provisional ballots that were cast by high-propensity voters, it is possible that if those are counted, he could win, Wright argues.

While Wright said she disagrees with Elias on allowing voters to be registered to vote in multiple counties, she added that it is unfair to voters if their registration is changed without them realizing and consenting to it, and it also violates procedural due process.

Elias argued that the cancelation of voter registrations "would disenfranchise voters," Wright told the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show on Wednesday. "And under the safeguards that should be in place under the National Voter Registration Act," counties "shouldn't have been canceling valid registrations," she added, "but our campaign is finding they did."

"This is a violation of the NVRA and of people's civil rights," Wright concluded.

Elias' "doomsday argument," she told Just the News, "came to fruition but not in the way he thought it was gonna happen, and his exact arguments could now be used to get Abe into office."

Elias Law Group and Mayes didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

Natalia Mittelstadt

Source:https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/marc-elias-doomsday-prediction-az-election-law-came-true-abe-hamadeh-helping

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