Kataeb Bloc, Other MPs Resign from Parliament after Beirut Blast

Lebanon’s Kataeb Party resigned Saturday in protest at the Beirut blast widely blamed on government negligence and corruption, bringing to five the number of MPs to quit since the disaster. In an emotional speech during a funeral service for one of his top party officials who died in Tuesday's blast, MP Sami Gemayel announced his resignation and that of the two other MPs, Nadim Gemayel and Elias Hankash, from his bloc. "Your comrades took the decision to resign from parliament," Gemayel said, addressing Kataeb secretary-general Nazar Najarian, one of the 154 confirmed victims of the explosion at Beirut port. “The Kataeb MPs have decided… to move to confrontation for the sake of a free, sovereign, independent Lebanon,” he said. “I invite all honorable (lawmakers) to resign so that the people can decide who will govern them, without anybody imposing anything to them.”

Gemayel criticized the reactions of several top politicians who argued the international aid effort following the disaster would be an opportunity to break the diplomatic isolation of Lebanon. "A new Lebanon must be born on the ruins of the old one, which you represent," he said, addressing the authorities at large and their clan leaders. The party's three resignations from the 128-seat parliament come after those of Marwan Hamadeh from the party of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and independent MP Paula Yacoubian. Yacoubian told the CNN news channel that she was urging the entire parliament to stand down. "As the MP of Beirut, I took the decision of resigning because I feel I'm a false witness in this parliament," she said. "There's nothing we can do, the decision-making is outside the parliament," she said. "Everyone should resign."

Hezbollah, the only group which has kept its weapons since Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war, and its allies hold a majority in the current 128-seat parliament, elected in 2018. Lebanon's ambassador to Jordan also resigned in the aftermath of the blast, caused when fire spread to a depot where a huge amount of ammonium nitrate had been stored for years, unsecured. Days before the blast, Nassif Hitti quit as foreign minister over a lack of political will to enact reforms to halt a financial meltdown which he warned could turn Lebanon into a failed state. “I took part in this government to work for one boss called Lebanon, then I found in my country multiple bosses and contradictory interests,” Hitti wrote in his resignation statement. “If they do not come together in the interest of rescuing the Lebanese people, God forbid, the ship will sink with everyone on it.” Early evidence shows top officials knew of its presence at the port and that safety procedures were knowingly and repeatedly violated. The government has promised a swift and thorough enquiry but public trust is low that an investigative committee chaired by top officials will uncover the real culprits.

https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2436936/kataeb-bloc-other-mps-resign-parliament-after-beirut-blast

Epstein-Linked Prince Andrew Inaugurated 1000th Chinese Propaganda Group, Accompanied by Xi Jinping

Prince Andrew christened a Confucius Institute and extolled the controversial Chinese government-funded propaganda fronts while also visiting a British company collaborating on China’s exploitative One Belt One Road initiative – with all events occurring alongside President Xi Jinping in 2015. Prince Andrew, who “lobbied” the U.S. government to grant Jeffrey Epstein a lighter sentence and is the subject of intense speculation, inaugurated a Confucius Classroom alongside President Xi Jinping in 2015, praising the propaganda-ridden initiative as a boon for collaboration. However, Confucius Classrooms, the primary school complement to college-level Confucius Institutes, have been identified by Members of the British Parliament as “an endeavor by the Chinese Communist Party to spread its propaganda and suppress its critics beyond its borders” rife with espionage and intellectual property theft. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) itself has confirmed these charges, with a high-ranking apparatchik disclosing Confucius Institutes to an “important part of China’s overseas propaganda set-up.”

The Propaganda Prince. A Confucius Classroom was launched in the British Crown Dependency of Jersey, and Prince Andrew unveiled its dedicatory plaque alongside President Xi Jinping in 2015. The grand opening – part of Xi’s state visit to the United Kingdom – was momentous, as the institute, placed at the state-funded Hautlieu School, represented Jersey’s first Confucius Institute. It also was the record-breaking 1,000th Confucius Institute to open worldwide. That means Prince Andrew wasn’t merely celebrating the launch of a CCP propaganda front aimed at schoolchildren as young as 14: he was extolling their extensive, global reach. As recounted by state-run media outlet China Daily, Prince Andrew even hailed the virtues of Confucius Institutes: “Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, who accompanied Xi to the event, said it was a pleasure to support the institutes and classrooms because “China is a very, very important country”. “By learning the language, understanding the culture and civilization, we can make better use of our skills in order to work together in the future,” he said.” Professing a similar message, Prince Andrew also spoke at the opening ceremony where several other high-level CCP apparatchiks were in attendance.

One Belt, One Royal Road. Prince Andrew also spearheaded a visit to British satellite telecommunications firm Inmarsat alongside Xi in celebration of the company’s “close” and “exclusive strategic relationship” with the Chinese government. The visit served “to understand how Inmarsat is able to uniquely contribute to President Xi’s One Belt One Road” via its mobile satellite broadband communications connectivity. Prince Andrew, who had been a financial supporter of the company prior to his unearthed Epstein connections, extended his royal seal of approval to Inmarsat’s collaboration with the CCP, visiting the company’s London headquarters alongside its Chief Executive Officer, Chairman, and former Chief Secretary to the Treasury Greg Hands. One Belt One Road, however, is the lynchpin of the CCP’s quest for global economic and political hegemony, chiefly by making countries subservient through infrastructure investment laden with debt-trap diplomacy. By enticing developing countries with heaping infrastructure and technology investment, even weening some Western nations off their U.S. ties, the CCP seeks to reorient the global economy by placing itself as the center. It’s no coincidence, therefore, that most countries default on these loans, granting the CCP access, leverage, and control to the projects they initiate – all the while gobbling up pre-existing institutions and infrastructure.

https://thenationalpulse.com/news/prince-andrew-and-xi-confucius-institute/

'Broke And Unemployed' Hunter Biden Slapped With $450K Tax Lien - Which Was 'Resolved' In Six Days

For a guy claiming to be broke and unemployed in January in order to avoid paying child support, Hunter Biden was able to 'resolve' a $450,000 tax lien in mid-July, just six days after it was issued.

Although Biden claimed that he was broke, he was living in a $12,000-per-month Hollywood Hills rental home and spotted driving a $129,000 Porsche Panamera in Beverly Hills. After a judge ordered Biden to turn over his financial records and travel to Arkansas for a deposition, the former lobbyist agreed to settle the case with Roberts. -Washington Free Beacon While fighting with his baby mama, an Arkansas stripper, Biden said in a court filing "I attest that I am unemployed and have had no monthly income since May 2019," adding "I currently have significant debts (in part as a result of obligations arising from my divorce which was final in April 2017)." According to the Washington Free Beacon, "The younger Biden owed $238,562.76 in state income taxes from 2017 and $215,328.16 in state income taxes from 2018, according to records from the District of Columbia’s Office of Tax and Revenue. The District of Columbia filed a $453,890 lien against him on July 9."

Yet, six days later on July 15, Hunter was released from the tax lien, as confirmed to the Beacon by a spokesman for DC's Office of the Chief Financial Officer after the "tax issue was resolved." Harvey Bezozi, a tax expert who specializes in large-scale tax debt negotiations, said the only way to get a lien released is to pay the settlement in full—often through a payment plan, penalty abatement, or other compromise with the government—or to prove the lien was filed in error. He said liens can take months or years to resolve. "It drags on," he said. "Six days had to be some kind of expeditious kind of process for this." -Washington Free Beacon.

This isn't the first time Hunter has dodged taxes. In 2018, he was slapped with a $112,805 tax lien, which was resolved this March according to the Beacon. Biden came under scrutiny over his lucrative positions with foreign entities - reportedly raking in over $50,000 per month sitting on the board of directors for Ukrainian energy giant Burisma, and serving on the board of BHR Partners - "a $1.5 billion private equity arm of Chinese investment fund Bohai Capital," according to the report. Not just Hunter… The Beacon also reports that the Biden family has been hit with multiple tax liens over the last several decades. James Biden has had at least five tax liens filed against him between 1995 and 2015, including one for $589,095 filed in 2015 and released one year later. Frank Biden, another brother of the presidential candidate, has had at least three liens for unpaid income taxes. He said in 2011 that a $32,500 lien in Kentucky stemmed from his struggle with alcohol addiction and was being paid off through a monthly plan, according to the Broward Palm Beach New Times. Joe Biden’s sister Valerie and her husband John Owens have faced at least five tax liens, including one for $229,749 in 1990. Lucky for the Bidens, they're in the club.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/broke-and-unemployed-hunter-biden-slapped-450k-tax-lien-which-was-resolved-six-days

>>10227158

Haven't looked into them yet but, I recognized the name for other things they might be into here in the US. Anything with China attached to it always has that err of suspicion to it. Would really like to see moar information come out about MH 370, there are too many opinions with very few facts as to what happened to it and all of those people.