Australia Post CEO asked to stand aside pending investigation into $12,000 Cartier watch spend

Australia Post's Chief Executive Christine Holgate will be asked to stand aside as an investigation is conducted into why the organisation spent $12,000 rewarding senior executives with Cartier watches.

During question time this afternoon the Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said Ms Holgate will be asked to suspend her duties after it was revealed in a Senate estimates hearing that the service gifted four $3000 watches to senior executives.

Ms Holgate said the watches were bought from a Melbourne store in October 2018 and were for people that needed "to be rewarded" for "an inordinate amount of work" they did in setting up personal banking within post office branches.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/australia-post-spent-12000-on-cartier-watches-for-executives/1f14bcb9-6eb4-4e79-a853-feeee77f7e8b

RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA

Russia accused of using secret weapon to attack CIA agents in Australia

Russia is accused of using a secret “microwave weapon” to attack two CIA agents in Australia, leaving them with lifelong injuries and impairment.

Russia is accused of using a secret “microwave weapon” to attack two CIA agents in Australia under a worldwide campaign that has allegedly caused brain injuries to diplomats and spies.

The so-called Havana Syndrome has been reported for years after American diplomats stationed in Cuba suddenly started hearing strange chirping and grating noises that always occurred while they were at home or in hotels.

What happened next was terrifying, with victims suffering headaches, memory and hearing loss, and difficulty sleeping for years. Some have become wheelchair-bound while others have been forced to wear weighted vests to correct their balance.

But it’s the first time that the mysterious attacks have been reported on Australian soil.

According to a report in GQ magazine, The Mystery of the Immaculate Concussion, one of the two US agents who believe they were attacked is so senior he is among the top 5 highest ranking officials in the CIA.

Journalist Julia Ioffe said the two men were in Australia to hold talks with ASIO and other intelligence agencies under the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance with the US, the UK, Canada, and New Zealand.

“In the fall of 2019, two top CIA officials, both in the clandestine service, travelled to Australia to meet with officials in that country’s spy agency,’’ she wrote.

“While in their hotel rooms in Australia, both of the Americans felt it: the strange sound, the pressure in their heads, the ringing in their ears. According to these sources, they became nauseous and dizzy.”

Another CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos, who helped run clandestine operations in Russia and Europe, claims to have been attacked in December 2017 in Russia.

He reportedly suffered severe vertigo in his hotel room in Moscow and developed debilitating migraine headaches that forced him to retire from the CIA.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/military/russia-accused-of-using-secret-weapon-to-attack-cia-agents-in-australia/news-story/8712b6c7d82f85da1b810e43b55ffa59

Pompeo said planning to declare international human rights groups ‘anti-Semitic’

Expected State Department report would target groups like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam for alleged BDS support and end US aid for their activities

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is working to get the US State Department to declare several major international human rights groups, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam, as “anti-Semitic” and end American support for them, the Politico news site reported Wednesday.

The report, citing two officials, said a declaration in the form of a report by US Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism Elan Carr could come as soon as this week. The report was later confirmed by other US media, including The Washington Post.

The declaration would cite the human rights groups’ alleged or perceived support for the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, Politico said.

Israel has long accused human rights groups of bias, unfairly targeting Israel and holding the Jewish state to a higher standard than other countries over its treatment of the Palestinians.

Last year, then-strategic affairs minister Gilad Erdan (now Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations) threatened to ban Amnesty International from Israel over a report that called on websites like Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and TripAdvisor to boycott listings in Israeli West Bank settlements.

Amnesty accused the sites of profiting from “war crimes” by offering accommodation in settlements.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/pompeo-said-planning-to-declare-major-human-rights-groups-as-anti-semitic/

UPDATE: Former Hunter Biden Associate in Fear for His Life – Bevan Cooney Moved to More Dangerous Facility After Leaking Emails to Conservative Journalists

On Friday news broke that Hunter Biden’s former business partner Bevan Cooney had flipped.

Cooney, who is currently serving time in a federal facility in Oregon over a bond scheme, recently connected to journalists Matthew Tyrmand and Peter Schweizer and turned over his emails to the investigative journalists.

Bevan Cooney reportedly turned over 26,000 business emails to the journalists.

Then on Tuesday Bevan Cooney was removed from the federal facility in Oregon and moved to a new location.

On Wednesday Matthew Tyrmand joined Laura Ingraham to give an update on Bevan Cooney.

According to Tyrmand authorities moved Tooney from a work camp with white collar criminals to a more dangerous facility.

Tooney is in solitary confinement.

Bevan Tooney only has one month more to serve.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/10/update-former-hunter-biden-associate-fear-life-bevan-cooney-moved-dangerous-facility-leaking-emails-conservative-journalists/

Joe Biden scored $16 million in income after leaving White House … but where did it go?

The Democratic nominee's latest federal financial disclosure report lists less than $3.5 million in assets after a major windfall.

Joe Biden's personal finances — at least as he lists them publicly for voters — don't add up.

The politician who reveled in the moniker "Middle Class Joe" carried a relatively modest portfolio during 47 years in public office. But he scored a $16 million-plus windfall after he left the Obama White House. That includes $11 million he and his wife Jill earned in 2017, mostly on book and speaking fees, $4.6 million in 2018 and $985,000 last year, according to tax returns he made public earlier in the election.

But when he filed a federal financial disclosure form earlier this year to run for president, the Bidens listed only assets of between $1.5 million and $3.2 million. And that invites the question: Where did the rest of the money go?

"I can guarantee you if I was auditing those forms, I'd have questions," says Paul Miller, the owner of New York-based tax firm Miler & Company LLP.

Part of the answer comes from the limitations of the form. The Bidens, like all candidates, don't have to list on the disclosure report their personal home in Wilmington, Del., against which for a long time they carried a mortgage and line of credit, totaling between $750,000 and $1.5 million, according to Biden's last financial disclosure form when he served as vice president in 2016. The current form shows those debts have been paid.

The Bidens also reported making more than $1 million in charitable contributions, including to the United Jewish Federation of Chicago, the Kingswood Community Center, $100,000 to Biden's own foundation and $150,000 to the foundation named for his late son, Beau.

But even after the debt, donations and expected taxes, Biden lists millions less in assets than his recent income would suggest.

Miller said he estimated — based on his review of Biden's income, his itemized deductions, and state and federal income taxes — that the Bidens should have listed around $9 million on their assets in their most recent disclosure forms.

"I am unable to document what he did with the difference of approximately $6 million," he said. "What else are we missing?"

Miller also noted that the Bidens purchased a Delaware beach house in 2017 for a reported $2.7 million; Biden also owns a house in Wilmington said to come in at around 7,000 square feet.

"It seems odd these assets are not on these documents," Miller said.

https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/bidens-financial-disclosures-appear-indicate-millions-dollars

China Disinformation Ops Target Top GOP Lawmaker

Rep. McCaul latest victim of CCP influence operations seeking to sway U.S. elections

China is targeting a leading Republican lawmaker who has been at the center of efforts to crack down on the Communist Party's stealth campaign to influence the 2020 election.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas), lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is the latest victim of a coordinated campaign by Chinese state-controlled outlets to spread disinformation and sow discord among the American public. McCaul is an outspoken critic of the CCP and, as chair of the congressional China Task Force, led efforts to expose China's deception about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

These efforts have made McCaul a target for the Communist Party, which has used its network of English-language propaganda sites to discredit the lawmaker. CCP-controlled outlets have published nearly two dozen hit pieces on McCaul in the past several months, including a Wednesday article by the Global Times claiming McCaul's hawkish views on China could cost him his seat in Congress. McCaul is locked in a tight election with his challenger, according to polls, and the incumbent's team views China's English-language press blitz as part of an effort to ensure he loses.

China's campaign against McCaul is the latest effort by the Communist Party to peddle propaganda to American audiences and influence the 2020 election cycle and soften the American public's view toward Beijing. The U.S. intelligence community has singled out China, Russia, and Iran as seeking to influence the upcoming American elections. Using media sites, fake social media accounts, and internet bots, these countries push propaganda to American readers. Social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook have struggled to contain the spread of state-backed disinformation, which routinely is presented to American readers without context or warning. The United States on Wednesday designated six Chinese media companies operating in America as CCP propaganda outlets.

At least 17 stories attacking McCaul have appeared in Chinese-controlled media outlets in recent months. The flurry of stories published in outlets such as China Daily, China Global Television Network, and the Global Times portray McCaul and other China hawks as a danger to the U.S.-China relationship. They label the China Task Force a "circus troupe" and go to great lengths to push back against accusations the Communist Party lied about the coronavirus pandemic and hid critical information from global authorities.

https://freebeacon.com/2020-election/china-disinformation-ops-target-top-gop-lawmaker/

Trump Donor Doxing Site Is A Great Opportunity to Make Friends

A new leftist doxing website created to intimidate Trump donors by exposing their data with the help of Google maps and data allegedly scraped from the FEC is a great opportunity to connect with your neighbors and make friends.

The site, DonaldTrump.watch, was clearly created to encourage terrorism against us but it also helps to show we're not alone.

The site allows anyone to search throughout the country down to their own neighborhoods and see the names and addresses of all Trump donors (don't put your address in, just scroll to wherever and click "search here" at the top).

Here's a shot of the White House:

When you click each tag it brings up the donor's name, a list of their donations to Trump and their address.

They appear to have a sister site, Donor.watch, which maps out donations for all candidates without labeling anyone as "racist."

Both sites "Terms of use" pages claim the site is provided by "Public Service Media Group, Inc." but there's very little about them on the internet.

Bizapedia has one entry saying, "Public Service Media Group, Inc. is a Delaware Corporation filed on September 17, 2019. The company's File Number is listed as 7611619."

The site was previously online at Racist.watch and put up around October 2019, so the time frame checks out. The site was previously taken down but now it redirects to DonaldTrump.watch.

The feds could probably make a case this is voter intimidation but I doubt they'll be interested.

Regardless, we might as well make lemons out of lemonade and use this as an opportunity to connect with our like-minded, patriotic neighbors!

https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=61836

Hunter biz partner confirms e-mail, details Joe Biden’s push to make millions from China: Goodwin

Wait until Scranton hears about this.

One of Joe Biden’s ways of contrasting himself with President Trump has been to declare the election a battle of Park Avenue values vs. Scranton, Pa., values.

Now we learn that Biden has secretly been playing footsie with China.

The statement last night asserting that the former vice president was a willing and eager participant in a family scheme to make millions of dollars by partnering with a shady Chinese Communist firm is a singular event in a presidential race already overflowing with drama and intrigue.

The dynamite assertion, believable because it aligns with earlier information we know to be true, came in a Wednesday night statement by Tony Bobulinski, who describes himself as a former partner of Hunter Biden, Joe Biden and his brother Jim in the China scheme. Bobulinski unloads his bill of accusations in blunt but precise language and detail.

He confirms that he was one of the recipients of the May 13, 2017, email published by The Post eight days ago. That email, from another partner in the group, laid out cash and equity positions and mysteriously included a 10 percent set aside for “the big guy.”

Sources have said the “big guy” was Joe Biden. In matter-of-fact manner, Bobulinski states that the “email is genuine” and that the former vice president and the man leading in the 2020 race is indeed “the big guy.”

That claim alone rips out the heart of nearly everything Joe Biden has ever said about Hunter’s many businesses and his knowledge of them. His repeated insistence that the two never spoke of the son’s global sources of money didn’t pass the laugh test.

More

https://nypost.com/2020/10/22/hunter-biz-partner-confirms-e-mail-details-joe-bidens-push-to-make-millions-from-china/

EU Doesn’t Want to Give Britain Brexit Deal that Doesn’t Suit Them, Politician Says

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged UK businesses to accelerate preparations for a no-deal Brexit.

UK Prime Minister Johnson has insisted that the country will prosper outside the EU with or without a trade deal, stressing that whilst companies have been busy fighting the challenges of Covid, they must now get ready for the end of the Brexit transition. With more on this story, Sputnik spoke to Donald MacKay the Leader of UKIP Scotland, in this interview.

Sputnik: With 73 days to go before Britain leaves the European Union… should Boris Johnson and the government perhaps been clearer with their Brexit intentions to the business community?

Donald MacKay: I think that the business community is sensible enough to realise that what's going on is a kind of elaborate game. I mean, we shouldn't forget that the EU do not want Britain to leave on anything remotely like reasonable terms, because there would be a queue at the door of other countries wanting to get out. So, my suspicion is that the EU are not in any way making this easy and if there's been any kind of error of judgement, it's possibly that the British government have thought far too highly, that the EU would want an acceptable deal all round.

I mean, those of us who watch these things very firmly hold the view that the EU do not want a deal that doesn't suit them, and if it suits them it probably won't suit us. I don't think that any of us who are in any way interested in the workings of the EU are in any way surprised by the current situation. Nor for that matter are we disheartened.

I think this is great news. I think we should prepare everything and we should leave the EU full stop. That's been our position for a long time many years. We don't want to leave but not really leave. We want to leave and I think that ultimately does mean having a No Deal Brexit and I don't think we'll be in any way disadvantaged by it.

Sputnik: In your eyes, Donald, do you think firms realistically have enough time to prepare for Britain's withdrawal from the EU?

Donald MacKay: Well, yes, but they've had more than 73 days. I actually look at it from exactly the other point of view; on the 23rd of June 2016 we voted to leave, four years later we're still in it. So, plenty of time absolutely, definitely. Maybe individual firms have their own particular issues that they have to deal with but I would have thought that anybody who is dependent upon the EU in any way, shape or form has been aware of the fact that we're going to leave, and I'm very pleased that we're leaving without any fudged deal, which is what I feared.

https://sputniknews.com/analysis/202010221080841180-eu-doesnt-want-to-give-britain-brexit-deal-that-doesnt-suit-them/

TikTok bans ‘white nationalism’ and ‘misinformation’ about Jews

Video sharing app TikTok has expanded its hate speech rules, and will remove a host of pro-white and anti-Jewish content. The move comes as multiple social media companies crack down on anti-Semitism.

In an update to its ‘community guidelines’ announced in a blog post on Wednesday, TikTok said it would remove content related to “white nationalism, white genocide theory…and movements such as Identitarianism and male supremacy.”

Additionally, the company said that it would ban “misinformation and hurtful stereotypes about Jewish, Muslim and other communities.” The ban, the blog post continued, will include “misinformation about notable Jewish individuals and families who are used as proxies to spread antisemitism.”

Though the post did not mention his name, the “notable Jewish individuals and families” likely includes billionaire liberal financier George Soros and the Rothschild banking family, both of whom are popular targets of conspiracy-minded TikTok users, according to a report by the Independent.

Deciding what kind of content would be classified as ‘anti-Semitic’ will likely prove difficult for TikTok’s censors. Soros’ power and political influence, for example, are well documented, yet his defenders have frequently accused his critics of anti-Semitism, no matter their intent. Likewise, the definition of “white nationalism” is constantly shifting, and can mean anything from support for a Caucasian ethnostate, to support for President Donald Trump.

The Chinese-owned company did not provide any examples of content that would be forbidden.

In implementing the new rules, TikTok joins Facebook and Twitter, both of which clamped down on anti-Semitism and conspiracy theories in recent weeks.

https://www.rt.com/news/504190-tiktok-white-nationalism-anti-semitism/

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Senate Democrats filibuster Republican Covid-19 relief, insist on multi-trillion House bill

Democrats once again blocked the $500 billion Covid-19 relief proposal put forth by the GOP, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seeks to have President Donald Trump override his party and accept the $2.2 trillion Democratic bill.

In a 51-44 strict party-line vote, the Republican amendment 2652 failed to get the 60 votes required to overcome the filibuster on Wednesday. It would have provided $300 in weekly federal unemployment benefits through the end of the year, $100 billion for reopening schools and funding for more testing and vaccine development.

“If this relief does not pass, it will be because Senate Democrats chose to do Speaker Pelosi’s political dirty work rather than stand up for struggling people,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said ahead of the vote.

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) accused McConnell of playing “games” by putting forth an “emaciated” bill, and claimed it failed “because it leaves so many Americans behind.”

Democrats, said Schumer, are fighting for the HEROES Act to provide “real relief.” Republicans have opposed the $3 trillion measure, adopted in a party-line vote by the House in May, calling it a wish list of partisan priorities that have little or nothing to do with helping people affected by the pandemic.

“The American people are sick of the cynical political games Washington politicians are playing with this desperately needed economic relief,” Senator Cory Gardner (R-Colorado) said in a statement after the vote, calling it “shameful” that Democrats blocked the bill “because it doesn’t include all of their partisan wish list.”

The Senate Republican Twitter account simply posted a meme showing the infamous moment when Pelosi (D-California) ripped up Trump’s state of the union speech, this time with the papers labeled with all the things that were in the blocked relief bill.

https://www.rt.com/usa/504191-senate-democrats-filibuster-coronavirus-relief/

>>11205326

Beijing Readying "Retaliation List" After US Names 6 More Chinese Outlets As Foreign Missions

On Wednesday the US State Department designated six more Chinese media outlets as "agents of China's government," forcing them to have to register officially as foreign missions if they want to keep operating on US soil under the Foreign Missions Act. This brings the total number of Chinese media outlets considered "foreign missions" or essentially agents of a foreign power to 15.

“We simply want to ensure that American people, consumers of information, can differentiate between news written by a free press and propaganda distributed by the Chinese Communist Party itself,” Pompeo said. “Not the same thing,” he bluntly concluded.

Predictably, an angry reaction was swift out of well-known Chinese state media pundits, foremost among them Global Times editor Hu Xijin, who denounced that "The US has gone too far."

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/beijing-readying-retaliation-list-after-us-names-6-more-chinese-outlets-foreign

>>11205470

Hmmmmmm better option:

Zionist Congress headed for showdown over top jobs

"We have attempted to reach other solutions, but right now, our intention is to move forward with the same deal," Miki Zohar said.

The final day of the three-day Zionist Congress on Thursday will feature a battle over the key posts in the Zionist Institutions after a new World Zionist Organization coalition deal was not reached by Wednesday night.

Coalition chairman Miki Zohar told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday night that he still intended to try to push through an agreement he reached with right-wing parties and Orthodox groups, despite the opposition of centrist and left-wing parties, non-Orthodox religious streams and Jewish organizations.

“We have attempted to reach other solutions, but right now, our intention is to move forward with the same deal,” Zohar said.

The agreement gives the chairmanship of the WZO to the Likud and the chairmanship of Keren Kayemeth Le’Israel to a rotation of the religious-Zionist World Mizrachi and Likud. More controversially, it gives the education department of KKL to Eretz Hakodesh (The Holy Land), a new ultra-Orthodox and conservative Modern Orthodox party.

Leaders of the Masorti (Conservative) and Reform movements convinced the leadership of the major Zionist organizations with voting rights at the congress to cast decisive votes against the coalition agreement. But Zohar said he still had enough votes to pass the deal.

Zohar said another possibility that remained was to let current KKL chairman Danny Atar keep his post for two years at the expense of Mizrachi. He denied reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was urging him to oust Mizrachi, because it is affiliated with the opposition Yamina Party and because Mizrachi head Avraham Duvdevani enabled Isaac Herog to become head of the Jewish Agency.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/zionist-congress-headed-for-showdown-over-top-jobs-646491