Biden: I Have ‘Very Progressive Agenda’ and ‘Significant Representation’ from Progressives in Administration

During an interview aired on Tuesday’s broadcast of “NBC Nightly News,” Joe Biden said that he isn’t taking nominating Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) off the table for Cabinet positions, but noted that there already is “significant representation among progressives in our administration,” and that his “very ambitious, very progressive agenda,” will require “really strong leaders in the House and Senate to get it done.”

Host Lester Holt asked, “What about former rivals from your own party? Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren. Have you talked to them about Cabinet positions?”

Biden responded, “We already have significant representation among progressives in our administration, but there’s nothing really off the table. But one thing is really critical, taking someone out of the Senate, taking someone out of the House, particularly a person of consequence, is a really difficult decision that would have to be made. I have a very ambitious, very progressive agenda, and it’s going to take really strong leaders in the House and Senate to get it done.”

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/11/24/biden-i-have-very-progressive-agenda-and-significant-representation-from-progressives-in-administration/

$500 Million In Coal Stranded Off China's Coast As Australian Trade Spat Intensifies

At least 50 giant bulk carriers loaded with Australian coal, worth $500 million, are anchored off several Chinese ports, as the latest diplomatic spat between Canberra and Beijing intensifies.

Bloomberg, citing shipping data from Kpler, said 66 vessels are loaded with Australian coal had been moored off China's coast for more than a month. The ships collectively have 5.7 million tons of coal and about 1,000 seafarers onboard. Vessel sizes range from Capesize to Panamax.

The ban on Australian coal is occurring as both countries are locked in a one-sided trade war, with Beijing slapping tariffs and blacklisting commodities from the country this year.

According to Braemar ACM Shipbroking, Beijing has halted Australian coal imports, with vessels unable to clear customs.

"Some ships have been waiting for months," said Nick Ristic, a dry bulk analyst with Braemar.

A recent report from the shipbroker said some of the vessels were being diverted from China's coast to other countries, such as India or Vietnam.

Bulk Carriers Hauling Coal Around China

https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/500-million-coal-stranded-chinas-coast-australian-trade-spat-intensifies

Gen. Mattis Pens Pro ‘America Last’ Op-Ed Begging for Biden Admin Role

General Jim Mattis – recommended by President Obama to President Trump and perhaps naively accepted – has penned an op-ed for the narrowly-read foreign policy industry magazine Foreign Affairs. In the co-authored piece, the four authors appear to embrace an “America Last” foreign policy in the style of the Obama administration.

In what could only be viewed as a bid for “jobs for the boys” in a potential Biden administration, Mattis alongside his co-authors from the D.C.-swamp think tanks the Hudson Institute and American Enterprise Institute state:

The United States today is undermining the foundations of an international order manifestly advantageous to U.S. interests, reflecting a basic ignorance of the extent to which both robust alliances and international institutions provide vital strategic depth.

In practice, “America first” has meant “America alone.” That has damaged the country’s ability to address problems before they reach U.S. territory and has thus compounded the danger emergent threats pose.

In reality, America First never meant America alone – with President Trump actually forcing NATO member countries to pay their fair shares and elevating them to partners in the deal, rather than protectorates.

But the neocolonial instincts of America’s pro-war, foreign policy establishment have clearly not been quelled by four years of relative peace under President Trump. Clearly, they’re more bloodthirsty than ever.

Revealingly, the authors denigrate America’s abilities to defend itself, despite record military investment over the past four years and a series of effective detentes with previously aggressive and hostile regimes.

“Not even the United States is strong enough to protect itself on its own,” states Mattis alongside his authors Kori Schake, Jim Ellis, and Joe Felter.

https://thenationalpulse.com/commentary/gen-mattis-pens-pro-america-last-op-ed-begging-for-biden-admin-role/

Democrat ‘Justice’ Bill Would Seize Private Farmland And Give It To Blacks For Free

Bill that would squander $80 billion in taxpayer funds draws comparisons to racist South African policies

Radical legislation introduced this week by Senators Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, and Kirsten Gillibrand seeks to spend a staggering $80 billion of taxpayer funds on seizing land from American farmers via eminent domain, and redistributing said land to vaguely defined “black farmers” as a reward for having suffered even more vaguely defined “systemic racism.”

The so-called Justice for Black Farmers Act has already drawn comparisons to similar racist land expropriation measures enacted in South Africa.

A “Department of Agriculture Civil Rights Oversight Board” would be used to oversee the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture’s Office and accept “civil rights complaints” from black activists, while an “Equity Commission” would focus on studying “historical and continuing discrimination by the Department of Agriculture against Black farmers and ranchers.”

Taxpayer-funded studies regarding the races, ethnicities, ages, localities, wages and benefits” of farm workers would receive particular attention.

The sheer number of new powers granted to the civil rights board and equity commission, including oversight of local Farm Service Agency Committee, is so staggering that it constitutes several pages of the legislation.

Any black individual over the age of 21 who can claim one parent of African ancestry would be eligible for free training from the USDA, as well as handouts of farmland acquired via eminent domain by the USDA in numbers of “not less than 20,000 land grants” for each year starting in 2021 and continuing through 2030.

A total of $8 billion would be authorized for the racialized land grants each year, adding up to a ridiculous $80 billion in expenditures over the course of the next ten years.

The “black farmers” who received the free land handouts would then be eligible for direct operating loans from the USDA starting immediately, with zero percent interest charged for the first seven years and deferred payments for the first year.

Republicans currently retain narrow control over the Senate, but if Kamala Harris were to be elected Vice President and the Republicans were to lose the upcoming Senate runoff election in Georgia, Bookers’ woke fantasy land reparations bill could easily become reality.

https://nationalfile.com/democrat-justice-bill-would-seize-private-farmland-and-give-it-to-blacks-for-free/

World's Largest Model Agency Attempt To Go Public Via SPAC Collapses

Just how ridiculous is the blank check IPO fever that has gripped markets in 2020? Consider this: SPACs, or blank-check companies which go public for the express purpose of buying an existing firm and which also exploded in 2007 just before the housing/credit bubble burst, now make up a record share of U.S. initial public offerings this year. According to Bloomberg, SPACs have collectively raised $66.4 billion year-to-date, accounting for nearly half of all the $138.9 billion raised in U.S. IPOs (SPACs only accounted for 19% of the $71.4 billion IPO pie last year).

And while there is no stopping the blank check juggernaut absent a full-blown market crash - so far in November, the SPAC pipeline has continued to grow with 18 more filings on deck to list on U.S. exchanges - one company that won't be going public via a SPAC merger is the world's largest model agency, Elite Model World, whose merger discussions with blank-check firm Galileo Acquisition have fallen apart without a deal being reached according to Bloomberg, which reported that Elite informed investors this month that the talks had collapsed.

Maybe the models demanded that the SPAC be denominated in Euros?

In any case, with the deal dead, Galileo is searching for a new merger target. The $138 million SPAC is focused on “the consumer, retail, food & beverage, specialty industrial, technology or medtech sectors which are headquartered in Western Europe, with an emphasis on Italian family-owned businesses, portfolio companies of private equity funds, or corporate spin-offs, and that have significant North American exports and a clearly defined North American high growth strategy.” That’s a real kitchen sink, so for simplicity’s sake, let’s just say “Western Europe/Italy”.

Elite Model has in recent years diversified into representing social media influencers, as well as its traditional fashion model clientele. Unfortunately, judging by the sudden collapse of the SPAC, it does not appear to have diversified into actually being profitable.

Galileo and Elite Model held talks last month with potential investors about raising new equity for a merger that would have taken the agency public, Bloomberg reported at the time.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/worlds-largest-model-agency-attempt-go-public-spac-collapses

Ghislaine Maxwell is woken up every 15 minutes in jail to prevent suicide: lawyers

Accused child abuser Ghislaine Maxwell is roused by a flashlight every 15 minutes in her cell to make sure she hasn’t killed herself like Jeffrey Epstein — and subjected to more onerous conditions than the Bureau of Prison’s most dangerous inmates, her lawyers wrote Tuesday in a letter.

“She is overmanaged under conditions more restrictive than inmates housed in 10South, the most restrictive unit in the MCC; or individuals convicted of terrorism and capital murder and incarcerated at FCI Florence ADMAX, the most restrictive facility operated by the BOP,” the filing states.

The letter is in response to a Monday filing from federal prosecutors informing the judge that Maxwell had a COVID-19 scare after possible exposure to an infected staffer at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and was placed in quarantine.

The government’s letter, which said Maxwell had tested negative for the virus, stated that she had received more favorable treatment than other inmates.

But the British socialite’s lawyer, Bobbi Sternheim, wrote that just the opposite was true and rattled off a lengthy list of complaints about the conditions of her confinement.

The letter addressed to US District Judge Alison Nathan states that Maxwell had to endure two nasal swabs under the threat of a 21-day quarantine if she declined — and was never informed of the results.

“Ms. Maxwell was ordered to remove her COVID-protection mask for an in-mouth inspection, further risking exposure to the virus,” Sternheim wrote.

Maxwell was also initially quarantined without soap or a toothbrush, and medical staff had ceased checking on her daily since she was put in isolation, the letter whines.

While staff are not supposed to enter Maxwell’s cell during quarantine, an unidentified man entered to snap photos of her and a guard to conduct a search, the attorney wrote.

Sternheim said the situation was no better pre-quarantine.

“Ms. Maxwell has spent the entirely [sic] of her pretrial detention in de facto solitary confinement under the most restrictive conditions where she is excessively and invasively searched and is monitored 24 hours per day,” the letter says.

see also

Ghislaine Maxwell in quarantine after COVID-19 scare in jail

In addition to a camera in her cell, another device records her every movement when she leaves even during in-person legal visits, according to the filing.

“And despite non-stop in-cell camera surveillance, Ms. Maxwell’s sleep is disrupted every 15-minutes when she is awakened by a flashlight to ascertain whether she is breathing,” Sternheim wrote.

The letter requests that the judge summon Warden Heriberto Tellez for a full account of her “disparate treatment.”

Maxwell is being held without bail while she awaits trial on charges she groomed underage girls to be abused by her and Epstein.

Her lawyers wrote in a previous letter that she was being subjected to especially onerous conditions to ensure she didn’t meet the same fate as Epstein, who committed suicide in custody while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

https://nypost.com/2020/11/24/ghislaine-maxwell-is-awoken-every-15-minutes-in-jail-lawyers/

California paid up to $1 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims to prisoners — including death row inmates

'The murderers and rapists and human traffickers should not be getting this money. It needs to stop.'

California taxpayers have been bilked out of hundreds of millions of dollars — possibly even $1 billion — this year, that went to jail and prison inmates through fraudulent unemployment claims filed as part of the state's pandemic relief system.

Murderer Scott Peterson, convicted in 2004 of killing his pregnant wife Lacy, was one of the recipients, according to prosecutors.

What are the details?

Widespread job losses amid the coronavirus pandemic spurred governments to act quickly in making financial relief available for those struggling financially. But in the rush, critical fraud prevention measures were missed, and in California, prisoners and their loved ones were able to take advantage.

The Los Angeles Times reported on the massive racket conducted through California's Employment Development Department, which was revealed through a letter from nine district attorneys and a federal prosecutor who wrote to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), urging him to put an end to the loopholes.

The newspaper reported:

So far, investigations have uncovered more than $400,000 in state benefits paid to death row inmates, and more than $140 million to other incarcerated people in California's 35 prisons, according to [Sacramento County Dist. Atty. Anne Marie] Schubert. In total, payments to those ineligible due to incarceration in prisons and jails could total nearly $1 billion, the prosecutors claim.

Schubert told the Times, "The murderers and rapists and human traffickers should not be getting this money. It needs to stop."

But the prosecutors noted that the huge racket was not as simple as incarcerated individuals filing their own applications for relief funds, although some purportedly did just that. The New York Post reported that "the alleged con took many forms: some claims were submitted directly by inmates or by their family and friends, while other prisoners were unwitting victims."

Anything else?

Authorities believe prison gangs may also be involved in some instances of large-scale, organized scams to rake in jobless claims.

Peterson's attorney claims his client was not involved in any fraud, and that we was unaware of the accusations by the prosecutors. Other notorious convicts named as recipients of the unemployment funds include death row inmates Cary Stayner, a serial killer, and Isauro Aguirre, who tortured and killed an 8-year-old boy.

Newsom issued a statement thanking the district attorneys "for their commitment to resolving this issue," according to The New York Times.

"Unemployment fraud across local jails and state and federal prison is absolutely unacceptable," said the governor, who announced his own task force to aid district attorneys and coordinate state anti-fraud efforts.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/california-sent-up-to-1-billion-in-fraudulent-unemployment-claims-to-prisoners-including-death-row-inmates

https://twitter.com/LLinWood/status/1331407063176663040