Judge Dismisses Defamation Suit Between Hunter Laptop Source And Twitter On Technicality

Update (1440ET): A Florida judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit against Twitter brought by the former owner of a now-defunct computer repair business who turned over Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop to the FBI and Rudy Giuliani's lawyer, Robert Costello.

The suit was dismissed on a technicality over jurisdiction on Monday, the same day it was filed, after plaintiff John Paul Mac Isaac's legal team failed to successfully argue "complete diversity" - which requires all plaintiffs and defendants must be from different states. Because Twitter was incorporated in Delaware and Isaac is a Delaware resident, the complete diversity requirement is not met, according to Judge Beth Bloom.

"According to the Complaint, Defendant made false statements that Plaintiff is a ‘hacker’ in reference to materials obtained by the New York Post and shared on Twitter in an exposé concerning the contents of Hunter Biden’s computer hard drive. For the reasons set forth below, the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction," Bloom wrote, adding "For a court to have diversity jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a), ‘all plaintiffs must be diverse from all defendants.'"

The case was dismissed without prejudice, so Isaac can re-file on the same grounds in the proper jurisdiction.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/hunters-laptop-computer-repair-shop-owner-sues-twitter-500-million-defamation-suit

John Paul Mac Isaac

https://www.scribd.com/document/489390424/John-Paul-Mac-Isaac#from_embed

Global Investment Banks Rake In $125 Billion In Underwriting Fees ​​​​​​​As Capital Markets Boom

The global capital markets business, such as equity and debt sales, has erupted during the pandemic, comes at a time when central banks have never been so dovish as asset valuations are considered "stretched."

Since March, global monetary authorities have purchased $1.3 billion in assets every hour. They have also introduced a new policy by encouraging deeper nationalization of bond markets in the US, Europe, and Japan (also equity markets) via YCC to promote MMT. In other words, these unelected officials are blowing the biggest asset bubble the world has ever seen.

As monetary authorities provide backstops in equity, debt, and credit markets, this has certainly been a boon for investment banks worldwide who generated a record $124.5 billion in fees this year as companies desperately raised cash to survive the pandemic, according to FT.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/global-investment-banks-rake-125-billion-fees-capital-market-booms

Army colonel allegedly beat wife, threatens suicide in standoff with cops

A US Army colonel in Washington state has been charged with assaulting his wife in front of their kids, repeatedly kicking her with his boots, authorities said.

Owen G. Ray, the chief of staff assigned to I Corps at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, ignored commands by cops to come out of his family’s home for two hours on Sunday in DuPont, where officers responded to a domestic assault involving a firearm, police said in a statement.

“Upon arrival, officers attempted to make contact, but the male adult suspect refused to comply with officers’ orders and refused to exit the home,” police said. “After a short period of time, the victim-family members exited the home to safety, but the armed suspect refused to disarm or surrender.”

Ray, who formerly led 1st Special Forces Group at JBLM, has been suspended from his post, a spokesman told the News Tribune.

Prosecutors in Pierce County have charged Ray with two counts of second-degree assault with a firearm, two counts of felony harassment, first-degree kidnapping and reckless endangerment, police said.

Prosecutors said in charging documents obtained by the newspaper that Ray’s wife hid from him in the bedroom of their youngest children during an argument. She then heard Ray say “let’s do this” before heading to the garage, where he stored guns, prosecutors said.

Ray later went back into the family’s home, where he found his wife in their children’s bedroom and became enraged that she called cops, according to charging documents.

After pointing a gun at his wife, Ray allegedly “proceeded to kick” her repeatedly in the face and chest with his boots.

“The two children had woken up and were screaming, ‘Don’t kill mom, don’t shoot us,’” prosecutors wrote.

Some 15 minutes after cops arrived, Ray let his wife and two youngest children out of the home. His teenage daughter left minutes later, the News Tribune reported.

At one point during the standoff, Ray referenced his extensive combat training and told cops “he had killed a lot of people” and had no problem taking out an officer if they tried to arrest him, charging documents show.

Ray was also holding a pistol to his head while on a balcony at his home and was spotted holding a rifle inside the residence, police said.

Investigators also found two handguns and a shotgun in the home’s master bedroom, while several guns were found in a garage safe.

Ray was scheduled to be arraigned Monday afternoon, the News Tribune reported.

https://nypost.com/2020/12/29/army-colonel-allegedly-beat-wife-threatens-suicide-in-standoff-with-cops/

All Major Western Media Outlets Take ‘Private Dinners’, ‘Sponsored Trips’ from Chinese Communist Propaganda Front

A host of corporate media outlets including CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and MSNBC have participated in private dinners and sponsored trips with the China-United States Exchange Foundation, a Chinese Communist Party-funded group seeking to garner “favorable coverage” and “disseminate positive messages” regarding China, The National Pulse can reveal.

Other outlets involved in the propaganda operation include Forbes, the Financial Times, Newsweek, Bloomberg, Reuters, ABC News, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, AFP, TIME magazine, LA Times, The Hill, BBC, and The Atlantic.

The relationship is revealed in the Department of Justice’s Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) filings, which reveal a relationship spanning over a decade between establishment media outlets and the China–United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF).

‘Neutralize Opposition.’

CUSEF is a Chinese Communist Party-funded initiative founded by Tung Chee Hwa. The group also targets American universities with offers to fund policy research, high-level dialogues, and exchange programs.

Tung also serves as Vice-Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), identified by the U.S.-China Security and Economic Review Commission as a key component of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Work Front.

The effort, according to the U.S. government report, aims to “to co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority of its ruling Chinese Communist Party.”

“The United Front strategy uses a range of methods to influence overseas Chinese communities, foreign governments, and other actors to take actions or adopt positions supportive of Beijing’s preferred policies,” it continues.

This strategy appears to have been deployed in conjunction with outlets such as CNN, New York Times, and the Washington Post.

Targeting Reporters, Journalism Students.

A 2011 FARA filing highlighted by Axios detailed CUSEF’s agreement with American lobbying firm BLJ. It outlines how CUSEF set out to “effectively disseminate positive messages to the media, key influencers and opinion leaders, and the general public” regarding China.

To do so, CUSEF targeted working journalists and journalist students:

In order to develop favorable coverage in key national media, BLJ will continue to organize and staff “familiarization trips” to China. This includes recruiting top journalists to travel to China, selected for effectiveness and opportunities for favorable coverage.

In 2009 alone, CUSEF generated 28 media placements as a result of its four journalist visits and BLJ secured “the publication of 26 opinion articles and quotes within 103 separate articles” on behalf of CUSEF.

Outlets included Newsweek, the National Journal, the Nation, Congressional Quarterly, U.S. News, World Report, The Chicago Tribune, and the Washington Note.

The article, which featured quotes from Chinese Communist Party officials, appeared to regurgitate the party line, noting “Beijing won big.”

As Foreign Policy magazine noted, to its credit, CUSEF is scarcely a privately funded non profit but rather is “a registered foreign agent bankrolled by a high-ranking Chinese government official with close ties to a sprawling Chinese Communist Party apparatus that handles influence operations abroad.”

https://thenationalpulse.com/exclusive/media-private-ccp-dinners-trips/

China-United States Exchange Foundation

High-Level Dialogues are aimed at building trust through ongoing dialogues and open interactions. We create open spaces for discussion between officials of the highest order from both the U.S. and China, providing insights into the China-U.S. relationship at the highest level.

https://www.cusef.org.hk/

The Inaugural U.S. Heartland Mayor Delegation Trip to China

Partnered with the U.S. Heartland China Association (USHCA), our U.S. Heartland mayor delegation brought leaders from Carmel (Indiana), Sioux Falls (South Dakota), and Youngstown and Maumee (Ohio) to China in mid-November for the first time. These mayors represent small-medium sized cities in the U.S. Heartland region that are often overlooked. Despite small in population, these cities play influential roles in their regions.

Named “Beverly Hills of the Midwest”, Carmel, Indiana is home to the leaders of companies like Eli Lilly (Fortune 500), Anthem Insurance (Fortune 500), and Simon Property Group (Fortune 500), where Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is a major supplier of energy and consumer of energy industry hardware.

In the state of Ohio, Youngstown is a midwestern city falling within a region of America often referred to as the Rust Belt. Today, it is becoming a center of culture, entertainment and innovation with the revival of its downtown. Maumee is home of Fortune 1000 soybean and corn producer Andersons.

During the five-day visit, they have had in-depth and fruitful conversations with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and government leaders in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as local private businesses. These visits helped both sides to understand more of each other – culturally and business-wise.

Members of the delegation include:

Bob Holden, Chairman and CEO, U.S. Heartland China Association

James Brainard, Mayor of Carmel, Indiana

Paul TenHaken, Mayor of Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Jamael Tito Brown, Mayor of Youngstown, Ohio

Richard Carr, Mayor of Maumee, Ohio

https://www.cusef.org.hk/en/what-we-do/in-country-programs/engaging-with-american-leaders/the-inaugural-us-heartland-mayor-delegation-trip-to-china

Creating Relationships through Education

Through our educational exchanges, we offer American students the opportunity to explore and grow their understanding of China. Our in-country visits enable students not only to experience Chinese culture and its people first hand, but to also gain insight into politics, security, business, technology, environment and the anti-poverty initiatives in China.

https://www.cusef.org.hk/en/what-we-do/in-country-programs/creating-relationships-through-education/columbia-university-sipa-students

Media Delegations

Our media visits provide American journalists with the opportunities to meet with government officials and community leaders. Through this on-the-ground experience, they gain a broader understanding of the political and economic underpinnings of the forty-year bilateral relationship as well as China itself.

https://www.cusef.org.hk/en/what-we-do/in-country-programs/media-delegations/

Biden Taps Climate Czar Who Previously Presided Over Millions of Gallons of Pollutants Pouring Into Pristine River

Gina McCarthy’s Environmental Protection Agency was directly responsible for the release of millions of gallons of heavy-metal wastewater into a scenic Colorado river in 2015

As if oblivious to her performance while the chief of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Democrat presidential hopeful Joe Biden has selected the person responsible for a massive dump of pollutants into the Animas River in Colorado as his climate policy chief.

Biden is set to name former EPA director Gina McCarthy as his domestic climate policy chief. This would place one of the lynchpins of Barack Obama’s climate regulatory efforts as the lead policy maker for his climate strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

McCarthy, who will head the newly created White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy, served first as the EPA’s air chief in Obama’s first term and was elevated to EPA administrator in his second.

It wasn't too easy to watch the EPA release 1 million gal of waste water into the Animas River either. #EPA pic.twitter.com/WAfwxNqYYE

— Bill (@Bill_321) October 4, 2017

In those positions, McCarthy administered the development of a plethora of climate regulations that targeted greenhouse gases from automobiles, power plants, oil and gas producers and even landfills.

President Trump has dismantled most of these economy-killing regulations since taking office. Ironically, a new UN climate report finds that greenhouse gas emissions during the Trump administration have plummeted, illustrating that the Obama era policies were wholly ineffective and unnecessary.

But, perhaps the most infamous event McCarthy oversaw as head of the EPA was that agency’s mishandling of a situation in Colorado that resulted in a true climate emergency.

In 2015, the EPA, under McCarthy, was directly responsible for the Animas River environmental disaster, which resulted in the release of millions of gallons of heavy-metal containing wastewater into the scenic Colorado river.

A 132-page report by the Interior Department and Bureau of Reclamation released after an in-depth examination of the August 5, 2015 “accident” found that the massive spill was not “inevitable,” as the EPA’s internal review concluded. Instead, the spill could have been avoided if McCarthy’s EPA would have followed engineering practices used at other inactive mines.

The report concluded that the agency committed a fatal error by failing to ascertain the level of wastewater behind the collapsed rock and soil at the mine. This level reading could have been achieved by using a drill rig to “bore into the mine from above and directly determine the level of the mine pool prior to excavating backfill at the portal.”

Remember when the Obama EPA poisoned the whole Animas River? pic.twitter.com/oMb6EAlJJt

— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) April 8, 2018

In fact, the EPA bungled the clean-up effort at the Gold King Mine, causing the toxic spill, by cutting corners and rushing the job instead of taking standard operating procedure precautions that would have prevented the spill into the river.

The EPA ultimately took responsibility for the accident, but refused to pay for any damages caused by the disaster, citing sovereign immunity. The waste water reached Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, as well as the Navajo Nation. Multiple lawsuits are still ongoing. The Navajo Nation was compensated a total of $150,000.

https://nationalfile.com/biden-taps-climate-czar-who-previously-presided-over-millions-of-gallons-of-pollutants-pouring-into-pristine-river/

Portland police forced to beg for community's help in curbing out-of-control violence

Sad state of affairs

The Portland Police Bureau is asking for the community's help in ending a spike in violence across the city.

According to Fox News, at least 850 shootings have been reported in Portland as of Dec. 24. The outlet noted that there were at least 59 reported shootings in December alone.

"As of Christmas Eve, this year's shootings had surpassed last year's by more than 116%, with 393 shootings reported in all of 2019, statistics show," Fox pointed out. "At least 53 murders have been reported in Portland as of Dec. 24 — the highest yearly total the city has seen in nearly 30 years."

What's happening now?

Portland Police Bureau Chief Chuck Lovell in a Dec. 16 video appealed to the public and insisted that the public needed to lock arms and "do everything we can together to break the cycle of violence."

"Gun violence has plagued our city at twice the rate of last year," he said. "On average, someone is shot in Portland roughly every two days."

"We've come together to mask up, to stay home to keep others safe. We have come together to do our best to stop the spread of a deadly disease," he continued. "Violence is also a disease that kills and our community is suffering the consequences."

"We cannot lose sight of the fact these are human beings who have died," Lovell added.

According to a report from KGW-TV, Portland Police Bureau Lieutenant Greg Pashley reported that there were at least 225 victims of gun violence in Portland in 2020 alone.

"The number of bullets that must have been flying around our neighborhoods, city streets, sidewalks — it's awful," Pashley said.

The bureau is now asking for a a community-wide effort and action to help put a stop to gun violence across the city after its gun violence reduction team was disbanded over the summer.

The team was dismantled after activists and gun control activists said that the bureau was guilty of racism in "stopping people of color disproportionately to others," the station reported.

Pashley later said that "[s]ocial services, government organizations, non-government organizations, church based [organizations]" are of utmost importance "so that people feel as if they have support and options other than to act out violently."

What else?

Sgt. Kenneth Duilio — who worked on the now-disbanded gun violence reduction task force for approximately 19 years — said that many of the killings are gang-related.

"Theyr'e all connected," he said. "And some of these connections don't just go back, like, for a few weeks or a few months. They go back years and years."

Chief Lovell talks about increased gun violence. https://t.co/EQSCSd0IGp

— Chief Chuck Lovell (@Chief Chuck Lovell)1608159846.0

https://www.theblaze.com/news/portland-police-forced-to-beg-for-community-help

>>12227008

>>12226408

Get rid of this shit would you please

Start of massive Croatian earthquake caught LIVE on air, disrupting TV interview

The powerful earthquake that hit Croatia on Tuesday was caught live on air, disrupting a casual interview on a regional cable news channel.

The uncanny N1 channel footage from Zagreb shows the 6.3 magnitude earthquake starting right at the moment the interview was supposed to begin.

Both the host and the guest appear to be struggling to not fall down, while the camera’s point of view starts spinning and shaking.

The feed then cuts to the inside of the N1 studio, as the room appears to begin shaking more and more aggressively. The studio host tries to keep calm, explaining the situation to the viewers.

https://www.rt.com/news/511018-croatia-earthquake-on-air/

Epic Anti-Mask Flash Mob Takes Over CVS Shouting ‘FREEDOM’

An anti-mask flash mob took over a CVS Pharmacy, after a woman says she was attacked by management for refusing to wear one.

A woman participating in the flash mob accused the company of working with Communist China to violate the Constitution.

The group shouted “freedom” as they gathered in the store.

Video of the protest was posted to social media on Monday, but it is unclear when or where it took place.

It is currently unclear where this took place, but the Gateway Pundit has reached out to the person who posted the video to try and confirm.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/12/must-watch-epic-anti-mask-flash-mob-takes-cvs-shouting-freedom/

REPORT: 368,000 ‘Fraudulent Votes’ Across Swing States

A new report from Department of Justice adviser John Lott concludes that up to 368,000 “excess votes” tipped election outcomes to favor Joe Biden in critical swing states.

Lott, a noted crime and gun researcher, alleged the wide-scale vote fraud plagued the recent presidential election, potentially “account[ing] for Biden’s win in” states such as Georgia and Pennsylvania.

“Increased fraud can take many forms: higher rates of filling out absentee ballots for people who hadn’t voted, dead people voting, ineligible people voting, or even payments to legally registered people for their votes. […] The estimates here indicate that there were 70,000 to 79,000 “excess” votes in Georgia and Pennsylvania. Adding Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin, the total increases to up to 289,000 excess votes,” the summary notes.

Lott, who now serves as a Senior Adviser for Research and Statistics at the Office of Justice Programs, also adds that there are two reasons to even believe the aforementioned numbers are “underestimates”:

1) the estimates using precinct level data assume that there is no fraud occurring with inperson voting and 2) the voter turnout estimates do not account for ballots for the opposing candidate that are lost, destroyed, or replaced with ballots filled out for the other candidate

Lott points to universal mail-in voting as a hotbed for fraud, remarking “unsecured absentee ballots create the potential that either fraudulent ballots will be introduced or votes to be destroyed.”

https://thenationalpulse.com/breaking/lott-election-report/

Lott Report 25 pages

https://www.scribd.com/document/489384182/Lott-Report#from_embed