Tag: corruption

The French Laundry got more than $2.4M in PPP funding; 17x more than average Bay Area restaurants

The luxury restaurant where Governor Gavin Newsom and San Francisco Mayor London Breed were notoriously spotted dining during a COVID-19 surge, reportedly received millions in PPP funding.

Yountville’s highly acclaimed French Laundry received multiple loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, totaling more than $2.4 million, according to an ABC7 analysis of newly-released data from the Small Business Administration.

The French Laundry received two loans that were both approved on April 30, 2020. According to the SBA, the first loan was for more than $2.2 million to retain 163 employees. The second loan was for $194,656 to retain five employees.

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LOOPHOLE ALLOWS BIDEN NOMINEES TO AVOID DISCLOSURES. WILL THEY USE IT?

“DONALD TRUMP HAS presided over the most corrupt administration in modern history,” Joe Biden’s website declared as he ran for president. By contrast, the site said, a Biden administration would “make sure that the principles of equality, transparency, and public — not private — interest drive all government decisions.”

It would be difficult for any incoming administration to match Trump for opacity and self-dealing. But an obscure exemption for executive branch officials from disclosing previous clients may generate an interesting test case for Biden’s commitment to full transparency.

The question is partly whether any Biden nominees will use this exemption themselves to conceal their recent sources of income. Perhaps more important is the question of whether the Biden administration will take steps to eliminate the exemption, thereby foreclosing its abuse by future presidents, Trumpian or otherwise.

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Corporate Media Shills For Assassination Of Iranian Scientist

The Trump administration committed another act of war against Iran, and like every U.S. war in the modern era, it began with a lie: that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. It’s a total falsehood we’ve heard get repeated again and again throughout mainstream media and from pundits who personally profit from U.S. aggression.

Jack Keane, who once proclaimed, “Iran with nuclear weapons and missiles that deliver them is absolutely a bonafide existential threat to Israel,” has a cozy relationship with the MEK, an Iranian exile cult that has assassinated Iranian scientists itself and who the U.S. government had listed as a terrorist group until recently. It’s no secret that the MEK pays U.S. officials to advocate on its behalf. Keane is the chairman of the Institute for the Study of War – a think tank funded by arms manufacturers like Raytheon and General Dynamics, which paid Keane more than $200,000 dollars in 2018 alone.

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Upstate NY Mayor, Fmr Police Chief, Leads Cops on Chase, Throwing Crack From His Car

In a story that sounds like something out of an episode of an Adult Swim cartoon, the Mayor of Massena, NY, and the town’s former police chief was arrested this month after speeding away from police while throwing crack cocaine out of the window of his car.

Timmy J. Currier, the former police chief and current mayor of the village of Massena has announced a leave of absence this month after video showed him getting arrested at gunpoint after leading police on a high speed chase.

Before becoming mayor of Massena, Currier was the city’s top cop. He was the Massena police chief for over two decades — which is likely where he developed his affinity for crack.

According to police, during the chase, this former chief of police and current mayor began throwing crack out of the window to avoid getting caught with it.

The incident began as part of an undercover sting operation in which Currier was a suspect. Officials with the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office said detectives and special agents from an undercover operation in association with the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security attempted to pull Currier’s vehicle over on suspicion of drug sales and possession on Saturday Dec. 1, at 12:25 p.m.

However, Currier did not stop when police initiated the stop and instead led them on a chase. Detectives said they witnessed Currier throw the crack from his passenger’s side window as he was the only occupant of the vehicle.

When police finally caught up to Currier, the mayor was held at gunpoint and pulled from the car, before being handcuffed and brought to jail. According to Syracuse.com, Currier was charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor, and released to appear at a later date.

Apparently, his two decades as the police chief and his current position as the mayor, has granted him a little privilege among the law enforcement class and he was simply allowed to walk right out of the jail, posting no bail, and facing no other charges despite running from cops.

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The FDA is outsourcing COVID-19 testing to China

After reviewing the 161 emergency use authorizations granted by the FDA since February, I found that at least 10 Chinese companies were delivered the FDA stamp of approval to deliver diagnostic tests in the United States for SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.

These China-based companies have received FDA EUAs that grants them the ability to test for the coronavirus in America (including date of approval and link to FDA approval document):

  1. Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co., Ltd (9/9/20). 
  2. ZhuHai Sinochips Bioscience Co., Ltd (8/17/20)
  3. Xiamen Zeesan Biotech Co., Ltd. (7/31/20)
  4. Jiangsu CoWin Biotech Co., Ltd. (7/24/20)
  5. Jiangsu Bioperfectus Technologies Co., Ltd. (6/18/20)
  6. Genetron Health (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (6/5/20)
  7. Sansure BioTech Inc. (5/4/20)
  8. Seasun Biomaterials (4/27/20)
  9. Fosun Pharma (4/17/20)
  10. BGI Genomics Co. Ltd. (3/26/20)

China is the United States’ greatest adversary, and Beijing has not been forthcoming about the role it played in potentially negligently unleashing the novel coronavirus. These factors may cause many to raise concerns about the FDA’s decision to continue to authorize Chinese labs and companies to deliver U.S. coronavirus testing. Moreover, China’s one-party, top-down totalitarian system demands that corporations based in China are completely subservient to the state. There are no truly independent companies in China. All are ultimately beholden to the needs of the Chinese Community Party (CCP).

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CNN’S APRIL RYAN OUTRAGED AT REPORTERS DISCLOSING EMBARRASSING COMMENTS BY JOE BIDEN

We have been discussing the open bias shown by the media in the last four years. It is not clear if we can regain the ground lost for journalism as even journalism professors call for the rejection of objectivity in favor of advocacy. This has included shielding Joe Biden from any challenging questions during the recent election. That includes the news blackout on reporting on the Hunter Biden scandal, the subject of my column today in the Hill. CNN’s April Ryan personifies this trend.

Even as the media is facing widespread criticism for burying the Hunter Biden story (and is now doing the same with the Swalwell scandal), Ryan lashed out at confidential sources responsible for leaking a recording of Joe Biden making embarrassing comments about the “defund the police” movement. Ryan is demanding to know who is responsible for allowing the embarrassing comments to be made public despite her past enthusiastic discussion of such leaks against President Donald Trump.

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HOLLYWOOD DEPLOYED LOBBYISTS TO WIN EXEMPTIONS TO STRICT CALIFORNIA LOCKDOWN

LAST MONTH, California Gov. Gavin Newsom was caught violating his own warnings against multiple households dining together indoors. The Democratic governor was spotted at the French Laundry, an exclusive restaurant north of San Francisco, where he was celebrating the birthday of longtime friend Jason Kinney.

The dinner controversy was more than just an opulent display of political double standards — it also highlighted the backroom efforts to maintain special treatment during the pandemic. Kinney, a veteran political operative, is a lobbyist for a number of interests seeking to shape the rules governing life under the pandemic, including what kind of economic activities are deemed essential in order to stay in business.

The inside track may have paid off. One of Kinney’s clients, Netflix, has been allowed to continue to operate during the latest round of forced closures that began last week as intensive care hospital capacity has dwindled across the state.

The entertainment industry has been given extensive leeway to operate during the pandemic, even as California now faces a stay-at-home order. The state has deemed the television and movie production industry as “critical infrastructure” and has allowed Hollywood studios to continue filming projects, including in Los Angeles, which is facing the most strict lockdown order.

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