Hunter Biden's Laptop

In this mailing: - Peter Schweizer: Hunter Biden's Laptop - Judith Bergman: Communist China's Quest for Dominance in Antarctica [] [Hunter Biden's Laptop]( by Peter Schweizer • April 28, 2021 at 5:00 am [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [WhatsApp]( [Telegram]( [Send]( [Print]( - The book's [Secret Empires] conclusions were based on reconstructions of timelines, records obtained through hard work done on location in foreign countries. Yet, some in the media still accused us of engaging in a "witch hunt" designed simply to embarrass the family of now-President Joe Biden. - Law enforcement sources have since confirmed a Justice Department investigation into Hunter Biden's taxes, but that actually means they are looking not just at his taxes, but at the money he made that he may or may not have declared on his taxes. That investigation continues. - What emerges from all of this clearly shows what I call the "Biden business model," in which the Biden family seems to trade off the Biden name, Biden connections, and the Biden access. - Recently, Hunter Biden has sat for several interviews to discuss his new memoir about his struggles with drug addiction. The investigative reporter in me cannot resist pointing out these interviews were done by CBS News, owned by ViacomCBS, which also owns Simon & Schuster, the publisher of his new book. He mostly dodged questions about the laptop. - [T]he deeper question that should concern us more... is whether he is covering for his father. Emails reviewed by Sen. Ron Johnson's committee during its investigation referenced a consultant writing to Hunter Biden about a proposed partnership with Chinese businessmen. The email says Hunter will receive a 20% equity in the partnership, plus a 10% stake "held by H for the big guy?" - The identity of "the big guy" has not been established. But... [t]he modern model of corruption in politics is rarely done in a straight line, but along the branches of a family tree. As foreign governments and other interested parties have learned, the way to a politician's heart is through his family. There is circumstantial evidence in the collection of materials now possessed by the FBI and journalists that Hunter Biden was acting as a cover for business dealings that would benefit his father or at a minimum the Biden family estate, which includes his father. Pictured: "The Mac Shop" in Wilmington, Delaware. In April 2019, Hunter Biden reportedly left a liquid-damaged laptop at the shop for repair, and nobody returned to retrieve it. According to the New York Post, the shop owner handed the laptop over to the FBI and also made a copy of the hard drive and gave it to former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani. (Photo by Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images) Investigative journalism mostly reconstructs events and exchanges from hidden scraps, obscure records, and third-party documents. Often the best we can do is to show that something bad must have happened based on the coincidences we find in these records. Because reporters are not prosecutors, they cannot issue subpoenas or compel testimony. It is exceedingly rare for a reporter to obtain that "smoking gun." That is why the case of Hunter Biden's missing laptop, combined with original text messages and emails obtained through direct access to a recipient's Gmail account, is so notable. It is primary, original source. At long last, even Hunter Biden himself has finally acknowledged it. [Continue Reading Article]( [] [Communist China's Quest for Dominance in Antarctica]( by Judith Bergman • April 28, 2021 at 4:00 am [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [WhatsApp]( [Telegram]( [Send]( [Print]( - Rare earth materials are necessary components in the building of such various equipment as combat aircraft, weapons systems, wind turbines and electric vehicles, among other things. They are available in different geographic locations, but are difficult to process. Last year, China produced 90% of the world's rare earth materials. - "In 1984, during China's first Antarctic expedition, armed PLA Navy (PLAN) personnel helped set up China's first Antarctic station—a fact that was not properly acknowledged in China's report to the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research at the time... In recent years, PLA personnel have repeatedly participated in China's Antarctic program without their presence being noted in China's annual report under the Antarctic Treaty...." — Anne Marie Brady, report for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, 2017. - China is reportedly deceiving international audiences about its intentions in Antarctica. "China adopts one message on Antarctic issues for foreign audiences and another for domestic audiences". — Anne Marie Brady, report for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, 2017. - "In 30 years, the Antarctic Treaty becomes modifiable, and the fate of a continent could hang in the balance." — Professor Klaus Dodds, Royal Holloway University of London, July 12, 2018. - Both Russia and China are fighting to have prohibitions on resource extraction in the Antarctic relaxed. "A significant number of Chinese experts believe, contrary to international law, that the Madrid Protocol expires in 2048, along with the accompanying ban on mining in the Antarctic". — Alexander B. Gray, National Interest, March 20, 2021. - It is probably not too far-fetched to assume that what lies behind the CCP's concern for "environmental protection in Antarctica" will turn out to be desire for environmental exploitation. China's commercial and military goals in Antarctica have received only minimal international attention. It is probably not too far-fetched to assume that what lies behind the Chinese Communist Party's concern for "environmental protection in Antarctica" will turn out to be desire for environmental exploitation. Pictured: China's Great Wall Station on King George island in Antarctica, on March 13, 2014. (Photo by Vanderlei Almeida/AFP via Getty Images) Hardly a spot remains on the planet -- and off -- that China does not consider up for grabs, and that includes the North and South poles. China's ambitions in the Arctic include: In 2018, China issued its first Arctic policy paper, "China's Arctic policy" and with a straight face declared itself, a "near-Arctic state", wanting a "Polar Silk Road." In fact, China is some 3,000 kilometers from the Arctic Circle[1]. Its "Polar Silk Road" would create new shipping routes linking Asia and Europe via the Arctic, as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, a gigantic development, infrastructure and investment initiative that seeks dramatically to enhance China's global influence by making countries worldwide increasingly dependent on China. [Continue Reading Article]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [RSS]( [Donate]( Copyright © Gatestone Institute, All rights reserved. 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