Author: J.P. Knowles

Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, came under fire last week after reports emerged confirming that his art dealer, Georges Berges would be selling off his artwork worth somewhere between $75,000 and half a million dollars.

Biden’s pieces are selling for more than one sold by Jean-Michel Basquiat for $20,900 in 1984 – $53,770.96 in today’s dollars.

Walter Shaub, the former Office of Government Ethics director under Obama lashed out at Hunter for selling his art at ridiculously high prices to anonymous buyers.

“The notion of a president’s son capitalizing on that relationship by selling art at obviously inflated prices and keeping the public in the dark about who’s funneling money to him has a shameful and grifty feel to it,” Shaub said.

Shaub also warned that the anonymity could allow “influence-seekers” to funnel money to the Biden administration and family.

“Just as hotel charges and real estate purchases created a risk of unknown parties funneling money to the Trump family for potentially unsavory purposes, Hunter Biden’s grotesquely inflated art prices create a similar risk of influence-seekers funneling money to the Biden family,” he said.

Shaub added he thinks that Biden and Berges, “should disclose the identity of the purchasers” so the public will know if the buyers try to “gain access to [the] government.”

“But I also think it’s ridiculous that Hunter Biden is even going forward with this sale as a first-time artist,” Shaub continued. “He can’t possibly think anyone is paying him based on the quality of the art. This smells like an attempt to cash in on a family connection to the White House.”

“At a minimum, the president should be asking his son not to go through with this auction,” he said.

Citing systematic racism as a leading factor for the huge gap in life expectancy across the city, Mayor Lori Lightfoot declared racism a public health emergency.

Lightfoot, as well as the Chicago Department of Public Health, explained how there is a 9.2-year difference in life expectancy between Black and non-Black citizens of Chicago.

“At almost every single point in our city’s history, racism has taken a devastating toll on the health and well-being of our residents of color – especially those who are Black,” Lightfoot said Thursday. “Without formally acknowledging this detrimental impact, we will never be able to move forward as a city and fully provide our communities with the resources they need to live happy and healthy lives.”

The Chicago mayor vowed to “doubling down” on the ongoing partnership between city officials and community leaders to address racism in the Windy City.

Lightfoot said the city would be enforcing a “will to act” plan that will focus on addressing the effects of historical policies like Jim Crow restrictions and “other forms of financial and housing segregation and discrimination.”

“The launch of the Healthy Chicago Equity Zones is an extension of the racial and health equity work implemented by community leaders, public health entities, city government, and health institutions,” said Ayesha Jaco, executive director of West Side United, a community-based organization for Chicago’s western neighborhoods.

The city health department recently released data that showed a growing gap in life expectancy between Black residents, who typically live to be 71.4 years, and non-Black Chicagoans, who average 80.6 years.

There are five contributing factors to the almost 10-year-long differences in life expectancy, including chronic diseases, homicide, infant mortality, opioid overdose, HIV, and other infections – like the coronavirus.

Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis doubled down on Monday by signing two largely different bills into law that passed Monday. These bills were crafted with the sole intent of going against Communist China after Biden has backed away from confronting democracy’s largest enemy.

Both of the bills that were signed into law aimed to stop the spread of foreign influence in the great state of Florida and hardened penalties against those convicted of espionage. DeSantis’ speech received public praise as he lashed out against China and called them out for what they are. Something Biden has refused to do over and over.

The first bill, HB 7017, specifically mentions China while the second bill, HB 1523 (Combatting Corporate Espionage in Florida Act), does not. However, DeSantis repeatedly gave examples that specifically referred to China while he was discussing the need for HB 1523.

Highlights of HB 7017 include:

Strengthens foreign financial connection vetting and disclosure requirements for entities seeking tax-payer funded grants or contracts from state agencies or political subdivisions.

Creates heightened scrutiny of research grant applicants, foreign applicants for research positions, and foreign travel or activities of employees of major research institutions.

Requires universities and colleges to disclose foreign donations and grants of $50,000 or more to the State University System Board of Governors or Department of Education. State agencies and political subdivisions are required to report foreign donations and grants of $50,000 or more to the Department of Financial Services.

Prohibits specific agreements between state/public entities and the seven countries of concern (Russia, PRC, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Syria, and Venezuela).

Highlights of HB 1523 (Combatting Corporate Espionage in Florida Act):

Creates new criminal offenses in Florida for the theft and trafficking of trade secrets.

Anyone who willfully and without authorization steals or attempts to steal a trade secret and use it for their own benefit will now face a third-degree felony, punishable by up to 5 years in prison. Individuals attempting to sell stolen trade secrets will face a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison

If an individual or entity violates this law on behalf of a foreign government, the penalties are severely enhanced — reclassifying the felony one degree higher and increasing the offense severity ranking.

“We’re here today to sign two important pieces of legislation into law. And the goal of these bills is to stop, combat nefarious foreign influence and corporate espionage in Florida. If you look at what’s gone on now, with the coronavirus pandemic, and the cover up of the origins of COVID-19, it’s pretty clear that this was a virus that almost assuredly leaked out of this lab in Wuhan. This is a lab where these scientists were working very closely with the Communist Party of China, as well as the Chinese military. When you had these folks fall ill who are working in that lab last fall, the Communist Party of China decided to cover it up. They didn’t give any information out. They didn’t ask for any assistance. They didn’t give a heads up to anybody. They tried to cover it up. And basically, the world has had to endure over a year and a half of a lot of bad stuff as a result of this. So they covered it up. And they need to be held accountable for this.” – DeSantis quote from his speech given on the bills.

Things got personal for Navy SEAL vet and Texas Representative Dan Crenshaw when his former Democratic opponent made a rude comment on social media about his eye.

While fighting for his country in Afghanistan, Crenshaw lost one eye and underwent several critical surgeries to save the other eye.

Elisa Cardnell, who ran for the House of Representatives against Crenshaw in 2020, made a comment about the former SEAL’s eye after he called one of Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s comments in a tweet a “blatant lie.”

“The GOP has been singlemindedly chipping away at democracy for months,” wrote Cardnell. “The reason you can’t see the objective truth isn’t because of your eyes; it’s because of how far you have your nose up your Dear Leader’s a$$.”

But Crenshaw didn’t flinch and shot back saying, “Actually it’s just “eye,” singular.”

Actually it’s just “eye,” singular. https://t.co/4LSiHbK5AN

— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) June 7, 2021

Cardnell claimed the failed insult was because she “ran out of characters to say ‘eyes, or lack thereof.’”

“Bless your heart,” Crenshaw responded in a later tweet. “Please pray for this woman.”

Bless your heart. Please pray for this woman. https://t.co/bkUdP6P0gr

— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) June 7, 2021

Cardnell’s account on Twitter has since been set to private.

Crenshaw was recently forced to undergo another emergency surgery to repair damage to his other eye from the 2012 explosion that caused vision problems. Doctors had to insert a gas bubble into his eye to keep his retina from moving out of place and prevent him from going completely blind.

The Texas lawmaker had to lay face-down for two weeks after his surgery and could not see anything during that time. He even recalls being “effectively blind” for about a month after the surgery.

Something weird happened to President Joe Biden at the NATO summit on Monday after a reporter pressed about Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It started with a CNN reporter saying, “In a weekend interview, Vladimir Putin laughed at the suggestion that you had called him a ‘killer.’”

“Is that still your belief, sir, that he is a killer?” the reporter asked immediately following up with a second question. “Do you believe if he does agree to cooperate, then what kind of a challenge do you find yourself in? How would you ever trust him? and if Ronald Reagon said, ‘trust, but verify,’ what do you say to Vladimir Putin?”

Biden gave a little laugh the struggled to form a coherent sentence, “The answer to the first question? … I’m laughing too. Well, actually I… well, look, I mean he has made clear that uh, uhh…”

Then he suddenly froze — for seven agonizing seconds.

Finally, Biden said, “The answer is, I believe he has in the past essentially acknowledged that he was — there are certain things that he would do or did do. But look, when I was asked that question on air, I answered it honestly, but it’s not much of a — I don’t think it matters a whole lot in terms of this next meeting we’re about to have.”

The leader of the free world's brain just completely broke when he was asked if Putin is a "killer" pic.twitter.com/q1pEK4nMFp

— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) June 14, 2021

As for the second question, Biden responded, “I verify first and then trust.”

According to a recent Rasmussen Reports poll, about 40% of voters in the 2020 election believed then-presidential candidate Joe Biden was experiencing some form of dementia or mental illness. That same poll showed that about 61% of voters believed that Biden should acknowledge his health issue publicly.

Last month a cable car in Italy crashed to the ground killing 14 people after the cable snapped. The only survivor was a 5-year-old who was left in critical condition.

Italian news outlet TG3 obtained the shocking footage showing the moments leading up to the accident then suddenly the car swings violently forward and is sent flying backwards down the mountain and crashing to the ground below.

Just a warning, the video is extremely disturbing.

Al Tg3 un documento esclusivo della cabina della funivia del Mottarone, prima della caduta, agli atti dell'inchiesta sul disastro costato la vita a 14 persone. Le immagini per il loro contenuto potrebbero urtare la sensibilità di alcuni pic.twitter.com/en6MHCfS00

— Tg3 (@Tg3web) June 16, 2021

As you can see in the video the cable car is moving up the line towards the docking station when the cable suddenly snaps resulting in the car sliding backwards at approximately 60 miles per hour down the mountain before detaching from the intact cables and falling to the ground seconds later.

The second video shows an engineer preparing for the arrival of the cable car from inside the docking station as the cable snapped, sending the worker into a state of panic.

CCTV footage released of Italy cable car crash that killed 14 https://t.co/2cdTtLW4bx

— The Independent (@Independent) June 17, 2021

After the cable snapped, the worker is seen stunned motionless by the event before running out of the station.

Italian channel RAI 3 aired the footage on television sparking outrage from viewers. The head of the channel come out to say that he was “deeply shocked” by the broadcast. A prosecutor reached out to BBC News regarding the “absolute inappropriateness” of airing the footage in the first place.

Although it has not been determined why the cable snapped at all, three men in connection to the cableway company have reportedly been arrested after investigators discovered that the emergency braking system had been deactivated for unknown reasons.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wouldn’t give a direct answer to a simple question about whether an “unborn baby at 15 weeks is a human being,” abandoning her previous claims that she believes in a woman’s right to choose.

The question was in regards to the Supreme Court’s decision to adopt a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks. The law was denied by a federal judge in 2018, and again in 2019 by the conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Roe v. Wade, the historical 1973 Supreme Court decision, legalized abortion prior to viability, which is around the 24-week mark.

“Let me just say that I am a big supporter of Roe v. Wade. I am a mother of five children in six years. I think I have some standing on this issue as to respecting a woman’s right to choose,” Pelosi, D-Calif., said during her weekly press conference Thursday.

Pelosi has signaled support for eliminating the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding for abortion, and Biden left it out of his proposed budget last month, though the budget is just a framework for Congress to work with.

Pelosi’s hometown bishop even called out lawmakers who support abortion urging them to refrain from Communion.

“If you find that you are unwilling or unable to abandon your advocacy for abortion, you should not come forward to receive Holy Communion,” San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said in a pastoral letter.

Pelosi, like President Biden, is faced with the tense dichotomy of being both Catholic and Democrat. The Catholic Church teaches that abortion is a sin, but the Democratic Party firmly embraces a woman’s right to choose.

Pelosi is a long-time advocate of abortion rights and has faced many questions on whether her stance put her at odds with the beliefs of the church.

During a 2015 press conference when faced with a question on whether 20 weeks into the gestation period constitutes a “human being,” Pelosi declared she had “great standing” to speak on the issue “as a mother of five in six years,” and that she knows more about birthing children than the pope.

It is time to finally see some light over the horizon after Former President Donald Trump made an announcement on Wednesday that he will be holding his first post-presidential rally before he heads down to see the crisis firsthand at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“President Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America, will hold a major rally in Wellington, Ohio on Saturday, June 26, 2021, at 7:00 pm EDT,” Trump’s Save America PAC said in a statement. “This Save America rally marks President Trump’s first of many appearances in support of candidates and causes that further the MAGA agenda and accomplishments of President Trump’s administration.”

The statement noted that the rally was being held to support Max Miller, who Trump has endorsed in Ohio’s 16th Congressional District race.

“Miller, the former Trump aide mounting a primary challenge to Ohio Republican Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, raised more than $500,000 in approximately the first month of his campaign,” Fox News reported on April 1. “Miller announced his campaign against Gonzalez after the incumbent joined 10 other Republicans to vote to impeach former President Donald Trump” over the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The real story of the coronavirus outbreak appears to be closer to the truth now more than ever after Australian journalist Sharri Markson made an appearance Monday evening on Fox News. During her appearance, she discussed the video footage she obtained of scientists handling bats inside the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Chinese lab that was using humanized mice for experiments to see which coronaviruses could infect humans.

“It is not a conspiracy to say there were live bats at the lab,” Markson said. “It is a fact. And as you can see, this video shows bats in a cage at the Wuhan Institute. You can also see a researcher feeding about with a worm. And in this image, we can see researchers out capturing bats and a bat even hangs off a researcher’s hat. In another image, there are mass cages, hundreds of them. We know that the Wuhan Institute of virology was using humanized mice for experiments to see which coronaviruses could infect humans.”

Watch the damning footage below:

Investigative reporter Sharri Markson releases new video footage showing bats inside the Wuhan Institute of Virology and explains the significance of the footage on Tucker Carlson Tonight. pic.twitter.com/xjIanKPAkR

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) June 15, 2021

This evidence of the lab was shown after the official statement from China was that there were no bats at the Institute of Virology. Now the “conspiracy theory” has turned out to be precisely true.

Now they say you can’t win an election unless you don’t first win the people’s attention. And that is just what an OnlyFans model has done after a very unique campaign promise.

Rocio Pino, who also goes by the name La Grosera, is running on a campaign promise of free boob jobs for all women if she’s elected to the country’s Chamber of Deputies this month.

But Pino seems to actually have both a plan and a purpose for the seemingly wild offer. Her candidate page stresses that priority should go to reconstruction surgery for women who have suffered from breast cancer, and her goal is to have these operations covered by insurance.

Still, the campaign slogan—“Because a woman with tits is an empowered woman,” as reported by the Daily Star—is certainly eye-catching.

Aquí… con alma, corazón y muchos huevos. https://t.co/z1SQYMGeIP pic.twitter.com/268WdMyeuk

— La Grosera (@la_gr0sera) May 26, 2021

Her political ads have been posted to her Twitter account in between ads for her OnlyFans account—definitely not your run-of-the-mill strategy when it comes to campaigning for office. And she has made waves with her ads.

Her ads show her posing half-naked and pregnant in an attempt to draw attention to providing support for single parents which is one of her main concerns on her platform.

https://t.co/ISAqD7qwoN pic.twitter.com/BqOW2W9K5z

— La Grosera (@la_gr0sera) May 1, 2021

Pino’s unorthodox approach to her campaign has won her over 250,000 followers on Twitter, although it’s hard to say how that will translate into votes.

It’s obvious she stands behind her decision to be her full self while campaigning. She tweeted Monday, “I know I’m not perfect, but at least I’m not fake.”