[Free Beacon] California taxpayers shelled out more than $1 million to a man linked to a Chinese espionage program, making him the state government’s highest-paid worker.
Meng Yu, former chief investment officer of the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), received more than $1.7 million in total pay and benefits in 2019, according to the latest financial disclosures obtained by Transparent California, a taxpayer watchdog group. Under Meng's leadership the pension fund, which covers two million members in the retirement system and 1.5 million members under its health program, has been subject to federal inquiries into its investments in Chinese government entities.
Meng took the lead at the pension fund after China's Thousand Talents Program recruited him to serve as the deputy CIO of China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), a state-controlled entity. The FBI considers the Thousand Talents Program an example of "China's non-traditional espionage against the United States" that seeks to recruit people to transfer U.S. trade secrets and taxpayer-funded research into the hands of the Chinese government. Meng told the propaganda outlet People's Daily that he worked for SAFE out of patriotic commitment to "the motherland."
Neither CalPERS nor Governor Gavin Newsom's (D.) office responded to requests for comment.
[NationalReview] The great economist and freedom fighter Walter Williams has died. This is an incredibly sad news. Walter was a great communicator of ideas and a prolific, provocative and uncompromising writer. He was the John M. Olin distinguished professor of economics at George Mason University. His voice, his happy-warrior demeanor, his cosmopolitan views, his endless fight on behalf of those with no political voices, and his generosity to all of us at Mason will be missed.
Links to more encomiums and obituaries of the great man at the link. His Wikipedia page is here, which puts his age at 84. A search of Rantburg’s archives reveals he appeared in twelve articles as either Walter Williams or Walter E. Williams. The most recent three of each are more quickly available below.
#5
Always a pleasant suprise when he hosted Rush's show
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/02/2020 16:37 Comments ||
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#6
He used to talk about how he enjoyed walking through an airport with an unlit cigarette in his mouth, just to tweak the pearl clutchers and "Karens" of the day.
He had great perspective and belief in individual freedom. May he RIP.
Posted by: York Harding ||
12/02/2020 19:56 Comments ||
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#7
/\ And as a black man, I'm sure he got some extra 'attention'.
[DAILYTIMES.PK] It was his first contact with another elephant in eight years.
Reaching out with his trunk, Kaavan tentatively greeted a fellow inhabitant of the Cambodian sanctuary where he is beginning his new life after being rescued from grim conditions in the Islamabad zoo.
The 36-year-old bull elephant — dubbed the "world’s loneliest" — was the sole Asian elephant at his previous dilapidated home. Animal rights groups launched a campaign to save him from the substandard conditions there, boosted by spirited social media support from US actress and musician Cher.
He arrived in Cambodia on Monday to much fanfare — including a welcome from Cher herself, who not only travelled to see him off from Pakistain, but also arrived ahead of him at Siem Reap airport.
Tuesday saw Kaavan settling into his enclosure at Kulen Prom Tep Wildlife Sanctuary, where he was seen touching trunks with another elephant, captured in images provided by rights group Four Paws.
"First contact with an elephant in eight years — this is a huge moment for Kaavan," said Martin Bauer, a front man with the Austria-based group that worked for months to get him ready for the flight.
"Kaavan will finally have the chance to live a species-appropriate and peaceful life," Bauer said, adding that the entire team was extremely moved to witness the interaction.
"He has a very bright future ahead of him."
Once Kaavan has adjusted to a "controlled setting," he will be released into the wider sanctuary, where there are three female elephants, an environment ministry official said on Monday.
The plan is to breed Kaavan with local elephants to "conserve the genetic fold."
Transporting an adult elephant by plane is no small task, and has only been undertaken a handful of times.
Helpers packed his trunk with 200 kilograms (450 pounds) of food to snack on during the seven-hour flight aboard a jumbo Russian cargo plane. A tube system was installed in his transport crate to handle up to 200 liters (58 gallons) of urine.
Activists have accused the zoo in Islamabad of chaining Kaavan up, and of not properly sheltering him during the searing summers there.
Conditions were so bad that in May, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ruled that all the zoo’s animals should be relocated.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/02/2020 00:00 ||
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[PlanetFreeWill] Perhaps coming as no surprise, both Nadhim Zahawi
...Iraqi-Brit Tory MP for Stratford-on-Avon since 2010, the co-founder and former CEO of internet market research company YouGov and former chief strategy officer of Gulf Keystone Petroleum originally trained as a chemical engineer...
and Alan Joyce
...CEO of Qantas Airlines and gay marriage advocate...
have ties to the World Economic forum, the organization behind the "Great Reset" agenda
Brits could be denied entry into bars, theaters, and sporting events if they can not prove they've received vaccination against COVID-19, according to the head of the United Kingdom's vaccine rollout.
Nadhim Zahawi, the newly appointed minister to oversee the UK's COVID-19 vaccine deployment, says the proof of vaccination could be held on a phone application already used in Britain as part of the government's track and trace system.
"… I think you'd probably find that restaurants and bars and cinemas and other venues, sports venues, will probably also use that system as they've done with the app," Zahawi told the BBC on Monday.
"The sort of pressure will come both ways: from service providers – who will say ‘look, demonstrate to us that you have been vaccinated' – but also we will make the technology as easy and accessible as possible."
Zahawi explained that while the vaccine should be voluntary, he believes Brits will find that most businesses will require proof of vaccination before providing service.
"I think people have to make a decision but I think you'll probably find many service providers will want to engage in this in the way they did with the app," he said.
In September, England's National Health Service launched a smart phone app that alerts users if they have spent more than 15 minutes around or have been within six feet of another user who has tested positive for COVID-19. It also warns users if they have been in a pub, restaurant, or other kind of hospitality venue at the same time as someone who has symptoms.
Zahawi denied to provide any deadlines on when the vaccine would hit the UK market but did express hope that it would be available before Christmas.
The Ministers "new normal" outlook comes on the heels of Australia's largest airline announcing that it is considering mandating a COVID-19 vaccinations for travelers who wish to fly with them internationally.
"We are looking at changing our terms and conditions to say, for international travelers, that we will ask people to have a vaccination before they can get on the aircraft," CEO of Qantas airline, Alan Joyce said in an interview with Aussie news last week.
"I think that's going to be a common thing talking to my colleagues in other airlines around the globe." Joyce would add.
Perhaps coming as no surprise, both Nadhim Zahawi and Alan Joyce have ties to the World Economic forum, the organization behind the "Great Reset" agenda which has the stated goal of molding a post COVID world to its vision.
Well would you know it. We I'll be damned lol #qantas pic.twitter.com/8a0nbcYuvx
‐ The Mood 2020 (@themood2020) November 24, 2020
Posted by: European Conservative ||
12/02/2020 9:53 Comments ||
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#3
That’s one way to handle it. Another is a certificate that the person has antibodies to the thing, which after all is the purpose of vaccination. That way the initially limited and expensive vaccines could be saved for those who actually need them.
Perpetual house arrest until you prove your loyalty by being injected with whatever the Overpopulation Humans Cause Global Warming Billionaires.
Wellfare will pay you just a little under enough. Medical Services denied. Big Burger will bring you food, but if you go out the police, the secret karens, or the criminals will get you. Can't purchase gasoline.
Very neat and tidy compared to mass camps. Not that there won't be Awareness Campuses, just not as many so they have the mystique.
And its so easy, its already with you on your phone, in your computer. Simply, confess.
[Breitbart] Police are investigating after a car sped through a pedestrianised street in the German city of Trier on Tuesday afternoon, a ’rampage’ that left at least two dead.
Update 1900 GMT
Trier police have now confirmed that four people were killed after a car was driven into pedestrians on a shopping street in the centre of the city. A statement from the force said that the suspect was not previously known to the government for extremism and they did not suspect a politically motivated attack. The suspect put up "considerable resistance" to arrest.
Volksfreund, a local news source, reports the dead are all locals: a 73-year-old woman, a 45-year-old man, 25-year-old woman, and a nine-month-old girl. The mother of the child is in hospital.
A church service is taking place Tuesday night in memory of the dead.
Read the original story below:
Trier police confirmed that two people had died on Tuesday, with reports suggesting 10 others injured, including a child. Local news reported that the number of dead was actually four, and that the child mentioned in other reports was among the dead, and named the number of injured at 30.
German source Die Welt reports eyewitnesses who said "that people were thrown through the air" as a car drove into a pedestrianised shopping area at speed.
Prosecutor Peter Fritzen said the driver, a 51-year-old Trier native, appeared to be suffering from "psychiatric problems" and had been under the influence of alcohol during the incident, in which 14 other people were hurt.
Police said they had "no indications of a political motive" after questioning the suspect, and Fritzen said prosecutors were considering requesting he be placed in psychiatric care.
The incident started around 12:50 GMT and ended within four minutes of the first emergency calls, with police intercepting the driver after he turned off a main shopping street.
Smartphone footage from an eyewitness showed the arrest of the driver, handcuffed and lying face down on the street being pinned down by several officers next to the damaged vehicle.
An unnamed man who said he was a former neighbour of the suspect told NTV that the driver had a history of mental issues, as well as money worries and problems with his father.
This July 2019 story forwarded as a comment this morning by our own NN2N1
[Forbes] William Barr made his name serving as attorney general for two presidents, George H. W. Bush and Donald J. Trump. But he made his fortune out of office, collecting more than $50 million in compensation as an executive and director for some of America’s largest companies.
Today Barr, who did not comment for this story, has an estimated net worth of $40 million, after accounting for taxes, personal spending and modest investment returns. That figure is more precise than what’s on Barr’s public financial disclosure report, a document that deals only in broad ranges and shows assets worth somewhere between $24 million and $74 million.
The money started piling up around 1993, when Bush left the White House and Barr reentered the private sector. The next year, Barr became general counsel at telephone giant GTE Corporation. When GTE merged with Bell Atlantic to form Verizon in 2000, Barr stayed onboard as executive vice president and general counsel. From 2001 to 2007, he raked in an average of $1.7 million in annual salary and bonuses, according to documents filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Barr also received valuable stock options, some of which he traded while at the company, collecting an estimated $3 million after taxes from 2003 to 2007.
The Verizon job came with other benefits. Barr got a $31,000 flexible spending allowance, $10,000 or so for financial planning, plus use of the company jet for personal purposes. The biggest benefit, however, came upon retirement. Barr stepped down from the company at the end of 2008, receiving a $17.1 million distribution from Verizon’s income deferral plan, according to an SEC filing. On top of that, company documents also detail an additional $10.4 million separation payment for Barr.
At the time, the global economy was in a tailspin. Corporate pay was under close scrutiny, and Barr’s exit package made for an easy target. An independent research firm named the Corporate Library graded Verizon with a "D," noting "high governance risk" and "very high concern" in executive pay. In a filing, Verizon specifically pointed to Barr’s pay package in connection with the assessment.
Retiring did not mean Barr was done working. The year after he left Verizon, he joined the boards of two publicly traded companies, Dominion Resources and Time Warner. From 2009 to 2018, Dominion paid Barr $1.2 million in cash and granted him another $1.1 million in stock awards, according to SEC filings. Emphasis added.
#5
Unlike Reagan who had friends and allies familiar with Washington's peculiar governance, Trump had no one. He had to depend on the advice of mediocrities, unknowns, or wanna-bes like Sessions. No one has ever stepped forth and championed Barr. Who could it be?
#6
I doubt Trump understood the magnitude of the problem. I doubt many of us could have understood the scope of corruption. We now have a better sense of the reality of Washington, but we appear to lost a champion and possibly the country. I'm not certain what happens from this point on.
#7
The same BARR that has dragged his heels and just said...
He did not see any evidence of Electronic Voting Fraud.
" Dominion Resources and Time Warner. From 2009 to 2018, Dominion paid Barr $1.2 million in cash and granted him another $1.1 million in stock awards..."
#8
I doubt Trump understood the magnitude of the problem. I doubt many of us could have understood the scope of corruption.
Exactly. When Trump got in it was him against the Swamp. Turns out, it's every single fucking one of the 2 million Federal employees, a bendo-boy media and (with the multi-statewide ballot stuffing) a shit ton of them at the local and county levels not even needing to be told to produce millions of Biden votes. You know, the kind of shit that only needs a wink & a nod to the Dem goons counting the votes and then they're threatening and tossing out Republican observers.
#9
Don't forget, Barr wrote the 8 June 2018 Memo to Rosenstein, torpedoing Muller's theory to indite Trump. A few days later, Muller (unexpectedly) shut off his witch hunt. Eight months later Barr was AG. I read it all at Rantburg!
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/02/2020 10:03 Comments ||
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#10
Even many Dems don't buy the results from this election. Trump was ahead in the swing states when the polls shut down, before the huge injection of fake votes. Trump supporters most certainly don't buy the results from this election.
Governing will come hard if the results are allowed to stand. Already there is push-back against tyrannical Dem and Rino governors in various states who issue dictates about what people are going to do and not do.
We are where the Colonials were with the British some 250 years ago except the enemy is different and the weaponry is better.
#11
Even many Dems don't buy the results from this election.
In the early days iafter the election a third of Democrats and 95% of Republicans thought the fix was in. No doubt both numbers are higher now, despite all the media and Democratic politicians screeching that it’s over.
[Sharyl Attkinsson] In a new study entitled, "Post-lockdown SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid screening in nearly ten million residents of Wuhan, China," the findings appear to be good news from the standpoint of asymptomatic spread and length of immunity after infection. Attkisson I respect, Chinese studies not so much.
According to the study, more than 9.8 million Wuhan, China residents (where COVID-19 is believed to have originated) underwent testing between May 14 and June 1 to measure the infection rate in the community. Part of the (exactly) 160,000,000 Chimes tests the Worldometers site has reported for months.
Among the findings:
9,865,404 participants who had not previously contracted COVID-19 were not infected at the time of testing.
300 people tested positive but had no symptoms (asymptomatic).
1,174 close contacts of the asymptomatic patients all tested negative for coronavirus.
There were 34,424 recovered coronavirus cases.
Among them, 107 tested positive again (.310%) but "virus cultures were negative for all asymptomatic positive and repositive cases, indicating no 'viable virus' in positive cases detected in this study."
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/02/2020 10:06 ||
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[11 views]
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#1
Not too surprising. All that runny nose, coughing, sneezing and spewing is your body trying to flush out the virus. If your body doesn't care, maybe you shouldn't either.
Attkisson I respect, Chinese studies not so much.
I'd go with "not at all", given that the Chinese results are going to be whatever the Party wants and needs to hear for their next information offensive.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Free Beacon] California taxpayers shelled out more than $1 million to a man linked to a Chinese espionage program, making him the state government’s highest-paid worker.
[DAILYTIMES.PK] It was his first contact with another elephant in eight years.
