[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The youngest survivors of the Madison school shooting have described their terror and panic after watching a teacher get shot in front of them.
Natalie 'Samantha' Rupnow, 15, opened fire on kids and staff at Abundant Life Christian School on Monday - raining bullets in the study hall before turning the gun on herself.
Nora Gottsckalk, eight, was in the hallway before 11am getting ready for lunch when she saw a teacher she knew injured.
'She was screaming, "Ah my leg, help, help,"' the young girl told CNN affiliate WISC as she grasped a Spongebob ice cream, after being reunited with family.
One student and one teacher were pronounced dead, but horrified children as young as eight have recounted the bloody massacre that happened in front of their eyes.
Rupnow died in an ambulance on the way to hospital after being found on the scene with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Six people were injured, with five hospitalized for injuries taken during the rampage. Two were left in critical condition with life-threatening injuries.
Police last night raided Rupnow's family home eight miles away from the school, with SWAT teams deploying stun grenades on the property.
Rupnow may have left behind a chilling manifesto, which investigators are now sifting through - but are yet to confirm its validity.
Sixth-grader Alder Jean-Charles also told how he was attending English class when at the small Christian school when he heard two gunshots ring out.
He recalled: 'Some people started crying and then we just waited until the police came and they escorted us out. I was scared. Why did they do that?'
Investigators believe she used a 9mm pistol, an official told the Associated Press. The school does not have metal detectors but uses other security measures, including cameras.
A motive for the shooting was not immediately known, nor was it clear if the victims were targeted, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said.
Students who survived the shooting were taken to hospital to be reunited with their parents, and when Alder was reunited with his two brothers, they all cried and prayed together, his mother Mireille Jean-Charles said.
When asked whether she was okay, the mom shook her head and broke down into tears.
Mireille Jean-Charles said: 'It's sad, you know, to be home and when somebody calls you and says your kids' school is in lockdown and a shooting, and you don't know where they are.
'Thank God they were safe, but the trauma - it's a lot because I'm sure they lost friends and teachers, which is not okay.
'And I don't think they'll be okay for a long time.'
Barbara Wiers, director of elementary and school relations for Abundant Life Christian School, said students 'handled themselves magnificently'.
Police received a 911 call at 10:57am Monday morning, and within three minutes, county sheriff's deputies arrived at the school which educates about 420 students.
Local police arrived seconds later as fire department workers got to the scene and began to care for the victims.
Read More
Who is Natalie 'Samantha' Rupnow? Wisconsin shooter, 15, was 'dealing with problems' before rampage
article image
At 11:05am, they said that they'd found the shooter wounded and recovered the weapon. Rupnow was pronounced dead en route to the hospital.
Currently, two students are hospitalized with life-threatening injuries and are said to be in critical condition.
A teacher and three other students were also hospitalized with less serious wounds. Two of them were released Monday evening.
Victims have yet to be identified, pending family notification.
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said that a second-grade student was the one who called 911 to the school.
A law enforcement source told CNN that Rupnow 'had been dealing with problems and expressed some of those in writings, which they are now reviewing.'
A manifesto, that cops have not confirmed is linked to the teen, was published on social media.
Barnes said police were talking with the shooter’s father and other family members, who were cooperating, and searching the shooter’s home.
'He lost someone as well,' Barnes said of the shooter’s father. 'And so we’re not going to rush the information. We’ll take our time and make sure we do our due diligence.'
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said the suspect’s home had been searched on Monday - and police are seeking additional search warrants.
Cops also confirmed that shooter Rupnow was not on their radar and had no prior interactions with her before Monday, though they said a probe would confirm that.
The shooter, who went by the name Samantha, opened fire on a room full of students from various grades, according to Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes.
It is not yet confirmed if Rupnow's family were gun owners.
Speaking about the alleged manifesto, Chief Barnes told the press conference on Monday night: 'A document about this shooting is circulating at this time on social media, but we have not verified its authenticity.'
The chief also waded into online speculation over the shooter's gender or possible status as a transgender person.
Barnes slammed speculation over Rupnow's gender on social media after he was asked about it.
'I don't know whether Natalie was transgender or not. And quite frankly, I don't think that's important at all,' he said.
'I don't think whatever happened today has anything to do with how she or he or they may want to identify.' He added that it didn't really matter for the time being and that it was 'just not helping.'
'For what we're doing right now, today, literally eight hours after a mass shooting in a school in Madison, it is of no consequence at this time (what gender the shooter was),' he said.
He also claimed that he had no knowledge of any previous interactions with Rupnow: 'I think if there were, we certainly would have had some type of intervention, but I'm not aware of that.'
[FoxNews] Police said Kirstin Lobato confessed to killing man who tried to rape her during methamphetamine binge.
Kirstin Lobato was arrested at age 18, wrongly convicted twice, and served nearly 16 years in a Nevada state prison for a 2001 killing she did not commit.
Lobato was awarded more than $34 million after a civil trial jury found Las Vegas police and two detectives, now retired, fabricated evidence during their investigation and intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon Lobato.
Lobato was exonerated and freed from prison in 2017 after the Innocence Project and attorneys in Las Vegas again took her case to the state Supreme Court, showing evidence that Lobato was about 150 miles away from Las Vegas when the crime was committed.
Lobato said she didn't know if becoming a millionaire would make up for years in prison, adding that she had "no idea what the rest of my life is going to look like."
The civil trial jury found Las Vegas police and two detectives, now retired, fabricated evidence during their investigation and intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon Lobato. The panel determined that Lobato should receive $34 million in compensatory damages from the department and $10,000 in punitive damages from each former detective.
The detectives, Thomas Thowsen and James LaRochelle, and their attorney, Craig Anderson, declined to comment outside court. Anderson told U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware he planned to file additional court documents following the verdict. Anderson said Friday an appeal was "likely."
The department previously agreed to pay damages if the jury ruled in Lobato’s favor.
Lobato was 18 when she was interviewed by police without an attorney, arrested and charged with killing Duran Bailey in Las Vegas in July 2001. Bailey, who had been homeless, was found dead near a trash bin with a slashed neck, cracked skull and missing genitals.
No physical evidence or witnesses connected Lobato to the killing, and she maintained she never met Bailey. But police maintained she confessed in jail that she had killed a man who tried to rape her during a three-day methamphetamine binge.
Lobato was 19 when she was convicted of murder in 2002. The Nevada Supreme Court threw out that verdict and Lobato’s prison sentence in 2004 because her lawyers weren’t able to cross-examine a prosecution witness who testified that Lobato made the jailhouse confession.
Lobato was tried again in 2006, convicted of manslaughter, mutilation and weapon charges, and sentenced to 13 to 45 years in prison.
She was exonerated and freed from prison in late 2017 after the Innocence Project and attorneys in Las Vegas again took her case to the state Supreme Court. Justices said evidence showed that Lobato was in her hometown of Panaca, Nevada, some 150 miles from Las Vegas when Bailey was killed.
Last October, a state court judge in Las Vegas issued a certificate declaring Lobato innocent of Bailey’s killing.
That action was challenged by Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill and Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson in a letter asking state Attorney General Aaron Ford to investigate how and why attorneys for Lobato acquired the certificate of innocence.
#3
Arrest the police involded.
Put them on trial. If convicted have them jailed for live. Because by setting an innocent person, they became co conspriators to murder by letting the innocent person walk free.
[AtlantaJournalConstitution] The suspect in a shooting that led to the lockdown of a U.S. Army base near Augusta on Saturday had nearly made it across the state before being arrested in Meriwether County, according to officials.
Fort Eisenhower was on lockdown for two hours after the shooting, which left one man dead, authorities said. The victim’s identity hasn’t been released.
Neither the victim nor the suspect were active-duty members of the Army, officials said in a statement.
Are the PR people handling the NJ Drone deflection stories handling this one also? Because we have, yet another update with different data.
Yesterday we were told he was arrested on I-20 headed East to SC by official sources.
Now we are told he was headed in the opposite direction, WEST, and arrested on the other side of GA.
[MAIL] Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson shocked the audience at Broadway's &Juliet this past weekend as she 'fulfilled a lifelong dream' to make her debut - but it has led to some less than stellar reviews.
Jackson appeared in three scenes on Saturday night - singing in harmony during the Backstreet Boys song 'Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely.'
By stepping into the limelight, Justice Jackson, the first black woman to sit on the court, also inadvertently invited criticism and skepticism about her dedication to maintaining the court’s revered image.
Jackson had previously told of her dream of 'becoming the first Black, female Supreme Court Justice to appear on a Broadway stage', but it has now led to some on social media to question if she is in the wrong role when it comes to her day job.
'She should have just been an actress,' stated one user on X.
'Tells you everything about this woman. Broadway is a bigger deal than the Supreme Court,' added another.
'If you needed proof Ketanji Brown Jackson does not belong on the Supreme Court, here it is. Absolutely disgraceful that she did this. Shame on her and on those who confirmed her,' stated conservative radio host Eric Metaxas.
Retired sheriff's deputy Penny Farrington agreed that Jackson performed better on stage than in court: 'She is far better suited in this role....instead of an Honorable Justice of the Supreme Court.
#11
The Ketanji Kourt! Where'd it begin?
In Times Square, in an era of sin,
You could sit at the bar
Right across from a star...
[flashing neon, red: "Death from within!"]
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] With a growing constellation of lawmakers demanding answers from the feds about mysterious drone sightings over New Jersey, the White House is now blaming hobbyists, planes and even the stars for what it describes as misidentifications.
The latest answer, after days of mounting pressure from Congress, comes amid repeat sightings over populated areas and even U.S. military facilities.
The federal response to date has left figures in both parties demanding more transparency and a plan to confront any possible threat.
Donald Trump joined the chorus of fed up critics Monday after posting about it over the weekend, saying 'something strange is going on.'
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is also demanding answers about the mysterious phenomenon and wants to know 'what the heck is going on.'
With public pressure growing and concerned citizens filing a skein reports to authorities, White House national security spokesman John Kirby attempted to confront the fury.
He began his remarks to reporters Monday at a briefing by pointing to the proliferation of hobbyist drones over the sky.
'There are more than 1 million drones that are lawfully registered with the Federal Aviation Administration here in the United States, and there are thousands of commercial hobbyists and law enforcement drones that are lawfully in the sky on any given day,' Kirby told reporters.
He said the FBI had received tips on 5,000 drone sightings in recent weeks of which 100 they 'felt needed to be followed up on.'
Then Kirby pointed to the array of explanations over what U.S. officials believe to be in the skies, having looked at the various tips – even saying misidentified stars were part of the problem.
'We assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and even stars that were mistakenly reported as drones.'
'We have not identified anything anomalous or any national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace In New Jersey, or other states in the Northeast. The work continues.'
'But I want to stress again, our assessment at this stage is that the activity represents commercial, hobbyist law enforcement drones, all operating legally and lawful and or civilian aviation aircraft,' he underlined.
He cited federal 'resources and personnel' as supporting the efforts, including additional 'advanced detection technology' and trained observers.
His comments were similar to a joint statement later released by the DHS, FBI, FAA, and the Defense Department. His words came hours after Trump blasted the federal response as he made a comment, perhaps joking, that he was holding off on visiting his Bedminster, New Jersey golf course because of the situation.
'Something strange is going on,' Trump told reporters in response to a question about the drone sightings. 'For some reason, they don't want to tell the people.'
'They're very close to Bedminster. I think maybe I won't spend the weekend in Bedminster. I've decided to cancel my trip,' he said.
Kirby's comments come days after New Jersey Republican state lawmakers blasted his prior response as 'idiotic' even as they were followed by new sightings at Naval Air Station Earle in New Jersey.
Democratic lawmakers are demanding answers about the mysterious New Jersey drones that federal authorities and President Joe Biden have yet to explain.
The bizarre unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) were first noticed hovering over New Jersey over a month ago, yet neither local or federal authorities have offered an explanation behind the lights that dash across the sky from dusk to dawn - notably disappearing during daylight.
Biden has since tasked his agencies with finding out what is occurring over the Garden State, White House spokesman John Kirby said last week on Fox News.
In the same interview Kirby, the White House National Security Communications Advisor, did not have an explanation to offer as to what was behind the UAPs, saying the president's men are still searching for answers.
#3
If there is no safety risk, why was Wright Patterson shut down?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/17/2024 8:45 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Anyone recall a similar incident being reported in the SW. Then there is this from 2022:
https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/u-s-army-to-test-its-biggest-ever-drone-swarm-over-utah
Would all seem to indicate homegrown, rural training is capped, purpose most likely is NJ is the cover for training in a dense urban area, nothing nefarious against Trump, just using it as cover, because Trump is that big anything mysterious around him is suspect/conspiratorial.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A key US Air Force Base has been forced to close after drones were spotted circling above, marking the latest sinister development in the mystery aircraft saga.
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio shut down for around four hours late on Friday night into Saturday morning, officials told DailyMail.com.
The location is the latest military base targeted by the ominous flying objects. They have also been seen whirring over Picatinny Arsenal, home of the US Army's CCDC Armaments Center, and Naval Weapons Station Earle, both in New Jersey.
The Biden administration's dismissal of the drones as nothing to worry about - despite failing to provide any explanation about what's behind the flurry of activity - prompted speculation that the aircraft are being operated by the US military.
But this comparatively reassuring theory is somewhat undermined by the closure of Wright-Patterson - the first base to publicly announce a shutdown - potentially compromising US military readiness in the event of an enemy attack.
Bob Purtiman, chief of public affairs for the 88th Air Base Wing at Wright-Patterson, said the 'small unmanned aerial systems' were monitored by officials during the shutdown on Friday night.
'To date, installation leadership has determined none of the incursions impacted base residents, facilities or assets,' Purtiman told DailyMail.com.
In a recording of the air traffic control tower at the base posted on YouTube by The War Zone, a controller tells pilots to 'use extreme caution' due to 'heavy UAS activity' above. UAS stands for 'unmanned aircraft system'.
Wright-Patterson is located around five miles outside the city of Dayton in west Ohio. It's home to critical US AIr Force commands, including the Air Force Research Lab.
It also hosts the Air Force Materiel Command, which 'conducts research, development, test and evaluation, and provides acquisition management services and logistics support necessary to keep Air Force weapon systems ready for war,' according to its website.
Wright-Patterson is located around five miles outside the city of Dayton in west Ohio. It's home to critical US AIr Force commands, including the Air Force Research Lab.
It also hosts the Air Force Materiel Command, which 'conducts research, development, test and evaluation, and provides acquisition management services and logistics support necessary to keep Air Force weapon systems ready for war,' according to its website.
Yet despite the startling volume of apparent sightings - which have prompted locals to shoot into the sky and even sparked the closure of an airport in neighboring New York - officials are yet to provide answers about who or what is behind the drones.
Former CIA operations officer Laura Ballman voiced the theory that the drones lighting up multi-state skies could be part of a 'classified exercise' by the US military.
She told Fox News Live last week that the sightings are 'extremely unsettling,' while sharing the idea that they may be part of a technology 'test' orchestrated by the federal government.
Ballman said: 'Now in terms of who is behind this, seeing the statements that have been made by John Kirby, who has said that these objects are not operating illegally.
'Coupled with the several op-eds that have been out there in the last 24 hours about the need to look at our detection systems, [it] makes me think perhaps this is actually a classified exercise to test either evasion technology or detection technology in urban areas.'
But the apparent targeting of US military facilities is now making way for alternative theories that the drones may have been sent by foreign powers.
Yet despite the startling volume of apparent sightings - which have prompted locals to shoot into the sky and even sparked the closure of an airport in neighboring New York - officials are yet to provide answers about who or what is behind the drones.
Former CIA operations officer Laura Ballman voiced the theory that the drones lighting up multi-state skies could be part of a 'classified exercise' by the US military.
She told Fox News Live last week that the sightings are 'extremely unsettling,' while sharing the idea that they may be part of a technology 'test' orchestrated by the federal government.
Ballman said: 'Now in terms of who is behind this, seeing the statements that have been made by John Kirby, who has said that these objects are not operating illegally.
'Coupled with the several op-eds that have been out there in the last 24 hours about the need to look at our detection systems, [it] makes me think perhaps this is actually a classified exercise to test either evasion technology or detection technology in urban areas.'
But the apparent targeting of US military facilities is now making way for alternative theories that the drones may have been sent by foreign powers.
[FoxNews] Affluent pregnant Chinese women paid top dollar to stay in apartments in California so they could give birth before going back to China, prosecutors said.
A Southern California man was sentenced Monday to more than three years in prison for operating a "birth tourism" scheme where affluent pregnant Chinese women paid thousands of dollars to travel and give birth in the United States, so the infants could obtain American citizenship, authorities said Monday.
A federal judge sentenced Michael Wei Yueh Liu, 59, of Rancho Cucamonga, just east of Los Angeles, following a four-day trial, the Justice Department said.
Liu and Jing Dong, 47, also of Rancho Cucamonga, were each convicted of one count of conspiracy and 10 counts of international money laundering. Dong will be sentenced later.
From January 2012 to March 2015, Liu and Dong operated "USA Happy Babby Inc." which promoted the benefits of giving birth to a child in the U.S. rather than China, the Justice Department said. The supposed incentives included "better air," superior educational resources, food safety and political stability, according to court documents.
The pair charged between $20000 and $40,000 for each client. VIP clients paid upwards of $100,000, prosecutors said.
Liu and Dong would pay agents in China to recruit pregnant Chinese women and to coach them on how to pass U.S. consulate interviews in China, prosecutors said.
Their visa applications falsely stated the women would be staying in the U.S. for a period of days or weeks, not months, authorities said. They also misrepresented where they would be staying in the U.S., authorities said.
"Generally, defendant USA HAPPY BABY's customers' visa applications would falsely state that the purpose of the trip to the United States was for tourism, the length of the stay was eight to 14 days, and the customers would be staying in Hawaii, New York, or Los Angeles, when in truth and in fact, those customers were coming to the United States to give birth, the length of their stays was 3 months, and they would be staying in Rancho Cucamonga, California, or Irvine, California," court documents state.
The women were also advised to fly to certain ports of entry where it was believed they would come under less scrutiny from U.S. customs officials. Examples included flying to Hawaii before flying to Los Angeles.
The women were also told to wear loose-fitting clothing and to favor certain lines at customs that they perceived to be less strict, and on how to answer the customs officials’ questions.
To accommodate the women, Liu and Dong leased apartments in Orange and San Bernardino counties to the women under names of people who were not going to occupy the units, authorities said.
Over the course of the scheme, the pair made several million dollars, prosecutors said.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] If Yang Tengbo’s mission was to penetrate the heart of the British establishment, then it must be said that he did an exceptional job.
Operating in plain sight as an Anglophile Chinese businessman keen to forge meaningful links between the two nations, he infiltrated top institutions with astonishing success.
Now that an order forbidding naming the alleged spy formerly known as H6 has been lifted at his own request, Yang’s incredible web of influence across British society can be disclosed for the first time.
A shadow gliding through the corridors of power, the diminutive businessman spent two decades quietly embedding himself in the fabric of UK politics, business, education, industry and royalty.
So close was the 50-year-old to the Duke of York that he referred to himself in interviews with Chinese media as the ‘special envoy of Prince Andrew’.
The duke invited him to his 60th birthday party in 2020 and appointed him head of the Chinese arm of his beloved Dragons’ Den-style project, Pitch@Palace, which used Buckingham Palace as the official address for the Hong Kong branch. Yang was also photographed with Prince Michael of Kent at a UK China Business Leader Summit in June 2016 at Windsor Castle.
But it wasn’t just members of the Royal Family who were successfully cultivated by the bespectacled businessman.
Framed photos of Yang with former prime ministers Theresa May and David Cameron adorned the desk in his London office.
And he rubbed shoulders with then-chancellor George Osborne at the first UK-China Business Leaders’ Summit in 2014, arranged by Yang himself.
This ability to charm top politicians and royals extended to those involved in Britain’s most prestigious educational establishments.
Yang played a pivotal role in developing campuses in China for the elite Gordonstoun boarding school attended by King Charles.
The £61,440-a-year establishment, also attended by Prince Andrew and Prince Philip, was the birthplace of the Duke of Edinburgh Award and the Round Square conference of schools, set up ‘to create opportunities for students and teachers to develop international understanding and self-confidence’.
Yang’s consultancy company, the Hampton Group, has been overseeing the expansion of Gordonstoun into China that was made public in 2019, much to the consternation of some of its illustrious alumni.
Among them was film director and author Justin Baldwin, who captained Gordonstoun’s hockey team before directing Cash In Hand, starring Richard E Grant.
When the move was announced, he said: ‘Why would we put a school in a country where they have camps to convert Muslims by feeding them pork? That’s everything that [Gordonstoun founder] Kurt Hahn was against.’
In addition to schooling, Yang has been heavily involved with the business elite, including in particular the late Lady (Barbara) Judge, described by Radio Four’s Woman’s Hour as ‘one of the best-connected women in Britain’.
Yang invested with Lady Judge, a former chairman of both the UK Atomic Energy Authority and the Institute of Directors, in a fashion and soft furnishings company. It was with an uncanny sense of timing that he rode to the rescue during a rare moment of vulnerability in her life.
With his financial support – and in return for a 40 per cent share of her start-up company – she was able to launch B&H Enterprise after quitting the Institute of Directors amid allegations of bullying, racism and sexism in 2018.
The other company directors were Chinese entrepreneur Hua Xia, who appeared with Yang at Pitch@Palace Beijing in 2019, and Hampton Group chief executive Jean Jameson, who was also the UK secretary general for the Chinese arm of Pitch@Palace.
Lady Judge CBE, a high-flying lawyer, banker and entrepreneur who championed women’s rights in the workplace, had been accused of more than 40 episodes of unreasonable behaviour while chairman of the institute.
She was also a former chairman of the UK’s fraud prevention service Cifas, of the Pension Protection Fund, an ambassador on behalf of UK Trade & Investment, and trustee of several cultural and charitable institutions, including the Royal Academy of Arts and Dementia UK.
She was also a former chairman of the UK’s fraud prevention service Cifas, of the Pension Protection Fund, an ambassador on behalf of UK Trade & Investment, and trustee of several cultural and charitable institutions, including the Royal Academy of Arts and Dementia UK.
Ably straddling so many influential roles across some of Britain’s most important institutions, and unhindered by royal protocols, Lady Judge would have had the power and access that Prince Andrew could only dream of.
t is not known how she first crossed paths with Yang, who is also co-owner of fund management firm Coeus International with ex-McLaren chief executive Sir Ron Dennis, a former non- executive director at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Yang founded Hampton Group in 2005 and opened offices in the City of London.
On its website, the firm, which also has an office in Beijing, states that it ‘delivers strategic advisory, investment solutions and communications services to help leaders of international and Chinese companies solve business-critical challenges and seize unique opportunities’.
Yang has himself described how the company worked with some of Britain’s biggest international companies, including helping McLaren Automotive to introduce a luxury road car.
He claimed the firm, which recorded a healthy profit of £5.65 million in its latest accounts, helped guide GlaxoSmithKline through a whistleblowing investigation.
Yang was born in Yunnan, southern China, in 1974, and graduated from the local university with a history degree before working for seven years at a ‘national government agency’.
He moved to the UK in 2002 where, on his second attempt, he gained the minimum score in an English test to study for a degree, eventually winning a place on a master’s course in public administration at York University.
In a 2006 BBC profile on Chinese students in Britain, Yang was said to have ‘forced himself to change his past thinking mode in Chinese and think and express in English, which would achieve twice the result with half the effort’. And it appeared Yang quickly became enamoured with the British way of life.
He gained indefinite leave to remain in 2012 and, according to court documents, would spend one or two weeks in the UK every month, considering it to be his ‘second home’.
He spent two decades carefully integrating himself into Britain’s power structure before he was stopped from entering the country under counter-terrorism laws in November 2021.
Advisers close to the Duke of York continued to do business with Yang, however.
In November 2022, Andrew’s ‘senior adviser’, Dominic Hampshire, was one of five directors who set up the firm Eurasia Global Partners, reportedly to look at the prospect of importing oil into China.
Another director was Irish oil tycoon Aidan Heavey.
The firm partnered with Yang’s Hampton Group, and together they owned 30 per cent of the business, with Mr Heavey’s Albe Global owning 60 per cent and Mr Hampshire’s own consultancy owning 10 per cent.
Eurasia was also the name of the international finance initiative which Mr Hampshire said Yang could discuss with potential partners in China on behalf of the duke.
Mr Hampshire was integral to the duke’s relationship with the Chinese businessman.
Court documents show that in March 2020, he told Yang: ‘I also hope that it is clear to you where you sit with my principal [Andrew] and indeed his family.
‘You should never underestimate the strength of that relationship. Outside of his closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on.’
The scheme has been criticised because the regime can seize assets or exert influence in these countries in the event of a debt default.
In an interview with China Daily in 2022, Yang said he was encouraging the UK to get involved in the programme.
‘We will link China’s kinetic energy to Britain’s potential energy, give full play to the advantages of both sides, and jointly explore potential commercial value in third-party countries’ markets,’ he said.
In another interview, Yang said that following Brexit, the UK was ‘looking eastward, hoping to… strengthen co-operation with China’.
A possible interpretation of this quote is that it could be a crystallisation of Yang’s own modus operandi. His targets, Lady Judge and Prince Andrew included, were often once mighty figures suddenly beginning to feel weakened and isolated when he arrived with a lifeline.
Does China see Britain in the same way? If the allegations that Yang has indeed spied for the state prove to be true, then his brazen march through our corridors of power would certainly suggest so.
Hmmm.... Harry and Meg "We are better at being Royals than The Royals that is why they bullied us out of the Monarchy."🤡 Thomas Parker Bowles "I am The secret Weapon behind the Monarchy"🤭 Prince Andrew "I still deserve to be a royal, give me my Royal spotlight back"🤦🏽♀️ Now we… pic.twitter.com/bea6no8w0X
#3
They are handing South Park and the Babylon Bee finished material.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/17/2024 8:50 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Pretty self-important for a woman whose sole claim to fame was she was 4th most attractive actress in "Suits" (OK, she tied for 3rd with Louis Litt).
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] President-elect Donald Trump touted a $100 billion investment from Japanese-based SoftBank Group alongside CEO Masayoshi Son at Mar-a-Lago on Monday.
Trump made the announcement next to his Treasury Secretary pick Howard Lutnick in front of the press at Mar-a-Lago in his first media event as president-elect.
The tech CEO announced the creation of 100,000 U.S. jobs in artificial intelligence and related infrastructure that will boost the economy heading into Trump's second term.
'Today I'm thrilled to announce that SoftBank will be investing $100 billion in America, creating 100,000 American jobs at a minimum,' said the president-elect.
'And he's doing this because he feels very optimistic about our country since the election, and many of these people [are] also coming in with tremendous amounts of money.'
Trump then pressured Son during the Mar-a-Lago media frenzy, asking him to commit to doubling his commitment to $200 billion, which he signaled he was open to doing.
'I'm going to ask him right now, would you make it $200 billion?' asked Trump.
Son replied with laughter, saying Trump is clearly an excellent negotiator.
'With your leadership, my partnership with you, with your support, I will try to make it up to $200 billion,' he pledged.
The investment is expected to happen before the end of Trump's four-year term.
The announcement comes on the heels of Trump promising to cut regulatory red tape for companies and individuals who pledge to invest at least $1 billion in the American economy.
'Any person or company investing ONE BILLION DOLLARS, OR MORE, in the United States of America, will receive fully expedited approvals and permits, including, but in no way limited to, all Environmental approvals,' Trump posted to Truth Social on Tuesday.
'GET READY TO ROCK!!!' he added.
Trump largely won reelection last month due to his hardline positions on illegal immigration and pledges to bolster the economy, with post-COVID inflation still problematic for the American consumer.
[FoxNews] Small business owners are increasingly reporting the US and their local economies are in better shape than this time last year
Small businesses are optimistic about revenue boosts in 2025, when President-elect Donald Trump will kick off his second administration, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce report obtained by Fox News Digital shows.
The latest Small Business Index report by MetLife and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released Monday morning found that seven in 10 small businesses, at 72%, reported they anticipate their revenues to increase next year. Last year, only 65% of businesses reported they anticipated revenue to increase, the data show.
"The growing optimism among small business owners since the beginning of the year is a positive sign as we move into 2025 and potentially points to increasing opportunities in the new year," Bradd Chignoli, executive vice president and head of Regional Business & Workforce Engagement at MetLife, said in a press release provided to Fox Digital. "As more and more employers look to increase investment and staff size, it is important to take advantage of the resources available to them, such as voluntary benefits, which can help strengthen their company’s culture and help attract and retain new talent."
The Small Business Index is a collaboration between MetLife and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that measures small business owners’ and leaders’ expectations. The survey released Monday was conducted between Oct. 7 – 21, before the election's results, and included responses from 750 small business owners and operators.
The majority of business owners, at 70%, reported that holiday shopping is vital to their overall profit, which is slightly down from 2022’s Q4 report that found 79% of business owners reported the same.
The report found that inflation woes are small business owners’ top concern – as it has been for the last two years, according to the report. This year, however, an increase of business owners reported that both the U.S. economy and their local economies are healthier than they were this time last year.
Thirty-two percent of business owners reported the U.S. economy is in better shape than 2023, up from 25% last year, and 38% reported their local economies are healthier than last year, when 30% reported the same.
The survey also found that the majority of small business owners, at 51%, reported that red tape – including licensing, certification, and permit requirements – makes it harder for them to grow their operations. While 47% of respondents reported that they spend too much time and energy on complying with regulatory requirements.
"Too many regulations cause big headaches for small businesses, even if they feel confident in their ability to comply or have the means to outsource compliance tasks," said Tom Sullivan, Vice President of Small Business Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "This quarter’s survey shows these requirements are complex, time-consuming, and often prevent small business owners from focusing on running and growing their businesses."
About 39% of respondents reported that in the last six months alone, they have increased their time and resources on complying with regulations alone, which is up from 33% reporting the same in the last quarter. Compliance with taxes, bookkeeping, payroll and licensing ate up a "great deal or fair amount" of time for business owners, according to the report.
The overall index score for this quarter sits at 69.1, a slight dip from last quarter’s score of 71.2, which was attributed to business owners’ reporting an increase in time and resources on regulation compliance.
Small businesses have been on edge in recent years as inflation spiraled and choked spenders’ pocketbooks. Amid the highly-anticipated election cycle this year, Trump campaigned, in part, on lowering costs for Americans at check-out lines. Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris at the ballot box last month, securing 312 electoral votes to Harris’ 226.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2024 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11134 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
France, Germany, Canada and Romania for now. England soon.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/17/2024 8:52 Comments ||
Top||
#2
People waking up from being woke.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/17/2024 12:02 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Ireland maybe?
Allegations true or not, when McGregor said he run to throw the bums out, it took all of five seconds for the grape charges to hit front pages.
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.
[AtlantaJournalConstitution] The suspect in a shooting that led to the lockdown of a U.S. Army base near Augusta on Saturday had nearly made it across the state before being arrested in Meriwether County, according to officials.
[MAIL] Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson shocked the audience at Broadway's &Juliet this past weekend as she 'fulfilled a lifelong dream' to make her debut - but it has led to some less than stellar reviews.
