Month: April 2023

Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,

By the summer of 1563, all of Britain had plunged into chaos over religion and the Reformation.

King Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic church back in the 1530s, sparking a near civil war within the kingdom. Protestants killed Catholics, Catholics killed protestants, and extreme social tensions lasted for decades.

Universities were at the heart of this conflict; rather than focus on real subjects like science and mathematics, students and professors became radical social activists and turned their schools into ideological echo chambers. Sound familiar?

One of the few students who actually wanted to learn was a Scottish teenager named John Napier; Napier had been enrolled at the University of St. Andrews at the time, but he quickly realized that he would never learn a damn thing in that environment. So he dropped out… and started traveling in search of a real education.

No one quite knows exactly where he went or what he did. But when he returned to Scotland eight years later as a young man, Napier had become an intellectual giant.

You might not have ever heard of him, but John Napier was truly one of the great minds of his era.

And modern science owes a tremendous debt to his work… in particular his development of logarithms.

If it’s been a few years since you studied math (or ‘maths’ for my British friends), logarithms are the inverse of exponential functions.

Simple example: we know that 102 (or 10 squared) = 10 x 10 = 100. So, the number 10 raised to the power of 2 equals 100.

The inverse of that is to say that the ‘base 10’ logarithm of 100 = 2. Or in mathematical terms, 100 log10 = 2

Napier devised an entire system of logarithms. And this was actually a tremendous leap forward in mathematics, because logarithms made it so much easier for scientists and researchers to calculate solutions to complex problems.

One of the many important applications to come out of Napier’s work is the concept of ‘logarithmic decay,’ which models many real world phenomena.

The idea behind logarithmic decay is that something declines very, very slowly at first. But, over a long period of time, the rate of decline becomes faster… and faster… and faster.

If you look at it on a graph, logarithmic decay basically looks like a horizontal line that almost imperceptibly arcs gently downwards. But eventually the arc downward becomes steeper and steeper until it’s practically a vertical line down.

Logarithmic decay is like how Hemingway famously described going bankrupt in The Sun Also Rises– “Gradually, then suddenly.”

In fact logarithmic decay is great way to describe social and financial decline.

Even the rise and fall of superpowers are often logarithmic in scale. The Kingdom of France in the 1700s infamously fell gradually… then suddenly.

We can see the same logarithmic decay in the West today, and specifically the United States.

The deterioration of government finances has been gradual, then sudden. Social conflict, censorship, and the decline in basic civility has been gradual, then sudden. Even the loss of confidence in the US dollar has been gradual… and is poised to be sudden.

Back in 2009 when I started Sovereign Man, I spoke a lot about ideas that were highly controversial at the time.

I suggested that Social Security’s trust funds would run out of money. That the US government would eventually be buried by its gargantuan national debt. That the US dollar would eventually lose its international reserve dominance. That inflation and social conflict would rise.

The main thesis, quite simply, was that the US was in decline. And whenever I spoke at events, I used to talk about logarithmic decay, saying:

“As a civilization in decline, you never really know quite where you are on the curve. You could be way over here on the horizontal line, at the very beginning of the decline… or you could be standing on the precipice about to hit the vertical slide down.”

Well, now we have a much better idea of where we are on that logarithmic decay curve. Because these ideas about the national debt, inflation, social security, social conflict, etc. are no longer theories. Nor are they even remotely controversial.

Just last week, US Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy said in a speech that “America’s debt is a ticking time bomb”. Social Security’s looming insolvency is now openly discussed in Washington and regularly reported in the Wall Street Journal.

We’ve all seen with our own eyes (and even experienced) inflation, social divisions, and censorship.

And as for the dollar, we continue to see a multitude of cracks in its dominance. Most notably, Saudi Arabia is considering a plan to sell oil not just in US dollars, but also in Chinese yuan.

Plus the international development bank of the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) announced earlier this month that they will start moving away from the dollar.

Is it any surprise? The US government is weeks away from defaulting on its national debt over the latest debt ceiling debacle.

And yet the guy who shakes hands with thin air refuses to negotiate a single penny in spending cuts to help reduce trillions of dollars in future deficit spending.

The whole world is watching in utter disbelief at the astonishing level of incompetence that has infected the highest levels of America’s once hallowed institutions, including news media, big business, and the government itself.

America– and the West by extension– really are on the precipice of that logarithmic decay curve… the part where the horizontal line becomes a vertical line down.

It has taken years… even decades to reach this point, gradually. We’re now at the “suddenly” part.

Now, it’s important to note that the outcome is far from inevitable. Plenty of declining superpowers in the past have pulled themselves out of a tailspin, at least temporarily.

Aurelian’s reforms helped re-establish Rome’s dominance in the late 200s after nearly a century of chaos. The declining Ottoman Empire recovered substantially during the Tanzimat period in the 1800s. King Charles III of Spain made many successful reforms to revive his crumbling empire in the 1700s.

There are many historical precedents for recovery, so all is not lost. But at the moment there is little evidence to suggest any major change on the horizon.

I’m not saying this to be alarmist. Quite the contrary, in fact. Because one of the key pillars of our thinking here at Sovereign Man is that, despite the ineptitude of our governments, we as individuals have the tools, power, and freedom to solve these problems for ourselves… and even prosper doing so.

Simple example: Social Security’s trust funds will run out of money within a decade, and this will be a huge problem for literally tens of millions of people who depend on the progam.

However there are numerous tools available to solve this problem; a more robust and powerful retirement structure like a self-directed, solo 401(k) plan, for example, allows you to set aside up to $73,500 per year for your retirement.

Similarly, if you expect a government with deteriorating finances to raise taxes (which they almost always do), you can take completely legal steps to reduce what you owe.

If you anticipate inflation continuing, you can arrange your investments to capitalize on the surge in real assets, like minerals, energy, and productive technology.

You can also take steps to diversify geographically, even internationally, to reduce risks to your family’s freedom.

These solutions barely scratch the surface of the plentiful options at your disposal. All it takes is a sensible understanding of the problem… plus the willingness to take action.

And rational, informed action is always a better option than despair.

*  *  *

If you can see what is happening, and where this is all going, you understand why it is so important to have a Plan B. That’s why we published our 31-page, fully updated Perfect Plan B Guide, which you can download here.

Despite the slowest growth in US home prices in ten years and significant price drops in numerous West Coast cities, luxury property values in New York’s Hamptons marched higher in the first quarter. 

As per a Bloomberg report, citing appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate, luxury property transactions in the top 10% of the Hamptons housing market reached a median price of $8.54 million, an 11% increase compared to the previous year. The average price of the highest-end homes in the seaside playground for Wall Street’s billionaires jumped 33% to a record of $16.1 million. 

Todd Bourgard, Elliman’s chief executive officer for Long Island, explained mansion demand is “very strong.” He added prices are soaring because of low inventory:

“We have more buyers in that market right now than we do inventory. So when something comes on that is priced reasonably for the luxury market, we’re getting great interest.” 

Limited inventory and strong buying pressure could suggest that prices are on an upward trajectory — unless macroeconomic headwinds continue to mount and a deep recession unfolds later this year. 

Meanwhile, the combination of low inventory and rising prices sent luxury sales tumbling in the quarter to 18 from 40 in the same quarter a year ago. Overall, sales in the Hamptons plummeted by 57% to 171. This marked the second-lowest total since the firms started monitoring the area’s sales in 2005. 

At the end of the quarter, there were only 894 homes on the market, still 33% higher than the first quarter of 2022 but significantly lower than pre-pandemic levels. 

Some wealthy buyers seem unphased by high mortgage rates and threats of recession as low supply drives luxury home prices higher in one of the top vacation spots for wealthy New Yorkers. 

Inventory is so scarce that even tiny homes in the beach community are selling for $3.75 million.

Authored by Sundance via The Last Refuge (emphasis ours),

In the game of test-match cricket, a game that can last three days at peak professional level, you have to ‘get out‘ to ‘get in‘.   

You have to ‘get out‘ of the clubhouse in order to ‘get in‘ to the game.  The same is true for this story about Domestic Policy Advisor, Susan Rice, leaving the Biden administration.   

Rice has to get out of the administration in order to get in to the 2024 game.

Readers here will likely remember all previous discussion about the likely Democrat field for 2024.  Susan Rice and Gavin Newsom are both key players in the DNC big club game.  There is only one question at the core of the dynamic you need to ask, how will they off-ramp Joe Biden?

First, the White House announcement: […] “As the only person to serve as both National Security Advisor and Domestic Policy Advisor, Susan’s record of public service makes history. But what sets her apart as a leader and colleague is the seriousness with which she takes her role and the urgency and tenacity she brings, her bias towards action and results, and the integrity, humility and humor with which she does this work. I thank Susan for her service, her counsel and her friendship. I will miss her.” (link)

Susan Rice is the pliable foot soldier, the protege’ of the Lightbringer, Chicago Jesus.  Rice is the female version of the entire apparatus of the Obama team.  Susan Rice is Barack Obama in female form, and as Ric Grenell said eloquently, Susan Rice is “the shadow president.”

A Newsom/Rice or Rice/Newsom ticket is a no brainer.  Both are foot soldiers for the Lightbringer movement’s fundamental change agenda, although Rice is the apex player and Newsom is the ideological, intellectual and cognitive equivalent of John Fetterman with better style.  Most people still do not understand that Barack Obama is not just a person, he is a complete political construct -a movement in a box- consisting of multiple component groups all working in synergy.

The focus of the Obama movement is domestic and ideological.  The “fundamental change“, as outlined previously by the front man for the group, is domestic – exclusively domestic.  The Lightbringer doesn’t care about foreign policy stuff; all of that angle is sold to the multinationals and highest bidders.

Foreign policy is not a thing for Teh One true bringer of enlightenment; their focus is USA domestically centered. In her capacity as Domestic Policy Advisor, Susan Rice was the guiding hand behind every element of Biden domestic policy.

The microphone from the Obama basement does not transmit into the earpiece of Biden; it communicates into the two-way radio of Rice.

If Susan Rice is departing, the question becomes how the club removes Biden from the 2024 race?  There are a multitude of approaches and leverages available for the Lightbringer’s team, which includes Deputy AG Lisa Monaco at Main Justice.

The criminal activity of Hunter Biden, and the potential for outcomes – or lack therein, can be leveraged.  The direct connection to the action of the principal, “the big guy” Joe Biden, could be leveraged.

The Biden administration’s interference in any number of related investigations can be leveraged, and… keep in mind…. it is not coincidental the evidence of the interference is manifest by the same team that would remove the principal.  Yeah, think about that for a moment.

Put aside the 2024 contest participants for a moment (ie. the shiny things), and instead focus on what peripheral risks exist to Joe Biden that could be deployed at any moment to push him to a graceful off ramp.

There are many club-installed insurance policies, political landmines all around Joe Biden.  Which one will they show him?

China has issued a blistering statement in response to the agreement between Washington and Seoul for the US to send a nuclear ballistic missile submarine to South Korea. Chinese Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said it shows the US is undermining the nuclear non-proliferation system and damaging regional peace and stability. 

“The United States has put regional security at risk and intentionally used the issue of the [Korean] peninsula as an excuse to create tension,” Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said in Beijing.

“What the US does is full of Cold War thinking, provoking bloc confrontation, undermining the nuclear non-proliferation system, damaging the strategic interests of other countries, exacerbating tensions on the Korean peninsula, undermining regional peace and stability, and running counter to the goal of the denuclearization of the peninsula,” the Thursday statement said.

She said it also highlighted Washington’s “selfish geopolitical interests” which puts the world at risk, given the new deployment of “US strategic assets”. 

South Korean President Yoon’s visit to the White House on Wednesday culminated in the “Washington Declaration” agreement for deterring North Korea from carrying out an attack on the south, by erecting a “nuclear umbrella” that includes the Pentagon sending bombers and aircraft carriers, or nuclear submarines. 

A nuclear-armed submarine has not docked in the Korean peninsula since the 1980s. President Biden on Wednesday attempted to introduce some nuance which is surely not going to provide any level of comfort for the Kim Jong-Un regime: 

“We’re not going to be stationing nuclear weapons on the peninsula,” he said in a joint press conference with Yoon at the White House. “But we will have visits to ports, visits of nuclear submarines and things like that.”

This is insane. Biden and his militaristic advisers are pushing an extremely dangerous policy in Korea. Once a hawk, always a hawk. “S. Korea, U.S. to form nuclear consultative body amid N. Korea’s growing threats.” https://t.co/kneGVsWj2R

— Tim Shorrock (@TimothyS) April 26, 2023

Now the region is bracing for an expected fierce response from Pyongyang, likely in the form of more threatening ballistic missile tests. There’s also speculation that Kim will order a nuclear weapons test, which would mark a first since 2017.

Authored by May Mailman via RealClear Wire,

As a woman who spent her formative years in Kansas, taught Kansas City sixth-graders, and mentored hundreds of young girls through the Chiefs Cheerleaders organization, I was (and still am) devastated when I saw Kansas Governor Laura Kelly veto the Women’s Bill of Rights.

That bill defines a woman, biologically.

And while yes, I’m concerned that without a definition, the next generation of Kansas women will be harmed–without a say in preserving women’s shelters, women’s sports, girl’s schools, women’s scholarships, sororities, and so on–there’s something deeper than that.

The truth.

Do we live in such politically correct times that we must eliminate truth? That we must pretend that women, who are biologically unique from men, do not exist?

Kansans are better than that. We have fought for truth since our establishment. We joined the Union as a free state (because of the truth that slavery is evil) despite the ugly battles to ensue. And, as Governor Kelly mentioned in both of her inaugural addresses, Kansas has long recognized the truth that women are equal citizens and was one of the first states to give women the vote.

The truth is women exist as biologically distinct from men. We all know this, and we know it is important. Even Transportion Secretary Pete Buttigieg. He wants to dedicate federal transportation money to create female-shaped crash dummies for car safety tests, a move applauded by Democrats. Why? Because women are, on average, shorter and lighter than men. Cars are engineered to protect male-shaped dummies, leaving females 73% more likely to be injured in a car crash. We have this data because government agencies, for now, use biological definitions of men and women. Those definitions are worth preserving — lives depend on it.

While female-shaped dummies are hardly the women’s rights issue of our day (and a questionable use of federal dollars), the underlying reality is undeniable. Women are biologically unique from men. We are in general smaller and lighter. Only we get pregnant and breastfeed. These biological truths leave us vulnerable and in need of respect and protection.

We are vulnerable to domestic abuse: more than three women are killed by their husbands or boyfriends every day. We are not always able to participate in the full range of jobs, due to physical lack of strength or the need to protect our babies in the womb. And try as we might, even our Olympic record holders are outpaced by thousands of high-school boys every year.

I recognize that Kansans face another moral calling: we are kind. The media has defamed the Women’s Bill of Rights as “anti-trans,” leaving some Kansans wondering whether supporting the bill is kind.

Let’s be clear: it absolutely is.

All Kansans are deserving of love and protection. By defining “woman,” the public can make informed and sometimes sensitive decisions about how best to accommodate trans-identifying individuals, while preserving safety, fairness, and privacy for women and girls. Failure to transparently define “women” leaves these high-stakes decisions in the hands of unelected judges and bureaucrats—whose interests often diverge from those of Kansas families.

Despite the governor’s failure, the Kansas Legislature can still do the right thing. They can override Gov. Kelly’s veto this week. They can stand up for truth.

The very First Amendment to our Constitution protects speech. Why? Because truth is vital to our nation. Today we face a basic question. Do women exist as distinct from men? We do. By recognizing that truth, we can protect and celebrate our mothers, wives, grandmothers, daughters, and granddaughters.

Please, Kansas Legislature, do not erase us.

May Mailman is a senior fellow at Independent Women’s Law Center. A former presidential legal advisor and litigator, Mailman also taught 6th grade in Kansas City through Teach for America and served as Student Body Vice President at the University of Kansas.

The Biden administration has taken initial action in response to Russia’s detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been in custody since his arrest March 29 in the city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges. The end of this week marks one month since he’s been imprisoned.

New sanctions have been imposed on Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) for taking Americans “hostage”, with a senior admin official telling Axios, “We do think it’s significant that the first round of sanctions are being announced specifically for this type of behavior, because we’re really concerned about this type of behavior.”

The sanctions are intended to deter and punish those who hold Americans hostage, officials said. Gershkovich as well as Paul Whelan have been declared “unlawfully detained”. 

However, the FSB is already under sanctions, thus these new measures are likely more targeted or an expansion after the initial wave. 

Simultaneously on Thursday more sanctions were also unveiled for the intelligence arm of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and additionally four IRGC leaders, for their roles in the arrest and imprisonment of Americans. 

The US is “showing that one cannot engage in this sort of awful behavior of using human beings as pawns, as bargaining chips, without paying consequences,” according to another a senior US official.

A Moscow court this month denied a request that Gershkovich be placed under pre-trial house arrest…

A Moscow court rejected an appeal from US journalist Evan Gershkovich to be freed from pre-trial detention, meaning he will stay in a former KGB prison until at least May 29 while a spying case against him is investigated https://t.co/ODD5UMqbnb pic.twitter.com/87gJ6oQftF

— Reuters (@Reuters) April 18, 2023

It appears the US and UK coordinated dual action against Russian officials, with British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly announcing sanctions the same day against five Russian officials, saying they have “utter contempt for basic human rights.”

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Two Democrat 2024 candidates issued warnings on Tuesday that President Joe Biden’s 2024 reelection launch won’t energize younger voters and has strayed from traditional Democrat values.

“I think that video was very out of touch, and that’s what people are feeling,” self-help author Marianne Williamson, a Democratic candidate, told The Hill on Tuesday.

“I think an entire younger generation would stay home in droves in response to what that video is advancing as the administration’s pitch to the American people.”

Her remarks came after Biden announced that he will run for reelection, releasing a pre-recorded video that criticized former Republicans. Biden’s video and statement did not specifically name any of his GOP rivals, but he used images of the Jan. 6 Capitol breach and posted images of former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).

“Every generation has a moment where they have had to stand up for democracy. To stand up for their fundamental freedoms. I believe this is ours. That’s why I’m running for reelection as President of the United States. Join us. Let’s finish the job,” Biden, 80, wrote on social media. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is joining Biden, is also featured prominently in the clip.

“For those of us committed to Democrats winning the White House in 2024, the president’s campaign announcement today was concerning,” Williamson, considered a long-shot candidate, wrote Tuesday. “His remark that he has fought so that everyone ‘is given a fair shot’ contradicts his refusal to fight for a higher minimum wage, permanentize the child tax credit, or side with railroad workers trying to negotiate for sick pay.”

During the 2020 presidential campaign, Williamson was also a Democrat candidate but eventually bowed out in early 2020 before endorsing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who announced a Democratic 2024 presidential bid last week, also criticized Biden’s launch. Like Williamson, Kennedy—the son of former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of John F. Kennedy—is viewed as a long shot against Biden.

“I have known and liked Joe Biden for many years, but we differ profoundly on fundamental issues such as corporate influence in government, censorship, civil liberties, poverty, corruption, and war policy, among others. I look forward to engaging him in debates and town hall meetings,” he wrote.

Read more here…

Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified US intelligence documents online, is being called a flight risk by the Justice Department. The DOJ in a Wednesday night court filing also said it fears he could possibly leak more info if he’s allowed release before he is tried. That’s what is currently before a federal judge in Massachusetts.

During a Thursday hearing in a federal court in Worcester, the DOJ asserted that if he is released on bail, he might “further disseminate classified information” and “take refuge with a foreign adversary.”

The DOJ further compared him to Edward Snowden, who for years has taken refuge with his wife and child in Russia, having also recently been granted Russian citizenship.

ABC News described Thursday’s court hearing as follows: “Teixeira walked into the courtroom for his Thursday detention hearing handcuffed, wearing a long rosary necklace and an orange jumpsuit.” Further, “The 21-year-old looked at his family members sitting in the first two rows, and one woman in the front row began to cry.”

Teixeira faces 25 year in prison and “potentially far more,” according to a DOJ detention memo, which argues further: 

The lengthy potential maximum sentence could make him a significant flight risk, prosecutors argue, and the value of the information he obtained — as well as his low current net worth of about $19,000 — could make him vulnerable to offers from countries unfriendly to the U.S.

As has become common in leak prosecutions, the US Justice Department maintains that Jack Teixeira must remain in pretrial detention because he has “knowledge” of classified information that he may continue to disclose to the press or public if released from jail pic.twitter.com/HKIylqQXZc

— Kevin Gosztola (@kgosztola) April 27, 2023

The memo lays out that “He accessed and may still have access to a trove of classified information that would be of tremendous value to hostile nation states that could offer him safe harbor and attempt to facilitate his escape from the United States.”

The government says it has proof that he intended to circulate classified or sensitive information among foreign countries and entities. According to DOJ filings…

After hearing from both sides, federal magistrate judge David Hennessy said he needs more time to make a final decision on pretrial detention.

Federal judges rarely, if ever, allow for bail in cases of federal or military employees caught leaking government secrets. Even an alleged leaker’s “knowledge” of the classified intel means they are kept locked up on fears they could still communicate secrets to outside entities. 

Meanwhile, there are reports that the US Air Force has suspended two leaders of the national guard unit in which Teixeira served, pending the ongoing investigation into the extent of the unauthorized disclosure. Presumably the government is also looking into any possible co-conspirator scenarios, but so far he’s been presented as a lone actor.

Authored by Paul Sperry via RealClear Wire,

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky isn’t the only one demanding more military assistance from President Biden to protect Kiev from Russian forces. So too is a close Delaware friend and financial backer of Biden, who owns several luxury car dealerships around the Ukrainian capital. 

By sending billions of dollars in weapons and other military aid to help defend Ukraine, Biden also is securing the investments of millionaire car magnate John Hynansky, a Ukrainian American and longtime supporter of the president. 

Over the course of Biden’s political career, Hynansky and his family have contributed more than $100,000 to his campaigns, including $8,000 in 2020, Federal Election Commission records show. Hynansky family members have been guests at the White House, and Hynansky has floated hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans to Biden family members, property records show. Hynansky’s son, Michael, who helps run his car empire, lent the use of his Lear jet to Biden when he was a senator.

Since Russia started shelling the area around Kiev in February 2022, the U.S. government has spent $77 billion to help Ukraine rebuild and repel future attacks. 

Government ethics watchdogs say the president’s friendship poses a potential conflict of interest that demands a full accounting of how the massive foreign aid, which includes open-ended humanitarian and economic assistance, has been used and who has benefited from it. On the military side, moreover, billions of dollars have gone to unspecified areas, such as “security,” “intelligence,” and “training.” In the past, Hynansky has supplied the police cars and ambulances in several regions of Ukraine. 
 
The Biden administration helped Hynansky’s team in Ukraine prepare for the invasion, including placing calls to his top executive in Kiev 13 days in advance of Russian tanks crossing the border. It has sent billions of dollars to help rebuild war-torn cities where Hynansky operates the largest share of the country’s car showrooms and service centers specializing in Porsches, Jaguars, Land Rovers, and Bentleys, among other non-American brands he imports.  

Although supporting Ukraine is a policy with widespread – though not universal – bipartisan support in Washington, the president’s close relationship with Hynansky illustrates larger ethical questions that have long surrounded Biden and his family members, who often have financial interests directly affected by policies he endorses. While serving as President Obama’s point man in Ukraine in 2015,  Biden famously demanded the firing of a prosecutor who was investigating a natural gas company, Burisma, that was paying his son Hunter $80,000 per month to serve on its board. Recent revelations of lucrative dealings with concerns tied to China’s Communist government while Joe Biden was both in and out of office have also raised questions about his current policy toward Beijing. 

At a time Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s relationship with a generous billionaire is fueling complaints among Democrats about money and politics, Biden’s friendship with Hynansky also raises red flags.  

Helping ‘My Very Good Friend’ 

The connection between Joe Biden and Hynansky’s business ventures dates back to 2009, when the then-vice president made his first visit to Ukraine. In a speech in Kiev to government officials, Biden singled out Hynansky for praise, noting that he had just had breakfast with “my very good friend, John Hynansky.” (The previous year, Hynansky had individually contributed more than $33,000 to the Obama-Biden ticket primarily through the Obama Victory Fund, according to FEC records.)

Within months of his hobnobbing with the vice president and local officials in the Ukrainian capital, Hynansky scored his first international development loan from the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation, or OPIC, a federal body whose board was appointed by President Obama. Hynansky used the $2.5 million to break ground on a new headquarters and massive distribution center outside Kiev that prepares 8,000 cars for sale every year. In 2012, Hynansky landed another $20 million in OPIC funding to expand his dealership facilities, federal records show, helping him corner roughly 25% of the luxury car market in Ukraine. 

“The proceeds of the loan will be used to construct and operate two new, state-of-the-art dealership facilities for Porsche and Land Rover/Jaguar automobiles, and repay any outstanding balance of an existing OPIC loan,” according to a 2012 OPIC financing document. 
 
The terms of the OPIC loans state that all cars sold at his dealerships would be imported from Europe, not the United States, which meant that American-based automakers would not benefit from the taxpayer-backed venture. Under “U.S. economic impact,” the loan summary states that the jobs created from the deal would be created in “the host country, Ukraine,” not America. The terms of the loan also deferred Hynansky’s paying the principal on the loans for almost three years during construction, according to the OPIC document, which called the deferment a “grace period.” 
 
The next year, acting as Obama’s point man in Ukraine, Biden pushed for the ouster of what he called the country’s Russia-friendly president and helped set up a coalition government in 2014 while promising millions in aid for the Ukraine energy industry. That same year, Hunter Biden, who is a close childhood friend of Hynansky’s daughter, Alexandra (who was listed as a sponsor on the OPIC loans), was appointed to the board of Burisma.

In 2015, Joe Biden’s younger brother, James, and his sister-in-law, Sara Biden, became overextended financially after purchasing a six-bedroom, four-bathroom beach house plus guest house on Keewaydin Island, Fla., which was dubbed “The Biden Bungalow” after the vice president spent time there as well. Owing almost $700,000 in tax liens and contractor debts, the Bidens turned to Hynansky for help in lieu of a traditional lender. The car dealer came to the rescue with loans totaling $900,000. 
 
The bailout occurred as Hynansky’s powerful American pal oversaw U.S. policy in Ukraine, and as OPIC authorized new loans allowing his company to build a new 7,300-square-foot Porsche dealership along the highway that connects downtown Kiev to the Boryspil International Airport. 
 
Mortgage records initially reported the Bidens’ lender as “1018 PL, LLC,” obscuring Hynansky as the source of the loans. But the corporate entity is controlled by Hynansky, a 2018 document would later reveal. 
 
The Bidens sold the waterfront house in 2018, and Hynansky released his lien on the property. However, Hynansky did not acknowledge full payment and satisfaction of the loans, according to the details laid out in documents recorded in Collier County, Fla. 
  
Attempts to reach James Biden for comment were unsuccessful.

Hynansky is politically connected in Kiev as well as Washington. President Zelensky also calls Hynansky a good friend and in recent years has bestowed state awards on him. Kiev Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko also is close to the prominent Wilmington businessman. 

In August 2021, Hynansky secured a $24 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to expand its Ukraine operations into electric vehicles, including building new Renault and Volvo dealerships in Lviv. The U.S. is a founding member of EBRD and provides 10% of its capital. The Biden administration has been pushing such “green” deals. 
 
“In the near future, we intend to increase our presence on the Ukrainian market,” Hynansky’s top official in Ukraine, Petro Rondiak, said at the time.  
 
The White House did not respond to queries about the president’s relationship with Hynansky. 

Though Biden is silent about his actions in Ukraine as they concern Hynansky and his businesses there, he has repeatedly denied that his son’s Burisma dealings influenced his official actions in Ukraine — which included handing over more than $50 million in U.S. support to assist the Ukrainian energy industry, an aid package Biden personally announced in Kiev the month before Burisma hired his son in 2014. 
 
Republicans are investigating whether those funds were intended to help his son’s business interests in Ukraine. Less explored is whether U.S. tax money has also been used to protect or boost Hynansky’s Ukrainian investments. 
 
Paul Kamenar, counsel to the National Legal and Policy Center, a Washington watchdog group. said that in dealing with Ukraine, Biden increasingly is drawing suspicion he may be putting his own political fortunes ahead of the national interest.  

Many of Hynansky’s dealerships ‒ organized under the Winner Group Ukraine ‒ are located around the Kiev airport. Though the American head of Winner Group Ukraine fled the country after Russia’s invasion, the dealerships are still “operational,” according to a spokesperson at Hynansky’s headquarters in Delaware. All told, his Ukrainian subsidiary controls some 55 dealerships and service centers employing more than 800 workers. 

Thanks to the shipment of U.S. weaponry ‒ including Stinger missiles, howitzers, and Abrams tanks ‒ properties around Kiev airport are now secure enough that Biden was able to use the train station just 19 miles away to visit Zelensky during February’s anniversary of the invasion. And though Boryspil International Airport is still closed, Ukrainian forces have retaken strategically important suburbs of Kiev near the airport. 

Since taking control of the House, Republicans have threatened to curb aid to Ukraine and audit the massive funds the Biden administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress have funneled there. 

Winner executives have been clamoring for more U.S. military aid and direct intervention by Biden and other Western leaders. Before the invasion, the company had reported its best year in Ukraine. 
 
Rondiak, Hynansky’s top executive in Ukraine, has called for greater military intervention from America and the West, including setting up a “no-fly zone” over Ukrainian airspace. “Dear western ally politicians,” he tweeted in December, “when will the gloves come off?” 
 
Added Rondiak, “The flow of weapons must increase quickly.” He’s also called for a military counteroffensive “to punish Putin.” 
 
Although car sales are down, he said virtually all of Hynansky’s “dealers are operating” in Ukraine thanks to Biden administration support. He also praised the State Department for calling him to warn him to leave Kiev for his own safety two weeks ahead of the invasion.  

U.S. Aid ‘as Long as It Takes’  

Biden has pledged to keep sending U.S. funds to Ukraine “as long as it takes,” continuing indefinitely an already unprecedented spending stream. Support to Ukraine from other countries lags far behind the United States. Britain is providing less than 10% of what America is sending there, despite ranking second in total aid, according to Council on Foreign Relations data. 
 
Kamenar suggested that a special inspector general may be needed to audit U.S. spending in Ukraine, similar to the one Congress created to monitor U.S. aid and reconstruction contracts in Afghanistan.  

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said he suspects the kind of fraudulent and wasteful spending the Pentagon IG uncovered in Afghanistan “could be happening in Ukraine, where we are spending a significant amount of tax dollars.” 
 
“I know some of the tax dollars are going for ammunition. I know some of it’s going for humanitarian aid,” Rep. Comer told CNN last week. “But we hear that not all of it is.”  

Some administration critics say that Biden has done a poor job of explaining why supporting Ukraine is in America’s interests. Irrespective of that complaint,  the Biden’s financial entanglements with Hynansky muddy the waters – and have gone unreported in the news coverage about his intense focus on the embattled country. 
 
Long before Hunter Biden landed a lucrative oil and gas deal in Ukraine, despite having no prior experience inUkraine or the energy industry, Biden benefactor Hynansky began investing heavily in Ukraine — with Joe Biden’s help. 

Paul Sperry is an investigative reporter for RealClearInvestigations. He is also a longtime media fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. Sperry was previously the Washington bureau chief for Investor’s Business Daily, and his work has appeared in the New York Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Houston Chronicle, among other major publications.

After a series of activist disruptions and bizarre rants, trans lawmaker Zooey Zephyr, who was initially censured, is now banned from the floor of the Montana State Legislature for the rest of 2023.  Zephyr (a biological male identifying as a trans bisexual woman), is a representative from District 100 of Montana centered in Missoula.  Being one of the few districts in the state with a dominant college culture and a majority Democrat population, the trans label helped Zephyr win easily in 2022.

The representative “came out” as trans only a couple years priors to his election, with little identifiable background other than some notoriety as a video game competitor. 

Montana is now considering a number of bills designed to protect children from trans indoctrination in schools, sexualized drag shows as well as banning sex-change surgeries and hormone therapies for kids.  It is one of many states acting to contain the political indoctrination of children by trans activists and the far-left.  Zephyr insinuated that should they pass bills such as SB 99 into law blood might spill.  He states “I hope the next time there is an invocation when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands.” 

“Trans people exist,” State Rep. Zooey Zephyr of Montana said, as she rebuked a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors, adding that denying care is “tantamount to torture.” Zephyr is the Legislature’s first transgender lawmaker. https://t.co/Gr5rAT8dCp pic.twitter.com/he8Q2W3ats

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 21, 2023

He also suggested that “forcing” children to go through puberty was akin to “torture.”

The mantra of “blood on your hands” has become prominent after the recent mass shooting at a Christian school in Nashville, TN by transgender activist Audrey Hale.  The assertion being that conservatives (rather than the trans shooters) are the people responsible for any such events because they are passing laws to block trans surgeries for children.  Restrictions on gender based procedures and chemical therapies for minors are often compared to “trans genocide,” ostensibly because the only way trans activists can perpetuate their numbers is for children to be converted.

The statement has been interpreted by Montana lawmakers as threatening language, leading to the decision to censure and then remove Zephyr.

Media proponents argue that banning Zephyr from debating on the floor is censorship of a “marginalized voice”, but the action is legal within Montana and Zephyr will still be able to vote on all bills remotely. Rules against the breaching of decorum on the house floor are a means to force legislators to present facts and evidence instead of utilizing personal attacks and rhetoric.  Montana’s legislature determined that Zephyr broke decorum and acted unprofessionally.  

The event is perhaps a natural reaction to an ideology seen by many as “unhinged,” with conservative states growing weary of activists trying to justify and rationalize the targeting of minors.  Democrats have been attempting to obscure the reality that most of the conservative bills they oppose revolve around protecting children, leaving adults free to make their own decisions.  Instead they have sought to conflate the legislation with “threats to democracy,” making any meaningful debate almost impossible.