In The Shadow Of Mt Hollywood

Allegations have resurfaced in the past week from Dr Gal Luft, an Israeli specialist in energy and security, who was an advisor to the Chinese energy company CEFC. CEFC, headed by Ye Jianming, paid $4,790,375.25 to Hunter's firm Owasco P.C. over about one year around 2017. Luft was arrested in Cyprus in February 2023 on what he claims was "a politically motivated extradition request by the US". Luft claims to be in fear for his life if he is returned to the US. Over the past week, Luft made a video that he sent to the New York Post that repeats allegations he had earlier made in March. These include that CEFC was paying huge sums to Hunter and Joe's brother James ($100,000 and $65,000 a month) in exchange for use of their family name in promoting China’s interests. He also alleged that Hunter had a pet mole that he called "One Eye" within the FBI, who provided tipoffs to CEFC honchos about incoming heat. Speculation about the identity of "One ...

Nothing new, of course, we're just living in the same alternate universe where there was a desperate race to locate the missing Titan submersible before the oxygen ran out. The latest version of the White House cocaine baggie has morphed from "in the residence library" to "in a cubby in a West Wing holding area", and now to "downstairs in the West Wing near the Situation Room" : MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell acknowledged Thursday that contrary to the idea that a random tourist left cocaine in the White House in what officials have described as a “heavily trafficked” area, the cocaine was actually found in a “limited access place” near the Situation Room. At this point, there's less and less credibility for each update, while the White House press office is fumbling over the Hatch Act . That in turn suggests to me that they're as much in the dark as anyone else. I would surmise the strategy for now is to act confused until it all goes away. Th...

I don't have a good feeling about this. One of the main narratives we've seen in recent current events has been how Stockton Rush, CEO of Oceangate, brushed aside all counsels of prudence in the design and construction of his Titan submersible, only to succumb with four passengers to what proved to be the predictable outcome. Meanwhile, we're starting to hear of Joe Biden angrily dismissing equivalent warnings of predictable outcomes : President Joe Biden, who is reportedly “consumed” with his son Hunter’s scandals, allegedly angrily dismisses White House aides who believe Hunter Biden’s controversial history might politically hurt his father. . . . In recent days, White House aides reportedly tried to speak with Joe Biden about the continual drip drop of damning evidence streaming from Hunter Biden’s foreign business transactions, but NBC News sources report Joe Biden’s response was “outright angry” towards anyone who would challenge him on the subject. Joe Biden re...

As you might expect, the story of where the cocaine was found in or near the White House has been morphing with each new report. Via CBS News, this seems to be the latest reliable veresion : The substance was found in a common area of the West Wing, which houses the Oval Office and offices of some of the president's top aides and support staff. A senior law enforcement official told CBS News the substance was found in a storage facility in a cubby routinely used by White House staff and guests to store cell phones. The Secret Service will lead a full review of how the substance got into the West Wing, the law enforcement officials told CBS News, including examining consulting cameras and entrance logs to determine who had access to the space. I looked up "cubby" and find that Merriam-Webster defines it as "a small, snug place (as for hiding or storage) : cubbyhole." A web search gave the image above. The tweet below from James Rosen gives a little bit mo...

The bare bones are as follows : An 'unknown item' was found near the White House in Washington D.C. Roads surrounding the area were briefly closed as a precautionary measure. . . . The DC Fire Department's Hazmat team responded and the White House grounds were evacuated as a precaution, the Secret Service spokesman Anthony Gugliemi added. DC Fire and EMS was contacted to evaluate, USSS said. . . . DC Fire Hazmat officials report that they have found a substance that tests positive for Cocaine Hydrochloride, a highly addictive and illegal drug. The event has caused people to wonder how a possibly harmful material got onto the grounds of the White House and whether it was done on purpose to damage or intimidate the president or his team. . . . The Secret Service announced that it was looking into the event and collaborating with other law enforcement organizations to ascertain the object's origin and nature. . . . Hazmat teams were reportedly seen ...

A small data point caught my eye last week: A viral video of a pastor at Edina Community Lutheran Church in Minneapolis reciting the Sparkle Creed has left netizens enraged. In part, this was because as a dedicated Fringe fan, the only other place named Edina I'm aware of appeared in Season 2, Episode 11 of that marvelous show, which starred, among others, the late Lance Reddick. The original title of the episode was to have been "Edina City Limits", and it took place in the fictitious town of Edina, NY, which was home to a phenomenon called "the Edina hum". According to the Wikipedia link, the hum was the result of an experiment done by the army in the late 1970s to test how electromagnetic pulses can camouflage soldiers and was conducted on the townspeople; the army was unaware of the long-term effects of the study until it was too late, and the people were stuck in a deformed state. The "hum" hides their deformities from the human e...

This piece at the Washington Free Beacon outlines Joe's and Hunter's efforts to get Hunter's underperforming daughter Maisy (shown with Joe in the photo above) into the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania: Text messages and emails from Hunter Biden's laptop, reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon , show how Joe and Hunter Biden worked behind the scenes to get a subpar family member into one of the most selective schools in the country. "I applied early decision to Penn today!!" Maisy Biden texted Hunter Biden on October 31. Just two days later, Maisy asked her father for an update on her application. In the coming months, Hunter and Joe Biden would mount a full-court press on university administrators to get Maisy's application over the finish line. The Bidens took their case directly to the top: University of Pennsylvania president Amy Gutmann. On December 13, 2018, the elder Biden texted Hunter that he was "going to try to see ...