'Just think of Todd as a former — and current — Democratic Party operative, who gets quite cross when called on his leftwing bias, and it all makes sense...'

From Ed Discoll, at Instapundit, "CHUCK TODD MELTS DOWN: Liberal Media Scream: Smug Chuck Todd to senator, ‘I’ve had enough of hearing this!’"  

Hunter Biden’s Family Name Aided Deals With Foreign Tycoons

At WSJ, "Business dealings of Joe Biden’s son are at the center of a federal tax investigation and loom over the start of his presidency":

Hunter Biden ramped up business activities with European and Chinese tycoons as his father exited the vice presidency four years ago. For him it was a potential path to income; for the tycoons, the Biden family name promised to burnish their reputations.

The dealings got the younger Mr. Biden a discounted stake in a private-equity firm in China and consulting arrangements with a Romanian property magnate and overall allowed him to maintain a globe-trotting lifestyle, according to interviews, documents and communications reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. A Chinese energy tycoon gave Mr. Biden a 2.8-carat diamond, and entities linked to him wired nearly $5 million to Mr. Biden’s law firm, according to an investigation by Senate Republicans.

These arrangements now loom over President-elect Joe Biden. A federal criminal tax investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings is under way, with findings potentially trickling out in coming months. His business ties to well-connected people in China and other places could add to scrutiny of foreign-policy decisions taken by the Biden administration over possible conflicts of interest. All are likely to provide ammunition to Republicans.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), who has led the Senate Finance Committee whose Republican staff helped investigate Hunter Biden, has said he would continue to look into what he says are possible counterintelligence and criminal concerns related to Mr. Biden’s business dealings.

“Based on all the facts known to date, Joe Biden has a lot of explaining to do,” Mr. Grassley said recently. Hunter Biden has said he takes the tax investigation “very seriously” and is “confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately.” He declined to comment for this article and his lawyer, George Mesires, didn’t respond to questions. In 2019, Mr. Biden said he wouldn’t work with any foreign companies if his father were elected U.S. president. None of the Journal’s reporting found that Joe Biden was involved in his son’s business activities. The tax investigation doesn’t implicate the president-elect, according to people familiar with the matter. In a statement this month about the investigation, the president-elect said he is “deeply proud of his son.”

He told reporters Tuesday he had not and would not discuss the federal tax investigation with prospective attorney general candidates.

“The attorney general of the United States of America is not the president’s lawyer,” the president-elect said. “I will appoint someone who I expect to enforce the law as the law is written, not guided by me.”

Joe Biden also has previously said his family members won’t be involved in businesses that appear to create a conflict of interest and won’t have “a business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or a foreign country.”

Some of Hunter Biden’s business deals appeared to go nowhere. Sometimes his contribution mainly consisted of making introductions to important people in business and government, according to people involved and documents.

Still, legal and consulting services he provided offered a way to generate income; the Senate Republicans’ report says the millions of dollars in wire transfers from entities linked to Shanghai energy entrepreneur Ye Jianming were described as payment for such services.

The tycoons who sought out Mr. Biden as a business partner were looking to build ties to the Washington establishment that Joe Biden inhabited for decades, and by doing so, smooth the way for major deals or ward off legal troubles, according to interviews, documents and communications. For businessmen in some countries, paying for introductions and getting close to people in power or their relatives is a normal part of doing business, and the son of a veteran American politician offered a potential trove of connections.

Mr. Ye “would say if you find a strong partner, then opportunities can flow just from this relationship,” said a former subordinate.

Mr. Biden, in an exchange about putting together a venture with Mr. Ye, pointed to the value of his family name: “Just happens that in this instance only one player holds the trump card and that’s me. May not be fair but it’s the reality because I’m the only one putting an entire family legacy on the line,” he wrote in a 2017 text message to an associate in the venture and viewed by the Journal.

A graduate of Yale Law School, Hunter Biden was for a period a registered lobbyist in Washington. He also worked in boutique investment and property development firms along with American partners who sometimes tried to raise capital among the newly well-heeled in the former Soviet Union and China.

Mykola Zlochevsky was looking to raise the standing of Ukraine’s Burisma Holdings in Washington when Hunter Biden joined its board in 2014.

President Trump and some Republican allies have tried over the past two years to draw attention to Hunter Biden’s business activities—an effort that took off as Joe Biden emerged as a likely presidential challenger.

A particular focus was Hunter Biden’s board seat with Ukrainian natural-gas company Burisma Holdings. When he joined the board in 2014, Burisma’s founder Mykola Zlochevsky was looking to raise the company’s standing in Washington, as he parried legal inquiries abroad and at home where the government was vowing to clean up corruption. Mr. Biden was paid roughly $50,000 a month from 2014 to 2019. For the first three years, then-Vice President Joe Biden served as the Obama administration’s point man for international anticorruption efforts in Ukraine.

Mr. Trump and his allies have alleged corruption by the Bidens. Mr. Trump’s request to Ukraine’s president in 2019 to announce an investigation into the Bidens figured into Mr. Trump’s impeachment; the GOP-controlled Senate ultimately acquitted him.

Joe and Hunter Biden denied any wrongdoing...

 Still more.

Hunter Biden Requested $10 Million From the C.C.P. to Help the 'Biden Family'

At AoSHQ, "Hunter Biden Requested $10 Million from the Communist China Party for 'the Benefit of the Entire Biden Family'; Requested that Keys to His China-Partnered Offices Be Made for Joe and 'Doctor Jill' Biden."

Wow. 

The 4-Year-Long Campaign Against Trump: Infographic

At Zero Hedge.

Michigan's Allegations of Massive Vote Fraud [GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION]

At Doug Ross's Director Blue, "INFOGRAPHIC: Michigan's Bombshell Allegations of Rampant Vote Fraud":

Thanks to our magnificent Constitution, the various state legislatures have complete control of the electoral process. Not judges, not unelected bureaucrats, and not the "media" (also see: an infographic on Georgia's provable vote fraud issues). Thanks to Sidney Powell and her team, please note the following, massive vote fraud likely perpetrated in Michigan. 

 Click through for all the links and the complete infographic.

 

The Most Extensive Psychological Warfare Operation in History

Roosh:

You're about to face the most extensive psychological warfare operation in history. Every controlled institution in the world, many thousands of them, will present Biden as President of the United States. Don't let them demoralize you or take away the truth you know.

— Roosh (@rooshv) November 7, 2020

Megan Kelley: 'Pennsylvania is my favorite challenge' (VIDEO)

This video is incredible.

She's not about to set unrealistic expectations, and I agree that a lot of the challenges are long shots, but keep listening to the part about Joe Biden and his hilarious cluelessness and his ridiculously laughable calls for "unity."

At Newmax, which should be one of your main information pickup stations starting now. 

In Scathing Memo, Extemist Jihadi Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib Lashes Out at Moderate Dems for Enabling GOP's 'Divide-and-Conquer Racism'

Wow!

This woman is crazy and violent!

At Politco, "Tlaib lashes out at centrist Dems over election debacle: 'I can't be silent'."

Mitch McConnell Tells Democrats He Doesn't Want Lectures From Them or Their Mobs as He Supports President Trump's Election Challenge (VIDEO)

 Via Red State:

Class Conflict Will Cripple the Democrats

It's Steve McCann, at American Thinker:

*****
 

In the midst of the post-election chaos a long-time acquaintance, who is a robotic Democrat voter, texted me “With Biden the violence and riots in the streets of the big cities will stop. That is why he needs to win.”  

I texted back: “Not so fast my friend.  If Biden wins, within six to twelve months the riots will get worse and more violent.  Which is among the primary reasons why Trump must leave no stone unturned in contesting the election."

Besides if the Biden cabal steals the election, Trump must make certain the American people know the full extent of the fraud.  The Biden presidency must begin with a dark cloud hanging over it after what Trump and his 70+ million supporters have endured for the past four years including the 2020 election.”

If Biden were to prevail and be sworn in as President on January 20, 2021, it will be solely due to his party executing the greatest fraud in American political history, along with considerable help.  The Democrats’ co-conspirators in the Ruling Class provide financial and media collaboration, while the radical American left, with their organizing ability and willingness to unabashedly break election laws to justify the ends, provide the muscle.

*****

More.

Would the Party of Moral Authoritarianism Cheat on Elections?

Nah. At Issues & Insights, "Of Course the Party of Moral Authoritarianism Would Cheat on Elections":

The moral authoritarians of the left are so hungry to rule over others, so convinced of their own virtue that they will do almost anything to muscle a path to unchallengeable authority. In their minds, stealing an election is a legitimate means to their ends.

Fight them. Defeat them. Never stop. 

 

Trump Won’t Concede Election Amid Several Lawsuits, Challenges

 At the Epoch Times, "Rudy Giuliani: Trump Won’t Concede Election Amid Several Lawsuits, Challenges":

America is fighting for our Constitution!!! God bless Trump @Potus ♡
Rudy Giuliani: Trump Won’t Concede Election Amid Several Lawsuits, Challenges https://t.co/2PTWV6VHZP

Download our app to read more for free at https://t.co/eEg23H5rlt

— Susan Ertelt (@susanertelt) November 8, 2020

Former New York City Mayor and President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani said the president will not concede the election amid a series of lawsuits filed by Trump’s campaign.

Several news outlets and Democratic challenger Joe Biden declared victory on Saturday.

“Obviously he’s not going to concede when at least 600,000 ballots are in question,” Giuliani told reporters in Philadelphia on Saturday.

Giuliani alleged that ballots were tampered with in Pennsylvania, which appeared to give Biden an Electoral College win needed to take the White House. Trump was leading in the state on Tuesday night, but after counting apparently started again on Wednesday, Biden appeared to cut into the president’s lead.

Giuliani said he has statements from several election watchers and said 50 people had similar stories about possible fraud being committed.

“I could have brought about 50 with me,” Giuliani said, adding that “50 is too many,” alleging that some were afraid of retribution.

Trump’s team will file federal lawsuits alleging the “uniform deprivation of the right to inspect,” while adding that the “Democratic machine in Philadelphia” was involved in tampering with the election in the city.

“Seems to me somebody from the Democratic National Committee sent out a note that said don’t let the Republicans look at those mail-in ballots,” Giuliani added.

Giuliani said that Biden’s lead increase after Tuesday’s election is proof there is something amiss in the process.

“You just don’t lose leads like that without corruption,” Giuliani said.

The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General issued a statement for the state’s Democratic secretary of state, Kathy Boockvar, saying that there is “no evidence” that a county is “disobeying that clear guidance to segregate these votes, and the Republican Party offers only speculation that certain unidentified counties may ignore that repeated guidance or that the Secretary will inconsistently change course.”

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who handles emergency appeals for Pennsylvania, ordered the state’s county elections officials to keep mail-in ballots segregated if they arrived after 8 p.m. on Tuesday.

On Saturday, in Arizona, another battleground state, Trump continued to cut into Biden’s lead. Biden has seen his lead dwindle to just 10,000 votes on Nov. 8. If the margin between Biden and Trump ends up falling within 0.1 percent or less, an automatic recount will be triggered.

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said that elections officials are working on counting the votes...

Trump Campaign Infighting as Biden Declared Winner

It's to be expected, but whatever happens, Trump should not concede and fight this out until January 20th, and after, if that's what it takes, he should declare martial law in D.C. and refuse to leave the White House. Let's see the Dems drag him out.

At WSJ:

Campaign officials met w/Cipollone on Thurs to go through remaining legal options & determined they had pursued every avenue to that point.

Some advisers acknowledge there is little path forward, politically or legally, that would prevent a Trump loss.https://t.co/3cvdX3qeB4

— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) November 6, 2020

Let the Games Begin. #RealResistance

— Sebastian Gorka DrG (@SebGorka) November 7, 2020

Democrats Got Crushed

I'm traveling, otherwise I'd be blogging the election like a banshee. 

I've been reading all kinds of stuff on my phone, and watching the theft of Trump's victory in real time. 

More on all of that later, when I get back to the O.C. 

Meanwhile, check this Damon Linker piece, at the Week. It's anti-Trump, but he powerfully eviscerates the left --- and their Democrat Party enablers and allies. 

See, "The left just got crushed":

When every legally cast vote has been counted, Joe Biden will probably have prevailed in enough states to claim victory in the presidential race, perhaps even ending up with a few more Electoral Votes than Donald Trump managed to earn four years ago. That means Trump will probably be out, defeated in his bid for re-election.

But this is not a moment for Democrats to celebrate. In the expectations game, the Democratic Party whiffed and whiffed badly. The Biden campaign and its allies managed to drive up turnout — but so did Trump. Republicans put up a hell of a fight, and not just, or even mainly, in the battle for the White House. Democrats have almost certainly failed to win a Senate majority, and so far they have lost some ground in the House as well (while still on track to maintain control of the lower chamber of Congress). That means that Biden is on track to be a weak, ineffectual president governing at the mercy of Mitch McConnell's Machiavellian machinations.

So much for the Democratic fantasy — the one that seemingly never dies — of unobstructed rule. Democrats didn't just want to win and govern in the name of a deeply divided nation's fractured sense of the common good. No, they wanted to lead a moral revolution, to transform the country — not only enacting a long list of new policies, but making a series of institutional changes that would entrench their power far into the future. Pack the Supreme Court. Add left-leaning states. Break up others to give the left huge margins in the Senate. Get rid of the Electoral College. Abolish the police. Rewrite the nation's history, with white supremacy and racism placed "at the very center." Ensure "equity" not just in opportunity but in outcomes. Hell, maybe they'd even establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to teach everyone who voted for or supported the 45th president just how evil they really are.

No wonder so many Republicans turned out to vote. Democrats proved to be the most effective GOTV operation for the GOP imaginable.

Yes, Trump and the Republican cheerleading section online and on cable news and talk radio harped on every extreme proposal. But this wasn't just a function of the fallacy of composition, where one loony activist says something off the wall and the GOP amplifies it far beyond reason in order to tar the opposition unfairly. These were prominent Democrats — progressive politicians, activists, and scholars and prize-winning journalists at leading cultural institutions — talking this way. Joe Biden himself usually did the smart thing and tried to distance himself from the most radical proposals. But in the end it wasn't enough to mollify fears of an ascendant left hell bent on entrenching itself in power and enacting institutional reforms that would enable it to lead a moral, political, and cultural revolution.

And therein lies a paradox that should be obvious but apparently isn't: Democrats live in a country with a large, passionate opposition. Arrogant talk of demographic inevitabilities and transformative changes to lock Republicans out of power in the name of "democracy" has the effect of inspiring that opposition to unite against them, rendering political success less assured and more tenuous.

Expect Election Day to Be a Repeat of 2016

At least someone's willing to say it. 

Hat Tip: Instapundit, "IS IT JUST ME, OR HAS THE MEDIA’S TONE SHIFTED IN THE LAST FEW DAYS?"

It's Keith Koffler, "Biden is leading Trump in 2020 polls. But expect Election Day to be a repeat of 2016 --- Biden and his campaign are making mistakes that will ensure little of this matters. And the polls are almost certainly wrong again":

Opinion | Keith Koffler: Biden is leading Trump in 2020 polls. But expect Election Day to be a repeat of 2016. https://t.co/WmAK8HQBlc - @NBCNewsTHINK

— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 1, 2020

Contrary to the prevailing wisdom among the cognoscenti, history and current circumstances suggest President Donald Trump is going to defeat former Vice President Joe Biden — for some of the very same reasons he came from behind in 2016 to shock the Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

It is understandable why conventional wisdom is getting this wrong again. Trump is down in the polls, the nation’s demographics are continuing to change in ways unfavorable to Trump and Republicans, the coronavirus has wrought death and economic destruction throughout the land and Trump’s personality provokes stormy oceans of antipathy — perhaps most crucially among women and suburban voters.

But Biden and his campaign are making mistakes that will ensure little of this matters. And the polls are almost certainly wrong again. The only question is by how much.

The economy is turning around, playing to Trump’s strength. The president has made significant outreach to minorities, and a relative handful of Black voters switching from Democrat to Republican could help him secure states like Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina. Not to mention that Trump — unlike Biden — is actually campaigning for the job.

Think of it. Clinton wandering around the woods near her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., kicking herself for not appearing even once in Wisconsin. Meanwhile Biden is only now belatedly hitting the trail — a little. This is a risky experiment. Every modern presidential candidate has traveled as much as humanly possible — and then traveled some more. Meeting and speaking to voters — responsibly — is key. Biden is exploring the political equivalent of eating consommé with a fork.

Campaigning does not just reach voters. It imparts a sense of vigor, industriousness and sociability that people want in a leader. I don’t think Trump should be drawing so many people to celebrations that feature sardine-packed, mask-less supporters whose health is at risk. But his rallies suggest that better days are ahead — the theme of most winning presidential campaigns.

Thursday, there was a significant indicator that happy days may indeed soon be here again. The Commerce Department released the U.S. gross domestic product number for the third quarter, showing growth rate of around 33 percent. This will feed directly into Trump’s argument that he is best positioned to save the economy.

Trump complains endlessly about mail-in ballots, ignoring that they may help him. Many more Democrats are voting by mail than Republicans. But these ballots are more likely to be rejected because mistakes were made filling them out or they were late — or simply got lost.

And while the Covid-19 numbers are rising, this does not necessarily benefit Biden. Trump has been arguing that it is time to open up the economy and stop worrying so much about the spread of the virus. People have pandemic fatigue, and they are eager to go back to their regular, pre-Covid lives, even if this sometimes means endangering themselves or others.

And not only is Biden staying home, his army of volunteers and canvassers have been cooped up as well, doing outreach on their parents’ Wi-Fi instead of out seeing voters. The Biden campaign only recently emerged from the basement — with the exception of its leader — after Trump’s operatives had already spent months contacting voters on their doorsteps. Refusing to mobilize voters by showing up in their neighborhoods early and often is another likely ill-fated Biden experiment in ignoring modern campaign practice.

You also should not underestimate the vast amount of damage created by Biden’s second debate suggestion that he would eventually eliminate the oil industry. When moderator Kristen Welker asked him whether he would “close down the oil industry,” Biden answered “Yes,” he would transition from it. When Welker then asked why he would do that, he responded, “Because the oil industry pollutes, significantly.”

Although the economy may be on the upswing, the American public is still suffering...

Celebrities Strip Down for Voter Registration Campaign

I just love Sarah Silverman's dad, Schleppy!

this seems exceedingly desperate. https://t.co/BaIEX7aR8b

— Apollycalypse (@PollySpin) October 7, 2020

Broward County Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes Mulls Retirement

Heh.

Serves her right.

At Instapundit, "THE DEMOCRATS MUST HAVE TOLD HER THEY COULDN’T PROTECT HER ANYMORE."

Justice Department Wants Refund from Georgia Sheriff Who Bought Dodge Muscle Car

This Georgia sheriff's department bought a Hellcat with asset forfeiture funds, heh.

At Instapundit, "YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK — AND PLAY: Justice Department Wants Refund from Sheriff Who Bought a Dodge Charger Hellcat."

Hey, "That's My Dodge," lol.

Here Comes the 2014 Voter Fraud

From Hans von Spakovsky, at the Wall Street Journal:

In the past few months, a former police chief in Pennsylvania pleaded guilty to voter fraud in a town-council election. That fraud had flipped the outcome of a primary election. Former Connecticut legislator Christina Ayala has been indicted on 19 charges of voter fraud, including voting in districts where she didn’t reside. (She hasn’t entered a plea.) A Mississippi grand jury indicted seven individuals for voter fraud in the 2013 Hattiesburg mayoral contest, which featured voting by ineligible felons and impersonation fraud. A woman in Polk County, Tenn., was indicted on a charge of vote-buying—a practice that the local district attorney said had too long “been accepted as part of life” there.

Now come the midterm elections on Nov. 4. What is the likelihood that your vote won’t count? That your vote will, in effect, be canceled or stolen as a consequence of mistakes by election officials or fraudulent votes cast by campaign workers or ineligible voters like felons and noncitizens?

Unfortunately, we can’t know. But one thing is almost certain: Voter fraud will occur. Many states run a rickety election process, lacking rules to deter people who are looking to take advantage of the system’s porous security. And too many groups and individuals—including the NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder —are doing everything they can to prevent states from improving the integrity of the election process...

Yep, lie, cheat and steal. That's the Democrat Party playbook.

More.