JOE BIDEN AND CROOKED UNIONS - SEEMS LIKE THE WORD 'CROOKED' HAS FOLLOWED BIDEN HIS ENTIRE BRIBES SUCKING CROOKED CAREER

 

Before Becoming Boston’s Mayor, Biden’s Labor Pick Was Embroiled in Union Extortion Scandal

Marty Walsh's subordinates convicted of conspiracy, accepting bribes

 
 
 

Boston mayor Marty Walsh (D.) / Getty Images

Collin Anderson - JANUARY 12, 2021 2:20 PM

President-elect Joe Biden's pick for labor secretary was once caught on a wiretap admitting that he threatened a development company for refusing to use union workers.

Biden chose Boston mayor Marty Walsh (D.) to lead the Department of Labor, praising the longtime union ally as a "good friend" and "stand up guy" in a Friday announcement. As head of Boston's Building and Construction Trades Council, however, Walsh was ensnared in a federal probe alleging strong-arm tactics by union leaders.

Federal agents captured Walsh on tape candidly discussing strong-arm tactics with a fellow local labor leader in October 2012. The Boston Democrat recalled threatening development company AvalonBay with "permitting problems" on an upcoming project should it fail to hire union laborers, according to a 2016 Boston Globe report. A second Boston developer, Michael Rauseo, accused Walsh of employing similar tactics during a meeting held just months later. Rauseo told the Globe that, in December 2012, Walsh "demanded" that he rescind contracts issued to non-union contractors for an upcoming apartment project.

Walsh boasts deep ties to Biden: The president-elect spoke at Walsh's 2017 mayoral inauguration, and the pair have been photographed together in Boston on multiple occasions. Walsh also defended Biden following accusations of inappropriately touching women, calling Biden a "very emotional person" who "respects women."

Walsh's personal relationship with Biden—as well as his "traditional union background"—could boost his chances of advancing union-friendly policies in the Biden administration, Workplace Policy Institute cochair Michael Lotito told the Washington Free Beacon.

"Joe Biden has said that he wants to be the most pro-union president in history, so it's not surprising that he picked Walsh as his labor secretary in order to help make his dream come true," Lotito said. "One of the things [Walsh] can do is recommend to Mr. Biden different executive orders, especially those that involve government contractors … and since it appears that Biden and Walsh have a long-standing personal relationship, Walsh might be in a position to influence Biden."

Neither Biden's presidential transition team nor Walsh responded to requests for comment.

While Walsh maintained that he did "nothing wrong" throughout the federal probe and was not indicted, two members of his administration, intergovernmental-affairs director Timothy Sullivan and tourism director Kenneth Brissette, were convicted of extortion-related conspiracy in August 2019. Roughly five years prior, the pair told a music festival production company that it needed to hire local union members in order to receive permits for an upcoming event. The company feared it would be "financially ruined" if it "did not accede to these City officials' demands" and agreed to hire the union members, according to a 2019 Justice Department press release.

Sullivan and Brisette's convictions were overturned in February 2020, when a federal judge ruled that the two officials did not receive a "personal payoff" as a result of their conduct. But another Walsh city hall official, development and planning agency employee John Lynch, pleaded guilty to accepting a $50,000 bribe in September 2019. Walsh distanced himself from the scandals, saying "you can't monitor every single person's actions."

Walsh served as a Massachusetts state lawmaker from 1997 to 2013, during which time he enjoyed a cozy relationship with local unions. He was named head of union umbrella group Boston Building Trades in 2011, resigning two years later to run for mayor. He has received more than $500,000 from labor groups throughout his political career, state campaign-finance disclosures show.

Walsh's labor-secretary bid was endorsed by a number of top unions, including the American Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka celebrated Walsh's nomination, touting the Boston Democrat's status as a "longtime union member" who will "have the ear of the White House" as he works to implement union-backed legislation.

So the “disaster” Thomas Donilon, who first advised Sen. Biden in 1988, is the likely source for Joe Biden’s claim that the Chinese Communists are “not bad folks, folks” and “not competition for us.” This is the Fannie Mae hustler who “orchestrated” Joe Biden as the point man for China policy. On Biden’s watch, China ramped up internal repressions and became more aggressive, modernizing their military and creating island bases that put key American allies and interests at risk.

Schweizer: We’ve Never Had a President ‘This Commercially Linked to Our Chief Adversary,’ China as Biden

IAN HANCHETT

12 Jan 2021529

0:59

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” Breitbart News senior contributor Peter Schweizer stated that President-Elect Joe Biden is the most “commercially linked to our chief adversary, which is China” of any president.

Schweizer said, “I don’t think we’ve ever had an American president that has been this commercially linked to our chief adversary, which is China. … I mean, you look at Donald Trump. He had some dealings, his family had dealings in China. He had legitimate businesses. You look at Michael Bloomberg, same thing. He had dealings in China, legitimate businesses. By no stretch of any imagination do the Bidens have any kind of a legitimate business that the Chinese were pouring money into. It was all about currying favor.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

The Dons Behind Biden

Why Biden thinks the Chinese Communists are “not bad folks” and “not competition for us.”

Wed Jan 13, 2021 

Lloyd Billingsley

 

63

“Biden Gets China,” headlined the January 2, 2012 report in The Atlantic. As author Steve Clemons explained, “Vice President Joe Biden will take the lead on the administrations next phase China policy.”  This marked a shift to a “strategy of engagement with Biden at the top,” that allows the US to deal with China’s likely next president from a Vice President to a Vice President/Next President status -- and to continue both the Departments of State’s and Treasury’s ongoing engagement with other designated key Chinese leaders.”

As Clemons explained, the move to put Biden at the top was “orchestrated” by Thomas Donilon, once described by James Mann in Foreign Policy as “Obama’s Gray Man” and seldom mentioned in the press. So Americans have cause to wonder what, exactly, Thomas Donilon is about.

According to AllGov.com, Donilon worked in the Carter White House and four years later served as campaign coordinator for Walter Mondale. In 1985, the University of Virginia law grad served with the Democratic National Committee and the next year joined the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee but “he remained interested in helping get Democrats elected to the White House.”

In 1988, “Donilon first advised Sen. Joseph Biden” then went on to serve as senior counsel on President Bill Clinton’s 1992 transition team, and chief of staff for secretary of state Warren Christopher. Donilon became assistant secretary of state for public affairs and participated in the expansion of NATO and the relationship between the U.S. and China. His background showed no scholarly work on that country or any other.

From 1995 to 2005, Thomas Donilon was chief lobbyist of the Federal National Mortgage Association, better known as Fannie Mae. As CNN reported, Donilon left the company before it imploded and “was forced to pay $400 million to the federal government for misstated earnings during his time there.” Donilon also attempted to interfere with an audit by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight and tried to launch a separate investigation into the OFHEO itself.

In 2010, the president tapped Tom Donilon for National Security Advisor, which troubled Robert Scheer of The Nation. “Why in the world would President Obama, whose legacy has been sabotaged by a housing crisis that Donilon helped create and conceal, have hired him to run the most sensitive position of public trust in his administration?” Donilon was a skilled political player, Scheer wrote, but as the president so often demonstrated, “it’s the top hustlers of whom he seems enamored.” In similar style, Robert Gates predicted that Donilon would be a “disaster” as national security advisor. 

In Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary of State at War, Gates wrote that Donilon characterized the United States military as “in revolt” and “insubordinate.” Donilon, who had never been in the military, “bridled” when Gen. McChrystal announced a “counterinsurgency” strategy in Afghanistan. Here Donilon was only advancing official administration policy. As Gates explained, “troops risking their lives need to be told that their goal is to ‘defeat’ those trying to kill them. But such terms were viewed in the White House as borderline insubordinate political statements by generals.”

According to James Mann, Donilon amassed “enormous internal control” over American foreign policy, Even so, “few news outlets have profiled Donilon, who generally prefers to operate behind closed doors.”

In a June, 2013, speech to the Asia Society, Donilon said, “I disagree with the premise put forward by some historians and theorists that a rising power and an established power are somehow destined for conflict.” No clarification that the “rising power” is a Communist dictatorship and one of the most murderous regimes in history, and the “established power” a constitutional democracy. As Donilon saw it, “a deeper U.S.-China military-to-military dialogue is central to addressing many of the sources of insecurity and potential competition between us.”  (emphasis added)

So the “disaster” Thomas Donilon, who first advised Sen. Biden in 1988, is the likely source for Joe Biden’s claim that the Chinese Communists are “not bad folks, folks” and “not competition for us.” This is the Fannie Mae hustler who “orchestrated” Joe Biden as the point man for China policy. On Biden’s watch, China ramped up internal repressions and became more aggressive, modernizing their military and creating island bases that put key American allies and interests at risk.

In November, CNN reported that Tom Donilon was a “leading contender” for director of the CIA, a post he has reportedly turned down. Still, the Donilon family influence runs strong.

Tom Donilon’s wife Cathy Russell was deputy assistant to the president and chief of staff for Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden. She then became U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues at the Department of State. As Bloomberg reports, Donilon’s wife served on Biden’s transition advisory board and will be director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. Tom’s younger brother Mike is also a player.

During the 2020 campaign, Mike Donilon served as Biden’s chief strategist, and as the New York Times reports, Biden has now made Mike Donilon a senior advisor, “the defender of the Biden brand.” Meanwhile, back in 2012, brother Tom Donilon helped out by “orchestrating” Joe Biden’s takeover of  China policy. As the New York Post reported, through son Hunter, the “Big Guy” got a piece of the action.

“Biden Gets China,” has now become “China Gets Biden,” right where they want him. As President Trump says, we’ll have to see what happens.

Chamber of Commerce to Work with Joe Biden on Expanding Legal Immigration as 18M Americans Jobless

Mario Tama/Getty Images

JOHN BINDER

12 Jan 2021121

3:09

Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue says the business group “will work cooperatively” with President-Elect Joe Biden to expand legal immigration levels to the United States in order to fill American jobs with foreign workers as 18 million Americans remain jobless.

At an annual event this week, Donohue outlined the group’s plans to work hand-in-hand with incoming Biden administration officials to expand legal immigration levels beyond their already historic rates, where more than 1.2 million green cards are allotted every year and 1.4 million foreign visa workers are admitted to take American jobs annually.

Donohue claimed that despite 18 million jobless Americans and another 6.2 million Americans who are underemployed — all of whom want full-time work — the U.S. still has “significant labor shortages” and prided himself on suing President Trump in order to continue importing foreign workers during a mass unemployment crisis. He said:

We also have to confront the reality that we have people without jobs and massive amounts of jobs without people. Even if we successfully employed every American willing and able to work, we would still face significant labor shortages—in construction, agriculture, health care, retail, manufacturing, and tech.

Donohue continued:

We fought vigorously and successfully against actions by the Trump administration to severely limit legal immigration, and we will work cooperatively with the Biden administration to reform our immigration system to meet the needs of our modern economy. [Emphasis added]

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise … allowing the world’s most talented and industrious people to contribute to our economy drives growth, which in turn creates more jobs for Americans. This urgent priority should draw bipartisan support. [Emphasis added]

Building consensus on immigration reform, workforce development, and infrastructure investment this year will help accelerate the widespread recovery and deliver economic relief to the businesses and workers whose resilience has been put to the test. [Emphasis added]

That “consensus on immigration reform” is likely not only to include more legal immigration but also some form of an amnesty for illegal aliens living in the U.S. — both longtime priorities of corporate interests who see their profit margins grow when the cost of labor is crushed.

One particular study by the Center for Immigration Studies’ Steven Camarota revealed that for every one percent increase in the immigrant portion of an American workers’ occupation, Americans’ weekly wages are cut by perhaps 0.5 percent. This means the average native-born American worker today has his weekly wages reduced by potentially 8.75 percent, since more than 17 percent of the workforce is foreign-born.

As Breitbart News has reported, Biden has said he will “immediately” send an amnesty for illegal aliens to the U.S. Senate after taking office.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.

Citing Biden Transition, U.S. Cancels U.N. Envoy’s Trip to Taiwan

 
 
 

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft / Reuters

Reuters - JANUARY 12, 2021 7:46 PM

By Michelle Nichols and Humeyra Pamuk

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A cancellation of all travel by the U.S. State Department this week includes a planned visit to Taiwan by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft, a State Department spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

Craft had been due to visit Taiwan from Wednesday to Friday, prompting China to warn that Washington was playing with fire. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday that all travel this week had been canceled, including his own trip to Europe, as part of the transition to the incoming Biden administration.

But European diplomats and other people familiar with the matter said Luxembourg's foreign minister and top European Union officials had declined to meet with him during his planned European trip this week.

Craft's Taiwan trip appeared to be another part of an effort by Pompeo and President Donald Trump's Republican administration to lock in a tough approach to China before Democratic President-elect Joe Biden takes office on Jan. 20.

Taiwan's government expressed "understanding and respect" for the decision, but also regret.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs regrets that the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft cannot lead a delegation to visit Taiwan from Jan. 13 to 15 as scheduled, but welcomes Ambassador Craft to visit at an appropriate time in the future," it said in a statement.

Craft is due to leave the role when Biden assumes the presidency next week.

China had said it was firmly opposed to the visit. A representative of China's mission to the United Nations in New York urged Washington to stop "creating obstacles" for the relationship between China and the United States.

"It's time that the crazy, irrational behaviors of certain people come to a stop," the Chinese representative said.

Beijing, which claims the self-governed island as its own territory, has been angered by stepped-up support for Taiwan from the Trump administration, including trips to Taipei by top U.S. officials, further straining Sino-U.S. ties. Pompeo on Saturday said he was lifting restrictions on contacts between U.S. officials and their Taiwanese counterparts.

Chinese fighter jets approached the island in August and September during the last two visits – by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach, respectively.

While the United States, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, it is the island's strongest international backer and arms supplier, being obliged to help provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington, additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Grant McCool, Matthew Lewis and Himani Sarkar)