NEW: #HunterBiden’s dealings with foreign individuals raise conflict of interest concerns as well as concerns about crimes, counterintelligence, and extortion, according to a new congressional report. theepochtimes.com/joe-bidens-son…
According to the report, #HunterBiden engaged in millions of dollars in “questionable financial transactions” with foreign individuals, including the wife of the former mayor of #Moscow and people with ties to the #CCPChina. documentcloud.org/documents/7216…
James Biden is #JoeBiden’s brother; Sara Biden is James’s wife; and Archer is one of #HunterBiden’s business partners.
Hunter Biden and Archer received $4 million for being on #Burisma’s board.
Other Biden family members also received millions of dollars from foreign nationals with questionable backgrounds.
Archer, for instance, received $142,300 from a Kazakhstan national, purportedly for a car, the same day VP #JoeBiden addressed Ukrainian legislators in #Kyiv.
#HunterBiden received $3.5 million from #ElenaBaturina, the widow of the former mayor of #Moscow, and millions of dollars from business transactions with individuals linked to the #CCP and #China's People’s Liberation Army.
#HunterBiden also “paid nonresident women who were nationals of Russia or other Eastern European countries and who appear to be linked to an ‘Eastern European prostitution or human trafficking ring,'” the report stated. #HumanTrafficking
Key findings included learning that #GeorgeKent, a former deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in #Ukraine, raised concerns to officials in #JoeBiden’s office in early 2015 about the perception of a conflict of interest in #HunterBiden being on the board of #Burisma.
“The presence of Hunter Biden on the Burisma board was very awkward for all U.S. officials pushing an anticorruption agenda in Ukraine,” Kent wrote in an email the next year to colleagues.
The concerns were not addressed, according to the report.
#HunterBiden was on #Burisma’s board when the company’s owner allegedly paid $7 million to officials working under #Ukraine’s prosecutor general to shut the case against the owner. Kent said the bribe was paid in Dec. 2014 and that he reported the allegation to the #FBI.
/END/
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🚨 CCP Targets Shen Yun, NYT Coverage Raises Questions
“Two years ago, we learned the CCP planned to escalate its war on us in America. Now, we’re facing legal weaponization, media smears, and threats to bomb, shoot, and rape our performers.”
— Shen Yun VP Ying Chen
🧵A Thread
Sabotage Campaign. Shen Yun Performing Arts is facing mounting challenges. Recent incidents include bomb threats, sabotage such as tire-slashing, and a wave of disinformation aimed at disrupting its global performances. Evidence points to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as the driving force behind these efforts. Meanwhile, the New York Times’ reporting on the group has drawn scrutiny for its alignment with Beijing’s narrative—here’s what’s happening to the U.S.-based arts group.
Global Tours. Shen Yun tours the world to top theaters to showcase China’s true cultural heritage through classical Chinese dance and music—traditions the CCP has tried to erase for decades. Its popularity has made it a target for attack on U.S. soil and around the world.
THREAD 🧵
Corruption is an “endemic feature” of China under communist rule due to the opaque political system in the party-state and the lack of checks and balances, according to a recent U.S. intelligence report.
The report, released on March 20 by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), states that bribery increases “an official’s legal earnings by four to six times.”
It also reported that Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping and his family had amassed more than $1 billion in wealth as of 2012.
Since Xi assumed power in 2012, information on corruption among CCP officials has been more challenging to obtain, the report said, adding that Xi’s family is known to have held at least millions in financial investments as of last year.
The Intelligence Authorization Act of 2023 required the ODNI to produce an unclassified report for the general public on the wealth and corruption of senior CCP leaders. Marco Rubio, currently U.S. secretary of state, inserted that requirement into the bill when he was vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
THREAD 🧵
British chat forums are shutting themselves down rather than face regulatory burdens recently applied to internet policing laws.
On March 17, the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act, a law that regulates internet spaces, officially kicked into force.
The law means that online platforms must immediately start putting in place measures to protect people in the UK from criminal activity with far-reaching implications for the internet.
However, for some forums—from cyclists, hobbyists, and hamster owners, to divorced father support and more—the regulatory pressure is proving too much, and its myriad of rules are causing chat forums that have been operating for decades, in some cases, to call it a day.
Conservative Peer Lord Daniel Moylan told The Epoch Times by email that “common sense suggests the sites least likely to survive will be hobby sites, community sites, and the like.”
‘Small But Risky Services’
The Act—which was celebrated as the world-first online safety law—was designed to ensure that tech companies take more responsibility for the safety of their users.
For example, social media platforms, including user-to-user service providers, have the duty to proactively police harmful illegal content such as revenge and extreme pornography, sex trafficking, harassment, coercive or controlling behavior, and cyberstalking.
But what the government calls “small but risky services” which are often forums, have to submit illegal harms risk assessments to the Online Safety Act’s regulator, Ofcom, by March 31.
Ofcom first published its illegal harm codes of practice and guidance in December 2024 and had given providers three months to carry out the assignment.
It was given powers under the law and warned that those who fail to do so may face enforcement action.
“We have strong enforcement powers at our disposal, including being able to issue fines of up to 10 percent of turnover or £18 million ($23 million)—whichever is greater—or to apply to a court to block a site in the UK in the most serious cases,” said Ofcom.
Some of the rules for owners of these sites—which are often operated by individuals —include keeping written records of their risk assessments, detailing levels of risk, and assessing the “nature and severity of potential harm to individuals.”
While terrorism and child sexual exploitation may be more straightforward to assess and mitigate, offenses such as coercive and controlling behavior and hate offenses are more challenging to manage with forums that have thousands of users.
Gamers total 71 percent of the U.S. population and, on average, spend at least one month per year gaming. How does this affect emotions, cognition, and senses?
Research from over 90 medical reports highlights the impact on 15+ parts of the brain, as shown in this infographic:
From the Atari 2600 to the PS5, from Zelda to Fortnight, from mobile app games to gaming PCs, billions of players worldwide engage in gaming.
First, here's a quick breakdown of game design.
Game design incorporates three major strategies to keep players hooked:
1. Game Juice
The color, touch, and sound effects that are designed to sync with the brain’s inherent set of rules give players a rewarding sense of control over in-game changes, tricking the brain into perceiving the game world as both real and charming.