Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Government Corruption

John Kerry's Heinz ketchup heiress wife has millions of dollars in Chinese investments

2021-09-22

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]

John Kerry's wife benefits from an investment of 'at least $1 million' in a hedge fund that specializes in investments with Chinese government-controlled funds

His wife Teresa Heinz is the widow of wealthy late senator John Heinz and heiress to the Heinz family fortune, estimated to be worth more than $750million

The investment was revealed in Kerry's filing with the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) in March

Kerry's filing says neither he nor his wife 'exercise authority over the trust

In his senior government role as Biden's climate change envoy, Kerry regularly meets with Chinese diplomats and leaders

He is in the delicate position of negotiating with the industrial superpower to cut deals on reducing carbon emissions

Kerry's 2021 filing says neither he nor his wife 'exercise authority over the trust', 'have any control over the management of the trust investments', and neither are trustees"

George W. Bush's former chief White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter told DailyMail.com the investments could pose an ethical problem for Kerry

He said if the Chinese government tried to exert influence through his family's investments, Kerry would have to stand down from climate change negotiations

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Kerry on $1.7 Billion Payment to Iran: ‘We Gave Them a Little Bit of Money'

2020-01-11

[Free Beacon] Former secretary of state John Kerry, who along with his wife Teresa Heinz is estimated to be worth $1 billion, on Friday referred to the $1.7 billion payment the United States made to Iran in 2016 as a "little bit of money."

Discussing President Donald Trump's claims that the Obama administration helped fund the Iranian regime's terror initiatives, Kerry told CNN that the Obama administration saved American taxpayers from accruing interest by settling old debt when it did.

"We gave them a little bit of money that was released in that period of time, not as part of the nuclear arrangement," Kerry said. "But the fact is the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] had all the money it wanted. The IRGC wasn't starving at that point in time, and in fact, Iran owed billions upon billions of dollars. Most of that money went to pay off their debts and to facilitate their economic initiatives."

David Rutz breaks down the most important news about the enemies of freedom, here and around the world, in this comprehensive morning newsletter.

Kerry admitted in 2016 that the billions in sanctions relief Iran got under the nuclear deal would go partly to financing terrorism.

"Money is fungible in any budget," he said on Friday.

The Obama administration paid Iran $400 million, plus an additional $1.3 billion in interest from taxpayer funds, ostensibly to settle a dispute over military equipment Iran purchased but never received following the shah's fall in 1979. Critics, however, described the payment as a "ransom" to secure the freedom of American hostages being held by the Tehran regime.

"Obama officials are the last people on earth who are pretending that the $1.7 billion wasn't a ransom payment," one foreign policy consultant who worked with Congress on the nuclear deal told the Washington Free Beacon at the time. "Everyone else knows what happened, which is that we rewarded Iranian hostage takers."

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-Lurid Crime Tales-

Jahwn, Tay-resa Invested In Chinese Company That Exploits, Represses Tibet

2016-05-06

Secretary of State John Kerry and his wife Teresa Heinz are investors in 12 companies in the People’s Republic of China, including a firm that operates in the most repressed part of Tibet, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation.

The investments are from a Heinz family trust called “HFI Imperial,” according to Kerry’s official financial disclosure report, which was reviewed by TheDCNF. The fund invests exclusively in Asian-based companies throughout the Pacific Rim — from Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand to the People’s Republic of China.

“Secretary Kerry is not a beneficiary of these trusts, and Mrs. Heinz Kerry also exercises no control over the investment decisions made by the independent trustees,” State Department official spokesman Admiral John Kirby told TheDCNF.

Much, much more tawdry, seedy material at the link, with specifics as to how the company bottles Tibetan water and sells it in Europe. The Euros, of course, drink it up...

Link

Home Front: Politix

Kerry and Heinz Family Have Millions Invested In Offshore Tax Havens

2016-04-26

[Daily Caller] Secretary of State John Kerry and his wife Teresa Heinz have invested millions of U.S. dollars through family trusts in at least 11 offshore tax havens, according to The Daily Caller News Foundation's Investigative Group.

The revelation comes on the heels of the release of the Panama Papers, a treasure trove of 11.5 million legal and financial records documenting how some of the world’s richest and most powerful people have used offshore bank accounts to conceal their wealth and avoid taxes.

Since the release of the papers, no American politician has been identified as using the secretive offshore accounts.

But a DCNF investigation has confirmed that the former Massachusetts Democratic senator and his billionaire wife, using an elaborate set of Heinz family trusts, have invested "more than $1 million" each into 11 separate offshore accounts -- mainly hedge funds in the Cayman Islands.

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Home Front: Politix

I'm sensing the theatre of a Kerry resignation coming

2013-07-09

Teresa Heinz Kerry's condition has been upgraded from critical to "fair," according to a front man, after the wife of Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
was rushed to a Massachusetts hospital over the holiday weekend.

Kerry front man Glen Johnson said Monday that Heinz Kerry continues to undergo further evaluation. He said the secretary of State and other members of the family are with her at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Doctors upgraded her condition after conducting a series of tests.

"The family is touched by the outpouring of well-wishes," he said.

Heinz Kerry was first taken by ambulance to a Nantucket hospital on Sunday. The family has not offered additional details on her condition, though speculation has focused on symptoms potentially connected with those of a seizure.

Nantucket Police Lt. Jerry Adams said a call requesting medical aid was received just after 3:30 p.m. for a home on Hulbert Avenue, and an ambulance was dispatched. Online records show the property is connected to Heinz Kerry's family.

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-Short Attention Span Theater-

Teresa Heinz Kerry is reported critically ill - Boston Globe

2013-07-08

Teresa Heinz Kerry, a leading philanthropist and wife of US Secretary of State John F. Kerry, was in critical but stable condition Sunday after being flown to Massachusetts General Hospital from Nantucket, where she had been rushed to the hospital for an undisclosed ailment, according to aides to the secretary. Heinz Kerry, 74, was stricken while at the family's vacation home, according to State Department spokesman Glen Johnson.

AoS update at 1345 CT: ahem. Let's be nice. It's the progressives who say nasty stuff when someone is deathly ill.

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Home Front: Politix

Democrats are now the party of perceived privilege, and GOP is the party of the people

2010-08-01

by JOAN VENNOCHI

... writing in the Bahston Ferfawdsake Globe...
DEMOCRAT John I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry sets sail in a $7 million yacht built in New Zealand. Republican Scott ~~Downtown Scotty~~ Brown hits the campaign trail in a GMC pickup truck with 200,000 miles on it.

From Newport, R.I., -- where Kerry's "Isabel'' was berthed before heading to Nantucket -- to Rhinebeck, N.Y. -- where Chelsea Investment Bankerette Clinton will marry in a mansion modeled after Versailles -- today's Democrats are looking more like Louis XVI than Tip O'Neill.

Kick in the First Family's vacation plans for Martha's Vineyard, and there's a real air of Marie Antoinette & Co. retreating to idyllic gardens, while Fox News whips up revolutionary flames. The ethics charges against Representative Charlie (Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers!) Rangel of New York are added foie gras.

In 2008, Republican John Maverick McCain
... the former foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution...
was the presidential candidate with so many houses, he lost count. Barack B.O. Obama was the guy with only one somewhat luxurious home. Today, President Obama presides over a party of perceived privilege, while Republicans accessorize themselves as the party of the people.

Brown accessorized brilliantly during last January's Senate race in Massachusetts. He's not mega-rich like Kerry, yet comfortable enough, with five properties and a horse his daughter co-owned for a time with a race track owner. But Brown's humble pickup truck and barn jacket remain the enduring symbols of his upstart campaign to win the seat held for decades by the late Teddy The Lion of Chappaquiddick Kennedy.

Kennedy was a rich and powerful Democrat who kept a connection to the people in a way that Brown and millionaire Sarah Mama Grizzly Palin understand.
Palin was a millionaire before she quit as governor of Alaska?
Brown was a millionaire before he was elected to the Senate?
But some Democrats just don't get it, from Governor Deval (Whoa! Nice drapes!) Patrick's fancy drapes and Cadillac to House Speaker Nancy (San Fran Nan) Pelosi's Armani suits and taxpayer-funded military jet.

It isn't about having a lot of money. It's about making people feel you are rubbing your money in their faces, while draining their modest assets for sketchy government programs funded by taxes you don't want to pay.

Republican Mitt Romney is worth more than $200 million, with enough cushion to invest $35 million in his 2008 presidential bid. His real estate holdings include a $12 million mansion in La Jolla, Calif., that was once owned by actor Cliff Robertson, and a lakefront spread in New Hampshire. But for all of Romney's grandiose aspirations and political flip-flops, he is wise enough to avoid grandiose mistakes of excessive, public consumption.

Before his marriage to Teresa Heinz, Kerry was living on his Senate salary and a trust fund worth no more than $100,000. Now he is ranked as the wealthiest member of Congress, with assets of at least $231 million. The Kerry family has five houses, a jet called the "Flying Squirrel'' and a legacy that includes paying to move a fire hydrant from in front of their Beacon Hill home to free up parking space. Now, Kerry's legacy also includes the Newport-berthed yacht and the impression that he was trying to duck Massachusetts taxes.

This might all be empty, frivolous symbolism, except that in politics, perception matters. In this case, the perception fueled by the Kerry yacht fiasco hurts the Democratic agenda.

If the little guy doesn't trust the Democrats, that helps the GOP -- for now.
Ahah. Now we get to the meat of it...
While Republicans drape themselves in middle class values, they are sticking it to the middle class.
... by agitating for tax cuts and competitiveness and individual liberty...
It's all in the effort to deny Obama and the Democrats any positive political message.
Damn them. It's an insidious plot upon the poor Dems. There is no substance. All is perception...
Last week, Senate Republicans rejected a bill to aid small business with expanded loan programs and tax breaks.
That was after the Dems spent all the money that could have covered it...
Before that, Republicans tried to block extension of employment benefits and financial regulatory reforms, which finally passed with minimal help from the GOP.
The "financial regulatory reforms" are so deeply flawed they'll be gnawing the national backside for generations.
These just-say-no tactics can catch up with Republicans -- maybe not in time for midterm elections, but perhaps in time for 2012.
Some of us are hoping they're the opening shots in the new American revolution.
If you watch what Brown does, not what he wears or drives, it's clear that he gets it. He's walking a line that he hopes leads to reelection. It means he can't vote against every Democratic policy aimed at helping ordinary voters. His vote against extending unemployment benefits was risky business for the junior senator from Massachusetts.
He's shown to be a summertime soldier in that new American revolution.
That pickup truck only gets him so far.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Political shipwreck

2010-07-25

Taaaraysaaa! Make it stop!
But this story is deee-licious...
New England boat builders say shame on Sen. John Kerry for buying a $7 million New Zealand-built luxury yacht while local ship makers struggle to find work. Darn, that would have been a wonderful job for a Maine builder, said Jane Wellehan, president of the trade group Maine Built Boats. If someone comes to build a $7 million boat that would employ half the population of some towns for a year or two. Boat building is such a critical component of our coastal economy."
Buying "domestic"? That would be like buying a...god forbid...Ford!
Gregory Egan, who owns the Crosby Yacht Yard in Osterville, said Bay State boat builders must feel cut adrift by Kerry as well. Im confident that anything constructed in New Zealand could be constructed here in the state, he said. From a political perspective, it seems to me he could have thought twice about that one.
But that would mean he'd have to have two thoughts. At once. I don't know if he's capable of that.
News that Kerry was docking the 76-foot custom-built sloop in Newport, R.I., was first reported in the Herald Friday. Sources told the Herald the yacht cost $7 million, meaning Kerry would owe the state more than $500,000 in excise and sales taxes. The Isabel has two VIP main cabins, a glossy teak interior and a wet bar and wine storage in the pilothouse. It is billed as a departure from the norm in the opulent world of yachting and designed to be piloted without a crew.
...and Jawnny likes "opulent".
With the nation enduring a nasty economy, painful joblessness and extreme belt-tightening, word of the luxury yachts foreign construction - as Americans yearn for work - could create a political tempest for Kerry. The message is, The American boat builders arent good enough, and the Massachusetts people arent good enough to maintain it. Its just a bad message all around, said Connecticut boater Steve Potter, who docks in Charlestown.
Now, now...I will allow them to look at it.
When asked to respond to criticism of Kerrys decision not to buy American, his state director, Drew OBrien, said: When it comes to creating and preserving jobs and economic opportunity in Massachusetts, no one has worked harder in Washington than John Kerry. Sen. Kerry is using smarts, clout and good old-fashioned hard work to make the Massachusetts economy grow and prosper.
He wouldn't know "good old-fashioned hard work" if it bit him in the ass. I'll translate his non answer answer: Ungrateful peasant bastards! And after all I've done for you!
Steve Capozzola, media director for the Alliance for American Manufacturing, was surprised at Kerrys move. House Democrats are pushing legislation to boost American manufacturing jobs. Its ironic that hed be buying a foreign-made boat when the House Democrats are considering a number of measures to revitalize American manufacturing, he said.
Steve sounds like a true believer. Maybe having second thoughts about their plan, buddy?
The Isabel is owned by Great Point LLC in Pittsburgh, according to a U.S. Coast Guard registry. Pittsburgh is home to Kerrys ketchup heiress wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. Great Point is a lighthouse in Nantucket, where Kerry has a waterfront manse.
Yes, it's my...wife's boat! Just like the SUVs. And the mansions. And the Gulfstream. So begone, peasants!
Massachusetts has a 6.25 percent sales tax and local boat excise taxes, but Rhode Island does not tax boats. Kerry has homes in Boston and Nantucket, but has said he docks his yacht in Newport for upkeep and charter purposes. Kerrys spokesman has said the senator will pay taxes if they are owed.
As Tommy Menino would say, "This is becoming an Alcatraz around his neck"...
When asked Friday whether he would move the boat, Kerry was noncommital. Thats a decision in the future, he told reporters
As much as he would like it to, this ain't going away...

Link

Home Front: Politix

Kerry will pay if 'taxes are owed' on fancy new yacht

2010-07-24

Bagged. Oh, I'll bet he's livid. "Little people" pay taxes...
U.S. Sen. John Kerry, the owner of a new, super-luxe 76-foot yacht, is not dodging a six-figure Massachusetts tax bill by docking the Isabel in Rhode Island and will pony up to the state if "any taxes are owed," a spokesman for the alleged tax-skipping skipper said.
Actually, Taaaaraysaaa will "pony up". Kerry wouldn't pony up on a three beer bar tab.
And it appears the senior senator may be on the hook for more than $500,000 in state and local taxes because Kerry tied his toney tub up in Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket waters within six months of buying her. The sexy sloop, which Kerry purchased in March and is currently docking in Portsmouth, R.I., was spotted in the Nantucket Boat Basin over the Fourth of July holiday. Teresa Heinz, Kerry's wife, owns a haute home on the island's waterfront.
Mr. Ego wanted to show it off, eh? Heh...heh...heh...
The Friendship yacht, designed by Ted Fontaine of Portsmouth but built in New Zealand,
... building the luxury yachts that America won't build ...
also sailed into Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard, according to sources. Kerry was seen coming ashore off the Isabel on the town dock July 16 as he made his way to an event at the Harborview Hotel .
Look at her! Isn't she beautiful!
Under law, if a boat owner berths the vessel in Massachusetts waters within six months of purchasing the boat, there's a "presumption of use," and the owner must fork over the 6.25 percent sales tax to the commonwealth. Local excise taxes also are due. Sources said Isabel sold for something in the neighborhood of $7 million. That means Kerry would owe approximately $437,500 to his cash-strapped home state. Nantucket, his summer playground, would be due annual excise taxes of about $70,000.
You idiot! You had to show off your new toy!
I'm sorry, Taaaraysaaa. Can you write me a check for half a million dollars, schnookums? Pretty please?
"Sen. Kerry and his family always comply with tax law, and if any taxes are owed, of course, they will be paid," said Kerry's chief of staff David Wade . "As I said yesterday, the Isabel is based in Newport at the Newport Shipyard for longterm maintenance, upkeep and charter purposes, not tax reasons."
...wink-wink.

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

Jawn Kerry skips town on sails tax

2010-07-23

Sen. John Kerry, who has repeatedly voted to raise taxes while in Congress, dodged a whopping six-figure state tax bill on his new multimillion-dollar yacht by mooring her in Newport, R.I.

Isabel - Kerrys luxe, 76-foot New Zealand-built Friendship sloop with an Edwardian-style, glossy varnished teak interior, two VIP main cabins and a pilothouse fitted with a wet bar and cold wine storage - was designed by Rhode Island boat designer Ted Fontaine.

But instead of berthing the vessel in Nantucket, where the senator summers with the missus, Teresa Heinz, Isabels hailing port is listed as Newport on her stern.

Could the reason be that the Ocean State repealed its Boat Sales and Use Tax back in 1993, making the tiny state to the south a haven - like the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Nassau - for tax-skirting luxury yacht owners?

Cash-strapped Massachusetts still collects a 6.25 percent sales tax and an annual excise tax on yachts. Sources say Isabel sold for something in the neighborhood of $7 million, meaning Kerry saved approximately $437,500 in sales tax and an annual excise tax of about $70,000.

The senior senators chief of staff David Wade denied the old salt was berthing his boat out of state to avoid ponying up to the commonwealth.

The boat was designed by and purchased from a company in Rhode Island, and its based in Newport at the Newport Shipyard for long-term maintenance, upkeep and charter purposes, not tax reasons, Wade told the Track.

And state Department of Revenue spokesguy Bob Bliss confirmed the senator is under no obligation to pay the commonwealth sales tax.

But back in 2006, then-gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos took some flack for avoiding some $23,000 in Bay State sales tax and $1,320 in local excise taxes by berthing his motor yacht in Rhode Island. But Mihos paid just $475,000 for his 36-foot vessel Ashley and readily admitted that he used the boat at his West Yarmouth summer home.

However, according to Bliss, if Kerry berths the Isabel in Massachusetts waters within six months of purchasing the boat, theres a presumption of use and the Heinz-Kerrys would have to walk the plank and pony up to the Bay State. After six months, should the boat change its berth to, say, Nantucket, then its up to the state to go after them for the taxes, Bliss added.

Yesterday, the Isabel, which lists Great Point LLC of Pittsburgh, Penn., as its owner, was getting a spruce-up at the Hinckley shipyard in Portsmouth, R.I. Sources say the senior senator is demanding that some warranty work be done.

Fontaine, a protege of legendary sailboat designer Ted Hood, was tight-lipped about the owners of Isabel but he did confirm the boat was built in New Zealand. According to Internet reports, Kerry was seen in Whangarei last December inspecting his new high-seas plaything

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Home Front Economy

Pelosi, Kerry May Share Pain as AIG Stakes Evaporate

2008-09-23

The market storm that brought down Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., American International Group Inc. and other pillars of U.S. finance may have also blown holes in the portfolios of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator John Kerry and more than 50 other members of Congress.

Pelosi, in her most recent financial disclosure form, reported that her husband owned between $250,000 and $500,000 of stock in AIG, which ceded majority control to the U.S. government this week in exchange for $85 billion of loans.

Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, disclosed that his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, had more than $2 million of AIG stock at the end of 2007, when shares were worth $58.30. AIG has fallen 85 percent this week to close yesterday at $2.69. The lawmakers' aides didn't respond to calls seeking comment.

Altogether, 56 senators and representatives had stakes in AIG, Lehman, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns Cos. or IndyMac Bancorp Inc. -- some of the biggest casualties of the market bloodbath -- according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The most recent annual disclosure filings list investments as of Dec. 31, 2007, and reveal the size of holdings only within a range of values. Lawmakers may have sold shares since then.

``Lawmakers, like everyone else in America who has any kind of retirement portfolio or stock holdings, are going to be suffering,'' said Gary Kalman, a lobbyist for the Boston-based U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a consumer-advocacy organization. ``This is a serious issue. We need to have a serious response.''

Market Plunges

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index plunged 7.6 percent during the first three days of this week on news that Lehman and Merrill Lynch & Co. -- which survived two world wars and the Great Depression -- were finished as independent investment banks.

Lehman filed history's biggest bankruptcy case on Sept. 15 and Merrill sold itself to Bank of America Corp. Even after rallying yesterday, the S&P 500 is down almost 25 percent from its October 2007 peak.

Lehman shares, which traded for as much as $67.73 last November, closed yesterday at 5 cents. Merrill's shareholders are in better shape. To avoid Lehman's fate, Merrill agreed to be acquired in a stock-swap worth $26.28 per share at yesterday's closing prices. In better days, Merrill soared to as much as $98.68 in January 2007.

Bear Stearns was the first Wall Street titan to fall as home-loan defaults battered the market for mortgage-backed securities and started a chain reaction that devastated credit markets. JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought Bear Stearns in March.

Government Takeover

Earlier this month, the government took control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which together accounted for almost half of the U.S. home-loan market. Fannie Mae shares had already plummeted more than 80 percent this year, to $7.04 from $39.98, before the government's Sept. 7 takeover was announced. Shares dropped to 73 cents when trading resumed the next day. Freddie Mac fell to 88 cents, after starting the year at $34.07.

Representative Robin Hayes, a North Carolina Republican, had Congress's biggest AIG stake, according to the Washington- based Center for Responsive Politics. Hayes's AIG stock was worth between $2.8 million and $11.5 million.

John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, avoided potential losses. Because of the Arizona senator's run for the White House, his wife, Cindy, last year liquidated a blind trust that had contained stock in AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Lehman. The amounts of stock she had owned weren't disclosed.

Representative Jane Harman, a California Democrat, owned between $50,000 and $100,000 of Lehman shares, according to her disclosure form. Calls to offices of Hayes and Harman weren't returned.

Pasadena, California-based IndyMac's bank was seized by U.S. regulators in July, in the third-biggest U.S. bank failure. IndyMac stock closed yesterday at 6 cents, after trading earlier this year for as much as $11.32.

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Home Front: Politix

How to Buy Helpful Idiots: John McCain funded by Soros since 2001

2008-02-12

Candidate's Reform Institute also accepted funds from Teresa Kerry

As Sen. John McCain assumes the GOP front-runner mantle, his long-standing, but little-noticed association with left-wing donors such as George Soros and Teresa Heinz Kerry is receiving new attention among his Republican critics.

In 2001, McCain founded the Alexandria, Va.-based Reform Institute as a vehicle to receive funding from George Soros' Open Society Institute and Teresa Heinz Kerry's Tides Foundation and several other prominent non-profit organizations.

McCain used the institute to promote his political agenda and provide compensation to key campaign operatives between elections.

In 2006, the Arizona senator was forced to sever his formal ties with the Reform Institute after a controversial $200,000 contribution from Cablevision came to light. McCain solicited the donation for the Reform Institute using his membership on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, he supported Cablevision's push to introduce the more profitable al la carte pricing, rather than packages of TV programming.

No Surprise Here

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