News Doctor Who Andor’s Varada Sethu Will Climb Aboard the TARDIS for Doctor Who’s Fifteenth Season Ncuti Gatwa’s second season will see a brand new companion step onto the TARDIS. By Molly Templeton | Published on January 24‚ 2024 icon-comment 0 Share New Share Twitter Facebook Pinterest RSS Feed More From BBC See All Posts News Academy Awards Here Are the Genre Films That Scored 2024 Oscar Nominations By Vanessa Armstrong January 23‚ 2024 News sci-fi tv Traveling to Outer Space Will Mess Up Your Mind‚ According to Constellation Trailer By Vanessa Armstrong January 22‚ 2024 Featured Essays Avatar: The Last Airbender A Quick Guide to the Avatar: The Last Airbender Extended Universe By Cole Rush January 24‚ 2024 Comment 0 Featured Essays The Prisoner The Prisoner’s “The Schizoid Man” Doubles Down on Imposter Syndrome By Dan Persons January 24‚ 2024 Comment 2 icon-left-caret Caret See All Posts Ncuti Gatwa has barely arrived on the scene‚ and things are changing in the world of Doctor Who. Gatwa’s Doctor‚ who arrived in last fall’s “The Giggle” and took center stage in the Christmas episode “The Church on Ruby Road‚” will have a new companion for his second season in the TARDIS. According to Variety‚ Millie Gibson‚ whose Ruby Sunday was introduced in the Christmas special‚ will step down as companion after a single season—to be replaced by Andor’s Varada Sethu. But‚ Radio Times notes‚ Gibson “will still appear in the series but with a smaller role.” Sethu was fantastic—if underused—as Cinta Kaz in Andor. She also appeared in Jurassic Park Dominion‚ played a CIA analyst in Prime Video’s Hanna‚ and was a detective in the British series Annika. Absolutely nothing has been revealed about her Who character. The fourteenth season of the series‚ showrun by Russell T. Davies and starring Gatwa and Gibson‚ is set to arrive on Disney+ in May. The season will feature more than a few guest stars‚ including Nicola Coughlan (Derry Girls)‚ drag queen Jinkx Monsoon‚ Glee’s Jonathan Groff‚ and Indira Varma (Game of Thrones‚ Obi-Wan Kenobi). Season fifteen‚ Variety reports‚ is now filming in Wales. The post <;i>;Andor<;/i>;’s Varada Sethu Will Climb Aboard the TARDIS for <;i>;Doctor Who<;/i>;’s Fifteenth Season appeared first on Reactor.

Welcome back to Reading the Weird‚ in which we get girl cooties all over weird fiction‚ cosmic horror‚ and Lovecraftiana—from its historical roots through its most recent branches. This week‚ we cover Nadia Bulkin’s “Seven Minutes in Heaven‚” first published in Aickman’s Heirs in 2015—you can find it most easily in Nick Mamatas’s Wonder and Glory Forever anthology. Spoilers ahead! “Memento Mori. I remembered.” Amanda lives in Hartbury‚ one of two towns on Mt. Halberk. The other‚ Manfield‚ is a ghost town whose steeple‚ water tower and municipal dome peek above the trees when you drive down Highway 51. A long time ago‚ there was an accident at Manfield’s chemical factory which released a cloud of pesticide gas‚ killing all its inhabitants. Amanda won’t learn this story until junior high—young Amanda imagines God crying “away with you sinners” and waking extinct Mt. Halberk to exact His vengeance. A “morbid” child‚ she soothes her anxieties by drawing pictures of Manfield complete with stick-figure people and animals. Then she draws the volcano pouring black Sharpie curlicues of destruction down on the town. On Manfield—not on Hartbury‚ not on her. Amanda’s friend Jennifer is afraid of ice cream trucks. Amanda’s phobia is less whimsical: She’s afraid of skeletons‚ because they make her think about “what waited for [her] on the other side.” Pastor Joel tells her that Heaven will hold no ugliness or suffering‚ and besides‚ it will be a long time before she’s ready to go. Well and good‚ but his reassurances can’t banish the under-the-bed skeleton that emerges to clamp rotten fingerbones around her neck. It takes her teacher Miss Lucy to exorcize the nightmares‚ Miss Lucy so loves Halloween that she hangs a skeleton decal from the classroom American flag. She tells Amanda that she shouldn’t fear skeletons‚ given she already has one inside her. Parents don’t like Miss Lucy. She’s replaced by Mrs. Joan‚ who doesn’t like Halloween. At seventeen‚ Amanda makes her first visit to Manfield with friends—a “hardcore” way to celebrate Halloween. Their vision of an Old West ghost town is far from the truth. With its “ticky-tacky houses and plastic lawn gnomes and busted minivans‚” Manfield looks “just like Hartbury—only dead.” Allie’s surprised to see that the newspaper clippings taped in a tavern window are only twelve years old. Parents have been vague about the chronological distance of the disaster‚ stating it was “a while ago.” “A while‚” Amanda thinks‚ is one of those “slipshod words that you could rearrange to cover up the fact that somewhere‚ somebody was wrong.” Amanda goes out of town to college‚ where her most critical lesson comes from an anthropology-obsessed roommate‚ who’s reading a book called A History of Forgotten Christianity. One chapter’s on cults of universal resurrection. Around 350 such communities sprouted in Northeastern America‚ mostly in small towns subject to high mortality rates. The cultists believed God had granted them the power to raise the dead. Pastors and elders could perform a ritual immediately postmortem to prevent the soul from leaving. Two details chill Amanda. The cult’s symbol was the scarab beetle‚ whose offspring emerge from balls of dung—like the stained-glass windows in her home church. And most universal resurrection cults eventually converted to mainstream Christianity. Most‚ but not all. Amanda leaves college and goes to the city. She’s known that the toxic cloud that destroyed Manfield did blow toward Hartbury; she’s assumed it never got there. Now she’s convinced Hartbury’s home to the walking dead. She estranges herself from her family and substitutes for them “Brother Whiskey and Sister Vodka.” At twenty-three‚ she returns home for her aunt’s funeral. Her parents are frightened by the tattoos of bones she wears by way of memento mori. They’re appalled when she reacts with hysterical terror and laughter to Pastor Joel’s funeral oration: O death where is thy sting? Her father accuses her of having no respect for the life her town’s given her‚ while she counters he has no respect for death. Why doesn’t he bring Aunt Ruth back to life if he loves it so much? Her father answers that Aunt Ruth was ready to go. Ready this time. Amanda returns to Manfield‚ alone except for the family dog Buttons. The ghost town looks more dilapidated now‚ but she follows a new group of thrill-seeking teenagers. One guy mentions the neighboring town that also got gassed but survived. His mother was a 911 operator who got a flood of calls from Hartbury. When rescue workers arrived‚ they were told everyone was fine. Amanda roams again‚ through a world succumbing to plagues and war and martial law. She gets sober but keeps moving. On a bus trip in “the dead of summer‚” her own skeleton returns to her‚ “its agony…so much deeper‚ that much richer…grown up.” She tells a fellow passenger‚ an old man with rotting teeth‚ about Hartbury and confides a secret: She died there. He grins and says‚ “Join the club‚ living dead girl.” On her third visit to Manfield‚ Amanda finds nature reclaiming it. But still there are thrill-seeking teenagers. She hides and eavesdrops. One recounts a story from a friend-of-a-friend: the town’s haunted by a girl with a dog. So Buttons is going to live forever‚ unlike the FOAF who was deployed and died. “Everyone was dead‚” Amanda concludes. “Everyone was alive.” And a fighter jet roars overhead‚ “on time for its appointment with the grim reaper.” Libronomicon: Narrator’s college roommate quotes to her from A History of Forgotten Christianity‚ sharing unwanted information about the sect in which she grew up (or went through some semblance of growing up). Madness Takes Its Toll: The narrator describes herself growing “older and madder”; it’s entirely unclear which meaning of “mad” she intends. Ruthanna’s Commentary The world is off its track. Something happened that wasn’t supposed to happen‚ or something didn’t happen that was supposed to. And with one thing off-track‚ everything goes sideways and keeps going‚ stranger and stranger and worse and worse‚ a katamari damarcy runaway trolley of wrongness. It is‚ maybe‚ a familiar feeling. Nadia Bulkin is a long-time Reading the Weird favorite—this is the least bloody of her pieces we’ve covered so far‚ and also maybe the creepiest. I read a story in my teens—here it is‚ wow‚ I didn’t expect to find it!—in which a man is given a book by a street preacher entitled You Will Never Die. The book’s message is not so hopeful as one might presume from the title: it suggests that in a multiverse of infinite possibilities‚ where new realities split off with each decision and dice roll‚ every individual consciousness will follow the track of possibility in which its existence continues. If you get hit by a runaway trolley‚ you’ll wake in a world where the trolley was sideswiped by a bus just before it hit you‚ saving your life and destroying others. The longer your consciousness goes on‚ of course‚ the stranger and more unlikely the world around you becomes—depending‚ as it does‚ on the increasingly wild events required for your personal survival. The narrator ends up the last survivor of Earth‚ being “salvaged” by aliens via…maybe you should just go read‚ I’m not sure I can adequately summarize it. It’s all very unpleasant and exactly as strange as you’d expect from Robert Anton Wilson. “Seven Minutes in Heaven” feels of a piece with that story. Something is off-kilter right at the beginning‚ and the world gets worse and stranger as it goes. It’s never quite labeled as an alternate history—but the narrator’s survival requires Christ the Worm and Christ the Scarab‚ requires resurrectionist priests and a seven minute refund period on death. Perhaps it also required the Pacific Wars and broken highways‚ survivors of some further unspecified war murdering each other beside buses. I’m reminded again of another story‚ this time Ursula Le Guin’s The Lathe of Heaven‚ where a therapist manipulates a patient who can dream changes into reality‚ trying to make the world better and succeeding only in painting humanity into ever-worse corners. Which brings us back to Last Exit‚ and the question of whether a better reality is findable‚ and if so what it takes to get there from a local maxima surrounded by chasms of dystopia. I don’t think the narrator of this story is going to get past those chasms‚ somehow. If half-life can be pulled from death‚ then life grows increasingly meaningless‚ and decisions (perhaps to go to war and launch angelic war planes) become increasingly made by the half-alive who refuse to acknowledge what they’ve done. The resurrection of Hartbury might have gone very differently if not accompanied by the insistence that everything is fine‚ that Mansfield died decades ago‚ that history was never different and couldn’t ever have been different. Lies‚ like violations of natural law‚ multiply and run out of control‚ until truth and lie—like life and death—can no longer be distinguished‚ and one can’t be preferred over the other.  One subtle horror‚ among the many obvious ones‚ is how the resurrected Hartburians lose the solace of irrational phobia. In our world‚ a child with nightmares about skeletons or the sea can be reassured that dreams aren’t real and fear can attach to anything. But here’s poor Jennifer Trudeau and her freak ice cream truck accident—perhaps waking in a worse and stranger reality with her head attached to an alien robot? Or her brain in a jar on its way past Yuggoth? That may be the worst possibility. In a world where “everyone was dead; everyone was alive‚” there’s no particular expectation that well-meaning priests—even ones capable of mass resurrection—are right about the other options at the end of that seven-minute waiting period. The narrator recalls only darkness in her memento mori. Maybe there’s no heaven for the solidly dead after all. Maybe there are just increasingly fractional states of living‚ in ever-increasing states of uncertainty‚ far from the track where the world started. Anne’s Commentary I can sympathize with Amanda’s compulsion to draw pictures of Manfield and its volcanic destruction. Putting the tormenting image down on paper is the only way she can get it out of her head and remind herself it was Manfield that incurred the wrath of God‚ not Hartbury. When I was in early grade school‚ I overheard my mother talking about some kid who got lookeemia and died. My takeaway was that kids were especially susceptible to lookeemia and always died from it. Always‚ because what it was‚ your heart was normally half-red and half-white‚ but sometimes the white half started eating the red half until the heart was all white‚ and then forget about it‚ the worms would soon be crawling in and out‚ like the song said. I’d barely gotten over thinking I’d get leprosy like guys in Bible stories and have to totter around noseless with a bell around my neck. Now I drew page after page of cartoons in which normal hearts went lethally bleached. The last frame was a skull with X’s instead of eye sockets. Not that I was a morbid child or anything. I was quite cheerful after drawing the hearts‚ because it was never my heart in the cartoon but that of some kid too dumb to ward off lookeemia via the magic of art. I had to look up this Seven Minutes in Heaven game. Also the concept that it takes seven minutes for the soul to journey to paradise. Eventually Amanda learns that the name doesn’t refer to a variation of freeze-tag‚ but to a party game popular with teens. In the party game‚ two of the players go together into a closet or similar tight‚ dark space and stay there for seven minutes‚ chatting or kissing or making out‚ name your level of intimacy. Being an inveterate eavesdropper‚ Amanda might have heard some teens talking about Seven Minutes; caught‚ they might have come up with the freeze-tag story. Or she might have asked adults about the game‚ and gotten the embarrassed fib. Those who were adults when the Manfield factory belched death are used to telling face- and/or sanity-saving lies to their children. The truth was that Manfield’s wind-wafted poison-cloud entered Hartbury attenuated enough not to kill everyone before Parson Joel and associates had time to revivify the stricken. I bet the Manfield people used to shake their heads about those scarab-worshiping Hartbury folk‚ but the cosmic laugh was on them when the Universal Resurrectionists had just the right disaster plan in place. Or… did they? In addition to discovering the true nature of the Seven Minutes game‚ Amanda realizes that seven minutes isn’t the length of time it takes for a soul to reach heaven. I tried to figure out where she got this notion. Unsurprisingly‚ I could track down no consensus on the theological question. Some suppose the soul transitions to the afterlife at death. Others suppose the soul remains in a transitional state for varying lengths of time‚ like the forty-nine days Tibetan Buddhists believe a soul lingers in the bardo before rebirth. Some Biblical passages contend that nobody goes to heaven instantly‚ but must “sleep” until the Second Coming‚ as in John 5: 28-29: For the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good‚ to the resurrection of life‚ and those who have done evil‚ to the resurrection of condemnation. In 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-15‚ Paul tells the dozing dead not to worry that the wide-awake will beat them to the Throne of Judgment: “We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.” This may reassure most of us‚ but what about those resurrected not by divine trumpets but by potentially criminal necromancy? Pastor Joel‚ I’m looking at you. I’m sure you meant well‚ but in legend and weird fiction‚ usurping godly powers rarely ends well. Can living dead girls hope to join the existentially pure on the Last Day? Is their only salvation finally choosing to die and stay dead‚ like Aunt Rose? Bulkin doesn’t say‚ but are the Universally Resurrected immortal? Amanda evades many mortal perils in the apocalyptic times of her maturity: plague‚ war‚ people who’ll kill you for the stale Kind Bars in your backpack. To consider Amanda’s situation from a more philosophical‚ perhaps ecological standpoint: Can one respect life without respecting death? This is an argument Amanda has with her father when he accuses her of not valuing what Universal Resurrection has given her. Amanda has plenty of memento mori‚ “the shadows of nearly all [her] bones…tattooed across [her] body.” She‚ however‚ doesn’t have to remember she must die—she already has died‚ as she tells the old man on the bus. He says to join the club‚ which probably doesn’t mean he’s also Universally Resurrected‚ although that would be cool. Everyone is dead‚ everyone is alive. That’s the epiphany Amanda takes away from her last visit to Manfield. In the midst of life‚ we are in death. Figuratively true for all. Actually true for Amanda. Is it any wonder if she’s a bit morbid? Next week‚ maybe we finally learn about Elsinore? Maybe‚ in chapters 25-26 of Max Gladstone’s Last Exit. [end-mark] The post Memento Mori: Nadia Bulkin’s “Seven Minutes in Heaven” appeared first on Reactor.

Classes set Enshrouded apart from the other survival crafting games. You’re in the right place if you want to learn what the best class is in Enshrouded. What is the best class in Enshrouded? Enshrouded features three colored paths in its skill tree: red‚ blue‚ and green. Each colored path contains your stereotypical RPG tropes like warrior‚ rogue‚ and wizard‚ but they each branch off into four individual classes‚ making the total number of classes in Enshrouded 12. Related: Best Skills in Enshrouded‚ ranked In general‚ red is the best‚ green is second‚ and blue is the worst. The Enshrouded skill tree is fluidly connected which is why I recommend investing a little bit into every colored path‚ but red has the best classes because it features the best melee skills which is the most effective way of engaging in combat and it has armor skills that increase your survivability. I think the best class in Enshrouded is Warrior with Tank being a c...

In Palworld‚ every Pal has a chance of having certain Passive Skills. These will either benefit the Pal‚ or debuff them in certain stats. Having good Passive Skills is something that you may want to pass on in breeding or improve. Here are all the Passive Skills in Palworld. Note that a Pal may have both good and bad Passive Skills‚ making them quite the mixed bag. All Positive Passive Skills in Palworld Screenshot: PC Invasion Here is a list of all the positive Passive Skills in Palworld‚ sorted alphabetically. There are loads here‚ and they range from increasing their effectiveness in battle‚ making them better workers‚ or buffing you. Note that some of these Passive Skills may come with a downside‚ but ultimately‚ they’re skill good if you lean into what they’re good at. Passive SkillEffectsAbnormal-10% incoming Neutral damageAggressive+10% Damage and -20% DefenseArtisan+50% Working SpeedBlood of the Dragon+10% Dragon damageBo...

Now that Season 3 of Diablo 4 is upon us‚ many players online are sadly discussing how underwhelmed they are by the Seneschal Companion. This little robot friend is the main attraction of Season of the Construct‚ but unfortunately it seems like they’re not as helpful as players would’ve liked. Seneschal Companion sadly isn’t impressing many Diablo 4 fans If you take one look on the Diablo 4 subreddit‚ you’ll probably notice an influx of posts complaining about the Seneschal Companion. The user “Paul_Allens_AR15” on this Reddit post discussed how Season 3 has taken a great step backwards. Talk about a great step backwards byu/Paul_Allens_AR15 indiablo4 Although they really enjoyed Season 2’s Blood Harvests‚ it seems like Season 3 just isn’t as fun for them. According to this user‚ the traps in the Vaults are too punishing‚ and the Seneschal Companion doesn’t seem to be doing much during comb...

One of the best aspects of Palworld is‚ of course‚ the Pals‚ and you’ll be able to use certain abilities‚ such as riding them in combat. We’re going to run over the best ones for players to use for mounted combat in Palworld. Palworld: Best Pals for mounted combat Some Pals will not only let you ride them throughout the world but can use their combat abilities at the same time — perfect for taking down members of the Syndicate or even during boss battles. While you aren’t able to mount all the Pals in Palworld‚ the following Pals are going be extremely useful for combat‚ as they offer some powerful moves from either a distance or up close to enemies. Grizzbolt By now‚ most of you have seen Grizzbolt‚ as they’re the Pal that is shown throughout trailers as the one with the ability to use a mini-gun. This enables the Pal to be extremely useful at the onset of battles‚ as using it first will get some quick burst damage o...

Smoldering Ashes in Diablo 4 is important mainly because it helps you level up the game’s Battle Pass. Earning the ashes can be time-consuming since the requirements can vary in difficulty. However‚ there are ways to farm the Smoldering Ashes for the battle pass in Diablo 4. So follow along to earn the ashes efficiently. Diablo 4: Efficient ways to farm Smoldering Ashes for your Battle Pass in Season 3 Smoldering Ashes can only be earned in one way‚ and you need to be level 40 with the Battle Pass at tier eight to start getting the ashes. If you’re worried about paying up real money‚ don’t worry the ashes are a part of the free Battle Pass.  Related: How to unlock Season Blessing in Diablo 4 Farming for Smoldering Ashes can be done in a couple of ways‚ one is free and the other is paid. Let’s break down each way. Leveling up the Battle Pass for free The free method and probably the most used‚ is simply playing the game. Meaning‚ ...

We’re joined by Jay from The Purple Stuff podcast as we explore the Halloween themed fun of Wizard 87 featuring an interview with Gene Simmons of KISS &; Todd McFarlane‚ the works of horror illustrator‚ CONTINUE READING... The post WIZARDS The Podcast Guide To Comics | Episode 87 appeared first on The Retro Network.

Navy SEAL deployments are often long and grueling‚ and leaving school-age children behind only adds to the challenge‚ especially if the children are struggling in school.  If a father is “getting ready to go on mission‚ and there’s Timmy failing in second grade‚ that’s all he’s going to think about‚” says Gretchen McIntosh‚ the executive director of SEALKIDS.  And for the mothers at home with a husband deployed and a child struggling academically‚ McIntosh says‚ Mom is often “stressed out” by the task of meeting the needs of a “child at home that has a learning disability.”  Out of seeing an immense need for additional educational support for many Navy SEAL families‚ the organization SEALKIDS was born.  “SEALKIDS steps in so that Dad can concentrate on his mission ahead‚ because we’re handling the mission at home‚” McIntosh explains.  SEALKIDS not only connects families to tutors and other education resources in their area‚ but also raises funds to help the families pay for those additional resources.  SEALKIDS is active in 17 states and is serving 390 kids this year‚ with a focus on helping children with learning disabilities.  McIntosh joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” during National School Choice Week to share the stories of the families the organization has helped and to explain how it hopes to expand its work to serve even more SEAL families.  Listen to the podcast below:  Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post On a Mission to Serve Navy SEALs’ Kids With Learning Disabilities appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A key player in a joint venture between Hunter Biden and one of Communist China’s largest private companies‚ CEFC China Energy‚ is scheduled to be deposed this week as part of the House’s impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.   That key figure‚ Mervyn Yan‚ is a private equity manager and investor based in New York who facilitated key portions of the Hudson West III joint venture owned by Owasco‚ one of Hunter Biden’s companies‚ and Hudson West V‚ a company controlled by CEFC China Energy.  Initial hopes for a long-term relationship between CEFC and the Biden family were dashed following legal action in the U.S. against Patrick Ho‚ the head of the Chinese company’s U.S. think tank‚ and in China against CEFC’s chairman‚ Ye Jianming.  Hunter Biden once described Ho to a friend as “the f—ing spy chief of China.” Since commencing their investigation of possible influence peddling by the Biden family‚ Republicans on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee have focused on what they say is a scheme‚ repeated across multiple companies and individuals‚ in which foreign entities paid members of the Biden family in return for access to top officials‚ including the senior Biden when he was vice president.  CEFC China Energy‚ formed in 2002‚ had over $48 billion in revenue in 2015 and over 30‚000 employees at the end of that year. CEFC supposedly is a private company‚ but evidence suggests it was influenced by the Chinese Communist Party. In January 2017‚ in a story referring to the Czech Republic‚ Reuters news service reported that little was known about the ownership of CEFC China Energy‚ writing: “CEFC’s wide range of investments in the central European nation and its hiring of politically connected figures there has led to questions in the Czech media about whether CEFC is purely commercially driven or is operating under the influence of the Chinese government.”  To date‚ the House committee’s investigations of the CEFC component of the alleged Biden family scheme have uncovered payments of over $4.8 million to at least three family members‚ as well as at least one direct meeting between CEFC and Biden when he was vice president to President Barack Obama. Committee investigators’ ongoing work aims to clarify the extent of the senior Biden’s involvement in the financial and business relationship between his son Hunter and the Chinese business‚ as well as both parties’ expectations for the services the Bidens would provide.  Yan‚ slated for questioning this week in the congressional deposition‚ is one of only a few firsthand witnesses to the interaction between CEFC China Energy and the Bidens whom Congress has succeeded in subpoenaing. CEFC: A Collector of Top Officials At its peak‚ CEFC China Energy was a billion-dollar business that played a key role in advancing China’s “Belt and Road” initiative.  Based on 2018 reporting by The New York Times and more recent congressional investigations‚ the public has learned that‚ at the same time CEFC was advancing the Belt and Road initiative‚ company Chairman Ye and other top officials created a think tank in America to cultivate relationships with top government officials here and elsewhere. Ho was the head of CEFC’s U.S.-based think tank.    CEFC‚ with Ho’s help‚ was able to nurture those relationships by offering hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to influential former government officials. For example‚ Bobby Ray Inman‚ a former director of the National Security Agency‚ reported declining an offer from the Chinese company that would have paid him $1 million per year for businesses that were not specified. As in the case of CEFC China Energy’s initial outreach to Inman‚ who also was a former CIA deputy director and national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter‚ the reason for the Chinese company’s financial overtures often were unspecified or opaque on their surface. However‚ publicly available information suggests that CEFC’s ultimate goal was buying political influence. For example‚ Inman told The New York Times that he later rebuffed a second request from a CEFC official—this time explicitly asking for help persuading the U.S. military not to bomb oil resources in Syria that the Chinese company was considering purchasing In other cases‚ influential former U.S. government officials didn’t decline CEFC’s money; the company paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to a pair of think tanks headed by James Woolsey‚ CIA director during President Bill Clinton’s administration‚ and Vuk Jeremic‚ president of the U.N. General Assembly in 2012 and 2013.  Notably‚ Jeremic failed to respond to a letter from the House Oversight and Accountability Committee in February 2023. CEFC China Energy also donated hundreds of thousands more to the Clinton Foundation‚ the nonprofit formed and run by Clinton‚ his wife Hillary Clinton‚ and their daughter Chelsea Clinton.  One troubling example in which it appears CEFC’s overtures succeeded is outlined in a Justice Department indictment of Gal Luft‚ co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security‚ or IAGS—a think tank founded by Woolsey. The indictment‚ unsealed in July 2023‚ charges Luft with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act by‚ among other things‚ working with Ho and Ye to recruit and pay Woolsey (identified as “individual-1” in the Luft indictment) to “publicly support certain policies with respect to China.” It says: Yan a Key Player in Biden Family Business The FBI arrested Ho in the U.S. in November 2017 and he later was charged with and convicted of international bribery and money laundering. Ye disappeared into China’s murky legal system after being detained in early 2018‚ and has not been seen since.  After Ho’s arrest‚ Biden family members and their legal team worked with Yan‚ the equity manager‚ to quickly dissolve Hudson West III and sever all connections between the Biden family and CEFC China Energy. In the period between formation and disillusion‚ Yan also played a key role in operational aspects of Hunter Biden’s Hudson West venture. Rep. James Comer‚ chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee‚ subpoenaed Yan in November to appear for the deposition set for this week.  It isn’t clear whether the Justice Department previously had interviewed or investigated Yan regarding either Hunter Biden’s alleged violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act or official probes of Ho or other CEFC affiliates.  Yan’s deposition by congressional investigators likely will focus not only on the details of the financial arrangement between CEFC China Energy and the Bidens‚ but also on both parties’ motivations and the types of business they planned.  Scrutiny of Illegitimate Loans Questions from congressional investigators about Yan’s financial dealings are likely to focus on several overarching topics.  One area of potential interest is a $5 million nonrecourse loan from CEFC China Energy to Hunter Biden’s Hudson West III. Much of the proceeds of this loan ultimately benefited members of the Biden family.  Yan played an important role in distributing money to the Bidens by setting up Hudson West III’s initial bank and credit card accounts‚ which he provided to Hunter Biden and to his uncle and aunt‚ Jim and Sarah Biden (Joe Biden’s brother and sister-in-law).  CEFC’s nonrecourse loan to the younger Biden’s venture‚ which wasn’t repaid‚ has been characterized by Republican lawmakers as a bribe disguised as a loan. Hunter Biden’s history of nonrecourse loans also drew the scrutiny of Gary Shapley‚ a career criminal investigator at the Internal Revenue Service who later became a whistleblower for congressional investigators. Shapely has stated that the loans lacked regular elements such as promissory notes‚ defined interest‚ and scheduled repayments over time. A second topic of interest to investigators‚ the hurried dissolution of Hudson West III‚ provides further evidence of the informal nature of this large payment to the Bidens.   Multiple documents from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop‚ first released by the conservative research organization Marco Polo and reviewed by The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project‚ are relevant to the ongoing impeachment inquiry. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s news outlet.) One document‚ an email sent the month after Ye’s detention in China‚ was written as CEFC China Energy began to dissolve. In the email‚ Hunter Biden’s secretary at Hudson West III‚ JiaQi Bao‚ encourages the younger Biden to think of the financial agreement between himself and Ye as a personal agreement.  She writes that “it doesn’t matter whether the left-over operations funds [are] labeled as ‘personal goodwill/loan’ or ‘non-recourse‚’ ‘recourse‚’ ‘borrowing/drawing’ … just take it and keep as much as possible.” Bao‚ then in her late 20s and a graduate of Arizona State University and China’s Tsinghua University‚ first appears in the contents of the younger Biden’s laptop in connection with the Hudson West III joint venture as a personal assistant. She later would write to him to encourage his father’s presidential bid in 2020.  Strangely‚ in an email replying to another message that she had been let go because of the dissolution of Hudson West III‚ Bao gave advice to Hunter Biden to “keep as much money as you can.” It appears that the president’s son took her advice‚ because nearly a year later Yan apparently was unsure how to treat the unorthodox payment to the younger Biden for tax purposes.  This was because Hudson West III‚ which made loans to the younger Biden‚ had been dissolved without loan repayment. A final relevant document details the care taken by Hunter Biden’s lawyer‚ George Mesires—working with Yan‚ the younger Biden‚ and CEFC affiliate Gongwen “Kevin” Dong—to “effectively divorce” companies in which Biden held an ownership stake from the Chinese company and its affiliates.  In this communication‚ Mesires explains to Hunter Biden and his uncle‚ Jim Biden‚ that neither Yan nor his company‚ Cold Harbor Capital LLC (which would replace Hudson West V in the joint venture with the younger Biden) were affiliated with CEFC China Energy.  Investigations by Sens. Charles Grassley‚ R-Iowa‚ and Ron Johnson‚ R-Wis.‚ determined that Yan and his company were the beneficiary of over $318‚000 from activities related to Hudson West III. One sticking point in this “divorce” between members of the Biden family and CEFC China Energy involved office-sharing agreements and lease agreements between Biden entities and CEFC Infrastructure Investment (US) LLC‚ a subsidiary of CEFC China Energy.  Documents show that the younger Biden’s Hudson West III shared office space with CEFC in New York City at 3 Columbus Circle. Documents also show that the Bidens planned joint office space with CEFC in the Georgetown neighborhood at House of Sweden‚ one of the most exclusive waterfront buildings in the nation’s capital. According to emails‚ the D.C. office was to be occupied by Joe Biden‚ his wife Jill‚ brother Jim‚ and son Hunter‚ along with the younger Biden’s business partner Dong‚ whom he characterized as an “emissary” of Ye‚ CEFC’s chairman. In one 2017 email‚ the younger Biden refers to Yan as one of “my partners.” It’s not clear whether the office at 3 Columbus Circle was among the properties raided by the FBI following Ho’s arrest Nov. 18‚ 2017.  Chinese authorities arrested Ye about four months later‚ and CEFC China Energy subsequently went bankrupt.  Questions of Motive A little more than a week before the FBI arrested Ho‚ Hunter Biden sent a message to Dong‚ asking him to pass it to “C‚” presumably “Chairman Ye.”  The younger Biden‚ writing from an email account that uses his legal first name‚ Robert‚ wrote that “my uncle and myself are grateful for your wisdom of including Kevin [Gongwen Dong] and Mervyn [Yan] in this endeavor.” The indication that Yan and “CEFC emissary” Dong were both suggested by Ye‚ coupled with the coincident timing of Yan’s appearance in emails that initially discussed a Biden-CEFC joint venture‚ casts doubt on the assertion by Miseres‚ the younger Biden’s lawyer‚ that “Mervyn [Yan] indicated that he has no affiliation with CEFC.” Indeed‚ it seems possible that the formal separation of Yan and CEFC China Energy may have masked an informal relationship that was much cozier. If correct‚ this structure is reminiscent of a conversation that former business partner Tony Bobulinski claims he had in May 2017 with Jim Biden.  In that conversation‚ Bobulinski said‚ Joe Biden’s brother explained that he wasn’t worried about business deals with the Chinese or other foreign entities risking his brother’s future presidential campaign because of “plausible deniability.” That same month‚ Hunter Biden and his partners circulated a business prospectus titled “CEFC China Energy Investment Vehicle: Targeted Geographics for Development.” Among other topics‚ this document highlighted Joe Biden’s relationship with foreign leaders in Colombia as part of what Bobulinski described as a “framework for a partnership between CEFC China and local partners‚ with a solid basis starting and the very foundations of the country’s administration.”   In deposing Yan this week‚ congressional investigators have one of only a limited number of chances to peel back any layers of “plausible deniability” that still may exist between President Joe Biden and CEFC China Energy in the minds of Americans.  Ultimately‚ what is most important is that Americans be provided with as much evidence as possible with which to judge for themselves how far a major Chinese company’s apparent political influence operation traveled through the Biden family. Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post House Panel Scrutinizes Key Player in Biden Family Business With China appeared first on The Daily Signal.