Florida Chicom Crackdown, A Legal Test & Flood Insurance Sticker Shock – Top 3 Takeaways – May 9th, 2023
- Chicom Crackdown Complete. Yesterday, Governor DeSantis signed three bills which will become law July 1st, doing about as much as the state of Florida can do to combat potential threats posed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his country’s Communist party. The governor is touting the reforms as the strongest in the nation as Chinese entities and affiliates will be banned from purchasing farmland in Florida or any land within relative proximity to a military base. This is a practice the Chicoms have been executing in recent years throughout the county’s heartland. Florida’s new policy bans “sensitive data”, a la medical and financial records, from being stored on servers that are either owned or affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party. Florida’s colleges and universities will be banned from accepting any grant or gift from an individual or enterprise deriving from a “country of concern”, of which China is most certainly one. That’s on the heels of the Justice Department finding the CCP had forged a criminally corrupt partnership with a top professor at Harvard and supporting evidence from the Center for Immigration Studies illustrating CCP connections at a minimum of 150 American colleges and universities. And the new policy bans Chinese controlled or affiliated apps and related software programs, a la TikTok, from being installed on all government and government employee (IE public school teachers) devices. With these laws Florida has gone further than any other state in attempting to combat the influence of the Chicoms, it’s too bad our state’s policy changes don’t apply to the President of the United States. Speaking of which and speaking of Chinese Communist influence in this country...
- A true test of our legal system. If the most recent Hunter Biden rumors are true, that a decision on whether to bring charges against him in the four-year investigation into various nefarious actions is imminent, we’re set to have a true test of our legal system. With last week’s meeting between Hunter Biden’s legal team and Justice Department officials last week, it would appear that the end of the investigation is at hand, or is it? House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, who’s been leading the House probe into the Hunter Biden bonanza has now said this: What they’re looking at charging Hunter Biden on is a slap on the wrist. While now imploring the Justice Department not to make a final decision about to charge or not to charge until after a Wednesday presser Comer said: We reviewed documents from the legally protected whistle-blower, highly credible whistle-blower, that would implicate Joe Biden in a pay-for-play scheme, in trying to set up a deal to receive funds to he and his family, in exchange for foreign policy decisions. My message to the Department of Justice is very loud and clear. Do not indict Hunter Biden before Wednesday, when you have the opportunity to see the evidence that the House Oversight Committee will produce with respect to the web of LLCs, with respect to the number of adversarial countries that this family influence-peddled in. Provocative sounding? Yes. Logical? Yes. But my first question for Comer is why if you have this in hand are you waiting for a Wednesday presser? Why not ensure you beat the prosecutor to the punch by putting it all out there? There may be a specific reason why it can’t be done sooner, however a polished setup for a press conference wouldn’t be a good one if that’s it. And here’s the thing. Allegations are allegations, right? How many years and how many allegations have been thrown at Donald Trump? As always though there are two sides to stories and one side to facts. Here’s the immovable fact of the case that’s bigger than illegal guns, crack whores, and tax evasion. Hunter Biden miraculously became a member of the corrupt oil company Burisma while his dad had Ukrainian oversight as Vice President. Hunter Biden was paid significant money to be on the board of Burisma. The Ukrainian prosecutor investigating corruption at Burisma was fired at Joe Biden’s direction as he threatened to withhold US foreign aid if he wasn’t fired. Hunter Biden then struck up a business relationship with a Chinese Communist controlled entity. The relationship paid him and his associates, including “the Big Guy” a minimum of $5 million. Now these aren’t allegations. What I just referenced are known facts. There’s enough concern in President Biden’s camp to suggest that something is coming based on sources leaking to Politico. But what will it be? This is a true test of our legal system and whether those within the federal bureaucracy are even remotely serious as they've suggested no one is above the law. Meanwhile, closer to home...like literally your home...
- Brace for the impact of FEMA’s new flood policy pricing. FEMA’s new dynamic flood insurance policy pricing, soon to be implemented, will lead to sticker shock for many South Floridians – with the single biggest jump anywhere hitting especially close to home for many in Jupiter and Tequesta. About 80% of property owners will be seeing price hikes with approximately 20% of property owners seeing decreases. But where the increases hit – they can be especially hard. The largest increase of all is a greater than threefold increase in cost in the zip code 33469. The average flood policy currently costs $780 annually – that will now be $3,449 annually. Yikes. In Palm Beach County I was unable to find a single zip code where, on average, prices won’t be rising, though western communities will see relatively benign increases for the most part. However, all coastal Palm Beach communities will see at least a 200% increase in flood insurance pricing, several east of 95 that will at least double. Now, if you have an active flood insurance policy, the maximum annual increase is 18% - meaning those most impacted should expect to see maximum annual increases for the foreseeable future. For those relocating into the most impacted communities – the flood insurance pain will be felt immediately. Many flood insurance plans throughout the Palm Beaches will carry the premiums typically associated with wind mitigation policies. The devastating floods of Hurricane Ian combined with record rainfall events like what Broward recently experienced have forever taken their toll on our flood insurance market. It’s not the news you want to hear but it’s the news you need to be aware of if you carry flood insurance or if you purchase a property that will have it.