Hunter Biden is in trouble for guns and taxes.
Republicans are celebrating.
Reality is stranger than farce.
Hunter Biden is a deeply troubled man. He has traded on his proximity to power throughout his adult life. He may well have a great deal of raw talent -- he got into and through Yale Law School, but that fact is lost in the larger fact that he worked the angle of the family name. This included putting his father on speakerphone so business colleagues and clients could hear for themselves that Senator Joe Biden, and later Vice President Biden, was a loving father in communication with Hunter.
Irony One. Now that proximity jumps up to bite Hunter Biden. Republicans want a scalp with that name. Hunter Biden is a celebrity in conservative media. Having worked hard for years to show others how tight he is with his father, now the entire GOP political and media establishment is doing that work for him.
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| Fox News Alert: Hunter emailed his father! |
Irony Two. Of all the things that Hunter Biden did that was provably criminal, Republicans got him on a gun charge. I personally am thrilled there are laws making it a crime for a user of illegal drugs to buy a firearm, and illegal, too, for a person to sign a government document falsely swearing one is not an addict. (As with the fake elector certifications, I take seriously false swearing on government documents.) From my point of view, the more ways that government can take guns away from dangerous people, the better. But GOP gun rights orthodoxy and a near-unanimous GOP take a different view. They assert that people have a constitutional right to acquire and bear arms, and that broad restrictions on that right are wrong and illegal. We are in the odd situation where Republican politicians and media are celebrating Hunter Biden getting charged with a crime that Republican politicians and media, and many GOP-appointed judges, don't think should be a crime at all.
Irony Five. I think the nepotism that surrounds political figures is immoral and corrupting. It looks swampy because it is swampy. Gifts, benefits, contracts, and jobs to children are a way for private interests and foreign governments to curry favor with American politicians. Hunter is an example of this, and the GOP has leaped on it. GOP politicians and media call it the "Biden crime family." The irony is that we have examples of the same thing taking place for seven years without objection from Republicans, in the form of Don Junior, Eric, Ivanka, and Jared Kushner getting trademarks, investments, golf tournament deals, and hotel business, which benefit Donald Trump's family and businesses. Now the GOP cares about nepotism.
I am not inclined to minimize or excuse Hunter Biden's behavior. Yes, I know he was touched by misfortune. Troubled people -- people with tragedy in their pasts and addictions to deal with -- sometimes commit crimes. That is who we imprison, troubled people who commit crimes. Hunter is another iteration. I am perfectly happy to have him treated like everyone else. If that means the "the book" is thrown at him, and he serves years in prison with other troubled people, so be it. Possibly both Democrats and Republicans will better examine our prisons and justice system -- especially if people of privilege start ending up there. If Republicans get on board prosecuting gun and tax crimes, it is all the better for America. And if Hunter's prosecution means that Republicans acknowledge that criminal behavior should be investigated and prosecuted, all the better. And if Hunter's influence-peddling is examined for criminality, and that puts light onto Trump's children, onto gifts to Supreme Court justices, and of nepotism generally among House and Senate members, again, all the better.
Irony can serve a good purpose. It helps us see hypocrisy. Maybe Hunter Biden will end up in the same prison as Trump.
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Here is a short video I just posted on YouTube.
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| https://youtu.be/96Ot41QNzSQ |
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10 comments:
What's remarkable is that after five years of investigation, this is what they've managed to come up with. Whatever happened to the Great Laptop Conspiracy that was supposed to be the administration's undoing?
Dittos on each irony. Talked politics in a golf tournament after we had been friendly for 15 of the 18 holes. [ a mistake] Brian said no one had ever told him how Trump and Biden were different. I exclaimed that Trump was a criminal personality with 91 indictments who lied continuously. That he was the epitome of the worst criminals in prison and that he would be excluded from any treatment programs in prison due to his corrupting influence. Brian looked at me and responded that Hunter Biden was very bad. I responded, well, if he deserves to go to jail, I hope that is the case, along with other people who deserve to go to jail. He talked golf stuff after I said that.
Great observations, which leave me with the question:
"How could the Bidens be so dumb that they thought they could avoid scrutiny?"
So...if you receive a bribe from a foreign government you deposit it into your checking account? And all this time I've been hiding mine in my mattress...
Seriously, if any of this is illegal and prosecutable then it's not just"troubled", but also monumentally laughably tragically stupid. The tragedy being that just the accusations will no doubt dominate the conversation and lead to voter confusion. This is just complicated enough for voters to throw up their hands in frustration and adds fodder to the "both sides are corrupt" justification, which is exactly what Republicans are shooting for.
The Bidens are wealthy, solidly in the 1%, such are the rewards of public service, as are many in Congress. As reported on his tax disclosures his net worth is from real estate and book deals, it will be up to his accusers to prove otherwise, but the real irony is that they don't have to.
I love the irony in this piece! Republicans supporting gun laws and tax laws! lol.
They may convict Hunter Biden fairly soon, and then it will die down as a big republican whatabout...
Yeh, whatabout trump's demon spawn and their big takings?
Trouble is, as you pointed out, regarding trump's charges, it will take unanimous jury verdicts, and who knows if that can happen.
I am more worried about the House in general, focusing on a Biden removal and on stopping the government from running. Will some moderate republicans get a pair and stop this nonsense?
Oh, an aside, while it will probably be Biden again in 2024, another candidate to keep in mind would be Hakeem Jeffries. He could win and be a competent president.
Having read Hunter Biden’s memoir, I was struck by the fact that he never was arrested or charged for his illegal drug purchases. He freely admits doing it, and while he was using he was reckless and easily could have been caught. I don’t like prison for drug users, preferring diversion to rehab, but if thousands of other addicts were locked up, Hunter certainly qualified. I do love the irony of the gun and tax crimes. Wondering if Republicans are secretly hoping for acquittals. It may be hard to get the gun conviction in Delaware if there’s a trial. As much as I feel for Hunter because of his struggles, it probably would be better for Democrats if they just let the judicial process take its course. Then open season on equally guilty Republicans.
Addicts, including alcoholics, have a biopsychosocial brain disorder called substance use disorder.
Individuals in active addiction often do all sorts of shady and terrible things. They also lie a lot, to themselves and to the other people in their lives.
Fortunately Hunter Biden did not seriously injure or kill himself or anyone else. He has caused many problems for himself and his loved ones, but that is the nature of the disease. Addiction is a family disease because everyone in the family suffers.
Help is available for individuals struggling with substance use disorder, as well as their family and friends. Search on the internet.
Re Irony One? Republicans want a scalp with the name of the most serious allegations, namely tax evasion on and laundering of monies generated via violation of foreign agent registration laws. These arguably involve Joe, according to Hunter’s business partners and his own complaints to his sister on the once-fabled Laptop.
Re Two? “Republicans” got him on a gun charge? That he’s facing anything now is only because a federal judge in Delaware declined to rubber stamp a whitewash job arranged by the same functionary now saving face with comparatively makeweight charges. Democratic hawkishness on gun regulations is an irony here too.
Three: “He” (Hunter) has repaid the back taxes? A rich Democratic lawyer paid them off via a, coff coff, loan. Hunter is no taxpayer. And that compliant federal prosecutor let the statute of limitations run on the most serious tax charges. Hunter begged poverty on his child support while “paying” 15K a month to rent a Malibu mansion.
Four: A well-respected federal judge in Delaware called B.S. on the unprecedented plea deal which would have effaced Hunter’s total criminal liability in a highly unusual diversion arrangement. Suddenly Democrats are not so convinced of an independent-minded judiciary, a jurist here somehow taking to heart what House Republicans said about the deal?
Five: Now Democrats do NOT care about apparent nepotism and corruption, even when in one instance an aid package to Ukraine was leveraged by Joe for the protection of a Ukrainian energy company employing Hunter (for some reason or another)? Unlike Ivanka and Jared, Hunty was NOT a government official. Just a private citizen frequently taking Air Force Two overseas to foreign business destinations with an obliging, incurious father….
For Biden and Trump protectors alike, the story is “Avoid/iignore/minimize the substance. Look at the opponent’s shameless double standard!” Meanwhile, the goalposts have steadily moved from Joe having no knowledge whatsoever of his son’s business dealings to there being no “direct” evidence of Joe cashing in…..
A recent study conducted at the University of Arkansas finds that men with heightened physical strength are perceived as more conservative by others.
The study found that men who seem fit and healthy and have some bulk are considered right-wing, while thin or svelte and weak-looking men were assumed to lean left. The results came from a series of four experiments that sought to establish a link between political orientation and a fit physique, according to the Daily Mail.
Viewers were presented with photos of male bodies with faces covered and asked to rank which ideology they thought the men would espouse. The bulkier, more fit subjects were thought to be conservatives, with experts linking their more fit appearance to a heightened competitiveness.
The day before Hunter Biden was indicted, a conservative-led panel on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal gun law used to charge Biden was unconstitutional when it was applied in a previous case.
I've never voted for Hunter and don't plan to.
He's got a loving family and his father is a great President!
We all know the GOPee's game.
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