Tag Archives: Hunter Biden

national news

Hunter Biden sticks it to ’em

Most of the time I would be inclined to chastise a public figure for refusing to answer a legally issued subpoena.

Not this time. The public figure of the moment is Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden. A congressional committee had subpoenaed Hunter Biden, demanding that he testify in private to the committee.

Biden is having none of it. He wants instead to talk publicly to the panel, in front of the world, on the record so that everyone can hear his answers to the questions that will come.

I am forced to wonder: What is wrong with that? I can’t think of a reason why Hunter Biden would want to go behind closed doors. I can think of plenty of reasons for him to insist on public testimony.

First of all, he wants to expose House Republicans’ efforts to find any sort of crime that can connect him to his father. He has said that Daddy Biden derived “no financial benefit” from his son’s corporate work.

Second, he wants the committee to seek to explain publicly why it is conducting the hearing in the first place.

Third, Biden would take an oath to tell the whole truth. Failure to do so would result in punishment. He could take the oath, speak the truth and let the public draw its conclusions over who is telling the entire truth.

The Hunter Biden probe is headed for oblivion, in my humble view … right along with the Republicans’ impeachment inquiry aimed at finding impeachable dirt on his dad.

national news

Impeachment talk = nonsense

All this blather and bloviating about impeaching President Biden is likely to send me to the nut house.

Congressional Republicans keep saying they have “evidence” of corruption involving Joe Biden when he served as vice president from 2009 until 2017. Where, though, is it? It’s hiding somewhere, right? Hell, I have no idea.

They want to impeach the president on specious allegations that he benefited somehow from his son’s employment with oil companies abroad. Hunter Biden himself is under investigation and has been indicted on a firearms violation.

These Republicans, led by the MAGA morons on the far right, are scouring the landscape for any evidence of “high crimes and misdemeanors” they can hang on the president.

Frankly, this nonsense has gotten way out of hand, out of control and shown that Republicans in Congress are out of their ever-lovin’ minds.

They smell blood in the proverbial water, though, with the president’s poll numbers slipping and Donald J. Trump reportedly ahead on matchups against the president in 2024.

It is energizing the MAGA base. Indeed, the MAGA cultists want to do all they can to divert attention from the real crimes their guy —  Trump — will face criminal trials soon.

crime news

Hunter Biden indicted … so?

What do we make of the three indictments handed down against Hunter Biden, son of the president of the United States?

Do they affect the president’s job directly? No. Do they draw Daddy Biden into Hunter’s web? No.

The indictments come from a grand jury in Delaware operating under the advice of a federal prosecutor appointed by Donald J. Trump. The indictments concern Hunter Biden’s illegal possession of a firearm and the alleged lie he told to obtain the weapon.

Hunter Biden was in the throes of a drug addiction. Federal law prohibits a drug addict from owning a firearm. Hunter Biden filled out a questionnaire that asked him if he had a drug problem. He said “no.” That was the wrong answer.

Yes, this is an embarrassment for the president. I have zero doubt that the MAGA spin machine is going to crank out all sorts of circumstances juxtaposing the president with the illegal conduct of his grown son.  It’s unfair, to be sure … but certainly not unexpected.

Make no mistake about this likely outcome, which is the 2024 presidential campaign just got a good bit murkier.

media news

‘Protecting’ Bidens? Seriously?

The conspiracy theorists who populate the MAGA crowd really and truly just crack me up!

They contend with a straight face that journalists are “protecting the Bidens” from exposure for the crimes they reportedly have committed. Bribery, extortion, money laundering. They say it all leads to the top of the family food chain, which in this instance means also to the top of the U.S. government.

Wow! I now want to explain a little something about journalism and those who practice an honorable craft.

I keep my hand in the career I pursued for nearly 37 years. My days as a full-time journalist are long gone, as I am now an old man who still reads the news daily and enjoys the rough and tumble of journalistic combat.

OK, what do I know about the craft? It is populated by highly competitive individuals. Newspapers compete against each other. So do TV networks, streaming services, digital outlets. Those who continue to work in journalism vie with each year for recognition among their peers for the good work they do.

I offer this as my way of telling you the conspiracy theorists ignore the competitive nature of journalism, even in the form it is taking these days. No journalist worth a damn is going to sit on a story involving a politician with whom he agrees politically because he doesn’t want to “embarrass” him or her.

A journalist is going to expose anything he or she believes is worth reporting to the public. That is part of the job they all sign on for when they hit the streets in search of the next big scoop.

I also must remind everyone who reads this blog that journalists are not bound by ideology. They do not just “seek out conservatives” because they work for the “liberal media.”

Let me toss out a few names for you: John Edwards, Anthony Weiner, Jim Wright. Oh, wait … Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton! These all are prominent politicians, all are Democrats, all are so-called members of the “liberal elite.” They all were targets of aggressive journalists looking for the truth behind the assorted allegations that rocked their respective careers.

You can spare me the bullsh** notion that the media are “protecting” President Joe Biden and his son because they want to protect the president. In the real world of gumshoe journalism, such an allegation is as phony as it gets.

crime news

There’s no ‘there’ to Biden probe

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Republicans in Congress have begun their expected yammering over the plea deal struck by Hunter Biden with the Department of Justice.

Biden, the son of the president, pleaded guilty to tax charges and to illegally purchasing a firearm. He won’t go to jail, assuming that a federal judge approves the agreement.

The GOP caucus in Congress is now alleging that Biden got away with something. I am forced to ask: What precisely did he escape?

Republicans vow to continue their witch hunt against Biden until they find something they can hang around his neck.

Let’s understand something about this whole matter. Republicans have been “investigating” Biden for many years, dating back to before his dad became vice president. Have they found anything on which to file charges? Any criminality discovered?

The answer: No! Nothin’, man.

They will come up with actionable accusations the same way they promised to do so with Hillary Clinton and the alleged crimes she committed while serving as secretary of state.

As Gertrude Stein once said of Oakland, Calif.: There is no “there” there.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden

Biden plea an end? Hardly

Hunter Biden worked out a deal with the federal government to plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges. He won’t get jail time.

Is this the end of the Republican Party’s ongoing battle to find something incriminating against the president’s son? Will this spell the end of a search that will have no end?

I think not.

No, it’s likely going to signal at least a temporary surge of interest among the MAGA morons who comprise part of the Republican base. They’ll want more, and more after that … and even more after that. To what end is anyone’s guess.

One of the charges involves some back taxes he owes; the other involves the purchase of a firearm when he was battling drug addiction.

Now, to be sure about this matter, Hunter Biden isn’t entirely clean. He did have an alcohol and drug crisis. He sought help. He got it. He’s now clean and for that he deserves high praise not damnable condemnation.

He also has to explain why he took that job with a Ukrainian energy company that paid him millions of dollars annually. He doesn’t have a thimble full of knowledge about energy exploration. Hunter Biden, though, was the son of the U.S. vice president when the firm hired him.

Now the former VP is the top man. Hunter Biden’s plea deal means he won’t be imprisoned. I am chagrined to report, though, that none of this signals an end to the “witch hunt” that has been ongoing for longer than any of us can remember.

It’s politics, man. It stinks.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

DOJ calls it quits on Hunter Biden

Well now, the U.S. Department of Justice has sent its investigative team — the one working on whether to charge Hunter Biden with a crime — home.

Something tells me the DOJ has decided what many of us have believed all along, that Republican questions about the president’s son have produced a serious nothing burger.

Shades of Benghazi, it looks for all the world to me.

You’ll recall that the GOP congressional caucus looked high and low for something on which to charge then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the wake of the terrorist raid on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. It was a tragic event, to be sure. The GOP found nothing it could hang on Clinton or her diplomatic team.

Now comes this baloney involving Hunter Biden. He made a lot of money working for a Ukrainian oil company. That’s a crime? Hardly!

I don’t expect the GOP hounds to be called off. They’ll keep looking. I mean, we have an election coming up and President Biden’s foes need all the dirt they can find to sully the president’s re-election effort.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

What did Hunter Biden do?

The MAGA wing of what passes for today’s Republican Party keeps insisting that Hunter Biden — the son of the president — is guilty of something, so it intends to probe whatever he has done.

I now will weigh in on what I believe to this day to be a nothing burger unworthy of the term “scandal.”

Hunter Biden accepted a role with a Ukrainian oil company. He has no experience as a petroleum engineer, or as a financial wizard. He happens to be the son of an important American politician. So, the oil company thought it could use Biden’s high-profile name to gin up its profits. As Hunter Biden’s dad once said: Big fu***** deal!

Is that a crime? Is it any different, say, than what Jared Kushner has done by being the son-in-law of another prominent American? Let’s also examine the income that Don Trump Jr. has earned by being the son of that American. Or … how about the other son, Eric Trump?

Look, I am not going to play he “what about?” game here. I just am baffled by the so-called interest in Hunter Biden’s business activities. I am willing to concede that it looks kinda shady that an individual with no practical or demonstrable experience would take a huge salary while possessing not a lick of experience in that field.

However, other politicians have lent their famous names to projects. I recall a politician who once represented me in Congress, Jack Brooks, a Beaumont Democrat, served on various bank boards during his 40 years in Congress. Was he a financial expert? Did he have actual banking experience? Uhh … no! But he earned a handsome income and left Congress in 1995 far wealthier than when he entered that body.

Did he do anything illegal? Did he compromise his service to the nation? No.

It is my strong sense that the MAGA cabal is going to come up as empty in its Hunter Biden probe as it did when they looked high and low for dirt on Hillary Clinton. They found nothing then. They will find nothing now.

It’s all just so much crap!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Revenge on its way

We had better steel ourselves for what appears to be shaping up as the new Congress gets set to takes office in January.

Of particular concern is the House of Representatives, which will have slim Republican majority. What’s on tap? Vengeance, man!

House GOP leaders have made it clear they intend to go after Hunter Biden, his business interests and whether his father — the president of the United States — is somehow implicated in allegedly illegal activity.

Climate change? Gun violence? Roe v. Wade? War and peace? Forget about it!

No. The House GOP is sighting its weaponry on Hunter Biden. They are angry because Democrats managed to impeach the former POTUS twice, once for soliciting political help from a foreign government and once for inciting an insurrection. The second impeachment resulted in a Senate trial in which 57 out of 100 senators voted to convict, but it didn’t meet the two-thirds threshold required by the Constitution.

So, here comes the revenge.

You want good government? Or the search for common ground? Constructive legislation? Don’t make me laugh!

The MAGA wing of the GOP is positioned now to put maximum pressure on congressional leadership. They have shown zero reluctance to fight back when any opportunity presents itself … or when they can create their own opportunities.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, legal news, national news, political news

Waiting for barrage to batter POTUS

Let’s all wait for what many of know is coming if federal prosecutors decide to indict Hunter Biden on allegations involving tax violations and the purchase of a firearm.

What I am sure we’ll see will be Republican efforts to link President Joe Biden to his son’s activities. They’ll seek to paint the president with the same broad brush that they’ll use to slather Hunter Biden.

It will be a shameful display of demagoguery, which many of us have come to expect from the Grand Old (Obstructionist) Party.

I will continue to pull for the president to weather this storm … if it opens up.

Reports indicate that investigators think they have enough to prosecute. It’s not their call. The decision rests with the U.S. attorney. If the attorney decides to go forward, I intend to ignore the rubbish that will pour fourth.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com