Tag Archives: Hunter Biden

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‘No one is above the law’

No U.S. citizen is above the law … that includes former presidents of the United States or the direct family members of the current president.

Hunter Biden, the surviving son of President Biden, is guilty of three counts of violating federal law in the purchase of a firearm. He faces a potential prison term of 25 years if the federal judge who presided over the case sees fit.

Biden likely won’t get that stiff of a sentence. There appears to be a decent chance he will avoid any lockup time. If I were King of the World, I would dictate that Hunter Biden receive a lengthy probationary sentence. That would be within the judge’s sentencing guidelines. It works for me, as it remains faithful to the “no one is above the law” mantra.

As for the ex-POTUS, whom the New York jury convicted of 34 counts of campaign law violation for paying the adult film actress 130 grand to keep quiet about a tumble the two of them took, he faces a possible jail sentence as well.

I am willing to accept any punishment that the judge is preparing to hand out, although a big part of me wonders if Donald Trump is bellowing his way into some jail time by attacking the judge, the jury and the system itself. Has the criminal defendant shown any remorse? Hah!

Yep. No one is above the law.

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DOJ isn’t anti-GOP … got it?

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Let us all just take a deep breath while pondering a key jury verdict … and then dispel this fu**ed-up notion that the US Department of Justice is being “weaponized” for use against Republican politicians.

Hunter Biden, the surviving son of Democratic President Joe Biden, has been convicted by a jury of three felony counts related to his purchase of a firearm while he was abusing drugs.

It was a federal case, meaning that DOJ prosecuted it. It’s the same DOJ run by Attorney General Merrick Garland, who this past week mounted a stern and forceful defense of his agency’s conduct.

“No one is above the law,” became the mantra of the DOJ as it prosecuted Hunter Biden. It was the same mantra followed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office achieved a conviction of Donald J. Trump on a hush money charge.

Will the Biden conviction silence DOJ’s critics? Will they ever acknowledge publicly what most of the rest of us know, that the AG takes seriously the oath he pledged to defend the Constitution?

I shall add that President Biden has declared that a pardon for his son will not occur. 

I should point out, too, that two more Democratic politicians — U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas — both have trials pending; they, too, are being prosecuted by the Justice Department.

This idea that jury verdicts are “rigged” and that the system is “corrupt” and “broken” just does not wash.

The only “rigging” that has occurred within the federal system has been done by the 45th POTUS, the purveyor of the Big Lie and the man who now stands before us as a convicted felon.

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Pardon, or no pardon?

What is a man to do when he holds the highest office in the land and his son is facing possible prison time if he is convicted of a federal crime involving drugs and the purchase of a firearm?

Does he pardon the son …. or not?

Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, might get a 25-year prison sentence if a jury convicts him on all counts stemming from his purchase of a gun while he was being treated for drug addiction. The issue, as I understand it, is whether he lied about the drug use when he bought the gun.

Meanwhile, Daddy Biden holds the exclusive power to pardon his son of all crimes by virtue of the office he occupies.

My own bit of unsolicited advice to the president? Don’t do it if Hunter escapes any prison time. For my money, I don’t think he will serve any time behind bars … but that’s just me.

Dad wants to be re-elected president at the end of the year. Do you remember the last high-profile presidential pardon and the impact it had on the results of that election? In 1976, President Ford was running for election. One month after taking office, in September 1974, he pardoned former President Nixon of all crimes associated with the Watergate scandal. That act likely destroyed Ford’s chances at election.

I cannot provide any counsel for what Joe Biden should do if his son is tossed into the slammer. That’s why we pay POTUS the big dough.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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‘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.

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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