There are two ways of looking at the Hunter Biden tax 'n gun case:
The whistleblower view: Hunter was involved in some serious criminal acts but prosecutors let him off easy due to political pressure (i.e., the White House quietly pushing them to back off).
The prosecutor view: No ordinary person would be criminally charged for the stuff Hunter did, but he was charged anyway due to political pressure (i.e., Republicans yelling and screaming).
Savvy readers will note that the first view gets far more media exposure than the second one, even though there's essentially no evidence for it aside from the opinions of the whistleblowers, who feel slighted because prosecutors disagreed with them. This media imbalance is largely because Republicans trumpet their innuendo loudly and persistently while Democrats mostly want to keep their distance from a guy who is, everyone agrees, not a sympathetic figure.
A friend of mine expressed dismay the other day that the Hunter Biden investigation had taken so long and come up with so little. Maybe, I said, that's because there was nothing to come up with. Sleazy is not the same as illegal, after all, and it's not illegal to sit on Burisma's board or deposit payments in offshore accounts or act as a lobbyist for Chinese firms.
Even the two criminal charges that were eventually filed against Hunter are unusually weak. In particular, tax payment disputes are typically administrative, not criminal, and end up with deals for payment of the amount due plus fines. Buying a gun while using drugs is a criminal offense, but it's virtually never charged. The diversion deal offered to Hunter by prosecutors is, if anything, more severe than normal.
Maybe it will eventually turn out that Hunter committed some crimes. Perhaps he failed to properly register as a foreign agent, for example. But so far, despite the sound and fury from Republicans that endlessly implies criminal behavior, they've come up with nothing. It's funny how often that's the case.
I knew Joe shouldn't have made Hunter Secretary of State.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-kushner-saudi-prince-money-conflict-interest-1234678351/
😉
I can't wait for the FBI to announce its opening a bunch of special field offices in places like AZ, WY and TX to investigate and come down like a fucking hammer on anyone who fudged some detail on their federal gun application. I'm sure everyone would be totally cool with that.
Oh, and while we're at it, let's top up funding at the IRS to catch more rich tax cheats like Hunter Biden! How can Republicans possibly oppose that?
Next Time Republicans try to gut the IRS, Democrats should asccuse them of trying to defend Hunter.
Like +10! As I keep saying, fire back at them using their own rhetoric. They're just whiny snowflake cucks, after all. Amirite??
That would be the "weaponization" of the FBI! And the Freedom Caucus wants to defund the FBI and AFT.
Meanwhile, my right-wing brother (who sends me stuff about e.g. Hunter) has sent me a couple of things about a supposed bombshell from the Gateway Pundit re Michigan voter fraud.
Republican voter fraud, but blamed on the Democrats?
“ Buying a gun while using drugs is a criminal offense, but it's virtually never charged”. Is likely true, but misleading.
According to a friend, an Assistant Distract Attorney, seldom does someone so blatantly admit to (book and videos) committing a Federal offense. Thus, while a DA would likely not investigate this type of gun crime, Hunter made his own guilt very easy to prove. Most DA would charge when the case is a near slam dunk
According to a friend, you've done hard time for soliciting a minor.
"Maybe Hunter Biden didn’t do anything wrong?"
That's unpossible, Kevin! Hunter's a Demonrat, and by definition, every thing Demonrats do is illegal! Not to mention evil! Evil! /s
Is he a Democrat? I've never heard him express any political views.
Can you imagine the fits republicans would be throwing if the DOJ started prosecuting gun owners for lying on the federal form that asks if they use drugs?
The real point is to convince people that the prez was directly involved in Hunter's hijinks. Next thing you know, the Biden crime family is trying to overthrow the government, which would make Joe the Republican nominee for president. What a scheme!
There's an opinion piece in the WaPo today trying this approach. His evidence? The one email that references "the big guy". The rest is all "questions remain" and "shadows around the administration." Or as I like to call it: BS.
I thought I read his tax charges were dropped
Hunter and the prosecutors reached a plea deal, but then for some reason the judge rejected the deal, so now we're back at the beginning.
Back to the beginning eh?-) https://youtube.com/watch?v=r91knqIVwAU&feature=share
I'm in the "Who cares?" camp when it comes to Hunter Biden. He's family, and the rule for the president's family should be family is off-limits. Unless there's a case where the president is abusing the office for favor or protection of a relative -- and there's not a scintilla of evidence that's the case here -- it's not newsworthy. If a family member is convicted of a felony, print the news on page 15 and forget about it.
The only three postwar examples I can think of: the Trumps, the Bushes, the Kennedys. Each had family serving within the administration or holding high-level office in government. Those cases deserve scrutiny. (Worth noting: in those three cases, presidents were born into families of extraordinary privilege.)
That said, shouldn't we be way past the time when "Republicans claim _____" should be taken at face value? They have zero credibility. People -- media, particularly -- need to ignore them.
"examples" = "exceptions"
The repulsives absolutely must have issues to whinge about or they wouldn't be 100% mega's. Hunter is the new Hillary. It will go on forever. These folks don't seem to get tired of hauling out the same old "chestnuts" over and over. Sad as there are so many important issues to whinge about.
It's dementia. They forget that they whined about it a half hour ago.
Projection. With Republicans it's always projection.
I mean, calling the Russian Embassy and asking for secret back channels isn't a crime....
For a quarter century, the GOP investigated the Clintons and all they came up with was the little blue dress.*
The GOP also never found proof Obama was born anyplace but Hawaii. And his administration is one of the most scandal-free in all history.
And now Hunter.
Dudes. The Democratic Party just aren't that good. The GOP attributes super-powers to Dems they just don't have to disappear their crimes.
Inversely, after such a long, long long losing streak of coming up with nothing but the little blue dress* and Hunter's drug and porn addictions, one has to wonder why the GOP faithful continue in their faith of Democratic bad behavior.
Both sides do not do it.
*Yes, Bills a dog. Hunter, too. But Hunter is not a politician, not running for office, and not in office, not even advising anyone on office. Certainly not booking rooms in the family hotels for foreign dignitaries while leaving classified info lying around on couches.
"This media imbalance is largely because Republicans trumpet their innuendo loudly and persistently while Democrats mostly want to keep their distance from a guy who is, everyone agrees, not a sympathetic figure."
Oh, please Kevin. This is because media owners don't Democrats (or rather, their policies), full stop. Stop trying to portray the media hapless and helplessly caught in the middle.
Don't like Democrats, that is.
While I agree that the political media follow the rule that the news equals whatever Republicans are yelling about, it is a fact that Hunter Biden has no vocal defenders. This is in sharp contract to every Republican wrongdoer.
I don't know whether it's the hack gap, the tendency of most Democrats to look at each other as rivals rather than teammates, or something I haven't thought of, but Democrats did not loudly and aggressively defend Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, or Hillary Clinton from political media smear campaigns. It cost us dearly.
I honestly don't care much about Hunter. If he broke the law and did something that it's reasonable to prosecute (I know, subjective) then he should be prosecuted. and have his due process. Same with Trump. If the prosecutor can make a case and isn't abusing their power, go for it. Both have enough money that they'll get a fair shake in court.
I still haven't heard anything concrete (with any evidence) that Joe Biden is supposed to have done that's illegal. Even Hunter's alleged crimes seem pretty minor.
The supposed IRS "whistleblowers" are in fact being run and represented by a bunch of professional Republican ratfuckers masquerading as a "nonpartisan non-profit". They brag about their history of working for Chuck Grassley, especially in the 'Fast & Furious' stunt and the investigation of Hillary's emails. They are clearly right-wing activists and journalists should be saying so.
https://empowr.us/leadership/
Worse, the past perfect ‘had taken’ is wrong because the DOJ intends to continue investigating. That was one reason the deal fell apart — the defense thought that the case was concluded. The other reason was that the deal assigned a role to the judge which she stated might violate the Constitution, and was at least virtually unprecedented. The collapse had nothing to do with the alleged leniency of the deal; that was a Republican lie.
Can we please use the word "whistleblowers" to describe people who reveal actual wrongdoing, and not for people who just make random stuff up.