In February 2017, weeks after President Donald Trump selected him to be agriculture secretary, [Sonny] Perdue’s company bought a small grain plant in South Carolina from one of the biggest agricultural corporations in America....An examination of public records by The Washington Post has found that the agricultural company, Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), sold the land at a small fraction of its estimated value just as it stood to benefit from a friendly secretary of agriculture.
Remember when Donald Trump was president and stories like this were almost weekly occurrences? And Republicans didn't care even slightly? Those were the days.
Then Joe Biden took over and . . . life got boring. There was a story a few weeks ago trying to make hay out of the fact that a few sons and daughters of cabinet member had gotten government jobs, but it was pretty weak tea and went nowhere. We seem to be living once again in an era of relatively honest governance from the White House.
But at least we have Hunter Biden to kick around, eh? Ne'er-do-well offspring of presidents are practically a tradition in the United States, which means that Hunter fits right in. So far he's failed to even fail spectacularly, but I'm sure Republicans will keep up the hunt.
"Remember when Donald Trump was president and stories like this were almost weekly occurrences?"
Weekly? Try daily. Or even hourly. Remember, the policy was: "be so insanely corrupt that voters and the media stop even trying to keep up and eventually just become accustomed to the white noise."
I mean, WH staffers started actually *joking* about the number of times they would violate the Hatch Act. They were proud of it.
I just hope Kellyanne's daughter is well enough to shoot the Netflix celebreality limited run series, "Conway or the Highway: a Family Life in Suburban Maryland in Suboptimal Times".
Hell, maybe fellow Maryland Dad Drew Magary, the Prep School Non-Filipino Version of George, will even make a cameo.
They were like the '94 Knicks If you foul everyone all the time, the refs cant possibly call everything. Almost worked!
The Legion of Boom erasure.
Kevin: But at least we have Hunter Biden to kick around, eh?
What is Hunter Biden up to now? Painting. He's not only making paintings, he's selling them too. It's a scandal!
Robin Abcarian, LA Times:
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-06-23/column-hunter-biden-expensive-paintings
As is often the case with art at this level, the identity of buyers will not be disclosed, leading not just his father’s political enemies, but also ethics experts and some of Biden’s allies to speculate about whether this is just the latest example of Hunter exploiting the family name for profit.
...It’s a pity that Hunter Biden is once again exploiting his family name for cash. I am no art critic, but I doubt he’d have a viable career as an artist if his father were not the most powerful man on the planet.
Elsewhere in her piece she criticizes Hunter Biden, who once had a drug problem, for living in Venice, CA, where drugs can easily be found. "Why put yourself in temptation’s path like that?" she writes. It's an odd question from someone who's chosen to live, and raise a family, in the same neighborhood.
"He's not only making paintings, he's selling them too. It's a scandal!"
Yes, but if he's selling them, he's probably selling more and for more money because his father is president, which is not a scandal, just business as usual.
Nothing sells in the US like celebrity, unless it is power and the proximity to power.
If George W. Bush's name was George Bushinski from Midland, Texas, how much attention does anyone think his paintings would have attracted?
Capitalizing on the names and positions of powerful and famous parents is one of the great advantages that some children have. The list would barely fit in an OED-length tome.
It does seem pretty clear that this is what Hunter Biden does for a living. Again, not a scandal, but an intelligence and integrity test for the buyers.
Being the child of a celebrity or powerful person can probably be pretty horrible for some people. Hunter's brother went into politics...capitalizing on his father's name whether he wanted to or not. They should just leave Hunter alone. If he makes a lot of money from selling crappy paintings to stupid people, it will hardly be the greatest injustice in history; neither will it represent a threat to our system of government. You know, like the Republican Party.
And, who knows, maybe he has talent.
This Onion News Network bit a few years back on Bush's painting hobby still cracks me up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0mS5I-j_Gc
"He said he doesn't remember doing that one!"
Is there any neighborhood, anywhere in the USA, where drugs can't easily be found?
Are you upset that you don't have any?
George W. Bush & Hunter Biden have just followed the typical addict's course from recovery to art.
This Onion News Network bit a few years back on Bush's painting hobby still cracks me up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0mS5I-j_Gc
"He said he doesn't remember doing that one!"
IMO, the Hunter Biden narrative hasn't caught fire, not because it's boring or false, but because most people find it cold and heartless to (a) attack a human who has fallen down and is struggling to rehabilitate himself, and (b) knocking down his family who has only ever worked to support him.
Look around. Everyone knows someone who has struggled with some form of addiction.
The few people who think there's value in attacking Hunter are probably those who refuse to see their own addiction problems and find it easier to deal with their cognitive dissonance by projecting.
'the Hunter Biden narrative hasn't caught fire, not because it's boring or false'
It is absolutely false that VP Biden presssured the Ukraine to fire its utterly corrupt official because he was investigating Hunter Biden's firm. And that is the "narrative", or what is more properly known as GOP Propaganda.
Yes, there is projection going on: GOP projecting its unending corruption onto everyone else.
If Neoliberal Nancy goes thru with the House Select Committee on Insurrection -- with the constituent members ignoring the ANTIFA elephant in the room & pinning all the blame on godfearing, lawabiding American citizens of the Republican persuasion -- it is inevitable a GQP House majority in 2023 will convene a Select Committee on Hunter Biden.
Excellent satire!
I hope the GQP stepped in it by telegraphing the 2022 House midterms as a referendum on Hunter Biden.
Can Critical Race Theory overcome the Suburban College Graduate Women's aversion to reliving the Fiona Hill, Alex Vindman, Jen Williams, & Gordon Sondlund* testimony?
*Still can't believe that guy is Jewish. His name screams Latter-day Saint!
Donald Trump's personal stash,
https://i.redd.it/jg7y2ez33b871.jpg
If you wrap this around your head like a turban it works so much better than tinfoil.
Mr Tangerine Man is/was bad news - bad news sells .
What really pissed me off, is that using a govt. plane for a personal trip was illegal and could force your resignation (and cost the taxpayers a few thousand dollars), but sabotaging an entire federal agency and obstructing its core purpose, was perfectly fine (and cost the taxpayers a few thousand lives and millions and millions and millions of dollars).
Most forms of corruption are legal in the US, and the GOP practices them all.
To paraphrase Bon Jovi: at least since Reagan & Gorsuch, Stockman, & Watt, the GQP has seen a million loopholes, & they've exploited them all.