I think this whole Biden crime family schtick is just another of the many smokescreens thrown out by Trump and Republicans to divert attention away from the thefts and outrages that they are committing daily. I have noticed a long-standing pattern that these grifters are guilty of and it is this- Whatever they are scheming or are actually doing, they accuse Dems and Biden of doing these exact same things. Just watch. The Biden crime family is non-existent but the Trump crime family sure as sh*t is not.Same thing with voter suppression and the list goes on but you get my drift. I am so, so sick of this Trumpian horror era that we are having to live through now. We have got to crush them at the polls in 2024.
I think there is” more of an even chance” that Jared Kushner and his $2 billion received from MBS is hush money or some other stinking payoff that makes Hunter Biden’s crimes seem like child’s play.
Please do not tar an oft beautiful secondary sex characteristic, one that originally evolved to enable our hunter-gatherer ancestors to run so that they could catch prey, by associating it with our worst former president ever. (Daniel Lieberman of Harvard has written about its evolutionary history.)
Perhaps we should look at the Hunter Biden step as laying the groundwork for the Trump and Kushner investigations.(As my late mother would say, what's good for the goose is good for the gander.)Garland might be slow, but he is methodical and thorough. If I were Ivanka and Jared, I'd be concerned. You'll know it if Trump says something about the Hunter investigation being another example of DOJ witchhunt.
Judge Chutkan delighted me when she said the consequences for DT not heeding her warning on intimidating witnesses and jurors would be to speed up the process. That's the one thing that might shut him up -- a bit. I'm enjoying watching such a competent, fine judge so focused on fairness and the rule of law. Justice will be served in her court room!
He's on RoR since he's a first time offender. This is why they need to get their skates on with the criminal cases. The minute he's convicted, it ups the ante and they know it.
I am so pleased that Issue 1 failed handily in Ohio on Tuesday! When we get voters out, we win. I will write postcards again when a good election comes along.
For a good election, take a look at the Virginia state house elections November. Postcarding is critical now. Virginia is a hair's breath away from giving Gov. Youngkin free rein to pass anti-book, anti-LGBQ+, and other onerous laws. If you check out 31ststreet.org, you will have a guidebook to the Virginia races that could use help. Thanks for the postcarding!!!
Clarence Thomas has been angry at his life's circumstances since childhood. I think his corrupt acceptance of gifts from billionaires may be "take that" gestures of retribution in his mind. Should Thomas be removed from the SC? In a sane world, absolutely!
The Anita Hill wikipedia should be required reading. Overall disturbing, however, included is the following. "In the 1996 film Jerry Maguire, after Tom Cruise's character makes a pass at his employee (played by Renee Zellweger), he apologizes with, "I feel like Clarence Thomas."
I am enchanted with that beautiful photograph of Mineral King Valley! I must go there. I am also encouraged by and applaud Judge Chutkan…and her no nonsense well-worded admonishment to “the defendant”!
We all know that Hunter had a addiction problem. I understand he was attempting to manage a cash flow to help the family members. Yet, it appears he made mistakes that have created the basis for political exploitation in a country (our country) with a political landscape that is driven by power and not sympathy or decency. It saddens me to recognize Hunter (What about Hunter?) will drag on at every step of the way as we follow the indictments and vitriol of Republican candidates and the right wing media. It no doubt will continue as an election sound bite consuming attention of voters who are unable or unwilling to accept the truth of Trump’s criminal conduct.
To which I reply: Hunter is and has always been a private citizen. He has never been elected to office and sworn to up hold the Constitution like Trump. He has had no official role in government like Kuschner or Ivanka.
So it isn’t apples to apples. Or even apples to oranges. It is more like apples to squirrel poop.
The constant focus of attention onto Hunter Biden is Trump saying “Keep looking at Joe Biden’s son so no one will look at my son --or son in law.” I’m not telling you anything new here. Projection is Trump’s most common defense.
Oh, Sky 777, you have nailed it. Now, tell me how this truth resonates with the hardcore Trumpers, not to mention Kevin McCarthy and his band of dissidents. Makes a person want to pull his hair out screaming.
On a positive note, data show that the excess mortality due to Covid was higher among Republicans than Democrats in the 2 states studied (Ohio and Florida).
So more MAGAts have aged out of the voting population while more young people (who tend to be smarter and more likely to vote blue) have aged in.
Jon, I’d venture to agree with you. They don’t care about Hunter Biden BUT they are surely thrilled to indignantly use him as a “what about Hunter?” political sound bite. Hell. Every day they have less and less going for them than their stubborn commitment to racism, anti-abortion assault, fake news rhetoric and wrong headed sense of grievances which we all can speak to. But, they are sincere Americans, our neighbors, friends and family. How do we navigate these times with a sane path forward?
As with many who greatly admire and treasure President Biden, the unfortunate situation with Hunter has been painful to witness. Since AG Garland made Weiss a special prosecutor and my heart ached once more, I decided I will try to exercise tough love with my tender heart. Borrowing from Liz Cheney’s words, I said to myself, Hunter is not a child, he is a 56 year old man. He has plentiful advantages and resources. I will focus my resources, head and heart where I might do some good. Turned off TV. Yea!
I am having the same impulse to turn off the tv very frequently these days. Hunter Biden's mistakes, when stacked up against the unethical and/or illegal behavior of the Republican Party as a whole, as well as that of the Conservative Supreme Court, pale in significance.
However, reading this newsletter sets my compass to true north on a regular basis. Thank goodness!
I think I agree with your Managing Editor that giving special prosecutor status to the guy that has already spent two years finding next to nothing to charge Hunter with is not going to end well. Hunter is NOT being treated like any other person. The tax problem should be settled as a minor civil case like it usually is for everyone else. The gun problem seems ridiculous considering the first thing the Republicans did when they regained the House in 2022 was to make it easier for the mentally ill to get guns. Where is his Second Amendments rights, Republicans? AG Garland is bending over backwards so far to appear unbiased that the outcome is highly likely now to be even more biased. One must always take every mean thingTFG says as projection of what he is/would do like talking about the Bidens as a criminal family. Someone once pointed out to me that when one point one's finger at someone else, three fingers are pointing back toward oneself including the middle finger.
"The gun problem seems ridiculous considering the first thing the Republicans did when they regained the House in 2022 was to make it easier for the mentally ill to get guns. Where is his Second Amendments rights, Republicans?" ✅ Aaaaannnnnd didn't his partner throw the gun away once she found it, knowing he had no business having one?
I've been looking towards the first Republican debate... with a wry chuckle. I have no intention of watching and I suspect nobody else will either, including Republicans! 😀 Without TFG there, nobody's going to care about listening to the rest if the jokers. Perhaps when the ratings come in, the GOP might actually get a glimpse of the destruction they've wrought on themselves and the country.
I want a special counsel appointed to look at Jared Kushner, in light of the $2 billion the Saudis paid him into his then newly formed investment firm.
I was disappointed to hear both news items, but I didn't pay much attention to the usual talking heads.
Initially, Judge Chutkan's decision seemed to concede much to the defense, but with her masterful threat to speed up the trial to keep TFG from peeing in the jury pool, I saw the light. I hope she considers house arrest, an ankle bracelet, no internet, and no golf when he violates the terms, which surely he will.
I initially thought that the appointment of a special counsel gave more life to the allegations and reinvigorated the likes of Comer and Jordan. Now, I think it adds legitimacy to Garland's hands-off approach, but it does prolong the uncertainty and allows the MAGAts to continue to hang Hunter's troubles on his dad, and make the case that false equivalence is still equivalence.
What's particularly aggravating about that is that Hunter was never a government employee and I have yet to hear any evidence that his father ever did anything inappropriate. If Hunter misrepresented himself, that's on him. But I think he's being singled out because of who his father is vs. who is trying to make it look like there was collusion. Of course, anybody named Trump or Kushner was squeaky clean. The MAGAts are going after Hunter BECAUSE OF who his father is; Garland and the DOJ are investigating him and holding him to a high standard DESPITE who his father is. The only thing I see that President Biden has been proven guilty of is being a devoted father.
Great assessment Bob. My sense of this is that Garland and Chutkan are wisely handling both situations with zero culpability for being anything other than neutral in their administration of the law.
Could it be a Garland’s thinking about elevating Weiss to special counsel is to protect the investigation, should Trump become president (perish the thought).
I realize Weiss was appointed under trumps administration, but that doesn’t mean he is a supporter. I’m just speculating here
And yet Trump's children and son-in-law get away with grift on a scale that makes Justice Thomas look like a cheap date.
The crime family is the tRump family, not the Biden family. How about someone investigate Jared and Ivanka?
I think this whole Biden crime family schtick is just another of the many smokescreens thrown out by Trump and Republicans to divert attention away from the thefts and outrages that they are committing daily. I have noticed a long-standing pattern that these grifters are guilty of and it is this- Whatever they are scheming or are actually doing, they accuse Dems and Biden of doing these exact same things. Just watch. The Biden crime family is non-existent but the Trump crime family sure as sh*t is not.Same thing with voter suppression and the list goes on but you get my drift. I am so, so sick of this Trumpian horror era that we are having to live through now. We have got to crush them at the polls in 2024.
Projection is a constant with Trump and his followers.
There probably is no “Biden crime family”, but there seems to be a more than even chance that a *member of the Biden family* is a criminal.
I think there is” more of an even chance” that Jared Kushner and his $2 billion received from MBS is hush money or some other stinking payoff that makes Hunter Biden’s crimes seem like child’s play.
I should correct my post: There seems to be a more than even chance that a *member* of the Biden family has committed criminal acts.
Please do not tar an oft beautiful secondary sex characteristic, one that originally evolved to enable our hunter-gatherer ancestors to run so that they could catch prey, by associating it with our worst former president ever. (Daniel Lieberman of Harvard has written about its evolutionary history.)
???????
L&B&L
I was responding to her having referred to Trump as tRump. (I have no idea what you mean with L&B&L)
Perhaps we should look at the Hunter Biden step as laying the groundwork for the Trump and Kushner investigations.(As my late mother would say, what's good for the goose is good for the gander.)Garland might be slow, but he is methodical and thorough. If I were Ivanka and Jared, I'd be concerned. You'll know it if Trump says something about the Hunter investigation being another example of DOJ witchhunt.
Yes, it drives me maddeningly craaaazy! It's in deliberate plain sight and not circumstantial.
Indeed.
Judge Chutkan delighted me when she said the consequences for DT not heeding her warning on intimidating witnesses and jurors would be to speed up the process. That's the one thing that might shut him up -- a bit. I'm enjoying watching such a competent, fine judge so focused on fairness and the rule of law. Justice will be served in her court room!
If that doesn't shut the lunatic up, forfeit his bail and lock him in a cell with no access to outside media!
He's on RoR since he's a first time offender. This is why they need to get their skates on with the criminal cases. The minute he's convicted, it ups the ante and they know it.
I am so pleased that Issue 1 failed handily in Ohio on Tuesday! When we get voters out, we win. I will write postcards again when a good election comes along.
For a good election, take a look at the Virginia state house elections November. Postcarding is critical now. Virginia is a hair's breath away from giving Gov. Youngkin free rein to pass anti-book, anti-LGBQ+, and other onerous laws. If you check out 31ststreet.org, you will have a guidebook to the Virginia races that could use help. Thanks for the postcarding!!!
And thank you for the information! I will get on it!
And I write letters through Vote Forward.org. Did for OH and will for VA. Shoulders to the wheel everyone.
I love that your delightful and intelligent wife asked you to turn off the radio. It helps. Enjoy your weekend 😊
Justice Thomas and his wife are total grifters. He has been angry since Anita Hill , always looking for his pound of flesh.
I hope Anita Hill gets to see Thomas booted off the Court.
it would be retribution that would not even be imagined in a novel... and feel plausible... but if it happens, it would be stunning...
I love this comment!
She has moved on and made something of her life with the knowledge that in the long run she is in a better place
Me, too! He is despicable and completely unethical.
Clarence Thomas has been angry at his life's circumstances since childhood. I think his corrupt acceptance of gifts from billionaires may be "take that" gestures of retribution in his mind. Should Thomas be removed from the SC? In a sane world, absolutely!
Yes. Great PBS Frontline documentary traces both of their childhoods and how they are a perfect fit.
No I think he is giving the finger to white liberals who embarrassed him years ago and wanted to have the last word.
Abe Fortas, a Supreme Court Justice appointed by LBJ, was forced out because of unethical conduct. It’s different for Democrats.
It’s both - watch documentary and c and g
The Anita Hill wikipedia should be required reading. Overall disturbing, however, included is the following. "In the 1996 film Jerry Maguire, after Tom Cruise's character makes a pass at his employee (played by Renee Zellweger), he apologizes with, "I feel like Clarence Thomas."
I will say that persons similar to this judge carry grudges for many, many years. These come up in the little jurisprudence there is that shows this.
He’s been angry since he was a young person - at other black people. Documentary about he and ginny interesting. The treasonous pair.
I am enchanted with that beautiful photograph of Mineral King Valley! I must go there. I am also encouraged by and applaud Judge Chutkan…and her no nonsense well-worded admonishment to “the defendant”!
We all know that Hunter had a addiction problem. I understand he was attempting to manage a cash flow to help the family members. Yet, it appears he made mistakes that have created the basis for political exploitation in a country (our country) with a political landscape that is driven by power and not sympathy or decency. It saddens me to recognize Hunter (What about Hunter?) will drag on at every step of the way as we follow the indictments and vitriol of Republican candidates and the right wing media. It no doubt will continue as an election sound bite consuming attention of voters who are unable or unwilling to accept the truth of Trump’s criminal conduct.
Yeah, “But what about Hunter?”
To which I reply: Hunter is and has always been a private citizen. He has never been elected to office and sworn to up hold the Constitution like Trump. He has had no official role in government like Kuschner or Ivanka.
So it isn’t apples to apples. Or even apples to oranges. It is more like apples to squirrel poop.
The constant focus of attention onto Hunter Biden is Trump saying “Keep looking at Joe Biden’s son so no one will look at my son --or son in law.” I’m not telling you anything new here. Projection is Trump’s most common defense.
Oh, Sky 777, you have nailed it. Now, tell me how this truth resonates with the hardcore Trumpers, not to mention Kevin McCarthy and his band of dissidents. Makes a person want to pull his hair out screaming.
Falls on deaf ears. And vacuous minds.
Sigh.
On a positive note, data show that the excess mortality due to Covid was higher among Republicans than Democrats in the 2 states studied (Ohio and Florida).
So more MAGAts have aged out of the voting population while more young people (who tend to be smarter and more likely to vote blue) have aged in.
See brief summary for the non-medical:
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/political-party-affiliation-linked-excess-covid-deaths
Or the JAMA article for the more scientifically/medically inclined:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2807617
Thanks. Sunday evening in Colorado. I’ll definitely put them on the list to read within the next few days. So many twists and turns. Ugh!
Just south of you in NM.
Why do disparage squirrel poop?
Good comparison
What about Hunter? Who cares? Anyone who thinks voters care is as deluded as Trump.
Jon, I’d venture to agree with you. They don’t care about Hunter Biden BUT they are surely thrilled to indignantly use him as a “what about Hunter?” political sound bite. Hell. Every day they have less and less going for them than their stubborn commitment to racism, anti-abortion assault, fake news rhetoric and wrong headed sense of grievances which we all can speak to. But, they are sincere Americans, our neighbors, friends and family. How do we navigate these times with a sane path forward?
I hear many magas and “conservatives” say all pols are dirty and hunter. Ugh.
As with many who greatly admire and treasure President Biden, the unfortunate situation with Hunter has been painful to witness. Since AG Garland made Weiss a special prosecutor and my heart ached once more, I decided I will try to exercise tough love with my tender heart. Borrowing from Liz Cheney’s words, I said to myself, Hunter is not a child, he is a 56 year old man. He has plentiful advantages and resources. I will focus my resources, head and heart where I might do some good. Turned off TV. Yea!
I am having the same impulse to turn off the tv very frequently these days. Hunter Biden's mistakes, when stacked up against the unethical and/or illegal behavior of the Republican Party as a whole, as well as that of the Conservative Supreme Court, pale in significance.
However, reading this newsletter sets my compass to true north on a regular basis. Thank goodness!
Well said. For my part, the press is getting worse by the day
I think I agree with your Managing Editor that giving special prosecutor status to the guy that has already spent two years finding next to nothing to charge Hunter with is not going to end well. Hunter is NOT being treated like any other person. The tax problem should be settled as a minor civil case like it usually is for everyone else. The gun problem seems ridiculous considering the first thing the Republicans did when they regained the House in 2022 was to make it easier for the mentally ill to get guns. Where is his Second Amendments rights, Republicans? AG Garland is bending over backwards so far to appear unbiased that the outcome is highly likely now to be even more biased. One must always take every mean thingTFG says as projection of what he is/would do like talking about the Bidens as a criminal family. Someone once pointed out to me that when one point one's finger at someone else, three fingers are pointing back toward oneself including the middle finger.
"The gun problem seems ridiculous considering the first thing the Republicans did when they regained the House in 2022 was to make it easier for the mentally ill to get guns. Where is his Second Amendments rights, Republicans?" ✅ Aaaaannnnnd didn't his partner throw the gun away once she found it, knowing he had no business having one?
Thx for sharing lovely photo and wife’s wisdom. Enjoy weekend.
I've been looking towards the first Republican debate... with a wry chuckle. I have no intention of watching and I suspect nobody else will either, including Republicans! 😀 Without TFG there, nobody's going to care about listening to the rest if the jokers. Perhaps when the ratings come in, the GOP might actually get a glimpse of the destruction they've wrought on themselves and the country.
Oh, I’ll be watching just to see how DeSatan poops his pants over all the attacks that will come his way. And to see his facial expressions.
He's not going to make it to the debates. As it stands now, he doesn't have enough to participate.
Watch Rhonda Santis' eyes during the debate - those beady, shifty, twitchy eyes.
The media loves focusing on Hunter Biden yet mostly left Jared & Ivanka alone. Makes me crazy.
Congress has left them alone. Makes me crazy, too.
Hunter Biden has done things that arguably are prosecutably criminal. Jared & Ivanka have been metaphorically and ethically criminal.
Enjoy your time in your special paradise. 🥰
I envy anyone who has a special retreat and make that double if it is paradise.
I want a special counsel appointed to look at Jared Kushner, in light of the $2 billion the Saudis paid him into his then newly formed investment firm.
https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/news/press-releases/chairwoman-maloney-launches-probe-of-saudi-government-s-2-billion-investment-in
I was disappointed to hear both news items, but I didn't pay much attention to the usual talking heads.
Initially, Judge Chutkan's decision seemed to concede much to the defense, but with her masterful threat to speed up the trial to keep TFG from peeing in the jury pool, I saw the light. I hope she considers house arrest, an ankle bracelet, no internet, and no golf when he violates the terms, which surely he will.
I initially thought that the appointment of a special counsel gave more life to the allegations and reinvigorated the likes of Comer and Jordan. Now, I think it adds legitimacy to Garland's hands-off approach, but it does prolong the uncertainty and allows the MAGAts to continue to hang Hunter's troubles on his dad, and make the case that false equivalence is still equivalence.
What's particularly aggravating about that is that Hunter was never a government employee and I have yet to hear any evidence that his father ever did anything inappropriate. If Hunter misrepresented himself, that's on him. But I think he's being singled out because of who his father is vs. who is trying to make it look like there was collusion. Of course, anybody named Trump or Kushner was squeaky clean. The MAGAts are going after Hunter BECAUSE OF who his father is; Garland and the DOJ are investigating him and holding him to a high standard DESPITE who his father is. The only thing I see that President Biden has been proven guilty of is being a devoted father.
Great assessment Bob. My sense of this is that Garland and Chutkan are wisely handling both situations with zero culpability for being anything other than neutral in their administration of the law.
Innuendo. It’s all innuendo – a Republican specialty since the Joe McCarthy-(young) Richard Nixon days.
Could it be a Garland’s thinking about elevating Weiss to special counsel is to protect the investigation, should Trump become president (perish the thought).
I realize Weiss was appointed under trumps administration, but that doesn’t mean he is a supporter. I’m just speculating here