Hunter Biden Is A Shakespearean Tragedy

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Joe Biden was reluctant to run for president because he knew it would make his family fair game and here we are.

[Drum]

1. I wouldn't be surprised if someone was developing an opera based on all of this...

[ck4829]

2. Whoa, family is fair game when someone runs for president?

Good thing nobody got any sweet 2 billion dollar deals or anything, because wow, that would be bad for any family that did that.

[DeeDeeNY]

32. Perfectly stated!!

[Walleye]

3. He knew this would happen, but he also knew the country was in trouble and he answered the call.

Joe Biden is and will always be a hero in my book.

[marble falls]

4. It's more an absurdist play by Becket or Ionesco.

[ChazInAz]

27. No Exit, The Trial or The Adding Machine

[Ocelot II]

5. I am afraid the stress of this situation will drive Hunter back to using drugs.

It's hard for an ex-addict to stay clean in the best of circumstances; I feel very sorry for him. Of course drug use isn't an excuse, and he is responsible for the consequences of his actions if they are meted out fairly. He has paid his unpaid taxes. He might have used his father's name and position inappropriately to his advantage (*cough* Jared Kushner *cough*). He lied on a gun purchase form - a crime that is not normally prosecuted as a stand-alone offense but only as an add-on to a crime committed with the gun.

If he'd been some nobody named Hunter Jones you can bet he wouldn't be in this mess.

[maryellen99]

21. That's the goal of the GOP

To get Hunter to relapse and commit suicide and for Joe to either resign or die of a broken heart.

[Ocelot II]

22. Wouldn't surprise me that they could be evil enough to go there.

[womanofthehills]

38. Judge Maryellen Noreika who presided over the case asked Hunter if he was still doing drugs

And he said yes.

Part of the plea agreements was he not do drugs but the plea fell through


Judhe Noreika asked Hunter how many times he went to rehab. I don’t remember the exact number but around 20. Very sad.

[Ocelot II]

7. Drug addiction is a terrible disease. Of course he's responsible for his actions,

Last edited Fri Sep 15, 2023, 12:04 PM - Edit history (1)

but at this point he's become the GOP's piñata - they think if they keep whacking at him some dirt about Joe will spill out. Yes, prosecute him fairly; but don't investigate him for five years, find nothing but unpaid taxes and the gun purchase form offense, and then indict him for the bullshit gun form crime that's never prosecuted as a stand-alone charge.

[dlk]

15. Hunter survived a horrific car accident when he was 2 and nearly died

His mother was killed, his sister was killed and he was hospitalized for an extended period. He likely suffered a TBI, as well as the trauma of losing his mother and sister. How could this not have impacted his life in a profound way?

He need support, not judgment.

[Jarqui]

23. And then went on to lose his brother to cancer & go thru a divorce ...

Last edited Fri Sep 15, 2023, 02:16 PM - Edit history (1)

As well, emptywheel found evidence his computer was hacked while he was in rehab - months before it was found in a repair shop.
https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/07/08/the-laptop-everyone-knows-as-hunter-bidens-appears-to-have-been-deleted-starting-february-15-2019/

There's an incredible stench to this whole thing

[dlk]

31. Stench is an understatement

Republican cruelty has no bottom.

[SergeStorms]

33. Republican ratfuckery....

101. Find a weakness to exploit, or lacking one, create one from whole cloth.
Nothing is off limits. To them the end (unbridled power) justifies any means.
Pure reptilian brain functioning. 😡

[Jarqui]

40. Whatever they're guilty of, they smear the other candidate with

I looked at Joe's tax returns since 1998

I broke the income numbers down by year and by type

They're joint returns. Jill works as a teacher/professor throughout.
Until he became VP, Biden also had a 2nd paying job - as a teacher (around $20,000/yr)

I focused on 2013-2016 because those are the years Joe was VP and Hunter was working with Burisma-China deals. But I also looked at the whole picture.

Joe & Jill's joint income grew from ~$200,000/yr in 1998 to ~$400,000/yr in 2016.
They started to receive Social Security & Pension $ in 2009.
And they received about $11,000-$19,000 in rent/yr from the Secret Service (I think) during his years as VP.
Also intermittently, they had some book royalties and a little income from speaking (Joe usually donated his speaking fees to charity or declined them).

Those last 8 years - 2009-2016 were audited by the IRS
Walter H Deyhle, CPA Gelman, Rosenberg & Freeman prepared 2009-2016 tax returns for Joe & Jill
Morison Cogen LLP / Cogen Sklar LLP accountants prepared 2002-2008 tax returns for Joe & Jill
BDO Seidman LLP accountants prepared 1998-2001 tax returns for Joe & Jill
Reputable accountants prepared the tax returns for the Bidens every year for the last 24 years.
Unlike Trump, no one had to take Joe to court to see his tax returns.

Was Joe hiding something?
From opensecrets
In 2007, after 34 years in the Senate, Biden's Net Worth of $-52,493 ranked 532nd out of 544 in Congress
(please reread that last sentence ...)
In 2012, Biden's net worth slipped to -$277,988
In 2014, Biden's net worth slipped to -$947,987. Joe committed the 'crime' of borrowing money to pay for his son's cancer treatments. Barack wanted to loan him the money rather than Joe mortgaging his house.

The Bidens worked for everything they got.
The $200,000-$400,000 /yr income isn't starving to death.
But it's trip money to Justices Thomas and Alito.
And peanuts to how others in Congress have cashed in.

I also looked at their income after 2016.
Pence, with a "Hang Mike Pence' favorability in the 20s, got a book deal for $3-4 mil
The Obamas got a 2 book deal for $65 mil
The Bidens, with Joe's favorability at 61% (quite good), got a 3 book deal (one by Jill) for $8-10 mil
Joe got a job as a professor for Univ of Penn for about $500,000 /yr
Jill continued to work
Joe & Jill both did speaking engagements - a bunch to support the book sales

Nothing sinister there.

Meanwhile Trump, GOP frontrunner, who refused to provide any tax returns:
Trump org convicted for 17 tax evasion & fraud felonies
Trump CFO convicted for 15 tax evasion & fraud felonies so far
Trump Lawyer/fixer convicted for 6 tax evasion & fraud felonies
Trump & Org fighting NY AG civil claim for $250 mil fraud and tax evasion
Trump businesses filed for bankruptcy six times
Trump University closed with $25 mil fraud settlement
Trump Foundation bogus charity shutdown $2 mil fine
Trump sexual assault (digital rape) & defamation $5 mil damages, more claims in court
Trump is alleged to have committed rape or sexual misconduct by 25 other women
Trump as President, false & misleading statements: 30,573 (WaPo)
Trump facing multiple civil claims for Jan 6th Insurrection
Trump has 91 Grand Jury Indictments so far (NY, FL, DC, GA)
Trump children getting $3 billion from Saudi Arabia & Middle East
Trump making millions on emoluments while in office

But Joe Biden is the real problem here ???

This is a smear job.

[SergeStorms]

41. Thanks for doing the research.

It's quite interesting, and telling. Like you say, "this is a smear job".

I hope someone is in the process of doing research for a book/movie about the Trumps/Kushners total avoidance of the emoluments clause, plus his theft from his cult's "political donations".
We'll probably never know the extent of the Trump family's criminality while he was in office, but it would certainly make for a jawdropping read.

[Chainfire]

8. Hunter knew he was under a microscope.

The people in general and the law do not want drug users to also be gun buyers. The Constitutionality of the law should be challenged in the courts, not at the gun sales counter. As a society, we also demand that people be truthful when signing official documents. If it were anyone else, there would be little to no defense for him on this forum. If I were caught lying on a form 4473, then I would expect to have to face the consequences and most here would offer no solace for my plight. What is good for the goose is good for the other goose...

Will Republicans make hay out of the situation? Of course they will. However, they have to be careful in wishing the President's son to be prosecuted for what they demand are unconstitutional restrictions on gun rights.

Laws, law enforcement and the judiciary system should not be conditional upon one's political, social or political station in life. That is exactly the reason I want to see Trump and his junta prosecuted for the crimes that they have committed. Hunter gets no pass from me because he is Joe's son.

[Ocelot II]

11. A federal appeals court has found the drug/gun form question unconstitutional.

You'd think a party that insists anybody who wants a gun should be able to get one would be outraged at the prosecution of Hunter Biden for falsely claiming on the gun purchase form that he wasn't a drug addict. (Of course there might be some element of mens rea there, since drug addicts often don't consider themselves to be drug addicts. So is a drug addict who's in denial about his addiction lying when he claims he isn't an addict on the gun purchase form?) Hunter shouldn't get a pass because of who he is, but it doesn't seem to me that he's getting any kind of a pass - on the contrary, he's being prosecuted for a crime that is almost never prosecuted as a stand-alone.

[Chainfire]

12. The question in question is not, "Are you a drug addict."

There is nothing ambiguous about the wording. In fact, they go out of their way to explain that it doesn't matter if your state allows use of marijuana or not, that it is contrary to Federal laws and disqualifies one from purchasing a firearm.

Even if the question is found to be Unconstitutional, the lie is still illegal.

[SpamWyzer]

13. Can you provide some proof of

this claim? Unconstitutional means it is not legal and cannot be used to prosecute someone. The lie is not a lie if the question itself is invalid.

[Chainfire]

19. Regardless of the legal niceties, the lie is a lie. He had a choice, he could have answered

truthfully and fought the denial in the courts. He was dishonest and it has come back to bite him in the ass. I would tell Hunter, "Tough shit Sherlock."

[dlk]

16. Hunter needs support, not judgment

He has survived much. It’s too easy to forget.

[SergeStorms]

34. Amen, dlk.....

Amen.

[calimary]

35. There certainly is that.

[MagickMuffin]

30. Well with that statement all applications in Texas should be investigated

Texas has a lot of guns and a lot of drug addicts who owns guns, and they commit crimes with those guns.

Do you think they were truthful on their application?


All applications should now be fair game for investigating. Every damn application. Come DOJ do your job and go over every gun application with a fine tooth comb. Especially the ones who were at the Capitol on J6 with weapons.

[snowybirdie]

9. It's as if

the party wants to hit Joe Biden where he's most vulnerable. He loves his family above all else. They'd like to see Hunter slip up and hurt his dad further.

[ripcord]

10. Hunter Biden is a monumental fuckup

I will support President Biden in any way but I have no respect for Hunter.

[SpamWyzer]

14. So glad

we have people here who know him personally and can vouch for his character. LOL

[dlk]

17. Hunter needs support, not judgment

No one survives such a horrific car accident at age 2 without scars. TBI is a real thing and it affects a person’s choices. It’s important to remember that.

[Demsrule86]

18. Well.... that is one of you. I have compassion for Hunter Biden and fail to understand why you

unfailingly say the same thing every time...we get it...you have no empathy or sympathy for drug addicts.

[niyad]

28. See post 15.

[Oneironaut]

36. Ikr. He's a friggin' cokehead. Lol

[KPN]

20. That's the perfect metaphor. Lying in bed this morning, I was actually thinking

how to best describe the whole Hunter Biden thing, especially the Special Counsel's call for a 25 year sentence for making false statements while purchasing a gun. I was at a total loss. But you did it. The whole shit show is indeed a Shakespearean Tragedy!

ps - what really struck me about the proposed sentence is I have neighbor who I know for a fact used a false name (because he had a prior felony conviction) to purchase a gun some years ago and all that happened to him was a several hundred dollar fine.

[Initech]

24. I'd like to tell Sean Hannity where he can go shove his conspiracy theories...

[Ocelot II]

25. I'm rather surprised at the lack of compassion some people on this thread

have expressed for Hunter Biden, an acknowledged drug addict who has owned up to his problems and the bad things he did while under the influence, and who has been trying hard to stay clean for the last five years. I guess none of them have ever had a friend or relative who suffered from substance abuse and the devastation it causes in their lives. Yes, he made bad choices, and of course he's responsible for them, even if his addiction was a major factor in his bad decisions. At this point, though, he's being used as a surrogate for his father, no doubt causing great pain for both. Hunter wrote a memoir that describes what he's gone through and he doesn't spare himself. I'd suggest reading it before throwing more stones at him (and by extension, at his father). https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/books/hunter-biden-beautiful-things-memoir.html

No paywall: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/books/hunter-biden-beautiful-things-memoir.html?unlocked_article_code=F3lqvxOGCvTqTqMGqNv_ec077AOXp_PtXBeJCwO1siJFdIOs75EQj0jAN7iE7LHRF-A_ertM4HE7MJFhF9K0KB_OQfxoj8uAdlAmbWoWIS9rfg-_nQRT2CV-lInEmgVEoaRqw1cB_7webt6BIIWe4Zxjnk_pbIN1AWQidD0kZcwXqHsCnDV8dw0EvpQ_lW6EeZ4EWmV-ogMRC7KCbrR5s7-1GCaOCjlJ4cMOKAGqt65aM3c5grFag-S6sShB4p9NoUBgu72752Rmol1lk1npYd7LwmKKhAnL6G5rsry5WtZm2Z1ZOABd3lPe1CSWNxD55_NWtnhvEZR9iROBSR9JC_KoEQq22X1Q_XDX2A&smid=url-share

[Initech]

26. What I'm more pissed at is that the rest of society has moved on.

It's only Fox News that is continuing to shove this bullshit down everyone's throats and they won't leave Hunter or anyone else in the Biden family alone as payback for putting up with Trump's latest arrest. It's a circular firing squad and it screws us all. Ready! Aim! Pull!

[niyad]

29. Thank you.

[womanofthehills]

39. Hello? Last month Federal Judge Maryellen Noreika asked Hunter if he was still doing drugs

And he said yes.

Part of the plea deal that didn’t happen was he had to stop drugs.

I think most of us have people addicted to drugs in our families. My grandson is right now on the streets doing fentanyl, my granddaughter is thankfully on methadone and her half brother died of an overdose last yr. I don’t think my family is unique as many of my friends families are similar. It’s all horribly sad but I can’t believe Hunter’s lawyers didn’t insist he be in a drug program before going in front of a federal judge even if he failed at rehab in the past.

Yrs ago, working with addicted teens going before a judge, the biggie was getting them into a program to show they were at least making an effort.

[SKKY]

37. I have a theory this will cause Biden to not seek re-election...

...He's done a great job, and it sucks, but he's always cared more about his family than being President. As if he hasn't gone through enough, because addiction is a mother fucker, Hunter will now be forced to relive a very difficult time to please the Republican Party's insatiable thirst for Schadenfreude. We have a deep bench compared to the walking clown car the Republicans are rolling out. We'll be fine.

[shrike3]

42. Wishful thinking for some.

I'm not saying you personally, but I'm seeing an awful lot of "Joe should not run again" in the media. The GOP plan seems to be, among moderates at least, that neither Biden nor Trump should run, and that would two challengers. GOP seems to think it'll do much better against a challenger. That really seems to be the game plan. Media's going along with it. And a few Dems, in a roundabout way.

[SKKY]

43. It's kinda why I've been a bit reluctant to voice my opinion...

...because I don't want anyone to think I don't want Biden to run. I absolutely do. I'm just fairly sure if it comes to his son Hunter, and the White House, Biden would choose Hunter every day of the week and twice on Sundays. But I genuinely hope he does because I want nothing than Biden to skull-drag two-tons of fun again.