Biden Pardons Hunter

[Politesse]

I'm not behind, you are. That's entirely the precedent I meant. The DNC had a chance to repudiate Trump's "reforms" rather than colluding with and reproducing them, and it has chosen not to. Not just in this matter, but on general principle. The elder Biden and Kamala Harris campaigned on the promise that they would be "not Trump", but fell silent whenever someone asked what they meant in specific terms. So they failed. Because they and Trump, though very different in personality and aesthetics, are products of the same social paradigm at the end of the day, and they could not bring themselves to bring down the structures of money, prestige and increasingly autocratic power that for the last fifty-six years have been coalescing around the White House.

No one who is handed a sceptre finds it easy to set down once they have it. It's better to just not have scepters. But that ocean liner left port three days ago, and the forecast calls for ice. We're not very empowered to do anything about this, from where we now stand. But if the Democratic Party is the only thing left standing in Washington between me and catastrophe, like hell am I going to refuse to criticize it if I don't think it's on the right heading. Democracy does not flourish by obsequiousness.

What specifically are you complaining about?

You want a laundry list of my objections to the Democratic Party and its lack of policy over the last eight years? That DOES sound off topic.

 

[Politesse]

I did explain why I feel that is the case.

Hannibal Lechter ‘splained why he enjoyed killing and eating people. Didn’t make him a good guy, any more than you ‘splaining why you think Trump killing Hunter would be better than Joe pardoning him, makes your preference okay.

Might be time to re-visit what advocacy really is, along with re-defining “all of humanity” to conform to your actual perverse proclivity.

I feel much the same way about your stirling defense of the rights of the few while the rights of the whole utterly collapse.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

For all of 2016 it was "Crooked Hillary" and "Hillary for Prison 2016" t-shirts, but when he got into office, Trump didn't pin so much as a parking ticket on the person he claimed (during the campaign) was the most crooked person in America if not the entire world. He was a little less focused in 2020 with the "Sleepy Joe" thing, but in 2024 he brought back "Crooked" as a prefix for his opponent. Joe Biden - to hear him tell it - was the most crooked person in America if not the entire world. Then it was Kamala. Any bets on prosecutions for either of them? My guess is that - if past is prologue - he won't lift a finger against either of them. Buttery mails/Hunter Biden's laptop were all just bullshit to sell to the rubes, and I'd bet that he won't pursue all of his "revenge" prosecutions with all that much fervor. It was all for show, and now that he's won and all the cases against him have fallen apart (thanks, SCOTUS assholes) he's going to be distracted by a new shiny object.

He called them crooked. He didn't indicate any intention to persecute. Now he has. Very different situation.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I'm not behind, you are. That's entirely the precedent I meant. The DNC had a chance to repudiate Trump's "reforms" rather than colluding with and reproducing them, and it has chosen not to. Not just in this matter, but on general principle. The elder Biden and Kamala Harris campaigned on the promise that they would be "not Trump", but fell silent whenever someone asked what they meant in specific terms. So they failed. Because they and Trump, though very different in personality and aesthetics, are products of the same social paradigm at the end of the day, and they could not bring themselves to bring down the structures of money, prestige and increasingly autocratic power that for the last fifty-six years have been coalescing around the White House.

No one who is handed a sceptre finds it easy to set down once they have it. It's better to just not have scepters. But that ocean liner left port three days ago, and the forecast calls for ice. We're not very empowered to do anything about this, from where we now stand. But if the Democratic Party is the only thing left standing in Washington between me and catastrophe, like hell am I going to refuse to criticize it if I don't think it's on the right heading. Democracy does not flourish by obsequiousness.

What specifically are you complaining about?

You want a laundry list of my objections to the Democratic Party and its lack of policy over the last eight years? That DOES sound off topic.

You made a specific claim about them not undoing Trump changes. I'm not talking about general objections.

 

[Elixir]

Hunter Biden by all accounts was a creep with a rich influential father.

So what? He lacks influence, or anyone taking him seriously.
This is very unlike criminals who have resources and the will to wreak massive destruction, pain and grief on millions of people.
Poli seems to have dragged you unwittingly into the "both sides are just as bad" delusion.
That's how we end up with President Musk.

 

[Politesse]

I'm not behind, you are. That's entirely the precedent I meant. The DNC had a chance to repudiate Trump's "reforms" rather than colluding with and reproducing them, and it has chosen not to. Not just in this matter, but on general principle. The elder Biden and Kamala Harris campaigned on the promise that they would be "not Trump", but fell silent whenever someone asked what they meant in specific terms. So they failed. Because they and Trump, though very different in personality and aesthetics, are products of the same social paradigm at the end of the day, and they could not bring themselves to bring down the structures of money, prestige and increasingly autocratic power that for the last fifty-six years have been coalescing around the White House.

No one who is handed a sceptre finds it easy to set down once they have it. It's better to just not have scepters. But that ocean liner left port three days ago, and the forecast calls for ice. We're not very empowered to do anything about this, from where we now stand. But if the Democratic Party is the only thing left standing in Washington between me and catastrophe, like hell am I going to refuse to criticize it if I don't think it's on the right heading. Democracy does not flourish by obsequiousness.

What specifically are you complaining about?

You want a laundry list of my objections to the Democratic Party and its lack of policy over the last eight years? That DOES sound off topic.

You made a specific claim about them not undoing Trump changes. I'm not talking about general objections.

It is though, because it's a long list that includes much more than the premptive pardons themselves. The only objection of mine that's relevant to the thread is the one we're already discussing.

 

[Politesse]

Hunter Biden by all accounts was a creep with a rich influential father.

So what? He lacks influence, or anyone taking him seriously.
This is very unlike criminals who have resources and the will to wreak massive destruction, pain and grief on millions of people.
Poli seems to have dragged you unwittingly into the "both sides are just as bad" delusion.
That's how we end up with President Musk.

Are you fucking kidding me? Steve doesn't do a damn thing I say.

 

[Elixir]

I have never said that Hunter Biden ought to be "subjected to charges no one in his situation is charged with"

You have also never acknowledged that Hunter has already paid any price at all, let alone a far greater price than anyone else charged with the same or similar crimes. Yet THAT IS PRECISELY WHAT HAS HAPPENED.
In fact you have attempted to belittle and deny any attempt to get you to recognize that FACT.

Show me ONE case where a president has appointed a judge who shot down a plea agreement with the appointing president's political opponent's son, who was charged with the same crime(s).

Failing that, IMHO it is safe to ignore your wailing about "both sides".

Steve doesn't do a damn thing I say.

So what? That doesn't prevent him from drawing on the fallacies you advance.
Your "Killing Hunter would be better than pardoning him" trope has to be one of the lamest things - probably THE lamest thing you have ever put forth on these forums. How you can say such a thing while wailing about precedents out of the other side of your mouth, is beyond me.

 

[Politesse]

You have also never acknowledged that Hunter has already paid any price at all, let alone a far greater price than anyone else charged with the same or similar crimes.

I'm not going to "acknowledge" that which is untrue.

In fact you have attempted to belittle and deny any attempt to get you to recognize that FACT.

Show me ONE case where a president has appointed a judge who shot down a plea agreement with the appointing president's political opponent's son, who was charged with the same crime(s).

Failing that, IMHO it is safe to ignore your wailing about "both sides".

When has that ever happened before at all?

And I never said anything about both sides. The sides thing is bullshit, there are no sides here. Hunter didn't a free pass to commit felonies because he is a Democrat, but because he is personally close to the outgoing president.

And as before, I stand by my other statement, albeit not in its cropped fashion. A sympathetic martyr would be much more useful to Biden's "side" than a walking (now strictly rhetorical) liability.

 

[Elixir]

I'm not going to "acknowledge" that which is untrue.

Oh? Who else has been maligned in national media, their entire life torn apart, had done plea deals rescinded by a malicious President etc etc ad nauseum. You must think that’s a fucking lark. Yet you can’t find one single case where imprisonment resulted from identical charges, let alone death - which you, as an “advocate for all humanity” prefer over this too-late pardon.
Gimme a fucking break dude. That’s just sick.

Hunter didn't a free pass to commit felonies

Correct. All your specious “because” bullshit is moot.
Your bloodthirsty retributive impulse seems to have taken over your posting function.

 

[Politesse]

Oh? Who else has been maligned in national media, their entire life torn apart, had done plea deals rescinded by a malicious President etc etc ad nauseum. You must think that’s a fucking lark. Yet you can’t find one single case where imprisonment resulted from identical charges, let alone death - which you, as an “advocate for all humanity” prefer over this too-late pardon

Prefer? No, I said it would be better for the DNC. I'm not actually on their side here. What I would prefer is that all Americans had a right to the same legal process when accused of a crime.

I'm not saying that death would be a just sentence for tax fraud, rather the opposite. It would be difficult to pretend that it was anything other than a malicious injustice. Thus turning Hunter Biden into a genuine martyr, murdered on the order of a soulless fascist, whose death could be spun for political gain for the Democrats for decades. The high drama of it all! Just like the Kennedys. He's only a thorn in their side right now. Killing him would turn him into an electoral asset of considerable value. In dollars, friends votes, all the currencies of Washington. It's a sick town, and it loves a good story.

 

[Elixir]

I'm not saying that death would be a just sentence for tax fraud, rather the opposite.

I give up. Apparently your non contradictory opposites are based on metaphysics that are well beyond my grasp, as is your legal theory, your ethics weighting system and so much else.
I’m just not up to the intellectual rigors of professional professorship it seems.

 

[Politesse]

The principle that the same laws should apply to all citizens regardless of class is not some obscure legal theory only a professor could understand, it's literally the 14th amendment.

 

[Elixir]

the same laws should apply to all citizens

Everyone should have a pony, too. Yes, I do understand that.
You know what else is right there in the 14th Amendment? Something about insurrectionists not being allowed to hold office… yet, guess what?

 

[Politesse]

the same laws should apply to all citizens

Everyone should have a pony, too. Yes, I do understand that.
You know what else is right there in the 14th Amendment? Something about insurrectionists not being allowed to hold office… yet, guess what?

I believe that as well, strongly. So why was Trump allowed to take office?

Because he is a beneficiary of a system that sees petty crimes as the province of thugs and gangsters when committed by the poor, but felonies as forgiveable "oopsies" when committed by the privileged. The story the nightly news paints is that it's justice -even "tough love" - to put a kid behind bars for stealing a candy bar from the corner store, but "cruel and unusual" to prosecute a rich man for stealing 1.4 million dollars.

Calling out injustice only when "the other party" does it will not get us out of this mess we are all making together.

 

[steve_bank]

Trump will be sworn in because there is no legal reason why a felon can not take office.

 

[steve_bank]

Hunter Biden by all accounts was a creep with a rich influential father.

So what? He lacks influence, or anyone taking him seriously.
This is very unlike criminals who have resources and the will to wreak massive destruction, pain and grief on millions of people.
Poli seems to have dragged you unwittingly into the "both sides are just as bad" delusion.
That's how we end up with President Musk.

Trump is obviously dangerous for a number of reasons, but both abuse power.

Biden writes checks like there is no tomorrow, 4 billion in student loan forgiveness without authority

Biden's weakness and liability to curtail Netanyahu will have long ranching future consequences for us and the world.

We go after Trump for his affinity for Putin, yet ignore the Biden affinity for Netanyahu and Israel. It was embarrassing as an American to hear Biden make pitiful 'suggestions' to Netanyahu who said yea right go fuck off and keep sending us weapons.

Bidden is a bad president. He keeps syng the economy is gret and ;he; is crteng jobs, tome deaf to increasing numbers of people who can not make ends meet.

It was Biden who led to the shift to the right in the voting. Including blacks and other minorities.

He made pathetic pleas to blacks. At a commencement ceremony at a black college blacks turned their chairs around and showed him their backs.

I would not have voted for either Trump or Biden.

 

[barbos]

You forgot Biden affinity to ukro-nazis.