Posts Made By: James Brown

Originally Posted by Jim Moscheck

I have a problem with both of their ages, too, but if it's between trump and biden I'll go with the older guy that has lots more experience governing.

No argument from me.   I am just sorry that it is between Trump and Biden at all.   Jim

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

Now we have a statement from the DOJ AG, Merrick Garland:
"Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday rejected claims that the Justice Department interfered in the yearslong criminal probe into Hunter Biden, saying that the United States attorney in Delaware, a Trump appointee, had “complete authority” over the investigation."
“Mr. Weiss had, in fact, more authority than a special counsel would have,” Garland added. “He had and has complete authority, as I said, to bring a case anywhere he wants in his discretion.”
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/23/politics/merrick-garland-hunter-biden/index.html

I'd have been surprised if Merrick Garland had told the truth: Joe Biden is an important politician, of course we slow walked this and gave Hunter Biden a slap on the wrist!   We here in Washington protect our own.  Why would you expect anything different?

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

I watched an exchange on Hunter Biden's so-called "sweetheart deal" on CNN last night and I found ex-federal prosecutor Eli Honig's explanation quite informative.
First, on the so-called "slow walking" of Hunter Biden's case" as alleged by the whistleblower. Honig pointed out that at least half of this "slow-walking" occurred under the Trump administration.  So, if there was some sort of political bias favoring Hunter Biden, it would have to have come from an opposition party and that, obviously, just isn't the case. Honig agrees the case should, in general, have proceeded more quickly through the system but unless you or somebody can give a rational explanation as to why it would have been "slow-walked" by the Trump folks, this allegation of political favoritism fails on its merits.
Second, as regards to the lack of felony prosecutions in the Hunter Biden case, Honig said it's not unusual at all and, in fact, it's very common for an IRS agent to recommend a felony prosecution while the federal prosecutor looks at the case and decides otherwise. He saw this all the time in these types of cases. And, of course, there was no political pressure applied in any of them to do otherwise. And, I'll again remind you that it was a Trump appointed attorney who decided what charges to bring in this case...

It does not matter what party was in charge!  The career prosecutors in the DOJ did a big favor for a career politician.  Also, you might have noticed that the Washington establishment has always hated Trump.  To suggest that they did his bidding or anything like while he was in office is silly.   It was slow walked by career folks in the DOJ who harbored active hatred of DJT. 

Rod, you seem to think that Trump rebuilt the DOJ and all of Washington in his image the day he was sworn in.   Ha Ha!  The career DOJ staff hated him.  Jim



p.s.  Do you seriously think you or me would have gotten this slow-walk plus wrist slap sweetheart deal?  Do you think the IRS and DOJ would have intentionally let the statute of limitations run on millions of unreported income if it was you or me?  I know there are pundits out there on MSNBC saying just that, but they are lying.



p.s.s.  To think you called me a Pollyanna the other day!

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

Jim,
Apparently you are refractory to facts. Weiss, the prosecuting attorney, has the consummate authority to prosecute this case and bring the charges that he believes are warranted by the evidence. And it's not what some IRS agent thinks that determines when and what charges are brought, it's what the prosecutor thinks he can prove. Weiss works out of Vermont, not Washington, and has no vested interest in protecting Washington's own, as you put it. He's about as far away from being some sort of political hack as it can possibly be. 

Weiss is being a good soldier after the fact, he has a career to worry about, after all.   According to one of the whistleblowers as recounted in the WSJ,  "Mr. Shapley, leader of an elite team of agents specializing in international tax investigations, was brought in as supervisor of the Hunter case in January 2020. He says he quickly was stopped from taking normal investigatory steps. One example: He says his team was told in September 2020 by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf that they couldn’t pursue a search warrant of Joe Biden’s guest house (Hunter’s onetime residence) because of the “optics” and because “there is no way we will get that approved.”

In December 2020 the team wanted to search a storage unit in Virginia where Hunter had moved business documents. Ms. Wolf again objected, then tipped off Hunter’s defense counsel, “ruining our chance to get to evidence before being destroyed, manipulated, or concealed,” Mr. Shapley said. Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters also tipped Hunter’s Secret Service team to a proposed “day of action” in which members of U.S. Attorney David Weiss’s team intended to conduct surprise interviews of witnesses—including Hunter. This gave a group “close to Hunter” the opportunity to “obstruct the approach,” and of the “12 interviews we hoped to conduct on our day of action, we only got one substantive interview.” Hunter lawyered up."

It gets worse:  "The IRS team nonetheless prepared a document in late 2021 covering tax years 2014-19, in which it recommended charging Hunter with felony tax evasion, felony false tax returns, and failures to pay tax. Mr. Shapley says this was partially based on Hunter’s “textbook” tax evasion of declaring his income from the Ukrainian firm Burisma as a “loan.” Mr. Shapley says the team was also looking into a Foreign Agents Registration Act case.

According to Mr. Shapley, the Weiss team was prepared to pursue these charges but was blocked by Biden appointees—despite Attorney General Merrick Garland’s public claim of Mr. Weiss’s independence. Mr. Shapley notes that the proper venue for a tax case is where a subject resides or a return is filed; in Hunter’s case, the District of Columbia or California. But he says the U.S. attorney in the capital, Matthew Graves, refused to bring charges, and when Mr. Weiss asked for authority to bring charges there, he “was denied.” Mr. Shapley said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada of California’s Central District, similarly declined to bring charges. Messrs. Graves and Estrada were both appointed by Joe Biden."

Look, maybe the whistleblowers are lying under oath.  And maybe the IRS and DOJ just honestly fucked up this prosecution and let the statute of limitations run on the felony tax charges.   Ha Ha.  Do you really believe that?!!   If you do, then I sure hope you or me get this "incompetent" team at the IRS and DOJ if we are ever accused of tax fraud.
   
Frankly Rod, the IRS and DOJ never intentionally let the statute run on criminal tax fraud run.  Except this time.  Explain that.

Also, you have not addressed the political price Biden is going to pay (in my opinion) even if the investigation and prosecution of Hunter was on the up and up.  I of course believe that this deal was a sweetheart deal of the sort accorded to well connected insiders.   But even if I am wrong, I am very confident that very few people, other than maybe you, actually believe that Hunter Biden got the same deal they would have received in the same circumstances.   Either way, there may be a political price to pay.   Jim

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

Not to be outdone for saying the dumbest thing a Republican representative could say this week, Dan Crenshaw said this:
"Outcome of Titan sub would be different ‘if leadership had just acted sooner"
"Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) criticized the U.S. Coast Guard’s emergency operations for their attempts to save a tourist submersible bound for the wreck of the Titanic, calling efforts an “epic failure of leadership.”
“Now, it’s important to note, that if you had just deployed those assets, they would have arrived on scene by Wednesday morning at the latest,” Crenshaw said in a Fox News interview Thursday."
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/4063772-dan-crenshaw-on-titan-submersible-outcome/

Er, ah, the sub imploded in thirty milliseconds. During this interval, everyone one on board were instantly obliterated so it wouldn't matter if the coast guard was sitting on top of the site of the catastrophe: 
“The instant collapse of the pressure, the hull would immediately heat the air in the sub to around the surface of the sun’s temperature, as a wall of metal and seawater smashed one end of the boat to the other, all in around 30 milliseconds,...”
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-747444

Just for the record, since we are disagreeing elsewhere, I agree 100% that this is a tragically stupid comment.  I had no idea of the physics of the implosion.  At least the deceased were croaked quickly.  

Originally Posted by Jim Moscheck

I know you guys love me posting about the former guy but it's in the news. Again.

https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-responds-leaked-audio-025702780.html

"Posting to Truth Social after the release of the audio, Trump took aim at prosecutor Jack Smith and claimed, without explaining, that the audio is an exoneration of his alleged crimes.

“The Deranged Special Prosecutor, Jack Smith, working in conjunction with the DOJ & FBI, illegally leaked and ‘spun’ a tape and transcript of me which is actually an exoneration, rather than what they would have you believe,” Trump wrote.

The former president added: “This continuing Witch Hunt is another ELECTION INTERFERENCE Scam. They are cheaters and thugs!”

Hi Jim:

I don't mind the post, but the picture, at breakfast time?  Oh well, I could stand to trim down a bit...  Jim

Originally Posted by Jim Moscheck

If I lived in Colorado I'd never run out of things to do. Same here for most of the year in Michigan. Golf? Nope, not my style. I'm more a camping, hiking, cycling, observing, and driving my sports car kind of guy. I have two 14'ers under my belt and a bunch more easy ones to go. Not sure I'll get to the harder more difficult climbs at my age and living here in Michigan. I plan to do at least two more next summer.  

This is my first full week off since the start of Covid. I know it's Wednesday cause tonight we're going to see Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe at Meadowbrook, which is a smaller outdoor shed. Should be a beautiful night for having the top down if the wildfire smoke isn't too bad.

The smoke is really bad today, according to my parents in Indiana.   That sucks.   Elvis Costello should be fun!  I know Nick Lowe by name, but do not have any of his albums.   Jim

Originally Posted by James Lacey

What's hilarious is that Hunter Biden has *nothing* to do with Trump's blatant mishandling of top-secret documents.

Hi James:

What you say is true of course, but as I argued with Rod last week, Hunter got a ridiculously soft deal, and that is not a good look for the president (at least).  The Hunter Biden situation really seems like a problem for the president, in view of the IRS whistleblower's sworn testimony.   I think it is extremely likely that Hunter would be in deep doo if he were not shielded by the Washington establishment.   No idea if the big guy is in on anything nefarious, but there is a lot more investigation that needs to be done, in view of the whistleblower's testimony.   

So, Trump's legal troubles are unrelated to Hunter's, but that does not mean that only one of these chaps can be a criminal.   

Jim

Originally Posted by James Lacey

Every time he opens his mouth, he makes things worse. His frequently different and inconsistent explanations and justifications will not win him credibility points with the jury. If I were a lawyer, I would only agree to represent Trump if he was kept isolated in an underground bunker except when necessary to be available for the trial.

That is so completely true.

Originally Posted by James Lacey

Sure, they can both be criminals, and there is no doubt that Hunter is a scum-bag who was influence-peddling using his father's name. Conspiracy theories aside, Hunter and his laptop have been investigated to death by a Trump-appointed US attorney who started his investigation while Trump was still in office. According to Garland, Weiss had full authority in the investigation and was left alone to do his work. So, despite the whistle-blower's allegations, no one has found any reason to indict Joe. From what I have read, their cloud data on Hunter was far more damning than anything on the laptop. The laptop played virtually no role in the recent charges and his subsequent plea deal; frankly, it's just a partisan distraction. I have no doubt Republicans will continue to make hay over Hunter's misdeeds and even have some congressional investigations, but at this point, if there were anything to charge Joe with, it would have been found. As far as we know, Joe has never been involved in Hunter's business dealings. I'm not saying he's pure as the driven snow, but this has all the trappings of just another "What about her emails!" marketing scheme.

Hi Jim:

Not exactly.   Of course I agree that there is no reason to indict Joe.  Still, it is reasonably clear, if the whistleblowers are believed, (or even if they are not), that the Washington establishment in the DOJ played heavy interference for Hunter and landed him a genuine sweetheart deal.  I discussed this with Rod at length last week, but the forum was quiet at the time and you quite likely missed that conversation.    In summary - 

(A) I find the whistleblowers quite credible.  The DOJ top to bottom provided cover for Hunter and ultimately handed him a real sweetheart deal. (B) At the same time, I think it is likely that Hunter was lying when he texted or chatted that his dad was "sitting right there" when he shook the Chinese down for millions and that he was lying lying in other instances where he said his dad was actively involved.  This needs more investigation though.  (C)  I also understand that career politicians get favors, whether they ask for them or not.  I was not born yesterday.   (D)  The DOJ and IRS do not let the criminal statute of limitations run on felony charges by accident.   (E) the "appointed by Trump" bit is a red hearing.   Many of the actions that ultimately resulted in the wrist slap were taken by D appointees or career guys.   Like the D appointees who refused the requested criminal filings in Delaware and California.  (E)  Hunter is a grifter and influence peddler without any known equal, including Jared Kushner.   "Money for nothing, chicks for free"   Although Hunter sometimes had to pay for his chicks.   He is getting off with a wrist slap, and Joe six-pack noticed.

I think Garland is lying when he says that Hunter was treated the same as anyone else.  The CNN types who are gyrating to prove that Hunter was treated like you and me are laughable.   No rational person seriously believes that.  On the contrary, Hunter got the mother of all sweetheart deals.  Misdemeanors for millions in tax fraud and felony gun charges!  I get it that this is how Washington works, but it looks really bad in this  particular "no one is above the law" political climate.

Bottom line, I think Joe pays a political price for the hypocrisy, even though I doubt he is a criminal.   I do not think Joe gets indicted!   I think, because of the above and other reasons, Biden loses the election to any R not named Trump, or any other mammal, or maybe he loses to a post-it-note!  If and only if the Rs are able to nominate someone other than Trump!  "Something's wrong in this House today...Something's been going on there may be a price to pay"

Jim

(Classic rock shout-outs to Jim M.!)