I can't believe I'm saying anything as I broadly agree with Impede (I'd be better off finding a stream of sky news Australia and arguing with it in my front room, it would probably be a less one sided conversation and any counter points I make would be taken on at about the same level). However I've had a little break from it and....
Didn't Hunter get charged on a couple of tax points and owning a gun for 11 days in 2018 having been a drug user (effectively, lying on a form to get a gun?) It has been a bit confusing seeing the pearl clutching from certain republicans who are fully paid up members of the gun lobby on the latter but I digress. I don't see the relevance to the laptop - the tax investigation goes back years and years?
I still don't really get the laptop story, from the start it just seems to have been shouting about things without much context or detail. I tried to look into the laptop and there were drugs, prostitutes and morally dubious things but I've not seen a shred of evidence even for all the bluster that Joe Biden was actually in on any of the schemes. At worst, it's been that Hunter insinuated he had links to his dad and he almost certainly got jobs like the Burisma one because of his name (I mean, he got on to the board of Amtrak under Bush so it's not the first time) and potential influence. But people constantly say there's evidence of profitable schemes involving the current president but then there isn't and they just rant about conspiracies and mainstream media and all sorts. I don't think it's great that he used his family/influence to get jobs and make money, and there are conflicts of interest, and I don't like it, but also let's face it he isn't the first person to get jobs because of family ties.
Even before it was dodgy dealings as the top 'charge' it was implied Biden pressured Ukraine to fire Shokin, a top prosecutor in Ukraine, for Hunter's/Burisma's benefit.
But there's literally a letter signed by Republican senators (Bipartisan policy) to sort out the prosecutor's office (story was here: https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110331/documents/HMKP-116-JU00-20191211-SD1330.pdf). The EU, IMF, World Bank etc all wanted Shokin to be fired because he wasn't interested in going after corruption. But there's just enough in it for Fox News to sling stuff at the wall and hope stuff sticks. Pretty sure everything around Shokin has been debunked
three years ago but above Hannity and co present the timeline like it's forensically gathered new evidence, not rehashing talking points from 2020 and not presenting the counters that are easy to understand from 5 mins googling.
The China thing seems similar - the GOP investigation claims to be only interested in money that went to those in office not private citizens but then publicised a payment when 1) Joe Biden wasn't in office 2) the payment isn't tied to anyone who was in office. But they know people will make the link so make a splash about it anyway.
And I don't really like Biden at all, and Hunter is certainly a morally dubious and shady character. It's just frustrating all this wink wink nudge nudge stuff, look how important this all is when it's bluster, and the stuff that gets posted on here is debunked bluster!
I think it's pretty classic in that the right have become obsessed with it but have been very happy to look the other way on 2 indictments involving 71 crimes and other ongoing investigations into the previous president. It is relevant because part of this Hunter story has been to create some sort of equivalence but with about 1 trillionth of the evidence. Can you imagine the scandal if the president's children or children-in-law were paid money by a foreign country and
had a role in the US gov rather than not being in office? Oh wait, they were and they did... the last presidency. I think it tells you everything you need to about the hypocrisy of those playing up that story that that's the case.
www.nbcnews.com
