Biden catch-all | Final Farewells

  • Thread starter Thread starter nycfan
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies: 228
  • Views: 5K
  • Politics 
gtyellowjacket said:
So the following will not suffer any pain from this executive action?

-Petroleum industry workers?
-Employees of suppliers of the industry?
-Owners/shareholders of those companies?
-People that will still be driving gas cars in 6-10 years?

I would have a hard time believing how that within those groups "Ain’t nobody gonna suffer any pain from this executive action. None whatsoever." That is an absurd statement.
Click to expand...
Global warming due to fossil fuel use during the Industrial Revolution will probably cause a lot of pain in upcoming years. At least, that's what I'm hearing. Are you hearing differently? If you have kids, good luck to them, they'll need it.
 
Last edited:
BlooVooDoo said:
I’d settle for whatever has you presuming to an outcome that’s years away.
Click to expand...
Will you? Something tells me you're going to keep demanding more evidence until we get back to the there are no studies of this several hours old policy but let's give it a shot.

1736214523466.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Bobfripp said:
Global warming due to fossil fuel use during the Industrial Revolution will probably cause a lot of pain in upcoming years. At least, that's what I'm hearing. Are you hearing differently? If you have kids, good luck to them, they'll need it.
Click to expand...
Yeah. I wrote something similar in the second post of this thread.
 
Bobfripp said:
Can't find it. What did you say?
Click to expand...
Doh. No wonder. Page 7.

Painful but probably the right thing to do. If we're going to get greenhouse gases under control, we have to address transportation and anything that makes internal combustion engines less palatable makes electric cars more palatable.
 


“… Through an interview that stretched for nearly an hour, Biden was engaged and loquacious, though at times he spoke so softly that it was difficult to hear him. On his desk were index cards that seemed to have talking points and statistics, but he glanced at them only once, at the end, as if to make sure he had mentioned the items most important to him.

… He acknowledged his age was an issue.

"I had no intention of running after Beau died − for real, not a joke," Biden said, referring to the death of his elder son in 2015 of brain cancer. That family tragedy at what seemed to be the end of his political career was a bookend to the one at its beginning, when his first wife and baby daughter, Naomi, were killed in a car crash.

Then, in 2020, "when Trump was running again for reelection, I really thought I had the best chance of beating him. But I also wasn't looking to be president when I was 85 years old, 86 years old. And so I did talk about passing the baton" to the next generation of Democratic leaders, a phrase many in his party took to mean he wasn't likely to seek a second term.

"But I don't know," he said, returning to the question about whether he could have fulfilled the world's hardest job for another four years. "Who the hell knows?"

… The underlying message: The impact of his presidency cannot be fairly judged primarily by controversies over his health, his on-again-off-again presidential bid and his decision to grant a sweeping pardon for his son.

"I hope that history says that I came in and I had a plan how to restore the economy and reestablish America's leadership in the world," Biden said. "That was my hope. I mean, you know, who knows? And I hope it records that I did it with honesty and integrity, that I said what was on my mind." …”
 
Last edited:
(Cont’d)

“… His biggest disappointment, Biden said, was his failure to effectively counter misinformation, including that from Trump. He said that challenge reflects the revolution in how Americans get their news, and whom they trust to tell it.

"Because of the way, nature, the nature of the way information is shared now, there are no editors out there to say 'That's simply not true,'" Biden said. He mentioned Trump's rhetoric about the threat from migrants, though in doing so he apparently conflated two recent attacks by Army veterans involving trucks, one in New Orleans and the other in Las Vegas.

…
Biden also expressed frustration about how long it took to get shovels in the ground for the infrastructure projects. "Historians will talk about (how) great the impact was, but it didn't (have) any immediate impact on people's lives," he said. "I think we would've been a hell of a lot better off had we been able to go much harder at getting some of these projects in the ground quicker.

"And so I don't think I've been very good at − " He paused.

Taking credit?

"Or not so much me, but establish that the government did this for you." …”
 


“… Special counsel David Weiss chastised President Biden as part of the 280-page report for making “gratuitous and wrong” accusations that his long-running investigation was unfair and tainted by politics. The president, when pardoning his son last month, had said Hunter Biden was the victim of a “selective” prosecution that was “unfair” and a “miscarriage of justice.”

“Other presidents have pardoned family members, but in doing so, none have taken the occasion as an opportunity to malign the public servants at the Department of Justice based solely on false accusations,” Weiss said in the report.

“Far from selective, these prosecutions were the embodiment of the equal application of justice – no matter who you are, or what your last name is, you are subject to the same laws as everyone else in the United States,” he added.

… The president’s pardon shielded his son from any prosecution stemming from any federal crimes he may have committed between 2014 and December 2024. Therefore, “in light of this pardon,” Weiss said he didn’t include any legal analysis in his report about “whether additional charges were warranted” beyond the 12 tax and gun crimes he charged Hunter Biden with in 2023.

… Weiss had investigated Hunter Biden since 2018, when he was the Donald Trump-appointed US attorney for Delaware. After Joe Biden became president, he kept Weiss to finish his work, even while replacing almost all other US attorneys, as is common.

…Weiss charged two people during the course of his investigation: Hunter Biden and Alexander Smirnov, a former FBI informant who falsely accused Hunter and his father of taking $10 million in bribes from Ukraine. House Republicans used those claims to bolster their failed impeachment push.

Smirnov was sentenced last week to six years in prison.

…
Despite the fact that figures from both political parties hammered Weiss at various points of his probe, his report only rebuked Joe Biden by name for his commentary about the probe.

The report does not mention the congressional Republicans who called for Weiss’ resignation, tried to upend the plea agreement he negotiated with Hunter Biden in 2023, held hearings with ex-IRS investigators who said his probe was filled with misconduct, and pressured the FBI to release documents about an now-debunked tip from an informant that the Bidens took massive bribes from Ukraine. …”
 
continued

“…Ironically, Weiss said one of the reasons he prosecuted Hunter Biden for gun crimes was because President Biden’s administration prioritized gun control and stiffened penalties for some gun offenses.

“I considered the federal law enforcement priorities, including any federal law enforcement initiatives or operations aimed at accomplishing those priorities,” Weiss said, pointing to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that Biden signed into law in 2022, and various Biden-era gun control actions at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

…For years, Republicans have pushed unproven accusations that Joe Biden and Hunter Biden engaged in illegal overseas business dealings. Weiss said in the report released Monday that Hunter Biden “had no co-conspirators” in his financial crimes, which prosecutors investigated from 2018 to 2024.

While Weiss was speaking narrowly about the specific federal tax charges he filed against Hunter Biden, his report is another reminder that prosecutors never accused Joe Biden of wrongdoing and never backed up GOP claims that Joe Biden engaged in illegal influence-peddling schemes with his son.”
 
nycfan said:


“… Special counsel David Weiss chastised President Biden as part of the 280-page report for making “gratuitous and wrong” accusations that his long-running investigation was unfair and tainted by politics. The president, when pardoning his son last month, had said Hunter Biden was the victim of a “selective” prosecution that was “unfair” and a “miscarriage of justice.”

“Other presidents have pardoned family members, but in doing so, none have taken the occasion as an opportunity to malign the public servants at the Department of Justice based solely on false accusations,” Weiss said in the report.

“Far from selective, these prosecutions were the embodiment of the equal application of justice – no matter who you are, or what your last name is, you are subject to the same laws as everyone else in the United States,” he added.

… The president’s pardon shielded his son from any prosecution stemming from any federal crimes he may have committed between 2014 and December 2024. Therefore, “in light of this pardon,” Weiss said he didn’t include any legal analysis in his report about “whether additional charges were warranted” beyond the 12 tax and gun crimes he charged Hunter Biden with in 2023.

… Weiss had investigated Hunter Biden since 2018, when he was the Donald Trump-appointed US attorney for Delaware. After Joe Biden became president, he kept Weiss to finish his work, even while replacing almost all other US attorneys, as is common.

…Weiss charged two people during the course of his investigation: Hunter Biden and Alexander Smirnov, a former FBI informant who falsely accused Hunter and his father of taking $10 million in bribes from Ukraine. House Republicans used those claims to bolster their failed impeachment push.

Smirnov was sentenced last week to six years in prison.

…
Despite the fact that figures from both political parties hammered Weiss at various points of his probe, his report only rebuked Joe Biden by name for his commentary about the probe.

The report does not mention the congressional Republicans who called for Weiss’ resignation, tried to upend the plea agreement he negotiated with Hunter Biden in 2023, held hearings with ex-IRS investigators who said his probe was filled with misconduct, and pressured the FBI to release documents about an now-debunked tip from an informant that the Bidens took massive bribes from Ukraine. …”
Click to expand...

For what it's worth, I agree with Weiss on this. I've made my position on the pardon clear, but I'm also disappointed with Biden's comments on the integrity of the process related to Hunter's investigation and prosecution. It PALES, of course, in comparison to the nuclear war Trump is waging on accountability in government and trust in the rule of law, but I still think what Biden said was irresponsible and unbecoming for the president of the United States.
 
lawtig02 said:
For what it's worth, I agree with Weiss on this. I've made my position on the pardon clear, but I'm also disappointed with Biden's comments on the integrity of the process related to Hunter's investigation and prosecution. It PALES, of course, in comparison to the nuclear war Trump is waging on accountability in government and trust in the rule of law, but I still think what Biden said was irresponsible and unbecoming for the president of the United States.
Click to expand...
Not trying to pick an argument but seriously interested in your take. Is this based on decorum that you feel a president should show or because it's a serious misdescription of what happened?
 
finesse said:
Not trying to pick an argument but seriously interested in your take. Is this based on decorum that you feel a president should show or because it's a serious misdescription of what happened?
Click to expand...
Both. In an ideal world, I think our presidents should have the decorum to avoid criticizing their own justice department (or special counsels properly designated), ESPECIALLY when the president has a personal interest in the investigation at issue. I would feel differently if Biden just said he disagreed with the decision to prosecute Hunter, but to call it "unfair" and a "miscarriage of justice" was way too much, in my view. That's beneath the dignity of the office.

I also don't think Biden's criticism was warranted on the facts. Even if it's true that most Americans would not have been charged the same way, that doesn't mean the charges against Hunter were unfair or a miscarriage of justice. Almost anyone charged with any crime can point to a host of people who did the same thing and got away with it. That's not a valid defense, in my view. Hunter did what he was charged with. He had a fair trial. He was convicted by a jury of his peers. I haven't seen a single thing that would suggest what happened to him was unfair or a miscarriage of justice.

Just to be clear, I'm only talking about Hunter and Joe here, not Trump. On a scale of 1-10, if my criticism of Biden is a 2, my criticism of Trump would be a 10,000. Trump has thrown all of our norms in the dumpster, set it on fire, and put it on parade down 5th Avenue. I'm not even saying what Biden did gives Trump a pass, as Trump was grossly violating our civic norms much earlier than Hunter first crossed Comer's mind. I just happen to think it's worth trying to hold on to some of the norms that make this country functional, in the hope we can return to them after MAGA finishes its march to perfidity. And in my view, what Biden did with this pardon, and especially with the comments he made about the investigation, harms the cause.
 
Thanks. I was interested in your take on Biden and primarily in terms of the legal aspect. As usual, I seldom keep up with these things very closely. I can't remember the last time my opinion was necessary or important. I do remember some discussion of a disputed plea bargain. What happened there? Would that rise to the level of unfairness as applied?

I note your relatively mild distaste for Trump.
 
finesse said:
Thanks. I was interested in your take on Biden and primarily in terms of the legal aspect. As usual, I seldom keep up with these things very closely. I can't remember the last time my opinion was necessary or important. I do remember some discussion of a disputed plea bargain. What happened there? Would that rise to the level of unfairness as applied?

I note your relatively mild distaste for Trump.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure we'll ever know exactly what happened with that plea agreement. No doubt GOP congressmen intervened in ways that were totally inappropriate. But I do think the closer examination revealed a disconnect between the government and Hunter's team on the intended scope of the agreement. I don't think the judge did anything improper by questioning the parties on what the agreement contemplated, and the collapse of the agreement was a result of those questions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top