So the President has pardoned his son for crimes…
…that we were reliably informed, by NPR no less, were all nothing but Russian hoaxes.
It’s hard to tell if Biden’s timing is the a doddering old guy thrashing about at random, or a massive “FU” to the outgoing regime that pushed him under the bus, just as the whole “drain the swamp” movement is getting started.
Interesting comment from a newsletter I get.
Joe Pardoned Hunter for all crimes he might be involved in starting on Jan 1, 2014.
Why did he pick that date?
Because 2014 is when the CIA/State Dept took over Ukraine. 2014 is when Hunter’s biolab company, Metabiota, began looking for coronaviruses in Ukraine.
Joe is not just covering the drug and gun possession charges. Joe is running cover for all of Hunter’s criminality in Ukraine, which is really Joe’s criminality in Ukraine.
This is not just a pardon for Hunter. This is a pardon for JOE!
JDM’s newsletter writer is on the trail. It’s going to take a while for all the truth to come out, but eventually we’re going to learn how much of a scam the entire Ukraine operation has been and all the bien pensant morons with their “I Stand With Ukraine” yard signs are going to realize that… oh, never mind that, as they are impervious to understanding.
Another, no less remarkable, aspect to this whole embarrassing episode is seen in this quote
With the Hunter Biden pardon in the books, the race is on for left-wing news outlets to do damage control.
from here
https://redstate.com/bonchie/2024/12/02/scott-jennings-goes-nuclear-after-cnn-claims-biden-didnt-lie-about-pardons-and-the-receipts-back-him-up-n2182694
I don’t know, maybe behind the scenes there’s anger and complaining, but, man, The current president served a massive crap sandwich to everyone who defended him over the years, claiming he was a beacon of honesty and decency, a protector of the norms. – and yet! – when look how they continue to defend the guy as best they can.
^ when shown what a corrupt, lying POS he is, look
Hit the Post button too soon. D’oh!
I’m old enough to remember when the liberals were claiming that you needed to at least admit to your crimes before accepting a pardon, and it had to b a specific crimes. Something something double standards.
Hunter is small fries. With prosecution off the table, can he be compelled to testify against “the big guy”? I’m curious how this is going to play out.
Joe is too old and mentally incompetent to be charged. He’d be a “sympathetic defendant” and “a jury would be unlikely to convict.”
Regarding the notion that the 2014 Ukrainian revolution was a CIA plot, the first thing I have to say is that when you’re in agreement with the likes of Oliver Stone, you need to recheck your assumptions. This is especially the case when you learn that Stone was, at the time he claimed a CIA plot in Ukraine, writing a biography of Ed Snowden with the assistance of a FSB lawyer.
Sure, U.S. intelligence was interested in whether Ukraine would go towards the EU or Russia, but the big deal was that Ukrainians have suffered under Russian hegemony for close to three centuries, including the Holodomor, and a lot of people who had believed Viktor Yanukovych when he campaigned on a platform of closer relations with the EU were enraged when he, after meetings with Putin, reneged on that commitment.
Really, we conservatives used to be able to recognize Kremlin propaganda. It’s a shame that this changed. We should be able to put two and two together when Russia engages in rampant doping for its athletes, invades multiple sovereign nations, attacking millions of civilians in the process, and such. It’s a neo-Soviet agenda that Vladimir Putin has been planning since 1991, really.
I believe the investigation(s) into the Biden Crime Family will continue and eventually the onion will be peeled back to expose the complete truth. At the end of the day Biden’s “Legacy” will be one of utter corruption.
The important aspect all these slobs miss is, that the minute crackhead Jr. picks up that pardon, he loses his 5th amend protection while testifying about the Big Guy and other’s involvement in the Ukraine and China graft.
Who gives a crap about a piddly gun charge, or a tax evasion? Any Somali in Minneapolis can top that. Corruption by a former VPUSA is gonna leave a mark.
Crackhead can lie, he can refuse to speak or he can spill his guts, any way you cut it, a Biden is going to jail. And perhaps the best part is, there’s an outside chance this whole thing ends up snaring Zelensky’s huge money laundering operation! Don’t count it out; there is precident. Remember the US put Manuel Noriega in power, then threw him in prison when he became a liability.
So much potential.
Further…upon the discovery process for the Biden corruption trial, could an investigation into the billions poured into the Ukrainian
black holemoney laundry ensnare the very same neocon fucks that are determined to derail Trump’s agenda? Might one of the very smart people Trump has hired to drain the swamp realize that opportinuty?Yikes!
Here’s a question for those who, like the apparently and sadly returned Kremlin Tom, might believe that Ukraine is still a pit of money laundering (like Russia actually is): if Zelensky is 1% as corrupt as Kremlin Tom and others suggest he is, how has the FSB failed to kill him? Corruption needs enablers who can be bought, and the FSB has done a great job of imprisoning and killing dissidents in Russia.
The fact that Zelensky is still alive, and is not living in gigantic dachas like Putin owns, indicates that a great portion of the (FSB-enabled) corruption in Ukraine is now gone, in my view.
Can he be compelled? Well, he can be subpoenad, and he can’t take the Fifth.
The curtain is being pulled back on the corrupt Pedo Pete administration and their lawfare is being exposed. Now that he has pardoned his son, all of these minions are asking for pardons. As I understand it, a president can grant pardons to people either charged with or convicted of federal crimes or crimes committed against the country. If this is the case, what crimes have these minions committed to warrant a pardon?
In January, a DOD audit determined that over $1 billion in aid to Ukraine, mostly weapons and military equipment, could not be accounted for. Then, typical “accounting errors” in the over estimation in the number of dollars sent there, resulted in another $6.2 billion in aid that was “freed up” to be sent there. The corrupt cabal of war mongers currently in charge, keep their money laundering schemes going at all costs. A couple of weeks ago, an ex high ranking Polish official alleged that a significant portion of aid to Ukraine was siphoned off to benefit the Democrat party.
https://yournews.com/2024/11/24/2894278/former-polish-minister-alleges-half-of-u-s-aid-to-ukraine/
https://www.villagenews.com/story/2024/03/28/opinion/rfk-jr-reports-ukraine-war-is-a-us-money-laundering-scheme/75685.html
Bike, the principal corruption is not in Ukraine. Most of the money never gets that far. The principal corruption is in Washington. Ukraine is merely the excuse. Here’s the pitch:
Ukraine is an ancient and sovereign nation
Russia is a predator seeking to restore former glory
Russia invaded Ukraine without cause or provocation
The USA is the World Policeman
The USA must help Ukraine resist Russian aggression
Ukraine needs weapons to fight and money for citizens to survive
The USA must give Ukraine money for payroll and pensions (1)
The USA must give Ukraine weapons, then replace those weapons (2)
After the fighting is over, the USA must help Ukraine rebuild (3)
(1) is where Ukrainian civil servants skim money. There is some of that, to be sure, but that’s not the principal complaint.
(2) and (3) are where contractors get paid with USA tax dollars, then donate those dollars to politicians who control future contracts. That’s the money-laundering that we’re talking about. That’s our principal complaint.
It sounds like a good deal – USA money going to USA corporations to make stuff in the USA and employ USA citizens – but it’s really an example of the Broken Window Fallacy of economics. The money wasted in that laundry cycle of Congress-Ukraine Contractor-Congress could have gone to housing USA homeless, USA hurricane disaster relief, lower tax rates for USA earners, paying down the USA national debt, USA student loan relief . . . but those worthy causes to help USA citizens get crowded out by people shouting Russia! Russia! Russia!
If we ended aid to Ukraine, there would still be a laundry cycle, but different contractors would profit and more importantly, USA citizens who actually need help, would get it.
Even if giving Ukraine just five more dollars would put them over the top, it would still be wrong because the basic model is wrong. The USA is not the World Police. We do not carry the White Man’s Burden. We have problems of our own and limited resources to handle them. Therefore, wise American politicians should start every day by asking themselves: “If not American citizens first, then who?” And knowing the answer to that question is “Nobody else is first, America is First,” wise politicians would end aid to Ukraine.
The big guy is making good on the investment Ukraine made in BidenCo.
He’s trying to stuff the rest of the US weapons ready reserve stockpile through the door ahead of him…he doesn’t GAF if that leaves Weimerica vulnerable.
“U.S. readiness is at severe and serious risk” if other needs aren’t balanced against Ukraine’s, this official said.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/12/02/biden-trump-ukraine-russia
Oh, and they’re sending hundreds of thousands of antipersonnel mines, too. I didn’t even know the US had any left; civilized nations don’t use those anymore. But then again, in 2014, Ukraine was using cluster bombs against civilians until they ran out, so mines are fine with them, too.
This is another criminal act. Biden is doing this because he knows Trump is going to pull the plug on this stupendous money laundering scheme within a month of taking office.
The problem Americans face in bringing the Biden’s to justice is the presence of so many neocon thieves in the scheme as accessories after the fact. They are just as crafty as rats come.
Still, there is room for hope. The team Trump is bringing into the DOJ and FBI have no love lost for anyone in the Uniparty, left or right.
There is sure to be investigations into BidenCo, which will inherently involve the present swindle in Ukraine. We wish AG Bondi and Director Patel God’s speed in their work.
Pity Trump is mesmerized by Jewish influences. The genocide in Gaza (and now Lebanon) is sure to keep going until either the US runs completely out of 2000lb bombs or Israel runs out of civilians to drop them on.
They’re having waaay to much fun to stop for any other reason.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2024/israel-videos-war-idf-gaza/?itid=hp-mv-top-stories_top-table-main_p001_f001
“The money wasted in that laundry cycle of Congress-Ukraine Contractor-Congress could have gone to housing USA homeless, USA hurricane disaster relief,..”
Right. Although the media left long ago, my neighbors up the hill are still living in tents. Winter is here, it snowed up there and many of my friends have no heat.
https://open.substack.com/pub/sinosoviran/p/an-extremely-dangerous-emergency?r=pwib7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Under the arch villain Mayorkas, FEMA has become the enemy. Local relief teams were relaying sightings of FEMA between themselves so they could be avoided, because contact usually meant loss of supplies or interference at best.
The rapid response of civilian relief teams has proved FEMA is unnecessary. Just send the supplies to the local authorities, and we’ll take it from there. Here’s hoping Elon and Vivek put FEMA in the shitcan.
“the principal corruption is not in Ukraine. Most of the money never gets that far. The principal corruption is in Washington. Ukraine is merely the excuse.”
This is undeniably true, but after our homegrown thieves take their share, there’s plenty left over for the Ukrainians to siphon.
In 2012, Ukrainian economist Oleh Havrylyshyn performed a comparison of the Ukrainian corruption in a wide global context based on data provided by Transparency International.
His research estimated the level of the corruption in Ukraine as comparable to countries of Sub-Saharan Africa with Uganda as the closest counterpart.
As to Putin’s “dacha’s”:
A: US taxpayers didn’t foot the bill
B: We did pay for Zelensky’s
https://medium.com/@deborahlarmstrong/zelenskys-5-million-villa-in-egypt-fe3f80f76940
Just to be clear, I’m not singling out Ukraine just because it’s a black hole of US tax dollars run by gangsters who declared martial law and banned the opposition political party. South Korea just did the same thing. Treat them the same.
Look, my Dad served in the Korean War. It’s been over longer than I’ve been alive but the South Korean economy is still subsidized by US bases, US contracts, US payroll, and that’s just the money we know about. The money spent protecting the South Korean border would go a long way toward protecting the US border, which is a lot more important to me.
But if we pull out, North Korea will roll over South Korea and enslave them all, same as when we left South Vietnam. It’s China! China! China!
Same analysis as Ukraine, and Taiwan, Gaza and NATO. Not our circus, not our monkeys. We have problems of our own to solve. If not Americans first, then who?
Kremlin Tom is exactly correct that in 2012, when Ukraine was run by (then closeted) Kremlin stooge Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine was corrupt, that corruption being coordinated from the halls of the FSB in Moscow.
Precisely what that tells us about Ukraine after 2014 is dubious, to put it mildly. Again, Zelensky is still alive, and that means that Ukraine has significantly solved the riddle of how to rid Ukraine of FSB led corruption.
Try to keep up with the times, Kremlin Tom.
Bike. Did you read my 8:22 post? I’d like to know your thoughts.
I think it misses the point, actually, John. The relevant fact here is that Putin’s buddies in Moscow media, as well as Putin, are saying things like “the Baltic Republics belong to Russia” and “the re-unification of Germany was colonization by the west”. So if we fail to spend a couple hundred billion defending Ukraine, we risk spending trillions when Russia decides that Moldova and the Baltic republics need to be re-assimiliated. More or less, Putin is a neo-Soviet leader whose aim is the “greater glory” of Russia, even if it puts hundreds of thousands of young Russians in early graves.
I think I’ve adequately addressed the corruption allegations as well–they’re mostly in the past, and if they were widespread today, you’d have hundreds of Javelin missiles in the hands of the Russians and a dead Ukrainian President.
I always check under the bed to make sure the FSB isn’t hiding there. Sometimes I get up in the middle of the night and look in the closets, just to make double sure.
You may think I’m a fucking nut, BUT I AM NOT!!!
The FSB is everywhere, man. Heard about them chemtrails? Yep, it’s them up there, spraying toxic chems on us from Elvis’s jet.
You can mock, Kremlin Tom, but the reality is that Putin was and is KGB, his best friends seem to be associated with the FSB, he’s never walked back his support of the Stasi in the Stalinist regime that was East Germany, and his political opponents seem to have a habit of “falling” out of windows and getting poisoned by nerve agents developed by the KGB.
Moreover, Yanukovych’s current landlord is….Vladimir Putin. Yes, Kremlin Tom, I know you’re proud of being willfully obtuse, but I would hope that even you could figure this one out.
I figured this thread was dead but I guess not.
Bike, thank you for your December 3rd 1:01 post in response to my question. You said: “So, if we fail to spend a couple hundred billion defending Ukraine, we risk spending trillions when Russia decides that Moldova and the Baltic republics need to be re-assimiliated.”
My question to you is: “Why would we do that? Why is their problem, our problem?”
Their problem is our problem for two reasons. First, they’re NATO members, and we have a treaty obligation. Second, it goes well beyond the Baltics into Eastern Europe and even Germany, and crucially for the U.S., in Alaska and down the coast all the way to about the Bay area. The big river through Sonoma is called the “Russian” (“slavyanka” when the Russians were there) for a reason.
Reality is that if you ignore the territorial aspirations of powers like Russia, you end up fighting them from a much worse position. Hence ever since Monroe (e.g. “Monroe Doctrine”), we’ve taken action to limit the ability of expansionist nations to impose their will on less capable neighbors. It pays off in the long run.
I do not expect the nations of Europe to come to the aid of America when Russia attacks Alaska. Realistically, NATO defense obligation is a one-way street. Since NATO does not benefit the US, there is no risk to the US by withdrawing from NATO. In fact, the risk to the US would be decreased, because we would no longer be subsidizing Europe to poke to bear. Participation in NATO is an example of “moral hazard.”
NATO was formed at a time when the industrial and military capacity of European nations was destroyed by war, so they couldn’t defend themselves even if they wanted to. We agreed to lend temporary support until they got back on their feet.
Those wartime conditions no longer exist so their lack of ability is not a basis to object to withdrawing our support. If Europe can give money, men and military weapons to Ukraine, Europe has the ability to defend itself.
The Monroe Doctrine was aimed at keeping European nations out of the Americas. Russia has not operated in our hemisphere since the Cuban Missile Crisis. But the US has operated in Europe, pushing NATO expansion and paying for “color revolutions” up to the Russian borders. They’re not playing in our backyard, we’re playing in theirs.
I guess we have fundamentally different views of America’s role in the world and its ability to carry out that role. Our differing views affect the crises we think the American government should prioritize. I still think the American government should put American citizens first but I’m willing to agree to disagree with you. Thanks for your thoughtful responses.
No doubt that sometimes it is one way, though the British among others have often come to our aid, if not in ways we deem sufficient. Even so, my contention is that maintaining some sort of “Monroe Doctrine” against the expansionist powers of the world is far, far cheaper than the alternative in terms of blood and treasure.