4 ms·

Yeah the censorship is bad and further reduces trust in the media and tech companies (though its already at zero for many people). But isn't the story here tha

Yeah the censorship is bad and further reduces trust in the media and tech companies (though its already at zero for many people). But isn't the story here that the vice presidents son was being paid millions of dollars by chinese, ukrainian, and other companies for .. something? It's not his business accumen, right? What could they possibly be paying him for other than access to his dad? Is there any other reasonable explanation for these "business arrangements?"

darkerside 6y ago
It's a lot of money for a person, but it's not a lot for a business. It's a cheap insurance policy to stay on the "good side" of someone who operates, even privately, in the quid pro quo seeking way that Trump does very publicly.
- thebigblueguy 6y ago
  4 years of investigations and the best they got on so called Trump Quid Pro Quo was him asking Ukraine about this specific grift by the Biden’s. Either he’s better at hiding his crimes than Muller and the Democrat party is able to investigate them, or gasp they can’t actually find anything because there is nothing...
thebigblueguy 6y ago
They paid for introductions to “the big guy”. I’m surprised HN keeps this story up given the overlap of philosophies between the tech bubble and Democrat politicians.
- cmdshiftf4 6y ago
  The reason stuff like this gets flagged is, in my opinion, that while the underlying issue is of relevant interest (stinking tech companies caught poisoning yet another thing), it’s too close to simple politics to prevent a thread full of hyperpartisan bickering.
chowchowchow 6y ago
And? I don’t think the NYP story was supposed to be a bombshell that Hunter Biden got jobs because his last name was Biden. That may be unfair but that particular point is not even the subject of the New York Post story. Companies hire people in useless positions all the time you know.
- thebigblueguy 6y ago
  That’s exactly the point. Your attempt to pretend paying a drug addict $83k per month is fine, nothing to see here, is definitely not the same opinion of most voters. That alone is worth the tech companies risking their reputations and livelihoods of all their employees / partners! Trump cannot win! He’s eeeeeeeevil!!!
- luckylion 6y ago
  > Companies hire people in useless positions all the time you know. Yeah, they're called princelings, it's very common in China. If you want to do business, you hire the child of a high-ranking party member, pay them large sums of money for zero work and then you get all the permits you need.
  - chowchowchow 6y ago
    Mmhmm. I said it’s unfair. Again I don’t see how reiterating that Hunter Biden probably got some jobs because of his name proves the more salacious allegations that were the center of the story...
    - luckylion 6y ago
      It doesn't, of course. Just as Mercedes paying Chinese princelings millions doesn't prove that there's corruption in China.
      - chowchowchow 6y ago
        Well there’s other evidence of that! And the trouble here is the evidence from the story is not verified (the FBI has not confirmed its HB’s laptop, has it? The screenshots of the Russian blackberry seem... dubious...). And that’s the sort of thing that most news organizations would gate reporting on. I do agree it’s a bit strange for Twitter to step in and try to apply editorial standards where NYP didn’t when they otherwise disclaim responsibilities of being a publisher. I dunno; there’s an interesting discussion here if you can tone down the fire in your belly about conspiracies.
jokethrowaway 6y ago
I doubt anyone is surprised by another plausible case of corruption (or depravation / or pedophilia if you address the other allegations). There is also the story that the FBI was sitting on this since December (potential for blackmail in case Biden is elected? who knows) which is scary as well. In the end, I think it's endemic in having human corruptible politicians who can accentrate power. We will minimise this problem only if we decentralise the structure of powers in our society. Not that any mainstream party has an interest in promoting that (unless you consider Jo Jorgensen and the libertarian party)

darkerside 6y ago

It's a lot of money for a person, but it's not a lot for a business. It's a cheap insurance policy to stay on the "good side" of someone who operates, even privately, in the quid pro quo seeking way that Trump does very publicly.

thebigblueguy 6y ago
4 years of investigations and the best they got on so called Trump Quid Pro Quo was him asking Ukraine about this specific grift by the Biden’s. Either he’s better at hiding his crimes than Muller and the Democrat party is able to investigate them, or gasp they can’t actually find anything because there is nothing...

thebigblueguy 6y ago

They paid for introductions to “the big guy”. I’m surprised HN keeps this story up given the overlap of philosophies between the tech bubble and Democrat politicians.

cmdshiftf4 6y ago
The reason stuff like this gets flagged is, in my opinion, that while the underlying issue is of relevant interest (stinking tech companies caught poisoning yet another thing), it’s too close to simple politics to prevent a thread full of hyperpartisan bickering.

chowchowchow 6y ago

And? I don’t think the NYP story was supposed to be a bombshell that Hunter Biden got jobs because his last name was Biden. That may be unfair but that particular point is not even the subject of the New York Post story. Companies hire people in useless positions all the time you know.

thebigblueguy 6y ago
That’s exactly the point. Your attempt to pretend paying a drug addict $83k per month is fine, nothing to see here, is definitely not the same opinion of most voters. That alone is worth the tech companies risking their reputations and livelihoods of all their employees / partners! Trump cannot win! He’s eeeeeeeevil!!!
luckylion 6y ago
> Companies hire people in useless positions all the time you know. Yeah, they're called princelings, it's very common in China. If you want to do business, you hire the child of a high-ranking party member, pay them large sums of money for zero work and then you get all the permits you need.
- chowchowchow 6y ago
  Mmhmm. I said it’s unfair. Again I don’t see how reiterating that Hunter Biden probably got some jobs because of his name proves the more salacious allegations that were the center of the story...
  - luckylion 6y ago
    It doesn't, of course. Just as Mercedes paying Chinese princelings millions doesn't prove that there's corruption in China.
    - chowchowchow 6y ago
      Well there’s other evidence of that! And the trouble here is the evidence from the story is not verified (the FBI has not confirmed its HB’s laptop, has it? The screenshots of the Russian blackberry seem... dubious...). And that’s the sort of thing that most news organizations would gate reporting on. I do agree it’s a bit strange for Twitter to step in and try to apply editorial standards where NYP didn’t when they otherwise disclaim responsibilities of being a publisher. I dunno; there’s an interesting discussion here if you can tone down the fire in your belly about conspiracies.

jokethrowaway 6y ago

I doubt anyone is surprised by another plausible case of corruption (or depravation / or pedophilia if you address the other allegations). There is also the story that the FBI was sitting on this since December (potential for blackmail in case Biden is elected? who knows) which is scary as well. In the end, I think it's endemic in having human corruptible politicians who can accentrate power. We will minimise this problem only if we decentralise the structure of powers in our society. Not that any mainstream party has an interest in promoting that (unless you consider Jo Jorgensen and the libertarian party)