6 ms·

Except it wasn’t news.

macspoofing 6y ago
It isn't news that the son of a presidential candidate is and has been using his name to enrich himself, raising AT BEST questions about conflict of interest? Are you for real?
- ping_pong 6y ago
  To me, it's the fact that Joe Biden didn't put a stop to this immediately. Regardless of the emails, Hunter Biden is/was a drug addict with no skills, being paid upwards of $50,000/month to be on a Board of Directors of a known corrupt company. What skill does he possess that is worth $600,000? The only thing that makes sense is his connection to Joe Biden. It's obvious they were paying him money to be on the board because of his connection to Joe Biden, and Joe Biden should have put a stop to it. That's the crux of the issue to me. The fact that the media is forming a wall of silence around this issue really does show the vast biases they have. This doesn't mean Trump isn't corrupt, by the way, which he is and I believe he is unfit to be president and nothing about the laptop or these emails stopped me from voting for Biden. But every tiny issue with Trump is magnified and overanalyzed by the media, but this rather big issue on Biden is swept under the rug. The media is just as corrupt and biased but the only losers are we the people.
  - epistasis 6y ago
    We elected George W Bush to President, whose history isn't so far away from Hunter Biden's except that the Biden family isn't insanely wealthy. This wasn't that long ago. Everybody should remember Bush's coke problems. You are right that there's a double standard, but I don't think that double standard is where you assert it is. I mean, has there been any investigation of the intelligence response to Russia having bounties on US soldiers' heads? And you think that "any small thing" by Trump gets investigated? Four years ago we were obsessing over emails from the Clintons, which Trump would have us believe were worthy of jailing Clinton. Yet here we are four years later with absolutely no wrongdoing exposed, no grand jury indictments, etc. The lack of awareness and short memories are astounding.
    - macspoofing 6y ago
      >has there been any investigation of the intelligence response to Russia having bounties on US soldiers' heads? Yeah. It turned out to be speculative bullshit. There is no link between American solider deaths in Afghanistan to any bounty program from Russia (or even that such a bounty program has ever existed). Why do you think the story just disappeared?
      - epistasis 6y ago
        Might want to update Wikipedia if you can substantiate "bullshit" in some way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_bounty_program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_bounty_program And we still don't have a President that can keep up with intelligence briefings, apparently.
        macspoofing 6y ago
        You may want to actually read the article. Pretty much everybody, from the Taliban, to Russians, to DoD and American intelligence, dismisses the story. The choice lines from YOUR source: - "On July 9, 2020, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr. and DOD intelligence agencies have not found a link between alleged Russian bounties and that specific attack." - "On September 14, 2020, Gen. McKenzie stated, "It just has not been proved to a level of certainty that satisfies me," reflecting a growing consensus among the U.S. military leaders that the anonymous sources initially presented in the media were either exaggerated or false." Give me a break. If there was even an inkling that this story was true, it would be front-page news from now until election day.
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
        joshuamorton 6y ago
        > Give me a break. If there was even an inkling that this story was true, it would be front-page news from now until election day. Clearly not. Circular arguments aren't a good look.
  - mikeyouse 6y ago
    I have no idea about the veracity of the story, but Hunter Biden went to Georgetown and Yale Law and was EVP at a massive bank holding company and founded a lobbying firm.. That resume is every bit as impressive as most people in the 'business world'. Describing him as a "drug addict with no skills" is very misleading.
- confidantlake 6y ago
  First there has to be credible evidence for any story to be news. It isn't news that aliens are planning to invade earth. Not because that wouldn't be a huge deal, but because there is no evidence to support it. Second, if there is evidence of a son using a name to enrich himself but there is no evidence that the father played a part, I don't think it is news. It may be a shitty thing ethically to do from the son, but I don't think it is particularly news worthy. I thought the same thing when they were talking about how the wife of Bush Jr killed someone in a driving accident. Newsworthy if a candidate did it, not newsworthy if his wife did.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
SamBam 6y ago
I can't reply directly to macspoofing above, so to explain it clearly: the story wasn't Biden's son enriching himself with his name -- that story has been covered by every news organization for over a year, and didn't need a new article on the eve of the election. The new story specifically relates to Joe Biden being a part of it, and enriching himself, and that's the part that no news organization has been able to verify.
- nojito 6y ago
  Why would they waste time verifying it when Joe was cleared by two administrations and the intelligence community? Seems like you’re searching for proof of guilt rather assuming innocence.
- macspoofing 6y ago
  >and didn't need a new article on the eve of the election. What the heck does that mean??!??! What do you mean it "didn't need a new article on the even of the election". WHY NOT?! Because you're voting for Biden? And by the way, Biden has denied all wrongdoing by Hunter. It is certainly relevant when you have concrete proof that his denial was wrong.
  - SamBam 6y ago
    For the same reason that the NY Times suddenly publishing a front-page article on the 26 women who have accused Trump of rape [1] the week before the election would be a blatant partisan hack move. It's well-trodden ground, it's been covered (some might say not enough, but regardless), there's no significant new news, and it would be a blatant attempt to influence the election. In this case, the Times has written numerous stories on Hunter's use of his name to try and make money. That story isn't new. The new part of the story is the insinuation that he did this with Joe Biden's permission, and that Joe himself may have been making money. That part hasn't been verified by anyone. 1. https://www.businessinsider.com/women-accused-trump-sexual-misconduct-list-2017-12 https://www.businessinsider.com/women-accused-trump-sexual-m...
    - 6y ago

It isn't news that the son of a presidential candidate is and has been using his name to enrich himself, raising AT BEST questions about conflict of interest? Are you for real?

ping_pong 6y ago
To me, it's the fact that Joe Biden didn't put a stop to this immediately. Regardless of the emails, Hunter Biden is/was a drug addict with no skills, being paid upwards of $50,000/month to be on a Board of Directors of a known corrupt company. What skill does he possess that is worth $600,000? The only thing that makes sense is his connection to Joe Biden. It's obvious they were paying him money to be on the board because of his connection to Joe Biden, and Joe Biden should have put a stop to it. That's the crux of the issue to me. The fact that the media is forming a wall of silence around this issue really does show the vast biases they have. This doesn't mean Trump isn't corrupt, by the way, which he is and I believe he is unfit to be president and nothing about the laptop or these emails stopped me from voting for Biden. But every tiny issue with Trump is magnified and overanalyzed by the media, but this rather big issue on Biden is swept under the rug. The media is just as corrupt and biased but the only losers are we the people.
- epistasis 6y ago
  We elected George W Bush to President, whose history isn't so far away from Hunter Biden's except that the Biden family isn't insanely wealthy. This wasn't that long ago. Everybody should remember Bush's coke problems. You are right that there's a double standard, but I don't think that double standard is where you assert it is. I mean, has there been any investigation of the intelligence response to Russia having bounties on US soldiers' heads? And you think that "any small thing" by Trump gets investigated? Four years ago we were obsessing over emails from the Clintons, which Trump would have us believe were worthy of jailing Clinton. Yet here we are four years later with absolutely no wrongdoing exposed, no grand jury indictments, etc. The lack of awareness and short memories are astounding.
  - macspoofing 6y ago
    >has there been any investigation of the intelligence response to Russia having bounties on US soldiers' heads? Yeah. It turned out to be speculative bullshit. There is no link between American solider deaths in Afghanistan to any bounty program from Russia (or even that such a bounty program has ever existed). Why do you think the story just disappeared?
    - epistasis 6y ago
      Might want to update Wikipedia if you can substantiate "bullshit" in some way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_bounty_program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_bounty_program And we still don't have a President that can keep up with intelligence briefings, apparently.
      - macspoofing 6y ago
        You may want to actually read the article. Pretty much everybody, from the Taliban, to Russians, to DoD and American intelligence, dismisses the story. The choice lines from YOUR source: - "On July 9, 2020, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr. and DOD intelligence agencies have not found a link between alleged Russian bounties and that specific attack." - "On September 14, 2020, Gen. McKenzie stated, "It just has not been proved to a level of certainty that satisfies me," reflecting a growing consensus among the U.S. military leaders that the anonymous sources initially presented in the media were either exaggerated or false." Give me a break. If there was even an inkling that this story was true, it would be front-page news from now until election day.
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
        joshuamorton 6y ago
        > Give me a break. If there was even an inkling that this story was true, it would be front-page news from now until election day. Clearly not. Circular arguments aren't a good look.
- mikeyouse 6y ago
  I have no idea about the veracity of the story, but Hunter Biden went to Georgetown and Yale Law and was EVP at a massive bank holding company and founded a lobbying firm.. That resume is every bit as impressive as most people in the 'business world'. Describing him as a "drug addict with no skills" is very misleading.
confidantlake 6y ago
First there has to be credible evidence for any story to be news. It isn't news that aliens are planning to invade earth. Not because that wouldn't be a huge deal, but because there is no evidence to support it. Second, if there is evidence of a son using a name to enrich himself but there is no evidence that the father played a part, I don't think it is news. It may be a shitty thing ethically to do from the son, but I don't think it is particularly news worthy. I thought the same thing when they were talking about how the wife of Bush Jr killed someone in a driving accident. Newsworthy if a candidate did it, not newsworthy if his wife did.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

SamBam 6y ago

I can't reply directly to macspoofing above, so to explain it clearly: the story wasn't Biden's son enriching himself with his name -- that story has been covered by every news organization for over a year, and didn't need a new article on the eve of the election. The new story specifically relates to Joe Biden being a part of it, and enriching himself, and that's the part that no news organization has been able to verify.

nojito 6y ago
Why would they waste time verifying it when Joe was cleared by two administrations and the intelligence community? Seems like you’re searching for proof of guilt rather assuming innocence.
macspoofing 6y ago
>and didn't need a new article on the eve of the election. What the heck does that mean??!??! What do you mean it "didn't need a new article on the even of the election". WHY NOT?! Because you're voting for Biden? And by the way, Biden has denied all wrongdoing by Hunter. It is certainly relevant when you have concrete proof that his denial was wrong.
- SamBam 6y ago
  For the same reason that the NY Times suddenly publishing a front-page article on the 26 women who have accused Trump of rape [1] the week before the election would be a blatant partisan hack move. It's well-trodden ground, it's been covered (some might say not enough, but regardless), there's no significant new news, and it would be a blatant attempt to influence the election. In this case, the Times has written numerous stories on Hunter's use of his name to try and make money. That story isn't new. The new part of the story is the insinuation that he did this with Joe Biden's permission, and that Joe himself may have been making money. That part hasn't been verified by anyone. 1. https://www.businessinsider.com/women-accused-trump-sexual-misconduct-list-2017-12 https://www.businessinsider.com/women-accused-trump-sexual-m...
  - 6y ago