WaPo says Hunter Biden’s expected guilty plea on misdemeanor tax charges is falling about over questions on immunity from additional charges.
WILMINGTON, Del. — The plea deal for Hunter Biden was on the brink of falling apart Wednesday, when the two sides could not agree on whether admitting to two tax crimes would immunize the president’s son from possible additional charges.
U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika pressed federal prosecutors and Biden’s lawyers to come to some “meeting of the minds.” But that appeared unlikely, as the two sides said they did not see eye to eye about the precise terms of their own plea agreement. At one point in the hearing, Biden’s lawyer declared there was no deal.
The judge urged the two sides to spend some more time talking on Wednesday, in the hopes that the guilty plea hearing might be salvaged. If not, prosecutors could decide to press ahead toward trial.
So, we might enter an election year when one party’s nominee is himself on trial for multiple felony counts and the other’s son in on trial for misdemeanor tax charges. Personally, I prefer candidates who aren’t under multiple felony indictments.
Open thread.
Baud
That’s weird. Oh well.
Inventor
If I understand it correctly, the problem is with the gun charge, not the tax charges.
Chris
… And of course, the media will “both sides do it but Biden is worse because even though Biden isn’t actually under investigation, the fact that he’s related to someone who is is even shadier if you think about it, also Democrats Are Worse.”
Alison Rose
Sigh :(
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
Don’t worry about this week’s circus.
The “bread” over the next year will matter much more come November ‘24. And Biden is delivering big-time.
rikyrah
I honestly don’t care. If his name weren’t Biden, he wouldn’t have been charged.
And yet, no investigation into why Jared got 2 phucking BILLION DOLLARS.
rikyrah
Florida Chris (@chrislongview) tweeted at 6:51 AM on Mon, Jul 24, 2023:
“Diluting the horrors of slavery does not serve or protect children. It deprives them of the liberating power of knowledge, and a comprehensive education that readies them to shape the future by understanding the past.” https://t.co/dP63Bsrxmb
(https://twitter.com/chrislongview/status/1683444768989233152?t=iUPRNq7k6fTxR3PFib60ag&s=03)
Cameron
The Trump-appointed judge almost sounds like the voice of reason here.
Matt McIrvin
@Chris: In 2016, Trump’s supporters hit hard on associating Hillary Clinton with Jeffrey Epstein even though Trump himself was blatantly more closely associated with Jeffrey Epstein and actually had related rape accusations directly against him. It did not seem to matter.
oldgold
JFC, if a plea deal should have been worked through, such that every damn i was dotted and every t crossed, it was this one. What in the hell is wrong with these lawyers?
This is a BFD. Although it should not be, getting this effing Hunter squared away is important to maintaining our Republic. There is no excuse for this.
West of the Rockies
@rikyrah:
Damn straight. Kushner is in cahoots with a killer regime. He is the one who should be investigated (along with Don Jr. for cocaine).
Cameron
@rikyrah: But some white kids might be made to feel uncomfortable. Says the MAGA with the “Fuck Your Feelings” tee shirt.
oldgold
@rikyrah: His name is Biden! So, we need to get this squared away.
Baud
Via Reddit
CaseyL
Via Paula Reid (h/t Laffy at Mastodon):
UPDATE: Hunter Biden plea deal is back ON. Appears Biden legal team now agrees DOJ could later charge Biden on unrelated issues.
NotMax
Irrespective of anything else, Hunter Biden is not a candidate for any office.
Baud
@CaseyL:
Yay!(?)
Betty Cracker
@Inventor: The WaPo article says there was no plea contemplated on the gun issue because HB was entering a pretrial diversion program, but who the heck knows? It would be weird for Repubs to crow about a charge pursuant to a gun control statute when they want to hand weapons out like lollipops. But as is demonstrated daily, Repubs don’t value avoiding hypocrisy and being consistent.
Parfigliano
Gaurantee the candidate’s son case will get more media coverage then the candidate’s case.
Baud
@Parfigliano:
Eh, there’s a lot of coverage on Trump’s trials. MSNBC is essentially Court TV for Trump these days.
Jackie
@West of the Rockies: Investigating Don Jr is as meaningless as Hunter being investigated – or should be – neither are/were a part of their parent’s administration.
Kushner and Ivanka on the other hand…
Redshift
@Cameron:
i.e, might feel uncomfortable with their parents’ conservative “values” and come to disagree with them, therefore “liberal indoctrination,” QED.
Old School
From CNN:
Baud
@Old School:
Our long national nightmare is over!
Chief Oshkosh
@Old School:
The future is hard to predict.
Dorothy A. Winsor
This is from Brian Krassenstein on twitter, before the deal was back on. He’s mostly saying the judge did not nix the deal.
ETA: Old School beat me to it!
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Does he realize he’s on Twitter?
Anoniminous
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
That would require shutting down the entire US Infotainment industry.
Ken
I for one am going to be utterly fascinated to watch the Republicans pivot to demanding increased IRS enforcement and more restrictive gun laws.
Baud
I can’t watch. Has the judge accepted the plea? Is it safe to leave our homes now?
bleh
@oldgold: yeah kinda surprising that they apparently didn’t have the same thing in mind when they walked into court. Don’t lawyers, y’know, write these things down?
Anyway seems like it’s fixed now. But OMG the conspiracy-theorists will be having a field day. “Why did the judge change her mind in the MIDDLE of the hearing?? Was she THREATENED by the Lawless Biden Administration?!?” And Gym Jordan is probably already scheduling a hearing.
Old School
@Baud:
Too preoccupied with the UFO hearing?
sab
@rikyrah: Or why Don Jr was okay running around with guns while also substance abusing. Oh yes, he never went to rehab.
Jeffro
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz
Oh well, whatever keeps Fox Snooze idiots glued to their tvs and snacking away on their sofas.
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: Jared also disappeared the PPP supplies for MA and MD when people were dying like flies due to COVID. Senate Ds and the Justice Dept should open an inquiry
The person who was punished was Andrew Cuomo whose daily briefings during COVID was one spot of sanity during the early days of the COVID-19 crisis. We probably lost the Congress because of the disarray NY Democratic party was in post Cuomo.
The governors that killed their constituents due to their dogma were reelected and feted by our national media
This strange double standard that Rs can get away with literal murder while our candidates have to be perfect is fucking killing us.
Ken
No. They’re setting him free….
Barbara
@CaseyL: I have not been following this, but normally, different divisions at DOJ would be investigating tax versus weapons related crimes. As a matter of principle, you don’t want a plea deal to be enlarged to cover every kind of wrongdoing that a person might have committed over the last five years. It could be that the lawyers are trying to overreach a bit to see if they can get away with it. It wouldn’t be the first time.
ETA: Sounds like his lawyers were trying to get a better deal. It’s kind of what they are paid to do, but still, DOJ is very unlikely to back down — they might not even have authority to settle other charges.
Dorothy A. Winsor
This is from CNN, 2 minutes ago. (Yeah, I’m interested in this. I feel like HB is being treated worse than most criminals would be because of who he is. And I think this has to be hard on his sobriety)
RaflW
@Betty Cracker: “But as is demonstrated daily, Repubs don’t value avoiding hypocrisy and being consistent.”
As is demonstrated daily, TV and print news has no interest in holding Republicans accountable for their rank hypocrisies. Of course it’s voters who must ultimately hold the GOP to some standards, but they rarely even get an accurate picture from which to decide.
Gravie
Seems like the right-wing is determined to hound and harass Hunter Biden until he breaks. It worked out pretty well for them with Vince Foster, didn’t it?
West of the Rockies
@Old School:
Hopefully this grown-ass man stops his piggy-shit criming and has no more unplanned children.
Juju
I think someone is obligated to do this so.. Just leave Hunter alooone!!
trollhattan
@Dorothy A. Winsor: “Broad immunity” does that mean Hunter is mad popular wit da ladies?
OzarkHillbilly
OT but I gotta pass this on.
You gotta love Bruce.
strange visitor (from another planet)
@schrodingers_cat: no. ny-10 here. goldman’s my rep now. used to be nadler.
that ny state politics are more chaotic sans cuomo is something we’re gonna have to deal with here. but he was a petty despot. like adams, a democrat and leftist in name only. kept the gop in power with the “independent” democrats in the senate.
couldn’t stop hitting on women, grabbing women, in general being an arogant ass.
like, hochul’s got serious problems, but she’s got them because cuomo CHOSE her, from money, from buffalo, not in line with hudson valley values or (GFB) nyc.
no. cuomo needed to go. no doubt.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Via CNN
JUST IN: Hearing ends with Hunter Biden plea deal on hold
From CNN’s Tierney Sneed, Marshall Cohen, Kara Scannell, Holmes Lybrand
schrodingers_cat
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Yeah I agree with you. I am not interested in the Republican witch hunt against Hunter Biden. It is medieval, they use families to hurt the candidate and its not just the Rs who do that. Leap year Democrat Sanders and the Orange Error used the bills that Bill Clinton signed and the leap year Democrat voted for, to pillory HRC.
trollhattan
It is Mick’s eightieth birthday. Whew! In honor of the occasion, Letters of Note posted a letter that Keith–he who shall outlive Kissinger, the devil and us all–wrote to his aunt Patty in April 1962 about his new bandmate and lead singer.
eversor
@Gravie:
I think that the plan is to drive Hunter to suicide or some other public meltdown which causes Joe to have issues so they can win in 2020.
Hunter is not the target, he’s the weapon.
I’m not advocating it, but eventually one of their targets is going to have had it with them and instead of taking their own life take out a bunch of them. We’ll all be treated to “how did this happen, who could possibly seen this outcome” except it’s obvious where this is all heading to.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: What a great story! Thanks for the link
schrodingers_cat
@strange visitor (from another planet): He probably did. I am not an expert on NY politics.
I was just noticing the irony that the governor whose COVID response kept us sane in the initial panic stricken days was ousted while those whose policies killed hundreds if not thousands coasted to reelection.
BTW I saw Oppenheimer yesterday and I loved it. Just give Tom Shelby his Oscar. I am not a Nolan fangirl at all. I thought that Interstellar was mess and Inception was too clever by half.
Burnspbesq
Stuff happens. Lawyers lawyering. No big deal.
Republicans are going to lie about it, because that’s deeply embedded in their DNA.
Eyes on the ball, y’all.
patrick II
After five. years you would think the prosecutors would have been at a place where they knew exactly what charges they wanted to file. I think there is an adjustment that is politically motivated made by investigators who have been watching Republican outrage during the hearings.
strange visitor (from another planet)
@schrodingers_cat: glad you liked it. gonna have to bounce inna bit and go get some things done, but if i catch you later, we can talk about it.
wenchacha
@Betty Cracker: Nor are they much acquainted with logic.
schrodingers_cat
OT: The Speedball drawing nib set is working great. I am still learning how to use it. I was a bit heavy handed so I broke a delicate nib. Not sure what it is called it goes on the smaller nib holder. I have just ordered Tachikawa nib holders with G-nibs. Will use them for inking my sketches in watercolor.
Old School
@Burnspbesq:
Seems like the judge is more of the cause than the lawyers. But hopefully not a big deal in the long run.
Cameron
@eversor: Agree. It’s only a matter of time.
Dangerman
I wonder if a plea deal is how Trump stays out of the Big House. I would say it would be a fair trade if he gets a walk in exchange for not running for President ever again and agrees to pick up trash on the freeway for a year. Target practice for tomato throwers for a year.
Then who would be nominee. DeSantis is dog food (the cheap shit you get at the dollar store). Tim Scott is, well, you know. Sununu?
Roger Moore
@Ken:
Honestly, it’s entirely predictable. Hypocrisy is a key Republican value.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Sinead O’Connor has died at age 56.
OzarkHillbilly
OT2:
Especially for the Monty Python fans, too too f’n funny.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Oh wow. That’s sad.
M31
@Dangerman: if Trump really goes down the media will go all in on Youngkin or Larry Hogan and we’d have 24/7 ‘the GOP is back and is totally competent and sane and just what we need after all the Biden controversies and inflation and covid and the many recessions that happened under his watch and OMG the Afghanistan debacle can you believe it’
ugh more likely than I would like
dmsilev
@Dangerman: I can’t see Trump agreeing to a plea deal; it’s be admitting that he was wrong about something…
The Thin Black Duke
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Fuck! No!
trollhattan
@Dorothy A. Winsor: :-(
PaulWartenberg
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
We’re gonna need a Sinead thread.
Did the assholes who insulted and spewed vitriol at Sinead back in 1992 for tearing up the picture of the Pope – her attempt to raise awareness of the ongoing sexual abuse of young women – ever apologize to her when criminal investigations proved she was right all along? I still remember Joe Pesci showing on SNL just after that and using his opening monologue to threaten to “give her a smack to the face” and I was horrified by what he said.
lowtechcyclist
@schrodingers_cat:
His COVID response was way too late, and Lord knows how many more people died while he kept NY open as everything else was shutting down.
His nightly updates that turned everyone into ‘Cuomosexuals’ were great PR and may have kept you and others sane (AL’s daily updates were all the info I needed, I didn’t bother with Cuomo), but they weren’t his Covid response. A partial atonement at most.
M31
@schrodingers_cat: was the smaller nib a really thin sharp one? I’ve seen those called ‘crow quills’ and they are easy to bend too much
I’ve had good luck buying old (full sized, not the smaller ones) nibs on ebay — there is such a range of vintage types it’s amazing, from stiff thick lines to really flexy cool ‘copperplate’ ones, I’ve bought mixed boxes of them for not too much.
There are charts out there that tell you stuff like “esterbrook 358s are the best for fancy lettering” and stuff like that
I get into hand lettering from time to time and it’s fun
The Thin Black Duke
@PaulWartenberg: That was when SNL was dead to me. Dancing clowns who pretended to be ‘edgy’ revealed themselves to be goddamned cowards.
narya
@OzarkHillbilly: I’ve heard that story before, and I love it every time. I grew up in NW Jersey, and one of my great regrets in life is that I wasn’t quite able/old enough to see him at the Main Point in Bryn Mawr outside of Philadelphia in the early days.
OlFroth
Hunter Biden isn’t a candidate for any office.
Alison Rose
@Dorothy A. Winsor: OMG!! And right as I clicked the link, one of her songs came up in shuffle and now I’m crying.
schrodingers_cat
@M31: Yes that’s it. It is the crow quill.
Betty Cracker
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I can’t say I’m surprised — she was unwell for years and seemed to be spiraling since the death of her son a while back. How sad though.
SiubhanDuinne
Sinead O’Connor has died. Wow. RIP.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@schrodingers_cat: We’ll see. There’s other movies coming out. The movie based on The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown is bound to get some Oscar buzz if it meets the target release date of December 2023. It’s an underdog triumphing over adversity story, which seems right up the Academy’s alley, and, you’ve got college sports, the Depression, the Olympics in Hitler’s Germany. The book was fantastic. I have high hopes for the movie but don’t see how it’s going to live up to the book.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I really liked that book.
M31
@schrodingers_cat: with good paper and ink a crow quill can make the most amazingly thin lines
Suzanne
@SiubhanDuinne: I just saw that, and I’m heartbroken. She was a tremendous talent.
schrodingers_cat
@M31: Do you have any specific recommendations for paper?
Betty Cracker
@Suzanne: She was right about the pope too
ETA: I remember what a huge scandal it was when O’Connor ripped up a photo of the pope on SNL. We’re living in a different world now.
M31
@schrodingers_cat: I find paper so variable that you just have to try them — even stuff marketed as “fountain pen friendly” can bleed, it’s very frustrating!
Art store regulars like Rhodia pads are usually pretty good, and I’m not sure how common it is but there is paper made of sugar cane that is good, I even got some “composition books” at a back-to-school sale made of sugar cane paper that were super cheap and excellent, but it’s a crapshoot
SiubhanDuinne
@Suzanne:
Posted before I saw DAW’s earlier comment. Terribly sad. I don’t necessarily believe in an afterlife, but I hope she is finally at peace.
Mai Naem mobileI
The judge was appointed by TFG. She doesn’t seem like your typical unqualifed federalist TFG appointee but the fact that she’s a TFG hire makes me question her motives.
RIP Sinead O’Connor. I remember reading that her son died not that long ago. That’s not easy but it’s got to be especially difficult for somebody with mental health issues.
FelonyGovt
@schrodingers_cat: Leuchtturm journals stand up really well to pen and ink, but that may not be what you want– in terms of loose paper, you might be best off with hot pressed watercolor paper (holds ink a lot better than cold pressed or rough).
sab
@lowtechcyclist: Mike DeWine, whom I loathe, had a better and much more timely response. That was more due to Dr Amy Acton, but he did appoint her to the job (based on her credentials and competence rather than her politics) and he listened to her for the important first six months after Covid really hit. I think they saved a lot of lives in Ohio.
schrodingers_cat
@M31: I have some unused sugarcane paper notebooks. They are good for writing. They are ruled. For drawing I am using smooth Bristol paper.
Suzanne
@Betty Cracker: She was 100% right.
When I was…. maybe 20? I got roped into going on the NBC Studios tour in Rockefeller Center with some of my family members. So the tour guide was showing us the SNL set, and he said, “There are two episodes of Saturday Night Live that will never be seen again”, and my cousin instantly said, “Martin Lawrence” and I instantly said “Sinead O’Connor”, and the tour guide said that we were correct.
She was owed a huge apology. No one has ever liked truth.
schrodingers_cat
@FelonyGovt: Thanks for your suggestion.
M31
@FelonyGovt: watercolor paper is great
I’ve used Bristol Board for ink and even water color work too — less good for watercolor but for ink and for watercolor practice/fooling around it’s fine and much cheaper than watercolor paper, I keep an eye on art store sales for big pads of it
Miss Bianca
@SiubhanDuinne: Oh, no! :(
M31
@schrodingers_cat: hahaha was typing about bristol paper right when you were, it’s good stuff
cain
@SiubhanDuinne: what! oh wow.. that’s really sad.
sab
@M31: I am a notorious pack rat, and I am using pen nibs I saved from my high school calligraphy hobby and college art class in 1977. My husband cannot believe I have been hauling this stuff around for 50 years. But they were good, they fit in a shoebox, and now I have time to use them. I am rather shocked that they are so hard to replace.
Barbara
@Suzanne: I think O’Connor’s protest on SNL came too early for Americans. I think the Irish reckoning with church abuses started earlier, and wasn’t limited to sexual abuse, but included forced labor and adoptions. It’s not clear that her appearance would generate the same reaction today, given everything that has come out since then.
JoyceH
Speaking of things falling apart, Mitch McConnell was starting a press conference a bit ago and just stopped talking and froze at the podium until another Republican led him away. Video at your preferred social media outlet.
Steeplejack
Holy shit! Mitch McConnell froze up in the middle of a press conference today and was escorted away from the microphone by other senators. He did return later and said he was “fine,” but it was a prolonged, eerie moment.
Yarrow
@schrodingers_cat: I’m not remotely an expert on NY politics but Cuomo required nursing home to accept Covid positive patients and then lied about nursing home deaths, probably to make himself look better. That’s bad.
I watched bits of a couple of his press conferences and like every other time I’ve seen him he always struck me as a guy who really wants to promote himself. When that intersects with things that are good for his constituents, then that’s great. If it doesn’t, well…
zhena gogolia
@Suzanne: OMG, I didn’t know what the Martin Lawrence reference was, I never heard about that (didn’t watch SNL in those days). I just found the transcript, and I have to abashedly admit it made me LOL. I’m bad.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@JoyceH: @Steeplejack: TIA maybe?
Betty Cracker
@Suzanne: If I recall correctly, ripping up that photo on TV really derailed her career for a while. It’s hard to fathom that today when people do the most outrageous shit in public for no good reason. She had a damn good reason and was proven correct repeatedly over the subsequent decades. I agree she was owed an apology.
Alison Rose
@JoyceH: No love for the man, but that was hard to watch. I hope he’s getting medical attention.
Miss Bianca
@zhena gogolia: Yeah, I didn’t know what that was all about either, so I Googled the reference and…uh…yeah. So *that* happened, apparently.//
Alison Rose
@Betty Cracker: And the thing was, it was actually quite restrained. She didn’t scream or curse or anything. It was pretty mild, except of course for the symbolism. It was damn brave of her.
schrodingers_cat
@Yarrow: I am not saying that he is a saint or that he did nothing wrong. I was just noticing the irony of how D politicians have to be perfect while Rs can get away with murder
Removing him from office seems to have been a factor in Ds not keeping the Congressional majority due to losses in NY
geg6
RIP Sinead O’Connor. Way too young.
MattF
@Steeplejack: Saw an item about that. He’s getting physically weaker.
Yarrow
@SiubhanDuinne: So sad. Didn’t her son die relatively recently. She’s been through a lot. RIP.
Miss Bianca
@Betty Cracker: Kind of like what happened to the (Dixie) Chicks back in the day, hmm? Funny how much outrage ends up getting lavished on any woman who dares to strike even the most anodyne or symbolic blow against the patriarchy. They don’t get the “ooh, they’re so edgy” treatment, or the “We disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it,” treatment, they get “WE WILL END YOU.”
RedDirtGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: So sad.
Betty Cracker
@Alison Rose: It was brave. IIRC, she also refused to appear on SNL when Andrew Dice Clay was hosting because he’s a disgusting sexist pig, which wasn’t obvious to everyone back then. She was right about that too!
Yarrow
@schrodingers_cat: Yeah, it’s definitely a thing. Dems do something wrong, or even maybe wrong, then do the right thing (depending on the situation) and resign. R’s do multiple things wrong, yell about how they’re allowed to do it, there’s nothing wrong with it and their fans cheer them on. And the voters reelect them. Something is definitely wrong there.
I don’t really think the answer is to ignore what politicians do and let all politicians who have done bad things just brazen it out. We should want to have good people representing us. I am not sure how to fix it, though.
Alison Rose
@Yarrow: Yes, he was a victim of suicide. Based on some of her recent posts, I’m heartbroken to think this may have been the same. I hope that both of them are together again and at peace.
Paul in KY
@trollhattan: It might mean the opposite….
Alison Rose
@Betty Cracker: She was!! And ugh, that dude. Haven’t thought about him in a long time. Yuck.
lee
@Steeplejack:
That was certainly strange.
prostratedragon
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Just saw that news elsewhere and babbled helplessly “But she’s so much younger than I.” Life can really do you. RIP.
Yarrow
@Betty Cracker: Oh, gross. I haven’t thought about him in ages. He was always so disgusting. I never got his appeal.
Suzanne
@Barbara: Agreed. That performance earned her a lot of criticism and abuse, because Americans weren’t ready to hear it.
It would be nice for SNL to re-broadcast that moment.
Paul in KY
@Dangerman: I think the fleece vest might have a shot. Or maybe MTG (shudder).
sab
@Yarrow: Ohio required nursing homes to accept patients, but only in select regional hub nursing homes, and it was done safely on isolated floors.
My dad was in one of those nursing homes and we felt he was relatively safe.
People recuperating from Covid had to go somewhere with competent care.
I am not a NYer, but it seemed to me at the time that we in Ohio were doing better than NY. Thank you Amy Acton, and Mike DeWine who backed her d
Suzanne
@Miss Bianca:
Cancel culture has always existed for women.
schrodingers_cat
@Yarrow: I don’t know either. But unilateral surrender to this extremely unfair norm is not the answer either.
Geminid
@Paul in KY: Paul Ryan is rested and ready!
Mike in NC
@Steeplejack: There’s been speculation that Moscow Mitch was losing his faculties for a while now. He’s what, 81? But let’s have the GQP keep investigating Hunter Biden and pushing J6 down the memory hole.
FelonyGovt
@M31:
@schrodingers_cat: Another suggestion: Fabriano Studio Fat Pad (It’s available at other places than Amazon). The Mixed Media version handles both ink and watercolor (as long as you don’t make it very wet) nicely, and it’s pretty economical- that pad will last a long time.
Paul in KY
@Steeplejack: Oh crap! Our replacement Mitchitron 5000 had a software glitch! Elon!!!
Yarrow
@schrodingers_cat: It isn’t. Back in the day Republicans would resign, like Mark Foley did. Something has definitely changed.
schrodingers_cat
@FelonyGovt: Will keep that in mind. I like Fabriano’s 25% cotton watercolor paper. How important is using sanded paper for chalk pastels.
I have been practicing on the inside cereal boxes.
BTW if you are interested in an affordable alternative for gel crayons, I recommend the Shuttle Art set. It is pretty good.
Paul in KY
@Geminid: There’s more grannies to starve!
schrodingers_cat
@Yarrow: Rs have figured out that their voters will vote for them no matter what.
sab
@sab: My Nook, or my internet connection or BJ have been tempermental all day. I posted half a comment as I saw it freeze. I don’t think the rest was urgent.
Jeffro
More than a little OT, but here’s what happens when you “do your own research” (like, literally)
Colorado family who ‘lived off the grid’ found dead of hypothermia/starvation
M31
@FelonyGovt: cool, that Fat Pad looks great (and yeah, shop around, I just checked at Blick’s and it’s a lot cheaper than Amazon)
Cacti
I always thought of Mick as the oldest evidence that one need not be a good singer to front a rock and roll band.
laura
A lovely song in tribute, and now in remembrance: https://youtu.be/3HwWDOQoCBM
schrodingers_cat
@M31: Blick is a good resource for paper, much more affordable than Amazon.
Paul in KY
@Jeffro: That poor kid. Just goes to show you how random life can be (in terms of who you get for your parents).
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
This.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: The quest for moral purity is what got India its current nightmare regime.
TriassicSands
Fortunately, we don’t have to choose between the two — felony or misdemeanor — we can just vote for an effective president (who must be at least 800 years old now, if voter opinions are to be believed — they shouldn’t be).
Geminid
Regarding Hunter Biden’s gun charge: the prohibition on purchasing a firearm while being an illegal drug user is one of the most violated federal statutes out there. I’m not sure, but I think the prohibition extends to possessing a firearm while using illegal drugs.
Anyway, prosecutions are rare. The woman whose 6 year old child shot their teacher in Virginia Beach recently pleaded guilty to this charge, and that’s the only such case I can recall (although I’m sure there have been others).
The Virginia Beach woman also pleaded guilty to several state charges, including a violation of VIrginia’s requirement that firearms must be secured in homes where children are present. That was one of 6 gun safety laws passed by the General Assembly in 2020, and the only one Republicans did not try to repeal last year.
Jeffro
@Yarrow: it’s called “trump”
@schrodingers_cat: this
trump showed them the power of shamelessness and the slowness/inadequacy of our legal responses to presidential corruption
plus
GOP voters are completely unhinged after living in their media bubble for so long…for them, the best democrat is worse than the worst republican, and so there you have it…
laura
@Betty Cracker: He MC’d Roadie Brother the Younger’s batchelor party🥳
schrodingers_cat
@Jeffro: IMHO the worst Democrat is better than the best Republican.
trollhattan
@Barbara: For context, the last Magdelene Laundry closed in 1996 and in 1993, 133 unmarked graves were discovered at one in High Park, Drumcondra.
Sinead’s SNL performance was in 1992. Woman had a point and it fell on deaf, angry ears.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
just saw the video of McConnell on the Musk app, and flipped on MSNBC, and they’re not talking about it at all. It’s been an hour, has there been any update?
ETA: Now seeing he came back out almost immediately?
Baud
@Geminid:
Hunter may have done the crime, but his prosecution is solely because of who his father is.
Anyway
RIP, Sinead. The death of her son devastated her and don’t think she ever recovered. Tragic.
sab
@Yarrow: I am hoping that spineless weasel Frank LaRose will have blown his future by forcing through stuff his funders want.
One of the advantages of going to law school is you learn a bit how the other side thinks, even if you are spoonfed by the Federalist Society.
Frank LaRose never did that. He has some college marketing degree that eschewed critical thinking. Think what you want. If you do it hard enough your opponents will be bent to your will.
Actually they won’t. They will realize that you are an idiot, or an emotionally damaged personality disordered guy like Trump. Or a cog in Republicanism. Whatever, not a free thinking adult human. Just some bought flunky.
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
hmmmm….
looking for the lie…..
see none.
Jackie
@Paul in KY: Youngkin, Kemp or Abbott – all who are waiting for ‘28.
Miss Bianca
@Jeffro: Yeah, I heard about that story. The bodies were found in Gunnison County, where I used to live and work. I hadn’t heard the “Internet research” part. Sad.
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I don’t believe he would have been charged if he had been a regular 1% White man.
I just don’t.
rikyrah
@Dangerman:
No…he needs to go to jail.
trollhattan
@Cacti: Listen to the Stone’s version of “Little Red Rooster” and get back to us on that.
Hilariously, the American blues standard was rumo(u)red has having been considered too sexual for broadcast on U.S. radio, as performed by the Brits.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@schrodingers_cat: Probably late to the thread, but didn’t Cuomo enable the gerrymandering that cost us those NY congressional seats? Haven’t done the research though.
trollhattan
@Jeffro: Christ, akin to deciding the family is going to all become breatharians. Poor kids.
zhena gogolia
@trollhattan: Jagger is a good singer. Don’t see how anyone could dispute that, even if I’m not a big Stones fan.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@schrodingers_cat: Not a high bar, though.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@zhena gogolia: Thirded – excellent on harmonica too.
Alison Rose
@zhena gogolia: Yeah, maybe not the best ever, but definitely talented. And the man can perform his ass off. I saw the Stones in concert twice, first time he was probably in his mid-50s, second time in his early 60s. And damned if that man didn’t have more energy than a college kid chugging Red Bull.
sab
@Geminid: Hunter Biden once again charged on stuff that nobody much is charged on.
That nobody else being many many young Black men.
Paul in KY
@schrodingers_cat: Times 100!
Paul in KY
@Jackie: Or TFG’s death, whichever comes sooner.
zhena gogolia
@Paul in KY: Yeah, I’ll take Manchin over any Repub.
MattF
DeSantis says he wouldn’t choose RFKJR as a running mate but would ask him to head the CDC or the FDA. [Speechless].
Mai Naem mobileI
@Jeffro: that electricity bit for living off grid in modern times is really hard to figure out. Solar panels work for limited stuff but you better have some $$$ for solar panels and all the other stuff you need with the panels to make it work.
Maxim
@Alison Rose: I’ve never seen him in person, but even clips are enough to get that live-wire energy and presence across.
I’m so saddened by Sinead’s death.
Jeffro
@Dangerman: he’d have to cough up every illegal thing (and every co-conspirator) he ever did before this could even be considered.
the tax fraud, the work for Saudi Arabia and Russia while in office, all of it.
and lose his fortune, and be subject to house arrest for the rest of his life.
And since there’s no way he’d agree to that, and he’s such a lying liar anyway…why bother?
@rikyrah: 110% agree about jail (unless he met the conditions above, which he can’t/won’t, so why bother)
Jeffro
@zhena gogolia:
@Alison Rose:
my brother (yes, that one) and I saw the Stones in the summer of 2019 and they were amazing.
my bro (who saw them back in the mid or late 80s) was like, “How are they THIS much better thirty years later?”
Three guesses and the first two don’t count. =)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jeffro: When I think of “off-the-grid” I think at least a cabin with a wood stove and a Brobdingnagian woodpile stacked by October 15. Gunnison is regularly the coldest recorded temperature in the continental US. How the hell did adults from Colorado Springs think they could survive that winter in a tent. Poor kid.
sab
@Baud: Yes. His gun crime was a boring nothing that prosecutors can’t be bothered with. One of the extras they charge people committing real crimes.
And his tax crime was ( I think, deferring to tax jackals) also a nothingburger.
I am not tolerant of the fuckups that drug users do ( I am lectured adamantly and emotionally a lot on BJ) but I really don’t like average drug fuckups being charged with nothingburgers because of their political dads.
I have drug fuckups in my family who have made life miserable for everyone. I have other drug fuckups in my family who have made life difficult for themselves. I have drug fuckups who have died and we are all desperately sorry. It is complicated, and if they are not out stealing it is our personal painful problem .
I basically want the government to stay out of all of it as long as the kids are safe. Let these guys figure things out or not with our family’s often misguided help. Whatever we do wrong the government will do worse.
When I say keep the government I mean criminal government out. We need all the social services we can get.
zhena gogolia
@Jeffro: Your brother is Paul McCartney?
Geminid
@Jackie: Yeah, if I were one of those guys I’d wait. Next year’s nomination could be worthless to any Republican who wins it, especially with the prospect of hard-core trumpers boycotting the election. Republicans have a bad enough numbers problem as it us.
Still, someone will get that nomination, and hope “lightening strikes.”
Jeffro
@MattF: why? Isn’t that a perfectly normal thing to do, chose a Democratic presidential candidate to run a federal agency for a far-right Republican president?
//
Alison Rose
@MattF: THE CDC. SURE. TERRIFIC IDEA.
Jay
@Mai Naem mobileI:
They were “campers”, and not in a trailer or RV, just a tent.
It takes a lot of practiced bushcraft to live off grid, and a lot of “stuff”, even in a cabin let alone, just a tent.
lowtechcyclist
@rikyrah:
This. TFG has committed serious crimes that shouldn’t be plea-bargained away. If convicted (and it’s hard to imagine he’ll somehow escape conviction on all charges in all venues), he needs to be incarcerated.
This country does a pretty lousy job of treating everyone equally under the law. If he is sentenced to a serious stretch in prison, it’ll show that we haven’t stopped trying to rectify that, however far away from that standard we might be.
But if we let him go, or only sentence him to house arrest, then we will have demonstrated to the world – and to the citizens of this country – that we’ve given up, thrown in the towel.
Jeffro
@zhena gogolia: LOL no. Although that would be interesting!
No…he’s the “RWNJ brother” I’ve often referred to here (usually in tandem with my RWNJ dad)
It has helped me a great deal to not talk politics with them in any way for these past 2 1/2 years (since J6). They never had any reality-based insights or even a basic level of reflection, so oh well.
Jay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
You Tube.
Bupalos
@sab: I’m pretty understanding of drug fuckups and I don’t necessarily think criminal prosecution there ever helps. I think folks should be honest though that Hunter and his various highly paid sinecures really does represent a kind of corruption problem, and we shouldn’t line up against his prosecution. Yes it’s tax stuff, but not having followed it all that closely, I think it’s tax stuff related to having been enriched by nepotistic corruption. It’s tax stuff like the Trump org tax stuff is tax stuff, right?
And I don’t know that it has to hurt Biden if we line up for a stricter rule of law standard. But I guess even if there was a net cost there, I might be willing to pay because I think there’s a kind of systemic benefit to addressing corruption. Though it is a scary time to be opening such a potential can of worms.
sab
@sab: Basically would anyone have even noticed (except the IRS) if he wasn’t Hunter Biden? I think not.
sab
@Bupalos: I do think you have a point on corruption.
Keith P
@Chris: Trump would have pardoned Don Jr, and the uproar would have lasted all weekend.
catclub
@Ken:
You do not understand what selective prosecution means, do you? There are some who are bound by the law, but not protected, there are others who are protected by the law but not bound by it. Knowing which is which is a case by case problem.
laura
@Bupalos: I think folks should be honest though that Hunter and his various highly paid sinecures really does represent a kind of corruption problem
Jesus H peezus, take a look at any/all boards of directors and see a murderer’s row of the rich and famous or their offspring. If I recollect reading zerohedge back in the 2012-14’s (and shame on me for doing so) where the initial Hunter Bidening got started, he wasn’t the only American on the Board of Burisma who seemed a curious choice. That said, he is well educated and he was able to graduate from law school, pass the bar and would seem suited for a business career. Not willing to agree that his position equals corruption- especially when there is so damn much obvious corruption that too many just shrug off as no big deal.
catclub
@lowtechcyclist:
I disagree, house arrest, at his own expense, tightly supervised, would be most efficient for all the Secret Service security complications of prison.
catclub
@sab:
That nobody else being many many young Black men.
Yeah, it sounds like a very easy to prove charge that is thrown in to force a plea on the hard to prove stuff.
Ruckus
@Matt McIrvin:
rethuglicans are perfect, everyone else is morally corrupt because they do not pray at the altar of money. Oh, and that other altar, racism.
sab
@catclub: I think that is it. No Yalie had to face this but lots of guys in my neighborhood have.
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
It’s not just the pope. Now things may have changed since I was forced against my will (aged 12) to attend an all boys catholic high school. Only way to properly express it was “It sucked donkey balls! And that’s the nicest thing I can say about it.”
About week 2 they held a all student assembly where each shop (6) were to sent the shortest freshman up on the stage. I knew what this was about and that I was very likely the shortest kid. So I told them to fuck off, if I stand up it’s to walk out the back door while flipping off the entire school. They sent the next shortest. It was exactly and as bad as I’d expected, they made fun of the shortest kid on the stage. I have more stories that I can remember from 60 yrs ago. Good times.
Baud
@Ruckus:
You were a jackal before you even knew what that was!
Geminid
@Geminid: So I looked up prosecutions of the gun charge Hunter Biden faces, and I found an op-ed in Politico by former Federal prosecutor Renato Mariotta(sp?). His basic thesis was that Mr. Biden was being treated more harshly than is typical for gun possession by a illegal drug user (and the same with the tax charges).
Mariotta said that Biden’s gun charge was the first time he had heard of this offense being prosecuted. When he surveyed former colleagues, only one told him they had prosecuted someone on this charge, and that was one time.
Then Mariotta cited a Syracuse University study of 36,000+ federal gun charges over the four years 2013-2017. A large majority were for possession of a gun by a felon; ~650 were for possession or transportation etc. of a firearm by a user of an illegal drug .
This obviously does not speak to enforcement of similar state laws.
Ruckus
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Given his age, gender, health history, a TIA would be most likely.
Ruckus
@Baud:
You were a jackal before you even knew what that was!
Yes, yes I was. Well at least jackal light…….
At age 12 is when I started working in a machine shop (part time – school, full time in the summer) There are a number of things one learns working in an all male “dirty” trade. One of the first is How To Swear. Properly. As if I hadn’t heard it all in school……
And just had a helicopter fly over the house at what sounded like 100-150 ft. I’d guess police, I’ve lived here over 4 1/2 yrs and have never heard one anywhere near this low. Someone is doing something wrong….. And yes I’ve been around helicopters on a flight deck. They make a bit of noise.
No One You Know
@NotMax: Anything to keep the name “Biden” in the headlines in a bad way. But also invites other comparisons.
Paul in KY
@Jay: A freaking cave at worst!