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Coronavirus Diary

Today is Saturday, December 9, 2023. The continuing legal difficulties faced by the President’s son, Hunter Biden, were put to the forefront when the Justice Department brought criminal charges against the younger Biden on Thursday, and this could only serve to upend Joe Biden’s inevitable rematch against Donald Chump in 2024. An online CNN article covering this latest embarrassment for the sitting president is written by Kevin Liptak, MJ Lee, and Annie Grayer entitled “Hunter Biden’s latest indictment brings an uncomfortable ordeal to the forefront for his father.”

These additional charges brought against his surviving son amount to an uncomfortable reminder of the personal strain the president will face as he gears up for the coming campaign.

Months after a plea agreement for Hunter Biden collapsed in a Delaware courtroom, reality has set in among Biden’s team that his son’s legal problems – and the ensuing revelations about his lifestyle and struggles with addiction – will stay in the news cycle for months to come as the legal process plays out.

Republicans have relentlessly searched for fodder to damage Biden politically since they have to distract the country from the four, more serious indictments leveled at their Golden Idol and now they have something to make false equivalences between their Dear Leader and the sitting Democratic president. So let’s make no mistake in trying to make comparisons here with charges leveled against Hunter Biden, the son of Joe, and with Donald Chump who is running for president and Hunter, who is not running for president. Therefore, no comparisons should be made here. But repugnicans will try to do so anyway. Biden’s team is confident that voters will make their decision for reasons other than the president’s troubled son.

Still, the unveiling of these new charges does come at an inopportune moment, as the election year looms and Biden’s vulnerabilities are laid bare. His approval ratings have slumped as the American public continues to feel pessimistic – I don’t see why! – about the health of the economy and increasingly question Biden’s handling of the Israeli-Hamas war – a conflict that has been an overwhelming focus for the White House over the last two months.

This week’s tax charges, the second indictment against Hunter Biden this year, include salacious details about how the president’s son was spending money on “drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature” – all while avoiding paying his fair share of taxes. However, many of these details concerning Hunter’s reckless spending were already known, detailed in a candid memoir that tracked his journey through addiction.

In public, Hunter Biden’s representatives argue that their client’s legal troubles have little to do with substance – and everything to do with who his father is. Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement Thursday on the heels of the latest indictment, “Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought.”

Another possible concern for the president is the public’s growing sense that he had some involvement in Hunter Biden’s business dealings. Are we going to vote in a fascist because of these insubstantial concerns? I can’t believe Americans would reject Biden over Trump who has said he would act like a dictator on Day 1 of his new administration. Maybe Americans prefer to live in a dictatorship this time out, who knows? We’ll find out next November.

As for addressing the claim that he interacted with so many of his son and brother’s business associates, Biden responded, “I did not – they’re lies.” Despite no evidence that Joe Biden benefited from his son’s foreign business dealings, his surface-level interactions involving attending dinners with certain individuals continue to provide fuel to his political adversaries.

Democrats continue to maintain that repugnicans are needlessly moving forward with their impeachment inquiry to help Chump beat Biden in 2024.

Commenting on this move to impeach Biden, the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, Rep. Jamie Raskin, said, “They are completely trivializing and destroying the meaning of impeachment. Impeachment is an extraordinary constitutional remedy that is reserved for high crimes and misdemeanors [which were truly reserved for Donald J. Trump]: grave offenses against the public order. And they obviously don’t have that for Joe Biden, but they want to trivialize it so he can – so Donald Trump can say, ‘Oh well, you know, he’s been impeached twice but there’s also an impeachment investigation going on during the campaign against Joe Biden, and so it’s fraudulent like everything else.'”

Though his father has remained noncommittal about his son’s legal troubles, Hunter Biden has gone on the offensive against ugly repugnicans who have insensitively used his addiction issues for political gain. In a podcast released yesterday, Biden said, “They are trying to, in their most illegitimate way, but rational way, they’re trying to destroy a presidency.” Biden added that repugnicans are “trying to kill me.” Of course, he didn’t mean this literally, but you never know?

So there you have it: news about Hunter Biden’s newest legal entanglements. But don’t forget for a moment how repugnicans will seize upon these indictments in order to snare political advantage for themselves in the bargain. Though these indictments are regrettable, they no way compare to the more severe criminal charges facing the former president. You have to be an idiot to see a similarity between them, in my opinion.

In honor of Chanukah, Elliot and I entertained our third-floor neighbor “Denise” for a meal consisting of latkes and desserts bought at Parisi Bakery, in Astoria, where we had brunch at Sanford’s, right next door. This traditional holiday fare was wonderfully prepared by Elliot around 4 p.m., 90 minutes before Denise was expected to knock on our door. When she did, she brought a kale salad and some vino. As an appetizer, we had hummus with crackers.

Tomorrow we might have to be ensconced indoors if this squall bears down on us as meteorologists have forecasted. So let’s see; the rain I can handle but not winds averaging between 40 to 50 miles per hour. We may have to play Scrabble later in the afternoon.

Have a good Sunday anyway.

Stay safe and be well.

Coronavirus Diary

Today is Sunday, December 3, 2023. On Saturday, Bowen Yang delivered a spot-on impersonation of disgraced, expelled GOP Rep. George Santos in the opening to the show. I failed to see it on television, but I caught the skit on my smartphone and it was quite hilarious. As you know, Santos became the sixth member in the history of the U.S. Congress to ever be ousted after months of scrutiny over his myriad falsehoods and an assortment of legal problems. In the sketch, Yang portrayed Santos holding a postexpulsion press conference where he embellished himself while continuing his self-portrayal as a victim. Doesn’t that sound like someone else who is facing 91 criminal charges and has been successfully sued for sexual battery this past May? In the sketch, Yang whined to the reporters waiting to ask him questions, “I’m being assaulted. This entire country has been bullying me just because I’m a proud, gay thief. But what else is new? America hates to see a Latina queen winning. Since the day I was elected, it’s been a witch hunt, but if I’m guilty of anything it’s for loving too much-slash-fraud.”

Flaunting his status as a shameless fabulist, Yang as Santos tells the reporters outside Congress, “I’m no longer Congressman Santos. I’m just regular old Professor, Major, General, Reverend, Astronaut Santos, protector of the realm, princess of Genovia.” (Does anyone know where this comes from?) Then he defiantly states, “To hell with Congress [which I believe the real Santos actually said after being expelled on Friday], I don’t need them anyway because my new movie opened this weekend, it’s called ‘Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce.'” (This afternoon, while driving to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, I kid you not: I did hear that some creative types are pushing a George Santos film based on an author’s biography of the allegedly gay ex-Congressman that was just released today.) Not only would I not waste my time reading a book about George Santos, I would definitely not see a film about him either. Life is too short to waste any more time on this despicable maggot.

To conclude his impersonation of the ex-Representative, Yang launches into a hilarious musical tribute to himself – which turns out to be a lie-filled parody of Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind.”

Still ringing the alarm bells on a possible autocracy coming to this country if the Republicans win a majority in the House in 2025, former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming laid it on the line in an interview that aired on “CBS Sunday Morning.” Her comments are contained in an online CNN article by Aileen Graef entitled “Cheney says a Republican House majority in 2025 would present a ‘threat’ to the country.” On the show, Cheney said she believes a GOP majority in the House in 2025 would present a “threat” to the country. Hell, under MAGA Mike now, the House is already presenting a threat to this country at the present, I strongly believe. Just probe into what Christian fundamentalist Mike Johnson has been saying about the separation between church and state and how he believes this country is a Christian nation! No, it isn’t, Mr. Johnson. His words are chilling, in my opinion and shows his ignorance of the Constitution and what his oath to this document actually means.

Cheney condemns Johnson, saying he was “absolutely” a collaborator in the effort to overthrow the 2020 election and he should not be speaker in 2025. Here, here!

She continued stating the reason why Johnson cannot be speaker in 2025, saying, “He can’t be. We are facing a situation with respect to the 2024 election where it’s an existential crisis. And we have to ensure that we don’t have a situation where the election that might be thrown into the House of Representatives is overseen by a Republican majority.” She characterizes Johnson as just a puppet of Trump’s, always willing to do his bidding.

In her new book, Cheney issues a strong rebuke of her former party, its leadership and the Orange Turd, who she calls “the most dangerous man ever to inhabit the Oval Office,” according to a copy of Oath and Honor obtained by CNN.

Cheney writes this of Johnson in her book, MAGA Mike “appeared especially susceptible to flattery from Trump and aspired to being anywhere in Trump’s orbit.”

Cheney has vowed to do whatever is necessary to stop Chump from returning to the White House, including leaving the door open to a 2024 presidential run herself. If Chump is the party’s nominee, Cheney has said she will leave the party. She warns the country not to become numb to the warning signs of a possible dictatorship arriving here in 2025 if “we ignore partisan politics to not stop him.”

It’s less than a year to the most impactful election of our age, so let’s not get it wrong and vote for the worst candidate who will destroy democracy if he is given the reins of power a second time.

It’s another week. After today’s rain, the rest of the week is supposed to be rain free, so let’s see.

Stay safe and be well.