Please don't assume anything undeclared about anyone's background, or if you do then keep it to yourself.
- Manlobbi
Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy❤
No. of Recommendations: 2
... and both have a history of handing down "harsher than average" sentences.
I think it would be good for the President if Hunter spent a few months in jail. It would demonstrate that the "rule of law" applies equally across all socioeconomic classes.
Let Hunter "take one for the team". {{ LOL }}
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/06/02/hunter-bi...intercst
No. of Recommendations: 15
The following items are worth noting regarding the prosecution of Hunter Biden.
One of the charges involves OWNING a gun while being a drug user. One of the charges involves submitting a federal form as part of the gun purchase on which he declared that, pursuant to federal law, he was NOT a drug addict at the time of purchase of the weapon.
These circumstances are noteworthy because those laws have been under attack by gun-nut conservatives as an affront to Second Amendment rights. Litigation has been trickling through the federal court system for probably 7+ years seeking to get a case in front of the right series of appellate courts to take these laws to the Supreme Court to get them tossed completely as unconstitutional. This topic most recently arose in the Bruen verdict in June of 2022. In an opinion written by Clarence Thomas, the court ruled that the Second Amendment protects a person's right to carry a weapon for self-defense outside the home, even if the person is a felon.
That trail of pending litigation and its assumed, eventual outcome is so widely understood in the law enforcement and DOJ that prosecutors pretty much halted all such prosecutions based on these statutes. This reluctance to prosecute under statutes facing likely rejection by the USSC is likely why Hunter's case was not pursued more aggressively while Trump was President and likely why even his first settlement deal appeared so leniant. NO ONE was getting prosecuted for these offenses, regardless of their last name.
Only when a miscommunication caused confusion in the court between the prosecution, defense and judge on the original plea deal did more time get injected into the process to allow Republicans to learn of the plea terms and go ballistic and demand the prosecutor more aggressively negotiate the plea which caused the plea deal to fall apart entirely and revert to a trial.
(Joe) Biden WILL likely keep hands off the entire case regarding (Hunter) Biden and it wouldn't surprise me at all if (Hunter) Biden winds up with some prison time in a misguided effort by conservatives at getting back at (Joe) Biden. But attempting to do so will be in direct contradiction to the efforts of dozens and dozens of conservative lawyers over multiple years to ELIMINATE the very laws being used to prosecute (Hunter) Biden.
And that will again prove that conservatives have no real agenda other than inflicting strife upon anyone they currently hate at the moment.
WTH
No. of Recommendations: 0
" House Republicans are poised to grill Dr. Anthony Fauci at a hearing on Monday as lawmakers continue to scrutinize his response to the COVID-19 pandemic and examine theories of the origin of the virus.
Ahead of the hearing, House Republicans requested access to Fauci's personal email account and cellphone records after obtaining information they claim calls into question whether the nation's former top infectious disease expert may have tried to keep some records out of the public eye.
Fauci previously proclaimed that he has "nothing to hide" and is coming before the panel voluntarily. It will mark the first time he's publicly testified since he left the federal government at the end of 2022 after five decades of service."
Keep your eye on the ball.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/republicans-poised...
No. of Recommendations: 4
If Hunter did the crime, he deserves what he gets. No sympathy from me.
As you say, the rule of law applies to everyone.
No. of Recommendations: 5
Have any of you seen a sampling of sentences for similar firearms offenses?
If the criminal was willing to plea out, has no history of firearms violations, violence, expresses remorse and complies with the terms of probation (drug testing for x years), then the penalty should reflect that.
What was the reason for canning Hunter's plea deal?
The Heritage Foundation and "House Republicans and conservative groups sought to intervene in the case, urging a judge to throw out the agreement he reached with prosecutors.
The highly unusual legal maneuvering — which experts said was unlikely to succeed — illustrated the lengths that House Republicans and their allied groups have been willing to go to as they have tried to use Mr. Biden’s legal and personal troubles to inflict political damage on his father, President Biden."
The judge, a Trump appointee, said she "didn't want to be a rubber stamp".
So Merrick Garland tasked David Weiss with prosecuting Hunter.
How would Hunter's plea deal have affected Joe Q Public? How will imprisonment affect Joe Q Public? Either way... not at all. I'll still go surffishing or, shoulders willing, surfing in the morning.
No. of Recommendations: 0
I suspect that making false statements on a federal form is going to be independent of the firearms charge.
They usually have wording to the effect that by signing it you certify it is true under penalty of perjury. So even if scotus rules about the firearm things, lying on a form still constitutes perjury.
No. of Recommendations: 3
Specifically, prosecutors allege that he falsely claimed that he was "not an unlawful user of and addicted to any stimulant narcotic drug" when he purchased a Colt Cobra Special revolver. "
That's actually a very good choice of weapon for a person who is handicapped, whether physically or mentally. Point and pull the trigger. A no brainer whether you're drunk, blinded by tear gas, mace... if you can reach it, you can discharge it.
It's a very simple revolver; just a cylinder release, hammer and trigger. True point and shoot without the complications of a removable clip, safety (is it safe or off), is there a round in the chamber, etc. It's damn near impossible to jam like the old service 45s.
With the Colt, if the cylinder has 6 bullets, one is in the giddyup place.
"This topic most recently arose in the Bruen verdict in June of 2022. In an opinion written by Clarence Thomas, the court ruled that the Second Amendment protects a person's right to carry a weapon for self-defense outside the home, even if the person is a felon.
So Hunter may have been on the pipe, but that was a rational choice for a shaky person to make. Libertarians and ammosexual conservatives should be demonstrating in support of Hunter 100%.
