Apples and Oranges #252
By Hank Silverberg
I don't know about you, but I am getting tired of those who compare the legal troubles of Hunter Biden to the legal troubles of Donald Trump.
For anyone out there who hasn't been paying attention to this ridiculousness, here is an explanation:
Donald J. Trump, the former President of the United States who is running for the job again, faces criminal charges in four jurisdictions.
For the sake of brevity, I will focus on the most serious of the group, the 13 main charges he faces in Georgia. He is accused of unlawfully conspiring with 18 other people to change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
Trump is charged with violating the state's racketeering act by unlawfully conspiring through a pattern of fraudulent activity to change the outcome of the election.
He is charged with asking a state official to unlawfully alter or adjust the certified returns for presidential electors.
The former president is charged with conspiracy to commit forgery using a false document to make it appear he had won the state of Georgia.
Those are just some of the charges in one of FOUR CRIMINAL CASES against Trump. The other three are federal cases that include the Mara Largo documents case involving an alleged 30 violations of the Espionage Act.
I won't go into more detail here because it would take me a complete day to compile all the charges in all four cases.
But we can contrast those to the case against Hunter Biden.
The Delaware indictment accuses Hunter of possession of a gun in 2018 while using narcotics,
First, if he were not the President's son, he would have just been among the thousands of people who are charged with this type of crime. Like so many first-time offenders, Hunter had worked out a plea deal that included paying the back taxes he had been accused of eluding in the original allegation. But political pressure forced the reopening of the case. And he was indicted again on the gun charge.
Hunter is the son of a sitting President and therefore the case does require a certain amount of media attention. They are serious charges.
But Hunter does not hold any elected office, does not work for the government, and is not running for any office.
The Republicans would have us believe those charges are on equal footing with the four criminal cases against Trump and his alleged 18 co-conspirators simply because Hunter Biden is President Biden's son.
They throw in accusations of shady business deals which may or may not have been illegal in the first place, and for which there has been no indictment, no charges and no proof. And then they try to link President Biden to those business deals. Again, there is not a smidgen of evidence that the President had anything to do with his son's business dealings. The political right says they have a whistleblower, but he has yet to come forward in any public forum or any judicial proceeding.
So, you should reject the concept that the charges against Donald Trump are on the same plane as those against Hunter Biden.
There is a good chance that both Donald Trump and Hunter Biden will be on trial in 2024 as the presidential election approaches. But don't let anyone tell you they are of equal concern. A rotten apple is NOT the same as an overripe orange.
How Much Does The Job Pay?
Have you ever gone through the process of applying for a job without knowing how much it pays? Or gotten into an interview and received a nonspecific answer when you ask about salary?
It happens a lot. But it's less likely now if that job is in New York State.
Starting this week, a new law takes effect that requires all employers there to disclose the minimum and maximum salary range or hourly rate in any job
This applies as well to any job that may be done in a remote location, but which requires the employee to report to a supervisor or someone in an office within New York State.
It's called "salary transparency," and it's been spreading across the country in the past few years.
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois and Washington State have similar laws.
New York Employers Must Disclose Salary or Hourly Range in Job Postings (natlawreview.com)
Colorado and Illinois have gone even farther requiring that all current employees be alerted when promotions and similar openings are available.
The National Law Review says these laws are designed to narrow the salary gap and diversify people in management positions.
Strange New World?
NASA's Webb telescope may have detected a molecule on another planet that here on Earth is produced only by life.
It needs further study, but dimethyl sulphide, or DMS, which comes from phytoplankton in marine environments, has been detected on K2-18b, a exoplanet that orbits around a cool dwarf star 120 light years from Earth.
Those same scientists have already confirmed that
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| (NASA photo, Webb launch 12-25-21) |
K2-12b, is 8.6 times as massive as Earth, and our solar system has nothing like it. Scientists do not know yet what the atmosphere on such planets might be like. This particular planet is believed to have an ocean surface that might be too hot to be habitable, or might not be liquid at all.
If you want to know more about this research, it will soon be published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Dumbest Quote of the Week!
This week's dumb quote comes from the most annoying and most hypocritical member of Congress, Colorado Republican Lauren Boebert. She and her "date" were kicked out of a performance of "Beetlejuice" in Denver for what was originally reported as vaping and disorderly conduct during the show. At first, Boebert brushed it off, but then the video from closed circuit cameras in the theatre became public, clearly showing Boebert vaping and screaming during the performance. But it gets worse. The video also showed her companion groping her naked breast right there in the seat, while she put her hands between his legs. This was all within a few feet of children watching the show.
It was after the video's release that she issued this apology:
"There’s no perfect blueprint for going through a public and difficult divorce, which over the past few months has made for a challenging personal time for me and my entire family. I’ve tried to handle it with strength and grace as best I can, but I simply fell short of my values on Sunday. That’s unacceptable and I’m sorry.”
Congresswoman behaving badly? No big deal? Making an excuse apology, appears to be insincere and should not be accepted.
Boebert has based her whole political gig on promoting family values and attacks on the LGBTQ+ community that include rants about drag queens indoctrinating children. It turns out her date that night owns a bar that has sponsored drag queen events in the past. So much for practicing what you preach Congresswoman Boebert.
Congresswoman, you are a liar and a hypocrite.
A poll done last month showed Boebert in a dead heat with Democrat Adam Frisch, the candidate she narrowly beat in 2022 who is running again in 2024. It will be interesting to see a poll done after this latest incident.
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome)
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HankSilverberg@gmail.com for instructions on how to get a copy at a reduced price and with my signature)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084Q7K6M5/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-campaign-hank-silverberg/1126429796
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