Bits and Pieces #17

1. I will be the first to admit that I got it wrong. Big time. When President Biden first got into office, I said that he would not make it through his first two years. I thought there was no way in "H-E double hockey sticks" he was going to. But in my defense, nobody in our entire galaxy foresaw how incredibly bad Kamala was going to be. One look at her and you want to breathe a sigh of relief that she is not one step closer to the nuclear codes. But this is not about her. Everyone knows how bad she is whether they want to admit it or not. This Robservation is about the Biden family and how they have made it supremely clear that there are two standards of justice in this country.

2. Hunter Biden plea deal. Let's all of us be intellectually honest here. If you did not pay taxes and then unlawfully purchased a gun, you would be sitting in jail right now. After years of investigating Biden's business dealings in Ukraine, China and Kazakhstan, investigations that began in 2018, all they have come up with is non-behavior changing form of punishment for Hunter. One news outlet reported that Hunter plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges but because of the plea deal, prosecutors did not charge him with a felony count of tax evasion for not paying taxes for a year on a business expense. It is not that he didn't do it, they know he did but chose not to charge him.

As for the gun charge, he lied on a federal form by stating he was not a drug user when in fact he was. He even wrote about his drug issues. Bottom line is he falsified a federal document to buy a gun. That folks, is what we in the real world call, "ILLEGAL." According to the Washington Post, "Hunter will admit the facts of the gun false statement but will not technically plead guilty to it. Instead, he has agreed to enter a pretrial diversion agreement. A diversion is a process that allows a defendant to avoid court if they agree to abide by certain conditions.)" As a result of not being charged with the felony tax evasion and the gun charge, Hunter will likely get just two years of probation and the diversion. http://www.vox.com/politics/2023/5/12/23715711/hunter-biden-investigation-taxes-indictment Pretty sweet deal.

3. Cocaine in the White House. This has got to be one of the summer's strangest stories. Or should I say, most corrupt stories. It is hard to imagine how nonchalant most of the media is about this story. We are not talking about a lost kid wandering the halls of the White House from some tourist group, but an illegal drug found in what is supposed to be one of the most secure buildings in the country. What if it was anthrax? Ricin? A bomb? Somebody snuck this item into the White House when it should have been caught. The most disturbing aspect is that the Secret Service has decided to end their investigation without identifying a potential suspect. I find that almost impossible to fathom considering all the cameras throughout the building. I read one news story that said the Secret Service knows who the culprit is. I would think they absolutely know. But it is just another indication that there is not one justice system in this country for all people.

4. Biden "Sniff-gate." http://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-nibbles-frightened-young-girl-during-trip-finland-weirding-twitter-users So how many of you saw the President in Finland the other day? He was standing in a line greeting people when he spied a little girl. He walked up and started acting like he was trying to nibble on her. He was mouthing all around her and then stepped back, leaned in and true to form, took a sniff of the little girl. Some may want to deny it but it is there for everyone to see. Sniffed? Yeah, sniffed. Sadly, it cannot be unseen. Sorry but that is creepy as can be. On what planet is that acceptable behavior for the POTUS? And we all know this is not the first time this type of behavior has been caught on film. Truly sad.

5. Joe Biden's Granddaughter. In a truly sad story, Hunter Biden's illegitimate daughter has gotten a lot of attention as of late. I do not care about the mother's past. That whole stones and glass houses thing. But the real issue is that Hunter will not let the little girl, his daughter, take his name and has gone to court to lower his child support payments. But worse is that President Biden will not acknowledge the little girl as his grandchild. That is pretty low down and low rent. Look, no matter what, that little girl is still Joe Biden's granddaughter; whether he wants to admit it or not. Shameful but not surprising.

6. Angry Joe. Have you all read the stories of how many White House staffers are afraid to deal with President Biden face-to-face because he is so mean. He loves to curse, tell people to get the "blank" out of here, "how the blank do you not know this" and the like. Many people have likened this to the same behavior many people with dementia or Alzheimer's show when faced with situations they are not sure how to cope with. When you watch Biden in action, I would likely have to agree with those assessments.

7. NATO. finally, a segment that has nothing to do with President Biden. First, the Ukraine gaining admittance into NATO. Show of hands. Who is for it? Who is against it? Okay, my turn. I am totally against it. For now at least. I know at the latest NATO conference, this was one of the main debates. People want so much to help the Ukraine but admittance into NATO, I am not buying it. In fact, I say absolutely no way in heck would I support it. Not today. Once the war with Russia is over, then I say let's reassess. The reason I say, "No," for now is because of that pesky little Article 5 in the NATO Charter which says an attack on one is an attack on all. Let's say the Ukraine was admitted into NATO today and a Russian missile crashed down in the Ukraine. By the letter of the law, all the other NATO countries at that point would be obligated to gang up and attack Russia. Is that really what we want to do right now? Really? I don't think so. Let this whole Russian invasion play itself out first and then consider it.

8. NATO. When I was flying the NATO AWACS, we had members from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the United States, Greece, Turkey and Germany all flying on our jets together. Although Spain, France, Luxembourg and Iceland were members, they did not have crewmembers flying with us. Today, NATO has grown and now we have Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia. I have no idea how many of those countries participate in the NATO AWACS program. But what I do know, of all the countries listed, only Greece, the US, Poland, UK, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania pay their required 2% of GDP for defense as part of the NATO treaty. I am not sure why so many in Europe continually expect the US to ante up and pay above and beyond our requirement to help secure their safety. This is just one reason so many of our NATO allies hated President Trump. He was determined to get all the allies to pay their required share and they did not like that at all. I think our current lawmakers should try to enforce the same thing.

9. Lastly. My wife and I went to go see the movie, The Sound of Freedom the other day. All I can say is that it was outstanding. The movie confirmed my belief that any adults that are in the child sex and slavery trade, when caught . . . . Let your imagination run free. Apparently, this movie was made in 2018 but its release was delayed after Disney acquired its original distributor, Fox. There it languished until 2023. After watching the movie, I can see why. There are probably more than a few powerful people out there that are sympathetic to this dark corner of human behavior. All I can say is go see it. I heard that now you can see it for free if you want to. This is because of their highly successful pay it forward program. If you watch it, you will not be disappointed.