Patterico's Pontifications

10/29/2020

Your Handy Guide to Throwing Away Your Presidential Vote

Filed under: General — JVW @ 7:53 pm



[guest post by JVW]

In my ongoing efforts to make everyone into a more informed yet caustic and bitter voter, I thought I would try to render a bit of assistance to my fellow Patterico’s Pontifications readers who refuse to support the reelection of Donald J. Trump yet can’t countenance voting for a mediocre hack like Joseph R. Biden.

Four years ago I tossed a write-in vote in the direction of Evan McMullin, a man who at the time seemed to me to be an authentic conservative yet in the intervening years has led me to believe that he is a bit of a prima donna and caused me to regret my impulsive move. This time around I have vowed to be more judicious with my vote; no more write-ins for me: I’m going to find somebody on the California ballot worthy of my endorsement. I’ll be investigating the candidates as I write up this post, so what you will get is my snap judgement — which, I hasten to add is unerringly true except in the case of that McMullin fellow — so follow along with me as I learn all about the interesting and accomplished men and women who have tossed their hat into the ring. Without further ado, here they are in the order in which they appear on my ballot:
——–
Jo Jorgensen, President & Jeremy “Spike” Cohen, Vice-President; Libertarian Party
This is probably the most likely landing point for a disaffected conservative, right? I mean now that the battle for drug legalization has mostly been won, everyone seems to hate law enforcement, and nobody wants to send American troops anywhere outside of our own borders, all that’s left for libertarianism would appear to be the battle against the encroaching socialism seen among today’s Democrats. While it’s true that we might not yet be ready to deal with a President who sports bangs, us anti-big-government types who have been frustrated by the current White House occupant’s soft spot for authoritarianism need someone to remind us that taxation is, indeed, theft.

Ms. Jorgensen has a short but sweet URL (jo20.com), befitting a small-government advocate, and her website distills complex policy discussions into pithy one-sentence talking points in the same time-honored way that Democrats and Republicans have done for years. You still have to deal with the famous flakiness of libertarianism (she wants our foreign policy to be that of “one giant Switzerland” and her immigration policy can be un-demagogically characterized as open borders), but knowing that Congressional Republicans and Democrats might be a necessary brake on her ambitions makes her candidacy quite intriguing in this silly year. And who wouldn’t want a Vice-President named Spike?
——–
Joseph Biden, President & Kamala Harris, Vice-President; Democrat Party
No. Just no.
——–
Donald Trump, President & Mike Pence, Vice-President; Republican Party
Hard pass.
——–
Gloria La Riva, President & Sunil Freeman, Vice-President; Peace and Freedom Party
She is running on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket, yet the campaign website describes her as “a socialist answer to the two corporatist parties,” and the word “socialism” or “socialist” appears quite frequently. Eat your heart out, Bernie Sanders! In a fortuitous twist for all of us, it turns out the answer to each of the ten key issues that Ms. La Riva identifies as pressing needs is — coincidentally enough — more socialism! People are lacking life’s basics? Give them free stuff! The environment is being depredated? End capitalism! Cops are being mean to people of color? Reparations! Immigrants are having a hard go of it? No more borders! And so on.

If our Adorably Ornery Clueless niece is too milquetoast in her commitment to socialism for your taste, why not go for the Emperor Palpatine to buttercup’s Anakin Skywalker? The water in the deepest part of the well always tastes sweeter.
——–
Roque “Rocky” de la Fuente Guerra, President & Kayne Omari West, Vice President; American Independent Party
I have a soft spot in my heart for Rocky de la Fuente Guerra (whose name, if I am not mistaken, translates to “from the source of the war”). He’s perhaps the most interesting candidate on the ballot: born in San Diego, raised in Mexico and California, received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, took over his family’s auto dealerships, expanded them, got into banking and land acquisition, had a bunch of disputes with governments at all levels, then embarked upon his second career as a perennial candidate. He’s run for President in the Democrat primaries (2016); the Republican primaries (2020); in the 2016 general election on the American Delta and Reform parties, the former of which was his own creation; and now in the 2020 election representing the American Independent Party, with that beacon of stability and common sense Kayne West as his running mate. When not running for President, Rocky likes to appear as a Democrat candidate for the United States Senate representing Florida (2016), a Republican candidate for New York City mayor (2017), a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate representing California (2018), an unaffiliated candidate for the U.S. Senate representing Washington (2018), a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate representing Florida (2018), as well as various offices in Wyoming, Hawaii, Minnesota, Vermont, Delaware, and Rhode Island. Earlier this spring he ran as a Democrat in the jungle primary for California’s 21st District House seat. His son Ricardo, who had previous run for House in seats in Florida and California, won a primary and is now the Democrat candidate for the 27th Congressional district of Texas. His other son, Roque III, managed to get on the Democrat Presidential primary ballot this year in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, New Hampshire, Texas, and Utah.

Seriously, what’s not to love about this family?

Rocky père is running on a largely left-wing platform: single-payer health care, amnesty for immigrants, “livable” income for those who can’t work, job guarantees, green energy transformation, end overseas adventurism, raise Social Security contributions, etc. No matter that most of it doesn’t add up: if you are looking for an unserious man for rather unserious times, you can’t do any better.
——–
Howie Hawkins, President & Angela Nicole Walker, Vice-President; Green Party
Speaking of unserious candidates, Mr. Hawkins has managed to swipe the endorsement of the Socialist Party USA right out from underneath Ms. La Riva, perhaps on the strength of his Jeremy Corbyn-like beard. Though he had hopes of winning the Peace & Freedom Party nomination too, Ms. La Riva nudged him out for that honor to secure her place on my ballot. Mr. Hawkins (who likes to be referred to as “Howie,” so I’ll refer to him as “Mr. Hawkins”) styles himself an “ecosocialist” which, he hastens to inform us, is different from bureaucratic state-socialism. He advocates “communalism,” though without the racial or religious overtones, probably because its close cousin communism implies that public pension or trust-fund Greens will be “asked” to share with the less fortunate. He’s also against the U.S. developing a first-strike nuclear weapons capacity, so he’s thus lost my vote.

Like any good fringe candidate, Mr. Hawkins’ website is chock-full of position papers, platform documents, op-eds, speech transcripts, and moderately-lucid rantings about the things that anger socialists the most: success, wealth, autonomy, and freedom. Facing up to the reality that he won’t win, Mr. Hawkins declares a goal of expanding ballot access to Green Party candidates, so he must be fairly cheesed that the Democrats have conspired to keep him off the ballot on technicalities in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, two states in which he could conceivably hurt Joe Biden’s candidacy.
——–
So, short of writing in My Little Aloha Sweetie (which, to be honest, is probably at least a 50% liklihood at this point) I think I’ll probably vote for Jo Jorgensen. If BLM or antifa thugs later menace me, I can always say to them, “Hey, I’m on your side; I voted for Jo!” and as long as they don’t make me write it out I’ll probably have them fooled. I can also burnish my already sterling credentials as a woke feminist by pointing out that I voted for a woman for President in both the primary election and in the general election. In this awful year, it helps to be crazier than the times in which you live.

– JVW

42 Responses to “Your Handy Guide to Throwing Away Your Presidential Vote”

  1. Notice how nobody in Big Media seems at all perturbed at the Dems’ partisan power-play to keep the Greens off the ballot in two key states? So much for voter suppression, I guess.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  2. I KNEW Jo Jorgensen looked familiar!

    Jorgensen was born on May 1, 1957, in Libertyville, Illinois, and raised in neighboring Grayslake. She is an alumna of Grayslake Central High School.[5] Her grandparents were Danish immigrants.

    Now, to remember when and where I met her.

    nk (1d9030)

  3. Brilliant post. Go ahead, pull the lever for your Little Aloha Sweetie and show those Dems that there is no one on the left that is more woke feminist than you. Badge of honor.

    Dana (6995e0)

  4. Yep, those look like the usual Left side candidates. Aren’t there usually more Right side candidates than the Rs and the Libertarians, though?

    Nic (896fdf)

  5. Thank you, JVW. I’m right with you.

    Simon Jester (6fcb2b)

  6. Do what people did in 1968 and 1972, and write in Snoopy.

    qdpsteve (8d496a)

  7. Yep, those look like the usual Left side candidates. Aren’t there usually more Right side candidates than the Rs and the Libertarians, though?

    They probably can’t qualify for the California ballot these days. Yeah, usually there is an American Conservative Party or something similar holding down a slot on the right, but not this year.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  8. Don’t see ‘Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin’ on the list.

    Oh. ‘Right.’ That translates into English as “Donald J. Trump.”

    Don’t see ‘Xi Jinping’ on the list, either.

    Oh. ‘Left.’ That translates into English as “Joseph Biden.”

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  9. I was just thinking that if Trump gets reelected, in a few months we’ll have the joy of watching him more or less openly threatening to withhold vaccines from states where the governors don’t support him, and watching various Republicans, still giddy with joy at the victory, shrugging their shoulders.

    But sure, vote like it doesn’t matter.

    Victor (00af29)

  10. Don’t see ‘Xi Jinping’ on the list, either.

    Oh. ‘Left.’ That translates into English as “Joseph Biden.”

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/29/2020 @ 9:30 pm

    That’s the Russian line. It’s called muddying the waters.

    Biden has never praised the tienanmen square massacre or offered to help Xi cover up his concentration camps.

    If you have a problem with what’s wrong with China you probably shouldn’t vote Trump.

    Dustin (4237e0)

  11. Keep this in mind; should Donald Trump get re-elected, he will be over 74 years old starting his second term in office on January 20, 2021.

    OTOH, should Joe Biden win, before he even would even start his first term in hardest job in the world [aside from motherhood] on January 20, 2021, he would be over 78 years old.

    Check out the ages of the dudes below and how old they were when they passed away– most were long out of office after serving as POTUS, yet still younger than Biden would be starting the gig and Trump going into his second term:

    George Washington, dead at 67.
    Thomas Jefferson, dead at 83.
    John Adams dead at 90.
    James Monroe, dead at 73.
    James Madison, dead at 85.
    William Henry Harrison, dead at 68.
    Andrew Jackson, dead at 78.
    John Quincy Adams, dead at 80.
    James K. Polk, dead at 53.
    Zachary Taylor, dead at 65.
    John Tyler, dead at 71.
    Martin Van Buren, dead at 79.
    Abraham Lincoln, dead at 56.
    James Buchanan, dead at 77.
    Franklin Pierce, dead at 64.
    Millard Fillmore, dead at 74.
    Andrew Johnson, dead at 66.
    James A. Garfield, dead at 49.
    Ulysses S. Grant, dead at 63.
    Chester A. Arthur, dead at 57.
    Rutherford B. Hayes, dead at 70.
    Benjamin Harrison, dead at 67.
    William McKinley, dead at 58.
    Grover Cleveland, dead at 71.
    Theodore Roosevelt, dead at 60.
    Warren G. Harding, dead at 57.
    Woodrow Wilson, dead at 67.
    William Howard Taft, dead at 72.
    Calvin Coolidge, dead at 60.
    Franklin D. Roosevelt, dead at 63.
    John F. Kennedy, dead at 46.
    Herbert Hoover, dead at 90.
    Dwight D. Eisenhower, dead at 78.
    Harry S. Truman, dead at 88.
    Lyndon B. Johnson, dead at 64.
    Richard Nixon, dead at 81.
    Ronald Reagan, dead at 93
    Gerald Ford, dead at 93.
    George H. W. Bush, dead at 94. – source, wikideadpesidents

    At 74, though energetic, Trump is clearly long in the tooth for the second term gig.
    At 78, to start as a POTUS, Biden would be alarmingly old for the gig, as well.

    Should Biden win, given his demeanor and medical history [that we know of] expect a President Harris in your future. If Trump wins a second term, given his bulk, diet and history [that we know of] a President Pence is not out of the realm possibility.

    Spooky.

    Frightening.

    Terrifying.

    Happy Halloween. 😉

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  12. @10. No, it’s my line. But theft of ‘intellectual property’ isn’t limited to just the Russians nor the Chinese, Dustin. Especially if you’ve ever seen Buran – or the TU-144.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  13. As a consistent voter for libertarian candidates (note the small l) for 30 years, I entered this year completely dismayed. The Libertarian party was once again a clown show. The WA state primary rolled around and I voted for Your Little Aloha Sweetie (even tossing her a few bucks) because I’m pragmatic and know that in my state, Charles Manson could run with a (D) after his name and win. I might as well let the DNC know that she was the most palatable out of a busload of crap.

    Once the Libertarian party settled on Jorgensen and the DNC settled on Biden, my money and my vote have gone to Jorgensen. She has no chance of winning, but as with every election cycle, I hope that the Libertarian party gains more and more attention and interest in the hopes of breaking the back of the duopoly. My goal for over a decade now is that the Libertarian party will be viable by 2040. Although I fully expect both the DNC and RNC to continually shift the goalposts.

    Nunya (465f52)

  14. Knowing that the AIP was created for George Wallace’s segregationist campaign in 1968, I give it a hard pass, although it seems to have fallen on hard times given that it’s now in favor of high socialism.

    I see the Constitution Party has fallen off the list in CA.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  15. Note that California does not tabulate write-ins unless the individual has filed a certificate of write-in candidacy.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  16. Do what people did in 1968 and 1972, and write in Snoopy.

    At this point, even the Red Baron is a fair choice.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  17. Biden has never praised the tienanmen square massacre or offered to help Xi cover up his concentration camps.

    He doesn’t have to. He’s just damn glad Xi sent that virus over here to give him an issue.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  18. Go ahead, pull the lever for your Little Aloha Sweetie and show those Dems that there is no one on the left that is more woke feminist than you. Badge of honor.

    His vote has about as much to do with woke feminism as one of Donald Trump’s beauty pageants…

    Dave (1bb933)

  19. Note that California does not tabulate write-ins unless the individual has filed a certificate of write-in candidacy.

    Which kind of makes sense, since a vote for someone without a slate of electors on record is effectively a spoiled ballot.

    Dave (1bb933)

  20. How a fake persona laid the groundwork for a Hunter Biden conspiracy deluge

    One month before a purported leak of files from Hunter Biden’s laptop, a fake “intelligence” document about him went viral on the right-wing internet, asserting an elaborate conspiracy theory involving former Vice President Joe Biden’s son and business in China.

    The document, a 64-page composition that was later disseminated by close associates of President Donald Trump, appears to be the work of a fake “intelligence firm” called Typhoon Investigations, according to researchers and public documents.

    The author of the document, a self-identified Swiss security analyst named Martin Aspen, is a fabricated identity, according to analysis by disinformation researchers, who also concluded that Aspen’s profile picture was created with an artificial intelligence face generator. The intelligence firm that Aspen lists as his previous employer said that no one by that name had ever worked for the company and that no one by that name lives in Switzerland, according to public records and social media searches.

    One of the original posters of the document, a blogger and professor named Christopher Balding, took credit for writing parts of it when asked about it and said Aspen does not exist.

    Totally not a disinformation campaign!

    Dave (1bb933)

  21. Before filling out that ballot, JVW, you may want to hear from the one person I suspect you hold in such high esteem that his recommendation alone may be enough to move you. (I also happen to find his argument persuasive, but then I was persuaded before I read it):

    At the end of every campaign, advocates of a candidate (like me) make a final list of all the issues and policies that we think should matter to other voters, and why our guy is better on them.

    I don’t have that list.

    Don’t get me wrong: As a conservative and former Republican who has already voted for former Vice President Joe Biden, I could create an entire inventory of issues, even without the lightning strike of the pandemic, where I think Biden is a better pick for president than another four years of President Donald Trump. From budget deficits to nuclear arms control, I could easily make the case for Biden, even if I might concede that I would prefer a few of Trump’s policies (such as cutting government regulations and increasing defense spending) over any Democratic administration.

    But I did not vote in this election based on policy. Neither should you. The election of 2020 is about the moral future of the American nation, and so I voted for a good man with whom I have some political disagreements over an evil man with whom I share not a single value as a human being. Trump is the most morally defective human being ever to hold the office of the presidency, worse by every measure than any of the rascals, satyrs or racists who have sat in the Oval Office. This is vastly more important than marginal tax rates or federal judges.

    Of course, I can also offer an inventory of the disasters that have befallen us because of Trump’s essential nature as a ball of moral anti-matter. But I would also argue that these failures do not matter now. From the American carnage of COVID-19 to the implosion of our economy to the collapse of America’s position in the world, our morally blind choice in 2016 has already levied its payment on us, in both blood and treasure.

    We cannot turn back the clock.

    What we can do is stem the pandemic and recover from the recession. We can shore up our tattered alliances. But none of this will happen — and nothing else will matter — if we lose the moral core of our identity as a democracy.

    Trump’s vanity and stupidity have cost thousands of lives and harmed the nation. He has left us less healthy, less wealthy and less safe in every way. But Trump’s assaults on the Constitution and the rule of law, including everything from his vicious attacks on the integrity of our elections to his calls to lock up his political opponents, have left us less American in every way, and that damage will take longer to fix. Four more years of Trump will take those wounds and make them a permanent scar on our national soul.

    […]

    lurker (d8c5bc)

  22. You forgot Arizona green party wasn’t alowed on ballot here either. I will be writing in green party candidate for president. I was able to vote for jill stein in 2016 and ralph nader in 2000 and 2004. Ask hillary clinton or al gore if voting for green party was throwing away your vote. In her book what happened? (to me) she spends as much time attacking jill stein and bernie sanders as she does trump. I would be throwing my vote away if I voted for biden or trump as the lesser of two evils is still evil.

    asset (82a515)

  23. If I could write in a candidate, I would. As it is, cast my vote yesterday, for Jo Jorgensen.

    Never-Biden. Never-Trump.

    Demosthenes (d7fc81)

  24. 8. DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/29/2020 @ 9:30 pm

    ’ That translates into English as “Joseph Biden.”

    The main person members of the Biden family were dealing with in 2017 was arrested in 2018, and his company went bankrupt in 2019 and is out of business. He was probably free lancing a bit, hoping to develop a connection in which he was indispensable.

    But does Joe Biden know how to deter an invasion of Taiwan?

    These days everybody is against the government of China in some way. The government of China is reported not to favor Donald Trump because he is too unpredictable, and is concentrating on down ballot races for now.

    Sammy Finkelman (a69e24)

  25. There are write-in eligible candidates (whose votes will be tabulated) and there are names which just spoil the vote for presidential electors.

    This list, by the way, was just for California.

    Sammy Finkelman (a69e24)

  26. “ I was just thinking that if Trump gets reelected, in a few months we’ll have the joy of watching him more or less openly threatening to withhold vaccines from states where the governors don’t support him, and watching various Republicans, still giddy with joy at the victory, shrugging their shoulders.”
    __ _

    A prediction as solid as the Handmaids camps and rounding up of homosexuals that were sure to happen as soon as Trump was sworn in in 2017.
    __

    Now do reinstating new versions of the Iran Nuke Deal and Paris Climate Scheme for Biden (not to mention all the Woke new things Harris and her ilk can get Joe to sign when he’s awake. States that will remove discrimination language from their constitutions will have a nice leg up here).

    And all the disgraced John Kerry and Ben Rhodes types who just a couple years ago said no way would any Arab state sign an individual peace accord with Israel will be back to throw gas on the region.

    Also consider what Democratic leadership has done to Seattle, Chicago, Portland, Minneapolis, CA, IL, NY etc and where their hardworking taxpayers are fleeing to, Republican states where sanity still has a precarious hold.

    Also ponder if Biden will pick up where Europe is now slamming on the brakes to import people from the Muslim world to balance the unfairness of terrorism being deprived from North America.

    But sure, vote like it doesn’t matter.
    _

    harkin (09e484)

  27. “The government of China is reported not to favor Donald Trump because he is too unpredictable”
    __ _

    As opposed to Biden, who will effectively make America the NBA of the deterrent countries while people who say ‘and Putin smiled’ cheer him on.
    _

    harkin (09e484)


  28. NBC News
    @NBCNews
    ·
    A 64-page document asserting an elaborate conspiracy theory involving Joe Biden’s son and business in China, that was later disseminated by close associates of President Trump, appears to be the work of a fake “intelligence firm.” https://nbcnews.to/37QoJBz
    __ _

    Eddie Zipperer
    @EddieZipperer
    ·
    This is outstanding. NBC News dug up some weird Hunter Biden decoy story that nobody has ever heard of and is pretending that it’s the real Hunter Biden story and they’ve debunked it. Wow. This is a brand new low for a terrible outlet.

    __ _

    Gee, I wonder how the MSM will report on the Biden administration.
    _

    harkin (09e484)

  29. As someone who has spent many sleepless nights worrying over whether Sudan will ever recognize Israel, I still feel that that this election is a binary choice and that Biden is the least worse one even if the international leftist globalist Catholic-Hindu cabal does make rawhide dog-chewies illegal.

    nk (1d9030)

  30. As an active member of the Republican Remnant, I wrote in a Republican, Larry Hogan, and he’s going to run in 2024 anyway.
    To some folks (maybe a lot of folks), it’s a throwaway vote, but not to me. In a state where Biden leads by 21, I’m feeling pretty good about it.

    Paul Montagu (77c694)

  31. Philip Melanchthon Wegmann
    @PhilipWegmann
    Just a casual map of DC showing different choke points and locations to shut down in case one major political party doesn’t win the White House.

    https://twitter.com/PhilipWegmann/status/1321964078944890883?s=20
    __ _

    Biden voters already planning to Shutdown DC if they don’t get their way.

    They are ironically calling this offensive on civil order Defend Democracy.

    It votes for the Biden or it gets the riots
    _

    harkin (09e484)

  32. The Amish had a buggy parade for Trump, the never trumpers had a pumpkin party for the big guy. Amish never vote, but will this time.
    In 123 the religious bigots will bark

    mg (8cbc69)

  33. mg —

    Why are the Amish supporting Trump? Are they afraid the Dems will attempt to mess with their subculture?

    Appalled (1a17de)

  34. Harkin,

    I seem to recall Trump openly indicating that a state’s access to protective personal equipment, or ventilators might depend on how favorable their governors were to him. But that’s such a long time ago. Ancient history really.

    Victor (00af29)

  35. Biden lost every primary he ran in, until this year. Yet now he is the Democratic nominee. He owes that to Obama, for appointing him vice president.

    Trump is the most corrupt and incompetent president in history. So he just has to go. He must be voted out of office.

    Jorgensen has never held elected office. Not that I know of. A vote for her would be a protest vote. But she has zero chance of winning the election.

    The main thing is removing Trump from office. A vote for Jorgensen would not achieve that. A vote for Biden might.

    I’m conflicted. I don’t like Biden, am not sure about Jorgensen, but I am totally against Trump and all his sycophants.

    I will be voting against every Republican. The RNC is an abject failure, and it needs to be repudiated.

    A vote for Biden is a vote against Trump. A vote for Jorgensen is a vote against both. So who to vote for? I haven’t decided yet.

    Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1)

  36. Oh and Trump is currently including self praising letters in food boxes for poor people requiring the distributors to remove them one by one.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/30/trump-food-box-letters-election-problems-433640

    Victor (00af29)

  37. @35, if you live in a state with a clear outcome (CA, NY, WY, AL) Vote 3rd party.

    Time123 (69b2fc)

  38. 28.

    NBC News dug up some weird Hunter Biden decoy story that nobody has ever heard of and is pretending that it’s the real Hunter Biden story and they’ve debunked it

    NBC was actually circulating a conspiracy theory: That all accusations against Hunter Biden are linked. It seems to have the assumption that accusations against an individual connected to politics are either all true or all false, or at least all dishonestly motivated or honestly motivated, so if they cn prove one thing suspicious, all accusations should be disregarded.

    That said, Rudy Giuliani doesn’t seem to understand a thing. He thinks Joe Biden has been running the Biden crime family for 30 years and using Hunter as his bagman. Maybe he was led astray (in this case) by Steve Bannon, who may have been the first to stretch some evidence out of all recognition. He used to do that Breitbart, I understand.

    In reality all that all the evidence adds up to is that Joe Biden cared that his son should not do anything that would result in him (his son) being prosecuted and risking jail, but he didn’t care about how unethical or unsavory it might be otherwise. (he does now) To that end, he wanted someone involved in Hunter Biden;s businesses as a sort of chaperone. That was Tony Bobulinski. (Joe Biden was not approving any kind of business deals himself.)

    But Joe Biden’s semi-criminal brother Jim and his son Biden managed to get rid of him. But before too long Ye Jianming was arrested and disappeared into China’s prison system.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/14/business/china-cefc-investigation.html

    …Caixin, the Chinese business magazine, reported this month that Mr. Ye was being investigated for unspecified reasons.,,,Mr. Ye also cultivated the image of someone with political connections. A framed calligraphy of Mr. Xi’s hung on the wall in Mr. Ye’s Shanghai office, according to the Fortune article. On his desk sat a red phone made to look like the famous “red machines” that the Communist Party’s most important members would use to tap into a secure line of communication.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/12/business/cefc-biden-china-washington-ye-jianming.html

    By 2015, Mr. Ye had begun working on perhaps his most politically connected quarry yet: the family of Mr. Biden, the vice president.

    An aide to Mr. Ye met the vice president’s second son, Hunter Biden, in Washington. Mr. Ye then met privately with Hunter Biden at a hotel in Miami in May 2017, according to people with direct knowledge of the meetings who were not authorized to speak publicly because the meetings were private. Mr. Ye proposed a partnership to invest in American infrastructure and energy deals, the people said.
    During this period, the vice president’s son was managing Rosemont Seneca Partners, an investment firm he formed with Chris Heinz, the stepson of John Kerry, the former secretary of state. Mr. Heinz said he has no knowledge of CEFC and ended his relationship with Rosemont Seneca in 2015.

    It is unclear whether Hunter Biden struck any business deals with CEFC or Mr. Ye. Through his attorney, Hunter Biden declined to comment.

    I guess the New York Times is like the Hartford Courant of 1884 in some respects.

    December, 2018:

    https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2018/12/asia/patrick-ho-ye-jianming-cefc-trial-intl

    Ye’s empire began to crumble on November 18, 2017. On that day, FBI agents arrested Patrick Ho Chi-ping, the man Ye had employed to lead his NGO. Ho was charged with money laundering and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He is accused of offering $3 million in bribes to the President of Chad, Idriss Deby, and Sam Kutesa, the Ugandan minister of foreign affairs and then president of the United Nations General Assembly. The alleged bribes were made on behalf of a Shanghai-based energy company, which is not explicitly named in the court documents….Meanwhile, the whereabouts of Ye are unknown — and what charges, if any, he may face in China have not been publicly revealed.

    That wasn;t the first Chinese businesman Hunter Biden attempted to deal with. The first was Jonathan Li, at the end of 2013, but that perhaps predates the icould files.

    Sammy Finkelman (a69e24)

  39. 37. Time123 (69b2fc) — 10/30/2020 @ 9:17 am

    if you live in a state with a clear outcome (CA, NY, WY, AL) Vote 3rd party.

    In New York, it now determines (new this year!) ballot access for the next two years, although no minor parties other than the Conservative Party, and maybe the Working Families Party, are likely to meet the raised threshold.

    Sammy Finkelman (a69e24)

  40. * 38. But Joe Biden’s semi-criminal brother Jim and his son Hunter managed to get rid of him. (the manager or chaperone Joe Biden had approved of for Hunter’s business dealings.)

    Sammy Finkelman (a69e24)

  41. GG:

    Trump is the most corrupt and incompetent president in history

    I don’t see that at all, although he may have the best tax accountants, ad tended to cause people he did business with to lose money, sometimes by just not paying them.

    The New York Times had a story this week about what they said was his last big project.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/27/business/trump-chicago-taxes.html

    ….Even after Mr. Trump sued his largest lender, accusing it of preying on him, the bank agreed to lend him another $99 million — more than twice as much as was previously known — so that he could pay back what he still owed the bank on the defaulted Chicago loan, records show.

    Ultimately, Mr. Trump’s lenders forgave much of what he owed.

    Those forgiven debts are now part of a broader investigation of Mr. Trump’s business by the New York attorney general. They normally would have generated a big tax bill, since the Internal Revenue Service treats canceled debts as income. Yet as has often happened in his long career, Mr. Trump appears to have paid almost no federal income tax on that money, in part because of large losses in his other businesses, The Times’s analysis of his tax records found…

    Sammy Finkelman (a69e24)

  42. Interesting with all these choices for President on the CA ballot. On my ballot, there was a space for write-ins, and then the LP, GOP, and Dem tickets. I settled for the write-in like in 2016 for my protest early vote, while voting all GOP for downticket congressional races. Voting for Biden was something I ruled out, giving his abysmal record in public office, the hard left lurch of the Democratic party, as well as his choice of Kamala Harris as his running mate. While it’s probably unlikely, I do hope the GOP holds the Senate to serve as a check for a Biden/Harris administration and Democrat House majority.

    HCI (92ea66)


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