I like Hunter's response to his conviction: it was gracious and conciliatory:
“I am more grateful today for the love and support I experienced this last week from Melissa, my family, my friends, and my community than I am disappointed by the outcome,” he said. “Recovery is possible by the grace of God, and I am blessed to experience that gift one day at a time.”
Bob, this is great for you. I have some experience with living with an alcoholic. It is a hard road, indeed. Hard on all your loved ones, and especially on oneself. Congratulations to you and much respect for continued success. Be proud. Thank you for sharing.
Steven Miller should have been stuffed in a seabag and thrown off the Santa Monica Pier in the middle a storm, back when he was just an annoying little shitbird at Santa Monica High.
Steve Bannon is scum but he's familiar scum: he looks like guys I knew back in the day, some on the far left, some on the far right. I've never seen anything like Stephen Miller except in a horror movie, and I don't go to horror movies.
I had forgotten that he was a Sessions syncophant(sp), it all makes sense now, Sessions who brought us the child separation policy had as his best buddy Miller, who is as close to being devoid of humanity as is possible and still be alive.
I'd forgotten that too. I like your description: "as close to being devoid of humanity as is possible and still be alive." It's a good thing that he looks the part. WYSIWYG.
Susanna, I get nauseous when I think of any of the Steves. They are truly evil and revel in it. I think they get their evil energy from one another and keep passing it around when they are not siphoning some off to their orange puppet.
Wow, yes. It makes me think -- if they'd never met, never fallen into the orbit of Trump or some other narcissistic creep, they might have remained isolated from each other. Still nasty but limited in influence and far less dangerous.
Yes it is. My wishful thinking is that all these traitors will "get theirs" in the most "traditional method" - hanged, drawn, and quartered. Publicly. Starting with Trump and working down. I volunteer to provide the rope, wield the sword and whip the horses.
It was said that; "The most vivid account of keelhauling
On September 9, 1882, a telegraph documented two Egyptian men court-martialed after an attempted murder near Alexandria. They were sentenced to a keel-hauling under Article 2 of the Egyptian Naval Code, and both men survived but suffered terribly."
This is a revolting comment. The sort of wording that comes out of the sad mouths of the MAGA crowd. The violence in this language is unacceptable. Publicly hanged, drawn and quartered? And you'll provide the rope? Words have consequences, just like actions. Think of the generations of harm that comes from adults and children witnessing such cruelty or even imagining such devastation of a body, regardless of the soul that inhabited it. I thought that as a subscriber to Joyce Vance's Civil Discourse you'd be more, well, civil.
People here have the right to express their outrage without being policed by pearl clutching scolds shaking their fingers at them. Leave it alone. These are not politicians talking about their policy wish list. These are Americans who are upset at the "discourse" coming from some very dangerous public figures.
Pearl-clutching scolds...wow... how about that for a dismissal of a plea for civility instead of violence. You think the upset Americans don't have it in them to express their outrage in a more effective way? You're selling them short. Violence is easy: chop off their heads. But how long will that last? Is gratuitously expressed violence now the acceptable American way? The best way we can be? Watching the commemorations of D-Day earlier this week, and the immense sacrifices made by Americans (and other nations) for a better worId for generations to come, I don't think so. Making a lasting change for a civil world begins with civil words, just as a turn to the abyss begins with violent words used casually again and again, as if it's ok because they're only words. They're not. They seep into our souls when we speak them and when we hear them, and make it easy to cause harm carelessly. They lead to bad places, for you and everyone else, alive now and in the future. But let me stop here so I can go and clutch my pearls now. And you, are you clutching anything? Just asking.
Oh, please. You two like to lecture people on whether they can express themselves? If you don't like it, don't read it. Now go put a cold washcloth on your heads and calm down.
Wow. You were an English teacher and you're basically claiming that words don't matter? Marleen makes a valid point. Perhaps you could listen to it instead of responding with insults.
That’s an indicator of how viscerally many people’s reactions are to the perfidy we have seen since 2016 among so many who seek openly to destroy our democracy.
Per Timothy Snyder, we have the rule of law to avoid having a culture of revenge. Fortunately, drawing and quartering is no longer a legal form of execution. Or “cruel and unusual punishments.”
My fantasies run more to psychological torture, like Stephen Miller having to forever listen to the crying of children and parents he had separated at the border. And having their nightmares appear in his mind, waking or sleeping.
OMG, you mean he graduated from the same high school I did? The school must have gone way down hill since the early 60s, though I hope that's not the case. I need to remember that you can't fix stupid or sociopath. Actually, I think he needed to be dumped further out in the ocean so there was no way he could ever find land again.
Thank you, TC. I feel better now. I left LA at the end of 1988 and have had no idea about how my high school was doing - except that I haven't seen them in the Tournament of Roses parade since 1962, when I got to participate in it with our marching band.
We must have been within feet of each other at some point that New Year's Day, Susan. I was in the Navy then and got to go with the Treasure Island Drill Team.
I am sad for the Biden family, but also proud of them especially the president. Parents are not perfect, nor are their children, and sometimes it takes them a long time to grow up--protecting children, even overgrown Trump children, from the consequences of their actions causes more harm than good. The HB penalties are excessive, but JB was right to keep his distance judicially.
Plus the fact that nobody knows or cares who Burgum is, which is exactly what Donnie wants in a VP. Kinda like Pence except he'll follow the illegal intentions.
Thank you, Joyce for this well reasoned explanation of Hunter Biden's conviction. In my opinion chemical dependencies are usually a result of an Emotional/Mental/Nerve condition which our Country to date has chosen not to deal with. My youngest daughter, died as a result of chemical dependency due to a diagnosed clinical depression.
I'm grateful Hunter Biden continues in recovery. Besides all that, Hunter's was a victimless crime. He purchased a gun that was never used by any member of his extended family.
The same cannot be said of any of the crimes for which the trumpster has been charged. We Americans are still paying the price -as victims - of his giving the top 10% huge tax breaks at our expense; thousands died due to his anti-science policies; we have no idea and may never know to whom he gave or sold top secret documents.
Right, and the pity is, it strikes more in the working class who can ill afford. I spent $70,000 in treatments for my daughter but it wasn't enough and aI couldn't afford to go deep into debt, she was 51 at death.
My daughter in law, when doctors told her to get into a recovery program, refused. Her misuse of alcohol and drugs continued until she was hospitalized and tests revealed her liver is beyond hope. Last week she was sent to a hospital adjacent to a transplant center where she will wait for a new liver, if the doctors can keep her alive until then. I think it's true that addiction and depression are a deadly combination. My daughter in law comes from a very troubled family, and she has had mental illness issues all her life, which were under-diagnosed and untreated. They are both illnesses just as real as diabetes or cancer, and too many people are dying from them. I am so very sorry about your daughter.
One of our sons died of chemical dependency. He was being treated for depression. We saw him often but didn't know he was using. Not even his twin sister knew. He hid it well. The depression masked the drug use. I wish we had the awareness to put him in rehab. He passed from an overdose at age 30, and that's how we found out that he was addicted.
I'm so sorry, that is one thing addicts do well is hide their problems. Her two children knew she drank but were too young to see it as a problem. I was blind-sided. I took he late in the night when her then teen aged children called that she had slit her wrists. I assumed it to be a psychotic episode and insisted she see a psychologist or psychiatrist. She and I worked for the same company at the time so I reported "mental breakdown and assured them she'd be back in a week. It took two more 'episodes before I realized she was alcoholic. Then I got her into 14 days in "dry out" forced sobriety, followed by 30 days of rehab and months of counselling and AA. She was clean and sober for 13 months and doing great, then I was working in DC, I had just gotten her a job with the same company when I got the call.
All of us (on Substack) pay our "fair share of the taxes" but, while there is always money to bailout the wealthy, spare them their "fair share" there is never enough money mental illness, which I think, disproportionately affects those of us in the bottom 90%.
What a terrible ordeal you and your family have gone through Fay. I hope you can find peace, even though the heartbreak and sorrow is forever. Mental illness is rampant and you are right, not nearly enough treatment available or the means to pay for it. One more reason to vote blue.
On a brighter note, I received my chicken mug from Joyce's collection today! I got the black one because I drink tea which stains the white interiors. Thank you Joyce!
It seems like jurors in Hunter Biden’s case were not afraid of retribution like in lowercased don’s case. They even talked with media about the case.
There was no one outside the court room talking about the case while it was going on. Someone said that Jill Biden was there to frighten the jurors. Where do they come up with this stuff. Furthermore, why do they report it.
Stephen Miller has gulped down the Kool Aid. I can’t believe it doesn’t see how dumb he looks.
President Biden’s statement was a testament to the kind and compassionate father and man he is.
Thank you, Joyce. I got a notice that my coffee cup and shirt are packed and ready for shipment. Woohoo.
He strikes me as someone filled with irrational rage and bigotry and just looking for targets, which he has now found. In an arrogance competition he and Alito would be tied.
Hunter Biden knew he was toast; thankfully he has cleaned up his act; but now he has to keep his big boy pants on for his family and do whatever punishment is doled out. That after appeal of course. Patel probably couldn't recognize what he said was ridiculous, and if not, I'm sure someone pointed to it. I have to wonder, now, if the Republicans who have for the most part become zombies for trump are scared of something, like Putin or trump oligarch friends here in America. Because, I'm sorry, trump himself isn't that scary; oh, I know he sounds scary & looks scary sometimes, but I don't think if he were alone in a boxing ring he would be very scary. If he loses his security detail and his guns due to his conviction, he will be scared. Let's scare trump even MORE. Let's vote him into oblivion!! Let's hold the Senate & regain the House while Joe & Kamala win the big one, then indict a bunch of House insurrectionists and all the others who have it coming. I yield back my time.
Hunter Biden would never have been prosecuted were his name not Biden. That said, once charges were brought, the system worked. The outcome is terrible for the Biden family, but the system WORKED, and the honorable man, Joe Biden, has done and is doing the right thing. Trump is the Bizarro World Biden: everything Joe Biden stands for — integrity, honesty, propriety, honor — Trump denigrates. When Trump went haywire after the election, I had tee shirts made up that read TRUMP — INDICT CONVICT IMPRISON. Well, we are 2/3 of the way there!
"The case’s substantial flaws lay not in the evidence but rather in special counsel David Weiss’ decision to bring it in the first place, in effect throwing the book at President Biden’s son. That was an abuse of prosecutorial discretion.
The fact is that it hasn’t been Justice Department practice to prosecute anyone for lying on the federal firearms form unless a gun is used in a crime or, in rare cases, another extenuating factor exists — known involvement in a criminal gang, for example. Hunter Biden, by contrast, possessed his gun for all of 11 days and never used it."
I agree 100%. If Hunter wasn't the son of a President AND tffg didn't have his sycophants, Hunter wouldn't have been prosecuted for this... it wouldn't have even been noticed.
I would specify democratic President, although, now that I think about it, the child of a republican wouldn't have been prosecuted in the same circumstances.
After nearly seven decades on this planet, it still amazes me that some people lack any shame or sense of decency, as do all of the above mentioned MAGA Republicans. They certainly don't believe their own lies. Well, who knows what goes on in the mind of Steven Miller.
All who plotted the J6 insurrection and the related efforts to throw the 2020 election to the House, including especially Judge Alito (we should no longer call him 'Justice') are traitors. They cannot be redeemed.
Who cannot love Raskin? He is clever, brilliant, precise, and quick-witted. He never faltered, never gave up after his son died nor after he went through cancer. We owe him a lot. We owe him a seat on the Supreme Court.
So, I just happened to be calling my mother-in-law at the same time the verdict came in. I was reminding her about an upcoming doctor appointment. I could hear FOX in the background or whatever else she was listening to. Her voice was excited as she yelled, “GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS” I immediately told her about her appointment and hung up. I felt like crying. My husband’s entire family have been sipping on the Kool-Aid for years now. I am not only beyond angry, but heartbroken. My heart does not break for in laws who have been transformed from-let’s be honest, just OK people prior to Trump to smug roosters-sorry, Joyce-no chicken references here. When I say smug roosters, I mean people who have been released by the Kraken and their racism and tainted belief system have been allowed to mingle amongst them. They strut around like mean ole roosters. My heart doesn’t break for them because this is their choice. They have the free will to make decisions and understand the facts, but they choose not to.
My heart breaks for the Biden family. This family has been through so much. They have lost children. They have had to deal with this insidious dialogue of MAGA. Yet, they continue to move forward and make sacrifices in the name of Democracy. Empathy and love and family- that is the Biden family. Families have shown their true colors whether these colors are good or bad. Friendships have been broken based upon true foundations of individuals. We are all exhausted. There’s only one thing left, and that is to VOTE. 💙🇺🇸
Magnificent! Yes, we have to vote, but as Jamie Raskin has made very very clear, we did so in 2000 and did so in 2016 and look what happened. We need significant majorities in the Senate and House. In the Senate, if we can garner the 2/3s needed, we can impeach and fire Supreme Court "Judges". Democrats and Independents must flex their muscles much more that we normally do. We are much too nice!
I would really like to see some investigation of the Stefanik crime family, though as far as I can see, her crime is mostly confined to repeating mindless accusations against Democrats in furtherance of her wish to be boosted somehow by Donald J. Trump, the felonious ex-president. Oh, I must add, her unholy glee in attacking the presidents of institutions such as Harvard because as an antisemite herself she wants to tar them with the same label because they hold that free speech applies to students protesting Palestinian oppression as well as those supporting the right of Israel to pursue the current war against Hamas and the citizens of Gaza.
It's the smart, highly educated ones like Stefanik and Cruz that really burn me -- they know they are full of shit -- so they are simply evil promulgating all that crap.
Elise and her comments…. She has truly turned into a vile, pandering lying sack o’ 💩. Don’t get me wrong, she was never any less than a completely terrible human, but now…….
She is certainly a virulent suck-up and ambitious seeker of more and more power. I do not decry ambition in women--I celebrate it, in fact. BUT, when ambition is applied to pursuit of power...then I get nervous and wary.
I guess some of the owners of the 400 million guns in America who are also 'an unlawful user of' drugs will be more than happy to be investigated, charged, and found guilty if they had also lied on the form to get a gun, right?
Elise Stefanik (Harvard), Stephen Miller (Duke), and Kash Patel (Richmond). 3 of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Joined by Gym Jordan, Steve Bannon, and Michael Flynn. All are weavers of lies. All seem devoid of a functioning moral compass. If these people are allowed close to the levers of power in the next administration, we'll be seeing a re-run of Germany in the 1930s.
Being across the lake from the despicable Elise Stefanik, we have high hopes that her”pick me, pick me! “ antics get her what she is working so hard for. Then she can be this year’s Sarah Palin and, god willing, sink the campaign and eventually sink into oblivion.
I was at dog class last night. Someone had the bad judgment to ask “Did you heard Hunter Biden was found guilty?” I don’t know why people suspect I am a Trumper. Sometimes it is fun to mess with them. Last night it was not. She made a comment about President Biden pardoning his son. I said the President was not going to because he respects the rule unlike someone else who will remain nameless.
Oh, good for you! Yesterday was primary election day in Maine and I was asked to work as one of four ballot clerks for the town, so I had to keep my lips zipped throughout the day. Unfortunately, our small rural community is (at least) 70% Republican and it's difficult to find Dem, liberal or progressive women with whom to talk. I've always said that we rural Maine Dems could easily caucus in a small to middling woodshed.
I like Hunter's response to his conviction: it was gracious and conciliatory:
“I am more grateful today for the love and support I experienced this last week from Melissa, my family, my friends, and my community than I am disappointed by the outcome,” he said. “Recovery is possible by the grace of God, and I am blessed to experience that gift one day at a time.”
(copied from NY Post, 6/11/2024
The words of someone who is serious about his recovery.
As someone with 4,600 days of sobriety, I understand his journey and commitment.
Bravo, Bob!
As someone with 9100 days of sobriety, I agree. I also feel love for the entire Biden family who are giving Hunter their support.
Congratulations Bob!
My brother has his 40 year chip.
If I’m not mistaken, having the opportunity to take responsibility for what happened is an opportunity to be complete and grow in the process.
I love the photos of Hunter looking at his dad with so much love my heart wells up.
Bob, this is great for you. I have some experience with living with an alcoholic. It is a hard road, indeed. Hard on all your loved ones, and especially on oneself. Congratulations to you and much respect for continued success. Be proud. Thank you for sharing.
Spoken like a gentleman
The distinction from Trump's post-conviction response is Huuuge, and American voters are listening.
I hope you are right, David.
Bigly, from a very stable genius.
Powerful statement!!
Steven Miller should have been stuffed in a seabag and thrown off the Santa Monica Pier in the middle a storm, back when he was just an annoying little shitbird at Santa Monica High.
I still maintain he was spontaneously generated from a soiled pile of KKK robes.
He should be time traveled to Germany c.1938, see how the Republicans' ideological forbears would treat him there.
Great idea. Then he might have to remember his Jewish heritage…
Of all the scum floating in Trump's wake, Stephen Miller is the scariest, creepiest of the lot. I'll never stop wondering how he got to be so awful.
Ditto Steve Bannon.
Steve Bannon is scum but he's familiar scum: he looks like guys I knew back in the day, some on the far left, some on the far right. I've never seen anything like Stephen Miller except in a horror movie, and I don't go to horror movies.
He’s so terribly angry.
I had forgotten that he was a Sessions syncophant(sp), it all makes sense now, Sessions who brought us the child separation policy had as his best buddy Miller, who is as close to being devoid of humanity as is possible and still be alive.
I'd forgotten that too. I like your description: "as close to being devoid of humanity as is possible and still be alive." It's a good thing that he looks the part. WYSIWYG.
Rich man’s Nosferatu. He would have been right at home with Hitler.
Ditto Roy Cohn.
Ooh, yeah. Here's hoping Stephen Miller doesn't have a half-life as long as Roy Cohn's.
Roy Cohn. Meeting him was one of the most instinctively spine-chilling experiences in my life. Cold. Bloodless.
Susanna, I get nauseous when I think of any of the Steves. They are truly evil and revel in it. I think they get their evil energy from one another and keep passing it around when they are not siphoning some off to their orange puppet.
Wow, yes. It makes me think -- if they'd never met, never fallen into the orbit of Trump or some other narcissistic creep, they might have remained isolated from each other. Still nasty but limited in influence and far less dangerous.
Wishful thinking.
Yes it is. My wishful thinking is that all these traitors will "get theirs" in the most "traditional method" - hanged, drawn, and quartered. Publicly. Starting with Trump and working down. I volunteer to provide the rope, wield the sword and whip the horses.
I hear you. We long for real Justice and for consequences under law. Everything we stand for is at stake.
Indeed we do because indeed it is.
I shudder to think what the Trump sycophants will attempt to do if Trump gets elected.
And if he doesn’t. It’s going to be a $hit show no matter what happens.
Or my favorite, keelhauling. Just saying.
Hail to a fellow sailor!
Avast! And Ahoy! :-D
Didn’t some people survive keelhauling? Educate me, somebody.
It was said that; "The most vivid account of keelhauling
On September 9, 1882, a telegraph documented two Egyptian men court-martialed after an attempted murder near Alexandria. They were sentenced to a keel-hauling under Article 2 of the Egyptian Naval Code, and both men survived but suffered terribly."
Jul 24, 2021
The orange magat would never survive!
This is a revolting comment. The sort of wording that comes out of the sad mouths of the MAGA crowd. The violence in this language is unacceptable. Publicly hanged, drawn and quartered? And you'll provide the rope? Words have consequences, just like actions. Think of the generations of harm that comes from adults and children witnessing such cruelty or even imagining such devastation of a body, regardless of the soul that inhabited it. I thought that as a subscriber to Joyce Vance's Civil Discourse you'd be more, well, civil.
People here have the right to express their outrage without being policed by pearl clutching scolds shaking their fingers at them. Leave it alone. These are not politicians talking about their policy wish list. These are Americans who are upset at the "discourse" coming from some very dangerous public figures.
Pearl-clutching scolds...wow... how about that for a dismissal of a plea for civility instead of violence. You think the upset Americans don't have it in them to express their outrage in a more effective way? You're selling them short. Violence is easy: chop off their heads. But how long will that last? Is gratuitously expressed violence now the acceptable American way? The best way we can be? Watching the commemorations of D-Day earlier this week, and the immense sacrifices made by Americans (and other nations) for a better worId for generations to come, I don't think so. Making a lasting change for a civil world begins with civil words, just as a turn to the abyss begins with violent words used casually again and again, as if it's ok because they're only words. They're not. They seep into our souls when we speak them and when we hear them, and make it easy to cause harm carelessly. They lead to bad places, for you and everyone else, alive now and in the future. But let me stop here so I can go and clutch my pearls now. And you, are you clutching anything? Just asking.
Oh, please. You two like to lecture people on whether they can express themselves? If you don't like it, don't read it. Now go put a cold washcloth on your heads and calm down.
Wow. You were an English teacher and you're basically claiming that words don't matter? Marleen makes a valid point. Perhaps you could listen to it instead of responding with insults.
Again, early rapture for that crowd would do the trick...
That’s an indicator of how viscerally many people’s reactions are to the perfidy we have seen since 2016 among so many who seek openly to destroy our democracy.
Per Timothy Snyder, we have the rule of law to avoid having a culture of revenge. Fortunately, drawing and quartering is no longer a legal form of execution. Or “cruel and unusual punishments.”
My fantasies run more to psychological torture, like Stephen Miller having to forever listen to the crying of children and parents he had separated at the border. And having their nightmares appear in his mind, waking or sleeping.
I don't think that would work on him. Miller isn't normal, doesn't have the normal human emotions or empathy or shame or guilt. The boy ain't right.
I agree he isn’t normal. But the constant noise and intrusive images would get on his nerves, whether or not he would experience shame.
Eewwwww.
I'm sure there would be many volunteers !
OMG, you mean he graduated from the same high school I did? The school must have gone way down hill since the early 60s, though I hope that's not the case. I need to remember that you can't fix stupid or sociopath. Actually, I think he needed to be dumped further out in the ocean so there was no way he could ever find land again.
Santa Monica High is still good. Miller was a one-off "aberration."
Thank you, TC. I feel better now. I left LA at the end of 1988 and have had no idea about how my high school was doing - except that I haven't seen them in the Tournament of Roses parade since 1962, when I got to participate in it with our marching band.
We must have been within feet of each other at some point that New Year's Day, Susan. I was in the Navy then and got to go with the Treasure Island Drill Team.
Wow! Simply amazing coincidence.
Yes, when you posted that I almost swallowed my teeth. :-)
I have a feeling that his (Miller’s) own family isn’t in agreement with their son’s pronouncements. I wonder.
No need to "have a feeling." They condemned him publicly in 2015.
The oceans are messy enough without adding scum like that to them.
How do you know he wasn't and is trying to get back at everyone who was smarter, faster, better looking, and nicer?
Well damn...that would be everyone !
Hahaha!
Oh, that's very likely.
Youth will tell a grownups outcome!
I woke up thinking of what Joe Biden has been through,
and Hunter,
and the women in the Biden family.
Compassion for this family,
Compassion please.
I am sad for the Biden family, but also proud of them especially the president. Parents are not perfect, nor are their children, and sometimes it takes them a long time to grow up--protecting children, even overgrown Trump children, from the consequences of their actions causes more harm than good. The HB penalties are excessive, but JB was right to keep his distance judicially.
And as usual in Donnie world, lies happen. Which liar gets the veepspot?
Doug Burgum (R) North Dakota along with his connections to Oil Gang money .
Plus the fact that nobody knows or cares who Burgum is, which is exactly what Donnie wants in a VP. Kinda like Pence except he'll follow the illegal intentions.
Thank you, good reply
Thank you, Joyce for this well reasoned explanation of Hunter Biden's conviction. In my opinion chemical dependencies are usually a result of an Emotional/Mental/Nerve condition which our Country to date has chosen not to deal with. My youngest daughter, died as a result of chemical dependency due to a diagnosed clinical depression.
I'm grateful Hunter Biden continues in recovery. Besides all that, Hunter's was a victimless crime. He purchased a gun that was never used by any member of his extended family.
The same cannot be said of any of the crimes for which the trumpster has been charged. We Americans are still paying the price -as victims - of his giving the top 10% huge tax breaks at our expense; thousands died due to his anti-science policies; we have no idea and may never know to whom he gave or sold top secret documents.
Fay, I’m so sorry for your great loss of your daughter. Addiction and depression run in families, and I have seen it in my own.
May your daughter’s memory be a blessing, Fay.
My heart to yours, Fay.❤️
My daughter in law is waiting for a liver transplant. This is what crack, meth and alcoholism do to your body. She's only 38.
Right, and the pity is, it strikes more in the working class who can ill afford. I spent $70,000 in treatments for my daughter but it wasn't enough and aI couldn't afford to go deep into debt, she was 51 at death.
My daughter in law, when doctors told her to get into a recovery program, refused. Her misuse of alcohol and drugs continued until she was hospitalized and tests revealed her liver is beyond hope. Last week she was sent to a hospital adjacent to a transplant center where she will wait for a new liver, if the doctors can keep her alive until then. I think it's true that addiction and depression are a deadly combination. My daughter in law comes from a very troubled family, and she has had mental illness issues all her life, which were under-diagnosed and untreated. They are both illnesses just as real as diabetes or cancer, and too many people are dying from them. I am so very sorry about your daughter.
One of our sons died of chemical dependency. He was being treated for depression. We saw him often but didn't know he was using. Not even his twin sister knew. He hid it well. The depression masked the drug use. I wish we had the awareness to put him in rehab. He passed from an overdose at age 30, and that's how we found out that he was addicted.
I'm so sorry, that is one thing addicts do well is hide their problems. Her two children knew she drank but were too young to see it as a problem. I was blind-sided. I took he late in the night when her then teen aged children called that she had slit her wrists. I assumed it to be a psychotic episode and insisted she see a psychologist or psychiatrist. She and I worked for the same company at the time so I reported "mental breakdown and assured them she'd be back in a week. It took two more 'episodes before I realized she was alcoholic. Then I got her into 14 days in "dry out" forced sobriety, followed by 30 days of rehab and months of counselling and AA. She was clean and sober for 13 months and doing great, then I was working in DC, I had just gotten her a job with the same company when I got the call.
All of us (on Substack) pay our "fair share of the taxes" but, while there is always money to bailout the wealthy, spare them their "fair share" there is never enough money mental illness, which I think, disproportionately affects those of us in the bottom 90%.
What a terrible ordeal you and your family have gone through Fay. I hope you can find peace, even though the heartbreak and sorrow is forever. Mental illness is rampant and you are right, not nearly enough treatment available or the means to pay for it. One more reason to vote blue.
thank you
On a brighter note, I received my chicken mug from Joyce's collection today! I got the black one because I drink tea which stains the white interiors. Thank you Joyce!
1,000,000+ dead Americans from his Covid response or lack thereof.
It seems like jurors in Hunter Biden’s case were not afraid of retribution like in lowercased don’s case. They even talked with media about the case.
There was no one outside the court room talking about the case while it was going on. Someone said that Jill Biden was there to frighten the jurors. Where do they come up with this stuff. Furthermore, why do they report it.
Stephen Miller has gulped down the Kool Aid. I can’t believe it doesn’t see how dumb he looks.
President Biden’s statement was a testament to the kind and compassionate father and man he is.
Thank you, Joyce. I got a notice that my coffee cup and shirt are packed and ready for shipment. Woohoo.
Stephen Miller is another insurrectionist who is walking free spewing hate.
He strikes me as someone filled with irrational rage and bigotry and just looking for targets, which he has now found. In an arrogance competition he and Alito would be tied.
He mixes the koolaid
Stephen Miller stirred up the kool- aid and poured it into shiny glasses. He is capital C Crazy.
Not Crazy. Capital E Evil.
Stephen Miller is the kool aid. He's the architect, along with Bannon. He's Goering come back to finish the job.
Hunter Biden knew he was toast; thankfully he has cleaned up his act; but now he has to keep his big boy pants on for his family and do whatever punishment is doled out. That after appeal of course. Patel probably couldn't recognize what he said was ridiculous, and if not, I'm sure someone pointed to it. I have to wonder, now, if the Republicans who have for the most part become zombies for trump are scared of something, like Putin or trump oligarch friends here in America. Because, I'm sorry, trump himself isn't that scary; oh, I know he sounds scary & looks scary sometimes, but I don't think if he were alone in a boxing ring he would be very scary. If he loses his security detail and his guns due to his conviction, he will be scared. Let's scare trump even MORE. Let's vote him into oblivion!! Let's hold the Senate & regain the House while Joe & Kamala win the big one, then indict a bunch of House insurrectionists and all the others who have it coming. I yield back my time.
Couldn’t have said it better myself! We still have a lot of work to be done !
Hunter Biden would never have been prosecuted were his name not Biden. That said, once charges were brought, the system worked. The outcome is terrible for the Biden family, but the system WORKED, and the honorable man, Joe Biden, has done and is doing the right thing. Trump is the Bizarro World Biden: everything Joe Biden stands for — integrity, honesty, propriety, honor — Trump denigrates. When Trump went haywire after the election, I had tee shirts made up that read TRUMP — INDICT CONVICT IMPRISON. Well, we are 2/3 of the way there!
Harry Litman agrees.
Column: A jury was right to find Hunter Biden guilty. It’s the prosecutor who was wrong
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-06-11/hunter-joe-biden-found-guilty-conviction-trump-gun-harry-litman
"The case’s substantial flaws lay not in the evidence but rather in special counsel David Weiss’ decision to bring it in the first place, in effect throwing the book at President Biden’s son. That was an abuse of prosecutorial discretion.
The fact is that it hasn’t been Justice Department practice to prosecute anyone for lying on the federal firearms form unless a gun is used in a crime or, in rare cases, another extenuating factor exists — known involvement in a criminal gang, for example. Hunter Biden, by contrast, possessed his gun for all of 11 days and never used it."
I agree 100%. If Hunter wasn't the son of a President AND tffg didn't have his sycophants, Hunter wouldn't have been prosecuted for this... it wouldn't have even been noticed.
I would specify democratic President, although, now that I think about it, the child of a republican wouldn't have been prosecuted in the same circumstances.
After nearly seven decades on this planet, it still amazes me that some people lack any shame or sense of decency, as do all of the above mentioned MAGA Republicans. They certainly don't believe their own lies. Well, who knows what goes on in the mind of Steven Miller.
All who plotted the J6 insurrection and the related efforts to throw the 2020 election to the House, including especially Judge Alito (we should no longer call him 'Justice') are traitors. They cannot be redeemed.
Mike Johnson plotted the J6 insurrection. He was awarded the speakership of the House. Hakeem is waiting in the wings to bring him to justice.
Unless they confess and repent.
LOL. A cold day in hell!
About 81 ex-MAGA witnesses in the DC Trump case. Plus most Jan 6 defendants get Jesus at their sentence hearings.
As long as they go to prison, I don't care what deity they credit for seeing the light. I personally wouldn't give them any credit at all.
Power
Joyce, here are Jamie Raskin's remarks today. I know you will want to discuss this magnificent speech soon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f3vTzGQYLc
Thanks for sharing the link. Jamie Raskin rocks!
Raskin and Whitehouse are so brilliant. They are keeping me sane, if such a thing can be self-determined.
Doesn't he? I can easily picture him as President or a much needed upright Justice of The SC
Who cannot love Raskin? He is clever, brilliant, precise, and quick-witted. He never faltered, never gave up after his son died nor after he went through cancer. We owe him a lot. We owe him a seat on the Supreme Court.
12 Minute summary of the subversion of the US Supreme Court. Brilliant.
Mesmerizing!
So, I just happened to be calling my mother-in-law at the same time the verdict came in. I was reminding her about an upcoming doctor appointment. I could hear FOX in the background or whatever else she was listening to. Her voice was excited as she yelled, “GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS” I immediately told her about her appointment and hung up. I felt like crying. My husband’s entire family have been sipping on the Kool-Aid for years now. I am not only beyond angry, but heartbroken. My heart does not break for in laws who have been transformed from-let’s be honest, just OK people prior to Trump to smug roosters-sorry, Joyce-no chicken references here. When I say smug roosters, I mean people who have been released by the Kraken and their racism and tainted belief system have been allowed to mingle amongst them. They strut around like mean ole roosters. My heart doesn’t break for them because this is their choice. They have the free will to make decisions and understand the facts, but they choose not to.
My heart breaks for the Biden family. This family has been through so much. They have lost children. They have had to deal with this insidious dialogue of MAGA. Yet, they continue to move forward and make sacrifices in the name of Democracy. Empathy and love and family- that is the Biden family. Families have shown their true colors whether these colors are good or bad. Friendships have been broken based upon true foundations of individuals. We are all exhausted. There’s only one thing left, and that is to VOTE. 💙🇺🇸
Double amen, sister!
🩵💙🩵💙
Amen, Sista.
Magnificent! Yes, we have to vote, but as Jamie Raskin has made very very clear, we did so in 2000 and did so in 2016 and look what happened. We need significant majorities in the Senate and House. In the Senate, if we can garner the 2/3s needed, we can impeach and fire Supreme Court "Judges". Democrats and Independents must flex their muscles much more that we normally do. We are much too nice!
I would really like to see some investigation of the Stefanik crime family, though as far as I can see, her crime is mostly confined to repeating mindless accusations against Democrats in furtherance of her wish to be boosted somehow by Donald J. Trump, the felonious ex-president. Oh, I must add, her unholy glee in attacking the presidents of institutions such as Harvard because as an antisemite herself she wants to tar them with the same label because they hold that free speech applies to students protesting Palestinian oppression as well as those supporting the right of Israel to pursue the current war against Hamas and the citizens of Gaza.
Stefanik does not repeat shit mindlessly. She is very smart. She is a virulent fascist and a traitor.
It's the smart, highly educated ones like Stefanik and Cruz that really burn me -- they know they are full of shit -- so they are simply evil promulgating all that crap.
Yes! I'm in total agreement!
Hawley and Cotton too
Elise and her comments…. She has truly turned into a vile, pandering lying sack o’ 💩. Don’t get me wrong, she was never any less than a completely terrible human, but now…….
She is certainly a virulent suck-up and ambitious seeker of more and more power. I do not decry ambition in women--I celebrate it, in fact. BUT, when ambition is applied to pursuit of power...then I get nervous and wary.
... it's the lies! the lies! I don't know how much more I can take.
yes, I forgot to include that the pursuit of power combined with the nakedly pandering lies, the whole mess becomes as smelly as rotted shrimp.
The entire trump crowd is made up of losers and wannabes.
I guess some of the owners of the 400 million guns in America who are also 'an unlawful user of' drugs will be more than happy to be investigated, charged, and found guilty if they had also lied on the form to get a gun, right?
There's no double standard, after all, right?
Marco Rubio, for one, made the comment he couldn't believe the verdict was for buying a gun. Second amendment, right?
Love the sarcasm!
Yes!! They start building lots of prisons to lock up all the addicts with guns!
Elise Stefanik (Harvard), Stephen Miller (Duke), and Kash Patel (Richmond). 3 of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Joined by Gym Jordan, Steve Bannon, and Michael Flynn. All are weavers of lies. All seem devoid of a functioning moral compass. If these people are allowed close to the levers of power in the next administration, we'll be seeing a re-run of Germany in the 1930s.
Being across the lake from the despicable Elise Stefanik, we have high hopes that her”pick me, pick me! “ antics get her what she is working so hard for. Then she can be this year’s Sarah Palin and, god willing, sink the campaign and eventually sink into oblivion.
I was at dog class last night. Someone had the bad judgment to ask “Did you heard Hunter Biden was found guilty?” I don’t know why people suspect I am a Trumper. Sometimes it is fun to mess with them. Last night it was not. She made a comment about President Biden pardoning his son. I said the President was not going to because he respects the rule unlike someone else who will remain nameless.
MAGAs are delusional. Sadly, I have one family member in that cult. It’s simultaneously sad and frustrating. Aaarrrggghhhhh!
Sheila, me too! I feel your pain. The sad thing is in his younger days he was a student of history. He should know better
Oh, good for you! Yesterday was primary election day in Maine and I was asked to work as one of four ballot clerks for the town, so I had to keep my lips zipped throughout the day. Unfortunately, our small rural community is (at least) 70% Republican and it's difficult to find Dem, liberal or progressive women with whom to talk. I've always said that we rural Maine Dems could easily caucus in a small to middling woodshed.