Reflections of the Judge

Something New, Something Blue

By: Bill Schoettler

July 26, 2023

When it becomes necessary in the course of human events, to examine the world as it seems to be, most of us turn to respected resources for our examination efforts. The trouble trying to accomplish this today is that respected resources aren’t respected anymore…which leaves us a bit out of sorts when it comes to research and investigation. 

Looking at facts, as they are reported by various news organizations is one way of going about this. The trouble, however, is that sometimes facts aren’t even being reported. And sometimes false facts are reported, real facts are so distorted by the method of reporting that reliability just doesn’t exist. 

We refer here to the Washington Post’s story about the pending case against Hunter Biden. We have heard that he is being charged with illegally purchasing a handgun and failing to pay taxes on $1.5 M income. Without any editorializing, these would seem to be straightforward charges. Sounds simple.

Most citizens know that earned income is subject to taxes. When we get paychecks, complete with information about hours worked, money withheld and the net proceeds we can use to buy at least one tank of gasoline, we are reminded that we have contributed our share to the cost of running the county. Then, as April 15 approaches every year, we are bombarded with tax preparers, people, and companies that will fill out the complicated paperwork that accompanies filing a 1040 tax form and file it, many times along with another financial contribution. Any citizen who has held a job during the year is required to go through this exercise. Then we wait for either a check-in-the-mail for our possible overpayment or at least hold our breath in fear of receiving a notice from the IRS that we have made a mistake and owe more money. But the experience is an annual one and is felt by most adults of any gender, mostly without any enthusiasm. 

Because Hunter Biden is the President’s son [and history tells us he was also the Vice President’s son in the recent past] the public’s attention has been drawn to this case. Questions have arisen as to how the son of a VP and subsequent Pres possibly failed to abide by firearms laws when his father has been one of the most vociferous critics of firearms ownership in the country. C’mon, folks. Joe Biden can see no reason for private ownership of firearms and his son goes out and purchases a gun…illegally? Gimme a break.

Oh yes, not to be forgotten is how Hunter Biden could possibly have failed to pay income tax on money earned from a shoe-shine stand, much less the sums about which he is now being challenged.

AND, this same kid, the one illegally buying a gun, this same kid somehow manages to acquire $1.5M. Stop here because this last statement raises the interesting question of how in the world a notorious drug-addicted, unemployed, untrained, and apparently unqualified individual with no apparent talent, somehow acquired $1.5 million. Very little has been said about this, but much has been said about how Hunter Biden was employed by foreign companies in, of all places, Ukraine, to work in a field normally requiring highly qualified and experienced people, this same Hunter Biden with no such qualifications, and is to be paid enormous sums of money. Then, without having to apparently spend any time in-house (speaking here of the “house” of the company which hired him) he manages to obtain further sums of money from Chinese nationals, in China, for something else. Don’t ask what the “else” is because that has yet to be explained.

AND, for whatever reason Hunter Biden is accused of failing to pay his fair share of the nation’s operating expenses out of his earnings. Why the IRS chose to go after taxes for $1.5 M instead of the much greater amounts reportedly received from Ukraine and China has not been explained. Perhaps this whole tax thingy is a reflection of the IRS’s gratification for receiving the appropriate amounts of taxes from all the other amounts of money Hunter received and the fact his math problems in calculating the other millions of income somehow caused a modestly acceptable amount of confusion over this relatively paltry sum.

Far be it for me to suggest that this relatively harmless Hunter Biden conflagration is merely a diversion to draw attention away from the almost-casual charges being thrown at Joe Biden concerning his equally nefarious dealings with the foreign governments of China and Ukraine, not to mention his continuing bumbling performance as the chief executive of this country. 

It is interesting how little is revealed by the many news organizations about the entire nature of the legal proceedings against Hunter and the current total absence of any proceedings against his father. While I have little doubt about adequate information being provided in future history books, it would be nice to have a little flavor of these subjects while they are occurring.