Tom on the Bidens

 Both Joe and Hunter Biden were in the news albeit for different reasons Joe referred to Chinese President Xi as a "Dictator"in remarks made at a fundraiser in Marin County late Tuesday and indicated that Mr Xi was ignorant of the Chinese spy balloon kerfuffle that took place earlier this year While the conventional wisdom holds that Mr Biden is a senile old coot who has no idea what he's saying half the time But I think that Mr Biden is a bit more clever than most observers give him credit for As I see it he has two opponents in this instance The first is geopolitical and the second is domestic 

In the first instance Mr Biden is insulting Mr Xi in a couple of different ways By referring to him as a 'Dictator' he's taking a direct slap at Mr Xi's legitimacy Xi has always fancied himself as some sort of Philosopher-King whose life's purpose is to guide his people to a promised land of 'Happy Shiny People who have faith in their omniscient leader Mr Biden called out  Mr Xi for being the thin-skinned thug that he really is rather than the benevolent father figure that he imagines himself to be In the second instance Mr Biden is sending a message to his domestic foes that he's not afraid to confront both the Chinese and those who doubt his resolve in dealing with the threat posed by China By thinking him an addled fool the opposition underestimates him The Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu once said that: “There is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent.” Whatever you might think of Mr Biden just realise that a politician doesn't survive or thrive in the cesspool that is our nation's capital as long as he has without knowing how to mix it up in dark alleys 

And then there is the matter of Young Hunter Biden Yesterday he pleaded guilty to a few charges brought by David Weiss the US Attorney for the District of Delaware Two were charges of failure to file tax returns in a timely manner for the 2017 and 2018 tax years and those charges were settled years ago when taxes owed were paid in full along with applicable interest and penalties The remaining charge was that Mr Biden committed the unspeakable crime of possession of a gun while addicted to drugs Mr Biden has agreed to plead guilty to the charges and the US Attorney has agreed to accept a plea bargain that calls for a sentence of probation Now given that certain elements of the Republican Party have been howling for Mr Biden's head since at least 2017 you might think that there would be a sigh of relief that this modern day version of "Jarndyce v Jarndyce" was finally over If you thought that you would be wrong Despite the fact that both the US Attorney who brought these charges and the Judge judge who will actually pronounce the sentence on Mr Trump's appointees congressional Republicans are furious because they believe that their florid allegations are always true despite the fact that there is no evidence to suggest that they the accusations are true 

I mentioned above the that Washington DC was something of a 'cesspool and today's response to an unpublished story in Politico by Justice Samuel Alito in today's Wall Street Journal underscored just how normalised casual corruption has become on the nation's highest court In Justice Alito's case he accepted a posh vacation trip to a remote Alaskan resort to fish for King Salmon His tab for this sumptuous trip was picked up by billionaire investor Paul Singer who had a case involving an Argentine default  Justices Thomas and Gorsuch sold properties to buyers who paid above market rates for those properties and also had cases before the court We already know about Justice Thomas's vast appetite for luxury vacations that he doesn't have to pay for Justice Sontamayor ruled on a case involving her publisher Chief Justice Roberts refused to testify before Congress on judicial ethics and in about a week the justices will scatter to the 4 corners of the earth and rake in the cash for little real work