Too much to report at the junction of news/politics to limit this week’s column to one subject.
So let me first say unequivocally I am not voting for Hunter Biden for President of the United States, my homeowner’s association, or even dog catcher.
From what I can tell, Joe Biden’s youngest son is a sad addict who has attempted to trade on his dad’s name and reputation for more than a decade. He is an admitted crook who may still go to jail, but at the least has been investigated by a Justice Department led by Bill Barr and influenced by Donald Trump. He has been found to be a tax cheat and is currently awaiting a judge’s ruling on a plea deal made with the U.S. attorney in Delaware. A straight-arrow appointed by the former President, and allowed to do his job by the current Attorney General and President.
And now, we also know that Hunter Biden is a bad father, refusing to see a 4-year-old daughter he has not publicly acknowledged. He is paying child support after a lawsuit forced him to agree to terms. All of this mess certainly disqualifies him for the public office he is not seeking. I will not vote for him or support him in any way.
I mention this because right-wing media seems to think the name on the Democratic primary ballot is Hunter, not Joe Biden. Its relentless effort to link the father to the son’s criminal and ethical issues has only failed miserably. Republican U.S. attorney David Weiss has said repeatedly he had total control of the Hunter Biden investigation and in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, confirmed he never asked Merrick Garland to grant him Special Counsel status as a disgruntled IRS “whistleblower” contends.
As for the juicy absentee father story driven by The New York Post and other right-wing media, it does deserve thorough reporting. The New York Times wrote a long and fair account of the embarrassing conduct of Hunter Biden in regard to his daughter. It also reviewed the conduct of the young girl’s grandfather, President Joe Biden, who still has not publicly acknowledged her existence.
For a politician who has built an image of a loving family man, this is ugly and hard to excuse. And I call it as such.
As a parent of a recovering addict, I understand and support President Biden standing by his son, loving his son, and not shutting him out in any way.
Of all my accomplishments in the public eye, in journalism and in public service, my proudest moment has been assisting my son to get sober and remain so for 2 decades and what allows me to sleep at night.
There is no need for President Biden to criticize Hunter. There are plenty of people doing that, and rightly so. But acknowledging his granddaughter is not difficult and is just the ethical thing to do. The elder Biden should not repeat his statements that he has 6 grandchildren, he has 7. And publicly saying that will not disqualify him from office. Especially when he is likely to face the ethically and alleged criminal that leads the GOP.
See Republicans, that wasn’t so hard.
Now, there is one more item to opine on this week. How did Elon Musk suddenly restore the reputation and make an internet hero out of former villain Mark Zuckerberg? That’s easy, Musk destroyed America’s most popular public forum in less than a year.
Overpaying for the platform, then firing two-thirds of the staff, including the content review department, allowing disinformation and hate to thrive. The new Twitter now is overwhelmed with tweets by Marjorie Taylor Green and her ilk. Free speech under Elon Musk is now “everybody yell fire in the theater.”
He has given the blue check, which used to designate trusted source, to any yahoo with 8 bucks a month. A move that has encouraged trolls with 0 to 10 followers to fill up timelines with racist, conspiratorial tweets.
The final straw was limiting the number of tweets the masses unwilling to pay 8 bucks a month can read.
Enter Zuckerberg, who if nothing else, knows a ripe market when he scrolls through one. His Threads app launched last week already has 100 million users and is growing. It’s easy to use, because it seems just like Twitter, and has angered Musk enough to file suit, challenge his rival to a cage match, and yes, a contest on who has, not is, the biggest…you know what.
He claims Zuck — as he goes by on Threads — stole his former employees — the ones Musk fired — to build the new app. Zuckerberg denies that, but still, it’s rich for Musk to complain that people he fired and in most cases stiffed on severance may have come back to gut their estranged workplace.
I signed up for Threads early on. Though for now, I remain on Twitter as well, at least until someone tells Musk about this column.
Threads is a kinder, gentler space. So far, there is less hate, and Meta, which owns Threads says that’s because its algorithms discourage it.
It’s early, but I do miss the Twitter snark, not the hate.
And perhaps most of all I am enjoying the fact that Elon Musk now rivals Donald Trump for the most despised public figure in America.
Jim Avila previously served as a weekly columnist for Barrett News Media. An Award-winning journalist with four decades of reporting and anchoring experience, Jim worked as Senior National Correspondent, 20/20 Correspondent, and White House Correspondent for ABC News. Prior to his time with ABC, he spent a decade with NBC News, and worked locally in Los Angeles and Chicago for KNBC, and WBBM. He can be found on Twitter @JimAvilaABC.
