(10-18-2019 06:39 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(10-18-2019 05:31 PM)tanqtonic Wrote:  

(10-18-2019 05:14 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(10-18-2019 05:10 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  Yes, it certainly can lead to a corrupt act. But I don't see how trying to say a conflict may exist is anywhere close to trying to say that something illegal has happened.

OK, but the fact that a conflict may exist, coupled with a Ukrainian oil and gas company paying $50K/month to a son who knows nothing about oil and gas or Ukraine certainly doesn't pass the smell test, does it?

I thought the level was traditionally the 'enough smoke' test that we heard so much of back in the good old days of the first three months of the Orange Man administration.
Stop changing the level required. My guess is that, according to the 'smoke test', the 50k/month for zero doesnt do it for some quarters.

Quote:

Quote:That would be like saying that telling the cops that Bob owns a gun is the same thing as saying Bob shot someone. Bob does need to own a gun to shoot someone, but the simple act of owning a gun isn't necessarily an issue if there is no evidence of a murder...

No but if Bob owns a gun, and someone gets shot, and there are circumstances suggesting that Bob shot him, and which have no other apparent explanation, then the matter certainly deserves investigation.

Is there smoke coming out of the gun? Or is that then the completely different 'smoking gun' test?

There's a lot of conflating of issues.
Was there a conflict of interest between Hunter and the oil and gas firm? You betcha. That's why being the child of a diplomat is really tricky and a fine line should be walked, so you avoid even appearing to influence foreign policy based solely on existing and having a job.
Was there an attempted cover up of this conflict of interest? No - Biden ignoring someone saying that they think a conflict of interest exists is in no way, shape, or form, a cover up (that requires active measures to suppress info).
Is there evidence that the conflict of interest led to corrupt or illegal actions? No. I've yet to see any suggestion of what came from the conflict of interest, outside of an outsized salary that Hunter should have turned down.
Is there evidence that Hunter's role influenced US foreign policy because of Biden? No. Biden led the removal of a prosecutor, which followed the international communities goals and would have likelier resulted in increased scrutiny into Hunter's appointment.
So to the example Owl#s and I have used - who got shot? I don't see a dead body. Did Ukraine get some sweetheart deal that went against our general foreign policy interests? Did Papa Biden get a kickback we haven't heard about?

To cut to the chase, the dead body analog is that Hunter Biden got paid a buttload of money for something for which he had exactly zero qualifications. I don't know what the quid for that pro was, but it was one helluva pro, and that certainly merits investigation.