Sunday 6 October 2019

The 'Joker' Worry

This week, there's been a lot of hype over people worrying about the new movie 'Joker' and the violent content related to the storyline.

Lets be honest here....the Joker is a fictionalized character, who has been around for more than sixty years.  It's just that someone finally asked the question....how did the mortal human eventually turn into the Joker.

You could see over the past three years, this twist and turn with the Gotham series, and how Jerome Valeski transformed himself....week by week....into crazy nut-case with an agenda to 'fix' society.  Except the movie version has gone to the ninth degree, and this Joker is crazy serious about resolving the woes of society.

Worrying about fictional character hype?

Should this crowd have said something when Breaking Bad came out and you were introduced to Walter White and Gus Fring?  Most of us came to respect both guys. 

What about Hannibal Lecter?

What about Saruman the White from Lord of the Rings?

What about Lord Voldemont from the Harry Potter series?

What about that Annie Wilkes nutcase gal from Misery?

There are a thousand bad-guy fictional characters out there.  Some of them are just plain nut-crazy....like that Alex character from Fatal Attraction, the psycho nutcase  who probably has damaged over 10,000 American guys after they watched the movie and got permanent damage from it.  Those guys will never marry or have a true relationship.

So I don't see what the heck these idiots are warped-up about.  Fake worry?  More or less.  Like fake news. 

"Romney Never Knew How to Win"

Trump made the Twitter comment today, and I sat and reflected upon it.

The 2012 election cycle was one of the more comical episodes in Republican history. 

You basically had Mitt Romney (who marginally had public appeal), Ron Paul (for the oddball Republicans), Buddy Roemer (for southern Republicans), Jon Huntsman (for the intellectual Republicans), Rick Santorum (for the church-going Republicans), Rick Perry (for Texas Republicans), Herman Cain (for the Republicans just wanting a wild card in the election, and Michele Bachmann (for northern crowd who just want something really crazy to happen).

I think most Republicans out of the south just laughed over the convention win by Romney, and marginally felt compelled to vote for the guy.  He was for all purposes, the convenient 'loser'. 

Could Mitt have won?  He would have had to go aggressive and really say a lot of criticism over President Obama.   It wasn't going to happen.  Trump?  He didn't hesitate President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and just about anyone who dumped on him (include some Republicans).  He pushes back....something that you haven't seen a Republican do in fifty years.

'Nice guy' status for Romney?  Well....that's the odd thing.  He was always cut-throat on buying cheap companies and cutting them up to resell later, with no heart for the employees.  But he couldn't bring that same cut-throat attitude to the political scene. 

On this, Trump is right. 

Crimes, Misdemeanors, or Bad Moral Judgement?

As all this Ukraine business unfolds, it's worth standing back to admire what happened, and if anyone really committed a crime.

Is Hunter Biden guilty of any real crime?  If he walked in and told Dad (then the VP and chief of handling Ukraine special projects) about his company being formed and getting an inside to the Ukraine natural gas industry?  That's not a crime. 

If Hunter Biden's team was successful and part of the reason that the Ukraine folks had a $1.8-billion 'gift' from the US to do exploratory drilling?  That's not a crime.

If Hunter Biden got a seat on the board of this company, while being unqualified for the role?  That's not a crime.  I admit....it is stupid on business practices. 

If Hunter Biden was paid $50k a month to be on the board?  That's not a crime.

As long as Hunter Biden paid US taxes on that and any substance-allowance while in the Ukraine....that was not a crime.

If none of the money was really used for gas exploration?  That's not a crime, unless the Ukraine itself wants to say something about the lack of progress.

If Hunter Biden did 'wash'  any funding before transferring it back into the US?  That might be a crime. 

For Joe Biden to arrange the $1.8-billion and his son got awarded the board job as part of this?  Unless there's an email to say he knew the son would get the job if they paid the money, that's not a crime.....but it very poor moral behavior on Joe's part.

If the Ukraine Attorney General tried to look at the company, Hunter's role in it, and got fired because of Joe Biden's pressure?  That's not a crime, but it's serious poor judgement and bad moral bearing.

If Nancy Pelosi's son had a business, and he got into the Ukraine natural gas business....that's not a crime.  If Nancy helped in some fashion to get him that role?  That's not a crime, but it's bad judgement.

So here's the thing....if this all get dragged into some impeachment process....unless these 'kids' did something stupid and conducted money-laundering or never reported their income correctly.....they will all skate free.  For the parents?  It's poor judgement, but I doubt if anyone can be called into court.

Onto the $10-million given to Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation.  The money actually came from a Ukrainian Oligarch.  Anything illegal about this money?  No.  It does suggest some funny connection and beg questions, but the guy was free to donate to the Foundation. 

The final question left....was it a crime to ask the Ukrainian government to investigate how this all occurred?  There is no law that says you can only talk/discuss x-matters between a President and some other international figure.  If Trump wanted to call and discuss his favorite Lego 'gift', the shape of women's boobs, or the Mexican Wall with the Pope....he's free to do so.  Bad moral judgement?  Maybe, but then you'd open up a can of worms on a dozen things that President Obama did, with bad judgement as well.