Fox News: Hunter Biden IS the Most Important Story in the World Dammit!
A condensed overview of 26 hours of Fox News for the week ending 6/25/23
Fox News is still more determined than ever to ruin Biden’s presidency with scandalous images from a laptop that Hunter Biden most likely abandoned at a repair shop while he was in the throes of addiction. To Fox News it’s the most important story in the world and the network is incensed that no one else seems to agree.
The network has churned out multiple documentaries solely dedicated to the lurid laptop on Fox Nation. Fox has milked every last drop from the cash cow that is the ill-fated MacBook until the utter has run dry.
In some ways Hunter Biden handed them a treasure trove of material - he taped himself having phone calls, he left thousands of text messages and emails, he rambled about his various traumas in self-confessionals, and most notoriously he created videos of himself smoking crack cocaine and having sex with prostitutes.
The correspondence revealed scraps of information of mostly failed business deals and lots of fights with his beleaguered ex-wife. Throughout all of it Hunter Biden comes across as an entitled, self-pitying, monstrous brat much like most actively using drug addicts in denial.
The problem with Fox’s plan to destroy Hunter’s father with the embarrassing festival of cringe is none of it has linked Hunter or Joe Biden to any crimes.
The Crimes Hunter Admitted to were NOT Discovered in the Laptop
Last week Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to two counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax and entered into a pre-trial diversion agreement with the firearm charge. He will serve no prison time and wasn't even temporarily held in jail.
Hunter Biden paid the taxes he owed two years ago and he openly admitted about lying about his drug use on a gun application. None of these charges are related to the laptop.
The incident where his then romantic partner tossed his gun into a dumpster was a major plot point in Hunter’s published memoir. Part of the reason Hunter failed to file his taxes for two years was due to the death of his long-time accountant. When Hunter got sober he filed the returns and paid the IRS what he owed.
The Hunter Biden story has turned into the never-ending scandal for Fox News. As one supposed smoking gun found on the laptop leads to nothing a whistle blower emerges or an unverified accusation shows up on a document.
Much like the Hillary Clinton email scandal this will not end. It’s the best way the network has of distracting its viewers from Trump’s many legal problems and anything that might make Joe Biden look good from falling inflation rates to stellar jobs reports.
Meanwhile the network continues to ignore stories about climate disasters, ethical scandals involving the Supreme Court and escalating violence and instability in other parts of the world.
This past week I covered:
Fox & Friends
The Five
Fox News Tonight
Hannity
I also picked up to see how Fox was covering the Wagner rebellion in Russia:
Special Report by Bret Baier - Friday
Jesse Watters Primetime - Friday
The Ingraham Angle - Friday
Fox & Friends - Saturday
Cavuto Live! - Saturday
One Nation with Brian Kilmeade - Saturday
* EDITOR’S NOTE - I dedicated an entire podcast and newsletter to how Fox News covered the Wagner Rebellion in Russia. Some of the formatting and graphs were dropped after I published the newsletter. It’s since been fixed.
Jessica Tarlov Pointed out the Two-Tiered System of Justice Applies to Republicans too
On Tuesday on “The Five,” I was surprised that Jessica Tarlov, the liberal on the show, managed to weaken a few talking points about Hunter Biden.
“So to try to tackle all the points that everybody made, which were aplenty. So what Hunter is not guilty of is being a Republican, but there's a Republican very closely allied with Trump named Roger Stone, who did worse than Hunter Biden. So he tax evaded $2 million, not 1.2 million, $2 million. And guess what happened? He was allowed to pay it back and he wasn't even criminally charged. Hunter Biden, criminally charge, could face probation. Roger Stone, top guy to Donald Trump, skates free on that, it seems,” said Tarlov.
After Tarlov’s co-hosts talked over her about the FBI raiding Stone’s home while CNN was seeming tipped off about the raid she continued.
“They tipped off CNN, though, to be how big the huge crime of having CNN there. Okay. But if you look at the DOJ records about how often what Hunter Biden did is actually charged, it's basically never. . . . There were 298 cases of people falsifying their gun application records out of 27 million background checks that were completed. That's the year that Hunter Biden got that weapon. That means that this is something that doesn't get charged. If you want to say to the DOJ, you should be charging on this, go ahead and do that. But there's no reason that Hunter Biden should be the exception to this,’ said Tarlov.
She then moved on to the federal prosecutor in Delaware who investigated the case.
In terms of David Weiss, who you say was hand-selected by the Democrats. Donald Trump said ‘He's someone who shares his vision for making America safe again.’ That is a quote from Donald Trump,” said Tarlov.
Jesse Watters just yelled right over her.
“He just read that, what was put in front of him,” said Watters.
After a couple more comments where they basically both spoke at the same time Watters challenged Tarlov.
“How do you know that and I don’t?”
She responded.
“You know, a lot of things that I don't know because they're made up, invented in your head,” said Tarlov as she gestured her hand as if creating a magic wand for Watters thoughts.
Hannity Compared Hunter Biden to a Performer who Faced Sexual Battery Charges
Prior convictions play a huge role in how anyone convicted of a crime is sentenced. A judge is far more likely to be lenient with a first time offender. When someone has repeatedly been arrested for similar charges or escalating offenses they are far more likely to serve time.
Sean Hannity compared Hunter Biden’s case to another man who lied on a gun form - Kodak Black.
“Biden's sweetheart deal is now inviting comparisons to a number of other high profile cases where the penalties were far more severe. For example, rapper Kodak Black, who was sentenced to more than three years in prison, I believe it was 46 months for a for lying on a gun application. Now, that would be pretty much exactly what Hunter Biden was accused of doing it while Kodak was not offered a pretrial diversion program and he walks away scot free in two years,” said Hannity.
Kodak Black is a rapper who got his start in the music industry when he was only 12 years old. Sadly he’s had problems with the law since he was only 18. This is an abbreviated list of his arrest record from Miami New Times,
October 2015 - Arrest for kidnaping, battery and other charges.
December 2015 - Arrest for marijuana possession.
February 2016 - Arrest for sexual battery.
April 2016 - Arrest for weapons possession
May 2016 - Arrested for open warrants related to the previous charge of false imprisonment and armed robbery.
August 2016 - His charge of criminal sexual misconduct is changed to sexual battery.
February 2017 - Arrests for violating house arrest, assaulting a bartender.
April and May of 2017 - He was accused of grabbing his anger management counselor by the arm after she threatened to call 911 when he refused to leave a session.
January 2018 - Arrest for weapons and drug possession and child neglect.
April and May of 2019 - Arrests for weapons possession.
November 2019 - Federal prison sentencing. Kodak pleaded guilty to the federal weapons charge, admitting he gave false information in connection with the January 2019 gun purchase.
January 2021 - Then-President Donald J. Trump pardoned Kodak.
Black ended up pleading guilty to a lesser charge regarding the sexual battery case and was ultimately sentenced to 18 months probation. His arrests continued past the pardon he was give by Trump but I didn’t feel the need to include them since they did not play a role in his sentencing for lying on a gun application form.
Brian Kilmeade Promoted Hunter’s Defense Without Realizing it.
Last week it was a text message where Hunter Biden allegedly told a Chinese businessman that his father was sitting beside him and that if the business man didn’t follow through with a deal Hunter would never let his father forget about it.
Hunter’s lawyer brushed this off as the ramblings of an actively using addict. Fox News presented it as proof of grave crimes and conspiracies.
Even if someone were to prove that Joe Biden was sitting directly next to his son when he sent the text message there’s no way to know that Joe Biden was aware that his son had included him in any business deal.
The text is proof of nothing other than Hunter may have used his position of the son of the then former Vice President to gain leverage with a client. Hunter never worked in any government position or was awarded a government contract. If he intimidated clients and business partners in this way, it would be highly unethical, but not illegal.
On Friday while on “Fox & Friends,” Kilmeade read a text Hunter Biden allegedly sent to a Chinese business man.
“That between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I'm sitting here waiting for the call with my father, sitting here with my father,” said Kilmeade as he read the text attributed to Hunter Biden.
Then Kilmeade echoed Hunter Biden’s lawyer.
“They could say, well, you know, he made it up. He was on crack, was with hookers, barely had clothes on, or the fact is that he felt comfortable doing that,” said Kilmade.
Jessica Tarlov Destroyed Some Claims Her Co-hosts made About Hunter Biden
On Friday on “The Five,” Tarlov broke down some of the huge flaws in the never-ending Hunter Biden Scandal starting with the lawmakers who promote it heavily.
“James Comer and Chuck Grassley, Jim Jordan, Nancy Mace have all gone on T.V. and talked about things like this. And it's a very intricate story. I can't follow all of it. I don't know all the names as well as you do, but I know that they haven't been able to produce the goods yet. We were promised tapes a week and a half ago.
Tarlov was interrupted by Judge Pirro. She continued.
I just want to say for the record that the informant that Rudy Giuliani talked about missing, Giuliani had to recant on that. Chuck Grassley, more highly respected than the rest of them, talked about tape. So we're going to campaign like whistleblowers, said Talov.
She then brought up one of the whistleblowers, a man named Gary Shapley who works for the IRS.
“Let's get to Gary Shapley, one of your whistleblowers, the career guy. There are three core claims that he made about what went on that have already been refuted. First and foremost, he said that Merrick Garland lied to Congress, saying that why he's had total authority. Weiss himself told Jim Jordan on June 7th that that was not true and that he did have complete authority.
The second point about this, Shapley alleged that Weiss asked to be a special counsel, and Garland has refuted that. If you wanted to say that everybody in Christendom is a liar, that's one thing. But I'm going to trust the attorney general, especially one who testified under oath.
Third point Shapley alleges that there was political interference and that Weiss was denied the right to charge Hunter Biden in D.C. Now, the D.C. U.S. attorney got in touch with The Washington Post last night, and he said that's absolutely not true, that he could have been charged anywhere.
So there was no political interference whatsoever. I've maintained from the beginning that if all of what you say is true and there, you know, like the Gotti’s is that I will believe you if the facts are shown to me and I can actually see it. And there are direct lines between all of this that has not been done yet,” said Tarlov
Rachel Campos-Duffy Doesn’t Seem To Know What the Word Evidence Means
On Saturday on “Fox & Friends,” weekend host Rachel Campos-Duffy declared there was too much evidence on Hunter Biden.
“Mountains and mountains of evidence because Hunter Biden was a narcissist and exhibitionist and a self-entitled princeling. And so the evidence is plenty for them to do. It's almost too much. It's almost too much,” said Campos-Duffy.
In order to prosecute Hunter for hiring sex workers a prosecutor would have to figure out the exact date and location of each instance and track down the women. The videos are several years old at this point.
In most instances the people convicted in prostitution cases are the ones running companies that employ multiple sex workers and take a cut of their wages. With some exceptions, Individual sex workers and the people who hire them are rarely prosecuted or serve time.
I consulted Jill Schaefer, a criminal defense attorney, about the drug charges.
“In order to charge him for possessing drugs they police would need to obtain the actual drugs and test them in a lab to prove that it was crack cocaine. People get charged for possession of drugs not using them. His lawyer could argue that Hunter was pretending to use drugs and the prosecutor would have no evidence to prove that he wasn’t. People don’t get convicted by videos of drug use, they get convicted when cops find drugs on them.” said Schaefer.
Jesse Watters thinks there’s no Homelessness in Florida - He was Wrong
Fox News did actually report on other stories although Hunter Biden dominated everything.
On Thursday, “The Five,” featured a video where Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis traveled to San Francisco, California to scold California Gov. Gavin Newsom for his liberal policies that led to California’s homeless crisis.
Jessica Tarlov pointed out that Florida also has a problem with homelessness. Jesse Watters screamed over her that she was incorrect. It was quite a bit of crosstalk that ended with Watters declaring,
“I think I have not seen a video of anyone homeless!”
I tracked down a local news clip from WKMG News 6 that described the homeless problem in central Florida. Florida has the third largest homeless population in the country.
Correspondent Catherine Silver was featured in the segment.
“You can see it on the streets near Central Boulevard and Terry Avenue,” said the correspondent as images of makeshift tents lined both sides of the street.
Last year in Orange, Osceola and Seminole Counties the total was up 7% from 2020. Each number representing the real people, families and children in need,” said Silver.
Silver then interviewed Martha Are, the CEO of Homeless Services Network of Central Florida.
‘We're anticipating those numbers will go up some this year because of the escalating rent costs that have made housing unobtainable for more people, as well as the impact of the hurricanes, which took a lot of units offline in the last four years.
When you compare us to the to the other 100 largest metropolitan areas, we've ranked seventh worse, we've ranked third worst, we've ranked worst this year. We're tied for second worst, meaning that we only have 18 units available for every 100 households,” said Are.
Stories Fox News Ignored
Every week I compare the hours I watch on Fox News to five hours of the PBS NewsHour. These are the stories that PBS covered that Fox News did not.
Ninety-six people have died so far due to heat-aggravated conditions in India as the country experiences a brutal heat wave. Other areas of India are facing severe monsoon rains. About 14,000 people have fled to safer areas.
In nearby China rising temperatures broke records during its last heat wave.
Ukraine liberated eight villages in the eastern part of the country as part of its counteroffensive against Russia.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny faces new charges even while he is serving a 9-year prison sentence. The new charges include creating an extremist organization and financing extremist activities.
After some of the worst violence the occupied West Bank has seen in years three Palestinian militants were killed by a rare Israeli drone strike. The Israeli military said it targeted "a terrorist cell inside a suspicious vehicle."
Hundreds of Israeli settlers have set fire to homes and cars in Palestinian towns in the West Bank following a week of violence in the area. Israeli Police have made some arrests of settlers but Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group, have said they were a “drop in the ocean.” The group has documented the burning of at least 30 Palestinian homes, 60 cars, a gas station, multiple shops, a mosque and school throughout northern West Bank villages this week.
PBS included a follow up story about an overcrowded fishing boat crammed with hundreds of migrants that capsized off the coast of Greece. Hundreds are presumed dead. Officials have confirmed about 350 of the migrants were from Pakistan. Nine Egyptian men have appeared in court for their role in the tragedy.
The UN adopted the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Treaty, or BBNJ, the first ever legally binding international treaty that governs the high seas. It’s aimed at protecting the environment and preventing disputes over natural resources as well as shipping. It needs to be ratified by 60 countries, in the U.S. that means the Senate would have to approve it.
PBS produced an extended segment about the 16 young people who are suing the state of Montana over the state government’s lack of movement to help prevent climate change. They are able to sue over a clause in the state’s constitution that is supposed to promote conservation.
Due to a recent heat wave the Electric Reliability Council of Texas encouraged customers to conserve power to help prevent blackouts or a system failure.
A federal judge struck down an Arkansas law that would ban gender-affirming care for minors as unconstitutional. Anti-trans legislation is facing legal challenges all over the country.
Air India ordered 250 air planes from Air Bus and 220 from Boeing. The company plans to improve air service and expand its domestic and international network.
A blood red species of insects called Mormon crickets have blanketed Elko, Nevada. The bugs show up periodically in the area and can swarm every 10-15 years and should remain in the area until mid-August.
Russia says it downed three drones outside of Moscow. Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed it was “an unsuccessful attempt at a terrorist attack” by “the Kyiv regime” on its facilities in the Moscow region. Ukraine did not confirm the attack.
The IRS reduced its backlog on paper returns by 80% and slightly improved answering phone calls from 11% to 35%. Through the climate, health care and tax legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden last year, the IRS received $80 billion for tax collection efforts although $20 billion was clawed back as part of the debt ceiling compromise.
The SCOTUS is about to rule on Biden’s student loan forgiveness program and affirmative action in universities as well as other cases. The court recently sided with the Biden administration over its role in setting guidelines for arrest and deportation of immigrants.
Justice Alito took an undisclosed fishing trip with Paul Singer, a billionaire donor, who later had business before the court.
Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old Air National Guardsman, pleaded not guilty to leaking classified documents. He was was indicted last week by a federal grand jury on six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information.
Former President Donald J. Trump’s recent deal to build a real estate development with the country of Oman raises ethical concerns. Trump was brought into the deal by a Saudi real estate company which is closely intertwined with the Saudi government. About six months after Trump left office his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, received $2 billion for an investment venture from the same fund that is connected to the real estate deal.
About 8000 revelers celebrated the Summer Solstice at the Stonehenge monument in southern England. Some druids, modern day spiritualists linked to the ancient Celtic faith, performed rituals at the site.
A bridge connecting the rest of Ukraine to Crimea was badly damaged by Ukrainian missiles. There were no casualities.
PBS produced a segment about a slavery reparations program in Evanston, IL. The program is partly funded by taxes on cannabis. The first phase involved giving 16 residents $25,000 which was used for housing grants and property improvements. Future payments will include direct deposits that a resident could spend however they see fit.
A former U.S. Representative from Texas, Will Hurd, a Republican, announced his candidacy for president last week. Although Fox does spend a lot of focus on and airtime on various Republicans running for president I didn’t see a single mention of Hurd on any program last week.
PBS produced a segment about the legal status of undocumented immigrants covered by The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals also known as DACA. The program was set up during the Obama administration to help immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children stay in the country. It is currently being challenged in court putting DACA recipients in limbo.
This year there have been two Tropical storms in first month of hurricane season. This the first time that’s happened since record keeping began in 1851.
The U.S. Justice Department filed criminal charges against four Chinese chemical manufacturing companies and eight individuals over allegations they illegally trafficked the chemicals used to make fentanyl.
The section of I-95 that was recently destroyed in a an accident in Pennsylvania has already been rebuilt surprising experts who predicted it could take months to fix the busy highway.
By the Numbers.
Coming up…
This week I’ll be capturing “Fox & Friends,” “The Five,” “Fox News Tonight,” and “The Ingraham Angle.” I should finally finish up “Who is Hunter Biden Part 3?” for my paid subscribers. Trump keeps screwing up my plans. Last week he had the interview on Bret Baier and then the Russians almost had a civil war so it’s been tough to keep up.
Great summary on what is going on with the Hunter Biden story. Thank you so much!
Keep up the good work