“WTF Obama admin did do it. Except there is absolute proof on video. Joe Biden admits he told Ukraine they will not get the 1billion in aid if they don't fire the prosecutor investigating the company his son is a board member of.”
Umm, no.
President Obama never asked Ukraine--or any other foreign power--to make a public announcement for the purpose of damaging one of Obama’s political opponents.
The United States and the rest of the Western world wanted crooked prosecutor Viktor Shokin fired, not because he was investigating Burisma for corruption, but because he wasn’t. In fact, when the United Kingdom sought Shokin’s assistance in its case against Mykola Zlochevsky, the president of Burisma, Shokin not only failed to provide the evidence requested, but also had his office send a letter to Zlochevsky’s counsel stating “that Zlochevsky was not suspected of any crime.” (Which Zlochevsky’s counsel successfully used to persuade the judge to toss out the case and order the release of Zlochevsky’s frozen assets.)
Image credit: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters, via The Wall Street Journal
Trump and his surrogates are trying their best to redirect public attention away from Trump abusing the power of the presidency to gain a personal advantage over Joe Biden, his primary political rival. One of their primary talking points is that Biden’s own conduct was supposedly so despicable that it was absolutely appropriate for Trump to press Ukraine to investigate him. To review:
Ukraine’s general prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, was involved in an investigation of Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of a Ukranian gas company called Burisma Holdings Ltd.
Biden’s son Hunter was on the board of Burisma.
Biden, then Vice President, threatened to withhold U.S. financial aid from Ukraine unless Shokin was fired.
Shokin was fired.
Trump’s having a bit of a problem selling that story, however, because among other things it’s been pretty solidly demonstrated that:
Shokin was horribly corrupt.
The United States was just one of several countries and international entities pushing for Shokin’s removal; others urging his ouster included the rest of the G-7, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
One of the primary complaints against Shokin was his failure to investigate and pursue allegations of corruption.
In particular, Shokin had refused to cooperate with other countries, such as the United Kingdom, trying to pursue anti-corruption prosecutions against Zlochevsky specifically.
In other words, the United States and the rest of the Western world wanted Shokin fired not because he was investigating Burisma, but because he wasn’t investigating Burisma (among many others).
Nevertheless, Trump apologists are insisting that it was still improper for Biden to involve himself at all when Shokin was supposed to be investigating Burisma, because it created the appearance of a conflict of interest. Federal law (18 U.S.C. § 208(a)) prohibits all officers and employees of the Executive Branch from participating in matters in which they, or any of their relatives, have “a financial interest.” Aha! quoth the conservatives. Hunter Biden had a financial interest in Burisma; therefore, Joe Biden had a conflict of interest and violated federal law! Lock him up!
There’s just one problem with that theory, and you can probably figure out what it is. HINT: Why isn’t Trump embroiled in a virtually endless string of prosecutions for his own virtually endless conflicts of interest?
Because, as Trump himself enjoys crowing from time to time, “the president can’t have a conflict of interest.” This is based on another provision of federal law (18 U.S.C. § 202(c)) which specifically excludes the president from conflict-of-interest statutes: “the terms ‘officer’ and ‘employee’ in sections 203, 205, 207 through 209, and 218 of this title shall not include the President...”
head in my heads. hizashi. i wish i could have spent more time with you, seen you without your contact and your hair down. do you have that same condition now? different colored eyes? if so, they're gorgeous, and you shouldn't have to hide it again. i wonder how many things are similar, and how many things are different about you now. i want to meet you again. i hope you do too. we could hold hands and talk about cats or something. or do karaoke again. but maybe not something.. super cheesy. i think i wouldn't survive /joking. i miss you, hizashi. really wishing that you're doing well out.. wherever you are. don't overwork yourself. please.
This is Shokin, and he is a fairly typically hibuna (common) goldfish. His name comes from the Japanse word 賞金 meaning prize; because that's exactly what he was. A petstore in my area has a gumball machine, you put a quarter in and if a yellow gumball comes rolling down you get a fish out of the feeder tank. I just so happened to get a yellow gumball and out of the tank of overcrowded feeders I took home a skinny, pale, and underfed common. Shokin is my prize, but not because I won him, but rather because he has grown into such a beautiful fish. A bright and active fish many guests mistake him for a small koi when they visit the pond. Last June he weighed a petite 6g, and even through the harshest winter on record he's managed to increase his weight sixfold.
Contrary to popular belief feeder fish are not inherently more sickly or less hardy, in fact it is quite the opposite. The fish that do survive being shipped in a bag with hundreds of other fish and then often kept in less than ideal water conditions are the strongest of the strong. Shokin arrived most likely on a tuesday in that store, packed in less than a gallon of water with 150 other feeders. I won him on a friday, so that means not only did he survive nearly a week in a feeder system but he managed to avoid being netted and sold as food. In may of last year he spawned with my calico ryukin Kai and his son Izoku (who you can see below) is not even a year old and already weighs as much as his father:
So this is a friendly reminder that while my main focus is fancy goldfish every goldfish keeper should be able to appreciate a common goldfish, and what many feeders go through only to end up as a meal. Just because a fish is free or bred to be food for another fish does not render it's life worthless. Any fish when well cared for can turn into a lovely adult and goldfish have an amazing biological capacity to rebound from periods of severe neglect. On behalf of Shokin and all his feeder brethren that do not get a happy ending in a big pond, consider taking a feeder home with you if you have the space and resources.
