Letters: Hunter Biden’s indictment is nothing but theatrics

After taking five years, the indictment against Hunter Biden is nothing but theatrics. Special counsel David Weiss is basically going through the motions to appease those of us who would like to see justice. But in the final analysis, there will be no justice.

People who lie about being addicted to drugs when purchasing a gun should be penalized with prison time, But Hunter Biden is not like most people. As the first son, he won’t see the inside of a prison cell. At most probation, a mere slap on the wrist, is all he will receive.

And even though the White House ruled it out, I wouldn’t be surprised if Biden pardons his son.

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— JoAnn Lee Frank, Clearwater, Florida

It is deeply ironic that the worst “crime” the Republicans could pin on a member of the Biden family was a technicality when Hunter Biden filled out a form to buy a handgun in 2018. Where is their stock hysterical reaction to his Second Amendment rights being taken away by an evil federal bureaucracy? Why has the National Rifle Association not jumped to defend this patriotic American trying to buy a gun, as is his constitutional right?

— Tom DeCoursey, Oak Park

A Tribune reader questions why people want to investigate Joe Biden when they should be investigating Jared Kushner. Well, Biden is the president, and a lot of people think he is compromised. Most politicians get rich while being a politician. A lot of people think Biden is bought and paid for by China and Ukraine.

Kushner? He is a civilian. And if anybody thinks he sold government access, secrets or favors to the Saudis, by all means, investigate him.

— Larry Craig, Wilmette

Recently, U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden. By so doing, McCarthy elevated politics and loyalty to the former president. And, by so doing, he has rendered the seriousness of such an undertaking meaningless.

House Republicans have investigated Biden for months and have not uncovered any hint of impropriety and certainly not the “treason, bribery, and other high crimes and misdemeanors” that would warrant McCarthy’s actions.

— Ava Holly Berland, Chicago

The inquiry to seek an impeachment of President Joe Biden is a victory for U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz. He has demonstrated an uncanny ability to understand House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s psychological vulnerabilities and use them for his own means. He has outmaneuvered McCarthy to take control of the Republicans in the House with his impeachment demand.

In attaining his demand, he has become the chief Washington protector of Donald Trump and the chief nemesis for Joe Biden. His power will only be reduced when McCarthy can say that protecting the U.S. Constitution, not his position as speaker, is the essential means for maintaining his self-esteem.

Painfully, he is not there yet.

— Sidney Weissman, Highland Park

I appreciate Shmuly Yanklowitz’s op-ed (“This Rosh Hashana, let’s commit to repairing the injuries of injustice,” Sept. 11) elaborating the Jewish new year practice of moral and ethical self-evaluation. “Jewish or not, we all find ourselves asking the question: How do we make restitution for our complicity in injustices that were beyond our control?” Yanklowitz writes.

The reminder that the moment has come for each of us to consider our own responsibilities in a world deeply in need of repair couldn’t be more timely. On the same day, the Tribune Editorial Board ran an editorial about the challenge that thousands of recent migrants present to Chicago’s willingness to truly embody the values of a sanctuary city (“Has Chicago’s ‘Welcoming City’ law worn out its welcome?”). Will we, as the Torah commands, welcome the stranger?

Nor should we, as Yanklowitz points out, limit our self-examination to harms directly caused by our own actions or inactions. “We’re all, to one extent or another, complicit in historical injustices that we’ve indirectly benefited from. … We are obligated to do what we can to fix (the damage).” Specifically citing Christian nationalism and white supremacy, Yanklowitz continues, “directly or indirectly, we often benefit from ideologies and movements that press people down.”

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Unfortunately, Yanklowitz’s op-ed ignores one area that most American Jews prefer to leave unexamined. If one is truly making a complete moral and ethical self-examination, failing to consider the fate of Palestinians in Israel and the Occupied Territories and the role of American Jewish congregations in supporting Israeli policies that oppress Palestinians, confiscate their lands, and subject them to lethal military occupation is failing in the “accounting of the soul” that the Jewish High Holidays require of us.

— Jeff Epton, Chicago

I will always remember Anthony Freud as the man who presided over the beginning of the demise of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

— Frank Stachyra, Oak Park

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