Two Biden Puzzles

I wound up with two big puzzles about Joe Biden yesterday. They're just about equal in my thinking, but the kiss between Dr Jill and Kamala Harris's husband, Doug Emhoff, was the most visible. The Washington Free Beacon, from which the photo analylsis above was taken, added:

Conclusion: A bizarre and unsettling incident. Both parties appear to have initiated physical contact and can be seen expressing a range of emotions following the encounter. Something is going on, we're just not entirely sure what it is.

The Biden family has a long history of marital chaos, so an illicit relationship would not be unprecedented. It wouldn't even be the family's most egregious case of infidelity. That title certainly belongs to Hunter Biden, who cheated on his ex-wife with his dead brother's widow and her sister.

But someone called "Dr Romance" pooh-poohed any untoward imputations:

The U.S. Sun recently spoke with Tina B. Tessina, Ph.D. (aka "Dr. Romance"), licensed psychotherapist and author of Money, Sex and Kids: Stop Fighting about the Three Things That Can Ruin Your Relationship, to get some answers regarding the First Lady and Second Gentleman's intimate moment.

According to Dr. Romance, who has 45 years of experience in counseling individuals and couples, the professional consensus is that the kiss was likely a "familial greeting between close friends.

"I think the First Lady and Second Gentleman are probably close friends since they work together a lot and share similar 'second banana' duties," Dr Romance explained.

"I'm surprised they kissed on the lips in public because you would think they'd know the press would have a field day."

Most psychotherapists I've seen on YouTube and elsewhere talk about things like "healthy boundaries". Mouth kissing someone else's husband at a public event is not "healthy boundaries". To have two corporate senior executives, married to other people, kiss each other on the lips in public at a corporate event, notwithstanding a putatively close "working relationship", would probably result in the board of directors taking some sort of action, as it could be an indication that policies on sexcual harassment are being violated.

In some contexts, that sort of public kiss would be a sign that one or both marriages is over. Looked at another way, it could be taken as a major put-down of Joe, implying that Jill was blatantly going elsewhere for affection. Whatever the specific context, it's hard to avoid the Washington Free Beacon's characterization that the indident was "bizarre and unsettling".

Let's keep in mind that Dr Jill in particular had to be fully aware that the cameras were focused on her grand entry in her stunning blah blah blah. Part of the messatge she was sending must have been along the line of Quid licet Jovi, non licet bovi, "What is permitted for the gods is not permitted for the cattle". That in turn makes me wonder if she and/or Emhoff had indulged in some sort of artificial grandiosity before the event, viz, maybe snorted something.

The other, less visible but just as troubling question is covered in this story, White House dodges on Biden's $250K line of credit against beach home. Ms Jean-Pierre's response was to refer the reporter to the White House Counsel's office, which is an implication that the money is for the president's legal defense. But if that's the case, as I've been pointing out here, $250,000 is little more than a rounding error in the Biden family's actual legal expenses.

Right now, press reports put four partner-level attorneys on Joe's classified documents case and four other partner-level attorneys on Hunter's tax case. Recent reporting on Hunter's financial situation suggests he's more or less penniless despite his sale of some paintings and needs to start a legal defense fund, while it's suggested that Joe and Jill have taken out the credit line for Joe's case, although it may be to cover legal expenses for Hunter as well.

I've been saying that partner-level attorneys bill for up to $2500 an hour, while the US average is about $750 an hour. Let's be really conservative and say all eight on the Biden cases are billing $1000 an hour each for 40 hours a week. Eight partners X $1000 X 40 hours = $320,000 a week. So the credit line on the Rehoboth Beach house won't even cover a week of attorneys' fees on the Biden cases. But reports suggest that Covington & Burling partners have been working on the classified documents since at least last October, while Abbe Lowell has been working on Hunter's taxes since early December, with Kevin Morris working for Hunter since at least 2021.

Eight partners billing $320,000 for 16 weeks is $5.12 million. This is just an order-of-magnitude estimate; remember that someone like Abbe Lowell is probably billing for much more. And so far, all these high-priced attorneys are doing is saber rattling:

A lawyer for Hunter Biden is warning those involved in promulgating assertions about his infamous laptop computer that they could face unspecified litigation over their claims.

Washington attorney Abbe Lowell, who took over as Biden’s counsel in December, sent the “litigation hold” letters on Wednesday to 14 people allegedly linked to efforts to generate coverage critical of the 53-year-old son of President Joe Biden, according to a person familiar with the development.

Should the Biden family choose to pursue this sort of legal action, it would certainly cost tens of millions in addition to what they're already spending. Where would this money come from? For that matter, where are the millions they've already spent coming from? Even lines of credit on every possible Biden property won't cover the current cost of their attorneys.

These two issues alone are making me question the judgment of pretty much everyone surrounding the Biden family. It's not just Joe or anything to do with a medical condition. Look at Jill, look at his legal advisers. Kamala has always given me the impression she's a party girl, but now I'm wondering about Jill, and that says something about what Joe's been like since before he married her. That's been 50 years. This isn't a recent thing at all.