JIM GERAGHTY: Hunter Biden: The Most Comprehensive Timeline.

Late Summer 2006: Hunter Biden and his uncle, James Biden, purchase the hedge fund Paradigm Global Advisors. According to an unnamed executive quoted in Politico in August, James Biden declared to employees on his first day, “Don’t worry about investors. We’ve got people all around the world who want to invest in Joe Biden.” At this time, Joe Biden is months away from becoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and launching his second bid for president.

The unnamed executive who spoke to Politico charged that the purchase of the fund was designed to work around campaign-finance laws:

According to the executive, James Biden made it clear that he viewed the fund as a way to take money from rich foreigners who could not legally give money to his older brother or his campaign account. “We’ve got investors lined up in a line of 747s filled with cash ready to invest in this company,” the executive remembers James Biden saying.

Both James and Hunter Biden have denied to Politico that James had ever made these comments.

Up until that time, Hunter Biden had been employed as a consultant to the Delaware bank MBNA, with a $100,000-a-year retainer, according to the New York Times. The bank hired him fresh out of law school and in less than two years promoted him to senior vice president.

From there, things get really complicated.

THIS STINKS: A BIASED PRESS IS MAULING TRUMP’S TV DEFENDERS.

Lastly, there was Rudy Giuliani. He made a string of interviews and complained about the double standards of pro- and anti-Trump guests to George Stephanopoulos. He also complained about interruptions, which have been pretty pervasive across the scale. Much ink has been spilled on how Giuliani’s wild Trumpian-style defenses of President Trump (must be a New York thang) wasn’t helping Trump’s case, and he ought to be off the air. The Joe Biden team, however, is now lobbying the press to keep Giuliani off the air, which rather suggests he thinks Giuliani is helping Trump. Guess who the media intends to listen to?

Read the whole thing. Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives — terrified of being arrested and/or locked in Biden’s closet — and it all makes sense.

Earlier:  Biden campaign says you have to hold public office to be entitled to opine on ‘the nation’s airwaves.’

TEA LEAVES: GOP Congressman Mark Amodei Walks Back Pro-Impeachment Statement.

DID THE INTEL IG STAFF HELP THE ‘WHISTLEBLOWER?’ – It certainly appears that somebody helped the “whistleblower” research and compose the complaint that is based on hearsay. Margot Cleveland argues familiarity with federal whistleblower law points directly at somebody with the Inspector General for the Intelligence Community.

FYI: Having worked as a journalist with dozens of federal whistleblowers over the years, my immediate reaction to the complaint was it was not the product of the typical government worker who has been unfairly disciplined for calling attention to wrong-doing within an agency. They tend to be obsessive, poorly organized and extremely impatient, characteristics that are nowhere evident in the complaint. Just the opposite.

ROGER SIMON: Joe Biden’s Parenting Is the Real Problem, Not Impeachment.

HE EARNED IT: Al Gore Receives Award for ‘Top Climate Hypocrite.’

TROUBLE FOR PRIME MINISTER ZOOLANDER: Is it over for Justin Trudeau? “As Justin Trudeau looks to renew his parliamentary majority in a forthcoming federal election, a series of scandals have made his political future uncertain. Most recently, the publication of a series of images showing Trudeau in blackface forced the Canadian prime minister to admit he could not recall how many times he had worn it.”

PROCUREMENT: Germany Needs a New Fighter Plane: What About a Stealth F-35 or New F-15EX?

It won’t matter what Berlin buys, if anything, until they get serious again about maintenance and training. Neither seems likely.

VBAT OVER THE ATLANTIC: A VBAT vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial system (UAS) flies above the flight deck of the expeditionary fast transport vessel USNS Spearhead. VTOL “drones” small and large can be used for surveillance, and the caption says that’s this VBAT’s mission. In central Africa VTOL drones (comparable in size to the VBAT) have been used to carry vaccines and other critical medical supplies to remote villages. Earlier this year China’s navy began deploying a small VTOL drone on its smaller warships. Per the article, these types of VTOL drones “can operate off smaller ships and patrol boats and have better endurance and stability (in high winds) than heavier helicopter UAVs.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: U. Virginia ‘disorientation’ event teaches new students about college’s ‘brutal, unjust legacy.’

OUR SOLAR SYSTEM’S PLANET X OR A VERY SMALL BLACK HOLE? A Science Magazine short but informative take — straight, no sensationalist chaser.

PRIVACY: Google reportedly under antitrust scrutiny for new internet encryption protocol. “Google’s plans to use a new Internet Protocol has raised concerns among congressional antitrust investigators who worry it could give the company an unfair competitive advantage, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. Investigators want to know whether Google will use any data collected through the new protocol for commercial purposes.”

Don’t be silly. Of course they will.

Last week: Google Blocks Privacy Push at the Group That Sets Web Standards.

DAN MARKEL UPDATE: Week 1 Highlights Of The Dan Markel Murder Trial.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: School BLOCKS Miss. College Republicans chapter from starting public Facebook account.

“Update: The college ‘temporarily suspended’ its policy after publication of this article.”

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KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Baseball Heartbreak Over Impeachment Nonsense Edition. “The baseball playoffs begin this week and, despite my heartbreak after the last two World Series I’m — when I swore I’d give up all hope as a Dodgers fan — I’m back for more. Why? Because it is abundantly clear that getting my sports soul crushed again will still be infinitely more pleasurable than reading another overwrought, hyperbole barf of an impeachment story.”

Heh.

CHINA SYNDROME: Popular heartburn drug Zantac pulled off market. “The FDA recently announced that ranitidine, sold over-the counter as Zantac, contains low levels of a substance that could cause cancer. In the past year, the same chemical found in Zantac —NDMA–was discovered, in the blood pressure medication—Losartan, prompting a major recall.”

Is it time to look harder at whether the US should import drugs made in China?

WHEN HE’S RIGHT, HE’S RIGHT: Bill Maher Slams White Guilt.

FLASHBACK: JOE BIDEN’S R.A.V.E. ACT. “My three-year-old nephew is fond of bottled water and glow sticks, and usually needs a ‘chill room.’ Presumably Biden regards him as a dangerous criminal.”

SAD: Venezuela’s Struggle for Legitimacy Comes to New York. “It’s a do-or-die moment for every Venezuelan.”

The question came at the very end of a press conference dominated by fevered talk of Ukraine, Joe Biden, and impeachment. You’d be forgiven if you missed it entirely. President Donald Trump encouraged reporters assembled for the United Nations General Assembly to ask him about the booming U.S. economy. He didn’t get his wish. Trump called on a woman who identified herself as a Venezuelan journalist: “How are you doing over there?” Trump inquired.

“Our situation is pretty bad,” she responded.

“Yeah. I would say ‘pretty bad,’” the president agreed. “Sad.”

Plus: “It was a stark reminder that the political turmoil over a whistle-blower complaint concerning Trump’s dealings with Ukraine risks leaving a number of his urgent foreign-policy initiatives—very serious unfinished business, such as curbing North Korea’s nuclear-weapons program, preventing Iran’s provocations, and striking a trade agreement with China—in limbo.”

This is a nice piece from The Atlantic’s Uri Friedman.

CHANGE: China Quietly Doubles Troop Levels In Hong Kong.

Related: Chinese police attack a passerby.

FLASHBACK: The IRS Scandal, Day 1284: Podesta Friend At DOJ Led Cover-Up Of IRS Scandal.

DEREK MULLER: A few thoughts on open-source or free legal casebooks.