FBI Not Playing Along as Trump Tries To Implicate Joe Biden in Crimes

Plus: White House responds about missing migrant parents, Florida's failing foster care system, and more...

It looks like President Donald Trump is hoping for a redux of 2016's announcement that the FBI was investigating Hillary Clinton. With less than two weeks until the 2020 election, Trump is filling rallies and airtime with suggestions that Democratic nominee Joe Biden may be guilty of unspecified federal crimes.

But Trump is also frustrated that Attorney General Bill Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray haven't played along and announced that the Biden family is under investigation, according to The Washington Post and "people familiar with discussions" at the White House.

Anonymous White House sources should be taken with many grains of salt, of course. But Trump himself has been publicly spouting similar rhetoric. He told Fox News on Tuesday that Barr should "act fast" because "this is major corruption" and it "has to be known about before the election."

"We've got to get the attorney general to act," Trump said while discussing the recent New York Post story based on emails allegedly obtained from Hunter Biden's laptop and hard drive. The emails purportedly show Hunter saying he would introduce his dad, then vice president, to Chinese and Ukrainian business contacts.

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said this week that there's no evidence the emails are an attempt by Russia to meddle in the 2020 U.S. election. (There's also no evidence they actually came from Hunter Biden, aside from the word of Trump advisor Rudy Giuliani, who passed them to the Post.)

The FBI has "nothing to add" to Ratcliffe's statement, said an October 20 letter to Republican Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.), who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. On October 17, Johnson had asked the FBI about the alleged Hunter Biden laptop.

"Regarding the subject of your letter, we have nothing to add at this time to the October 19th public statement by the Director of National Intelligence about the available actionable intelligence," wrote Jill C. Tyson, assistant director of the FBI's Office of Congressional Affairs. "If actionable intelligence is developed, the FBI in consultation with the Intelligence Community will evaluate the need to provide defensive briefings to you and the Committee pursuant to the established notification framework."

Tyson added that "the FBI can neither confirm nor deny the existence of any ongoing investigation or persons or entities under investigation, including to Members of Congress."

The White House is spinning this as a win: if the emails/laptop are not Russian disinformation, they must be authentic. Any day now, we'll hear about it from the DOJ.

Trump Special Assistant Ben Williamson told Fox Across America radio that it

was a big, big step… when the FBI and DOJ concurred with Director Radcliffe's opinion. Obviously, you had Democrats over the weekend, including our favorite Chairman Schiff, making the sort of preliminary allegation that this was Russian disinformation, as they so often like to do with anything that is inconvenient to the Democrat Party. But we're slowly starting to see more and more evidence, as we usually do, come out that's not the case, that this is a real legit concern. The DOJ is looking at it and hopefully we'll see more relevant information come out in the coming days.

Once again, Trump camp efforts to link Joe Biden to some sort of shady family business dealings can't be deterred by facts. But as USA Today reminds us, "after months of investigation, two Republican-led Senate committees unveiled a report in September that found no evidence of wrongdoing or corrupt actions by the former vice president in connection with his son Hunter's business dealings in Ukraine."

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QUICK HITS

• The Washington Post tweeted that a man in a coronavirus vaccine trial had died without specifying that the dead man was in a control group not receiving the vaccine.

*who was in a control group and didn't receive the vaccine

Pretty staggering how irresponsible this is. https://t.co/rzIKTws30F

— Ben Thompson (@benthompson) October 22, 2020

• The White House is claiming that the families of hundreds of migrant children in U.S. custody whose parents can't be found actually don't want their children back.

• "Florida took thousands of kids from families, then failed to keep them safe": USA Today looks at Florida's wretched state care system for kids.

• Activists are turning facial recognition programs back around on bad cops.

• Pope Francis endorses civil unions for same-sex couples. "Homosexual people have a right to be in a family. They're children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable over it," the pope told filmmakers in the new documentary Franceso. "What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered."

• On Toobingate: "It should not be an unreasonably high standard to ask people not to engage in sex acts while talking to their work colleagues."

• From In These Times: "The Supreme Court Said Their Sentencing Was Unconstitutional. But They're Still Behind Bars."

• New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that "in 2017–2019, 65.3% of women aged 15–49 in the United States were currently using contraception. The most common contraceptive methods currently used were female sterilization (18.1%), oral contraceptive pills (14.0%), long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) (10.4%), and the male condom (8.4%)."

• COVID-19 is making people appreciate their spouses more:

"58 percent of married men and women 18 to 55 said the pandemic has made them appreciate their spouse more…the share of married people reporting their marriage is in trouble fell from 40 percent in 2019 to 29 percent in 2020." https://t.co/vogcOo9dBE @WilcoxNMP

— Rob Henderson (@robkhenderson) October 21, 2020

• History repeating…

Today's edition of "you could reuse this article from 100 years ago in 2020"

(The Seattle Star, Nov. 2, 1918) pic.twitter.com/zkE2ZxSGid

— Amelia Frappolli (@AmeliaFrappolli) October 22, 2020

 

 

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Washington Post tweeted that a man in a coronavirus vaccine trial had died without specifying that the dead man was in a control group not receiving the vaccine.

AP Stylebook says that still counts.

[mad.casual]

Between masks and social distancing, I'm pretty sure most of us are part of a control group.

[perlchpr]

Unauthorized human trials in the absence of Institutional Review Board oversight.

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[Rufus The Monocled]

We failed the first test.

If people got off their lazy, ignorant, terrified asses and just look at the graphs, they'd there is NO pandemic. Viruses swirl around us all the time all year round including this one. It's just another stupid seasonal virus now.

I saw Atlas on Unherd TV. He was candid about the situation saying he's disgusted and dismayed.

No shit.

[[e-mail]]

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[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

And since 1918, 100 years of studies show they never worked.

Researchers in Denmark are having a hard time finding journals to publish their study on masks thought to be the largest of its kind. JAMA, NEJM and The Lancet have all declined. I don't know why but I wouldn't be surprised because it's a 'no-no' to dare question superstition these days.

Apparently the findings confirmed all the studies that they suck. Worse, they even do in fact have harmful effects.

Science is definitely under attack.

It's not 'follow science' it's 'follow orders'.

We're in a very bad spot folks.

https://twitter.com/JamesTodaroMD/status/1319037534668718080

[Rufus The Monocled]

Imagine being so ignorant to think a mask saves lives.

Here's a nice collection of studies about masks.

https://masklockdowndata.squarespace.com

[Rufus The Monocled]

Go to Table 7.

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/329439/WHO-WHE-IHM-GIP-2019.1-eng.pdf?ua=1

Ta-dah!

[Inquisitive Squirrel]

Wow, that's pretty staggering.

[con_fuse9]

Uhm, just a list of cherry picked quotes?
No data, no hypothesis, no analysis, no discussions. Stupid opinion pieces.

Try this:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7186508/

Correlation of wearing masks to deaths. With model verified by looking at data from New York and Washington

"In conclusion, our findings suggest that face mask use should be as nearly universal (i.e., nation-wide) as possible and implemented without delay, even if most masks are homemade and of relatively low quality. This measure could contribute greatly to controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, with the benefit greatest in conjunction with other non-pharmaceutical interventions that reduce community transmission. Despite uncertainty, the potential for benefit, the lack of obvious harm, and the precautionary principle lead us to strongly recommend as close to universal (homemade, unless medical masks can be used without diverting healthcare supply) mask use by the general public as possible."

[JesseAz]

Chipper, Tony, and Jeff will never read the linked information while claiming to trust The Science.

[SQRLSY One]

So ALL of the science that says masks help, can NOT be trusted? These are the brain-controlled scientists who have been brain-controlled to tell lies? John Hopkins, for example, is just a bunch of liars?

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/coronavirus-face-masks-what-you-need-to-know

"Wearing a face mask is one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of the virus. Other important measures are practicing physical distancing and washing your hands frequently with soap and water or using hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.

Lisa Maragakis, M.D., M.P.H., an expert in infection prevention, answers questions about face masks."

End import... You know, some people are too stupid to wear condoms correctly, and unplanned pregnancies and "social diseases" result. Some people don't wear their masks right. Does this prove that condoms and masks don't work? Or just that some people are incompetent? Can I get infected with Covid, and sneeze in your face? If I am allowed to do so, would you prefer me to do that with, or without, wearing a mask? Do the math! Show your work!

[JesseAz]

It is explained in the Swedish report you didnt bother clicking on shit eater. Prior to March of this year, the 100 years mentioned, masks were studied and deemed ineffectual against viruses retard. Models were used this year to state something the opposite, not data but models.

You really dont understand science. The Science replaced studies with model data. That is the ignorant shit youre protecting.

[SQRLSY One]

And you and your ilk do not give ONE tiny iota of a shit about the public good! It is your RIGHT to sneeze in the faces of others! Does your "science" tell you that we should also be taking down the Plexiglas sneeze guards at the salad bar?

Anti-maskers hate the public and exalt themselves, no matter HOW trivial the efforts asked of them, might be! Do you also resent it when told that you should NOT tinkle, or take a dump, in the streets?

https://www.today.com/health/mask-protest-t186064
Why we hate being told what to do: Psychologists explain the battle over masks

“In the case of masks, the message is that you must do the behavior and if you don't, you're inconsiderate, selfish, irrational, uninformed or just plain stubborn,” he noted.

End import.

That's pretty accurate! If you give a shit about the health of others, in close proximity to others in public, wear a mask! What do you want for this big-deal trouble to ya, do we have to pay you $100 every time you wear a mask in public? Just HOW SPECIAL are you?

[SQRLSY One]

In India, some folks have "cultural preferences" for pooping outdoors, not using toilets or latrines. Wikipedia soft-pedals the reasons why, but some of these folks say it is "more healthy" that way! I will bet you that they can find "science" to back up outdoor pooping! We can ALWAYS find some "study" that backs up what we want to believe! Confirmation bias!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_defecation

[SQRLSY eats shit]

In India, some folks have “cultural preferences” for pooping outdoors,

You think that’s just a waste of a good meal!

[SQRLSY One]

Here's your "Indian Science", JesseSPAZ, about outdoor pooping being more healthy for you! If you think that it "cramps your style" to be told NOT to poop in public / outdoors, Indian Science has your back!

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/08/toilet-defecate-outdoors-stunting-sanitation/

Rest here below is an import from there...

In surveys done throughout rural northern India, where open defecation is more prevalent than in the south, people express a keen preference for relieving themselves outdoors. It’s healthier, they say. It’s natural and even virtuous. Many rural Indians consider even the most immaculate latrine religiously polluting; a toilet near the home seems more unclean to them than answering the call of nature 200 yards away.

[Rufus The Monocled]

"So, scientists have relied on observational and laboratory studies. There is also indirect evidence from other infectious diseases. “If you look at any one paper — it’s not a slam dunk. But, taken all together, I’m convinced that they are working,” says Grabowski."

I want to see the data. The methodology. I don't give a shit about Grabowski is convinced.

It's fucken nuts to think masks save lives. That means the government can force us to wear them forever.

At some point we all have to stop this craziness.

[SQRLSY One]

"Confirmation bias" (in this context here, as well as others) rephrased so that JesseSPAZ can understand it:

"Sets of scientific data" are like assholes... Everyone has one!

[Grishnak]

"And you and your ilk do not give ONE tiny iota of a shit about the public good!"

HELLLOOOOOOO libertarians here!

Now fuck off slaver.

[JesseAz]

LOL. You went from a scientific discussion to an emotive discussion where you want to impart authoritarian beliefs not based on science but on feelz for how you think people should act in the name of the public good.

Glad we exposed you today like Toobin.

[SQRLSY One]

Here's your science, JesseSPAZ...

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02801-8#:~:text=To%20be%20clear%2C%20the%20science,if%20people%20do%20contract%20the

You cherry-picked your "science" extremely narrowly. I can find "science" on the internet, about how the Earth is flat, and was created some 7,000 to 10,000 years ago.

To make it simple for YOU, JesseSPAZ:

“Sets of scientific data” are like assholes… Everyone has one!

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Dumbfuck HihnSQRLSo still can’t link to anything prior to March of this year showing that all masks, regardless of their construction, are extremely effective at preventing the spread of viruses.

[SQRLSY One]

Red Rocks for Fake-Brains thinks that there has been NO valid scientific data-collecting done since March 2020! HOW FAR BACK does this go, Red Rocks for Fake-Brains? Has there been ANY valid science collected since, say, 12 million BC? HOW FAR can you move the goal posts? Maybe you could move the goal posts up your big fat arse!

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Dumbfuck HihnSQRLSo still can’t link to anything prior to March of this year showing that all masks, regardless of their construction, are extremely effective at preventing the spread of viruses.

[Rufus The Monocled]

I wouldn't trust John's Hopkins either. They're full blown 'OMFG' it seems.

What's amazing is the body of evidence is firmly on the masks don't work. Yet, because lefties pant shitting about this virus and its 99.91% survival rate, are attempting to overturn this fact by linking to a handful of hastily put together studies that don't rise to the standard they think it does.

Mostly because they're ILLITERATE IDEOLOGUES.

The masks are just another tool of control in their little, regressive world view.

I've read just about every study that support masks. They usually have major flaws.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Ever notice these articles always start the same way? It opens with a strong assertion about how masks work hitting the reader hard up front. Then as you read on carefully you begin to notice words like 'suggest' sneak in. And comments about how 'yeh it may not be a slam dunk but they can help!' and then straight off into observational nonsense and opinions. By the end, you're left with an empty bag with vomit in it. Never fails. The data shows they work! Sorta. Just wear it.

[Rufus The Monocled]

You can't possibly be this retarded.

So basically. You'd advocate putting healthy people in camps?

Know what? They say there's a civil war coming. I say fucken bring it on now. Time to rid of us of faux-virtuous NPC sheep.

If you can't live your life free, then it's not a life.

Now fuck off you degenerate.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

Who in the fuck wants to sneeze in anyone’s face?

What is wrong with you?

[SQRLSY One]

I don't want to sneeze in anyone's face, and I do NOT think that they should take DOWN the Plexiglas sneeze guards at the salad bars. That's why I (and other sensible people) wear masks these days. Should they be mandated by Government Almighty? I don't think so, but that's just my personal opinion.

Yes, there IS something WAAAY wrong with people with a defective regard for the health of others! Who LIKE to sneeze in the faces of others, and who LIKE to spread disease!

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

Sigh. So people who disagree with mask mandates “LIKE to sneeze in the faces of others and LIKE to spread disease”?

the fuck is wrong with you? Again.

[SQRLSY One]

Did you even READ what I said? QUOTE from right above!

"Should they be mandated by Government Almighty? I don’t think so, but that’s just my personal opinion."

I THINK THAT DECENT PEOPLE WEAR MASKS BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT GOVERNMENT ALMIGHTY SHOULD MANDATE MASKS!

Libertarians (and other decent and smart people) do NOT think that Government Almighty should mandate all good things!

“Masks don’t stop the virus”, self-style smart folks will tell me.

Do masks HELP SPREAD the virus, then?

More to the point, not everything that “society” or an organization does, needs to be DIRECTLY RELATED to what needs to get done! In hazardous-duty organizations (think military, cops, firefighters) the new recruits are harassed, hazed, etc., and made to follow apparently senseless rules. Am I REALLY less capable of killing enemy soldiers if my boots aren’t spit-shined and polished? Or my hair isn’t cut perfectly?

WHY are things done this way? In such organizations? Sudden, un-expected dangers arise, and one has to take orders, without debate, because action has to be taken QUICKLY!!! Sudden dangers arise, and people have to TRUST each other, put aside any selfish pride or vanity, and HELP one another (and the organization), sometimes even at great dangers to themselves. And these are precisely the professions where there is “hazing” or “harassing” or “abusing” the newcomer to the group. The organization is essentially driving out the egotists, the whiners, and the prima donnas whose egos and vanity are too large to handle these working situations, for the good of the group. The “abuse” (within limits) is not so senseless after all. The organization’s veterans are asking the newcomer, “Can you put your ego aside, for the good of the group?”

Similarly (I know the “mandatory” Government-Almighty-driven measures have gone overboard), when I go shopping, in the era of Covid, I will shop ONLY where the masks are MANDATED by the shop-owner(s), so that I know that the NON-socially-conscious, arrogant, self-centered assholes will NOT come over and deliberately cough in my face, as I have read about, in some cases! You may call the masks “virtue signaling” if you’d like; I don’t care! The wearing of the mask DOES display real virtues (of public-mindedness), just as did my boots-polishing crap when I was in the military! Deal with it!

[SQRLSY One]

Arrogant assholes DO sneeze in other people's faces, because they give NOT ONE TINY SHIT about the public welfare! As "anti-mask" protest acts! I have read of that exact scenario, but the below is the closest that I can come to it. This is NOT how civil and decent people act!

From https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/05/05/masks-protests-coronavirus/

Officers in Michigan are searching for a man who allegedly wiped his nose on a Dollar Tree employee’s sleeve on Saturday after she told him he had to wear a mask to shop, the Detroit Free Press reported. And a man shot and killed a security guard at a Family Dollar in Michigan after the guard had an argument with a woman who refused to comply with the statewide executive order that requires people to wear masks inside shops, Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said at a news conference Monday.

[SQRLSY One]

https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/maskless-woman-seen-on-video-coughing-on-customer-inside-ny-bagel-store-after-argument

Maskless woman seen on video coughing on customer inside NY bagel store after argument

Is this woman some sort of heroine to you? Shall we award her some sort of medal or trophy? Wait, do you even believe such people as this "lady" exist?

[SQRLSY eats shit]

“shit eater”

He actually admitted he eats shit.

[con_fuse9]

Saying masks aren't perfect, doesn't mean they are ineffective. They are literally the only defense we have, short of another lock down to slow the spread.

Its like saying Patriot missile system isn't perfect so we should trash it.

[Mother's Lament]

I'm going to give Sqrls kudos for this post.

Not because I agree, but because it's a thought-out, appropriate response with a relevant link.
A nice change from the crazy rants and copypasta.

[JesseAz]

It changed almost immediately.

[Mother's Lament]

Yeah, he went right back to the crazy below.
Too bad.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Feel free to link anything prior to March of this year that said masks were extremely effective at preventing the spread of viruses.

Considering the CDC found that 70% of the people who caught COVID had already been masking up all the time, it seems that the Magical Mask Talisman isn't the I Fucking Love Science! panacea you claim it to be.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Note that "masks" also includes the cloth diapers that government and public health officials are not bothering to differentiate from medical-grade masks in their mandates.

[SQRLSY One]

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02801-8#:~:text=To%20be%20clear%2C%20the%20science,if%20people%20do%20contract%20the

From there:
"At the beginning of the pandemic, medical experts lacked good evidence on how SARS-CoV-2 spreads, and they didn’t know enough to make strong public-health recommendations about masks."

So they have LEARNED and COLLECTED DATA since then! Duh!

Point to me some data from before 1945 that PROVES that atomic weapons detonations are bad for your health, then? Please?

[JesseAz]

They haven't collected data d ummy. They've collected models, built off of assumptions. In fact the CDC only links to two studies of actual populations., One with a sample size of one beauty parlor where 2 stylists wore masks, and 4 did not. It showed a loose correlation to expose to guests (and didn't consider the guests may have gotten covid elsewhere), and a study based on a single hospital that implemented multiple policy changes, not just masks, to show a reduction in spread. The likely culprit for the hospital data is the use of sanitzier and social distancing which has been upheld in studies prior to this year.

So again. You're uneducated as to the facts.

Remember, the modelers you are touting now as what has been learned predicted over 2 million americans dead by end of summer.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Dumbfuck HihnSQRLSo still can't link to anything prior to March of this year showing that all masks, regardless of their construction, are extremely effective at preventing the spread of viruses.

If only such knowledge had been around in the 1950s, the polio vaccine would never have been needed!

[SQRLSY One]

Point to me some data from before 1945 that PROVES that atomic weapons detonations are bad for your health, then? Please? Oh Brilliant One? I ask this of Ye, as an humble weedhopper, Stable Genius Junior?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Dumbfuck HihnSQRLSo still can’t link to anything prior to March of this year showing that all masks, regardless of their construction, are extremely effective at preventing the spread of viruses.

[SQRLSY One]

Red Rocks for Pseudo-Brains thinks that there has been NO valid scientific data-collecting done since March 2020! HOW FAR BACK does this go, Red Rocks for Pseudo-Brains? Has there been ANY valid science collected since, say, A.D. 666?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Still waiting for Dumbfuck HihnSQRLSo to link to anything prior to March of this year showing that all masks, regardless of their construction, are extremely effective at preventing the spread of viruses.

[con_fuse9]

1) No one said "extremely effective"
2) For last time, get this through your head: Masks don't prevent you from getting COVID. It supposed to slow down you from unknowingly spreading COVID.

[jimc5499]

One word. Funding. These scientists know the "golden rule". He who has the gold makes the rules. If anybody wants to know how the "global warming" crap got traction, remember that the Vice President is the titular head of NASA, the National Science Foundation and other government entities that decide who does and doesn't get funding. Al Gore was the VP then and he positioned himself to benefit rom global warming.

[Gray_Jay]

Jesus, did he. I remember the articles gleefully predicting a carbon exchange market with perhaps trillions in capital.

[con_fuse9]

With all these idiotic tRump supporters, numb-nut Republicans here, why not go and fund a study that refutes:
1) Global Warming (or at least say that man isn't No.1 contributor)
2) Refutes COVID responses like social distancing and mask wearing
3) I don't know, how about Young Earth vs. Evolution

You all bitch and moan enough... Do your own science.

[SQRLSY One]

You Trump-Bots are mind-controlled by anti-mask Trumpism! But your mind-controlled, anti-cherry-picked Trump-make-believe-data does NOT "Trump reality"!

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02801-8#:~:text=To%20be%20clear%2C%20the%20science,if%20people%20do%20contract%20the
Face masks: what the data say
The science supports that face coverings are saving lives during the coronavirus pandemic, and yet the debate trundles on. How much evidence is enough?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Dumbshit HihnSQRLSo can't link to studies prior to March of this year showing that masks, regardless of their construction, are the most effective means of preventing the spread of viruses.

[SQRLSY One]

Point to me some data from before 1945 that PROVES that atomic weapons detonations are bad for your health, then? Please? Oh Brilliant One? I ask this of Ye, as an humble weedhopper, Stable Genius Junior?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Dumbfuck HihnSQRLSo still can’t link to anything prior to March of this year showing that all masks, regardless of their construction, are extremely effective at preventing the spread of viruses.

[SQRLSY One]

Red Rocks for Pseudo-Brains thinks that there has been NO valid scientific data-collecting done since March 2020! HOW FAR BACK does this go, Red Rocks for Pseudo-Brains? Has there been ANY valid science collected since, say, 666 BC? HOW FAR can you move the goal posts?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Still waiting for Dumbfuck HihnSQRLSo to link to anything prior to March of this year showing that all masks, regardless of their construction, are extremely effective at preventing the spread of viruses.

[JesseAz]

He can't even point to data after March. The studies he is quoting are based on models that are wildly incorrect. Here is the actual infections against mask policy/adoption of masks:

https://rationalground.com/mask-charts/

There is no correlation in the data. Spikes after mask policies almost everywhere.

[SQRLSY One]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/07/18/fact-check-whats-true-and-whats-false-face-masks/5458858002/

Plenty of links here for ya! And NONE of them will satisfy you, because your mind is already made up!

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Dumbfuck HihnSQRLSo still can’t link to anything prior to March of this year showing that all masks, regardless of their construction, are extremely effective at preventing the spread of viruses.

[SQRLSY One]

Red Rocks for Pseudo-Brains thinks that there has been NO valid scientific data-collecting done since March 2020! HOW FAR BACK does this go, Red Rocks for Pseudo-Brains? Has there been ANY valid science collected since, say, 4 million BC? HOW FAR can you move the goal posts? Maybe you could move the goal posts up your big fat arse!

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Dumbfuck HihnSQRLSo continues to fail to provide studies prior to March of this year showing that all masks, regardless of their construction, are extremely effective at preventing the spread of viruses.

[SQRLSY One]

Hey Red Moron-for-Brains... Did you know that just about NOTHING is perfect?

So, give me data showing that all condoms, regardless of their construction, are extremely effective at preventing the birth of mentally defective idiots such as Red Moron-for-Brains! Your parents used the same condom 50 times? Or it was made out of of fish netting? And they were surprised that their condom didn't prevent you? And THAT is why you are here cluttering up the pages with the same utterly moronic comments, over and over and over?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Dumbfuck HinSQRLSo desperately flailing with deflections because he can't produce any study prior to March of this year showing that masks, regardless of their construction, are extremely effective at preventing the spread of viruses.

[SQRLSY One]

Perfect One Red Brainless Wonder demands perfection! The perfect is the enemy of the good! Perfect One Red Brainless Wonder is the enemy of the good!

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Dumbfuck HinSQRLSo continues to desperately flail with deflections because he can’t produce any study prior to March of this year showing that masks, regardless of their construction, are extremely effective at preventing the spread of viruses.

[con_fuse9]

Do you mean deadly viruses for which no treatment and no vaccine exists and you become infectous well before you show any symptoms? That kind of virus. I don't recall a study on that prior to March 2020

I got this one from April:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7186508/

[Moonrocks]

LISTEN TO THE SCIENTESTS!!! EXCEPT WHEN WE CAN"T TRUST THE SCIENTISTS!!!

[Rufus The Monocled]

Or a pre-approved list of scientists. Ie public health officials. The over 40 000 experts who signed the Great Barrington Declaration are 'fake science'.

“People are tired of COVID… People are tired of hearing Fauci and these idiots, all these idiots who got it wrong… every time he goes on television there’s always a bomb, but there’s a bigger bomb if you fire him. This guy’s a disaster.” – President Donald J. Trump

[Moonrocks]

Whether a scientist is a real scientist or a fake scientist depends solely on what they say at a particular time. Most of those fake scientists that signed the Great Barrington Declaration were real scientists just days before, and they'll be real scientists again as soon as they add their names to some sort of global warming declaration.

[Rufus The Monocled]

The three authors of the GBD were highly esteemed and among the top in the world.

2019: Yayyyy!
2020: Boo! Hiss!

Like Sweden.

2019: Yayyy!
2020: Boo! Hiss!

Reminds me of Kramer's pink toe girlfriend when she was laughing at Jerry's jokes until she didn't like one and began to boo and hiss heckling him.

These people are unprincipled, ignorant, hecklers.

[perlchpr]

They aren't unprincipled, it's just that their principles are "everything for the party, nothing outside the party".

[Rufus The Monocled]

Point taken.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland]

"scientists" have shown they are nothing more than screeching pundits. Seeing as how journals are denying studies that even question their narrative shows this, let alone the copious amounts of made up data.

[CE]

Just checking on today's Scientific American (once a respected scientific journal) headlines:

Human Challenge Trials Will Deliberately Infect Dozens in the UK (okay so far)

Upcoming Supreme Court Ruling Could Jeopardize Health Insurance for People with COVID (huh?)

Presidential Debates Have Shockingly Little Effect on Election Outcomes (interesting I suppose)

US Cities' Actions Fall Short of Lofty Climate Goals (tsk-tsking)

Social Media Restrictions Cannot Keep Up with Hidden Codes and Symbols (okay... oh wait, I can't signal that)

What We Know So Far About How COVID Affects the Nervous System (factual, hopefully)

A Sustainable Alternative to Blanket Lockdowns (wait, what? oh, the answer is Big Data)

How Straight Talk Helped One State Control COVID (way to go Maine)

Neuroscience and Psychology Suggest No Suprise Trump Victory This Time (so why bother to vote?)

Debunking the False Claim That COVID Death Counts are Inflated (keep panicking)

[An onomous]

Science=/= scientists. The scientific method is designed to correct for the biases of scientists over time. Those biases are presumed to exist.

Remember cold fusion?

[Squirrelloid]

Cold fusion is just 5 years away! Just like it was 5 years ago. And 5 years before that, and 5 years before that, and...

[con_fuse9]

Remember flying cars?
Cities on the Moon?
tRump's campaign promises?, from 2016.

[De Oppresso Liber]

...is exactly your position. You guys are literally cherry picking a study that looks like cannot pass peer review to be published to "prove" your position. Whereas there are dozens, perhaps hundreds of peer reviewed studies that go against your position.

And even more hilariously, many of the studies you guys cite actually undercut your argument, but you all are not ...ahem..equipped to understand the findings.

[Grishnak]

Awww you're mad because your mask fetish was just you being a coward and completely unscientific.

Rage more.

[con_fuse9]

Nope, not unscientific.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7186508/

Please read and refute as necessary.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Whereas there are dozens, perhaps hundreds of peer reviewed studies that go against your position.

Feel free to link to studies published prior to March of this year that showed masks, regardless of their construction, were always effective at preventing the spread of viruses.

[JesseAz]

https://rationalground.com/mask-charts/

Direct data DoL. Continue to deny it.

[R Mac]

DOL is lying piece of lefty shit and should be treated as such and nothing more.

[SQRLSY One]

But we need masks to defend ourselves from heroines of JesseSPAZ! "Ladies" like this!

https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/maskless-woman-seen-on-video-coughing-on-customer-inside-ny-bagel-store-after-argument

Maskless woman seen on video coughing on customer inside NY bagel store after argument

Is this woman some sort of heroine to you? Shall we award her some sort of medal or trophy? Shall we send her your way to cough on you? You into S&M and diseases?

[con_fuse9]

So literally the only thing that changed was a mask mandate?
I can't speak to the other charts, but lets start with Miami/Dade
Miami didn't open the beaches and bars?
June 3, Florida enters phase 2 of re-opening, like any chain reaction, it takes a few days to really get going.

[Squirrelloid]

Please cite one experimental study that demonstrates the value of masks in reducing the spread of a respiratory illness. I'll wait.

[SQRLSY One]

Full-up testing with real humans and real diseases is judged to be unethical. Animals? Not so much so!

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/19/coronavirus-wearing-a-mask-can-reduce-transmission-by-75percent-new-study-claims.html

Wearing a mask can significantly reduce coronavirus transmission, study on hamsters claims

[SQRLSY One]

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02801-8

Face masks: what the data say
The science supports that face coverings are saving lives during the coronavirus pandemic, and yet the debate trundles on. How much evidence is enough?

[SQRLSY One]

Here is a "lady" who conducted a real-world human-challenge-type test. Do you want more data? Maybe she will come on over and cough in your face, if you need more data, and-or, you are into S&M, and-or, you are into spreading diseases, with her help! Maybe she even has some OTHER diseases that she could spread to you!

https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/maskless-woman-seen-on-video-coughing-on-customer-inside-ny-bagel-store-after-argument

Maskless woman seen on video coughing on customer inside NY bagel store after argument

Is this woman some sort of heroine to you?

[Squirrelloid]

Going through the nature article, by footnote number: 1 - not experimental, 2 - neither experimental nor peer reviewed, nor publicly available?, 3 - not experimental, and doesn't actually show masks reduce transmission (staff had the highest attack rate, and they were required to wear masks, while campers were not), 4 - full paper not viewable at link, but it's not experimental, 5 - not experimental, 6 - flat out concedes there's no existing experimental evidence for covid-19 mask use (p2, section 2a), 7 - the hamster study, discussed below, 8 - not experimental, primary focus is theory, 9 - not experimental, meta-analysis of 'observational studies', 10 - mechanical study of material efficiency specifications by material, did not study covid-19 transmission, and also highlights how failure to 'seal' (ie, gaps at edges) a mask degrades the efficiency (guess how most people are wearing them), 11 - mask-droplet mechanical study, did not study covid-19 transmission. (Amusingly, neck gaiters increased total droplet emissions somehow), 12 - the effect of masks they identify is a psychological effect - *they cause people to social distance more*. They recommend people should also wear safety goggles, not because they physically do a damn thing about covid-19 transmission, but because wearing them encourages even more social distancing! 13 - "This experiment ... does not reflect the actual transmission of infection from patients with COVID-19 wearing different types of masks", 14 - not experimental

Not being experimental is a fatal flaw. Mask mandates in virtually every country (including the US) went into effect *after* the infection peak, so of course infection rates continued to go down after the mandate -- the virus had already peaked, usually a week or more ago. The logic of these studies is testing against a null hypothesis that infection rate would be constant without a mask mandate, and that's an obviously false null hypothesis. The standard gompertz curve for epidemics is because of a non-constant infection rate. That the authors of the nature summary don't even discuss this or even raise the possibility that the correlation is driven by something other than mask efficiency is scientific malpractice.

And all these authors seem to ignore the vast experimental literature on face mask effects on influenza transmission, despite seemingly similar pathogen vectors. See a summary of that research here: https://www.technocracy.news/masks-are-neither-effective-nor-safe-a-summary-of-the-science/

The hamster study: 1. Isn't even peer reviewed yet. 2. Has woefully small sample size numbers. The p-value for a difference between the effects isn't high enough for significance in a medical context (Their p=0.018. Generally you'd want a p-value < 0.01 to consider a claim supported for medical research. The more lenient p < 0.05 standard is only appropriate for things like ecological studies which cannot be done in a controlled laboratory setting). 3. Their test group isn't just without masks, it also adds fans blowing air between cages. Their masked groups had no fans. That's a significant methodological flaw - any signal could well be due to fans and not the presence or absence of masks. (And we have direct contact tracing evidence of fans causing or aiding transmission in restaurant settings). 4. It's unclear that masking *cages* is comparable to masking the mouth. The velocity of droplets at the point of exhalation should be much greater than at a further distance. 5. it's unclear hamsters are a viable model substitute for humans. Differences in exhalation droplet size and velocity could be significant, much less other relevant factors i'm not even considering.

I'm not going to defend the woman - she's not my hero. I'm interested in the science. And there are dozens if not hundreds of peer reviewed studies going back 100 years that show no effect of masks on influenza transmission rates, and occasionally a negative effect of masks (ie, increased transmission rate).

And routine mask wearing has known detrimental medical side-effects, including dyspnea (shortage of oxygen), which can have physiologically detrimental effects in as little as 6 minutes of mask wearing. So it wouldn't be enough to prove that mask wearing reduces covid-19 transmission, you have to prove they do so by enough for the benefits to be worth the cost. (Repeated episodic dyspnea alone decreases life expectancy and increases risk of a number of medical complications including heart disease).

[SQRLSY One]

OK, so then, confirmation bias is confirmed! No surprises there!

1) Do you think that salad bars should take down their Plexiglas "sneeze guards"? I bet there have been NO studies, to YOUR satisfaction, that they have been PROVEN, WITH a statistically significant population of real humans, and real diseases, that they do anything significantly good! Am I correct? DOWN with the Plexiglas "sneeze guards" at the salad bars, right? Is that where you'd prefer to eat?

2) Protester lady who coughs in your face... Would you rather shop at a place where she is free to cough in your face, or would you rather "fence her out" by shopping at places that forbid this kind of anti-social disregard for the health and welfare of others?

3) If you prefer to eat salad at places where the salad has been sneezed on, and-or, you prefer to shop at places where "ladies" are free to cough in your face, I can respect your freedoms. But, would you PLEASE be so kind as to let me shop where this kind of disregard for the health and welfare of others is forbidden? And where prohibitions, when consented to by the owners of the establishments, are enforced?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Here's a hilarious-in-hindsight take from shitlib commenter SimonP back in March, when this was all kicking off:

SimonP
March.11.2020 at 9:09 am

The strategy of containment, social distancing, and coordinated shutdowns of mass gatherings is designed to slow the spread of the pandemic to a rate that our existing health infrastructure can handle.

Note what he's spouting there--the "conventional wisdom" from the Smart Set that a spread through society was inevitable and that we needed to keep the case numbers relatively low until it burned itself out. Nothing at all in there about wearing face diapers and their magical preventative properties.

And the reason for that is simple--because there were no "studies" up to that point, despite centuries of pandemics to reference, that showed wearing a mask, regardless of what it was made of, was effective at slowing the spread of viruses. These types LOVE shoving their supposed knowledge in people's faces, and if they thought at the time that masks had a historical record of preventing mass virus spread, they would have said so at the time.

[ElvisIsReal]

Yep. Everybody understood in March that it was too late to contain the virus, and it was "15 days to SLOW the spread."

Then Joe Biden needed them to pretend the virus could be stopped, so the blame could be placed on Donald Trump. And the most "hilarious" part of it all is that D governors in a handful of states killed their own people and account for nearly half the deaths in the country.

[Árboles de la Barranca]

The Webster Webfoot Definitive Online Dictionary expanded the scientific meaning of "Control Group" to have multiple meanings including "group that got the real thing" after WP, the unimpeachable source, published an article suggesting it was the case.

[Jerry B.]

And anyone at all is surprised?

Remember, the Post’s motto, “Democracy Dies in Darkness“, is an aspirational policy statement, not a warning.

[[e-mail]]

I get paid more than $120 to $130 per hour for working online. I heard about this job 3 months ago and after joining this i have earned easily $15k from asw this without having online working skills. This is what I do....Visit Here

[Fist of Etiquette]

With less than two weeks until the 2020 election, Trump is filling rallies and airtime with suggestions that Democratic nominee Joe Biden may be guilty of unspecified federal crimes.

The GOP can spend three years ginning up a case for impeachment off it when Biden wins.

[Moonrocks]

But Biden won't win. What now?

[Fist of Etiquette]

If Biden doesn't win then no one gives a shite about any past corruption.

[perlchpr]

Disagree. I'd like to see people actually get punished for their crimes, whether they'll ever hold office again or not.

[Gray_Jay]

The calculus has always been: if you threaten these guys with jail when they leave, they'll never leave. See, Augusto Pinochet.

But, the flip side of that was a gentleman's agreement that the crimes they were going to commit in office were minor ones. A certain level of corruption, if you would. This stuff---never mind sending literal cargo aircraft filled with cash to a terrorist nation, one responsible for killing thousands of Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan---exceeds that certain level of corruption in my book.

[con_fuse9]

Heck, tRump is still bitching about Hillary and Obama 4 years later.
When your and abject failure, you need to blame someone.

[Compelled Speechless]

I'm pretty sure Biden getting impeached just does the DNC the favor of having to get him out of the way so we can get to the Kamala coronation.

[loveconstitution1789]

FIRST BLACK ANCHOR BABY!

[Illocust]

Ouch, really hurts to have the Russian disinformation narrative overturned. Nice attempt at spin though.

[Overt]

Poor ENB. She has been waiting so long to find out how to talk about the Hunter emails without, you know, talking about the emails. First it was the Censorship. Now it is, "Trump Seizes".

[Illocust]

Honestly she reminds me of a dear family member who started swearing when she found out Biden raped one of his employees. She believed he really did it, but she was pissed because she thought it would lose Biden votes. A lot of Dems realize that they are on the cusp of securing permanent dictatorial power. Who Biden is and what he's done doesn't matter from that perspective because his sole purpose is to be a rubber stamp for whatever a Pelosi run congress sends to him.

[Mother's Lament]

Biden won't last a week past swearing in.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

They won't be that blatant, but I'll be stunned if they allow him to go to 2024. It's been all but admitted now (to the point that even Troy Aikman acknowledged it when caught on a hot mic) that Kamala Harris is going to be the one actually running things if Biden wins.

He'll either get the 25th Amendment put on him within about a year once they stop pumping him full of adrenochrome and his decline fully sets in, or he'll resign after the mid-terms after the opposing party makes their traditional seat gains.

[Commenter_XY]

Kamala's husband has already been caught on video (yesterday) saying he is married to the next president of the US. Accidental? NFW.

[Rat on a train]

I say mid-terms. That way Harris can run for reelection twice.

[con_fuse9]

Still better than tRump. I'd vote for a rock before tRump.

[Gray_Jay]

Nah, they'll try to do at least 2 years, so that Harris can potentially go 10 more.

Now, Biden might look like Strom Thurmond did before this is all over, but that just shows what a devoted public servant he is.

[An onomous]

If Harris went 10 years, the rule of law, including term limits, would be a quaint memory.

[Rat on a train]

10 years is Constitutional.

No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.

[Gray_Jay]

Somebody's been reading...

Yeah, 10 years is kosher. I can't figure out why they'd want her, specifically, for ten years, but they could in that scenario.

[Rat on a train]

They would get more of their liking with Harris than with Biden. I'm sure they would get an insurance policy in as new VP in case she doesn't follow orders.

[CE]

all the Presidential budget plans are for 10 years.
even though the max term is 8 years.

[CE]

I'm putting the over-under at 100 days. Any earlier and Harris looks too power hungry.

[James K. Polk]

This is the modern left. "Disinformation" is used to label a trove of information that is all true, including photos and videos with Hunter Biden in them.

And the Russian part? I've actually attempted to follow these claims and from what I can find there is actually no evidence to support a Russian angle on this. Not even a little. None at all. All I've ever seen are partisans saying it "looks like" Russian disinformation. I think what they're really saying is that everything in it is true and harms their candidate.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hasn't the intelligence community already said there's no evidence?

[John]

Yes

[R Mac]

Another blatant lie by ENB? Say it isn’t so!

[Moonrocks]

That sounds exactly like what a Russian bot would say.

[perlchpr]

Shto? 😉

[Moonrocks]

AHA! Proof at last of Russian collusion!

[Gray_Jay]

Blyat! Cyka...

[Rat on a train]

Please don't mix transcribed Russian and Cyrillic. Think of the deti.

[Gray_Jay]

I apologize, and will go back to the 100 Rads bar.

[JesseAz]

The media all jumped on iranian disinformation yesterday about the Proud Boys. No evidence. Later they were told the story was from Iran. They still haven't retracted tweets in half the cases.

[Cyto]

NBC covered this this morning on The today show.

they insinuated that it was a campaign to intimidate voters in Florida in order to help Trump. That takes some seriously willful denial of reality there.

So rather than linger on a story that is not helpful once thoroughly examined, they immediately pivoted to Russia. And on the Russia front, their first example was Hunter Biden's laptop. Our expert told us that he had spoken to numerous intelligence officials, both Republican and Democrat, and they all agree that this "has all the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign". That was this morning, days after that line of defense had been completely debunked.

They did spend an entire segment, commercial to commercial, on Borat. It was a very important story that got teased several times earlier in the broadcast.

To my knowledge, that is more time than they have spent covering the Biden emails.

So, to be clear, NBC news views actual fake news, as in completely made up pranks designed to sell a movie, as worthy of in-depth coverage even though they actually don't point to anything significant. But actual hard evidence of direct quid pro quo corruption on behalf of the Democrat presidential candidate is unverified and therefore not worthy of coverage? Even though it fits into a pattern that we already know to be true, namely Biden bragging about his actions in Ukraine and his son's lucrative employment with a company that stood to gain by those actions.

[Moonrocks]

The Borat thing I think is more to deflect from Toobin's tubin'. They're trying to portray Giuliani as equivalent to Toobin, so it looks like they're trying to rinse away the Toobin story with a Giuliani story. I wouldn't be surprise if the Toobin story itself was an attempt to deflect from the Biden corruption scandal.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

These people aren't that intellectually sophisticated. It's just a lame "whataboutism" effort to say "SEE GUILIANI THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO FUCK A 15-YEAR-OLD SO HUNTER DIDDLING HIS NIECE AND ACTING AS A MIDDLEMAN IN PEDDLING FOREIGN INFLUENCE IS NO BIG DEAL" that ended up falling completely flat.

Keep in mind that Sasha Baron Cohen has explicitly come out against free speech on the internet and wants the principle banned from it entirely. Elites like him know that the proles being able to push back against and question his ideology is something that needs to be suppressed in order to retain power.

[Moonrocks]

These people aren’t that intellectually sophisticated.
I disagree. Political strategy is all they think of, and I think it's unwise to think that they're incompetent at it. They may not have had much success lately because their TDS has driven them completely insane, but that doesn't mean they haven't been desperately trying for the last four years, and they almost succeeded with the coronavirus panic.

I'm purely speculating without any evidence, but maybe that wasn't the first time Tubin exposed himself on a Zoom call, and maybe someone figured (maybe Tubin himself) that he could take one for the team for a couple of weeks so they could use this habit of his to try and crowd out something substantial.

[Gray_Jay]

I'd say, "No way," but it would explain why CNN hasn't fired him yet, or why they've leaked that they're still thinking of bringing him back in a bit.

Because otherwise, it's inexplicable. Keeping this clown on is a giant exhibit in any sexual harassment case any future CNN talent feels like filing. And it's so unnecessary: what in Hell does Jeffrey Toobin bring to CNN--- or anywhere, really---that's so irreplaceable? They can't find another late middle-aged talking head from Harvard or Yale Law to blather on about legal issues and politics, for a few million a year?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Like I said a few days ago, if Biden was up by as much as the polls are claiming, there wouldn't be this level of media/BigTech blackout and subsequent deflection efforts. They can't even deflect without going to the standard "Russian disinformation" shibboleth that they've been spouting for four years.

It's like watching a moral and mental OODA loops collapse in real time.

[Overt]

I don't know about that. They learned not to take anything for granted. As far as the Dems are concerned, it was their failure to immediately kill the Swift Boat rumors that sank Kerry's campaign. This isn't at all true, but it is the only way they can comprehend why the electorate doesn't just naturally vote for them.

[Hank Ferrous]

OODA loop. One doesn't hear/read that much these days, outside of the smallest minority, the one largely without a grievance culture problem.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

That grifting dumbshit Rick Wilson used it in 2016 when he was arguing how Jeb was going to take down Trump, but I doubt he really understood how it actually worked.

Chuck Spinney, one of the acolytes who was mentored by John Boyd, the guy who actually came up with the concept, did a great article in Counterpunch back in 2008 explaining how Obama beat John McCain in that fashion. McCain's "suspension" of his campaign to go bail out the banks with the TARP bill was basically the moment he imploded and never recovered.

[CE]

"has all the hallmarks of" means "maybe this will fly"

[con_fuse9]

I doubt it was really from Iran.
Unless Iran benefits from tRump being re-elected.

Just because a hacker "accidentally" leaves a calling card, doesn't mean its really his calling card. In fact, if you find an obvious calling card, you can be sure of one thing, ITS NOT WHO YOU THINK IT IS.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

"The Russians got Hunter Biden addicted to drugs several years ago, tricked him into serving as a bagman for his daddy, downloaded compromising emails, texts, and photo evidence created by Russian spies and meme generators onto his laptop, spilled water on it to force him to go get it fixed, and then drugged him to make him forget that he dropped it off. Then they paid the repair shop guy to drop it off with Guiliani a year after their spies convinced the FBI to not pursue an investigation for over a year, even when an impeachment trial was being conducted on this very subject.

All part of a decades-long psyop to take down Joe Biden in 2020."

"(This is what liberals actually believe)"

[con_fuse9]

No, what I believe is:
It's Joe Biden running for President, not Hunter.

Are you old enough to remember Billy Carter?

[Gray_Jay]

Not even a mass shooting or bombing at a voting site to try and get this hard drive off the front page. Sad! Low Energy!

[The White Knight]

Has it been overturned? You guys are very adamant about questioning sources when a story breaks about Trump having been involved in some scandal, but in this case you readily believe the authenticity of a story whose sources are Guiliani, Bannon, a pro-Trump shop owner in a state Hunter Biden didn't even live in at the time, a reporter who is an ex-Hannity staffer who didn't actually write the story, and Trump partisan, Ratcliffe.

The most damning statement is from Tony Bobulinski, claiming that the email about Joe Biden receiving a ten-percent cut from a deal with a Chinese company. ENB seems to have missed that news. One detail to note about those emails is that they were from 2017, when Biden was no longer in office.

But you guys are overlooking the holes and inconsistencies in the story, and readily believing sources who are known to have a troubled relationship with truth.

[Grishnak]

"You guys"

vaguely waves hand at everyone douchily

[The White Knight]

You guys is the CACLL contingent, the Trump Mean Girls. Of everything in my comment, that's your only response.

[Grishnak]

Some people hurt your feelz we get it.

[JesseAz]

LOL. You're going this route again? Calling everyone who calls your BS out a mean trump girl. All while inferring you're a neutral arbiter of information.

Hilarious.

[Mother's Lament]

Heeey, White Knight.
What does CACLL mean and who coined the acronym?

[The White Knight]

It means conservative and conservative-leaning libertarian, and I coined it.

Is there a law in Canada that ordinary people aren’t allowed to coin acronyms. Here in the godamn USA we have freedom of speech.

[Mother's Lament]

Nobody said you couldn't coin it you pretentious poseur.

Just like nobody has said I can't mock you mercilessly for it from now on. I'm saving #comment-8537195 to put to good use later.

[R Mac]

How long have you been waiting breathlessly for someone to finally ask you what it means Dee?

I do think next time you’re at a party you should use it, everyone will think it’s a hoot.

[Overt]

I absolutely question the laptop's veracity. The people involved make it very suspect.

So we are left looking for corroborating evidence. The first is that Secret Service logs for Hunter's security seem to match events in the released emails. Second, the photos released have never been seen before, and at least 2 are Selfies, meaning that they likely cane from Hunter's own device. Next we have Hunter's former business partner this morning confirming that at least one of the emails is authentic- and that is the damning "Big Guy" email.

So what you seem to ignore is that Bobulinski authenticating at least one of those items lends credence to the REST of the documentation- which contradicts your attempts to indict the evidence based on the messenger.

[The White Knight]

Maybe. But, as several articles about the possibility that this is a Russian disinformation effort have explained, it is typical for a disinformation effort to take a bunch of authentic emails gotten through hacking, and mix in some fake emails.

Anyway, I appreciate keeping a sense of balance and looking at evidence for and against the story. I'm voting for Jo Jorgensen, so I have no personal stake in defending Joe Biden. He may be corrupt as hell.

[Overt]

There is ZERO evidence that this is a Russian disinformation campaign. ZERO. The FBI has found none, and they have had the data since 2019.

The only indication that this may be disinformation is the unsupported allegations of "experts" with no first hand knowledge, who say this "looks like what the Russians would do".

What evidence do you want to prove this? A signed confession from Hunter?

[Mother's Lament]

Only if it's notarized.

[The White Knight]

I don’t think anyone has claimed anything other than that it might Ben disinformation.

If anything, the FBI’s supposedly having had the laptop in their possession since December 2019 argues against the information on the laptop being authentic, not for its being authentic.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

The Biden campaign has not denied that the hard drive is authentic. That simple fact argues strongly that it is in fact authentic. Biden shut down all public appearances the day this story broke and has been reduced to screeching that any reference to his crack head kid has been "debunked". When or by whom he won't reveal. The phenomenon of Biden family members becoming wealthy despite their questionable talents has been reported on for decades. None of this is particularly surprising. It's the "big guy" payoff references that make this a problem.

[con_fuse9]

Uhm, family members with questionable talents?
Never stopped anyone before.

But nothing about tRump actively negotiating a hotel in Moscow even after he got elected? No? Promising Vlad a room at the top?

[The White Knight]

Depends. Which specific “this” are we discussing?

[Alex Haley]

*returns 4 hours later*

"Ahem, you see, it all depends on what the meaning of 'is' is"

*drops mic*

B R A V O
R
A
V
O

[JesseAz]

But, as several articles about the possibility that this is a Russian disinformation effort have explained The ones from political operatives that offer up exactly zero evidence of it being so?

So to put this in perspective.

You've dismissed all the public corroborative evidence that the information is real.. And instead cling to the "it might be Russians based on zero evidence" line instead. Did you find some Russian notarized documents or something?

You're a joke at this point.

[Mother's Lament]

In Joe McCarthy White Knight's world a secret Russian plot is far more likely than a dipshit drug addict screwing up.

[The White Knight]

I have not dismissed it all. The statement from Hunter Biden’s former business partner seems credible and is hard to ignore.

Unlike pro-Trump partisans posting here, there is absolutely no compelling reason that I, a common citizen and a libertarian who is voting for Jo, have to hold an opinion on whether the accusations are true one it. I can suspend judgement and wait for more of the story to come out.

[Mother's Lament]

and a libertarian who is voting for Jo

You Really Think Someone Would Do That? Just Go On the Internet and Tell Lies?

[Ben of Houston]

WK, I would agree with you on the reliability of the laptop. The chain of custody is so sketchy that I would take all evidence from it with a heaping cup of salt. I would be unsurprised at all that it was a cover for illegally obtained materials.

Except for the media response. The absolute silence in the media and door-slam censorship of it by big tech made even mentioning it difficult.

Then we also have the court summons and FBI statements that prove it had at least been investigated. We need to determine whether these were actual investigations that determined this was nonsense or whitewashes. I do not trust the FBI after the issues with spying, falsifying warrants, and the treatment they gave Clinton compared to the outright setup of Flynn.

Finally, these e-mails are just icing on the cake. We've known Biden was crooked for years now. No objective look at the Hunter Biden situation can conclude that everything is on the up-and-up. At the very least, his multitude of employers had to have THOUGHT they were getting political benefit from it. Otherwise, how did a known drug addict with a multitude of firings keep getting hired at high salaries at firms that needed to get international support? This only confirms what everyone suspected but could not prove

[The White Knight]

“At the very least, his multitude of employers had to have THOUGHT they were getting political benefit from it. Otherwise, how did a known drug addict with a multitude of firings keep getting hired at high salaries at firms that needed to get international support?”

Absolutely agree about Hunter Biden. The question is can anything be made to stick against Joe Biden.

[Hank Ferrous]

Biden still had connections made during his 47 years of power-waffling and steadfastly making the wrong decision for the wrong reasons. After he left office, if he was skimming 50% of Hunter's take the money could be for those connections. The fact that the FBI does seem to be involved lends credibility, as do the confirmations on the email messages from the other parties, and the receipt. If the latter can be positively linked to Hunter, then there are three confirmed ties. And, the OP didn't say overturned, he said no evidence of this being a Russian operation, as there is no evidence. There is some supposition and a lot of wishful thinking.

[The White Knight]

Don't disagree with anything you said. The thing is that although Joe Biden may have started arranging the deal to get a 10% cut from the Chinese energy company while he was still Vice President, the emails are from his civilian life. To actually nail Biden with a crime, more evidence has to be established.

[JesseAz]

The emails start before 2016.... And apparently you think it would be okay for an outgoing politician to arrange for big pay days while still in office. Yeah... You're a real standup guy here and totes not defending Biden in any way.

[The White Knight]

No, what I’m saying is that there’s a reason Barr and the FBI are not rushing to go after Joe Biden as Trump wishes them to: the case is too weak.

You say the emails go back to 2016, but the “big guy gets 10%” email is from 2017, and it is hearsay at this point that Joe Biden is the “big guy”. A much stronger case must be built.

[R Mac]

Shorter white knight: there’s only 6 sources, and I’m discounting 5 of them because I don’t like them, and I’m discounting the 6th because there’s really only one source.

[Mother's Lament]

A bunch of Tankies are making that argument this morning. The strategy must've appeared inn last night's talking points email.

[John Milton]

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said this week that there's no evidence the emails are an attempt by Russia to meddle in the 2020 U.S. election. (There's also no evidence they actually came from Hunter Biden, aside from the word of Trump advisor Rudy Giuliani, who passed them to the Post.)

Those pics of him cavorting with teenage girls, snorting coke off a hooker's ass, getting a blowjob while smoking crack, the emails verified by the recipients as genuine, all just miraculously ended up on somebody else's computer. Because that totally exonerates Biden and makes this whole scenario look perfectly innocent...

You guys should really reconsider this line of cover you're running.

[John Milton]

But hey, if you can't trust the Chris Wray FBI that now has an agent sitting in prison for confessing to lying on a subpoena to spy on the campaign and incoming administration of the opposition party, who can you trust?

[Lord of Strazele]

To believe you or Trump, we are now asked to believe Wray and Barr are part of a criminal plot to cover up Biden's crimes.

Go home, you're drunk.

[JesseAz]

Wray and barr merely decline to comment you fuckwit.

[Grishnak]

"we are now asked to believe Wray and Barr are part of a criminal plot"

Um, no you really aren't, fuckwit.

[Commenter_XY]

Pod...give it up. The emails are damning. The email recipients have come out publicly and stated they are genuine. Neither Quid Pro Joe nor his crackhead son deny that the lap belongs to Huffing Hunter and that the emails are genuine.

[Gray_Jay]

The photos? Maybe of Biden. Maybe not. Ignore them,

The emails are almost certainly true, and are damning. Nixon got tossed for far less than this. Teapot Dome was better than this. Not that it matters for about 45%+, and growing, of the electorate.

We're so fucked.

[JesseAz]

We have verification from people on email chains saying they were true. It is corroborated against travel days with Hunters security detail. Cooney released his own emails showing linkages to hunters. Today the NYPOST has a person, well respected, come forward publicly stating he personally saw Joe and his son discussing deals with foreigners.

Yet the lying cunt ENB pushes this defense of Joe instead.

[Derp-o-Matic 6000]

"If you close your eyes, put your fingers in your ears, and yell 'LALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!', then there is zero evidence." /ENB

[R Mac]

And now white knight. Surprising, huh?

[Mother's Lament]

White Knight shilling?
l' étonnement! It cannot be.
Il a juré d'être juste.
Des deux côtés....

[R Mac]

You got a cite for what that says in English? I don’t speak Russian.

[Mother's Lament]

Cyka blyat.

[Overt]

The FBI has confirmed that they have the laptops, and signed documents from them confirm that they were taken from Isaac.

Isaac has been interviewed by multiple parties, and confirms that the pics and emails released from Giuliani are from the laptop.

The pics released by the New York post are never seen before, personal selfies that would implicate him in crimes of drug use and solicitation.

There is also Hunter Biden's business associate, who released a letter confirming that at least one of the emails is authentic.

This is all evidence. It isn't conclusive evidence, but it is evidence. This isn't biased reporting, it is just BAD reporting. I get selection bias and all that, but she is flat out denying reality right here. The evidence exists whether you agree with it, believe it conclusive, or believe that it is contradicted by other evidence.

[R Mac]

It is not reporting at all. It is lying propaganda.

[The White Knight]

Can you cite where the FBI confirmed they have the laptop or laptops? (Even this detail is fuzzy: was there one laptop or three?)

"Isaac has been interviewed by multiple parties, and confirms that the pics and emails released from Giuliani are from the laptop." That means nothing if the laptop was created for disinformation purposes.

"There is also Hunter Biden’s business associate, who released a letter confirming that at least one of the emails is authentic." This is the most damning evidence so far, but one little thing conservative news stories gloss over is that the emails are from after Joe Biden was out of office. Still, ENB seems to have completely missed this bit of news.

[Grishnak]

"Can you cite"

lololololololol

[The White Knight]

Well, can you? I've only seen statements from the FBI saying they "cannot confirm nor deny".

[justice is a chainsaw]

" can you?"

lololololol

[Overt]

"Can you cite where the FBI confirmed they have the laptop or laptops? "

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/laptop-hunter-biden-linked-fbi-money-laundering-probe.amp?__twitter_impression=true

Why do you keep skipping over the incriminating photos? If I found a laptop with photos of you, obviously taken by you in selfie mode, and obviously of the kind that you wouldn't share publicly, would I be crazy to suspect that makes this your laptop?

Again, those aren't conclusive, but they are evidence. And while the Bobulinski corroboration is damning, it is absolutely false that there is no other evidence.

[The White Knight]

Because, as several articles about disinformation explained, the photos could have been gotten by Russians hacking Hunter Biden's computers, then a fake laptop could have been prepared.

That would mean the the photos are authentic, of course. But it also means the part of the story about the laptop could be totally fake.

[Grishnak]

Or maybe aliens from Proxima Centauri IX planted it lolololo

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

“The Russians got Hunter Biden addicted to drugs several years ago, tricked him into serving as a bagman for his daddy, downloaded compromising emails, texts, and photo evidence created by Russian spies and meme generators onto his laptop, spilled water on it to force him to go get it fixed, and then drugged him to make him forget that he dropped it off. Then they paid the repair shop guy to drop it off with Guiliani a year after their spies convinced the FBI to not pursue an investigation for over a year, even when an impeachment trial was being conducted on this very subject.

All part of a decades-long psyop to take down Joe Biden in 2020.”

“(This is what liberals actually believe)”

[De Oppresso Liber]

Still no cite, lol.

[Blink]

IT WAS ALIENS!!$ AHAHAHAHAH

[Overt]

"Because, as several articles about disinformation explained, the photos could have been gotten by Russians hacking Hunter Biden’s computers, then a fake laptop could have been prepared."

In other words, the wild speculations of "experts" who have NO first hand knowledge of what happened- that give you exactly the excuse you need to ignore inconvenient evidence- is what you are going to believe.

*If* this were Russian disinformation, then where is the smoking gun email that they "crafted" where Biden and Hunter are laughing about their money bucks? Instead it is just more information that reenforces what we already know happened.

The answer, of course, is that you are engaged in conspiracy theory thinking where any evidence will just be confirmation of what you believe.

[JesseAz]

WK believes inference by political partisans over actual evidence. Amazing.

[Alex Haley]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

Yes, yes. The Russkies framed up Biden with a fake laptop, and that totally exonerates him from the confirmed email chains discussing shady and illegal business deals because shut up bot.

[Mother's Lament]

"Can you cite where the FBI confirmed they have the laptop or laptops?"

You're such a piece of shit.

You ask for a cite constantly in order to cast shade on someone's assertion without having to formulate a counter argument, and if that fails, to distract and occupy them with fulfilling your bullshit citation request while you dissemble.

Tony may be the most sinister commenter here, but you're the biggest weasel.

Here's your bloody cite, demagogue: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8861635/FBI-taken-possession-Hunter-Bidens-laptops.html

[Ron]

came to say the same. No evidence only when you refuse to look

[loveconstitution1789]

FBI Not Playing Along as Trump Tries To Implicate Joe Biden in Crimes

Joe Biden and his son ARE implicated in crimes.

But hey, this is not the Obama Adminstration where the FBI is used to violating federal law and the Constitution by lying under oath and trying to coup a duly elected President Trump.

[loveconstitution1789]

It is funny that ENB will continue to be a media whore and lie and lie and lie to cover Democrats.

[Mother's Lament]

For those who think Lovecons use of "media whore" is too strong a word, no ethical journalist would look at those texts and emails and say; "Once again, Trump camp efforts to link Joe Biden to some sort of shady family business dealings can't be deterred by facts".

This's Tony-level lying.

[Mother's Lament]

For example: "Trump is filling rallies and airtime with suggestions that Democratic nominee Joe Biden may be guilty of unspecified federal crimes."

ENB outright lies here and says they're unspecified. She's trying to make it sound like the crimes are merely inferred rather than concrete accusations of graft, misappropriation and corruption.

[Moonrocks]

Biden's unspecified federal crimes are about as unspecified as Trump's unidentified secret police are unidentified.

And you thought Newspeak was a fictional plot point.

[An onomous]

And you thought Newspeak was a fictional plot point.

I certainly did not, and neither did Orwell.

[loveconstitution1789]

Why would ENB throw any remaining shred of character out the window if Biden was a sure thing to beat Trump?

That tells me that even ENB and other Lefties KNOW Trump will win reelection.

[Gray_Jay]

It tells me it's close. If it were a blowout one way or the other, why burn one's credibility this badly?

Vote. Bring your neighbors to vote. It's going to be close. And a mess.

[The White Knight]

"Media whore" is another case of a CACLL posting comments that are misogynistic.

[Grishnak]

"CACLL"

Lolololo he's still trying to get this stupid shit off the ground lolololl

[An onomous]

That's so fetch.

[Flame CCR]

"misogynistic"

Men can be whores moron.

[Gray_Jay]

The slur here has nothing to do with sex work. She's trading her credibility, her virtue as a journalist, for cash.

Sounds pretty whorish to me. If it's shocking to read, perhaps that will make someone over there in DuPont Circle reconsider what they've been writing?

Probably not, though.

[An onomous]

He's the White Knight. His white-knighting surprises you somehow?

[Mother's Lament]

What does CACLL mean and who coined the acronym, White Knight?

[Mother's Lament]

Oh wow. He just posted he invented it himself.

The White Knight
October.22.2020 at 3:18 pm
It means conservative and conservative-leaning libertarian, and I coined it.
Is there a law in Canada that ordinary people aren’t allowed to coin acronyms. Here in the godamn USA we have freedom of speech.

Then he tries to flagwave. My fucking sides.

[loveconstitution1789]

Here’s Everything You Need To Know About Joe Biden’s Latest Scandals

ENB hardest hit.

[John Milton]

NOT REAL! FAKE SCANDAL! NO EVIDENCE!

It's not like Trump hired a washed up foreign intelligence officer to take down the drunken bar stories of a shady Russian stooge and used the resulting fabrications to obtain secret warrants in secret courts to surreptitiously spy on his rival's election campaign. In that case, the evidence would be rock-solid and indisputable.

[raspberrydinners]

God you are pathetic.

[John Milton]

Yes, we know you're seething with impotent rage, cytotoxic. Thank you for making that 100% clear.

[loveconstitution1789]

Pathetic as in unrelenting pointing out the lies the propagandists at unreason and MSM tell on a daily basis?

[Mother's Lament]

Supermad, huh.

Don't worry, Joe will still ''win'. As one of the your luminaries said 'Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything.'

[Grishnak]

I love the idea of Antifa blaming Joe's crackhead son for costing them power.

[Gray_Jay]

Cry some more. You all are the ones who decided to pick one of the most corrupt politicians of the last fifty years, to represent you. Think you'd be having these issues if you followed your heart and picked Bernie? Or Castro or Hickenlooper?

You played yourself.

[Nardz]

That's the thing - I think Biden's corruption is pretty typical. He's just been at it for five decades and rose high enough to get more.
But I doubt he's otherwise dirtier than his D (and a lot of R) peers.
Joe is the swamp.
And the swamp thinks the American people are nothing more than livestock.

[Claptrap]

Man, ENB is spinning mightily against the Biden corruption story.

NO. EVIDENCE.

https://nypost.com/2020/10/22/hunter-biz-partner-confirms-e-mail-details-joe-bidens-push-to-make-millions-from-china/

The dynamite assertion [that the former vice president was a willing and eager participant in a family scheme to make millions of dollars by partnering with a shady Chinese Communist firm], believable because it aligns with earlier information we know to be true, came in a statement by Tony Bobulinski, who describes himself as a former partner of Hunter Biden, Joe Biden and Joe’s brother Jim in the China scheme. Bobulinski unloads his bill of accusations in blunt but precise language and detail.

He confirms that he was one of the recipients of the May 13, 2017, email published by The Post eight days ago. That email, from another partner in the group, laid out cash and equity positions and mysteriously included a 10 percent set-aside for “the big guy.”

Uh, oops.

[Claptrap]

I'm guessing she's fully on board with the Times's new objective of narrative building instead of actual, you know, journalism. Because she's not interested in the actual journalism at play here.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-laptop-window-on-the-oligarchy-11603235685

The New York Post revelations are unlike many things you’ve seen reported as “news” lately: There is meticulous, transparent sourcing. The technician who ended up in possession of Hunter’s laptop is described in detail and has now been identified by name by other news outlets and even outed himself. The named persons of Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon vouched for how the data came into the Post’s hands. Compare this to the vague, anonymous sourcing of so many Russia collusion stories or the New York Times’s mysteriously sourced “tax-return data” (not tax returns) of Donald Trump.

[Mother's Lament]

She's been fully on board for four years now, but if she isn't fired for today's nonsense, then you know that Reason mag is 'All in'. Because this isn't mere opinion, it's deliberate and willful misinformation and lying.

[Overt]

It is absurd to call for this shill's firing. This is an opinion piece, and I don't want to see her fired for it. ENB is in need of serious help. She claims to be a Libertarian, but she is having trouble disentangling her lefty allegiances and hatred of Trump from her reporting. A libertarian should have intervened to mentor her 5 to 10 years ago. Unfortunately they didn't and she is now well into her career, and headed down the tired old path of HuffPost journalists that are a dime a dozen.

In addition to mentoring her, it would be nice if some of the other writers here would give her a bit of an example to follow. Instead, they are letting their own bias show. People like Sullum and The Jacket know that this is damning stuff, but don't want to talk about it.

[Mother's Lament]

Like I said, this isn’t mere opinion, it’s deliberate and willful misinformation and lying.
She's not been duped, she knows it's a lie and is perpetuating it for political purposes. If I owned a magazine and had journalists doing that, I'd fire them because it's destroying the magazine's reputation willfully.

[R Mac]

There’s also a receipt with Hunter’s name on it, and the actual interview with the tech guy. It’s possible (though increasingly unlikely) that these pieces of evidence are false, but to pretend they don’t exist is nothing but lying.

[JesseAz]

Compare ENBs, and reasons contents, regarding the trump impeachment. They used hearsay as fact and basically implied guilt. Yet with evidence they push this angle for democrats.

[Jerryskids]

Look, goddammit, all of these things are mere allegations, not proof of any wrongdoing. Unless and until we have proof of these things, it would be wrong to call for an FBI investigation of this matter. What the fuck kind of world would we be living in if the FBI just went around investigating shit that may or may not be true?

[Nardz]

Not even credible allegations, unlike the vague recollection of a leftist activist of a guy getting hands with her somewhere in an unspecified year 3 decades ago,especially since that was consistent with other credible allegations of high school nazi gang rapes somewhere in the state of Maryland sometime during the 80s...

[Gray_Jay]

"The New York Post revelations are unlike many things you’ve seen reported as “news” lately: There is meticulous, transparent sourcing."

Burn.

[Moonrocks]

The irony that the most untrue baseless evidence-free russian disinformation smear campaign against a political opponent story in the last decade is also the one of the few examples of real investigative journalism in the same time frame is delicious.

[The White Knight]

Let's say that this is true. It very well might be.

Since Joe Biden was out of office at the time, was there a crime?

[Ryuteknik]

You'll have to try harder to cover it up than that.

[The White Knight]

I'm not trying to cover anything up. I'm not a Biden supporter.

[Ryuteknik]

I suppose openly lying is trying harder, kudos.

[JesseAz]

The emails go back to before he left. Are you honestly arguing there is no issue with a VP negotiating for retirement packages from other countries? Look, we all know you're a leftist despite your protestations of neutrality. But this is just sad to watch.

[John Milton]

COVID-19 is making people appreciate their spouses more

Other than the ones who got murdered by their abusive spouses and had nowhere to go and no recourse due to totalitarian lockdowns. But that doesn't help the narrative much, does it?

[CE]

divorces are up as people are forced to spend more time together

[Mother's Lament]

FBI Not Playing Along as Trump Tries To Implicate Joe Biden in Crimes

Yeah, this isn't a hot take anymore ENB, you've become an outright propagandist and a coverup participant.

[loveconstitution1789]

FBI Seized Hunter Biden Laptop As Part Of A Federal Money-Laundering Investigation

HAHA. The MSM and unreason refused to even mention that this was a money laundering investigation.

[raspberrydinners]

If people like you gave a shit about anything you'd be far more concerned with Trump and his family's crimes but you're not so...

[John Milton]

"if you REALLY cared about corruption you'd be focusing on the made up shit that I've been flogging for 4 fucking years that was proven after a 3 year long investigation by a hostile special prosecutor to be utter and complete fabrications and bullshit"

You're still bad at this, cytotoxic. And I don't just mean socking.

[De Oppresso Liber]

I love when you morons jump to defend your cult leader and inadvertently prove the point you are arguing against.

[Blink]

I love when you are so upset that you stupidly attack a post about sockpuppets thinking it involves Trump lolollllll

[loveconstitution1789]

I AM concerned if Trump committed any crime.

Good thing Trump or his family hasnt.

[Mother's Lament]

What crimes, you toxic little fifty-center.

[perlchpr]

That's a pretty inappropriate nickname now that Fif has endorsed Trump over Biden. 😉

[Mother's Lament]

Wǔmáo and 五毛 don't role as easily of the tongue.

[Mother's Lament]

*off*

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Chelsea Handler tried to shame him into changing his vote by promising to pay off his taxes.

I realize that five-dollar whore's brain has been pickled by years of alcohol and drug abuse, but she should still know that paying off his tax bill would count as income, too.

[Gray_Jay]

And like she could afford it, either.

[Nardz]

You're right.

Tencenter would be proper

[Grishnak]

AHAHAH YOU MAD!

[Lord of Strazele]

Oh really, well, it's just as likely the FBI is investigating Guiliani and Bannon and their part in this ratfuck scheme.

2 Giuliani Associates Arrested With One-Way Tickets at U.S. Airport

Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, associates of President Trump’s personal lawyer, were part of the pressure campaign on Ukraine to investigate Democrats.

Steve Bannon’s indictment in a scheme to defraud donors to a fundraising campaign to help build Donald Trump’s wall on the southern border cast a spotlight on a web of prominent figures adored in conservative and anti-immigration circles.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/20/steve-bannon-arrest-web-anti-immigration-conservatives-build-wall

[Commenter_XY]

Ratfuck accurately describes Hunter Biden. It is the first thing you got right in a long time, Pod.

[Grishnak]

Ahahaha you supermad Shreek!

[The White Knight]

The involvement of Giuliani in the story is the main reason I, and many others, are dubious about it.

[justice is a chainsaw]

ad hominems are awesome

[Gray_Jay]

It's hilarious. This is all they have---beyond baldly ignoring the issue---and it's nowhere near enough. Laughter really is the best medicine.

[The White Knight]

It goes beyond ad hominems. Giuliani has been cavorting with lots of shady characters, and even a known Russian agent.

[John]

Which is just ad hominem. Do you know what words mean? Like any words? God you are stupid Jeff.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Threw in a bit of well poisoning on top of it.

[Blink]

The information is accurate or it isn't.

[Dreidel Spinner]

You do realize you just told us the main reason you find the story dubious is your own appication of fallacious reasoning.

And then repeated it after you were informed.

[soldiermedic76]

So when a Mafia hitman turns state evidence, we should not believe them because they have shady connections?

[JesseAz]

So has Biden.

[Rhombus of Terror]

Like the guy Christopher Steele PAID to give him "dirt" on Trump? That kind of known (suspected national security threat) Russian agent?

[loveconstitution1789]

Amy Coney Barrett Will Be Confirmed Because Kavanaugh Battle Taught GOP To Stop Getting Played By Democrat Dirty Tricks

No more Roberts fucking over the Constitution through his siding with Socialists on the SCOTUS.

[John Milton]

No more Roberts fucking over the Constitution through his siding with Socialists on the SCOTUS.

Already done my man. Roberts gave them unlimited mail-in ballots with no time restrictions, no identity verification, and no post mark in the 3 key battleground states they need to retake the presidency and senate. When that happens and the supreme court expands to 13 justices and Puerto Rico and DC get statehood this officially becomes a banana republic. If we're lucky it goes to a shooting war.

[Gray_Jay]

Well, you know where he lives....

The dance floor is clear, the lights are low, the music is blaring, and 2-3 percent of the populace is waiting for someone else to be the first to bust a move.

[An onomous]

Yep. And in the words of the Senate Judiciary Committee of the 74th Congress:

When such a principle is adopted, our constitutional system is overthrown!

[loveconstitution1789]

The Left Doesn’t Want To Debate Foreign Policy Because Trump Is Rocking It

Trump has a peace treaty to pull troops out of Afghanistan.
Trump established relative peace in the Middle East.
Trump has North Korea tamed.
Trump has Iran tamed. (Thanks to blasting Iran general to bits)

[loveconstitution1789]

Kristen Welker’s Activist Track Record Perfectly Qualifies Her For The Anti-Trump Debate Commission

[mad.casual]

Trump rebalanced the cost/contribution to NATO.
Trump renegotiated 'safe third country' agreements between here and Guatemala.

The worst thing they can bring up is the tarriffs and, even then, he's effectively established that the US is no longer a free ride/doormat.

[mad.casual]

between here and Guatemala.

And I mean at each point in a linear path along a/the map, not just between the the US gov't and the Guatemalan gov't.

[R Mac]

Lines on a map are just social constructs, so this means nothing.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland]

I say that to all of my prog friends who are pilots about elevation lines on tac maps

[mad.casual]

I'm going to start using it for utility lines on drawings. Water, sewer, and electrical lines are just social constructs.

[R Mac]

I’m really gonna enjoy my neighbors pond next summer. I’ve been a sucker all these years.

[raspberrydinners]

And of the bounties on soldiers' heads? Great "patriot" you are there.

[Biden4Liberty]

Like the bounty Obama/Biden/Hitlery paid on SEAL Team 6?

[JesseAz]

Not even DoL still pushes that debunked story fuckwit.

[Ron]

Never hasn't been and never will not be bounties on American soldeirs

[Gray_Jay]

Nah, there have been. Talibs would pay people to shoot at Americans, Iran gave material support, and the Russians may or may not still be butthurt over a few hundred of their mercs getting turned into mulch outside Deir ez-Zor.

That sort of thing goes both ways, right Soleimani?

[CE]

obvious fake news

[soldiermedic76]

You mean the bounties that every US intelligence agency has declared that there is no proof they ever existed? It was a completely unfounded rumor? Those bounties?

[Ben of Houston]

That was a rumor. Never confirmed by any data or agency. Even if it is true, what are we supposed to do? Go to war with Russia?

[Illocust]

Also, not really surprised about the spouse thing. We spend less time with our spouses than our coworkers. It's not a surprise that getting time to remember why you started dating someone in the first place is generally helping relationships.

[mad.casual]

Don't tell ENB but, it turns out that both men (and women) are happier when they see their partner at home caring for their kids more and that women (and men) are happier when they don't have to come home and unload psychological baggage about their shitty co-workers on their children and SO. Goddamned conservatives and their nuclear family machinations.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Activists are turning facial recognition programs back around on bad cops.

I see a targeted ban in its future.

[CE]

I see robocops in the future.

[mad.casual]

FBI Not Playing Along as Trump Tries To Implicate Joe Biden in Crimes

You mean they're not waiting until after Loretta Lynch has a tarmac meeting with Bill?

[loveconstitution1789]

CNN’s Brian Stelter Destroyed By Washington Examiner’s Susan Ferrechio Over Biden Email Scandal

[Idle Hands]

Like that's an accomplishment. Piggy humpty dumpty would get destroyed by a cave dwelling troglodyte in a debate.

[Cyto]

Destroyed?

Yeah, I wouldn't use that word.

I would say "complains ineffectually about".

[Mickey Rat]

What facts are there that the Bidens are not involved in corrupt dealings? All that was offered was an opinion that the e-mails possibly are not authentic, based on not much evidence. That does not support the conclusion that the Bidens are clean.

What was most discussed was the FBI not backing Schiff raising the Russia conspiracy theory again, not exonerating the Bidens. For all the bloviating about the press being the watchdog of the government, they are consistently incurious about corruption accusations against powerful Democrats

[AuspiciousOptimism]

BTW, this seems like the most compelling case for Trump V. Biden for any undecided/independent voter.

There is only one candidate for President that will induce the 4th estate to actually do their job. My father actually asserted this the day after the 2016 election, when I questioned him on why he was so confident he made the right choice voting for the guy. He assured me that Trump "wouldn't be able to jaywalk without anyone knowing about it and that if he ever stepped out of line in a meaningful way, he would be ousted all too quick - good luck with that outcome with her as president"

As a libertarian, I don't care for the vast majority of policy of either party, obviously. More importantly, I don't trust ANY politician, so what he said made a lot of sense to me.

[John]

Trump has been in office for four years. None of the people screaming about him can ever point to just what he has done that makes him a tyrant other than saying mean things about the media on Twitter.

[R Mac]

Meanwhile, going out of their way to prove what he says about them is true.

[Idle Hands]

Trump has so much utility in just exposing these people for what they truly are. That alone was worth the last 4 years I learned a ton. Mostly that their are like 5 people who are worth paying attention too previously that number I thought that number was like 25.

[R Mac]

The last four years have definitely caused my opinion of Reason to go to almost zero. I will never give anything written here the benefit of the doubt.

[AuspiciousOptimism]

Sadly, I have to agree about Reason. Admittedly, I'm not a news junkie, but was really fond of this publication 15 years ago. It seemed much more even handed in their rebuke of the two parties, and media coverage as well - more principled, in general, really.

Now it seems Gillespie may be the only "reasoned" one left here. Perhaps I was naive before, or allowed my classic liberal bias to cloud my perception, but I'm really surprised by Matt Whelch's stances these days.

[Gray_Jay]

Stossel, but he's more of the cool uncle who visits twice a year.

[AuspiciousOptimism]

lol, Stossel is actually how I came to discover Reason, so you're absolutely right.

It's funny you bring that up, because Stossel communicates libertarian principals most effectively (from the POV of an independent and/or otherwise objective person). It's always without self-righteousness and almost always presented as supposition - which is not a pejorative! It is helpful (even if feigned) to build credibility by presenting ideas and concepts with humility.

[Overt]

It is funny- I went from constantly arguing with John, JesseAZ and others for the first couple years, to defending Trump almost constantly- much to my chagrin.

Reason should have stuck to Libertarian issues, rather than trying to pile on to the Mueller, Impeachment, Kavanaugh nonsense that largely had no liberty angle.

[AuspiciousOptimism]

"Reason should have stuck to Libertarian issues, rather than trying to pile on to the Mueller, Impeachment, Kavanaugh nonsense that largely had no liberty angle."
-Overt

While the NAP might arguably be the foundation of libertarianism, the reasoning for that is the justified fear of centralized power. For the life of me, I cannot reconcile how any reasoned libertarian does not see the left as the more existential threat to the NAP and constantly find myself wondering, "what am I missing?"

^ Not a rhetorical question!

[JesseAz]

I have never been known to argue with anyone... pinkie swear.

[AuspiciousOptimism]

I agree. The claims of fascist, tyrant have been unsubstantiated, to say the least. That, or the definition of those terms has been widened considerably, in which every politician in my lifetime is a fascist, tyrant.

Regardless, the point was from/for the independent voter's perspective. Personally, my concerns over the man have been mostly assuaged, but I want to warn all of you that a narcissist is a very volatile person and one should never let their guard down around them. Particularly when they wield power over your life.

[An onomous]

Objectively Trump is a bit of a hot mess, but he was always a populist rather than a fascist. In any case, our system of political and institutional checks and balances have kept him pretty well contained, as is their purpose. The left's response? Let's weaponize or undermine as many of those checks and balances as we can!

[loveconstitution1789]

How The Left Tries To Trick Gun Owners Into Supporting Gun Control

Gun supporting Americans are not giving in to Lefties anymore.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2]

unspecified federal crimes

GUILTY! BENGHAZI!!!! BIRTHERS!! DERP!!!! HARD DRIVES! BLOOP!!! PIZZAGATE!!!! QAnon!!! IRS LOIS LERNER!!!! AARGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

[John]

Biden sold out US Foreign policy and used his crack head son as a bag man. Everyone can see if fuck head. Give it up.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2]

You're making shit up again, CT-Boy Alex Jones JR.

[John]

Lets see an investors pedo crackhead who got dishonorably discarded by the navy is going around sitting on foreign corporate boards and getting wired millions of dollars by various foreign persons and organizations while he’s flying on air force two with his dad whose vice president of the united states.

Biden wasn't selling out the country. That is just some "shady family dealings". I know you want to defend a fellow pedo here, but just stop it. Really, it is pathetic.

[John Milton]

Give Buttplug TrueFax like Trump getting peed on my by Russian hookers. You know, the REAL REALITY BASED REALITY that all REALITY BASED people know to be true!

[JesseAz]

Youre just scared this exposes a child porn ring you belong to aren't you?

[Árboles de la Barranca]

Obama knew all about Joe Biden. That's why he brought him aboard. He wanted a reliable #2 to cover and excuse the foreign interventionism and war crimes. In return, Biden, the known political grifter, was allowed his filthy family lucre.

But where's the Trump/Russian Hooker piss tape?

[John]

Biden was going to run in 2016 until he had a meeting with Hillary and decided to spend more time with his family. I always wondered what Hillary had on him to get him to change his mind. Now, we know what it was. All of this would have come out during the 16 primaries had Biden run. Hillary was secretary of state. She sure as hell knew all about this.

[loveconstitution1789]

Its Lefty projection. They accused Trump of this stuff but it was really Democrats and in particular Joe Biden, who are on the hook with foreign intel services because he broke US law.

[raspberrydinners]

One would think you'd be quite concerned about Jared Kushner then too but I guess it's too hard when you have your head rammed up Trump's ass.

[John]

Jarad Kushner is married with kids and seems to have a pretty normal life. Maybe you should stop listening to the voices in your head or at lest stop believing them.

[John Milton]

cytotoxic gets all his news from Democratic Underground. He also has a very tenuous grasp of American politics since he is a manchild living his mother's basement in the greater Toronto area of Ontario, Canada.

[John]

Is that cytoxic? No kidding? How do we know that. He spent all fall of 2016 claiming Hillary was going to win in a blowout and then ran away after that didn't happen. Figures he would come crawling back with a different screen name. Loser.

[Mother's Lament]

Epstein didn't kill himself, Buttplug.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2]

Epstein was Trump's running buddy in the NYC social dirtbag scene.

Not saying Trump did it though. I don't make shit up.

[John Milton]

Trump and Epstein hadn't seen each other in 20 years. Clinton logged dozens of flights on his private jet. Good thing you're not a purveyor of retarded conspiracy theories or anything like that.

By the way, pay your bet you welshing pedophile.

[mexojop]

Fantastic work-from-home opportunity for everyone… Work for three to eight hours a day and start getting paid in the range of 7,000-14,000 dollars a month…
Weekly payments…Click For Full Detail.

[Sevo]

...I don’t make shit up.
You.
Are.
Full.
Of.
Shit, turd.

[Mother's Lament]

"I don’t make shit up"

Narrator: In saying that, Buttplug made shit up.

[Grishnak]

"I don’t make shit up"

Ok Moneyshot.

[Árboles de la Barranca]

One could say Bill Clinton and playmates did it though. That should be obvious to a casual observer.

[John Milton]

GUILTY! RUSSIA COLLUSION!!!! CHINESE BANK ACCOUNTS!!!!! DERP!!!! PEE PEE TAPES!!!!! STORMY DANIELS!!!!!!!! AARGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't you have some kids to go fuck, kiddie fucker?

[perlchpr]

Yes, dear, that was an excellent job of counting to "potato".

[Grishnak]

Why'd you switch from your Lord of Strazele sock?

[Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland]

Yes benghazi and the irs destroying hard drives containing evidence are both scandles with criminal implications

[Fist of Etiquette]

Pope Francis endorses civil unions for same-sex couples.

Get woke or go broke. Domesticated gays have a lot of disposable income and the collection plates are hurting right now.

[mad.casual]

I've always assumed 'get woke go broke' to be associative and that "Going broke? Get woke!" is equally applicable. I suspect there aren't legions of gay Catholics at mass every weekend opening their loosening pursestrings and about to donate and then reconsider because of the Church's stance on marriage... until now.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland]

That worked for my wife and Nascar. When they banned fans from having confederate flags and then the faked noose crap my wif was like "the banning the flag and then a noose is put in the only black drivers garage? I'm going to watch this week". My only responece was "then their marketing worked on you. There was no noose, (before we found out there wasn't) we know this because not a single person took a photo, because they know there is no noose. This is something stupid hyped up in order to get people to watch"

[John]

Once again, Trump camp efforts to link Joe Biden to some sort of shady family business dealings can't be deterred by facts. But as USA Today reminds us, "after months of investigation, two Republican-led Senate committees unveiled a report in September that found no evidence of wrongdoing or corrupt actions by the former vice president in connection with his son Hunter's business dealings in Ukraine."

They didn't have access to Hunter Biden's emails when they made that conclusion. And their conclusion whatever it's validity says nothing about the authenticity of the Biden hard drive.

Is ENB really this stupid? Yes, I know she is dishonest. But is she actually so stupid she doesn't understand how invalid of an argument she is making?

Meanwhile, there is no evidence that the hard drive isn't what it appears to be and even the Biden campaign is not claiming it is fake.

[Idle Hands]

If Don JR got busted for doing coke/amphetamines I fucking gurantee you reason would write an article about the hypocrisy of the justice system where people get thrown in cages for the same crime that a sitting president's kid skates on. Joe Biden wrote the fucking crime bill and not a nary mention of just the absolute hypocrisy of this.

[AuspiciousOptimism]

Idle Hands:

Respectfully, "nary" is redundant to "not".
"...crime bill and nary a mention of just..."

[John Milton]

Is ENB really this stupid? Yes, I know she is dishonest. But is she actually so stupid she doesn’t understand how invalid of an argument she is making?

She's quite literally nothing but a byline for whatever copypasta is coming out of the DNC. She's incredibly stupid, yes. Bear in mind her entire career up until she was hired at Reason consisted of writing clickbait articles GenY teenages on a website called Bustle where she delved into such esoteric topics as putting out the right books in your apartment to impress your fuckbuddy. So it's anybody's guess if she's actually bright enough to realize she's a useful idiot, but she's more than happy to play the role whether consciously or unconsciously. The sad thing is seeing some of the people who used to have demonstrable self-awareness doing the same thing.

[Commenter_XY]

ENB is a liar. And probably a progressive. But she is not stupid.

[Idle Hands]

Once again, Trump camp efforts to link Joe Biden to some sort of shady family business dealings can't be deterred by facts. But as USA Today reminds us, "after months of investigation, two Republican-led Senate committees unveiled a report in September that found no evidence of wrongdoing or corrupt actions by the former vice president in connection with his son Hunter's business dealings in Ukraine."

"some sort of shady family business dealings" - Reason Magazine on Hunter Biden's Laptop.

Lets see an incestous pedo crackhead who got dishonorably discharded by the navy is going around sitting on foreign corporate boards and getting wired millions of dollars by varios foreign persons and organizations while he's flying on air force two with his dad whose vice president of the united states is now referred to as "some sort of shady family dealings." Crackerjack reporting. Pretty sure you people wrote about Trump's tax returns but refuse to publish any of the contents of this laptop/emails when there's been no denial from the Biden campaign about it's authenticity.

[John]

Every crackhead who was kicked out the navy sits on foreign boards and makes millions of dollars. Joe Biden had nothing to do with any of that.

This is what ENB expects people to believe.

[loveconstitution1789]

It also upsets her stupid brain that nobody is falling for it.

America is reelecting Trump and its partly because of media hacks like ENB lying their asses off.

[Ron]

two Republican-led Senate committees unveiled a report in September that found no evidence of wrongdoing or corrupt actions by the former vice president in connection with his son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine"

Well only if you ignore the tape of Joe Biden bragging about it and all the other evidence just like when they found no evidence of voter fraud. these idiots don't even know how to google for the tons of evidence yet we let them run our country. its pretty clear if they saw no evidence its because they don't want anyone looking into their actions either

[Fist of Etiquette]

The most common contraceptive methods currently used were...

Militant feminism and face tattoos.

[Tom Bombadil]

This is the only mention of the Hunter/Joe Biden corruption and ENB lies her ass off.

Fucking disgrace.

Btw, I've noticed Nick and Matt have basically disappeared. Possibly they have a tiny shred of dignity and can't stand to be associated with this piece of shit publication.

[John]

Assuming facts not in evidence.

[loveconstitution1789]

Nick and Matt were neck deep in bullshit with the Trump impeachment lies.

Like the FBI, unreason needs to fire everyone and start anew.

[Idle Hands]

Matt has full blown TDS he can't stand trump disrupting and shaking up the Cold War foreign policy alignment which is fine position to have. He hates him a ton though. I'm not convinced Gillispie doesn't just vote trump secretly given how much he seemingly enjoys the orange orangutan's bullshit and how much shit the reason staff gives him on the podcast.

[Fist of Etiquette]

58 percent of married men and women 18 to 55 said the pandemic has made them appreciate their spouse more…

Like Adolf and Eva in the bunker.

[Mother's Lament]

Hey, it prompted those two crazy kids to finally get hitched.

[Ron]

yea like a spouse is going to respond to a pollster that every thing is fine while their spouse is besides them listening in with a gun to their head.. Better have something nice to say or else

[Fist of Etiquette]

It should not be an unreasonably high standard to ask people not to engage in sex acts while talking to their work colleagues.

So suddenly power moves are no longer a part of office dynamics?

[Fist of Etiquette]

USA Today looks at Florida's wretched state care system for kids.

Pretty much every state government. Wonder why Florida is targeted here right now.

[mad.casual]

454 kids gets a feature article. "Thousands" in potentially every state is just a blurb.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland]

Because flordia actually has a shot at holding the kidnappers and pedo files at CPS to the law. (i would bet Palins buttplug has applied to CPS a few times) unlike deep blue states like California where the court ruled that the CPS can commit perjury

[Sometimes Bad Is Bad]

There it is finally. Reason koch industries attempts to smear the president, ignore an explosive political corruption scandal, and side with the billionaires in silicon valley. If you think these reason liberaltarians are on your side, you are dead wrong.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Today's edition of "you could reuse this article from 100 years ago in 2020"

Oh how public health policy has advanced in a century.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2]

Trump rape accuser 'stunned' at DOJ no-show at court hearing
A woman who has accused President Donald Trump of raping her in the 1990s says she's stunned that the Department of Justice turned down a chance to argue to a judge that the United States can be substituted for Trump in a defamation lawsuit

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/trump-rape-accuser-expected-court-oral-arguments-73737961

THIS SHOULD BE ON THE NEWS 24/&!!

[Lord of Strazele]

19 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct. Here's what their stories have in common:

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2020/10/21/trump-sexual-assault-allegations-share-similar-patterns-19-women/5279155002/

[John]

Not a single one of them have ever put it under oath or gone to court much less filed charges. Meanwhile, there is video of Biden sniffing little girls hair and engaging in all kinds of creepy behavior.

Did Trump ever swim naked in front of his secret service agents? Did he ever get into a shoving match with an agent because he felt up the agent's wife's breast?

Biden did both of those things. He is a disgusting pervert. But most Democrats are. We know shreek is. You likely are as well.

[The White Knight]

So, looks like we've got two disgusting perverts as our major party candidates.

[John]

Trump has several ex wives who have every reason to dish dirt on him who say otherwise. Trump has never done anything other than have sex with a series of good looking women.

It understandable that Democrats would think that is perverted and akin to Biden assaulting little girls. You people are almost demonic.

[Mother's Lament]

I guess dubious accusations that most of the accusers themselves won't bother standing behind, beats hard video evidence in Stroozele and Nuttfuck's world.

[Lord of Strazele]

The laptop was turned over to the FBI last year and nothing happened.

[Mother's Lament]

That video was of his dad getting handsy with kids, But Hey! we can talk about Hunter and the 14-year-old he was fucking if you want.

[Grishnak]

What's with you changing your name back and forth from Sarah Palin's Buttplug to Lord of Strazele?

[Grishnak]

Why did you respond to yourself Shreek?

[John Milton]

Lol, MOVEON.ORG kiddie fucker.

[Idle Hands]

Meanwhile we should forgive Toobin and listen to his analysis. Same people.

[R Mac]

If Trump wins, he’ll be back on CNN in less than a year, maybe just a few months after inauguration. If Biden wins, they’ll wait over a year.

[John]

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/10/jeffrey-toobin-and-our-public-hate-ritual/

Kevin D. Williamson, who once said the Sandman kid "might as well have spit on the cross" now defends Jeffrey Toobin from hateful right. All Toobin did was jerk off in front of his co-workers. It is not like he wore a MAGA hat or something.

Normally it is a fallacy to accuse someone of being guilty of a behavior they try to excuse and defend. In this case, however, it might not be such a fallacy. Ten bucks says Williamson does the same thing and just knows how to turn his video camera off where Toobin doesn't. All of these people are sick choads.

[Idle Hands]

Williamson has always been a loathsome hateful person who pens a good article every once in a while inbetween masterbatory fanfics he likes to write about him forcibly relocating poor whites on their own trail of tears, I just didn't take him for a literal masterbatory apologist. This would put any regular person in the unemployment line and doing sidewalk sign juggling advertisements for the next 5 years before they were finally able to convince someone to let them go back to work, this fucker was choking the chicken to his work collegues and given his loathsome history might have exposed himself on purpose in some perverse kink and we are supposed to forgive him or not laugh at his expense or something? WTF is wrong with the chattering class?

[Claptrap]

“Come hate with us!” comes the call. “He is the enemy! Don’t you want to hurt the enemy? Think of what they would do if it were you!” Hard pass. Toobin’s shenanigans were gross, but not as gross as our public-hate ritual. I’m not nearly as offended by clumsy pudwhackers as I am by people who savor the humiliation of others

Seems like he hit a little too close to home.

The whole article is directed at the idiots who email him about shit like this: “Don’t bother me; I don’t care.” Neither do I. Valuable employee gets caught being a creep, employer tries to find a way to salvage valuable asset. News at 11.

[John]

Yeah, he doesn't care about this small stuff. Don't bother him with it. Williamson is too busy doing important things like slandering high school kids who wear MAGA hats. That article is nothing but Williamson showing the world what a loathsome fat sack of shit he is.

[Idle Hands]

John I have to hand it to you for all your flaws over the years you really had nailed Williamson and Popehat before it became overwhelmingly obvious what total douches they were.

[John]

Thank you. I am not always a good judge of character. But I do have an almost feral sense for people who are posers. Ultimately, that is what both of them are.

[perlchpr]

Popehat was really disappointing for me. I read his blog for years, in the beginning, and he seemed for the most part to be pretty sensible. I dunno what the hell happened to him.

[John]

The tell for me was how he was such a credential dropper. Popehat is a total suck up and status seeker. So it was inevitable he would eventually turn into a douche when maintaining his status as "one of the smart set" required it.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Williamson shouldn't even be touching this story, especially in the WAY-to-strident tone he's using here. He's revealing a lot more about himself than he intended.

Hey Kevey-poo, Toobin wasn't caught just sitting around in his boxers because he was too lazy to put some pants on for a morning meeting--he was jerking off to video feeds of his female co-workers during these calls. Anyone who didn't have Toobin's connections in the industry would have gotten fired on the spot; that he's part of the elite is the ONLY reason why he's on a leave of absence right now and not buying a copy of Coding for Dummies.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland]

In toobins defence were the female coworkers hot?

[John]

It was the New Yorker not Fox News. Draw your own conclusions.

[Gray_Jay]

I give Trump credit for causing these people to rip their masks off and let us know just how much contempt they hold for the rest of the nation. Williamson's just mad these right-wingers, who would be offended by Toobin's conduct, haven't withered up and died already.

[perlchpr]

Apropos of nothing but a campaign ad I was just subjected to, I think it's really unfair that car insurance companies are allowed to discriminate against vehicles with pre-existing wrecks.

[NashTiger]

Health Insurors used to charge people more "just because they were winen". How outrageous.
Luckily, Life Insurors ran a Ladies Night to compensate

[NashTiger]

women*

[Gray_Jay]

Appropriate Freudian slip, given the whole "Mommy needs wine!" bullshit.

[soldiermedic76]

Bullock's supporters have been running ads claiming Daines is am enemy of public land and inferring that Montana's 71,000 public land related jobs are related to tourism not to logging, ranching, mining, petroleum extraction etc. Which is total bullshit.
Patagonia is who is sponsoring these ads. Bullock knows that most Montana public land related jobs are in natural resource extraction and that these jobs pay better than tourism jobs. But he doesn't condemn these ads disingenuous tone.

[NashTiger]

The Central American parents who sold their kids to coyotes as asylum shields , knowing they would likely be abused, dont want them back? They are probably scared of getting Menendezed

[Gray_Jay]

If they could feed and raise them, they wouldn't have sold them in the first place.

[Claptrap]

“Come hate with us!” comes the call. “He is the enemy! Don’t you want to hurt the enemy? Think of what they would do if it were you!” Hard pass. Toobin’s shenanigans were gross, but not as gross as our public-hate ritual. I’m not nearly as offended by clumsy pudwhackers as I am by people who savor the humiliation of others

Seems like he hit a little too close to home.

The whole article is directed at the idiots who email him about shit like this: "Don't bother me; I don't care." Neither do I. Valuable employee gets caught being a creep, employer tries to find a way to salvage valuable asset. News at 11.

[NashTiger]

Cictorian America is so uptight about old men publocly displaying their sexuality. That is what I told the judge

[John]

Toobin is a sanctimonious piece of shit. And he is guilty of some serious perversion and sexual harassment of his coworkers. He deserves to be ridiculed.

[mad.casual]

History repeating…

Good to see that the stupid histrionics of equating COVID with the Spanish Flu haven't abated.

[Juice]

Masks didn't stop that virus either.

[Moonrocks]

FBI Covers For Biden as Trump Tries To Highlight Corruption Scandal Amid Big Tech, Media Censorship

[Moonrocks]

Forgot to add, I fixed the headline.

[Moonrocks]

I should also add, it's a good sign that the DNC's propaganda arm feels that it has to address the Biden corruption scandal after over a week of trying to smother it. It shows that they don't have complete control over the narrative.

[Cyto]

Why did you report that there is no evidence that the emails belong to Hunter Biden?

This is patently untrue. There is tons of evidence. We have a full chain of custody. People have interviewed the shop owner and have inspected the receipt. People have spoken to those who are on email chains and verified that those emails are indeed real. Then there are the photographs. I am not even following this closely, and I know that much. I'm sure that some of the experts around here can fill in even more details.

Nobody seems to be denying that any of it is real. At least nobody who is actually a principal. they are claiming that it is a disinformation campaign. But nobody is willing to say that anything is specifically untrue. Not Biden. Not Junior. Not the campaign staff.

So how do you go to press with the days old propaganda answer of "unverified"?

[Commenter_XY]

ENB has no integrity. She traded her integrity for whatever else. She became an opinion writer wearing kneepads, and nothing more.

[Cyto]

Since you seem to be so keen on this, I would love to see an analysis of the Atlantic story about Trump insulting the military and this laptop story, from a perspective of evidence and sourcing.

Did the Atlantic use verifiable sources? Did they give details about how they came to learn about the story?

What about the New York Post? What do we know of the sources they used? Did they tell us how they came to know about the story?

What about coordination with the campaign? The Atlantic reporter got the very first question the next day as Biden took questions for the first time in a while. The Biden campaign put out an ad featuring military parents within hours of the story dropping. Does it appear that the campaign might have been coordinating with the Atlantic?

What about the laptop story? We have two known Trump associates involved directly in bringing the story to the New York Post. Was this involvement disclosed?

What about verification? Did anyone follow up on the Atlantic story? did the Atlantic attempt to contact any of the people who are confirmed to have been present? Did others?

Now, how about the laptop story? Did anyone follow up? Did major newspapers bury the story, but run around furiously trying to find any tiny lead they could use to discredit it? Did publications speak with the principles? Were they able to verify details?

I would love to see our wonderful editor run down this analysis. It would be an interesting exercise to see if a fair read of this comparison can be accomplished, or if not, what amazing machinations she will go through to explain the dichotomy of these two stories.

[Mickey Rat]

Showing how Democrats behave when no one is looking is an unfair tactic.

It the DNC server all over again. What is being complained about is how it was obtained, not really contesting if it is accurate.

[Lord of Strazele]

New poll reveals the disturbing extent of the delusional QAnon cult

"roughly 50% of President Donald Trump's supporters now embrace at least some of QAnon's claims"

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/09/02/majority-of-republicans-believe-the-qanon-conspiracy-theory-is-partly-or-mostly-true-survey-finds/#16d31b335231

[mad.casual]

“roughly 50% of President Donald Trump’s supporters now embrace at least some of QAnon’s claims”

If the number rises to 97% do you become a science denier?

[John]

That is like saying everyone embraces the Protocols of the Elders of Zion because they admit Jews exist. Some of what QAnon says is true. It mixes truth with falsity to make the falsity sound true. That is how disinformation works you fucking moron.

God damn you are stupid. Just dumb as a post and equally gullible.

[Lord of Strazele]

Most of your insults are classic projection just so you know.

[John]

Above the insult is an explanation of why people believing some of QAnon is to be expected of any disinformation operation. The fact hat you can't understand that makes you a moron.

You are just stupid. And it is almost too easy to kick you around.

[Mother's Lament]

No they aren't.
Even your retorts are lazy. You're totally not earning your fifty-cents.

[Cyto]

Every word of that analysis is spot on. It is a stupid push poll, designed to disguise a lie as the truth.

They want you to think that 50% of Trump supporters believe in a ring of pedophiles in the basement or whatever other stupid qanon thing might spring to mind.

Meanwhile, there actually was a conspiracy to overthrow the duely elected president of the United States using the CIA, the FBI and the DOJ. It literally existed. We literally watched it happen for more than 3 years.

So, who is lying, who is being deceived, and who is a useful idiot?

[Cyto]

Plus, I seriously doubt that 50% of Trump supporters have any idea what Qanon is. I would bet that hardcore Biden supporters are several times more likely to be able to recite the beliefs of Qanon.

[Grishnak]

Why did you switch to Lord of Strazele when you already post as Sarah Palin’s Buttplug 2?

[JesseAz]

No they aren't. They are dead on accurate.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Don't QAnon just link to other stories these days?

[Mother's Lament]

The left really want to make QAnon into a thing don't they. 4chan knows how to play idiot progressives like a fiddle.

"Yeah, there's a bad, evil conspiracy theory that says politicians and top-men are pedophiles, BUT DON'T YOU BELIEVE IT... cause were not. But you should be afraid of the conspiracy theory because reasons".

[Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland]

Qanon has a weird conspicy theory that social media companies are trying tk science them.

[Grishnak]

Why did you switch to Lord of Strazele when you already post as Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2?

[Mother's Lament]

Same reason Jeff uses sarcasmic, raspberrydinners and White Knight, to try and create the impression of a lefty commentariat.

[John]

I don't understand what happened to the real sarcasmic. He wasn't a bad guy. I hope he is okay. It is pretty clear someone, probably Jeff, hacked his screenname.

[Gray_Jay]

He had some moments of lucidity earlier this week.

I don't believe the guy's a sock, or even runs many of them. Just a TDS sufferer. Plagues a whole lot of people I previously thought were bright. I can't explain it.

[Jerryskids]

"Majority of Republicans believe the QAnon conspiracy theory is partly or mostly true."

Horseshit. The majority of Republicans have no idea what the QAnon conspiracy theory even is.

[Mother's Lament]

There are polls showing that triple the number of progs and liberals are aware of QAnon than conservatives.

[Nardz]

Some of Qanon's claims are that there is a shit ton of corruption in federal government.
I'd say it's a lot closer to 100%

[Nail]

Good morning dearest ENB, hope you're reading this. I know I've been hard on you in the past but I feel like I didn't come off the way I had intended.
Just letting you know you are a dishonest hack with the integrity of a dildo. Nothing personal against you, it's just that you are part of the problem plaguing modern discourse. Also as an aside, you are kinda funny lookin. Tip: don't just walk by the mirror and avoid looking into it, face your fears ENB.

Have a great day !!!

[mad.casual]

Just letting you know you are a dishonest hack with the integrity of a dildo.

Dildoes are pretty *ahem* rigid and straightforward. ENB's integrity is more like that of lube and even used lube at that.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland]

She's water based lube even

[Moderation4ever]

What as struck by is the utter contempt of the Trump campaign for the voters. The campaign has mostly been rerun of the 2016 campaign including chanting "Lock HIm/Her up". And now to come up with emails three weeks before the election? At least the campaign was not so lazy as to say they were found on Anthony Weiner's laptop. That is something.
Trump claims to be a billionaire and yet he seems to have bought his campaign advice from the dollar store. The only thing we really know is that his campaign is staffed by grifters like himself. So to all you Trump supporters here its nice to know that you money is making some sleaze ball richer. Because it is not going to campaigning. Here in Wisconsin Trump is running 15 sec commercials that look like they we made by the high school AV crew.

[Mother's Lament]

The establishment political-media class is trash, and your “have you no decency” talk is a sham.

You're shilling for an insular, culturally radical elite alienated from and contemptuous of the supposedly bigoted and backward country that it governs.

Trump is your big "Fuck you" from the proletariat.

[Moderation4ever]

It is not what the proletariat is saying to me, it is Trump is doing to the proletariat. Trump and those like him live behind walls and are far more insulated than I am. He is telling you what you want to hear and not talking to you about what you need.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

He is telling you what you want to hear and not talking to you about what you need.

Anything you and your allies say we "need" makes for a great reverse barometer of what is actually the case.

[Mother's Lament]

It's pretty obvious you live in a bubble.

[The White Knight]

Wonder how Brad Parscale is doing. There hasn't been any news about him in a while.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Woof, the level of cope in this post is off the charts.

[R Mac]

For the second time in 3 nights, I watched Kennedy last night and she had Reason editors on the program. Monday night Welch was on, and she covered the emails, but not during his segment, so didn’t ask him about it. Last night, KMW was on with a panel of three other people, and one of the topics was the email. After the Republican and Democrat puppets both gave their talking points, she went to KMW and basically said: Talk about anything you want to see in the debate besides the emails. KMW went on to say it wasn’t important, then talked about something else.

I’m not making any accusations at this point, but I found it odd that during a segment about these emails, she was specifically asked not to address it.

Of course what she did talk about was foreign policy, and she wouldn’t give credit to Trump for not starting any wars, because it’s too low of a bar and should always be the case.

[R Mac]

She was on with two other people.

[Nail]

A while back someone linked to a list showing that at least one Reason staff member was getting some kind of endowment from the Chinese state. Can't remember all the details, but it was Suderman and maybe a couple others I think.

Reason is not the same as even 5 years ago, they aren't libertarians, and if you ask me many of the writers are probably being used explicitly to undermine the liberty movement, whether they realize it or not.

[John]

If reason isn't on the Chinese payroll, they might as well be. Honestly, how would the magazine be any different if it were a Chinese intel front operation looking to use Libertarian ideas and credibility to further Chinese interests?

[Mother's Lament]

I'd like to see if that list again.

[Gray_Jay]

I would too. I remember seeing it.

[Commenter_XY]

Anyone look at the polls lately? Bad news for Sleepy Joe. The gap is narrowing. Tonight should be interesting, because I absolutely want to hear Quid Pro Joe's explanation of the emails.

Joe Biden is corrupt AF.

[John]

I want to see if they moderator really will cut Trump's mic when, and it is a when not an if, Trump goes after him on the emails. I think that would be a total win for Trump. It would be an admission that the emails are horrible for Biden and the media wants it covered up. I can't imagine anything Trump could say that would make his case better than the mediator cutting off his mic.

[Commenter_XY]

I agree John. Totally.

More on polls....Yes, the gap is narrowing (this is expected), but the news is not all good for POTUS Trump.

Jews will break heavily for Quid Pro Joe. I expect Biden to get 80%.
Blacks will probably not move much from 8% in 2016. Probably 10% in 2020.
Hispanics will probably not move much. POTUS Trump will probably get 35%.

This is all about turnout now. Pay attention to the weather forecasts in heavy metro areas....and hope for a lot of rain. Given the state of affairs, this one is going to be a nail-biter.

Now, if there is more shit about Sleepy Joe and his crackhead son, Huffing Hunter....the polls will break sharply starting Friday, October 30. I have seen that happen multiple times in my life.

[John]

I wouldn't hazard to guess on the percentages of blacks and Hispanics. What is important is turn out. Regardless of what percentage Trump gets, I can't see the Democrats getting anything close to the turnout in those communities that they need. TDS really is stuff white people like. Blacks and Hispanics may not vote for Trump but they really don't give a shit about him like white liberals do.

[Jerryskids]

The moderator isn't going to cut off Trump's mic, it will be an unexplainable technological glitch that cuts off his mic.

[loveconstitution1789]

Even the Lefty polls have Trump winning Ohio and Biden's "17 point lead in PA" dropping by 5 points in the last two days.

HAHA.

[loveconstitution1789]

Republicans vote to advance Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination to the full Senate

While the Democrats did not appear at Thursday’s committee hearing, they left supersized posters of individuals who rely on the law in their seats. Republicans denounced the gesture as theatrics.
[...]
Democrats on Wednesday announced that they would boycott Thursday’s hearing.

“We will not grant this process any further legitimacy by participating in a committee markup of this nomination just twelve days before the culmination of an election that is already underway,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement that was joined by the committee’s Democrats.

At the start of the hearing, Graham addressed Democrats’ boycott, saying “we are not going to allow them to take over the committee.”

“They made a choice not to participate,” he said.

America doesnt like the Democrat Party anymore which is why they lose all the time. I cant wait until Roe v wade, Obamacare, and other unconstitutional Democrat sponsored laws are struck down.

[Gray_Jay]

Let's see what the full Senate does. Collins, Murk, Romney, maybe Sasse: all should be interesting.

[Jerryskids]

Imagine for a moment that this were Don, Jr's laptop and these allegations of corruption were about the Trump family rather than the Biden family. Is there any doubt in your mind whatsoever that there would be banner headlines and "we interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you this breaking news" reports? Do you think for one second that Twitter and Facebook would have put the brakes on this story as "unverified" or anybody speculating about Russian disinformation? Don't make me laugh, you know damn well how this would be playing out right now.

[John]

If what you described happened, Pence would be President within a week.

[Gray_Jay]

"If what you described happened, Pence would be President within a week."

And it would absolutely have to happen. Provided the information was proven valid. No President gets to sell the country out to some foreign interests for mere personal financial gain. Might as well go to warlords, if we're going to allow that shit.

[Commenter_XY]

AYFKM? They would lead The Donald out to the South lawn and shoot him, if the allegations were about Don Jr and The Donald.

[Michael Ejercito]

The FBI had the laptop for nearly a year, imcluding before the start of the impeachment trial.

The authenticity (let alone veracity) of these e-msils should have been known to the public since then!

[Bill Godshall]

"(There's also no evidence they actually came from Hunter Biden, aside from the word of Trump advisor Rudy Giuliani, who passed them to the Post.)"

Except all the evidence that Reason has refused to acknowledge the existence of during the past week.

ENB and Reason are liars.

ENB and Reason are liars.

ENB and Reason are liars.

ENB and Reason are liars.

ENB and Reason are liars.

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

Only four more days until soon to be associate justice Amy Coney Barrett gets shoved right up all their Block Yomomma monkey asses.

They better spend their time this weekend wisely lubing themselves up, this IS going to hurt.

[mad.casual]

Except all the evidence that Reason has refused to acknowledge the existence of during the past week.

It's really astounding the disparity between this and the Kavanaugh interroview. It wasn't at all clear who was there and when they finally cobbled a list together, not from known participants at the party but from vague associations that included yearbook photos, the worst thing they got was "Geez I don't remember anything like that happening."

Whereas here, they have a relative, his SIL, his therapist, other photographed hookers, etc., both in pictures and directly named and timestamped in email and none of them, let alone all of them, have come forward to say "All of our email accounts were hacked and those photos of me were faked!"

[Bill Godshall]

I've been reading (and have respected) Reason since 1979 (and I've saved most of the monthly print editions in my basement).

This article by ENB is the most dishonest and worst article I've ever read by Reason.

[John]

Every day at reason is average; worse than yesterday but better than the next day.

[mad.casual]

This article by ENB is the most dishonest and worst article I’ve ever read by Reason.

I envy your having skipped the majority if not the entirety of Shikha's body of work.

[Dillinger]

>>Pope Francis endorses civil unions for same-sex couples.

I'm cool w/this ... did the Catholics know this guy was going to blow it all up from within?

[Jerryskids]

To be fair, there wasn't much left to blow up. The Catholic Church has been steadily going downhill for most of my life, with a brief interlude during the reign of JPII.

[Dillinger]

>>during the reign of JPII

lived in South Jersey during that period I'm pretty sure my public school lunch was meatless on Fridays

[CE]

The FBI is not playing along with the Hunter Biden investigation?

Deep state gotta deep state.

[Nardz]

http://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1319090595814670336?s=19

America was an idea. We've never lived up to it but we've never walked away from it before.

[Moonrocks]

As much an idea as antifa? I have an idea of where the left can stick their blatant abuse of language.

[wsmarty]

This is the modern left. “Disinformation” is used to label a trove of information that is all true, including photos and videos with Hunter Biden in them.

And the Russian part? I’ve actually attempted to follow these claims and from what I can find there is actually no evidence to support a Russian angle on this. Not even a little. None at all. All I’ve ever seen are partisans saying it “looks like” Russian disinformation. I think what they’re really saying is that everything in it is true and harms their candidate.

[Scruffy Derpherder]

I just came back to drop a "Are you fucking kidding me?" on this blatant water-carrying. Reason truly is a lost cause. Brown may as well have quoted Hillary's "nothing-burger"

You guys don't have to like Trump, there's plenty to hate. But lapping up the bullshit from the Democrats when they're neck-deep in corruption just makes you useful idiots. They're never going to love you, by the way.

[Curly4]

The FBI may not be playing along with trying to implicant Joe Biden in Hunter Biden's billion dollar deals but when the shoe was on the other foot it was the FBI tha spearheaded the probe into Trump. That seems to me like politicking on the FBI's part. With Trump there was no evidence except that which was supplied by a political hack who had made it will know that he hated Trump, no other evidence. Now on H Biden's situation the FBI said that the laptop did belong to Hunter biden, the emails were not fake. Now we have other sources such as H biden's business associate who has also supplied emails. There are also apparently text messages and other communications that connects J Biden to some of these deals but almost all of the top contenders in the democrat party yet they the FBI will not even saying that they will investigate. But that is politics as usual in the swamp call Washington D C.

[Titus PUllo]

ENB might want to update this article given the events of today. Looks like they have old Biden nailed to rights...a corrupt money grubbing politician. Can't wait to see her update tomorrow...or will this all just go in the communist memory hole that seems to be Reason these days...

[Kuni]

Funny thing there about that one email that I've seen some Conservatives claim proves that Biden broke the law, specifically 18 U.S.C. § 208 - To quote a snippet from an article in the Daily Heil (what sane and honest Brits call the Daily Mail): ". . . The emails were sent when Biden was no longer Vice President and Trump was in office. . ."

Welcome to Capitalism/private business, Biotches.

I like presidential candidates who liberate our money back from China, and not losers who let our money get captured by China.

I like presidential candidates who contribute to America, not presidential candidates who some years are part of "the 47 percent who pay no "federal income tax" who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them."

[gaella]

Why hasnt Andrea (and Reason) updated their story with corrections: the FBI has had the laptop since Jan2019, as part of an ongoing investigation into Hunter Biden. Del State Police also are investigating Hunter for child porn. The DNI has explicitly denied that the laptop is "Russian interference"; they published that denial prior to Bidens debate show, yet he clung to it on stage. The emails are not hacked or planted or anything else; Tony Bobulinski is the recipient of the emails and - unlike in the Hillary coverup - he WANTS the public to know what he received.

[John]

I don't know about everyone but all of the powerful and important ones do. Mitt Romney's kid was right in the middle of all of the graft going on in Ukraine. They all leave Congress with tens of millions of dollars and that is often done by using their deadbeat kids as bag men.

[Rufus The Monocled]

They're mobsters.

[John]

I don't think the voters are fine with it. They are just ignorant of it. The major media is in bed with the powers that be and would never actually report on any of it. The powers that be give them access and make their jobs easier and in return they don't do any actual reporting that isn't approved by the powers that be.

[R Mac]

“the grift by our elites is seen by millions of Americans as a cost to be internalized.”

This is also the position of Reason. They’re even saying it outright at this point.

[John]

Democrats don't care, at least if the corruption is by Democrats. But those people would sure as hell care if this involved a Republican.