What Twitter's Suppression of the Hunter Biden Laptop Story Tells Us About the Media

Plus: The editors consider a listener question on the involuntary hospitalization of the mentally ill.

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What Twitter's Suppression of the Hunter Biden Laptop Story Tells Us About the Media

 

In this week's The Reason Roundtable, editors Matt Welch, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Peter Suderman, and Nick Gillespie dig into the release of the Twitter Files by journalist Matt Taibbi and CEO Elon Musk.

1:32: The Twitter Files drop

33:48: Weekly Listener Question:

Here in my hometown of NYC (where apparently the carpetbagger Gillespie has chosen to make his home), just earlier today, the Adams administration stated its intention to increase involuntary hospitalizations for homeless individuals suffering from severe mental illness. Essentially, they are seeking to expand the interpretation of the legal standard from hospitalizing those who are likely to cause "serious harm" to themselves or others to those "whose mental illness prevents them from meeting their basic survival needs of food, clothing, shelter, or medical care." Notwithstanding the legitimate concerns over "the state" and "involuntary hospitalizations" appearing in the same sentence, or nightmare scenarios about who may be labeled "unable to meet their basic needs" (perhaps someone consuming a large soda?), would the Roundtable care to weigh in on where the line may be here? At what point, if ever, should the state involuntarily hospitalize and/or medicate someone to protect themselves or those around them?

52:41: This week's cultural recommendations

Mentioned in this podcast:

"Elon Musk and Matt Taibbi Reveal Why Twitter Censored the Hunter Biden Laptop Story," by Robby Soave

"Twitter Is More Like a Traveling Circus Than a Public Square," by Steven Greenhut

"Twitter Quits the Biden Administration's Ham-Handed Crusade Against COVID-19 'Misinformation'," by Jacob Sullum

"Eric Adams' Plan To Involuntarily Hospitalize Mentally Ill Homeless People Will Face Legal Challenges," by C.J. Ciaramella

Send your questions to [e-mail]. Be sure to include your social media handle and the correct pronunciation of your name.

Today's sponsor:

• We all want to make sure our family is protected in a medical emergency. What many of us don't realize is that health insurance won't always cover the full amount of an emergency medical flight. Even with comprehensive coverage, you could get hit with high deductibles and co-pays. That's why an AirMedCare Network (AMCN) membership is so important. As a member, if an emergency arises, you won't see a bill for air medical transport when flown by an AMCN provider. Best of all, a membership covers your entire household for as little as $85 a year. AMCN providers are called upon to transport more than 100,000 patients a year. This is coverage no family should be without. Now, as a listener of our show, you'll get up to a $50 Visa or Amazon gift card with a new membership. Simply visit AirMedCareNetwork.com/reason and use offer code REASON.

Audio production by Ian Keyser

Assistant production by Hunt Beaty

Music: "Angeline," by The Brothers Steve

What are we consuming this week?

Nick Gillespie

• Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right

Katherine Mangu-Ward

• Freedom's Furies

Peter Suderman

• The Fabelmans

Matt Welch

• Above and Beyond

---

Comments

[mad.casual]

where apparently the carpetbagger Gillespie has chosen to make his home

Wow! And I thought I was racist!

[Bill Falcon]

This is the problem with woke Reason..you all live in NYC or DC..two cesspools of cosmo liberalism where the Reason folk just want to be accepted and be the "cool kid" invited to the party. The constant defense of trannies in our schools pushing for sexual mutilation is but one sign of the true trouble at Reason. Do a Musk and file most of the staff and hire real libertarians who also are not immoral degenerates...

[AlyssaNeal]

I get paid over 190$ per hour working from home with 2 kids at home. I never thought I’d be able to do it but my best friend earns over 10k a month doing this and she convinced me to try. The potential with this is endless. Heres what I’ve been doing..

HERE====)> http://WWW.RICHSALARIES.COM

[Sevo]

Reason (as now exists) started in Santa Barbara, which was not ideal, but not subject to the social pressures of other locations.
They then used the contributions to open a headquarters in LA - hmmm. My contributions began to fall off.
The move to DC pretty much cemented the conversion to swamp critters; like the surly server, they still get the $0.01 contribution so they know they are not forgotten, just despised.
Sullum, stuff your TDS up your ass.

[LongTimeListenerFirstTimeCaller]

@Sevo, what a great idea, I stopped donating recently but just renewed it for $0.01. I might even do one penny monthly..

[Mother's Lament]

“What Twitter’s Suppression of the Hunter Biden Laptop Story Tells Us About the Media”

Where were all the Reason stories back then? Several mentions here and there don’t really count.

When it became obvious that the CIA and FBI were running a massive disinformation op against the story, you’d think a libertarian magazine would have 24/7 coverage.

[Vernon Depner]

It didn't involve weed, butt sex or Mexicans.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Or as Hunter calls it, the weekend. Or maybe a weeknight. Or just Tuesday morning.

[Eeyore]

I have yet to do all three at the same time. Guess that should go on my bucket list? Do I get a special libertarian achievement award if I do?

[SQRLSY One]

Possibly... Ass an alternate prize, 2nd place (or better-butter or with awards of MASSIVE helpings of Mazola!) should go to someone simultaneously getting jiggly with it, with plucked chickens, hairless hamsters, and green paint!

(My parole ossifer told me NOT to speak with ANYONE about such things, so PLEASE keep it to yourselves!)

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

You get a senior staff position with Reason! Oh, you said "libertarian" award.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

But I'm guessing a significant number of deep staters enjoy a tasty chalupa on occasion served by charming breakfast tacos from the side of a food truck. That closes the circle as far as I'm concerned.

[Overt]

To my knowledge, ENB mentioned it the day after in the mourning lynx and Soave did a single article complaining that the media should be covering it more, largely because it was all questionable stuff that needed debunking.

https://reason.com/2020/10/15/twitter-blocking-a-new-york-post-article-was-dumb-but-not-illegal-censorship-or-election-interference/

ENB's post was the standard "private companies" bit, but at least as an aside made the case that there is more to free expression than government action.

Overall, nobody was talking about the government's role here. And the rest were happy to move on to something else as quickly as possible.

[Yatusabes]

The Munk Debate in Toronto featured Douglas Murray who brought to the floor something I did not realize: the Canadian govt effectively owns the Ca. press by virtue of receiving funding. The reaction of the audience was telling to that specific point.

Now, why is this so rancid? Utterly, utterly rancid and corrupt? Because in this country, your media, your mainstream media is funded by the government. The government in Canada can tell the banks to shut down people’s bank accounts. Oh, yeah, your government can do that, and if you’re happy with that, just think about what would have happened if the shoe was on the other foot. The government can do that, but in Canada, they can also tell the media what to do. And the media does the bidding of the Canadian government. That isn’t a free society’s media. I’ve seen, unfree countries all my life. But this, in a developed liberal democracy like Canada, is a disgrace. We’re not saying don’t read the mainstream media. We’re just saying: don’t trust them.

Well worth watching the entire debate, free on Vimeo

https://vimeo.com/munkdebates/review/775853977/85003a644c

[Gaear Grimsrud]

From the lopsided vote of the attendees I'm not sure the Canadians in the audience were aware of it either.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

If they weren't aware of it, they were fucking stupid. The CBC is just as much of a government organ as their mother country's news media are, and that the US's has been moving towards since at least the Bush era.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

What was the "government's role here" you are referring to? The only government action discussed in Musk's Part 1 data was White House spokesmodel Kayleigh McWhatever's account getting blocked.

[Social Justice is neither]

So you're just going to ignore the FBI's actions and that the Democrats involved were looking to run that government, had run it before? Are you that stupid or just a dishonest proggy POS?

[Sevo]

That particular piece of lefty shit showed up for all of a couple of days, peddling the then-current lies about the Twitter scandal. Watch for its return under a new handle with the new lies soon.

[Nardz]

Didn't they do at least one or two articles defending it?

[Don't look at me!]

At what point, if ever, should the state involuntarily hospitalize and/or medicate someone to protect themselves or those around them?

Hopefully, just before my rights are violated by some drug addled hobo.

[Utkonos]

Look, I’m as libertarian as the next guy but ya gotta draw the line somewhere and I draw mine with anyone who thinks that the color scheme in the Brady Bunch kitchen should come back in vogue. Off to the funny farm with you—and NO access to the Arts & Crafts Room!

[JimboJr]

What does the media's coordinated attack on Taibbi, for committing the sin of ...*checks notes* ...doing actual journalism tell us about the media?

They all came out very quickly with the NPC line of "he's running PR for a billionaire" in lockstep pretty quickly.

Say what you will about fascists, but man do they march well in unison!

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Good train management, too.

[Longtobefree]

Including wage and price controls by legislation, no less - - - - - - - - - -

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Do prices have to exceed wages, or do wages have to exceed prices?

[Mickey Rat]

That may be the most damning thing for the news media as a whole. Now that the house of cards has come crashing down on what they did, they are circling the wagons and blaming Taibbi for reporting on the truth.

[Longtobefree]

As always, The Bee does it best - - - -
https://babylonbee.com/news/dnc-media-collude-to-suppress-story-about-dnc-media-colluding-to-suppress-story

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

It's suppression and collusion all the way down.

[Mike Laursen]

The walls are closing in!

There were no significant revelations in Taibbi’s Twitter thread. We have know how Twitter handled this story for a long time. Why wound it all come crashing down now when it didn’t all come crashing down when we first heard about Twitter suppressing the story.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Except now we have the receipts, when they were blatantly running psy-ops about it as "Russian disinformation" two years ago. And now, of course, that their lackeys at Twitter provided them with in-kind political contributions, that dumb bozo-haired Squealer is saying that the whole thing is "old news."

[Chang Moers]

We have know how Twitter handled this story for a long time.

You were literally calling it a right-wing conspiracy theory until a week ago, Episiarch, you lying piece of shit. Yes we all knew it, and were rubbing your shit-covered nose in it for 2 years, but you were doggedly sticking with the narrative just like you did with the Russia collusion hoax and the Trump peepee tape. Sorry fucko, we're not quite done rubbing your shit-covered nose in your mess yet. You're going to eat this L until you puke it back up and then you're going to eat it again like the pathetic little misbehaving bitch that you are.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Scato, is that you?

[Sevo]

Sorry, shit-pile, your lies are now OBE.

[JimboJr]

"The walls are closing in!"

Christ. I hate to have to explain a meme to you, as to reduce the fun of using it, but realize it doesn't fit here because...

- In this scenario, everyone who was claiming there was fire creating all the smoke (the ones who were all labeled as conspiracy theorists) was absolutely vindicated...unlike the numerous times we were told about I dont know, say...Trump's: tax returns, pee tape, russian kompromat, nuclear secrets in maralago...the constistent failures to ever get ol Donnie (despite desperate, relentless attempts) is what makes the meme work...When everyone points at FBI/DNC corruption they thought was there and are proven correct, its basically the opposite of what you are going for there.

- There has never been an actual risk of "walls closing in" other than proving the collusion and gaslighting we knew was there. Why? Because the people in charge of investigating and making said walls close in are the ones who bullied Twitter into doing this in the first place. I dont think Goebbels would have been at risk of the walls closing in if the German people found out (and had a smoking gun) he was using dishonest propaganda.

I know the left will never be able to meme due to a lack of humor, brainpower, or both, but damnit man, try harder.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

The only thing we didn't know before the Tweeterdump (Part 1) was what the emails between the parties (especially the internal ones) said.

Dorsey had admitted that Twitter spiking the story was wrong, and a mistake, over a year ago.

No emails were revealed showing anyone asking for the NYPo story to be spiked.

No emails were revealed showing anyone from the government pressuring Twitter to do anything about the NYPo story.

What do you think was "absolutely vindicated" here by Musk's release of Part 1?

[Brett Bellmore]

You do know that there's a part 2 coming Saturday, right?

I'm quite irate with Musk, actually. When he said he was going to release the evidence, I thought he'd release release it, not just hand it over to some journalist to pick through.

But that said, putting out part of the evidence, letting a bunch of people expose themselves by saying "There's no X here!", and then releasing the X to cut them off at the knees, is a standard tactic.

[Yatusabes]

disagree. Matt Taibbi was the ideal pick to disseminate the data. Additionally, his team is a N of 1. Im not aware that he, like Bari Weiss, has a growing staff, plus he is married and has young children. Then there is the very real possibility of reprisals given the recent history of the Left to attempt to assassinate, stalk, doxx and firebomb Pro-Life centers, loot, arson, all out anarchy against police precincts, etc.

The new CEO of CNN recently had extra security stationed outside a conference room where he was conducting a meeting, and this from his own ideological camp

It is shocking Taibbi would put himself in this danger, and it would be understandable if he suddenly pulled back. Musk has enough money to hire security around his every movement 24/7, though it does not take much for an assassin to take a taxi to his house ala Kavanaugh, or stalk his kids ala Amy Comey Barrett

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

You know who comes out of this looking relatively good? Ro Khanna, who at least had the sense and self-awareness to raise the First Amendment implications of these actions.

He's one of few Democrats I actually like, contra a lot of his political positions, and his response to this shows my instincts about him were largely correct.

[Yatusabes]

Then there is this

There is nothing there other than a man making money by trading on his family name, which you might think would be an embarrassing issue for a family that literally sells its name to the highest bidder.

https://www.salon.com/2022/12/05/hunter-bidens-laptop-the-rights-pseudo-scandal-industry-hopes-for-another-big-win/

its only a matter of time until the columnist at Salon yanks that comment. Alas someone archived it yesterday. ROFLOL

https://archive.ph/BcL0n

[R Mac]

Agreed. Nice to know there’s at least one Democrat that’s not a totalitarian asshole.

Imagine being a “libertarian” defending Democrats on this when even a Democrat could see the problem with it?

[InsaneTrollLogic]

Taibbi has made a career of doing things like this, unafraid to piss off the rich and powerful. Apparently, from what I read on Twitter, the next set is also going to Bari Weiss as well as Matt Taibbi.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

I do know that Musk has said there will be a Part 2, and I don't know what will be released in Part 2, if a Part 2 is ever released. (Which is probably why I was clearly only discussing what had been released in Part 1...)

But @JimboJr said that the documents in Part 1 "absolutely vindicated" the "conspiracy theorists" (his words) who were "claiming there was fire creating all the smoke". You can answer, but I was actually asking him.

[Sevo]

Man, you sure put both feet in your mouth, lying pile of lefty shit.

[Fetterman's Hump]

“What Twitter’s Suppression of the Hunter Biden Laptop Story Tells Us About the Media”

Here is what I have concluded about "the media": With a few notable exceptions, the media is enthralled with the deep state and is a potent enemy of truth and freedom, i.e. same ole same ole.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

They used to be better at hiding it. Or maybe they no longer give a shit.

[Marshal]

JournoList taught them they didn't need to hide their political motivations.

[NOYB2]

With a few notable exceptions, the media is enthralled with the deep state and is a potent enemy of truth and freedom, i.e. same ole same ole.

And, sadly, Reason isn't one of those exceptions.

Reason is fine with the deep state, as long as there is free drugs, cheap Chinese imports, and open borders.

[Dillinger]

I remember at the time thinking it told me you guys suck for not demanding the laptop contents

[JesseAz]

Let's see. ENBs take implying the laptop is false.

https://reason.com/2020/10/22/fbi-not-playing-along-as-trump-tries-to-implicate-joe-biden-in-crimes/

This was shortly after the laptop release.

https://reason.com/volokh/2021/03/22/the-xi-jin-ping-josh-hawley-tech-consensus/

Where baker says it was disinformation.

David and I manage to disagree about a few things, including the Hunter Biden laptop story, which I contend is now the principal example of a disinformation campaign in 2020, with the media and Big Tech combining to throttle the story on spurious suspicions of a Russian hand in its provenance; David disagrees.

[JesseAz]

Robbie saying since Gulliani was involved the media was right to be skeptical.

Giuliani and Bannon are political operatives with a long history of shady activity, so the fact that they were the intermediary sources for this story does raise red flags. But that doesn't mean the story is untrue.

But at least he admits that it isn't accurate.

[JesseAz]

I should add i really didnt find any reason articles on what was in the contents, such as business feelings as VP. Just a discussion on if it should be censored. Even in the Robbie article he said Twitter has the right to censor it. Wonder if that thought changes knowing biden and dems colluded to censor it.

A much different take than Russia collusion articles.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Remember when Libertarians used to say they could agree with Democrats on some things, and with Republicans on others? But never align 100%?

[Mother's Lament]

I never thought one of those things they'd agree with would be government censorship.

[JesseAz]

I mean Jo did state we need to be anti racist and weld said to bake the cake.

[Chang Moers]

That was GayJay who said to bake the cake. Weld was too busy literally endorsing Hillary Clinton in between calling for gun confiscation.

[Chang Moers]

Wonder if that thought changes knowing biden and dems colluded to censor it.

Why would it? That's precisely why Reason supported it in the first place.

[Social Justice is neither]

The laptop suppression says you are authoritarian cunts who will do whatever your DNC masters say no questions asked. You were firmly in line with the unelected surveillance state in promoting any lie that would derail Trump. You are enemies of truth, liberty and independence.

[Nardz]

Correct

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Triggernometry: Dr. Jay Battacharya:

Lockdowns were a mistake. Receipts.

[Don't look at me!]

Holy crap.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-05/california-s-newsom-proposes-limit-on-oil-refining-margins?srnd=premium&leadSource=uverify%20wall

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Time to leave California so it can pursue Progressive Utopia*.

*A tiny hyper-rich elite with a slightly larger group of elitist wannabes surrounded by a brown peasantry that puts on daily shows of proper living, i.e. carbon-free, vegan diversity, while they serve the master class.

[JimboJr]

https://twitter.com/Timcast/status/1599865234193514496?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

"theres a 9mm bullet lodged in my kitchen now

i cant say im surprised this happened after the wave of doxxing and threats made against us"

Just a bunch of peaceful lefties peacefully protesting, like they do.

When you use trumped up rhetoric like "trans-genocide" this is the insanity you create. Lots of people out there trying to get Rittenhoused apparently

[TJJ2000]

Where's the 1.5yr Congressional Trial & double impeachment???
Surely if a few Russia's buying facebook ads can warrant such a witch-hunt.............

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

But how many mean tweets?

[Nardz]

https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1599892100094767105?t=2m8_7xu10Z3Ik6GymMzjfQ&s=19

White House dismisses @elonmusk's release of Twitter Files, calls it a 'distraction' from hate speech

[Link]

[Nardz]

https://twitter.com/philthatremains/status/1599780110454132737?t=6koLVONOMvQHiwIxCNnSiQ&s=19

Weird way to spell “fascist”

[Link]

[Nardz]

https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1599896453752950784?t=PRuiYBduwHQGenjgCONupQ&s=19

JUST IN: U.S. law enforcement is investigating Elon Musk’s Neuralink, a medical device company, for potential violations of animal-welfare laws as staff raise alarms about the company’s animal tests, per Reuters.

[JimboJr]

Maybe they will get to the bottom of the dogs fauci tortured...

oh wait, nevermind, he's a democrat hero

[Nardz]

https://twitter.com/Eric_Schmitt/status/1599893691698581504?t=N8AekCKjpVlbYr-6GVhK9A&s=19

Another nugget — Anthony Fauci’s daughter worked at @twitter.

[KathleenSparrow]

Yeah it`s Possible…Anybody can earn 800$+ daily… You can earn from16000$-32000$ a month or even more if you work as a full time job…It’s easy, just follow instructions on this page, read it carefully from start to finish…lli It’s a flexible job but a good eaning opportunity

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[swillfredo pareto]

What Twitter's Suppression of the Hunter Biden Laptop Story Tells Us About the Media

Suppression isn’t the right word. The mainstream media didn’t pretend the story didn’t exist and try to hide it. Its agents actively tried to convince the voting public the story was fiction. This was done in full cooperation with the Democrat Party. The suffocation of the Hunter Biden laptop story confirms what now seems obvious: The media has always been in the tank.

For the last 50 years the legacy media has been coasting on the mystique of the Pentagon Papers and Watergate. What is obvious now is neither happened in the pursuit of truth. To the extent they were on the right side of either, it was merely by accident. The stories only found the light of day because the overwhelming majority of journalists were against the Vietnam War and saw Richard Nixon as a personal enemy. An uncritical public took them at their word when they spouted banalities like Democracy Dies in Darkness and All The News That’s Fit To Print. But the Washington Post and the New York Times have spent the post-modern era treating their mottos as satire.

Pauline Kael of the New York Times said it perfectly: I live in a rather special world. I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don’t know. They’re outside my ken. This was a critic for the most important newspaper in the country, who knew hundreds of people, and only one who voted for the Republican incumbent. She said this about an election that was, at the time, the biggest electoral college landslide ever. Maybe she had a lot of liars for friends, but we will always have Donald Trump to thank for exposing the depth of the malignancy.

[JimboJr]

"Suppression isn’t the right word"...

The proper description is Orwellian fascism

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Let's not forget the intel community leaders that signed a letter which they knew would be use as a evidence for claiming it was a Russian disinformation campaign.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Vietnam War and saw Richard Nixon as a personal enemy. An uncritical public took them at their word when they spouted banalities like Democracy Dies in Darkness and All The News That’s Fit To Print. But the Washington Post and the New York Times have spent the post-modern era treating their mottos as satire.

Ben Bradlee was a close personal friend of John F. Kennedy. There was no way the post was going to print any damning information about Kennedy… ever.

During the documentary I saw a couple of years ago on Bradlee which gave fawning accounts of his close and glamourous friendship with Kennedy, other top reporters being interviewed even admitted the Editor of the Post was utterly compromised, but hey, who cares, it was John Fucking Kennedy! So hot!

[Mike Laursen]

They weren’t very successful in suppressing the story. Anybody who cared about Hunter Biden’s laptop could find out all about it from several easily-available sources.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Let's see what Mike Laursen said about this when it broke out:

"The White Knight 2 years ago
Flag Comment Mute User
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."

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

The White Knight 2 years ago
Flag Comment Mute User
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.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

And what I said:

Red Rocks White Privilege 2 years ago
“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)”

[Chang Moers]

Weird take from the guy who just said less than an hour ago that "we all knew this" innit?

[R Mac]

I don’t call him Mike Liarson for nothing.

[Chang Moers]

Kinda like how women who want abortions can easily obtain one from easily-available sources by driving over a state boundary, Episiarch? Like that you cocksucking little faggot worm?

[JimboJr]

*could find out about it as long as they ignored the relentless media/tech/govt drumbeat that it was russian disinformation

**also lets not forget about all of the stooges such as yourself that were happy to run with that message because any amount of lies, propaganda, and govt bullying of private companies is OK so long as orange man defeated

[R Mac]

“Anybody who cared about Hunter Biden’s laptop could find out all about it from several easily-available sources.”

How about people that didn’t care because…they didn’t know about it in the first place. Or how about the people that believes the lie from your masters that it was Russian disinformation? Disingenuous cunt.

[Ersatz]

anyone who didnt care or didnt know about it a) never found out about it OR b) only got official Biden admin media narrative

and of course that is prob 85% of the American public

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""They weren’t very successful in suppressing the story.""

Is success now a requirement?

We should all be concerned.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

I don't see why someone expressing scepticism about the authenticity of an "October Surprise", which had apparently been "suppressed" by Rudy Giuliani for over a month, was so surprising.

As we know now, there was actually nothing much in the Hunter laptop files, so their value as an October Surprise was mainly for their potential to cause a brief wave of shock and confusion. Which explains the careful timing...

[JesseAz]

Nothing on the laptop? Shrike sock? Only he or Mike are dumb enough to claim there is nothing of interest in the laptop.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Trump's own FBI had access the the laptop contents since 2019, and found nothing of criminal interest in it.

We've seen the contents since October 2020, and we can see that for ourselves. (Hunter Biden could possibly get prosecuted for drug and gun offences, but that's about it.)

This story isn't about the laptop--that's all been known since October 2020--it is about how Twitter handled its internal enforcement of its ToS/suppress the would-be October Surprise.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""Trump’s own FBI""

You mean the FBI that falsified DNS information to create a Russian Trump connection?

Trump never had the FBI.

[Ersatz]

Yeah... that was a pathetic attempt by ObvSockSpam

[Yatusabes]

As we know now, there was actually nothing much in the Hunter laptop files, ...

You may not be aware that Galileo supported heliocentrism, where the Earth and other planets are in motion around the Sun, as opposed to geocentrism, though you are of course free to believe whatever DNC talking points disinformation you like

[Social Justice is neither]

Confirmation that the presidential candidate is corrupt and selling access to policy is no big deal. That he is working with enemy nations illegally, no big deal. Sure thing, keep spinning for your DNC masters you marxist bitch.

[Sevo]

"...As we know now, there was actually nothing much in the Hunter laptop files, so their value as an October Surprise was mainly for their potential to cause a brief wave of shock and confusion. Which explains the careful timing…"

Hey, ObviouslyNotSpam! You been busted as a lying pile of lefty shit!

[ErinSanchez]

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[Liberty Lover]

it would be more informative if Reason told us the reason for their move from libertarian to woke liberal ideology than about Twitter.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

To get more loyal subscribers like you?

That's all I can think of...

[R Mac]

You’re bad at this Pod.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Now I'm "Pod"? Who is Pod?

[Sevo]

Hey ObviouslyNotSpam! You been busted as a lying pile of lefty shit!

[sarcasmic]

Trumpians claiming the laptop story would have changed the election results are as deranged as Clintonites who believe some Russian ads on Facebook cost them the election.

[rloquitur]

Oh really?

The debate where Trump brought it up would have been hilarious without Chris Wallace running interference with Joe "Showers with Ashley" Biden.

[ME2R]

I think the panels glosses over much of the problem. For instance, the hyper partisan nature of our educational institutions. These are institutions funded by, or funded with (government student grants) taxpayers. To give taxpayer dollars to entities openly hostile and, in some instances, discriminatory, to half of those taxpayer IS a major problem! Perhaps it’s time to defund institutions that do not fairly represent those taxpayers.

As to “no government” involvement, the panel sounds like lawyers for the tobacco industry - despite overwhelming correlation and coordination with government actors and the media, there is “ no proof.” Yet!!!

You might as well be smoking stogies and puffing in the taxpayers face. Government money and privileges flow through the media like laundered taxpayer money.

[Ben of Houston]

That's a good analogy. I've compared the Biden bribery scandal to a comic book many times. There might not be absolute "proof" but there is so much evidence that Biden took bribes through his son in explicit quid pro quo deals that it passed reasonable doubt years ago. If it was in a mystery, it would be so obvious that you would think in chapter 2 that there had to be at least two more twists.

[Bill Godshall]

“What Reason's Suppression of the Hunter Biden Laptop Story Tells Us About Reason”

Although I and others posted dozens of comments on this website exposing Hunter Biden's laptop and Tony Bobulinski's allegations against Hunter and the Big Guy) and the media censorship of those extremely important facts before the 2020 election, I don't recall any of these panelists (nor anyone else at Reason) exposing Hunter Biden's laptop content or Tony Bobulinski's allegations, or the mass media's partisan censorship of these stories.

[Lorensacho]

There is nothing on Hunter Biden's laptop. If there was, it would have leaked. Blaming Twitter for hiding this information is the last act of the desperate attempt to get to Joe Biden through his son an in=mperative for people determined to get even for democrats exposing Trump's crimes and mental condition.

[TJJ2000]

Some of the leaks over a year ago.
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2021/07/01/flippin-gigantic-deal-hunters-laptop-reveals-how-joe-biden-met-with-sons-business-partners-1097068/

[Sevo]

Hey, Lorensacho! You been busted as a lying pile of lefty shit!

[Moderation4ever]

The public did not care about Hunter Biden's laptop when the story broke, and I don't think they care anymore now. Trump supporters are desperate for something to latch onto and the fact that the best they can do is Hunter tell most people how deep that desperation actually is. Twitter made a decision that you can disagree with, but the fact that they did help spread a story that no one cared about is not suppression, it was a business decision.

[TJJ2000]

Your right; but not the way you think you're right.

Republicans really don't care so much about Biden's treasonous dealings as much as they care about F'En treasonous National Socialists(syn; Nazi's) in USA political offices doing it UN-Constitutionally (conquering the USA for their Crony-Nazism), their UN-Constitutional UN-Agenda's, their UN-Constitutional redistribution/theft, etc, etc, etc, (Democrats list of CRIMINAL-INTENT is endless).

Nailing the F'En treasonous Criminals to the wall (keeping them from conquering the USA) is the deeper motivation behind it all. That's why USA patriots care about the story... A treasonous Nazi-Empire leader meeting with foreign powers through siblings isn't exactly a comfort to any except the Nazi's that are trying to conquer and consume the USA.

[Dave_A]

It tells us that the media has at least some common sense, in deeming a preposterous story not-printable.

‘Candidate A – who is losing badly with 30-ish days left in the campaign – sends his personal lawyer to distribute a USB drive containing compromising material that supposedly belongs to Candidate B’s son amongst various media orgs.

There is, at the time this is happening, zero proof of the material’s authenticity, nor any access to the actual computers from which the data was supposedly copied. There is no valid chain of custody, and no way to prove that Candidate A’s campaign did not ‘salt the mine’ by mixing forged documents in with otherwise genuine material.

Also, Candidate A previously tried to frame Candidate B for corruption, including an attempt to extort a foreign government into supporting said plot or face having their military aid cut off if they did not.’

Any media organ with half a brain *should* look at that and smell ‘set-up’. And they did.

[Sevo]

Hey, Dave! You been busted as a lying pile of lefty shit!

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