October 22, 2020

At the Tranquility Café...

IMG_0749 ... you can talk about anything except the big debate. Go one down for the debate stuff.

72 comments:

tim in vermont said...

About a week ago, Frank Luntz was telling people that Trump was crazy to think that anybody cared about these emails and that he should direct his attention elsewhere. At that time the polls were already starting to move, and so it struck me as kind of odd.

Well there is always an explanation, we just rarely get to see it. But we did this time: https://twitter.com/WarRoomPandemic/status/1319022578002964485

Paul Ryan is just part of the swamp anyway, so I don’t feel bad for him. And Romney seems like he is getting closer and closer to being implicated, his campaign manger sure is involved. John Kerry is part of it too.

This is why they hate Trump, for turning over the rocks. Biden may still win, but Trump has turned over the rocks and no amount of tap dancing is going to make a Biden or Harris administration look like anything but a nest of thieves covering up their crimes.

Wa St Blogger said...

If you care about corruption in government, consider supporting candidates who are outside the good ole boys (and girls) club. Trump may be a cad, but as an outsider he has lifted the rock that shows all the bugs and grime beneath. The insiders are desperately trying to protect their cash cows and willing to suborn the constitution to do it. Hold your nose and vote for Trump and help clean out the swamp.

Lucien said...

People seem to assume that if SCOTUS overturns Roe/Casey, then the legality of abortion will be determined state-by-state. But if the issue of whether an embryo/fetus is a person is determined (or left undetermined) then we are left with the question of whether abortion deprives a person of life without due process of law, and maybe whether it is cruel and unusual punishment (if you can’t execute a 17 year-old for raping and murdering a child, then . . .). These are constitutional issues. Of course, if a state allows abortion, then who will have standing to challenge that law?

tim in vermont said...

And the Dreamy P.M. of the North paid a company run by a fellow Liberal that had one other employee and had been set up 7 days previous $100 million dollars over the normal price for ventilators. “Never let a good crisis go to waste!”

Maybe if this scandal really impacts Biden, our Canadian friends will be emboldened to throw out their ChiCom-knob sucking “elite class” too.

Sydney said...

Beautiful

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Game over says Scott Adams.

Hunter's former business partner, Tony Bobilinski, said he had evidence Joe was on the take from a company he and his son were setting up with foreign investors.

Link

effinayright said...

I asked Alexa this afternoon to set an alarm to go off at 5:34 AM. She asked me if I wanted to try an alarm app.

I said NO.

Alarm goes off, announcing: "Good MORNING, motherfucker!"

No shit.

Flat Tire said...

Is anyone live blogging the debate?

stevew said...

I was very tranquil watching David Gilmour's concert at Pompeii. My brother in law, by way of mrs. stevew's sister, is coming up for the weekend, with his wife my sister in law, and we've agreed to go for a bicycle ride Saturday. It is supposed to be a great day. Now I am in receipt of an email from him with a route for a century (100 miles). Dude, wtf, I have not been riding long and often enough to do that now! My tranquility is demolished!

I think I'll watch the debate to calm down.

Rory said...

I'm putting together a list of journalists who have kept their independence through the last five years or so. Examples: Mollie Heminway, Matt Taibbi, John Solomon. I'd appreciate other worthy names.

stephen cooper said...

I had one of those birthdays ending in a zero a few weeks ago, and I realized that, if I had a really good memory, I could remember tens of thousands of conversations with people who badly fucked up in life, later on, or with people who later on did the opposite of badly fucking up in life. Well you probably could, too, remember and realize just as much....

I like to keep track of my favorite quotes from various people who most people do not think of as the most articulate people in the world .... so I remember the almost unloveable Janet Reno's answer when asked if she had ever wanted to get married (the words " I am actually very shy " were in there), and I remember the most poignant thing poor unloved Hillary Clinton ever said (yes she said a few poignant things over the years, not many but a few). (don't bother googling for it. it is not one of her more famous quotes, and you can look for it for hours and hours, reading one terrible quote after another, and not find it. BUT I REMEMBER IT and yes it is poignant yes it is)

So anyhow, this one time somebody somewhere asked Ringo Starr (I think most of his friends now call him Ringo, although I don't think his oldest friends call him that) about one of those fantastically detailed books about the years when the Beatles were still the Beatles. He said something like, "I heard about that book, I am sure it is an interesting book: I wish I could remember those days better than I do, I wish I had not forgotten so so much about those days" --- although Ringo being Ringo, he said it more poetically than I just said it. Isn't that touching?

Anyway, if you are one of those people who sees a comment by a commenter who you don't really appreciate, and you think, I really don't think I want to read that -----

but if you are reading it anyway ----

like I said, I have had interesting conversations, over the years, with probably somewhere north of 20 thousand people. Whoever you are, you probably have had a similar amount (here, using simple arithmetic: dividing by or extrapolating out to the number of years) year for year, on average.

A few people, I remember, who I talked to once or twice back in the hazy past, decades ago years ago or even, in a few thousands of cases, more than half a century ago, had that thousand mile stare that nobody likes to see: a few were obviously not even sure they were human : but almost all of them were loved by somebody, and many of them were absolutely fascinating in ways that I was not skilled enough to fathom back in the day, and God loved them all, no exceptions.

so next time you are listening to someone and you are thinking something like 'please just stfu' : try and think of the bigger picture. Be useful or at least be tolerant.

I am watching the second season of Parenthood on DVDs, and in the episode with the Thanksgiving dinner at the well-forested Northern-like Mediterranean climate Bay Area Braverman home (Pleasanton, Livermore, Dublin, Mill Valley - one of those places) Zeke Braverman, the grandfather, at the post-dinner flag football game, where he is the quarterback for both sides (who you are not allowed to tackle, per the rules) for both sides, calls out in cadence all sorts of things right before the various snaps, and the subtitles read "E. Gordon Levy" when he says "G. Gordon Liddy".

Mill Valley, actually, but I see Pleasanton or Livermore or Dublin. that is just so typically how I see the world.

Paco Wové said...

Ex-Evergreen State College biology prof. Bret Weinstein booted off Facebook, no explanation or appeal.

Sebastian said...

At least NPR is sorta honest, or at least transparent, calling the Hunter stories "pure distractions."

stephen cooper said...

I am not watching the debate but I have done this recently:

Last fall I bought seven or eight bottles of Livermore Valley wines (Wente Vineyard, the Sauvignon Blanc is perfect with most autumn meals, but the Chardonnay is not without its own version of foggy sunny clay terroir Bay Area charm) and one bottle of merlot from the Trump vineyard, a few exits down Interstate 95 from where me and most of my friends live in our inexpensive apartments and small homes.

I do not send cash to political campaigns but this year, this fall, I bought seven or eight bottles from the Trump vineyard and one from Wente (well, four or five from Wente: as the years go by, like everyone else, I tend to be less promiscuous in the food and wine choices that are important for hospitality and for appreciating what is good in life, as the years go by - but "I bought one" sounded better as a contrast than "four or five").

That being said, when people ask me what I want for Christmas, something that used to happen an awful lot but now happens at most a couple times of year, if that, I am gonna say a bottle of wine from Tom Seaver's vineyard. I have no idea if that wine is good or not, but it is Tom Seaver's vineyards, and as much as I love living and being alive today, I really miss whatever charm there was potentially available in the old days, whether or not they were the good old days, like they were for some of you, or whether they simply were what they were.

Big Mike said...

Well, perhaps now we know why the Democrats kept telling their voters to be sure to vote early. It is not at all beyond the realm of possibility that someone in the FBI told them about the Hunter Biden Emails, and that they were going to come out ahead of time.

stephen cooper said...

ALL AMERICANS HAVE EQUAL WORTH

hawkeyedjb said...

I am tranquil. Approaching old age but still working, a bit, buying good French wine and a bike with my earnings. Mrs. Hawkeye has - for now - overcome cancer, we have a two young grandchildren and a new dog, and a nice home. If I pay too much attention to politics, my tranquility is disturbed, so I just do my civic duty (vote) and pay attention to the nice things life has brought me. I hope our children and grandchildren will enjoy the nice world we have been so fortunate to live in, but I don't know what the future holds. A wise friend says that he was so lucky to live in the best time that ever was and ever will be: from the end of WWII to the end of the century. I hope he is overly pessimistic .

hawkeyedjb said...

I thought about majoring in journalism in college, but studied English instead. Good that I avoided that sad profession, which began its descent into madness and irrelevance around the turn of the century. Now, just a few short years later, it doesn't exist. And to think, it was once an occupation and a calling.

D. said...

I'm listening to Capriccio Espagnol, Opus 34 Rimsky-Korsakov on kqac

historyDoc said...

Althouse is a perfect example of the Gell- Mann effect. Today she blogs about a ridiculous article in the WaPo, that is clearly all in the mind of the writer, and supported by no evidence. She knows its bogus, spin cycle by willing Biden sycophants in the press.

Tomorrow she will hold up another story in the WaPo and treat it as if its free of bias, even-handed, and un-assailable.

I think its clear she has a healthy skepticism, but when all your news comes from the WaPo (or NY Times), then at some point you start to feel like wet streets cause rain if you hear it enough.

hawkeyedjb said...

I bought a new bike, a Wilier carbon frame with electric shift. Then Mrs. Hawkeye had to give up biking, and I was able to adapt her Specialized Roubaix to my size. It's the best bike in the world! I trade off between the two. It's a choice I get to make every time I ride. Making it doesn't intrude on my tranquility. Mrs. H has a new electric bike. She waits for me at the top of the hills, but gravity is my friend on the way down.

hawkeyedjb said...

The backyard is tranquil tonight. The surface of the pool is tranquil. The dogs are tranquil. I would wish this on everyone. Don't let the Biden/Trump wars disturb you. We're all just spectators anyway.

hawkeyedjb said...

We have a nice home, a new dog, and a shitload of ammo. We are tranquil.

paminwi said...

A name fir a new garage in a new casino in Las Vegas.
Old timers here will have flashbacks on the name they chose.

https://www.circalasvegas.com/garage-mahal/

Narr said...

You know, that Sam Elliott commercial might be less nauseating after a nice bong bowl of Lemon Meringue . . .

Could the whole thing be meant to appeal to the patriotic stoner demo?

Narr
Asking for a friend

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

The modern paper of record is now the Babylon Bee. More truthful than either the NYT or the WaPoo.

Narr said...

R-K is one of my faves! Tchaikovsky can't hold his robe.

That we have both great audio tech for recorded and broadcast music, and that the classical tradition is still vibrant, are two aspects of modern life that keep me hopeful for the culture broadly.

Narr
The Opus 34 is a delight

Thistlerose said...

My US representative race is between a black male Democrat incumbent and a white female Republican challenger. The Republican has the backing of the Dallas Police Association. When I went to vote this afternoon the representative from the Dallas Police Association with the republican group was a middle aged black female police officer. My guess for her it's more important to have a politician that respects the difficult job she does every day and will stand with her then to have matching skin color. How many people that go to work every day risking their lives are going to vote for Biden who is afraid to leave his basement?

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

"oh, and one more thing--
... can you add me to the list of those who didn't kill themselves"?


--T. Bobulinsky

n.n said...

ALL AMERICANS HAVE EQUAL WORTH

Individual dignity, intrinsic value, and inordinate worth.

Howard said...

I watched the Chicago 7 Netflix movie tonight instead of the ridiculous debate. Meh. Too many cheap British actors and the normally zippy Sorkin script was pedestrian. I just started another virtual slog for a t-shirt and participation trophy. This time, I log swimming, running and hiking. Doing it with a group of covid workout friends. The five of us need to cover 2000-miles by May.

Goodnight, Dick

Drago said...

Howard: "I watched the Chicago 7 Netflix movie tonight instead of the ridiculous debate. Meh. Too many cheap British actors and the normally zippy Sorkin script was pedestrian. I just started another virtual slog for a t-shirt and participation trophy. This time, I log swimming, running and hiking. Doing it with a group of covid workout friends. The five of us need to cover 2000-miles by May."

Where do you get your swimming in? Are you allowed the use of treadmills/climbers?

wendybar said...

Trump in a landslide. Joe can't find his way out of a brown paper bag.

wendybar said...

Rory said...
I'm putting together a list of journalists who have kept their independence through the last five years or so. Examples: Mollie Heminway, Matt Taibbi, John Solomon. I'd appreciate other worthy names.

10/22/20, 8:03 PM

Sara Carter, Sharyl Atkinsson, Catherine Herridge, James O'Keefe, Gregg Jarrett...

h said...

Here's something I noticed today. The Oct 18-20 Economist/Yougov poll has 1500 respondents: 582 Democrats (39%) 497 Independents (33 %) and 421 Republicans 28%. The 2016 exit polls showed 36% D, 31% I and 33% R. Economist/Yougov Oct 18-20 has BIden nationally at +9. If the actual result is much closer (or even a Trump victory) Economist/Yougov (and other pollsters who are not as open with their crosstabs) will need to justify why their poll was weighted so heavily toward D.

wendybar said...

Not sure what I’ll ever do if I get sick and don’t have home insurance. Tragic!

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

FLASHBACK: Health Experts Predicted Up To 200,000 COVID Deaths In US ‘If We Do Things Almost Perfectly’

https://thefederalist.com/2020/10/22/flashback-health-experts-predicted-up-to-200000-covid-deaths-in-us-if-we-do-things-almost-perfectly/

Sally327 said...

I watched one of the Hobbit movies on BBC America while reading comments about the debate as it unfolded. Middle Earth, aka New Zealand, is really beautiful.

I'm probably in the minority but of the two trilogies I prefer the Hobbit to LOTR.

stephen cooper said...

n.n. --- those are good words for the SAT, individual (dignity), intrinsic (value) , and inordinate (worth) .... !
Well said!

I was quoting (right down to the use of all caps) Thomas Wictor, a.k.a. Carlos Osweda.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

Down on the corner, out in the street...

Ima-Lower-Your-Status Joe turns Proud Boys into "poor boys" 2:30 mark

50 Cent saw that coming

Roughcoat said...

All I want for Christmas is a Tiger Tank:

https://www.amazon.com/GRTVF-Large-Rotating-Artillery-Intelligence/dp/B085VSP9JC/ref=pd_lutyp_rtpb_4_1/133-1762712-9763812?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B085VJ8GCM&pd_rd_r=f89128e3-cb05-4065-bcee-72e9ead0a602&pd_rd_w=8RgJP&pd_rd_wg=bu6LE&pf_rd_p=a6e2c5ee-564b-4b8f-b08c-386e20fcecea&pf_rd_r=YQMKNNDYJZ6DKQ9203H7&psc=1&refRID=YQMKNNDYJZ6DKQ9203H7

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

...did someone say "dark winter"?

Operation Dark Winter was the code name for a senior-level bio-terrorist attack simulation conducted from June 22–23, 2001.[1][2][3] It was designed to carry out a mock version of a covert and widespread smallpox attack on the United States.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Dark_Winter

Roughcoat said...

Drago:

YMCAs in Valparaiso and Chesterton IN (where I live) are open. Unfortunately, Mrs. Roughcoat won't let me attend.

Ice Nine said...

>>Rory said...
I'm putting together a list of journalists who have kept their independence through the last five years or so. Examples: Mollie Heminway, Matt Taibbi, John Solomon. I'd appreciate other worthy names.<<

Glenn Greenwald

Kevin said...

Sara Carter, Sharyl Atkinsson, Catherine Herridge, James O'Keefe, Gregg Jarrett...

Glenn Greenwald.

Kathryn51 said...

Rory said...
I'm putting together a list of journalists who have kept their independence through the last five years or so. Examples: Mollie Heminway, Matt Taibbi, John Solomon. I'd appreciate other worthy names.

I don't care if they are biased (everyone has some biases) - but I want warriors against censorship - whether government or "the powerful" (e.g., FB, NPR, etc..) So: Brit Hume, Glenn Greenwald, Sheryl Atkinson, Michael Tracey, John Roberts, Catherine Herridge

Readering said...

Let's talk about a match where it seemed neither side wanted to win. I watched NY v PA on FOX. Aagghh.

Drago said...

Tomorrow's Headlines Tonight:

Trump Refuses To Condemn Hitler!!!....

....and Genghis Khan.....

....and Star Wars Prequels.

Drago said...

h: "Here's something I noticed today. The Oct 18-20 Economist/Yougov poll has 1500 respondents: 582 Democrats (39%) 497 Independents (33 %) and 421 Republicans 28%. The 2016 exit polls showed 36% D, 31% I and 33% R. Economist/Yougov Oct 18-20 has BIden nationally at +9. If the actual result is much closer (or even a Trump victory) Economist/Yougov (and other pollsters who are not as open with their crosstabs) will need to justify why their poll was weighted so heavily toward D."

I can do that for you already.

Their polls are weighted so heavily toward D's because the "pollsters" are not really attempting to accurately reflect where the electorate happens to be at that moment, the pollsters are attempting to influence potential voter behavior and provide talking points for the democratical legacy media.

NCMoss said...

I just purchased a spirometer (on the Althouse Amazon portal) for my Mom who's recovering from pneumonia after contracting Covid.

StephenFearby said...


Gerald Baker writes in the London Times:

Anti-Trump censorship threatens democracy

Allegations about Hunter Biden have been dismissed by a media establishment that can see only one villain in the US

A comment (first quoting Baker):

"...It’s the fear of denunciation the next day by the right-thinking apostles of political orthodoxy...the mere chance that you might deviate from the lines laid down by the real authoritarians in charge of public discourse."

'I thought all the right-thinking apostles of woke orthodoxy were people on the left. But a leftist can't right-think, otherwise he will be canceled by the woke.

Perhaps the only way out of this dilemma is for committed leftists to embrace doublethink.

As Wikipedia tells us:

"Doublethink is a process of indoctrination whereby the subject is expected to accept a clearly false statement as the truth, or to simultaneously accept two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct, often in contravention to one's own memories or sense of reality..."'

Sara D said...

This is an independent ad, just out
"Weekend at Biden's advert"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQfGnDtv0z0

rcommal said...

I don’t think much matters anymore.

tim in vermont said...

Heh

320Busdriver said...

Kathryn51 said...
Rory said...
I'm putting together a list of journalists who have kept their independence through the last five years or so. Examples: Mollie Heminway, Matt Taibbi, John Solomon. I'd appreciate other worthy names.

I don't care if they are biased (everyone has some biases) - but I want warriors against censorship - whether government or "the powerful" (e.g., FB, NPR, etc..) So: Brit Hume, Glenn Greenwald, Sheryl Atkinson, Michael Tracey, John Roberts, Catherine Herridge


I have been following Adam Housely on twitter and feel he is entirely fair and independent.

donald said...

said...
You know, that Sam Elliott commercial might be less nauseating after a nice bong bowl of Lemon Meringue . . .

Could the whole thing be meant to appeal to the patriotic stoner demo?

Narr
Asking for a friend

Didn’t work.

narciso said...

Michael doran, lara logan,

tim maguire said...

Lem said...Hunter's former business partner, Tony Bobilinski, said he had evidence Joe was on the take from a company he and his son were setting up with foreign investors.

I still don't see the smoking gun. Hunter seems like exactly the kind of guy who would tell his business partners that Joe wants his 10% and then pocket the money himself. Who tells his business partners that Joe won't approve [action] when really Hunter is the one who doesn't want to do it. I want someone to say, "Joe told me this" or "I gave Joe that," not "Hunter said Joe says" or "Hunter said Joe wants."

mezzrow said...

random shout out to @IgnoranceIsBliss. Hang in there, mate. Thinking of you.

tim maguire said...

Rory said...
I'm putting together a list of journalists who have kept their independence through the last five years or so. Examples: Mollie Heminway, Matt Taibbi, John Solomon. I'd appreciate other worthy names.


Glenn Greenwald.

Greenwald and Taibbi are my go-to guys if I want an honest lefty's opinion.

mezzrow said...

https://www.baldingsworld.com/2020/10/22/report-on-biden-activities-with-china/

Key Points of the Report:

Joe Biden’s compromising partnership with the Communist Party of China runs via Yang Jiechi (CPC’s Central Foreign Affairs Commission). YANG met frequently with BIDEN during his tenure at the Chinese embassy in Washington.

Hunter Biden’s 2013 Bohai Harvest Rosemont investment partnership was set-up by Ministry of Foreign Affairs institutions who are tasked with garnering influence with foreign leaders during YANG’s tenure as Foreign Minister.

HUNTER has a direct line to the Politburo, according to SOURCE A, a senior finance professional in China.

Michael Lin, a Taiwanese national now detained in China, brokered the BHR partnership and partners with MOFA foreign influence organizations.

LIN is a POI for his work on behalf of China, as confirmed by SOURCE B and SOURCE C (at two separate national intelligence agencies).

BHR is a state managed operation. Leading shareholder in BHR is a Bank of China which lists BHR as a subsidiary and BHR’s partners are SOEs that funnel revenue/assets to BHR.

HUNTER continues to hold 10% in BHR. He visited China in 2010 and met with major Chinese government financial companies that would later back BHR.

HUNTER’s BHR stake (purchased for $400,000) is now likely be worth approx. $50 million (fees and capital appreciation based on BHR’s $6.5 billion AUM as stated by Michael Lin).

HUNTER also did business with Chinese tycoons linked with the Chinese military and against the interests of US national security.

BIDEN’s foreign policy stance towards China (formerly hawkish), turned positive despite China’s country’s rising geopolitical assertiveness.

Kai Akker said...

Trump in a landslide. --Wendybar

I agree, though it seems few consider this at all possible. Birkel has said it consistently, here.

In more normal times, a ticket with a corrupt, old and slipping mediocrity on top, and a charmless radical power-seeker on the bottom, would do very well to get 40% of the vote. That's how I read it. Especially compared to an incumbent who has a fair number of achievements and demonstrates vigor and patriotism.

We haven't had too many such shellackings recently, but they do happen. Reagan won 59% of the vote in his reelection race of 1984. LBJ got 61% in that devastating 1964 election; then Nixon won 61% in a turnabout in 1972, another reelection matchup. FDR got 61% in 1936; Harding got 60% in 1920. Monroe and Madison did even better in the early days, both in mid- to upper 60s.

This Democratic ticket is the worst of most of our lifetimes, so IMO a 65-35 split would have been conceivable. But if we just use the recent big wins, then Trump should approach that 60% level. I think we have to deduct several percent for cheating by Democrats, between multiple voting in the mail-ins, and lots of ballot-stuffing in the big cities.

So I have Trump 55%, Biden 43%, Other 2%. If that's close to right, then Congress would also turn more Republican.

Howard said...

Drago: Local pools are open in center Mass. Only 2 per lane by appointment, doing that twice per week. Still swimming a couple times a week in the local pond with a wetsuit and squid lid. Once the pond hits 50 F, I'll switch to the ocean.

The Oregon trail virtual challenge accepts all manner of self propelled locomotion:

Run, walk, bike, skate, skip, kayak, ski, row, or step climb your way.
Log your activity (HERE)

mandrewa said...

"When I was a kid in the 70's reading TinTin, my father told me it was all fantasy. Nobody would ever build big, shiny spaceships with fins and pointy noses to fly to space, because that was just not how these things were done in real life."

from a comment on this video of Starship serial number 8 being put together yesterday evening

tim in vermont said...

"I still don't see the smoking gun.”

You simply don’t want to. The smoking gun is that Hunter set up off the books meetings with Joe Biden and powerful people, often suspected kleptocrats. One of them that is documented in the emails involving ChiComs was bragged about by the attendees in China on their blogs, giving independent corroboration. And you have the witness who came foreward yesterday, another recipient of one of the emails, who claims that Joe talked to Hunter about these dealings all the time. So you are left with “Joe Biden set up all of these crazy meetings and fired that prosecutor etc for Hunter, but he did it out of a father’s love for his son” which still makes Joe Biden a crook. And there are multiple sources for this stuff and it follows a pattern well documented in the press.

It’s kind of similar to how you couldn’t get a meeting with Obama’s Secretary of State without some serious baksheesh to her “foundation.” A clearer case of collecting emoluments for official acts I can’t imagine in the modern world.

France’s foreign minister Tallyrand did the same thing to the US and the nation was scandalized, see XYZ affair, but those were different times, before the likes of Joe BIden and Hillary Clinton came to dominate the scene.

tim in vermont said...

@tim maguire,

Another smoking gun is the email from Burisma that what they wanted was to make the prosecution go away. The backstory is that Burisma was built when the owner was interior minister and he steered energy leases to companies he secretly controlled, so he should have been prosecuted, he was out of the country and could not return. Once the prosecutor who was giving him trouble was fired by Biden, his legal troubles disappeared and he was able to return to Ukraine a free and extremely wealthy man.

The smoking gun is that Hunter could make stuff happen that took Joe’s power of his office.

I don’t know what exactly you are looking for, signed receipts? Bank transfers to Joe Biden personally? That money likely disappeared into bitcoin or offshore accounts. Hunter took care of expenses like the college education of Joe Biden’s other children when his own wife complained in her divorce that he never had money for his own family. By itself that’s nothing, but it’s part of a pattern. A pattern used by the Chinese in their corruption. It’s a little different than the Clintons setting up a foundation to take care of family expenses like travel, hotels, cars, etc, but not a lot different.

wildswan said...

I think it's true that at Joe B's level his job consists in saying yes or no. A meeting doesn't have to last long to be significant. It depends on how it is related to work done in advance by, for example, the Ma Larkey crime family

tim maguire said...

tim in vermont said...
"I still don't see the smoking gun.”

You simply don’t want to. The smoking gun is that Hunter set up off the books meetings with Joe Biden and powerful people, often suspected kleptocrats.


No, it's because I know what the phrase "smoking gun" means.

tim in vermont said...

"No, it's because I know what the phrase "smoking gun" means.”

That’s really not much of a response, is it? How did Hunter set up these meetings that Joe attended without Joe’s witting participation? What’s your theory? Lot’s of people have been convicted without signed and nortarized receipts from the criminals attesting to the fact that they were committing crimes.

Narr said...

donald@621am--roger that.

Narr
Another great theory blown up

tim maguire said...

tim in vermont said...
"No, it's because I know what the phrase "smoking gun" means.”

That’s really not much of a response, is it?


Yes it is, it's a complete response. You don't seem to know what the term "smoking gun" means and are just annoyed that someone is putting the hard questions up there when you want everyone to go along with what you want to be true.

I could give a deeper explanation into why you're wrong, but I already did that in my first post that you replied too. If you didn't read it then, why should I expect you to read it now?

How did Hunter set up these meetings that Joe attended without Joe’s witting participation?

What meeting would that be? All you have are a couple group photos. Every prominent politician has tons of those. Means nothing. There are photos of Donald Trump with Jeffrey Epstein. So what?

tim in vermont said...

'I want someone to say, "Joe told me this" or "I gave Joe that," not "Hunter said Joe says" or "Hunter said Joe wants.”'

So it’s not enough for you that people seem to have gotten value for money out of Joe through paying off Hunter? You need Joe to have communicated corrupt intent through somebody other than his bagman son. I guess you can take that position. I don’t think that’s how racketeering prosecutions work though.