Althouse: "The video does not show the Taliban executing someone with a U.S.-supplied helicopter. It shows a Taliban fighter trying to put a flag on a building."

September 1, 2021

"The video does not show the Taliban executing someone with a U.S.-supplied helicopter. It shows a Taliban fighter trying to put a flag on a building."

Did you fall for the fake news?

Explanation at USA Today.

79 comments:

David Begley said...: It’s coming. And worse.

People are getting their tongues cut out by TB, but no video. Just because we don’t see it doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.

Listening to Biden’s speech right now. A logical mess. Full of contradictions, false choices, straw men and crazy hypos. Yemen?; 9/1/21, 5:52 AM
Mark said...: Typical suspects rush to repost video that they think gives them political capital.

I am certain their followers will let them off the hook for this.; 9/1/21, 6:01 AM
Chuck said...: Some of your commenters are going to have a hard time with this factcheck.

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6329595&postID=3372986645364663493; 9/1/21, 6:08 AM
mezzrow said...: Just wait until we get the deepfake news. You think things are bad now?

You haven't seen anything yet.; 9/1/21, 6:09 AM
Bob Boyd said...: I was skeptical of the video from the start. The guy just didn't look dead or like he was hanging by his neck. But...

What interests me about this fact check is, USA Today will dedicate serious effort to bring us the the truth about a viral video that was being used to condemn the Taliban and that reflects poorly the Biden Administration. It's a shame they weren't equally dedicated to fact-based journalism when it came to the Russia Collusion story or Kavanaugh hearings or the Fine People hoax or the injecting bleach claim or the Covington kids or the...I could go on and on.; 9/1/21, 6:10 AM
tim maguire said...: Did I fall for it? I don't know. I saw the video and couldn't tell what was going on but thought it might have been an execution. Does that count as falling for it if it wasn't an execution?

Either way, it's a laughable misuse of high-tech equipment and makes me hopeful that much of the most dangerous weapons will be squandered stupidly by a people who are acting like (murderous) children on Christmas morning.; 9/1/21, 6:14 AM
wendybar said...: Fall for it?? Do you actually think the Taliban WOULDN'T do that? They will, and much much more...and all of it is Joe Bidens fault. I feel bad for the little girls and the women. They aren't going to have fun at all.; 9/1/21, 6:15 AM
Bob Boyd said...: USA Today did the right thing de-bunking the video, don't get me wrong, but it's easy to do what's right when it doesn't cost you anything.; 9/1/21, 6:15 AM
wendybar said...: I fall for fake news everyday. When you have Pravda media, what else is there???; 9/1/21, 6:15 AM
Temujin said...: Oh, that's OK. They're still hanging people. Just not from helicopters. I've seen photos of other hangings. Closer. More defined. No 'engineers' hanging flags on a building using a helicopter. Did USA Today really print that? Yes...they did.

Anyone ever seen a person hanging below a helicopter in order to hang a flag? Apparently USA Today thinks it's a thing. Sure hope that 'engineer' doesn't smack into the building too hard. Do they have buildings that tall in Kabul?

General Rule of Taliban Thumb (while you still have one): If you're hanging by a rope from a helicopter driven by Taliban, you are probably not in a good place. Mostly likely, you are 'on the clock' and NOT hanging flags.; 9/1/21, 6:17 AM
Howard (not that Howard) said...: "Mark said...
Typical suspects rush to repost video that they think gives them political capital.

I am certain their followers will let them off the hook for this."

Nicholas Sandmann would like a word.; 9/1/21, 6:18 AM
gspencer said...: So, does this mean that the Taliban won't be killing those who fail to follow the Shariah?; 9/1/21, 6:20 AM
Iman said...: There must be a pie chart on this, this is USA Today!; 9/1/21, 6:43 AM
Butkus51 said...: Russia Russia Russia. Please.; 9/1/21, 6:50 AM
Tom T. said...: Keep in mind that the selection of what gets fact-checked and what doesn't is meant to paint a picture.; 9/1/21, 7:00 AM
Scot said...: Let's see how many times they rate as "true" when the real thing is published.; 9/1/21, 7:01 AM
iowan2 said...: Something about the "fact Check" still smells

Hanging a flag?
The fact check article is maddening. It repeats its self a dozen times that guy is alive. Details are sprinkled through out, and never organized in a way to definitively provide a logical time line that all the facts are pertinent. The fact check should lay out the facts in a short paragraph then add color.; 9/1/21, 7:10 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Is this the fact people are asking to have checked? No. It’s another stupid distraction from a media complex hell bent on covering for Joe.

Now do the math on how many Americans were rescued vs stranded as an actual FACT that needs actual CHECKING. No one will care about one fake report like this once the real Taliban horrors begin again. But we do want FACTS, which have been in short supply during the bug-out. I’m actually disgusted that our president brags about airlifting “120,000 people” but blowing off the 5000 left behind.; 9/1/21, 7:16 AM
Big Mike said...: Repeating from yesterday:

Michael Yon thought the story was plausible. He’s a veteran war correspondent and is — of until recently was — on the ground in Afghanistan. That he found it plausible should give a reasonable person something to think about — it’s not as though Snopes has a lock on the world’s truth and righteousness. When I saw the clip I did not notice a waving arm, and the posture of the man dangling below the copter in the last few seconds he is visible certainly resembled the posture of a lynching victim.

@Althouse, you responded by suggesting that I center myself on facts. But one has to be told that there is a point where the dangling man waves to someone before it is — barely — observable. If one wishes to be centered on facts then one should not confuse a shouting old man attempting, implausibly, to insist that once the decision was made to withdraw, that the chaos was inevitable, with a “strong speech.”; 9/1/21, 7:24 AM
Leland said...: I feel so much better knowing that the Taliban is just using US military helicopters to hoist their flag over newly conquered territory that we surrendered to them.; 9/1/21, 7:26 AM
Curious George said...: Wasn't aware of it. But I have seen a video of Taliban executing about a dozen guys. Lined them up on their knees, and one by one shot them in the back of the head, and then a couple more to make sure, ending with all emptying whatever weapon they were holding into the line of bodies. Horrific.; 9/1/21, 7:59 AM
BarrySanders20 said...: Since when do the Taliban have chopper pilots? Wonder if we trained him. Curious how they determined that dragging a “fighter” via harness is the best way to put up a flag. Can see at least one of them saying “Jesus, Achmed. You always do things the hard way.”; 9/1/21, 7:59 AM
Bill R said...: Whatever they are doing, the key point is "Taliban have a US supplied helicopter"; 9/1/21, 8:13 AM
Sally327 said...: It's the idiopathic disorder known as the Joe Biden disease, where a story is never significant enough on its own (e.g., Taliban freely flying around in the US military's abandoned helicopter) but that it can't be enhanced with lies or exaggeration and made into something even more dramatic (e.g., Taliban hung a man by hooking him up to an abandoned US military's helicopter and flew him around Kabul).; 9/1/21, 8:19 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: How do we know the flag story isn't the fake news?; 9/1/21, 8:21 AM
Amadeus 48 said...: Did I fall for the fake news? Yes I did. So what? I am still reeling from four years of having organs like USA Today feed me codswallop about Donald Trump and call it real news when it is just partisan hackery. Now I am seeing those same news organs try to spin straw into gold with the execrable Joe Biden and his sleezy family. I don’t feel a twinge about accepting at face value a video from a country—Afghanistan—where no one knows anything. Clearly Joe Biden and his band of third rate diplomatic and military “experts” don’t know how many Americans are left there a couple of weeks after vowing to repatriate them all, which promptly was changed to all who can get to the airport, which soon became don’t come to the airport, which ultimately became we won’t let you in because we don’t want to.

Yes, we have to be careful, but don’t major news organizations have to be careful, too? They certainly have not been since 2015.; 9/1/21, 8:21 AM
Chuck said...: BarrySanders20, if you had read the Snopes page on this story (I was mocked for linking that page yesterday because, uh, Snopes is “plagiarism”), you’d know that an Afghan reporter familiar with the people involved, stated that the helicopter pilot had been trained in the U.S. and the UAE.; 9/1/21, 8:21 AM
Wince said...: Next they'll be telling us F. Murray Abraham wasn't really hanged from a helicopter.; 9/1/21, 8:27 AM
rehajm said...: Is it more tragic to be fooled by a fake helicopter hanging or by fake fact checking by fake fact checkers who aren’t interested in inconvenient facts or in checking?; 9/1/21, 8:31 AM
John henry said...: "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

1890ish editor defending fake news in "the man who shot liberty valence"

The USA today story m at be the right one but the language plus usat's record over the years doesn't labs me confident of their truth.

One of the things that did strike me off about the original story was how they all talked of hanging the man by the "throat". Never heard that before. It's always been hang someone by the "neck"

John Henry; 9/1/21, 8:42 AM
Patrick Henry said...: What difference, at this point, does it make?™; 9/1/21, 8:47 AM
Temujin said...: Thank you, Barry Sanders20, both for your comment, and for giving me some of the greatest football runs I'll ever see in my life.

That said, you asked the correct question: Do the Taliban have people trained to fly our Black Hawk helicopters? Really? So who was there flying it?; 9/1/21, 8:52 AM
Iman said...: Barry @7:59am… thanks for the morning chuckle! These are made more valuable through the efforts of the demented Clown-in-Chief.; 9/1/21, 9:05 AM
Iman said...: ‘if you had read the Snopes page on this story (I was mocked for linking that page yesterday because, uh, Snopes is “plagiarism”)’

Have the paid idiots at Snopes debunked that plagiarism story? No?; 9/1/21, 9:09 AM
Chuck said...: So now can we do the fake news story featuring the manipulated video which purported to show Joe Biden sleeping through a meeting with Israeli PM Naftali Bennet? That fake news ripped through right-wing social media in the U.S. and Israel:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/fact-checkers-debunk-mks-claim-that-biden-fell-asleep-in-bennett-meet/

Fact checkers winning again, with video receipts to prove it.

Let me begin the discussion of that one with the obligatory, "Well yeah, but..."; 9/1/21, 9:14 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: THE MEDIA (D) assures us that without mechanics billions of dollars of equipment is useless.; 9/1/21, 9:22 AM
Charlie said...: "Hey Mohammad, get into this harness, we need you to dangle from a thousand feet to put a flag on a building"

"Do I have a choice?"

"No"; 9/1/21, 9:23 AM
Bilwick said...: I didn't, because my betters assured me that the Taliban has evolved so that they would never think of doing such a thing.; 9/1/21, 9:25 AM
William said...: In America, when I see a man dangling from a helicopter, I presume he's on some kind of rescue mission. In Afghanistan, when I see the Taliban dangling a man from a helicopter, I don't presume he's there for a flag laying ceremony. My bad. This just goes to show how bigoted I am. Thanks to USA Today for clearing up this misunderstanding.; 9/1/21, 9:29 AM
Achilles said...: You are an idiot if you believe they are going to hang a person from a helicopter to hang a flag. Even getting past the general stupidity of that statement in this situation.

You have to understand that helicopter hovering is not that easy.

On a Chinook it is even harder. I have been on these things. I have done fast roping and repelling from a chinook. I even got to do a static line jump out of one.

Hanging someone from a chinook to put a flag on a flagpole? There are better ways. Like tying the flag to a pole and putting the pole on top of the building.

They hung someone.

The media has been caught lying repeatedly. You are a dupe if you believe this story.; 9/1/21, 9:33 AM
Chuck said...: Can Of Cheese for Hunter said...
How do we know the flag story isn't the fake news?

We don't. We don't know what is true anymore. Other than that everything in the New York Times is completely wrong, and everything that President Donald J. Trump says is true because he loves this country.; 9/1/21, 9:34 AM
Achilles said...: BarrySanders20 said...

Since when do the Taliban have chopper pilots? Wonder if we trained him. Curious how they determined that dragging a “fighter” via harness is the best way to put up a flag. Can see at least one of them saying “Jesus, Achmed. You always do things the hard way.”

It is really funny to watch people just not think about this sort of thing.

The 160th is a specific unit in the Army. It is the elite pilot group that does most of the JSOC work.

It takes thousands of hours of practice to be able to do some of this stuff. There was one mission where the pilot touched down the ramp on one of those terrace gardens in a place where there was no where to land.

The taliban definitely has a pilot that has thousands of hours flying chinooks just waiting for the opportunity to hang a flag like this.

Totally.; 9/1/21, 9:40 AM
exhelodrvr1 said...: If you had trained on another type of helicopter, it would not be hard to do basic flying in a Blackhawk, if you had a checklist and a manual. Being able to use on board weapon systems and handle emergencies would be more difficult.; 9/1/21, 9:45 AM
Achilles said...: The best part of this is that people like Chuck think this is important.

Thousands of people are being murdered right now. People that helped us.

Thousands of women are being repeatedly raped.

It is happening because you supported Joe Biden.

You are terrible people.; 9/1/21, 9:47 AM
madAsHell said...: That has got to be the stupidest spin story I've ever heard, but it works for many searching for a pleasant answer. An answer that doesn't challenge their beliefs.

Wouldn't one simply go to the building with the flag pole, and climb the building?

I'm surprised they couldn't spin the kid falling off the cargo plane. You know.....like he had just finished his job cleaning the windshield, and stepped off for a smoke.

"He failed to notice that the light had changed."
--Lennon/McCartney; 9/1/21, 9:48 AM
Achilles said...: Chinooks burn 6-7 gallons of fuel.

Per minute.; 9/1/21, 9:53 AM
Achilles said...: But text messages between U.S. military commanders and private citizens mounting last-minute rescues tell a far different story, one in which pleading American citizens were frantically left behind at the Kabul airport gate this past weekend to face an uncertain fate under Taliban rule while U.S. officials sought to spread the blame between high-ranking generals and the State Department.

I wish we could trade any of those people for Joe Biden.

He is a terrible person. So is anyone that supported him.; 9/1/21, 9:58 AM
Drago said...: This is a distraction to take attention away from the leaked biden/Ghani phone call transcript from July 23 where biden told Ghani to lie about status of the Afgan army vs taliban strength which makes perfectly clear the monstrous lies the Installed *"president" has been robotically and vacantly mumbling in public about not having any idea the Afgan army was already that in its weakened state.

Which is why the Russia Russia Russia, Trump laundered Putin Cash, Charlottesville Hoax, drink bleach hoax, insurrection Hoax liars on the left, such as our pro-msrxist LLR Chuck and Dumb Lefty Mark (not to be confused with normal guy VA lawyer Mark) will continue to hype all potatoes items like this.

But here is the most interesting political insider basebal question:

What does this deep state insider leak against Dementia Boy and the Pentagon signal in terms of inter-democratcal conflict? Who stands to gain? What are the leaker's end goals?

Given pro-marxist LLR Chuck's clear alignment with the far left democraticals for many years now and his self-proclaimed political insider "insight" (wink wink), maybe he can answer just why the CIA/Intel morons are throwing Dementia Boy and the Pentagon under the bus at this time?

LOL

Additional exit question: Given how the completely corrupted intel agencies broke the law repeatedly in selectively leaking Trump phone call transcripts with foreign leaders, which is why Trump used Kushner so often to deliver messages to foreign leaders instead of using phone lines, and the clear approval of such action by our utterly corrupted FBI/DOJ stooges, does this latest leak a permanent expanded bureaucratic "state of political war" between CIA/Intel vs White House/Pentagon, regardless of political party control?; 9/1/21, 9:58 AM
Narr said...: I was agnostic about the heli-hanging. All I saw was the familiar still, and to be honest I didn't, and don't, think the details matter.

What's most interesting to me is how prompt our vaunted fact-checkers are to defend the good name of those who hate us and are proud of their atrocities.; 9/1/21, 10:03 AM
FleetUSA said...: Yesterday our local rag put on the front page a picture released by our Dept of Defense showing a helicopter "being put into a cargo plane". Gives the impression that we are taking our equipment home. Helicopters are more important than evacuating people at this stage? However, how can we be sure this is fact....it could be an old picture of the arrival of a helicopter. Given the DOD's record in this whole charade, I wouldn't be surprised they plan to mislead us.; 9/1/21, 10:18 AM
madAsHell said...: Why does it look like the hands are tied behind the back?

This was a demonstration of power.; 9/1/21, 10:22 AM
madAsHell said...: Can see at least one of them saying “Jesus, Achmed. You always do things the hard way.”

Jesus?; 9/1/21, 10:26 AM
hombre said...: The issue is not the brutality of the Taliban. That is a given. The issue is whether the Taliban was flying an American military helicopter while a pentagon spokesman (Kirby) was claiming that the military equipment left behind Is “unusable.”; 9/1/21, 10:53 AM
Yancey Ward said...: I am going to put this right here from our lovable Chuck that he wrote just a week ago:

"It isn’t about the details of the pullout. We are going to get every American out; we will get tens of thousands of Afghan allies out. Probably without any American casualties. I hope so. And think so. And when we do, what the fuck is left for TrumpWorld to bitch about?"

Talk about a comment not aging well. Chuck should probably be leading the Joint Chiefs.; 9/1/21, 11:25 AM
Yancey Ward said...: As for who is flying the helicopter- we trained whoever it is- he no doubt was part of the Afghan army and air force we trained to fight the Taliban.; 9/1/21, 11:32 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Ms. Althouse, was this following story ever covered by the NYTimes, WaPo, or USAToday? I note that it is in Reuters which isn't a rightwing news organization. The point is that Biden was lying all along about not knowing the Taliban were swiftly taking over the country. Now, this was an obvious lie since the news was filled all of July and the first week of August with Taliban taking towns and provinces, but Biden still claimed no one in his administration thought the Taliban would take the country so quickly, and yet the transcript shows Biden knew the Taliban were taking over quickly.; 9/1/21, 11:38 AM
Joe Smith said...: '(I was mocked for linking that page yesterday because, uh, Snopes is “plagiarism”)'

You were mocked by me, and rightfully so.

If I tried to make a point by linking to Alex Jones, you would call me out on it.

I have posted links to 'conservative' sites in the past, but for the purposes of exposing people to a story or an opinion, not for fact checking.

And don't even get me started on 'Pinocchios.'; 9/1/21, 11:56 AM
Chuck said...: Here's the entire comment of mine, that Yancey Ward pulled out of context.

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/08/its-true-that-afghan-army-lost-its-will.html?showComment=1629929423166#c2513905935188055365

I wasn't congratulating Biden; I was criticizing him for a truly rotten idea that originated with Trump.

I don't want to convince you, Yancey Ward. I don't want to win the hearts and minds of the Trumpists. I want you out of my party. You and all the Trumpists. I want to defeat all of the Trumpist candidates in every election at every level of government. In primaries, and if needed in general elections.

By all accounts the casualties at the airport perimeter were the result by a non-Taliban terrorist attack. And now, the terrorists will have a nation-state to set up in. Like they had in 2000. Because of the Trump-Biden pullout.; 9/1/21, 12:06 PM
Chuck said...: Joe Smith said...
'(I was mocked for linking that page yesterday because, uh, Snopes is “plagiarism”)'

You were mocked by me, and rightfully so.

If I tried to make a point by linking to Alex Jones, you would call me out on it.

You're goddamn right I would. Because Alex Jones is an insane, discredited freak.

And now since you mentioned it, please note that the USAToday story that Althouse blogged, in turn listed its own footnotes and included the Snopes webpage. Indeed, having now read most of the linked sources, I actually think that the Snopes page was the best written, most complete, best-sourced single story of the bunch.

I'm glad to have this opportunity to rub that in.; 9/1/21, 12:11 PM
gilbar said...: Serious Question
Has Anyone seen the building? Or the Flag?
The video *I* saw, was a blackhawk, flying at a fair clip (20mph? 30mph? 40mph?), with a man hanging beneith
I didn't see any hovering, i didn't see any building, i didn't see any flag
BUT! the Taliban (by which i mean Snoopes (by which i mean Chuck) has DEBUNKED the story that the taliban were flying around in a blackhawk, with a man hanging beneith; by saying that the taliban were flying around in a blackhawk, with a man hanging beneith...
Which was then retold by the MSM

I'm NOT saying that they WEREN'T hanging a flag, i'm just saying that i have (so far) NO REASON to think so; 9/1/21, 1:00 PM
Dude1394 said...: I fell for it, but good for the conservatives. They are starting to get it, just lie and lie big. It works.; 9/1/21, 2:35 PM
Kevin said...: Why does it look like the hands are tied behind the back?

Because he was trying to win a bet he could put up the flag with his hands tied behind his back.; 9/1/21, 3:16 PM
Kevin said...: And just like that, the Taliban knew they could commence hanging people from helicopters with impunity...; 9/1/21, 3:17 PM
Yancey Ward said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/1/21, 3:36 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Gilbar and I saw the same video- the videos I didn't see until this morning look like different helicopters.; 9/1/21, 3:36 PM
Yancey Ward said...: LOL! Chuck- you were making a fucking prediction you bald-faced liar, and your prediction, which you intended to rub in the faces of Trump supporters turned out to be hilariously wrong inside of 24 hours. Just be a fucking man for one time in your sorry assed gin-soaked life and admit that you screwed the pooch with that prediction. We all make mistakes, dumb fuck, but not all of us try to ignore them when shown to us.; 9/1/21, 3:39 PM
Yancey Ward said...: So, Chuck, care to give the an update on that prediction? Were you right or wrong?; 9/1/21, 3:41 PM
rehajm said...: "Can Of Cheese for Hunter said...
How do we know the flag story isn't the fake news?"

Did anyone come up with the compelling answer this? No?

I din't think so...; 9/1/21, 3:55 PM
Chuck said...: You clowns. There's video of the supposed hanging victim, who you think had his hands tied, waving his arms.

https://twitter.com/Shayan86/status/1432810805922238465

For the life of me, I don't understand what is so important to you about hanging on to the phony notion that this was a "hanging."

I can tell you what is so important to me; it is the ability to make fun of you, and the New York Post's hair-trigger editors, and all of the hysterical right wing social media ecosphere.

Keep those comments coming. The more crazed and determined, the better.; 9/1/21, 4:28 PM
Joe Smith said...: 'USA Today'? Why, they're practically John Birchers : ); 9/1/21, 4:46 PM
Leora said...: But still it is a member of a fundamentalist muslim army flying a helicopter that my taxes paid for. Assuming this explanation is in fact true.; 9/1/21, 5:57 PM
gilbar said...: Chuck said...
Here's the entire comment of mine, that Yancey Ward pulled out of context....
I wasn't congratulating Biden; I was criticizing him for a truly rotten idea that originated with Trump.

Help me out, will you? I went, and READ your Entire Comment; looking for context
Were you criticizing him (biden), when you wrote:
The Afghanistan pullout was Trump’s. If you want to like Trump, then own all of this.
Were you criticizing him (biden), when you wrote:
Trump has absolutely CROWED about how he made his pullout — THIS PULLOUT— irrevocable
Were you criticizing him (biden), when you wrote:
It isn’t about the details of the pullout.
Were you criticizing him (biden), when you wrote:
We are going to get every American out; we will get tens of thousands of Afghan allies out.
Were you criticizing him (biden), when you wrote:
Probably without any American casualties. I hope so. And think so.
Were you criticizing him (biden), when you wrote:
And when we do, what the fuck is left for TrumpWorld to bitch about?

Which Part Criticized? Which Part was taken out of Context? Do you Understand what Context IS?; 9/1/21, 6:01 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Thanks, Gilbar. No, Chuck is just a lying sack of shit. I am sure he knows what context is, but seems to believe we don't.; 9/1/21, 7:15 PM
Chuck said...: Yancey Ward I never much liked Biden. And I still don’t. I don’t like his handling of Afghanistan. There’s nothing to like. I’ve made that clear in repeated comments.

But I don’t hate him like I hate Trump, and I don’t think Biden is dumb, or psycho, or corrupt, or a danger to the country like Trump and his supporters are.; 9/1/21, 7:24 PM
gilbar said...: Chuck shows a DIFFERENT video, than the one i saw, and said...
You clowns. There's video of the supposed hanging victim, who you think had his hands tied, waving his arms.
https://twitter.com/Shayan86/status/1432810805922238465

HERE'S the one I Saw:
https://twitter.com/jammo2002uk/status/1432417202062471171; 9/1/21, 7:32 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Yeah, that's one I saw, too.; 9/1/21, 10:37 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Then you are just a dumb fuck, Chuck, who hasn't been paying fucking attention the last 7 months. There is no helping people like you. I suggest you just get drunk starting in the morning every day and don't watch closely what is happening during the next 3 1/2 years. Anyone who would vote for the present shitshow, or act to let it happen isn't worth listening to any longer.; 9/1/21, 10:39 PM
Chuck said...: You should read more, gilbar. And Yancey Ward. Look around at more sources. Different ones. Better ones. Better videos. Don’t blame me when you’ve relied on bad information.; 9/2/21, 7:14 AM
TJ said...: So, why is the video being taken? I'm sure helicopters were pretty common. The idea that it is installing a flag is strange to me. A stunt? Ok, I would get that. But hanging a flag? That's strange. Could filming the video be to show that they can operate the helicopter? Sure, but then what purpose does the person on rope serve? More questions in my mind than answers.

The lesson is to not rush to push out unsubstantiated information simply because it reflects poorly on your political opponent. Posting the video and simply noting that they can pilot the helicopter and a WTF on the person on the rope would have been damning as well...now, people only talk about the "hanging" and miss the more important (IMO) part.; 9/2/21, 11:28 AM