Bret Stephens asks Gail Collins in their conversation in the New York Times, "It’s Never a Good Time for the Hunter Biden Story." The transcript continues:
Bret: The news here has less to do with Hunter himself and more with the fact that those emails recovered from the discarded laptop were his, despite the best efforts by Twitter and other social media and news media companies to bury or not look closely enough at that fact on the eve of the 2020 election.
Gail: I’m so glad our colleagues are still doing strong reporting on this story — Hunter Biden’s scummy business dealings shouldn’t be swept under the rug any more than anyone else’s.
Did Collins just admit that her colleagues were, at one time, sweeping it under the rug? Or does "still doing strong reporting on this story" preclude that interpretation? Stephens had some careful locution himself: Was the NYT part of the "best efforts... to bury or not look closely enough"? He leaves a loophole. Maybe it was those other "news media companies."
Bret: Not to mention those paintings he tried to sell for up to $500,000 a canvas in nontransparent sales. Nothing at all fishy there.
Gail: That said, I have to admit I’ve never found Hunter’s behavior criminal — just very, very depressing. Fragile son in a family buffeted by tragedy, grows up to have a drug problem and makes a lot of money by working for companies that presumably like to have a famous American politician’s relative to trot around.
Bret: The D.O.J.’s investigation will tell.
Gail: Some of Hunter’s behavior was obviously unseemly in the extreme. Any new evidence needs to be carefully examined to see if Hunter’s behavior ever went past that into actual criminality — did he claim, for instance, that he could deliver favors from the government because he was Joe Biden’s son? So far I haven’t seen it, but whenever Hunter’s name comes up, I do find myself holding my breath.
The obvious question that needs to be asked at that point is in fact asked by Stephens:
Bret: ... [W]hat really bothered me was the not-so-subtle media effort to bury the email story right before the election as some kind of “Russian disinformation” campaign. If someone had discovered that, say, Ivanka Trump had left a laptop at a repair shop stuffed with emails about 10 percent being held “for the big guy”— to use a reference that appears to be to Joe Biden, which comes from one of the emails found on Hunter’s computer — would the story have been treated with kid gloves?
Does Collins try to wriggle out of this or does she face up to the problem of partisanship at the NYT?
Gail: Well, Ivanka is a much tidier person.
Tidier?! And yet Hunter Biden is the one we always see in the bathtub. I guess Collins means, jokingly, that Ivanka wouldn't lose track of her laptop.
Collins continues:
Your mentioning her does remind me that it’s never been clear to me exactly how much, if any, of the campaign donations Trump’s been piling up are going to his kids’ activities.
Ha ha. Collins grasps at the hope of turning the inquiry onto the Trump kids.
Not trying to downplay the Hunter story...
But of course you are. You're just trying not to look as though you're trying to downplay the Hunter story. That is, you're downplaying your own downplaying.
... but in the grand scheme of things I still think his misdeeds are going to wind up as a sidebar on the Biden saga. Feel free to remind me I said that if half the family winds up indicted.
Bret: I honestly hope not. The world needs another White House corruption scandal like I need a hole in my head, to borrow a line from one of the better songs of the 1990s.
The link goes to a song by a rock band named Cracker, which is unusually interesting because not only has the phrase "I need you like I need a hole in my head" been around for a much longer time than that, it's the title of a 1947 recording by the great Pearl Bailey.
And that's the end of the discussion of Hunter Biden and the NYT journalism. Collins responds by bringing up the topic of... earmarks!
Posts
98 comments:
Some of Hunter’s behavior was obviously unseemly in the extreme. Any new evidence needs to be carefully examined to see if Hunter’s behavior ever went past that into actual criminality
Because, After All; IF you can't PROVE 'actual criminality' in a (democrat) admin..
You MUST SUPPORT THEM. The only thing (the ONLY Thing) that could, possibly preclude support of a democrat, is: "actual criminality".. Otherwise 100%
This is the difference between dems and reps. With a repulican; orange hair is enough to impeach
Bret: ... [W]hat really bothered me was the not-so-subtle media effort to bury the email story right before the election as some kind of “Russian disinformation” campaign.
If only he had a weekly column at a major news outlet to communicate his concerns.
I guess Collins means, jokingly, that Ivanka wouldn't lose track of her laptop.
That's exactly what she means. All around pretty disgusting performance by Gail Collins.
Oh no! Snake discussions *and* Cracker songs! After years of being a mostly silent reader, I'm being sucked into the commenting vortex! Happy Birthday to Me!
openly selling "artwork" is just as fine, as running the "clinton foundation"
being a crack addicted crack addict, and allowed to enlist (as an officer) in the navy is fine
Getting kicked out of the navy, for failing Your FIRST drug test; is fine
knocking up strippers, and abandoning your child; is FINE!
F*cking your sister inlaw, while your dad takes appropriate "showers" with his daughter is Fine!
Sexually assaulting staff members, is FINE!
Molesting pre teen girls, ON CAMERA.. IS FINE!
It's GOOD to be a democrat
Oh, and let's Not forget, getting us into a Shooting War, with Russia.. Is FINE!!
If I read an explicit apology from any NYT creep offered for any of the thousands of outright lies they've pushed since Bill Clinton ran in 1992, I would be compelled by bitter experience to shitcan it as yet another mendacity.
The New York Times -- basically the English language Völkischer Beobachter.
STILL??? They ignored it until now. They called it RUSSIAN DISINFORMATION. They are lying again. They hate you.
She doesn't find it criminal that the Bidens have been in business with the Ukraine, and Hunter was raking in millions of dollars for no reason other than being Joe Bidens son?? What kind of "journalist" is she?? A blind, deaf and dumb one??
Bret: I honestly hope not. The world needs another White House corruption scandal like I need a hole in my head...
If justice was possible, Bret would be up against the wall like almost every lamestreamer media type and he would be served his hole in the head.
There's no way Biden didn't know about Hunter's behavior. Addicts always screw up and Hunter would long ago have been in prison if he was anyone else. The only reason he didn't end up in prison is because Joe intervened, and anyone with half a brain knows it.
Hunter, Hunter, Hunter
Hunter's laptop
Hunter's tax problems
Hunter's paintings
Hunter's misdeeds
Hunter's behavior
How about asking why anybody cares that a pedo methhead left a laptop in a repair shop? Why are you having such trouble explaining why you're ignoring the story, if there isn't one?
and of course, BUT TRUMP!!!
’I’m so glad our colleagues are still doing strong reporting on this story — Hunter Biden’s scummy business dealings shouldn’t be swept under the rug any more than anyone else’s.’
That’s some genuine frontier bullshit, right there…
On the bright side, it’s very obvious that creepy Joe and the rest of the Delaware Hillbillies are soon to be jettisoned in disgrace from the White House.
The idea that Hunter Biden's actions don't step into criminality and therefore they are just depressing is laughable.
He has been paid for access. Nothing less. He has does this in Ukraine and China, clearly. He is a desperate man - desperate for cash, desperate for fuel his desired lifestyle - with a President for father. He has entered into the worst conflict of interest positions with his father as Senate Foreign Relations Chair, VP, and now President. He has fathered and then abandoned children.
This is the son of a sitting President who the President has not distanced himself from - far more has been made of far less with former presidents.
The media is suddenly coming around to this because word has gone out that Biden needs to go. The 25th Amendment was always a red herring, because there's no way that the Dems would get GOP support without huge concessions. However, going after Hunter is a way to threaten Biden. The message would be, "resign and this all goes away, or stay and watch everything you've built be dismantled."
Twitter burying it would not have mattered in the slightest if the NY Times had covered it like the NY Post did. They are hoping everyone will fall for the "look how bad all those other people were" argument. It shouldn't, but when people want to cling to an idea they will accept just about anything.
These two people simply suck. If a story like this had even peripherally touched Trump or his family we'd still be reading and hearing about it. I'm guessing there's an entire iceberg under this small floe.
Didnt the echo mess up their hearing?
Bret says "The world needs another white house scandal..."
What is the previous one he is thinking of Clinton/Lewinski? Whitewater?
Nixon?
I also do not think "The big guy" refers to Brandon. I suspect that it refers to Obama. Other than Brandon testifying to that under oath, I doubt we will find out. I suspect that there are about 10 intermediate handoffs between Hunter and Obama. Obama is smart enough not to trust a crackhead.
Over fifty former senior security officials signed onto a hastily written propaganda sheet whose accusations are ephemeral.
Propaganda: The letter buries the truth of the matter-that they have no evidence that this is Russian disinformation.
Paragraph five(!) states:
"We want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails, provided to the New York Post by
President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement -- just that our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case."
They put this in plaintext just above an italicized paragraph so your eye will skip over it. Further, the Rudy Giuliani clause is a non-sequitor designed to distract, not illuminate. Finally, you do not put something you really want to emphasize in paragraph five.
Hastily written (like this comment-excuse any typos): Check out this run-on sentence:
"Such an operation would be consistent with Russian objectives, as outlined publicly and recently by the Intelligence Community, to create political chaos in the United States and to deepen political divisions here but also to undermine the candidacy of former Vice President Biden and thereby help the candidacy of President Trump."
Ephemeral: If you make it to the reasons why they are suspicious, none of them are relevant to the actual provenance of the laptop.
Two of their pieces of "evidence" are newspaper stories likely sourced from the letter's signatories. This method-plant info with a reporter, then use the resulting article to justify an action-was used in Crossfire Hurricane, for example.
The letter was cover for the Biden campaign and willingly used by the press to justify burying the story.
I thought he meant this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNj9Cn-2RNA
Which was somewhat closer in time than the 1990s...
Looking at today's first two posts, my conclusion is the theme of the day is:
"It's okay, even noble, when our side does it"
Collins is typical of most liberals. There is ALWAYS a “principled” reason for doing doing whatever will help the current liberal causes, justified by lies and evasions.
The reason I find you so refreshing, professor, is that you’re a liberal who doesn’t engage in such dishonesty.
He did bring up "for the big guy",which is more than I expected. That phrase is a perfect news hook but it's likely to end up under the rug. That rug must stretch from sea-to-shining-sea now.
Fifty former US Intelligence officers said that the story about Hunter Biden's laptop seemed to be Russian disinformation. The officers reasoned as follows:
[quote; emphasis added]
Such an [disinformation] operation would be consistent with Russian objectives, as outlined publicly and recently by the [US] Intelligence Community, to create political chaos in the United States and to deepen political divisions here but also to undermine the candidacy of former Vice President Biden and thereby help the candidacy of President Trump. For the Russians at this point, with Trump down in the polls, there is incentive for Moscow to pull out the stops to do anything possible to help Trump win and/or to weaken Biden should he win. A “laptop op” fits the bill, as the publication of the emails are clearly designed to discredit Biden.
Such an operation would be consistent with some of the key methods Russia has used in its now multi-year operation to interfere in our democracy – the hacking (via cyber operations) and the dumping of accurate information or the distribution of inaccurate or misinformation. Russia did both of these during the 2016 presidential election – judgments shared by the US Intelligence Community, the investigation into Russian activities by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and the entirety (all Republicans and Democrats) on the current Senate Intelligence Committee.
[end quote]
Their logic:
We Intelligence officers declared in the past that Russia hacked and dumped information in order to interfere in the USA's 2016 Presidential election.
We Intelligence officers declare now that Russia seems to be hacking and dumping information again in order to interfere in our 2020 election.
We Intelligence officers recognize a pattern where Russia hacks and dumps information in order to interfere in the USA's elections.
=======
The lesson that we all should learn:
Those Intelligence officers were wrong about what happened in the 2020 election, and so it's likely that they were wrong likewise about what happened in the 2016 election.
Specifically, they were wrong that Russia hacked and dumped information in order to interfere in the 2016 election.
We all should recognize a pattern where those 50 Intelligence officers issue false declarations because they are political hacks who try to influence the USA's citizens to vote for Democrats in US elections.
You have nailed it. They are so full of shit. There were years of Trump-hating mass hysteria and group think, facilitated and encouraged by what is left of the old media. I guess people in many organizations are afraid of being fired because of a woke twitter storm, and the NYT is afraid of being even more left behind if they don't keep up. The Covid "coverage" was bad. We must follow the latest contradictory pronouncements from bureaucrats, who don't want to provide any context as to exactly how bad "this" is, and whether masks and lockdowns do any good. Aging boomers don't want to die, and we don't like being individuals who are expected to make choices; we want to be "all in this together." Now Ukraine. Putin is the aggressor, and I have nothing against Ukraine, but why does it become all-Disney, with overt longings to get into a big war where things will really matter? Is it because hating Putin provides some of the same satisfaction as hating Trump?
"would the story have been treated with kid gloves?"
I think the earlier comment "the best efforts by Twitter and other social media and news media companies to bury..." is a little closer.
To me the most likely scenario all along is that Hunter tried to double cross his shady business partners. Isn't this exactly what Tony Boblinski (remember him?) said happened? So one the other criminals in his syndicate took his laptop that was lying around, slapped a Beau Biden sticker on it and tipped off Rudy G.
Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. Hunter is the hunted.
Bret: I honestly hope not. The world needs another White House corruption scandal like I need a hole in my head,
========
@Bret : what world need is cleansing of the wound = hole in the head = so the injury can heal hopefully
Brazen and shameless. They just reinforce what everybody knows by now: they really are fake news. It does look like Brian Stelter did them one better by not even mentioning Hunter Biden on his show.
I remember reading "I need you like (I need) a hole in the head," in Mad magazine back in the 1960s and puzzling over the expression. Mad introduced children to the adult world, in a way that was skewed but looks more and more like reality. We lost something when it went downhill.
The title of the NYT story says it all "It's Never a Good Time for The Hunter Biden Story." I get the feeling that the mainstream media is trying to move centrist before the elections in November 2022. They did the same before the 2020 elections and then went hard left, now back. No shame at all.
Please.
Clownish 🤡 ass covering.
Too many thoughts:
It wasn't that long ago when Althousians were mocked for the absurdity of suggesting NYT was politically biased- any posts where NYT openly considers the possibility of bias are stale bread...no matter since there is no way there's any introspection by Gail and Bret here and what's said is only to further leftie goals- pure propaganda...I can't imagine Hunter Biden is in the least bit of trouble despite overwhelming evidence...any trouble is of the political kind for Joe's handlers and only because of the disastrous ratings of the administration...so much flop sweat from the realization that once again the permanent reign of Democrats will last about 24 months...somehow, the Clintons are involved...all this and somehow earmarks are answer to all the leftie's problems...
"The world needs another White House corruption scandal like I need a hole in my head"
Even Stephens resists the obvious: the fact that a man whose family has traded on his name in "scummy" dealings in nefarious places for years made it to the White House is a scandal in itself. To extend your hypo, Bret: would any GOPer with the same record be allowed to get close?
Now ask the next question: besides the Bidens themselves, cui bono?
It's always been a very, very far stretch to believe that Burisma wouldn't want Hunter's services no matter what his father happened to do for a living, and $83K per month to get Hunter on the board of directors was somewhat of a "steal." Where do you find an energy expert of Hunter's caliber for that kind of chump change? Having a famous crack head and whore monger on the payroll certainly enhances the company's international image. The facts that his father was the VP and the US point man for Ukraine meant nothing, just like his dad threatening to withhold $1 billion in aid unless the prosecutor investigating Burisma was fired and replaced by someone "solid" was only seen to be a problem because Republicans were pouncing on it. Dad was only trying to do his job and earn his 10%. Same with Hunter riding AF2 with his dad to China. Coming home from that trip with $1 billion in financial opportunities was merely coincidental - you have Joe's word as a Biden! All the hoopla over that trip was just tin hat conspiracy nuts and right wing Qanon ditto heads trying to score political points. Just ask yourself: has Joe Biden ever lied to the American people? Really people!
Besides, our national news media is a criminal conspiracy all on it's own.
I also do not think "The big guy" refers to Brandon. I suspect that it refers to Obama. Other than Brandon testifying to that under oath, I doubt we will find out.
========
for this to hold : is Hunter timing need to concurrent with Obama President?
D.D. Driver said...
"To me the most likely scenario........."
And then leave it in a repair shop for over a year? No. The most likely scenario is that Hunter Biden was having hard drive problems and dropped off the laptop for repair and then crack happened and he lost all track of time. And as we all know. When crack happens ones possessions become fungible and young Hunter is not going to allocate funds to retrieve his laptop that can better be invested in the crack substance. You might not have noticed this but the Biden family members are not exactly the stuff of Mensa.
"It wasn't that long ago when Althousians were mocked for the absurdity of suggesting NYT was politically biased..."
I don't think that's a true statement. Who was doing this purported mockery? Give examples. I can't prove the negative, but it's such a ridiculous thing on its face. I have known the NYT was biased toward Democrats since I was in high school, more than 50 years ago, so I know it was not me.
Jeezus. Just how obtuse can one person be? Gail Collins investigates. Yet again.
Where to start, huh? How about with this one-liner so bizarrely held out as a paean to journalism.
"I’m so glad our colleagues are still doing strong reporting on this story — Hunter Biden’s scummy business dealings shouldn’t be swept under the rug any more than anyone else’s."
So 'her colleagues", 18 months after the fact, place an article on page A-20, in which buried on the 27th paragraph is the announcement that the laptop being Hunter Biden's has been 'authenticated'. I can only glean from this that she and The Times think 'authenticated' doesn't mean what they think it means. It had been 'authenticated' 18 months earlier, by the FBI among others. But, whatever. We have elections to steer.
And then there's this ditty: "...did he claim, for instance, that he could deliver favors from the government because he was Joe Biden’s son? So far I haven’t seen it, but whenever Hunter’s name comes up, I do find myself holding my breath."
Gail, let me introduce you to Tony Bobulinkski. Or Devon Archer. Or Joe Biden's gloating announcement before a world economic forum on how he threatened the Ukraninan government with stoppage of US funds unless they removed the prosecutor looking into Hunter's grift program in Ukraine. Joe "Big Guy" Biden got 10%-15% of all proceeds from the Mayor of Moscow, the Burisma Group in Ukraine, and the CCP. If Gail had an ounce- Just One Ounce- of curiosity, she'd be more informed.
Which brings me to this: All of our intellectually superior beings in Washington DC and New York seem to be incredibly behind the curve on so much that is part of the real world. It's gone on for years, but this level of obtuseness is embarrassing. How do they talk to each other in private about this? I mean, what is said, between sips of Negronis and Old Fashions, bites of caviar slathered on toast points at their weeknight gatherings? How do they broach the topic when only among themselves? Do they still feign belief of the fictional world? Do they pat themselves on the back for 'falling on the sword' for their cause? Or are they so firmly ensconced in a fictional world built on lies that their world has become so thick with the lies and fictions that they cannot even tell where the real world left off and the fictional world began?
They are lost people. In other times I'd say we need to reach out and save these people. But today I think it'd be best to just let them go, and watch them as they wave their arms furiously, the tide taking them out to sea, muttering amongst themselves as they go out with the currents.
What's for breakfast? Partisanal word salad served up by two of the Grey Lady's most servile, as they tap-dance around the obvious.
Hey, Althouse people?
Do Any of you think that Biden would have gotten elected if the laptop story hadn't been suppressed?
Any one? Any one at all? Fredder? Howard? CHUCK?
if so, please explain How
Someone at the NY Times is going to get a Pulitzer for this.
The NYT: All the news that's fit to print. We decide whether the news about The Biden Crime Family(tm) makes the light of day or whether it gets buried next to Jimmie Hoffa. We'll report on it once it no longer matters and the Big Guy is catastrophically failing as Prez and bringing the Democrat Party down with him. We must save the Party of segregation and slavery!
The entire Media and Tech Oligarch Industrial Complex(D) - the same folks who rake in mega-bucks - buried all of Biden family corruption. Then blamed any mention of it on "Russian Misinformation". In unison.
Which would be hilarious if it were not so depressing. AND incredibly Putin-like. You know-- Putin is calling the nation of Ukraine "Nazis". How democrat media industrial complex can you get?
It's not just Hunter, folks. Biden stinks to high heaven. Our fake president is a crook. and the corrupt media made sure we were lied to. But please - we are supposed to trust these same liars and crooks in the top of government; the FBI, and the Tech Oligarchs and Media elites (D)-- with vote counting.
Anyone else notice the latest propaganda coming from the inside? PBS for starters... We will now be treated to media praise of queen Billionaire Nancy.
"By the way: Did you read The Times..." No, I didn't. At a certain point, one recognizes the similarities between The Times and Pravda, Isvestia and Der Sturmer. Important for a government agency trying to size up an enemy, yet useless other than as entertainment for us deplorables. Even that utility is limited. Propaganda becomes tiresome very quickly.
The timing of the Times Hunter laptop piece is so interesting. What is coming re Biden and Harris? And who is pulling the strings here?
"So one the other criminals in his syndicate took his laptop that was lying around, slapped a Beau Biden sticker on it and tipped off Rudy G. "
Except the FBI had the laptop for nearly a year before the shop owner gave an image to Rudy. Is it that hard to believe that a crack addict like Hunter would forget the laptop and not take calls from the unknown number of the shop owner?
A lot of the laptop reads like a cry for help about an abusive and extremely powerful parent (that would be Joe Biden.) The diary reads the same way.
"That said, I have to admit I’ve never found Hunter’s behavior criminal — just very, very depressing."
Smoking crack, sex with underage hookers, Kiddie porn, not reporting a missing gun, taking bribes. Not illegal. Just creepy.
Putin calls Ukrainians “Nazis”.
American tech oligarchs and the collective MSM Democrat party media propaganda machine called any mention of Hunter’s laptop & Biden family international money laundering for Biden family personal profit – as “RUSSIAN DISINFORMAITON”
Where are the mass apologies from the corrupt Hack D propaganda press?
Collins has no reputation to rescue here, but Bedbug's efforts here at rehabilitation are pathetic.
Jon Stewart has been ripping the MSM a new one lately. Finally the new york power elite is making miniscule efforts to give the appearance of objectivity. Don't get your hopes up, this is just a faint before they pivot back. The goal is plausible deniability to paper over their Davos DNC corporate bureaucracy globalization clusterfuck ass covering.
These people don't realize that it will take many years of corrective actions on a multiplicity of fronts to regain any small measure of respect. Not going to happen.
“The equity will be distributed as follows,” wrote Gilliar, listing the shares in percentages.
“20 H [Hunter]
“20 RW [Walker]
“20 JG [Gilliar]
“20 TB [Bobulinski]
“10 Jim [Biden]
“10 held by H for the big guy.”
The "big guy" has to be Joe. Otherwise he didn't get his cut. Bobulinski confirmed it. And why would Hunter be holding money for Obama?
The "50% to Pop" comment looks like an exaggeration by a complaining Hunter. It's not in an official document.
What I find amazing is that, given we had 50 intelligence officers willing to lie and the press willing to cover-up for Biden, we're not supposed to believe the election was stolen. Why should we believe the same people willing to cover-up for Biden, wouldn't also be willing to do what it takes to alter a few thousand votes, in the right districts, to swing an election? I'm not saying it happened, but I am saying they were willing to do enough under-handed things already that stealing an election wouldn't be that far fetched.
"That said, I have to admit I’ve never found Hunter’s behavior criminal — just very, very depressing."
Smoking crack, sex with underage hookers, Kiddie porn, not reporting a missing gun, taking bribes. Not illegal. Just creepy.
There was a conspiracy to oust Trump. Period. It was broad, vast, exhaustive. It involved the media, big tech, the military industrial complex, the medical/science world, the RINO wing of the Republican Party, world leaders, judges … really every institution in America. Did they cheat? Yes but mostly they rigged. Now they are using too-late-to-matter investigations to cover their tracks. It’s rotten to the core.
Trump is the first truly populist figure since Theodore Roosevelt. He is hated because these forces truly hate the common man and woman. They view themselves as Plato’s elite and the Noble Lie is a weapon they can use with impunity.
If the people rise up and re-elect Trump — and I hope they do — this entire cabal will suffer a deep wound, not fatal, but painful. And I will relish the agony on their faces.
We had 50 intelligence officials willing to lie and the press willing to run with that lie and cover-up the lap-top story, impugning the integrity of another news organization, yet we're not supposed to believe they would be willing to steal an election? It used to be the press hated politicians and would hold them responsible for their actions, now they only hate Republicans.
Althouse writes, "I have known the NYT was biased toward Democrats since I was in high school..."
A fair-minded person would be honor-bound to agree. However, since the collapse of Al Gore's presidential bid, the New York Times has morphed from a biased but occasionally honest newspaper into a savage purveyor of calumnies and propaganda that would make Joesph Goebbels blush, growing ever more putrid year by year.
Don't forget the 2018 incident involving the Secret Service and the gun linked to Hunter Biden that was thrown into the trash. No double standards in that case or the lack of reporting on it, eh?
"Fragile son in a family buffeted by tragedy, grows up to have a drug problem and makes a lot of money by working for companies that presumably like to have a famous American politician’s relative to trot around."
Where I come from, tragedy is brought on oneself and one's family by hubris, it's not a random result of fate. Is this yet another cynical bid for pity on the house of Biden?
While it does appear to me that the ground is being prepped for Biden's removal, I don't understand why. He's doing pretty much everything progressives want. It's not his fault they can't pass the odiously named "Build Back Better".
The "Ivanka is tidier" thing seems pregnant with the suggestion that Ivanka and Donald are guilty of whatever Hunter and Joe might be guilty of (or worse), but are too "tidy" to expose it to public scrutiny. Therefore, it would be unjust to engage in scrutiny of Hunter and Joe over things like kicking money up to the Big Guy. Just another form of "equity." Have a nice day.
but but but... The Walls are closing in on Trump. He may have under or over-valued a property by a smidge.
that's a big deal compared to Hunter being funded by American tax dollars washed clean by Burisma... and his father's VP power status providing the avenue for bad deals to go down.
As the Althouse comments of the period record, the Hunter Biden laptop story was out there far and wide at the time. Some voters cared. Others didn't.
While I agree with many here that this finally being acknowledged in an MSM forum does not bode well for Biden I want to see more than one outlet run with it and do more than just report it casually before I get too excited. It needs legs to finally get onto the average American view screen. Until then it may be a warning shot to Biden to play ball. His relationships with Russia and China need to be kept hidden and this may be a warning to him that unless you continue to follow our lead, we will destroy your Presidency and son. Over the last month he seems to be doing everything he can to slow down help to Ukraine without it being obvious, for example.
However I do not see removing Biden as a viable D option right now. It puts Kamala in the White House and they know that would not be well received. It also means they would have to actually run her in 2024 and they literally may lose every state. How do you say to a sitting black, female President that the nomination isn't hers in 2024?? The hardcore D's would not accept that. If they can get rid of her, they will have Biden appoint his own replacement but how do you get rid of her??
In Gail Collins’ defense she’s an opinion columnist for the New York Times, not a reporter; her job is to shill for Democratic presidents the same way Sean Hannity shills for Republican presidents on Fox. That includes being willfully obtuse and even lying if necessary.
Temujin sums it up with...
(entire Putin-esque media/NYT--)
"We have elections to steer."
I'm so old......I remember Anthony Wiener.
He had a laptop, and that report was squelched as well.
@ M Jordan said...
There was a conspiracy to oust Trump. Period. It was broad, vast, exhaustive.
=====
your thoughts would be welcome and educational for me...
does this hold up ""Prima-Facie"" = on its face?
ON ITS FACE
THELAW.COM LAW DICTIONARY & BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY 2ND ED.
That which is clear and evident by inspection or the plain words that are written. Usually it is used to describe a statute or proposed statute where the words themselves very clearly do not pass constitutional muster.
Looking at the quoted material, it may be that their colleagues actually are working on the story and this is prepping the Times readers for more Hunter/Joe bad news to come.
Es felt mir vi a lokh in kop.
the ground is being prepped for Biden's removal
The ground is being prepped for a Hunter Biden plea deal that will result in no jail time, only a hefty fine to be paid from the family’s grifting spoils. The Justice Department will then consider the matter closed and cease investigation into anything that could implicate Joe Biden himself.
While it does appear to me that the ground is being prepped for Biden's removal, I don't understand why. He's doing pretty much everything progressives want. It's not his fault they can't pass the odiously named "Build Back Better".
3/21/22, 10:04 AM
My theory is that it's less about Biden, although his unpopularity is certainly hurting Dem candidates, than it is about the people in his administration. There has to be a housecleaning but that's difficult to do wholesale unless you replace the guy at the top. A Harris admin would give them cover to replace a lot of political appointees.
Hey..this is just about Hunter, mmkay? Smartest man Joe knows.
"like to have a famous American politician’s relative to trot around."
Yeah..that really sums up the concerns...
Althouse writes, "I have known the NYT was biased toward Democrats since I was in high school..."
Althouse also admitted "I have not read Atlas Shrugged
==========
Ayn Rand enjoyed Allen Drury political novels as fiction.
I have sadness to report that for past 40 years: because Atlas Shrugged is living history of country once aspiring to be great
every day headline reflect something from Atlas Shrugged
Rusty @8:46… you’ve helped pull Driver out of the ditch and put him back on Logic Blvd.
Good show!
Q: Fox actively parroting Kremlin talking points is Goebbels-esque since they are cheerleaders for the War Criminals Putin. What active genocidal maniac is the NYT supporting?
“The idea that Hunter Biden's actions don't step into criminality and therefore they are just depressing is laughable”
I think that you need to keep in mind that there is high and low crimes involved. The family, maybe excluding Dr Jill, appear to be sexual letchers perverts, with Hunter the worse.he also very much appears to be a drug addict. A multimillionaire sexual pervert cocaine addict. With Secret Service protection, so that the local police can’t touch him. Banging his sister in law, his underaged niece, his hooker baby moma, etc. very likely after getting them drugged up first. You have to be pretty coked out to leave so much incriminating evidence on your laptop, then forget where you left it.
The high crimes were accepting multimillion dollar bribes from friends and enemies alike, due to his father being VP, and then apparently rebated part of it back to his father. The big ones that stick out are bribes from Ukraine and the PRC. Possibly in trade for the Ukrainian bribes, a pro Russian Administration was replaced, through US action, by the current, anti-Russian one. What it looks like to me is that the faction running the country right now paid Hunter (who rebated part of it to the Big Guy, his then VPOTUS father) millions of dollars in bribes, and the US Intelligence Community then helped engineer the overthrow of the duly elected pro-Russian faction. Then, the Russians invaded Ukraine, once his dad was back in power… The PRC bribes appear to be bigger, and actually probably more pernicious. They are our major geopolitical enemy any more. Why did FJB’s Administration so fervently defend the PRC in their grossly negligent release of their lab created COVID-19 virus, causing (possibly) almost a million US deaths, along with millions others around the world? The Russians may have killed a handful of Americans, while the ChiComs killed hundreds of thousands of us, and millions more around the world, but somehow the poor Ruskies are the ones whose economy is being destroyed by sanctions. And keep in mind that one of the causes of the Russian invasion of Ukraine may well have been the regime change there effected by the US govt when Hunter’s father was VPOTUS.
Keep in mind that the bribes, of ultimately mass quantities of coke and hookers, may not actually be the cause of these major foreign policy problems. There may not actually have been a quid pro quo. But maybe there was. We probably will never know.
The big problem is the appearance of gross improprieties. It looks like American foreign policy was sold to the highest bidders, and Hunter Biden was the bagman for his father, and the rest of his family. Oh, and it wasn’t just Biden, but Kerry and Pelosi too, whose kids (or step kid) were involved too.
Should we have known this in the fall of 2020, when the NYT did? When Hunter’s father was running for the Presidency? Was it journalistic misconduct and malfeasance to suppress the truth here, and ultimately give the Biden crime family another chance at the graft spigot?
Media bias? What media bias?
The New York Post refused to give other journalists access to the computer files Giuliani gave them, and had trouble getting their own reporters to add their bylines to the story - which sure looks like the NYP didn’t fully believe the story itself. Trump only made a passing reference to it in the next debate - as though he didn’t really believe it either.
Twitter and Facebook blocking the NYP did create a Streisand effect. But what was there to see? Hunter was already well-established as the prodigal son, and he should face the consequences for violations of the law. But it’s telling that in one of the emails he backpedals and wants to tamp down expectations for his father’s visit to Ukraine.
@Temujin,
Which brings me to this: All of our intellectually superior beings in Washington DC and New York seem to be incredibly behind the curve on so much that is part of the real world....How do they talk to each other in private about this?...Or are they so firmly ensconced in a fictional world built on lies that their world has become so thick with the lies and fictions that they cannot even tell where the real world left off and the fictional world began?
As a long-time denizen of the DC area, I answered your question by bolding the best of the options you gave in your post above.
It is simply unbelievable how obtuse these folks can be unless you have experienced it yourself. They operate on epistemological filters. What comes from unapproved sources is simply rejected out of hand. "Well, consider the source...", I've heard again and again. When I point out the basic principle of logic that the truth value of a proposition is unaffected by the source of its utterance, it's just blank stares or a different topic.
I have known the NYT was biased toward Democrats since I was in high school, more than 50 years ago, so I know it was not me.
Just to be clear: Anyone today who thinks the Times is "biased toward" Democrats can't be taken seriously.
They've not only dropped any pretense of journalistic standards, they proudly trumpeted their abandonment on the FRONT PAGE.
"Is it that hard to believe that a crack addict like Hunter would forget the laptop and not take calls from the unknown number of the shop owner?"
My theory is that Hunter didn't want to hand the laptop over to whatever family functionary would handle it, instead cleverly dumped it off, figuring the vendor would scrub it before reselling.
The Biden/Maidan/Slavic Spring.
Any new evidence needs to be carefully examined to see if Hunter’s behavior ever went past that into actual criminality — did he claim, for instance, that he could deliver favors from the government because he was Joe Biden’s son? So far I haven’t seen it, but whenever Hunter’s name comes up, I do find myself holding my breath.
It's like the email on there from Hunter employer Burisma directing him to call off the prosecution of Burisma's kleptocrat owner, followed soon by Joe Biden's admitted role in the firing of the troublesome prosecutor, Shokin, never happened.
The truth about these guys is too horrible to contemplate, better to learn to love Big Brother and try your best to return to happy ignorance.
this Ukrainian "activist", who is downplaying/concealing Ukrainian complicity in Holocaust, https://twitter.com/ClimateAudit/status/1196495155655847937… visited "whistleblower" Eric Ciaramella on Dec 9, 2015 and assisted in campaign against proecutor Shokin, who Burisma had tasked Hunter Biden to remove.
https://twitter.com/ClimateAudit/status/1505963963531595784
He has White House visitor logs, BTW, as backup to his claims.
The hack-D press do not want a Biden family scandal - so there isn't one! Isn't it amazing.
ah - but if the hack-D press want a Trump family scandal - they can manufacture it.
make one up out of innuendo, even.
Fuck U Gail. LYING HACK.
NYT is providing a lot to work with, but will anyone take up the challenge? NYT will skate free, as will WaPoo, news division of WSJ, and NBCABCCBSCNNMSNBC
One of the interesting vignettes in Barr's book is when Trump tries to get Barr to confirm that Hunter has federal legal problems, and Barr blows his stack. Barr isn't expressly clear about why, but I think he was trying to preserve the DOJ practice of not confirming investigations. You can see why Trump--after Comey, Mueller, Flynn, and Russiagate--thought Barr was in dreamland.
As long as we're quoting Cracker songs...
Well, no I'd rather not go and meet your family
They'd probably send me back where I belong
Don't want to hear about your Mr. Right
'Cause he's out of town tonight
Baby come and spend some time with Mr. Wrong
Where I come from they call me Mr. Wrong
It's kind of hard to understand Gail Collins with that huge dick in her mouth. At least Bret takes his out before he speaks.
"While it does appear to me that the ground is being prepped for Biden's removal, I don't understand why."
2024. Biden and Harris are obviously unelectable, and a new VP is viable.
Hunter gets paid 30% but one third of that is money he's holding for Joe. Maybe 50% for Pops wasn't that much of an exaggeration.
>>like I need a hole in the head
Familiar with the phrase since forever. Not familiar with either of the musical references. What it mostly brings to mind these days is a tasteless, to say the least, Charles Stuart joke. Can't remember it exactly, but it went something like the wife announcing she was pregnant and then saying she needed this baby like she . . . (which, of course, she got, courtesy of CS). The other joke, which I remember even less clearly, was something about a Charles Stuart cocktail, which was, maybe, something like two shots followed by a splash of water?
--gpm
32 trimesters, 40 trimesters, more, what difference, at this point, does it make.
Nine Inch Nails - Head Like A Hole
Bow down before the one you serve. You're going to get what you deserve.
Trump clearly did believe the laptop story. My recollection is that he had a lot to to say, maybe too much to say, about Hunter in the debates. He wasn't going to mention the laptop every time, though.
If Post writers distanced themselves from the story it wasn't because they didn't believe it, but because they didn't want to help Trump. They weren't all in his corner by any means. And "not believing" is an iffy concept. Aren't reporters supposed to find out if a story is true, rather than simply reject it out of hand?
One blogger suggested that Hunter left the laptop behand and his sister Ashley lost her diary because of some psychological compulsion -- guilt or repressed hostility to Joe. That's a little too psychoanalytic for me, but something is definitely wrong with the family.
eft Bank of the Charles: "The New York Post refused to give other journalists access to the computer files Giuliani gave them, and had trouble getting their own reporters to add their bylines to the story - which sure looks like the NYP didn’t fully believe the story itself."
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Seriously, LOL.
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