Much Ado About Hunter Biden’s Laptop

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Perhaps the best way to understand the Right is to imagine that most of them are 10-year-old boys. Then they kind of make sense.

For example — the latest in the Hunter Biden Laptop saga is that Matt Taibbi — who is now working for Elon Musk, apparently — released the “Twitter files,” which was some internal communication from the pre-Elon days in which Twitter staff debated whether to allow some files, allegedly from Hunter Biden’s laptop, to be published on Twitter. And after some discussion it was decided to nix them. I have not read the “Twitter files,” but I understand that the participants decided the material violated Twitter’s policy about publishing hacked material.

Much of the Right erupted in outrage and began screaming about “censorship,” showing us once again they don’t understand what “censorship” is, since Twitter is a private company and not the government.

Tim Miller writes at The Bulwark — in No, You Do Not Have a Constitutional Right to Post Hunter Biden’s Dick Pic on Twitter —

While normal humans who denied Republicans their red wave were enjoying an epic sports weekend, an insular community of MAGA activists and online contrarians led by the world’s richest man (for now) were getting riled up about a cache of leaked emails revealing that the former actor James Woods and Chinese troll accounts were not allowed to post ill-gotten photos of Hunter Biden’s hog on a private company’s microblogging platform 25 months ago.

Now if you are one of the normals—someone who would never think about posting another person’s penis on your social media account; has no desire to see politicians’ kids’ penises when scrolling social media; doesn’t understand why there are other people out there who care one way or another about the moderation policies surrounding stolen penis photos; or can’t even figure out what it is that I’m talking about—then this might seem like a gratuitous matter for an article. Sadly, it is not.

Because among Republican members of Congress, leading conservative media commentators, contrarian substackers, conservative tech bros, and friends of Donald Trump, the ability to post Hunter Biden’s cock shots on Twitter is the number-one issue in America this weekend. They believe that if they are not allowed to post porno, our constitutional republic may be in jeopardy.

I truly, truly wish I were joking.

Well, okay, I’m gathering from other news stories that the hacked files weren’t just dick pics. The files had been the subject of a New York Post article of October 2020, right before the election. The NY Post claimed to have proof found on Hunter Biden’s laptop that Joe Biden had met with an executive of Burisma, the Ukrainian company Hunter was working for, which allegedly indicated that Joe Biden used his influence as Vice President to benefit Burisma. Oh, and there were some “explicit” photos also. But none of the “evidence” regarding a Burisma connection, which any ten-year-old with a computer could have fabricated, actually says what it was that Joe Biden did, beyond being introduced to a guy. And the sourcing was obviously hinky.

It came out in 2021 that Twitter had chosen to suppress links to the Post story, and Twitter executives in 2021 said that the suppression was a mistake, but looking at the Post story now, I don’t think so. It seems to me to be a reasonable decision, given the skimpiness and murky provenance of the information.

And to this day no one has been able to show that Joe Biden did anything to help the Burisma company or Hunter Biden’s position in it. But the children won’t let go of it, because if they’re going to bring articles of impeachment against Joe Biden as payback for Trump’s impeachments, the Burisma non-scandal is mostly what they’ve got.

The Right is telling itself that Tim Miller’s Bulwark post “backfired.”

What “news”? This was just a repetition of an allegation that was already making the rounds. And there’s nothing in the “Twitter files” that hadn’t come out from other sources some time ago. See also Elon Musk’s Big ‘Twitter Files’ Reveal Turns Into Snoozefest at Rolling Stone and Elon Musk’s promised Twitter exposé on the Hunter Biden story is a flop that doxxed multiple people at The Verge.

Josh Marshall:

I really thought they’d come up with more. Any big organization has a large number of idiots within it. I figured you could cherry pick some embarrassing asides from junior employees, at least since they have access to everyone’s emails and chats. Basically it was the responsible executives discussing whether to invoke their post-2016 rule against publishing hacked material. They decided to do so, said they needed to be cautious and most of all find out more information.

Again, people taking their responsibilities seriously, trying to make the right decisions. Shocking stuff.

Taking responsibilities seriously, or “adulting” in any form, is not a concept the children can grasp.

While this episode has been taking up way too much space on the Intertubes, other things have happened that might be important. For example, Trump is now calling for the Constitution to be suspended.

This is a screen grab. I’m not linking to crap on Truth Social. It’s not hard to find, if you want to find it.

And I want to say I’m encouraged that the Democratic Party finally is demoting the Iowa Caucuses as the first-in-the-nation nomination event, and the New Hampshire primary as first primary. In both 2016 and 2020 the caucuses showed us they didn’t deserve the responsibility. See Thanks Loads, Iowa from February 4, 2020. No more of that crap. I have fewer complaints about New Hampshire, but it probably would be good for the Dem nomination process to have the early primaries in more diverse states.

 

21 thoughts on “Much Ado About Hunter Biden’s Laptop”

  1. Thank you, Maha, for calling out Musk's and Taibbi's  immaturity.  As I read Taibbi's thin but repetitive thread, I couldn't help marveling that he might have put in the required work as a child and young adult to have actually earned high school and college diplomas. 

    But then I guess his post graduate "education" and work in St. Petersburg and Moscow helped him hone his writing for a dumbed down US audience.   The two dudes totally missed the legal issues, but we'll see how far Fox and the GOP can run with this.

    Now, about that Tesla stock…

  3. Their focus on Hunter Biden's laptop is this GQP generation's attempt to hoodwink our MSM (once AGAIN!) with some bullshit story involving a Democratic POTUS, or some other high-level Democratic politician(s), their family members, friends, or even those humans who might have a tangential association with "liberalism/progressivism") – hoping that they can turn a story which is pretty much a nothing-burger, into "The Hunter Biden Laptop Scandal," and hope the story turns into another all- encompassing obsession for the (eternally) gullible members of our MSM (once AGAIN!).

    Think "Hillary's e-mails," and/or earlier, "Monica's dress."

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  4. A great movie, To The End is out, it features AOC and others from her generation leading the fight against climate change. It’s inspiring, and is making me look forward to the coming showdown(s) between our side and the rabid loonies about to take over the House of Representatives.

    Trump’s tweet is also inspiring. Only someone who knows the walls are closing in, and the game is over would SAY SUCH STUFF. Keeping it coming Donald, or inmate #135283 soon to be.

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  5. Trump knows the law is closing in, AND: there's a great opportunity coming up to seize power.  People are moving into position:

    Musk takes over Twitter and Hunter Biden files are found.  Hunter Biden is the psyops piece of this, it will be like Benghazi going on forever and ever, a massive multi-year distraction.

    Trump wants to throw out the Constitution and I'm certain the crazies will have no problem with it. I've read a GOP rep has a "secret candidate" in mind for House Speakership. Interesting showdown between this not-so-secret candidate and Kevin McCarthy.

    There's a transition in government coming up, watch the people move into position, and the propaganda made ready to launch.

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  6. Go forward to late Jan 2023. The GOP will be gearing up in the House for investigations. (Legislation? What's legislation?) And before we consider the critical issues the Republicans will ponder…

    Trump will be under indictment for (possibly) violations of The Espionage Act, and Obstruction of Justice. We know what Trump took. He's admitting to it on social media. We know the National Archives asked for and then demanded the stuff be returned.  We know Trump's lawyers lied in writing when they said everything was returned. We know after that lie, files were moved out of the storage area. We have video. We know it was at Trump's direction because the guy who helped hide the stuff was on video and (after he first lied) admitted it was at Trump's direction. 

    So in late Jan, the leading candidate for POTUS for the GOP will be looking at felony charges in an open-and-shut case. (And the smart money is that with all that baggage, Trump will STILL win in the GOP primary.)

    The GOP will be desperate to change the subject to ANYTHING except Trump. And what do they have?

    HUNTER BIDEN'S DICK PICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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    • And what do they have?

      HUNTER BIDEN'S DICK PICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      You never know, they might be some amazing dick pics. I kinda wonder if there are really dick pics or whether that little tidbit was just put out there to lure an audience. I'm wondering what Musk's game is. If he's trying to muscle into Trump's political turf by using Trump's tactic of feeding the rubes on a diet of innuendo and conspiratorial possibilities to become the king maker. I would assume that Musk realizes that Trump is done, and he is going to position himself as a savior who tried to save Trump but couldn't because of Trump's self inflicted wounds.

       Musk will have the tools in place and the knowledge to pick up the baton and run with it. All the time looking like the champion of freedom of speech toTrump's base of disparate malcontents and misfits. The fact that Musk has enlisted Matt Taibbi to spoon feed the rubes the Hunter Biden lap top episodes in a Twitter format tells me he's already aligned himself as the vehicle to control the narrative of the upcoming Hunter Biden congressional investigations. Armed with an army of bots he can amplify or mute/ drown out any narrative from anybody he desires. He's going to have a lot of power at his disposal just for personal entertainment.

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      • Are there some super tech guys on our side that can deploy and army of bots against the evil bots?

  7. You know, it's not necessary that either Hunter nor his Dad ever did anything wrong. The reason Burisma hired him was to frighten their enemies. Remember, this was when Old Joe was forcing the Ukrainian government to fire one of their high officials. We know that because he's bragged about doing it. With Hunter on their board, the owners of Burisma were sending their enemies the message, "Look, we've got influence with people who have real power." The junky Hunter might have never even realized that, although I'm sure his father did.

  8. "Much of the Right erupted in outrage and began screaming about “censorship,”"

    That's quite amazing. This from a party what has it's own #1 rated propaganda cable "news" network, that didn't show most of the J6 hearings, never shows any of Biden's speeches or WH press conferences and only discusses the countless Trump legal court losses after days of careful talking point crafting. But we will see this story continue to escalate on the so called "liberal" news networks, because they just love scandal. I say who gives a toss!

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  10. I relish the thought that upon release of said pic some enterprising reporter approaches Stormy Daniels for comment with her reply being that it is so very much more impressive than the Donald's.

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  12. Off Topic but worth looking at:

     https://www.thepilot.com/news/substations-vandalized-more-than-30-000-without-power/article_b3b19780-7370-11ed-865d-c78d0de5d921.html

    Bottom line – the fascists are advertising that they shot up the Duke Power energy grid to turn off power to a drag show. This is low-grade domestic terrorism – using guns to blow up infrastructure as a deterrent and implicit warning of greater violence if drag shows continue.

    Is a single drag show important? no. Is the tactic of using weapons to achieve social or political objectives important? Hell, yes! They are losing at the ballot box and in court. This is all they have left. If the theatre cancels any future drag shows (and they will), it's mission accomplished. They will move up the ladder of social and political objectives that can be won using an AR-15. 

    I may be wrong but Duke Energy isn't amused. If you were to search NC for corporations with the most political influence, Duke Energy would be near the top. My guess is that state officials have been contacted and instructed to find the perps, get the evidence, and lock them up for a LONG time. It's not that Duke is a nice company but they shot up Duke's property and they will want to send a message that you have to shoot up liberal causes someplace else.

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    • Domestic terrorism, plain and simple. I would expect they may be more than a couple copy cats, good thing I bought that whole house gen set a few years back, it could get cold here without power! Freedumb!

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  13. Benghazi move over! The Twitter files have arrived. And Elon Musk is sitting on the mother lode. Buckle up people, you're about to find out how much political mileage can be extracted from a dollop of pure bullshit. It seems Christmas came early for the GOP investigation committees. Yep,we're gonna be looking back at Benghazi as the golden age of congressional integrity.

    If McCarthy gets the speakership the song that Gaetz, MTG, Gym Jordan, Bopert and others are going to be singing for investigative committee assignments is this… John Fogerty – Centerfield – YouTube   I'm ready to play!

       

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  14. "HB's laptop" is a Rorschach test for basic logic and a test of your willingness to withhold political point scoring long enough to evaluate evidence honestly. Sure, it might be the Rosetta stone that illuminates widespread but hidden corruption and rattles the Democratic political system down to their socks but … then again … maybe not.

    It all depends on the weight of the evidence. So far there is zero evidence the laptop is, or was, Hunter Biden's. A legally blind computer repair guy who admits he couldn't identify who dropped the computer off finds odd files on this unknown customers laptop and calls in Republican fixers. I've worked on computers and, generally, rooting around in people's files is widely frowned upon. There is simply no reason to do that to fix a computer. Even an virus infected file is best deleted or isolated without opening it.

    At this stage of the game the laptop is worthless for legal evidence. You don't know who owned it, where it came from, and how it got there. That and the repair guy seems to be somewhat less than disinterested.

    But then he calls in some conservative political friends, funny how he just happens to know who to call and exactly how to reach them, funnier still that hearing about this they 1) take the call from an unknown seriously; and 2) jump right on a flight to check it out.

    But it doesn't stop there. The repair guy lets them play with the laptop, in private. Nobody knows what was done. Even the people who did it ain't saying but later examination showed files were manipulated. Which files? Where any added? Nobody knows.

    I get the feeling this repair guy has few professional ethics. Letting people handle computers under your care is a violation of trust. This is like dropping of your car for an oil change and finding out the mechanic allowed his kid brother to go for a joy ride. It just isn't done.

    As far as evidence goes, legally or otherwise, the laptop is useless. It has slightly less weight than the rantings of a drunk at the end of the bar ranting on about pink elephants. It doesn't even qualify as a decent doorstop.

    On to Burisima. In HS a friend of mine was selected for a seat on a corporate board. It was a smaller national corporation. He was required to fill out paperwork, show up to a meeting in appropriate attire twice a year, read stuff, and vote for proposals. He sometime even did the reading. He said it was a couple hours a month and two trips. Deciding was easy. Every proposal was laid out in detail and every vote came with a sheet telling the board members how the CEO wanted them to vote. As long as you voted the way the CEO wanted your seat on the board was secure. 

    For this he got $25,000. deposited into a trust account he could tap when he turned 21. That was big money back then. The guy was 18 and stupid as a rock. He had no business experience. His two qualification were: He could wear a suit, and he was nephew to an important senator.

    Boards need to be filled. The seats are a reliable income and are handed out gain an important family name and sometimes as a gift to people worried about an under-performing relative. No talent or knowledge, or skills required. This is, for better or worse, a legal and widely accepted practice.

    Trump, and damn-near every other political figure, routinely fills such seats, as they become available, with their less-capable relatives, friends, etc. Look up any major corporate board and your going to find a whole lot of relatives of prominent people. This is a form of corporate welfare and the positions are largely a rubber stamp for the CEO.

    Yes, yes, in theory the corporate board provides guidance and judgment to corporate management. Reigning in exuberant CEOs and helping to avoid stupidities. IRL, not so much. Mostly they rubber stamp the CEOs idiocy and collect their checks. So it goes.

     

     

     

     

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  15. How do they know the pics are of Hunter Biden’s dick? Is his name tattooed on it? And why are these men so agog with other men’s dicks?

  16. Still off-topic: There's a few stories out there on the same theme. The most recent is in AZ – Kari Lake's attorneys will be sanctioned for filing a frivolous suit. Trump's lawyers (from last month) are being sanctioned for suing Clinton in a BS case. They will have to pay back what Clinton was charged for defending the case.  Other lawyers who filed BS cases are in hot water with the courts at the end of 2020. Rudy has been disbarred (maybe the wrong word) in NY and DC. The 11th circuit did not use the word but they pretty much accused Judge Cannon of malpractice from the bench.  My perception is that the courts are losing patience with attempts by the bat-shit crazy to try to legitimize arguments through a suit when those arguments are indefensible.  

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  18. My theory is still that Hunter Biden was appointed to the Burisma BoD as a CIA asset.  The (old, Big Money) GOP is furious at Democrats gaining influence in Security agencies which were previously GOP patronage havens, so they squawked about it.  The only surprising thing is that they didn't have any worse dirt to throw at Joe Biden.

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