“Hope springs eternal in the human breast” wrote Alexander Pope in “An Essay on Man: Epistle I” (1733), which is one of those poems that inspired generations of English lit students to hate poetry. But put that aside. Hope springs eternal among political factions, too. The Left hopes dearly that somehow, someday, Donald Trump’s corruption and crimes will be exposed, and he will answer for them.
And the Right has pinned its hopes on — Hunter Biden’s laptop.
The importance of the laptop has become mostly symbolic at this point, like Hillary Clinton’s emails. if you stopped 20 righties on the street and grilled them why Hillary Clinton’s emails, or Hunter Biden’s laptop, are important, and what they’re supposed to prove — well, probably none of them would be able to answer the question coherently. They just know they’re supposed to think these things are significant proof of the nefarious activities of Clinton or Biden. It’s something like Pavlovian conditioning, I think.
It came back into the news recently when the New York Times reported that Hunter Biden is being investigated because of his “foreign business activity,” and the evidence of this activity comes “from a cache of files that appears to have come from a laptop abandoned by Mr. Biden in a Delaware repair shop.” The article goes on to say that there is no indication that the federal prosecutors would ever build any kind of legal case against Hunter Biden for this activity. They’re just looking at it, possibly to see if he owes any income taxes on it or if he engaged in lobbying activities without being properly registered as a lobbyist.
Oh, but the New York Times said the magic words — Hunter Biden’s laptop — and there was much excitement and rejoicing on the Right.
Andrew Prokop writes at Vox, “Now, conservatives interpreted last week’s Times report as a belated concession that the leaked material was authentic, and they’re taking a victory lap. ‘The Times finally admits: Hunter’s laptop is real,’ the New York Post editorial board crowed.”
Did anyone ever think Hunter Biden’s laptop was not a real laptop? Laptops aren’t all that unusual. I’m keyboarding on one right now.
The Times did say that some material was “authenticated,” but it didn’t say what the emails said. These could be old grocery lists, for all we know.
The Washington Post weighed in today, saying they were able to authenticate that some of the emails allegedly found on Hunter Biden’s laptop were Hunter Biden emails, but there are catches.
The vast majority of the data — and most of the nearly 129,000 emails it contained — could not be verified by either of the two security experts who reviewed the data for The Post. …
… Among the reasons for the inconclusive findings was sloppy handling of the data, which damaged some records. The experts found the data had been repeatedly accessed and copied by people other than Biden over nearly three years. The MacBook itself is now in the hands of the FBI, which is investigating whether Biden properly reported income from business dealings.
Most of the data obtained by The Post lacks cryptographic features that would help experts make a reliable determination of authenticity, especially in a case where the original computer and its hard drive are not available for forensic examination. Other factors, such as emails that were only partially downloaded, also stymied the security experts’ efforts to verify content.
What emails were readable were mostly routine things. However, some revealed details of some work H.B. did with a Chinese energy company that made him a lot of money. WaPo explain these details in a separate article. What the article doesn’t say is if any of this work was illegal. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. We don’t know. It did say there’s no indication Joe Biden even knew about it. And if doing business with China is in itself indictable, the whole Trump family needs to turn itself in now.
But then, in a move that was stupid and tone deaf even by Trump standards, Trump pulled one of his “Russia, if you’re listening…” stunts and asked Putin to release what he knows about Hunter Biden and his laptop. Trump cited a much-debunked claim that H.B. got a bunch of money from a Russian businesswoman who is the widow of a former mayor of Moscow.
And then there’s this, also from the New York Post —
I’m not linking to it. But this is from information released by the Russian Defense Ministry (surprise). Glenn Kessler at WaPo did the debunking.
The Russian Defense Ministry knows how to stir up the interest of the right-leaning news media in the United States — just mention Hunter Biden, the president’s son.
Russia for years has been seeding the ground to claim that the United States set up biowarfare labs in Ukraine and other former Soviet republics — claims that have been revived as part of the invasion of Ukraine. As part of his media presentation, Igor Kirillov of the Russian armed forces alleged the labs were part of the U.S. plot to study the natural immunity of the population to identify the most dangerous pathogen for people in the region.
The Defense Ministry released a complex-looking flow chart with spaghetti lines depicting not only the involvement of Hunter Biden but financier George Soros in the alleged financing of “bioweapons labs.” But the reference to Hunter Biden was catnip to the right-leaning media. Reporters immediately dug into their copies of Biden’s laptop, supposedly left behind for repair in a Delaware shop in April 2019, and dredged up emails that they suggested validated the Russian report.
Yep, I believe it. Now for the fact check —
First of all, as we have previously documented, these are not bioweapons labs, but biological research facilities focused on better detecting, diagnosing and monitoring infectious-disease outbreaks. Second, random emails can be easily misinterpreted without additional reporting.
We’ve dug into the records and discussed the deals in question with people involved. The reporting from those news outlets is false. Hunter Biden has come under scrutiny for business deals in places such as Ukraine and China that took place while his father was vice president. But he was not “financing” these labs. In fact, he was not part of a decision to invest in a company at the center of the Russian allegations, he did not profit from it as he was kicked out of the investment firm over cocaine allegations, and the company made little money from its tiny bit of business in Ukraine.
I’m getting really tired of this.
I looked for an exact source (other than the Wiki article on Biden's Senate career) but Biden retired from the US Senate worth less than a million. A lot less – it looks like between $300,000 and a half-mil. AFTER Biden thought he'd left politics he made money and once you have money, it's a lot easier to make more. SO he's worth ten to fifteen million now. After 50 years.
How does that compare with others in Congress? In an average year, 20% of the members of Congress DOUBLE their net worth – and most start in Congress as millionaires. In a group that stands out in their greed, Joe served year after year, decade after decade, without enriching himself.
I can't go out on a limb defending Hunter Biden. He had no business in Ukraine with Burisma that warranted the obscene pay. It was totally legal and families of both parties do it. And just TRY to make it illegal if you want to see bipartisan resistance in Congress.
Hunter (IMO) saw the chance to make a financial killing by trading on his name while his father was VP. Just a guess, but Hunter never did and never intended to do anything remotely unethical (if only because he know his father would not go for it) but Hunter was willing to ride the gravy train for as long as Burisma was willing to pay.
Regarding the chain of custody of the laptop(s) – no one can be certain if the existence of valid emails is cover for the planting of totally false "evidence." The laptop(s) surfaced long AFTER Mayor Bug-eyes got involved. I'm not trying to "clear" Hunter Biden – I do not trust him. But I have serious doubts that Joe was sucked into anything unethical with Hunter.
The Hunter Biden feeding frenzy makes sense if you consider that Democrats are about to put the hit on Donald Trump for being in the J6 insurrection plot up to his neck along with GOP members of Congress! Democrats are trying to time this for the best political advantage as the mid-terms approach. I hope we are talking about televised open hearings with concrete evidence of coordination between the Oval Office and members of Congress with the Proud Boys and others whose trials will be hitting the front page.
What's the GOP planning to do? Distract. With what? Hunter Biden seems to be the best they have although they will probably start the rumor that HRC is going to run again. I think we will see the GOP casting about looking for some scandal they can release to compete with the J6 hearings. I think that's what it's about.
Oh – the invasion of Ukraine is not working for the GOP. Trump is seriously defending Vlad and trying to enlist the aid of the Kremlin in generating a distraction BUT Republicans in Congress can't run in support of the Kremlin. And the Ukraine story isn't going away soon.
It is tiring to see a political party lacking in basic thinking skills. Watching the Frontline episode documented the lack in examining the plot to overthrow the election. It never started with anything less than the conclusion that the election was rigged for Biden. So too with Hunter Biden's laptop, it starts with the conclusion that it contains evidence of horrible criminal activity. Let us just say both are outrageous accusations of the type that might be expected who lacks thinking skills not to mention people that lack good manners. It is really bad manners to constantly launch fishing expeditions without proper investigation skills and methods.
In graduate school one of my classmates researched an outrageous notion in the proper way. At question was the adage that a full moon made people crazy. We do refer to mental disorders as lunacy, so I guess it is common sense a link might really exist. So too. we have multitudes who give some level of credibility to the planets influence on our destiny, personality and the like. Even so one states the hypothetical link in negative fashion. There is no relationship between the phases of the moon and the rate of admission to the local mental health center is how it was worded. This is the null hypothesis, and the proper place from where to start an inquiry. If the data showed a positive correlation between the phases of the moon and the rates of admission, the null hypothesis might be rejected given the correspondence was at a significant level. Well, it was not and common sense on this one was evidenced to be more likely common nonsense. No link with the full moon was found.
With the record the Republicans have for baseless outrageous claims, we should start with the thought that anything they claim is most likely common nonsense. I cannot recall one claim that did not turn out that way. They say even a blind squirrel finds a nut on occasion, so the Republican party must have quite the severe disability to have their track record. Arizona taxpayers are still running up bills looking for that elusive election fraud that they all knew for sure had to exist. What a bunch of Bengazzi brains they have mutated into.
In 2016, RepubliKKKLANs freaked out over Hillary Clinton's e-mails.
Now, it's Hunter Biden's laptop and its e-mails.
And to think, this all started with people wanting to know which type of underwear Bill Clinton wore: boxers or briefs? And then they wanted to know whither the stain on the blue dress came from, and whether it was caused by Bill Clinton.
Right now, with all of the hands touching Hunter Biden's laptop since he dropped it off in 2019, I don't think there's any dangerous there there that will come out and surprise us.
But maybe tbat's just me, thinking wishfully.
People stopped popping mail off of servers at the turn of the century. Nobody, not then, not now, pops a hundred and twenty-nine thousand emails to a laptop. I doubt the commercial service ~ Goggle or whomever ~ would even allow it.
Ones and zeros, balls on a brass monkey: it's a lie …
This all goes to prove that it's a mistake to teach women and slaves to read and think for themselves.
Take another break, Maha – you deserve it.
Well, they still have the Biden daughter's diary to worry about. . . . when they catch their breath, which I'm pretty sure will happen soon soon soon.
While I hate to project the image of obtained perspicacity (full disclosure- people who know me are fully aware of my unfamiliarity with the concept yet I continue to try projecting the image) I sense more of the same diversionary tactics in Bidens holy grail of laptops that can be found in other memes presented by the same oily folks that inhabit rightwing mania and continue to present them because it inflames their followers, acolytes, sheeple and pavlovanians to the point of action (E.G. Jan 6th 2021)
Similar examples of the steaming pile of exaggeration can be found, but not limited to, the early 21st century the memorable ones below (incomplete list)
1. We will be treated as liberators.
2. Mission accomplished.
3. Jesus was a conservative.
4. Mexicans are rapists
5. Immigrants are taking our jobs and are too lazy to work.
(Known as Schrodingers Immigrants)
6. Obama was born in Kenya.
7. BENGAZI! BENGAZI! BENGAZI!
8. But her Emails! The trigger for Lock her up.
9. Comet Pizza.
10. Biden's laptop. Biden's Laptop. Biden's laptop.
I could go on but won't . Feel free to add if you wish.
No credit given for The Stolen Election.
Extra credit for anything said by Mike Lindell.
Today's conservatives can be counted on to have little to no understanding of technology of any kind. Much of the world to them is magical because of this (and other reasons). This trait also explains how they so easily swallow byzantine conspiracy theories: They cannot fathom how the world works.
Most importantly in this context is the fact that any prosecutor, defense attorney or judge knows that no evidence can be relied on if there's no chain of custody. Once that computer (assuming, arguendo, it was originally Biden's) left Biden's hands, anything could have been put on it, counterfeited, erased, or otherwise messed with. It is useless as evidence on which to base any criminal charge.
It's very frustrating that we must deal with idiots. But we should never take them seriously when it comes to reality. They have no understanding of that at all.
Glenn Greenwald and the rightwing internet don't care about Chain of Custody. They have a piece of the true cross on their hands in Hunter Biden's Laptop and everything on it is TRUE!
Plus, if you don't believe in the TRUTH of the REVELATION from Hunter's one laptop they have several others in their possession as well!
What could be more true than that?
From a commenter to WAPO with style and a moniker of The Choobs: