…if citizens can’t trust their institutions.
And we can’t trust our institutions. And they know it, and don’t care.
So what choice does that leave us?
39 thoughts on “Democracy Can’t Survive…”
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Shot in the Dark
Cranking Open The Big Brass Nozzle Of Truth Since 2002
It’s totally normal for a computer repairman to steal the contents of his customer’s computer and give it to Rudy Giuliani. /s
I would add — it’s not close to the level of influence peddling /conflicts of interest by Trump and family. It’s not in the same ballpark. 4 years later and the only people in jail are Trump’s associates.
It’s totally normal for a computer repairman to steal the contents of his customer’s computer
it happens routinely when you leave your computer with The Geek Squad for repairs
It’s totally normal for a computer repairman to steal the contents of his customer’s computer and give it to Rudy Giuliani. /s
From the article:
The computer was dropped off at a repair shop in Biden’s home state of Delaware in April 2019, according to the store’s owner.
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The customer who brought in the water-damaged MacBook Pro for repair never paid for the service or retrieved it or a hard drive on which its contents were stored, according to the shop owner, who said he tried repeatedly to contact the client.
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Photos of a Delaware federal subpoena given to The Post show that both the computer and hard drive were seized by the FBI in December, after the shop’s owner says he alerted the feds to their existence.
So, the customer drops off the laptop, never pays for the repairs and never comes to pick it up. At what point does it, and the contents of the hard drive, no longer belong to the original customer? Is eight months a reasonable length of time to think that the customer isn’t coming back for it?
Copying the hard drive before handing the computer over to the feds is perhaps in a legally grey area, but considering indications of corruption in federal law-enforcement orgs, I can’t say I blame the shop owner.
The circumstances under which the hard drive’s contents comes to light don’t make them any less damning, provided the information is genuine and untampered. My first question is where’s the FBI investigation? Still ongoing? Quietly tucked in someone’s desk drawer for political reasons? The media is at times like a flashlight being shined on something, causing the cockroaches to scatter. The problem is many in the media seem to be too incurious to shine light in certain spots.
I seem to recall little outrage at privacy violations when the shoe was on the other foot.
p0wned over chanting points. Bravo Ian!
Making a copy of the HDD is routine. Think about it; if you have a customer who comes in with a water damaged laptop and presumably wants his data, the first thing you do is to make a copy of the old HDD. You only charge him if he wants the USB drive for his own use.
The interesting question is how the shop found the incriminating evidence. On one level, if I were running the shop, I might scan HDDs for child porn so I wouldn’t get arrested for reproducing it. Such a scan might have flagged the images of Hunter Biden, and the same directories would have had the other incriminating documents. Or, possibly, the way the laptop was dropped off might have given the technicians an idea that the goal was disposal and not fixing it–e.g. no contact information.
Ah, lads, you’ve let Emery steer the conversation.
It doesn’t matter whether or not the hard drive story is true.
What matters is the suppression of speech.
What value does democracy have if the people are not allowed free speech?
If the majority of the people cannot tell shit from shinola, why let them vote for our leaders?
Yes, your right Max.
The big techs have absolutely sh*t the bed. They have made this THE story in America today and this week and until the election. Americans might not all be political, but we are a fair minded lot.
Censorship does not sell here.
Congrats big tech lefties.
No metadata.
No mention of a receipt of the damaged computer stating “Hunter Biden”.
A legally blind person who works on the nanoscopic insides of a computer but is 99% sure it was Hunter Biden in spite of his visual impairment.
This same person turns over Hunter’s alleged computer to Congressmen without notifying the customer that he’s giving his private property to a third party.
Three weeks before the election that Trump seems to be losing handily this information comes out in a Rupert Murdock publication.
Yep, more chicanery and cheap dime store thriller novel plots that only the Trump machine could dredge up out of desperation. Good for the media not to release this trashy political fakery to the public.
Emery trying to make good Americans turn against the free speech again.
Emery, nice chanting points, but the computer was not “provided to Congress”. It was seized via subpoena/warrant by the FBI after the shop owner told them about its contents.
Regarding why the computer wasn’t easily traceable; um, do you think that the drug-addicted womanizer who used it, judging by the video found on it, just might have been aware that there might be a target on his back, and he might have deliberately obscured his identity in the documents? That maybe career criminals like the Bidens are well aware of the obligation to obscure their movements?
We’re supposed to believe Hunter Biden dropped off his personal laptop with sensitive material to a legally blind computer shop owner who says he is 99% positive it was Biden, who then gave a copy of the hard drive to Rudy Giuliani.
I guess it was obvious that the Russians were gonna need to launder the emails a little bit better this time but its hilarious that the method they chose seems to have been “have Rudy Giuliani and a Hannity staffer publish them in the NY Post”.
The Russians can’t do better than this?
Sometimes, just sometimes, I feel a bit of hope about this nightmare we are in. The cadre of criminals that surround Trump are all bumblers. They’re like the political version of the Keystone Cops, Mr McGoo, or the Three Stooges. Incompetent at governing, they’re also incompetent at completing simple corruption. There will be no big October surprise.
Hey, cutting and pasting my way to commenting genius is fun! Consider this from Powerline:
You know, if the Biden Foreign Collusion scandals were in fact hoaxes, you’d think that the evidence that’s hard to fake — you know, actual bank wire transfers — wouldn’t have appeared first, and been verified by the banks. You’d think the shady emails suggesting collusion would appear first, and the hard evidence would be hard to find.
Liberals are hung up on the provenance of the incriminating evidence. I don’t recall the same squeamishness about the Russia Collusion Dossier. I seem to recall Tom Foley (D) House Speaker who said: “The seriousness of the charge mandates that we investigate this.” “Even though there is no evidence,” he said, “the seriousness of the charge is what matters.
Applying the same standards in an even-handed manner to the issue at hand, an investigation would seem to be in order. At a bare minimum, we ought to know:
Does Hunter Biden deny it’s his computer?
Does Hunter Biden deny the images are pictures of him?
Does Hunter Biden deny the substance of the influence peddling emails?
If not, then it doesn’t make much difference how the dirty laundry was exposed. What matters is Joe Biden is the one who dirtied it.
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Giuliani, NY Post, and a blind man. Is this the start of a bad joke?
This story shows in a microcosm why Hollywood is such a liberal-leaning place. Conservatives clearly can’t come up with plausible story lines.
White House was warned Giuliani was target of Russian intelligence operation to feed misinformation to Trump ~ NY Times
SiTD Editors:
I bought a laptop at a local Goodwill Store recently, and it wasn’t locked down, encrypted, or even erased… who knows how stupid some people can be?
While I was respectful of the privacy of the previous owner, when I powered the machine up, it asked if I “wanted to reopen the programs open at shutdown?” Curiosity got the better of me, I’ll admit, and I answered the prompt “Yes”. One of the programs that opened email, and the email the previous owner was writing came up… here are the contents of that email:
Dear Vlad – thanks for the backing and support, you and your buddies have done so much to support the Trump Organization over the years that when I say we feel like we’re a part of the ‘family, the Russian Mafia’, I hope you know I mean that entirely in a good way. The money you and your “business partners”, heh-heh, have provided me over the years has helped me sustain the golf courses, cleaned up the loans on building all those condos your guys bought, and really paid off on the flip on that Florida mansion. Doubled my money in a few months… can’t beat it without stealing. Sorry about all the loud “Trump is tough on Russia!” talk, but you understand that I have to talk tough in public in this position. Rest assured, you know I’ll always be on your side, you might even say ‘always be in your pocket’ all the way through, who knows, 12 more years… Count on it
Thanks,
Donald J. Trump
So now I’m torn, SiTD Editors, because I have this laptop with this email, and it has every bit as much credibility and likelihood of being real as the recent New York Post expose about Hunter Biden… do you want it so you can print it?
Sure, Emery, just as soon as the FBI seizes it as part of their investigation. Call them, why don’t you, and let them know you have it.
Just a quick reminder – lying to a federal agent is a crime. See: Mike Flynn and Scooter Libby. Might want to be careful what you tell them.
JD makes another astute observation.
Here are some advisors of Trump, the “Law and Order” candidate:
Michael Cohen (convicted criminal)
Paul Manafort (convicted criminal)
George Papadopoulos (convicted criminal) Richard Pinedo (convicted criminal)
Roger Stone (convicted criminal)
Rick Gates (convicted criminal)
Michael Flynn (convicted criminal)
Chris Collins (convicted criminal)
Duncan Hunter (convicted criminal)
Didn’t emeryclown just threadjack his own threadjack?
Emery, desperately trying to make the conversation about Giuliani rarther than the threat Big Tech poses for free speech rights.
Emery seems to be blissfully unaware of the fact that if you want to put criminals in jail, you need to often use sources which are not pure as the driven snow, either. Let’s try some basic facts here, Emery; bank records indicate very clearly that Hunter Biden, whose career suggests little that would qualify him for anything beyond “Walmart Greeter” or “State Inmate”, received large payments from overseas sources. That much is verified from bank records. A computer with his image on many pictures seems to flesh out why those payments were made, and that they occurred because someone was using his position as Vice President to enrich himself and his family.
Question #2; many months after the FBI took the computer and its data, the investigation seems to have stalled. One would have thought that the FBI would ordinarily be very interested in the fact that the former Vice President had used his office to enrich himself and his family. Why didn’t that fairly open and shut investigation go anywhere?
Question #3; in light of the first set of questions, why is it that major media outlets are so set on suppressing this story? Why do they publicize feloniously sourced stories like Trump’s taxes, but in this case where there is no clear crime in producing the information, do they want to suppress it?
And lessee about that list of dangerous criminals. Huh, it seems that except for Duncan Hunter (who never served President Trump, ahem) and Chris Collins (only a member of the transition team), none of those convicted would have even been investigated except for the fraudulent Steele dossier. Hey, can I make some nonsense up about some prominent Democrats, and then we’ll see what perjury traps they fall into, or what normally unpunished crimes they’ve committed?
Really, looking at the things that did get investigated for Trump, and the things which did not get a serious investigation under Obama (and Trump), one might suspect that the fix is in.
To be fair, perhaps investigators should check Hunter’s other emails on that laptop. It could be that he was in contact with a Nigerian businessman and was helping facilitate the transfer of a fortune. That could explain the overseas funds coming into his account.
=> Did I neglect to add anyone to that list?
If Trump is “law and order”, I wonder what “unlawful and disorderly” means in the US…?
What a clown Guiliani has become over the years. Rudy could have ridden off into the sunset, legacy intact, but instead….
Clown? Giuliani has uncovered a treasure trove of emails that seems to correspond well to bank account records for Hunter Biden, and other people are starting to provide evidence about the matter as well.
Unless it’s all an amazing hoax that somehow manages to correspond to those bank account records miraculously, Giuliani isn’t a clown. He’s a guy who is exposing a crime ring, just like when he was younger.
I knew a kid at university, an Iron Ranger, claimed to be named Cerkvenic. He was also a wacko. I strongly suspect there’s something in the water up there.
” I strongly suspect there’s something in the water up there.”
Iron.
^^ 💯
What kind of blithering idiot drops a laptop off at a repair shop, full of stuff that could send himself and his family to prison, and then not show up to retrieve it?
“Emery’s” kind of blithering idiot.
Even padded cell boi had enough sense to steer clear of this. I guess we know who’s “the smart one” between the trolls here.
Analysis: Questionable ‘N.Y. Post’ Scoop Driven by Ex-Hannity Producer, Giuliani
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/17/924506867/analysis-questionable-n-y-post-scoop-driven-by-ex-hannity-producer-giuliani
So Bannon, Giuliani and a Hannity person are involved in spreading a story that totally matches up with fake disinformation the Russians have been pitching for years.
Not at all suspicious.
This probably isn’t going to end well for Rudy or any of the other mooks involved in this last-ditch escapade.
Wow, smell the desperation and panic on the left, including our poor troll.
Listen up dipsh*t, Hunter is going to prison and Creepy Joe is gonna be saddled with that for the rest of his very short political career.
Sucks to have your rules thrown back in your face, yes?
And besides, the issue is censorship. Everyone knows the Bidens are hugely corrupt, the left just doesn’t care, just like they didn’t care that Clinton was a rapist. Hey, he’s our rapist, you know? The left is very deranged in that and other ways.
But the censorship going on has a lot of people looking at this now.
And because we can all use a laugh in these dark times, guess who the left is blaming for all this? I’ll wait.
Yup, it’s the Russians again.
🙂
Unmasking’ probe commissioned by Barr concludes without charges or any public report ~ NYT
Swing. Miss. Winning!
Trump wants Durham and Barr to publish that he was innocent and unjustly persecuted.
The problem with that project: Trump in fact was guilty and corruptly protected.
Durham and Barr willing to walk pretty far down the road of lying for Trump, but not to the ultimate point, it seems.
But don’t worry, we aren’t counting on this to swing the election. Trump is already doing fine, the polls are garbage.
What’s that you say, it must some right wing wacko saying that? Why no, it’s Biden’s campaign manager:
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2020/10/17/biden-campaign-admits-the-polls-are-off-n2578277
👆 Pollsters cannot read a voter’s mind. Trump supporters probably feel under siege but will not admit it.
No poll gives me confidence about the outcome in November .
This is legitimate to ask. And should be put in context of corruption of Trump and his family. It’s like the sexual assault questions and mental incoherence issue (which few bring up after the debate and town hall).
How does Biden compare to Trump?
After Ivanka got those patents, and Jared got $1.4 billion dollars from Qatar…I could care less about Burisma. This is chump change compared to what the Trump family has received.
This is why Biden is ahead in the polls.
lol — Rudy Giuliani straight-up saying he chose to go to the New York Post because he knew they wouldn’t bother to check if it was true.
From the article: Mr. Giuliani said he chose The Post because “either nobody else would take it, or if they took it, they would spend all the time they could to try to contradict it before they put it out.” ~ NYT
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/18/business/media/new-york-post-hunter-biden.html?searchResultPosition=1
lol — Rudy Giuliani straight-up saying he chose to go to the New York Post because he knew they wouldn’t bother to check if it was true.
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“either nobody else would take it, or if they took it, they would spend all the time they could to try to contradict it before they put it out.”
I’m not sure if you just suck at reading comprehension, Emery, or if you’re just looking for any “gotcha” statements that you can point to before you stick your fingers in your ears and sing loudly to keep the mean facts from hurting your delicate noggin.
If the NYT, for example, would spend all the time they could to try to contradict the story before releasing it, that doesn’t automatically mean the Post would not do its due diligence in verifying the story. It’s infinitely more likely Giuliani was intimating that the mainstream media would look for any inconsistency, no matter how small and irrelevant, to justify not running the story. This is the same media that sat on the John Edwards story for months, after all, until the National Enquirer ate their lunch and showed why appeal-to-authority is listed among logical fallacies.
Huh. The unmasking report ended without enough evidence to prosecute. Gosh, wonder where it might have gone if all those cell phones hadn’t had their memories mysteriously erased, and if the FBI hadn’t slow walked the investigation as specific documents (“surprisingly”) got lost.
I wonder.