Biden / Harris Focused Discussion

[Breccia]

Another good jobs report for President Biden.

Unemployment is now 3.4%. Lower than Trump ever had, ever ever.

Now I'm not going to lie and say every single job was due to Biden's actions. But if Trump tries to take credit for job numbers when they were good -- that famous change of unemployment from 40% the day he took office for example -- then surely Trump supporters must also give Biden credit when the job numbers are better.

Anything else would be hypocrisy. Including silence.

[AntiFascistVoter]

Another good jobs report for President Biden.

Unemployment is now 3.4%. Lower than Trump ever had, ever ever.

Now I'm not going to lie and say every single job was due to Biden's actions. But if Trump tries to take credit for job numbers when they were good -- that famous change of unemployment from 40% the day he took office for example -- then surely Trump supporters must also give Biden credit when the job numbers are better.

Anything else would be hypocrisy. Including silence.

Dont forgot all of the hard work Trump put into activiely trying to destabilize the eoconomy.

• Random threatening countries with tariffs if he or his family business didnt get good deals.
• Threatening businesses with government action if he didnt like them, or didnt like certain owners, or whole sectors of the economy, like renewable energy.
• Strangulation of visas.
• Threatening migratory workes with ICE.
• Threatening to cutt off whole cities. Cites, aslo know as regional economic engines.

Put yes, Pendantic Merit Badges^TM are very important. Especially when they repeat very Convention Wisdom like, "presidents dont ahkshulay affect the economy.

MMO-C should really hand out Pendantic Merit Badges^TM. Chaud should also pay me if they monetize this idea.
/s

[Breccia]

Dont forgot all of the hard work Trump put into activiely trying to destabilize the eoconomy.

• COVID

You missed a spot.

[AntiFascistVoter]

• COVID

You missed a spot.

Also forgot the times he wanted to veto a "clean debt bill" (Willard Romney's ears perks up) and blow up the economy ... because he didnt get money for his Wall.

[Fugus]

Well, the GOP is trying to get FBI FD-1023 forms from June of 2020. I know it has been mentioned already.

I knew it is already funny since it was from June of 2020 considering Biden wasn't in office till January of 2021 so getting stuff from Trumps DOJ and if Barr had anything on Biden it would have been plastered wall to wall.

Well, learned what the FD-1023 forms are, if anyone makes a claim, no matter how outlandish, they are recorded on those forms before any evidence or investigations are done.

I could claim that Trump molests Ivanka while wearing a Garfield mask as he spanks in with the Holy Bible, it would be recorded on an FD-1023 form, so you can imagine all the stuff they will find with Biden's name on it from then on those forms, all of it worthless because those forms are worthless outside of stating that someone is claiming this.

[Breccia]

So, the Washington Examiner posted an article about Hunter Biden's laptop for...some reason.

Specifically, they seem convinced that the letter signed by dozens of UN intel agents, all saying "this is a nonstory", was a plant to give Biden a fighting chance in the debates.

The revelations come on the heels of news that Morell testified to the House that Blinken “triggered” him to write the October 2020 laptop letter and he organized the letter in part to help Joe Biden "to win the election" against Trump.

Morell’s testimony was revealed in a letter sent to Blinken late last month by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. The duo has been interviewing laptop letter signatories, including Morell, and Brennan is slated to testify in front of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government chaired by Jordan on May 11.

“We now know that the Hunter Biden ‘intel’ officials letter was drafted to help give Joe Biden a ‘talking point’ in his debate against President Trump,” Jordan tweeted on Friday in response to the Washington Examiner’s scoop. “But during the debate, Biden acted like the letter was completely organic.”

Morell told House investigators that prior to his Oct. 17 phone call with Blinken, he had no intention to write the laptop letter, and testified “yes” and “absolutely” when asked if the call with Blinken, who was then a top advisor for Biden’s 2020 campaign, was what “triggered that intent in you.” Morell surmised that Blinken wanted information out that “the Russians were somehow involved."

"Oh, Jordan has proof the laptop story was actually true?"

No.

"He has proof that Biden organized it?"

Actually, it sounds like he had evidence that Biden was in no way involved.

"What's on the laptop, anyway?"

Evidence of Biden's corruption.

"Oh, what evidence? What corruption?"

I don't know that anyone has ever said. This NYPost article sure sounds outraged but doesn't seem to say about what. The Republican talking point has shifted from "there is damning evidence against Biden on that laptop" to "the laptop physically exists and we're angry about that".

"Did the people who are this angry about the laptop's existence say anything about Clioton's aide's husband's laptop?"

I don't believe so, no.

"Did the people who are this angry about the laptop's existence say anything about Trump blackmailing Ukraine for drit on the Bidens? Because that sounds like the sort of thing they'd be angry about."

Some of them may have, probably. Jordan had something else to say. Here's a 2019 article on the topic, where Jordan was trying to push on Jake Tapper vague unproven allegations of Hunter Biden's corruption that the Trump family was objectively doing in public. And here's another 2019 article where Jim Jordan is defending Trump sending Guiliani to Ukraine.

In other words, even Biden's biggest critics with power and influence have nothing but shouting. The only thing on the laptop was Grey Poupon and Benghazi.

[beanman12345]

It's all just utterly baffling to me, honestly.

They have nothing, they know they have nothing, they admit they have nothing, but it all just keeps being regurgitated as if it's serious, and people continue to believe it, despite said admittance to having nothing.

You ever play the borderlands games? These people are the bandits. Warped twisted individuals who also are highly dangerous due to the bazillion guns. And then they're so dumb they go all join a murder cult. It won't ever make sense, cause they are all psychos

[postman1782]

So, the Washington Examiner posted an article about Hunter Biden's laptop for...some reason.

Specifically, they seem convinced that the letter signed by dozens of UN intel agents, all saying "this is a nonstory", was a plant to give Biden a fighting chance in the debates.



"Oh, Jordan has proof the laptop story was actually true?"

No.

"He has proof that Biden organized it?"

Actually, it sounds like he had evidence that Biden was in no way involved.

"What's on the laptop, anyway?"

Evidence of Biden's corruption.

"Oh, what evidence? What corruption?"

I don't know that anyone has ever said. This NYPost article sure sounds outraged but doesn't seem to say about what. The Republican talking point has shifted from "there is damning evidence against Biden on that laptop" to "the laptop physically exists and we're angry about that".

"Did the people who are this angry about the laptop's existence say anything about Clioton's aide's husband's laptop?"

I don't believe so, no.

"Did the people who are this angry about the laptop's existence say anything about Trump blackmailing Ukraine for drit on the Bidens? Because that sounds like the sort of thing they'd be angry about."

Some of them may have, probably. Jordan had something else to say. Here's a 2019 article on the topic, where Jordan was trying to push on Jake Tapper vague unproven allegations of Hunter Biden's corruption that the Trump family was objectively doing in public. And here's another 2019 article where Jim Jordan is defending Trump sending Guiliani to Ukraine.

In other words, even Biden's biggest critics with power and influence have nothing but shouting. The only thing on the laptop was Grey Poupon and Benghazi.

We also have several people admitting to either nothing being on it, or that they put fake shit on it. It cannot be used as evidence.

[Kaleredar]

We also have several people admitting to either nothing being on it, or that they put fake shit on it. It cannot be used as evidence.

They've pretty much no hope in any real, legal court in relation to the laptop. All they can hope for is the court of public opinion.

But they've been the "boy who cried wolf" so many times over this nebulous, nonsensical laptop story that they've never made anything stick in the public's mind. What's supposedly on the laptop, again? Underage salacious photos? Something about illegitimate business ties to Ukraine? Satanic pizza parlor things? Hunter Biden's nudes? Nobody is clear what the muck-slinging is about, and all things removed it's still not even focused at the actual Biden who is president.

[postman1782]

They've pretty much no hope in any real, legal court in relation to the laptop. All they can hope for is the court of public opinion.

But they've been the "boy who cried wolf" so many times over this nebulous, nonsensical laptop story that they've never made anything stick in the public's mind. What's supposedly on the laptop, again? Underage salacious photos? Something about illegitimate business ties to Ukraine? Satanic pizza parlor things? Hunter Biden's nudes? Nobody is clear what the muck-slinging is about, and all things removed it's still not even focused at the actual Biden who is president.

Yep, the computer repairman said I think on Real America's Voice, one of those random right wing bullshit people like Steve Bannon's warroom, that he never saw anything like what they are posting on Twitter and Fox News, and we have Steve Bannon admitting to fake pictures that he put on it, and people will still call them recordings fake and believe that Hunter Biden is some pedo or that he gave 10% to "the big guy", even though we have seen tax returns for 22 years, showing that didn't happen.

[Breccia]

We also have several people admitting to either nothing being on it, or that they put fake shit on it. It cannot be used as evidence.

All they can hope for is the court of public opinion.

Indeed. All they have is being the loudest person in the room. If it was evidence of...does anyone know where it is? Like who has physical possession of it?

[Kaleredar]

Indeed. All they have is being the loudest person in the room. If it was evidence of...does anyone know where it is? Like who has physical possession of it?

There was some hit-and-run poster here that was obsessed with making Biden's laptop a "thing," but all of the right wing loons on this forum have a way of both blending together in my mind and being extremely forgettable.

Unfortunately I can't remember their name, or I'd @ them for what I'm sure is an enlightened, up-to-date take on this laptop thing.

[Breccia]

DC group sues Biden and Yellen over the debt ceiling.

"Over which action?"

None.

"Okay, over which law that Biden signed?"

None.

"...they're suing why, again?"

The National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) filed a lawsuit to block enforcement of a law that sets the nation’s debt limit, arguing it is unconstitutional as a political divide over raising the borrowing cap comes to a head.

The lawsuit contends that, if the debt limit is reached, President Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen would be forced to decide which payments to prioritize, violating the separation of powers by taking over Congress’s spending authority.

“The Debt Limit Statute is unconstitutional because it puts the President in a quandary to exercise discretion to continue borrowing to pay for the programs which Congress has heretofore duly authorized and for which Congress has appropriated funds or to stop borrowing and to determine which of these programs the President, and not the Congress, will suspend, curtail, or cancel altogether,” the complaint states.

"Okay, so which law is apparenlty unConstitutional?"

The 14th Amendment.

"...to..."

The US Constittuion.

"The 14th Amendment...is unConstitutional."

That's what the lawsuit seems to be saying, yes.

“The Fourteenth Amendment requires the President to meet obligations to the holders of federal debt,” the complaint states. “To do so, he must either borrow or find the necessary funds to do so from cancelling, suspending, or refusing to carry out spending already approved by Congress.”

"So the lawsuit is saying it's Biden's fault that Congress passed laws on spending that hit the debt limit that Congress has not raised."

Yes.

"...this is Biden's fault why, again? It sounds like these people should be angry with Congress."

I mean, you could read it the other way. The lawsuit could be based on the premise that McCarthy is a complete and abject failure and they're already moving onto the next logical step.

Incidentally, both Biden and Yellen have repeatedly and publicly reminded everyone this is Congress' job. The fact that nothing's come out of the House for Biden to sign is not magically Biden's fault. At this point, McCarthy hasn't even sent out a bill Biden will refuse to sign, just for the politicla points of saying "hey, we can objectively prove we tried".

"It sounds like a tough job for McCarthy."

He wanted this job so hard, he let Greene dictate policy. He can suck on this failure of his all day for all I care.

[fwc577]

• COVID

You missed a spot.

Nah, COVID in the long run helped the economy because it was the easiest way to kill of some of the idiotic boomers who would've never been able to afford retirement and been working menial jobs into their 90s.

One of the most frustrating things when I worked for a school district was being the lowest on the totem pole as far as seniority was concerned as part of our union because the next youngest admin assistant was 30-years my senior and the oldest admin assistant in our district was 30-years her senior.

[AntiFascistVoter]

The worst thing a person can do to the GOP. Is to honestly describe what's in their bills.
Biden roasting the WHCA for regurgitating Republican talking points, without actual saying whats in the GOP "proposal".


The AP's Regina George at 14:30


BEau fans! Just yesterday Beau wonders why the AP is rated lower than other sources... Also the horrible ABC/WaPo "poll"

[Edge-]

The worst thing a person can do to the GOP. Is to honestly describe what's in their bills.
Biden roasting the WHCA for regurgitating Republican talking points, without actual saying whats in the GOP "proposal".


The AP's Regina George at 14:30

I continue to lament that the past decade of political journalism has encouraged political media to act more like TMZ writers than actual journalists.

Credit to Biden on calling out how journalists are just uncritically repeating Republican talking points because it's easier to do that than ask an informed question that will result in an informative answer.

[Kathandira]

Am I alone in there not being audio in either of those videos?

Scratch that....my whole browser is muted for some reason.

[Edge-]

So while conservative media are breathlessly reporting on the possibility that SOME IN THE BIDEN FAMILY MIGHT HAVE MADE MONEY ABROAD, once again bringing it back to reality we go to the NYT - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/10/u...ns-report.html

After four months of investigation, House Republicans who promised to use their new majority to unearth evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden acknowledged on Wednesday that they had yet to uncover incriminating material about him, despite their frequent insinuations that he and his family have been involved in criminal conduct and corruption.

The article is much longer as you can imagine, but really this is the salient bit here. Despite 4 months of bloviating and investigation, Comer and House Republicans still haven't found any of the evidence they're absolutely certain exists for real. It's still totally there, they're confident, but they just haven't found it yet.

However let's indulge for a second -

During his news conference, Mr. Comer acknowledged that Hunter Biden would have been far from the first relative of a president or vice president to try to make money off the family name.

He invoked Billy Carter, the brother of former President Jimmy Carter, who visited Libya and received a $220,000 loan; and Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law whose firm has received hundreds of millions from Persian Gulf nations.

“This has been a pattern for a long time,” Mr. Comer said. “Republicans and Democrats have both complained about presidents’ families receiving money.”

However, Mr. Comer has conceded that he has no interest in investigating Mr. Kushner’s conduct.

Wow, so the Biden's aren't even unique in this? Waiter, this nothingberder doesn't even have sauce on it! It's just a bun!

[postman1782]

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1...7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Even Fox News is saying the Quid Pro Quo from Biden is bullshit.

Here is Steve Doocy from Fox and Friends saying the investigation is bullshit to James Comer:
https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/s...C-wa6V4f0tAAAA

@Breccia @Edge-

[Breccia]

Would anyone care for a cup of desperation with their breakfast?

No? Well, me neither, but the Republican Party sure seems to want one.

So when I check social media in the morning and my Alabamer family members are screaming "Biden is corrupt" it means nothing. At this point it's Pavlovian.

But when they use the term "confirmed" I actually look into it, because it implies something they've already assumed was true, is now proven to be true.

I...need to stop doing that.

Despite their claims, there was no new evidence of any kind posted over the weekend about
a) Hunter Biden's laptop
b) Ashley Biden's diary
c) the COVID VAERS data dump
d) the--

"What VAERS data dump?|

I don't know, it looks like a two-year-old story that was desperate to validate anti-vaxxers. Apparently it's a lot of "my son got the vaccine and now he's XXX" with no confirmation. I honestly can't find anything in the last month.

Well, that's not true. It made the top ten list of things Carlson said that should have gotten him fired but didn't.

d) "Parental Rights in Eduation Bill"

"...the Florida thing?"

I...guess?

In any event, the keyword "confirmed" was slapped on the laptop and diary for, you guessed it, no reason. There are no new developments in either.

Now I did quote a TheHill OP ED earlier, which I suppose could have been what started this. Wrtten by Jonathan Turley (as in "Whatever Happened to Jonathan Turley?") he takes the...interesting approach of complaining that the media isn't covering Biden's corruption, from the front page of the media.

Despite showing nine Biden family members allegedly receiving funds from corrupt figures in Romania, China and other countries, The New Republic quickly ran a story headlined “Republicans Finally Admit They Have No Incriminating Evidence on Joe Biden.”

Okay I'm interrupting already. Several of us, including at least @Edge- have already pointed out that the GOP elected officials involve have said, in public, "we have found no crime" and they were the ones most motivated in looking. Turley and other...let's say "completely genuine non-hypocritical posters of important, relevant, true information exactly like the Trump supporters who post here" seem to be saying just the act of receiving money is itself corrupt.

Just like when the Trump family tried to sell 666 5th Ave to a foreign government.

Or the money they bragged about getting from Russia.

Or the $2 billion payout from Saudis.

Or the inhabitants of Trump Tower, which include all of the above.

I personally covered all of those. And not once did I say "this money is illegal", although I pointed out repeatedly their non-illegal money was coming from some damning sources. If Hunter Biden getting millions because (whether or not Biden himself got any) is a problem, Donald Trump getting billions in public on purpose should be a larger problem. Oddly enough, Team Trump disagrees, therefore so do the cultists.

Back to the OP ED.

For many of us, it was otherworldly. A decade ago, when then-Vice President Joe Biden was denouncing corruption in Romania and Ukraine and promising action by the United States, massive payments were flowing to his son Hunter Biden and a variety of family members, including Biden grandchildren.

Last year, I wrote a column about how the media were preparing a difficult “scandal implosion” to protect the Bidens and themselves from the backlash from disclosures of this influence peddling operation.

The brilliance of the Biden team was that it invested the media in this scandal at the outset by burying the laptop story as “Russian disinformation” before the election. That was, of course, false, but it took two years for most major media outlets to admit that the laptop was authentic.

But the media then ignored what was on that “authentic laptop.” Hundreds of emails detailed potentially criminal conduct and raw influence peddling in foreign countries.

When media outlets such as the New York Post confirmed the emails, the media then insisted that there was no corroboration of the influence peddling payments and no clear proof of criminal conduct. It entirely ignored the obvious corruption itself.

Now that the House has released corroboration in actual money transfers linking many in the Biden family, the media is insisting that this is no scandal because there is not directly proof of payments to Joe Biden.

The "corroboration" is the House Oversight report I'm posting now. As hinted above, it says "they got money therefore it's bad". For example:

Additionally, Hunter Biden received money directly into his company’s account from a Chinese-controlled entity.

Remember, these were the people that said they found no crime. They are simply saying getting money from the Chinese is bad. It was so bad, that

BREAKING: Trump admits his clothing is made in China

Deary me, I don't know why that was "breaking" that's from 2011. As in, we've known for 12 years that Trump directly did business with China on purpose.

So if you see "your Alabamer relatives" or whatever equivalent you have going nutso on social media, it may be time to start handwaving. People who are interested and motivated to find something more than yelling, have found only things that the Trump family did in public and did far worse.

To be completely fair, if, say, Hunter Biden lied on business records about the source of money, you're not allowed to do that. Falsifying business records is a crime.

Possibly, 34 of them.