Are you trying to pick a fight or do you really not pay attention? Probably half of Andrew's "Read it for yourself" posts come from the Times and the Post. Jaybird even references them from time to time. I use them, the Guardian, Reuters, AP, WSJ and even Fox News (the parts of their polling they never release are a goldmine).
The initial reporting on the Laptop by the NYT appeared Oct. 22, 2020. The NYT updated that same story Sept. 13, 2021. In that initial reporting the Times was trying to lay out what was and wasn't factual about the initial story - which came from the rival and right leaning New York Post. At the time the Times noted:
The New York Post reporter who wrote most of the article refused to put his name on it because of concerns about its credibility, two Post employees have said.
The New York Post reported that in September, he gave the copy of the hard drive to Mr. Giuliani’s lawyer, Robert J. Costello. Mr. Giuliani later provided it to the tabloid, a handoff in which Stephen K. Bannon, a former adviser to Mr. Trump who was indicted in an unrelated fraud case, also played an unspecified role.
It is also not clear what the F.B.I. did with the laptop or what Justice Department officials knew about the sensitive F.B.I. investigation at the time. F.B.I. officials have declined to discuss the inquiry.
Given all that (and more that was reported at the time) accusing the Times of rot for only now being able to confirm anything about the laptop's contents is laughable. Its also becoming clear that there wasn't and probably still isn't anything illegal for the DoJ or FBI to act on since they have the laptop over two years and have executed no further search warrants, returned no indictments and not empaneled any grand juries.
If the NYT is reporting things like this - and they are - then accusations of rot ring hollow. That the NYT is only editorializing against the Trumps and not the Biden's is not an indication of its bad actor status. Rogan does no real reporting, and his whataboutism on this and many other things - to say nothing of his repeatedly platforming liars - is a far worse problem in the public square of information.
What most of us said at the time - which I still stand by - is that the Trump Boys and Hunter Biden are equally innocent and equally guilty. There is no "There" there because its everyone, and the attempt to tar and feather Joe Biden through his son was being done by duplicitous wanna be important (or is it impotent) wonks and knaves should have zero traction unless and until those same forces call out the Trumps for the same thing. Which - checks notes - none of them did. Rogan included best I can tell.
As for the factionation of the Ukrainians involved - given the turn of events in Ukraine - to say nothing of the facts of Trump's first impeachment - I think we all generally stand by the idea that this was a nothing burger.
Scalia was always great to read even though I disagree with about 95% of his conclusions. Alito and Thomas are whiney NIMBY's who are perfectly happy to close off avenues and rights afforded to them when others seek them. Roberts takes his job seriously, but has the Achilles heel of hiding behind others rather then leading on controversial issues. Gorsuch has surprised me with some of his opinions, and he may yet move into Scalia territory with his writings. I find Kavanaugh and Barret mostly ignorable. Sotomayor and Kagan are indeed solidly in opposition to Alito and Thomas, and probably under play their writing chops.
That there are people on this site who call themselves lawyers (not Em, but others) who take that fundamental fact about the American system as a matter of opinion is dismaying and speaks to the fundamental intellectual dishonesty of some of the commentors here.
They take it "as a matter of opinion" because the legal systems shows over and over and over that this is not in fact true. Even after the laws of the land were amended to extend liberty and "rights" to women, people of color and a host of other oppressed groups, the courts still oppress them. A great deal of intellectual and monetary capitol is STILL being spent (to say nothing of the political capitol) to assure the truth of what you assert. This is in no way a done deal.
The US has few if any brakes left to pump. And don't forget - Ukraine in its latest iteration as an independent nation is what - 25 years old? It wasn't going to go full corruption free democracy in all that time.
And right up until the troops actually rolled Carlson wasn't asking questions - he was accusing Biden of using Ukraine as a puppet. While saying Putin's threats didn't matter. At best - and I'm being very charitable here - he was cheerleading US isolationism . . . but that's really reading his direct quotes very loosely.
David Duke being in support of your comments generally opens you up to accusations:
Duke said in an October 13 episode of his podcast, which airs on his website, that Carlson "has finally come around" to talking about a "demographic threat" that white Americans face, playing footage from Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight."
"How could I be an evil guy," Duke asked rhetorically at one point during the podcast, when Carlson was espousing "all the fundamental things" he said.
Rolling story also has a great story on this where it takes Carlson's quotes on this and puts them in line with other white nationalists. His words are almost indistinguishable from theirs
Ukraine today holds the second biggest known gas reserves in Europe. As of late 2019, known Ukrainian reserves amounted to 1.09 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, second only to Norway’s known resources of 1.53 trillion cubic meters. Yet, these enormous reserves of energy remain largely untapped. Today, Ukraine has a low annual reserve usage rate of about 2 percent. Moreover, more active exploration may yield previously undiscovered gas fields, which would further increase the overall volume of Ukraine’s deposits.
Wouldn’t it be nice if this episode snapped its elderly audience out of some of its more pernicious delusions about the world? It probably won’t but nothing wrong with some wishful thinking.
Indeed wishful:
Fox News has been the highest-rated cable news network for 19 years.
As of 2020, Tucker Carlson Tonight is the most watched cable news show ever.
Fox News’ 2020 election night coverage was the most watched in cable news history.
recent Fox News viewer demographics show that people from all age groups watch it equally. The majority (30%) of viewers fall into the 50–64 bracket. Another 25% are aged 18–34, 24% belong to the 35–49 age group, and 20% are 65 and over.
Many of the actual news types at Fox have been pushing back - on air - against the commentariat there. Unfortunately, the commentariat gets way better ratings and way more viewership, which means a large and larger swath of the right is listening to them and not to the actual reporting. That is something to take seriously, as it portends pushing for things that are not actually in our strategic interest.
Zelenski ran on and was overwhelmingly elected for an anti-corruption platform that he seems to have been making headway on until the invasion. He even rebuffed Trump's ill advised phone request for dirt on Hunter Biden (which doesn't exist since all that was and is out in the open), even though it cost him aid promised by Congress. And even if Ukraine is still "Corrupt" that's not something you deal with by invading the country.
As to Tucker cheerleading Putin, start here:
Yes, if you missed Carlson‘s most recent shows, a quick recap of commentary he’s offered on the situation:
It’s “not un-American” to support Putin;
Democrats will find you guilty of treason if you don’t hate Putin;
The whole thing is simply a “border dispute”;
“Ukraine is not a democracy”;
Ukraine is a “puppet” of the West; and
Our personal favorite, that unless Vladimir Putin has personally had you or one of your family members murdered, you really don’t have any right to criticize the guy:
As much as Carlson wanted folks to ignore his previous week (OK, five years) of blowing kisses at Russia’s strongman, his love letters were scattered about social media. Russian state media reportedly aired his flattering commentary with subtitles to show Putin’s subjects how Americans really feel, as well as an article titled, “Tucker Carlson wonders why U.S. elites hate Putin.”
The pro-Russia stance of the network’s “opinion” hosts created quite the cognitive dissonance with Fox’s news operations. Whiplash kicked in Wednesday when the network moved from mortar blasts to partisan chatter. Trey Yingst in Kyiv reported from under a helmet against the backdrop of sirens, then host Shannon Bream threw to White House correspondent Kevin Corke, who immediately situated the reactions of American politicians within the realm of Democratic/Republican squabbling.
it continues the American trend of seeing public transport as a social service for various marginalized communities instead of a general service for everyone.
It didn't used to be that way everywhere:
As the new suburbs ballooned in size, traffic along the poorly placed highways became worse and worse. The obvious solution was mass transit — buses, light rail and trains that would more efficiently link the suburbs and the city — but that, too, faced opposition, largely for racial reasons. The white suburbanites had purposefully left the problems of the central city behind and worried that mass transit would bring them back.
There have been some Right or conservative complaints to say that things Biden or Demos have done are what’s created to aggravated the problem in the first place. Those complaints are legit, for the most part.
Not sure what they hang their legitimacy on. Ukraine has been abiding by its 1996 and subsequent treaties, and the Dems (both before Biden and now) have insisted they do so. The derision of this being a result of the Afghanistan exit is, best I can tell, intellectually dishonest misdirection, as Trump claimed to want out of there, signed an agreement to get out of there, and would have had the same Army, same planes, same plans etc as Biden. Just because he'd be a braggadocio about it doesn't make the strategic outcome any different.
Tucker Carlson is not America first if he's cheerleading for Putin's invasion - which he appears to be. He is not America First if he thinks we had any role in "provoking" Putin - as if Putin needed provocation to do the things he's already been doing on a smaller scale for the last 7 or 8 years.
Tulsi's lab "questions" have been repeatedly answered by the Ukrainian government and by our own. That she continues asking is more about her, and far less about national security.
Greenwald is Greenwald - I have read and endorse much of his work, but even he has veered into conspiracism, comfortably ensconced in Brazil as he is.
Questioning is not bad - continuing to insist you know better, you have the answers in the face of overwhelming and consistent responses is not questioning. It may not be evil, and it may not be treasonous. But it's not good either.
A great many people cared and still care about all these things. Many of these things have been the subject of Congressional oversight hearings. Some of these things were the subject of military criminal prosecutions. Others are millstones hung around the necks of former politicians.
The Venn Diagram between performative Christianity (which infests mega-churches requiring off duty police for traffic control) and performative nationalistic patriotism in the US is nearly a circle.
On “From The Independent: White House urges Spotify to take further action on Joe Rogan: ‘More can be done’”
I tend to rely on the LA Times, Seattle Times, and Denver Post for western news.
"
Are you trying to pick a fight or do you really not pay attention? Probably half of Andrew's "Read it for yourself" posts come from the Times and the Post. Jaybird even references them from time to time. I use them, the Guardian, Reuters, AP, WSJ and even Fox News (the parts of their polling they never release are a goldmine).
"
The initial reporting on the Laptop by the NYT appeared Oct. 22, 2020. The NYT updated that same story Sept. 13, 2021. In that initial reporting the Times was trying to lay out what was and wasn't factual about the initial story - which came from the rival and right leaning New York Post. At the time the Times noted:
Given all that (and more that was reported at the time) accusing the Times of rot for only now being able to confirm anything about the laptop's contents is laughable. Its also becoming clear that there wasn't and probably still isn't anything illegal for the DoJ or FBI to act on since they have the laptop over two years and have executed no further search warrants, returned no indictments and not empaneled any grand juries.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/us/politics/hunter-biden-laptop.html
"
If the NYT is reporting things like this - and they are - then accusations of rot ring hollow. That the NYT is only editorializing against the Trumps and not the Biden's is not an indication of its bad actor status. Rogan does no real reporting, and his whataboutism on this and many other things - to say nothing of his repeatedly platforming liars - is a far worse problem in the public square of information.
"
What most of us said at the time - which I still stand by - is that the Trump Boys and Hunter Biden are equally innocent and equally guilty. There is no "There" there because its everyone, and the attempt to tar and feather Joe Biden through his son was being done by duplicitous wanna be important (or is it impotent) wonks and knaves should have zero traction unless and until those same forces call out the Trumps for the same thing. Which - checks notes - none of them did. Rogan included best I can tell.
As for the factionation of the Ukrainians involved - given the turn of events in Ukraine - to say nothing of the facts of Trump's first impeachment - I think we all generally stand by the idea that this was a nothing burger.
On “Wednesday Writs: January 6th Defendants Edition”
Scalia was always great to read even though I disagree with about 95% of his conclusions. Alito and Thomas are whiney NIMBY's who are perfectly happy to close off avenues and rights afforded to them when others seek them. Roberts takes his job seriously, but has the Achilles heel of hiding behind others rather then leading on controversial issues. Gorsuch has surprised me with some of his opinions, and he may yet move into Scalia territory with his writings. I find Kavanaugh and Barret mostly ignorable. Sotomayor and Kagan are indeed solidly in opposition to Alito and Thomas, and probably under play their writing chops.
"
They take it "as a matter of opinion" because the legal systems shows over and over and over that this is not in fact true. Even after the laws of the land were amended to extend liberty and "rights" to women, people of color and a host of other oppressed groups, the courts still oppress them. A great deal of intellectual and monetary capitol is STILL being spent (to say nothing of the political capitol) to assure the truth of what you assert. This is in no way a done deal.
On “Tucker Carlson, Russia, and Hanlon’s Razor”
I would love for anyone to have Alabama's number these days . . . .
"
The US has few if any brakes left to pump. And don't forget - Ukraine in its latest iteration as an independent nation is what - 25 years old? It wasn't going to go full corruption free democracy in all that time.
And right up until the troops actually rolled Carlson wasn't asking questions - he was accusing Biden of using Ukraine as a puppet. While saying Putin's threats didn't matter. At best - and I'm being very charitable here - he was cheerleading US isolationism . . . but that's really reading his direct quotes very loosely.
"
David Duke being in support of your comments generally opens you up to accusations:
https://www.insider.com/tucker-carlson-replacement-theory-david-duke-kkk-trump-2021-10
Rolling story also has a great story on this where it takes Carlson's quotes on this and puts them in line with other white nationalists. His words are almost indistinguishable from theirs
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/tucker-carlson-great-replacement-white-supremacy-1231248/
"
None of which justifies Russia invading.
"
Saban wouldn't take the pay cut. Tuberville was not coaching at the time.
"
https://hir.harvard.edu/ukraine-energy-reserves/
"
Putin didn't invade because of US energy policy.
"
Indeed wishful:
https://letter.ly/cable-news-viewership-statistics/
"
Many of the actual news types at Fox have been pushing back - on air - against the commentariat there. Unfortunately, the commentariat gets way better ratings and way more viewership, which means a large and larger swath of the right is listening to them and not to the actual reporting. That is something to take seriously, as it portends pushing for things that are not actually in our strategic interest.
"
Also true. And disgusting.
"
Zelenski ran on and was overwhelmingly elected for an anti-corruption platform that he seems to have been making headway on until the invasion. He even rebuffed Trump's ill advised phone request for dirt on Hunter Biden (which doesn't exist since all that was and is out in the open), even though it cost him aid promised by Congress. And even if Ukraine is still "Corrupt" that's not something you deal with by invading the country.
As to Tucker cheerleading Putin, start here:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/02/tucker-carlson-vladimir-putin-praise
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2022-02-24/ukraine-russia-vladimir-putin-tucker-carlson-laura-ingraham-fox-news
On “On Letting The Poors Eat Cake and Drive Electric Vehicles”
It didn't used to be that way everywhere:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/traffic-atlanta-segregation.html
On “Tucker Carlson, Russia, and Hanlon’s Razor”
Not sure what they hang their legitimacy on. Ukraine has been abiding by its 1996 and subsequent treaties, and the Dems (both before Biden and now) have insisted they do so. The derision of this being a result of the Afghanistan exit is, best I can tell, intellectually dishonest misdirection, as Trump claimed to want out of there, signed an agreement to get out of there, and would have had the same Army, same planes, same plans etc as Biden. Just because he'd be a braggadocio about it doesn't make the strategic outcome any different.
"
Tucker Carlson is not America first if he's cheerleading for Putin's invasion - which he appears to be. He is not America First if he thinks we had any role in "provoking" Putin - as if Putin needed provocation to do the things he's already been doing on a smaller scale for the last 7 or 8 years.
Tulsi's lab "questions" have been repeatedly answered by the Ukrainian government and by our own. That she continues asking is more about her, and far less about national security.
Greenwald is Greenwald - I have read and endorse much of his work, but even he has veered into conspiracism, comfortably ensconced in Brazil as he is.
Questioning is not bad - continuing to insist you know better, you have the answers in the face of overwhelming and consistent responses is not questioning. It may not be evil, and it may not be treasonous. But it's not good either.
"
So far he's being very well paid to throw shade for Putin. And highly rated too.
"
A great many people cared and still care about all these things. Many of these things have been the subject of Congressional oversight hearings. Some of these things were the subject of military criminal prosecutions. Others are millstones hung around the necks of former politicians.
"
No, which is why I reported him.
On “How Will They Know We’re Christians? By the Traffic Cops?”
The Venn Diagram between performative Christianity (which infests mega-churches requiring off duty police for traffic control) and performative nationalistic patriotism in the US is nearly a circle.