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Posts Made By: James Brown

April 16, 2025 01:29 AM Forum: Politics

A great question.....

Posted By James Brown

Originally Posted by Richard Davis
You've listed a number of the lies that you say you fell for, but that surely doesn't surprise me as I've said all along that you have acted as a tool for the left.  They play you like a fiddle and you respond like Pavlov's dog after the bell is rung.

Why isn't it surprising to me that you are so gullible?
To be clear, the only lies I "fell for" were #2 and #3.  (Partially #2, I always viewed "lab leak," as more plausible than the authorities claimed, but I certainly thought "zoonotic origin" was more likely, based upon lies told by experts at the time.

I thought lies 1, 4, and 5 were obvious lies at the time they were told.

April 16, 2025 02:15 PM Forum: Politics

A great question.....

Posted By James Brown

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

So you are the smart one who believes this appropriate "chain of custody"?:

"Rudy Giuliani provided the materials to the New York Post after they were allegedly found on a water-damaged[50] MacBook Pro left at The Mac Shop, a Wilmington, Delaware, computer repair business owned by John Paul Mac Isaac.[51] Mac Isaac obtained the laptop in April 2019, claiming it had been dropped off by a man who identified himself as Hunter Biden and requested that the data on the damaged laptop be recovered.[1][52][53] Mac Isaac also said that he is legally blind and could not be sure if the person who supposedly left the laptop was actually Hunter Biden.[1]"

"Mac Isaac contacted Giuliani, who he said was his "lifeguard"—voicing credence to the conspiracy theory that the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign was behind the murder of campaign worker Seth Rich.[54] Steve Bannon informed the New York Post of the laptop,[55] and he and Giuliani delivered a copy of the supposed laptop hard drive to the publication.[56] Weeks before, Bannon had boasted on Dutch television that he had Hunter Biden's hard drive.[56]"

"PolitiFact wrote in June 2021: "Over time, there has been less doubt that the laptop did in fact belong to Hunter Biden", concluding that the laptop "was real in the sense that it exists, but it didn't prove much", as "Nothing from the laptop has revealed illegal or unethical behavior by Joe Biden as vice president with regard to his son's tenure as a director for Burisma".[26] PolitiFact states that it is possible that "copies of a laptop" were obtained, instead of the actual laptop.[26] PolitiFact states that the Daily Mail published nude photos of Hunter Biden from the laptop, as well as other content focused on Hunter Biden's drug use and legal issues, but notes that Hunter Biden had already publicized his drug issues.[26]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_Biden_laptop_controversy

What's your source, Rich, The Townhall TipSheet?
Rod - James, The NYT, Washington Post, and Biden's own Department of Justice have more recently confirmed the laptop was real and more importantly, the contents were real.   Chain of custody was not an issue in Hunter Biden's criminal trials where the DOJ used the laptop as evidence.  Chain of Custody is now a moot issue, although it was a legit concern in 2020.  

I think the most important remaining question is how active Joe Biden was in Hunter's multi-million dollar influence peddling grifting scheme.  The grifting is indisputable, according to Hunter's IRS settlements.  It is obvious that Joe lied about "knowing nothing about his son or brother's business dealings."  Maybe not so clear if Joe was used as window dressing for the influence peddling, or whether he did indeed use his influence and/or get his cut as the "big guy."  

I personally do not buy the Biden administration's reasoning for the unique retro-active blanket pardons of Hunter and James Biden, the excuse being that it was to protect these obvious crooks from unreasonable retribution.  The simpler explanation is to end this line of inquiry before Biden Sr. was conclusively proved to be corrupt himself.  I personally think Joe profited monetarily from Hunter's and James' schemes.  I posted images of checks here some time ago.   I am not so sure if Joe Biden actually influenced any policy, but I think he probably did.

April 16, 2025 02:33 PM Forum: Politics

A great question.....

Posted By James Brown

Originally Posted by James Lacey


As I said, I never said the entire story was a lie or that the laptop was not Hunter's. However, I questioned the laptop's chain of custody and its information. The quote above does nothing to change my claim. As I said, the NYPost is not a good journalistic source. The Blaze is the worst of the worst. Almost all the other sources you quote are awful, and you have zero standing to be critical of other people's sources.

You conveniently forgot to list the post in the same thread where I said:


Posted 10/19/2020 12:58AM | Edited 10/19/2020 01:05AM#25
James Lacey
Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2016

Location: North Richland Hills TX, US

Posts: 3458

Originally Posted by Mel Maki
Why do you think they have not said, "The emails are not Hunter's."
Or, "That is not Hunter's computer."

Mel,

I don't think anyone denies they are Hunter's. There is enough material there to indicate some of what is being produced is authentic clearly. How much of it is authentic, and how much of it is foreign intelligence generated malarkey, though? It's a classic play to hack some authentic material and then intersperse it with compromising lies to lend credibility to the lie.


If anyone cares, below is where the post Rich is claiming "proves" I said the entire Hunter laptop story was a lie.

https://astromart.com/forums/commentary-careful-read-the-terms-of-service/politics/town-halls?page=1#post175105
James, you articulated a perfectly reasonable position in 2020.  Facts come out over time, however, in part because the government is happy to lie to us.   By 2024, when Hunter Biden's "sweetheart deal" had collapsed and the Biden's own DOJ reluctantly used the laptop to prosecute Hunter for what crimes were not time-barred, there was no chain of custody issue, and there was no argument that the contents were anything but legitimate.   

This is similar to the active governmental manipulation of discussion surrounding the origins of Covid.   Back when the pandemic was daily news, I recall (hopefully I recall correctly) that you and I did not discount a lab leak origin entirely.  We both were convinced by the stories we read in the press, sourced to credible scientists, that zoonotic origin was far more likely.   Reputable reporting now shows that the government was actively, aggressively suppressing all of the evidence it had about the very real likelihood that Covid resulted from a lab leak.   By 2023, lab leak had become the leading theory of COVID origins.  Now it is clearly the favored theory.  We may never know for sure, because the Chinese probably destroyed all of the best evidence.

April 16, 2025 03:17 PM Forum: Politics

A great question.....

Posted By James Brown

Originally Posted by James Lacey


Jim, I've read quite a bit about COVID and its origins, and I think the lab leak hypothesis is overblown and not supported by the available evidence. To be clear, I'm not saying it's impossible, just in case Rich wants to come back five years later and claim I said the lab leak theory was a lie, but I still find it unlikely, and so do most experts and scientists, as far as I know.

A Republican-led House Foreign Affairs Committee issued a report in August 2021 stating that they believed the virus's origin was an accidental lab leak. This stirred up more lab leak sentiment at the time, as did a host of other government reports that followed, but as I said, as far as I know, most experts and scientists think the lab leak origin is unlikely. I don't have any reason to prefer a lab leak over zoonosis, and I fully realize that finding the origin of COVID is vital so we can be better prepared to prevent another similar event. So, in short, I disagree that a lab leak is the favored theory. It may be popular in some circles, but I don't think it's a mainstream opinion among the scientific community.
I'll have to check into this more.  If I find anything compelling, I'll let you know.  Obviously this one is not ever going to be resolved definitively.  I have read well sourced articles recently about active suppression of the lab leak theory in social media and the regular press.  I'm about to leave for the day though, so I can't dig them up now.

I get it that you do not have a dog in the hunt, but the governments of China and the US have huge, immense, universe-scale reasons to favor zoonosis over lab leak.  I am not saying that proves anything, but the motive to lie or at least favor one theory is certainly there on one side.   

I am a fan of Matt Taibbi and his reporting on governmental suppression, among other topics.   My thinking about governmental lying is influenced by him, and although I do not have any articles at hand before I leave for the day, I'd guess that he is one of my sources on the suppression angle.  He may not be your cup of tea.  I see that the Left is making a concerted effort to discredit him nowadays.  https://newrepublic.com/article/193531/glenn-greenwald-matt-taibbi-tech-billionaires-journalists

April 17, 2025 04:44 PM Forum: Politics

A great question.....

Posted By James Brown

Originally Posted by Russ Carroll


My guess is that you only reject the Russian collusion argument on a legal language basis. You and I know full well Russia interfered and Trump egged them on and encouraged it. Not collusion in the legal sense, but certainly BS substantively.
Yes, Russia always interferes, which is commonplace and as far as I know not that effective.   

And yes, Trump egged them on, which is probably unique and typically odious behavior by an odious man.  These are trivial "grains of truth."

We know that the "Collusion" argument advanced by Schiff, the press, and many many others was much more than these trivialities.  The Clinton campaign did not fake then leak the Steele dossier to expose Russian bots.  The press did not run with breathless stories for over two year about the collusion investigation just because Trump asked Russia to send him Hillary's emails.   

The real time "Russian Collusion" lie was huge, pervasive, destructive, and false.  I can post hundreds of contemporaneous articles if desired.   Neither one of us likes Trump, but there is no doubt this political lie hamstrung his first term.  The perpetrators and the press were selling active treasonous collusion to throw an election.   It is outrageous historical revisionism to suggest that trivialities like Russian bots buying Facebook ads or Trump's stupid comments regarding the emails were what Trump's adversaries were talking about at the time.   Most of the truth is in the Mueller report.  I personally rank Russian collusion and the "stolen" 2020 election as the two most egregious and impactful political lies of at least the past decade.

April 17, 2025 04:49 PM Forum: Politics

A great question.....

Posted By James Brown

Originally Posted by James Lacey


I understand what you are saying. But Davis and MAGA will cling to their right-wing disinformation and conspiracies regardless of whatever counter-evidence or opinion anyone offers.

It's impressive that Hillary's emails still get traction given how egregious and awful Trump's handling of classified material was, and also given the recent Signal app screw up by Hegseth and Waltz. But, as we know, Rich and MAGA have a thousand reasons why it's OK that Trump illegally took, insecurely stored, showed off, and refused to return classified material for over a year after he left office. Whereas even though Clinton did not engage in systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information, it's somehow so much worse than what Trump did.
Clinton's home brew server was entirely systemic, deliberate, and a mishandling of classified information.   She was admittedly better at covering her tracks with Bleach bit, whereas Trump dug in and lost.  (I know this is an oldie, but goodie, point of disagreement between us James.  I only posted for old time's sake!  grin )

April 17, 2025 05:02 PM Forum: Politics

A great question.....

Posted By James Brown

Originally Posted by Russ Carroll


To be fair, nobody at the time knew that Trump was way too stupid and incompetent to execute anything resembling collusion.
Yes, but Clinton's inner circle knew the whole story was a lie, and they found compliant accomplices after the fact in the press and the agencies.

April 17, 2025 07:52 PM Forum: Politics

A great question.....

Posted By James Brown

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

I didn't see Clinton's campaign manager activerly colluding with a known Russian spy like Trump's manager did while providing him with campaign data, too...

"The U.S. intelligence community has developed new information about Konstantin Kilimnik, whom they call a Russian spy, that leads them to believe the associate of ex-Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort passed internal Trump campaign polling and strategy information to Russian intelligence services, two U.S. officials say."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/u-s-has-new-intel-manafort-friend-kilimnik-gave-trump-n1264371
Show me where Kilimnik actually affected the outcome of the election.   He did not.  Show me where the dossier is based in fact, it is not.  Read the Mueller report please.

April 17, 2025 07:54 PM Forum: Politics

A great question.....

Posted By James Brown

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

I didn't see Clinton's campaign manager activerly colluding with a known Russian spy like Trump's manager did while providing him with campaign data, too...

"The U.S. intelligence community has developed new information about Konstantin Kilimnik, whom they call a Russian spy, that leads them to believe the associate of ex-Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort passed internal Trump campaign polling and strategy information to Russian intelligence services, two U.S. officials say."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/u-s-has-new-intel-manafort-friend-kilimnik-gave-trump-n1264371
Clinton's campaign did of course actively engage discredited spies to fabricate the dossier in the first place.  Paid the discredited spooks with funds laundered through campaign attorneys.  Fraudulently booked the payments as legal expenses too.  Sound familiar?

April 17, 2025 09:11 PM Forum: Politics

A great question.....

Posted By James Brown

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

Here, educate yourself:

You channeling Rich, with the "I'm a dick" writing style?