The Right's Assault on Facts, Data, and Reality

[andydp]

In a related development, we find the main witness is "missing".  

'We can't track down the informant': James Comer says he lost top witness in Biden investigation

"Well, unfortunately, we can't track down the informant," Comer replied. "We're hopeful that the informant is still there. The whistleblower knows the informant. The whistleblower is very credible."

"Hold on a second, Congressman," Bartiromo said. "Did you just say that the whistleblower or the informant is now missing?"

"Well, we we're hopeful that we can find the informant," Comer said, explaining the informant was in the "spy business" and "they don't make a habit of being seen a lot."

"The nine of the ten people that we've identified that have very good knowledge with respect to the Bidens," he added, "they're one of three things, Maria, they're either currently in court, they're currently in jail, or they're currently missing."

www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/we-can-t-track-down-the-informant-james-comer-says-he-lost-top-witness-in-biden-investigation/ar-AA1baRqB?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=83e52825de36483898eb256ab91ced10&ei=6

[pnwguy]

May 14, 2023 18:09:59 GMT andydp said:

In a related development, we find the main witness is "missing".  

'We can't track down the informant': James Comer says he lost top witness in Biden investigation

"Well, unfortunately, we can't track down the informant," Comer replied. "We're hopeful that the informant is still there. The whistleblower knows the informant. The whistleblower is very credible."

"Hold on a second, Congressman," Bartiromo said. "Did you just say that the whistleblower or the informant is now missing?"

"Well, we we're hopeful that we can find the informant," Comer said, explaining the informant was in the "spy business" and "they don't make a habit of being seen a lot."

"The nine of the ten people that we've identified that have very good knowledge with respect to the Bidens," he added, "they're one of three things, Maria, they're either currently in court, they're currently in jail, or they're currently missing."

www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/we-can-t-track-down-the-informant-james-comer-says-he-lost-top-witness-in-biden-investigation/ar-AA1baRqB?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=83e52825de36483898eb256ab91ced10&ei=6

The Biden Crime Family had them both killed, don’t you know?

[indy]

So, I have not followed this at all because...well look who is pushing it.

Am I to understand this 'whistleblower' doesn't even have any first-hand knowledge of wrongdoing but is just reporting something some 'informant' told them? Jesus Christ, in any other circle that person isn't called a whistleblower...they are called a gossip.

And, could it be there isn't even an 'informant'? Just some person with an agenda and a story?

Comer is making Issa look like a genius.

ETA: Google tells me that, yes, this indeed seems to be the case. The whistleblower doesn't even know the informant apparently, just the existence of the FBI report. Congressional hearings are being held on shit crazy people tell the FBI. At least there is no chance Comer will run out of material.

[goldenvalley]

May 15, 2023 11:24:50 GMT indy said:

So, I have not followed this at all because...well look who is pushing it.

Am I to understand this 'whistleblower' doesn't even have any first-hand knowledge of wrongdoing but is just reporting something some 'informant' told them? Jesus Christ, in any other circle that person isn't called a whistleblower...they are called a gossip.

And, could it be there isn't even an 'informant'? Just some person with an agenda and a story?

Comer is making Issa look like a genius.

ETA: Google tells me that, yes, this indeed seems to be the case. The whistleblower doesn't even know the informant apparently, just the existence of the FBI report. Congressional hearings are being held on shit crazy people tell the FBI. At least there is no chance Comer will run out of material.

Well how can one create a conspiracy theory if one actually knows the facts and has witnesses to them? Conspiracy theories thrive on innuendo and teasing out meaning from unrelated incidents and statements plus plenty of imagination to tie the whole theory together.  Toss out a few sentences and then say well the informants are being held in a secret facility by the bad guys...get everyone to nod along because they're so smart they can see the whole conspiracy that stupid people can't see. 

[andydp]

May 15, 2023 11:24:50 GMT indy said:

So, I have not followed this at all because...well look who is pushing it.

Am I to understand this 'whistleblower' doesn't even have any first-hand knowledge of wrongdoing but is just reporting something some 'informant' told them? Jesus Christ, in any other circle that person isn't called a whistleblower...they are called a gossip.

And, could it be there isn't even an 'informant'? Just some person with an agenda and a story?

Comer is making Issa look like a genius.

ETA: Google tells me that, yes, this indeed seems to be the case. The whistleblower doesn't even know the informant apparently, just the existence of the FBI report. Congressional hearings are being held on shit crazy people tell the FBI. At least there is no chance Comer will run out of material.

I have noticed a lack of "information" coming out of my "loyal opposition" friends' posts. 

[indy]

It's hard to figure out from the right-wing noise machine if Biden is a senile old fool or a criminal mastermind. Both at the same time, I guess.

[goldenvalley]

May 16, 2023 15:08:52 GMT indy said:

It's hard to figure out from the right-wing noise machine if Biden is a senile old fool or a criminal mastermind. Both at the same time, I guess.

Yeah...like Obama was a jumped up dumb affirmative action recipient and an evil genius too.

[LFC]

Well lookie-lookie who defected to Russia.

Some statements don't age well.

[LFC]

They aren't even pretending anymore. Then:

Back in another lifetime, now-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy upset a bunch of his Republican colleagues when he just straight-up announced on Fox News that the Select Committee on Benghazi was making then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton look bad, and suggested that, hey, that was probably just the goal all along??? 🙃🙃

During an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity back in September 2015, McCarthy bragged that the panel’s work was harming Clinton’s standing in the polls. Clinton’s team seized on the remarks at the time as validation of what Democrats had long been saying — that House Republicans created the select committee as a platform for politically motivated attacks on Clinton and her presidential campaign, and that the events in Libya were simply a convenient opportunity.

Now:

That brings us to the current political moment in which Republicans are largely … doing the same thing: using their platforms as elected officials go after their political enemies — whether its Jim Jordan’s and James Comer’s “weaponization” committee in the House or Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) using their prominent committee seats in the Senate to “”””just asking questions””” their way toward pushing Hunter Biden-related conspiracy theories into the news cycle.

But in 2023, unlike in 2015, it’s no longer a faux pas to describe these investigations as entirely aimed at scoring political points. After all, at this point, who could be so naive as to believe otherwise?

Last month Rep. James Comer (R-KY) — chairman of the House Oversight Committee — revealed that House Republicans had somehow lost their big smoking gun, a key informant in their supposed investigation into President Biden. This came out around the same time that Johnson openly admitted on Fox News that he and Grassley don’t have any actual evidence of some dark web of corruption involving the Biden family; Americans would just have to figure out how to “infer” what is going on.

“You have to infer what’s happening here… you’re not gonna get necessarily hard proof but there’s such a huge body of evidence,” Johnson said.

And today we have Grassley, on Fox News admitting the same thing:

[LFC]

They ... are ... insane.

The Hillsborough County Republican Party has become the seventh local party in the state to pass a resolution calling COVID-19 and the COVID vaccine “biological and technological weapons” and the vaccine, and the vaccines’ use a “denial of informed consent” and “crimes against humanity.”

The resolution asks Gov. Ron DeSantis to ban the vaccines in Florida and seize all supplies of the vaccine in the state.

The resolution originated with Joseph Sansone, a Lee County psychotherapist who specializes in hypnosis, according to his website.

He said six previous county-level Republican executive committees — the organizations of precinct representatives that govern the local party chapters — have passed it: Collier, Lake, Lee, St. Johns, Santa Rosa and Seminole counties.

The Hillsborough executive committee passed it on a 70-44 vote Thursday night, said party chairperson Dana Galen. Among those voting no was Jim Davison, a doctor who just filed to run for a county commissioner seat.

[LFC]

This man is a disgrace to his years in uniform. This is the kind of shit fascists say to score points and undermine democracy, not what a person who loves American democracy would even think to utter.

Without skipping a beat, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) already has found a way to blame the government after a group of billionaires died on a highly risky trip to the Titanic wreck aboard a shoddy, experimental submersible. The vessel imploded as it made its two-hour descent to the wreck, officials said Thursday. Crenshaw described it as an “epic failure in leadership,” but wasn’t sure who to pin it on. “Is it the White House, Coast Guard, Navy? I’m not sure,” he told reporters on Thursday. A mothership took eight hours to raise the alarm after losing contact with the submersible, but Crenshaw still complained that the U.S. didn’t deploy resources quicker. “It begs the question: Could this have been resolved differently if leadership had just acted sooner and actually put options on the table instead of just assuming, well, it doesn’t matter because they’re dead?” he said on Fox News. Crenshaw questioned whether the Coast Guard assumed the group were dead when a Navy acoustic system detected implosion sounds on Sunday, rather that considering that the noise could’ve been “the sub just hitting the floor.”

Why do Republicans have the uncontrollable need to open their mouths immediately, exposing their ignorance, rather than actually trying to understand reality? Rhetorical question.

[jackd]

They aren't properly educated because they reject "critical reasoning" out of hand.

[indy]

Jun 23, 2023 18:07:42 GMT jackd said:

They aren't properly educated because they reject "critical reasoning" out of hand.

Harvard might disagree as Crenshaw has two degrees from them. He is much worse than poorly educated because he preys on the poorly educated.

Or was this snark? It's beyond my ability to tell these days.

[goldenvalley]

Jun 23, 2023 18:00:48 GMT LFC said:

This man is a disgrace to his years in uniform. This is the kind of shit fascists say to score points and undermine democracy, not what a person who loves American democracy would even think to utter.

Without skipping a beat, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) already has found a way to blame the government after a group of billionaires died on a highly risky trip to the Titanic wreck aboard a shoddy, experimental submersible. The vessel imploded as it made its two-hour descent to the wreck, officials said Thursday. Crenshaw described it as an “epic failure in leadership,” but wasn’t sure who to pin it on. “Is it the White House, Coast Guard, Navy? I’m not sure,” he told reporters on Thursday. A mothership took eight hours to raise the alarm after losing contact with the submersible, but Crenshaw still complained that the U.S. didn’t deploy resources quicker. “It begs the question: Could this have been resolved differently if leadership had just acted sooner and actually put options on the table instead of just assuming, well, it doesn’t matter because they’re dead?” he said on Fox News. Crenshaw questioned whether the Coast Guard assumed the group were dead when a Navy acoustic system detected implosion sounds on Sunday, rather that considering that the noise could’ve been “the sub just hitting the floor.”

Why do Republicans have the uncontrollable need to open their mouths immediately, exposing their ignorance, rather than actually trying to understand reality? Rhetorical question.

What about personal responsibility here?  I thought the government was supposed to not rescue people from their bad decisions...moral hazard and all that.

[pnwguy]

Jun 23, 2023 19:39:44 GMT goldenvalley said:

What about personal responsibility here?  I thought the government was supposed to not rescue people from their bad decisions...moral hazard and all that.

If the people to rescue are rich white Republicans that build luxury homes on beach land, then the government is supposed to subsidize their insurance and rebuild them after a hurricane.  Moral hazard is being born poor and black -- something completely their fault... 

[jackd]

Jun 23, 2023 19:13:25 GMT indy said:

Jun 23, 2023 18:07:42 GMT jackd said:

They aren't properly educated because they reject "critical reasoning" out of hand.

Harvard might disagree as Crenshaw has two degrees from them. He is much worse than poorly educated because he preys on the poorly educated.

Or was this snark? It's beyond my ability to tell these days.

Well, it was snark but it appears that Harvard, like other Ivy League schools, has much to answer for.

[indy]

It's more than a little curious to me why all these Ivy League educated GOP flamethrowers---some of the luckiest people alive and among the most invested in the current power structure---are so intent on destroying the very institutions which have greased the wheels of their lives. Did they also trash their parents homes with parties when the parents were gone for the weekend?

[jackd]

They favor those institutions for their social power through networking but want them to pitch a strong conservative line and reinforce the reality that money talks and "bullshit" walks, the bullshit being academic freedom and critical analysis of all sorts, not just race theory. In other words, they are social and cultural elitists of an American caste system.

[pnwguy]

Jun 23, 2023 21:48:36 GMT jackd said:

They favor those institutions for their social power through networking but want them to pitch a strong conservative line and reinforce the reality that money talks and "bullshit" walks, the bullshit being academic freedom and critical analysis of all sorts, not just race theory. In other words, they are social and cultural elitists of an American caste system.

GOP:  "Is there any other measure of human worth besides wealth?"

[LFC]

Another completely insane, partisan, reality challenged, out of control judge put on the bench by Trump and the Republicans in the Senate. He ruled that it is literally "unconstitutional" for the CDC to contact a social media company and just tell them that there is false and dangerous medical information posted on their platform. It's f***ing nuts.

As Trump-appointed judges vie to see who can produce the most nakedly partisan rulings completely divorced from precedent and case law, a new contender has thrown his hat in the ring.

U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty on Tuesday barred Biden administration officials — everyone from Heath and Human Services to the Centers for Disease Control to the FBI — from flagging posts that spread misinformation to social media companies. Doughty ruled that such contact is a violation of the First Amendment. The companies include Facebook/Meta, Twitter, YouTube/Google, Instagram and many more.

The judgment bans the named officials from meeting with the companies, flagging worrying content, emailing or calling the companies about content, following up with the companies or even collaborating with groups like the Election Integrity Partnership to identify troublesome posts.

“Although this case is still relatively young, and at this stage the Court is only examining it in terms of Plaintiffs’ likelihood of success on the merits, the evidence produced thus far depicts an almost dystopian scenario,” Doughty writes. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, a period perhaps best characterized by widespread doubt and uncertainty, the United States Government seems to have assumed a role similar to an Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth.'”

Like I said, f***ing insane.

[goldenvalley]

Jul 5, 2023 22:20:01 GMT LFC said:

Another completely insane, partisan, reality challenged, out of control judge put on the bench by Trump and the Republicans in the Senate. He ruled that it is literally "unconstitutional" for the CDC to contact a social media company and just tell them that there is false and dangerous medical information posted on their platform. It's f***ing nuts.

As Trump-appointed judges vie to see who can produce the most nakedly partisan rulings completely divorced from precedent and case law, a new contender has thrown his hat in the ring.

U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty on Tuesday barred Biden administration officials — everyone from Heath and Human Services to the Centers for Disease Control to the FBI — from flagging posts that spread misinformation to social media companies. Doughty ruled that such contact is a violation of the First Amendment. The companies include Facebook/Meta, Twitter, YouTube/Google, Instagram and many more.

The judgment bans the named officials from meeting with the companies, flagging worrying content, emailing or calling the companies about content, following up with the companies or even collaborating with groups like the Election Integrity Partnership to identify troublesome posts.

“Although this case is still relatively young, and at this stage the Court is only examining it in terms of Plaintiffs’ likelihood of success on the merits, the evidence produced thus far depicts an almost dystopian scenario,” Doughty writes. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, a period perhaps best characterized by widespread doubt and uncertainty, the United States Government seems to have assumed a role similar to an Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth.'”

Like I said, f***ing insane.

The CDC is merely an arm of government and so has no way to stop the spread of mis and disinformation on a public media site about a pandemic that was infecting millions?  What agency or entity in society has the authority to say Ivermectin is not a cure for Covid?  This Court operates in a medieval mind set...just let the disease take its course.

[LFC]

Qevin wants to expunge Trump's record of having been impeached twice. Does the House even have the power to do that? Would it actually mean a thing since he was, without a shadow of a doubt, impeached twice and protected by Republicans both times? History's a bitch, Qevin, and you're part as ass kissing sycophant is now set in stone.

After House Speaker Kevin McCarthy suggested on national television last month that Donald Trump may not be the GOP’s best presidential nominee in 2024, the former president was furious — and wanted the California Republican to rectify the slight immediately.

“He needs to endorse me — today!” Trump fumed to his staff on his way to a campaign event in New Hampshire, according to people familiar with what happened. McCarthy, after all, had indicated to Trump’s team that he would do so eventually. Why not clean up the mess and announce his support now?

But the House GOP leader — who has felt compelled to stay neutral during the primary so as to not box in his own members — wasn’t ready to do that. To calm Trump, McCarthy made him a promise, according to a source close to Trump and familiar with the conversation: The House would vote to expunge the two impeachments against the former president. And — as McCarthy would communicate through aides later that same day — they would do so before August recess.

That vow — made reflexively to save his own skin — may have bought McCarthy some time, staving off a public war with the man who almost single-handedly rehabilitated his entire career and ensured he won the gavel in January. But it has also put McCarthy in a bind — and Trump world plans to hold him to his promise.

[goldenvalley]

My favorite California county, Shasta County, where there is an attempt to make all ballots be counted by hand, has done it again...twice. 

In the field of public health 

After firing their last county health officer over a year ago and offering the job to multiple people, Shasta County has finally placed someone in the position: a local family doctor who has little experience in public health and who helped spread disinformation about the coronavirus and COVID vaccines. The Shasta County Board of Supervisors voted last Tuesday, 3-2, to hire Dr. James Mu at an annual salary of more than $222,000. The position has been vacant since the supervisors voted to terminate their previous health officer, Karen Ramstrom, who was fired without cause more than a year ago.

****
Mu, a family physician based in Redding, is best known in the area as one of 12 doctors who signed a 10-point open letter last year that was heavy on alt-right COVID talking points and short on well, you know, actual science.

From what I understand this guy is a bit mild, saying only that the Covid vaccine should be used for those who have compromised immune systems.  Mild compared to what others say.  

And then there is the Mosquito Control Vector, an important office in CA because of encephalitis that is spread by mosquitos. They hired this guy to run it:

“I know a lot about this stuff. I know a lot about some of these Bill Gates programs. This is not a conspiracy, this is a fact. There’s Japanese scientists who have created flying syringes that will mass-vaccinate populations,” Knight told the Shasta supervisors in his remarks to the board at his confirmation vote. “We live in an interesting sci-fi time. With my understanding of what’s going on with mosquitoes and my knowledge of pesticides, I think I could do a pretty darn good job.”

This is an editorial and it calls for the state to somehow step in. I'm not sure there is a mechanism for that and even if there were it would be a mistake to use it.  I truly think there would be armed conflict resulting for such a move.
www.sacbee.com/opinion/article280802850.html#storylink=cpy

[jackd]

Sometimes ya gotta just let stupid people be stupid.

[pnwguy]

Oct 25, 2023 20:34:03 GMT jackd said:

Sometimes ya gotta just let stupid people be stupid.

Yes but sometimes stupid people also have 10 AR-15s and 3000 rounds of ammo. Stupid people can damage the innocent when left to stew in their stupidity too long without boundaries