Free Speech, Politics, Society

Twitter Refuses To Delete Trump Tweets But Apologizes To Widower Of Lori Klausutis

download-3Twitter has (correctly) declined demands from various people to delete the tweets of President Donald Trump pushing the conspiracy theory that MSNBC host Joe Scarborough murdered a young intern, Lori Klausutis.  I have repeatedly denounced the use of this tragedy as reprehensible given what the family has gone through.  I have received many emails from people who defend Trump’s tweets and advance this claim.  I am not convinced for all of the reasons that I have stated previously. I view this conspiracy theory as analogous to the one involving with Rep. Gary Condit and the death of intern Chandra Levy.  In that case, Condit actually had an affair with Levy but I was highly critical from the outset of the overwhelming presumption of guilt based on nothing but sensational and scurrilous rumor. It is not enough to say that “some people believe this might be true” to justify such tweets.  Seven percent of Americans believe chocolate milk comes from brown cows, but we do not investigate the claim.

The family of Lori Klausutis is obviously not trying to shield Scarborough and would be the first to pursue any credible allegation of foul play.  They do not believe this conspiracy theory and have been reportedly traumatized by the continued use of the death for political purposes.

While I still oppose censorship on free speech grounds, it is important to remind people that this malicious attack on a political critic is not without costs for people like this family.  Political passions often ignore such costs. That was brought home by a letter from her widower Timothy Klausutis. Klausutis wrote a letter last week to Twitter’s chief executive, Jack Dorsey to delete the tweets because “My wife deserves better.”

He stated “I’m asking you to intervene in this instance because the president of the United States has taken something that does not belong to him — the memory of my dead wife — and perverted it for perceived political gain.” (Here is the letter in full)

For those of us who oppose censorship (private or public), these controversies are difficult because of the great empathy for family members who clearly still grieve the loss of their child.  Twitter apologized yesterday but declined to delete the tweets.  That was the correct thing to do. As discussed in a column today, however, Twitter proceeded to then post the first warning on another series of Trump tweets.  That was the wrong thing to do.

 

95 thoughts on “Twitter Refuses To Delete Trump Tweets But Apologizes To Widower Of Lori Klausutis”

  1. “I have denounced” — Mr. Turkey does more virtue signalling in these blog posts than is tasteful or required.
    Stop fitting-sitting, pick a side.

  2. Only “the liberal press” is allowed to be conspiracy theorists, for years on end, and accuse the First Family of being assets of Russia and President Trump a direct puppet of Putin. A treasonous executable offense, life threatening, no doubt about it.
    Years of it. Daily coverage.
    Laughing out loud.
    The hypocrisy is mind bending in it’s breadth.
    A few tweets vs day and night, for years.

    Let’s not forget that same liberal press was swimming in it, enjoying every second as they pushed and pushed rumors and mysteries surrounding the death in the office of a Republican at the time.

    The police covered up, the examiner, the local press whined it was like pulling teeth to get just basic information, later to find they had been lied to by the authorities.

    “In a story published by the Daily News on Sunday, July 22, 2001, Berkland said he was awaiting the results of blood tests and would release the cause of Klausutis’ death the following Wednesday.

    But then Berkland dropped out of sight. His staff said on the day he was to release information that he was out of town at a conference. After that, Berkland stopped returning phone calls for several days. His disappearance left not just the newspaper and the public, but the Fort Walton Beach Police Department wondering what was going on.

    Berkland emerged again on Friday, July 27, to say the autopsy he’d conducted the week before and the blood tests he’d received afterward did not provide him a conclusive cause of death.

    “This turns over several puzzle pieces in the case of her death and reveals more of the picture,” the associate medical examiner was quoted as saying, “but it still does not reveal the entire scenario.”

    Berkland repeated that he still saw no evidence of foul play and said his next step toward determining the cause of Klausutis’ death would be to examine and run tests on tissue samples under a microscope.

    A new wrinkle was added to the investigation when Berkland made it known that Klausutis had been involved in a serious traffic accident as a teenager, a factor he said might or might not have played a role in her death.

    Nine days later, on Aug. 6, Berkland issued a detailed news release, apparently in lieu of an autopsy report, in which he stated that after 80 hours of research he’d determined a blood clot caused by a fall had ultimately killed Klausutis.

    It was at this time, for the first time, that he indicated a “scratch and a bruise” had been found on Klausutis’ skull.

    Berkland said he had discovered that Klausutis was suffering from a previously undiagnosed heart condition — cardiac arrhythmia, or abnormal heart rhythms. He theorized that her “valvular condition” prevented oxygenized blood from reaching her brain, halting her heart, stopping her breathing and causing her to pass out.

    He said Klausutis likely would have died even if she hadn’t hit her head on the office desk as she fell unconscious to the floor.

    While Berkland’s news release was obviously the last word local officials wanted to have on the Klausutis case, his previously unspoken reference to a scratch and bruise prompted, as the Daily News editorialized, “many rumors and much speculation.”

    https://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/20171211/trump-tweet-dredges-up-conspiracy-theories-about-joe-scarborough-aide

    The entire liberal press dug and speculated and found no answers for many months. They finally just gave up.

    If some person who claims to be utterly destroyed by the news wouldn’t turn on the news and sit there staring at the screen and crying it couldn’t possibly hurt them, could it ? How is it that everything the liberal MSM wants censored (now, instead of before when Scarborough was seen only as a Republican to be attacked) gets that status because someone’s feeling get hurt ? I’ll tell you why. They’re keeping a big secret. They just can’t stop themselves from driving to the home of the “aggrieved” and camping out. They ring their phone relentlessly, begging for a reaction to their new news story. They show up at their place of work and ask coworkers if they have “heard anything from the ‘aggrieved’, they are just DYING for a statement.
    Then they get online, on TV, on the internet, and deliver their “The aggrieved is very injured, again, because that jerk we hate so much, Orange man, dredged this up out of the grave ! AND, here is what the teary, forlorn, beaten down into depression and anger person who was dragged through the mud again said ! ” ___ ___ __ ” ( that’s the quote they got running around, dialing, digging, harassing, and making certain they’ve done everything to disturb the ‘poor victim’ and get their response on the record.)
    They might even slip in “so and so called us in a new found depression on the weekend to give his view” , never noting their weeks of expenditures going to any length to contact the person and explain the news story they hadn’t seen nor heard of yet was very damaging to them.

    There’s how it actually works. Now put your crying caps on for the victim and use some of that stocked up crisis tissue.

  3. Twitter is going to scold Trump and label his posts, but the running dogs of the CCP like this guy get top biling at Twitter!~

    https://twitter.com/HuXijin_GT

    all of you CCP fanboys here who needle Trump every day can sign up for the feed from your CCP media master! Here’s your future boss, in case you didn’t know it already

  5. “isn’t Presidential,”: You mistake a Citizen of the USA for the king of what and when we vote in a Constitutionalist you expect a toadie of the left? No wonder you are known as the Stupid Party. Twitter is how we get the socialist left to expose themselves and in doing so prove they are fit only to be called the Stupid Party. Not one citizen in the bunch

    I am overjoyed at the ease that Citizen Trump sets these little ambushes and how easily we prove again and again that stupid is cured only by emigration or a funeral.

  6. Mr. Turley writes “While I still oppose censorship on free speech grounds …,” but I know for a fact that he removed an offensive comment here that attacked him and his wife (I know this because I emailed him about that comment, in case he wanted to remove it; I included a link to it, and it was subsequently deleted). IIRR, that comment also included a strange conspiracy theory.

    So he doesn’t oppose all censorship of hurtful comments with conspiracy theories. Apparently he has double standards.

    1. He wasn’t elected to fit your vision but to uphold the Consititution. our constitutinal Republic and run the foreign ideologists who rejected the USA giving loyalty to a dead system formerly known as the CCCP.

      1. LOL. My comment was about Turley. He’s not an elected official in the first place.

  7. “Seven percent of Americans believe chocolate milk comes from brown cows,”
    *********************
    Damn fools! We all know they come from chocolate cows.

    1. mespo – I quit drinking chocolate milk when I found out where it really came from.

        1. mespo – my hometown would have an annual gathering of adult males to eat Rocky Mountain oysters, It was a big deal to get an invite. You usually had to be in your mid 30s to qualify. I do know my father went every year he was invited. 😉

        2. Three kinds. The sheep kind, the pig kind and the calf kind. I like cooked over the fire with salt, pepper and vinegar. just a touch. Something we learned in FFA.

  9. Hellvis, it is true, you have TDS and it makes your postings sound awkward.

      1. Ahhh the Seig Heilers come out with the Truth of The Day for The Collective. Thinking Not Allowed.

      2. The Trumpy Bear you cherish was for a child not you but I could be wrong because you sound as if you are going through you second childhood after losing a lot of IQ points.

        1. Your response makes no sense. It tries to. But it lacks, um, sanity.

          1. I guess your inability to respond sensibly means you lost more IQ points than I imagined.

      1. “And you.”

        What a Brilliant response from Hellvis. The Trumpy Bear must have provided Hellvis with the answer.

          1. That is why you have Trumpy Bear. You need something to be king of. I am happy that you are satisfied so easily. Now put your pacifier in your mouth and go to sleep.

  11. On the Don Imus Show, Scarborough said he had the affair with Lori Klausutis and had her killed. Scarborough has been claiming the President is killing people by taking the drugs he is taking.

    I find it odd that the widower and the wife of Scarborough are coming out to defend him.

      1. No, he turned in his resignation in May 2001, two months before she died. A special election was held in October to replace him. He was a lame duck at the time of her death.

    3. What? No. She worked in his district office, not his Washington office. The district has two population centers, the main one being Pensacola and the secondary center being Fort Walton Beach about 40 miles away. She worked in the satellite office in Fort Walton Beach. He has said he only met her 3 or 4 times (which is plausible).

      1. DSS – Scarborough made the comments on the Imus show in 2003.

          1. DSS – so it is alright for Scarborough to make “jokes” but it is it is alright for Scarborough to claim the President has killed 100k people and will kill more.

            1. No, it was tasteless. The question at hand, though, is not Scarborough’s character, it’s whether or not he was banging Lori Klausutis and whether or not he killed her. Scarborough’s on his 3d marriage and his current wife is not only a co-worker, she was married with children, so, no, he isn’t scrupulous. He was in Washington when she died, so, no he didn’t kill her. No one has come forward and said they knew of an affair, AFAIK.

              While we’re at it, the woman wasn’t an intern. She was a regular employee who’d worked in the office for about two years while she worked on an MBA. Her husband grew up locally and she evidently met him when he was in graduate school in Atlanta and they settled around Fort Walton Beach when he found work there. He’s some sort of researcher at the local AFB.

              1. DSS – I think it is strange that Joe is hiding behind the skirts of Mika.

                2. Mika has the look in her eye, of a woman who likes backdoor intrusions and double entry accounting.

                  Don Imus would appreciate this remark

                  2. Mr Kurtz – are you saying that Mika is like a record, you play both sides?

                    1. She has the look of a trashy woman who enjoys excess drink and so her sensations are dulled. She needs a large stimulus check to be deposited in her mailbox.
                      One way of making the gift seem bigger, is select the smaller container.
                      She knows this, i can see it in her eyes.

                    2. Typical GOP comments these days. No wonder they like Trump.

                      BTW, why do I get the feeling none of these guys have been laid in a very long time?

                    3. Anon – I am repeating a comment I heard from an Israeli about Turks and their wives, from a Model UN when I was a freshman in college.

      2. Or it could be 25+ times, just like the true number of flights on Epstein’s lolita express vs the claimed by slick willie clintoon.

    4. “On the Don Imus Show, Scarborough said he had the affair with Lori Klausutis and had her killed. ”

      Don’t lie.

      **Imus** said that, not Scarborough, and Imus said it as a joke. Your own link provides the video, showing that Imus is the one who said it as a joke.

      All of this lying harms the country. If you care about the country, don’t lie.

      1. “All of this lying harms the country. If you care about the country, don’t lie.”
        ********************
        From your mouth to Nabob Nancy, Gangster Gavin, Shifty Schiff, Donna “Tells Some” Brazile, Mad Maxine, Just funin’ Gretchen and countless other Dims’ ears.

          1. And he also seems OK with Republicans lying, since he doesn’t include any in his list of people he wants to stop lying.

            I’d like all politicians (Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Libertarians, …) to stop lying. I’d also like people to stop lying in their comments here.

            1. “And he also seems OK with Republicans lying, since he doesn’t include any in his list of people he wants to stop lying.”
              *******************
              I always gravitate to the target rich environment first and then to the margins.

            2. How about the Chicoms? When do they stop lying?

              Oh wait, it’s part of their tool book to lie, and to use American social media to spread their lies

              they’ve also infiltrated Twitter at the top and their Chinese agent “AI expert” is busy deleting PRC dissident accounts

              https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3940206

              TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A White House petition was created last week after news broke that the Twitter accounts of Chinese dissidents started to disappear after a controversial Chinese-American artificial intelligence (AI) expert was hired to serve on the company’s board.

              On May 11, Twitter announced in a press release that it was hiring Li Fei-Fei (李飛飛), an AI expert and former vice president of Google, to its board of directors as a “new independent director” with immediate effect. Li quit Google in 2018 after a trail of leaked internal emails revealed that she appeared to be more concerned about the public relations damage to Google’s image if news broke about the company’s work on Project Maven than the ethical issues raised by over 3,000 Google employees.

              Project Maven is a U.S. Department of Defense AI project that seeks to use the technology to help military drones select targets from video footage.

              During her tenure at Google, there is no public record of Li objecting to the controversial Project Dragonfly, which was meant to be a search engine that would suit China’s censorship rules, as she opened an AI research facility in Beijing.

              When she took the helm of Google’s new AI center in Beijing, Li was quoted in Chinese media as using the CCP slogan “stay true to our founding mission” and said that “China has awakened.” In addition, Li allegedly has ties to a student association that is affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) United Front, according to Radio Free Asia.

                1. Xi is not running in the American elections.

                  He is just trying to influence them

                  Your country is at war with his. Which side will you take?

                  He’s doing the influence a thousand ways, not the least of which is by his wumao army that are allowed free reign on Twitter even while twitter deletes PRC dissident accounts

                  https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3940206

                  as for the Sars-Cov-2 virus, its genesis is still a mystery. Because Xi has locked that all down. Why?

                  was it naturally emergent, accidental lab release of gain of function frankestein modified rona, or was it– deliberate release of dual purpose research formulated bioweapon?

                  the story that it was naturally emergent is dubious. Here, don’t take my word for it, I am a nobody. how about a Nobel Prize winning virologist?

                  https://www.pourquoidocteur.fr/ Articles/Question-d-actu/32184-EXCLUSIF-Pour-Pr-Montagnier-SARS-CoV-2-serait-virus-manipule-Chinois-l-ADN-de-VIH-podcast

                  1. Kurtz is following his marching orders of distracting from his leaders failures as the US leader, The same guy Trump was going down on in public as recently as March is now our enemy in war.

                    “Jan. 22, Twitter:

                    “One of the many great things about our just signed giant Trade Deal with China is that it will bring both the USA & China closer together in so many other ways. Terrific working with President Xi, a man who truly loves his country. Much more to come!”

                    Jan. 24, Twitter:

                    “China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!”

                    Jan. 29, Remarks at signing ceremony for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement:

                    “And, honestly, I think, as tough as this negotiation was, I think our relationship with China now might be the best it’s been in a long, long time. And now it’s reciprocal. Before, we were being ripped off badly. Now we have a reciprocal relationship, maybe even better than reciprocal for us.”

                    Jan. 30, Fox News interview:

                    “China is not in great shape right now, unfortunately. But they’re working very hard. We’ll see what happens. But we’re working very closely with China and other countries.”

                    Feb. 7, Remarks at North Carolina Opportunity Now Summit in Charlotte, N.C.:

                    “I just spoke to President Xi last night, and, you know, we’re working on the — the problem, the virus. It’s a — it’s a very tough situation. But I think he’s going to handle it. I think he’s handled it really well. We’re helping wherever we can.”

                    Feb. 7, Twitter:

                    “Just had a long and very good conversation by phone with President Xi of China. He is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the Coronavirus. He feels they are doing very well, even building hospitals in a matter of only days … Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!

                    Feb. 7, Remarks before Marine One departure:

                    “Late last night, I had a very good talk with President Xi, and we talked about — mostly about the coronavirus. They’re working really hard, and I think they are doing a very professional job. They’re in touch with World — the World — World Organization. CDC also. We’re working together. But World Health is working with them. CDC is working with them. I had a great conversation last night with President Xi. It’s a tough situation. I think they’re doing a very good job.”

                    Feb. 10, Fox Business interview:

                    “I think China is very, you know, professionally run in the sense that they have everything under control,” Trump said. “I really believe they are going to have it under control fairly soon. You know in April, supposedly, it dies with the hotter weather. And that’s a beautiful date to look forward to. But China I can tell you is working very hard.”

                    Feb. 10, campaign rally in Manchester, N.H.:

                    “I spoke with President Xi, and they’re working very, very hard. And I think it’s all going to work out fine.”

                    Feb. 13, Fox News interview:

                    “I think they’ve handled it professionally and I think they’re extremely capable and I think President Xi is extremely capable and I hope that it’s going to be resolved.”

                    Feb. 18, remarks before Air Force One departure:

                    “I think President Xi is working very hard. As you know, I spoke with him recently. He’s working really hard. It’s a tough problem. I think he’s going to do — look, I’ve seen them build hospitals in a short period of time. I really believe he wants to get that done, and he wants to get it done fast. Yes, I think he’s doing it very professionally.”

                    “I spoke with President Xi, and they’re working very, very hard. And I think it’s all going to work out fine.”

                    Feb. 13, Fox News interview:

                    “I think they’ve handled it professionally and I think they’re extremely capable and I think President Xi is extremely capable and I hope that it’s going to be resolved.”

                    Feb. 18, remarks before Air Force One departure:

                    “I think President Xi is working very hard. As you know, I spoke with him recently. He’s working really hard. It’s a tough problem. I think he’s going to do — look, I’ve seen them build hospitals in a short period of time. I really believe he wants to get that done, and he wants to get it done fast. Yes, I think he’s doing it very professionally.”

                    Feb. 23, remarks before Marine One departure:

                    “I think President Xi is working very, very hard. I spoke to him. He’s working very hard. I think he’s doing a very good job. It’s a big problem. But President Xi loves his country. He’s working very hard to solve the problem, and he will solve the problem. OK?”

                    Feb. 26, remarks at a business roundtable in New Delhi, India:

                    “China is working very, very hard. I have spoken to President Xi, and they’re working very hard. And if you know anything about him, I think he’ll be in pretty good shape. They’re — they’ve had a rough patch, and I think right now they have it — it looks like they’re getting it under control more and more. They’re getting it more and more under control.”

                    Feb. 27, Coronavirus Task Force press conference:

                    “I spoke with President Xi. We had a great talk. He’s working very hard, I have to say. He’s working very, very hard. And if you can count on the reports coming out of China, that spread has gone down quite a bit. The infection seems to have gone down over the last two days. As opposed to getting larger, it’s actually gotten smaller.”

                    Feb. 29, Coronavirus Task Force press conference:

                    “China seems to be making tremendous progress. Their numbers are way down. … I think our relationship with China is very good. We just did a big trade deal. We’re starting on another trade deal with China — a very big one. And we’ve been working very closely. They’ve been talking to our people, we’ve been talking to their people, having to do with the virus.”

                    Here’s Trump lying about the virus (6 minutes of it):

                    https://twitter.com/funder/status/1258742453441617920

            3. I’d also like people to stop lying in their comments here.

              Your actions don’t prove that to be true. Come to think of it, why would anyone feel compelled to make their ID CommitToHonestDiscussion? It reminds me of Susan Rice’s Inauguration Day email to herself stating:

              President Obama began the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the Intelligence and law enforcement communities ‘by the book’.

              Or perhaps when LTJG Kaffee asked Col. Jessup, You made it clear just a moment ago that your men never take matters into their own hands. Your men follow orders or people die. So Santiago shouldn’t have been in any danger at all, should he have, Colonel?

              Aren’t you committed to an honest discussion without that as your name? Wasn’t Obama and his IC/FBI already committed to doing things by the book? Were Col. Jessup’s orders always followed?

              You’re no more committed to an honest discussion than every other anti-Trumper on this blog. That is proven every day by your neglect at holding them accountable for untruths. What is truly pathetic about you is, they are at least not pretending to be something they are not.

              1. Me: “I’d also like people to stop lying in their comments here.”
                You: “Your actions don’t prove that to be true.”

                Sure they do: I don’t lie, and if I say something false by mistake, I correct it as soon as I realize the mistake. There’s even an example of me doing that in this very thread: I mistakenly said to Paul “Your own link provides the video” and when he correctly responded ““BTW, I didn’t link anything,” I went back and checked and then responded “My mistake. This is absurd x XXii — not you — is the one who linked to it. Thanks for correcting me.”

                If you think I’ve ever posted something false (much less posted a lie), just quote what you’re referring to and evidence that it’s false, and if you’re correct that it’s false (rather than, say, it being a situation where you’re misinterpreting the evidence), I’ll gladly correct my mistake, just like I did here with Paul.

                On the other hand, if you’re suggesting that me not wanting people to lie somehow makes me responsible for correcting *other people’s* false claims, the problem is that you’ve inferred something that my statement doesn’t actually imply.

                “Aren’t you committed to an honest discussion without that as your name?”

                I’m committed to it regardless of my name. Again:
                If you think I’ve ever posted something false (much less posted a lie), just quote what you’re referring to and evidence that it’s false, and if you’re correct that it’s false (rather than, say, it being a situation where you’re misinterpreting the evidence), I’ll gladly correct my mistake, just like I did here with Paul. I was wrong to say that Paul posted a link to that video; he didn’t, and I have no problem owning that mistake.

                1. I have witnessed commit admitting an error and correcting it, something no one here ever does, I suppose based on the similarly low self esteem and weakness Trump demonstrates in his inability as well.

                  By the way, I have admitted error here and stated that mespo and karen were correct and I was wrong, when that was obviously true in discussions we were engaged in. Neither has ever demonstrated similar honesty or strength and that seems typical. I don’t get it. What the point in playing if you cheat, you know it, and everyone observing with a brain knows it??

            4. ” I’d also like people to stop lying in their comments here.”

              Take your own advice.

          2. Smellvis:
            “Mess exhibits evidence he watches fox news all day.
            ******************
            No, unlike the Dims, I work in the private sector for a living.

      2. Committ – how do you know Imus said it as a joke. BTW, I didn’t link anything.

        Let me give you a scenario. You have been having a long-standing affair with your secretary. You get home and you wife accuses you of the affair or of an affair. You respond “Yes, of course, I have been bonking all the women in the office.” That sounds flippant, but it is a half-lie. You are bonking at least one of the women in the office, but it does get your wife off the scent for awhile.

        1. “BTW, I didn’t link anything.”

          My mistake. This is absurd x XXii — not you — is the one who linked to it. Thanks for correcting me.

          “how do you know Imus said it as a joke.”

          You can listen to it for yourself at TIA’s link and judge that for yourself. Immediately before Imus makes the comment, he says “Don’t be afraid to be funny.” But even if Imus didn’t say it as a joke, Imus is still the one who said it, not Scarborough.

          1. Committ – it is not what Imus said but Scarborough’s reponses.

            1. You literally claimed “Scarborough said he had the affair with Lori Klausutis and had her killed.”

              Scarborough didn’t say that. Imus said it. So just own your mistake, like I owned mine in wrongly claiming that you’d posted a link to it. We all make mistakes, but honest people own up to them. Will you do that?

              And what do you think Scarborough should have said in response to Imus’s joke? How would you have wanted Scarborough to respond to what *Imus* said?

              1. Committ – if it makes you feel better Imus asked questions, Scarborough answered in the affirmative. My bad or my half bad.

                Scarborough should have said that this is no laughing matter. A great colleague of mine died accidentally and there is nothing we can do to bring her back. She was a great asset to my offic.

                1. I’m sorry to hear about your colleague.

                  Thank you for correcting your mistake. Most people here don’t do that.

                  Re: “Scarborough should have said that this is no laughing matter,” that’s certainly one way he could have responded.

                  My guess is that he didn’t because (a) Imus never mentioned Klausutis’s name (at least, not in the clip that TIA linked to, which is all I have to go on), and since the interview was 2 years after she died, it’s not even clear that Imus was specifically referring to Klausutis rather than making a general joke about an invented intern, much less clear that Scarborough would take it as a reference to Klausutis rather than an invented intern, and (b) the nature of Imus’s show, which isn’t serious.

              2. “So just own your mistake, like I owned mine ”

                You don’t. You only pretend that you do.

        2. She wasn’t his secretary. She was an aide who worked in his satellite district office. Her and one other woman in an office about 40 miles from his main district office. There was no ‘longstanding’ association between the two. She’d worked there for about two years. Coincidentally, she was hired about a month after the divorce decree was issued in re his first marriage. He married his second wife in Oct. 2001, shortly after Mrs. Klausutis died.

          1. DSS – as I said before, I watch a lot of Forensic Files. Now with this new information, I am looking at wife number two.

    5. I find it odd that the widower and the wife of Scarborough are coming out to defend him.

      What’s curious is that she was found by a pair of constituents who had an appointment with her. She had an office mate and a husband. The newspaper stories of the time were not clear on where they’d been other than friends of Mrs. Klausutis saying they thought her office mate had been on vacation. I think it was concluded that she had died the previous afternoon, so where these two had been would be of interest. The police said there was not sign of a struggle in the office. She did have a history of seizures, but not so bad that she was on any medication.

  12. Social media is corrupt. In this case the media is acting as a platform which is the way they are supposed to act. In other cases they are attempting to censor the President and others that might agree with him. That is quite common.

    YouTube does the same thing. In fact this article from yesterday demonstrates social media can not be trusted. They even side with America’s enemies.

    “YouTube is deleting comments with two phrases that insult China’s Communist Party These Chinese language phrases are removed within seconds.

    YouTube is automatically deleting comments that contain certain Chinese-language phrases related to criticism of the country’s ruling Communist Party (CCP).”…

    https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/26/21270290/youtube-deleting-comments-censorship-chinese-communist-party-ccp

      1. What a bad joke. Trump has laid down to Pres Xi as recently as March, has taken apart any common front against Chinese economic hegemony by the west and by the region through the TPP. The only thing Trump has been interested in is tariffs and he’s played that hand weakly and stupidly. He’ll take flattery as it’s own reward.

        Our balance of trade with China averaged -$356 billion in Obama’s last 3 years and -$380 billion with Trump’s 1st 3 years.

        https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html

        Kurtz may believe this HS, but that’s his problem.

        1. You’re a partisan cheerleader for the Democrat national leadership who has never praised Trump one time. It’s clear that whatever the specific merits of any particular post you make, however reasonable they may seem piece by piece, the overall arc is to ceaselessly attack Donald J Trump no matter what the issues of the day.

          This is the same attitude that ignores the whole trajectory of how American heavy industry and labor was betrayed by Wall Street financialization over many decades since Deng Xiaoping opened the CCP’s slave factories up to do business for Western companies intent only on quarter by quarter profits via endless offshoring and outsourcing the China. No labor unions there, no environmental protection, and the workers get what they get and wont throw a fit. How could American national interests be betrayed for so long with so little of a complaint in public?

          Well that goes back to corporate control of mass media megaphones. Which is what this twitter beef is all about.

          No, Trump is the first president to meet this reality squarely.

          But give some credit: Obama did give the matter some attention, arguably through the TPP, also the strategic pivot to asia idea, and his historic symbolic victory of returning a US Navy ship to Cam Ran Bay. No, this issue is bigger than partisan interests, and whomever the next president will be, had better attend to the matter seriously.

          By reference to the trade numbers as you did, you point to a tree but I point to the forest

          Now go back to apologizing for the running dogs of the CCP like Twitter

          https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3940206

          1. The only serious thing Kurtz wrote: “whomever the next president will be, had better attend to the matter seriously..”

            Indeed. It’s been 3 1/2 years, and with a completely unserious president in that time, that goes for almost all matters.

  13. Since the first day that Trump won the election, and even before that, there has not been one single day that has gone by on that ‘Crapfest’ of a show where Trump isn’t being called every name in the book. Including all of Democrats favorite identity politics names, all the ‘ism’s, ist’s and phobias’. Scarborough ought be on his hands and knees thanking God that Columbo wasn’t on the case way back then!

  14. Cogent facts surrounding this incident:

    1. Our President is a pig.
    2. Twitter is a privately owned company and can do what it wants. The 1st amendment covers actions by the government only.
    3. Defamation is not free speech.
    4. JT should know 1-3.

    1. #2. Privately owned companies do not sale parts of itself on the open market, that is against the law. For someone who says Dr. Turley should know something, you seem to be the one that’s willfully ignorant. Private =/= Publicly Traded.
      As for #1, that’s opinion, not fact. And stop bad mouthing pigs. They will be our leaders one day!
      #3. Involves opinion too. There are no hard and fast rules, or laws about what constitutes Defamation. You must get others to agree with your opinion in a court of law.
      You ain’t too bright are you? But judging by comment #1, you are definitely a #Hater.

      1. Orwell, It is a fact that Trump is a pig.

        The 1st amendment applies to government restrictions on free speech. Twitter and JT’s blog can censor away without it being a 1st amendment issue. Perhaps you remember the right getting rid of the “fairness doctrine” for radio and TV stations in the ’80s, which is how we have AH like Limbaugh on non-stop 24/7 on airways. At least in that instance we were talking about public airwaves as utility like and owned by the “people”, not the company that owned them. The internet is not a limited resource and that much more stringent standard – and thanks to Reagan and friends – is now no longer required to provide a public forum. Educate yourself.

        A specific and provably false accusation is defamation. An accusation about the results of policy choices is not.

    2. The only cogent fact worth noting is this blog’s archives prove you have never been associated with the terms cogent or fact in the Trump era.

    3. I agree with you that Twitter is a private company and 1st Am shouldn’t apply, But the fed crt has raised prblms when it ruled that Trump cannot block other users from his account even though Twitters terms of use allows any user to block another. Crt however ruled that Trump cannot block anyone bc it violates the 1st Am rights of critics who want to follow him. I suggested to Twitter to intervene as a party in the law suit and argue against the plaintiff who made 1st Am claims, bc Twitter does not want to be deemed as a public forum where free speech applies which could eventually lead to Twitter losing control of its platform. Twitter did not intervene in the case. I think Twitter will now have legal issues arise if they take down Trump’s Tweets since a court ruled that 1st Am (at least partially) applies to Trump tweets. To my knowledge that ruling was not overturned on appeal. It raises a question not answered by the court—does every holder of office, down to even a city council member unable to block users on 1st Am grounds. As a conservative/libertarian I don’t believe in the government being able to tell a private business how their business should be run and tell Twitter, essentially, that Twitter’s own policies do not apply in certain cases, but the federal court may have gotten its foot in the door toward treating social media as at least a partial public forum to which 1st Am applies. No need to argue with me, I am just a messenger about what a Fed crt did. I would like to hear Turley’s comments on this crt ruling.

      1. That’s an interesting point, it seems the court recognizes the distinction of government officials vs private citizens on twitter. Private citizens are not bound to follow first amendment guarantees, but government officials who swore an oath to uphold the constitution and represent government cannot block people’s criticism because they are not allowed by the first amendment. Twitter only serves as a public forum that is privately owned and regulated. Strangers it seems that is what seems to be the case.

    4. Yup. And I’ll add:
      5. JT has himself removed at least one defamatory comment (directed towards JT and his wife) from his own website, and is a hypocrite when he suggests that Twitter shouldn’t do similarly.

      1. I should correct “defamatory” to “offensive,” as I don’t know whether the comment JT had removed satisfies the legal standard for defamation.

      2. you guys have no concept of scale

        turley has a reach of about a million.

        twitter has a reach of billions.

        there is no comparison

        1. I do have a concept of scale.

          I also know that scale has no bearing on the fact that Turley is being hypocritical, which is what I said.

          Turley wrote “I still oppose censorship on free speech grounds …,” but I know for a fact that he removed an offensive comment here that attacked him and his wife (I know this because I emailed him about that comment, in case he wanted to remove it; I included a link to it, and it was subsequently deleted). IIRR, that comment also included a strange conspiracy theory.

          So he doesn’t oppose all censorship of hurtful comments with conspiracy theories. He himself sometimes engages in exactly the kind of censorship that he’s criticizing.

      3. This demonstrates that CTHD doesn’t understand the difference between a common carrier and journalism. He also doesn’t know what proof is thinking that that proof is something stuck to the bottom of his shoe.

    5. Our American traitor media oligarchs deserve a stake through their vampire hearts for betraying the nation to the CCP

      https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3940206

      TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A White House petition was created last week after news broke that the Twitter accounts of Chinese dissidents started to disappear after a controversial Chinese-American artificial intelligence (AI) expert was hired to serve on the company’s board.

      On May 11, Twitter announced in a press release that it was hiring Li Fei-Fei (李飛飛), an AI expert and former vice president of Google, to its board of directors as a “new independent director” with immediate effect. Li quit Google in 2018 after a trail of leaked internal emails revealed that she appeared to be more concerned about the public relations damage to Google’s image if news broke about the company’s work on Project Maven than the ethical issues raised by over 3,000 Google employees.

      Project Maven is a U.S. Department of Defense AI project that seeks to use the technology to help military drones select targets from video footage.

      During her tenure at Google, there is no public record of Li objecting to the controversial Project Dragonfly, which was meant to be a search engine that would suit China’s censorship rules, as she opened an AI research facility in Beijing.

      When she took the helm of Google’s new AI center in Beijing, Li was quoted in Chinese media as using the CCP slogan “stay true to our founding mission” and said that “China has awakened.” In addition, Li allegedly has ties to a student association that is affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) United Front, according to Radio Free Asia.

      Caption reads: “Li Fei-fei returns to the motherland to take charge of the Google AI Chinese team: Stay true to our founding mission, China has awakened.” (Screenshot of Weibo post)

      A week after Li joined Twitter, a Chinese writer who goes by the handle Caijinglengyan (財經冷眼), discovered that four of his accounts were simultaneously deleted on May 18. He did not receive an explanation until May 23, when he was told his accounts had been taken down for violating Twitter’s rules against posting identical content on duplicate accounts.

      He countered that he had only posted content on one of the accounts and used the other to retweet the original post. He pointed out that Twitter does not have a policy precluding a person from having more than one account.

      The writer stated that he believes the real reason for his account cancellations was that, on May 17, he tweeted that Twitter’s new board member has a “red background.” In the post, he alleged that she is a member of a student association affiliated with the CCP’s United Front and has close ties with “Second Generation” and “Third-Generation Reds.”

      Caijinglengyan claimed that many other Twitter accounts used by Chinese dissidents were suddenly suspended without notice. After he contacted them, he found that they had also criticized Li or started commenting about Li just before their accounts were banned.

      The writer listed @beacon__news (灯塔爆料社) and @kevinheaven9 (Calvin看美国) as other Twitter users who found their Twitter accounts suddenly shut down. He claimed that one Twitter user simply wrote “Li Fei-Fei is coming, I have to run,” and soon found that both his primary account and secondary account had been suspended.

      French-based Chinese dissident Wang Longmeng (王龍蒙) wrote that Twitter’s ban on those who criticized Li and exposed her background “was undoubtedly related to Li Feifei’s appointment as a director, because criticism and negative information were banned, which is Beijing characteristic,” reported Liberty Times. He believes that Twitter was quickly “dyed red” after Li took charge.

      On May 20, a petition was created on the White House website titled “Call for a thorough investigation on Twitter’s violation of freedom of speech.” The creator of the petition wrote that Twitter is suppressing criticism of the CCP and suspending dissident accounts while pro-Beijing accounts remain unscathed.

      The petition listed May 18 as a date when many “anti-CCP” Twitter users found their accounts permanently suspended. The author of the document pointed out Li’s involvement with Project Maven and alleged that she was engaged in extensive military-technical programs while running Google’s AI center in Beijing.

      The document then alleged that Li continues to have “close ties with top leaders of the CCP.” The petition closed by calling on the U.S. government to investigate “Twitter’s violation of freedom of speech, and on Dr. FeiFei Li’s collaborations with the CCP, a threat to national security.”

    6. Cogent facts happening now

      CCP is shredding the “one nation two systems” deal and taking forceful control of Hong Kong. Protesters are in the streets eating tear gas and rubber bullets and pepper spray, again

      Quislings and lickspittles of the CCP in the US allow Chicoms to gain control over Twitter AI editing and censorship routines

      CEOS like Jack Dorsey who betray American social media assets to foreign commissars?
      Such traitors should hang by the neck until dead.

      https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3940206

      TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A White House petition was created last week after news broke that the Twitter accounts of Chinese dissidents started to disappear after a controversial Chinese-American artificial intelligence (AI) expert was hired to serve on the company’s board.

      On May 11, Twitter announced in a press release that it was hiring Li Fei-Fei (李飛飛), an AI expert and former vice president of Google, to its board of directors as a “new independent director” with immediate effect. Li quit Google in 2018 after a trail of leaked internal emails revealed that she appeared to be more concerned about the public relations damage to Google’s image if news broke about the company’s work on Project Maven than the ethical issues raised by over 3,000 Google employees.

      Project Maven is a U.S. Department of Defense AI project that seeks to use the technology to help military drones select targets from video footage.

      During her tenure at Google, there is no public record of Li objecting to the controversial Project Dragonfly, which was meant to be a search engine that would suit China’s censorship rules, as she opened an AI research facility in Beijing.

      When she took the helm of Google’s new AI center in Beijing, Li was quoted in Chinese media as using the CCP slogan “stay true to our founding mission” and said that “China has awakened.” In addition, Li allegedly has ties to a student association that is affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) United Front, according to Radio Free Asia.

      Caption reads: “Li Fei-fei returns to the motherland to take charge of the Google AI Chinese team: Stay true to our founding mission, China has awakened.” (Screenshot of Weibo post)

      A week after Li joined Twitter, a Chinese writer who goes by the handle Caijinglengyan (財經冷眼), discovered that four of his accounts were simultaneously deleted on May 18. He did not receive an explanation until May 23, when he was told his accounts had been taken down for violating Twitter’s rules against posting identical content on duplicate accounts.

      He countered that he had only posted content on one of the accounts and used the other to retweet the original post. He pointed out that Twitter does not have a policy precluding a person from having more than one account.

      The writer stated that he believes the real reason for his account cancellations was that, on May 17, he tweeted that Twitter’s new board member has a “red background.” In the post, he alleged that she is a member of a student association affiliated with the CCP’s United Front and has close ties with “Second Generation” and “Third-Generation Reds.”

      Caijinglengyan claimed that many other Twitter accounts used by Chinese dissidents were suddenly suspended without notice. After he contacted them, he found that they had also criticized Li or started commenting about Li just before their accounts were banned.

      The writer listed @beacon__news (灯塔爆料社) and @kevinheaven9 (Calvin看美国) as other Twitter users who found their Twitter accounts suddenly shut down. He claimed that one Twitter user simply wrote “Li Fei-Fei is coming, I have to run,” and soon found that both his primary account and secondary account had been suspended.

      French-based Chinese dissident Wang Longmeng (王龍蒙) wrote that Twitter’s ban on those who criticized Li and exposed her background “was undoubtedly related to Li Feifei’s appointment as a director, because criticism and negative information were banned, which is Beijing characteristic,” reported Liberty Times. He believes that Twitter was quickly “dyed red” after Li took charge.

      On May 20, a petition was created on the White House website titled “Call for a thorough investigation on Twitter’s violation of freedom of speech.” The creator of the petition wrote that Twitter is suppressing criticism of the CCP and suspending dissident accounts while pro-Beijing accounts remain unscathed.

      The petition listed May 18 as a date when many “anti-CCP” Twitter users found their accounts permanently suspended. The author of the document pointed out Li’s involvement with Project Maven and alleged that she was engaged in extensive military-technical programs while running Google’s AI center in Beijing.

      The document then alleged that Li continues to have “close ties with top leaders of the CCP.” The petition closed by calling on the U.S. government to investigate “Twitter’s violation of freedom of speech, and on Dr. FeiFei Li’s collaborations with the CCP, a threat to national security.”

  16. As with almost any Trump tweet, a post script should be: that was Donald from Queens checking in.

    The thing about Trump is the proper way to classify his attempts at communication isn’t so much in the legal realm, it’s in just pointing out it’s the clueless voice of a b hole. It explains what comes out of his mouth. He’s just trying to get through each day by deflecting from what he did yesterday

    Mostly, the Trump/Klausutis obsession tweets are the bitter and hurtful ramblings of a vindictive and classless human being. That’s the true fact check on Trumpybear. He doesn’t so much need to be sanctioned (he thrives on that and whips Trumpist mutants up with the reaction), but rather he needs to be openly laughed at and mocked.

    1. How long have you had Trump Derangement Syndrome, and have you sought out help? Please stop, your hatred for anything not communist is shining brightly!

      1. Comrade, you surely jest. Go back and entertain yourself within your silly and delusional world post haste.

        1. This is global information warfare. You people will have to decide which side you’re on, eventually.

          https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3940206

          TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A White House petition was created last week after news broke that the Twitter accounts of Chinese dissidents started to disappear after a controversial Chinese-American artificial intelligence (AI) expert was hired to serve on the company’s board.

          On May 11, Twitter announced in a press release that it was hiring Li Fei-Fei (李飛飛), an AI expert and former vice president of Google, to its board of directors as a “new independent director” with immediate effect. Li quit Google in 2018 after a trail of leaked internal emails revealed that she appeared to be more concerned about the public relations damage to Google’s image if news broke about the company’s work on Project Maven than the ethical issues raised by over 3,000 Google employees.

          Project Maven is a U.S. Department of Defense AI project that seeks to use the technology to help military drones select targets from video footage.

          During her tenure at Google, there is no public record of Li objecting to the controversial Project Dragonfly, which was meant to be a search engine that would suit China’s censorship rules, as she opened an AI research facility in Beijing.

          When she took the helm of Google’s new AI center in Beijing, Li was quoted in Chinese media as using the CCP slogan “stay true to our founding mission” and said that “China has awakened.” In addition, Li allegedly has ties to a student association that is affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) United Front, according to Radio Free Asia.

          Caption reads: “Li Fei-fei returns to the motherland to take charge of the Google AI Chinese team: Stay true to our founding mission, China has awakened.” (Screenshot of Weibo post)

          A week after Li joined Twitter, a Chinese writer who goes by the handle Caijinglengyan (財經冷眼), discovered that four of his accounts were simultaneously deleted on May 18. He did not receive an explanation until May 23, when he was told his accounts had been taken down for violating Twitter’s rules against posting identical content on duplicate accounts.

          He countered that he had only posted content on one of the accounts and used the other to retweet the original post. He pointed out that Twitter does not have a policy precluding a person from having more than one account.

          The writer stated that he believes the real reason for his account cancellations was that, on May 17, he tweeted that Twitter’s new board member has a “red background.” In the post, he alleged that she is a member of a student association affiliated with the CCP’s United Front and has close ties with “Second Generation” and “Third-Generation Reds.”

          Caijinglengyan claimed that many other Twitter accounts used by Chinese dissidents were suddenly suspended without notice. After he contacted them, he found that they had also criticized Li or started commenting about Li just before their accounts were banned.

          The writer listed @beacon__news (灯塔爆料社) and @kevinheaven9 (Calvin看美国) as other Twitter users who found their Twitter accounts suddenly shut down. He claimed that one Twitter user simply wrote “Li Fei-Fei is coming, I have to run,” and soon found that both his primary account and secondary account had been suspended.

          French-based Chinese dissident Wang Longmeng (王龍蒙) wrote that Twitter’s ban on those who criticized Li and exposed her background “was undoubtedly related to Li Feifei’s appointment as a director, because criticism and negative information were banned, which is Beijing characteristic,” reported Liberty Times. He believes that Twitter was quickly “dyed red” after Li took charge.

          On May 20, a petition was created on the White House website titled “Call for a thorough investigation on Twitter’s violation of freedom of speech.” The creator of the petition wrote that Twitter is suppressing criticism of the CCP and suspending dissident accounts while pro-Beijing accounts remain unscathed.

          The petition listed May 18 as a date when many “anti-CCP” Twitter users found their accounts permanently suspended. The author of the document pointed out Li’s involvement with Project Maven and alleged that she was engaged in extensive military-technical programs while running Google’s AI center in Beijing.

          The document then alleged that Li continues to have “close ties with top leaders of the CCP.” The petition closed by calling on the U.S. government to investigate “Twitter’s violation of freedom of speech, and on Dr. FeiFei Li’s collaborations with the CCP, a threat to national security.”

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