We have previously discussed the view of Michigan Law Professor and MSNBC legal analyst Barbara McQuade on free speech. We have strikingly different views on free speech. McQuade just published “Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America” and calls free speech our “Achilles heel.” My book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage, is out in the coming days with a more robust view of free speech.
McQuade’s call to limit free speech is justified as needed to combat disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation. Yet, McQuade just went public with a full-throated defense of what the U.S. government now calls a “conspiracy theory.” She maintains that the Hunter Biden laptop should still be discounted or dismissed as Russian disinformation.
Notably, after the authentication of the computer in federal court, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, filed a motion on withdraw the lawsuit against former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in which claimed that the laptop contained manipulated data.
In her comments, Professor McQuade joins the Post’s Philip Bump as one of the last dogs in this fight. Most media figures have long accepted the view of the U.S. government that the Hunter Biden laptop is “real” and authenticated.
I have previously disagreed with Professor McQuade on issues such as her belief that former president Donald Trump could be charged with manslaughter over the January 6th riot. Yet, those disagreements represent materially different understandings of the operative legal standards. Harvard Professor Laurence Tribe went even further in arguing that Trump could be charged with attempted murder. Academics can disagree on such matters and free speech allows us to hash out our differences.
However, I was still surprised by the effort to resurrect the Russian disinformation claim. Professor McQuade noted that the agent at the Biden trial could not say with certainty that nothing was changed to the laptop before it was obtained by agents from the computer shop. However, FBI agent Erika Jensen said that there was no evidence tampering.
That space, however, was big enough to drive a conspiracy theory through on X:
As noted by @emptywheel, however, questions remain about the chain of custody of the laptop, and [FBI] Agent [Erika] Jensen testified that she was unable to say whether the laptop was tampered with before the FBI obtained it.
And, as @AshaRangappa has noted, even if the content was authentic, it still may have been a Russian influence operation, just like the DNC hack-and-leak operation, designed to sow discord. If so, mission accomplished! […] Therefore, it remains unknown whether Russia was involved with the scheme, and it is still correct to say that the laptop has “all of the hallmarks of a Russian intelligence operation.”
Under this theory, any negative stories found in documents or electronic sources can have “the hallmarks of a Russian intelligence operation” in any given election. That same skepticism, of course, did not apply to the Steele dossier, which was secretly funded by the Clinton campaign and found by U.S. intelligence as containing possible Russian disinformation.
It is a variation on proving a negative. McQuade and others appear to be arguing that you must prove that there was no Russian involvement before giving weight to the damaging contents of the laptop.
Of course, there still has been no showing of any fake file or email. To the contrary, the most damaging emails on influence peddling and other potential criminal conduct have been verified. Yet, McQuade is repeating the claim that “even if the content was authentic, it still may have been a Russian influence operation.” There is also the more obvious explanation that Hunter abandoned his laptop at a computer shop and it was given to the FBI.
What is striking is how advocates are now abandoning the claims of false emails and files in favor of an argument that it may be true but still disinformation. This is consistent with the positions of many academics and the Biden Administration. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) maintains this position.
CISA head Jen Easterly declared that her agency’s mandate over critical infrastructure would be extended to include “our cognitive infrastructure.” That includes not just “disinformation” and “misinformation,”
but combating “malinformation” – described as information “based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.”
The chain of custody argument continues to be used in Congress despite the federal court and federal agencies recognizing the authenticity of the laptop. The Delaware jury also did not appear persuaded by the claims of Hunter Biden’s defense counsel. It is, in my view, transparently evasive. The issue remains the files on the laptop detailing a massive influence peddling operation and a myriad of criminal acts committed by the President’s son. None of those files have been challenged by evidence of tampering or planting.
Ironically, the continued effort to keep this theory alive seems precisely the type of disinformation that Professor McQuade has cited in justifying limits on free speech.
There are obviously many media and academic figures who are heavily invested in what the government now calls a “conspiracy theory.” I previously discussed how the Bidens have succeeded in a Houdini-like trick in making this elephant of a scandal disappear from the public stage. They did so by enlisting the media in the illusion. Houdini knew the trick would work because the audience wanted the elephant to disappear.
The Left doesn’t speak the truth — even to themselves.
OT
Time to send the Sargeant-At-Arms. Garland needs to be hauled to the Capitol basement. Also, the US House needs to sue DOJ for mandamus
……
“Biden DOJ Refuses to Prosecute AG Merrick Garland After Contempt of Congress”
The Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) will not prosecute Attorney General Merrick Garland for contempt of Congress. In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson released late on Friday, the DOJ, overseen by the Attorney General, argued that the House Republican‘s contempt resolution does not preempt Joe Biden‘s assertion of executive privilege regarding audio records of two interviews he sat for with special counsel Robert Hur. Garland was held in contempt for refusing to furnish the recordings to Congress.
https://thenationalpulse.com/2024/06/14/breaking-biden-doj-refuses-to-prosecute-ag-merrick-garland-after-contempt-of-congress/
Prosecute him for what? Refusing to provide video after providing the transcript is not a crime.
Its called contempt of congress dum dum
What is executive privilege?
He defied a subpoena. Exactly what HIS Department is prosecuting Trump for in Florida.
Failing to provide an official public document under congressional subpoena. Kind of like when Hillary destroyed her blackberries and bleached her hard drive. Nothing new for the criminals of the Swamp.
And again, on inflation. Biden is partially right about some of it being due to price gouging. Not the bulk of it, I think, but some of it. The article below has some great explanations toward the bottom of the article, that I could not copy, because they are images of text, not text. They explain how companies use digital info to up the prices and fix prices.
————–
Why Americans Aren’t Buying Biden’s “Strong Economy” Propaganda
And its not just the price level that is irritating. People also have the feeling they are being ripped off. This isn’t just a vibe. I urge you to listen to the Oddlots podcast (or read this issue of American Prospect) on “digital price gauging”, about the explosion in digital surveillance since COVID-19. For decades, tech enhanced price transparency and reduced companies’ ability to raise their prices. Today, those dynamics are being turned on their head – to the detriment of consumer welfare.
There’s more: shrinkflation and drip pricing (only revealing part of the price upfront) are not new. But we are also seeing an explosion in:
personalized pricing: using big data, often collected covertly via apps, to reveal the maximum price people will pay:
algorithmic price fixing: companies using the same software to coordinate pricing and prevent undercutting
dynamic pricing: raising prices when supply is low, or consumers desperate.
As Perkins concludes, “these are issues macro economists have ignored. That needs to change” and in some circles, we are seeing the change: even that ultra liberal media bastion of ex-Politico pundits, Axios, recently experienced a lightbulb moment, that it is not the declining year-over-year inflation that matters, which is what the White House touts at every opportunity, but the cumulative inflation since 2021…
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/why-americans-arent-buying-bidens-strong-economy-propaganda
@Floyd
That’s hysterical. Accept it: the modern dem party is fully responsible for every issue we are currently facing, and they all continue to get incrementally and measurably worse, not better. ‘Price gouging’ my ass, and thank goodness these are issues pretty much everyone but sycophants and trolls can agree on. You are ridiculous, and so is your ‘data’. It isn’t going to work this time.
PS – sorry, that was a bit harsh. Not intended to be when I started.
No problem. I always like your comments. And, nobody agrees on everything.
A pound of butter is $7.50, Bidenomics.
Nathan Lane would play a fantastic Sean Hannity in a fabulous biopic.
More about inflation, from a personal perspective. As a consumer, and one on the near-poverty level, inflation is taking a huge toll on me. My rent goes up $30 in July, which equates to one 40 count box of Friskies Shreds. Same increase with my life insurance, which is NOT due to inflation, but by me being one year older. My internet goes up $30 per month, too, because the ACP program ran out of money. Apparently we can give $100 billion to Ukraine (read the Defence Industry) but not $8 billion for the Affordable Connectivity program. That is $90 per month for me, or 120 cans of cat food. So, I quit most ordering take-out food in a few months ago. If I do order grubhub, it is six $2.29 cheap Wendy’s hamburgers, which I make last the three nights that I work each week. About $20 with tax and tip. I have plans to stop that, too. And just do potted meat or chicken salad sandwiches. I feed Peanut, the little stray dog, a hamburger patty each night, and a package of 12 cheap patties, which used to cost $9.87 a few months ago, is now about $14 for the same package. Iced coffee went down, so that makes up for that. I usually fix two patties – one for her, and one for me, less a few pieces for the cats.
I will get some relief in November, when my $65 dollar per month guitar note ends. I bought that last year, when my former boss assured me that my job was safe. Three weeks later, the parent company had an unexpected Reduction in Force, and BLAM! There went the job. 20 hours per week at $14 per hour, went to 13.5 hours per week at $11. About $1000 per month became $500. Luckily, I just secured a $500/month gig until the end of the year, at least. BTW, the company that fired me (where I had worked for 5 years), started having major problems when the interest rates went up, and when it became harder for them to grow because of the poor economy.
I only owe 3 $50 per month payments to my sister, who loaned me money for a vet bill. So, I do have some relief coming. In the meantime, there are constantly little things going up here, and there. One of my OTC meds went up from $17 per month to $21 per month a few months ago. My prime subscription went up several dollars per month. I will have to drop a couple of other subscriptions in a few months when their half-price “please-don’t-cancel-us” deals run out. Each week when I order food, cat food, cat litter, cleaning supplies, etc., there seems to be a price increase. The cheap 50 cent per roll paper towels went up to 68 cents. The cheap weenies I get for the possums and coons outside went from $1 a pack to $1.67. Eggs are up about a buck or more per 18 count carton. Potted meat is up about 8 cents or more a can. I now make sandwiches with one piece of bread as opposed to two. It seems to be a constant ongoing buck or two increase, here and there, 25 cents per item here and there. Pepto Bismol is up, Aleve is up. Even the generics on both of them. I will get a COLA increase in social security, but my experience has been that those are only about 1/2 the real increase in the cost of living.
From my perspective, the economy has been getting worse, not better. And yet, I have it better than many. I live in one of the cheapest places possible. I get a social security check each month, which is not true for most people. I do not have a car, so there are no car repairs, gasoline or car notes to worry about. I do not know what I would have done if I still relied on a car, and had a $1,500 repair come up. I have friends, broker than me, who had to trade in their Toyota pickup because they could not afford the $1,200 repair. They are upside-down in their current vehicles. I have a me-food stockpile of three to four months built up. Much less for the cats. When my central HVAC broke over a year ago, I just bought a window unit. I use radiant oil heaters in winter, and heated throws to stay warm. So, basically, I can still live like a human being, for the time being.
Maybe people who work for the government (full time) or who have good jobs, do not experience the economy the same way. Maybe for them, things are still great, and the constant upwards price pressure is a mere inconvenience. But personally, I expect to be in dire poverty in 3 to 4 years if things keep going the way they are. Maybe sooner if my second gig does not renew.
As partial as I am to my avatar of St Thomas Aquinas, I think I like yours best.
Hope youre feeling better buddy
Thanks, Estovir! Actually, my upper back is hurting less. I hope you are doing better, too. I have been sleeping most of the day, so that has helped. Fixing to download a bunch of Chirp audibooks onto an sdc card. I highly recommend Patient Zero by John Maberry. The site has a lot of classical books, too. They had a special on Edith Hamilton audiobooks today, 3 of them for like $7 in total.
. . . and if you keep your money in the bank, it actually declines in value. A good way to discourage saving. The people in Washington DC, who try to spend their entire adult lives there, care little about anyone outside their little bubble, unless they are big donors.
What’s your monthly beer/pot bill?
Why WOULD the Repubs hold their convention in Milwaukee?? The place IS a shit hole.
Make no mistake. The Dems and MSM are desperate. This will only get worse between now and the election. Every day there will be a new fake story about something Trump said. Every day.
Since the FBI cannot prove the Laptop was tampered with no tampering is the rule. Hopefully the professors students will point this out to her. As for Tribe he is a hopeless nag and one can only hope that one day he will live in his own universe
Trump is finished. He has no chance in November. Biden is ahead in all of the polls. There is no way a convicted felon will be President—Gigi the spastic LIAR
Gigi, my precious little niece. If Trump is irrelevant, why have you used his name 2,628 times in posts on this blog, in the last two years?
WELL SAID and SPOT ON!
NO ONE cares about Hunters laptop—Gigi the spastic LIAR
Gigi, my little doll. If no one cares about the laptop, why have you used the word “laptop” in your posts, 67 times in the last 8 months?
Another big round of applause for Elvis Bug, the booger eating spastic idiot non savant
Elvis swears that when he is not regaling you with delightful witticism from his local Starbucks, he is in the “TV and film industry”.
That is code for he cleans up the remnants of the creampie on the gay porn set.
The people who refused the “experimental” COVID vaccine are now over in Karen’s living room sharing Ozempic needles and boxed wine
“I don’t like putting chemicals in my body” says Karen, the tattooed, overly botoxed woman, with breast implants, and purple dyed hair.
I must say they’re getting interesting results because they’re mixing it with horse paste
Kunt^^^^
No, they don’t have to worry about sudden unexplained death. Clearly you are jealous because you were an obedient mindless little drone who did whatever big brother said, and got the poison jab.
And its still affecting him, clearly
We all should have listened to Fauci, who admitted to Congress, after $28B and 26 years of studying coronavirus, he had no clue that it spread by aerosol.
RE: Inflation
———————————-
Inflation….. Market Insanity Continues
This is not a “cold” report folks….
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was unchanged in May on a seasonally adjusted basis, after rising 0.3 percent in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 3.3 percent before seasonal adjustment.
The unchanged was caused by a decrease in gasoline, mostly, which everyone has seen in advance.
But the index in rents and owners equivalent rent were both up 0.4% which would annualize to 4.9%, or 2.5x the Fed’s “target” in these very large and unavoidable consumer expense. Further, medical care (another mandatory expense for most) was up even more, up 0.5% on the month and what’s worse is that prescription drugs were up 2.1% on the month which would annualize to more than 20%.
While the futures immediately spiked higher on the release if you think we’re getting imminent rate cuts IMHO you’re going to be dead wrong and what’s much worse is that the immediate spike downward in the IRX/TNX ratio (more-deeply into negative territory) continues a now record long trend of said inversion.
The longer the markets continue to believe in that which there is in fact no evidence for, simply because at every turn rates have continued to inflate bubbles for the last 20 years along with the fiscal insanity in our government since 2020 the worse the eventual outcome when recognition shows up in said markets will be.
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=251476
Time for another installment of Gigi the Spastic LIAR
Real wage growth is outpacing inflation—-Gigi the Spastic LIAR
Another LIE
First of all, ya worthless idiot, “real wage growth” is wage growth ADJUSTED FOR inflation, so it can’t OUTPACE inflation.
Secondly, that number means NOTHING, except to spastic idiots. “Inflation” isn’t the measurement of how much more it costs to live, you dipshit. It doesn’t even include food and energy, LMAO. And it damn sure doesnt account for INTEREST RATES.
Have you ever bought a home or a car???
Seriously, are you a BOT?
You have Gigi Derangement Syndrome.
Not Gigi^^^^^
A different spastic idiot
Happy Birthday President Trump!
Your probation officer said you can go to Chuck-E-Cheese
A big round of applause for Elvis Bug everybody, the spastic idiot non savant!
In Biden’s latest campaign ad he claims MAGA extremists want to lower inflation, lower gas prices, secure the border, become energy independent, stop foreign wars, and restore law and order in American cities. He adds: “They must be stopped!”
We wouldn’t have as high a level of inflation but for Trump. If Trump hadn’t stopped the border security bill, our border would be more secure. We became energy independent under Obama. Crime is down all over the U S. An American president has limited ability to stop foreign wars, but it begins with respect—-something Trump lacks—he’s a joke in other countries.
Trump would destroy things Americans do care about— like the right to contraception, abortion, IVF, controlling inflation due to bad economic policies like tax cuts for the wealthy, tariffs and cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
Bidenomics caused the inflation. Our border was never secure under Biden. The House passed a Bill that would’ve secured the border, Biden promised to veto it. The Bill is still on Schumer’s desk. I paid $1 for gas under Trump. Crime is not down in blue cities, some Democrat cities decriminalized some offenses. No war was started under Trump because he was feared around the world even by the troublemakers including Putin, Ayatollah, Xi, and Little Rocket Man.
Trump will steer the country towards the path of morality by tackling the issues of abortion, IVF, surrogacy, contraception, and all other degenerate behaviors that are pushing the country towards decline.
Trump is a pathetic sociopath and narcissist who stands for absolutely nothing other than seeking attention, power and praise. He will say, promise and do literally anything to get the power his craven soul requires. Arguing that Trump is motivated by morality is laughable. He’s a cheater, liar, adjudicated fraudster, rapist, and convicted felon. He brags about sexually assaulting women. Trump is the poster boy for “degenerate behaviors”.
Obama’s quantitative easing augmented with the costs of Iraq and Afghanistan, Ukraine war funding coupled with trillions from COVID are what caused inflation. It’s a surplus of cash in the market as the value of the dollar declines.
Normally the Fed would raise interest rates to remove liquidity in the market. With a National debt of $36T that is no longer an option. For as you now see the interest on servicing the debt is over a Trillion dollars a year.
Not Gigi^^^^^
I would like to see a Turley/McQuade debate. It could be simulcast by FNC and MSNBC. It would give them each an opportunity to plug their books.
BREAKING: Donald Trump is reportedly angry with his campaign staff for “not trying hard enough” because by this point in the 2016 election his campaign manager and several staffers had already committed several felonies.
Interesting how some launch childish attack, after attack, after childish attack, and frequently outright lie about Mr. Trump. It’s so very common that it’s just a clanging, bent cymbal, at this point.
I expect the phony attacks and lies serve to occupy enough of their time, so they conveniently have none left over to to tout all the wonderful accomplishments of the Obiden criminal regime.
-John Underwood, Tyler, TX
Reportedly Trump has hired Hillary Clinton for some staff direction on how to commit multiple felonies and avoid prosecution.
Well, first Trump would have to declare himself a Dem because only Dems get away with REAL felonies like Hillary, don’t have to trump one up like the NY DA did who ran for election on “getting Trump”. He should have been disbarred for that alone – “first the man, and I’ll find/make up the crime” (Beria).
Democrats may be nominating the wrong Biden.
Hunter’s recent conviction could blunt Trump’s outlaw advantage, and his bad boy good looks could help lock down the women’s vote.
Hunter’s convictions would even the playing field.
Both candidates would be convicted felons.
YAWN
Your narcolepsy seems to getting worse.
I’m sure Dr. Phil could help you.
YAWN
Actually, you may be correct. The debauchery of Hunter Biden is due in large part to the influence of his father, who used him as a pimp to raise money from people around the world and inundated him with money that he was not mature enough to handle.
One convicted after a corrupt Prez directed a corrupt DOJ using a bogus crime, an expired misdemeanour inflated into a felony by a biased NY DA using legal jiujitsu who ran on “getting Trump”, tried by a blatantly biased judge, (contributor to Biden and father of a daughter making millions from anti-Trump propaganda), heard by a jury in the most unfavorable jurisdiction for the defendant (over 90% Biden voters i.e. brain dead)
vs
conviction of a fraudulent President’s son with a truckload of concrete evidence including the laptop of the drug-addled fool and testimony of his ex-lovers for a well-established crime that has imprisoned thousands, in the most favorable jurisdiction possible, Papa Biden’s home state, dumb enough to re-elect this mediocrity of zero accomplishment for half a century.
Yeah, they’re exactly equivalent….to someone as brain-dead as his part-time P-resident in the White House.
Is there anyone — anyone — in an official capacity in this Biden regime’s Department of “Justice” with the integrity or brass balls to DO THE RIGHT THING –besides the courageous whistleblowers this regime is working overtime to silence and destroy?
Anyone at all in Congress?
The criminality and lawlessness of Biden’s illegitimate tyrannical regime is truly insane and frightening.
What else would the country expect when the tone is set at the top….
with someone as corrupt and despicable as the filthy Biden Crime Family abusing power?
The man LET his dogs attack his SS agents 30 times! What kind of EVIL entitled corrupt POS does that?
Tyrant Biden, his trailer trash wife, and his degenerate, drug addicted, f’d up children could not be more of a corrupt trash scumbag family if they tried.
Joe Biden is criminal scum illegitimately occupying the White House and is a clear & present danger who threatens the safety and well being of EVERY AMERICAN in this country.
This cannot stand.
If Biden and his trash scumbag family of criminals did not have the corrupt Law Enforcement “officials” and the entirely Fake Propaganda Press constantly running cover for them, and LYING to the American people, they would not survive another DAY in in the White House.
The trash media and the filthy Communists of the Democrat party are to blame — and to be FEARED.
These lunatics will do ANYTHING to hold onto the power they now abuse with IMPUNITY.
They STOLE the election and seized power. They will not relinquish it without a fight.
There should be NO DOUBT should remain in anyone’s mind. EVIL is in power.
Buy guns and ammo.
And keep a full tank of gas.
This country is at war.
Anonymous said: ““semi automatic muzzle-loaded baby launchers”
Even an abject mental midget like you should be able to deduce that “semi-automatic” and “muzzle-loaded” is a contradiction in terms. Of course, “rational society” and “your ability to be fed” is the same.
When someone talks about the Supreme Court “banning” something – when all they did was say it’s an issue to be decided at the state level through the ordinary democratic process – you know you’re not dealing with a rational person.