Will he be able to keep this up for the next two weeks?

[Cortopassi]

I haven't followed this story, but really, if the sequence of events below is true, he should lose just for stupidity. "My laptop with incriminating emails and photos isn't working, guess I'll drop it off to get it fixed and then forget to pick it up." Really??? And the tech turned to Giuliani, because he was a Republican? Too many ways to shoot holes in this.

And Bill Barr's FBI has had it since December? Sitting on it, waiting for near election time? This close?

I guess we'll see if it is brought up in the debate.
-------------------
Earlier this week the Post reported that it had obtained emails from a laptop that allegedly belonged to Hunter Biden. The laptop was supposedly dropped off by Hunter at a local computer repair shop in Delaware in April 2019 after being subject to water damage. When no one returned to pick it up, a technician at the shop claims to have gone through the hard drive sometime in the summer of 2019 and proceeded to share it with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

[I Shrugged]

I haven't followed this story, but really, if the sequence of events below is true, he should lose just for stupidity. "My laptop with incriminating emails and photos isn't working, guess I'll drop it off to get it fixed and then forget to pick it up." Really??? And the tech turned to Giuliani, because he was a Republican? Too many ways to shoot holes in this.

And Bill Barr's FBI has had it since December? Sitting on it, waiting for near election time? This close?

I guess we'll see if it is brought up in the debate.
-------------------
Earlier this week the Post reported that it had obtained emails from a laptop that allegedly belonged to Hunter Biden. The laptop was supposedly dropped off by Hunter at a local computer repair shop in Delaware in April 2019 after being subject to water damage. When no one returned to pick it up, a technician at the shop claims to have gone through the hard drive sometime in the summer of 2019 and proceeded to share it with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

I don't ask for much, but do me a favor and read a couple of conservative outlet stories on this. Breitbart, or NY Post, wherever. Then see if you find it credible or not.
Hunter is a drug addict. Don't expect him to always act rationally.

[vnatale]

If it's all BS, why doesn't Biden say something? Anything? IMO, his silence is an admission of guilt.

That's somewhat the same thing that gets asked of Republicans in office who do not speak out against some of Trump's outrageous behaviors and actions. Well, maybe not the same thing but in the same area.

Getting back to your question, though. Could it be similar to the question of, "When did you stop beating your wife?"

Vinny

[Cortopassi]

If it's all BS, why doesn't Biden say something? Anything? IMO, his silence is an admission of guilt.

Less oxygen to a story the better, esp. this close, would be my guess.

I have a friend who has said the laptop is 100% genuine, multiple times. All I've read is the one Breitbart story tech linked. Can I ask someone for a link to a reputable (I don't care if right leaning) story detailing how it is known genuine?

And, even if I did not vote already, which I did, at this point there'd have to be a video of Joe Biden raping a 12 year old to change people's minds. Ditto for Trump. Even then, I don't think it would.

[Tyler]

I have a friend who has said the laptop is 100% genuine, multiple times. All I've read is the one Breitbart story tech linked. Can I ask someone for a link to a reputable (I don't care if right leaning) story detailing how it is known genuine?

Here's what I understand so far:

Direct evidence:
- The photos of Hunter are clearly genuine. Nobody disputes that.
- Fox has independently verified from someone on the email chains that at least some of the emails are definitely genuine.
- The director of national intelligence is on record clearly stating it's NOT Russian disinformation as people have claimed.

Indirect evidence:
- After the story broke, Hunter's lawyer contacted the repairman asking for the hard drives back. Even if you don't trust Bannon, he claims to have emails to prove it and if it wasn't true I imagine the lawyer would have called him on it by now.
- To date, Biden has not denied a single claim about the emails. Instead, Harris immediately suspended travel due to Coronavirus and Biden called a lid on his campaign until Thursday and refuses to take any questions at all. Even if one supports Biden, that doesn't exactly inspire confidence that he has nothing to hide.

[Cortopassi]

Ok, I read some of the stories. It seems he tried multiple times to leverage access to his Dad. Is there anywhere where there's a response/email from Joe saying "yeah, I'm in kind of trail?"

Otherwise you've just got a screwed up kid trying to get an angle on anything no matter what the consequences. Sad.

Interesting, in the Fox News Story, the first two hyperlinks go to a generic Joe Biden page and a generic China page, and don't elaborate on the story? What's up with that?

----------------------------

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hunter ... e-verifies

[Tyler]

Ok, I read some of the stories. It seems he tried multiple times to leverage access to his Dad. Is there anywhere where there's a response/email from Joe saying "yeah, I'm in kind of trail?"

I've seen no claim that Joe was ever directly on the incriminating emails. But there are emails where Hunter talks about holding a 10% cut for "the big guy" in a deal with a Chinese firm. And Joe Biden also clearly took action that benefited Burisma after emails indicate Hunter introduced their executives to his dad (a detail Joe previously denied). From the original verboten NY Post article:

Less than eight months after Pozharskyi thanked Hunter Biden for the introduction to his dad, the then-vice president admittedly pressured Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk into getting rid of Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin by threatening to withhold a $1 billion US loan guarantee during a December 2015 trip to Kiev.
...
Shokin has said that at the time of his firing, in March 2016, he’d made “specific plans” to investigate Burisma that “included interrogations and other crime-investigation procedures into all members of the executive board, including Hunter Biden.”

Watch Joe Biden talk about this in his own words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oesl2RXpfPQ

[Tortoise]

And, even if I did not vote already, which I did, at this point there'd have to be a video of Joe Biden raping a 12 year old to change people's minds. Ditto for Trump. Even then, I don't think it would.

I actually think quite a few people planning to vote for Biden mostly because they hate Trump might change their mind if it starts to look obvious to them that Biden is corrupt and may even be a criminal.

Will they vote for Trump instead? Probably not. But if they withhold their vote for Biden out of moral principle, it will effectively hurt Biden and help Trump.

Plus, scandals like this can definitely sway undecided voters -- even if decided voters don't budge.

[Tyler]

As an aside, I do my best not to get too caught up in the emotional side of politics. Sharing facts so that people can make their own educated decisions is more my thing, but even then I don't have the energy or desire to participate in a big political debate. So I'm glad to pitch in periodically, but I'm not sure I can keep it up for a few hours, much less two weeks.

Now off to the investing talk.

[WiseOne]

Whether or not you believe the emails, I don't think anybody can deny that something nefarious was going on with Joe/Hunter Biden in Ukraine. The most relevant and well established facts, that Hunter Biden got a crazy high paying job for which he had absolutely zero qualifications, after which a prosecutor investigating the company that hired Biden was mysteriously fired, all while Joe Biden was actively working in Ukraine, have been known since last December.

If you were going to be swayed by this knowledge, it would have happened long ago. Unfortunately Trump has been his own worst enemy during the campaign. I thought he gave a good speech at Mount Rushmore, but the stuff I've heard since then have been largely bombastic, self-congratulatory and very light on details.

I think Vinny is right...he's lost support since 2016 and hasn't gained any to speak of. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that math doesn't add up to a win.

[Tyler]

I think Vinny is right...he's lost support since 2016 and hasn't gained any to speak of. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that math doesn't add up to a win.

Elections are not a zero-sum game. It may be true that Trump lost some support since 2016. Judging from overall enthusiasm, it can also be true that Biden has less support than Hillary enjoyed in 2016. In which case, Trump could win by a larger margin than before.

I think it could go either way. We'll see.

[vnatale]

Trump Is Losing Ground With White Voters But Gaining Among Black And Hispanic Americans
By Geoffrey Skelley and Anna Wiederkehr

Published Oct. 19, 2020


https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/tr ... americans/



In the end, elections are all about margins. That means Biden doesn’t necessarily have to win more white voters than Trump to win the election; he just needs to improve on Clinton’s performance four years ago. By the same token, if Trump can do better among nonwhite voters than he did in 2016 — even if he still doesn’t win them outright — that could open a door for him to win if white voters don’t shift toward Biden as much as the polls currently suggest.

But at the moment, the real margin to keep an eye on is Biden’s double-digit lead in the polls. That kind of advantage will be hard to overcome if Trump is merely chipping away at the edges of Biden’s support, especially when so many of Biden’s gains seem to have come at Trump’s expense.

[Don]

I have a friend who has said the laptop is 100% genuine, multiple times. All I've read is the one Breitbart story tech linked. Can I ask someone for a link to a reputable (I don't care if right leaning) story detailing how it is known genuine?

Here's what I understand so far:

Direct evidence:
- The photos of Hunter are clearly genuine. Nobody disputes that.
- Fox has independently verified from someone on the email chains that at least some of the emails are definitely genuine.
- The director of national intelligence is on record clearly stating it's NOT Russian disinformation as people have claimed.

Indirect evidence:
- After the story broke, Hunter's lawyer contacted the repairman asking for the hard drives back. Even if you don't trust Bannon, he claims to have emails to prove it and if it wasn't true I imagine the lawyer would have called him on it by now.
- To date, Biden has not denied a single claim about the emails. Instead, Harris immediately suspended travel due to Coronavirus and Biden called a lid on his campaign until Thursday and refuses to take any questions at all. Even if one supports Biden, that doesn't exactly inspire confidence that he has nothing to hide.

The Bidens are, indeed, a Crime Family. He's hiding again.
Where's the MSM?

[jalanlong]

I think Vinny is right...he's lost support since 2016 and hasn't gained any to speak of. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that math doesn't add up to a win.

Elections are not a zero-sum game. It may be true that Trump lost some support since 2016. Judging from overall enthusiasm, it can also be true that Biden has less support than Hillary enjoyed in 2016. In which case, Trump could win by a larger margin than before.

I think it could go either way. We'll see.

I am not sure I agree that Biden has less support that Hillary. I knew a lot of people 4 years ago that didnt vote FOR Trump but voted AGAINST Hillary. I don't sense that same level of disdain for Biden. Plus I knew a lot of people 4 years ago who were gung ho for shaking up the system, voting in an outsider, draining the swamp etc. I think after 4 years a lot of that has worn off.

But the thing that convinces me that Biden is heading to victory is the amount of neighbors I have (in a very red state) who have always been pretty non-political (even in 2016) but are now actively involved in politics as far as supporting Biden, trying to get Trump out and trying to convince others to do the same. I have co-workers and acquaintances who have never spoken a word to me about politics before the last month suddenly wanting to know if I am registered to vote because they want a "blue wave."

Plus the polls would not have to only be a little wrong, they would have to possibly be more wrong then they have ever been before. The latest polls have Biden ahead by 7-8% in most battleground states like Michigan and Wisconsin. So all of those would have to be very wrong. Also, Biden is ahead or virtually tied in Georgia and Texas. So for Trump to win, almost every single poll would have to be wrong and every one of them would have to be wrong in his direction by multiple % points. That seems very unlikely to me. I think it much more likely Biden wins in a landslide. Yes I know the polls were wrong in 2016 but those polls had Hilary with much smaller leads, usually within the margin of error. Plus you could argue that in 2016 a lot of Democrats may have stayed home thinking Trump had no chance. They may not make that mistake again.

What about everyone else? What does your gut tell you is going to happen? I just feel a Biden landslide coming on.

[Cortopassi]

I just feel a Biden landslide coming on.

I agree. But I am biased. I do not see the Hunter thing gaining enough traction, and even if Biden seriously flubs the debate, I don't think there is enough to sway. He'd have to have a stroke on stage.

Add in a few more down days in the market without another coronavirus relief bill, and the continuing wave 2/3, and it really seems like a perfect storm against Trump.

But I could be wrong. tech would say I am wrong. tech would say I am wrong. tech would say I am wrong.

[Kbg]

I absolutely love irony. So we are talking about Hunter and Joe and some Ukrainian guys and we are all spun up about Joe taking care of a screwed up son. But yet it’s completely cool that half your family composes your White House staff? Seriously?

I think Trump is one and done, I just hope he hasn’t done so much damage that the Republican party loses the Senate. However, if that happens maybe it would be a good thing. Get back to being serious about governing, and reclaim being the adults in the room.

[Cortopassi]

tomfoolery, I cannot deal with your writing! I never know if it is sarcasm, tongue in cheek, joking, truthful, etc!

[Mountaineer]

tomfoolery, I cannot deal with your writing! I never know if it is sarcasm, tongue in cheek, joking, truthful, etc!

That is exactly what makes it engaging, and let's us think about the meaning for ourselves. Just deplorable that you are troubled by it, just deplorable, you need to put a lid on it. You really need to get out of the basement. It could be a severe case of MSMTFY has developed. Tomfoolery is helping with the cure.

[vnatale]

tomfoolery, I cannot deal with your writing! I never know if it is sarcasm, tongue in cheek, joking, truthful, etc!

That is exactly what makes it engaging, and let's us think about the meaning for ourselves. Just deplorable that you are troubled by it, just deplorable, you need to put a lid on it. You really need to get out of the basement. It could be a severe case of MSMTFY has developed. Tomfoolery is helping with the cure.

Well done and I know what you did!

Vinny