TWGB: If I Were a Betting Woman

 

News: More than 50 former senior intelligence officials, including ex-Trump admin officials like Russ Travers, have signed on to a letter outlining their belief that the Biden emails saga “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation”https://t.co/FM6TOCpDSP

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) October 20, 2020

Now, I never have been much attracted to gambling, but if I were a a betting woman, I might not necessarily assume this is a Russian operation (but similar), but I would definitely find the provenance of the hard drive sketchy as hell because wow. It really, really is, and NY Post reporters knew they didn't like it. The FBI definitely has some questions about this, too. 

 So what to make of DNI Ratcliffe's assertion that there's no proof it is a Russian op? Well, of course. Toadies gonna toad, but also, this is the guy who used Russian disinfo to purport that despite what it looked like, Hillary Clinton was the real beneficiary of the apparent connection between the DNC hack (damn near certainly Russian) and subsequent leaks because she was able to use it to make Trump look bad. Not enough to win the election (in fact, this looks like shit Russia queued up in case Trump lost, TBH). 

In other words, Ratcliffe is saying that Russia disinfo he hasn't actually really vetted should be taken seriously, and the opinions of US intelligence oficials is...you know. Take it or leave it. Great shades of Trump at Helsinki. 

 This feels like unqualified hackery, but I see the RNC Chair eating it up, and some of the usual media outlets. I get that right wing media is a failing septic tank that has poisoned the groundwater of our national politics, but remain amazed at supposed mainstream figures who are cheerfully undermining our still-functioning and necessary institutions. The conditioning that values party over country is appallingly strong. 

 So, while the provenance of the information (which has been apparently held for some time, sprung in October, and announced by Trump-favoring partisans) remains a cause for skepticism, supposed solons of our sober-minded deliberative body wonder aloud "Is there porns?" If there is, why did the people handling it know about it and make copies rather than making that the upfront claim? And also too, what kind of bent motherfuckers go rifling through (especially child) porn or slip it onto a dodgy mockup for ratfucking purposes? 

 The second claim is the one I give more weight to. The sickness of the allegation is off-putting because we naturally recoil at the thought of harming children. But try and think of the kind of person who says "Let's use images of it to falsely smear the relative of a political candidate." 

Knowing full well that a certain group has been primed to believe this sort of thing is normalized among "elites" via the pizzagate and Q-Anon conspiracy theories, both of which are utter concocted shit. What type of person passes this on, when reason should first of all tell you the "discovery" of the laptops itself makes no sense (and Giuliani's story shifts a bit here, but still-a man living in California gets ripshit, flies crosscountry and hands his tech containing possibly badly incriminating things to a blind dude he never met before hoping he'll fix it/them then never returns? That's weird and anyone living post "But her emails" would have acid washed that shit, as the 70-something year old kids say these days, and bought a new fucking laptop with their "ill-gotten China monies" or whatever.) 

 I want to believe the cake is already baked regarding the election, but there's going to be a morning after where this messy TrumpWorld dump took place even if (when) Biden wins. No person who facilitated this smear should escape whipping. Not one.