So I take it you are fully in favor a broad and deep investigation by Congress into the massive cover up by the Biden administration and main stream media of Biden's cognitive decline and incapacity. It's just holding the responsible people accountable and correcting the historical record.
I did read Original Sin. If what is alleged there is actually true, then it's worth looking into. That said, without accurate records (which is the subject of this post) an investigation would be fruitless. It's clear that this administration wants to avoid a paper trail for their actions. Why?
And let's not forget the Biden administration's suppression of the lab leak theory for the origins of Covid-19. I'm sure you have a good explanation for that as well, LOL.
Alan—the brother-in-law I trust will always bring the MAGA heat—thanks for engaging again. I’ve noticed a pattern in your comments: rather than addressing the core topic of each post, you tend to pivot to something broader or unrelated—like the Hunter Biden laptop, or now, the lab leak theory behind COVID’s origins. Those are valid topics. And while you’ve never asked, I’d actually support whatever investigations are necessary to fully understand the truth behind each. But they’re not what this post is about.
This piece focuses specifically on the erasure and manipulation of government records—a practice with serious implications for accountability and democratic oversight. You’re welcome to disagree with my interpretation, but I’d appreciate it if we could stay on topic. I know that as an attorney, you’re trained to shift the discussion to areas where you feel the strongest ground. But that just degenerates into "scoring points." It's not the kind of dialogue I’m aiming for here.
In multiple comments you've raised concerns about my sources and whether I’m capable of my own critical thinking. You’re certainly entitled to your opinion. Just yesterday, you texted how much you enjoy "stirring up sh*t" (your words) in these comments. And I guess you're free to do that if you want. But you should know that I don’t post things lightly, and I stand by what I write. If you believe I’ve misrepresented something in this post, I’m open to that discussion. But when the conversation shifts into unrelated Fox News talking points, I’m less likely to engage. That kind of detour doesn't really move the conversation forward.
As for the Berkshire house—thanks for your good wishes! We’re really looking forward to closing later this summer. We'll go back and forth with our home in NJ. It’s something we’ve been looking forward to for a long time.
Hal, my general criticism of your blog posts up to now is that you are not engaging in any critical analysis of your own to look behind your biased, anti-Trump content sources. You are picking and choosing your sources, not doing any critical thinking about what you are relying on, and basically engaging in a massive exercise in confirmation bias. It's not uncommon for raw intelligence work product to be subject to input from many sources and also many edits. I read the CBS article and if you look at it with some degree of objectivity and insight, you might be able to come up with an interpretation that doesn't automatically align with your "orange man bad" world view.
For example, it is very clear that even according to the assessments that you view as absolutely positively confirming that there is no Venezuelan government involvement with TDA, there are references to "limited" involvement of "some" members of the government with that gang. The conclusion is simply that is it not the official "policy" of the Venezuelan government to aid this gang. Well of course not! Just like when the USA engages in covert ops, we don't announce it as "official government policy." We want plausible deniability. And the conclusion is very weak--"probably not" basically means there is about a 49% chance that the conclusion is incorrect. Read up on the language used by the intelligence agencies in making these kinds of assessments--this is characteristic of a "low confidence" assessment. And obviously CBS does not have any access at all to classified sources or raw intelligence data.
Although Trump flatly denied U.S. government's involvement in any respect with the earlier stages of Israel's attack on Iran--supposedly we didn't know it was going to happen and the U.S. was left completely out of the loop--would any sane person actually believe that to be true? No, of course not. Of course the U.S. at a minimum provided Israel with top secret intelligence data, communications intercepts, and so forth.
While we are at it, since the general subject is the use of unreliable or biased intelligence community work product to obtain a political objective, I don't remember you raising the alarms about when 51 intelligence community members issued a public letter implying or alleging that the "Hunter Biden laptop" was a fake and indeed had all the "earmarks of Russian disinformation." Right before the 2020 election, when it could be presumed to have had a significant impact on voters' attitudes, especially independents.
As it turned out, the Hunter laptop and its contents was completely authentic.
I know it's causing you a lot of cognitive dissonance to process something like this, and you'll probably find a way to deflect from my question, but my question is directly relevant to your one-sided attack on Trump's administration on this issue.
Why didn't or don't you care about government officials manipulating intelligence data and or work product when the finger points at your party?
I'll leave that as an open question for however you choose to respond.
By the way Mary Ellen send me a video of your new house in the Berkshires. It looks beautiful!!! Congratulations!!!
Hal, I commend you for seeing the forest for the trees. You are a true patriot.
Thanks, Vivette. I see myself as just an average guy who is really concerned. Maybe that's what patriotism is. Who know...
So I take it you are fully in favor a broad and deep investigation by Congress into the massive cover up by the Biden administration and main stream media of Biden's cognitive decline and incapacity. It's just holding the responsible people accountable and correcting the historical record.
I did read Original Sin. If what is alleged there is actually true, then it's worth looking into. That said, without accurate records (which is the subject of this post) an investigation would be fruitless. It's clear that this administration wants to avoid a paper trail for their actions. Why?
And let's not forget the Biden administration's suppression of the lab leak theory for the origins of Covid-19. I'm sure you have a good explanation for that as well, LOL.
Alan—the brother-in-law I trust will always bring the MAGA heat—thanks for engaging again. I’ve noticed a pattern in your comments: rather than addressing the core topic of each post, you tend to pivot to something broader or unrelated—like the Hunter Biden laptop, or now, the lab leak theory behind COVID’s origins. Those are valid topics. And while you’ve never asked, I’d actually support whatever investigations are necessary to fully understand the truth behind each. But they’re not what this post is about.
This piece focuses specifically on the erasure and manipulation of government records—a practice with serious implications for accountability and democratic oversight. You’re welcome to disagree with my interpretation, but I’d appreciate it if we could stay on topic. I know that as an attorney, you’re trained to shift the discussion to areas where you feel the strongest ground. But that just degenerates into "scoring points." It's not the kind of dialogue I’m aiming for here.
In multiple comments you've raised concerns about my sources and whether I’m capable of my own critical thinking. You’re certainly entitled to your opinion. Just yesterday, you texted how much you enjoy "stirring up sh*t" (your words) in these comments. And I guess you're free to do that if you want. But you should know that I don’t post things lightly, and I stand by what I write. If you believe I’ve misrepresented something in this post, I’m open to that discussion. But when the conversation shifts into unrelated Fox News talking points, I’m less likely to engage. That kind of detour doesn't really move the conversation forward.
As for the Berkshire house—thanks for your good wishes! We’re really looking forward to closing later this summer. We'll go back and forth with our home in NJ. It’s something we’ve been looking forward to for a long time.
Hal, my general criticism of your blog posts up to now is that you are not engaging in any critical analysis of your own to look behind your biased, anti-Trump content sources. You are picking and choosing your sources, not doing any critical thinking about what you are relying on, and basically engaging in a massive exercise in confirmation bias. It's not uncommon for raw intelligence work product to be subject to input from many sources and also many edits. I read the CBS article and if you look at it with some degree of objectivity and insight, you might be able to come up with an interpretation that doesn't automatically align with your "orange man bad" world view.
For example, it is very clear that even according to the assessments that you view as absolutely positively confirming that there is no Venezuelan government involvement with TDA, there are references to "limited" involvement of "some" members of the government with that gang. The conclusion is simply that is it not the official "policy" of the Venezuelan government to aid this gang. Well of course not! Just like when the USA engages in covert ops, we don't announce it as "official government policy." We want plausible deniability. And the conclusion is very weak--"probably not" basically means there is about a 49% chance that the conclusion is incorrect. Read up on the language used by the intelligence agencies in making these kinds of assessments--this is characteristic of a "low confidence" assessment. And obviously CBS does not have any access at all to classified sources or raw intelligence data.
Although Trump flatly denied U.S. government's involvement in any respect with the earlier stages of Israel's attack on Iran--supposedly we didn't know it was going to happen and the U.S. was left completely out of the loop--would any sane person actually believe that to be true? No, of course not. Of course the U.S. at a minimum provided Israel with top secret intelligence data, communications intercepts, and so forth.
While we are at it, since the general subject is the use of unreliable or biased intelligence community work product to obtain a political objective, I don't remember you raising the alarms about when 51 intelligence community members issued a public letter implying or alleging that the "Hunter Biden laptop" was a fake and indeed had all the "earmarks of Russian disinformation." Right before the 2020 election, when it could be presumed to have had a significant impact on voters' attitudes, especially independents.
As it turned out, the Hunter laptop and its contents was completely authentic.
I know it's causing you a lot of cognitive dissonance to process something like this, and you'll probably find a way to deflect from my question, but my question is directly relevant to your one-sided attack on Trump's administration on this issue.
Why didn't or don't you care about government officials manipulating intelligence data and or work product when the finger points at your party?
I'll leave that as an open question for however you choose to respond.
By the way Mary Ellen send me a video of your new house in the Berkshires. It looks beautiful!!! Congratulations!!!