The Laptop that won't shut down
"The attempts at a cover-up do make things worse."
We all love a good conspiracy tale because it can be entertaining, if nothing else. And sometimes, the yarns prove true in surprising and unexpected ways.
However, during the 2020 U.S. presidential election run-up, I bought nothing about Hunter Biden's laptop. The story of porn allied to dodgy deals sounded too confected, obvious and weird. Moreover, the timing of the revelations and those pushing the messages, including extreme Trump supporters, caused me to dismiss the purported evidence of corruption as over-hyped opportunist nonsense.
That the ultras of QAnon latched onto the saga to suggest that the laptop contained proof supporting their wild claims of a covert paedophile ring run by Hilary Clinton proved the final straw. To me, this looked and smelt like a load of rubbish.
My opinions are changing because a transformed story is coming to light that speaks to the deceitful manipulation of public opinion.
The story's core is that Hunter Biden, the current U.S. President's son, took three damaged laptops for repair in April 2019. One of the laptops contained many self-produced porn videos featuring Hunter, 120,000 emails and 30,000 text messages.
Hunter never returned to collect the computers. Instead, Trump supporters obtained a copy of the hard drive from the incriminating computer via Rudy Giuliani. Then, in October 2020, the New York Post ran the laptop story at a critical moment in the lead-up to the U.S. presidential election, claiming Hunter used his Dad's status as vice president to further their business interests.
The story had many salacious ingredients: allegations of corruption, sex and influential people. However, there is no question that the laptop came from Hunter, and despite his attempts to fudge the issue with ambiguous statements, he's never outright denied ownership.
None of the allegations against Hunter is new. Joe Biden's opponents raised the issue for years without landing a substantive blow. But now they concluded here is the smoking gun, with incriminating emails plus the side issue of Hunter's porn and drug addictions. Trump's people believed they had enough material to torpedo Joe Biden's presidential campaign, although it soon became clear many media outlets didn't want to entertain the story.
When the New York Post reports appeared, social media users experienced difficulties circulating the allegations, while many mainstream media ignored them. Social media outlets tweaked their algorithms to play down the story. At the time, many believed they acted to avoid the bad faith allegations made against them during the 2016 presidential election.
Yet, unbeknownst to the public, the FBI quietly seized the three computers in December 2019. In 2022, Mark Zuckerberg claimed that an FBI warning notice about a possible Russian disinformation campaign prompted Facebook to remove content related to the laptop story.
Imagine a law enforcement agency exercising implicit control over discussions on social media in the land of the free.
Then, a cohort of retired intelligence officials asserted that the laptop story had all the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign. Their credentials and standing gave weight to the claims the Russians planted the laptop.
At that point, most observers ignored the story, partly because they didn't want to be associated with the nonsense QAnon projected. Besides, experts claimed that the compromising emails could be easily faked.
Hence, reporters, pundits, and informed intelligence types dismissed the truth of the story, and it retreated into the background. Meanwhile, Joe Biden garnered sympathy by talking about Hunter's struggles with his demons, and everyone felt a father's genuine distress.
Well, the Laptop saga is back in the news. Unfortunately, what is emerging does not credit the mainstream media, social media companies, or former members of the U.S. intelligence community.
I find myself in an odd place by complimenting and recommending BBC coverage of The Coming Storm podcast. The series' early episodes explored the QAnon movement, leading up to the storming of Capitol Hill in January 2021. It's well worth a listen.
In the latest episodes, reporter Gabriel Gatehouse has his hands on the contents of Hunter's laptop, which he examines in fine detail. What he uncovers takes the narrative in a different direction as he exposes the collusion of the mainstream media, social media companies and other pundits in dismissing the story. Yep, you heard right; the BBC is revealing this!
Of course, Gatehouse rejected the wild claims of the QAnon mob; there is no evidence of Hunter's involvement with young girls. Nonetheless, the computer emails prove that the younger Biden facilitated a Ukrainian businessman's access to his father, the then-vice president. Moreover, the emails suggest that Joe Biden may have had a behind-the-scenes role as 'the big man' in business dealings while serving as vice president.
The whole saga has left an impression that powerful interests cooperated to keep the truth from the U.S. public at a critical moment. Finally, more media outlets are starting to recognise the significance of these allegations, with the New York Post mocking them for their earlier reticence.
This month, CBS News published the results of a forensic analysis they commissioned of a copy of the laptop data. The investigation found "no evidence that the user data had been modified, fabricated or tampered with", and no new files were created on the laptop after April 2019. The chief technology officer conducting the analysis stated, "I do not doubt in my mind that Hunter Biden created this data and that it came from a computer under Mr Biden's control".
Meantime, Elon Musk claims he will publish all correspondence with Twitter regarding the alleged suppression of the laptop story.
In many ways, the Hunter Biden laptop saga demonstrates everything that can go wrong in the political domain. First up — dismissing true stories as conspiracies can come back to bite, although not in the ways you think. Second, the attempts at a cover-up do make things worse because when the truth or a truth emerges to discredit a line of defence. Lastly, be careful of anything from so-called 'experts' who are players in the game.
The laptop story isn't going away. So, whilst the worst of the allegations around the saga proved untrue, there is enough meat for Biden's opponents to chew on. Also, the now-exposed attempts to shut down the story are grist for the mill of the tin foil hat brigade.
And with the Republicans taking control of the House of Representatives, be ready for more probing than one of Hunter's porn videos as this story will run.
November 2022
However, during the 2020 U.S. presidential election run-up, I bought nothing about Hunter Biden's laptop. The story of porn allied to dodgy deals sounded too confected, obvious and weird. Moreover, the timing of the revelations and those pushing the messages, including extreme Trump supporters, caused me to dismiss the purported evidence of corruption as over-hyped opportunist nonsense.
That the ultras of QAnon latched onto the saga to suggest that the laptop contained proof supporting their wild claims of a covert paedophile ring run by Hilary Clinton proved the final straw. To me, this looked and smelt like a load of rubbish.
My opinions are changing because a transformed story is coming to light that speaks to the deceitful manipulation of public opinion.
The story's core is that Hunter Biden, the current U.S. President's son, took three damaged laptops for repair in April 2019. One of the laptops contained many self-produced porn videos featuring Hunter, 120,000 emails and 30,000 text messages.
Hunter never returned to collect the computers. Instead, Trump supporters obtained a copy of the hard drive from the incriminating computer via Rudy Giuliani. Then, in October 2020, the New York Post ran the laptop story at a critical moment in the lead-up to the U.S. presidential election, claiming Hunter used his Dad's status as vice president to further their business interests.
The story had many salacious ingredients: allegations of corruption, sex and influential people. However, there is no question that the laptop came from Hunter, and despite his attempts to fudge the issue with ambiguous statements, he's never outright denied ownership.
None of the allegations against Hunter is new. Joe Biden's opponents raised the issue for years without landing a substantive blow. But now they concluded here is the smoking gun, with incriminating emails plus the side issue of Hunter's porn and drug addictions. Trump's people believed they had enough material to torpedo Joe Biden's presidential campaign, although it soon became clear many media outlets didn't want to entertain the story.
When the New York Post reports appeared, social media users experienced difficulties circulating the allegations, while many mainstream media ignored them. Social media outlets tweaked their algorithms to play down the story. At the time, many believed they acted to avoid the bad faith allegations made against them during the 2016 presidential election.
Yet, unbeknownst to the public, the FBI quietly seized the three computers in December 2019. In 2022, Mark Zuckerberg claimed that an FBI warning notice about a possible Russian disinformation campaign prompted Facebook to remove content related to the laptop story.
Imagine a law enforcement agency exercising implicit control over discussions on social media in the land of the free.
Then, a cohort of retired intelligence officials asserted that the laptop story had all the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign. Their credentials and standing gave weight to the claims the Russians planted the laptop.
At that point, most observers ignored the story, partly because they didn't want to be associated with the nonsense QAnon projected. Besides, experts claimed that the compromising emails could be easily faked.
Hence, reporters, pundits, and informed intelligence types dismissed the truth of the story, and it retreated into the background. Meanwhile, Joe Biden garnered sympathy by talking about Hunter's struggles with his demons, and everyone felt a father's genuine distress.
Well, the Laptop saga is back in the news. Unfortunately, what is emerging does not credit the mainstream media, social media companies, or former members of the U.S. intelligence community.
I find myself in an odd place by complimenting and recommending BBC coverage of The Coming Storm podcast. The series' early episodes explored the QAnon movement, leading up to the storming of Capitol Hill in January 2021. It's well worth a listen.
In the latest episodes, reporter Gabriel Gatehouse has his hands on the contents of Hunter's laptop, which he examines in fine detail. What he uncovers takes the narrative in a different direction as he exposes the collusion of the mainstream media, social media companies and other pundits in dismissing the story. Yep, you heard right; the BBC is revealing this!
Of course, Gatehouse rejected the wild claims of the QAnon mob; there is no evidence of Hunter's involvement with young girls. Nonetheless, the computer emails prove that the younger Biden facilitated a Ukrainian businessman's access to his father, the then-vice president. Moreover, the emails suggest that Joe Biden may have had a behind-the-scenes role as 'the big man' in business dealings while serving as vice president.
The whole saga has left an impression that powerful interests cooperated to keep the truth from the U.S. public at a critical moment. Finally, more media outlets are starting to recognise the significance of these allegations, with the New York Post mocking them for their earlier reticence.
This month, CBS News published the results of a forensic analysis they commissioned of a copy of the laptop data. The investigation found "no evidence that the user data had been modified, fabricated or tampered with", and no new files were created on the laptop after April 2019. The chief technology officer conducting the analysis stated, "I do not doubt in my mind that Hunter Biden created this data and that it came from a computer under Mr Biden's control".
Meantime, Elon Musk claims he will publish all correspondence with Twitter regarding the alleged suppression of the laptop story.
In many ways, the Hunter Biden laptop saga demonstrates everything that can go wrong in the political domain. First up — dismissing true stories as conspiracies can come back to bite, although not in the ways you think. Second, the attempts at a cover-up do make things worse because when the truth or a truth emerges to discredit a line of defence. Lastly, be careful of anything from so-called 'experts' who are players in the game.
The laptop story isn't going away. So, whilst the worst of the allegations around the saga proved untrue, there is enough meat for Biden's opponents to chew on. Also, the now-exposed attempts to shut down the story are grist for the mill of the tin foil hat brigade.
And with the Republicans taking control of the House of Representatives, be ready for more probing than one of Hunter's porn videos as this story will run.
November 2022
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