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-   -   Bill Barr and his October Surprise (http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=346780)

Andy_Ross 12th December 2020 09:07 AM

Trump Tweets

Why didn’t Bill Barr reveal the truth to the public, before the Election, about Hunter Biden. Joe was lying on the debate stage that nothing was wrong, or going on - Press confirmed. Big disadvantage for Republicans at the polls!

Dave Rogers 12th December 2020 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop (Post 13324062)
Trump Tweets

Why didn’t Bill Barr reveal the truth to the public, before the Election, about Hunter Biden. Joe was lying on the debate stage that nothing was wrong, or going on - Press confirmed. Big disadvantage for Republicans at the polls!

Classy. He's complaining that Barr didn't release information on an ongoing criminal investigation to him in time for him to use it in a smear campaign against Biden. The whole concept of integrity is so far beyond him that he doesn't even feel he has to pretend to have any.

Dave

Hercules56 12th December 2020 11:55 AM

Trump got his #Winning October Surprise in 2016.

Only one per President, sorry Don.

Skeptic Ginger 12th December 2020 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop (Post 13324062)
Trump Tweets

Why didn’t Bill Barr reveal the truth to the public, before the Election, about Hunter Biden. Joe was lying on the debate stage that nothing was wrong, or going on - Press confirmed. Big disadvantage for Republicans at the polls!

He's collecting excuses.

Darat 12th December 2020 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skeptic Ginger (Post 13324360)
He's collecting excuses.

Be interesting (for certain definitions of the word) to see what excuse his delusions will lead him to settle on.

Babbylonian 12th December 2020 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darat (Post 13324363)
Be interesting (for certain definitions of the word) to see what excuse his delusions will lead him to settle on.

He'll never settle for one. His excuse will always be the most recent one he notices in his Twitter feed.

a_unique_person 12th December 2020 03:29 PM

I want to see him fire Barr

eerok 12th December 2020 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by a_unique_person (Post 13324393)
I want to see him fire Barr

I don't know what to think of Barr. He seemed like such a Trump toadie for a long while, and then he started doing the right thing. It's confusing. I'd just as soon he stay for the end at this point, though.

dirtywick 12th December 2020 03:56 PM

Bill Barr got his termination date on Nov 3

dirtywick 12th December 2020 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eerok (Post 13324405)
I don't know what to think of Barr. He seemed like such a Trump toadie for a long while, and then he started doing the right thing. It's confusing. I'd just as soon he stay for the end at this point, though.

Everyone has their limits. Barr’s are just not what we thought they were

Norman Alexander 12th December 2020 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop (Post 13323973)
Trump Tweets

A big disappointment!
Quote Tweet

toddstarnes
@toddstarnes
If the Wall Street Journal story is true and Attorney General Barr knew in the spring about the Biden investigation and kept it quiet -- he should be fired by the end of business today.

Quote:

Fox News Parts Ways With Far-Right Host Todd Starnes

GOOD RIDDANCE

The conservative talking head is best-known for his incendiary anti-LGBT, xenophobic, and racist remarks both on-air, across Fox News programming and on his Fox Nation and Fox News Radio shows, and in his FoxNews.com columns...

...Starnes also has a long history of erroneous reporting, having once been fired from Baptist Press over “factual and contextual errors” and “misrepresentations.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-ne...t-todd-starnes

Skeptic Ginger 12th December 2020 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darat (Post 13324363)
Be interesting (for certain definitions of the word) to see what excuse his delusions will lead him to settle on.

He doesn't need one. He can spout whichever one or more fit the moment.

Skeptic Ginger 12th December 2020 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eerok (Post 13324405)
I don't know what to think of Barr. He seemed like such a Trump toadie for a long while, and then he started doing the right thing. [recognized the Trump train was on a rail that disappeared off a bridge into a canyon.] ...

ftfy

He has been trying to shift sides and claim he was always a reasonable guy for a few months now. As for not pursuing the Biden case in hopes of affecting the election, again, I'm not sure when he recognized Trump's chances didn't look good, but from my POV, he would have had to stick his neck out and could be there isn't a whole lot to the Biden case except maybe some tax fraud.

Barr would have looked like he was a Trump toadie and that's when he realized he had a lot to lose and little to gain.

Skeptic Ginger 12th December 2020 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Norman Alexander (Post 13324437)

That's dated Oct 2.

Mader Levap 12th December 2020 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eerok (Post 13324405)
I don't know what to think of Barr. He seemed like such a Trump toadie for a long while, and then he started doing the right thing. It's confusing. I'd just as soon he stay for the end at this point, though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dirtywick (Post 13324429)
Everyone has their limits. Barr’s are just not what we thought they were

He serves rethuglicans first and foremost, not Trump. That he flipped bird to Trump does not make him a good human.

eerok 12th December 2020 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mader Levap (Post 13324503)
He serves rethuglicans first and foremost, not Trump. That he flipped bird to Trump does not make him a good human.

I never imagined Barr to be a good human, but I think he turned out to be a better human than I thought he was. It's not a high bar. So to speak.

dirtywick 12th December 2020 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mader Levap (Post 13324503)
He serves rethuglicans first and foremost, not Trump. That he flipped bird to Trump does not make him a good human.

it wasn’t obvious who he was looking out for or how far he would go. He’s done plenty of questionable things in the past at Trumps request to help Trump.

Either way I think you’re wrong. He had a clear, and personally consequence free, chance to damage Biden and help Trump, and the R party, by smearing Biden with Hunter allegations and helping Trump win the election. He didn’t do it.

Darat 12th December 2020 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eerok (Post 13324405)
I don't know what to think of Barr. He seemed like such a Trump toadie for a long while, and then he started doing the right thing. It's confusing. I'd just as soon he stay for the end at this point, though.

Clue, rearrange these words to make a popular saying "wall writing the on the"

;)

Norman Alexander 12th December 2020 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skeptic Ginger (Post 13324500)
That's dated Oct 2.

Indeed. Mr Starnes was too insanely extreme for Fox even before they dropped Donny.

The Great Zaganza 12th December 2020 10:10 PM

The reason Barr kept the Hunter investigation hidden from Trump was to make a conviction possible.
If Trump had made a public spectacle of it, no judge could have found an unbiased jury.
Barr did not do the Bidens any favors.

Segnosaur 13th December 2020 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Great Zaganza (Post 13324674)
The reason Barr kept the Hunter investigation hidden from Trump was to make a conviction possible.
If Trump had made a public spectacle of it, no judge could have found an unbiased jury.
Barr did not do the Bidens any favors.

That of course assumes 1) Hunter broke the law, to the point where he could be convicted, 2) Barr actually cares about enforcing the law, or at least that it takes priority over political goals.

I am leaning towards "he didn't think it would help Trump's campaign ENOUGH and didn't want to tarnish his image further."

Sent from my LM-X320 using Tapatalk

StillSleepy 13th December 2020 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Segnosaur (Post 13324874)
That of course assumes 1) Hunter broke the law, to the point where he could be convicted, 2) Barr actually cares about enforcing the law, or at least that it takes priority over political goals.

I am leaning towards "he didn't think it would help Trump's campaign ENOUGH and didn't want to tarnish his image further."

Sent from my LM-X320 using Tapatalk

My take is that it's a simple decision with no substantial loss and a possibility of gain for Barr. Barr gets to cover his *** by investigating Hunter as the GOP desires without having a mass media meltdown, if he gets solid evidence of fraud and announces it he could swing the pendulum in the GOP's favor. If he doesn't, he can't be accused of interfering with the election by either party for "just doing his job."

Skeptic Ginger 13th December 2020 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StillSleepy (Post 13325003)
My take is that it's a simple decision with no substantial loss and a possibility of gain for Barr. Barr gets to cover his *** by investigating Hunter as the GOP desires without having a mass media meltdown, if he gets solid evidence of fraud and announces it he could swing the pendulum in the GOP's favor. If he doesn't, he can't be accused of interfering with the election by either party for "just doing his job."

So why do you suppose he didn't?

acbytesla 13th December 2020 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eerok (Post 13324506)
I never imagined Barr to be a good human, but I think he turned out to be a better human than I thought he was. It's not a high bar. So to speak.

:thumbsup: He might be better. But all of this could also simply be self serving. I also think that he may have grown to despise Trump. This is not hard to imagine. Trump uses people and the moment you show any Independence he tosses you under the bus.

Barr has always been a self serving cretin. I don't buy he grew a conscience.

StillSleepy 13th December 2020 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skeptic Ginger (Post 13325007)
So why do you suppose he didn't?

I am unclear on which action you are referring to.
ETA: I'm referring to his decision to have the young Bidens investigated without announcing it prior to or during the election.

Skeptic Ginger 13th December 2020 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StillSleepy (Post 13325019)
I am unclear on which action you are referring to.
ETA: I'm referring to his decision to have the young Bidens investigated without announcing it prior to or during the election.

Yes, that is what I'm referring to.

You posted there was no downside to Barr investigating Hunter. Then why didn't Barr make it a public affair.

Norman Alexander 13th December 2020 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acbytesla (Post 13325011)
:thumbsup: He might be better. But all of this could also simply be self serving. I also think that he may have grown to despise Trump. This is not hard to imagine. Trump uses people and the moment you show any Independence he tosses you under the bus.

Barr has always been a self serving cretin. I don't buy he grew a conscience.

I think it is almost certainly this, plus the fact Barr has a brain and can think at least a few moves ahead. Not chess grand master deep thought, but enough to know how to have this particular investigation organised to his own best advantage, i.e. quietly so Donny doesn't hear about it.

StillSleepy 13th December 2020 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skeptic Ginger (Post 13325052)
Yes, that is what I'm referring to.



You posted there was no downside to Barr investigating Hunter. Then why didn't Barr make it a public affair.

The combination of investigating Biden without announcing it doesn't have much of a downside, not the mere investigating of Biden. Announcing the Biden investigation would have created a three ring circus between Trump and the media, and would have left Barr without an out with Trump if the investigation turned up nothing. Basically it gives him plausible deniability for both parties.

acbytesla 13th December 2020 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Norman Alexander (Post 13325063)
I think it is almost certainly this, plus the fact Barr has a brain and can think at least a few moves ahead. Not chess grand master deep thought, but enough to know how to have this particular investigation organised to his own best advantage, i.e. quietly so Donny doesn't hear about it.

What is Trump going to do to him? Fire him? Trump could ill afford to fire him and have some career Deputy AG not in the least bit loyal to Trump continue on in his place until Congress approves a new AG. I despise Barr, but I have no reason to question his intelligence.

dudalb 13th December 2020 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acbytesla (Post 13325131)
What is Trump going to do to him? Fire him? Trump could ill afford to fire him and have some career Deputy AG not in the least bit loyal to Trump continue on in his place until Congress approves a new AG. I despise Barr, but I have no reason to question his intelligence.


Yeah, Trump always acts in a rational and logical manner.....

Craig4 13th December 2020 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skeptic Ginger (Post 13325052)
Yes, that is what I'm referring to.

You posted there was no downside to Barr investigating Hunter. Then why didn't Barr make it a public affair.

I think it's entirely possible that the career attorneys simply didn't tell him or didn't tell him about Hunter's role in their investigation. They've all seen Barr intervene in DoJ cases to Trump's political advantage. They've all also been told to do things by Barr that make no sense and would damage their ability to prosecute. He might have known Hunter was a known associate of this Chinese business person but not told he was also a person on interest.

acbytesla 13th December 2020 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dudalb (Post 13325155)
Yeah, Trump always acts in a rational and logical manner.....

No he doesn't. Who's to say whether he comprehends the futility of firing Barr at this moment. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Actually, I'm saying Barr is giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Horatius 13th December 2020 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig4 (Post 13325172)
I think it's entirely possible that the career attorneys simply didn't tell him or didn't tell him about Hunter's role in their investigation. They've all seen Barr intervene in DoJ cases to Trump's political advantage. They've all also been told to do things by Barr that make no sense and would damage their ability to prosecute. He might have known Hunter was a known associate of this Chinese business person but not told he was also a person on interest.



It's also possible that he knew the ongoing investigation wasn't turning up any actual evidence. The fiasco of the Hunter Biden Laptops was bad enough, imagine how it would have looked if the DoJ had also tried to lay a lame tax fraud charge on him, and failed?

dirtywick 13th December 2020 03:08 PM

if there was something there, Barr wouldn't be shy about saying so. but Trump wasn't asking that of him. Trump asking Barr to intervene in the voter fraud PR stunts and he refused to do that also.

Barr has played fast and loose with facts and interpretation of them in the past but i think what Trump is asking of him now is too far even for him

a_unique_person 13th December 2020 03:50 PM

Barr did his job of saving Trump's presidency. He came to realise, like just about everyone else, that Trump is a total jerk and list interest in him when the end was coming.

Norman Alexander 13th December 2020 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Horatius (Post 13325204)
It's also possible that he knew the ongoing investigation wasn't turning up any actual evidence. The fiasco of the Hunter Biden Laptops was bad enough, imagine how it would have looked if the DoJ had also tried to lay a lame tax fraud charge on him, and failed?

Especially since Donny, his lord and master and paymaster, is going to face multiple real and viable tax fraud charges the moment he leaves office.

Hercules56 13th December 2020 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dirtywick (Post 13325214)
if there was something there, Barr wouldn't be shy about saying so. but Trump wasn't asking that of him. Trump asking Barr to intervene in the voter fraud PR stunts and he refused to do that also.

Barr has played fast and loose with facts and interpretation of them in the past but i think what Trump is asking of him now is too far even for him

Its because of things like this that I think its possible Donny may be doing all this just to raise money, and not because he thinks actual serious fraud took place.

I really don't think he would consider his own AG to be an enemy trying to hobble him. Or maybe I am wrong and Trump really is that insane.

Segnosaur 13th December 2020 05:37 PM

And the relationship between Stubby McBonespurs and Bill "Flintstone" Barr is getting nastier..

From:The Independent
Attorney General Bill Barr has reportedly compared Donald Trump's attacks on him as a “deposed king ranting"...

Craig4 13th December 2020 06:08 PM

Or it's possible Barr just wanted revenge. Trump had been calling out Barr for not arresting or launching investigations into Biden for a while. Barr seems like the type of guy who would do something like these and tell Trump at their last parting that he did it to hurt him.

Craig4 13th December 2020 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Segnosaur (Post 13325295)
And the relationship between Stubby McBonespurs and Bill "Flintstone" Barr is getting nastier..

From:The Independent
Attorney General Bill Barr has reportedly compared Donald Trump's attacks on him as a “deposed king ranting"...

That was a quote intended to get leaked.

Hercules56 13th December 2020 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Segnosaur (Post 13325295)
And the relationship between Stubby McBonespurs and Bill "Flintstone" Barr is getting nastier..

From:The Independent
Attorney General Bill Barr has reportedly compared Donald Trump's attacks on him as a “deposed king ranting"...

Would be awesome if Trump fires Barr.

Will just show how messed up a POTUS he is.

acbytesla 13th December 2020 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Segnosaur (Post 13325295)
And the relationship between Stubby McBonespurs and Bill "Flintstone" Barr is getting nastier..

From:The Independent
Attorney General Bill Barr has reportedly compared Donald Trump's attacks on him as a “deposed king ranting"...

It's funny because it really doesn't matter. Trump could fire Barr. And Barr is sitting there thinking "ooooh". "So?"

All these Trump sycophants are making a huge mistake. They would be better off standing up to Trump now. In fact, this is a perfect time to turn on him.

Norman Alexander 13th December 2020 07:49 PM

Getting fired by Donny could be a perverse sort of badge of honour.

The Great Zaganza 13th December 2020 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Norman Alexander (Post 13325363)
Getting fired by Donny could be a perverse sort of badge of honour.

For Republicans looking for a career with the Party, getting fired by Trump is better than quitting.

For people with a moral compass, it's the other way around.

dirtywick 14th December 2020 02:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig4 (Post 13325312)
Or it's possible Barr just wanted revenge. Trump had been calling out Barr for not arresting or launching investigations into Biden for a while. Barr seems like the type of guy who would do something like these and tell Trump at their last parting that he did it to hurt him.

Trump has tried to bully him on several occasions. Standing up to Trump is what we’ve been hoping the GOP would start to do.

It’s just weird that it’s Barr of all people. But you take what you’re given

slyjoe 14th December 2020 06:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Great Zaganza (Post 13325484)
For Republicans looking for a career with the Party, getting fired by Trump is better than quitting.

For people with a moral compass, it's the other way around.

Trump started out with some of those. I'm not sure there are any left. Anyone in mind? Certainly not the ones out front with the election fraud claims.

Stacyhs 14th December 2020 03:36 PM

Bill Barr just resigned

Mader Levap 14th December 2020 03:42 PM

Rat, ship.

Andy_Ross 14th December 2020 03:49 PM

Trump Tweets

Just had a very nice meeting with Attorney General Bill Barr at the White House. Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job! As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family...

...Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, an outstanding person, will become Acting Attorney General. Highly respected Richard Donoghue will be taking over the duties of Deputy Attorney General. Thank you to all!

Stacyhs 14th December 2020 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop (Post 13326422)
Trump Tweets

Just had a very nice meeting with Attorney General Bill Barr at the White House. Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job! As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family...

...Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, an outstanding person, will become Acting Attorney General. Highly respected Richard Donoghue will be taking over the duties of Deputy Attorney General. Thank you to all!

....except when I was deriding him and saying he wasn't.


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