Politics Thread

[-Jrabbit]

All this GOP desperation to pin SOMETHING, ANYTHING on Joe Biden is, more and more, just needy and pathetic.

[-Jrabbit]

So they're leaking Hunter Biden news over their holiday break? Ah, those House Republicans -- forever working in service to our country...
I'm sure they're also working on the budget, the border, and aid to Ukraine and Israel during their downtime.

[Berzerker]

Joe said he never talked about Hunter's business

[Ming]

Until you see them... So far, they have come up with jack ****.

[Berzerker]

Joe Biden exchanged emails with his son Hunter’s business associate 54 times while he was serving as vice president, and some of the messages were sent around the time the elder Biden was traveling to Ukraine and his son was working for a Ukrainian gas company, according to records released by House Republicans.

nbc says they didn't read the emails, I'm sure Joe was asking about the weather

[-Jrabbit]

"Funded the song"??? WTF does that even mean?
We're talking about a highly successful German metal band here. Writing songs is not like funding rebel forces.
I sincerely doubt there would have been any CIA involvement until well after the song was written, recorded, and released. Maybe they paid off some DJs to get it onto the charts; that is much more their style.

[Ming]

So... your point? I guess you don't think people should have opinions anymore?
Or are opinions OK only if they support your views?

[Ming]

The backpedaling when you go called on your CIA conspiracy song BS.
And I love how you don't even bother with the Repub/Trump biggest lie of stolen election with MASSIVE FRAUD but instead say he lied about crowd size and his wall. He lied just about everything.

[Berzerker]

What backpedaling? Democrats lied to Fisa judges to spy on their political opponents. Trump lied about crowd sizes. Obama and Biden lied about arming terrorists, Trump lied about his wall with Mexico.

[Berzerker]

“Why are you standing with confederates who betrayed this country? This is what they’re standing with. It’s the spirit of those confederates rather than the Americans who came together after a long and brutal Civil War that was fought to keep the Union together and clearly saw a threat in ex-confederates running for office. So much so they amended the Constitution to prevent those traitors from running for office.” - Mara Gay NYT editorial board member

That was on Morning Joe responding to people who disagree with the Colorado supreme court decision... Apparently that includes the 3 judges appointed by Democrats.

[Ming]

The back peddling continues...
And I love how you call the Democrats liars when Trump and the Repubs lie FAR MORE. They are still claiming they won the election... And Rudy... stepping out of a courtroom a huge loser, claimed again he had evidence they cheated
And now he will get sued again. Sounds like Trump.

[Berzerker]

I dont think he claimed they wrote the song, only that they funded art and culture thru various cut outs or fronts and they funded the song. I dont know if that means grants or promotions or both.

[Berzerker]

And I even believed the Democrats back in 2016-17 that Trump was a traitorous sell out to Putin. But they're liars so now I have more trust in whistleblowers with knowledge of the subject.

[Ming]

Berz believes everything he see's in internet videos.

[-Jrabbit]

https://youtu.be/WnMnGn7XgfU

Today I learned The Scorpions hit song "Winds of Change" was funded by the CIA

No you didn't. As usual, this is a bunch of unproven allegations, laughed off and denied years ago by the actual (German) songwriter, but embraced by Berz and the YouTubeVerse. This one is from several years ago, and it's about a pop song from 1991. This idea was advanced and laughed to the curb several years ago, including by the songwriter, Klaus Meine, who said in 2014:

"The idea came to me in the U.S.S.R. when I was sitting in the Gorky Park Center one summer night, looking at the Moskva River. The song is my personal reappraisal of what has happened in the world in recent years." (Scorps had played a huge concert in Moscow in 1989.)

The song is the subject of the Pineapple Street Studios podcast series Wind of Change, released 11 May 2020, which raises questions regarding the song's origin.Patrick Radden Keefe, the New Yorker author and host of the podcast, investigates the allegation that the song was written by or connected to the Central Intelligence Agency, citing a rumor originating allegedly from inside the agency. In a Sirius XM interview with Eddie Trunk on 13 May 2020, Meine stated "It's a fascinating idea, and it's an entertaining idea, but it's not true at all".

As usual, it's all rumors, allegations, "just asking questions" and amplifying sparse evidence out of context. Even Keefe admits it's all based on a second-hand story from a friend of a friend who formerly worked at the CIA. Conveniently, he does not claim or present any first-hand, factual knowledge or sources.

I'll leave you with this excerpt from a May 2020 interview with Klaus Meine (after the Pineapple Street podcasts). Maybe he can talk some sense into you...

Meine stated about the CIA rumor: "I would be ashamed if I would bring up a story like this. Everybody would say, 'Klaus, no. No way.' Like, a marketing plan, 30 years of 'Wind Of Change'. It's, like, you never would go that far, because I don't know anybody who believes that kind of story.

"I think the success of the 'Wind Of Change' podcast is because people get into this, they're drawn into this kind of scenario," he continued. "It's, like, 'Hmm, it could be true. It could be true. Or maybe not. Maybe yes.' And I think this is what this whole story is about the CIA and the SCORPIONS. And everybody picks it up around the world, and I go, 'God. The New York Times? Jeez. Rolling Stone? Again? Oh, come on.'

"On the other side, of course it's not true at all," he added. "It shows how powerful music can be. If they think this song was like a tool to help to bring down communism — I mean, Jeez." [Laughs]

I'm not saying the CIA doesn't try to influence public opinion; just that this particular theory is goofy and unproven.