Hey @theFP why did you disable comments on last week’s column on the “case against RFKjr”? It was getting quite the ratio and readers were appalled at the lack of intellectual curiosity shown by the author, a former Harvard Medical School Dean, but it seems like that isn’t very “Free Press” of you to squash dissenters and those disagreed with one of your columns. It felt very 2021 of you to do that, tbh — and then to go and today lament about Dr. Jay’s censorship he faced. Hypocritical a smidge, no?
I subscribe, I pay money for this. I do that because I believe in the Free press but if it's turning into the Republican press then maybe it's time to reevaluate my subscription. I'm not going to weigh in on whether Biden should have or should not have pardoned his son but don't pretend that Trump wouldn't have done the same thing. Most of you would have made excuses for that.
Let's at least display a modicum of fairness and impartiality.
Kristen Clarke, appointed by Biden as assistant AG in charge of ethnic affairs was once a part of the Harvard Crimson when she was a student. She invited a tenured professor from Wellsey called Tony Martin who wrote The Jewish Onslaught a totally antisemitic false narrative that all the Wellesey professors and the head of Harvard black studies denounced. She was asked about this and said she made a mistake and should have never invited him and took back her comment that he was a notable author who speaks the truth. She said that had she had to do it over, she would never had invited him and never had stated that he was a speaking the truth.
She was appointed and I present this to show that political appointees to any position have retold history to fit their narrative.
Tulsi Gabbard has served our country loyally as far as I know, and I am not knowledgeable enough to comment on her Syria visit, her view on Ukraine, but am certain that she is more qualified than Kamala Harris for the position as we all now know.
The current head of the National Intelligence Service, whose name is totally insignificant but the Biden foreign affairs decisions in his 4 years are so wrong and many done to spite Trump.
Like taking the sanctions off Iran.
Like only allowing Israel to defend their country as long as they conduct the war according to the US decisions. Thank goodness, Israel did not listen to him.
Like his withdrawl from Afghanistan and not using the Bagraham military airport and leaving the US military to guard it to leave last.
Like leaving all the military weapons for the Taliban.
Like not closing the southern border but opening it and telling the US citizens it was secure.
I could go on and on but my point is simply that politics is a corrupt, dirty, power hungry business that needs fixing but will never get fixed.
I understand why Biden did it, but pardoning his son - after repeatedly saying he wouldn't - is a terrible way for him to end his term.
The country is already deeply worried whether the Justice Department can be trusted to impartially implement the law. This act does nothing to reassure Americans that the justice system is strong and impartial. It says the opposite: "I need to take care of my own while I can, because there's no telling what Trump's goons will do next year".
It's true that every president has made controversial pardons. However, we were told that Trump was a unique threat, a "fascist", an authoritarian - and it's only our institutions that will save us. If you believe that, you wouldn't damage those very institutions on your way out by such a self-serving act.
If Biden insisted on pardoning his son, he should have pardoned Trump as well. It would have been a small gesture of goodwill that could have softened the blowback - with zero practical implications since the federal prosecutions are now over. He couldn't even do that.
Do you think for a second that Trump wouldn't have done the same thing? Do you think there isn't an element of politics in the prosecution of his son? Of course there is.
Of course Trump would. He did pardon a whole lot of unsavory characters already. Trump even wants to make Jared Kushner's dad, whom he pardoned, ambassador to France. He is already talking about pardoning the J6 "hostages".
But again - Trump was supposed to be the aberration - of course *he* would do that, but normal politicians would not. I guess that's out the window now.
Do you think there is an "element of politics" for Joe pardoning Hunter for anything and everything he may have done over a 10 year span? I don't blame a dad for using his power to get his kid out of trouble. But he repeatedly said he wouldn't do it, and the extremely broad scope of the pardon stinks.
I think that Trump would do the same thing. Part of the issue is that it spans 10 years and in addition he repeatedly said he would not do it. The lack of integrity while not surprising at all is another very sad statement for our supposed Commander in Chief ( who hasn’t really commanded anything for a very long time if ever), and kind of seals the deal ( hopefully this is the end of his despicable acts as President) to get him ranked as one of the worst Presidents in history.
Agreed. His defenders saying "Trump did worse!" or "Trump would do it too!" are hypocrites. You can't spend eight years calling trump a lying, racist Nazi and then say your guy can do whatever he wants BECAUSE TRUMP!
As my parents used to say, "Just because Susie chose to steal that lipstick, does that make it ok for you to do it too?" As a disclaimer, this was a metaphorical example for why bad behavior is not ok. I didn't actually shoplift-lol-
- Joe Nocera and Eli Lake grace these pages today with common sense and objectivity.
- "Pro-Trump columnist Scott Jennings is joining the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times... The paper’s owner... announcing his intention to make the newsroom more balanced."
"Gabbard met with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad—the man who killed hundreds of his own people, including children, with chemical weapons four years earlier."
This is a bit understated. The war Assad started because calls for democratic reform were so threatening to him is credited with killing about 500,000 of his own people and the displacement of about 10 million others.
Oh those "Syrian rebels"! The people that committed the Yazidi genocide! The ISIS and Al Qaeda monsters who burned those Yazidi girls alive in a cage because they refused to be sex slaves?
HOW DARE YOU SPEAK OF THEM LIKE YOU DID!! HOW DARE YOU DO THAT AND THEN MAKE AN APPEAL FOR THE HOSTAGES!
HOW DARE THE FREE PRESS BE SO BLITHELY IGNORANT WHEN ALL OF YOU SHOULD KNOW!
Regarding Bhattacharya, I’m glad I lived long enough to witness this poetic justice for him. Unfucking believable.
Regarding Biden’s pardon of his son, despicable. I’m a father two boys (men now) and if one of them were found guilty for the same I’d say, I love you but no ones responsible for your actions other than yourself so man up and serve your time.
I can't wait for January 20/21 to C E L E B R A T E!
I will cheer when the Jan 6ers are freed! I may even take to my own downtown to voice my happiness with signs. Join me.
I cannot imagine how the wife/mother/family member/friend of a Jan 6 political prisoner (unjustly imprisoned to deter others from speaking out against the government corruption) feels today hearing that Hunter was pardon by his corrupt 3x loser daddy.
The LORD knows the treasonous acts they committed against our great nation.
More on Hunter Biden: https://x.com/AB84/status/1863555856710705237
Is anyone else encountering problems reading Eli’s article on Tulsi Gabbard? I clicked on the link on three devices and it says page not found.
The email link doesn't work anymore (it did earlier this morning) but you can get to it from the website's front page.
https://www.thefp.com/p/tulsi-gabbard-smears-russia-syria-putin-assad
Hey @theFP why did you disable comments on last week’s column on the “case against RFKjr”? It was getting quite the ratio and readers were appalled at the lack of intellectual curiosity shown by the author, a former Harvard Medical School Dean, but it seems like that isn’t very “Free Press” of you to squash dissenters and those disagreed with one of your columns. It felt very 2021 of you to do that, tbh — and then to go and today lament about Dr. Jay’s censorship he faced. Hypocritical a smidge, no?
I subscribe, I pay money for this. I do that because I believe in the Free press but if it's turning into the Republican press then maybe it's time to reevaluate my subscription. I'm not going to weigh in on whether Biden should have or should not have pardoned his son but don't pretend that Trump wouldn't have done the same thing. Most of you would have made excuses for that.
Let's at least display a modicum of fairness and impartiality.
As several commenters have pointed out the starting date of the Biden pardon was Jan 1st, 2014.
A correction is needed regarding Biden pardon. The kid has been pardoned for any and everything from Jan 1, 2014 NOT Jan 1,2024.
That wasn't a typo, it was gaslighting
Kristen Clarke, appointed by Biden as assistant AG in charge of ethnic affairs was once a part of the Harvard Crimson when she was a student. She invited a tenured professor from Wellsey called Tony Martin who wrote The Jewish Onslaught a totally antisemitic false narrative that all the Wellesey professors and the head of Harvard black studies denounced. She was asked about this and said she made a mistake and should have never invited him and took back her comment that he was a notable author who speaks the truth. She said that had she had to do it over, she would never had invited him and never had stated that he was a speaking the truth.
She was appointed and I present this to show that political appointees to any position have retold history to fit their narrative.
Tulsi Gabbard has served our country loyally as far as I know, and I am not knowledgeable enough to comment on her Syria visit, her view on Ukraine, but am certain that she is more qualified than Kamala Harris for the position as we all now know.
The current head of the National Intelligence Service, whose name is totally insignificant but the Biden foreign affairs decisions in his 4 years are so wrong and many done to spite Trump.
Like taking the sanctions off Iran.
Like only allowing Israel to defend their country as long as they conduct the war according to the US decisions. Thank goodness, Israel did not listen to him.
Like his withdrawl from Afghanistan and not using the Bagraham military airport and leaving the US military to guard it to leave last.
Like leaving all the military weapons for the Taliban.
Like not closing the southern border but opening it and telling the US citizens it was secure.
I could go on and on but my point is simply that politics is a corrupt, dirty, power hungry business that needs fixing but will never get fixed.
I understand why Biden did it, but pardoning his son - after repeatedly saying he wouldn't - is a terrible way for him to end his term.
The country is already deeply worried whether the Justice Department can be trusted to impartially implement the law. This act does nothing to reassure Americans that the justice system is strong and impartial. It says the opposite: "I need to take care of my own while I can, because there's no telling what Trump's goons will do next year".
It's true that every president has made controversial pardons. However, we were told that Trump was a unique threat, a "fascist", an authoritarian - and it's only our institutions that will save us. If you believe that, you wouldn't damage those very institutions on your way out by such a self-serving act.
If Biden insisted on pardoning his son, he should have pardoned Trump as well. It would have been a small gesture of goodwill that could have softened the blowback - with zero practical implications since the federal prosecutions are now over. He couldn't even do that.
Do you think for a second that Trump wouldn't have done the same thing? Do you think there isn't an element of politics in the prosecution of his son? Of course there is.
Of course Trump would. He did pardon a whole lot of unsavory characters already. Trump even wants to make Jared Kushner's dad, whom he pardoned, ambassador to France. He is already talking about pardoning the J6 "hostages".
But again - Trump was supposed to be the aberration - of course *he* would do that, but normal politicians would not. I guess that's out the window now.
Do you think there is an "element of politics" for Joe pardoning Hunter for anything and everything he may have done over a 10 year span? I don't blame a dad for using his power to get his kid out of trouble. But he repeatedly said he wouldn't do it, and the extremely broad scope of the pardon stinks.
I think that Trump would do the same thing. Part of the issue is that it spans 10 years and in addition he repeatedly said he would not do it. The lack of integrity while not surprising at all is another very sad statement for our supposed Commander in Chief ( who hasn’t really commanded anything for a very long time if ever), and kind of seals the deal ( hopefully this is the end of his despicable acts as President) to get him ranked as one of the worst Presidents in history.
Agreed. His defenders saying "Trump did worse!" or "Trump would do it too!" are hypocrites. You can't spend eight years calling trump a lying, racist Nazi and then say your guy can do whatever he wants BECAUSE TRUMP!
As my parents used to say, "Just because Susie chose to steal that lipstick, does that make it ok for you to do it too?" As a disclaimer, this was a metaphorical example for why bad behavior is not ok. I didn't actually shoplift-lol-
“he has committed or may have committed” from January 1, 2024 through December 1, 2024."
Edit needed. It is January 1, 2014, not 2024.
What a great read this morning's FP is.
- Joe Nocera and Eli Lake grace these pages today with common sense and objectivity.
- "Pro-Trump columnist Scott Jennings is joining the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times... The paper’s owner... announcing his intention to make the newsroom more balanced."
"Gabbard met with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad—the man who killed hundreds of his own people, including children, with chemical weapons four years earlier."
This is a bit understated. The war Assad started because calls for democratic reform were so threatening to him is credited with killing about 500,000 of his own people and the displacement of about 10 million others.
Why can't I access Eli Lake's piece? Anyone else had that problem?
I did. Click on MORE FROM THE FREE PRESS in red to access Gabbard and Bhattacharya stories.
I had both those stories but not Lake's. Hopefully they fix that.
I think Lake wrote the Gabbard story
Re. Bhattacharya and 95% of the other appointees:
A word on character, since it seems to be the thing that keeps folks in neurosis about Pres. Trump: a man is known by the company keeps.
Oh those "Syrian rebels"! The people that committed the Yazidi genocide! The ISIS and Al Qaeda monsters who burned those Yazidi girls alive in a cage because they refused to be sex slaves?
HOW DARE YOU SPEAK OF THEM LIKE YOU DID!! HOW DARE YOU DO THAT AND THEN MAKE AN APPEAL FOR THE HOSTAGES!
HOW DARE THE FREE PRESS BE SO BLITHELY IGNORANT WHEN ALL OF YOU SHOULD KNOW!
HOW DARE YOU!
Regarding Bhattacharya, I’m glad I lived long enough to witness this poetic justice for him. Unfucking believable.
Regarding Biden’s pardon of his son, despicable. I’m a father two boys (men now) and if one of them were found guilty for the same I’d say, I love you but no ones responsible for your actions other than yourself so man up and serve your time.
Agreed, but by pardoning Hunter it kind of clears Joe from the whole corruption mess as well. Dual purpose.
I can't wait for January 20/21 to C E L E B R A T E!
I will cheer when the Jan 6ers are freed! I may even take to my own downtown to voice my happiness with signs. Join me.
I cannot imagine how the wife/mother/family member/friend of a Jan 6 political prisoner (unjustly imprisoned to deter others from speaking out against the government corruption) feels today hearing that Hunter was pardon by his corrupt 3x loser daddy.
The LORD knows the treasonous acts they committed against our great nation.