Is Matt Gaetz Dumb, or Mentally Retarded?

if you think any prosecutor in their right mind is gonna try to call "actual sugar daddies" to court to testify you've been watching too many re-runs of "Matlock" and "Perry Mason". Originally Posted by The_Waco_Kid

lol sir..

Is conspiracy to defraud the United States by Russian nationals really unrelated to Trump/Russian collusion? Originally Posted by preggolover89

Most likely yes.

Is it worth it to spend this much time on Matt Gaetz

Is it worth it to spend this much time on Matt Gaetz Originally Posted by VitaMan

he's at the intersection of so many backstories: the hobby, Tallahassee politics, trumpism, hypocrisy, yada yada. i think that's what makes his story so entertaining to watch. (except for him)..

Is it worth it to spend this much time on Matt Gaetz Originally Posted by VitaMan

That's all some have to do. Please don't forget this is the same crowd who "followed" the Russian Collusion STORY for about five years ... and some still do! Now their President wants a war with Russia.

That's all some have to do. Please don't forget this is the same crowd who "followed" the Russian Collusion STORY for about five years ... and some still do! Now their President wants a war with Russia. Originally Posted by LexusLover

Russia is not our friend and never has been. Putin is massing troops and heavy weapons on the eastern border of Ukraine right now in greater numbers than during their last invasion of Ukraine, probably for a second invasion. I'm not sure who's worse between Russia and China; they are both awful, malignant actors on the world stage antithetical to human rights, democracy and freedom. If there's a WWIII, it will be Russia and China and their slave states against the U.S. and its many allies, most of whom Trump snubbed or bitched about. He forgot we're in NATO for our own benefit, not primarily for the benefit of our allies. He could have easily asked for greater monetary contributions on back channels rather than blathering for all the world to see, including our enemies Russia and China. They were literally falling over laughing all the way to their nuclear stockpiles.

The only reason Trump became Putin's bitch is he wanted a Trump tower in Moscow, [and maybe they had dirt on him too.] (Same thing for throwing our allies the Kurds under the bus in Syria, to be slaughtered by Turkish airstrikes, because he wanted a Trump tower Ankara.) He literally threw America under the bus, happy to sell out Ukraine and the U.S. over a hotel deal, while looking for and receiving Putin's help for his own elections, including help from the KGB. What he did fits any reasonable definition of treason.

Anyway, back on topic. How do you predict the Gaetz saga will end, based on what we know-or don't know-so far?

Russia is not our friend and never has been. Originally Posted by pxmcc

Tell that to the Russian astronauts and the hot babes visiting us.

FYI: "Friends"? Who the fuck really cares if they are or not?





Did you decide that while Trump was running for office?

Or was it after he got elected?

The guy for whom you voted last year can't remember the Russians.

I think that photo is from when Hillary was Secretary of State. That is the donation button you pushed to be able to enter her office.

new york times has pretty high jounalistic standards imo. cnn was actually quoting the nyt. Originally Posted by pxmcc

So much for those high journalistic standards.


https://www.foxnews.com/media/brian-...tion-narrative


Washington's top medical examiner debunked a once-widespread media narrative on Monday by announcing U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick suffered two strokes and died of natural causes the day after he confronted Jan. 6 Capitol rioters.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald reminded readers that The New York Times "published an emotionally gut-wrenching but complete fiction that never had any evidence" by initially reporting, as Greenwald put it, that Sicknick’s "skull was savagely bashed in with a fire extinguisher by a pro-Trump mob until he died."


I'm sure Gaetz is enjoying the benefit of the kind of same journalistic integrity.

So much for those high journalistic standards.


https://www.foxnews.com/media/brian-...tion-narrative


Washington's top medical examiner debunked a once-widespread media narrative on Monday by announcing U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick suffered two strokes and died of natural causes the day after he confronted Jan. 6 Capitol rioters.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald reminded readers that The New York Times "published an emotionally gut-wrenching but complete fiction that never had any evidence" by initially reporting, as Greenwald put it, that Sicknick’s "skull was savagely bashed in with a fire extinguisher by a pro-Trump mob until he died."


I'm sure Gaetz is enjoying the benefit of the kind of same journalistic integrity. Originally Posted by boardman

well for one thing, there is the fog of war. the times' sources may have misinterpreted what they saw. but the times wont throw their anonymous sources under the bus by outing them and blaming their sources, which they could easily do.

second, do you really believe it was just a coincidence? photos of the guy show a healthy vital dude, not someone who looks like he's about to keel over. he died exactly the day after the insurrection from brain hemorrage and stroke. gee, what are the odds..

it reminds me of Chauvin's defense team saying Floyd died from just a garden variety heart attack and drugs, definitely not that he was unable to breathe for 9+ minutes. doesn't sound very plausible or likely to me that there was no connection..

finally, journalists have to go with the best intel they have available at the time they go to press. does that mean they are infallible? nope. only the pope is infallible-allegedly-and even then there's a hedge-only on matters of faith and morals. so there's that..

back to Gaetz. anything specific from the reporting you think is bs? if you name it and end up being proven correct, you will definitely get my salute..

Journalism........integrity... ...tabloid sensationalism
the problem, but no solution given



Now this is getting onto the same thing that earlier in the thread advised was not on topic

well for one thing, there is the fog of war. the times' sources may have misinterpreted what they saw. but the times wont throw their anonymous sources under the bus by outing them and blaming their sources, which they could easily do.

second, do you really believe it was just a coincidence? photos of the guy show a healthy vital dude, not someone who looks like he's about to keel over. he died exactly the day after the insurrection from brain hemorrage and stroke. gee, what are the odds..

it reminds me of Chauvin's defense team saying Floyd died from just a garden variety heart attack and drugs, definitely not that he was unable to breathe for 9+ minutes. doesn't sound very plausible or likely to me that there was no connection..

finally, journalists have to go with the best intel they have available at the time they go to press. does that mean they are infallible? nope. only the pope is infallible-allegedly-and even then there's a hedge-only on matters of faith and morals. so there's that..

back to Gaetz. anything specific from the reporting you think is bs? if you name it and end up being proven correct, you will definitely get my salute.. Originally Posted by pxmcc

Sicknick's own brother came out in the immediate aftermath and said that Sicknick had some health issues that could have caused a stroke. Could be he had Afib. Ever had Afib PX? You don't look like you're on your death bed and you can function effectively even work out hard. But sometimes a little pool of blood doesn't clear the valve because of the irregular beat and you get a clot.


Journalists used to have the integrity to make sure they got the story right not "go with the best intel they could get". That's an absurd statement and it's exactly why there is no integrity. They want to be the first to break the story...truth be damned and even when they get caught they don't issue retractions as voraciously as they issued the misleading story. I've yet to hear anything from CBS about the BS hit piece they ran on DeSantis. As long as people think like you do about "journalism" PX it will always be a problem.


I think the press is reaching hard to prove Gaetz is guilty by association with Greenberg. There may be fire somewhere inside all the smoke but associating him with Greenberg is not going to get them far in prosecution. It only works in the court of public opinion...sometimes. Sometimes it backfires.
Now we find out that this investigation of Gaetz coincides with Gaetz having a conversation with a US attorney and Trump about voter fraud investigations by the DOJ. Something Barr was completely against and it drew the ire of Barr that Gaetz was even bringing it up. Barr, if you remember, wanted nothing to do with it. Is Gaetz getting some payback for pissing off Barr? Is it remotely possible?

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/0...r-fraud-483464

Sicknick's own brother came out in the immediate aftermath and said that Sicknick had some health issues that could have caused a stroke. Could be he had Afib. Ever had Afib PX? You don't look like you're on your death bed and you can function effectively even work out hard. But sometimes a little pool of blood doesn't clear the valve because of the irregular beat and you get a clot.


Journalists used to have the integrity to make sure they got the story right not "go with the best intel they could get". That's an absurd statement and it's exactly why there is no integrity. They want to be the first to break the story...truth be damned and even when they get caught they don't issue retractions as voraciously as they issued the misleading story. I've yet to hear anything from CBS about the BS hit piece they ran on DeSantis. As long as people think like you do about "journalism" PX it will always be a problem.


I think the press is reaching hard to prove Gaetz is guilty by association with Greenberg. There may be fire somewhere inside all the smoke but associating him with Greenberg is not going to get them far in prosecution. It only works in the court of public opinion...sometimes. Sometimes it backfires.
Now we find out that this investigation of Gaetz coincides with Gaetz having a conversation with a US attorney and Trump about voter fraud investigations by the DOJ. Something Barr was completely against and it drew the ire of Barr that Gaetz was even bringing it up. Barr, if you remember, wanted nothing to do with it. Is Gaetz getting some payback for pissing off Barr? Is it remotely possible?

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/0...r-fraud-483464 Originally Posted by boardman

i read that story too. i tried to analyze the story from Barr's perspective. the way i see it, what pissed Barr off is one of his u.s. attys came up with a policy-it was kind of radical if you get into the weeds of what he was proposing-and instead of running it past Barr-who is his boss, after all-to get the ok, instead the u.s. attorney went over Barr's head to Congressman Gaetz. Gaetz has an open channel to Trump, so you now have an iron triangle of a measly us atty in florida, congressman Baetz, and president Trump. Barr's thinking, "Why am i the last person to hear about this? this is my department, goddamit."

i think Barr was more pissed off at his subordinate for going over his head than any details about the policy itself. Barr was Trump's bulldog-he kind of looks like a bulldog don't you think-so if the us atty followed the proper channels, Barr himself would have probably presented it to trump for consideration. but the way the us atty handled it made it a no-go. moral: don't go around your boss unless you want to just piss him off and ensure your idea will be summarily rejected.

i don't think Barr was especially pissed off at Gaetz. Gaetz isn't even in his chain of command, so what Gaetz does or doesn't do isn't really Barr's affair.

my understanding of how Gaetz got sucked into Barr's DOJ purview is Greenberg did a bunch of illegal shit that put him on the DOJ's radar, and as that investigation unfolded, the DOJ discovered extensive contacts between Greenberg and Gaetz. that's how Gaetz got sucked in. chances are it was way below Barr's involvement, probably fbi and doj investigators just doing their yeoman jobs. is it possible Barr had a vendetta and got involved? sure, but unlikely, because if Gaetz takes a call from a FL us attorney and runs with it, Barr would see that as the us atty's problem, not Congressman Gaetz's problem.

Gaetz's real problem, as i see it, is he got in too deep with Greenberg. now it's like a divorce since Greenberg is looking at hard time, so it's every man for himself. Gaetz's problem is he's a bigger fish than Greenberg. Who doesn't want to take Don Corleone down versus just Luka Brazi?

maybe the current reporting is off the mark, but if Greenberg has in fact turned state's evidence, Gaetz has a problem. and if the same happened with the (allegedly) underage gal, Gaetz has even a bigger problem. the first thing Gaetz can do to help himself, btw, is to stfu, imo. the way Trump handled investigations is pretty much a working field manual of what not to do when you have the fbi all up in your shit, which is why an obstruction of justice case would've been a slam dunk if Muellar wasn't such a pussy, or at least wasn't a damn joe navy..

and for the record, i've never had a-fib, but better a-fib than v-fib, i say..

i just thought the timing for the death of the Capitol police officer was "interesting" and "super coincidental." wasn't he taken by ambulance to the ER right after the riot?

...
i just thought the timing for the death of the Capitol police officer was "interesting" and "super coincidental." wasn't he taken by ambulance to the ER right after the riot? Originally Posted by pxmcc

Anyway, back on topic. How do you predict the Gaetz saga will end, based on what we know-or don't know-so far? Originally Posted by pxmcc

I guess it is "your" thread.

You must be a pundit on the LameStreamMediaNews ....

.. predicting the end of sagas based on what you don't know!



^^^^This is what Russian Collusion looks like.

i read that story too. i tried to analyze the story from Barr's perspective. the way i see it, what pissed Barr off is one of his u.s. attys came up with a policy-it was kind of radical if you get into the weeds of what he was proposing-and instead of running it past Barr-who is his boss, after all-to get the ok, instead the u.s. attorney went over Barr's head to Congressman Gaetz. Gaetz has an open channel to Trump, so you now have an iron triangle of a measly us atty in florida, congressman Baetz, and president Trump. Barr's thinking, "Why am i the last person to hear about this? this is my department, goddamit."

i think Barr was more pissed off at his subordinate for going over his head than any details about the policy itself. Barr was Trump's bulldog-he kind of looks like a bulldog don't you think-so if the us atty followed the proper channels, Barr himself would have probably presented it to trump for consideration. but the way the us atty handled it made it a no-go. moral: don't go around your boss unless you want to just piss him off and ensure your idea will be summarily rejected.

i don't think Barr was especially pissed off at Gaetz. Gaetz isn't even in his chain of command, so what Gaetz does or doesn't do isn't really Barr's affair.

my understanding of how Gaetz got sucked into Barr's DOJ purview is Greenberg did a bunch of illegal shit that put him on the DOJ's radar, and as that investigation unfolded, the DOJ discovered extensive contacts between Greenberg and Gaetz. that's how Gaetz got sucked in. chances are it was way below Barr's involvement, probably fbi and doj investigators just doing their yeoman jobs. is it possible Barr had a vendetta and got involved? sure, but unlikely, because if Gaetz takes a call from a FL us attorney and runs with it, Barr would see that as the us atty's problem, not Congressman Gaetz's problem.

Gaetz's real problem, as i see it, is he got in too deep with Greenberg. now it's like a divorce since Greenberg is looking at hard time, so it's every man for himself. Gaetz's problem is he's a bigger fish than Greenberg. Who doesn't want to take Don Corleone down versus just Luka Brazi?

maybe the current reporting is off the mark, but if Greenberg has in fact turned state's evidence, Gaetz has a problem. and if the same happened with the (allegedly) underage gal, Gaetz has even a bigger problem. the first thing Gaetz can do to help himself, btw, is to stfu, imo. the way Trump handled investigations is pretty much a working field manual of what not to do when you have the fbi all up in your shit, which is why an obstruction of justice case would've been a slam dunk if Muellar wasn't such a pussy, or at least wasn't a damn joe navy..

and for the record, i've never had a-fib, but better a-fib than v-fib, i say..

i just thought the timing for the death of the Capitol police officer was "interesting" and "super coincidental." wasn't he taken by ambulance to the ER right after the riot? Originally Posted by pxmcc

Sicknick was taken to the ER hours after the riots. IIRC his brother said he had a text conversation with him sometime in the evening. Sicknick told his brother he had been pepper sprayed but he was OK. Some time later he collapsed and was given CPR then taken to the ER. That's when it was discovered he had a blood clot and had a stroke. His brother was relaying that as early as the day he died yet some of the media continued to push that he was bludgeoned to death. Hell, weeks later, when it was known what happened the House managers used the NYT story in the impeachment proceedings knowing it was incorrect.
That's my point about biased media. It's dangerous. And for VM the solution is that we need to be our own individual critics of what we read or listen to and when we see this kind of "journalism" taking place we need to factor that dishonesty into anything we consume from that source going forward. Consider it "tabloid journalism" and consume accordingly.


I can see exactly why Barr was pissed at Keefe and threatened to fire him.

Barr was trying hard to stay out of voter fraud investigations and Gaetz was the one who brought up the theory to Trump. Keefe was trying to push his theory inside the DOJ and was getting no where. Gaetz brought up Keefe's theory to Trump when Trump expressed concerns about election integrity and told him that Keefe was getting push-back. I'm sure Trump had a conversation with Barr about it at some point. It can be possible that Barr did threaten to fire Keefe and also allowed an investigation to go down the Gaetz rabbit hole.


It looks to me like Gaetz probably was playing around. Not illegal just not a good look. It also looks like he was smart enough to give himself plausible deniability such as not making direct payments and having SD/sb relationships rather than P4P which also is not illegal. The trafficking (taking a girl across state lines) is what has the FBI involved. So they were on the same flight going somewhere. Did Gaetz book her ticket? Did she receive any money from him or were they just in the same town at the same time? Maybe she was going for a porn audition to the same city that Gaetz was on a junket to. Plausible deniability.

Greenberg is in trouble. If Greenberg were to turn on Gaetz there is the whole credibility issue investigators and eventually prosecutors have to deal with. There are 20+ women claiming that Deshaun Watson was inappropriate with them. That took about a week. It's been weeks now with Gaetz and no woman has come forward to accuse Gaetz of anything inappropriate. Isn't this the Me Too era?

Like I said before, supposedly this girl in question is now a porn starlet. She could make a quick name for herself in that industry if she were to come forward. What's she got to lose? That's why it doesn't all add up and unless she or some other woman comes out and makes some solid accusations I don't think the FBI can get very far with Gaetz. In fact, the whole topic is kind of going stale in the media which tells me the FBI may have reached a dead end.

Then there is the whole extortion angle which has to be sorted out. Was it extortion? Is Gaetz paying the price? This Kent guy asking for the money admits saying "Matt Gaetz is in need of good publicity, and I’m in need of $25 million to rescue Robert Levinson," He also said a lot of other things that make it not sound like extortion but who knows?
Again, I think that unless this girl flips or some connections can be made that absolutely prove that Gaetz paid for her trip then this will come down to the voters deciding next year. I also think Gaetz's seat is probably pretty solid.