Much Ado About Nothing

I’ve seen several cartoons from right-wingers about the so-called Twitter Files, but none from the left, so I decided to take a stab at it.

The Twitter Files is Elon’s release of internal documents from head Twitter honchos over blocking “news” on its platform about Hunter Biden’s laptop in the weeks before the 2020 election. Independent journalist Matt Taibbi did the reporting on it and released screenshots of emails and files through a stream of tweets.

In October of 2020, The New York Post published a story that a computer repair man had Hunter’s laptop. He doesn’t know who dropped it off because he’s partially blind (I can’t make this shit up), but it was never picked up. He went through the laptop and supposedly found alarming information, so he gave it to the FBI who’s investigating Hunter for lobbying for a foreign nation without registering and for not paying taxes. He also gave a copy of the hard drive to Rudy Giuliani, who then shared it with a million MAGAt goons and The New York Post.

The New York Post published a story that Hunter has a laptop with alarming things on it, like photos of drug use, photos of Hunter naked, and emails that may prove corruption involving his father. At the time, none of this was authenticated to be Hunter’s laptop. Even the reporters who were assigned the story didn’t want their names on it. The story wasn’t fleshed out by The New York Post, so it wasn’t ready to be published yet. But, The Post is a Murdoch publication and the entire intention of publishing this wasn’t to provide news, but more to help Donald Trump win the 2020 election.

The Twitter Files show that the executives at Twitter agonized over what to do with this. Remember, this was stolen information provided by Rudy Giuliani. They had a responsiblity to check this. They decided to suspend the account of The New York Post, which was the wrong thing to do. Blocking the story is understandable since, at that point, nobody knew if it was a Russian scam or not. It has since turned out that it’s probably Hunter’s laptop although there is NOTHING on it that suggests either of the Bidens did anything illegal. No, you stupid MAGAts, and you too Ted Rall, there’s nothing.

There was also no evidence that Twitter was doing the bidding of the Biden campaign. The Biden campaign did ask Twitter to block the nude photos that were supposedly of Hunter, which is also understandable. The Trump campaign and White House also attempted to influence what Twitter allowed, and they were often successful. There was nothing in the Twitter Files that even suggest their actions were political or they were doing it to protect and help the Biden campaign.

Republicans are running with this and claiming it proves corruption between Democrats and “big tech.” Others say if the Post story and nude photos of Hunter Biden weren’t suppressed, then Trump would have won the election. Donald Trump is even using the Twitter Files to demand that he be reinstated to the presidency and that the Constitution be “terminated.”

Republicans ignore that it came from a stolen laptop and was provided by a MAGAt to Rudy Giuliani, and then given to the right-wing tabloid, The New York Post, and published in a story so full of holes that the reporters didn’t want their names on it.

One of the complaints from the right is that the mainstream media (the media that doesn’t make shit up) isn’t covering the release of the Twitter Files. That’s false as I’ve seen coverage of it on CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. It doesn’t get more mainstream media than that.

Gary McCoy drew a cartoon complaining about the “left-wing” media’s “profound silence” over the release of the Twitter Files, but the media has covered it (see above)…just not to the liking of Gare Bear. McCoy posted on Facebook that the release proves “that the Democrats rigged the last election” and “Trump would be president today were it not for this scandal.” Gary’s also a moron and a former Never-Trump who got on the Trump Train after discovering just how racist Trump is. On another point: Why hasn’t The Week run a cartoon of mine over the past week, but they’re running this shit? C’mon, man. I think The Week is suppressing my free speech (see what I did there?).

Lisa Benson drew a cartoon claiming Twitter’s suppression of the files was “government meddling” and an attack on “free speech,” except Joe Biden wasn’t the government. He was a candidate at the time. Also, this isn’t a free speech issue since the Constitution, the same one Trump wants to terminate, doesn’t guarantee a constitutional right to tweet. Lisa, good cartoonists understand the issues they cover. So either you don’t understand what you’re covering, or you’re lying.

Mike Lester also claims it’s an attack on “free speech” with a metaphor about urinating on legs which is in some awesome artwork but….what? I scrolled through Lester’s Twitter to see if he had done something more recent since this was posted on December 2, but my god…that guy tweets racism and conspiracy theories as if he’s making up for Ben Garrison’s Twitter absence.

Bob Gorrell, who repurposes old drawings instead of actually drawing new cartoons, also got it wrong. There is no evidence in the Twitter Files that shows Twitter interfered in the election. Twitter is NOT a government platform and can choose to allow what is and isn’t published.

Eric Allie also complains about the lack of media coverage by drawing a “nothing-burger,” ironically with the huge label “Democrats and media collude with tech companies to suppress the free press.” Eric, the media is the free press.

Al Goodwyn drew a cartoon accusing Twitter and Democrats of “inappropriate relations,” ignoring that the Twitter Files also showed that Twitter often relented to demands from the Trump White House (sic).

Henry Payne makes the same complaint as Lisa and accuses Twitter and Democrats of suppressing “free speech,” but again, motherfuckers…YOU DO NOT HAVE A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO TWEET GODAMMIT!!!

Branco also claims it’s government corruption, but he’s either lying (Biden wasn’t the government at the time) or he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Branco has a history of being a stupid ignorant liar, so it can be either.

Finally, antisemitic conspiracy theorist whack-a-mole racist fucknut propagandist MAGAt Ben Garrison. who hates Jews so much that even the Trump White House (sic) had to disinvite him to one of their white nationalist get-togethers, also claims it’s an attack on “free speech” and writes a long blog chock full of lies about the election being stolen, Biden’s corruption, and that the FBI “purged” conservatives from Twitter. You really can’t address the shit Garrison lays out because there’s so much of it. You need Ron DeSantis waders to tackle all of it. Did I mention that Garrison’s an antisemitic racist?

I can’t wait to see what the other MAGAt cartoonists come up with on this because I actually enjoy fucknut MAGAt cartoons, but ironically. Since all the MAGAt cartoonists usually follow the same Fox News talking points, the rest should be in by tomorrow. C’mon, Steve Kelley. You’re eating dust here.

But from the cartoons I’ve seen so far from the gang of goons, I know that none of them actually read the Twitter Files, which is just fine because none of them can honestly tell you what’s on Hunter’s laptop that’s incriminating.

Updates:

Gary Varvel, who has never been concerned over what is and isn’t factual when making a claim, ignores that Republicans were also coordinating with Twitter. He also ignores that Fox News, the media, coordinated with the Trump campaign. He also ignores that NONE of this is actually illegal. What should not be ignored is that Gary Varvel is a right-wing MAGAt moron.

Gary Varvel drew another for Counterpoint accusing Democrats of stealing tweets about the laptop, and that doing so somehow “stole” the election. How is Twitter not allowing you to see Hunter’s penis stealing an election, but the Russian 2016 disinformation campaign not stealing it? C’mon, Counterpoint? Really? Sad.

Mike Beckom, whose opinions I hate to give any attention to because he’s not one to put a lot of thought into anything or able to understand complex stuff and who I guarantee didn’t read the Twitter Files, seems to be saying the media failed at making the laptop disappear. But I bet Beckom can’t tell you what’s on the laptop that’s so important for the media to want it to disappear…unless he loves dick pics.

Michael Ramirez totally works around saying anything hard, detailed, or specific in whining about Twitter and politics. Obviously, Michael is ignoring what’s in the Twitter files…or he didn’t read them.

Henry Payne drew another claiming Twitter “colluded” and equates Hunter’s laptop with the Access Hollywood tape. But, Henry Hanky baby, we know what’s on the Hollywood Access tape and it’s Trump bragging about assaulting women saying “grab them by the pussy.” You don’t know what’s on the laptop that’s incriminating except maybe some naked photos of Hunter, but Hunter wasn’t running for office. Also, if Twitter was “colluding,” they did it with both parties. Wait, did Henry not read the Twitter Files or listen to the Hollywood Access tape? Republicans do love their false equivalencies. Also, Henry, just how bad do you want to see Hunter’s wee-wee?

And Steve Kelley doesn’t even know which election he’s talking about.

Dick Wright, who is also a pastor and teaches that it’s a sin to lie, illustrates that he also doesn’t know what’s on Hunter laptop and that he did NOT read the Twitter Files.

I had a back-and-forth conversation with Dick Wright on Facebook about his last cartoon, and he made it perfectly clear that he didn’t know what he was talking about and that his cartoon was based on his lies, and that he believes his lies are his opinion. Counterpoint paid him to draw a cartoon based on lies and on an issue he was ignorant of.

Al Goodwyn’s first cartoon wasn’t enough to show that he didn’t know what he was talking about, so he made another. This time he claims the laptop is a “pretty big deal” and that Elon proved there was “election interference.” Al either didn’t read the Twitter Files or he’s lying.

Henry Payne is back with another and believes The New York Post’s story on Hunter Biden’s laptop is equal to The Washington Post’s reporting on Watergate. There are so many levels of stupid to this.

I think Chip Bok is saying the lapdog didn’t bark but the laptop did bark….maybe?

Music note: I listened to Foo Fighters and The Offspring.

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