Hunter Biden Tinfoil issues

[cradleandshoot]

sheesh, haven't we established that people can have distinguished careers, do brave and even selfless acts of courage, and then turn..."grifter" ? Even "bonkers nut job"?

Or do such service, and then found to be corrupt or racist or a child molester...or...

This can and does happen with people on whatever end of the political spectrum, where people are found to be more than one thing simultaneously, doing "good" while secretly doing "evil", or later have their full character emerge for us to see, or simply go down the rathole of conspiracies.

People are complicated. And we find out over time...

Do we need a list to prove the point that focusing on one aspect of someone's career is insufficient to assess the whole, and the current?

As to Bongino, seems to me that he's tried to parlay his prior service into another income stream, with increasing emphasis on attention-seeking and notoriety. Including a willingness to not be truthful...which is where it turns to Grift, in my book. But like many, many others whether left or right.

I was kind of dropping hints about Bongino right along those lines. He had 12 years in the secret service and he passed background checks that go back to having investigators talking to your college friends, teachers, family members and down the line. No one on this forum can question his dedication to the job. He could have put in 8 more years and cashed out with a nice retirement plan and moved along with his life. He has an abrasive personality that rubs some people the wrong way. That same personality makes other people gravitate towards him because they look at that aspect of his persona and admire a no nonsense approach.

My sons best friend worked in the secret service with Bongino and they became and still are close friends. I don't pay much attention to what Bongino says on social media. I don't pay much attention to what any flame thrower has to say on social media. I don't think he is a liar and that is how he is being portrayed by some on this forum. He is now a modern day Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The evil side of the man has come front and center. The man was willing to take a bullet for a president he didn't agree with very much. That is an aspect of the man that should not easily be kicked to the curb. The man found his schtick and is using his popularity to make a buck. If Mr Bongino was a liberal flame thrower with the same credentials his popularity on this forum would be off the charts. When I read the disparaging remarks made about him and see the long knives come out that also tells me everything I need to know.

[MDlaxfan76]

That does not mean everything that comes out of the mouth is false or grift. There is institutional wisdom that allows him to call balls and strikes, with inside knowledge.

An no, I am not a fan of Bongino’s show. I gave him a try on talk radio after Rush passed away and he took his a lot.

maybe in one narrow field of expertise. Beyond that, no.

Yes, not everything a grifter says is false, indeed that's a big part of the art of the grift, the seeding with truth such that the grift seems believable.

[MDlaxfan76]

sheesh, haven't we established that people can have distinguished careers, do brave and even selfless acts of courage, and then turn..."grifter" ? Even "bonkers nut job"?

Or do such service, and then found to be corrupt or racist or a child molester...or...

This can and does happen with people on whatever end of the political spectrum, where people are found to be more than one thing simultaneously, doing "good" while secretly doing "evil", or later have their full character emerge for us to see, or simply go down the rathole of conspiracies.

People are complicated. And we find out over time...

Do we need a list to prove the point that focusing on one aspect of someone's career is insufficient to assess the whole, and the current?

As to Bongino, seems to me that he's tried to parlay his prior service into another income stream, with increasing emphasis on attention-seeking and notoriety. Including a willingness to not be truthful...which is where it turns to Grift, in my book. But like many, many others whether left or right.

I was kind of dropping hints about Bongino right along those lines. He had 12 years in the secret service and he passed background checks that go back to having investigators talking to your college friends, teachers, family members and down the line. No one on this forum can question his dedication to the job. He could have put in 8 more years and cashed out with a nice retirement plan and moved along with his life. He has an abrasive personality that rubs some people the wrong way. That same personality makes other people gravitate towards him because they look at that aspect of his persona and admire a no nonsense approach.

My sons best friend worked in the secret service with Bongino and they became and still are close friends. I don't pay much attention to what Bongino says on social media. I don't pay much attention to what any flame thrower has to say on social media. I don't think he is a liar and that is how he is being portrayed by some on this forum. He is now a modern day Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The evil side of the man has come front and center. The man was willing to take a bullet for a president he didn't agree with very much. That is an aspect of the man that should not easily be kicked to the curb. The man found his schtick and is using his popularity to make a buck. If Mr Bongino was a liberal flame thrower with the same credentials his popularity on this forum would be off the charts. When I read the disparaging remarks made about him and see the long knives come out that also tells me everything I need to know.

Nope, if he was a liberal flame thrower (and a liar) there would be lots of people on here calling him out for that, including me.

But back to the reality of this guy, he's a flaming election denier...and no sane person, other than a grifter, is such: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/1 ... ing-437164

And a purveyor of dangerously false COVID misinformation. https://www.reuters.com/business/media- ... 022-01-26/

And just in general: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2 ... -cities-d/

One does not need to be a liar or a conspiracy nut to be a "conservative" pundit. That's a choice.

[cradleandshoot]

sheesh, haven't we established that people can have distinguished careers, do brave and even selfless acts of courage, and then turn..."grifter" ? Even "bonkers nut job"?

Or do such service, and then found to be corrupt or racist or a child molester...or...

This can and does happen with people on whatever end of the political spectrum, where people are found to be more than one thing simultaneously, doing "good" while secretly doing "evil", or later have their full character emerge for us to see, or simply go down the rathole of conspiracies.

People are complicated. And we find out over time...

Do we need a list to prove the point that focusing on one aspect of someone's career is insufficient to assess the whole, and the current?

As to Bongino, seems to me that he's tried to parlay his prior service into another income stream, with increasing emphasis on attention-seeking and notoriety. Including a willingness to not be truthful...which is where it turns to Grift, in my book. But like many, many others whether left or right.

I was kind of dropping hints about Bongino right along those lines. He had 12 years in the secret service and he passed background checks that go back to having investigators talking to your college friends, teachers, family members and down the line. No one on this forum can question his dedication to the job. He could have put in 8 more years and cashed out with a nice retirement plan and moved along with his life. He has an abrasive personality that rubs some people the wrong way. That same personality makes other people gravitate towards him because they look at that aspect of his persona and admire a no nonsense approach.

My sons best friend worked in the secret service with Bongino and they became and still are close friends. I don't pay much attention to what Bongino says on social media. I don't pay much attention to what any flame thrower has to say on social media. I don't think he is a liar and that is how he is being portrayed by some on this forum. He is now a modern day Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The evil side of the man has come front and center. The man was willing to take a bullet for a president he didn't agree with very much. That is an aspect of the man that should not easily be kicked to the curb. The man found his schtick and is using his popularity to make a buck. If Mr Bongino was a liberal flame thrower with the same credentials his popularity on this forum would be off the charts. When I read the disparaging remarks made about him and see the long knives come out that also tells me everything I need to know.

Nope, if he was a liberal flame thrower (and a liar) there would be lots of people on here calling him out for that, including me.

But back to the reality of this guy, he's a flaming election denier...and no sane person, other than a grifter, is such: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/1 ... ing-437164

And a purveyor of dangerously false COVID misinformation. https://www.reuters.com/business/media- ... 022-01-26/

And just in general: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2 ... -cities-d/

One does not need to be a liar or a conspiracy nut to be a "conservative" pundit. That's a choice.

That is his schtick MD. Too many folks on the left and right lose track of this. Rush Limbaugh use to point this out all of the time. He found a vehicle that allowed him to transform his political ideology into a cash cow. I believe these other right wing flame throwers are doing the same thing. It is less about the left or right but it is about the green. The far right is very good at this but the far left still struggles. The far left spent decades trying to find an answer for Rush Limbaugh and the closest they came was Al Franken. Al did receive a nice consolation prize by being elected to the US Senate in a very bizarre election. I think the right is still complaining about how those votes were counted.

[MDlaxfan76]

sheesh, haven't we established that people can have distinguished careers, do brave and even selfless acts of courage, and then turn..."grifter" ? Even "bonkers nut job"?

Or do such service, and then found to be corrupt or racist or a child molester...or...

This can and does happen with people on whatever end of the political spectrum, where people are found to be more than one thing simultaneously, doing "good" while secretly doing "evil", or later have their full character emerge for us to see, or simply go down the rathole of conspiracies.

People are complicated. And we find out over time...

Do we need a list to prove the point that focusing on one aspect of someone's career is insufficient to assess the whole, and the current?

As to Bongino, seems to me that he's tried to parlay his prior service into another income stream, with increasing emphasis on attention-seeking and notoriety. Including a willingness to not be truthful...which is where it turns to Grift, in my book. But like many, many others whether left or right.

I was kind of dropping hints about Bongino right along those lines. He had 12 years in the secret service and he passed background checks that go back to having investigators talking to your college friends, teachers, family members and down the line. No one on this forum can question his dedication to the job. He could have put in 8 more years and cashed out with a nice retirement plan and moved along with his life. He has an abrasive personality that rubs some people the wrong way. That same personality makes other people gravitate towards him because they look at that aspect of his persona and admire a no nonsense approach.

My sons best friend worked in the secret service with Bongino and they became and still are close friends. I don't pay much attention to what Bongino says on social media. I don't pay much attention to what any flame thrower has to say on social media. I don't think he is a liar and that is how he is being portrayed by some on this forum. He is now a modern day Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The evil side of the man has come front and center. The man was willing to take a bullet for a president he didn't agree with very much. That is an aspect of the man that should not easily be kicked to the curb. The man found his schtick and is using his popularity to make a buck. If Mr Bongino was a liberal flame thrower with the same credentials his popularity on this forum would be off the charts. When I read the disparaging remarks made about him and see the long knives come out that also tells me everything I need to know.

Nope, if he was a liberal flame thrower (and a liar) there would be lots of people on here calling him out for that, including me.

But back to the reality of this guy, he's a flaming election denier...and no sane person, other than a grifter, is such: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/1 ... ing-437164

And a purveyor of dangerously false COVID misinformation. https://www.reuters.com/business/media- ... 022-01-26/

And just in general: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2 ... -cities-d/

One does not need to be a liar or a conspiracy nut to be a "conservative" pundit. That's a choice.

That is his schtick MD. Too many folks on the left and right lose track of this. Rush Limbaugh use to point this out all of the time. He found a vehicle that allowed him to transform his political ideology into a cash cow. I believe these other right wing flame throwers are doing the same thing. It is less about the left or right but it is about the green. The far right is very good at this but the far left still struggles. The far left spent decades trying to find an answer for Rush Limbaugh and the closest they came was Al Franken. Al did receive a nice consolation prize by being elected to the US Senate in a very bizarre election. I think the right is still complaining about how those votes were counted.

Yes, a lying grifter...no matter what someone did prior in life excuses this choice to be a POS lying grifter.

Again, I don't care whether it's left or right.
I must say, however, that the proliferation of such on the right has been pretty gross.

And yes, the whining about Franken being elected by felons was brought back by Trump. Another lie, though.
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/ ... on-rigged/

[cradleandshoot]

sheesh, haven't we established that people can have distinguished careers, do brave and even selfless acts of courage, and then turn..."grifter" ? Even "bonkers nut job"?

Or do such service, and then found to be corrupt or racist or a child molester...or...

This can and does happen with people on whatever end of the political spectrum, where people are found to be more than one thing simultaneously, doing "good" while secretly doing "evil", or later have their full character emerge for us to see, or simply go down the rathole of conspiracies.

People are complicated. And we find out over time...

Do we need a list to prove the point that focusing on one aspect of someone's career is insufficient to assess the whole, and the current?

As to Bongino, seems to me that he's tried to parlay his prior service into another income stream, with increasing emphasis on attention-seeking and notoriety. Including a willingness to not be truthful...which is where it turns to Grift, in my book. But like many, many others whether left or right.

I was kind of dropping hints about Bongino right along those lines. He had 12 years in the secret service and he passed background checks that go back to having investigators talking to your college friends, teachers, family members and down the line. No one on this forum can question his dedication to the job. He could have put in 8 more years and cashed out with a nice retirement plan and moved along with his life. He has an abrasive personality that rubs some people the wrong way. That same personality makes other people gravitate towards him because they look at that aspect of his persona and admire a no nonsense approach.

My sons best friend worked in the secret service with Bongino and they became and still are close friends. I don't pay much attention to what Bongino says on social media. I don't pay much attention to what any flame thrower has to say on social media. I don't think he is a liar and that is how he is being portrayed by some on this forum. He is now a modern day Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The evil side of the man has come front and center. The man was willing to take a bullet for a president he didn't agree with very much. That is an aspect of the man that should not easily be kicked to the curb. The man found his schtick and is using his popularity to make a buck. If Mr Bongino was a liberal flame thrower with the same credentials his popularity on this forum would be off the charts. When I read the disparaging remarks made about him and see the long knives come out that also tells me everything I need to know.

Nope, if he was a liberal flame thrower (and a liar) there would be lots of people on here calling him out for that, including me.

But back to the reality of this guy, he's a flaming election denier...and no sane person, other than a grifter, is such: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/1 ... ing-437164

And a purveyor of dangerously false COVID misinformation. https://www.reuters.com/business/media- ... 022-01-26/

And just in general: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2 ... -cities-d/

One does not need to be a liar or a conspiracy nut to be a "conservative" pundit. That's a choice.

That is his schtick MD. Too many folks on the left and right lose track of this. Rush Limbaugh use to point this out all of the time. He found a vehicle that allowed him to transform his political ideology into a cash cow. I believe these other right wing flame throwers are doing the same thing. It is less about the left or right but it is about the green. The far right is very good at this but the far left still struggles. The far left spent decades trying to find an answer for Rush Limbaugh and the closest they came was Al Franken. Al did receive a nice consolation prize by being elected to the US Senate in a very bizarre election. I think the right is still complaining about how those votes were counted.

Yes, a lying grifter...no matter what someone did prior in life excuses this choice to be a POS lying grifter.

Again, I don't care whether it's left or right.
I must say, however, that the proliferation of such on the right has been pretty gross.

And yes, the whining about Franken being elected by felons was brought back by Trump. Another lie, though.
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/ ... on-rigged/

Some times it seems like you live in a different plane of existence from the rest of the world. I wasn't whining about Frankens election. They did keep recounting and recounting and recounting until they found enough votes...whew. You think Bongino is a lying grifter. I disagree with your opinion. I will bring this up as a bit of a tangent but very interesting IMO. Several weeks ago I did something I don't normally do. Since I'm still sleeping on the couch I pass the time watching late night TV. There was an older episode of Fear Factor that included of all people G. Gordon Liddy. The old bazthard did pretty well. The very odd thing is the bevy of compliments he received from the other contestants that were much younger than him. I'm thinking to myself how does this guy earn this respect from anyone? The man was an embarrassment to this country. I'll end this repeating what I have said on this thread a few times already... How does a dedicated secret service agent suddenly morph into a lying grifter? A man who would have taken a bullet to save the life of his boss who he didn't much agree with on anything. That flies in the face of everything I understand about human nature.

[youthathletics]

How To Tell If You Are Self-Righteous - You Aren't More Right Than Everyone Else: https://os.me/learn/are-you-self-righteous/

[Typical Lax Dad]

sheesh, haven't we established that people can have distinguished careers, do brave and even selfless acts of courage, and then turn..."grifter" ? Even "bonkers nut job"?

Or do such service, and then found to be corrupt or racist or a child molester...or...

This can and does happen with people on whatever end of the political spectrum, where people are found to be more than one thing simultaneously, doing "good" while secretly doing "evil", or later have their full character emerge for us to see, or simply go down the rathole of conspiracies.

People are complicated. And we find out over time...

Do we need a list to prove the point that focusing on one aspect of someone's career is insufficient to assess the whole, and the current?

As to Bongino, seems to me that he's tried to parlay his prior service into another income stream, with increasing emphasis on attention-seeking and notoriety. Including a willingness to not be truthful...which is where it turns to Grift, in my book. But like many, many others whether left or right.

I was kind of dropping hints about Bongino right along those lines. He had 12 years in the secret service and he passed background checks that go back to having investigators talking to your college friends, teachers, family members and down the line. No one on this forum can question his dedication to the job. He could have put in 8 more years and cashed out with a nice retirement plan and moved along with his life. He has an abrasive personality that rubs some people the wrong way. That same personality makes other people gravitate towards him because they look at that aspect of his persona and admire a no nonsense approach.

My sons best friend worked in the secret service with Bongino and they became and still are close friends. I don't pay much attention to what Bongino says on social media. I don't pay much attention to what any flame thrower has to say on social media. I don't think he is a liar and that is how he is being portrayed by some on this forum. He is now a modern day Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The evil side of the man has come front and center. The man was willing to take a bullet for a president he didn't agree with very much. That is an aspect of the man that should not easily be kicked to the curb. The man found his schtick and is using his popularity to make a buck. If Mr Bongino was a liberal flame thrower with the same credentials his popularity on this forum would be off the charts. When I read the disparaging remarks made about him and see the long knives come out that also tells me everything I need to know.

Nope, if he was a liberal flame thrower (and a liar) there would be lots of people on here calling him out for that, including me.

But back to the reality of this guy, he's a flaming election denier...and no sane person, other than a grifter, is such: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/1 ... ing-437164

And a purveyor of dangerously false COVID misinformation. https://www.reuters.com/business/media- ... 022-01-26/

And just in general: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2 ... -cities-d/

One does not need to be a liar or a conspiracy nut to be a "conservative" pundit. That's a choice.

That is his schtick MD. Too many folks on the left and right lose track of this. Rush Limbaugh use to point this out all of the time. He found a vehicle that allowed him to transform his political ideology into a cash cow. I believe these other right wing flame throwers are doing the same thing. It is less about the left or right but it is about the green. The far right is very good at this but the far left still struggles. The far left spent decades trying to find an answer for Rush Limbaugh and the closest they came was Al Franken. Al did receive a nice consolation prize by being elected to the US Senate in a very bizarre election. I think the right is still complaining about how those votes were counted.

Yes, a lying grifter...no matter what someone did prior in life excuses this choice to be a POS lying grifter.

Again, I don't care whether it's left or right.
I must say, however, that the proliferation of such on the right has been pretty gross.

And yes, the whining about Franken being elected by felons was brought back by Trump. Another lie, though.
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/ ... on-rigged/

Some times it seems like you live in a different plane of existence from the rest of the world. I wasn't whining about Frankens election. They did keep recounting and recounting and recounting until they found enough votes...whew. You think Bongino is a lying grifter. I disagree with your opinion. I will bring this up as a bit of a tangent but very interesting IMO. Several weeks ago I did something I don't normally do. Since I'm still sleeping on the couch I pass the time watching late night TV. There was an older episode of Fear Factor that included of all people G. Gordon Liddy. The old bazthard did pretty well. The very odd thing is the bevy of compliments he received from the other contestants that were much younger than him. I'm thinking to myself how does this guy earn this respect from anyone? The man was an embarrassment to this country. I'll end this repeating what I have said on this thread a few times already... How does a dedicated secret service agent suddenly morph into a lying grifter? A man who would have taken a bullet to save the life of his boss who he didn't much agree with on anything. That flies in the face of everything I understand about human nature.

[MDlaxfan76]

sheesh, haven't we established that people can have distinguished careers, do brave and even selfless acts of courage, and then turn..."grifter" ? Even "bonkers nut job"?

Or do such service, and then found to be corrupt or racist or a child molester...or...

This can and does happen with people on whatever end of the political spectrum, where people are found to be more than one thing simultaneously, doing "good" while secretly doing "evil", or later have their full character emerge for us to see, or simply go down the rathole of conspiracies.

People are complicated. And we find out over time...

Do we need a list to prove the point that focusing on one aspect of someone's career is insufficient to assess the whole, and the current?

As to Bongino, seems to me that he's tried to parlay his prior service into another income stream, with increasing emphasis on attention-seeking and notoriety. Including a willingness to not be truthful...which is where it turns to Grift, in my book. But like many, many others whether left or right.

I was kind of dropping hints about Bongino right along those lines. He had 12 years in the secret service and he passed background checks that go back to having investigators talking to your college friends, teachers, family members and down the line. No one on this forum can question his dedication to the job. He could have put in 8 more years and cashed out with a nice retirement plan and moved along with his life. He has an abrasive personality that rubs some people the wrong way. That same personality makes other people gravitate towards him because they look at that aspect of his persona and admire a no nonsense approach.

My sons best friend worked in the secret service with Bongino and they became and still are close friends. I don't pay much attention to what Bongino says on social media. I don't pay much attention to what any flame thrower has to say on social media. I don't think he is a liar and that is how he is being portrayed by some on this forum. He is now a modern day Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The evil side of the man has come front and center. The man was willing to take a bullet for a president he didn't agree with very much. That is an aspect of the man that should not easily be kicked to the curb. The man found his schtick and is using his popularity to make a buck. If Mr Bongino was a liberal flame thrower with the same credentials his popularity on this forum would be off the charts. When I read the disparaging remarks made about him and see the long knives come out that also tells me everything I need to know.

Nope, if he was a liberal flame thrower (and a liar) there would be lots of people on here calling him out for that, including me.

But back to the reality of this guy, he's a flaming election denier...and no sane person, other than a grifter, is such: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/1 ... ing-437164

And a purveyor of dangerously false COVID misinformation. https://www.reuters.com/business/media- ... 022-01-26/

And just in general: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2 ... -cities-d/

One does not need to be a liar or a conspiracy nut to be a "conservative" pundit. That's a choice.

That is his schtick MD. Too many folks on the left and right lose track of this. Rush Limbaugh use to point this out all of the time. He found a vehicle that allowed him to transform his political ideology into a cash cow. I believe these other right wing flame throwers are doing the same thing. It is less about the left or right but it is about the green. The far right is very good at this but the far left still struggles. The far left spent decades trying to find an answer for Rush Limbaugh and the closest they came was Al Franken. Al did receive a nice consolation prize by being elected to the US Senate in a very bizarre election. I think the right is still complaining about how those votes were counted.

Yes, a lying grifter...no matter what someone did prior in life excuses this choice to be a POS lying grifter.

Again, I don't care whether it's left or right.
I must say, however, that the proliferation of such on the right has been pretty gross.

And yes, the whining about Franken being elected by felons was brought back by Trump. Another lie, though.
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/ ... on-rigged/

Some times it seems like you live in a different plane of existence from the rest of the world. I wasn't whining about Frankens election. They did keep recounting and recounting and recounting until they found enough votes...whew. You think Bongino is a lying grifter. I disagree with your opinion. I will bring this up as a bit of a tangent but very interesting IMO. Several weeks ago I did something I don't normally do. Since I'm still sleeping on the couch I pass the time watching late night TV. There was an older episode of Fear Factor that included of all people G. Gordon Liddy. The old bazthard did pretty well. The very odd thing is the bevy of compliments he received from the other contestants that were much younger than him. I'm thinking to myself how does this guy earn this respect from anyone? The man was an embarrassment to this country. I'll end this repeating what I have said on this thread a few times already... How does a dedicated secret service agent suddenly morph into a lying grifter? A man who would have taken a bullet to save the life of his boss who he didn't much agree with on anything. That flies in the face of everything I understand about human nature.

As we've discussed previously, there's quite a list of dedicated, presumed to be honorable, people who have turned screwball or grifter, lying for their personal benefit. We've discussed several of them in these threads over the past few years, with each ensuing bit of evidence confirming their dishonesty or delusions. All while others kept denying the growing evident realities, pointing to their prior 'service' and even heroism in some cases.

Yes, it's indeed puzzling how this can happen. But it is very clear that it happens to some. Perhaps they were never as honorable as their public face, maybe they were exceedingly showing positive while secretly doing dishonest or harmful acts, or harboring desires secretly. Perhaps something unleashes their potential for grift or delusion. Hard to know for sure, absent a deep dive into their past that reveals the roots. But when we see it revealed, we should take full notice and not excuse it based upon other acts that we deem 'good'.

Trump and the hard right were the whiners. The election, whether one likes the outcome or not, was extremely close and was won fair and square by Franken. The claims that Trump and the hard right made were based in lies...it's become a very real pattern to so.

Not sure what you base your disagreement about Bongino on other than the 'respect' others you trust had of him based upon the time before he turned lying grifter. When we look at his choices since then, that's the basis for recognizing when he's lying, when his "schtick" is based upon knowing lies, thus dishonest grift. Repeated examples, not just 'mistakes'... No excuses based upon tenure as a secret service agent.

In my own world, I've seen people who those I trust believed were wonderful, even beloved be revealed as child abusers. One was the best man in 90 of his former students' weddings...beloved...close friend of my father, numerous dinners in our home...undeniably did "good", positively impacting many, many lives. But undeniably committed a series of such abuses over the decades. Admitted to it when finally confronted, on tape.

People are complicated, more than what they seem, sometimes to the good, sometimes not.

[SCLaxAttack]

sheesh, haven't we established that people can have distinguished careers, do brave and even selfless acts of courage, and then turn..."grifter" ? Even "bonkers nut job"?

Or do such service, and then found to be corrupt or racist or a child molester...or...

This can and does happen with people on whatever end of the political spectrum, where people are found to be more than one thing simultaneously, doing "good" while secretly doing "evil", or later have their full character emerge for us to see, or simply go down the rathole of conspiracies.

People are complicated. And we find out over time...

Do we need a list to prove the point that focusing on one aspect of someone's career is insufficient to assess the whole, and the current?

As to Bongino, seems to me that he's tried to parlay his prior service into another income stream, with increasing emphasis on attention-seeking and notoriety. Including a willingness to not be truthful...which is where it turns to Grift, in my book. But like many, many others whether left or right.

I was kind of dropping hints about Bongino right along those lines. He had 12 years in the secret service and he passed background checks that go back to having investigators talking to your college friends, teachers, family members and down the line. No one on this forum can question his dedication to the job. He could have put in 8 more years and cashed out with a nice retirement plan and moved along with his life. He has an abrasive personality that rubs some people the wrong way. That same personality makes other people gravitate towards him because they look at that aspect of his persona and admire a no nonsense approach.

My sons best friend worked in the secret service with Bongino and they became and still are close friends. I don't pay much attention to what Bongino says on social media. I don't pay much attention to what any flame thrower has to say on social media. I don't think he is a liar and that is how he is being portrayed by some on this forum. He is now a modern day Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The evil side of the man has come front and center. The man was willing to take a bullet for a president he didn't agree with very much. That is an aspect of the man that should not easily be kicked to the curb. The man found his schtick and is using his popularity to make a buck. If Mr Bongino was a liberal flame thrower with the same credentials his popularity on this forum would be off the charts. When I read the disparaging remarks made about him and see the long knives come out that also tells me everything I need to know.

Nope, if he was a liberal flame thrower (and a liar) there would be lots of people on here calling him out for that, including me.

But back to the reality of this guy, he's a flaming election denier...and no sane person, other than a grifter, is such: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/1 ... ing-437164

And a purveyor of dangerously false COVID misinformation. https://www.reuters.com/business/media- ... 022-01-26/

And just in general: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2 ... -cities-d/

One does not need to be a liar or a conspiracy nut to be a "conservative" pundit. That's a choice.

That is his schtick MD. Too many folks on the left and right lose track of this. Rush Limbaugh use to point this out all of the time. He found a vehicle that allowed him to transform his political ideology into a cash cow. I believe these other right wing flame throwers are doing the same thing. It is less about the left or right but it is about the green. The far right is very good at this but the far left still struggles. The far left spent decades trying to find an answer for Rush Limbaugh and the closest they came was Al Franken. Al did receive a nice consolation prize by being elected to the US Senate in a very bizarre election. I think the right is still complaining about how those votes were counted.

Yes, a lying grifter...no matter what someone did prior in life excuses this choice to be a POS lying grifter.

Again, I don't care whether it's left or right.
I must say, however, that the proliferation of such on the right has been pretty gross.

And yes, the whining about Franken being elected by felons was brought back by Trump. Another lie, though.
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/ ... on-rigged/

Some times it seems like you live in a different plane of existence from the rest of the world. I wasn't whining about Frankens election. They did keep recounting and recounting and recounting until they found enough votes...whew. You think Bongino is a lying grifter. I disagree with your opinion. I will bring this up as a bit of a tangent but very interesting IMO. Several weeks ago I did something I don't normally do. Since I'm still sleeping on the couch I pass the time watching late night TV. There was an older episode of Fear Factor that included of all people G. Gordon Liddy. The old bazthard did pretty well. The very odd thing is the bevy of compliments he received from the other contestants that were much younger than him. I'm thinking to myself how does this guy earn this respect from anyone? The man was an embarrassment to this country. I'll end this repeating what I have said on this thread a few times already... How does a dedicated secret service agent suddenly morph into a lying grifter? A man who would have taken a bullet to save the life of his boss who he didn't much agree with on anything. That flies in the face of everything I understand about human nature.

As we've discussed previously, there's quite a list of dedicated, presumed to be honorable, people who have turned screwball or grifter, lying for their personal benefit. We've discussed several of them in these threads over the past few years, with each ensuing bit of evidence confirming their dishonesty or delusions. All while others kept denying the growing evident realities, pointing to their prior 'service' and even heroism in some cases.

Yes, it's indeed puzzling how this can happen. But it is very clear that it happens to some. Perhaps they were never as honorable as their public face, maybe they were exceedingly showing positive while secretly doing dishonest or harmful acts, or harboring desires secretly. Perhaps something unleashes their potential for grift or delusion. Hard to know for sure, absent a deep dive into their past that reveals the roots. But when we see it revealed, we should take full notice and not excuse it based upon other acts that we deem 'good'.

Trump and the hard right were the whiners. The election, whether one likes the outcome or not, was extremely close and was won fair and square by Franken. The claims that Trump and the hard right made were based in lies...it's become a very real pattern to so.

Not sure what you base your disagreement about Bongino on other than the 'respect' others you trust had of him based upon the time before he turned lying grifter. When we look at his choices since then, that's the basis for recognizing when he's lying, when his "schtick" is based upon knowing lies, thus dishonest grift. Repeated examples, not just 'mistakes'... No excuses based upon tenure as a secret service agent.

In my own world, I've seen people who those I trust believed were wonderful, even beloved be revealed as child abusers. One was the best man in 90 of his former students' weddings...beloved...close friend of my father, numerous dinners in our home...undeniably did "good", positively impacting many, many lives. But undeniably committed a series of such abuses over the decades. Admitted to it when finally confronted, on tape.

People are complicated, more than what they seem, sometimes to the good, sometimes not.

Cradle - To MD's and my point, here's one that should hit home for you: A US Army Special Forces Medical Doctor stationed at your beloved Fort Bragg who murdered his pregnant wife and children at their on post housing - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_R ... cDonald%20(born%20October,an%20Army%20Special%20Forces%20physician.&text=Jamaica%2C%20Queens%2C%20New%20York%2C%20U.S.

But he checked all your boxes -
Served his country.
Veteran.
An MD who takes an oath to save lives.

Somehow he turns out to be something else.

[cradleandshoot]

sheesh, haven't we established that people can have distinguished careers, do brave and even selfless acts of courage, and then turn..."grifter" ? Even "bonkers nut job"?

Or do such service, and then found to be corrupt or racist or a child molester...or...

This can and does happen with people on whatever end of the political spectrum, where people are found to be more than one thing simultaneously, doing "good" while secretly doing "evil", or later have their full character emerge for us to see, or simply go down the rathole of conspiracies.

People are complicated. And we find out over time...

Do we need a list to prove the point that focusing on one aspect of someone's career is insufficient to assess the whole, and the current?

As to Bongino, seems to me that he's tried to parlay his prior service into another income stream, with increasing emphasis on attention-seeking and notoriety. Including a willingness to not be truthful...which is where it turns to Grift, in my book. But like many, many others whether left or right.

I was kind of dropping hints about Bongino right along those lines. He had 12 years in the secret service and he passed background checks that go back to having investigators talking to your college friends, teachers, family members and down the line. No one on this forum can question his dedication to the job. He could have put in 8 more years and cashed out with a nice retirement plan and moved along with his life. He has an abrasive personality that rubs some people the wrong way. That same personality makes other people gravitate towards him because they look at that aspect of his persona and admire a no nonsense approach.

My sons best friend worked in the secret service with Bongino and they became and still are close friends. I don't pay much attention to what Bongino says on social media. I don't pay much attention to what any flame thrower has to say on social media. I don't think he is a liar and that is how he is being portrayed by some on this forum. He is now a modern day Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The evil side of the man has come front and center. The man was willing to take a bullet for a president he didn't agree with very much. That is an aspect of the man that should not easily be kicked to the curb. The man found his schtick and is using his popularity to make a buck. If Mr Bongino was a liberal flame thrower with the same credentials his popularity on this forum would be off the charts. When I read the disparaging remarks made about him and see the long knives come out that also tells me everything I need to know.

Nope, if he was a liberal flame thrower (and a liar) there would be lots of people on here calling him out for that, including me.

But back to the reality of this guy, he's a flaming election denier...and no sane person, other than a grifter, is such: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/1 ... ing-437164

And a purveyor of dangerously false COVID misinformation. https://www.reuters.com/business/media- ... 022-01-26/

And just in general: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2 ... -cities-d/

One does not need to be a liar or a conspiracy nut to be a "conservative" pundit. That's a choice.

That is his schtick MD. Too many folks on the left and right lose track of this. Rush Limbaugh use to point this out all of the time. He found a vehicle that allowed him to transform his political ideology into a cash cow. I believe these other right wing flame throwers are doing the same thing. It is less about the left or right but it is about the green. The far right is very good at this but the far left still struggles. The far left spent decades trying to find an answer for Rush Limbaugh and the closest they came was Al Franken. Al did receive a nice consolation prize by being elected to the US Senate in a very bizarre election. I think the right is still complaining about how those votes were counted.

Yes, a lying grifter...no matter what someone did prior in life excuses this choice to be a POS lying grifter.

Again, I don't care whether it's left or right.
I must say, however, that the proliferation of such on the right has been pretty gross.

And yes, the whining about Franken being elected by felons was brought back by Trump. Another lie, though.
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/ ... on-rigged/

Some times it seems like you live in a different plane of existence from the rest of the world. I wasn't whining about Frankens election. They did keep recounting and recounting and recounting until they found enough votes...whew. You think Bongino is a lying grifter. I disagree with your opinion. I will bring this up as a bit of a tangent but very interesting IMO. Several weeks ago I did something I don't normally do. Since I'm still sleeping on the couch I pass the time watching late night TV. There was an older episode of Fear Factor that included of all people G. Gordon Liddy. The old bazthard did pretty well. The very odd thing is the bevy of compliments he received from the other contestants that were much younger than him. I'm thinking to myself how does this guy earn this respect from anyone? The man was an embarrassment to this country. I'll end this repeating what I have said on this thread a few times already... How does a dedicated secret service agent suddenly morph into a lying grifter? A man who would have taken a bullet to save the life of his boss who he didn't much agree with on anything. That flies in the face of everything I understand about human nature.

As we've discussed previously, there's quite a list of dedicated, presumed to be honorable, people who have turned screwball or grifter, lying for their personal benefit. We've discussed several of them in these threads over the past few years, with each ensuing bit of evidence confirming their dishonesty or delusions. All while others kept denying the growing evident realities, pointing to their prior 'service' and even heroism in some cases.

Yes, it's indeed puzzling how this can happen. But it is very clear that it happens to some. Perhaps they were never as honorable as their public face, maybe they were exceedingly showing positive while secretly doing dishonest or harmful acts, or harboring desires secretly. Perhaps something unleashes their potential for grift or delusion. Hard to know for sure, absent a deep dive into their past that reveals the roots. But when we see it revealed, we should take full notice and not excuse it based upon other acts that we deem 'good'.

Trump and the hard right were the whiners. The election, whether one likes the outcome or not, was extremely close and was won fair and square by Franken. The claims that Trump and the hard right made were based in lies...it's become a very real pattern to so.

Not sure what you base your disagreement about Bongino on other than the 'respect' others you trust had of him based upon the time before he turned lying grifter. When we look at his choices since then, that's the basis for recognizing when he's lying, when his "schtick" is based upon knowing lies, thus dishonest grift. Repeated examples, not just 'mistakes'... No excuses based upon tenure as a secret service agent.

In my own world, I've seen people who those I trust believed were wonderful, even beloved be revealed as child abusers. One was the best man in 90 of his former students' weddings...beloved...close friend of my father, numerous dinners in our home...undeniably did "good", positively impacting many, many lives. But undeniably committed a series of such abuses over the decades. Admitted to it when finally confronted, on tape.

People are complicated, more than what they seem, sometimes to the good, sometimes not.

I guess Mr Bongino chose the wrong career after he left the secret service. If he wanted to be a lying grifter he should have stuck with politics even though he lost his first few attempts. I do know that in spite of the lying grifter claims being made the grifter part my be some what correct. I'm fairly certain Mr Bongino is making a good buck doing what he does.

[cradleandshoot]

sheesh, haven't we established that people can have distinguished careers, do brave and even selfless acts of courage, and then turn..."grifter" ? Even "bonkers nut job"?

Or do such service, and then found to be corrupt or racist or a child molester...or...

This can and does happen with people on whatever end of the political spectrum, where people are found to be more than one thing simultaneously, doing "good" while secretly doing "evil", or later have their full character emerge for us to see, or simply go down the rathole of conspiracies.

People are complicated. And we find out over time...

Do we need a list to prove the point that focusing on one aspect of someone's career is insufficient to assess the whole, and the current?

As to Bongino, seems to me that he's tried to parlay his prior service into another income stream, with increasing emphasis on attention-seeking and notoriety. Including a willingness to not be truthful...which is where it turns to Grift, in my book. But like many, many others whether left or right.

I was kind of dropping hints about Bongino right along those lines. He had 12 years in the secret service and he passed background checks that go back to having investigators talking to your college friends, teachers, family members and down the line. No one on this forum can question his dedication to the job. He could have put in 8 more years and cashed out with a nice retirement plan and moved along with his life. He has an abrasive personality that rubs some people the wrong way. That same personality makes other people gravitate towards him because they look at that aspect of his persona and admire a no nonsense approach.

My sons best friend worked in the secret service with Bongino and they became and still are close friends. I don't pay much attention to what Bongino says on social media. I don't pay much attention to what any flame thrower has to say on social media. I don't think he is a liar and that is how he is being portrayed by some on this forum. He is now a modern day Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The evil side of the man has come front and center. The man was willing to take a bullet for a president he didn't agree with very much. That is an aspect of the man that should not easily be kicked to the curb. The man found his schtick and is using his popularity to make a buck. If Mr Bongino was a liberal flame thrower with the same credentials his popularity on this forum would be off the charts. When I read the disparaging remarks made about him and see the long knives come out that also tells me everything I need to know.

Nope, if he was a liberal flame thrower (and a liar) there would be lots of people on here calling him out for that, including me.

But back to the reality of this guy, he's a flaming election denier...and no sane person, other than a grifter, is such: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/1 ... ing-437164

And a purveyor of dangerously false COVID misinformation. https://www.reuters.com/business/media- ... 022-01-26/

And just in general: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2 ... -cities-d/

One does not need to be a liar or a conspiracy nut to be a "conservative" pundit. That's a choice.

That is his schtick MD. Too many folks on the left and right lose track of this. Rush Limbaugh use to point this out all of the time. He found a vehicle that allowed him to transform his political ideology into a cash cow. I believe these other right wing flame throwers are doing the same thing. It is less about the left or right but it is about the green. The far right is very good at this but the far left still struggles. The far left spent decades trying to find an answer for Rush Limbaugh and the closest they came was Al Franken. Al did receive a nice consolation prize by being elected to the US Senate in a very bizarre election. I think the right is still complaining about how those votes were counted.

Yes, a lying grifter...no matter what someone did prior in life excuses this choice to be a POS lying grifter.

Again, I don't care whether it's left or right.
I must say, however, that the proliferation of such on the right has been pretty gross.

And yes, the whining about Franken being elected by felons was brought back by Trump. Another lie, though.
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/ ... on-rigged/

Some times it seems like you live in a different plane of existence from the rest of the world. I wasn't whining about Frankens election. They did keep recounting and recounting and recounting until they found enough votes...whew. You think Bongino is a lying grifter. I disagree with your opinion. I will bring this up as a bit of a tangent but very interesting IMO. Several weeks ago I did something I don't normally do. Since I'm still sleeping on the couch I pass the time watching late night TV. There was an older episode of Fear Factor that included of all people G. Gordon Liddy. The old bazthard did pretty well. The very odd thing is the bevy of compliments he received from the other contestants that were much younger than him. I'm thinking to myself how does this guy earn this respect from anyone? The man was an embarrassment to this country. I'll end this repeating what I have said on this thread a few times already... How does a dedicated secret service agent suddenly morph into a lying grifter? A man who would have taken a bullet to save the life of his boss who he didn't much agree with on anything. That flies in the face of everything I understand about human nature.

As we've discussed previously, there's quite a list of dedicated, presumed to be honorable, people who have turned screwball or grifter, lying for their personal benefit. We've discussed several of them in these threads over the past few years, with each ensuing bit of evidence confirming their dishonesty or delusions. All while others kept denying the growing evident realities, pointing to their prior 'service' and even heroism in some cases.

Yes, it's indeed puzzling how this can happen. But it is very clear that it happens to some. Perhaps they were never as honorable as their public face, maybe they were exceedingly showing positive while secretly doing dishonest or harmful acts, or harboring desires secretly. Perhaps something unleashes their potential for grift or delusion. Hard to know for sure, absent a deep dive into their past that reveals the roots. But when we see it revealed, we should take full notice and not excuse it based upon other acts that we deem 'good'.

Trump and the hard right were the whiners. The election, whether one likes the outcome or not, was extremely close and was won fair and square by Franken. The claims that Trump and the hard right made were based in lies...it's become a very real pattern to so.

Not sure what you base your disagreement about Bongino on other than the 'respect' others you trust had of him based upon the time before he turned lying grifter. When we look at his choices since then, that's the basis for recognizing when he's lying, when his "schtick" is based upon knowing lies, thus dishonest grift. Repeated examples, not just 'mistakes'... No excuses based upon tenure as a secret service agent.

In my own world, I've seen people who those I trust believed were wonderful, even beloved be revealed as child abusers. One was the best man in 90 of his former students' weddings...beloved...close friend of my father, numerous dinners in our home...undeniably did "good", positively impacting many, many lives. But undeniably committed a series of such abuses over the decades. Admitted to it when finally confronted, on tape.

People are complicated, more than what they seem, sometimes to the good, sometimes not.

Cradle - To MD's and my point, here's one that should hit home for you: A US Army Special Forces Medical Doctor stationed at your beloved Fort Bragg who murdered his pregnant wife and children at their on post housing - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_R ... cDonald%20(born%20October,an%20Army%20Special%20Forces%20physician.&text=Jamaica%2C%20Queens%2C%20New%20York%2C%20U.S.

But he checked all your boxes -
Served his country.
Veteran.
An MD who takes an oath to save lives.

Somehow he turns out to be something else.

I know all about Dr McDonald. If he had never allowed his story to be told he would probably still be a free man today. When the author who is writing your story thinks it is hinky your in trouble. I sure hope your not trying to compare Dan Bongino to a man who murdered his wife and 2 daughters?

[ggait]

Look no further than J6.

Military and law enforcement were significantly over represented in the riotous mob.

[MDlaxfan76]

Look no further than J6.

Military and law enforcement were significantly over represented in the riotous mob.

Agreed. Some people go wrong, regardless of background.

cradle,
Flynn and Guiliani are two very prominent such who we discussed in real time as they revealed their lying, grifting egomaniacal selves.

And despite the mounting evidence, there was gnashing of teeth at the notion of identifying them as such.

Bongino's been on a similar path, going deeper and deeper on the grift. Putting aside the secret service background, however, he's perhaps more the sort of lying grifter that Tucker Carlson and numerous other Fox hosts have proven to be. Liars. On purpose, knowingly...for media $.

Way more than "shtick" when lying is at the core.

[cradleandshoot]

Look no further than J6.

Military and law enforcement were significantly over represented in the riotous mob.

Agreed. Some people go wrong, regardless of background.

cradle,
Flynn and Guiliani are two very prominent such who we discussed in real time as they revealed their lying, grifting egomaniacal selves.

And despite the mounting evidence, there was gnashing of teeth at the notion of identifying them as such.

Bongino's been on a similar path, going deeper and deeper on the grift. Putting aside the secret service background, however, he's perhaps more the sort of lying grifter that Tucker Carlson and numerous other Fox hosts have proven to be. Liars. On purpose, knowingly...for media $.

Way more than "shtick" when lying is at the core.

Okay, so what do you mean when you refer to " the grift" ? Has anybody here even bothered to look up the meaning of what a grifter is. All you have to do is go back to the movie The Sting. A grifter is by definition a petty criminal. I think you chose to glom onto the lame ass 72 bloviating about grifters. Don't try and shift the issue over to other people. Your game of deflecting from the issue is getting old. Explain to me what Dan Bongino did that you can define as "grifting" ? Who did he cheat out of their money? I can think of all kinds of grifters. You remember some guy named Al Gore and the money he raked in off of his carbon credit grift?

[SCLaxAttack]

sheesh, haven't we established that people can have distinguished careers, do brave and even selfless acts of courage, and then turn..."grifter" ? Even "bonkers nut job"?

Or do such service, and then found to be corrupt or racist or a child molester...or...

This can and does happen with people on whatever end of the political spectrum, where people are found to be more than one thing simultaneously, doing "good" while secretly doing "evil", or later have their full character emerge for us to see, or simply go down the rathole of conspiracies.

People are complicated. And we find out over time...

Do we need a list to prove the point that focusing on one aspect of someone's career is insufficient to assess the whole, and the current?

As to Bongino, seems to me that he's tried to parlay his prior service into another income stream, with increasing emphasis on attention-seeking and notoriety. Including a willingness to not be truthful...which is where it turns to Grift, in my book. But like many, many others whether left or right.

I was kind of dropping hints about Bongino right along those lines. He had 12 years in the secret service and he passed background checks that go back to having investigators talking to your college friends, teachers, family members and down the line. No one on this forum can question his dedication to the job. He could have put in 8 more years and cashed out with a nice retirement plan and moved along with his life. He has an abrasive personality that rubs some people the wrong way. That same personality makes other people gravitate towards him because they look at that aspect of his persona and admire a no nonsense approach.

My sons best friend worked in the secret service with Bongino and they became and still are close friends. I don't pay much attention to what Bongino says on social media. I don't pay much attention to what any flame thrower has to say on social media. I don't think he is a liar and that is how he is being portrayed by some on this forum. He is now a modern day Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The evil side of the man has come front and center. The man was willing to take a bullet for a president he didn't agree with very much. That is an aspect of the man that should not easily be kicked to the curb. The man found his schtick and is using his popularity to make a buck. If Mr Bongino was a liberal flame thrower with the same credentials his popularity on this forum would be off the charts. When I read the disparaging remarks made about him and see the long knives come out that also tells me everything I need to know.

Nope, if he was a liberal flame thrower (and a liar) there would be lots of people on here calling him out for that, including me.

But back to the reality of this guy, he's a flaming election denier...and no sane person, other than a grifter, is such: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/1 ... ing-437164

And a purveyor of dangerously false COVID misinformation. https://www.reuters.com/business/media- ... 022-01-26/

And just in general: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2 ... -cities-d/

One does not need to be a liar or a conspiracy nut to be a "conservative" pundit. That's a choice.

That is his schtick MD. Too many folks on the left and right lose track of this. Rush Limbaugh use to point this out all of the time. He found a vehicle that allowed him to transform his political ideology into a cash cow. I believe these other right wing flame throwers are doing the same thing. It is less about the left or right but it is about the green. The far right is very good at this but the far left still struggles. The far left spent decades trying to find an answer for Rush Limbaugh and the closest they came was Al Franken. Al did receive a nice consolation prize by being elected to the US Senate in a very bizarre election. I think the right is still complaining about how those votes were counted.

Yes, a lying grifter...no matter what someone did prior in life excuses this choice to be a POS lying grifter.

Again, I don't care whether it's left or right.
I must say, however, that the proliferation of such on the right has been pretty gross.

And yes, the whining about Franken being elected by felons was brought back by Trump. Another lie, though.
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/ ... on-rigged/

Some times it seems like you live in a different plane of existence from the rest of the world. I wasn't whining about Frankens election. They did keep recounting and recounting and recounting until they found enough votes...whew. You think Bongino is a lying grifter. I disagree with your opinion. I will bring this up as a bit of a tangent but very interesting IMO. Several weeks ago I did something I don't normally do. Since I'm still sleeping on the couch I pass the time watching late night TV. There was an older episode of Fear Factor that included of all people G. Gordon Liddy. The old bazthard did pretty well. The very odd thing is the bevy of compliments he received from the other contestants that were much younger than him. I'm thinking to myself how does this guy earn this respect from anyone? The man was an embarrassment to this country. I'll end this repeating what I have said on this thread a few times already... How does a dedicated secret service agent suddenly morph into a lying grifter? A man who would have taken a bullet to save the life of his boss who he didn't much agree with on anything. That flies in the face of everything I understand about human nature.

As we've discussed previously, there's quite a list of dedicated, presumed to be honorable, people who have turned screwball or grifter, lying for their personal benefit. We've discussed several of them in these threads over the past few years, with each ensuing bit of evidence confirming their dishonesty or delusions. All while others kept denying the growing evident realities, pointing to their prior 'service' and even heroism in some cases.

Yes, it's indeed puzzling how this can happen. But it is very clear that it happens to some. Perhaps they were never as honorable as their public face, maybe they were exceedingly showing positive while secretly doing dishonest or harmful acts, or harboring desires secretly. Perhaps something unleashes their potential for grift or delusion. Hard to know for sure, absent a deep dive into their past that reveals the roots. But when we see it revealed, we should take full notice and not excuse it based upon other acts that we deem 'good'.

Trump and the hard right were the whiners. The election, whether one likes the outcome or not, was extremely close and was won fair and square by Franken. The claims that Trump and the hard right made were based in lies...it's become a very real pattern to so.

Not sure what you base your disagreement about Bongino on other than the 'respect' others you trust had of him based upon the time before he turned lying grifter. When we look at his choices since then, that's the basis for recognizing when he's lying, when his "schtick" is based upon knowing lies, thus dishonest grift. Repeated examples, not just 'mistakes'... No excuses based upon tenure as a secret service agent.

In my own world, I've seen people who those I trust believed were wonderful, even beloved be revealed as child abusers. One was the best man in 90 of his former students' weddings...beloved...close friend of my father, numerous dinners in our home...undeniably did "good", positively impacting many, many lives. But undeniably committed a series of such abuses over the decades. Admitted to it when finally confronted, on tape.

People are complicated, more than what they seem, sometimes to the good, sometimes not.

Cradle - To MD's and my point, here's one that should hit home for you: A US Army Special Forces Medical Doctor stationed at your beloved Fort Bragg who murdered his pregnant wife and children at their on post housing - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_R ... cDonald%20(born%20October,an%20Army%20Special%20Forces%20physician.&text=Jamaica%2C%20Queens%2C%20New%20York%2C%20U.S.

But he checked all your boxes -
Served his country.
Veteran.
An MD who takes an oath to save lives.

Somehow he turns out to be something else.

I know all about Dr McDonald. If he had never allowed his story to be told he would probably still be a free man today. When the author who is writing your story thinks it is hinky your in trouble. I sure hope your not trying to compare Dan Bongino to a man who murdered his wife and 2 daughters?

Cradle, in numerous threads over months and years you have always taken the extreme position of defending anyone who’s ever served in the armed services or some other dangerous government job regardless of their questionable, never mind egregious or illegal, behavior on the grounds that they must be fine Americans because they once served America.

I took an extreme example to demonstrate the fallacy in that incorrect connection.

[Farfromgeneva]

sheesh, haven't we established that people can have distinguished careers, do brave and even selfless acts of courage, and then turn..."grifter" ? Even "bonkers nut job"?

Or do such service, and then found to be corrupt or racist or a child molester...or...

This can and does happen with people on whatever end of the political spectrum, where people are found to be more than one thing simultaneously, doing "good" while secretly doing "evil", or later have their full character emerge for us to see, or simply go down the rathole of conspiracies.

People are complicated. And we find out over time...

Do we need a list to prove the point that focusing on one aspect of someone's career is insufficient to assess the whole, and the current?

As to Bongino, seems to me that he's tried to parlay his prior service into another income stream, with increasing emphasis on attention-seeking and notoriety. Including a willingness to not be truthful...which is where it turns to Grift, in my book. But like many, many others whether left or right.

I was kind of dropping hints about Bongino right along those lines. He had 12 years in the secret service and he passed background checks that go back to having investigators talking to your college friends, teachers, family members and down the line. No one on this forum can question his dedication to the job. He could have put in 8 more years and cashed out with a nice retirement plan and moved along with his life. He has an abrasive personality that rubs some people the wrong way. That same personality makes other people gravitate towards him because they look at that aspect of his persona and admire a no nonsense approach.

My sons best friend worked in the secret service with Bongino and they became and still are close friends. I don't pay much attention to what Bongino says on social media. I don't pay much attention to what any flame thrower has to say on social media. I don't think he is a liar and that is how he is being portrayed by some on this forum. He is now a modern day Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The evil side of the man has come front and center. The man was willing to take a bullet for a president he didn't agree with very much. That is an aspect of the man that should not easily be kicked to the curb. The man found his schtick and is using his popularity to make a buck. If Mr Bongino was a liberal flame thrower with the same credentials his popularity on this forum would be off the charts. When I read the disparaging remarks made about him and see the long knives come out that also tells me everything I need to know.

Nope, if he was a liberal flame thrower (and a liar) there would be lots of people on here calling him out for that, including me.

But back to the reality of this guy, he's a flaming election denier...and no sane person, other than a grifter, is such: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/1 ... ing-437164

And a purveyor of dangerously false COVID misinformation. https://www.reuters.com/business/media- ... 022-01-26/

And just in general: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2 ... -cities-d/

One does not need to be a liar or a conspiracy nut to be a "conservative" pundit. That's a choice.

That is his schtick MD. Too many folks on the left and right lose track of this. Rush Limbaugh use to point this out all of the time. He found a vehicle that allowed him to transform his political ideology into a cash cow. I believe these other right wing flame throwers are doing the same thing. It is less about the left or right but it is about the green. The far right is very good at this but the far left still struggles. The far left spent decades trying to find an answer for Rush Limbaugh and the closest they came was Al Franken. Al did receive a nice consolation prize by being elected to the US Senate in a very bizarre election. I think the right is still complaining about how those votes were counted.

Yes, a lying grifter...no matter what someone did prior in life excuses this choice to be a POS lying grifter.

Again, I don't care whether it's left or right.
I must say, however, that the proliferation of such on the right has been pretty gross.

And yes, the whining about Franken being elected by felons was brought back by Trump. Another lie, though.
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/ ... on-rigged/

Some times it seems like you live in a different plane of existence from the rest of the world. I wasn't whining about Frankens election. They did keep recounting and recounting and recounting until they found enough votes...whew. You think Bongino is a lying grifter. I disagree with your opinion. I will bring this up as a bit of a tangent but very interesting IMO. Several weeks ago I did something I don't normally do. Since I'm still sleeping on the couch I pass the time watching late night TV. There was an older episode of Fear Factor that included of all people G. Gordon Liddy. The old bazthard did pretty well. The very odd thing is the bevy of compliments he received from the other contestants that were much younger than him. I'm thinking to myself how does this guy earn this respect from anyone? The man was an embarrassment to this country. I'll end this repeating what I have said on this thread a few times already... How does a dedicated secret service agent suddenly morph into a lying grifter? A man who would have taken a bullet to save the life of his boss who he didn't much agree with on anything. That flies in the face of everything I understand about human nature.

As we've discussed previously, there's quite a list of dedicated, presumed to be honorable, people who have turned screwball or grifter, lying for their personal benefit. We've discussed several of them in these threads over the past few years, with each ensuing bit of evidence confirming their dishonesty or delusions. All while others kept denying the growing evident realities, pointing to their prior 'service' and even heroism in some cases.

Yes, it's indeed puzzling how this can happen. But it is very clear that it happens to some. Perhaps they were never as honorable as their public face, maybe they were exceedingly showing positive while secretly doing dishonest or harmful acts, or harboring desires secretly. Perhaps something unleashes their potential for grift or delusion. Hard to know for sure, absent a deep dive into their past that reveals the roots. But when we see it revealed, we should take full notice and not excuse it based upon other acts that we deem 'good'.

Trump and the hard right were the whiners. The election, whether one likes the outcome or not, was extremely close and was won fair and square by Franken. The claims that Trump and the hard right made were based in lies...it's become a very real pattern to so.

Not sure what you base your disagreement about Bongino on other than the 'respect' others you trust had of him based upon the time before he turned lying grifter. When we look at his choices since then, that's the basis for recognizing when he's lying, when his "schtick" is based upon knowing lies, thus dishonest grift. Repeated examples, not just 'mistakes'... No excuses based upon tenure as a secret service agent.

In my own world, I've seen people who those I trust believed were wonderful, even beloved be revealed as child abusers. One was the best man in 90 of his former students' weddings...beloved...close friend of my father, numerous dinners in our home...undeniably did "good", positively impacting many, many lives. But undeniably committed a series of such abuses over the decades. Admitted to it when finally confronted, on tape.

People are complicated, more than what they seem, sometimes to the good, sometimes not.

Cradle - To MD's and my point, here's one that should hit home for you: A US Army Special Forces Medical Doctor stationed at your beloved Fort Bragg who murdered his pregnant wife and children at their on post housing - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_R ... cDonald%20(born%20October,an%20Army%20Special%20Forces%20physician.&text=Jamaica%2C%20Queens%2C%20New%20York%2C%20U.S.

But he checked all your boxes -
Served his country.
Veteran.
An MD who takes an oath to save lives.

Somehow he turns out to be something else.

I know all about Dr McDonald. If he had never allowed his story to be told he would probably still be a free man today. When the author who is writing your story thinks it is hinky your in trouble. I sure hope your not trying to compare Dan Bongino to a man who murdered his wife and 2 daughters?

Cradle, in numerous threads over months and years you have always taken the extreme position of defending anyone who’s ever served in the armed services or some other dangerous government job regardless of their questionable, never mind egregious or illegal, behavior on the grounds that they must be fine Americans because they once served America.

I took an extreme example to demonstrate the fallacy in that incorrect connection.

Could always go with Tim McVeigh

[MDlaxfan76]

Look no further than J6.

Military and law enforcement were significantly over represented in the riotous mob.

Agreed. Some people go wrong, regardless of background.

cradle,
Flynn and Guiliani are two very prominent such who we discussed in real time as they revealed their lying, grifting egomaniacal selves.

And despite the mounting evidence, there was gnashing of teeth at the notion of identifying them as such.

Bongino's been on a similar path, going deeper and deeper on the grift. Putting aside the secret service background, however, he's perhaps more the sort of lying grifter that Tucker Carlson and numerous other Fox hosts have proven to be. Liars. On purpose, knowingly...for media $.

Way more than "shtick" when lying is at the core.

Okay, so what do you mean when you refer to " the grift" ? Has anybody here even bothered to look up the meaning of what a grifter is. All you have to do is go back to the movie The Sting. A grifter is by definition a petty criminal. I think you chose to glom onto the lame ass 72 bloviating about grifters. Don't try and shift the issue over to other people. Your game of deflecting from the issue is getting old. Explain to me what Dan Bongino did that you can define as "grifting" ? Who did he cheat out of their money? I can think of all kinds of grifters. You remember some guy named Al Gore and the money he raked in off of his carbon credit grift?

Grifter: Grifters are also known as chiselers, defrauders, gougers, scammers, swindlers, and flim-flam men.

Grift: a group of methods for obtaining money falsely through the use of swindles, frauds, dishonest gambling, etc. 2. money obtained from such practices.

I see this term as descriptive of a whole set of film-flam, selling BS as if gold; defrauding the reader, listener, donor of their attention and cash, based on lies.

Needn't be "petty", as in Trump's huge grift.

The dishonesty is the core tactic.

The Sting provided us with a lovable set of characters, "on the grift", playing the "long con"; or Ocean's 11, etc, both basically Robin Hood stories...however, we're talking about people doing this to those who aren't in positions of power and wealth, rather they're taking advantage of people who often can least afford it...

[jhu72]

I do agree with C&S that Bongino didn't just overnight become a grifter. He was born one. The grift has always been part of his personality, just like Trump. That is how his resume reads I would bet. He has always considered himself bigger, more important than he is. That is what his Secret Service colleagues tell us. He is a good grifter. He is not stupid. He is not untalented. He recognizes an opportunity when it presents itself and he does whatever it takes to take advantage of it. Doesn't hurt to have a truck load of idiots as your mark, they'll believe anything.

When he was fired from Faux News, he lied as to the reason, "he wasn't fired, it was a contract dispute". Even right-wing media doesn't believe that. Faux News was never going to comment on this and he knew it.

I would love to see his SS application. His PD resume would also likely be enlightening.

[Typical Lax Dad]

sheesh, haven't we established that people can have distinguished careers, do brave and even selfless acts of courage, and then turn..."grifter" ? Even "bonkers nut job"?

Or do such service, and then found to be corrupt or racist or a child molester...or...

This can and does happen with people on whatever end of the political spectrum, where people are found to be more than one thing simultaneously, doing "good" while secretly doing "evil", or later have their full character emerge for us to see, or simply go down the rathole of conspiracies.

People are complicated. And we find out over time...

Do we need a list to prove the point that focusing on one aspect of someone's career is insufficient to assess the whole, and the current?

As to Bongino, seems to me that he's tried to parlay his prior service into another income stream, with increasing emphasis on attention-seeking and notoriety. Including a willingness to not be truthful...which is where it turns to Grift, in my book. But like many, many others whether left or right.

I was kind of dropping hints about Bongino right along those lines. He had 12 years in the secret service and he passed background checks that go back to having investigators talking to your college friends, teachers, family members and down the line. No one on this forum can question his dedication to the job. He could have put in 8 more years and cashed out with a nice retirement plan and moved along with his life. He has an abrasive personality that rubs some people the wrong way. That same personality makes other people gravitate towards him because they look at that aspect of his persona and admire a no nonsense approach.

My sons best friend worked in the secret service with Bongino and they became and still are close friends. I don't pay much attention to what Bongino says on social media. I don't pay much attention to what any flame thrower has to say on social media. I don't think he is a liar and that is how he is being portrayed by some on this forum. He is now a modern day Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The evil side of the man has come front and center. The man was willing to take a bullet for a president he didn't agree with very much. That is an aspect of the man that should not easily be kicked to the curb. The man found his schtick and is using his popularity to make a buck. If Mr Bongino was a liberal flame thrower with the same credentials his popularity on this forum would be off the charts. When I read the disparaging remarks made about him and see the long knives come out that also tells me everything I need to know.

Nope, if he was a liberal flame thrower (and a liar) there would be lots of people on here calling him out for that, including me.

But back to the reality of this guy, he's a flaming election denier...and no sane person, other than a grifter, is such: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/1 ... ing-437164

And a purveyor of dangerously false COVID misinformation. https://www.reuters.com/business/media- ... 022-01-26/

And just in general: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2 ... -cities-d/

One does not need to be a liar or a conspiracy nut to be a "conservative" pundit. That's a choice.

That is his schtick MD. Too many folks on the left and right lose track of this. Rush Limbaugh use to point this out all of the time. He found a vehicle that allowed him to transform his political ideology into a cash cow. I believe these other right wing flame throwers are doing the same thing. It is less about the left or right but it is about the green. The far right is very good at this but the far left still struggles. The far left spent decades trying to find an answer for Rush Limbaugh and the closest they came was Al Franken. Al did receive a nice consolation prize by being elected to the US Senate in a very bizarre election. I think the right is still complaining about how those votes were counted.

Yes, a lying grifter...no matter what someone did prior in life excuses this choice to be a POS lying grifter.

Again, I don't care whether it's left or right.
I must say, however, that the proliferation of such on the right has been pretty gross.

And yes, the whining about Franken being elected by felons was brought back by Trump. Another lie, though.
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/ ... on-rigged/

Some times it seems like you live in a different plane of existence from the rest of the world. I wasn't whining about Frankens election. They did keep recounting and recounting and recounting until they found enough votes...whew. You think Bongino is a lying grifter. I disagree with your opinion. I will bring this up as a bit of a tangent but very interesting IMO. Several weeks ago I did something I don't normally do. Since I'm still sleeping on the couch I pass the time watching late night TV. There was an older episode of Fear Factor that included of all people G. Gordon Liddy. The old bazthard did pretty well. The very odd thing is the bevy of compliments he received from the other contestants that were much younger than him. I'm thinking to myself how does this guy earn this respect from anyone? The man was an embarrassment to this country. I'll end this repeating what I have said on this thread a few times already... How does a dedicated secret service agent suddenly morph into a lying grifter? A man who would have taken a bullet to save the life of his boss who he didn't much agree with on anything. That flies in the face of everything I understand about human nature.

As we've discussed previously, there's quite a list of dedicated, presumed to be honorable, people who have turned screwball or grifter, lying for their personal benefit. We've discussed several of them in these threads over the past few years, with each ensuing bit of evidence confirming their dishonesty or delusions. All while others kept denying the growing evident realities, pointing to their prior 'service' and even heroism in some cases.

Yes, it's indeed puzzling how this can happen. But it is very clear that it happens to some. Perhaps they were never as honorable as their public face, maybe they were exceedingly showing positive while secretly doing dishonest or harmful acts, or harboring desires secretly. Perhaps something unleashes their potential for grift or delusion. Hard to know for sure, absent a deep dive into their past that reveals the roots. But when we see it revealed, we should take full notice and not excuse it based upon other acts that we deem 'good'.

Trump and the hard right were the whiners. The election, whether one likes the outcome or not, was extremely close and was won fair and square by Franken. The claims that Trump and the hard right made were based in lies...it's become a very real pattern to so.

Not sure what you base your disagreement about Bongino on other than the 'respect' others you trust had of him based upon the time before he turned lying grifter. When we look at his choices since then, that's the basis for recognizing when he's lying, when his "schtick" is based upon knowing lies, thus dishonest grift. Repeated examples, not just 'mistakes'... No excuses based upon tenure as a secret service agent.

In my own world, I've seen people who those I trust believed were wonderful, even beloved be revealed as child abusers. One was the best man in 90 of his former students' weddings...beloved...close friend of my father, numerous dinners in our home...undeniably did "good", positively impacting many, many lives. But undeniably committed a series of such abuses over the decades. Admitted to it when finally confronted, on tape.

People are complicated, more than what they seem, sometimes to the good, sometimes not.

Cradle - To MD's and my point, here's one that should hit home for you: A US Army Special Forces Medical Doctor stationed at your beloved Fort Bragg who murdered his pregnant wife and children at their on post housing - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_R ... cDonald%20(born%20October,an%20Army%20Special%20Forces%20physician.&text=Jamaica%2C%20Queens%2C%20New%20York%2C%20U.S.

But he checked all your boxes -
Served his country.
Veteran.
An MD who takes an oath to save lives.

Somehow he turns out to be something else.

I know all about Dr McDonald. If he had never allowed his story to be told he would probably still be a free man today. When the author who is writing your story thinks it is hinky your in trouble. I sure hope your not trying to compare Dan Bongino to a man who murdered his wife and 2 daughters?

Cradle, in numerous threads over months and years you have always taken the extreme position of defending anyone who’s ever served in the armed services or some other dangerous government job regardless of their questionable, never mind egregious or illegal, behavior on the grounds that they must be fine Americans because they once served America.

I took an extreme example to demonstrate the fallacy in that incorrect connection.

Could always go with Tim McVeigh