Pundit Consoomer Newsletter: Ray Epps Mystery
July 15, 2023
Happy Saturday! Today’s edition of The Pundit Consoomer Newsletter is 2162 words and takes approximately 9 minutes and 15 seconds to read, saving you 11 hours and 53 minutes of commentary watch time.
1 Big Thing- Ray Epps Mystery Cont.
There have been a few advancements in the Ray Epps mystery, including some impending lawsuits:
Why it Matters: Ray Epps is quite possibly the only prominent individual not arrested or prosecuted by authorities regarding the January 6 Riot/Protest. Many commentators, mostly those on the right, have questioned whether or not Epps was a federal agent. The answer would determine if the January 6 Riot/Protest was infiltrated or escalated by agent provocateurs.
The Gist:
· Ray Epps has sued Fox News for defamation claiming that he was the “smoking gun of the Fed-surection”.
Epps was also informed that he would be criminally charged in his role in the January 6 Capitol Riot/Protest.
Multiple newspapers have strangely changed their characterisation of the January 6 Incident from “insurrection” and “riot” to “protest” and “rally”.
Quotes From the Establishment:
“Ray Epps attended the pro-Trump rallies…” ~ The Washington Post
“… Ray Epps- is that he took part in demonstrations in Washington that day…” ~ The New York Times
“A former marine who voted for Trump and joined the Jan. 6, 2021, protests sued…” ~ Bloomberg
“Ray Epps, who was a Trump supporter that participated in the protests on January 6th…” ~ Rolling Stone
Pundit Perspectives:
Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA and Saagar Enjeti of Breaking Points believe that the lawsuit from Epps is meritless:
“It is one of the weakest, strangest lawsuits that I have ever seen. I believe it is composed with the intent to try to scare Fox into settling into another Dominion style settlement.” (1:38:16) ~ Charlie Kirk
“I personally think this is spurious and ridiculous. […] Because number one, […] Epps made himself a public figure, he's on video and the FBI also made him one so in terms of the private citizen defense, I think is completely thrown out the window; and second, as long as you say ‘alleged’ and you ask a question instead of a direct accusation you're good.” (2:33) ~ Saagar Enjeti
Darren Beattie, guest on The Charlie Kirk Show and journalist at Revolver News, and Krystal Ball of Breaking Points believe that Fox News will settle the lawsuit out of convenience:
“I think it is overwhelmingly likely that Fox News will settle.” (1:39:31) ~ Darren Beattie
“What I ultimately think is going to happen is they're probably going to settle, they just settled with the Tucker former producer […]. Do you really think that they're going to want to open the kimono again and go through the whole process again that they went through with Dominion?” (4:34) ~ Krystal Ball
Charlie Kirk and Darren Beattie question the logic of Epps suing for defamation:
“How can it be defamation to say that someone might work for the federal government? […] That’s not like calling someone a Nazi or a rapist.” (1:44:18) ~ Charlie Kirk
“Is it reputationally worse for Epps to be what it seems from the video that he is an active participant in what the regime calls an insurrection and one of the worst […] domestic terrorist attacks in American history. Is that reputationally worse for him than saying, ‘Oh, he was actually working on behalf of the government in some capacity?’” (1:46:17) ~ Darren Beattie
Krystal Ball believes that the lawsuit makes it unlikely that Epps was a federal agent:
“If he was like, fed, false flag instigator, then I don't think he would be suing Fox News and opening himself up to Discovery.” (3:14) ~ Krystal Ball
Tim Pool of Timcast and Ana Kasparian of The Young Turks believes that Epps simply turned witness and was not a federal agent:
“Now while many people who watch Tucker Carlson believe that he may be a federal agent, I think there's actually a simpler explanation for this: Ray Epps is a cooperating witness and informant.” (2:19) ~ Tim Pool
“So, he might be cooperating with authorities here and maybe that has led to the ire that some of these right-wing hosts are directing toward him.” (3:42) ~ Ana Kasparian
Tim Pool, Dan Bongino and Charlie Kirk point to media manipulation where multiple media outlets change their description of the January 6th Incident from “insurrection” and “riot” to “protest” and “rally”:
“Now I understand why people think this guy is a Fed: Because even when they expect him to be charged, the media all of a sudden wipes out the narrative of ‘insurrection’ and will say whatever to make sure this guy is not viewed negatively. Why? If there is anything to be said of Ray Epps, it is that he is the principal figure in the incitement of January 6.” (16:12) ~ Tim Pool
“Remember the anti-anti-communist theory: We’re the anti-communists, the liberals are the anti-anti-communists. They are for what we’re against, against what we’re for. There’s no principles involved in this at all. Because we’re an obstacle to their power.” (17:47) ~ Dan Bongino
Go Deeper: Read the articles by Revolver News where they were one of the original sites that alleged Epps to be a federal agent here and here.
2. White House Cocaine Saga Concludes
The White House Cocaine investigation concludes with the Secret Service being unable to identify a suspect.
Why it Matters: This conclusion only proves that either the Secret Service is incompetent in its investigations which will leave the White House vulnerable to attacks such as the anthrax letters, or that the Secret Service is lying and are actively protecting the Biden family or White House staff members. Neither outcomes are positive news.
The Gist: A small plastic bag used to contain the drugs was discovered in the White House earlier this month. The Secret Service has since closed its investigation and said that they were unable to determine a suspect through fingerprints, DNA traces and video evidence.
Pundit Perspectives:
Tim Pool of Timcast and Ben Shapiro of The Daily Wire, and Dan Bongino of The Dan Bongino Show believe that Hunter Biden has the highest probability of being the culprit:
“You know who is not a member of the white house staff? [It] would be a man named Hunter Biden.” (3:11) ~ Ben Shapiro
“So it looks like, I can only assume, the drugs belong to Hunter Biden.” (3:20) ~ Tim Pool
“I suspect strongly, […] that is was a friend of Hunter Biden’s or Hunter Biden himself.” (3:42) ~ Dan Bongino
Multiple commentators that have first-hand experience in accessing the White House, including former White House Correspondent Saagar Enjeti, former Secret Service Agent Dan Bongino, Tim Pool of Timcast, and Ben Shapiro of The Daily Wire, all reject the claim that the Secret Service has no leads or the claim that it was a visitor that brought the cocaine:
“I used to go into the White House complex almost on a daily basis there. You can't just bring whatever you want in there.” (1:40) ~ Saagar Enjeti
“Former Secret Service Agent Dan Bongino calls bullsh*t on claims Secret Service has no leads in the White House cocaine case.” (13:31) ~ Dan Bongino
“Let's be real about getting drugs into the White House: It's not going to be a journalist or a tourist because these people have to go through security. I know, I've been to the White House, I had to go through security. You're not bringing anything in.” (1:27) ~ Tim Pool
“This is the most protected building on planet Earth. I've been there multiple times, their cameras pretty much everywhere.” (0:11) ~ Ben Shapiro
Dan Bongino and Saagar Enjeti base their argument on their understanding of the capabilities of the Secret Service’s advanced fingerprinting lab:
“I once again completely find it impossible frankly, you were able to just walk onto the White House complex, leave his cocaine there and they were unable to find it, especially with the allegations of the FBI crime lab and all that. So yeah, I find it ludicrous completely on its face that's my analysis.” (3:46) ~ Saagar Enjeti
3. Racist Anti-Racist Seminar
NYU has hosted a “Whites-Only” Antiracism workshop for public school parents.
Why it Matters: Legal experts say that the workshops were a brazen violation of multiple civil rights laws.
The Gist: New York University hosted a whites-only "anti-racism" workshop for public school parents in New York City, barring minorities from a five-month-long seminar. The $360 workshop was "designed specifically for white public school parents" committed to "becoming anti-racist" and building "multiracial parent communities."
Pundit Perspectives:
Kyle Kulinski and Glenn Greenwald both believe that this is Horseshoe Theory in effect:
“This is an example of sectarianism breaking people's brains, and this is kind of an example of the idea that Horseshoe Theory can be real.” (2:43) ~ Kyle Kulinski
“Obviously, the people doing this believe that they’re justified in segregating people by race, because unlike those who did that previously in the Jim Crow era and the like, they’re the people who are doing it with good motives, unlike the ones with bad motives. Even though is the same exact act, they presumably see it as different.” (57:31)
Both believe that the seminar was hugely racist and offensive:
“If you are this obsessed with race or you want to take a class on not being racist, you probably are racist. Because you're thinking about it too much. [You’re] overthinking it.” (4:02) ~ Kyle Kulinski
“There are so many mixed race families now, and you tell people that the best way to make progress and have dialogue is to dividing and segregating them based on race seems offensive as hell to me.” (52:29) ~ Glenn Greenwald
“Here too this idea that even if you’re a black person and want to go to the seminar, for your own good you’re gonna be shielded and protected because to be black or to be Latino means you’re too weak to just experience the world as it is. You have to be shielded and protected by white people who are stronger and know better for you.” (59:14) ~ Glenn Greenwald
Go Deeper: Read the original story broke by Aaron Sibarium here.
4. Corruption in the Supreme Court
Many of the past and present Supreme Court Justices have been exposed for their corrupt practices:
Why it Matters: The Justice branch of government was long seen as the least corrupt branch of the three. This may change following these revelations.
The Gist:
Justice Clarence Thomas, former Justice Antonin Scalia and former Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg have been exposed to have taken many subsidized trips to vacation locations and have resided at expensive locations at the cost of billionaires and rich benefactors.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor has been exposed to having her staff members convince colleges and libraries to buy her books. Such books earned her at least $3.7 million since she joined the court in 2009.
Lawyers with supreme court business have been exposed to have paid Justice Clarence Thomas’ aide via Venmo.
Pundit Perspectives:
Saagar Enjeti of Breaking Points does not seem happy with the news regarding Justice Sonia Sotomayor and her staff:
“The worst part is that these people are federal employees who are pushing private books. This is the most basic ethics violation.” (3:49)
Both hosts of Breaking Points believe that Justices have an unearned sense of entitlement towards luxury:
“I think that's exactly right, and they're in this high position of power, there is no accountability, they have no actual set ethics rules that they have to abide by, and they feel themselves to be a part of this extremely wealthy elite set. And so to them it's only fitting that they be treated and vetted to these trips and vacations and goodies and perks and whatever, because they do feel this sense of like- […] they feel that they deserve this lifestyle.” (5:46) ~ Krystal Ball
Ana Kasparian of The Young Turks believes that The Guardian broke the Venmo story too prematurely:
“As the story is right now, with the details we have right now, it was premature. They needed to wait in my opinion.” (5:21)
Go Deeper: Read the article on subsidized trips by the New York Times here, the article on book pushing by the AP here, and the article on Venmo here.
5. Pundit Quote of the Day
Ben Shapiro gives his analysis of the numerous right-wing commentators that have pro-Russian or Russia-sympathetic viewpoints:
“Is there more complexity than that? Yeah sure. There's more complexity than that, but the overall narrative is not false. And what I see here is that complexity the scales of grey are being used to eliminate the colors black and white.” (52:37) ~ Ben Shapiro
Thanks for reading today’s edition of The Pundit Consoomer Newsletter.
Written by Joshua C.K. Chang.
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