Thursday, March 4, 2021

With New Threat On Capitol Today The Reich Media Still Whines That Misinformation "Speech" Is Being Censored

 "Given  what happened January 6th there is no not taking this new threat seriously."- Fran Townsend, former Bush admin. security official, this morning on CBS.

Even as warnings have sounded today that  Trump's "nutballs"  (Rachel Maddow's term) are planning a new Capitol attack today, The Reich media - including WSJ and FOX - are whining that their free speech is being censored. The poor little wannabe fascists can no longer spread misinformation without consequence.  

Sorry, but it's about damned time propaganda and disinfo was circumscribed given the havoc and insurrection this claptrap has already caused.    To be sure, this country's  perception of "free speech" (especially on the Right) has now been so badly warped that something as basic as a company's right to pull a Twitter troll's account is under attack.  This  after the troll unleashed thousands of lies and disinformation, from Covid being a "hoax" 'to the insurrection being "free speech".  (Following on from Trump's lawyers' idiotic claims - in his Senate trial- that his incitement of the mob to insurrection was "protected speech.")

Then there was the case of Star Wars (Manadalorian) cast member Gina Carano being given the heave ho by Disney after posting crappola comparing the Nazi  treatment of Jews to the treatment of conservatives i.e. in being subject to "cancel culture".   Which I  pointed out had no analogy and hence Carano deserved her dismissal, e.g.

This was even seized upon by comedian Bill Maher (in a Real Time episode) as "going too far",  only showing Maher has about a much insight into the Nazis' persecution of Jews as he has about Covid 19, i.e.

All this is referenced as counterpoint to The Wall Street Journal's latest efforts to make the indefensible defensible in its Feb. 26 Editorial ('The Censorship Party', p.  A14).  Therein the Journal's nattering nabobs took aim at an Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on "disinformation and extremism" in conservative media.  This included that media's incessant lies about Covid, the wearing of masks, as well as pushing Trump's big lie about the election - which led directly to the insurrection.  See e.g.

The Journal's editors, however, evidently see no problem in yelling 'Fire!' in a million theaters (cable stations)  across the land and working a cognitively incapacitated segment of Americans into a lather.   They even go so far as to resort to false equivalence to cloud distinctions.  This is regarding public harm and the speech which causes it, yapping (ibid.):  "Would two years of false Democratic narratives about Russian collusion with Trump qualify as harm?"   

But that narrative was valid,  based on ironclad facts in actual documents which the Journal and the Right disinfo axis have tried to nullify since former AG Barr misrepresented the Mueller Report back in 2019.  Indeed, the incessant repetition of these false narratives - e.g. Holman Jenkins' insane claim (WSJ, Feb. 26, p. A15)  that "Adam Schiff jumped off a cliff with the collusion hoax" have directly led to the Journal's readers being turned into uncritical and indiscriminate  misinformation miners, e.g.

Why be surprised then when we also behold on the Journal's op-ed pages outright lies such as repeatedly scribbled by Jenkins as well as his WSJ sidekick, Kim Strassel.  Who's latest twaddle ('Just Asking for Censorship',  Feb 26, . A13) even rivals Jenkins', i.e. in insisting "disinformation is today's code word for conservative ideas" as social media platforms crack down on unhinged lies.   Well, Kim,  if the shoe fits and all that!  And as we've seen from her op-ed history, she certainly likes the fit, e.g.

But what she portrays with sarcasm in her latest piece is in fact the case but for the ensnared Pro-Trump GOOPrs.   Real  conservatives, like William Kristol, continue to warn of the danger to democracy from the pro Trump Liars Axis. So Kristol, unlike Kim, is differentiating genuine ideas (like free trade) from extremist dog whistles such as the election fraud lies that set the insurrectionists loose. And one only needs to examine the stream of lies pumped out in the last nine months to understand it-  from reinforcing Trump's stolen election crap to downplaying the virus and lampooning virus protocols (e.g. mask wearing) leading to over 500,000 dead.

 This brings us to the disinfo on Covid and lax, incompetent response to dealing with it. Start with the  quack named Joel Zinberg ('Biden and Allies Stoked Vaccine Fears',  Feb. 26, p. A15).  In fact, any "fears" were stoked by Trump himself from the beginning, and as documented by Laurie Garrett and others, e.g.

Trump Has Sabotaged America's Coronavirus Response


Excerpt:

" In 2018, the Trump administration fired the government’s entire pandemic response chain of command, including the White House management infrastructure. In numerous phone calls and emails with key agencies across the U.S. government, the only consistent response I encountered was distressed confusion."

The preceding also is sufficient to skewer Gerard Baker's bollocks ('Joe Biden's Trump-like Fabrication On Covid',  WSJ, Mar. 2, p. A17) where this resident troll blathers: "the Biden team is concocting a fiction...that before January 20th the Covid 19 pandemic was out of control, threatening an even larger catastrophe."

Well, it was  out of control largely because the Trump administration response was grossly inadequate. Indeed, all of Trump's actions in concert, from early on disbanding the pandemic response team, to originally calling the virus a "hoax" to then downplaying it as cases and hospitalizations rose and even recommending injection of disinfectants -  would have stoked the mass deaths we beheld and more on the way.  This as response continued to lag. In fact, the orange mutt screwed up the distribution of vaccine, like he did with ppe earlier in 2020- letting the states battle it out in a virus-dictated 'hunger games'.   

Worse,  instead of  fully using the Defense Production Act - like Biden has now- to ramp up supply, he punted.  Thus barely 2.1 million doses had only been administered by the end of December, a trend that had it continued would have seen up to 630,000 dead by June.  Biden nipped that disaster in the bud with his '100 million doses in 100 days' strategy backed up by finally getting thousands of actual vaccinators deployed - from the National Guard.  In addition, he had more than 400 vaccination centers set up at sports stadiums, etc. 

Dotard and Melania had a chance to do some good when the duo got their vaccines in early January, but then they declined to do so publicly.   A simple act of positive optics that would have gone a long way toward allaying vaccine fears, but they opted out - preferring to let anti-vaccine ideations percolate.  So much for Zinberg's and Baker's nonsensical balderdash. 

But misinformation and diabolical disinformation reached its apex with the terabytes disseminated on social media before the January 6th insurrection.  The spewing of this harmful "speech" has also now led to the cancellation of a House session today after D.C. police warned of an attempt to storm the Capitol again in honor of the "true Inauguration Day" - coronating Dotard Trump.   (The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security issued a joint intelligence bulletin highlighting the belief among some members of the conspiracy-theory group QAnon that former President Donald Trump “will be inaugurated on 4 March or will return to power on 20 May with the help of the U.S. military.”)  

House Democratic leaders decided the risk of violence was too significant to ignore.  Could anyone blame them?  Citing FBI reports, the security bulletin stated that the right wing extremists had discussed plans as of late February to take control of the Capitol and remove Democratic lawmakers “on or about 4 March”  

Yet the WSJ editors just blab away about 'What's so harmful about a little misinformation and disinformation??'  Well, for one, people can get killed, as five were in the January insurrection.   Given the WSJ op-eds whining about "censorship" coming out of the WSJ one can't help but suppose its disinfo peddlers - like the clique at FOX News - would be just fine with an actual Capitol bloodbath.  

So long as their version of "free speech"  is honored as being first amendment worthy.

See Also:

Trump’s most delusional supporters swore he would return to power today. That, of course, didn’t happen.

AND:

Capitol Police on High Alert as QAnon Believers Prepare for Trump's 'True Inauguration Day'

by Meaghan Ellis | March 4, 2021 - 7:55am | permalink

— from Alternet

Excerpt:

Over the last several weeks, QAnon supporters have floated a date far-right conspiracy theorists believe will serve as former President Donald Trump's return to power. QAnon believers insist March 4 will be the date Trump becomes the "new world president."

With the date being just hours away, the U.S. Capitol Police has serious concerns about the possibility of civil unrest like the series of events that erupted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. According to ABC News, U.S. Capitol Police have increased security measures ahead of March 4 in the wake of heightened security threats.


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