The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Why Do Democrats Want a 9/11-Style Capitol Riot ‘Truth Commission’?

Posted on | May 19, 2021 | Comments Off on Why Do Democrats Want a 9/11-Style Capitol Riot ‘Truth Commission’?

They can’t quit him. Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) are unable to let go of their “Orange Man Bad” obsession with Donald Trump. That’s why, as I watched MSNBC this morning (so you don’t have to), they were headlining the New York state attorney general’s criminal investigation of Trump’s business organization. In their deranged minds, destroying Trump will also destroy what he represents — a populist challenge to elite control of America’s government and other institutions.

Our would-be elite overlords believe that only folks with Ivy League degrees and the correct “progressive” opinions can be allowed to have any meaningful influence in American public life. While it is true that Trump had an Ivy League diploma (from Penn), his mistake was in being too sympathetic to the working class who are fed up with elite control. Our media overlords won’t be satisfied until the current working class is entirely supplanted by cheap foreign labor — either through immigration, or through international trade competition — simply because the media elite hate the working class, so many of whom refuse to comply with elite demands, e.g., pretending that men can get pregnant or that AR-15 owners are the greatest threat to America’s public safety.

One obvious reason the media keep playing the Trump card, so to speak, is because nobody cares about Joe Biden and since Trump left office, most news ratings have fallen to unprecedented lows. Almost the only guy on cable TV who’s still relevant is Tucker Carlson, which is why CNN’s Brian Stelter is constantly “reporting” what Carlson says (as if CNN viewers are too stupid to turn the channel and see for themselves).

This is the simplest explanation for why CNN, MSNBC and other liberal media outlets continue to hype the Jan. 6 “insurrection” on a daily basis — it offers them a chance to feel more relevant, and perhaps even to claw their way out of their post-Trump viewership decline. And they all think it would be a splendid idea for Congress to authorize a 9/11 style “bipartisan” commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Notice that I have no problem describing what happened on Jan. 6 as a “riot.” When people storm a police barricade, that’s a riot in my book, even if I agree with the politics of the people doing it. And while there were a few genuinely dangerous kooks at the Capitol on Jan. 6, most of the people who breached the barricades were mainly guilty of misdemeanors, caught up in the urgent excitement of the moment. Even though I am sympathetic to people who think the 2020 election was stolen, I think the Capitol riot was a bad idea, but because nobody solicited my opinion in advance — “Hey, Stacy, what do you think about our plan for charging past the cops into the Capitol?” — so all I can do is express my disapproval in the aftermath.

It’s kind of like what happened in Charlottesville in August 2017. I’m all in favor of protecting historic monuments against left-wing mobs of political correctoids, but Munich-style torchlight parades and dressing up in combat gear for a street brawl? Bad optics, to say the least.

But while the CNN/MSNBC media gang want a Jan. 6 “Truth Commission” mainly to keep feeding their audience the Orange Man Bad diet they crave, Democrats are seeking more tangible political advantage:

Six months later, the “Big Lie” won’t die.
The Left and NeverTrump have tried everything in their collective power to punish critics of the 2020 presidential election: Social media accounts, including those belonging to Donald Trump, have been deplatformed. Republican lawmakers have been cut off by longtime donors, threatened with legal recourse, and worse.
Nonviolent Trump-supporting Americans who traveled to the nation’s capital on January 6 to protest dubious election results in swing states now face criminal charges. Nearly 75 million Americans are considered potential “domestic violent extremists” by their own government and nearly half their countrymen agree.
Lives and careers are being destroyed — and the Biden regime is only getting started. . . .

Read the whole thing.




 

Category: Conspiracy Theories, Democrats, Election, Media Bias

Gov. DeSantis Hires Christina Pushaw; Rebekah Jones Gets Crazier Than Ever

Posted on | May 19, 2021 | Comments Off on Gov. DeSantis Hires Christina Pushaw; Rebekah Jones Gets Crazier Than Ever

When last we updated readers on the Rebekah Jones saga (“The Streisand Effect and the Results of Everybody Blog About Rebekah Jones Day,” Sunday), the reporting of Charles C.W. Cooke at National Review had devastated whatever was left of Jones’s “whistleblower” reputation.

Since Sunday, there have been further developments in the saga. First, Christina Pushaw, the journalist whose February report on Jones began the debunking of her “whistleblower” narrative, was announced Monday as the new press secretary for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis:

Governor Ron DeSantis has tapped conservative journalist and communicator Christina Pushaw to be his new press secretary.
Pushaw, who most recently worked as a freelance journalist publishing in national conservative outlets like The National Interest and Human Events, landed inside the Governor’s office as DeSantis transitions into campaign season. Born in California, Pushaw carved out a career in communications after graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Southern California. She also holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and Economics from Johns Hopkins University.
“Some people are surprised that I’m a conservative because I’m from one of the bluest areas in the country. But that’s precisely what shaped my views on policy. Growing up in California, I’ve seen firsthand the destruction caused by unfettered progressive control,” Pushaw told The Capitolist in an email. “The contrast between my home state of California and my adopted home state of Florida couldn’t be more dramatic.”
In addition to her freelance journalism work, Pushaw worked with conservative public policy organizations in Washington D.C. and has also worked as an international political communications consultant aiding pro-American political leaders and organizations in Eastern Europe, specializing in English-language media. Her experience working with political leaders and other organizations helped hone her skills in an often hostile media environment. One of her clients, Mikheil Saakashvili, has been an outspoken critic of Vladmir Putin. . . .
Pushaw first got onto the radar of the DeSantis administration for her willingness to call out the now thoroughly discredited “whistleblower” Rebekah Jones in a series of investigative stories, including a blockbuster exposé in Human Events in February. That story was among the first national media outlets to shine a light on major plot holes in Jones’ claims and in the media narrative she perpetuated. Jones was fired from Florida’s Department of Health last year and is currently awaiting trial on charges that she illegally accessed a state computer network.

Congratulations to Ms. Pushaw and, as for Jones, what do crazy people do when things go wrong? They get crazier:

As Twitchy readers know, Charles C.W. Cooke wrote a fairly exceptional piece on ‘fabulist’ Rebekah Jones for The National Review. Full disclosure, this editor just this morning had the time to sit down and really read it and all we can say is … wow.
Seems Jones wrote a response/blog about his piece.
And managed to misspell his last name throughout the entire thing.
Oh, and she apparently plans to sue him for libel as well?

Jones’s reply to Cooke is more than 9,000 words of pure craziness and, while I’m not professionally licensed to provide psychiatric diagnoses, it is my opinion as a layman that Jones is deranged, demented, daft, wacky, bonkers, non compos mentis, off her rocker, nuttier than a Snickers bar, a few fries short of a Happy Meal, and cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Meanwhile, CNN’s Jake Tapper, who promoted Jones’s “whistleblower” narrative as recently as December, has thrown her under his Twitter bus.




 

Category: Conspiracy Theories, Florida

In The Mailbox: 05.18.21 (Evening Edition)

Posted on | May 19, 2021 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 05.18.21 (Evening Edition)

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley delenda est.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Play Stupid Games…
EBL: Mega-Houses On The Grift
Twitchy: “Boobs For The Win!”
Louder With Crowder: Biden Wants To Run Surveillance On Soldiers’ Social Media, Use Private Firms To “Circumvent” 1st Amendment
Vox Popoli: Capitalists Provide The Rope, also, They Lied To Us
Stoic Observations: The Perfection Of Individuality

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Is Jordan Peterson Going To Fail The Stupid Test?
American Conservative: Why Twitter Isn’t Manly
American Greatness: Shawshank For January 6 Detainees. also, SCOTUS Rules Unanimously Against Warrantless Gun Seizures
American Power: Michael Anton, The Stakes
American Thinker: And Just Like That, Masks Are No Longer Necessary
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Neurotic America News
Babalu Blog: Miami Marlins To Celebrate Cuban Heritage Night With Nostalgic AAA Sugar Kings Uniforms
BattleSwarm: Brandon Herrera On New ATF 80% Lower Rules, also, SCOTUS Strikes Down Warrantless Gun Seizure 9-0
Behind The Black: Today’s Blacklisted American, also, Martian Mesas Made Entirely Of Dry Ice
Cafe Hayek: Who Was James Buchanan?
CDR Salamander: The French View Of The Pacific
Da Tech Guy: Report From Louisiana – Bye Bye Mask! also, Time For Israel To Move Back Into The Gaza Strip & Stay
Don Surber: Trump Earned It, also, Israel Exploded AP’s Offices, Hamas Exploded AP’s Reputation
First Street Journal: Killadelphia, also, Toldjah So!
The Geller Report: British Rabbi Hospitalized After Brutal Beating By Muslim Thugs, also, Palestinians Fly Nazi Flags At Pro-Terror Demonstration
Hogewash: Doing Science In The Laboratories Of Democracy, also, Team Kimberlin Post of The Day
Hollywood In Toto: Comedians Won’t Touch Dr. Fauci, And That’s a Problem, also, Chris Rock Shreds Cancel Culture But Misses The Big Picture
The Lid: Dr. Fauci Admits His Mask Stance Two Months Ago Was All About Optics
Legal Insurrection: Ousted Space Force Commander Saw “Increasing Relevance” Of “Marxist Ideology”, also, Rep. Val Demings Taking On Rubio In 2022
Nebraska Energy Observer: We Stand
Outkick: Legendary Buffalo Hot Dog Stand Closes After 70 Years – Can’t Find Workers, also, UFC’s Derrick Lewis Finds Moron Trying To Break Into His Car, Brings The Pain
Power Line: In The Middle East, Discredited Myths Never Die, also, Biden Yields To Putin On Nord Stream 2 Pipeline
Shark Tank: Pelosi Fines Brian Mast $500 For Following CDC Guidelines & Not Wearing Mask
Shot In The Dark: Ko-Ko Kamala & The Kalorama Kommissar
STUMP: Mortality Nuggets
The Political Hat: Washington State Embraces Critical Race Theory
This Ain’t Hell: Inside The Military’s Secret Undercover Army, also, Biden Administration Has The Army Ready To Fight Our Biggest Enemy Yet
Transterrestrial Musings: The Neo-Feudalism Of Los Angeles, also, Leaving Portland
Victory Girls: Cuomo Gropes His Way To Profit Off COVID
Volokh Conspiracy: The First Amendment & Mask Mandates
Weasel Zippers: #BLM “Stands In Solidarity” With Hamas, also, Neanderthals Win – Texas Hits Zero COVID Deaths Per Day
The Federalist: Chrissy Teigen Got Rich Setting The Cancel Culture Norms Now Biting Her, also, Biden Greenlights Russian Pipeline After Shutting Down Keystone XL 
Mark Steyn: Design For Living – Give ‘Em Hecht, also, Hip Hopper

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Category: Linkagery

FMJRA 2.0: Rip & Tear

Posted on | May 18, 2021 | Comments Off on FMJRA 2.0: Rip & Tear

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley delenda est.

Rule 5 Sunday: Not From The Black Widow Movie
Animal Magnetism
Ninety Miles From Tyranny
A View From The Beach
EBL
Proof Positive

Truth or Satire? It’s Getting Harder to Tell
First Street Journal
EBL

David French Gets Paid to Hate You
Bacon Time
EBL

Biden’s ‘Diversity’ Administration
EBL

Hunter Biden’s Beijing Honey Trap
A View From The Beach
EBL

FMJRA 2.0: The Thrill Of It All
A View From The Beach
EBL

Motherhood (and the Lack Thereof)
Dark Brightness
EBL

In The Mailbox: 05.10.21
A View From The Beach
EBL
Proof Positive

Of Course, Evolution Is Racist
Hogewash
Rotten Chestnuts
EBL

In The Mailbox: 05.11.21
A View From The Beach
EBL
Proof Positive

Falling Down and Falling Apart
Gregor Mendel Blog
EBL

In The Mailbox: 05.13.21
A View From The Beach
EBL
Proof Positive

In The Mailbox: 05.13.21 (Evening Edition)
A View From The Beach
EBL
Proof Positive

Friday Fiction: 100 Word Challenge
EBL

In The Mailbox: 05.14.21
A View From The Beach
EBL
Proof Positive

Top linkers for the week ending May 14:

  1.  EBL (14)
  2.  A View From The Beach (8)
  3.  Proof Positive (6)

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Category: FMJRA Award

In The Mailbox: 05.18.21 (Afternoon Edition)

Posted on | May 18, 2021 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 05.18.21 (Afternoon Edition)

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Back from the DC area and ready to play catch-up. The FMJRA will appear later today, as will the evening edition of In The Mailbox. Thanks to Stacy and John Hoge for having me on The Other Podcast and for their hospitality.
Silicon Valley delenda est.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Minneapolis Mayor – “Defund The Police” Was A Bad Idea
EBL: St. Pancake, also, Masks Now, Masks Tomorrow, Masks Forever
Twitchy: President Biden Tells Rep. Tlaib He Admires Her Intellect & Passion 
Louder With Crowder: Cop Car Tosses Protesters Blocking HIghway, also, Crowder Starts Legal Action Against YouTube
Vox Popoli: The Canceling Of Literature, also, “Dozens Of Meetings”
Stoic Observations: Brother & Sister
Gab News: The Incompetent Grifters Around President Trump

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: This Ain’t Your Country Any More
American Conservative: The Other Virus – Learned Helplessness
American Greatness: Biden Diverts Money For America Healthcare To Illegals, also, Space Force Commander’s Book On Marxist Takeover Of The Military Soars To #1 After He’s Relieved Of Command
American Power: Ashley Rindsberg, The Gray Lady Winked
American Thinker: Dr. Fauci Finally Unmasked, also, Why Are Media Ignoring Massive COVID Vaccine Death Spike?
Animal Magnetism: Goodbye, Blue Monday
Babalu Blog: Spain Busts Money-Laundering Operation Shipping Drug Money To Cuba
BattleSwarm: Followup – IDF To Hamas “Psych!”, also, The Lab Leak Hypothesis Revisited
Behind The Black: Today’s Blacklisted American, also, Where Is Red China’s Zhurong Rover?
Cafe Hayek: A Weak Hypothetical In Support Of Tyranny, also, The Beginning Of The End Of Liberal Civilization?
CDR Salamander: The Army – Climate, Politics, & Pork
Da Tech Guy: Plausible Deniability AP Style, also, Chicago Aldermen Make Wrong Turn On Proposal To Rename Lake Shore Drive
Don Surber: Statuary Rape, also, Why Joe Biden Acts Like An Asshole
First Street Journal: The Left Are Pro-Choice On Exactly One Thing (Part II), also, Why June 11?
The Geller Report: U.S. Sending Aid To Palestinian Terrorists As Jihad Against Israel Continues, also,  Democrats In Congress Parrot Terrorist Talking Points
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post Of The Day, also, Words Have Meaning
Hollywood In Toto: Woman In The Window Lives Down To All The Bad Buzz, also, The Movie Star Era Is Over – Are Franchises Next On The Chopping Block?
The Lid: Judge Has Bad News For Hillary About IRS Investigation Of The Clinton Foundation
Legal Insurrection: Lincoln Project Targeting Children [sic] With “Franklin Project” Civics Program, also, University Of California Dropping SAT & ACT In Settlement With Minority Students
Nebraska Energy Observer: Random Observations, also, Malaise & Renaissance
Outkick: Martin Truex Says Bubba Wallance “Needs To Get His S**t Together”, also, Rob Manfred Remains Wildly Unpopular
Power Line: NYT – Slow Joe Getting Slower, also, The Deep Unpopularity Of Kamala Harris
Shark Tank: Democrats Have A Socialism Problem
Shot In The Dark: Demotion, also, Hope I Die Before I Get…Young
The Political Hat: Firing Line Friday – The Black Panthers, also, Oklahoma Vs. Critical Race Theory
This Ain’t Hell: Armed Forces Day, also, A Different Kind Of Military Phony
Transterrestrial Musings: The Climate Doom Mongers, also, Sharing Office Space With Terrorists
Victory Girls: Bill Gates Proves Money Can’t Buy Morals, also, Yes, AP Knew Hamas Was In The Building
Volokh Conspiracy: FCC Commissioner Brendan Car Slams Marilyn Mosby’s Complaint Against WBFF
Weasel Zippers: Biden Proving To Be A Bigger Disaster Than Carter Ever Was, also, Biden Economic Advisor Blames Bad April Jobs Report On Easter Being In March (It Was In April)
The Federalist: Twitter Suspends Spanish Politician For Saying “A Man Cannot Get Pregnant”, also, Army Takes On “Climate Change” As Serious Threat To National Security
Mark Steyn: Good Times & Hood Times, also, America’s Political Prisoners

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Category: Linkagery

‘Caring, Loving and Charitable … He Got a Kick Out of Pulling Pranks on People’

Posted on | May 17, 2021 | Comments Off on ‘Caring, Loving and Charitable … He Got a Kick Out of Pulling Pranks on People’

Theodoro Macias Jr., known by the nickname “Lolo,” was only 28 when he died on May 9. His obituary includes these remembrances:

Junior grew up in Longmont and attended schools in the area. He recently worked for a national cell phone network. He was dedicated to his job, and was passionate about serving people. Lolo was a caring, loving and charitable individual. He enjoyed spending time with his friends, and family. He loved to explore the mountains in search of scenic spots to contemplate. He enjoyed working out at the gym, listened to a variety of music genres, attended numerous concerts, and cherished going on long road trips with his friends, always seeking unique adventures and memorable experiences.
He adored his nieces and nephews, frequently bought them toys and video games, spoiling them like no other. He became a kid all over again when playing with them. Junior was extremely playful, he got a kick out of pulling pranks on people, since a young boy all throughout his life, and for this he will be mostly remembered. Not even his grandparents escaped his mischievous tricks. His frequent jokes and sayings will never be forgotten. Lolo was a loving son and brother, an excellent, fun, and best uncle, an amazing cousin, and a real and faithful friend.
He will be deeply missed by his loved ones. We love you Lolo. Forever.

Macias was less fondly remembered by other residents of Colorado Springs, where he committed the worst mass murder in the city’s history:

The man suspected of fatally shooting his girlfriend and five members of her extended family in a Colorado Springs mobile home had a history of jealous, controlling behavior and opened fire at the family’s birthday party in part because he was upset he wasn’t invited to the celebration, police said [May 11].
Investigators believe Teodoro Macias, 28, walked into a mobile home in the 2800 block of Preakness Way shortly after midnight Sunday and shot his girlfriend, 28-year-old Sandra Ibarra-Perez, and the five others in quick succession and in a deliberate manner, Colorado Springs police Lt. Joe Frabbiele said at a news conference Tuesday.
The suspect then killed himself, according to police.
“At the core of this horrendous act is domestic violence,” Chief Vince Niski said. “The suspect… displayed power and control issues. When he wasn’t invited to a family gathering, the suspect responded by opening fire.” . . .
Those killed were identified as Melvin Perez, 30, his wife Mayra Ibarra De Perez, 33; Melvin’s brother, Jose Gutierrez, 21; and the men’s mother, Joana Cruz, 52. Also killed were Mayra’s siblings, Ibarra-Perez and Jose Ibarra, 26.
The suspect and Ibarra-Perez had been dating for about a year, Frabbiele said. While there were no official reports of domestic violence by Macias, Frabbiele said family members told investigators he was jealous, controlling and tried to isolate Ibarra-Perez from her family. Macias and Ibarra-Perez’s family had a conflict a week prior to the shooting at a different gathering, Frabbiele said. . . .
The Mother’s Day mass shooting is one of the deadliest in state history and happened just seven weeks after a gunman killed 10 people at a grocery store in Boulder. It is the deadliest shooting in Colorado Springs history, Mayor John Suthers said. . . .
Nine of 39 people killed in homicides in the city last year died in connection to domestic violence, according to Colorado Springs police statistics. About a third of aggravated assaults in the city in the first three months of 2021 were related to domestic violence.

So domestic violence accounted for 23% of the city’s homicides last year, and this mass shooting was just a domestic violence incident. The weapon Macias used was a 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol, which had been purchased legally by someone else in 2014, and police said they don’t know how Macias obtained the weapon. But it was just an ordinary pistol, not one of those evil “assault weapons” that Democrats want to ban, nor was this mass murder a “hate crime” committed by white supremacists, so there’s no political angle to the story, which is why it disappeared from the national media immediately after it happened. If only Macias had been shot by a cop, rather than committing suicide, maybe the media could have worked some kind of “social justice” angle into their coverage, but as it is, this grisly massacre in Colorado is just “local news,” like most of the 15,000 or so homicides in America annually.

The reason I led with Macias’s obituary — “his mischievous tricks”! — is because every time a black criminal gets shot by police nowadays, we get the “Family Demands Answers” story, where the perp’s grieving relatives hold a televised press conference with the local “civil rights” lawyer. We are expected to sympathize with these people, who tell us what a wonderful person the deceased suspect was.

Family demands answers after police-involved shooting that led to man’s death
— June 5, 2020

Family demands answers after Ohio deputy fatally shoots Black man
— Dec. 7, 2020

Delaware family demands answers after fatal police-involved shooting
— Feb. 5, 2021

Family demands answers after DeKalb man shot, killed by police
— April 14, 2012

Family demands answers and reform after 37-year-old Latoya James was killed in a raid
— May 7, 2021

Those are just a few of the dozens of such headlines in recent months, as the media seems to assume — and expect their audience to believe — that no criminal ever deserved to be shot by police. Some of these cases are more ambiguous than others, but even where the police shooting was indisputably justified (e.g., the Ma’khia Bryant case), the media still promotes the narrative that what happened was somehow the fault of police, rather than a reaction to the suspect’s criminal behavior.

Next time you see one of these “Family Demands Answers” stories, where they’re trying to convince you the deceased criminal was an innocent angel, just keep in mind Teodoro Macias’s obituary.

Oh, “his mischievous tricks”!




 

Category: Colorado, Crime

Rule 5 Sunday: Get In The Robot, Alegrachan

Posted on | May 17, 2021 | Comments Off on Rule 5 Sunday: Get In The Robot, Alegrachan

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Spent a good part of the weekend hanging out with friends I hadn’t seen in a couple of years, which is why instead of spotlighting new talent, we’re going with Alegrachan cosplaying the tsundere pilot of Neon Genesis Evangelion‘s EVA-02 unit, Asuka Soryu-Langley.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

Apparently the budget fell short when it came time to buy the pants for her plugsuit.

Ninety Miles From Tyranny: Hot Pick of the Late Night, The 90 Miles Mystery Box Episode #1351, Morning Mistress, and Girls With Guns. 

At Animal Magnetism, it’s Rule Five Maybe Things Aren’t So Bad Friday and the Saturday Gingermageddon. 

EBL’s herd this week includes La Boheme, Don Giovanni, Tristan & Isolde, Rachel McAdams, Der Rosenkavalier, Retro Gas Line Rule 5, National Council Auditions Final, Elise Stefanik In & Liz Cheney Out, Il Barbiere Di Siviglia, Roberto Devereux, MAGA Stands With Israel, and St. Pancake.

A View From The Beach submitted From the Lipstick Jungle – Lindsay Price, Election 2020: Insomnia Edition, No Mas(k)!, Fish Pic Friday – Islandshae23, Land Use Blamed for Transsexual Smallmouth Bass, Avalanche, The Wednesday Wetness, Annals of the Biden Family: Hunter in a Honey Trap, Masks Now, Masks Forever!, Tattoo Tuesday, Free The Nipple Campaign Challenges Ocean City Again, The Monday Morning Stimulus, Molon Labe! and Palm Sunday.

Brian Noggle wraps up with a look at Newsweek’s 1977 Swimsuit Issue, which proves that not all designs from the 1970s sucked. 

Thanks to everybody for the luscious linkagery!

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Category: Rule 5

The Streisand Effect and the Results of Everybody Blog About Rebekah Jones Day

Posted on | May 16, 2021 | Comments Off on The Streisand Effect and the Results of Everybody Blog About Rebekah Jones Day

Three months ago, almost everyone had forgotten about Rebekah Jones, and so most people didn’t pay too much attention when Christian Pushaw published a 2,000-word exposé in Human Events:

THE “FLORIDA COVID-19
WHISTLEBLOWER”
SAGA IS A BIG LIE

Pushaw’s article was published less than a month after the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, when the Biden presidency was just getting underway and few Americans were looking ahead to the political future. Yet to anyone with eyes focused as far forward as 2024, it was becoming apparent that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was well-positioned to contend for the next GOP presidential nomination. His handling of the state’s COVID-19 pandemic had been vindicated. Not only had DeSantis’s policies successfully protected Florida’s large population of retirees from the deadly virus, but his emphasis on rapidly reopening businesses had spared the state the economic damage experienced in states where draconian lockdown policies were imposed.

If Democrats wanted to sabotage DeSantis as a future rival, obviously the “whistleblower” claims of Rebekah Jones were potent ammunition, and thus Christina Pushaw’s article was important as a preemptive defense of DeSantis against attacks based on Jones’s claims. Jones then made the mistake of trying to silence Pushaw, seeking a peace order from a Maryland court “to suppress Ms. Pushaw’s First Amendment free speech and free press rights,” to quote my podcast partner John Hoge.

In response to that threat, we organized “Everybody Blog About Rebekah Jones Day.” For a while, it seemed that our efforts to publicize this situation had little impact, but Hoge kept pounding away at the story, and earlier this month, a Maryland judge dismissed the Jones v. Pushaw case.

Then last week, Charles C.W. Cooke did a National Review article about Jones that got widespread attention, including from The Daily Caller (“The Media Elevated A COVID-19 Conspiracy Theorist To Hurt Ron DeSantis”). So now everybody knows the story — demonstrating again how “The Streisand Effect” operates. The truth is great and will prevail.




 

Category: Florida, Media Bias
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