What the Right Means by “Freedom”

In a recent Senate committee hearing about oversight of the Capitol police, Ted Cruz called the January 6 insurrection a “violent terrorist attack.” And boy, did he catch grief for that.

From the Texas Tribune:

The Right vilified Cruz for apostasy, so Cruz got on Fox News last night to do explain himself and seek forgiveness. Greg Sargent:

Sen. Ted Cruz is facing a vicious backlash from Tucker Carlson and the right for describing the Jan. 6 assault as a “violent terrorist attack.” So on Thursday night, the Texas Republican gamely ventured into Carlson’s Fox News sanctum, where he plainly hoped to do his penance and move on.

Instead, Carlson placed Cruz in the stocks and administered a brutal whipping.

The Right does not tolerate even the least deviation from canonical dogma. In this case, Carlson made it clear that none of the January 6 perps were to be called “terrorists,” no matter what they did that day. Righties are the same people who claim to be in favor of “freedom” and against “cancel culture,” mind you. And Tucker has no problem calling Black Lives Matter activists “terrorists.”

Terrorism is defined in the Code of Federal Regulations as “the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives” (28 C.F.R. Section 0.85). Kind of sounds like what happened last year on January 6. So far none have been charged with terrorism, but as A.G. Garland said the other night, the big fish have yet to be processed.

Greg Sargent writes that Carlson’s whipping of Cruz is part of the effort to deny that the January 6 insurrection was an insurrection. “The valorization and mythologizing of Jan. 6, which Carlson traffics heavily in — indeed, this led to the resignation of two Fox contributors — require erasing the degree to which it constituted a genuine effort to thwart a legitimately elected Democratic government from taking power, an effort to fundamentally subvert our constitutional arrangements,” Sargent writes. Only the Left, especially Black Lives Matter, are threats to America. Not the Right. Only the Left is capable of terrorism. This is what must be believed.

It’s the key to valorizing the underlying goals of the Jan. 6 rioters and to the mythologizing of them as heroes and patriots. It lays the foundation for treating what they call the “regime,” i.e. democratically elected Democratic governments, as illegitimate, justifying Jan. 6, corrupt procedural efforts to overturn elections, the flirtation with political violence, and who knows what future acts in response.

And, if you are part of the Right, you had better watch what you say. No thinking for yourself; no coloring outside the lines. You may say only what the Party, or whatever the Right is these days, allows you to say.

And these people fancy themselves to be defenders of “freedom.”

Cruz has meekly returned to the fold of political correctness (in the original sense of the term), and if he is careful he will be allowed to remain in the good graces of the Party. But it does underline the Right’s Orwellian understanding of “freedom.”

In other news —

From The Hill: “Cyber Ninjas, a firm hired by the Arizona state Senate to conduct a review of Maricopa County’s election results, on Thursday announced that it is shutting down after a county government report slammed the firm and a judge ordered it to pay $50,000 a day in fines.” We weep and we mourn.

Amaud Arbery’s killers have been sentenced to life in prison, two without parole. Finally.

QAnon Star Who Said Only ‘Idiots’ Get Vax Dies of COVID

Orange County Deputy DA Kelly Ernby, an anti-vax crusader, also died of COVID. You’d think these people would learn to take a hint.

 

13 thoughts on “What the Right Means by “Freedom”

  1. I know a lot about the Russian Revolution, and the resulting actions that led to the rule of the Soviet Union by the Bolsheviks.  And man, I can see a lot of parallels here.  Mostly personalities, not politics.

    I fear for the future of the United States of America. 

    I think this is a far, far different country than the one I grew up in.  A lot of good… No, GREAT changes! But a lot of bad ones too.  And a lot of  the bad ones were directly related to the good/great ones.  Most of them as pretty blatant direct responses to the the positive ones.

    Race is still our issue.

    I don't know how, but we have to figure out a way to unify everyone from the far-left to the traditional conservatives into voting for Democratic candidates over the cray-cray Republicans for at least the next 2 elections.  Ideally, 3 to 4 elections.  Hopefully enough time to get tRUMPists and tRUMPism time to get out of  mainstream politics.  Relegate the KKKrazies to do-nothing committees – or, just take them off committees. 

    But that takes courage.  

    And right now, there's nothing on this Earth as rare as a Republican with courage.

    Nothing.

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  2. "During the Cultural Revolution, party members who had fallen out of favor with the nomenklatura were sometimes forced to undergo self-criticism sessions, producing either written or verbal statements detailing their ideological errors and publicly affirming their renewed belief in the party line."

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    • Exactly! Sorta like Kim Jung Un's uncle getting blown away for dreaming the wrong dreams.

       I'm surprised Cruz didn't reach into his vest pocket and pull out his dog ear'd pocket copy of the Constitution to confirm his tribal identity. I guess in the big picture it really doesn't matter that he was publicly humiliated. He has no soul, so he's immune to any feeling of shame, embarrassment, or humiliation. He's like a fungal organism that spontaneously adapts to changes in its environment.

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  3. There's more to the Cyber Ninja's story. That's 50K per day in fines until they produce the documentation the court has demanded in a verdict over a Freedom of Information law suit. The judge says if the company shuts down, the justice system is going after individuals.

    These individuals with Cyber Ninja's took government money in a contract with the State of Arizona, so the people have a right to know what/how Cyber Ninja's conducted their 'audit.'  And they appear to be eager to do ANYTHING not to produce… what?

    Maybe I'm wrong but between the documents the House is going to get and the phone records that other insurgents in Congress are trying not to produce, and a financial papar trail, I see a smoking gun that is gonna be produced as irrefutable evidence of a Trump-sponsored coup. Which he will deny and the cultists won't believe.  But the cultists are only 30% of voters.

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    • Liz Cheney claims we are going to get the story(of Trump's attempted coup) in VIVID detail. I suspect she knows what coming down the road for her to use such an adjective.You might even say that the J6 committee is going to release the Kracken.

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  4. "Greg Sargent writes that Hannity’s whipping of Cruz is part of the effort to deny that the January 6 insurrection was an insurrection. "

    Did Hannity also slam Cruz?  I missed that.

  5. Ted you should have been in Cancun not playing alternative reality with Tucker.  What is not to like about right wingers fighting over kingship of the oxymoron of what is politically correct.  These two words do not belong in close proximity as the first implies dishonesty and the second implies truthfulness.  Just hearing this word combination should trigger massive cognitive dissonance in your brain.  That brain function appears to be missing in both Cruz and Carlson as holding two or more incompatible ideas as true seems a mainstay for both of them.  The definition of an empty set is the mental criteria either could rely on to complete a true false test.

    Yamiche Alcindor (whose name stumps the spellchecker) said it best about 1/6.  The people who showed up on 1/6 had a difference sense of privilege than those attending demonstrations such as BLM.  She continued by saying that if people of color would have acted as they did, the whole scene would have been played out quite differently. That seems more than plausible.   Yamiche also announced she is leaving PBS for a position with NBC news BTW.

    As for the way Republicans define Freedom.  Lately as a synonym for Dementia Praecox.  Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose…

     

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    • As a full timer with MSNBC, Yamiche Alcindor will be an upgrade from what they have as Washington Correspondants.  My list of people on MSNBC that I would like to see gone is much longer than my list of who I think should stay.

      Kudos for using the lyrics from a Kris Kristofferson song.

  6. The Right does not tolerate even the least deviation from canonical dogma. In this case, Carlson made it clear that none of the January 6 perps were to be called “terrorists,” no matter what they did that day. Righties are the same people who claim to be in favor of “freedom” and against “cancel culture,” mind you. And Tucker has no problem calling Black Lives Matter activists “terrorists.”

    One reason they would be holding super firm is, this whole situation is really a house of cards. If Carlson participated, just a bit, in an activity that lead up to a crime, that might (depending on evidence, specific actions he took, the crime itself, etc.) lead to a charge of conspiracy.

    If he has any exposure, it is in his interests to keep all insurrection affiliates playing the same tune, trying to delay, and drain political will to keep pushing the investigation,

    You know what infuriates me? You'll see political reporters say, casually, that if the Republicans takes the House, the investigation will be ended. And think about that… we *know* that Republicans will cover up for a humongous crime, because Republicans are accused.

    How can you report on people who do that? Who just casually mention that *of course* Republicans will do all they can to avoid letting people learn the truth? Who might even casually drop that Republicans aren't really upset by Covid surges, because it can be used to hurt Biden – i.e., it's okay if Americans die, if it benefits Republicans.

    How can you listen to them, and think anything except "this is completely crazy, or completely evil, and this bozo doesn't even seem to care which."

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  7. From a commenter to the WP.

    George Washington        "I can not tell a lie."

    Donald Trump                     "I can not tell the truth"

    Ted Cruz                                    "I can not tell the difference."

     

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