I understand the trucker convoy is driving laps around the Beltway again today, for no discernible reason other than showing off. See Absurd trucker convoy jamming up the Capital Beltway has me rooting for higher gas prices by Rex Huppke at USA Today.
I had said in an earlier post that the only way you could track the convoy was through local news stories, not national. The national news has been pretty much ignoring the truckers. According to Paul Waldman, even Fox News is paying little attention to them.
When truckers in Canada brought chaos to Ottawa last month and shut down a bridge that carries much trade between the two countries, Fox News couldn’t have been more excited. The network gave it hours upon hours of coverage and then tried to create and promote a similar protest here in the United States.
Yet at FoxNews.com on Monday morning, the sole story about this convoy was pushed way down the homepage, below dozens of stories about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Apparently the protest was a disappointment precisely because it wasn’t disruptive and chaotic enough to capture Fox’s interest.
Or maybe they just look too ridiculous when juxtaposed with news from Ukraine.
Waldman goes on to analyze the Right’s current zeitgeist concerning chaos. In brief — the Right sincerely believes that left-wing political activism is inherently violent, and the Left and President Biden are ushering in an age of left-wing chaos and general awfulness that threatens America. Therefore, it is necessary for the Right to stir up chaos and violence against the Left. Or against anyone who happens to be handy. And right-wing violence is not condemned but valorized and celebrated.
Imagine if a liberal protester killed two people and wounded a third at a protest. Would they have been hailed as a hero, brought to meet a former president and given a soft-focus interview on MSNBC? Of course not.
This is a key irony in the story conservatives tell about the United States today: They portray the country as a nightmare of chaos created by President Biden and Democrats, even as they work to create more chaos wherever they can.
Driving laps around the Beltway is just not confrontational enough to interest Fox.
The organizers of the “People’s Convoy” don’t seem to have gotten the message, at least not yet. If they want to get back on Fox News and become heroes of the right, they’ll have to shut down the capital, cause mayhem and destruction, and maybe bring out the guns some of them surely brought with them. Unless they do that, those who claim to be their allies will quickly lose interest.
And they’ll still look ridiculous. I understand there’s a right-wing dark money group raising money to pay for this nonsense, and I wonder how long they’ll keep doing it. They aren’t getting much bang for their buck.
Speaking of gas prices, today the leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee struck a bipartisan deal to ban all energy products from Moscow. This would, of course, have to be passed by both Houses and signed into law by President Biden, so it’s not going to happen just yet. Greg Sargent:
We all know exactly what will happen if President Biden goes through with plans to ban imports of Russian oil amid mounting horrors in Ukraine, as he has been reluctant to do. The same Republicans loudly demanding this step will turn around and attack Biden over any resulting economic fallout.
As for Fox, I notice their position on Ukraine seems a tad schizophrenic. Their page today (you can find it if you want to) is promoting the position that Vladimir Putin is really, really bad, and it’s President Biden’s fault Russia invaded Ukraine. Here’s a story quoting Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-WI.
“When the dust settles, despite the very real bravery on display by the Ukrainian people, deterrence in this case failed. The Biden Administration thought that sanctions and tweets would be enough to deter, but they failed to apply the kind of hard power that would have deterred Putin from launching this war in the first place. By the way, a war that could still escalate and involve us at any moment,” Gallagher said.
Although the world’s attention is on Ukraine, Gallagher warned that Biden’s failure to handle Russia could be used as an invitation for more authoritarian countries to invade other countries.
I would like Rep. Gallagher to explain exactly what “hard power” he has in mind, especially a “hard power” that would not have started World War III.
Maybe we could have rounded up some guys from New Zealand and sent them to Moscow to do a haka.
That would sure as heck deter me, anyway. And don’t get me started on the former guy’s “handling” of Russia.
But see Putin’s full-scale information war got a key assist from Donald Trump and right-wing media by Margaret Sullivan in WaPo. Using journalists in a target country to promote Russia’s point of view is an old, old trick in their playbook, it says. And certain Fox News hosts have been doing a great job. “Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) said that in the run-up to the invasion, his office heard complaints from constituents who watch Carlson and ‘are upset that we’re not siding with Russia in its threats to invade Ukraine, and who want me to support Russia’s ‘reasonable’ positions,'” Sullivan writes.
I’d hire the New Zealand guys to go do a haka in front of Fox News headquarters. Can’t hurt.
Hacked electric car charging stations in Russia display ‘Putin is a d*ckhead’ and ‘glory to Ukraine’
Some article I read today opened with the claim that this war will be digital from head to toe. If someone can hack into a charging station in the middle of nowhere, they can also hack into sites here in the US.
Let’s talk about preparing for a possibility….
I was reading an interesting article over at DailyKos ((Expert explains that Putin may see Moscow fall within 6 months), and got to the bottom of it, and the writer amended it by saying his bank account was completely drained.
I would expect more of this. Putin is desperate for cash and revenge, and I’ve read that he passed a law at home shaking down his people for more.
Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Puts Cryptocurrencies at the Heart of War
I expect Putin to turn to crypto to finance his country. One of the unintended side-effects of this war is the way that crypto will emerge as a parallel currency, challenging the governments who try to sanction the fiat money system they control. I also expect China to help fund Putin, behind the scenes, as a way to lets you and him fight. The Chinese will then rush into ravaged Russia and become rich, again.
What kind of stupid country is it, whose signature feature is obscenely rich guys with with obscenely big yachts, while most of the population is in poverty?
"What kind of stupid country is it, whose signature feature is obscenely rich guys with with obscenely big yachts, while most of the population is in poverty?"
I could not tell if you were referring to Russia or the US. Please clarify.
I’m reminded of Dmitri Orlov’s ReInventing Collapse: The Soviet Experience and American Prospects
This book is all about comparing and contrasting what Orlov cleverly called “the SU” vs “the US”, his way of getting the reader to see that there are certain distinctions but not many, between the two countries.
Re the Truckers. They do not want to go to jail. They do not want their CDL license(s) revoked. I think they are aware of the J6 trials, one of which is concluding today, DC police testified against the defendant for his violent role. I think they know the National Guard was extended today to keep the peace in DC if the convoy crosses the line.
I think they know where they line is. I think they want to cross it – they feel entitled to break the law because they think they are the good guys. And liberals are evil. (When do we get to use the guns?) In the old days, the KKK could commit murder with the absolute confidence they would not be prosecuted. Because the County Sheriff was in a hood with them. Now cops are being tried and convicted – three guys were convicted of murdering a black jogger who was in their neighborhood. Two got life sentences. The truckers know.
I attended the "Justice for J6" rally in DC, which flopped. Low attendance because they did not dare break the law. (DC cops were out in force – I mean FORCE!) And they were paranoid as hell that it was a false flag operation to arrest everyone. It's an understatement to say these folks are rattled. They SO want to throw a violent tantrum but they don't want time-out.
Fox: I think Fox wants to shape the future, not report the news. This is also true, to some degree of left-leaning news sources. But what MSNBC promotes has the effect of empowering voters. What is the agenda of Fox? They've aggressively promoted Gov. DeSantis if on-air time is an indication. Fox polling has been fair – they measure what's happening without bias. So… does Fox know that anarchy from the far-right will turn independent voters against a fascist like DeSantis? I'm watching to see which talking heads are advanced and which are demoted. That's the only way I can think of to gage the strategy and objectives of the senior brass.
"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past" repeated Winston obediently".
Slightly OT but a pertinent (poignant?) example:
Certain media outlets in Florida, part of a media empire I dare not mention by name, are already changing the narrative of the recent mask issue with high school students near Tampa from "Ron Desantis bullies kids" to "Ron Desantis stands up for his principles by facing down unruly teenagers".
Why? To polish his image as capable of securing a certain election referred to as 2024? To cloud his emerging image as a media and political whore where his principles are for sale to the highest bidder?
I really don't know but I feel the particular media's strategy and objectives are quite transparent.
Your questions have simple answers. It comes down to the distinction between journalism and propaganda. Journalism's agenda is to get at the truth of a situation, let the chips fall where they may. A true journalist tries to be fair and neutral in the face of events.
Propaganda's agenda is to push a particular viewpoint regardless of the actual truth of the situation. The lies and distortions and psychological manipulations they employ, toward this end are anti-truth, by their very nature.
Propagandists like Fox are for sure trying to shape the populace toward their agenda. However imperfect, outlets like MSNBC are trying to practice real journalism, despite the inclinations of their hosts.
The most effective propaganda has to include a bit of the truth, otherwise people would dismiss it out of hand. It's why certain aspects of Fox' operation step out of the fog of their fantasy world and embrace reality now and then.
I would've had a much harder time sorting through this stuff had I not grown up during Woodward, Bernstein and Watergate. My college roommate was a journ major, inspired by the real journalism that was much more common then. The culture wasn't drowning in lies the way it is today. People today don't even know what real journalism is.
OMG, doug! Were you in that tent???
So, it's one, two, three what are you Truck'n for? Don't know don't give a damn…
Well, we are really pissed but not that good with words…come to find out we are not good at acting out either, at least peacefully, it's sooo haaard!!!
I can't be too hard on them, though, they have reason to complain. Truck stop food, too many stimulants, lower GI track problems, bad driving partners, narrow Texas driving lanes, and the list goes on and on and on. Now for what they are protesting about one can only guess. Whatever is their rant of the day being my guess. Something they picked up off the radio or the weather. Controversial issues are the best as they keep you awake and at least semi-alert.
Oh, did I mention lots of these guys get to be real head cases? Not the kind that seek out therapy but ones that develop crazy quirks. You hear of truckers who can't sleep in a bed anymore and have to get up and go to their truck's sleeper with the engine running to get any good sleep at all. Many are overweight and in poor physical condition with the myriad of mental, hypochondriacal, and physical conditions which go along with that. As such many are perfect fodder for political exploitation by the right.
It just takes a few visits to truck stops to see the evidence. Rows and rows of junk foods and junk merchandise. A few now display plastic containers of fruit all pre-cut. I've never seen a trucker buy one. These are usually nearby the huge roller grill filled with all manner of tubular gut bombs. Then you have the TVs tuned to FOX above the seating area spewing its junk information and junkier commercials. Hop back into the cab and you get junk hate radio and truly horrible commercials from all ends of the dial.
If there is any truth to the adage that you are what you consume, then what else does one need to know. Only that they see it as their world, and one made for them. They are blind to the toll it takes on them. Not only that, but some appear to think they are empowered enough and knowledgeable enough to be great social engineers and medical gurus in their spare time. A little more than a little blind on that one too. It is good these impairments do not show up on a Snellen chart vision test, or they would never have a license to drive.
Capitalists have to exploit but need to do so responsibly. They need to attend to the big picture items and the general public welfare. This goes in spades for those for those who profit from trade over OUR public highways. From what I see THIS is the problem in need of protesting. Capitalists too have problems with blindness too it seems. Dark money flow from those in the dark.
Interesting how these right wing movements seem to always have either a grift hook, or are just designed to be straight up grifting opportunities:
A nonprofit says it collected over $1.5 million for a D.C.-region-bound truck convoy. Its director recently pleaded guilty to fraud.
In 2020, Milacek pleaded guilty to felony exploitation of an elderly person after taking nearly $15,000 from the bank account of her then-81-year-old aunt, Collin County, Tex., court records show.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/03/04/peoples-convoy-donations-fraud-afclf/
This is crazy:
Supporters who clicked on the website’s “Donate Now” button were sent to the AFCLF’s website, where they could donate by credit card or cryptocurrency, or by sending a check. They could also buy a day riding with a trucker for $5,000.
Who would want to spend an hour in a truck with one of these morons, babbling about conspiracy theories, let alone pay $5,000 to ride with one for a day and lose your mind? This thing has grift written all over it.
Brian Brase, a 37-year-old truck driver from northwest Ohio who helped organize the convoy, said the group wants an end to the national emergency declaration in response to the coronavirus — first issued by Trump in March 2020 and later extended by President Biden — and for Congress to hold hearings investigating the government’s response to the pandemic.
These people are driving trucks for nothing to protest mask mandates that are lifting. And if all they’re going to do is continuously circle the beltway the whole thing is just pointless.
This is one of the more ridiculous protests to come out of the right wing nut-o-sphere yet.