Again, I’ve been unceremoniously reminded that double-checking information should precede and not follow the posting thereof. You may slap my wrist. However, in this instance, the checking process has revealed some interest things about Right Wing News.
The first is that the site is about the Right Wing, not for consumption by the Right Wing. Gullible me for thinking otherwise! Just hadn’t paid that much attention before. Seems that the Left Wingers at Right Wing took Ms. Hillary seriously when she warned about the “Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.” They are concerned about the ongoing treachery by Florida Republicans that would deny a Democrat the Presidency as they did Nobel Laureate Al “I’m just warming up” Gore. This is evident from an ad placed at RWN by the DGA — that’s the Democratic Governors Association — that warns, “They’ll stop at nothing to steal the Presidency.” Oh, my! That’s a very black kettle calling. . .
More interesting, however, since the above is rather obvious from a cursory examination of the site — once again, shame on me — is the manner of posting the reassurance that there is no need to fret that we are now subject to summary incarceration by the U.S. military. The final version of the military budget authorization bill “does not give the government the right to detain Americans indefinitely, send them to Guantanamo Bay, or give them military trials.” Oh, really?
When I finally got around to checking the story, I could find no date for the piece included on the page were it is to be found. If you follow the links to the LA Times and The Hill, these are items published 12/15 and 12/14 respectively. And the link to the Thomas search citation on the legislation is defunct. In essence, the posting says absolutely nothing about the final version of the bill or the timing thereof. The legislation was actually signed into law by President Obama on New Year’s Eve. Everything quoted in the RWN posting is two weeks older.
That’s how you write a blog post, or whatever else may be your pleasure, that seems to document a fact when, in fact, it doesn’t. And do it all without really lying, trying, or worry. At least not in a legalistic sense. Guess we could call this slight of documentation the “Citation Time Warp” M.O. “CTW” for short.
Radical leftist have always been most adept at deception. Not that they’re the only ones who employ this technique. But frankly, for the lefties, it’s in their DNA. The Lenin retrovirus did the deed long ago, and it’s been there ever since. For so long, that large segments of the American electorate — left, right or independent middle-of-the-bird — fail to recognize it. And even if you’re looking for it, there’s no truth vaccine that immunizes against it 100%.
But it does reduce the length and severity of the infection. :)
Ciao,
Dennis