We Need to Talk about Tucker, Again

By Jeffrey Blehar, National Review, September 4, 2024 - I thought I was done with Tucker Carlson after he got fired from Fox News because of his role in encouraging the “stolen/flipped votes” hoax after the November 2020 election, a cynical gambit that helped pave the way to both January 6 and a $787 million settlement bill for the cable network in its defamation-suit payout to Dominion Voting Systems. (Having labelled the man both a “merchant of lies” and a “betrayer of trust,” further commentary felt superfluous.) I was wrong.

Then I thought I was done with Tucker Carlson after he journeyed to Moscow in February this year, to preach with alarming zeal in a series of propaganda videos about how Putin’s Russia was vastly more humane and civilized than They Want You To Realize, especially compared with the filthy sinkhole that is America in 2024. He then went to an international conference in Dubai to publicly talk down American democracy as being morally comparable to violent authoritarian dictatorships. (A day later Vladimir Putin, in a persuasive counterargument, murdered opposition leader Alexei Navalny in prison.) My contempt for Carlson’s anti-American turn was such that I wanted no more of him.

I ignored him when he strongly hinted on a podcast that he believes “gray aliens” are possibly hyper-dimensional demons with whom the U.S. government has struck a Faustian bargain for access to advanced technologies and human dominion. I ignored him when he sympathetically interviewed Alex Jones, Andrew Tate, and ....  For I cannot ignore Tucker Carlson when he goes “partway-Nazi.”

... Carlson’s “I’m just asking courageous questions and hosting dangerously honest discussions” schtick is nothing new to the world, or even to Tucker; it is the same one he crafted at Fox and drove full-speed into a wall. 

... as it turns out, Darryl Cooper has a history of Nazi-sympathizing statements, and this was known well before this interview. I don’t mean that in the sense of “oh he has some politically incorrect views,” I mean that in the honest-to-goodness “Hitler is in heaven now” sense of a “Nazi sympathizer.” He’s not exactly subtle about it, either. This guy popped up on my radar months ago as a member of the Nazi-apologist alt-right subgenre. I saw these tweets long before this week. Am I to believe that Tucker Carlson did not? For a man he described as the “most important historian in the United States,” and not a casual guest? I’m just asking questions, Tucker. (read it all)

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No, Winston Churchill Was Not the ‘Chief Villain’ of the Second World War

 By Mark Antonio Wright, National Review, September 4, 2024 - The podcaster Darryl Cooper, Tucker Carlson’s most recent guest on his Twitter interview show — and whom Carlson describes as “the best and most honest popular historian in the United states” — has set tongues wagging over his assertion that Winston Churchill was the “chief villain of the Second World War.”

“Now,” Cooper clarifies, “Churchill didn’t kill the most people; he didn’t commit the most atrocities” — two massive concessions, Mr. Cooper! — “but when you really get into it and tell the story right, and don’t leave anything out, you see that [Churchill] was primarily responsible for that war becoming what it did, becoming something other than an invasion of Poland.”

Cooper tends to ramble when answering Carlson’s questions, but best I can tell, he assigns Churchill “chief villain” status on the basis of several interrelated factors:

(1) Before the war, when he was not yet in government, Churchill agitated for a British guarantee of Poland’s security, should that country be invaded by Germany.

(2) As prime minister in the spring and summer of 1940, Churchill refused to entertain German peace feelers and carried on the war even after the Fall of France.

(3) Because Churchill kept the British in the war in 1940, the war ground on, and this set the conditions for German and Soviet atrocities in the east, which wouldn’t have happened if the war had ended sooner.

(4) Britain, under Churchill’s leadership,...(read more)

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Republicans Favorite Pundit embraces a Pro-Nazi Revisionist View of History.

click to watch

 by Rod Williams, Sept. 7, 2024- Was Churchill the chief villain or World War II? Was he a war-mongering psychopath? Tucker Carlson's guest on Carlson's podcast, historian Darryl Cooper, alleges that he was. And what about the holocaust? Well, Germany did not plan well and ended up with all of these prisoners and killing them was more humane than letting them starve to death. 

Now, it is not Carlson Tucker saying this, but he gives the guy a platform to say it and Carlson nods along and agrees and praises the guy. Tucker Carlson is promoting a revisionist view of history that makes Hitler and Germany the victims of WWII. To watch the complete video featuring Darryl Cooper click the image on the right. 

The Republican Party has a problem that goes beyond Donald Trump. Tucker Carlson is many a Republican's favorite pundit. He was a featured speaker at the recent Republican convention. This is shameful. In my view, Tucker Carlson should be Persona non grata among Republicans or any gathering of decent people. 

Certainly, Tucker Carlson and Darryl Cooper should and do have the right to posit any vision of history they want. I watched the full episode and found much of it informative and thought provoking. I do not think Carlson's views should be banned from media platforms, but these views should not be embraced by Republicans. Tucker Carlson is deplorable and should be treated as such.

You may recall that a few months ago, Carlson went to Russia and conducted a softball interview of Vladimer Putin, where Putin was allowed to justify his invasion of Ukraine. That is the same episode in which Carlson gushed with admiration because Russian grocery stores have fresh bread and modern shopping carts. Tucker Carlson has let it be known that he is taking the side of Russia in the Ukrainian conflict. 

That the Republican Party is inclusive of people like Carlson and various conspiracy theorist and nutjobs and bigots is a problem. Certainly, we can engage in whataboutism. The Democratic Party has shown itself to be tolerant of Marxism and various extremist and nutjobs. The Dems have their own deplorables and the Party embraces them and includes them, but that is not a justification for Republicans to do likewise. 

Republicans have lost the moral high ground. 

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Covenant shooter's journal published by Tennessee Star

Covenant Shooter Audrey Hale

 By Jon Styf, The Center Square, Sep 4, 2024 - The Tennessee Star published the full 90-page journal of the person who shot and killed three children and three school staff at Nashville’s Covenant School in March 2023.

The shooter, a female who identified as a male, was shot and killed by responding police officers.

Tennessee Star Editor Michael Patrick Leahy was part of a public records lawsuit seeking to release the journals. He was called into court regarding the publication of stories regarding the journals by Tennessee Chancery Court Judge l'Ashea Myles but was not held in contempt for those stories.

Myles later ruled that Metro Nashville Police could not release those records. But Leahy, whose publication received the journal from a confidential source, published the full journal this week.

The journal and a spiral notebook were found in the shooter’s vehicle the day of the shooting. “We have had a First Amendment right to publish these unredacted documents from the moment we legally obtained them,” Leahy said in a statement. Leahy and the Tennessee Star appealed Myles’ ruling on July 31.

Leahy explained that the Tennessee Star waited to publish the complete journal until now because the publication was first waiting for Myles 'ruling and funding for potential legal defense if Myles were to resurrect claims against him.

He also wrote that there is a copyright claim on the writings and has hired legal representation in case those claims are brought against the Tennessee Star.

“We consider the ownership claim to be dubious at best and the copyright claim to be without merit,” Leahy wrote. “We also believe that the fair use doctrine would prohibit the successful litigation of any copyright infringement claim that might be brought against us for publishing this journal.”

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Thanks to Robby Starbuck's Effort another one Drops Woke Policies.

By Jon Styf, The Center Square, Sep 5, 2024 - Molson Coors was the latest this week to change its corporate policies after receiving communication from Tennessee’s Robby Starbuck.

Molson Coors told employees it would end participation in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, end training for diversity, equity and inclusion, end donations to division events, end supplier diversity goals, end employee resources groups aimed at specific groups and end executive and employee compensation goals tied to DEI.

“Our campaigns are so effective that we’re getting multi-billion dollar organizations to change their policies without me even posting just from the fear they have of being the next company that we expose,” Starbuck wrote.

The Molson Coors changes came after Lowe’s and Ford announced similar recent changes in response to Starbuck.

Jack Daniel’s, Indian Motorcycle, Polaris, Harley-Davidson, John Deere and Tractor Supply also made corporate statements on how the companies would shift policies to limit or eliminate DEI priorities in response to Starbuck.

Starbuck was a 2022 Republican write-in candidate in Tennessee's 5th Congressional District after being removed from the ballot by the Tennessee Republican Party.

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Inside Tenet Media, the pro-Trump ‘supergroup’ allegedly funded by Russia

 Washington Post: Inside Tenet Media, the pro-Trump ‘supergroup’ allegedly funded by Russia

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The RT Indictments are not an Assault on the First Amendment.

by Rod Williams, Sept. 5, 2024-  I have not seen it yet, as I have been engaged in other activity rather than reading news today, but I bet it is out there. I would bet that the Trumpinistas are going to frame the indictment of two employees of RT as itself an assault on democracy. They are going to allege that this is part of the weaponization of the Justice Department to intimidate and silence conservatives.

Yesterday two employees of RT, formerly Russia Today, where indited in a $10 million plan to create and distribute pro-Russian content to U.S. audiences on conservative media.  The conservative media organization involved is Tenet Media which creates content or is associated with several fringe conservative bloggers and influencers. The two RT employees are charged with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act and conspiracy to commit money laundering. If convicted they could serve prison terms of up to 30 years.

I can understand why Russia would use conservative media to spread their message. Large parts of what passes for conservative today is pro-Russian. Trump has had nice things to say about Putin and has said he would end the Ukraine War on day one. The only way Trump could end the way is by forcing Ukraine to capitulate. It is in Russia's interest that Trump win this election. 

While the commentators involved are people I have never heard of before this, they have large followings on media like Tic Tock and YouTube, and their viewers tend to be young men. Unfortunately, this alternative media is where a lot of people, especially young people get their news. Young men is a demographic that has been receptive to the most radical or right-wing messaging and most ready to believe weird conspiracies. This is a demographic in which Trump leads. With a very close election, small slices of the electorate matter a lot.

Many Trump supporters are going to see the inditement of the two RT employees as an attempt to tie Trump to Russian spies and as a smear. They are also going to allege that it is an attack on the First Amendment and a free press. It is not.

None of the political commentators involved have been charged with a crime. No one is prohibited from praising Putin. However, if you accept Russian money to do Russia's bidding you must register as foreign agent.

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Tennessee Right-Wing Influencer Network Tenet Media Allegedly Spread Russian Propaganda

by Andrew Couts and Tim Marchman, Wired, Sep 4, 2024 - A Tennessee-based media network that produces shows for high-profile right-wing influencers such as Benny Johnson and Tim Pool was largely funded by Russian state-backed news network RT, according to a federal indictment against two RT employees that the US Department of Justice unsealed on Wednesday. The DOJ claims the US company—which WIRED, along with other news outlets, was able to identify as Tenet Media but goes unnamed in the indictment—posted hundreds of videos on social media that pushed Kremlin-approved talking points.

... Tenet Media’s network includes online creators known for their right-wing politics, including Johnson, Pool, Dave Rubin, and Lauren Southern. ... In addition to the followings of the network’s individual creators, which collectively number in the millions, Tenet Media itself boasts more than 315,000 followers on YouTube and thousands more across Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok. ... Tenet allegedly received some $9.7 million from RT, according to the DOJ. Of that, $8.7 million went to the production companies of three unnamed commentators, the indictment claims. ... Tenet Media allegedly included instructing the company to post pro-Russian viewpoints, such as pushing a conspiracy theory that Ukraine and the US were responsible for a March terrorist attack at a music venue in Moscow. (read it all)

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