Lying Liars

So, you want to see how the misinformation machine works? Here’s a pretty little example:

You’ve no doubt heard by now that the CIA (among others) has 1) identified the Russians as having hacked into US servers and leaked various documents through that dipshit Julian Assange and Wikileaks AND 2) said leaks being part of an active effort to get the Orange Monkey elected to the Presidency.

In response to these revelations, a spokesperson for the Monkey’s transition team said, “(The CIA) are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It's now time to move on and 'Make America Great Again.'" 

Okay? Okay. Three sentences, at least four lies.

Lie number one: “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.” Well, no, not so much. Actually, in July, 2003 — just prior to the invasion of Iraq by US forces — Joseph C. Wilson wrote an op-ed in the NY Times in which he dissented from the idea that Iraq was buying uranium through intermediaries in Niger. Wilson had gone to Niger to investigate this claim at the behest of — the CIA. Wilson was proposed for the assignment (reluctantly, it appears) by his wife. You may have heard of her. Valerie Plane? Robert Novak outing her as a CIA operative? Scooter Libby taking the fall for the G.W. Bush administration and going to jail? Ah, good times. 

It seems that the CIA was the one agency that got the WMD claim right, and probably could have saved us from that mess, if anyone had wanted to listen. But the Lying Liars shouted them down with false claims and misdirection.

Lies number two and three: “The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history.” I hardly know where to start. “The election ended a long time ago…”. First of all, the election was held 32 days ago. That’s only a long time ago if you’re a fruit fly. Second, the election, technically, hasn’t ended at all. It hasn’t ended yet because the ELECTORAL COLLEGE HASN’T VOTED yet. The author of this bullshit is claiming victory based on something that has not yet occurred and is even predicting the numerical outcome. 

Just for argument’s sake, let’s say the final electoral college totals are what they are presumed to be; that all the electors sit quietly in their chairs and vote as expected. Here’s lie number three: There have been 58 presidential election cycles. If the electors vote along projected lines, the Monkey’s margin of victory puts him in 46th place. Not even close to “one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history.” (That would be G. Washington, who won twice by 100%).

Finally, it is “time to move on and Make America Great Again.” Newspeak, for those of you who haven’t recently read Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, is a language designed to limit the range of thought. Among it’s various characteristics, things are often described as the opposite of what they actually are, for example, a bill to allow the pollution of rivers, lakes and streams might be called “The Clean Water Act.” You get my drift.

I promise not to spend too much time on the Orange Monkey and his administration, but you gotta keep the pressure on. Fascism Fatigue is how they win.