Tweeting Tyrants Out of Tunisia: Global Internet at Its Best

Filed under:General — posted by Jack on 1/16/2011 @ 10:56 pm

President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has fled the country

“Even yesterday, it would have been too much to say that blogger, tweeters, Facebook users, Anonymous and Wikileaks had “brought down” the Tunisian government, but with today’s news that the country’s president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has fled the country, it becomes a more plausible claim to make.

Of course there was more to such demonstrations than some new technology. An individual act of desperation set off the last month of rioting, as a college-educated young man set himself on fire after police confiscated his unlicensed fruit and vegetable cart. Tunisia’s high unemployment rate, rampant corruption and rising food prices added to the anger at Ben Ali’s 20-plus-year rule.

People risked their lives in the street, with some getting a bullet for their troubles, but the internet played a significant role in organizing these protests and in disseminating news and pictures of them to the world.”

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/01/tunisia/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

Left wingers jumped the gun on Tucson shooting

Filed under:General — posted by Jack on @ 10:49 pm

By Ed Farnan, Op Ed, Irish Central

“With gunshots still echoing, the first news reports from Tucson hit the wires: Congresswoman Gabby Giffords shot and critically injured, many others killed and wounded.

Within two hours of the event the spinners in the main stream media started politicizing the tragedy: Gunman was a Tea Partier, he was a militia member, he was inflamed by the hate speech and inflammatory rhetoric from Sarah Palin and the right wing … Even the local sheriff, Dupnik, jumped in the fray and blamed the act on the overheated rhetoric put out by the Tea Party and Sarah Palin. Glaringly, the sheriff is not ready for prime time.

The 3rd in command of the democrats in Congress, Clyburn flat out said Sarah Palin “didn’t grasp why her rhetoric was so troubling, regardless of the motivations of the alleged shooter.” All of this was eagerly lapped up by the main stream media and dished out to the world.

Where was the voice of reason of “lets not jump to conclusions before we know all of the facts,” which President Obama was quick to issue immediately after the shooter at Fort Hood Texas killed 15 and wounded dozens while chanting allahu akhbar?

Silence from the Whitehouse allowed the story to fester.

This was a classic case of desperately wanting the facts to fit the desired outcome.”

http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/Left-wingers-jumped-the-gun-on-Tucson-shooting-113840129.html

Tucson gun show in Arizona

Filed under:General — posted by Jack on @ 4:18 pm

“The gun show is one of five that is held in Tucson each year by Crossroads of the West, a Utah company. An answering machine greeting for the company on Saturday morning said, “Yes, the Tucson gun show in Arizona will be on.”

Bob Templeton, the company’s owner, said he and Crossroads of the West’s other leaders considered canceling the Tucson show, which is scheduled to run through Sunday, and even consulted with the fairgrounds operators about whether to do so.

Mr. Templeton said the organizers asked themselves: “ ‘Are we being insensitive?’ ”

He said they concluded that they were not.

“This really is not about guns,” he said, referring to the shooting. “It’s about mental illness and a person who had an agenda.”

Mr. Templeton said that none of the roughly 200 exhibitors had canceled, and more than a thousand people had shown up by early Saturday. ”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/us/16giffords.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Hack Jouranalists at Extremist Left-Wing Rag, the New York Times, just can’t help themselves.

Filed under:General — posted by Jack on @ 3:49 pm

That headline seems a bit harsh, doesn’t it? I mean, is the New York Times really an extremist Left-Wing Rag? Is that fair, or even close to accurate? Maybe not, but in its recent article, purporting to give readers a “Behind the Mug-Shot” view of Arizona murderer Jared Loughner, the writers can’t help themselves: although they address the many indicators that Loughner was mentally unhinged, they have to slip in inferences that there is a connection to “right-wing groups”.

Strangely, they are silent about Loughner’s left-wing influences, they say nothing about Loughner being an atheist – because these parts of the psychotic puzzle that is Loughner do not fit well with their agenda of attacking and undermining their opponents on the right.

Under the guise of “journalism” they show us some of the evidence of Loughner’s insanity, but they can’t help dropping in statements that imply some kind of connection with “right-wing groups”. Why not share evidence of Loughner’s being an atheist, left-wing nut? Because the writers’ agenda is to imply it’s the right-wing that is exerting a dangerous influence on American society.

They do show us evidence of Loughner’s madness:

Looking Behind the Mug-Shot Grin of an Accused Killer

“What the cacophony of facts do suggest is that Mr. Loughner is struggling with a profound mental illness (most likely paranoid schizophrenia, many psychiatrists say); that his recent years have been marked by stinging rejection — from his country’s military, his community college, his girlfriends and, perhaps, his father; that he, in turn, rejected American society, including its government, its currency, its language, even its math. Mr. Loughner once declared to his professor that the number 6 could be called 18.

As he alienated himself from his small clutch of friends, grew contemptuous of women in positions of power and became increasingly oblivious to basic social mores, Mr. Loughner seemed to develop a dreamy alternate world, where the sky was sometimes orange, the grass sometimes blue and the Internet’s informational chaos provided refuge.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/us/16loughner.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

But then they can’t help themselves, they have to imply that the right somehow has played a part in this insanity:

“He became an echo chamber for stray ideas, amplifying, for example, certain grandiose tenets of a number of extremist right-wing groups — including the need for a new money system and the government’s mind-manipulation of the masses through language.

Mr. Loughner said that he had paid for his courses illegally because, “I did not pay with gold and silver” — a standard position among right-wing extremist groups.” [emphasis mine]

Arizona Shooting Victim Arrested For Death Threat To Tea Party Leader

Filed under:General — posted by Jack on @ 1:50 pm

“Local station KGUN is reporting that Eric Fuller a 63-year-old military veteran who was shot in the back last Saturday while attending Rep. Giffords’ “Congress on Your Corner” event, became enraged by the statements of some of the participants at the town hall events and threatened the life of Tea Party spokesman Trent Humphries.

Toward the end of the town hall meeting Saturday morning, one of the shooting victims, J. Eric Fuller, took exception to comments by two of the speakers: Ariz. state Rep. Terri Proud, a Dist. 26 Republican, and Tucson Tea Party spokesman Trent Humphries.

According to sheriff’s deputies at the scene, Fuller took a photo of Humphries and said, “You’re Dead.”

Deputies immediately escorted Fuller from the room.

Fuller is being charged with threats, intimidation, and disorderly conduct according to authorities. He has been profiled by CBS and has publicly blamed Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and Sharron Angle for inciting the violence that caused the events of last Saturday.”

http://www.mediaite.com/online/az-shooting-victim-arrested-for-death-threat-to-tea-party-leader-during-abc-news-townhall/