Political Memes, Comics, and other Shenanigans, Part 39

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"Putin Baby"

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Even though other conservatives have stopped publicly cheering for Vladimir Putin and Russia, or at least most of them, Tucker is still pushing Putin’s propaganda. Even Donald Trump sees that public praise for Russia is a political liability, and it must be extremely painful for him to be biting his tongue to refrain from gushing out love for Vladimir Putin. The public may frown on calling a guy a genius who just bombed a baby hospital. But Tucker’s still in.

Yesterday, Mother Jones reporter David Corn exposed a leaked memo from the Kremlin to Russian media outlets stating to them that it is “essential” to feature as much Tucker Carlson as possible.

The 12-page memo says: “It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticizes the actions of the United States [and] NATO, their negative role in unleashing the conflict in Ukraine, [and] the defiantly provocative behavior from the leadership of the Western countries and NATO towards the Russian Federation and towards President Putin, personally.”

The state-produced document titled, “For Media and Commentators,” sums up Carlson’s position with, “Russia is only protecting its interests and security.” The memo includes a quote from Carlson: “And how would the US behave if such a situation developed in neighboring Mexico or Canada?”
Those situations have developed in neighboring Mexico or Canada as both nations, like Ukraine, are democracies. Unlike Putin and Tucker, we’re fine with democracies.

The document was leaked to Mother Jones from an anonymous contributor to a Russian “news” outlet. Expect Tucker and the rest of Fox News to decry it coming from an anonymous source, though that source would probably trip off a 15-story building if he or she wasn’t anonymous. Then, Tucker could cover that saying Putin’s critics are clumsy oafs.

The document reads as if Tucker wrote it himself. It tells the media/propaganda outlets that the Russian invasion is “preventing the possibility of nuclear strikes on its territory”; Ukraine has a history of nationalism (never mind Russia’s nationalism); the Russian military operation is proceeding as planned; Putin is protecting all Russians; the “losing” Ukrainian army is shelling residential areas of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia; foreign mercenaries are arriving in Ukraine; Europe “is facing more and more problems” because of its own sanctions, and there will be “danger and possible legal consequences” for Russians who protest the war. The memo says it is “necessary to continue quoting” Putin. The memo claims the “hysteria of the West had reached the inexplicable level” of people calling for killing dogs and cats from Russia. The memo instructs the Russian “journalists” to ask, “Today they call for the killing of animals from Russia. Tomorrow, will they call for killing people from Russia?”

The memo orders Russian “journalists” to report that “the Ukrainian military is beginning to collapse; the Kyiv government is guilty of ‘war crimes’; and Moscow is the target of a ‘massive Western anti-Russian propaganda’ operation.”

It orders Russian media to raise questions about Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s state of mind and suggest he is not in charge of Ukraine. The memo encourages outlets to “broadcast messages” highlighting the law recently passed by the Russian Duma that makes it a crime to impede the war effort or spread what the government deems “false news” about the war, punishable for up to 15 years in prison. This section of the memo instructs Russian “journalists” to emphasize that these penalties apply to anyone who reports news about Ukrainian military victories or Russian attacks on civilian targets, like baby hospitals. Has Tucker reported on the shelling of a baby hospital, or the kindergarten, or apartment complexes, etc, etc?

No other western journalist, as if Tucker is a journalist, is mentioned in the memo.

Before the war, Carlson asked his viewers, “Why do Democrats want you to hate Putin? Has Putin shipped every middle-class job in your town to Russia? Did he manufacture a worldwide pandemic that wrecked your business? Is he teaching your kids to embrace racial discrimination? Is he making fentanyl? Does he eat dogs?”

Tucker repeatedly argued there is no reason for the United States to support Ukraine as it’s not a democracy and is really just a “client-state” of the U.S. He told his viewers it was “not treason, it is not un-American” to support Putin. Actually, it kinda is.

After the invasion began, Carlson shifted to blaming the United States for Russia’s attack, claiming the U.S. goaded Putin into the war.

After Russia claimed the United States set up biowarfare labs in Ukraine, Tucker said, “Russian disinformation they’ve been telling us for days is a lie and a conspiracy theory and crazy and immoral to believe is, in fact, totally and completely true.” Of course, it’s not proven yet Tucker repeats the pro-Russian talking points. I’m not sure where Tucker gets that “totally and completely true” part…oh yeah. From the Kremlin.

The memo includes all sorts of crazy conspiracy theories such as the United States creating a virus in Ukraine to destroy Russians (does that sound familiar?), and that the U.S. will transmit the pathogens “by wild birds migrating between Ukraine, Russia, and other neighboring countries.” It’s not much crazier than Tucker’s “great-replacement” conspiracy theory.

The Kremlin wants Russian media outlets to feature as much of Tucker as possible as he’s making all the same talking points in the memo. Just like with Donald Trump, the lines got blurry with who was directing who between Trump and Fox News. At times, it seemed like Fox News was pushing Trump’s lies and at other times, it seemed Trump was repeating Fox News. Here, the lines get blurry between Tucker and the Kremlin. Hell, maybe Tucker wrote the Kremlin memo.

The worst part may be that Tucker is broadcasting his show from the United States when he should be broadcasting it from Moscow.

 

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"Russian Heroes"

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There are heroes and then there are cowards.

Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor and producer for Russian state TV’s flagship news program, ran on the set during a live broadcast with a sign protesting Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Ovsyannikova chanted “stop the war” while holding a sign with the same message and “don’t believe propaganda” and “they are lying to you here.”

They are lying to you there.

The Kremlin has cracked down on journalists reporting the news and has made it a crime to report facts out of Ukraine, especially reports of Ukrainian victories and Russian military failures. Anyone reporting facts will be charged for impeding the war effort. Anyone reporting “fake news” can be sentenced to 15 years in prison. Western journalists have fled the country with several Moscow news bureaus shutting down. Western news outlets don’t want to see their journalists charged with crimes for doing their job or even worse, disappear.

Marina Ovsyannikova has disappeared. OVD-Info, a human rights group that tracks protest activity and detentions in Russia, says Ovsyannikova has been “detained.”

Ovsyannikova was probably expecting to be captured after her protest, so she recorded a video message beforehand saying, “What is going on in Ukraine is a crime.”

She said, “Unfortunately, I have been working at Channel One during recent years, working on Kremlin propaganda. And now I am very ashamed. I am ashamed that I’ve allowed the lies to be said on the TV screens. I am ashamed that I let the Russian people be zombified.”

Channel One is the first channel to be broadcast nationwide in Russia. It’s owned by the state and has over 250 million viewers.

Ovsyannikova said in her video message that her father is Ukrainian and her mother is Russian. “They have never been enemies,” she said, pointing to her necklace comprising the colors of the Russian and Ukrainian flags.

Referring to the year when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine, Ovsyannikova said, “We were silent in 2014 when it all started.” She said the silence continued when Putin critic and opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned and then imprisoned. “We just silently watched this anti-human regime and now the entire world turned their backs against us,” Ovsyannikova explained.

She ended her message with, ““It is only in our power to stop this madness. Take to the streets. Do not be afraid. They can’t jail us all.” But they have jailed her along with thousands of others. It takes real courage to publicly protest the Russian government or Vladimir Putin. Ask Pussy Riot. Ask Alexei Navalny.

TASS, the Russian state-run news agency, citing an unnamed government official, reported that Ovsyannikova is detained and could be held liable under Russia’s ban on “discrediting” actions of its armed forces. 

Ovsyannikova’s one-woman protest is being hailed around the world as a dangerous act of resistance. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked her in one of his daily video messages. He said, “I am grateful to those Russians who do not stop trying to convey the truth.” Thousands of Russians have been arrested for conveying the truth.

Marina Ovsyannikova is a hero for reporting the truth in a nation that doesn’t allow press freedom. Here in the United States where press freedom is the bedrock of our democracy because you can’t have a democracy without a free and independent press, we have cowards zombifying their viewers with Kremlin propaganda. We have cowards like Tucker Carlson.

Tucker Carlson is a coward. While Marina Ovsyannikova is being “detained” by the Kremlin, that same body is ordering state news outlets to feature Tucker. The Kremlin shuts down people like Marina Ovsyannikova while promoting goons like Tucker Carlson.

Marina Ovsyannikova was ashamed of herself for working for Channel One and helping spread Kremlin propaganda, so she did something about it. She’s a hero. Tucker Carlson has no shame and continues to spread Kremlin propaganda. Fox News has no shame for allowing this to infect our nation. Rupert Murdoch has no shame. Fox News viewers have no shame.

Ted Rall, an ultra-leftist American “journalist” works for Sputnik, another Russian government-owned “news” platform that operates in the United States, because we have freedom. Ted has no shame. While Sputnik may be shut down in the U.S. from sanctions, for the time being, Ted is using his social media platforms to continue spreading Kremlin propaganda. He has a following eating it up. But Ted asks, “how can I be a traitor to Ukraine when I’ve never been there?” Ted has mastered the art of deflection which is a useful tool in propaganda.

An American can’t be a traitor to Ukraine. Don’t be silly. But you can be a traitor to American ideals and to democracy. As a journalist, he’s a traitor to truth. As an American, he’s a traitor for being Putin’s puppet, a Kremlin propagandist, and a useful idiot.

The useful idiots like Ted and Tucker don’t have shame that they’re free to spread Kremlin propaganda and will be rewarded for it while Marina Ovsyannikova lives in a fascist state that has “detained” her for speaking the truth. She knew that going in. She knew she would be hunted down and may not ever be seen again. Marina Ovsyannikova could very well be in a Siberian gulag while Ted and Tucker are still cheerleading Vladimir Putin while he bombs more baby hospitals.

In Russia, you’re not free to be brave but in the United States, you’re free to be a coward. How does it feel, Tucker? How does it feel Ted? How does it feel to know the Kremlin wishes Marina Ovsyannikova, and the thousands of others they’ve arrested for protesting against their unprovoked war, could be more like Tucker Carlson and Ted Rall?

We need more heroes like Marina Ovsyannikova and fewer cowards like Ted Rall and Tucker Carlson.

 

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[Black Aliss]

Let's not forget Alaska's original "owner"

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Meanwhile, Spain, France and England are arguing about exact borders of the colonies and who gets stuck with Florida, as Mexico creeps into Texas and California and starts planting flags - all while the various Native American populations here say "Again?!?!?!?" and Norway looks sidelong at Canada.

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