Back to controversy
Going way overboard is Republican Senate candidate Eric Greitens’s campaign video urging voters to go “hunting” for members of his own party, while brandishing a gun, violated their rules against incitement and hateful conduct.
The ad shows the former Missouri governor standing outside a home while holding a shotgun and surrounded by people in tactical gear. “Today we’re goin’ RINO hunting,” Greitens says in the clip — a reference to the acronym “Republicans in Name Only” that some conservatives have used to attack GOP lawmakers not allied with former president Donald Trump.
After the tactical team kicks down the door and detonates smoke bombs inside the house, Greitens steps in and says: “Join the MAGA crew. Get a RINO hunting permit.”
Some social media platforms outright banned the video, while others posted warnings that it contained violence.
According to a story in the Washington Post, YouTube is the only major platform that both left the video up and said it did not break its rules. “While this video does not violate our Community Guidelines, it is not monetizing nor running as an ad,” spokesperson Ivy Choi said in a statement later Monday. The video has over 80,000 views as of Tuesday morning, though YouTube does not show how often it’s been shared.
Since the 2020 election cycle, Republican officials and candidates have repeatedly run afoul of tech companies’ rules against inciting or glorifying violence.
In September 2020, Facebook removed a post by then-candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene showing her holding a gun next to images of three progressive congresswomen, which the company said at the time violated its policies against incitement of violence, as I reported.
In November, Twitter added a “public interest notice” over a tweet by Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) that included an altered, animated video depicting him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and swinging two swords at President Biden.
As the world turns
The U.S. the White House announced that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) is drafting a proposed requirement to have tobacco companies lower nicotine in cigarettes to minimal or nonaddictive levels. About 480,000 Americans die of smoking-related causes each year, and tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Of course tobacco companies will undoubtedly delay, or derail the effort since money trumps common sense.
The January 6 Committee laid out in detail how Trump attempted to change election results in key states by bullying and pushing state officials.
“So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state,” Trump told Raffensperger. “There’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, that you’ve recalculated,” said Donald Trump in a recorded phone conversation with Georgia’s top elections official, Secretary of State Republican Brad Raffensperger.
There have been 61 cases where Trump lawyers and staffers attempted to use the local courts to put doubt in the final vote tallies, all 61 failed. Still, the sheep Republicans and god Trump followers refuse to believe Biden won the 2020 election. All this maneuvering by Trump led to the massive attack on democracy on January 6th.
Oh, please don’t forget the 5 Republicans congress members who lined up asking Trump for pardons before his departure.
So, what proof do any remaining Trump followers need to change their minds on how Trump tried to subvert the constitution?
None! Regardless of solid proof showing step by step illegalities, lies often trump the truth to those who have a mind-set. The real hope for the U.S. experiment in democracy depends on good people ignoring the whoopla and reading and understanding beyond a fourth grade level.
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This week we will again buck the trend to cut back in newspaper publishing and add more stories and information to the your weekly Times in print and online.
Besides the AP (Associated Press) the Washington Post and local news partner WHAM Channel 13 and numerous other syndicates and sources, the Tribune Content Agency has been added to our fold.
