Hey
folks,
I’m going to take a break from my weekly drumbeat urging Wisconsin's
Attorney General Josh Kaul to find his spine and prosecute the “Gang of
Three” Wisconsinites who allegedly aided and abetted the insurrection of
January 6th--U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, Congressman Tom Tiffany,
and Congressman Scott Fitzgerald--because, like you, I’m riveted by what’s
happening in Ukraine.
It seems a bit ludicrous
to focus on Wisconsin when we seem to be on the brink of World War
III.
So while we work behind the scenes to bring accountability to
Wisconsin’s insurrectionists, I want to talk about a very powerful
thing that can be used for both good and evil: propaganda.
As far as the Ukraine is concerned, I’ve been brought to tears and
laughter over the powerfully touching David vs. Goliath stories of
Ukrainian courage and defiance. These are my favorites:
While these stories are
wonderful, I still know much of it is propaganda meant to encourage
us around the world to unify against a common enemy seeking to
destroy a post-cold war world order that has been in existence for 30
years since the Berlin Wall came down.
I’m not cynical about this propaganda because I know it is being used
for good to take down Putin--an authoritarian bully who has nukes,
may have become unhinged through Covid isolation, and who just backed
himself into a corner—YIKES!
But propaganda can also be used for evil.
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I spent a couple of hours creating a list of all the
times Wisconsin U.S. Senator Ron Johnson acted as a mouthpiece for
pro-Russian propaganda. We discussed this on last week’s Up North Podcast (starting at
minute 21.48), and it should be ABSOLUTELY CHILLING TO ALL WISCONSINITES who
rightfully believe that Russia is more of an enemy to America than its
ally.
- December, 2016:
After the CIA publicly released a report concluding that Russia
meddled in the presidential election to help elect Donald
Trump, Johnson issued a statement saying he
“would need more definitive information before drawing further
conclusions.” Johnson did not reveal that he had been
informed by the CIA back in September about the
Russian election interference.
- July, 2018: Ron Johnson
celebrated July 4th in Russia the
day after the Senate Intelligence Committee affirmed the U.S. intelligence community’s
conclusion that Russia interfered in the election to
help Donald Trump.
- July, 2019: Ron Johnson met with
alleged Russian Agent Andrii Telizhenko,
who was circulating unproven claims that Ukrainian officials
assisted Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. This
was two weeks before former President Trump’s phone call with
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which Trump told Zelensky
he wanted him to do Trump a “favor” and investigate Joe Biden before
he would give him $400 million in congressionally appropriated
military aid.
- Aug 11, 2020:
After Ron Johnson, chair of the Senate’s Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee, launched an investigation on Joe
Biden’s son Hunter, fellow Republican Senators — including the
previous and current Chairs of the Senate Intelligence
Committee Richard Burr and Marco Rubio — warned Senators Johnson and Chuck Grassley
that their Ukraine investigations could aid the Kremlin.
- May 1, 2021:
The Washington Post reported that the FBI gave Ron
Johnson a “defensive briefing” about Russia, warning that
the country was peddling false information, and he might be a
target. Johnson rejected that warning, publicly stating that he
thought the FBI warning was “useless.”
- February, 2022: Johnson blamed democrats for
“weakening Ukraine” when they impeached Trump for trying
to extort Ukraine, instead of Putin for invading them.
Thanks for nothing Senator. What the hell does Putin
or Trump have on you for you to feel so compelled to do their bidding?
So there’s my example of propaganda being used for evil.
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