Even after the collapse of the Russian collusion investigation, Democrats seem to be doubling down on labeling opponents as Russian lovers and Putinites. Yesterday, I testified at a hearing with members of Congress who want the House to investigate possible FBI abuses. One of the witnesses, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, testified how her anti-war positions led to her being labeled a Russian asset by Hillary Clinton. Not to be outdone, MSNBC contributor and former Senator Claire McCaskill appeared on MSNBC following the hearing to denounce Senator Chuck Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson as “Putin apologists” and Putin lovers.
McCaskill went on MSNBC’s Deadline: White House to declare “I mean, look at this, I mean, all three of those politicians are Putin apologists. I mean, Tulsi Gabbard loves Putin.”
(For the record, she also attacked me as not being “a real lawyer.”)
McCaskill previously denounced the personal attacks used by Republicans as unacceptable in American politics.
It is an ironic follow up to a hearing where I warned Congress not to replicate the mistakes of the McCarthy period and label opponents as “fellow travelers” and Russian sympathizers. McCaskill immediately responded by denouncing these members as Putin apologists and lovers.
Democrats like McCaskill expressed disgust at the personal attacks of former President Donald Trump against opponents and witnesses. I joined in that criticism. However, they are now engaging in the same attacks to avoid addressing issues of agency bias, censorship, and investigatory abuse. On MSNBC, those seeking investigations into these allegations are now Russian lovers and traitors. Even with a supportive media, it will not work. The polls have shown that the public overwhelmingly support investigations into these matters. It will, however, succeed in adding to the hateful rhetoric that now permeates every aspect of our political discourse.
Turley Took Part In A Circus
The witnesses — including world-class conspiracy purveyors Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Ivermectin) and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (I-Ukraine bioweapons labs) — might as well have been auditioning to guest-host “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
They revisited the “Russian collusion hoax” perpetrated by the “fake dossier,” Fusion GPS, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. They conjured an “engineered” Trump impeachment and a “coordinated effort” to “sabotage any public revelation of Hunter Biden’s laptop.” They alleged maltreatment of Jan. 6 insurrectionists and suggested that embedded federal agents provoked the crowd to attack the Capitol. They went back a decade to revive the debunked charge that a politically motivated Obama administration sicced the IRS on tea party groups.
They imagined that the U.S. government funded the creation of the covid-19 virus, that the World Health Organization has been “captured by the Chinese government,” and that doctors have been wrongly “vilified” for treating the virus with hydroxychloroquine and other bogus treatments. They fantasized about a government coverup of harms caused by coronavirus vaccines. They imagined that ordinary people are being labeled “domestic terrorists” for asking questions at school board meetings or for flying the Betsy Ross flag.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/02/10/house-republicans-weaponization-white-nationalism/
…………………………………………….
By all accounts yesterday’s hearing was essentially a showcase for rightwing wackos. Not that Professor Turley considers himself a wacko. But he should be more observant of the company he keeps.
A Z – This spiel is backwards. Virtually everything you assert to be a “copnsipiracy therory” is true.
1) It is now established ivermectin does help treat COVID (check Dark Horse podcasts on this subject).
2) Tthe Russian-Trump Collusion hoax has been abandoned by everyone but you. You may remember the Mueller Report.
3) J6 protesters were mistreated by the police (Ashli Babbit, most obviously) and others have since been turned into political criminals by the DC Circuit.
4) No serious person denies now that the Hunter Biden laptop was authentic (not even Hunter Biden), and even though the suppression of the revelation of the laptop was known at the time, it has since been confirmed by the Twitter Files;
5) It is obvious that the FBI played a role in the invasion of the Capitol Building, since the FBI refused to pursue Ray Epps, the only person who is recorded urging people to invade the Capitol; furthermore the FBI is asking judges in the DC Circuit to stop defense lawyers from raising the issue of FBI involvement at trials of J6 scapegoats;
6) You refer to the “debunked” claim that Obama used the IRS against the Tea Party. Who debuked this charge? Lois Lerner “took the 5th” when she was questioned on this subject. It was shown that two Democratic Senators (Levin and Schumer) wrote letters to the IRS demanding that they give special treatment to entities applying for 501(c) status if the names of the groups contained words like “Patriot” which were associated with the Tea Party.
7) The federal government did indirectly fund “gain-of-function” research in Wuhan. see https://www.congress.gov/117/meeting/house/114270/documents/ HHRG-117-GO24-20211201-SD004.pdf (“What the NIH has denied is funding GOF research that would make a coronavirus more dangerous, such as by improving its lethality or transmissibility. . . . Speaking to Newsweek, Ebright said this appeared to be false by his interpretation of the documents released by The Intercept.
“Multiple sections of the grant proposals and grant progress reports make it clear that the grants funded gain-of-function research of concern in Wuhan,” he said.”)
8) WHO has not only received Chinese money, it has given cover to China from the beginning. (“At the end of January, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing and commended the country’s efforts to control the outbreak. He also praised the Communist Party’s top leadership for its “openness to sharing information” about the virus and its spread, even though Chinese officials in Wuhan — where COVID-19 cases first emerged — were cracking down on people for “spreading rumors” about the disease. . . . Initially, the WHO also advocated against limiting travel with China and recommended that countries keep their borders open.” https://www.dw.com/en/what-influence-does-china-have-over-the-who/a-53161220 ) Please recall the half-hearted investigation of the Wuhan Lab by WHO in 2019.
9) “doctors have been wrongly “vilified” for treating the virus with hydroxychloroquine and other bogus treatments.” Actually the drafters of the Great Barrington Declaration were silenced by social media. “Bogus treatments” probably inclued ivermectin, which, as noted, has been proved to be effective. Some studies have shown benefit to hydroxychloroquine (“Hydroxychloroquine is effective, and consistently so when provided early, for COVID-19: a systematic review
C. Prodromos1,∗ and T. Rumschlag2”) but other sutdies are negative. Doctors and others (Donald Trump) who suggest its effectiveness should not be “vilified” if there is scientific doubt.
10) Cover-up of vaccine side-effects. Were you advised of the bad side-effects (esp. heart inflammation) of the mRNA vaccines before taking them? I wasn’t.
11) Parents as “domestic terrorists”. WSJ Opinion, 10/26/21: “It took a few weeks, but the National School Boards Association has apologized for sending a letter to President Biden suggesting that “threats and acts of violence” at school board meetings might be “domestic terrorism.”
The current gambit of the American Left is to attach the phrase “conspiracy theory” to any statement that refers to the growing alliance of the Demorcratic Party, public school unions, Hollywood, the MSM and the Deep State. Since the evidence of this alliance is all too clear, your efforts to silence its critics will fail.
HCQ is also in WHO’s list of top 10 critical drugs that should be in every doctor’s toolkit.
It is cheap, it is available in massive quantities, and it is safer than Aspirin.
In most of the world it is available over the counter.
Many people in much of the world take it regulary.
HCQ absolutely meets the Hipocratic Oaths requirement – First do no harm.
The virulence of the attacks on HCQ and Ivarmectin are PROOF of the insantiy of the left.
And how bat$hit crazy we have become.
I recall very early – likely in March 2020 reports that many medical labs were furiously testing all existing FDA approved drugs – hundreds of thousands of them, in the hope that ONE might be effective against Covid.
Why ? Because it is routing for doctors to use drugs off label when new uses for those drugs are found.
It has not ever before been necescary for a Doctor to seek approval from the FDA to use an approved drug for a purpose other than the lable purpose.
I was hopeful – Everyone should have been hopeful, that in the hundreds of thousands of approved drugs SOMETHING would be found that worked – Even a little.
If HCQ reduced the death rate by 10% – that would be 100K people who would have lived in the US alone.
I have been fortunate – I never got Covid – Knock Wood. I am not sure how I avoided it. I did alot of traveling in the past 2+ years and went places I was likely to be exposed. I was tripply vaxinated – which data now suggests INCREASES your odds of getting multiple covid infections.
But I also spent alot of time outside. And I have been taking lots of VitaminD – there is strong Data showing that Normal levels of Vitamin D – especially if produced by sunlight DOES what we hoped the Vaccine would.
I am not claiming Vitamin D “saved me”. Only that I have been licky and maybe it was Vitamin D.
I know very few people who did not get Covid at one time or another.
Regardless, Back tot he point – Had I gotten Covid – and iot was serious – I would have moved heaven and earth to Get HCQ and Ivarmectin and enything else that had little danger and even a small chance of saving my life.
And I guarantee you I can find HCQ and Ivarmectin if I want.
But the big question is Why were people being demonized ?
Why is it that for Covid – and the only time in US history – Only Government Public health experts were allowed to decide what Treatments could be used ?
We have left wing nuts that want us all to use a poltice concocted By the Cherokee to deal with a tooth Ache.
But God Forbid you or your doctor should TRY drugs that are safer than Aspirin that MIGHT work against Covid ?
Since when was the standard in an emergency that 300M people were FORBIDDEN to try something safe that MIGHT work ?
Why was it necescary to prove beyond any doubt that safe potential treatments Worked before anyone was allowed to try them ?
This is EXACTLY what is wrong with the left.
Geroge Washington Infected his Troops with LIVE Small pox, in the off chance they would be slightly less likely to die that way than if they got it normally.
You have done an excellent job of listing things that have been proven true that those of you on the left still refuse to beleive.
Scare quotes does not change whether something is true or not.
You do know that in a paper published recently with Fauxi as one of he leade authors he admitted that the mRNA vaccine did not work.
By definition if it did not work, all vaccine related deaths were a major problem.
Thank you for your testimony and your courage, Dr. Turley.
Amen.
On Eve Of Invasion,
Russian State TV Kept Playing Clips Of Tucker Carlson And Tulsi Gabbard
Russia launched its military assault on Ukraine, the news on Russian state television has been dominated by official statements and reports from war correspondents. But in the days leading up to the attack, as the state broadcaster worked to tarnish Ukraine and cast American criticism of President Vladimir Putin as hysterical, its producers borrowed heavily from another source: Fox News.
At least four times this week, Russian news reports have featured translated clips of Tucker Carlson or his guest Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic U.S. representative, attacking the Biden administration.
https://theintercept.com/2022/02/24/russian-tv-uses-tucker-carlson-tulsi-gabbard-sell-putins-war/
There’s a reason Democrats go on MSNBC — and it’s not to tell the truth or seriously analyze an issue.
The Democrats are bankrupt on so many levels. They are a living metaphor for the state of the country.
Ah, so this is their new, not so new tactic. Question the interactions between the government and social media, and you are a Putin stooge!
As others have noted, not only is it weak, we can see through it.
Hey! Finally they are transparent on something!
To clarify, Putin is a thug.
But playing WWIII/nuclear Armageddon chicken is a bad idea on several levels.
The Doomsday Clock is 90 Seconds to Midnight.
What needs to happen is to get the Ukraine and Russia to the peace table and hammer out a truce. Neither side gets everything they want, and they both have to compromise. Then put a DMZ between the two.
And for all those who use the “YOU ARE A PUTIN APOLOGIST!” So, when are you going to enlist in a combat MOS, and volunteer to be at the tip of the spear? What? Too old? I have read about Ukrainians in there 50s even 60s fighting. If not you, how about your kids, grandkids, nieces or nephews?
Come on, Senator’s son, join up!
The one question no one seems to be asking, if Putin is in fact sick as reported and he were to die, who is his successor?
“To clarify, Putin is a thug.”
He is a thug who we have to deal with especially since he has nuclear arms. You understand these things but the lefties on the blog do not. They used Putin as a weapon against Trump solely for political reasons when Trump was trying to calm things down. Politics is more important to the left than the world being destroyed by war.
The Biden Administration has handled most major things poorly. He has made America poorer and weaker while bringing us closer and closer to war.
Our objective should be stability.
S. Meyer,
Hard to argue with that logic.
I have read reports that even Milley has told the Biden Admin to support peace talks. That was before the decision to send 31 Abrams tanks was made.
Not better.
The 2024 election is going to get real interesting and not in a good way. I imagine all kinds of if you do not support the 100% you are a traitor or unpatriotic, or a Putin stooge if Putin is still around. Putin dies, and is succeeded by someone with a degree of common sense who open supports peace talks, I could see Zelensky pushing for some unreasonable demands to keep the war, and money, flowing.
According to Peter Zeihan,
Russia is looking to reclaim enough land for them to reach the geographical strong points that were once part of the Soviet Union. Beyond that, Russia is essentially fighting for its existence. So the only viable option for them is…winning…at whatever cost. That is a terrifying reality.
One would think Leftists would consider new tires (talking points) for their vehicle every once in a while. Instead, for reasons only they know, insist on retreads.
JAFO,
Nah, that would require actual thought.
Better to re-hash an old tactic, like, “If you drive a truck, you are a climate denier, and a Nazi!”
Wish I could say you’re wrong, but I can’t, ’cause you’re not. 🙂
Re: McCaskill: -And we wonder where our kids learn to fling out silly, hyperbolic, nonsense against others…on Sunday morning television!
Re: Gabbard: One of the most honest, humble, and straightforward of Democrats
Re: Turley: He doesn’t do it for money or visibility (which he already has), but for courageous truth.
Claire McCaskill is out of the Senate due to health reasons…the voters got sick of her.
Russians Draining Major Reservoir In Occupied Ukraine
Professor Turley implies that hatred of Vladimir Putin is somehow misplaced. Putin, we should think, is a fine Christian nationalist. But here we learn those lovely Russians are draining a major Ukrainian reservoir that supplies both drinking water and cooling water for a nuclear plant.
………………………………………..
Russia appears to be draining an enormous reservoir in Ukraine, imperiling drinking water, agricultural production and safety at Europe’s largest nuclear plant, according to satellite data obtained by NPR.
Since early November of 2022, water has been gushing out of the Kakhovka Reservoir, in Southern Ukraine, through sluice gates at a critical hydroelectric power plant controlled by Russian forces. As a result, satellite data shows that the water level at the reservoir has plummeted to its lowest point in three decades.
https://www.npr.org/2023/02/10/1155761686/russia-is-draining-a-massive-ukrainian-reservoir-endangering-a-nuclear-plant
“Professor Turley implies that hatred of Vladimir Putin is somehow misplaced.”
Your malice and deceit are tiresome.
Sam, tell us what Turley ‘is’ implying.
Hey Anonymous, were people critical of Joe McCarthy acting as supporters of Stalin? What an idiot you are.
Hullbobby, your question here is completely incoherent. Tell your wife what you’re trying to say. Maybe she can get it down.
Anonymous, you are a pig, a juvenile, a moron, a fascist and a LOSER! Nobody likes you, nobody treats your comments as anything but laughable garbage.
I bet Anonymous didn’t go to his prom and he has never forgotten it. LOSER!
I would bet that anonymous is a paid troll. His comments are predictable and always long. Maybe he gets paid by the word.
NPR? Might as well quote CNN.
Deadarmadillo,
There is a reason why the wife and I call it National Pravda Radio.
“[A]ll three of those politicians are Putin apologists. I mean, Tulsi Gabbard loves Putin.”
A smear campaign is an open admission that you have no arguments, no facts, no ideas — that you are an anti-intellectual with a malicious personality.
Why admit so much in public?
And maybe this is why Senator Claire McCaskill is a former senator. She was electively retired. Unfortunately they were unable to retire her mouth.
As bad as McCarthy was in his tactics and methods….the problem was real…..as evidenced by what we see going on around us TODAY!
The Leftist Hate All Things American owns Hollywood….the Courts….the FBI and DOJ….the Media….and the Fed….the White House and the Senate.
We see with absolute clarity the harm that is being perpetrated on this Nation….and if not only stopped….but corrected and reversed shall see the end of that great Experiment known as the United States.
When people like Professor Turley are attacked for his commentary and observations about Freedom of Speech….that is sufficient evidence to instruct us all the danger we are confronting.
The Professor is a Man of Principle….and represents the very best of America.
I so wish there was an end to “anonymous posting” here at his Blog….so we could all be judged by our comments and be required to post under our true name……I do and find nothing to cause me to do otherwise.
We are blessed to have his indulgence here and the provision of a method whereby we can learn by his posts and the credible responses of others despite the number of Trolls and others who detract rather than add to the discussion.
When I see “Anonymous” on any post here….I just keep scrolling and ignore what follows….in the same manner I ignore Svelaz and the other Trolls.
What is the viewership of that network now? 500K? These outlets of news opinion have to say more and more outrageous things to feed their tiny base.
When in doubt, follow the Nazi plan, just keep repeating the lie, over and over again.
It is so difficult to get my head around how the Left deals with almost anything. We have a Supreme Court justice who cannot tell us what a woman is. Schiff lied non-stop about Trump colluding with Russia and how he had irrefutable evidence. Mayorkas and crew tell us we have a secure border. This McCaskill woman thinks she has some moral high ground and we should listen to her about how the FBI and Justice Department should operate. Look, you don’t have to be a freakin’ genius to see things are out of control from the top down in our government.
Adding to the List of “Putin Apologists”
Elon Musk
Roger Waters
Basically, Everybody that opposes this World War III they are ‘cramming down your throat and jack-pumping you in the Wallet’ with,
Extortion scheme to get out of this Economic Cluster-F*-k They have levered-up for Free Fiat Money.
B.R.I.C. is right, They (they U.S. & Allies) don’t play fair. And if the Dem’s & the Federal Reserve don’t quit it, B.R.I.C. is going to walk away from US. Only then will it be realized that They (Dems & Fed) have sold us into Servitude.
When you are over the Target, the flak is Immense!!!!!!!
Have any of the major networks or the WP or NYT reported on Seymour Hersh’s story that the US blew up Nordstream? The story has its weaknesses, but is certainly newsworthy. It is contra narrative, so is ignored.
Daniel,
Great question.
Knowing what we know about Hersh and his investigative past, I would like to think that his source is rock solid.
Then again, it was kind of a, “yah, no kidding” kinda thing.
Name-calling and “hateful rhetoric” is used by people on all areas of the political spectrum when they have no rational response to an argument or position, just like deflection and “what about”ism. It has been pretty effective over the years (even on this blog) but lately people are seeing through it to the empty mind behind it.
wiseoldlawyer,
Well said.
Putin is the worst human on earth
I don’t think you find many people who disagree with your opinion. However, please explain what your comment has to do with this post? I look forward to your response. Thank you.
I’ve got an idea. Let’s provoke the worst human on earth who happens to have a massive military stockpile. Yeah, maybe 100s of 1000s of Ukrainians will die, but the US can burn through decades of of our old stockpiles – then re-arm itself while biden flexes in the mirror thinking he’s got Cornpop on the robes…
Of course, this ranking will be interesting to Kim of NK, who was the worst and now has been sated by negotiation.
Just yesterday I commented:
“Many will hear your words, but will not listen, assuming you are a toady of Putin or are carrying Vladimir’s water. As you point out in your statement, our nation has gone down dark roads like this before, like during the McCarthyism times, however, never during the digital age, with the seeming universal acceptance by media, big tech, big corporations, academia, law enforcement, the intelligence community, and government bureaucracies. I fear that a mere appeal to classical liberal principles will not be a sufficient corrective.”
This will not stop until these toads start suffering consequences for their manifest illiberality. Even after voting them out of office, they land MSNBC talking head gigs. That is not suffering consequences. People who display this type of illiberality need to be run from public life, cancelled. I am afraid we need to visit illiberality against illiberality, or we will just see a never ending ratchet effect.