IGF CultureWatch

Not long after the media misreported and progressive politicos, celebs and pundits stoked a false narrative about the Covington kids, the same players did about the same thing over the Jussie Smollett alleged hate crime, which now appears to be what many thought it obviously was likely to be—a hoax.

Two law enforcement sources say Chicago Police believe actor Jussie Smollett paid two men to orchestrate an assault on him that he reported last month. A spokesman for Chicago Police says they are waiting to hear back from Smollett, @Ryanyoungnews reports. https://t.co/FaKHkITXbd pic.twitter.com/RmYkJuB7Kj

— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) February 17, 2019

I’m sure there’s some nasty stuff out there. But wasn’t there also some downright giddiness in the reactions to the initial report from progressives who thought it validated their “MAGA hats = white hoods/Nazi armbands” assumptions? and wasn’t that also pretty gross? https://t.co/2ZIfM42Nwc

— Cathy Young (@CathyYoung63) February 17, 2019

I don’t share this “real hate crimes won’t be believed now” concern

Real hate crimes are just that- real. They sound that way. They’re plausible. The facts add up. And they’re heinous.

But this was -always- obviously fake. It has no effect on what’s real. It changes nothing.

— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) February 17, 2019

Cruisin’ Cory Booker is going with the “factually incorrect but morally right” defense of Jussie Smollett’s hoax. https://t.co/rhXiU1uZp6

— Chadwick Moore (@Chadwick_Moore) February 17, 2019

The Washington Blade seems to be doing the same.

“This is MAGA country” is something that someone who is terrified of Trump voters- but doesn’t know any Trump voters- would think that Trump voters would say

— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) February 17, 2019

“This is MAGA Country,” said no one ever in downtown Chicago.

The #JussieSmollett thing has been an obvious scam from the start, and the media & Democrats bought it hook, line, and sinker. The sick thing is, they wanted it to be true. Embarrassing.

— Jeff Giesea? (@jeffgiesea) February 15, 2019

And so the inevitable but disheartening mission creep continues. ? https://t.co/SVI4poAROw

— Austin Woods (@la_croix_toy) June 27, 2018

More. On HRC’s overheated response to the public-sector unions and mandatory dues collection case, I’m reminded of this, via Politifact: “All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service,” FDR wrote. “It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management.”

FDR felt that compensation for federal employees should be set by Congress and the president, not through bargaining with unions, since public service as part of government is different from working for a profit-driven private enterprise. That policy was changed by JFK and ever since Democrats, who receive massive funding from public-sector unions, have put government workers’ interests ahead of taxpayers’.

More. New York Times Memorializes Mormon President Less Charitably Than They Did Fidel Castro.

Log Cabin Republican James Driscoll writes that his support of Trump cost him a 15-year long position as political consultant to AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and that his landscaping was vandalized because he put up a Trump sign.

He recounts that Juan Hernandez, a fellow Log Cabin Republican, was attacked by anti-Trump thugs at a Trump rally, leaving him bloodied with a concussion and broken nose.

Alas, this kind of response to Trump supporters isn’t uncommon: Navy Vet’s House Torched in Florida, Vandalized with Anti-Trump Graffiti, which also reports, “Investigators are looking into possible connections with anti-Trump graffiti that was sprayed on two mobile homes near Mango, Florida, earlier this month. One of those homes was set on fire, too.”

More. From Austin Bay:

[S]ince the election Americans have seen a lot of broken glass, witnessed beatings and suffered hours-long traffic and business disruptions within their cities. … Peaceful protests? No, the demonstrators vandalize and destroy. They have two goals: intimidating people and sustaining the mainstream media lie that Donald Trump is dangerous.

There’s an awful lot of projecting of their own inner demons outward, allowing them to engage in ritualized virtue-signaling. Screaming obscenities while carrying signs reading “Love Trumps Hate” is the obvious example of the lack of self-reflection regarding their behavior.

A disturbing encounter between two young anti-Trumpists and a man wearing a “Build the Wall” t-shirt. Feel the love? (I don’t support “the wall,” by the way, but this encounter is revealing in terms of who is boiling over with rage and engaging in mocking condescension. And it’s not atypical.)

In Too Much Stigma, Not Enough Persuasion, Conor Friedersdorf argues that “the coalition that opposes Donald Trump needs to get better at persuading its fellow citizens and winning converts, rather than leaning so heavily on stigmatizing those who disagree with them.” You think?

A horrific crime against a gay couple, severely scalded with boiling water while they slept. But even though Georgia is one of five states that do not have hate crime statutes, as the Washington Post reports, the perpetrator received a 40-year-prison sentence.

Not sure what a hate crime statute would have added, but support for state hate crime laws is high on the LGBT political priority list. Others point out that it’s better to punish actions, especially heinous actions as in this case, and not prioritize some forms of hate (i.e., group-directed animus) above others in terms of the severity of the punishment imposed.

As I’ve previously noted, hate crime supporters often oppose the death penalty, so in some cases involving first-degree murder in which a life sentence has been handed out, they simultaneously support/oppose the next logical step-up in punishment.

On Sunday, the NYC LGBT Pride March, dedicated to victims of the Orlando terror attack, prominently featured a banner that declared “Republican Hate Kills.”

As HypeLine reports, “a large group from the LGBT community led part of the parade with a banner reading ‘Republican Hate Kills’ in the wake of the Orlando night club shooting.” The mainstream and LGBT media chose to ignore this in their coverage despite the image being widely circulated on the twitterverse. But it seems Gays Against Guns was the group behind the banner.

[Direct action group Queer Nation, a dominant player on the city’s activist scene, says it was “honored to join Gays Against Guns” in the Pride march, and that “Gilbert Baker supplied the vibrant banners reading ‘Gays Against Guns’ and ‘Republican Hate Kills.’” Baker is credited as the creator of the Rainbow Flag and a member of Queer Nation. Blogger joemygod further describes Baker as “a major force with Queer Nation here in New York City.”]

A few inconvenient truths: the mass murder in Orlando was committed by a radicalized Muslim jihadist who was also a registered Democrat, and who told friends he was supporting Hillary Clinton? No matter, if the big lie serves the narrative, then it’s all good, right?

If I were a gay Republican who showed up to march, I may have just left.

Hillary Clinton marched for a few highly publicized blocks then departed. That’s fine, But the progressives who organize Pride and run the LGBT political movement have made it crystal clear that Republicans are not welcome.

That’s the message being sent to the growing number of younger Republicans and conservatives who are, like their generational cohort, gay friendly. As I’ve often said, the worst nightmare of LGBT progressives is a GOP that ceases to be anti-gay, and they’ll do whatever it takes to stop that from happening.

LGBT progressives’ modus operandi is to go all out to defeat pro-gay and openly gay Republicans, with any lies at their disposal, as they did when San Diego’s Carol DeMaio ran for mayor in 2012, about which James Kirchcik noted:

…a group deceptively named “Conservatives for Gay Rights Supporting Carl DeMaio for Mayor 2012”—paid for “push poll” robocalls in which DeMaio’s homosexuality was put front and center. The group also paid for pamphlets featuring pictures of DeMaio hugging another man and standing alongside a drag queen, stating, “We conservatives know that liberty means that someone can pick a partner of their choice. We commend Carl on his conservative policies and exercising his liberties.”

Not until after the election—ultimately won by former Democratic Congressman Bob Filner, who resigned last August facing multiple accusations of sexual harassment—was it revealed that Democratic supporters of Filner had funded the shadowy group.

During the campaign, DeMaio, then a San Diego city council member, was greeted with boos while marching in the city’s gay pride celebration with his partner—a common occurrence for GOP candidates and officeholders who attend pride events that aren’t organized and hosted by gay Republicans.

And even worse were the now-verified slanders against DeMaio when he ran for Congress in 2014, which a court found “definitely played a role” in DeMaio’s defeat.

Meanwhile, South Carolina has elected its first openly gay legislator, a Republican who says the party in his conservative, southern state is growing more inclusive.

Oh, the pain that this must be causing LGBT progressives.

More. Via Jihadwatch: Islamic State throws four gay men off rooftop, taunts gays with photos of murders bearing #LoveWins hashtag. Gay Pride celebrators ignore the threat of jihadists and blame Republicans. (warning: graphic photo).

Furthermore. An example of inclusive pride. An email I received says, “Join the DC Log Cabin Republicans for our end of Pride Month Social. … We encourage our members and supporters to bring friends to this event—conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat, gay,straight, transgendered, or bi—because tonight we celebrate LGBT PRIDE and how together we make advancements for our community as a whole.”

Imagine if they had, instead, said “Democrat Hate Kills.”

Parting observation. No, the fact that QN and the march organizers who gave it prominence framed their “Republican Hate Kills” message, if you did some digging into background, as a critique of those who defend Second Amendment rights is a rather thin reed to legitimatize the banner. Despite the pretext, the message came through loud and clear, and it was received as intended.

On the matter of guns, Scott Adams has a pertinent observation on Why Gun Control Can’t Be Solved in the USA:

On average, Democrats (that’s my team) use guns for shooting the innocent. We call that crime. On average, Republicans use guns for sporting purposes and self-defense. … So it seems to me that gun control can’t be solved because Democrats are using guns to kill each other – and want it to stop – whereas Republicans are using guns to defend against Democrats. Psychologically, those are different risk profiles.

Indeed. And check out David Kopel’s The history of LGBT gun-rights litigation, on “the past and present of gay rights activism for the Second Amendment rights of sexual minorities and of all other Americans.”

Also, Pink Pistols besieged with new members.

Obviously, people of good faith can disagree about gun rights, but if you think opposing restrictive gun control is “hate,” then look in the mirror to see the real hater.