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The Press Continues to Look to Blame Anyone But Biden on the Ukraine Crisis

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"Riffed from the Headlines" is Townhall's daily VIP feature with coverage on the deeply flawed aspects of journalism in the nation. We'll look to bring accountability to the mishaps, malaprops, misdeeds, manipulations, malpractice, and manufactured narratives in mainstream media.

02.25.22

Blue-Anon – CNN

  • Attacks taking place on the watch of the current guy is the fault of the previous guy, obviously.

John Harwood has to use logic in need of muster to justify blaming Trump for the Russian invasion.

So once again, the talking point is Putin feels emboldened by Trump to invade, which is why he never invaded during Trump's term but has enforced his second invasion in eight years under Democratic presidents.

Pre-Written Field Reports – THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • The call for a tyrant to adhere to documents is sound reasoning.

While many are fretting over the best way to combat Vlad Putin's aggressions, Peter Barker of The New York Times has the perfect form of restraint. See, Putin promised he would never do this, and he even wrote it down. The No Take Backs Doctrine is the perfect solution to ending this horrific conflict.

DNC PR Firm – VARIOUS OUTLETS

At CPAC, Governor Ron DeSantis gave a rousing speech, one in which he solidified his leadership in the state of Florida and targeted Joe Biden on a number of issues. One thing he did NOT talk about – the Ukraine crisis. A state politician who has no action he can take on the invasion is presented as a problematic development.

Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – MSNBC

  • The real problem with the Ukraine invasion is how it will help the right in European countries.

On MSNBC, they had a small panel to discuss the crisis, and the experts homed in on what the real threat was going to become – the immigrants the attack will create can embolden a rise of far-right political groups on the continent. 

- "I'm just reminded of what happened in 2015 when Syrians were turned away at European borders, when countries shifted to the right, their politics. That is fresh here. You know, Britain left the European Union over basically a misinformation campaign about immigration. So this is a continent that is not necessarily prepared to handle this during a pandemic."

 

Blue-Anon – THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • Judging conspiracies based on your search engine preferences.

The New York Times has zeroed in on how to identify those who might trend toward the conspiratorial side of politics. If you have a desire to forego Google as your go-to source for learning new information, then you are probably a Pizza-Gate, "Q" devotee.

- The embrace by some conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists is part of a broader effort to shift people away from Big Tech.

Be wary; if you seek out funny animal videos on DuckDuckGo, it could be a gateway search in the Q-anon rabbit hole!

Pulitzer Prize Nomination – The Week

Remember that hysteria over SUVs decades back, intoning how they were horrible for the environment and will doom us all? It must be time to reinvigorate that hectoring, as now we get another reason to demonize Denalis and other oversized trucks. At The Week, we get the lecture on why these trucks are a nefarious driving menace.

- "Trucks have gotten bigger, taller, gotten larger blind spots, and become much more powerful, luxurious, and expensive. Almost nobody even makes small pickups anymore. This behemoth design trend — particularly the very tall, square front end seen in so many SUVs and trucks today — is both pointless and dangerous. Manufacturers have known for years that this style of vehicle is much more dangerous to pedestrians and cyclists, yet they keep making them bigger, taller, and heavier."

I almost suspect this could be a planted article by the auto-makers. After all of those years of telling us not to buy these trucks and SUVS, it has led to this market reality.

- "Trucks and SUVs now make up fully 70 percent of all new cars sold in the U.S."