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Biden's Book Bans, Republicans Notice Crime, and Newsweek Has Some Map Follies

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Feb 06, 2024
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

02.06.24

First Amendment Strike Force – AMAZON

  • We remember all the way back to last…week when the press wailed about book bans.

Coming out of the House Judiciary Committee was this curious detail provided by Rep. Jim Jordan. Emails between the Biden Administration and Amazon saw the White House pressuring the company to do what it could to restrict, hide, or otherwise impact the exposure and sale of any books that questioned the efficacy of COVID vaccines. 

After a string of requests and meetings, it appears the company acted immediately to restrict exposure in search results and to not promote particular titles.

It seems remarkable that after months of screeching in the press about "book bans" (which are not) in Florida, there is not anything approaching that level of response to this news.

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Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – THE NEW YORK TIMES

Washington correspondent Peter Baker seems really bothered that the Republicans are pursuing impeachments, lately of Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and President Biden. He seems to think it unseemly and a political ploy that cheapens the import of the impeachment process.

It is almost as if he forgets, or did not hear, the warnings that this would be the result of Democrats pulling this move when they began impeachment talks as soon as Donald Trump came into power. That is...before he had even had time to do anything objectionable. But by Baker's measure, it was not trivial when impeachment was weaponized over Trump for an overheard phone conversation, and the process was not cheapened by the dead-on-arrival attempt just to be able to say "A twice-impeached president!"

Pounce of Prevention – NBC NEWS

You are not going to believe this! A political party is noticing the negative effects of the policies enforced by the rival party, and it's willing to point this out for political gain!

It seems the Republicans are the guilty party here, daring to highlight how the lax prosecution practices in the nation's capital are leading to a severe spike in crime rates. It is almost unfair the way they use facts in an accurate fashion like this!

DNC PR Firm – THE ATLANTIC

  • Do we want to analyze what is behind the voting decisions, or not so much?

We know the game in D.C. is to set a legislative trap with your opponents by planting numerous items in a bill to either get pet projects passed or to provoke a "NO" vote and then demonize your foes by describing them as those who oppose the other aspects of the bill.

This has been the case with the Senate "Border Bill," which actually has copious elements regarding funding of Ukraine. 

Anne Applebaum is dutifully demonizing the Republicans for stalling out this bill, but she has forgotten one key element in her complaint. She is focusing entirely on Ukraine and scorching the GOP over the delay, but not calling it "The Border Bill" and exposing the sham of this Senate farce.

Cartography Studio – NEWSWEEK

  • Causality…correlation…do either of those come into play?

Newsweek – for reasons relatively unclear to most – is still tracking Covid cases for some reason. It provided a helpful map of the United States, showing those four with the highest rates in the country.

They…just also happen to be the four with the largest populations…