90 Miles From Tyranny

Monday, March 13, 2023

It’s Not Censorship When They Do It

Both sides agree that children should not be exposed to inappropriate materials.

The New York Times has run dozens of shrill and false stories accusing Florida of banning books. The paper has numerous stories about what it calls “book bans”: virtually all of them involve removing sexual content from schools at the behest of parental groups and conservatives.

And then it runs this.

Should Classic Children’s Books Be Updated for Today’s Young Readers? New York Times

The Times largely links to an op-ed, ‘The Truth About the ‘Censorship’ of Roald Dahl’ arguing that it’s no big deal. “Making changes, even rather sweeping ones, to classic works of literature is not as controversial as some would like to imagine.”

The Left never censors or bans books even when it banishes Dr. Seuss’s books to oblivion and bans them from being resold on the platforms, like eBay, that it controls. Only the “right” censors books.

Both sides agree that children should not be exposed to inappropriate materials.

The Left and Right differ on what inappropriate materials look like.

To the Left, any negative comment about obesity or even implied comment is inappropriate.

To conservatives, books describing sex with 8-year-olds are inappropriate.

We’re in the throes of disagreement about the most basic things imaginable that define who we are. The Left could be honest that this is a debate about values and we no longer share common values, at least not with lefty elites, or its members could go on redefining censorship to mean things that...

Visage à trois #1325

Three Videos For Your Viewing Pleasure:

Three Additional Bonus Videos:

Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #983

DOJ Gets Hit With Huge Legal Motion After Merrick Garland Falsely Claims 5 Officers Were Killed On J6

In the aftermath of explosive new January 6 footage revealed by Fox News primetime host Tucker Carlson, there have been false claims made by Biden officials that police officers were killed by protesters during the Capitol riots.

Attorney General Merrick Garland in particular misrepresented the incident and implied that five police officers died due to the January 6 incident.

“I think all Americans saw what happened on January 6th, and most of it saw, most of us saw it,,, as it was happening,” Garland said. “It was a violent attack on a fundamental tenant of American democracy. That power is peacefully transferred from one administration to another. Over a hundred officers were assaulted on that day. Five officers died. We have charged more than a thousand people with their crimes on that day. And more than 500 have already been convicted. I think it’s very clear what happened on January 6th.”

Attorney General Garland fundamentally misrepresented the January 6 incident in his statement. No police officers died due to attacks by January 6 protesters.

U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died a day after the attack, but his death was determined afterward to be of natural causes: two strokes at the base of his brain stem caused by an artery clot.

In the aftermath of the Capitol riots, four Capitol Police and Washington Metropolitan Police officers died by suicide. The Capitol Police officer’s union said about 140 officers were injured during the protests.

In March 2022, President Joe Biden knowingly and intentionally spread myths about the January 6 riot.

“Again, we’re not perfect — we’re not even close — but we never have walked away,” he said. “And Vladimir Putin was counting on being able to split up the United States.”

“Look, how would you feel if you saw crowds storm and break down the doors of the British Parliament, kill five cops, injure 145 — or the German Bundestag, or the Italian Parliament?” he added. “I think you’d wonder. Well, that’s what the rest of the world saw. It’s not who we are. And now, we’re proving, under pressure, that we are not that country. We’re united.”

Such misleading statements made by top Biden officials and U.S. attorneys have the potential to taint jury pools in January 6 cases, particularly on the D.C. Circuit.

Attorney Joseph D. McBride wants to put an end to it. He is now filing a motion to stop the U.S. government from defrauding the American people and thereby perpetrating injustice to J6 prisoners.

“We just filed a motion in USA v RYAN TAYLOR NICHOLS to prevent the Government from advancing the false narrative that police were killed by protestors on J6,” McBride wrote on Twitter.

McBride attached a copy of the motion, which said that his law firm representing Ryan Taylor Nichols was seeking an order to exclude the prosecution from “arguing, mentioning, or presenting claims by Government witnesses at trial, that are unduly prejudicial about the deaths of police officers wrongfully attributed to...

Morning Mistress

The 90 Miles Mystery Video: Nyctophilia Edition #1315

Before You Click On The "Read More" Link,

Please Only Do So If You Are Over 21 Years Old.

If You are Easily Upset, Triggered Or Offended, This Is Not The Place For You.

Please Leave Silently Into The Night......

The 90 Miles Mystery Box: Episode #2020

You have come across a mystery box. But what is inside?

It could be literally anything from the serene to the horrific,

from the beautiful to the repugnant,

from the mysterious to the familiar.

If you decide to open it, you could be disappointed,

you could be inspired, you could be appalled.

This is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended.

You have been warned.

Girls With Guns

Plenty of other falsehoods and misrepresentations animate the fable of January 6. But for those honestly seeking the truth, consider this a cheat sheet for future use.

In another example of Washington’s inexorable slide into banana republic territory, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) took to the floor of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday to call for the removal of an American journalist.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen an anchor treat the American people, and American democracy, with such disdain,” Schumer said during his seven-minute authoritarian tirade. “And he’s going to come back tonight with another segment. Fox News should tell him not to. Fox News, Rupert Murdoch—tell Mr. Carlson not to run a second segment of lies. You know it’s a lie.”

Schumer later reiterated his demand to a group of journalists who, rather than denounce one of the most powerful government officials in the country attempting to silence an influential member of the media, dutifully reported Schumer’s bleating without question.

Republican senators including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) joined the fray, echoing Schumer’s faux concerns over “national security.”

Clearly, it’s panic time. The White House, Congress, and the Democratic Party propaganda arm that is the corporate media realize their carefully engineered narrative about January 6 is imploding in real time. Which is why they’re accusing Carlson of “whitewashing” and “rewriting” the events of January 6. Anything less than total fealty to regime-approved talking points about what happened before and after that day now is considered a “threat to democracy.”

But facts are facts. And no amount of pearl-clutching by the hags on “The View” or threats made by U.S. senators can alter the reality of January 6. Between video recordings, witness testimony, court filings, and news reporting, the undeniable truth about January 6 cannot be willfully wished away even by the most skilled spinmeisters.

Here’s what we know:

Some people acted badly. A handful came ready for a fight while others admit they were caught up in a mob mentality that unfolded over the course of the afternoon.
The overwhelming majority of protesters did not act badly or violently. Not only do security footage and other video sources demonstrate that is indeed true, the Justice Department’s own data supports it. “Parading” in the Capitol, a class B misdemeanor, is by far the most common charge in the Justice Department’s sweeping investigation. According to an update published this week, 919 out of 1,000 defendants face trespassing charges. Of the 518 who accepted plea agreements, 385 pleaded guilty to misdemeanors and 133 pleaded guilty to a felony.
The most common felony is not “insurrection” but rather obstruction of an official proceeding. Fewer than 20 people face seditious conspiracy charges.
Roughly 100 defendants are accused of attacking police officers with a dangerous weapon. No one is charged with carrying or using a firearm inside the building.
Speaking of police, body-worn camera and independent video show outrageous misconduct by law enforcement. D.C. Metropolitan Police launched an aggressive and unnecessary offensive against the crowd assembled on the west lawn. Even though protesters were respecting police lines at the time, footage shows officers throwing stun grenades into and other devices containing rubber bullets into the crowd beginning shortly after 1:00 p.m.
Video and testimony by Capitol police officers at trial confirmed how that activity enraged the crowd. Other officers shoved women down stairs and shoved one man off the upper terrace balcony.
This conduct continued inside the building. Some officers shoved and hit individuals inside the Rotunda and other areas. A brutal scene in the lower west terrace tunnel unfolded as police used their batons to beat at least two women on the head resulting in bleeding and injuries.
Excessive force caused the deaths of four Trump supporters: Ashli Babbitt, Rosanne Boyland, Kevin Greeson, and Benjamin Phillips.
On the flip side, despite persistent claims even by Attorney General Merrick Garland and White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre as recently as this week, no police officers died as a result of injuries sustained on January 6. Officer Brian Sicknick is on video walking around after he suffered a pepper spray attack; he died of a stroke the next day. There’s no evidence the reported suicides of other officers after January 6 were related to the protest.
Further, the responsibility of sufficiently protecting the Capitol with enough officers fell to the Capitol Police board—staffed by the sergeant-at-arms for then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund repeatedly testified that he requested additional help including National Guardsmen days before January 6. Even as the chaos unfolded that day, House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving and Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Stenger delayed pursuing the proper authorization of the National Guard.
Irving told House Republicans that his staff as well as members of the House Administration committee began planning for January 6 weeks before the protest. Jamie Fleet, a security staffer for both Pelosi and the committee overseeing Capitol functions, told the January 6 select committee that he started preparations for January 6 in the summer of 2020.
When the building was breached at around 2:15 p.m., Congress was not voting to certify the electoral college results at the time, a common misperception. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Arizona) were in the process of disputing the election outcome in Gosar’s home state, a process permitted under the Electoral Count Act. The joint session of Congress technically had been adjourned an hour earlier so debate could begin.
For all the wasted energy spent over the past two years that democracy almost died on January 6, the chaotic protest only delayed the certification ceremony for seven hours. Joe Biden officially was declared president at 3:00 a.m. the next day.
The surveillance video viewed by Carlson’s team has not been made available to defense attorneys, arguably in violation of...