I’m Tired Of Our Enlightened Elites And Their Gaslighting, Spinning and Stupid

“Those who are capable of tyranny are capable of perjury to sustain it.” (Lysander Spooner).

 

I’m tired of the gaslighting, spinning and stupid coming from our unenlightened ‘enlightened elite.’ Who are these ‘enlightened elites’ I speak of? Well those government officials, academics (professors & students), journalists, celebrities, and social media “influencers” who make stuff up so they can lecture those of us they deem unenlightened on what we should believe, how we should think, what we should say, and of course, how we should vote. All of what they utter is annoying, most of it’s wrong, and much of it’s harmful.

Some of the harmful stuff the ‘enlightened elite’ have spread lately:

1. Blaming Republicans For The Horrific Attack On Paul Pelosi. The ‘enlightened elites’ lost no time in spinning the horrific attack on Paul Pelosi as a direct result of the ‘extreme rhetoric’ of those semi-fascist MAGA peeps. The attack on Pelosi occurred October 28 at 2:30 in the morning…the attack on the ‘unenlightened’ started less than 13 hours later. At 5:16 in the evening the Hillreported that Pres. Biden “suggested” the attack “was a natural progression from lies Republicans have spread about the 2020 election.” Others rushed to jump on that evidence-free train, including Former Pres. Obama, Hillary Clinton, Andrea Mitchell, Jennifer Rubin, Adam Kinzingerand many more.

So what do we now know? Well not everything, but quite a bit:

The attacker is a homeless illegal immigrant from Canada with drug and mental issues named DePape who once thought he was Jesus. For the past 20 years DePape lived at various places in the San Francisco/Berkeley area (surprise), including a garage and storage shed. His latest adobe was a bus parked in the yard of a house with a BLM sign in the window and a LGBT flag flying from a tree. The NY Post notes that “[a] closer look reveals the characteristics of a homeless encampment, or what Europeans call “‘an open drug scene.’” So far, I’m not seeing much MAGA here.

At one time DePape was a progressive nudist activist who made hemp jewelry and the life partner of Gypsy Taub, another nudist activist. Honestly, I’m not making this up.

Ms. Taub describes herself as a progressive who “absolutely” admires Pelosi. At one time she also “hosted a public-access television program called “‘Uncensored 9/11,’” in which she discussed 9/11 conspiracies theories…in the nude. Of course, that was before she was convicted and sentenced to prison on 20 charges, including stalking, attempted child abduction, and child molestation involving a 14 year old boy. Gotta love those California Girls.

At some point DePape transitioned from a nude progressive illegal immigrant druggie with mental issues to a clothed anti-Semitic illegal immigrant druggie with mental issues and a blog. Neither I, nor anyone else who has spoken on this matter have any idea what DePape’s current political leanings are. However, what can be said with certainty is that he’s not a Republican, conservative, MAGA, or even a libertarian…just a mentally unstable guy with drug issues who would not have been in the U.S. except for the failure of our enlightened governmental elites to enforce immigration law.

To claim DePape’s attack on Pelosi is a result of right-wing rhetoric or January 6 is an irresponsible, not to mention stupid narrative. Hell, there was more evidence to support the geocentric theory that the sun revolved around earth, than there is that “right-wing” rhetoric caused the attack on Mr. Pelosi.

2. Defining “Election Denier” To Exclude Election Deniers.Yea, really. CBS News’ Scott MacFarlane has defined “Election Denier,” he even made a nifty chartfor the unenlightened. According to MacFarlane, an Election Denier is a person who does one or more of the following (caps in original):¹
3. “QUESTIONED LEGITIMACY OF BIDEN’S ELECTION”
4. “SAID 2020 ELECTION WAS STOLEN”
5. “REPEATED DISPROVEN CLAIMS OF FRAUD”
6. “SIGNED ON TO TEXAS LAWSUIT TO OVERTURN 2020 ELECTION”
7. “OBJECTED TO 2020 ELECTORIAL COLLEGE COUNT ON JAN. 6”
8. “SUPPORTED 2020 AUDIT”

Call me skeptical, but I have to question why CBS’s definition of an “Election Denier” only applies to people who question the 2020 election. Could it be they want to exclude Democrats who engaged in the same activity in previous elections? In about 5 minutes of searching the internet I found the following Democrats who would be Election Deniers if CBS’s definition included more than just the last election:

Presidents Biden, Obama, B. Clinton, and Carter; Vice-Presidents Harris and Gore; Senators Booker, Boxer, Brown, Durbin, Kennedy, Markey (when he was a Rep), and Reid; Twenty-six congressmen;²

Former governors Dean and Mcauliffe; Biden’s Administration staff: Klain (Biden’s former Chief-of-Staff), Fudge (HUD Sec.), Kerry (Climate Czar) and Karine Jean-Pierre (WH Press Secretary); and of course Hillary Clinton and Stacy Abrams.

What’s more problematic then CBS excluding Democrats from being labeled “Election Deniers,” is its attempt to define those who legally question the integrity of an election into lepers who are a danger to our democracy.³

To the contrary, the danger to our republic is the refusal of the powers-that-be to take the concerns of citizens seriously and conduct an honest and transparent investigations into those concerns.

We’re continuously assured that our elections are free, open, and fair with voter fraud a figment of our imaginations that just doesn’t occur, or at worst the amount of voter fraud is insignificant. But is that true? Just since 2000 our presidential elections have been at best chaotic.

1. The 2000 presidential election ended up going to the Florida Supreme Court, then the U.S. Supreme Court…all over poorly designed “butterfly” ballots, hanging chads, dimples, and voter intent. What a divisive nightmare that was.

 

2. In 2004 there were questions about Ohio’s voting machinesresulting in a number of Democrats challenging the acceptance of Ohio’s electoral votes.
3. 2008 was a banner year. In 2011 it was discovered that 19 pages of signatures to get Obama on the 2008 Indiana primary ballotwere forged. Without those signatures Obama would not have been on the primary ballot. In 2012 the NY Post reported 1,099 felons illegally voted in the 2008 Minnesota election…Al Franken was elected senator by 312 votes. This was also the year ACORN ( the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) gained fame for fraudulently registering thousands of voters across the country.

 

4. In 2014 the Washington Postreported on a study by Old Dominion University Professors J. Richman and D. Earnest published in the Journal of Electoral Studies. They estimate that 6.4% of non-citizens voted in 2008 and 2.2 % in 2010.

 

5. We all know about 2016 and claims of Russian interference and Trump stole the election and the 2020 claims of voter fraud and that Biden stole the election.

Is there voter fraud? Yep. Is voter fraud so pervasive that it results in stolen elections? Yep, at least in two local elections.⁴

Has voter fraud swung national and/or statewide elections. I don’t know, but at least the 2008 Minnesota senate election seems sketchy.

Problem is, our enlightened government elites have never conducted a thorough, impartial, and honest investigation into the issue of voter fraud and election integrity, even though there’s more than enough evidence to justify one. Instead, the enlightened elites of our media prefer to echo the narrative of our enlightened governmental elites, deny there is any problem, and label citizens with concerns as Election Deniers who are a threat to our republic.

The actions of our enlightened government and media elites has caused the public to lose trust in both our government and press. This loss of trust is the danger to our republic, not citizens legally expressing concerns over the integrity of our elections.

3. Blaming The Burglary Of Katie Hobbs’ Campaign Headquarters On Kari Lake. On October 25, 2022 Katie Hobbs’ gubernatorial campaign headquarters was burglarized, an act that without a doubt must be condemned. However, without waiting for any evidence, Ms. Hobbs’ campaign managerblamed the burglary “on her Republican opponent Kari Lake and Lake’s allies, accusing them of “‘spreading dangerous misinformation and inciting threats against anyone they see fit.'”

Ungood things usually happen when one speaks first and thinks later…

On October 27 Daniel Mota Dos Reis was arrested for the burglary of Ms. Hobb’s campaign headquarters. Mr. Mota is a 36 year old homeless illegal immigrant from Portugal who was arrested for the Hobbs’ break in after being recognized while sitting in jail on an unrelated burglary charge. In addition to his burglary charges (plural), he has previous convictions for assault and shoplifting. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s office released Mr. Mota on bond before ICE could issue an Immigration Detainer.

To date no one from Hobbs’ campaign has bothered to explain how this homeless illegal immigrant from Portugal was influenced by unspecified “dangerous misinformation” Ms. Lake was accused of spreading. Just more gaslighting from the enlightened elites.

4. Spreading Misinformation By Claiming Misinformation Is Not Protected Speech.On November 1, Senator Dick Durbin, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee with a JD from Georgetown, tweeted“Free speech does not include spreading misinformation to downplay political violence.” Uh, yes it does.

The Supreme Court in Brandenburg v. Ohio, (1969) held that the only speech not constitutionally protected is speech that’s directed at producing imminent lawless action and is likely to produce such action. The Supremes clarified this holding in United States v. Alvarez (2012) where they explicitly held that a lie, or in todays’ terms – misinformation and disinformation – and nothing more is speech protected by the First Amendment.  Finally, in Matal v. Tam, (2017) the Court left no doubt that hate speech is protected speech.

 

So yes, misinformation, disinformation, and even hate speech (however that is defined) are all protected speech.⁵

Not sure if Durbin should demand his tuition back from Georgetown, or Georgetown should demand its JD back from Durbin.

5. We Need to Limit Free Speech In Order To Have Free Speech.This argument is used by the not so enlightened, enlightened elites against proponents of free speech. The usual argument is ‘If you’re for free speech, you can’t (argue with, get upset by, offended by, or ignore) people who say things you don’t like.’ If you prefer the cliff note version – free speech for me, but not thee.

An example of this argument is a recent tweet by David Weissman, who has a “blue check” on Twitter, in which he stated “Hey conservatives, if you say you’re for free speech, why get outraged when people use pronouns to identify themselves?” The implication being you can’t be a free speech proponent if you get “outraged” over the speech of others. That position is not only silly, but also dishonest.

There’s nothing inconsistent about being a free speech proponent and being “outraged,” or even offended, angry, and freaked out by the speech of others. What is inconsistent with being a free speech proponent are attempts to silence speech you disagree with by violence, censorship, “canceling,” using the “heckler’s veto,” etc.

My Random Thoughts. I would like to say things are getting better and the amount of gaslighting, spinning and stupid coming from our ‘enlightened elite’ is decreasing. Alas, if I did I would be lying. Which leads me to this observation: It’s ironic that the enlightened elites continuously scream that misinformation and disinformation are dangers to free speech, when they are among the biggest spreaders of both.

Notes:

This article was written by M.F.M and initially published at The Wandering Rebel’s Newsletter and is republished her with the author’s permission.

 

1  The news clip can be seen here

 

2  Includes current and former Senators and Congressmen who made statements while they held office that would classify them as election deniers under CBS’ definition if it was not restricted to the 2020 election.

 

3  Our government is actually a Constitutional Republic not a direct democracy, so I will substitute the term “republic” for “democracy”

 

4  Heritage Foundation. In 2015, a judge ordered a new election for a city council seat in Perth Amboy, NJ that was decided by a mere 10 votes when at least 13 illegal absentee ballots had been cast. The 2003 mayoral primary in East Chicago, Indiana, was overturned by the state Supreme Court after evidence of widespread fraud was revealed. The new election resulted in a different winner.

 

5  For a brief but good discussion of 1st Amendment speech law see: The First Amendment Encyclopedia, Middle Tennessee State University, Incitement to Imminent Lawless Action

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