Right-Wing Lies Kick Into Gear Over Ocasio-Cortez Visit To Concentration Camps

Adam Silverman at Balloon Juice dissects a right- wing disinformation lie and influencing campaign unfolding in real time on the southern border:

A congressional delegation (CODEL) went to visit several Customs & Border Patrol (CBP) facilities today. John just put up a post about it here at Balloon Juice Actual. But we weren’t the only ones tracking on it. Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks, as well as her just being part of the CODEL, set off the expected firestorm. The highly credulous, fabulist Anna Giaritelli, who poses as The Washington Examiner‘s Homeland Security reporter, and who was not on site covering the CODEL, decided to report, first by tweet and then in the Examiner, that Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez threw a pair of temper tantrums during the visits. This was picked up by Students for Trump* on twitter and put on blast. Townhall, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, and The Blaze all picked up Giaritelli’s disinformation and published their own stories around it. So while there are at least five articles about this in the conservative news media, four of them simply refer back to Giaritelli’s original reporting, which hasn’t been confirmed by any of the reporters actually in attendance with the CODEL. [snip]

I expect that by the evening the disinformation will have fully spread throughout the Republican, conservative, alt-right, and white supremacist information ecosystems. It’ll finish making the rounds of Twitter and Facebook, jump to Gab, the Chans, and the sub-reddits. From there it will be amplified. Most likely by the President’s caddy, Dan Scavino, who runs the President’s social media feeds, Jr, and other of the President’s social media surrogates, as well as the Russian troll and bot networks will pick it up and kick it into high gear. And, if we were able to actually monitor the direct messages of Scavino, Jr, Giaritelli, whomever is running the Students for Trump twitter account, as well as a variety of other Presidential surrogates, including those in the conservative news media, I would be very surprised to find that there isn’t widespread coordination going on between the players on these disinformation and influence operations.

As Silverman goes on to note, the purpose of the campaign is to not only smear Rep. Ocasio- Cortez, but to divert attention away from the inhumane, deadly conditions at the Trump concentration camps, such as people being encouraged to drink out of toilets. It's no surprise that the goon outfits Silverman mentions in the right- wing media miasma would eagerly repeat lies and smears -- after all, look at who they idolize.  What would also be no surprise: the corporate media being distracted by these shiny objects spread in their path.

Some of Trump's bullies- on- the- beat were also willing to pitch in to the campaign: 

Customs and Border Protection has launched an investigation into a secret Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents who posted derogatory remarks targeting migrants and lawmakers.

The group, which called itself "I'm 10-15" — a reference to the Border Patrol code for "aliens in custody" — was revealed Monday by ProPublica, a nonprofit news organization, as a delegation of Democratic congressional lawmakers toured three migrant detention facilities in southwestern Texas.

Among the group's most offensive posts were discussions of recent migrant deaths, including that of a 16-year-old Guatemalan boy who died in May while he was in Border Patrol custody in Texas. Other posts joked about throwing burritos at lawmakers visiting its facilities.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, who were both part of the delegation, were also targets of the group. Members referred to the women as "scumbags" and on multiple occasions posted graphic illustrations of Ocasio-Cortez performing a sex act.

We believe this is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg and that other examples of sociopaths- in- uniform exist that we may never know about.  The evil instincts many of these people have long suppressed has been given a green light by the words and actions of the demagogue in the White (Supremacist) House.  Beyond exposing them, we agree with Rep. Nadler that there are crimes that deserve to be prosecuted here (but, we won't be holding our breath on that).  Also unlikely, though to be desired, is a tear- down and re- forming of the CBP into a more professional and humane organization.

It's fortunate that we have moral, courageous people like Rep. Ocasio- Cortez and Rep. Escobar to act as the conscience that is so missing in the current regime and its minions.  It's small comfort, but it's what we have right now in this hellscape.

(Reminder:  If you can, please consider donating to humanitarian relief efforts for the immigrant community.)