Retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the career government employee who testified against President Trump during the Democrats’ first impeachment of the president, says “right-wing” media outlets should be sued to curb their influence.
Article by Bob Unruh from WND.
Vindman, who was removed from his position on the National Security Council and escorted off White House grounds after Trump’s acquittal a year ago, wrote in a commentary for the Lawfare blog that right-wing media have become radicalized.
He charged they “fueled” the “Big Lie of ‘stolen elections’ and ‘evil Democrats'” to rouse people to “insurrection.”
“The mob that attacked the Capitol was born of hatred fomented by the right-wing media. These insurrectionists were raised for years on a steady diet of disinformation and half-truths, which produced the fertile fields for radicalization,” Vindman wrote.
He wants “accountability.”
The Western Journal noted at the time of Trump’s first impeachment that Vindman bypassed his chain of command to complain about the president’s phone call with Ukraine’s president, which is a breach of military ethics and conduct.
In his Lawfare commentary, Vindman wrote that after the impeachment trial, Trump criticized him and “proxies amplified these themes on television news, internet news, and social media.”
“I’m afraid I did not respond forcefully to the threats and defamation,” he said. “While the former president was likely immune from civil suit, I should have sued those who amplified his campaign of defamation. Holding those who defamed me accountable could have deterred further attacks against me and subsequent targets,” he wrote.
The original source of the complaint about Trump’s telephone call was an anonymous “whistleblower.” But investigative reporter Byron York contends in a new book that the instigator was Vindman.
“[Vindman] was the only one who was disturbed by what took place. He was the only one who thought there was a problem there,” York said in an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham.
York’s book is “Obsession: Inside the Washington Establishment’s Never-Ending War on Trump.”
“It didn’t take a real rocket scientist that the source of this, the original source of this, was Lt. Col. Vindman,” York said.
Vindman acknowledged that the First Amendment “gravely limits” the restriction of media, but he argued that news outlets can be sued for defamation.
“Why not hold the media accountable for the heinous insurrection where it hurts them most? By design, defamation law makes intentional, malicious lying an expensive habit, but this works only if people are willing to bring civil cases against the peddlers of disinformation.”
He cited reports that he contends were part of “a comprehensive defamation campaign” carried out by Fox News, Laura Ingraham, John Yoo, Gateway Pundit, Steve Bannon, Rudy Giuliani, American Greatness, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the Federalist, One America News Network and others.
“I rationalized inaction, thinking that litigation against these media outlets and individuals would paint me as litigious and seeking personal gain. This was a mistake. Now, I propose a different solution: Legal action must be taken to rein in the right-wing media apparatus,” he said.
When they “make baseless and outrageous claims about ‘stolen elections,’ ‘communist Democrats,’ and ‘fascist main-stream media,’ they are building on lies about individuals,” Vindman claimed.
“They are galvanizing extremism on the back of defamation,” he said.
“Civil consequences, rather than governmental restrictions on First Amendment rights, could be a meaningful way to take what are fundamentally money-making ventures and demand truth from them, instill rigor in their reporting, and uphold accountability,” he wrote. “Putting companies in fear of the real costs in civil damages for slander, libel, and false claims that can cumulatively incite violence and that can individually harm actual human beings should have a restraining effect on their behavior.”
The Western Journal noted Vindman remained Rep. Adam Schiff’s “star witness” against Trump even though others, including Robert O’Neill, the former Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden, slammed Vindman for his behavior.
‘The Purge’ by Big Tech targets conservatives, including us
Just when we thought the Covid-19 lockdowns were ending and our ability to stay afloat was improving, censorship reared its ugly head.
For the last few months, NOQ Report has appealed to our readers for assistance in staying afloat through Covid-19 lockdowns. The downturn in the economy has limited our ability to generate proper ad revenue just as our traffic was skyrocketing. We had our first sustained stretch of three months with over a million visitors in November, December, and January, but February saw a dip.
It wasn’t just the shortened month. We expected that. We also expected the continuation of dropping traffic from “woke” Big Tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter, but it has actually been much worse than anticipated. Our Twitter account was banned. One of our YouTube accounts was banned and another has been suspended. Facebook “fact-checks” everything we post. Spotify canceled us. Why? Because we believe in the truth prevailing, and that means we will continue to discuss “taboo” topics.
The 2020 presidential election was stolen. You can’t say that on Big Tech platforms without risking cancelation, but we’d rather get cancelled for telling the truth rather than staying around to repeat mainstream media’s lies. They have been covering it up since before the election and they’ve convinced the vast majority of conservative news outlets that they will be harmed if they continue to discuss voter fraud. We refuse to back down. The truth is the truth.
The lies associated with Covid-19 are only slightly more prevalent than the suppression of valid scientific information that runs counter to the prescribed narrative. We should be allowed to ask questions about the vaccines, for example, as there is ample evidence for concern. One does not have to be an “anti-vaxxer” in order to want answers about vaccines that are still considered experimental and that have a track record in a short period of time of having side-effects. These questions are not allowed on Big Tech which is just another reason we are getting cancelled.
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