True to Its Nature, CNN Continues to Lie About the Border.

Never, never, ever trust them. And prepare, prepare, prepare.

Attribution: Michael Morgenstern

A PARABLE, THE SCORPION AND THE FROG

A scorpion and a frog met on the bank of a river. The scorpion wanted to get to the other side. That was, of course, an easy task for the frog, but the scorpion could not swim. The scorpion, therefore asked if the frog if would allow him to ride on the frogs back while the frog swam across the river.

The frog replied, “I can’t do that. If I let you on my back, you will sting me, and I will die.” The scorpion replied, “No, think about it, Mr. Frog. If I sting you, while we are in the river, you will die, but then you would sink beneath the water. Because I cannot swim, I would drown. So, you see, you can safely ferry me across the river.”

The frog did think about it and decided that the prospect of the scorpion losing his own life would deter him from doing anything foolish, and that he therefore could safely carry the scorpion on his back across the river.

The scorpion promptly crawled up on the frog’s back, and together they began the trip across the river. In midstream, as the frog was fighting a strong current, the scorpion raised his tail, and plunged his venomous stinger deep into the frog’s body. The frog cried out in pain and terror, “Why did you do that? Now we will both die!”

The scorpion replied, “I can’t help it. It’s in my nature.”

KRISTI NOEM INTERVIEWS WITH THE SCORPION.

Readers will recall that for a short time, CNN seemed to be trying to reposition itself as a neutral reporter of news, without devoting itself to the destruction of all things opposed to its woke agenda. Chris Licht replaced Jeff Zucker as CEO. Licht made clear that he was preparing to clean house and return CNN to its straight-news roots. They got rid of Chris Coumo, Brian Stelter, and Don Lemon, among others. But Licht apparently was not familiar with the story of the scorpion and the frog or did not understand how it applied to his network. The staff and other “talent” revolted and effectively staged a coup. High profile employes such as Anderson Cooper and Jake Tapper criticized their boss publicly. Licht was soon out.

It has been abundantly clear that after Licht’s departure, like the scorpion, CNN has reverted to its inherent nature as a propaganda arm of the Democrat party and the “progressives.” Objectivity be damned, we have a mission to accomplish! On her show, Inside Politics, CNN’s Dana Bash recently demonstrated that again.

On January 28, Bash interviewed South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem. True to their nature, Bash and CNN lied in the service of bashing the GOP and anyone that might be linked to the Evil Orange One. If Governor Noem or any other Republican ever thinks that they will get an objective and non-partisan interview with CNN (or the New York Times, Washington Post, et al. for that matter) they should remind themselves of the parable of the Scorpion and the Frog, and that dishonesty and rabid partisanship are the nature of today’s mainstream media.

THE DEMONIZATION OF “RAZOR WIRE” [sic] (THEY ALL FALL FOR IT)

Dana Bash set the tone in her introductory comments. Referring to the letter that Governor Noem and literally half of the state governors sent in support of Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s efforts to stop the invasion, Bash stated that the 25 governors’ security recommendations included “even razor wire,” with an emphasis on “even,” as if standard concertina wire were some life–threatening danger, akin to landmines or napalm. In fact, that is false. Concertina wire is routinely used by businesses to protect their stores and warehouses, by airports to hamper or prevent unauthorized entry, as well as by the military for the same purposes. It is not intended or designed to kill seriously maim.

Images from web site of Anping Enzar Metal Products Co., Ltd.

Because it is designed and used to slow down or prevent authorized entry, concertina wire can catch on clothing and inflict relatively shallow cuts to anyone who persists in trying to breach it. That is one reason why it is a deterrence to unauthorized entry. If it did not have barbs for that purpose, it would be useless. This author and his close friends collectively spent hundreds of man-years in Vietnam, often on positions and firebases that were under attack but protected by concertina wire. There is not a single instance that I have ever heard of where at attacking NVA soldier or VC was somehow killed by concertina wire. That is not even a “black swan event,” because black swans do exist. People killed by concertina wire are a figment of someone’s over-wrought imagination.

As an aside, even the defenders of the border such as Governor Abbot and many conservative commentators, the majority of whom probably have never used concertina wire, have fallen victim to using the pejorative, “razor wire.” They should eschew that inflammatory description and insist instead on using its proper name.

THE LIES START WITH BASH’S FIRST QUESTION.

But Bash’s pejorative introduction by no means the worst or most dishonest part of her agenda. Bash promptly began with a lie in her very certain first question. Referring to the recommendations in the 25 governors’ letter, she said:

“A lot of people interpreted that to mean that you think Texas should defy the Supreme Court and stop federal agents from removing that razor wire” (There she goes again with the “razor wire.”). Bash continued, “Do you think Texas should do that? Should they defy the Supreme Court?

Noem gave a plausible answer, as far as it went, but she missed the falsehood in Bash’s question. “Texas should stand their ground. They should enforce their state law and go back to the constitutional rights that they’ve been granted to protect their state sovereignty….”

Bash’s representation that Texas would be ‘defying’ the Supreme Court’s recent order by preventing feds from removing the concertina wire is 100% false. This author explained the reasons in detail in on January 25, in The Press Misleads - The Supreme Court has not Eliminated Texas' Right to Defend Its Property. The short version is that the Supreme Court did not rule on the merits of the dispute. It did not tell Texas that it could not take down the wire, block the feds from doing so, or otherwise secure the border. Similarly, it did not rule that the federal government had a right to destroy the wire.

BASH INVENTS ANOTHER FALSE SCENARIO.

Bash continued with another scenario that apparently is a figment of her fevered imagination (at 1:44 in above video):

“On that note what we’re hearing from even some federal agents is that they are frustrated because . . . what they are doing is that they’re sitting there and they see migrants – human beings – if they’re in drowning or in trouble, they’re on the other side of razor wire, and these people can’t be saved. Are you concerned about that?”

I have not seen any reports of federal agents who had to sit and watch migrants/invaders drown because the concertina wire blocked their access to the victims as they drowned. My research after watching the bash/Noem interview did not disclose any. CNN has not interviewed any agents telling such a story and Bash did not identify the basis for her contention.

Rather, this appears to be an inaccurate summary of a January 12 incident when a woman and two children drowned while trying to breach the border. CNN reported on that incident here. Although its story noted that what actually happened was “still unclear,” the general thrust of the article was an effort to imply that Texas’ exclusion of federal border patrol agents from the municipal park in Eagle Pass was the reason that the victims drowned. That tale was supported by Alejandro Mayorkas’ DHS, which released a statement saying, “In responding to a distress call from the Mexican government, Border Patrol agents were physically barred by Texas officials from entering the area.”

However, that story has been thoroughly debunked. What the DHS statement did not reveal was that the drownings had occurred before the federal agents sought entrance to the Shelby Park area of Eagle Pass. In short, not a single supposedly frustrated Broder Patrol agent sat helplessly watching these unfortunates drown because they were denied access to the park. In a filing before the U.S. Supreme Court, even the federal government admitted that the drownings occurred an hour before Border Patrol agents sought entrance to the park.

Noem blew it. Instead of pointing out the falsehood in Bash’s question, her first response (at 2:10) in response to the Bash asking whether she was “concerned” that the border agents had to helplessly watch migrants while they drowned was, “Yeah.”

Noem then continued with more talking points, but failed to push back on Bash’s made-up scenario by pointing out that it never happened and that the only known report of an alleged similar incident had been proven to be false:

“Yeah, but Texas Department of Public Safety That is pulling people out of the river giving them CPR bringing them back to life because the cartels are forcing them across that river. . . . [sic]”

NOEM STUMPS BASH.

There are other examples of Bash’s partisanship and dishonesty, but I will conclude with one more (at 10:50):

Bash: Governor, President Biden is negotiating [crosstalk] he’s negotiating, because this is what Republicans want him to do. So, again, why not take the W? Why not take the win?

The thrust of this line of questioning was Bash’s effort to try to portray Noem and her allies as totally unreasonable because poor President Biden was trying his level best to negotiate but the evil MAGA Republicans were preventing any progress in stopping the invasion. But Governor Noem’s response stopped Bash in her tracks (10:58):

“What has he done?”

Bash was frozen into speechlessness. So, Noem repeated:

“What has he done?”

Again, Bash just stared ahead, stone faced. Governor Noem answered for her:

“He’s done nothing as far as actual policies and actually using the tools he has.”

CONCLUSION

Any GOP politician who has not figured out by now that the mainstream press is their enemy needs to cultivate more brain cells. Most have, although there are plenty of RINOS, particularly in the Senate, who think they will be exempt as long as they continue to pay the Dane-geld.

But for the rest, the lesson is that they must prepare better for these confrontations with the likes of Dana Bash and CNN. They must constantly remember the nature of the press and learn instinctively to question the premise of every single question and push back — hard — when necessary. Don’t change the subject; take it head on and push back to refute falsehoods like those discussed above. That is not always easy. It takes preparation and a lot of it. But, like the need to prepare by mastering the facts before giving testimony in court, it is essential to success.

And, while you are preparing stop buying into their loaded language (e.g., razor wire)!