Tag: Propaganda

Anti-semitism, Cringeworthy, Dangerous Republicans, Democracy under threat, Extremism, Freedom under threat, Hate, Law and Order under threat, Propaganda, Trump Insanity, White Supremacists

Billionaire Elon Musk, Trump’s “First Buddy,” gives Nazi salute twice during speech at Trump’s inaugural celebration

by Anne Landman • January 22, 2025 • 22 Comments

Billionaire Elon Musk, who spent $277 million to get Trump elected and who publicly declared himself Trump’s “First Buddy” in a November 11, 2024 tweet, gave a Nazi salute not once but twice during his talk at Trump’s inaugural celebration at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2025 [Video clip: PBS]

Musk, who is facing global criticism over the gesture, has not explicitly denied it was a Nazi salute. Instead he dismissed the criticism as a “tired” attack, writing on his social media platform that “The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”

Right wing extremists celebrated Musk’s use of gesture.

It is illegal to perform this gesture in Germany.

In an article by investigative reporter Bernard Condon posted January 21 on Associated Press, Kurt Braddock, a professor of communication at American University who studies extremism, radicalization and terrorism, said the gesture was a fascist salute and that “people shouldn’t doubt what they saw.”

Arrest affidavit: Trump’s racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric motivated strangulation attack on local TV reporter

by Anne Landman • December 28, 2024 • 22 Comments

Patrick Thomas Egan, 39, who attacked and attempted to strangle KKCO TV reporter Ja’Ronn Alex

KKCO TV News reporter Ja’Ronn Alex was followed and physically attacked December 18 by a Trump supporter who yelled “Are you even a U.S. citizen! This is Trump’s America now! I took an oath to protect this country from people like you!”

Tractor Supply throws LGBTQ+ customers and investors under the bus

by Anne Landman • July 1, 2024 • 18 Comments

Tractor Supply Company, a farm, ranch and feed company which previously had touted its efforts at diversity and inclusion, did an about-face June 27 after it issued a press release saying it will stop sponsoring events like gay pride festivals and voter registration drives, stop submitting data to the Human Rights Campaign, eliminate its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) roles, “retire” its DEI goals and will “withdraw our carbon emission goals and focus on our land and water conservation efforts.”

The company says they “work hard every day” to “represent the values of the communities and customers we serve. We have heard from customers that we have disappointed them. We have taken this feedback to heart.”

Paonia’s High Country Shopper under fire for running outrageous, false political ad

by Anne Landman • June 15, 2024 • 4 Comments

Ad that ran in June 12, 2024 edition of the classified ad paper the High Country Shopper

Delta County residents are up in arms about a display ad that appeared on Page 20 of the June 12 edition of the High Country Shopper, a weekly newspaper published in Paonia that runs classified ads and promotes local businesses.

The ad, which is a departure from the norm for the Shopper, shows a photo of President Biden among an array photos of fascist dictators who have “had their opponents arrested,” including Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot, Fidel Castro, Stalin and others. The ad was paid for by Cedaredge resident Wes Fisher.

Where could someone get such a misleading idea as this?

Woodland Park-based Christian nationalist group working to influence Mesa County District 51 School Board election

by Anne Landman • October 23, 2023 • 4 Comments

Truth & Liberty Coalition fliers seek to influence the local school board election by focusing on right wing culture war issues. The fliers were placed at La Milpa Tortilleria on 30 Road.

High-quality, multi-colored, bilingual fliers created by the front range Christian dominionist group Truth & Liberty Coalition are showing up at businesses around town. The fliers use right wing culture war rhetoric targeting gay and transgender students in an attempt to influence the outcome of the November 7 District 51 School Board election. The fliers appear to endorse CynDee Skalla, Jessica Hearns and Barbara Evanson.

The fliers were found at La Milpa Tortilla Factory in Grand Junction and are bilingual in English and Spanish.

“Stand for the Constitution,” which still supports Tina Peters, is working to get Evanson & Skalla elected to D-51 School Board

by Anne Landman • October 21, 2023 • 30 Comments

A slide shown at a mid-October, 2023 Stand for the Constitution meeting that indicates the group still supports criminally-indicted, election denier Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters. The same group is supporting Evanson and Skalla for D-51 School District Board.

It seems like Mesa County never seems to learn from its past mistakes.

Stand for The Constitution (SFTC), the local extremist group that pushed to get Tina Peters elected County Clerk in 2018, that continued to support Peters even after her loss of 574 of ballots in 2019 and even after her indictments on multiple felony criminal charges related to election tampering, is now working to get Barbara Evanson and CynDee Skalla elected to the District 51 School Board in the November 7, 2023 election.

Stand for the Constitution also backed the three conservative school board members Haitz, Lema and Jones who have brought rancor, questionable ethics, uncertainty, disruption and hatred to the school board.

Tina Peters has filed to run for Colorado Secretary of State in 2026, but may be using it to defray her personal expenses of being a professional election denier

by Anne Landman • October 1, 2023 • 4 Comments

In the above interview posted on Rumble.com on 9/18/23 for the Clay Clark ReAwaken America tour, Tina Peters lies and tells viewers she won the 2020 election for Colorado Secretary of State. “The Reawaken America tour is a series of controversial far-right conferences held across the United States featuring prominent QAnon influencers, anti-vaxx activists, election fraud conspiracy theorists, Christian pastors, political candidates and elected officials,” according to the Anti-Defamation League.
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Indicted former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters has filed to run for Secretary of State in Colorado in 2026, and as of July 23, 2023 had almost $305,000 in the bank for her campaign, according to Colorado Tracer, the online campaign finance reporting system.

Tina has not publicly stated she has an active campaign for Colorado Secretary of State in 2026, but that has not stopped her from listing campaign expenses for it.

But filing to run for SOS in 2026 looks more like it may be a tactic Tina is using to defray her personal costs of being a darling of the election denier cult while she awaits her criminal trial next February.

Redlands residents get Jew-hatred propaganda on Christmas morning

by Anne Landman • December 25, 2022 • 34 Comments

Facebook message about anti-semitic, anti-LGBTQ fliers being left at homes on the Redlands on Christmas morning, 2022

Think anti-semitism (Jew hatred) and anti-gay sentiment doesn’t exist in Grand Junction?

Think again.

What does “freedom” really mean to Rep. Lauren Boebert?

by Anne Landman • September 7, 2022 • 1 Comment

Lauren Boebert

The following letter is reprinted with permission from The Daily Sentinel. It appeared on their editorial page on 9/6/2022:

There are a several billboards around town that have a photo of Representative Boebert highlighting the word FREEDOM. Exactly what does she mean? Does she mean President Roosevelt’s four freedoms – – freedom of worship, freedom of speech, freedom from want, and freedom from fear? Does she mean that we are free to worship or not worship as we see fit, without the government using our tax dollars to support a church or forcing us to believe a specific religious doctrine? Does she mean that we are free to speak in the public square without threats of violence? Does she want Americans to earn a living wage? Does she want her fellow citizens to be able to afford healthcare, housing, clean water, and healthy food? Does she believe that medications should be affordable, and that Big Pharma should not gouge diabetics for insulin? Finally, does she believe school kids should not live in fear of a mass murderer entering their school?

Tina Peters at movie debut: “We have taken the world stage”

by Anne Landman • September 2, 2022 • 6 Comments

Tina Peters recorded an 11-minute long message August 29 for the premier of the movie “Selection Code” at Mike Lindell’s “Moment of Truth Summit.”

The “Summit” was a two-day re-hash of Lindell’s failed “cyber symposium” in South Dakota last year, in which he tried once again to convince Americans that electronic voting machines must be eliminated.

Peters wore a long, dark evening gown with pearls sewn onto the sleeves, like one might wear to the Emmys. She was in a home living room backed by about 20 clapping, cheering people who were whooping and chanting “Tina, Tina, Tina!” One person held a red and white “Tina Peters for Secretary of State” campaign sign.

Tina Peters hires attorney who defended Bannon’s co-conspirator in “We Build the Wall” fraud

by Anne Landman • April 26, 2022 • 27 Comments

Harvey Steinberg (Photo: BestLawyers.com)

Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters has hired big-gun Colorado criminal defense attorney Harvey Steinberg of Denver to defend her in her criminal case(s).

Steinberg is the lawyer the Denver Broncos and other high-profile sports figures keep on speed dial for whenever they get busted for rape, road rage, domestic violence, DUIs, driving with a suspended license and such.

Steinberg is also the guy who defended Steve Bannon’s accomplice Brian Kolfage in the “We Build the Wall” fundraising scam.

“We Build The Wall” was a private fundraising campaign in which Bannon and accomplices, including Kolfage, defrauded hundreds of thousands of MAGA-heads out of over $25 million through an online crowdfunding campaign. Bannon and Kolfage pitched the campaign to unsuspecting Trump supporters as a private effort to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. Bannon and Kolfage promised Trumpers they would “not take a penny in salary or compensation” for their efforts, and that “100% of the funds raised …[would] be used in the execution of our mission and purpose.”

“Mesa County Concerned Citizen” fraudulently promotes $182 ripoff box of common OTC items as an “early and effective treatment of COVID-19”

by Anne Landman • January 9, 2022 • 7 Comments

Screen-shot from a January 6, 2022 email sent out by Mesa County Concerned Citizen in which the group links to this box of every day drug store items selling online that claims to be an “early and effective treatment for Covid-19.” The box sells for $160.00 plus $20 shipping and $12.37 tax, for a total of $182.36 — all for about $60 worth of over-the-counter items.

In its January 3, 2022 email blast, the local extreme right wing group “Mesa County Concerned Citizen” included a plug for “The Defense Box,” an item selling online that contains about $60 worth of common over-the counter items like Pepcid, Listerine, Vitamin C and baby aspirin, that costs $182.36, including shipping and tax.

The group says the items are an “early and effective treatment option” for Covid-19.

None of the items in the box are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment, prevention, mitigation or cure of Covid-19.

HD 55 candidate Cindy Ficklin spreads false, dangerous misinformation about vaccines & Covid on her “Cindy Says” blog

by Anne Landman • November 11, 2021 • 18 Comments

Republican HD-55 candidate Cindy Ficklin has a track record of spreading harmful lies and conspiracy theories about Covid-19, Covid vaccines and other topics on social media. Facebook has tried to rein her in.

After Republican House District 55 candidate Cindy Ficklin was banned from Facebook for 30 days on May 27, 2021 for spreading the lie that Covid-19 was man-made in a lab in China, she started a personal blog on the website of Coldwell Banker, the real estate office with which she is affiliated.

Ficklin has been banned from Facebook several times, including another 30 day stint in July of 2021. Facebook usually applies the 30 day ban — the longest ban they use before taking an account down completely — after a user willfully violates the platform’s “community standards” multiple times and after they give at least five prior warnings and multiple bans of increasing length before reaching the 30-day threshold.

Deprived of her main social media conduit, Ficklin was in need of an outlet where she could spread conspiracy theories and misinformation about Covid-19 and other topics without restriction.

Rep. Lauren Boebert wants government to take orders from the church

by Anne Landman • September 14, 2021 • 7 Comments

U.S. House Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado, speaking at a conference held September 13 by the Truth and Liberty Coalition, cast Democrats as the enemy and called on God to remove ungodly leaders in Washington, D.C. and instead “install righteous men and women of God” who understand that government should be taking orders from the church, and not the other way around.

“It’s time the church speaks up. The church has relinquished too much authority to government. We should not be taking orders from the government; the government needs to be looking at the church and saying, ‘How do we do this effectively?”

Application by Cindy Ficklin to be D-51 Superintendent raises alarm

by Anne Landman • February 18, 2021 • 34 Comments

Cindy Ficklin (L), an applicant for the job of D-51 School Superintendent, flashes the hand signal of the “Three Percenters” militia while scuba diving in Hawaii. (Photo credit: Facebook). Right photo & caption are from Wikipedia. The Anti-Defamation League lists this gesture as a racist hand sign. [UPDATE 2/20/21]: We have since been informed that in the context of scuba diving, this symbol is used to say a diver is “OK.” That was likely the case in this scenario, although since Mesa County is largely a desert, very right wing politically, has numerous elected officials who have in fact advanced QAnon theories and Trump’s lies about the election, and since few people here scuba dive, many people interpreted this symbol in its political context rather than its scuba diving context.]

Grand Junction real estate agent Cindy Ficklin submitted an application February 10 to become District 51 Superintendent, raising alarm bells among people familiar with her extremist views.

Who is Cindy Ficklin?

Ficklin is a 40-something GOP firebrand known for her extremist right wing views and her outspoken manner.

In a red-meat speech she gave on July 4, 2020 to a mostly un-masked crowd at the “Stand for the Constitution Freedom Rally” in a local park, Ficklin railed against masking and contact tracing — the only tools available to control the Coronavirus. She said that “CDC guidelines for opening schools … are literally formed of human torture and child abuse,” and spread the false narrative that government was forcing vaccines on people. She railed against public health recommendations to “stay home to stay safe” and whipped up anger at community efforts to control the virus, saying “the new normal” we’re all living with is “an attempt to infringe on our civil rights.”

Rick Wagner’s column illustrates problems with conservative thought

by Anne Landman • October 16, 2019 • 1 Comment

Rick Wagner’s column in the October 16, 2019 issue of the Daily Sentinel

In his column in the 10/16/2019 issue of the Daily Sentinel, local lawyer and perennially annoying right-wing political columnist Rick Wagner asks why Proposition CC on the current ballot is identified using double letters. “Have we run through the alphabet once already?” Wagner guesses, apparently attempting to infer something negative about the state ballot. He doesn’t answer the question, and is content to not to find out the real answer.

This demonstrates a common problem with right wing argumentation: They are an incurious bunch and think information doesn’t matter. Don’t know something? Gloss over it, make a joke, make some incorrect innuendo. No one cares, no big deal.

Wagner thinks his readers should just take his word for whatever he says.

Ray Scott deceives constituents by strategically omitting key info from social media post

by Anne Landman • January 3, 2019 • 2 Comments

Colorado State Senator Ray Scott tried to deceive his constituents in a recent Facebook post.

In the post, Scott pointed to a recent Denver Post article about how Colorado’s marijuana tax revenues are being used, and used the benefit of a sharply truncated headline and added an ominously intro to create the perception that the legislature is misusing marijuana funds. About marijuana tax money, Scott wrote, “If you thought it went to schools this will enlighten you”.

Below is Scott’s actual post (forwarded to me by a friend, because Ray Scott blocks me from his Facebook page):

What’s Up With That Pervasive, “Too Much Big Government” Theme?

by Anne Landman • November 26, 2018 • 1 Comment

An example of pictorial anti-government propaganda. Corporations have applied the anti-big-government theme for decades to avoid government regulation.

This column was originally published August 26, 2012. It was revised on 12-30-2016 and again on 11-26-2018 to include some new graphics. It’s explains how Americans came to hate our own government, and is still as true as ever.

We hear it everywhere, all the time, like a mantra.

Candidates, TV pundits and political ads tell us we have “too much big government!” Candidates portray virtually any attempt to regulate or tax any industry as a government intrusion into our lives. Candidates are always for “less government.”

What’s up with this pervasive, anti-government theme? How and why did so many self-professed “patriotic,” flag-waving, red-blooded Americans start hating their own government?

“Government intrusion” is a powerful propaganda theme that has been around for a long time, and it’s an argument big businesses often use to subtly manipulate public opinion. As with so many other corporate-derived propaganda tools, the anti-government theme originated largely with the tobacco industry, which has relied on it for decades to get its way in public policy.

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