Pitched into momentary controversy this week has been Battersea bedroom dweller Paul Watson, who has, for someone working in the service of Batshit Central, otherwise known as InfoWars, made the unusual claim that he is not the bringer of Fake News. His problem is that his reputation, and that of his employer, precedes him.
What triggered poor snowflake Watson was the aftermath of a press conference given by Combover Crybaby Donald Trump as results from the 2018 US midterm elections rolled in. The Republicans - Trump’s own party - had lost control of the House of Representatives. The press conference was at times fractious. Trump turned abusive, especially towards CNN’s Jim Acosta (no change there, then). An intern was ordered to take the mic from Acosta. He carried on questioning The Donald.
Following this, the White House spin machine fired up. Press secretary Sarah Sanders said “the White House had revoked the hard pass … held by CNN's chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta … In the statement, Sanders falsely accused Acosta of ‘placing his hands’ on a White House intern as she attempted to aggressively remove the microphone from his hands during a contentious press conference exchange”.
And her evidence? “The video she was referring to, which was included in her tweet, didn't come directly from one of the many cameras that had been at the press conference. Instead, it appeared to have come from Paul Joseph Watson, an editor-at-large for InfoWars”. The video “did not accurately portray what happened”.
Watson was incandescent. “The media, with zero fact checking, launched a conspiracy claiming I ‘sped up’ or ‘doctored’ the Jim Acosta video so they could distract from Acosta's behavior. This is false. I did not ‘doctor’ or ‘speed up’ anything. It was all fake news”. Fake News merchant working for conspiracy outfit calls Fake News on others. Ri-i-i-i-ight.
There was more. “While Acosta did not assault the woman, the White House is perfectly correct in asserting that he placed his hands on the female staffer. Acosta clearly used his strength to push down on the woman's arm and overpower her so he could keep the mic”. Then she’d have let go of the mic due to Acosta’s action. But she didn’t.
Do go on.”In addition, none of the media outlets claiming I ‘doctored’ the footage even reached out to me for comment before publishing their hit pieces. This kind of crap is why people don't trust the mainstream media”. No, it’s because you work for InfoWars. So right to conclude “I would say I am looking forward to all the media outlets who smeared me issuing retractions, but I know that will never happen”.
OK, what was the reaction to Watson’s whining? David Pakman had no time for Watson’s claims. “His hand was already pointed at Trump, she walked into it, and he tried to untangle his hand. This is ACTUAL fake news”. And there was more.
Another Tweeter observed “Even with your doctoring it's obvious that she kept reaching in to touch him and grab the mic and he barely reacted. Even with the video sped up his arm movement shows no force. Nice try with the fake garbage”. Not going well, was it?
And Andrew Quinn was even less impressed. “You admitted yourself the video was edited for Infowars. There’s countless examples proving that the video shared by @PressSec was altered to make Jim Acosta look like the aggressor. You’ve been caught out. You are FAKE NEWS and @PressSec should resign immediately!”
Someone then had to remind Watson of his earlier faux pas. “Speaking of fake news, remember when you spread this lie?” He had claimed the Thousand Oaks bar shooter was “described as a Middle Eastern man”. This was, you guessed it, Fake News.
All that was left was for Laurence Brignull to put the pid on it. “Hello and welcome to the 6 o clock news! Gay Frogs! … At 7 we bring you an exclusive report on how the killing of 20 children was totally fake and why their 'parents' are satanic liars … Your business is conspiracy theories and brain pills Paul. Don't forget it”. Ouch!
Methinks Paul Watson doth protest too much. It must be all that Brain Force Plus.
Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at
5 comments:
You're wrong on this one, Tim.
Whatever the level of physical force, Acosta would not give back the mic and forced the issue. He certainly didn't "overpower" the intern but he certainly stopped her performing her given task. He can plead all the smarmy "Excuse me ma'ams" he likes. I watched that press conference from beginning to end and I know what I saw and heard.
The problem is that corporate media is as unfit for purpose as Trump and his gang are for government. This applies on both sides of the Atlantic. Few people trust anything coming out of either side of this inconsequential spat.
CNN is as bad as anything this side of the pond and Acosta is one of its employees.
In short, Trump is indeed a shithead. But so are Acosta and his equivalents here in Britain. Do we really need yet again to list individuals and examples of the lies?
I don't have much time for Paul Joseph Watson.
But I just looked at his twitter and see he's on the side of these two guys too. ''Sargon of Akkad'' and Brendan O'Neill.
So while I don't agree with him, I do end up agreeing about ''Some of the things'' he might say about some of the people he opposes.
Like the kind of leftists who are always calling their opponents fascists and ''Nazis'' (when they are so obviously not).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obvOCp-4QZY&feature=youtu.be
We seem to be having extremism coming from both sides these days and people in the ''radical middle'' get squeezed out - or get called ''far right'' too.
It's good for him that he pissed off down to London, because the good folk back home in Sheffield think he's a complete asshat.
Anon #1: You didn't see anyone getting hit , as Paul's video has been doctored to suggest.
Acosta was trying to as Trump a question that he didn't want asked; that's what journalists are supposed to do.
Stephen 17:53.
Read my opinion again.
I didn't say Acosta hit anybody.
He and Trump deserve each other.
Post a Comment