Is Tulsi Gabbard speading “treasonous lies”?

That’s what Sen. Mitt Romney said. Romney calls Tulsi Gabbard claims of ‘US-funded biolabs’ in Ukraine ‘treasonous’

How is a normal guy supposed to react to this sort of story? I don’t know whether there are biolabs in Ukraine, whether the U.S. funded them, or what kind of research is happening there. And unfortunately, I don’t have any good way of finding out that doesn’t involve hours of research. Actually, even with hours of research, I wouldn’t know because how would I know if there’s secret government stuff going on?

It would be nice if the media could be relied upon to tell the truth and referee such disputes, but they’ve proved (throughout the Covid pandemic) that they’re untrustworthy.

We no longer have much access to news in this country. “News” would be something like, “here’s what we know about masks, and here’s what various experts say.”

Instead, we have propaganda. “We’ll only tell you the things that we believe will push you to do what we want you to do. If you don’t comply, we will silence you, smear you, and destroy your reputation.”

So-called “fact-checkers” are no more reliable than anybody else with this. They’re pushing the propaganda too.

There are plenty of sources denying Gabbard’s claim. E.g., How Putin regime’s baseless claims about Ukraine biolabs have attracted adherents in U.S.

But this line is particularly telling.

… the online popularity of the claims suggests some Americans are willing to trust Kremlin propaganda over the U.S. media and government.

First of all, it’s not that they believe Russian propaganda, but that they disbelieve the media and the government. With very good reason.

(Did these people ever read “the boy who cried wolf”?)

It’s the same playbook. If you give any credence to these claims, you’re a QAnon conspiracy theorist, aligned with Trump. You’re probably also a racist and a homophobe.

I have no idea what the truth is here, but I’m 99 percent certain people in positions of power are lying.

8 thoughts on “Is Tulsi Gabbard speading “treasonous lies”?”

  1. I have no idea of the truth or falsity of any of this. I’ll just echo what a friend pointed out: bio lab and bio weapons lab are not necessarily the same thing. A lab studying cancer treatments or MS therapies or bone regrowth is not something to get hysterical about, but any degree of coverup or lying should be concerning. A lab known to be working on potential bio weapons, or research that tends that direction, is another thing altogether. If we don’t even know which of those two we’re talking about, then we don’t even know how big a deal it is if someone makes the claim, or if the claim is true.

    And in any case, here’s the millionth example of how destructive it is when a government gives the people good grounds to mistrust them. Trust doesn’t get turned back on like a light switch when the government decides to be straightforward again, even when they do.

    1. “And in any case, here’s the millionth example of how destructive it is when a government gives the people good grounds to mistrust them. ”

      Exactly. That bothers me more than any potential threat from a lab.

  2. Let the person who affirms provide evidence. It would be ridiculous to ask someone who rejects the claim to provide evidence. Of course if you do reject it, it will be the same playbook from the right. You are a leftist, a socialist, a communist, etc.

    That said, I can see the motive behind the affirmative. Tucker Carlson who pushes it has very much wanted to construe the horrors of Russian attack on Ukraine as another leftist attempt to whip up hysteria (like Covid). Maybe he should just move to Moscow and stay there.

  3. QUOTE: How is a normal guy supposed to react to this sort of story?… Actually, even with hours of research, I wouldn’t know because how would I know if there’s secret government stuff going on?

    This isn’t a novel issue. How did we ever “really” know anything for sure? Seems we’d do the same thing we’ve always done…check various sources and draw the best conclusions we can with the information available.

    QUOTE: It would be nice if the media could be relied upon to tell the truth and referee such disputes, but they’ve proved (throughout the Covid pandemic) that they’re untrustworthy.

    It’s interesting that some bemoan the untrustworthy nature of media. Yet, they will readily reference the untrustworthy media to verify a view they support. In practice, it seems the media is only unreliable when it disagrees with a given sacred cow.

    QUOTE: Instead, we have propaganda. “We’ll only tell you the things that we believe will push you to do what we want you to do. If you don’t comply, we will silence you, smear you, and destroy your reputation.”

    True. I still remember Laura Ingram explicitly saying, “Keep the political comments to yourselves. … Shut up and dribble” to LeBron James when he expressed views she didn’t like.

    QUOTE: First of all, it’s not that they believe Russian propaganda, but that they disbelieve the media and the government. With very good reason.

    How do you know they don’t believe the Russian propaganda? As well, couldn’t both be true?

  4. QUOTE: It would be nice if the media could be relied upon to tell the truth and referee such disputes, but they’ve proved (throughout the Covid pandemic) that they’re untrustworthy.

    Well, it seems the media may have finally got something right. House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy vehemently denied claims featured in the NYTs and in a new book about Jan 6.

    “The New York Times reporting on me is totally false and wrong. It comes as no surprise that the corporate media is obsessed with doing everything it can to further a liberal agenda,” McCarthy said. “This promotional book tour is no different. If the reporters were interested in truth why would they ask for comment after the book was printed?”

    Yet, new audio reveals he did consider asking then-President Donald Trump to resign in the days after the January 6 riot — contradicting his office’s earlier denials of New York Times reporting that he had done so.

    https://thehill.com/news/morning-report/3459592-the-hills-morning-report-audio-puts-mccarthy-in-hot-water/

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