Replies to post #210024 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[arizona1]

The right's response to the Navy Yard shootings: It was probably Bill Clinton's fault



Apparently the Conspiracy Right, which can be differentiated from the Normal Right by, apparently, nothing, has latched onto the notion that the Navy Yard shootings happened because of President Clinton.

That this is being peddled by insane people like the good folks at Breitbart and InfoWars and Ted Freaking Nugent does not seem to have caused any of its believers to be cautious of it, so you can bet that it being entirely untrue isn't going to damage the belief one bit either.
On America Live, Fox senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano blamed "an executive order from President Clinton in 1993 which prohibits carrying weapons when on duty on military posts" for the "magnitude" of the Navy Yard and Fort Hood massacres. Later in the program, Fox host Oliver North claimed that "in March of 1993, U.S. military bases were effectively made gun-free zones by executive order issued by Bill Clinton."

What these media conservatives are pointing to is not an executive order but a regulation issued by the Department of the Army in March 1993 regarding firearms on military bases. While that rule said most soldiers are not allowed to carry weapons, the Army certainly did not ban all guns in those facilities.

The regulation in question stemmed from a George H.W. Bush-era directive. It has continued throughout the Clinton, George Dubbaya Bush and Obama administrations not because all of those folks are secretly in on the disarm-the-military conspiracy, but because the military continues to think that having all of their soldiers and contractors wave loaded weapons around during their general workday lives is Not Safe, and most of us are reasonably confident that, regardless of what other problems our military forces may be facing, they know which end of a gun should be pointed at what things.

In reality, the rules on military bases don't ban all guns, which is obvious since among the shooter's first victims were armed security personnel.

YOU WOULD THINK THAT. Truly, the news tip that the shooter shot at armed security guards might tip one off that there were armed security guards present, unless you were—and I am looking at you here, Ted Nugent—very fucking stupid.
More stupid below the fold.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/18/1239784/-The-right-s-response-to-the-Navy-Yard-shootings-It-was-probably-Bill-Clinton-s-nbsp-fault

[PegnVA]

If HRC announces for 2016, sure as hell he'll call her back to testify!

[BOREALIS]

Watch: The Benghazi Testimony The Conservative Media Will Not Dare Show You

THE SCANDAL THAT NEVER WAS

Blog ››› 2 hours and 38 minutes ago ››› ARI RABIN-HAVT



Florida Representative Alan Grayson used his opportunity at today's House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Benghazi to dismantle many of the myths spread by the conservative media.

Here are just some of the myths his line of questioning debunked:

Conservative media figures have claimed Ambassador Chris Stevens only went to Benghazi under orders from then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Jeff Kuhner of the Washington Times went so far as to say Clinton "sent him on a suicide mission. Mrs. Clinton has American blood on her hands."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GYL3UBvKUxc

Grayson's questioning of Patrick Kennedy, Under Secretary of State for Management, debunked this myth:

GRAYSON: Who decided that Ambassador Stevens go to Benghazi on September 11, 2012?

KENNEDY: It was the Ambassador's decision, sir.

GRAYSON: Now was Secretary Clinton responsible in any way for reviewing and approving the in-country movements of U.S. ambassadors, either Ambassador Stevens or anyone else?

KENNEDY: No, sir.

Additionally Grayson elicited testimony from Kennedy calling into question conservative myths about security at the Benghazi compound:

GRAYSON: Did the Ambassador, when he went to Benghazi, have a normal security detail in accordance with the State Department procedures and rules at that time?

KENNEDY: Yes, sir. He had two diplomatic security special agents who accompanied him from Tripoli to Benghazi.

[...]

GRAYSON: Was there any money that was appropriated for the purpose of improving that post that was unspent at that time?

KENNEDY: No sir, we were -- there was no specific money appropriated for Benghazi. We were simply taking money from other locations. But all the requests that they put forward as I mentions save one -- which is the guard towers which were determined to be unnecessary and potentially too attention getting, we -- all their requests were fulfilled.

Furthermore Grayson's questioning of Kennedy also debunked the conservative mythology that President Obama and then-Secretary of State Clinton were derelict in their duties the night of the attack. For instance, Fox's Monica Crowley has claimed that "the two leaders of the U.S. Government" were "unaccounted for that night. We have no narrative of where they were or what they were doing."

Today's testimony should put an end to that claim:

GRAYSON: Did the White House ever ignore any reports regarding this attack?

KENNEDY: No, sir, not that I'm aware of.

GRAYSON: Did Secretary Clinton ever ignore any reports regarding this attack?

KENNEDY: No, sir, I personally spoke to Secretary Clinton that evening and Secretary Clinton was being constantly briefed by our operation center all evening.

No doubt this part of Patrick Kennedy's testimony will never see the light of day on Fox or in the conservative media.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/09/18/watch-the-benghazi-testimony-the-conservative-m/195950