Beware Blogs Bearing Gifts - American Senator "Duped" (?) Into Using Old Photos to Promote War with Russia

[Fred Sanders]

http://fortressamerica.gawker.com/senator-duped-into-using-old-photos-to-promote-new-wa-1685511541/+LeahBeckmann

"This afternoon, the Washington Free Beacon published EXCLUSIVE photos, obtained by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), that purportedly showed new Russian aggression in Ukraine and vindicated Inhofe's case for U.S. intervention. Apparently, neither Inhofe's staff nor the Beacon bothered with a Google reverse image search.

Coming from the Beacon, a conservative cool-kids' blog that tends to pass off as reporting the document dumps it's fed by friends on GOP congressmen's staffs, it was a typical Beltway "whoa if true" scoop."

.............................


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/14/world/europe/sifting-ukrainian-fact-from-ukrainian-fiction.html?_r=0

"When Senator James Inhofe took the floor of the Senate on Wednesday to argue for arming the Ukrainian military, he brought with him what he called indisputable proof of Moscow’s support for the separatists in eastern Ukraine — a poster with three large photographs of “Russian tanks entering Ukrainian territory.”

In his prepared remarks, Mr. Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma, said the images of “Russian troops in T-72 tanks, B.T.R. armored personnel carriers, and B.M.P. infantry fighting vehicles entering eastern Ukraine” constituted evidence of “an invasion of the Ukraine by Russia.”

While none of his colleagues saw anything amiss with the presentation, The Washington Free Beacon, a friendly conservative news outlet Mr. Inhofe’s staff provided the same images to, acknowledged on Thursday that “serious questions have been raised about the authenticity of some of the photographs” by bloggers with access to Google Image search."

.......


"As questions were being asked about why the senator’s office did not vet the images online itself, Mr. Inhofe — who is perhaps best-known for calling global warming “a hoax” that can be refuted with “biblical evidence” — revealed some apparent confusion about the mechanics of digital photography. He said in a statement that the Ukrainians “gave us these photos in print form, as if” they “came directly from a camera.


And it certainly seemed big. The photographs, the Beacon said, "could help bolster the case on Capitol Hill for a new piece of legislation that would enable the United States to provide lethal military aid to the Ukrainians."

That legislation, of course, is sponsored by Inhofe, whose staff provided the photos for publication."




Senator Inhofe was trolled by the Washington Beacon, and then he and his entire staff tried to troll the mainstream media....to start a fucking nuclear war..

6 months without pay is not enough. Mocking is not enough.

There should be loud and numerous demands for Inhofe to resign in shame, but what we get is reluctant reporting on the shameful and dangerous act and nothing else.

Either this whole seedy affair was disgusting lies purposely advanced or the height of stupid and naive.

What a dangerous man so easily or willfully manipulated even on matters of great importance, to be in a position of power. It is criminal what Inhofe did.

[Purveyor]

1. kick. Thanks for posting. +1 eom

[Fumesucker]

2. He was duped, yeah that's the ticket

[Cali_Democrat]

3. Washington Free Beacon....

There was a recent kerfuffle about that source in this thread...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026225013

[G_j]

4. I don't believe he was duped

for a minute.

[Fred Sanders]

5. It is a good sign that the NYT finally decided to report on how dangerous making shit up can be.

"And it certainly seemed big. The photographs, the Beacon said, "could help bolster the case on Capitol Hill for a new piece of legislation that would enable the United States to provide lethal military aid to the Ukrainians."

That legislation, of course, is sponsored by Inhofe, whose staff provided the photos for publication.