The establishment media, aided by a raft of leftist websites, is still portraying concern over the Department of Homeland Security’s purchase of some 2 billion rounds of ammunition as a conspiracy theory by regurgitating the glib statement of a single DHS official.
The latest examples include Media Matters and Raw Story, both of which attacked Fox Business host Lou Dobbs for daring to raise the issue on his March 4 broadcast during an interview with the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre.
Statement by Alex Jones: “Lou Dobbs hit the nail on the head, the reason we have the second amendment is to defend ourselves from a domestic government arms build-up which is always a prelude to state oppression. That’s why White House front groups like Media Matters and Politico are stonewalling this issue by saying it doesn’t exist. This is exactly the same thing former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs admitted to when he said he was ordered to deny the drone program – which was publicly admitted to exist – as a psychological warfare tactic to confuse the public.”
“The globalists are building a domestic army under the cover of national security – and only now does the second amendment – laid down by our visionary founders – come alive to fulfil its true purpose as a counter balance and shield against usurpers and tyrants everywhere.”
Hijacking confusion about whether 2,717 armored vehicles were destined for the DHS or the United States Marine Corps, Media Matters, which has been documented to be little more than an Obama administration mouthpiece, reported that, “The claim that DHS bought a 1.6 billion bullet stockpile is also misleading,” while simultaneously admitting that “DHS did buy 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition.”
The source of the claim that concerns over the bullet buys are a conspiracy theory or “misleading,” cited by both Media Matters and Raw Story, is a February 14 Associated Press report which did not conduct any actual investigation into why the DHS was purchasing the ammo, instead regurgitating a statement from DHS official Peggy Dixon, who claimed the bullets were bought in bulk to save money and were for training purposes only.
Firstly, the notion that the DHS, which threatened to release 10,000 illegal aliens because it couldn’t afford to house them while simultaneously building numerous new detention centers for illegal aliens at a cost of tens of millions of dollars, is the least bit interested in “saving money” is asinine.
This is an agency that has become synonymous with wasting taxpayers’ money yet one which has also enjoyed a budget increase year upon year even as the economy flatlines.
Secondly, the claim that the bullets were for training purposes only was blithely accepted and regurgitated by the AP despite being inherently disingenuous.
The majority of the bullets purchased by the DHS as part of its 2 billion round ammo buying spree were hollow point bullets (one order alone amounted to 450 million of them). Hollow point bullets just happen to be completely unsuitable for training purposes because they cost significantly more money compared to standard firing range bullets. This debunks both the ‘saving money’ argument and the ‘for training purposes only’ claim in one fell swoop.
Thirdly, the fact that the Associated Press also treated a DHS statement as the gospel truth, when the agency has been caught lying innumerable times, particularly on TSA body scanner issues and most recently with Janet Napolitano’s erroneous claim that the sequester debate was causing delays in airports, also serves as another reminder as to why distrust in the mainstream media is at an all time high.
The media also acted in unison following former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin’s warning last week that the federal government is “stockpiling bullets” in preparation for “civil unrest,” savaging Palin as a tinfoil hat wearing lunatic who was spewing Alex Jones-style “conspiracy theories.”
Atlantic Wire responded by claiming Palin had obtained her rhetoric from a “debunked email” concerning the Social Security Administration’s purchase of 174,000 bullets last year, completely omitting the admitted DHS purchase of 2 billion bullets like it didn’t exist.
Politico also made reference to the Atlantic Wire “debunking” (despite the fact that it represented lying by omission and not a debunking at all), as well as reporting that concerns over the DHS ammo purchases had been rebutted by the “feds” and the “media”.
Apparently, the mainstream media has failed to grasp that concerns about government activity cannot be “debunked” by merely repeating glib statements issued by government officials.
Amidst all the so-called “debunkings” of the bullet buys, the media has also conveniently ignored the DHS’ purchase of 7,000 fully automatic assault rifles last September as well as the agency’s $2 million dollar relationship with a contractor that recently had to apologize for producing shooting targets of pregnant women, children and elderly gun owners depicted in residential settings.
The DHS has also been busy buying large supplies of body armor, leading to shortages. Last year, the agency put out an urgent order for “riot gear” in anticipation of civil unrest. The agency has also ordered bullet-proof checkpoint booths and hired hundreds of new security guards to protect government buildings over the course of the last 12 months. None of this has been addressed by the mainstream media.
While claiming to have “debunked” concerns about the DHS’ purchase of 2 billion bullets, the likes of the Associated Press, Politico, Media Matters, the Atlantic Wire and others have only debunked themselves – by relying on a single dubious statement from a DHS official as their source in addition to repeatedly lying by omission.
Is it any wonder that a recent Rasmussen poll found that just 6 per cent of Americans rate the mainstream media as “very trustworthy” when the corporate press now behaves as if merely repeating the glib statements of government officials is an acceptable way of ascertaining the truth about a story?