Louisiana Voice

I’m making an earnest attempt for LouisianaVoice to veer away from national politics since there is more than ample political news to write about right here in good ol’ Looezeana but occasionally an issue presents itself that is so absurd as to beg debunking, venue notwithstanding.

So, no, President Biden is not coming for your Big Mac.

Last Friday, Fox News repeatedly aired a story that was based on a University of Michigan study which said that cutting back on red meat consumption would reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Somehow, Fox managed to distort that 2020 study by tying it to Biden’s plan for addressing climate change.

The British Tabloid The Daily Mail ran with the story and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) was quick to tweet that Biden should “stay out of my kitchen” while incorrectly citing a figure of a mandatory 90 percent reduction in meat consumption for the U.S. Meanwhile, Fox continued its usual practice of mauling the truth by running banners across the TV screen proclaiming “bye-bye burgers under Biden’s climate plan” and “90% of red meat out with Biden climate plan.”

But on Monday, Fox anchor John Roberts quietly walked back the network’s claim with a “CLARIFICATION,” noting that its reports “incorrectly implied that it was part of Biden’s plan for dealing with climate change. That is not the case,” Roberts said.

Of course, that didn’t stop our friends at The Hayride from jumping on the story on Monday with their own version of the distortion – with a few choice unrelated conspiracy theories thrown in just to make things interesting. But THEIR POST demanded to be examined more closely.

While I don’t mean to get into a pissing contest with The Hayride or anyone else, I’m fairly certain they’ll have an appropriate response to this post, so, I’ll let them have the last word and not drag this out any further.

In a rather amusing post under the heading “Don’t Tread on Meat,” The Hayride alludes to “leftist views on eliminating meat” that it says, in something of s stretch, dates to a 1993 episode of a sci-fi TV series called Seaquest which is somehow linked to Biden/Harris proposals of today. (I somehow get the feeling that the writer wasn’t even alive in 1993).

It gets better because it quickly cites a tweet from Ted Cruz, of all people, supposedly providing us with “details of Biden’s plan” for the Green New Deal. This is the same Ted Cruz, the Texas whacko, who is described by fellow Repugnantcan and former House Speaker John Boehner as a “reckless a**hole who thinks he is smarter than everyone else.” But I digress.

The Hayride diatribe continues by linking this evil plot to limit meat eaters to four pounds per year to court packing, a subject about which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell should be uniquely familiar.

The writer, who apparently is quite Google-friendly, then cites all kinds of statistics that show the devastating effects of a 90 percent reduction would have on the ranching, meat-packing, and restaurant industries. No doubt, his figures are correct and I don’t assume to dispute them – if such an effort to reduce meat consumption by 90 percent contained even a scintilla of accuracy, which, of course, it does not.

No matter. He writes, “It sure (sic) seems that this is just another attempt by the left to eliminate the middle-class lifestyle of Middle America, trying to dictating (sic) what you can eat…” Other than the redundancy of middle-class and Middle America, he might want to delve into how Repugnantcan policies and tax breaks for the wealthy have contributed to the growing income disparity before whining on behalf of the American middle-class.

“The lefts (sic) war on meat is should (sic) no longer be considered a joke. Seriously other than vegans who goes out…” (Punctuation, Dude, punctuation!)

“This war on meat goes against the principals (sic) of our founding father…” (and which founding father would that be?)

Finally, he writes, “If no one votes for these communists then it will be a lot harder form (sic) them to convincingly commit voter fraud to steal more elections…”

Two things:

First, I happen to be a recovering Repugnantcan who now is a registered Democrat. I just want you to know I served my country in the military because I love this country and I consider myself as patriotic as anyone and for you to label me or anyone I vote for as a communist is reckless and reeks of McCarthyism. You had better be damned careful about slinging a term around that you can’t even define about people you don’t even know. Consider that a word of advice. The next person might deck you for such a stupid remark.

Second, the argument about a stolen election is getting rather stale and trite. How many election audits and court decisions do you need before admitting that Biden won?

Time was, losers just said, “Shut up and deal.” Now they whine for months on end and make claims they can’t substantiate with facts.