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S. Carolina Democrat hides from backlash after smearing Army, Navy cadets, refusing to apologize

December 22, 2019 | | Print Article
(The State video screenshot)

You won’t hear about it from the Democrat Party or the propaganda media, but there’s a Democrat state legislator who smeared Army and Navy cadets last weekend by falsely accusing them of displaying the white power symbol on live television.

Seen at this year’s annual Army-Navy football game on Dec. 14, the West Point and Naval Academy cadets had actually been playing the “circle game,” which was made popular by the teen-oriented TV sitcom “Malcolm in the Middle” years ago.

Watch:

Nevertheless, when footage of the three cadets making the “ok” hand gesture went viral online, both the partisan media and some Democrats like South Carolina state Rep. Mandy Powers pounced, rushing to their keyboards to impugn the kids’ motives.

“Three separate cadets making the white power symbol on television,” she tweeted after the phony, media-amplified story went viral. “Wonder what the culture is like for the cadet in the front. There’s no excuse and he and other minorities there shouldn’t have to deal with such a cruel and disrespectful environment.”

While Powers’ tweet has since been deleted, copies remain:

Obviously, she made an error in judgment. And to be fair, her error was driven by all the false information and propaganda promulgated by the disingenuous media.

“Pregame festivities aired by ESPN showed cadets on both sides of the rivalry — two West Point cadets and one Naval Academy midshipman — making gestures as a camera focused on a sideline report from journalist Rece Davis,” NBC uncritically reported at the time.

“At least one of the gestures resembled a white supremacist symbol described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as ‘the thumb and forefinger joined together in a circle, the remaining three fingers splayed out behind.‘”

NBC neglected to mention the “circle game.” Nor did it include any disclaimers about the SPLC, which, far from being an authoritative source, has been shown to be a radically left-wing smear merchant masquerading as a civil-rights organization.

There are no excuses for the media’s habitually inaccurate reporting. For Powers, however, perhaps she deserves a break. That being said, an apology is still warranted.

And yes, an apology is indeed due. Thanks to the media’s firestorm of outrage, the U.S. Military Academy and Naval Academy opened an investigation into the three cadets.

But in reports issued last week, both academies confirmed that, contrary to the media’s claims, the cadets hadn’t been displaying the white power symbol.

“Multiple individuals stated that the circle game is commonly played at the Naval Academy and in other military and civilian settings,” the Navy’s report read.

“Additionally, when viewed in context with the other behavior displayed by both midshipmen and cadets during Gameday, it is reasonable to believe the midshipmen were playing the circle game.”

“The U.S. Military Academy announced today it has concluded an internal investigation of the cadets who displayed hand gestures during a broadcast of ESPN College GameDay at the Army-Navy game Dec. 14,” the Military Academy likewise said in a statement.

“The investigating officer concluded that the cadets were playing a common game, popular among teenagers today, known as the ‘circle game’ and the intent was not associated with ideologies or movements that are contrary to the Army values.”

As of Sunday, it’d been two days since both academies concluded their investigations, and yet Powers still hadn’t addressed the smear she’s helped spread.

All she had to do was tweet “I’m sorry” and explain how she’d been misled by false reporting. It’s not a big deal. Everybody makes mistakes.

Yet she kept refusing to budge, and as of noon Sunday, folks were starting to notice.

Look:

What’s most bizarre about this fiasco isn’t Molly’s lack of an apology but rather the absence of concern from her fellow Democrats and of course the media.

The same media that helped smeared the cadets — not to mention the Covington kids — seemed tellingly uninterested in holding the Democrat lawmaker to the same standard it helps every Republican, particularly President Donald Trump.

It’s almost as if they had a partisan agenda. But that couldn’t be … could it?

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Vivek Saxena
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