Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will see morning snow showers with a high of 47. Sunrise is 6:35 AM and sunset 7:21 PM for 12h 45m 55s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 80.5% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1865, Union troops led by Philip Sheridan decisively defeat Confederate troops led by George Pickett, cutting the Army of Northern Virginia’s last supply line.
I’ve written about the character of populism. See Defining Populism, Conservative Populism Moves in One Direction Only, and Extreme Populism Presents as Trolling. The populists are forward-moving, always on the attack against perceived enemies, and they seldom reflect or apologize for their own conduct. People are not born as populists; they are taught and socialized into populism.
A story about a WISGOP prank illustrates populists’ unwillingness to apologize for conduct no matter how misguided. Molly Beck reports As Wisconsin braced for tornadoes, Republicans text ‘Wisconsin voter alert’ complete with emergency tones:
As southern Wisconsin braced for a tornado watch Friday afternoon, conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Dan Kelly and the Republican Party of Wisconsin issued its own emergency alert warning voters not to elect liberal Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz on Tuesday.
The text message included a video that used alert tones and a scratchy radio voice found on official emergency alerts aired on television and radio. The screen read, “*** Emergency Alert System ***” and “Wisconsin Voter Alert” on the backdrop of differently colored bars that sometimes appears on screen when TV programming is interrupted. After three beeps, a voice says, “This is a State of Wisconsin voter alert. Attention citizens: our Second Amendment rights are under attack by Judge Janet Protasiewicz.”
….
According to the FCC rules, people and groups are barred from using emergency alert system codes or signals in “advertisements, promotional announcements, or other programming,” if the sounds are being used not in connection with an actual emergency, an emergency system test, or a public service announcement authorized to use such sounds.
The use of sounds intended to “mimic” “or are substantially similar” to the alert sounds so that an average listener could reasonably mistake the sounds for an actual emergency alert are also prohibited, according to the FCC.
Here’s a screenshot of the text the WISGOP sent during the tornado watch:
Wow. As Wisconsin is under tornado watch, the Republican Party sent out a likely illegal fake emergency alert to phones across the state that said, “This is a State of Wisconsin voter alert. Attention citizens: our Second Amendment rights are under attack.”https://t.co/Df0GmvpoaM pic.twitter.com/Smzm9QWTKH
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) April 1, 2023
Beck reports on the WISGOP response to criticism:
Republican Party of Wisconsin executive director Mark Jefferson said Democrats “need to stop insulting the voters’ intelligence.”
“Democrats should knock off the fake outrage and stop trying to stifle free speech. It’s not going to paper over Janet Protaseiwicz’s abysmal soft on crime record,” he said.
Photo by Alan J. Hendry on Unsplash
The populists scavenge from the breaking of norms and the discomfort of perceived enemies. When the populists make a claim, however ill-timed or inappropriate, they’re quick to accuse others of fake outrage, or declare they have a right to say anything, anytime. By contrast, they’re equally fast to have conniptions when someone rightly points out their many errors.
They’re for speech when it’s their speech.
Jury to decide if Fox liable for defaming Dominion: