Diary of disturbing disinformation and dangerous delusions

Spot the difference:

How Are You Coping With Inflation? — New York Times, June 2

179 Reasons You Probably Don’t Need to Panic About Inflation — New York Times, Aug. 18, 2021

Inflation May Have Already Peaked. The Fed Needs to Step Gingerly. — New York Times, Feb. 11

The Week Inflation Panic Died — New York Times, June 21, 2021

We say: “Inflation is an emotional subject,” Times columnist Paul Krugman declared in December. And no one has been more impassioned about it than the Gray Lady’s writers. One finally realized inflation’s having a deleterious effect on Americans (and Democrats’ midterm prospects) after others spent months insisting it was “transitory” — or even about to end — and Republicans were wrongly scaremongering. One “reporter” claimed last year that most economists, contra Republicans, “say there is little reason to believe the problem will worsen if” President Biden’s Build Back Better passes. Of course, it got worse even without the additional spendapalooza. Now expect pieces arguing inflation is a good thing to multiply.

This claim:

“Since I took office, families have increased their savings and have less debt.”

— President Biden, May 30

We say: Biden’s Wall Street Journal op-ed was a litany of lies. Take just this one line, for which the president provided no proof. In fact, Americans had record levels of debt after Biden’s first year in office, seeing a $1 trillion hike in consumer debt from 2020 to 2021. Sure, savings soared at the pandemic’s start with government stimulus and widespread lockdowns. But Bidenflation drove the personal-savings rate to 4.4% in April, the lowest recorded since September 2008 — and Americans’ non-retirement savings have dropped 15% year over year. As for retirement savings — well, just look at the stock market, if you can bear it.

This scandal:

“The BBC changed the testimony of a rape victim after a debate over the pronouns of her transgender attacker.”

— The Times, May 31

We say: The London Times discovered Britain’s national broadcaster had the gall to alter the words of a lesbian raped by a transgender woman with a penis “to avoid ‘misgendering’ the abuser.” The Beeb changed every “he” and “him” the victim uttered to “they” and “them.” The rape came after the woman saw the male genitals and decided she didn’t want to sleep with her date. The BBC put wokeness over reporting reality — and victimized this poor woman all over again.

This “news”:

“In the wake of mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, right-wing conspiracy theories moved faster than ever from fringe to the mainstream, thanks to a misinformation infrastructure that’s grown stronger over time.”

— Axios, May 31

We say: No, Axios, the “right-wing misinformation machine” is not taking over “the mainstream.” The “reported” piece has just two examples: an Arizona state lawmaker who suggested in a Telegram post that the Buffalo terror was a false-flag operation and one fringe GOP congressman, Paul Gosar, who deleted his tweet saying the Uvalde killer was a transsexual pretty quickly. Nice try, but two crackpots do not make a mainstream.

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board