Posted on 11/09/2019 4:45:49 PM PST by hapnHal
Should the secretary of war order two anti-Lincoln newspapers to close after publishing fake proclamations that make the administration look bad?
Can First Amendment freedoms of speech and the press be limited during a time of civil war?A new crisis strikes on May 18, 1864. At 3:30 a.m., a messenger pretending to be from the Associated Press news service delivers a forged presidential proclamation to a number of New York City newspapers. The proclamation calls for 400,000 more troops through either voluntary enlistment or a new draft. It makes the Union Army seem desperate.
Most newspapers check on the validity of the proclamation and don’t print it. But two newspapers, the World and the Journal of Commerce, print the fake proclamation in their morning editions. Both of these newspapers have a history of criticizing the Lincoln administration and were blamed by Republicans (Lincoln’s party) for starting the 1863 Draft Riots by publishing anti-war editorials.
Government and military officials are alarmed by this fake proclamation, fearing it could provoke unrest. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton orders an Army general to shut down both newspapers and arrest their editors.
President Lincoln signs off on the action.
(Excerpt) Read more at newseumed.org ...
This is “OLD NEWS”, really old news, but is IT?
Time to shut down bandit News Papers and start arresting people.
“Lincoln Administration Seizes Opposition Newspapers”
Hmmm.
Might say that this is the birth of “fake news”...
Certainly the examples of “fakeness” given do not rise to the level of BS in the current every-day occurrences in today’s msm...
Trump has no power to seize newspapers; and NEITHER DID LINCOLN.
ML/NJ
The difference is the union was in a state of war and the war powers have the President that power.
Right now we’re not in a state of war and Pelosi is in the midst of a coup and won’t give Trump that power anyway.
NO! What needs to be destroyed is the myth of “unbiased news”. My solution would be to dig up Walter Cronkite,do some reconstructive forensics and hang him in the DC mall for the next 100 yrs.
The purpose of the 1st and freedom of the press is for them to protect us from the Feds.
We were at war!!! The press siding with the enemy I think gave the President some leeway.
The media have been instigating and propagandizing the facts long enough. Start shuttering news outlets and frog-marching ‘journalists’ into jail cells via the courtroom, consequences be damned. The Washington ComPost and New York Slimes are two good launching pads to start shining some sunlight on their closet sedition and subversion, IMHO. The ComPost likes their pretentious, hypocritical banner ‘Democracy Dies In Darkness’, eh? How about, ‘Your First Amendment Rights Stop Where The Truth Begins’?
‘Democracy Dies In Darkness’, is the ComPost “i.e. Pravda on the Potomac’s” goal!
The President is doing what is legal to destroy their credibility. Shutting down the NY Times et al., would just make him look like a cheap tyrant like Hitler or Lincoln.
ML/NJ
Very interesting.
:^)
We are not at war. That makes a bit of difference, but he’s right to call them out. They are defending a political ideology, not the people.
Check out the Anti-federalist paper, “Centinel” Number 1
https://www.constitution.org/afp/centin01.htm
The irony is that Stanton is suspect in the assassination of Lincoln.
Say what?
Bump
Search; Lincoln, Assassination, Stanton
Even in 1864, this would fit the definition of a military disinformation campaign aimed at destabilizing the enemy. Did the allies ever try to send fake orders to Nazi troops in WWII? Didn't we drop flyers on cities to make the people feel desperate and maybe turn on the Nazis?
Imagine if we found an Axis Annie or Tokyo Rose operating from a radio station within the United States. Would the President have the authority to shut down that media outlet?
If a newspaper began publishing troop movements or intercepted battle plans, would the President have the authority to shut down that media outlet?
If a newspaper began publishing fake troop movements or fake battle plans to incite domestic confusion and doubt on a war effort, would the President have the authority to shut down that media outlet?
-PJ
Yes. The writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended , unless in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it. Article 1, Section 9 US Constitution.
That was the idea behind the David Wolper documentary, They've Killed President Lincoln!, in the 1970s. The theory goes back further to Otto Eisenschiml's 1937 book, Why Was Lincoln Murdered. Supposedly, there were pages torn from Booth's diary that would have supported the theory. No real evidence has turned up, and historians don't accept the theory.
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