AXIS SALLY, TOKYO ROSE, AND TUCKER CARLSON

Mildred Elizabeth Sisk, of Portland Maine, was indicted by the United States Department of Justice in 1948, for treason. Ms. Sisk had decided to become part of the propaganda arm of the Nazi government during World War II. From the broadcast facilities provided to her by Hitler's minions, she regularly broadcast, in perfect English, programs designed to demoralize US troops and their families. 

 Her broadcasts reached US personnel all over Europe, and she became known as "Axis Sally." While Sisk was the author of hundreds of broadcasts, the post-war government determined that the most vile was a fictional report about a mother in the United States who dreamed her son died a horrible death on a ship that was part of the Allied invasion fleet headed toward France. 

 Sisk was convicted in 1949 and sentenced to 10 to 30 years. She was released after 12 years in federal prison. 

 But of course, in World War II, our troops were fighting on two fronts: in Europe, and in the Pacific. Enter Ms. Iva Toguri, born and raised in Los Angeles. During the war, Toguri had become an important part of the Japanese propaganda machine. She did daily broadcasts that played American popular music listened to by the US troops in the Pacific theater. She interspersed the tunes with "commercials" designed to demoralize the American fighting force. She included suggestions that the wives and girlfriends of the soldiers and sailors involved in the Pacific conflict were not going to wait for them to come home and  were being unfaithful. 

Toguri’s broadcasts were extremely popular among American servicemen. They loved to listen to pop tunes she played. She was known as "Tokyo Rose." 

 After the war, Tuguri too was convicted of treason and sent to federal prison. She was released  in 1956 and pardoned 20 years later. 

 I have little doubt that post-WWII views of the distinction between "treason" and "free speech" are different from those that would likely be adopted by US courts today.

 Recent press reports reveal that the Kremlin has issued a directive to its propaganda outlets entitled "Victory in Information War." The substance of the decree is an instruction to make extensive use of segments of Tucker Carlson's broadcasts on Fox news. In short, Russia's state-run TV stations and other news outlets were ordered to "air Carlson's pro-Russian talking points as much as possible." 

 Whyzat? 

 Because Carlson, aligning himself with the most extreme right-wing elements of the Trump party, has taken Putin’s side in the war against Ukraine. He has urged that it is "not un-American to support Putin," that this is "a simple border dispute," that Ukraine is but is a puppet of the West," and that a person has ''no right to criticize Putin unless he has murdered a member of your own family." 

 And there's more: "Putin has never encouraged racial discrimination, made the fentanyl, attempted to snuff out Christianity, or eaten dogs. So why does Washington hate him so much?"  And finally, "There is no reason the US should assist Ukraine in its fight against Russia." 

 While many of these statements were made while Russia was massing troops on the Ukraine border, Carlson has barely changed his view subsequent to Russia's horrific invasion and its criminal attack on Ukrainian civilians. While agreeing that it was Russia that fired the first shot in the war, he has encouraged the conspiracy lie that the United States government is supporting Ukrainian development of bioweapons. Indeed, when a United States representative flatly denied that assertion, Carlson, on the air, wilfully twisted the statement and asserted that it admitted the bioweapons accusation. 

Carlson persists in the assertion that the United States government's position is nothing more than a pretense for starting World War III, and he has encouraged on-air guests who urge the United States government to stop supplying arms to Ukraine. 

 Carlson has said: "It's not treason … to support Putin.”

 He's probably correct. It's not treason.  It's just despicable.  

A bientot.

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