A question arises: Is self-harm ever funny?
Certes, there are complications to the question; obviously, it is harder to justify self-harm if one also hurts others along the way, but here we’re not talking about going on a slashing spree amid a cutting habit. This one falls more under inspiring terrorists while wrecking your life for the sake of your own stupid masculinity.
Never mind.
Yesterday morning, via USA Today:
The videos show Planned Parenthood’s senior leadership partaking in a widespread and organized violation of state and federal laws forbidding partial-birth abortions and profiteering from the sale of fetal organs and tissues, which is why multiple state and federal investigations, including a select committee in Congress, continue to investigate Planned Parenthood’s abortion practice and financial interests in harvesting body parts. Contrary to the liberal shibboleth that the videos were “edited” (by which they mean to insinuate, “doctored”), the Center for Medical Progress has been far more transparent than any major news network in making the unedited conversations available to the public, and forensic analysis verifies their utility as evidence.
David Daleiden penned an op-ed in defense of his Center for Medical Progress, which is perhaps more familiar as the right-wing operation that doctored up some videos that succeeded in causing a ruckus. Congress held hearings, then slated some more because the first round was such a disaster. A terrorist murdered three people, wounded several more. Eleven states have investigated the infamous claims against Planned Parenthood, and all eleven have cleared the organization. In Texas, officials even convened a grand jury.
So Daleiden decided to … what? Pitch his case one last time? Rub it in? Set up for his victory lap?
That was Monday morning. A few hours later, Daleiden and co-conspirator Sandra Merritt got the news:
A Houston jury investigating alleged misconduct by Planned Parenthood declined to charge the women’s health provider, announcing instead felony charges for the leaders of the anti-abortion organization that targeted Planned Parenthood with it’s widely debunked series of “sting” videos in 2015.
The grand jury said they did not find evidence of illegal activity on the part of Planned Parenthood after reviewing the covert videos meant to misleadingly implicate the women’s health provider in the illegal trafficking of fetal tissue ....
.... David Daleiden, the 26-year old president of The Center for Medical Progress, and Sandra Merritt, founder and CEO of the fake tissue procurement company created to misleadingly gain entry into abortion clinics, were indicted for “tampering with a governmental record,” while Daleiden received an additional indictment for “the purchase and sale of human organs.” The first charge is a second degree felony and the second is a Class A misdemeanor. As the Houston Chronicle notes, a second-degree felony carries a punishment of up to 20 years in prison.
(Tesfaye)
They did this to themselves.
There also arises a question of just how long conservatives are going to get away with this sort of stunt. That is to say, the Sharrod hit was a bust except for disrupting a good employee’s career; the joker behind the fake videos that destroyed ACORN turned out to be an actual criminal; the ringleaders for the attempt against Planned Parenthood managed to get themselves indicted for their efforts.
Conservatives are unlikely to be learning any lessons on this count anytime soon.
The rest of society, however, has exactly no excuse.
I do wonder, though, what the next fake video will be.
Maybe they can cut up the South Park episode about Cartman going to juvie for throwing a rock at Token, and the House will start drafting articles of impeachment against Attorney General Lynch.
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Image note: David Daleiden, of Center for Medical Progress. (Detail of photo by Charles Ommanney, ca. 2015.)
Daleiden, David. “Planned Parenthood videos testify to ugly truth”. USA Today. 25 January 2016.
Tesfaye, Sophia. “Planned Parenthood hoax officially blows up: Texas grand jury decides to indict video creators instead”. Salon. 25 January 2016.
This Is 