Friday, March 30, 2018

Good Guys Win Pair of Epic Twitter Battles

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Twitter is one place where the fun never stops.

Senator Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois and a retired Army lieutenant colonel who lost both of her legs when a helicopter that she was piloting was shot down in Iraq in 2004, has been speaking out in support of a fellow combat veteran, Miguel Perez, Jr.   Perez, who served in Afghanistan, returned from the war with some of the same emotional issues that plague many of the people who serve in combat.  He became involved in drugs and was eventually arrested and convicted of drug manufacture and trafficking for which he served a prison sentence.  After his release from prison, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) determined to deport the combat veteran back to Mexico, which it eventually did.

Duckworth, speaking in support of Perez and all veterans, tweeted this:

“Many veterans who suffer from PTSD struggle with addiction and land in legal jeopardy.  It’s easy to pay lip service to supporting our troops and veterans until they come home with complicated and often invisible wounds that they will carry for the rest of their lives.”

And she followed that up with this postscript:

"You don’t truly support our Veterans if you’re not willing to acknowledge and support them through the ugly havoc war can wreak on their lives."

The conservative blog, Red State, took issue with Senator Duckworth's defense of her fellow veteran and posted a response on Twitter.  Unfortunately - for Red State - the editors of the publication overstepped the bounds of common decency in their disagreement with Duckworth and sniped that she  "didn't have a leg to stand on" in her appeal on behalf of Miguel Perez.

Duckworth, the grown-up in the room, tweeted back at Red State:

"Thanks for noticing, @RedState, but you’re wrong. I actually have two legs. They’re made of titanium, and they don’t buckle."

Game, set, and match - Duckworth!

The other big entertainment on Twitter yesterday occurred when Laura Ingraham, a fringe "journalist" and provocateur on Fox News,  decided to lob an insult at David Hogg, one of the survivors of the Parkland school massacre and an emerging gun control advocate.  Ingraham posted the following tweet which seemed to ridicule Hogg for being rejected on some college applications:

"David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA...totally predictable given acceptance rates.)" 

To which young Mr. Hogg quickly responded:

"Soooo what are your biggest advertisers...Asking for a friend. #BoycottIngramAdverts."

Minutes later he posted a list of twelve Ingraham advertisers and suggested that his followers begin boycotting those businesses unless they severed ties with Ingraham.   Shortly after that three companies on the list announced that they were bailing out of their sponsorships with her show, The Ingraham Angle, and others appear to be preparing to follow suit.

Laura Ingraham, being hypersensitive to the power of the dollar, quickly issued an apology over Twitter.  She groveled:

"Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA —incl. @DavidHogg111. On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland. For the record, I believe my show was the first to feature David...(1/2)"

Ingraham had lost - bigly.  Or as one internet news source put it, she had her ass handed to her by a seventeen-year-old!

Yesterday may not have been a day that will live in infamy, but it had its moments - especially on Twitter.  Congratulations to Tammy Duckworth and David Hogg for holding the barbarians at bay.  Your service for a better America is noted and appreciated!

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