Attack in NOLA, more misinformation

We didn't even make it one day into 2025 without the President-elect spreading online conspiracies in a crisis.

My patience has worn thin with the the media’s inability or unwillingness to hold accountable those who deliberately spread false information during and after a crisis.

When MAGA pundits invented wild conspiracies about the Thanksgiving car wreck at New York’s Rainbow Bridge last year, they terrorized the entire country. Sitting US Senators blamed the country’s southern border with Mexico and by extension Joe Biden. Others claimed violent extremism motivated an attack. In reality, a middle-aged white man speeding while drunk crashed his car. That was it.

The same set of, er, characters showed up again when a cargo ship wrecked into Baltimore’s Key Bridge earlier this year, falsely claiming the software had been hacked, the ship had been intentionally run into the bridge, even inventing lies about the ship’s captain to smear Biden and Democrats.

Yesterday, a deadly attack in New Orleans became fodder once again for the reality-challenged electorate and their cult leaders.

A man drove a Ford F-150 Lightning into a crowd of New Year’s Eve patrons on Bourbon Street in New Orleans at about 3 am on January 1. The man entered through a Canal Street roadblock in a major intersection in the city as festivities closed out.

A shoot-out ensued and the man was killed. At least 15 people have been killed, and dozens more are still being treated in area hospitals.

As I’ve written about and discussed extensively in the past, information during a breaking-news situation might not be complete or correct. It’s important to wait until more information becomes available before making accusations.