Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit is regularly called "the stupidest man on the Internet." That's inaccurate. Hoft is a very smart disseminator of disinformation and other forms of propaganda. The stupidest people on the Internet are people who read Jim Hoft and believe what he writes.
Case in point? This post:
Obama Shows Democracy Dissident Aung San Suu Kyi How a Real Tyrant OperatesYeah, right -- Obama's "tyranny" far exceeds that of the Burmese government:
... Despite his recent midterm shellacking Barack Obama told reporters in a joint press conference with dissident Aung San Suu Kyi that he will move ahead with his amnesty plan despite his lack of legal authority on the issue.
The Politico reported, via Free Republic:
President Barack Obama on Friday defended his plans to use executive power to bypass Congress, signaling that he’s determined to move on issues like immigration and climate change, especially when lawmakers have failed to act....
In early August, 1988, peaceful demonstrations broke out in Rangoon against the regime's disastrous economic policies, and quickly spread to other cities. Students, monks, lawyers, laborers, and others marched in the streets. Ne Win reportedly gave an order that guns were "not to shoot upwards," and soldiers opened fire, killing nearly six thousand people. General Saw Maung seized power, formed a junta called the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), and imposed martial law....Remind me again: How many Obama opponents have been shot in the streets by soldiers? How many have been imprisoned for opposing immigration reform or Obamacare?
In 1990, the military regime allowed elections, which the National League for Democracy overwhelmingly won. SLORC, after initially saying it would abide by the result, declared itself Burma’s ruling authority and annulled the election results; many opposition politicians fled into exile. Seventeen years later, thousands of young monks marched in red robes through the streets of Rangoon demanding democracy, in the dramatic, weeks-long Saffron Revolution, and were joined by thousands of civilians. The junta, now led by General Than Shwe and renamed the State Peace and Development Council, opened fire on demonstrators and jailed thousands. The United Nations reported that between thirty and forty monks and between fifty and seventy civilians were killed. Since then, the regime has maintained tough censorship laws and imposed long prison terms for dissent. There are an estimated twenty-one hundred political prisoners in Myanmar’s jails.
More:
On 9 November 1996, the motorcade that [Aung San Suu Kyi] was traveling in with other National League for Democracy leaders Tin Oo and U Kyi Maung, was attacked in Yangon. About 200 men swooped down on the motorcade, wielding metal chains, metal batons, stones and other weapons. The car that Aung San Suu Kyi was in had its rear window smashed, and the car with Tin Oo and U Kyi Maung had its rear window and two backdoor windows shattered. It is believed the offenders were members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) who were allegedly paid 500 kyats (@ USD $0.50) each to participate....And:
Aung San Suu Kyi has been placed under house arrest for 15 of the past 21 years, on numerous occasions, since she began her political career...
... during her early years of detention, she was often in solitary confinement. She was not allowed to see her two sons or her husband, who died of cancer in March 1999.And from Amnesty International:
Many of Myanmar's [Burma's] 55 million people live in poverty and suffer from ongoing human rights violations. Those who express dissenting views face harassment, arbitrary arrest, torture, imprisonment and sometimes even extrajudicial executions. Political prisoners probably number in the hundreds, maybe more. No transparent process has been carried out to determine the correct number....Yeah, just like America -- right, Jim? You have so many friends who've been imprisoned and tortured for right-wing anti-government views here in America -- right, Jim?
Political prisoners in Myanmar are still held under vague laws frequently used by the government to criminalize peaceful political dissent. They are being held in grim conditions, with inadequate food and sanitation. Many are in poor health and do not receive proper medical treatment. Many were tortured during their initial interrogation and detention, and still risk torture as a punishment at the hands of prison officers.
