"Wolf wants to have a discussion of everything but her many logical leaps and factual errors."

[TheWraith]

Crossposted from GD.

Joshua Holland's response to Naomi Wolf doubling down on repeating fact-free claims about the federal government leading a conspiracy to destroy Occupy Wall Street.

Occupy Crackdowns: Naomi Wolf's Response to My Critique Largely Evades the Issue at Hand
Wolf wants to have a wide-ranging discussion of everything but her many logical leaps and factual errors.

So it appears that Wolf glosses over the debate at hand. The question is not whether federal law enforcement agencies had some role in assisting cities that chose to raid their occupations; the issue in dispute, as I made crystal clear in my critique, is whether any outside agency had “some unseen hand directing, incentivizing or coercing municipalities to when they would not otherwise be so inclined.”

...

Nobody has suggested that DHS took part in the two conference calls organized by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. It wasn't suggested in the Wonkette post Wolf references as her source (serious journalism that featured a Darth Vader Youtube video), or anywhere else.

Jean Quan alluded to – and others subsequently confirmed – the fact that 18 mayors participated in two calls organized by the U.S. Conference of Mayors to discuss a variety of issues surrounding the Occupy Movement. These were not calls devoted solely to talking about evictions -- although we can assume that was among the topics covered -- and there has been no indication that DHS participated in those calls by anyone other than Naomi Wolf.

http://www.alternet.org/story/153300/occupy_crackdowns%3A_naomi_wolf's_response_to_my_critique_largely_evades_the_issue_at_hand

[Hutzpa]

1. She is trying to pick a fight

I hope everyone involved will disregard her.

[JNelson6563]

4. Yes, in a "let's you and him fight" sort of way

I never got past her having bought the Iraq war bullshit. That gets tossed into the SKS file (Special Kind of Stupid).

Julie

[geek tragedy]

2. Holland is a real journalist.

Wolf is embarrassing herself.

[Number23]

3. It is surprising that anyone who considers herself a journalist

would make such damning and genuinely shocking accusations with precious little to back them up.

Anyone with 2/3 of a brain who read the original Examiner piece would have immediately questioned why such a momentous story would appear in such a ridiculous, credibility-free publication. The AP piece that corroborated every bit of the Examiner piece but the sole bit of damning reporting (that DHS was behind the crackdowns) should have made any thinking person question the validity of the original piece. Even the author of the Examiner piece has admitted he now has "more questions than answers" after his initial article.

Doubling down on this makes Wolf look even less credible. And when you look less credible than someone writing for The Examiner, that ain't good.