***To read the full blog, please check out the complete post on NewsBusters***
Disturbing and authoritarian tendencies were on full display during Wednesday’s NBC Nightly News, as anchor Lester Holt and reporter Gabe Gutierrez decried a gathering of mourning orthodox Jews in New York City recently. And despite cries of anti-Semitism against Mayor Bill de Blasio, the network suggested state and local governments had the “moral authority” to crackdown on public and private gatherings of any size.
“In the age of social distancing, it was a shocking sight. Thousands of mourners in Brooklyn at a rabbi's funeral,” Gutierrez exclaimed at the top of his report. “New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says he’s instructing the NYPD to cite or arrest anyone who disobeys a social distancing order.”
Arresting people for interacting was an unsettling concept for NBC to promote. Especially since they did it the same day video surfaced of Wisconsin police writing up a mother for letting her daughter visit the neighbor’s house.
After being appalled by homeless people seeking shelter on the New York City subway system, Gutierrez touted the state’s increased fines. “New York State recently raised the maximum fine to $1,000. Now, some towns in Massachusetts are doing the same for face coverings,” he said.
(...)