A student of the media looking for a textbook case of the perverse manipulation of the news by Big Tech and Big Media had to look no further than the coverage of a Thursday evening incident at Carmine’s restaurant in New York City.

The headlines from the incident were chum to get the Twitter trolls snapping:

Texas Tourists in NYC Attack Restaurant Hostess After Being Asked for Vaccination Proof

Caught on video: Texas woman attacked New York hostess after being asked for proof of vaccination

Texas tourists visiting NYC assault restaurant hostess who asked for vaccination proof

True to form, the trolls took the media bait, the tastiest morsel, of course, being the word “Texas.” With a lot of help from Twitter, Inc., the phrase “As a Texan” was trending on Saturday morning. Woke Texans—or fake woke Texans—weighed in by the net full.

“Mendur” denounced the Texas governor and “most of state government” for “their hatred of non-whites, women, and trans kids.”

“FightingForWomen” posted a “Welcome to Texas” sign graced with an image from the “Handmaid’s Tale” and the message, “As a Texan, I hope the hostess and restaurant press charges.”

“Sohappyitsover” volunteered, “To anyone in any other state that has vaccine mandates, if you hear a Texas twang and need to ask that person about their vaccine status, call the police beforehand.”

“IMATXN” claimed to be” embarrassed by the actions of ‘Texan’ dickheads, gives us all a bad name. Same goes for ‘Christians,’ Real Men’ and ‘I'm not a racist but....’.”

“Damned Proud Democrat” laid out the contempt leftists feel for their fellow citizens in some detail. “Please accept our apologies,” she tweeted, “for the actions of few fringe lunatics just happened to be inbred here in Texas where their type seems to be indigenous. They are ‘Abbott Texans,’ and there no lower form of a Texan than an Abbott Texan!”

This damn proud Democrat also showed her inbred instinct for “ableism” by posting with her tweet an image of Gov. Abbot in his wheelchair above the headline, “Come and Take Him.”

A second keyword in the headlines, however, was “video.” Those posting on Twitter had no excuse for not knowing the women charged in the assault were black. Of course, there was a chance the women were Trump supporters. But based on exit polls, that was an 8 percent chance. Smart money says they don’t watch Fox News.

Those who did not see the video but read an accompanying article might have noticed that the names of the accused— Tyonnie Keshay Rankin, Kaeita Nkeenge Rankin, and Sally Rechelle Lewis—suggest they were not likely consumers of right-wing anti-vaxx propaganda. 

Finally, for the rest of the story, one of the sane tweeting Texans laid out the real rationale for the brawl: “As a Texan, I must point out, missing from the armchair analysis is that they are three Black women whose attorney is claiming "they all had vaccination proof that had been 'questioned arbitrarily and unjustifiably' because they are Black.”

Let me suggest a more accurate headline:

3 Black Women Turned Paranoid by Media Race Baiting Go Nuts at NYC Eatery.

Jack Cashill’s latest book, Barack Obama’s Promised Land: Deplorables Need Not Apply, is now widely available. See www.cashill.com for more information.

Image: Twitter screen shot

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.