Taken Out of Context

Meet Phil Hogan. 

Until recently he was a volunteer co-chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party's technology committee.  That is until this YouTube video of Mr. Hogan talking to two other people, Chelsey Gentry-Tipton and Destin Madison.

Before we look more deeply at Mr. Hogan, let's examine the timeline of events that led up to this recording.

There was the tragic shooting at the Republican Congressional Baseball team practice where Representative Steve Scalise was seriously wounded.

After that, Ms Gentry-Tipton, who is still the Chair of the Nebraska Democratic Black Caucus (an elected, unpaid position), posted this on a Facebook thread about the shooting:

"Watching the congressman crying on live tv abt the trauma they experienced. Y is this so funny tho?"

Followed by:

"The very people that push pro NRA legislation in efforts to pad their pockets with complete disregard for human life. Yeah, having a hard time feeling bad for them."

There was backlash for those comments and Mr. Hogan claims he went to Ms Gentry-Tipton's office to "console" her.  He also claims, according to an article in the Omaha World-Herald that she and Destin Madison recorded him in an effort to "...use the recording to get him to post a public statement of support for her."

In fact, lets look at that entire paragraph from that article:

"In an interview Thursday, Montag said that he had gone to see Gentry-Tipton to console her during the fallout over her posts and party leaders’ response but that she and Madison were trying to use the recording to get him to post a public statement of support for her."

Now let's compare that graph to one from a story on the ABC News website about this incident:

"Montag told the World-Herald he had visited Gentry-Tipton to console her during the fallout over her online posts and party leaders' response, but that she and Madison were trying to use the recording to blackmail him into posting a public statement of support for her. Madison and Gentry-Tipton did not respond to the allegation."

Is the addition of the word "blackmail" an effort to clarify or raise the stakes?

Now we get to Mr. Montag's claim that the recorded audio is being taken out of context.  He said:

"I wish he was f*****g dead."

How do you put that INTO context, Mr. Montag?

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Johnny Depp told a joke.  First he said that Donald Trump needs help, a sentiment a whole lot of people agree with.  Then he posed a question:

"When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?"

Now he's saying he was joking.  Here is his statement:

“I apologize for the bad joke I attempted last night in poor taste about President Trump,” he said. “It did not come out as intended, and I intended no malice. I was only trying to amuse, not to harm anyone.”

Joking about killing a president isn't funny.  Can't put this in context either.

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