In the March 4 edition of the News- Herald Lloyd Geillinger says that the writer who responded to his letter from the previous week did not have all the facts. The late Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, not to his own facts.” Facts are facts, not “alternative facts,” not my opinion, not Lloyd’s, yet Lloyd’s rebuttal contains much opinion and conspiracy theory that is purported to be fact.
The idea that George Soros funded and promoted violence and protests is ludicrous. Fact: Some individuals, who happened to work for organizations that were funded by Soros, did contribute to groups involved in protests. It is quite a stretch to imply that Soros singlehandedly orchestrated the protests. Are employers of other protestors considered to be promoting the events? Political views of employees are not always a reflection of their employer. Also, since when is “having a negative influence on a free society” grounds for arresting someone? There seems to be a paradox here.
Even FOX, which is the source of “real” news for many on the right but has had to apologize for further false news, has debunked a paid protestor myth. Tucker Carlson interviewed the creator of a hoax website that supposedly offered people money to be professional protestors. The creator of this truly fake news story and other creators of such websites openly admit that they are amazed at the gullibility of people and the ease of passing off the most absurd stories as true.
If one wants to find questionable connections you need not go further than the Robert Mercer, Steve Bannon, Breitbart News and the Make America Number 1 super PAC. Robert Mercer is a billionaire hedge fund manager that gave money to help Steve Bannon found Breitbart which Bannon once touted it as a “platform” for the alt-right, a movement known for espousing racist, anti-Semitic and sexist points of view. Bannon has said he is no longer associated with Breitbart yet Breitbart has refused to provide evidence of such a separation.
Robert Mercer also funded and controlled the Make America Number 1 super PAC. A campaign finance watchdog group has alleged that the Make America Number 1 super PAC illegally paid the salary of Bannon when he was Trump’s campaign chairman.
As far as prosecuting Clinton for “crimes against the state,” the House Select Committee on Benghazi found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Clinton. The major criticism was that the Defense Department did not have troops to protect the compound. The report did criticize Clinton’s use of her private email server; extremely poor judgment is putting it nicely, but nothing to imprison her for. We have a vice president who used his private email server as governor. Although, not the same as Clinton, he was hacked. We also have a president who continues to use his personal Android phone, a huge security risk.
While Lloyd is correct that we still have the electoral college system, last week’s letter writer was likely referring to a movement to circumvent that system. It’s an agreement among states to award their electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote; basically the will of the people. Eight states have so far supported the measure, which amounts to 61 percent of the electoral votes needed for the measure to become active. While there is definitely a way to go, the GOP Congress has absolutely no control over this compact between states.
With the exception of whether Bannon’s salary was illegally paid by the super PAC, all of this is verifiable fact.
Nancy Wasik
Bemidji and Poplar Lake
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