Threats Against Todd Akin - Internecine Right Wing Conflict?

 

It was reported that the Capitol Police are investigating threats against Todd Akin and his family.

This is reminiscent of the far more numerous threats by the extreme right wingers, some of them apparently domestic terrorists, after the health care legislation passage.  Such threats, regardless of the political premise, should be condemned in the strongest possible way.  Anyone, ANYONE making such threats should be prosecuted.

It also reminds me of all the violent incidents from so-called pro-lifers / anti-abortion extremists, who as a group are a violent bunch of fanatics.

Clearly, there is a vocal subset of Republicans and Tea Partiers who side with the original statement made by Todd Akin, about women not being able to become pregnant by rape. The more fringie extremists on the right, like bullets-instead-of-the-ballotbox Sharron Angle strikes me as a perfect exmple of one of those terrorism and insurrection advocating extremists embraced by the right. 

The reality is that the GOP platform allows for no abortion under any circumstances, not for the life or health of the mother, not for statutory rape, not for rape where a woman is non-violently incapacitated, not for their beloved 'forcible' rape, not for incest.

Those who agree with Akin's original statements are both angry at the rest of the right that is trying to feign sanity and a reality orientation, (despite all of the evidence that many of them also support removing rape as a valid reason for abortion) and angry apparenty at Todd Akin for walking back his comments when he was shown to be factually wrong - a point on which he is now waffling.

It is already well-established that the right embraces ideology over fact, so any deviation from that ideology that shows a respect for fact is going to generate strong feelings of opposition.

And of course, adding to that possibility, we have the typical hater mongering from the right wing media whores who like to gin up hostility and anger among the ignorant and easily manipulated:

The left has for the most part simply condemned Akin's ignorance, but been contented to see him look stupid, and to enjoy watching his own side cannibalize him. The stronger motives for anger at Akin would appear to lie in the greater volatility and pattern of violence and threats from the right, not the left in this matter. It will be interesting to see 1. the motives of the person or persons making these threats; and 2. to see if it is another example of an arsenal accumulating gun nut.  The right is highly intolerant of any deviation from conformity among their own, and would seem to be the side that would have more to gain by successful intimidation of Todd Akin to leave the race.

Hooray for Todd Stave and the Voice of Choice.org, One of the BEST ideas for using a political tactic EVER

Todd Stave didn't just get angry when his daughter was targeted; he got active. He did something which I wildly applauded when it came to my attention. It is clever, it is smart, it is appropriate. One of the greatest joys of blogging is to be able to share ideas like this here. I hope that his project really takes off.

These two video clips tells the story better than I could hope to do.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

from Voice of Choice.org :  

Finally, a voice of reason.

For too long, the abortion discussion has been dominated by angry, nasty protests fueled by individuals and organizations that thrive on sensationalism and extremism. Now it is our turn.

Voice of Choice" was established as a calm, measured response to anti-abortion activists who engage in misguided, raging protest tactics that are often ill-informed and only serve to victimize women, pro-choice professionals, law-abiding businesses and unaligned bystanders.

We use email, telephone and social media in peaceful, person-to-person counter-protests, against groups that target abortion facilities, providers and patients, as well as their families and communities. We don’t question anyone’s right to express opinions and ideals; we challenge their bullying tactics and their contempt. 

If you are willing to volunteer your time or talent to make calls, send emails, or help in counter-protests, please join us.

I have never liked bullies, and that includes the bullies who are so convinced they are in the right that they will bulldoze others, using any means to justify their ends.  Going to the school of this man's daughter was going not just too far, but WAAAAAYYYY too far.  This solution, so long as it remains polite, has a lovely poetic justice about it.  It is an idea that is long overdue.

The Other Charlie Wilson's "War"

Update -

April 9th - US District Judge James Hutton set bail for Charles Alan Wilson in the amount of $20,000, determining he was not a flight risk. If Wilson is able to post the bond, he would be under a curfew from 6 pm to 8 am, cannot have firearms, cannot use alcohol, and is restricted to eastern Washington except for court apperances in Seattle.

April 7th -The man accused of making death threats against Representative Eric Cantor and other members of Congress including Nancy Pelosi, Norman Leboon, has been found by prosecutors unable to stand trial for those threats, because he suffers from multiple personality disorder. Like Leboon, the man arrested recently for making threats against Rep. Pelosi, Gregory Lee Giusti, also has a history of mental illness, and is undergoing an evaluation to determine if he can stand trial.
Charlie Wilson was not a recognized member of the Yakima, Washington Tea Party group, "Remember Us, We the People", but Wilson did participate in a 120 person protest by the group over recent health-care reform legislation, held near a Yakima hotel where Senator Murray was speaking. "We the people" was a recurring phrase in Wilson's threats, as were references to other people sharing his sentiments. According to the Yakima Herald, organizers of the Tea Party protest indicated they did not know Wilson, and that they did not advocate violence.

-----------

This post is about the Charlie Wilson who was arrested for making 'true threats' to the two senators from Washington state, not the Charlie Wilson profiled in the Oscar-nominated bio-pic movie in 2007, "Charlie Wilson's War".

THIS Charlie Wilson is the man arrested in Washington, and his "War" is the acts of aggression referred to by Wilson throughout the transcribed threats that are listed in the FBI complaint : www.justice.gov/usao/waw/press/2010/apr/pdfs/WILSON%20COMPLAINT.pdf
Wilson is being charged with violating Title 18, United States Code, Sections 115 (a)(1)(B) and (b)(4) - a felony.
What I intend to do with this post is to excerpt the statements by Wilson, listed in the FBI complaint transcripts of his words, and to cross-reference them with statements from the Right in relation to Health Care Reform legislation, and other subjects.

Excerpting the threats, chronologically:

from March 22, 2010
"There are many people out there who want you dead. Just remember that, as you are politicing[sic] for your reelection.... Now that you've passed your health-care bill, let the violence begin....We the people will not subside, succumb, to socialism. ... Let the violence begin. You have awakened a sleeping giant. The American people will not put up with it."

Wilson, in using the words "many people out there want you dead", and in his references to "people not succumbing to socialism", "sleeping giant" and "American people" clearly believes, despite his insistence that he is an "Independent", and despite attempting to give the impression he is somehow not aligned politically, Wilson clearly sees himself as belonging to a larger group of people who share his views, and perhaps a shared affinity with the people who have shaped his beliefs.

The reference "We the people" is clearly a reference to the opening words to the Preamble of the United States Constitution. I have been struck by the number of groups on the Right who try to cloak themselves in the mantle of the Constitution, as if they, and only they value it. Too often these very people seem either to be ignorant of its actual content, or to be ignorant or have a twisted view of how our Constitution has been applied throughout our history. Some of them seem to come up with their own distorted ideal of the Constitution, entirely different from the reality. This seems to be one more link between Wilson and the political Right; Wilson's own words provide compelling insight into his beliefs.

from March 23rd, 2010:

"With the passing of your health-care bill, it is living proof now that....This great country that believes in God and guns. Since you've done this, there's going to be some bigger targets on your (expletive) back. I hope somebody kills you, and I hope somebody kills [the President]. Yes, die, dead. You're signing my death warrant, so I want to sign yours (more expletives)."

This excerpt reiterates the notion that Wilson believes he is not alone in his views on health-care reform, but rather that he is part of a group of similarly minded people, including Second Amendment proponents. It repeats his mistaken belief in the lie perpetuated by Sarah Palin and others about death panels, and the misrepresentation on end of life counseling such as making provisions for wills and living trusts. Clearly, Wilson has bought the premise seen on so many of the protest signs, including the Tea Party signs, without knowing or making the effort to fact-check the Right's talking points for validity. This misapprehension, in turn, is used as a justification for assassinations; and frankly, anyone promoting these lies has to be a fool to expect otherwise.
www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/aug/10/sarah-palin/sarah-palin-barack-obama-death-panel/

approximately an hour later, excerpted from a much longer voice mail,
on March 23rd, 2010:

"...you are going to have a target on your back...for voting in socialism into this country, with your health-care reform bill, and cap n tax....How long do you think you can hide?...By your attempts to overtake this country with socialism, somebody's gonna get to you one way or another and blow your (expletive) brains out....If I have the chance, I would do it...You have created a hatred in this country against socialism.... politicians are going to be held accountable... with your life....with your life." Wilson goes on to claim he is not a 'tea party bagger'[sic], not a Republican or a Democrat, claiming he is an Independent voter, however he clearly appears to have sympathies for the politics of the Right, and fairly far to the Right. Wilson goes on in his voice mail threat " I want to (expletive) kill you (more expletives). We will not be socialized (many more expletives)."

www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2010/mar/18/top-ten-facts-to-know-about-health-care-reform/


Anyone who has fact-checked the many allegations that the recent health-care reform legislation constitutes some kind of a socilialist government take over would understand that the health care and the insurance industries remain private, that the current legislation is fundamentally different from the health care provided in places like the UK. For example, politifact.com awarded a "pants on fire" rating to Sarah Palin's claims during the 2008 presidential / vice presidential campaign that Obama wanted "to experiment with socialism", the worst rating for lies they have - except for the 2009 Lie of the Year award they gave to Palin for the false death panel claims.

www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/3008/dec/03/sarah-palin/the-mccain-campaign-experiments-with-dishonesty/

Wilson went on to make many, many calls on March 23rd, 2010, and continued to make multiple calls through April 4th, 2010. While removing the obscenities and expletives cuts the transcribed language more than by half, those transcribed messages are still too long to include in total here. I encourage Penigma readers to read all of them for yourselves in the complaint. Further proof that Wilson had believed false statements by the Right, including those made by people like Sarah Palin, and Republicans from both the House and the Senate, are illustrated by the following excerpts from the transcribed threats in the complaint,

also from March 23rd, 2010:

"I do believe that every one of you (expletive) socialist democratic progressive (expletive) needs to be taken out...There is a growing hatred, my dear, for you progressive socialist democrats. Socialism will not work. There is growing hatred....my hatred is coming for you. Since you are going to put my life at risk, and some bureaucrat is going to determine my health-care, your life is at risk, dear. Your life is at risk....your life is at risk.... There are a lot more of us. Your life is in danger, since you are putting my life at danger. Turn about's fair play."

Wilson, age 64, believes, from these statements, the horrendous lie that Palin circulated, that "seniors and the disabled" will have to stand "in front of Obama's death panel so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgement of their level of productivity in society, whether they are worthy of health care". Palin has never repudiated her lie, and she has continued to spread misinformation about health-care reform provisions to her unquestioning, blindly accepting adherents. This excerpt is further evidence that while not a formal member of any group, Wilson clearly does not consider himself a lone wolf, he believes he is one of many who have these beliefs - on the Right.

and later, still on March 23rd, 2010:

"Expletive you socialists up the expletive ass. ....baby killer....you baby killing expletive bitch.....baby killer....We will not be socialized, you expletive expletive."

Wilson clearly believes the lie that was yelled out by Rep. Randy Neugenbauer on the floor of the House on the day of the health-care reform vote, a lie that has been widely, frequently, loudly repeated by the Right, like Texas Republican Representative John Carter, that the health-care reform bill has provisions paying for abortion. It does not: www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2010/mar/28/john-carter/rep-john-carter-says-health-care-law-provides-full/

on March 24th, 2010:

"put a (expletive) gun to your head....blow your (expletive) brains out.... You are ruining this country. You have awakened a sleeping giant, and we are coming after you. Yes, we the people. As you trash our Constitution, you tried to lead us into a socialist nation, we're gonna (expletive) you up....blows your fucking brains out."

As to 'ruining this country':
www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/mar/15/virginia-foxx/foxx-blames-recession-democratic-congressional-tak/

from another call on March 24th, 2010:
"The old saying goes, my dear, all's fair in love and war. This is war, so everything is fair. Cover your back....Cover your back, all's fair in love and war. Nobody comes out a winner. You may think you are a winner now. You're gonna be the biggest (expletive) loser. You have a horrendous amount of people that dislike you and your policies, and since we are, you have declared war on the American citizens, and we are declaring war upon you."

This is the 'war' in Charlie Wilson's war. It repeats the same core theme that Wilson is part of a larger group, possibly something he needed to believe to boost his courage to make the threats. If Wilson believes he is part of a group, it raises the question who that group would be. Clearly it is not the left, not the Democrats, not the Progressives.

from the transcribed calls on March 26th:
"Now that you have finally screwed the people of this State, and helped screw the people of this country....your policies and your ideas suck."

These lies about the provisions of the health-care reform bill, about the Obama administration, about Democrats in Congress - that there is rampant socialism, that health-care reform is a government take-over, that it pays for and encourages abortions, that it is a threat to the elderly and disabled through death panels, that it runs rough-shod over the Constitution, all of these claims - these LIES - come from the Right. They come from Palin and Bachmann, they come from Boehner and Cantor and McConnell, and all of their associates. They circulate to the Right from Beck and O'Reilly and their Fox news colleagues, they spread from talk radio, like Limbaugh and all of his imitators. They are repeated by the Right wing bloggers and commenters. Had these influential people not lied, deliberately, loudly, and often, had they not chosen to use irresponsibly their First Amendment protected free speech to inflame and incite, it is far less likely that the Senators from Washington and their staffs would have been threatened, instead of receiving the usual level of legal but offensive calls they receive about hot issues.

In researching this story, to demonstrate this connection between the Right, and Charlie Wilson, just a quick look on the Fox News website for "glenn beck, obama, socialism" produced 68,240 entries. That was just Glenn Beck, just Fox News; not performing a full search engine search.

The following is from Tuesday, April 6, 2010, an example of just one source where Charlie Wilson got the false idea that Obama is a socialist, and by extension, Democratic Senator Patty Murray. I want readers of this post to think about what Beck says, and then to remember Wilson's words, how vehemently Wilson wants President Obama dead over this notion of socialism, and how he wants Murray dead for socialism. And then I want you to think about that number of entries for "Beck, Obama, Socialism" on the Fox News site: 68,240.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4139297/barack-obama-socialist

Clearly, these statements in the threats by Charlie Wilson directly connect to the actions and statements of the Right. They cannot distance themselves from these threats, they cannot repudiate his actions; they share fully in all the threats to the members of Congress and others made by Charlie Wilson and the yet-to-be-arrested others who have generated similar threats. They share that responsibility because they put the ideas in his head and then they made a deliberate effort to agitate his emotions. Lies are dangerous things.

ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE - IV

As of Tuesday, April 6, the FBI arrested 64 year old Charles Alan Wilson of Selah, Washington for making death threats to Washington Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat. While Wilson denies being either a Tea Party supporter or a Republican, his phone threats, and apparently his conversations with the FBI, sounded like they were taken right off of Fox News and the statements on conservative blogs and at Town Meetings on Health Care reform. His conversations with the FBI representing themselves as calling from the conservative anti-health care reform organization, Patients United Now, part of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, elicited that Wilson held conservative views.

www.justice.gov/usao/waw/press/2010/apr/pdfs/WILSON%20COMPLAINT.pdf

This directly supports my assertion that death threats to members of congress, particularly Democratic or Liberal members of the House and Senate, are coming from the right, and are NOT as some writers and commenters on the right 'blogosphere' have alleged, originating from the left trying to make the right's tactics and rhetoric look bad.

Prior to making the death threats, legally exercising his first amendment rights to free speech, Wilson had routinely left many very ugly, expletive-laden messages with Murray's office, and also with the office of the other Washington senator, Senator Maria Cantwell's office, but none of those messages previously contained the illegal death threats which triggered the FBI Investigation.

Wilson boasted in his death threat messages and in his conversation with the FBI about his gun ownership, which was legal, the .38 he owned was registered, and his conceal carry permit.

Representative Steve Cohen has released expletive-laden email which threatens that "if our tea parties had hoods, we would burn your ass on a cross on the white house lawn".

The capitol police are investigating. The FBI has multiple investigations in hand relating to death threats against members of congress; a recent statement indicated that speech alone was not sufficient to trigger an investigation, and that speech was protected by the First Amendment.

Some individuals from the Tea Parties should be praised for speaking out now, if belatedly, against violence. Some members of the Tea Party have described receiving their own 'hate speech' communications, and being egged. Tea Party buses in Searchlight, Nevada appeared on video to have been egged by angry supporters of Health Care Reform and Senator Harry Reid. The egging and the abusive phone calls, voice mails, email, and 'snail-mail' letters are also reprehensible, but they do appear to be generally far below the bar of the threats emanating, based on their content, from the right.

While Tea Party leaders and others acting as spokespersons for different segments of the right have asserted, they do not advocate violence. However, they have been remiss not only in tolerating extreme and provocative, even threatening language, but in endorsing the worst kinds of misinformation about the issue.

Some on the right are already backpeddaling from their own rhetoric, and they are claiming that they are not responsible for the violence and threats of violence, and that these individuals do not represent their groups, and may not even be members of them. I would point out that groups like the Tea Party entities are very loosely organized, and do not appear to have formal membership criteria or dues. So long as someone professes to share some or all of the opinions expressed by those groups, to support their actions, and to use their rhetoric, and so long as that is all that is necessary to belong, the people making these threats DO belong.

Regardless of membership, so long as these individuals in the course of making their threats are using language and concepts, and most particularly the factual misinformation provided by these groups, by Republican members of Congress, and by the right wing media like Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and other talking heads on the radio, there is a direct connection, a direct responsibility. It is egregoiusly irresponsible to claim that when threats on the lives of our elected representatives and their families directly use your words, that you don't share in the responsibility for having used those words. The right incited this behavior; they should own it, and they should correct it.

If we are to conduct ourselves according to our motto "E Pluribus Unum", BOTH sides need to remember that democracy does not guarantee that any party will get their way, or that we will be pleased with every outcome of democracy. It promises us a representative process which offers us as a nation a method of determining our government and our laws. We cannot properly do that if we continue to expand the polarization of the left and right, we will not BE the UNITED States if this polarization progresses too far. We will become the Disunited States of America.

ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE III

"Abatement in the hostility of one's enemies must never be thought to signify they have been won over. It only means that one has ceased to constitute a threat."
Quentin Crisp
1908-1999

"All violence consists in some people forcing others, under threat of suffering or death, to do what they do not want to do."
Leo Tolstoy
1828-1910

“Successful politicians are insecure and intimidated men. They advance politically only as they placate, appease, bribe, seduce, bamboozle or otherwise manage to manipulate the demanding and threatening elements in their constituencies.”
Walter Lippmann
1889-1974


In the days preceding the vote on health care reform on March 21, 2010, and the days following, there has been an avalanche of violence and threats directed at Democratic legislators who voted for health care reform. In contrast, there has been exactly one reported instance of anything similarly directed at a Republican legislator, Congresswoman Jean Schmidt was called racist for being Republican. I don't count the factually deficient public whining of 2nd minority whip Eric Cantor that misrepresented events surrounding an accidentally broken window.

Embarrassed by the threats (and they should be), and fearing political fall out that will even further diminish their declining political fortunes that have taken such a solid beating in the last two election cycles, the Right is attempting to deny the existence of these threats and to repudiate the contributing role of their rhetoric. Some individuals are even claiming that the events they are trying not to name as threats are actually stunts by the left against the left to gain sympathy. Some, in the conspiracy theory tradition of the right fringe mouth-frothers, are even claiming that the SEIU is responsible. In fact, masquerading as 2nd Amendment Rights advocacy is an attempt to use weapons at protest events as a very real threat - I draw your attention to the third interview in this video of a Tea Party protest event in Alamogordo New Mexico in January 2010:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqjVWifq4Kc&feature=player_embedded#

This denial of any threats clearly ignores the protest signs, like this one, which appears to make a very overt threat, in both words and images. "Brown" is newly elected Senator Scott Brown, from Massachusetts, previously viewed as the savior for those against the health care reform legislation in the senate who did not derail health care reform legislation as hoped on the right. "Browning" refers to the fire-arms designer and manufacturer; in the instance of the protest sign, it appears to be the very famous semi-automatic 9 mm model Hi-Power, designed by the legendary Mormon US arms designer, John Browning. I recognize this weapon; I learned to shoot with this kind of weapon, I was taught range safety with this weapon, to be proficient not only firing it accurately but to field strip this weapon blindfolded. My reaction is not an anti-gun response, it is anger at such blatant, egregious offense to our 2nd Amendment Rights and Responsibilities advocated by this sign. This is a widely available, widely produced hand gun, with an impressive history behind its use. The border tape "FIRE LINE DO NOT CROSS" admonishes those who see these signs not to venture between those who intend to shoot, from a position designated as the fire line, and the intended target, clearly represented by the image of the Capitol on the sign. The language, the visual imagery, clearly have a meaning beyond metaphor. This is a sign promoting threats of violence against elected officials, our fellow citizens, not merely oppositional words and ideas.

This is not an isolated sign; clearly there were others. The signs were held by tea partiers outside congress. Republicans, like Michele Bachmann, left the floor of the House of Representatives during the Sunday Health Care Reform vote session, to stir up these very sign-carrying protesters, to whip up their emotions.

After the threats began to come to light, these same people, these Tea Party courting Republicans, tried to deny they had any part in this.

They are liars.

They have a long participation in false, inflammatory statements. There was Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who claimed loudly to his base that the Democrats were going to "pull the plug on Grandma" with the health care reform legislation, repeating the Palin popularized premise that won her the 2009 Lie of the Year award. North Carolina Republican Congresswoman Virginia Foxx claimed that our government was going to kill seniors. Republican Congressman Randy Neugenbauer rudely yelled out "Baby Killer" on the house floor, and despite his tepid apology, is reputed to have used the notoriety for his rudeness to attempt to fund raise on his demonstrably untrue statement.

And we have perenial off-the-deep-ender Michele Bachmann of the 're-education camps' and 'armed and dangerous' citizens claims, boasting she's the new Nostradamus for claiming Obama is un-American, now bragging how prescient she was on "Hardball with Chris Matthews", after she tried in 2008 to deny ever having made the statement. Caught in her rant, she has tried to 'clarify' that she means Obama's policies, a distinction which eludes me. If Obama's policies are Un-American, is not Obama Un-American for embracing and promoting them? And we have Bachmann's appearance on Sunday, March 29th's airing of Face the Nation, proclaiming in her usual refrigerator-magnet and bumper sticker 'slogan-thinking' that Americans are suffering under "Tyranny", that over 50% of the private sector of our economy has been taken over by the government, while 100% of the private sector was private before 2008, and my personal favorite, that doctors would abandon their profession like crazed lemmings according to the New England Journal of Medicine.

Except that, no surprise, her numbers and her conclusions and her claims about doctors and the New England Journal of Medicine are not true. But those lies play well, very well indeed, to her radical right base. A base which does not seem to care if Bachmann is accurate or not, a base which will, as they do with Palin, embrace and praise anything she says, no matter how stupid, now false, how calculated to push her base over the edge of reason.

Congresswoman Bachmann on "Face the Nation"
fact checked by CBS, "Bachmann Offers Big Numbers, Little Proof" :
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/28/ftn/main6341007.shtml

The Republicans are talking big, with their futile law suits by the state Attorneys General, and their boasts, like those of Michele Bachmann, that the Republicans are going to repeal the health care reform legislation. It is precisely because those efforts have no reasonable chance whatsoever of success that the Republicans and the Tea bagging militia members and other right wing extremists must continue their threats and their harrassment. The alternative is to accept that they do not have a majority. They do not reflect the prevailing opinion. After the signing of the health care reform legislation, the poll numbers support the legislation. Of the approximately 40% who do not support it, 18% to 20% disapprove because they wanted even stronger reform, not less, and therefore the poll numbers do not argue for the citizenry supporting the efforts of the right. If this assessment is correct, projecting from the trend during the 2008 election and the 2009 debate over health care reform, we will see an increase in threats, not a decrease.

On the face of this, those who do not embrace fact are clearly equally unable to embrace reason, or moderation, or apperntly in at least some instances, decency and self-control. We need to oppose inflammatory rhetoric on the right, and we certainly need to oppose it on the left as well; I think we can safely define the centrists as not extreme in this regard by definition. We need to demand accountability for the factual content of statements by our leaders and elected representatives in both chambers of Congress. We need to express our feelings not only about legislation but also about how we conduct political discourse. We do this with our words, and with our votes. I believe that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to stand by and do nothng. Join with me in condemning intimidation. Whatever your ideology, join with me in opposing false statements and inflammatory rhetoric, everywhere you find it.