QAnon-Naziism and lies

 AQnon  is a clandestine organization that is built on a culture of lies. Donald Trump became the false idol for this crazy group.  Naziism was created the same way.  A bunch of people wanted to blame the economic post World War I crises in Germany on a defenseless group of Jews and the rest is documented in the horror of the Holocaust.  This letter to the editor echo published in the Southern Illinoisan explains:

A lie is a lie

In the years following the First World War, an antisemitic “stab-in-the-back” conspiracy theory was used by right-wing extremists to explain how Jews allied with communists and other insidious foreign interests were responsible for the defeat of the German homeland. 

The evilness of this lie, repeated again and again by Adolf Hitler, fueled the German psyche until it became mainstream thinking. Although untrue, the lie catapulted Hitler into power, and kept him there. This same lie eventually metastasized into the Holocaust with the help of a passive, enabling and complicit citizenry.

Trump learned from Hitler that a lie, if told frequently enough, could convince many that fiction was truth. We saw him test of this theory with his birther claim that Obama was not an American citizen. The birther lie allowed Trump to examine how his racist beliefs would play among white Americans, and it served as a dress rehearsal for his bully pulpit claim of fraud before, during, and after the 2020 election, stoking the American psyche with an accusation that, in the event he lost his bid for a second term, he could use the lie to remain in power.

The tragedy of repeated lies is that they transform beliefs into behaviors that operate at the basest level of human activity. Acting out lies using simple phrases like “Where is Pelosi?” “Hang Mike Pence,” “Stop the steal,” and “Lock her up,” turn crowds into mobs, mobs into rage, and rage into unthinking and uncontrolled violence.

What looms in our future is the very real possibility of an in-house insurgency of Americans who continue to believe in the lie of a fraudulent election and are convinced they are acting as true patriots. We are at the cusp of having the true believers of this lie become our nation’s counterpart to the IRA in Ireland, the FARC in Columbia, and the ETA in Spain. In our case, the Tea Party/Trump Republicans have become the political face of this newest of insurgencies. I weep for my nation, my children and grandchildren.


John S. Haller Jr.
Carbondale, Illinois

Maine Writer- In my opinion, QAnon is Naziism reincarnate.

Echo opinion from Illinois - Trump doesn't understand the US democracy

Echo letter to the editor from Carbondale, Ill:

June 11’s edition of The Southern Illinoisan reported that the “Donald Trump laments the Fed’s autonomy.” 

Trump would prefer, instead, to be autocratic, like one of his (evil) heroes, like President Xi of China, because “he can do whatever he wants.”  (Maine Writer- incredulously, stupid Trump says he could even shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and get away with it!)

There's obviously something about democracy that stupid Donald Trump just doesn't "get"!

The Illinois writer says, "I am no economist, but it seems to me that he is able to do enough damage to the economy (the entire world’s, by the way — not just our country’s) with his tariff wars without also being able to manipulate our currency as well."

Moreover, this seems like just another example of Trump’s failure to truly embrace this country’s democratic principles except when they work for him. He doesn’t like checks and balances, even when he gets to stack the deck in his own favor — he chose four of the five members of the Fed’s board, for instance. Considering his track record in business, having six bankruptcies and reported to have lost $1 billion over a 10-year period, imagine what he could do for us as a nation if he had the power he craves. No matter how you slice it, when a party walks away from debt, someone else is inevitably left holding it.

Meanwhile, Trump’s self-inflated sense of importance has not flagged. On June 15, he wrote on Twitter, “if anyone but me takes over in (the) 2020 (election)…there will be a Market Crash the likes of which has not been seen before!”

On June 21, he posted a video showing his influence continuing through future presidential campaigns into infinity — “Trump 4EVA!” Immortality? And since the Supreme Court didn’t decide on the citizenship question for the upcoming census to his liking, he had threatened to delay the census until they revisit the question. It seems that there’s (obviously!)  something about the democratic process that he just doesn’t get.

Jim Renshaw  Carbondale, Illinois

Immigration- as we give thanks- it's time to pass the DREAM Act

Americans are preparing to celebrate our family Thanksgiving Holiday. At this time of giving thanks for our freedoms from want, hunger and fear, we must also call on our political leaders to extend help to immigrants who live under the threat of unjust deportation.

This echo- a re-blogged letter to the editor, from Carbondale, Illinois, was published in the newspaper The Southern Illinoisan on November 16

To the Editor:- a letter to  Dear Rep. Mike Bost — 

 The Dream Act

Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) introduced the Dream Act of 2017, S. 1615, in the Senate on July 20, 2017.

Thank you for meeting recently with Southern Illinois Immigrant Rights Project (SIIRP) and for your sympathy toward Dreamers.

Protecting undocumented youth who were brought as children is widely popular, compassionate, and a great investment. Any attempt to make support of Dreamers conditional on increases in enforcement violates our values and undermines our interests.

The families of Dreamers came to America seeking safety, opportunity, and freedom. They sacrificed everything for the love of their children, much like the ancestors of many present-day Americans. These families and their children do not have any realistic path to legal status under existing laws. Dreamers experience significant barriers to getting a driver’s license, securing gainful employment, and accessing higher education.

Passing the DREAM Act would provide immigrant youth who have grown up here with the opportunity to achieve the American dream and give back to the country they already call home. It will grow Illinois’ GDP an estimated $4 billion a year. As our elected representative, you have both the power and the duty to enact new legislation when current laws do not promote our values and interests. Do not allow families to be torn apart. Do not allow our communities to lose our neighbors, teachers, service members, students, and friends. Protect the lives of young immigrants without criminalizing and endangering the families and communities who have nurtured them.

We call on you to exercise courage and principled leadership to work for an immediate passage of a clean DREAM Act.

Jess Jobe and Diane Speir ~ Carbondale Illinois