There is simply no reasoning with fools

Ask anyone who knows me – I’m an optimist.

I love people and always believe they will ultimately make the right decision, choose the right course, say yes to the good path.

If I hear someone suggesting the fool’s path, I will patiently take time I don’t have to see if my reasoning and experience might make a difference.

I’ve been like that all my life – whether I was the fool or the other guy.

Because I radically changed my worldview, I guess I just suppose anyone can.

Then I have a moment like I had this week. Some new self-appointed media gatekeeper arises from the know-it-all fever swamp of snowflake self-righteousness to judge my life’s work unworthy. There are no pardons from this condemnation.

What was my journalistic crime?

As near as I can figure, it’s a combination of unforgivable sins, among them:

• some shared opinions with the current occupant of the White House;
• holding viewpoints contrary to the news guardians at NewsGuardtech.com, a new app that has carved out a niche for itself as fans of the “news” from the likes of Huffington Post, Daily Beast and MSNBC;
• not being progressive;
• loving God;
• questioning Obama; and
• fearing the Clintons.

I’ll share the entirety of the interrogation with you. It was on this basis that my 40-plus-year journalism career was weighed, measured and found wanting by the young Mr. Kendrick McDonald, whose career as a professional factchecker has spanned two years. Before he was born, I was running daily newspapers in major metro markets, teaching journalism at UCLA and winning awards for reporting and editing in urban areas in “progressive” California. Go figure.

Before I do that, however, I’d like you to consider what you see daily at MSNBC, the Huffington Post and the Daily Beast – not to mention the wall-to-wall conspiracy theorizing at CNN. See NewsGuardtech.com’s claims about those “news” sites and WND.com in the screenshots below.

Here are the queries from my inquisitor:

1. Are there any other owners of the site besides yourself and your wife?
2. Is it accurate that you founded the Western Center for Journalism in 1991?
3. Is it accurate that you founded WND.com (then known as WorldNetDaily.com) in 1997 in connection with the WCJ, and then later made the site a for-profit enterprise in 1999?
4. Does WND have a corrections policy? Are there examples of corrected stories you could share with me?
5. On multiple occasions, writers at WND have continued to raise doubts about the legitimacy of President Obama’s birth certificate and birthplace, despite the release of his birth certificate. Does the site believe that Obama was not born in the U.S.? If not, do you plan to retract, correct, or otherwise address the articles you’ve posted suggesting that he was foreign-born?
6. In 2017, WND published a story about DNC staffer Seth Rich which claimed that he “reportedly sent more than 44,000 DNC emails to WikiLeaks.” This allegation has been called into question following the indictment of 12 Russian intelligence agents this July for coordinating the release of those emails with WikiLeaks. The Washington Times and Fox News both retracted stories about this subject which included false information or unfounded accusations. Do you have any comment on this? Do you think any of the stories you’ve published on this subject need to be corrected?
7. More broadly, WND maintains a list it calls a “Clinton Death List.” Do you believe the Clinton family is responsible for the deaths of the figures on that list? The Clinton Body Count conspiracy theory has been extensively discredited by media organizations and authorities involved in the investigation of these deaths. Accounts like the one on WND ignore and distort information to advance the theory, and we believe this is an example of WND not gathering and presenting information responsibly. Do you have any comment?
8. In October, the writer Erik Rush published a column speculating that Cesar Sayoc was a “leftist operative.” Rush disregards Sayoc’s status as a registered Republican and social media activity in support of President Trump. Instead he selectively cites evidence he sees as incongruent with a Trump supporter to promote the theory that Sayoc is a “leftist operative.” Rush even suggests that Sayoc and several perpetrators of mass shootings were influenced by “mind control techniques,” referencing his knowledge of psychology. Given the lack of credible evidence, we believe this is an example of the site failing to gather and present information responsibly. Do you have any comment?
9. In a November column, Rachel Alexander expresses the view in a column that the “deep state” was responsible for the conviction of former Texas Rep. Steve Stockman on 23 counts of fraud. Alexander does not offer any evidence for this assertion. We believe this is another example of irresponsible reporting. Do you have a comment?
10. In your Nov. 12 column, “Where did all these voters come from?” you state as fact that Democrats voted illegally in the 2018 midterm elections, which is the cause of high voter turnout statistics. You cite as evidence a video from Project Veritas. However, the Travis County Deputy Clerk has stated that there has been no evidence of illegal voting at that polling station or any others in Travis County. No other authorities have reported any evidence of voter fraud in the 2018 midterm election. Do you have any comment?
11. Is it true that you spoke to President Donald Trump on the phone on multiple occasions in 2011 out of a shared concern regarding President Obama’s birth certificate and birthplace?

I’m done engaging. I’m done suffering fools. I’m done persuading. I’m done defending myself against partisan hacks. And, yes, I’m done counting two things:

• all the reasons I don’t believe Obama’s phony birth certificate; and
• how many dead people the Clintons stumbled over.

Let’s just say “too many.”