VIEWPOINT: Talk about myths

Myths guide what people perceive about the world, influencing their everyday lives and worldview.  

Americans are bombarded with myths every day. Fortunately, there are truth-revealing organizations that do superb research to counter myths. Snopes is one of those good research groups. Here are several examples of things they uncovered: 

Claim: A 2001 study by the Lovenstein Institute published on the internet, claimed that George W. Bush had the lowest IQ of any president since 1950. 

Status: False. The numbers claimed in the email were fabricated; the sociologists and institutions didn’t exist. 

Claim: An old Christmas picture of Michelle Obama with cropped hair and masculine features standing with her future husband, Barack Obama, is an authentic photograph. 

Status: False. By sharing the altered photo, the infamous X user promoted the false, long-running online conspiracy theory claiming the former first lady was born male and given the name "Michael."  

In reality, Michelle Obama was born female with the name Michelle LaVaughn Robinson. 

What should we believe? How do we fact-check and disprove outrageous, misleading stories and supposed facts fed to us by newscasters, politicians or others?  

It’s always a good idea to forego the rhetoric and take a good look for the truth. 

When politics heats up and passions flare, it’s easy to get caught up in a message, rather than paying attention to what’s really happening.  

Donald Trump has been the subject of countless investigations, some warranted, some not. What we’ve learned is that his supposed “collusion with Russia” was a hoax — the Steele Dossier was total fiction, paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign. 

It’s accurate to say that after the Charleston ‘Unite the Right’ rally protesting the planned removal of a Confederate statue, Trump did say there were “very fine people on both sides,” referring to the protesters and counter protesters. 

He said in the same statement he wasn't talking about neo-Nazis and white nationalists, who he said should be “condemned totally.” Claims to the contrary are a complete myth. 

It will be interesting to see how the press handles concerns that have been raised about Kamala Harris’ political heritage and views. 

The following are excerpts of an editorial posted by the Combat Veterans for Congress Political Action Committee and written by retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Higginbotham. On active duty for 33 years and commanding at every level, he was on the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when he retired. 

Higginbotham stated that Kamala Harris’ father was a Marxist economics professor at Stanford University. Both of Harris’ parents were active in the Berkeley-based Afro-American Association.  

— The group’s leader, Donald Warden (aka Khalid al-Mansour), mentored two young Afro-American Association members, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. 

They created the Maoist-inspired Black Panther Party, which gained strong support from communist China. The Black Panther Party served as the model for creation of the Black Lives Matter Marxist organization.  

— While serving as San Francisco District Attorney, Kamala Harris mentored a young San Francisco Radical Maoist activist, Lateefah Simon, who was a member of the STORM Revolutionary Movement. 

Simon has always been close friends with the founder of Black Lives Matter, Alicia Garza, who calls herself a trained Marxist organizer. Harris openly backed Black Lives Matter protests by creating a bail fund for violent protestors who caused property destruction in Minneapolis after the murder of George Floyd. 

— Upon election to the U.S. Senate, Harris appointed as her Chief of Staff, Karine Jean-Pierre. Jean-Pierre was active with the New York-based Haiti Support Network, which worked closely with the pro-communist China and North Korea Workers World Party and supported Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the far-left former president of Haiti. 

Fortunately for Harris, elected officials aren’t subject to security clearance processes. If the FBI did a background investigation on Kamala Harris, she wouldn’t pass because of her 40-year close ties with radical Marxists. 

Nor would she have been accepted to any of the five military service academies or been approved for a sensitive position at a high security defense contractor.  

Republican Donald Trump obviously promotes capitalism and free enterprise. It’s reasonable to ask if Democrat Kamala Harris is soft on Marxism. Americans don’t need political spin or myths. We need to know the truth.