Opioid City so bad, even truth sounds like slander

First things first, Mayor Daniel Rivera — U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions did not libel your lovely city of Lawrence. Libel is when it’s written down. Sessions gave a speech. That would be slander.

But the fact is, he didn’t do that either, because both libel and slander have a common defense: the truth. It’s just that the mess in Lawrence is so bad, the truth about your city sounds like slander.

In his New Hampshire speech on the Trump administration’s opioid crackdown, Sessions said that charges have recently been brought “against some 50 people involved in distributing fentanyl — including four illegal aliens residing in the sanctuary city of Lawrence, Massachusetts.”

That was in his official, written remarks. Being a politician, he added, “There can be no sanctuary for drug dealers and fentanyl in America.”

OK, Dan — so where’s the slander?

The arrests were made. Four of the perps were illegal immigrants.

Your city council voted to become a sanctuary city — oh, excuse me, a “Welcoming City,” as in “you’re welcome to live here illegally and we’ll do our best to keep ICE off your back.”

You could have vetoed the idea, Dan. You didn’t.

But even if Sessions hadn’t told the truth, how do you slander … a city? Is it really possible for a town to take action when people insult it? And if they could, can you imagine the settlement Cleveland would get? It would be huge!

Face the facts, Dan: You’re the mayor of Opioid City, USA.

You’ve even admitted in the past that Lawrence is a hub for the illegal drug trade in New England. But instead of cracking down on your local dealers, you blamed the drug traffic flowing through your streets on everybody else.

“Rivera said the supply of the drugs would dry up if there were not so much demand from out-of-towners,” the Eagle-Tribune reported in April.

Hey, mayor, you think any of the fine folks taking advantage of your illegal immigrantfriendly policies might be from out of town, too?

Lawrence suing over being called a sanctuary city would be like New York suing because everyone thinks New Yorkers are a bunch of a ... uh, well, you know what New Yorkers are.

The great H.L. Mencken said, “Any man can bear injustice. What really stings is justice.”

Dan, Lawrence just got stung.