Fake news or real? Take the test

Sure, the Tweeter in Chief (TC) wants to inoculate himself from possibly traitorous connections with his Russian counterpart. So, of course he’s going to disparage the FBI and the news media.

Disparagers, you know, disparage.

It kind of all goes back to 1787, when what was later called the Constitutional Convention hashed out the post-revolutionary details of our governmental system: a tight, 25-page document laying out the broad terms of the executive, legislative and judicial branches that TC and team are intent on bending to their agendas.

Mercifully, Roger Sherman of Connecticut is credited with removing the terms “slave” and “slavery” from the document, although each of the enslaved was considered three-fifth of a person, for tax purposes.

Ah, taxes.

Sure, TC’s going to pack the Supreme Court with ultra-cons who, unlike him, actually believe something, even if it’s only taking away the constitutional rights of others. As long as TC enables that, the evangelicals and self-serving oil billionaires will cast conveniently blind eyes to his boorish romps.

Add a little climate change denial; shouts of “clean coal,” as if such a thing ever existed; and the growing neglect of the government’s regulatory responsibilities.

Judging by the polls and the frothing highlights of his scarily comedic “campaign” rallies in the heartland, TC has his minority of the nation buffaloed.

How this all plays out for the folks back home, namely us, here in Connecticut, is emerging in the word games and pretzel logic of the current election campaigns.

For those of you who have been too preoccupied making the rent, mortgage, car payments, insurance, kids’ shoes and other basicliving costs, our current political arguments boil down to:

Republicans: Dan Malloy is bad; two record tax hikes; Democrats want to abolish Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

Democrats: Trump is bad; Malloy invested in long-neglected pension funds; Republicans want to bust unions and turn Connecticut into a low-wage, right-to-work state.

Now, you can feel free to ignore the first barrage of TV ads — especially those millionaires who never even ran for local school board — that will take you through the next five weeks, until the Aug. 14 primaries and the downhill slide into the fall campaigns.

I’ve just saved you so much time that we can open the newspaper and talk a little about fake news.

The TC knows all about fake news. Consider the thousands of lies he’s spouted from his White House perch, even as it sinks into the swamp. You think it’s a coincidence that the number of race-and-ethnicityrelated assaults is rising? Then maybe you’re watching too much Fox in the Henhouse TV.

So what about “fake news,” that touchstone of the MAGA rallies?

Let’s look at your local newspaper, where reporters and editors work seven days a week to inform readers who support us through buying advertisements, newsstand sales, and online or home-delivery subscriptions. Some readers even freeload, as if the costs of this public service were someone else’s responsibility.

Even those newspaper employees who are not in international war zones can find themselves in the line of fire. Take the recent multiple homicides from a shotgun-wielding murderer inside the Annapolis, Maryland, newspaper. You think that’s fake news?

The Capital Gazette accurately reported the alleged shooter’s losses in state court over harassment charges. So, after promising to, he allegedly shot up the newsroom, killing five, then hid under a desk as if he was going to get away with it. There’s a despicable detail for you.

Don’t think this couldn’t happen anywhere? Sandy Hook Elementary School disproved that trope in 2012. Back to the paper.

Is the article about the latest fatal, high-speed crash of a twenty-something driver on Route 8 in Shelton or Interstate-84 in Danbury fake news?

How about the story a couple weeks ago about the impending lifeguard shortage at the Sherwood Island, Squantz Pond and Indian Well state parks?

Maybe the reports about the sentencing of Kyle Nevin, the murderous Easton junkie who murdered his parents were fake news. Nevin, 29, picked up a 55year prison term nearly three years after shooting his mother, then his father, thinking he and his girlfriend would make off with the money the folks saved as garbage collectors.

The murderer denied it, right up until the recent plea bargain and the ultimate admission of guilt. And because of the repeal of the death penalty — thank you, Dan Malloy — we don’t have to see him in court, or his name in the newspaper, again until he dies in prison at some point, hopefully, when I’m longdeceased.