Truth, Lies, and Coverage

Erick-Woods Erickson

The other day on CNN, Jim Acosta had on the Secretaries of State for Nevada and Michigan. Both insisted that non-citizens are not voting in federal elections. Acosta, who holds Republicans to a truth standard insisting their lies be confronted in real time, let both Secretaries of State say that.

They were lying.

It is well documented that non-citizens have voted in federal elections in several states, including swing states like North Carolina. It is true that the number of votes cast were insignificant and did not alter any election. But Republicans have specifically claimed non-citizens are voting in federal elections. These two Secretaries of State denied it. Jim Acosta accepted their lies as the truth.

So how exactly can we believe anything from his program if he is willing to allow Democrat lies to be treated as accurate?

Likewise, as more non-citizens come into the country and progressive areas allow them to register to vote for local elections, mistakes will increase, and the number of non-citizens voting in federal elections will go up. That’s why Congressman Chip Roy’s SAVE Act makes sense.

Indeed, it is already against the law for non-citizens to vote in federal elections. Still, the enforcement and verification mechanisms in existing law are too weak and must be done state-by-state. So, for example, if a non-citizen tries to register to vote in Georgia, their application is rejected because all voter registration forms are run through a federal citizenship check at the time of registration. But California does not do that.

Acosta took a Democrat lie and used it to discredit the SAVE Act. So why should anyone believe him on anything?

Likewise, the press is too willing to dismiss Republican claims about Springfield, OH.

No, it is not true that local Haitians are stealing people’s pets. We now have video from Dayton, OH, and from Canton, OH, of non-Haitians eating cats. We have no evidence at all of stolen pets in Springfield.

But the media is using exaggerated claims and lies to dismiss the whole underlying story, which is that the influx of Haitians into Springfield, OH, is causing problems, and those problems would not exist but for the Biden-Harris Administration policies that allowed the massive influx. As an aside, perhaps Republicans should have been making up exaggerated claims, making it so easy for everyone else to dismiss the reality.

I just so happen to be the midday radio host on Springfield, OH’s big talk station, WHIO. I cover all of the Miami Valley and get many listeners emailing and calling me.

To a person, the people calling from Springfield deny their pets are being stolen. But, even a Sheriff’s Deputy tells me more than one goose and duck have lost their lives. All of that, however, is a distraction from what is happening.

The local public health outlet has had to increase its interpreter budget from $40,000 to over $400,000 to cover Creole interpreters for the Haitians. Local taxes have to go up, and services have to be cut to make up for the difference.

Locals who depend on local health care and social services are now waiting far longer than ever.

Likewise, local landlords are getting more rent from the Haitian population than government-subsidized housing, so over 200 properties have been pulled out of federal housing programs. Now, there is a homelessness issue that did not exist before.

Local waste treatment employees tell me that the sewer system is backing up, and the costs to fix it have increased. In Haiti, there is no regular trash collection. The Haitians are throwing their trash in the streets, burning it, or tossing it into the sewer system, where it is generating clogs. The city and county lack local social welfare workers who speak Creole to educate the Haitians on the issue.

Car wrecks have escalated. Haitians have used interpreters to help get driver’s licenses but do not pay attention to local customs or highway rules. Vehicle crashes are up. Running red lights is up. Going the wrong way on one-way streets has increased. Insurance rates have gone up for cars beyond general inflation.

Local schools are overwhelmed by an influx of non-native English-speaking students whose parents often do not speak English well, and teachers are overwhelmed by the issue.

All of this and more are the logical outcomes of increasing the population between 12,000 and 20,000 foreign immigrants over a couple of years. This is the direct result of the Biden-Harris Administration’s immigration policies.

But the media would instead focus on the sensationalism from MAGA about dogs and cats so they can avoid having to talk about the real fall out. That would undermine Kamala Harris.

Just like with ABC News’s singular focus on fact-checking Donald Trump, Democrat lies are accepted as truth. Republicans are presumed to be lying even when they tell the truth.

And this is why we cannot have nice things.