Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg conspiracy theories debunked

The exhaustive conspiracy theories about Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg, explained and debunked
by Newsweek
Adapted by Daffyd ap Morgen

1. The entire Hogg family is connected to the CIA, FBI and CNN
1. Like many conspiracy theories, these likely started with a tiny kernel of truth: 
1. Hogg’s father is a retired FBI agent-information that the teen volunteered offhand during a television interview.
2. Hogg or his mother is a CNN VIP who is "pimping" her son 
1. This developed after a photo surfaced of Hogg and his sister, Lauren, touring the studios as children. 
2. According to Snopes, the family was actually on a $35 VIP tour. 
3. Rebecca Boldrick, the mother of the Hogg siblings, works as a school teacher, which the Broward County School confirmed.
3. Hogg didn’t attend Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
1. A picture from a different yearbook with another student named David Hogg is used, 
2. Others circulate a mugshot from a 26-year-old California man named David Hogg as proof. 
3. The two don’t have same eye color or look alike.
4. Hogg wasn't at the school when the shooting took place 
1. Conservative blog Red State falsely claimed Hogg wasn’t on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School campus during the February 14 shooting. 
2. As evidence, the article pointed to an interview in which Hogg said he arrived on campus at 6 p.m. on the day of the shooting, which was hours after the suspected shooter was captured by police occurred.
3. Hogg actually spoke about returning to the campus at 6 p.m. 
4. Hogg actually documented hiding with other students while the school was on lockdown.
5. Gonzalez ripped up the Constitution
1. In fact, the picture was a doctored image of from a photoshoot Gonzalez and a few other students did for Teen Vogue.
6. Gonzalez admitted to bullying suspected shooter Nikolas Cruz
1. It uses an out-of-context snippet from a speech Gonzalez gave in Florida on February 17, in which she  responded to President Donald Trump's suggestion that the shooting could have been prevented with adequate mental health care.
2. Her full remarks are as follows:
1. "There is one tweet I would like to call attention to. 
1. ‘So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities again and again.’ 
2. We did, time and time again. 
3. Since he was in middle school, it was no surprise to anyone who knew him to hear that he was the shooter.
4. Those talking about how we should not have ostracized him, you didn't know this kid! 
5. OK, we did. 
6. We know that they are claiming mental health issues, and I am not a psychologist, but we need to pay attention to the fact that this was not just a mental health issue. 
7. He would not have harmed that many students with a knife."
7. 18-year-old Gonzalez attacked a Second Amendment supporter's truck at a March for Our Lives rally 
1. C'mon. It's literally Britney, b*tch.
2. This meme was most assuredly created to mock conspiracy theorists, particularly ones born before 1981. 
8. Whether jokes or not, the conspiracy theories have serious consequences—from harassment to stalking to physical violence. 
1. Erica Lafferty, whose mother, Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung was shot and killed at Sandy Hook, said conspiracy theories are part of a “new normal” for victims caught in the crosshairs of politically charged debates. 
2. "I cannot count the number of times that I've been called a 'crisis actor,” Lafferty, who now works for Everytown For Gun Safety, told Newsweek. 
3. “Unfortunately, this is the new normal for survivors of national tragedies—we're told that our loved ones never existed and that our grief is just pretend."

Yet again: we need a clear message

To Do Next for the #NeverAgain Movement: Settle on a Clear Demand
Social Justice and Activism
by Ted Rall | April 5, 2018 - 5:22am
Adapted by Daffyd ap Morgen

1. A huge turnout will not lead to new gun legislation.
2. Victory is achievable when rallies sharpen their focus.
3. Movements need enthusiasm and careful strategizing to sustain and grow.
4. Congress and the president ignore one-off events of large groups of Americans carrying signs, and chanting slogans. 
5. Sustained movements must be organized around a message.
6. Social media can bring large groups of people together quickly. 
1. But they also need a simple, coherent, bumper-sticker-ready demand message.
7. The 10 printed demands for the March on Washington remind us of American society’s failure to address the needs of the poor and oppressed since 1963. 
1. They had a clear, coherent set of demands, beginning with: “Comprehensive and effective Civil Rights legislation from the present Congress — without compromise or filibuster — to guarantee all Americans: 
2. Access to all public accommodations, decent housing, adequate and integrated education, the right to vote.” 
3. The Civil Rights Act was passed.
8. The March 24th March for Our Lives did not articulate a precise demand or set of demands.
1. Mission statement: “School safety is not a political issue. 
2. [We] demand that a comprehensive and effective bill be immediately brought before Congress to address these gun issues.”
3. Congress won't effectively “address” this issue. 
9. A movement must have an area of clear focus, 
1. #NeverAgain has that part down pat.
10. An effective movement must have the solution to a problem. 
11. Having a clear solution entails risk. 
1. #NeverAgain advocating for a comprehensive gun ban will push away allies who prefer a compromise approach. 
2. Yet a moderate approach will generate less excitement among those in favor of a radical solution (and moderation generally elicits less enthusiasm). 
3. It’s better to go into battle with half an army than a whole one riddled with confusion and no idea why they’re fighting.

Ted Rall, the editorial cartoonist and columnist, is the author of “Francis: The People’s Pope.”

Maine: Never Was & Never Happen

Rank-choice voting sabotaged in Maine.

From Daily Kos:

ME-Gov: A huge mess is unfolding in Maine, after Secretary of State Matt Dunlap told legislators on Thursday that the state could not conduct its June primaries using instant-runoff voting (IRV) due to a legal issue first pointed out by the state attorney general's office. Confusingly, though, Dunlap later said his department would nevertheless proceed with implementing the new system, which was passed by voters in 2016, claiming that election officials "do not have time to do anything else."​

​The legal dispute is highly arcane but it leaves the state in a precarious position. Both Dunlap and state Attorney General Janet Mills, who is a candidate for governor, urged the legislature to correct the problem, but that's simply not going to happen, since Republicans and a number of Democrats are opposed to IRV.

That means the issue is headed to court, though it could play a role on the campaign trail, too: One of Mills' opponents in the Democratic primary, former state House Speaker Mark Eves, accused her office of trying "to veto the will of the people in a way that benefits the electoral prospects of the Attorney General."

Under Maine's traditional system of awarding nominations to the candidate who wins a plurality of the vote, Mills might indeed prosper, since she likely starts the race with the greatest name recognition. In response to Eves' charges, Mills released a memo dated last year "laying out the process" for establishing an "ethical wall" between herself and her office's elections department. It's not clear from the Portland Press-Herald's writeup, though, whether this wall was ever put in place.