Vilification of Sebastian Gorka

The baying for the resignation of Gorka is illegitimate.  The trigger was the claim of membership in a historically pro-Nazi organization by one of it’s members, a claim denied by Gorka, his appearance in public with a Hungarian medal on his chest and a rummaging through his parents’ past.

These are dangerously insufficient reasons to sack an individual.  What better way to smear someone whose views you dislike than by claiming he’s a fellow traveler (as I recall, this happened frequently in the McCarthy era)?  As for the medal, I’ve worn in public a Soviet-era border guard medal that I picked up in the former Eastern Bloc, but I don’t claim it to indicate anything about my political views.  I’ve seen lots of people wearing Soviet kitsch without being accused of being reactionaries.  Finally, guilt-by-association, while a great rhetorical device for manipulating opinion, is not a valid argument.

Investigate, by all means.  Ask the man for his views, and vilify him for answers you don’t agree with.  Be wary, and skeptical of his pronouncements.  Publicize any bigoted, racist polemic that he utters, and call him on it.  But you can’t call for his resignation without good cause, and inuendo is not good enough.  There are plenty of other Trump appointees that have already done more than enough to be turfed from office.

Robert Mercer: the big data billionaire waging war on mainstream media | Politics | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/26/robert-mercer-breitbart-war-on-media-steve-bannon-donald-trump-nigel-farage
Part two of the info once been seeing about Cambridge Analytics and the election.  Post one looked like conspiracy theory.  This one’s in the Guardian.

I’ll have to find part one again and post the link.

Over 70 arrested at Standing Rock as Dakota Access aims to finish pipeline | US news | The Guardian

New arrests at Standing Rock.

Rob Keller, spokesman for the Morton County sheriff’s office, told the Guardian Wednesday night that it was too soon to say what charges were being filed.

(I didn’t realize you could be arrested while it was too soon to say what charges were being filed)

via Over 70 arrested at Standing Rock as Dakota Access aims to finish pipeline | US news | The Guardian.