In the recent opinion column, “Democrats are invoking the ‘Rule of Law‘ selectively and hypocritically,” (Herald, May 18), the author employed a mix of “alternative facts,” false equivalencies and omissions to make his points.
He started with Joe Biden “allowed 20 million foreign nationals to invade” the U.S. The Republican Homeland Security committee reported on Jan. 6, 2025, that only 11 million unauthorized aliens were in the U.S. any time during Biden’s presidency. The conservative Cato Institute reported from “Customs and Border Protection” data that only 2 million unauthorized aliens in total entered the U.S. during Biden’s years.
The author reported that “Democrat protesters illegally hounded Supreme Court justices.” He never mentioned the 13 thugs who tried to kidnap the governor of Michigan, two of whom received multi-decade sentences.
He said Black Lives Matter protests resulted in $2 billion in damage losses and 26 deaths (some of whom were the protesters). According to the Government Accountability Office, the cost of the Jan. 6 riot was $2.7 billion. It resulted in 140 of our men in blue injured, 15 hospitalized and five deaths.
Among the 1,500 who were pardoned and “thanked,” 169 had pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers – in addition to those who pleaded innocent but were subsequently convicted of the same.
Officer Fanone was bludgeoned with pipes, sprayed with bear spray, tasered at the base of his skull and had a concussion from blows to his head, all resulting in a heart attack.
Gerald Baumann
Durango
