Newton mayor need not resign over crisis actor theory

A disturbing trend in this country seems to have deepened with the latest mass slaying at a U.S. school. Since the Parkland, FL killings one of the student protesters David Hogg has been the subject of ridiculous conspiracy theories. The most prominent one is that he was never a student at the high school but a 'crisis actor' flown around the country to speak out after incidents. This is the same sort of twisted nonsense that happened as people were burying their little children gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut; families having to endure the internet talk that no shooting had ever occurred and their children didn't even exist.

The David Hogg theory has been soundly debunked. It didn't matter to Newton Mayor Wayne Levante. On social media he shared the conspiracy theory that David Hogg was not real but a paid victim, a crisis actor. Monday night there is a special session of the Town Council where they will seek to censure him and call upon him to resign.

Levante has lamely tried to defend himself from spreading such bullsh*t. "All I tried to do was question this. That's what intelligent people do. I read everything, I watch everything, and I keep an open mind, and I make a decision. So, do I regret posting them? No. I regret perhaps not being a little more thorough and clear (about) what I meant. ... I should have been more specific about what I meant."

If intelligent people question everything as the mayor says, a quick internet search can find point by point why this conspiracy theory holds no weight. So since we're supposed to question everything, I'm going to go ahead and question the mayor's intelligence.

As far as the calls for his resignation? Ridiculous. There are things in this country called elections. The will of the people. If his spreading this insane conspiracy theory bothers the people of Newton enough, and it should, they will take care of the matter themselves at the next election. Which isn't far off by the way. He is up for re-election in May. With an election so close, the Town Council needs to let voters do their jobs.

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