Facts, once unassailable, have become, well, difficult to quantify. People make up or repeat lies, especially on social media platforms and other online spaces, and people believe them, think what they read or hear is true, is a fact. As it turns out, those lies can be dangerous. We’ve all witnessed it at the national level, but it’s also happening right here in Western North Carolina. 

To the Editor:

The 2024 presidential election revealed one thing in crystal-clear, proof-positive, light-years beyond any reasonable doubt comprehensibility, that the ability and capacity of the average American voter to simply (but so importantly) distinguish between fact and fiction, the ability to grasp (and choose confidently) between truth and falsehood, the aptitude necessary to seek out and determine right from wrong, to diligently and with purpose contrast good and evil, and lastly, the ability and the practiced competence to differentiate and choose the honorable from the dishonorable — no longer exists. 

To the Editor:

The Eagles rock band has interpreted life in America over the last five decades. Yet, the lines that fit the last two decades best may be: “Now it seems to me some fine things have been laid upon your table. But you only want the ones that you can’t get.” 

By Dr. Dara DeLeon • Rumble Contributor |

Dear solitude and sanity,

“A lie can run around the world before the truth has its boots on.”

That’s one of the few quotes or sayings I can summon up at will. At some point it was etched into my memory. An internet search credits it to Terry Pratchett, a recently deceased but very popular British author of fantasy novels whom I have never read.

By Norman Hoffman • Guest Columnist

Some time ago a cartoon had Donald Trump’s press secretary and Kelly Ann Conway dressed as Burger King employees under a banner “Home of the Whopper” and Conway saying, “Do you want lies with that?” Lies seem to be the staple of the Trump administration.