Pasayten's Methow Valley Bulletin Board

This is what Trump Derangement Syndrome really is.

Right wing media has been burning up the wires with disinformation so the local paper decided to do some fact checking:

"Per the Star Tribune:
**Was the alleged gunman close to Walz?
Boelter was appointed to a state advisory board by Walz.
Some on social media have claimed he had longstanding ties to the Minnesota’s DFL governor or was an associate of his. Benny Johnson, a right-wing YouTuber, referred to Boelter as a “left-wing Tim Walz appointee.”
It’s true that Walz reappointed Boelter in 2019 to a workforce development advisory board, one that Hoffman also served on at the time.
But the governor did not know Boelter, a source in his office said, and emphasized these are not appointments to a position in the governor’s office or Cabinet. Boelter was first appointed to the board in 2016 by then-Gov. Mark Dayton.
Boelter’s friend and roommate David Carlson told reporters on Saturday that Boelter voted for President Donald Trump and was a “strong supporter” of the president but was “hardly ever talking about politics lately.”
Data released by the Minnesota DFL Party on Sunday showed Boelter voted in last year’s presidential primary election, but not as a Democrat. The Republican Party of Minnesota declined to share its presidential primary election voter data on Boelter, with a spokesman saying the party considers that data to be private under current law.
The workforce board has about 60 members, many of whom are not politically connected or would have meaningful access to the governor or interactions with him. The workforce board is tasked with recommending policies to Walz and the Legislature.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of people apply to serve on these state boards, task forces, advisory councils and commissions each year. There are more than 130 in total, including high-paying jobs on powerful councils, but they mainly are volunteer positions.
Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said on Saturday that there is “certainly some overlap with some public meetings” between Hoffman and Boelter, but that law enforcement didn’t know anything about their relationship or if they knew each other.
Steve Kalina owns a small manufacturing business and has been on the governor’s workforce board since 2019 and said he’s on the opposite end of the political spectrum from Walz.
Kalina said the governor appoints people to represent the views of industry, and not to represent Walz’s political views. Kalina said the board does not interact with the governor on a regular basis. Boelter is listed in a 2020 state report for the board as having no party preference.
Kalina said he’s seen people post on social media trying to criticize Walz but that it’s a “shameless way of attacking the governor at a time we should be mourning the leaders of our state.”
“It’s goofy to make those stretches that the suspect was a close tie to the governor, a close appointee,” he said.
Kalina, who said his prayers go out to the Hortman and Hoffman families and called the violence senseless, said he recognized Boelter’s face and was probably in a few meetings with him but hasn’t worked with him directly.
**Did Boelter’s wife intern for Walz?
There also is speculation on social media that Boelter’s wife, Jenny, was an intern for Walz. A spokesperson for the governor said that’s not true.
The Walz intern is a different person who appears to be married to someone else, the spokesperson said.
**Were Boelter’s attacks a left-wing assault over a vote to strip health care from undocumented adults?
Some on social media have speculated about Boelter’s political views and what motivated him to carry out the shootings.
One theory is that the shooter had left-wing politics and targeted Hoffman and Hortman for stripping state health care coverage from adult undocumented immigrants.
Those allegations have been spread by prominent political figures with huge followings, but so far there is no evidence to support them.
Elon Musk posted on his social media platform X that “the far left is murderously violent” while quoting a post alleging “the left” killed Hortman. Right-wing influencer Mike Cernovich suggested it was at Walz’s direction “to send a message.”
Laura Loomer, a prominent far-right personality who has spread 9/11 conspiracies and lodged racist attacks against former Vice President Kamala Harris, claimed “Walz’s goons are now assassinating lawmakers who support legislation Walz opposes,” and called the Democratic party “a terrorist organization.”
Right-wing commentator Nick Sortor claimed Hortman sounded “absolutely terrified” speaking to media after voting to end the health coverage for undocumented adults.
There is no evidence that Boelter targeted Hortman and Hoffman because of left-wing politics. Walz and Hortman are close political allies and friends who have worked together at the Legislature since the governor was elected in 2018.
Hortman this year was the only Democrat in the Minnesota House to vote for a bill to end that health care coverage for undocumented adults, which she did to honor an agreement with Republican legislative leaders to pass a two-year state budget on Monday.
Hortman was opposed to the measure, like nearly all of her DFL colleagues at the Capitol, and was heartbroken about the vote, not terrified of violent repercussions from the governor.
Walz agreed to that budget deal in writing, and also signed the legislation removing health care for undocumented adults on Saturday after the attacks on Hortman and Hoffman. Walz praised that deal on Saturday.
“We proved that it’s possible, even in these politically charged times, to find compromise and adhere to the principles of democracy and civil discourse,” the governor told reporters.
Boelter also shot and injured Hoffman and his wife, even though Hoffman, unlike Hortman, voted against the bill to remove health coverage.
A manifesto found in Boelter’s vehicle included a list of “prominent pro-choice individuals in Minnesota, including many Democratic lawmakers,” sources familiar with the investigation said.
Boelter’s friend and roommate David Carlson said he was staunchly against abortion. “He thought it was murder.”
Carlson added: “He hasn’t talked about abortion for years. This goes back, through the ’90s he really hated abortion.”
**Does Vance Boelter’s wife work for CentraCare?
Grok, X’s AI bot, said Vance Boelter’s wife, Jennifer, worked at CentraCare.
St. Cloud-based CentraCare indeed does employ a doctor named Jennifer Boelter. However, she is not married to Vance Boelter.
The CentraCare physician is married to Dr. Chris Boelter, another physician employed by the health system.
Jennifer Boelter, the physician, did not intern at Gov. Walz’s office, a spokesperson said."

Garrison Keillor weighs in:
"Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were shot and killed in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, a mile from where I grew up, where my dad built a house in 1947 and he and Mother raised six children. Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were shot north of there in Champlin, across the river from Anoka where I was born. My nephew and his wife and kids live in the house Dad built and after the shootings they locked themselves in the house and tried to stay calm.
I sat in New York, watching state officials express shock, horror, resolve to catch the perpetrator, grief for the families, and I thought of the peaceful suburb I knew, houses on acre-lots with big gardens, kids walking to school, the Mississippi a stone’s throw away, skating on it in the winter. And I felt that more needed to be said than shock and resolve.
We’re living in a strange time when violent rhetoric has come to be accepted in America, language that makes violence permissible: when you call your opponents scum, sleazebags, thugs, crooks,low lifes, losers, nut jobs, sick, a total disaster, vicious, heartless, a pile of garbage, a joke, a fraud, pathetic, crazy, lying, disgusting, disgraceful, why is it so surprising that an armed man will go to his political opponents’ door and blow their heads off?
If someone walked up to you on the street and called you scum and a sleazebag and a lowlife, you would not be amused, you’d sense danger, you’d seek shelter.
Take yourself back to the Eighties and try to imagine President Reagan referring to Jimmy Carter as a sleazebag or a Communist. Mr. Reagan was an optimist who showed respect for his Democratic opposition –– he had long been a Democrat himself –– and he was a loving father to four children, including a liberal son Ron and a very independent daughter Patti. His race against Walter Mondale in 1984 was maybe the politest presidential race ever. You could take issue with the President on his Cold War policies, civil rights, AIDs, public education, etcetera etcetera, but the man himself, whatever his flaws, was an honorable public servant, a patriot, a man of warmth and humor, who carried himself with dignity and respect for his high office.
It simply can’t be denied that President Trump has brought a new level of animosity into the political arena. Back in Mr. Reagan’s day, Republicans might’ve referred to “my Democratic colleagues” or “my friends across the aisle,” but this fellow said, “If you vote for Biden, your kids will not be in school, there will be no graduations, no weddings, no Thanksgiving, no Christmas, and no Fourth of July!” Was he joking? Why aren’t we laughing?
Evidently a 57-year-old man considered two Marxist-Leninist state legislators to be vicious scum and a pile of garbage and so in the middle of the night, he put on a police badge, drove to their houses and shot them and fled and subjected the population of the Twin Cities and Minnesota to days and nights of wondering who might suddenly appear at their door, armed and dangerous.
In Minnesota, Mr. Trump’s approval stood at 43% before the shootings of the Democratic legislators and their spouses, less than Iowa’s 49% and Wisconsin’s 45, much lower than North Dakota’s 67, but I know enough Minnesotans, Iowans, North Dakotans, and Wisconsinites to say with confidence that 49% or even 43% are not in sympathy with the murder of political opponents or with the contemptuous language that opens the door to it. I told stories for years about a small town, Lake Wobegon, and its loyal church-going soft-spoken community-minded citizens, who valued modesty, respect for tradition, taking turns, good manners, charity to those in need, and though the stories were comic fiction, I believe they capture some fundamental truths about the Midwest. Half the population has allowed itself to be captivated by a spirit of vengeance and violence that is antithetical to their nature.
Fear is the favored force of evil, causing public officials to feel targeted, to see shadows in the hall, imagine the glint of gun barrels, back away from their principles. I’m tired of hearing it quoted but Edmund Burke was right when he said that all evil needs to be triumphant is for good people to do nothing. and bite their tongues, not wanting to endanger their families. The shootings in Minnesota were an act of derangement and the President’s supporters need to face up to their complicity."