<h4><strong>High standards<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>or double standards?</strong></h4>
A rebuttal to Mike McCombs’ Jan. 14 piece … silence IS complicity!

Yes, Mike McCombs. Your sentiment from the late, honorable Dr. King could not have been more fitting. Although, after that sentence, you lost me. It seems as though the propaganda that you’ve been consuming, and are now spreading, will only continue the vicious cycle of misinformation.

Silence is complicity, right? In the words of Kamala Harris “Protesters should not let up.” In the words of Nancy Pelosi, “I just don’t know why there aren’t uprisings all over the country.” So as long as the purpose is to push your agenda, protesting is okay?

Does the same logic not apply to your conservative brothers and sisters who are extremely concerned about election integrity, mail-in ballots, ballot drop boxes, timely submission dates, and accurate voter rolls? Or, does your logic only apply when protesters burn hundreds of small businesses over the summer, vandalize dozens of federal buildings, and injure hundreds of officers? Why don’t you apply that logic to the Capitol March last week? A handful of agitators entered the capital building for a few hours – which is completely reprehensible and has been condemned by Democrats AND Republicans; however, you conveniently omit and refuse to acknowledge the several hundred thousand citizens that were peacefully protesting and exercising their constitutional rights.

The president encouraged a peaceful protest by saying “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capital building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” Somehow, according to you, he is responsible for putting a “hit” out on the members of Congress. The baseless, false accusations that you have made when relaying the truth is astonishing and frightening considering that you are in the business of reporting the facts. Perhaps you are just regurgitating what you see on the mainstream activist channels, which in that case, I would recommend you reconsider your news sources and apply some critical thinking next time. Journalism may be dead at the national level, but your readers expect more integrity from their local news.

Mike — there are injustices in this world and we need to work together to right those injustices. Police brutality and election irregularities are something we all need to be concerned about and change. To make it a partisan issue and smear the other side with misinformation does not accomplish anything, it only divides us more. I hope you are able to author a more thoughtful piece next time that can bring your readers together rather than tear them apart.

<em>– Savannah Kate, Beaufort</em>