Tragedy in small Michigan town once again demonstrates how lethal conspiracy theories can be

For decades, people have thought of conspiracy theories as harmless amusements. But the past six years have demonstrated their extraordinary toxicity: They are incredibly dangerous to democracy, primarily because they destroy the shared reality necessary for it to function. By untethering people from reality, conspiracy theories poison relationships on every level, from national to local to the family itself.

As a recent incident in Michigan demonstrates, their ability to tear families apart is especially devastating. In the town of Walled Lake, a 53-year-old man named Igor Lanis became so wrapped up in Q***n and other Trumpist conspiracy theories—particularly the former president’s claims to have won the 2020 e******n—that he finally erupted at his family because they failed to fall down the rabbit holes with him, went on a rampage with a handgun and a shotgun, and gunned them down before being shot by police on his front lawn.



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His wife, 56-year-old Tina Lanis, was k**led, as was the family dog; both were shot multiple times. His 25-year-old daughter, Rachel, was also shot but managed to survive her wounds and call police. She was too distraught to give them the address, but police were already on the scene, having been summoned by neighbors.

Lanis then walked out the front door of the home and began shooting at police, who returned fire, k*****g him.

His younger daughter, 21-year-old Rebecca Lanis, was staying overnight with friends and survived the massacre. On Reddit Sunday, only hours after the k*****gs, she posted her account.

“My Qdad snapped and k**led my family this morning,” she wrote on the Q***n Casualties subreddit.

She wrote that “growing up, my parents were extremely loving and happy people. I always had a special bond with both my parents.” However, she wrote, that all began to change after the 2020 p**********l e******n.

“In 2020 after Trump lost, my dad started going down the Q rabbit hole,” she wrote. “He kept reading conspiracy theories about the s****n e******n, Trump, v*****es, etc. It kept getting worse and he verbally snapped at us a few times. Nothing physical though. He never

Trying to have an intelligent or honest debate with a republican is like arguing with a moron that is clinically r****ded

You cannot get a straight answer to a question from them, they will shift to the subject they want to talk about...

Often an honest question, especially ones they don't want to answer results in an attack that is completely unrelated such as, what about B******i, or H****r B***n, or Hillary's taking classified documents.

No, dems need to refuse to debate, and do their own campaigning or get an interview to talk about their platform issues, they won't get a chance to do that arguing with someone who is r****ded...too often it makes the person look like a r****d for going there in the first place.

Trump completely blew the idea that a president has no business even talking to the attorney general, except in well structured formal settings. The system involves intermediary formal contacts only. Literally if a president wants to make policy ideas known it is done through staff to the AG's staff.

Barr and his assistant was leaning on and pressuring the New York district court on everything to do with Cohen and campaign violations involved with the multiple hush money cases they were looking at, Berman credibly claims that
...They wanted charges dropped on Cohen, which Berman refused to do
...They were told to stop all investigations into campaign violations since a president cannot be indicted
...the false premise being that he can't even be investigated
...Cohen's indictment was to lose all of the multiple references to coconspirator #1, which was mostly done, not all

The reality is that when Cohen's charges were presented, the charging documents were in fact charges against trump that Cohen worked for and with his boss. They logically would have led to trump being charged under a real attorney general that wasn't working for and on behalf of trump. The DOJ claim made by Barr that a sitting president cannot be indicted is false, and the continued logic that if he can't be indicted he can't even be investigated is pure nonsensical stupidity.

Then there were other direct interferences with state and district prosecutors cases...the list of direct interferences is ridiculous. Everything from being told to lay off cases, prosecute people even when investigations showed no evidence, and literally letting people who had been charged, even when they had plead guilty, off as in drop charges...now who drops charges when they already have a guilty plea? Barr and trump did that, they wanted charges on Cohen dropped, Stone, and Flynn, and investigations into cases stopped because it involved trump and his people.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-justice-department-william-barr-alleged-meddling-us-attorney-geoffrey-berman/