'Think for yourself' is good advice for everyone

To The Daily Sun,

In a recent letter to this forum, the writer warned us to “think for yourself” and to be aware of the “misinformation” being disseminated by the news media. In doing so, he mentions numerous news outlets, but conspicuously missing in these listings are Fox News, Breitbart News, Drudge, The Hill, New York Post, etc. – I’m sure an oversight by the contributor, or does his warning not apply to conservative media?

While I’m in total agreement with the concept that all sources of information should be checked and verified, the contributor must realize that he is doing what he is warning us not to do; it may be from the other side of the political aisle , but prejudicial just the same.

Despite his warnings, this contributor appears to be receiving and accepting false or misleading information from conservative sites which are disseminating false information. He perpetuates the lie that VP Biden bribed the Ukrainian president to fire the prosecutor investigating a company while his son, Hunter Biden, was on the board of directors. With research, you will find that this company was not being investigated and that the Obama administration – as well as many other Western European officials wanting reform in the Ukrainian prosecutors office – wanted Shoken, the prosecutor, removed because of his efforts to stymie anti-corruption efforts in the Ukraine; GOP senators at the time also wanted Shokin fired. To accomplish this goal, Biden, speaking on behave of the U.S. government, threatened to withhold financial assistance to the Ukraine; the U.S. was not alone in pressuring the Ukraine to fire Shokin.

While Biden may be accused of braggadocio for his efforts in the Ukraine, by conservatives calling it “bribery” makes it appear more devious and underhanded.

Another writer to this forum, who had labeled Dr. Fauchi as “Dr. Doom,” would do well to follow the advice of the aforementioned contributor and think for himself and not defer to the media.

In his letter, he reaffirms the ridiculous statement, attributed to Rudy Giuliani, that the doctor contributed $3.7 million to the Chinese lab in Wuhan. The figure of $3.7 million is referencing a grant provided by the National Institutes of Health to the EcoHealth Alliance, a research group that tracks emerging diseases. Money from that grant has, in turn, been distributed to five research sites over a six year period – Wuhan being one of them. Over the course of two grants, the Wuhan Institute has received approximately $600,000.

Recently, Dr. Fauci scored an 80% approval rating in a Fox News poll, as Trump’s supporters try to fire him. He has the highest approval rating by the American people of anybody associated with the virus task force. In the same poll, governors scored a 74% approval rating, while Trump, despite his infomercials for hydroxychloroquine, received a 51% approval rating.

Robert Miller

Alton