San Diego Free Press

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Following Terror Attacks, County DA Stephan Takes Down Her Anti-Soros Campaign Website

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In the wake of the bombs sent via mail to various Democratic supporters, I revisited District Attorney Summer Stephan’s campaign website on Wednesday, which utilized many of the right wing memes many believe were responsible for billionaire George Soros being included as a target.

Following my attempt to remind people on social media about Stephan’s campaign of fear and loathing, the “ThreatToSanDiego” website has been shut down.

My point in doing so was to increase awareness of the fact that it’s just not Donald Trump who’s inciting wannabe terrorists. Republican campaigns all over the country have been using Soros as a boogieman, not because he’s rich, but by falsely claiming he’s tied to violent organizations.

The Soros mythology being utilized by GOP candidates, as I pointed out last spring, has its origins in anti-semitic propaganda circulated in Eastern Europe in the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union as a pushback against pro-Democracy organizations funded by his wealth.

Summer Stephan using Soros’ support as a reason to attack her opponent, Geneviéve L. Jones-Wright.  Anti-Semitism will still rile the most reactionary Republicans in our county to vote against Democrats. In the age of Trump, it’s become fashionable again in some circles.

She’s hoping to drive turnout with hate and fear, indistinguishable from what the current occupant of the Oval Office used in his campaign.

This anti-Soros crap is based on Russian-fueled lies going back to the fall of the Soviet Union.Melik Kaylan got it right in an essay published in Forbes earlier this year. After peeling back the falsehoods about Soros, he concluded:

You may disagree with his political slant in the US, as I largely do, all that Moveon.org stuff. I have written opinions against him going way back to 2001 where I teased him in a Wall Street Journal op-ed for supporting the estate tax. Yet, his (Hungarian-born) sister-in-law and I became friends for a while some ten years ago after I researched the East Europe book and I even tried to help her shape her memoir.  But I never met him or associated with any of his foundations.

Still, I’ve always admired their relentless efforts in the face of state harassment across the world to fight corruption, government opacity, repression of media and human rights. Those who helped the US win the Cold War with their ideas considered him a hero in the decades after, not least people like Lech Walensa and Vaclav Havel. Their judgment is good enough for me and should be for you. Agree or disagree with his particular spot on the political spectrum, he deserves to be treated with honor.

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“Over the course of modern history, ultra-nationalistic and racist politicians have used images of Jews, particularly those who have been financially successful, as a convenient way to enlist political support. Generalized talk about the Jews was not sufficiently effective, and the anti-Semites have always needed targets with a name and a face to stir up the masses.

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, “the Rothschilds” served as the leading image of the greedy cosmopolitan Jew. At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, the symbol is George Soros” – Haaretz

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Doug Porter

Doug Porter

Doug Porter was active in the early days of the alternative press in San Diego, contributing to the OB Liberator, the print version of the OB Rag, the San Diego Door, and the San Diego Street Journal. He went on to have a 35-year career in the Hospitality business and decided to go back into raising hell when he retired. He won numerous awards for his columns from the Society of Professional Journalists in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Doug is a cancer survivor (sans vocal chords) and lives in North Park.

Comments

  1. I had no idea who she really is- I am so very sorry that I voted for her – she is Paarl of the evil taking over our country. I is so very upsetting.

  2. Thank you for doing this important story! It is very hypocritical of her to not accept responsibility for her contribution to this hatred.

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