Raleigh superhero Lil’ Josh, his sidekick AndyPaul KNOW smack

McClatchy’s Politifact gets presented as something serious and important, but usually ends up coming off like something dreamed up during one of Wayne Goodwin’s daily extended stints in the porcelain reading room. You can almost see Goodwin’s reading room masterpieces getting rushed STAT from the reading room to the N&O newsroom to have AndyPaul Spock’s (Speck? Specht?) byline slapped on it.

This time, AndyPaul has outdone himself by “fact-checking” a Tweet by syndicated columnist Ann Coulter, a woman who could make him cry so many snowflake tears in a New York minute.  Here he goes:

[…] In his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said building a wall might help stem the tide of drugs into the country. While Trump’s speech didn’t linger on the relationship between opioids and Mexico, conservative commenter Ann Coulter attempted to provide some context.

“Good he’s talking about opioid crisis – 100% of heroin/fentanyl epidemic is because we don’t have a WALL,” she tweeted.

For a start, the opioid epidemic isn’t limited to heroin and fentanyl use.[…] 

First, how does he know that?  Second, is that REALLY what she said?  Let’s read MORE:

[…] Let’s look past that implication about drug use. Is it true that all heroin and fentanyl enters America through Mexico, as Coulter suggested to her 1.88 million Twitter followers?

AGAIN, did she actually SAY that?  Now, here comes the kicker:

[…] Josh Stein, North Carolina’s Democratic attorney general, says no.

“Traffickers predominately bring heroin from Mexico but usually through legal points of entry,” Stein said in a statement. “Drug dealers import illicit fentanyl from China usually by air. To effectively combat the opioid epidemic … there are better investments than a wall.” [..]

How does Lil’ Josh know this?  Since the SBI was moved out of the AG’s office, it has had no actual law enforcement power.  Lil’ Josh has a lot of lawyers to go to court and file suit over Pop-Tarts and their contributions to global warming — um, “climate change.” But noooo actual cops. 

And how does Lil’ Josh know heroin “usually” comes through legal points of entry?  IF that was a fact, why isn’t the heroin trade wiped out?

The wall is more than about “opioids.”  The unsecured border brings crime problems, disease, job loss for actual Americans, and a strain on the government “social net.”  Stuff that our attorney general OUGHT to be concerned about. 

There are sooooooo many liars floating around Raleigh.  (AndyPaul could surely find a few in his own newsroom.)  It’s a shame that we have to be treated to nonsense like this targeting someone from out-of-state who would likely have to do serious research to find out what the hell The N&O is and who the hell AndyPaul is.