Fake Outrage: Kalkaska Prez Under Swamp Scrutiny

One week after a crazy gunman steeped in progressive dogma shot up a Republican baseball practice, injuring five, outside progressive groups with similar mindsets tried to figuratively do the same to a village president in Kalkaska.  That leader's crime:  not agreeing with progressive dogma in his social media posts.

As related in the June 21 Traverse City Record Eagle:

TRAVERSE CITY — Facebook posts calling for violence against Muslims have triggered a fervent backlash that has some calling for the Kalkaska village president’s resignation.

Kalkaska County residents discovered the posts on village President Jeff Sieting’s Facebook page during the past several days and shared them until they caught the eye of Phoebe Hopps, an Antrim County resident and Women’s March Michigan organizer.

Hopps said several of the posts — some have since been deleted — were hateful. A November post titled “Kill them All” Sieting appeared to have copied from another website made a call to “Kill every last Muslim. Burn every last copy of their satanic book. Burn every last mosque to the ground. Burn every last dwelling they have occupied.”

“Everyone has a right to their voice and opinion, but people look up to him,” Hopps said, after reviewing the post which appears to have been deleted. “For him to be saying this level of vitriol, it’s scary. It was scary to a lot of people.”

He shared another article referencing a transgender teacher, a post that asserted being transgender is a “mental illness”.

Sieting, who describes himself as “A White Christian Conservative American that strongly believes in the constitution as it was written” on his Facebook profile, did not return calls requesting comment.

Kalkaska village Trustee Tim Ellis said he was shocked when he began reading reports outlining Sieting’s social media activity. Ellis defended Sieting’s freedom of speech on social media, but said he is concerned with the posts’ contents.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for anybody to say that,” Ellis said, referencing the post calling for violence against Muslims. “Regardless of anyone’s position, I don’t think it’s appropriate for anyone to say that.”...

Dan Bloomquist, Trout Town Tavern and Eatery owner in Kalkaska, could not speculate the impact this issue could have on his business.

He has doubted whether the controversial posts accurately represent who Sieting is.

“I know Jeff personally and I know he doesn’t take those views,” he said. “By knowing him I know he’s a pretty decent guy, a standup guy.”

This isn’t the first time Sieting’s actions aroused concern. He previously affixed a Donald Trump campaign sign on his downtown Hotel Sieting, a placcard that remained hanging after an ordinance-dictated deadline to remove political advertisements. A sign asking passersby to pray for Trump remains... officials from Women’s March Michigan, the Michigan Muslim Community Council and others have vowed to gather at the National Trout Memorial on Friday evening to call for Sieting’s resignation [End of Article].

A review of Sieting's Facebook posts show an unapologetic, conservative bend to the posts and commentary of Sieting.   Many of these are not the creation of the village president, but shared.  Close-minded folks will mistakenly believe that if somebody shares an article, that they endorse what is said in the article, but reporting media routinely does just that in order to bring an issue to everyone's attention. 

The media in many places used the "Listen bone heads..." post at the beginning of this article without noticing that it prefaced a USA Today link about the "Day Without an Immigrant" protest.  In this context, Sieting is pointing out the big difference between legal and illegal immigration, and the dangerous implications of not following the law.  This seems a reasonable position for a village's chief executive to have. 

The protest organized primarily by groups centered far away from Kalkaska generated the creation of a grass-roots counter-protest in support of Sieting that was held across the street in front of Sieting's historic hotel.  While most news outlets concentrated on what the protesters were saying, and labelling Sieting and his supporters as a hater or -phobe of all things that he wasn't, there was one paper which at least covered it more fairly, the June 24, TC Record Eagle:

KALKASKA — Two sides of a heated debate together chanted “USA, USA,” but the cheer was the only hint of unity as two factions converged on Kalkaska’s streets.

The divide remained four lanes wide Friday night. Protesters on Cedar Street’s east side called for village president Jeff Sieting’s resignation after discovering Facebook posts, including one he shared that called for the death of Muslims. Dozens of others gathered on the street’s west side in front of Hotel Sieting to support the village leader.

Sieting’s brother, Robert, paced in front of the hotel with others, some sporting “Make America Great Again” shirts and hats, toting signs supporting Sieting and his freedom of speech. He said the Facebook posts were taken out of context and the situation was overblown by his brother’s enemies.

“They’re going back, scrolling for one wrong word, one misspelled word and using that to build a factory of hatred and discrimination,” he said. “That’s not even close. My brother loves everybody and welcomes everybody. He gives everyone a fair shake.”

Sieting and others confronted the protesters several times, but the demonstrations remained mostly peaceful.

Jeff Sieting watched the events unfold from the hotel’s porch with supporters smoking cigarettes and enjoying the warm June night. He declined further comment.

The Facebook posts caught attention because many opposed a sign on the hotel asking passersby to pray for President Donald Trump, Robert Sieting argued. Protesters disagreed.

Micheal Henriet, of Kalkaska, argued with some of Sieting’s supporters and stressed his protesting dealt more with Sieting’s social media activity, than his support for Trump.

“It’s the super bigoted hate,” he said. “We didn’t realize what a bigot he was until when he was elected. That’s not us.”

The conservative radio talk show “Your Defending Fathers” and show co-founder “Trucker” Randy Bishop, helped organize the gathering of bikers and others, several of whom carried firearms, to honor Trump and exercise their Second Amendment rights.

Bishop learned of the uproar over Sieting’s Facebook posts and joined those supporting his freedom to speak.

“He’s no more right or wrong than they are across the street,” he said, looking at the protesters. “That is what America is all about.”

As president and leader of the village, the things Sieting says or shares on Facebook hold greater weight and can have far-reaching implications, Patricia McCleary and several other protesters argued.

McLeary, from Alden, considered many of Sieting’s Facebook posts “hate speech” that give northern Michigan a bad name.

“I don’t want the community up north to be painted with this anti-Muslim fear of people that you see in other places,” she said. “The basic message (Sieting sends) is, if you don’t think how I think, you’re not welcome.”

Robert Sieting said his brother is being misrepresented by those reacting to the Facebook posts.

He said Jeff continues to work hard for the community and help its residents wherever possible.

“We love people. We were raised by a good person who loves us,” Robert said. “We don’t want no trouble.” [End of Article]

It's rather telling to note that those calling to thwart the will of the Kalkaska voters who voted for Sieting, who just now react to a bunch of Facebook posts made mainly over a half year ago, and who claim Sieting's speech is hate because it doesn't totally agree with their world view can be viewed as reasonable in their approach to this politician with a penchant for social media.  But that's what's happening at the national level too, isn't it? 

Perhaps that violence on the baseball diamond in Maryland has not toned down the rhetoric, precisely because the media and progressive politicians, which often brand conservatives and libertarians as haters, have not stigmatized the shooter's inspiration, which is themselves. 

But for at least a day or two, Jeff Sietling did bring some attention and some economic development to the village of Kalkaska, and hopefully he will continue to bring a too-often-absent brand of common sense to the government therein in moderating the swamp and staying true to his ideals.

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I hope Seiting doesn't buckle under the pressure from the Globelists who are all around us, meaning those that want open borders and an open immigration policy. What the ignorant left supporters don't reallize is that they are being used to further the agenda of a "one World government" crowd who see America as the main obstacle to their quest for control.

I wonder if the Kalkaska economy  will be devastated  now that the Muslims of the world now know { they didn't know before somebody thought everyone should ] that they are not welcomed by the village mayor? What a bunch of crap. Anybody seen any in the area?   No?  maybe social media does work.

In Kalkaska County, Trump had nearly three votes for every vote for Hillary.  It's not surprising that Seiting would not come under fire in such an area for basically voicing similar sentiments that Trump put forth. 

This is an inorganic protest started by the same "resist" mindset that still hasn't came to grips with reality since November 9, 2016.  Sad, but the rest of us have to deal with it.

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