While this story isn't true ...

"This story isn't true, but ..."

The Ofarim girls at Eisner Camp in the late 1990's/early 2000's loved to tell stories during their tefilah presentations. The stories were lovely and moralistic. 

As the stories wound down, the girls would usually say, disclaimer like, "This story isn't true, but ..." And they'd go on to teach us what the story meant in their lives. The whole thing was sweet, adorable, and inevitable, and the faculty and counselors would smile to each other. 

Which is fine when you're 12 or 13. 

Well, we got a "this story isn't true, but ..." during the debate between the Former President (FP) and Vice President Kamala Harris. There was no evidence, but that didn't stop FP from blasting a horrific and vile libel against the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio. After all, he saw it on TV, right, so it must be real. 

Except it wasn't real - none of it. It was fabricated out of whole cloth starting with a very unfortunate Facebook post by a Springfield woman who has since confessed she had no direct evidence supporting such a claim. 

"If I have to create stories so that the American media pays attention to the suffering of people, that's what I'm going to do." (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVJ_Icosa3s)

What happened after he and the FP started the cats and dogs and ducks memes? 

Bomb threats, school closures, and threats against the immigrant Haitian community. 

Bottom line: the story wasn't true, and there is no but. 

(Graphic: CNN)