SPARE CHANGE: Tucker Carlson and factless theories partly to blame for Buffalo massacre

About 22 years ago, I worried the downfall of our country would result from prolonged battles with vicious groups like the Taliban.

While fringe groups in the Middle East are still a concern, we see domestic terrorism steeped in racism and anti-Semitism is a more real threat year after year.

We’ve seen massacres in synagogues and churches in recent times. Last weekend, an 18-year-old man with a troubling school history drove 200 miles to Buffalo, New York, and opened fire at a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood, killing 13.

He planned to race from Buffalo to gun down more African Americans on his hate tour. He’s probably mad that he only nailed 13, even madder he accidentally killed two white people. He’s an advocate of “replacement theory,” which claims Democrats will loosen the borders to bring in minorities to replace the white majority.

The immigrants then will become citizens (which can take several years) and be able to vote. This is the fact-less bile Tucker Carlson spews regularly on Fox News.

In the Charlottesville, Virginia, marches in 2017, men carrying Tiki torches chanted “Jews will not replace us. You will not replace us.” At the time, President Donald Trump commented on the white supremacists and the counter-protesters, saying, “There were fine people on both sides.”

At the behest of his staff, Trump later condemned the white supremacists. He later said he regretted it, thinking it made him look weak.

I guess condemning a pack of racists is a sign of weakness in some quarters. It is if it offends a chunk of your base.

So now the conspiracy kooks feel emboldened by easy-to-buy weapons and national figures like Carlson, whose zany theories go unchecked by the most popular news network in the country.

Sleep well, America.

ODDZNENDZ: Good for Rogers High School for recently providing a final open house for alumni, former teachers and staff, and the general community. The school will be torn down for a much-needed replacement.

While I didn’t grow up here, I covered a lot of stories at Rogers (mainly from 1985-99). I always enjoyed visiting to write stories. The faculty and administration gave me a lot of latitude.

And the best part was interviewing kids, who really know what’s going on.

• Also, it was nice to see members of the old Rogers dance team reunited in the auditorium for a final time with their leader, Diana Dinsmore.

• In compiling a list weeks ago of fun (and not-so-fun) events I covered in the auditorium, I neglected to mention the Gladding School of Dance recitals, especially a touching anniversary show.

A sincere mea culpa, my friends.

I hope now I can take down the yellow police tape outside my house.

• R.I.P.: Lauralee Griffith, 61. We met at the old Barclay’s backroom in 1984. We bonded through a love of 1960s and 1970s TV trivia.

She was a talented portrait artist. Once at the Jazz Festival, she spent an afternoon sketching artists in performance. Gerry Mulligan loved his, and Lauralee gave him the tear sheet.

I bumped into her through the years. We talked a few times when she moved back to town from her native Massachusetts, where she died on April 6.

A kind person gone way too soon.

• If you moved here, say, January. Your world is about to change soon.

Jim Gillis is a Daily News columnist. Send him email at jimgillis13@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: SPARE CHANGE: Tucker Carlson partly to blame for Buffalo massacre