Bottom line: Walls work and leftists don't like it.
Operation Gatekeeper at 25: Look back at the turning point that transformed the border https://t.co/ezRgFVsHby
— L.A. Times: L.A. Now (@LANow) September 30, 2019
Commentary and analysis on American politics, culture, and national identity, U.S. foreign policy and international relations, and the state of education - from a neoconservative perspective! - Keeping an eye on the communist-left so you don't have to!
Operation Gatekeeper at 25: Look back at the turning point that transformed the border https://t.co/ezRgFVsHby
— L.A. Times: L.A. Now (@LANow) September 30, 2019
Really worth a read. What U.S. Attorney John Durham has found on Ukraine may be quite different from what the Democrats are looking for, writes Michael B. Mukasey https://t.co/tqKwlmuhcF via @WSJ
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) September 30, 2019
Today, the Los Angeles Angels announced that Brad Ausmus will not return as manager in 2020. pic.twitter.com/XDGVCiG1gx
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) September 30, 2019
NYC Ladies’ Night ✨ pic.twitter.com/OtVRMJFNu1
— Jessica Simpson (@JessicaSimpson) September 25, 2019
Natalie Portman Showing Off A Ton Of Her Sexy Braless Cleavage And Chest, Oh My! https://t.co/x3Ospj2dQl #NataliePortman #LucyInTheSky pic.twitter.com/3OsEsCx6Kp— Popoholic (@Popoholic) September 27, 2019
ICYMI==> 'Cowardly': Des Moines Register reporter CALLED OUT for his own VILE tweets after milkshake ducking hero Carson King https://t.co/r65ojaeDZC
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 25, 2019
If journalist doesn’t use old posts to attack man going viral ~ $1M for charity, 4-6 doesn’t happen. Period. https://t.co/Yx4dap3FC8
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) September 25, 2019
Journalists & editors have a choice now: change how they approach these things or realize there are more of us than there are of them. It’s not hard.
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) September 25, 2019
Of maybe stop hiring 22 year old social justice political twigs with a privileged axe to grind.
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) September 25, 2019
The Cancel Culture is being lead by the media.
— Melissa Mackenzie 🌐 (@MelissaTweets) September 25, 2019
It's enabled by feckless corporations like @BuschBeer.
I find the companies that cave to this garbage even worse.
And for the people caught in the crosshairs: DON'T APOLOGIZE. Do not reward this malignant behavior.
You know what's worse than using a bad word at the age of 16?
— Melissa Mackenzie 🌐 (@MelissaTweets) September 25, 2019
RUINING SOMEONE'S LIFE.
Not a fan of journalists digging up viral celebrities' offensive high-school tweets.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) September 25, 2019
The Des Moines Register did it to Carson King, the guy whose GameDay sign led to $1M raised for charity. Now it turns out the reporter has his own skeletons.
Unreal.https://t.co/go9C8VgqNI
4. If you’re going to pull up someone’s old tweets, write about them, and you have old racist tweets of your own, at least have the courage to take the heat, @aaronpcalvin.
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) September 25, 2019
Taking your account private is cowardly. pic.twitter.com/SdCEfg1A6Q
I am proud to introduce #AJustSociety package today to begin the important work of building a more just and prosperous society.
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) September 25, 2019
You can read more about the legislation here: https://t.co/Cm7BdhFumU
Big day!
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 25, 2019
We’re rolling out our next major project: A Just Society.
It’s a 6-piece suite:
1. Recognizing Poverty Act
2. Place to Prosper Act
3. Mercy in Re-Entry Act
4. Embrace Act
5. Uplift Our Workers Act
6. Ratify the UN Covenant on Economic, Social, & Cultural Rights
⬇️ https://t.co/nPhVxIy7fQ
Wonderful essay. Have a soft spot for Irving. He was kind to me when I was young, and his writings were always so reasonable. When he "became" a neo-conservative, it wasn't so much his thinking that changed but the culture around him. https://t.co/53gKgwsnqx via @NationalAffairs
— Bill McGurn (@wjmcgurn) September 24, 2019
Hello old friend.#Pinkman2019 pic.twitter.com/CyKW8c4lox
— Aaron Paul (@aaronpaul_8) September 23, 2019
#Emmys viewership falls under 7M for 1st time to all-time low – @DeadlineDominic reports https://t.co/VFeNXj19Rd pic.twitter.com/gsyRqclH6u
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) September 23, 2019
I miss the days when just about EVERYONE was watching the Emmys LIVE and chatting about it ...seemed so fun and happy and exciting...kinda crickets on here☹️
— Kirstie Alley (@kirstiealley) September 23, 2019
The #Emmys telecast was proof of how far television has come creatively, socially and as an industry.
— LAT Entertainment (@latimesent) September 23, 2019
And if we’re to read anything else into the show, it’s that there’s plenty more change to come, writes @LorraineAli https://t.co/IeUxtF84Pw
Peak TV. Prestige programming. The platinum age of television.
Whatever we chose to call the tsunami of innovative series that have made watching too much television a respectable pastime, the Television Academy finally managed to wrap its arms around the multiplatform beast on Sunday during the 71st Emmy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
From “Game of Thrones” to “Fleabag,” “Chernobyl” to “Ozark,” “Killing Eve” to “Pose,” the winners list produced during the three-hour Fox telecast was a testament to the diversity — in budget, subject matter, character and platform — that’s changed the very definition of television.
Case in point: Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s comedy “Fleabag,” about a woman’s dysfunctional relationship with her family, men and, yes, relationships. “This is getting ridiculous,” she said, somewhat stunned as she accepted the show’s fourth and biggest award of the night for comedy series.
In a huge upset, the cutting-edge artist also won the lead comedy actress Emmy over former favorite Julia Louis-Dreyfus of HBO’s powerhouse “Veep” and last year’s victor, the beloved Rachel Brosnahan of Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Waller-Bridge also took home the prize for writing for a comedy series over strong competitors such as HBO’s “Barry.”
As television hurtles forward into what looks like another new phase of its endless new phases — get ready for streaming platforms Disney+, Apple TV+ and more to upend the game — it’s important to stop and savor the moment we’re in now. Sunday’s Emmys were the culmination of a creative renaissance that’s still so fast-moving we haven’t had the time to give it a name that sticks. But it’s made it so “Fleabag” and “Game of Thrones” occupy the same space, at least when it comes to industry respect and (respective) social media fervor.
Even Hollywood veteran Michael Douglas, who lost the comedy actor honor for his work in Netflix’s “The Kominsky Method” to “Barry’s” Bill Hader, appeared impressed by the sheer breadth of the material represented onstage Sunday.
When introducing the drama series award he described the nominees — “Better Call Saul,” “Bodyguard,” “Game of Thrones,” “Killing Eve,” “Ozark,” “Pose,” “Succession” and “This Is Us” — as “each being so different from the television we grew up on.”
It was not surprising that the night’s top honor went to “Game of Thrones.” What was unexpected? The last big water-cooler series didn’t sweep every drama category possible for its final, earth-scorching season.
Still, the ceremony was less about dancing on the graves of blockbusters such as “Game of Thrones” or “Veep,” which was also expected to win big in the comedy categories but came away empty-handed. It was more about celebrating the wide-open landscape that allowed for “Killing Eve” and “Pose” to even happen, and then for their leads — Jodie Comer and Billy Porter — to win the academy’s top drama honors.
The night belonged to high-budget productions as well as fringe efforts, familiar faces doing new things — including Jason Bateman, who won for his direction in “Ozark”— and new arrivals that have bent comedy and drama norms into pop art.
The ceremony itself was as loose and far-flung as the industry it was honoring. It was the first time the show went host-less since way back in 2003 when the big four networks still won all the top awards, and it would be another year before HBO’s “The Sopranos” took home cable’s first drama series Emmy.
The show was held together by a pastiche of personalities and TV ephemera that included Homer Simpson, masked singers and a tuxedo-clad Bryan Cranston introducing a year in television that looked markedly different than it did when “Breaking Bad” arrived over a decade ago.
“Television has never been bigger,” he said. “Television has never mattered more. And television has never been this damn good.”
Emotions ran high when Jharrel Jerome accepted the award for lead actor in a limited series for his performance in Ava DuVernay’s “When They See Us.” The series followed the saga of black teens dubbed the Central Park Five by the media, who were wrongly accused and imprisoned for the brutal rape of a Central Park jogger.
Jerome, who played one of the accused, Korey Wise, in the series, dedicated the award to “the men that we know as the Exonerated Five.”
And all five men — Wise, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Raymond Santana Jr. and Yusef Salaam — were in the audience, on their feet, hands in the air as if they’d been freed once again.
“Game of Thrones” star Peter Dinklage might have put it best when he accepted the Emmy for supporting actor in a drama. “Thank you. I have no idea what I’m about to say, but here we go. I count myself so fortunate to be a member of a community that is all about tolerance and diversity, because in no other place could I be standing on a stage like this,” he said, choking up...
Greta Thunberg to world leaders at the U.N. climate summit: “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words” https://t.co/vhK7qb7Dgb pic.twitter.com/kArrseEu9f
— TIME (@TIME) September 23, 2019
“People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction. And all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”My speech in UN General Assembly in print https://t.co/8wYyCa4H01
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) September 23, 2019
Telling children that our species is headed for imminent extinction is psychological abuse. Climate alarmists are child abusers. They aren't just wrong and stupid -- though they are those things -- they're also morally depraved.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 23, 2019
Not interested in seeing/hearing children used as political pawns while being labeled “political activists.” And if you peddle this kind of stuff, you should be deeply ashamed of yourself. Self-reflect. Seriously.
— Jedediah Bila (@JedediahBila) September 23, 2019
Teen suicide & anxiety disorders are through the roof. Constant fearmonging from adults is only making it worse. My latest for @Ricochet. https://t.co/aQtwkzXmry
— jon gabriel (@exjon) September 23, 2019
No one has looked me in the eyes all day. pic.twitter.com/UpUTGRsUUl— Keeley Hazell (@keeleyscorner) May 3, 2019
If y'all want to hear a REAL Southern accent and see a BIG catfish, you need to watch this video. https://t.co/2gyt9HiLWU
— The Patriarch Tree (@PatriarchTree) September 22, 2019
.@AmyKinLA has the touch. https://t.co/Qk6YaJQLKk
— Robert Lloyd (@LATimesTVLloyd) September 23, 2019
Walking to my Uber passing all the boys who bought me drinks all night pic.twitter.com/00omMKbmk3
— Chicks (@Chicks) September 20, 2019
This man I am standing with (Vince Gilligan) is the reason I have a career. I would follow this man into a fire. That’s how much I trust him. This man gave me a chance back when nobody else would. In weeks people will know our secrets that we keep. Here’s to many more secrets. pic.twitter.com/NlXskGvjLa— Aaron Paul (@aaronpaul_8) September 19, 2019
Dems Will Have To Lie About Their Agenda To Win, Poll Shows https://t.co/gC7eZKmDcL— Andrew Malcolm (@AHMalcolm) September 19, 2019
‘Wheeee!’ Bernie Sanders announces what else will be paid off for you if he’s elected president https://t.co/P9uq1Vtb3N
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 21, 2019
Kalkan has my heart! ☀️💛 pic.twitter.com/JsqsvsSb8g
— Rhian Sugden (@Rhianmarie) September 18, 2019
Plaschke: On improbable night, USC lives up to its motto and silence critics https://t.co/N1DyqTqqdh
— L.A. Times Sports (@latimessports) September 21, 2019
Teenage climate activist Greta has apologized for wearing that Antifa tee-shirt. She just borrowed it from a friend. https://t.co/ZKJQl50xyK pic.twitter.com/g91OkVH932
— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) July 26, 2019
This is what mass hysteria looks like. 🙄 #ClimateStrike https://t.co/nCie2pTbpL
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) September 20, 2019
More mass hysteria, but #SanFrancisco’s known for it lol. #ClimateStrike 🤓 https://t.co/p55gVEgZi4
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) September 20, 2019
The Smearing Of Brett Kavanaugh Is An Attack On The Supreme Court https://t.co/akkWtmNwVt— Mollie (@MZHemingway) September 16, 2019
Shameless. New York Times continues its war on Brett Kavanaugh even after the entire premise of this story was shown to be false. They will not stop. They will not weary. https://t.co/tMYyzsPS2b— Mollie (@MZHemingway) September 17, 2019
Those making and propagating these charges against Kavanaugh aren’t interested in the truth. They ought to be called out as the smear merchants they are, writes @wjmcgurn https://t.co/a8HAbIqPYY via @WSJ— Mollie (@MZHemingway) September 17, 2019
Ana Braga Getting Gas in Only a Pair of Overalls - https://t.co/I1OfDJUkUi - pic.twitter.com/sT3ZQeYGmR
— Taxi Driver (@TaxiDriverMovie) September 11, 2019
Let me say some things so politically incorrect that Heidi Beirich at the SPLC might find them interesting: Despite all the left-wing demonization of white people that has saturated elite culture in recent years, the Nordic type is still quite a popular commodity in the dating market. A young white person who is generally attractive won’t be lonely, no matter how many academics, journalists and politicians blame them for all the evil in the world. My youngest son — so blond-haired and blue-eyed he could be a poster boy for the Hitlerjugend — is remarkably popular among his peers of all races. While the paranoid prophets of demographic doom obsess over declining white fecundity (“It’s the birth rates,” as the New Zealand shooter proclaimed in his manifesto), life is not so bad for young people who were lucky enough to be born white. Unless you’re a pathetic Beta loser, which my son is not. The doomsayers are misguided, and their fear-based perspective on demographics is not helpful. But I digress . . .More.
"His ex-wife could not be reached for comment..." I'll bet. 🙄 https://t.co/TE7BX6GjOa
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) September 14, 2019
Though-provoking essay: are Democrats, save Biden, running for president of Twitter, speaking to a progressive majority that doesn’t exist anywhere outside social media? https://t.co/ALTlZf4gel pic.twitter.com/frRPQv0YvL
— Michael Barbaro (@mikiebarb) September 14, 2019
"Arguing that the 'true founding' was the arrival of African slaves on the continent, period, is a bitter rebuke to the actual founders and Lincoln." https://t.co/4PDFklsx6w via @intelligencer
— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) September 13, 2019
.@MelissaTweets More on Texas' "political shift," something you've tweeted about a few times: "After mass shootings, gun advocates in #Texas worry about a political shift" 🤷♂️ cc. @DLoesch #ElPaso https://t.co/L7gpc8fkGC
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) September 14, 2019
Are Hong Kong’s Protestors More ‘American’ Than the Socialist Democrats? https://t.co/b4p6bY5zX1
— = Linda🇺🇸Wray = (@_NCPatriot_) September 14, 2019
EDDIE MONEY RIP. So sad to hear of his passing. I remember his first album which I LOVED. A fine singer through the years. My condolences to his family. pic.twitter.com/j22zMQfBXp— Paul Stanley (@PaulStanleyLive) September 13, 2019
We have a choice: Will we let socialists like @AOC be the face of our future? Or will a new generation of conservatives step up & lead us? We're launching New Faces GOP to help identify & support the next generation of GOP leaders. Learn more: https://t.co/UrarCUSAIl pic.twitter.com/LgwTrS8En6
— New Faces GOP (@NewFacesGOP) September 13, 2019
.@aoc response is the Democratic party in a nutshell. They are more offended by truthful words than the acts of their political ideology that has killed millions of innocent victims. I don't care about @AOC feelings - I care about stopping her lies about the lies of socialism.
— Elizabeth Heng (@ElizabethHeng) September 13, 2019
.@instapundit: LEFTISTS ARE STILL TRYING TO COPE WITH THE LOSS OF THEIR ACCUSTOMED IMPUNITY: The Ad That Ran During The Dem Debate That Has Ocasio-Cortez #AOC Outraged. https://t.co/KX333Ts43I pic.twitter.com/425d475Z5y
— Sissy Willis (@SissyWillis) September 13, 2019
A day of diving off Santa Cruz Island ended like countless others aboard the Conception, with dozens of divers asleep in tightly arranged bunks that all but filled the belly of the 75-foot boat.Keep reading.
As always, there were two ways out in case of emergency — up a curved stairway at the front of the cabin, or through an escape hatch in the ceiling over bunks at the rear.
Before dawn on Labor Day, when flames devoured the 38-year-old wooden-hulled vessel, no one below deck made it out of either exit. The only survivors were five crew members who were up top in the wheelhouse and managed to jump into the water and then onto a dinghy.
Now, as investigators search for the cause of the fire that killed everyone in the bunk room — one crew member and all 33 passengers — questions are mounting about the design of the Conception and its emergency escape routes.
By various accounts, both the design of the boat and the layout of its sleeping quarters met federal standards and both are widely popular among California operators of overnight dive and fishing excursion vessels.
Like other such commercial boats, the Conception was subject to annual inspections by the Coast Guard, most recently in February, when it was certified to be in compliance with all regulations...
Reserved solely for Birthdays and Anniversaries @chicks (Via IG/morganrosemoroney ) pic.twitter.com/XfnVJTwYAa
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) August 31, 2019
Having a good hair day and I need everyone to know about it pic.twitter.com/Ck2DhRar5u
— Krystle Baker (@TarheelKrystle) September 4, 2019
“The Trump administration may end up destroying the old system without having drafted a blueprint for its successor.”https://t.co/lZrjZminVr— Foreign Affairs (@ForeignAffairs) August 31, 2019
Donald Trump has been true to his word. After excoriating free trade while campaigning for the U.S. presidency, he has made economic nationalism a centerpiece of his agenda in office. His administration has pulled out of some trade deals, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and renegotiated others, including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement. Many of Trump’s actions, such as the tariffs he has imposed on steel and aluminum, amount to overt protectionism and have hurt the U.S. economy. Others have had less obvious, but no less damaging, effects. By flouting international trade rules, the administration has diminished the country’s standing in the world and led other governments to consider using the same tools to limit trade arbitrarily. It has taken deliberate steps to weaken the World Trade Organization (WTO)—some of which will permanently damage the multilateral trading system. And in its boldest move, it is trying to use trade policy to decouple the U.S. and Chinese economies.More.
A future U.S. administration that wants to chart a more traditional course on trade will be able to undo some of the damage and start repairing the United States’ tattered reputation as a reliable trading partner. In some respects, however, there will be no going back. The Trump administration’s attacks on the WTO and the expansive legal rationalizations it has given for many of its protectionist actions threaten to pull apart the unified global trading system. And on China, it has become clear that the administration is bent on severing, not fixing, the relationship. The separation of the world’s two largest economies would trigger a global realignment. Other countries would be forced to choose between rival trade blocs. Even if Trump loses reelection in 2020, global trade will never be the same.
BATTLE LINES
The first two years of the Trump administration featured pitched battles between the so-called globalists (represented by Gary Cohn, then the director of the National Economic Council) and the nationalists (represented by the Trump advisers Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro). The president was instinctively a nationalist, but the globalists hoped to contain his impulses and encourage his attention-seeking need to strike flashy deals. They managed to slow the rollout of some new tariffs and prevent Trump from precipitously withdrawing from trade agreements.
But by mid-2018, the leading globalists had left the administration, and the nationalists—the president among them—were in command. Trump has a highly distorted view of international trade and international negotiations. Viewing trade as a zero-sum, win-lose game, he stresses one-time deals over ongoing relationships, enjoys the leverage created by tariffs, and relies on brinkmanship, escalation, and public threats over diplomacy. The president has made clear that he likes tariffs (“trade wars are good, and easy to win”) and that he wants more of them (“I am a Tariff Man”).
Although the thrust of U.S. policy over the past 70 years has been to pursue agreements to open up trade and reduce barriers, every president has for political purposes used protectionist measures to help certain industries. President Ronald Reagan, for example, capped imports to protect the automotive and steel industries during what was then the worst U.S. recession since the Great Depression. Trump, however, has enjoyed a period of strong economic growth, low unemployment, and a virtual absence of protectionist pressure from industry or labor. And yet his administration has imposed more tariffs than most of its predecessors.
Take steel. Although there is nothing unusual about steel (along with aluminum) receiving government protection—the industry maintains a permanent presence in Washington and has been an on-again, off-again beneficiary of trade restrictions since the Johnson administration—the scope of the protection provided and the manner in which the Trump administration gave it last year were unusual. In order to avoid administrative review by independent agencies such as the nonpartisan, quasi-judicial U.S. International Trade Commission, the White House dusted off Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. This Cold War statute gives the president the authority to impose restrictions on imports if the Commerce Department finds that they threaten to harm a domestic industry the government deems vital to national security.
The Trump administration’s national security case was weak. More than 70 percent of the steel consumed in the United States was produced domestically, the imported share was stable, and there was no threat of a surge. Most imports came from Canada, Germany, Japan, Mexico, and other allies, with only a small fraction coming from China and Russia, thanks to antidumping duties already in place on those countries. The number of jobs in the U.S. steel industry had been shrinking, but this was due more to advances in technology than falling production or imports. In the 1980s, for example, it took ten man-hours to produce a ton of steel; today, it takes just over one man-hour. Even the Defense Department was skeptical about the national security motivation.
Prior administrations refrained from invoking the national security rationale for fear that it could become an unchecked protectionist loophole and that other countries would abuse it. In a sign that those fears may come true, the Trump administration recently stood alongside Russia to argue that merely invoking national security is enough to defeat any WTO challenge to a trade barrier. This runs counter to 75 years of practice, as well as to what U.S. negotiators argued when they created the global trading system in the 1940s.
The Trump administration dismissed all those concerns...
If this doesn't qualify @TulsiGabbard to be included in the upcoming @Cnn Socialist Consensus Announcements and Free Money Sweepstakes Giveaway Events (formerly known as "debates"), nothing does. None of the other candidates can even do 1 situp (I'm looking at you, @CoryBooker). https://t.co/Rm9pxYMPMp
— Nick Searcy, INTERNATIONAL FILM & TELEVISION STAR (@yesnicksearcy) September 7, 2019
Ok, so NO nuclear, NO coal & NO oil & gas. Electric’s ok, but all power plants that run on coal or natural gas (most of them) will be shut down too. Planes, I guess, will run on Pixie dust & you’ll put a windmill on the hood of your car. This is not serious; it’s empty politics. https://t.co/xaQiiD2QE6— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 6, 2019
One 64-year-old retiree who has attended more than 50 Trump rallies says she keeps going because she trusts only the president to deliver her the news. “How else would I know what’s going on?” Great @MichaelCBender read on the Trump rally diehards: https://t.co/6K83rqm2iU
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) September 6, 2019
Uh, hey guys. Joe Biden’s eye filled with blood while onstage at the CNN town hall.
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) September 5, 2019
This is not a photoshop: pic.twitter.com/kJRHxMP8wc
Pretty Woman
Van Halen
8:43am
Don't You Want Me
Human League
8:39am
Starlight
Muse
8:34am
Life In The Fast Lane
Eagles
8:22am
Vacation
The Go-Gos
8:19am
In Bloom
Nirvana
8:15am
Just Like Heaven
Cure
8:11am
Paradise City
Guns N Roses
8:05am
PARADISE CITY
GUNS N ROSES
8:04am
Jumper
Third Eye Blind
Opinion | The Trump Voters Whose ‘Need for Chaos’ Obliterates Everything Else - The New York Times @Edsall with an insightful & frightening column that should inspire all of us to reform our politics to foster true democracy https://t.co/ffGOiH9S3D— Sal Albanese (@SalAlbaneseNYC) September 4, 2019
Over the four years during which he has dominated American political life, nearly three of them as president, Donald Trump has set a match again and again to chaos-inducing issues like racial hostility, authoritarianism and white identity politics.More.
Last week, at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, the winner of the best paper award in the Political Psychology division was “A ‘Need for Chaos’ and the Sharing of Hostile Political Rumors in Advanced Democracies.”
The paper, which the award panel commended for its “ambitious scope, rigor, and creativity,” is the work of Michael Bang Petersen and Mathias Osmundsen, both political scientists at Aarhus University in Denmark, and Kevin Arceneaux, a political scientist at Temple.
It argues that a segment of the American electorate that was once peripheral is drawn to “chaos incitement” and that this segment has gained decisive influence through the rise of social media.
“The rise of social media provides the public with unprecedented power to craft and share new information with each other,” they write. In the political arena, this technological transformation allows the transmission of a type of information that portrays “political candidates or groups negatively” and has “a low evidential basis.” The “new information” transmitted on social media includes “conspiracy theories, fake news, discussions of political scandals and negative campaigns.”
The circulation of this type of information (which the authors label “hostile political rumors”) has been “linked to large-scale political outcomes within recent years such as the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”
On a less cataclysmic level, the authors’ analysis helps explain the intensity of anti-establishment voting that drove Trump’s successful takeover of the Republican Party in the 2016 primaries.
The authors describe “chaos incitement” as a “strategy of last resort by marginalized status-seekers,” willing to adopt disruptive tactics. Trump, in turn, has consistently sought to strengthen the perception that America is in chaos, a perception that has enhanced his support while seeming to reinforce his claim that his predecessors, especially President Barack Obama, were failures.
Petersen, Osmundsen and Arceneaux find that those who meet their definition of having a “need for chaos” express that need by willingly spreading disinformation. Their goal is not to advance their own ideology but to undermine political elites, left and right, and to “mobilize others against politicians in general.” These disrupters do not “share rumors because they believe them to be true. For the core group, hostile political rumors are simply a tool to create havoc.”
The circulation of hostile political rumors (including but not limited to false news and conspiracy theories) has gained prominencein public debates across advanced democracies. Here, we provide the first comprehensive assessment of the psychological syndrome that elicits motivations to share hostile political rumors among citizens of democratic societies. Against the notion that sharing occurs to help one mainstream political actor in the increasingly polarized electoral competition against other mainstream actors, we demonstrate that sharing motivations are associated with ‘chaotic’ motivations to “burn down” the entire established democratic ‘cosmos’. We show that this extreme discontent is associated with motivations to share hostile political rumors, not because such rumors are viewed to be true but because they are believedto mobilize the audience against disliked elites. We introduce an individual difference measure, the “Need for Chaos”, to measure these motivations and illuminate their social causes, linked to frustrated status-seeking. Finally, we show that chaotic motivations are surprisingly widespread withinadvanced democracies, having some hold inup to 40 percent of the American national population.
KIRSTEN DUNST is killing it on her new show, and not because she’s a 40 year old mom, with a mom body and a set of mom tits, but because she’s actually fucking good. It’s nice to see some of the “OLD GUARD” come back into the mix and have their breakout, or comeback performance that they will either be remembered by, or reminded of….
She is pretty much the last generation of talent that had to break through on an industry level...
May 18th🥂 pic.twitter.com/ygBWZDLKQ8
— Lia Marie Johnson (@LiaMarieJohnson) May 8, 2018
Billie Eilish calls out 'Nylon Germany' over weird CGI cover https://t.co/bIrrBf2HDk pic.twitter.com/1K5tq675si— SPIN (@SPIN) August 31, 2019
"what the fuck is this shit" https://t.co/Umi8LMivvM— Exclaim! (@exclaimdotca) August 30, 2019
Nylon America is a different company than Nylon Germany and we strongly disagree with their decision to appropriate Billie Eilish's image without her consent. Nylon America is very sorry to Billie and her fans.
— NYLON (@NylonMag) August 30, 2019
Pete Buttigieg Was Rising. Then Came South Bend’s Policing Crisis. https://t.co/cpVPX0dUCR— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) August 31, 2019
Yeah, he f%!#*ing did, alright? 🤷♂️🙄 #Beto https://t.co/aatPmTMN2p
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) September 2, 2019
Beto O’Rourke is having a moment (again.) It stems from tragedy — the horrific mass shooting in his hometown of El Paso — but there it is. A rare and sorely needed chance for a do-over of sorts. https://t.co/aoNlWfbWz9
— Mark Z. Barabak (@markzbarabak) August 29, 2019
“The white girl whose behavior is at the heart of Fresno’s current racial debate remains on the cheer squad. The black girl who blew the whistle has been pulled out of school by her fearful mother” Blackface video raises ghosts of racist past https://t.co/QK0xlkKTix @marialaganga
— Hailey Branson-Potts (@haileybranson) September 1, 2019
Death by ‘Social Justice’: Zoe Quinn Drives Game Maker #AlecHolowka to Suicide: https://t.co/QkihqzZLd2: Via @PatriarchTree
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) September 1, 2019
#SJWs #RadicalLeft 🤨 pic.twitter.com/cJq2piZ2Vc
This is what Mr. Holowka had to say about Zoe a few years ago. Too bad no one stood up for him when it counted.
— Ethan Ralph (@TheRalphRetort) September 1, 2019
Now he's dead and that crowd is back to blaming everyone but themselves. (h/t @GamesNosh) #ZoeBodyCount pic.twitter.com/HYZFSvI1rv
I have to catch a few hours of sleep, but for those following #hongkong, make sure you’re following @HongKongFP @HongKongHermit @rhokilpatrick @fion_li @erinhale @EricCheungwc for dispatches from the protests— Milena Rodban (@MilenaRodban) September 1, 2019
Did I just watch Dave Chappelle save America from itself in 65 minutes on Netflix? pic.twitter.com/FCXgk2j4hX
— Bret Easton Ellis (@BretEastonEllis) August 29, 2019
"Die With a Smile."
Robert Stacy McCain, "Radical Vegan Transgender Death Cult Update: Brainwashed Zombie Praises ‘Ziz’ and Denies Killing Her Own Parents..."
View From the Beach, "The Monday Morning [Bikini] Stimulus..."
The Free Press, "The Passion of Pope Francis..."Instapundit, "CHRIS QUEEN: Progressive Christianity Watch: Heretical Easter Edition..."