Roadworks in and around Flintshire over the next few days – Deeside.com

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Published: Monday, Feb 24th, 2020

Roadworks starting over thenext few days in and around Flintshire.

As usual expect delays, road closures, diversions and temporary traffic lights where roadworks are taking place.

If spot any roadworks or anything transport related you would like to share get in touch here:

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A5104 Corwen Road, Treuddyn, Flintshire

26 February 28 February

Delays likely Traffic control (two-way signals)

Works location:1

Works description:Int to Perm Dig Out Band 2 Job in Footway (6mm Bitmac (Tarmac) )

Responsibility for works:Dee Valley Water

Current status:Planned work about to start

Works reference:ZU0028102/000012228701B

B5121 B5121 Ffordd Walwen to Berthen Lane, Lixwm, Flintshire

26 February 28 February

Delays likely Traffic control (two-way signals)

Works location:TAN Y BRYN, B5121 FFORDD WALWEN TO BERTHEN LANE, LIXWRN, FLINTSHIRE

Works description:Renew Existing Stop Tap

Responsibility for works:WELSH WATER

Current status:Planned work about to start

Works reference:PE12595209365

Parkway, Sealand, Flintshire

24 February 06 March

Delays likely Traffic control (multi-way signals)

Works location:Parkway, Deeside Industrial Park

Works description:Trial holes for future sewer works.

Responsibility for works:WELSH WATER

Current status:Planned work about to start

Works reference:PE13774001358

St Davids Lane, Mold, Flintshire

24 February 24 February

Delays likely Traffic control (two-way signals)

Works location:OUTSIDE PRESBYTERY

Works description:WORKS TO EXCAVATE JOINTBAY IN FOOTWAY

Responsibility for works:SP ENERGY NETWORKS

Current status:Planned work about to start

Works reference:GY030MW71904KING-3

Ffordd Pen Y Bryn, Nercwys, Flintshire

24 February 25 February

Delays possible Some carriageway incursion

Works location:o/s Llew Gwyn, Ffordd Pen Y Bryn, Nercwys

Works description:720518-MOLD-COPPER PROVISION-install new BT track

Responsibility for works:Openreach

Current status:Planned work about to start

Works reference:BC211NWWAQR862C001

Works reference: PD5012052155128947

A55 A55 Westbound A550 Junction 35 to Ewloe, Hawarden, Flintshire

26 February 23 March

Delays unlikely Some carriageway incursion

Works location:A55, Junction 35 to Junction 34 Westbound Carriageway

Works description:Layby Closures for Surfacing Works

Responsibility for works:Welsh Government

Current status:Advanced planning

Works reference:PD5012052155232306

Argoed View, New Brighton, Flintshire

24 February 26 February

Delays unlikely Traffic control (give & take)

Works location:OUTSIDE PROPERTY Y LLAIN

Works description:CONSTRUCT NEW INSPECTION CHAMBER ON SEWER LINE

Responsibility for works:WELSH WATER

Current status:Planned work about to start

Works reference:PE12595167602

Bryn Celyn, Nannerch, Flintshire

24 February 26 February

Delays unlikely Some carriageway incursion

Works location:3, BRYN CELYN, NANNERCH, FLINTSHIRE

Works description:Hsehold Mtr

Responsibility for works:WELSH WATER

Current status:Planned work about to start

Works reference:PE12595186021

Coed Onn Road, Flint, Flintshire

25 February 27 February

Delays unlikely Some carriageway incursion

Works location:102 COED ONN ROAD FLINT FLINTSHIRE

Works description:Hsehold Mtr Option

Responsibility for works:WELSH WATER

Current status:Planned work about to start

Works reference:PE12595167457

Earl Street, Flint, Flintshire

26 February 04 March

Delays unlikely Traffic control (give & take)

Works location:Side of Raven Court across Earl Street

Works description:Install new water main

Responsibility for works:WELSH WATER

Current status:Planned work about to start

Works reference:PE12570921203

Meadowcroft, Higher Kinnerton, Flintshire

25 February 27 February

Delays unlikely Some carriageway incursion

Works location:ROAD OPENING & DIG TAKING PLACE ON FOOTWAY OUTSIDE NUMBER 3

Works description:INSTALL NEW MTR AND BBOX DIG IS A METER BY A METER SQUARE

Responsibility for works:Dee Valley Water

Current status:Planned work about to start

Works reference:ZU0070000/00004491543

Meadowside, Hawarden, Flintshire

25 February 27 February

Delays unlikely Some carriageway incursion

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Roadworks in and around Flintshire over the next few days - Deeside.com

The anti-Greta: A conservative think tank takes on the global phenomenon – msnNOW

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For climate skeptics, its hard to compete with the youthful appeal of global phenomenon Greta Thunberg. But one U.S. think tank hopes its found an answer: the anti-Greta.

Naomi Seibt is a 19-year-old German who, like Greta, is blond, eloquent and European. But Naomi denounces climate alarmism, calls climate consciousness a despicably anti-human ideology, and has even deployed Gretas now famous How dare you? line to take on the mainstream German media.

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Shes a fantastic voice for free markets and for climate realism, said James Taylor, director of the Arthur B. Robinson Center for Climate and Environmental Policy at the Heartland Institute, an influential libertarian think tank in suburban Chicago that has the ear of the Trump administration.

In December, Heartland headlined Naomi at its forum at the UN climate conference in Madrid, where Taylor described her as the star of the show. Last month, Heartland hired Naomi as the young face of its campaign to question the scientific consensus that human activity is causing dangerous global warming.

Naomi Seibt vs. Greta Thunberg: whom should we trust? asked Heartland in a digital video. Later this week, Naomi is set to make her American debut at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, a high-profile annual gathering just outside Washington of right-leaning activists.

If imitation is the highest form of flattery, Heartlands tactics amount to an acknowledgment that Greta has touched a nerve, especially among teens and young adults. Since launching her protest two years ago outside the Swedish parliament at age 15, Greta has sparked youth protests across the globe and in 2019 was named Time magazines Person of the Year, the youngest to ever win the honor.

The teenager has called on the nations of the world to cut their total carbon output by at least half over the next decade, saying that if they dont, then there will be horrible consequences.

I want you to panic, she told attendees at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last year. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.

Naomi, for her part, argues that these predictions of dire consequences are exaggerated. In a video posted on Heartlands website, she gazes into the camera and says, I dont want you to panic. I want you to think.

Graham Brookie directs the Digital Forensic Research Lab, an arm of the nonprofit Atlantic Council that works to identify and expose disinformation. While the campaign is not outright disinformation, Brookie said in an email, it does bear resemblance to a model we use called the 4ds dismiss the message, distort the facts, distract the audience, and express dismay at the whole thing.

Brookie added: The tactic is intended to create an equivalency in spokespeople and message. In this case, it is a false equivalency between a message based in climate science that went viral organically and a message based in climate skepticism trying to catch up using paid promotion.

Naomi said her political activism was sparked a few years ago when she began asking questions in school about Germanys liberal immigration policies. She said the backlash from teachers and other students hardened her skepticism about mainstream German thinking. More recently, she said that watching young people joining weekly Fridays For Future protests inspired by Greta helped spur her opposition to climate change activism.

I get chills when I see those young people, especially at Fridays for Future. They are screaming and shouting and theyre generally terrified, she said in an interview. They dont want the world to end.

Naomi said she does not dispute that greenhouse gas emissions are warming the planet, but she argues that many scientists and activists have overstated their impact.

I dont want to get people to stop believing in man-made climate change, not at all, she said. Are manmade CO2 emissions having that much impact on the climate? I think thats ridiculous to believe.

Naomi argues that other factors, such as solar energy, play a role though the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth has actually declined since the 1970s, according to federal measurements. A slew of peer-reviewed reports, from scientific bodies in the U.S. and elsewhere, have concluded that greenhouse gas emissions are the dominant cause of warming since the mid-20th century, producing a range of devastating effects from massive marine die-offs in South America to severe wildfires in Australia and sinking ground in the Arctic.

In addition to climate change, Naomi echoes far-right skepticism about feminism and immigration. The German media have described her as sympathetic to the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD), the biggest opposition party in parliament, whose leaders have spoken of fighting an invasion of foreigners. Naomi says she is not a member of AfD she describes herself as libertarian but acknowledges speaking at a recent AfD event.

Her path to Heartland began in November with a speech at EIKE, a Munich think tank whose vice president is a prominent AfD politician. By then, Naomi was already active on YouTube, producing videos on topics ranging from migration to feminism to climate change. In the audience was Heartlands Taylor. He said he immediately recognized her potential and approached her about working with Heartland.

Founded in 1984 and funded largely by anonymous donors, Heartland has increasingly focused on climate change over the past decade. Its staff and researchers enjoy ready access to the Trump administration, and one of its senior fellows, William Happer, served as a senior director on the White House National Security Council between September 2018 and 2019.

An emeritus professor of physics at Princeton University, Happer has repeatedly argued that carbon emissions should be viewed as beneficial to society not a pollutant that drives global warming. During his time with the Trump administration, he sought to enlist Heartlands help in promoting his ideas and objected to a U.S. intelligence officials finding that climate impacts could be possibly catastrophic, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

Why would an American think tank want to get involved in German politics? Because it worries that Berlins strong stance on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions could be contagious, according to a recent investigation aired on German television.

For two decades, Germany has been a leader in pressing other nations to curb carbon output and shift to renewable energy. Though it is falling short of its ambitious goals, Germany has pledged to cut its greenhouse gas emissions this year by 40 percent compared to 1990 and by up to 95 percent by mid-century.

In December, during the Madrid climate conference, two undercover staffers from the nonprofit investigative newsroom CORRECTIV approached Taylor and claimed to work for a wealthy donor from the auto industry who wanted to give Heartland a half-million euros. Taylor took the bait, and followed up with a three-page proposal outlining a campaign to push back against German efforts to regulate emissions.

These restrictive environmental programs are largely unnecessary, says the document, a copy of which was obtained by The Post. Worse, other nations including the United States and European Union nations are increasingly being influenced by unwise German policy.

The proposal described Naomi as the star of a Climate Reality Forum organized by Heartland during the Madrid talks. With over 100,000 people viewing her talk on climate realism, the proposal said, Naomi was well-positioned to fight German climate policies.

Funding for our Germany Environmental Issues project will enable Heartland to provide Naomi with the equipment and the sources she needs to present a series of effective videos calling attention to the negative impacts of overreaching environmental regulations, the proposal says.

CORRECTIV aired its report on Heartland earlier this month on German TV. Taylor dismissed the report, saying, Heck, I would have spoken with them if they told us who they were, and the answers would have been pretty much the same.

The report included secretly filmed footage of Naomi, who struck back with her own video response. Invoking Greta, she said, To the media, I have a few last words: How dare you?"

Despite echoes of Gretas style, Naomi has objected to the comparison.

The reason I dont like the term anti-Greta is that it suggests I myself am an indoctrinated puppet, I guess, for the other side, she says in one video. Asked if she meant that as a criticism of Greta, Naomi says: That sounds kind of mean, actually. She added: I dont want to shame her in any way.

Taylor said the tendency to associate Naomi with Greta is kind of natural and benefits Heartlands message.

To the extent that Naomi is pretty much the same, just with a different perspective, yeah, I think that its good that people will look at the two as similar in many ways, he said.

Still, Naomi has a long climb to reach the level of global attention lavished on Greta. While Greta measures her social media following in the millions, Naomi counts slightly under 50,000 YouTube subscribers.

Through her spokespeople, Greta declined to comment.

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The anti-Greta: A conservative think tank takes on the global phenomenon - msnNOW

This Obscure Foundation Helped Fund The Alt-Right – New York Magazine

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Richard Spencer. Robert Rotellas foundation gave Spencers National Policy Institute $12,500 over three years. Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

At first glance, Robert Rotella appears to be a typical libertarian donor. Through the foundation named in his honor, the Bellevue, Washingtonbased founder of Rotella Capital Management has donated millions to libertarian and conservative organizations like the Cato Institute, the Reason Foundation, and Turning Point USA. One of his particular favorites is the Institute for Justice. Since 2010, he has donated nearly a quarter of a million dollars to the group, and through it, he has helped set up a Supreme Court battle with dramatic implications for public schools. Justices heard Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue on Wednesday: the Institute for Justice had brought the case against the state of Montana in order to force it to include religious schools in its tax-credit scholarship program. The case has implications not just for the First Amendment but for teachers unions, who view it as yet another attempt to take precious resources away from public schools.

Rotellas financial support for libertarian causes is enough to make him a consequential figure, but theres another reason to know his name: A closer look at the financial records of the Robert P. Rotella Foundation, which he manages alongside his sister, Rosemarie, reveals that he isnt just interested in right-to-work laws or free enterprise. Hes also a significant funder of white nationalism.

Of the $5.8 million the foundation has donated to various causes since 2002, roughly $105,000 has gone to organizations like the National Policy Institute, or NPI, which is led by neo-Nazi Richard Spencer. A comprehensive review of the foundations available 990 reports indicates that its financial support for white nationalism began in 2014 and continued through 2018. Though $105,000 is not an exceptionally large sum of money, white nationalist organizations are small, and it doesnt take much money to keep them afloat. Annual recurring donations are kind of where its at for these guys because they all have financial limits, imposed by federal law, on how large the donations can be, explained David Neiwert, the author of Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump.

A guy like Spencer, for instance, doesnt need a single sugar daddy to give him money, Neiwert added. Basically, the National Policy Institute is Spencer, and he just needs an annual salary. Five thousand dollars is basically 5 percent of that annual income for him. He just needs another 20 of those donations and hes done for the year. Thats actually not that hard to get, because there are a lot of people out there who are willing to keep that chunk rolling in for him every year.

Rotella was one of those people. His foundation gave $2,500 to NPI in 2014, then doubled the sum in 2015. It handed off another $5,000 chunk to the group in 2016. Donations to other white nationalist groups follow a similar pattern. Between 2013 and 2017, his foundation donated $10,000 every year, or $40,000 total, to the Charles Martel Society, a white nationalist organization that publishes The Occidental Quarterly, a pseudo-academic journal that focuses on race science. Members of the journals advisory board include Virginia Abernethy, a Vanderbilt University professor emerita who describes herself as an ethnic separatist, and Tom Suni, a writer whom the Southern Poverty Law Center calls an intellectual voice for white nationalists and who once complained that the media pathologized White Western peoples into endless atonement. Until 2018, the RPRFs donations composed roughly 13 to 18 percent of the Charles Martel Societys donation income, depending on the year.

Rotellas foundation also funded the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR. That group, founded by the late anti-immigration eugenicist John Tanton, has received $17,500 from Rotella since 2015. FAIR calls for sweeping restrictions on legal immigration based on stereotypes about the criminal tendencies of nonwhites; the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated it a hate group. During the same period, Rotella gave another $35,000 to the New Century Foundation, publisher of the digital outlet American Renaissance. The website advocates for white separatism, eugenics, and strict immigration restrictions.

Rick McNeely, a spokesperson for the Rotella family, told New York in December that the Charles Martel Society and the National Policy Institute had misrepresented their work to the foundation. In retrospect, the original goals of why someone would give a donation, in the spirit of diversity and giving other people voices, that certainly wouldnt have been something [the Rotellas] would do if there had been better disclosure. Or if they had a crystal ball, McNeely said.

Unfortunately, none of us can tell the future or hidden agendas or what might happen, he added. However, the goals and characteristics of the Charles Martel Society are not hidden knowledge. The Southern Poverty Law Center helped publicize the societys role as a leading purveyor of academic racism in 2010, years before the Rotella Foundation started funding the group. The society has been around since 2001, meaning it had 13 years to establish its white nationalist raison dtre before it received any Rotella money. FAIR has existed since 1979; NPI, since 2005. Richard Spencer, no stranger to the limelight, had already begun leading NPI by the time it started receiving Rotella money. The intentions of these organizations were clear enough to many.

McNeely said he was unaware that the RPRF had also funded American Renaissance, nor could he explain how the Charles Martel Society and NPI became familiar with a relatively minor foundation in the first place. Public information offers scant additional insight into Rotella or the substance of his views. He has no social-media presence. His official biography on the Rotella Capital Management website says he earned degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Temple University before founding his company in 1995. He eventually relocated from Chicago to Bellevue, where the company is now based. An amateur photographer, he opened the Rotella Gallery in Bellevue, and his biography on its website says he is originally from Niagara Falls, New York.

Despite Rotellas relatively low profile, his donation history offers a rare glimpse into the way the alt-rightis funded. Information about its major donors tends to be scarce. The RPRF is only the second funder of Spencers organization whose identity has become known; the other is multimillionaire William Regnery II, who founded the Charles Martel Society and also helped found NPI.

Rotellas other charitable causes are not so obviously linked to partisan issues. In addition to funding environmental groups like Conservation International and the Pollinator Partnership, the RPRF donated thousands to obscure groups that tout research efforts into UFOs, anti-vaccination, and the apparently fictitious Morgellons disease. The foundation has donated $5,000 to the Exopolitics Institute, which offers a certification program in extraterrestrial affairs, and $25,000 to the Farsight Institute, which claims its team of psychic remote viewers has confirmed that aliens built the Pyramids. But Neiwert says this grouping of interests, while strange, isnt completely unusual. White nationalism runs on conspiracies, he explained.

The psychics of the Farsight Institute probably have little impact on daily affairs, but other Rotella beneficiaries achieve more tangible results. The Southern Poverty Law Center reported in November that before Stephen Miller joined President Trumps speechwriting team, he regularly shared links to American Renaissance stories with Breitbart staffers to influence their coverage. Julie Kirchner, who resigned as the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services ombudsman in October, had previously led FAIR for nearly a decade. She wasnt the only FAIR employee in the Trump administration, either. John Zadrozny and Ian Smith both worked for FAIR in different capacities before joining the Department of Homeland Security under Trump; both have since left the administration.

The Rotella Foundations giving will soon cease: McNeely said it will dissolve this year. The family lacked the manpower to do it correctly, he explained. But the foundation has already accomplished a great deal during its 18 years in existence including funding a legal case that could lead to a radical reinterpretation of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court will rule on Espinoza later this year, and, given the conservative makeup of the court, the Rotella-funded Institute for Justice is likely to win. That worries unions like the American Federation of Teachers, which opposes the use of public funds for religious schools. Robert Rotella and his support for far-right causes is exhibit A in the disturbing story of how money has infiltrated and corrupted our political system, Randi Weingarten, the president of AFT, told New York.

As a backer of Richard Spencer, Rotella represents a clear and present danger to the tolerance and diversity underpinning American democracy and its well past time his influence is exposed and interrogated,Weingarten added.

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This Obscure Foundation Helped Fund The Alt-Right - New York Magazine

Whitmer nominated to appear on Libertarian line for 27th district special election – WIVB.com – News 4

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LAKE VIEW, N.Y. (WIVB) The Libertarian Party has picked Duane Whitmer, an accountant from Lake View, to appear on their line in the special election to fill Chris Collins former seat in Congress. The partys leaders met Sunday night to make their nomination official.

Whitmer, 32, will face Democratic Grand Island Town Supervisor Nate McMurray and Republican State Senator Chris Jacobs.

This campaign isnt just trying to win the seat, Whitmer said. Its also leading an educational reform saying were here. Were fighting. Were the Libertarian Party. This is what were about.

The 27th Congressional District in New York has been without representation since October 1st, the day Collins resigned the seat. It was the same day he pleaded guilty to insider trading charges.

Whitmer says he supports restructuring the nations tax plan to benefit the middle class. Hes also pro 2nd Amendment.

I dont believe D.C. or Albany should be regulating your life, he said.

The special election will take place on April 28th.

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Whitmer nominated to appear on Libertarian line for 27th district special election - WIVB.com - News 4

Breaking the Two-Party Paradigm – Fort Worth Weekly

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Looking back, Trey Holcomb said hes always been a Libertarian at heart. The 49-year-old public school teacher has largely voted Republican, but the election of Donald Trump led him to part ways with the Grand Old Party a few years ago.

I looked at what the Republican party was saying they were about and what they were actually doing, he said, and it didnt match up. They want to extend compassion to some groups but not to others. If you are going to love thy neighbor unless they are a refugee from another country, that doesnt make sense to me. Why not treat people as individuals. There are great Christian people in the Republican party, but, as a party, thats not what it stands for anymore.

Disillusioned, he went with an open mind to Tarrant Countys Democratic primary in 2016 only to find narrow partisan talking points that Holcomb said felt contrived to garner votes. The real issues that are facing this country ballooning national debt, endless foreign wars, unjust marijuana laws were largely missing from the discourse of both parties.

Partisan politics dumbs down elections into fearmongering over abortion rights and gun control, Holcomb said. Both parties, he added, are guilty of misrepresenting the other side to gain votes. While the idea of joining a political party felt anathema to his new insights, Holcomb saw an opportunity to make a difference as a candidate for Texas 12th Congressional District under the Libertarian ticket.

Libertarianism, Holcomb said, is based on the philosophy of liberty. You own your life. Your decisions should not be made for you.

On March 10 at Billy Bobs Texas, Holcomb will plead his case to Libertarian Party delegates at the partys county convention. If chosen to represent the Libertarian party in the national Congressional race, Holcomb will face the winners of the Republican and Democratic primaries. Incumbent Republican Kay Granger is facing off against TCU grad and staunch conservative Chris Putnam, who, according to the Texas Tribune, has shown fundraising prowess with an early haul of $456,000. The Democratic primary will pit aircraft assembler Danny Anderson against college professor Lisa Welch.

For the first time in recent memory, Granger, who is in her 12th term in the U.S. House of Representatives, appears to be politically vulnerable. Her ambitious pet project, the $1.2 billion (and rising) flood control development north of downtown known as Panther Island, has suffered from ballooning costs, construction delays, and a noticeable absence of promised federal funds (Buddy, Can You Spare a Billion? April 11, 2018).

Everyone who is paying attention [to the Panther Island debacle] is frustrated, Holcomb said. Whether that amounts to change at the polls remains to be seen. Granger has been in Congress since 1996. I have no interest in being a career politician. Politicians who stay in for a generation and enrich themselves are only there for themselves. Thats how Congress operates.

Holcomb is building his campaign on three pillars: addressing the national debt, stopping the United States endless cycles of foreign wars, and reforming marijuana laws that have sent hundreds of thousands of nonviolent young men and women to jail for the offense of smoking a plant.

Future generations of Americans will be forced to pay down the debt that they did not create. Holcomb sees national debt as a moral issue and a growing political crisis. The U.S. governments public debt is now more than $20 trillion, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.

This country was founded on principal, Holcomb said. Look at the primary source. No taxation without representation. When youre at $5 or $10 trillion, you are now borrowing money from people who have not been born yet. If thats not an example of taxation without representation, I dont know what is.

The killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and the subsequent saber-rattling tweets by Trump have been a reminder of how the United States is seemingly always on the verge of war. Holcomb sees profits as driving that cycle. Banks fund our debt, he said, and our debt floats the military. Around one-sixth of federal spending goes to the military, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Im a 49-year-old school teacher, he said. They have 49-year-old teachers in Tehran, too. Why should we impose our views on their life? I have had kids in my class who went to war. Some were improved, some were maimed, and some didnt return. It changes your perspective.

Teaching has also informed his views on marijuana. When politicians visit Holcombs high school history class, many teenagers ask about the prospects of marijuana law reform.

My first impression was, These kids want to know when they can legally get high, Holcomb said. It turns out that a lot of these kids have relatives who have been caught in possession of a plant. Now, they have legal consequences for an action that didnt hurt anybody. That has to stop. Kids have a good B.S. detector.

Marijuana is legal for medical purposes in 33 states. Its only a matter of time, Holcomb said, before marijuana is rescheduled by the Food and Drug Administration from its current status of Schedule 1, the category reserved for heroin and other controlled substances that are deemed highly dangerous for public use.

Holcomb feels good about his chances of earning his partys nomination and garnering a large number of votes later this year. Most voters, he said, arent diehard Democrats or Republicans. The binary thinking that drives our elections is an illusion that is perpetrated by the entrenched powers who benefit from being reelected.

Holcomb said his campaign will be an awakening for Tarrant County voters who are fed up with politics as usual. Hes betting that voters will respond to a concept that has been the bedrock of American values since 1776.

Theres a marketplace of ideas that will be presented to voters, he said, and I think freedom is pretty popular.

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Breaking the Two-Party Paradigm - Fort Worth Weekly

How George Washington Can Revive Fusionism On The Right – The Federalist

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Its no secret Americans are divided. Liberals pit themselves against conservatives, often bitterly. There are even factions amongst those camps. Leftists, led by the likes of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are seeking to dominate the more moderate elements of the Democratic Party. The fusion of libertarians and conservatives, absent the unifying threat of communism and the Cold War, is fraying.

In such a fractious environment, perhaps we should turn to our first president, who warned us of the dangers of political parties and in whom a public spirit reigned almost before there was any public to be spirited about. What would he have to say about the libertarian-conservative debate?

Following the Revolutionary War, America was economically weak. So George Washington took measures to ensure financial growth. He championed the Potomac River project to established a network of roads and tributaries that connected separate parts of the country. This would allow citizens to travel and trade with one another, improving the lives of everyday Americans and securing the promise of prosperity to millions yet unborn. This was an end worthy of the attention of Americas father.

Washington also saw prosperity as a means. It can satisfy material needs while creating the conditions for a nation and a people to act justly. Mothers would not be forced to steal for themselves and their children to survive. A wealthy country need not renege on debts to its allies. Prosperity makes that possible.

Yet beyond such advantages, Washington saw prosperity as necessary for the accomplishment of his greatest task: the establishment of an American national character.

The Potomac River project was essential because it would bring the States on the Atlantic in close connexion with those forming to the westward, by a short and easy transportation. Without this, Washington could easily conceive that Americans would have different views, separate interests and other connexions.

At a time many people thought of themselves as citizens of a particular state, rather than a nation, free trade and travel would promote cultural education and unity. It would bring Americans together for those simple and everyday exchanges that combat prejudice and encourage reciprocal goodwill.

Furthermore, Washington was not only establishing commerce but a marketplace of ideas. If individuals could travel for trade, they could also gather to deliberate. Citizens across states lines could converse and come to a consensus. This would ensure that all Americans, regardless of locality, were dedicated to a shared set of principles.

Washington did not promote prosperity so that atomistic individuals could each pursue their own desires. He did it for the sake of unity, so citizens would be willing to make those concessions which are requisite to the general prosperity, and in some instances, to sacrifice their individual advantages to the interest of the Community. He championed improvements in infrastructure for economic growth but also as a mechanism for forming a common culture and commitment to republican ideas.

Put another way, Washingtons views of the interplay between prosperity and American national character mirrors the relationship of the body and the soul. The body is not what is most essential for the human person. A soldier does not lose his character with the loss of his arm.

Still, what happens to the body has the potential to affect the soul. It is difficult for someone suffering from a debilitating disease to maintain his or her spiritedness. Washington promoted prosperity in order to provide for the body politic. But he did so for the sake of the American soul.

So was Washington a libertarian or a conservative? He would certainly agree that economic prosperity is desirable in and of itself. This opinion is shared by libertarians and conservatives alike but is more essential to the libertarian platform.

However, Washington was seeking to establish communities and not mere markets. And he gave supremacy to the former. In Washingtons mind, what elevates prosperity in importance is its usefulness as a means, not just its goodness as an end. He would not have advocated policies that treat economic growth as if it is the only goal without a view to how those policies affect communities and character.

This is an approach we could learn from today. Washingtons nuanced understanding of prosperity could form the basis of a new fusionism between libertarians and conservatives. That alliance is especially tenuous amongst millennials and members of Gen Z whose views of coalition-building are not framed by the urgency of the Cold War. The commonality amongst libertarians and conservatives, millennials and baby boomers, is the American national character Washington bequeathed to all.

Brenda M. Hafera is the director of International and Continuing Education Programs at The Fund for American Studies.

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How George Washington Can Revive Fusionism On The Right - The Federalist

Conservatives are concerned, but is liberal indoctrination really an issue at UNL and UNO? – Omaha World-Herald

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LINCOLN Reid Preston gave out red Republican goods this month in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln student union pens, sunglasses, bottle openers.

As treasurer of UNLs College Republicans, the freshman from Lyons, Nebraska, cares about todays political scene. Asked if Democratic professors have badgered him with liberal messages, Preston said they havent.

Even a professor of political science, who might reasonably be expected to share his own views, was pretty much in the middle, Preston said. For the most part, he was really good at not having any biases at all.

Many Republicans nationwide say they have lost faith in colleges and universities and now view them as havens of liberal indoctrination. In a comparatively short period, national surveys show, Republicans generally have shifted from a positive opinion of higher education to one of distrust.

But a 2018 campus culture survey done by the NU system, and World-Herald conversations this month with 19 students at UNL and the University of Nebraska at Omaha, found minimal concern about professorial political proselytizing.

Conservatives nevertheless have reason to be suspicious. Not only do college faculties lean liberal, they tumble leftward. Whether that has any effect on teaching and learning isnt clear, but there isnt good evidence that anyone is being indoctrinated. Most of the 19 students said politics rarely, if ever, comes up in classes.

High-profile incidents of dismissive or contemptuous treatment of conservative students convey the notion that such episodes are commonplace on college campuses.

Outside the same student union 2 years ago, a liberal graduate student-lecturer berated a sophomore who was recruiting for the conservative Turning Point USA. The student captured still photos of the lecturer flipping her off and recorded some of the diatribe on video.

The images swept the nation and gave conservatives a gotcha moment. The incident proved, they said, that conservative students are bullied on college campuses. Some Republican state senators in Nebraska demanded changes at UNL, and the student-lecturer wasnt invited back for the next school year.

Harvey Perlman, former chancellor of UNL and now a law professor there, said that if professors strive to sway Nebraska students toward liberalism, theyre doing a bad job, considering Republican domination of state politics.

If the concern is somehow that left-leaning faculty will twist the minds of their students, it hasnt seemed to work, said Perlman, who switched from Republican to Democrat after the 2016 election of Donald Trump. Most of us are fairly careful when discussing issues that divide people.

David Randall of the conservative-libertarian National Association of Scholars doesnt see it that way. Randall, director of research of the New York-based organization, said liberals, or progressives, have bent higher education toward a social justice mission that aims to liberate groups from oppression.

This results in a teacher thinking its appropriate to rebuke a student for her political perspective, Randall said. In effect, there is a radical monoculture growing in higher education, he said.

Of the 19 students interviewed by The World-Herald, seven said they were Democrats, six said they were Republicans and the rest were independent, libertarian or apolitical.

The Pew Research Center found last year that 59% of Americans who lean Republican responded that colleges have a negative effect on the nation's direction, up from 35% in 2012. Among Democratic leaners, 67% had a positive view the same percentage as in 2012.

Molly Patrick, a UNO junior with a multidisciplinary major, said professors havent imposed their politics on her. Were just worrying about facts and stuff, said Patrick, a libertarian from Fremont. Some Republicans might think theyre liberal notions, but theyre just facts.

Noah Floersch, an independent from Omaha, said he has some conservative views and hasnt been lambasted with liberal political messages from professors. Floersch, a UNL junior, said his family leans to the right.

I dont feel like Ive been forced one way or another, but I definitely think my scope has broadened, said Floersch, a marketing major.

Sixty Andrews, a senior UNO political science major from Omaha, said he doesnt hear professors uttering contempt for Trump. Professors allow us to offer our opinions whether we agree or disagree with any political leader, he said.

Andrews, a Republican, said higher education has a beneficial impact on individuals and society.

I cant get my students to turn in their assignments on time, (so) Im certainly not going to impact their view on who to vote for, said Darren Linvill, an associate professor of communication at Clemson University in South Carolina.

Nationwide surveys indicate many college faculties are overwhelmingly liberal or Democratic. The UCLA Higher Education Research Institute found in its latest survey (2016-17) that 48.3% of faculty members identified themselves as liberal compared with 11.7% who said they were conservative.

Further, that survey of more than 20,000 full-time undergraduate teaching faculty members at 143 colleges indicated the percentage of liberals has grown from 36.8% in 1998-99.

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A report published four years ago by Econ Journal Watch found that at 40 universities, many elite schools like Harvard and Stanford, 3,623 professors had registered as Democrats and only 314 as Republicans. That ratio is about 11.5 to 1. The study looked at faculty members in economics, history, journalism, law and psychology.

Conservatives know this and dont like it. The Pew Research Center found last year that 59% of Americans who lean Republican responded that colleges have a negative effect on the nations direction, up from 35% in 2012. Among Democratic leaners, 67% had a positive view the same percentage as in 2012.

A Gallup poll in 2017 found that only 33% of Republicans have a lot of confidence in higher education. Fifty-six percent of Democrats answered that question positively. The Gallup poll found that the biggest reasons for Republican lack of confidence were the belief that they were too political and pushed their own agenda.

UNLs Richard Duncan, a registered Republican and professor of law, said that when there is little diversity in political thought at colleges, theres no reason to have a lot of confidence in them. And UNL could use more such diversity, he said.

That said, Duncan is in his 41st year at UNL and said the institution is a really good place. He said that for the most part, its a university where conservatives and progressives can mingle and find their views respected.

An NU campus climate survey published in 2018 found that 90% of students believed liberals felt free to express their views on campus and 75% believed conservatives had the same freedom.

Robert Reason, an associate dean at Iowa State University, said the presence of liberal indoctrination is just not shown in any of the research.

Reason said that during faculty recruitment, Ive never had a conversation about someones political views. He described himself as a moderate Democrat.

Many say a big reason for the disparity is that liberals select careers in higher education because there are like-minded people in it. They say conservatives are more likely to join the private sector.

Clemsons Linvill said studies have found that students become slightly more liberal while in college, but that a similar change also takes place among young adults who dont go to college. Linvill, who said he is registered as an independent, has studied political bias in higher education and said its largely fallacious.

Linvill said in one report that there has been a growth of conservative groups with a stated mission to expose political bias and abuse in higher education. This has contributed to widespread publicity of episodes where bias was evident, he said.

Julia Schleck, an associate professor of English at UNL, said through an email that the partisan divide over higher education has been deliberately engineered by conservative media.

Schleck, who leans to the left, said negative coverage in those outlets over the past five years has produced the slump in Republicans opinion of higher education.

Randall, at the National Association of Scholars, said conservative students have created groups like Turning Point USA because of the nonstop propaganda thrust at them by liberal professors.

The Harvard student newspaper two years ago said in an editorial that the school needs more diversity of political viewpoints. The editorial said 83.2% of the universitys arts and sciences faculty identified themselves as liberal in the papers survey, compared with 1.5% who said they were conservative.

These statistics do not reflect America, the piece said. And, it said, the statistics probably contribute to declining faith in American colleges.

Rain clouds and a bit of a rainbow roll over the sky in Millard on Aug. 16, 2016.

The sun sets behind a center pivot located north of Red Cloud, Nebraska, on Thursday, July 27, 2006.

Storm clouds hide the sun as it sets over Nebraska's Sand Hills on July 7, 2009, near Thedord, Nebraska.

A summer storm passes north of Rose, Nebraska, on Sunday, June 10, 2007.

A rainbow forms over U.S. Highway 12, just east of Valentine, Nebraska, as storms roll over the area on July 25, 2017.

The sun sets behind an approaching storm as a car heads west on U.S. Highway 34 near Union, Nebraska, on April 24, 2016.

Icicles form on vines in downtown Omaha on Feb. 24, 2017.

Railroad tracks are illuminated by the setting sun on May 3, 2017, east of Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

The sun sets behind Chimney Rock on May 3, 2017.

Members of the Boats, Bikes, Boots & Brews group head to shore as the sun sets after an evening out on Lake Zorinsky on April 22, 2015.

Icicles hang from the horse carriage parking sign in the Old Market on Jan. 15, 2017.

Wheat, ready for the combine, is silhouetted by the setting sun as the wheat harvest on the Lagler farm near Grant, Nebraska, was in full swing on July 7, 2005.

A layer of fog covers the Missouri River near the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge on Feb. 5, 2015.

A setting sun creates a pink haze on a windmill and the Sand Hills southwest of Rushville, Nebraska, on Sept. 22, 2007.

Pigeons scatter at sunset as the St. John's steeple is silhouetted against the Woodmen tower in downtown Omaha on Oct. 3, 2014.

The sun bursts behind the clouds over the North Platte River east of Bridgeport, Nebraska, on July 26, 2006.

Steve Jobman, a farmer south of Minatare, Nebraska, cuts alfalfa after sunset on June 2, 2004.

Wheat waves in the wind in a field west of Dalton, Nebraska, on July 18, 2001.

The moon rises over the northern cross of the St. Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha on Feb. 10, 2017. On this night, there was a full moon, a lunar eclipse and comet 45P passed by the earth.

As the wind speed picks up, a woman holds onto her hood while crossing 16th Street along Dodge Street in Omaha on Feb. 24, 2017.

From left: Melody Borcherding, Kseniya Burgoon and Michael Beltz scoop out a vehicle on Jan. 23, 2018, in Norfolk.

Jeff Bachman harvests soybeans and prepares to transfer them as the sun sets on a field near Ayr, Nebraska, on Oct. 19, 2008.

As the sun sets, sandhill cranes arrive to roost in the Platte River at the Rowe Sanctuary & Iain Nicholson Audubon Center south of Gibbon, Nebraska, on March 12, 2008.

A pair of sandhill cranes pass in front of the moon shortly after sunrise at the Iain Nicolson Audubon Center at Rowe Sanctuary near Gibbon, Nebraska, on March 13, 2012. Sandhill cranes, which mate for life, can live between 20 and 40 years.

A windmill is dwarfed by storm clouds near Crawford, Nebraska, on May 3, 2017.

An early November storm system rolls through the Great Plains, but Omaha only receives rain, which collected on freshly-fallen leaves on Nov. 11, 2015.

Cattle head up to a well to get a drink at the end of the day near Sparks, Nebraska, on Aug. 21, 2015. Smoke from the wildfires in the western states created a haze.

The moon rises above the corn as farmers harvest the last of their fields in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa on Nov. 5, 2014.

Two riders help round up part of the 750 head of cattle branded at the Lute Family Ranch, located south of Hyannis, Nebraska, on May 12, 2005. Mick Knott, who runs the ranch, owns about half the cattle, and the Lute Foundation owns the rest. The work started about dawn and finished about noon.

The rising sun illuminates a tree and a windmill in a snow-covered field located on U.S. Highway 20 between Rushville and Chadron, Nebraska, on March 1, 2017.

The College Home Run Derby was held at TD Ameritrade Park and was highlighted by The World-Herald's annual Independence Day fireworks display on July 2, 2015.

Fog rises from the Missouri River and covers the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge on Jan. 5, 2010.

The weekend's perfect weather colored the clouds at sunset south of Wymore, Nebraska, on Oct. 23, 2004.

Deer chill out at Chalco Hills Recreation Area on Feb. 22, 2018.

A leaf is covered in a dusting of snow near 138th and Hickory Streets on Dec. 18, 2014, in Millard.

A runner emerges from the edge of the rising sun on Sept. 11, 2015, at Zorinsky Lake Park and Recreation Area in Omaha.

Nearly 45 minutes after sunset, an orange and blue glow is seen setting behind the Omaha skyline flanked between trees in Council Bluffs on Jan. 11, 2018.

Rain drops collect on a flower following early showers on May 10, 2017, in Millard.

The promise of rain is fleeting for the seven windmills on the Watson Ranch north of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, on U.S. 71 on May 16, 2004.

A crescent moon sets behind the UNO bell tower on Nov. 6, 2013.

Ralph Remmert is depicted in the mural "Fertile Ground" near 13th and Mike Fahey Streets in north downtown Omaha on June 19, 2017.

Ralph Kohler, 94, keeps his eyes to the sky for ducks and geese as the sun rises over his hunting pond east of Tekamah, Nebraska, on Nov. 30, 2011. Kohler has been a professional guide for most of his life, and he is preparing for the spring season.

The sun rises over St. Paul Lutheran Church, located three miles north of Republican City, Nebraska, in March of 2004.

Geese are silhouetted in the color and clouds as the sun sets at Zorinsky Lake on Feb. 21, 2016.

The sun rises on Chimney Rock on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014, near McGrew, Nebraska.

Cranes walk through the shallow water of the Platte River shortly before sunset near The Crane Trust, which is close to Wood River, Nebraska, on March 13, 2012. The river provides cranes with a safe place from predators for rest at night.

A bespangled vest awaits a rider during Nebraska's Big Rodeo on July 25, 2013, in Burwell, Nebraska.

Horses stand in the snow on Feb. 22, 2018.

Residents of the Nebraska Panhandle enjoyed unseasonably mild temperatures and cloud cover on Aug. 12, 2004.

Members of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association hold their hats as 2013 Miss Burwell Rodeo Olivia Hunsperger passes by during the opening ceremonies on July 27, 2013, in Burwell, Nebraska. "This may be a small town, but it's got a big rodeo, and it's got a really big heart," Hunsperger said.

A break in the clouds highlights downtown Omaha as seen from Lewis Central High School in Council Bluffs, as severe storms passed through the Omaha Metro area on June 5, 2014.

John Wanief waits for the bus in a shelter at 120th Street and West Center Road as cold rain pours down in Millard on Nov. 11, 2015.

Flocks of waterfowl fill the sky as the sun rises over Ponca, Nebraska, on March 3, 2018.

A red tail hawk perches on a light stanchion backed by the moon and overlooking the property near the Indian Creek development in Omaha on Feb. 27, 2018.

A woman walks with two dogs in Memorial Park near Dodge Street as many sledders go down the hill in Omaha, Nebraska, on Feb. 2, 2016. MATT MILLER/THE WORLD-HERALD

The sun sets over Sidney, Nebraska, on June 2, 2015.

The rising sun shines on a snow-covered hill located north of Chadron, Nebraska, on March 1, 2017.

Storm clouds are illuminated by the setting sun as people exit a football camp in Lincoln on Friday, June 16, 2017.

Sharon Vencil walks her dogs, Blackie and Whitie, along the Field Club Trail on March 6, 2018, in Omaha.

The morning sun burns off a layer of fog just north of the Chimney Rock.

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Conservatives are concerned, but is liberal indoctrination really an issue at UNL and UNO? - Omaha World-Herald

‘Rape of Britain’: Russia Rolls Out the Red Carpet for ‘Tommy Robinson’ – Byline Times

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Sarah Hurst on how the far-right activist visited Russia to praise Vladimir Putin and spread Islamophobic and racist propaganda about the UK.

The far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon who calls himself Tommy Robinson has received VIP treatment in Russia, giving a press conference at the headquarters of newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda and speaking at a Libertarian Party conference.

Yaxley-Lennon was greeted at the newspapers offices in Moscow by Alexander Malkevich, formerly the head of a propaganda outlet called USA Really and currently billed as the head of the Foundation for Defending National Values.Malkevich was sanctioned by the US in 2018 for attempted election interference.

The 37-year-old founder of the English Defence League (EDL) and a recent convert to the Conservative Party has served prison time in the UK for various crimes, including assault and mortgage fraud, and last year for contempt of court for broadcasting a Facebook Live video of defendants in a trial, in breach of reporting restrictions. However, Russian media didnt think any of this was worth mentioning, depicting him instead as a victim of censorship and EU oppression.

Yaxley-Lennons visit followed one by Britain First leader Paul Golding last year to the Russian Duma, which resulted in a criminal charge being brought.

Komsomolskaya Pravda, which claims to be the most popular newspaper in Russia, announced that the theme of the press conference would be whats going on with free speech in Europe? It described Yaxley-Lennon as a politician and journalist and noted that, not only had he been jailed for making a video, but he had also been illegally banned from Twitter forsupposed extremist statements, despite having half a million followers.

Yaxley-Lennons own title for his presentation at the event was more direct: The Rape of Britain.

Robinson said that all the problems he was talking about were connected to Muslims, the website RIA-FAN reported. This is not just about one-off crimes by individuals but about gangs of migrants raping underage British girls, it continued, relaying Yaxley-Lennons words uncritically. You cant believe the British media! Robinson ranted. Ive seen their manipulations, how they make up lies about me Thats why Im here! Because all these issues are relevant in Russia.

The website Vechernyaya Moskva interviewed Yaxley-Lennon at the press conference and published an article with the headline British Politician Robinson: Lets Break Up the European Union Together. He told them that he thought the Netherlands and France would be the next countries to leave the EU after the UK, and that Frances exit would be possible if Marine Le Pen got enough support. The French far-right leader met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in March 2017 one month before the presidential election in which she was a candidate. A Russian company is now suing her to recover a loan of $10.8 million.

Peter Jukes and Hardeep Matharu

Yaxley-Lennons views are also remarkably similar to Putins. He said in the interview that EU sanctions on Russia arent motivated by Russias aggression against Ukraine but are an attempt to rein in Russias power. The EU is destabilising Ukraine and intervening militarily there as part of a programme of expansion, Yaxley-Lennon insisted. And if Russia had wanted to take out Sergei Skripal, it would have done it quietly, not with aRussianchemical weapon, he claimed. He said that he hoped Russia would become one of the UKs key partners after Brexit and that they would fight jihadism together.

We can cooperate to preserve our Christian values,culture and identity, Yaxley-Lennon told the newspaper. Russians see Putin as the defender of their country. He is a strong politician. The West doesnt have enough strong men. Western politicians are emasculated. He said that he would like to go for a beer with Putin and would advise him to fight the censorship and propaganda that is being used against Russia. Yaxley-Lennon would also ask Putin to let him host a Russian TV show.

Yaxley-Lennon posted pictures of his lecture at the Libertarian Party conference in St. Petersburg on his Telegram channel, with the words Thank you Russia. The party itself also tweeted pictures of himspeaking to a packed hall. He was an odd choice of guest for a party, the leader of which Mikhail Svetov was one of the organisers of anti-Putin protests in Moscow last summer. But, if people on the fringes are likely to get together somewhere, it will be in Russia.

This article is part of a series on Kremlin links to prominent people in Europe that issupportedby a grant from JournalismFund.EU.

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'Rape of Britain': Russia Rolls Out the Red Carpet for 'Tommy Robinson' - Byline Times

Voter Registration Is Up as Island Prepares for Presidential Primary – The Vineyard Gazette – Martha’s Vineyard News

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Early voting for the presidential primary election begins on Monday and town clerks around the Island report an increase in voter registration ahead of the closely watched race.

This will be the first time in Massachusetts voters have the opportunity to cast their ballots early and town clerks are hoping it will boost election participation. The Massachusetts primary is March 3, part of Super Tuesday, when more than a dozen states hold their presidential primary elections.

The goal is to try to get as many people as possible out to vote by making it easier for them, said Edgartown town clerk Karen Medeiros. We are hopeful, but it probably wont make a big difference in voter turnout.

The early voting for the presidential primary begins Feb. 24 and continues through Feb. 28 at sites around the Island. There are 15 Democratic candidates, four Republican, 10 Libertarian and four Green-Rainbow on the ballot.

There are 15,194 voters registered on the Island for the primary election, according to town clerks, a 5.6 percent increase from the 14,382 registered voters in the 2016 presidential primary election.

Oak Bluffs town clerk, Laura Johnston. Mark Alan Lovewell

Voter turnout at elections is typically very healthy on the Island; that hasnt changed in many years, said Chilmark town clerk Jennifer Christy. The trend has stayed steady.

The town of Oak Bluffs has the most registered voters at 3,914, standing just above Edgartown which has 3,822. In Tisbury there are 3,497 registered voters and in West Tisbury there are 2,601. Chilmark and Aquinnah have 979 and 381 registered voters, respectively.

Those registered as unenrolled make up the majority of voters for the primary election this year, at 52 per cent. The trend is consistent in each town, with 8,014 total voters registered as unenrolled, 5,766 registered as Democrats and 1,305 registered as Republicans.

Libertarian, Green-Rainbow and other smaller party designations make up the rest of registered voters at just over one per cent.

The deadline to register to vote in the primary election was Feb. 12, and voters can no longer change their party affiliations. However, unenrolled voters will be able to vote for candidates of either party without permanently changing their affiliation. After choosing a party designation to cast a ballot in the primary, voters will return to their designation as an unenrolled voter.

Its just for a moment in time that they have to go one way or another, said West Tisbury town clerk Tara Whiting-Wells. They just want the freedom to choose . . . Im not sure why the numbers are historically more than any other party [on the Island].

Ms. Christy said that the trend of voters registering as unenrolled has been on the rise over the last decade.

Im sure it can be chalked up to quite a lot of factors, she said. Its sort of an Island-wide situation.

Earlier this year the League of Women Voters launched a campaign to register every eligible person on the Island to vote, in honor of the centennial of the historic suffrage movement that granted women the right to vote.

Every election and primary is extremely important, said member Beatrice Phear. We need voters to pay attention.

To kick off early voting on Monday, the towns of Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and West Tisbury are unveiling new voting machines to their residents.

The new machines are slightly slower, they have to think a little more than the old machines, said Ms. Whiting-Wells. Some are excited by it and other are terrified. But I think I can speak to the three town clerks when I say, we all like it . . . it has better security and more reliable technology.

Chilmark and Aquinnah will be sticking to their historic, wooden ballot boxes that require a team of longstanding volunteers to count the votes by hand.

We stick with it because, simply, it still works fine, Ms. Christy said. People seem to like that way of slipping their ballot into the box.

Town clerks said that absentee ballots are already beginning to trickle in, with as many as 98 requests in West Tisbury thus far. Voters can cast an absentee ballot until noon the day before the election.

Each election cycle is exciting, Ms. Whiting-Wells said. Ill be interested to see how this one pans out.

Early voting:

Aquinnah Town Hall, 65 State Road, Aquinnah Monday, Feb. 24, noon to 4 p.m.; Tuesday, Feb. 25, noon to 4 p.m.; closed Wednesday; Thursday, Feb. 27, noon to 4 p.m.; Friday Feb. 28, noon to 3 p.m.

Chilmark Town Hall, 401 Middle Road, Chilmark Monday, Feb. 24 through Friday, Feb. 28, 8 a.m. to noon.

Edgartown Town Hall, 70 Main street, Edgartown Monday, Feb. 24 through Friday, Feb. 28, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Oak Bluffs Town Clerks Office, Town Hall, 56 School street, Oak Bluffs Monday, Feb. 24 through Friday, Feb. 28, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Tisbury Emergency Services Facility, 215 Spring street, Tisbury Monday, Feb. 24 through Friday, Feb. 28, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

West Tisbury Town Hall, 1059 State Road, West Tisbury Monday, Feb. 24 through Friday, Feb. 28, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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Voter Registration Is Up as Island Prepares for Presidential Primary - The Vineyard Gazette - Martha's Vineyard News

Bbb-but, Gorsuch? – Above the Law

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Justice Neil Gorsuch

Criticizing U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch can generate some interesting rebukes from, of all places, libertarian Twitter. In some ways, I can understand the libertarian fanfare for Gorsuch. After all, I myself have praised the man for authoring some astoundingly refreshing opinions. The reason so many libertarians support Gorsuch is because, in the past, he has heavily criticized the discretional power given to the [u]nbridled [b]ureaucrats that run our countrys vast administrative state due to the Auer and Chevron doctrines. Before we get into how shockingly fast Gorsuch squashed all hope he would meaningfully challenge the discretion given to the administrative state, we should get into some necessary background regarding the Auer and Chevron doctrines.

The Auer doctrine is named after the 1997 case Auer v. Robbins, which established judicial deference to executive agency interpretation when gaps between federal law and agency regulation exist. Similar to Auer, the Chevron doctrine grants deference to an executive agencys reasonable interpretation of a federal statute. Taken together, both doctrines establish a great deal of flexibility for executive agencies without judicial review, and as I hope you can imagine, these doctrines are heavily criticized by libertarian voices. So, it was to many libertarians joy when Gorsuch made his desire to overrule Auer abundantly clear. Moreover, as Reasons Jacob Sullum has pointed out, this position has made Gorsuch a perceived threat to progressive economic, environmental, anti-discrimination, and public safety regulations. Given his further opposition to Chevron, Gorsuchs ascension to the Court was portrayed at the time as a possible monumental shift to how our government is shaped.

To be clear, as I point out above, in some cases, Gorsuch has acted in accordance with these expectations. He unambiguously argued for overturning Auer, for example. In more recent cases however, he has bristled at the very idea of judicial review over unelected, unbridled bureaucrats. In fact, Gorsuch has recently argued that commissioners of executive agencies should be given carte blanche authority that is never subject to judicial review.

The case where Gorsuch found himself on the side of deference to the unelected bureaucrat was the recent one involving the citizenship question on the national census. As discussed by Elie Mystal here at Above the Law at the time, in the census case the evidence unambiguously demonstrated not only that the head of the executive agency (Wilbur Ross), lied about why a particular regulation was being implemented, the lie was on behalf of an expressly racist reason. Despite this abundantly clear evidence, Gorsuch ultimately disagreed with Chief Justice John Roberts that when evidence does not match agency explanation, judicial review requires something better than the explanation offered for the action.

Continuing down a path of seemingly shocking reversal from prior principles, in a more recent case, Gorsuch criticized the practice of nationwide injunctions against executive regulations. Ill let Harvard Law Professor Benjamin Spencer put this criticism into context: In an era when the power of the executive is being expanded in varied and disconcerting ways, this effort to denigrate and eliminate the nationwide injunction should be seen for what it is: an attempt by those who favor a more powerful executive to get the federal courts out of the way.

The amount of deference and power Gorsuch was willing to extend to the executive in just these two cases alone is not only unprecedented, perhaps more unfortunately, by any logical sense it should destroy the image of Gorsuch as the great weapon against an ever-increasing and all-powerful administrative state. Moreover, it makes any future criticism or opinion by Gorsuch regarding Auer or Chevron entirely suspect.

With the census case certainly, there was a real, transformative, and a once in a generational chance to reel in the discretion given to unelected bureaucrats, even if only in specific cases where they are caught lying and therefore judicial review becomes most necessary. Responding to that moment, where the evidence does not match the agency explanations, by declaring the agencies reasoning and action are beyond the scope of judicial review rightfully undercuts any attempt by Gorsuch in the future to criticize, say, the Environmental Protection Agency under a president Bernie Sanders.

Of course, as Sullum also rightfully points out, during Gorsuchs time on the Tenth Circuit, his critique of the administrative state was applied in cases that involved issues and defendants from across the ideological spectrum. Therefore, although I can see why some thought Gorsuch would be their champion who would fight the administrative state, it is simply undeniable that when given the chance to do just that, he has repeatedly refused.

Tyler Brokers work has been published in the Gonzaga Law Review, the Albany Law Review, and is forthcoming in the University of Memphis Law Review. Feel free toemail himor follow him onTwitterto discuss his column.

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Bbb-but, Gorsuch? - Above the Law

Clinical psychologist explains how Ayn Rand helped turn the US into a selfish and greedy nation – Raw Story

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The Atlas Shrugged author made selfishness heroic and caring about others weakness.

This story first appeared at AlterNet.

Ayn Rands philosophy is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil. Gore Vidal, 1961

Only rarely in U.S. history do writers transform us to become a more caring or less caring nation. In the 1850s, Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) was a strong force in making the United States a more humane nation, one that would abolish slavery of African Americans. A century later, Ayn Rand (1905-1982) helped make the United States into one of the most uncaring nations in the industrialized world, a neo-Dickensian society where healthcare is only for those who can afford it, and where young people are coerced into huge student-loan debt that cannot be discharged in bankruptcy.

Rands impact has been widespread and deep. At the icebergs visible tip is the influence shes had over major political figures who have shaped American society. In the 1950s, Ayn Rand read aloud drafts of what was later to become Atlas Shrugged to her Collective, Rands ironic nickname for her inner circle of young individualists, which included Alan Greenspan, who would serve as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board from 1987 to 2006.

In 1966, Ronald Reagan wrote in a personal letter, Am an admirer of Ayn Rand. Today, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) credits Rand for inspiring him to go into politics, and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) calls Atlas Shrugged his foundation book. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) says Ayn Rand had a major influence on him, and his son Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is an even bigger fan. A short list of other Rand fans includes Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas; Christopher Cox, chairman of the Security and Exchange Commission in George W. Bushs second administration; and former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford.

But Rands impact on U.S. society and culture goes even deeper.

The Seduction of Nathan Blumenthal

Ayn Rands books such as The Virtue of Selfishness and her philosophy that celebrates self-interest and disdains altruism may well be, as Vidal assessed, nearly perfect in its immorality. But is Vidal right about evil? Charles Manson, who himself did not kill anyone, is the personification of evil for many of us because of his psychological success at exploiting the vulnerabilities of young people and seducing them to murder. What should we call Ayn Rands psychological ability to exploit the vulnerabilities of millions of young people so as to influence them not to care about anyone besides themselves?

While Greenspan (tagged A.G. by Rand)was the most famous name that would emerge from Rands Collective, the second most well-known name to emerge from the Collective was Nathaniel Branden, psychotherapist, author and self-esteem advocate. Before he was Nathaniel Branden, he was Nathan Blumenthal, a 14-year-old who read Rands The Fountainhead again and again. He later would say, I felt hypnotized. He describes how Rand gave him a sense that he could be powerful, that he could be a hero. He wrote one letter to his idol Rand, then a second. To his amazement, she telephoned him, and at age 20, Nathan received an invitation to Ayn Rands home. Shortly after, Nathan Blumenthal announced to the world that he was incorporating Rand in his new name: Nathaniel Branden. And in 1955, with Rand approaching her 50th birthday and Branden his 25th, and both in dissatisfying marriages, Ayn bedded Nathaniel.

What followed sounds straight out of Hollywood, but Rand was straight out of Hollywood, having worked for Cecil B. DeMille. Rand convened a meeting with Nathaniel, his wife Barbara (also a Collective member), and Rands own husband Frank. ToBrandensastonishment, Rand convinced both spouses that a time-structured affairshe andBrandenwere to have one afternoon and one evening a week togetherwas reasonable. Within the Collective, Rand is purported to have never lost an argument. On his trysts at Rands New York City apartment,Brandenwould sometimes shake hands with Frank before he exited. Later, all discovered that Rands sweet but passive husband would leave for a bar, where he began his self-destructive affair with alcohol.

By 1964, the 34-year-old Nathaniel Brandenhad grown tired of the now 59-year-old Ayn Rand. Still sexually dissatisfied in his marriage to Barbara and afraid to end his affair with Rand,Brandenbegan sleeping with a married 24-year-old model, Patrecia Scott. Rand, now the woman scorned, calledBrandento appear before the Collective, whose nickname had by now lost its irony for both Barbara andBranden. Rands justice was swift. She humiliatedBrandenand then put a curse on him: If you have one ounce of morality left in you, an ounce of psychological healthyoull be impotent for the next 20 years! And if you achieve potency sooner, youll know its a sign of still worse moral degradation!

Rand completed the evening with two welt-producing slaps across Brandens face. Finally, in a move that Stalin and Hitler would have admired, Rand also expelled poor Barbara from the Collective, declaring her treasonous because Barbara, preoccupied by her own extramarital affair, had neglected to fill Rand in soon enough onBrandensextra-extra-marital betrayal. (If anyone doubts Alan Greenspans political savvy, keep in mind that he somehow stayed in Rands good graces even though he, fixed up byBrandenwith Patrecias twin sister, had double-dated with the outlaws.)

After being banished by Rand, Nathaniel Branden was worried that he might be assassinated by other members of the Collective, so he moved from New York to Los Angeles, where Rand fans were less fanatical. Branden established a lucrative psychotherapy practice and authored approximately 20 books, 10 of them with either Self or Self-Esteem in the title. Rand and Branden never reconciled, but he remained an admirer of her philosophy of self-interest until his recent death in December 2014.

Ayn Rands personal life was consistent with her philosophy of not giving a shit about anybody but herself. Rand was an ardent two-pack-a-day smoker, and when questioned about the dangers of smoking, she loved to light up with a defiant flourish and then scold her young questioners on the unscientific and irrational nature of the statistical evidence. After an x-ray showed that she had lung cancer, Rand quit smoking and had surgery for her cancer. Collective members explained to her that many people still smoked because they respected her and her assessment of the evidence; and that since she no longer smoked, she ought to tell them. They told her that she neednt mention her lung cancer, that she could simply say she had reconsidered the evidence. Rand refused.

How Rands Philosophy Seduced Young Minds

When I was a kid, my reading included comic books and Rands The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. There wasnt much difference between the comic books and Rands novels in terms of the simplicity of the heroes. What was different was that unlike Superman or Batman, Rand made selfishness heroic, and she made caring about others weakness.

Rand said, Capitalism and altruism are incompatible.The choice is clear-cut: either a new morality of rational self-interest, with its consequences of freedom, justice, progress and mans happiness on earthor the primordial morality of altruism, with its consequences of slavery, brute force, stagnant terror and sacrificial furnaces. For many young people, hearing that it is moral to care only about oneself can be intoxicating, and some get addicted to this idea for life.

I have known several people, professionally and socially, whose lives have been changed by those close to them who became infatuated with Ayn Rand. A common theme is something like this: My ex-husband wasnt a bad guy until he started reading Ayn Rand. Then he became a completely selfish jerk who destroyed our family, and our children no longer even talk to him.

To wow her young admirers, Rand would often tell a story of how a smart-aleck book salesman had once challenged her to explain her philosophy while standing on one leg. She replied: Metaphysicsobjective reality. Epistemologyreason. Ethicsself-interest. Politicscapitalism. How did that philosophy capture young minds?

Metaphysicsobjective reality. Rand offered a narcotic for confused young people: complete certainty and a relief from their anxiety. Rand believed that an objective reality existed, and she knew exactly what that objective reality was. It included skyscrapers, industries, railroads, and ideasat least her ideas. Rands objective reality did not include anxiety or sadness. Nor did it include much humor, at least the kind where one pokes fun at oneself. Rand assured her Collective that objective reality did not include Beethovens, Rembrandts, and Shakespeares realitiesthey were too gloomy and too tragic, basically buzzkillers. Rand preferred Mickey Spillane and, towards the end of her life, Charlies Angels.

Epistemologyreason. Rands kind of reason was a cool-tool to control the universe. Rand demonized Plato, and her youthful Collective members were taught to despise him. If Rand really believed that the Socratic Method described by Plato of discovering accurate definitions and clear thinking did not qualify as reason, why then did she regularly attempt it with her Collective? Also oddly, while Rand mocked dark moods and despair, her reasoning directed that Collective members should admire Dostoyevsky, whose novels are filled with dark moods and despair. A demagogue, in addition to hypnotic glibness, must also be intellectually inconsistent, sometimes boldly so. This eliminates challenges to authority by weeding out clear-thinking young people from the flock.

Ethicsself-interest. For Rand, all altruists were manipulators. What could be more seductive to kids who discerned the motives of martyr parents, Christian missionaries and U.S. foreign aiders? Her champions, Nathaniel Branden still among them, feel that Rands view of self-interest has been horribly misrepresented. For them, self-interest is her hero architect Howard Roark turning down a commission because he couldnt do it exactly his way. Some of Rands novel heroes did have integrity, however, for Rand there is no struggle to discover the distinction between true integrity and childish vanity. Rands integrity was her vanity, and it consisted of getting as much money and control as possible, copulating with whomever she wanted regardless of who would get hurt, and her always being right. To equate ones selfishness, vanity, and egotism with ones integrity liberates young people from the struggle to distinguish integrity from selfishness, vanity, and egotism.

Politicscapitalism. While Rand often disparaged Soviet totalitarian collectivism, she had little to say about corporate totalitarian collectivism, as she conveniently neglected the reality that giant U.S. corporations, like the Soviet Union, do not exactly celebrate individualism, freedom, or courage. Rand was clever and hypocritical enough to know that you dont get rich in the United States talking about compliance and conformity within corporate America. Rather, Rand gave lectures titled: Americas Persecuted Minority: Big Business. So, young careerist corporatists could embrace Rands self-styled radical capitalism and feel radical radical without risk.

Rands Legacy

In recent years, we have entered a phase where it is apparently okay for major political figures to publicly embrace Rand despite her contempt for Christianity. In contrast, during Ayn Rands life, her philosophy that celebrated self-interest was a private pleasure for the 1 percent but she was a public embarrassment for them. They used her books to congratulate themselves on the morality of their selfishness, but they publicly steered clear of Rand because of her views on religion and God. Rand, for example, had stated on national television, I am against God. I dont approve of religion. It is a sign of a psychological weakness. I regard it as an evil.

Actually, again inconsistent, Rand did have a God. It was herself. She said:

I am done with the monster of we, the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame. And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride. This god, this one word: I.

While Harriet Beecher Stowe shamed Americans about the United States dehumanization of African Americans and slavery, Ayn Rand removed Americans guilt for being selfish and uncaring about anyone except themselves. Not only did Rand make it moral for the wealthy not to pay their fair share of taxes, she liberated millions of other Americans from caring about the suffering of others, even the suffering of their own children.

The good news is that Ive seen ex-Rand fans grasp the damage that Rands philosophy has done to their lives and to then exorcize it from their psyche. Can the United States as a nation do the same thing?

Bruce E. Levineis a practicing clinical psychologist. His latest book is Get Up, Stand Up: Uniting Populists, Energizing the Defeated, and Battling the Corporate Elite.

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Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words – Arkansas Online

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Clarence Thomas is a famous sphinx, a Supreme Court justice who typically sits silently through oral arguments, who has carefully selected his audiences since his infamous 1991 confirmation hearings during which his former colleague Anita Hill accused him of making unwelcome sexual comments to her when the two worked together at the Department of Education.

In light of his silence and the relatively few opinions Thomas has written during his time on the Court, there might be a tendency to cast him as something of a conservative mascot, a predictable vote for the Red Team.

Created Equal:

Clarence Thomas in His Own Words

86 Cast: documentary, with Clarence Thomas, Virginia Thomas

Director: Michael Pack

Rating: PG-13, for language

Running time: 1 hour, 56 minutes

Whatever your political leanings, you might come into a documentary about Thomas thinking of him as having been deeply wounded by what he called his "electronic lynching"; you might sense in his long silence protest or petulance. You might, as my wife has been known to observe, feel like sometimes quiet people simply have little to say -- remaining mute might signal mysteriousness and depth where none exists.

Whether you might think him an intellectual lightweight, a true believer, a good soldier, a hero or a fool, it's likely to be revised after watching Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words.

That's not to say that the film by conservative filmmaker Michael Pack will make you change your mind about Thomas' politics or re-evaluate your position vis--vis l'affaire Anita Hill. But what it will show you is a flesh-and-blood Thomas, with a complicated history and a complex psychology -- a thinking person, both engaging and thoughtful. Clarence Thomas presents as a normal, thoroughly decent dude.

The whole idea of the movie is to show Thomas as an avuncular gentleman of high principles and ideals. Just like the whole purpose of the 2018 documentary RBG is to present Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a kind of left-progressive superhero. There's no pretense otherwise, and though I guess you could call this agitprop, it's a very honest kind of agitprop.

It's a chance for Thomas to tell his story his way, to explain why he is who he is and why he does what he does. Some tough questions about the nominations come up, and you may not believe he's telling the entire truth. But you might grant that he's telling his truth -- a truth he no doubt believes.

Actors say that every villain is misunderstood. Certainly, Thomas, who admits his mantra in law school was "leave me alone," must feel that he's been misjudged by enemies and allies. And he's probably right about that; maybe you can believe Anita Hill and still grant that the man has had quite the journey.

It started in south Georgia, in the rural community of Pin Point, where he was born into a penniless family descended from West Indians (they are called Geechee in Georgia; Gullah in South Carolina).

He says he never really knew his father, but that his early years of rural poverty were "very livable" compared to the grinding racism that went along with being black and poor in Savannah in the mid-1950s. He says he was a feral kid, wild on the street when he was 6 years old; the next year, he was taken in hand by a stern Catholic grandfather who welcomed Thomas and his younger brother into his house by telling them "the damn vacation is over."

It was his "rules and regulations," and he left the boys no doubt they were "there by his grace." The same door that opened for them could be shut with them on the other side.

But they felt they had been delivered -- Grandfather's house had a bathtub and a flush toilet, and Thomas' grandmother was as kind as he was strict.

So Thomas began his education in segregated Catholic schools under the tutelage of fierce Irish nuns. "They didn't much like [segregation]," he says. "They were always on our side."

When he was a high school sophomore, Thomas entered St. John Vianney's Minor Seminary and went on to Conception Seminary College in Missouri to study for the priesthood. He flourished there under the guidance of a priest who impressed upon the need for speaking standard English. (Thomas' wife, Virginia, the only other interviewee in the film, says that when she visited her husband's extended family in Pin Hook she couldn't understand their Geechee patois -- she just smiled and nodded a lot.)

Thomas understood the need to perform better academically than his white peers. He didn't want to leave anyone any reason other than race to try to discredit him.

But after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. when he was 16, Thomas was upset by comments made by his fellow seminarians. So he quit. And when he went back to his grandfather's house he was turned away -- as the old man said he would be. He lived with his mother for a while before being accepted to the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., and costumed himself as a black radical. From there, he went on to Yale Law School, where he describes himself as adopting a "lazy libertarian" philosophy.

His eventual conversion to natural law conservative occupies the second half of the film, and while it's nowhere near as compelling as the first half, it's never insulting to one's intelligence.

Apparently, it was precipitated by the realization that his radical play-acting was ridiculous and the fact that the schools in South Boston to which black kids from Roxbury were being forcibly bused to achieve integration were just as shabby as the ones in their neighborhood.

And yes, he's thought about Ayn Rand; though he's insulted that anyone would think that he might have had an offhand conversation about Roe v. Wade.

And the whole Anita Hill debacle was a liberal smear campaign.

OK, let Thomas have his say. It's only fair.

He doesn't ask questions during oral arguments because he doesn't believe that justices should ask questions. He thinks lawyers should make arguments, and judges should decide cases.

He has a simple solution to America's seemingly intractable problem of racism: Cut it out. Treat everybody the same. And quit complaining, because if he could make it, coming from where he came from, anyone should be able to.

But that ignores what the movie has just demonstrated: Clarence Thomas is a person of uncommon ability; a super-competent man of high intellect and -- who would have thought it -- genuine charisma. He is decidedly not just anyone.

Future Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his younger brother Myers about the time they were were taken to live with his maternal grandparents in Savannah, Georgia. Thomas was 7 years old at the time.

MovieStyle on 02/21/2020

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A counter-revolution is brewing in the U.K. and Europe – The Advocate

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Behind the headlines about Brexit, a counter-revolution has quietly occurred in Britain in recent years. Its reverberations seemed certain to reach beyond the English Channel when last week the guillotine unexpectedly came down on Sajid Javid, the Chancellor of the British Exchequer.

Javid, a devotee of the libertarian philosopher Ayn Rand and alumnus of Deutsche Bank, was edged out of Boris Johnson's Cabinet largely because he seemed too much a foot soldier of the ideological revolution that occurred in the 1980s in, first, Britain, and then, the United States.

In that upheaval, the hyper-individualist free-marketeering of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan became dominant across the West. Thatcher aimed to "roll back the frontiers of the state." Her ideological kin Ronald Reagan claimed that "government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem."

In this view, the primary, if not the only, legitimate economic role of the government is to guarantee price stability rather than to intervene repeatedly to stem inequality and protect the weakest members of the population.

Today, however, many citizens buffeted by global economic headwinds have come to see government yet again as a necessary player in the national economy.

Javid is actually the latest casualty of the counter-revolutionary urge to overthrow obsolete pieties. The much bigger victims have been left-leaning parties across Europe, such as the Labour Party, the creator of Britain's welfare state.

Rebranded as New Labour under Tony Blair, it embraced Thatcherism - to the point where Thatcher identified Blair as her heir. During its 13 years in power, New Labour pushed through Thatcher-style deregulation and privatization, often disguising it through "public-private partnerships."

Failing to check de-industrialization, or rising social inequality, New Labour started to lose the party's traditional working-class base in the manufacturing and mining districts of North England.

Claiming to be Blair's "true heir," the Tory Prime Minister David Cameron, together with his Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne, more aggressively advanced policies of "austerity" that further shrunk the remnants of the welfare state.

The eventual outcome of Thatcherism on steroids was Brexit: a furious rejection by Britain's working class of a long ideological status quo that seemed to benefit only a rich metropolitan minority.

An early beneficiary of the anti-establishment mood was Jeremy Corbyn, who, in elections held one year after the Brexit referendum, dramatically increased his party's vote share.

Corbyn belonged to the marginalized left wing of the Labour Party, which had always seen the European Union (EU) as an enforcer of free-market fundamentalism, drastically constraining the British state's ability to intervene in the economy.

Accepting that Brexit had to get done, Corbyn offered in his popular election manifesto of 2017 a bonanza of spending promises. The manifesto was pathbreaking not only because it broke with the Thatcherite orthodoxy of non-intervention that for decades had prevailed inside the Labour Party.

It was extraordinary also because the Conservative party, traditionally representatives of big business and the landed aristocracy, rushed to imitate Corbyn's rhetoric, and to disown Thatcherism, claiming in own manifesto that "we do not believe in untrammeled free markets" and that "we reject the cult of selfish individualism."

"She has even adopted," the Economist complained of the then-British Prime Minister Theresa May, "Labour's 'Marxist' policy of energy-price caps."

In last year's elections, the Conservative Party under Johnson competed even more fiercely with Labour to offer spending plans (much to the despair of orthodox economists and balanced-budget diehards).

Johnson carefully distanced himself from his posh Tory pals, such pro-EU architects of austerity as Cameron and Osborne. He promised to use Brexit to re-engineer British laws in favor of British people. He even abandoned an earlier promise to cut corporation tax from 19% to 17%.

Johnson, closely identified all his life with Tory free-marketeers, was responding to an altered public mood. According to a recent British Social Attitudes survey, 60 percent support more government spending.

As it turned out, Johnson's gamble succeeded. While the London-based leadership of the Labour party strove futilely for a second referendum on Brexit, many of its lifelong voters in the Northern England lent their support to a party that seemed more capable of extracting Britain from the EU and turning on the spending taps.

Johnson is moving fast to please his new and potentially fickle constituency, nationalizing Northern Rail and increasing public spending. Sajid Javid, with his tattered copy of The Fountainhead, clearly stood in his boss's (and neighbor's) way, insisting that Britain should run a balanced budget by 2023. Javid's replacement, Rishi Sunak, a hurriedly promoted Johnson loyalist, has no such constricting goal.

As a political insider told the Financial Times about the new occupants of Downing Street: "It wasn't a question of what they wanted to spend more money on; it was more a question of whether there was anything they didn't want to spend more money on."

Johnson is, of course, an opportunist; and his actual ability to spend, already limited, may shrink even more by the time Brexit gets done. Moreover, he has barely started on his impossible task: triangulating the clashing demands of rich Tory grandees and North England's immiserated working class.

Nevertheless, the political alignments and re-alignments of the last three decades are now in plain sight.

During the ideological hegemony of Reagan and Thatcher, left-leaning parties with electoral bases among working classes moved right - or, to the "center," in their preferred euphemism.

One unexpected outcome of this shift is that, today, they appear complicit in extensive social and economic breakdown. Worse: Their founding ideas about beneficent government, which they have steadily discarded since the 1980's, are being stolen by carpetbaggers and the far-right.

Indeed, Boris Johnson's success in the UK could be paralleled by Marine Le Pen in France.

Presidential elections are due in two years, and Le Pen, pitted against a weakened Emmanuel Macron (hailed early and fatefully in his tenure as the "French Blair") is surging on the back of her promise to deepen the activist role of the state in the national economy.

France may witness in 2022 what has already occurred in Britain: a counter-revolution that sends both free-marketeers and self-proclaimed "centrists" to the guillotine.

- - -

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners. Pankaj Mishra is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. His books include "Age of Anger: A History of the Present," "From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia," and "Temptations of the West: How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet and Beyond."

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A counter-revolution is brewing in the U.K. and Europe - The Advocate

A World to Win – The New Republic

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J. Edgar Hoover and Joseph Stalin shared one passionately held belief: that socialism denoted the one-party dictatorship in Moscow and its satellites. The fact that this dictatorship would have been emphatically repudiated by a great many people with a much better right to adjudicate the use of the word socialismMarx, Engels, William Morris, Karl Kautsky, Rosa Luxemburg, Jean Jaurs, Bertrand Russell, Eugene Debs, Antonio Gramsci, Ignazio Silone, George Orwell, Dwight Macdonald, and C.L.R. James, among many otherswould have made no impression on Hoover or Stalin. The terminological status quo was far too convenient for both of them. It allowed Hoover to pretend that socialism was Stalinist tyrannytout courtrather than the democratic movement that he had helped destroy in the United States earlier in the century, before the Bolshevik Revolution provided even the excuse of hysterical overreaction. And it allowed Stalin to claim the moral prestige of the socialist tradition, chief repository of the ideals of equality and full democracy, even as he was murdering every socialist he could get his hands on. I imagine the two old malefactors cackling together now in the lowest circle of Hell, comparing notes on their outrages against decency and humanity.

It is long, very long, past time Americans discarded Cold War shibboleths and talked sense to one another about equality, democracy, and cooperation. When we do, we will be talking about socialism, though it doesnt matter what we call it. We may even have to give up the worddepressingly many Americans still believe what J. Edgar Hoover believed or, even more depressingly, what Ayn Rand believed: that solidarity is a delusion and altruism a pathology. A lot of fancy stepping may be required to avoid the deadly bog of misunderstanding that almost immediately materializes when a left-wing American engages in political discussion with a right-wing fellow citizen. But theres no avoiding it.

Two new books should make the left-wingers job much easier, supplying many telling facts, much relevant history, and, in these spiritually parched times, a welcome spritz of utopian imagination. Both aged 30, Nathan Robinson and Bhaskar Sunkara are leading left intellectuals and entrepreneurs. In the latter capacity, each started a radical magazine in print formRobinsonsCurrent Affairsand SunkarasJacobinand within a few years made a financial success of it. Compared with that remarkable feat, organizing a socialist revolution will doubtless present few difficulties. Not surprisingly, these two books reflect the personalities of the two magazines. LikeCurrent Affairs,Why You Should Be a Socialistis first-person and playful, anecdotal and indignant. LikeJacobin,The Socialist Manifestois earnest and analytical, sober and strategic. Two guides, with something for every temperament.

The root of socialism, Robinson writes, is revulsion. Unnecessary suffering, untasted joys, unexercised talents, wasted lives: These are everywhere, if you have eyes to see; and if you also have a heart to feel, then youre on the threshold of socialism. Robinson aims to bring you over. In the United States last year, 41 percent of workers didnt have evenone dayof paid vacation, he writes. Thirty-six percent didnt have a single day of paid sick leave. Half of all private-sector pensions have disappeared. One in five households has zero or negative net worth. The net worth of the top one percent is greater than the net worth of the bottom 95 percent. Suicide and depression rates are up; life expectancy in the bottom half of the income distribution is down; and poor adults are five times as likely to report being in poor health as rich adults. Hundreds more examples follow in the same vein. Robinson preaches this familiar socialist sermon with wit and fervor. Your mileage may vary, but I find it never gets old.

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A World to Win - The New Republic

Trump Pardons Every Criminal He Knows, Which Is A Lot Of Criminals – Wonkette

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Donald Trump was feeling merciful today, so he did us a favor though and granted clemency to a load of famous crimers, including former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, former NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik, former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr., and fraudy inside trader Michael Milken. Kerik, Milken, and DeBartolo all received full pardons, while Blago only had his 14-year sentence commuted, allowing him out of prison but leaving his conviction for trying to sell an appointment to the US Senate seat that had been held by Barack Obama.

Trump also granted clemency to a number of less well-known people, including some women convicted of drug offenses, who appear to have actually turned their lives around in prison. It is not yet known whether the women were insulted by being included in a clemency spree with those scummy fraud men.

The Chicago Tribune's headline for the story was a masterpiece of pointed omission:

On his way to a West Coast campaign trip that will feature three big slob picnics over four days, Trump told reporters,

Trump denies knowing him? Crom only knows what sort of hinky business deals they may have been up to! Trump had reportedly been talking about helping out Blagojevich for years, although some Republicans, quaintly enough, urged him not to because the former governor's scheme sure looked swampy. Pardon me (and he will) but the swamp is full of Democrats and never-Trumpers only, not people like Blagojevich who were on "Celebrity Apprentice."

Bernard Kerik, who like Trump pal Rudy Giuliani got and then squandered a lot of public goodwill for the NYPD response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, pleaded guilty in 2009 to multiple counts of tax fraud and obstruction of justice; the judge who sentenced him actually gave Kerik 48 months in prison, more than the sentencing guidelines, saying Kerik's abuse of his office over the 10 years he was commissioner had done "immeasurable" damage to the public trust, and that "the guidelines don't take fully into account the operatic proportions of this case."

Milken, the "junk bond king" who was convicted for securities fraud and tax evasion in 1990, was originally sentenced to 10 years but later had his sentenced reduced to two years; Trump cited Milken's support in raising funds for cancer research as one reason for erasing his conviction.

The White House statement on the pardons and commutations called Milken "one of America's greatest financiers," and portrayed him as an Ayn Rand superman who was only accused of crimes because he was too smart for the puny mortals who went after him:

Get that Medal of Freedom ready, kids!

And the football guy got dinged for trying to bribe then-Louisiana Gov. Edwin "Vote for the crook; it's important" Edwards to get a riverboat gambling license and then covered it up. Honestly, who among us hasn't?

DeBartolo never went to jail, but was on two years' probation. He also hosted a pre-inauguration party for several Trump associates in 2017, not that there's anything wrong with that.

Bribery, insider trading, securities fraud, selling favors, abuse of office, tax evasion what's not for Donald Trump to like?

Mind you, none of this should be taken to suggest that Donald Trump is thinking about pardoning Roger Stone, because he says he hasn't given it any thought, so for sure he hasn't. The New York Times reports he's been talking with advisers about clemency for Stone, but that's obviously not true and the Times should go to jail for lying and never be pardoned.

So it was a pretty good day for several people who really like fraud and money, which proves that if you you make a mistake and have powerful friends, you'll be taken care of. After all, it's not like any of these guys did anything really bad, like illegally crossing the border and asking for asylum. That gets you locked up forever, and your conversations with a therapist can be used to portray you as a violent gangbanger.

Now, who wants tax cuts?

No? How about an OPEN THREAD?

[NYT / CNBC / ABC News / White House / Photo: The Publicity Agency, Creative Commons license 2.0]

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The NY Post Published 12 AOC Stories In One Day – BuzzFeed News

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AOC clapped back on Twitter.

Posted on February 23, 2020, at 10:42 a.m. ET

It's safe to say she has their attention.

The New York Post published an astonishing 12 separate stories about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Saturday.

"AOC is clothes-minded in luxe designer dress on The View," read the first story published by the New York City tabloid.

Ten stories later, the final headline read, "AOC says Thomas Jefferson 'was a progressive' president."

In between, there were stories on her singing along to Bon Jovi while on a road trip, criticizing Fox News and Hillary Clinton, and reviewing Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

A review of the Post's tag for the liberal lawmaker shows they usually write one AOC story every few days, so the sheer volume on Saturday stood out.

The tabloid's Twitter account, @nypost, tweeted them out one by one in just a matter of hours something that caught the eye of many observers online.

People wondered why the newspaper was so obsessed with AOC.

The prevalence of AOC stories and content across media and social media is not a new phenomenon. A BuzzFeed News analysis found more than 40,000 posts about her on Gab, a favored platform for the alt-right.

The liberal lawmaker has also been compared to Trump with respect to how she uses social media in order to dominate the mainstream media conversation.

New York Post Editor-in-Chief Stephen Lynch didn't respond to a request for comment, nor did reporter Jon Levine, who wrote the vast majority of the AOC stories on Saturday.

But the reason for the large volume of Post stories on Saturday appeared to be quite simple: Levine watched several old Facebook Live videos AOC had made several years ago and chose to write 10 individual small stories, rather than one large one, so they could each travel separately with their own headlines.

Hours after the stories were published online and caught people's attention, staff at the New York Post changed the headlines of Levine's posts to brand them as "The AOC Tapes," presumably to make clear that they were part of a series.

One story not by Levine and which was ratioed to high hell on Twitter criticized the democratic socialist for wearing a dress by designer Rickie Freeman that was selling at Saks Fifth Avenue for $232, marked down from $580.

Many of the replies castigated the paper for their fashion critique.

Others wondered if male politicians deserve the same scrutiny for their sartorial choices.

But others still subscribed to the Post's assessment that AOC was being hypocritical.

Seeking to clarify things and dunk on the Post, AOC wrote on Twitter that she doesn't buy most of her clothes outright.

She also criticized the double standard when it comes to the clothes worn by male politicians.

After her tweets, the Post updated their story to make clear AOC had rented the dress.

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The NY Post Published 12 AOC Stories In One Day - BuzzFeed News

This Researcher Juggled Five Different Identities to Go Undercover With Far-Right and Islamist Extremists. Here’s What She Found – TIME

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Wearing a blond wig and walking through the streets of central Vienna in October 2017, Julia Ebner reminded herself of her new identity: Jennifer Mayer, an Austrian philosophy student currently studying abroad in London. It was one of five different identities that Ebner, an Austrian researcher specialized in online radicalization and cumulative extremism, adopted in order to infiltrate far-right/Islamist extremist networks. That day in October, she met a local recruiter for Generation Identity (GI), the European equivalent of the American alt right, which is mostly an online political group that rejects mainstream politics and espouses ideas of white nationalism. GI is the main proponent of the Great Replacement Theory, the baseless idea that white populations are being deliberately replaced through migration and the growth of minority communities. The theory has inspired several recent extremist attacks, including the murder of 51 people in Christchurch, New Zealand last March, and the mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas last August, which left 22 people dead.

The meeting with GIs local leader proved to be significant. Ebner learned about how important the group considered social media for their strategy to expand and recruit members in schools, public baths and other public venues that young people visit. She found out that GI were planning to launch an App, Patriotic Peer, that would connect a silent majority (in the words of the leader), which was funded by donations from around the world.

Securing the meeting wasnt easy. It took several months of setting up credible accounts within the various GI networks online and a couple of weeks of messaging with GI members. But it was necessary for Ebners research: the 28-year-old is a resident research fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a London-based think-tank that develops responses to all forms of hate and extremism. She has advised the U.N., parliamentary working groups, frontline workers and tech firms on issues around radicalization, and her first book, The Rage: The Vicious Circle of Islamist and Far-Right Extremism, was published in 2017.

Two years ago, Ebner started to feel like she had reached the limits of her insights into the world of extremism. She wanted to find out how extremists recruit members, how they mobilize them to commit violence, and why people join and stay in the movements. Ebner believed she could only get her answers by being a part of these groups. Over the past two years, she has spent much of her spare time talking to people on online forums. They include the Discord group, used by the alt-right to coordinate the violent Charlottesville rally in August 2017, the Tradwives (short for Traditional Wives), which is a network of some 30,000 far-right women, who perceive gender roles in terms of a market place where women are sellers and men buyers of sex, and an online trolling army, Reconquista Germanica, which were active in the 2017 German federal election.

Ebner, whose new book Going Dark: The Secret Social Lives of Extremists is published Feb. 20, spoke with TIME about what she discovered. The conversation below has been edited for length and clarity.

Ebner: My first attempt of creating and maintaining a credible profile didnt work. I was kicked out of a group and had to start all over again.

I found switching between different identities stressful and confusing. Remembering exactly what I had said in my online profiles, previous chats and real-life conversations in these various roles could get challenging. Sometimes staying in my role and not being able to talk back as my real self was also difficult. There were many moments when I wanted to debunk a crazy conspiracy theory, or say youre not funny! instead of laughing at a racist joke, or convince younger members to cease their involvement with a group.

As youd imagine, I made made plenty of stupid mistakes. Dropping my real credit card was only one of them. Once I even signed an email with Julia instead of Jenni. Im not a professional MI5 agent, I did acting in high school but going undercover didnt come naturally to me.

I received some tips from a friend who has done undercover investigations himself and also trained people to infiltrate dangerous groups. I probably did appear nervous but I imagine most people who go to a first recruitment meeting with a white nationalist group leader probably would be, so I didnt think that it would be too suspicious.

In many cases, they offer an escape from loneliness and a solution to grievances or fears. A lot of the time it was a fear of a relative loss of status, which the networks blamed on migration and changing demographics. They offered easy explanations oversimplified rationalizations to complex social and political issues.

The networks also offered support, consolation and counselling. They can turn into a kind of family. Some people spend so much time online that I doubt they socialize in the real world.

On the surface, there was no clear profile. Users were from different age groups, social classes, educational backgrounds and depending on the group different ethnic backgrounds. The lowest common denominator was people who were in a moment of crisis. The recruiters did a good job of tailoring their propaganda to pick up vulnerable individuals. The Tradwives reached women who had relationship grievances, Islamist extremists recruited alienated Muslims whod experienced discrimination, and white supremacists exploited people who had security concerns.

It was a major part of the recruiters strategy. White supremacist networks, like the European far right, have a clear step-by-step radicalization manual, which they call recruiting strategies. The Tradwives, for example, made themselves seem like a self help group and I think thats what attracted even women from different ideological backgrounds, and even those who dont subscribe to traditional gender roles.

Some groups, the European Trolling Army for instance, had tightly-organized hierarchical structures. Neo-Nazi groups often have military-like structures, positions in the groups are even named after military ranks, and a person could rise to the top by running hate campaigns against political opponents.

Other networks, like the ones used by the perpetrator of Christchurch and the attack in Halle, Germany last October, had looser structures. They would get together on an opportunistic basis when they saw that something could be gained by cross-border cooperation. They use their own vocabulary and insider references when they decide to collaborate on a campaign or a media stunt. The Matrix is one of many internet culture references from Japanese anime to Taylor Swift. And they would be very effective at advancing these operations.

Far right groups have undergone a rebranding and have reframed the ideas held by traditional neo-Nazis. Generation Identity use euphemisms like ethno pluralism instead of racial segregation or apartheid, and combine video game language with racial slurs, creating their own satirical language.

Not only are extremist groups better at spreading their real ideologies behind satirical memes, theyre also being given a platform by politicians. Language which mirrors that used by proponents of conspiracy theories like the Great Replacement are retweeted by politicians and repeated in their campaigns. This is likely to become more prevalent in the next few months in the run up to the U.S. presidential election. The 2016 U.S. election proved to be one of the key turning points in uniting far right groups globally.

Trans-Atlantic cooperation between the far right in Europe and the alt right in the U.S. has been growing. Some of the ideologies that inspired the GI and other far right groups have been propagated by leading far right figures in the U.S. And the European far right have adopted some of the strategies of gamification and propaganda used by the Americans alt right. They both see themselves as fighters in a war against white genocide or the Great Replacement and there is loyalty between them that makes the idea of ultra nationalism obsolete.

One of the biggest problems is in the infrastructure of social media and tech companies. Algorithms give priority to content that maximises our attention and to content that causes anger and indignation. Its like handing a megaphone to extremists. Its allowed fringe views to get a much bigger audience. Developments in deepfakes, cyber warfare and hacking campaigns are likely to help extremists to refine their strategies.

Firstly, we need a global legal framework that forces all the tech companies not just the big ones but also the fringe networks, like 8chan and 4chan to remove content that could inspire terrorism. After the shootings in Christchurch and Halle, the documents the manifestos left behind by perpetrators were translated into several languages and shared on the fringe corners of the internet. We need a global approach because people can always find a way to circumvent national laws.

But content removal alone wont work. In my book I suggest 10 solutions for 2020; this includes more digital literacy programs in education settings, which can enhance critical thinking skills, help Internet users to spot manipulation and ultimately weaken extremists. We also need more deradicalization projects that use social media analyses to identify and engage with radicalized individuals. Counter-disinformation initiatives with the help of fact checkers and social media campaigners could be formed, as they have done in the Baltics, to debunk online manipulation.

Technology and society are intertwined. So, our response has to be integrated. We need an alliance across not only politicians and tech firms, but civil society and social workers.

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Contact us at editors@time.com.

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This Researcher Juggled Five Different Identities to Go Undercover With Far-Right and Islamist Extremists. Here's What She Found - TIME

White supremacists spread propaganda in the Lehigh Valley in 2019, ADL reports – lehighvalleylive.com

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Last year was the first year in recent memory with credible reports of white supremacist groups spreading propaganda around the Lehigh Valley and Warren County, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The ADL this month announced that distribution of white supremacist literature including racist, anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ fliers, stickers and posters increased across the nation in 2019 with 2,713 cases, up from 1,214 the year before.

There were five documented instances of such literature locally from so-called alt-right groups.

The group Patriot Front was reportedly behind two instances last October in Allentown, including one reported on the Muhlenberg College campus. Two other occurrences in Bethlehem and Mansfield Township were from the New Jersey European Heritage Association, which the ADL says is trying to expand beyond the Garden State. Fliers with the logo of Identity Evropa, now known as the American Identity Movement or AIM, were seen in Hackettstown.

The ADL began tracking such propaganda in 2016. Similar fliers may have appeared in the Lehigh Valley before 2019 but the ADL may not have received a credible report before, according to spokesman Jake Hyman.

The organization tracks propaganda and other extremist activity on its HEAT Map, which stands for hate, extremism, anti-Semitism and terrorism. The map also documents anti-Semitic incidents in the Lehigh Valley since 2016 there were four reported in 2019, even with the two prior years and down from five in 2017.

NOTE: If you do not see the map and charts above, try opening this post in your Internet browser.

Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveNovakLVL and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.

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White supremacists spread propaganda in the Lehigh Valley in 2019, ADL reports - lehighvalleylive.com

Who Is Kaitlin Bennett, And Why Did Her Liberty Hangout Promote Holocaust Denial? – Snopes.com

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Right-wing social media personality and trollKaitlin Bennett was the focus of a protest on Feb. 17, 2020, when students gathered and demanded she leave the Ohio University, Athens campus, where she and her entourage said they were attempting to film a video.

Bennett, who has served as a contributor to the Alex Jones conspiracy-peddling network InfoWars, is also the face of the far-right Liberty Hangout, which brands itself as the official home of Kaitlin Bennett and as a libertarian media outlet intent on promoting Austrian economics and property rights, although a recent tweet from the group promoted monarchy over democracy.

Bennett, who has previously stirred controversy by posting images of herself on social media posing with large guns, often on college campuses such as her alma mater Kent State in Ohio, is the founder of Kent States Liberty Hangout chapter, according to a university spokesperson.

Bennett is more recently known for conducting interviews for both Liberty Hangout and InfoWars in places where she is likely to encounter liberal-minded people in the hopes of instigating responses that entertain her right-wing audience. The results could be described as mixed at best, for her purposes, however. In January 2020, she was criticized for commentary that was viewed as hateful toward the transgender community.

Following a spate of news stories and social media posts about the Feb. 17 incident at Ohio University, several Snopes readers inquired about Bennett and one asked specifically, Did Kaitlin Bennetts group Liberty Hangout really tweet then delete these Nazi tweets?

Liberty Hangouts past social media statements have included homophobic commentary, asserting only the economically-privileged should be allowed to vote, and comparing themselves to Jesus.

A search of internet archiving tools confirmed that on Jan. 30, 2016, the Liberty Hangout Twitter account posted a poll asking other Twitter users to answer the question, Do you believe the Holocaust happened as weve been told? In response to that post, one user asked, What do you think and Liberty Hangout replied, It doesnt seem possible that 6 million were killed.

We contacted Liberty Hangout to ask who wrote and deleted the posts about the Holocaust, but received no response. We also reached out to Bennett via Facebook and received no response.

Holocaust denial is a key element in white supremacist ideology. It is defined by the Anti-Defamation League as:

A type of anti-Semitic propaganda that emerged after World War II and which uses pseudo-history to deny the reality of the systematic mass murder of six million Jews by the Nazis and their allies during World War II. Holocaust deniers generally claim that the Holocaust never happened, or that some much smaller number of Jews did die, but primarily to diseases like typhus. They also claim that legitimate accounts of the Holocaust are merely propaganda or lies generated by Jews for their own benefit.

Although no exact figure has been ascertained, there is no historical doubt that millions of Jews were targeted for genocide during the Holocaust. An estimated 6 million European Jews were mass murdered. Other groups were also targeted and killed over what the Nazis perceived as racial and biological inferiority, including Roma and Slavic people, members of the LGBT community, as well as the Nazis political opponents.

Liberty Hangout was co-founded in 2015 by Bennetts now-fiance Justin Moldow. It has long featured extreme commentary, including a number of pro-Confederacy posts. In 2018, Liberty Hangout published an article asserting that Its Time to Admit that Martin Luther King, Jr. Really Sucked. In February 2016, the group tweeted a meme depicting then-presidential candidate Donald Trump dressed in a Nazi uniform attached to the words Make Reich Great Again.

In 2015, Moldow interviewed Chris Cantwell, who gained notoriety as the Crying Nazi for his role in the deadly 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. Cantwell as of this writing is in custody awaiting trial on charges that he made violent threats.

In September 2018, Bennett organized a rally at Kent State featuring Joey Gibson, the founder of the far-right, anti-Muslim group Patriot Prayer, best known for its provocation of violent skirmishes at rallies in the Pacific Northwest.

Provoking students on college campuses is not a new tactic. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the tactic has in recent years been favored by the far-right as a means of recruitment. Alt-right personalities know their cause is helped by news footage of large jeering crowds, heated confrontations and outright violence at their events. It allows them to play the victim and gives them a larger platform for their racist message. Denying an alt-right speaker of such a spectacle is the worst insult they can endure.

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Who Is Kaitlin Bennett, And Why Did Her Liberty Hangout Promote Holocaust Denial? - Snopes.com

Documentary that examines recent rise of anti-Semitism in U.S. and globally will open in NYC on Friday – amNY

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A new documentary explores the rising rates of anti-Semitism in recent years, both in the U.S. and across the globe, comparing the hate to a virus that can have different forms and spread anywhere.

Viral: Antisemitism In Four Mutations, directed by filmmaker Andrew Goldberg, opens in New York City on Feb. 21 at Village East Cinema, 181-189 Second Ave.

The film opens with a narration by actress Julianna Margulies, saying that anti-Semitism started a long time ago, and is based on lies about Jews being evil, conspiring and enemies of God. The lie evolved and spread like a virus, and still does, Margulies says.

The first section focuses on the far right in America, including the 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh that killed 11 people. The film takes a quick look at the history of anti-Semitism in America, before discussing the recent rise of incidents since the 2016 presidential campaign and Donald Trumps rise to power.

Survivors of the Tree of Life shooting are interviewed, and describe the horror of that day. A former white supremacist says that people frustrated with their lives can be the best targets for recruitment.

Former president Bill Clinton is also interviewed, noting that hate can spread on the internet and economic stagnation and a feeling of powerlessness can make people vulnerable to hateful ideologies. When a group is needed to be blamed, it often falls on the Jewish people, noted several people interviewed, including journalist Fareed Zakaria and commentator George Will.

The rise of Donald Trump and nationalism was important for the alt-right, who were previously in the distance and without encouragement, according to Jonathan Weisman, author of (((Semitism))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump.

They saw in the rise of American nationalism and in the rise of Donald trump a kindred spirit, says Weisman in the film.

The films other sections look at anti-Semitism in Hungary, with the nationalist government waging a campaign of blame and hate against investor and philanthropist George Soros; the far left in the United Kingdom, where there were widespread charges of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party and its leader Jeremy Corbyn; and Islamic radicalism in France, which has a high rate of anti-Semitic incidents, including a shooting at a kosher supermarket in Paris in 2015 where four victims were killed.

Despite different circumstances in each location, director Andrew Goldberg said they all shared some common themes of conspiracies such as Jewish people being in power behind the scenes. We had these four very specific examples where we felt it worked well, theyre so different yet they share so many of the same ideas, Goldberg told amNewYork Metro.

Goldberg said that some of the anti-Semitic movements can seem like abstract ideas, but it had an impact when he went to Hungary and saw all of the signs against George Soros and the extent of the propaganda campaign against him. You realize how enormous it is, Goldberg said. That was really eye-opening for us.

He said the situation in France, including the supermarket shooting, was entirely heartbreaking, and that everyone in the crew was upset during the interview with Valerie Braham, who walked through the ongoing pain of her husband Philippe Braham being killed in the supermarket attack. That was a very emotional interview, Goldberg said.

In terms of the global waves of anti-Semitism, Goldberg said, It has to get worse before it gets better.

He said he was asked if he would include recent waves of anti-Semitic attacks in New York City, where he lives, but the film had already been completed. Thats another example of the mutation of this virus, Goldberg said, and added that the film could have included 400 mutations but chose to focus on four.

When first putting the film together, Goldberg said he thought that ideas might emerge about how to combat the rise of anti-Semitism, but he quickly realized, thats beyond our capabilities to come up with something usable, he said. We like to think an informed population is the best first step.

More information about the documentary can be found at viralthefilm.com.

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Documentary that examines recent rise of anti-Semitism in U.S. and globally will open in NYC on Friday - amNY