(1) “Populist dynamic: Experimental evidence on the effects of countering populism,” by Vincenzo Galasso, Massimo Morelli, Tommaso Nannicini, and Piero Stanig, February 2024.
From the Abstract: “We evaluate how traditional parties may respond to populist parties on issues aligning with populist messages. During the 2020 Italian referendum on the reduction of members of Parliament, we conducted a large-scale field experiment, exposing 200 municipalities to nearly a million impressions of programmatic advertisement. Our treatments comprised two video ads against the reform: one debunking populist rhetoric and another attributing blame to populist politicians. This anti-populist campaign proved effective through demobilization, as it reduced both turnout and the votes in favor of the reform.”
Huh, I wonder why so many conspiracy theorists believe that institutions are manipulating electoral outcomes.
(2) In case you just got back from a trip to Epsilon Eridani and haven’t seen this yet: A trailer for Star Wars if it had been done in the 1950s. AI is getting unnervingly good. The vid isn’t perfect, but this is a young tech.
(3) Speaking of AI: In Pikesville High School (Baltimore), a black faculty member uses AI to fake a racist rant, gets the principal fired. Eventually the fakery is exposed, but yikes.
(4) Interesting! At https://blog.reaction.la/uncategorized/who-stabbed-bishop-mar-mari-emmanuel/ there is an argument between a real Christian, the blog host, and a real Muslim, someone calling himself SlaveOfAllah. The latter is a true-believing Muslim and not a progressive simulation of one, as far as I can tell. Intriguing to see this.
(5) Chris Bray:
“So the California legislature, which passed laws allowing children to get birth control and abortions and medical treatment for rape without parental knowledge or consent, also tried to pass a law allowing children to get mRNA vaccines without parental knowledge or consent, and is now making sure children can identify as transgender without parental knowledge — and receive “gender-affirming” care, including treatment at a residential facility, without parental consent. Maybe you can spot a consistent theme in all of that.”
The final sentence from this sharp observer of our current mess:
“Consider the possibility that people who keep telling you how much they hate the family mean what they say.”
(6) Billboard in Detroit, 2019: “Trans People Are Sacred.”
(7) An unbelievable comment at Reddit’s Figure Skating group:
“The problem is that the sport doesn’t actually want to appeal to a different audience because that would require real change. There is absolutely an audience in the US who are not rigid about gender in sport, but that sector is probably not going to be silent about abused children, rampant sexual abuse of women, and a culture of toxic masculinity, misogyny, and homophobia.”
Ah, yes, the noted homophobia and anti-female attitudes in figure skating.
Alas, there aren’t enough girls in figure skating, and the culture is a male-dominated frat-bro culture.
(Meanwhile, back in reality, figure skating chicks perpetually lament that there aren’t enough men to go around for pairs events. I frequently am at rinks working on power, acceleration, etc. I know plenty of figure skaters. Funny scene a couple of years ago: A female figure skater tries to convince the circa 10-year-old boys, who had gotten there early for their hockey practice, to take up figure skating. Her efforts did not fall on fertile soil, LOL.)
As to the “homophobia”: bitch, please. Everyone in the world knows that 122% of men in figure skating are gay. Your pregnant cousin’s prenatal baby, still in the womb, knows that most of the men in figure skating are gay. Silicon-based life forms living in the Horsehead Nebula know that most of the men in figure skating are gay.
And the person who made this comment knows that everyone knows it. She’s not actually trying to deceive you. What is she doing? She’s just spewing an outrageous lie because, like all leftists, she enjoys spewing outrageous lies. Leftists like insulting your intelligence. It’s one of their kinks.
Leftists are just assholes. There’s no reason to analyze leftism any more deeply than that.
(8) Phil Boas at the Arizona Republic, Jan. 3, 2024: In two polls, Latinos prefer Trump to Biden. “Both the USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll and the CNBC All-America Economic Survey found that Trump has a 5-point lead with Latino voters.” Boas provides links:
USA Today/Suffolk U. poll: “A fraying coalition: Black, Hispanic, young voters abandon Biden as election year begins… In a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll, Biden…narrowly trailing Trump.”
CNBC All-America Economic Survey.
Look for Democrats – and not only the mayors of immigrant-flooded sanctuary cities – to suddenly realize that immigration is not an unalloyed good.
(9) On a lighter note: https://www.reddit.com/r/DivorcedBirds/