2025 Birthed in Tragedy, and a Big Lie
Plus: 3 New Years Resolutions
The New Years Day attack in New Orleans was perpetrated by a US citizen, but that didn't stop former and future President Donald Trump from blaming immigrants.
The attacker, Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 42, grew up in Beaumont, Texas, and served in the US Army for 8 years, including a deployment to Afghanistan. Yet, within hours after the tragic 3:15am attack, as information is still being gathered, Trump blamed President Biden's border policy. Worse still, he won't admit he got it wrong and has since doubled and tripled-down on his false claims.
This is a preview of what we can expect from the next Trump administration. Immigrants will be targeted and blamed, even for events they had nothing to do with.
Also on New Years Day, a Army Green Beret committed suicide while blowing up his Tesla Cybertruck in front of the Trump hotel in Las Vegas, and the FBI found the largest cache of homemade explosives it has seized in its history at the home of a man in Virginia.
How did you respond to the news of these events? It's particularly egregious when people with large platforms spread disinformation amid the heat of tragic news, but these events should also remind us to be better in how we share news on social media in the new year.
Will you join me in committing to these 3 New Years resolutions?
Be suspicious. Remember that false information often spreads more quickly online than what is true. And the algorithms are designed to feed into your biases. So be cautious about everything you see in your social media feeds.
Check your sources. Don't reflexively hit the "repost" or "share" buttons without double-checking the information first.
Wait. Breaking news is often wrong — not due to any ideological bias, but simply because information is incomplete. The news media often prefers being first over being right, so they'll publish before having all the information. This means you'll have better information if you simply wait before sharing.
What Else We're Reading
Axios: “Nearly half of GOP voters support using military to put immigrants in camps”
By the numbers: 46% of Republicans endorse using the military in mass deportation raids and placing immigrants in camps, according to a nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) post-election survey.
That's more than double that of independent voters (19%) who agree with the idea.
And that's more than five times as Democratic voters (8%) who supported this policy.
Link.
RNS: “How religion, wellness bros and conspiracies made some Americans doubt seed oils”
For some religious folks, avoiding such oils has become a matter of faith. Or in extreme cases, a matter of national survival — with seed oils seen as part of a plot to weaken conservatives Christian and allow immigrants to take over.
“The ultimate goal of our enemies is the destruction of our nations and the replacement of our people with those who are more easily controlled and manipulated,” Andrew Torba, founder of the Gab social media site and a self-described Christian nationalist, wrote in a long post criticizing seed oils.
“By keeping us sick, weak, and distracted, they are able to accelerate this process and ensure that we are unable to resist their plans,” he continued.
The Guardian: “Across the west, the centre right is collapsing – and with it, any notion of what is ‘too extreme’”
Brexit was a watershed moment that saw the party adopt a populist demagoguery that breached the walls of any remaining cordon sanitaire. Theresa May lobbed grenades at it with her notorious 2016 “citizens of nowhere” speech. Boris Johnson found himself applauded by far-right extremists. After her benighted premiership tanked, Truss joined the US far-right speaker circuit, savaging the “deep state” alongside the likes of Steve Bannon.
But this isn’t a Britain-specific phenomenon. Witness the Trumpian takeover of the Republican party. It was made possible by the party’s establishment endorsing conspiracism and Islamophobia. Take Republican ancien regime stalwart Liz Cheney, now recast as a supposed “moderate”: back in 2009, she indulged conspiracy theories about Barack Obama’s birth certificate.
Across Europe, the same trend can be observed. Austria’s People’s party was the first to cross the old dividing line by forging a coalition with the far-right Freedom party in 2000; 24 years later, a more extreme incarnation of the Freedom party secured first place at the same time as the People’s party surged rightwards. In Hungary, the ruling Fidesz party metamorphosed from centre right to proto-fascist. In Italy, the so-called centre right is a junior partner in a government led by the far right. Germany’s Christian Democrats have shifted right, while the far right in the country surges.
NYT: “Musk Doubles Down on Support for German Far-Right Party”
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a close adviser to President-elect Donald J. Trump, shocked many in Germany last week by endorsing its far-right Alternative for Germany party, which is under surveillance by domestic intelligence for being extremist.
This week, Mr. Musk entangled himself even more in the country’s snap election, explaining in a newspaper opinion essay why he believes the far-right party is the “last spark of hope” for Germany.
“The traditional parties have failed in Germany,” Mr. Musk wrote in comments published online by the daily Welt on Saturday. “Their policies have led to economic stagnation, social unrest, and the erosion of national identity.”
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