Danger From the Right

 

There are danger signals from a new poll from Hill Research Consultants indicating that a majority of Americans believe the country needs a “strong leader” to restore “traditional American values.”

A significant number would support throwing out democracy and installing Trump as that autocratic leader by armed force if necessary. But only a third believe that the election was “stolen.”

The problem our democracy faces is much deeper than the 2020 election outcome.

Ton Hogan, the author of an article summarizing the poll, draws the following additional conclusions:

• Republican-controlled legislatures are working to disenfranchise as many of their opponents as they can. The Nazis never won a majority of the popular vote in an election, either, but once in office, they quickly solidified their power.

• “Every autocrat needs an enemy of the people. For Hitler, it was the Jews, even though they were less than 1% of Germany's population. For Trump it starts with Muslims and Mexicans (even though the latter are nearly all Christians). Then there is the deep state and RINOs.”

• “We have seen death threats against public officials and local school boards. All that is needed is the murder of one local official or school board member for the pool of candidates to go dry.”

• “The right-wing obsession with school curricula, especially Critical Race Theory, which isn't actually taught in high school, is a clear indication of how they want to control education to breed the next generation of right-wing activists and voters.”

This is just the latest warning sign that our democracy is in danger. Every concerned citizen needs to pay attention to these disturbing trends and join efforts to combat them.

Thanks to Hans Siegel for alerting me to the above item.

***

A fascinating read is Oxford Academic’s article in (GIGA)Science about how well Wikipedia has covered the scientific aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The crowd-sourced encyclopedia successfully warded off the waves of misinformation prevalent early in the crisis and provided well-sourced assessments.

Ever since I worked as a consultant years ago for the non-profit parent organization, Wikimedia Foundation, I’ve insisted to people that the volunteer community of editors does an amazing job of accurately portraying complex subjects like Covid.

This is further affirmation of that about one of the most controvetsial topics of our time.

TODAY’S NEWS:

• New Poll: One Year After Jan. 6th, Disturbing Support for Authoritarianism (The Bulwark)

• Oath Keepers Leader Charged With Seditious Conspiracy in Jan. 6 Investigation (NYT)

• Jan. 6 committee says tech firms are not cooperating, issues subpoenas (WP)

• The House of Representatives committee investigating the attack on the Capitol subpoenaed Facebook parent Meta, Google parent Alphabet, Twitter and Reddit, seeking information about how their platforms were used to help spread misinformation and violent extremism. (Reuters)

• Michigan woman arrested outside Capitol complex with firearms, police say (WP)

• Michigan AG asks feds to investigate fake GOP electors (AP)

• VIDEO: House Passes Voting Rights Bill (AP)

• President Joe Biden expressed frustration with efforts to protect voting rights, given overwhelming Republican opposition in the Senate and lack of support among Democrats for changing the filibuster rule. Biden pledged to keep fighting for election reform and voting rights legislation, warning that failure could result in “subversion” by Republicans in future presidential elections. [HuffPost]

• New Virus Cases Begin to Slow in U.S. Cities Where Omicron Hit First (NYT)

• California hospitals predict the current Covid-19 crisis will last another four to six weeks. (CalMatters)

• World Heath Organization recommends two new drugs to combat virus (WP)

• Wastewater samples show that omicron may have peaked in the Bay Area. Sewage drawn from Silicon Valley indicates a plateau in the prevalence of the virus, and it could be a sign the surge in cases soon will subside. (SFC)

• The omicron variant is sickening so many sanitation workers around the U.S. that some cities have had to delay or suspend garbage or recycling pickup, angering residents shocked that governments can’t perform this most basic of functions. (AP)

• New federal website to offer free rapid coronavirus tests, starting Wednesday (WP)

• These mass shooting survivors were called journalism heroes. Then the buyouts came. — Capital Gazette reporters were once the face of the First Amendment. What happened over the next three years? (WP)

• Journalism Is Broken and I Alone Can Fix It! — Entrepreneurial spirit is sweeping the industry. Too bad the promotional language is so cliched. (Politico)

• Ukraine was hit by a massive cyberattack warning its citizens to "expect the worst", and Russia, which has massed more than 100,000 troops on its neighbor's frontier, released television pictures of more forces deploying in a drill. We look at Russia's military options on Ukraine. (Reuters)

• White House: Russia prepping pretext for Ukraine invasion (AP)

• Afghan tradition allows girls to access the freedom of boys (AP)

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has denied parole to Sirhan Sirhan, the man who assassinated Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.) in 1968. In late August, the California parole board voted to release Sirhan, 77, who has been imprisoned for 53 years. In a September speech, Newsom described Kennedy as his “political hero.” [HuffPost]

• A California state law that went into effect Jan. 1 requires all school districts that offer health classes to include mental health as part of the curriculum. (KQED)

• Weather events cost the US $145bn in 2021 as climate change took hold (Financial Times)

• Elephants dying from eating plastic waste in Sri Lankan dump (AP)

• The bald eagle population slowly recovers, but lead ammo hampers their resilience — Bald eagles, hailed an "American success story" were removed from the endangered species list in 2007. Now, researchers have found that lead ammunition has reduced their population growth. (NPR)

• Tech giant Google has spent $1 billion to buy a central London building where it is currently a tenant, showing its confidence in the future of the office as a place to work. (Reuters)

• Google Misled Publishers and Advertisers, Unredacted Suit Alleges — Google misled publishers and advertisers for years about the pricing and processes of its ad auctions, creating programs that deflated sales for some companies while increasing prices for buyers, according to newly unredacted allegations in a lawsuit filed by states. (WSJ)

• Newsom solicited donations totaling nearly $227 million from Facebook, Google, Blue Shield and other private California companies. (AP)

• Why HyperLinks are Blue (Mozilla)

• FedEx proposing anti-missile lasers for some planes (Politico)

• A Virgin Orbit rocket released from a jet flying off the California coast carried seven small satellites into space on Thursday. (AP)

• Space travel destroys red blood cells faster than on Earth (BBC)

• A 4 billion-year-old meteorite from Mars that caused a splash here on Earth decades ago contains no evidence of ancient, primitive Martian life after all, scientists reported Thursday. (AP)

• Wayfair Shopper Who Didn’t Read Dimensions Would Never Have Bought Sofa If She Knew It Was 300 Feet Tall (The Onion)