1) Why Progressives Increasingly Support Violence: A new survey finds more than half of left-wing respondents believe assassinating Donald Trump could be justified. (Zack Dulberg & Max Horder, City Journal)
From the article — We found that nearly one-third of Americans surveyed—and around half of those identifying as left-of-center—believe that the murder of certain public figures is at least somewhat justified. The figures are startling: 38 percent of respondents, and 55 percent of those left of center, said assassinating President Trump would be at least somewhat justified; 31 percent of respondents, and 48 percent of those left of center, said the same about Musk. Forty percent of respondents, and 58 percent of those left of center, deem it at least somewhat acceptable to “destroy a Tesla dealership” in protest.
Our report also discovered an online “assassination culture,” found in predominantly left-leaning digital spaces, such as Bluesky and Reddit. This subculture justifies and glorifies political violence. Some of these networks’ users wield the name “Luigi” or use the Luigi video game character as coded endorsements of Brian Thompson’s alleged assassin, Luigi Mangione. These users cloak explicit calls for violence in stylized memes. Many believe that political murder and sabotage are acceptable forms of protest.
What motivates these attitudes? To answer that, we looked for statistical associations between respondents’ backing for political violence and other psychological and behavioral measures. We identified three key variables that predict support for violence: left-wing authoritarianism (characterized by a willingness to use coercion and punishment for progressive aims), external locus of control (the extent to which individuals feel powerless in their lives), and use of the left-wing social media platform Bluesky.
Also on this topic: Democrats Ignore Black Hole Threatening To Suck Them In (Mary Rooke, Daily Caller)
Also on this topic: Luigi Mangione and the American Abyss: The assassination of Brian Thompson does not call for a “conversation” about health care — it calls for a reckoning with Americans’ moral breakdown. (Heather MacDonald, City Journal)
2) Is Civil War Coming to Europe? (Rod Dreher, The European Conservative)
From the article — In a number of private conversations with ordinary French people—this was before the Le Pen verdict—I brought up the Betz interview (none had heard about it), and asked them if they foresaw civil war coming to France. Nearly all of them said yes. They said so with an unnerving sense of calm, as if they accepted it as a matter of course. When I complimented one couple on their country, and told them that one day I would like to live in France, they responded in unison, “No!” Stay in Hungary, they said; you’ll be safe there.
You would never know from the mainstream media that this sort of sentiment is bubbling among the population of Europe and the UK. In his interview with Perry, Betz says that many people suffer from what he calls “normalcy bias”—that is, the belief that such a thing cannot happen here. Oh, but it can!
3) Mainstream Media, Academia Sacrifice Even More Credibility in Articles on Mayan Child Victims (Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection)
From the article — Archaeologist Lorena Paiz, who led the discovery, said the altar was believed to have been used for sacrifices, “especially of children.”“The remains of three children not older than four years were found on three sides of the altar,” Paiz revealed. The altar was found within a Teotihuacan residential complex which typically feature houses with rooms and central altars, according to Paiz. And while the discovery might add an interesting new dimension to the historical accounts of the region, an academic’s attempt to paint the sacrifice of children as “not violent” and the unquestioning recitation of the explanation for it by mainstream media stirred a great deal of controversy.
Non-violent child sacrifice? This from CBS News and an archeologist after the discovery of an altar for the sacrifice of children in Mexico: “It was a practice; it’s not that they were violent, it was their way of connecting with the celestial bodies.”
And while CBS took the brunt of the criticism from social media, the line was parroted in other outlets. For example, here is the exact quote from the Associated Press — María Belén Méndez, an archaeologist who was not involved with the project, said the discovery confirms “that there has been an interconnection between both cultures and what their relationships with their gods and celestial bodies was like.” “We see how the issue of sacrifice exists in both cultures. It was a practice; it’s not that they were violent, it was their way of connecting with the celestial bodies,” she said.
Also on this topic: This is yet another reason why no one should trust the media (Tom Knighton, Tilting at Windmills)
4) Over The Last 80 Years, We Have Witnessed The Dismantling Of Our Society’s Christian Foundation (David Reagan, Harbinger’s Daily)
From the article —
The Top Public School Discipline Problems in the mid-’40s:
Talking
Chewing gum
Making noise
Running in the halls
Getting out of turn in line
Wearing improper clothing
Not putting paper in wastebaskets
The Top Public School Discipline Problems in the mid-’80s:
Drug Abuse
Alcohol Abuse
Pregnancy
Suicide
Rape
Robbery
Assault
5) 33 Shocking Facts That Prove That the Entire U.S. Healthcare Industry Has Become One Giant Money Making Scam (Michael Snyder, Discern Report)
From the article — 9) Globally, the pharmaceutical industry brings in about 1.6 trillion dollars in revenue each year. That is more money than the Pentagon spends. 10) There are 10 pharmaceutical industry executives that received total compensation of at least 20 million dollars in 2023. 11) According to the CDC, 1.5 million people a year are rushed to emergency rooms in the United States because of adverse reactions to pharmaceutical drugs. 600,000 of those people are age 65 or older. 12) On average, more than 1,200 pharmaceutical drugs are recalled by the FDA each year. 13) In 2023, the six largest health insurance companies in the United States had combined revenues of almost 1.1 trillion dollars. That is also more money than the Pentagon spends. 14) The profits of health insurance companies in the U.S. increased by 287 percent in a 10 year period.