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For all my criticisms, I will miss this President’s class and composure. I fear what might come next.
Bob Froehlic, Julia Minton, and I will discuss what goes into a voting decision for most people, particularly those who are not ideologically inclined. We will discuss the psychology and sociology of the voting choice. Without endorsing any particular candidate or ideological framework we will suggest and solicit critical thinking approaches to the decision making. Thursday night at 7:00 on KMUD.
An interesting article – but it doesn’t ask all the necessary questions. The crime rates have gone down, but if they go down in the cities they will go down in general. Statistically, would we notice if they’re increasing in rural areas? Or are rural areas just more likely to incarcerate?
This article has been making the Internet rounds for the past couple of weeks, and is starting to get some attention as it becomes clear that Trump will be the Republican nominee.
MacWilliams studies authoritarianism — not actual dictators, but rather a psychological profile of individual voters that is characterized by a desire for order and a fear of outsiders. People who score high in authoritarianism, when they feel threatened, look for strong leaders who promise to take whatever action necessary to protect them from outsiders and prevent the changes they fear.
So MacWilliams naturally wondered if authoritarianism might correlate with support for Trump.
He polled a large sample of likely voters, looking for correlations between support for Trump and views that align with authoritarianism. What he found was astonishing: Not only did authoritarianism correlate, but it seemed to predict support for Trump more reliably than virtually any other indicator. He later repeated the same poll in South Carolina, shortly before the primary there, and found the same results, which he published in Vox:
As it turns out, MacWilliams wasn’t the only one to have this realization. Miles away, in an office at Vanderbilt University, a professor named Marc Hetherington was having his own aha moment. He realized that he and a fellow political scientist, the University of North Carolina’s Jonathan Weiler, had essentially predicted Trump’s rise back in 2009, when they discovered something that would turn out to be far more significant than they then realized.
More through this link. I’m not sure I agree with all of the premises upon which the argument is based, but it is a serious piece worthy of some discussions.
Don’t blame her. She doesn’t have eyes in the back of her head after all.
Addendum: Clinton was uncharacteristically sloppy here. Is she an amnesiac?
I understand, but do not condone, a protest intended to shut down a free speech event. Mind you, I don’t know that it was the intent of all or even many of the protesters to do anything but protest. I do understand that the unintended message sent by Trump and the more violent cadres of his supporters is “Don’t come to our events unless you’re in sufficient numbers to defend yourselves against my thuggish supporters.” Well if you’re going to visit a university in Chicago, they’re going to find the numbers. And they did.
These are striking images!
Supporters of Donald J. Trump clashed with protesters inside a scheduled campaign event in Chicago.
nytimes.com|By REUTERS
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It appears that Trump lied about the police advising him to cancel the event.
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And some even more intense images.
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MSNBC coverage.
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“A party which cannot unite itself cannot unite the country.”
—-Richard Nixon in response to the Chicago Democratic Convention protests of 1968
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Bernie on CNN asked to respond to Trump’s accusations that his rally was broken up by “thugs” who were Bernie supporters responds in short: “Don’t blame my supporters. I’m not the one telling people to punch someone in the head.”
This happened last week actually. Delmer Berg was the last of the Lincoln Brigade survivors – moved on at 100 years old (means he was 20 or just older when he fought).
Wasn’t long before a folk song was written. You can’t have a generation like that pass without a folk song eulogy! A nice electric guitar solo half way through – not “pure” folk.
Wrote about my grandmother’s passing a few years ago. And then again. I had written about her prior. She was a nurse.
They were an incredible group of people. Even the Republican George Schultz paid respects.
Closing this out with the Weavers’ awesome version of Venga Jaleo, with the incredible voice of the now-deceased north coast resident Ronnie Gilbert.
Self-identified “green anarchist,” John Zerzan joins me to discuss his activism and his book “Why Hope?”. His book is a collection of thoughts on topics ranging from the Bronze Age and consciousness, to our prospects for social change. Tune in TONIGHT beginning at 7. And then enjoy Zerzan reading from his book tomorrow at Northtown Books.
He’s written a few books.
AP is calling Michigan for Bernie. Huge upset..
Look, Clinton will probably be the next President, but this is a really nice win for Bernie. He was down by double digits in every poll coming into the primary. One poll had Clinton ahead by 37 points as late as Sunday. Nate Silver gave Clinton a 99 percent chance of winning based upon a polling average of about 20 point difference.
This changes the narrative!
More tomorrow.
I’m going solo tonight to discuss the aftermath of Super Tuesday, upcoming primaries, and whether the races have been decided. 7:00 p.m.
Sohum Parlance II 
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