"The editor-at-large of Christianity Today magazine on Monday sharply condemned Donald Trump’s deranged post about the murders of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele.
Russell Moore, formerly the magazine’s editor in chief, called out Trump’s post blaming Reiner for the murders “through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.” Moore called Trump’s comments “vile, disgusting, and immoral behavior.”"
, The Daily Beast; Mourning Michelle Obama Rebukes Trump for Psychotic Rob Reiner Post
"Michelle Obama calmly slammed President Donald Trump’s deranged comments on the murder of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele.
In an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the former first lady said the 78-year-old film director and his 68-year-old wife were courageous people who cared about their country.
“Let me just say this, unlike some people, Rob and Michelle Reiner are some of the most decent, courageous people you ever want to know. They’re not deranged or crazed,” Obama said, referring to Trump’s descriptions of the couple in the wake of their gruesome slaying, allegedly at the hands of their 32-year-old son.
“What they have always been are passionate people, in a time when there are not... there’s not a lot of courage going on. They were the kind of people who were ready to put their actions behind what they cared about, and they cared about their family, and they cared about this country, and they cared about fairness and equity,” she said.
“That is the truth,” Obama, 61, concluded. “I do know them.”
Trump has been condemned for his bizarre comments on the Reiners’ murder. The president said the director suffered from “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” a term often used by Trump and his supporters to undermine his critics."
Joey Garrison, USA TODAY; 'Bad for our country.' Trump doubles down on attack of late Rob Reiner
"President Donald Trump doubled down on his widely criticized attack of the late film director Rob Reiner, expressing no regret nor offering an apology for comments that even some Republican supporters have since denounced.
"I thought he was very bad for our country," Trump said on Dec. 15 when asked whether he stands by his social media post about Reiner from earlier in the day."
"President Trump torpedoed MAGA influencers' calls for compassion after the killing of director Rob Reiner, mocking the longtime liberal activist as a victim of "Trump derangement syndrome."
Why it matters: Many MAGA influencers vowed after the assassination of Charlie Kirk that they would never celebrate or mock the untimely death of a political opponent.
What they're saying: "Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME," Trump posted on Truth Social Monday.
Driving the news: When news initially emerged of Reiner's death Sunday night, many MAGA voices expressed sympathy and drew direct comparisons to Kirk's assassination.
After Trump's incendiary post, several Republicans criticized the president for politicizing the apparent murder. Reiner's son Nick has been arrested in connection with the death of his parents.
John Ismay and Minho Kim, The New York Times; Coast Guard Says Swastika and Noose Displays Are No Longer Hate Incidents
"The Coast Guard is redefining how it views harassment across the service, discarding the concept of “hate incidents” and recasting symbols of hatred, including nooses and swastikas, as potentially “politically divisive.”
In the past, the display of such symbols was unambiguously cited in policy as “incidents of hatred and prejudice” that “have no place in the Coast Guard.”
But the revised edition of the policy, which goes into effect next month, raises the bar for proving that displaying hate symbols in public merits punishment.
The new instructions, described in a document titled “Harassing Behavior Prevention, Response and Accountability,” was signed Nov. 13 by the Coast Guard’s assistant commandant for personnel, Rear Adm. Charles E. Fosse."
[Kip Currier: How dare this administration reclassify and downgrade the Nazi swastika and noose as anything less than the symbols of hatred and violence that they are.
This is abhorrent, abnormal behavior that is contrary to American values and ideals.]
[Excerpt]
"The U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify the swastika — an emblem of fascism and white supremacy inextricably linked to the murder of millions of Jews and the deaths of more than 400,000 U.S. troops who died fighting in World War II — as a hate symbol, according to a new policy that takes effect next month.
Instead, the Coast Guard will classify the Nazi-era insignia as “potentially divisive” under its new guidelines. The policy, set to take effect Dec. 15, similarly downgrades the classification of nooses and the Confederate flag, though display of the latter remains banned, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post."
David French, The New York Times; Something Is Stirring in Christian America, and It’s Making Me Nervous
"Despite what you may have heard about the renewal of interest in religion in America, we are not experiencing a true revival, at least not yet. Instead, America is closer to a religious revolution, and the difference between revolution and revival is immensely important for the health of our country — and of the Christian church in America...
Incredibly, Christians are attacking what they call the “sin of empathy,” warning fellow believers against identifying too much with, say, illegal immigrants, gay people or women who seek abortions. Empathy, in this formulation, can block moral and theological clarity. What’s wrong is wrong, and too much empathy will cloud your soul...
In other words, revival begins with the people proclaiming, by word and deed, “I have sinned.”
MAGA Christianity has a different message. It looks at American culture and declares, “You have sinned.”
And it doesn’t stop there. It also says, “We will defeat you.” In its most extreme forms, it also says, “We will rule over you.” That’s not revival; it’s revolution, a religious revolution that seeks to overthrow one political order and replace it with another — one that has echoes of the religious kingdoms of ages past...
Similarly, when a pastor named Doug Wilson calls transgender Americans “trannies,” or gay Americans “gaytards,” or women he doesn’t like “lumberjack dykes” and “small-breasted biddies,” he is imitating Trump, not Christ.
In the Book of Galatians, Paul contrasts the fruit of the spirit with what he called the “acts of the flesh,” the sins that can destroy the soul. Those sins include the very characteristics that mark America’s religious revolution: “hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions.”
The fruit of the spirit — “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” — in contrast, is present when Christ is present. This is the fruit of a real revival...
We will know when revival comes because we will see believers humble themselves, repent of their sins, and then arise, full of genuine virtue, to love their neighbors — to help them, not hurt them — and in so doing to heal our nation."
Jesse McKinley and Madison Malone Kircher, The New York Times ; As Political Tension Soars, Some Rare Calls for Unity Emerge
"In the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and amid a torrent of angry and accusatory reactions, there were those seeking common ground.
Groups representing young Republicans and Democrats came together in at least two states to issue statements after the killing that condemned political violence and urged people to avoid hurtful dialogue about the assassination...
“I would beg you to look in the mirror and to see if you can find a better angel in there somewhere,” Mr. Cox said, adding: “We just need every single person in this country to think about where we are and where we want to be. To ask ourselves, ‘Is this — is this it?’
Such sentiments felt like something of an exception compared with the often heated discourse on social media, where there was a flurry of apocalyptic predictions about civil war, and posts from conservative figures like Elon Musk, who said on Wednesday afternoon — about an hour after the shooting — that “The Left is a party of murder.”"
Richard Fausset , The New York Times; A White Nationalist Wrote a Law School Paper Promoting Racist Views. It Won Him an Award.
"Preston Damsky is a law student at the University of Florida. He is also a white nationalist and antisemite. Last fall, he took a seminar taught by a federal judge on “originalism,” the legal theory favored by many conservatives that seeks to interpret the Constitution based on its meaning when it was adopted.
In his capstone paper for the class, Mr. Damsky argued that the framers had intended for the phrase “We the People,” in the Constitution’s preamble, to refer exclusively to white people. From there, he argued for the removal of voting rights protections for nonwhites, and for the issuance of shoot-to-kill orders against “criminal infiltrators at the border.”
Turning over the country to “a nonwhite majority,” Mr. Damsky wrote, would constitute a “terrible crime.” White people, he warned, “cannot be expected to meekly swallow this demographic assault on their sovereignty.”
At the end of the semester, Mr. Damsky, 29, was given the “book award,” which designated him as the best student in the class. According to the syllabus, the capstone counted the most toward final grades.
The Trump-nominated judge who taught the class, John L. Badalamenti, declined to comment for this article, and does not appear to have publicly discussed why he chose Mr. Damsky for the award."
Rachel Leingang and Joseph Gedeon, The Guardian; How the right spread ‘brutal and cruel’ misinformation after Minnesota lawmaker killings
[Kip Currier: The money quote from this Guardian article:
"Lee didn’t say much, according to Smith, and seemed surprised to be confronted."
Bullies often are surprised when people stand up to them and call them out.]
[Excerpt]
"Tina Smith, a Minnesota senator confronted Mike Lee, a Utah senator, on Monday to tell him directly that his social media posts fueled ongoing misinformation about a shooting that killed her friend.
Lee’s posts, which advanced conspiracies that a Minnesota assassin was a “Marxist” and blamed the state’s governor for Melissa Hortman’s death, were among many threads of false or speculative claims swirling online after the killings.
Smith told Lee his posts were “brutal and cruel,” according to CNN. “He should think about the implications of what he’s saying and doing. It just further fuels this hatred and misinformation,” she said. She wanted him to hear from her directly how painful it was to see his words after the brutality her state endured. Lee didn’t say much, according to Smith, and seemed surprised to be confronted...
Elon Musk, a frequent poster of unverified rightwing claims, amplified the narrative to his 200 million followers, quote-tweeting claims that “the left” killed Hortman and saying “the far left is murderously violent”...
Boelter’s own recorded sermons expose his extremist views. Preaching in Congo in 2023, he is recorded as saying: “The churches are so messed up, they don’t know abortion is wrong.” He ranted against LGBTQ people as “confused,” claiming “the enemy has gotten so far into their mind and their soul”. His alleged hit list included abortion providers and pro-choice advocates."
Bonnie Bolden,Mississippi Clarion Ledger; Trans Black Hawk pilot wrongly named in crash rumors wants people to stop sharing fake news
[Kip Currier: Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness Against Thy Neighbor.
Call out the people and social media sites that knowingly spread falsehoods and harmful statements.]
[Excerpt]
"UPDATE: A video and additional statement from Jo Ellis have been added since the article was originally published.
A trans woman who has been wrongly named as one of the pilots in a deadly mid-air collision between a helicopter and plane in Washington, D.C., is asking people to help stop the spread of the fake news online. The crash killed 67 people, including U.S. Army members and some families tied to the figure skating community.
"Some craziness has happened on the internet and I’m being named as one of the pilots of the DC crash," posted Jo Ellis, a Chief Warrant Officer 2 (CW2) – UH60 Black Hawk Pilot in the Virginia National Guard...
She took to Facebook on Friday morning, asking for help stopping the spread of the wrong information, including uploading a proof of life video and issuing a statement.
She said neither she nor the families of the crash victims deserve to be tied to this tragedy for a political agenda, calling the move "insulting."...
On Thursday, President Donald Trump said the crash "could have been" the fault of Biden- and Obama-era hiring practices focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.
“Hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism – all qualify for the position of a controller of airplanes pouring into our country," he said, specifically talking about the Federal Aviation Administration's criteria to hire air traffic controllers."
Siân Boyle , The Guardian; Is this (finally) the end for X? Delicate Musk-Trump relationship and growing rivals spell trouble for platform
"As recently as 2022, Musk tweeted that “for Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally.” He tweeted that “Trump would be 82 at end of his term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America.”
Months later, when Musk bought Twitter for $44bn, he fired content moderators and charged for account verification, which meant people could buy influence. Twitter was rebranded to X, shed millions of users and reinstated Trumps’s account, suspended after the White House insurrection in January 2021.
The proliferation on X of alt-right diatribe, hate speech and bots, as well as Musk’s own clash with the UK government during the riots in August, have led to mounting disquiet among X users. The Guardian and Observer announced last week that their presence on the site was now untenable and they would no longer post. Stephen King, the author, left, saying it had become “too toxic”. Oscar-winners Barbra Streisand and Jamie Lee Curtis have departed the platform.
“X has become effectively Truth Social premium,” said Mark Carrigan, author of Social Media for Academics, referring to Trump’s hard-right social media platform. And the talk in technology circles is that Trump’s Truth Social could be folded into X.
If that happens, whose interests take priority? Would Musk suppress criticism of the authoritarian governments he does business with, or promote it? In the Donald and Elon media show, who is the puppet or paymaster?
“If that happens, it will be the ultimate amplification machine for Trump’s ideas – a political super-app masquerading as social media,” said James Kirkham of Iconic, which advises brands including Uber and EA Sports on digital strategies. “Forget Facebook or Fox News; the true heart of the GOP’s digital strategy could be X.”"
CEO Today; BLUESKY SURGES WITH 700,000 NEW MEMBERS AS USERS FLEE X AFTER US ELECTION
"Bluesky Surges with 700,000 New Members as Users Flee X After US Election: A Social Media Revolution in the Making
In the wake of the US election, a quiet revolution has been unfolding in the world of social media. The platform Bluesky has seen a dramatic increase in user growth, with over 700,000 new members joining in just one week following the election results. This surge has propelled Bluesky’s user base to 14.5 million globally, up from 9 million in September. The platform’s meteoric rise is largely attributed to disillusioned social media users seeking a safer, more regulated alternative to X (formerly Twitter), especially after the platform underwent a radical transformation under Elon Musk's ownership and his association with US president-elect Donald Trump.
Bluesky, which originated as a project within Twitter before becoming an independent platform in 2022, has quickly become a refuge for those seeking a break from the rising tide of far-right activism, misinformation, and offensive content that has overtaken X in recent months. As X grapples with growing controversy and user dissatisfaction, Bluesky is capitalizing on the opportunity to position itself as a civil and balanced alternative...
The Growing Backlash Against X and Musk’s Vision
The rise of Bluesky is part of a broader trend of backlash against X since Elon Musk's acquisition of the platform. Under Musk’s leadership, X has shifted its focus, alienating a significant portion of its user base. In the aftermath of the US election, many have expressed concerns about the platform's increasing alignment with far-right political groups and its potential transformation into a propaganda tool for Trump and his supporters.
For example, a prominent critic of X, historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, who had 250,000 followers on X, noted that she picked up 21,000 followers within her first day on Bluesky after moving to the platform. She shared her concerns about X's potential evolution into a far-right radicalization machine under Musk’s stewardship. Ben-Ghiat said, "After January, when X could be owned by a de facto member of the Trump administration, its functions as a Trump propaganda outlet and far-right radicalization machine could be accelerated."
This sentiment reflects the growing sense of unease among users about the political direction of X. As Musk’s political ties become clearer and his rhetoric becomes more controversial, users who once considered X a neutral platform for conversation now see it as a space increasingly hostile to their values. For many, Bluesky is emerging as the antidote to this growing disillusionment."
BRETT SAMUELS , The Hill; Trump calls Madison Square Garden rally a ‘love fest’
"Former President Trump on Tuesday described a Madison Square Garden rally that was marked by racist and sexist comments as a “love fest.”
“There was love in the room. The love in that room was breathtaking,” Trump said in remarks from his Mar-a-Lago estate.
“It was like a love fest. An absolute love fest,” he added, scoffing at critics who likened the rally to a 1939 Nazi event at the arena.
Trump did not address the backlash to comments made by other speakers at the New York City rally, including comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, whose joke comparing Puerto Rico to a “floating island of garbage” has caused a firestorm, including with some Latino voters."
MEREDITH LEE HILL, MIA MCCARTHY and HOLLY OTTERBEIN , Politico; Trump’s Puerto Rico fallout is ‘spreading like wildfire’ in Pennsylvania
"Donald Trump has a serious Puerto Rico problem — in Pennsylvania.
Many Puerto Rican voters in the state are furious about racist and demeaning comments delivered at a Trump rally. Some say their dismay is giving Kamala Harris a new opening to win over the state’s Latino voters, particularly nearly half a million Pennsylvanians of Puerto Rican descent.
Evidence of the backlash was immediate on Monday: A nonpartisan Puerto Rican group drafted a letter urging its members to oppose Trump on election day. Other Puerto Rican voters were lighting up WhatsApp chats with reactions to the vulgar display and raising it in morning conversations at their bodegas. Some are planning to protest Trump’s rally Tuesday in Allentown, a majority-Latino city with one of the largest Puerto Rican populations in the state.
And the arena Trump is speaking at is located in the middle of the city’s Puerto Rican neighborhood.
“It’s spreading like wildfire through the community,” said Norberto Dominguez, a precinct captain with the local Democratic party in Allentown, who noted his own family is half Republican and half Democratic voters.
“It’s not the smartest thing to do, to insult people — a large group of voters here in a swing state — and then go to their home asking for votes,” Dominguez said.
The timing couldn’t be worse for Trump."
