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Voters Think Democrats Are A Bigger Threat To Democracy
As much as the Democrats have spent time claiming Republicans are a threat to democracy, it took the Washington Post to admit that voters see Democrats themselves as the greater threat.
A New York Times/Siena College poll shows that 45 percent of Americans regard Trump as a “major” threat to democracy, while just 28 percent say the same of the GOP.
That 28 percent figure is actually smaller than the percentage who view the Democratic Party as a threat to democracy (33 percent) — despite there being no comparable example of Democrats trying to overturn an election. (And no, Stacey Abrams and Hillary Clinton aren’t analogous.)
Considering the Democrats have been calling for defunding the police, stacking the Supreme Court, abortion on demand until birth, and more extreme positions, it may just be that voters think the more extreme party is the more extreme threat.
But, part of the problem here is Trump. Simply put, he’s not on the ballot, and the current crop of Republicans on the campaign trail aren’t talking about 2020 and Trump’s outrage over the so-called “stolen election.” They are talking about current issues. Democrats, meanwhile, are ignoring the current issues to talk about abortion while the economy burns around them.
Deepfakes In Political Ads
Louisiana may be unique in that its one of the first, if not THE first, states to feature a political ad using “deepfake” technology - that is, technology that takes someone’s image and realistically implants it into an image or video to make the person appear as though they are doing or saying something they weren’t. Experts have warned for years that this technology could be used for political misinformation, but it so far hasn’t been utilized for such.
However, a political group in Shreveport created an ad that puts their mayor, Adrian Perkins, in a classroom setting and getting called to the principal’s office.
The image of Perkins’ face is very real, but the scene and the body are not. Instead, a deepfake was created making it look (and sound) like Perkins.
It’s difficult to say whether this is ethical or not. The anti-Higgins ad from a few weeks ago was a clear parody. It was someone who dressed in the uniform and impersonated Higgins’ old Crimestoppers style. But this is much, much different. It’s Perkins’ actual likeness.
“80 Percent Kill Rate”
Boston University has raised a lot of eyebrows (and more than a few red flags) in researching a new strain of the Omicron strain of COVID-19 that has an “80 percent kill rate.” Scientists and experts have been very vocal in their disapproval of this research, while BU itself has defended it and pushed back against the media reports.
I don’t know that the research itself is wrong - it’s certainly terrifying - but I am sure that, until we know the origin of the original leak and spread of COVID-19 in China, doing more gain-of-function research seems like a really bad move.
Headlines Of The Day
On Abortion, Voters View Democrats as More Extreme Than Republicans by Two to One (National Review)
The Biden Administration Demands Arizona Stop Doing the Federal Government's Job on the Border (RedState)
Democrats, Please Hear Me Out (Erick Erickson/Substack)
Why I’m Joining CNN as an Analyst (The Reload)
Doctor Granting Fetterman Clean Bill of Health Is a Campaign Donor (Washington Free Beacon)