Mon A Stable Genius Running the Defense,What Could Go Wrong?

You Can't Escape From Bullies Anywhere



Six months after sharing a photograph on Chinese social media celebrating her graduate school admission with her bedridden grandfather, Zheng Linghua died.

The 23-year-old had shared the image on the platform Xiaohongshu - sporting pink hair and visibly excited, she announced to the world that she had earned a spot to study music at East China Normal University.

"Grandpa has been my pillar of support since I was little... One of my motivations for applying to graduate school was so that my grandfather could see me get in, and be proud of me," she wrote.

But her joy was short-lived.

Within days, she had become a target of bullying online. Her photograph was shared with false, and often insulting, captions. She then became the target of relentless taunting, with some calling her a "nightclub girl" and an "evil spirit".

It's unclear how Zheng died but last month a friend of hers broke the news on Xiaohongshu: "Because of bullying online and in school, Zheng Linghua's life ended on January 23, 2023".

While so-called cyber bullying happens everywhere, China's collectivist culture and the lack of pressure on social media companies to stamp out abuse lend the phenomenon a particular momentum. A poll of more than 2,000 social media users in China found that about four in 10 respondents have experienced some form of online abuse. It also found that 16% of the victims had suicidal thoughts. Almost half experienced anxiety, 42% insomnia, and 32% depression.

With a Stable Genius Running the Defense, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Donald Trump’s strategy for responding to investigations and possible indictments was on full display over the weekend, as he spent much of his campaign rally in Waco, Texas, railing about the possible criminal charges that Trump himself has done much to hype, while one of his many lawyers went on Meet the Press and did him no favors in a PR or legal sense. At the center of this is the grand jury that may reconvene today to consider criminal charges in an investigation conducted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg into Trump’s hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. But it’s only one of many investigations into Trump, and his response to all of them is basically the same.

Rupert Murdoch may own the Wall Street Journal, but its headline nails it: "Trump’s Legal Strategy: Vilify Prosecutors, Stall Probes and Rally GOP Base." The problem at this point, for Trump, is that only one of the prongs of that strategy—stalling probes—is actually a legal strategy, and eventually, you can’t stall anymore. The rest of the strategy is all about keeping his base on board, and while Trump definitely thinks that provoking violence from his supporters is a valid option for resisting prosecution, Jan. 6 gave law enforcement a heads-up about what to be prepared for.

Trump’s many lawyers are spread across his many different legal problems—there’s the Manhattan DA’s investigation; the Fulton County, Georgia, investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election in that state; the special counsel’s investigation into both efforts to overturn the 2020 election and Trump’s Mar-a-Lago document hoard; a $250 million civil suit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James over fraudulent business practices; and potentially a defamation suit brought by E. Jean Carroll—and it seems that the overarching strategic brain is Trump’s.

“He plays his own captain, and legally that is suicidal,” former White House lawyer Ty Cobb told the WSJ. “His strategy, to the extent there is one, appears totally reactive.” And while Cobb wasn’t quoted directly questioning the legal firepower Trump is bringing, he did suggest a reason Trump might have trouble recruiting the best lawyers: “Nobody considering assisting the former president at this stage of the game can be unmindful of the extraordinary speed with which Trump turns lawyers into witnesses.”

A Trump spokesman offered an example of the “this isn’t a legal problem, it’s a communications problem” mindset that could spell legal trouble for Trump. “This operation has been fine-tuned since 2016,” spokesman Steven Cheung told the WSJ. “Dealing with these types of news cycles, you learn to get good at it. We have a full-spectrum response operation on the campaign that can deal with anything that comes our way.”

The operation is fine-tuned for news cycles, but right now, Trump is dealing with legal problems, including criminal investigations, and those are different things. Trump not getting that is a problem for him in dealing with the legal system and a reminder that he really does think he can bully and bluster his way out of anything—and incite a little violence from his supporters when just yelling doesn’t work.

Last Week He was Going to Be Arrested.  Now This.  How Many Ways Can He Be Wrong?

Trump suggests DA "dropped" Stormy case

Former President Trump, who said last week he would be arrested in a probe into alleged hush money he paid to a porn star, now suggests the case might be dropped by Manhattan's district attorney.

"I think they've already dropped the case," Trump told reporters aboard his plane after appearing at a campaign rally in Waco, Texas. "It's a fake case. Some fake cases, they have absolutely nothing."

I Wonder What They Think About Randy Rainbow

The madness literally never ends. In yet another chapter of “you couldn’t make this shit up if you tried”, songs sung by top artists about love and acceptance are deemed too “controversial”, according to school administrators in Waukesha, WI where first graders chose song “Rainbowland”, originally performed by national treasure Dolly Parton and ex-Mouseketeer Miley Cyrus to sing for their school’s annual spring concert.

And what was so “controversial” about the lyrics?

"Rainbowland" includes the lyrics: "Living in a Rainbowland, The skies are blue and things are grand, Wouldn't it be nice to live in paradise, Where we're free to be exactly who we are, Let's all dig down deep inside, Brush the judgment and fear aside, Make wrong things right, And end the fight, 'Cause I promise ain't nobody gonna win."

So the kids chose another song. And the result?

Really? Who Knew What "Fo' Shizzle My Nizzle" Means?

A Mississippi news anchor has gone viral for all the wrong reasons after reciting one of Snoop Dogg’s most popular phrases during a live broadcast. Barbie Bassett and her use of “Fo shizzle, my nizzle” did more than raise eyebrows when she used it to punctuate playful commentary about Snoop.

The poor choice of words played out during a March 8 broadcast but became a major talking point on social media this weekend. In the clip circulated online, WLBT anchor Wilson Stribling joked that a colleague may follow Martha Stewart’s lead by getting a tattoo inspired by the West Coast rap icon. Bassett quickly quipped, “Fo shizzle, my nizzle.” Also at the anchor desk alongside Stribling and Bassett was meteorologist Patrick Ellis, who had a seemingly stunned facial expression after the remark was made.

The phrase originates from fellow rapper E-40′s usage of an “izzle” suffix, Dictionary.com noted, and in part refers to a racial epithet.

However, I Am Worried About Who Is Teaching Our Young People

The lecturer looked, and sounded, the part. Sporting a pale blue shirt and Princeton University ID badge, he had his own office on campus, a short stroll from the room where several dozen students were gathered to hear him confidently talk about the challenges in moving away from fossil fuels.

But Tim Barckholtz is not a Princeton professor, but rather a senior scientific adviser at ExxonMobil, the oil giant that has done so much to both perpetuate and downplay the climate crisis. Barckholtz, an affable figure who has fronted adverts for Exxon touting its emissions reduction research, spent around six months sitting in and contributing to lectures and research groups, based in his own office space at the elite university.

In September, with the university poised to cut its extensive ties with certain fossil fuel companies including Exxon, Barckholtz even taught a class of engineering students on “negative emissions technologies”, during which, over pizza and sodas, he criticized the divestment decision, warned that the transition away from oil and gas will be “very difficult” and that the unfolding climate emergency was “not our fault”.

“It’s hard for me to figure out who wins (from divestment),” Barckholtz told the class, a recording of it shows. “There are like 10 people who win, they are sleeping better at night, but technology is the loser.” Barckholtz then noted that Exxon makes the type of rubber that goes into most car tires. “Are all of the Princeton security cars going to go back to the Flintstones and have no tires?” he asked. “There are some parts of this they didn’t think through completely.”

Asked by a student about the Paris climate agreement, Barckholtz expressed doubt that it could be met as it was too hard to ditch fossil fuels. “I’m not optimistic, I’m going to call it the way I see it,” he said. “The system is just too big to be flipped.”

“A few of the students thought it was weird he was in the class and that he then taught the class,” said Claire Kaufman, a second year masters student in public affairs who said she started talking to Barckholtz during one of the first negative emissions technology classes and was “quite shocked” to discover he was an Exxon employee.

Dozens of US universities, however, retain links with the fossil fuel industry in a variety of ways, despite the growing pressure on them to cut them. Several host Exxon representatives on campus and even provide them with office space, similar to Princeton’s previous arrangement, a Guardian investigation has found.

According to Kaufman, Barckholtz told her Exxon had no interest in renewable energy, aside from perhaps offshore wind, beyond using it as a public relations exercise and that he was looking to fund the work of the professor whose class he sat in. He showed her his Princeton office space, which included a list of a dozen Exxon-funded research projects on a whiteboard.

Big oil on campus: how US universities are ‘colonized’ by the fossil fuel industry