Schedium

On October 6, 2005, President George W. Bush hosted an event at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Review magazine as well as the 80th birthday of its founder, William F. Buckley Jr.   Buckley - who has often been called a conservative "icon" - was lavishly praised by the President in his remarks. "Bill Buckley did have an influence on me when I followed him at Yale," Bush said . "The interesting thing about Bill Buckley's career is he's ... obviously, not idle ... He decided to do something, and he formed a magazine that helped move conservatism from the margins of American society into the Oval Office. That's a significant contribution ... I'm sure it's hard for some of the youngsters ... to imagine the day when the only conservative game in Washington, DC, was Bill Buckley and the National Review. And today, we've got, of course, an abundance of conservative ...

When I lived in Hong Kong I often passed by a residential apartment complex commonly known as the " monster building ".  " Interior of the Yick Cheong Building November 2016 " by  Nick-D  is licensed under  CC BY-SA 4.0 . _____

The party which once claimed to be for small government and free markets has taken off the mask, laying bare its true intentions.  On January 17, Florida's Republican Governor and Trustees of the State Board of Administration (SBA) approved measures to "protect Florida’s investments from woke environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG), ensuring that all investment decisions focus solely on maximizing the highest rate of return" (my emphasis).  " House Chamber, Florida State Capitol " by  StevenM_61  is licensed under  CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 . __________

On January 24, Yahoo! published an article titled "Taiwan couple in tune with Chinese mainland". The original source of the piece is China Daily , which is an English-language newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The article and its accompanying video may seem quite harmless to people who are not familiar with the politics of the People's Republic of China (PRC), but they hide a very specific agenda.  In the video, a young couple from Taiwan are interviewed about their experiences in China, and especially during the Lunar New Year festivities. They are asked questions about their jobs as DJs, and about the similarities and differences between Taiwan and "the mainland".  The way they talk and the words they use convey a message: that Taiwan is just a part of China.  The CCP views Taiwan as part of the PRC and has vowed to use force to annex it. Beijing's stance can be compared to the Russian government...

Over the last several years, conspiracy theories have drawn increasing media attention. From birtherism to QAnon, from pandemic disinformation to lies about the outcome of democratic elections, conspiracy theories have been openly embraced by politicians who seek to use them to influence the electorate.  But conspiracy theories are not a recent phenomenon, and neither is their propagation by prominent individuals and organizations that are capable of shaping public discourse. In this series, I will discuss some consequential conspiracy theories, such as the "Stab in the back" conspiracy theory that spread among Germany's far-right circles after World War I, or the false claim by elements of the US far-right that the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests were masterminded by the Chinese government.  But, first of all, I will provide a definition of the term conspiracy theory in order to avoid ambiguity and confusion.  "Stop The New World Order" by Christian Cable, lic...