Dangerous conspiracy theories, war in the Middle East and our top stories of the week

Conspiracy theories about Minnesota shooter aren't just deflection. They're dangerous

From Amanda Marcotte: Vance Boelter's online activities show he is a right-wing Christian who opposes abortion and denies that LGBTQ identities are real. While we don't yet have the text of the manifesto Boelter left behind, it's fairly obvious what's likely to be in it. Despite these facts, it didn't take long for MAGA forces online to snap into action with a false counter-narrative. Read more.

Make me smarter …

The year QAnon went mainstream

Conservatives have always been a conspiracy minded bunch, but the Republican Party kept the tin foil hats on the fringe. We’ve fully moved into an era of parallel political realities, but it still helps to remember how we got here. Read more.

Trump takes aim at states' rights and the Constitution

From Heather Digby Parton: For as long as most of us can remember, "states' rights" was the bedrock of American conservative ideology. For generations, Southern states used the concept to justify slavery, the Civil War and generations of Jim Crow. And while liberals didn't approve of states' rights arguments being used to deny universal human rights (and believed those arguments were not made in good faith), they did not deny the concept of state sovereignty itself under the Constitution. That smokescreen has been blown aside by the MAGA movement. Read more.

Support our bold journalism: Become a Salon member today.

Everybody hates Bibi — but he keeps on winning

From Andrew O’Hehir: There’s no point in denying that according to his own dark theory of geopolitical reality, Netanyahu has created the conditions for decisive victory. Read more.

Before you go …

Trump has become an easy mark — and so has America

From Heather Digby Parton: In every important issue area marking these first few months of his second term, Trump's impulsive, labile character has been exposed in one way or another. As much as people learned to manage him — to save the country from his worst impulses — during his first term, everyone now knows they can manipulate him for their own ends in the second. That includes foreign adversaries, and even certain allies with their own axes to grind. Read more.

FROM OUR PARTNERS

What do liberals, conservatives, and independents all have in common?

They all use Ground News.

Ground News is a news comparison platform with over 50,000 sources, allowing readers to compare coverage on any story while gaining insight into a news source’s political bias, credibility, and ownership.

Over 1M+ readers from all political stripes, from Munich to Manhattan, trust Ground News to stay informed and broaden their worldview.

Start your free trial today