Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

littlemissmartypants

littlemissmartypants's Journal
littlemissmartypants's Journal
May 9, 2026

There are...

Three voting blocks in the United States. The unaffiliated block is rapidly becoming the largest one almost everywhere.

If we expect to turn the tide, much less create a "blue wave," we need to curtail our binary thinking about social groups.

It's now a fight for good against evil, and it's for all people. Or no one.

I hope he lives to celebrate his victory.

❤️

April 27, 2026

Dogs dancing to Shakira

Dance 🤣

ContempraInn 🌹 (@contemprainn.bsky.social) 2026-04-11T01:25:38.329Z


Maybe AI, Maybe not.

I dare you not to smile.

I hope that everyone has a lovely day.

❤️
April 18, 2026

Interventions to Psychological Manipulation, featuring Diane Benscoter



Diane Benscoter is the Founder and Executive Director of Antidote and author of Shoes of a Servant: My Unconditional Devotion to a Lie*.

Recorded 19 March 2026 for the Cambridge Disinformation Summit webinar series.

00:00 Intro and brief history
03:23 Project 1: learning community
03:59 Five phases of manipulation
05:23 Project 2: stories bank
06:23 Project 3: attention integrity movement 06:48 Inoculation: anti manipulation identity 07:01 Education of mechanics
07:15 Community building
07:36 Why people are drawn in
09:11 How opportunists find targets
10:33 Manipulation process
11:15 How to break through
14:13 Processing trauma from revelation
15:23 Identity crisis
15:54 Rebuild agency & autonomy
17:13 What drew you in
17:55 "My people"
18:52 Self intervention
20:00 Look for dissonance cracks
20:40 Cult hopping
21:08 Reconstructing self
23:57 Scalable interventions
27:50 Conmen and cults
29:35 Dopamine addiction
31:10 Online vs in person
33:32 Customizing interventions
34:50 Empathy, protecting pride, & dignity
42:19 Opportunists source pain
43:30 Politics
47:04 Signs of being manipulated
48:43 First intervention steps
50:00 Anti manipulation identity
52:43 Policy needs
54:10 Digital literacy skills
55:58 Tips for the vulnerable


Part of the
University of Cambridge (UK)
Disinformation Summit

Cambridge Disinformation Summit
"I see disinformation as preparing the landscape for corruption." Professor Jagolinzer, Summit Chair, 2026.**


Purpose:
To facilitate interdisciplinary research and policy that:

•Advances understanding of how disinformation is deployed to exploit vulnerable communities and how it amplifies and accelerates global systemic risks,

•Advances efficacy assessment, accelerates deployment, and amplifies impact of disinformation harms interventions, and

•Advances understanding of the implications of interventions on other fundamental rights (e.g., free speech), to help preserve those rights.

Key definition:
•Disinformation is when an actor intentionally disseminates a false or misleading narrative, through selected channels, to exploit a targeted vulnerable audience.

This project does not promote censorship.


*https://dianebenscoter.com/books/
**https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/2026/cambridge-disinformation-summit-focuses-on-downstream-harm/

April 4, 2026

I'm telling you guys, it's not just a grift war per usual...

These motherfuckers are going full tilt Holy War. And it started on J6.



We are currently under assault by Christian Nationalism. Christian Nationalists take everything by force. They are laser focused. This is the goal of the regime.

Here's an expert take on the topic:

The Violent Take it By Force by Matthew D. Taylor with The Freedom From Religion Foundation. Interview ~ 30"


We're in deep trouble.




March 30, 2026

Ageism irks me but I'm not opposed to ...

an age optimal age range LAW (say 25 to 65) with a law that spells out explicitly cognitive and health fitness qualifications with regular assessments and enforcement to back them up in the LAW.

In addition to initial qualifying assessments, to be effective, the LAW should include pre - and post tests at specific time based intervals and as needed for cause assessments. Other ages might be considered with the contingency that the cognitive, neuropsychological, and physical fitness standards are within acceptable limits.


As with any other enterprise and especially when we are talking about the leadership of our government, if we hire decrepit, mentally unfit psychopaths then we get what we deserve.


I'd also prefer that we get the cash/crypto out of politics, too. But without the leadership, we need to make any of this work. I guess we can all wish in one hand, and you know what in the other and see which hand fills up first.

NC (my home) is familiar with posers and turncoats, by the way. Tricia Cotham* comes to mind.


Characteristics of Psychopaths

1. Aggressive, callous, and cunning
2. Complete absence of conscience and empathy
3. Very adept at manipulating others
4. Willingness to engage in immoral, criminal conduct
5. Willingness to take what they want and do as they please, regardless of who is hurt or wronged
6. Deceptive ability to appear outwardly benevolent
7. Deceptive ability to behave in superficially charming ways to hide purely selfish motives
8. Willingness to use intimidation and violence to control others in order to satisfy their own needs
9. Willingness to intentionally violate the basic inherent human rights of others
10. Complete absence of any sense of guilt or remorse for the harm their actions have caused to others
11. Rationalization of their own immoral behavior
12. Will attempt to lay blame upon someone else for their own conduct
13. Denial, will deny their own wrongdoing outright
14. Utter contemptuousness toward the feelings and desires of their fellow beings
15. Pathological lying, will say anything without any concern for truth to advance their own hidden agendas
16. Ablity to feign [fake] normal human emotions and empathy
17. Distorted sense of the consequences of their actions
18. Total failure to accept any responsibility for their own socially irresponsible ways
19. Strong bellef that they will never be brought to justice for their criminal behavior


*Tricia Cotham aka Patricia Ann Cotham

[Rumored girlfriend of North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore(R)]

"Cotham represented the 100th district in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017 as a Democrat. She was elected as a Democrat in 2022 to represent District 112. Cotham formally changed her affiliation to the Republican Party on April 5, 2023, granting the North Carolina House Republicans a supermajority. Prior to her party switch, Cotham had campaigned on a traditional Democratic Party platform and had voted for abortion rights legislation. Shortly after her party switch, Cotham cast the deciding vote for legislation to restrict abortion access in North Carolina.
[2]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricia_Cotham
March 30, 2026

Putin started that with the invasion of Ukraine.

DJ is just helping him finish the job while the billionaire class works on becoming the trillionaire class.

March 21, 2026

Whale Shark gliding through Bioluminescent Algae looks like its floating through space

🔥 Whale Shark gliding through Bioluminescent Algae looks like its floating through space. By Mike Nulty

🔥 Whale Shark gliding through Bioluminescent Algae looks like its floating through space. By Mike Nulty

Digital Brain (@yourdigitalbrain.bsky.social) 2026-03-21T06:39:23.000Z


Be sure to click through to the full frame version.

❤️✌️🤓
March 14, 2026

🔥"I read the Trump-backed "Save America Act" so you don't have to." Jennifer Cohn Here is my 8-point summary.

Most of the media apparently *hasn’t* read the Act because, if they had, they would sound the alarm about Point 1, below

By Jennifer Cohn, 3/13/26

I read the Trump-backed so-called “Save America Act” (SB 1383) because most of the media and most of our lawmakers apparently have not. It’s obvious that they haven’t read it because if they had, they would sound the alarm about Point 1, below.

The Save America Act:

1. States that all states “shall” submit their voter registration lists to the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS)“SAVE” voter purge program, which reportedly has error rates as high as 14% & relies on data from the Social Security Administration (SSA) whose databases were mishandled by DOGE per:

The SSA itself (in a recent court filing titled “Notice of Corrections to the Court Record”),
A whistleblower report by the SSA’s former Chief Data Officer, and
A new whistleblower report, which alleges that a former DOGE member claimed to have retained his SSA computer & credentials providing “God level” access to SSA systems.
(The Act mentions giving flagged voters “notice” and an “opportunity” to prove citizenship without specifying the form or length of time for the notice and while simultaneously making it very difficult to prove citizenship if flagged or purged. See also FN 1.)

In addition, the Act:
2. Imposes no penalty for erroneous purges, but subjects officials to citizen suits & potential prison time for registering a single voter without correct documentation — even if the voter is a citizen. (Note: The GOP has wrongly purged thousands of voters in past elections.

Snip...more
https://jennycohn1.medium.com/i-read-the-trump-backed-save-america-act-so-you-dont-have-to-here-is-my-8-point-summary-0cac998e6415

No paywall. Click through using the 'X' in the upper right hand corner.

About Jennifer Cohn
After practicing law for 20+ years, I now write about elections, propaganda, & extremism.



Good Morning and Good Day, Everyone!
Keep the Faith!
❤️pants

Profile Information

Gender: Do not display
Member since: Tue Aug 28, 2012, 07:58 PM
Number of posts: 34,376

About littlemissmartypants

And can it be that in a world so full and busy, the loss of one creature makes a void so wide and deep that nothing but the width and depth of eternity can fill it up!" ~Charles Dickens
Latest Discussions»littlemissmartypants's Journal