Radio personality Rush Limbaugh pumps thumb after being awarded the Medal of Freedom by First Lady ... [+] Melania Trump after being acknowledged by US President Donald Trump as he delivers the State of the Union address at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on February 4, 2020. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Influential yet controversial talk radio pioneer Rush Limbaugh passed away at age 70 on Wednesday. In a career spanning nearly 40 decades, Limbaugh transformed talk radio and politics alike.

He had been diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer in January 2020, and just days later was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by then President Donald Trump during last year's State of the Union address.

"Rush Limbaugh: Thank you for your decades of tireless devotion to our country," President Trump said during the address.

Since the launch of "The Rush Limbaugh Show" in 1988, Limbaugh became arguably one of the most beloved yet polarizing figures in American media. Beginning with just 56 radio stations, his show grew to be the most listened-to program in the United States. Limbaugh's passing comes just a week after another equally divisive media figure, Larry Flynt, passed away and the reactions on social media highlighted the divide in our country.

Across social media on Wednesday, Limbaugh's supporters hailed his efforts to support conservative causes, whilst his critics only saw the worst in the radio talk show host.

Fellow conservative commentator Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) was among the first to react to the news of Limbaugh's passing, "So sad. The Super Nova of American conservatism is dead. R.I.P. Rush Limbaugh"

Likewise, commentator Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) hailed Limbaugh's lengthy career, "Broadcast Legend Rush Limbaugh has died. His legions of fans will miss him, and his powerful and bright contribution to our national dialogue is a treasure that will endure for decades to come. Rush Limbaugh, a great American, dead at 70.God bless you Rush."

Many on the right side of the aisle in government expressed their feelings on Wednesday afternoon. Among those was Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) (@RandPaul), who tweeted, "RIP to a legend and a patriot, Rush Limbaugh. Not many people can say they revolutionized and stayed at the top of an industry the way he did. My condolences to his family."

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) (@MarshaBlackburn) posted simply, "Rush Limbaugh was an inspiring and important voice for the conservative movement. He will be missed dearly. My sincere condolences to the Limbaugh family."

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) shared his thoughts on what Limbaugh brought to U.S. politics, "Rush Limbaugh made conservatism popular with the entire nation and revolutionized conservative media. He will be missed by all of his 'ditto heads,' this one included. Our country has lost one of its most important voices. Sending prayers to the Limbaugh family."

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) issued a statement on Twitter:

Little Respect

Not unexpectedly, many critics of Limbaugh expressed glee at the talk radio icon's passing with hate filled comments. If Limbaugh was divisive in life, the reactions by many liberals of his death on social media certainly were clear.

There were also attempts at humor at the passing of Limbaugh, and clearly he wasn't afforded any respect by some. That included comedian/writer Mike Drucker (@MikeDrucker) who posted, "It's easy to make fun of Rush Limbaugh right now, but it's important to remember that he also brought a lot of people a lot of joy by dying"

A similar joke was offered by writer/historian Natalie Shure (@nataliesurely), "However you feel about Rush Limbaugh, you've gotta admit that he's dead"

Video gaming streamer Mike Migdall (@ItsMigdallTime) took the joke perhaps a bit too far, "Phew! thought Rush limbaugh was trending because he was alive"

Writer Mitch Benn (@MitchBenn) was more direct, "If you can't think of anything good to say about Rush Limbaugh, that's because there isn't anything good to say about Rush Limbaugh."

David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod), senior political commentator from CNN, offered, "Whether you loved him or hated him-and there are very few people in between-Rush Limbaugh was indisputably a force of historic proportions. Over the past three decades, he did as much to polarize our politics as anyone and laid the groundwork for Trump and Trumpism."

But perhaps J. Charles Stanley (@JCharlesStanle1) summed the news of Limbaugh's passing best, "Say what you will about Rush's politics, but he definitely was highly successful in building his brand."

Read more:

Reaction To Passing Of Rush Limbaugh Trends On Social Media - Forbes

Comedy Central hosts Roasts of various celebrities, especially those whove been involved in a scandal recently. The insults are usually things said in jest about the recipients of said insults and are a fun way of allowing celebrities to let off steam about the person on the hot seat.

When Comedy Central decided to host the Roast of Rob Lowe in 2016, they didnt anticipate that an unexpected guest would outweigh Lowe with the number of insults they received. Pundit Ann Coulter got so much heat it was almost cringy to watch. Among those who insulted Coulter was renowned singer, Jewel. Read on to find out what Jewel had to say about Coulter.

The musician was born in Utah, but shortly after, her family moved to their Alaska homestead. Jewels parents divorced when she was eight, and she moved in with her father. She and her father lived at a house that was far away from town, and she spent most of her time exploring the outdoors. Jewel performed in bars around the town and sometimes would perform with her father. After receiving a scholarship to a Michigan Art School, she moved and learned how to play the guitar. She began songwriting at the art school. She then moved to California and began playing in coffee houses.

The talented singer was discovered during one of the days she was playing at a coffee shop. She got signed to Atlantic Records and released her first album in 1995 called Pieces of You. The album, however, didnt break even. Her big break came when she curtain-raised for Bob Dylan in 1997, and her song Who Will Save Your Soul got massive airplay. Although the album was met with lukewarm reviews, it made it to the top 4 on the Billboard charts.

Jewel is known for her vulnerable lyrics and sweet melodies. However, in 2003 the songbird released a pop-sounding album, which was a stark contrast to her previous sound. Fans and critics didnt like the album and criticized her a lot saying that she had strayed too far from her catchy melodic and folksy sound.

RELATED: What Is Singer-Songwriter Jewels Net Worth?

Aside from making music, Jewel also doubles as an author and actor. She has starred in various movies such as Framed for Murder: A Fixer Upper Mystery and Concrete Evidence: A Fixer Upper Mystery. In both of these movies, Jewel plays a contractor and investigator called Shannon Hughes.

In 2016 Jewel was invited to the Roast of Rob Lowe to provide a musical approach to the event. She had met Lowe when the two were to film The Lyons Den. She appeared for one episode of the show and the two remained friends. During the Roast session, the singer performed a parody of her hit song, You Were Meant for Me. In the piece, Jewel joked about being the 16-year-old who was having sex with Lowe in his 1988 sex tape. Other people who were on the show included Pete Davidson, David Spade, and Ann Coulter.

Coulter is known for her unfiltered and often offensive comments and views about anything not Republican. She is a well-known Conservative pundit who doesnt hold back from being the devils advocate. Coulter is famous for her hateful views, racist comments, and false and exaggerated claims about historical events.

During the Roast, many people seemed to have aimed most of their insults toward Coulter, which seemed to make the pundit visibly uncomfortable. Many of the insults aimed at Coulter used sexist tropes and misogynistic language. However, singer Jewel seemingly stole the show when she said, As a feminist, I dont agree with whats being said here but as someone who hates Anne Coulter, Im delighted, a statement which the crowd applauded.

Read more from the original source:

Jewel Hates Sexist Jokes But Will Let It Slide When Theyre Aimed at Ann Coulter - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Cameron Williams, a library worker in Chattanooga, Tenn., who helped organize protests against police brutality, was fired from his job after being accused of appearing in a social media video burning copies of books by former President Donald Trump and conservative author Ann Coulter.

Bob Dole, 97, the longtime Republican Kansas senator who ran for president in 1996, announced he is beginning treatment for Stage 4 lung cancer, saying that while he's facing hurdles, "I join millions of Americans who face significant health challenges of their own."

Ivanka Trump, 39, the daughter of former President Donald Trump, won't seek Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's U.S. Senate seat in 2022, a Rubio spokesman said, as Ivanka Trump, in a statement, called the GOP incumbent "a tremendous advocate for working families."

Gail Samuel, current president of the Hollywood Bowl and chief operating officer of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, will become the first female president and chief operating officer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra when she takes over in June.

Brent Bennett, 37, of Hartford, Ala., who bought cattle from a Thomas County stockyard last year but still owes $383,000 because of bounced checks and unpaid bills, was charged with theft by deception, sheriff's investigators said.

Robert Lombardo, 46, of Leesville, La., faces two counts of second-degree murder after deputies discovered the bodies of his 83-year-old father and 60-year-old stepmother in their home when a family member notified authorities that Lombardo had said "he had beaten his parents to death."

Jamilla Hall, who once worked for the Florida Prepaid College Program, has been sentenced to two years and nine months in federal prison for stealing about $42,000 from people who had been paying into the system.

Katsiaryna Bakhvalava, 27, and Daria Chultsova, 23, journalists with Polish-funded Belsat TV, were convicted of violating public order and sentenced to two years in prison for covering a public protest against authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.

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In the news - Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Former first lady Michelle Obamas winter CSA came courtesy of current first lady Jill Biden and the White House garden,which Obama originally planted. Obama posted a picture of the basket on Instagram, writing, So thankful for this beautiful care package from our amazing @FLOTUS! These fresh veggies from the White House Kitchen Garden were such a wonderfuland delicioussurprise. Love you, Jill! To which, Jill, who shares her husbands gentle corniness, responded, Food is love.

One can read this as a clear statement on Bidens part, just as Obamas choice to build the garden was a clearstatement. The former first lady broke ground on the garden in 2009, and at the time the symbolism wasnt subtle: She believed buying local and organically grown food, with less of a reliance on industrialfarming, would make for healthier Americans. To that end, the first lady chose to grow vegetables, which hadnt been done at scale at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt tended her victory garden.

It was a deeply intentional project, and Obama published a book in 2012,American Grown,in which she explained every choice made. She said she wanted it to be a learning garden, where children could plant seeds and come back and see the literal fruits of their labor, as well as a statement on childhood nutrition.

As both a mother and a first lady, I was alarmed about reports of skyrocketing childhood obesity rates and the dire consequences for our childrens health, she wrote. And I hoped this garden would begin a conversation about this issuea conversation about the food we eat, the lives we lead, and how all of that affects our children.

It certainly started a conversation, though not the one she intended. The gardenand what it represented (namely, the2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act)became a conservative talking point, able to fill minutes of airtime with gleeful bad faith arguments that, looking back, seem as quaint as a tan suit. The argument at the time? Vegetables are elitist (really, it was that Obamas efforts to improve school lunches threatened industrial agricultures bottom line).

So when Trump won the election, all eyes, or at least some eyes, were on the garden. Ann Coulter even tweeted in 2016: I respectfully suggest a new name for Michelles White House vegetable garden: Putting green.

Melania Trump instead chose to quietly-ish maintain the garden that Michelle built. That equivocating mirrors the equivocating on the part of the first lady at the time, which we grew used to over the past four years. She could have easily taken steamroll to it and put upI dont knowa cold, modern sculpture garden. Would have been cool! But a lot less nutritious.

Instead Melania chose to publicly harvest the vegetables that the Obamas planted, and also add cement reinforcements to help make the garden permanent.It was one of the first things she did once at the White House in 2017. Im a big believer in healthy eatingit encourages a healthy mind and body, the first lady told the children gathered around her at the event, all from a local Boys and Girls Club.Was the event in and of itself a sign that she would try to continue Obamas school lunch efforts or otherwise promote some food policy at all? No, there was never any legislation support or lobbying or even another day in which she hosted children at the garden after that. Where there was explicit intentionality before, here therewere just some simple platitudes and a lot of guesswork. Most people focused on the$1,380 Balmain top she chose to garden in, anyway. No conservative pundits managed to rail against elitism on that one.

So now the garden is back front and center, via a care package from one first lady to another, posted for all to see on Instagram. Its a signal that Obamas efforts are at least approved of in Jills East Wing, and bodes well for the support of small farms or school lunch effortsthough what, exactly, support of the garden materially means will have to be seen.

Its something of a lovely image of continuity beyond that too: The vegetables were planted during the Trump administration. Even though Melania chose not to advertiseit, beyond that 2017 photo-call, someone kept planting.At least we have the peaceful transfer of vegetables.

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From Michelle to Melania to Jill: At Least the White House Garden Experienced a Peaceful Transfer of Power - Vanity Fair

Like many Chattanoogans, I am following the upcoming Chattanooga mayors race with interest. Do I know whom I am voting for, or have I gone through and read every one of the candidates profiles or watched any Zoom campaign forums? The answer to both of those is no, but I hope to do some homework between now and the March 2 election. The same is true for the City Council race. I live on the north end of District 2, and my wife, Laura, and I actually had two candidates stop by our house on successive cold Saturdays in January pitching their qualifications. One person came by when we were both here, and we decided we would vote for that person primarily on campaigning effort amid the cold alone. And then the next Saturday, while I was home alone, another candidate came by in a winter coat and seemed like a good candidate as well, so I am actually still debating on that race. It is always healthy when there are seemingly a lot of good candidates for a local office and who represent a variety of views, as seems to be the case in the mayors race. Part of my interest in the race this year is that this is the first mayor/City Council election I have been able to vote in since Bob Corker was elected in 2001. I moved to Cleveland in 2003 due to my wifes career as a United Methodist minister and then spent 12 years in Knoxville before moving back here in 2017 just after the last mayoral/City Council election. So, I am ready to cast my vote. And the race has seemed refreshing so far in that there are a lot of upbeat TV ads by those who have enough campaign funds to run them. And there is genuine interest in serving the community by the vast majority of the candidates. I like Tim Kellys ad about fixing a few potholes as well as mentioning his other qualifications, and I find myself trying to guess all the places where Kim White is filming her ads. I have picked out Heritage Park in East Brainerd, Coolidge Park, and the retail alley area between Market and Cherry streets. And I want to guess and say the football stadium is at Hixson High School. And who cannot like Chris Longs four-sign storyboard found along busy highway intersections about his candidacy. Or at least you can admire the creativity that went into it. All the campaigning has been upbeat so far for the mayors race, which is nice after last falls ridiculously dirty presidential and federal elections. Lets hope that continues, although who knows if the race appears tight late or goes into a runoff, and what a candidate did in 1993 suddenly comes to the forefront. Politics can obviously be dirty and brutal, and I admire anyone who sticks their neck out to run for office, although I know running is part ego buildup for many and not just all serving my community or giving back, as candidates like to always say. One time when I was living in Knoxville, I saw that former mayor candidate Ann Coulter was to be there in connection with her private consulting/planning work on the Cumberland Avenue Strip area of Knoxville by the UT campus. I contacted her about interviewing her while she was there regarding her 2005 mayor campaign against Ron Littlefield that had concluded a year or so earlier. I did end up having a nice interview with her about the Knoxville work, but she was reluctant to go back and revisit that bitter race due to the personal toll, which I understood. Like Kim White, she had also been involved with the RiverCity non-profit downtown redevelopment company. And some initially thought Ms. Coulter might become the first woman mayor, a feat Ms. White and Dr. Elenora Woods are trying to accomplish. Knoxvilles last two mayors have been women. I occasionally covered the first one, Madeline Rogero. One time she spoke at our church and gave a nice talk about some of the citys accomplishments, many of which had already been well documented in TV and newspaper reports. I was tempted to ask her, While all of these accomplishments are nice and have been documented in the media, I was wondering what a typical day as mayor is like, or do you ever pinch yourself that you are the mayor, or the first woman mayor? The current Knoxville mayor is Indya Kincannon, whose father had been a top U.S education official. Besides electing Chattanoogas first woman mayor, some would also like to see Chattanooga elect its first Black mayor. Chattanoogas city electorate is diverse enough that both conservative-leaning and liberal-leaning candidates have been elected mayor in the recent past, even though the candidates dont represent a political party in theory. Among some of the candidates, Ms. White graduated from Hixson High not too long after I graduated from Baylor School in 1978. As someone who lived less than a mile from Hixson High growing up, I know a lot of Hixson graduates from that era have done well in their professional lives. Fellow candidate Monty Bruell was a year behind me at Baylor and was the first Black graduate of the independent school. I had an opportunity to interview him in the 1990s about the experiences. Tim Kelly graduated from Baylor in 1985, just one year ahead of current mayor Andy Berke. (And while I am on my Go Big Red kick, Jon Kinsey, the mayor from 1997-2001, graduated from Baylor in 1972.) A few years ago, I had a delightful interview with Tim Kellys mother, Betty Sue, about her memories of Girls Preparatory School classmate and 1958 May queen Grace Moore, who had been tragically killed in an automobile accident in 1960 in North Carolina. Betty Sues father had headed the Ayers auto dealership. I am sure a lot of the other candidates have interesting stories of their various school experiences and other life lessons, and I look forward to learning about them. Other mayoral candidates not yet mentioned are Monty Bell, Lon Cartwright, Christopher Dahl, DAngelo Davis, Russell Gilbert, Wade Hinton, George Ryan Love, Andrew McLaren, Erskine Oglesby, and Robert C. Wilson. Over the years, I have had opportunities to interview several Chattanooga mayors. One time I briefly talked with Rudy Olgiati, the mayor from 1951-63, over the phone. He was older by that time, but I was trying to talk to him about some piece of history and reached him down at a great-nephews house in South Carolina. He did not offer me much information, but I cherished just being able to talk with him, even though I knew he was in declining health. And in the 1990s while at the Chattanooga Free Press, I decided to do a series on former Chattanooga mayors and had nice interviews with Ralph Kelley (1963-69), Robert Kirk Walker (1971-75), and Pat Rose (1975-83). I remember Mr. Kelley proudly told me from his federal bankruptcy judge chambers how he, a white man, had tried hard to connect with the Black community and had no major racial conflicts of note while mayor in the turbulent 1960s. He had graduated from the University of Chattanooga. Mr. Walker, meanwhile, talked about his term from his law office and how he was going to finally take a day off for his birthday after a hard first month or so, and then the major race riots broke out after the cancellation of the Wilson Pickett concert. As a result, the Central High grad and father of former McCallie headmaster Kirk Walker had to work even harder trying to bring peace back to the community over several very tense days. Former Mayor Rose came over to the papers office and very amicably and in a goodwill ambassador style talked about his days in office. The former Atlantan could not have been nicer and more patient with me. Both he and Mayor Kelley had natural charisma that no doubt helped them as politicians. I also later interviewed lower-key Mayor Gene Roberts (1983-97), who was probably as responsible as any mayor for all the downtown redevelopment projects, like the Tennessee Aquarium. Of course, a lot of citizens and other civic leaders were also involved, including philanthropist Jack Lupton and future mayor Ron Littlefield (2005-13), who was head of the Chattanooga Venture non-profit planning group at the time. I have corresponded occasionally via email with former Mayor Littlefield over the years. I also talked with Jon Kinsey briefly, but about a development project after he left office. He seemed easily approachable. In 2001 when I was doing some freelance writing as a Chattanooga correspondent for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, they asked me to interview Bob Corker right after he had been elected mayor. He kindly agreed, and I went over to his office in the Volunteer Building a day or two after the election and had a nice talk with him before he left on a brief vacation. I remember he kept pacing back and forth while talking to me. As someone who gets a little fidgety as well sitting for too long, I could certainly relate to that. I remember he also indirectly asked me if I was interested in applying to be his press spokesman, as I guess he had not filled that position. Being back in school and enjoying my freelance writing, I did not pursue it. I wrote my story and was surprised when I saw it after it was published. The editors had about doubled it in length with information about his past business dealings or some issues like that. I guess the editors were just trying to give a broader view of him, but I kind of felt like it was no longer my story or in the mostly upbeat tone in which I had written it. I hope Mr. Corker, a City High graduate, did not think any less of me, as I still think fondly of my visit with him, and I enjoyed following his career to the U.S. Senate afterward. And I always wondered if he ever had any meetings on Capitol Hill where he paced back and forth, too!

* * * Jcshearer2@comcast.net

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John Shearer: Random Thoughts About Mayoral Candidates And Past Mayors - The Chattanoogan

In 2020, one of the people on the right who drew attention to Marjorie Taylor Greene's extremism was Dr. John Cowan, the Georgia-based neurosurgeon she defeated in a GOP congressional primary. CNN's Michael Smerconish interviewed Cowan on January 30 and posed the question: is Greene's extremism a symptom of a larger problem in the Republican Party?

Greene has drawn a great deal of criticism from Democrats recently for everything from advocating the murder of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to attacking survivors of school shootings. The Philadelphia-based Smerconish opened his segment by explaining, "By now, everyone in America knows the name Marjorie Taylor Greene, the QAnon-supporting member of Congress. Her behavior before and after getting elected is a greatest-hits reel of truly deplorable conduct. Among them, before she was a candidate: agreeing that the Sandy Hook and Parkland mass shootings were staged, harassing one of the Parkland mass shooting survivors, labeling the House speaker as treasonous for which she said the punishment is death."

Smerconish noted that although Cowan is quite conservative and has described himself as "pro-Trump, pro-life, pro-gun," Greene defeated him by 15% in a GOP congressional primary in 2020 and wanted to know why Georgia Republicans found her more appealing. During that primary, Smerconish recalled, Cowan said of Greene, "My opponent is absolutely crazy."

Cowan recalled, "She presented herself as a very strong fighter outspoken, and people said, 'Maybe that's the kind of grenade we need up in Washington, D.C.'" Smerconish, however, stressed that Cowan was offering Georgia Republicans a conservative agenda "without the crazy quotient."

"The easiest part of this is to look at some of her conduct and to find it truly deplorable," Smerconish told Cowan. "But it makes me wonder: is she the problem, or is she just a symptom of something more deep-seated a kind of mindset that exists among a lot of people?"

Over the years, Smerconish has not been shy about calling out far-right extremism he was especially critical of wingnut author Ann Coulter during the 2000s and 2010s. And in 2008, the conservative/libertarian pundit sent shock waves through right-wing talk radio when he announced that he was voting for Barack Obama rather than Sen. John McCain in that year's presidential election.

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Smerconish: Who elected Marjorie Taylor Greene? http://www.youtube.com

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CNN host: Is Marjorie Taylor Greene's conduct a 'symptom' of a 'deep-seated mindset' in the GOP? - Raw Story

This is the moment Piers Morgan erupted in anger at a Conservative commentator on Good Morning Britain today.

Ann Coulter was on the ITV1 daytime TV favourite dialling in via video link for an interview in the wake of the US Election.

Joe Biden won the Election, it was confirmed on Saturday, after days of President Donald Trump alleging voter fraud.

"There may have been a little funny business with the ballots," Ann said.

Susanna hit back: "There is no evidence yet is there, though?"

Piers said: "The truth is this. There is no hard evidence of widespread fraud and the truth is there have been thousands of appeals at all levels into fraudulent voting.

"Only on three occasions have they found any substance.

"There is currently no substance on this claim."

Ann hit back: "I don't think it will change the result of the Election. Once it is baked into the cake, it is baked into the cake.

"But just looking at it, it is perfectly obvious. That is absolutely not true there is no substance.

"Just looking at it, it is obvious - 4am election night and there is four states Trump had won, in big urban areas where there are big Democrat political machines.

"I am not saying it will change the result of the election. I kind of like the result of the election.

"I do not think Kamala will be very hard to beat in four years."

GMB continues to air each weekday from 6am on ITV1.

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Piers Morgan erupts in fiery clash with GMB guest over US Election 'voter fraud' - Birmingham Live

With President Trumps chances of staying in the White House dwindling, the Republican Party potentially faces a vacuum as it works out who might be the GOPs new leader and standardbearer in 2024.

The departure of Trump from the scene opens the door to a number of potential candidates who have come up under the mercurial billionaire and who will vie to inherit the movement he created.

Never Trumpers lost, MAGA won, Ann Coulter an original Trump booster, who later soured on the president told The Post. We need Trumpism Without Trump.

Governor of Florida

Age 42

The governor of Florida went all in with Trump during his 2018 race and defied the polls to beat his Democratic opponent, Andrew Gillum. Defying dire warnings from liberals, the Florida populist has also moved aggressively to reopen his state and has managed to avoid devastating new surges of COVID-19.

With a population larger than New York state and a lot older under DeSantis, Florida had fewer deaths without destroying the economy, said Coulter, a DeSantis fan. He prevented BLM protests from turning into destructive riots by vowing to bring felony charges for toppling statues or blocking traffic Hes articulate, but not prissy, like [Mitt] Romney.

Senator from Texas

Age 49

If there was a second-place finisher in the 2016 Republican primary, it was Ted Cruz. The Texas senator won the Iowa caucus and was the only Trump rival who even came within running distance of the billionaire. Though famously disliked and not endorsed by any of his GOP Senate colleagues at the time, Cruz has worked hard on his image and playing nice with his fellow senators.

Cruz has also developed a vibrant Twitter account, with 4 million followers and growing, where he regularly feeds red meat to the base and has been a champion of free speech online. Where Trump was often volatile and thin-skinned on the platform, Cruz is controlled and often indulges in self-deprecating jokes that he might be the Zodiac killer.

I think Ted Cruz is the likely front-runner and will be very difficult to beat in Iowa. He will be a formidable candidate, GOP strategist Luke Thompson told The Post.

Fox News opinion host

Age 51

The Fox News primetime host is the most watched cable news star on television right now. His program Tucker Carlson Tonight was supposedly regular viewing in the White House. In March, it was Carlson who went to Mar-a-Lago to give Trump a stern warning about COVID-19 just days before the president declared a state of emergency.

A telling harbinger of his future? The enemies of Trump now view Carlson with fear. In September 2019, the New York Times produced a whole column imagining a Carlson administration, with the host himself featured above the story as the literal terminator.

Come, take a stroll with me through my recurrent nightmare: Its the sweltering summer of 2029, and the man in charge is Tucker Carlson that is, President Tucker Carlson now in his triumphant second term, after having defeated the incumbent Joseph Recession Joe Biden back in 2024, wrote Farhad Manjoo.

Rick Wilson, a founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, told The Post that Carlson was among the most likely choices his former party could rally around in 2024. Carlson (so far) says hes not interested.

Former US Ambassador to the United Nation

Age 48

Many who have despised Trumps more isolationist tendencies have been drawn to the possible candidacy of Nikki Haley. Many are hopeful the former South Carolina governor and US ambassador to the United Nations could rebuild trust in NATO and other US alliances around the world.

Shes a favorite of billionaire Republican mega-donor Ronald Lauder, who honored her last year with an award at the World Jewish Congress, where he serves as president.

You will not be able to rest because we expect even greater things from you, Lauder told Haley during the ceremony, where he also called her perhaps the most courageous woman in America today.

As a woman of color, electing Haley in 2024 would shatter many glass ceilings.

President of the United States

Age 74

Theres nothing stopping Trump himself from staging a political comeback. He wouldnt be much older than Biden now in 2024. He earned more votes than any Republican presidential candidate in history and few GOP aspirants would likely seek out a direct challenge a la 2016.

It wouldnt even be unprecedented, as President Grover Cleveland famously served two non-consecutive terms, from 1885 to 1889 and again from 1893 to 1897.

As many on the left have pointed out, the 2020 election was less a repudiation of Trump than a narrow loss for a man who proved just unpalatable enough for a critical sliver of his coalition.

Sean Spicer, a former Trump press secretary, told The Post his ex-boss would be an instant front-runner in a 2024 primary. He has a rock-solid base, I just dont think that there is anyone else who even comes close.

Teasing a potential run in 2024 would at the very least ensure Trump stays relevant and in the press for years to come.

If Trump himself passes on the opportunity, his two very political children Don Jr. and Ivanka Trump could also potentially pick up the mantle. Trump Jr. has long acted as an outside surrogate for his father online and in the press and connects strongly with his base. Ivanka, meanwhile, has years of administration experience under her belt as a White House adviser to her father.

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Here's who could be the Republican presidential candidate in 2024 - New York Post

An OU student group is holding a Thursday evening protest against a Turning Point USA event hosting best-selling author and conservative media pundit Ann Coulter.

The protest Stand Up Against Bigots like Ann Coulter will take place at 6:30 p.m. on the east side of the Oklahoma Memorial Union, according to a graphic.

Susie Kerr, a microbiology senior, said in a message this is an informal gathering organized by Student Advocates Against Governmental Injustice.

We want to use our voice to stand in solidarity and let marginalized groups or persons in the OU community know that there are people here who support them and do not condone hate, Kerr said. Ann Coulter has a history for misogynistic, racist, xenophobic and ableist rhetoric that may make some members of our community feel unsafe or unwanted, so while she is here, we would like to counter that dialogue.

The graphic contains no other information other than the time, place, and reason, which is to protest the guest speaker presenting on campus. Coulter, who has been criticized in the past for anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric after the Sept. 11 attacks, will be speaking in the union at 7 p.m. hosted by the OU chapter of Turning Point USA.

The TPUSA event will adhere to the universitys social distancing and masking guidelines, according to the event registration page,and Coulter will be discussing the outcome of the election and college politics as they relate to our community, according to a TPUSA press release. The release acknowledged a statement from OU College Democrats calling for the event to be canceled, stating the event would not be canceled or postponed.

The release also acknowledged Coulters past remarks.

We encourage the community to remember that a college campus is a place where students are meant to encounter a spectrum of ideas, and engage in open, rational debate, the release read. We must value ideological diversity, because if we are thinking the same, then we are not thinking at all.

Read the rest here:

OU Student Advocates Against Governmental Injustice to hold informal protest at Ann Coulter speaking event - The Oklahoma Daily

Voters faced a fresh barrage of misinformation Tuesday, the latest development in a voting period that has been marred by misleading narratives across social media.

Twitter removed a post, shared from a screenshot on Instagram, in which a person falsely claiming to be a poll worker in Erie, Pa., said he had thrown out hundreds of Trump ballots. A far-right influencer falsely claimed on Twitter said that the National Guard had been deployed to Philadelphia and other cities to prevent unrest in the case of a Trump victory.

#Stopthesteal, a hashtag associated with alleged voter fraud and a Democratic theft of the election, was used more than 50,000 times, driven largely by right-leaning influencers including Donald Trump Jr. and Ann Coulter amplifying isolated incidents, according to researchers. One video, in which a pro-Trump poll watcher was mistakenly prevented from entering a Philadelphia polling location, racked up more than 287 million likes, retweets and views across Twitter by the afternoon as evidence of efforts to steal the election, according to researchers.

Late Monday, in a tweet Twitter restricted with a label, President Trump said the Supremes Courts recent decision about Pennsylvania mail-in ballots will induce violence in the streets. He added, Something must be done!

Many of the attempts appeared specifically targeted at voters in swing states, particularly in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. Some, like the presidents, intimated that violence could take place. His statements echoed concerns by elected officials and businesses, which boarded up storefronts before Election Day.

My biggest fear is the potential for physical violence that we didnt have in 2016, said Alex Stamos, head of the Stanford Internet Observatory and a former Facebook chief security officer, said on a media call Tuesday morning from the Election Integrity Partnership, a coalition of misinformation researchers that examined the #Stopthesteal hashtag.

The lead up to the 2020 election has been uniquely influenced by social media, particularly because in-person campaigning has been more limited by the global pandemic. Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Bidens campaigns have spent millions of dollars on social media and other targeted advertising in recent weeks.

But researchers have cautioned that domestic disinformation has also taken on an increased power this election, as groups attempt to spread lies online and even the president uses his Twitter account to share misinformation to his more than 87 million followers.

Facebook, Twitter, Google and Google-owned YouTube, collectively have held more than 100 scenario-planning exercises, launched a spate of new policies including prohibitions on premature declarations of victory and calls to violence, and taken unprecedented enforcement actions, according to the companies.

They have come up with detailed plans on how they will flag whether the election is decided or not, partnering with media outlets to attempt to slow the spread of misinformation. Facebook and Google have banned political and social ads with the close of polls Tuesday, while Twitter has banned them entirely.

They are trying to prevent a repeat of 2016, when in the weeks after the election they discovered that their platforms were abused by Russian operatives who successfully showed disinformation to American voters.

The final day of voting culminates a period in which disinformation has been spread beyond just social media, including in text messages, email and old-fashioned mail.

Across the U.S. voters received an estimated 10 million robocalls in recent days encouraging them to stay safe and stay home, according to researchers.

Throughout Election Day, Twitter labeled some posts as disputed and potentially misleading about an election or other civic process, including several #StopTheSteal posts that suggested fraud was rampant. But many of them remained on the site, unflagged, including a tweet by Trump campaign official Mike Roman that said Democrats were keeping TRUMP WATCHERS OUT to steal the race. The post had gained more than 11,000 retweets by early afternoon.

On Tuesday, officials in Erie County, Pa., disputed the claims in the viral post regarding Trump ballots being tossed. The person making the statements does not work in any way with Erie County, the county said on its Twitter account.

The dissemination of misleading narratives was highly centralized, and, in places, took on the characteristics of a game. A post on 8kun, the anonymous image board at the center of the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory, advised the use of particular hashtags, from #Watchyourballot to #VoteInPerson to #Trump2020Landslide. The message illustrated the behind-the-scenes coordination that goes into creating the appearance of an online groundswell.

The presidents tweet about violence in Pennsylvania was labeled by Twitter with a notice that voting by mail and voting in person have a long history of trustworthiness, and that voter fraud is extremely rare. It also took actions to restrict the spread of the tweet. But the tweet had already been retweeted more than 55,000 times before the social media company throttled it, according to the Election Integrity Partnership.

Facebook appended a label to the same post on its site about the security of mail balloting. Still, it received internal pushback from Facebooks own employees saying they should do more, according to internal communications viewed by The Washington Post.

The light touch from the worlds largest social network alarmed David Brody, counsel and senior fellow for privacy and technology at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Its really important for the platforms to raise up the authoritative sources and algorithmically downlink conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated rumors, said Brody, warning about the possibility that the presidents words could lead to real-world violence.

The #stopthesteal hashtag gained momentum Tuesday as users and right-leaning influencers spread the banned poll watcher video and other isolated incidents of improper practices or glitches at polling locations, according to First Draft News, a nonprofit that focuses on tackling misinformation. Pro-Trump users had previously popularized the #stopthesteal hashtag during the 2018 midterm election, as part of similarly baseless allegations of wide-scale voter fraud. There were also some signs the hashtag had been promoted by bots.

Zignal Labs, a media intelligence firm, said the hashtag went from just a few dozen mentions at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning to more than 2,000 every 15 minutes by 8:15.

The video of a Trump poll worker wrongfully being denied entry to a polling place in Philadelphia went viral on Twitter with that hashtag and commentary around efforts to steal the election. A local polling judge incorrectly told him that his certificate only worked at one location in the city, when in fact it worked at any.

Kevin Feeley, a spokesman for the Philadelphia City Commissioner Lisa Deeley, said the locations judge of election made an honest mistake in preventing the watcher from entering the location, and the commissioners office acted quickly in informing him of the correct rules.

The poll watcher did not re-enter that particular location, but Feeley said he did gain admittance to another polling location in Philadelphia.

Narratives pushing unproven allegations of widespread voter fraud have been circulating on social media for months, including from Trump, his adult sons, and affiliated outlets and supporters. Stories have been taken out of context, such as a claim that ballots which were found in a ditch in Wisconsin were put there on purpose to hurt Trump.

A video clip of Biden that was deceptively edited to make it appear as if he was admitting to voter fraud racked up more than 17 million views over the past week, according to the left-leaning human rights group Avaaz.

That has led to additional concerns about potential manipulated videos surfacing Tuesday and in the aftermath of voting, in attempts to cast doubt on results.

The Washington Posts Drew Harwell, Cat Zakrzewski and Tony Romm contributed to this report.

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Online lies and misinformation surge on Election Day - Anchorage Daily News