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If you haven't rolled your eyes yet today at the gnashing of teeth over who wore what daft dress, who said what daft thing and who sobbed on stage at the Oscars then please, take a moment.

The self-obsessed liberals who gather annually to celebrate their art by injecting botox into their armpits and practicing their 'I'm SO glad he won' faces are just kidding themselves they're making the world a better place for anyone other than their accountants and facial refurbishers.

Most of us choose not to care. But there are some people who care a little too much - the ultra-Conservative, Braxcist, Trump-twiddling minority who currently feel their new world order is nigh.

Toby Young has complained white, heterosexual males don't win enough pretty gold statues. Donald Trump actually REFUSED to tweet. Angry social media warriors just got angrier about snowflake celebrities daring to have political opinions.

But if these people were in charge of the Oscars, what would it be like? Would it be humble, would it be apolitical, would a straight white man finally catch a break?

Or would it be like this:

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"The number of hot birds in this blitz are freaking me nut out. I mean I love my wife with all me heart but if there's anyone wants to send me a picture of their norks I'd be well chuffed. Not you, Meryl. I mean you got a boat on yer but you're a bit of a boiler now. Emma Stone, she can. Anyway I'm not allowed to be political so I'd am contractually obliged to say, hail to the Trump, Gawd save the Queen and chim-chiminee, chim-chim-cheroo. WHAT SLAG PUT MY MY DMs UP ON THAT SCREEN?"

You know, Jimmy Kimmel and Danny have never been seen in the same room. Coincidence?

Oscars 2017 : Worst Dressed Celebs On The Red Carpet

Instead of the usual pushing and shoving to get their hands on the best frocks from the likes of Lagerfeld, Versace and Christian Dior, there would be a mandatory dress code of wearing dresses only from Ivanka Trump's failed department store line.

Which means everyone would look like they'd just got married in Vegas at 3am.

They're more alt-right than they realise - calling any criticism 'fake news', blaming everyone but themselves and changing their minds every five minutes while insisting they're winners. So of course Labour would be deputised to replace the Academy.

Seeing as John McDonnell changed his mind in under a week about blaming a new Labour coup that isn't happening for his party's disastrous loss in Copeland, he should be able to take a Best Picture switcheroo in his stride.

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That's because the real Nicole was replaced with a robot when she did Stepford Wives and no-one noticed, even though her face hasn't moved since.

The alt-right love a pale-skinned wife who can't frown so you'd probably find under their rule there'd be more than one Nicole in the audience.

On the plus side, Tom Cruise would explode.

Come on, he's got form. Remember the entirely accidental Reichstag fire?

Beautiful white heterosexuals dancing because everything that happened 50 years ago is so much better than today - you just KNOW it would sweep the board.

And anyone who suggested that a low-budget movie about a black, drug-addicted, single parent had really won the popular vote would be taken outside onto Sunset Boulevard and shot by the Meryl Streep Is So Overrated Memorial Firing Squad.

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In chains and an orange jumpsuit, probably.

Either that or Presidential hairdresser.

Just because someone with a camera stayed in a Syrian suburb being pulverised daily by barrel bombs and Our New Best Friend Vladimir Putin and filmed volunteers saving 82,000 lives while America completely failed to help doesn't mean they'd get an award and the chance to read a verse of the Koran on international television.

Because Muslim.

So Dapper Laughs would get it instead.

Which is all a perfectly good reason why, when you hear Viola Davis wafting on about "exhuming" stories in the only industry on Earth to show "what it is to live a life" - I mean, toilet attendants anyone? - or watch the wrong envelope be turned into an incident of global disproportions, you should be glad.

Yes, Hollywood is mostly soft-palmed saps who can't handle criticism or a proper job, but then so are most of us. If art is supposed to reflect its audience's hopes, dreams and nightmares then the Oscars does just that.

They can be irritating but the best thing they've got going for them - and that we have in our own favour as well - is that the other guys would be MUCH worse.

With them your eyes wouldn't just roll. They'd be gouged out and used for marbles, and you know it.

Continue reading here:
What if the alt-right ran the Oscars? Things would be so much worse - Mirror.co.uk

OXON HILL, Md. The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is the nation's largest gathering of conservatives, but it sometimes seems to attract almost as many headlines for whom it kicks out.

This year, CPAC is hosting both the president and vice president of the United States during the first two days. But a lot of the coverage has focused on internet provocateur Milo Yiannopolous being disinvited and a prominent white nationalist being expelled.

The media attention attracted by both men is disproportionate. Donald Trump has, in many ways that matter to your average CPAC attendee, been a normal Republican president, social media habits aside. The conference is no more "alt-right" than it is alt-punk or alt-country.

Yet there is also a palpable anxiety among some conservatives that their movement is being repealed and replaced with something more sinister. Yiannopolous lost his speaking slot for other reasons, but he has gleefully danced right up to the lines Richard Spencer long ago crossed lines mainstream conservatives aged 40 and under especially thought had been inerasable since William F. Buckley Jr.'s purge of anti-Semites and other cranks.

Two factors much larger than Twitter trolls and anonymous 4Chan users are at play here. First, a look around any large conservative gathering reveals it is not very racially diverse. There's nothing wrong with that in theory, but in practice is not conducive to building racial sensitivity.

Even a movement as progressive as that which coalesced around socialist Bernie Sanders faced criticism for not being sufficiently inclusive. His African-American former press secretary reported encountering racism on the campaign trail, though not from fellow staffers. But Sanders' supporters, and some of the areas where he was most popular, were not racially diverse relative to the Democratic primary electorate in 2016.

For Republicans, the challenge is even greater. Partisan politics has grown increasingly polarized since the 1980s and, with the exception of Barack Obama's first election, every presidential race since 2000 has been a hard-fought affair that could have plausibly gone the other way.

These political divisions dovetail with racial ones. George W. Bush won single-digit black support in his first presidential race. The 1996 Republican ticket headed by Bob Dole, who voted for both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Jack Kemp, the party's most effusive proponent of minority outreach in the post-Reagan era, received 12 percent.

In Mississippi in 2004, 85 percent of whites voted for the Republican presidential candidate and 90 percent of blacks voted for the Democrat. That's with Bush, not Trump, as the GOP nominee and John Kerry, not Obama, as the Democratic standard-bearer.

Also from the Washington Examiner

"Where would you find the olive branch in the first six weeks? I haven't seen it," Durbin said.

02/27/17 10:03 AM

Mississippi is an extreme example, but not unrepresentative of the broader trajectory. In that kind of climate, it is easy for political rancor to become racialized, even without the long history of racism and conflict that did in fact precede it.

Similarly, it is very easy for a racially monolithic political movement to become insensitive to communities it does not represent. It is also difficult for groups that have more mixed feelings about, say, the Founding Fathers to be won over to the Right.

Secondly, conservative elites lost touch with many right-leaning voters. While the late Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Robert Bartley denied claims he said the nation-state was finished, he did support open borders.

With the end of the Cold War indeed, the end of history many on the center-right developed views on borders, sovereignty, immigration and multiculturalism that, while more market-oriented, that more closely resemble Mark Zuckerberg's views than those of millions of Americans who were voting Republican long before Trump came along.

In its own way, the utopianism of this vision was as simplistic as the "They took er jerbs!" zero-sum economic thinking ascribed to Trump voters. It is not surprising that it failed to gain much of a popular following.

Also from the Washington Examiner

"I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy," Bush said.

02/27/17 8:44 AM

When it came to disappearing factories and paychecks or a diminished sense of community, conservative elites brandished think tank papers countering these fearful observations, in effect channeling the comedian Richard Pryor and asking, "Who you gonna believe me or your lyin' eyes?"

The main exception before the Stephen Bannon era at Breitbart was conservative talk radio, which can at times be low-brow and irresponsible. But it also has to be responsive to its audience in a way that most conservative intellectuals do not. Perhaps the hosts weren't fanning the flames of economic nationalism but, in act of market signaling free enterprisers should have recognized, giving their consumers what they wanted.

President Trump, a businessman and reality TV star, eventually did too.

Voters who wanted a more ideologically consistent, limited-government conservatism don't feel they have much to show for their efforts either. Republicans have been running on repealing Obamacare since it passed. Now that the constellation of forces in Washington has lined up in a way that should make it happen, a former leader of those Republicans is tellling them it ain't gonna happen.

Many conservatives don't feel like their leaders are providing leadership, even as they have trouble relating to the other side of the political divide.

The mutually reinforcing challenges of racism and non-assimilation, the disconnect between conservative elites and much of the rank-and-file, and then the disconnect between that rank-and-file and much of the rest of an increasingly diverse country those factors dug a hole in the conservative movement.

Real conservatives must build something much bigger than the alt-right to fill it.

Here is the original post:
How the 'alt-right' came to haunt conservatism - Washington Examiner

Conspiracy theories are not new to American political life. I could find you a dozen people who think Bush is an alien, Obama is a Muslim, and Mrs. Obama is a man before tea time and its already mid- afternoon. What is new, though, is the mainstreaming of an extreme fringe group that hold the most base, reptilian-brained understanding of reality. And if the popularity of that group, the alt-right, wasnt bad enough, then what is worse is that they will have the ear of the man running the most powerful nation ever to exist at a time of global panic, no less and a time where low-information demagogues will easily have the power to march civilisation itself off a cliff if they become the power brokers, as Sam Harris has warned.

Donald Trump, the yet to be coronated leader of the free world and his future puppet master, Steve Bannon an intellectually lacking and morally gutted basket of something crude and infectious have brought a novel species of uncritical and barmy conjecture to the White House and will have it conveyed to a large public audience for the first time. Along with alternative views about Jews, women, Asian CEOs and other minorities, the alt-right have a unique relationship with language, evidence, and the simplest constituents of normality.

Bannons ventures in crude right-wing propaganda were not a lone enterprise. As a founding member of Breitbart, he collaborated with the websites namesake, Andrew Breitbart, who, unfortunately (for some) died on March 1, 2012. Before his timely death itself subject to conspiracy theories within alt- right circles of thought Andrew, with the help of Steve, pioneered the genre of fake news and trafficked in the most repellent, fact-free smears.

Andrew had the unparalleled ability to make the most outrageous claims, and yet provided the most menial, unconvincing evidence. Recently, a resurrected tweet from this prophet of deplorables surfaced. Breitbart spoke from the dead, his old tweet (dated February 4th 2011) read: How prog-guru John Podesta isnt household name as world class underage sex slave op cover-upper defending unspeakable dregs escapes me. because what is political discourse without accusations that your opponent is a kingpin devoted to globalising paedophillia and hiding criminals? Breitbarts comments, though, come in the wake of another wave of demented conspiracy theories.

PizzaGate was a conspiracy forged with the help of Russian hackers, alt-right buffoons, and internet culture a triad that has come to define an entire election, it seems: Step 1) The Russians leaked the Podesta emails, Step 2) alt-right reddit, 8Chan boards made up a story based on the content of some email exchanges, and Step 3) they pumped out the story as if it were fact using social media. That is the practical side of how one makes a conspiracy.

The content of the conspiracy itself offers speculation that an innocuous-sounding email exchange between John Podesta and the owner of a California-based Pizzeria really hides a deep, dark meaning. The emails, it is alleged, are coded: Pizza means girl or potential human trafficking, Hotdog means boy, Cheese means little girl, pasta means little boy, and so on. Podesta, therefore, is accused of operating a child-sex ring along with several of his democratic operatives, because of the fact Clinton held fundraisers at the pizzeria.

It would be alarming but overall harmless, If the conspiracy died in the circles of internet paranoia. It didnt.The PizzaGate conspiracy and related child-sex conspiracies linking to Podesta and the Clintons have been shared by the likes of General Michael Flynn, the new National Security advisor to President-Elect Trump, his son, Michael Flynn Jr, who is also part of the Presidential transition team, and popular cultural leader of the alt-right and big Trump fan, Milo Yiannopoulos.

Only the most fantastical material gets widespread attention among Trumpets, it seems. And it riles them to the point where some of them want to take action: a North Carolina nut-job journeyed to Comet Ping Pong, the pizzeria where the alleged scandals took place armed with an assault rifle, ready to investigate, and firing at least 1 round of an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, urging evacuations from nearby businesses. Lunacy that penetrates the White House, gets circulated by popular figures in angry anti-establishment circles, and seems manufactured to provoke an armed response does that not make a good democracy?

The PizzaGate conspiracy found a home in the news reports of Alex Joness Infowars and Prison Planet TV, as well as the ravings of less popular fringe figures like Mike Cernovich. Alex Jones has been a staple of fringe politics for over a decade, using his platform to peddle end of the world economic necessities like gold, health essentials like fluoride filters, and go-to vitamin powders like Tangy Tangerine. However, dear Donald the man with the tangerine complexion has done his best to legitimise Alex and his whack pack, introducing them to a mainstream audience by giving them interviews and nauseating praise.

How can we stop a witless narcissist who seems to have every intention of making the United States a cheap franchise of the Trump brand from promoting dangerous, extremist propaganda? And how do we channel the White House in any moderate direction when extremist conspiracy theory seems to have a stamp of approval from his own cabinet? The standards of evidence are so low in these alt-right communities and yet the cost of people believing these delusions are so high. Lives can potentially be lost because of misinformed idiots, and their Kool-Aid vendors, whose goal seems to be to make a quick buck off a hot story, are having their businesses boom in the post-truth world of Trump and his Trumpets. Liars, idiots, and the weak-willed wrote the story of 2016, and they will no-doubt feature heavily in the stories yet to be written. Lets do our best to counteract these armies of deluded fanboys and compel them with the power of reason and genuine critical thinking.

Excerpt from:
Alt-Right, Alt-Reality: Conspiracy Theorists In the White House - Conatus News

New York Times

London Gallery LD50's Alt-Right Show Should Be Its Last, Critics Say New York Times As the British Parliament debated the proposed visit of President Trump to Britain, protesters gathered outside. A post-Trump election exhibition at the LD50 ... and more »

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London Gallery LD50's Alt-Right Show Should Be Its Last, Critics Say - New York Times

CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual prom of sorts for Americas right wing, kicked off Thursday in a conference center just south of Washington D.C. Hundreds have gathered tolisten to speakers like Ted Cruz, Kellyanne Conway, Mike Pence and the president himself, along with dozens of others.

One of the first wasDan Schneider, the executive director of the American Conservative Union, which hosts the event. Unlike the other speakers, Schneider wasnt there to talk about the future of conservatism, he was there to distance his movementfrom the alt-right, the anti-Semitic, anti-feminist, and racist arm of conservatism that slithered its way into the mainstream during the 2016 presidential election.

In an address Thursday morning titled The Alt Right Aint Right At All, Schneider attempted to claim that the alt-right isnt conservative at all rather, a ruse by liberals to hijack a wing of the right-wing movement under the guise of conservatism.

There is a sinister organ trying to worm its way into our ranks and we must not be duped,Schneider told the crowd, as many poured out of the ballroom as if to not pick a side in the growing rift between the oft-blended political movements. He described the alt-right as garden-varietyleft-wing fascists and went on to describe members of movement in a way that some of the more fringe alt-righters describe themselves.

They are anti-Semites, he said. They are racists. They are sexists. They hate the Constitution they despise everything we believe in. They are not an extension of conservatism.

Just outside, in the lobby of the conference center, a man with a different perspective waited. White supremacist Richard Spencer the punchable face of the alt-right movement milled about, talking to press. He called the speech a pathetic attempt to cast his budding movement as liberal in any way.

[Schneider] denounced me in totally stupid ways, Spencer said, adding that the alt-rightwas always about a right-wing that was against the conservative movement.

The split between traditional conservatives and the alt-right and even those who buy into the alt-rights rhetoric about nationalism and identity but dont necessarily want to admit it is clear at CPAC; as I was talking with Spencer, a man who appeared to be in his early 20s walked up to him and asked for a photo. He then thanked him and said praise Pepe, a nod to a cartoon frog that has become the symbol of the alt-right. Another similarly aged man was overheard saying, If [Spencer] can piss off antifa hes OK by me, a reference to the growing number of left-wing anti-fascist activists like those who rioted in D.C. on inauguration day.

On the other side of the split, other conservatives are echoing Schneiders insistence that the alt-right is not conservatism. Just feet away from Spencer stood a group of men and women who were outraged that Spencer was even in the same hemisphere as conservatives, let alone at the same conference.

Its bullshit that they try to categorize him as [conservative], said Laura Lightstone, a Maryland conservative who wants nothing to do with people like Spencer and his cartoon frog. [The media] isgonna categorize us as being accepting of him being here[his beliefs are] not conservative. Theyre not Republicanhe doesnt represent Trump votersthe conservatives I know and live around down here, nobody believes in that shit.

To try and say the alt-right isnt a wing of conservatism today is a tall tale to tell, particularly given President Trumps choice of Steve Bannon as his chief adviser. Bannon is the former head of Breitbart News, which he described as the platform for the alt-right.' Bannon is also pegged to speak at CPAC on Thursday. Not to mention, alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, a now-former editor at Brietbart who was slated to speak at CPAC until video surfaced of him advocating for pedophilia.

Despite Schneiders and many other conservatives hopes of distancing themselves from Spencers explicitly racist alt right, Spencer and his cohort see opportunity, believing that Trump and his teamare more aligned with his movement than traditional conservatism.

The way to think about it is Donald Trump is stumbling towards a sort of nationalism a nationalist ideology, and in that way he has a connection with the alt-right,' Spencer said. He has a deeper connection with us that he has with conservativesbecause we are about the nation, too.

Of his conservative critics, Spencer said an old adage applies.

First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win, he said. I think right now theyre fighting us. The fact is they werent talking about the alt-right a year ago, or two years ago. They now feel the need to talk about us so theyre objectively fighting us.

A little while later, Spencer was escorted out of the hall by conference security.

See original here:
War Between Conservatives And 'Alt Right' Dominates CPAC - Vocativ