A study of 2.2 million congressional tweets found that Democrats are disproportionately driving the rise in angry political rhetoric. There’s a reason this works so well. Anger and fear narrow attention, accelerate reactions, and can make people less likely to question what they’re being told. Add selective framing, a constant stream of crises, and the suggestion that questioning the narrative means betraying your side. You’ve got a pretty effective way to keep people emotionally invested. And social media rewards every bit of it. The politicians get engagement. The platforms get traffic. Meanwhile, people are so busy reacting to the latest outrage that there’s little attention left for evaluating actual results. I think we should be asking why so much political messaging seems designed to keep people angry rather than informed. Because someone is clearly benefiting from it.

There’s something revealing about people who seem to get satisfaction from tearing others down. Belittling someone offers a temporary feeling of superiority. It’s a convenient substitute for confronting your own insecurities and shortcomings. I intentionally left the author’s name out. She’s easy enough to find, but I’m not interested in rewarding this behavior with more attention.

Is this actually a thing?! A woman in Cook County, Illinois, says she was early voting and selected Republican judicial candidates when a message appeared on her screen: “People are not typically choosing this person!” Excuse me? Since when does a voting machine have an opinion about your choices? If this happened as described, I have some serious questions. Has anyone else experienced this? I’d really like to know.

Dominik Tarczyński walked through Warsaw at 1 AM to make a point that should embarrass half of Europe’s political leaders. Quiet streets. Churches without barricades. Beautiful architecture that hasn’t been vandalized. Imagine that. A country that actually prioritizes protecting its own people, culture, and borders. Meanwhile, France is dealing with riots and looting, and the same political class responsible for decades of failed policies still has the nerve to lecture Poland about tolerance. Europe shouldn’t have to choose between compassion and civilization. Poland understood something its neighbors seem determined to learn the hard way: A country has every right to protect what makes it worth living in.

It’s giving…

Watching a little girl dressed as Elsa carrying a sign that says FUCK ICE absolutely baffles me. Mom, let me explain something to you. ICE investigates human trafficking, child exploitation, and dangerous criminals. Without ICE, the very people who pose a threat to your daughter would face one less obstacle. You can walk down that street holding your little girl’s hand, seemingly without a care in the world, while law enforcement works to keep dangerous people off our streets. And you’re teaching your daughter to hate them. She’s too young to understand immigration policy. She doesn’t understand what that sign means. But she’s learning that repeating Mommy’s political opinions gets attention and applause. Your daughter deserves a childhood, not a starring role in your political activism.

RIP

Here’s how it used to look…